It couldn't be true. It couldn't be true.

But it was.

Rattlesnake fell to the ground, blood seeping from the cut. She coughed and looked up at Cedar, a mixture of pain, confusion, and anger in her eyes. She attempted to speak but all that came out was a gargling sound.

Swordfish ripped through the leaf window before he even knew what fully happened. He shrieked and tackled Cedar. The two knocked into Swordfish's new neat bed. Swordfish swiped his claw across Cedar's face, scratching him under his right eye. He saw the crazed look in Cedar's eyes, but also the emptiness inside. Cedar no longer looked like Cedar, but a killer without conscience, one that murders Mudwings in a burning village.

Cedar suddenly pushed back with strength Swordfish didn't know Cedar had. Cedar held out his dagger in front of him. "You messed up everything!" He said, his voice shaking as much as his arm. "She was going to be free!"

Cedar rushed at Swordfish with murder shining in his eyes. Swordfish panicked. But suddenly, Rattlesnake lurched forward, her eyes nearly closed. She wasn't dead. But Cedar whirled around. "You're not dead yet?" He growled, exasperated. He stomped her chest in the ground with his back talon and slashed her face with his powerful Mudwing tail. Rattlesnake flopped to the ground again, blood leaking from an ugly gash on her face as well as the slice Cedar gave her.

But the time it took for Cedar to do that allowed Swordfish to grab Cedar and disarm him, the blade falling to the ground directly below the two. Rattlesnake was dying, but if Swordfish focused on that instead of restraining Cedar, he would kill them both. Swordfish used how small Cedar was against him, pushing him into the bed. Only then did Swordfish start to cry. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?" He screamed. It didn't make sense. Cedar was the killer. Cedar. His clawmate. His first friend at the academy. The one he could trust the most. The one who had helped to look for the killer. "You killed Scorch AND Ostrich! You were the killer and betrayed us in so many ways." Cedar stared at him, emotionless. "Well of course." He said, and only now did Swordfish realize how different his voice was. Instead of the nervous, quick-talking voice he normally had, Cedar was speaking in a sharp, slower voice. Almost raspy, giving it a nasty metal-on-metal-like quality.

"I can't be imprisoned when I'm trying to liberate everyone." Cedar replied. Swordfish stared at him "Liberate? Is that what you call killing?" Swordfish shook Cedar, keeping track of how much time had passed since Rattlesnake had been stabbed. Cedar had to be suppressed before he could help her. "I trusted you." Swordfish felt a teardrop drip off his head. Cedar simply looked him in the eyes. "It's quite simple. The other me is not the true me. I protect him and he does not know it. I do what he was born to do. Sadly enough, he does not remember, and his memories of me get blurred. I come to him as an itch, telling him what to do. I am him, and he is me. Yet he does not know it." Cedar shook his head. "What a sad creature."

Split personality. Swordfish realized. He had heard about it. A "disorder" of sorts that creates multiple personalities within one dragon. Sometimes, the memories do not carry over from one personality to another.

Swordfish was still taking careful notice of how much time was going by. He knew Rattlesnake was bleeding out, but he couldn't take his eyes off Cedar. This was also his one chance to get vital answers. He felt his heart pounding, the branch outside now as loud as he had ever heard it. TICK… TICK… TICK…

"Well then, what was Cedar 'born to do'? Are you with those hooded dragons?" Cedar looked exasperated again, as if he was trying to explain something to a one-year old dragonet. "No, I don't know who those dragons were. But Cedar's purpose is also simple as well. When something dies, they are freed. And they go to the big sea in the sky. It's very big you know." Swordfish was confused, and he must have looked it because Cedar sighed. "This world is torture." He explained. "To escape it, you must go through its worst pain, and then you are free. That is why I open up the body of those I free. So their souls can escape. The soul is much more important than the physical body." Cedar looked almost calm. "And that is his- our purpose in this world."

Ok. Swordfish thought. So this "killer" personality is totally delusional. "Of course, if you really did see that scene of the burning village, I can guess that you already know that Mahogany was someone I freed as well." Cedar said, giving him a psychotic smile. Cedar was right. Swordfish had guessed that. The killer in the vision was Cedar. Their eyes had the same cold emptiness to them. Cedar had killed his adoptive brother and best friend. "So," Cedar continued. "Will you help me fulfill my duty?"

Swordfish gave him a disgusted look. "No!" He cried. "Why not?" Cedar asked, genuinely surprised. "Because you're wrong! Death is renowned as being a bad thing!" Swordfish replied. But a scary part of his brain wondered. "What if he's right?" "Tsk." Cedar said, his voice like a knife scratching against rock. "I was really hoping we could free Rattlesnake together. You seem to really like her." Swordfish's mind was freaking out. GO CHECK ON HER! HELP HER! RATTLESNAKE IS DYING! But Cedar would surely kill both him and Rattlesnake together. "So you're not going to help me." Cedar slowly said. "Shame." And then moved at lightning speed.

Swordfish had been so distracted with interrogating Cedar he failed to notice Cedar's lowermost claw had been trying to grab the dagger he had lost. But now he had gotten it. Cedar's bottom claw flipped the blade upwards and he caught it. Swordfish immediately felt the pain as Cedar sliced his chest with the dagger, as he had done with Rattlesnake. Swordfish swiped at Cedar with his wing as he fell, but Cedar ripped through his wing with the dagger, tearing a massive hole in it. Swordfish collapsed. The room began to spin upside down, the pain was arcing across Swordfish's whole body. Swordfish stared up at Cedar, who was peering over him. "What a shame." He said. "I wanted you to be one of the last, Swordfish." Cedar held the dagger under Swordfish's throat. His voice was soft now, like a whisper, but still sharp. "Be free, Swordfish."

Suddenly, a rush of dragons outside interrupted Cedar. Cedar's face contorted in a weird way. "Hold on you two, I'll free you later, Cedar's got to go be somewhere." He whispered. Cedar picked up Swordfish and lay him on his bed and then did the same with Rattlesnake, laying her on his own bed. Swordfish stared dizzily at Rattlesnake, a dying Sandwing on a bed of mud. Where had he seen that before?

Swordfish's vision started to go black. Have… to...save…Rattlesnake…Need…get…h e l p. Swordfish blacked out.

Swordfish swam home, the currents sweeping along his small body. The tears were unnoticeable, as they would simply disappear in the massive amount of water of the ocean, but they were there. He arrived at his home to see his mom talking with a visitor, but she stopped when she saw how upset Swordfish was. "What's wrong?" She asked in Aquatic. Swordfish wiped away the tears when he saw the visitor was the father of a classmate. He didn't want anyone to know he was crying. "This jerk was calling Tern 'twitch' and then he beat her up after school." "What happened? Who's Tern?" asked the visitor. "Swordfish's friend." Swordfish's mother replied. She then looked at Swordfish expectantly. "Well? What happened next?"

"Nothing. I came home." Swordfish replied. His mother looked stared at him, and then exploded into lights. "You just stood there and watched Tern get beaten up? What kind of friend does that?" Swordfish started to cry again. "I know you're only a small dragonet," She continued. "But you should know that you do anything for your closest friends, especially don't let them get hurt."

The memory began to burn away, like paper burning. Swordfish had forgotten it already, but one thing stuck with him. "You should know that you do anything for your closest friends, especially don't let them get hurt." No. Swordfish was not going to lie here and die and let Rattlesnake die too, and let Cedar hurt and kill more. Cedar. His best friend.

Swordfish used the initial rush of adrenaline to lift himself off the bed. He immediately felt dizzy, and almost fell back down, but as his head bobbed down, he saw Rattlesnake, and he had to keep going. Swordfish lurched himself out of his room, and into the hallway, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Swordfish had made it out ten steps before he promptly puked as his systems began to falter. Swordfish made one more step before falling to the ground. His eyes focused on a pebble, small and brown. Swordfish could relate to that pebble more than any hero in a scroll right now. Small and just waiting for something to step on him. Swordfish's vision began to go black again, this time, something like snow began to appear in his vision as well.

"Do anything for your closest friends."

The memory came and went just as fast. Swordfish suddenly croaked out loud. "My mother… is gone… stop imagine… things..." But that mantra appeared again. Swirling around in his thoughts. Swordfish remembered feeling more at home than he had ever felt, those days before Scorch died. Before Cedar became evil. Rattlesnake, appearing into the history class out of thin air, as if sent to comfort him by some divine force. She had been like a goddess.

Swordfish suddenly found himself picking himself up, and walking, clutching the chest wound to stop the blood loss. It was not over yet. He didn't want it to be over. He was not going to let it end yet.

P.o.V. Switch to Cedar.

Cedar was walking to the prey center. But Cedar wasn't there, it was the killer personality, merely an actor at the moment. It was lunchtime, but the various livestock weren't the only things dying. Cedar smirked to himself, internally laughing at his own joke. Alright now, I'll tell them something to pin the murder on someone else. That could definitely buy me enough time to finish freeing Rattlesnake and Swordfish.

Cedar burst into the prey center, a look of horror plastered on his face. He yelled. "SWORDFISH IS THE KILLER! HE TRIED TO KILL RATTLESNAKE!" Darkseer sat straight up from his sleep, and Savanna looked outraged. "I KNEW IT!" He screamed. The rest of the prey center erupted into chaos. Farseer was leaning against the wall, not panicking, but she had a look of surprise on her face as well. Clay sat up from where he was sitting, and ran over to Cedar. "Is she okay?" He asked, worried. He was so worried for her wellbeing, probably built into him to be caring for near strangers. Its dragons like this that are the true scum of the earth. Cedar thought. They will do everything they can to make sure dragons stay imprisoned here. The only fitting punishment for these souls is to never be freed, but forced to watch as everyone they care about is freed in front of them. "I think she's fine." Cedar replied in a forced voice.

Tsunami raced down to the prey center, and took control. "Everybody evacuate through the tunnels to the east! We will deal with this! Be warned there is a deep abyss off the side of one of the tunnels, so do not fall if you have trouble flying!" Cedar found Delta, and the rest of his sibs group. Delta was crying. "Is Rattlesnake dead?" She asked. "No. Don't worry." Cedar replied. Delta was simply misguided towards staying imprisoned. Cedar wanted to free her long ago, but the other sibs would definitely suspect him, especially Mahogany.

Cedar followed the crowd, trailing along the back, waiting for an opening to slip away and finish the job, but Delta kept a close eye on him. She probably was worried about him because he looked like Mahogany. She was probably subconsciously worried to the bone about him simply because of it. Cedar kept a close eye on her as well, waiting for her to unlock from him and the other Mudwings so he could slip away and finish the job. Cedar listened closely when he heard Savanna talking with Darkseer and Vulture behind him. "I knew it was him… He had so much to be angry at… Angry at the world, and somethin' to take it out on…" Darkseer had a solemn look on his face, as if he could only now see the futures without Rattlesnake and Swordfish.

Cedar really had to hand it to whatever divine force stopped Darkseer's powers from finding him, and whatever had stopped Turtle in his tracks with Darkstalker's scroll. Something was helping him do his job.

Cedar stared at the abyss Tsunami had mentioned as it came into view, and its vast emptiness and space made Cedar think about the future. What would he do after his two best friends were free? Would Darkseer and Vulture accept him still? Or should Cedar just leave after this, and go solo, creating a more diverse liberation. If only I could free massive amounts at once. Entire tribes, freed all at once. Nobody left to miss anyone. Nobody sad. Unfortunately, Cedar did not have that kind of power. Cedar kept thinking about the future, his mind elsewhere, not noticing the scream from the back of the line.

But Delta grabbed his shoulder and Cedar snapped back to the real world and noticed that the line of dragons behind him were moving out of the way, and some dragons had left the line completely, staying in the air above the abyss to get out of the chaos.

"It's Swordfish!" Someone yelled, and then the line began to turn into a stampede of dragons trying to escape and dragons going to fight Swordfish. "THE KILLER! THE KILLER IS HERE!" Someone else screamed. Cedar watched as Farseer suddenly descended out of nowhere, and grabbed the limp body of Swordfish, blood dripping onto the crowd below. Swordfish was breathing heavily and was mumbling something, but nobody could hear him.

Farseer threw Swordfish down to the ground in front of Savanna, who was glaring at Swordfish with malice. If Cedar was correct, Savanna also liked Rattlesnake, or at least cared a lot for her because they were both Outclaws in the past and "very close" as Rattlesnake had told him. Now, someone who had done her intense harm was down in front of him.

Darkseer also looked down, not with malice but with a grim look on his face. Had he not seen this either? Was he debating using his animus power? Vulture looked with disbelief. Delta looked with sadness. Farseer looked with anger. Cedar slapped on a pleading look. "Swordfish, please, I beg you to stop!" He cried. Swordfish mumbled again, an angry look on his face. "WHAT ARE YOU SAYIN'? YOU CACTUS-LICKING, SAND-EATING KILLER!" Savanna screamed at him. Swordfish mumbled again. Darkseer edged Savanna out of the way and bent down to hear Swordfish clearer now.

The caverns were nearly silent now, everyone focusing on the scene unfolding. Swordfish stopped breathing heavily. Darkseer looked up at Savanna, then Delta, and then narrowed his eyes at Cedar. "I could hear his mind, but I needed to be sure it was him." Darkseer announced. "Rattlesnake is alive, but she needs help. Swordfish claims he is not killer, as he himself is obviously stabbed. The real killer is Cedar."

Sunny flew off, above the crowd, most likely to get Rattlesnake. Savanna took off behind her. Cedar felt many eyes on him. Delta's grip on him tightened. Darkseer suddenly stepped back, a look of shock on his face. "I JUST HEARD HIS MIND! IT'S LIKE A RUSH OF INSANITY!" Darkseer pointed a claw at Cedar. "It IS him! I don't know why I couldn't hear it, or see it, or ANYTHING!" Delta grabbed Cedar and stared at him, her eyes wide. "Cedar…?" She asked him.

This was it. This was the end. Cedar could feel it. "May-maybe he tried to kill himself out of guilt! This is attempted suicide!" Cedar tried, but Darkseer shook his head. "No dark, suicidal thoughts in there." Suddenly, Cedar was in front of Delta. It was as if everyone else disappeared from view, all that existed was Cedar and his sister. "I-I just want to free everyone! ISN'T THAT THE PURPOSE?" Cedar dropped the normal voice act. He looked at Delta's face, and everyone else around him. All of them with looks of hurt and anger on their faces. "Cedar…" Delta asked. "Did you kill Mahogany?" "He was the first! He's in the big sea in the sky now!" Cedar shrieked. "MAYBE I CAN FREE YOU ALL TOO!"

Cedar raised his claw. "YOU WILL NOT STAY TORTURED!" He slashed at Delta, but she simply grabbed his wing, tearing away the membrane. Cedar made a scraping noise with his mouth.

Delta looked into Cedar's eyes. She was nearly crying. "I'm sorry Cedar." She managed out, and then kicked him off the ledge. Cedar tried to fly, but his wing was torn. Suddenly, Cedar felt a strange feeling. Time seemed to slow down. Cedar felt the itch disappear. He still wanted everyone to be free, but the itch was gone. The killer looked for normal, average Cedar. He was gone.

Huh. Looks like this was the real personality the whole time.

P.o.V. switch to Swordfish.

One day later.

Swordfish woke up in the hospital part of the building to see Rattlesnake leaning over him, a red scar now on her chest and her face looking quite good for someone who had just gotten it slashed open, a bandage wrapped around part of her face, but that was it. She had healed very well already. Her earring twinkled in the light. Swordfish looked down at his own chest, which had leaves over it. Only now that he looked at it did it start to hurt. "What happened to Cedar?" He asked through the stinging pain. Rattlesnake sighed.

"He was crazy. Delta pushed him off the edge of that abyss. His wing tore. There's… no way he survived. I'm sorry." She said solemnly. "Cedar is dead." Swordfish began to silently cry. His best friend was crazy, had tried to kill him AND Rattlesnake. Killed three innocent dragonets, and now was dead. "Hey Rattlesnake." He said through the tears. "I need to tell you something."

Swordfish had decided he was not going to keep secrets from her. He had realized that he didn't want to die and not let his thoughts never be known. And there was nobody he trusted more than Rattlesnake. "I think this world is fake. I think it's like a dream. I think we need to wake up. I know it sounds crazy but-" "Swordfish." Rattlesnake cut him off. Her voice was monotone, and her voice had lost its pleasant smile. "You don't have to…."

NO! STOP IT NOW! PUT HIM BACK! KILL HIM!

Swordfish began to cry harder when Rattlesnake's eyes turned hollow, and the world began to tear apart.

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE STORY, AND ONLY NOW ARE WE AT THE BIG TURNING POINT.

Strap in readers, this is only the beginning.

And now, some random trivia about the story.

-The current storyline is very different from how I originally planned it to be.

-The top inspirations for the overall story (other than Wings of Fire itself) are Attack on Titan and Stranger Things, but there are elements from Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Walking Dead, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Rick and Morty (oddly enough).

-The users that decided everything at the very beginning are as follows: Sofie-Sandwich (aka The Tea Drunk Seawing), riverflowertheimmortalwolf, Fatespeaker, Saggygua420, Solar Flare the Sandwing, Otter (he has many forms), Mt. Drew22. These users effected the story more than they know, for what they did more than a year ago has yet to have real effect.