The Reaper

Chapter 6: Head Above Water

The sun had just barely begun to rise in the sky when Orchid, Ruby, Cinder, and Firebreeze had set out for the SeaWing Kingdom. Which, if Orchid remembered correctly - was quite a long distance away from where the four young dragonets lived.

Orchid yawned and shook out her wings. "Why in the three moons did we have to get up so early Rubes?"

Ruby laughed and flicked her tail from left to right. "Cause the Kingdom of the Sea is a long ways away from where we live," Ruby told Orchid with a found smile.

Orchid had no clue as to why in the three moons they were flying all the way to the edge of the SeaWing Kingdom. She couldn't swim and she was worried that Ruby or Firebreeze would try to push her into the dark swirling water of the ocean.

The RainWing-NightWing hybrid shuttered at the thought of her scales coming in contact with the frigid water. In truth, Orchid had no idea why she was so afraid of going into the water, maybe it was due to the unpredictability of the waves, or maybe it was just her valuing her life over drowning in the depths of the ocean.

Orchid took a deep breath and shook her head, trying to scatter the negative thoughts away that were swarming her like a large group of angry HiveWing dragons.

"Orchid?"

The rose-colored RainWing yelped in surprise, her wings stopped flapping for a fraction of second and Orchid almost fell out of the sky.

"Huh? Oh, uh, y-yes?" she stammered, the shock finally subsisting after a few seconds.

Ruby laughed and shook out her ruby-red wings, grinning cheekily at Orchid's flustered look.

"You ready? Cause we're almost there!" the SkyWing dragonet exclaimed happily. Orchid shook herself and managed to give her friend a small smile.

"Yeah, let's go!" Orchid cheered, smiling and flapping her bright pink wings in excitement.

The others laughed and quickly followed after the hyper-active and soft-spoken RainWing dragonet.

"Oh my gosh!" Ruby muttered under her breath once they had finally caught up to Orchid. "How in the three moons do you fly so fast Orchid?"

Orchid blinked and ducked her head, a small blush dusting her cheeks as she stared down at her talons.

"I-I'm not sure," the small pink dragonet admitted with a shrug of her wings. "I've always been a fast-flyer for as long as I can remember."

Deep down, Orchid knew that she had been trained to fly fast by her adopted mother, but she couldn't exactly tell her new friends that.

"Yippie!" Orchid cried, grinning and tucking her wings underneath of her belly to gain my speed as she flew downwards toward the clear blue sea down below.

As the young hybrid continued to dive, her mind kept flashing back to her previous life. Deep down, Reaper- No Orchid- knew that she couldn't keep hiding behind this mask of a care-free and optimistic RainWing. Sooner or later the truth would come out, and Orchid knew she should tell them herself before someone else beat her to it.

The only ones left from the organization were her siblings and her three best friends. Every-so-often she would wonder how they were all handling everything that had happened.

She was rather abruptly brought out of her musings when she felt the frigid water slam into her at an alarming force. The wind was knocked from her lungs and she struggled to keep her head above the water.

As she continued to struggle against the harsh current, Reaper could've sworn that she heard her real name being called.

"Reaper! Hey Reaper! Wake up!"

Orchid's eyes snapped open and she almost immediately started to cough. Her small body heaved as she coughed and threw up all the water onto the hot sand.

"Oh my gosh! Orchid, are you ok?" Orchid slowly lifted her head to see five NightWings staring worriedly down at her. Blinking in confusion, Orchid shook her head and stared harder at the five silhouetted figures.

Muttering the first name that came to the forefront of her mind, Reaper quietly whispered, "S-Starseer? Is that you?"

The dragonet in front of Reaper blinked and tilted her head to the side in confusion. And it was then that Orchid's vision cleared and the fog slowly lifted from her still frazzled mind.

"Oh, Ruby! It's you!" Orchid shook her head and slowly stood to her talons. "I'm sorry, I thought you were somebody else."

Ruby said nothing, only staring at Orchid with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Ruby? Ruby what's wrong?"

Orchid was starting to panic, why wasn't her friend responding to her? Had she said something wrong? And hold up - where were Cinder and Firebreeze?

It felt like an eternity before Ruby finally spoke. But the words that came out of her mouth made Orchid's blood freeze as cold as ice.

"Who's Starseer?"