"Much better." Mamba sighs, stretching her wings and happily turning in a circle as waves of pale and vibrant pink wash over her red scales. Seaglass scrunches his snout at her, his eyes stinging.

"Even I haven't seen anything as bright as that." He grumbles at her, turning and staring at the squat staglamite above him that dripped forlornly into a puddle below. The dragonets had found a decent cave to rest in after much searching, and all seven were now squished inside. Seaglass just happened to be under Tempest's right wing, which stuck out like a lobster antenna. And, right beside a chilly fellow. Snowfall.

Seaglass deftly shivered and glanced outside, surprised to not see any shred of light. "What happened?" He asked Artemis, who had her head poked out of the cave entrance and was peering up at the sky.

"The sun moved behind the mountains." She states, frowning. "The whole place is completely dark except for a few feeble rays."

Seaglass perked his ears and smirked. "Rays? Like, stingrays? I didn't know they glowed."

Artemis rolled her eyes at him, but said nothing.

"Wait for it..." Seaglass thought.

"She meant sun rays, you daft polar bear." Snowfall snaps, covering his face with his wings as he lay down.

"Ah. There it is."

"Daft?" He says, opening and closing his pale wings. "Now that's something I've never heard before."

"I'm not surprised." Snowfall sneers. "Like reading bedtime stories provides you with such a good vocabulary. You Seawings aren't likely to know such words."

Seaglass holds a talon to his chest, genuinely offended. "Queen Coral provides great learning, thank you very much."

Snowfall didn't even look fazed. He didn't even seem to care.

"Come on now." Seaglass casts an arch look at the Icewing. "Break that shell of yours. There's feelings down there somewhere, right?" He thought back to when Snowfall and himself had been left. Alone, while the others searched for the tunnel that brought them here. Why could he laugh then and not now?

"Whatever, never mind." Snowfall mumbles, turning his spiky back towards the Seawing.

Seaglass fumed and made a silent promise to himself. "There's a good dragon down there. I know it. If I have to crawl in and drag him out myself, I will."

"Hey now, icy." Mamba shouts, glaring at Snowfall. "Quit brooding over there and come on. We're exploring the cave." She gave a quick flick of her tail to the looming and dark back, where the cave stretched farther out.

"And what's safe about that." The Icewing says, returning her glare.

"It's not safe." Mamba began, but switched her words. "It's for amusement, OK? While Artemis and Mudpuddle figure what out to do. Now let's go." She let chilly blue and white sweep over her scales like a surprise snowstorm. "Don't be a lump on a log, it'll be fun!"

Seaglass suddenly realized he wasn't supposed to be the quiet one. "Yeah!" Seaglass agrees, trotting over to where Mamba stands. "I'll light the way." He lit up a few spots on his tail and snout for an example.

"Ha. If only he knew what I just called him." The Seawing covered a smirk and ducked his head, the gold rings on his fins clinking.

After a long, agonizing moment, Snowfall cleared his throat and rose to his feet. "Fine." He says simply, looking down his snout at the shorter Seaglass and Mamba.

Puffing out his chest, Seaglass lights up all the patterns along his neck, tail, and feet. The cavern is then filled with an eerie emerald green light, similar to the effect of looking into seaweed when you hold it up to the sun.

The only sound was talons clicking on stone, and Seaglass found himself getting a little creeped out. They kept walking for quite some time, neither speaking as they turned into staglamite speckled pockets that sometimes held puddles of strange, glowing water.

They avoided them as much as possible.

As they came a little further into another cave, Seaglass was aware of a sudden ferocious twinkling in the corner of his eye. Swirling around, all three gasp.

Lit up by Seaglass's glowing spots, hundreds of clusters of tiny gems such as rubies and emeralds light up the whole room, casting a broken light of their own. Shutting down his spots, the cave comes alive with color. As they continue to walk in awe, more gems appear, some as tall as Snowfall and as big around as Seaglass's tail. It was like walking into a different world.

"This is beautiful.." Mamba breathes, holding up a fat emerald and watching it glitter.

"We have to go back and get the others." Snowfall says, setting down a crystal the size and shape of one of his talons.

Seaglass nods his head in agreement, transfixed by the gems scattered across the floor.

"So much treasure..."

There was a small gasp emmited from the right, and a thud as Snowfall crashed to the ground. It was like slow motion, watching Mamba fall next. Suddenly, dragons that seemed to surge from the crystals themselves grabbed them and dragged them into the walls, all while Seaglass pressed himself to the wall, breathing hard.

"Be silent be silent." Apparently he wasn't silent enough, because there was a sharp crack that rang out in the caves as pain flared in his head, and Seaglass crumpled. He spotted talons as deep blue and glittering as the ocean cover his snout and before all went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Seaglass drifted into a dream.

He was there. Smaller, pale as the green pearl he had once found inside a strange fish's mouth. It was blurry, but another shape lingered above him. This one a pale blue and grey speckled color. Beautiful and young brown eyes stare down at him as he squeaks softly.

"Where's pa?" He said, blinking up at her. His mother strokes his head sadly, sighing.

"Daddy's gone, sweetheart." Gull answered.

Little Seaglass tilted his head in confusion, shrugging and toying with his mother's talons. "When will he be back?"

Gull looks at her talons, knowing that he wouldn't return. He never wanted a dragonet so young,anyway. She wouldn't be surprised if he never claimed Seaglass as his son at all.

"He won't be back, my dear." Gull holds her son close. "But that's alright. You've got me. Me and you, we'll be the best family ever." She smiles down at him. "And it will always be that way. So don't you worry."

That week was the last time Seaglass ever saw his mother. After her disappearance, he was thrown into the orphanage. It took three years until he was taken in by another family.

Seaglass was beginning to drift into another dream when-

"SEAGLASS." A voice shouts, and the Seawing is shocked awake by arctic-cold water being thrown in his face.

He jerked forward, spluttering. But he was surprised to find something around his neck yank him backwards. Blinking the water out of his eyes and snorting it from his nose, his vision clears enough to see Snowfall standing in front of him. The Icewing holds a now empty metal bucket, which he promptly throws at Seaglass.

He yelps and flares his wings to bat it away. He growls, now certain of a tight band around his neck that just allows him to stand. The band is made of silver, and is attached to two fat and twisted wires hooked to a sort of ring that is beaten into the ground. Two more are attached to his front legs. As he looked closer, he could see small things embedded in the metal... Were those.. Crystals? What kind of dragon puts their treasure on a prisoner's chains?

As he looked around, he was surprised to find Potent, Mudpuddle, Mamba, Tempest, and Artemis chained to the ground with decorated things as well. All of them looked utterly confused at the shimmering restraints.

"Where are we?" He glanced around at their surroundings. Thick, padlocked black bars blocked the only available open area. Stubby torches lined the walls, glimmering each with a different color. Now that he looked closer, small pockets in the walls were filled with gem clusters, glowing under the torches. He tried to get a closer look, but Snowfall's cold scales blocked his view.

Seaglass was about to snap at him, when a thought like a full force tsunami blasted him away.

"How come you aren't chained up?" He blurted, staring at the Icewing in awe.

Snowfall points to a large solid band lying in the shadowed corner of their cell. "Whoever put these bands on didn't do a very good job. Couldn't get it over my icicle spikes, I presume. Just slid it off." He raised his feet, which had the cuffs but no chain. "I broke these with my frostbreath." He shook his head."Flimsy things."

Seaglass found himself quite impressed at that.

"Nice." He said simply, irritatedly pulling at the tight band around his neck. Seaglass noticed his had a slot for a key when he pulled it around for a closer look, but it strained his neck too much to hold it that way. Sighing, he plopped down and splayed out his wings, looking at his friends.

Artemis had a moment of panic when she couldn't find their satchels, but calmed once she spotted them outside. Mamba was giving the chains a disdainful look while red and black pummeled her scales. Tempest looked like she was near fainting, Mudpuddle was angrily pulling at her restraints, and Potent fumbled with the heavy chains that bound his tail.

"Who could've captured us?" Tempest squeaked, inching a bit closer to an irritated Potent.

Artemis shrugged her wings helplessly, staring at the ground. All was silent until there came a faint sound of scales against stone, and a dragon stepped into the light.

Of course their entrance had to be dramatic.