"Sorry about my mother." Dingo said as they descended the tunnel slowly. "I...love her, buuuut, she can be...pushy sometimes." They came to a large, dark cave with fewer and fewer lamps as it went along. Chrystal turned towards him with a "no, really?" expression. Dingo looked at her with a face like he was trying not to laugh. They came to a small, damp looking cell at the end of the tunnel, where the lamplights just barely reached. Dingo took a heavy, rusty looking key from around his neck and slid it into the lock, wiggling it before the door swing open with a heavy creak. He pushed Chrystal inside and closed the door again, locking it with the same key. Dingo turned to go, but Chrystal saw him suddenly hesitate before he reached back in with a slender silver key and unlocked the binding around her mouth. It clunked off her face and he caught it in his talons, setting it down gingerly on the floor. 

"There you go." He said with the smallest of smiles. "It probably won't do you much good though." He gestured to the thick bars and tilted his head at Chrystal. She glowered at him for a moment.

"Oh, very thoughtful aren't you?" She spat, gesturing to the dark tunnel. Now Dingo was definitely smiling. He chuckled and turned away, his tail slithering on the cold floor. Chrystal sighed and looked around the cell. It was surprisingly small and cold, which was actually a relief to Chrystal. It had a small patch of dirty looking fabric in the corner and a bucket of water at the far edge of it. Well. She thought. Better than nothing, I guess. She walked in a circle and laid down, glaring at the cell door like she could open it with the sheer force of her glare. 

"Pssst." A voice suddenly hissed from the shadows off to Chrystal's left. "Pssssssst." The voice hissed again, louder this time. Chrystal looked wildly around until her eyes landed on a pair of midnight black eyes in the cell next door to her. He waved his dark yellow talons excitedly. The SandWing stepped into the faint light. The SandWings underbelly and wings were a light sandy yellow and even stranger, his spines were completely black leading all the way to a black barbed tail. His forked tongue slipped through his teeth as he pressed his head towards her. "What are you here for?" He smiled with all his teeth. 

"Umm," Chrystal said. "I was...captured, I guess." The SandWing yawned. 

"Oh, boring. Do you want to know how I got here?" 

"Not rea-" Chrystal started. 

"I was in a battle and I came this close to killing Blister's son." He grinned, assessing her with lightning sharp reflexes. "But she caught me and locked me here as 'punishment'." 

"And you are?" Chrystal arched her brows and yawned with sarcastic air. 

"Diamondback's my name, killing is my game." He bowed.

"Really?" Chrystal said, surprised maybe she did have more in common with this SandWing then she thought. Diamondback's grin suddenly faltered as a new voice cut in.

"Could you two idiots keep your yappers shut. Some of us are trying to sleep." The voice was sour and had a slight rasp to it. Chrystal look around wildly for the source of the voice.

"Who is that?" Chrystal inquired. Diamondback shrugged. 

"Dunno. She's been her way longer than me. Every time someone asks about her..." He trailed off with a shudder. Chrystal stalked closer to the voice, which was in the cell next to her. She saw scar-covered silvery blue scales shift out of the corner of her eye and unmistakeable IceWing spikes down the dragons back.

"What are you looking at?" The voice snapped, cutting off suddenly in a fit of coughs. 

"You." Chrystal answered simply, stalking closer. "Woah," Chrystal spotted the scars, claw marks it looked like, running all the way down the IceWing's body. "What happened to you?" 

"I got attacked. What's it to you?" The IceWing's scarred face tilted towards Chrystal. 

"Have we...met before?" Chrystal felt like she recognized the IceWings face. She flipped through all the IceWing she knew. The IceWing glared at her ferociously. 

"I don't think so. I haven't seen any other IceWing's since...since it happened." The IceWings voice wobbled and she coughed for a minute. 

"Since what happened?" Chrystal's voice was slow. 

"I was...out on a ranking test with my sister, and we got attacked by a bear. She got knocked out and I fled. I..." The IceWing gulped, her voice shuddering. "I don't know what happened to my sister. I was too young to face a bear all on my own. That's where I got all these scars." She gestured to the scars running along her wings. Chrystal began to shake. No. It...it can't be. It's not possible. Nope. NOPE! This is NOT HAPPENING. 

"Whats your sister's name?" Chrystal's question came out with a lurch, as if her throat was covered with thorns. The IceWing gave her a sharp glance. The IceWing coughed for a moment before answering. 

"Chrystal." Chrystal stepped back, her mind whirling suddenly. No. No! NO! This can't possibly be happening!

"Ok." Chrystal suddenly said. "This is going to sound a little awkward but I'm your sister." Borealis didn't shriek or collapse in delight. She just stood there, blinking at Chrystal for a moment.

"Riiiiight. And I'm Queen Glacier of the IceWings. My sister is dead." Borealis rolled her eyes. 

"If I were dead, how would I have this?" Chrystal lifted up her arm to reveal a small white bead bracelet with a glass snowflake in the middle. Borealis looked at it with disbelieving horror and, with shaking talons, lifted up her front arm to reveal the bracelet wrapped around it. It matched Chrystal's exactly. 

"Chrystal?" Borealis whispered in a hoarse voice. She coughed. Suddenly, she launched herself forward to wrap her scarred talons around Chrystal's. "Chrystal, I though you were dead!" 

"I thought you were dead. Mother and Father told me..." She trailed off. "How did you survive?" 

Borealis's face darkened. "Well, the bear attacked you and knocked you out. I tried to help, but it was way too strong for me. I escaped out a little hole in the roof and left. Then, I got captured by Blister, and...well, here I am." She shrugged. 

"Hey, I hate to break up the party, but weren't some dragons here just complaining about the noise. Ahem, ahem." Diamondback cut in. 

"Zip it, pie-face." Borealis glared at Diamondback with searing hatred. He lifted his talons with an innocent expression, daring to grin at Chrystal. She shook her head and looked back at Borealis. She still couldn't wrap her head around it. Borealis was alive. She tried to remember what Mother had said. 

"We never found the body, we assume the bear had "taken care of it". We only found you. You can imagine how disappointed we were. Anyway, any dragon could have guessed from the blood. Just face it, your sister is dead." 

The memory faded from Chrystal's head. They never found the body. They weren't absolutely positive she was dead. It isn't my fault. 

"Of course it isn't!" Borealis laughed a little, and Chrystal realized she must have said something out loud. "Why would someone think it your fault? That is absolutely absurd!" She laughed again, but doubled over coughing and hacking hard. 

"Borealis," Chrystal hesitated. "Why do you cough?" Borealis's face twitched, but she stepped forward into the light so Chrystal could see her face more. She gestured to a particularly wicked looking claw mark on her neck. Almost half of the scar was on her throat. 

"This. I...sometime I just can't breath. I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time left." She smiled faintly.  Chrystal let go of Borealis's claws suddenly at the sound of a tail slithering down the hallway. Blister, followed by Dingo, stepped out in front of Chrystal's cell. Diamondback slunk to the back of his cell, and Borealis stepped back. 

"Sssssssooooooo." Blister hissed, long and loud. "Have you...made your decision?"

"Yes." Chrystal stared back at her. She hesitated, feeling the prickle of Borealis's eyes on her. "I'll do it."

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Okay! 

Hi again! This was one of my longer chapters, but I had a lot to say! Thanks for reading again! Have fun!