"N-no," she shook her head quickly, trying to push herself up, "you're not, I already have a dad!"

The other NightWing, Quickstrike, narrowed his eyes a little at that before shaking his head.

"I truly am your father, I still remember the night you were stolen from me as an egg."

"I was never stolen!" She exclaimed with an angry flap of her wings. "I was hatched and raised inside the mountain! Mother and Father said so! And so does everyone else!"

"Everyone else? You mean that group of hopeless dragons your mother keeps around? Do any of them truly know where you can from?"

"Yes! They were all there at the ceremony!"

Quickstrike gave her an odd look before he held up one of his talons, there was nothing special about it, it just had the same odd markings as hers. Lydia had odd pinkish-red tones scales on her talons, front and back. She had them on her snout as well, same with her tail. Quickstrike has the same marking on his talons, the colour going just above his wrist.

His scales weren't a pinky colour though, instead his were a warm dusty brown.

"You see any other dragon with these marks? In our family, only those who have them pass em on. More proof that you're mine and we're taken from me as an egg." He told her with a snort, "I still clearly remember that night, it was awful. I thought some creature came and took you, when in reality it was your mother."

Lydia kept herself from speaking out this time, she didn't believe a word this dragon said, but...she was curious on what he meant about how she had been stolen. I was never stolen, she told herself with a flick of her ear.

"You were due t'hatch in a weeks time, I watched you day n'night to make sure nothing happened to you. You were my first dragonet, I wouldn't lose you." He started with a shake of his head, "you were such a fidgety thing, always tryin' to run from me."

The birds continued to chirp around them, filling the air with their soft songs while the wind softly whistled.

Quickstrike's eyes gleamed in a saddened way as he thought back upon that day. He shuffled himself ever so slightly, the sunlight glinting off of something wrapped around his neck. When Lydia looked down at it, she saw it was a leather strap necklace with two things hanging off of it. One being a sparkling silver key while the other was a smooth, silver ring.

"I look away for one moment," her scarlet red eyes shot back up from his neck wear, meeting his, "and when I look back you'd be at the other end of the room and outa yer nest."

"How did you....lose me?" She hated the words that left her mouth, they tasted sour, tasted wrong.

Quickstrike gave her a sorrowful look with a flick of his tail, he had the same tail markings as her too, through his was more of a thin stripe while Lydia's nearly wrapped around her whole tail. He didn't have her facial markings though, his face looked like any other NightWing's, marking-less.

"It was a stormy night, one of the worst I had ever seen. The winds howling madly as though they wanted to rip apart all of Pyrrhia. The hut we lived in was being torn to shreds and we had to evacuate the village to move to the nearby valley."

"I carried you in this," Quickstrike reached out with his talons, moving aside the two large sacks of treasure to pull out something behind it. An egg harness. It was solid black, it's fabric looking smooth and soft. "Going through that rain and wind was horrible, it felt like going through a battle field. I wasn't expecting your mother to show up out of no where, I remember shouting at her, asking why she was here...."

Lydia hated listening to this story, but it was buying her time as her mother's training raced throughout her head. The NightWing was trying to memorize her surroundings, looking for mountains in the distance, but she could only see trees that reminded her of how strange the world around her felt.

"She lashed out at me, smashing my head into the stones. I just thought I scared her, caught her off guard. When I woke up moments later, you both were gone, at first I believed something awful happened, I searched everywhere for you, until another dragon told me they saw the whole thing...your mother taking you from me."

He's just lying, that's what dragons do, they lie, her mother told her so, telling her to never believe anyone outside of their kingdom, that they were full of tricks and wanted everything their way and not for the better of others. This NightWing probably just thinks I'm his daughter, I can't be, he must be mistaken! Those markings mean nothing!

Her wings twitched, the urge to fly away as fast as she could surging inside of her like a tidal wave, emotions and thoughts racing throughout her head and within her heart.

"That's how I lost you...but now I have you back, we can finally be together again like it was always meant to be."

"But.....I want to go home."

"Home? We are going home. To your real home."

"No! I mean my home!" She wanted to cry, "I want to go back home to my mom and dad!"

Quickstrike said nothing, keeping silent as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. Wait, what about Fatefinder?! She felt terror and panic take of her as she stood up as quickly as she could.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Quickstrike gasped, flapping his wings as he leaped up into the cart to hold her down, his grip firm, yet gentle. "Stay down, I don't want you passin' our on me now from hittin' yer head on somethin', so just calm down, aight?"

"Where's Fatefinder?!" She demanded as she tried to wriggle her way out of his talons. "Where's my friend! What happened to him?!"

"Fatefinder?"

"My friend! He was there before you...before you kidnapped me!" She spat as she tried to twist around and grab Quickstrike's forearms, trying to dig her talons into his scales as she bared her teeth. Her overgrowing fear fuelling her overpowering adrenaline, giving her the strength to find the courage to fight back against him, trying to free herself.

The NightWing Princess must've caught the older dragon by surprise as she managed to slip free of his grasp, leaping away from the cart and landing with a soft thud onto the grass.

I'm touching grass, I'm actually touching grass, she was momentarily distracted before she shook her head, darting into the trees, nearly tripping over ever root she came across. She didn't trust herself to take off into the air.

He'd most likely look for me up there anyway, with nothing to hide within.

Lydia forced herself to move faster, feeling the wind blow past her face as she ran. The wind, the actual wind! Not just gusts of air that would sometimes blow throughout the tunnels through small windows scattered around the mountain. The NightWing dragonet continued to run as fast as she could while watching her step, she didn't want to trip and fall and get caught by Quickstrike.

If I can just lose him, then I can start looking for a way back home, back to mom and dad.

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

Lydia didn't feel like she could keep going, her legs hurt and her wings felt to heavy upon her own shoulders. Her claws ached from digging into the dirt and constantly being tugged out from between small stones. She was no longer running, she just couldn't. She was to tired.

I can find somewhere to sleep, somewhere he won't find me...there!

She spotted an old looking tree, or at least she thought it looked old? She didn't know really, but that's what I'm calling it! The NightWing dragonet tugged herself towards it, it's roots were large and overlapped one another in a thick tangle. Some holes between them were just large enough to where she believed she could hide herself underneath them.

He surely wouldn't find me under there, Lydia's dark black scales would surely hide her well, making her look like a shadow and not really a NightWing dragonet hiding under tangles of roots.

With a huff, she made her way towards it, her talons sinking into the exposed bark with uncertainty, she felt hesitant, but pushed herself forwards until the squeezed herself underneath a hole within the tangles, tucking in her tail and covering herself with her wings and the black cloak that still hung from her shoulders.

At least this cloak will help to hide my lighter scales, she sighed as she curled herself in a little tighter, as though she were trying to become a tiny ball.

Lydia wanted to sleep, she just felt so tiered, but her mind was restless.

What if I can't get back home, what if I never find my way back to the mountains? Then, realization dawned upon her which brought fresh tears into her sore, burning eyes. I'll never see Fatefinder again...

The dragonet sniffled, stuffing her snout under her talons as she felt sleep tug upon her, encouraging her to fall asleep into a test filled slumber.

Just before she closed her eyes, she swore she saw Fatefinder standing a few feet away, looking down at her with a worried and sorrowful look in his eyes.

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

Lydia woke from a surprisingly dreamless slumber, waking to the smell of something that smelled amazing. Her nostrils twitched as she cracked her eyes open. As soon as she took in what she was seeing, her eyes shot up and panic flared within her chest.

Quickstrike was sitting by a small fire, roasting what looked to be some kind of bird. His cart was settled less than a wing length away from them.

How did he find me?! She cried inside of her mind with a wince, or does he not know I'm here and this is just coincidence? I hope it's just coincidence.

Quickstrike looked over towards her and that solidified her hope, making it crumble down into the ash of the flames that reflected brightly within her scarlet red eyes that shone like glittering rubies.

"How'd you sleep?" The other NightWing asked as he looked back towards his roasting bird.

"How'd you find me?"

"Ha," he smiled as he plucked a black coated feather off the bird with a flick of his talons, "I'm a bounty hunter daughter, it's kind of my job to find dragons. I found you at moonrise, didn't want to wake you up though. You looked tired and were mutterin' in yer sleep."

Muttering?

"What was I....muttering?"

"Nothing I understood, you just kept muttering 'here' over and over. Sounded like you must've been having some weird kinda dream."

I don't remember having any dreams though, the NightWing dragonet thought with a twitch of her wings.

"So," Quickstrike started, breaking the silence between the two of them that felt thick enough to slice through with her own talons. "do you feel like tryin' to run off again? Or have you settled down a little."

"I just wanted to go home."

"We are going home, your true home." Quickstrike huffed with a lash of his tail that sent sticks scattering across the ground. "But you wouldn't have found yer way back so easily, were far off from the mountains."

That brought a shiver along her spike and a cold feeling within her hearts.

"How....how far."

The other NightWing looked towards her, searching her gaze as though looking for something within her eyes. He seemed to find nothing though as he sighed through his nostrils with a twitch of his ears.

"Far, it would take days to even fly back, if you could even find that mountain. We're just along the edge of the Sky Kingdom now, about to enter the unclaimed territory between the Mud Kingdom, Sea Kingdom and Sky Kingdom, a place I was planning to move to with you when you hatched. It's a nice place, you'll love it. There's dragonets that are about yer age and a small school just a few minutes flight away."

Lydia felt a sense of horror. They were so far away! The Sky Kingdom was massive, full of mountains and valleys that were hard to navigate. Even if she did get back, how would she know which mountain was where she came from? Is there even a chance of me getting back home?

Quickstrike must've seen the tearful look in her eyes, a flash of guilt flickering within his eyes as he let out a soft sigh, patting the ground beside him.

"C'mere."

Lydia didn't want to, but she got up anyway, staggering to her feet and crawling out from where she had hidden herself amongst the roots of the large old tree. She made her way over to him, flinching when he opened his wings, the tiny white speckles glowing like stars in the glowing flames warm light. She situated herself beside him, her body as stiff as rocks as he wrapped his wing around her.

It was so much like how her parents would comfort her that she wanted to cry.

"It's alright, shhhhh." The older NightWing tried to comfort her. "I don't think I've told you yet on what I called you when you were still in your egg."

Lydia kept silent as she stared into the flames.

"I know it's generally the mother's who name the dragonets, but your mother was hardly around, so I thought up a name for you myself," he hummed as he turned the bird which looked to be nearly done. "I remember I wanted to name you Swiftrunner from how active you were in your egg."

Swiftrunner? It sounded like a lovely name, but not a name that belonged to her. She was Lydia, Princess Lydia of the NightWings. She'd never forget that.

"Have you been calling me that all this time?" She couldn't help but ask, even though she already guessed the answer within her head.

"Yes, because I knew that one day I'd find you again and we'd be together like we were meant to be." He smiled down at her. "I'll be able to teach you how to hunt! Maybe even teach ya to become a bounty hunter like yer old dad!" He seemed generally happy, overjoyed even as though his greatest desire had just come true.

I guess it has, she thought with a tingle of guilt, but I won't be staying long. I'll be leaving to go home and never see Quickstrike again.

Wait, I shouldn't be feeling sorry for him! He kidnapped me and believes I'm his long lost daughter! When I'm not!

"So what about it Swift?" He suddenly asked, "once we've eaten, we can keep headin' home and then you can get settled in. You'll love it there, I promise!"

"Yeah...." her ears dipped down, the cold metal of her earring rubbing against her scales in a reassuring way. "Can't...can't wait."

As she looked up from the flames and into the woods surrounding them, she swore she spotted Fatefinder, standing in the distance, watching her. But as soon as she blinked, he was gone.

Yet...

She still felt as though she were being watched.

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

The journey felt cruel, leaving a vile taste within the back of her throat with each step she took after Quickstrike.

The two had set off after their meal, back on track on a smooth dirt road that had been trampled down by many more dragons before them, each one possibly spreading years apart. It hurt her head to think about that, so she didn't, right now thinking hurt her to much, it made her heart clench itself so tightly she thought it would burst. The only comfort she felt was the cloak wrapped around her, reminding her of her blankets back home. When she'd have bad days, she and her father would huddle up under her blankets and he would tell her stories about his life or her mothers.

Her favourite one was when he told her of the time he was seen as the King of the NightWing's in all of Pyrrhia, along side Animosity before the their of their throne took it. It was a sad story, but she loved to hear it and Animosity thought it was good of her to hear it.

"Dad!" Lydia cried out with a smile as she ran towards her father, crashing into his chest as he wrapped his wings around the little NightWing dragonet who was only three years old.

"What is it my little shooting star?" He asked, his bioluminescent scales flashing happily above his eyes.

"I want to hear the story again! The one you and Mom tell me!" She flapped her wings with excitement. "The cool one where you were at the NightWing palace! I wanna hear the story!"

"Alright! Alright!" Charming laughed as he practically carried her to her bed, with a dramatic 'oof' the two dragons fell on top of it.

"Do I need to start from the beginning?"

"No, skip to the good part! Skip to the good part!"

"Okay, Okay! You're hyper today." He chuckled before clearing his throat like he always did before telling her this story. With that, she quieted down and settled in beside her father as he stared to tell the story she always loved to hear. It would constantly remind her that she would one day rule that kingdom, the kingdom she hadn't yet gotten to see with her vary own eyes.

"The Kingdom was glorious, your mother and I were focused on rebuilding our kingdom and giving our dragons a true place to live, but there was one thing that your mother couldn't stand. The RainWings."

Lydia listened intently, her large dragonet like ears perked up.

"They had abused our tribe for far to long, and she hated what they had done to us. So, she wanted to get her tribe the vengeance they needed. It was going to be a simple plan, a show of strength that would practically scream that the NightWing's were no longer weak and going to be pushed around!"

Charming looked proud as he told her the story she had heard many times over.

"And then the sneaky dragons appeared!" She exclaimed with a flap of her wings, like a little bat trying to take flight but staying seated.

"Yes, and then the sneaky dragons appeared." Charming nodded.

The more and more Lydia was told this tale, the more and more she grew to remember it.

A dragon with scales the colour of lavenders and pink roses, able to shift into the darkest colour of night. She wasn't alone though, she had a dragon working for her, the two tailed dragon adored in emeralds with scales the shades of mud and sand, yet had the stars trickling down their neck. That dragon had been working with Queen Animosity and King Charming, but in the end betrayed them.

"She must've been put under a spell, or had been bribed by riches." Animosity's voice suddenly spoke up.

When Lydia looked, she spotted her mother standing in the doorway, one of her wings holding the door open as she made her way inside.

"Because of their betrayal, that's how we lost our kingdom little star," her mother said softly, "it's how I got this scar." She pointed up to the burnt side of her face that seemed to wrap around her eye, just barely missing it but the tip of a dragon's claw.

"But it won't happen again," her mother reassured her with a warm smile, holding little Lydia's head within her talons and listing her dragonets chin, "for we shall be more careful and make the kingdom perfect for you for your day as Queen."

"My day as Queen?"

"Yes our little shooting star!" Charming smiled, some of his scales flashing warmly, "someday, you'll be queen after your mother and I."

"Will I be a good queen? Like you mom?" The little dragonet looked over towards her mother, her scarlet red eyes sparkling in the torch light that made the stone room around them glow a warm orange and yellow.

"Yes," Animosity hummed to her daughter, "you'll be an excellent queen one day. I'll be here to guide you until that day, so there's no need to fret my little princess."

The princess had to shake her head in order to clear the memory away, her earring tapping against the scales along her neck at the motion as though helping to remind her that she was back in the real world.

She felt so tired. It felt unnatural to be awake during the day. The sun felt to bright, but she did enjoy its warmth that it laid down upon her.

"It shouldn't be much longer Swift," Quickstrike said from where he walked beside her, pulling the cart by the leather straps that were wrapped tightly around his shoulders. "Soon you'll get to see the home you've missed out on for far to many years. You'll get to meet the dragonets you would've grown up with!"

Quickstrike's eyes seemed to light up as a thought came into his mind. "Oh! I could probably get you enrolled in one of her nearby schools, I know one nearby that accepts NightWings. Or I could homeschool you, one of my friends is a teacher, he's great and works especially well with dragonets who don't do in schools."

"A...school?" She winced a little at the thought, looking nervously towards the other NightWing. She'd never been in a school before, she was only taught by her only teacher, Wiseflight, who was assigned to her by her mother the day she hatched.

I've never been around more than three other dragonets at a time! She could feel panic bubbling inside of her.

"Hey hey hey," she felt a large wing wrap around her shoulder, "it'll be alright, we don't have to decide anything just yet. You need to get settled in first!"

All she was able to muster without her voice threatening to crack was a nod, her mind still racing but one thought remained clear within her head, I just want to go home.

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

Night settled upon the pair fairly quietly that day, it's cooling chill making its way deep within her scales, settling between each one like tiny pebbles that made her constantly itch.

The NightWing laying down beside her looked content beside the fire that flickered warmly in the dark night air, but Lydia couldn't feel its heat, she just felt cold. As though she had been encased in ice.

Her mind wasn't helping her in the slightest as it had not calmed down once that day, not once. It was loud, to loud. She was starting to think she was going crazy since she swore she heard whispers.

They're all in my head, she reasoned with herself as she curled up even tighter, her tail clothed tightly within her talons, I'm just confusing my thoughts with real sounds, that's all and all it will be.

Quickstrike looked to be asleep beside her, his body radiating a warmth that one should find comforting, but it only reminded her of her current situation and made her feel colder, feel lonelier.

I could try running away again, she thought for a split second before she pushed that thought down, no, Quickstrike would find me just as easily as last time.

No matter how hard she tried to burry the thought, it wouldn't leave the red eyed dragonet alone. Her ears pinned down tightly against the sides of her head as she took a quick glance over towards Quickstrike, looking at the other NightWing to check if he was still asleep, if he was truly asleep.

Maybe I can't just take a quick fly around, look for anything that I might connect to a kingdom, Lydia thought, her talons tightening their grip upon her tail, if I can find something that would only be found within a certain kingdom, I can figure out where I am.

Lydia let her ears rise up to listen to the other NightWing's breathing. It was slow and calm, his rises rising and falling in a regular, calming pattern. As quickly as she dared, she uncurled herself, rising up onto her talons. For a moment, she just stood there, her heart racing, pounding heavily like a lump of rocks within her chest. Everything she did felt to loud, her own breathing sounded to loud so she held her breath, making her lungs ache.

Come on Lydia, she told herself as she raised one of her talons, you can do this. Mother trained me for this kind of thing.

One step.

Two step.

She paused, listening to Quickstrike for any difference in his breathing to make her think that he was awake and listening. His breathing was still even and calm.

Another step.

A sharp snore erupted through the air, splitting the silence and making Lydia jump, her wings flaring out ever so slightly before she realized it was simply Quickstrike's snore.

It's okay, the NightWing princess reassured herself as she tucked her wings back against her sides tightly, feeling the dark black fabric of her cloak rest against her scales.

You're doing okay.

Lydia flinched as she took another step.

That didn't sound like her voice, it sounded nothing like her thoughts! Was it the strange voice from her dreams? No, this one sounds different, it doesn't sound the same.

She waiting for a moment on baited breath to see if it would come back, but it didn't, the only thing that did was the feeling of being watched, being watched closely. Lydia shot a glance back at the sleeping NightWing's form by the burning fire that had grown a tiny bit smaller over time. Quickstrike still hadn't stirred awake and was still sleeping peacefully.

I can do this, as quietly and quickly as she could, she started to step farther and farther away, closer to the tall, looming tree line that surrounded them. With each step she took, the more confident she became, moving faster and faster until she was practically trotting swiftly through the forest. The trees were dark, their bark almost looking blue in the moonlight, their leaves turning silver in its glow. Their branches hung low, like a swooping crown, thick vines hung from the branches, looking thick and sturdy like rope.

Would this be the Mud Kingdom? Because of these trees? She wondered as she kept swiftly walking, trying to find a small clearing or something so she could take off into the air without crashing into any branches. But the ground isn't muddy though, there aren't puddles everywhere.

The kingdom's that surrounded the Mud Kingdom were the Sky Kingdom, Sea Kingdom, and a stretch of the Sand Kingdom, though it was over a small bit of land owned by the SkyWings.

If I'm closer to the SkyWings, it'll be better, She hoped she'd be able to find a mountain, even just rolling hills because that would mean she was still somewhat close to home. Meaning that it might not take her as long to get home, which is what the young NightWing princess hoped would eventually happen. She wanted to be back in the comfort of her parents arms and their shielding wings, hiding her from prying eyes. Lydia didn't want to be here at all, she didn't want to be taken away from some dragon who claimed to be her father!

HE IS LYING!

She didn't even realize that she had stopped, just standing still as the large trees around her looked over head like the older NightWing's who would hang from the stalagmites and stalactites, watching with their wise eyes that seemed to sparkle and glow like the stars themselves which were clear to Lydia now.

There were much more than she ever realized, so many of them and each seemed to have a different colour from the last. One was blue while another was people, then there would be one that was teal or even a shade of gold. The princesses wings drooped down her sides and brushed the cool grass that seemed to run up against her scales, almost as though it were trying to comfort the dragonet around it.

Had Fatefinder ever seen the stars like this?

Just the mere thought of the other NightWing brought fresh tears to the dragonets eyes. All she could see was his smile when he figured out how to decode the secret note and explained to her how he did it, the pride that filled his eyes when she understood what he told her. Lydia would call him her friend, he was the closest thing she had to one.

Yet he was gone.

It was Morpho, he killed him, the memory flashed before her eyes. Fatefinder sprawled across the cold stone floor in a pool of his own blood, his jaws parted in a forever silent cry as Morpho stood above him, a dark gleam within his eyes. His black eyes. No dragon other than a SandWing or HiveWing had black eyes and yet Lydia had seen Morpho's eyes turn a sparkling obsidian like shade of black on multiple occasions.

What even is wrong with his eyes? Are those why he killed Fatefinder? What if they're connected? She wondered before she stamped down upon that thought, burring it within the ground, no, that's stupid. I'm thinking like a SeaWing out of water.

Lydia tried to push those thoughts aside instead to focus on finding a clearing that had an open enough canopy for her to fly through. But it almost seemed as though this forest never opened up and was like a leafy green cage. Though, the trees weren't only large enough to tower high above her, there were some trees only as large as a bush, reaching up to her shoulders or even just as tall as she was.

Are these another kind of tree? A small tree? It could've just been a species of tree that didn't grow to tall, or maybe it could've been a tree that was stunted in growth. But that doesn't really explain why there are so many, she thought to herself as she kept walking, a bit more slower this time.

Lydia continued to move through the forest, not once finding a large enough clearing for her to fly through without making to much noise. The NightWing did find some smaller holes in the canopy, but she didn't like the idea of her wings and body being scraped against the branches who looked as though they didn't ever want to let her through.

Maybe I should just head back before Quickstrike noticed I'm gone, she could already feel the panic bubbling inside of her at the mere thought of the other NightWing waking up to find her gone. If he sees I've gone away again without telling him, he might not be as nice to me this time. Princess Lydia didn't know him well, so she didn't know what he'd do if he found her missing. Though, he'd probably just track her down as easily as he had before when she ran away from him when she first woke up.

"Li....dzzz—A"

She froze, her body going stiff and her ears perking up. It was that voice again! But, it didn't sound as though it were within her head. Well, it did but didn't at the same time. The voice sounded as though they were speaking right within her ear, but also far away to where she couldn't understand them from the distance between them.

"Lyd—..."

They sounded so close, close enough to be behind her.

Lydia suddenly felt cold, her breath coming out in puffs of smoke though it was only her breath, not her fire. She didn't want to turn around and see what was behind her, but she felt her body slowly beginning to move without her say. First her talons shifting, then her tail. When she turned her head, the sight before her made her breath leave her body, the coldness around her stabbing into her scales.

Before her was a dragon with dark scales with shades of deep ocean blues that should've sparkled in the moonlight, but his scales didn't react to the silver light at all. His glowing warm honey brown eyes with flecks of gold seemed to glow against his dark scales. There was one thing off about the dragon before her, and it made Lydia believe she had to be seeing things.

The dragon that stood before her looked wispy, the air around him looking fuzzy and unfocused. It couldn't be him, it just couldn't be. He was dead.

"Fatefinder?"

—————————————————————

- MindlessTyper