Let The Chaos Continue

Your Fate

As the others left, leading Macaw, Raven, and Crow to their own cells (Macaw getting the darkest, dirtiest cell in the entire Nightwing Island, naturally), Deathbringer stayed behind, letting Macaw's father up as soon as the others were gone. 

"You're letting me go?" He questioned, eyes wide. Deathbringer barked a laugh.

"Hell no," He said cheekily. "I just felt like having a fair fight." He tossed his chakrams to the floor. "Weapons free, claws to claws. And I'll tell you what. You win, you go free."

"Somehow I doubt Joy will be pleased about that." Deathbringer laughed again as he stretched.

"See, you're under the impression that you're going to win. How cute." Macaw's father lunged at him, and Deathbringer attacked back with a snarl.

It'd been too long since he'd had a decent fight like this.

*****

"What, exactly, are we going to do with them?" Glory asked. She and Joy were in the healer's hut with Kelp, Shore and Rainkeeper having gone to lock up Raven and Crow, and Orange gone to locate Wren.

"Raven's fate, whether he realizes it or not, is entirely in Wren's talons," Joy explained. "If Wren chooses to forgive him, I think we should release him immediately. If he doesn't, then I'd say we let him sit in a cell for a little while, and then let him out. He is the most innocent out of all of this. He deserves the benefit of the doubt."

"And Macaw?" Joy's eyes went dark.

"I have thought long and hard about how best to punish him. Originally, I thought just killing him would be the way to go, but then I realized that was too easy. Murder is so... final. And so many dragons despise him. Who gets the chance to kill him? Kelp says I deserve to deliver the killing blow, but I know that'll just disappoint others, and there's no way slowly and painfully enough to end him properly. So then I got a better idea."

"I'm listening."

"I've had him placed in the lowest cell in the Nightwing Island. Dark, dirty, no shred of sunlight. A worse place than Pineapple has, to slowly drive him insane, no doubt. But that's just the beginning. He'll be in there for the rest of his life, but you know I prefer the more violent side of justice, so I've devised a little plan. I'm going to make a list of every dragon that hates Macaw. Everyone who wants to punch him, rip him to pieces, etc. And then they'll all get a turn."

"What do you mean, they all get a turn?"

"I mean everyone will get a chance to beat Macaw until he's standing at death's door, but we'll keep him alive, let him heal, and then the next dragon gets to tear him apart. He heals, next. A never ending cycle of constant beating, constant pain, constant suffering, with no end in sight, no knowing when the next dragon will come, or what they'll do to him. For the rest of his life. And then, when everyone is content, I'll go in, and kill him as I deem fit, delivering the killing blow, as Kelp says I have the right to. That is what Macaw's fate is to be." Glory stared, shocked.

"Well," She offered. "You certainly are your father's daughter." Joy smiled.

"I thought it was a creative enough idea that I got it from you, actually."

*****

The guards of the Nightwing Island were suddenly finding the rocks of the island quite fascinating as Macaw's father's scream echoed throughout the entire place. He had put up a decent fight, but Deathbringer was Deathbringer.

And Nightwings had a way of living up to their names, after all.

*****

There was a temporary prison in the rainforest. Just a couple small, warmer cells than those on the Nightwing island, made for prisoners of the forest whose fate was undecided. Or for younger dragons, or for those who didn't deserve the hellish taste of a cell on the Nightwing Island Prison. But whatever the reason it had been made, this was the prison Raven currently found himself in.

He considered himself lucky. Crow had been taken directly to the Nightwing Island Prison, trial or not. Leaving him in the rainforest, in a prison where if you looked hard enough, you could still see sunlight, was a sign that he might have a chance. A chance to explain, to right his wrongs.

He hadn't expected, of course, for Wren to be the first dragon he saw on the other side of the bars. But he was. And the prince stared at him, too many emotions written on his face for Raven to decipher, although the main one he spotted was concern.

"Hi," Wren offered, not really knowing what to say. Orange, of all dragons, had suggested that he go and talk to Raven, and Rin had only agreed. If Raven really was innocent in all of this like he believed, then Wren would only get it confirmed.

"I swear to the three moons, I did not know they were going to take Joy," Raven said immediately. "Father said he wanted to teach me a lesson for being with you- for ignoring what he'd told me to do, and I tried to fight him on it, but he said that if I didn't go along with it, then he'd kill you, and I- I don't know, I guess I just forgot about the rest of your family protecting you because I was too scared at the possibility that he might actually hurt you. It wasn't supposed to go like this."

"I know," Wren insisted. "And I know you were forced into playing along after they'd taken Joy too." Relief crashed down on Raven, relief so strong he thought he might burst into tears.

"...Do you hate me?" He asked. He wouldn't blame Wren if he did. Heck, he hated himself for what he'd done. He should've never gone along with anything they'd said, threat or no threat.

"No," Wren shuffled his feet. "I mean, I was mad at first. Moons, I've never been so mad, and I thought you had betrayed me-"

"I would never betray you."

"I know. I know that now. But for a second I didn't. And then Mako, of all dragons, led me to the right place, and I overheard you arguing with Crow about how you didn't want any part of this, and I realized that you were just being used against your will, instead of betraying me. So no, I don't hate you, because this wasn't your fault, and I'm going to make the rest of my family see that whether they like it or not." Raven nodded.

"I'm still sorry though."

"You don't have to be."

"Well, I am... Do you think you could ever forgive me?" Wren stepped closer to the cell, slipping his talons through the bars to grab Raven's hand.

"There's nothing to forgive," He insisted. Raven smiled at him, and Wren smiled back.

"Do you know how long I'll be in here? Rainkeeper didn't say."

"Oh, I'm getting you out by tomorrow or the entire freaking forest is gonna face my wrath."

******

Deathbringer was exhausted by the time he stumbled back into the hut he shared with Glory, and he sighed as he found the Rainwing waiting for him, scales red, a signature angry look on her face.

"Can't you yell at me tomorrow?" He whined.

"You didn't take the guards-" She started. 

"We didn't need them!"

"You disobeyed me!"

"When do I ever ACTUALLY follow your instructions, Glory, let's be honest." She growled, and his eyes widened.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He stumbled back a bit, and Glory stopped, noting the dark red coating his scales.

"Is that blood?" She demanded.

"....Yes?"

"Is it your blood?"

"...The majority of it? No."

"Oh my moons,"

"Relax, I just killed Macaw's father and dumped his dismembered corpse in some lava,"

"DEATHBRINGER!"

"Hey, Joy gave me permission!" 

"That doesn't make it okay!" Deathbringer groaned.

"You yell at me when I kill someone I'm not supposed to. You yell at me when I kill someone I AM supposed to- WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME TO KILL SOMEONE?"

"NEVER!"

"Well that's no fun!"

"DEATHBRINGER."