Part 2 Chapter 16: Family

When Blaze came to, the first thing that seized her attention was the angry Blister lookalike glowering at her through glinting, fierce eyes. She fell as still as she could, trying not to give any indication that she was awake. It didn't work.

"I know you can hear me, Blaze," Cobra growled. "Have you any idea what you've cost me with that stunt you pulled?" Her voice echoed faintly through the deeper recesses of the cave they were in.

No use pretending now, Blaze decided and she got to her feet to meet her niece's gaze. In spite of the relentless heat of the cavern, what she saw chilled her to the bone; a dragon with nothing left to lose, one who was likely to lash out at the tiniest provocation. With her back to the wall, Blaze put on as brave a face as she could muster but could manage no reply. A tense moment passed before Cobra broke the silence.

"Mother always said you were a coward," she said. "For all her faults, at least Burn led from the front like a real Queen should. You were content to hide in Glacier's shadow, taking refuge in a palace while your soldiers fought and bled for you. Did you even know the names of the dragons who laid down their lives on your behalf? Did you even care that they did? I could at least afford them the wary respect of an enemy. But they were just tools to you, nameless and faceless, weren't they?"

Cobra didn't wait to hear a reply. "I'd always believed my mother to be an astute judge of character. But now I have my doubts. And I can't abide that. When you took the crown, pretended to be Thorn and led me on that wild goose chase, what did you hope to gain from it all?"

There was a long pause as Blaze tried to figure out what to say. What answer could she give that would keep Cobra from killing her? Was there any way to stall for time and escape?

Noticing Blaze's hesitation, Cobra flexed her claws and said, "You can be honest, Blaze. Had I wanted you dead, you would be. But now I'm curious. I want you to understand that your life hinges on telling me what I want to know. Now I'll ask again, why did you do it?"

Blaze took a deep breath. Her heart pounding in her chest, she began, "I was trying to create a diversion. I thought by taking the crown and posing as Thorn I could lead you and your SandWings away from the encampment."

"But to what end?" Cobra prompted her. "My mother called you a craven. But what you did comes across as neither selfish nor cowardly. What did you hope to achieve?"

"I did it to save Thorn," Blaze blurted out finally. "And Sunny, and Dust. And all those other dragons at the encampment." She fought to choke back a sob as she realised she might never see them again. But that was the price she had been willing to pay. At least they would survive, even if she didn't. "I thought drawing you away would give them a chance to escape and survive."

Meeting her niece eye-to-eye, Blaze continued, "I'm not proud of my actions and inaction during the war. I was scared all those years ago. I had just lost my mother and the sisters I grew up loving and looking up to were out for my blood for reasons I didn't even understand. I didn't know what to do. I'm ashamed to admit that I just wanted to hide and wish it would all go away."

"But I'm not that dragon anymore," she said, surprised by the steel she heard in her own voice. "Back there, I wanted to protect everyone I cared about, to save them if I could… even if it meant I would never be able to see them again. And so that's why I did it."

Cobra's eyes narrowed as she studied Blaze's face carefully. She could do nothing but wait now, hoping in silence that Cobra was satisfied with what she heard. It was more than she had ever admitted to anybody before, even to herself.

"You're telling the truth, aren't you?" Cobra said finally.

Blaze was about to reply but Cobra interrupted, "It was a rhetorical question. I know when a dragon's lying to my face. And, from what I can gather, you're not lying. But the truth in and of itself is proving far stranger than any falsehood."

"Whenever my mother talked about you, it was with derision and contempt," Cobra continued. "You were the weakest, the most timid. You should've been the least of her worries, she'd say, the easiest to remove from the race for the throne."

"It was supposed to be straightforward. Mother would deal with you right at the onset and then she would get the SeaWings to support her in her bid to take down Burn. But then you fled to the Ice Kingdom and decided to get them involved which prompted Burn to seek out allies of her own. My mother's seemingly perfect plan fell apart virtually overnight and so began the worldwide war we all grew to know and hate." The bitterness in Cobra's voice was palpable.

Blaze listened in silent disbelief, a feeling of unease growing inside her. But she didn't dare interrupt her niece. Who knew how she'd react to that?

"She blamed you for it, you know?" Cobra remarked. "She told me that she never intended to set the entire continent aflame with war but when you swindled Queen Glacier into fighting your battle, you single-handedly managed to turn the tables on everybody. Growing up, the only thing I ever knew about my dear aunt Blaze was that she was the villain responsible for all the chaos surrounding my life."

Deep down, Blaze felt sick. She had never wanted that horrible war to begin in the first place. When her guards had taken her to seek help from Queen Glacier, she had been scared and alone. It had never occurred to her that her actions might have been the reason the war had grown to engulf the entire continent. That had never been her intent. And yet Cobra's words now showed clearly how terrible her decision had been, how much it had cost everyone.

"I was brought up to hate you, Blaze," said Cobra. "All my life I was told you didn't give a care in the world about the awful war you started or for the dragons who were fighting and dying every day for your ambition. I should want to kill you-to avenge my mother, all the friends I lost and the years of my life that were stolen from me. But I can't." Her voice wavered little and she looked away.

"You're not to blame for it after all. I see now you were just a terrified dragonet who'd had her world turned upside down. You were never the horrible villain I was led to believe you were," Cobra murmured. "It's so easy to hate a monster but not another person. A day ago, I wouldn't have hesitated but now that I've heard your story, I just can't bring myself to do it."

Cobra met Blaze's gaze. Gone was the ferocity, the self-assured confidence, the air of command that she'd seen in their brief scuffle earlier. In its place, Blaze saw grief, pain and frustration that spoke of years of hurt and loss. She actually thought she spotted tears welling up in her niece's tired eyes. The sight moved her so much that she had to fight the urge to give Cobra a hug right there and then.

"Cobra, I'm sorry," Blaze told her. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen. But now that it has, I would give everything and anything to see it undone. Nobody should have been made to suffer through any of it, not least of all you."

"Why?" Cobra suddenly demanded, a flash of anger in her rising voice. "My mother raised me to kill you. I tried to kill you. In fact, I almost did. Why do you suddenly care how I feel?"

"You said it yourself; it's easy to hate a monster but another person? That's not so simple. I care because, in a way, you're just like me, all those years ago," Blaze said. "I had just lost my mother and I had nobody, nowhere else to turn to. I was alone and afraid and I didn't see a way out. I can't change the past but I won't stand by while someone else is hurting in the same way. And make no mistake, while I was scared of her, I loved my sister very much. I wouldn't see her daughter left all alone in the world. You're family."

"And family means that, no matter what you may say or think about me, no matter what you do, I'm here for you."

Blaze steeled her nerves and mustered her reserves of courage. What she was about to do was probably highly unwise but that wasn't going to stop her. If anything, Cobra needed it and if Blaze got hurt in the process, well that was just the price she was willing to pay. Her mind made up, Blaze took a bold step forward and seized her niece in a tight hug.

She braced herself for retaliation, wondering whether it was Cobra's tail barb, claws or teeth she would feel biting into her scales first. But it never came. Instead, after a tense moment, Cobra sank into her embrace, pressed against Blaze's shoulder and began sobbing uncontrollably.

Blaze held her niece close, waiting patiently for the storm of her grief to pass. She found herself wondering how many times this poor dragon had ever felt loved. She'd grown up as a soldier fighting a war that had robbed her of her childhood. She'd been forced to mature so quickly, to be fierce, intelligent and unshakeable in the face of combat.

But deep down she was just like any other dragon out there-she needed to be loved, she needed a shoulder to cry on, quite literally as it turned out. Blaze felt awful for her. Blister had never really been one to show much affection. And now her daughter would have to live on without her mother's love.

Cobra suddenly spoke, her unsteady whisper a far cry from the commanding tone it had carried earlier and her words came sporadically, choked with emotion. "Y-you said you loved Blister… How-"

"How could I in spite of everything?" Blaze finished for her. Cobra nodded mutely.

"I don't know," Blaze admitted. "I honestly don't know. Maybe it was because I was the youngest, the one who knew nothing about why we were fighting. I didn't care about winning; I just wanted my family back together again. Later on I came to think that maybe becoming Queen would let me order Blister and Burn to stop fighting. I was naïve like that but I guess that's what kept me hoping they'd come around."

"Tell me about her," Cobra managed to say, wiping away her tears. Her anguish seemed subside for a moment. "Blister. What was she like? Before the war? Please, I never got to-"

"It's alright," Blaze said comfortingly. "Say no more, I'll tell you all about her."

And so they sat together like that, with Blaze's wings wrapped tight around her niece's small frame, and Blaze began her tale…

Author's Note:

Hello everybody, before anything else, I just want to give out a heartfelt apology to all the readers who were hanging onto this story since my last update so long ago. These past months have been very busy and they've left me with little to no time for myself at all.

But even so, that is no excuse for my long disappearance from FFN and I've finally decided that enough is enough. I've left my community alone for far too long, none of you should have been forced to wait this long for this chapter and I want to let you all know how truly sorry I am that I have not made time for my writing for the better part of this year. The fault is mine alone and nothing I do will ever express how terribly sorry I feel.

To those who have grown tired of waiting, I can only apologise profusely and offer my understanding if you choose no longer to follow an author as tardy as myself. To those who have moved on in the time I was gone, I hold nothing against you as it was my mistake that led to this unfortunate sequence of events. But to those who have chosen to stay on and who have patiently borne with my long disappearance, I give you my heartfelt gratitude and the following promise;

I am back.

Now my written word alone means nothing but I intend to prove my newly-reignited commitment with deed as well and I will be updating my stories weekly. Please bear with me as, due to my still-busy schedule, I will be unable to update them all simultaneously but I will try my utmost to update at least one story each week.

Again, my sincere apologies for having left you in suspense for so long. I am back and I intend to stay that way. I hope this chapter goes at least some ways into making amends. Please let me know what you think of it (I hope I haven't gotten too rusty!) and I will write to you all again soon ;)

A fond (but only temporary) farewell for now!

-The Marine