Reunion (Qibli x Winter)

Chapter One

     It was probably safe to say that, on average, only 0 out of 5 dragons have to defeat a two-thousand-year-old homicidal living nightmare throughout their lifetime. Qibli was an outlier. Despite this experience being deeply traumatic, he often spent a lot of time thinking back on his adventures with his friends as he tried to sleep on his camel-skin bed, or when he was doing chores for Queen Thorn. Only a week had passed since the frankly unsettling creation of Peacemaker, the magical reincarnation of Darkstalker, yet time had felt like a giant thirty-foot deep pool of mud while Qibli was merely just a SandWing dragonet. He hadn't returned to Jade Mountain Academy after Moon's prophecy was fulfilled, though he wanted to, since the palace was still in a state of ruin and he couldn't just leave it like that, and definitely not when he was the cause of it. Moon, Kinkajou, Turtle. Winter. He missed all of them, of course. But he couldn't ignore the fact that, out of all of them, the one he thought about the most was Winter.

     Perhaps it was because he was reminded of him every time he visited his mother, Cobra, in her jailing. It was a talon short from a miracle that he ever managed to feel comfortable around his mother, and Winter had given him that once-in-a-lifetime experience during their venture to the Scorpion Den. Three moons, he had even made a joke around his mother. So maybe that was it. Or maybe it was how Winter's handsome face always stood out from the rest, or how Qibli's heart clenched whenever Winter smiled once every Brightest Night, or how Winter's eyes were the deepest arctic pools that Qibli would gladly sink in. Probably one of those things. He missed all his friends dearly, but especially Winter.

     Qibli felt like it probably wasn't normal to yearn for someone so much after only a week of them being away from him. He lightly shook his head to prevent a simultaneously comforting and disturbing train of thought that he was too familiar with.

     He hadn't noticed the queen poking herself in from the doorway and was caught off guard when she started speaking to him. "Qibli?" she said, making Qibli jump a little. He twisted around to look at her, and she let out a sigh. "You can always go back to them, you know."

     "Uh." How did she know I was thinking about that? After an awkward second of the two staring at each other, Qibli finally continued, "What?"

     "You always look like you're thinking about something," she said. "I mean, you are always thinking about something, but your thinking face has been much more sad recently. I can tell you miss your friends."

     Qibli felt slightly outraged at her "much more" addition to the sentence, but kept his composure. "I do, but you also need my help, Your Majesty, so I'm not going anywhere."

     Queen Thorn gave another disgruntled sigh. "Ok, first of all, stop calling me 'Your Majesty'. Secondly, Qibli, I've told you a thousand times that I don't need your help. I'm perfectly capable of running a kingdom without you." Noticing the betrayed look on his face, she quickly amended, "Not specifically you, you fried lizard. I don't need help in general, and you know it wouldn't kill you to visit them for a bit."

     Qibli looked down and thought for a moment. They probably would like to see me, wouldn't they? But then, Winter isn't even at the academy, and I can't visit him often from there since it's a while away from Sanctuary. But he probably doesn't even want to see me, he doesn't ever visit. Then immediately, you don't visit him either, you idiot. Why don't you? He's just going to hate you even more if you don't. Qibli sucked in a breath. Why are you worried so much about him only? You haven't seen your other friends in a while either.

     "Qibli." He lifted his head back from the bed up to her eyes, and she was giving him a scornful look. "I'm going to suggest the impossible and say to stop thinking about it so much. I told you, I'm fine without any help, and if I ever do need any of it then I can just ask Six-Claws."

     He had to admit, he did really want to see them again. Perhaps he could stop by Winter's place first, and maybe he could even convince Winter to go back to the school with him or at least visit for a little while.

     "..I'll think about it," Qibli said with a nod, which prompted a faint smile from Thorn.

     "Good," she responded, before trotting off into the hallway and out of sight, and then remarking, "By the way, food's getting cold, so hurry up."

     Qibli sat there for a moment before getting up. Thinking about it was one thing, but actually going was another. The soft firelight from the candles around his room started to flicker as a warm breeze swept in, sending a calmness down his body. Unfortunately, the warmth also reminded him of the feeling he had whenever Winter touched him (despite IceWings often being known for being as cold as ice, hence the name), which was an occurrence that usually made his body feel twice as hot as normal. The memory made the longing throughout him burst even stronger and Qibli came to an upsetting realization that maybe, on a subconscious level, another reason why he never visited Winter was because he couldn't risk Winter finding out he felt like that around him.

     But, as reluctant as he was to see his friends again, since that would mean having to worry about making them like him, he was also extremely, giddily happy at the thought of it. As soon as Thorn had left, his mouth automatically tugged into a smile, and he started tapping his claws on his soft bed with the excitement of a tiny dragonet. Qibli really couldn't wait any longer, if his loneliness had anything to say about it. Maybe Thorn was right,  that he needed to stop thinking about it. So Qibli made up his mind: he was going to see Winter and the others today. He leaped off his bed, headed into the hallway, and went off to the kitchen.

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AN: Hello! This is my first story. If by some miracle you find this and decide to take interest, please don't expect a consistent upload schedule. I probably won't take over, like, 3 weeks, but I can't promise anything below that.

Word Count: 1,062