The Last Animus // A Wings of Fire Fanfiction

Chapter 2

Moth searched the unknown faces. He almost hoped for company--the house had been so empty over the summer, he'd forgotten what it was like to have a conversation like a normal dragon. His classmates clumped together as they exited the school, and he felt a pang of envy for those who felt they belonged.

Who'd want to be friends with me?

And yet Moth kept hoping there was someone out there. But he hated to intrude upon others. Why would he disturb the balance of an already perfect dynamic?

Moth had tried to make friends. He just ... doubted himself. He pulled away. What if they were just being polite? What if they didn't actually want to be friends with him? Whenever someone walked over, whenever someone gave a kind word, he realized that he was just being blind and then of course he couldn't get out so much as a "thanks".

Moth would stick to what he had. His father needed him.

Don't tell yourself that! What if--

"Hey," Moth hissed as someone shoved him aside. He let out a breath and saw someone pass him--a dragon with dark ruby scales and strong features.

August?

Suddenly he watched her force her way through with her head low and he didn't feel so alone. She didn't have any friends either, and yet her family was one of the most powerful on the peninsula.

What happened to her?

The pressure broke down as he broke out into the courtyard, where his father was talking with a professor.

"Hi, Moth. Ready to head home?" Moth nodded and his father said farewell to the professor.

"I have an essay to write for school," Moth said hopefully.

"I'm sorry, you'll have to finish it yourself. The deadline for my next work is only tomorrow."

Moth nodded, trying to hide his disappointment. With two people running on an unstable job, Moth's father was always working, and his writing didn't pay consistently. Moth had long been trained not to indebt himself to others. He shouldn't ask anything of dragons who were already going out of their way to emotionally support him. Or dragons who didn't really know or care. Moth and his father survived with their own money, on their own job, in their own hard-earned mansion provided by the queen.

Moth's father vanished as soon as they entered the house. Moth was left alone in the carnivorous, cavernous halls, glancing up at chandeliers of glass and carved stone marble. The house felt emptier without his mother, but Moth was determined to find new hope in the way the marble glimmered now that she was gone.

Moth slipped back into his room, his talons tapping against the hardwood beams. (A/N: His floor material is probably going to change every chapter tbh because I can't remember.) He slipped out the parchment for the essay.

What was he supposed to write? Moth didn't know who he was. He didn't really feel separate from his father. His parents were what made him--they had given him a home, fame, fortune. He wouldn't be anything without them but the shy kid who daydreamed in class. Moth hadn't earned anything.

Yet his parents hadn't either. They'd come across fame and fortune because of their families. And his father hadn't chosen to be an animus. They hadn't tried to hatch on the day of full moons. Their lives were circumstantial, too. The only thing Moth's father could build for himself ...

Was his writing.

Was that why he was always working? Was that why he turned down financial help and marketing support for his books? Was it because he didn't just want to be a combination of circumstances, but a functioning, hardworking member of society?

Moth thought about that. That was something he could be part of--something he could be proud of.

But he didn't know what to write about himself.

A/N: I will be honest--Moth basically has an improved version of Adrien Agreste's life with the busy father and dead mother and empty mansion--but I didn't know that when I created Moth's character. Hopefully, my fellow MLB fans consider this a different perspective rather than a copy...cat. (I'm sorry okay)

Once again, thank you to everyone who's taken the time to read this. I've definitely put work into it. Writing is tough and I haven't been having a good time with it recently--plus I'm just not really interested in WoF at the moment.