The truth

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[Coral's POV]

I settled down into a tuft of grass, the smooth blades cool against my scales after the boiling hot magma. Winter had unexpectedly stuck his head into a pool of mud, and Windstorm was talking to Blackberry quietly, their wings raised to block eavesdroppers. The cave we were in, our new hiding place, had grass on the ground and a stream trickled from the ceiling onto a small pile of rocks. Ember's glowed at the bottom of the rocks, giving the walls a warm glow.

Marsh curiously sniffed Amber's tail, then he snorted and an actual puff of smoke curled around his horns. "Smells like burnt trees." He prodded her wing up with a stone and ducked underneath her. Amber struggled to ensure that he didn't touch her scales before she stared at all of us in turn with a does-he-usually-do-this look. I shrugged and my bones cracked like fireworks. Then Marsh yelped loudly, retreated and dived into the mud pool, and wet dirt splatted all over my snout. "Ash... Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ash demanded. "Where did your brain go?"

Blackberry flicked her tail, giving me a meaningful glance before she headed out. To get food. Maybe. Then a thought flashed again in my mind, triggered by the similarities I saw in my Aunt and Brother:

You are my sister.

No no no. I will not think about this anymore. I have to move on.

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I woke with Windstorm's tail rested on my nose.

Although I was already fully awake, I kept my eyes shut. Maybe the voices won't come to haunt me. 

Nooo. The voices were back again. Those five words revolved in my head, bouncing off the walls of my brain, and they wouldn't stop. It was like a beat rumbling in my head, pushing my thoughts into a circle.

The dreams of sleeping dragons also floated around me, random snitches flashed in my head, dropping the snippets and running away:

Fish...mmm-

That stupid maggot is trying to-

Ow. Why is he like that-

A dark forest, the branches blocking away a red orb-

What are potatoes? I don't like-

Nibble-

The Hydroblast's body lying in the pool of-

HE'S BITING ME-

Munch. Yum-

Bright light flashing burning a body ashy black-

Ah. I like sheep-

My brain kept pushing against the edges of my head harder than normal, as if it was trying to escape. The headache was disturbing me, and Flare's smug face kept swimming under my eyelids. I peeled my eyes open and looked around the cave with my sleeping comrades.

Someone killed Hydroblasts in the past. But who? Amber, maybe? Ash? It doesn't have the glare of a Solarflare mind though, can't be them.

As my eyes grew accustomed to the light, Blackberry let out a particularly loud snore, her claws twitched and wings fluttered softly in the dark. The next thing I heard was crickets chirping and one was desperately squeaking the end of the world to the sleeping dragons. And then I smelt blood.

Does someone have an lasting injury?

My question was answered when I spotted the tiny Earthbound nibbling on Ash's tail, causing weird and annoying little screechy sounds made and the scales crunching, breaking apart and showing bare flesh. It really made me want to rip my ears out. Both Attacker and Victim had their eyes closed, obviously in their own dreamland. My waterglow crawled over the pile of stone, almost fell over a tiny rock and tumbled toward the two. It stuck its nose close and curiously sniffed the small beads of blood from Ash's cut.

This leaves Blackberry, Sky, Windstorm, Winter and Marsh. Why would Winter and Windstorm hurt Hydroblasts? Blackberry doesn't have dreams. Hazard of being a Shadowground. Lucky I can dream.

Sky, Marsh.

Who could it be?

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Over the next couple of days, I tried following Sky and Marsh around secretly, dipping into their thoughts, attempting to find the truth. I noticed that Marsh seemed more grumpy than normal, and I was barely hearing any food related thoughts in his mind.

I had my nose buried in a blackberry bush (the IRONY) and dived into it once Sky left the cave looking around for intruders. Little fruits went flying in all directions and landed with a sandy and muffled 'thump'. A very rude coconut tree swayed from my tail accidentally swiping against it, and a coconut dropped right next to me. Sky gave the coconut tree an amused glance before lifting into the sky, her large cavernous wings flared wide. She was flying off the islands, away from Blackberry's mind.

Maybe I could corner her and ask questions.

I hesitated behind the bush before deciding to follow her. I flapped my wings like a desperate chicken a few times before finally being able to ascend to the air.

I had to fly slow, knowing that if Sky heard me, she'd probably dump me back into the cave. Lightning flashed brightly over the horizon, and the dark clouds seemed to growl menacingly, saying that a horrible storm was about to take place. Sky seemed to be heading generally in the direction of a large rainforest, I could hear the distant twittering of the birds and a roar of an animal.

However, before we reached the forest, Sky snorted loudly enough for me to hear (I was 20 claws away from her) and turned in another direction, towards a rainforest free place.

The murder scene of the Hydroblasts was in a rainforest.

If Sky was the one who killed the Hydroblasts, why would she do it in a rainforest?

Blackberry said that she was trustworthy, so...

This left the last dragon who could have done this.

Marsh.

(Hope you like this! Do type your reactions to this! Constructive criticism is welcome)

Okay bye lmao

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