<=To chapter 1 * To chapter 3=>

Author's Notes: Whew. Already chapter 2. I'm on a roll. XD Though if this pace suddenly slows down, it's cuz this isn't normal for me. Heck, I have fanfics I haven't updated in a few years. ^^; But you're not here to hear about that. So, here's

Origins
Chapter 2
~*~
He was alone. No other deer from the herd in sight.

Frankly, he was beginning to like it that way.

A sigh.

…ok, so he didn’t like it.

His mother hoped he didn’t take notice of the stares and whispers, but truthfully, he did. And every one of them hurt.

Especially when he’d tried to join the conversation.

He winced at thinking of the reactions he’d gotten when saying his dad was bright red, and called the Crimson Drifter because of it.

The other fawns had laughed, calling him names he tried to block out.

“Flat-faced freak” being the most memorable. What had they meant by that anyway? Deer didn’t have flat faces? Sure, everyone else in the herd had faces that were long and ended in narrow snouts, but was having a face not like that really so strange?

He gazed at his reflection in the waters of the calm brook. His face, so different, stared back at him sadly.

“There must be deer like me out there somewhere…” he mumbled to himself.

“Oh, but there are.”

His head shot up.

“Who said that?!”

No answer. Just the buzzing of the blue dragonflies zipping by as they caught their meals. One flew close to his ear, causing it to twitch, trying to bat it away. He shook his head in irritation, the buzzing making his ear itch.

“I did.”

Gray eyes widened. It was louder this time.

He frantically turned his head this way and that, but there was no one else in sight.

The dragonfly continued to buzz in his ear, actually landing on it.

He shook his head more violently this time, rearing up to bat at the annoying insect with his hooves. “Quit it!”

“Not until you realize…”

His eyes grew again.

No. It couldn’t be.

Turning his gaze to the dragonfly that had now landed on one of the stalks growing from the bank, he stared at it a moment.

He looked around again – not to find the source of the voice, but to make sure no one was nearby who could overhear. Didn’t need another reason to be called a freak.

Studying the blue-winged insect more closely, he blinked. “Were you just…talking to me?”

Its wings started buzzing, and strangely enough, it sounded like words! “There’s no one else around, is there?”

With gray eyes wide, the fawn shook his head. “So you…understand deer?”

“Yes. Though, I’ll admit, there are very few who understand my brethren and me.”

“But…why talk to me?”

“Because you were here. But mostly because I thought you needed informing…”

The fawn’s ears perked up. “That I’m not the only flat-faced deer.”

“Correct.”

“But…if I’m not the only one, then…where are others like me, and why is no one else in the herd like me? Why am I like this?”

The insect seemed to blink at the flood of questions at once before answering. “The Endless Forest, they are not special, and everything happens for a reason.”

The young deer slowly blinked his gray eyes, absorbing and processing what the dragonfly just “said”.

“Wait… ‘Endless Forest’?” He moved closer eagerly. “What’s that?”

Just as the flying insect was about to answer, a call could be heard in the distance. The fawn turned towards it, recognizing the voice.

“Your mother calls you.” He turned back to the dragonfly. It paused to wipe off one of its iridescent wings. “You should go to her.”

“But-!”

He was cut off as a doe emerged from the trees. His mother. “There you are, little one. You shouldn’t wander off so far on your own.” She looked around as if searching for something – or someone. “Were you talking to someone?”

“Uhh…” He glanced at the insect still sitting on the stalk, regarding him with what might have been bored curiosity, before looking back to her. “No. No one.”

She seemed to give him a look like she didn’t believe him. “Alright then. Well, come along. The herd is moving off to graze in the meadow.” She turned to go, expecting him to follow.

Grudgingly, he started after her, but paused to look back at the dragonfly again.

“Little one!” The doe had noticed her son’s hesitance.

The wings buzzed again. “Go on. You know where to find me.” With that, the insect predator took to the air again, back to catching its meal.

The fawn nodded after it, turning to trot up to his mother before they went to join the herd.