Chapter Text
Clearsight was not entirely sure why dragonets had to grow up so darn fast.
She was pretty sure it was only yesterday that she and Sunstreak were bent over a clutch of three beautiful round eggs, gleaming black like chunks of ebony under the starlight. When she lifted her shaking talons and ran them over the eggs' rough surface, she was overwhelmed with visions of who the dragonets would be. But it was a happy overwhelmed, an I am a mother and these are my dragonets and I hardly know them, but I love them so much already kind of overwhelmed.
And then they were hatched, three perfect little dragonets, their eyes like pools of starlight. And she'd struggled at the sight of them, to see little pieces of Darkstalker in them and to want more than anything to have her beloved back, watching over these dragonets with her. Dragonets that were just as much his as they were hers.
But she'd gotten over it, with Sunstreak by her side. They were just so wonderful and perfect in their own little way. The largest of them, a playful dragonet with a dark green glint to her shiny scales, she'd named Foeslayer; Foeslayer's brother, a much calmer, more studious dragonet who had hatched a day layer than the others, was Saros; and the last one, the dragonet who was most like Darkstalker in her face and in her bearing, received the only name clearsight thought fit: Shadowhunter, synonymous with Darkstalker. A name that they'd once upon agreed to give their own daughter, in a rosy pink future where Darkstalker never went mad and Clearsight never had to see bucketfuls of blue IceWing blood splatter the stage like spray from a waterfall. A future where Shadowhunter wasn’t the daughter of a terrifying dragon who lived on only in nightmares, but the daughter of kind, loving parents and a wonderful father who would never do anything evil like trying to kill Vigilance or making his own father disembowel himself.
She worried about Shadowhunter, more than the others, at least. Saros was the most understanding and well-mannered of the three, her perfect little angel as Sunstreak always said. And even if Foeslayer was a little raucous and easily forgetful (much like her namesake), her heart was in the right place and she would never do anything she thought might actually hurt Clearsight. But Shadowhunter... Clearsight knew she was a happy and sweet young hatchling for now, but there were traces of Darkstalker in her, more so than the others. Many of her futures were much darker than Clearsight was on board with. She would just have to remind herself to focus on the present and what she could do with it. Shadowhunter would learn what it meant to have that kind of potential, that kind of power over the future, in time.
At first, the three of them were small and precious and wonderful, just like any dragonets. But they seemed to age in snap. When she came home with stripped rabbit flesh, they no longer guzzled it up unhesitatingly; Saros was full of questions about where she had got it and did it really used to have fur on it and did the SilkWings and LeafWings eat the same food as them, Clearsight? Did they? When she brought toys or play-things, they would no longer take as readily to them; Foeslayer was beginning to ask if she could lead expeditions out of the nest as an alternate form of entertainment (which Clearsight tried her best to stop, and she thought she was usually pretty successful, thank the moons). When she told them tales of their father, Darkstalker, and all the evil things he’d done, the glint in Shadowhunter's eyes was longer of fear, but of a mild curiosity.
However small it was, it was a dangerous curiosity. It was a curiosity that spun out into terrible futures with a whole lot more Darkstalker in them than Clearsight had ever wanted to bargain with, preferably ever.
She just hoped she still had things in control.
She had chosen the future she wanted and this was it, and she couldn't let the sacrifices she had made all go to waste.
She just had to keep drilling it into their heads.
Darkstalker is bad. Darkstalker is a very, very bad dragon. Never be like Darkstalker. Never use any of your powers or strengths for evil. Stay in the light. Stay away from dragons like Darkstalker.
Your father is a very bad dragon.
Foeslayer was pretty sure that all Clearsight wanted in the whole wide world was for life to be infinitely boring.
"Stay in the nest," their mother would drone on and on. "Stay away from the Pantalan dragons. Don't leave while I'm off hunting. Don't talk to anyone while I'm off hunting. Don't do anything dangerous, ever."
But what was the point of life if they didn't go out and do things, no matter the danger?
Foeslayer wanted to feel the fresh air on her wings as she soared into a dive. She wanted to be in the jungle, for real, with all the scents and sights and sounds it entailed. She wanted to talk to whatever dragon she pleased, ask whatever questions she could think of, and do whatever she wanted to. She wanted to be an explorer. She wanted to discover things, just like Clearsight had discovered the continent of Pantala. There was a whole world of possibility out there; why couldn't her mother understand that? Why didn’t she let them leave the nest?
"You're too small," she would always say in response to Foeslayer's probing questions. "And it's dangerous. I don't want you out there until you can fly properly."
During the daytime, when Clearsight was out hunting or with the Pantalan dragons, Saros would try to placate her. "You know it's only because she's afraid, Foeslayer. She wants us to be safe," he explained one day.
"She's ashamed of us," Foeslayer declared. At Saros' wince, she said it louder. "She's ashamed of us! That's it, right? That's what you're not telling me. She doesn't want the Pantalan dragons seeing our disgraceful faces! Well, guess what? I didn't ask to be like this! I'd have wanted to be a normal LeafWing, not Darkstalker's dragonet!" She kicked a rock angrily.
Saros reached out, touching Foeslayer's shoulder. "Foeslayer, it's not like that..."
"It is too like that," Foeslayer said, staring out at the treelike. "Let's do it. Let's go out again."
"Clearssight is just going to catch us and bring us back."
"Not if we're smart and try to avoid her. Come on, Saros, don't be such a worrywart!"
"Why can't we just do what Clearsight says?" Saros' voice was taking on a whiny, can't-you-please-just-listen tone.
Foeslayer was about to respond with an angry retort-- something about how Clearsight didn't know anything-- but much to her surprise, she didn't have to. Shadowhunter, who she thought had been napping in the corner of the nest, spoke up for the first time.
"Because. If Clearsight had her way, we would all just be living in fear. She's so terrified of what happened with our stupid father that she wants to hide us from anything bad that could ever happen to us."
Saros looked uncertainly between Shadowhunter and Foeslayer. "She has a reason to be afraid," he said, a little unsure of himself now.
Foeslayer bit back a growl. "Look, I don't really care what you two think. All I know is that I'm tired of being holed up in here. I'm going to have a look around, a real look around, and you can come with me if you want to."
She strode away from the nest, doing her best to be careful and not stumble as she stepped out into the scrubby grass because that would kind of ruin the effect. She very pointedly did not look back at either of them, because she was going for a Big Grand Dramatic Exit and looking back would also totally ruin the effect. As she'd expect, she heard the sounds of talons clacking against the hard dry earth behind her. They came. Of course. Shadowhunter probably agreed with her, and no matter what his doubts were, Saros wouldn't want to be left behind while the two of them went off. Which was good. Foeslayer had to admit she felt much better with both of them by her side. Leaving the nest was something that Clearsight had absolutely, 100% forbidden until they were stronger.
But Clearsight wasn't here, and Foeslayer didn't have to listen to her. She would do it. She would go off on her own, and she would prove to Clearsight that they didn't have to live such a sheltered life. They didn't have to be so afraid of everything all the time.
"So? Where? Exactly? Are we planning on going?" Saros said, tilting his voice up mid sentence like he was asking several questions instead of just one.
Foeslayer paused. She hadn't actually thought about that. She hadn't really put a whole lot of thought into anything about this, to be frank. She had really only focused on the getting-out-of-the-nest part, as opposed to the what-to-do-after-that part.
"The village," Foeslayer said boldly, trying to appear as if she had had that particular detail planned out the whole time. "Where the SilkWings and LeafWings live. I want to know what they look like."
She'd only ever seen glimpses of a SilkWing called Sunstreak, visiting the nest to check up on Clearsight and the dragonets. He was thin and elegant and a very shimmery-sort-of yellow color, much brighter and more glimmery than anyone else Foeslayer had known. Of course, she had only ever known Clearsight and the other dragonets, and the most colorful among them was Saros, whose scales were so light in some places it was almost blue, and who had a line of white-blue scales along his snout and the ridge of his wings. He was also the most elegant of them, having a diamond-shaped snout, a thin body, and a tapered tail. Clearsight had explained that this was inherited from their grandfather on Darkstalker's side, Prince Arctic, formerly of the IceWings. The IceWings were supposedly very light in color and a lot more prickly and elegant, to hear Clearsight tell it. The only sign of IceWing at all in Foeslayer or Shadowhunter was that their horns were slightly more sharp and icicle-y and their tails were slightly more whip-thin at the end than their full-NightWing mother, Clerasight.
But that was nothing in comparison to how different Sunstreak was. His scales were so shimmery, they almost seemed to glow gold when they were struck by sunlight, and he had an extra pair of wings shaped like an insect's tucked under the first pair. As soon as she had heard there were more dragons like him, and other dragons who were even more different, Foeslayer had wanted to meet them all. Imagine how exciting that would be, talking to real live silkWing! A dragon who was almost nothing like Foeslayer! She could just imagine all the stories the Pantalan dragons would have to tell her, brand new interesting things, things that were nothing at all like her boring, ordinary life in the nest. She couldn't wait to hear them.
But Saros was having none of that. "Excuse me, but if we go to the village, we're going to stick out like crazy!"
"Yes," Foeslayer said impatiently. "And that matters... why?"
"Those dragons all know Clearsight," Saros said, rolling his eyes.
"...And that matters... whhhhyyyy?"
Saros gave an impatient huff. "As soon as they see that we're there, they're going to ask questions. Like where Clearsight is, and why we're not with her, and aren't we supposed to stay in the nest, and other stuff like that. We should go out, where there's no nosy dragons and no one to recognize us."
"Alright, smarty-pants," Foeslayer said irritatedly. "Why don't you just boss us around about everything?"
"I didn't ask to," Saros said defensively, crossing his talons awkwardly.
"Why would you ask a question only to harp at me for giving you an answer? Do you want to be in charge? Remember how big and scary it is out there, Saros," Foeslayer said mockingly.
"Lay off him," Shadowhunter grunted.
Foeslayer was about to say something angry in response, but then another voice cut in above them, startling her.
"And what exactly are you three doing out here?"
Foeslayer looked up and met Sunstreak's bright, glittery green eyes. She squawked loudly and shouted something along the lines of run for it, and the next moment all three of them were belting away from the makeshift camp where the nest lay and towards the safety of the tree line.
Luckily for them, they'd had the element of surprise on their side. By the time Sunstreak realized they had bolted, they had ducked into the cover of the trees and were scrambling to hide in a nook between two tree roots.
"Look where whining and yelling at each other gets us," Shadowhunter hissed under her breath as they shuffled to make room.
"Shut up," Foeslayer whispered back. "It's not my fault. Saros is the one who started talking back to me."
Shadowhunter arched her brow. "Are you forgetting that before Saros pointed out how much of a bad idea it'd be, you were perfectly okay with going to the village?"
Shadowhunter was right. Foeslayer let out a gusty sigh. Shadowhunter was always right, because Foeslayer was so darn scatterbrained all the time and three moons, she was getting tired of it.
When she was sure it was safe and Sunstreak wasn't coming after them, Foeslayer crept out from the hiding place from the hiding place, her brother and sister just tail-lengths behind her.
"Clearsight's at the beach hunting and clearing up debris," she said matter-of-factly, trying to sound surge of herself to prove to Saros that she knew what she was doing. "So we shouldn't head there. We should go further inland, deeper into the jungle."
"I want to climb a tree," Shadowhunter said. "So I can try to fly."
Saros looked as if he was about to argue with her, but Shadowhunter shot him a glare. He shut his mouth firmly and looked downward, eyes trained on his talons.
"At any rate," Foeslayer continued, "we need to get away from the village, just in case anyone comes after us. Let's get going."
Foeslayer's talons were itching to explore. She wanted to see the sky, the sea, the animals of the forest Clearsight talked about. She wanted to see everything. She could only imagine how amazing it'd be. The stories Clearsight told-- the nightmares she fed them day after day-- Foeslayer knew that they were nothing in comparison to the actual beauty out there. They just had to be. Clearsight was just a scaredy cat; Foeslayer had already seen the jungle, and it was not even a fraction as scary as Clearsight had made it out to be.
"Alright," she said boldly, her courage growing with every step. "I think we're far enough away now. Let's get climbing!"
Foeslayer selected a tree with some decently low enough branches, and a few feet away Shadowhunter did the same, with Saros pacing restlessly below them and mumbling something about how dangerous it was. As if there was anything to be truly afraid of! She could feel herself grinning as she scampered through the branches. She didn't care about flying or whatever it was Shadowhunter wanted to climb the tree for. She just wanted to glimpse the sky from the treetops, feel the wind against her scales...
And then, just like that, scrambling past a few branches so thin they could barely hold her weight, her head popped out above the trees.
Whoa.
The forest was spread out in front of her like a map traced in the sand. The tree she had climbed was just tall enough to be able to see a spot where the trees thinned, far away, and their was just the faintest sound of crashing waves in the distance. Foeslayer could pick up a lot of sounds she hadn't been able to before, actually. Without the thick layer of leaves muting the outside noise, she could catch the whooshing of the wind, the hustle-and-bustle sounds of the village, faint birdsong, and, of course, the ocean.
It was beautiful and it was amazing and it was absolutely everything Foeslayer could have ever hoped for.
She nearly fell out of the tree, clambering to go forward, to go to the next tree over, to see more, to see everything. She wanted to explore the entire continent. She wanted to meet every dragon that lived there. There was so much out there to explore— why couldn't Clearsight see that?
She wasn't sure how long she was up there, just soaking in the wonderfulness of the environment, but it couldn't last forever. She was jolted from her thoughts by a sudden, piercing shriek from far below.
Saros!
"Shadowhunter!" came his far-off cry. "Go faster! Run!"
This was cut off by some muffled grunts and screams. Before even thinking about it, Foeslayer launched herself down through the branches, as fast as she could possibly go, so fast she was losing control of herself. Her tail caught against a branch, she slipped to the side, and she suddenly fell, plummeting down to the forest floor with nothing to stop her fall. She landed with a terrible crunching sound and a flash of searing, overwhelming pain.
And then there was a slash, and claws connected with her awkwardly extended wings, and there were cries of, "No, don't hurt her!" that sounded like Saros and some supplementary, "We're not outsiders, you don't need to hurt us, please, we're Clearsight's dragonets, we're not a threat, please!" and everything was painful and everything was slipping and Foeslayer blinked blearily and saw a blurry face that somewhat resembled Shadowhunter's, but that didn't make any sense because wasn't she supposed to be far away by now? Foeslayer was pretty sure that was what was supposed to have happened.
And a gruff voice was saying something in an unfamiliar language, and someone was cutting it off with, "No, we’re just dragonets, we didn't mean whatever we did wrong, please don’t hurt us" and all through it all there was a soft, panicked whisper in Foeslayer's ear, a female voice that was vaguely familiar to her, like Shadowhunter’s voice, almost, saying, “This isn't happening, this can't be happening, that's blood, that's blood blood blood and there's too much of it everywhere, Foeslayer no, you can't die, Foeslayer it would be incredibly helpful if you could be okay right now..."
Foeslayer was losing her ability to focus. The voice began to slowly drain out, and the last thing she remembered was a panicked murmur of, "Don't die, you idiot, those wounds look really bad, please, please just heal" before she was swept away into a haze of excruciating pain. It was like her bones actually were shifting under her scales. She let out an agonized groan and realized that, besides that sound, the clearing was now dead silent.
She forced herself to move away from the pain and focus on what was actually happening. The lack of noise was wrong, somehow. Something terrible must have happened. Her vision still shaky, she managed to pick up the shape of a dragon, and her eyes slowly focused in on Shadowhunter’s shocked face.
”I told her wounds to heal,” Shadowhunter brole the silence in a mesmerized tone, “and they did. They’re healing. They’re actually knitting back together right now.”
The stranger, who Foeslayer saw was a tall red-green LeafWing, garbled something unintelligible to her in a rush and jumped into a sudden, frantic flight back towards the village.
Foeslayer’s pain was dissipating and her head was beginning to clear. She was here, it was now, it was okay, and she had no broken bones or torn wings or anything terrible like that. She was completely okay, it seemed.
”Come on,” she said, heaving herself up into a sitting position. “What are we laying around for? Let’s get going. We’re running out of time.”
Shadowhunter and Saros exchanged equally dubious looks with each other, and for once, Foeslayer was pretty sure that Shadowhunter was going to be on Saros’ side.
She was, disappointingly, right in that count. “We’re going back,” Shadowhunter said, “right now.”
”But—“
”No buts.” Shadowhunter looked Foeslayer dead in the eye. “I just told your wounds to heal, and they healed. We are going home before something else abnormal or awful or completely insane happens.”
Foeslayer knew that there was no point in arguing with her. Sighing, she began picking the path back to the nest, Saros and Shadowhunter in tow, nursing a quiet bitterness against the stranger who just had to interrupt them right when she was just beginning to have some fun.
But a small part of her was worried. She wasn’t 100% what she had seen through the haze of pain, but Shadowhunter had said that she her wounds on command, a power that only a very special dragon could have. A power that only animus dragons had, in fact.
The same power that drove their father mad.
Perhaps she was mostly just disappointed that their fun was cut off so soon. Perhaps she was barely worried about that power at all. But still, there was that small part of her, a concern that kept nagging at the back of her brain.
What does this mean for us?
What does this mean for Shadowhunter?
What’s going to happen to us now?