A/N. Might have a few inconsistencies, so apologies for that. Hoping to update weekly; fortnightly if not possible.

Chapter 1

(Night of Queen Ruby's arrival at JMA. After the eavesdropping scene of Escaping Peril.)

The air was heavy, Peril was sure. Not metaphorically heavy, really, actually heavy. What other explanation would there be? Breathing was never this difficult.

They didn't want her.

The shadows of the cave were creeping in, darkening and concealing all they touched. Just her tired eyes, right?

They didn't want her.

Peril covered her face with her talons and closed her eyes. She should stop lying to herself. She should just… stop.

"Hey, are- are you okay?" Turtle's presence entered the fringe of her perception, brushing lightly on her mind. He sounded… concerned. For her?

Slowly, she opened her eyes and nodded tentatively.

They didn't want her.

Peril sighed "...no."

Turtle pulled back slightly, cocking his head to the side, worry never leaving his face. Peril shifted away from him to give herself fleeting privacy; to give herself the space to think.

Ruby wanted her gone. The school founders didn't trust her. She was a danger to everyone in this school, and everyone Clay cared about was in this school. Her presence was counterproductive. Why did he even ask her to come? She was not needed, not wanted here.

So just leave.

The answer was… simple. And she hated that. Just… leaving would solve so many- so many problems. And she hated that. It would allow Ruby and her guards to focus on… Scarlet… without having to fret about her presence. The students wouldn't have to be around a beacon of death - and she was, no matter how much she tried to change. What good could she accomplish here anyway?

Was she actually capable of "good"?

…

Turtle coughed awkwardly.

"...We should head to bed. Probably. If you want."

Peril didn't move.

Just leave.

"...yeah."

It had been a while since she had woken up without anger. Ever since her banishment from the Sky Kingdom she had found her mornings tainted by rage for someone. Anger at Ruby. Anger at Scarlet. Anger at herself. But today, there was none of that. No loathing Scarlet. No self-deprecating comments. Just… emptiness. She was tired.

Peril started to make the journey down to Clays cave. She had resolved to let him know what she was doing, so as to not cause panic. Even though she knew it would hurt to see his reaction. Even though he might try to convince her otherwise.

…He will.

Was she hoping he would? Maybe a small part of her did. Maybe that was okay. As long as that didn't stop her from finally doing something right this time.

As she rounded the corner into the main hall she almost ran into a green dragon. It better not be who she thought it was.

It was.

Peril sighed. She was going to get a headache.

Turtle jumped back with a yelp of surprise before attempting to compose himself, donning a wary smile.

"Peril! Um, hi. I was looking for you." He was?

"You were?" She should've kept her mouth shut. Dragons were staring. Turtle seemed oblivious to this, however, and rambled on, nervously picking at the rocks in his bracelet.

"I… wanted to apologise to you." A few more dragons stopped to watch the conversation in surprise. Couldn't they just mind their own business? Her scales were starting to prickle under their gazes. She didn't like it.

"For what?" She didn't mean to sound as demanding as she probably did, judging by Turtle's reaction - eyes wide, arm drawn protectively across his chest - but it was so… foreign. It didn't feel right. A dragon? Apologising to her? That never happened.

He lowered his voice and dipped his head, swishing his tail against the cold stone floor.

"The whole… thing last night was my fault… I… here." Turtle shuffled around in a small brown bag she hadn't noticed until now, pulling out a small nondescript object and holding it out to her.

There were a few awkward moments of silence before Peril realised that he was handing the object to her, and a couple more moments to figure out how to receive it. Eventually, she put her talons under his so he could drop it into hers.

It was a stone. A… decently large stone that was about the size of her palm. Round, smooth, probably would've been cool before it made contact with her scales. The only distinguishing feature the rock had was the letter j, neatly chiselled into the top face.

"A… rock?" She questioned. She wasn't being ungrateful or anything! But… Peril wasn't sure this was the most orthodox gift. Or was it an apology thing? Whatever…

Turtle shrugged, a light smile gracing his features.

"Yeah. A rock." He said, amusedly unimpressed with himself. "Sorry, I didn't really have much time to think of anything else."

Oh no. The only gift she had received from a dragon not named Scarlet and she was coming off as ungrateful!

"Um- I'm not ungrateful or anything, just- is this a seawing thing?"

Turtle laughed tiredly and his wings relaxed; Peril only noticed then how exhausted he looked.

"No, no. I guess you could say that it's a 'me' thing." He took a deep breath. "But… I'd appreciate it if you didn't lose it."

Right. Right.

She was never letting it go.

They weren't friends, not really, and most of their interactions had ended badly, but… it was a gift. Someone had thought of her and thought 'yeah, this would be nice to give her' and that was special.

"Okay." Was all she said in reply, holding the rock with the claw of her wing so she could walk (somewhat finicky; most dragons didn't have much strength or control in those muscles, and she was not one of the few who did). Turtle was mollified by her response and offered her one last small smile.

And they both went on their way.