The sunset was beautiful today; the colors reflected perfectly off of the distant houses as he flew, surveying the area of something he could do to help — which is something he did often. He'd been even more inclined to help dragons after yesterday — after that SkyWing attacked that MudWing.

What a psycho, Turvar thought. Why can't we all just get along? Why do so many dragons hate other dragons simply because of who they are?

He replayed the scene in his head, going through how he had just stood there and watched for the first couple of seconds, all until the moment when he saw his claws raise in the air and swipe across the MudWing's cheek. He swore he could see a moment of hesitation fly across that MudWing's face; like he could have dodged out of the way in time, or grabbed his talons, or something like that. But he didn't for some reason, which he found odd.

If he had nearly the reaction time of that MudWing, and the skills to be able to do anything like that, he would've thrown that SkyWing into the gravel and then sent him to the dungeons for even attempting to attack a prince like that — or at least send him to Ruby and see what she thought of the whole incident; he didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to himself.

Thankfully though, that SkyWing has paid the price and is now sitting comfortably in the dungeons for a while until Ruby feels that he's learned his lesson.

What he was more worried about in that situation though — more than what happened to that MudWing and his SkyWing boyfriend after he got home — was what that MudWing thought of him. Did he think of him as heroic? Stupid to get involved? An excuse for a prince? Or maybe he even thought of him as a disgrace to Ruby's honor.

Every interaction that he musters up the strength to talk, these thoughts fly throughout his mind, millions at a time and he doesn't have the answers to any of them. It's not like he can just go up to a dragon and ask them; that would be awkward and then they would probably think even less of him than they already did. I mean, he's a prince and can't even have a normal conversation without second-guessing everything he said after stuttering over every word for moons sake!

This is too overwhelming and exhausting to think about right now, he thought. I'm going to search for a few more minutes, then I'm going back to the palace and going to sleep. And then wake up and do this all over again, occasionally getting something to eat from a stall that nobody else was at, regardless if the food was bad or not; it was better than having to make small talk with anyone except the vendor and having to explain his eyepatch all over again.

Except, while he was looking around he picked up the faint scent of burning wood. Normally, this wouldn't be unordinary to him because of all of the grills near the outside of town; but he was high in the air, which could only mean one thing: something big was on fire.

He shot his head up and looked around in a panic, looking out for any smoke that might be in the distance. And sure enough, he saw a massive cloud of smoke billowing out of a building across the town.

Uh oh, he thought. Is anyone hurt? Does anyone need help? Is anyone still trapped in there? Do the medics know yet? How did it start? Right now though, he didn't have the time to answer these questions himself; he had to get to that building and make sure everyone was alright, regardless if he gets hurt or not.

I have this, after all. He rubbed a small gem embedded in his scales right above his front right talon. It was bright red and almost perfectly matched his scales, making it invisible to anyone briefly staring him down.

It had been a gift from Ruby the day that she adopted him from the streets of the Sky Kingdom. Sure, it hurt like hell getting it put in, but it was worth it in the end because it would keep him safe from just about anything.

Without hesitation, he began beating his wings as hard as he could, flying through the air at what he thought was close to the speed of sound. As he got closer to the fire, he could see that there were many dragons outside. Thankfully, the medics seemed to already be there and IceWings were getting in formation to put the fire out.

He looked down at the medics to see if they were treating anyone and sure enough, they were. As he looked closer though, he noticed something odd.

They're treating…another medic? Turvar thought, looking at the large gash on his cheek. How'd that happen? Is he okay? Did another dragon do that to him? Was it by accident or on purpose? How long ago did it happen? Is it still bleeding?

He swooped down, landing on the path and breaking into a sprint toward the medics to hopefully gather some information about any dragons still inside. As he got closer, he could see that the scratch was definitely still bleeding a lot, meaning that it had to have just happened.

"H-Hey!" he called out. The medics flipped their heads around and began staring at him, which made him want to run away and hide from them. He couldn't though; dragons still possibly needed to be saved. "I-Is anyone st-still inside?"

"Uhm- two dragons I think?" one of the medics inspecting the cut said. "One of them went crazy and ran back inside though!"

Two dragons? That can't be good, he thought. Are they still okay? Are they alive? Are they stuck? How hot is it-, he cut his thoughts off. No, Turvar. Stop asking questions! There are two dragons still inside that building that might need your help!

He began running toward the building, but he heard one of the medics begin to scream at him that not only made him jump but also worried about what he thought about him for deciding to run in.

"Hey! You can't go inside!" one of the medics yelled. "I'm not losing anyone else because of your stupidity! I mean, do you see that fire?!" he flicked his tail at the blaze. "That place is already lit up like a bonfire! Did you know that burning to death is the most painful way to die?!"

He thought about this for a moment, going through all of the possibilities of things that could happen. Weighing the pros and cons, he ultimately decided that he didn't care what that dragon thought, and the lives of two dragons are far more important than his.

Besides, this will keep me safe, he thought once again, rubbing the gem on his leg.

"I-I'm going in," Turvar said sternly. "I-If you have a problem with that, g-go complain to Queen Ruby."

He didn't think that they'd actually take him seriously though, judging by the way he stumbled over just about every word in that sentence. Regardless, he was going to go into this building whether the medic liked it or not.

He broke into a sprint, heading toward the front door. He tried to push it open, but it wouldn't budge no matter how hard he pushed — it must be blocked from the other side.

Looking around, he moved backward slightly because the heat emanating from the scorching inferno was making him uncomfortable; it was like staring down a pool of lava, challenging it to try and kill you even though it very obviously could.

Don't most of these fancy restaurants have doors that lead directly to the kitchen? he thought. This one MUST have something similar! He looked across the front wall, but he didn't see any kind of door, so he ran over to the left side of the building, hoping — praying that there was another way in over there.

He turned the corner and could clearly see that there was some sort of hole in the wall, spewing out bright orange light onto the ground. It was getting dark outside, which made it extremely easy to see against the shadow plastered on the grass.

That's it! he realized.

He ran toward the door, kicking up grass with every desperate step. Once he got in front of it, he was instantly pushed away by the uncomfortable heatwave that spread around his scales and his eyes. He reflexively put his talons up in front of his face to cover most of the heat while he adjusted to the temperatures he was about to have to endure for the next (hopefully) few minutes.

As soon as he could, he took his first step inside and realized that the door that was there before had been ripped straight off of the hinges. He felt the heat all around him, along with the smell of burning wood filling the air even more prominently than it had been previously. There was thick, black smoke all around, coating the top of the ceiling and throwing ash everywhere, which was something he wished he knew before — it would take weeks to get it out from in between his scales.

Looking around, he realized that just about every wall in this kitchen was on fire right now, along with a few patches on the floor that he had to avoid as he slithered his way through. It took him a little while to find the door to the main restaurant because the kitchen was so complex and big; he did find it rather quickly though because of a few lucky guesses.

The main room was even worse than the kitchen; chairs were on fire, and the floor was almost completely engulfed in flames and was blocking his path, leaving him stuck at the doorway. Every wall was on fire, and even some of the beams had collapsed. Whatever two dragons were in here right now had to both either be seriously injured or dead which made him shiver a bit.

Just the thought of finding a dead dragon's body completely burned made him want to gag, but he pushed that thought aside and tried to focus on finding whoever was in here first.

That's when he spotted something he wondered how he didn't spot before: a SkyWing whimpering, who was laying down with his wing wrapped around something that had a few specks of black and brown around it. That wasn't the worst part though. His talons seemed to be completely burned to the point where Turvar was wondering how he wasn't screaming in pain right now.

As he looked closer at the thing under the SkyWing's wing though, he realized that it was another dragon. Not just any other dragon though; he recognized his face. It was that MudWing from yesterday, his scales charred and burned, and he looked...he looked dead.

No, no, no, no! his mind screamed. I'm too late!

His mind flickered back to their first conversation though, where he mentioned that SkyWing's name accidentally.

Flame? Is that his name? If it really is the same MudWing, then it must be! he thought. Though, he was still really hoping that it wasn't.

"F-Flame?" Turvar called out.

To his horror, the SkyWing quickly flicked his head up and around to where Turvar was standing, tears falling down his eyes as he clutched the MudWing, close; close enough to as if he would disappear if he let go for even a second.

"Wh- who the fuck are you?" Flame said, wiping tears from his scales. His expression looked so scared, broken, and sad all at the same time; like he was a husk of a dragon.

"I'm T-Turvar- uh nevermind actually, that d-doesn't matter right n-now," Turvar said. "I'm going to get you b-both out of here, alright? Just- stay still!"

Flame didn't seem to second guess it though, he just buried his head back into the MudWing. He didn't say "Just save yourself!" or "Leave us here and escape with your life!" or "Go back to being the horrible Prince you are and let us die!" He wasn't going to do that no matter what he said though — he came in here to do exactly this.

Turvar didn't often like using the gem's power in front of other dragons because he didn't want even more attention on him than he already had. That was unless he either needed to defend himself or had to practice, which he only did in front of guards who knew about it (which weren't many). But he knew that he couldn't just run through the fire and get them both out alive. He also knew that there wasn't enough time to get a fire extinguisher, or one of the IceWings outside and get them to put it out themselves.

This was the only way he would be able to save them.

It's now or never, he thought. Time to finally put this gem to good use.

Just like he had practiced when he had the gem first embedded into his scales, he closed his eyes and took deep, calming breaths, and tried to clear out everything around him. He focused on the heat against his scales, the air in his lungs, the crackles of the fire that slightly shook the floor under his talons, and tried to drown out every noise around him until he was in his own world that he could freely build; until finally, everything around him went blank and he was alone.

He imagined the chairs, the walls, the carpet, the ceiling, Flame and the MudWing lying on the floor, and most importantly, the wall of fire separating them. He imagined punching a hole through the air in front of him hard enough to make it shatter like a sheet of glass, sending the shards flying in every direction fast enough to break through even the scales of a MudWing.

Please, please work!

With a stomp of his right talon, he felt a jolt of energy rush up his arm starting from the gem, through his heart, down his spine, and to the tip of his tail. The feeling was sudden; it was something he had never felt before and it made him gasp — he hadn't used it at anywhere near this level of power when practicing. Within just a fraction of a second, he heard a loud crack shoot through the air, sounding like a book being dropped perfectly flat on its cover from the top of a staircase, followed by a giant gust of wind that smacked him across the snout.

When he first stomped his talons down, he held his breath, expecting for nothing to happen because creating a shockwave with his mind was a pretty foreign thing to him. But when his eyes shot open from the deafening sound, he could clearly see that a path between him and the couple had been formed through the fire. The look on Flame's face was startled, to say the least.

"What the fuck was that?!" Flame asked as he covered his face to protect himself from the wind.

"I-I'll explain later," Turvar quickly said, rushing through the charred pathway and over to Flame. "Help me c-carry him!"

Flame quickly furled his wing back in and stood up, revealing the extent of the MudWing's burns. So many of his scales had been completely charred and they looked like they could flake off like ash. His wing was forced in the completely wrong direction and just the sight of it made him wince and want to close his eyes and never open them again. The smell smacked him in the face and immediately made him sick to his stomach and only added to his temptations.

"I'll grab one arm, you grab the other, alright?" Flame said, latching onto the MudWing's right talon. "We'll both drag him."

He didn't need to be told twice; he wanted to get out of here just as much as Flame did with his boyfriend. He grabbed his other talon and began dragging him across the floor as hard as he could. For the first few seconds, he didn't think that they would be able to do it, but Flame just kept pulling harder and harder, motivating him to do so as well.

They got to the kitchen and he noticed that it was far worse than it was before; there were more splotches of fire on the floor, looking like someone had dumped random puddles of oil everywhere and lit them up, the fire on the walls had spread to the ceiling and slowly began eating away at it, and the heat in here was beginning to get much greater than in the main room — the walls were much closer together and the fire was burning brighter here.

"C'mon Umber, just a little further, alright?" Flame whispered reassuringly. "Don't you dare fucking die on me! Not now!" His voice was full of desperation and he sounded inches away from another breakdown.

He couldn't imagine what he'd do in this situation: the dragon he loved most, stuck under a beam and having their scales scorched to a crisp and there was nothing you could do about it except stand there and watch it happen.

As they dragged Umber, Turvar kept hearing some sort of creaking and snapping sounds. At first, he thought it was nothing — he hoped it was nothing. But as the seconds ran by the sound only got more and more intense until he heard what sounded like a thick piece of wood snapping. He looked up just in time to see one of the wooden beams snap off of the roof and barrel toward them, showing no signs of slowing down.

In any other situation, he'd dodge out of the way, but he couldn't just let Flame and Umber both get crushed by this massive beam while he got to escape with his life. That wasn't fair! I mean, Flame had run in here, singed his talons to the point where he was sure that there would be some sort of permanent scarring, and then planned on lying down next to Umber until they were both killed because of what he assumed was him not being able to get them both out alive!

He had to do something, and he knew it. He had to conjure up a blast powerful enough to blow this beam away, but time was running thin and he didn't have nearly enough focus to do that. His heart was beating through his chest and his talons were already shaking to the point where he was beginning to lose his grip on Umber.

I have to try! he thought. I can't just let them die!

So instead of trying to clear his mind, he skipped straight to the part where he'd close his eyes and imagine himself punching a hole straight through the air above them as hard as he could — even harder than before. With little hope though, he braced for impact and prayed that it wouldn't be enough to kill them. Maybe all three of them would be able to cushion the impact enough to survive?

But with one last attempt to save them, he let go of Umber and stomped his talons down as hard as he possibly could, making the surrounding cooking equipment shake and rattle. That's when he felt the feeling he was expecting to feel last: that jolt of energy that ran through his whole body and shook him to the core. It was even more intense than last time and he heard an even louder crack zip through the air; one loud enough to make even his ears ring.

As he recovered from the sudden rush, he opened his eyes and watched the beam shoot through the air at a surprisingly high speed, ricochet off of the ceiling, and land somewhere behind them, smashing into some of the metal stoves and deep fryers.

The beam had put a large dent in the steel; one big enough to make him stand there and wonder what it would've done if the gem hadn't worked and the beam had landed on them instead — actually, he had an idea but he just didn't want to think about it.

"W-We've got to go!" Turvar said. "This p-place is falling apart!"

"Oh really? I would've never fucking guessed!" Flame yelled rather annoyedly.

Hearing that made him worry that maybe Flame didn't like him already? Like he had already screwed up his whole reputation to him? But he didn't have the time to dwell on that now; right now, they really needed to pick up the pace and get out as soon as possible.

He grabbed Umber's talons again and started pulling with newfound strength, ignoring the burning exhaustion in his arms. He listened as bits and pieces of the ceiling fell and then crashed against the floor; a few of them even hit him in the head and back.

Just a little further! he thought. He could see the doorway at the end of the narrow hall and the moons' light was beaming through, telling them that they were just about out.

But as the seconds passed, more and more debris fell from the ceiling, constantly hitting and smacking him; this place was about to collapse, with or without them inside, and he couldn't use the gem's power to save them this time. All of his energy had been drained from the other two blasts and dragging Umber through the restaurant.

"H-Hurry!" Turvar yelled. "I d-don't think I can blast u-us out of this!"

"Why the hell not?! You're animus, aren't you? Just cast a protection spell or something!" Flame argued.

"N-No, I'm not animus!" Turvar admitted. "Just- hurry!"

They kept pulling and pulling for what felt like forever, debris continuing to fall more and more. A few pieces of wood got in between his scales and kept stabbing into him, but he kept pulling and ignored the stinging pain that followed with every step.

Until finally, they were at the door and Turvar let go of his front talons and moved back to his legs so that they could push Umber up and over the slight bump on the bottom frame of the door. Flame was out first, then Umber, then him and they were finally safe from the fire.

A wave of relief fell over him as he stepped out into the cold, night air. It took him until now to realize just how hot it was inside, and just how sweaty his scales were.

He fell into the grass and let his arms rest for the first time in what felt like years and praised the moons for letting him live for one more day. As he rested, he began painfully plucking each of the bloody wooden splinters from his scales and threw them on the grass next to him, some of it staining his scales.

He flicked one off to the side and noticed that Flame hadn't even given himself a second to rest yet; instead, he was spending his well-earned downtime burying his head into Umber's shoulder, crying all the while. Every breath between his sobs only made him feel worse for the SkyWing.

I mean, really. Seeing your partner like that definitely didn't feel good. He could hardly look at a dragon who was doing something slightly exhausting without feeling like he had an obligation to help.

But the building wasn't done with them yet. Turvar could hear loud creaks and cracks coming from the building; ones far louder than just a beam falling. He knew exactly what was about to happen, but Flame seemed far too distracted to realize it himself.

They were only twenty feet from the doorway when he saw the roof cave in, sending stray pieces of sharp, broken wood flying in all directions.

Without any regard for his own safety, he jumped in front of Flame and Umber and spread his wings as far around them as he possibly could. Flame finally took his head from Umber's shoulders to see what he was doing and locked eyes with Turvar right as he closed his, bracing for a thousand splinters.

A few seconds passed though and, to the extent of his knowledge, nothing was stabbing him in the back.

Just when he thought he was safe though, a bunch of sharp pains shot up his back, wings, and neck. The pain pushed him forward, but he caught himself before he could completely lose his balance. This went on for at least five seconds until the sounds stopped and he could finally open his eyes.

He looked around, numb from all of the pain until he looked down at Flame to check to see if he had been hurt. Something was off with his face though. Almost as if…he was scared? Shocked? Astonished by his bravery? No, he looked…horrified? As he took a closer look though, he saw that his eyes clearly weren't staring at him, but were staring at something beside him instead.

"F-Flame? A-Are you okay? …Flame?"

He looked over at his left wing and to his horror, saw at least five big splinters painfully stabbed through his skin, causing blood to pour from the wounds and drip onto the grass and painting it a dark red. He looked over at his other wing and saw another four stabbed through it as well. He was sure that a few were poking out of his back and neck from the uncomfortable way his scales shifted when he moved.

As the seconds ticked away, he could finally feel the pain that followed such an injury. He tried pulling his wings in but that only made the pain worse and he bared his teeth. So instead he lay flat on his stomach and began trying to pull them out, but that only made it worse.

Will I ever fly again? What will Ruby think of this? How long will I be in the hospital before I can leave? Will these be painful to get removed? he thought, along with at least a million more questions flying through his mind all at the same time.

That's when he heard the talonsteps of many, many dragons approaching. He looked up and with a jolt of surprise, and saw at least eight different medics — most of them being SkyWings, but there were a few MudWings to help carry some of the heavier dragons with a couple of stretchers. Most of them ran over to Flame and Umber, while a couple came over to him to inspect his wings closer.

"Can you move your wings?" one of the medics asked.

"U-Uhm, yeah, I-I think so," Turvar answered.

The medic jotted down a note on his notepad, looking up at Turvar's wings a few times just so that he could assess the injuries.

"Does it hurt?"

"Y-Yes, very much s-so."

The SkyWing closer inspected his wounds, getting his talons up close to them. He tapped the splinters a few times which sent shockwaves of stinging pain throughout his wing and made him wince.

He moved onto his back, doing the same thing. It took him this long to realize just how many splinters he had sticking out of him — he wasn't exactly excited to find out, either.

After a few moments of this, the medic finally broke the awkward silence that filled the air.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do," the medic said. "We're going to take you to the hospital and they'll take care of you there."

"W-When can I l-leave?" Turvar asked.

"I can't say for sure, but it should only take a day for them to get these out and check for an infection."

They brought one of the stretchers and laid it flat on the grass. It was completely white and had two sturdy wooden handles attached to each side.

It reminded him of one of the big carpets that Ruby had replaced because it "didn't match her style". If he was being honest, he quite enjoyed the carpet; it was soft and comfortable and he sometimes wished that it had been in his room instead so that he could sleep on it whenever he was too tired to make it to his bed.

Without needing to be told, he lay down flat on his stomach, trying his best to sprawl his wings out so that they didn't get in their way.

He looked at the building for the first time since it collapsed and all he saw was a flaming pile of wood and concrete, and the IceWings who were blowing their ice breath all over it.

He looked over at Umber and saw that he was already on a stretcher with Flame crying over him. A few of the medics kept urging him to let them look at his burned talons. Not wanting to leave Umber's side though, he wouldn't budge.

"Sir, we just need to take a look," one of the female medics said.

"Will you all just shut the fuck up already?!" Flame said annoyedly, tears dripping down his face. "My boyfriend is sitting here, in a stretcher, looking half NightWing with all of his burnt scales, and you honestly think I give a fuck about my talons?!"

"I can assure you, he'll be in good talons-"

"GOOD TALONS?!" Flame exclaimed with a bit of a fake laugh. "ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS? YOU WOULDN'T EVEN GO IN THERE AND SAVE HIM YOURSELF AND YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT HIM BEING IN 'GOOD TALONS'?!" He stood up and glared at her, his eyes looking as threatening as the anger bubbling inside of him. He began taking a few steps towards her, to which she slowly backed away.

"THE ONLY REASON HE'S LIKE THIS RIGHT NOW IS BECAUSE ALL OF YOU WERE TOO MUCH OF FUCKING COWARDS TO DO ANYTHING!"

"Sir, I'm gonna need you to back away."

"NO, NO, NO. NOT UNTIL YOU HEAR WHAT I HAVE TO SAY." He kept taking more and more steps toward her. She bumped back against a tree that she hadn't seen before, giving her no more room to back up. "HOW ABOUT, I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE A 'SORRY FOR LETTING THE ONLY FUCKING DRAGON IN YOUR LIFE THAT HAS EVER HAD ANY MEANING TO YOU, BURN IN A GODDAMN FIRE' FIRST? THE ONLY FUCKING REASON THAT I'M STILL ALiv-" he trailed off, stumbling over his talons and eventually falling to the ground.

His eyes fell closed as he lay there, motionless and no longer screaming profanities at the medic.

What happened? Turvar asked himself. Did he just…fall asleep? That's when he inspected Flame's body closer and saw a small dart sticking out of his neck, and that gave him all of the information he needed: one of the medics had tranquilized him.

"Alright, get another stretcher for this psycho," said a low, rumbly voice that belonged to another medic. He was standing over by Umber and he obviously didn't like his job very much by the way he slouched around. "Three moons, this job gets worse and worse every day," he muttered.

Turvar was about to say something in defense of Flame, but he bit his tongue because he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself. He knew that Flame was probably a really good dragon, just extremely protective over Umber and would do anything to keep him safe.

They put him on a stretcher next to Umber. The two MudWings lifted Umber up in the air, while a few other SkyWings had to carry Flame. With a little bit of nervousness, he watched as they were flown higher and higher. He didn't want to think about what would happen if either one of them fell — unconscious and heights didn't exactly fit together very well.

That's when he felt himself lift up in the air. Looking over, he realized that two SkyWings had finally taken the role. He had to admit, it felt a bit weird being so high in the sky without flying himself, but it was also a bit scary seeing how both of his wings had been rendered completely unusable after protecting Flame and Umber — well, he could probably use them just enough to land if he really did fall, but he knew that was highly unlikely to happen.

His mind wandered as he was flown through the air. He went back and played the scenes over and over again; it was like a parasite that had wiggled its way into his brain and refused to leave no matter how much it was encouraged to. He did feel horrible for Flame though, and he really hoped that Umber made a recovery.

So, he started thinking of the ways he could use his influence as a prince to help them both out as much as he possibly could. That's when his mind landed on the fact that the Sky Kingdom was one of the most wealthy kingdoms in all of Pyrrhia, and he just so happened to have some say on what they could spend money on.

Besides, a tiny hospital bill can't be that expensive, right? Compared to the towers and towers of valuable metals and gems in their treasury, a hospital bill probably wouldn't even put a dent in it. Maybe he could even convince her to get Umber some of the more expensive treatment, just to really make sure he doesn't get any bad scars?

He was far too tired to think about all of this right now though, and he knew that he was going to have a long night in the hospital. From the painful process of having these splinters removed from his wings to having the wounds sterilized with rubbing alcohol, he was going to need all of the energy he could get.