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Chapter Text

Darkstalker is working on trying to breathe fire again after the chaos that happened in the Ice Kingdom. He winces as the frostbreath injury flares up. Arctic is watching. "Focus," the IceWing snaps. "If it's anything like frostbreath, control is the first step."

"I know," Darkstalker growls, before he gasps, putting his talons to his neck. It's been three weeks since Diamond sent the letter that had sent Arctic over the edge; three weeks since Arctic took Darkstalker and Whiteout to the Ice Kingdom so that Whiteout can challenge Diamond; three weeks since Diamond, in one desperate attempt to make Whiteout waver, blasted Darkstalker in the neck with frostbreath, only for Whiteout to (instead of backing down) lash out in anger and tear out Diamond's throat; three weeks since Whiteout became Queen of the IceWings, and too busy to stop by at the Night Kingdom, despite her promise to Thoughtful. The war between the NightWings and the IceWings is still ongoing; Queen Vigilance refuses to let it end. If anything, the NightWing Queen is seeing the IceWings' current change of leadership as a weakness to exploit, though she can't attack the IceWings because of the Ice Cliff, so Whiteout is safe from being blindsided. The worst part, in Darkstalker's opinion, is that his injury still hasn't healed, even though he should never have gotten hurt in the first place.

Nearby, Clearsight is trying to feed Shadowhunter a slice of mango (purchased from some RainWing in the marketplace). Shadowhunter usually loves mangoes, but not this time. The week-old dragonet is staring intently at the door, refusing to interact with her mother's attempts at all. Meanwhile, Fierceclaws, blissfully unaware of whatever Shadowhunter sees, is sitting on Clearsight's head, tugging on her horns.

Darkstalker smiles at Clearsight, then goes back to trying to, at the very least, produce smoke.

Just as soon as Darkstalker makes the slightest amount of progress, feeling his throat warm up ever-so-slightly, the door bursts open. "Three moons!" Arctic yelps, then his tone turns aggressive as he says "This is my home, you must knock first."

"Silence, IceWing," the veiled NightWing hisses, pointing a spear at the IceWing Prince's throat. Darkstalker doesn't move. He doesn't know what to do. His scroll is in his room, so he can't enchant the intruder to be forced out of here. He glances at Arctic, wondering if he will use his own magic.

"I've heard that you two had dragonets last week," the intruder says to Darkstalker and Clearsight. "Are those them?" she asks, tipping her snout at Shadowhunter (who is hiding behind Clearsight's legs) and Fierceclaws (who has stopped goofing around and is now trying to lay flat on her mother's head).

"Yes, they are," Clearsight says. Darkstalker notes that her voice is oddly cold. It never ceases to annoy Darkstalker, how Clearsight is so comfortable with seeing futures so potentially-dark that Darkstalker steadfastly refuses to give them a glance; but then, that is the same reason why he was originally obsessed with Clearsight before that selfishness turned into genuine love.

The NightWing removes her veil and Darkstalker frowns; it's Queen Vigilance. "As your queen, I demand you hand them over to me now."

"No," Clearsight immediately snarls, taking a stance that screams that Vigilance should forget about being regal and just flee during the limited time where Clearsight is carefully picking Fierceclaws up off her head and setting the young NightWing down on the floor. Meanwhile, Darkstalker freezes. He can feel his injury causing more pain as he tenses up. He can't move. He hates where this is going so much that he can't see any set of actions that might lead to a good future; not any actions that he makes, anyway.

"You will do as I command," Vigilance growls. Arctic is tugging on Darkstalker, trying to get him to leave the room. Darkstalker is in no condition to do anything here, not even watch. But it's as though Darkstalker's talons are sinking into the ground. He can't leave. Not when his mate and dragonets are being threatened. "I've been told that your dragonets will spell an end to my rule. They must die so that I may continue to keep my throne."

As soon as Vigilance makes her open threat against the dragonets, Clearsight lunges too fast for Darkstalker or Arctic to do anything. It was brutal... it was terrifying. Darkstalker remembers how he and Whiteout witnessed the spats Arctic and Foeslayer sometimes have, but those were more like playful, verbal jabs. This, however, was real... and physical. Blood is being spilled as Clearsight's claws flash and her teeth chomp down. Every time Vigilance tries to fight back, Clearsight is already ten steps ahead of the Queen. It has almost the same energy as what Whiteout's fight against Diamond was like... but, then, Darkstalker had been too busy complaining to himself about the cold. Here, however, Darkstalker can see everything, and it is brutal.

When Clearsight finally stops her assault, Vigilance is laying on the ground. Vigilance is severely wounded pretty much everywhere. Meanwhile, the only blood on Clearsight was from Vigilance's wounds. Clearsight knew; that's the only way, Darkstalker realizes. She knew that Vigilance would come here to kill Shadowhunter and Fierceclaws. She was preparing for it, making herself be a better fighter, teaching herself to use her immensely-powerful foresight to be useful in directly affecting the present. Darkstalker finds himself quaking ever-so-slightly. He's found a new respect for his mate, as if he didn't have enough reasons already.

But then Clearsight takes things one step further... a step too far from what Darkstalker would've liked. "The prophecy you were told was correct, by your own undoing," Clearsight growls at Vigilance. "Our dragonets brought an end to your rule, because, by threatening them, you made me mad enough to attack. And now look at us, I do believe that I am Queen now, since it was as good as a challenge to your throne. And, my first three acts as Queen: first, I will accept Whiteout's wish for peace between our tribes, ending the war between the NightWings and the IceWings; second, I will demand that no dragonet is to be threatened because of something that isn't guaranteed to happen; and that leads me directly to my third act, making sure you don't threaten innocent lives ever again." Clearsight raises her talons and then brings them down on ex-Queen Vigilance's neck. It was swift and brutal, with no time for Vigilance to protest.

Arctic looks at Darkstalker. "Good thing I shaped up so quickly after you and your sister hatched," the IceWing admits, "I don't think I'd want to be on the receiving end of that." Darkstalker can barely remember, 9 years ago, when he hatched. Arctic was far from a good dragon then. Maybe Clearsight might've gotten ticked off at Arctic to show how nasty she could be to him if he had kept it up, but Darkstalker doubts it. If Arctic kept being as bad as he was that first week Darkstalker knew him, Darkstalker is pretty sure he might have killed Arctic first.

Chapter Text

Clearsight is absent from her throne yet again. Rumors are spreading that she has gotten sick (or, as some of the wilder believers think, that she was poisoned by someone that she removed from the Royal Council). As it turns out, however, the truth is a lot more simple, and a lot harder to keep track of. She just needs a break, since her dragonets (and Darkstalker) are already a full week's job in the span of only a single night.

Fierceclaws is racing down the halls, her claws (that are far more like an IceWing's than a NightWing's) tearing rips into the rug. She had swapped out Darkstalker's fruit juice with something very spicy, which made him have a coughing fit that made his frostbreath injury cause him pain again. She keeps running, trying to make it into her room before the Queen caught up to her. Just as she was about to reach it, a door swings open in Fierceclaws's face as an IceWing envoy (sent by Fierceclaws's aunt, Whiteout) steps out. That explains why her mother was so frantic about trying to catch her, at least. But now the damage was already done; she's out cold. And Fierceclaws will probably do the same thing again sometime later because that's just how she is.

Shadowhunter, despite being the calmer of the two, is just as bad about causing trouble. It's just that the trouble she creates is much more serious, considering that she can see the future so strongly (just like her mother... and her great-grandmother... and her great-great-grandfather... and every other future-seeing NightWing on Clearsight's side of the family). "Mommy!" Shadowhunter had yelped during a late dinner one morning. "Monkeys attacking!" It took a lot of effort for Clearsight to convince the guards that everything is fine and that there is no impending attack from any monkeys (nor scavengers, which Clearsight thinks may have been what Shadowhunter had meant).

And why was dinner so late that the sun was up? That was because Darkstalker wanted to have a little fun in the market and lay down in spots that inconvenienced his former, admittedly quite nasty neighbors. It took so long to find Darkstalker that the sky was brightening up when he was located, even though all anyone needs to do to know if some dragon is him or not is to see if there is a chill when walking past the side of any curly-horned NightWing; especially if they see a still-present frostbreath injury on said NightWing's neck.

Is it any wonder, then, why Clearsight has such a headache and soreness? The members of her family living in the Palace is completely crazy. During one of her worse moments, when she was about to pass out from sheer exasperation she had a vision of a continent far away... a full three days away. She figured it was a good spot to take a break for a week. So she left her crown with Darkstalker, telling him to NOT screw things up, then took her 2-week-long leave. It was like she, in that moment, forgot that Darkstalker acts so much like a dragonet that he may as well be a third dragonet running around. Things were disastrous (shattered glass all over the throne room floor and no sign of the crown anywhere... as well as a bunch of spilled juice and destroyed paint buckets, and too many other forms of destruction to count, Clearsight can only guess what happened while she was gone), and Clearsight had decided to never leave Darkstalker in charge ever again.

Clearsight remembers those two horrible weeks, and she's not about to repeat them. She's staying right here, in her bedroom, ready to leap into action, but only if any of the dragonets (including Darkstalker, despite him being an adult) get in trouble.

Shadowhunter pokes her head in. "Mommy?" she asks. Clearsight absently nods her head, gesturing Shadowhunter in. Shadowhunter leaps at Clearsight and hugs her tight.

Clearsight is startled for a moment, then strokes her daughter's scales. "What's wrong, sweetie?" she asks.

Shadowhunter gives Clearsight a big-eyed look. "I keep seeing it... Someone's coming... They hate you...? See them be stabby." She makes a little motion like she's stabbing Clearsight with an imaginary dagger (really, all she does is tap against Clearsight's scales), trying to show her mommy what she means, even though Clearsight is already well-aware.

Clearsight spends half the night comforting Shadowhunter, then the other half of the night comforting Shadowhunter and Fierceclaws (the latter of whom having come in, wanting hugs too... lots of them). It's not until dawn that the dragonets scurry off to their shared bedroom.

The next night, Shadowhunter is staring into a mirror. She's just realized that some visions she's had (sometimes in the same string) are conflicting with each other. "Something... wrong...?" she asks herself, tilting her head. She balls her talons into a fist and hits herself on the top of her head, under the assumption that would make her visions make sense to her. It doesn't work. And now she has a chipped scale. No longer perfect. She cries. Darkstalker comes, concerned. After quickly figuring out what was wrong, he picks her up, whispering about how she'll be okay and promising her that everyone will stay safe. When Shadowhunter is calmed down, he goes to Clearsight. Darkstalker and Clearsight talk about things that make very little sense to Shadowhunter: something wrong with her visions... something about a curse? A curse that her mommy shares, and her mommy's daddy's mommy, and... Shadowhunter yawns, then she, immediately after yawning, lets her head flop against Darkstalker's shoulder as she goes straight to sleep, too confused to stay awake.

One hour later, Fierceclaws is wandering down the halls, singing a silly tune she heard the birds outside making. She doesn't know any of the words (nor does she know that there aren't even words to begin with). But she likes it, so she's signing it, and anyone who disagrees can swallow a feather. She doesn't think she can make someone put a feather in their mouth, but she will try to do it anyway. Luckily for her, no one tells her off for her singing. If anything, most of them seem to see it as cute. She does, however, get spooked by her parents arguing with each other (Darkstalker was not happy that Clearsight called the sheer power of her foresight a curse. They don't argue often, but when they start, it lasts), so she turned around and started walking in the opposite direction, keeping her singing up.

Shadowhunter woke up the instant the voices had been raised, but since the yelling continued to make no sense, she had gone straight back to sleep.

Chapter Text

Fierceclaws is laying in the hall, waiting for her mother to let her in. She can tell that her mother is doing things. Fierceclaws knocks. No answer. She frowns. "Mommy mad?" she asks. She did cause her mother to break into tears yesterday, after Fierceclaws had been so picky with her food during lunch that Clearsight had gotten worried that she was sick. There is no response. "Okay," she whispers, then she walks away.

During breakfast, Darkstalker sighs. He's getting worried. Fierceclaws can read minds strangely-well; that's for sure. And she doesn't know how to block out others' thoughts. "Clearsight?" he asks.

The Queen of the NightWings pauses. "Hmm?" Darkstalker frowns at that. Is she up to something? Or is it just because she has food in her mouth. It's so hard for him to know what she's thinking; which is exactly why he needs to ask her what he does.

"That bracelet..." he says, "can I have it? It's about Fierceclaws."

In response to her sister's name being said, Shadowhunter brings her head up (she's been getting in a last-minute snooze after eating). "No, Daddy, don't," she says. But she's too tired to actually make it sound like more than mumbles. And she goes back to her little nap

Darkstalker is still trying to hold back a lot. Foeslayer being abducted (and, as far as everyone can guess, killed), having to say goodbye to Whiteout, his dragonets being threatened, being a complete idiot when he finally had a chance to be on the throne... and that's just the recent (relatively, in the case of his mother) stuff. There are some things even older than that he doesn't even want crossing his mind, mostly involving just how evil he could've been. If any of that crosses his mind at the wrong time, Fierceclaws might overhear it and get, at the very least, scared to the point of panic. And the futures where Fierceclaws completely loses it because of Darkstalker are getting more and more noticeable.

"Sure," Clearsight says, finally taking off the bracelet that she has refused to take off ever since Darkstalker had enchanted it for her. Darkstalker tries his hardest to avoid peeking into her mind; he barely manages the self-restraint. But then he pauses.

Woven, copper wires... betraying everything they are wrapped around.

Darkstalker shakes the vision out of his mind as he takes the bracelet from his mate. The bracelet that makes the wearer's mind completely impenetrable against eavesdropping. He'll just have it long enough to make a copy of it somehow. But for now, he slips it around his wrist. And then his energy leaves him and everything goes black.

When Darkstalker wakes up, it's much later; sunrise, in fact. He shakes his head. "Not funny, Clearsight," he growls as he stands up, stretches, and looks around.

This isn't the Night Kingdom. This is the Sky Kingdom... or, at least, he thinks it's the Sky Kingdom. Darkstalker was never good with geography, but he's quite sure the Sky Kingdom is the one with all the mountains. He was sleeping on a small-ish hill; but the hill is next to a weird-looking, two-peaked mountain that seems much bigger than all the rest of the other mountains... speaking of which, he's completely surrounded by other mountains.

He wanders around, trying to get his bearings together. The stars aren't there to guide him; the sun's light hides them all — good thing Darkstalker is half-IceWing, or he fears he'd have gone blind. He protected his scales, not his eyes.

Perhaps Clearsight was still upset over his absolute blunder a few weeks ago — it was an accident though; he had thought that making the crown be made of glass would've made it look nicer, and the thing about him playing around with it was a lie as he simply dropped it.

Or maybe she just wanted him to get out of the Night Kingdom for a bit and stretch his wings. That second guess as to why this happened scares Darkstalker a bit. After all, Darkstalker now can't stop the thoughts flowing through his mind. All this could've been ruled by a tyrant; and not just any tyrant... him. That thought scares him. He could've easily been the definition of an evil overlord. All it would've taken was for him to do literally any of the massive number of things that he could've done to send himself over the edge: he could've chosen to not forgive Arctic for how the IceWing had acted the night he hatched, he could've ignored the futures where he was evil, he could've done something to get rid of Indigo, he could've enchanted away Clearsight's free will, he could've seriously considered the enchantments Vigilance requested him to put into place, he could've let Foeslayer's disappearance get the better of him. Really, all things considered, it's a wonder how Darkstalker managed to keep himself even somewhat-decent when the future was so stacked against him. And Darkstalker doesn't like that one bit. He's good with numbers and chances — or, at least, he's better with them than he is with geography — and he can tell that this was one of very few futures where almost everything turned out alright. Almost... Foeslayer's still missing, Vigilance's blood was on Clearsight's talons while Diamond's blood has been on Whiteout's, and Darkstalker is still suffering from the injury Diamond inflicted upon him — sure, he can breathe a bit of fire again, but it's weak and puttering.

Darkstalker doesn't notice that he'd frozen up from the fear of what could've been until someone lands behind him. "Ahem," they say. "Why is there a NightWing here in the Sky Kingdom? And please don't tell me you're here to meet with Carmine; she's trying to make peace with the RainWings right now, and if I know RainWings, then I know our queen could use a break from talking to other tribes when she gets back."

Darkstalker whirls around. "Derecho..." he mutters, plucking the name from the SkyWing's mind, "listen... is there somewhere I can stay the day? I promise, I won't be here long. I'll be flying back to the Night Kingdom before long."

Derecho pauses, noticing the slight hints with Darkstalker's general appearance that give him away. "Oh, you're Darkstalker, aren't you? Uh... sure. You can stay with me, I guess." Please don't say I'm going to die... I'm going to die, aren't I?

SkyWings... sure, they're very nice, but they don't trust dragons who have animus magic because of their tendency to end up evil and murderous. Darkstalker can slightly remember that if there's an animus SkyWing, they get thrown off a cliff — though Darkstalker is pretty sure that should only work if the dragon is too young to fly, and he's also almost certain that SkyWings learn to fly very quickly. And Darkstalker is labelled as an animus, even though he technically isn't because he placed his magic in a scroll... not that he can fault anyone for thinking that he is still capable, since he prefers to keep the fact that he stripped himself of his magic a secret. But it does make being around SkyWings and SeaWings very difficult; SkyWings because they are generally scared of animus magic, and SeaWings because of Albatross.

This is going to be a long day, and the worst part is that, since Darkstalker did have a good sleep — admittedly, the best sleep he's had since before the night Diamond abducted his mother — he doesn't feel tired enough to just sleep until sunset.

It's well past midnight when Darkstalker makes it back to the palace. Fierceclaws rushes over to try to knock him over with a hug. Shadowhunter patiently waits for Fierceclaws to let go before she, too, bounds over and hugs him. The pair of dragonets are not used to their father being gone for so long; they didn't stop crying except for when they needed to eat, drink, and sleep.

Clearsight watches the father-daughters reunion carefully, planning out how to tell Darkstalker... something. In the end, however, she simply decides to keep her snout shut. Darkstalker can respect that decision; Fierceclaws, however? Not so much. As soon as Clearsight decides against saying whatever she was going to say, Fierceclaws immediately starts poking and prodding around to find out what Clearsight was about to tell her mate. She feels Darkstalker place his talons on her head warningly, letting her know that it's impolite. Fierceclaws doesn't listen. As to be expected, Fierceclaws ends up being forced to ride on top of Darkstalker's back — she's gotten too big to ride on heads — straight to her room. As soon as Darkstalker puts her down, Fierceclaws immediately realizes that she's in time-out and starts sulking.

With Darkstalker and Fierceclaws both away, Clearsight sighs. She looks at Shadowhunter. "What's gotten into me?" She asks her daughter.

An "Awrk?" of Shadowhunter not knowing the words for whatever she wanted to say, paired with a head tilt, are the only response the Queen gets.

"Ever since I..." she pauses for a moment. "Ever since I killed Vigilance, I've felt weird. There is blood on my talons and I can't wash it away. I know I did it to protect you and your sister, and all your future, younger siblings. I just..." She's just working things out for when she eventually, maybe, feels comfortable enough to talk to Darkstalker about how she felt about the situation. After all, if anyone had experience with pushing through horrible futures of turning evil, it's him. He spent his whole life doing it, after all. But, even now, she can't quite get the words to work out. It's even harder that she can see him having a confession of his own, of how he's still very scared of the horrid futures that he dodged. It makes her feel really bad about kicking him out of the Night Kingdom for the day, even if she needed the time to think about what to do about her situation.

It's going to be a long, hard path for the new NightWing Royal Family, but there are only a few futures where they won't make it through this.

And it's those few futures that Clearsight is scared of the most.

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Shadowhunter is sitting in her room, humming a tune she has seen her sister sing when they get older. She mumbles out "Now those promises are broken, like the bodies where they lay. There is no one left to save now, so it's time to fly away..." before she stops. No! Sis? SIS!?! Shadowhunter mentally screams out the fear she's suddenly feeling. She just realized what, exactly, she's singing. She clutches her head and falls to the ground, trying to get the meaning of that song out of her head.

Shadowhunter is a lot like her father, hating the idea that the future could turn bad... hating the idea that she could be a monster. She's seen it once; she's seen her little secret. And she's seen what she could do when she has both her daddy's magic and her mommy's foresight. The promise of power, and the assault of visions. She could so-easily push her sister to the point of being forced to betray her. Mommy can't protect my soul like she protected Daddy's. She pauses. She remembers what Darkstalker told her, about how animus magic is a gift and a curse; it can do anything she wants it to, but it can do anything she wants it to. If she wants to do good things with it, then it will do good things as she requests; if she wants to do monstrous things with it, then it will do monstrous things as she requests. She shakes her head. No magic. Stop focusing on it. Don't want it to tear me apart.

Fierceclaws was sitting, watching Shadowhunter have a panic attack in the other room. Futures are scary. Fierceclaws had taught herself that long ago. Every time her sister freaks out, it's always because she had or is having a vision. Fierceclaws had also long-since learned to stay away whenever Shadowhunter freaks out. Shadowhunter's visions often lead to her lashing out and hurting anyone (other than Darkstalker) who gets too close. Fierceclaws just curls up under a blanket, hiding, trying to ignore Shadowhunter's thoughts. It hurts. It hurts like nothing else Fierceclaws could ever feel. She doesn't want to leave her sister alone. She wants to hug and comfort Shadowhunter until she calms down. But Darkstalker is the only dragon who can safely be near the few-seconds-older sister during moments like this. She hears Shadowhunter think Daddy! after a moment, which is confusing; Fierceclaws can't feel the NightWing King; it's just like with Clearsight. It's as if Fierceclaws is deaf to his thoughts.

But she does pick up on familiar-feeling thoughts just outside the Palace. Fierceclaws looks out the window. It's hard to see who it is, meaning that it's probably a NightWing. Fierceclaws goes back to hiding. Why is it so familiar? Fierceclaws wonders as she stays under her blanket. It's not a guard, nor is it anyone who actually lives in the Palace; Fierceclaws knows every single dragon that spends most of their time here based on the way they think, and this dragon isn't any of them. And it's not Arctic because Arctic, being an IceWing, visibly stands out way too noticeably. The door opens, then closes. Whoever it is, they were welcomed in. There are thoughts of a party, celebrating the dragon's arrival. And that's when it hits. Those thoughts are somewhat similar to her father's, and they are a NightWing who has not been in the Night Kingdom in years. She gets to meet her grandmother... once she's absolutely certain that Shadowhunter's feeling better, anyway. Her sister still being in a panic is the only thing stopping Fierceclaws from leaping out of her room, yanking Shadowhunter out, and then rushing down to meet the one dragon in her family that she always wanted to meet but never got the chance to.

Last night was a mess for Foeslayer. She was woken up and nearly lashed out, expecting it to be Diamond. In fact, Foeslayer did land a blow, only to learn that she just attacked her own daughter. Whiteout was on the ground, bleeding from the slash to the face. Foeslayer soon learned that Whiteout killed Diamond and had been putting all her focus on finding and freeing Foeslayer. Whiteout is now in the healer's room at the IceWing Palace; the IceWing there said that the wound will probably never heal. And now Foeslayer is, having been forced away from her daughter, flying back home... a trip made easier by the surprise lack of that ice cliff. Diamond, Foeslayer had thought with a growl. Always having the last laugh; you tricked me into scarring my daughter, and I can't even retaliate against you. I hope you're happy in whatever afterlife you IceWings believe in.

The next surprise came when Foeslayer found her home empty. It made sense in retrospect. The war between the IceWings and the NightWings ended, and the only way it could've ended was if both Diamond and Vigilance lost their thrones. And Foeslayer knows her son well enough to know that he was probably at the center of it. With a sigh, worrying about the state the Night Kingdom is in, Foeslayer had walked (her wings are sore from the flight) to the NightWing Palace. She knocked, identified herself, and was let in.

The next night, she's still here, probably to stay since her granddaughters love her so much. These two little rascals... they refuse to leave her alone. They love pouncing on her tail whenever she flicks it, climbing onto her head, trying to play "Slay the Giant", and generally being a nuisance. Times like this, Foeslayer wishes she hatched on a night when the moons were full; then maybe she could understand what they're thinking about. Actually, no. She knows exactly what they're thinking about. She's a relative that they had not been able to meet. And they don't notice their aunt's blood on her claws (literally, because Foeslayer didn't get the chance to wash herself). Darkstalker had fumed for a moment when he found out that his mother just hurt his sister, but he calmed down surprisingly-quickly.

It was time, Clearsight decided. It was time to tell Darkstalker how she felt about the whole situation. Everyone is happy now. Foeslayer's back, Whiteout had finally remembered Thoughtful and sent him a letter (it's a small start, but it will be the first step to their relationship being rebuilt), the dragonets are roughhousing (she thinks). Even if this conversation gets tense — and it will, Clearsight is certain of that — it won't spoil the generally-good mood that has come to the Palace.

Clearsight slowly walks down the hall. She's on-edge. She knows Darkstalker would probably use Clearsight's worry about her soul as an excuse to get scared of the state of his own soul. If only Fathom didn't take the soul-reader when he and Indigo ran away to be together without fear of Pearl coming to force them apart. She feels small teeth clamp down on her tail, as well as a small amount of resistance when she tries to keep going. She looks back. Shadowhunter is chomping down and trying to dig her claws into the floor. Clearsight sighs. Shadowhunter probably knows — and is too focused on — just how wrong it can go. Focusing on the worst futures... it was a mistake that Clearsight made all-too-often when she was a dragonet, and many of the things she did in-response to those bad visions are things that she now regrets; they stunted her growth and strength, they caused her to nearly starve herself to death once (Darkstalker had been far from happy when he learned about that), they nearly made her relationship with Darkstalker not even happen.

With a sigh, Clearsight pulls a mango slice out from an anklet and uses it to tempt Shadowhunter into letting her move on. But when she reaches the door, she forgot what she was about to talk to Darkstalker about. In the end, they end up having a little laugh and some goofing around, and then call it quits. Clearsight may have forgotten what she wanted to discuss, but it was still a good time. Whatever weight had been on her shoulders is now gone.

Fierceclaws is in the study... one of them, anyway... trying to teach herself how to read. She wants to be like the big, smart dragons. And when Foeslayer had read a story to the sisters — a story that she loved to have read to her when she was Fierceclaws's age (though Shadowhunter disappeared midway through) — it just gave Fierceclaws the motivation to actually try to pull it off. So Fierceclaws had, as soon as Foeslayer was finished, grabbed the scroll, ran for the closest study, grabbed the closest scroll from the closest shelf, then tried to use the way Foeslayer read the story to try to figure out how to read the scroll that she just grabbed. "Th... the... Sc..." That's as far as she gets, as she feels a sudden weight crash down onto her back. Startled, Fierceclaws pushes her attacker off. It's Shadowhunter. Fierceclaws giggles, then notices Shadowhunter's expression. "Sis? What's wrong?"

"I did something bad..." Shadowhunter says. "I used my magic. Mommy was making a mistake. I tried to stop her... got tricked, so I made her forget."

"Oh..." was Fierceclaws's only response. She couldn't say anything else. Animus magic is too confusing for Fierceclaws to focus on it. But Shadowhunter has it, and it scares Shadowhunter, so it's obviously a very bad thing.

Chapter Text

Darkstalker watches out the window. There are clouds on the horizon. Darkstalker can see that this storm will be horrid, as bad as it was on... was it his second week of school? Or his third? He shakes his head and sneaks into Clearsight's room using a passageway that he discovered on the second night in the palace (he wanted to order it to be boarded up because of the risk; Clearsight had refused). He's not fond of forgery... but technically he is a ruler, just not the Queen, so he isn't necessarily forging so long as he doesn't necessarily pretend he's Clearsight. He quickly dips a claw into an inkwell and writes out On official orders from the NightWing royal family, no one is allowed to leave their homes for this next week starting tomorrow night, onto a scroll before sneaking back out of Clearsight's room and placing it on the stack of rulings that need urgent reading by the speaker.

Well, that's something taken care of and out of the way, he decides. He's lucky Clearsight decided to stretch her wings and go for a last-moment hunting trip before the storm hits. Now to wait for it to pay off.

"Grandma," Fierceclaws asks Foeslayer, "why are the clouds crying?"

"Well," Foeslayer starts, then pauses. It would be far more helpful if she could understand the direct explanation.

Fierceclaws, hearing that thought, growls and baps her as hard as possible (which isn't much). "I'm not stupid, Grandma!" she yells.

Foeslayer chuckles. "Well, then, I guess your parents won't blame me if you insist. See, when it's daytime, the sun is very hot." Fierceclaws nods. She knows this; she was awake during the day once and felt horrible due to the sun's heat on her black scales. "It's so hot that water rises up into the air and create clouds."

"But now the clouds are crying," Fierceclaws points out, noticing that Foeslayer didn't exactly answer quite yet. "Does the water not like being in the air?"

"No, sweetie, it does not. Once there's enough water in the clouds, then the water will fall back down to the ground."

Fierceclaws frowns, unsure of what to make of that explanation. Something capable of being in the air that doesn't like being in the air? That makes no sense in her head. She flails her wings a bit, trying to get off the ground in an effort to prove to Foeslayer that things that can be in the air are better when in the air. Unfortunately, her wings are still a bit weak and Fierceclaws, even then, hasn't quite figured out how to flap them in a way that could lift her up.

And then there's a loud BOOM! and Fierceclaws shrieks, clinging to her grandmother's leg.

Shadowhunter is doing something she shouldn't. She brought a few fruits, and a dead chicken, into her room and is eating while hiding under her blankets, making a mess. The noises are scary, and unlike her sister (who's with their grandmother), Shadowhunter is alone... sure, she could be with her mommy and daddy, but she's not that desperate... yet. There's a lot of banging. It makes her feel weird (not sick, but certainly not okay) as she recalls her visions of monkeys - or "scavengers" as her parents call them - attacking the palace (a vision that has since faded into impossibility, for now). And then she runs out of food. But it's too scary for her to go and get more. She curls up under her messy blankets and tries to block the noises out.

Clearsight is watching out the window. Shortly after waking up, she found out what Darkstalker did under her snout (well, she already knew he might do it, but she didn't realize until this evening that he actually went through with it). Well, at least he had a good reason. The winds are horrible and the lightning is frequent, and Clearsight knows that dragons, unfortunately, tend to have a bad habit of refusing to accept if conditions are too bad for a flight. The NightWings are sheltering from the storm, which means no one should be knocked out of the air. Everything should be fine.

So why is there always blood in her visions?

Clearsight shakes her head and tries to focus down a different timeline. There's blood there too. She looks, and keeps looking. Someone's going to die... someone important. And there's nothing she can do about it; it's everywhere, a certainty. Clearsight tries to work out who's most at-risk, but nothing's coming. Darkstalker's in his room, reading something; Fierceclaws and Foeslayer are together; Shadowhunter, Clearsight had to look through her visions to find out what she's up to in the present, is going to need to be (gently, she's only doing it out of nervousness) scolded later; Listener's at her home; Whiteout's all the way in the Ice Kingdom, while Fathom and Indigo are in the Rainforest Kingdom, so none of them are even affected. She must be forgetting someone, which doesn't happen often and it makes her worried. After the storm dies down, she'll send a search party to find any dragons that may have been hurt or killed by the harsh conditions. That should solve the main problems of who and what happened, even if it will almost-certainly cause grief later on.

Arctic is flying back to the Night Kingdom (after having spent the past week in the Ice Kingdom, waiting for Whiteout to recover as much as she could from her scratch), having finally gotten to talk to his daughter and learn that Foeslayer, his midnight emerald, had been freed from the shackles Diamond put her in. He's almost giddy, even though being able to be back with Foeslayer means he'll most-likely have to put up with his son again. The sky's darker than usual, even for nighttime, as he flies through some thick clouds. There's a storm, though Arctic is keeping high. If he gets knocked out of the air by the winds, he should have time to right himself.

And then it all falls apart as a blast of lightning goes through him.

He's laying on the ground, coughing and gasping, his wings spread awkwardly and the membranes torn to shreds. He's trying to push through the electricity coursing through him. He grabs the closest thing he could feel and tries to gasp out  an enchantment. "Enchant... holding... don't let me..." And then the shock courses through his heart. The IceWing prince - the son of ex-Queen Diamond of the IceWings, and the father of both Queen Whiteout of the IceWings and formal-King Darkstalker of the NightWings - drops to the ground... his eyes dull, and his mouth held open in a silent gasp. All he wanted was to use this opportunity and apologize to Foeslayer for everything... all the arguments, her getting abducted, all of it. But it was denied before he even got the chance to tell her anything.