Hey guys! So, I've fallen head over tail for these books! I had to write a fanfiction, and this is the result! Chapters will be added and updated with each new book. So many ships! I've got my work cut out for me! I've rewritten basically this entire fanfiction, but I hope it's still just as good! So, yeah! Enjoy, my lovey dragons of Pyrriha! Andddddd...(dramatic pause for effect that actually ruins it and makes it super cheesy)...REMEMBER, REVIEW!

Peril wasn't sure what to do next. She watched, as all around her, the dragons watched. Underneath her bloody talons, the stone rumbled. Another earthquake. She stared up at the fourth moon, illuminating the night in impossibly strong light. Finally, Peril folded her talons, and lowered her head. She could see all too clearly the red marking her talons.

Not that she wasn't used to this color. She had taken countless lives, but normally all she had to do was touch them and they would disintegrate to ash underneath her grip. Every now and then she had broken skin...however, this was different. She glanced towards him and nearly toppled over. After a quick shift and a flustered look around, she was able to watch the steady rising and falling of his chest. Her eyes were drawn over him. His glimmering, copper, amber, and mud brown scales flashed with every twitch he made. It hadn't been an easy thing for her to do. It was a gut reaction-almost an instinct.

She winced when her eyes traveled to his leg. His poor leg...mangled but healing fast, Peril hated having to do that to him, to state the obvious. She had crippled him. Her. Peril. Peril had crippled the Mudwing she had fallen in love with. As soon as her talons had dug into his flesh and she felt his warm and wet muscles spasm around her talons, she wanted to scream. She wanted to cry and pull back immediately. But she didn't. She could see the poison being burned away. Not a kind or gentle way to cancel out the fast acting venom, but it was better than letting him die in front of her.

Peril scratched her talon against the stone. She wouldn't forget this. It would be part of her massive shadow from now on. She would never be able to look at him without feeling guilty. And now that the immediate danger was over, she wondered if there was any other way to heal the poison from a dragonbite snake. Could she have saved him without having to cripple and scar him for the rest of his life? He was a young dragonet, even if he had just saved the world.

Which reminded Peril...

She turned her head and watched. Blister screamed a soundless scream as lightning flickered through her, her tail thrashed around-luckily no dragons were in range, and before Peril knew it, the Princess was nothing more than a pile of ash. The only sister left standing was Blaze, who was shivering and looking impossibly frail. I imagine seeing the death of her two sisters and then losing the throne to a completely different and unfamiliar dragon could be mentally scarring. Then she snorted. Almost as scarring as killing dragons daily for a Queen's amusement without realizing what those lives were really worth or knowing more than their name and their weapons. Almost as scarring as being kicked out of your own kingdom...your only home...after falling in love with the one dragon you can't hurt. Peril glanced at Clay. Or...you thought you couldn't.

Then, something happened. Peril felt something powerful and impossibly painful gather in her chest. She blinked, and felt a sort of wetness in her eyes. She blinked, shaking her head. Peril had never cried before. She had come close, but to have the tears actually fall. To have the sobs slamming into her heart like a tsunami or a volcano.

Then Clay groaned.

It was one sound. Not even a word, and Peril couldn't take it. Before she knew it, before she could stop herself, she had scrambled into the air. It was so rushed, so sudden that Peril nearly toppled over and let herself fall. But she straightened, and put on as much speed as she could. The rush of hot air and fast winds ripped her tears from her eyes. She thanked the moons for her natural speed, but still a heavy weight seemed to be pulling on her wings. It pulled on her heart, and Peril found herself lowering to the ground. Before she could pull up, her tail hit the sand.

She tumbled and rolled, painfully slamming into the ground and bouncing. Her wings might have snapped if she hadn't instinctively pulled them into a tight spiral around herself. Finally, she lost her momentum and stopped in a heap of orange scales against cold yellow grains. She didn't move for a moment, trying to get her bearings.

She was lying on her side, sand was stuck between her talons, in the cracks of her scales, and her eyes stung with the bits. She unraveled from herself and sat up. She wiped her eyes, cursing and wishing for a better landing. She stabbed her talon into the sand, anger overcoming her.

That menacing, vile, despicable, ambitious, power hungry, malicious, maggot Blister! She wished she was the one to kill her. How dare she do that. It was all her fault Clay was bitten. It was all her fault she had to cripple Clay's leg forever and dig her talons into his skin and-and...

More tears. Peril looked around, then released a long, wailing sob. Her anger was fading, and now sadness seemed to gobble her whole. How many tears could someone actually cry before running dry? At the rate she was wailing, her chances of ever pulling herself together seemed to diminish even more so.

Finally, Peril stood. She spread her wings and lifted off. Yes, the tears were still coming. Yes, there was still a grain of sand tucked in the fold of her wing and yes it annoyed her. Yes, her flying was weak and unsteady.

No, she didn't know where she was going.

She flapped, furiously, desperately trying to pull herself up. But her wings just didn't respond. She couldn't breathe, and she let herself land. It was a nicer landing than her graceful tumble before, but it still sent her sliding across the sand. Her talons made hissing noises as she slid. She was pretty sure her flames increased if she was aggravated.

Which meant Clay must have been in even more pain and agony.

Peril let loose a roar she never knew she was capable of. She screamed into the night hair, the three moons and whatever the heck it was up there joining them watching coldly. The roar lasted for at least a minute, for Peril collapsed with exhaustion as soon as she finished. As she lied there, staring out into the dusty horizon, her tears streaming steadily down her face, she thought she felt something break inside of her.

Peril groaned and turned, curling into the warm feeling. She had never felt it before. It was as if there was another dragon next to her. She was able to feel the warmth of scales and the gentle scrape of a wing being thrown over her. Her head pounded, and something itched irritably on her face. The ground beneath her was uncomfortably warm.

A mutter.

A whisper.

A shout?

"Shh."

Peril became more and more aware of her surroundings as she stirred. She remembered last night's event's first, and thought the tears might come back. Her head pounded again.

More murmurs and whispers. Finally, a deep, familiar voice hissed. "Guys, if you're going to make this much noise, go back to the rain forest."

"But..." Another familiar voice, this one sounded like the shout she had heard before. "Just...in the middle of the desert. Don't take this the wrong way but don't you think it'd be easier to just wake her up already and go home? I'm sick of this heat!"

"Shh! Tsunami, she needs her sleep. Look at her. She looks like she's been rolling around in the desert all night." A softer voice argued.

"Well, Clay had it worse, I think." Another voice murmured very quietly.

Clay. Peril's eyes nearly shot open, but she forced them to remain shut. She refused to open them. She refused to wake up. She needed to hear. She needed to know. Someone was cuddling with her in the middle of the desert. Who? She had a pretty good idea, but the idea terrified her as well.

The deep voice hissed again. "She saved my life. Let me at least thank her." Oh boy, she felt that rumble of words against her scales and it feeled her with a wild, unnameable feeling.

"By sleeping with her." A voice chuckled.

The scales felt warmer against her talons that she had unconsciously pressed to someone else's. "Not like that."

Finally, Peril couldn't stand it. "Clay?" She whispered, so softly it could have been a simple breeze blowing over the sands.

She felt his body stiffen around her, then relax. A soft breath brushed just over her ear, a soft whisper. "You're okay? Awake?"

It was as if her heart was shaking. "Yes."

There was a soft breeze over her ear, which must have been a sigh. "I'll send them away if you want."

Peril's voice shook as she whispered. "Please, only for a moment."

The dragon grunted and lifted his head. "Guys, can you...give us a little? Please?"

"Aw, how adorable." A voice teased. "Fine. We'll leave you alone with your little girlfriend, but no funny business."

"I don't kno-"

"Come on!"

There was a soft flutter of wings as the dragons took to the sky.

Peril finally opened her eyes.

She was tucked into the curve of Clay's belly, his scales were warm against her body. She shuddered. She would never get used to be touched by another dragon like this.

Clay tucked his wing tighter around her, pulling her even closer. Finally, Peril asked. "How's your leg?"

Clay uttered a laugh, making his body rumble. "Fine. I can walk on it, thanks to you. Though it's a bit of a limp, still works fine." He nuzzled the top of her head gently.

Peril's eyes hurt from crying. She leaned into his jaw. "I'm so sorry." She hissed.

"Sorry?" Clay sounded startled. "You saved my life."

"I hurt you."

Clay met her eyes. His big, gentle amber eyes. "Oh, Peril." He pulled her tighter to him, until he wrapped his talons around her. Smoke rose from her scales, but Clay wasn't bothered. "You're too amazing, you know that?"

"What?" Her voice was hoarse against his underbelly.

"You saved my life. You helped Sunny! You saved it before too, by letting me leave the Sky Kingdom with my friends. You're a hero." He murmured, his tail swishing through the sand to wrap around hers.

"I set Scarlet free. I-I don't know why. I needed...she was..."

"Shh." Clay hushed her by placing his muzzle on her forehead. He ran his talon over her horns, and Peril shivered. She didn't think she'd ever get used to this contact. "I don't care. For now, at least."

"She's ran off without me. I don't know where she is or-"

This time, Clay silenced her by doing something Peril didn't expect. He lifted her chin up and pressed his snout against her own. "Peril, for now, just lie with me."

She obeyed, curling in as tight as she could, she rested her head on his shoulder. She felt her wings instinctively spread out and over him. She eyed his leg from her position after a little.

The gouge wasn't bad. In fact, his scales had covered most of it. It looked raw and fragile, and you could see where the muscles were supposed to be were missing. But he didn't seem to be in any pain. None at all, really.

Peril allowed a small smile to creep over her face. Perhaps she really did save his life, even if he would be limping from now on.

And perhaps, just perhaps, she could get used to being touched.