Book One: Lost and Found: An Angry Birds Fanfic

Chapter Fourteen: Lolan

Fire blazes from the evacuated huts. The sky is a smokey gray, promising rain. The rocky ground is covered in ashes and splintered wood as I carefully walk through the village of Poldras Island. I look around, taking in the destruction.
"I can't believe this happened again," I whisper in absolute shock. I look around and to the left of me, under a blackened, bare-branched tree, I see two mounds. One red lump, one green lump.
"What the?" I start to ask myself as I walk closer.
I stop dead short.
My wing goes up to my mouth as I gasp. Tears start forming in my eyes.
"No," I quietly tell myself.
There she is, a pile of feathers, lying on the cold, dirt ground. She is covered in mud, and her feathers look more red than what they already are.
"Crimson?" I call out, even though I'm less than ten feet from her.
No answer.
A stick is beside me, so I pick it up and walk closer. I poke her once, and quickly pull the stick away. I know how angry Crimson gets when she's woken up from her slumber.
I just hope she's sleeping.
Still no response.
A sick feeling settles in my gut as I fall to my knees and start crying over my cousin's body.
"No, no, no," I cry as I shake my head.
All of a sudden, shouting and crying comes from somewhere. I pick my head up and look around. Then, a thunking sound is heard. It sounds as if a bird is throwing large pebbles at a window. "Lolan!" A voice screams my name. I look around wildly and try to yell back, but my voice doesn't let the slightest sound out.
"Lolan!" the voice screams again.
"Huh?"
I wake up in cold sweat, my whole body trembling in fear as panic fills me. I do my best to open my eyes. They're heavy from the lack of sleep, and start to close again, but the bird's voice keeps me awake.
"Geez you scared me! You kept saying "no" over and over again," a familiar voice shouts.
My heart is beating fast as I look up to see the blue-feathered face of Breg.
It was just a dream.
I glare at him, despite the fear I'm drowning in.
"How did you get in my hut?" I demand.
"Where do you think being chased by a horde of panicking birds would lead me to?"
"Whatever," I spit angrily."
"And a good morning to you too," he tells me in a sarcastic tone.
"There is no good in good morning," I groan as I hide back under my thick blanket.
My nest is warm and soft, as well as my blanket, and I don't want to leave it.
I curl up in a ball as I start to doze off again.
It was just a dream, Lolan.
"Whatever," Breg says with a sigh. I hear him walk across the wooden floor and out of the room. I sigh heavily as I pull the cover back only to let my head show. I keep my eyes closed.
I don't want to get up. The sadness of Grandpa's passing is weighing me down the way an anchor holds down a ship. My heart feels like it's being pierced by the arrow I shot when I was eight.
My heart is the bull's eye.
It's the middle target, the one that every bird takes a chance on. The same one that every bird tries to take, but always fail. Just like the bull's eye.
A small tear runs down my cheek as I turn on my side, away from the window. Despite the curtains being closed, the sun is bright enough to partly shine through.
I duck my head under my blanket again.
Grandpa's burial is today, and I really don't want to go.
It'll be the last time I see him though.
But it isn't gonna be like all the other times I said goodbye to him. Those goodbyes weren't true goodbyes cuz I knew he was always gonna be there the next day.
Now, he's gone.
Forever.
And I never gave him my last goodbye.
I drown my pain by focusing on my tiredness.
Or so I at least try to.
I'm tired, but I can't fall asleep, and I wish so bad I could fall asleep. I wish I had that dream again. It's better to dream a nightmare than to live one.
As I try to fall asleep once more, a sudden cold comes over me. It drenches my blanket, my nest, and, of course, me.
Water.
Icy. Cold. Water.
"What the pluck?" I shout as I jump out of my nest. Luckily, I always leave an extra blanket folded on the wooden stool next to my bed. I wrap the soft, yellow material around my shoulders.
"Oh, I'm sorry, was that not a
good enough prank to help you get a good morning?" Breg sarcastically teases me as he holds a large, black bucket.
To my surprise, I'm not shivering. I'm cold, no doubt, but I'm not shivering, which is actually kinda normal for me.
"Haha, real funny Breg, real funny," I answer unenthusiastically. I glare at him once more.
Breg smirks at me.
"I know I am," he responds as he turns his back to look at himself in my mirror.
"Typical boy," I mutter under my breath.
I like Breg, a lot, but sometimes, he just gets on my nerves. It's like he wants me to be angry and slap him in the face. He's immature and irritating.
But he can also be very caring, and dreamy and... Lolan stop it!
But it's true, he can be very wise, which is really surprising to not just me, but to all the other birds as well. Any word that comes out of his beak hits me hard. As if there's an actual point to what he's saying.
Of course, that only goes for the meaningful things he says.
A sudden bright light floods the room. I was so lost in thought that didn't realize Breg opened the curtains. I squint.
The early morning light hurts my eyes, but after a little while, I adjust to it, blinking heavily every now and then.
"That's better, isn't it?" He asks as he turns to look at me. He smiles. But something's off about it. He didn't give a stupid grin like he usually does, but a totally different one that I've never seen in my entire life.
It's a caring, sympathetic smile, which is something I'm rarely given. Actually, I never was given a smile like that before, especially from Breg.
My heart suddenly starts skipping beats, and I can feel myself blushing.
"You wanna know something?" Breg asks me as he makes his way back over to me.
"Hm?" I ask, trying to hide my feelings.
He's much taller than me, by a good five or six inches, so whenever I talk to him, I always have to look up. I have to look right up into his deep, dreamy, amber eyes.
Lolan stop that! You're not cut out for him!
The little voice in my head is right, I'm not cut out for him. I mean, why would he have feelings for a bird like me?
"Hello, hello, can you hear me? As I scream your name," Breg recites the lyrics to a song. "Lolan!" He snaps his fingers in front of my face.
I shake my head as I bring myself back to reality.
"Wait, did you say something?" I ask, embarrassed.
If he says yes, I'm gonna look like such a fool!
Breg just laughs.
I roll my eyes.
He laughs, of course he laughs cuz I'm an idiot. Great. That's one way to embarrass yourself in front of your crush.
"Yeah, yeah I did," he answers me.
Yup, I sure done did made a fool of myself.
Just like elementary school.
"Oh," is all I say as I turn my head away in embarrassment. I really need to stop drowning myself in my thoughts, feelings, and memories. I really do.
"What I said," Breg starts. I shut my eyes, afraid of what is gonna come out of his mouth.
Is he gonna tell me he got a girlfriend? Or maybe even worse, he doesn't want me? Will he push me away like every other bird did? Like my dad, and my mom, and Crimson?
"I said you're cute when you're mad," Breg laughs.
My eyes pop open, staring at the wall in front of me in confusion.
What?
I'm shocked, and flattered, but at the same time I don't believe him.
"No, I'm not!" I snap at him as I turn to glare at him.
He only laughs harder, making his making his smile grow larger. His laugh is small, but it fills the room. And his smile is true, it's real, and it shines brighter than the sun. And speaking of the sun, his eyes are the sun. His eyes are bright with a hint of danger. I feel like as if I look in them too long, I just might burn up. I've been living on the dark side of the moon for years, and yet he's the only to pull me out of the darkness to a place where it always shines bright with hope and love.
Oh no, Crimson's poetic side is taking over me.
His voice pulls me out of my trance.
"You're even cuter when you snap at me!" He coos.
I just groan in annoyance. He laughs in return.
"Oh man," he breathes out. "You're killing me. I can't take you seriously, especially with the way you look."
The way I look.
Oh no.
"The way you look, you look like trash," Glider told me in disgust.
My head feathers were a mess. Dark circles made a home under my eyes. I was tired but happy. It was the first day of school. The first day of third grade.
I didn't care so much at the time, until later in the year when Glider and her friends made my life more miserable. She also made fun of Crimson.
"You and your cousin, 'Tripson', aren't worth looking at," Glider sneered at us one day during recess. I just stood there and looked at my feet as Crimson blew up on her.
"If we aren't worth looking at, then why the pluck did you look at us dead in the eyes when you said that?" Crimson snapped.
Glider just rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, either way, you both aren't worth it," she sighed as she walked away.
That's exactly what he's doing. He's doing exactly what Glider did to me. Picking on me and putting me down.
I don't see any other reason why he would say that.
This was the only part of my past that I told him about because he witnessed it, and yet here he is, being like Glider.
Despite how much I love him, does he even care about me? Why would he say that? He knows what happened. He was there. How could he?
"Are you making fun of me?" I gasp as I pull myself out of my thoughts. Tears start to come to my eyes.
Breg looks at me and immediately stops laughing, his smile fades, the way the moon fades at the crack of dawn for the sun. Except, no sun is rising after his smile fades away.
"I'm sorry, I forgot," Breg mumbles, obviously ashamed. He averts his amber eyes down to his feet. "I didn't mean it that way."
I look down at my own feet, which are covered by the yellow fleece blanket wrapped around me.
Okay, maybe I went a little too far in assuming what he was doing.
Why do I have to be such a judgmental bird?
"No, no it's fine," I assure him as I get a bit closer to him to show him it's okay.
"But I'm not lying when I said that you're cute when you're mad," Breg starts. I look at him just as a small smile comes to his face.
There's the sun that rises after the moon fades.
He looks at me. "And just the way you look, the messy head and tail feathers, the sleepy look on your face with that sleepy smile. You're kind, funny, beautiful. My best memories were made with you. I..." his voice trails off as he looks at me.
I smile at him.
"You're really killing me. And I love it when you kill me," he finishes as he wraps me in a side hug. "Metaphorically, of course."
I giggle.
Warm feelings and excitement fill inside of me, but I contain it as lean my head on his shoulder. He starts playing my head feathers. If I hadn't placed my head on his shoulder, my head would've been nodding from tiredness right now. His strokes are soothing and calming.
"Almost forgot," I say. He doesn't let go of me. He stops playing with my head feathers.
"What?" He asks, a hint of worry in his voice.
"I feel the same way about you," I tell him.
He doesn't answer, but I can feel his heart beat faster as he held me tighter. I hear a sigh of relief come from him as rests his chin on my head, flattening my brown, messy head feathers.
"Now is it a good morning?" He asks me, laughing a bit.
"No," I answer flatly.
"Wait, what?" Breg asks quickly and stiffly. I feel him pick his head up a bit.
"It's a great morning," I tell him sleepily as I snuggle into him.
He pulls back and laughs. His wings on my shoulders.
"And yet another reason why I love you is revealed," he tells me as he winks at me.
I feel myself melt when he winks at me. My heart soars. I feel as though I can fly.
Our eyes make contact, and I can feel myself being pulled in.
"I-" Breg starts, only to be interrupted by a thumping noise at the door, startling the both of us.
Seriously?
"We we're having a moment!" Breg complains loudly as he throws his wings in the air dramatically. "Horrible timing! Horrible!"
I laugh a little.
"I'll get the door," he tells me as he walks out of the room. As soon as he leaves, I dance and spin around the room, throwing the blanket on the chair. Happiness fills me.
I'm in love with some bird who loves me back!
A sudden loud slam forces me to stop my twirling.
"Breg?" I call out to the bluebird.
"Uhh," is the only response I hear. I roll my eyes and walk out of the room to find him sitting on the wooden floor, leaning against the door. Anxiety and annoyance is written all over his face.
"Breg? What is it?" I question him once more, kinda worried. I know he has anxiety, and sometimes he can calm himself down but other times it can get a bit out of control.
"Too... many...birds...with problems..." he answers me, pausing between the words. He gasps for air. He looks straight ahead with wide eyes.
"Great," I mumble.
I have anxiety as well, and as much as I hate to admit, mine is way worse.
We stay there as the pounding went on. Only about fifteen minutes went by, even though it felt more like hours.
"Well, we've gotta do something," I say, breaking the silence.
"Yeah, we, together, helping all of them, great," Breg nervously laughs, looking at me as he stands up shakily. "Two birds with extreme anxiety problems calming down a horde of crazy birds. How reassuring."
I smile empathetically at him.
"Oh c'mon, it can't be that bad," I try to assure him as nudge him with my shoulder. Despite his current state, Breg hardly moves.
He raises an eyebrow at me.
"It's pretty bad," he tells me.
I roll my eyes as I push him away from the light, red wooden door. I feel kinda scared, but I push it away as I muster up some courage.
"What's the worst that's-" I start as I open the door.
But I never get the chance to finish what I'm gonna say.
"Lolan, will the pigs attack again?" One bird asks.
But before I could answer her, another bird shouts out.
"We don't have a king or a queen!"
I look at the bird who said that.
"Well, I thi-" I start only to get interrupted.
"And we don't have the next heir to the throne!"
"Where's Crimson?"
"Why don't we go attack the green swine ourselves?"
"Shouldn't we move to another island in case the pigs are thinking of attacking us again?"
I look back and forth between the birds, trying to answer their questions while assuring them the pigs won't attack Poldras Island. Stress builds inside of me, and I start to feel myself give way. I can feel the tears filling my eyes, and I attempt to blink them away. The birds keep saying their thoughts out loud. I shake my head, trying to block out the voices, but I can't. There are too many.
I can't do this anymore. I can't, I can't, I can't. This is all too much for me.
I feel my legs becoming weak under the stress that the birds are putting on me. My vision starts to go blurry.
"Breg... a little help..." I pant. My legs collapse under me, but Breg is already there, catching me, trying to calm me down.
"I'm here, I'm here," he tells me quietly.
Breg holds me close to him for a few moments as the birds continue to panic and argue.
"Maybe the pigs will attack us! They've got Draven, and we know what he did! He betrayed us, he betrayed Crimson! Maybe he's leading them here!"
The birds cheer in agreement as Breg leans me against the side of the hut so I could regain myself.
"Not Lolan too!" a bird shouts out in fear.
"Can all of you idiots shut up and quit acting like Lolan is dead?!" Breg shouts wearily at the horde.
"But our king is dead!"
Hearing what she says snapped something inside of me. I can feel myself hitting rock bottom.
I burst out into tears as I fall the whole way down to the ground.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I can't do this, I shouldn't be in charge! I'm not worth it!" I cry at the top of my lungs, hoping all the birds hear me. The only bird that hears me is Breg.
He turns and looks down at me, and I see my reflection in his eyes.
Is Breg... crying?
I'll never know cuz he quickly narrows his eyes as he turns and faces the crowd.
"Every bird brain here shut your wormholes!" He screams. "You're only making this worse!"
But it's useless, the birds continue to talk over one another until...
"Quiet!" A loud female's voice booms.
Every bird stops running their beaks as they turn to look behind them. I look up through blurred eyes and see the crowd parting a way as a bird with red head feathers walks through.
Crimson? Is it her?
I feel a smile starting to come to face as hope and excitement lift my spirits.
Murmurs spread throughout the birds as they stand there, watching with wide eyes.
Yes, yes, yes! It's gotta be her! It's gotta be Crimson!
As soon as the bird got to the end of the parted way, my smile fades.
It's not Crimson.
And I realize the bird has black head feathers, not red ones.
Maybe Crimson won't ever come back. Maybe she's hurt, lost, or worse...
Maybe Crimson is dead.
I sigh in disbelief.
I only imagined it was Crimson.
Because Crimson knows how to take care of this kind of this stuff. The stress, the problems, everything. And yet, she could possibly be dead.
"Well, well, what have we here?" A deep female voice asks calmly. I look up at a bird with eyes of fire, which flicker in the sunlight. Her head feathers are black, as well as the tips of her wings. White covers most of her wings while red slightly streaks into the white. Long, red tail feathers stream from behind her. Every bird looks at her in awe.
"Are you alright?" The bird asks me, giving me a sympathetic smile. She tilts her head to one side as she asks, making her curled head feathers softly bounce to the left.
I just nod my head, tears still settled in my eyes.
A small, pink bird with long blue head and tail feathers and a yellow belly comes running through the crowd. A green bandanna holds back her head feathers.
"I'm sorry," the small bird apologizes.
"It is alright," the larger bird informs her as she looks down at the smaller bird.
"Allow me to introduce ourselves," the first bird starts. "This is my apprentice, Tori." She gestured to the pink bird, who gives me a smile and a wave.
"I'm Lolan," I say as I get up. I shake Tori's wing. "And this is Breg." I gesture towards Breg, who stands behind me.
"Oh yay, more birds to make our lives miserable," Breg states sarcastically as he crosses his wings.
Anger and irritation fill me as I turn around to face him.
"Are you kidding me?" I whisper angrily to him.
"Nope," he answers flatly, flicking one of my head feathers. I slap his wing away.
"Well geez-" Breg starts, rubbing his wing, but I interrupt him.
"Can't you be respectful for two minutes?" I beg him.
He pouts at me.
"Breg!"
"Alright, fine!" He groans in annoyance.
"Thank you!" I exclaim quietly as I turn back to the birds.
"How are ya? Great? That's great." Breg asks the two new birds, not giving them a chance to actually answer.
"Breg!" I scold him. But I only get ignored.
Is he serious?
"I'm great!" Tori responds cheerfully, not noting Bret's rudeness. "How are you?"
"Horrible," Breg responds. He yawns.
"Why?" Tori asks.
"Cuz you asked," Breg fires back. The larger bird narrows her eyes at him, but Tori, on the other wing, just shrugs her shoulders. She pulls out a Chinese finger trap and starts playing with it, getting her fingers stuck in the little trap.
Breg isn't the kind of bird who likes to meet new birds.
He hates them.
I turn a bit so I can shoot Breg, who whistles innocently, a glare before turning around back to the other birds.
"And you are?" I ask as politely as I could, turning to the other bird.
She holds her wing out and I take it. We shake wings.
"I'm Joetta, the fortune teller. And your cousin, Crimson, is alive and well."
I couldn't believe it.
A smile comes to my face as relief and joy fill me.
"Wait, how do you know?" I ask Joetta, curiosity getting the best of me.
"You can thank Tori for that," she answers me as she looks proudly at her apprentice.
"I feel other bird's emotions and heartbeats, I was just born with that ability," Tori explains, still focused on her Chinese finger trap.
"You wanna know who else is alive?" Joetta continues.
"Umm who?" I asked, puzzled.
I swear, if she says Draven or some bird like him, I honestly couldn't care less.
"Your grandfather."

<song Breg recites is called "The Spectre" By Alan Walker>