~How it Feels to be Lost~

~2~

For every step that I take
I take two steps back
It's like a punch to the face
It's like a knife right in the back
Like a bullet to the head
Why can't I understand?
The blood is on my hands

~

Why did you decide to do business with her? Why didn't you slit her throat the moment that dangerous look surfaced? Why did you fall in love with a SandWing? Why? Why? Why? Ermine scolded herself, somehow keeping her outward appearance neutral.

"Of course, your majesty." she tried her best to walk up to the queen and take her target information sheet without her talons shaking too much.

"Thank you, Ermine dear. I assure you this will be the best-paid mission yet," The Queen nodded and tipped her wings gracefully.

"Why?" Ermine asked, her voice mildly shaking. She immediately clamped her snout back shut. She wasn't sure if she had asked why Ermine had to kill Arid, or why she was getting paid more.

"Oh, well, darling, he is participating in a rebellion! Something about dividing the tribes up!"

"Is he the leader?"

The Queen laughed, "Oh, of course not! The SandWing can barely read and write, let alone organize a mafia!" she chuckled once more, "This kill is more like a warning to the other members, to tell them to stop. Without his death, they could eventually prevail."

Wait to put the pressure on me, Ermine thought, her face turning sour. She looked back up at Queen Caldera, "I better get going, then. Big mission in a short amount of time."

"Yes, Ermine. Good luck!" Caldera called as Ermine began to leave, "I expect a status update in three days!"

Ermine felt her muscles tense up. Three days from now, she could have killed the only dragon she ever had feelings for.

She held up the piece of paper. Sure enough, on the little sketch of Arid, he had that smiley sparkle in his eyes, and the cut Ermine herself had given him years ago directly across his right brow. Ermine felt tears welling in her eyes as she put the paper back down. There was no way out of this; if she tried to run, the status update would never arrive and Caldera would send a battalion after her. If she sent the status update, at least one of the Queen's spies would snitch on her and have her executed.

Unless she managed to grab Arid and run across the planet with him. He would be up for that, right? she only left him alone for half a decade. That wasn't too bad. . .

It was bad. And Ermine was never finding a way out.

<> (break in chapter/ time passing by)

The Scorpion Den was anything and everything but where Ermine the IceWing should be. It was full to the brim with dragons, crawling with awful smells and poisonous vermin, and scorchingly hot. Not to mention the insane amount of guards and posters of all the queens, It especially didn't help that a Council of the Queens was being held in a week, so security was as high as possible, which meant it was the hardest time ever to kill a dragon.

Ermine, panting and boiling in the late afternoon sun, stumbled into a nearly empty alleyway. She felt as if her frost-colored scales were simply going to evaporate off of her and intensify the groggy heat around her. She opened, once again, Arid's file. It said he was located in one of the nearby alleyways, or just somewhere floating around the Scorpion Den.

Perhaps she could meet back up with him and convince him to play dead. Or hire a different hitman to knock out the only dragon she had ever loved. Nope, this mission was hopeless. The only possible thing Ermine could think of was sticking one of the many poisonous darts she had into her neck.

Ermine heard a tumbling sound from deeper in the alleyway. She immediately grabbed a dagger from her pouch and peeked past the row of crates she was hiding behind. Attempting to replicate the night vision of a SeaWing, she squinted her eyes towards a pile of fabrics in the back of the alleyway.

Out of the pile of fabrics stumbled a stark-black NightWing with hints of blue splattered on their body. They shook one of the garments from their tail and continued striding down the alleyway, another creaking and tumbling coming from behind them.

Ermine hid deeper in the crates, her dagger drawn. She watched as the NightWing paused at the end of the alley, barely a tail length from her, and waited for another dragon.

The dragon that came up to meet with the NightWing was one Ermine had never seen. It had four massive, bright blue wings that looked like that of flower petals. It had two arching strands protruding from its forehead, along with long, curling horns poking from the back of its head.

Ermine was never one to be shocked, but this dragon's beauty left her with her jaw dangling open. She gathered herself and stood up again, a dagger in each of her front talons.

"Shouldn't he be back by now?" The NightWing asked, scanning the wide, busy street in front of them.

"Oh, C'mon," the bright blue dragon said with a thick accent in his voice, "It's Arid! He's probably out bar-hopping already."

"At half-past four?" The NightWing shot a sideways look at their elegant companion.

"What? This is Arid we're talking about! Either he's hooking up with random dragons or singing songs about that IceWing again." The accented dragon leaned against a wall and folded his arms, grimacing at the many dragons on the street who were oogling at him.

Ermine blinked. This couldn't possibly be the same Arid she was sent to kill- right? And, the chances of her stumbling into a clue nearly an hour after she entered the area of her target was impossible! Right?

"Well," the NightWing started, "Guess we're off to the Tipsy Tourniquet again," they flared their wings, revealing a metallic emblem tattooed under their wing.

"I guess," the blue dragon also flared their petal-wings, "can we get drinks this time?" Ermine realized this dragon had a bandage with the same symbol on his forearm.

Ermine glanced down at her file. The exact symbol that both of the strange new dragons were wearing was on Arid's file.

For a normal mission, this would be incredibly lucky. But in this scenario, it only made the pangs of stress and betrayal echo louder in her head.

Still, as a friend or a foe, she had to head to the Tipsy Tourniquet.

~

Woohoo! Two chapters in one day!

Sry for the bad writing it is currently 45 minutes until midnight :')