"Don't you dare let anything happen to her, you hear?"

Apollo looks up from a rather interesting beetle he was examining that sat on his talons, meeting the older dragon's rust eyed gaze. Flare glared pointedly at him, like that would help get his point across.

"She'll be fine." He shook out his wings. "From what I heard about her Artemis can handle herself just fine." Apollo tossed his head to gesture at the purple Nightwing, who was currently exchanging farewells and good luck to her friends before they went on their way.

It was the day after the party, and the sun was slowly inching it's way out of the cover of the horizon. Geode had woken them all up and suggested(which by suggested, he means demanded, but Apollo would've listened anyway) that they set off to warn the queens as quick as possible. So that brings them here, at the Hawk's Edge ready to take off into the unknown.

He wasn't so happy about traveling with her, mostly because of the fact that she kept insisting she was one of her kind and not a Daywing. He purposely ignored the similarities they shared, though. It was freaking him out and leading to the fact that she was right. And when it came to disputes with Apollo, he was always right. Not the other way around. But other than that Artemis seemed fairly nice. This gave him a chance to get to know her a little better.

Apollo adjusted the black mask around his face as he thinks this, receiving an eye roll from Flare.

"What?" He looked up his snout at the red dragon, narrowing his eyes.

"I just don't understand why you have to wear that ridiculous mask all the time. Heck, you even sleep with it on."

"It helps hide my identity as a thief!" He countered, mumbling. "Plus it looks cool.."

Flare snorted smoke from his nose. "Whatever floats your goat, dude."

Apollo paused at the remark, but his question was cut short as Geode landed grandly beside him. He panicked and gave a quick salute, but ended up smacking himself in the face.

The hybrid just smiled at him and shook his head softly. Apollo stood still now, wondering what was going on inside Geode's head. Clearly he wasn't laughing at him, was he? Apollo inwardly sighed. He always saw the dragon as a fatherly figure. Not just that, but a teacher. He hated to see the disappointment on his face when he screwed up. So he's been trying to be as obedient and loyal as a son and student would be. It worked, most of the time. But he still liked having his own ideas here and then.

His real father, the one that raised him, was like this to him as well, definitely. But Apollo had to find someone to guide him when he ended up going off into the war. One of the rare times the Rogues were involved in a fight that wasn't supposed to involve them. But they were allies with the Deepwings, due to them helping them a few hundred years ago when goings got tough and they needed healthier soil for farming. So they owed them. A dispute between the Deepwings and Cavewings back when Apollo was only about a year old. His father vanished without a trace in the heat of the battle, and to this day he and his mother still wait for him to return. Others assume he's dead, but Apollo feels otherwise.

Someday, when he's older, he'll find his father. When years of busting out of jail on his own, stealing and learning to track stealthily it'll all pay off.

"Apollo, you ready to go?" A sharp nudge to his wing brings him to attention, and he snaps back into reality. Artemis stands beside him, a bag over her neck along with a canteen for water, and a miniature Desert Rogue flag wrapped around her wrist. Just to prove to Queen Shade they were here on account of the Rogues, he presumed.

Apollo nodded and hoisted his own bag and canteen over his head to rest neatly against his chest. It carried the essentials. Food, extra water, medical supplies, and a dagger just in case things got dicey.

Artemis smiled slightly and took one last glance over at her friends. Mamba grinned at her and spread starred wings that mirrored Artemis's own. Then Artemis and Apollo lifted into the air, finally on their way to the beautiful and mysterious Magic Kingdom.

~~~~~

"It's this way."

"No it isn't, see, we're right here-"

"Gah! You stabbed a hole in the map!"

"It's not my fault my talons are always sharp and I'm always prepared for battle."

"But what did the paper ever do to you? Did it intimidate you with its scaaaaary yellow tinge-"

"I swear I'm going to shove you into a storm cloud-"

"You wouldn't dare-"

"Watch me-"

"Wait!" Artemis stalled, smacking Apollo in the face with her wing in the process. Although it didn't really feel like an accident.

"What, are you scared of getting electrocuted or something-"

She glared very harshly at that last comment. "No, shut up!" She shook his arm and pointed the map. "Look."

Apollo looked. There was a large tree near the territory of the Magicwings, which , if he glanced up, could definitely been seen from here. Big, blueish purple, swaying in the wind. A bit hard to miss.

"Okay, so there's a tree, yay." He says dryly. "How's this supposed to help us again?"

Artemis nearly slapped him on the shoulder, stopping herself and growling in frustration. "Oh you're hopeless." She gestured out to the island shore in front of her. Apollo saw nothing but charcoal sand leading up to some iridescent green and purple trees. Wait a minute. He glanced down at the map again, mentally matching a break in the trees on the map to a less dense area to the left of them.

"The entrance to the kingdom." They said in unison, then taking a moment to stare weirdly at one another.

Artemis suddenly folded her wings in and dropped, Apollo soon following after. She landed in a spray of black sand, anticipation clearly making her wings twitch. The storms near them made the grey sky crackle with energy, making the small shred of blue sky look like a magical illusion.

"Hey, calm down." He said, flicking sand from his eyes. "Your nervousness is going to rub off on me soon enough."

"I just don't particularly trust this area." She says, eyeing the ocean behind her with an emotion Apollo couldn't quite place.

He paused awkwardly. "Well. We'll be alright. We're in Magicwing territory now, right? Just where we wanted to be. What could go wrong."

She brought her talons over her necklace, sighing. "Yeah. Okay. Go ahead and get a quick snack before we head off again. Who knows how crazy this forest is gonna end up to be. We might take a day just to find the castle."

Apollo nodded, and something pricked at the end of his neck. Like an irritating parasite, wriggling under scales. He didn't like the feeling and wasn't sure of what to make of it. Did his or Artemis's own words really cause him dread? Or was it something about this place...?

He ate a bag of sliced fruits that he brought along for his snack, him and Artemis then sharing a decent sized dried lizard that he snapped in half. After downing half the fresh river water in their canteens, they decided it was time to go.

~~~~~

Welcome to the Magicwing Forest.

A place where nightmares were born and dreams are smothered with blood and death. Lots of death. And blood. And creepy bugs that nobody had a clue to what the heck they were, along with lots of strange animals. But it wasn't just the insects and other animals that were scary. No, nooooo. The plants were literally horrifying!

A venus flytrap as big as Apollo, for instance, was horrifying. A moving, spiky vine that nearly strangled Artemis, was horrifying.

"If we don't..." He panted. "Come across... a castle..anytime soon.. I will literally.. Set this.. Whole place.. On fire.."

"I'd be glad to help." Artemis wheezed.

Apollo didn't even know if this was worth it anymore. He was covered in plant slime and bug guts, tired, frazzled, and extremely aware of the heavy breathing coming from the trees. Was this even considered a forest anymore? How about a rainforest/regular forest/deathtrap. Yes. That suited it much better. He felt much more vulnerable now that he had lost his dagger to a carnivorous plant back there. It was highly unnerving.

Artemis suddenly started walking faster, and Apollo wheezed at her to slow down, or at least warn him if something was coming to kill them from behind. He'd refuse to be taken out just like that. He wasn't that pathetic.

She yelled something at him, but there was a bug droning in his ear at the moment.

"What?" He called. But he noticed it before she could shout back an answer. Joy swelled in his chest as he looked down. A stone path. He took off, racing past Artemis as she started to run after him, now not having to worry about tripping over a root or stepping into the mouth of something. The nightmare forest slowly faded away, and he got a first glimpse of the castle.

It was shrowded from head to toe in a tree dome, which had the wooded plants twisting together to meet at the top. Dark walls barricaded the entrance, made of some sort of purple rock. The main parts of the castle were the same color with obsidian and gold spires. There was a large gold door at the front of the walls, with a large dragon head knocker. Which was for some reason, in the shape of a Daywing head... Trying not to be unnerved by this, Apollo stopped to admire the castle and catch his breath. Artemis came up close behind him, equally out of breath and awed. Grand purple, black, gold and silver flags waved at the tops of spires. And that's when Apollo realized, there was no open roof. Unlike most that were open at the top, they had a very tall roof that made sure no dragon could fly in.

Or out.

He tried not to become unnerved again. It didn't work.

"Holy moons." Artemis breathed, slumping on the stone path for a brief moment. "We did it."

Apollo nodded and continued to search his surroundings. The stone pathway continued forward, but the grass suddenly stopped. Strong ropes were spiderwebbed along the side, continuing the path for a little ways further. Apollo, a bit confused, walked forward a little bit to check and see why. His stomach flipped. A chasm stretched down into the earth, the walls now made of stone. Carvings graced every inch of it. But that wasn't the only marvel. A bustling community of dragons moved down in the chasm. Lights danced in windows of strange stone and wooden houses and shops, giving everything a warm feel. A whole network of bustling purple and blue Magicwings was going on right beside the castle, more or less. And as he watched, dragons flew up from the chasm and right into the palace.

"That's incredible." He said, looking back to see if Artemis was seeing the same thing he was. Sure enough, her wide blue eyes were pointed straight down into the chasm.

"I think we've ogled and admired enough." She says after a couple more minutes, stepping back from near the edge. "Shall we go introduce ourselves to the Queen?"

Apollo stared down at himself. He looked like a gold coin that had been dropped in a vat of green who knows what, then tossed into the mud to be cleaned off instead of a bucket of water. Artemis shared the same look, just less like a coin and more like an amethyst.

"Let's freaking do this." He smiled.

~~~
*collapses* 2030 words. You're welcome. I'll be writing more on the way to Texas.