Quickstrike's ears perked at the sound of footsteps approaching her way.

Her whole body was in tremendous pain, and she could feel her head practically splitting open. But her wing, the pain and burning sensation in it was out of the reach of the three moons.

Her eyes reluctantly opened, and she was surprised to find herself in an island.

She whacked her brain for memory, even though it hurt to even do that, and rememberd the accident all too well.

Lightning, pain, stars, and then... nothing.

Deathbringer.

She forced her muscles to let her stand up, and almost howled in pain when a voice off in the trees stopped her.

Instead, she let out a hiss and cursed her son for not being there.

Where was he anyways?

Quickstrike examined more closely the island around her, and with a jolt realized that it was the exact same island her and Deathbringer were headed off to.

Surely not...

The assassin couldn't continue her thought, for the footsteps seemed to be getting closer and closer.

Her instincts urged her to hide, and she did just that.

Quickstrike expertly examined the area around her, and concluded that there really was no where to hide.

Her eyes scanned behind her at the open sea, and a thought lit up her head.

It took everything in her to lift her wings to her sides, just so she wouldn't leave a track for others to follow. And it was a struggle to make her talons step in the sand as light as possible.

Slowly, her talons touched the ocean water, and soon enough she was completely submerged.

It was cold, to say the least, and it gave her a strange, eery feeling. The salty water burned her injury, and she finally concluded that this was the most physical pain she had ever been in. She wouldn't dare open her eyes, the salt of the water would sting them until the pain made her want to claw them out.

Quickstrike risked a professional peek at the island, making sure that she was far enough from the shore. Her eyes and horns were the only thing peeping out of the water.

There were three SandWings on the shore, and the looks on their faces were puzzled, confused, and scared.

"Blister is going to kill us," the one with pale yellow scales said.

The other two solemnly nodded, knowing perfectly well their fate.

"But where in the moons could she have gone too?" The biggest one asked. His eyes were scanning every centimeter around him, and when he stared at the ocean, Quickstrike ducked her head underwater and held her breath for thirty seconds before coming back up.

"Okay, I guess we could do that too, but if she finds us out..." the one with the brown spots on her wings growled.

Do what?

The big one, who seemed to be in charge, let out a hiss at the SandWing with the pale yellow scales. "Arid, you're the one we will blame," he snapped.

Arid shakily nodded and soon the three of them headed back into the trees.

What happened while I was out?

Where is Deathbringer?

Did he complete the mission or did he chicken out and go back to the NightWing island for help?

The idiot...

Quickstrike figured that to get the answers to her questions, she would have to go back on the island.

Slowly but surely, she made her way back to the shore. The scales on her wing missed the feeling of the cold water, and her stomach hurt so much from hunger.

Mission first, I'll worry about myself later.

Quickstrike looked up and noted with relief that there were plenty of trees and branches to walk on.

The NightWing assassin climbed the shortest one she could find and started her way from there.

She went as high as she could go without exhausting herself, but she must not have rested enough, because the pain in her wing almost made her pass out twice.

Quickstrike let her scales blend in with the shadows, and dully noted that there seemed to be a full search on the island.

Whatever happened while she was out, must have caused a great chaos.

There seemed to be a greater amount of dragons in a camp up ahead, so Quickstrike headed that way and carefully perched herself on a branch high in the trees.

Her eyes instantly landed on the trio of SandWings from earlier. They were standing in front of another SandWing that had black, diamond shaped scales along her neck.

Blister

Quickstrike had seen her only once before, when her mission had been to kill a potential love interest of hers. The NightWings didn't want any of the sisters to have dragonets, it would tip the scale of the war in a direction that the tribe of night didn't want.

"We killed the NightWing, your majesty," Arid said with a determined look on his face.

A freezing cold instantly ran through Quickstrike's body.

There was only one other Nightwing that had been sent to this mission with her.

They killed Deathbringer.

Who else could they be talking about?

We were the only NightWings around, and they know I escaped.

He always was foolish enough to get himself killed. Son of a black star is what he is.

Although negative thoughts ran through her mind, deep down in her heart Quickstrike mourned her son's death silently.

Not a tear escaped her hard walls, but her talons seemed to shake in shock.

There's no going back now. I can't go back to the island. The queen will want my head if she knew we failed the mission, and not only that. But the fact that two dragonets died for it would make it worse.

He just had to kill Slaughter didn't he. Just made it all worse.

With a final glance at the camp below her, Quickstrike made her way back to shore.

She had to figure out a way to somehow make it back to land, since flying was useless.

The island was full of soldiers, and Quickstrike would never be able to tend to her wing with so many dragons.

Her only solution was swimming.

The assassin walked and climbed along the branches slower this time.

Deathbringer's death felt like both of her wings had been struck by lightning and then covered in rocks.

The shore finally came in sight, and luckily for her, there were no SandWings that she could see.

It was a painful climb down the trees considering that throughout her little mission her wing had somehow gotten worse.

Quickstrike had two options now.

She could wait until all the dragons from Blister's army left and then leave herself, or go now while they were still busy with the meeting.

Quickstrike frowned until she finally made up her mind.

She had to go now, before anyone had a chance to see her.

Quickly but silently, the NightWing assassin made her way to the edge of the shore where the seawater lapped gently at her black talons.

With one last look at the island where she believed her son took his final breath, Quickstrike submerged herself in the ocean and began swimming to the nearest land.

It wasn't long before her muscles began to fail her.

She was just too weak.

She hadn't eaten in days, and the lack of fresh, clean water was taking a toll on her. Not to mention that her wing wasn't cooperating with her by hanging down into the water.

Quickstrike's breaths were heavy and her legs were pedaling slower and slower by the minute.

She was exhausted, hungry, and miserable.

She didn't want to go on anymore. There was no point to keep moving.

Her only son was dead, and if she survived she would live a life of a fugitive, running away from her tribe until the end of her days.

Eventually, Quickstrike began to sink into the depths of the ocean, and the blue sky she had been staring at before was gone, replaced by the darkness of a deep blue.

Quickstrike thought it was her end, but a flash of blue, light up scales caught her attention.

Even if she had wanted to, Quickstrike couldn't go see what it was. Her thoughts were slower, and the pain in her chest from lack of oxygen was growing every second.

The last thing Quickstrike saw before going unconscious were sky blue eyes that captivated her very soul.

She woke up in an island.

Quickstrike tried to get up, thinking a SeaWing soldier must have found her and brought her here, but a blue talon gently pushed her down.

Her eyes drifted up to see a male, middle aged SeaWing with blue scales so dark that they were almost black. He had a small smile on his face, and his sky blue eyes were gentle.

"Hi there," he said. His voice was low and deep, soothing in a way that Quickstrike immediately took a liking to.

Quickstrike tried to respond, but her throat was too dry and coarse.

The SeaWing pushed forward a bowl with drinkable water in it. He didn't say anything.

He didn't have to.

Quickstrike immediately began to lap up the water despite her thoughts yelling at her to stop and think. The water was cool, refreshing, and it made the pain in her throat go away.

"Why," she started but coughed before continuing, "are you helping me?"

The SeaWing sighed. "Well, I had been planning to escape the army for a while now. See, my father forced me to join. But until now I had no reason to. Then, as we were preparing to head back to the kingdom, I saw you. I thought it was weird to see a NightWing drowning and came over to help. No one saw me of course."

"I brought you here. Your wing looked  pretty bad so I kinda bandaged you up. I also caught fish if you want some."

Quickstrike's face revealed nothing about the situation, so the SeaWing decided to continue.

"Don't worry about anyone finding us, this island is so small no one would think of coming here," he said.

Quickstrike let out a sigh and replied, "Thank you ah- I don't know your name."

The dark blue SeaWing grinned. "I'm Deep, at your service..." his soothing voice carried on, not knowing what her name was.

"Quickstrike," she finished for him.

"Quickstrike, nice name," he smiled at her.

Quickstrike found herself smiling back. Thing was though, she hadn't smiled in four years.

Maybe life doesn't have to end when another ends, maybe it can move on and start again.

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YEET!

What you have all been waiting for... the prologue!!

Sooooo, what do you all think?

Is the idea good?

I'm trying something a little bit different here.

Also, just to clarify, Deathbringer isn't dead.

It's what Quickstrike assumes when she heard that they said that they killed the NightWing.

Just wanted to make that clear before someone comes over and slices my neck in my sleep for sinking Glorybringer.

This is a 'what if' fanfic.

Hope you like the next chapter.

Okie Dokie

Every day, life ends and begins.

-Sofi