I'm really sorry this chapter is a little late! I've been busy lately, and didn't have a ton of time to write!

(Blackbird)

Blackbird had grown used to the routine in the palace now. Every day, Ember would wake her up (far too early, in her opinion, especially given how late they went to bed), and the two of them would be escorted by guards to the throne room. Days consisted of following Scarlet around, Blackbird often being made to carry whatever Scarlet herself didn't want to. Moving throughout the palace itself was... haphazard in it's own right, due to Blackbird's front talons having a long chain strung between them and her wings being clamped.

It had been a week since the Crane fight. Scarlet had only had two other fights happen since then, which Ember mentioned was... strange. Both of them were SkyWings, and both had involved Peril. Blackbird was growing used to the smell of burning scales by now, and she figured she could be... okay with it, so long as Tsunami or Starflight never had to face Peril. A quiet voice in her added 'or Dovekie' and she shoved that whisper back with a firm shake of her head, the chains around her arms rattling softly.

At night, when the servant's quarters was mostly empty and the palace itself was quiet, Ember would wrap a blanket around her arm chain and crack open their door, and the two could slip down to Peril's "room". 'More like a dungeon...' Peril lived in one of the empty jail cells, and had what Blackbird thought was a... rather terrifying image of Scarlet hanging on the wall.

Ember would jump across the pool of water at the entrance first, and then catch Blackbird when she jumped over. His talons always left a strange cold feeling on her shoulders, like he had sucked all of the heat out of them. Blackbird would sit near that pool, her tail often lazing in the water while Ember and Peril would sit together. The three would talk about all kinds of things, and then one night Blackbird asked Ember something she quickly regretted.

"Why are you all scarred up?" Blackbird had tilted her head to the side, her wings fluttering as much as they could. "You don't fight in the arena too, right?" Ember's face twitched just the slightest bit, but Peril's ears flicked back and she ducked her head off to the side. Blackbird's eyes flicked between the pair.

"It's my-"

"No the fuck it isn't, Peril." Blackbird's eyes widened at Ember's words and tone, never having heard the hybrid speak like that before. "It is not your fault, Scarlet just sucks."

"But if I didn't misbehave, she wouldn't-" Ember didn't let her finish and cuffed her over the head with a wing.

"T... the queen did that?" Blackbird's voice had dropped to a whisper. Obviously she knew about the arena, but she had never thought that Scarlet would attack her own dragons like that...

"When we were little... Scarlet would give me any of Peril's punishments, as well as any that I earned myself." Ember flicked his tail around himself. "That's how these happened." He gestured to himself and Peril looked away, mumbling something under her breath that earned another whack from him. Blackbird had grown silent now, and Ember got up with a groan.

"Well, we should get going to bed." He brushed a wing against Peril's side and walked over to Blackbird, brushing against her before jumping over the pool of water. She jumped over afterwards, Ember catching her, and the two walked in silence back to their room.

(Dovekie)

Dovekie and Sunny had been trapped in the tower for a week now... well, Dovekie had been there for a week. He didn't know about the strange looking SandWing. The dreams had gotten worse in here though, and he was getting... flashes. One minute, he would be gazing outside of the tower, and the next he would be standing in a snowy forest, talking with an IceWing about spells. Sunny would usually shake him out of the flashes, something he was extremely grateful for. The other hybrid was good company, even with how... energetic she was.

"Do you any idea what they can mean?" Sunny was standing on the stone, while Dovekie was on a haphazard pile of boxes, gazing out of the window. Dovekie sighed and shook his head.

"No..." Sunny frowned and clambered up the boxes to sit next to him, making the pile sway unsettlingly. She wriggled her way under his wing despite the metal clip that was still left from the Sky Kingdom. Her scales felt warm, like the mornings when Dovekie would stay up too early in the Night Kingdom and the sun would stream in through his window. He sighed and pulled her against his side as his vision began to flicker. He let go of her and flicked her tail with a shoulder. "Vision."

Sunny's wings flicked out and she braced herself more firmly against his side, waiting for his inevitable collapse that came with the visions.

Dovekie was a dragonet... no older than three. His mother had a wing swept around him and was leading him into the palace, where he was presented to the queen. His mother talked about his magic, and he was told to stand VERY still while his mother and the queen spoke at the throne. He had something floating over his shoulder... a strange, blue-white orb. He grabbed it in his talons and watched it bob in front of him.

He wasn't sure what had happened... but the colors started to shift in the orb, slowly rotating through all the colors of the rainbow. His mother and the queen turned to him with wide eyes as he was pulled out of the vision.

"...kie... Dovekie... DOVEKIE!"

The IceWing hybrid jolted upright and his forehead collided against Sunny's with a crack, both of them slumping onto the ground with a groan. They were on the floor now, the stack of boxes piled around them. Sunny hit him with a wing and got up first, reaching around on the floor.

A blue-white orb spun towards Dovekie and hit against his shoulder. He cracked his eyes open to look at it, and quickly flipped over onto his talons. He grabbed at the orb and it turned from blue to a dusty rose color, the same color as Blackbird's eyes. He looked back at Sunny.

"What's this?" The SandWing shrugged and waved a talon at it.

"I was going to ask you... because you made it during your vision." The IceWing hybrid stared back at her, his eyes wide.

"...what are you saying?"

"You goon. You're an animus, Dovekie.'