Till the Rain Comes

AN: Just because it really doesn't make any sense if you don't read this, I felt I should add a quick link here. And, well, thats about it. 
== Chapter one ==
Prometheus sat in Stella’s torchlit room. The torches made it appear almost cheerful, in contrast to the rain visible through the open windows.
Prometheus had never liked rain. Maybe that was why it hurt so much that it was raining now. It always smelled like rot before, during and after rain. And there was the fact that Stella loved it, which made it almost worse, because he hated disagreeing with her about anything. Especially after all that had happened.
“You know, I’ve been sitting here for two hours. This session, I mean.You probably would have said something by now. Most likely a joke. Please tell a joke.” He said quietly to Stella, who lay as if asleep on the bed. “Or wake up, that would be fine too. Honestly, I don’t care, just do something.”
But she didn’t. She didn’t move, or talk, or do anything. She just kept sleeping. And as the rain fell, he couldn’t help but think that she would have found this cliche, like something out of one of his favourite scrolls. The sort that she always made fun of, with all the most basic story twists. With the hero waking up the princess with a kiss or something like that, Prometheus could never understand why she didn’t like them. For a few seconds, he actually thought about trying it. But then the realistic side of his brain, a voice he rarely heard, chimed in to remind him that it would never work.
Besides, if he was ever going to kiss Stella, he didn’t want it to be like this.
“Please wake up. I don’t know how I will live without you. You were always there when I needed some backup, and you are probably the only dragon in this kingdom that doesn’t think being a soup chief is lame.” Prometheus didn’t notice his tears until he saw them land on Stella. “I could really use some backup about now.”
But as he heard the rain falling, and watched his best friend sleep, not knowing if she were ever going to wake up, he felt the sudden urge to read one of those old scrolls. To maybe forget some of the sadness. To escape for a moment. And if Stella made fun of him for it… well, he couldn’t imagine anything that would make him happier just then than hearing her voice.
But he didn’t have a scroll with him, and didn’t want to leave her side. Prometheus just stayed there, trying to wake her up.
***
3 days ago
Stella was done with this routine. Every day she had to get up way too early and help make breakfast for Prometheus and her, just so she could have a few minutes to talk with him before he had to spend the rest of the morning in the kitchen making lunch. By the time he got back after cleaning up lunch, he would be too tired to say anything but hello.
Nobody else really talked to her. Maybe that was what came of being a NightWing living in a SkyWing palace. Or maybe it was that she had missed several thousand years of history, being trapped in Limbo. Either way, Prometheus was the only one who made time for her—or tried to.
Today, when he stumbled through the door to his apartment, she ran through the door that connected their living rooms and asked him how his day at work had gone.
“Wha… Nope, need sleep.”
Like she didn’t. She had been up as long as he had. Anyways, he had clearly reverted to three-year-old dragonet mode, and there was nothing she could do. She sighed. “Fine, goodnight, or afternoon. Because it is the afternoon,” she said indignantly. He could really get on her nerves sometimes. Maybe it was the frustration of being alone all the time.
But Stella knew that it wasn’t his fault. She just dealt with sleep deprivation better than he did.`Anyhow, he would wake up in a few hours, and then maybe they could talk.
So he stumbled into his room, and she walked over to his couch and grabbed a scroll. Sitting down, she started to read. It was one of those cheesy romance scrolls he liked, but surprisingly, it was a decent story. The main character was a RainWing, which was an unusual choice, but they used it well. She even caught herself wiping away tears at one point. Good thing Prometheus wasn’t around to see.
By the time Prometheus decided to wake up, Stella had gone through the entire scroll, and was re-reading it.
“Well, welcome back,” Stella said, stuffing the scroll back onto the shelf before he could see what she had been reading.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, it’s late, isn’t it? Sorry. Want to gather herbs?”
Was he serious? It would be dark soon, and she almost always hated going outside, especially at night. There were no torches outside. On the other hand, it was a chance to spend more time with her best friend. And she’d been working on her fear of the dark. “Sure, what are we looking for?”
“Just some seasoning, nothing too big. You remember last time,” said Prometheus. Weeks ago he had tried to drag a pear tree into the kitchen. He had claimed that it was for the fruit, but Stella knew otherwise; she had heard of a bet he made with his brother, concerning how much the dinner staff could hate him.
Prometheus had won the bet, but he still had yelled at. Once by the dinner staff, and once by Stella once she had heard about it. Silly stunts like that only made his life more difficult, in the long run.
“Where, exactly, are we going?” She tried to sound casual.
“Just by the desert.”
She hated sand. He knew that. So was he trying to get yelled at? Or was he testing her? “Fine. Let’s go before I change my mind.”
Prometheus grinned.
As they were just about to fly off, Stella noticed him tensing, ready for a fast take-off. “THIS IS NOT A RACE,” she shouted. “WE WILL ARRIVE AT THE SAME TIME.” He only laughed, and launched himself into the sky, so she followed.
Whenever they ended up flying somewhere, he always won. Stella knew it was a SkyWing thing, but all the same, she flew faster.
== Chapter two ==
Present day
She was just lying there, sleeping. If anyone saw her, they might think it was normal. Until they saw the dark, shadowy tendrils that slowly cocooned her, seeming to come from nowhere, almost like a slow-growing fog. At first, Prometheus thought he was imagining them, they were so faint.
When he realized they were real, he panicked. He tried clawing them away, but whenever they were threatened, they would try and kill her, condensing and wrapping more tightly around her neck. He kept the torches in her room burning brightly in a futile effort to keep the shadows at bay.
When the doctor checked her eye, only to find it was dark, instead of purple, Prometheus lost almost all hope. Stella had been asleep for nearly a full day at that point. Prometheus stopped working in the kitchens, and the Queen understood. She let him stay in the palace, and let him try to wake Stella.
He fought to stay awake, but eventually fell asleep by her side. When he woke with a start, the room seemed darker. He checked the torches first, stupidly, but they burned as brightly as ever. It was Stella. The shadow had grown thicker around her. He could barely even recognize her.
She was covered in shadow, completely. Her wings were even covered. None of her silver scales showed, and for some reason, that troubled Prometheus almost more then when her eyes turned dark.
***
3 days ago
They had found the herb Prometheus was looking for in the desert, closer to the old NightWing city than she would have ever chosen to be. Not wanting to worry Prometheus, or spoil their time together, she had worked hard to hide her growing discomfort, but she would be happy to return to the palace.
Prometheus held up the herb like a trophy. But it wasn’t what Stella had expected. It was black, with lighter grey leaves. It looked sickly.
“Um… Prometheus, that doesn’t look edible.” It really didn’t, and the smell. It didn’t have one. It felt like a absence of anything. And Stella hated that feeling, more than anything. She shifted backwards, tail twitching.
“Its fine,” he explained. “We want the roots, after all!” Head and tail pushed in the air, Prometheus moved his body side to side, in what could only be described as a dorky victory dance. “I got it, I got it! Who got it? I got it!”
Despite her misgivings, she found herself smiling. He was so happy. Now she remembered why she hated herb gathering with him. He would get so excited, it was almost impossible not to get excited too. And there needed to be at least one of them focusing on the time. She couldn’t afford to drop her guard.
The roots of the plant, when he carefully dug it out of the ground, were purple. It almost looked like a sapling, with its slender stem. It reminded her of the portal tree, the one that got her out of Limbo. Stella frowned; this was getting too close to home. Literally—she could see stones of the courtyard of the old NightWing city just a few meters from where she stood. And the sun was setting, casting shadows in odd, somewhat interesting shapes on the sand. Involuntarily, Stella stumbled backwards, away from the shadows.
“Stella? Are you okay?” Prometheus asked, slowly walking towards her. “What’s wrong?”
All Stella could do to explain was shake her head. Something here felt wrong, but she didn’t know how to put it into words. She didn’t want to talk about limbo, or about the portal tree, or anything that would make Prometheus worry. Stella really just wanted to go back to her quiet room, with a fire and scrolls. Away from shadows of the past. “Let’s head back, it’s getting late.”
“Sure! It’s just, er…” He squinted up at the sky. “It seems to be getting dark. Um… I don’t think I know the way back well enough to find it in the dark. I can’t really see, maybe we should find somewhere to sleep here?”
Stella felt something cold and shivery sliding down the inside of her stomach. Could he really not sense that this place was wrong?
She was about to cry, and maybe scream if she had to stay here just for another second. Shadows seemed to reach out and grab her. The stones of the old city stood tall, almost like a grave marker. Stella knew she shouldn’t be here.
Or maybe she was imagining things. That was part of why the other dragons avoided her, wasn’t it? She saw things, felt things, that normal dragons didn’t. Crazy. Dangerous. She had heard them whispering about her, both in their minds and out loud.
She had to hide that side of her from Prometheus.
“Okay. Let’s find somewhere.” Stella spoke quietly, even for her.
“It will be like old times, just you see! Like a camp-out, like my old Dragon Scout troop used to do.” He peered at her. “Hey, you’re not going to drop my luggage in the river, are you? Because I didn’t like it when they did that.”
Oh, Prometheus. He really had no clue.
***
Prometheus had snapped off some wood from the already-burned tree. It hurt her just to see it, but it was the only source of wood in the area—the tree growing in the desert, the impossible thing that had freed her. And yet, it didn’t seem hopeful to her. It seemed twisted and wrong.
“Here, let’s have a fire,” Prometheus said. He sounded so cheerful. How? But as he lit the fire, the ash floated to her, the smoke. It didn’t burn her, but it hurt.
Her head started pounding, and she stumbled back.
“No, silly. Stay close to the fire. It’ll be brighter here. I know you don’t like the dark.” He sounded almost shy.
“What… No… no.” Stella wasn’t even making sense to herself. What was happening?
“Stella?” Prometheus ran over to her as she started coughing. Something was in her nose, her throat, her eyes. It burned. “Stella, you have to tell me what’s wrong, or I can’t help you.”
He was trying to be so helpful, it was so nice of him. She was going to miss that. Wait, why would she think that? Stella stopped coughing, and started trembling. Something was very wrong.
“Here.” Prometheus smothered the fire, probably thinking it was the smoke.
She tried to tell him to stop, and that she just needed the light more then anything now, but she couldn’t quite say it. She was terribly tired, all of a sudden.
“Just try and sleep, okay? I’ll find some water and put the fire out properly. I’m really sorry, Stella. I didn’t know the smoke would bother you so much.”
As he left, she tried to stop him, but still couldn’t say anything. She broke down, and started sobbing as soon as he left. It hurt, and now she was alone.
But a voice, one she hadn’t heard in years, and one she never hoped to hear again, sounded in her head.
Hello again, Little Star. I have missed you. 
== Chapter three ==
Present day
Prometheus tried to remember what clues there had been. She had been coughing, so he had gone for water. When he returned, she was unconscious—fast asleep, the healers said, when he was finally able to get help.  The healers couldn’t wake her up. She was still breathing, but asleep.
“I wonder what you are dreaming of now, Stella,” he said. “Do you remember that funny dream you had? The one where you wouldn’t let me swim in the giant soup pot? I hope you’re dreaming something nice now.” Looking at her wrapped in shadow, though, it was hard to believe that could be the case.
He changed the topic. “Hey, you need to get better. I can’t concentrate. Can you imagine the mistakes I’m going to make, when I finally get back to the kitchen? I’ll probably use sugar instead of salt. Do you think I have a chance of keeping my job after this?” He meant it to be funny, but he could almost hear Stella’s voice, saying to him ‘You’re the best soup chef they have, they can’t afford to lose you.’ That did sound like her. Always encouraging him.
He would probably end up smiling and laughing. Because she always had that effect on him. Despite her being a NightWing, the supposed embodiment of darkness, he felt that she was all the light in any given room.
He was about to start crying again, but then something alerted him to a corner of the room. Something was materializing there; the air seemed to be thickening into a shape. It was large, nearly as big as him, and cast in shadow, which Prometheus found odd, since a torch was right overhead. It was shaped almost like a scavenger, and a terrible feeling of wrongness came from it.
“Uh, Stella?” Prometheus tried. “Now would be a really great time to wake up.”
It crept towards the bed, slowly, as if it didn’t want to wake Stella. This was ridiculous. She was the heroic one, not him. He looked around the room, just in case someone more qualified appeared, but it was only him, Stella, and the shadow-creature. “Three moons, why me?” he muttered. With a war cry, he jumped in its way.
He made himself as big as he could, blocking its way. “Back. Away. From Stella. Shadow.” Prometheus knew his bravery wouldn’t last long, so he tried to sound as impressive as he could before what he had just done sunk in.
It grinned, something Prometheus never wanted to see again.
Oh, so now you are brave. That’s odd, I never took you to be the brave type, little fire dragon, I always thought you would have the Star fight your battles for you. NOW STEP OUT OF THE WAY. She is mine. 
“No.” With that one word, he knew he just might have signed his death sentence. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was buying time. Someone must have heard his shout. Someone had to come.
The Shadow’s grin widened.
So happy to hear you say that. But don’t imagine you can stand a chance against me. I AM A GOD. And what are you? Some chef? Even the little Fallen Star could barely save herself. So why do you think you can save her? 
The thing was right. Stella was so strong, and he was so weak. She had powers, and even then she almost lost her soul trying to save him and the rest of Pyrrhia.
“I don’t. But I have to try. I do know I will not let you near her, as long as I can stop you.” He surprised himself. When he risked a glance over to Stella, he saw that she was still cocooned in darkness. And that moment was exactly when The Shadow chose to strike.
***
3 days ago
“What… No. NO! I KILLED YOU!” Stella was crying now, almost hysterical, now that Prometheus was out of sight. “Why, how can you be here?”
You never killed me, or destroyed limbo. Or even the last of the trees, but I think you know that. What you probably don’t know, is that you set me free. The seed was already inside you, and when you inhaled the smoke from the tree, it began to grow.  This is the beginning; the smoke carried the life force of every Shadow before me, and now, Little Star, of you. For you are becoming one of us—a host for the Shadow. This form I wear is weak, but in you, I will be strong. You may turn out to be the greatest Shadow of them all. 
She… Was going to become that? “How… I am nothing like you!”
It appeared before her. Grinning.
Don’t be ridiculous Little Star. It’s true, I am enormous and you are tiny. But I can teach you things, and we together we can destroy the world, over and over. 
“I DON’T WANT THAT! I WANT THIS TO STOP, AND I WANT TO GO BACK TO NORMAL, SO I CAN JUST… just… I just want to stay with Prometheus. And if killing you is what it takes, then so be it. I won’t let you take him away from me.” She crouched, wings spread, ready to attack.
The Shadow smiled. That’s better. I was afraid your time in the over world had broken your spirit. Now it’s time to sleep. Consider yourself lucky, as the transformation process is quite painful. But I will wake you when the time comes. Don’t worry. 
“What…”Stella was cut off as she fell into a deep sleep.
The Shadow sighed.
I wonder what she will become… She should have never fallen. Now she will drag everyone down with her. That is amusing. 
== Chapter four ==
Present day
The pain hit Prometheus first. Then the realization that everyone else in the castle must be deaf, if they hadn’t heard the massive scary shadow beast. It started with a small burning sensation, then it escalated. He heard The Shadow say, if I had known you would go down so easily, I wouldn’t have bothered attacking myself, I am sure that Little Star will be more then happy to kill you soon. 
Prometheus couldn’t think about that. The Shadow had taken Stella. She was gone, unsafe, and who knows what else. He had to save her.
Then he passed out.
***
Stella was in Limbo, or she thought she was. There was no colour, but on the other hand, she knew Limbo was destroyed. It confused her, this impossible place that reminded her of her old prison.
Stella sometimes heard The Shadow, talking to her. But more often then not, she heard Prometheus. He kept telling her about his day, and how he missed her. Prometheus couldn’t be in Limbo, could he? She hoped, if she were trapped again, he wasn’t trapped along with her.
She tried to talk to him, to ask him questions, but somehow she couldn’t quite make any sound.
Sometimes, she could see. Nothing real, or at least she didn’t think the things she saw were real. But once she was getting ready to go somewhere, and then she found herself in some restaurant. Prometheus eventually showed up, and it was great. She was happy. But then, halfway through the dinner, she killed him, and then saw herself in a mirror. She was a dragon made up of darkness, with only a smile to show she was more then just a shadow. Another time, she was back at her old home, before she had gone to Limbo. She was playing outside, happily, just a dragonet. When she wandered into the house, everyone was gone. She ran outside looking for them, only to find that everything was in ruins.
And just now, she had been trapped in a cage, and when her captor finally appeared, it was her—but a shadow version of herself.
After the visions, if that was what they were, she would normally find herself back in this place that reminded her of Limbo. This time was different, though. This time, she woke up. She was in a cave, but not just any cave. The cave where she had met Prometheus for the first time.
Some part of her felt that she should care, she should wonder what she was doing here, but she really didn’t. In fact, Stella was struggling to remember who this ‘Prometheus’ was to her.
I see you are awake, Little Star, how did you sleep? It was The Shadow. She hated it, but at the same time, realized that it was the only being she could rely on.
“Very well,” Was all Stella could bother to say. Arguing was not worth her time. She felt strangely as if she were floating outside herself, as if nothing she did had any consequences. She was cold, but it was not an unpleasant cold. “I assume you brought me here. What happens next?”
The Shadow smiled, Now we kill anyone we want. We are the Gods of this place now. No one will stand in our way. But there is someone you need to kill first, then you will truly be free to do as you wish.Will that suit you? 
Stella smiled. She felt it spreading over her face, the same smile she had once hated on the face of her enemy. “Perfectly.”
***
Prometheus was not having a good day. Or week. But today stood out. His best friend was still trapped in a cocoon, and then he learned that The Shadow was still alive. Not only that, it attacked him, and then took Stella. At least, he assumed that was what happened, when he woke up to find her bed empty. No, he really was not having a good day.
But sadly, his first thought when he woke up was not about how to save Stella, but it was about what he would tell Queen Ruby about this; she had forbidden him to mention Limbo to anyone else. So how could he explain what had happened, or ask for help? And if he told the Queen herself what had happened, who knew how she would react?
No, there was no one he could turn to. He stammered an excuse as he rushed past the guards that were posted outside the room, and ran outside.
He flew over to the ruins, the only place he could think of where The Shadow might have taken her, but they were empty. He had no doubt that It was responsible for what had happened to Stella, but he couldn’t think why. He couldn’t think what to do. He landed, and paced back and forth, searching the area in vain. Not because he thought he would find anything, but because he had no other plan. Three moons, he was only a soup chef. This sort of thing was for Stella to handle.
He had just given up all hope, when he saw a dark smudge in the sky.
“STELLA?” He yelled over the wind, flying up to meet her. She was flying towards him at a speed he didn’t think even a SkyWing could match. Her eyes seemed to be closed, but maybe she was just scared. He knew he would be terrified, if he were in her situation.
She rammed into him and they fell. Luckily they weren’t far from the ground, and the landing wasn’t that bad. When the dust cleared and he caught his breath, he turned to ask Stella what she was thinking. His words caught in his throat. Stella looked wrong. The shape was right, but it was as if she had been draped in shadow. He couldn’t even make out her eyes, only the terrible white of her teeth. “Stella?” he whispered.
Oh, hello Little Fire Dragon. Do I know you? She finally turned to face him directly. She was smiling. Horribly.
== Chapter five ==
Prometheus froze. It sounded like The Shadow, only a bit softer and more feminine. He could only think of one reason, and that was that Stella had somehow become a Shadow, just like the one she hated so much.
“Stella… What happened to you?” She—It —only tilted Its head in response.
Who is ‘Stella’? 
Prometheus felt like crying.
“You. You are—used to be— Stella. Stella… You need to stop.”
It walked forward. And probably would have been staring at him, if It had eyes.
I don’t know you. DO YOU HEAR ME? I DON’T KNOW YOU. 
There was anger in Its voice now. Maybe that was good—at least it was emotion. Emotion sounded like Stella, more than the icy cold, in different voice did. “Stella, you need to calm down. We can fix this, we always have.”
It started trembling.
NO WE HAVE NOT! I DON’T KNOW YOU. NOW DIE. 
What? Was It really going to—
Something slammed into his side. Stella had done something, cast something at him. There were tiny black particles, and they were trying to kill him. Her head was slightly turned to the left side, such a typical Stella-like gesture. It looked completely alien on this… thing.
“Please, you can fight this. Just… talk to me, okay?”
She seemed to ignore everything he said, only to summon more shadow particles.
Die, SkyWing. 
Was this how he died? At the hands of what used to be his best friend?
He walked towards her. “Stella… Please.”
It backed up, No. What are you doing? Stop that. You don’t know what you have started.
The voice sounded more like Stella’s now. He could even make out where her eyes were, as though the Shadow around her were dissolving. He kept walking. Then, in the space between one breath and another, The Shadow, the one he remembered, was before him, between him and Stella.
STAY AWAY FROM HER. 
It was blocking him from getting to Stella. How could he help her, with this thing in his way?
Stella was shuddering more, she looked absolutely terrified of The Shadow, and possibly more so of Prometheus.
“Stella… You just need—” He was cut off as The Shadow pinned him to the ground by his throat.
Stay away from her. You will die, whatever happens, but if you do leave her alone, your death will be less painful. That much I swear. Other than that… She will do what she wants. 
Prometheus looked at the thing that used to be Stella, pleadingly. And that thing stared back.
“I won’t leave her.”
Now Little Star, kill him. But why don’t you take awhile? He didn’t do what I said. 
Stella walked forward. She stood in front of Prometheus with her head slightly tilted to the left side. He stared back, until he realized she was blinking. Her eyes were back, but they weren’t purple, like they usually were. They were white.
Prometheus remembered reading that eyes were the windows to the soul. And that white was an absence of anything. He didn’t know what that meant, but Prometheus assumed that she had lost her soul, like before. But then her eyes started to fade to a darker shade.
“No… No, Stella stay with me. Okay? Remember when we made soup? Or when you yelled at me for bringing that tree into the palace? Please…” He hated that he was terrified of her.
But instead of going back to darkness, Stella’s eyes turned to the shade of purple he knew so well.
“Hey sadistic, power-crazy, scavenger-like-shadow-beast with no sense of humour or boundaries. Back off my soup chef.”
She… was back. Prometheus heaved a sigh of relief, then instantly regretted it, and The Shadow probably was glaring at him.
No. NO. YOU ARE NOT THAT. Think carefully Little Star. Do you really want to trust this pathetic dragon over me? You could be a God. 
“Yeah, thought about it,” Stella said. “Don’t really want that. I was immortal once, you remember that? How did you put it… ‘Back when we weren’t trying to stop each other from getting through the portal?’ Well. How about you let my friend go, and we fix this problem?”
Was she really offering to fight The Shadow again to save him? She had barely survived the first time. “Stella, don’t!” he shouted.
She looked at him in surprise. “Have to.” And she picked up a stick.
Prometheus shuddered. No one picked up relics from the old training facility. Everyone knew that enchanted objects didn’t decompose, and there was no way this stick should look as leafy and new as it did. Was it the one she had used before, the first time she got out of Limbo?
The Shadow looked scared. It released Prometheus, and turned to face Stella.
“Remember this?” Stella asked. “No? Well, maybe I should jog your memory.” She stabbed The Shadow once, in the arm, and it started leaking something grey.
Little Star, you need to know, I can help you. I can give you anything. 
She hesitated. For a split second, Prometheus was afraid. How much sway did this thing hold over her?
Stella’s eyes narrowed. “Can you send me back to before I was sent to Limbo? Can you give me my family back? No? Well. Maybe you shouldn’t have threatened my friend, then.” She looked terrifying, since the shadows that surrounded her were still falling off. She approached the Shadow, stabbing with the stick between words.  “He’s all.” Stab. “I.” Stab. “Have.” Stab. “Left.”
A few stabs later, The Shadow was on the ground, holding the worst of Its wounds.
Think, Little Star. The first time you got like this, you had lost your soul. Now you have it back, but you are still trying to kill me. And in one of the more violent ways at that. You really have fallen. 
“No. It’s because of whatever you did to me! DO YOU HEAR ME? I AM NOT LIKE THIS!”
No. Clearly you are. What I did to you has failed. You are your own person. And you choose to kill me? This will only solidify your position as the next Shadow. 
“STOP TALKING!” She raised the stick, ready to strike.
The Shadow was a creature of lies; Prometheus knew that. And yet… he threw himself between them. “STELLA! Don’t do it, don’t kill It. That’s what It wants.”
She looked down at him. Almost sadly. Then she raised the stick that she had enchanted.
“Goodbye.”
== Chapter six ==
About six million years ago
Stella found her pet scavenger dead. She had no clue how. It had food, it had water. But it still died. Stella was sad, of course she was. It was given to her from her mom, before she left. So she buried it.
But one thing stuck with Stella about that scavenger, even after all these years. It was smiling as it died. As if it knew it was finally going to be free of pain. She couldn’t tell why, Stella gave it a perfectly happy life. If anything, it had a better life then what it would get in the wild. But it still smiled as it died. And that was burned into her memory.
***
Present day
Stella dropped the stick. “Leave. Go back to Limbo. We both know it’s still there. I will not kill you, but I know people who will. And I will gladly give them the means. So leave.” She sounded like when she lost her soul. It was just as terrifying.
Little Star… Don’t do this. I can help you, or I could just disappear in this world. No one would know I existed, until I wanted them to. It almost seemed afraid. Like this was its worst nightmare, and Stella just created it.
“DO YOU THINK I HAVE A CHOICE? You have hurt many people, and if you stay here, you will hurt more. Leave.”
Prometheus was terrified. He felt like an ant, trapped between two fighting dragonets. Either of them could crush him without even noticing.
But The Shadow finally left. It got up, and seemed to rip something near the tree. A tear in some type of fabric appeared. Beyond that, was something that looked like Limbo. Prometheus didn’t know how Stella knew that this could happen, but she did. And it was just about to leave, when it turned around.
I will miss you… Stella. 
Stella turned away. Crying. Whatever happened to her as a Shadow had changed her. But for better or worse, Prometheus had no idea.
***
They sat together, in the ruins of the old NightWing city. As the rain fell down. The water slowly washed away what was left of the shadow that stuck to her scales.
She was right beside him, but she felt so far away. He didn’t know how to bridge the distance.
When it came time to sleep, Stella walked up to the tree, and slept on the upper branches. It was still dead, but she stayed there anyways.
Prometheus had no idea what she was doing, but he did fly up there to check on her. She was crying. So he perched beside her, at a distance that might be deemed ‘comforting,’ and awkwardly patted her on the head.
With a small cry, Stella buried her head in his shoulder. He held her until she fell asleep.
***
Stella hadn’t tried to visit others’ dreams since she got out of Limbo. And she didn’t think The Shadow even slept. But she had to try something, and so she tried this.
She was in Limbo, and Stella had to repress a shudder at that. But then she saw it. The Shadow was walking towards her, slowly, almost if it didn’t believe she was real.
You are here… Why? I tried to kill you so many times, and same with the little fire dragon. You owe me nothing. 
“His name is Prometheus, and I am here because I wanted to apologize.”
You have nothing to apologize for. I see how much sorrow I have caused, and I understand that an eternity in Limbo to think about what I have done is what I deserve. If anything, it is merciful. You don’t know half of my crimes. 
“But you didn’t lose your mind at the first chance to kill someone, or in the first million years here, did you? Because I did. And I think I was just looking for an excuse.”
Don’t say that. You did what anyone else in your situation would have done. If anything, you did better—  Oh, you should go. You’re waking up. 
“Wait! Please…”
Go talk to… Prometheus, Stella you need to learn that the people you care about, mostly care about you. Goodbye, Little Star, maybe you never did fall.  
“Goodbye-“
***
When she woke up, the rain was still falling.
Prometheus was staring down at her, anxiously. “You’re awake? Good, because I didn’t want to wake you up at first, but then I was thinking… before, it started with you falling asleep here, and I got scared. I just wanted to know… I wanted to make sure you could wake up.”
She smiled and stretched. It felt good. “I’m awake.”
== Epilogue ==
It took weeks for Stella to get over what had happened. Lots of time, and lots of soup. Prometheus was happy to provide the soup.
Of course, when some bird flew in to her room and startled her, she still screamed. It startled her. But then she declared it adorable and made a nest for it out of Prometheus’s favourite soup bowl, lining it with a shredded romance scroll.
Prometheus wanted her to get rid of the bird, saying that birds were not just terrifying, but almost worse then scavengers.
But Stella kept it anyways. She did buy him a new scroll, though.
***
5 weeks later
“Prometheus! Come quick!” Stella was yelling.
Prometheus could barely make out any words, just the sound of her frantic voice. He burst through the door, brandishing a soup ladle. “What’s wrong? Is It back?”
Stella laughed at him. “No. Look!”
In the makeshift nest sat three tiny eggs. Stella was beaming. Mama bird was scolding Prometheus.
Prometheus glared at the bird. “Why don’t we think about this? One bird was bad enough, and now there are going to be four? Stella, this is a bad idea…”
“No. No it is not. And I won’t even let them in your apartment, they will be fine.” As if that was going to reassure him that this was a good idea.
“But… THEY ARE BIRDS!”
“Stop being silly, they are staying, no matter what you have to say about it.” Well. That was final. “Here, why don’t you say hi to them? This is Shadow,”  she said, pointing to the mother, “and these are going to be Sheep, Beet and Soup.” She pointed to each egg in turn.
“You… named them after my soup recipe?” That was kind of like naming them after him, wasn’t it? “Stella… I take back everything bad I said about the birds. They are great.”
She grinned. “Of course they are. I am their mother after all. Anyhow, you will need to help me sometimes—”
“Wait. I thought you said these were ‘your’ birds?”
“Of course they are, but now that you agree with me that they are great, you get to help to! Anyways, it would be irresponsible for them not to have a dad!”
Manipulative didn’t even begin to describe Stella. “Are you kidding me?”
“Nope.”
“I am just going to stop you there—”
“Nope. They are staying, and there is nothing you can do about it.”
“Well that’s just fowl of you.”
“You did not just say that.”
“But this could be an egg-cellent moment in our relationship.”
“We don’t have a relationship. Stop with the bird puns.”
“Only if you come nest-le up with me.” He stopped. Too far. He had gone too far.
Surprisingly, Stella smiled. “Okay.”
The End
AN: This is what happens when I try to write fluff. 
Category:Content (Pandora32)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Completed)
Category:Fanfictions (Canon)