Sakura Tree

~CHAPTER TEN~

Grasshopper yawned and stretched in the sunlight. Joshua walked up to him, wings spread out wide, and green-yellow tinted light filtered through. "Don't fall asleep!" Joshua joked and laughed. Grasshopper chuckled along with him, but sat up quickly. Joshua folded his wings and sat down across from Grasshopper.

"How's Rainbow doing?" Grasshopper asked. Joshua's playful face fell. "She-she still goes... you know... whenever Chinch is even briefly mentioned or referred to," Joshua said gravely.

"Have you tried asking her why? I mean, she's on our side now..." Grasshopper trailed off, horrible possibilities running through his head.

"Obviously I have, but she just cries and runs away. It's really weird..." Joshua also trailed off. The two exchanged confused glances. "Anyway, where's Sakura?" Joshua asked.

"On a patrol."

"Oh... that makes sense. She has been on a lot lately"

"Do you ever go on patrols?"

Joshua shrugged. "I mean, I've been on a few, but Sakura always goes on more than any of us. Probably 'cause she's the oldest." Joshua observed the sky. Dark clouds dotted it. "There might be a storm, if there are more clouds."

"Maybe," Grasshopper agreed. He and Joshua stared at each other. An uncomfortable silence stretched through the air. It was clear that neither dragon came knowing what to say or currently knew what to say.

"So... what is the usual... things to do around here?" Grasshopper tried to continue the conversation. Joshua stared at Grasshopper, with an expression that said; Really? You still haven't picked up everybody's usual routines?

"Well, I mean, back before all that crazy stuff with Chinch I was trying to memorize all the normal stuff to do, to be, you know, accepted?" Grasshopper tilted his head at Joshua. More awkward silence.

"What happened to Chinch's body?" Grasshopper asked. Joshua shrugged.

"I think the maids threw it away and cleaned up the mess. We could go check?" Joshua looked at him hopefully, smiling and tilting his head at the same angle as Grasshopper's.

Grasshopper leaped up in excitement. "Sure!" Joshua scrambled up, supposedly surprised at such sudden and enthusiastic confirmation. The two walked side by side to the palace and through the hallways into the secret tunnel. While glad that all the tense discomfort with Joshua was gone, Grasshopper's scales crawled with the horrifying memories of the battles and Chinch's death. He remembered with a slight wince the sickening crunch of Chinch's spine.

Joshua pushed up the trapdoor and crawled off. Beams of light shot onto Grasshopper and the staircase Grasshopper was standing on. Grasshopper stretched before clipping out of the trapdoor hole. Joshua was looking around. "There doesn't look to be anything out of the ordinary. Ooh, but the blood left faint stains."

Grasshopper stepped up next to Joshua and followed his gaze. He saw extremely pale pink stains that nearly blended into the pearly white floors. Grasshopper saw the pale pink stains look as if somebody started to drag Chinch, but they turned into talon steps. That was strange. Maybe the cleaners had picked him up fully and stepped in the blood. Yeah. That made sense, especially since random droplets sprinkled the floor.

Joshua walked up to the main blood stain, the one near the lava tube. His pupils began to slit in confusion, but he widened them to prove better to see. "Something's strange with these stains. It's almost as if Chinch just got up and walked away, but that's impossible..." Joshua scrunched up his face.

A dragon snorted somewhere near them. Grasshopper glanced around and saw that a pale green, nearly white, Leafwing with ears perked up was trying to shove his lithe snout through the bars of the cell. The Leafwing was extremely skinny, with ribs showing. He had pale blue irises with gray pupils so that he looked partly blind.

"We all assume the same thing. Chinch disappeared in the night, when all of us were sleeping. But heck, Mezereon is convinced Chinch is alive. After all, he and that pretty maid were his best friends." The Leafwing laughed. "That silly Leafwing is just trying to hold onto a long-lost friend."

Grasshopper stared into the dragon's eyes, but the Leafwing looked around instead, never locking onto Grasshopper's gaze. "What did Mezereon say happened to Chinch's body?"

The Leafwing shrugged. "Well, that's the thing. He didn't say exactly." The Leafwing pulled himself back into his cell and lay down. Grasshopper shuffled his talons. He had feared that response. Grasshopper whirled around and got closer to Joshua.

"Joshua, did you hear him?" Joshua jumped as Grasshopper whispered in his ear. "Mezereon and Rainbow were Chinch's best friends, and both know something. I say we have to confront Mezereon and Rainbow-"

"Don't you know what happens when we ask Rainbow about Chinch?" Joshua hissed. Grasshopper flinched. "How do we know Mezereon won't freak out like her!" Joshua and Grasshopper sighed and hung their heads together. Why did this tribe have to hold so many mysteries! At least Sundew and Cricket and Blue had found out a lot of the secrets of the Hivewings!

Grasshopper tried to unravel the knots and ties of all of the hints that had revealed themselves throughout the days he had lived in the kingdom. He rubbed his temples and thought. What could he figure out with what he had?

He couldn't think of anything possible. Grasshopper sighed. "Whatever, we should go. But maybe first we could check out Mezereon-?" Joshua shook his head.

"I'm going to go, but you can see Mezerein first," Joshua Walked towards the tunnel exit and squeezed through. Grasshopper still didn't fully understand anything about all the tunnels and entrances and exits that the Forestwing's had.

Grasshopper lifted into the air and flew to the top level, remembering what Chinch said. He walked past Manchineel's cell and Chinch's cell, which had a new lock and a different Silkwing. The Silkwng had a bracelet around his talons, which was much too big for him but the needles facing in from the bracelets dug into his skin. The bracelets were attached to chains that attached to the ceiling, and strands of flamesilk were next to the chains and wrapped around the Silkwing's wrists, burning through his scales.

He walked over to the cage opposite the tunnel entrance and looked in. A dragon silhouette was pacing around the back end, but it froze for a second when it saw Grasshopper. The dragon started to walk forward, but Grasshopper heard Joshua call him. "Grasshopper! You have to come here! Grasshopper glanced at the dragon silhouette one last time before leaping down and rushing towards Joshua. While he and Joshua were rushing through the staircase, Joshua explained the rush.

"Sakura just got back from a patrol, and the new prisoner is waking up, and screeching your name," Joshua panted in between breaths. They rushed out and, surprisingly, Joshua rushed out of the castle. The two headed towards the entrance of the kingdom, where Sakura was standing on a dragon, trying to hold the thrashing dragon down. Grasshopper stared at the familiar bark brown and dark green scales.

"She woke up from unconsciousness quicker than most," Sakura explained.

"Lift her blindfold," Grasshopper said shakily, afraid of what he would see underneath. This was going to be bad, if he knew who it was.

Sakura slammed a talon on the dragon's head to keep her from moving and ripped the blindfold covering the dragon's eyes off. Grasshopper sharply inhaled. "Mother..."

A/N

*screams loudly*

I've been waiting for this chapter for YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG

and there are so many things that are confusing and UIYEFGUYCGE