"Shit."
Jason looked around in a panic. The fury and wrath was all but gone, vaporized by the lightning he had thrown down. Now, he could think clearly, free of a red haze mentally, despite the red curtain that still hung over his eyes.
He winced as he flashed back to his confession to Amber. His friend was shocked and horrified, not to mention ashamed for both crying and putting Jason in the unfortunate position of having to reveal something clearly personal. He remembered the still and dead body of Carnelian, whom Amber cherished and admired. He remembered his loneliness in all of this. No one to lean on. Nothing familiar. He remembered Piper's beautiful face, always present. He remembered the green eyes of Percy, corners always crinkled in a smile. He remembered all his life. His family. His struggles. His victories. Here. He had bottled it all.
It hurts.
Jason was tired of holding it back. He kneeled forward, pressing his forehead to the cool earth below, cherishing the presentness of it, and let the floodgates open. Tears poured out as Jason sobbed in anguish. Alone, ashamed, afraid and confused, Jason cried. None of the dragons there to witness his victory over Scarlet mattered. It was just him and his emotions.
Tear by tear, all feelings left Jason. Soon it was just exhaustion. He looked up tiredly. He was met with shocked and horrified faces, not unlike Amber's from just yesterday.
"What was that?" a dragon asked.
"Why are you crying? Were you loyal to Scarlet?" another dragon asked.
"Did you see how he destroyed her? No way!"
Queen Ruby stood near her guards solemnly. Seeing the youngest, newest soldier rush after Scarlet, and now, kneeling on the ground, eyes red from crying and bleeding in front of a charred area where her mother's destitute body lay was certainly something new.
"Jason, was it? What happened? Stand up." Ruby said.
Jason stood to attention instantly but wavered a bit on his feet from as his head swam from blood deprivation for a few moments.
"Your majesty! I-I'm not sure!" Jason managed to yelp out.
"I think you do, Jason. What you did was beyond what a normal dragon could do. Tell us everything. What you did, why, how, everything. Don't leave anything out, Jason."
"Y-your majesty. It's really personal. Please. I already lost so much telling one dragon. Imagine what it could do if I told you! It will ruin everything for me. Please!" Jason whimpered, wrapping his wings around himself to hide his shaking.
Ruby raised an eye-ridge. "What? How exactly? Your power is dangerous if anything. Look at what you did to my mother. It wasn't even a fight. That was annihilation. How can I be sure you won't turn on us? My duty as the queen is to protect my dragons. Are you so adamant as to put an entire tribe against you? To make you a fugitive, an outlaw?"
"Your mother?" Jason blurted out.
Jason bowed his head. It was a desperate attempt on his part to show allegiance, for he was exhausted.
His existence here was a lie.
His friends, gone.
His home, gone.
His life, gone.
His struggles, gone.
His victories, gone.
All of it, gone.
Never agai-
"Yes. Though everyone benefits from her death. She was ruthless and cruel. Tell me, Jason. Or be outlawed like Peril," the queen ordered, interrupting Jason's thoughts.
Jason bit his tongue. He wracked his brain for ideas. Whether or not he told the queen in front of everyone won't change the outcome. He needed something else.
"I... I-" he stammered before being cut off.
"Your majesty! Something is going on back at Jade Mountain!"
"I can tell you later, your Majesty. Please, give me some time to regain my composure. It has been quite a day," Jason said quickly.
"I hold you to that, Jason," Ruby said, before turning and flying back towards Jade Mountain. He followed.