Cold.

Everything was cold...

For the moons' sake I'm not an IceWing! Why was everything so blasted cold?

I wish she was here....

She was warm.... She used to sing to me.

She didn't mind I was this way, an Outcast... She didn't mind I got angry..

But, I hurt her. I hurt her real bad once. Now she won't come back.

She probably hates me now...

Just like everyone else.

God, I wish it weren't so cold...

Startide curled up in the cold, soggy sands on the east beaches of who-knows-where. He guessed somewhere in the Sand Kingdom's outskirts, by look of the bleak beaches, and the sounds of dragonets laughing happily in Jade Mountain Academy. This valley was really echoey... It made him feel alone.

An Outcast.

Every little dragon up there warm and fed was normal. Their genetics weren't shot to heck and back. They could lead lives uniting the tribes how the big, fancy Dragonets of Destiny wanted. Their parents weren't ashamed of them, they had parents at the least. The only dragon he could come close to being compared to was Sunny. Sure, she was a hybrid, but she was also a hero, and everyone overlooked that detail simply because she helped save the world. And Startide was down here, cold, alone, buried up to his neck in wet slushy sand.

He wanted to be a hero too. He told himself he had to be! He wanted to unite Pyrrhia as much as any other sniveling dragon, hybrid or otherwise. He wanted to make the world see that he was an equal, if not superior with his varied abilities and animus powers. Mum told him being an animus wasn't all uncommon for hybrids. That he and those like him were powerful, even dangerous. Startide would admit, if he was anything, it was dangerous.

Startide's pet hissed softly. Ivan, the snake, was very cold. Startide couldn't tell what kind of snake Ivan was, but he was just as dangerous as the dragon. A dynamic  duo, Startide's only friend. Ivan was long and thick, probably a constrictor, but he had venomous fangs too.

Startide let Ivan wrap around his neck, and feed off the feeble body heat that Startide could give off. Then the dragon laid down in the sand, shut his eyes, and forced himself to sleep.