"Hmmm," Lydia blinked as she looked up at the NightWing who stood before her. He was a slender NightWing with narrow green eyes that glinted like the leaf's in the forest when Quickstrike had been traveling with Lydia, bringing her to the village. Placed at the corner of each eye were two tiny pearly off white scales that seemed to glow in the warm torch light. His horns were thick with a slight curl on the tips. His scales were a swampy dark green, matching his eyes. "This is your daughter, Quickstrike?"

"Yes," Qucikstrike sounded proud, "yes she is!"

Behind them by the door was where Quickstrike was sitting with two other NightWing's, well, one didn't seem to be a full NightWing. That one was Skyseeker, she was a broad shouldered, warm brown NightWing with a thick set of horns and what almost looked to be tiny tusk like teeth, which was common amongst some MudWing's.

Beside Skyseeker was Starfinder, an inky black NightWing with wings that looked to be coated in tiny star's, so much so that they nearly looked to be white with black stars instead of the other way around. Her eyes were a bright blue, it almost looked purple but when looked at closely, it was clear to see they were a bright shade of dark blue, a colour that matched the sea. Skyseeker and Starfinder were sitting close together, the smaller of the two leaning close to Skyseeker's ear and mumbling something under her breath.

"Could you describe to me again what you're able to see dear?"

Standing by them was also Fatefinder, the young NightWing guard in training watching her with an encouraging look in his eye when he watched her, but he constantly would look around the room, she didn't quite understand what he was doing, but when she saw he was still here with her, it gave her a sense of relief.

He was looking out for her, ever since he died, he's been looking out for her.

The young NightWing princess forced her attention back towards the NightWing in front of her, Futurereader. She took in a breath before she started to tell him what she could see, just like Qucikstrike told her too. "Be truthful," he said as he walked her down the stone tunnel hallway, his wing keeping her close, "tell him everything you told me."

"I can see ....dragons, but they're no one I recognize," she told him before adding, "most of the time."

"You see dragons you don't recognize?" Futurereader's ears twitched as he leaned forwards a little, sitting down to be closer to Lydia's level. It helped to make him look smaller, not as scary. Like Eirwen had done when he saw Lydia. "Could you describe to me some of them?"

Her mind started to think about all the strange dragons she's seen, as well as Fatefinder.

Seeing Fatefinder dead, laying in a pool of his own blood, now standing within the room, watching over her as a wispy see through figure. Dancing with Morpho then seeing him morph into a HiveWing with black eyes full of anger and rage, a murderous look in their eyes.

The LeafWing named Roseary who seemingly had lost her mind, screaming about a liar and a snitch. Sitting beside the NightWing with broken armor, grieving for dragons Lydia might never know. A wispy dragon leaving her the note to 'Find the Flower'. The shadowy dragon who spoke with a hiss and hid within the shadows on a torch lit dungeon. Then there was the MudWing with five other angry wispy dragons looming over her, their faces blurred and distorted, looking like steamy mist.

"At first, there was a LeafWing, her name is Roseary. She keeps muttering and screaming about a traitor, someone who ratted them out to 'the hives." she described, her tail moving itself closer to her side. "Then there was a NightWing, she was covered in armor that was all...broken. Especially around her face. I don't know her name, but she kept saying sorry to someone, saying she had done awful things."

She could hear Skyseeker and Starfinder shuffling behind her, moving their talons on the smooth cave stone floor as if they were getting antsy.

"Then there was as SkyWing, their scales were really orange with brown wings and stars on the inside, she was screaming Roseary's name." she could picture it clearly, as though the vision had all just happened yesterday.

"In the to- back home in the town," she hurried to correct herself, not looking Futurereader in the eyes after she nearly messed up her wording, "back home," she started again as her ears pressed against the sides of her head, her earring rubbing against her scales like it had done so many times before, reminding her of home where she had gotten it. "There was a MudWing, and she had five others around her."

Futurereader gave her a questioning look, as if to say 'all MudWing's have sibling groups, what makes this one special?' To which she quickly added in on how these other MudWing's looked, describing their fiery silhouettes of misty steam, their faces blurred and eyes blazing like the fire within a dragon that fueled their anger, rage and pride. What made them a dragon.

"With all of these dragons I've seen, they're always somewhere, mostly places I don't recognize with other dragons I don't recognize."

Suddenly, their voices started to ring out within her head, echoing their emotions, making them sound as though she were hearing them again. As if they had heard her talking about them and were trying to make their presence known.

"PRINCESS!"

"MY BABY! WHERE'S MY BABY!?"

"You'll give yourself more of a headache."

"I'm sorry, I'm so terribly sorry."

"ROSEARY!"

"It's all my fault!"

"Down, down, down. In the bay where the hives can't fly. Only where stones and bones may lay, alone and cold."

"A SNITCH! A FOX! A THIEF!"

"YOU!"

New voices started to fill her head, rushing in like a tidal wave. Her head pounded, ached, her ears pinning back against her skull, her earring pressing against her scales. These were voices she didn't remember, didn't recognize. They sounded angry, heart broken, betrayed, horrified.

"HOW COULD YOU!? WE'RE FAMILY!"

"YOU'RE A MONSTER!"

"You're like a flower, my little flower, blooming into her potential as a strong dragon."

"No! PLEASE!"

"You see that star? We'll follow it, it'll take us there."

"I DIDN'T WANT YOU DEAD!"

"We're in this together, alright?"

"DAD NO! WE CAN'T LEAVE HIM!"

"NO! No, no, no, no, no! I can't lose you too! I can't!"

"S-....COUGH.....Scorpion?"

"It's okay, I'm glad I was able to see you one last time, my little ruby."

"No....you didn't.... YOU DIDN'T! TELL ME IT WASN'T YOU!"

"The lot of you are thieves, all you care about is the shiniest thing in front of your faces!"

"Dad? What are you doing?"

"YOU ARE NOT MY HUSBAND!"

"YOU WILL NEVER BE THE DRAGON YOU WANT TO BE, YOU'VE SACRIFICED EVERYTHING, AND FOR WHAT? FOR NOTHING!"

"AUGH!" A roar of pain snapped her out of her own head, blinking back into reality to see Futurereader clutching his head, his talons digging into his scales, his eyes tightly screwed shut in pain, his teeth clenched so hard they could shatter.

"Furereader!" Skyseeker bellowed, rushing over.

Seeing the larger NightWing moving so quickly beside her made Lydia's heart leap up into her throat, making it hard to breathe, her mind spiraling into a panic as her limbs started to feel numb and fuzzy, yet weightless. An antsy and scared feeling soon took over, kicking her mind into action before she could even realize what she was doing.

She whipped around, racing out of the room as her talons scraped against the smooth stone, she could hear Quickstrike calling after her, trying to catch her, but she kept running. Lydia's limbs stretched out as far as they could, moving quickly to cover as much area as possible.

Her mind screaming RUN RUN RUN RUN! over the pounding of her terrified heart. She hurt someone, she hurt someone!

The air whipped past her as she ran, her breath coming in and out in short takes, making the air feel cold even with the warmth of the torch light. She kept running and running, as fast as her legs would carry her.

I hurt him, I hurt someone! Her thoughts cried as she felt something running alongside her, when she looked, she saw Fatefinder. The young wispy guard in training ran beside her, matching her strides.

"To your right!" He told her while they ran, his voice sounding echoey in her ears, "the cave that IceWing was teaching in is now empty." she could feel her mind start to clear as she focused on his voice, "You can hide there."

Keep running! Keep running! Keep running! "I need to keep running!" she cried, huffing as she ran, her lungs starting to burn.

"You need to let your mind focus! You'll spiral into a panic, then you won't be able to get out of here! Trust me Lydia," he begged, his pace starting to slow ever so slightly to where Lydia instinctively slowed as well to match his pace. "I know what to do here, I've been trained for this. I will help you, I promised."

I promised, his voice helped to calm her down as the two NightWing's slowed their movements, Fatefinder guiding her into the now dimly lit cave that was covered in maps and shelves packed full of scrolls. Scrolls that talked about history in as much detail as possible, used for generations of dragonets. The other voices inside of her head had long since quieted down, making it feel quiet and empty, something that made the princess sigh with relief.

Once she was inside, she could feel the adrenaline start to wear off, making her limbs feel heavy, her wings hung down in a folded heep on the stone floor, feeling as though they were being tied down by boulders. The NightWing dragonets heart started to slow down from its panicked rapid pace that had made her chest feel tight just moments ago.

Just like Fatefinder had said, the history cave was empty, no dragon in sight as the air grew quiet aside from Lydia's own breathing. Her racing thoughts filled where her panting couldn't, making everything sound louder yet quieter at the same time.

"Just take a deep breath, princess," the wispy NightWing in front of her instructed, looking to be taking in a deep breath, "in and out."

Lydia tried her best to listen to her friend's instructions, mimicking him. As she watched his chest expand and then deflate as his lungs sucked in the air around them, it raised a question for the young princess.

"Fatefinder?" she managed to force it out of her throat, her voice sounding wobbly and uncertain, "how...how are you breathing?" she asked.

The wispy NightWing guard in training blinked at her for a few moments, looking out of it as he did so before he snapped back into reality, "oh!" he shook his head as he fiddled with his talons, "well, that's the thing....I don't...not anymore at least. I think it's just memory, and it's comforting in a way, it makes me feel alive even though I can't feel anything."

"You can't feel anything?"

"Nope," he said the 'p' with a 'pop' on the end with a shake of his head. "I've tried touching thing's, but it's strange."

"What do you mean by strange?"

"This is what I mean," he moved closer, reaching one of his talons out towards her shoulder. Just like the first night she saw Fatefinder in the woods, his talons phased through her, making her scales feel cold as though they had just felt a freezing chill pass by her. "I can't touch other dragons, they go through me. But with everything else, I can't phase through them. I've tried, but it's just.....weird."

That doesn't make any sense....

She blinked as she moved her wing and shoulder, watching as noting she didn effected Fatefinder and his arm, it just made his more wispy like steam. The more she thought and watched Fatefinder, the more she started to come back into reality.

The NightWing teachers assessing her, Futurereader collapsing, the voices in her head, running down the hall and into the history room full of maps. MAPS! "I need a map!" she suddenly said, pulling herself away from Fatefinder, who jumped at her outburst, "I need to take one of their maps, with that I can get home! Back to Mom and Dad."

"You're right!" Fatefinder jumped up, making his way over towards one of the map stands, walking around Lydia like he would before he died, not wanting to bump into the small NightWing. "You'll need one with labeling, so a map made for travel."

"Aren't all maps labeled?" she asked as she followed him over towards one of the map stands that had a small pile of stacked maps, wrapped up like scrolls.

"No, not all maps. Some are simple, just showing the continents or detailed depictions of a specific area. Most maps are labeled, but the more area the map has, the less there will be for small details such as specific settlements and land."

Lydia followed Fatefinder's lead, unwrapping rolled up maps for him to look at, until he let out an excited noise. "That one!" he told her with a nod as she held a map within her talons. It was old, the edges feeling soft and worn over time from being handled over and over again. It's paper was stained a dull yellow, showing it's age. It was detailed, crammed full of small little details, though one stood out from the rest.

There was a star, drawn in the corner it's ink faded and worn but still visible. It was by the Night Kingdom, off along the far edge of the map, a talon length away from the bottom left corner. She also noticed that up in the top left corner there was a date in which the map had been made.

3002 AS

This map is over 2,000 years old.

"This map is really old," she said as she started to roll it back up within her talons, being careful as to not tear it within her claws.

"Yeah, it's 2,010 years old. This is a history cave, so it makes sense that they would have a really old map in here. I think this one came from the Sand Palace as well, from their library."

"It came all the way from there?" she asked ith a flick of her ear, lifting up one wing to tuck the scroll under, when it folded back down, it was hard to see anything was there at all with the help of her cloak. "Why?"

"You know the story of how the SandWing royal families dragonets disappeared for a few years before showing back up with the Pantalan tribes following them?"

"Not really," she admitted, "I've just heard a little, that they had brought them to Pyrriha."

"Well, before they had brought them here, seven years ago they had found this map with two of their friends and had heard the tales about The Lost Continent." he told her, telling the story seemingly off by heart. "They wanted to be the ones to find it and used this map to guess where they needed to go. They accidentally left it behind and had disappeared for two years before they returned, though not all of them made it back."

"Not all of them made it back?"

Fatefinder nodded his head, "When they left, two of their friend's went with them. Two dragonets their age named Python and Robin. They were the dragonets of some of the Queen's friends, two are actually her messengers. Robin was the daughter of these two messengers, she didn't survive the journey back."

"She didn't survive the journey back? How? I thought everyone who went across the ocean made it back?"

"Except for her," his wings twitched as he shook his head with a blink, "no one really knows what happened, all I've heard is that dragons said she was pushing herself too hard and lost consciousness in the air. Though, I've also heard that same said after eating on their last stop, she grew ill. All I know is that the ending stays the same. Something happened that caused her to drown."

To drown...

She thought back to the vision like dreams she had back home under the mountain in the cave close to the surface, where the moons were able to shine through a small hole within the cave's roof opening. Roseary's mumbling screaming about a liar and a thief, someone who ratted them out to the hives. Falling down from the sky within a battle, a dragon with scales as orange as the sky at sunrise trying to catch her. Then being trapped underwater, the SandWing IceWing hybrid trying to swim after her to save her, but it was too late as the world of ocean blue swallowed her into a pit of darkness that took her breath away as spots danced within the edges of her vision.

The ending stays the same, Fatefinder's voice rang within her ears, Something happened that caused her to drown.

Find Her, Find Her, Find Her, the familiar words echoed throughout her mind, like the sound of her talons scraping against the cold stones from her nightmare of being inside the pitch black brick tunnel, having to follow the torches till she woke up. Ocean. Down. Flower.

Find Her, Find Her Find Her.
Ocean. Down. Flower.

"What are you doing here?"

Lydia sucked in a sharp breath as she whipped her head around, feeling her skull pound at the sharp and sudden movement. Standing in the doorway was the NightWing dragonet she had seen before, the one with the golden glasses that wrapped all the way up her straight horns.

"I-"

"You shouldn't be here." the other dragonet cut her off with a flick of her tail. Lydia snorted through her flared nostrils as the other NightWing glared at her. Before either of them could say another word, Erwin came through the door, looking worried.

"Nightingale, what are you doing in here? I thought you were-" his solid blue gaze moved over to see Lydia, his eyebrows shooting up and his whole figure seemed to relax with relief.

"There you are!" he exclaimed as he turned his head to call over his shoulder, 'Quickstrike I found her!"

Within seconds, the familiar face of Quickstrike came running into the room, worry and fear stretched across his face as he wrapped his arms and wings tightly around her. "Oh Swift! You scared me! Why did you run off? Was it too much? Oh my little shooting star you made me worried sick when you ran off like that!"

Lydia didn't know why, but when she heard how scared and worried Quickstrike sounded, she realized he wasn't angry. He wasn't angry that she had ran away, he wasn't furious. Instead, he was scared. Scared that he could've lost me again. When looked out of the corner of her eye, she could see that fatefinder was gone, his wispy form having disappeared, leaving her there.

But she knew he was still there, watching over her, like he promised.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The flight back was quiet, Quickstrike having them leave the school as soon as Lydia was ready. The air felt refreshing against her face as they flew. After being within the school's cave tunnels, it reminded her how she actually enjoyed being outside. Everything was just so different from what she was used to, everything was bright, loud, always moving, warm and cold at the same time. It felt good to be outside, especially out of that school.

Held close to her side and out of Quickstrike's sight was the map she and Fatefinder had found within the history cave. Lydia felt hyper fixated on it, feeling every shift it made with every wingbeat she took.

I just need to get this back to my room without him noticing, then I can figure out where I need to go tonight. Lydia felt a sense of guilt wash over her. She'd be running away soon, going back home to King Charming and Queen Animosity, but she'd be leaving Quickstrike. The thought alone made her heart clench inside of her chest painfully.

She didn't know why she felt this way, Quickstrike had kidnapped her, Morpho helped him and killed Fatefinder! She shouldn't feel this way, but she did. She felt as though she were betraying him in some way, even though she was doing what was right, she was going home where she belonged, where she was meant to be, with her tribe.

With the dragons I was born to save.

Still, it hurt to think about. It was almost as if she was being forced to choose. I don't have to leave right away though, the princess reminded herself, I'll still need to map out where I need to go, the fastest way home.

"I'm sorry that didn't go as planned, Sw- Lydia." Quickstrike spoke up, breaking the silence between the two like a claw slicing through the thick mist that surrounds a waterfall, "I didn't know that would happen. If I did, I wouldn't have brought you there."

"You wouldn't have known that Futurereader would react like that," she didn't hesitate to say, comforting the older NightWing as they flew, "We're not future seer's, we wouldn't have seen it."

"I know, but I've never seen him do that before. He's strong, on the inside if you know what I mean. I've never seen him collapse like that, and the way they were searching for you...." Quickstrike trailed off, growing silent. When Princess Lydia turned her head to look over at the older NightWing flying beside her, she saw that his golden fire yellow eyes were focused on something in the distance, a look of concern in his eyes.

"Quickstrike?" she asked as she followed his gaze. Up ahead was the village, still bustling with life. They were close enough to where she could tell dragons apart, but not as well as one could if they were actually flying above the town's pathways and streets. They were just outside of the town, and when she followed the other NightWing's gaze, she saw he was looking off towards a street full of market stands. She couldn't pick out what he was looking at until she saw it herself.

Down in the street of markets, was a trio of dragons, and as they flew closer she could make out their faces. There was a NightWing with dull grey-brown scales and sharp golden amber eyes that glowed against his scales. He had broad shoulders and long neck spines similar to her own. Hanging from his left ear was a simple, small golden hoop earring that sparkled brightly in the warm rays from the sun.

Beside him was a tall, slender pale orange coloured SkyWing with peachy coloured freckles under her eyes, her horns curled up in waves like most SkyWing's, but hers looked smooth with thin lines across them.The orange SkyWing had the sample earring as the NightWing, her's sparkling just as brightly as her golden eyes.

She was a lot taller than her companion beside her but not that much taller compared to the second SkyWing to her right who was just a few inches smaller, his horns making up for what he couldn't in height. He was older than the other two, having creases under his eyes along with bags that made his bright red scales look dull from age as well as stress. His ears were tattered and torn, old wounds littering his body from battles and fights. He might've been a soldier back in his day. He had the same shimmering golden eyes as the paler SkyWing, same facial features too, so that might even be his daughter.

Quickstrike was staring at the three dragons in the markets, but why?

"Quickstrike?" she tried again, this time getting the older NightWings attention.

"Yes?" his head shot over to look at her, his warm yellow eyes with specks of warm brown looking into her scarlet ruby red ones. "Sorry, I just got a little distracted."

"Who are those dragons in town? The two SkyWing's and the NightWing?" her head tilted to the side as they flew, "you were looking at them." I think.

"Them? Those are just a few familiar faces I know." he informed her as they started to fly a little lower, getting closer to the ground. They'd have to fly right over the main market street to get to the center in the square where the fountain was, which she assumed that's where Quickstrike was going. "From when you were missing, they also had a kid that had gone up into thin air with the kid's cousin and friends."

Lydia felt her heart leap within her chest as they flew closer, listening to Quickstrike's words as she was able to see the faces of the three dragons, or more specifically, the taller orange SkyWing.

"They had lost their daughter a few years before I lost you, we all searched together in large searching parties," she could already feel her vision going out, replacing it with one of the visions she had received from her first night sleeping under the three moons within the cave, back home. "The older SkyWing's name is Aarron, though his granddaughter would call him Pop-Pop. The NightWing is his son-in-law, Shadowsplitter. The other SkyWing is his daughter, Funnel."

The village with LeafWIng's, HiveWing's and SilkWing's all gathered together as a spotted green HiveWing spoke to the odd pair, the SkyWing and NightWing. The taller of the two dragons eyes started to water as she let out a heartbreaking wail that could shatter the clouds.

"NO! MY BABY! WHERE'S MY BABY!?" she wailed as her form collapsed down onto the dusty dirt road, the NightWing, her husband, crouching down beside her with a look of pure horror, grief and raw fear. "MY BABY! MY BABY MUST BE HERE! SHE MUST BE WITH YOU!"

"Their daughter was named Robin."

"WHERE'S MY BABY!?"

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- MindlessTyper