After locating the rest of their friends, the group headed back to JMA, sending Rosella, Sage, Pax, Raven straight to the infirmary despite the dragonets insistence that they were fine.

Boysen stayed behind at the Hybrid Pollution House to hunt for any leftover information and to make sure the place was thoroughly demolished. He was also in charge of watching the Icewing that had threatened Mora. 

Beluga, they had learned her name was. Thorn was sending guards to lock her up in the Stronghold until she, Joy, and Snowfall could have a nice little chat about what to do with her.

And seeing as two royal dragonets had been kidnapped during Beluga's regime, they all had a feeling that Joy would not let the Icewing off with a light sentence.

Joy was a good queen, in Deathbringer's opinion, but she was fiercely loyal to her tribes and family. If someone was hurt, killed, or mildly threatened, she usually demanded blood. Glory said she was poor at diplomacy and non violent reasoning, but Deathbringer thought that was a good thing. The other Queens were a little afraid of her, and that gave the Rainforest an added level of protection.

Speaking of Glory. The Rainwing was waiting at the entrance to the school, her scales red and orange with anger and annoyance as the group landed.

"Deathbringer." She growled, locking her eyes on the Nightwing. Deathbringer took one look at her and paled.

".....Nope." He proclaimed, taking off and flying away from the school. 

"Did he really just run away?" Wren questioned.

"I would've run." Raven agreed. "That's a scary dragon."

"But by running, he's only confirming his own death." Wren objected.

"That's his problem."

"He's so dead."

"We know."

Mora and Tsunami opted to tell the rest of the DOD what had gone down while Clay forced everyone else into the infirmary so he could make sure no one was injured.

But while Rosella passed Clay's inspection, Parch was a bit more thorough.

"I'm fine." She declared as Parch examined practically her every scale with worry.

"Are you sure about that?" He replied. She grabbed his talons in hers.

"I'm okay," She assured him. "You saved me."

"I should've saved you sooner. Who knows what they would've done to you in that place."

"It was nothing too bad," Rosella shook her head. "They were testing how quickly I'd heal from things. Burns, scratches. They tugged out one of scales, even." Parch fought back a growl at the thought. The idea of anyone harming a scale of Rosella made him want to murder something.

And, well, he had.

"It shouldn't have happened. I should've protected you better."

"Protected Schrotected. I'm fine, and you saved me when it mattered, and the bad guys are gone now. Problem solved."

"Okay," Parch sighed. She smiled at him, and he grinned in return. "I missed you though."

"I missed you too." 

"Parch!" Prism called from the front of the infirmary. "The teachers wanna talk to you." Parch rolled his eyes.

"I'll be right back." He told Rosella, kissing her quickly. Teal scowled at the hybrid from across the room.

"I see you haven't changed at all," Sage commented to him, picking at the bandage Clay had wrapped around her arm.

"I don't like him." Teal declared. "He's a murderer."

"Dude, you come from a whole family of murderers." Sage objected. "You gotta deal with it." Teal shook his head.

"How are you?" He asked. Sage gasped sarcastically.

"Oh, so he does care!" She proclaimed. "I'm fine. I'm alive. Peachy. Dandy. Just been locked up in a torture House for a little while. How's your day going?" Teal half smiled.

"I didn't realize you were so sarcastic."

"Only when I'm talking to stupid dragons." She grinned. "Do you know where my dumb brother is?"

"Probably flirting with Aria or something."

"True. He's over the moons for her."

"Which could be bad, considering he can't talk to the moons."

"Aria can talk to the moons?"

"I don't know. I can't keep track of it anymore."

"Me neither." Sage shrugged. "I'm gonna go see if Clay will let me out of here. I wanna write all about this before I forget, and hide the writing in the library so that they can't erase it from history."

So she headed off, and Teal bee-lined for his sister.

"Hey," She offered. "Wazzup?"

"You okay?" He questioned. She nodded. "Good. You shouldn't trust Parch." He said bluntly. Rosella groaned.

"This again?" She asked. "Why not?"

"Didn't you see him back in the House? He murdered all those dragons."

"Yeah, bad dragons who were going to hurt and kill me." Rosella objected. "Parch saved my life."

"And ended half a dozen more lives. How do you know all those Icewings were bad? What if they were forced into working for the Hybrid Pollution Houses?"

"Are you trying to defend the dragons that were torturing me, and Pax, and our friends?"

"No! I'm just saying that we didn't know their side of the story, and Parch shouldn't have killed them all like that."

"Parch did nothing wrong."

"He's a psychopath, Rose. I saw the look in his eye when he was killing those Icewings. He's insane."

"No, you're insane. Parch is sweet and protective. So he killed a couple bad dragons. So what?"

"So he's a murderer! What if he loses it and goes Albatross and kills you?" Rosella narrowed her eyes.

"Parch is not going to murder me. He loves me."

"And what if you stop loving him and he decides to kidnap you and never let you go?"

"You've been reading too many scrolls, Teal. Parch is a good dragon."

"Oh, and so is Cyan?"

"No, Cyan's pure evil. Parch is good."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know him!" Rosella declared. "I know his heart, Teal, and he would never hurt anyone that didn't deserve it. He's a good guy, and you need to stop obsessing with the idea that he's not." Teal looked skeptical, but he let the conversation go.

*****

He found Parch by the entrance of JMA later that night, sitting on the edge of the mountain and looking out. Teal sat beside him.

"Hey Teal," Parch offered, still gazing out.

"Parch." He replied shortly. Parch sighed.

"Why don't you like me?" Parch questioned. "I've tried to get you to like me, but apparently nothing works. So why?"

"...Because I just watched you murder half a dozen dragons without a second thought as to who they were. You slaughtered them like a heartless maniac, with no regard."

"They were going to hurt Sellie."

"But what if one of them had been innocent? Just mixed in with the wrong crowd, and you killed him." Parch shrugged.

"Sometimes dragons are just in the wrong place at the wrong time." 

"And that makes it okay?"

"No." Parch insisted. He glanced at Teal. "But I do what it takes to protect the dragons I care about, Teal. I'll always do that. I looked in that room and I saw dragons that were going to hurt Sellie, and nothing more. They had to go, and that was that." Tela stared at him.

"You have no remorse about killing any of them, do you?"

"No, I don't."

"You're a psychopath, Parch." Parch raised his eyebrows.

"That's what you think?" He questioned.

"That's a fact." Teal retorted. "And the day you turn on my sister-"

"I will never do anything to hurt your sister."

"The day you harm her," Teal went on. "I will be the one to end you."

"That day will never come." Parch declared.

"Good." Teal offered. "That's how I want it to be."