"A Hybrid?"

Shade nodded, smiling slightly.
He had finally gotten the old mage's attention.
She looked at him intensely through her prison window, her eyes narrowed. It seemed as though his words still weren't enough for the incredulous woman. "You're a liar."
"No, I'm not! You can practically see the magic coming from her when she's around. I know new Guardians would be appointed eventually, but I don't trust anyone else to protect her. The demise beasts are all after a Hybrid now, and it's her! Anyone else would turn her in to them, but I- "
"Leave me alone." The wizened mage retreated back into her chambers, shadows smothering her almost immediately. "Criminals in Outerworld will say almost anything to get themselves released. How do I know you're not like them? How do I know you haven't simply concocted this story to get help?" She chuckled. "You Guardians only ever speak about honor and loyalty, but it's just talk. If this wretched girl truly does exist, she's probably already dead or imprisoned due to your foolish actions. Now, go away and don't bother me. I need to rest."
This had Shade's blood boiling. At first he had flinched at the idea of Kara dying. She wasn't..she couldn't be dead! That would mean he had failed in his task as a Guardian. Failure would result in punishment, surely, but that wasn't what was bothering him. He knew other fairies wouldn't care, but Kara..Kara was someone he could count on to be there for him. She was kind, too, even when he had been altered by a spell and was unrecognizable. Though she was sort of dense sometimes, she was sweet and interesting and honest and...was honestly all the things Shade had been told humans weren't. Now an old hag was trying to tell him to give up, to assume that his chosen one was dead or dying and there was nothing he could do about it.
It was infuriating. She didn't know the situation or him. He soon made up his mind. Shade wasn't about to let some ugly, old, pathetic excuse for a mage tell him, of all things, that he wasn't good enough for her.
He turned around to the window and looked through the window, angrily searching for his fellow prisoner.
There! She was in the left corner , her body hunched and her expression unreadable in the persistent gloom. Shade slammed his fist against the window bars, ignoring the pain that came from it. "Hey!"
There was no response. Shade yelled again. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"
"Yes, and I seem to not care."
That did it. Shade hit the wall again, harder this time, and then cried out, finally noticing the pain in his hand. He slid down onto the floor, wincing. His right knuckle was bloody, and he cradled it in his other hand, wincing as he tried to stop the bleeding with his fingers. This was an awkward thing to do, since his hands were bound close together. Blood stained his cuffs as he struggled and gritted his teeth. The mage's laughter made him lift his head in absolute fury. "What? What's so funny?"
"Your ignorance." Shade stood up, ready to attack her at this point, but before he could do anything, his legs seized up and he was stuck standing still. He had seen the telltale flashes of light, and knew this was the mage's doing. He grabbed the bars on the window to try to pull himself forward, but in a matter of seconds, the mage had frozen his arms, too. 
"Stop, child. Calm down and I might just offer my assistance."
Shade writhed around in an attempt to move. When nothing significant came from this, he gave in. "Fine. How can you help?"
"I know of an old story, one that has been passed down for a long while in my family. It tells of a prisoner. She was young, like you, with a strong cause to follow. The only difference was that she had a dragon companion, and when she wanted to escape, her dragon burned down the walls and led her to safety."
Shade stared at her blankly. All of his hopes of escaping had just left him, as abruptly as a candle being put out. "Are you serious? What's an old wives' tale got to do with m-"
Suddenly, there was a dry sensation in his throat. It was like he had swallowed a handful of sand. He coughed, then coughed again until the dryness faded. His lungs burned from the action. Something gray hung in the air in front of him, something kind of like-
"Smoke." The mage's eyes lit up. "Do you have fire magic?"
"Uh, no..not really." Shade stood up and looked at the smoke that was steadily rising up to the ceiling. Had that come from him? He felt sick and..rather confused. "I mean, it's not my strong suit." Shade put a hand to his head. It had started to pound dully. "I don't understand. Nothing like this has ever happened before."
The dry sensation worsened. Shade coughed again, and more smoke rose up to the high ceiling. He shook his head and settled down further onto the floor. "Never mind. I have no way to make fire, let alone dragon fire!" The dryness increased again, but Shade ignored it and continued to shout at the mage angrily.
"This is useless! I'm going to die down here, and she'll be taken away! I-"
Shade broke off into another coughing fit. Great Skies, what was this? It hurt to cough now, the sand-like feeling returning. He coughed again, and something blue went up in front of his face, something with searing, brilliant heat. Startled by this, Shade scrambled backwards to roughly hit the wall behind him. The mage snickered again, and and he shot a look of utter hatred at her.
"You..used magic to mess with me," he said, his voice raspy. "That's the only explanation."
"That was not my work." The mage smiled again, leaning in close to the window to look at the smoke that still lingered. "You did this. The changes of a past spell are still within you, aren't they? You must've been a creature that could breathe fire, and..what kind of fire was it?"
"A dragon's fire," he realized. "A dragon's..fire! I can get out of here!"
The mage nodded. "I saw the hint of magic that surrounded you from the moment you first arrived. Just concentrate on your other form and the fire should come forth for you."
Shade nodded too and racked his brain. He had lost his regular memories, but his memories of being a scaly creature with flaming breath were still there. He focused on one moment in particular, the one where he had attacked the red haired Gifted fairy with his fire. Shade's throat dried out again, and he gagged.
Warmth rose up in him, but so did dizziness. He forced himself to stay standing and put his back against the wall of his cell, turning towards the locked door ahead of him. His dark hair stuck to his forehead from the heat, but he kept going. Shade opened his mouth, and an inferno surged forth from him towards the iron clad door. The door made a creaking sound, and then melted like a silvery glacier, falling apart before his eyes. Shade almost stumbled, but then wiped his mouth and stepped over the metallic puddle that used to be the cell door.
He started to run down the hallway, but the mage stopped him before he could go. "Wait, boy. Since I helped you, you now have to help me in return."
Shade didn't have to be told what she wanted, but he wasn't sure if he should help. "Can you be trusted?"
"I am old, child. What could I do that could be deemed untrustworthy?"
Shade thought it over. The mage was old and frail. She couldn't do much of anything, really.
"Fair enough." The door came down quickly, melting as fast as his door had before. The woman crept out of the cell slowly.
"Thank you." She smiled again and waved her hand in a peculiar way. Sparkling light went around Shade, then dispersed soon after. Shade blinked, puzzled, then turned to the old lady with a worried glance. "What did you do?"
"Nothing..I've just returned something you've lost." She chuckled softly, then walked right past him, into the hall ahead of them without even so much as a goodbye. Shade watched her go, then left too, his mind on his family. Kara was important, but so was Reena, and his mother hadn't seen him since he had arrived, disoriented, at her front step. She had been heartbroken at the sight of him. He had to go back and fix that.
Wait..why do I know that? That woman wasn't my mom...was she? The mage! Her magic around him...he knew at once what she had done, and his heartbeat sped up significantly. He remembered them, all of them now! Well..not all of them, but it was better than nothing. He sped down the hall as fast as he could, and turned a corner. Shade thought of the sniveling servant that had brought him here. In your face! He thought. I'm getting out, and I'm gonna find Kara. Maybe next time you'll pay more attention to what could actually be a threat.