Wings of Fire Oneshots

Unthinkable | Darkstalker x Fathom [REQUEST]

A/N: This oneshot was requested by user spiderlilly19! (I use Wattpad on mobile so it doesn't let me link your profile, sorry)

Just putting this out there - I do not personally ship this whatsoever. Even so, I saw no real reason I couldn't write this request as long as the pairing wasn't portrayed badly, which in this case it isn't. Because I don't know much about how this ship works in people's AUs, I did what I could with what I had and somehow pumped this out in a few hours. I hope it's close enough to what you were looking for :)

You can probably tell that unlike what happened with the Clearsight x Sunstreak oneshot, I have read Legends: Darkstalker recently enough to reference events in this one. On a slightly related note, I've been thinking of rewriting that oneshot, because I don't really like it anymore (as is the case for most oneshots in this collection lol, especially the older ones).

I don't know if I'm going to continue to take requests after this, but maybe at a very limited rate. Like no more than one at any time, and requests won't always be open. If I do properly open requests, your hint will be a chapter that works as a request box.

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It was an outrageous, simply unthinkable thought, that the first animus ever to grace the NightWing tribe might further taint his blood by mingling so closely with the royal SeaWing family. His father Prince Arctic was lucky to be permitted to live in the Night Kingdom as it was, and perhaps that was only because he'd had a purpose thrusted upon him which the NightWing tribe itself could stand to gain from - to produce a NightWing animus who shared blood with one of Queen Vigilance's closest advisors.

Of course, that NightWing animus was him, and that meant he was already half IceWing. But the power he held in his claws (or, rather, his scroll, but that was a detail the tribe could go without knowing) seemed to be enough to make up for that, in the eyes of most. So if it was discovered that Darkstalker had chosen a SeaWing over anyone of his own tribe, moons forbid the very SeaWing prince who had been sent to his kingdom to interfere with the queen's plans for him... it probably wouldn't be pretty.

And yet it was so. Call it contamination of his potential, but Fathom was different. Fathom was right. He felt maybe the SeaWings knew better about animus dragons than his tribe did, so he'd fled from his palace-dwelling privileges, from the reverie and admiration, to the outskirts of the City of Night. If he could, perhaps he'd follow Fathom back to his home in the Kingdom of the Sea, but he knew Queen Pearl would be scandalised to see such a "treacherous monster" tracking his talonprints across her sand. And of course he couldn't leave behind Foeslayer and Whiteout.

So the deep, dark and murky canyons where the lowly NightWings dwelled would suffice; he'd already willingly desecrated his reputation enough. It didn't matter. All he needed was his mother, his sister, Clearsight, and Fathom. Especially Fathom.

If it weren't for Fathom, Darkstalker would be no more than Vigilance's puppet. He stood expectantly on the ledge of his cave mouth for Fathom to return, as without his guidance he may have become like Fathom's grandfather. He grinned a toothy grin up at the sky when he saw the flash of dark green wings amid the fog of black scales, as he had saved his life with that shy, sweet temperament. He almost knocked Fathom clean off the ledge with the bludgeon of his wings when he landed, and they both laughed as Darkstalker pulled him up again and ushered them both inside.

There was something in Fathom's talon, he realised, and raised an eye ridge.

"O-Oh!" Fathom muttered hurriedly before Darkstalker even had a chance to say anything. "I found it on the shore, and wanted to bring it to you," he said with a strange kind of apprehension, and rolled it onto the stone ground in front of them. It was a spiky conch shell, still dusted with sticky wet sand.

Darkstalker looked at him with faux sternness. "I hope it isn't enchanted?"

"What?" His stern look evaporated the moment he saw the disbelief on Fathom's face. "Of course it isn't! You know I would never..." He trailed off, holding out a talon and clenching it. And instantly, he winced as if doing so pained him.

Darkstalker chuckled and shook his head, placing Fathom's raised talon in his. It was slightly aggravating having to accept that Fathom had larger claws than he did, but he dismissed it. "Hey, you know I know you wouldn't. I was kidding. So what's actually up with it?"

Now Fathom was smiling again. "It reminds me of..." he hesitated, "where I came from. Because when you hold it up to your ear you can hear the sea. You should try it-"

They both froze at the sound of a pattering of talons on stone just outside the cave. Tense, Darkstalker furrowed his eye ridges with a much less faux sternness. "Who's there?" He hadn't planned to have any more visitors tonight. And if it was Arctic or an advisor of the queen, trying to win him back-

"Fathom- I saw you flying down here and- I just wondered where you were going- I figured we could... go somewhere together. So, um... sorry, what is this?"

It was Clearsight.

Darkstalker wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or more on edge. Fathom looked beside himself.

"Well, I- we, uh- Clearsight! Uh-"

"We're together," Darkstalker announced proudly, giving Fathom the mercy of doing the talking for him. "Despite-"

"You are?" Clearsight looked genuinely concerned more than confused. "But- the queen... animus dragons..."

"And that is precisely why you were not supposed to know."

Suddenly, a fog seemed to clear in her mind, and her eyes widened with realisation. "Oh." She looked abashed. "I understand. I promise I'll keep this to myself. Even if... the potential futures this reveals are scary. How did I never see this one?" Her voice grew quieter and quieter until she was essentially monologuing solely to herself. She took a deep breath and made eye contact with Darkstalker, who felt immensely relieved, and managed to give her an optimistic look. "I'll try my best to avoid the futures where other dragons find out." Then she turned to Fathom with a sweet smile. "No one will, not unless it becomes safer somehow. I promise."

Fathom relaxed against Darkstalker, slumped heavily against him. "Thank you." All the tension in his body seemed to be blown out in those breathy words.

Darkstalker hummed agreeably. "Yes. Thank you."