Sting landed with Rogue not far behind him. Both of them were unsure of what to think of this new change.

The first thing Sting felt was Yukino wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his fluff, "You're okay! We were so worried!"

"We weren't gonna get hurt," he gently nuzzled her.

"They don't want to hurt us.. They want to take us away," Rogue explained. Minerva gently ran her hand over Rogue's neck, "You're leaving..?" she asked quietly.

"But.. y-you can't!" Yukino insisted.

"We have to," Sting sighed, "Irene wants us to go with them. Something about.. not being able to return us home sooner when she should've.."

"Promise us you'll stay safe," Minerva said. "We don't know what's waiting for you guys out there.."

"We will," Rogue pressed his nose into her other hand, and she gently caressed his face.

"We won't be gone long, I swear," Sting assured them, "I don't care how long it takes, but we will come home."

"That's a promise," Rogue agreed.

xXxOxXx

Sting sighed, replaying their words in his head as he flew alongside Rogue. All of the others were gone, leaving them in a deafening silence that he didn't like.

The two of them promised that they would return, but would that be a promise they could keep? Did they give their friends false hopes that they couldn't fulfill?

"We should be nearing your home now. Unfortunately, you two will have to find it on your own," Atlas explained. "Dragons outside of the White and Shadow Kingdoms cannot find this land without the use of your magic."

"In that case, how could a thief sneak in to steal us?" Rogue asked. Atlas tilted his head slightly to glance at Rogue from the corner of his eye, "The thief could mimic magic, hence why we believe it was the Sages. The thief must've mimicked your magic in order to find your Kingdoms."

"I still don't think it was them.." Sting admitted. "Irene just.. wouldn't be the Dragon to do that."

"If not her, then one of her subjects. It has to be Sage magic," Atlas responded.

"How can we be so sure? Maybe it was more than one thief, who all used different magic," Sting offered.

"We're going off of what we currently know," Atlas explained. "If we find more concrete evidence, trust me, you'll be the first to know."

"We better.." Rogue huffed. "We're being upended out of the only home we know for this."

"It's for the best this way. You'll return home to the families who lost you, and you'll forget about the human city in no time."

The two of them growled at that.

"This is where we part ways," Atlas said as he suddenly came to a stop. "You two are to continue forward. You will find your home as long as you keep going straight ahead."

"So this is it.. huh?" Sting asked after a long moment of just flying.

"What do you mean?" Rogue looked at him.

"We've been together through everything, and now.. We have to split?"

"I don't think so," Rogue kept his head up, "Atlas only said Kingdon, singular. It's like we're going to the same place."

"Maybe he was just confused?" Sting tilted his head.

"I don't think so," Rogue repeated, "It would've been like with the others. He drops off one of us and takes the other with to the other Kingdom. I think it's safe to assume that we're going to the same place."

"That makes me feel better about all of this," Sting admitted. "I don't know how I would've been able to handle this without you."

"Same here," Rogue gently nudged him.

Sting glanced ahead, then squinted slightly, "Do you see that?"

Rogue followed his gaze, then tilted his head, "Yeah.. It looks like there's something wrong with the air.."

Sure enough, there was a subtle wave in the air, sort of like a heatwave, but it wasn't nearly warm enough for that. Rogue squinted as they got closer, and he could swear there was a vague image of something there.

Sure enough, the closer the two of them got, the more clear the image became. The two of them passed through the wave in the air, and the image suddenly became a reality. Beneath them, there was a large Kingdom that wasn't there just a few minutes prior.

"Wow!" Sting dove down towards it, then glided between the buildings, weaving through effortlessly. Rogue followed, and the two had a moment of fun to themselves looking around.

"This place feels bigger than Magnolia," Rogue noted. Sting nodded, "Yeah. I feel like I could get lost in this place."

The two of them glided down towards the midst of the Kingdom, where there was a large, flat area with no buildings covered in tile that made up an intricate pattern in a circle. The two of them landed, then Rogue slowly made his way towards a nearby Dragon, gently tapping her shoulder to grab her attention, "Excuse me?"

"Oh my!" she exclaimed, "You two look new! It's been a while since I've seen new Dragons! Do you need anything?"

Sting took a moment to examine her. She had no wings, like Laxus, and she was quite long and lanky. She was covered in fluffy fur, similar to Sting himself, but hers was more of a blue-ish silver rather than golden blond.

"Um.. There was a story a while back about a couple of Dragons stolen from the Whites and Shadows, right?"

"Yeah! We never did find the Dragon who did it, and we were devastated when it happened. Why do you ask?"

"Because.. We were the Dragons who were taken from this place," Sting spoke up. The taller Dragon gasped, "Oh, you poor things! We should spread the word that you've returned! Oh the Kingdom will rejoice!"

"Kinda weird that a Kingdom is made up of two elements," Sting noted.

"Oh, not at all! Our Queen married the Shadow King, which allowed our two Kingdoms to become one!" She then gestured to the area around her, "As you can see, our Kingdom here is quite small."

"Not really," Sting said. "This place is bigger than Magnolia."

"Well, we're smaller than normal Kingdoms. Hence why we merged. It was just safer for us this way."

"Where are the Shadows?" Rogue asked. The other Dragon didn't verbally answer, instead jogging over to a large stairwell leading underground, "They're in the underground portion of our Kingdom. They like the darkness down there, but you'll see quite a few up here. However, the King himself will be in the palace if you want to go meet him! Getting an audience would be rather tricky, though.." she paused, placing a talon to her chin as she lowered her gaze.

"That won't be necessary," Rogue assured her, "We were just hoping to maybe find our families."

"Oh! Right! About that," she took a moment to examine Rogue's features, gently tilting his head every which way in her talons, "You definitely look like Skiadrum's hatchling. Which fits considering he and his mate were the ones stolen from."

She then did the same to Sting, "And you are the spitting image of Weisslogia! I can take you to him, but you two will be on your own for Skiadrum. He keeps to himself ever since what happened."

"I can manage," Rogue assured, "You two worry about finding this.. Weisslogia Dragon." He started down the staircase, "We'll meet up back here afterwards, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Sting nodded, watching his Shadow brother disappear down into the darkness.

"Alright, lead the way," Sting said, then took off into the air after the other Dragon. True to her word, he did see quite a few Shadows hanging out with the Whites.

"So, what's your name?" Sting asked, deciding to use a conversation to pass the time since he didn't know how long the search would take.

"Albumis!" she grinned.

"Nice to meet you, Albumin. I'm Sting!"

"You too! You're the first Dragon I've met who doesn't think I'm annoying!" she paused, "You don't think I'm annoying, do you? The others tell me that a lot. Too loud. Too yappy. Too much."

"Nah! I think you're pretty cool!" Sting grinned at her.

She giggled, "Oh, I really want to show you everything there is to see! The mountain view, the underground tunnels, the palace, everything! There is so much to see!"

"I can't wait."

xXxOxXx

Rogue stalked down the steps leading into the underground Kingdom. Thankfully, his eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly enough, and there were torches lining the walls, likely to help those who don't have the same nocturnal vision that the Shadows do. He knew Sting had very poor night vision.

He made his way all the way down, then started along the pathways carved into the ground.

A ground of Dragons nearly bowled him over. He phased into the shadows, thankful that there were so many, and emerged on the other side of the group. He sighed irritably, then turned to face them.

It was a group of various Dragons, around the same age as him, who were all wrestling. Deciding that trying to ask them anything would be a waste of time, he continued forward.

Until he stumbled upon another Shadow. She was perched on a boulder, with her wings wrapped around her and her nose buried in them. When Rogue got closer, her eyes shot open, revealing a pair of silver-white eyes.

"Hello, stranger," she said quietly. It didn't sound shy, just quiet, as if she didn't want to speak up.

"Hello.. I'm looking for a Dragon named Skiadrum. Can you point me to him?"

"He doesn't like visitors," she said.

"I'm his son. I was taken from here years ago, and I was told that he had an egg stolen," Rogue explained.

"You were one of the stolen ones? Did you ever find out who it was that took you?"

"No.." Rogue shook his head. He wished he did, then maybe he could clear Irene's name, or…

He shook his head to avoid that line of thought. He didn't know if he could cope with it if Irene turned out to be the thief.

"We were told it was a large, vicious Shadow. A Dragon who had lost his mind," she said."

"A Shadow Dragon?" Rogue tilted his head. Why would the thief mimic Shadow magic to steal from the Shadows? Then again, he also stole from the Whites, so was it possible he was trying to provoke a war between the two?

"Oi!"

Rogue glanced up, spotting one of the Dragons from the wrestling group from earlier. "I hope you don't plan on sticking around her for too long. The weird might rub off on you!"

The Shadow perched on the rock just sighed quietly.

Effectively annoyed, Rogue responded, "At least she didn't run me over! I need help, and I know for a fact you weren't going to give it!"

The other Shadow scoffed, then returned to his group, where they all whispered amongst themselves while shooting the two of them looks.

"You get used to it after a while," the female Shadow said.

"I think that's just stupid. Why do they treat you so strangely?" Rogue scoffed.

"They think I'm weird because I'm different. I'm quiet and I keep to myself when Dragons are supposed to be loud and aggressive." She shook her head–to the best of her ability with her nose in her wings, that is, "Mother tells me to just ignore them because they seek a reaction out of me. They dislike me because I don't give them one."

"That's stupid," Rogue said again, "You don't act all that much different from Dragons I know."

"They might start treating you poorly next, because you stood up to them. You might want to watch your back around them.."

"Well, I don't care about such things. I know what it's like to be an outcast. If you want, I can be your friend," he said. He didn't know if he should be making such an offer, since he didn't know how long he would be staying, but it felt like the polite thing to do.

"You would be scorned along with me. I cannot ask that of you. Besides, I like my space. But I appreciate the offer," she said. She was surprisingly calm about all of this. "I can still help you find Skiadrum, if you wish," she unwrapped her wings, revealing herself to be a wyvern, then climbed down the rock.

She made her way down the path, paused to make sure Rogue was following, then continued.

He quietly followed, lost in thought as he did. On one hand–or talon, in his case–he still wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. This place looked pretty and the Dragons were nice… mostly.

Could he call himself proud of being a part of a Kingdom that was willing to ostracize its own based on pathetic excuses of them being different? Or was it typical dragonet bullying like what Amris did?

He would need to spend more time in this Kingdom in order to form a concrete opinion, he just hoped it was better and not worse.