Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Orb

FlashFictionFriday #300: Rise and Fall

There weren't many occasions where Pell admitted to himself that he wanted to go back in time to shake some sense into his younger self. Most of the time, even if his choice hadn't been the best choice, it had led to something that was worth the slip.

One time he wished he did have the capability to go back to and shake his younger self until he stopped doing something stupid and dangerous was swaggering into the night dragon enclave with the naïve belief that they were good and would help. True, Shadow had had no idea, either, that Segun and his inner circle had got so polluted that it would end with his pride battered and bruised, and a battle that he would have called a war if he hadn't seen an actual war through Aurora's portals, but Pell still felt the sting of failure from that.

Of course, alerting Segun had saved Shadow's life, getting Knifetail sacrificed instead, and while Pell wished no dragons had died, if a dragon had had to die, at least it wasn't his. He still would've sent his younger self to meet with Segun, to ensure that there was still another night dragon around to die instead of Shadow, but he would've sent him in armed with the knowledge of the betrayal, and an insistence that he plan an escape.

Not staying too high for too long and getting injured beforehand would certainly have made a difference.

All of that paled in comparison to the far more foolish mistake Pell had made later, sitting over the cairn marking Segun's body, while Shadow was out of earshot and exhausted and injured herself, much like Pell. Weak, vulnerable.

He'd thought he was being smart and cautious, insisting that he wouldn't be a puppet leader. The danger had been there, but he'd been sweet-talked, promises that he wouldn't be a leader – not yet, not while he was so young – tempted with the thing he still wanted, despite everything.

If Pell could go back in time to shake some sense into his younger self, it would've been then. He'd have gripped him tightly, never mind his own injuries, and told him that he couldn't fix the night dragon enclave. Reminded him that Segun might've been the leader but he'd had an entire inner circle and none of them had died.

Alone, and injured, he'd agreed to fly back into the lion's den, where his only ally was Shadow, who was just as alone and injured as he was. They should've gone to find the others first, get Shadow healed by Aurora and asked Nolita for Firestorm's aid, too. Got their strength back.

Shadow told him it wasn't all his blame to take; she hadn't disagreed when they'd reunited, had gone along with it with the same blind hope. That didn't stop Pell's heart aching with regret.

The night dragon's reputation was a dire one, and Pell understood wanting to improve it – he wanted to be able to go somewhere without being treated with suspicion, as though he and Shadow were there to cause trouble for their own amusement. He wasn't sure the rest of the enclave actually wanted to improve it, though. They certainly weren't making any moves to improve themselves, Segun's former inner circle taking over control of the leadership and carrying on where their former leader had left it.

Pell and Shadow couldn't change anything themselves, and all too late, Pell had realised it had been a trap.

He and Shadow weren't forgiven for their role in the great prophecy. They weren't forgiven for flying with the day dragons, for fighting against the night dragon enclave's intention to dominate the world.

Once they'd been isolated from their former allies, not that Pell had really recognised them as such at the time, although he knew Shadow had at least seen their companions' dragons as such, things had gone wrong.

Badly wrong.

They were fleeing, Pell clinging on to the pommel of his saddle and trying not look back as he listened to the near-silence of his dragon's wings. Shadow was doing what she could to hide, employing her ability as best she could, but her injuries from Widewing weren't fully healed and other dragons had since managed to make their mark, too.

Pell was hurt, too, his wounds from Segun still aching behind the more prevalent burn of Shadow's wounds as she threw everything she had into getting them away from their pursuers. It wasn't too bad, nothing he couldn't handle, but he couldn't see how they were going to get away.

Shadow was powerful, and fast, but they were outnumbered and her injuries were worse than theirs. They didn't have Aurora there with the rising dawn to whisk them away, they couldn't hide like Longfang, or take drastic measures to ground the dragons on their tail like Firestorm had proved he could.

It felt like they were dragging out the inevitable, but Pell wasn't a quitter, and nor was Shadow. They would keep going, keep fighting, keep surviving, because they were strong.

He could feel Shadow vaguely in the back of his mind, not fully focused on his ruminations because she had to focus on trying to escape, to get away, on the rise and fall of her wings as she pushed them to the limit. Pell hadn't asked where they were fleeing too. Shadow hadn't found the time to tell him and he suspected she didn't know, either. She didn't talk about her dragonsense as much as Elian said Aurora always leant on hers, but Pell knew she still had it, whatever it was.

He suspected she was following it now, with no other guidance for where they could possibly go.

It turned out it didn't matter where she was going, because there were too many of them, and Shadow's injuries were just too much.

Pain exploded in his lower back and Shadow roared, defiance flooding their bond. Pell couldn't stop himself from looking back, even though he already knew it had to be another attack, and he was faced with the blazing red eye of another night dragon, unfamiliar in the dark but he didn't think he wanted to know who it was, either.

Their head was too close to him, far too close, and panic filtered across between him and Shadow, passing one way and then the other, because they were caught and that wasn't going to end well.

'Hold on!' Shadow warned him, and he grit his teeth against the pain to increase his grip, leaning forward, low over the side of the pommel – away from the head of the night dragon that was too close – and prayed it would be enough.

The world twisted, Shadow dipping a wing and then throwing it high in an attempt to dislodge the other dragon. Pell couldn't tell if it worked because everything still hurt. More pain sparked in his arm, in his side, and his gasp was swallowed by the wind.

'Pell!' Shadow cried. He'd never heard her sound so shrill before. It was almost like Nolita when dragons got too close, shrill and terrified.

Right then, Pell missed Nolita, if only for Firestorm and the healing the day dragon could give him. He missed Elian and Aurora, too, for the same reason. Even Kira… she and Longfang's stealth and hunting skills were useful, in combat.

There was no point in missing them, though. Pell had made his choice, Shadow had agreed with him, and they'd left their quest companions behind for the lure of their own enclave. The place that was supposed to be their home.

Now they had nothing. No home, no companions, and a rapidly dwindling hope.

And pain. So much pain.

'Hold on, Pell!' he heard Shadow say again, her voice echoing weirdly inside his head. 'Stay with me!'

Pell wasn't planning on going anywhere. He had no-one else, had burned down all his other bridges, but Shadow was part of him and he couldn't, wouldn't leave her.

Even though the pain was getting worse, and there was copper in his mouth. Even though his vision was blurring and he was loosing all the feeling in his fingertips. Even though the world hadn't stopped spinning and rising-falling-rising around them.

He couldn't breathe. His chest felt crushed. He didn't know why. Shadow's chest was fine.

'PELL!'

The darkness swallowed him up.

Been a while since I last wrote anything for FFF or for Dragon Orb. The latter, at least, has been nagging my brain for a while so hopefully my muses will bite a little more. May add more onto this story later, but for now I'm calling it a oneshot.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari