She is young. Very, very young. Not even old enough to understand the concepts of “learning” and “punishment”. She is loved, anyway. Loved by her father, as her mother was always too busy.

He does his best, doing things that average parents do. But he wants to be the best dad. A legendary one. He doesn’t exactly know what he means by that, but it’s sweet anyway.

Pansy doesn’t know any of this until later, though. At the moment, she is tumbling around in the leaf foliage, trying to catch a very smug looking beetle. It’s little face! It’s like it wants to be eaten! And it was very dignified for a princess to be eating rhino beetles, right? Yes. Very princessy.

A little blue spec had started surfacing to her left, then to her right, and it kept being so sneaky!

When I grow up, I’m going to be the most sneakiest! She thought, very confident. That little bug wouldn't be able to hide from ME! While she was chasing it, her father walked over and tapped her shoulder.

“Hey there, Pansy flower.” He says. “I found something for you.” He holds out his vibrantly yellow talon, and opens it to reveal…

Wish gasps awake. He was on the ground, again. Being in that memory was like swimming in the deepest trench in the ocean. He couldn’t breath, it was cold, it was squeezing him with intense pressure. He takes another breath, still orienting himself.

He was upside down, with his wings folded behind his back in slightly uncomfortable ways. He sat up, and looked around. Only then did he notice the warmth in his left talon. Based on some very real information, Pansy had been squeezing it, hoping he would wake up.

“Why did I do that to myself?” Wish asked after a while, still catching his breath. “I knew it would hurt, I knew that it was stupid, why did I do that to myself?!” Now he had laid back down. And he was banging the back of his skull against the floor, only to puncture the moldy wood with his horns. “And now I have to get new flooring, great. My life sucks.” He covered his eyes with his claws, and then wrapped his wings around his head.

“Are you,” Pansy started, then paused. “Crying?” She asked “Are you crying in there?” The little noises and sniffs that came from Wish’s snout were involuntary. Although he let them come, along with the salty tears that leaked from his hands.

“Yes.” He sniffed, loudly. “But it’s okay if I just feel like curling into a ball, and then never coming out again.” He performed the said action, and curled into a ball, bringing his knees and tail into the orb that his wings made.

Pansy poked his back with her tail. “Except that’s not okay. Because you have to stop Onyx. Remember?” She poked him again. Wish didn’t respond. She prodded him a third time, and that made Wish get out of his ball and swat at her tail, then immediately went back to the sobbing. “Stop her before the world shatters apart.” Pansy quoted.

Wish stopped making noise for about an eternity, thinking with an empty mind.

“I hate it when you’re right.” He admitted, standing up. He wiped his tears and breathed deeply. THAT was a very unpleasant noise. Pansy thought. Wish stepped outside, and allowed the salty sea air to clear his nose. “Now to figure out how.”

“Well, we know that her mind cannot be changed, because it’s been enforced with magic.” Pansy said, joining him. WITHOUT HIS CONSENT. “So that’s a start.”

“It’s not as much a start as it is a loose clutch on a concept.” Wish responded bitterly. He was a forgiving dragon, but he could be mean when he needed to be.

“So let’s make a start.” Pansy told him, twining her tail around his. She was still very much terrified of him. Wish pulled away.

“I can only trust you when you can trust me.” Wish said. “So please let me know when you stop thinking of me as the new Darkstalker!” Wish thundered through the forest, finding the tunnel and wiping away more tears.

Running away from Pansy was sort of a new hobby of his.

A hobby he really didn’t enjoy.

But it’s for the best. Whispered a dominant part of his brain. She needs to trust me. Besides, I’m not Darkstalker. I am Wish.

I am Wish.

I am Wish, and I am an animus NightWing.

I am Wish, and my best friend is Willpower.

I am Wish, I am not Darkstalker.

I am Wish, I love my queen.

I am Wish, I have the ultimate power in my claws.

I am Wish…

Could Darkstalker have been slightly right?

He was flying towards his house, the one in the rainforest. He needed to retrieve something before finding Onyx. He rummaged through the drawers and cupboards, searching. And then, he found it, the ice sculpture. He dumped it out when he came back to the forest. That was the first thing he did in the forest, before seeing Pansy.

Chuckling to himself, he stepped out of the door and asked the scroll where a safe place to hide from Onyx would be.

Nowhere is entirely safe from Onyx, she has the whole continent memorized. Although, she wouldn’t be able to survive in the Ice Palace. Queen Mink will welcome you, and let you teach Sandy more about the dangers of animus magic. You would have to live through the frigid cold, though. Any spell you cast will be canceled by the earring, due to selfishness.

Wish new what to do to get around that. He’d wait, though. For now, he was going to fly. To the Ice Palace.

Wait, wasn’t it a bad thing last time a NightWing was in the Ice Palace? Isn’t that how Arctic fell in love? Wish thought worriedly.

He ignored that, and just kept flying.

He’s been flying a lot recently.

Why not start using his magic?

Could that be a little too convenient?

When has life made things just the right convenient?

Life isn’t supposed to be that way.

Life isn’t fair! So I will make it fair!

We should make it fair, but we shouldn’t make it easy.

What’s wrong with easy?

Ask Darkstalker. Is it easy or is it right?

Darkstalker could have made his tribe the most powerful creatures in the world. If anyone believed in him, then he would have been fine.

But the wrong he would do along the way. Right and wrong is a vital concept.

But… Power…

Hush, we don’t need power. We just need right.