The Blood Moon Killer

Chapter 6: Expedition

Whiteout noticed her father and Qibli walking out of  the room to discuss something. She was about to go follow them, but she felt a tail rest on hers. She looked to her side and faced Aardvark who shook his head. "I don't think it's a good idea. Let's just finish eating."

Nodding, Whiteout grabbed her spoon and began to eat  her food. "Whiteout, I know you're worried, but, for now, it's best to let the adults handle matters like this." Aloe said while gently stirring her soup. At that moment, Moon seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in and took in a shaky breath and looked around the table.

"I-I'm sorry everyone. I didn't mean to scare you." She took in another breath "it's-it's jsut hard." Whiteout leaned on her mother's shoulder and gently rubbed her cheek on Moon's scales "it's okay mommy. I know how hard it is to see the future. Especially the bad things."

Soon enough, Winter and Qibli came back with calmer looks and sat down in their seats. Quickly, they finished their food and began cleaning up. In their living room, Whiteout noticed Aardvark sitting alone on a small chair, reading a scroll. "Hey!" She said cheerfully as she walked over to him. Letting out a small yelp, he bounced off his seat and got into a defensive position but immediately relaxed once he saw her. 

"Y-You scared me!"

"I did? I'm sorry. Geez. You're really jumpy. You're the complete opposite of your parents!"

Aardvark scrunched his body together to make himself smaller. "Y-You a-a-are to-too.. Dad told me t-that your parents w-were very se-secretive and, uh, shy... S-So..." Whiteout giggled and wagged her tail "hey! Why don't we go out into the town! Just the two of us. You can show me around and that'll boost your confidence!"

Aardvakr's ears flipped back. "U-Uh... I-I don't know about that... Our parents-" "Won't even know we're gone. And besides, we're old enough to go out." "But-" "It'll just be for a little bit. We'll be back before noon."

Aardvark looked down at the scroll he was clutching and read something, before taking a deep breath. "A-Alright." "Perfect! Now come on!" Pouncing to him, she grabbed his claw and practically dragged him out of his own house yelling a quick 'see you guys later! Aardvark and I are going out!', but neither parents comprehended what just happened. Only that their kids were gone, and they had no idea where they went.

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"A-And th-this is the m-market." He said, gesturing to the big place with his claw, while hiding himself with his wings. "Whoaaa!" Whiteout exclaimed, looking around in wonder. There were so many dragons from all the tribes, she even saw some Scavengers, er, Humans, on backs of dragons and speaking each other's languages. 

"I thought it was going to be bigger." She stated, sitting in front of Aardvark "n-no, you're thinking of S-Scorpion D-Den. T-The biggest market in P-Pyrrhia... This is just a s-small l-l-local one." Whiteout smiled widely and grabbed his claw again "show me around!" Pulling him along and asking him every question she could, they continued to explore. Little by little, Aardvark lost his stutter, but was still a little shy. 

"This is so cool!" Whiteout yelled as they came across a food stand. A Skywing with dark red scales and brown eyes was tending the stand and handing out what looked like chicken legs with some seasoning. "Let's go there!" She said to Aardvark and pulled him along. The Skywing stopped mid-giggle and looked down at the two. "Oh my! It's not every day you see a Icewing and Nightwing hybrid, what's your name love?" "My name's Whiteout! This is my friend Aardvark."

"What lovely names, I'm Garnet, It's a pleasure to meet you both. Here, why don't you sample this? It's a chicken leg with salt, oregano, rosemary, and fried in olive oil." Putting two on a tray,  she gently leaned down to give it to them but stopped "no allergies?" "Not that I know!" "N-No..." Whiteout grabbed both of them and handed one to Aardvark.

They both ate some and smiled formed on their faces. "Now that's the look I love! The feeling of pure joy while eating food!" After dumping the bones in a trash can and saying their goodbyes, Whiteout noticed that Aardvark was smiling and he didn't slouch over like he did when he was feeling shy, instead, he was holding his head up and smiling.

"You know," she started, gently nudging him "I need to give you a nickname. Maybe.... Arthur?" He scowled "that's a different name completely!"

"Maybe.. Aar?" "You make me sound like the pirates in the scrolls." They both thought for a moment, "maybe... Vark?" Aardvark shook his head "or maybe-"

"Oof!"

They both ran into someone. The duo backed away and looked up slowly, seeing a big, bulky dragon with a scar on the leg they just bumped into. The large dragon had dark scales and what looked like blood coming out of their snout and dripping onto the sand floor. Since the sun was behind the dragon, Whiteout and Aardvark couldn't see who it was.

They just screamed and ran back, but went faster once they heard some steps running after them. He's really fast! Whiteout thought as she saw Aardvark run ahead and turn the corner. Whiteout ran as fast as she could, but knocked over a torch and it fell on a small rope that was leading to the corner that Aardvark had run into.

"I gotta warn him!" Whiteout turned the corner and noticed Aardvark standing in front of a small group of odd-looking cacti. "Aardvark!" She called out to him. Just then, he turned and noticed her, then the fire that was approaching and followed the rope to the cacti behind him. His face went pale.

The Dragonflame Cacti!

"Whiteout run!" "What? But the-"

The flame had reached the cacti and there was a loud boom. The only thing Whiteout remembered was seeing Aardvark jump towards her and wrapping himself around her.