He’d just arrived in the rainforest. The very first thing he did was go to Pansy’s home and wrap his wings around her as far as they would go. The second thing he did was get a VERY SAFE WAY to melt off his other wristbands, one for the front, one for the back. They decided on flamesilk, because when has that ever gone wrong?

Pansy pulled out some very precise-looking tweezers, and picked up one end of the solid fire from a jar. “Here we go,” She said, nervously lowering the tendril onto Wish’s metal band. It made contact… and did nothing.

“Toads and Fireballs!” Pansy cursed. “Who bought me flamesilk that doesn’t set things on fire?!”

“I would assume that to be bad, because we legitimately live in a rainforest.” Wish told her. “And with reckless little dragonets running around, who’s to say that they wouldn’t accidentally drop one of the strands next to a dead bush?” He shrugged and let his talons fall clink onto the floor.

In an angered rage, Pansy threw things at the metal band. By the time she got to a chunk of driftwood, the wristbands had bent, and right in the spot where the keyhole was. Wish was able to twist his wrists and the cuffs let go.

“Great, now we gotta do that for the hind ones.” Pansy complained.

“Actually, I’ve got this now.” Wish said. He slowly bent inward, and eventually was able to reach his claw into the keyhole. After wiggling it about for a minute or two, he punched it, and it fell off. “Aha, flexibility!” Wish called, still folded in half looking at his own tail. “Ah, I think I’m stuck. I need help.” He flailed his arms out to the side haplessly.

“Oh!” Pansy realized, rushing over to grip one of his talons. “What do I do?” She asks.

“Well, you just gotta pull until my spine straightens out.” Wish explained, in a very helpful and detailed way.

Pansy gave a little tug on his arm, barely strong enough to lift a leaf.

“Harder than that.” He said. She pulled again, and it popped his back but didn’t straighten it. “Keep going, just yank me out from the upside down position.”

“I’m sorry, I’m scared that I’ll hurt you!” Pansy protests.

“Well, if it does, then think of it as payback for all the times I scared you by doing something stupid.” Wish comforts her. This time, she pulled him with a violent rage. It fixed it, he was straighter now, but it hurt like he was being stabbed in the back. And he had already been stabbed, so he knew what that felt like. “Yup, I feel the pain now.” Wish groaned, still on the floor.

“Get up, you lazy lizard.” Pansy told him, flicking him with her tail. “Get your own breakfast.” She stuck her tongue out at him, getting a double payback.

“Okay, because you have asked me nicely to perform my own actions, I shall be a respectable dragon and do that.” He gets up and pulls some bananas from his left pouch. “You want some breakfast, my queen?” Wish offered her, with a mouthful of squishiness. She rolled her eyes and refused.

“Sorry, no. I’ll be too busy with a suicide mission. I’ll leave you an ominous note and scare you half to death, though.” She muttered something like, “toad turd” and took a banana from his hand.

“It’s good to see you too, Pansy. I missed you a lot.” Wish told her.

“Doesn’t really seem that way to me.” She said, getting grumpier by the minute.

“What if I told you that every time I said goodbye to the smoke, I spent the next hour trying to be productive. Then I gave up and started singing sad songs.” Wish decided that he should just show her. “Come on, I’ll show you where I was hiding.” He took her by the wrist and flew into the forest.

“Wish!” Pansy protested. “Where are we going?!”

“We’re going to Steininsel.” He replied. “So you can see what I’ve done.” Wish flew around and around, through the forest. He eventually found the tree where the hole was.

The ominous void inside the tree made most dragons feel uncomfortable, like there was a tear in the universe where there wasn’t supposed to be. However, it made Wish feel more like he was at home. Like he belonged there, meant to be with the strange magic that most people feared.

“In there?” Pansy questioned. “That’s where Steininsel is? The old NightWing Island?” She looked at him fearfully. “Isn’t that place haunted or something?”

Wish let out a surprised laugh. “Not that I know of, no. No ghosts haunting me for the past few months.”

Pansy laughed too. “I’m just wondering, what did you do to it? It used to be a giant slab of volcanic rock, but you described it like a lush forest.” She asked him.

“It was a giant slab of rock, but I was deciding to help it regrow into a nice ecosystem.” Wish admitted gleefully. “It’s doing awesome.” He smiled at the thought of his old home, but remembered that he was actively taking part in the downfall of Onyx. He shook himself down, and stepped into the tunnel. A radiant heat swept over him, the Island was still volcanic, henceforth still being very HOT.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Wish waited for Pansy to step inside, too. They walked together along the corridors. It was only recently that they had carved out the tunnel again, back to the island. Most dragons were still worried that it was still flooded with lava, and that it’d penetrate into the rainforest. None of that happened, though. Still, nobody used the hole, so it was the perfect hideout spot for Wish. Until Onyx found out.

Pansy was awfully quiet, as if deciding whether or not to still be angry at him. He heard, in her head, that she was having quite the argument.

He scared me half to death! Again! But he is sorry. He never said that! He implied it, he’s cute that way. It wasn’t that obvious! You’re supposed to be a queen who’s all about second chances, so give him another chance. He’s just going to break my heart again! He never intends to. You don’t know what he intends! He knows what I want. After that one, Pansy quickly remembered how to pull up her mind shield, and thought the rest of her thoughts without Wish intruding.

She called me cute. He began to think. He couldn’t let go of that aspect. Queen Pansy, my queen, just called me cute! In a crush kind of way! She thinks awesome things about me! I really like my powers. That was the first time in ages that Wish had consciously thought and appreciated his NightWing abilities. I guess that needs to be done, once in a while.

They continued to walk in silence for a while. Suddenly, Pansy paused. She looked under her talons. “Moss?” She questioned. “What…” She looked farther down the tunnel, there was a bright green filtered light. Running along the tunnel, she burst out from the vine covers. “Did you do?” She whirled around, her face an unreadable mix of several emotions. Did he see excitement? Joy? Worry?

Fear? Whispered a part of his brain. Does she fear you? An unsettling thought came to mind. She SHOULD fear me! I can do anything I want! Wish stamped that down. No, she’s our best friend. If she is scared of me, then she’s not really my friend. This was wise and true. But the power I could have! The queens all cower before me! This was unwise, yet still true. We need friends though. Friends keep us sane, they keep us wanting to stay alive. This was still true.

Wish remembered the question on hand. “I changed the Island.” He replied. “It really needed this.” He gestured to the wide expanse of thick forest on top of solid rock.

“How? Why?” She asked.

“Well, how is pretty self explanatory. I used my magic.” Wish told her matter of factly. “The why is because I wanted to be productive and happy while I was hiding from Onyx.”

“You used your magic? To make THIS?!!” Pansy exclaimed. “Aren’t you worried about your soul at all?!”

“No.” Wish admitted. “I’m not worried. I have friends who would tell me when I’m doing something wrong. I have been wearing my earring on a regular basis, and I believe that I am fine.” He sighed, getting slightly angry. “Now, if you’ll believe me, I was not happy while I was hiding from Onyx. Follow me.”

Wish stomped through the forest, carefully not squashing any of the grasses or mushrooms, he knew that they felt pain. Pansy followed him deliberately, still being very hard to read. Angry or forgiving, nervous or excited, he had no idea.

Wish had finally found his cottage. His overgrown, rotting wood cottage. “Here we are.” He sighed, relieved. Stepping inside, he found that both the echidna and the hawk had left. Leaving the space feeling very quiet. It was unnerving. “And here’s my wall of misery. Just a small portion of all the pain and fear and sadness that came with abandoning Pyrrhia. That came from leaving you.” He looked at her shyly as she examined the wall. She seemed to be drawn to the colder interpretations of his pain. Including the one he drew yesterday.

She looked at the other ones, too. Some depicted his fear as a fiery presence, ready to inflame him at any moment, but waiting, keeping leverage. Others depicted his loneliness as a vast, empty void, deprived of everything. Another one was sampling his doubts as a deep ocean, so far down that there appeared to be no surface.

“Do you even have any joy on this wall?” She asked, clearly worried. “Or has this whole island deprived you of any positive emotions?”

Wish thought for a minute, scanning the wall. “Well, here we have a hopeful drawing.” He said. “Hoping to see the day where I could live here with my friends and family.” He looked around a bit more. “And then there’s a straight up overjoyed illustration of the day when I found animals moving to the island.” He scanned it even harder now. “And over here- no that’s sad too. How about- no. Right h- no, that’s bad too.” He sighed, again. His life has been so miserable recently. He was glad he had Pansy to share it with.

Her eyes don’t seem to hold the same feelings. Pansy’s mind shield dropped for a second, and Wish saw traces of fear, and worry. “I don’t think this much unhappiness is healthy for- any dragon! Let alone one who can actually do something about it!”

“You mean an animus.” Wish responds, slightly bitter. “You’re worried that because I’m an unhappy animus dragon, I might tear the world apart.” He no longer meets her eyes. He stares angrily beyond her face.

There was no response from her. Neither “Yes I’m scared” nor “I’m not worried at all”. No confirmation. No negation. She was simply a presence. It was angerring. Infuriating. Wish decided on doing something he had vowed never to do to dragons, something that made anyone uncomfortable.

He imagined inside his head, that he was reaching his talons out and into Pansy’s brain. He ripped past her shielding and dove down. Down, down, down, down, like a never ending pit. As if all the things that could ever struggle against her created more void.

Wish delved deeper, he needed to find what she really wanted. He’s swimming in a void now, trying to find something other than it. Not consciously thinking of his actions, he just keeps going deeper. Pretty soon his vision begins to fade. The corners are turning black. He’s found something though. Paddling as hard as he can, he dives further into Pansy’s complicated thoughts. The something was an object. A cool, blue sapphire.

Wish didn’t understand what it meant, but he reached out, and touched it. His consciousness fades away.