And we`re back for part 2! If you are just seeing this, make sure to go and check out part 1, or this will make NO sense.

Also, this follows the storyline of the third book in Dragonwatch, so if you haven't read it, THIS WILL SPOIL YOU. This is Bracken`s perspective on his time spent during Dragonwatch, Master of the Phantom Isle! This does pull come dialogue directly from the book and I definitely do not own it!

Enjoy!

Every day after that, Bracken saw Kendra less and less, only seeing her when he was about to drift off to sleep and when he was still half-asleep after he woke up, and only saw echoes of her. She almost always turned away from him. What he felt, the pain, the despair, the hopelessness it was more intense then what he had ever help before. And Kendra had been right before, how the Under Realm was much different than Living Mirage. As the darkness lurked at the edges of his cage, it almost felt like he could drown in it sometimes.

But the new parts of the puzzle that Seth revealed kept his mind busy as he kept his body strong. He ate everything they gave him on his tray, and exercised as often as he felt himself get bored.

And despite it all, Kendra still lurked at the back of his mind. Her quiet words, his fury. He had become, even for just a second, the very thing he always fought against. A monster. It was in the moments of stillness, before he fell asleep, as he waited for his meals when those thoughts came to him. He did his best to push them away, but they were always there, always plaguing his fatigued mind.

The night that Kendra came to him was not special in any way. It had been, in his best estimate, two weeks since Seth had come to visit. He was almost certain it had been either longer or shorter in the upper world, but this was the schedule he lived by now. He lived on the time of Underking.

"Kendra?" Bracken rested on his cot, sitting up as she came to the bars of the cage, slipping through them silently. She looked the same as ever, her brown hair pulled back, green eyes shining.

A slight smile curled her lips. "You look strong." Her eyes raked over him for a moment, her grin widening. "Good."

"I haven't seen you in a while." He spoke carefully, not daring to move as Kendra came to sit on his cot across from him.

She considered him for a moment. "You haven't needed me."

"I was afraid I`d scared you away." Bracken admitted, turning to face her, folding his legs in front of him.

"It`s hard to scare me. We`ve been through a lot together." Bracken laughed a little. She wasn't wrong.

"So, tell me. What exactly has triggered this change in mindset?" She rested her elbow on her knee, a gentle smile tugging at her lips.

He watched her for a moment, thinking carefully. What had changed?

"I don't know." He said slowly. "When I yelled at you, I saw something in myself. Something I saw in Ronodin all those years ago, when he first went dark."

"How so?"

"He felt alone. Unwanted, unloved, misunderstood." Bracken looked down at his hands that were folded in his lap. They shook only slightly, but he doubted they wouldn't stop for quite a while.

"Do you feel that way?"

Bracken looked up her, "Well I am, aren't I?"

"You aren't alone Bracken." She spoke quietly, eyes locked on his intensely.

"Kendra." She acknowledged him with a single nod. The next words made his throat dry. What are you?"

Her smile dimmed a little. "What do you think I am?"

"An apparition? A phantom? You know things about me that no one else besides Kendra would. You`re not a stingbulb, because you would have expired by now."

"What a logical way to look at it." Kendra sat back, her eyes twinkling. "I think you know what I am. I think you`ve always know, but you`d never admit it to yourself."

Bracken closed his eyes, sorrow washing over him. "You aren't here at all." He waited for Kendra to correct him, but she didn't. "You`re a hallucination. A figment of my imagination."

"And why is that bad?" He blinked, Kendra coming back into focus.

She continued. "I came here to help you Bracken, because you needed me." Her voice pitched even lower. "You have faced truly terrible, truly awful things, and against all odds, you survived. But you needed help, desperately. You were drowning, and you needed a lifeline. You needed something to hold on to. Kendra is that for you. She is your lifeline because you love her, and you miss her terribly, so your mind had to compensate." She leaned away from him. "I am you. You are me. That is what I am."

For a long time, the two sat in perfect silence and Bracken pondered her words.

"You aren't wrong." Bracken finally spoke. Now that she said it, the truth was undeniable.

"Of course not. We`re better than that." Bracken had to laugh and she did as well, the sound of laughter beautiful in the empty stillness.

Kendra sat up. "Something is coming." She looked out at the room his cage sat in. "You feel it, deep within you."

He looked up. "Do I?"

Kendra stood up. "Of course you do." She walked to edge of the cage, slipping through its bars, like she had so many times before. He followed her, a hand coming up to rest on the bars.

"I suppose this is goodbye then." He watched her turn, sinking back into the darkness.

Her smile lit up the shadows. "Is it really?" Then all at once, just as quick as she had come, she was gone.

For a brief moment the darkness seemed to press in just a little bit tighter, and then footsteps broke the silence. Not the nearly soundless ones of the liches that brought him his food, but ones like Seth and Ronodin. Of a living person. The sounds got closer until he saw something incredible.

Light. Blinding, shining light. Like a lighthouse, no, like the sun, like a supernova… could I be?

He got as close as he could to the bars, searching for the light`s source. It was… Kendra? She was as radiant as ever, a canvas bag on her shoulder, wearing black pants and gray t-shirt. Her curly hair was damp, but resting on the crown of her head was a beautiful silver circlet, inlaid with jewels. It was something he had only seen in the possession of his mother. How could she have it? Her eyes glowed beneath the crown, and happiness lit up her gaze. She ran to the cage, resting her hands on the bars.

"Please let this be real." He knew his voice was ragged, but she didn't seem to mind.

"It`s me. I have permission to let you out." It was then Bracken knew, he felt that this was Kendra. The real thing, not a hallucination, but Kendra Sorenson, come to save him.

"What are you wearing?" Bracken rushed out, tripping over his words. "Don`t answer that. I`m fully aware, just astonished. Will you take my hand and give me permission to see your thoughts? This seems too good to be true."

Without hesitation, Kendra put her hand in his. "Sure, but you can`t look at my negotiation with the Underking. It was part of the deal."

Still marveling at how she was here, actually here, he scanned her mind. It was Kendra, undoubtedly. The light she gave off invigorated him, gave him energy. The haze he had been living in disappeared.

"I don`t believe it. How did you manage this?" He kept hold of her hand, to remind himself that she was really here. Truly here.

"I can`t say too much. But I was destroying liches with light and they couldn't stop me." Ezabar began to unlock the door of the cage and as Bracken stepped out of it, a million questions ran through his mind, but one stumbled out.

"What`s in the bag?"

Suddenly, new footsteps joined theirs, and a hauntingly familiar voice spoke. "None of your business." Ronodin. Kendra stepped in front of Bracken, like she was physically shielding him from the dark unicorn.

"We got these from the Underking. We have his permission to leave." She didn't sound afraid, just angry, and determined. Bracken wondered what must have happened to her to force her to be so brave.

"Maybe, but you don't have mine." Ronodin sneered. "I wish I could say I like your little hat, Kendra, but it brings back unfortunate memories." Bracken could feel his outrage, his confusion.

"The Underking told his subjects to stand down and let us go." Kendra glanced over at Ezabar, but the lich made no move to intervene. She knew as well as anyone that they wouldn't lift a finger to either help or hurt her.

"Fortunately, I am not his subject. Those horns belong to me." Horns? Bracken thought. Could they be his?

Kendra ignored those words, talking over Ronodin. "Where is Seth?"

Ronodin smiled. "Fulfilling his most treacherous mission thus far. I confess I left him behind when I got word the Under Realm had been invaded." Those words were meant to scare Kendra, he was sure, but she instead stepped forward, her shine increasing.

"Where?" True fury filled her tone and Bracken almost felt bad for his cousin. Kendra wasn't someone to mess with.

"Don't shine at me." His cousin sounded disgusted. "I may not like the light, but I also have no fear of it." Bracken knew that it was lie, so he stepped in, hoping to break up the fight and get a chance to escape.

"I know what`s in the bag. And I know what you meant to do." He wanted to corrupt him. Ronodin wanted to break him.

"I had your mature horns. I only lacked the first. Now they`re all here." Ronodin was doing a good job of pretending that this was all a part of his plan.

"You should run away." He reached for the bag which Kendra gave him, and he felt for his horns. He was looking for his third, the one he hadn't had in such a long time. He pulled it out, and it helped to ground him.

The man in front of him smiled. "I came prepared." He pulled a black horn out of the dark and Bracken felt his heart drop. Kendra seemed to understand that this was bad, her light dimming just the tiniest bit.

"What? Your horns were lost!" Bracken blurted out.

"I discarded them after they were corrupted. I wanted nothing to do with my heritage. It was my biggest mistake. Others used them as power sources. It was messy work getting them back." He seemed to revel in Bracken`s confusion, his panic.

"All of them?"

"All three." Ronodin grinned, a nasty, self-righteous grin. "The Underking helped with two, and Celebrant assisted with the third. I have already paid in full."

"What was the payment?" Kendra asked, her tone guarded.

"You have no right to know. A smart girl would guess." Ronodin chided.

"The Sunset Pearl?" Kendra guessed. The Sunset Pearl? What does that have to do with anything?

"That one was payment for the Underking." Ronodin corrected. "All right, I`m bored. The other was releasing the undead from the Blackwell. Your brother preformed perfectly. And the payment for Celebrant was the information about the Wizenstone." Why was he telling them this? Bracken wondered. Is he really so arrogant?

Kendra stepped forward a bit, unwavering. "What about causing the fall of Blackwell Keep?"

"He still owes me for that. It dovetailed so nicely with releasing the denizens of the Blackwell, I wanted to make sure I got credit for the consequences." He seemed to enjoy the horror that masked Kendra`s eyes. Bracken wanted to step forward and deflect, but he knew that Kendra would never forgive him if he did.

"You`re a monster." Kendra deadpanned, her eyes glinting intensely in the darkness.

"I`m much more than that." Bracken decided he couldn't take much more of his gloating, interjecting himself into the conversation.

"You don't want to fight me." He warned.

"I really do." Ronodin rose to the challenge, gripping his horn tighter. "Desperately. A duel might surpass what I had planned." It was then everything fell into place, his horns Bracken`s horns.

"He wanted to find out if he could taint me by corrupting my horns." Bracken guessed.

"Once I had all three of mine it might have worked, if I had all three of yours." Ronodin said. "But this is better. More manly."

"Another time, another place, name it." Bracken wanted to get out of here. He had spent so long in the darkness and he could tell, even by looking at Kendra that she was getting exhausted. Maintaining the power of the crown for so long was wearing her down.

"Here." Ronodin`s anger betrayed him as he shouted out the words. "Now. What`s the matter? Worried Kendra could get hurt?"

"I don't want to destroy you."

"Really? You could have fooled me." Now there was hurt mixed with his cousin`s tone. But he had been fooled by that before. Not now, not when there was so much at stake.

"I discovered you were working with the demons. But you committed the crimes." Bracken accused.

"You share the same narrow view as all our kind." Ronodin fired back.

"Because of you, my father fell prey to the demons. He was trapped in Zzyxx for an unthinkable amount of time. Even after all that, unlike you, he never went dark."

"If he had, maybe he wouldn't have stayed chained up for so long." Ronodin raised his horn. "En garde, Bracken." A swirling cloud of darkness covered him and he transformed into his true form, a unicorn, dark gray with fiery orange tail, mane and horn. Beside him, Kendra gasped. The unicorn began to charge.

"He has learned to take his old shape!"

Feeling an innate urge begin to take over, he jumped in front of Kendra, raising his horn as well, a burst of light later and he was matching his cousin, as a pure white unicorn.

It had been so long since Bracken had taken this form, but it was still so familiar. He hadn't realized how much he had missed it, but now there were other matters to attend. Ronodin was strong, knocking him into a cage, but Bracken was no fool, throwing his cousin into a stone column, nearly losing his balance. They slashed and parried, and despite not having fought like this in centuries, Bracken felt, for the first time in such a long time that was right. Undeniably right.

But he felt a cut open on his shoulder, as Ronodin`s horn swiped him. Soon Ronodin also had one on his neck, spilling red-gold blood, a sign of his corruption. He could sense Kendra hovering behind them, seeming sense that this was not a fight she could get too involved in without getting trampled.

Yield! This is my day! He sounded like a petulant child, Bracken reflected.

You`re flagging. Not accustomed to this form, are you? Bracken prodded, as Ronodin wheeled back, narrowly avoiding another cut to the neck.

You haven't taken this shape in ages!

You tarnished yourself. Bracken lunged forward, slashing at him. Your horns are an abomination.

Yours are for show. There are ornaments of mindless conformity. Their horns crossed, locking in a deadly stalemate.

You`re weak. Ronodin sounded winded and strained, which he was. They both were. It was difficult, because if even for a moment, Bracken lost concentration, Ronodin would snap his horn off.

Your coloring is absurd. Gray and orange? It wasn't the strongest insult and in fact, reminded him a little of Seth. Maybe he spent too much time around the boy.

Not as original as pearly white?

You look like the logo for a band. Bracken winced internally. That one was definitely Seth-inspired.

I could do this all day. Ronodin taunted.

How about you push me over? Bracken dared, pushing in a little closer. But he knew, even as he did, that he wouldn't be able to push it much longer. His muscles ached, his horn taking on too much pressure. And then, he saw Ronodin`s eyes widen, in fear? A hand landed on his side and he had barely a second to register that it was Kendra before a huge wave of energy reinvigorated him, his horn and her crown glaring a blinding white and Ronodin`s horn snapped.

Ronodin stumbled back, his unicorn form disappearing, crashing to the floor. Staying near Kendra, he lowered his horn to the black and broken one and with a single touch, was purified.

Ronodin coughed weakly, pulling a vial from his shirt pocket and with a final dark look at the two of them, muttering something Bracken couldn't hear, upended the potion into his mouth. Bracken bounded toward his cousin, and as Kendra`s hand left his side, the aches returned. But it was too late, he was already transformed, into a raven and flapped out of sight. All he could do was watch him go.

Figuring the fight was over, Bracken lowered his head and became human once more. Kendra hurried over to him, touching the cut on his shoulder that stained his shirt silver. Bracken turned to look at Kendra, worry in her eyes. "You`re hurt." He felt himself soften and tried to reassure her.

"It's nothing. I heal fast and nothing gets infected. If I`m alive, I`m fine." She didn't look any less worried, but her gaze lowered to the horn that lay on the floor near them.

"What happened with his horn?" Bracken put his arm around her, not missing how she relaxed into his arms.

"You happened. The boost of energy you provided let me rip it from him. The horn really was flawed. Once it was severed from him, I was able to purify it.

She focused on the horn. "His third horn is healed."

"As if it was never corrupted." Bracken replied as she knelt, picking it up, turning it over in her hands.

"Could that influence Ronodin?" The hope in her voice made him wince. He knew she was thinking about Seth, and if he could be free of Ronodin.

"He won`t be able to transform into his unicorn shape anymore. The horns are connected to our identity, but they do not define who we are. I don't think I could heal him by purifying his horns any more than he could darken me by corrupting mine." He said, just a little bit bitterly.

"His plan wouldn't have worked?" She sounded relieved and he squeezed her shoulders.

"It would have weakened me. Made me less powerful." He clarified. "But my identity belong to me. Only I can surrender that."

Kendra glanced up at him. "Do you think Ronodin will go to Seth?"

"Maybe." He didn't want to lie to Kendra, she needed to be aware of that possibility. "If Seth can be of use to him."

She nodded, looking up where Ronodin had flown off. "The potion transformed him into a bird?"

"The magic was unfamiliar to me. But Ronodin deals with many whose company I find distasteful." Kendra nodded again, a little crestfallen. He shared her feelings. They had been so close to defeating Ronodin, only for him to fly away.

From the darkness, Ezabar approached. Bracken had almost forgotten that he was still there. "It appears you altercation with Ronodin has ended."

"Yes." Bracken said. "I`m tired of marinating in the darkness. No matter your strength, it becomes exhausting." He looked at the crown on Kendra`s head, the only thing lighting up the darkness.

Kendra smiled a little, and it was wonderful. To finally see her smile.

And then, her back straightened and her authority resumed, to match the crown she wore on her head, like she was a queen herself. "It`s draining." She agreed. "Ezabar, get us out of here."

As the lich set off across the floor and they followed, Bracken caught Kendra`s hand and they walked together out of the prison of the Underking. But just as they rounded the boulder, something in Bracken made him want to glance back. When he did, he saw a young girl, almost ethereal waving at him, from between the bars of the cage. It was his hallucination, the thing that kept him alive and sane. But now, he didn't need her anymore. He could leave her behind, in this darkness. But he knew, if he should need her again, she`d be there.

He smiled and turned back to follow Kendra, squeezing her hand just a little tighter, focusing on her light, the light that had saved him yet again, the light that led him out of the darkness.

Thank you to Wolf Lover 27 and FairyGirl22 for your continued support. You guys are so amazing, and I love seeing your reviews!

If you have any kind of ideas for this story, I`d love to hear them and possibly write something for them! Please review, favorite/ follow, it does mean so much.

ALSO! Beginning in December, I am going to start posting a brand new story that I`ve teased in the past! I really hope you guys go to check it out!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I`m so thankful for you guys! :)