Hey guys, I am now getting back into the groove of ideas and typing. Enough said, let's hop into the chapter.
(Disclaimer): This chapter will have dark fighting scenes, will probably not be suitable for younger audiences.
(Celsius's POV)
I was currently walking out of the stadium, which was mostly abandoned. The only dragons were the stadium staff, remaining players, and some obsessed fans, which I gave autographs. Even though the fans were nice, I was kind of forced into signing their asseseries and posters of me (which I found weird).
After I satisfied them, they left me to walk to my car alone, which I grateful for. I was too exhausted to do anything and groaned at the thought of any more work, especially practice. I was hoping that coach would give us a rest day tomorrow.
As I walked, I saw a dragon coming towards me, but I didn't care; I was too tired to care. It wasn't until he was up close that I realized it was Galactic, but with no Waterfall walking beside him. He gave me a grin, but I rolled my eyes.
"I saw you won the game," he said suddenly, interrupting the silent night.
"Yeah, I did," I responded, opening the trunk of my car. The back door slowly rose up as Galactic continued to chat away. "And where's Waterfall? I thought you two would be kissing by now."
"She's waiting for me at the car, and no we don't kiss each other all the time."
"Oh, I forgot! You two also-"
"Okay, I get your point! And we have not done that!" Galactic shouted at me, and I managed to grin. It was fun to get a reaction our of the NightWing, always giving me one expression after another. To me, it was like reading a dragon's face, finding out what secrets they kept and how they acted from time to time. "Besides, I just wanted to see if you needed help getting back."
I was about to thank him for the offer, but I saw another figure come from out of the shadows of the parking lot, which didn't have very good lighting. It was a sketchy place to be at night, but I didn't care, being too tired and all. I also didn't need to be worried, because it was Winter. For the first time since I've met him, he was actually happy.
"So here's the hero," Winter announced, causing Galactic to whirl around. The IceWing Prince looked down at the NightWing. "Is this your roommate?"
"Yes, I am, and who are you?" Galactic asked, tilting his head at Winter.
"Celsius's friend, Winter," the IceWing responded.
"Wait, did you just call me friend?" I asked, grinning at the IceWing. Winter just rolled his eyes in response, but nodded lightly. "My life goal is complete." Winter, in response, shook his head and my uttered something I didn't hear.
"Since you won the game, I friend zoned you," Winter told me. "Don't make me change my mind."
"Okay, now that you got your relationship figured out, we should get going," Galactic told me, and I nodded in response, grateful to have Winter as a friend now. Speaking of Winter, I noticed he vanished, and looked around. In the corner of my eye, I saw him walking away towards his car. Going to have to talk to him about that booing tonight, I told myself, getting my gear into the trunk, but I realized something.
"Wait, what about your car?" I asked him, but Galactic was already responding. "Also, what about Waterfall?"
"Waterfall has friends taking her back, and Starflight is taking my car home for me," he answered. "You'd be surprised how well he drives, and dances."
"Really? And he doesn't have Fatespeaker with him?"
"I know it's a miracle, but he said he needed to study. I can tell you about his dancing later, but- BEHIND YOU!"
I turned around immediately, giving enough time to see a wooden bat fall rapidly towards my head.
CRUNCH!
The next thing I knew was that I was on the ground, with barely any vision of my surroundings. My head was roaring in pure agony as I put my talon on the hit spot. I felt liquid, and brought my talon down to see my blood on it, then felt the icy, blue liquid trickle above my eye.
I also heard the sound of fighting to my right. Slightly looking that way, I saw the shape of Galactic thrashing against an IceWing, who was holding him in a choke hold. As the two continued to fight each other, I saw three more figures appear out of the darkness. They were all holding different types of weapons.
Through my blurry vision, I could make out that one was holding the bat, which had a small blue stain on it. Another was holding a metal pipe, but he threw it onto the street, which confused me. Then, the two both reached out and grabbed Galactic's arms with very little effort. The NightWing was know still, panting heavily as the last IceWing approached him.
He was holding a gun in his right claw, but was also carrying a medicine needle in his left. As the last IceWing got closer, Galactic started to yell out, but the IceWing who had him in a choke hold clamped his snout shut. My vision became darker and more blurry, but I already could make out what was happening.
The IceWing with the needle reached out and poked the needle through Galactic's scales, and a few seconds later, the NightWing slumped, showing no resistance to the four IceWings.
"It's done," one of the IceWings said. "Now get them into the vehicle, quickly." The last thing I knew was closing my eyes as a pair of claws grabbed my wrists and dragging me. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth through the pain of the asphalt and my head wound throbbing in agony. Then, I felt something prick my neck, and I was forced to sleep.
With no idea where I was going.
(Freakwave's POV)
The next day...
"What do you mean you haven't seen them?!"
Starflight just shrugged at me, and a couple of dragons walking by glanced towards us briefly. This was a big problem: Celsius and Galactic are missing, and it wouldn't be wise to tell my sister any of this.
"Well, they never showed, so I expected that they were going to do something tonight," Starflight responded nervously.
"So you left Galactic at the stadium?"
"He told me to get back to the dorm, and I thought they would be right behind me."
"What makes you think that's a good idea!" I exclaimed, causing Starflight to take a step back. "You left Galactic at a dark parking lot, with a MudWing who knows where, trying to kill him?" Once I announced that, he gave me a silent "oh". Starflight's expression then changed to a horror stricken look.
"Stupid me!" he scolded himself loudly. "Why would I think that it would be a good idea to leave Galactic by himself?" As he continued to scorn himself, I looked around. The only sights in view were other dragons giving us strange looks, before going off to their business.
"Let's talk about this inside," I told the NightWing, who was shaking his head. "Stop doing that!" Starflight immediately stopped shaking his head, but started to walk in circles. Sighing, I walked over to the couch, got my phone out of my bag, and called Galactic's number. Holding the device to my ear, I waited for him to pick up.
But he never answered.
This is not like him, I thought, my body shooting flares of panic to my heart. Waterfall is going to have a heart attack. "Starflight, call DeathBringer."
He stopped and stared at me as if I was talking to a ghost. "Why?"
"Just do it!"
Starflight immediately shot to his room, where the noises of furniture rattling and items shaking was intense. It wasn't until long that Starflight started to speak gibberish through the phone, most likely weirding out DeathBringer. The NightWing then started talking slower, and he hung up. "He'll be here in a few moments. Oh, why didn't I stay with him last night?"
"It's Galactic, he'll usually force you to do thing he wants. It's not your fault he's missing," I assured. "Although that will not work on my sister."
Then there was the knock on the wood door. Folding his wings up, Galactic cautiously made his way towards the door, and looked through the peephole. The next thing I knew was that he was frozen like a statue, and I held my breath: Waterfall was waiting at the door. Rushing forwards, I whispered to Galactic to start watching the television while I came up with a plan.
"Mind to tell me this plan?"
"Yeah, it's called improvising," I responded, then motioned my head to the T.V., telling him to start doing what I told him. Once he was there, I opened the door. "Hey sis."
The first emotion I got was shock from Waterfall, who looked surprised to see me. She was wearing her usual pearl necklaces and the bracelet Galactic got her for Christmas, who was still lucky to have someone like Waterfall to watch out for him. She tilted her head at me in confusion while I gave her a smile.
"What are you doing here?" she asked me.
Since I was a good improviser, I could tell anyone a lie and get away with it. "Just giving Starflight some company." She raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask any further questions, to my relief. "What about you?"
"I was wondering if Galactic was here. I also came to congratulate Celsius on his game winning shot," she informed me, while I stood there, thinking of different scenarios to tell Waterfall.
"Sorry, but they're both gone running errands," I told her, and she revealed another look of surprise. "I know, I'm surprised they do any work, too."
"Do you know where they went."
"No, they left before I got here, but I'll call you if they come back." For the first time in a while, she gave me a look a gratitude, then left. I should've felt happiness from that like a true brother, but I didn't feel anything like that. Instead, a strong emotion of guilt washed over me. I knew I shouldn't have lied to her and told her that Galactic's in danger, but she was already been through enough stress, with her studies and all. Aunt Coral wanted the best results from her possible heirs, meaning that Waterfall couldn't miss a single class.
It was hard to do anything to hurt my own sister, but it was for the better. I wasn't going to be the reason why she would disappoint the Queen, and I also couldn't allow it either. I drooped my wings as I thought of telling Waterfall what was actually happening.
"You okay?" I turned around to see Starflight looking at me with a sincer look. "I mean, you look like you just got punched in the gut."
"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied to Starflight, raising and folding my wings together. I didn't need my personal feelings to get in the way of my plan to find my two friends. Hopefully they aren't dead. That would be super hard and sad to tell Waterfall. As I got lost deep in thought, it was a solid minute before I noticed that someone was knocking at the door. I walked to the door and opened it, expecting to see DeathBringer, but it was the opposite.
It was some IceWing I've never seen before. His expression showed irritation, but something else I couldn't put my claw around. Although he showed this feature for a split second, his look towards me showed no emotion at all.
"Are you Galactic's roommate?" he asked me, then looked down, inspecting his claws as he waited for an answer.
"Who are you?" I responded, and he rolled his eyes.
"That wasn't the answer I was looking for, so I'm going to take that as a no," he told me, before walking in like he owned the place. He then walked over to Starflight, who was just staring at the IceWing. "How about you?" Starflight nodded, avoiding eye contact with the IceWing. "Why isn't anyone answering me?"
"Maybe it's because no one likes you," I answered, eyeing him from head to claws. "I will ask you again, who are you?"
"Celsius never told you?"
"Celsius only talks to Galactic about his personal life, so he has never told me about you."
The IceWing gazed into space, thinking about something, before coming back to reality. "Well, I am Prince Winter of the IceWings, and you are?"
"Prince Freakwave of the SeaWings, and this is Starflight," I responded, nodding my head towards the NightWing, who gave Winter a shy grin. "He gets nervous around strange dragons. Wait, aren't you that IceWing that your parents disowned a couple years ago?"
Winter growled at the question, which I took a absolute yes. "That was in the past, and I would not like to bring it again. One more thing, why is this room covered in wires." He gazed at the ground, which was littered with extension chords, which lead to the T.V., Skybox, and speaker system. "Looks like a bunch of geeks invaded this room."
"Hey! Don't insult my friends, so you can shut your snout or tell me what your doing here," I demanded from him, and all I got was a snort in response.
"I've been threatened much worse, which is why I know where your friends are," Winter announced, giving Starflight and I irritated looks. "Considering I saw them get kidnapped."
"WHAT?!" I yelled, fear and shock peircing my mind. "If you saw them- Why didn't you do anything to save them!" Rage was now flooding through my body, and it was something that very rarely happened to me. I felt my claws clench into fists, but I didn't throw any punches. I knew that if I started fighting Winter, then we would get nowhere.
"Even if I tried to save them, I would be another victim. There were three IceWings, and I know that they were from the opposing team last night," Winter explained, trying to calm me down. "There also some of the enemies I made when I was still in Ice Kingdom."
He then looked towards the ground, an expression of pain and horror on his face. "They're also extremist of what happened a few thousand years back after the Scorching between us and the NightWings."
"What was so bad that the IceWings and NightWings would want to kill each other?" I asked, listening for the next thing he said, but I didn't get what I wanted.
"I don't know exactly, but it's some old myth, and these IceWings believe it happened," Winter told me, clearly showing his honesty. This was when I realized that he was actually trying to help and not interfere. "And if I think what they think they're going to do, then your NightWing friend won't last more than a couple days."
"That's just perfect!" I yelled sarcastically. "Just when I thought things were going to get better! Not only do I know that my friends were kidnapped, I also know that Galactic will die if we don't save him in time!" I looked at Winter with a stern look. "Want to tell what they'll do to him and Celsius?"
"I'd prefer not to, but I can tell you that calling the police on this will not help this. The IceWings behind this will get bailed out."
I was about to ask him what exactly was going to happen, but I heard another knock on the door. Walking towards it, I still felt my rage, but it was now fading, disappearing into imagination. I opened it, and this time it was the dragon I needed.
(Celsius's POV)
The pain was still strong, but the tiredness wore off of me. My eyelids were heavy, but they were beginning to lose their weight. Slowly opening my eyes, I looked at the sight in front of me.
It was dark, damp, and cold, really cold. Those three features told me I was in a cave somewhere in the mountains, but then I quickly shook off the thought.
There was also snow, not a whole lot of it, but enough to tell me I was somewhere in Ice Kingdom, my native home. I tried to look around more, but all I got was a little more viewing to the right and left. I tried to move my arms, but I was dangling, with only my upper body supporting me up. Slowly moving my head up to the sky, I finally saw that I was chained to a rocky surface, a cave wall perhaps. I tried to yell for help, but my snout was clamped down by a muzzle. Then, I tried to move my feet, butt hey were chained, just like my arms. My tail was chained to the ground and my wings were clamped together; there was no escape from this.
"Hello, Celsius," a eerie voice called out from the darkness. I immediately shot my head up to view who was behind this, but I saw no one. "You won't be able to see me, but I'll reveal myself soon."
I growled in response, wanting to know the bastard behind my kidnapping, but I also heard something else. It was shaking of metal, most likely chains, to my left. I turned my head that direction, and out of the corner of my eye was something that shocked me to the bone.
It was Galactic, and he looked even more miserable than I felt right now. He was shivering from tail to snout, not being able to adjust to the cold like me. His eyes were closed, but his teeth chattered in the frigid temperature. His metal claw was gone, only showing his stump on his wrist. The most horrifying part, though, was the fact that I could see ice forming on his wings. He was going to become a dragon icicle.
"Don't worry, we'll make sure to make your friend miserable, and you will watch him as your punishment for being friends with our long hated enemy. We also can't forget about you getting the luckiest shot in Pyrrhia hockey history, stealing our well deserved game."
I closed my eyes, not wanting to think what was going to happen to me, but worse.
What was going to happen to my best friend.
Finished guys. I'm sorry if this was a dark chapter, but it's going to be a good part of the plot. Also, I will be able to make one more Born to Protect chapter before I have to start reading for my school summer projects. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I will see you in the next one.
Zmike6