A Single Truth

*Title taken from the Imagine Dragons song 'I Bet My Life'*

Sheer was alone. Again. This wasn’t the first time, but having to stay behind while the rest of her patrol was out wasn’t fun. They didn’t know what to do with their time, and spent most of it sulking in their room. Today, though, she’d decided to do something productive, and was training in one of the open areas. She was the only one there, at least for a while.

And then Aurora showed up. Sheer always felt a bit awkward around her, and they knew it was because of their crush. Aurora stayed over on the other side of the room, so Sheer tried to ignore her. It was hard, though. She was quick, darting forward and attacking her target before Sheer could figure out what she was doing. Aurora looked over at them and smiled, waving them over before they could pretend they hadn’t been watching her. Sheer walked over to Aurora, trying to act normal.

“If you wanted to join me, you could’ve just asked.” Aurora joked, and Sheer relaxed a little. Okay, she doesn’t think I’m weird. That’s good. Sheer told herself. Maybe they could at least be friends, if not anything more.

“Well, I wasn't sure if you wanted to train alone or not.” Sheer said with a shrug. “And I’m pretty sure I would just slow you down.” They hadn’t trained with another dragon since they’d been injured, but if it meant they could spend time with Aurora, they’d do anything.

“It’s not a big deal.” Aurora said, glancing briefly at Sheer’s damaged arm. “You can still use your other talon, right?” Sheer nodded, confused. Of course she could use her other talon, but it wasn’t her strong side and she had never been good with weapons. Aurora grinned and handed her a dagger anyway. Sheer turned it over a couple of times, unsure of what Aurora was doing.

“Um. Wouldn’t it be safer without actual weapons?” She asked, and Aurora laughed. She has a really nice laugh. Sheer thought. She looked away from Aurora, hoping she wasn’t blushing too badly. Aurora probably didn’t share her feelings, and Sheer guessed she probably never would.

“Yeah, probably, but that’s boring.” Aurora replied, already darting towards Sheer. “Stay focused!” Sheer was caught off guard, and had to jump back to avoid Aurora. They had trouble keeping up with her, and ended up losing multiple times, which was pretty embarrassing.

“Will you believe me if I tell you I’m usually better than this?” Sheer asked, after picking herself up off the floor for the third time.

“I should hope so! Don’t want Ic-” Aurora hesitated before continuing. “Don’t want someone like you to be bad at your job.” She was still grinning, but Sheer felt like it was more forced than it had been.

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.” Sheer said, pushing aside their worries about acting like an idiot in front of Aurora. She was now concerned that she’d done or said something to upset her, but she wasn’t sure what.

“Sure. Let’s say that.” Aurora said, helping them up. Sheer laughed, trying to ignore her heart beating faster. She didn’t want to make Aurora uncomfortable by being too obvious about it, but she also wasn’t sure how much longer she could hide her feelings. They were contemplating how to tell her, or just ask her if she wanted to spend more time with them, when Aurora spoke again.

“Sorry, I really have to go.” She said quickly, brushing Sheer’s wing with her own. “Maybe we can talk more later?” Sheer nodded, and stepped aside so Aurora could leave. She was disappointed, but also slightly excited. Aurora wanted to hang out more. That was probably good. Sheer left to head back to their own room, and then remembered they still had Aurora’s dagger.

*Well, there’s always tomorrow. I can return it later.* She decided, grinning to herself.

“What does the queen want me for?” Sheer asked the messenger, confused. She hadn’t done anything recently that she would get in trouble for, and she wasn’t anyone special. The other IceWing, who’d told them that Queen Bitter wanted to speak with them, shrugged.

“I don’t know. She just said to send you to see her, and it was important.” He repeated. Sheer sighed, sheathing their dagger and following the messenger to the main palace. The queen wouldn’t have asked for her unless it was something urgent, and it was just better to listen to orders anyway. The messenger walked with Sheer until they reached the doors of the throne room, and then he took off. Sheer glanced back at him, and then knocked.

“Come in.” Queen Bitter sounded bored, and when Sheer entered the room, she had three or four open scrolls laying around her, and one that she had apparently been reading. Sheer had heard other dragons joking about how she would throw them at dragons who annoyed her, although they were pretty sure that never happened. The queen wasn’t alone, of course. Lark, her advisor, and Commander Storm were also there, as well as a dragon Sheer didn’t know, but she guessed he was the guard captain.

“You sent for me, your Majesty?” Sheer asked, bowing briefly. Bitter nodded, and waved Storm over, who scowled. Sheer glanced at Storm warily, they’d never gotten along, and she wasn’t sure why.

“Yes. I’m promoting you. Your circles, please.” Bitter said, holding out her talon. Sheer slowly removed the cool metal chain from around her neck, handing it to the queen. It felt strange to be without it, to see the two interlocking circles in someone else’s claws. Storm was glowering even more now, but she reluctantly passed Sheer another necklace, this time with only one circle hanging from it.

“M- me?” Sheer asked, staring at the chain. She’d never expected this, never thought she’d be a commander herself, but she’d just been given that chance. “Thank you, your Majesty. I promise I won’t let you down.” They said, fastening the necklace and bowing again. Bitter huffed, and waved a talon at Sheer, dismissing them.

“You’d better not.”

Sheer knocked on the door to Aurora’s room and winced, her injuries still bothering her. They knew going to the infirmary was the optimal choice, but the queen had told them to go check on Aurora, so that's what they were doing. The queen's exact words had actually been ‘return Aurora’s daggers to her’, but Sheer had wanted to see how the commander was doing anyway.

“The queen told me to bring these to you.” Sheer said, after Aurora had silently opened the door. She looked at Sheer blankly, and had obviously been crying. Aurora took the knives from Sheer, and closed the door again without saying anything. Sheer waited for a moment, and Aurora opened the door again.

“Okay, I'm good now.” Aurora said quietly. “You can come in.” Sheer smiled at her girlfriend, closing the door behind her. Aurora sighed, collapsing on her bed. Sheer walked over to her, gently putting a wing around her.

“Four years, Sheer.” Aurora whispered. “I can’t believe he just showed up like that after Four. Years.” Sheer knew exactly how Aurora felt, they had been just as stunned and confused to see their former commander, who should have been dead.

“At least we know he's actually dead now.” Sheer said, not sure how to comfort Aurora. She'd had a more complicated history with Iceman than Sheer would have guessed if she hadn't told them.

“That's true. But… I still killed him, Sheer. He's dead because of me.” Aurora repeated, and Sheer pulled her into a hug.

“You saved my life, Rory.” Sheer said. “He would have killed me if you hadn't been there.” Aurora didn't respond, but she did relax a bit, letting Sheer hold her. In the silence, Sheer was reminded of their now shredded wing, and grimaced. They would have to get that checked out. But later. Aurora needed her the most at that moment.

Talonsteps. Behind her. Sheer had assumed she was the only one who would be awake this late at night, but she had been wrong, apparently. They turned around to see who was following them, and froze. Even though it was dark, and they had their face and body covered by a dark cloak, she recognized the shimmering colors of the other dragon.

“Aurora?” Sheer whispered, choking up. “I thought… I'd lost you forever.” They wanted to run to Aurora, to apologize for everything they'd done, but it was too late now. Sheer had betrayed Aurora’s trust, and they didn't deserve her forgiveness.

“Sheer.” It was the anger in her voice that hurt Sheer the most, and she knew she deserved it. Even after everything they'd been through together, they'd chosen Crow over Aurora, and they regretted it now.

“You're here for me, aren't you?” Sheer asked, watching Aurora. “Because I'm supposed to be dead.” Aurora nodded, and pulled the hood of her cloak down so Sheer could see her face.

“Yes.” Sheer’s heart skipped a beat, and she couldn’t look away from Aurora, who now had dark red scales on half of her face. That was another thing Sheer blamed themself for, Necromancer's attempts to use Aurora to bring back Bloodlust. Now the two dragons were fused.

“I'm sorry. For everything.” Sheer said, pulling their wings in close and looking away. She didn't want to see Aurora’s expression. “I didn't want to hurt you like that. It's all my fault.” She reached up to the chain around her neck and pulled, breaking both the necklace and the immortality spell Crow had placed on it.