Dart pleaded, "Wait! Please! Wait!"

Ah...Screw this. I growled, pushing the tiny trepidation within to the side, my words hung in the air, "Hey! Boys."

The two burly men stopped in their tracks, twisting their bodies to stare at the supposedly empty space again.

I said in a threatening tone, "LEAVE...HIM...ALONE." I finally started to show myself to them.

Dart screamed in a panic, "No!"

The two huge men gasped in shock and fear as more of my light blue scales came to light in front of their eyes. I stood tall with my wings flared, appearing all threatening to them, getting ready to defend myself if they ever dared charge.

"Dr-Dr-Dr-" One stammering guy pointed his shaking finger at me, "DRAGON!!!"

His partner shrieked as well, "DRAGON!!!"

Instead of acting all mighty and tough like they were a second ago, they both turned tail and ran away like they didn't know how to fight. One of them even dropped their sword before they finally exited at the other end of the alleyway. I smirked as my tail swished behind me. Heh heh...They made the right choice. I didn't have to kill them after all. I heard another terror filled scream coming from inside the tavern beside me. I peered through the window, watching people scramble to get out of the tavern.

As I expected, I created a panic...And it was all because of one freakin human.

Damn it, Dart, why didn't you just fight back?

Why did you make me do all the work?!

Dart got up off the ground, and began to scold me, "Are you crazy! You gave your position away!"

I remarked, glaring right back, "Hey...Just doing what I was supposed to do."

"Right...Nice work." He still didn't sound happy about it, which I guess was no surprise. But I began to wonder why. He waved his hand up to the sky, "Get out of here right now. I'll meet you with the others. Now go!"

He didn't have to tell me twice. Unlike the two bozos, I'm surprised nobody else came and attacked me upon seeing me from in the tavern. But that probably means they didn't have any weapons with them. They will probably soon arm themselves and then start looking for a fight with me. It's by time I get out here. I flapped and took off in a quick fashion.

My wings brought me high up over the village, to the sky that was now dark and brimming with stars. I made an aerial sweep above the village that was probably now in a panic. I can barely hear shouting down below. If anybody saw me up here, I'd be like a blue star going in circles. But I can't see Dart from up this height. I wondered if anybody saw him talking to me before I flew away. What would they do if they knew he was in league with a dragon? Would they see him as a traitor? Would they kill him for that?

Well, he was on the ground when it happened, so perhaps they didn't see him and only saw me, and maybe they were too panicked to notice anything. That was probably a good thing.

I headed for the outskirts of the village, going by my own memory of where Alex and Ly are at. I beated my wings over the woods, flying a bit far from where I was supposed to go. I didn't wanna risk any villager from Stonewater seeing me going down in these woods or they'd search for me in them. I'd rather they think I was too far away for them to catch me. I flapped and soared above the greenery, searching for a spot to land. I did find a clear spot for me, signifying it was probably another clearing. I spiraled down for that spot, holding out my wings to the sides for the landing. Shortly I landed safely, folding up my own wings. But I grimaced when I felt that slash still on my shoulder. I huffed. Dart REALLY owes me one for this.

Speaking of Dart, I saw him, Ly and Alex coming out of the trees into the clearing. Talk about timing. Apparently they figured I had to land someplace else and not make it too obvious and went away from that spot I was supposed to meet them at. They might've figured we'd meet up around here sooner or later. And it also appeared that Alex also finally had a change in fresh clothes, the ones Dart got from Stonewater I knew. She apparently changed right away outside the village, and just like Dart, she looked a WHOLE LOT better than how she looked before. More normal and less rough.

Ly caught sight of me and bounded happily toward me. She beamed with a swinging tail when stopping near me, "Celine! There you are!"

I sighed, "Yes, Ly...Here I am." Kinda wish I wasn't here...

She saw the cut on my shoulder and asked with a tilted head, "Hey, are you hurt? What happened to you?"

I assured quickly, "It's nothing, I'm fine." I'm sure it'll heal up sooner or later.

But, just like I appeared out of thin air, Dart suddenly yelled AT ME when he and Alex caught up to Ly, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

I gave him a glare. What is his problem? Ly, all confused and stuff, asked him, "What? I'm just happy to see her. She wasn't with you when you got back. And I thought she was hurt. Isn't that normal to be concerned about someone? I was doing the same thing to you when you got-"

"Not YOU." His hand swiftly shoved at me as he looked at the hatchling, "HER."

Ly cocked her head, "Huh?"

Alex didn't appear to know what was going on yet either. She was just as confused as Ly was. She questioned, "What's going on here? Why are you acting so grim, Dart? You've been acting that way when you came back to us alone. Did something happen in Stonewater, is that why there's a cut on Celine? I thought I heard some screams in there."

"Why don't you ask HER?" Dart demanded furiously at me again, getting a bit more closer to me, "Celine, what were you thinking in there?!"

I replied with a roll of my eyes, "Oh, you know...Saving your ass again. The usual. What's wrong with you?"

He shouted, "What's wrong with me is that I am PISSED OFF at you. You fucked everything up!"

I deflected, "What are you talking about, Dart? I didn't do anything wrong."

"Bullcrap you did not!" The raging human said, "You were messing around with a couple people and then revealed yourself! You caused a freakin panic!"

What? Is he kidding? I said, "What was I supposed to do? Those guys were trying to hurt you."

Ly gasped, "There WERE bad humans in there? That's why Celine was hurt? Oh no!"

But Dart protested, "No, you got it wrong! You weren't supposed to do ANYTHING!"

I frowned, "I don't understand this. Did you want me to let them hurt you?" Did he drink something in the tavern and that's why he's like this?

Wow...This is a new low for him.

Dart heatedly said, "Exactly, you don't understand. Look, I was trying to find help, but some jackass in the tavern tripped me and I fell into those guys by complete accident. I bothered them before, but they weren't interested in talking to me and they told me to leave them alone so I did, but then that happened and they were angry."

I shouted, "Of course they were angry! I was trying to protect you from them! You look like you weren't doing it well yourself! You were just laying there!"

He claimed, "That's because it didn't feel right to fight them! You still don't get it! It was all because of an accident! It was all a misunderstanding! I was trying to explain things to them but then you intervened!"

I argued, "But they weren't listening to you! When was I supposed to intervene, until they beat you to a pulp or when they bury a blade in your gut?" Ly gasped for her friend while I went on, "How can you explain something to these bozos when they don't act like they have a head on their shoulders?!"

"That's because they were drunk! We came out of a TAVERN if you didn't know what that means. It's a place where people get drunk, you stupid dragon!"

"I KNOW what a tavern is supposed to be, Dart."

Ly cocked her head again, "What's a tavern? And what's drunk?"

Dart ignored her and went on, "I probably would've succeeded in talking them down and calming them! You should've left it alone!"

I snorted in disbelief, "Didn't look that way. You were failing it looked like. And I was trying to help out by trying to scare them off!"

Dart shot back, "Yeah, and your cheap ghost tricks didn't work apparently, and because of that they thought I had something to do with it! You made things worse for me!"

Alex said as Ly stood beside her and kept her distance from me and Dart, "Sounds like we missed a lot."

Yeah, and apparently I missed some details. But I was trying to protect him! I thought those bozos would run away!

Dart spat, "I had a perfectly good plan going and look what happened! Thanks to you! You screwed it up real good, DRAGON!"

"Cut me some slack, human." I said, "Apparently it was all a misunderstanding on my part too, I get it now, but how was I supposed to know what was going on? I was waiting around for you outside, I didn't pay attention too much what was going on in there. And you really want to take your chances trying to persuade them to leave you alone because of a misunderstanding? I doubt they would've listened to you. They had a sword, Dart, they probably would've used it on you otherwise. Besides that, I got hurt by one of them with the sword before I turned visible, so I think you owe me BIG TIME for this for trying to help you."

"Maybe...Maybe you're right...Maybe you totally missed what happened." But then he gave me some accusatory words, "Or MAYBE you found some opportunity to screw up our deal by preventing me from getting help from other people!"

I exclaimed, "Excuse me?"

Dart demanded, "What, have you forgotten our deal, or is there something else you're not telling me? Like maybe you have some other plan going on or something! Something to prevent me from gaining help to kill your QUEEN!" I flared my wings out in frustration, hissing. No way he's doing this crap again. How many times do I have to tell him that I am NOT IN LEAGUE WITH MESSINA?!

Ly said his name in apparent disappointment, "Dart."

Alex tried to diffuse this, "Dart, calm down."

But he outright refused and kept fishing for answers from me, "Well what is it, Celine? I'm waiting for answers! You're hiding something and I wanna know what it is!"

I shot back, "I gave you answers already. I'm not working for her!"

"Like I'm gonna listen to that crap again."

"Are you freakin kidding me right now?" I ranted after letting out a sigh, "I am so freakin tired of you trying to weasel your way out of our deal."

Dart defended himself, "I'm not trying to weasel out of anything!"

But I went on with the accusation, "This is honestly what's been going on with you and it is getting old."

He shot back, "You hate ALL of us and YOU want to weasel out of it, but I'm at least trying to deal with it. You act like you don't want to."

I fessed up, "Probably cause I don't feel like it. I'm already worn out by all this."

The little human male demanded, "Look, if it is that easy for you to fly off without us so you can be lonely, if that is your REAL intentions, why don't you already?" He flung his hand back at Alex, "If you are that worried about Ly then leave us to her! I can handle her better than I can handle YOU...Maybe. She's more tolerable."

Ly protested, shaking her head with worried eyes, "No way! I don't want anyone to leave!"

I still held anger in mine. After a short pause I finally responded, "Understand this, bub, I don't break promises...No matter how moronic they are...And if you get in the way of that promise...There will be no more Missus Nice Celine from here on out."

Dart wrinkled his brow in disbelief, "You call THAT your Missus Nice Celine?"

My lips quickly made a sarcastic smirk, "Daw, and I am gonna miss her."

He told me off, "You know what, why don't you go terrorize another little dipshit that lost their home...AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Alex begged, "Come on, guys, stop this."

My smirk flew off my face in a blink of an eye, "Oh, is that another croc shot about us dragons? Or me in particular?" I was bringing my head a bit closer to his level, staring him right in the eye, "Let me tell you something, HUMAN, I could've done something FAR WORSE to those assholes that you think are so innocent! Actually, I could've done something FAR WORSE than what the dragons you dealt with before have done if you want to call what I am doing terrorizing. Have you forgotten how worse off you'd be if it weren't for me? And by the way, you mentioned yesterday that I haven't scratched up a storm...Well I am getting CLOSE to scratching one up."

He spat at my face, "Oh yeah? So am I!"

I shot back, "Well, hope you don't lie down like you always do when that storm comes, since that's what you do during a fight."

"What?! You-"

Ly finally snapped, "Stop! Stop it! Stop fighting, both of you!" She looked to Alex for help, "Alex, please make them stop fighting."

Alex calmly tried to tone this down, "Guys, seriously, chill out before this gets out of control. We're all safe, aren't we? Let's all take a deep breath and calm down. Ok?"

Me and Dart were not breaking contact with our daggered eyes. Then a moment later he stomped off in a huff. Alex chased after him as they both disappeared into the woods, "Dart, wait!"

I took a deep breath and let it out, my anger simmering down a little. Why do I even bother helping him? This is pointless...

"Celine?" My eyes snapped at Ly. She was still a bit visibly upset, but she was giving me a reassuring, hopeful smile. I imagine it was telling me that he'll forgive me...And not give up on him yet...

I wish I have the same sentiment, little one...

*****

I brushed past some bushes when I found a small dirt trail to follow. It was dark around here, with no light to guide me through here, but at least my eyes adjusted to the darkness a bit. Alex was in tow, trying to stop me from going someplace. I kinda want to go back to Stonewater and try my best to find help again. But with everyone so worked up in that place, I was thinking now things wouldn't work out.

Besides...I was TOO ANGRY to put in the work for it. I was not in the mood for it.

I still can't believe Celine did what she did. She deliberately broke our deal. She was supposed to be helping me when it came to finding help to stop Messina...And she screwed it up tonight. I was afraid something would happen, but I pushed that aside thinking I was being paranoid...But I guess that was too good to be true. I should've just fought harder to go in the place alone.

But would Alex and Ly let me? HELL NO! They're about as fault as Celine is!

Not intentionally, yes, but it FEELS like it! If only they listened to me!

I clenched my fist tight, wanting to punch this certain dragon. Arrgh, I really want to kill Celine for this! I oughta for what she did in the village! I warned her I wouldn't stand for anything devious she did!

So what the hell am I doing here?!!

Because I know I can't beat her in a fight, that's why!

I groaned deeply in frustration. Who does she think she is, bringing up that I tend to lie down in a battle? I don't do that on purpose! I try not to back down, I do try to fight...Even though I suck at it. But come on, doesn't she get that I didn't want to fight these guys? It was all an accident, it wouldn't be right. I was just doing what my father would always say, never fight the innocent. They didn't appear to be like they were a couple of bad dudes that tend to cause havoc towards innocent people...I'm kinda certain. They were just a couple of people having drinks, nothing more.

And even if I tried fighting them, give me a break, those guys were much bigger than me, and I'm not sure I can even beat them in a battle. Two big men against one smaller dude like me, they'd probably whoop my ass in a heartbeat.

But would Celine listen to me? I highly doubt it! She'd still probably do what she did.

That backstabbing, blue bitch!!

Alex called behind me, "Dart! Slow down! Where are you going?"

I feel like I wanted to be somewhere. Somewhere far away from everything. Where I don't have Ly's cute face bothering me. Where I won't have the burden of saving all those people from Messina weighing down my shoulders. Where I don't have to feel the guilt of letting them down...Letting EVERYBODY down. Where I don't have to feel like I have lost my entire family because of my ONE mistake.

I wanted to leave and forget about everything. That's all I want at this point.

But at the end...I don't know where to go. Where to turn. I was new in a big world after all.

I stopped finally in the middle of the path, letting out a huge breath. Alex caught up behind me. She then began to scold me with a serious tone, "Dart, that was so uncalled for!"

I threw my voice past my shoulder, "So what? She shouldn't have done all those things, and said all those things to me. Everything would have worked out if she didn't try to, you know...'Help'."

Alex said, "But it didn't. She WAS trying to help you."

I scoffed, "Some help she was."

She shot back, "Well you weren't exactly HELPING by yelling at her."

I sharply turned to face her with a raised tone, "Alex, I-" I caught myself before I lowered it, "I don't trust her, Alex, you know that by now. But this is different now. What's happened in the village is kinda proving my point of what I was trying to tell you."

Alex shook her head at that, "Come on...You're being paranoid again."

I brought up, "You wouldn't think I'm paranoid when Celine keeps having these tricks up her scales. I mean seriously she kept her camouflage to herself and never told anyone about it. You'd think she would've told anybody about it before that time came."

Alex said, "But she used it to protect us still. Yeah, sure, maybe she could've done better and told us sooner, but maybe she didn't feel like showing it sooner. I think it's like not showing a birth mark in a private area or something. Not totally the same thing, but still. I won't fault her for that. She still hid us from those dragons this morning."

I groaned, "Aren't you seeing my point? Thanks to that I have a feeling that she could still be hiding something!" I thrusted my limb out towards the trees, "She could be hiding the fact that there are probably camouflaged dragons following our every move and waiting to attack us when we relax around her. I'd bet with her tricks, Messina has recruited a few of those in her cause against humanity."

She mentioned, "But Celine says that sort of thing is a rare thing. I don't think that's possible."

I fought back, "How do you know that for sure? Dragon camouflage isn't really covered in books. All we know is what we know about them from a distance...Or up close. Have you read a book with something like that?"

She admitted, "Well, no, but-"

"Then you see my point. She could be making that crap up just to throw us off."

But Alex insisted, "But we won't know EVERYTHING about them if we don't learn more from their point of view. We both didn't know some dragons can camouflage themselves, well that's a new thing. And Ly is happily surprised about it too. Don't you remember? She doesn't seem to have known about camouflage scales. It's always the point in living...To see and learn new things every day. None of us have ever had a chance to fully understand what dragons are fully capable off...Besides the prejudice."

Predjudice, my butt. I uttered, "I'm certain the more we learn about them, the bigger the chance will be for us getting murdered in our sleep."

Alex said my name in pity, "Dart..."

Shortly, after staring at her a bit, I let out a sigh, "And I'm very sure that I cannot EVER trust Celine now to learn. This is all becoming very risky. She's probably going to be the death of us soon, and we're probably bringing death to those we find. I can feel it."

But she denied the fact, "But we didn't see other dragons coming out of nowhere firing up Stonewater. What happened in the village doesn't mean she's with the evil dragon queen. All of this is a big misunderstanding, as much as what happened in the village."

"Tch." I waved her off, "You don't get it. You weren't there at all."

"No, I DO get it." Alex said, "It all sounded like she didn't have a choice but to do something drastic in the end. Just because things didn't work out doesn't mean you should take your anger out on her. She was doing what she thought was right, like she'd done a few times already. And I bet she would've done it again. You would've done the same thing too if you were in her...Well, feet. Right?"

I looked down at the ground. I did remember what Ly was telling me, about there are other kind dragons in the world. I did kinda look at Celine's point of view too, recalling her words besides her actions. She really did act like she was looking out for me, like Alex and Ly wanted her to...Just like she did back at the fortress...And at the time when she saved me from those Bloodthorn Pirates. She seemed to rather risk revealing herself just to protect me, when all else failed. And it was something that my dad would do in a situation like that. Do something very drastic to save someone when all else failed. I remember him telling me a few stories with something like that.

And she was right...I would've done the same thing too, as my dad would...As supposedly as Celine apparently would.

I finally mumbled as some anger simmered down like a glowing ember inside of me, "...Yeah."

Alex got right in front of me and placed both her hands on my shoulders. I felt her trying to look deeply inside me. She said in a soft voice, "She's really doing her best to help us. Look, mistakes happen. Things don't work out. And I think you have made a mistake of not listening to her. We'll keep trying to find help some other time." I lifted to gaze back into her beautiful eyes. She went on with a smile, "Just give it some more time. Everything will be all right. Now can we go back to the others now and sleep for the night? We'll figure out what to do next in the morning. And at least TRY to apologize to Celine in the morning. She does mean well. Ok?"

I sucked in some air and then nodded, "...Fine." She gave me a pat, and then led me back through the dark woods. I pondered a bit as we trekked back for the dragons. I was somewhat half close to trusting Celine, like when I was close to trusting Ly a bunch, but I still can't help but feeling anxious and cautious towards the blue dragon. It still feels very dangerous.

But still...I couldn't really argue with Alex. There definitely isn't anything concise with what I was accusing Celine. It's not like she killed any single, innocent person or destroyed a village...Yet. She didn't do that before or after she showed herself. Thank god she didn't. She kept her word.

Who knows...Maybe I am wrong about her, like I think I was wrong about Ly so far. Maybe this whole thing was like Ly.

I guess I'll give her a chance....Hope I'm not making a wrong choice down the road...

I gazed around the dark forest behind Alex, trying to retrace our steps. And I hope we won't get ourselves lost treading back to that clearing...Or we'll have to holler a dragon to help us out.

Heh...Give me a break...I'm thinking about asking a dragon for help again.

I really am letting Ly get to me.

*****

I moaned in my sleep, till I finally couldn't take it anymore. I blinked at the darkness that was still ongoing. It feels like a bit of time has passed since all of us decided to sleep in this clearing for tonight. I raised my head above the grass, and gazed directly at Dart and Alex that are both sleeping deeply. I raised a wing slowly to take a peek under it. Ly was still right where she was too, after she begged me to let her sleep by me again. All curled up against my scales, finally stopped moving and kicking me...Sleeping peacefully.

Unlike me.

I breathed in only with my nose, trying to let out the frustration with it. I was stressed out still. Thanks to that latest blowout with Dart, it was making me restless...Besides Ly sorta kicking me earlier. I cannot get any sleep even if my life depended on it. This was kinda the worst stress I felt. I think it had gotten progressively worse as more time with everyone, with Dart especially, went on.

I don't know how much worse it can get. It feels like my whole life was ripped into pieces and scattered them all over the lands, and I was trying desperately to search and find every piece. But every time I got into an argument with Dart...The same pieces I've managed to find are torn further apart, and I feel like I can never find them.

I glared right at Dart. I was so ready to kick his little ass and leave everyone, and show him how much of a BAD dragon I can be. But then I'd be proving his accusations and then I'd be an outright bad guy, so...Killing him was not an option. And I think my stupid, protective side would prevent me also. I didn't have it in me to hurt him. Never did, despite what he believes. I held in a breath and let it out. Maybe things would've helped if Ly hadn't slept by me again. But considering she has given me her begging, pleading eyes, and said that things around here seemed much more scarier than everywhere else, I couldn't resist, even though I did at first like the other night. But even if I was laying by myself, I still don't think I could get any sleep cause of all this stress.

Then I lifted my eyes to look at the starry sky. My heart yearned for a nice flight. I should be up there right now, flying up to the stars and feel like I was in heaven again. I still haven't had a flight to myself. Well, besides that earlier one tonight, but that wasn't at all relaxing cause I was escaping a panicked village and focusing on returning to the others, and to that end it still didn't end up relaxing me. A relaxing flight without worrying and thinking about tasks always let me loosen up. And yet I still haven't had one...All because of my worries of being caught by pursuing dragons working for a scaly queen that has it out for me.

But I was like Dart...I didn't care anymore. I slowly pushed onto my four feet, trying not to wake Ly up with my movement. I was desperate for a night flight without anything holding me back and I was going to take one NOW. Or else I was going to be too stressed and I'll never get some shut eye...And I'll be even MORE crankier than I am now by morning.

And if any dragon does bother me during flight, I'll kick their scaly asses so hard they wish they'd never mess around with the wrong dragoness.

I padded quietly away from the sleeping hatchling, who still didn't notice anything was afloat. I couldn't take my eyes off her. I do feel a bit bad sneaking off and leaving her alone, considering how she feels about nightmare monsters. I wondered if she'll wake up and find out I was gone. She'd probably freak out that I was missing. Maybe she might believe that the scary night monsters got me. I can almost see the tears coming out of her eyes.

Poor little hatchling.

But...I do gotta prioritize myself. I looked away from her, spreading out my wings for a bit as I padded further away from the group. I'll be back before she knows I'm gone. This won't take all night.

Besides, if she knows I'm gone, I'm sure she'll call one of her visions and see that I'll show back up before she can say 'here's Celine!'. I'll just fly till I feel tired and then come back.

Hope this won't take forever. With this amount of stress...I wonder I'll ever sleep again.

I didn't want to risk waking anyone up with my takeoff, so I decided to wander in the woods and find a spot for me to fly away. I urgently pushed my way through the greenery, trying not to look back at everyone. A short bit later to my relief I found a gap through the canopy. I tried spreading my wings out despite the lack of space with the trees around me. But thankfully with a couple flaps I barrelled through that gap and up towards the night sky. My wings carried me as high as they could, till I feel like I can reach the stars and touch them.

I took in a very long, relaxing, and refreshing breath as the landscape was far below me. Ahhhhh...This feels great. I feel like I can finally stretch my wings again without anything holding them down! I flew around the area, not daring to look down yet as I fear it'll bring me back down a lot sooner. The stress was still evident in my chest, but with each flap it seemed to have brought it down inch by inch.

I wish I could fly like this forever...If I didn't have any responsibilities for anything at the moment.

I formed up a glare despite my endearing happiness. And I wish this constant issue would just go away already. I can believe it, but I honestly also still cannot believe that Dart would outright accuse me of being a bad dragon after all I done for him...Again. Even rescuing him from getting hurt again. I get that it was all a misunderstanding, I understand that quite clearly now, but I wish he'd be a bit more appreciative of me!

I growled, my teeth showing with my wings beating. But I am a fool for wanting that. What do I expect from a human that seems to be stuck with their views? A human can't change them so easily. He's just like everyone else...Everyone that has despised dragons...Despised ME. I remember thinking that if I tried my invisibility trick on that bully of his, Gunther, and picked on him without him ever seeing me, that I figured Dart still wouldn't appreciate what I did.

It turned out my theory was correct...And I guess I was a fool to think differently.

I groaned as Ly's face and all her encouraging words popped up in my head. I don't understand her naivety. Why can't she understand that what we're doing is only provoking him! He will never understand us and will never respect us and will never CARE about us! He hates dragons and doesn't want to be around them, pure and simple as that!

I was so ready to leave him once we take Ly home, and I can get on with my life for good. My crazy side of my brain was telling me otherwise...And I mentally told it to shut up for once in its freakin life. But it fought me back for being a ignorant fool, which I personally think I'm not. I am only being realistic!

But during the calmness of this flight, I can't help but think about Alex too. She really is kind to me still, she didn't accuse me at all...She apparently believed me over all the odds. She's like the...Second person I've known in my life that was THIS kind to me.

It's...Kinda amazing in a way.

I looked up towards the stars with another flap, as a familiar face appeared in my head. Maybe they would've gotten along together... I shook my head as I felt some tears threatening to come out. Ah...Almost let it slip. I pushed down that emotion with a deep breath. Don't think about it, Celine, you know better than that. Just enjoy the stars...

I flapped in the sky for a undescribable amount of time. Finally a yawn escaped my maw and my eyes were starting to droop. Time for bed now. I banked around, going by memory of where I left the group. I don't think it took me forever to find that clearing again. I slowly descended for that round opening in the trees, trying to quietly glide towards it and not make a noise by flapping my wings. As I got closer my forepaws stretched out for the landing. I landed softly and quietly as I could. Luckily Ly and everyone else was asleep still. Especially Ly. I smiled at her as I curled my wings with a swish of my tail. Perfect. I don't have to comfort a frightened hatchling. I began padding towards her, yawning again. Well...Better get some sleep. Got another long day coming.

Hope tomorrow is better than now. I ain't counting on it.

But before I planted another step, my ear caught a strange sound. It froze me solid, my forepaw stuck in mid air. What was that? I followed another noise, sounding like it came from across the clearing. I narrowed up my eyes as I snapped towards it. It...Sounded like...A footstep.

Is someone there?

A pit formed in my stomach as I was standing still without taking my eyes off that spot. I wasn't sure if it was a critter wandering around...Or if it was something serious. It felt strange enough not to ignore.

I have a creepy feeling that somebody was watching us.

There better not be any trouble brewing over there...I am not in the mood for it. I turned my chest fully to that part of the edge of the clearing. My claws dug in, my eyes holding fierce determination. I was ready for them...

Then I thought I saw a big figure roaming behind that treeline edge, the darkness barely obscuring them.

My heart was pounding furiously within my scaled chest. Oh no...Is that a-

Suddenly, a dragon emerged out of the woods.

I hissed, lashing my tail, my claws ready to strike. Shit! It's another dragon!

We've finally been found! They found us!