They were just over three days from the village and even Thomas was starting to complain about all the flying and being sore since they rarely flew for more than four days. "I could really use a hot bath right about now," Elliot groaned.

"Well stiff shit, we still got just over three days before that can happen," Thomas smirked even though he was sore himself.

"I don't know if I can make it," Nick said as he flopped back on his deathgripper that he'd named Baxter.

"And this is the first time we've flown too," Elliot whined. "Poor Banjo has had to carry me too," he patted his hackatoo's neck.

"Ok, fine," she huffed. "We can stop over at some hot springs tonight." Her comment was met with cheers from her three primary school friends but Thomas urged Phoenix forward so she was right next to Uri.

"Are you sure?" he asked her, concern lacing his voice. "I didn't think you'd been there since?" he asked cautiously.

"I haven't, but I'll be fine," she sighed, lying down along Uri's back, her feet still hooked in the stirrups. "I've been pushing you guys pretty hard the past several days, and it is only Nick and Elliot's first time riding, so they would have been sore after the first day."

"Just let me know if you change your mind or you want to stay somewhere else on the island."

"I will, and thank you for everything the last few days," she said genuinely.

"What are friend's for?" he smiled.

-o0O0o-

They landed in the clearing where the house still stood, the hot springs just behind the house. Zoe always had thought of it as 'Hayden's house', but after the first time she'd stayed there between meeting Zeb and Alice and going to the Academy, he'd always referred to it as 'their house'.

"Whoa! Who lives here?" Elliot asked as he looked around the clearing, spotting the hot springs, Hayden's forge and the now overgrown patch that they had previously grown fruit and vegetables in.

"Hayden and I lived here when we weren't visiting people or on the other side of the world Below," she said quietly.

"Oh..." Elliot clearly didn't know how to respond.

"Hot springs are just over there and there's a fresh water lake a short walk through the forest in that direction," she said pointing to her left. "We'll stay here tonight but just like usual, we'll hit the sky just after sunrise," she said to the group who dismounted their dragons before taking off the saddles and heading for the hot springs. Before following her three primary school friends, Thomas came up to her.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Yeah...I think I want to go inside because I feel like he should be in there, but I don't want to deal with the emotions when I see that he's not," she said quietly.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, its ok. You go and relax. I think I want to be alone for a bit."

"I understand. We'll be out here if you need," he smiled before heading towards the hot spring. Zoe finally got out of the saddle, removing her bags and then unbuckling the straps, she let the saddle fall to the ground.

"What do you say, girl? Want to go in?" Taking a deep breath, she walked towards the front door and pushed it open. She stepped through the doorway, Uri and Sharpshot right behind her, Uri closing the door with her tail. It wasn't the same as how they'd last left it; there was a large charcoal drawing on the wall above the fireplace, clearly done in Hayden's style. She walked up to the picture; it was of her and Hayden standing side by side, Hayden's arm around her waist and he was looking down at her with large smile. Sharpshot was sitting on her shoulder and Uri and Atlas were standing next to their respective riders. She felt a tear run down her cheek as she stood there and memorised every inch of the drawing. Hayden must have come back after he had his Dream.

Tearing her eyes from the drawing, she scanned the rest of the room for any other differences. Noticing a piece of parchment on the kitchen table, she walked over to the table and picked up the parchment. It was addressed to her, a date reading July of the previous year; he had written this only a few weeks before he had died. Unfolding the letter, she read his words over and over, tears falling freely and a small smile pulling at her lips.

Zoe,
If you're reading this then I'm probably no longer with you, but if I am then I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do.
First off, I'm sorry that you have to go through the pain of losing someone all over again, but I can't change what the Bewilderbeast has already decided. If I could, I would in an instance, choosing to spend the rest of my life with you.
In case I didn't get a chance to tell you, I had my Dream that shows me when I'll die. You will have one too when it's your time, and I really hope that it's not for many many years.
Anyway, I guess this letter is just a final goodbye and a reminder that I am with you, no matter what, and Atlas and I'll be watching over the three of you until you join us. I want you to be happy, so I don't want you to deny yourself happiness if you can find it in another person. You won't be betraying me by finding another man to love so you can get rid of that thought. However, if you ever need me, just use my whistle. Three whistles will always bring me to your side no matter what has separated us.
I love you and I have full confidence that you will be the one to end the hunters. It was an honour being fury rider with you and even more so to call myself your boyfriend.
Forever yours,
Hayden x

PS. there's a little something I made you the day you first took me to the world Above but I never ended up giving it to you, it's in my desk drawer in the forge.

Carefully folding up the letter, she slipped it into the pocket in her chest plate of her armour before heading to the forge, Uri and Sharpshot waiting in the main living area and Uri staring sadly at hers and Atlas' slab of rock. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door that joined the forge to the house. Most of Hayden's projects that he'd started were now finished and sitting in the corner of the room. His desk, for the first time, tidy with everything in its place, his flaming sword sitting in the middle of his desk. The sword confused her, why was it here? She thought back to the battle, realising for the first time that she hadn't seen him with it, rather his standard sword that he only used as a spare.

She took a moment to just look around and to take everything in. She walked over to the desk and opened the top drawer, a long thin package wrapped in green cloth with her name on a small piece of parchment sitting on top. She picked it up and unwrapped the cloth, revealing a beautiful dagger. She turned it over in her hands, gingerly inspecting it; it had a few clouds engraved into the blade just above the hilt with snowflakes falling from them and tumbling down the blade. How he'd managed to make such a finely detailed piece, she didn't know. The blade was polished to perfection, her tear-stained face reflecting back at her. The hilt was wrapped in soft burgundy leather with a fury burnt into the base. She ran her fingers along the blade's edge, marvelling at the craftsmanship before wrapping it back up; she'd make a sheath for it later so it wouldn't get damaged.

Bending to pick up the piece of parchment that had her name on it and had fallen on the floor, she saw more writing on the back.

I want you to have Inferno. Personally, it was my greatest accomplishment in the forge (except for that one time...). -

Zoe blushed when she read that last comment, remembering the time that her and Hayden had made love in the forge.

-If you are the one that ends Drago, let my sword give him one last goodbye from me.
I love you and take care

She made sure to fold up the note and put it with the other before anyone else could read it; she did not need the teasing that would come if anyone read that she was 'Hayden's greatest accomplishment in the forge'. She carefully picked up the sword that she had seen attached to Hayden's leg or in his hands so many times. She would honour his last request, she would kill Drago with Hayden's blade.

Deciding that she should probably head back to the others, she swept her eyes over the forge once more before picking up her dagger with the hand that wasn't holding Hayden's sword and transferring it so she held both weapons in her left hand before she headed back into the house, closing the door to the forge behind her. On her way out of the house, she briefly looked inside each room just to prove to herself that Hayden wasn't there. Closing the front door after Uri and Sharpshot had come out, she looked up to see the rest of the group looking at her. "What?" she asked them.

"Are you...ok?" Finn asked.

"I will be," she said honestly. There was no point lying to them, they would be able to see her puffy and tear stained face.

"What's that?" Nick asked, nodding at her hand that held Hayden's sword and her dagger.

"Huh? Oh, just some things Hayden left me," she said with a sad smile. No one asked anything else which she was grateful for. The past week had been nothing but her dodging questions. They'd wanted to know about everything; how she got her lightning, could she show them her lightning and air bending, what did she usually do, did she know what happened to Viggo since there was talk that he'd died (she had to say she had no idea to that one), what was the City of Air benders like and how did she get the Foreverwing's blessing were only some of the questions asked.

The rest of the trip to the village went by fast enough, but there was a lingering sadness about Zoe that Thomas could do nothing about. He noticed that she had strapped Hayden's flaming sword to her armour next to her glider, but he still didn't know what had been wrapped in the green cloth that she'd put in her bag. He only knew that she took the package out of her bag each night and held onto it all night while she slept, but it was always put away before anyone else woke up.

Their destination was finally in sight at the end of the third day since they'd left Hayden's island, as Zoe called it, everyone but Zoe cheering when they saw it. The red and purple terror had made another appearance, delivering a letter to Zoe who hastily wrote back a response whilst they were still in the air and Uri creating a portal for the small dragon to get to wherever it was heading as quickly as possible. He still didn't know who she was writing to, and he knew he wouldn't find out unless Zoe wanted him to as she always burnt the letters that she didn't send back.

They landed at the edge of the village right next to Zeb and Alice's house, Nick, Elliot and Finn all flopping out of their saddles with not much grace. Zoe was off Uri's back almost as quickly, but much more coordinated. Before she had taken one step towards Zeb and Alice's house, Celia and James burst out the front door, a now teenage Angel following. The three of them rushed straight towards Zoe who knelt down, accepting the assault of the two kids and the just as excited teenager.

"How's my favourite teenager and two god-children?" she asked them with the first genuine smile he'd seen on her face since she'd found Finn, Elliot and Nick.

"Good!" they all chorused back.

"Where are your parents?" she asked them, standing up.

"They're inside," Angel said with a large smile.

"Can we play with Uri?" Jamie asked in his high pitched toddler voice.

"You better ask her," Zoe said, ruffling Jamie's hair. Thomas watched as Uri bounded over to the children who immediately assaulted the dragon with pats and cuddles, Uri rolling onto her back to play with them. "C'mere," Zoe said to Uri as the dragon shifted her position so that Zoe could remove the bags and saddle. Picking the lot of it up, she headed to the front door, Thomas following her after removing his dragon's saddle and his bags, Nick, Elliot and Finn scrambling to do the same.

Alice, Zeb and Dean met them in the front yard, the three of them taking it in turns to pull Zoe into a hug before moving to shake Thomas' hand.

"This is Finn, Nick and Elliot," Zoe introduced. "Finn's a water bender from the Academy and Elliot and Nick a new riders and benders, Elliot, earth and Nick, fire."

"Its a pleasure to meet you," Zeb said, shaking their hands. "Come in, and send the dragons around the back, they can get their fish when they're ready."

The group of them filed into the house, Angel helping her younger cousins onto Uri's back as the dragon walked the kids around to the back yard, flapping her wings lightly and making Jamie and Celia laugh.

Zoe went to put Uri's saddle and her bags in her room, the males just leaving theirs outside the front door. "Can I offer you guys anything?" Zeb asked them.

"I'm alright, thanks," Thomas responded, the other three also declining, either because they didn't want anything or because they didn't want to say yes to someone they had just met.

"So, what's been happening?" Zeb asked as Zoe came into the living room, her armour and weapons removed and just in her riding pants and a short-sleeved tunic. Thomas noticed Finn, Nick and Elliot eyeing the Lichtenburg on her arm, no doubt wanting to ask more questions.

"More of the same really," she shrugged. "Tom and I went to the world of Grey and we bumped into those three just before we got attacked by hunters, courtesy of Tom's dad."

"Sorry what?" Dean said.

"Guilty," Thomas smiled. "Turns out my dad is a hunter."

"Well that would have been a happy reunion," Zeb stated blandly.

"It was actually quite nice until he came after us with his cronies," Zoe chuckled.

"I take it that it was an easy escape?" Alice asked.

"Eh, nothing too hectic compared to what's happened before," Zoe shrugged, Nick, Finn and Elliot exchanging looks at Zoe's comment about their escape not being hectic.

"That's good. Now, anything we can do for you lot? Or is this just a rest and regroup stop over?" Zeb asked.

"These four will be staying here in the village. I need to head off in a few days to deal with some unfinished business but I'll come back once I've finished up. Tom has his place and if its ok with you Tom, the other three can stay with him until a more permanent arrangement can be set up. Oh, and Nick and Elliot need a lot of training in everything. They're from the world of Grey," she added to Zeb's confused look.

"I'm sure there's space at the inn as well if Thomas' place gets too crowded," Zeb said. "Anyway, you guys hungry?"

"Starving, but we can feed ourselves since we just rocked up on your doorstep," Zoe answered.

"Nonsense, we can make enough for all of us but I'll need a few of you to head to the market to grab a few extra things."

"I can go, and Finn, Nick and Elliot can come with me, that way I can show them the village and we can drop our stuff off at my place," Thomas offered, assuming that Alice and Zeb would want to speak to Zoe in private.

"That would be great, thank you. I'll write you a list and get you some bags."

"Already done," Alice smiled, handing Thomas a list and a bag of coins and giving a bag each to the other three.

"I'll check on the kids - make sure they're not harassing the dragons too much," Dean said, leaving Zoe alone with Zeb and Alice. As soon as they were alone, her posture sagged and her features drooped and she let out a sigh.

"C'mere," Alice said softly, pulling her into hug and holding her as Zoe tried to keep her emotions in check. She felt incredibly overwhelmed, exhausted and just all round miserable. She missed Hayden, and even though she now had Viggo's help and Thomas' the past few months, it wasn't the same as Hayden, or even when Amy was with her. A lump had formed in her throat and her breathing had become shaky as Alice continued to hold her and vaguely aware of Zeb making tea. After several minutes, Zoe removed herself from Alice's embrace, Zeb coming over and handing each of them a mug of tea and briefly rubbing her shoulder with a sad smile.

"I thought you would have come back five days ago?" Alice asked gently.

"I couldn't," she shrugged. "I couldn't leave Thomas to protect all of them and Uri didn't have enough energy to make five portals in one go, four is her limit and even then its a stretch."

"Fair enough...are you ok? I noticed you had Hayden's sword, did you stop by the house?" Zeb asked her softly.

"We stopped over so the others could use the hot springs. I went inside and found a few things Hayden had left me including his sword, he said he wanted me to end Drago with it," she said quietly, Zeb just nodding.

"What's this unfinished business?" Zeb asked as the three of them sat down with their drinks.

"I've been told that Drago is becoming active again so I need to go and finish him off before his operations get too big," she explained.

"You're going to kill him?" Alice asked, both of them were aware to the ways of the air benders and their refusal to kill.

"I don't see any other way. I've spoken to Gus and he agrees, but if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them."

"I don't see another way either," Zeb sighed. "And who's this informer?"

"You wouldn't believe me," she smiled.

"Try us," Alice said.

"Viggo."

"What?" Zeb asked, incredulous. "You know that Drago had him killed, right?"

"Correction: Drago sent someone after Viggo to kill him, but he didn't succeed. I found him wounded and unconscious in the wings of a skrill who was also wounded but not as badly. I healed them both and it turns out the dragon saved him when Drago's commander came after him. He's helped me ever since and he's going to help me in a few days when we take Drago out."

"Don't you think that it could just be a trap?" Zeb asked hesitantly.

"I doubt it, I've been cautious the whole time but he's never taken the opportunity to kill me, and he's had plenty. Besides, if he is tricking me, his skrill won't follow him; Uri reassured me about that after she spoke to his skrill."

"As long as you're aware, that's all that matters," Zeb nodded.

"Did you need anyone else to come with you?" Alice asked.

"I'll go alone. Viggo has lightning proof armour so if I get in a tight spot, I can use my lightning without having to worry about hurting anyone else," she half lied. It was a genuine reason, but it was more to do with the fact that she didn't want anyone to see her kill and Hayden's last request had made Drago's death a personal matter and she wanted to be the one to end him. She also didn't think she could cope if she lost anyone else, but Viggo and Bolt were a powerful duo and wouldn't be involved after the initial stage of helping her break into the camp and create a bit of chaos.

They talked about lighter topics as they began preparing a meal for the eight adults and three kids, until Alice brought up the thing that had been nagging at the back of Zoe's mind since the last time she was here. "I think it's time you take Axel with you. He's getting worse with every passing day."

"I'm not surprised, he's lasted longer than I thought he would," Zoe sighed. "I'll go and see Amy and Remi tomorrow and bring it up then."

"I think that would be best, for you and Axel," Alice nodded.

They had been in the village for two days which they'd spent resting and getting their legs back, Nick and Elliot in particular. The four of them were staying in Thomas' house, Zoe staying in her room at Zeb and Alice's. Zoe had also been disappearing into the forest the last two days with Uri, Sharpshot and surprisingly, Axel. He had no idea what they were doing, but he suspected it was to do with Zoe's 'unfinished business' that she'd mentioned. Whatever it was, it would apparently be violent as he'd seen her spending a lot of time sharpening and giving her weapons more attention than usual, but maybe it was just routine maintenance.

Nick, Elliot and Finn had been talking about following Zoe when she went to do whatever it was that she was going to do and every time, Thomas would quickly shut the idea down. He had tried explaining to them that Zoe was going alone for any of three reasons; where she was going she planned on using a portal, it was too dangerous, or she would be doing something that she didn't want people knowing about. Either way, he didn't think it was a good idea for anyone to follow Zoe when she didn't want to be followed, who knows how that could end. Even though they were all friends with her, Zoe was still incredibly powerful and he'd seen all too well what happened when someone rubbed her the wrong way.

She was in her room, mentally and physically preparing herself for what was to come, Uri, Sharpshot and Axel waiting for her in the backyard. She had gone and seen Remi and Amy the day after they had got to the village, taking the opportunity to mention Axel, the poor dragon bouncing with excitement when she asked if she could borrow him for a few days. She had also explained that furies were roaming dragons and struggled to stay put for long, hinting at the fact that Axel might decide to eventually leave Amy. Axel had been following her around the last couple of days, ecstatic about being able to do what furies were created to do, aid the fury rider in stopping the hunters and saving the dragons, it broke Zoe's heart.

Sighing, she got up, slinging her swords and quiver over her back and double checking that all of her weapons were properly secured, including Hayden's sword and the dagger he had made her that was in it's new sheath.

"Good luck," Zeb and Alice said as she came out of her room, her helmet in one hand and the smaller of her two bags in the other, her other bag already outside.

"Thank you," she smiled. "I could be longer than a week if all goes to plan, but I'll come back before I head off again," she explained.

"Will you be ok?" Zeb asked.

"Of course I will be."

"I think what Zeb's asking is if you've had your Dream yet?" Alice asked softly.

"Not yet. If I do while I'm gone and I won't get back to you, I'll send a message with Sharpshot."

"What if this is the last time we see you?"

"It won't be," she reassured. She wasn't going to let Drago kill her, she still had Grimmel to deal with and she was not going to let Hayden down by not finishing what they started together. "I'll see you when I see you," she smiled.

-o0O0o-

She was strapping the second bag to Uri when Remi and Amy came over to say goodbye, both of them taking it in turn to embrace her. "Remi spoke to me about what you were hinting at the other day," Amy started, "and if its what Axel wants, then I think he should stay with you from now on," she said in an attempt at a strong voice.

"You understand what that involves?" she asked. "He may break the bond that you two have and bond to me instead," she said cautiously.

"I know, but I can't watch him deteriorate so quickly, and he's so excited about going with you now." Axel came up and gently nuzzled Amy to try and comfort her. They must have had a mental conversation as Axel turned to face Zoe a few moments later as Amy took a deep breath. "He'll make the decision to either stay here or break the bond when you guys get back."

"If you choose to break the bond, it's highly likely that you won't have long with me and Uri, it'll be our time sooner or later," Zoe said to Axel in her head. "You're more than welcome to come with us without breaking the bond, but just think about it," she added, Axel nodding to her. "We should get going," she said out loud.

"Good luck and let us know if you need us," Remi said as he hugged her, Amy doing the same.

"I will, and thank you," she said getting into Uri's saddle. "I'll see you all soon," she said to the four that had come to see her off, she had seen Thomas and the other three earlier. With a few powerful beats of their wings, Axel and Uri took off, heading north.