The gold dragon was bewildered, his eyes wide as Mimic shook the black dragon more awake.

"What is this?" He hissed, getting to his feet, teeth bared. Artemis sat nearby, her wings shivering and her eyes narrowed.

"Mimic." Snapped the Nightwing. "I swear to the Titans, if you don't get your filthy talons off me right now I'll-"

Mimic nonchalantly reached out with his talons, forcefully closing his mouth until the dragon flared his clipped wings in rage.

"Now, now, Scalebreaker. I'm sure you'd love to show off the meaning of your name, but it's simply not the time. I would think you'd be happier." He gestured out to Artemis and Apollo in their cell as the two dragonets were slowly approaching the silver bars, their blue eyes reflecting the moonlight in an eerie way.

"What's going on Apollo?" Artemis whispered to him, and the gold dragon just gave a frustrated sigh.

If only he could-

The black Nightwing suddenly widened his hazel eyes in surprise, lurching forward with Mimic's talons still around his snout. He gave a muffled hiss and the Magicwing smirked. Mimic slowly let him go, letting his talons drag across the side of his face in the process.

The dragon stumbled to the bars with bound talons, small beads of blood glinting on his cheek and the stars under his wings glinting eerily. His gaze was a mixture of all colors all at the same time, everything else was pitch black.

"Pardon?" Was all Apollo could say.

"I..I don't understand." Said Scalebreaker, as Apollo now knew he was called, as he turned to Mimic, his eyes blazing.

"I figured I'd be a kind soul today, and let you finally meet your children, whom you talk of constantly, by the way."

Apollo suddenly felt very nauseous.

Scalebreaker turned back to them.

"Is it really...?"

"No." Said Artemis suddenly, getting to her feet and standing next to Apollo, her tail flicking. "No, it's not. This guy is crazy. We already have families."

"Exactly." Apollo urged, his hostile gaze turned on Scalebreaker.

Scalebreaker squinted at them, pressing his talons to the bars. Apollo could see the scores of missing scales up his forearms from years of friction from chains.

"That necklace." Scalebreaker murmured. "Even in its second stage I'd recognize it anywhere." He looked hopefully at Artemis. "Where in the world did you get it?"

The other Nightwing simply held a talon to her chest, covering the glittering oval protectively.

"I've had it for as long as I can remember." She answered slowly, watching as Scalebreaker slumped against the bars.

"You said you had families..?"

"My mother, father, and two sisters." Artemis said cooly. "Apollo has his Daywing mother."

Scalebreaker gripped the silver in despair. "Nightwing or not, only one dragon had eyes such as yours. And that was her."

"Her?" Apollo asked.

"Nightflier." Scalebreaker responded, and they both stopped in surprise when Artemis breathed in sharply and stumbled back a bit.

"What, what is it?" Apollo said, gently touching her shoulder.

"I've heard that name somewhere before." She grimaced in the direction of Scalebreaker. "I believe it was Solar who-"

"Solar?" Scalebreaker cried. A look of unimaginable rage crossed his face as he looked from Apollo to Artemis, and back again. He was gripping the silver bars with a scary strength.

"And the plot thickens." Says Mimic, delighted.

"I'm sorry..uh.. Scalebreaker.. but.. we aren't your children." Apollo said slowly to the black Nightwing.

Scalebreaker lifted his head and raised his wings a little bit.

"Tell me, Apollo. Who are your parents? Why in all the moons is a Nightwing, a gold Nightwing at that, in the Twin Islands?"

Apollo felt anger bubble up in his chest. "Lightray and Catastrophe of the Daywings. I am their son. I hatched in the sunlight like all Daywings." His voice was shaking. "I am a Daywing."

"No." Said another voice, and Mimic smiled and stepped away as a dark grey Magicwing approached the cells. "No, you're not." She raised her head triumphantly as Scalebreaker looked away, gaze shadowed. "I hate to break up this.. family reunion.."

Apollo glared at her.

"But I'm afraid that these two dragonets have a purpose that they need to serve." She gestured behind her, and an awful smell swept over Apollo, making him immediately turn away and gag. Mimic took this as his cue to flee, and vanished off into the shadows.

The Magicwing adjusted the crown of gold and silver wires around her head, which was much like an eerie halo of a fallen angel. A loud shuffling could be heard, and, Apollo watched, with great horror and curiosity, as more Magicwings, these fully covered in cold silver armor, dragged a wriggling mass of..something... to their cell.

Scalebreaker cried out as she lifted him back to his feet, the Nightwing's eyes horrified as he glanced behind her. "You can't do this- Ash, please, you can't."

Apollo struggled to see what had him so frantic, as did Artemis. They both leant close to the bars, ears swiveling as a guttural howl came from the mass.

"Test on me!" Roared Scalebreaker, struggling as she dragged him away. "Please, they don't deserve this! Call off the deal! Kill me if you must!"

Ash strikes him with her left wing, earning an enraged hiss. "You know well enough that this was meant for them and not you. You offered them up for testing, and it's going to happen." She grabbed his face and leant in dangerously close, eyes sinister. "We've waited too long."

She shoved him back into his cell, Scalebreaker still yelling, but with a snap of Ash's talons, it was muted.

"This is some sort of mistake, we aren't his dragonets." Artemis said frantically, her wing brushing against Apollo's as she backed away from the hulking form that was growing nearer.

"Whether you believe it or not, I know test subjects when I see them." Said Ash, arching her brows. "If you turned out the right way, however, you shouldn't have to worry." She looked over their scales in distaste. "If not, we'll get new subjects and try again."

Their cell unlocked and Apollo watched helplessly as they dragged out Artemis first, the Nightwing inhaling for a blast of fire when they struck her over the back of the head. Dazed, Apollo screamed in terror for her when the hulking shape lunged forward. It was a melted, maggoty, rotten mess of what looked to once be a Magicwing. Half of the face was gone, nothing but a yellowed skull and fangs. It took these fangs and sank them deep into Artemis's forearm. She immediately broke from her daze and roared.

Whether from anger or pain, it didn't matter. She frantically tried to pull her arm out of its mouth, but the surrounding Magicwings held her down. A few more seconds passed and they lunged forward, all of them carefully grabbing the jaws of the thing and forcing it off of her now bleeding forearm.

Artemis looked deathly pale, and scarlet blood flowed from the wound. Apollo watched as the blood gradually got darker, eventually turning black with a silvery sheen. Two Magicwings hauled her to her feet, and simply threw her back in the cell. Apollo caught her in his wings, watching as she slipped in and out of consciousness. He desperately tore the thin blanket off the rest of his bed, wrapping it around the bite and slowly settling her to the ground. Her eyes flickered garnet.

He was preparing himself to fight when he felt a pair of talons dragging him out, too. He bit and blew fire blindly, triumphant when he heard some pained snarls. But they forced him to the floor anyway, Apollo landing on his back. Three of the armored dragons struggled to hold him down as a fourth presented his forearm to the creature.

His heart pounded in his chest and time seemed to slow as the creature bit down.

A white hot bolt of pain blew through his scales, Apollo writhing and hissing smoke. He spat fire at the thing, but it simply took the burns and stood there. Apollo watched in a haze of pain as the majority of the armored dragons took it away. That creature was like nothing he had ever seen. Apollo felt himself being thrown back into the cell along with Artemis. He gave a gasp of pain as his forearm began to pound. With his uninjured arm, he sloppily pulled the blankets from Artemis's bed, tying them round his forearm as he watched the black blood begin to flow.

He collapsed against the wall and felt himself slide down the ground. He swore he could hear sobs ring through the walls as his sight was overtaken by a red haze.