Clearsight's Choice

Chapter 8. Fathom. The Kingdom of the Sea.

Fathom clutched the ground with his claws, as if he could erase the strange feeling in him if he held on hard enough. It wasn't long after Clearsight had left them on the beach, and Fathom was still sprawled on the ground under the shelter of a palm tree. Stop, The green SeaWing thought desperately. It wouldn't though, that strange sensation of- of- Fathom didn't want to name it. He winced. Everything hurts.

Fathom was squinting so hard to keep his eyes shut. His tail was draped across his eyes incase he couldn't keep them open. His stomach seemed to do small, anxious flips inside of him. I need to... to... Fathom shook his head furiously, causing his tail to slip off and onto the sandy-grass. No! I-I can't! He thought, and let out a whimper. Suddenly his mouth opened and he heard himself shouting "Indigo!"

The dark blue SeaWing had gone for another quick flight around the beach; even in the rain she had to stay active. Fathom tried to keep himself from panicking when he didn't hear her respond. "Indigo!" he called again. Fear prickled from the tips of his wings to the tips of his tail. He had to figure out what was going on, what was happening to him. When only the pitter-patter of rain responded to the terrified animus dragon, he gave up and screwed up his face to keep his eye-lids from flying open.

Fathom's fight against himself continued for what seemed to be an eternity before his ears perked toward the sound of wing-beats. "Indigo!" he cried again, clutching the grass with his talons. His tail was now sprawled across the ground, twitching. He wasn't making it do that, and it scared him. What's happening to me? He thought, and his breath became shallow. He was having a panic attack; though, wasn't that obvious?

"Fathom!" a voice called to him. Fathom opened his eyes, squinting still, and looked up from his position on the ground. He couldn't see Indigo's beautiful indigo-colored scales. That wasn't comforting. "I-in..." he choked out, but then he stopped, cutting himself off by gritting his teeth. He had almost shouted...he...he didn't want to think of it. All he wanted was to run from himself, maybe hide in the shelter of Indigo's wings. But he couldn't do that.

He couldn't run from himself, and he couldn't hide with Indigo. He might...she.... Fathom's eyes snapped open as he looked around. He heard a dragon call his name. "I-Indigo...?" he asked, knowing nothing would respond. The flapping of wings echoed once more above his head, and for a second the feeling of...how could he explain it...stabby-ness? Wanting to stab? Something? Fathom closed his eyes as he thought of hurting something; he lowered his head to the ground again and took a deep breath.

A large thud announced the landing of a dragon, as well as talons scraping on rocks and sand. Fathom squinted again. Indigo was standing in front of him, concern in her eyes. "Are you okay?" she demanded, padding over to his side. Fathom sprang off of the ground, scrabbling to get to his feet. "N-no!" he roared, but then he controlled himself and backed away, hiding behind a tree. "I-I mean...I'm fine! J-just- s-stay a-away." his words were coming out in a blur, tumbling over each other. Sometimes they didn't make any sense because of how bad Fathom stuttered.

Indigo rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah, sure. You're definitely fine. Not being suspicious one bit." she shook out her wings, and water droplets splattered onto the ground around here. Fathom guessed she had gone swimming. Indigo tucked her wings to her side once more. "What's eating you?" she snapped. Fathom winced; not just because of how harsh Indigo was being (Which Fathom knew she was only being concerned), but also because of the small voice in his head that was saying: "Kill."