The sun was high in the sky, and he knew it had to be at least mid-noon. The sunlight glistened off of his ruby-colored scales as he took in the warmth next to Umber, enjoying every second with him like it was their last. Anything could take us away right now, he thought.

A tsunami could hit the beach and sweep Umber away. Or he could choke on a piece of food and suffocate to death. Or the bonfire could even go out of control and hurt either one of them in some way.

His head rested against Umber's shoulder as he laid in the wooden chair. His eyes roamed around the beach, landing on the others, realizing that he'd actually have to talk to them today. And as much as he wanted to stay in the sun and enjoy the sounds of the waves crashing and seagulls squawking until the sun set, it would be worth it in the end.

Umber having sessions at the Healing Center was probably the best thing that he could be spending his recovery time doing; he didn't have to stand or run around much, and he could deal with his trauma with Crane.

His sessions more than likely weren't going to be hard. He thought they'd probably just be teaching him ways to be less protective over Umber, or ways to be less reliant on him. Umber was the first dragon that had ever meant something to him, after all.

The last thing he wanted was for him to have more nightmares — he often wondered how many times he woke up at night after watching Crane die without saying anything. How many hours of sleep had he lost from thinking about Crane? How many times had he faked being asleep? All of these burning questions flooded his mind, millions at a time.

"Do you think the food's any good?" Umber asked, his voice slightly shaky. It felt like he could hear his thoughts of the Healing Center behind his voice as he spoke.

"It won't be as good as my cooking, but maybe it's edible — if you're lucky," the SkyWing joked in an attempt to distract him. "Don't be surprised if we come up with food poisoning in the next few days."

"Flame!" Umber scolded, lightly slapping his shoulder. "It's probably not that bad." He paused as he contemplated. "Hospital quality, bare minimum."

Flame snorted as he tried to stifle a laugh, and Umber let a laugh escape under his breath. There was a moment of silence, where they looked each other in the eyes before Flame kissed him on the cheek and stood up from his seat. "Alright, you ready to eat some sludge, MudWing?" he said with a smile.

"More ready than ever," the MudWing said happily as his face lit up.

Flame stuck his talon out, and Umber used it as support as he stood up. It took a little wiggling to get his wings free from the notches in the back, but he was already walking over to the food tent the moment his talons hit the sand.

He was about to follow him, but as he looked over at the white tent, familiar emerald-green scales glimmered against the sand; it was a particular SeaWing he had been purposefully avoiding ever since he left the hospital with Umber.

Zephyr and Marsh were over there as well, striking up a conversation as they sat away from the sun.

He was grabbing some of the raw fish, along with a few pieces of chicken. He was just like Shrimp except for the fact that he hated everything except raw seafood. I wonder if Starf likes raw fish? he wondered in the back of his mind.

He stood there and hesitated for a few seconds. It was long enough to where Umber noticed he wasn't beside him and looked back to check on him. "Flame, are you coming?" he called out.

"Yeah- uhm… One second. I just have to…get the sand out from underneath my talons?"

Umber looked at him confusedly, before taking a quick glance at the tent, and then back at him. It wasn't exactly hard to figure out what he was doing, but any amount of time he could spend away from Turtle was more than a blessing.

"Flame, we had a deal! Get your tail over here!" the MudWing said sternly.

He thought about it for a moment. Talk to them for today, and Umber takes sessions in the Healing Center… Not too bad, right?

He sighed. "Alright, fine," he reluctantly agreed.

He found his talons sweeping through the sand as he inched towards the tent. For once, he was grateful for how slow Umber walked ever since he left the hospital.

And to his horror, Turtle looked their way as they walked over and gestured a friendly wave. It was as if he thought he and Flame were friends, whatever that even meant at that point. He avoided eye contact though, like he was Medusa — the NightWing animus that cast a spell so whoever she looked at would turn to stone.

Those were just stories though, and he frankly never believed them for a second, even when he was a dragonet. But he wasn't so sure they were false now though.

Don't talk to him, don't make eye contact, don't even look in his direction. If I don't talk to him, he won't talk to us.

"Turtle!" Umber called out happily. It felt like he had read his mind and done the exact opposite of what he wanted.

Shit.

"Umber! It's been a while. If 'a while' is six days that is." He reached out to give him a hug, which set something off in Flame. A protective instinct even; one that specifically only targeted animi.

"Talons off!" Flame warned, eyeing him down as if just his stare was threatening enough. And in his experience, it was.

His talons backed away just as quickly as they reached for him, but Umber quickly turned and gave him his signature side-eye. "Flame!" he scolded. His face turned to that look he had whenever he had a genius idea hatch in his head, which couldn't mean anything good given the context. "You know, I'm feeling a little tired. Maybe you two should talk a little while I grab some food and sit down. Y'know, just to make the most out of this party."

And just like that, he walked away from the two of them and grabbed a plate before starting to fill it. They awkwardly stood there for the next couple seconds, and Flame took an unconscious step back. He waited for Umber to grab all of his food, picking it out with a fork, before recovering it with what he assumed were insulating covers so it didn't go bad.

"...So, uhm," Turtle started with his usual nervous expression. He could clearly see his talons fidgeting with the sand underneath. "what was that all about?"

Flame hesitated briefly, before remembering his deal with Umber. "Gah, he wants me to talk to you five today instead of doing everything I can to avoid you instead." He sighed.

"So you were planning on doing nothing today instead? We set this up for both of you, the least you can do is have some fun."

Flame grumbled, his anger growing just from looking at him.

"Maybe you could play a few games with us? We have some planned for later." He paused, noticing the growing anger plastered on the SkyWing's face. "We aren't as bad as you think we are, really! Healing Umber is the first time I've used my magic in…well…years. If it's my soul you're worried about, then-"

"Listen, Turtle. It might be hard for you to believe, but I don't like any of you," he said angrily and intimidatingly, poking his talon into his shoulder. "All of you are liars and untrustworthy, and frankly, I don't want to be around you for longer than I have to. Whatever stupid fucking games you have planned, leave me out of them!"

He stormed off and started back to Umber without looking back. He was already taking his seat with a pile of food in his talons. Turkey, chicken, cooked fish, mashed potatoes. All on the menu for what he was going to inhale. With the amount he ate, it was strange how small he was compared to his other sibs.

He felt a strange calmness fall over him as he watched him relax in the sun and enjoy his food. But he took a look back at him, almost as if he knew what had happened. "How'd it go?" he asked once Flame was close enough to hear.

"I told him to fuck off," Flame responded dryly.

"Flame! What about our deal?!" Umber complained. "You have to talk to them, not scare them away!"

"Umber, how do you expect me to get along with Turtle, of all dragons?! The others, maybe, but Turtle, absolutely not!"

"They aren't that bad, Flame! Why do you think Turtle is going to go all Darkstalker on you all the time? If he wanted you to like him, he surely would get you t with a spell!"

"Which is exactly my point-"

"But he hasn't! He won't!" Flame walked over and sat down in his chair next to Umber. "You liking him would be a lot easier than for you to not like him."

"Yeah but-..." he tried, but no excuses came to mind. He stayed silent.

"Exactly. And as for the others, Turtle's secret wasn't theirs to tell. Moon has mind reading and can see the future, but-"

"She can see the future?!"

"Only at certain times and in visions," he said hurriedly. "But that's not my point. My point is that she can't read your mind unless you take your necklace off, so what's the big deal? She might as well be a normal dragon to you."

He set his plate down in the sand and grabbed Flame's cheeks and turned his head to face him. "They saved my life, Flame," he said softly. "so I think they at least deserve something in return, alright? Can you do it for me?"

He was right, Turtle did save his life. He acted just like any normal dragon would, one who didn't have unlimited power on the tip of his talons. He claimed he had stayed up all night working on a spell, and had worked on another for over a week.

He knew he wouldn't destroy the world, yes. He trusted him enough to enchant his necklace, yes — but only because he'd rather take that risk than have Moon see every one of his thoughts. And Umber even trusted him, the sweetest, most pure dragon in Pyrrhia trusted him.

He couldn't believe it took him this long to see past his ignorance. Turtle wasn't an evil animus. He was just like all the others, maybe even similar to Fathom — whose scrolls he had read back at the Healing Center after Darkstalker was gone —, a scared dragon, always wanting to lay in the background. A shadow, as far away from the center of attention as possible

He stared Umber in the eyes. "Alright…"

"Good." He let go of his head and picked his plate back up, and started eating almost immediately. "This turkey isn't half bad actually," Umber commented. "Aren't you hungry? You should get something."

"Uhm, not really," he thought. He knew Umber too well though, and him telling him to get food was his subtle way of telling him to apologize. He was hungry though, so at least he had that to look forward to afterwards.

As much as he wanted to, he could hardly bring himself to apologize directly after telling him to stay away.

He sighed. "Flame, go apologize," he said, fed up and tired. A part of him felt bad for putting Umber through this as he was recovering and trying to have fun. "And I'll be watching this time, too."

Okay, Flame, he told himself. From here on, Turtle isn't evil, alright? He's a normal dragon, who saved Umber's life and would probably save mine in a heartbeat if he had to.

The wooden poles on each four corners were holding firm in the wind, just like how he was going to be to his promise; unmovable and steady as he stood by it. Turtle was still at the tent, putting back fish and picking out others instead. Zephyr and Marsh were long gone, which made it a little easier.

His heart raced and his talons shook as he approached. He paid more attention to the feeling of the sand between his claws as he walked, trying to distract himself so he didn't have to think about it. Don't think, just do it.

The shade gloomed over him as he walked under the tent. It took him until now to realize how much cooler it was under it. Probably because he was looking for whatever way to distract himself from what he was about to do: apologize to an animus, of all dragons.

Turtle looked up from the other side of the table and their eyes met, and he took an uncomfortable step away as he turned his eyes back down to the food.

Just say the two words, he gulped. Two words, 'I'm sorry'.

Turtle quickly grabbed his plate and began scurrying away. It's now or never, just do it! Flame, just do it-

"Wait!" he called out. Turtle turned around in angst, and he swore he could see a little fear mixed in. Fear? From an animus? "Turtle, stop," he said in the most sincere voice he could conjure up. He looked back at Umber to see that his head was turned and he was eyeing him like a hawk. "I-I'm…" he choked.

He felt like his heart was about to explode. Should he back out now? No, it was too late and Umber was watching, it'd be easier to just say it. So why couldn't he? Why was it so hard to say two words?

But during his contemplation, Turtle turned around awkwardly and began walking away assuming he wasn't going to finish what he was going to say. "Wait!" he cried. "I-I'm… I'm sorry!" he managed to force out.

Turtle's expression turned to a mix of surprise and pure shock as he turned to look at him. "You're…sorry? Like…sorry sorry?"

"Turtle, stop making this harder than it has to be, you know I'm shit with apologies." The words felt like boulders being pushed through his throat with each second. "I'm sorry for what I said. I'm realizing now that you're a normal dragon, with normal feelings."

"But…my magic?" He could tell he was confused. Just a few minutes ago he was yelling at him, telling him how much he didn't trust him. And now, he's apologizing like nothing ever happened.

"You saved Umber, that's more than enough for me. So can we make up or whatever? I just want Umber to enjoy himself, and the only way he can do that is if we — I'm not constantly screaming at you."

Turtle paused. "Uhm…I don't…really know what to say?"

"Just say yes."

"Okay…yes? I accept your apology?"

"Do you actually mean it though? Or is this just your way to get away from me."

"No- I mean, half and half. I'm just lost for words."

"I'll take that as a yes."

The SeaWing awkwardly turned around and walked away towards the others. Moon was next to Qibli — as usual —, Chromis was out playing in the water with Marsh and Reed, while Avalanche and Shrimp sat in the sand and enjoyed the sun with the little time they had off.

Clay, Pheasant, and Sora were sitting in the sand nearby, stuffing their faces with as much food as they could carry. Jet, Zephyr, and Peril also managed to squeeze into the semicircle, but Peril had to sit at the end next to Clay for obvious reasons. He noticed the occasional glances over to Umber, constantly checking up to see if he hadn't been eaten by a land shark yet.

Kinkajou, on the other talon, was sitting alone staring out into the water. Her scales were a mix of pink and gold, with splashes of lavender mixed in. But why was she happy when she was sitting alone? There were no forests nearby, or crazy exotic fruits to eat — only apples and pears and such. So what was she happy about?

That question was quickly answered though when Turtle sat down next to her and cuddled a little closer. Ohhhhh, he realized.

He walked back and saw Umber's gaze of approval as he inched closer. "So it went well?" he asked.

"Pretty sure," Flame said. "But I think he and Kinkajou are dating now." He pointed over to the two of them.

"Ooooo, the Jade Winglet love triangle thickens."

He took his seat beside Umber and rested his head against his shoulder. As much as he wanted to wrap his wing around him, the chair was far too big, even for SkyWing wings. So instead he just laid there and closed his eyes, listening to the crashing of the waves.

Umber's scent accompanying him only made it better. He wished this moment could replay forever, cursed to eternally be stuck on this beach, the same waves, and the same warmth. But most importantly, Umber.

His wings sat comfortably in the wooden indents in the chair. Carrying a broken wing around all day was exhausting, let alone carrying both when he couldn't even walk for longer than fifteen minutes. But everyone got a happy ending, he thought. Turtle and Kinkajou got together, Flame gets to work on his attachment issues, and I get to live. Everyone wins.

And hopefully, Flame and Turtle would start being better friends. In their conversation, he overheard a few words, and though it didn't go exactly smoothly, Flame was just being Flame. His way of apologizing was…different…than others.

This was the calmest he'd been in the last month. Now if only he could go in the water, that'd be perfect. But he couldn't for countless reasons, especially not in an ocean like that.

He closed his eyes and exhaled when he heard talons stomping through the sand beside him like someone was running. He looked over and saw Chromis sprinting over to him, drenched head to talon in water.

"Flame, Umber!" the hybrid yelled excitedly. "We're playing games, Mom asked if you wanted to play, too!"

He and Flame both looked over at him as he danced around excitedly, jumping from talon to talon. "Game? What game?" Umber asked.

"She said it was a surprise. Come! Quick!"

He looked over at Flame. "Do you want to?" Flame asked.

"I mean, sure. It's not like I can't have fun or anything right now. Games seem fun." He looked back at Chromis, his face full of excitement as he waited for a response. "Alright."

Flame stood up first and helped him up out of his chair. He looked around for the rest of them and saw them all huddled around in a circle as they waited.

Chromis quickly ran over to Avalanche and said something to her, before she looked over at them with a smile. He squeezed in between them and sat down excitedly. "I just hope these games have nothing to do with running," Flame said. "For both our sakes."

They walked over, and they sat down between Avalanche and Clay. Flame sat next to Avalanche, and Umber sat next to Clay, obviously. Peril sat a bit away from the group in her own little area. He could only imagine how hot the sand under her talons was right now, probably almost hot enough to melt into glass.

"Alright." Zephyr stood up. "The first game we're playing is called Sparkle. The goal of Sparkle is to be the last dragon standing. The rules are: I'll be the word master, and whatever word I say must be spelled out, going counter-clockwise. So if I said to spell the word 'hello', for example, Jet would say…"

"H!" Jet said.

"And then Sora would say…"

"E!"

He looked around the circle, with the order going Zephyr, Jet, Sora, Marsh, Pheasant, Reed, Clay, Umber, Flame, Avalanche, Chromis, Shrimp, Kinkajou, Turtle, Moon, Qibli, and who he assumed Peril next, and then back to Zephyr counter-clockwise.

"If you say the wrong letter, you're out. But there's a twist. Once the word is fully spelled out, whoever says the last letter of the word will yell 'Sparkle!', and the dragon next to them is out!" She looked around. "Any questions?"

Couples sitting next to each other is definitely not the way to play this game, Umber thought, glancing over at Flame.

The SkyWing caught his eyes. "I hope you remember how to spell those words instead of just saying them," he teased.

"Of course I remember how to spell them!" he barked." Well…some of them at least."

"Alright then. We'll start off easy with 'trapezoid'" She sat back down. "Alright, Jet."

"T," Jet said.

"R."

"A."

"P."

"...A?" Reed tried.

"Out!" Zephyr stated. Reed stood up and walked out of the circle, leaving an open space where he once was. He looked slightly disappointed that he was out first, but that was hidden by the laugh and smile on his face. "Next!"

"E."

"Z," Umber said.

"O."

"I."

"D. Sparkle!" Chromis exclaimed, getting Shrimp out.

"Oh well, an old head like me shouldn't be using their brain too much like me anyways," he joked. He walked over and sat down next to Reed, slightly away from the circle. Once again, he left an empty gap in the now unfinished circle.

Octagon, parabola, fisherman, rhetorically, destruction, chimpanzee, airplane, yodel, xylophone, flabbergasted, and periwinkle were the words that had gotten everyone out so far. Zephyr was still sitting there though, giving out words as she couldn't get out. And after that, the only remaining dragons were Flame and Umber. Seriously, what were the chances? Not only had he somehow made it to the final two, but his opponent was also his boyfriend? The world really did hate him.

"Well, MudWing, looks like this is it," Flame said. "I'm the one who taught you to read, you're not winning this."

So far, he'd only gotten the easy letters of the words. He was just lucky. But Flame had gotten a few complicated letters that even he had gotten wrong; it was a miracle he was even still in.

"Alright, last word you two! After this you can kiss and make up like I see Sora and Jet do all the time," she joked.

"Mom!" Jet complained from the crowd of dragons who had already gotten out.

But she ignored that complaint and kept talking. "So your final word issss…" She looked at the two, intentionally giving suspense. "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis!"

Flame looked at her. "What the fuck?" was all he said before looking back at Umber, wide-eyed.

What even is that word? I couldn't even remember what she said if I tried! The only thing I remember is 'pneumonoultra'! It looked like it was just going to be whoever could guess correctly the most amount of times because there was no chance either of them would spell that word correctly.

"She's used that on us a few times whenever we would play with other dragons at the Healing Center," Sora explained. "Doesn't work on us anymore though, we memorized it. Have fun you two!"

"Alright, Umber. Start!"

"Uhm…p?" he tried. From the few times he's read pneumonia in graphicolls, he knew that things that sounded like that often began with 'p'.

"N."

"E."

"U."

"M."

"O."

"N."

"O."

"U."

"L."

"T."

"R."

"A."

"Shit, okay, uhmmm," Flame panicked.

"Hurry up! Clock's ticking!" Zephyr warned. "Three! Two! One-"

"F!" he tried. He looked around at Zephyr with a questionable gaze. Umber himself had no idea how to spell it, so he didn't know if he had just won or lost. But after a few seconds of Zephyr staring at him, she shook her head.

"EHHHH! WRONG!" she buzzed. And just like that, the unexpected happened. The most unlikely dragon to win had just won. Not only had he outlasted everyone else, but he had also beaten Flame with the hardest word he'd ever heard. "Umber wins!" is what officially confirmed his victory.

He couldn't believe it; he had won the game with a word so absurdly long that neither of them had a chance to spell it correctly. He grinned at Flame, feeling victorious but also amused by the sheer randomness of it all.

And then, the crowd of dragons burst into cheers loud enough to hurt his ears. They were all screaming different words so loudly it was nearly impossible to decipher what they were all saying.

Flame let out a playful groan. "You lucked out, MudWing. You couldn't have possibly known that word. Don't get too ahead of yourself."

"Mhmm," Umber hummed sarcastically. "Or it was that you can't admit that I'm just better than you."

"Ha, okay, you wish," he said matter of factly. "Be honest, if it weren't my turn, would you or would you not have gotten it right?"

"Who knows? I may have, or I may not have. We'll never know I guess," he said with a smile. Flame smiled back. And as the sun set, the light bounced and flickered off of his scales, lighting them up like a sparkling gem. Right now, he was the happiest dragon in Pyrrhia.

"Alright! Alright! Enough yelling!" Zephyr said with a laugh under her breath. The cheers died down. "We're moving on to the next game now."

"Oooo, what is it?" Chromis asked excitedly. "Is it a swimming contest? I'd love for it to be a swimming contest! Who can swim from one side of the beach to the other? I'd definitely win!"

"Next game, Charades!" She looked over the crowd. "I assume you all know how to play Charades, so I won't bore you with the details."

And the game that followed was nothing short of hilarious. Every time someone came up, they would mimic something that was absurd or nearly impossible to guess. Shrimp ended up being so bad at acting out a fish, that he had sometimes even considered he was having a stroke or something. It was really bad.

Flame gave him an easy one though; an iconic scene from their graphicolls that only they would know.

He remembered sometimes they would read that specific part over and over again back at the Healing Center. Sometimes, they would even act it out before falling into each other's arms and falling asleep while giggling.

"Oh! I know!" Umber exclaimed as if someone was going to guess it before him, after just a few seconds of him acting. "It's Lord Evil after he fell into that vat of acid!"

"Correct!" he yelled.

"What? That's not fair!" Jet complained. "None of us read your stupid graphicolls, how would we have guessed that?"

"All's fair in Charades," Flame humored.

And after that, once it was Jet's turn, she did something that only Sora would get. It was their little inside joke is what he assumed. "Strawberry shortcake!" Sora yelled after Jet seemingly got hit with something and fell over.

"Correct!" she yelled in the same tone Flame had to Umber. She looked over at him with a glare, mocking him that he couldn't guess what she was doing.

And then once the games were over, Umber thought that was the last of it. He completely forgot about the time, and it was almost pitch black out once Peril finished her last turn. They weren't going to use their fire for two reasons. Not all of them had fire, and they didn't want to run the risk of burning the cards. We should've brought candles or something.

Zephyr wanted to play UNO, but it was getting so dark out that they could hardly see two feet in front of themselves. So when she had the idea to go back to the bonfire and tell scary stories, he was all in for it. A great, big party with loads of food and games and scary stories? What wasn't to love about it?

Which reminded him, there was still a bunch of food left. Flame followed him not only so he could see, but he had hardly eaten anything that day as well. "You sure you're not gonna get fat from eating this much?" the SkyWing asked. "I mean, I know you're healing and all that, but jeez."

"I'm not going to get fat, Flame," Umber laughed. "Even if I weren't healing, all of this food is like a hyper-dream."

They both picked their food onto their plates and started heading back. Umber had marginally more food than Flame did.

He put his wings in the chair to let them rest as Flame sat down next to him. All of the chairs had been moved away from the bonfire when Avalanche let Chromis try to light it. His fire was weak. Like a MudWing's, but also like a SeaWing's. And with his size, lighting a bonfire like that was nearly impossible for him, so Flame helped him a bit.

"Alright, who wants to go first?" Avalanche asked.

"I'll go first!" Kinkajou exclaimed, who was sitting next to Turtle. "Alright, alright, this one's really scary, trust me. One day, there was a dragon out in the rainforest looking for fruit because they were hungry. And all of a sudden when they picked out their first mango, they took a bite out of it and there was a WORM IN IT." She tried to say it with as much ferocity as she could muster.

"Scary stories," Peril said. "Not you and your mango worm problems. Do worms even like mangos? I thought that was only apples."

Between that snoozefest of a story and the feeling of the warm fire against his scales, he felt about ready to fall asleep. He rested his head on Flame's shoulder affectionately and cuddled as close as he could to him. I'll just close my eyes and listen to everyone talk, he thought.

But as Kinkajou and Peril argued, and Peril told her scary story instead, he found himself dozing in and out of consciousness. He didn't exactly know what Peril's story was about, but a few key words she said were "Sky Kingdom" and "killing". So in a way, he was glad he didn't stick around too long to listen to that.

All the sounds of the bonfire crackling, the waves splashing, the crickets buzzing, and the dragons sharing their stories all faded into the background. Until finally, he was asleep.

Asleep right beside the dragon he loved most. The dragon he expected to rest easy with decades and decades from then.

Author's notes: Some of the readers on FFN (sorry AO3 readers) may have noticed a little change to the thumbnail recently. The watermarks are nearly impossible to see and definitely impossible to read, so I'll give credit where credit is due.

Flame and Umber: My good friend Noxiicro on Wattpad.

Background: MegidoTheDragon on AO3.

Thank both of you so much for the picture, it's truly my favorite picture that I've ever received! Both of them put a lot of effort into the picture, so a great way to say thank you to them is by checking out their profiles and looking at a few of their stories. If you're on AO3, you can check out to see the thumbnail. If you want to see the full picture, you can add me on Discord, my username is Amisgal. The full picture truly is far more amazing than the thumbnail.