— Chapter 7 —

Turtle

Turtle had at times wondered how it would be, to actually reveal his powers to someone else, probably in a moment of great need to save the day. He imagined the events several times, the one he'd reveal his powers to would be impressed but wouldn't think differently of him besides thinking he's actually cool now, and the two of them could be friends.

Other times he imagined the other dragon screaming in shock and fear after seeing an Animus in front of him and would start to fly away while Turtle tried to explain, and the possibility of that scenario ever happening, coupled with the rest of self-doubt and his own fear had made him not reveal his secret to anyone yet for years.

And within just one day everything he's been working for to hide appears to have started unraveling.

First this morning, that odd and small Nightwing dragonet had literally crashed onto him and nearly plunged down, Turtle saved him and in exchange for that, the other dragonet had stolen from him and the Seawing had no idea why.

Had all of that been a plan to steal a piece of rock from him? He knew it was an odd rock but it didn't make sense to him. And at least the fear of the Nightwing when he was flailing down and unable to start flying again looked so real so at least the crash probably wasn't planned for.

Turtle afterwards had been doing one of the things that he does best: eavesdropping. Ever since the thief had rushed out of the prey center, Turtle had been following and saw some odd stuff.

First it didn't appear like he was able to maintain himself in the sky for very long. Within an hour outside Turtle had counted 4 stops to rest some minutes before the black dragon began to fly again.

Then when he lost track of the odd dragonet he had tried the library since he's heard just how much that tribe values knowledge, and indeed while he stood outside the library's cavern he eavesdropped part of a conversation between the Nightwing and a Mudwing, the first topic sounded nice and normal. And then it had shifted to ask where Turtle and his clawmate resided. The Nightwing, whose name was Oracle from what he heard, is looking for him.

Even now when Oracle just casually walked into his and Umber's cave he hadn't revealed himself yet, just listening more and that's when he heard the words after sounds of rummaging, a whisper.

"Twice as much, please."

Turtle wasn't able to stop himself, he had made a step which wasn't as silent as the rest and that made the Nightwing realize that he's there, and now they were looking at each other, Turtle's expression shifting to pure shock as he stared at the bowl on the other's talons.

"..." Oracle remained silent for half a minute with eyes wide open, taking a single step back, and Turtle could tell based on his expression that he was absolutely terrified.

"P-P-Prince Turtle… I was… l-looking for you, I, hm, this… I huh… t-this is yours!" He muttered, breathing heavily as he held a talon forward with the piece of rock, but Turtle's gaze didn't leave the dragon and he noticed the small one was hurriedly placing the other rock he'd just cloned in the pouch he had by his neck.

Turtle remained still some more seconds, what is the meaning of this? Why does the other dragon have such interest in this rock? If he hadn't noticed Turtle, the Nightwing probably would've tried to subtly get him back one of the two rocks and keep the other in secret as a way to avoid trouble, at least that's Turtle's guess since he's always trying to not even get into any bad situations.

The sea dragon saw the talon and leg shake a bit while Oracle still held the stone forward during this silent delay, and by this point Turtle felt quite sure that he must be holding his breath.

Finally Turtle decided to move forward one of his talons and pick up the stone, then that talon moved over to his other front leg and he began to try getting the stone back into the armband while still looking down to the thief who placed his talon back on the ground after he received the stone.

"Why…?" Turtle began to ask but very surprisingly the nervous dragon began to speak right after he started.

"A-Ah P-Prince, there is… a very n-nice underground lake on this mountain, have you seen it yet?" He said quickly, his eyes darting to the cave's opening as if thinking someone else would be eavesdropping on them.

That lake? I did look over for any calm places that also hopefully might have water, so he found it too? And… is he trying to get us to a more private spot? On one talon I don't want to be alone with someone that could be dangerous, but on the other talon I also can realize now that if someone does eavesdrop on us then my secret would be revealed to all, maybe for this one time I can try a bit of bravery, just once.

"Oh hm, yes I've seen it, we could maybe go there and perhaps relax. Follow me," the sea prince nodded and slowly turned to walk out, although he was constantly looking back at the other dragonet who was quickly starting to follow.

They walked in an awkward and tense silence, neither of them daring to speak right now, just moving to the destination in mind. It's still the first day of school so nearly everyone else should stay mostly around the halls of the academy instead of heading this deep down into the mountain.

The very slight and calming sound of water reached them eventually, and a minute later they were standing in front of the underground lake.

The Nightwing stepped forward to the water and lowered his neck to drink, and he kept on drinking for several moments, eyes closed as if trying to be in some sort of peace.

It feels like he's more nervous about this than I am, and I'm the animus that got discovered by someone he just met today, Turtle thought as he saw Oracle just drink like that.

Finally the black-scaled dragonet stopped and turned to look at the emerald green dragon, and after drinking he had positioned himself in such a way that Turtle was on the direction to the cave to exit and the water was right behind him, was it by absolutely accident? Or had he placed himself in a worse position on purpose? It's not like Turtle would just do it unless there was no other option, but the Nightwing could be pushed into the water very easily and he's right there with a water dragon.

"S-So…" Oracle whispered, his tone still scared but at least kind of clearer after drinking that much water.

"Please tell me, tell me why you have been doing all this," Turtle requested, thinking of all the possible bad scenarios, like a fight just starting out.

Oracle's reaction was slightly surprising, he immediately looked down to the ground and flinched a bit.

"I-I… don't really know if I could tell you, it's a lot and… I am s-cared, just like you I have quite a big secret… but unlike y-you, it's nothing like you've ever heard, I already have issues with thinking if I can fit in with others, if this comes out to the light…" He whispered, and Turtle looked confused at him.

"So you've got a massive secret like that and… you're telling me that you have it?" The Seawing says perplexed, that surely is not the way he's been keeping his secrets, just imagining himself casually telling others "Oh yes by the way I have a massive secret, don't ask since I won't say anymore," made him mentally wince.

"It… would be waaay t-too obvious that I am lying if I just made up any sort of random explanation on the spot, I am not good at that," he admitted weakly "and I am perfectly aware anyway that… if you really wanted to make me speak up, I'd be completely powerless compared to the power you hold…" His gaze wasn't meeting Turtle's at all, he knew both of them were thinking of the same thing.

That Turtle could forcefully make him spit it all out with a single sentence, and Oracle couldn't prevent that in absolutely any sort of way.

Another silence occurred, so tense that it could be easily cut with a claw, Oracle slowly starting to hyperventilate as if waiting for Turtle to do something like saying "I enchant this rock so that when it bonks someone, they will have to tell all of their secrets."

The thought of using his magic like that horrified Turtle, and here he can see one of the things he'd been fearing would happen if others knew of his power, that they'd think he would just use them in any way with other dragons and force them to do something.

"... How and when did you find out about what I am?" Turtle finally asked to break the silence.

Oracle sniffled a few times, "That also would be impossible to explain without saying the other stuff that I have to hide," he lamented sadly.

This was getting Turtle kinda annoyed, he needed answers, this is possibly his life they're talking about and this dragon is not looking very willing to cooperate.

The Nightwing had looked up and must have detected the slight annoyance on Turtle's expression as his face immediately looked more saddened and ashamed.

"I messed up badly, I should not have made you feel like this… days ago I was excited by the idea of meeting you, and now… as things stand, you'd never want to be friends with me due to my mistakes," he said softly, sighing deeply.

Turtle felt just even more perplexed "Wait, you wanted to meet me in specific? And days ago so, I guess you knew about what I could do before even meeting me in person… and you wanted us to be friends?" the Seawing prince asked, his tone being a bit more skeptical than he actually meant at the end, which made the Nightwing wince, and to Turtle's surprise, he saw a few tears running down his face now.

"I-I regretted stealing that rock just moments after I had already done it, I couldn't have just handed it back and explained then… for my next "brilliant" idea I wanted to give it back to you but I also still needed it at the same time, so I used the bowl… I was planning to put it back in its place and leave the cloned rock above your bed as a sign of peace…" Oracle promptly confessed.

"But why is that rock so important? You cannot even explain that part? You crashed onto me in the air, I saved you, and already you had taken it, was that also another plan? A setup to take it?" Turtle questioned, hoping he could get just one answer out of this.

"N-No… I really did not want that crash to happen, I just…" He slightly moved his wings and lightly flapped them, "I am quite sure you've seen me flying outside just a little bit ago, I just can't do it right. When we first, huh, met… I wanted to meet you in a normal way, but I just wasn't able to slow down at all when I got close…" there goes another confession from his part.

Turtle didn't know what to think, this Nightwing just looked like he was in a constant state of sadness, fear and regret ever since the conversation started, having sounded legitimately honest that he didn't want to upset Turtle. That he wanted them to be friends.

But he still was hiding far too much, Turtle realized in a way that makes him a hypocrite since he's been holding his own secret close to his heart for years and yet he tried to hopefully befriend others. He can admit that but he'd just prefer if a potential friendship wasn't covered in secrets coming from both sides.

"You still didn't answer the first part of the question. Why that rock? What's the deal with it?" Turtle repeated, and tried to soften his tone slightly.

Surprisingly after several moments of silence, Oracle whispered in a very low volume "... To protect… my mind…"

"What?" Turtle asked shocked by that response, mind protection? How could that be?

"That type of rock… it is from the comet that appeared months ago, yes? It… can protect one's mind from any intrusions, like someone trying to read it," he muttered.

"Mind reading? I thought you Nightwings couldn't actually do that, why'd you need to take one just moments after we landed on the mountain?" Turtle asked, really trying to understand what's going on.

Oracle brought his front talons to the sides of his head, ending down on the ground, it looked like he was panicking.

"I-I shouldn't say it, I can't… there could be so many variables, everything could change and I couldn't do anything! I can make things better, I could…" he mumbled, breathing quickly, his tail moving from side to side and he looked desperate.

"Variables? Change? Is something going to happen? What are you planning to do?" This Nightwing is starting to make Turtle feel unsettled with all the mood shifts, the mumbling, the secrets.

With a soft cry and a scared expression, the Nightwing opened his eyes, it looked like he couldn't contain himself, keeping so many secrets and directly exclaimed now "I want to be one of the heroes too! I've dreamed of a chance for my whole life! I… I want to… to stop the Darkstalker!"