Nico sighed as Piper excitedly dragged him by his forearm away from his secluded safe haven next to a shimmering waterfall. He wasn't enamored with having Piper drag him back into the public and towards the dragons he had made a bad impression on. He liked the quiet, secluded, alone nature of his humble abode.

"Piper, you are on thin ice here," Nico hissed.

"I know that already. Quit dragging your talons, already. We have a queen to talk to," Piper shot back.

"About what? You haven't told me shit. Just said you needed me urgently for some bullcrap? What could be so important as to talk to the queen?" Nico asked angrily.

"Nico. Maybe you know this already, but both you and I came here alone. Separated. We would have gone crazy if we hadn't found each other. We are the only anchor to our previous life. You were happy to see me, and so was I. That means our other friends could be here. Now, there was a bombing that was reported recently and a lot of drama going on to top it all off. We are heroes and always have been. We could find the perpetrator, and from what I heard, the bombing was far from here. We might possibly find our friends on this journey. Is that important enough for your emo butt?" Piper said.

Nico thought for a moment, then growled, but he obliged. He vehemently hated being wrong. Finally putting some spring in his step, they made it to the Nightwing village in 'record time'. Not to the happiness of the populace, though.

All of Winter's senses were on high alert, ready to spring into action as he and his group of temporary allies walked into the Nightwing village. His eyes darted around, fully expecting plotting and battle training, but was met with ordinary things like clearing the forest floor, washing fruit, cooking, or building. He could tell the Nightwings were uneasy, all occasionally glancing towards a pair of dragons talking near the border of the village. It was a Rainwing and a Nightwing. Why would the Nightwing village be uneasy of two dragons that are essentially native to the rainforest? Either way, Winter would hate to live here.

Something about that Nightwing seems off.

His thoughts were disrupted by Moon flying across the clearing and barreled into a tall, wiry dragon, face lit with joy and relief. This dragon looked like Moon, minus the silver teardrop scales.

"Mother!"

"Moon!"

Moon's mother wrapped her wings around Moon with fierce affection. Winter felt a small jealous twinge, longing for the same parental affection that Moon was receiving. He angrily pushed it down, trying to chalk it up to Nightwings being inferior, but he still watched the reunification with a small internal warmth, cracking his beliefs. Icewings, especially royal ones didn't need that fluffy crap! Moon and her mother had begun talking, and Moon started to look ashamed. She hugged her mother once more, before turning to introduce him and the others to her mother. However, her eyes grew wide.

"No, stop! He's not-" she shrieked.

What?

Winter was suddenly pushed into the ground with a loud thud. His throat was wrapped in black talons, his body pressed by a seemingly unmovable weight, but that didn't stop him from trying.

"Don't bother struggling, Icewing," said an unfamiliar voice. "You're under arrest."

Winter roared with unparalleled fury. He squirmed, trying everything in his power to get himself out of that position. However, his attacker had immobilized him thoroughly and completely.

Piper and Nico stopped their conversation about how to approach the queen regarding the bombing and what happened when Nico first came into the village when they heard roaring. They looked to see a white dragon pinned by Deathbringer, with various dragons looking on in mild interest and confusion.

"Don't bother struggling, Icewing. You're under arrest."

Nico had been secretly eyeing the new group. The Icewing hadn't done anything threatening. It just stood there the whole time. It was unjustified, in other words.

"Hold on Piper. I'm going over there to deal with Deathbringer. He attacked that dragon without a reason. On top of that, they could be the missing dragonets from the academy, you never know," Nico said.

Piper glanced at Nico, before looking back at the scene, a small smile forming on her face. Nico was actually taking the initiative now. He was on board now.

Moon and Kinkajou tried desperately to reason with Deathbringer, but he wasn't having any of it.

"He's on our side!"

"Stop it! Get off of him!"

Winter screamed that he was going to murder Deathbringer. Deathbringer was about to shoot back a witty reply when someone cut in.

"Oi, oi oi. What's going on here?" Nico asked, contempt at Deathbringer.

Deathbringer turned to see Nico. All aloofness in his attitude was gone. He snarled angrily. This dragon cost him his dignity in front of Glory. Nico was going to get it after he dealt with this Icewing.

He turned back to Kinkajou and Moon. "We heard there's an extra-dangerous Icewing on the loose right now. I'm going to keep sitting on this dragon until Glory arrives with further instructions."

"Perhaps I didn't make myself heard. What is going on here," Nico repeated.

"None of your business, Nico," Deathbringer hissed.

"What are you going to do? Sit on me like you do this Icewing. He didn't do anything wrong, as far as I'm concerned," Nico shot back.

Moon was grabbed by her mother. "Get back, this dragon is dangerous," she hissed to Moon quietly.

"What? Why? He's helping my friend."

"He nearly killed a Nightwing, then defeated a whole squadron of Rainwings plus Deathbringer singlehandedly. He has these weird, but super powerful abilities. If it weren't for Glory, we'd all be dead!" Secretkeeper exclaimed under her breath.

Moon didn't know what to say about that. She couldn't read this dragon's mind. It was all darkness, haze, and death, not unlike Winter's mental wall of ice. Kinkajou just looked at Secretkeeper in curiosity.

"What happened here while we were at school? This dragon sounds super-duper mysterious!" Kinkajou asked Moon's mother.

"That dragon appeared a few days ago, and nearly killed a dragon for calling him an Icewing bastard. He is just all-around scary and screaming death," she said with a shaky voice.

They turned back to Deathbringer. He was angry and glaring at Nico. Nico returned the glare tenfold.

"Get off this dragon. Don't make me force you to."

Every single dragon in the vicinity turned towards the group, and an uneasy silence settled on the entire village.

"Is it because he is an Icewing, you bastard child?" Deathbringer snarled, venom dripping from his voice. A dragon screamed and ran.

"I... what? You can only blame yourself for this," Nico stammered, before surging forward, talons up. Suddenly the whole village fell into pandemonium. Before Deathbringer could make any moves, the whole area was silenced by a new voice.

"WHAT IS GOING ON!" Glory roared as she descended from the sky. "What are you doing, Deathbringer! Why are you here, Nico?!"

Nico ground to a halt.

"Saving you, protecting the rainforest, sitting on a very cold Icewing. You know, the usual," Deathbringer said from on top of Winter.

"Bullcrap. This ice dragon did nothing wrong. The attack was completely unprovoked," Nico said.

"Nah. You attacked a villager unprovoked as well, hypocrite!" Deathbringer shot back.

Nico bristled. "It was justified. No one stomps on my heritage; you did."

A hushed murmur spread through the village.

"Stop arresting my guests. It's not romantic or heroic. It's annoying," Glory said, after a moment of thought.

"Get off this Icewing, Deathbringer," Glory ordered. As Deathbringer did as told, she turned to see Nico.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were living quietly by yourself somewhere around here."

"She dragged me here. Wanted to see what we could do regarding this bombing she overheard a little while ago," Nico said while pointing over his shoulder without even looking.

"Looks like she found you," Glory remarked blandly before turning around to Winter.

Winter charged at Deathbringer, but Glory stopped him. She took one of Winter's talons in hers, and pressed lightly, and dipped her head in a small bow.

"We are very honored to have Queen Glacier's nephew with us. I sincerely apologize for the outrageous behavior of my brain-dead bodyguard. This shameful treatment should not have befallen you. I will ensure his punishment in a creative fashion."

She looked up once more to see all the shocked faces of the villagers.

"Get back to work. It's all taken care of," she ordered.

Winter huffed. Now that Deathbringer was out of the way, he forgot about why he was here momentarily. He wanted to talk to this mysterious dragon. Winter glanced at him, eyeing his various features. Black scales all on top. However, the underside of his wings was white, as were his horns.

"Fascinating," Winter said to Nico. "Why would you help me? You're half Nightwing."

"I really don't care what percentage what dragon I am. Not that I know. Deathbringer attacked me unprovoked as he did you. Lucky for me, there isn't much he can do to me. I hate that dragon, good gods," Nico replied.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Deathbringer sing-songed while flying away, towards the royal pavilion, quashing the slight embarrassment that flowered in his chest, a feeling usually reserved for Glory.

"Yeah, the feeling's mutual. What's your name, mysterious dragon?"

"Nico."

Moon and Kinkajou, as well as Qibli, observed in interest. This new dragon was definitely strange but seemed friendly enough.

Off to the side, Secretkeeper, having watched the exchange, decided it was safe now, and let Moon go.

"I will be here if you need me," Secretkeeper said. "Be careful."

"I will mom. Don't worry about me that much. I'm fine," Moon assured her mother.

Nico was about to say something to Winter when Kinkajou decided to go ballistic.

"Wow wow wow! You went toe to toe with Deathbringer?! Why does all the awesome stuff happen when I'm not there?" Kinkajou whined.

"Nico doesn't like loud noises. I would suggest bringing the noise down. Now, from what I heard, it seems like you guys are the dragons from the bombings. What brings you here?" Piper asked.

"Indeed. On top of the bombings, there was also an attempted stabbing it seemed and a whole bunch of other things. Sunny told me some of the details, but I hope you can fill in the rest," Glory said. "Especially as to why you would leave school and come all the way here."

"Ooh, I can! Kinkajou offered, bouncing up and down. Nico shot her down though. He had enough of this rambunctious Rainwing.

"You're in as much trouble as Deathbringer," Glory said sternly. Kinkajou stopped bouncing, and blue splattered all over her scales.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Didn't Turtle tell them where we went?" Kinkajou cried.

"Yes, of course. It didn't help though," Glory answered with a snort. "Good news! Four of your students ran off to find a dragon who just tried to kill you to find another dragon who has tried to kill you a bajillion more times. Oh, excellent! Thanks, Turtle. Now we don't have to worry about a SINGLE THING! We were hoping someone would take care of this, preferably a bunch of 5-year-olds."

Moon hung her head in shame and reverence. "Sorry, your majesty. This was especially urgent," she said.

"5-year-olds?" Nico asked reflexively.

Everyone turned to look at him in confusion.

"What?"

"How old did you expect us to be?" Qibli asked.

"Not sure? I'm guessing something like 15," Nico answered. Though, from the looks on their faces, it was obviously the wrong answer.

"Maybe you aren't aware, but dragons are adults by 7 years of age," Glory said.

"How do you not know this? Did you not have parents? Or is it something else you would like to share with us?" Qibli asked.

"Well, my mom did say he had some abilities that gave him an edge to beat Deathbringer and several Rainwings," Moon added.

"He wrapped them in a cage made out of bones he pulled out of nowhere," Glory said.

The dragonets all looked at Nico with horror.

"We aren't from around here," Piper said. "However, that isn't really important right now. I dragged Nico out here to try to see if we could be helpful, especially with all the drama about murders and bombings. I think we can help you guys with what you guys are trying to do."

Kinkajou said yes straight away, giddy with excitement. How could she not? Nico had awesome powers.

Moon thought about it, before saying yes as well. She could read Piper's mind, and Piper seems genuinely interested in helping them. It was very clean and warm inside as well, a refreshing change.

Qibli raised concerns about their origin but eventually caved.

Winter obliged like he always did. Here he was, tagging along with dragons from other tribes. What difference does two more make?

"Looks like everyone is in agreement. We are here to look for my sister. I need your assurance that nobody will interfere," Winter said to the queen. She nodded the affirmative.

"The guards have been on patrol. Chances are they probably saw something. We will check in with them for intel, then you guys are more or less free to search for your sister," Glory said.

"Alright, we are set to go," Winter announced.