The days seem to pass by in a blur for the most part. She hadn't been able to leave her cell and her body was to sore to even move. She'd been locked in here for two days so far and with each passing moment, her heart would pound rapidly in her chest, her mind swirling rapidly like a storm. She wasn't able to warn her family, it'd be to late if she managed to find a way to escape today.

Each day she was ignored. The guards posted outside her cell would never talk to her, not that she would try talking to them but they didn't try to talk with her. She could only guess that their reason was because Animosity ordered them to not speak to her or around her since they sat in dead silence like statues.

Lavender's stomach felt empty yet she felt as though if she tried to eat, her food would make a reappearance later on within minutes, so she'd hardly touched any of the scorched food she was given.

She was brought back to the present by the sound of talons tapping on stone, someone was coming.

She could hear the three soldiers posed outside her cell stiffen and straighten up their backs from where they were seated with their spears clasped within their talons. The small hybrid lifted her head to look over towards the cell doors, the rusty metal bars seeming to be the most interesting thing within the bland room other than the guards. Across from her cell on the other side of the large and open room that had no windows. The only thing thing that kept the large room lit were the torches hung from the walls.

The large dark wooden doors opened to reveal a dark blue colours dragon with jewelry covering almost every scale. Sitting atop his head was a crown that looked to match Queen Animosity's though the spikes were smoother and looked more like soft rolling waves rather than greedy flickering flames. The jewels embedded into the crown weren't yellow or red jewels, hey were sapphire and lapis blues.

It was King Charming.

The Tribrid wore a smile on his face as he walked within the dungeon, two guards following close behind him.

"Ah Lavender! Just the dragon I was wanting to see! It's always wonderful how you're able to show up exactly when you're needed!" The king clapped his talons with a twitch of his frills and a dismissive flick of his tail.

The two soldiers that had been following him looked at each other for a moment before they turned around and took their leave, sending one last glance back over their shoulders before they closed the doors.

When she didn't respond to him verbally, only shooting him a harsh glare, the Tribrid's smile looked to broaden.

"Aw, why so silent my dear? Why don't you put a smile on you're face? No dragon is complete without one."

"Go suck on a slug." Lavender all but spat.

"Oh such attitude." Charming chuckled as she walked closer to her cell.

"Why are you here?"

"You're not in any position to be demanding things my dear."

"Well I'm in no position to do anything other than see how long it takes until you snap."

"Very funny." He smiled, making her eyes narrow.

"I guess since I'm such a wonderful and amazing dragon, I could tell you why I'm here." He tapped at his chin with one talon before looking over his shoulder at the three guards still within the room. "You three are dismissed for an hour."

The guards looked confused for a few moments, some even looked like they wanted to question his order, but, they kept quiet and quickly took their leave. Leaving Charming and Lavender along in the small dungeon room that only had three cells within it.

A moment of silence seemed to stretch out between the two dragons within the room.

Lavender hated it.

"So why are you doing all this?" She asked suddenly, her frills twitching at the aides of her head.

"Why am I doing this? I though that was obvious!"

"Clearly not since I'm asking."

"Don't talk that way to your king," Charming huffed, his blue eyes narrowing slightly before they went back to normal with a grin on his face. "Well, I'm doing this all for Animosity of course! She wanted to become Queen over the NightWing's and offered to make me her king is I helped to convince dragons to follow her, which, worked its fabulous wonders!"

Lavender stayed silent as her gaze only hardened on the Tribrid, but he didn't seem to care in the slightest.

"In years to come, dragonets will be told stories about how the NightWing's rose to power with their powerful royals to guide them."

"Not everything is a story!" Lavender hissed with a lash of her tail.

"Oh, well, everything can be! This is my story and in every fairy tale there's the hero and...." the Tribrids eyes seemed to sparkle. "A villain! Every good story needs a villain!"

"So what? You honestly think that you're the hero in all this?"

"Well of course I am! Who else could I possibly be?" He looked over his talons, looking at the rings covered in jewels that wrapped around his talons.

"You're the villain in all this! All you're doing is going to start a war that shouldn't even need to happen!"

"That's where you're wrong my dear," he smirked. "Just like in ever story, there's a conflict, and with every conflict, there's a reason." He reached through the cell bars to grasp her jaw, lifting up her head to look up and meet his gaze. "But anyways!" He smiled as he let her face go.

"My lovely Queen told me to come tell you that, thanks to your wonderful decision to come stay for a visit in the palace, that our little visit on the rainforest is on hold for a few days! Your fathers been informed of your current situation and he can come to get you for...a price."

My dad?

"What price?" She demanded, her eyes widening.

"Animosity wants him to come stay in the Palace. If he stays, you get to go home and the rainforest won't be touched!" He paused for a moment. "Well...probably." He shrugged.

Lavender couldn't form any words as she just watched as Charming made his way towards the door, his talons lightly pressing against it before he paused and looked back over at her in her cell.

"Be good Lavender! I know how much you hate to be the bad guy, so, be a good girl and stay within your cell." He smiled before he pushed the door open and took his leave, the door softly closing behind him.

Leaving Lavender all alone in the small dungeon, left along to wander her thoughts as she looked down at her talons.

My dads going to trade himself for me, she thought as her frills drooped down the sides of her face along with her ears. Then he'll be suck here with Animosity. I can't let him do that! I can't!-

She took a moment to breath.

I can't do....anything....

Time seemed to pass by in the blur. The three guards didn't come back, presumably still on their hour long break that Charming gave them. The King either forgot to get new ones to fulfill their place or her knew Lavender wouldn't be able to do anything to break out.

She didn't have the fire of a NightWing or the acidic spit of a RainWing. She couldn't even shift her scales to match her environment so she couldn't even make it look like she's escaped, she can only just sit there and wait. Plus with no one around, she couldn't read anyone's minds to listen to their thoughts for entertainment.

So, she just laid back down within her cell, her tail courted around herself as though it wished to try to comfort her. The tip of her tail lightly tapped against her necklace, which made her lift her head up and use her talons to lift up the pendant. The round pink jewel that looked to sparkle in the flickering golden light of the torches that hung from the walls.

She ran her talons over it slightly, feeling it's smooth surface as she thought back to the day Salamander traded a stolen necklace to get it for Lavender. She remembered what the SkyWing, Embers, said to her that day.

"I can see love when I see it, don't let it escape your talons before it flys to far to reach."

Lavender let out a sigh before she stared to him to herself while she let herself wander within her mind. The song she was humming was the very one that played in the Sky Kingdom that day the two hybrids went into the kingdom to explore it. That day made Lavender feel so happy, she felt like a dragonet all over again in a world that was much larger than she ever thought it to be, and she could explore every nook and cranny.

She continued to hum as her talons continued to lightly trace over each surface of the pendant that felt cool and soothing beneath her claws. She was so focused on her own thoughts, that she didn't hear the dungeon door slowly starting to creak open, as though trying to be as quiet as possible.

"Lavender?" Whispered a voice that pulled Lavender out of her thoughts with a small flinch. Her head shot up and her frills twitched, her ears perked up as though she really heard the voice.

Was it my imagination? She wondered until she heard it again.

"Lavy?"

Lavender knew only a few dragons who called her that, and only one was present within the palace. She turned around and her eyes widened as she was met with the sight of Salamander holding the door open. Sneaking inside the room beside the older hybrid were two other familiar faces.

Misfortunate and Silentseer.

Why are they here? They could get caught and get into serious trouble! Her mind raced as she stared at them in shock, her mouth slightly agape.

"G-Guys?" She stuttered as she quickly stood up onto her talons, letting her necklaces pendant fall back down to thump her against her chest as it settled back in place.

"Thank the moons you're okay!" Misfortunate softly said as she rushed over to Lavender's cell.

"What are you all doing here?"

"Breaking you out, obviously." Salamander rolled her eyes as she walked over and started to look at the lock of the cell door. She let out a hum before she stuck one of her pinky talons into the lock and started to twist it around.

"Stro- Lavender, are you okay?" Silentseer asked as his talons gasped the rust metal bars that kept Lavender on the other side of the bar door.

"I'm alright." Lavender tried to reassure him, she even gave him a small smile.

The small hybrid looked over at Misfortunate. "Misfortunate, do you think you'd be able to take on Animosity?"

"What?! What do you mean take on Animosity?"

"You need to challenge her position as Queen.

"Why me? My names Misfortunate for a reason!" The blue shaded NightWing said.

"You're the only NightWing we know who'd be the best for the position as Queen, and Animosity isn't fit to be Queen. She's just using her position to start a war." Salamander grunted as she continued to work on the lock.

"Oh, so now you'll agree with me." Lavender shot at the other hybrid.

"I didn't say I didn't agree with you-"

"You thought everything would be alright with Charming and Animosity in control of the NightWing's for moons sake!"

"Yeah, and I regret it because I can see that you're right now!"

"What changed your mind then?"

"You being thrown in a cell was a large shove for me." Salamander huffed as there was a click that came from the cell doors lock. The hybrid grinned as she swung the door open to let Lavender out.

"Glad me being attacked, thrown harshly into a cell and hardly being talked to for almost three days was enough to prove to you that Animosity and Charming clearly aren't good dragons."

"Hold on, I'm still really confused." Silentseer spoke up softly.

"Well tell you everything on the way, first, we need to find Animosity and remove her from her position as Queen." Lavender said, her frills fanning out. This was the most she's spoken or even moved for the last few days and it felt amazing. "Misfortunate, you need to challenge her for the throne. For your tribe." Lavender turned to look at said NightWing who looked nervous at the thought.

After a few moments of silence, Misfortunate sighed before she looked up from the floor to meet Lavender's gaze. A look of strong determination overcoming her features.

"I'll do it."

-~-~-~-~-~-

The group had ran through the palace until they soon ended up within the throne room where a large crowd of NightWing's were gathered. Animosity and Charming were seated atop the thrones and Animosity was giving an announcement about how the attack on the RainWing's was being held off for a few more days.

"Misfortunate, you know what to do." Lavender whispered to the older NightWing who silently nodded and took in a deep breath. "You can do it, I know you can!" She encouraged.

Lavender was crouched down between Silentseer and Salamander, she hadn't really spoken much to Salamander since she was broken out of her cell. She just felt, conflicted, about Salamander at the moment. She shook her frills as she watched Misfortunate start to make her way to the front of the crowd, and once she stood in the front, Lavender could see her take in a deep breath before her wings shot out that seemed to silence everyone within the throne room.

"Queen Animosity," Misfortunate started loudly. Animosity's eyes narrowed as she looked at the NightWing before her. "I'm here to challenge you for your position as Queen, I see you unfit to rule!"

Gasps of shock and confusion spread among the crowd as they watched.

"You cannon challenge me for my throne!" Animosity roared, her wings flared with a scowl of anger plastered on her face. "You are not related to me or any royal blood."

"And neither are you." Misfortunate challenged. "If you do not accept my challenge, you will be seen as cowardly and unable to prove yourself able to keep the throne."

You can do this Misfortunate!

Lavender could see Animosity look around the throne room, listening to the murmurs of the other NightWing's within the room, which in turn made Animosity's scowl harden as she turned to look back at Misfortunate, a glint in her eyes.

"Fine, if you're so confident that you've decided to challenge me, you can fight me for my throne right here." Animosity snarled with a confident smirk on her face as she took her crown off her head and placed it atop her throne as she stood off of it and made her way to the middle of the throne room where everyone had stepped back to give them space.

Animosity is to confident for her own good, Lavender thought with a frown and a twitch of her frills. She contend to watch from where she stood near the edge of the crowd by Salamander and Silentseer.

It wasn't long before the two NightWing's started to fight.

Misfortunate took the first leap, using her weight to knock over Animosity onto the floor and aim for her gut. The Queen hissed as she used her tail to heavily slap the other NightWing in the face, giving her time to whip around and slash her claws down Misfortunate's shoulder, drawing blood as her claws dig through the other NightWing's scales.

Misfortunate's roar seemed to make the ground rumble beneath Lavender's talons.

The two NightWing's continued to fight, their roars seeming to echo throughout the throne room as they fought. Lavender continued to watch with wide eyes. She'd never really seen dragons really fighting. The one time she had was two years ago when IceWing's attacked he village. Funnel and Orchid were quick to get her out of there that day along with everyone else within the village who couldn't fight.

As she continued to watch, she noticed something that made her heart drop.

Animosity didn't have a single scratch on her body. While Misfortunate was bleeding from several wounds that covered her body, wounds that seemed to be draining her energy by the minute.

Why isn't she getting hurt?! She thought as she eyes felt glued onto the NightWing. That's when her eyes locked onto her earring, the plane silver hoop earring that seemed to really be the only piece of jewelry that she wore.

The earring gave Lavender a feeling, an awful one, the same feeling she got around Rattlesnake's earring.

It can't be, can it? She thought as her body tensed. I need to be sure, for Misfortunate's sake, for the NightWing's sake.

Before her friends could stop her, she bolted forwards and changed straight towards Animosity. It was to late before as the large NightWing's head shot to look at her with furious yellow eyes. Lavender leaped forwards, her claws out stretched.

Animosity staggered backwards as Lavender clawed at her face in an attempt to reach her ear. She felt one of her talons hook onto the earring just as Animosity managed to grab a hold of her and slam her down into the ground, her talons slipping out of the earrings smooth grasp.

"You worthless little snake!" Animosity roared. "I'm glad I no longer need you for your father since he's already on his way!" The NightWing raised one of her talons to bring it down upon Lavender, but before she did, Lavender reached up with her talons and managed to grab a hold of Animosity's earring and she pulled as hard as she could until the earring tore itself away from the NightWing's ear.

Animosity let out a roar of pain just as Salamander shot out from the crowd and changed at her. Before either of them could react, the older hybrid's mouth opened as flames shot out of her mouth and it was aimed directly at Animosity's face, the hot blast of flames reaching its mark on the left side of the NightWing's face.

Animosity staggered off of Lavender with a scream of agony as her talons reached up to her face.

Lavender staggered up to her talons and held up the earring.

"You're a cheater Animosity, you cheated your way to the top with an earring enchanted to keep who ever wears it safe from harm!" She roared. "You're not fit to be Queen!"

Other NightWing's within the crowed started to roar in agreement.

"No! You idiots!" Animosity roared, anger blazing within her furious yellow eyes. She must've seen she was out marched because she quickly whipped around and raced towards the closest window, leaping out of it to make her escape.

Charming stood there in shock, but once he met Lavender's gaze, he quickly turned tail and fled, chasing after Animosity.

Misfortunate staggered up onto her talons and gave Lavender a thankful smile. "You did it."

"No, you did it." Lavender smiled as she used on of her own talons to hold up one of Misfortunate's.

"You're new Queen!" She roared.

"Queen Misfortunate! Queen Misfortunate! Queen Misfortunate!" Dragons started to roar and cheer.

It had worked, everything worked! Lavender felt pride swell within her chest as her talons clasped down harder upon the earring she held within them.

We've saved the NightWing's.

———————————————————
A really long chapter! Just like I promised you all!

I know this seems like the end of Torn Sides, but don't worry! There's still more chapters to be written before the epilogue!

- MindlessTyper