Everyone knew the king and queen were not happy with their marriage. ESPECIALLY the queen. Before Queen Anemone's rein, she had been assigned by her mother to marry Pike, her bodyguard. All anyone else knew that she was NOT happy with it. Some said it was just a phase, and she would get over it, but twelve years later, she certainly did not 'get over it'. Then, it became common knowledge that the king and queen hated each other, and simply knew for a fact they would NEVER get along, let alone love each other, even if an animus cursed them. But what happened that fateful night was so unexpected, even Nightwing seers could have never predicted it. The storm tossed around the seas like scavengers, the howling winds seeming to laugh at it as it scurried between its talons. However, the battle that happened in the open ocean was no laughing matter. The king and queen had been battling for hours, both were tired and heavily scarred, but were ready to tear each other apart by any means necessary. "TRAITOR!" King Pike roared, spitting out one of his teeth. "You're nothing but a useless Rainwing!" The Queen herself flapped nearby, a grim expression on her face. "Better off a useless Rainwing than your wife. Also, joke's on you, since a 'useless Rainwing' loved me for who I was!" Anemone launched herself at her so-called "husband" and clawed at his face, underbelly, anything her claws could reach. Pike roared in agony and fought back, teeth flashing, claws beared. Their fighting went on for what seemed like an eternity until Anemone gasped in pain. With one quick swipe of his talons, Pike had ripped through the scales and flesh on her throat, causing all of her blood from her bleeding heart to flow from her neck and into the ocean below. Pike grabbed the queen by her throat, and squeezed, choking her. "You think you're so great," he growled as she hyperventilated. "But its because you care too much. About your subjects, about your wretched little dragonet that isn't even mine, about... HER. Everything. You will pay for your sins, WITCH. And that starts with you sinking to the depths of the ocean." Anemone hissed and grabbed Pike around the neck. "Good, because your coming with me!" Before Pike could realise what was happening, Anemone summoned several iron shackles that burst out of the ocean, and locked them selves around the two dragons' wrists, necks, wings, and tails. "NO!" Pike roared, and tried his hardest to rip off the chains. "Lets atone for our sins together!" Anemone shrieked, and the two were dragged into the ocean below, the waves swallowing them up as they sank lower and lower to the darkness of the ocean, nothing but a cloud of blood and pure hatred trailing behind them.
AU and art: Me Everything else: Tui T. Sutherland