A/N: I am back, for another 2.5k words into this moral crisis, this time, in Ember's perspective.


Chapter 2

Ember

This was concerning, to say the least.

Mist didn't share any words as they went down to the lower floors. A few dragonelles were still asleep, but most were talking among themselves quietly. Nettle gave her a wave as she passed, and Kain ducked back into the kitchen when he saw her. Their brief conversation hadn't really changed anything between them— he had still tried to fistfight Garret, and she had still lead him into a battle that left him mutilated. They had to stay civil for the alliance and for Dante's sake. They'd leave it at that.

"What's so important that we have to call a secret meeting?" Riley asked as soon as Mist closed the door behind her and Ember. He looked more well-rested than he had in the past two months, but that was overshadowed by worry. Garret, Ember noticed, was not in the room.

"In the lab, some information came to light," Mist said. "Nothing that would put us in immediate danger, or I would have told you yesterday, but…" she paused and looked at Ember, obviously unsure of how to continue. Ember felt the nervous tangle in her chest contract. If Mist was afraid to say it outright, then it had to be bad. And if she was looking Ember for support… was it about Dante? Was something wrong with him? Did he do something to compromise the mission?

"Wait? how did you get this information?" Riley asked. "It was supposed to be an in-and-out mission, no breaking into databases or interrogating anyone."

"Lilith was talking about it to Dante before she tried to kill him. Granted, I'd take Lilith's word with a grain of salt, but in this case I'm inclined to believe her." Mist said. "Dante… uh… all of us know that he made some less-than-kind decisions while he was in Talon, just like I've made, and Riley's made, and…"

"Oh, god," Wes muttered. "What did the blighter do now?"

Mist swallowed and looked at Ember again, brow crinkled and lips pursed. Ember felt a pang. Mist didn't look like Mist. She looked like Ava, back when they first met in Vegas. The insecure hatchling who was trying to hold it together for her friend's sake.

"He… was directly involved in the night of Fang and Fire." Her voice was barely more than a whisper. "He led the attack on the Western Chapterhouse."

There was a thick silence. Ember managed numbly acknowledge that she really shouldn't have been surprised. Dante had killed an entire trailer town. Leading an attack on one of the Chapterhouses wasn't a far stretch away from that. But that would mean that… it was Dante who killed Remy, and it was Dante that killed the other four hatchlings, and it was Dante that killed twenty-one soldiers.

"Oh," Riley managed to make out. His face was drawn in pain, jaw clenching and unclenching. Wes looked at him, anger and concern warring in his expression, limbs rigid.

Ember didn't know what she was feeling. She wasn't sure if she was feeling anything. Her brother had killed five hatchlings. Her brother had renounced Talon. Her brother had killed five hatchlings, and he hadn't told them. He hadn't told her.

Dante, you… fucking idiot.

"And why didn't you tell me yesterday?" Riley asked. His voice was strained, as if he was about to either start screaming or crying, or maybe both.

Mist swallowed and crossed her arms. "I… I wanted to process it myself, first. And yesterday hard enough as it was, I didn't want to go through this conversation right after blowing up a building." She paused. "He did blow up a building for you."

"That doesn't— he—" Riley took a breath. "What am I going to tell my hatchlings? He killed five of their friends. He mutilated Kain and Sage. And he—" Riley shook his head. "And the Order, too, our alliance is fragile enough…"

Ember's breath caught. Their alliance wouldn't be enough to protect him, if they found out. Either they'd have to hand him over to be executed, or they'd break the peace to murder him. And no matter how many times he screwed up and how pissed she got with him, Dante was still her brother. She couldn't sit by and watch him be executed.

"The Order doesn't need to know," Mist interrupted. She looked almost desperate. "Not yet, at least. I have put thought into that." She took a breath. "I'm not the only person who heard about the news."

Ember furrowed her brow before Mist's words clicked in her head.

"Tristan heard," Ember said. Mist nodded. "And he still chose to fight Lilith for him?"

"I was just as surprised as you were," Mist said. "I was fully expecting to be carrying out your brother's body after Lilith was done with him."

Ember cringed, and Mist winced.

"Sorry. But I think that it… takes that part of the situation out of our hands, for now. Tristan was the Order representative on this mission. Assuming that he wakes up and remembers what happened, the decision to tell the Order should be on him."

"Well that's bloody fantastic," Wes growled, sounding scarily draconic for a moment. "I think the real question is what we're going to tell the kids that he nearly murdered. And what we're going to do with him."

"Wes—"

"What Ember?" Wes snapped. "What can you say to defend him? Go ahead, I'd love for you to rationalize it."

Ember looked away. She could only guess what Wes was thinking. He had made the first decision to save Dante's life. Other than Ember, he was the most likely person to believe in his shift in allegiance. But he had also been the one to treat all of the other hatchlings after the Night of Fang and Fire. Or fail to treat, in some cases.

God, it was Dante that did that.

Ember didn't know if she was angry at him. Scratch that— she was definitely angry at him. Her idiot brother who hadn't been able to see that Talon was rotten from the inside out until he got himself shot. He was supposed to be the smart one. He was supposed to be the one that thought things through. How the hell had he rationalized any of this?

How the hell had it come to this, in the first place?

She supposed that there was still some part of her that saw him as the Dante who she had grown up with, rather than the Dante that had sold his soul. He said that he wanted to get it back, and she believed him, but the fact was that he had still given it away to Talon, and he had done it willingly.

"Whatever you decide on, I don't want him killed, and I want to be the one break the news to him," Ember whispered. "But I… I need to go. I'll be in the medical tent when you figure out what the hell all of this is going to mean."

She was sure that Jade called after her, but Ember didn't turn back. Her brother, the fucking idiot. She wasn't supposed to be surprised by anything that he did, at this point. She had always been prepared to forgive him for what he did in Talon, because she thought that she would've done worse if she had stayed.

Did he even feel guilty when he did it?

Ember passed Nettle and two of Dante's friends— Hamsah and Astatine, if she remembered correctly— on her way out. Nettle gave her a wave and Hamsah nodded, but Ember barely acknowledged them. She wanted to find Garret. She knew that she couldn't tell him what happened. Garret was serving as a liason, so it would be better if he didn't have to keep secrets. But she couldn't stay in that room as everyone talked about what they were going to do to her brother.

Stupid, idiot, traitor brother. How many chances do I have to give you before you stop doing shit like this?

The infirmary tent was small— four beds, all sectioned off by translucent tarps— and smelled of both soil and antiseptic. Ember pushed back the curtain and walked up behind Garret, whose eyes flitted towards her and then back to Tristan.

Tristan, who knew that Dante had killed twenty-one soldiers from the Western Chapterhouse, and was going to make the final decision on if to tell the Order. Who Dante had dropped a building on.

Ember would pay everything she had to know what was going through Tristan's head when he decided to go into a fight that he couldn't dream of winning.

"He looks… better," Ember said into the silence, for lack of anything else to say. His skin was still a cold grey, and he had bandages wrapped around both his head and his left eye. When she looked at the hand that Garret held, she could see bandages and a splint around it as well. But he wasn't bleeding everywhere, and there wasn't a tube down his throat or his stomach, so it was at least an improvement from his last coma.

"Dr. Grace is hopeful. He's still in shock, but she said that it isn't effecting his brain. Hopefully. Kind of hard to tell without the usual equipment," Garret said. "He really is lucky, you know. A few millimeters to the left and it would've severed his optic nerve. A half-centimeter up and he would be dead. Must've been a hell of a fight."

Ember nodded. She remembered her spars with Lilith, how she moved too quickly for Ember to see or comprehend. She knew in her instincts that it had been a quick fight. It was only by sheer luck that Tristan hadn't been dead before he hit the floor.

Garret gave a quiet sigh. "It's so creepy to see him like this. He usually— he doesn't sleep on his back. Even when he's stuck in medbay overnight. It's unnatural to have him so… so..."

"Hey… he's going to wake up," Ember reassured. "You said that he was moving. That's a really good sign. And whatever damage he's taken, he'll be able to work through it. He's good at that." She squeezed his shoulder. "And he'll have you, and Martin, and all of his other friends to lean on until he's recovered. And I'll be there, too, if he wants me."

I guess that the emotional attachment does go both ways.

"I'm here for you, too," Ember whispered. There was a thick silence between them, interrupted only by the steady heart monitor.

Tristan had nearly died for her brother, and she couldn't for the life of her figure out why. He didn't know Dante, other than the times she talked about him. Which, in all fairness, was often. Tristan was inquisitive, and Ember was stressed, so that's where their conversations usually headed. But that didn't mean that she had expected him to go up against Lilith to try to buy him time. Especially if he knew that… that…

Her only brother had nearly killed everyone during the Night of Fang and Fire. That was on Dante. It was both within Tristan's and Mist's rights to leave him to die.

"You know, I don't blame you for what happened," Garret said. Ember tensed. "Tristan told me that you asked him to protect Dante. He told me… that if it came down to him or Dante, then he fully intended to— to make the sacrifice. Because he had a lot to make up for, and also because he trusted that you'd do the same if it came down to you or me." He sighed and smoothed back Tristan's hair. "I know perfectly well that it was Tristan's choice."

"Garret…" Ember didn't know what she could say.

"It's okay," Garret said. "You're right. He'll be up pretty soon, and he'll recover. And he'll remind us both that it was his choice and we're not allowed to feel guilty or resentful about his choice."

Ember's lips twitched. Garret brought Tristan's hand up to his lips and kissed his knuckles, bruised and scabbed over. Ember was faintly impressed that he had managed to punch Lilith before he was taken down.

"How's Dante holding up?" Garret asked. "First mission, and all. It's hard for everyone."

Ember winced, mind going back to the conversation that she had excused herself from. As long as they didn't kill him or banish him, she would be able to accept it. It was all that she could ask for.

Her brother had killed five hatchlings and twenty-one soldiers. He had killed those forty-two people in the trailer town. No getting around it. Whatever Riley, Wes, Mist, and Jade decided would be just. She had to trust them.

"He's… doing as well as you'd expect. He woke up late, and he can't stand for the next few hours, but he didn't take any permanent damage. He's starting to get pissed at the bullet in his spine. Even more so than usual."

"I can imagine," Garret replied. "I've been thinking about that, actually. I'm sure that between Wes and Doctor Grace, they might be able to go to the St. George safehouse and get it out. Dante's going to be an asset. It'll be good to have him whole."

Ember bit her lip. Maybe yesterday that would've worked. But Wes wasn't going to be keen on granting Dante any favors, and it wasn't fair to have the Order give him help before they knew what he had done.

"Maybe," Ember said. "I don't know if he'd be up for that anytime soon. He… he…"

There was a rustle of the curtain.

"Ember," Jade said, voice soft and solemn. "Could I see you?"

Ember nodded. She gave Garret a tight hug before she left, letting Jade lead her back to the main farmhouse. They sat on the porch together, away from the other hatchling's prying ears and questions. Ember bit the inside of her cheek.

"He's not going to be killed, and he's not going to be exiled," Jade said. Ember took a shaking breath. "We have to tell the other hatchlings, though. It's not the dragonelles business, but it is the original underground's right to know." Ember nodded, even though that cold tangle in her chest only got colder. It seemed everpresent, these days. "For Dante's safety, and their peace of mind, he'll be kept in the cellar until everyone can make peace with what he's done. You'll be allowed to visit him as you please, and no damage will come to him."

Other than being kept in a cellar for an indefinite amount of time. Ember kept that thought to herself. As much as Dante liked to be the refined and controlled sibling, he got just as claustrophobic and antsy as she did when kept in one room or building for too long. He'd usually study outside when he was younger, and went on just as many post-class runs as she did to burn off nervous energy. Being locked in one room with nothing to do would have him clawing at the walls in a matter of days.

But this wasn't just the Dante who she had grown up with. This was the person who was responsible for the death of five of Riley's hatchlings. Five of her friends, if she had been given the time to know them. Riley was still grieving for them. That was on Dante, whether she wanted it to be or not. It was a mercy that they weren't exiling him or handing him over to the Order to be killed.

"You said that you wanted to be the one to tell him," Jade said. "Is this still the case?"

Ember pulled at a lock of hair and nodded, straightening. "He deserves to hear it from me." She swallowed and let out a breath. "And I deserve answers."


A/N: I just feel bad for... everyone in this series. Ember. Riley. Wes. Dante. Tristan. BUT NO ONE IS DEAD YET (except for Lilith, but no one cares about her except for the Elder Wyrm).

Anyway. If you like this series, and would like me to continue writing/editing on some semblance of a schedule, please drop a review. I live for validation, they give me encouragement to keep going through writer's block, it reminds me that actual, real life people are reading this, etc. It would really make my day. Thanks!