The citizens of the now fallen Troll tree flew nonstop until nightfall, needing to get as far away their old home and those who destroyed it as possible. When they finally landed they had landed on a new island, one never explored even by Branch and the riders. They had no idea what they would find on that island, and it didn't matter, as long as they were far away for the hunters to ever find them.

Both the dragons and their riders were exhausted by the time they all landed. Poppy patted the head of Star fire and offered her water from her canteen.

"You did good today girl," Poppy panted "You did real good."

"I can't believe we lost the Troll Tree," Satin replied as the twins landed with Ash and Cinder

"I can't believe we got our butts kicked like that," Chenille added.

"Poppy, what are we going to do now?" A villager asked panicked, Branch hadn't quite arrived yet and with him gone Poppy was next in charge. Although she was a whole lot better on the battlefield then she was handling a bunch of panic stricken trolls who just lost their home and entire livelihood.

"Everybody remain calm," Poppy replied trying to keep the peace "I'm sure Branch will have a idea when he gets here."

As soon as Poppy spoke those words Branch touched down, he had barely gotten off Melody when the entire tribe surrounded him with questions.

"Branch, what are we going to do now?"

"Branch are those hunters still after us?"

"Branch were are we going to live now?"

"Enough!" Branch screamed silencing the tribe. "I don't know all the details yet but I do know for at least the time being, this will be our home. In a few days we will all have a meeting together on whether or not to make this place our new home or look elsewhere."

"But what about the hunters?" One troll asked

"Me and my riders are working on a plan as we speak. They will not get away with what they did to us and I ensure you they will not get their hands on our dragons. Now we have all had a very stressful and horrifying day. I suggest all of you get some sleep. My riders however, I want to have a meeting with you all alone. Peppy, watch Scarlett while me and Poppy are gone."

"Of course Branch," Peppy nodded.

It was the way Branch said the word "Alone" That made both Reby and Heather gulp. Did he know what happened? If so did he know who was responsible for it. As Branch pulled the riders aside to a separate spot in the many rows of trees the two riders did their best to act calm like nothing was wrong, though it did nothing to stop the pounding in their chest that was their heart beating with fear.

When they were all far away from the rest of the tribe Branch glared at each of his riders with a face of anger, and that was when Reby and Heather knew that Branch did indeed know about the invasion.

"All right, I want a confession, and I want it now."

"Branch, what are you talking about?" Suki asked confused.

"I'm talking about some of my riders invaded Grim's tribe without my approval and leveled his village to the ground, killing more than a hundred of it's citizens."

"Branch, none of us would do something like that." Smidge protested.

"While I was battling Grim, when I nearly lost my life, he mentioned that some of my own riders attacked his home, and burned it to the ground."

"He could have been lying," Cooper replied "Villains are known to do that."

"Grim wasn't, I could tell in his tone, he was angry, and not in the regular evil villain angry either but vengeful anger. Some of you on my own team went behind my back and did something that goes against everything this tribe stands for, and I want to know who it is now. Creek died because of today's actions."

"What?" Everyone gasped.

"Creek died, getting me out of the Troll Tree. He had Melody reach me but as we was about to fly off he got shot and died fighting off Grim. The actions taken against Grim's home resulted in the lost of our home as well as the lost of one of our riders. Now I will ask only once more, who is responsible?"

Reby and Heather turned to look at each other as they knew there was no way out of this one. With a sigh they closed their eyes and spoke up together. "We are Branch."

"What?" Biggie asked nearly heartbroken by Heather's confession. Branch crossed his arms as he awaited their explanation.

Reby was the first to explain. "When you offered that truce to Grim I was angry, not just for my dragons but for Heather, she had lost her home, everyone she cared for on her island, and I wanted justice for her so me and Heather advised a plan to strike Grim's home in retaliation hoping to scare him from ever attacking us or any dragons or we would be on them. A eye for a eye basically . After the attack on Dragon's edge and Oaken's death, it only added fuel to the fire. We never aimed for any innocent trolls to get killed only those connected to Grims army, we thought wiping out a good chunk of his army would weaken him to where he wouldn't be able to attack."

"But a innocent troll did get killed," Heather added.

"What?" Reby gasped turning to her friend in disbelief, this was the first time she had heard of this.

"A troll trying to defend himself shot a arrow at me and Windstorm," Heather confessed with tears poring from her eyes in guilt and shame "Windstorm retaliated and threw some spikes from her tail at him, pinning him to his burning home that I had Windstorm sat on fire. He started burning to death instantly as a result and I ran my ax through him as a act of mercy to stop his suffering."

"Heather?" Biggie gasped in disbelief, he couldn't believe Heather could do something like this

"I broke the rules of a dragon rider, I betrayed everything we stand for. I am so, so sorry." Heather buried her head in her hands and sobbed. Reby put her arm around her to comfort her.

Branch however was in no mood to show any pity, or sympathy, he was mad. "Both of you broke every code, every rule, that the riders stand for and now as a result Creek is dead and our entire village is gone, having fled due to retaliations for your actions!"

"Branch," Reby pleaded, tears forming in her eyes now as well. "We're sorry."

"I know you was upset due to the decision I made, I get it, I messed up. But what you did, is a hundred times worse. You dashed off on a dangerous assignment on your own without confronting me, you went against everything we stand for by attacking innocent trolls who had nothing to do with Grim's invasion, and your actions got a innocent troll killed! Was you ever going to speak of this if I hadn't found out?"

Ashamed, Reby lowered her head and shook it no.

"I need to know right here, right now if either of you are a part of my team, because if your not you can both get right back on your dragons and leave because I won't have anybody who goes behind my back like this part of my team or my tribe!"

"Branch, we are a part of your team, I swear."
"Then act like it!"

Reby couldn't hold them back anymore, running deeper into the woods she started sobbing, burying her face into her hands. Heather turned towards Biggie, hoping he would comfort her and come to her aid, instead he just walked away, to shocked and upset to talk to her at the moment. Seeing Biggie walk off, Heather disappeared in the woods too, a whole new set of tears falling from her face. Heather had lost her entire tribe and family, but this was the moment she truly felt like she was alone.

"We were part of the attack too!" The twins shouted out brainlessly excited. Branch turned and glared at the two of them.

"Oh right, that's a bad thing." Chenille realized.

Heather couldn't get any sleep that night, how could she after what just happened between her and Branch? She couldn't blame him for being mad at her, she was mad at herself. She sacrificed her humanity, her ethics in a stupid act of revenge and it cost her friends their home.

Sitting next to a lake, her head buried in her knees, she cried the whole night, with only Windstorm to keep her company. She didn't even notice the sun coming up the next morning until she heard the sound of a troll walking up towards her. Lifting up her head, her eyes red from the tears she had shed, she noticed that it was Biggie who had walked up and sat beside her.

"I won't blame you in the slightest if you hate me," Heather cried "I'd hate myself to if I was in your shoes."

"I don't hate you Heather," Biggie replied in a soothing voice "I never could. But I do want to ask why? Why would you not tell anybody about this, we could have talked you out of revenge, could have helped you. We all knew what you was going through with the lost of your people, we could have helped you find a better way to seek justice."

"Because I didn't want to be talked out of it," Heather replied "I was so angry, I watched as childhood friends of mine burned to death. I saw the charred corpse of my parents laying outside of their own home. Could you ever imagine what that was like?"

"No, I suppose I can't."

"I wanted Grim to suffer, I wanted him to feel the pain I felt, and in doing that I became just as bad as he was. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I didn't care at the moment. All I cared about was vengeance. I'm sorry I let you down Biggie, and if you don't want anything to do with me after this, I understand."

What Biggie did next took Heather by surprise, Biggie put his arm around Heather and pulled her close to him, allowing her to rest her head on his chest.

"I can't say what I would do in your situation, But I like to believe that your actions in your moment of vulnerability doesn't describe what you are. The Heather I know, the Heather I love is one of the nicest, caring people I know, loyal to her friends, and always trying to do the right thing despite the seriousness of the situation. This war, brings out the worst in all of us, and I'll admit there was times throughout the years that even I wanted to take extreme measures in order to put a permanent end to our problems."

"You?" Heather replied shocked

"Oh yes, During the early years of our war with the hunters I wanted to find the most dangerous, deadliest dragon I could find and release it on the hunters base so the dragon could kill them all. You know who talked me out of it though? Branch. He understands how we all feel with this war. He's been in the frontlines of this war from the beginning. He knows we are prone to let our emotions cloud our judgment he's been there himself. You just need to talk to one of us, let us know what's going on with you. We are a team, we will always have your back, no matter what."

"So your not mad."

"I at first, but because you never gave any of us the chance to help you get over your anger and instead acted on it. You can't keep that stuff bottled in, you got to let us help you."

"Branch is still pretty mad isn't he."

"He's mad at the situation as a whole, but he will calm down, eventually. Just promise me this, promise me if you are thinking of doing something bad in retaliations you come to me and we will work things out."

"Promise," Heather cuddled deeper with Biggie, super thankful he didn't feel any less of her. "So does this count as our first fight?"

"I really don't think this was a fight, more like a dilemma."

"Close enough," Finally calmed down Heather started to feel tiredness overtake her and she closed her eyes as she rested her head on Biggie's chest.

"Do you think, we will actually win this war?" Heather replied softly with a yawn.

"I don't know what the future holds, but I do know Branch will not give up, and neither will we."

Heather nodded at Biggies response. "Will stay here with me for a while?"

"I will not move from this spot." Heather then fell asleep in Biggie's arms, giving in to tiredness. As she slept Biggie kissed her on her head. He didn't know what would happen to them next, but if these really were their last days, he was not going to spend them with anybody else but the woman sleeping in her arms.