Pyrite Does Not Exist

Chameleon wears a form of yellow scales, scratching at the shred of scroll in his talons. His lettering is a little jerky, but careful, squeezing the words in as tightly as he dares. This feels like a waste of paper—it always does—but Scarlet was insistent. She promised him a truly dazzling abundance treasure after this, and how could he say no?
The spell is nearly ready, anyway. It'd be a greater waste of the scroll to go back on his word now. He wonders, briefly, why Scarlet chose to name her Pyrite.
The paper is still in his talons. Pyrite does not exist, not yet.
----
Pyrite is in a throne room. The gold felt much more blinding on her eyes a second ago, though she can't remember why. She can't remember how she got here, either, since her memory is just awful, like everything else. She's useless and weak and not good at much of anything. She's glad to be a SkyWing, though. Her eyes land on orange scales she would know anywhere.
Her posture immediately straightens, followed by a bow that feels too clumsy for how well she knows it. She is weak and fragile, and she struggles, but she will always try for Queen Scarlet. She is completely loyal to Queen Scarlet.
The queen is smiling.
Pyrite fights in the war. Queen Scarlet often takes her away from the front lines. Pyrite understands why. She's not very strong, and not very good at fighting, either. She is more useful elsewhere, though not by much. If it were her choice, she would gladly give her life for the Sky Kingdom. Queen Scarlet knows best, though.
She likes to think that the queen treats her with special care. Queen Scarlet knows that Pyrite is not very good at anything, but she keeps her around anyway. Pyrite is glad she's a SkyWing. She can't imagine being anything else.
Pyrite is flying with some other soldiers. It was a nice day and the battles are too far away to help, so they get to fly. She's not exactly sure where they are, since she gets lost easily. She's not very good with directions, but she likes the freedom of flying. SkyWings can fly so far and so fast and never get tired. She doesn't feel too good at it, either, but she's not terrible. She likes being a SkyWing.
There's a salmon colored dragon besides her. She can't remember his name, nor the names of anyone else besides her. She will have to ask later, since she forgets easily. 
She's fond of that salmon colored SkyWing. He reminds her of the fish a little bit, and it tastes good, so she likes him. She doesn't remember if she's had salmon before.
She knows it's nice when eaten raw. She wonders briefly how she knows this, but perhaps she's tried it before. She used to eat her prey raw before Queen Scarlet said she should cook it first, so Pyrite does that now. She always appreciates how the queen watches out for her. Maybe she had raw salmon before then, though she doesn't know how to catch fish. She doesn't remember. She forgets easily.
She thinks he's the one that told her she fought like an IceWing. She thinks it's a compliment. She doesn't think she fights very well at all, so if she fights like something, then perhaps that's good. Like she knows what she's doing. She doesn't, but it's nice to think about.
Queen Scarlet is missing, and Pyrite panics.
Pyrite doesn't know how the IceWing found her, but she's glad he did. She doesn't understand the Talons of Peace, but they are kind and welcome her. Cirrus always takes good care of her.
She's glad she didn't attack him out of instinct when he first came across her. Queen Scarlet would be so upset with her for failing to kill the enemy, but they aren't enemies, not anymore. She thinks Queen Scarlet might be angry about that too. Pyrite knows she'd be furious about that usurper, General Ruby.
Maybe she wanted Pyrite to do something about General Ruby, but Pyrite doesn't understand the politics too well and she's can't find Queen Scarlet, no matter how much she's tried. She might really be dead, and then Pyrite has no idea what she'd do.
She misses her tribe. She's loyal to Queen Scarlet. General Ruby could never be Queen Scarlet. She misses being one SkyWing among many, but she couldn't swear the oath. She can't. Now she's only around one that's red that she doesn't think she's met before. The new SkyWing is always angry, and she reminds Pyrite of Queen Scarlet sometimes, in the way she acts. Her scales are too red, though. 
Pyrite has Cirrus now, though. He watches her and keeps her safe. She likes being near him when she sleeps. His scales radiate a nice chill that she's sure she hasn't felt before, but she knows it feels nice. It's nice.
She dreams of snow. She's not sure if she ever knew what it was.
She likes the new dragons she's met. There's no SkyWing with them, but that's okay, because they've led her to Queen Scarlet. She clutches the scale close to herself, reveling in the glint of orange she knows too well. Her queen is alive. Queen Scarlet's probably not hurt, according to the others, even though her shelter is trampled and destroyed in way that makes Pyrite's heart twist.
She is completely loyal to Queen Scarlet.
Her heart hums brightly even though they don't find her that day. Queen Scarlet is alive. Queen Scarlet is still here. She'll try harder this time. She'll find her this time.
She's never thought much about the necklace before. It stays on her neck, it always has. It wasn't there in her memories of being a dragonet, but those were vague and blurry and she wasn't very good at remembering things, anyway. It wasn't there. It's always been there.
The panic she feels as it is ripped away is like nothing else. The strength she suddenly finds in her limbs is alien but she knows exactly how to wield it.
They can't take the necklace, they can't—
----
She is in a garden she doesn't recognize with a dragon she doesn't know. She's glad she's a SkyWing. She wonders if they've found Queen Scarlet yet. She doesn't know how she got here, but her memory has never been very good.
When she removed the necklace she didn't realize was there—it's always there—something wrong twists in her gut. Like there's something missing, like she should be screaming and fighting, like she's done that before. She doesn't remember too well, but there should be something.
She removes the necklace. No one wears it again.
Pyrite does not exist.
----
She doesn't exist, but Hailstorm is curled up and shivering and coughing in an icy room that feels too familiar. Queen Glacier is dead, and it sends a vicious delight through him that has him curling even closer into himself, pressing the top sharp edges of his own limbs into himself. Queen Glacier was his queen, he reminded himself. Some part of his fractured psyche protests.
He is complete loyal to Queen Scarlet—no, that's wrong. Queen Glacier. He is completely loyal to Queen Glacier and he knows this.
Both of them are dead.
He's delirious, he thinks, from the fever. He remembers Winter. He can barely see the room, but he knows where everything is. He recognizes the moonglobe floating next to him, too bright in eyes that should be used to brightness. He's too tired to adjust the light, so instead he lays still and waits for the illness to pass.
He hopes Winter is safe. He's always liked IceWings, the chill that radiates from them has always been comforting. It feels too cold now, though, but he's used it it, flying above the peaks of the mountains. He's glad he's a SkyWing, because that means—
He doesn't have the energy to move, but he grits his jaw closed so tightly he thinks he can feel his teeth crack.
His name is Hailstorm. He is an IceWing in the First Circle. He is an IceWing, not a SkyWing, because he was never a SkyWing. He was captured, but now he's free, and he is an IceWing and proud of who he is and that should be the end of it. He's glad Queen Scarlet is dead. 
His name is Hailstorm. His parents are proud of him and he's always been the one that liked the most, but maybe they're dead now. He can't drag himself out of the room to check. 
His name is Hailstorm and he is an IceWing. He remembers who he is and he knows it all too clearly. He should be able to go back to being normal. He remembers what it was like. He was skilled and capable and he knew it.
He misses being Pyrite. It was simpler then.
Pyrite does not exist.
----
She doesn't exist, but she dreams of flying again. She's not very good at it, but she's a SkyWing so of course she knows how to fly, and it's wonderful. The freedom is fleeting and wonderful and it clings on far too long after he wakes, embracing him in contentment. He basks in it until he remembers, and then he fumbles so violently out of his blankets that he trips and sprawls over the ground.
Imperial is full and streams light into the room. He focuses on that instead of the cobwebs in his mind, the muck that he doesn't know how to clear but doesn't want to tell anyone about anymore. His bones ache as he pulls himself up.
He's in Sanctuary. His name is Winter. He is an IceWing, though he was never very good at that. Though Snowfall demanded that he leave, and he was the one that faked his own death to get away, so he could love a dragon he was supposed to hate and she didn't love him much anyway—Queen Scarlet would know what to do. She didn't care how bad he was at everything and how confused he felt because he was always completely loyal—
Darkstalker is friendly, he's not sure why he ever thought otherwise. Darkstalker was a scary legend from the past, but that was all wrong. He's a noble dragon, honorable, exactly in the way Winter wants to be. He's going to lead them all to the best future possible, plucking at the brightest thread of fate, and Winter likes the sound of that as his own life falls apart. Queen Scarlet always has his best interests as heart. He's loyal to her because she always knows. She's a wonderful queen, even though he isn't good at anything and he never amounted to much and he's even less now.
Imperial glares down at him and Winter wants to scream. Queen Scarlet is dead. Darkstalker is... gone. He doesn't know what happened to Darkstalker. He is in Sanctuary and he named it because he wanted it to be safe but he's not safe, not really, not while he's a useless pathetic failure of an IceWing in exile and he made an even worse SkyWing and he didn't even realize how Darkstalker was messing with his head, it was his own mouth that said—
He feels sick. 
His name is Winter. 
Pyrite does not exist.
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Completed)
Category:Fanfictions (Canon)
Category:Content (Mezepheles)
Category:Genre (Short Story)