The Next Generation of Wings of Fire

Mouth-to-mouth

"Hey, Lightning, wanna go get breakfast?", Reef asked to his clawmate. "You could taste fish!"

"Shhhh, I'm reading"

Reef rolled his eyes.

"Come on!", he grabbed Lightning's talon and pulled him out of the cave. Reef dragged him all the way to the prey-center.

"Dude, if you don't get out of your sleeping-cave, you'll never make friends! So, what do you want to eat?"

"We should try fruits, Ravenflight told me he ate mangoes yesterday and he thinks it's delicious. And you like coconuts, so I guess we could try these too", he suggested.

"Wait, how do you know I like coconuts?"

"Oh, you mentionned it in the disscussion class", he answered casually.

"And you remembered?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then let's try fruits!", Reef said.

He dragged Lightning to the fruit pile and let go of his claws. Oh crap! Was I holding his talon this whole time?!

Reef grabbed a mango, a watermelon and a coconut. He headed to the small stream crossing the prey-center and settled down beside a blue-gray RainWing. Lightning followed.

"Can I sit here?", he asked. The sad-looking RainWing glanced at him. "Why? No one wants to sit near me anymore."

"Why?", Lightning asked. "Mamba attacked me, and when I fought back he lied and told everyone I started it", he said in a bored, yet sad tone. Reef and Lightning eyes widened.

"Mamba? He's in our Winglet, and he's super nice! It's probably a misunderstanding", Lightning said. "You now have two friends, Reef and me, Lightning."

"I'm Charming. Nice to meet you!", he smiled, the blue of his scales replaced by pink, gold and dark blue.

---

They finished their fruits then went for a walk. "I want to explore the school a bit more!", Lightning said.

"I think this tunnel's leading to one of the underground lakes", Charming told his new friends.

"A lake? Water? I'm in, let's do this! Lightning, do you like water?"

"Uh... yeah, I like water."

"Then let's go!", Reef ran down the path, Charming and Lightning on his heels. "Last one in the water is a squid-brain!"

Reef reached the lake first and jumped in it. Charming followed slowly, but Lightning stayed on the shore. "Hey Light, whatcha doing, get in! It's warm I promise", Reef told the SkyWing. Lightning sighed.

He walked in, shivering as the water got deeper and deeper, to his knees, to hus shoulders, to his ears until, suddenly, he couldn't feel the ground under his talons anymore.

"Reef! Help!", he wimpered, flapping his wings in an attempt to float.

"Lightning!", he swam as fast as he could to his clawmate. Lightning, panicking, was blinded by all the water in his eyes, and his arms flailed around to try to grab something to stay afloat. He caught Reef's arm and pulled on it to get his head out of the water, but it just pushed both of them underwater.

Reef had gills and could breathe, but the SkyWing couldn't. Lightning was constantly moving, and Reef kept getting hit by his tail or his talons when he tried to help him. Lighting grew weaker and weaker as he lacked air, and Reef managed to swim close enough to grab him and pull him on the shore.

Lightning wasn't moving anymore. "Charming! Go fetch Clay! Now!", Reef shouted. The green and white RainWing immediatly ran away to get help. Reef collapsed beside Lightning, exhausted.

"Lightning? Lightning? Are you okay?", he shokk the other's shoulder. x

No response.

What should I do? Is- is he dead? It's all my fault! I have to save him! Come on, Reef, think! What would Detla do? Mouth-to-mouth? AAAAAAAAH!!!

Welcome to a mouth-to-mouth class with Reef and Lightning! (This is really how it works, I googled it!)

Reef bent down and tilted his head so his ear was right beside Lightning nostrils. He's not breathing!

Reef covered the SkyWing's nose with one talon. He opened Lightning jaws, tilted his head back to open the airways and placed his lips on his. He blew firmly for one second, then pulled away. Nothing. He repeated the cycle a few time.

Suddenly, Lightning chest rose. The SkyWing started to cough violently. He rolled over and spat out water, while Reef gently patted his back.

Lightning went limp again. Is he okay? Is he dead? Have I done something wrong?

Reef bent down once again to check his breathing. A soft snore escaped Lightning lips. He's sleeping!

The SeaWing covered Lightning with his wing to keep him warm.

A few heartbeats later, Clay reached the cave. "Reef! Lightning! Are you all right? Charming told me to go to the underground lake as fast as possible!"

"I-"

"You can tell me everything later. For now, Lightning needs care. I'll carry him to the infirmary immediatly."

Clay gently lifted Lightning and walked as fast as his bad leg allowed him to until he reached the infirmary. There, he laid him down on one of the moss beds.

"Can I help?", Reef asked.

"You already did everything you could do. It's almost dusk, you should go to bed. Today's events were stressful, a little rest wouldn't hurt", Clay said. He must've noticed the disappointed and worried look on Reef's face, because he quickly comforted him. "We'll take good care of him. He'll be all right, thanks to you."

"I understand", Reef squeezed Lightning talon before leaving the infirmary.

He headed directly to his sleeping-cave and flopped down on his seaweed mattress. He glanced at the rock ledge on this other side of the room. Lightning's bed was empty. Tonight's gonna be a long night, Reef sighed.