Listen, And The Stars Shall Speak

In The Panic...

The pained scream that Shore let out should have shattered every glass object in the surrounding ten miles.

Orange let out a small noise and crumpled to the ground, where Anaconda instantly grabbed her, trying to put pressure on the wound.

"Well done." Drought said boredly. "I would have picked a better target, but you're still learning. Come along." He gestured for Dawn to follow him, and started to walk down the hall.

"You BASTARD!" Shore shouted, trying to lunge at Dawn, but Cypress held him back. 

"I'm sorry!" Dawn pleaded, hoping Drought couldn't hear her. "I'm so sorry!"

Her words didn't seem to register with the Rainforest prince, or he just didn't care. 

"Dawn, why?" Coal begged, staring at her pleadingly. Dawn glanced down the hall, where Drought had yet to notice she wasn't following him.

In a split second decision, she grabbed her dad and whispered something in his ear, looking desperate. 

Coal stared at her once she'd finished ad nodded slowly in understanding.

"Okay." He whispered, his voice strained. "Okay." Dawn understood that his was all he could say now, and she gave one last look of despair at the group before bolting down the hallway after Drought.

*~*~*~*~*~*

As the group panicked and Orange was slowly dying, Ander and Ray sat boredly in a cave, exmining their talons, when Rin entered the room, followed by Permafrost, Stardust, Ember, Apple, and Parrot.

"So, you guys know what's going on with Cypress and everyone else, right?" Permafrost questioned.

"Of course." Ray offered.

"Could you give us an update?" Rin insisted. Ander paused.

"Right NOW?" she asked, knowing they'd freak out.

"Yes, NOW." Apple repeated. "Our ship senses are tingling, and NOT in a good way." Ray look hesitant, and exchanged a glance with Ander, who shrugged and went back to sharpening her talons.

"Dawn wasn't kidnapped," she explained. "She joined the Sting and betrayed you all. At this current moment, she just stabbed Orange, who is on the verge of death, and the entire group is freaking out, as well as everyone in several other dimensions." Ray nodded in agreement.

"Shore is also crying, screaming, and just generally dying on the inside and half your ship is at Death's doorstep, so that might be why your ship senses are tingling."

"But don't worry, everything will be fine." Ander insisted, watching the looks of horror on the other's faces. "I'd never let a ship I approve of go unsailed."

"That's not comforting!" Ember said loudly, slightly panicked. Ray rolled his eyes and turned to Ander.

"What's with everyone and their panicking these days?" He asked, tsking slightly. "It's like they WANT drama, but then hate when they have it!"

"We are strange creatures." Ander replied.

"ORange is DYING!?!?" Permafrost screeched. "We have to help her!!"

"And how do you propose we do that?" Ray insisted.

"I could enchant something!" Stardust suggested.

"NO." Ander groaned. "This is WHY I hate animus magic! Fate is fate, and that's there is to it. You can't just go and CHANGE whatever you want because you feel like it! It throws off the universe! Orange's life has a destiny, whatever happens to her will happen no matter what you do! It's better to just leave it alone."

"Then why did you have me save Dusk that one time?" Stardust demanded.

"Because Coal, Dusk, Qibli, and Haze all would have died, and I refused to let Coal die fighting the same dragons who destroyed his life, and Haze has a life to live."

"So you'd do that, but you'd just let Orange die?!"

"SHE'S NOT GONNA DIE TODAY NOW STOP ASKING QUESTIONS BEFORE THE STARS PUT ME BACK IN A MENTAL PRISON!" 

The group looked wary as Ander sighed.

"Did none of you remember that Haze's father is a doctor and she has medical training?" She questioned.

*~*~*~*~*

Back in the Sandwing Kingdom, Shore felt as if his entire world was crumbling down around him. He couldn't hear the voices around him after Dawn took off down the hallway. His focus was on Orange, who lay helplessly on the floor, Anaconda and Haze struggling to keep pressure on the stab wound. 

His heart felt like strange, like it was being pulled in half but didn't want to rip. His vision with blurry and his breath came in panicked gasps. He knew at some point Cypress had grabbed his arm, but he didn't remember what she had said. Haze was yelling something now, but all he heard was a buzzing sound that slowly got louder and filled his head, blocking out his other senses.

"Are there any medical supplies in this place!?" Haze demanded, examining Orange's pale face. 

"There's an infirmary down the hall, if they haven't moved it." Coal offered.

"Well, go! I need supplies!" 

"What supplies?" Coal was disoriented, and when he lost control of a situation, he found he got a little dumber. 

"Something to stitch the wound, bandages, a sleeping dart, perhaps? Go!" Coal looked blank, not knowing what he was mean to grab.

"I got it." Boysen declared, grabbing Coal and bolting down a hallway. 

Haze's eyes darted back and forth, trying to access the injury the way her father had shown her. She frowned at the location of the wound.

"Strange." She muttered. 

"What?" Dusk demanded, looking fearful. If Orange died, Shore would probably kill him if he couldn't get to Dawn.

"The knife just missed her heart," Haze narrowed her eyebrows. "It's as if Dawn wanted it to look like she'd hit her heart, but purposefully missed."

Dusk paused at this information.

Dawn was a smart dragonet. She wouldn't fall for some brainwashing scheme by Drought, and she'd never agree to what Drought was actually doing. If she was really loyal, why would she have stabbed Orange in such a way that it gave her a chance at survival? Why would she apologize if she had meant to hurt Orange?

Why would she hesitate in following Drought down the hall?

Why would she stop to whisper something to Coal?

Why did she look so upset by their reaction, as if she was full of regret? She wouldn't be regretful if she was truly loyal....

Dusk froze.

What if Dawn wasn't loyal to the Sting after all?

...What if she'd been playing them all?