Wings of Fire: The Prequels

2.8

That 'next time' was when the group was presenting their idea for 'Jade Mountain Academy'. During the whole presentation/tour, Cloud could feel Sunny's eyes on him. When it was over, she managed to catch him.

"Hey, Cloud," said Sunny, making Cloud flinch a little as everyone turned their attention towards him. Other than the dragonets and Ruby, only Deathbringer (Glory's guard) and Fatespeaker remained. "Didn't you have something you wanted to say?"

"I-I guess," said Cloud, cursing himself for the stutter at the beginning. His nerves only made everyone more interested. "Okay, I know that NightWing powers are fake and the prophecy is over. Still, would you believe me if I said that I'm the 'wings of sky' that it talked about?"

Cloud was possibly too direct, everyone giving him a completely shocked look at his words. "H-How? All of the eggs were destroyed," said Ruby, the look of him growing a second head from her only making this all the more painful.

"Not quite. On that night, Burn threw my egg off of the cliff," said Cloud, making everyone either gasp, flinch, or widen their eyes. "Luckily, the dragon who raised me caught my egg before it hit the cliff floor. He ran away, hiding me away and raising me away from everyone. When I was three, he sent me to the kingdom and the rest is history."

"Who was this dragon?" asked Deathbringer, giving Cloud a once over and staring at him enough that Cloud knew he was searching for lies.

"A former NightWing assassin who abandoned his job of assassinating Burn to raise the egg that she nearly destroyed. His name is Courtesy," said Cloud, curiously observing as Deathbringer flinched. "Do you know him?"

"Yes, I worked with him a few times," said Deathbringer, sighing a little at the mention. "Why did he help you?"

"You tell me," said Cloud, shrugging at the question.

"Wait..." said Glory, giving Cloud a wide-eyed stare as she realized something else. "That means that you said all of that when you're..."

"And I don't take a word of it back," said Cloud, grinning at Glory who took a moment before bashfully grinning back.

"I guess some of the rumors about you are true in some twisted way," said Ruby, chuckling a little at her connection.

"Ah yes, infinite plot armor," deadpanned Cloud, making a few of the others snicker at his words. "Speaking of plot and such, why don't we tell a few stories and catch up? I know I wasn't really there for the whole thing but..."

"Sure!" said Sunny, instantly dragging Cloud deeper into the mountain with the others close behind.

Maybe... It'll all work out...

{(:)}

Sadly the next time Cloud got to speak with the others, it had to be in rather morbid circumstances. One of the SkyWing students at their wonderful school was killed, prompting a visit from Ruby. Cloud's wing accompanied her, a winglet of five joining them to help protect Ruby against possible threats, including the one that killed Carnelian.

The SkyWings landed with a thump, the noise making the two present teachers flinch a little. Their surprise didn't forgo their manners, the two briefly bowing to Ruby to show their respect. "Your Majesty, thank you for coming out here," said Sunny, smiling despite her shaky voice.

"Of course," said Ruby, nodding to acknowledge the other's words a bit more. Cloud couldn't do more than flash a small yet earnest smile at Sunny, Tsunami, and Clay with the current circumstances even though he wanted to hug them both with as much strength as possible. All he had to do was step over Carnelian's cloth-covered body and—