On the same planet where we saw our 8 year old girl, stood a dragon. A small dragon. A small dragon who was flapping their wings, desperately trying to relieve the stiffness in their shoulders’ muscles, and get used to the sensation of flying. They’d hovered around in almost 0- gravity before, sure, but breaking from the immediate gravitational field in order to get to 0- gravity was more difficult. The dragon narrowed their eyes, which were glowing a faint green from sheer frustration, and smoothed down their blue- purple scales which covered a layer of thick colorless fur. “I can do this,” they whispered to themself. “I know it.”
They jumped into the air and flapped their wings as hard as they could, crashing back to the ground. “C’mon, Socrates, get your act together! There’s no reason you can’t get up there and fly! So what if you hatched a week late?!”
Up in the atmosphere, all of their family was waiting for them to fly up, along with some of the other fledgling dragons. “What’s the matter, Socrates? Cold wings?” one of the other dragons teased.
“Hardly. They’re stiff, not cold,” Socrates explained. “And they’re getting better.”
They jumped as high as they could and pushed down hard, so that it really properly burned from the exertion. They were raised 5 feet further into the air, and they yelped at the sheer strength that they had inadvertently displayed. They flapped again and were raised another 5 feet. They could hear cheers coming from the lower- flying dragons. “Look at Socrates, guys! They’re flying really well! Better than most of the earlier flyers!”
Socrates grinned and continued to fly, higher and higher until the atmosphere was getting thinner. They whooped and others were definitely cheering. But there was a blur of red that went right into their right wing and they spiraled toward the ground, and they freaked out. “Help, someone! I’m gonna crash!”
They could see Amythe speeding down underneath them and they landed with an audible oomph on Amythe’s back. “Thanks. I don’t know what that was.”
“Ah, that would have been Wally, sorry young one. They didn’t like that you were flying so well so they clipped you. No one believes for a second that you stopped flying on your own,” Amythe said.
“I don’t care about that,” Socrates muttered, stretching their wing. “They just scared me, ‘s all. I forgot to keep flying because of the sting.”
Amythe nuzzled them. “You’re braver than anyone gives you credit for, Socrates. Least of all yourself.”
Socrates sighed. “I’m really not, but thanks for the encouragement. Can I use you as a springboard?”
“Of course, young one,” Amythe said with a smile, arching their back.
Socrates jumped and stretched their wings out, beginning to fly up again. “Thanks, Mo- Amyhte!”
“Anytime, young one,” Amythe laughed. “Anytime.”
Socrates flew up into the near 0- gravity zone, and was promptly shoved around by their peers. “Hey there, pal, why didn’t you fly sooner if you could do it that well?”
“It hurts if I fly too long, ow! Hey, lighten up, will you?!”
“Can’t do that, Socky. See, we like it when others are open and honest about their abilities. You said you had a hard time flying, and that was clearly not a hard time. So, because you lied…” Wally shoved Socrates closer to the planet and grinned wolfishly as they finished the thought. “You need to be punished!”
Socrates flinched as the other dragons descended on them. They were kicked, hit, and even bit a few times on their wings. Whenever an attack hit their wings in a specific way, they would scream in pain, as it felt like they were being set on fire. They didn’t know how long it took for the older dragons to notice that this wasn’t just teasing but an all-out attack, they just knew they were helped onto someone’s back and hushed, and told that everything was all right now, and that the others weren’t going to bother them again. They wrapped their wings underneath themselves, and they could feel the blood pulsing through them. “Ow…” they muttered.
“Come on, young one,” Amythe whispered to them. “Let’s go speak to Rhodey.”
Amythe flew up to Rhodey, Socrates still on their back, massaging their wings. “Rhodey, we need to talk,” Amythe told them without preamble.
Rhodey rolled their eyes and sighed. “What happened to your favorite now?”
Socrates shrank on Amythe’s back, lowering their head. “I flew up on my own, sir, but some of the others didn’t like how fast I was flying, and they started to beat me.”
Rhodey’s eyes flashed anger. “Beat you? You know that is unacceptable.”
“I- I realize, sir. But that didn’t stop them.”
“Do you have to be so weak?” Rhodey spat.
Socrates gulped and shied away from their other parent. “I- I just thought you should know wh- what they were doing…” they offered from behind their paws.
“You can’t even speak up for yourself to me! You have to be able to handle this system on your own, Socrates!”
Socrates whimpered. “It… it felt like they were tearing my wings off…”
“So you should have stopped them! Not waited for your precious Mommy to help you!”
“Rhodey!” Amythe chided. “You know you’re their father figure!”
“Which is why they have to, as human fathers say, ‘man up’! I’ve never seen such an awful mix of our genes in my life! They can barely fly, let alone keep up!”
“That’s how all fledglings are, dear, you know that. So they’re not a flying prodigy, they’re still the strongest of all of them!”
Rhodey puffed out a small amount of smoke and sneered. “I’m not punishing those kids. And this one is not my offspring. They’re just part of the clan, nothing more.”
Socrates bit back tears as they started to fly away. “I’ll just practice flying more, then…”
“Did I say you were dismissed?!” Rhodey roared. “Stay put!”
Socrates froze, looked over their shoulder, and kept flying. “See you at dinner.”
Rhodey flew over and blocked Socrates. “You are not my offspring. First and foremost, you are another member of this clan, and you know that. You also know that I do not tolerate anyone hurting another clan member, and I love all of the members equally, but in different ways. You are loved, young one. You have to understand.”
Socrates snarled. “Your kind of love doesn’t feel very loving.”
“Watch your tongue!” Rhodey barked. “I love you. That doesn’t mean I have to like you.”
Socrates frowned. “That… makes no sense.”
“You’ll understand when you have kids,” Rhodey dismissed. “Now you can go. And for once, stand up for yourself!”
Socrates growled once they were out of earshot and spat, “What do you think I was doing, then? I was just trying to stay alive, get off my case, and maybe support me in some small way, if you can possibly find time in your busy schedule of lazily flying around.”
They didn’t even get any support afterward from Amythe. They were just left to fly alone, making dizzying circles faster and faster as they tried to build up their wings’ strength. They would make the flight without interruptions one day, they were sure. Until then, they just had to practice.
The clan was sleeping on one of the smaller moons outside Cynosure. Well, most of them were. Socrates was wide awake, curled into a ball, making sure no one attacked them again. Was Wally asleep? Sure. Were their cronies? Socrates couldn’t verify that without waking someone up. So they laid low and waited to pass out from exhaustion, because they certainly didn’t feel safe enough to sleep. They couldn’t be sure, but they were fairly certain that at home you were supposed to feel safe enough to sleep, and the main reasons for not being able to were things like too much caffeine or eating something bad. Not fearing for your life on a moon surrounded by your parents and siblings. That should be the last thing on your mind, they were fairly certain.
Socrates stretched their wings out and wrapped them around their face. They were tired. Worse than tired, they were fully exhausted. But they couldn’t fall asleep, for fear of a beating from Wally, and then from Rhodey who would say that they needed to stand up for themself. So awake they stayed. They stared at the planet below them and sighed. They desperately wished that there was someone out there who would understand them. Someone who wouldn’t force them to fight, to go where they weren’t comfortable just because it was a bother to others.
So alone they stayed. Surrounded by others, yet completely alone. And Socrates decided that this was the worst kind of alone. Because there was nothing you could do about it except hope for better company. And they couldn’t get it.
So awake and alone they stayed. They didn’t even realize they were crying until they opened their eyes and everything was swimming. If they didn’t get away now they were going to wake everyone up. So they stood, jumped, pushed the air below them to fly over everyone to the other side of the moon. They hid under a pile of rocks, gasping for air. They knew that hyperventilation was not good for their system and that in the thin atmosphere, it would be harder to get the oxygen they needed, but they couldn’t stop, no matter what they tried.
So awake and alone and miserable they stayed, until they cried themself to sleep, desperately hoping that Wally and their goons didn’t find them until late morning, when they were already up. They were asleep when Rhodey found them hours later, and stayed asleep as Rhodey wrapped around them, though the warmth of another body did ease their subconscious somewhat.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
