Listen, And The Stars Shall Speak

Gotta Secret, Can You Keep It?

The sun had just set over the Scorpion Den as Dawn snuck into the headquarters, hoping to go completely undetected. She sighed in relief at the quiet of the halls and turned a corner,

Only to run straight into Drought.

Dawn jumped up with a yelp of surprise, her breath slowly calmly as she stared at Drought, who's face remained emotionless.

"Drought!" she gasped. "You scared me!"

"You must have had a lot of scares today." He commented. "Where were you?"

"I was outside-"

"Well no shit." Drought snapped at her. A knot of uneasiness turned in Dawn's stomach. This wasn't good. 

"Drought," she started tentatively.

"A couple of my guards found Burrow's body in an alley. His throat had been slit." Drought's voice was cold, as cold as Dawn imagined the Ice Kingdom to be. "You weren't with him."

"We got separated." Dawn lied, looking purposefully worried. "I thought he had gotten away."

"Well apparently he didn't." Dawn wanted to run. She wanted to run away and hide in the bottom of a sand dune for the rest of her life. "So where were you?" He demanded again.

"I....." Dawn blanked. She searched her mind desperately for something he'd believe. An idea sparked and she bit down on her tongue hard enough to make her eyes water. "I got scared." She admitted. "Some dragon just came out of nowhere, and he attacked us and I got scared and ran away. I thought Burrow got away too, but I was wrong and I hid and I was too afraid to move- I didn't want to risk someone following me back here in case they'd hurt you!"

Drought's gaze softened, and he looked at her sympathetically.

"It's alright, Dawn." He offered. "No one is going to hurt you." He hugged her, and Dawn smirked at his back.

Loser, Dawn commented in her head.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The teachers at JMA should really have gotten better at their jobs over the years.

They had not.

That was why Tsunami, Clay, Starflight, and Sunny stood guiltily before a furious looking Joy, who had her arms crossed and was glaring at them. There was enough rage in her eyes to kill a dragonbite viper.

"So let me get this straight." Joy snapped. "You imbeciles not only allowed a dragonet to get kidnapped here, but you LET A GANG LEADER JOIN THE SCHOOL, AND LET A GROUP OF DRAGONETS GO AFTER THEM WITHOUT INFORMING ANY OF THEIR PARENTS?!"

"Uh...." Starflight fiddling with his talons. "Yes?"

"And, if that's not bad enough," Joy continued, red and black streaking her scales. "You let a trio of Sandwings waltz in here undetected, and didn't know they were here until AFTER one of them broke my daughter's wrist, and two of them had been killed by your thankfully trained students. For the moons sake- You wouldn't have even KNOWN they were here unless said students hadn't told you there were two dead bodies they needed to dispose of, which I'm sure WHY they did, seeing as my dragonets are completely trained in hiding a body."

"Yeah, it's....it's not good..." Sunny admitted, looking anxious.

"Not GOOD? A CHILD WAS STABBED IN THE SCORPION DEN, AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO WORRY WHEN SHE DISAPPEARED!"

"We just kinda assumed that they went on an adventure and would be back soon." Clay offered. Joy rolled her eyes.

"Well, you know what happens when you assume." Joy said sarcastically.

"....What happens?" Clay asked in confusion.

"You make an ass out of you and me." Joy replied. "Why the hell do I even send my children here?"

"Because we're the best damn school in Pyrrhia!" Tsunami declared. Joy stared at her.

"Tsunami," she began slowly. "I attended this school for five years, and I still have no idea what the freaking Scorching is. The only thing I learned here is how little control you all have over your students. And clearly nothing has changed."

"We're working on it." Sunny proclaimed.

"Let's just hope you'll FIX something before another dragonet dies." Joy grumbled.

"That happened ONE time." Tsunami objected.

"That you KNOW OF." Joy corrected.