//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: A Brother of The Changelings // by blaszczu2500 //------------------------------// Beta started to wake up from his nap when he heard a music which was coming from the room above his. He knew what was going on up there. He and the people he's been traveling with for the past few years were planning to do party for a while now. His nap must've lasted longer than he thought it'll last. Not wanting to miss the party, he rised up from his bed and walked over to the mirror in his room. He made himself look presentable by fixing his chair which was a bit messed up because of his nap, as he started to make his way up there. When he reached the second floor, he heard a familiar voice shout over to him, "Beta! C'mere!" He looked towards the source of the voice and saw Ivan, the leader of this group, who was waving for him to come over along with Ray who was standing next to him. Smiling to himself, Beta began passing people who he grew to love as his family in the recent years. Osgar, Diavul, Mike and Nathan were sitting next to each other on the floor, as they were watching playing cards. Diavul gave him a small wave as Beta waved back at him. As much as he found Diavul to be scary sometimes with his unhealthy obsession with fire and burning things down, he really enjoyed his company. The twins, Lucas and Juliet Smith were talking with each other, as they stood in the middle of the room. Joseph, the group's medic was sitting in the corner, as he was reading his book, not really minding the noise that the rest of the group was doing. Peter "PC" Carlson and James Spectra were standing in the corner, occasionally trading a laugh when one said a comment about each other or someone else from the group. And finally, when he walked past them he reached his destination. He greeted Ivan and Ray as they began talking with each other. Ivan was the one who found him all those years ago and brought him to his group. The group, especially Peter wasn't much fond of the idea of a teenager staying with them, but as the time passed they all accepted him as part of their family. Beta talked with Ivan and Ray for a few minutes, as they were enjoying each other company but suddenly everything has changed. Ivan and Ray were laying on the floor, not a breath living their lungs. He gasped in shock as he began to look around the place in panic. Everyone in the room were laying on the floor, lifeless. Everyone except for James who was standing in front of him. Beta took a step backwards as James did nothing. He just stared at him for a few moments with a stoic expression on his face before he disappeared from Beta's view. And then, he heard a cry, which was coming from behind him. He saw a young griffon, which was no older than ten, sobbing loudly as she was looking at him. He took a few steps forward to her, but he stopped when a woman with a berret on her head appeared behind her. "No!" He shouted as the woman reached for the small griffon. Beta woke up with a gasp as he sat straight up on his sleeping spot. He has been having this kind of dreams for over a month now. It was over a month since that day happened and he was still having nightmares about it. He put his hands on the mask which was covering face before letting out a series of deep breaths. He removed his hands from his mask, as he looked around the camp, to see if someone was awoken by his actions, but it seemed like his companions didn't heard him. Peter, Mike, and Osgar, the only survivors of that event were still sleeping on their sleeping spots. He was about to return to sleep, but was interrupted when a young female voice called over to him. "Dad?" He turned to the source of the voice and saw Zelda, a young griffon and his adopted daughter was most likely awoken by him. "Yes?" He asked her, as Zelda rubbed her eyes. "You had another nightmare?" She asked, curiously, coming over to Beta from her sleeping spot. "Yeah." Beta replied, not seeing a point in lying as Zelda sat down in front of him. "I'm sorry about it." She told him. Beta smiled at her, and he rubbed her head, "It's not your fault, kiddo." "I want you to stop having them." Zelda said, in a worried tone, "Do you think that they'll stop once we'll reach your brothers kingdom?" "I hope so." Beta said, as he rubbed his eyes. He really wanted to stop having those nightmares. "Are you nervous? You're going to see your brothers after so many years." Zelda asked him, wanting to change the subject of the conversation. "Of course I am. It's been over six years since I saw them." Beta answered. "Do you think they'll remember you?" Zelda asked her dad. "I think they will. It is hard to forget your family, even an adopted one. It may take a minute or two to recognize me, but I think they will remember who I am to them." Beta replied. "I hope it'll be just as you say, dad." Zelda stated. "It will, believe me, it will. What about you, little one? Are you nervous? Soon enough, you're going to meet your uncles." He asked her. "I think I'm nervous too, dad. What if they're not going to like me?" Zelda replied, feeling nervous because of the thought of her dad's brother not liking her. Beta chuckled at how nervous she looked because of this question, "Oh, Zelda. You don't need to be worried. Thorax is going to love you from the moment he will set his eyes on you, while it may take some time for Pharynx to get used to you calling him an uncle, but he'll take a liking in you too." He assured her, as Zelda calmed down. She knew that Thorax and Pharynx were important to her dad and she didn't want them to hate her, "Besides. Who could hate you?" "Well..." It took a moment for Zelda to reply, "Peter didn't like me very much when you and Ivan introduced me to your group." "Peter didn't like me neither when I joined them." Beta reminded her, as he glanced over at Peter who was sleeping soundly, "It just takes him time to trust new people, even if they are a child or a teenager." Zelda nodded her head to that, before she said, "Dad, I'm sorry that you had to leave your brothers. I knew it was tough for you." "Well, I'm not, because if I was with them, I never would have met you." Beta smiled down at the young griffon. Zelda's immediately eyes lit up at his words before she lauched herself forward, into Beta's chest. "I'm glad you and Ivan found me. You're the best dad I could have ever ask for." She said, hugging him as tightly as she could. "I'm happy to have you too." He said, as he hugged her back. He could feel her claws scratching his back but he didn't care about it. When they separated from the hug, he set her down on the ground, before he told her, "Let's go to sleep, shall we. We still have at least a half a day or two of walking ahead of us." Zelda nodded her head in understanding, as she laid down on the ground next to him, "Can I sleep next to you?" "Of course you can." He smiled down at his adopted daughter, as he layed down next to her. He wrapped his hand around her and closed his eyes as they both slowly drifted to sleep. They still had a long road ahead of them. 2 days later Beta sighed deeply as he and his group walked along the road. He knew that they were very close to the Hive, and he couldn't remember the last time when he was that nervous and many negative thoughts were going through his head. What if his brothers hated him for leaving them without a word? What if they were not going to let him and his friends stay with them? He and his friends had no other place to stay. Not wanting to deal with those negative thoughts, he looked around the surroundings. He could easily say that the rumors that the Hive has changed a lot were true. The road to his old home was covered by flowers and plants which must've been Thorax's idea. He looked down on the ground, as he chuckled at the thought of how Pharynx must've reacted when he saw that. It actually made him wonder how Thorax conviced Pharynx to change his ways. It must've been a long process. He was quickly taken away from his when he heard Osgar say, "Beta. We have a problem." Wondering what Osgar meant by that, Beta looked up and saw that a group of dozen changelings guards, surrounded them by forming a circle around them. Beta understood why they did this. While the changelings have changed their ways, they still had to watch out for strangers. Everyone in Beta's group immediately reacted to that. Osgar quickly took his granade launcher off his back, Mike's pistols were already aimed at the guards, Peter's baseball bat with barbed wire wrapped around it was already in the air, ready for strike and Zelda hid behind Beta's leg. "Guys. Stay calm." Beta told his companions as he turned to them, "You trust me, right?" Even though, they were not trusting them, Osgar and Mike lowered their guns, deciding to trust Beta on this while Peter still had his baseball bat in the air, ready to strike in case if someone would attack them. "I will lower my gun when I'll be sure that we're safe." Peter told Beta. Beta couldn't blame him for doing it, while he, Mike and Osgar became very distrustful towards the strangers in the recent month. Peter was always distrustful towards the strangers. It took Beta over two weeks to have a decent conversation with him after he joined Ivan's group. "What is going on here? I came here as fast as I could." Beta felt his heart stop when he heard that voice. He saw a dark-green changeling land on the ground, in the middle of the guards that gathered around them. Even though his look has changed a lot Beta already knew who it was. "Pharynx, you've changed." He stated, chuckling to himself, as Pharynx seemed to be suprised that this human knew his name. "How do you know my name?" Pharynx demanded to know, as he glared at Beta, confused by the fact that this human knew his name. Beta smirked behind his mask as he put his hand on it and slowly removed it from his face, revealing his face to him, "Well, what kind of a brother would I be if I didn't know your name, right?" "...Beta?" Pharynx said, as his glare was replaced with shock. He immediately recognized his brother, even though Beta's face was more mature than it was the last time when he saw him, and there was a scar which was going across his face. The guards lowered their guard, knowing that this human who happened to be the adopted brother of their king meant no harm to them. "Can you stop staring at me like that? It's making me more nervous than I'm already am." Beta told his brother, who was still staring at him like he was a treasure, not believing in what was just happening. "You're back..." Pharynx said after a moment of awkward silence, as Beta slowly walked over to him. Pharynx was still staring at him in complete shock, his mind still trying to process that his adopted older brother was standing in front of him. He suddenly felt Beta wrap his hands around him, embracing him a tight hug, Pharynx still wasn't used to things like this, and he always felt very uncomfortable everytime when Thorax hugged him, which happened a lot, but after a moment, he slowly hugged Beta back. Then he heard him whisper, "Yes. I'm back."