What if...? JALGFY AU

Kelp Died and Joy Became A Killer?

What if Kelp died, causing Joy to snap and become a feared serial killer?

What if Kelp actually died when he got cut?

A/N: Not sure if this counts as serial killer so to speak, but it's what I came up with and I like it.

Dragons that were feared had a strange way of finding each other. It was something all criminals did. Outlaws, outcasts, dragons on the run, dragons that did horrible things, all the them frequented the same taverns, so to speak. For Joy they met around bonfires, small flames lit by a Skywing in the middle of the mountains, dragons warming their scales and telling stories about what they'd done to end up there; no one trusting anyone, not for a second. Joy was used to listening to other's stories. She found them interesting, and if she paid enough attention then usually the dragon would be kind enough to answer questions she had about what was going on in the Rainforest.

The Rainforest. She hadn't been there in years.

"What about you, Rainwing?" One of the older dragons asked. "How'd someone from a tribe like that end up here?" Joy smirked. Dragons never stopped underestimating Rainwings. It had been an advantage to her more times than she could count.

"I was normal once," She said. "Well, normalish. Had a family, had friends, went to school at JMA. That's where I met-" She stopped, her throat tightening. Dragons knew who she was. They knew about Kelp. Everybody did. But revealing who she was was never the thing that stopped her from saying his name out loud. "I met someone very special to me, and he was..." She shook her head. "He was perfect."

"Perfect never lasts," The Skywing remarked.

"I messed up one night," Joy went on. "He and I were on a hunting trip with some friends. The school ran it but we had gotten stuck outside when a storm hit, and someone I didn't think I'd see again found us. And I tried- I tried so hard to defend him, but it only singled him out, and I was young and stupid and he didn't know how to fight and she....She killed him."

"And I know," Her voice wavered and she slammed down on the emotion. She wouldn't cry in front of these dragons. She couldn't. "I know I should have let it go and moved on, but I couldn't, because the only reason he died was because she was after me. She wanted to hurt me and she knew exactly how to do it. I couldn't let it go, so while my friends mourned, I just filled with this rage. I've never known anything like it. It was like my blood turned to fire and I just wanted to murder everything and everyone I saw until I killed the dragon that made things better."

"I know what that's like," An Icewing piped up. He flexed his claws. "Revenge like that... It doesn't die down until you do something about it."

"And that's not exactly the best mentality to have while living in the rainforest," Joy said. "So I left. I went looking for her, but a dragon who has years of experience hiding can be hard to track down, and my anger just kept getting worse, so I started taking jobs to take the edge off, I guess. I just felt so much pain, and I wanted others to feel it too. My father was an assassin, so I already knew the tricks. I guess I just took a liking to the killing. It quiets the rage, sometimes, but nothing stops the fire. Only killing that bitch will do that."

"What about your family?" The Skywing asked. "Don't they wonder where you are?" Joy turned her head up to the sky, watching the embers from the fire burn into the sky.

"Leaving them was just as hard as watching him die. But I couldn't stay. I wasn't in a place to be who they needed me to be. I left everything, everyone I knew for this life. There's no going back now. It's better for them to just move on."

"Family doesn't move on. Not the kind that counts." 

"I don't like thinking about that."

*******