Author's Note: (Read Dark Legacy to Dark Legacy 2: Umbral Visions Chapter 26 to understand what is going on.)

Summary: Igneous is struggling to help Savron. His worry may take the best of him.

The purple dragon scratched the bedroom walls, his screaming incomprehensible. The red dragon winced at the sound of cutting wood and looked at the door to see that nobody had come in. Nobody must have heard the scratching. He watched him do this for the past three months and his scales crawled at the way the purple dragon yelled.

He asked, "Are you okay, Savron?"

Savron snarled, pounding against the floor. "No, I'm not okay! That bitch Tirren gets to prance about all day out in the sun and I'm stuck here. It's fucking bullshit!"

Igneous flinched when he said those curse words. He tensed up, keeping an eye on him. His eyes sagged and he felt his body stumble about the room. The stone floor felt cold beneath his paws, but he was pretty sure that he could collapse on them and not feel a thing next morning. He stood up all last night trying to figure out how to help Savron. None of the books helped in that either.

The purple dragon stopped his pounding, but he still had that snarl, "Hey, Iggy, are you okay?"

"Fine, fine." Igneous mumbled. His eyes closed themselves for a minute, before they snapped wide open. He shook himself, offering his best grin, "See? Nothing to worry about."

Savron glared at him, his snarl turning to a frown. "I don't need you to watch me."

Igneous's eyes widened and said, "No, no, I'm good. Everything's alright." He got up. "See, I can still do stuff." He stumbled a bit back onto his hide.

"You're a terrible liar, Igneous." Savron shook his head, "How long did you sleep last night?"

"Long?"

There was a pause. That certainly answered his question. He said, "Go home."

Igneous blinked, standing up. "What?"

"I said, go home." Savron replied, matching his gaze. "You need to sleep and I'm not going to watch my best friend kill himself because of me."

"Absolutely not!" Igneous glared, growling now. Savron told him to do a lot of stuff, but he can't just leave when he needed him most.

"Are you really not going to go?" When he nodded, Savron sighed, "Sorry for doing this."

The latter blended with the shadows and sped towards the door to open it. He used his gust to get behind Igneous, and blew him out using his wind element. The wind slammed the door shut before the red dragon could react and he heard a click from the other side.

He snarled, got back up, and knocked against the door over and over. "You let me in right now, Savron!"

He kept on knocking, but never heard a response. His knocks grew less frequent until he huffed, stopping his attempts. He didn't need to rest, Savron was just in an angry mood. He let out deep breath. He took a step away and he felt his body weighing him down. He headed to the cafeteria, hoping to grab a bite to eat. Maybe that will clear his thoughts.

The temple was longer than he remembered, or he was slower than he thought. He took a few steps and sometimes his paws would not respond. He almost tripped at times because of that. He kept glancing at Savron's door behind him. Maybe he should wait. Savron will realize what he's done and will let him in if he just waited.

Then a light blue dragon walked into him, "Sorry, sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going. Wait a minute, Igneous?"

Igneous turned to face him, "Hey, Sleet. I didn't know you were still around." He yawned, "What's up?"

"What's up? You look like you haven't slept in weeks!" Sleet said, noticing the bags under his eyes. He grabbed his wrist. "I know a place where you can rest. Follow me."

Igneous pulled his wrist back and said, "I'm fine, I'm really fine. I just need to grab some food and I'll be good to go."

Sleet frowned. "Food for resting? Um, Igneous, I don't think that's what eating does."

"Well, at least I can have more energy." Igneous turned to walk away.

Sleet grabbed his shoulder, which made him freeze and his eyes widened. "No, you need to rest. I know what it's like to stay awake all night. You need to follow me."

"No, wait, I'm okay!" Igneous said, as Sleet pulled him away. He wanted to push his feet to the ground, but it resulted in a little noise. He sighed, walking beside him. He isn't going anywhere any time soon.

Sleet shook his head, "You're the opposite of okay. I know what you're doing and Savron's going to be fine on his own."

"But,"

"But nothing." Sleet said, glaring at him, "If you have faith in Savron, you should leave him alone for at least a few hours. Savron may not be stable right now, but I don't think he would do anything too drastic without you."

Igneous gritted his teeth, remembering the antics of the purple when he was younger. Savron would run around, hide away from his parents, and go off on crazy adventures. He nearly got bruises, injured, scarred, or even killed if he wasn't around. Igneous winced, remembering all those close calls.

Sleet stopped glaring and sighed when he saw Igneous looking to the ground. "I didn't mean to leave him alone, Igneous. You need to take care of yourself, too."

Igneous paused, sighed, and nodded. Sleet beamed and lead the way. Savron didn't need someone who could barely move. He needed someone to be there to turn to when things get rough. Igneous was too tired to argue, anyways.

They arrived to Sleet's dorm. Igneous headed in, his eyes widened when he saw a black dragon with blue markings standing there, and froze where he stood. The black dragon's eyes widened, too, and he said, "What is he doing here?"

Igneous flinched, heading towards the door. "Maybe I should go. Now doesn't seem like the best time."

"Don't go anywhere." Sleet told him and turned to the black dragon. "Vash, he needs help sleeping. I'm sorry, I know this is supposed to be personal, but he really needs it."

Vash turned to look at Igneous, his eyes narrowing and searching his tired features. "Yeah, you definitely look tired. I'm surprised you're still standing."

Igneous shook his head and turned to door. "I need to go check on Savron. I can sleep later."

Vash snorted, grabbing him, and pushed him on the bed. Igneous groaned, feeling Sleet's comfy sheets, and rested his head on the pillow. He lifted a limb, but it collapsed on the bed. The warmth felt nice against his red scales. He closed his eyes.

Vash and Sleet stared. They didn't speak, watching him for any movement. Then he groaned. "This isn't working."

Vash shook his head, "I thought you would've collapsed the moment you hit the bed. Here, let me try something."

He began to hum.

Igneous's body relaxed. His eyes blinked over and over until they closed. These months felt like the longest it had ever been. His body ached from overuse. A little rest couldn't hurt. Then, he began to snore.

He moved an arm, feeling the comfy sheets again. He opened his eyes and rubbed them when everything was a blur. The sunlight flew through the windows. He got off the bed and took a look around. Books were scattered across the floor and papers crumpled all over the table. Igneous saw that Vash and Sleet were snoring right beside each other, hugging each other close. He smiled at the sight.

He moved to get off the bed and stepped on the floor. The sleeping black dragon must have heard his footsteps, as he shook his head awake and saw Igneous heading out the door. His face flushed red and he yelled, "Don't tell anyone!"

Igneous froze, also blushing. He was a few feet from the door, but he lowered his paw to the ground. He said, "I won't, I won't! It's just you and Sleet." Vash's face turned to a dark shade of red, "I didn't know that you were a thing, you know."

"What gave it away?"

Igneous rolled his eyes, gesturing to the whole room, and said, "The messy room or you two cuddling close to each other. Both are dead giveaways. I'm oblivious, not dense, Vash."

Vash shook his head. He grabbed Sleet around his shoulder and put him on his bed. He sighed when he saw the messy room. "Could you help clean up?"

Igneous glanced at the bed, turned back to him, and sighed. "Sure thing, let's get this over with."

"Thanks." Vash said. He picked up a book and placed it back on the table.

Igneous and Vash left the room once they cleaned up everything and put all the stuff back where they belonged. There was nobody in the halls or classrooms, which made Igneous relax. He didn't want to deal with Tirren. He frowned. At least, not yet.

They made a few steps, before Vash said, "Are you worried? It's a weekend, so you won't see Tirren or Lyrith anytime soon."

Igneous knew that, but his shoulders began to relax. It had been quite awhile since he had last went around the temple like this. He didn't see the judging, pitying eyes of all the dragons around him, some whispering on what happened to him and a few others saying that Tirren dumped him and was hanging out with Lyrith.

He gritted his teeth, his eyes turning to the ground. He won't say that he didn't deserve it. It was all well deserved.

Vash saw the look and said, "Sorry, sorry, sensitive topic. How about we fly away from the city a bit and clear our heads."

"Really? Into the forest?"

"Hey, anywhere is better than here, right?"

Igneous sighed, taking a last glance around, "Yeah, I would think so." He lead the way, "Come on, I know a shortcut."

They headed out of the temple and out in to the city. They saw several dragons running around and a few moles offering a trade. Normal stuff in such a big city. Igneous headed down the main road to the giant gate that lead into the city. A little further and he would reach it. Then Igneous paused, as he heard a voice:

"Can you believe that Savron guy?"

He tensed up and hid around an alleyway, while Vash followed him and gave him a frown. The black dragon asked, "What is it?"

Igneous shushed him, looked around the corner, and saw a grey dragon and an ice dragon. The two of them were talking out in the open. They seemed familiar to him. He can't place why.

"After everything he did to Miranda, I can't believe he treated us like that."

Igneous blinked. The girl Savron was with before the incident. Igneous shivered, remembering the attack on the temple. Ferans came to invade and everyone at the temple had to defend against wave after wave of them. There were close calls and a casualty. Igneous shivered at the last thought. Of course that one casualty had to be someone Savron was close to, or at least seemed close to. Maybe that's why he came close to the edge.

Vash must have also heard it, as he shivered, too, and he wore a large frown. He still kept his gaze steady on them and listened closely.

"It's unheard of that a purple dragon could lose a life, especially a dying one near him." The grey dragonness said, shaking her head, "He couldn't even arrive at her own funeral. Kind of pathetic."

Igneous bit back a growl. Savron avoided everyone for several days after the attack. He always blamed himself, saying that he could have saved her if he was a little faster. Igneous had been the only one he would listen or talk to. He would have to spend days after days of Savron talking about how he should have been a better hero. The latter stayed in his room, beating himself up over it.

It took him about three months to gather the courage to leave the room and face the world head on. Igneous didn't find it that surprising that he couldn't make it to the funeral. Savron had to watch someone die on his claws without anyone to blame but himself. It would have been too soon to go to a funeral after something that traumatizing happened.

"And did you see the way he reacted to us?" The ice dragonness said, "He looked all crazy like and his scales turned pitch black. It isn't that surprising that they keep an animal like that locked up."

The grey one nodded, "I'm only surprised that they didn't do that at the start of it."

Vash snarled, his eyes narrowing to them. He said, "Igneous, don't listen to them. I'll go talk some sense into them." He looked around and saw that the red dragon was leaving the alleyway. "Igneous?"

He followed the red dragon who left the outer walls of the city, through the main two giant wooden doors, and into the forest. They arrived a bit deeper into the forest. The light coming from the glowing mushrooms. Then Igneous stopped beside a large tree.

Vash took a seat beside him, "Are you okay? You kind of walked out on me back there."

Igneous blinked, his eyes widening when he saw Vash sitting beside him. He said, "Sorry, sorry. It's just, I need time to think."

Vash glanced at the tree and saw three initials carved in there. I, S, and T. Within some of the initials, a few bits of wood grew back, but they were still distinguishable. "Is one of the initials yours, Igneous?"

"We did it on one of our adventures." Igneous replied. He sighed, shaking his head, "We heard that trees last a long time and we wanted to put our initials on the biggest tree out here. Of course, we didn't find that one, but this tree was a bit taller than all the others."

Vash frowned, "I know this is a sensitive topic, but how's Savron?"

Igneous kept his eyes on the initials. Every day Savron seemed to be getting worse and worse, screaming at the top of his lungs. He flinched when he remembered that and then replied. "I don't really know." His mouth curving down to a frown, revealing a bit of his gritted teeth. "It seems no matter how hard I want to help, he keeps pushing me back. Everything I do seems to set him off further and further."

"Igneous."

"It sucks." Igneous replied, kicking a nearby stone that rolled to a tree, "All I want to do is help him, tell him that everything will be fine. It's just very hard to do so. When you don't believe it yourself."

He slumped down, sitting down on the ground, and turned his head away. Vash sighed, taking a seat beside him, and said, "Well, Igneous, all you have to do it is be patient."

Igneous turned to him, frowning, "Patient?"

"Savron, doesn't want to talk to anyone right now. He wants to be left alone. I know it's hard to wait, to not know the answers as soon as you need them."

Igneous nodded. "It's frustrating! Every moment that I'm not doing something, is a moment that Savron is going to get even more mad. I need to do something, help him somehow. He just needs someone."

Vash replied, "Yes, of course he needs someone, but you need to take it easy. You need to slow down."

"Slow down?" Igneous asked. He shook his head, "How would that help? I just need to do something."

He growled, shaking his head, "I can help him. I just don't know how."

Vash turned to him, smiling, "What do you want, Igneous?"

Igneous's eyes widened and asked, "How is that important?"

"It's just, all I've heard from you has been about Savron, nothing about yourself. I feel like you would be responsible to the choices you make."

"How I'm feeling isn't important right now. Savron's the one who needs help."

Vash shook his head, "That doesn't help anybody, Igneous. It's how you feel that will get you through life. It's what you think is right that will help you solve any situation. What's most important is how you feel."

Igneous turned to him and gave him a long stare. He didn't see any malicious smile, or condescending eyes. Everybody thought of him as an idiot, but the longer he looked at Vash, he saw the warm smile and gentle eyes. He sighed, saying:

"I want everybody to be friends again. I know that I messed up with Tirren. There's no second chance for me." His mouth tugged up to a small, bitter smile. "The rumors I've heard from Savron about Lyrith and Tirren tore me to bits. It's stupid to think I have a chance with her after all the stupid stuff I pulled."

"Not that stupid," Vash mumbled, not loud enough for him to hear.

"But, still." He continued, "Everything is happening too fast. Nothing makes sense to me anymore. Savron turned into a..." He paused, gulped, and continued, "a kind of monster. Tirren hates my guts and everybody's against him now. It shouldn't be like this, but it is."

Vash remained silent for a moment. He watched, as the red dragon curled up against the tree, his eyes turning to the ground. Igneous laid close to the tree with the initials. It was a small comfort before all of this happened.

Then, Vash sighed, taking a seat beside him, "Igneous, life isn't simple. The choices you make are yours and yours alone. You stuck with Savron because you truly believed that he can change back to his old self. If you believe in Savron, you should trust in him and that he could make it through this."

"But, I'm trying to do that!"

Igneous shut his mouth after that. He had yelled at the only dragon willing to listen to his problems. No wonder everybody had left him, he kept speaking without thinking, like a complete idiot. He looked up

Vash still wore his warm smile. "Nobody said this was going to be simple, Igneous. The fact that you're still trying to make a difference and help Savron speaks more about you than your other actions does. All you need to do is take care of yourself and think about others."

Igneous sighed, frowning, "This is going to be harder than I thought."

"What isn't?" Vash chuckled. They sat there in silence.

Igneous leaned back against the tree, lying on Vash's arm for support. Through all the chaos, the shattering of the group, and the insanity of his best friend, he felt his body relax in the quiet. It felt nice having somebody to talk to, somebody to speak to about this kind of thing.

Then, through the leaves, the sun began to set. Igneous got up from Vash's shoulder and said, "Can we please not tell anyone about this? Everybody thinks I'm stupid enough as it is."

Vash nodded, grinning, "As long as you don't say anything about Sleet and I."

"Sure."

They headed out of the forest to the city. Most of the dragons seemed to be retiring to their home and some of the moles burrowed back underground. The dragons who talked about Savron weren't there in the main street anymore.

Then after a few steps, Igneous shook his head.

Vash saw that and asked, "What is it?"

"It's hard for me to believe that someone still looks out for Savron and I after everything we did. We did a lot of stupid stuff. Nobody will come near us or talk to us. I won't say that I blame them, though."

"Well, Igneous. The road to forgiveness isn't easy. All you need to do is accept that you made a mistake and keep on trying to fix it. It may take months or even years. But, if you are truly sorry, it can wait."

"I've heard a bit of what happened with you and Lyrith around the school." Igneous sighed, frowning, "Do you think that Lyrith could ever forgive you?"

Vash paused. He frowned.

Igneous's eyes widened, shaking his head, "Wait, no! Sorry, it just slipped out of my mouth!"

"No, you shared what you think, it's only fair." Vash replied, wearing a faint smile.

"It really isn't. If you don't want to talk about it, don't."

"If I don't talk about it now, when will I?" Vash sighed, pausing a minute, and said, "I really don't think that he will ever forgive me. I broke one of the rules of being a dream dragon and I'm lucky to escape with just a punch. I truly am sorry, but that really doesn't mean anything. I have to hope for the best and keep pushing on."

Igneous chuckled, "I asked for a short answer. Not an essay, Vash."

Vash flushed, "Sorry, I just get carried away."

"Stop apologizing, I'm just teasing. Thanks for putting up with my rambling."

Vash's flushed faded and a grin replaced it. "Thanks for putting up with my senseless nonsense."

"Not really nonsense. But, listening to us ramble must be annoying."

"Ah, well, nobody said it's going to be fun."

Igneous turned to him with a grin, "It never is."

Vash chuckled and shook his head, wearing a grin. They arrived at the temple and made it to the males' corridor. When they arrived at one of the doors, Igneous stopped and said, "See ya, Vash."

"Good luck, Igneous." Vash said, as he began to head back down the corridor, "I know it seems impossible, but I think you could make it through this."

"Think?"

"You know what I mean!"

Igneous watched him leave until he entered Sleet's room. He looked back up at the door and pushed on the handle. He could save Savron. It isn't going to be easy or fun. This is probably going to be the hardest thing he had ever done. Then again, nothing is ever easy.

He opened the door and walked in.

Author's Notes:

Well, I made fanfiction out of fanfiction. Dark Legacy is own by none other than Dardarax. Please, read his book. It's really good! (I also want someone to talk with about it.)

His characters:

Savron

Igneous

Vash

Sleet

Believe it or not, those two dragonesses are also his characters. They're from chapter fourteen of Dark Legacy 2: Umbral Visions.

Head Canon Trivia: I do think that Igneous could be great friends with Vash. Vash has a younger sister named Danrah and an even younger sister named Falwee. He must know how troublesome it must be to watch over someone.