Paper's Claw & Reindeer Antlers

"Any news as to why she's dying?" Justin asked as he entered the throne room.

"Celtic Star is becoming the 'Enchantress of the Elements'." Came a voice Justin didn't recognize. "That poison you gave her does not react well under those circumstances."

"Who are you? Where is Shadow?" Justin's hands clenched into fists as the stranger emerged from the darkness.

"My name is Kululu. I'm here to help you get what it is that you want, but you have to help me get what I want first." The man said and then smiled. "Shadow was no longer of use to me... something I have taken care of."

"..." Justin understood the meaning of those words. "You can get me Celtic?"

"I can, but you must help me get rid of the rest. Let them continue to think Heat is responsible for the poisoning..." Justin nodded, but something didn't feel right. He remembered Kululu.

"What gives, Frost?" Red eyes bore into his brother's as a blade pressed against the man's throat.

"I should kill you!" Frost was angry; he hadn't expected to run into his brother on their mission.

"Frost, let's think about this..." Andy tried to intervene.

"Back off, Andy!" Frost growled.

"Will you at least tell me why you're going to kill me?" A smirk pulled at Heat's lips.

"How could you? Wasn't leaving enough to hurt her? She might die, you know that?!" Frost watched as realization dawned on his twin. "Yeah, Celtic might die because of you."

"Because I left?" Heat didn't understand. "I don't..."

"No, the poison is what's killing her." Andy said. He was starting to doubt Heat's involvement.

"Poison? What poison?" Heat looked between Andy and Frost.

"The one you laced your letters with." Frost said pressing the axe harder against his brother's throat.

"What letters? I haven't spoken to Celty since the night I left." Heat replied. He rubbed his throat when Frost dropped the axe.

"If you didn't send those letters, who did?" Andy asked.

"Liber and Nate are trying to figure out who is really behind this... but so far they've yielded nothing." Frost said with a sigh. "Last we heard, they have all the healers trying to buy time to finish our mission."

"All the healers? Mission?" Heat was completely lost.

"Celt is changing... her powers are manifesting." Andy replied; confusion still evident on Heat's face.

"Dumb it down, Andy, my brother isn't always the quickest." Frost laughed a little.

"She's becoming the 'Enchantress of the Elements'." Andy tried again.

"Huh?" Heat looked between Andy and Frost.

"She's able to control all eight elements... or she will be able to if she wakes up." Frost said shaking his head.

"When... when she wakes up." Andy corrected.

"So... what mission?" Heat sensed a little friction between the two Generals.

"Gathering ingredients for a cure." Frost replied.

"Which we need to get moving, we're pressed for time remember?" Andy remarked.

"Yeah, let's get the Paper's claw first." Frost said. Andy bit his tongue before saying something... they didn't have time to argue.

"Good luck." He said. He headed in the opposite direction with Pendragon.

"You could come with us..." Frost called out... though he already knew the answer to that.

"Nah, I'm good. I hope she'll be okay, though." He waived and then left.

"You knew that was coming." Andy retorted.

"Yep." Frost said as they took off in search of the Paper dragons.

"There are some." Andy said when he spotted a heard of Paper dragons in a field. "Looks like they're migrating."

"Which means we need to act now..." Frost said as they landed. They kept out of sight until Frost formulated a plant. "Alright, get ready to make a hasty exit..."

"Yeah..." Andy replied. He wasn't exactly sure how Frost was going to pull this off.

"Rawr..." A load roar erupted from on of the dragons. The rest scattered.

"Well, that looks like fun..." Andy muttered when he spotted Frost trying to clip the dragon's claw with his axe. "I swear, if he gets himself killed..."

"That was close." Frost said as he limped over to Andy; a huge grin on his face. "Let's get out of here before he comes around..."

"..." Andy shook his head as he glanced at the unconscious Paper dragon.

"What?" Frost noticed Andy's facial expression. "It worked..."

"..." Andy didn't know what to say. "At least you didn't kill it..." They took off in search of the last of the ingredients.

"Celt would hurt me if she found out I killed a dragon... that, and it wasn't necessary." Frost said. "Head as far North as we can get... that's where the Reindeer dragons will be."

"Great..." Andy muttered. Being from the Metal clan, the cold didn't bother him much, but now that he was the General of Fire...

"They're docile... for the most part." Frost laughed.

"'For the most part'? That doesn't make me feel any better." Andy sighed. Frost laughed again.

"You can always do what I did."

"No thanks." Andy hastily replied. They neared the most Northern point and started looking for the dragons.

"I think we may have to wait till morning." Frost said after several hours of searching.

"Alright." Andy said, too tired to argue. They found a spot and waited for morning. "Frost..." Andy quietly tried to wake the General of Cold.

"What?" Frost moaned; not wanting to be disturbed.

"I don't think we have to search far for the Reindeer dragons..." Andy replied. He woke up to the sound of something crunching. When he looked around he noticed that they were in the middle of a herd of Reindeer dragons.

"That's nice, wake me when get the antler..." Frost mumbled then turned on his side.

"Oh, get up!" Andy whispered and pulled Frost's mat out from under him. "We may need to make a quick getaway..."

"'A quick getaway'?" Frost snickered. "With you acting... I could sleep a few more hours."

"..." Andy turned his back and tried to figure out how to do this. "Let me see..."

"We don't have all day." Frost said impatient to get back home.

"Shut it." Andy practically hissed. "I should have let you sleep..." He muttered. He ignored Frost's comments after that. He slowly approached the closet Reindeer dragon. It raised its head and looked at him. Before Andy could react, the dragon titled his head down... as if knowing what Andy wanted. Using slight heat, Andy took a small point of the antler. Nodding to the dragon in thanks, he turned and headed back to where Frost was standing.

"How the...?" Frost couldn't believe what had just happened.

"I'm not sure... it's like he knew..." Andy replied, also not believing what just happened. "Let's go home."