Snowheart's consciousness stirred, a groan escaping his lips as he began to emerge from the depths of unconsciousness. His head throbbed painfully, each pulse a reminder of the ordeal he had endured. With a slight turn of his head, he felt the cool surface beneath him, its soft texture akin to woollen leaves.

O-ow, my head... W-where am I? His thoughts swirled in confusion, memories of the fall with Snowstorm flooding back. Th-the fall, I fell with Snowstorm and... and killed him! A-and then... I passed out? Panic gripped him as he struggled to piece together the events that led him to this moment. I n-need to get back home... wake up... wake... up!

Snowheart's mind roared with determination, urging his body to awaken. With a trembling effort, he lifted his head, each movement accompanied by hisses of pain and gasps of discomfort. The world swam before his eyes as he fought against the overwhelming urge to sink back into unconsciousness.

Summoning all his willpower, Snowheart forced his eyes open a crack, only to be greeted by a blinding light. Just as he was about to close them again, a silky, regal voice resonated within his mind, halting his movements and filling him with both curiosity and trepidation.

Prince Snowheart, Son to Queen Glacier and King Frostbite, Brother to Princesses Snowfall, Mink, and Crystal.

Snowheart felt his heart rate accelerating, fear flooding his veins as he tried once more to open his eyes. "W-Who are you? What d-do you want!" His voice trembled with uncertainty.

Calm yourself, Prince of Ice, for we are no threat.

As the voices spoke, Snowheart focused on his breathing, gradually calming himself. Slowly, he opened his eyes, growling when the light hit his eyes. Another voice, deep and commanding, resonated within his mind.

We have been watching you for a long, long time. You have proven to us that you are worthy of being given a second chance. Rise, Prince of Ice, we have much to talk about.

Snowheart struggled to stand upright, his head spinning with confusion and pain. Ugh, M-My head... it feels like it's going to explode! he groaned inwardly, shaking his head to clear it.

The first thing he saw was the large bed he was on, covered in light blue silky bedding and a dark blue quilt adorned with stars. The bedding felt unusually cool against his scales as he flexed his talons gently upon it.

Come along now, Prince Snowheart.

The same feminine regal voice echoed in his mind as Snowheart looked up to see Queen Diamond standing before him, surrounded by a soft silvery glow.

"W-Wait... Ow!" Snowheart hissed, noticing the thick coating of blue blood covering his hind right leg.

Hmm, allow me

As he watched, the broken scales and skin seemed to begin fusing back together under Diamond's guidance, bathed in a soft white glow. He couldn't take his eyes off the display—the blue blood that once plastered his leg disappeared before his eyes, replaced by a soft silver wave of glowing magic flowing over his battered leg, healing everything from broken bones to broken skin and scales, even clearing up the blood.

Once it was finished, he flexed his leg, feeling absolutely no pain, which left him stunned. Amazing, absolutely amazing! Snowheart said to himself in his mind. He then turned to look at Queen Diamond, noticing a male IceWing standing next to her. His eyes widened when he realized that this male IceWing was none other than King Icelance.

Icelance waved a wing, signalling for Snowheart to follow them, which the young IceWing did. His talons clicked against the cool rocky ground as he made his way around the entrance to the room he was in.

Looking to his right, he watched Diamond and Icelance make their way down a long corridor towards what seemed to be a far larger room. He shook his head, letting out a puff of frost from his nostrils as he began following the two deceased royals.

"Why am I here, if I may ask... your erm... Majesty?" Snowheart felt conflicted about whether he should refer to her as Her Majesty or just as Queen Diamond, for she was no longer among the living, yet he felt it was honourable if he called her Her Majesty.

"As I said earlier, young one, we will explain everything soon," was the reply he received, which annoyed him a bit.

The trio continued down the corridor until it opened up to reveal an extremely large oval table, with what appeared to be other dragons around the stone table. He suddenly felt self-conscious, something that stunned the young Prince for a second. He suddenly all the dragons sitting around the table had all turned their heads to look at him while he forced his insecurities under a thick layer of Ice. Showing weakness was not an IceWing thing to do... well, that's what Aunt Tundra says, anyway, which he disagrees with.

Queen Diamond and her mate both stopped at their places, looking back at Snowheart, who had seemingly frozen in place, standing there while he looked at all the deceased royals around the oval stone table.

"Hello, Prince Snowheart," he snapped his gaze to a blood-red coloured SkyWing, seeing a tiara sitting upon her head. Her eyes were a burning orange, and the underside of her wings was a similar colour to her eyes. "My name is Queen Swallow."

"Y-your Majesties," Snowheart bowed quickly towards the countless royals that sat around the table, hearing hums of approval as well as a few giggles and chuckles.

"Prince Snowheart here fell from a great height, one that would have killed any other dragon, and yet, Snowheart survived, for he is special, and has the blood of the rarest type of dragon," Diamond then turned to look back at Snowheart, a soft smile on her snout. "An Apex Scales."

Snowheart's eyes widened when he heard that, leaving him awestruck while the royals around the icy stone table began to talk to each other. "W-w-wait, Queen Diamond, Your Majesty, you must be mistaken, I-I thought those were just stories! I-I am just a mere IceWing! Not an Apex Scales!" He flared his wings, stretching them out before tucking them back against his sides.

"Calm, Prince of Ice, you may look like an IceWing for now, but after we unlock the hidden power within you, you will be able to do things every tribe can do, you can even change your scales to appear like you are from one or another tribe," Diamond explained while Snowheart took interest in the ground, taking in the information given forth to him.

"So... I am an... Apex Scales?" Snowheart questioned, looking up at Diamond who had left her spot to make her way over to him, placing her forepaws on his chest gently.

"No darling, Not yet... That's why we royals are here, to make sure that you become the world's next Apex Scales"

Snowheart sat down on his haunches, his eyes trailing over the little cracks in the ground while he digested the information, his ears flicked slightly as his tail swished about, the spikes on the end of his tail scrapped along the ground. "I... can't believe it"

"I know it's a lot to take in young one, but you are special. I know that all of us Queens and Kings have done terrible things" She looked back at the royals who all sat around the table, looks of guilt overshadowing them while Diamond continued.

"But you must understand that you will never stop being an Icewing, for you can choose to remain as an Icewing if you so wish. You will also have the ability of Animus, one that... Has had a bad reputation... Though, when we all merge with your soul, you will never have to worry about overusing your magic, and you will remain as you, even when we are connected to your soul!" She quickly said when she noticed the concern spilling over his expressions.

Snowheart thought about it for a few minutes, Diamond kept her white-scaled forepaws on his chest, making sure to keep him calm while the rest of the royals watched with bated breath. He then raised his head, looking at Queen Diamond once more with determination in his eyes.

"I'll do it" The royals all smiled before Diamond clapped her forepaws together twice. "Excellent! Now, just relax on the table, in the middle, and we shall start"

It had been weeks since Snowheart had fallen into the underground ravine that lay below the frozen lake, and the search teams that had been sent down had come back with nothing. She had struggled to eat and drink, the sorrow still gripped her hard as a stream of new tears flowed down her beautiful face.

"Icesheet? Oh darling, you haven't touched your seal and polar bear meat!" Glacier made her way over to Icesheet, gently wrapping her wings around the other female, feeling Icesheet turn her head as she began to sob once more into her chest. This was by now a common occurrence, since Glacier, her mate and their daughters, including all the Icewings in the palace knew how close Icesheet and Snowheart were.

"Shhh, it's going to be okay, We'll find him" Glacier gently rubbed Icesheet's back, allowing the younger female to let out her grief, hearing her wail loudly which was accompanied by hiccups. She felt the cool tears splatter on her chest, not minding it one bit for she knew Icesheet needed the comfort that she desperately needed.

Oh Snowheart, where are you, my dear child

Glacier let a single tear roll down her cheek, for she and her family had also mourned Snowheart's death. "easy Icesheet, if you don't eat, you and that egg inside of you will not get the nutrients you both need"

a few days after the battle, Icesheet had fallen ill, and during her recovery from her sickness, the royal medical team discovered that Icesheet was carrying a single egg.

At first Icesheet was shocked, but then she remembered the night they had made love in the complex, for they had properly bred, meaning that the Moon tea hadn't worked, not that she minded, for now she would have a dragonet to look after, something to remind herself of her lover.

"I'll... try" Icesheet whispered, slowly reaching down to grab the silver plate before she took a slice of Polar bear meat and bit into it. As soon as the flavour hit her tastebuds, her body demanded that she eat as much as possible, yet she reminded herself to take small bites, and not be messy.

"There you go, relax and eat up, then grab some sleep, you need as much food, water and sleep as you can get" Glacier whispered gently to Icesheet, running her forepaw down the length of Icesheet's back, each one of her back spines rattling together while Glacier stayed with Icesheet, keeping an eye on her unofficial Daughter-In-Law.

Your Majesty... I-I'm sorry for being weak" Icesheet looked up at Glacier, yet all she saw was a Queen who showed nothing but a loving, caring side to her, her arctic blue eyes full of concern.

After a few minutes, Icesheet laid down on her bed, the silver plate was now empty of meat as Glacier gently picked it up and placed it on the small table beside the bed. Icesheet was in Snowheart's room, and had refused to leave it, she had worked hard to keep it spotless, aiming to keep it as tidy as possible, yet over time, as her pregnancy sickness became worse, she remained in bed, eating, drinking and having Snowheart's sisters and parents check on her.

A small bulge by now was just visible at Icesheet's abdomen, allowing her to let a small smile spread when she rubbed a forepaw across it gently.

"He would have been an amazing father," Icesheet said, yet felt tears threaten to cascade down her face once more when she thought of Snowheart.

"I know darling, I know, but all we can do now is remember for who he was, and the new life that grows within here" Glacier gently placed a forepaw upon Icesheet's stomach, patting it gently before pulling back, a few more tears had slipped down her white cheeks before she turned and made her way towards the door to the room.

"Would you like more to eat Icesheet?" Glacier asked, a motherly tone covering her words while Icesheet looked towards Glacier, giving a little nod.

"I'll love some more" Icesheet then relaxed in bed, closing her eyes while she pulled the quilt over her, humming to herself while Glacier sent a servant to fill the plate up with all types of meat once more.

a tiny whimper filled their ears when Mink came into the room, looking up at her mother while tears rolled down her small face, she then sat on her haunches, her bottom lip trembling before she reached up with her forearms toward Glacier.

"Mommy, I want my Brover!" Glacier felt her heart crack when she listened to her youngest daughter sob loudly, reaching down, the Queen scooped her wailing daughter up, hugging her gently before she started to hum a gentle tone to her all the while cradling the little dragonet as she continued to let out all her built up sadness.

"I know baby, shhh, it's going to be okay" She then made her way over to the bed Icesheet was lying in, and gently sat down on it, still holding Mink who continued to ball her eyes out as fresh tears rushed down her face like two mini waterfalls, little hiccups lets the dragonet's mouth before she felt another pair of talons rub her back gently. Mink slowly calmed down while Icesheet and Glacier both worked together to relax the little dragonet.

"It's okay Mink, He may be gone, but we need to remember him for who he way" Icesheet struggled to say when Crystal and Snowfall came in, both their eyes bloodshot as well as dried streams of tears covered their cheeks. King Frostbite had also struggled to keep it together, yet he had refused his wife or daughters to even attempt to do their duties, saying that Glacier and their daughters needed more time to grieve.

"Mum... I-I can't sleep" Snowfall whimpered, looking defeated as she let her wings sprawl out all over the place, she didn't have her Tiara, something that Glacier noticed on both her older daughters, yet she didn't tell them off, or bark at them, for she knew that they needed to get past this wall of pain first, the pain of losing someone so precious to them.

Snowheart slowly came to once more, after the process of having each of the Queens and Kings become one with his soul, he noticed at first that his vision had improved by quite a bit, allowing him to see better in the dark.

It seems our plan worked... How do you feel Prince Snowheart?

King Icelance questioned, appearing in front of Snowheart while Snowheart struggled onto his feet, letting out a heavy sigh as he felt his joints ache from lying still for so long.

"I am well thank you, Your Majesty... What do I do now?" He gave a tilt of his head, looking at Icelance who closed his eyes before opening them, his wings held in a regal position as he began speaking.

"Now, we have a war to stop, and to do that, you must go and find the Dragonets of destiny and help them stop this war, for it has gone on longer than expected" Snowheart frowned at this, looking down before he looked back up at Icelance, to see that he had vanished.

Go now Snowheart, quickly! For the fate of the world, now rests with you!

Snowheart gave it a thought before he breathed in, he was about to fly up when Diamond spoke up.

Darling, remember that you have animus, grab that necklace on the table, it is already enchanted for the wearer to teleport anywhere they like, but it only works for you dear Snowheart

Snowheart looked at the edge of the table, seeing that there was indeed a colourful necklace lying on the table. Slowly, he made his way over to it, scooping it up in his forepaw before he slipped it around his neck.

"U-um... Teleport me to... the Seawing Kingdom?" The space around him became distorted for a few seconds, followed by a bright light. He suddenly felt sand under his talons as the sound of waves lapping against the beach filled his ears.

I-I-It... worked! Snowheart exclaimed with excitement, opening his eyes to see the beautiful ocean in front of him before he looked down to see the beach, along with a little crab who seemed interested by this unknown white island that had appeared before it.

"Sorry little crab, but I'm no land to claim" He picked up the crab which was climbing up his foreleg, and gently placed it in the shallow waters, watching it scurry away before he focused back on the task.

"Now, where are those dragonets?" He questioned, yet just as he was about to fly up into the sky, he heard a regal yet hate filled feminine voice.

"Hey! Stop right there Icewing!"

Oh fuck Snowheart thought to himself.