~Clearsight
Clearsight woke up with a flaring headache. She groaned quickly, and tried to turn her head to see how late it was, but all she saw was moonlight. It hurt to move. Beside her, Darkstalker looked guilty and helped her sit up.
"Is it getting worse?" Darkstalker asked quietly.
Clearsight nodded, unable to form words. Darkstalker twined his tail with hers and she leaned on his shoulder. They sat in silence until a dragon walked into the cave, silhouetted by the moonlight. Clearsight could tell it was Indigo by her build and the color.
"Fathom wanted me to ask you if you needed his help today." Indigo told Darkstalker.
"I think we're fine." Darkstalker replied. "But I'll come over if I do need help."
Indigo nodded, then left again.
"I'm glad Fathom has something else to do besides worry over you." Clearsight said. "That's my job."
"Yeah. But I'm worried about you, my love. It's my fault you're like this." Darkstalker said. "It's my fault that this entire future is upon us. Before, we could've had dragonets. The funniest, loveliest dragonets. I'm the one who messed that up. I'm the one to blame."
"Darkstalker, instead of thinking of all the things you did wrong, why not think of the things that you did right?" Clearsight suggested. "You could've killed your father. You could've killed the queen. You could've been trapped under rocks, asleep. But here you are, alive and, so far, with no blood on your talons."
"I do have blood on my talons." Darkstalker replied. "Hundreds of dragon's lives have been taken by things I have done. The protecting wall around the kingdom, that dagger I sent to kill one IceWing with a note that I'll be coming for the rest, other revenge and war schemes that I can't mention. Not to mention, soon enough, your blood with be on my talons as well. In some futures, I even kill Fathom. With you gone, I'm not sure I'll be able to stay good enough. Before anyone knows it, I'll be king and evil and bloodthirsty with no one there to stop me."
Clearsight looked at Darkstalker, and asked quietly yet sincerely, "And who influenced you to do those things? Who made you think they were the right thing to do? Your father? Queen Vigilance? Who was the dragon who made you think that that was the only way? Who, Darkstalker? Ask yourself this, my love. That is who you should blame." She stood up, and shakily walked closer to the entrance of the cave.
Behind her, she heard Darkstalker stand up. She flicked her tail to silence him. "Come find me when you have an answer." Clearsight said.
She began walking without really thinking about it. Her shoulder hurt, her head pounded, her movements were slow and shaky, but she continued walking. She spread her wings, and started to fly up and over the wall that's killed so many IceWings. She didn't look down, just kept her head straight ahead. She flew over the fallen Agate Mountain, and decided to land near the peak of Jade Mountain instead. It was a nice view, but looking out at the surrounding kingdoms made her remember of what she had been planning to do.
It would've been simple, trapping Darkstalker underneath Agate Mountain, but it hadn't been very likely that it would've worked. But instead, here Clearsight was, set to be dead in a week and feeling guilty for everything. Darkstalker had his reasons to feel guilt, and so did she; she had been planning to trap him underneath a mountain, for moons' sake! Reflecting for the first time on everything that had happened in the past month, Clearsight felt everything she did wrong lay on her shoulders in the form of a burden called guilt.
She wished she could talk to her parents or Listener, but every future where she did so only led to them being killed by the queen. The only dragons she could talk to where Fathom, Indigo, and Darkstalker, and even then it was risky.
Clearsight watched as the sun slowly rose over the horizon. She knew she should go back before she ran out of energy. But the thought of flying even further away from the Night Kingdom kept her there. She saw two futures where she flew away, away from her friends and Queen Vigilance. One of them led to Darkstalker thinking that Vigilance had killed her and discarded the body. The other led to a future that surprised Clearsight; one where Darkstalker tried to find her with Fathom and Indigo close behind.
But Clearsight knew she shouldn't take the risk. She turned back to the Night Kingdom, to fly back, but her wings wouldn't lift her. Her body wouldn't respond. Her headache flared again. Clearsight groaned silently, then began to search for someplace to stay for the day.