The Young Warrior: A Stroke Of Luck

by Melody Song

Resigned

“Well, aside from giving us a chance to talk through some things, that was about as useless as I am right now.” Pharynx sighed as Thorax helped him back into bed.

“You’re not useless Phar, we’ve been over this. Now, there’s got to be another way to get Forty to show up again.”

“Forty? Really Thorax?”

“Well, you said Tuney back when you first woke up.”

“I was delirious, not being a child.”

“...So you wouldn’t call her mom if she showed up?”

Pharynx fell silent, and Thorax nuzzled him with a knowing look. He sighed and rested his muzzle against his brother’s.

“Moving on. There’s got to be some other way that doesn’t involve one of us going up against those rogues again.” Thorax said, and Pharynx nodded.

“Speaking of which.” Ocellus spoke as she walked in with Hunter and Apex. “All the scouting patrols have reported that the unreformed changelings who escaped the most recent battle are gone.”

“Gone?” Pharynx echoed, raising a brow.

“Well, as far as we can tell. The woods and the cave where we found them are empty. Any other potential hiding spots have been thoroughly searched. It’s possible they’re somewhere just outside our territory, but no scouts have reported anything suspicious nearby.” Hunter elaborated.

“So I guess the only thing we need to think about now is getting Tun– Fortuna back.” Pharynx said, ignoring Thorax’s grin of satisfaction at his near slip-up.

“Assuming she even wants to be found. Everything we’ve seen points to her not wanting us to know she’s here.” Hunter objected.

“He has a point.” Ocellus admitted. “She could have revealed herself long ago, and yet she didn’t. She’s operating from the shadows.”

“Yeah, if she’s trying to ‘tect us then if there's no reason to do that, maybe she followed the rogues when they ran?” Apex suggested.

Thorax sighed, his ears wilting. “Y-Yeah, she might have.”

Pharynx grunted and sat up slightly. “Thorax, help me up again.”

“But you just laid down?”

“I’m going to her marker.”

“But Pharynx–”

“It’s a sign, Thor. No more rogues, no more sightings of mysterious figures? She's telling us to give up, Thorax.” Pharynx sighed, as Hunter obliged his request and helped him down from the bed. “I know what I said, but if she’s clearly trying not to be recognized, we might as well honor her request. Just pretend like she’s dead.”

“Pharynx, you don’t know that.”

“Yes I do. Forget it Thor. She obviously doesn’t care about us anymore, or she would’ve found us a long time ago.” Pharynx told him bitterly, limping out of the room.

Thorax sighed and turned away, also leaving the room. “...Yeah. Maybe you’re right, Phar.”

The three remaining changelings stood in silence, unsure just how to react or even process what had just happened.

Pharynx, in the meantime, made his way to the Veterans Hall, stone faced and silent. To anyone passing by, it would have looked like he was merely brooding. He walked through the dimly lit hall that led to the center chamber of the final resting places of hundreds of ancestors and still stayed stoic. But as he stood before the familiar marker that bore her name, the name she had left for him, he let it all crumble.

Collapsing before the marker, Pharynx pressed his head against it and sobbed quietly.

“Why put me through all this if you were just going to live anyway?” The beta whispered hoarsely. “I talked to you for years, I confided in you. I-I thought that you were here with me. I was going to give your name to my firstborn child, but you just turned around a-and you–!”

Pharynx broke off, too distraught to say any more. He merely cried for a long time, until he ran out of tears.

“You didn’t even try to find us again, you didn’t even say goodbye. I guess that means you never cared, just like everyone else. Just like mother. But you know what? I don't even want to know if you were pretending the whole time, or if maybe you did care and you just– stopped. I'm done.”

With his final words to what he had once believed was the late Fortuna-domina, Pharynx pressed his head further into the grave marker. The exhaustion and stress finally caught up with him, mixing with the pain of his injuries, sending him back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Thorax had wandered outside the Hive, walking out into the grassy fields.

It was night now, Luna having raised the moon long before. Thorax stared up into the sky, his eyes watering.

“I look up to the sky, and I still hear your voice,” he whispered softly. “I can see your eyes in the starlight, your loving hold in the dark, but– but you're still not here.”

He sank down and hunched over in the grass, his body shuddering as he began to cry, tears pooling beneath him.

“What did we do wrong mom? Why did you abandon us?” Thorax sobbed, lifting his head up to the stars. “What did we have to do to keep you with us?!”

The only sound that greeted his cries was the chirping of crickets in the grass. Thorax let out a pitiful whimper.

“Why didn’t you come back to us? We could’ve left the Hive together, f-found a new way together! We loved you so much, Forty, but you just broke our hearts, twice.”

Thorax continued to cry, his voice cracking as he lowered his voice to a whisper, singing quietly into the darkness.

“It’s been so long since we saw you, just to find out you left us alone when you could've been here. You never knew how much we missed you, or maybe if you did you didn't care. But Pharynx is– he's right, I guess. It’s time we accepted you’re not going to show.”

Thorax stood up and strode towards the forest, closing his eyes as he started to sing softly.

“He used to believe you were always in our hearts, but now confusion clouds our minds. You couldn’t see that we still loved you, we wanted our mother but she just left us behind.”

Thorax stared up at the trees, the wind blowing through them. He raised his voice once more to yell into the woods, no longer singing a new version of their mother’s lullaby. This time, his voice was powerful, strong, full of frustration at the changeling he and his brother had loved for so long.

“Don’t you remember what you said?! You were always going to be here, you promised! Don’t you remember how many times you told us not to give up?! That you were here for us, that you loved us?! Was it all a lie?!”

Thorax let out a frustrated scream, collapsing onto his stomach as he burst into tears. He covered his head with his hooves, sobbing. He couldn’t take it any more, he couldn’t pretend to be optimistic any longer.

Unknown to the crying alpha changeling, a shadowy figure watched from afar. A tear dripped down their face and splashed to the ground, at their hole covered hooves. They watched silently, staring as the King cried, all alone.

The most optimistic of the changelings had given up at last.

Comments

[HerrHauptmann]

Now I wonder where this is going to lead. Can't wait for the explanation when ever that will be. As always I enjoyed it can't wait for what comes next.

[Melody Song]

11938785
It's certainly going to go in a direction I'm not sure you're expecting- honestly I wasn't expecting it to go in the direction it does either, but the characters told me that's what was going to happen. You'll have to wait and see though for just a few more days!