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CLEARSIGHT

Seven twenty-two.

One second she was covered in blood, operating on the last throes of her adrenaline as Darkstalker tried to beat her into submission, and the next, it was seven twenty-two. She was four years old, there wasn't a scratch on her, she was in her old room … and it was seven twenty-two.

Clearsight dropped the watch and collapsed on the floor. Her heart had been slowly thumping, but it was now starting to catch up to the state of the mind that had just invaded it. Hyperventilating, she clung to her chest as her vision began to blur.

Everything had happened so fast. It was only a couple minutes ago that she was sleeping peacefully with her babies.

Her breath hitched. Her babies! Her poor babies! Where were they?

She sprang to her feet and looked around, expecting Solstice and Remedy to still be there. But obviously, they were gone, and she was alone.

A livid chill snaked its way into her talons. She found one of her pillows and gripped it tight, tearing the fabric with her claws as she covered her face and cried.

Despite the commitment she'd knowingly made months ahead of time, she still couldn't quite process what she'd just done. Her dragonets were gone. She was never going to see them again. How could she do this? What kind of a monster was she?

She still heard their voices, their cries, their terrified faces. Their last moments were so horrible. Why wasn't she more careful? Why didn't she remember to hide the watch before falling asleep? She knew that Darkstalker had the chance of returning home that morning, unlikely as it was. She got careless and stupid, and she almost lost the opportunity to use the watch because of it.

She spent the hours curled up on the floor, feeling sick to her stomach. It was impossible to sleep. All of the things that she had just undid kept replaying in her mind. Their ascension to the throne, the ending of the war with the IceWings, everyone getting married and having kids — all of those moments of triumph and joy now tormented her, and she was left wondering if she could ever relive any of them now that they were gone.

She didn't regret going back. Having another chance really was a blessing. But it was so hard to think straight with all these second thoughts floundering around in her skull.

Someone knocked on her door. "Clearsight? It's time to get up."

It was her mother. She opened the door, poking her head in.

"Honey, what are you doing on the floor?" she asked, sounding concerned. "Are you feeling alright?"

Clearsight lifted her head from her pillow and looked up at her mother, her eyes gently gazing as she stepped closer. "What's wrong, dear?"

Clearsight let out a small groan, exhaustion settling into her bones, and looked away, slowly rising to her feet.

"Clearsight, please don't ignore me," her mother said. "What's the matter? You can tell me."

Clearsight ignored her mother and slowly traipsed towards her bedside. Her watch was on the ground, sounding out its steady, lullabic ticking. She picked up.

"Clearsight," her mother started.

Click.

It was seven twenty-two once again. Clearsight heaved out a long sigh, set down her watch, and collapsed into her bed.

Her breath was still shaky from the initial shock of it all, but she was starting to calm down.

What did she want to do differently this time? What had she learned from the years that she'd lived and undone?

There were two big things. The first was that Darkstalker always had ambitions to become king. It wasn't something that arose later on in his life from a more corrupted soul. Even right now, Darkstalker wanted the throne.

The second thing she learned was that Darkstalker could become king. All things considered, Clearsight thought she had done a pretty good job as queen. And Darkstalker was a sensible ruler for as long as the other animus powers were there to temper him. She hadn't had faith in Darkstalker's potential as a king. Maybe that was a mistake.

On the other talon, she wondered if anything would have gone any differently if she had given Darkstalker her full support from the start. He'd gotten corrupted by his power in the end either way. In fact, so did she. She remembered what Fathom had said about both Darkstalker's and her soul.

On the third talon, she wanted to put her faith in Darkstalker this time. After living through two attempts that had failed when she was always at least a little bit wary of him and his intentions, she felt like she owed him an attempt where she lowered her guard from the very start.

Her head remained full of doubts as she closed her eyes and her bedside candle magically snuffed itself out, but exhaustion quickly got the best of her. She fell asleep before her mind could conjure another thought.

After her mother woke her up that evening, she had a breakfast of toast with scrambled grebe eggs made by her dad. They tasted so simple now, but she distinctly remembered them being her favorite thing to have for breakfast when she was a kid. There was actually a certain nostalgia to eating them again all these years. It had been so long since she last had her dad's cooking.

Though, it would actually be a little bit overzealous to classify his meals as 'cooking.' He usually cooked things by setting them on fire, but eggs didn't do that. So his "toast with scrambled grebe eggs" was more or less two pieces of charred bread floating on top of a lukewarm soup of raw, beaten eggs. And it was still Clearsight's favorite breakfast.

She wondered if her sense of taste was different now that she was younger. Maybe she would like chicken sausages, which was the only thing that Remedy ever ate for breakfast.

Clearsight could already feel herself starting to tear up, so she pushed those thoughts away as soon as she started having them. She quickly finished the rest of her breakfast, gathered her belongings, said goodbye to her parents, and took to the sky after leaving the house.

Being four again was disorienting. Her body was so tiny, and none of her muscles were as strong as she was expecting them to be. On her way to school, she flew with the gait of her adult self, and was confused when she found that she wasn't flapping her wings fast enough to lift herself up in the air. After adjusting by flapping faster, her muscles started to ache after only a couple minutes of flight.

It was a good thing that the school wasn't far away, and that she remembered how to get there from her home. She approached the main clearing in front of the school grounds, where there was ample space for dragons to touch down from the sky and land.

She spotted Darkstalker there. He was with his sister, and the two of them were already watching her as she started to land. Darkstalker bounded towards her, accidentally running into another student along the way. "Watch where you're going, you idiot!" the student shouted, shoving Darkstalker off of him before rising back to his feet.

Darkstalker stumbled from the shove. "Sorry! Sorry!" he said, flapping his wings to help stabilize himself. He then trotted up to Clearsight, who by this point was doing all that she could to hold back her laughter.

"Good evening, Darkstalker," she said.

"Did you use it?" he asked her.

Her smile vanished. That's right. Darkstalker knows that I set the watch yesterday, doesn't he? What was she supposed to say? Obviously she couldn't lie, but what was the best way to tell him without making him freak out?

His eyes welled up with concern. Clearsight opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't find any words to speak.

"Good evening, Clearsight," Whiteout said, trotting up beside Darkstalker. Her snout was scrunched up, and she was studying Clearsight as though her scales had changed color for some inexplicable reason. "Don't take offense to this, but you are covered in time snakes, and they are alarmingly venomous. Where did they come from?"

Clearsight couldn't even focus on the question with the look Darkstalker was giving her. The way his face collapsed in horror and shame was enough to make her feel queasy. "Clearsight … don't tell me that …"

Clearsight looked at him sadly. "We have a lot to talk about, Darkstalker," she said. "But don't worry." She stepped closer to him and placed a talon on his cheek. "Most of it will be good, I promise."

She leaned in and kissed him, mostly just to get that awful look off of his face. Darkstalker widened his eyes, and for a second, Clearsight thought that he was going to back away and break the kiss. But he didn't. Instead it was Listener who interrupted them.

"Ewww! C'mon, wait till you're alone to munch on his face, Clearsight!"

Clearsight broke the kiss and shot Listener a sideways glance. She was trotting up to them with this disgusted look plastered to her face.

"Good evening, Listener," she said.

"Look, Clearsight, if I'm going to do my part and refrain from blabbering about how you two are dating, you're gonna have to do your part by not kissing the guy in front of everyone."

"Oh." Clearsight looked over at Darkstalker, who now looked like he'd just eaten something extremely sweet. "Right. Sorry."

Listener sighed. "Anyway, I need to have a word with you. Alone." She cast a mistrustful gaze at Darkstalker and Whiteout.

Darkstalker snapped out of his brief daze and took a step towards Listener. "Sorry Listener, but we're in the middle of something right now."

"Your make-out session can wait," Listener said, turning away from him and beckoning Clearsight to follow close to her. Whispering to Clearsight, she said, "I have a new idea for our 'school project.' Let's go to the arboretum, where it's quieter."

Clearsight racked her brain, but she couldn't recall what Listener was talking about here. "I'm sorry, I've had a lot on my mind lately. Which school project are you talking about?"

"The scavenger project, you moron, what else?" she hissed through grit teeth.

Clearsight's eyes widened. "Oh, right! I'm so sorry, Listener. I'm really tired. I must not be thinking straight."

"Clearly." Listener gave her a bit of space. "But it's alright. Sorry for snapping at you. Now let's go. I don't want to be late for class again."

Clearsight started to follow along, but then she realized something was off. "Wait, shouldn't we bring Darkstalker?" she asked. She definitely remembered him being a part of their plan to free the scavengers.

But then she remembered that he originally wasn't a part of their plan. Listener raised a single brow at her. "Why would we do that?"

"I was … thinking it might be a good idea if we let him in on our project."

Listener looked like she'd just been betrayed. She glanced at Darkstalker, then back at Clearsight. "Clearsight, you didn't tell him about this, did you?"

"No," Clearsight said, feeling pretty confident that that was the truthful answer. "But Darkstalker's a really good mind reader. He might have already found out about our plans. Besides, I know that he's sympathetic towards the scavengers. I'm sure he'd be willing to help if we ask."

Listener let out an unsure hum. She glanced at Darkstalker, who was currently having a hushed conversation with Whiteout. "I don't know, Clearsight. Do you really think we can trust him?"

Clearsight looked Listener square in the eyes and said, "Listener, I would trust Darkstalker with my life."

"Uhh …" Listener flattened her ears and looked away. "Girl, you need to slow down with him a bit. You've only known him for a couple months, right?"

Clearsight laughed, both at the falseness of that statement and at the irony of it. "You're one to talk, Listener. How many times have you insisted that you've found the boy that you'll marry and spend the rest of your life with?"

"Which is exactly my point," Listener said. "If I'm weirded out by how strongly you're falling for this guy, then you know something's gotta be up. Look, I'm sorry, but Darkstalker still kinda creeps me out. Can we please just keep this between you and me?"

Clearsight felt her stomach lurch a little bit. Should she say yes? That was probably what she would do. But that would also cause a divergence from the previous timeline.

It was a split-second decision. "Alright," she said.

"And please don't tell Darkstalker about it."

Now that was definitely something Clearsight could not do. She wanted to say as much, but she could see the future: Listener would explode in her face if she did. "Fine, I won't tell Darkstalker," she said. "But I can't promise he won't find out."

"Fine," Listener said. "Now let's go, for real this time."

Before following Listener, Clearsight trotted up to Darkstalker. "Can we talk at your house after school?" she asked.

"Can we maybe talk now instead?" he asked. "I don't want to be left hanging for the entire school day."

"I'm sorry," she said, meaning it. "Listener's being persistent. And we should probably talk about everything somewhere private anyway."

Darkstalker let out a pout through his nose. "Fine. I'll meet you here after class."

Listener had already disappeared around the side of the campus, so Clearsight followed after her. As expected, she found her in the arboretum, and together they talked in hushed voices about their plot to free the scavengers.

It was while they were talking that it dawned on Clearsight just how long it was going to take to redo everything. She knew she'd have to free the scavengers again. But that also meant that she'd have to meet with Listener several times again to arrange the exact same plans. It meant that once the scavengers were freed, she'd have to risk getting caught again.

And then she started to think about all the other small things she'd have to redo. She'd have to do all of her homework a second time over, and take all of her exams a second time over. She'd have to go through her annoying growth spurts all over again as she got older. She'd have to meet Fathom and Indigo all over again, and eventually help plan their marriages, not to mention her own marriage with Darkstalker.

Reliving the triumphs of the last timeline didn't sound too bad. But reliving the minutiae of it was definitely not something she was looking forward to. It was a good thing this timeline was on track to diverge fairly quickly, just like the last one, otherwise the repetitiveness might drive her crazy.

The day went by at a snail's pace. Clearsight couldn't bring herself to care about anything that was being taught in any of her classes. She'd already sat through all the lectures twice now, and they were just as boring and forgettable as she remembered them being. Case in point: she didn't actually remember learning about any of the subjects her teachers were talking about.

Once the school day was over, she flew to the landing area at the front of the school, where she found Darkstalker laying on the grass. When he saw her, he rose to his feet and stood up on his hind legs to catch her attention. She circled around him in the air, getting a little bit of extra flight practice in to get accustomed to her body, then landed a few feet away.

When he approached her, he wasted no time in asking his first question. "Look, before you say anything, I need to know: you only used it once, right?"

Clearsight shook her head. "Twice," she said apologetically.

Darkstalker hung his head low. "I don't know what to say. I'm really sorry."

"You didn't do anything, Darkstalker," Clearsight said. "Listen, I don't want you feeling bad about yourself, alright?"

"I feel bad for you, Clearsight," Darkstalker said. "I can't imagine turning back time is an easy decision. For you to have made it twice …" He reached a talon around and rubbed the back of his head. "I, er, I know it's not polite to ask this, but I need to know: how old are you now?"

Clearsight couldn't help but laugh at the question. "I'm four," she said.

"You know what I mean, Clearsight."

"I do, but it doesn't matter."

"I still want to know."

She sighed. "Fine. If I added everything together, then … I think I'd be ten?"

Darkstalker covered his face. "Oh three moons."

"Darkstalker," Clearsight said, her voice firm. "I'm four. Don't go around thinking you're dating a ten-year-old, alright?"

"No, it's not that, it's just …" Darkstalker sighed. "Do you remember what I said to you yesterday, before you went home and activated the watch?"

Clearsight remembered. She might not have remembered earlier, but having living through the school day helped put her kind back into place. "You told me you were afraid that the Clearsight you'd meet today would be a different dragon from the Clearsight you knew yesterday," she said.

"And she is. Clearsight, I feel like I've lost someone very close to me. You took over for the dragon I always knew, and it's not going to be the same without her."

"I know, Darkstalker," she said. "But I promise it's going to be better. Didn't I tell you that you shouldn't be afraid of the Clearsight that you meet today? I'm still Clearsight, and I still love you more than anything in the world. Remember?"

Darkstalker nodded. "I guess we still have a lot more to talk about," he said. "Let's get going. My parents will be home soon."

It was a short flight to Darkstalker's house, but it still brought an ache to Clearsight's wings. When they touched down and made their way inside, Clearsight rotated her wing joints as she glanced around. She remembered being a little envious of this house, since it was so much bigger than hers. But after having lived in the palace for so many years, it now felt so cramped.

"My room's over this way," Darkstalker said, taking the lead.

"I remember where your room is, you big oaf," Clearsight said, flicking her tongue at him playfully.

"Just making sure," Darkstalker said, casting a smile back at her.

Darkstalker let Clearsight into his room, and he closed the door behind her. "Alright, I'm ready," he said. "Lay it on me. Tell me everything that happened."

"Actually, I have a better idea," Clearsight said, reaching for her moonstone bracelet and taking it off. She extended her talons and offered the bracelet to him. "Here, take it."

Darkstalker did, though not without a great deal of hesitation. "Why?"

"Because I want you to modify the enchantment, so that you can listen to my thoughts."

Darkstalker handed the bracelet back to her. "No. I don't know if you remember, Clearsight, but I promised you on the day we first met that I would never invade your thoughts. That's a promise I intend to keep."

"Well, it's a promise I want you to break," Clearsight said firmly. "If I'm going to be your soulmate, then I shouldn't be the only dragon in the world that can keep secrets from you. Instead, you should be the only dragon in the world that I can trust with every secret that I'll ever have."

Darkstalker looked hesitantly at the bracelet. "I don't understand," he said. "You just came back from a future where I did something so terrible that you had to undo everything. Why would you trust me now?"

"Because you're not terrible yet," she said. "And I know that you don't want to become terrible. If I keep all my thoughts, and visions, and worries open to you, then maybe they'll help you make the decisions that keep you good."

"I guess that makes sense," Darkstalker said, tracing a claw around the central moonstone of her bracelet. "But are you sure about this? It doesn't feel fair. I feel like I should enchant something to let you read my thoughts, so that it's balanced."

"I'd be okay with that," Clearsight said, beaming at his proposal.

"I don't know if I would, though," Darkstalker admitted. "I kinda have some secrets that I don't think I'm ready to share just yet."

Clearsight snorted, holding back a laugh. "I already know all your secrets, Darkstalker."

Darkstalker started to blush bright red. "Is … is that so?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Does that include—?"

"—Yes, yes it does."

Darkstalker flattened his ears. "Well … that's embarrassing," he murmured.

"It also includes the fact that you want to become king," she said.

Darkstalker sprung back up. "Oh." He gave her a guilty look.

"I'm not so sure what to make of that, to be honest," Clearsight continued. "We became king and queen in the last timeline. And it actually went well for a couple years, before it all collapsed."

"Really?" Darkstalker said. "I didn't expect that to happen when we were so young."

"We didn't really have a choice," Clearsight said. "Either way, if we got the opportunity to take the throne again in this timeline, I'm not sure if I'd want to take it. It's so easy to be corrupted by power, Darkstalker. It even corrupted me."

"Well," Darkstalker started, "for what it's worth, I think you would be the best queen the NightWings could possibly have."

"You see, I kind of think that too," Clearsight said, a little mischievously. "But I think the future is safer if we don't chase after the crown. My favorite futures are the ones where we raise dozens of adorable little dragonets and live a long and happy life, staying happy together until we're old and full of wrinkles."

She leaned against Darkstalker's shoulder and added, "We don't need to rule a kingdom to make that happen."

Darkstalker started to give Clearsight's wings a massage. She wondered how he knew that her wings were sore, but then remembered that he could read her mind now. She sighed contentedly and extended her wings, giving him easier access.

"It's a nice sounding future. But I think I'm a little too young to seriously be thinking about dragonets," Darkstalker mused.

"I think you're also too young to seriously be thinking about killing the queen and taking her throne too," Clearsight added.

Darkstalker laughed. "Good point. Maybe for now, we'll just live one day at a time. You can afford to do that this early in your new timeline, right Clearsight?"

Clearsight smirked. "For now, Darkstalker. For now."

A/N: Uhhh, it's still Saturday somewhere, right? ... No? Not even in Australia?

Well, shoot.

Okay, so I might have been a day late with this upload. But due to the work schedules of my beta readers, it might be best for me to move my update deadline back to Sunday anyway. (That being said, I'll still aim to have my chapters finished by Saturday, so they could still be uploaded by then too if my betas happen to read them sooner.)

In other news, Brighter Paths reached 100 followers this week! I usually try to avoid obsessing over my story's stats, but this is a really big milestone, and it feels incredible to actually reach it. Thank you all so much for your continued support and interest. You truly do inspire me.