Work Text:
Searching
The forest around the dragon was white as snow, the lingering snow trails on the ground, coating it all in a powered white. Each step was met with crunching noises, and the snow compacted from the dragon's steps. It fell in small steps, not a blistering storm but a calm wind that carried it all, settling on the ground.
The dragon, a SkyWing, puffed out a breath, the air so cold that it showed the heat from her breath. She shook her wings, the accumulating snow falling off them before continuing. Her scales, a simmering sunset alongside tinted red-orange, rippled with each step, her muscles moving as she moved to where her destination was. Over her shoulder was a shovel, held by straps on her side to keep it from slipping out.
Topaz looked at the sky, the sun having risen an hour ago, and she looked back down, seeing her destination in front of her. “There you are,” she said to herself, rolling her neck to relieve the cramps, and walking forward.
Her destination was a graveyard. But not just any old graveyard.
The Royal SkyWing graveyard.
She was here because she had heard about Ex-Queen Scarlet’s death. It had been a month now, and the SkyWing wanted to see the body for herself. She hadn’t been able to before, due to always being on the move and never staying in one place to hear the news. But now, she can confirm it for herself.
And other things…. The SkyWing thought, letting out a sigh as she shook her head. She snorted, taking the shovel out of the straps, and moving into the graveyard.
Each statue was made in memory of the Queen who brought honor or went down in history. For example, Queen Phoenix, on a technicality of being related to the Queen at the time; Queen Dawn, for making the artisan age of SkyWings; or Queen Ignis, who fought for her people and did not go soft in her dotage.
However, Topaz passed them all, heading to one in particular, who had a statue that looked like it had seen better days. The horns were chipped, the legs were desecrated along with the chest and snout, and it looked to be unkept for days. Moss was already overgrowing it. But she knew who it was supposed to be.
Scarlet’s statue.
Topaz looked down, and bringing her shovel to bear, began to dig.
Now, there was a reason why she was digging. She wanted to know if it was the true Scaarlet and not one of her plans to make dragons think that she was dead when she wasn’t. So, Topaz was going to make sure of that. One can never be too sure of a death. It was always good to make sure that the dragon stayed dead.
It took a few minutes at most, but she soon heard metal hitting something hard. She stopped, looking down into the hole that she had created to get to the supposed body of Scarlet. It was deep enough that she could stand in perfectly without being squished. Dirt was packed on her right side in clumps, where it would be easy to push the dirt back in without consequences.
The SkyWing took a moment, leaning her head back, and sighing deeply as she closed her eyes. She stayed like that for a minute before her eyes opened and she began to slam the shovel into what she had hit with anger.
“Stupid! Smashing sun! Piece of..! Despicable little! Giant cobweb of death! Murdering entilted!” Topaz screamed with fury, smacking her shovel all over the item she had hit, cursing out every time she did so. She roared, flinging the item out of the grave, breathing fire everywhere, and sending the shovel flying away as she panted for new breath.
Finally, she took a shuddering breath, getting out of the grave and moving to the item she had flung out in her fit of rage. She bent down, grabbing it with her forepaws, hauling it over to a broken piece of wall. She used her wings to help stabilize her body, before setting the item down there. She sat down as well, scoffing out a breath.
“I thought that was relaxing,” she said to nobody, looking at the now empty grave. She turned to her right. “Didn’t you think so?”
Scarlet's skeleton stared lifelessly forward, her lower jaw dropping open.
Topaz sighed, shaking her head. “Of course. It wasn’t ‘thrilling’, was it?” she made air quotation marks at the word, narrowing her eyes at the skeleton to see if it would somehow make a rebuttal. But it never did, leaving the SkyWing in silence.
“You just had to kill innocent dragons huh? And for what? For your sickening entertainment?!” she snarled that last part out at the skeleton, wings flared as if daring it to make a move, anything to make a comeback.
But nothing.
Topaz sighed, leaning back onto the ground. “At least your daughter is doing better than you ever could,” she mused, wiping her snout from some specks of dirt that were on it from her digging. “At least our tribe has that.” She let out a puttering sigh, sniffling as she thought about all the lives that were taken in that sun-forsaken arena. But she had heard that it was being turned into a hospital, so there was something to look forward to.
But still….. Topaz was the last of her family. Her father and mother were both on a pyre from what she had heard from her friend trying to find them. And her sister, stabbed through the heart by the now long-dead Blister. I didn’t even get a chance to see her again, she thought sadly, closing her eyes, palms of her talons now on her snout. What am I going to do with my life? She wondered to herself, hoping for an answer to come. But none came.
However, she was broken from her thoughts when she felt the scales on her neck shoot up. The SkyWing ducked behind the wall, looking over to see what would trigger her instincts like that.
Multiple SandWings were rising from the snow, shaking it off and wielding clubs and spears. All of them had tattoos of dragon skulls on their bodies, and Topaz softly growled at the sight of them.
Talons of Power, she thought with a hiss as she continued to stare at the new foes in front of her. There had been no sign of them lately since Vulture vanished from the Scorpion Den, but it seemed like they were still up to no good. And they were here now, with only Topaz being the witness to this whole thing.
“Come out with your talons up!” the main SandWing in the front said, yelling over the now-blowing wind. “And nobody needs to get hurt!”
The SkyWing ducked, snapping a piece of the wall. She looked around, trying to look for a weapon. She had thrown the shovel away, so that was a no-go. There was nothing around her at all, which meant she would have to get dirty fighting these dragons. She readied herself, unsheathing her claws before she paused, looking at Scarlet’s skeleton.
Then, an idea formed in her mind.
A crazy one, but it just might work.
“There are 106 bones in a dragon’s body,” the SkyWing recited to herself. “107 if you are a SandWing.” She took a deep breath, grabbing the claw of the skeleton in one of her talons. “Here we go. Maximum effort.” She slapped the skeleton claw on her paw, and she grasped the skeleton by the spine, ready to fight now.
The SandWings were still where they were, cautious of what the SkyWing could be doing back there. They stopped when with a flying twist, Topaz spun in the air, landing with a thud in front of them, the skeleton in her grasp and in front of her.
The SandWings brought their weapons to bear, waiting to see what she would do now. They were confused as to why she brought a skeleton, but it did not matter. She would die all the same.
“Alright, Your Highness,” Topaz said, looking at the skeleton with a grin on her face. “Guess you get one last thrilling fight after all.”
The SandWing sent confused glances at each other at that sentence.
Topaz grabbed one of the rib pieces, snapping it off as she glanced back at the SandWings in front of her, that grin still on her face.
The SandWigns finally figured out what she was going to do, but then, it was too late.
The SkyWing threw the bone, sailing through the air, before it nailed the main SandWing in the front in the snout, blood spurting from the contact. The dragon dropped dead to the ground, blood now pooling around their head.
The other SandWings started forward, charging now at the SkyWing.
She merely took two more bone pieces, hitting one on the back of the head before stabbing the bone right where the neck met the body, yanking it out as chunks of flesh came with it. She fought the second, stabbing a bone through their arm before she twisted their body, stabbing the second bone into their head, using her hind leg to kick it further and out the other side, brain and blood exploding from the action.
The SkyWing then grabbed the skeleton's spine, swinging it around like a mace, clubbing against several dragons, even eliciting blood from one across the face. She swung it with great force, smacking one in the face, before she grabbed the back of their head, slamming it into the ground.
Topaz smirked, liking that she was letting out some rage after smacking the suns out of the skeleton. She kissed the top of the dead SandWing’s head, a grin on her face. She wiped it off, seeing another dragon coming right at her, and she grabbed the wings of the skeleton, using them to slap the SandWing before locking their arms together, using her tail to take their tail and stab it into their neck and through the back of it.
With a smaller bone, she slashed another SandWing across the face, gushes of blood spewing across the air. The SkyWing took another bone, spinning it through the air, twisting while somersaulting through the air before slamming into a dead body. As she landed, she grabbed the bone before throwing it into the chest of a charging SandWing, whose body twisted from the impact, blood spilling from the stabbing bone.
She left that bone, grabbing the spine once more, slapping a dragon across the face with her tail before with an uppercut, she swung the spine, knocking the dragon to the ground upside down, and then with force, she brought it down on their crotch, more blood spurting out from the impact.
With a snap of the talon, the SkyWing took the skull, smacking two dragons in the head, before grasping one of the SandWings by the neck, smashing the skull into their head several times. Each time blood came out from each hit, and the final hit made the neck snap backward, the body flopping backward as Topaz gripped the skull, launching it into the air, swinging her body around to smack the skull away, aiming towards another poor SandWing soul.
They got hit right in the chest, causing them to collide with a tree’s branches, stabbing through them in several places. A couple of their fellow SandWings stopped, seeing the death happen in front of their eyes, glancing at each other, before multiple skeleton tailbones stabbed through their brains, leaving them dead on the ground.
Topaz sliced through the stomach of a fat SandWing, causing their guts to spill across the ground, their entrails coming out of their body. She threw that bone at the head of a SandWing, the head almost coming off of their body from the bone.
She took the pieces of the forearms, slapping SandWings left and right, slicing and dicing their snouts, bodies; everything else that she could hit. She hit without remorse, without mercy. No quarter for them. It was what they deserved, for the pain that they made their kingdom go through and innocent dragons as well.
She stabbed two of these bones into the shoulders of one SandWing, which went out the other side, hitting their wings as well. The SandWing tried to claw back but had entirely lost feeling in their wings and forearms. Topaz spun the dragon around, sending them flying straight into a tree. They hit it with a very loud CRUNCH, blood splattering the tree in a vicious display of blood and remains.
The SkyWing ripped one of the back legs now, kicking a wiry SandWing in the gut before spinning around and choking them with the skeleton leg. She spotted more SandWings coming, so with a heave, she sliced the head clean off, making it fly away with a fountain of blood in its wake. She flung the leg at another SandWing, slicing across their chest and impaling a third one in the chest, causing them to roll onto the ground.
Topaz tried to get the other one, but it was stuck. Taking a moment, she realized that there were gems embedded in the hip. What kind of a dragon embeds gems in your hips?! She thought, snarling, pulling with all of her might. The SkyWing was finally able to get the leg off, using her wings to stabilize herself before she could fall. With a spin, she swung the leg at a SandWing that had been running towards her while her back was turned, slamming the skeleton piece into their snout. Teeth and blood flew as the dragon was thrown to the ground.
Topaz startled for a moment before she began to do the same thing to the other SandWings that were charging at her. She spun and twisted, always keeping away from the enemy dragons attacking her and hitting them with her makeshift weapon. If one were to pay close attention, it was almost like she was dancing, moving to a rhythm in her mind that nobody could hear. It was eerily similar to how belly dancers worked in the Scorpion Den and on their travels.
Each SandWing went down with a splurt of blood and death throes, with Topaz standing in the middle. Again, one tried to get behind her and stab her, but with a quick reaction of her forelimbs, she smashed the piece of the skeleton across their neck and snout, ending their life in a second.
With a dash, she got back to the skeleton, grabbed the last of the wing pieces, and stabbed them into a SandWing that had gotten the jump on her. They slashed at her chest, causing some blood to draw, but she expertly darted away, using the pieces of the wing as small daggers. She stabbed that dragon in the legs, darting away then darting back in, before stabbing upwards into the bottom of their neck, pushing it further in with a slam of her paw.
The last SandWings kept their distance, looking at each other, trying to figure out what to do now that almost their whole team was dead. The SkyWing was skilled; far more than they were, and they had no idea how to combat her. They were just trying to kill the Queen. They didn’t need this kind of camel dung!
But their heeds went unanswered, as Topaz wrapped the fingers around her knuckles, moving with ease and practice with her wings acting like secondary legs. She rolled her shoulders, looking over the fingers when she flashed them out, making it look like she had claws above her claws now.
Topaz let out a small gasp, smiling. “Oh, now we are cooking tonight,” she said, her smile widening as she barred them at the ready, staring at the last SandWings in her sight. The SkyWing smirked, moving her head upwards as if daring them to attack her.
And they took the bait.
With a roar, the last SandWings charged at her, all roaring in fury and rage at her killing their comrades.
The SkyWing merely moved forward, jabbing her skeleton claws into the chest of one, getting stuck in the process. She slapped one with her tail, using her hind claw to push herself out of the dead dragon. She sliced upwards, hitting another SandWing’s stomach, chest, and neck in one fell swoop, sending blood to arc upward.
She felt a slash across her side, stabbing at the SandWing that had done so. She repeatedly stabbed them in the chest, blood coating her arms as she did it every time. She pushed the body away, checking her slashed side to see if there was any poison. Thankfully, it wasn’t their tail, but that was a close call.
When she heard a sound, she threw her forearm forward, nailing a SandWing into a tree. The dragon whimpered, trying to get out, but when Topaz tried to pull her weapon out, it wouldn’t budge. She tried multiple times, yanking the thing out barely each time, muttering, “Bugger, bugger, bugger,” under her breath the whole time. Blood was now splashing on the ground, the SandWing roaring in pain and death throes. Then, she heard another noise, and stabbed her remaining weapon into another SandWing, going through their stomach and out the other side.
“This is so annoying!” the SkyWing growled, trying to get the bone weapons out, but they wouldn’t budge ! All she could do was pull the weapons out barely, making the ground run red from how much blood the two SandWings were making from their bodies.
The last SandWing was chuckling at the sight. “The stupid SkyWing can’t even get out of this!” he laughed, chortling as he watched the whole thing happen. Not even lifting a talon to help his tribemates. “Guess the rest of your tribe is as stupid as you are.”
Topaz froze, all thoughts in her head dying in a heartbeat. The SkyWing merely tilted her head, staring at the last SandWing who was up. She finally let go of the weapons, leaving her forelimbs covered in blood, looking at the chortling SandWing with a blank stare.
With a swift action that happened in the blink of an eye, she used her tail to grab one of the dying SandWing’s dagger, bouncing it upwards and into the offender’s mouth. The chortling died within a second, the dragon choking on their blood which ran rivers down the sides of his mouth. He died, still standing, head backward as it stared, lifelessly, into the sky.
The SkyWing padded up to the SandWing, growling. “Keep my tribe’s name out your mouth!” she said, shouting at the now-dead SandWing. “And that dagger, thank you.” She took the dagger out, letting the body drop to the ground, whipping the saliva and blood off of it before throwing it at the remaining SandWing still alive. It hit them right in the neck, which they tried to get out of, but it nailed them to the ground, spewing blood from their throat and mouth. They died within seconds.
Topaz wiped her claws on her body, shaking herself to relieve the adrenaline that she had gotten from the fight. It was relieving, to some extent. The SkyWing let out a sigh, looking around, and seeing that there were no more dragons that were trying to kill her. There was blood everywhere ; splattered on the ground, bodies, everywhere that you can think of.
“Well, that was fun,” the SkyWing said, looking at all of the dead bodies around here. “But now, it is time to close the curtains.” She spread her wings, looking at the graveyard and the state that it was in before thinking, Eh, someone will come to clean this up. She took off, flying away from the battle and discarded, bloodied bodies staining the high altitudes of the graveyard.
Leaving it all for some poor, unfortunate soul to deal with when they came by…..
Hours later, Topaz was flying through the air, the clouds passing by her as she winged her way back home. While she did get her answer at the graveyard, it still felt like she was missing a part of her heart in some way. The SkyWing knew what it was, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to deal with it. That IceWing gal had said that she could listen to Topaz, but she kept passing it off. I should get myself looked at, she thought to herself.
As Topaz flew through the air and spotted Possibility, she knew that it would be another of the same thing as it had been the past year. The SkyWing let out a heavy sigh. Another day, another time to keep hidden. She knew that it was better to have allies that nobody knew about, but it kind of sucked when she couldn’t figure out how to properly talk to dragons. Yes, she was still learning, but it was hard enough trying to keep a conversation without making dragons weirded out by her. Maybe I should-
“Topaz!”
The SkyWing perked her ears, twisting around to see who it was. She saw a faint figure and once she caught sight of the armor, landed on the ground, the grass lying down from her paws and wings billowing them with the wind.
“It’s good to see you!” The armored dragon said, gliding down to the SkyWing, and landing with a soft thud. He tucked his wings in, sitting across from Topaz now. His armor was still dented and scratched, with a couple of spots around his chest and sides scorched black from intense fire. Parts of the armor were fixed and mismatched, but it.
The SkyWing had never seen him without the armor, but she didn’t mind it. Some dragons had secrets, and some were best left unanswered. That was what she was taught by him, and she took them to heart.
“Nice to see you, my friend,” Topaz greeted back, nodding to the larger dragon. While she was fairly large for a SkyWing, the armored dragon was at least a couple of heads taller than she was, which was an impressive feat on its own.
“It’s been a while,” the armored dragon said, chuckling. It was odd to see him chuckle, as it was a rare thing, but when he did, it sounded deep and soothing.
“It has.” agreed the SkyWing. “Now, what was your purpose of meeting me here outside of the place you are having me guard?” she questioned.
“I have found something,” the armored dragon started. “And, I believe it might help in some capacity.”
Straight to business, as always, the SkyWing thought with a quirked brow. Never change, old friend.
“And how would this thing help me in any way?” Topaz asked, turning to fly to Possibility and get home. She had some stuff to go over with the occupants of that-
“It might help to see your sister again.”
Those words made Topaz stop, turning back to him in a slow manner. “What did you just say?” she whispered the words, her tone making it seem like she was in a disbelieving manner. And to tell the truth, she was.
“It might be better if we take this somewhere private?” the armored dragon asked, glancing around as if someone would swoop in and attack while they were vulnerable. He was a suspicious one, and being paranoid can save your hide if you don’t get too lost in it.
Topaz nodded. “Follow me,” she said, the armored dragon following close behind, keeping a lookout for anything out of the ordinary or flying dragons.
It was a few minutes away, but they soon got to where Topaz was making her home. Well, sorta home. It was her main place outside of that lovely home with that RainWing and IceWing couple. It was a hill, with a large cave in it, the moss overflowing the whole place, causing it to look like it was trying to pull the cave back down into the soil. It overlooked a little bit of Possibility, gazing at where the sun would rise each day.
The two dragons walked inside Topaz’s cave, which was a small place, but the SkyWing thought it was fine for her. There was a small bed there, with a rack to hold stuff on it against one wall. A shelf filled with scrolls lined the opposite wall, all of which were fighting techniques and other tribe customs. It was always good to know how other tribes worked, especially if it was during negotiations.
The SkyWing placed the bags down, hanging them up on a rack near her bed. She made sure that the rack was stable, as it tended to fall off. Should get that looked at, Topaz thought, frowning as she knew that it would be hard work to get the rack back up to snuff like it once used to. She let out a sigh, turning back to the armored dragon, who had stayed at the entrance while she put away her stuff.
“So, what was it that you wanted to show me?” Topaz asked, her head tilted at the armored dragon, carefully tucking in her wings and curling her tail closer to her body to not accidentally hit him.
“This is what I wanted to show you,” the dragon said, opening his satchel and pulling out an item in his claws. He closed the satchel, bringing the talon holding the item right now forward for Topaz to see, and opened it.
The item in the armored dragon’s talon was a small necklace attached to a silver circle indented with green jewels on one side, while the other side had red jewels. It looked to be ornate and unassuming, but the SkyWing knew that appearances can be deceiving to many. If one doesn’t take careful time to inspect the item, then who knows what might happen to them.
“This,” the armored dragon said, “is the Gift of Time. It allows the wearer to travel either forward or backward in time, but they cannot affect anything around them.” He glanced down at the amulet, rubbing his other talon on it. “I found it a while ago on my travels, and since you were wanting to find your sister, I thought you would like to use it.”
Topaz narrowed her eyes, contemplating. Yes, she did want to find her sister, but the chances of that were slim at best. And she only had faint memories of her big sister; nothing compact enough to draw leads on where to find her.
“Does it work?” Topaz asked, glancing at the amulet with weariness.
The armored dragon nodded, looking over it. “It does, but it has a limited usage before it is completely out. I had already used it a couple of times, so it has about….” he trailed off, counting the glowing green lights that were embezzled in it. “Three more shots. It will only be a few minutes at most, but you could try to find her. It’s your choice, though. I’ll let you decide.”
Topaz glanced down at the item in the armored dragon’s claws, contemplating. Should I though? What good does it be if she is gone? Went her thoughts. The SkyWing struggled for a moment, trying to figure out the answer to this. There were so many different ways that it could go, but she had no idea if it would bring her to the right location.
But she knew what she had to do.
Topaz hesitantly grabbed the item from the armored dragon’s claw, placing it over her head and on her chest. She fiddled with it, trying to make it comfortable.
“See you in a couple,” the armored dragon said in reassurance, nodding to the SkyWing. He took some steps back, giving Topaz space to activate the item.
She nodded back, taking some steps back, before she focused, recalling the day that Scarlet went missing and the DoD vanishing from the Sky Kingdom. She could feel the air rippling around her for but a moment before she vanished.
Within a flash, she stumbled, her bearings off for a moment before she got up. She glanced at herself and saw that she was transparent as if she was like a ghost or an apparition. She tried to swipe at a bush, but her talon phased right through it, not affecting it in the slightest. So it does work, Topaz thought. Thank you, my friend.
The SkyWing took a moment and realized she was right outside the Sky Kingdom. She could see SkyWings and SandWings flying about in armor, and Topaz immediately knew that she had made it.
Now, where were they at? Topaz questioned herself, trying to figure out where the dragonets of destiny might have been when they had vanished from the Sky Kingdom. Once she saw that there were no dragons around, she took to the sky, looking around to see if she could spot them. But it took a good while to try to find them. They know how to hide, don’t they? She felt awe at how these dragonets ended the war at such a young age, whilst she hid in the shadows.
Topaz shook her head, trying to focus on trying to find them, but a glimpse of gold scales caught her eye. She pulled to a stop, winging back to where she saw the gold scales. With a soft thud, she landed on a cliff, overlooking the waterfall that connected to the river. And she had to stifle a gasp as, yes, it was them!
Unfortunately, the SkyWing couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she knew it was them. She could tell from the small golden SandWing and sassy RainWing that it was the dragonets of destiny. There was a copper-scale SkyWing that had smoke coming off of her, and….
“Big sister,” Topaz whispered, seeing Kestrel talking to them. She could see that jewel-hard, bright red-gold scales that were the color of rust and flames, red wings and tail tense as if she were going to fight. She wished that she could hear what they were saying, but it seemed like it wasn’t a nice thing. What happened to you, sister? She wondered, tears coming to her eyes at seeing the pain that her big sister had to go through with the loss of her entire family.
But as she watched, she noticed that Kestrel was gesturing to the copper scale SkyWing, and a theory began to build in her mind. She knew that her sister wasn’t much of a dragonets kind of gal, but if she did……
It was only when Topaz saw Kestrel talking to the copper-scale dragon that her mind realized what it had seen. It tried its best to process this revelation, but it was so slow on it that the front part of her brain figured it out before the rest of the brain could catch up. Topaz gaped in shock at it.
I have a niece? She knew that it wasn’t possible to see her sister ever again that night years ago, but to see this; and that she had a daughter as well….
However, she saw that the world was rippling, telling her that time was up. She wished to stay longer, but she could see that the air was rippling much more quickly. She committed the appearance of her niece before she was brought back.
She stumbled for a moment, catching herself with her wings, and looking down at the ground. Her mind tried to process what she had seen, but it was not working at all.
Topaz panted, trying to shake off what she had seen, but the shock was still residing in her no matter how much she tried to get it out. The events were now firmly implanted within her, and there was no digging them out like she had done to Scarlet’s body.
“So?” The armored dragon asked, tilting his head at her. “How did it go?” He had stayed in the same spot when she had left, tapping his tail as he waited.
Silence. It persisted for a couple of moments, deafening the room with the only noise being Topaz panting and trying to catch her breath from the travel.
Then….
“I HAVE A NIECE?!”