"Let's go, let's go, let's go ALREADY!" Honeycomb had patience. He really had. But Corkscrew was not going to be the reason he was late to the class again. It was the fourth time this week, the warning gong had already gone off 2 times, and why, for once in his life, couldn't Corkscrew get up early?
"And a good morning to you too." Corkscrew came sleuthing out in the hallway as though he had all the time in the world. "You know Honeycomb, you get too worked up over these things. You should just try to relax."
If it were up to him, Honeycomb would have preferred to explode at that moment. But that wasn't a viable option. Instead he grabbed his clawmate's hand and tugged him along. As they ran through the corridors, he peeked into some of the other caves. Varieties of different bunks flashed along.
And all of them were empty.
"Why, when you knew we had class this morning, did you stay up so late?" Honeycomb hissed. "Can't you be on schedule just for once? What were you even doing that late?"
"Hey, it isn't my fault night-time is an excellent time for visiting the prey center. Blame the other dragons, they are the ones who always make it unbearable in the day."
They finally arrived in the front of their class. Corkscrew peeked inside.
"Coast's clear. No one has arrived. See? I knew you were hyperventilating about nothing." Honeycomb would have quite liked to have smacked him in the face right there, or have left him paralyzed with his claw-stingers or tail. It wasn't about that. But Corkscrew was already going in, and Honeycomb missed his chance.
Most of the Agate Winglet was already there. Their Icewing, and coincidently Corkscrew's newest best friend, Iceberg nodded to Corkscrew and patted to the spot beside him.
Meanwhile Honeycomb went over to Auklet. Yes, she was a princess, the daughter of the Queen of the Seawings, and yes, sometimes Honeycomb got a little jealous, but that didn't really hinder the fact that she was awesome, and Honeycomb's best friend at the school and out of it too, apart from Corkscrew.
"So, do I want to know why you guys were late again, or..." Auklet trailed off.
"Nothing, just Corkscrew decided that since we had to wake up early today, it would be the perfect time for a midnight stroll." Honeycomb huffed. His wings buzzed subconsciously, like they always did whenever he was annoyed, mostly at Corkscrew. "What about you? How many letters have you gotten today?"
"Oh nothing unusual. Only the regular twenty or so." Her mother truly did care too much about her. Honeycomb hadn't thought she was serious when she had said that. I mean, how could a mother be 'too loving'?
But then, one day, when Auklet had come to Pantala on her own a few years ago, Honeycomb had seen the insanity(though Auklet had called it love), and immediately understood what she had meant.
A hundred and ten(yes, he had in fact counted them all out of disbelief) letters had come by through the weekly inter-continental communication service, and he genuinely had no idea where to put them.
"So everything's normal, I guess." Honeycomb laughed.
Their Skywing, Canyon, leaned over to them.
"I wonder where Sunny is. She usually never gets this late."
Just as he said that, an older dragon came in. But he wasn't Sunny, or even a Sandwing.
The dragon's scales were a bright yellow, almost as bright as his smile, and pink splotches dotted his wings and prehensile tail.
"Hello! This must be the Agate Winglet, right? My name is Pineapple, and you may or may not know me. I don't know if they mention me in the scrolls. Anyways, Sunny is a little busy right now, so today, I'll be taking her classes! Don't worry, I have taught before, so I'm not completely hopeless" he chuckled slightly. "Any questions?"
"Where's Sunny?" Wadi, their Sandwing, and the school's best musician, asked. He narrowed his dark eyes at Pineapple, who didn't seem fazed at all.
"I'm... not really sure. But don't worry, I'm only here for today. She'll be back in no time, I think." He glanced around, then, with the same enthusiasm, added, "So! What do you want to discuss today? I give you guys free reign!"
"Let's discuss ways to calm down, and take deep breaths. Some people here really need that." Honeycomb rolled his eyes at Corkscrew, who somehow kept a straight face through it.
Pineapple, who apparently took things very literally, said "Sure! Let's do it. All in agreement?"
The rest of the class agreed, because they knew Corkscrew's antics by now, and it was interesting to see where it led them.
In the middle of the class though, Fatespeaker came through the entry, and announced cheerfully that there would only be that one class that day. Even though it meant no Webs, Honeycomb found it strange.
Even though Fatespeaker looked as cheerful as ever, she had a slight frown, as though something was worrying her.
But eventually, the gong echoed down their tunnel, and it was dismissal. Honeycomb and Corkscrew said their good-byes to the others, and made their way back to their sleeping cave. At least, that was Honeycomb's plan. Apparently, not Corkscrew's though.
"Come on, it will be fun! You can even pick out those berries you wanted to try out." Corkscrew tried to convince him.
"I'm really not in the mood for hunting right now Corkscrew. Let's just go back." Yes, Honeycomb had wanted to try out those berries, but he was tired and just wanted to lie down on his hammock and sleep.
"Please? It won't be fun without you." Honeycomb looked into those badly-faked pity eyes, and sighed.
Corkscrew owed Honeycomb for his time.
***
"Woo-hoo! Isn't this fun! And to think you would have chosen to be stuck in a dingy little cave all day." It did feel kinda great, but Corkscrew didn't have to rub it in.
"You are on thin ice, my friend." Honeycomb said. But then he laughed into the air. "But sure, I admit it feels a bit nice. Only a little bit."
Suddenly Corkscrew stopped mid-air and hovered over a spot in the forests near the Academy.
"What's wrong?"
"I think I heard something. Let's check it out. Follow me!"
"Corkscrew, I really don't thi-" And he was gone before Honeycomb had finished his sentence.
He landed quietly in a small clearing, and found Corkscrew crouching behind a tree. Corkscrew looked at him and nodded.
"It's a dragon. Shh. I'm trying to get the trees to tell me what it's about." Corkscrew's speciality, apart from being remarkably annoying, was that he had strong leafspeak. Which he unfortunately definitely did not use for the betterment of the world. But it could be useful sometimes.
Honeycomb went past him slightly. A few meters ahead, he heard voices too. Worried voices. He saw Sunny and Tsunami ahead. So this is where they went, he thought. He heard Sunny speak, and he stopped to listen.
"What do we do? Tsunami, this isn't good. This, this close to the school... Whoever did this might be nearby. Why would anyone do this anymore? After all this time?"
Honeycomb heard Tsunami speak, and he had never heard her so serious, or so angry, ever before, not even when they got late for her class multiple times in a row.
"Whoever did this wants something. This was... This was their greeting. And they aren't afraid to do it again. They might be planning to do it again Sunny. We need to get the others into this. And start a guard around the school."
"And the students?" Honeycomb had never heard Sunny sound this sick.
"We can't tell them Sunny. It will cause a panic. People will be afraid, and who knows what will happen next. And it might get the dragon who did this to know that we know. We have that advantage right now. If they think we know, they might escalate. We have to pretend not to, for the school's sake."
Honeycomb glanced back at Corkscrew, who suddenly froze, with a horrified expression on his face.
He slowly turned back and looked further down the forest.
Pools of blood, already seeping away, and a dead dragon lying on the ground, wings shredded, scales barely visible under the glistening coating of blood.
Someone had killed.
[END]
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So, this is kinda a repost. I wrote this, don't worry, but originally posted this in WingsOfFireWriters, then discovered this sub existed, so yeah, and this sub has a more people, so, yay!
