CAUTION: Spoils aspects of Innocent Hopes, Twisted Realities, as well as aspects of When Nothing Remains and aspects of Usurpation of the Darkness up to chapter 25.
Seriously, major spoilers here.
Assuming you wish to continue, read on…
Background: Deadly-Bagel is entirely to blame for putting this idea in my head. It has too much potential to ignore, so here, have an AU mystery / absurd alternate reality one-shot.
It was a day like any other, only a little more miserable than most. Lily lay against the far wall of the side cavern, waiting for sleep to take her. She had spent all day with the hatchlings, and now they were back with their Dams, who were also dozing.
As far as Lily knew, nothing had happened that day, but she had a feeling that she had missed something. There were no disturbances, Crystal had reported a totally normal hot-season day, but still, she felt like something had changed.
The clicking of claws in the corridor outside alerted her, and she cracked an eyelid open warily.
Sure enough, to her rising disgust, Claw poked his head into the chamber a moment later, his eyes immediately landing on her and Crystal. She mentally prepared to block out what was surely to come next, it was inevitable once he actually showed up-
Then he sighed heavily, as if bothered by something, and withdrew without a word.
Lily waited for what felt like a very long time, but he didn't come back. Even once she believed he had changed his mind for some unknown reason, it took her a long time to relax enough to fall asleep.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily was walking out of the caverns the next morning when she heard a very, very strange argument. She couldn't help but stop where she was, hearing something she had never heard before.
"Why not?" a female demanded incredulously. "Tonight is my night. I was looking forward to it!"
"I am not in the mood," Claw repeated seriously.
"But you will come to me tomorrow night, not Cressa?" the female asked. "It is not fair to skip me!"
"I do not… Look, it is not entirely by choice," Claw growled. "I had an accident last night."
Lily was amazed that he was actually giving an answer; the mental model she had of him in her head would have said 'I'm alpha and you're my mate, stop questioning me,' and left. Claw didn't explain himself, not like this-
But he was speaking again, even now. "I went out to relieve myself, tripped over a rock, and hurt it," Claw said quickly, a low growl underlying his words. "That is all. I will not be sleeping with anyone until it is better."
"You… What?" his mate said, caught entirely off guard by the seemingly legitimate excuse. Lily found herself believing it, despite how ridiculous it was; Claw simply was not the sort of dragon to tell such an embarrassing story voluntarily, let alone make one up when he had so many other options at his disposal if he wanted to avoid this particular female.
None of this made any sense, but she believed her own ears, and as far as she could tell it only made sense if he really had sprained the most unfortunate of places. She held in a rude laugh, if only because she didn't want to be caught eavesdropping.
"I told you once already," Claw growled. "Spread the word among my other mates, I am not having this conversation again."
"I will," the female promised eagerly. Lily suspected nothing would have stopped her from telling her friends, regardless of whether Claw wanted it to happen or not. "But… You could still just sleep in my side-cavern, with me?" she offered.
"So long as it really is just sleeping," Claw huffed irritably.
Lily heard the sound of paws moving and bolted, quickly putting herself out of sight down the corridor. She slowed to a leisurely walk a moment later in case anyone saw her, but inside she was still running.
If nothing else, this at least explained Claw's hesitance the night before…
Lily shook her head, dismissing the idea. This was too ridiculous to be believed. It made no sense for him to lie, but it made almost as little sense for him to have told his mate outright. Maybe the pain was addling his mind, or for that matter the humiliation… Or maybe there was something even more embarrassing he was covering up for.
She resolved to keep a much closer eye on Claw for the next few days. Something was going on, and as much as she liked the idea that he wouldn't be violating her for the time being, she wasn't going to assume that was all and take it without questioning the reasons behind it. Especially as, no matter what answer she came up with, how he had handled the conversation still did not fit. Something more really was going on, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.
O-O-O-O-O
That evening, Lily heard the news several times over. Once from Crystal, gleefully, once from Honey with a whine, and several times over from the many females lurking in the main chamber, discussing it with varying levels of dismay and curiosity. She heard a surprising number of Claw's mates openly wondering whether it was a lie meant for only certain females, and eyeing other groups suspiciously.
Claw was nowhere to be seen, and once again Lily found herself feeling confused. He still was not acting like she had come to expect. Rampant rumors and speculation about him would not go unnoticed, and she knew he needed to be in control. This was not control, not his version of it.
She found excuses to linger in the main chamber, bouncing Burble on her tail, and waited for Claw to show up. She had to see how he managed the speculation, how he reacted, and if worst came to worst she could duck out with Burble as her legitimate excuse. She had positioned herself by the entrance, so as to be out of danger in five steps if it came down to outright fleeing something. Not that she expected it to, but with Claw it was best to plan for the worst.
When Claw did arrive, the gossiping females all around the chamber fell silent at once, save for a few who didn't notice. Lily didn't think most of them dreaded his attention like she did, but anyone would think twice about talking about their mate's embarrassing accident right in front of him.
"Well, it is common knowledge," Claw grumbled into the sudden silence, addressing the obvious immediately. "Sorry to disappoint you all." He didn't sound very sorry, more annoyed than anything.
With that, he walked through the chamber and into the corridor, leaving them alone. A trail of intermittent bloody droplets followed him, dripping from his hindquarters.
Lily narrowed her eyes and stared at one of the closest drops. It was blood, sure enough, but why would he be bleeding there a whole day after the injury? Was it really that serious? She knew certain wounds did not stop bleeding for a while, depending on where they were inflicted, but Pyre had neglected to tell her whether that part of the male anatomy was one such place…
Again, she was struck by the confusion, the same blend of believable logic and unbelievable actions. He was legitimately injured, either by an actual accident or by an intentional act to prove a lie, but why would he admit it? Why not just twist it to serve himself? Why not chastise his mates for gossiping about it?
"We should keep this to ourselves," one of the older females suggested, breaking the awkward silence.
A general murmur of agreement met that statement, but Lily was not fooled in the slightest, and the guilty faces all around the chamber confirmed her cynical guess. The news was already well on the way to being known to everyone in the pack.
She would have to wait and see how things changed in response to that, but she was beginning to suspect that Claw would not handle it at all as she would have assumed. Something was deeply wrong with her estimation of him, or something was missing from her understanding, something big.
O-O-O-O-O
A few days later, Lily lay by the pond, seemingly busy sunning herself. Crystal was close by, actually doing nothing more than she seemed to be, adding to the illusion.
In reality, Lily was far more invested in watching Claw; the sun's baking rays on her body were just a bonus to make the long stakeout more pleasant. It was hot out, almost unbearably so, but even in the most intolerable heat, just laying in the sunlight was pleasant.
That same heat was what drove most of the pack to crowd around the pond today, and what would usually cause petty squabbles, and exacerbate arguments into full-on fights on occasion. She had seen it happen before, and she had seen how Claw, already very short on temper, would roar the participants down.
Not today. Today, Claw roamed the fringes of the crowd, watching vigilantly in a manner very, very unlike himself. He had a few males with him, but they crept behind him. Lily would guess that they felt honored to be picked to assist him directly, but also confused by his activity, and too cowed to question it.
A hissing match broke out near Lily, and she flinched as a tail slapped near her face. She hadn't even noticed the growing tension right next to her, she was so focused on Claw, but now she could not help but hear an undoubtedly heat-fueled spat between two females about sprawling wings and tails.
Claw circled around the pond, walking quickly. Both females faltered and fell silent when they saw him.
He nodded and continued on his way as if nothing had happened.
"I see what you mean," Crystal murmured to her as one of the females stood and left. "This is weird."
"It only took you a few days," Lily snorted, glad her friend saw what she did. Claw should have leaped into the squabble, or at the very least, he would not have left well enough alone once they stopped. Once he got involved, he always made very sure that someone was disciplined, either with strong words or an actual punishment. He didn't have a light paw, that just wasn't who he was.
"Think his injury affected both heads?" Crystal asked vulgarly.
"Maybe," Lily said, taking the possibility seriously. At this point, she couldn't rule anything out.
O-O-O-O-O
The days passed slowly, and to Lily they passed with a subtle fog over them, the fog of confusion. Claw continued to be proactive, light-pawed, amiable, and best of all, chaste.
Lily could not have been more disturbed by such seemingly positive behaviour, and she kept waiting for the other paw to drop, though she had no clue what that other paw would be. The only possible explanation she could think of for even some of this was that he had caught wind of a possible insurrection, and then inexplicably decided to thwart it by being a better person, but even that did not explain his injury. His mates almost all wanted him to continue mating with them regularly.
Sooner or later, she thought to herself, he would go back to normal, or otherwise reveal his true intentions. The vile creature who mated his own daughter, killed his sons, and murdered on a whim could not possibly just decide to turn over a new leaf for no reason, and Claw considered himself sly. It had to be a trick to some end, likely one that furthered his own twisted desires.
But even suspecting that, it was hard to keep a wary, cynical eye on him at all times, and Lily welcomed the days when she was in charge of Burble and Wax. Having a responsibility that stopped her from watching Claw took the weight off of her for a little while.
"Up you go," she hummed, lifting Wax onto her back next to Burble. Crystal and Honey had already left to go flying, and she planned on taking both hatchlings out into the central cavern. They were too young to go running around with the bigger fledglings yet, but letting them crawl around and socialize with other hatchlings their own size was important, and she knew several would be there today.
Her tail curled up behind her as she strained to keep a fin on both fledglings, steadying them as she walked. They were still sleepy, having just woken up. She wouldn't be attempting this if they were both fully awake. One would probably shove the other right off in a squabble before she even made it out of the side-cavern.
As it was, even with them lying motionless, most of her attention had to go to balancing them. She made it to the main chamber without incident, and was greeted with the cries of hatchlings and fledglings.
She was also greeted with an ominous sight, one as worrying as it was strange, at least to her.
Claw was sitting in the middle of the chamber, watching the young ones playing. Several were tussling in front of him, and even as she stared, he stuck out a paw and separated them.
"No teeth," he chided. "Nobody wins that one."
"Over here, Lily!" a female called out, sticking out a wing to catch her attention. There were three hatchlings in a circle, staring sleepily at each other, along with their respective Dams. That was the group she had meant to join.
But that was before she saw Claw here, of all places. Unlike his other behavior, this had a very, very dark undertone to it, at least in her eyes. She knew what he had done to Pearl, and she knew that he had begun doing it before she was officially an adult. It was no leap of the imagination to think that he might have an unnatural, twisted liking for females younger than was right, and while the ones wrestling in front of him were male, he was paying far too much attention to them. He had never even bothered to socialize with his own young before now.
Claw looked up, and their eyes locked for a moment. He betrayed nothing with his steady eyes, not the slightest hint of cruelty or suspicion.
Lily hoped that her gaze showed only confusion and surprise, and she quickly broke the look, hurrying to join the group of Dams and add Wax and Burble to the mix. She shuffled around to ensure she could watch Claw out of the corner of her eye. This felt like it might be the thing he was working toward, the sinister end goal of his odd actions, but it still didn't fit right. Once again, not everything supported that. His actions didn't all line up with a goal or intention.
"Crystal and Honey, right?" one of the Dams asked her.
"Yes," Lily confirmed shortly. She knew they were only breaking from the normal to acknowledge her because Crystal had set this up, and it would be extremely awkward to refuse her, or to act like Lily didn't exist when she attended in Crystal's place. That didn't seem quite so important at the moment.
Lily knew she couldn't let Claw harm another fledgling. She didn't want to let him harm anyone, but the young ones were on another level, and she was on much safer ground publicly protecting them if it came to that. She watched him closely.
But if it was his intention to prey on them, he hid it far too well. She could see nothing in his distant, impersonal, but attentive gaze. He corrected the males on their play-fighting, broke them up whenever they got too rough, and avoided confirming either as the winner in anything, a tactic she knew well enough, but was surprised to see him using.
If anything, she thought she saw some awkwardness there. A distance that wouldn't exist between a normal Sire and his children.
"Okay," Claw said. "Your turn is up."
"Turn?" Lily murmured, still watching him.
"He's taking turns watching all of his children," one of the Dams supplied helpfully. "Yours might have to wait, there is a line."
Sure enough, though Lily scarcely believed her eyes, the two males were retrieved, and two more of a slightly younger age set in front of Claw by eager Dams. One nuzzled him, and he returned the gesture absently, but his focus was on the young ones.
Then he looked over at her. She flicked her eyes down to Wax and Burble, but she knew he had caught her watching.
Nothing came of it. When she looked up again, he was not paying her any attention. It was like she didn't exist, which she would vastly prefer if it was genuine.
Burble pawed at Wax's nose, and Lily stuck her paw in to stop him before he provoked Wax into a slow, clumsy tussle. They would inevitably roll over the other hatchlings if that happened.
As she did, she couldn't help but wonder if Claw really was doing exactly what it looked like, and trying to connect with the many, many children he had never before cared about.
Surely not. But she could do nothing about it aside from watching him and not letting him go anywhere alone with a child.
To that end, Lily lingered in the chamber longer than she might otherwise have. Burble and Wax cooperated by playing nice with the other hatchlings, giving her ample opportunity to watch for the first sign that Claw was making a move… Which never happened.
"Next," Claw called out, patting a very young female on the head with his paw, a gesture that was almost awkwardly impersonal, given she was his daughter.
"You go," the same Dam from before urged Lily. "Nobody is coming, this is your chance."
Lily shook her head and said nothing. No matter how benign he seemed at the moment, she was not voluntarily taking Burble or Wax into his presence.
The next Dam came, and the chance was gone.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily stalked her prey from afar, gliding in the warm air and keeping a close eye on Claw as he wandered the valley. Another anomaly, he was not spending nearly as much time on the plateau nowadays.
He also wasn't doing much at the moment, but she was fine with that. Long-term spying had a lot of downtime, and in the boring moments she went over her theories.
The first, most obvious one was that this was all a ploy. It was the simplest answer, but also the one that contradicted itself far too much for her liking. It made no sense, and she knew she was more cunning than Claw.
Claw stopped to speak to a mated couple on a rock. The conversation appeared amiable, and Lily had spent enough time eavesdropping to know that it was indeed just light conversation. He did that now, too.
The second possibility was that Claw had injured himself somehow, and in taking that injury was being affected by his body. She had very little evidence for that, just his initial injury kicking it all off, and a few tales from Pyre about parasites and how mood swings can be signs of sickness sometimes. He was still recovering from his injury, something she was thankful for, but it was suspicious that nobody had ever seen it. Maybe he was infected with some rare disease that imparted morals.
Claw bid the mated couple farewell and took to the air, flying much lower than Lily. He settled into a large circle, obviously doing the same thing she was, watching the valley. Lily had no fear of being noticed; a lot of people were in the air today.
The third, even more unlikely option, was that this was the work of some third party. Claw was the obvious point of attack for anyone looking to effect change, she knew that from experience. Also in favor of this was the total lack of a rational explanation for his actions, assuming he was doing something meant to advance his own goals. If the goal was against his best interests, imposed from an outside source, all of this could be seen as him enacting policy decisions given to him by another.
That had its own refutation, though. She could not see a method to do such a thing to Claw. He had enough power that threatening to reveal his worst crimes was pointless, and many of them were open knowledge already. She knew of no way to physically or mentally control him, and it was him. His scent was the same, he knew the names of everyone around him perfectly, he remembered things told to him long before he had begun acting strange. If anything, he was better at remembering things now.
And of course, though she didn't give it much weight even compared to the others, there was the possibility that he had experienced a true change of heart. That was about as likely as fish flying out of the ocean, growing massive, and chasing the pack out of the valley tomorrow.
Claw descended, landing on the plateau and speaking to the females who lounged there. He had opened it up to anyone who wanted it when he was not there, but only his mates were comfortable taking his word on that.
Lily flapped her wings a few times, regaining the height she had slowly lost as she glided, and contemplated the problem for the thousandth time in the last dozen days. She still couldn't make heads or tails of it, and she wished more than anything that Pyre was around to help her investigate.
A familiar sadness washed over her, now tainted with even more confusion and anger. The same heartless male who had brutally murdered Pyre was now making overtures to his many children, easing up, being more easygoing, and generally acting like someone far less evil. Why couldn't this have happened in time to save the ones she loved? The Claw of today would not have killed Pyre. She didn't know what he would do, but it wouldn't be that, because that was what Claw had done and this new Claw was not like the old one.
Lily let herself lose sight of Claw, and drifted out over the mountains, toward the sea. As great as it was to not have Claw forcing himself on her every so often, it made her confused and angry a lot, because if he was capable of acting decently now, he could have done it in the past. She usually forced the feelings down, but her surveillance wasn't revealing anything helpful, so she had no reason to continue.
She had watched him for days on end, tracked his movements at night, spied on him randomly. He never let up, never lapsed into his former self, and it all seemed so natural, like he had put on a different personality and was now trying to merge the two without making it obvious.
It made a depressing sort of sense to her that Claw had so easily confounded her, even now. If she was being pessimistic, it was totally predictable. She had been naive and unable to see his perversion for far too long, and now she had been totally blindsided again the moment he decided to up his game.
"Hey," a loud female barked from below, "Lily!"
Lily turned midair, initially thinking the voice had come from behind, befuddled by misery and the rising certainty that she didn't know the person speaking to her with such familiarity, that she didn't recognize the voice.
Then she looked down and confirmed that she definitely had no idea who was flying up to meet her.
"Who is asking?" she asked suspiciously, still reeling and trying to understand who the grey and blue mottled female was, or where she came from. The coloration was real, she knew of no way to get such a look from ash or staining plants, but light wings just did not look like that, the female had no glint at all and would have stood out in any crowd. She couldn't be from the valley.
But she also couldn't be a stranger, because she already knew Lily by sight, and knew her name.
"I am," the female said brusquely. "Hey, I come with a question. If Pearl showed up today, would she be assaulted, or anything like that? She told me you would probably know."
All of the pieces to this particular mystery neatly slotted themselves into place in Lily's mind, making a mockery of her inability to solve the mystery of Claw. Pearl had found this dark wing out in the world, they knew each other, and the dark wing was an emissary who was testing the waters for Pearl, though Lily didn't know why Pearl would want to come back.
As to the answer the other female sought? Lily thought for the time it took the dark wing to rise to her altitude and level off beside her. "As safe as I am," she said honestly, "and I cannot promise more than that. I find myself unable to guess at what Claw will do these days, but he is not mating with anyone while he heals, or so he says, and he is taking a more gentle approach for some unknown reason."
"Compared to when Pearl left?" the female pressed.
"Yes," Lily confirmed.
"Sounds weird," the female snorted. "I wanted to kill that rotten piece of dung, but if he will leave well enough alone, I will too. What about Diora?"
"Pearl's Dam?" Lily asked. She had spent some little time meeting Silva, but recently everything else had taken a backseat to figuring out Claw, so she wasn't entirely up to date on that particular situation. "I don't know."
"Good, I might still get a fight today," the female enthused. "The name is Storm, by the way. Pearl and I are probably joining your pack, so long as your alpha does not complain, try to claim her, or abuse anyone else."
"That may not last long," Lily warned.
"Then I will kill him," Storm said easily. "Or my brother will when he catches up. No big deal." With that, she dove, fired a large blast at nothing in particular, and turned to head toward the valley. A light wing rose from the shore to meet her, and they flew together.
Lily had no clue what had just happened, but as she tried to slot it all together in her mind the way she had Storm's connection to herself, she felt a rising annoyance.
"No," she snarled to herself. "There is no way this is all happening naturally." There was some sort of paw at work behind it all. Coincidences did happen, but not like this. Claw sliding into less morally offensive territory, Pearl showing up with a dark wing who just happened to be violent, okay with potentially killing Claw, but also okay with letting him live so long as he continued doing what she could not have known he was already doing? It was far too much for her suspension of disbelief; she knew now that someone was trying to tell a story and fool everyone else into believing it was reality. But that story wasn't perfect, it had cracks that made no sense to an outside observer paying attention.
She didn't know who, or how, or even why, but she knew there was definitely someone orchestrating this.
That realization made her feel better, oddly enough. It both confirmed the 'third party manipulation' theory, and drastically narrowed the plausible candidates for that third party. Now, whoever was in control had to know a dark wing, and had to have some hold over Claw, and maybe Pearl.
Put that way, there were only four suspects. Claw, for he was involved and she would not rule him out, as him intentionally cooperating would answer the 'how' aspect of the problem. Storm, because she was a dark wing with odd morals and an in, in the form of being Pearl's new friend. Pearl, because she had disappeared, and only a while after her disappearance had all of this started.
Those were the obvious three, and then there was the fourth. Someone Lily had never heard of or met before.
She had put a lot of effort into investigating Claw, and if it was some new unknown, she would only find them by watching those working for them, so she really only had two targets to watch.
Both of which were flying over the mountain right now. Lily dropped into a dive to gain some speed, suddenly feeling the need to catch up and see their arrival first-paw. She had a new angle to follow in cracking this frustrating mystery.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily watched from behind the small crowd as Pearl greeted the few friends she had in the pack.
"A lot of things," Pearl said pleasantly, answering the question of what she had been doing by not actually saying anything specific.. "Far too much to explain now, but I can tell the story later."
"You will have a lot of listeners," Crystal said eagerly, ignoring that her question had been brushed off. She didn't suspect anything was amiss.
Lily felt no desire to tell her friend about her strong suspicions, either. Crystal was close to Pearl, and so happy to see her confident and strong. She wouldn't ruin her friend's joy unless it was absolutely necessary, and in the meantime Crystal was doing exactly what Lily would have asked, and innocently inquiring as to her friend's activities.
"It is a good story so that is fine," Storm snorted. She was, in the brief time Lily had observed her, extremely abrasive, but somewhat self-correcting, like she had been told about her flaws and taken to heart that she needed to change. It was an eerie, on-the-nose parallel to how Claw acted in some respects.
"And it will explain your scar?" Mist asked. "I do not remember that."
Pearl sighed and shook her head, seemingly bemused by the memory of the large grey imperfection running across her chest. "Oh, that's not a good story," she laughed deprecatingly. "I made a stupid mistake, that's all."
Lily growled to herself, easily hearing the familiar slur in Pearl's voice, and adding one more fact to her evidence for something more going on. Pearl had to have obtained that accent the intended way, implying the presence of No-scaled-not-prey. If those didn't make it into her story, that was a definite proof that she was lying about some things.
"And how did you meet Storm?" Crystal asked.
"Part of the story," Storm said dismissively. "We teamed up to kill some things, that is all."
"You know that's not right," Pearl countered. "We met because we were captives together."
"But we went on to kill some enemies, so it ends up the same," Storm retorted. "You did not have to start with that." They had an easy repertoire, one Lily believed did come from some sort of friendship. That much was hard to fake and didn't necessarily counter any of her suspicions.
"I have a more important question," a male called out. "Why did you come back, if it was so great out there?"
There was a momentary silence as Pearl considered that. It was apparently a question everyone wanted an answer to, given nobody spoke as they waited. Lily certainly did, though she wouldn't necessarily believe whatever Pearl said.
"I had some unfinished business here," Pearl eventually said. "We might not stay forever, probably not, but I want to leave on good terms with myself, not fleeing the past."
The past, such as Claw and Diora, neither of whom had shown up yet. Lily raised her head above the bulk of the crowd and looked around, but she saw neither of them. They would be antagonistic forces against Pearl, and she counted their absence so far as another suspicious thing.
A dark thought occurred to her. Would Diora make an about-turn like Claw had? Lily didn't know how Pearl or whoever was in charge in the shadows had done it with Claw, so she couldn't rule out the same happening to Diora-
"What is this?" a far too familiar female asked angrily. Lily looked again, and this time saw Diora shoving her way through the small crowd. So much for her suspicious absence, though the same still applied to Claw.
"A triumphant return of a strong, independent female and her friend who is just itching to hurt rude, condescending pieces of rotten slime," Storm said fervently, glaring at Diora as she shoved her way into view. "Please, give me a reason."
"Storm," Pearl snorted, slapping her friend with her tail but not looking all that displeased. "No violence unless she starts it."
"The alpha would never allow it," Diora blustered, glaring at Storm.
"The alpha would have to catch me afterward," Storm said levelly. "I fly fast, so I do not think he could. But you would bleed regardless."
"Like I said, no starting it," Pearl repeated. "What do you want, Diora?"
"To see my returning daughter, but I did not count on being driven away!" Diora cried out, switching from angry to hurt the moment it suited her more to play the victim. She even cowered a little, as if in fear of Storm. Lily would have been impressed if it wasn't so obvious that she was playing for sympathy.
"You see me," Pearl said bluntly, spreading her wings. "Now go away. I did not come back for you."
"You came back for your mate?" Diora asked.
"What?" Pearl snorted, as bemused by the nonsensical question as Lily was. "No. Definitely not. He is no mate of mine."
"And she has a much better male waiting for her," Storm chipped in. "He got sidetracked by something important, but he will be following us once that is done. He will get here eventually."
"And we're not leaving until then at the very earliest, because he knows that we will be waiting here," Pearl confirmed. "So no."
Lily wondered whether any of that was true. On the one paw, promising that this mystery male would eventually arrive put a deadline on it if it was a lie, but on the other, they could easily talk their way out of it if he never showed up. It might even be an exit strategy, a way for them to leave without any other excuse.
And if they were not here for Diora or Claw, why had they returned? Lily smelled rot somewhere in their story.
But for the moment, she was not necessarily against the way they were going about things. She approved of Pearl not letting violence break out, and she definitely approved of keeping Diora away.
Lily resolved to remind Crystal about Silva, and thus inform Pearl by proxy. That would allow her another insight into Pearl's real goals and intentions, just as seeing Claw acknowledge her would. That promised to be an interesting scene.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily found herself lying next to Crystal, watching intently as Pearl played with Burble. It was nearly dusk, and Burble was tiring out, but he was happy to have the full, undivided attention of a new female with new, interesting smells to explore.
Pearl, on the other paw, seemed all too aware of Burble's origins, and kept casting both Crystal and Lily pitying looks. Not as if she was being condescending, just as if she did not know how to approach the subject.
"He's a great hatchling," Lily said, breaking the awkward silence. She wanted to probe how Pearl felt about Claw, and she also wanted to ensure there was nothing wrong between Pearl and Crystal, both for her own reasons, and to help her friend. "He'll have a sibling soon, too. Honey is watching the egg."
"Congratulations?" Pearl offered. "I'm sorry, I don't know how you feel. How both of you feel."
"Better, as of late," Crystal answered honestly. "I love my children, but not the Sire. Thankfully, he has hurt himself. We can only hope it is permanent."
"Permanent and constantly painful," Lily added venomously. There was nobody around the empty rock they had claimed for the moment, and she was beginning to doubt that Claw would even punish her for her spite if he found out.
"Hopefully," Pearl agreed without a trace of insincerity, purring down at Burble. "What's his name, again?"
"I have not picked a name," Crystal admitted sheepishly, looking away. "I wanted to come up with something fitting."
"I call him Burble," Lily declared. "And I will even if Crystal comes up with another name." Crystal had waited too long, and Burble responded to the name she had given him. Another name given later would just confuse him.
"Well, put it like that, and Burble really is his name," Crystal complained. "Did I miss my chance?"
"Yes," Lily said bluntly.
"Oh, fine," Crystal relented. "But if he ever asks me why he has such a silly name, I am putting the blame firmly where it belongs."
"I think it is a cute name," Pearl supplied helpfully. "What about the egg?"
"I am naming him or her the moment they break the shell," Crystal said vehemently. "I am not giving away that privilege twice."
"Sounds like a plan," Pearl laughed. "Oh, look he is getting sleepy." She hummed to Burble, then stepped back to let Crystal take him.
"You do well with children," Lily observed.
"I know nothing about caring for them, but it's easy to play with a fun little one when they are not hungry or crabby or whiny," Pearl snorted. "I'm sure I'll have a lot to learn once I have one of my own."
"Not with Claw?" Crystal asked.
"With Ember, eventually, I hope," Pearl clarified. "The dark wing I was talking about earlier. We are not mates yet, but I think we are well on the way there. He knows I am interested, and I know he is."
"And coming back here does not bother him?" Lily asked innocently. "You know, since you fled Claw."
"Didn't flee, I was kidnapped, but either way, yes, he's very supportive," Pearl said hurriedly. "I don't know exactly when he will get here, it might be a while. Certainly before this time next season-cycle."
"In the meantime, you will be staying here?" Lily looked around pointedly, making a show of examining the valley. "Why?"
"To be able to think about my past without shrinking away and hiding from it," Pearl said soberly. "That's the plan."
Her words hit a little too close for Lily to respond immediately. She wished she could do that, but her troubles were ongoing, just a little stranger now. She couldn't even effectively work to gain supporters against Claw now; it just didn't feel right when Claw was slowly moving away from all of the behaviors she was using to prove he was a bad alpha. She didn't know enough to do the one thing that helped her feel she was moving forward.
"Speaking of Claw, he is coming this way," Crystal warned. "I do not think he knows you are here, though."
"Oh, he knows I am in the valley, Storm delivered the message at some point today," Pearl said idly, her eyes on Burble. "I do not think he will give me any trouble."
"He has spotted us," Crystal reported. She stood and picked Burble up by his scruff. "Burble and I will not be here when he arrives."
"Good idea," Lily agreed. "I'll stay." She was not about to leave now, not when she wanted to see this.
Crystal hopped off the rock, and Lily turned to face the incoming alpha. Claw flew it slowly, gliding as much as actually flying, and stopped a good few rocks away, far enough that voices would need to be raised to be heard.
"You are not here to return to being a mate of the alpha?" Claw asked stiffly.
"Not in the slightest," Pearl growled. "Leave me be, and I will not let Storm kill you, or be tempted to try myself."
"So be it," Claw intoned neutrally. "I will not hold you if you insist."
Lily felt her jaw drop, not only at the strangeness, but at how utterly unfair it was. It was unbelievable, laughable, even, to imagine Claw just letting Pearl go, but then seeing no problem with what he had done to her, his own daughter-
"And what of me?" Lily demanded, for once in her life not even thinking about the words pouring out of her mouth. She stood and glared at Claw, utterly committed to her rash course of action. "I wanted nothing less than to be yours! It is against all that is good and right! What of me?!"
Claw blinked at her, his eyes narrowing. He said nothing for a long moment, enough time for Lily to reconsider her rash words. She had ruined his image of her as a nonthreatening presence resigned to her fate, and for nothing-
"Then you may consider yourself free, too," Claw said slowly. "If you truly feel that way. I am realizing that I want no mate who does not want me back." His reason rang hollow, but the first part of his statement struck like a blow to the head, a good one, as nonsensical as that was.
Lily belatedly remembered that there was something going on behind all of this, some ulterior presence working the world like a puzzle. She might be playing right into it-
But she found that she couldn't bring herself to care about being manipulated in the moment, not with the prize Claw and his controller were giving away in return. "Announce that to the pack," she demanded shakily, her voice cracking. "Make it official."
"Any who wish to be released from my circle of mates has my permission," Claw said. "I will. You and Pearl make good points." He stared at her with a look she could only interpret as conflicted, moved his paw with a twitch that was restrained so quickly she barely saw it, then turned and flew away.
"Well…" Pearl seemed lost for words. "That happened. Did he hit his head in the time I was gone? Hard, several times, repeatedly?"
"I don't know," Lily almost sobbed. "Tell Crystal." She was sure her friend would immediately take advantage of this inexplicable release, she knew there would be questions, she knew it probably came with a price attached somehow-
But she didn't care. She flung herself into the sky and flew past the mountains, out into the forest, awash in confusion and unexpected relief. She didn't know what was really happening, she still meant to figure it out, but whoever was behind this had just bought a large portion of goodwill from her when she did figure it all out.
Tomorrow, she would struggle to be normal and continue the investigation, because she couldn't stand not understanding what was really going on. But tonight, she was going to celebrate, and mourn, and probably screech a thousand complicated feelings into the surf.
O-O-O-O-O
A few days later, Lily relaxed on a rock she now called her own. It was a small thing, barely suitable for one light wing, and as a result entirely undesirable to anyone else, despite being nice and flat and having a prime position with a view of both the pond and the plateau.
Claw had made it official, just like he said, and with nothing more than a few words addressed to all of his mates in the cavern. He had framed it as only wanting those who actually wanted him back, said that any who did not could leave with no shame and no hard feelings, and pointed to Lily and Pearl as the first two to take his offer.
What had followed was a lot of confusion, some bawling from females getting the wrong idea, and a lot of questions Claw just didn't answer. The important choices had gone entirely unnoticed by most of them.
But when the dust had cleared, Lily was free, and so was Crystal, who had immediately moved back to her parents' rock and made up with her Dam, though apparently that mostly meant agreeing not to talk about Claw in each others' presence. Pearl, of course, had claimed a place with her friend Storm, one on the outskirts of the valley.
But the three of them weren't the only ones to take Claw up on his offer. Lily was mildly surprised to see Pina and Dew moving out together, though those two had only really begun to dislike him on her behalf. She was more surprised to see them picking a rock together, but that made sense once she thought about it.
In total, seven females had left Claw. It was a relatively small number, but Lily suspected there were a few more who would leave once it was clear he really wasn't going to resent those who did… And a few more who would have left if given the option a few moon-cycles ago, but who liked his new attitude enough to stay.
The pack's reception to the move was about as Lily had expected. Confusion, but under that a sense of relief, as if everyone had realized that they no longer needed to ignore an ongoing injustice.
Of course, that was the wrong way of looking at it. Claw had still taken his own daughter as a mate against her will, he had still abused Pearl before she was even an adult. He had still killed young males, and tried to manipulate them into challenging and letting him have a chance to kill them. He was, by any moral standard, still a repulsive monster.
He just wasn't acting like himself anymore, and the one in charge of how he did act was clearly of a very different, far more morally upstanding mindset. But to those who didn't know someone was behind him, it just looked like he was turning over a new leaf, and that was all they cared about.
All in all, Lily was finding herself less worried about the upcoming ceremony than she should have been. It was not that she was not in danger, she would not have been in danger regardless. It was not even that two of the three males of this season-cycle were happily eyeing receptive females, and thus almost certainly not going to challenge.
Less worried did not mean not worried, though, and as the noon sun began its descent, Mist flew over.
"Is there a way to force males to open their mouth and talk?" Mist asked irritably, landing on the ground next to her rock, as it was too small for her to easily land on it while Lily lay sprawled out.
"Not that I know of," Lily said, deciding not to mention that Pyre had told her some dragons had trouble keeping secrets directly after mating. That wasn't the sort of answer Mist was looking for. She scooted to the side and invited Mist up, though it would be crowded.
"No, I am angry and I want to pace," Mist said bluntly, seeing her shuffling around to make room. "I cornered him and said I wanted to know whether he was going to challenge, and he would not give me a straight answer, aside from saying that he did not want to be my mate."
"He doesn't?" Lily asked.
"Since he knows I will not be forced to go with Claw otherwise, no," Mist huffed. "That is fine, he is annoying and frustrating and I can do better, even if I will have to wait. But that does not mean I want to see him dead!"
"None of us want to see that happen," Lily assured her. She wondered whether the person deciding Claw's actions and attitudes wanted Root killed. Maybe this was the end goal, softening Claw's terrors and then somehow having Root kill him in a challenge. Maybe Root was the master manipulator-
No, definitely not. She rumbled quietly, laughing at herself, and focused on the problem at paw. "So we do not leave it up to him," she suggested, recalling how she had gotten her own freedom from Claw. "Why not just ask Claw to make challenges not to the death?"
"Would he do that?" Mist asked skeptically.
"I have no clue, but I doubt he would strike at whoever proposed the idea," Lily reasoned. That just was not what the new Claw did. He listened, he never got mad, and he actually made decisions she couldn't find much fault in. She had a much easier time accepting that as reality now that she knew he wasn't the one actually making the choices, though she still had no clue as to how that arrangement worked.
"Well, it is easier than convincing Root to be smart," Mist grumbled. "I am in. I can probably get the others to chime in too."
"I'll go around and get everyone else in on it," Lily agreed. She was wary of trying to get anyone to work directly against Claw, her support on that front was steadily eroding as he turned into a halfway decent alpha, but this was something they would all still agree on.
O-O-O-O-O
"You are all adults!" Claw roared, and the pack roared with him. "I am sure your parents are proud."
Lily sat back on her hind paws and tail, ready to call out-
"Now this is usually where I would ask whether anyone is challenging," Claw continued. "I have something else to say, but first, did anyone intend to?"
"I do not, alpha," Cedar said firmly, looking over at Liona.
"Me neither," Ash agreed.
"I was going to," Root announced. "But what else do you have to say?"
"That I feel it is no longer necessary to kill challengers," Claw said casually. "Fights will be to submission, and the loser will not be alpha. Death seems excessive."
Lily was floored, not because Claw was being kind, that was par for the course by now, but because he just happened to decide and announce it now, with the exact solution she had come up with.
She was not one to believe in coincidence, and the first thing that came to mind was that whoever was behind Claw had caught wind of her idea at some point that very afternoon, and decided to preempt her.
"Sure, but I still challenge," Root said eagerly. "All the more so, now that I can do so with no regrets."
"I am not going to let you win," Claw warned him. "But if you must, so be it." He leaped off the plateau, and Root followed.
"It is official, Claw has been killed and replaced with a lookalike," Crystal joked giddily. "Talk about a turnaround!"
"Or someone else is giving him orders," Lily murmured. That seemed far more likely, if only because Claw was definitely still Claw, with all the memories and a lot of the same habits. What lookalike could perfectly slip into his place like this?
"I do not care so long as he remains injured and keeps making things better," Crystal said firmly. "I feel like finding out what is really going on will make it stop happening and bring the old Claw back."
"Agree to disagree," Lily murmured. She didn't feel that way at all, and knew that sort of thinking to be a fallacy. So long as Crystal acted the same after she knew the truth, nothing would change that she did not intend to change. Seeing a good thing wouldn't make it disappear.
Though it was possible that Crystal meant she wanted to take the good outer layer as it was, and not investigate the means by which it was achieved, in case what she found disillusioned her. She might dread finding something just as awful behind this good turn of fortune.
That, Lily understood, though it wasn't enough to stop her.
The fight took a long time, much longer than before, but eventually a cry went up from those closest to the fighting cave, and both combatants walked back to the plateau, something that had never happened before.
Claw was unmarred, not injured or even marked in any way. Root, on the other paw…
Crystal whined in sympathy as Root limped his way to the foot of the plateau, and stopped there. He moved stiffly, and though they couldn't see it, Lily suspected he was bruised all over. A thin rivulet of blood streamed down his side.
All in all, Lily would be sympathetic if the alternative hadn't been death. As it was, she pitied Root's crestfallen, quietly terrified expression more than his injuries. He had to be having trouble dealing with the massively one-sided beating he had just received, and what it meant. If Claw did all of that without a scratch, he could have killed just as easily.
"I won," Claw said loudly. "Root lost. There will be no more challenges from him. Is everyone okay with this new way of doing things, or should we go back-"
The crowd around Lily burst out into various forms of support for Root, roaring or trying to speak over the noise depending on the person. Lily added her voice to the mix. She supported this change. It had been her idea, after all.
O-O-O-O-O
"I have to say," Whirl purred to Lily, "I like this."
Lily nodded politely, and continued to watch the scene playing out in front of them. By this point, she was numb to Claw's change in personality, and she wasn't surprised to hear others were happy with it.
"So what would you do?" Claw prompted, looking over at Root.
Root, standing at the edge of the plateau, squinted at the two males who had come to seek arbitration. "Get more details? Ask their mates about it?"
"Exactly," Claw praised, leaping off the plateau. "And we are going now, because…"
"Because we want to ask their mates before they have a chance to tell them what the lie is, if there is a lie," Root followed up. "It will make the truth easier to find."
Lily noticed that one male nodded, and the other scowled nervously. She could already predict which one had counted on getting his mate alone before she was questioned.
"The other Dams are all so jealous," Whirl continued. "They whine about not knowing that Claw was going to make challenging safe, and then complain that he only noticed Root." She hummed smugly.
"I don't think Cedar or Ash would have challenged even if they knew it would just get them a beating," Lily said, watching Root, Claw, and the two other males depart. From what she had seen, Cedar was far too hopelessly in love with Liona to want any distractions, even that of being groomed to lead by the alpha, and if anything, Danda wouldn't have wanted Ash in any position of power. He wasn't the brightest light wing in the pack, not by a long shot.
"No, but look at what they missed out on," Whirl said proudly. "Root still lives, the alpha likes him, and he still comes home every night to his parents. It is the dream for any Dam."
Lily remained silent, though she would disagree with that. The first two, certainly, but Root not having a mate and still living with his parents was not something most would prefer. It was just Whirl's clingy nature that made her consider such a thing a benefit.
"As the alpha's favorite, surely he will soon find a mate," Lily offered, testing the waters on that one. She had no interest, but there would be other females, and Root was the only unmated male in the valley.
"They will all just want his favor," Whirl scoffed. "Maybe in a few season-cycles, once he is well established."
"Sure," Lily conceded. She heard that for what it really was, Whirl holding on to her son for an indefinite amount of time, but it wasn't up to her to break that attachment into something more normal. If Claw wanted Root to be a good second in command, or heir, or whatever he was working toward, he would have to address Whirl sooner rather than later.
Far more important was Claw taking Root along on his alpha duties, but she couldn't see a problem with that, as of now. Root had strong morals and a stubbornness to rival both Mist, herself, and his Dam at times, and Claw was being a good influence, as far as she could tell. If it moved Root into a place of power, all the better.
Lily thought she saw the endgame of whoever was behind Claw. The first step was to break away from his most vile habits, then to slowly correct all of the most toxic customs around him. This next step looked to be placing strong-willed, upstanding dragons directly under him.
The step after that could be Claw just continuing as he was, or stepping down, or even going crazy and needing to be put down, but in any case the mystery dragon in charge was removing his power and putting it with others, starting with Root. She supported that.
She would support it more if she was one of those receiving responsibility and power, but Claw avoided her at every turn, and they had not spoken once since her outburst at him. If it weren't for her consistent spying, she would never see him except from afar.
O-O-O-O-O
The cold season had come, and Lily was having a hard time adjusting to being back where she had been last season-cycle. Thankfully, she was not the only one.
"I wish we could be outside," Crystal groaned, looking around the side-chamber. It was not the same one they had shared with Honey, it was larger and housed several families, but that wasn't quite enough to remove the stifling feeling.
"I got used to my rock," Lily agreed. Shine, as Crystal had named her daughter, whined as if in agreement. She let her head drop and covered Shine's back with warm scales.
"And the personal space, and the wind," Crystal groaned, patting Burble's back as he slumbered, sprawled out next to her. "I got used to being upwind of my hatchlings."
"Yeah," Lily said. "Want me to bring back the fish, or do you want a break?" Crystal's parents would be back soon, but it was easier to fall back into the pattern of helping Crystal as if there was nobody else to do it. She was happy to have something to fill the cold, bleak days with in the upcoming season.
"Yes, please, you go," Crystal said. "I will just stay here and prepare for an entire cold season of confinement. I wish we lived in warmer places, like Storm was talking about."
Lily rumbled in agreement and left. Storm was surprisingly easy to forget about, spending a lot of her time outside the valley, but her stories of other places had caught on like a wildfire with the rest of the pack.
Those stories interested Lily, but only mildly. It didn't help that Storm so often left out the things she would have wanted to hear, focusing on the narrow selection of things she had done and seen, not everything she had traveled through.
Lily passed through the main chamber, stopping briefly to take in the mayhem. She could see many familiar faces, all doing their own thing.
Pearl was an easy one to spot, right by Storm and the exit. She had voluntarily taken a place that most shied away from, the coldest spot in the cave, citing the need to not feel trapped.
Root and Claw were another obvious duo, on the far side of the cavern. Claw was laying back, letting Root settle disputes and lending his authority, but not his opinion. There were plenty of them, and from what Lily could see, Root was far more confident now. He had been practicing with Claw.
Mist was nearby, watching with a level stare. As far as Lily knew, she had taken it upon herself to ensure Claw didn't sneakily corrupt Root. There was nothing between her and Root, but she had decided to do it anyway.
Lily felt an urge, the urge to go over and spy on Claw, even though he wasn't doing anything. She could maybe discern a little more of his controller's agenda if she heard what he was allowing and what he challenged…
But, thinking about it, she felt no particular need to do that. Crystal was waiting, and so far the mysterious element behind all of this had done nothing but good for the pack and her personally.
She was beginning to feel the same urge that Crystal had expressed, the urge to sit back, stop prying, and let it all play out. Everything was going well, why should she bother herself with learning the details? If it all started going bad again, she would intervene, but her effort wasn't needed right now.
Lily turned away from that scene, headed outside, and began the chilly flight out to the ocean. They would all be stuck in the caves for the time being anyway; she could afford to relax on her observation. It hadn't gotten her anywhere so far.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily was alone in the burial grounds, near where they had left Granite, but not too near. She had no desire to turn a corner and find his sad, lonely remains in the freezing wind, cold shadows, and drifts of snow.
She shivered, sad, half-formed thoughts drifting across her mind, and hunched low, feeling miserable, though she was out in the cold of her own accord. A need to be alone had driven her outside, and a desire to mourn had pulled her here once she was out. The weather was conducive to darker, sadder thoughts, regret and old pain. They were in the depths of the cold season now, and inactivity drove contemplation.
If only all of this had happened a season-cycle sooner. She did not resent Root's good fortune, but she would prefer it to be Granite who was spared, Granite who was taken under Claw's wing and groomed to lead. He could have done it, the only real difference between the two was a season-cycle and Claw's differing personality.
She would have settled for Granite just being alive today. Life was slowly getting better, and she could not help but think it could just as easily get worse again, but Granite was quietly optimistic.
Lily looked to the sky, absently watching the clouds-
Just in time to see a light wing gliding down across her field of view, oblivious to her. It was Claw, dropping to land nearby.
Lily froze, but the moment she actually thought about his presence, she flamed herself and drove away the cold for the time being. Her camouflage would not last long in this weather, but she could not possibly resist spying on Claw. He had not come out to a clandestine meeting in the burial grounds since his 'injury' and the start of his change.
She snuck through the rocks, still feeling miserable in the back of her mind, and soon poked her camouflaged head out to see Claw in a narrow corridor.
Pearl was at the other end.
"I thought you did not want to see me," Claw said quietly. Lily had to strain to hear him over the wind whistling through the rocks.
"I didn't, I don't," Pearl replied unsteadily, looking down at the ground. "It is hard enough to remember Claw as a monster. Harder still to see him acting kind, like someone I might actually…"
"Yes, I know," Claw said kindly. He turned around, putting his tail to her. "Does this help?"
Pearl barked out a sad laugh. "Kind of," she admitted. "I will just have to bear it. How much longer?"
"Root shows promise, I am sure he can do well once he has his paws under him," Claw rumbled. "It's easy to work with him."
Lily held in a growl of surprise. The accent, once again present without sufficient explanation, this time in Claw.
"Yes, but how long for that?" Pearl persisted. "It's hard, seeing them all fawning over you, and even harder listening to the ones who still hate in private. I agree with both for very different reasons."
"Soon," Claw promised. "Very soon. I find myself working with him most days already, since it is easier than deflecting attention and questions about my injury."
"Did you really hurt yourself there?" Pearl asked, a hint of curiosity showing through her lingering distress.
"I won't show you, but yes, definitely," Claw growled ruefully. "That was the first thing I did, and I wish I could forget it. You have no idea how disconcerting it is to find a sharp rock and-"
"No details!" Pearl barked, looking queasy. "Is it permanent?"
"Probably. Not that it matters."
"Good. I do not like hearing how some of them talk about you, or thinking that they might catch your eye anew and test your recovery."
"If anything," Claw rumbled, still with his back to her, "seeing them just makes me want you all the more. You actually know me for me."
"And the memories have nothing to do with it?" Pearl asked worriedly.
"I try to avoid you because I am intentionally avoiding any memory that leads to you," Claw said cryptically. "That has not been sullied. But some of the memories I did look at have hurt me in a different way entirely."
"Not in an… attraction… way?" Pearl said slowly.
"No, not that, they are just memories, not feelings, and I could not disagree with them more," Claw growled. "But I do feel horrible for those in them. Lily especially, I cannot help but want to comfort her. He harmed her worst of all, his oldest daughter, the only one he ever even noticed, but for all the wrong reasons."
Lily scowled in disgust, hearing Claw speak of her, but by now she was beginning to understand that the one speaking wasn't Claw, hadn't always looked like him or thought like him. There was something going on here, something both Pearl and Claw already knew about and thus were not explaining, much to her frustration.
"She is a daughter, and you want to treat her like one," Pearl murmured.
"Yes," Claw confirmed, "but unlike all the others, I cannot even begin to mend the bonds that were so thoroughly perverted and defiled, and I do not want to. Not as him. That sort of thing is not forgivable, and it should not happen. She deserves to hate him without remorse or second thoughts, but she also deserves to have a Sire to look up to, and she cannot have both, not even with my power in play."
"I think I get it," Pearl said. "You cannot be that for her as you are. Maybe afterwards?"
"Maybe, or maybe I cannot fix everything, no matter how hard I try or how badly I want to," Claw sighed. "Soon, I promise. Before the thaw, so that none will try to follow."
"And when you do come back… What then?" Pearl asked.
"Whatever you want to do," Claw said simply. "Don't ask me about my feelings, it is hard to hold off those memories when thinking of you, much less in that way."
"Keep holding them off," Pearl said sharply. "I do not want you to see any of that."
"I am, but you should go," Claw groaned, pawing at his head. "It is not supposed to work like this, it only does not hurt when I am not thinking of you."
Pearl leaped into the air without another word and fled as quickly as she could fly. Claw did not follow, standing still and occasionally shaking his head.
Lily backed away from the sight, her heart heavy and confused. She was closer than ever to understanding it all, and she now knew that the one in charge was Claw, but not. Something or someone that had overtaken him, or stolen him, or become him but not entirely. Someone Pearl cared for.
Lily decided, in that moment as she backed away from the scene, to stop digging entirely. She had enough of an answer to be satisfied. If she kept pushing, she might mess something up, and it sounded like Claw would be gone for good soon. Before the thaw.
And as for the rest of what 'Claw' had said about her… She decided not to think about it. Much like with how 'Claw' could not think of Pearl, she could not think of some other person feeling protective over her, not when the only identity she could assign to that person was 'Claw.'
O-O-O-O-O
Lily was one of the first to arrive when Claw called the entire pack to a meeting out on the plateau in spite of the lingering icy cold. She heavily suspected that she knew what it meant, but she had to see to believe.
Crystal was with her, having left Burble and Shine with a caretaker for the brief time it would take to hear Claw's all-important announcement and hurry back inside. Lily pitied the caretaker, whoever it was, though she heavily suspected that it was Pearl, who would not feel the need to be here.
"What do you suppose it is?" Crystal asked, huddling up alongside her for warmth as they waited. "I bet it has to do with Root. They have been inseparable this last moon-cycle, and he looked nervous yesterday."
"When did you see him yesterday?" Lily asked, intrigued.
"He was with Storm and Mist," Crystal explained. "I think Mist was trying to set him up with Storm, but it was not working because he was so distracted by something else that he would not speak about."
"It might be about Root," Lily allowed. She spoke innocently, as if she didn't know, because as far as anyone would ever know, she was as oblivious as the rest of them. This was one secret she was going to keep entirely to herself for the time being, possibly forever. It helped nobody to know it, and it could disrupt the plans of Pearl and her ally.
"Light wings of this pack!" Claw roared, diving to land on the plateau with an audible impact. Lily would have winced had she even the slightest sympathy for him. Though she should sympathize if this was not really Claw, she couldn't. The dissociation was far too hard to apply to her own emotions, and it was easier to just hate, like he himself had said.
Root flew in to land behind Claw, and Crystal purred smugly.
"I have not always been a good alpha, or a good person," Claw announced. The pack was silent in a way that was only ever achieved when everyone was waiting for a speaker's next words.
"Some of the things I did wrong have been corrected, others prevented from continuing after me," Claw continued. "Never have I asked for forgiveness, and I am not asking now."
Lily nodded, though she heard whispered confusion from those around her. For all they knew, for all she was supposed to know, this was Claw, and what he had done was not forgivable. It definitely wasn't forgivable if some other person had made him change course against his will or replaced him entirely at the height of his depravity, whatever the case was.
"I am, however," Claw continued, "making things right. Now I have come to the end of what I myself can do. As such, I have a few last announcements."
Lily wondered what he was going to do. If he was just going to make Root alpha, he would have done that immediately.
"There will be no more fights for the position of alpha," Claw announced. "The alpha should be of sound mind and strong heart, not strong in muscle and nothing else. Going forward, the next alpha will design a way to have successors, but this one time, I am picking my successor and stepping down."
There was a growing roar, a babble of surprise, but Claw roared loudly and cut it off.
"What I have done is not forgivable, and I will not remain alpha now that I have fixed the little I can," he said firmly, brooking no argument. "I am going into the wilds today, and I am never coming back. My mates, consider yourselves free of any ties to me, and find better partners here or abroad. I would not be able to resume being with you anyway, my injury has proven permanent."
There was a murmur of understanding at that. Lily knew that rumors had been circulating about that, given how long it was taking for him to recover and go back to his old ways.
"My children, many of which are not here or not old enough to understand…" Claw shook his head. "Find better role models. If you turn out like me, I hope your new alpha firmly punishes you. What I did is not okay, it is not forgivable, and it is not acceptable in the slightest. The rest of you…"
He paused, then growled angrily. "Listen to Root, for he will be your alpha, but do not obey unquestioningly. If he does something that feels wrong, do not ignore it. Never ignore the things you think should not happen. That just makes it worse and makes the victims feel alone."
"I am not asking for forgiveness," and here he made eye contact with Lily. She made sure to glare at him. "I do not want it. Goodbye to all of you."
Claw sprang into the air, flapped up to a good height, then dropped and flamed himself. His body shimmered and disappeared from sight, and a cold gust of wind made it hard to look directly into the sky.
A few people, mostly his mates and Diora for some reason, rose into the air to follow him. They didn't get far, given none of them had any idea what direction he had departed in.
Nobody would be able to follow, and nobody would know what became of him. Lily felt a cold satisfaction at that thought. Whatever else happened, she doubted that anyone would ever see Claw again, and given how the one taking his place felt, she held no illusions as to his ultimate fate. Either he was already dead, or would soon he.
"I am cold," Crystal remarked. "Do you think Root will mind if I go back to the cave? Everyone knows Claw taught him, nobody will try and stop him from taking over."
"Nobody else has any support, even if a few people would like to take his place," Lily agreed. Already, there were a few males approaching Root. The first one to bow his head was Ivy, who she only recognized because his mate was still searching frantically for any sign of Claw right above his head.
Root growled, stuck a paw under Ivy's chin, and raised his head. He said something about not demanding submission, just loyalty, and Ivy looked as if he had been clubbed over the head.
"He'll do fine," Lily agreed. "You go." She would stay and watch over this transfer of power, however inevitable it seemed. If needed, she would step in and side with Root. He was a good person, and she would rather get in close with him and correct him directly if he made bad choices in the future. Gone were the days of leading potential insurrections. She knew him, he had a good heart, and that was enough for now.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily filled the rest of her cold-season with spending time with her friends and the new alpha. She easily ingratiated herself with the latter by offering advice on handling some of the more problematic females Claw had left in his wake, those who were all for organizing searches and dragging their missing mate back by force if they found him.
Many light wings were not happy after Claw left; he had, after all, abandoned a large group of apparently loving mates without a single kind word, special goodbye, or offer to take them with him. There were a lot of broken hearts, and thus a lot of whining and spiteful infighting to deal with.
But Lily could already see those injuries healing, and quickly. Some were already approaching the new, unmated alpha, though Root had professed a desire to take no mate for the time being. Diora was one of those, though she still had a mate, and Root had not needed Lily's advice to keep a careful eye on how Silva was treated and plan for a way to remove her from Diora without too much fuss. Claw had warned him of that already, it seemed, something that Lily would not have taken well had she not known the truth.
By the time the weather cleared and the air warmed, the pack was well on its way to being back to normal, for all that everything had changed over the past season-cycle.
Lily claimed her small rock with great pleasure the moment the snow cleared, knowing that one of the many newly unattached females would take it if they had the slightest excuse, but she was beginning to think about Pyre's cave. Maybe she would give up her rock to someone and move there. If it was a choice between having Pyre's cave, or someone else finding and claiming it, she knew what she would choose.
Between that, her friendships with Mist, Crystal, Root, and Pearl, and the little things that governed daily life, Lily found herself busy while the season changed around her. Claw's absence felt like permission to not think about him or the ones behind all of it, so she chose not to think about him at all.
But she had not forgotten what she learned and what she overheard, and she could see Pearl's agitation increasing, slowly but steadily, with every day that passed. Everyone could, it was not a secret that Pearl awaited the arrival of a male interest who she had not heard from in a long while. Indeed, when a blazing orange dark wing appeared over the mountains, and Pearl flew up to meet him with glee, those around Lily nodded happily, glad to see him though they knew little about him.
Lily, on the other paw, didn't know what to think. She just knew that she had to meet him, to see for herself.
Ember was large, scarred, muscular, and surprisingly kind behind his deep voice and imposing presence. He politely bowed to Root, the alpha, immediately upon setting down.
"We have been waiting for you," Root said casually. "Pearl, your friend, has said much about you."
"And Storm was there to correct her with the embarrassing details, I am sure," Ember said with a laugh. "Also, that's wrong. She's not just my friend, she is my mate, if she will have me."
"Took you long enough to say that," Pearl said joyously. "You could have made it official before going off to tie up those loose ends."
"It was not until after I had put those loose ends out of my mind that I was able to know my feelings for you, and know that they were genuine and lasting," Ember said as he nuzzled her. Lily heard the assurance he meant just for Pearl hidden in his words, but everyone else just heard a sappy, romantic declaration of love.
"Well," Root said, obviously uncomfortable following that up, "if you plan to stay, follow pack rules, which your mate can tell you. Welcome."
"Got it," Ember rumbled. "So, Pearl, who are your friends?" He looked around as if he had never seen any of them.
"Crystal," Pearl listed, pointing her tail at each of them in turn. "Root is alpha, you met him, Mist is a new friend, and then there is Lily." She nodded to Lily.
Lily met Ember's gaze, but she noticed a hesitant twitch from one of his front paws, like he wanted to reach out but had stopped himself short.
All doubt fled her mind, even as she purred politely at him and didn't let on that she knew. This was the person responsible for stepping in and fixing all that could be fixed in her life. The one who had confessed to feeling bad for her, to wanting to comfort her but understanding that he couldn't possibly do it in his current form…
She stepped forward, closed the distance between them, and pressed her forehead to his. "I look forward to getting to know you, since you are the mate of my friend," she said warmly. She wanted him to have no illusions about how she saw him; he was loyal to Pearl, loyal enough to hurt himself just to drive other females away, and she wanted to give him a chance to act as he wished he could while masquerading as Claw, not steal him for herself.
She felt she would like to have another male figure to look up to, and the one who tricked an entire pack into believing he was their alpha for moon-cycles on end seemed to be the type she would appreciate advice from.
"Besides," she added, feeling she could afford to be a little more open about what she wanted, "You know about the outside world, and I want to learn as much as I can."
"I do know a lot, at that," Ember rumbled happily, breaking away from her to stand with his tail around Pearl's. "We could talk sometime soon?"
"Definitely." She purred at both him and Pearl, hoping she had assured the both of them that she wasn't aiming for Ember's attention. Others would, he was physically impressive and had a kind personality, but she wanted something else entirely. To get to know the one who had befuddled her and saved her from Claw, both for her sake and for his.
Author's Note: This one was never very likely in canon, it's rife with complications I glossed over and ignored here, some very disturbing if you stop to think about it (such as Ember necessarily having to 'watch' Claw covet and assault his own daughter, and who knows what else, and that whole thing with Pearl, though I hand-waved that weirdness away with a small extrapolation of Ember's ability). But it's still an interesting idea if one assumes that all of those complications are solved behind the scenes. Thus, I decided to do it from a fragmented, time-skipping Lily perspective (because more complications are on her side of things, and I didn't have the insanity necessary to cram the majority of the first book of UotD into this one-shot).
I'm not sure how this one-shot feels, tonally. Probably weird, fragmented, and unbelievable. That does at least put readers in the same mindset as the protagonist, always a plus.
But hey, it's an interesting idea.