Chapter Text
"Comm–!"
But she paid no heed to the frantic call, Canach's voice lost in the harsh clutter as she slipped and stumbled her way down the steep incline. Loose rocks, pebbles, and pieces of broken crystals scattered away underfoot. She tumbled to her knees; onto her side in the mad scramble to the bottom.
She ignored the lancing pain, though. It didn't feel like a part of her. Felt distant, like someone else was experiencing it.
It wasn't important anyway.
"Kvey," she choked out, skidding down the last few feet. "Aurene."
The plan should have worked. It should have worked.
Akoni had been stationed at the northern ledge of Thunderhead Keep's great hall, in charge of protecting and charging the resonating crystals there by slaughtering the Branded.
The crystals were supposed to help resonate the counter-frequency to Kralkatorrik's magic. Amplified with the help of dredge technology to weaken him– seeing how it had utterly decimated his forces– and then he would have been vulnerable to their Dragonsblood weaponry and magics.
When the massive dragon had crashed through the mountain, the forces against him had unleashed everything they had. Crystals fully charged along with a legion's worth of ammunition and magic flung his way. An entire mountain, even, dropped onto him to pin him where he lay.
And then Kveriyan and Aurene had flown down, Scion and Champion, to deal the final blow.
At least, that was what was supposed to happen.
Supposed to.
Akoni wasn't sure what went wrong. The entire hall had been in utter chaos: shrill screams and rough curses as battle raged all around her. The deafening bellows of the Crystal Dragon as he thrashed about in pain, his wild flailings crashing into the rock walls and ceiling, sending down massive boulders and flinging crystalline shrapnel everywhere. The answering roar of Aurene as she blasted pure magic into already open wounds.
But then, that scream.
Oh Gods, that scream.
Silence deafened the entire place, heavy and oppressive, and it seemed to last forever before Kralkatorrik began to move. Bleeding indigo as his massive head pulled away, blood shattering into a million shards as each drop fell onto the ruined tiles below, and all Akoni had heard then was the slow beating of wings as he disappeared into a brandstorm.
For the first time in a long time, she froze mid-battle, barely registering Rytlock yelling at her as he swung by her back, slamming into the branded griffon that had swooped down at her.
Didn't even register Canach's voice, crackling and distorted over the comms: demanding if there was anyone left in one piece; pleading for her to answer him.
It was only when she finally spotted Kveriyan– small; tiny from her vantage point up high– slowly making her way through a corridor of branded crystals that she came to.
"Kvey!"
But her shout rang hollow. The Charr didn't even look up. An arm cradled in the other, she limped her way down, a foot dragging behind her.
She'd disappeared from view, then, hidden by one of the many crystals that had burst from the ground during the battle.
That was when Akoni had leapt over the railing, all thoughts completely abandoned save for the drive to get down, get to Kvey, get to Aurene–
She darted across the open floor. Inelegant and clumsy: feet skidding every which way from the mixture of sand and crystal and blood , but she had to– needed to – get to her friends, her family–
Arms seized her, jolting her out of her wild sprint. Spinning her around.
Spinning her away.
Her bloody, blue fists battered against a chestplate as she tried to free herself. "No! Let me go! "
"Akoni. Petal, stop."
She smelled gunpowder. Smoke. The sharp tang of portal magic.
She didn't care.
"Let me go!"
The arm around her waist tightened. A hand cupped the side of her face, pulling her down against that chest, and all she could see was dark green between soft pulses of gold.
She was suddenly aware of a dampness on her cheeks as a thumb rubbed away at it: trails of tears she hadn't realized had fallen.
In the background, she heard Kveriyan speak, though it didn't sound like her. Not the way she sounded empty; numb. Confused.
"This don't make sense. It doesn't– fuck. Let me… Let me hold her. Please. Let me hold her. I need to– just let me hold her."
"Canach, what happened?" Shrill and thin, Akoni's question was strained. "Why–? Why won't you let me look?"
His hand stilled. She felt him swallow hard before drawing a deep breath. His voice was thick and heavy. "You know why."
A figure rearing up. Frozen in mid air, back impossibly arched with large wings stretched out in hopeless defiance.
"No. No, I…"
Jaws agape in a silent scream, forelegs reaching out; curled in agony.
She was shaking. She didn't care. "It's not–! I don't–"
"Love…"
"Let me see her!"
His grip on her cheek and jaw loosened; his arm did not. She jerked her head away, turning to peer over her shoulder, desperate because it couldn't be true. It couldn't, shouldn't, it was impossible–
Crystals of deep purple and faceted with light pink shimmered from where they had erupted out of the ground, mercilessly stabbing into the little dragon held aloft between them. Shards ripped through flesh and bone and scales: a death frozen in time.
"Aurene!"