Trapped With Wings

°~《Chapter Four》~°☆☆

-Eight years later-

"Aspen?" I heard Dan's soft chirping voice and felt his gentle nudge as I jolted awake.

"What-" My confused mindvoice went out to him, still disoriented from the recent sleep.

Dan slowly sank against my side with a wing draped over my back, "You looked like you were in the middle of a nightmare."

I remained silent for a short time as Dan waited patiently for me to respond, "I was running away from something. It started out as the scientists from the lab, then it turned into the votaks, and then it turned into the kymari."

Dan used his nose to nuzzle the underside of my chin, "Was it any different from your past nightmares?"

"Not really." I didn't elaborate further as I shivered from the memory.

The image of the votaks was still heavily ingrained into my mind from the fresh nightmare. Their murky white bodies, tall lanky figures, dark soulless eyes, and bug-like mouth and antennas were something I would never forget.

I could feel Dan's emotions and I interrupted him before he could apologize, "Whatever it is you're thinking, stop. It's not your fault. Someone else would have shown me what they looked like even if you hadn't."

His mindvoice was filled with warmth, "That doesn't stop me from wishing I could take away all of your fears."

A lighthearted laugh escaped my mouth and leaked amusement into our mindlink, "You have been protecting me ever since we left the lab. You deserve to have peace as well."

Ignoring my invitation to rest from worrying about me, he nipped lightly at one of my ear tufts instead, "You are my peace."

"Yup, ok. It's time to get the day started before I die of all your corny comebacks." I couldn't help but chuckle again as I stood up and whacked him playfully with my tail. I let out a trill of short clicks, ignoring the bubbling feeling inside my chest from his meaningful words, "I believe the morning song is in the same place as it was yesterday. Can you tell how long we have?"

Dan didn't hide his amusement from me as he responded, "I'd say there's still a good hour before it starts. It's only slightly hard to tell with the overcast weather, but there should be plenty of time to grab a bite to eat first."

I turned my attention to Dan with my clicks as he sent me an image of the view right outside the burrow we called home. He launched into the air and I followed not far behind as he took the lead towards one of our favorite alien fruit trees. We stopped on one of the higher branches and began eating our fill in comfortable silence.

With nothing else to occupy my time, I couldn't help but think back to my nightmare. I hadn't told Dan, but most of my nightmares usually consisted of more than just being chased. A lot of the time I would watch as my family was killed in cold blood at the hands of the votaks and there was absolutely nothing I could do as I watched, helplessly stuck in place in view of it all.

It wasn't fair. And knowing that unfairness was just part of life, didn't make me feel any better. Life had dealt us a hand of rotting lemons and all I wanted to do was throw them and make life take them back. But I couldn't. I was stuck with these rotting lemons and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get rid of them.

A lot of the other dragonets were taking the situation a lot better than I was. For starters, most of them seemed rather pleased with the demise of our captors. I, however, didn't know what to feel. I knew I could never go back to the life I once had, but I had also hoped that my family would be able to continue on without me. I never wanted their lives to end the way they did. I hadn't even wished for such an end to come to the scientists who had held us captive. Sure, we all wanted them to get what they deserved, but this wasn't what I wanted.