Hello all and welcome back to another chapter of this dumpster fire

I've been looking forward to writing this chapter for a while because of a specific sequence happens in it. What is that sequence? You'll have to read on to find out.

Anyway, enough squabbling, let's dive right into things…

Chapter 12 – Waves of Thunder

Dear Diary…

Pieces of my past keep bleeding through, unclear but present. Maybe one day, it will be clear…

It was a dark and stormy January night. There was currently a large and vicious thunderstorm raging over the island with cold rain spitting it down and everyone was scrambling to get inside. Crystie was currently sprinting across the mountain lake area with a soaked, shaking Cypress in her arms.

Cypress had decided it would be a brilliant idea to go for a wonder outside the mountain when there were clear signs of a storm approaching. The young viking rushed over the damp dirt, trying to reach the cave; Even though the mountain protected the area from most of the harshness of the storm, some of the rain was still able to get through. Crystie shivered, both from the rain at the bottom of the mountain and the rain that was coming through the sky hole.

A feeling of uncomfortableness coursed throughout the young viking. Being in a thunderstorm was really unsettling for her but she couldn't place why; She just wanted to get inside. Looking up ahead, she could see Burst and Spark standing in the cave's entrance. Sprinting through the cave's entrance, she collapsed onto the ground, laying on her back while Cypress lay on her stomach; they were both panting heavily.

Burst and Spark and Rocky moved a large boulder and placed it infront of the entrance so the rain stopped coming in. The two dragons then headed further into the cave.

Crystie just lay there, staring at the ceiling that was lightly illuminated, likely from Flame's fire. She then felt something nudge her side and turned her head to see Amber standing there, her tail swaying in excitement.

"Yeah yeah, I'll be there in a minute" Crystie murmured while waving her hand dismissively.

Amber let out a happy purr before running off somewhere into the cave. The young viking continued to lie there for a few moments before sighing deeply.

"Right, time to get up" Crystie huffed as she sat up, pushing Cypress off of her.

The brown cat stood up and shook himself off, covering Crystie in a light coat of water before trotting off.

"Thanks" the young viking muttered.

She stood up and shook herself before shrugging off her hoodie. Being that it was winter, it was probably not the best decision to take off her hoodie but for starters; when did she ever have a good idea; and Secondly, keeping it on would've likely cause her to catch a cold which she did not want. Undoing her ponytail, she let her hair down, which stopped past her shoulder. She grabbed her hair and squeezed the water out of it before letting it fall again.

Picking up her hoodie, she walked over to her cave which was basically her bedroom at this point. Her 'bedroom' currently consisted of the thing's she owned and collected that were currently piled against a wall to the young viking's right. Parallel to her was Storm, who was laying down next to the wall; The blue dragon was talking to Blue and Red, who were sitting behind Storm's tail, listening carefully to whatever the nadder was telling them; Amber was sitting near her sisters, leaning against the wall, likely trying to get some sleep. The young trio was growing fast; Amber was now a few inches taller than Crystie's shoulder's while the Razorwhip twins were a few inches taller than Crystie's stomach.

Looking to her left, the young viking saw Redwing laying in the other archway, also listening to what Storm had to say; Crystie would guess that the red-winged was near Storm's height, probably being a few inches short.

Crystie walked over to her stuff and put her hoodie down to dry, pulling out a dry blanket in exchange; she wrapped it around her shoulders before walking over to Storm and sitting down and leaning against her. Snowflake fluttered over to the young viking and landed on her lap, curling up. As Crystie had guessed, she could see Flame with his head lit in the other room, illuminating the areas. She guessed Rocky and Burst and Spark were in one of the other rooms as she could not see them.

Blue let out a tired yawn and lay her head on her mother's tail, closing her eyes; Red soon followed suit. Redwings eyes were also drooping, like he was about to doze off. Crystie got herself comfortable, wrapping her blanket more around herself. She closed her eyes and braced herself for sleep to come. She saw the light that came from Flame fade away as she drifted off to sleep.

Crystie felt herself come to consciousness, but something felt… off. Her vison cleared and she noted a few things; She was in a thunderstorm at night, one more intense than she was previously in; she was far up in the dark grey clouds above the raging roaring ocean that she could vaguely see below, and she was riding on something.

There was no clear indication of what she was riding but the young viking guessed it was a dragon due to the vague feeling of scales beneath her fingers. Crystie tried looking at what kind of dragon she was seeing but all that came into her vision was a vastly hazy, only being able to see a vague outline of the scaley creature. From her limited vision, she could tell the dragon had large spikey wings, several spikey things on the dragons head, a seemingly lean and somewhat slim body and rough feeling scales. It also seemed to be some sort of a sapphire blue colour.

Crystie tried looking around more but her vision was locked in place, even when she tried to move her head. She was frozen in place. All she could do was sit and watch this unfold.

Her breath seemed to quicken and her vision drifted to behind her. Nothing notable was behind her but the young viking noted that the dragon she was riding had a long tail that ended in a point, what seemed to be a pair of fins near the base of its tail, what seemed to be a pair of fins going along its tail and seemingly a pair of fins at the tip of the dragons tail. Her vision shifted back towards the front, looking somewhat down at the dragon she was riding on.

Droplets of rain sputtered down from the sky, hitting Crystie from the side, trickling down her side, leaving her slightly soaked. She shuddered from the slight cold and felt the strap of her bag fall into her lap, her hands drifting over to it and holding onto it.

Thoughts swirled around the young viking's head as she sat there, not sure what to do or what was supposed to happen next. It was then that Crystie felt something warm streak down her cheeks, standing out from the cold atmosphere she was in. The warmness dripped from her cheeks and landed on her hands, splashing when they made contact. It was then she realised what it was; tears; she was crying.

Why in the world was she crying? What did she have to cry about?

She felt words escape her mouth but what they said fell on deaf ears as they were nothing more than a murmur to the young viking. Crystie felt conflicted, emotions swirling around in her like a tornado.

For a few moments, all the young viking could do was sit there, taking everything in and sob.

A bright bolt of lightning suddenly split the sky infront of her, startling her, both in body and in mind. The vibrant light filled her eyes, almost blinding her. The bolt faded and Crystie had to blink her vision back to her. Another bolt suddenly struck infront of them and time seemed to slow to a standstill as it crackled down infront of her. Crystie felt her heart and breath seemingly stop, panic flooding through her. In what seemed like a split-second decision, the dragon she was riding twisted itself and put its front up, protecting the young viking from the strike; This action however, caused Crystie to lose her grip on the dragon she was riding, she attempted to grab back onto the dragon while also clutching her bag, but her fingers only grazed the dragon's back, which surprisingly felt like leather, before she began descending down towards the raging ocean.

Crystie could see the vague outline of the dragon above her stiffening due to the contact with the lightning before going limp and beginning to fall down and towards the ocean. A yell seemed to escape Crystie's throat but once again, it fell on deaf ears. The young viking's breathing quickened to a pace where she was almost hyperventilating, and her tears were falling at full force; Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest as she continued to fall.

A singular thought entered her mind; a singular and crystal-clear thought that was not one of her current mind.

"I'm sorry" was all Crystie could think as her body hit the ocean and her mind went dark and blank.

A dry yell escaped her throat as she shot up from her sleep, sitting straight up. Her breathing was rapid and uneven, sweat trickled down her face and neck, her heart was racing and was slightly shivering like she was back on Winterstone.

It was still dark and what Crystie could see was limited, she guessed it wasn't morning yet. She let out a shaky breath and leaned backwards, trying to get herself under control. Looking down, she saw Snowflake was still asleep, somehow. It seemed like everyone was still asleep despite the yell Crystie had let out. She gently picked up the small dragon in her lap and carefully deposited her nearby; After doing so, Crystie leaned backwards and let out a sigh of relief.

A soft squawk made Crystie internally grown. She turned her body to see Storm looking at her with concerned eyes. Crystie lowered her head, letting out a shaky breath before lifting her head to look at her best friend.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Crystie said in a raised whisper.

Storm shook her head which made Crystie sigh in relief. The blue dragon's eyes still held concern and she tilted her head slightly, as if asking a question.

Crystie sighed "It's nothing, it was just a bad dream".

She looked down while she nervously rubbed her hands against each other as her mind combed over the dream she'd just have.

"Although, the more I think about it, it felt more like a memory than a dream" Crystie added.

She looked up to see Storm's expression turned to one of shock and curiosity. The young viking then began to describe what she'd seen, with Storm nodding in understanding as she went on.

"It was just so weird. Like, it felt so real, like I had been there before, which was probably true"

Crystie tightened the grip she had on her blanket "It felt so real and…"

"The thunder and lighting were so loud and so close and I hated it and…" she added, feeling her breath shorten slightly.

Tears pricked the edge of her eyes "The dragon got hurt. They got hurt because of me and… and I couldn't do anything".

She felt tears began to stream down her face as a small hiccup escaped her throat.

"I… I couldn't do a damn thing and I let them get hurt. What of person am I that I let someone that I let someone get hurt and just stand by" Crystie said through sobs and tears.

She buried her head in her knees and just continued to sob. Feeling something touch her back, her head shot up and looked around. Storm had her wing streched out and was gently rubbing Crystie's back. The young viking continued to let out tears and sobs as her dragon friend continued to rub her back.

When her tears began to subside, Crystie shuffled closer to Storm and rested her head against the cool scales, letting out an exhausted sigh.

"I'm so glad I have you Storm; I don't know where I'd be without you" Crystie murmured.

Storm let out a soft chuckle and nuzzled Crystie's side as the young viking felt drift off to sleep once more.

Come the next morning, it was much calmer and the storm had passed. Asides from scattered branches, twigs, a few stones, and the area being a bit of a mess there wasn't that much damage from the storm. The group were currently cleaning up the idea, depositing the scattered objects at the edge of the area until they decided what to do with them.

From what Crystie could see from the sky hole, it was now clear, not a cloud in sight. She hoped this day would go well.

Turning her head, the young viking saw the young trio plus Cypress playing in the mud instead of helping to tidy up. Crystie just shook her head and went back to picking up a bundle of sticks, she'd deal with them later.

A small time later, Crystie's ears picked up the sound of wingbeats in the air. She looked up to see a dragon diving through the sky hole and flying down towards the ground; On closer inspection, Crystie realised it was Rag.

The older Raincutter glided down gracefully glided down to the ground and landed on the sand. The young viking jogged up to Rag and stopped infront of him.

"Hello Rag" Crystie greeted and the cool-grey dragon dipped his head in return.

"May I ask what you're doing here?" the young viking asked.

Rag nodded and turned towards the sand. Crystie raised an eyebrow as the dragon began drawing shapes in the sand with his foot. After a few moments, Rag finished drawing and stepped back. Crystie looked over at what he'd drawn; he had drawn what seemed to be waves, the beach, and some sort of winged flat lizard creature thing? There was also a line going from the lizard thing to the beach.

Crystie raked her brain to try and figure out what these drawings were trying to convey.

"Did a lizard drown?" Crystie asked, turning her head towards Rag.

Rag shook his head in reply.

"Did you find a lizard on the beach?" Crystie questioned.

The Raincutter sighed and shook his head. The young viking turned her head back towards the drawings and scratched her head in confusion; what was it she was not getting? This must be important if Rag came to her about it. It then clicked in her mind.

"Is there a dragon on the beach?" She asked, turning her attention back towards the dragon.

Rag nodded. Good, she was getting somewhere with this.

"Are they hurt?" she continued.

Rag nodded and that got Crystie moving.

"We need to get out there and help them then" the young viking said as she rushed inside to grab her stuff before rushing out again.

A small while later, the group was flying over the island, heading towards the beach. Crystie had gathered a small group that consisted of herself, Storm, Rag, Redwing, Rocky, Burst and Spark and Flame, to go help out the injured dragon. The younger dragons had wanted to come but Crystie and Storm had decided against it since not everyone needed to come and they needed to help clean up the area since they had neglected to do so earlier. They had tried to make a fuss about it but it didn't go anywhere.

Going back to the present, they were just above the edge of the forest that met the beach. For some reason, Crystie's body was slightly numb.

It couldn't be a coincidence that a dragon had gotten hurt in her dream and fell into the ocean and there was a dragon that had been hurt near the ocean. They couldn't be the same dragon, could they?

Some points aligned but some didn't. For instance, who knows how long it had been since she'd experienced that memory; If Crystie had to guess, she guessed the memory took place around the same time she had lost her memory. Another problem was, she had lost her memory almost three months ago; it was extremely unlikely that it was the same dragon since the memory dragon was likely long gone by now. She didn't even know what the injured dragon looked like yet. But there was a slim, slither of a chance, that it could be the memory dragon and that got Crystie's hopes up.

Shaking her thoughts away, Crystie focused on the here and now. The group were now gliding down towards the sandy shores of the beach. On another note, there were two beaches on the island; The southern beach which was the one Crystie had woken up on; and the northern beach, which was the one they were currently heading towards.

Getting back to the present again, the group had landed on the ground. The young viking got off of Storm and let her feet slightly sink into the sand of the shore. She then turned to Rag.

"Alright, where's the injured dragon?" she asked while glancing around.

Rag turned his head and gestured somewhere up the shore which made Crystie look in that direction; She saw something laying in the sand. Sprinting forward, she began making her way over, her companions quickly following behind her. As she got closer, she was able to start making out the details of the dragon.

They appeared to be a male Thunderdrum. The dragon's body was flat and wide, with four stubby thin legs; they had large primary wings and a pair of smaller wings at the base of the dragon's tail; they had a curved horn on the tip of their snout and small stubs lining either side of their face; they had a long thin tail that had spikes going along their tail that started from the top of their back; The dragon's underbelly was a very pale blue while the rest of their body was a azure blue colour; Their eyes were currently closed so she wasn't able to see their eye colour. They were quite a big dragon, being several feet wider than Crystie's height and being almost as long as Rag's height.

Crystie stopped running and placed herself next to the tidal dragon, checking them over for any injuries. There seemed to be no major injuries aside from a small gash that went across the base of their tail. The gash looked recent and didn't look to be infected yet but being in this environment was not going to help.

The young viking turned and faced her companions.

"Right, we need to get this dragon to Rag's island so we can treat them" Crystie explained.

"I need someone to carry their front while someone carries their rear" she continued, pointing as she explained.

She paused for a few moments before pointing at Rocky and Flame "Rocky, I need you to support the front while Flame, I need you to support their rear. Everyone else will make sure they stay balanced during the flight".

Everyone then began getting to work. Crystie and Redwing gently folded the Thunderdrums wings inwards so they would be easier to carry; Burst and Spark helped raise the dragons rear so Rocky would be able to lift it; Storm was walking around on the side, making sure everything was going well. Rocky and Flame began lifting the dragon into the air, the others quickly following. Crystie kept an eye on everything as they flew. Her mind briefly drifted back towards her earlier thoughts but she pushed them away. Deal with the injured dragon now, think about her thoughts and possibly have a potential crisis later.

They made it quickly, and safely, to Rag's island where they were unlikely to be disturbed. Crystie had managed to clean the wound and made sure it stopped bleeding; it didn't really need to be bandaged up, she just needed to make sure nothing got in it until it was healed enough. She was now watching the sleeping thunderdrum, who was laying on the edge where the grass met the sand, from one of the branches of the tree; Everyone else was hanging about on the island, just chatting, and resting.

As Crystie sat there and watched, things became clearer. This was not the dragon from her dream. While there were similarities, like the similar blue colour, large wings and base tail fins, there were also a lot of differences. For example, the Thunderdrums scales were smooth, like a fish's; while the memory dragon's scales were rougher like sand from what she could remember; Another point was the memory dragon was smaller and skinnier while the Thunderdrum was bigger and wider.

So, this was not the dragon she was looking for; This information made the young viking's spirit deflate a bit. Crystie took a deep breath and shook her head; she didn't want to ruin anyone's mood, especially her own.

The young viking climbed down from her branch and went over to the Thunderdrum, kneeling down next to them. The Thunderdrum must've sensed her presence as he opened his eyes and turned his head towards her, looking at her.

"Uh, Hello" Crystie greeted, giving a small wave.

The dragon gave a small roar in reply.

"Are you feeling alright, aside from your injury?" Crystie asked.

The Thunderdrum nodded and turned his attention back out towards the water. Crystie picked up a stray twig and playing around with it.

For a while, neither of them made a sound, just sitting in silence. Crystie then spoke up, breaking the silence.

"How'd you end up wounded on the beach?"

The Thunderdrum looked at her for a moment before crawling forward a bit so he was more on the sand. He then began drawing shapes into the sand. Crystie shuffled forward so she could get a better look at what he was drawing. The first thing he drew was a circle.

"Is that you?" Crystie asked, looking at the drawing.

The dragon nodded and continued drawing. The next things he drew were wavy lines under the circle which looked like the ocean and an odd, shaped circle above the circle which looked like a cloud; he then added little jagged lines from the cloud.

"You were… in a thunderstorm?" Crystie questioned.

The dragon nodded and continued. He drew what seemed to be a rock and a line going from the circle to the rock.

"You… went up to a rock?" she guessed.

He shook his head and Crystie racked her brain.

"Wait no, I got it. You were knocked against the rock?" she guessed again which gained her a nod.

"Ah, so you were caught in the thunderstorm there was last night and bashed against the rock which is how you were injured. Am I correct?" Crystie asked.

The Thunderdrum nodded.

"That makes sense" Crystie muttered to herself as the dragon brushed over the sand, making it a clean canvas.

They went back into another bout of silence, the only thing to be heard is the chatting of the other dragons behind them and the gentle waves infront of them as they sat.

"So, where do you live?" Crystie asked, breaking the silence again.

The Thunderdrum looked conflicted, probably unsure of how to communicate his point. Crystie cursed the language barrier. Looking down at the stick in her hand, an idea popped into her head.

Using the stick, Crystie stood up and began drawing in the sand. When she finished, she stood back and looked at what she'd done. Drawn in the sand, was a weird squiggly oval with small wavy lines surrounding it.

"This, is the island, or at least, a representation of it" Crystie said, pointing her stick at the drawing.

"This area around the island is the ocean. Mark a dot where your home is" she continued.

The Thunderdrum seemed to get the idea and stood up, waddling over, and poking his claw into the sand, making a dot; The dot was a bit of a distance away from the island.

"Ah, so you live up north?" she asked as she sat back down.

The dragon nodded as he lay back down, stretching out slightly.

"is it nice there?" she continued.

He nodded, looking into the distance.

"Do you have family up there?"

The Thunderdrum nodded while continuing to look into the distance. While he had a happy look on this face, Crystie could detect something sad also on his face, something that seemed like longing.

"You miss them, don't you?" she questioned.

He nodded and continued to look out across the water, that longing clear on his face. Crystie's heart felt a pang of sympathy.

"I understand what you're feeling. I miss mine too" Crystie commented as she herself looked across the water.

She knew what it was like to miss someone, even if it was a slightly different case for the young viking. The difference being, the Thunderdrums family were most likely alive and easy to get to; while Crystie's… she didn't even know where to look for her family, or even if they were still alive.

A wistful sigh escaped her lips. She truly miss them.

Something stured within Crystie and she felt determination course throughout her. She wouldn't let someone else be separated from their family when she could do something about it.

"Sir, we are going to get you back to your family" Crystie announced, standing up.

The Thunderdrum smiled at that and let out an excited roar; a roar which sounded slightly like thunder.

Crystie chuckled "I think I'll call you Thunder".

The next day, the sun was starting to rise as the group was gliding slowly over the calm ocean waters. There was no cloud in sight. They wanted to wait until Thunder's wound had healed a bit more before getting Thunder back home. Rag was in the water with Thunder, making sure he didn't agitate his wound too much while everyone else was in the air.

Crystie felt agitated but she didn't know fully why. She'd flown over the water plenty of times, it was nothing new but for some reason, she just felt off; maybe it was the remnants of the dream she was still feeling. She remembered feeling shaken, scared, and distraught, both inside and outside the dream. She internally chuckled; she called it a dream but it felt way to real for it to be that.

While she had dealt with her initial feelings on the matter, there were still remnants of those feelings still lingering within her, and she felt those feelings would linger for a while. Crystie's hands tightened into fists and took deep breaths; she didn't need to go into another panic, that is not what she needed. This what not the time to deal with this; she'd deal with this later.

Focusing back on the present, Crystie saw something up ahead; It didn't look like a creature or anything like that, it looked like something else; As they got closer, it became more clearer.

They were flying above a coral reef, and quite a large one it seemed. The area was quite colourful and full of life. The beautiful coral branches, fans, and fields streched far and wide. Crystie felt her jaw drop; she'd never seen someone as astounding. Creatures of different shapes and sizes swam about, some swimming in and out of the coral. What a wonderful place to have a home.

A roar from the near distant caught Crystie's attention. She looked up and saw something swimming towards them at a fast pace. Crystie turned around and look at Thunder, making sure he was alright.

The blue dragon's eyes were filled were filled with happiness and hope. Thunder broke away from Rag and began swimming swiftly towards the other creature. The creature broke the water's surface, revealing its form; another Thunderdrum.

This Thunderdrum was a different colour than Thunder, being a dark pink colour with a pale pink underbelly. They looked to be a female Thunderdrum.

The two Thunderdrums swam up to each other and nuzzled against each other. The sight warmed Crystie's heart. Several high-pitched roars made Crystie turned her head again. She saw several baby Thunderdrums swimming towards them and happily embracing the larger dragons.

Crystie guessed that the smaller Thunderdrums were likely Thunder's children and the other Thunderdrum was likely his mate. Thunder had found his family.

The sight made Crystie smile.

Crystie gently tapped the back of Storm's head, making the dragon turn her head to look at the young viking.

"Can you move closer? I want to talk to Thunder" Crystie asked.

Storm nodded and glided down to a few feet above the ocean's waters, gently hovering above it. Thunder stopped nuzzling his family and turned to face the young viking.

"See, I told you we'd get you back to your family" Crystie began.

Thunder nodded.

"Now you know to be more careful during Thunderstorms, stay away from rocks" Crystie continued.

Thunder let out what seemed to be a chuckle. For a few moments, there was nothing but the sound of lapping water.

"Well, we should get going. I hope you enjoyed your short stay with us" Crystie said, giving Thunder a smile.

Crystie began to turn away before she turned back and said "Oh, and you can come back and visit us anytime, just try not to come injured"

Thunder chuckled then turned away, facing his family who were beginning to swim away before swimming away himself.

Crystie then turned to Storm and the others "Let's head home".

The group nodded and turned around, heading back towards the island. As they were flying away, Crystie heard a loud boom from behind her. She tilted her head back a bit to see a sonic boom being sent through the clouds and Thunder jumping up and down in the water, roaring excitedly. Crystie chuckled; dragons were truly amazing and wonderful creatures.

With that, the group continued to make their way back to the island, back towards home.

Aaaaaand that's what happened.

Asides from the… dream, memory thing, I'd say it has been a good few days.

But the memory still bugs me. I feel like there's something I'm not getting, like there's information that's clearly infront of me but I'm just not seeing it.

But that's for another day.

That's all from me today

I hope we talk again soon

This is Crystie, signing out.

Aaaaaand that was the chapter

Did you like it, I enjoyed writing it, especially the dream-memory sequence?

The memory sequence was fun to write to write as I've been planning it for a while and it is critical to the future of the story.

Anyway, as always, check out my deviant for art and updates.

Feel free to leave a comment or a review.

I hope you have a nice day

This is Crystie, signing out