Animus Whiteout

==Foreword==
What if Whiteout had been the animus instead of Darkstalker, how would the legend play out then?
I do not have the same mental condition as Whiteout, but I have tried to make her dialogue as natural as possible.
==Prophecy==
He is coming to slay the powerful
Those borne of blood, ice and dust
Darkness will betray us all
So beware the one that you trust
==Prologue==
White walls held her back. Beyond the walls the world waited for her, her mother and father and brother, they were waiting for her. The dragonet pushed clumsily against the walls.
There were voices, thoughts, and feelings. She couldn’t understand them yet, but somehow, she knew they were talking about her. Then there was something else, another tiny heartbeat. He was close, and just as eager to join the world as she.
Crack!
Moonlight poured in, and the world came rushing into view. Bitter winds whipped any warmth that her safe little egg held. There was so much open space. Though the dragonet didn’t know the names of anything, she could see mountains to the north, a sprawling city to the south and oceans to the east and west. And stars and three beautiful milky white moons glowing above.
A beautiful view wasn’t the only thing that greeted the dragonet on her way out of her egg. There was also danger. She couldn’t tell why but the black and white dragons before her were mad, they had been fighting, somehow she knew the anger was about the other dragonet that was born tonight.
She pushed the last of the white walls away from her. The white dragon looked down at her.
“She looks 50% IceWing and 50% NightWing.” The white dragon noted, this dragon was father.
“What should that matter?” The black dragon, mother, asked. “She doesn’t have to be 100% IceWing to be perfect”
“I never said that!” Father said, his voice sharp, “She’s fine.”
Mother smiled, “Hopefully she inherited our best qualities.”
The black and white dragonet noticed a small black dragon sitting at Mother’s feet. She couldn’t hear his mind, but she knew he could hear hers. He was feeling sadness and regret, spikes of cold, hard disappointment pelted her mind over and over.
The white dragonet felt her mind getting stabbed over and over. She crumbled to the ground and let out a long wailing noise.
Father immediately stepped forward. He picked up the small dragon in his talons, “It’s OK, Whiteout.” He whispered, “You’re going to be fine.”
Little Whiteout knew that wouldn’t be the case, and something deep in her gut knew her brother wasn’t going to help. Whiteout knew without knowing, that she and her brother were going to shape the destiny of the world, whether the dragons in it were ready for it or not.
I'm sorry, The black and white dragonet thought in not so many words, The turn of the hourglass is now, we’re changing things. For better or for worse.
==Part One==
===Chapter 1: Whiteout===
Mother and Father were arguing, again. Whiteout pressed her deep sapphire blue talons to her ears. She didn't want to hear the anger that rolled off her parents in violent tidal waves.
She clutched her favourite carved scavenger to her chest. The toy had always been a source of comfort for the dragonet, she didn't know why.
Ever since it had gone missing, many years ago. The toy always made Whiteout hopeful. Maybe she was being reminded of the rush of relief that her family had showered her with after they'd found it. Maybe it was magic, maybe an unexplainable whim of the universe decided for her to find comfort in the object.
Whiteout heard a familiar click come from the front of their cliffside home. Her brother was back! She resisted the urge to jump up and run to her brother, and cry about the anguish Mother and Father were causing.
Whiteout caught thin needles of disappointment as her brother's gaze washed over her before his eyes locked on their parents closed door.
“Hey,” Darkstalker said softly, crouching beside Whiteout. He spread one of his wings over her. “How long have they been doing this?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. There was another small flash of anger from her older sibling, but he suppressed it quickly.
“Well, if you’re so miserable here,” Mother yelled, anger rolling into the living room in indigo torrents, “Why don’t you go back To the stupid Ice Kingdom already?”
“Oh, there it is,” Darkstalker said. “That means it’ll be over soon.”
Whiteout nodded, but kept her talons over her ears. Every time she heard that line, a thin wire was strung between her parents, ready to snap and pull both dragons to the ends of the continent. She didn’t want that, she wanted her mother, father and brother to be happy as a family. She didn’t paint for no reason, she knew they could’ve- could be happy together.
There was a shuffling sound as their parents moved behind the closed door.
"This could be considered treason, Arctic," Mother gasped. 
"Just read it." Father growled.
Darkstalker suddenly froze. His whole aura became cold and hard.
"What is it?" Whiteout whispered to him.
"It's nothing," He lied. His whole aura had become angry and distrustful, towards whom Whiteout didn't know.
"It is something." Whiteout insisted, "You became colder and harder all along here." She ran her talon lightly down her brother's neck. From his ear to his chest.
"I'll tell you later." He said softly, but he left a significant pause. Finally he spoke up, loud enough for both of their parents to hear. "We're here, both of us."
Suddenly the door opened and their parents stepped out. Foeslayer's face was full of guilt. She shot Whiteout with an apologetic look.
"Say it to her." Darkstalker ordered.
Mother came over to Whiteout and helped her to her feet pulled her into a hug.
Darkstalker excused himself to wash his talons for dinner, but Whiteout wasn't fooled by his trick.
Something shifted, Whiteout felt a surge of protective defiance come from the direction Darkstalker had gone. The future was changing. An azure dragon was on her way. A dragon that could lead them into their future.
===Chapter 2: Clearsight===
The moon was high in the sky when Clearsight finally stepped out of Allknowing’s suffocating classroom. Her next classroom was airy and illuminated by moonlight with little water features snaking between the rocks. The teacher led her around the classroom.
“These are our pet scavengers,” said the teacher, beaming as she patted the top of a large glass cage. “Two females. They’re quite fierce, so don’t stick your talons in the cage, just to be safe. We rotate whose turn it is to feed them, and we’re doing a yearlong study of their behaviour. They’re not just adorable; they’re also quite fascinating.”
The two little creatures in the piles of grass inside didn’t look fascinating; they looked asleep. Clearsight wondered what they ate.
“A lot of fruit,” A voice said from behind Clearsight, “Nuts, seeds and sometimes little bits of meat if we cook them first.”
“Oh, Listener,” The teacher said, turning to the dragon, “Would you care to show our new student around the classroom.
Listener was 3, with a heavy body, with curves suggesting she was a successful hunter. But then she noticed the silver teardrop scales by the corners of her eyes. Uh oh, a mind reader, Clearsight thought, just what I need.
Listener’s wings dropped slightly and she stepped backwards a fraction of a step so the moonlight didn’t illuminate the offending scales.
“I’m sorry!” Clearsight yelped, trying her best to backtrack, “See, I’m just not used to mind readers, my family hasn’t had one for a while, maybe five years? I don’t know how to shield my thoughts or only think nice things and you’re probably going to think I’m crazy and not want to show-”
Listener laughed, “I already know you’re crazy! As soon as you walked in you immediately categorised into ‘safe to talk to’ and ‘dooming the entire tribe if eye contact is established’ what was that about? And I’m not in the doomed category am I?”
“Not that I can see,” Clearsight laughed, calming down already. In fact, most of the paths involving Listener were a lot warmer than the paths without her, with more laughing. This friendship would definitely be a turn toward the right future. As long as they avoided that fight about Clearsight’s timeline scrolls, and that other fight about Darkstalker and his sister, and, oh dear, all the fights about Listener’s crushes on various —
“By the Scorching, all right, all right!” Listener cried, flinging up her wings. “You’re one of those! I’ll stay as far out of your brain as I can, I promise. I don’t want to know anything about my future.”
“Nothing?” Clearsight asked curiously. “Even if it meant I could stop you from —”
“Nothing!” Listener yelped. She pressed her front talons to her ears. “Don’t you dare!”
How completely strange, Clearsight thought, blinking at her new friend. “But why?” she asked. “I could change your future and make it better.”
“My family is superstitious about seers,” Listener said, cautiously lowering her talons. “We’d rather be surprised by life than know too much.”
This was such a bewildering and unfamiliar concept that Clearsight fell silent, staring at the scavengers. One of them was waking up, yawning and stretching and rubbing the cloud of dark hair on its little head. 
“I have a plan,” Listener whispered, “Maybe you know about it already.”
Clearsight was aware of several Listener crazy plots, but she wasn’t sure which one this one was. She looked at her new friend imploringly.
“I’m going to free the scavengers one day.” Listener glanced quickly over her shoulder, but the teacher was busy reviewing another student’s artwork on the far side of the room. “As soon as I figure out the best way to do it.”
“Why?” Clearsight asked. “They can’t be much safer out there.”
“Because they’re sad,” Listener said simply. “I can feel it. They don’t like being trapped here. They like being together, but they would rather be free. Surrounded by dragons who could bite their little furry heads off, I think it’s stressing them out.”
“You can feel it?” Clearsight echoed, tipping her head, squinting at the captive creatures. “Like — real emotions?”
Listener nodded. “Small and muddled but very powerful. I feel it all the time when I'm here. Poor little things.”
The awake scavenger tripped over the sleeping scavenger on the way to the water dish, and the sleeping one woke up with a lot of loud squeaking noises. Clearsight watched them stomp around squeaking back and forth, just as if they were having an actual argument. Then there was a pause, and after a moment the first scavenger brought over a piece of apple to share.
“That looked like a peace offering,” Clearsight said.
“Exactly! That was exactly her feeling,” Listener said. “Their feelings are crazy similar to ours. I need to ask some other mind readers if they’ve noticed it, too. Or maybe there are scrolls about it in the library. I don’t think we’ve had many captive ones before, so maybe I’m making an awesome new discovery. I could write a paper on it!”
“I’ll help you,” Clearsight said impulsively. “Free them, I mean. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll help.” This was something completely separate from her confusing, tangled-up future. This was something she could do just for herself. Because she’d made a friend, and nobody was going to die as a result. But something darkened in the far far future, Hush, she commanded her power, I’m just helping a friend. Hopefully. Not along most of the paths anyway. Maybe she should study those two vague dark possibilities a little more carefully …
She was about to ask for a scroll to take notes on when Listener grinned sideways at her and flicked her tail. Clearsight felt a burst of weird bubbles in her chest. What was that?
Happiness? Satisfaction?
Maybe her dad was right. Maybe they weren’t all completely doomed after all. 
The moment was shattered however by Listener. “Uh oh,” She said under her breath, “Here comes Weirdout.”
Clearsight was just wondering who would give their dragonet such a strange name, when deep sapphire blue scales and white wings caught her attention. Whiteout, the dragon from some of her visions.
“...I thought her name was Whiteout?” Clearsight mumbled under her breath. 
“Yes,” Listener agreed, “But she’s super weird.”
“Hi,” Whiteout introduced herself, “You’re the Azure dragon my brother wants.”
It wasn’t a question, Clearsight noted, She knew the future too, and that was going to make it slightly harder. “Yes,” Clearsight said, in what she hoped was a firm voice. “I’m Clearsight.”
“Good,” Whiteout said, “The hourglass turned last day, and my brother needs you for something.”
"See," Listener said, once Whiteout was out of earshot. "Weird."
"I think she's interesting," Clearsight noted, distracted. Visions were already crowding her brain. She tried to push through them, Don’t look down, don’t look into the storm. Don’t let evil visions win.
===Chapter 3: Darkstalker===
Darkstalker felt betrayed. All of his kindness that he had shared with his younger sister, defending her and keeping the dagger that Arctic had fashioned out of his anger away from his sibling. But that hadn’t been enough. She still got all Arctic’s magic. And if that wasn’t bad enough, his future wife had the most powerful foresight the NightWing Tribe had ever seen. And what did he have? Mind reading? Sure it was powerful, but it wasn’t the life changing power like foresight was.
Clearsight should be here right about now! He thought. His visions, while not nearly as powerful as Clearsight’s, was a sufficient warning of when she would be here. 
And there she was, walking out with another dragonet. Listener, He heard Clearsight think, among other things. 
Just then he saw his sister walking towards a group of dragons playing marbles. He sat back, observing his vision.
“Hey! Watch where you’re walking!” A dragonet barked. Whiteout emerged from a group of dragonets, looking as though she didn’t realise someone was yelling at her. Behind her, three frustrated NightWings were scrambling to recover the marbles she’d scattered with her tail.
“Can’t you use those weird eyes of yours?” One dragonet snapped. Having stood up and towering over his sister.
“Or are IceWings blind as well as arrogant pricks?” Asked another.
Darkstalker had heard enough, he stepped out of the shadows and wrapped his wing around Whiteout’s shoulders. The look on his sister’s face was of awe, respect, and a little terror. He turned to look at the marble players. “Now, that was a bit rude, don’t you think?”
The biggest dragonet shuffled his feet angrily, “She ruined our game!” He snapped.
Darkstalker shook his head with disappointment, “What a disaster.” He mocked, “No wonder you had to resort to name-calling and racism.”
Darkstalker was enjoying the turmoil in the dragon’s minds as they tried- and failed- to come up with a reasonable excuse. 
But it would set a bad example for Clearsight if she knew that he was enjoying this, so he focused his attention on his sister. “Whiteout,” He explained gently, “These dragons are mad at you for knocking into their marbles when you walked through here.” 
“Oh,” she said. “I thought the marbles represented electrons and I was just another unpredictable whim of the universe causing them to behave like they have no mass” Darkstalker gave her a look and she smiled sweetly at the three dragons. “I did not intend to disrupt your experiment with electrons travelling through a graphene sheet.”
“It’s not-” The smallest dragonet mumbled, “Yeah, that’s alright. Sorry we yelled at you.”
“Yeah.” The other two agreed.
“Did you?” said Whiteout. “Yell at me?”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Darkstalker with a smile. He pointed to each of the players in turn. “She was cheating anyway, all he can think about is his crush on her sister, and he is thoroughly sick of both of them and wishes he knew anyone interesting. Have fun with your marbles, friends.”
He left the dragons behind, all glaring at him and each other.
He waited for Clearsight to approach him.
“Very impressive,” She said.
Darkstalker gave her a charming grin, “What, that? That was just me defending my little sister from bullies.”
“I don’t know how you pulled it off.” Clearsight said, “But you covered everything, saving your sister, standing up to bullies, courageous, a slight show of your power and a taste of your intelligence. You must’ve payed those guys, because that was just perfect.”
Darkstalker just smiled at Clearsight, he had run over so many scenarios where he met Clearsight for the first time, but he never actually considered how he would feel. 
And how did it feel? It was like a fire roaring in his heart, melting away the barriers he had built up over the years so Arctic couldn’t use his emotions against him. It was everything nice he ever experienced in his life and so much more. But there also were dark stains around the edges, it felt odd, knowing what he knows. There are so many possibilities, ones where she became his best friend and soulmate. Ones where they became King and Queen. Others where they held the strongest bloodline for generations to come. And some where they weren’t; there were futures where he killed her or she betrayed him for her SeaWing friend…
Darkstalker internally shook the dark stains out of his mind. Play it off cool, he told himself.
“Do I know you?” He asked, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Clearsight laughed, but her thoughts said that she didn’t want to.
“Oh, wait,” he said. “Did we meet on that fishing trip last month? No, hang on, I’ll remember. Aha! You’re on the Queen's Council of Ancient Elders, is that it?” 
“You mouth breather,” she said, wrinkling her snout at him, laughing at him in her head.
“You’re the one taking all the romance out of this,” he said. “It’s supposed to go, ‘that was so brave, how you stood up for your sister like that!’ ‘Oh, that, what, no, it’s what any dragon would do.’ ‘No, no — you’re special. I can tell.’ ‘Not as special as you. There’s a magic about you that I’ve never found in any other dragon!’ ‘Why — why do I feel as though I’ve known you forever?’ ‘Because you have … and you will.’ Fireworks! True love and happiness for the rest of our lives!” 
“You didn’t prepare actual fireworks, did you?” she asked.
“No, not if you hate fireworks.” He asked playfully. You're the seer, you tell me.
“Hmm,” Clearsight squinted at the school. “I see… Oh no! The school gardens are on fire!”
Terror gripped his heart for a split second, but then Darkstalker caught the tail end of a thought. “Wait,” He said, “You’re just messing with me.”
She giggled, and Darkstalker could almost see her calming down. “Has anyone ever told you that you are a terrible seer?” 
Yes, Darkstalker thought, I tell myself that every day. Because you are here.
“I rarely looked past meeting you.” He admitted that, finally, he could tell the full truth. He grinned.
Now it’s happening, Clearsight thought, The beginning of everything.
“Don’t worry about the future,” he whispered fiercely. “Just be here, with me, in this moment, when we are both as happy as we’ve ever been in our whole lives so far.” 
He could tell she wanted to and she would have, but as their claws touched, she was suddenly spun into a hurricane of visions so brutal she thought his head would split open. And Darkstalker was just an outside observer. He had no idea what it would feel like to actually experience it.
Himself, older, in the twisted crown, killing dragons from across the room with a flick of his claw. 
Whiteout kneeling below the throne, crying blood.
Himself, close to the age he was now, holding out a scroll to her with a hopeful smile. A 
SeaWing screaming in pain. 
Him and Clearsight, older again, wrestling with their six little dragonets in a noisy sprawling cliff house of their own. 
Him, collapsing in front of Clearsight as thunder rumbled.
IceWing blood everywhere. 
Whiteout lying beneath an unknown dragon, dead. The life choked out of her. 
A gift of sapphires. 
Sunset over a valley as she walked creakily on her ancient talons to rest beside him, on their porch, at peace. 
Opening the royal treasure room to bestow gifts on their grandchildren. 
Five NightWings writhing before the throne, screaming as they clawed out their own eyes. 
Betrayal woven into copper wires. 
A trip to the sea. 
A green dragon in tears. 
His and Clearsight’s dragnet, Ether, writing on a spread of scroll, her five siblings wrestling in the background.
Clearsight staggered. Darkstalker steadied her with her wings. “You didn’t see that?” She asked, clearly shaken.
“I would never invade your thoughts.” He said earnestly. Well, His traitorous mind murmured,You just read her mind. But she was projecting, He argued with himself.
“Thank you.” Clearsight said.
He laughed, which confirmed that at least for now he was staying out of her head — because she hadn’t been joking. 
With another charming grin, he said, “I’m Darkstalker, by the way.” 
“Oh, I’m Tailbite,” she said. “You weren’t expecting someone else, were you?” 
Darkstalker laughed and laughed and laughed, and in the moonlight of that laugh, she could almost stay in the present.
She could almost forget the violence, the lies, the danger … the blood and betrayal yet to come.
===Chapter 4: Whiteout===
Darkstalker was nice today, Whiteout wrote in her scroll, Usually he’s nice for about a week and then he’s distant. It’s like he gets bored with himself and suddenly I’m the most interesting dragon in his tiny universe. 
Whiteout looked up from her writing when she heard the sound of the door unlocking. She hurriedly stuffed her scroll into her school bag. She felt a disturbance, Darkstalker was home.
But instead he hurried to his room, without pausing by her door. If he knew she’d been writing, he didn’t show it.
Whiteout crawled onto her bed, fiddling with her little toy scavenger thinking intently. Darkstlker’s aura was yellow today. She observed, I know he found his Azure Dragon today. I like the way she knits. The way she loops the long strings of time into a tapestry of wonder and awe, ocean and ice, blood and sky.
Whiteout was gently brought back to the world at the sound of soft wooden taps on her door.
She made her way towards the door, careful not to step on the piles of canvases littered on the floor.
Darkstalker stood in the open doorway when she opened it. “Ahem,” He coughed awkwardly, “Can I come in?”
Whiteout stepped back to let her brother inside. “Sure,” She whispered.
“I need to ask a favour.” He said hurriedly.
“Oh?” She tipped her head.
Darkstalker withdrew a bracelet. It was one of the most beautiful things Whiteout had ever seen. Three milky white moonstones with faint traces of NightWing purple and SeaWing green caught between copper wire. The wires were woven intricately and with care, like it was a centrepiece for an art display.
“I’m going to give this to Clearsight,” He said softly.
His Azure Dragon.
“And she doesn’t totally trust me to stay out of her head,” He explained further. “I was wondering if you could manipulate the bracelet’s aura so that when worn, any mind reader cannot read the wearer's thoughts?”
Whiteout took the bracelet carefully in her talons, thinking. Darkstalker hasn’t asked me any favours in a long time. The last time he did when he lost his favourite scroll. Plus he’s been so nice to me lately, standing up to those loud dragons. He normally just lets them yell.
Whiteout looked up at her brother, and held the bracelet at eye level. “The aura of this moonstone bracelet will shield the wearer from any psychic invasion.” She said, her voice wavering with uncertainty. But a nod and a reassuring smile from Darkstalker and her fears melted away. “And it will remain shiny and new for the rest of forever. A timeless gift.”
Darkstalker smiled a real genuine smile and took the bracelet from her. “Thank you,” He said, “I’m sure she’ll love it.”
Whiteout smiled as Darkstalker pulled her into a hug. “You were wise to add that last part of the enchantment, the part where the bracelet would stay like new forever.”
Warmth bloomed in her chest. Darkstalker was praising her of all dragons!
Whiteout didn’t want to break contact, but the sound of the front door opening for the second time startled her enough to break away.
“Mother?” Darkstalker asked, hurrying towards the door. Whiteout quickly followed. Despite the magic protecting Foeslayer against harm, she looked beat up. Her wings drooped with tiredness and her scales were dusty. She looked ready to sleep for two thousand years.
But she brightened considerably when her two dragonets ran out of Whiteout’s bedroom.
Whiteout tackled her mother in a hug while Darkstalker took a more civilised approach in greeting their mother. 
“Mother,” Whiteout asked, looking up at Foeslayer, “Was the war really awful?”
“Shhh.” Foeslayer soothed, “It was as bad as any war in history. But now I’m back, and we can forget about that!”
Both her dragonets took the hint and dropped the subject. 
Darkstalked tensed slightly and Whiteout looked behind her at the front door. Their pale blue door opened and stepped in their father.
“Arctic,” Foeslayer sighed with relief. 
Whiteout rushed to hug her father and the familiar icy cold swept over her as he gently placed his talons on her shoulders. “Go get cleaned up for supper,” Arctic all but ordered his dragonets.
Darkstalker cast a glowering look his father’s way before stalking off. 
Oddly, Without could feel a faint smugness coming from her brother. His Azure Dragon, she thought, as sapphires and lazulite stones cascaded through her mind, He found her and the world is not ready for this.
===Chapter 5: Clearsight===
the friendship
===Chapter 6: Darkstalker===
the mistrust
===Chapter 7: Whiteout===
the betrayal
===Chapter 8: Clearsight===
the murder
===Chapter 9: Darkstalker===
the show
==Epologue==
the aftermath
==Gallery==
File:2D477256-C663-4B1D-9088-355F73656135.jpg|Full Cover by me
File:EF9F5678-8D45-4372-A6CE-91E7ACCFCF88.jpg|Full Jacket by me
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Content (Orphiceunoia)