A cloying, muggy heat that seemed to cling to his scales.

He couldn't move, but shapes moved around him. Sharp black shapes and half-melted orangeish shapes and one yellow shape.

That yellow shape seemed to solidify even as everything else spun. Viper. Burned, bits of bone showing between warped scales, flesh oozing like a candle, but undeniably Viper.

She stalked towards him. He couldn't move. Why couldn't he move!? She snarled, raspy and too loud and too close and-

XXXXX

Flame's eyes shot open, panic desperately searching for Viper. His heart pounded in his ears, breath coming in short and fast. He tried to force himself up, only to feel his joints creak like an under-used door and send him falling back onto the bed. His vision seemed to blur as he shifted his head rapidly side-to-side, trying to find that Sandwing.

Instead, all he saw from his lying position was a strange ceiling. It wasn't a cave like the Talons Camp, or the smooth, black stone roof of the Nightwing Fortress. While the blur that had overtaken his vision prevented him from getting a good look at it, he was able to make out at least a part of it around what looked like a window. It looked like it was made out of… plants? Then he remembered.

Fatespeaker and the other Nightwing dragonet (Starlight, or something like that?) using him to escape the Nightwing Island. The wet heat of the Rainforest. Being carried to… wherever he was. A sticky and sweet-smelling salve rubbed over his scar, making it ooze even more and making his left eye feel like it was made of lead. A blurry face with kind purple eyes…

Slowly, he found himself able to get his rapid breathing under control. Slowly, the bright pain in his chest faded, his heart not beating as fast. He once pushed himself up, spreading his wings out as far as he could. He felt them brush against beds next to him, nowhere near their full spread, but withdrew them anyway.

He tried to gaze around the room, for once empty after the real Prophecy Nightwing (Starbright?) had left sometime earlier. However, half the room saw covered in this strange fuzzy shade, like it wasn't even real. All he could make out were different-colored blobs and stinging lights. The other half appeared to be fine; shades of green and dull brown, with simple furniture, baskets of different fruits and flowers, and a door-less entrance out into the Rainforest.

He tried to squint, hoping it might make his fuzzy left eye focus. Instead, he recoiled as moving his face made the oozing scar act up. A fresh wave of pain, like Talons tearing away the salve and peeling back the pus-afflicted skin, arced up the whole length of the scar. He snarled, jerking his head back up to look at the wall opposite him. Specifically, he focused at a satchel of sorts hanging from a hook on the wall.

He tilted his head to the left, letting the eye free from the aching wound focus on it. Sure enough, it was a satchel, made of leaves and vines and holding something brightly colored inside it. He tilted his head to the right, forcing his other, deadened eye to look at it. He couldn't even make out there was something there; it seemed to blend with the greater blob of the wall in his destroyed left eye.

It took all of Flame's self-control to not snarl, and even then he only barely managed it. As if his disfigurement wasn't enough. As if he hadn't had enough taken away from him by those Moon-damned Nightwings. As if that incident from Viper hadn't already cost him enough. Now, he could barely see out of one eye, and it made everything hurt to look at, and-

He gripped the side of the bed, a faint growl boiling up in his throat as he forced himself to stop breathing so fast. He laid back against the bed, gazing at the ceiling and the spot where it met the walls. The dark green of the ceiling met a dull brown, seeming to swirl together in his partially-fuzzy vision, only making his heavy eye and oozing scar hurt even more.

Unable to fully growl without agitating his wound, he contented himself with a raspy sigh and grinding some of his fangs together in the right side of his mouth. Even still, while he avoided the stinging pain of him agitating it, a dull throbbing ache remained no matter what he did. He tried to shut his eyes, but he could only shut his right one without more aching cropping up.

He shifted his head to the left, spying two bowls sitting on a small table next to his bed. The one further away from him was filled with cut-up pieces of some slimy yellow fruit. Flame gave a tentative sniff, before snorting at the strange, sticky scent. Even this light movement of his nostrils hurt, and so he instead returned his face to his best attempt at a neutral face before grabbing the second bowl, filled with crystal-clear water.

He brought the bowl in front of him, staring into the mirror formed by the flat water. It gave him the first image of what the scar itself looked like.

It started at the base of his mouth on the right side, running up across his thin features to cut across his snout and cutting through his left eye before stopping at the base of his ear. The whole thing ran in a jagged line, not a clean cut like tearing into something with talons. It was mostly scabbed over, angry dull reds of the clotted blood contrasting with his darker red scales. Even still, the underlying flesh had an ugly black coloration, bits of pus mixing with the salve applied to the wound to create a slimy, dark mass covering the wound. His left eye was lighter in coloration than his right, with the fuzziness of his vision in that eye making himself look like just another blob; angry reds and blacks and sickly greens.

He dropped the bowl. He didn't mean to. It bounced off the side of the bed, falling to the floor while splattering the water over both him and the floor. His chest felt heavy again, though he didn't feel himself start to breathe rapidly.

He found himself thinking about who he should blame for this. For turning him into some… shambling scarred monster. Viper, obviously, but she was dead. The Nightwings; it was on their stupid Island, under their stupid superversion, because of their stupid Prophecy. The Talons of Peace, for handing them over to the Moon-damned Nightwings in the first place. The more he thought, the more dragons he could think of, and the angrier he got.

By the time he heard the approaching wing-beats, his blurry vision was tainted red from his silent stewing. He heard them land on the platform by the open entrance, causing his head to jerk to the right. There were two of them, one blue and one yellow. Were they Rainwings?

No, they weren't. The wrong shape, and they moved differently than the Rainwings. It took him a bit, but he then put it together after thinking back on when the other Nightwing (Starflight, that's what it was) was taken away. They were the Real Dragonets of Destiny, the ones he had been dragged away from his mother in order to replace. Specifically, the two that would were to be kidnapped to replace the run-away Squid and the deceased Viper.

"Hey", the Seawing said, stepping into the Hut. "Flame, right?"

"Yeah", Flame said curtly, laying back against the wall and slightly splaying his wings. "What do you two want?" The Sandwing leaned closer to the Seawing, whispering something in her ear while looking at Flame. Looking at his scar. Looking at the freak who had failed to replace them and their friends because of some stupid prophecy. "Well!?"

Him snapping drew a surprised noise from the Sandwing and a glare from the Seawing. He would have glared too if it didn't hurt to move his face. "We need your help", the Sandwing said. "We have a plan to end the War."

"Good for you", Flame sneered, folding his talons. "What do you need me for?"

"Well-"

The Seawing cut the small Sandwing off, saying, "Look, we need to find the Talons of Peace. I don't like them, but we need them. You know where they are; you can take them to us."

Flame glared at the two of them, eyeing them up. The Seawing continued to glare, while the Sandwing gave him an apologetic look, but nodded. "Yeah", the latter said, stepping forward a bit. "I-"

"Get out", Flame said. His voice was cold as Mountain Rain and hard at stone.

"What?", the Seawing said.

Flame shot himself up, grabbing the bowl of the weird fruit. "I'm not going anywhere near those dung-sniffers! It's bad enough with all the Rainwings seeing me like this, I'm not letting the ones who gave me to the Nightwings in the first place see my face! So GET OUT!" He threw the bowl at them, watching as the Seawing raised her wing to shield herself and the Sandwing from the fruit.

He sat there, huffing and preparing a burst of fire at them if they didn't leave him alone! Instead, after fixing him with one last narrowed stare, the Seawing turned and left. The Sandwing flashed him a look before she left too… Was that pity? Remorse? It didn't matter. None of it mattered.

XXXXX

By Flame's best estimate, about a day had passed since the Dragonets (Tsunami and Sunny, if some of the Healers were right) had come to bother him. Flame had barely moved in that time; the main exception was when some Nightwing had been brought in after apparently eating something bad. Apparently, the Nightwings were now under the Rainwing Dragonet he had been intended to replace, who was also the Rainwing Queen. If Flame hadn't felt the overwhelming desire to strangle that Nightwing, he would have laughed.

Now, once again, he was alone in the infirmary. The Nightwing had been cleared out after a while, and none of the Rainwings were in with him. He suspected they were afraid of him. Afraid of the weird, angry monster that had been inflicted upon them. Good. At least some dragons took him seriously.

Still, he hated it. When they were in her, either treating something small on one of the other Rainwings or checking on him, they always looked. He saw those looks, even if they were trying to be subtle about it. It was almost worse when they tried to be subtle than when they just looked directly at him. Instead of horror or revulsion, they looked pitying.

He stood, shaking the weird creaky feeling from his limbs and looking out the window near his bed. Fortunately, none of the disorienting sunlight was coming in; instead, a dull gray glow came through the impenetrable canopy above, making his fuzzy vision all the darker. If he squeezed his eyelids shut even just a little bit, he could almost make his left eye not see anything. At least he could properly see out of his other eye that way.

He scowled, opening it up again and forcing himself to look at the darkened canopy. It wasn't as bright as it normally was, but maybe that would help. With everything that had happened to his face, he might as well try to get used to it. He had seen a lot of dragons with disfiguring scars, even some by Sandwing tails from former soldiers in the Talons of Peace. If something could heal him, he hadn't heard or seen it.

He stiffened, ears flicking. A dragon entering the Hut. Wasn't one of the Dragonets; he hadn't seen them since the two yesterday. Wasn't Fatespeaker, cause she'd be talking instantly. Didn't smell like a Nightwing, so it had to be a Rainwing. He didn't turn, just kept staring out the window.

The Rainwing put something down, before saying, "You ok? Lychee said you should still be resting. Your wound hasn't healed all the way."

"Get out", Flame snorted, turning his head slightly. He did it with his left eye, wincing as the visual of a bright pink and yellow blur graced his destroyed vision. Why did they look familiar?

"I mean", the voice continued, as if he hadn't said anything. "If you're feeling ok, I can go get Lychee or one of the other Healers so you can get released. Even if not, maybe some time out of the Hut could do you some good. After being cooped up for a long time, I sometimes feel I need to-"

"What did I just say!?", Flame roared, whirling around fully while still trying to shield his scarred mug from the Rainwing. Finally in his good eye, he was able to make out his visitor properly. It was a Rainwing, and was a brightly colored mess of Yellows and Pinks with small bits of blue and gray as well. What drew his attention, though, were her eyes.

Filled with concern, and a shimmering purple. Those same bright, kind eyes he saw before.

He growled, lowering his head. She had recoiled at his outburst, before snorting. "Fine. Be that way, you grumpy little Howler. Go sulk in here all day if that's what makes you feel better." Kind eyes or not, he had a sudden urge to rip off her horns. As she turned to leave, however, he remembered something she had said.

"Wait", he said, head still lowered and ruined left eye turned away from her. "What was that? About getting released?"

The Rainwing turned back, looking at him with some expression he couldn't quite make out. "Yeah? And why should I talk to the Healers after you yelled at me like that?"

"Who said anything about the Healers?", Flame snorted, walking towards her and making sure he angled his scarred eye away from her. "You show me a way out through the canopy, and I'm gone."

"You're still healing", the Rainwing said. "You shouldn't be leaving until you're all patched up. Queen Glory barely let me move until I was healed after I got hurt during the Royal Challenge. I really think-"

"Just", Flame said, his voice raising before he fell back slightly, wincing as fresh pus oozed from the wound. He inhaled sharply, before speaking again in a lower tone. "Just show me the way out."

The Rainwing seemed to consider it, before nodding. "Alright. If you're so insistent on getting yourself more hurt than you already are, then follow me. There's a clearing not too far from here where you'll be able to take off better."

Flame nodded, following her out of the Hut. As he spread his wings and took flight for the first time since the Island, it felt like an itch had been scratched that had for too long been out of his reach. He watched as the Rainwing waved to another one, before flying… down?

"What is this?", he snarled as he landed on the forest floor behind her. "I thought you said-"

"No offense, but your wings are a bit too big to get through the jungle well", the Rainwing said. "So, we go on the forest floor. It'll take a bit longer, but you don't run the risk of going back to the hut from hurting your wings."

Flame growled, smoke billowing from his nostrils, but he sighed and nodded. Partly to just get moving, and partly because the black smoke made his scar ache even more than usual. The Rainwing led the way, skipping over fallen logs and around numerous plants that stuck out from the soft dirt.

He followed her, his longer stride allowing him to close the gap between them quickly. He had to consciously slow down, not wanting to get in front of his guide. No point in it. So, he walked alongside her, looking away so that she wouldn't have to see his face. She was talking about something, he didn't really care; one benefit of living with Fatespeaker and Squid for several years was he got pretty good and tuning out incessant talking.

Finally, he noticed that he had gotten ahead of her. Turning his head, he saw that she had stopped, staring at him. "Are you even listening to me?", she asked.

"No", he said simply. "What is it?"

"I asked what you plan on doing", she said, the frustration in her voice obvious.

Flame growled, before snorting and turning away from her. From his good eye, he saw that she was just standing there, not saying anything and looking at him. She had more guts than any of the other Rainwings, that was for sure. Finally, he relented. "I don't know. Away from here. Away from the Nightwings, away from the Talons… Away from all of it."

"Ok", she said. "You know, burying your head in the mud doesn't help. I mean, after I got out of the Nightwing Island thanks to Queen Glory, I could have done that. Just… not think about it that much. Sleep, maybe find a place near the outskirts. But, well… They were gonna invade us like the big jerks they were, so I couldn't do that."

"What is this supposed to be?", he growled, claws carving trenches in the soft earth beneath his talons.

The Rainwing shrugged. "I don't know. Just thought I'd help."

"Why?", he asked. "If you just want me gone, then none of this helps you. I'm still not staying, but where I go is none of your Moons-damned business."

The Rainwing had the audacity to giggle, saying, "Because you looked like you needed help."

"No", Flame said, more smoke billowing from his mouth and stalking towards her. "No, that's not it. What, you're doing it out of the goodness of your heart? Helping the poor, scarred Skywing because you feel like it!?"

"Yes, I am."

Those three words made Flame's blood boil. Was she messing with him? Was this more of those stupid Rainwings' dumb pity that made him feel worse than the outright stares? What was she getting at? He was breathing faster, sucking in and exhaling breaths at a rapid pace. "No one does anything without a reason. What's yours?"

"None", the Rainwing said, too cheerfully for Flame's taste. "Again, you looked like you could-"

"Like I could what!?", he snarled, snapping his jaw shut as he closed in on her. She jumped, staring back at him as he rose up as high as he could. "I could be more grateful to be alive!? Be more considerate that I'm reduced to this damned shell of a Skywing because of the blunder of some stupid Nightwings!? What!? Tell me WHAT!?"

He could barely control himself at this point, glaring down at the small Rainwing like she was a piece of prey. Then, to his shock, she went on the offensive.

"You know, I'm starting to realize why Fatespeaker didn't think you were a nice dragon!", she exclaimed. "You're so angry all the time! What did the world do to you that you have to act like this?"

"Oh-ho-ho-ho", Flame half laughed, half snorted. "How about the Nightwings pulling me away from everything! The Talons of Peace letting them! Viper for tearing a gash across my face! I'm a scarred freak, I can barely see out of one eye, and I'm tired of the looks! They either stare, or they… they pity me! I don't care-"

"Then why are you yelling?", the Rainwing asked. "If you didn't care, then why are you running away?"

Flame opened his mouth to reply, before stopping and grinding his teeth. "I'm not", he settled on.

"You just said you wanted to find somewhere to hide away from everyone", she said, her voice still hyper but now softer. It reminded him of his mother. "If that's not running away, I don't know what is."

Flame just stared at this little Rainwing who spoke up to him. Patches of dark orange and black move through her scales in hypnotic spirals, almost making her look like a Skywing to his messed-up eye. Even still, her kind eyes remained. "Look, uh-"

"Kinkajou", the Rainwing introduce herself. She offered him one of her talons, which he brushed aside.

"Just show me the way out, before I burn a hole in the canopy", Flame growled.

Kinkajou nodded, flicking her head. "Don't worry. It's not too far. Then you can get on with your running away."

"I am not running away!", he barked. He chose to ignore when she stuck out her tongue at him, instead simply following the small Rainwing.

She led him around the winding trunks of the trees, ducking under hanging vines and sending the larger animals scattering away from the towering dragons. Flame almost considered catching one of the larger animals, before deciding against it. The last thing he needed was to get lost and be stuck in this place any longer. He felt a drop fall against his head, and looking up he realized the grey light that was filtering through the canopy was the faint glow of storm clouds.

At last, they reached the promised clearing. It wasn't that big, mostly dominated by a small pond fed by the branch of a river that snaked across the forest floor. Frogs and other animals took shelter from the pounding rain beneath leaves and in reeds. The rain itself pounded and pounded, making the water constantly ripple and bounce like a fire.

"Here we are", Kinkajou said, gesturing widely as if she were showing off a treasure horde. "One clearing, as promised. Sorry I can't do anything about the rain. Are you OK flying in the rain? You want to head back and wait for it to stop?"

"I'm fine", he said. "Don't sound so eager to get rid of the monster."

"You're not a monster", Kinkajou giggled, looking up at the clouds. "You're just a very confused dragon." As she watched him snort, and spread his wings to take off, she asked, "Is that why you won't look at him directly? You think you're a monster, and you'll scare me off by doing it?"

The comment made him stop, folding his wings, and begin to thoroughly study a puddle on the ground. "No. I'm looking at you like that because it's the only eye I can properly see out of, remember? The other one is… it's all fuzzy."

"Like, 'you hit your head' fuzzy? Or 'I just ate too many Swirl-Berries and all I can see are colors' fuzzy?", she asked.

He blinked, hissing at the sensation, before shrugging. "The second, I guess. It hurts to look at things."

"I mean, you did turn down Tsunami and Sunny because you didn't want the Talons of Peace to see you", Kinkajou said, oblivious to or ignoring Flame freezing up. "And you did say you want to get away from everyone. So-"

"OK!", he roared, sending the small animals darting for even deeper cover. "YES! I'M A SHAMBLING SCARRED MONSTER! I was take from my Mother by the stupid Talons of Peace to fulfill some stupid fake Nightwing prophecy! And look what it got me!" He brought a talon up to his face, a fang-filled snarl backing Kinkajou into a corner, her kind eyes going wide… Too wide.

Flame fell back on his haunches, scowling. "I… Sorry", he said softly.

"Like I said", Kinkajou said. "You're not a monster. Just a confused, scared Dragon."

Flame scowled, staring at the sky. "I… Bye."

"Wait", she said. "I… I know you were here for a while. But, believe it or not, I never got your name."

"Flame", he said quickly.

Kinkajou nodded. "Flame", she said. "I'll remember it."

Flame didn't say anything, finally taking off and flying up into the air. He brushed aside the rain, coming to hover just above the canopy which had hemmed him in since the Nightwing Island. It felt cool, sliding off his scale and stinging on his scar. He turned as he hovered, looking out towards the distant mountains. Even his good eye could barely make out a light blur through the falling rain, and he groaned and shook his head.

The mountains were right there, towering and black and jutting out like fangs. He could easily disappear into them. But, beyond them, he could see the low swamps of the Mudwings, extending as far as he could see. Beyond it, he could almost see the cliffs near the Talons of Peace camp. Crashing waves and bleached rock around the cave where he and his Mother had stayed before the Talons handed him over to the Nightwings.

His mother. He hadn't even considered her when the half-formed plans of disappearing came to him. He… He couldn't do that; not to her. She was maybe the only one that might feel like he wasn't some monster. Well, the only one in a place he wouldn't mind staying at. He didn't hate the Rainforest, but with the Nightwings there, he might do something violent that would get him killed. So, finding the Talons it was.

He stole one last look down towards the ground. Among the mix of fuzzy blobs and defined shapes of trees, Kinkajou was still there. Even from this height, he could still see her kind, purple eyes. He almost could tell that she was smiling and waving up at him. He couldn't help but smile back. He turned over in the air, flying towards the Talons Camp as fast as his wings could take him.