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Chapter Text

Carnelian huffed, walking down the halls alongside Qibli, one of the most irritating members of her winglet. The chatty Sandwing had asked her to meet him after class, saying that he had something to show her. She was the only one who didn’t have some kind of extra-curricular activity keeping her busy, which was why he had decided to burden her with his presence.

“So what is this thing you wanted to show me anyway?” She asked impatiently. They were heading down one of the back passages in the mountain, where the staff had specifically told them not to go. She doubted all these passages had even been mapped.

“If I tell you it’ll spoil the surprise! Just trust me here Carnie.” He replied, looking at her over his shoulder.

“Call me that again and you’ll be going back to class on a stretcher.”

He chuckled at her threat. “Come on, it’ll be cool. I found this while I was out, uh… surveying the environment.”

“So you were sneaking around trespassing.” 

“Trespassing is a strong word.”

Carnelian rolled her eyes. The only reason she was going along with this is because she didn’t have anything better to do, it was either this or sit in her winglets cave studying. And in there she’d have to put up with Kinkajou… yeah, this was definitely preferable to that.

They made their way through a few more winding passages, the light of the torches being left behind in these new unexplored halls. But it wasn’t to last, as soon, the passage opened up, revealing a large doorway, two huge stone doors had fallen from their hinges and lay on the ground. Within, was a large atrium, with torches on the walls, burning with an eerie blue flame.

“Woah…” Carnelian said with awe. This place was right under their claws the whole time?

“Told you.” Qibli said with a smirk. Carnelian smacked him with her wing in response.

“So… what actually is this?” She asked, peering through the door. There were several pedestals deeper in the room, with various objects resting on them.

“No idea. I didn’t want to head in alone when I first found it, I’d probably end up with a curse or something.”

“So you brought me along so we can both get cursed instead?”

“Hey, I wanted to bring someone who was capable, experienced, someone who knows how to handle themselves…”

“Padding my ego isn’t going to get you anywhere, cactus licker.”

“Well it was worth a shot at least. Point is, I didn’t wanna investigate the creepy ruins alone, and everyone else was busy.”

“You didn’t think this was worth reporting to the teachers?”

“And have them block this place off and confiscate all the cool stuff? No way.” He said, stepping through the doorway. “Look, if you don’t wanna do this, that’s fine, I don’t wanna pressure you into it.”

Carnelian hesitated for a moment, before following him in. No was she going to wimp out of something like this. “And let a sandsnorter like you take all the credit? I’m no coward.”

The entire room was covered in dust and cobwebs, clearly having gone untouched for a long time.

“What do you think this place even is?” Carnelian asked, looking at one of the objects that sat on one of the pedestals, it was a strange glass orb, like one of those snow globes from the Ice Kingdom, but completely empty.

Qibli shrugged. “Looks like some sort of storage room, or maybe a trophy room. Either way, these items must be important…” He said.  “These torches are still burning despite how old this place is, so either someone is coming down here to light them every so often, or they’re magically lit.” He continued, examining the surroundings.

“Hmm…” Carnelian hummed, picking up the glass orb, pondering it. It left a strange tingle on her talons. “Like… what’s it called… animus magic?”

“Exactly.” He said. “So maybe… this is some kind of storage room for animus artifacts? Maybe stuff that Stonemover made for the Nightwings? He’s also down in this mountain…” He thought aloud, accidentally nudging an empty pedestal as he paced around, knocking it over. It hit the ground with an extraordinarily loud CRACK, echoing through the mountain. 

Carnelian dropped the orb she was holding in surprise, watching it shatter against the rock as it hit the ground. She felt a wave of tingles go through her body. Please don’t tell me he was right about all that curse stuff. 

“Shit!” She exclaimed, turning to Qibli. “What in the moons are you doing!?”

“Whoops.” He replied, wincing. “I think that’s our cue to leave.” He said, looking around as if the walls were about to come to life. Carnelian wasn’t going to argue with that.

The pair quickly made their way out of the caverns, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible once they reached the populated halls. Thankfully, it seemed like their little escapade had gone unnoticed. Qibli had decided that he would inform the staff tomorrow, so as to not draw suspicion to himself or Carnelian.

Carnelian, meanwhile, was more than happy to get some shut eye. It was getting late, and she could use some rest after that little adventure. She stepped into her winglet’s cave, making a point of ignoring Kinkajou’s cheery greeting. She lay down and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost as soon as she rested her head.

That night, her dreams were different. Usually, she dreamt of past battles, of blood and death on the battlefield, the things that made up so much of her life during the war. But tonight, it was different. She was burning, her scales charred and blackened. Faces drifted into view, the faces of her winglet, standing over her, before they faded. 

That was all she remembered from her strange dream, before she slowly drifted awake. What in Pyrrhia was that? Why would her dreams include the faces of these stupid dragonets she was stuck with? She didn’t care about them, and certainly didn’t think about them enough for them to be in her dreams. Whatever, she had classes to go to.

The day had gone by in a blur of sitting around in boring classrooms listening to boring teachers talk about boring stuff, right now, she was on her way to history class. She enjoyed history, but unfortunately the Seawing they had gotten to teach it was quite possibly the most mind numbing dragon she had ever met. At least the scrolls were interesting.  The only other thing of note that had happened during the day was Peril making an appearance. Out of all dragons, she was the last one Carnelian had expected to be here. She had debated catching up with the firescales, but decided that was best left for tomorrow. She had classes to get to.

She had arrived at the classroom to quite the scene. The Nightwing of her winglet, Moonwatcher, was currently shouting about something, while Qibli and the Icewing, Winter, stood next to her. She rolled her eyes. She got the creeps from Moon, with how strange she was sometimes. She always got the feeling she was hiding something. Whatever, she had a class to get to.

“Hey, don’t go in there.” Qibli suddenly said, moving to cut her off.

“What? Why?” She asked, she really didn’t want to have to deal with his nonsense right now.

“Uhh… one of the torches is acting up, smells terrible in there.” 

Carnelian gave him a skeptical look, stepping forward and giving the air a sniff. “Smells fine to me.”

“W-wait, you really shouldn’t-”

“Ugh, I don’t have time for this, sandsnorter.” She said, stepping into the classroom. Before she could make it more than 5 steps in, the world suddenly went white.

A searing pain filled her senses, with ringing in her ears. She couldn’t see, she couldn’t hear, all she could feel was pain. She felt claws grab her shoulders, dragging her out of the classroom. Her vision started to clear. Above her, were the faces of her winglet, as well as Peril. Just like her dream…

She opened her mouth to try and say something, but the pain was overwhelming. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t keep her eyes open. She felt so tired. The world drifted away, and all that remained was the infinite silence of the beyond.

She gasped, shooting up. She was in her bed, in her winglet’s cave. She looked down at her claws. She was alive, she could breathe, she was alive…

What in Pyrrhia had just happened?

Chapter Text

“Carnelian? Are you okay?” A voice asked her. It was Moonwatcher. She and Carnelian were the only ones in the sleeping cave, everyone else had already left for class.

“Y-yes. I’m fine.” She said, taking a few moments to catch her breath.

“Are you… sure?”

“YES” Carnelian shot back. “Yes, I’m sure.” Moon shrunk back. The last thing Carnelian needed right now was this Nightwing pestering her.. Was it a dream? A very detailed and realistic dream? She'd had those before, but they were usually about things that had already happened. Everyone knew about those myths of Nightwings seeing the future, but those were just myths. Nobody could actually see the future, right?

Carnelian got up, walking out of her cave. It was best to just go along with the rest of her day, forget about her strange, unsettling dreams. And so that was exactly what she did. Like always, it was a drag. Boring class after boring class. But she found herself completely unable to focus. She turned over her dreams in her head, no matter how hard she tried to forget them. That was, until it was time for history class.

Moon was freaking out, Qibli was telling her to stay out of the classroom. Because of a faulty torch. Just like her dream…

“Carnelian? You still with us? Hellloooooo, Pyrrhia to Carnelian.” The voice of Qibli drifted into her ears.

“Huh, what, yes, I'm here, you can shut up now.” Carnelian replied. She had zoned out, everything was playing exactly as it had in her dream…

"Alright well, like I said, the torch is acting up, so keep out, unless you wanna smell like- hey, wait! Carnelian!"

Curiosity had overtaken her rationality. She ignored Qibli and Moon's continued warnings, walking up to the entrance to the history cave and peering inside. Was her dream really a premonition? Everything looked normal to her, Bigtail was already inside, sitting at a desk, while Tamarin was hiding behind a shelf. Wait, why was she..?

But just as she thought that, a white flash filled her vision. This time, she didn't even feel any pain. Instead, it was just that silence. The silence of the beyond.

Carnelian opened her eyes. She was back in the sleeping cave.

Okay, this wasn’t normal. Nothing about this was normal. That was not a dream. She just died, she definitely just died. But… she wasn’t dead. How..?

“Carnelian? Are you okay?” The voice of Moon asked. Again. Carnelian didn’t answer, too lost in thought. How was this possible? And… why? Why would this be happening? Was this the reincarnation that her and the rest of the Skywings believed in? But her soul wasn't in a new body, it was still in her own...

“Carnelian..?”

“What, what do you want? Yes, everything’s fine.” She said, getting out of her bed. Moon gave her a strange look.

So. If she really was reliving this day, then the same things would happen every time, right? Which meant that explosion in the history cave would happen too, the one that killed her. But this time, she could be ready, she could warn everyone. But… who would believe her? She couldn’t even explain it to herself, how could she explain it to others?

Unless… She did have an explanation. The only thing she had done recently that really stood out was exploring those ruins with Qibli, and that weird orb she broke. That had to be the cause, right? What else could it be? She could go talk to him, go tell him what was happening. He was there, he’d believe her, and then they could go back, find a way to reverse this.

Moon was now staring at her, looking very concerned.

“What are you staring at, Nightwing?” Carnelian shot at her. She REALLY didn’t want to deal with Moon’s weirdness right now.

The Nightwing quickly turned away.

Carnelian stepped out of the cave, her pace brisk as she searched for the unreasonably irritating Sandwing. She ducked through the students crowding the halls, weaving between dragons. He had biology right now, if her memory served her right, and class hadn’t started yet. She spied the Sandwing through the crowd, racing towards him.

“Qibli! Qibli wait!” She called. He turned his head towards her.

“Carnelian? What are you doing here? Don’t you have maths right now?”

“I need to talk to you. Now. It’s important.” Her voice was serious and her expression intense.

“Woah, what’s going on? You look angrier than usual.”

“I’m not ANGRY okay!? Something is going on, and we need to talk.”

“Okay okay, what’s going on?”

“Listen, this is going to sound insane but… you remember those ruins that we explored? The ones filled with animus objects?’

“Yeeeaah?”

“Yeah well… I think it did something to me.”

“What kinda something? Are your scales turning to stone?”

“No I… Qibli, every time I die, I wake up again on this day, back in the sleeping cave. It’s happened twice now.”

“Okay Carnelian, nice try but I’ve read that scroll.” He said with a chuckle.

“I’m being serious! Listen, just before history class starts, an explosion is going to go off, and that explosion is going to kill me.”

Qibli’s expression shifted into suspicion. “Wait, what?”

“I’ve seen it! Twice! It’s killed me twice!” Carnelian continued, exasperated. “If you don’t believe me now, then you’ll see it happen for the third time.”

“Okay. Look, if you’re trying to make some kind of threat or pull some prank here then-”

“NO! That’s not what I’m doing! I have no idea who’s behind the explosion, but I know it’s going to happen.”

Qibli backed away. “Alright well, look I really gotta get to class…” He said, and before Carnelian could reply, he ducked into the classroom. Great.

She let out a groan of frustration. Not only had she failed to convince Qibli of what’s going on, but she managed to make herself the prime suspect! Well, at least this time she wasn’t going to die, not to the explosion at least, she would make sure of it.

The rest of the day had passed quickly, it was classes she had already been to twice. As if they couldn't get even more boring, now she had to repeat them every time she died. Maybe that was the curse. She chuckled at the thought. Before long, the time had come again. She paced nervously outside the history cave, knowing what would come next. But not what would happen after. Everything was the same, Moon was freaking out, the rest of her winglet crowding around her. But one thing was different. This time, Qibli wasn’t warning her about a foul smelling torch, but instead staring at her, watching her, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

She stared back, counting the seconds before the explosion happened. She wasn’t sure exactly when it would happen, but if the last two times were anything to go off, then it should be happening right about…

BOOM.

…Now. 

Immediately, there was panic, dragons running in fear. Winter wasted no time in jumping into action, extinguishing the fire with his frostbreath. It hadn’t taken long for Peril to arrive either, as soon as she saw what was going on, she dove into the flames, dragging out a body. That Nightwing, Bigtail. Carnelian shuddered. Last time, it was her body Peril had been dragging out…

It seemed Tamarin was alive, thankfully. That shelf had offered enough protection for her to get out in one piece.

Once the flames had died down, and everything had settled, Carnelian released a breath she didn’t even know she was holding. Her relief had been short lived, however, as it didn’t take long for Qibli to turn to her.

“Mind explaining how you knew that was going to happen?”

All eyes turned to her.

“I… I…” She stammered. She couldn’t convince Qibli, who had actually been there for their expedition, how could she convince everyone else?

“Yeah.. and look. It was a dragonflame cactus, see?” Turtle said, holding up a ball of spines he had pulled from Moon’s shoulder. “Skywings used those all the time during the war.”

“And you’ve been the meanest dragon here so far!” Kinkajou piped up. Things were looking bad, she had to do something

“Hey wait! What about Moon!? She knew too!” Carnelian said. Moon looked afraid for a moment, something Carnelian definitely noticed, before Qibli spoke again.

“This isn’t about her, don’t try and put the blame on her.” Qibli said, raising his tail stinger. “I think you should come with us, and explain everything.” 

Winter stood beside him, crouched low and ready to strike. This was bad. She couldn’t explain it, nobody would believe her, and the evidence was admittedly stacked against her. Her only choice was to run, but… wouldn’t that just prove her guilt to them? It wasn’t like she had a choice now anyway, if she was caught she'd either be locked up or executed, and Ruby would never make her general then!

So she turned, darting down the hallway behind her.

“Hey! Stop!” Qibli called, the sound of two sets of clawsteps behind her informing her that both him and Winter had given chase.

But she was faster, more nimble, she darted around corners, searching for an opening in the rocky passages. Unfortunately, her winglet had numbers on their side, and soon she found her way blocked by a bright yellow and pink Rainwing.

“Give it up! Or I’ll death spit you!” She said, but she was far too small to block the entire passageway, and Carnelian doubted she’d actually go through with her threat. She ducked past the small Rainwing, spying an opening in the rock. She tucked her wings at her side, leaping through the passage. Finally! She was free!

But of course, she would not be that lucky. As she dove down to pick up speed, she was far too busy checking over her shoulder for her three pursuers to notice a tree right in her path. As she spread her wings to level out, she noticed it right at the last second. Too late to avoid it, but just early enough to feel a spike of fear in her heart as she slammed head first into it.

She was dead before she even hit the ground.

Chapter Text

Carnelian gasped, opening her eyes. Back in the cave. Again. She growled, balling her claw into a fist and punching the wall. Damn it! She was so close too!

“Carnelian? Are you okay?” Moon asked. Was she really going to ask that every time? Moon gave her a strange look.

What was up with her? She had been too preoccupied by the whole dying in an explosion thing before to really notice, but Moon had always acted strange. The way she stared at Carnelian whenever she thought about something unusual. Like she was seeing her thoughts as if Carnelian were just speaking them out loud… but Nightwings couldn’t read minds, right? Not to mention how she somehow knew about the explosion before it happened. Maybe she was also in a time loop? That’d be way too much of a coincidence, right?

“I’m fine.” She said, trying to calm herself down, “But I’d like to talk to you.” She stood up, walking over to Moon, who was currently still lying in her sleeping spot, seemingly now trying her best to “act casual”. The rest of the cave was empty. Perfect.

Moon looked up at her as she approached, she looked… afraid? Was Carnelian really that scary? 

“Relax weirdo, I’m not gonna eat you.” She shook her wings, sitting down next to Moon’s sleeping spot. 

“O-oh, um… is something wrong?” Moon asked, clearly nervous.

“What’s going on with you?” Carnelian asked. May as well be upfront about it.

“Wh-what do you mean?” Moon asked, only getting more nervous by the second.

“You always stare at me, and you somehow seem to react to whatever I’m thinking. How are you doing that?” She asked. “Like just now, when I woke up, you stared at me as if I just said what I was thinking.” She continued.

“I… I…” Moon stammered, her face almost going pale. Clearly Carnelian was onto something here.

“I know you’re hiding something, I’ve known since I first saw you, so just tell me.” She intensified her stare.

Moon’s face jumped between an array of emotions. “H-how did you? I…” She took a breath, trying to calm herself. “I… I can read minds. And see the future.” She said, looking down and shrinking away.

She has suspected as much, but to hear it be told to her directly was still a shock. So it was true after all… after everyone was told the Nightwing powers were fake... wait, if she could read her mind, then she was hearing all this, wasn’t she?

“Y-yes, I’m sorry, I can’t control it. I’m the first one in thousands of years to be born with powers.” She continued. “Please don’t hate me.”

Carnelian rubbed her head. So she wasn’t also in a time loop then, she just had powers. Either way, she was lying to her, like she'd come to expect from a Nightwing. But regardless, this was not how she was expecting this morning to go, but somehow, this wasn’t even the strangest thing to happen today.

Moon tilted her head in confusion. “Time loop?”

Oh, right, she can read my mind. 

“Yes, I’m in a time loop. I’ve died three times now, and every time, I wake up back here.” Carnelian said, replaying the events of the past three loops in her head as she spoke. Moon’s eyes widened, clearly having seen everything. Damn mindreading...

“You… you’re telling the truth.” The Nightwing said. “But how is that even possible?”

“Why should I tell you anything more when you've been lying to all of us this whole time?” Carnelian snapped. 

"I-I'm sorry... I didn't know how I could tell anyone, because I was afraid of exactly this." She replied, shrinking a little under Carnelian's stare.

"Eugh, whatever. Doesn't matter." Carnelian lessened the intensity in her voice. Moon was her best bet of figuring all this out at the moment. Nobody else seemed to want to believe her.

"Can I at least try and prove that I'm not just a scheming Nightwing? I can help you, like you said... um... I mean thought."

"It's the least you could do. Look, the history cave is going to explode, someone put a dragonflame cactus inside it and has set it to blow when class starts."

Moon's downtrodden attitude quickly changed. “What?”

“Yep, seen it happen three times now.” And I’d like to actually live through it for once.

Moon rubbed her head. “Moons… this is a lot.”

“I know, but I think you might be the only one that can actually help me here. I tried to tell Qibli last time and that didn’t exactly go well.”

“Yeah… so what now?”

“Well, I for one would like to actually live through today, so, I’ll probably steer clear from the history cave.”

“What about me? Or the others? Won’t they die?” She had a point, if Carnelian did nothing, she’d be leaving Moon and the others to fend for themselves. She didn’t like her winglet, but leaving them all to die in an explosion just felt… wrong.

“Every loop before this, you were the one to warn everyone not to go inside. I guess you saw it in the future or something.” She said, trying to think of a solution. “I haven’t lived long enough to see what happens next though.”

Moon looked a little shaken. “If I did that, then everyone would know about my powers…”

“You really want to let them all die just to keep up a lie?”

“But they’d hate me!”

“They’d still be alive at least. You wouldn't have their blood on your claws.”

Moon tapped her claws together nervously, biting her lip.

“I’ll be there, I can back you up, if you're that bad at standing up for yourself.” Carnelian said. She didn't really care for the Nightwing herself, but if it stopped a school bombing, then she could put up with it. “Maybe I can save Bigtail as well…”

“I’ll do it, but make sure you’re there. I don’t know if I can do it by myself.” Moon said, after a bit of thinking. 

You did it by yourself the last three times. 

“That was different, I didn’t have the entire day to think about it and get nervous.” She replied to Carnelian’s thoughts, something Carnelian wasn't very comfortable with yet.

“I’m sorry.” Moon said, looking away.

Carnelian just snorted. “I gotta get to class now, but I’ll be there.” She continued, turning to leave the cave.

It wasn’t long before the time had almost come again, after sitting through more mind numbing classes on reading or numbers or whatever. She didn't need any of that. She knew how to keep herself alive, and how to fight, in her eyes, that was all a dragon needed. She sat around in the common room with the rest of her winglet, while that Nightwing, Starflight, handed out letters to each of them from home. He handed her a letter from Ruby, one she had never been able to read every other time. Just another reason to be so excited about living through the events of today, she supposed.

She sat through Winter yammering about his little pet scavenger with Sunny, talking about how it wouldn’t eat or something. She had largely ignored the conversation the last three times, and right now it was no different. She was sitting silently, sparing a glance at Moon every now and then. They both knew what was coming.

“Moon? Are you doing alright?” The bubbly voice of Kinkajou asked. “You look like you’re really worried about something.”

“She’s a Nightwing, she’s probably scheming.” Winter said with an accusatory tone. As he usually did.

“Winter, be nice.” Sunny said.

“Can you go complain somewhere else?” Carnelian piped up. “Your scavenger is probably sad because he has to listen to you all day.”

“You too, Carnelian.” Sunny turned her gaze over to the Skywing. Surprisingly stern for a dragon her size.

Carnelian just rolled her eyes, while Winter just stormed off in a huff. Whatever, she had better things to worry about than Winter’s stupid scavenger. Sunny just sighed, rubbing her head with her claw.

“Wow, what a jerk. Glory told me that Icewings and Nightwings always hated each other. But the scrolls she read didn’t say why.”

“Winter or Icicle might be able to tell you, Kinkajou.” Moon replied.

Carnelian snorted. “You think those two would tell any of us anything?” She said. Icewings had that sort of reputation for a reason.

“Yeah!” Kinkajou replied, shifting her scales to match Winter’s. “We don’t share Icewing secrets with mere Rainwings, haughty sniff.” 

Moon let out a giggle, and Carnelian couldn’t help but chuckle herself. Maybe Kinkajou wasn’t just an annoying little twerp after all.

“I’m glad you three are getting along. We spent a lot of time working out clawmates.” Starflight said. 

Carnelian shrugged. “Getting along is a strong word for it. I would personally rather be anywhere else right now.”

“Awww you don’t really mean that, Carnie!” Kinkajou giggled.

“Oh moons, first Qibli and now you…” She said, rubbing her temples. “My name is CARNELIAN! Not CARNIE! OKAY!?” 

The Rainwing just giggled.

Carnelian huffed. “Whatever. I’m gonna head to class now.” She gave Moon a nod.

“I’ll go too.” Moon said, following along behind Carnelian.

“Alright then, you too have fun looking at musty old maps.”

They hadn’t even been walking for two minutes before Moon started clutching at her head, leaning against the wall.

“Are you having a vision or a migraine?” Carnelian asked.

“V-vision. It’s happening. Oh moons. We need to go, now!” The Nightwing said, starting to race down the hall. Carnelian followed behind her. This was it. This was the moment. They’d save everyone, and Carnelian would live through the day.

“EVERYONE STAY OUT OF THE CAVE!” Moon shouted, rushing into the hall outside the history cave.

She was met with an array of confusion and concern. Stay calm, Moon. You're my only lead in this mess.

“She’s right, you need to stay out of there.’ Carnelian said.

“What? Why? What’s going on?” A voice asked.

“Something terrible is going to happen, please, don’t go in!” Moon cried again. Carnelian stood to block the path of any dragons moving to go in, while Moon dealt with the rest of the winglet.

“Hey, what's the big idea?” Bigtail asked, walking up to her. Tamarin arrived soon after, giving the air a sniff, before ducking away into another hallway.

“Sorry, but you aren’t going in.”

“Why?”

Before she could answer, it happened. The explosion erupted from behind her. Only this time, she wasn’t in it. Nobody was. She turned. Everyone was outside the classroom. Everyone was okay. They had done it.

Of course, it wasn’t over yet. Now she and Moon had to explain themselves.

“Moon, you’re bleeding.” Qibli said. Carnelian looked over at the Nightwing. A ball of spines was stuck in her shoulder. Nothing serious.

“Wait.” A voice came from the cave entrance. Winter had finished putting out the fire, and now his attention was on Moon.

He walked up to her, well, maybe stormed up to her would be a more accurate way of putting it. Carnelian stood between him and Moon. “Watch it.” She warned.

Winter snarled. “You. You did this. You knew.” He said, looking at Moon. “And you too! Both of you! How else could you have known something like this was going to happen? And you were both here before anyone else!” He exclaimed, looking at Carnelian.

“Hey, relax.” Qibli said. “Maybe they just saw something that warned them?”

“You both did this. I don’t know how, but I’ll find out. You have until midnight to tell me the truth, or I’ll tell everyone.” Winter warned, before stalking away. Qibli and Kinkajou both looked uncertain.

Once Winter was gone, Turtle spoke up. “Three moons… it was a vision, wasn’t it? You can see the future.”

“...That’s right.” Moon replied.

“But… wait, then how did Carnelian know? Did you tell her?”

“She didn’t.” Carnelian said. “I’m in a time loop.”

Everyone’s attention was immediately on her.

“What?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“You are!? That’s so cool! How many loops have you done? Can you like, predict everything I’m saying before I say it!?” Kinkajou exclaimed.

That wasn’t quite the reaction she was expecting.

“It’s true.” Moon said. “I… I’ve seen it in her mind.”

“Wait, you can read minds too?”

“Hang on, so much is happening right now.”

“Okay, everyone just slow down.” Qibli said. “So, Moon can see the future, and read minds, and Carnelian is in a time loop?”

“Glad to know you can in fact hear what dragons are saying.” Carnelian snarked.

“Okay, first things first. How can you prove you’re in a time loop?”

“I knew about the explosion didn’t I? And Moon just said she saw it in my mind.”

“She has a point.” Kinkajou said. It seemed she didn’t need any convincing.

“And that brings me to the next thing, Moon can see the future. And read minds.”

“Yes.” Moon replied. “I’m sorry, I can’t control it at all, I’m sorry.”

“This… this is all too much.” Qibli said. “I need to go, this is all wrong.”  And with that, he was gone.

“Moon… I just wish you told me sooner.” Kinkajou said. “But… I can’t be too upset. You saved us all with your powers.” She said, her scales shifting between a spectrum of different reds and oranges. “I want to trust you but, you’ve been reading my mind this whole time, and never told me.” She continued. “I need to go and think for a bit.”

The Rainwing stepped out, leaving just Turtle, Carnelian, and Moon, who looked crushed. Honestly, Carnelian couldn't blame the others. She felt the same, but she still didn't want to just leave Moon like this. She still needed her, after all.

“I didn’t know it would go down like this.” Carnelian said. 

“Come with me.” Turtle said. “Both of you.”

Chapter Text

The pair followed Turtle down one of the less used passages, torches burning on the walls, illuminating the three dragons in orange light. Carnelian had no idea where they were going, staying on guard in case the Seawing tried anything, surprisingly finding herself more worried about Moon than anything else.

“Here.” Turtle said, as the passage widened into a large cave, with a lake in the middle and an opening in the ceiling, letting light flow in. The reflection of the water painted the walls in swirling patterns, looking surprisingly beautiful. “It’s one of the underground lakes inside the mountain, not the largest, but it’s the only one with an opening like that.”

“So why did you bring us here?” Carnelian asked.

“Well… it’s out of the way, and a good place to discuss everything, since I assume you two both know my secret by now…” He said, slipping into the lake. Secret? What secret?

“No, I don’t know your secret Turtle.” Moon answered. Wait, how? Couldn’t she read minds? “Your mind is all blank and fuzzy for me, I can’t read it.” Moon followed him in.

“Woah wait, my mind is blank? What does that say about me?”

“I don’t know, it’s just a soothing nothingness, but your secret is safe.”

“Huh…” He said. “And what about you, Carnelian?”

“I don’t know either, I’ve only looped three times, and every time before now I’ve died before this even happens.” She admitted.

“Woah, you died? Three times?”

“Uh huh, in the explosion usually.” She said, trying not to think about the loop where Turtle had been one of the dragons accusing her of planting the bomb. Moon winced a little.

“Hmm, well this is interesting then. I guess it’s comforting that you guys don’t just know everything about me.” He looked closer at the ball of thorns in Moon’s shoulder. “Here, let me help you with that.” 

With a small yelp of pain from Moon, he pulled it out, examining it.

“Do you know what it is?” The Nightwing asked.

“I think so, but I’ll have to make sure.”

“It’s a spine from a dragonflame cactus.” Carnelian answered, deciding to take the plunge and join them in the lake. The water was cool, not bitingly cold, but cool enough to give her a bit of a shock at first. “We used them all the time during the war.” 

Like to bomb your summer palace. She couldn’t help but think, and she could tell Turtle was thinking the same thing, with an awkward silence between the two. Turtle slowly climbed out of the water, sitting up on a rock and looking at pretty much anything other than Carnelian.

Moon cleared her throat, following after Turtle and sitting beside him. “So what now? I’ll need to tell Winter about my powers or else he’ll tell everyone I’m behind the explosion.”

“Maybe you won’t.” Turtle said. “Someone was behind that explosion right? A dragonflame cactus doesn't just explode on its own, so someone had to have put it there and set it off. If you find out who did it, then you can tell Winter that instead.”

“Oh, so we should just go and solve an attempted murder real quick?” Moon asked incredulously.

SPLASH!

Carnelian was hit by a wave of water as Turtle pushed the Nightwing back into the lake.

“Hey! What was that for?” Moon said, with Carnelian wiping the water out of her face.

“You can read minds Moon, and see the future, and Carnelian is in a time loop, just go out and see who’s thinking ‘wow, tip top explosion I caused today, good on me’ and you have your culprit.” He explained. “And if that fails, then Carnelian has literally infinite chances to find out who’s behind this.” The Seawing paused for a moment. “Which is honestly kind of weird to think about.”

Moon’s face lit up. “You… you’re right. If we can’t find out who’s behind this, then I don’t think anybody could.” She said. “Right Carnelian?”

“You have a point.” She said, climbing out of the lake and shaking herself off. Though she couldn’t shake what Turtle had said, this was weird to think about. No matter what she did here, if she died, or reset in any other way, it would all be gone. The two of them would forget this conversation ever happened. Would forget everything that happened. And she would be right back where she started, with nothing to show for it.

Moon frowned, looking solemnly at the ground. “That is a little scary to think about.”

“We got past the worst of it already, we just find the culprit, and figure out how to deal with this time loop stuff.” Carnelian replied. “Now, we should probably get started with this investigation before whoever did it has the chance to cover their tracks.”

“Yes, you’re right.” Moon smiled at Turtle. “Thank you, Turtle. It means a lot that you’re willing to trust me.” She said, before turning to Carnelian. “You too, Carnelian.”

Turtle smiled back. “Don’t mention it. What are friends for?”

Friends…

Carnelian just grunted in response, giving her a nod, before starting towards the entrance, Moon trailing behind her. She didn't much care for the Nightwing's friendship... just her usefulness. She was at best, an ally of circumstance. Yeah, that was it.

The pair had made their way back to the winglet’s cave. The dragonets of destiny were planning an assembly to address the events of today, one that would happen soon. It was the perfect chance to figure out who was behind this. And even if everything went wrong, Carnelian could hold onto this for next time. Moon would be vital in figuring this whole thing out. And Carnelian had to admit, Moon had stuck with her so far, she supposed that counted for something.

“This assembly is gonna start soon, should we ge-”

“CARNELIAN! Carnelian you’re in danger!” Moon suddenly shouted, cutting the Skywing off.

“Wait what? Slow down, what’s going on?”

“I- listen, I’ve been hearing someone talking to someone else in their head, and- oh moons.”

“Breathe. What’s happening?”

“Whoever’s speaking, is telling the other one to kill you.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know… I don’t… they just told the other one ‘kill Ruby’s pet’, and they meant you.”

Well shit. This wasn’t good. Had someone found out about her and Moon’s investigation? But why mention Ruby? Who in this school could have known that she was close to Ruby? Something was going on here, something bigger than just a crazed bomber, but she couldn’t put the pieces together.  Not yet.

“They’re here.” Moon said, staring at the entrance with a horrified expression. The sound of approaching clawsteps got closer and closer, until an Icewing stepped into view. Her scales were glistening white, with shades of blue on her limbs. Carnelian recognised her, Winter’s sister, Icicle.

Carnelian put herself between Moon and Icicle. She was confident she could take on the Icewing in a one on one, but Moon was here. She wasn’t a fighter, and Carnelian needed her. She had to protect her.

“What do you want?” Carnelian asked, lowering her stance.

“Tch. Typical Skywing, so aggressive, what’s got you so bothered?”

“The fact that you’re in our cave.”

“Oh come on, I’m just here to look for a bracelet of mine, I may have dropped it here.”

“I don’t buy it.”

Icicle’s expression shifted, a scowl on her face. “You just had to make things difficult didn’t you? I could’ve just walked in here and slit your throat, but no. Now things have to get… complicated.” She said, before unleashing a wave of frostbreath at the Skywing. Carnelian raised her wings to block it, shielding Moon behind her. She winced as the frostbreath hit her wings, freezing the membrane.

The Icewing wasted no time in pressing her advantage, lunging at Carnelian, her claws aimed at her neck. Carnelian spun, swiping her tail at Icicle. It slammed her in the side of the head, knocking her off course and sending her to the ground. It didn’t take long before she was back up, letting out a growl as she charged up her frostbreath again. Carnelian beat her large wings, launching herself straight into the Icewing, clamping down on her shoulder with her jaws, the distinct coppery taste of Icewing blood filling her mouth. Icicle howled in pain, clawing at Carnelian’s face to try and get her off.

Icicle delivered a powerful blow with her hind legs to Carnelian’s soft underbelly, causing the Skywing to release her grip and fall back with a grunt. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Moon bolt for the exit, now that the two dragons were out of the way. But she wasn’t fast enough. Icicle noticed her, diverting her attention and moving to cut her off.

“Not so fast, Nightwing.”

Moon opened her mouth, to speak or unleash her fire, Carnelian wasn’t sure. She wouldn’t have a chance to find out either, as before Moon could do anything else, Icicle raked her claws across her throat.

“MOON! NO!”

The Nightwing’s eyes widened, claws clutching at her bleeding neck, before falling to the ground. She was gone.

“Hm. This wasn’t part of the plan, but I suppose I can’t complain about killing a Nightwing.” Icicle said. Carnelian couldn’t take her eyes off Moon’s body. Even if she did beat Icicle here, Moon was gone. Did she really want to persist in this timeline? Moon was her best chance at getting out of this whole mess, without her, she barely even had a lead to work off, let alone the boon of having a mindreader on her side. Something else pulled at Carnelian, deep in her chest. She wasn't sure what to make of it, but it didn't matter now. She needed to reset.

Icicle stalked over to her, blue blood leaking from her shoulder, contrasting with the red dripping from her claws. She grabbed Carnelian by the throat, lifting her up off the ground. Carnelian spat in her face as Icicle’s grip got tighter and tighter, until the Icewing unleashed a bout of frostbreath right into Carnelian’s face.

She barely even felt anything before the world went black.

Carnelian opened her eyes. The sleeping cave. Back in the morning. Again.

“Carnelian? Are you alright?” Moon asked. Moon. She was alive, she was okay. 

Carnelian couldn’t get the image of Moon’s lifeless body out of her head, the blood pooling under her, empty eyes staring into nothing. She was… angry. What kind of coward kills an innocent dragon like that? There was no honour in that.

The same kind of coward that would plant a bomb in a school.

Icicle.

She was behind this, all of this. She was going to bomb that classroom, kill Carnelian, and then kill Moon. Carnelian had to stop this, if she could find Icicle, she could stop everything from happening. Carnelian got up, walking past Moon as she went to leave.

“Stay here.” She said to Moon, before storming out the entrance without another word

“Carnelian? What’s goi- Hey wait!” But the Skywing was already gone.

She knew where Icicle’s cave was, she shared it with Sora. Hopefully the Mudwing wasn’t there. She stormed down the halls of Jade Mountain, pushing past any dragon in her way, ignoring the annoyed shouts she got in response. 

She reached the cave, seeing the white Icewing lurking inside. She snorted smoke out of her nostrils, eyes locked on Icicle as she approached her.

“Hello? Who are-” Her sentence was cut off by a gurgle as Carnelian lashed her claws across the Icewing’s throat. Icicle weakly swiped at Carnelian, before collapsing to the ground, blue blood pooling into the floor. She did it. The winglet was safe. She was safe. She was…

No, this wasn’t right. She looked down at the dead Icewing, and at her claw, stained with Icewing blood. She just couldn’t shake that awful feeling. Carnelian had killed dragons before, she had killed Icewings before. But that was in wartime. They were the enemy, they were trying to kill her too.

But this wasn’t war. She had killed in cold blood. This was murder, Icicle hadn’t done anything yet, but now she was dead, for crimes she hadn’t even committed yet.

“Icicle? Are you in here? We’re going to be late for class.” A voice called from outside. Winter’s voice. Oh moons. 

“Icicle? Wha-” Winter walked into the room. It probably wasn’t a good look for Carnelian, to be standing over his sister’s body covered in her blood. She stared at Winter. Whatever he was going to do next, she wouldn’t fight it.

“I-Icicle..? What… what have you DONE!?” He shouted, frost billowing from his nose. He stared at her, his eyes filled with rage and sadness. “YOU MURDERER!”

He launched himself at her, clamping his jaws around her neck. Carnelian didn’t even have time to scream before he tore her throat out.

Carnelian shot awake, grasping at her neck. Back to the cave.

“Carnelian? Are you alright?”

Brute force clearly wouldn’t work. She needed another approach, preferably one that didn’t involve anyone dying.

Chapter Text

Time to start from scratch. She growled with frustration. This really wasn’t going to be easy was it? She looked over at Moon, seeing the Nightwing staring at her.

“I know you can read my mind, Moon. And see the future. Before you panic, relax. I’m in a time loop.” She said, watching Moon’s eyes get wider and wider the more she spoke. She had admit, it was a little entertaining to see the array of emotions on her face.

“I- You- What?” 

Carnelian replayed the second last loop in her head. Her confronting Moon, the two of them saving everyone from the explosion, being confronted by the winglet, talking with Turtle.

And Moon’s lifeless body laying in a pool of blood. Dead at Icicle’s claws, with Carnelian soon to follow. She decided to leave out the most recent loop. Moon didn’t need to see that.

“I- Moons, this… this all happened…” The Nightwing said, rubbing her head. 

“I know it seems insane but it’s true. All of this happened.”

“Yeah, it’s… wow.” Moon continued, trying to process everything. “So, you aren’t mad about my powers?”

“Oh, I am, but they’re our best shot at figuring this thing out.” Carnelian replied. “And besides, I wouldn’t be able to get you up to speed so quickly without them.”

“Alright well, thank you, I suppose, that's more than what I could ask of you myself.” Moon smiled a little at her, despite the somewhat backhanded compliment, something that Carnelian found made her... happy? Why? She didn't care about what this Nightwing thought. “How many loops have you done?”

“Only fi- um, four.” She said. “I haven’t gotten any further than what you saw.”

“So… Icicle is behind the explosion then?”

“That’s my best guess, someone is clearly telling her to kill other students.”

“Yes… I remember hearing that, in the night. She’s the one talking to that other dragon. But who could that be?”

“Whoever they are, they know about… about me and Rub- I mean Queen Ruby.”

Could it be? No, no she couldn’t be here. She was dead, or cowering away in hiding, not getting dragonets to assassinate other dragonets and bombing schools. Though Carnelian wouldn’t put it past her…

Moon tilted her head. “Who are you thinking about?” 

“Don’t worry about it, it’d just get us sidetracked.” Carnelian replied, shaking her head.

“Alright, well, what now?” Moon asked.

“Now? I say we follow Icicle, stop her from planting that bomb, get enough evidence on her, and let the dragonets of destiny know.”

“How are we going to do that?”

“You can read minds. I’ll grab her, ask her some questions, and then you read her mind to see if she’s telling the truth or not. Simple.”

“You want to… interrogate her?”

“How else are we going to do it? Do you think Icicle of all dragons is just going to be open and honest about blowing up a classroom?”

“I guess…”

“And if we can stop her before she does it then we save everyone.”

“That’s true. I suppose you're right. Um... lead the way.”

Carnelian nodded at the Nightwing. She should still be in her cave by now, going off last time.

“We should stop her on the way to class. That’d be easiest, and it’d make sure her clawmate doesn’t interrupt us.” Carnelian said, with Moon giving a nod in response.

The pair made their way to the hallway Icicle would have to take on her way to class, and waited. Carnelian leaned against the wall, while Moon paced anxiously, her tail thumping against the ground every now and then. It wasn’t long before the Icewing came around the corner, he white scales and blue tinges were unmistakable.

Carnelian stepped out into the middle of the hall, standing right in the Icewing’s path.

“Icicle.”

“What is the meaning of this? Get out of my way, Skywing.”

“Relax, I just wanna ask you some questions.”

“Well if you think I’m going to reveal any Icewing secrets to one of your kind, then you are sorely mistaken.”

“Oh get over yourself, I don’t want to know about your kingdom.” Carnelian said, rolling her eyes. Icicle was certainly a frustrating dragon to talk to. Her best bet would probably be to keep this brief. “I’ll just get to the point, do you know anything about a bomb in the history cave?”

“What? A bomb? No, I don’t. If this is your attempt to recruit me into some little domestic terrorist plot then you’re speaking to the wrong dragon.”

Carnelian glanced over at Moon. The Nightwing gave a subtle shake of her head. No, she didn’t know anything about the bomb. Well, shit. That was their best lead. Who else could it be?

‘Was that all? Can I go now?”

Carnelian had another question to ask her before she was done here. “Not yet. What about Scarlet? What do you know about her?” She asked. Icicle shifted a little.

“Why would I know anything about one of your Skywing Queens? No, go ask that boring idiot that teaches history or something.” 

Carnelian glanced to Moon again. She nodded. Icicle did know something. 

Before Carnelian could ask anything more, Winter approached from behind her. 

“What in Pyrrhia are you doing?” He asked.

“Oh finally, Winter, can you deal with these nuisances? They’re from your winglet aren’t they?” Icicle asked with an accusatory tone.

Winter wilted a little, though followed his sister’s request. “What do you want with my sister? Interfering with royal Icewing business isn’t wise. Though I don’t know what I expected from a Nightwing.” He added, glaring at Moon. The Nightwing turned away, seeming upset. That wasn’t fair, Moon didn’t even do anything! 

Carnelian folded her wings. It wasn’t worth causing a scene here. “Nothing.” She said, stepping to the side, Moon following after her, looking downtrodden. Icicle huffed, stalking past the pair towards her class, with Winter following behind her.

“Well, that went better than I expected.” Carnelian said. “What did you get from her?”

Moon was quiet for a moment, before speaking. “She doesn’t know anything about the bomb, but she did know about Scarlet, she’s the one that she was talking to in her sleep. How? I don’t know.”

“Moons…” So Scarlet was still alive then, but if she wasn’t behind the bomb, then who was? Who other than Scarlet would be capable of something like that? Whatever Scarlet was planning, it seemed to be deeper than just blowing up some dragonets. But she had to focus. The primary threat, for now at least, was the bomb. Maybe if they got to the classsroom before the bomber could arrive, they’d find out who it was, then stop them. Then she could deal with whatever Scarlet was up to. 

She’d make sure to keep Moon safe this time too. She needed her.

For the investigation, of course.

“You doing okay by the way?” Carnelian asked. She didn’t care much about what other dragons thought of her, especially not those Icewing siblings, but Moon had been a little quiet. Carnelian had gathered that she was a little more sensitive to these things. "I need you at the top of your game if we're going to make any progress here."

“Yeah… I’m fine.” She said. “I just wish… nevermind. We should get to the history cave if we want to prevent this.”

“Yeah, sounds like a plan.” Carnelian said, starting down the hall and towards the history cave. They still had a lot of time before that class started, they still had a class on now, as well as lunch time in the prey centre. She didn’t think that that Sunny dragon would be too happy about them skipping class, but they had more important things to do right now. Not that Carnelian wasn’t happy to skip out on that dumb discussion class anyway.

The pair found an out of the way spot to stay in until class was over. Carnelian didn’t want to alert their bomber before they showed up. It was a tight fit for the two dragonesses, a crevice in a little seating area a little ways outside the classroom, but it would have to do. Now, they just had to burn time.

“So… are you sure you’re alright, Moon? You seemed a little upset before.” She wasn't entirely sure why she was asking again. To herself, Carnelian justified it as just making sure that Moon was still at 100%. But if she was being honest with herself, Moon, so far, had proven herself to be a useful ally. Maybe even a useful enough ally that Carnelian didn't mind being around her all that much. She remembered what Turtle had said before, in the previous loop. What are friends for, as if that was an explanation for why he helped them for nothing in return. Maybe that's why Moon was helping her? She wanted to believe the Nightwing had some sort of ulterior motive, but if she did, Carnelian was having a hard time figuring out what it was.

“I don’t like when dragons are angry with me.” She simply said, looking away.

“You know Winter had no reason to be angry with you, don’t take it to heart.”

“I know, but… it just feels bad.” She said. Carnelian felt a little lost. She wanted to make her feel better, but didn’t know how. Or why, really. Ugh, this stupid school was getting to her.

“I can um, go beat him up if you want? After this?” She offered.

Moon snorted, something Carnelian wasn’t used to hearing. “No no, don’t beat him up.” She said, no longer seeming as upset, with a small smile on her face. She sighed. “I knew not everyone would be friendly when I came here, but it’s still a little disheartening.”

“Guess I’m just used to dragons not being very nice.” Carnelian replied. “War brings out the worst in dragons, so I just kinda got myself to ignore it. I don’t think much phases me anymore.”

“I wish I could do that.”

“Oh no, you don’t wanna be all jaded. Being sad or upset is just a part of being a dragon. Losing that is the first step to losing yourself.” Carnelian said. Moons, when did I get so philosophical? “Though I’ll admit it does make dying over and over again a little easier.” She joked, trying to lighten the mood. 

“It’s so strange to think about that. How you’ve already died so many times. I hope we can find a way to fix this, after everything.”

“Yeah… me too.” 
The pair fell silent. Carnelian lost in thought.

All these loops had changed her perspective a bit. When she looked around, instead of seeing a bunch of mewling dragonets, she saw allies, well, mostly allies. Winter didn't quite fall into that category. Her first death, she was miserable. Alone. She didn’t like her winglet, and they didn’t like her. She didn’t want to die like that anymore, not if she could help it. She knew she liked Moon. A little. Okay maybe more than a little. Only because she was so important to the investigation. 

Of course, opening herself up to being friends with these dragons, also brought with it the complications of feelings, something Carnelian had no idea how to even start thinking about. So she wouldn’t, a simple solution. She liked Moon, she wanted to keep Moon alive, along with the rest of the winglet, but Moon especially so. So that’s what she would do.

She hoped Moon could fix this. She seemed the best equipped for it. Surely those powers would be able to help her? Right?

“I’m glad you’re still here, Carnelian.”

“Of course I’m still here, nothing’s had a chance to kill me yet.”

Moon rolled her eyes, smiling. “I mean I’m glad things didn’t end for good with that explosion.”

“Oh. Me too. That would kinda suck. Surviving 14 battles only to die like that.”

Moon nodded. “I’m glad I got to know you this time. You’re a nice dragon, Carnelian.”

Carnelian smiled back at the Nightwing. “I’m far from a nice dragon, I don't know where you got that idea… and I guess I'm glad I kept you around too.” 

They waited there a while longer. Everyone else had left for the prey centre by now, leaving the halls nice and quiet. They had spoken a little longer, just about their hobbies. Carnelian was fond of armouring, while Moon was, unsurprisingly, into stargazing. The pair had gone quiet as they waited for their bomber. Sure enough, the sound of approaching clawsteps caught Carnelian’s attention. She nudged Moon, slowly emerging out of their spot, still staying out of sight. She spied a dragon shaped silhouette slipping into the classroom. Now was the time to act.

Carnelian approached the classroom, following after the dragon. She whispered to Moon to block their exit, while she handled their suspect. She stepped inside, while Moon spread her wings across the entrance.

“Hey, I know you’re in here. And I know what you’re doing. Make this easier for all of us and come out quietly.”  Carnelian called. She heard rustling from under one of the desks, turning her attention towards it. A figure began to emerge from beneath it, revealing…

Sora?

Chapter Text

The Mudwing looked up at Carnelian, fear clear in her eyes. “W-wait, it’s not what it looks like, I promise, please, don’t tell Clay. Or Umber.” She said, panicking.

“Woah woah, slow down. What are you doing?”

“I- You wouldn’t understand. She killed Crane. She killed my sister. I have to do this…”

“Who did?”

“Icicle. In the war. She’s a killer. I-I saw it in her eyes. If I don’t do this, then she’ll just kill more dragons.

“Sora… it was war. Dragons kill during wars. It’s what we were trained to do.”

“You don’t understand.”

Moon spoke from the entrance. “Sora, what you’re doing, it will only end with more dragons dead, innocent dragons. Is that really what you want?”

Sora’s eyes darted between the two, looking for a way out. Carnelian stood ready to stop her if she tried anything, though Sora still had that bomb. “No… only Icicle needs to die..”

“I can’t let you do this. You think there won’t be collateral damage? It’s a classroom Sora! A classroom that will be filled with dragonets! You really think nobody else will die? You’ll be just as much of a killer as she is.” Carnelian said. She knew Icicle was a killer. She saw it herself in the last loops. But this was not the way to solve this. She knew other dragons would die.

Including Carnelian herself.

The Mudwing relented a little, looking down at her claws. Moon opened her mouth to say something, but talking didn’t seem to be getting them far. Carnelian saw her chance, and took it. With a powerful beat of her wings, she was on top of Sora. She tried to immobilise the Mudwing, working to pin down her claws, but Sora had the size advantage. Once the element of surprise was lost, it didn’t take long for Sora to get the upper claw. 

An elbow slammed Carnelian in the jaw, making her vision swim and causing her to release her grip.

“Go! Get help!” She called to Moon, who was currently standing still in shock. The Nightwing snapped out of it, and darted out of the room. Now all Carnelian needed to do was keep Sora busy until she got back.

She didn’t want to hurt her, though, not badly at least. Killing her would just make things worse. Sora tried to make a dash for the entrance. Carnelian wasted no time in stopping her, lunging for her and clamping her jaws down on her tail. Sora yelped in pain, turning her head and unleashing a wave of fire in Carnelian’s directions.

Carnelian ducked to the side to avoid it, releasing her grip on the Mudwing’s tail. She could stop her, she was stronger, but Carnelian was faster. If she could just keep her a little longe-

BOOM.

Suddenly, her vision went foggy, faint details swimming across her vision. She tried to move, tried to speak, but she could barely make out her surroundings. Her ears rang with a high pitched whine.

The bomb. Sora’s fire must have hit the bomb.

Carnelian lay there, waiting for her vision to return. Pain started to creep into her senses. A horrible searing pain. The same as her first loops.

Smoke. She saw smoke. She smelled smoke, along with the unmistakable stench of burnt flesh. She tilted her head, trying to make out anything else in the room. A brown dragon lay nearby, motionless. Sora. Carnelian lifted her head to try and look down at herself, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t move much of anything

She heard voices, dragons rushing into the room. A familiar Nightwing stood over her. Moon. She was here. Everything would be okay…

“C-Carnelian?” She asked with a shaky voice. “Are you… are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. I can’t… I can’t move…” Carnelian replied. Her voice was croaky and it hurt to speak. “How bad is it?”

“It’s…” Moon gulped. “I-I can’t… this shouldn’t have happened. This shouldn’t have…”

Carnelian tried to raise a claw to rub her face, but she couldn’t. Why couldn’t she move? And why was she starting to feel so tired?

“M-Moon. I’m not… am I dying?”

A sob escaped the Nightwing. She moved a claw under Carnelian’s head, lifting it up as she leaned close to the Skywing. She pressed her face into Carnelian’s neck, her sobs muffled. Why was she crying over her? She didn't deserve that. She didn't think... Moon cared that much anyway. Did she?

Carnelian could see herself now. A large chunk of wood was buried in her abdomen, blood pouring from the wound around it, pooling under her. Her right foreleg was gone, and her other limbs weren’t looking much better. Her scales were charred and blackened. 

“Oh m-moons…” Was all she said. She wanted to say more, but she couldn’t. She wanted to say more, to apologise, to lament not being able to stay in this loop for longer. Her vision darkened. Moon looked down at her, tears filling her eyes.

I’m sorry Moon.

Carnelian gasped, shooting awake in the sleeping cave. Well, that was pretty unpleasant. And she had been so close too. She looked over at Moon, the last face she had seen last loop.

“Carnelian? Are you alright?” Moon asked, as usual. Overall, Carnelian would say she was pretty far from alright.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Hey, look, I got something to show you.” The Skywing said, climbing down from her sleeping spot and walking over to Moon. She met her eyes, letting all the loops play through her mind, making sure the Nightwing would see them. 

“Carnelian… this, did this all really happen?” Yeah, that was about what she had expected by this point.

“Yeah. And I need your help to stop this.” The last few attempts haven’t worked out. She didn’t want Moon getting hurt, and Moon was not equipped to handle a straight up fight. But some backup couldn’t hurt… “Once I leave, go get one of the dragonets of destiny and tell them to come to the history cave as quick as you can.”

Moon nodded. “Alright, I can do that.”

This needed a new approach. She liked Moon. She... enjoyed having her around, just a little bit, and her powers had proven very useful. But this needed a far more direct and aggressive approach.

And she knew just the dragon for it.

She got up, leaving the room wordlessly. Moon had been watching her with concern and confusion ever since she got up. She’d explain things to her, in time, but not now. She had remembered from the first few explosions. Peril. She was here. Carnelian remembered she had dragged her out of the flames, and remembered seeing her in the entrance before, though she hadn’t had time to speak to her.

Now though, she was waiting. She was a little nervous, being honest with herself. Not because she was afraid of Peril, more because she was afraid of incoming awkward conversation.

It wasn’t long before Peril arrived at the academy. Standing in the entrance, many dragons gave her a wide berth. The ones that weren’t running around screaming their heads off at least. Carnelian approached her. She knew Peril wouldn’t hurt her. She only wondered if she still remembered her…

“Hey Peril.”

“Hey… wait, Carnelian? Oh moons, it’s been so long, I thought you were dead.”

“Yeah, it’s been a while. Hey Peril.”

“I didn’t think I’d see anyone I knew here, apart from Clay. Wow, you have a lot more scars these days.”

“Uh, thanks, I think? Look, Peril, I need your help.” She looked around, seeing the dragons crowded around them. They couldn’t talk like this.

“My help? You do know what my ‘help’ usually consists of, right?”
 
“Yeah, and it’s exactly the kind of help I need.”

Before either of them could say anything more, a Mudwing walked in. Carnelian recognised him as one of the dragonets of destiny. 

“Alright everyone, settle down and head to class. Peril isn’t here to hurt anyone.”

Surprisingly enough, the various dragons gathered around actually listened to him. One of the perks of ending the war, Carnelian supposed. Dragons actually listen to you.

Peril rushed over to the Mudwing, wasting no time in wrapping him in a hug, which he returned. To Carnelian’s mild surprise, Clay didn’t immediately burst into flames. She had met Mudwings like that before, in the war. Mudwings who could take a blast of flame breath head on and barely flinch. Something about the colour of their eggs, she had heard.

She waited off to the side for them to finish up their hug, which thankfully didn’t take long. Peril walked back over to her, with Clay giving her a wave before leaving the room, leaving just the two of them.

“So, you said you needed my help?” Peril asked.

“I do. Listen, someone is planning to bomb the history cave. If they succeed, innocent dragons will die. And I know who’s going to do it.” She explained, hoping Peril would believe her. “But I can’t stop them alone.”

“Woah woah, hold on, I just got here. Someone is planning to bomb the school? Who?”

“A Mudwing named Sora. She’s going to light a dragonflame cactus in the history cave.”

“That does sound pretty bad. How do you know this?”

“This is gonna sound weird, but I'm in a time loop. I know who’s behind this because I spent the last 5 loops trying to find out who blew me up.”

“You are? That’s pretty cool. So where exactly is this Sora dragon hanging around?”

“She- Wait, you believe me? Just like that?”

Peril shrugged. “Why not? I saw a magical necklace disintegrate a Sandwing princess. Stranger things have probably happened.” She explained, as casually as one would explain what they had for breakfast. “And besides, you’re my friend! I think. So, yknow, I should help you anyway.”

“That’s… fair enough.” Carnelian replied. Peril was definitely a strange dragon, though, given her upbringing, Carnelian couldn’t really be surprised. “She’ll be in the history cave soon, come with me.”

Peril nodded, and followed behind her. Before they did any criminal apprehending however, Carnelian wanted to spend some of the time they had catching up.

She felt conflicted about Peril. She was her dragonethood friend. Someone she had snuck out at night to go see at least twice a week. But when they had drifted apart, Carnelian had heard what Peril had become. Scarlet’s Monster. 

But then talking to her now, she just saw that dragonethood friend. The slightly weird, yet fun to be around Skywing dragonet she couldn’t touch.

She’d find out in time, she hoped. But she wanted to give Peril the benefit of the doubt. Scarlet was the one she hated, and she doubted Peril would be here if she was still the monster everyone had called her.

Chapter Text

Carnelian stopped, moving to the edge of the pathway that led to the history cave. They had a little time before Sora got here, enough time for a chat at least.

“Peril.”

“Carnelian.”

“Sora won’t be here for a little while.” She leaned against the wall. “So. How have you… been?”

“Well um… I’m sure you’ve heard.” She said, awkwardly. “You know… all that gladiator and Scarlet stuff.”

“Yeah.”

Peril rubbed her foreleg, looking anywhere but Carnelian.

“I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t hate you.” Carnelian said. “But I just… I’ve heard things. Things that you’ve done.” She sighed, looking down. “But… I don’t know. I still want to think of you as a friend despite that.” She approached the firescales. “I hope you don’t betray that trust.”

Peril looked back at the red Skywing, and nodded. “Yeah, I won’t. Don’t worry.” She replied, giving Carnelian a smile. “Thanks, I um… I appreciate it.”

Carnelian nodded, opening her mouth to say something more, before she caught a brown shape moving into the classroom from the corner of her eye. Sora was here.

“Okay, she’s here. You stay at the doorway, stop her from getting out, one of the dragonets of destiny will be here soon. We just need to keep her here before they do.”

“Soooo, no incineration?”

“Hopefully not. Let’s go.”

With Peril behind her, Carnelian walked into the history cave. She hesitated a little before stepping in, remembering how things had gone last time. Seeing Moon crying over her as she died…

No, this time it would be different. She had a firescales backing her up. This was going to go smoothly, then, she could focus on Icicle. She walked into the cave, locking her eyes on the Mudwing

“Sora.”

The Mudwing jumped at the sound, eyes widening as she stared at her.

“W-wait, it’s not what it looks like, I promise, please, don’t tell Clay. Or Umber.” She stammered, before noticing Peril in the entrance. Her face turned pale.

“Don’t move. Don’t try to run. Don’t try to set off that bomb. You’re done.”

“Yeah, don’t give me a reason to set you on fire.” Peril said, spreading her wings out to block the entrance.

Sora looked between the two Skywings, terror clear on her face. Carnelian felt a little… wrong, handling things like this. Seeing fear like that on a dragon's face was common during the war, but this wasn’t the war anymore. Seeing it like this was… off.

Before anything else could happen, a voice came from down the hallway, sounding rather annoyed.

“Okay, what was so important that you needed to drag me out of my office while I was right in the middle of writing a letter?”

The voice of a familiar Nightwing replied. “Carnelian said it was important. Really important.”

Perfect timing, Moon.

A large, blue Seawing came into view, glaring at Peril. “What are you doing here?”

“Helping my friend, also you should definitely be more concerned about the dragon about to blow up the school.”

“Blow up the school? What? Who in the moons is trying to blow up my school!?”

“In here.” Carnelian said, Peril moving aside to allow the Seawing in.

Sora had moved away from the bomb, curled up in the corner of the room, looking totally distraught. Carnelian couldn’t blame her. Her entire plan had fallen apart in less than a minute. And now she was staring down one of the most intimidating Seawings that Carnelian had ever seen.

“Sora?” Tsunami asked, before her eyes gravitated towards the dragonflame cactus Sora had been setting up. “Are you seriously trying to blow up my school!?”

“I- no that’s… please…” Sora stammered. Carnelian walked back, standing beside Moon. Tsunami could deal with this

“Well, I guess that’s that.” Carnelian said. Before the school day had even started, she had stopped a bombing. She was honestly surprised that had worked so well, with how terrible her luck had been so far. Ruby would be impressed.

“Yeah… I guess it is.” Moon replied. “So you really are in a time loop then?”

“Mhm. I can’t be too upset about it. I would be dead several times over if I wasn’t.”

“That’s so strange to think about, that you… died before.”

Carnelian shrugged. “You get used to it.” That was a lie. No matter how many times she died, she hadn’t gotten used to it. It was truly one of the worst feelings she had ever felt. But at least she could come back afterwards. So that was something.

“I’m sorry.” Moon said, clearly having read her thoughts.

“Don’t be. I’d take this over dying for real any day.” For now, at least.

“Hey guys, wasn’t that so cool? We stopped a bombing! And I got to be scary again!” Peril said. Tsunami had since left with Sora, leaving just the three of them. Moon shrunk back a little.

“Yeah, it really was something.” Carnelian chuckled.

“Mhm. I’d love to stay and chat but Tsunami told me to go see Clay with her, so bye.” Peril said. Before anybody could respond, she was already gone. Just as odd as the day Carnelian met her.

“Well um, I guess we should get to class now.” The Skywing said.

“Yeah, we probably should. I’m about to be late.”

Classes were mundane as usual. By now, Carnelian had memorized just about every word her teachers said, and already had all her notes written down before the class had even started. It gave her time to think. About Moon, and Peril. She couldn’t really deny herself anymore. She knew she considered Moon as something more than just an ally at this stage. Why? She had no idea. What to do about it? Also no idea. And Peril, she was definitely something. She treated threats and murder like they were nothing, and to her, Carnelian supposed they were nothing. But it was such a strange mixture of an odd, sometimes almost dragonetlike demeanor, alongside a dragon that can and would kill you with a single touch.

She also knew Icicle was still out there. Plotting with Scarlet. To what ends? She had no idea. She was an unknown. She hadn’t tried anything yet, and her assassination attempt wasn’t a given. Carnelian could deal with anything, as long as she knew how it worked. But she had no idea what Scarlet, or Icicle, were planning.

“Carnelian, I hope you’re paying attention.” Webs said, snapping her from her reverie. “This is very important geography you’re daydreaming through.”

Carnelian just rolled her eyes. If only she wasn’t stuck with the most boring teacher in Pyrrhia…

Thankfully, that lesson came to an end soon enough. Any more time listening to Webs and she might've just dove out the window and flew back to the Sky Kingdom. Now, they had some time in the common room. She sat with Moon and Kinkajou, who had already gotten some food for themselves from the prey centre. Carnelian wasn't hungry enough for that at the moment.

“Hey Moon, you look happy today!” Kinkajou said. “I heard about all the business with Sora and the bombing and all that. That sounds like it was soo scary. You know if I was there I totally would’ve gone like, all invisible and then swiped the bomb when she wasn’t looking and-” She stopped to take a deep breath. Winter was busy talking to Sunny about his scavenger. The usual.

“Kinkajou, pause, breathe.” Moon said, with a giggle. “Carnelian did most of it. I just made sure to get Tsunami so nothing went wrong.”

“Ooh.” She changed her attention over to the Skywing. You just had to say something didn’t you Moon? “So did you use all your super awesome secret Skywing soldier techniques like in those comics they have in the library? I heard Peril was there too, did you two like, do a tag team combo??”

“The… what? No, it wasn’t like that. We just talked things out. Sora was struggling with some stuff about the war, and we talked her down. That’s it. What comics have you been looking at?”

“Awww, that’s way less fun than what I was thinking. The comics are these ones called Sky Force, they’re about this team of super cool Skywings with all these super cool techniques and they fight all these magic evil bad guys together and it’s super cool. You should read them! I just look at the pictures.”

Moons, how in Pyrrhia did Moon keep up with this Rainwing?

“What are you dolts talking about over here? Can you be any louder?” Winter called, making his way over, as polite as ever.

“Don't worry, I can be louder if I want! I’m just talking about these super cool comics I’ve been looking at. You know they have an Icewing one too? It’s called Ice Force!” 

“An Icewing… comic? What in the Great Ice Dragon’s name is a comic?”

“It’s like a scroll, except instead of a lot of words, it’s a bunch of pictures telling the story, with just a few words. They have them in the library, but they’re missing Mud Force and they never made a Rain Force…” 

“Who would want to read about Mudwings or Rainwings anyway?”

“If you actually knew what we did I’m sure you’d LOVE to read about Rainwings.”

“What, will they make a comic about a Rainwing sleeping and eating those weird fruit things all day? No thank you.”

“Hey! We do more than-”

“Alright alright, break it up you two.” Sunny said. “We stocked those comics so dragons could read some fun stories about other tribes. I’ll ask Starflight about stocking Mud Force.”

These names sounded so ridiculous to Carnelian, and she sincerely doubted they had even the smallest iota of realism in them, especially not if Kinkajou liked them so much. But hey, it got Winter talking to them beyond just hurling insults or huffing indignantly, so that was something.

“How about this, Winter. You read Ice Force, and I’ll read Sky Force, and then once we’re done, we can discuss how unrealistic and ridiculous they are?” Carnelian suggested.

“They aren’t ridiculous!” Kinkajou protested.

He seemed to be struggling to stop himself from making some stuck up remark, and, to Carnelian’s surprise, actually agreed. “Fine, as long as you get that stupid Sandwing to stop bothering me. I know you’re friends with him.”

“Qibli?”

“YES! He never shuts up, and always turns my witty and intelligent retorts back on me. It drives me mad.”

Carnelian chuckled. She never thought of herself as friends with Qibli, but she also never thought of herself as friends with anyone, maybe this was a chance to finally work on unwinding herself. She understood, at least a little, why Ruby sent her here now.

“Oh, before I forget, Carnelian, there’s a letter for you from Queen Ruby.” Sunny said, passing a letter to Carnelian. She gave her a grateful nod. This time, she would make sure to read it.

Outside the history class cave, Carnelian was tense. She knew nothing would happen, but she couldn’t stop herself from being on edge. She kept checking over her shoulder, hesitating before stepping inside. It was a strange feeling, to finally see something new. To be in a situation that she hadn’t seen before, that she couldn’t predict, as inconsequential as just a history class was.

Moon seemed a little nervous, ever since the bombing fiasco, her confidence seemed to increase, which made it all the more strange. She approached her after class, which was simply another boring, unremarkable slog to Carnelian, while everyone else was headed to the prey centre for dinner, or back to their sleeping caves.

“Hey, you doing alright?”

“Um… kinda.” She replied, rubbing her neck. “Nothings wrong I’m just…”

“Just what? You can talk to me.”

“I…” She lowered her voice. “I want to… tell the rest of the winglet about my powers. I saw what happened last time, in your memories. They all hated me because I didn’t tell them until I had to. I don’t want that to happen. When they’re all together, I’m going to tell them.”

“If that’s what you think is best. Look, I’ll be there with you no matter what happens, alright?” The investigation was over, for the most part. But... Carnelian still wanted to hang around Moon, even despite that. She was fun, and... if Carnelian was true to herself, she was starting to think of her as an actual friend.

She smiled up at the Skywing, giving her the strange feeling of butterflies in her stomach. “Thanks Carnelian, I appreciate that. I really do.” 

Then, she stepped forward, and gave the Skywing a hug. Her dark wings wrapped around Carnelian, her head tucked into her neck. She pulled away before Carnelian could even react. “I know I haven’t known you for long, but you’ve helped me more than anyone else has. So thank you, for being my friend.” 

Carnelian just stood there, unsure of what to do or say. Moon was already on her way to the prey centre. Why. Why did she do that? Why did Carnelian freeze up like that? Why did she feel so damn pathetic? She shook her head, breaking herself out of that train of thought. She would just go to the prey centre, and see what happened.

She would worry about Icicle when she knew what she was up to. For now, she was eager for some much needed food. Her winglet sat at one of the carved stone tables, including, surprisingly enough, Winter. Icicle opted to skip the prey centre apparently. Umber was nowhere to be seen. From what Carnelian could guess, he was preoccupied with Sora.

“So yknow, I go over to this guy, and he’s huge right? All covered in scars and stuff too. And he starts staring me down, trying to intimidate me right? But as soon as I put my claw up, he’s immediately on the ground whimpering and begging me not to hurt him, super weird. As it turns out, his MOTHER is the real string puller, and he’s just a nice dude who got his scars from raising his pet fennecs, and his mother gets him to scare people into paying her protection money. I still know the guy, he’s really nice.”

Qibli was telling a story about his outclaw escapades. Carnelian had to admit, he had a great set of stories.

“Oh my moons, that’s so funny! What’s a fennec? They sound so cute!” Kinkajou asked. 

“They’re a type of fox that lives in the desert. They have big ears.” Moon replied, Qibli pointed a talon gun at her, with a wink.

“Bingo.”

Carnelian sat down beside Moon, having grabbed a cow to snack on.

“Hey Carnie!” Kinkajou said. Carnelian didn’t even bother saying anything, instead just rolling her eyes.

“Nice of you to join us.” Qibli nodded.

Moon gave her a smile as she sat down.

“Yes. Delightful.” Winter said. Carnelian was glad to see he was his usual self. She noticed a scroll tucked into a small tail bag that he had. Seems he was quick to get that comic Kinkajou was talking about.

“Hey Winter…” Turtle said, leaning back. Clearly he had also noticed. “Is that a Tribe Force scroll you have?”

“What? No.”

“It is! Which one is it? I like Sea Force a lot, obviously, but my favourite has to be Night Force.”

“Which one do you think…” He mumbled. “And can you quiet down?”

“Oh yeah, of course. Ice Force then. That one’s pretty good.”

“Oh my gosh you read them too, Turtle?” Kinkajou piped up.

“Ha, um, yeah, I do. They’re cool..” He suddenly seemed a little more nervous.

Moon cleared her throat, getting everyone’s attention.

“Um, everyone. I want to… tell you all something.” Moon said.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“Something wrong, Moony?”

“What?”

“Yeah?”

“I…” She took a breath. Carnelian wanted to comfort her, but still didn’t exactly know how. Once again, she just placed a claw on her back, gently rubbing her scales. “I can read minds. And see the future.”

“What!?”

“Ha, that’s a good one.”

“REALLY??”

“Oh. Really?”

She reeled back a little at the surge of responses. “Yes, really. Um… Kinkajou, you’re currently thinking about how you want to see if my mind reading can tell me what your favourite fruit is, it’s passionfruit, um, by the way…”

Kinkajou gasped. “No way. That is… SO COOL!” Well, at least she seemed happier about things.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t say anything sooner, this day has just all been so chaotic, with the bombing, and- and everything…” She looked down at her claws. “I can’t control it. I wish I could but I can’t. Please don’t hate me…”

“Hm. I… I can’t say I like the idea of you poking around inside my head.” Qibli said, looking distressed. “I don’t hate you. But I need some time to think about this.” And with that, he got up and left. Not quite as positive a reaction as Kinkajou.

“You… this whole time, you’ve been inside my head? I knew there was something wrong with you right from the start!” Winter said, though his anger didn’t seem fully genuine. “Should’ve known better than to trust a Nightwing.” He followed after Qibli. Well, that was about what Carnelian expected from him

“Huh… that's unexpected. I thought Nightwing powers were a myth?” Turtle said. As reserved as ever.

“So did I. But here I am.”

“So I guess you know about my secret then.”

“No, I don’t, for some reason your mind is just blank to me.”

“Woah wait, my mind is blank? What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a calming nothingness.”

“She’s not saying you’re stupid Turtle.” Carnelian said. Another mystery for her.

“Right, right. Well, I guess that’s comforting.”

“Wait why does Turtle get to have mind reading immunity powers but I don’t?” Kinkajou said. “Is it a Seawing thing? Is it because you spend all your time in the water and your ears get all full of water to block the mind reading? That’s what always happens to me. Oo, we should test that!”

“I don’t think it’s because my… ears are full of water Kinkajou.” 

“We don’t know until we do a test!”

“I don’t think that’s necessary.” Moon said, looking at the door the other members of the winglet had left through. 

“Hey, don’t be upset about those two Moony, if they don’t think your mind reading is cool, that’s on them!”

She smiled. “Thanks Kinkajou.”

Carnelian spoke up, after spending most of her time twiddling her talons through this conversation. “I also have something I wanna reveal.”

“Ooo more secret powers??”

“I’m in a time loop.”

“Okay, you have to be pulling my leg.”

“REALLY!?!?!”

“Yeah, it’s true. I don’t know how exactly I can uh, prove it to you. I admit I’ve never actually made it this far before. But it is how I stopped the bombing before it happened.”

“I’ve seen it in her mind, she’s telling the truth.” Thanks Moon.

Turtle looked a little skeptical still, but ultimately relaxed his posture. “Huh, I guess this day just gets crazier and crazier…”

“How many loops have you done? Have you done anything super cool in any of them? Like crash through a wall while flame spitting someone?? Can you predict what I’m about to say before I say it??? Do you have a secret code word? I do! It’s loopajou! If I say it to someone, that means I’m in a time loop! You should have one of those, oh I know, it can be loopnelian!”

“Okay okay, slow down, please. Like I said, I’ve never made it this far before. I usually always died in that classroom bombing.” She explained. “And I don’t need a… code word? Loopnelian? Really?”

“Hey, it’s unforgettable. I also have a “Moon quickly I need help with this quiz answer” code word. That one’s quizwatcher.”

Carnelian just rolled her eyes. She had a feeling this was going to be a long day…

Chapter Text

Dear Carnelian,

I understand your frustrations with my insistence on your enrollment at Jade Mountain, but I hope you can understand why I chose to do so. I hope you are enjoying yourself there, and have managed to make some friends. I know that there are other Skywing and Mudwing students there who you may have fought alongside, perhaps you could try talking to them? I know you prefer talking to dragons who share similar experiences with you.

Things are well back at the palace. I know you don’t trust him but Vermillion has been a great help in getting everything running smoothly, even if his scavengers are a tad annoying. Captain Nimbus misses your sparring matches, so you can look forward to more of those once you get a break to come and visit. There’s been no further news about Scarlet, and her supporters have dwindled greatly in number. I am further convinced every day that she is dead. 

Write back to me once you get the chance, I’m curious as to how your schooling is going, and how things are over there. I hope you’ve been having less nightmares as well, perhaps the new environment can help you with that. Understand that I only want the best for you.

Sincerely,
Queen Ruby.

Carnelian stared at the letter for a while after reading it. These were the words she had never been able to read. She felt a lump in her throat, for whatever reason. She wiped her eyes, folding the letter back up. She would see Ruby again after this, she would make sure of it. The only thing that scared her now was Scarlet. She was alive, and she was conspiring. She wasn’t sure what yet, but it was doubtlessly intended to threaten Ruby’s reign. She would make sure to include a warning in her reply, she could only hope it would reach her in time.

She was starting to understand why Ruby had sent her here, though. She had actually made friends. She felt herself relaxing, not being on guard all the time. Knowing that she was with dragons that did care about her. It put her at ease.

She lay in her sleeping spot, with Moon across the room reading a scroll. She assumed it was homework or something.

“Actually it’s a scroll on Nightwing history, though, there’s not really much here…” Moon answered. Carnelian was starting to get used to the Nightwing answering her thoughts. It was almost convenient, in a way.

“That’s basically homework.”

She rolled her eyes. “Why do you assume I’m doing homework?”

“Because, you’re a nerd.”

She giggled. “Wow, we’ve only been here for two days and I already have nerd status.”

“Hey, you don’t see me reading some boring scroll on history or whatever.”

“Well maybe if you did you’d realise history isn’t that boring.”

“Pff, as if. I already use the stuff Webs assigns us as a sleeping aid.” She replied, before realising what she had told Winter. “Speaking of reading, I was planning on picking up that comic today.”

“Oh right, the ones Kinkajou reads, right?” 

Carnelian nodded in response, picking up her tailbag and heading for the door.

“Um, if you see Winter… nevermind, I’ll tell him myself, sorry.”

She looked at the Nightwing for a moment, before turning back to the door.

Carnelian wasn’t sure why Moon was so concerned with being Winter’s friend. He was kind of an asshole, all things considered. But, Moon was the mind reader after all. She must have seen something that Carnelian missed. In a way, Winter kind of reminded her of herself. She did have a very similar attitude when she first arrived here.

Maybe she could try talking to him.

She entered the library. It was one of the biggest rooms in the academy, with shelves lining the walls filled with scrolls, and nooks of small reading corners between them. Some comfortable looking cushions made up these reading nooks, with a table for studying between them. It was a rather cozy place, despite its size. Starflight gave her a wave at the sound of her clawsteps. She walked up to the blind Nightwing, looking around to make sure nobody else was listening.

“Hey uh, do you know where you keep the comics?”

“Oh, hello Carnelian, you mean the Tribe Force ones? They’re over that way.” He said, pointing to a small section of shelves. She was impressed at how he managed to know where everything was despite his blindness. She guessed he had to, what with how he spent all his time here.

“Alright, thanks.”

She walked over to the section he had pointed out. As she approached, she noticed a familiar Icewing sat down within the nook of the bookshelves. Winter. He was currently reading a Tribe Force comic. Out of everything Carnelian would’ve expected from him, being a comic nerd was not one of them.

“Hey.” She said, looking along one of the shelves.

Winter almost jumped out of chair, rolling up the scroll frantically. “What do you want? What are you doing here?”

“Relax. I’m just trying to find that Sky Force comic. Remember our deal?”

“Right… yes, I do.”

“Clearly you do, since you’re currently reading Ice Force.”

He sighed, slouching a little. “Actually… it's Night Force. I already finished Ice Force.” He admitted, grumbling. “Don’t you dare tell anyone, or I’ll freeze your head off.”

She shuddered a little, remembering the loop where he had done exactly that… “I won’t, don’t worry.” She wondered why he was reading Night Force, of all things. Didn’t he hate Nightwings? Just another mystery, she supposed.

He grumbled something that vaguely sounded like a thank you. Carnelian found the scroll she was looking for. It had a picture of four Skywings, all looking like they were charging from the sky into some rather nasty looking dragon of a tribe she had never seen before, with strange, magic powers in their talons.

Well, it certainly already looked pretty ridiculous already. She tucked it into her tailbag, before sitting across from Winter.

“So.”

“So..? What do you want?” Moons, was this what it was like to try and talk to me on my first day?

“Yknow, acting all abrasive doesn’t work as well with a comic laid out in front of you.”

He opened his mouth to say something, before looking down at the scroll on the table, then sighing.

“Why must you dragons be so insistent on pestering me?” 

Carnelian looked him in the eye. “Because they want to be your friends. I know Kinkajou likes you. Qibli definitely likes you. Moon wants to like you.”

“Why would… well, whether they want to like me or not, I don’t need them.” He said, snorting frost from his nose. “What are you hoping to achieve with this?”

“Just saying, maybe you should give us a chance. I know it’s hard to open up, but you won’t regret doing so.”

He was quiet for a moment, before opening his mouth to speak. Before he could however, the sounds of shouting and crashing put a stop to the conversation. Carnelian turned around to the source of the sound, getting out of her seat. Another Icewing had entered the library, and had managed to get the jump on Starflight, holding her claws against his neck while Moon and Qibli burst in through the entrance.

She leaves them alone for five minutes…

She raced over, with Winter following quickly behind her.

“Icicle? What is going on here!?”

“Help me or stay out of this Winter, I am doing what must be done!”

“Icicle? Please, just let me go, whatever’s happened, we can help you.” Starflight said, his voice shaky with Icicle’s claws at his throat.

“Shut up!”

Carnelian walked around behind her, trying to stay out of sight. If she tried to flee, Carnelian would be in the best position to stop her.

“There’s four of us and one of you, you wanna take a chance with those odds?” Qibli said, his stinger pointed at her.

She looked around, snarling. She had the leverage right now, but once that was gone, she didn’t have a chance against all of them.

“What do you mean “what needs to be done”?” Winter asked, unsure of what to do.

“I’m doing this to save our brother! Something a worthless little whelp like you could never do!”

“Save Hailstorm? How is this saving Hailstorm?”

“She promised me, if I kill one of the dragonets of destiny, she would return Hailstorm to us.”

“Scarlet…” Moon uttered under her breath.

“You… you made a deal with Scarlet!? She’s the one who took Hailstorm to begin with! How do you know she isn’t lying?”

“I knew you wouldn’t understand, that you wouldn’t have the strength to do what needed to be done.”

“I won’t let you do this, Icicle.”

“Fine! Then stay out of my way.”

She backed up, moving towards a window. Carnelian put herself between her and her escape route. 

“Cmon Icicle. You know this is a fight you can’t win.” Qibli said, moving closer.

“Let me leave, and I’ll release him once I’m far enough away.”

“No! She’s just going to kill him once she’s out!” Moon shouted, earning another snarl from Icicle.

She turned towards the Nightwing, and Carnelian saw her chance. She lunged forwards, grabbing Icicle and yanking her backwards. She released her grip on Starflight, Winter helping the blind dragon up and leading him away. She knew he had some compassion under that harsh exterior.

Icicle slashed at Carnelian, catching her forelegs with her claws. The Skywing released her, moving back to allow Moon and Qibli to help her. Qibli lept at her, only to be caught midair by the neck, and slammed through Starflight’s desk. Moons, Icicle had some strength. Moon hesitated as she watched the fight unfold, Carnelian didn’t blame her, she wasn’t much of a fighter.

As the Sandwing started to climb to his claws, Icicle took her chance, launching herself at the open window with a flap of her wings. Carnelian wasn’t going to let her leave that easily. She beat her powerful wings, cutting Icicle off before she could leave.

Icicle swiped her tail at the Skywing, catching her in the side, leaving bloody gashes where it struck. Carnelian pushed through the pain, grappling Icicle and trying to drag her down. If she could keep her busy until Qibli recovered and caught up, they would have her.

“Get off me! You stupid pigeon!” She shouted, opening her mouth to frostbreath Carnelian. Only she wouldn’t get to it in time, as Carnelian latched onto her shoulder with her jaws before she could.

Icicle howled in pain, digging her talons into the side of Carnelian’s face, before slowly dragging them down her cheek, tearing through flesh and scales with her serrated claws. Carnelian’s grip let up, the pain was too much. She clung with one claw to Icicle’s hind leg, clutching her cheek with the other as blood poured from her face, hissing in pain. Qibli arrived, slamming into Icicle’s side, taking her to the ground. He lined his stinger up with the back of her neck, holding her claws against the ground.

“Don’t move. Trust me, I won’t hesitate.”

“Carnelian! Are you okay?” Moon said, running over. Carnelian had staggered away, holding her cheek.

“Yeah, that looked nasty, you good?” Qibli asked, keeping Icicle pinned.

“I’m… I’m okay. I’ve had worse.” She replied, slowly moving her claw away from her cheek, moons did it hurt though. Qibli winced, and Moon went a little pale. It couldn’t be that bad, right?

“Oh my… we need to get you to a healer.”

“It won’t kill me.”

“Please, I’ll take you there.” Moon offered. How could Carnelian turn that down?

Qibli nodded. “I’ll keep her here until the dragonets of destiny arrive.” He said.

“I can’t believe she would do something like this…” Winter said, more to himself than anyone else. “But Hailstorm… he’s really alive?” He turned to Moon

“Yes, at least Scarlet says so.” Moon replied. “I saw it, in her mind. Scarlet visited her in her dreams. That’s how we knew to come.”

“I see…”

“He is alive! But now you’ve killed him!” Icicle shouted.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Once she learns that you stopped me, she’s going to kill him! It’s your fault! You got him captured, and now you’ve gotten him killed too!”

Qibli held her mouth shut. “Quiet you.”

“No… that can’t be.” Winter said, starting to stumble towards the exit.

“Hey buddy, wait, we can- Wait!” Qibli called, but Winter had already gone.

“We’ll find him, don’t worry.” Moon said, steadying Carnelian as she started to walk her towards the healer’s den.

Carnelian was afraid, however. Before all of this, she knew what was coming. She knew about the bomb. About Sora, about all the ways she could die. But now, this was all new. She had no idea what was to come. They had stopped Icicle, but she knew that this was not the end. Not until Scarlet was dead.

Sunny and Tsunami ran past them, towards the library. At least this seemed to have gone okay. She looked to Moon, who guided her down the halls, and her fear seemed to melt away. As long as she was here, at her side. Things would be okay.

Chapter Text

Carnelian sat in the infirmary, while some Rainwing poked and prodded at her face. She winced every time he touched the gash that Icicle had left there. She wasn’t sure why exactly, but she did not appreciate it.

“I’ll need to disinfect this, and it’s definitely going to leave a scar.” He said, taking a bottle filled with some mystery liquid. “Aloe vera, it’s a plant.” He said, upon seeing Carnelian’s concerned expression.

“Just make it quick.”

He dampened a cloth with the liquid, before dabbing it on Carnelian’s face. She winced with pain, the oil stinging her wounds. The healer took a bandage, wetting it with the oil before placing it against her cheek.

“There, that should hold, when you bathe you’ll need to replace it, and try not to get it caught on anything.”

“Yeah alright, can I go now?”

“If you want.” The Rainwing said. “These dragonets…”

Carnelian rubbed the bandage, moving to get up. Moon was waiting outside, and turned towards her as the Skywing walked out through the door.

“So, all done then?”

“Yep. Now what?”

“Now, we go find Winter.”

“Shouldn’t we go warn Ruby about Scarlet?”

Moon gave her a look. “We can do that after we make sure our friend is alright.”

“Right… yeah, okay.” Carnelian said, rubbing the back of her neck, following Moon as she walked towards the winglet cave. Qibli, Kinkajou and Turtle all waited inside. Qibli was pacing around, Kinkajou was making circles on the cave floor with her talon, and Turtle was reading a scroll.

“Hey. You find out where Winter went?” Qibli asked as soon as they stepped inside.

“Not exactly, but I don’t think he’d have gone too far on his own. Not this late at least.”

Moons, it was late wasn’t it? Carnelian glanced out the window, the sun had set by now, and it was starting to rain. No wonder the halls seemed emptier than usual.

“I hope not. Poor Winter, out there in the dark… getting rained on… all by himself…” Kinkajou said, holding a claw up to her forehead dramatically. “But no really I hope he’s alright.”

“He can take care of himself, but… he seemed pretty distraught. We should have a look around the mountain. Moon, you can see in the dark right?” Qibli asked.

“I can too.” Carnelian added. “Just not as well.”

“Okay, we should make two groups then. Kinkajou, you go with Carnelian-” Carnelian let out a groan, while Kinkajou beamed at her. “-and I’ll go with Moon. Turtle, do you wanna come?”

“Oh um, no, sorry, I um… have some work I need to catch up on… and it’s kinda scary outside…”

Qibli nodded. “Alright then, two groups of two. Let’s go find us an Icewing.”

Carnelian scanned the ground as she flew through the rain. It had gone from spitting to almost storming faster than she had expected. She didn’t much like being rained on, but… Winter was a friend. At least she thought so.

“Ughhh, I know I’m a Rainwing, but being rained on really sucks.”

“Come on, a little water won’t hurt you.”

“Back in the Rain Kingdom, all the water gets blocked by the trees. Maybe I should ask Sunny if she can plant more trees around here…”

“You know those trees would take decades to grow right?”

“Yeah, but then future generations wouldn’t have to suffer the fate of being rained on, dampnelian.”

“How consid- wait, what did you just say?”

“Dampnelian! Yknow, because you’re all wet from the rain!”

“I… you… ugh, nevermind.”

Kinkajou giggled to herself. Carnelian rolled her eyes, even though Kinkajou couldn’t see her do it. As her eyes went back to the ground, Carnelian spied something that stood out. A white spot in the shape of a dragon on the peak of a small mountain. That looked like Winter. 

“I see Winter, come on, let’s go.” She said, swooping down towards him. As she approached, she saw the figures of Moon and Qibli. They must have beat her to it. She spread her wings to slow herself down, coming in for a landing.

“Hey, I’m here.” She said, before noticing Moon. She was doubled over, holding her head like she was having a migraine. “Moon? Hey, you alright?”

“I don’t know, she just started doing this after we landed.” Qibli had concern clear in his voice.

“Moony! Please be okay! Oh moons, why is everyone getting hurt today?” 

The bandage on the side of Carnelian’s face was starting to come off under the rain. She went over to Moon, unsure of what exactly to do. She decided that stroking her back was the best course of action here. She didn’t know what to do. She hadn’t seen this before, hadn’t looped to this before. She hoped Moon would be okay, but she had no way of knowing if she was. She didn’t know what to do, and it scared her.

Suddenly, Moon stood up, her eyes going white as whatever horrible affliction she was suffering from seemingly just stopped.

She opened her mouth.

Beware the darkness of dragons,
Beware the stalker of dreams,
Beware the talons of power and fire,
Beware one who is not what she seems.

Something is coming to shake the earth,
Something is coming to scorch the ground.
Jade Mountain will fall beneath thunder and ice
Unless the lost city of night can be found.

Her eyes went back to normal, her body slumping. Carnelian caught her, stopping her from falling against the stone of the mountain.

“Um… what?” Qibli spoke first.
 
“Wh-what? What happened?” Moon asked, rubbing her head.

“Your eyes went all white Moony! And you said some really creepy stuff, like thunder, and fire, and a bunch of other “the end is nigh” kinda stuff.”

“Are you alright? You looked like you were having a migraine.” Carnelian asked.

“I think… yes, I think I’m okay.” She replied, slowly standing back up with Carnelian’s help.

“I don’t know if I’m right… but I think that might’ve just been a prophecy. Like, a real one.” Qibli suggested. "A real scary one at that..."

“Yes, that’s great and all, but how does any of that relate to my brother?” Winter asked, having been listening to their conversation.

“I-I don’t know. That’s never happened to me before.”

“Well, I’m still going to find my brother, regardless of all this prophecy stuff.” He said, turning away to leave, before pausing. “Help me if you want. But I’ll be fine on my own too…”

Moon looked up, once she regained her footing. “I never said I wasn’t going with you.” She said with a smile.

“Yeah, me neither. We’ll get your brother back.” Qibli added.

“Are you kidding me? Of course I want to go on an adventure with you Winter!!”

“Scarlet’s behind this. I know it. I’m in.”

Winter looked at all of them. His expression was stoic as ever, but Carnelian noticed a change. His eyes were softer. The edge of his mouth quivered a little.

“Fine. But don’t get in my way. And um… thank you.” He said. Well, it was something at least.

“Do you have any idea where he is?” Qibli asked.

“No, but he has to be with Scarlet. If we find her, then he’ll be there too.”

“So… we just need to find Scarlet then… the dragon who’s been in hiding for months and who most other dragons think is dead.”

Carnelian thought to herself. It was a long shot, but she did know a dragon, one she met during the end of the war, one that was very… supportive of Scarlet.

“I…I wish I had something but she never revealed anything.” Moon said.

But would it even work? The dragon she had in mind seemed more like a superfan than anything else. But no, she had also told Carnelian that she had personal meetings with Scarlet… it was worth a shot regardless.

“I might… have something.” Carnelian said. “I met a dragon during the war. She seemed close to Scarlet. She deserted once Ruby took the throne. If we can find her, then she might know where to look if we want to find Scarlet.”

“What makes you think she’ll help us?” Winter asked.

“She’s a little… how do I put this? Influenceable.”

“I see. But where would we find her? You said she deserted.”

“That’s the only problem…”

“I know where we can look.” Qibli joined in. “If you want to find someone outside the kingdoms, then the Talons of Peace are the best bet.”

“You mean those useless tree huggers? How are they going to help us?”

“Being useless is part of their whole image. They have spies everywhere, or at least they did, and anyone who flees from the tribes either ends up in Possibility, or with them.” He explained. “Hey, being an outclaw meant I had to find dragons that didn’t want to be found. The ToP are a good source, trust me on this one.”

“It’s worth a shot at least.” Carnelian said.

“Yeah! Don’t you worry Winter, we’ll save your brother!” Kinkajou added.

“I suppose.” Winter grumbled. “Who is this dragon you think will lead us to Scarlet anyway?”

“Her name is Pyrite.” Carnelian replied. “And she’d always talk about how she’s going to see Scarlet, or have a private meeting with Scarlet, or that Scarlet wanted her back before it got dark. If anyone knows where to find her, it’s Pyrite.”

“So we have a lead then. Do you know where the Talons of Peace would be found?” Moon asked.

“Yeah, I know where one of their hideouts is. Follow me.” Qibli said, before taking off into the sky.

Carnelian followed after him, along with the rest of her companions, her… friends. Something nagged at the back of her mind. She had never lived this long before, and she couldn’t help but feel like something was going to go terribly wrong sooner rather than later. She didn’t want to see any of these dragons die, but she couldn’t shake that feeling. In a way, dying felt more comfortable than having to deal with this horrible feeling of not knowing what was going to happen next.

She felt a wingtip brush against hers, looking to her side. Moon had moved up beside her, giving her a reassuring look. “We’ll be okay, Carnelian. I don’t see any horrific cataclysmic event occurring in the next few hours. You can relax.”

Carnelian did her best, but it was difficult. Things were going to be okay. They were going to be okay…

Chapter Text

“I think we should rest here for the night.” Qibli suggested. “It’s dark, we’d have better chances in the day.”

“Are you kidding me? We should get to the Talons of Peace before anything else. Hailstorm is still out there.” Winter replied, turning to face him.

“Um, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I think resting would be a good idea.” Moon interjected, motioning towards Kinkajou, who was currently sleeping on Carnelian’s back. “I’m getting pretty tired too.” The Nightwing added.

“Hmmph. Fine. But only a rest.” Winter conceded, though he didn’t look happy about it. Then again, he rarely looked happy about anything.

Carnelian carefully slipped the sleeping Rainwing off her back and into a comfortable looking spot, before joining Qibli in gathering firewood. He gave her a smile as he saw the Skywing approach.

“Hey Carnie.”

“Oh moons not you too.”

“Hey, if you think about it, I was the first one to coin that name for you.” He had already gathered a fair amount of well sized sticks. Carnelian relegated herself to gathering some tinder.

“I’ll break your jaw.”

“Aw, I know you’d never do that.” 

“Really, and what makes you think that?” She said with a glare.

“Because you haven’t already done it. I know you’re really a big sofite.” Qibli replied, the smile remaining on his face as he walked back to the circle of stones that would be their fire for the night. She followed behind him, snarling, an almost white knuckle grip on the fair amount of tinder she had collected, her tail slapping against the ground. That damn, stupid, smirking Sandwing. The Skywing looked back towards the camp they had set up, turning her attention back to what mattered. Moon lay on a rock, with Winter across from her, reading a comic. Carnelian couldn’t help but smile, just a little. Despite his harsh, icy exterior, he was a dork deep down inside.

Moon gave Carnelian a wave, her usual gentle smile on her face. She felt something nudge her side, glancing over to see Qibli, clearly wanting to tell her something. Not him again…

“What do you want now?”

“She definitely likes you. Trust me.”

“Wh- you, what are you talking about?” She said, stopping in her tracks to stare at him. But he was already walking ahead of her. He gave her a wink, before dropping his firewood next to the circle of stones they had made to contain it. Carnelian growled, her tail lashing against the ground. Though she wasn’t angry, she wasn’t quite sure what prompted that reaction. Perhaps the idea that she was that obvious about her feelings towards the Nightwing that Qibli, of all dragons, knew about those feelings? Or maybe just that he was so infuriatingly irritating yet could somehow see right through her.

Hopefully he was good at keeping secrets.

She dropped her collection down next to the fire, starting to get it ready for the night, leaving the rest to Qibli. She lay down next to Moon, curling her tail up, just close enough to the fire to keep it warm. There wasn’t too much space on the rock, Carnelian could feel her wings pressed against Moon’s. Not that that was something she wanted to complain about…

“Hey Carnelian. Thanks for helping with the fire.” Moon said, inspecting her talons.

“I couldn’t leave that idiot to do it by himself. He’d probably wander off or something.” The Skywing replied.

“Truly, we’d be lost without you.” She giggled, before looking up at Carnelian. “...At least, I know I would…”

Carnelian paused. Did she… mean that?

“Yes, I do mean that.”

Mindreading. Right. Carnelian saw a good opportunity to change the subject, and avoid thinking about her confusing feelings for as long as possible. She pushed those bubbling thoughts back down, instead asking the most milquetoast question she could think of

“So um… how does your mindreading work?” Good save.

“Oh um.” Moon started, clearly caught off guard by the sudden line of questioning. “Well, think of it like overhearing a conversation in another room. If it’s only one dragon talking, you can make it out pretty easily, but the more dragons talking, the more you need to focus to hear anything specific.” She explained. Carnelian did find the topic genuinely interesting, and the fact that Moon was willing to share it with her in so much detail made her feel strangely happy.

“But I’ve managed to learn to tune it out. It just sounds like muffled background noise if I do that.” She continued, twiddling her talons. “However… if someone were to think something directly to me, or about me, it’s very hard to ignore. Like hearing someone say your name in a distant conversation.” She looked up at Carnelian, a slight blush on her face.

Wait, that meant…

She had definitely heard all the things Carnelian had thought about her.

“Yeah… I have. I don’t mean to, but like I said…” She looked away. “I don’t hold anything against you. Really. I’m… actually pretty flattered about it.” She nervously rubbed her foreleg.

Moons. There was no hiding from it now. No more pushing it away and trying not to think about it. Despite how confusing and annoying it was. Carnelian was a soldier, she had fought in battles damn it! And here she was, again, brought low by some stupid feelings like a lovestruck dragonet!

“I mean everything I’ve thought about you. Well, apart from the stuff I first thought about you, you know, all that stuff about you being weird. Everything but that.” She said, staring at the fire as it crackled away. Qibli was keeping watch, while Winter had curled up on a patch of leaves. She supposed she should be thankful that she finally had enough down time to be actually talking about this, rather than all her time being taken up with frantically trying to stop whatever dragon was trying to kill them at the time.

“That’s… that’s really sweet. I knew you weren’t as mean as you were making yourself out to be.” Moon smiled, leaning her head on Carnelian’s shoulder. She remained still.

“Mm. Maybe.”

“Oh don’t be like that. You wouldn’t have tried so hard to save us all so many times if you were that mean. I’m… sorry you had to go through all that.”

“It was worth it.” Worth it for this.

Moon leaned her head up, and gave the Skywing’s cheek a nuzzle.

“Maybe once this is all done, we can think about moving forward. Think about what this all means…” Moon said. Carnelian finally found the strength to look back at her. She liked that plan.

Moon smiled up at her. “But for now. We can just enjoy each other's company. How does that sound?”

“That sounds like a good plan to me.”

The Nightwing tucked her head into Carnelian’s neck, getting herself ready to go to sleep. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

And in that moment, Carnelian was truly at peace. No matter what happened. No matter what trial came next, she would have something, someone, at the end of the tunnel for her.

She draped a wing over Moon, and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep as the exhaustion of everything caught up to her. She dreamt that night. Of red shapes standing over her. Of tears and betrayal. Of chains and torment. She was trapped between choices, two impossible choices.

It seemed her next trial was to be sooner than she had thought…

Chapter Text

The morning had come quickly, the rays of sun shining through the canopy waking Carnelian. Moon was already up, eating a squirrel. Carnelian hadn’t slept that well in a very long time. She leaned her body back, stretching her legs, before letting her wings out, giving them a good stretch too. In the light, the forest they had camped in looked very picturesque, with the dew on the leaves and grass seeming to sparkle in the sun.

“Wakey wakey, sleepyhead.” The familiar voice of a particularly annoying Rainwing said. “You sure you aren’t part Rainwing? Because you really slept like a mango last night.”

“Don’t insult me, I am NOT part Rainwing, and what does ‘sleep like a mango’ even mean?”

“Well, mangoes don’t move, and neither do dragons who sleep really well, so, yknow…”

“That’s a stupid saying.”

“Morning Carnelian.” Moon interrupted their morning squabble, holding out a pheasant for Carnelian. “Breakfast?”

Carnelian lazily reached out, taking the bird. “Thanks Moon. Anything happen while I was asleep.”

“Nope, just some hunting.” She replied. Carnelian stuck into the pheasant. It didn’t taste like much, but she wasn’t about to complain. Living on Skywing military rations for over a year made everything better by comparison.

Carnelian gave her wings another stretch, before properly getting herself up. “How far are we from these Talons of Peace guys?”

“Qibli assured us it shouldn’t be more than a two hour flight…Which means if we had gone with my plan and not taken a break we would be there already…” Winter said, levelling a glare at Qibli, who just rolled his eyes.

“He’s only directing that at me because he knows I like him too much to get mad at him.”

“I most certainly am not!”

Carnelian ignored their bickering. “So two hours away then. We should start moving as soon as we can.”

“More flying? Ughhh, I haven’t flown this much in… ever!” Kinkajou whined, before looking at Carnelian with big, pleading eyes. Even without words, Carnelian knew what she was asking.

“No, I’m not carrying you again.”

Kinkajou closed her eyes and turned away, downtrodden.

“Is everyone ready to move then?” She asked, looking around. Winter had frostbreathed the fire out, while the others all gave her some variation of “yes” or a thumbs up, in Qibli’s case. It seemed she had her answer. Qibli took off first, with the rest of the winglet all following behind him. 

The flight was a relatively short one, Qibli’s estimate was just about spot on. Their destination seemed to be a small mountain range, not nearly tall enough for snow to dust the tops like Carnelian was familiar with in the Sky Kingdom, but large enough to keep any openings sufficiently hidden from a distance. Upon reaching a rocky outcropping, Qibli swooped down, motioning the rest of the winglet to follow. Even to Carnelian’s trained eye, this outcropping did nothing to stand out from any other rock formation. Though, she supposed that meant the Talons were doing a good job at being an underground resistance.

Now all they could do was hope Pyrite had managed to find her way here. If not, they would have another long flight to Possibility on their claws.

Qibli was the first to land, waving to an approaching Seawing. The rest of the winglet waited behind him. It seemed wise to let Qibli do the talking here.

“Qibli. What brings you here?” The Seawing craned his neck to see the other four dragonets standing behind him. “I see you brought company.”

“Hey Nautilus, yeah, don’t worry about them. We need your help finding someone. A Skywing, by the name of…” He turned back to Carnelian.

“Pyrite. A gold scaled Skywing named Pyrite.” She said.

“Pyrite huh? And what do you want with this dragon?”

Qibli turned back to Nautilus. “Just gotta ask her something and then we’ll be on our way, nothing more than that.”

Nautilus nodded. “Give me a moment, please.” He said, ducking back into a small cave. A yell could be heard from inside. “Cirrus! Some dragons want to talk with Pyrite.” 

There was a grumble, followed by the sound of talonsteps. Nautilus emerged from the cave, followed by a gruff looking Icewing, and a thin, but tall, gold Skywing. Carnelian had to admit, she was surprised seeing Pyrite alive and well. She supposed that the gold Skywing was her first actual friend. Or at least the closest thing she had to a friend. Admittedly Carnelian didn’t think she would actually survive the war, given how… odd, the Skywing was. But here she was.

“Hello? Did you want to talk to m- wait, Carnelian?” Pyrite said, as her eyes settled on the red Skywing. “Is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Hey Pyrite.”

Pyrite pushed past the two dragons beside her, heading over to Carnelian. “Wow, it really is you! I didn’t think I’d see you again…”

“Likewise.” She said. The Icewing, Cirrus, she assumed, was staring at the both of them rather intensely by now. Was he her mate? No, she doubted Pyrite would be the type to date an Icewing. A friend? He seemed a bit too possessive to just be her friend. Maybe a caretaker then? With how Pyrite was, that made the most sense. She took his stare as a sign to hurry things up. “We need your help with something Pyrite. This is important.”

“You need my help? Oh um… I don’t know if I can help you much, I’m not really good at anything…” Pyrite looked away nervously, looking back at Cirrus.

“It’s about Scarlet.” 

Her ears perked up. “About Scarlet? Have you talked to her? Is she okay?”

Now everyone was staring. 

“Um… that’s what we’re trying to find out. Do you know where she is?”

“Oo! Yes! I can help with that! I’ll show you where she is!” The gold Skywing said enthusiastically, before her ears drooped and she looked away again, tapping her claws nervously against the rock. “Oh but um… she told me not to tell anyone…”

Carnelian had spoken to Pyrite enough in the past to know how to handle this. “It’s alright. We’re Scarlet’s um… friends… yeah.” 

“You are? Well I’m sure she won’t mind if I showed you then.” It seemed she hadn’t gotten any less gullible since last Carnelian had seen her.

Cirrus approached the pair, leaning into Pyrite’s ear. “Pyrite, are you sure? Don’t you want to stay here where it’s safe?”

“But… what about Scarlet? I want to make sure she’s okay too, and help my friend Carnelian!”

“Nautilus. I don’t know if this is wise… they said they just wanted to talk with her.” The Icewing said, walking over to Nautilus and placing a claw on his shoulder.

“If Pyrite wants to go then it’s not our place to stop her, dragons are free to come and go from the Talons as they please.” The Seawing replied.

“Very well… if you say so.”

Carnelian wasn’t sure about this Cirrus dragon. Why did an Icewing care so much about what a Skywing like Pyrite did? Whatever was the case, he didn’t seem like he was going to protest any further. Once the two dragons had gone back into their hideout, the attention was on Pyrite.

“So. You guys are Scarlet’s friends?” She asked, looking between the dragons before her. “I can try and help you find her, though, I’ll warn you that I’m not really good at anything, and I might not be much help…”

“That doesn’t matter. As long as you can tell us where she is.” Winter said firmly. “That’s all we need to know.”

“Well, I can’t quite remember the directions, but I think I can show you the right way. Is that okay?”

Moon leaned over to Carnelian, whispering in her ear while Pyrite talked. “There’s something strange about her. Her mind is just going in circles.”

“She’s always been a strange dragon.” Carnelian whispered back.

“I feel like something’s off here… but I’ll take your word for it.” She replied, turning her attention back to the conversation.

“I know where we can start, if you um… just want to follow me. I won’t get us lost, I hope…” Pyrite said, before turning and spreading her wings, swooping down off the outcropping and gliding over the canopies below. One by one, the rest of the winglet followed behind her.

Meeting Pyrite again after all this time felt strange. Unlike Peril, Pyrite hadn’t changed one bit since last Carnelian met her, still her same old strange and nervous self. She would’ve expected at least some change in her demeanor after the war and Ruby’s rise to power, but it seemed not. Maybe Moon was right, and something was off about her…

She was disturbed from her thoughts by a sudden yelp of pain in front of her, and the winglet drifting under the treeline. She went down along with them, wondering what the problem was.

“My wing- owww- I-I think I pulled it…” Kinkajou said, sitting down with her left wing hanging awkwardly at her side. Winter was looking over it, something Carnelian didn’t expect from the Icewing.

“Yes, it certainly looks like it. Did you jerk it or twist it in any way?”

“N-no… I think it’s just from all this flying, I’ve never flown this much in the open air before.” She explained.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Moon said, leaning down with concern clear in her voice. “Does it hurt much, Kinkajou?”

“Oh, trust me, it HURTS!”

“Yes, she just needs some rest, and maybe a massage could help once the pain dies down…” Winter thought aloud. “But for now, some ice would relieve that pain.”

“A massage from Winter…” Kinkajou muttered, spots of pink coming through on her yellow scales. “I mean um… y-yes, that all sounds good…”

Carnelian could’ve sworn she saw a faint blue blush on Winter’s scales. She shook her head, clearly they already had things under control, not much more she could do. She turned around, looking for Pyrite to see if they could catch up a little. Only… Pyrite was nowhere to be seen.

She looked over at Qibli, who was also just standing around. “Hey, did you see where Pyrite went?”

He shrugged. “Nope… that’s not good.” That’s an understatement. “I’ll check over this way, you check the other way.” The Sandwing said, heading east. It was as good a plan as any.

Carnelian went off into the forest. She was confident she could find her way back if she went too far. “PYRITE! PYRITE, WHERE ARE YOU!?” She called into the woods. She was simply met with the ambient sounds of birds and insects. Three moons, where did that stupid Skywing run off to?

She pushed through the brush, trying to find any sign of her bright golden scales. Thankfully, it was still bright and sunny out, meaning the glint of gold would stand out against the verdant green of the forest they had found themselves in. She decided she would return in maybe half an hour, should she not find her, and organize with the rest of the winglet to properly search for her. Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.

Pushing through a particularly thick section of brush,her large wings doing her no favours in this narrow pathway, frequently rubbing against the trees that flanked her, she came into a clearing. Within, she noticed the standout golden scales of the dragon she was searching for, finally, along with another dragon… a Sandwing.

At first, she figured it was Qibli, and one of them had gotten mixed up in their directions while searching, but on closer inspection, this Sandwing was far larger, and far more intimidating than he was. Were they another mercenary from Scarlet? Carnelian didn’t feel like waiting around to find out. They needed Pyrite, and for all she knew, the gold Skywing was in danger.

“It would seem we aren’t alone here.” The Sandwing said, turning towards Carnelian as she darted out of the bush. “Why don’t you wander back to your friends, little Skywing?”

“I’m only heading back with Pyrite.” Carnelian replied, crouching low, ready to attack. Pyrite simply stood there, looking between the two.

“Tsk. So arrogant.” The Sandwing said, before charging Carnelian with frightening speed. “It seems I’ll just have to deal with you here and now.”

Carnelian could barely react in time, only just managing to get out of the way, though not fast enough to avoid his claw entirely. It caught her wing, tearing through the membrane. She hissed, off balance from the sudden pain. She opened her mouth to breathe fire, only to be interrupted by a blow from the Sandwing’s back leg, right in her snout.

Unable to get herself on balance in time, with blood dripping down her snout, Carnelian had no time to react to his stinger as it spiked up under her jaw. 

She could only be glad she didn’t feel the pain from his venom as the barb pierced her brain.