Misfits of Vernada ~Wattys2016~

XXVI

Zappy

By: @creeepakilla

The world was a hazy blur of pain. Zappy couldn't remember much, and what he did recall he wished he couldn't.

Moon. A feral light in her eyes as she attacked the Sharpshooters; the surge of relief at finding her swamped in horror; swooping down, knowing he had to stop her at any cost, hoping she would spare him; her unseeing, unrecognizing eyes as she prepared to kill him.

He shuddered, and winced at the pain it caused—then tried not to wince at the pain the wince caused.

"Whh—" he tried to speak but couldn't; his throat suffered a lance of pain.

Zappy snapped his eyes open in alarm, willing them to focus until he eventually recognised Freedom's worried features.

"Whh—" he wheezed again, and, in a torrent of fear lunged forward and snatched up a piece of bark.

"Zappy, wai—"

He ignored her; ignored the spasms of pain from his body, and concentrated on scratching letters into the wood with one claw.

'What's going on?' he wrote. 'What happened? Why can't I speak!'

When Freedom saw what he had written she sighed.

"Moon... well..." Freedom took a deep breath and sighed, then started differently.

"You've lost a large chunk of your throat," she said slowly, avoiding his gaze. "Your vocal chords are munted. It's doubtful you'll ever speak again. The good news is that one day—after a lot of practice—you might eventually be able to whisper.

"I'm sorry. I helped as much as I could."

Zappy noted her slumped wings, her downcast expression; and wished he could write to tell her that he was fine—but he wasn't.

Moon was gone again. She had nearly killed him. And he would never speak again.

He slumped back down to where he had been lying before, barely registering the feeling of the soft moss.

Freedom left the room.

Zappy found himself scratching his thoughts into the bark still clutched in one sclaw.

'I don't want to see Moon again.

'Or do I?

'She nearly killed me.

'But she was being controlled.

'She didn't even recognize me. She's a monster—and if she's not she's well on her way to~~

He jumped in fright as the bark was suddenly knocked away by an orange cludet and smashed against the wall.

He leapt to his sclaws, gasping at the pain; to see the furious Firelily standing next to where his head had been resting. Zappy realized, with a slight pang, that she must've read what he had written.

"How can you think such things?" she yelled. "Moon's you nest-mate, not a monster! She saved my life, Zappy! If it weren't for her I would be dead!"

Zappy glared at her as he snatched up a fragment of wood. 'She nearly killed me,' his claw snarled.

Firelily growled and shook her head. "Bloodlust nearly killed you. Moon is the only reason you're still alive. Moon and Freedom. She stopped her Bloodlust." She began to get angry again. "And why do you think Freedom saved your stupid scales? Not for you!

"Moon. Needs. Help. Only you can help her. How do you think she feels knowing she all but killed you, huh? For all she knows she did kill you. Only Freedom knows the herb that stops infection. Only Freedom knows how to wrap bandages in the correct position to successfully stop the bleeding.

"Moon needs to know you're alive to heal her own wounds—her inner wounds. Think, Zappy! What might Moon do to herself!

"Think about that, not the fact that you've got a few owies."

Zappy flicked his tail angrily as Firelily stomped away.

Owies? he snarled to himself. Owies! I nearly died!

He crushed the wood angrily between his claws, then reached for another, turning it over idly. There was a single word on it.

Moon.

Zappy sighed, and slumped forward, holding it to his chest with one thought swirling around in his mind. What do I do?

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

Freedom heard an uncertain step in the hallway outside her room in the great pine tree and looked up wonderingly.

"Zappy!" she cried, leaping to her sclaws as she sighted the bronze dragon. "What are you doing? You'll reopen all your wounds!" She bounded forward and wrapped another bandage around his red throat.

"Whh—" Zappy shook his head in exasperation, and Freedom immediately ripped a chunk out of the wooden wall for him.

'I need to find Moon,' he scratched. 'She needs help and may end up hurting someone—and maybe even herself. I need to help her.'

Zappy's eyes widened in surprise as Freedom nodded.

"Yes. You do," she agreed. "But not right now, get back into bed!"

Zappy shook his head stubbornly.

"Garr," Freedom huffed in exasperation. "You don't even know where she is!"

"Freedom!" a call sounded suddenly from outside a window cut into the tree and the two dragons moved forward to see a dark-green dragon on the ground below.

"Freedom!" he called again. "Scallywag's back; says he saw a purple dragon heading toward the Great Sea!"

Freedom growled in annoyance as Zappy wrote on his wood.

'Hahaha! I know where she is now.'

"Not helpful!" she yelled. "This dumbo wants to hunt Moon down—now you just told him where she is!"

The other dragon chuckled. "Sorry.

"Hello, Zappy," he called up afterward. "How are you feeling? My name's Darkfire."

Zappy bobbed his head. 'Where's he from? He looks a bit like MetalClaws.'

Freedom eyed the wood. "I have no idea who MetalClaws is, but Darkfire's a Stormshooter; Moon's friend. He lives in another part of the forest and I got Flamer to let him know what happened. My raven, Scallywag, acts as our scout. He's been searching for her."

"I'm going back out to look for Moon," Darkfire called from outside, and swift wingbeats immediately met their ears.

'So... Moon's heading for the Great Sea, eh? Zappy wrote mischievously.

Freedom sighed. "I can't let you go after her. I'm sorry, Zappy, but you'll kill yourself. Your throat isn't your only injury, you know."

Zappy threw his wood down and stamped on it.

"I'm—going—after—Moon," he said with a tremendous effort. "Are—you—going to—help—or—not?"