Night Fury's Venom

Part 45: Sacrifice

-PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE VERY BOTTOM ONCE YOU'RE DONE READING! IT EXPLAINS A LOT OF QUESTIONS I KEEP GETTING ASKED!-

Otherwise, enjoy!

-NFD

~~~

For Stormfly... anything.

I curled my tail around to rest the tail-fins in front of me, lightly rubbing the left fin that I had originally lost. If Star made it when she wasn't a mortal...

I looked up at Star, who was observing me curiously and spoke with a slight waver in my voice. "What about my tail-fin? Wasn't it made from the same magic?"

Star blinked before the realization hit her. Her eyes widened as her eyes darted between my face and my tail. "NO! Y-You can't do that! We just have to search for something else!"

"Like what?" I challenged, "how long will it take for us to find 'something else?' How do you know Stormfly wouldn't be dead before we found something?"

Her eyes didn't stop darting back and forth, looking more and more desperate. She swallowed nervously. "You d-do know what losing it will do to you, r-right? Stormfly wouldn't want that, s-she would want you to b-be happy-"

"Star," I growled, cutting her off. "I won't be happy. It's all my fault! Since I left Stormfly, I've been a wreck! I mean, look at me, do I look okay?! If I hadn't left to begin with, I wouldn't be injured right now, and she would probably be fine! If you don't do this, I would still be alive, alive, and alone! Losing my flight could ruin my sanity, sure, but I would still go insane knowing I was alone because Stormfly died from my mistake! Don't you get it? I would never be happy without her, you have to do this!"

"Y-You would actually die with her..." Star mumbled, "the b-bond would do it..."

"So?!" I hissed, "how is that any better?!" I groaned in exasperation, then thought of something that made my heart plummet more, my anger turning into despair. "Star... there are things I still want to do in my life, and I'm sure Stormfly does too. I want to share it with her, and there are things we can't do if we're dead!"

Star sighed. "Like hatchlings..." She murmured sorrowfully, making me freeze.

I felt my face get scorching hot. That was not what I was thinking about! "U-Uh... wow... i-isn't it a bit early for, uh..." I swallowed. "...hatchlings?"

I'm up for it!

Shut up!

Star chuckled half-heartedly. "I guess so, but in the future... maybe?" She asked hopefully.

"I, uh..." I cleared my throat. "C-Can we talk about this later? A few years kinda 'later...?'"

"Season cycles," Star corrected quietly, "dragons don't say, 'years.'" She paused as I made sure to remember that, then shook her head. "If I know Stormfly at all, she won't wait very long for that. Still, you're right, we need to make sure you two have a future, but only if you're sure...?"

Are you really sure? This could seriously mess up our mind...

I nodded once. Star sighed and turned to slowly walk down the tunnel, flicking her tail to follow. We stayed silent as we walked, the only sound being our paws landing on stone, lightly echoing off the walls around us. It only got darker the further in we were, and when we turned right to enter a bigger room, the only light we had was from my scales. I wrinkled my nose against the pungent stench of sickness, every scale on my body urging me to run away, but I resisted.