Life's a Fickle Thing

== Prologue: My Name, My Life, and My Crisis ==
Hello, my name is Saffron. I suppose to start this journal, I should start by writing some things about myself.
I am a proud female of the great Skywing tribe. I am currently single, but that might have a lot to do with my physical profile. I am and always have been abnormally large in muscle mass. In the words of my old instructors, I was practically bred to kill and to destroy. I do not exaggerate when I say that often, I have been mistaken for a male. No kind of feminine perfume, or accessory will help with that, trust me, I’ve tried. 
Right now, I am a maid for a rather wealthy Sandwing family on the outskirts of Possibility. Such an ironic name for the position I find myself in. In exchange for my services, they let me live with them as well as pay me a pittance of money. It’s funny to think that after all I have been through in the past, I find myself a maid. I suppose life works in the strangest of ways.
I used to be a great soldier back in the years of the war, and was an excellent fighter. Dragons from all over used to know me and respect me, or know me and deeply fear me. As terrible as it might sound, I found my purpose, my calling in life, in the long, bloody war that many dragons despised.
War is a fickle thing. One second, it gives you friends, camaraderie, and a place to call home. A place among the ranks of your fellow countrymen. However, the next second, it takes all of that away and leaves you scarred, physically and emotionally. It leaves you with nothing to live for, yet strangely, it insists that you keep on living. Whether it be out of some false sense of justice, or some blind dedication to your country.
For years, I have been trapped in this purgatory, this cruel joke. Don’t misinterpret these words though, for I am not suicidal. In fact, I find myself far from it. I find myself tethered to this cruel world out of fear. Fear of death, fear of being forgotten. But, I’ve come to find that this world is interesting and miraculous as well. Life and death are miracles in their own rites, and everything else inbetween finds itself to be no exception. 
As I’ve come to find, the world is equal parts cruel and beautiful.
I do not come to regret my life, and feel no one should feel sorry for me, but when I lie awake in my bed at night, I find myself with no motivation to continue living and find my mind ruminating over all of the tragedies that I have experienced.
To put it quite simply, I have given up on trying to be happy. Of trying to be what I want.
Yet I continue living. I continue to live to understand why I live. That is partially why I wrote this journal. To know.
But whoever is going to read this journal probably didn’t come for my pointless and convoluted metaphysics. They came for my story. Well, whoever you are, you better brace yourself, it’s a long one.
== Chapter 1: The Past - Beginnings, Regrets, and Strange Meetings ==
My tale begins with a character very much unlike me now. Forty odd years ago, a little girl going through turbulent times with her family, decided to run away and abandon everything that she ever knew. She abandoned her family, her friends, and her life all in hope that she might make a life for herself. A life she could call her own.
This girl was emotionally unstable and often broke into fits when she didn’t get what she wanted. She couldn’t accept the world as it was because she wanted things to be her way. She didn’t want to bend to the rules of life, she wanted the rules of life to bend to her. So in some foolish attempt to create her own life, she ran away and abandoned everything that she thought controlled her. What she didn’t understand was that nobody controlled her in the first place. She was a slave to her very own whims, and this action only served to prove that.
This tiny little dragonet’s name was Saffron.
However, this little dragonet ran without a plan, as she always did. She always expected things to just kind of work out in the end in one feelgood resolution.
Of course, as was the case, everything didn’t work out in the end as she intended. Instead, she found herself being shaped from living on the streets. Slowly, she became an incredibly street smart and violent criminal. After a few mess ups at the beginning of her new life, she eventually became a well respected and well feared criminal, even building up quite the following of other dragons.
The more she killed and stole though, the more empty she became. The more she seemed to wander and live without purpose. Regardless of what she felt on the inside, she continued to be her brash, witty, and hot headed self. Eventually though, the law caught up with her and her friends and they were all sent to jail, where they rotted for years on end. You better believe that that gave her time to think. Time to ponder. 
…
Upon putting that period down in her notebook, Saffron cringed. She remembered the exact moment that she got arrested almost like it was like yesterday. Back then, she might have been street smart, but certainly was not smart smart. She did a lot of stupid things back then, and honestly wished that she never did those things. Not only was she ruining other dragons’ lives, but she was also ruining her own.
Though in the end, she supposed that she could chalk it up to the folly of youth. Teenagers will be teenagers and it’s only natural that she would hate something that she used to do.
When she thought about the reason she got arrested further, recalling every moment in her head, Saffron face palmed reflexively. 
“I can’t believe I was that kind of dragon when I was young…” Saffron said to herself quietly, groaning in disappointment and embarrassment for herself.
Thirty years ago…
Saffron and her posse were wandering about the street drunk on a moonlit night. Only minutes previous, they got themselves involved in a drinking game, in where Saffron won. However, she won only because the others stopped first, fearing for their lives. Saffron however, knew no fear when it came to booze.
Surprisingly enough, despite the frankly ridiculous amount of alcohol that she consumed, she was still walking straight. However, that had to be the only thing that she was still doing right.
In her drunken state, she started to talk obnoxiously loud in a slurred manner. All of her friends (Saffron can not recall a single name of any of them in the present, though it’s probably for the better.) laughed with her, partly because they were drunk themselves, and partly because they were afraid of what she would do if they didn’t agree and laugh with her.
In her own drunken stupor, she bumped into a Skywing guard.
“Hey, punk! Watch where you’re going!” Saffron said, slurred. 
The guard looked at Saffron strangely, and gave her a look of concern. “Excuse me? I’m certain that you were the one who bumped into me, you drunk. I should be the one saying that to you!”
At this statement, Saffron seethed with anger. “You picking a fight with me pal? I’ll have you know that I’m one of the toughest dragons around these parts!” She shouted in his face, drawing closer in a vain attempt to look down at him.
“Really? You don’t look like much, you disgrace of a Skywing. Take your drunk tail out of here before you do something you’ll regret,” the guard spat, looking down at her.
Saffron growled at him. She lunged forward wrapping her claws around his neck. In a swift motion, she used her momentum to flip him over, slamming him down on the ground belly up. She tightened her grip on the guard’s neck slowly choking him as he desperately clawed at her talons. 
“Who’s the disgrace now, huh? You’re being beaten up by a little girl and I’m the disgrace of an Skywing, is that right? How does it feel to be brought to your knees by a drunk disgrace, huh?” Saffron slurred, letting go of her grip to allow the guard to respond. Instead of responding though, he entered a violent coughing fit, gasping desperately for air between coughs. Saffron smiled. “Excellent answer!” Saffron immediately started to throw punches at the downed guard, drawing blood on multiple occasions and laughing maniacally all the while.. “No one calls me a disgrace and gets away with it!”
Suddenly, something slammed into her side, knocking her off of the guard and taking the breath out of her. She was launched a few inches in the air, landing on the ground with a thump. She got up quickly, shaking her head. When her eyes came back into focus, she saw a large Skywing helping up the other guard, who thanked the new Skywing profusely. The new Skywing patted the guard on the shoulder and pushed him away gently. 
“So, you like picking on rookies, huh?” The Skywing said, turning around to reveal an older character, one who looked weathered by his own experience. Of course, young Saffron’s first thoughts were more along the lines of, this old man’s face annoys me. “I can’t say that I approve of what you did, but those were some fancy moves. ‘Fraid I can’t forgive someone like you though.”
“Hey! I was in the middle of teaching that pansy loudmouth a lesson,” Saffron growled, glaring at him. “I suggest moving out of the way unless you want me to teach you the same lesson, old man!” Saffron spat, voice unsurprisingly hostile and confident. She was already like that without alcohol; to add alcohol to the mix was only fanning the flames.
He scoffed and shook his head. “Kids these days, no respect for their elders, even if you throw a complement their way. I swear society is going downhill these days.” 
Saffron snarled and charged at him with full speed, and when she got close enough, threw a right hook, aiming directly for his jawline. In the second that Saffron threw that punch, the Skywing caught it and swiped her legs with his tail, unbalancing her. In a swift motion, the Skywing flipped Saffron onto her back. From there, the Skywing quickly climbed on top of Saffron, using his claws to pin down hers.
“Hey now, didn’t you just pull this trick?” Even downed, Saffron continued to struggle, though it was useless under the strong grip of the Skywing on top of her. Clearly, she had underestimated him. “Sorry kid, looks like this is the end of the line for you. You’re going away for a long time. Next time, how about you don’t give my friends bloody noses,” he said, carefully applying cuffs and chains to her.
Present time…
That certainly was an experience. One that she wasn’t going to forget any time soon. To this day though, she still felt that to keep her in jail for so long just for beating up a police officer in a drunken rage was a tad bit unfair. Though she supposed they had their reasons. Perhaps they found out all her other crimes that she committed. She sighed. She wouldn’t blame them if that was the case. She was a menace to society if she was going to be perfectly honest with herself.
Saffron continued to write from where she left off, shaking herself out of that rather painful flashback.
… 
You see, Saffron was always a good natured dragon, so the more she thought about all she did, the more the guilt weighed down on her soul. She spent hours pondering and thinking, trying to rationalize what she did. Gradually, hours turned to days, days turned into weeks, and weeks turned to years. She was never able to think of the answer, and was left conflicted for many years to come.
Eventually, the war of Sandwing Succession rolled around, and the Skywing army was short on soldiers due to how brutal the fighting was out on the front lines. Naturally, Queen Scarlet immediately drafted all of the prisoners into the army, perhaps a bit too excited to see the blood of dishonorable Skywings shed. While most prisoners were sent off in penal squads to the front lines to never return, by some miracle, Saffron was not sent off as cannon fodder for the Seawings and the Mudwings to shred in the front lines. Instead, whether it be by some administrative string pulling by an unknown friend or blind luck, she was put into training.
It appeared like fate wasn’t quite toying with Saffron.
It was just her luck that instead of being placed in a cushy position like tactician, or medic, or runner, she was instead forced to train with the most brutal and grueling part of the Skywing military, special forces. This section was infamous turning some the best and strongest of Skywings into shadows of their former selves. 
Saffron, by the skin on her teeth, made it through training. She was battered, scarred, and dried of tears and sweat, but came out stronger physically and mentally regardless. Despite the brutal training, she wasn’t broken, and continued to maintain her hotheaded, witty, and rebellious attitude. Though at this point, her perspective changed. Training might have been the most pain she had ever been through, but it was not the worst experience she's been through. Training and being in the army gave her purpose and direction, something that she had been lacking for the longest time. For once in her life, it seemed like she had something to fight for, something to believe in, something to respect and serve. And that was precious to Saffron.
After training, Saffron was shipped off to be paired with other dragons into little squads of three. In that squad she would meet the two most important dragons in her life. Though why they were important and whether or not they were important in the good way was and still is debatable to her
There was where Saffron’s life changed. Whether it was for the better or for the worse, she still doesn’t know.
...
After putting the period after that sentence, Saffron sighed wistfully. Man, writing about this really takes me back, she thought. Noticing that the candle fire next to her bed was starting to burn low, she quietly shifted toward the nightstand and extinguished the low flame between her talons. Pushing the burnt out candle aside, she pulled out a fresh one and blew a small puff of flame, lighting the candle instantly.
After lighting the candle, she started to blankly stare at the flame, deep in thought. She started to smile as she looked back at her past. Back when she was serving in the military, she was always known as the rebellious, hot headed one, though dragons never failed to realize how witty and quick thinking she was. She seemed to be so full of life then and those times seemed to be the apex of her life. Those times were when she really enjoyed life and always was ready to take on whatever life threw at her. 
She frowned as she thought about herself now. How she was older and frailer. How she was merely a shadow of her former self, who insisted on calling herself Saffron. All things considered though, she wasn’t Saffron. Not anymore. She was someone that Saffron would despise, an old, weak minded, groveling dragon who couldn’t stop thinking what happened in the past. She cursed under her breath. Even she hated what she turned into.
She continued to ruminate and reminisce though, maybe it was what was left of her rebellious spirit, or maybe it was her own wishful thinking, but she continued.
Twenty years ago…
Saffron stood tall and straight, which she had always hated to do. Even after all of this time training with the best in the Skywing military, she supposed that she still had a little bit of criminal instinct in her. It just didn’t feel right to stand tall, not when for her whole life, she was taught to stay low in the shadows. But then she remembered. She wasn’t who she was before. Saffron was a completely different dragon with a whole different set of morals. She promised herself during her time in jail.
Currently, they were standing on a widely revered mountain top, known for having major spiritual significance as well as major political significance. It was incredibly cold, but the dragons around her and herself stared blankly forward, disciplined to the point where they couldn't care less about the cold. As they stood there, the sun peeked out from behind a mountain peak, illuminating the area they stood in. Some dragons flinched and squinted, but for the most part, everyone still remained deathly still.
To her left and right, there was a long line of dragons of all builds and sizes, each specializing in something different. In total, the line had about thirty dragons. These were the best and brightest the Skywing race could muster and Saffron had no doubt in her mind that they would all go to turn the tide of the war. After all, the best of Skywings could best any other tribe.
Just as the sun peeked itself over the mountain peaks around them, they heard faint and distant wing beats. From the sound of it, there were three wingbeats. Last time she checked though, they only had one instructor.
The three landed in quick succession to each other, kicking up quite a lot of dust. While most dragons would squint and shield their eyes from the particles being flung their way, the line of soldiers were all collectively too scared to do so upon seeing who exactly they were. In front of them were the three single most important dragons they could possibly meet in their insignificant lives.
On the far left was Raptor, their instructor. With a gruff face and a perpetual scowl, he embodied the classic cold instructor archetype, but that was exactly why he always turned results. Despite being the most outwardly cruel and cold dragon he was though, he was actually surprisingly an incredibly emotional dragon. Actually, Saffron could safely say that he was probably the softest dragon here. If you ever brought it up with him in earshot though, you will probably regret ever being born. Whenever he wasn’t working them to death, her peers would joke that he was probably frolicking in the fields picking flowers somewhere.
In the middle was the general of the guard, Cazador. One of the most respected dragons that you would probably meet outside of the queen herself. While one would expect him to be an older, wiser, and more reserved kind of dragon, right now, he had the stupidest grin on his face. He always seemed to be incredibly laid back and comical, even in dangerous and stressful situations. Even when it would be a detriment to have a disposition like that, he always seemed to keep it. Nobody knew why, but Queen Scarlet always seemed to keep him close by. However, that’s not saying that he got into that position for no reason. Not only did he descend from an ancient line of legendary warriors and tacticians, but he seemed to be the pinnacle of the family in every way. The fact that he is that incredibly talented makes him equally as lazy though.
To the far right was none other than Queen Scarlet herself, the single most awe inspiring dragon that Saffron could ever hope to meet in her whole life. She stood tall. Taller than anyone could possibly muster and had an incredibly proud and regal atmosphere about her at all times. Though could you really blame her? She is the walking embodiment of personal strength and achievement. Everybody looked up to her, and Saffron was no different. Though now that she has the luxury of hindsight, Saffron wonders if maybe their fear of failure in front of Scarlet was not because they looked up to her, but instead was because they were afraid of what would happen should they fail.
When they made their presence clear, it was as if the air around them grew stagnant, like the world grinded to a halt. Everyone was holding their breaths in anticipation of what Scarlet would say.
Cazador walked up and down the line, carefully observing and eyeing down every single individual recruit while Scarlet followed him closely. In fact, Scarlet seemed to be more enraptured by her new necklace than her new recruits. However, Cazador was uncharacteristically focused and serious. Though Cazador seemed disinterested in almost anything, one thing that he seemed to take very seriously was training and the troops he sends out to the battlefield. It isn't an uncommon sight to see him getting personally acquainted with common soldiers.
After making his fifth or sixth round, Cazador walked up to Raptor and started to have a hushed conversation between them. Almost everybody tuned in, despite the fact that Cazador was most likely doing it to spare them.
Cazador leaned in close to Raptor. “This all we got?”
Raptor nodded slowly and grimly. “ ‘Fraid so sir, the war seems to be claiming more and more of these kinds of dragons the longer we stay in it.”
Cazador sighed, shaking his head. “Yeah, but I expected more than a bunch of kids to send off. I bet you not one of these rookies have seen a day of combat.”
“No one would take that bet, sir.”
“My point exactly.”
“If it makes you feel any better sir, these recruits seem to be a bit over average from what I’ve seen in the past.”
Cazador glanced over at the line of recruits for a split second before looking at Raptor again. “‘A bit over average’ means nothing when it comes down to it,” Cazador said, growling a bit in frustration. “Guess we have to make it work.”
Scarlet, who was sitting behind Cazador fiddling with her necklace scoffed.
“You think you can hurry it up Cazador? I came out here this early for a reason. It would be absolutely terrible if I missed the particularly thrilling arena match later today,” Queen Scarlet said, drawing out the word ‘thrilling’ in her sentence. Saffron’s spine chilled whenever she said that. Despite how great Scarlet was, it always unnerved her when she said the word ‘thrilling’, especially when she knew what Scarlet was implying.
“Right, sorry Scarlet, but show some patience would you? You’re no longer a dragonet alright?” Cazador said casually, as if what he said wasn’t high treason.
Scarlet simply scoffed instead of doing what she could’ve done, which would’ve probably involved a lot of blood and possibly a severed limb or two. “Speak for yourself, but I’m absolutely bored to tears. There’s nothing thrilling about military management.”
“I could say the same about watching prisoners of war beating each other senseless all day,” Cazador chided, counting the amount of dragons in the line. Cazador didn’t even look at Queen Scarlet when he talked. If he were a lesser dragon, he probably would be sent to the very place he was criticizing. “Alright recruits, let’s get you all grouped up.”
What ensued was a long and rather boring process of being grouped up. Saffron had to stifle a yawn or two while Cazador consulted Raptor to decide who to put where. From the sounds of it, they really were considering everything when grouping dragons up. Everything from intellectual capability to personality, they really left nothing out.
After hours of being ordered around around into their respective groups of three, she met two dragons that would change the course of her life.
The first time that she saw them, she didn’t think real highly of them. They seemed so frail and childish, it was almost as if they were dolls of a young dragonet. They had no reason to be here. As she approached them, she noticed the rather cheerful and small one talk incessantly to the rather tall and lanky one with half lidded eyes. He looked at the smaller one intently, occasionally nodding his head, though Saffron suspected that his interest was feigned.
Through her peripheral vision, the smaller dragon spotted Saffron and started to wave at her, with the brightest and biggest smile she had seen in years.
It certainly did not seem like the smile of a dragon who was about to go to war.
The other dragon followed her gaze and simply stared at Saffron, no doubt carefully analyzing her actions. He kept the same dead expression on his face, but lifted a talon half heartedly in some attempt to wave and appear friendly, as the dragon next to him did. Despite his forced gesture, she still felt rather uneasy about him. He looked the type that would be scheming away while others did the fighting for him, great for a politician type of character, but not for a soldier.
Saffron almost bursted out laughing. There was no way in the name of the three moons that these were her partners and there was certainly no way they were soldiers. They almost came off as the complete antithesis of soldiers. One was lanky and lithe and the other was simply tiny. This was almost certainly a joke!
She watched Cazador through her peripheral vision, expecting him to suddenly burst into laughter, walk over to Saffron, and tell her that it was all a joke, that it was all in good fun and that she should lighten up. She expected Cazador to deliver the punchline and they’d all share a good natured laugh about it. After all, that was the kind of dragon Cazador was.
The longer she watched him though, the further her heart sank.
“Hello!” The smaller dragon said, running up to Saffron. “Are you paired up with us?” She asked hurriedly, extending her claw for a handshake despite the fact that Saffron hadn’t even answered her. She looked up at Saffron expectantly, her eyes filled with a strange childlike trust and wonder.
“Yeah,” Saffron replied, sarcastic and hostile inflection in her voice. Saffron half heartedly took the dragon’s claw in her own and shook it. “Guess so.” Saffron looked away, refusing to look her in the eyes and lower herself to the same standing she was. Just from a glance, she couldn’t bring herself to respect or even trust these dragons. 
The dragon didn’t seem to notice this though, and smiled warmly, continuing on with her greeting undeterred. 
“That’s great! It’s really nice to meet you,” she said, shaking Saffron’s claw for an uncomfortable amount of time. Saffron pulled her claw away from her gently, trying her best to stay the slight bit courteous. The dragon didn’t seem to notice and continued. “My name is Phoenix, this squad’s combat medic, and back there is Raven, our tactician,” Phoenix said, pointing back to Raven, who Saffron swore was giving her a dirty look. “Don’t worry about him, he’s just a bit slow to warm up to new dragons, I swear he’s great when you get to know him. What’s your name?”
“Name’s Saffron. I know your role has the word combat in it, but it looks like you’ll both snap in half the first sign of combat, so leave the fighting up to me, kid,” Saffron remarked, eying Phoenix and Raven down. Saffron noted that Raven narrowed his eyes at her after her statement.
Despite her words, Phoenix beamed. “Thanks for the offer, but you don’t have to worry about me, I know a thing or two about fighting,” Phoenix said. It certainly didn’t look it, but there was a certain air of confidence and sincerity in her words. At the very least, she believed what she was saying.
Saffron rolled her eyes and looked down at Phoenix. “That’s real funny kid. A little tiny thing like you couldn’t fight itself out of a box, much less a real Seawing or Mudwing. They’re much more vicious than any animal that you’ve fought,” Saffron said. It wasn’t uncommon for Skywings in the special forces to face off and kill real Mudwing and Seawing prisoners of war. It was a morally questionable practice, but was invaluable training to have.
Phoenix pouted a bit, but still maintained an inoffensive look on her face. “Well-” she started, before Raven pushed her behind him, assuming a defensive stance.”Hey! What are you doing Raven? I was busy introducing myself!” She shouted in protest. Despite her words, she slipped aside rather easily, opting to not put up a fight.
“Who do you think you are, looking down at us and insulting us right out of the gate? Nothing but a insensitive oaf,” Raven said, glaring at Saffron.
“Raven, it’s fine,” Phoenix said meekly, trying to grab his attention by tapping his shoulder. Before Raven could turn his attention though, Saffron responded.
“I should be asking the same question,” Saffron said nonchalantly. “Who the hell do you think you are, kid?”
“I’m Raven of the Skywings, proud soldier and tactician, and I will not stand for this kind of vile behavior,” Raven said, standing tall and glaring at Saffron.
“And what exactly are you going to do about it, kid?” Saffron asked, literally butting heads with him. Raven was initially shocked, but growled and glared at her while locked in that position. He pushed back in earnest, trying to push Saffron away in this show of strength. “You fixing for a fight?” She asked, smiling. If nothing else, his determination amused her.
“Guys, please, let’s just get along, okay?” Phoenix said. Her voice was shaky and concerned for the both of them. She moved to break them up, but suddenly Raven hit her back with his tail, knocking her down on her back behind him. She let out a surprised and pained yelp. “Hey! That really hurt Raven…” She said sullenly.
“Stay out of this Phoenix, I have to teach this disgrace of a Skywing some common manners. We can’t just let her walk all over us,” Raven said, raising his voice.
Saffron’s left eye twitched and she let a growl escape her. “What did you just call me, kid?” She snarled. “I hope for your sake that you didn’t call me what I think you called me.”
At this point, a small crowd was starting to gather. Hushed murmurs started to pass around the crowd, most of which were about how sorry they felt for Raven now. Even Scarlet was sitting in the crowd, suddenly interested once she caught wind a fight was happening.
“You heard right, unless you’re also deaf. In that case, I’ll say it again; you’re a disgrace to the Skywing name!” He shouted, grinning smugly, knowing he had struck a nerve.
“Say it one more time, I dare you!” Saffron shouted through grit teeth. At this point, she was absolutely fuming and was probably ready to snap the poor boy’s neck.
“Gladly, you’re a di-” Raven started, but was abruptly cut short by Saffron pulling her head back and headbutting him so hard that he staggered backwards, dazed. He let out a pained groan as he instinctively felt his head and did a double take, as if to shake it off. When he opened his eyes again, Saffron had twirled around and slammed her tail over his head hard, sending him into the ground.
Everyone winced at the sight, all thinking about how much that hurt. Scarlet however, was smiling, strangely entertained by the fight. “Absolutely thrilling, perhaps I should manage the military more often?”
Saffron planted her claw on Raven’s neck and leaned down close to his ear. “Could you repeat that one more time? I’ve been having trouble hearing recently.”
Raven, despite his situation, chuckled a bit. “You’re a disgrace,” he said hoarsely.
“Oh yeah? You think this is real funny do ya?” Saffron said, lifting Raven up with her claw. She lifted her other claw in preparation to strike him directly in the eyes. “Trust me, it’s about to get a whole lot funnier, kid,” she said before pushing her claws forward.
But before she could make contact, a very deep, stern, particularly mad, and familiar voice called out to her.
“Saffron! Just what do you think you are doing?” Raptor said, pushing his way out of the crowd. Cazador was a short distance behind, giving both Scarlet and Saffron a dirty look of disapproval. 
Almost immediately, Saffron dropped Raven to the floor with a thud and stood at attention in front of Raptor, who did not look particularly pleased at the moment. 
“Just some playful roughhousing sir, you know how it is,” Saffron said, tying her best to muffle the anger that she was engulfed in just a second ago.
“Roughhousing huh?” Raptor said, getting closer and closer to Saffron. Saffron swallowed her spit nervously as Raptor drew closer. He definitely had the face of ‘I’m going to make your life a living hell’ on right now. “Do I look like I was born yesterday?” He shouted in her face. Saffron backed up and seemed to shrink under the eyes of Raptor.
“Er, no sir!” Saffron responded, a single bead of sweat dripping from her forehead.
“Alright! So tell me, what exactly do you call that?”
Saffron rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “Uh,” was all she got out, all of a sudden all too aware of all the eyes on her.
“While we're young please?”
“He provoked me sir,” Saffron explained slowly, voice trembling a bit.
“Should’ve known that you’d flare up again,” Raptor said, shaking his head and sighing. “You two, let this be a lesson; tread carefully with Saffron. She’s not really the friendliest dragon around.”
“Yeah, noted,” Raven said, draping an arm over Phoenix’s neck. He struggled to get up and was taking shallow breaths between his words.
“You two, take the day off to relax and recover. We’ll resume this tomorrow. You two are dismissed,” Raptor said.
“Thank you sir,” Phoenix said. She turned around and helped Raven back to the barracks, but not before looking back one more time at Saffron. Surprisingly enough though, Saffron didn’t see anger or hatred in her eyes, she just saw sadness. Sadness for what, she has still yet to figure out.
“Saffron!” Raptor barked, instantly grabbing her attention.
Saffron straightened up and looked forward. “Yes sir?”
“Thanks to your little outburst, you have wasted time. More specifically, my time. Do you recall what I do to dragons who waste my time?” 
Saffron gulped. A lump was forming in her throat. She knew exactly what he meant, but refused to answer his question.
“I asked you a question!”
“You punish them, sir.”
“That’s right! And do you want to guess what your punishment is?”
“No, sir.”
“Alright, then I’ll tell you right now. Two hundred laps from here to the palace! And don’t even think about stopping or there will be hell to pay! You start now, and you might make it back in time for breakfast tomorrow,” Raptor said, smiling.
Saffron’s heart sank, but she instantly took off, wanting to get this over as soon as possible. She didn’t exactly expect her day to become a 24 hour flying marathon.
She grit her teeth and settled into a bitter scowl.
“Once I get back, that kid is dead.”
== Chapter 2: The Past - Fleeting Happiness, Tragedy, and Realization ==
However, Saffron never did get around to killing Raven.
Despite their rocky relationship, they still managed to bear with each other, and eventually, Saffron forgot all about trying to get back at Raven. Though the reason for this may be less about actually liking Raven, and more about who she would disappoint if she did harm Raven.
That certain dragon was Phoenix. 
In the beginning, Saffron didn’t think too highly of Phoenix. She hated the way she looked, she hated her carefree attitude, she hated her optimism. But the longer that Saffron stood around Phoenix, the more she understood that the reason she initially hated her because she defined happiness, something that Saffron grew to resent because she could never get it.
However, the longer that Phoenix kept on showing her optimistic thinking during missions, the more that optimism and happiness started to rub off on Saffron. Eventually, as the days wore on, Saffron started to think that maybe with Phoenix, everything would turn out alright. She started to feel that with Phoenix, not only did her life had direction and purpose, but it was real.
Before, her life was a shambling mess of mistakes and broken dreams, but with Phoenix, she started to see that maybe not everything in her life was mistakes. She was happy.
Eventually, Saffron’s feelings toward Phoenix grew to be increasingly complex. It was a kind of indescribable relationship that went well beyond any friendship, far past any romantic relationship. It was one of unconditional love and trust in Phoenix, something that Saffron had never been able to experience before. It was as if Phoenix’s life gave her life.
Not only that, but she started to respect Raven more. Maybe they had their differences, but not only could she respect him as a fellow soldier, but as a fellow dragon as well.
... 
Saffron smiled a bit as she recalled all the moments they shared together as comrades and as friends.
For all the suffering that war seems to cause, it also seems to forge the most unorthodox of relationships as well. Love, friendship, it seems that war has an ironic power of bringing people together against all other odds.
In particular, she recalled one specific night.
On the night of the brightest night, Phoenix suggested that they should all take some time off to just go stargazing. Evidently, it had been a long time tradition for Raven and Phoenix to go out during brightest nights to stargaze and just talk.
Saffron, being herself, was a bit averse to the idea, saying that they had better things to do. However, in the company of Raven and Phoenix, it was almost like she never really had a say in her attendance in the first place.
Years ago, on The Brightest Night…
“Come on you slow pokes!” Phoenix exclaimed. There was a certain jubilan bounce in her voice, as if this was something that she had been looking forward for a long time. She bounded up the hill with incredible speed and energy, something that Saffron didn't really expect in the middle of the night.
“Phoenix, slow down!” Raven shouted back between strained breaths. “You’re going too fast!”
Saffron turned to look at him and smirked. “Oh, I’m sorry, does our little princess here need someone to carry her the rest of the way?” 
“Oh shut up,” Raven said. Though it was something said without malice; in fact, he had a big smile on while he said it. He playfully hit Saffron on her shoulder. “Since when were you in the business of helping damsels in distress?”
“Since I got paired up with one,” Saffron snarked playfully. 
Raven laughed in a jolly and lighthearted way that was rather unsettling. Raven laughed so sparingly, Saffron didn't rule out the possibility that he had gone insane. 
“You’re serious?” Raven asked.
“As serious as I’ll ever be,” Saffron replied.
As they scaled up the hill not too far away from their base of operations, they continued this playful banter. Conversations like these had become a rare occurrence ever since they started to do missions on the field in earnest. When they had the chance to simply talk like this, they often cherished much more than any normal dragon would.
These moments are the ones that Saffron missed the most. The moments of blissful ignorance and simple joy in the company of others.
When the two of them got to the top of the hill, Phoenix had already sat herself down on the ground, staring wide eyed at the three full moons above. She didn't even notice Raven and Saffron approaching her, as if she had been set into a trance.
It was only when Saffron and Raven joined her did she finally snap back into reality.
“The moons look pretty tonight,” Phoenix breathed in awe. She then turned over to Saffron and smiled her usual, bright smile. 
“Don’t you agree Saffron?”
…
But it all changed that fateful mission. 
Of course, Raven had pitched the idea and drew up the plans. It was a suicide mission, in every sense of the word, and Saffron had a gut feeling that it would it would be certain doom to go with it. However, Phoenix convinced Saffron that they would be able to do it, that it would all turn out fine in the end like it always did. Despite great protest in the back of Saffron’s mind, Phoenix seemed to take away her worries.
Their mission was to assassinate the generals of both the Seawings and the Mudwings, who were organizing joint operations against Skywing troops and positions. If the mission was successful, it would give the Skywing military the opening they needed to break defenses and gain lots of ground, stacking the odds against both the Seawings and the Mudwings. Presumably, Raven had drew up this plan with the highest ranking officials in the Skywing military and Scarlet herself and said they couldn’t just send an army because that would result in too many casualties.
So instead Saffron, Phoenix, and Raven had to go there by themselves with no backup and no emergency exit plan under the cover of darkness.
…
Saffron left out a hefty sigh.
She did not want to keep on thinking about the rest of this story. Even after all of these years after the incident, she still can’t bear the thought of it. Once she started the story, it would be the point of no return.
Painful memories are locked away for a reason, to keep dragons sane. To stop them from tearing themselves apart, but here she was, about to purposefully delve into an unbearably painful memory for the sake of closure. Maybe she was insane.
But then again, she was also insane for letting this memory gnaw away at the back of her mind, a constant reminder of her mistakes and her past. Without confrontation, she would never be able to understand, never be able to move on, never be free from her past. 
It was a choice between two equally dangerous poisons.
She unconsciously grit her teeth and glared at the blank page, tensing up. She had to. If not for herself, then for the ones around her.
15 years ago…
It was raining.
Though this wasn’t any ordinary kind of rain. This kind of rain was the one that Saffron hated the most; the kind of rain that obscured her vision, that threatened to blow her away, that waterlogged her wings when she attempted to fly. Distant thunder cracked, making echoes across the dense forest they were in and beyond. Lightning came down from the sky, leaving its grim impression on the sky before fading back from whence it came. The wind was howling outside the cave she and Phoenix were holed up in. The trees seemed to sway and bend to the force of the wind, submissive and cowardly in the overwhelming force of nature.
The occasional flashes of lightning served to be their only source of life as they sat in the cave, both unsure as what to do.
Saffron hung her head and curled up in the corner of the cave, face forlorned and despondent, a far cry from her usual hot headed demeanor. She absentmindedly fiddled with a pebble on the ground, counting the seconds as they passed.
Phoenix, stayed vigilant as always, standing at the mouth of the cave. She looked around, scanning her environment closely for any unwanted visitors. It was strange, she was unusually serious and her face was twisted into an expression of worry. Enemies were not the only thing she was looking for.
Shaking her head and gluing her eyes to the ground, she listlessly shambled toward Saffron and collapsed next to her. Despite their extensive training and experience on the field, they were exhausted out of their minds. It was as if they had one talon in the grave already.
A long silence followed, with not so much as a word from any of them. They could’ve fooled any onlooker.
The silence was broken when Phoenix spoke up.
“I… I didn’t see them,” Phoenix said between shallow and ragged breaths. There was water all over her face, but Saffron could tell that a great deal of it wasn’t rainwater or sweat. 
Relief washed over Saffron when she heard those words. They were no longer being pursued and there was no more immediate threat to them anymore. However, Saffron knew that the Seawing soldiers weren’t the only dragons Phoenix was referring to. Phoenix laid there, comatose, face blank and still with the only exception being to blink.
“I’m sorry Phoenix,” Saffron started, trying to find her voice. “I should’ve fought them off.” Saffron looked at Phoenix in the eyes, trying to figure out what Phoenix was thinking, to no avail. “If I did, Raven would still be-”
Before Saffron could finish her sentence, Phoenix hugged her, wrapping her wings around Saffron. The hug was tight, yet was the slightest bit loose, as if Phoenix was keeping her from going anywhere, but at the same time didn’t have the strength to do so. Saffron gasped and flinched, not expecting such a reaction. She could hear Phoenix’s heartbeat and could do nothing but stare wide eyed at her as Phoenix started to sob uncontrollably into Saffron’s neck.
“Phoenix…” Saffron started. Saffron didn’t know what to say to her to comfort her. As much as she wished she did, she could do nothing but stay still and watch this unravel.
“Don’t say that,” Phoenix said between frequent sobs and shaky breaths. “Then I would’ve lost you.” Phoenix hugged Saffron tighter as she desperately tried to get a hold of herself, to no avail. “Raven was an old childhood friend of mine. He would always be there when no one else was,” Phoenix muttered. “But now he’s - he’s d-”
“Hey!” Saffron snapped. Instantly, Phoenix quieted. “I’m sad too alright? That kid wasn’t supposed to be captured on my watch, but we still have a mission to do. We don’t have time for crying, you understand Phoenix? If we don’t finish this thing, Raven’s capture will be for nothing.” As much as Saffron didn’t want to say this, she had to. If they stayed here, it would be guaranteed capture. They had to take their chances.
Phoenix sniffled, finally regaining her composure. “You’re right,” Phoenix said unsteadily, slowly unwrapping her wings from Saffron. She managed a weak smile at Saffron as she wiped her eyes with both of her claws. Despite her breakdown, she managed to look quite serene, as if being with Saffron was enough to calm her down. Clearly she was holding back, but Saffron’s words reached her. “Thanks, Saffron. You always seem to know what to do in situations like this.”
“You give me too much credit…” Saffron muttered. Despite her supposed confidence and rough exterior, she was as discouraged as Phoenix was. The only difference was that Saffron was all too familiar with this feeling and knew how to suppress it. 
Saffron got up and moved towards the mouth of the cave, trying her best to see through the thick fog that the rain created. Through it, she could see a distant and faint glow, a clear mark of some sort of dragon activity. More than likely, it was a dying fire being maintained by a Mudwing. Whether or not it was their objective, she couldn’t tell.
“What do you see?” Phoenix asked, following behind Saffron. Her eyes were still sullen and her posture was still slumped, but she seemed willing to continue, if not for the sole reason of avenging Raven.
“A fire,” Saffron mused. “Might be a Mudwing patrol or the main camp, I’m not quite sure.” Saffron squinted her eyes in a pointless attempt to see it better. Something about it unsettled her, as if she still hadn't shook the feeling that this was all somehow an elaborate trap. Her instincts told her that something seemed off about the whole thing, but everything else seemed to be on the contrary. She shook her head. Either way, it would be worse to stay here, imminent danger or not. “Alright, I’ll take point from here, alright?” Saffron said, her eye still trained on the distant glow.
“Alright, but be careful alright? I’ll be right behind you, but the thing that happened to Raven could happen to you,” Phoenix said. Her voice was shaky and sounded like it was on the verge of cracking. This might have been the only time that Saffron had seen Phoenix act this way; usually, she had a cheery vice that had a firm and confident base, but as soon as Raven was taken away, it was almost like she returned to being a dragonet desperately clinging to her mother's tail. Phoenix stuck unusually close to Saffron and seemed to be much more paranoid, constantly snapping her head around. Just by the possibility that Raven had died, Phoenix was turned into a shadow of her former self, as if her entire existence was tied to Raven.
Saffron couldn’t help but be annoyed by that fact.
“Yeah, I’ll be careful, no need to worry on that front,” Saffron said, trying to sound a lot more sure than she was feeling. “When have I not been careful?”
Phoenix let a small and weak chuckle escape her. “Well, I can think of a few times,” Phoenix joked.
Saffron couldn’t help but smile. “Well, let’s just hope that this isn't one of those times,” Saffron responded, walking out into the rain. The rain masked their footsteps and was hard enough to obscure them from view. Saffron looked back at Phoenix and made a gesture for Phoenix to follow. “Come on, if we start now, we might make it before the rain stops.”
Phoenix simply nodded and started to follow closely. She was still paranoid and downcast, but was holding her head ever so slightly higher after their little conversation.
As Saffron got closer and closer to the fire, the more she couldn’t help but feel that everything was off. They had mostly walked together in silence, and with only the constant sound of rain in the background, Saffron was left to her own thoughts.
The whole thing seemed staged somehow. The way that Raven was captured, the fact that they didn’t pursue them, the fact that they haven't seen a single patrol the whole way here. It all just seemed wrong. Not in an immediately obvious way, but her instincts told her that something was out of order. It didn’t help that it felt like a hundred pair of eyes were carefully tracking their every movement as they drew closer and closer.
Then again, Saffron’s instincts were often wrong and at this point, they both didn’t have much to lose even if it was a trap.
Eventually, the rain cleared up, showing only one lonely full moon in the sky.
After a few moments of cautiously scoping out the area and lurking around, Saffron emerged from the bushes into a surprisingly small clearing. In the clearing was a small flickering fire crackling away in the center of a small encampment. Simple tents were pitched up in a circle around the fire. 
Saffron peered into one of the tents only to find nothing. There was no sign that anybody had even been here before. There were no bags of personal belongings, no leftover weaponry, not even a footprint. This encampment seemed too perfect to have been used before, almost as if…
Saffron snapped to attention quickly, with a sinking feeling in her gut. Immediately she whipped around to face Phoenix, who was also picking about one of the tents. Saffron opened her mouth to warn Phoenix, but before she knew it, a Seawing soldier dropped from one of the trees above and landed directly on top of Phoenix with a sickening cracking sound.
Phoenix let out a pained and surprised yelp as the soldier tackled her onto the round and pinned her. He opened his mouth to reveal two rows of incredibly sharp fangs and immediately went for the throat, not wasting a second to kill her.
Phoenix squeezed her eyes shut and simply gave up, convinced that this was her last moments, but not a second later, she felt the weight lift off of her and the surprised grunt of the Seawing soldier as he was tackled off of her. When Phoenix opened her eyes again, she saw Saffron growl and bite down as hard as she could into the Seawing’s neck. Phoenix covered her eyes.
The Seawing let out a blood curdling scream, but it was quickly replaced by a toneless gurgling sound as the Seawing started to drown in his own blood. Phoenix uncovered her eyes slowly, afraid of exactly what she was going to see. Saffron stood triumphantly over the dead Seawing soldier and spat out of her mouth what Phoenix could only assume used to be the Seawing’s neck.
Saffron then hurried over to Phoenix and kneeled down to her, a worried expression on her face. 
“You alright?” Saffron asked. She held her talons up as if she wanted to help Phoenix, but was too afraid that she’d shatter the second Saffron touched her.
Phoenix got up on shaky legs and mustered a weak smile. “I’m fine, really, thanks for the save,” Phoenix said softly. Despite her words, her right wing was bent up into a crooked shape.
Saffron looked at Phoenix’s wing and immediately, her brows creased with worry. She opened her mouth to remark about Phoenix’s wing, but suddenly, more Seawings started to appear on the edges of the camp. It seemed that for every single tree and bush that there was, a Seawing was lurking behind it.
Saffron cursed under her breath as she tensed up, assuming her battle stance. “Surrounded again? It’s like these guys know our every move,” Saffron said through grit teeth. This was starting to get frustrating to a whole new level. Everywhere they went, every corner they turned, there were more. It was only about time that they would lose another team member to this. Saffron turned back to Phoenix with a worried expression. “You still fit to fight?”
Phoenix looked… off somehow. When Saffron first turned to look at Phoenix, her eyes and expression were completely blank, as if she had already given up. She looked like she didn't want to fight, not because she was injured to a grave point, but because she simply didn’t want to fight, or do anything for that matter.
Regardless, Phoenix put on a brave face and nodded, assuming the same battle stance that Saffron was. “Yeah. I’m ready,” she said. Her voice was hesitant and soft, as if she was lost in thought and had to take some time to come back to reality.
Suddenly, the Seawings started to flash their colors for some strange reason. Whether it was to communicate their plans or to confuse Saffron, she didn’t care, and charged headfirst into the first Seawing she saw.
Jumping back in surprise, the Seawing soldier desperately tried to put up some kind of defense, but Saffron was faster.
In an instant, Saffron jabbed her claw up the Seawing’s throat. The Seawing had a look of pure terror on his face. His mouth hung open as he desperately gasped for air. He started to desperately claw at Saffron’s claw in some attempt to dislodge it from his throat, but it was all in vain. Saffron twisted her claw and slammed him into the ground.
For a fraction of a second, their eyes met and they both shared a grim understanding of their situations.
Both soldiers, they were damned to this fate.
Neither of them were going to leave this place alive.
Not a second later, Saffron violently yanked her talon from his neck, leaving him to bleed to death. In blind rage, a Seawing next to her tackled Saffron to the ground and started to beat her down, but after the first few punches, Saffron pushed her off of her and into a tree.
Not wasting a second, Saffron used her breath on the Seawing, setting her aflame. She let out a blood curdling scream and started to roll around desperately to put herself out.
Saffron whipped around to look for other enemies, but was met by a tail slamming her in the side, sending her into a nearby tree. She got up on shaky legs and spat out some blood. 
“That all you got?” Saffron taunted, glaring at the Seawing. “You hit like a gir-” Saffron started before she was tackled by the Seawing.
“B**tard Skywing scum!” The Seawing shouted, choking Saffron. “Monsters, the whole lot of you,” the Seawing said, tightening his grip. Saffron started to gasp for air and wildly flail her arms and tail around in desperate attempt to knock of the Seawing, but his grip was too strong. “We’re meant to capture you, but screw that! The world would be better off without you barbaric savages!”
Suddenly, the wait was lifted off of Saffron as Phoenix tackled him off of her. Saffron coughed and sputtered, irregularly taking in ragged breaths. When Saffron regained her composure, the first thing she heard was a scream.
An awfully familiar scream.
Saffron’s heart skipped a beat as she whipped around only to see Phoenix laying on the ground with a deep gash in her underbelly and a very triumphant Seawing over her.
The next few moments became an unrecognizable blur of pure rage. Her enemies became shapeless blobs through her tears, but she didn’t care. 
Saffron forgot the rest, but she remembers that when she finally came to her senses, she was covered in cuts, gashes, bruises, and burn marks. If it was under any normal circumstance, she would've fallen over and died right there. But she couldn’t die yet, there was still unfinished business.
She limped over to Phoenix’s body slowly, wincing at every movement she made. She collapsed next to her body. Saffron could still see a slight rise and fall to her, she was alive. At this point, Saffron couldn’t care less what happened to her. Saffron shook Phoenix.
“Phoenix,” Saffron whispered, trying to get her attention. “Phoenix!”
Phoenix opened her eyes and smiled at Saffron. Her smile was warm and sincere. She opened her mouth to speak.
“It’s too late for me Saffron, you have to continue,” she said softly, looking Saffron in the eye. “I’ve lost too much blood.”
“Don't say that!” Saffron shouted abruptly. Her voice was close to cracking. “You’re going to be fine.”
Phoenix chuckled, but then entered a coughing fit. When she settled, she sighed.
“This is all a bad dream, isn’t it?” Phoenix asked. She was staring at the lone full moon above. “I’m going to wake up and we can all be together again.”
Saffron simply stared at Phoenix, unsure of what to say.
“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?” Saffron asked, clutching Phoenix’s claws tighter and tighter.
Phoenix smiled again. “You were always bad at lying, Saffron.”
“I’m not lying.”
“I see,” Phoenix said, staring straight ahead.
“The moons look pretty tonight... don’t you agree Saffron?” 
Saffron looked up to the sky and saw only one lone moon, left to light the sky by itself. She couldn't help but feel sorry for it, after all, it was left to do an impossible job alone. The longer she stared at it, the lonelier she felt, despite the fact that she held her own friend in her talons.
 When Saffron looked down again at Phoenix, she had closed her eyes. Gone were her stable rises and falls and gone was her steady heartbeat.
Saffron simply stared blankly at the limp corpse of Phoenix in her claws.
She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t muster the tears. Everything just felt so surreal; Saffron wasn't quite sure if any of it was actually happening yet. Everything seemed to blur around her into indistinguishable shapes that seemed fake and empty.
Saffron turned her head to the moons above. Maybe she did it out of some strange respect for Phoenix, or maybe she did it to pray. She never considered herself a religious dragon, but somehow she thought it was appropriate.
Saffron scoffed and smirked, but as the moments started to pass, eventually Saffron started to devolve into hysterics. Perhaps she had gone insane from grief, or maybe she just didn't care anymore. After all, it was all just a bad dream.
She regained her composure and once again looked up at the moons, her vision blurred.
“Not at all.”
...
Saffron stared at the notebook in front of her. It was lit by a candle next to her, but at this point, even the replacement candle was starting to die out. She must have spent hours just writing and looking at this notebook. She looked over at the dying candle, but couldn't muster the strength to change it. 
Even now, she was conflicted on how she felt. Even now, she wasn’t quite sure that any of it happened. Even now, she was convinced she was living a bad dream, one where she couldn't will herself to wake up from.
Saffron sighed and wiped her cheek. She only just noticed that she was crying.
Phoenix didn’t deserve that. She didn't deserve to die. If it were up to Saffron, she would've gladly changed places with her. Saffron was always doomed to head nowhere, but Phoenix? Phoenix had a bright future beyond the battlefield. If Saffron had a chance to save someone important, allow someone to live in her stead, all of her mistakes, all of her sins would finally mean something. She would finally mean something.
That was her purpose. Her reason for carrying on. The glimpses of happiness in between her suffering only served to remind her of how beautiful life was. It served to remind her that that was what she was protecting.
Her mind briefly flashed to Dust, the Sandwing child that she was looking after. 
She can’t make the same mistake twice.
== Chapter 3: The Present - Fighter ==
Suddenly, Saffron heard a quiet knocking at the door to her room. The knocking itself sounded hesitant and erratic, as if the person who was knocking on it was wracked with fear. It had a certain quietness to it that implied someone of a more meek and childish disposition.
Sighing, Saffron blew out the candle and took out another one, lighting it with a small puff of breath. She closed her notebook and set it down on her nightstand, holding her page with a small scrap of paper that she had torn from the very last page of the notebook. It certainly wasn't pretty, but it got the job done well enough.
She dipped her talon in a small pot of water next to the notebook, making sure to thoroughly wash the ink off. She could not begin to count the times that she had been scolded by Dust’s parents for doing house chores with ink stained talons. Dry or otherwise.
After quickly drying her talon, she gingerly lifted the candle with the tip of her wing, being careful to hook it properly.
As she began to shuffle towards the door to her room, she began to wonder what exactly Dust was worried about. He was generally a rather braver little dragonet, all things considered. He had shown many times that he was incredibly adventurous and had a devil-may-care kind of attitude. While it was almost always to her own detriment, Saffron couldn't help but feel oddly happy even when she had to clean up after his messes.
Despite his bold attitude, he actually had an incredible affinity for books and quieter, more contemplative adventures, a trait he most definitely got from his father, if she had learned anything living with them. In particular, he seemed to favor classic detective stories, written hundreds of years before he was even born.
Saffron let out a small chuckle as she tried to recall what she was doing at his age, but promptly frowned as she realized she was killing and living at other people's expense when she was his age.
Saffron was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a distant booming sound and the quiet, but rapid pitter patter of rain peppering the roof. She let out an internal groan. While most dragons enjoyed the atmosphere that rain created, Saffron thought it brought nothing but trouble. However, that might be more a problem of association rather than a natural disdain of rain.
Saffron heard a yelp behind the door, followed by more hasty and panicked rapping. Saffron couldn't explain it herself, but for some reason, this gesture warmed her heart to the very core. 
When she opened the door, she was greeted by a very small, very terrified yellow dragonet.
“Auntie Saffron?” Dust squeaked. Usually his pitch was much lower, but the poor kid was probably so scared that his voice was driven up in pitch. 
Saffron smiled warmly at the little shaking mess in front of her, hoping that it would calm him down a bit.
“Yes?” Saffron asked, leveling herself down to his level.
“C-can you come and play with me?” Dust stuttered out, voice shaking as much as he was. 
Saffron chuckled a little bit and took Dust under her wing. “Of course I will, Dust, but you’ll have to promise me you’ll go to sleep soon alright? It’s almost your bedtime,” Saffron cooed, gently cradling him in her wing. 
Of course, Dust probably didn't really want her to play with him. In fact, Dust despised playing with girls in general. In reality, he was either looking for a story, or was looking for an older watchful eye to make him feel safer. Lightning storms scared him to death. Judging by how he looked, it’s probably safe to say that the latter was the case.
After a short walk through the winding halls of the mansion, they arrived in the play area, where Dust spent a great amount of time when he wasn't outside. The play area was stocked to the brim in not only flashy and modern toys, but also a surprising amount of books and scrolls filled with everything from folk tales to fairy tales to classic detective stories. Despite his age, Dust actually handled books and scrolls quite well and most of them were in favorable condition.
Saffron set Dust down gently and patted him on the head with her tail. Just as she suspected, Dust immediately ran off to do his own thing and completely ignored her. Saffron shook her head. Dust was already turning out to be quite the liar, but she thought it was more endearing than anything else.
Saffron lay down in a corner of the room where she could watch him closely, just to be safe.
“Alright Dust, it’s about time you went to sleep,” Saffron said softly, yawning herself.
“Aww,” Dust groaned, deeply engrossed in a book he was reading. “Already?”
Saffron chuckled in a warm, motherly way. “Well, you got to go to sleep someday; if I leave you alone, you’ll be reading until tomorrow,” Saffron joked.
Suddenly, a loud crack of thunder boomed outside, shaking the house and making Dust physically jump. Not wasting another second, Dust ran over to Saffron and buried his head in the safety of her side.
“Are you really that eager to go to sleep?” Saffron asked jokingly, draping a wing over him.
“W-what was that?” Dust stuttered out, voice shaky. Saffron had only just noticed that Dust was digging his claws into her side hard enough to make her uncomfortable.
Saffron started to gently stroke his head in a steady pace in attempt to calm Dust.
“Don’t worry Dust, that’s just the thunder outside. It’s nothing to worry about when we’re safe in our home,” Saffron cooed, continuing to gently pet Dust in attempt to soothe him. 
Soon after she finished her sentence, a loud boom shook the house once more, this time slightly less in intensity, but still surprising and intimidating all the same to Dust. He yelped and shivered in fear under Saffron’s wing.
“Shhh, it’s alright,” Saffron murmured into his ear. “As long you're with me, I won't let anything hurt you; not even a little bit of lightning.”
Soon, Dust’s shivering stopped, and was replaced by a peaceful rise and fall and a slow heartbeat. Saffron couldn't help but smile.
Tucking Dust under her wing carefully, Saffron started to make her way upstairs again to put Dust back in his bedroom, where he belonged at this hour. 
However, before she could make it up the stairs, a quiet knocking at the door caught the attention of her alert ears. Figuring it was the probably just her imagination tricking her into thinking that the rain was knocking, she continued up. Before she could make it up all the way though, the knocking came back louder and firmer than before.
Saffron glanced over to the door, a sudden wave of inexplicable uneasiness washing over her. Her instincts were acting up again. She tried to shake herself out of it, after all, it was probably just someone trying to seek shelter from the storm. Right?
But a small voice in the back of her head disagreed. She couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was knocking behind the door had some kind of malicious intent. She shook her head. That was absolutely ridiculous, dragons aren't out to get her, it just wasn't that kind of world anymore. However, she just couldn't shake the feeling.
Slowly, she set Dust down on the stairs. He grunted in protest and yawned, before assuming a more comfortable position. Saffron creeped towards the door, running through all of the possible situations this could be.
When she eventually reached the door, she gave one last quick glance back at Dust’s peaceful figure before putting her talon on the doorknob. She steadied her breathing, tried her best to ward away her own irrational fears and twisted the knob slowly and opened the door.
Out in the rain were two dragons, a Sandwing and a Nightwing. Strangely enough, they both seemed to be deeply invested in a shouting match. In the rain of all places. 
The Nightwing was a rather tall and bulky fellow, but despite this, he seemed to shy away from the Sandwing. He seemed to be a more reserved fellow, and appeared to be hanging on every word that the Sandwing was shouting in a way that implied they trusted each other deeply. Though as evidenced by what is currently going on, maybe not that much.
The Sandwing seemed like quite the character. She was considerably smaller and appeared to be about half the height of the Nightwing. Despite her stunted height, she still seemed to have an imposing and dominant air about her. Her talons were adorned with small and faded scars and seemed to be slightly blackened for reasons Saffron could only guess. She carried a curious small bag, filled with who knows what.
They were having a heated argument about something or another, though Saffron used the term argument lightly. From what Saffron could see, it was more of the smaller one berating the bigger one about something.
Saffron cleared her throat to get the attention of the two. Almost immediately, the Nightwing’s head turned to look at her, but the Sandwing started to growl, only noticing what he was looking at a few seconds later.
Saffron forced a smile which probably both felt and looked absolutely fake. “Hello, what brings you two here?” Saffron asked as gently as possible, though in reality, she was growing to be even more tense. Both of these dragons seemed rather suspicious, even disregarding the fact they are here in the middle of the night in the middle of a lightning storm. Saffron unintentionally kept on flicking her vision toward the Sandwing’s tail barb watching it perhaps a little too closely.
“Now look at what you’ve done you dunce!” The Sandwing growled at the Nightwing, clearly annoyed. “This should’ve been an easy job, but you just go and make it harder on me.”
The Nightwing started to nervously picked at the ground. “Sorry, sis, just thought that maybe the kid would come to the door.” He said in a soft voice.
The Sandwing seemed to instinctively facepalm and groan, as if this was a common problem. “Yeah, that really worked out, didn’t it?”
Saffron narrowed her eyes at the two and unconsciously shifted into a more balanced position, lifting her wings and raising her neck ever so slightly. 
“What exactly were you two planning to do here? If you don't mind me asking.” Saffron said slowly, a little bit of a growl sneaking into her voice.
The Sandwing shot a glare at Saffron and started to curl her tail barb inward slowly, concealing it.
“Well, no point in hiding it at this point,” the Sandwing said, throwing a quick backward glance at a Nightwing who lowered his head in shame the second he saw her eyes on him. “We’re here to take the kid, and if you think you can stop us, by all means, try.” At that last word, a smile crept onto her face as her tail barb slowly rose from its concealed position.
The Nightwing awkwardly shouted “Yeah!” moments later. The Sandwing shook her head.
“Why do you always ruin everything?” She mumbled, unsettling smile instead being replaced by a frown. She was despairing over the ruined moment no doubt.
Saffron let her shoulders relax a little bit from the tense and rigid stance she had a moment ago. These two seemed a little too ridiculous to pose any real threat.
“Who the hell sent you? What do they want with Dust?” Saffron barked, extending her neck to full length. She made sure that they could see her scars from the war. If nothing else, these useless things at least had the intimidation factor. Hopefully these two were as dumb as she think they were.
The Nightwing started to hide behind the Sandwing, which was rather awkward seeing as he had to be at least twice her size. The Sandwing however, hardened her glare.
“Why does a lowly slave like you want to know?” The Sandwing said, inching ever closer. “Especially since after we’re done with you, even if we do tell you, you’re not going to be able to tell anyone,” She rose her tail barb back into view for a split second for emphasis. “One way or another.”
“I prefer the term, ‘maid,’ thank you very much.” Saffron snapped. She focused her eyes intently on the Sandwing’s eyes, trying her best to look relaxed. “If I’m not going to be able to tell anyone because I’ll be rotting in a ditch somewhere with my throat slit wide open, why not tell me?” Saffron deadpanned and paused, watching the Sandwing’s expression change from one of confidence to one of slight worry. “Think of it as my dying wish.”
The Sandwing chuckled. Whether it was a nervous one or a condescending one, Saffron couldn’t tell, but it didn't matter as long as she got what she wanted.
“Sure, why not?” The Sandwing said. Her voice was straight and confident, Saffron could only assume that meant she was either a very experienced liar, or planned to tell the truth. 
“Uh, but sis,” The Nightwing interjected, “the guy said specifically not to tell anyone anything about the job.”
“Good point, but that guy was a condescending, pompous, arrogant, sucker of a Skywing, so I don’t really care about his wishes.” She said, stopping and throwing a glance towards the Nightwing. As if to respond to this gesture, he slowly crept forward into a different position. “The guy was a Skywing, though was rather strange for one. Was a detective, talked fancy, and seemed pretty refined; a strange customer to find in the Scorpion den. He seemed just as dangerous as anyone else though; beneath his cultured exterior, he looked and sounded dangerous, as if he was ready to do anything to fulfill his goals.”
“What was his name? What was his name?” Saffron shouted. Her heartbeat was getting quicker and her eyes widened as she came to a sudden understanding of who she was dealing with. 
“His name?” The Sandwing said, smiling.
“His name was Raven.”
“Raven?” Saffron echoed, perhaps a little too loud and aggressively.
“You know him, huh?” The Sandwing mused, taking one last quick glance over the Nightwing, which Saffron had all but forgot about. “Too bad you’ll never meet him again!” The Sandwing shouted as she quickly rose her tail barb and thrust it toward Saffron in one swift motion.
Saffron caught it inches from her face, but before she could retaliate, the Nightwing swung his tail and struck her square in the side, knocking the air out of her. She let go of the tail barb and was sent careening through the door of the house, breaking through it with a loud crash.
Saffron shakily got back on her legs and shook her head, dazed from the impact. But before she could fully regain her bearings, the Nightwing tackled her to the ground and swung his claws straight for Saffron’s head. She quickly moved her head to one side, the claw barely grazing her cheek, then retaliated with a headbutt. The Nightwing stumbled back, clutching his head and cursing under his breath.
Saffron used her wings to push herself forward assume a better stance, but before she could take stock on the situation, the Sandwing rushed forward, jabbing with her claw toward Saffron’s neck. Saffron just barely sidestepped the blow, receiving a small cut in her neck.
Saffron then took hold of the claw and swung it downwards, slamming the Sandwing onto the ground. The Sandwing quickly regained her footing by rolling over and growled. It seemed neither of them had been met with this kind of resistance before.
The Sandwing smiled and let out a chuckle, then gestured toward Saffron’s front right leg. Saffron quickly looked down toward her leg to notice a blackening cut running down the length of it. In that moment of realization, her leg gave out and Saffron grit her teeth, trying not to scream from the pain. She had bared with worse.
“Still standing are you?” The Sandwing said, slowly approaching Saffron with her tail barb raised, ready to deliver the killing blow. “I’m honestly surprised, not many dragons can bare with the incredible amount of pain brought from a dosage that high. You should've passed out from pain at this point.”
Saffron's vision was starting to blur together as the poison slowly made its way through her veins. The red hot burning pain she was feeling in her leg was not helping her stay conscious. She started to breathe heavily as her body seemed to burn up and weaken each passing second.
Saffron limped forward slowly, every movement growing more painful and laborious. Saffron swiped at the Sandwing, but with Saffron’s sluggish movements, she easily dodged. The swipe put Saffron off balance, and with the poison running through her, she tripped and fell onto the ground with a grunt of pain.
The Sandwing laughed, and lowered her head to look Saffron in the eye closely.
“Now would be a good time to say your final prayers, Skywing. Without the antidote, you should be dying any second now, so better make it quick.” The Sandwing took out a sizeable vial of a strange light green liquid from her bag and held it in front of Saffron, shaking it a few times. “A real shame huh? Knowing that you’ll die with your salvation centimeters away.”
“Screw you,” Saffron growled weekly through her grit teeth.
“Seconds before death too?” The Sandwing sighed. “Don’t even want to mutter some appropriate dying words huh?”
Saffron wanted to get some last words out to spite her, but grew too weak to speak.
The next time she closed her eyes to blink, she didn’t open her eyes again.
== Chapter 4: The Present - Dreamer ==
Saffron woke up with a start, sharply taking in some air.
She lept up to her feet, suddenly on guard. While she carefully scanned her surroundings, she thought with spite back to her embarrassing defeat at the hands of that Sandwing. She growled. Next time she saw that Sandwing, she was going to tear her throat out.
However, the more she looked around, the more she refused to believe that she was still rooted in reality.
For starters, her leg was fully healed, and showed no signs of the poison that she had before passing out. It was almost as if she was never stung in the first place. In fact, none of her wounds from before she passed out were even present. Not even a slight sore from physical assertion.
Secondly, the place she found herself was sickeningly familiar.
She was on a small stone platform in the middle of waters that were filled to the brim with electric eels as long as her tail. All around her were walls of pure water, preventing any escape that she could attempt. Past the water wall was an old looking Seawing guard who was snoring softly.
Saffron’s eyes widened as the sudden realization hit her.
She was back in the Summer palace.
Suddenly, as if triggered by her memories flowing back to her, she collapsed again as an unbearable pain washed over her. Small cuts and electrocution burn marks started to slowly fade into existence on her scales. She grit her teeth as her legs gave out from underneath her. The pain she felt years ago was washing over her as if it was fresh, as if it was real. 
And maybe for a fraction of a second, she really did believe it was real. Maybe she had died, and this was her eternal punishment. To live in a world of constant regret and searing pain. She didn't really know what was worse, the fact that that was a possibility, or the fact that she didn’t mind.
Suddenly, the Seawing guard, who was sitting still in a deep sleep twitched. His ears shot up at the sound of approaching voices, and he immediately stood at attention not a second later, his eyes straight ahead and spear firmly planted on the ground, as if he were a statue. 
Then, as if out of nowhere, a small bag landed on his face, making him flinch with pain. Grasping his snout and growling, he made a sharp intake of breath. However, his stance seemed to ironically relax.
“What in the world are you two idiots doing?” he snarled through grit teeth. However, this was not necessarily one that would be directed toward an enemy, but a joking one toward a friend. It had a strange friendly connotation, as if that was his way of saying “hello”.
“Relax, Captain, it’s just a lunch bag,” a female voice said. Her voice was cool and relaxed. It had that drawn out sound to it, and she seemed to linger on every word. Her voice was clear and crisp though, as if she demanded attention despite the fact she was talking to a superior officer. Her visage reflected that when she finally walked into view. She was a rather tall and slim Seawing, and seemed to carry herself with the overblown confidence and pride of a crack flyer and fighter. “Ain’t nobody going to launch an assault on a couple of losers like you and your prisoner over there.”
“Yeah, yeah, keep talking,” The Seawing guard grumbled, still rubbing his snout. “But just remember that I’m the one making three times your salary.”
“Yeah, but I bet you’re gonna lose half of that money right now,” she said, passing him a deck of cards. 
The captain fumbled with the cards, only barely catching it. The other Seawing rolled her eyes.
“So, what game am I losing all of my money in today?” the captain said, taking the cards out of the well worn box and skillfully slipping the jokers out.
“Do you even have to ask?” the other Seawing answered, smirking. “I’ll deal,” she said, reaching for the cards. However, the captain quickly took the cards out of her reach, smiling.
“Yeah, no. Remember the last time you dealt cards?” the captain said, shuffling the cards in his talons.
“No?” The other Seawing said, pouting and unintentionally letting her eyes wander. “I don’t know what you are implying. I just deal faster than you two,” she said, putting on an innocent smile.
“You know very well what I’m implying,” he said, glaring at her. “I know you were cheating, you know.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Is there really any other reason you got a Royal Flush every time?”
The other Seawing paused a second and pondered this.
“I’m… really lucky?”
“You’re unbelievable, and good with your talons. That’s the only thing you are,” the captain said, shaking his head. “I think it would be in our best interests if I just let the kid deal us in today,” at that, the captain threw a deck of cards to a Seawing who currently was out of view. Despite how mundane the whole situation was, Saffron found herself craning her neck to see who it exactly was.
“Well, don’t just stand there, Barracuda, deal us in!” the other Seawing said, impatiently tapping her talons on the ground.
Barracuda didn’t respond, instead opting to quietly sit down next to them and start dealing cards. Barracuda, from what Saffron could see, appeared to be a Seawing around her age when these events transpired, that being rather young for a soldier. He carried himself in a confident, yet muted way, as if he demanded respect, but only from those who even knew he existed.
Barracuda, before dealing cards simply stared silently at Saffron, a seemingly knowing look on his face. Though if it was, Saffron wasn’t clued in on the secret. He had an intense stare that seemed to burn through Saffron. At first glance, his gaze seemed to be of someone who is simply lost in thought, but upon closer inspection, one could tell that he had some kind of resentment towards Saffron.
His eyes appeared to be ever so slightly off-colored from each other, but not enough to be noticed by the normal passerby.
“Hey!” the other Seawing shouted, breaking Barracuda’s stare. “Pyrrhia to Barracuda? Deal us in!”
He simply nodded and started to pass out cards, some face down, and some face up.
“Alright, you all ready to lose some money? Cause I can feel it! Today the cards are in my favor,” the Seawing said, eagerly looking at her cards, but immediately frowning when she took a look at them. “Fold.”
“Already?” the captain asked, shooting her a sideway glance. “We have even put in bets yet.”
“Yeah, well, when you have cards like these,” she said, turning her cards to reveal a two and a three both of different suits. “You just can’t win, man.”
“Ah, that’s like you,” the captain said, shaking his head. “Haven’t even put out the flop and you’re already thinking of jumping ship on your cards,” the captain said, perhaps a bit disappointed. “I thought I taught you better than that, Angelfish.”
Angelfish seemed to cringe at this, just as she was making herself comfortable.
“I thought I told you to never call me that, captain,” she said, pouting.
“I know,” he said, smirking. “I know, I just like pi**ing you off.”
Angelfish feigned exasperation, her patterns lighting up in a nonsensical pattern of frustration.
“Ah, screw you,” she said, grabbing the bag she had thrown earlier to pull out a still alive fish. WIthout a moment’s hesitation, she popped it into her mouth and sat to the side, occasionally peeking at the cards. 
From the angle that Saffron was sitting, she could only see the cards of Barracuda, an ace of spades and a king of spades. While staring intensely at the cards, Saffron felt a stare right back at her. When she looked up, she saw that Barracuda was staring at her with the same look he had before; that intense, knowing, and guarded look that unsettled her to no end.
“Hey, something wrong kid? I’ve already put out the big blind, you gonna call or fold?” the captain said, looking at Barracuda with an expression of worry. He then followed Barracuda’s gaze to Saffron, in where he narrowed his eyes a bit. He then seemed to relax after locking eyes with Saffron for no more than a second. “Ah, the prisoner? Don’t worry; I heard she was a feisty and strong one, but she isn’t going anywhere, not with those wounds and certainly not with those electrocuted waters surrounding her.”
Barracuda, as if the words didn’t reach him, continued to stare down Saffron, and in that moment, she understood what exactly unnerved her.
Deep within those mismatched eyes, was something that she grew to be familiar with, vendetta. But over what, Saffron couldn’t say.
Barracuda soon broke his stare and lazily threw in four coins between him and the captain.
The captain smile and nodded, tossing out the flop, which was a queen, a jack, and a two, all of spades.
Saffron tried to prevent her jaw from dropping. She couldn’t get that kind of luck even when she was cheating!
But Barracuda still had the same blank stare that he had before. Not even a flinch was present. He either didn’t realize how good he had it, or he had nerves of steel. The captain started to frown, but immediately caught himself, trying to maintain his poker face the best he could. Then, he smiled.
“All in,” he said, brimming with confidence. He pulled out a whole sack of gold and threw it in front of them. 
Barracuda made a quick glance at the money, before he threw in his cards.
“Fold,” he said, turning up his cards to show to the captain.
Immediately, the captain’s eyes widened as he realized what Barracuda had the capability to do. But he couldn’t do anything but chuckle and shake his head. 
“Well, if you say so, kid,” he said, taking everything that was in the pile.It was mostly his money anyway, save for a few gold coins that came from Barracuda. “Thanks for taking pity on an old dragon like me.”
Barracuda looked at the captain inquisitively, as if he was a bit confused as to what he meant. 
But before the captain could make his response, Angelfish suddenly spoke up. At that point, she had already gotten up and moved toward the doorway, bag of fish in tow. She had a concerned look on her face.
“Yo captain, quite a ruckus being stirred up outside, is it a drill?” Angelfish asked, relaxed expression on her face, but Saffron noticed that she started to eat slightly faster, a nervous eater, no doubt. “I don’t really recall having a drill scheduled today.”
“No, me neither,” the captain said, brow creasing with worry. “There was no drill scheduled for today,” he said slowly, as he got up and took a peek out in the hallway himself.
Suddenly, a huge explosion could be heard nearby, accompanied by panicked screams and sounds of fighting. It seemed that the very earth beneath them started to shake, which threw Saffron off balance, landing her dangerously close to the water walls around her.
“Ah, screw me,” the captain said, a little bit of a nervous shakiness sneaking into his voice. Though he had appeared to be in more than a few fights, it seemed to make him nervous regardless. “I wasn’t expecting to have to fight all the way out here, I thought this place was secret?”
“Finally!” Angelfish exclaimed, haphazardly tossing her bag of fish away. She seemed to have an air of alacrity about her, as if fighting absolutely thrilled her. Ironically, Saffron saw this as a sign of her immaturity as a soldier. If Saffron had to guess, the most action Angelfish had seen was no more than a few scrapes with her fellow Seawings. Though what was down the hallway was almost certainly not what she was expecting. “And here I thought we were put into a dead-end position!”
“Angel, calm yourself,” the captain said with a clear and commanding tone, no doubt honed by years of experience. “That kind of excitement is exactly what gets you killed out there; this isn’t some training exercise, this looks like the real deal.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, dad,” Angel said, not even listening. “You can lecture Barracuda all about it, but I’m getting in there right now,” Angel said, running off through the hall at full speed, completely forgetting her spear and leaving Barracuda and the captain behind.
“Angel wait!” he shouted after her, but to no avail. He sighed and took a deep breath, recollecting himself. “Alright, Barracuda, you stay in here and watch the prisoner, I have to get Angel before she gets herself killed out there,” he said, all semblance of humor drained from his voice. 
Barracuda simply nodded in acknowledgement, his face almost the exact same as it was before, as if all this action did not affect him at all. He either had nerves of steel, or didn’t quite understand what was going on yet. The captain nodded back, and darted down the hallway at full speed, his talons echoing down the hallway.
The two being left alone, the room filled with silence, disrupted only by the distant sounds of shouting and fighting down the hallway.
When Saffron directed her gaze from the hallway arch to Barracuda, she flinched back a bit. Barracuda had the same intense stare as before. She opened her mouth, but no words came from her mouth.
But then, suddenly, as if a completely dragon spoke up, a voice came from her.
“Who are you staring at, you Seawing scum?” Saffron snarled, letting a little bit of a hiss enter her voice. Despite her menacing voice though, she could barely get up. “You want to end up like your friends?” she said through grit teeth. Though at this point, Saffron was someone completely different.
Barracuda narrowed his eyes and hardened his glare.
“It’s only about time before this whole place is up in flames,” she said slowly, mustering her strength and getting up. “Everyone here will either be engulfed in flames or killed by Skywing soldiers.”
“What about you?” Barracuda said, not budging from his stance. 
“Death is a suitable service to my queen, not that you would understand; you Seawings are all the same,” Saffron growled, glaring straight back at him. “Underhanded, cowardly, fascist pigs, all of you!”
“Is that really all we are to you?” Barracuda asked, his glare softening just a little bit. “And what about your family? Don’t you want to go back home to them?”
“I have nothing to lose but the dedication to my Queen,” Saffron simply said, a semblance of melancholy entering into her expression for the briefest second before being snuffed out, like a fire from a candle. “A Seawing like you would never understand my dedication to my Queen!”
“That’s a lie,” Barracuda said, his stare more sympathetic than hard now. He sat down and looked into Saffron’s eyes in an earnest manner, his ears perking up. “Don’t you miss them? Your family?”
“My family?” Saffron echoed, her glare failing a bit. It was broken up by her wandering eyes, who despite their hatred of Seawings, could not bring themselves to look directly at the one right in front of them. Oddly enough, Saffron did not think of her real family, but of Phoenix and of Raven. The times they had together, the missions they went on, the secrets they shared. Then her mind wandered to that of that fateful night. Suddenly, Saffron stood up and barred her teeth into a snarl. “What the hell do you care? You Seawings are just all heartless murderers!”
“So that’s what it is?” Barracuda said solemnly, nodding. “You know, you aren’t the only one losing dragons you care about,” Barracuda said, his stare becoming blank. His eyes narrowed not in a necessarily aggressive way, but in a tired and worn out way. “This war is taking a toll on everyone, everywhere. It doesn’t matter who you are, or how old you are, or what tribe you are; war discriminates against no one.”
Saffron suddenly grew silent, as she fell back to the floor, her muscles aching beyond anything she had ever felt before. It was as if it had all happened again.
“Phoenix,” Saffron whispered under her breath, her face buried in her talons. “That was her name.”
“A family member?” Barracuda asked, getting closer to Saffron and sitting down, as if the two were not enemies separated by a thin line, but two strangers brought together through some form of fate.
“No, I have no family,” Saffron said, but she didn’t really feel too sad about that, after all, she has had two decades, give or take, to get over that. But Phoenix? That was a fresh wound.
“Comrade?” Barracuda tried, staring intently at Saffron and leaning forward, as if he were more a child awaiting a story rather than a soldier interrogating a prisoner. Saffron nodded.
“And close friend,” Saffron added. “She was struck down by a Seawing soldier before my very eyes,” Saffron said, a little bit of toxicity seeping into her voice, but it was faint at best. At this point, she was more tired than angry. “Do you know what it feels like to have the most important person in your life die in your arms?” Saffron asked rhetorically. 
“I do, actually,” Barracuda said, a sad smile forming on his face. “I’m too familiar with it.”
A relative silence filled the room. Not an awkward one, but one of equal contemplation. Despite their minimal and small exchange, it seemed they understood each other. Not fully, no, but enough for them to gain a bit of respect for one another.
“But you know, we still have to continue living,” Barracuda said, breaking the silence with a soft voice. “Without us, they might as well not have lived in the first place. We have to keep going, for their sakes.”
Saffron shook her head.
“What are you talking about?” she said softly and incredulously. She once again looked up at Barracuda, this time, square in the eyes. “They’re gone. They’re gone for good. What’s the point of going on? No one will remember us anyway. The only future we can really wish for is to be statistics on a chart. That’s how we’ll be remembered.” Her eyes fell to the ground as she slowly clenched her talons in confused frustration. “Living is the only way we can exist. Yet I failed to protect her,” Saffron said, gritting her teeth and blinking out the tears forming in her eyes. “What’s the point of carrying on if I failed?” Saffron shouted suddenly, making Barracuda flinch back a bit.
“That may be so,” Barracuda said, pausing. “But that doesn’t mean we should let ourselves die.”
“Why not?” Saffron said, snorting. There was an annoyed edge to her voice. “Phoenix was the only dragon that kept me from letting myself die.”
“So what?” Barracuda shot back. “You’ve given up? You don’t want to continue because Phoenix died?”
“Guess so,” Saffron said, her tone distant and indifferent. “My life’s been pretty terrible anyway, start to finish. I think it deserves a terrible ending too,” Saffron gave a little pause before chuckling lightly. “Like a bad story scroll.”
“Seriously?” Barracuda said, as if he was deeply disappointed in her. “Life’s more than what happened in your past. Life is more than your tragedies.”
“My life’s been all tragedies up until now, I’m afraid.”
“That’s not true.”
Saffron raised an eyebrow and her ears perked up.
“How would you know?” Saffron mumbled into her talons. The edge that used to be in her voice was now replaced with a softer tone, as if she gave up on acting hostile. “You haven’t seen the stuff I’ve seen, lived the life I lived. If you did, you would probably want it to just end already.”
“Everyone in this damn war is living the same life that you are, whether you know it or not. Everywhere around you, there is suffering. Sometimes less, sometimes tenfold what you are experiencing, but they all have something in common,” Barracuda said softly. “We’re all making sacrifices. Some for our country, some for our family, some for our beliefs, and some,” Barracuda paused for a second, his mind wandering elsewhere for the briefest of moments. “Don’t know why they are sacrificing. Don’t know why they are suffering.”
“And which one are you, huh?” Saffron asked, casting a sideways glance at him. “Some noble soul who is sacrificing everything for a higher cause? Is that why you can’t die yet? Because you still have work to do?”
“Actually,” Barracuda started his voice growing distant. “I don’t know why I am fighting.”
“Then why do you insist that I keep fighting?” Saffron snapped, snorting. “You don’t even know why you are fighting yourself. I wouldn’t have anything lose by letting myself perish here.”
“That may be true,” Barracuda said. “But that doesn’t mean you should. We’re fighting so that future generations won’t have to.”
“Oh, brother,” Saffron said, groaning. “You’re one of those kinds of people?” Saffron looked Barracuda in the eye. “Fighting for the future, huh? Some future.”
Barracuda smiled.
“You should know more than anyone about fighting for the future, he’s a good dragonet.”
“What in the world are you talking about?”
Barracuda smiled a melancholic and knowing smile, lowering himself down to Saffron.
“We’re kindred spirits, you and I. More than you could possibly understand,” Barracuda said softly, before getting up and moving away. Saffron’s head shot up at his words, but Barracuda had already made his way to the other side of the room by the time his words had registered in her brain. “Chin up, Saffron. Life’s got more to offer than suffering,” Barracuda said, pulling on a lever on the wall. Suddenly, the water flow from the ceiling ceased, leaving nothing but a small gap between Saffron and her freedom.
“I never mentioned my name,” Saffron said, hopping over the gap with ease. Her mind was filled with jumbled thoughts and ideas. She felt like she knew exactly who this was, but a thick haze hung over her mind. “Do we know each other?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Barracuda said finally after a long period of silent deliberation. “Sometimes I don’t know. Especially now.”
“Who in the world are you?”
“Someone you’ve known for a long time,” Barracuda said cryptically smiling at Saffron. Though his smile wasn’t one you would expect on someone who was meeting a friend for the first time in a while. It was sad, distant, maybe a little sorry too. Though Saffron couldn’t fathom the reason as to why. She had never seen this dragon in her life. But if that was the case, why did she feel so… sad? “Maybe someone you’re not going be able to meet ever again. But this was never about me, Saffron. You have a choice ahead of you,” Barracuda said, gesturing toward the hallway.
“I just remembered who you are,” Saffron said suddenly, walking up to him, her expression all of a sudden grave.
“Then you understand now?” Barracuda asked, her words not phasing him. It was as if he had been used to it. “The choice is yours, Saffron. Choose to die quietly, or choose to finish what you started.”
The sounds of fighting had grown distant in the short time they spent talking, and instead, it was replaced by the loud crackling of flames. On one side of the hallway, there was an intense wall of flames, that was eating away at the walls, burning through them. Despite that, the flames had a strangely calming feeling about them, as if they were flames you would find in a warm fireplace. The warmth made Saffron’s eyes heavy, and her mind sluggish. How nice would it be if she could just lay down and take a nap by the fire? Just for a little while…
But suddenly, a voice spoke from behind her.
“Saffron, don’t forget the things that you left behind,” a gruff, feminine, and eerily familiar voice said. When Saffron turned around to confront this mysterious person though, she was greeted by a perfect reflection of herself standing in Barracuda’s place. “Sure, go ahead, die here. But that will just be running away. Like how you ran away from everything else. We can’t run away anymore.”
“Who’s talking?”
“The real you,” the Saffron in front of her said. “I’m tired of running. I’m tired of hiding,” she said, before smirking. “This time, we’ll set things right.” She extended a talon out to Saffron. “I’m ready. Now the question is, are you?”
Wordlessly, Saffron reached out for her talon, gripping it tightly. They both nodded to each other.
“This time, we’ll do it right,” Saffron said firmly. Though it was not really so much a declaration as it was a promise. A promise to herself and to everything she had lost. The Saffron in front her nodded and smiled, fading away slowly.
“Good luck,” she said, growing ever more translucent. She made a genuine smile. “Not that you’ll need it.” 
Before Saffron could respond, she disappeared, leaving her alone in a room, with a wall of flame crackling and slowly creeping forward. The sounds of fighting at this point were quiet and muted at this point as if they were but distant echoes of the background. An addition to the ambiance, rather than center stage. 
Saffron exited out to the hallway and gave one last glance back to the wall of flame before turning around and running down the opposite way as fast as she could. The hallways seemed to twist and bend in impossible shapes, forking and looping into all kinds of different directions, but Saffron had a strange sense of familiarity with the passage as if she built it herself.
Before she knew it, she found herself on the beach of the Summer Palace, where it seemed comparatively calm to the inside. It was as if the fighting never took place. That all was still business as usual.
Suddenly, as if right on cue, another dragon stormed out of the palace, violently coughing. He collapsed onto the sand, leaving himself as a wheezing, limp mass. He was covered in what appeared to be copious amounts of blood, though Saffron doubted that all of it was his alone. He shakily attempted to get up, coughing up some blood, staining the perfect yellow sand beneath him. Eventually, after a laborious effort, he managed to stand up. He clutched his head, entering into another coughing fit.
All Saffron could bring herself to do was stare at him. She couldn’t move to help him, she couldn’t call to him. 
Now that Saffron got a better look at him, he was almost clearly a Skywing, his crimson scales giving camouflage to the blood that caked his scales. Despite this, he had an unusually wiry frame, in fact, he looked several times smaller than a typical Skywing soldier. He stretched his wings and prepared to take off in a hurry, but before he could, he turned back to the Summer Palace and spotted Saffron.
They exchanged looks and, in an instant, Saffron understood exactly why she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. Why she couldn’t do anything but stare.
“Raven,” Saffron said coldly, narrowing her eyes.
“Saffron,” Raven said in return, frozen in place.
“What in the world are you doing here?” Saffron asked, her tone unchanging and her stance tense.
“I should be asking you the same thing,” Raven replied, narrowing his eyes and hardening his glare.
“Why’s that?” Saffron asked, smirking. “You thought I died back there?”
“Yes,” Raven replied, not even bothering to feign happiness and relief. “Yes, I did.”
“I thought you died back there too,” Saffron said. “Care to explain why you’re here at the Summer Palace covered from head to talon with Skywing blood?”
“It’s my own blood,” Raven answered quickly.
“So you admit that it’s Skywing blood?”
“You’re no fair, Saffron,” Raven said, chuckling nervously.
“I always knew there was something off about you,” Saffron growled, inching closer to Raven. “You never cared about any of us, did you? Are you some kind of Seawing-Skywing freak?”
“Not everything is as it seems, Saffron,” Raven replied cryptically. “I wish I could explain everything, but life isn’t so courteous,” Raven said, before lifting off quickly, kicking up sand and blinding Saffron temporarily. “Maybe we’ll meet again, but I wouldn’t count on it!” 
Saffron growled, before spreading her own wings to follow in suit.
“I’m not letting you get away this time!”
...
Saffron opened her eyes.Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Genre (Tragedy)
Category:Fanfictions (Canon)
Category:Content (RibbonRaptor)