Author's Note: This was a chapter I was really excited for - my fingers were on fire! haha.

Hope everyone likes it - only two more chapters to go for this part! Hope you all enjoy and please don't forget to leave a review x

Chapter Twenty Seven

Whether from the screams in her voice or in her mind, Darkstalker heard her. She felt him coming to her, worried and trying to get through to her, the emotional turmoil in her head must've been too thick for him to pierce through. For he seemed unaware of what had caused her distress.

Perhaps some part of her should've found it sweet that even when he was depressed, he came running to her at the first sign of trouble. But right now, all she could think of was the horror of what she had just read. In the time it took him to come to her, she found more documents and hastily read through them, each one making her feel more nauseous. When he arrived, the large NightWing burst through the doors, looking around frantically with wide eyes.

"Moon? Moon!" he came to her side, gently shaking her shoulder, as she wouldn't look away from the scrolls in her talons. "What is it, what's wrong?"

But then he caught sight of the documents she held and he froze. His mind, which had been trying to reach out to her, instantly withdrew and sealed itself away from her. His face went slack, his body unresponsive. Moon didn't know whether to find his complete shutdown concerning or not.

"I know." She extracted herself from his grasp and moved away, subconsciously putting the giant desk between them. She glared at him. "I know about the Program."

He wet his lips, eyes flickering nervously, before he spoke. "Moon, I-"

"You're a liar."

"A liar?" Vigorously, he shook his head. "No, Moon, I never lied-"

"No, that's right. You just manipulated me with half truths. You let me see into your memories, made me think I could trust you, but you pulled me away from seeing anything that might compromise you."

"It's not how it looks-"

"Oh? Well then, care to explain this!" Balling the old parchment in her fist, she threw the first document at him. "Or how about this, and this!"

Each one she hurled at him, he flinched - not from any pain, but from the shock of the violence with which she moved. The last scroll he caught, and straightening it out between his claws, he briefly glanced over the words. A cold expression came over his face as he stared at it, one corner of his lip twisting into a sneer.

"You were the result of some Eugenics program," Moon said. "Bred for the purpose of NightWing domination over the continent. You conveniently left that out whenever you tried to convince me of your innocence."

Slowly, he looked up from the scroll and met her eyes. His expression was outraged. His talon closed into a fist around the scroll, shredding it with ease. "Are you angry at me for something that was completely beyond my control? I had no say in the way I was brought into the world. And I was the one who suffered under their abuses!"

Moon took a breath, trying to calm down so she could make sense of this mess. "No, Darkstalker, I'm not angry at you for this. You have no idea how much I loath every single one of them for what they did to you and the others in this horrible experiment. The Queen. Your Keepers. I hate them all." And it was true. She'd seen in Darkstalker's memories how he'd been mistreated, and that was when he'd censored the worst of it. She wanted to bring Vigilance and the others back from the dead just to claw their eyes out for what they'd done. "No, I'm upset because you kept this from me. I asked you to tell me your story, to help me to trust you, and you kept the most important fact a secret. Again."

It was like finding out he was an animus again. That same sting of betrayal hurt somewhere deep in her heart.

"Moon," Darkstalker tried to step closer to her, distressed. "Certain things can't just be spilled out. There's a time and a place for it."

For every step he took towards her, she took one to the side, circling away from him. "Well, I guess now is the time and place to spill it."

"You don't want to know," he said in a low voice. His eyes caught her withdrawal and stopped, physically closing himself off.

"That's not for you to decide."

His nostrils flared, and his breathing grew heavy. Upset, he finally snapped. "Fine. You want to know about the program? About what they did? Some senile old seer called Omnicience passed down a half-baked prophecy, that one NightWing would be born to lead the tribe to great influence over the continent. Vigilance's great-grandmother decided to start a Program to breed the perfect NightWing. They selected from their finest stock: superior physical strength, higher than average intelligence, mastery in flight."

He began to pace across the room. Moon watched him, patient. A ball of dread sank into her stomach, but she remained where she was. She'd asked for this, she needed to hear it all. "Oh, it was all very well put together at first. Nothing too severe, arranged marriages or even paying two candidates to reproduce. It wasn't until the process became more refined that things started to get nasty. Dragonets snatched from their beds and parents paid off to stay quiet. Those who were part of the program were kept separated from the rest of society, who they interacted with was closely monitored, their mates chosen for them very specifically. I even heard there was one decade where all hatchlings that were deemed to be 'genetically unfit for the program's needs' were terminated."

Choking on the bile and tears that suddenly sprang onto her, Moon turned away. In and out, she forced herself to breathe. The image of tiny dragonets, killed in any number of ways, refused to leave her mind, and it made her want to vomit. The horror… how could someone do that? When she glanced back, Darkstalker was watching her, a look of 'I told you so' written all over his face. Fortifying herself, Moon rooted her talons to the spot, and nodded. "Continue."

After a second or two, he did. "Eventually, they got close to what they wanted. The night my mother hatched, a storm blew over the moons, obscuring the light. She was rendered powerless and it almost ruined the entire program. My grandmother had to argue adamantly for it to continue. The genetics were all there, she said, hidden within. My mother had to live her whole life with her superiors shaming her for being born without powers and therefore 'almost unusable'. But she proved herself to them. She struggled and clawed her way to the top to show them she wasn't useless. That's why she volunteered to personally go on the mission to the Ice Kingdom to seduce Arctic." He snorted derisively. "Needless to say the plan hadn't been for them to genuinely fall in love and start a war."

"It was timed perfectly," Moon said, thinking out loud. "So that any hatchling conceived would hatch around the time of the Brightest Night."

"Indeed." Darkstalker nodded. He spread his wings in almost a mocking self-congratulatory gesture. "And so I was born. The progeny of over two hundred years of selective breeding to create the ultimate NightWing. The strongest telepath or seer, even my physiology was carefully designed so that I would be naturally stronger and faster than any other NightWing in existence. And animus magic was the last piece of the puzzle, to be sure that I could do anything my tribe desired." Something dark, grieving and angry came over his features. He glared out of the broken window, the slight light from the moons shining through the clouds exaggerating every shadow. "Imagine the disappointment of everyone involved when I was born male; inferior, I should've been a footnote next to my sister. And you can bet they never let me forget it!"

Opening his talon, the scraps of parchment that had been in his palm fluttered to the floor, limp and swept away easily in a breeze. Moon watched them fall. She wanted to go to him, to comfort him, but her trick earlier had worked a little too well, she was unable to move from her spot. No longer talking to her, Darkstalker stared out into the abyss, and spoke as if the words were forcing themselves out.

"They wanted a weapon. So they treated me as such." He turned to look at her, and Moon felt her heart break to see there were tears slipping down his cheeks. "Even my own mother, though she loved me, had to treat me like dirt. She couldn't show me any kindness or affection in public for fear that our Keepers would think she was sowing weakness into me. If they thought she was going soft, they would've taken me away from her without a moment's hesitation. So she had to watch, as I was beaten and downtrodden and abused at every opportunity! I often wondered: 'why? Why doesn't she help me?' You saw those scars on my back. Do you want me to tell you what those are for, little Moon? I dared to tell one of my Keepers that I didn't like being beaten to a pulp during combat training. So she had my own mother pin me to the floor whilst they flogged me!"

A sob burst out of Moon's throat. She doubled over, unable to hold back her breaking heart a moment longer. The urge to stop him, to beg for no more, was strong. The words almost left her tongue. Darkstalker was crying too, staring into her eyes as he let the tears fall silently. Their tears mixed together in a small river on the floor. It felt wrong to turn away from him, to abandon him to this moment of trauma.

"And through all that…" he whispered shakily. "Throughout it all, the only happiness I had in my life was Fathom and Clearsight. Every day, the only thing that got me through it was the promise in my visions - that one day, it would all be worth it. One day, I would have my happy ending." There was a high-pitched shriek as his claws dug into the stone floor, leaving furrows as he clenched his talon into a fist. When he spoke again, his voice was little more than a hiss. "But then they had to ruin it. Fathom wanted to run off with Indigo and then resented me because I didn't want him to leave. And Clearsight grew suspicious of me because I fought in a war I had no say in."

"What did you do?"

"Oh, so you haven't had your fill of death and tragedy?" He sneered. "Do you want me to tell you how I used my magic to terrible effect? That I made weapons that spat fire and thunder twice as far as any dragon could? Or how about the time we came across an enemy encampment and I magically poisoned the water so that they all choked on their own lungs? Or maybe you want the details about how the Queen made me torture an IceWing for information? I told her I could just enchant them to tell me the truth, but she wanted it to be drawn out, she wanted to hear them squeal - like a pig, she said, I want to hear them squeal like pigs. She liked it when I got angry, she liked me to use my magic to devastating effect."

"Like this?" She held up the one parchment she hadn't thrown at him, one she had found before he'd arrived. "You didn't need her help here. It was after your mother died. It says you came up with the suggestion to cast a spell that would kill all the IceWings in the Ice Kingdom. It was only on Clearsight's adamant advice that you relented."

"I'd just watched my mother die right before my eyes, because I wasn't ruthless enough to kill the enemy. Because I wasn't fast enough to save her. Because I didn't tell her I was invulnerable!"

"So you would kill dragonets? No, Darkstalker, that's not you."

He barked with cruel laughter. "Now you think you know me enough to make that judgement?"

"I know you're not a murderer!" she argued hotly.

"That's what your little idiot thinks. He told you I killed my father and the Queen, remember? That must prove I'm a monster!" His tail lashed behind him, nearly splintering an old chair in the corner. He paid it no mind. "I killed my father because he was going to destroy the tribe. And I turned on that old harpy, because I had lost everything. My dragonethood was stolen from me, my body had been violated, my mother was dead, my lover nearly assassinated, my sister almost taken, and then Vigilance wanted me dead too. I'd been patient, I'd been merciful. But I'd had enough. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other." *

And when he loomed before her, angry and hurt from all he'd told her, she could believe it. In a flash, her friend was gone, and she saw him through the lens of what the program had built. She saw the wings that were bigger than average. The claws that were wickedly long and serrated. A long torso bent in the middle to give him a more serpentine look. His chest and shoulders were narrow for aerodynamics but there was a natural strength to him that belied his appearance. It was only then that she saw how everything about him was designed to be a perfect killing machine. How could she have missed all of this until now?

As if sensing her fear, Darkstalker sat down heavily, wings flopping lifelessly to the ground. He swallowed thickly, trying to stop his tears. Behind Moon, it began to rain, the drops pattering through the broken window and soaking her back. The cold, moist trail the droplets left across her scales made her shiver. The pair of them sat in silence for several minutes.

"And after all that," Darkstalker finally whispered in a hoarse voice. "After everything I'd been through… what was my final reward? To be buried in the earth for two thousand years. To awaken in the dark, unable to move, to be completely and utterly alone!"

Finally, Moon found the ability to move. Slowly, she stepped forward. Her approach was cautious, as if she were approaching a bear in a trap. But he wasn't looking at her, head bowed and eyes squeezed shut against the tears. Moon sniffled and reached out a talon to take hold of his claws in hers and give them a gentle squeeze.

"Oh, Darkstalker -"

"Is that enough? Are you finally satisfied?" he demanded in a hollow voice.

"It-It was never about satisfaction. It was about trust." She tried not to take it personally when he moved his talon away from hers. "If you had only told me all this before, I would have accepted it. I would never have judged you for it. But instead, you kept it from me."

"To save you from this," he pounded his chest once with his palm. Lifting his head, he stared down at her from the corner of one eye. "Can you even dare to look at me after all you've heard? Oh yes, I must look like quite the monster now, mustn't I… Your monster, condemned for all eternity for the mistakes he couldn't escape from."

"You know that's not what I think."

"Really? Because it seems to me that you've appointed yourself my judge and jury. Are you to be my new keeper now? To watch my every move and be sure it is up to your standard?"

Her temper flared at the comparison that she was anything like his abusers. "All of this was to prove you were innocent."

"You're supposed to be my friend." He retorted. "We're the same. Two dragons turned into weapons by our tribe."

"The difference between us is that I didn't give up and go along with it!"

"Of course, Moonwatcher." He sneered. "Instead you became a broken little thing made weak by a monstrous father you should hate, but are too attached to because of some misguided juvenile wish to please and be loved."

Moon froze, staring. It took Darkstalker a moment to realise what he'd done. The horrible words he'd spoken. How he'd called her Moonwatcher…

Pain lanced through Moon's heart, sharper than any sword, more bitter than any poison. It was as if he'd taken all the little secrets of her soul and torn them up in front of her. She saw the moment he realised his mistake, saw the shock and horror on his face. He reached for her, an apology instantly pouring from his lips.

But she didn't want to hear it. Bursting into tears, Moon turned on her heel and ran out the door.

By the following morning, everything was in place.

Blister's forces had worked through the night to stake their claim on the territory abandoned by Glacier. Now the entire desert was under her control. Every town and oasis had someone loyal to her running things. A few civilians had had to be executed in order to make examples out of them, but the SandWings here would learn quickly that their Queen was not to be denied.

One of her more brilliant plans had been to order her soldiers to take one residence on every street in every village as their own. Should they overhear even the slightest mark against Blister's name, or witness the slightest hint of disloyalty, the soldiers had every permission to raid that dragon's home, take all their possessions and valuables and then punish the perpetrator however they deemed necessary. One town had been unfortunate enough to house a hybrid of a coupling between a SandWing and IceWing. That mother and her mongrel offspring had been hotly pursued out of town, the soldiers under strict instructions to kill if given the chance.

Blister was nothing if not a fast growing weed of tyranny. And ever impatient, she ordered her generals to complete their takeovers of these territories and draft in all available dragons to be new soldiers. By the end of spring, she wanted a force to head west.

In the Sky Kingdom, Queen Ruby heard from one of her scouts as he relayed to her what he'd seen. Of Glacier's soldiers retreating, and Blister's quickly moving in. The Queen of the Sky Kingdom couldn't help but sit, dazed. Glacier had abandoned her and not even thought to inform her? Her shock quickly gave way to fury. How dare the IceWings think to abandon them! Weren't they supposed to be allies now?! They shared a common enemy yet Ruby had been left completely exposed!

Between this and the whispers amongst her court of her mother's return, Ruby wasn't entirely convinced she wasn't cursed in some way…

And in the Kingdom of the Sea, the princess bided her time, awaiting the perfect moment to make her move. Coral had been so busy lately, planning her response to Queen Moorhen's latest stunt, that she hardly noticed Anemone when she slunk off, calling out that she was going back to bed… Besides, Mother had Auklet in the harness to worry and fudd over now.

Anemone quickly put her plan into motion the moment she was out of her mother's sight. She'd had a dream last night, and she couldn't put it off anymore. If no one was going to help her seize her destiny, then she would do it herself! Grabbing a bag she'd stuffed under her pillow, Anemone swam through the many corridors of the Deep Palace, looking for something in particular. Every guard that passed her, she paused, assessing them. But they were not to her needs and so she quickly moved on.

Out in the gardens, she soon found exactly what she was looking for. Three guards stood amongst the coral reef gardens, slouched and bored looking, but they appeared physically able to do what she needed. Anemone approached them quickly - she didn't know how long she'd have before her mother eventually came looking for her.

As soon as they saw her, the three guards jumped to attention and bowed deeply. Anemone impatient waved for them to get up.

Your princess has a job for you, she told them in aquatic.

Of course, Your Highness, flashed back the one in the middle. What is it you need of us?

I want you to find someone and deliver a message.

The one on the right tilted his head curiously. A message? To where?

Ah. That had been the one hiccup in her plan. Ears flattening, Anemone tried to think for a moment. I… do not know. You would have to find him, though I believe he is somewhere on the continent.

The one on the left nearly dropped his spear in surprise. You wish us to leave the Kingdom of the Sea?

Is this an order from the Queen? Asked the middle one.

This was taking too long, and she needed them on board, now. Anemone produced the small bag and handed it to the middle guard. The other two crowded over his shoulders to try and see what was inside. As he opened it, the trio beheld an assortment of Anemone's jewels and golden accessories and other small but expensive items. All this together would be worth more than double their yearly salaries. And they knew it too, their eyes lighting up when they saw the talonful of treasures within the bag.

Do what I ask, Anemone flashed impatiently, and you'll receive another bag upon your return. You're not important security for the palace, no one will miss you. And I will make sure mother doesn't punish you when you return.

It was a good thing they were not offended by her tactless honesty. Or perhaps it was fortunate that she had decided to reveal her hand when she did. The greed in their eyes convinced her they'd been won over. Who is it we're looking for?

A NightWing. Anemone smiled. A strange NightWing - I think he's separated from the rest of his tribe. His name is Darkstalker.

A/N: * - a quote lovingly devoted to Mary Shelley

Also, Omniscience is an OC belonging to WarriorOfSpectra, in his "Finding Peace" series. Go check out his work, he's awesome!