Ice at Midnight: A Winterwatcher Fanfic

❄️ Chapter 24: Broken Brother ❄️

 

  Winter was speechless. All these years, he and the rest of his tribe had lived by the fact that Hailstorm was dead. Killed. Tortured, or forced to fight in Ex-Queen Scarlet's gruesome arena until he could fight no more. Yet here he was, staring into his brother's eyes, eyes just a bit less blue than his own.
  "How?" was all he could manage to say, his mind wracked with a million thoughts. Suddenly, all his other worries seemed so distant, even those of his unconscious clawmates.
  "Hailstorm..." his brother said, acting like it was a word from some foreign language. "I don't even remember the last time someone called me by that name...must've been years..."
  Winter was perplexed. "What do you mean?"
  "You all thought I was dead until now, right?" Hailstorm asked. "Honestly, I'd rather be that than what I am now..."
  He waited for an explanation, but his brother seemed like his mind was occupied by something far-off.
  "Hailstorm, can you just...explain how you're even breathing?"
  The larger IceWing narrowed his eyes at him. "I use my lungs. Like every other oxygen-breathing organism on the planet."
  It didn't seem like he was joking.
  "No, I mean...how are you alive?!" Winter finally said. "I thought the SkyWings killed you. Everyone did."
  Hailstorm closed his eyes, taking off his morbid helmet and rubbing his temples. "I can't exactly remember...all I know, is I was a SkyWing for awhile...Pyrite, they called me...I...those patrol dragons that captured me, they took me to Scarlet's throne room, and there was this other guy there too...I'm not sure if he was a NightWing or a SkyWing..." His brother trailed off, seemingly trying to gather his memories. "But he put this necklace thing on me. It had a tiny black pouch attached to it, and there was a piece of paper inside...I figured out it was some kind of enchantment, probably Animus magic, and it turned me into a female SkyWing named Pyrite. Yeah, I kinda remember now..."
  Winter looked at Hailstorm's neck. There was no such pouch there now.
  "That guy...I'm pretty sure he was the one with the magic. He had a bunch of different forms he could turn into...like different tribes..." the white IceWing said, shutting his eyes again. "Once I figured out what he'd done to me...I killed that bastard...I took off the pouch and burned it and the piece of paper, so nobody could ever use it like he did again...but I was  Pyrite for so long that it messed up my head...like I'll go to use fire and then remember that I only have frostbreath now...the fire was the best part of being a SkyWing...all I remember about being an IceWing besides the obvious, is that we hate NightWings. We loathe them, it's been that way for centuries...right? Or am I thinking of something else?"
  "No, you're right...at least for the majority of IceWings," Winter said. "I'm probably the only one who doesn't hate them, or at least the only one who'll willingly admit it. The rest of them just don't get it, and I don't think they ever will...but is that way you've been going on these kidnap-sprees?"
  Hailstorm nodded. "It seemed like what I was supposed to do...I have no idea what else I should be doing besides, killing NightWings..."
  He really doesn't remember anything...does he remember Icicle? Our parents?
  "You were one of the most popular dragons in the Ice Kingdom before you got captured," Winter said carefully, not sure how his brother might react. It seemed his mind had broken, cracked like an egg from all the confusion, the lies. "Remember the ranks? You were close to the top. Like second or third out of the entire kingdom, I think."
  "The ranks?" Hailstorm asked. "Oh, I remember...god, I HATED the ranks!" he roared, jumping up and suddenly pacing in a circle. "It's all one big popularity contest, to see who's the best at such and such AND ALL FOR NO DAMN REASON!"
  Winter was shocked. "But, why would you hate them? You were nearly perfect at everything the ranks were based off of. You're the only one our parents ever cared much about, for that reason. I mean, Icicle too, because she's meant to be the queen eventually...I don't even think I've seen her much since winter break..."
  "Icicle? Our sister? The queen?" Hailstorm asked, stopping in his tracks.
  "Well not yet, but she's supposed to be, eventually, at least if all goes according to plan...but why did you hate the ranks so much if you were so good at them?"
  "The pressure," his older brother replied. "Mom and dad were always cracking down on me, even more than either of you, probably."
  So he does remember our family.
  "It's not easy being perfect at almost everything our tribe wants you to be, Winter. Once they realize your potential, all they want you to do is keep the streak going, and nothing was ever enough for them. 'Mom, I killed two polar bears in hunting today!' 'Well next time get three.' 'Dad, I held my breath during swimming for FIVE MINUTES!' 'Make it ten next time..." Hailstorm sighed. "Don't you get it? You weren't the only one they were constantly bugging to be better...seems like nobody is safe from that in the Ice Kingdom, and that's why I'm never going back."
  Winter was as surprised as he'd been in awhile. He'd always thought Hailstorm had it easy, being so good at everything an IceWing was supposed to be good at...but it turned out that he'd had it worse than anybody he knew.
  "Well I can't go back, either," he told Hailstorm. "Dad caught me writing letters to one of my friends over break, and tried to kill me for it...I had to fight back, and I knocked him out cold, probably gave him a concussion...if I go back, I'll get killed on the spot, whereas they'll throw a damn parade for you if you went back..."
  Hailstorm didn't reply, looking up at the rapidly dissipating smoke. "I have to go...but not before I finish what I came here to do..." he produced another knife out of nowhere, then started heading back to Winter's cave.
  "No!" Winter roared, tackling his brother from behind.
  "What are you...doing?!" Hailstorm said, kicking him off. "You're my brother, you should be HELPING me!"
  Winter got back up, brushing himself off. "Well if this is what it means to help family...help them take the life of an innocent dragon..." he formed a dagger with his frostbreath, stalking toward his brother. "I want no part of it."
  Hailstorm seemed shocked, but only for a moment. He quickly masked his emotions with one of anger, like Winter found himself doing too often. "If you're just going to get in my way, Winter...maybe we were never family to begin with."
  Winter feared his brother was going to charge right back into the cave in a last attempt to kill Moon, and while he did go back in, he leapt out the window with a crash, the glass splintering as he disappeared into the night, leaving Winter to collapse on the floor and silently cry, grieving for the old Hailstorm that was long dead, replaced by a cold-hearted killer he could hardly recognize.

  I know Shapeshifter was never killed in the WoF series, but this is fan fiction, I can do what I want with it. Peace.