Only one thought orbited Firefly's head. Well, multiple thoughts that were basically the same.

WHERE'S LYCHEE ?!! IS SHE ALIVE ?! WHERE'S CLANDESTINE ? DID SHE HEAR THE MURDERER COME ? WHERE'S NEMERTEA ? AND SCARP ? AND ARETE ? AND MIRE ? DID THEY GET EVERYONE OUT ?! WHERE'S MIRA-

"They're over there !" someone yelled from beside her. Firefly tore her eyes from the blazing fire beneath her to see Mirage pointing a claw at the clearing where they are dinner.

She let out a sigh of relief when she remembered Mirage was right by her side, hovering in the smoky air with her. Another one escaped her mouth when her eyes landed on the colorful figures of her friends in the distance. Her panick slowly subsided, along with the dark green and brown that had taken over her Raining scales.

Firefly nearly missed Mirage plummeting down to join their friends, feeling ridiculously relieved at the fact that they were all alive to the point where she forgot she was also a living dragon herself.

She lifted her snout to the sky, thanking the moons, before soaring down after Mirage.

They touched down on the hard earth and immediately chose a dragon each to embrace. Firefly obviously picked Lychee, almost toppling the previously pale green Rainwing over with her bear hug.

"Oh you're okay !" Lychee exclaimed as yellow seeped into both of their ruffs.

"I am but what about you ?!" Firefly pretty much shrieked.

"I'm fine," she replied. "Clandestine warned us just in time."

They untangled their wings from each other's and only then did Firefly realise their winglet was not complete.

"Where is she then ?" Firefly tried to say as calmly as possible. "And are Arete and Mire with her too ?"

She was starting to panick again. WHERE ARE THEY ? WHAT ARE THEY DOING ? THEY MUST'VE MADE IT OUT !!

"... I don't know," Lychee murmured. "They told us to stay here before going back into the hut ."

Firefly's eye and wings twitched as she tried to keep her anxiety in a small air-tight jar. She was about to go to panick-attack-mode, a mode she didn't know she had, when three - no, four silhouettes came out of the faraway fire. Not long later, Firefly recognised the dragon figures as Arete, Clandestine, and Mire carrying a smaller dragon on her back.

Everything after that was a blur. Firefly and Lychee were pulled over to help Mire treat the small dragonet since they have been trained appropriately by the healers back in the rainforest. They drowned her charred body into a tiny pond and started rubbing off the ashes from her scales. Underneath the black were off-white scales and pointy light beige spikes. But there was more. A black tear drop scale was evident on the corners of both eyes, indicating that this dragonet was a Mudwing, Icewing, and Nightwing hybrid.

~~~~~~~

Large dragons of odd colors flew across the hazy night sky, carrying either a bucket of water or a bucket of damp mud. They were all frantic and ended up dumping the insides of those buckets in the wrong places. Not until dawn when Arete gave his assistance did they finally manage to extinguish the fire.

"How is she doing ?" Arete asked once his job was complete.

"She said she felt numb but in pain at the same time," Clandestine answered. The petite Nightwing was in the pond with the also petite hybrid, tails entwined and a black talon on top of muted white ones.

Firefly assumed they had been telephaticly talking since both seemed to be able to read minds. If not, how would she know how the dragonet felt ? I wonder what they were saying.

Clandestine heard her thoughts and responded. "She said her name was Kaolin but that's all. She's been going on and off for a long time."

"I'm sure she'll be fine after a week or two," Mire cut in. "Her burns are worst than Lychee's, afterall."

Firefly caught Lychee shuddering and turning blue-grey for a split second because of the memory. She brushed the side of her wings with her best friend and was able to comfort her enough to make the Rainwing convert her scales into a soft lavender, the color they had agreed on to be Lychee's next disguise.

Firefly felt another wing brush her other one, though. She snapped her head to the left and saw Mirage jerking his head to the direction of the burned down huts. She understood immediately.

They broke off from the group and made their way to the black grass patch. Firefly swept her tail from side to side, clearing the ground, before sitting down on her hind legs.

Mirage copied her actions and took his place directly in front of her. He let out a deep sigh before saying, "We can head back if you'd like to.."

Firefly saw shocked. "Go back ? To Jade Mountain ? But what about going to your island to find safety ?"

"I don't know if we'll be safe there," he confessed. "This killer obviously knows where we are. What if he or she just follows us back to the Kingdom of Sea ? How will you be safe then ?"

"Isn't that why they're here ?" Firefly argued, motioning to the dragonets surrounding the pond. "Clandestine did save us."

"You know that's not enough."

"What about your uncle Turtle ? I thought he'll be enchanting a barrier or something."

Mirage went silent. He had obviously forgotten that part of the plan.

He looked down at his talons, contemplating his next move. Firefly just stared at him, his eyes, to be specific. She was, yet again, drawn by them. This time, however, it wasn't simply because they were alluring, but because they held so much contrasting emotion in them. Shame, guilt, axienty, sadness and relief, content, and delight at the same time.

Firefly had to mentally slap herself when Mirage lifted his head back up so that she won't get distracted.

"You sure you don't want to retreat ?" he asked, almost pleading.

Butterflies partied in her stomach while something decided to push the 'self-distruct' button on her brain. She wanted to squeeze his tail with her's so badly if only they weren't facing each other.

Thank goodness her snout started to smile instead of exploding.

"I do miss having papayas for breakfast," she joked, ruff turning yellow with amusement.

Mirage broke into a grin that somehow broke her heart even more then when he was sad.

"I knew it !" he said dramatically. "You're not ready ! You can't survive like this any longer. We need to go home !"

Firefly rolled her eyes. "You sound like my dad."

"Haha," he deadpanned.

They both laughed and for a moment, they were just two carefree dragonets enjoying each other's company. No murderer, no assassin attempts, just them giggling together.

"You're just like him, you know ?" Mirage said out of the blue. "And your mom. You're just like both of your parents."

"Heh," she breathed out. "I guess so. It's not the first time someone told me that."

"It's a good thing," he reassured her, giving her a kind smile.

"Thanks," Firefly said, not wanting to risk saying anything else.

"No problem !" he beamed as he got up on all fours and started walking to the pond. "Tell me if you need a papaya or anything !"

One thought filled Firefly's mind at that moment.

Just let me stay here by your side. That would be enough.

Note : This has to be my favourite chapter so far because of 3 reasons :

1. I'm proud of the writing

2. New adorable homosexual ship that I'm super in love with and have many plans for but you probably don't understand yet

3. Hamilton reference