Work Text:
We’re not okay, but we’re doing wonderful.
Starflight wakes up sometimes, panicking, because I cant’s see I can’t see icantseeicantseeicant –
He trips over his own claws, and doesn’t bother getting back up off the floor, there’s no point, and every day it’s a little bit harder to remember what the sky looked like.
On the bad days, Tsunami refuses to sleep, afraid she’ll see her father’s face, dead, or her sister, crazy, and she has to stop herself from finding every dragon she’s every hurt and apologizing to them, because maybe then I can apologize to myself.
On the bad nights, she goes out flying, to get away from everyone and herself.
Clay still limps, not from his leg but from his mind. I could have saved them, maybe if I had been better, tried harder, I could have saved them all. But he can’t change the past, so he goes forward, ignoring the whispers of You can’t change the world, you’re just one dragon, this will never work. If he tells everyone that this will work, maybe he’ll learn to believe it will.
Most of the time, Glory thinks she can handle this, handle leading two tribes when she should be worrying about whether she wanted pomegranates or grapefruits for lunch.
Most of the time, she’s too busy to pause and think and question herself. You can’t get stuck if you never stop moving. Too busy to want a few moments of not being queen, of only being responsible for herself.
Sunny considers herself happy. She has friends, and a school, and they trust her and listen when she has something important to say. She even has parents – or a mother, at least. I am okay, she tells herself, I didn’t get the normal family or even a normal life, but I’m perfectly fine with that. She wishes she was a better liar.
We’re not okay, or fine, or even good, but we can be happy.