Chapter Text
'I'll protect cliff'
She meant it. But…
She really didn't expect to have to follow through with it.
Ruby lost. Scarlet slashed her neck and let her bleed out on the rocks, gurgling what could've been her last words.
Peril tried as best as she could to shield Cliff from the ghastly sight, but there was only so much she could do without burning him. He ran towards her outstretched wing, the tears and sorrow outweighing reasoning, as he tried to get to his mother's corpse. Peril, thankfully pulled away from his path in time, her reflexes sharpened from her time as a champion.
"Mommy!!!" The anguished cry ripped itself from the young dragonet's throat. A desperate plea for his mother to still be alive.
Peril watched, sadly as he tried to run through the crowd keeping him away from Scarlet and their queen's body. They tried to be straight faced in the face of the Skywing prince's cries of pain as he tried to reach his mum.
Scarlet watched with a sick smile at the prince, now at her mercy.
"I have one more surprise for you, my dear subjects." Her voice boomed across the field, drawing every dragons attention.
In one more act of cruelty towards her daughter and grandson she grabbed Ruby's lifeless corpse by the still bleeding neck, lifting her up to the crowd and reached a talon to her ear and the earring that sat there.
"You all must have been so curious about what happened to my first daughter, Tourmaline." She smiled at the bewildered and angry looks on the crowd's faces. " Well here is your answer!"
The scarred dragon clasped her talons around Ruby's single bejewelled ear and ripped it off, all while keeping the crowd's eyes on her grand spectacle.
Bewildered faces turned to ones of horror not only at the mutilation of their queen's body but at the sight of her scales peeling back, deep red making way for orange, and the way her body seemed to be growing in size. By the end of the transformation, the corpse in the new queen's grasp was as big as she was, with scales the colour of clay.
Peril watched on in shock. 'Who was this dragon?'
'Where did she-?'
"Peril!" A voice shouted at her from her side.
She whipped around, resisting the urge to fling out a talon at the dragon who startled her from her thoughts, and her turquoise eyes met with emerald green ones.
"Turtle!" Peril cried in relief. Finally, a dragon who would know what to do. She was so far out of her depth.
"Turtle! What do I do!? Scarlet killed Queen Ruby and then she ripped of her ear and Queen Ruby turned into a different dragon?! Tourmaline?! And Cliff is all alone now but I promised I would protect him but how do I do that when I can't even touch him? And what are you even doing her right now I thought you found your little friends already?" She rattled on in a panic, though her tone slightly soured at the end the situation fully hitting her.
Turtle sat there dumbly.
"Umm..I came here to rescue you..?" He replied to the last question he heard "Wait! Ruby is dead!?" He finally took in the scene around him as Peril's words made hit him, albeit delayed.
Scarlet's sinister face smiling at her newly reclaimed subjects, among them a newly grieving dragonet, a mix of confusion and sorrow painting his face as he cried, hidden in the wings of loyal skywings, shielding the poor prince from his grandmother's view. In said grandmother's grasp was an orange skywing of equal size to the new queen, her neck slashed open with three gashes bleeding down her body.
"But that isn't Ruby… Wait, how did she turn into that dragon?" He turned to Peril, waiting for an answer.
"Uh. Scarlet ripped off her ear." She answered, fumbling a bit in the face of the situation
"Did her ear have anything on it?" He urged her to go on. He was almost positive of his hypothesis.
"Umm.. A gold earring, I think. Why?" The answer hit her the moment she said it. The earring was enchanted! Just like the necklace. But who-.
"Chameleon." She turned and upon seeing him bared her teeth. She walked towards him as best as she could without burning any stray limbs, and ended up close behind him.
He was still disguised as Soar, a smile painted on his face as he looked to Scarlet, who was revelling in her victory to the the onlookers.
"Chameleon." Her stern voice cut through his thoughts. He immediately whipped his neck around to face her.
"SHH! Not so loud." He held a claw to his lips as he shushed her.
Peril raised her wings above herself as she motioned for him to follow her away from the crown and towards where Turtle was seated. Hesitantly, he obeyed.
"What did you do to Ruby?" She punctuated her sentence with a raised talon near his face.
"I just did what the queen told me!" He raised he talons as he tried to back away.
"And what was that exactly?" Turtle chimed in from behind Peril.
"Tourmaline was getting too ambitious. Queen Scarlet wanted to eliminate her competition so she told me to get rid of Tourmaline but she didn't want to kill her only heir just in case. So she told me to enchant her as Ruby instead of killing her." He finished, oblivious to the turmoil his revelation brought.
The Skywing queen was never Ruby, it was Tourmaline, enchanted as Ruby.
"CLIFF!" a shrill scream tore through their thoughts. 'Damn it Scarlet!' Peril thought in a panic.
"Turtle, watch him!" She blurt out in a panic as she prepared to fly.
"ME?! What can I do!?"
"Get a guard or something!" With that she flew down to where Scarlet was stalking towards the crowd, the skywings were pushing Cliff back as best they could away from their former queen's body and Scarlet.
Peril swooped down like flaming spear, the crowd made sure to pull away from her path, ensuring their scales were safe.
Scarlet stumbled back as Peril landed between her and the crowd, her wings spread open, teeth bared, her tail sweeping the ground subtly. The rain evaporated as it reached her body, the resulting steam reflected her flaming scales in a way that made her look bigger than she was. It was clear to Scarlet that Peril would not hesitate to attack if she made another attempt forward.
"Back off, Scarlet." Peril almost surprised herself with the venom that laced her tone. She has never said Scarlet's name with such animosity before. It was clear Scarlet was surprised as well but she masked it quickly.
"Peril. Are you forgetting your place? I am your queen. You listen to me." Scarlet spoke with a growl. Her intimidation would've worked once but Peril has grown since then, she can see the fear in her eye, of which was flicking between her face, her talons and the the crowd standing behind her steaming form, her slight defensive posture signalled to her what she needed to know. Scarlet has no power over her.
"No, I don't. You are not my queen and I know my place, it's against you, and I will make sure you wont touch Cliff. You will not do any of what you did to me to him." She all but growled as she took a step towards the older dragon. She was ready to close the distance and put an end to Scarlet's life.
She hesitated.
'Why am I hesitating? She killed the queen Ruby, Cliff's mom. AND she used me all my life and brainwashed me!' Peril couldn't understand her reluctance, she was struggling to kill a monster after so long of killing without mercy.
Peril didn't realise that her attachment to Scarlet still lingered despite all she had done. After all, you don't escape a toxic relationship scott free. Peril truly thought Scarlet cared for her like a mother, and, though she knows better now, her previous feelings remain. Thus is her reasoning for her next choice.
"I'll give you a ultimatum Scarlet." She lifted her head to speak to her, attempting to force a substantial weight behind her words. "You will leave the Skywing kingdom forever, and quit your quest for revenge against the dragonets." She spoke in an even tone, like the ones she heard at the official meetings she overheard (eavesdropped on).
"HAH! Or what?" Peril's hesitation seemed to be all Scarlet needed to get her ego back. She straightened her posture, looking like the queen she wanted to be.
"Or I'll kill you, obviously!" Peril couldn't help but slip back into her brashness in the face of Scarlet's belittlement. As much as she hesitated to kill her (for some reason), Scarlet pissed her off. Her talons flexed, leaving grooves in the damp soil.
"I'd like to see you try." Scarlet turned her head to look past her now.
'Huh..? Why would she be looking away?'
"What are you-"
"STAY AWAY FROM THE PRINCE!"
"DON'T TOUCH PRINCE CLIFF!"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!!"
"PERIL! HELP!"
She whipped her head back faster than a gale wind. Behind her, she saw the Skywing crowd trying to push a large Nightwing away from Cliff and Turtle, who was holding him against him. The poor Prince's eyes were screwed shut as he clung to Turtle's neck, while Turtle was backing away as best as he could while still being protected by the crowd.
'MOONSDAMNNIT!' Peril screamed in her head. Her priorities changed as soon she saw the Nightwing.
"CHAMELEON!" She bellowed, immediately running towards her father's Nightwing form. The crowd heard her cry and immediately parted to make space for her. Chameleon was temporarily stunned at the use of his given name and gave peril the perfect opportunity to lunge at the hulking dragon.
"AAUGHH!!!"
A scream of pain erupted past his lips as soon as her talons made contact, given the fact she had thrown herself at him, he got multiple burns across his body.
'Good that should keep him down.' She thought as she leaped up of him to make sure she didn't burn him too much. She didn't know if he could die in this form after all. Though her latest victim was her father, the first thing he did after meeting her was erase her memories of Clay and make her eternally loyal to Scarlet so she held no pity towards him.
'Wait…DAMNNIT! WHERE'S SCARLET?!" She thought frantically as she whipped around, her eyes darting around to where she was last. Nothing. Not even talonprints, no clues.
"Turtle! Get someone to guard you two and him." She pointed to her father. "H-he can shapeshift into any tribe so be careful."
"O-okay. But what will you do?" He stammered out, his grip tightening around Cliff as he glanced at the unconscious Nightwing shape.
"Scarlet clearly rejected my deal so I'll kill her." 'And I won't hesitate again.' She thought resolutely, walking a few steps away from Turtle as she prepared to take off.
"Uhh… Hey, you." She pointed to two nearby yellow and orange dragons. " Get some people to watch them.. uh. please?" She forced a belated gratuity past her lips. They looked at each other, then at Turtle, Cliff and ShapeShifter, then at Peril, and back at each other. A few seconds later they nodded their heads at Peril and called a few others and walked up to the three dragons.
Peril heard Turtle mutter a "Hi.." as Cliff just sniffled, still affected by what would have been his second abduction today.
'See? I can be nice.' An image of Glory and Tsunami butted their way in to her head.
'UGH NOT NOW! I gotta find Scarlet!' She mentally groaned as she shook her head before opening her eyes and taking flight.
A golden eye watched her from the underbrush.