Upon Flights of Fantasy (an Upon Wings of Change story)

Chapter 4

"Noelle? Noelle, wake up!" Something shakes my shoulder. I groan.

"No... We were up so late... Give me sleep..." I try to roll over in bed, but then I realize I'm not in a bed. Ugh, I'm a dragonet now. Sleeping on the ground, that's me.

Only then do I remember Scarlet. Why is she trying to wake me up?

"Noelle! Wake up! A... A white thing is here! we have to hide!"

A white thing? A WHITE ALIEN! Quick as I can, I sit up, my head swimming from the sudden movement. "Alien? Where?" I swing my head from side to side, frantically trying to spot the alien in the moonlight.

"It's about to come in through the doorway! Get up!" Scarlet's scaly face leans over me, and she holds her hand-paw out to me. I take it, and we flee to the safety of one of the broken cages on the ground.

"What about the food and water?" I cry, right after we get settled. "What if the alien takes it?"

"We don't have time to go back!" Scarlet whispers, though she doesn't have to, since we're talking in each other's minds. She gently holds me back so I don't break our cover."If we do, we're doomed!"

"I know, I know," I sigh, "but those are our only rations. If they're gone..." I trail off.

Scarlet finishes for me. "We're also doomed." She scrunches up her face in worry. "So we're doomed either way?"

"Not if the alien doesn't take the food and water. If it doesn't notice them, it probably won't take them."

I hope.

Scarlet relaxes. "Well, they're so tiny for them. It almost definitely won't notice them."

I cross my hand-paw-finger-claws. "Let's just hope for the best."

"Agreed." Scarlet holds me tight, intertwining her tail with mine. I smile.

The alien ducks its head into the room. It surveys the room, eyes narrowing at the destruction. After a long wait, it clicks its tongue and steps into the room, muttering something inaudible.

I take a deep breath in, and I feel Scarlet do the same. Will it see our rations?

The muttering alien trails a hand on one of the unlocked cages. It lingers in that pose for a moment, then snorts and steps over the the pile of broken cages on the ground. Closer to us.

"Scarlet..." I murmur in her mind, clutching her closer.

"Shh, Noelle. It's going to be okay."

Oh, how I wish I could run! Or fly, I guess. But still! My hind legs tense, and I begin to panic. Half of my mind tries to reassure the other half, since the alien hasn't moved anything yet, or even looked closely at anything, but the frantic half of my mind won't listen. I squirm in Scarlet's hold.

"What is it, Noelle?" Scarlet frowns.

"I can't help it! We need to protect our food!" I cry, struggling out of her grip.

"Wait, Noelle! Don't!" Scarlet starts, but I'm out of her grasp in a heartbeat.

Quick as a flash, I dart out of the broken cage and stare up at the white alien.

It's... a lot bigger when I'm right next to its feet, I realize, but I stand my ground. If karate hasn't prepared me for this, then it hasn't prepared me for anything!

With what I hope is a vicious hiss, I take to the air. Immediately the white alien whips its head around to face me. I try to ignore its cold eyes and dive, swiping my claws at its face and landing a hit.

It stumbles back, letting out a cry of pain and covering the scratch wound. It stays in that position for a moment, then looks up at me with glaring eyes.

It lets out a battle cry and lunges at me, aiming to punch me where I hover. Not this time, I think, swooping out of the way. It fires again and again, only for me to gracefully dodge each punch, weaving around its arm.

"Noelle! Watch out!" Scarlet cries suddenly, and before I can react, the white alien grabs me clean out of the air.

"Ugh, no!" I cry, letting out a flurry of clicks and chirps as well. I struggle against the alien's grip, but to no avail. It only squeezes me tighter, seemingly dependent on squishing me to death.

I glare at the alien, only for it to glare back at me. I feel myself steam with anger, until I realize that I really am steaming. On the inside.

I open my mouth to emit a cry or hiss, but, to my alarm, a bolt of fire shoots out instead, hitting the alien right on its scratch. It yelps and releases me, and I tumble to the ground, righting myself at the last moment and almost crashing on the hard concrete floor.

Is this what I feels like to almost be crushed? I wonder, clutching my ribs. It feels like they're broken, even though I know they aren't.

My eyes are blurry with tears of pain. I look straight ahead of me, catching hints of red and orange...

The rations!

The white alien still clutching its face and distracted, I shuffle over to the two tiny bowls of fruit and water.

"Scarlet! We can get the rations out of here!" I call, and before I can even think, she's right next to me, grabbing the bowl of water. I stumble over to the bowl of fruit and pick it up. I lean on Scarlet's shoulder, and she lets me.

"Don't worry, I'll hold you up," she murmurs, gently guiding me away from the alien, still hunched over in pain.

"Thanks, Scarlet," I whisper, gritting my teeth and pushing my way through the pain in my chest.

"Of course! I wouldn't be here without you," Scarlet reminds me. "If its only going to be me and you, then we may as well support each other and try to get out of it alive."

I smile, looking into her deep periwinkle eyes.

"We can only hope..." I reply, observing the distance we have to go before we're under the cover of bushes. "I'm glad it was you that came out of the last egg," I tell Scarlet. "Now I'm sure I made the right choice, going back for the other dragonets."

"And I'm glad you think your choice was a good one," Scarlet says, wrapping her wing around me. "Very glad."

We spend a moment resting on each other, then stand up straight, as painful as it is for me, and march off to the bushes, silhouetted in moonlight and re-energized with determination.

Even though both of our worlds had been turned upside down, we weren't going to give up.

We were going to survive, together, no matter how hard it was going to be.