The next few months seemed to pass by in a blur. The Night Kingdom was saved and was much safer under the rule of Queen Misfortunate. The NightWing ruled with a kind heart and she listened to every single one of her subjects.

Lavender had decided to stick around for a while to help Misfortunate, since the NightWing asked for her assistance in getting used to ruling over a tribe. Salamander stayed with her and the hybrid hardly ever left Lavender's side.

Silentseer wasn't seen around to much, since Misfortunate asked him to be her personal advisor, which he agreed with excitement.

After the fight Misfortunate had with Animosity, the NightWing and her Tribrid partner haven't been seen anywhere since, almost as though they've vanished.

Lavender was walking down the halls of the NightWing palace, Salamander walking in stride beside her.

"You know," Salamander started, gaining the smaller hybrids attention. "You shouldn't gotten rid of that earring."

Lavender groaned as she hung her head back. "Ughhhhhhhhh not this againnnnnnn."

"Yes this again!" Salamander smirked before she continued. "I'm just saying, that it could've been really useful in the future."

"Nope, I don't like enchanted stuff, it's bad enough I had to carry it for a week in order to give it to Queen Scorpion so she could lock it away with the rest of Rattlesnake's enchanted items."

"How do you know Rattlesnake was the one to enchant it?"

"It gave off a bad feeling, like...like a looking shadow waiting to swallow you hole and trap you for the rest of eternity." She described as she used her talons to demonstrate.

The two of them had stopped walking for a few moments as they were both silent just, looking at each other. Salamander was the first to break the silence as she started to laugh.

"That's very specific!"

"Well I had to describe it to you so of course it was specific!" Lavender laughed as she ran slightly to catch up with the older hybrid.

"Well, anyways! Back to our conversa-"

"Nooooopeee! Change of subject!" Lavender shouted playfully with a flick of her tail. "You're turning nine soon, right?"

Salamander gave her a playful pouty look as her cheeks puffed up slightly before she shook her head and smiled. "Yup! In three days I'll nine! Wow, I feel old."

"Oh shush you're not that old." She smirked as she watched Salamander slap her shoulder with one of her wings.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Lavender couldn't help but laugh, her laughter echoing off the palace walls.

"Nothing!"

"Oh it definitely means something if you're laughing!"

"Nope! Anyways!" Lavender calmed down her laughter as she watched Salamander pout once more being seemingly giving up on the current subject at talon.

"Fine, anyways! When will you be turning eight?"

"In a few weeks, and by that I mean two." Lavender huffed. Shadowsplitter would be turning twelve a few days before she turned eight.

"You still look like you're five though, just saying."

"I do not!"

"You so do!" Salamander laughed.

The pair of hybrids continued to make their way around the palace until they came to a stop by one of the large windows that looked out to the horizon, to the lands of Pyrrha that seemed to be starting to turn red with the setting of the sun.

"You know," Lavender started as she propped up her elbows ono the window, holding her head within her talons as Salamander sat down beside her as the two of them looked out into the horizon. "We should do something for your hatching day."

"Being with you is enough, and you....forgiving me." The older hybrid shrugged.

"Who said I forgave you?"

"Well, you're hanging out with me again," Salamander smiled softly. "Annnnnd you're talking to me normally again."

"Guess you're right." Lavender replied with a shrug of her wings. "But anyways, back to what I was saying. How about we do something for your hatching day? My family always celebrates whenever it's someone's hatching day, who ever it may be within the village."

"Anyone? Not just family?"

"Yup, anyone!"

"Well, I don't really know what dragons do to celebrate someone's hatching day, since...I haven't really had anything since I was little."

"Oh," Lavender's frills drooped before she looked over to the other hybrid. "Well, what did you get?"

"It was this pouch." Salamander pointed to the pouch that was strapped to the thigh. "My mother gave it to me, I never really used it until Aardvark started looking out for me. I would be her little messenger and that's really when I started using it."

"Now you use it to carry your stolen jewelry."

"Hey! I haven't stolen anything in a while!"

"Yeah, sure you haven't." Lavender playfully rolled her eyes.

"Honest!"

"I dunno, you might be lying." She smirked.

The two of them erupted into a fit of giggles as they confined to chat about ideas for what they could do for Salamander's ninth hatching day. Well, it's mostly Lavender suggesting ideas.

"Oh!" A great idea popped into Lavender's mind and made her frills fan out half way and twitch happily. "What if we go to the Sky Kingdom? Last time we went, we had loads of fun! Everything's bright and colourful there!" She looked over at Salamander, her pink eyes twinkling at the idea.

"The Sky Kingdom? Hmmmm, we'll we haven't been there for a while." Salamander hummed in thought as she tapped her chin with one talon.

Lavender waited impatiently with a twitch of her wings and her tail flicking behind her.

"Sure, why not?" She smirked.

"Yes!" Lavender's wings shot out, hitting Salamander in he side but she didn't care. "Oh just you wait Salamander! I'll make this you're BEST hatching day EVER!" She smiled.

She could see Salamander give her a smile as a light hearted laugh flowed from her jaws. "I bet you will."

-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The next day they said their goodbyes to Queen Misfortunate and Silentseer before they headed off to make their way to the Sky Kingdom that morning.

"If we fly cut through the edge of the Sand Kingdom, then we should be able to make it to the Sky Kingdom by sun down if we don't take any breaks." Lavender thought as they flew across a stretch of land that was between the lands of the Night Kingdom and the Sand Kingdom.

"Will you even be able to fly a full day within your wings falling out?"

"I've done it before!"

"Yeah, and you passed out on the side of a mountain." Salamander snickered, earning a playful glare from Lavender which in turn made the SandWing-NightWing hybrid laugh.

"I'll make sure not to pass out on the side of a mountain this time then."

-~-~-~-~-~-~-

"You fell asleep on the side of a mountain again." Salamander snickered as the two were walking through the Sky Kingdom village that was outside of Queen Flicker's palace with mountains surrounding it on every side.

"Oh shush, I was tired!" Lavender defended herself as she rubbed at her eyes. It was early in the morning and her wings felt sore from the long flight yesterday.

"Still, you didn't keep up your promise Lavy." The other hybrid snickered.

"I. Was. Tired." She huffed as she kept walking through the Sky Kingdom.

The sun was rising, the sky turning a milky pink as it Snowy was turning a light blue that symbolized the day. The clouds no longer looked a dark grey and now were turning a warm pink, almost white but not quite there yet.

"So, what do you wanna do first?" Lavender asked, changing the subject as she looked over at Salamander.

"Hmmm, well, how about we go looking around the markets first?"

"Sure!" She smiled as she started to lead the way. Lavender was determined to make this day the best day of Salamander's life, one she'd remember.

As the day moved forwards, the two hybrids enjoyed their time within the Sky Kingdom. As more SkyWing's woke up with the rising sun, music started to fill the air along side the chatting and singing of dragons.

"Hey Salamander, can I borrow your thigh pouch?" Lavender asked as she looked over to the other hybrid who looked as though she wanted to jump right in and sing and dance along with the SkyWing's.

"Huh? Sure." The hybrid shrugged as she started to unstrap it and hand it over to the smaller hybrid seated beside her.

Lavender carefully took the pouch and she felt it was empty. Great! She thought as she quickly strapped it on.

"Why don't you go dance?"

"You wanna join me?"

"Maybe in a bit."

"Alright." Salamander shrugged as Lavender stood up.

"While you're dancing, I'll be in the market." She smiled. "I'll be right back! I promise!" Lavender called to Salamander as she quickly started to make her way towards the market, leaving the other hybrid to dance along with a small group of SkyWing's who were dancing by a small group of musicians.

Lavender could hardly keep the smile off her face as she quickened her pace towards the market.

The purple hybrid walked around, looking over each market stall until she came across one that was rather familiar and run by a familiar SkyWing.

"Embers!" She called as she trotted over with a smile to greet the pale coloured SkyWing.

"Lavender? What are you doing here?" Embers asked with a tilt of her head as she gave the NightWing-RainWing hybrid a soft smile.

"Me and Salamander dropped by to enjoy the Sky Kingdom for Sally's hatching day."

"It's her hatching day? Well, how old she turning?"

"Nine." Lavender smiled. "I was hoping I could buy her a gift for her hatching day so I came to you because you're jewelry is beautiful!"

"Why thank you!" Embers smiled. "And of course! She often wears emeralds with leather, right? That's what I saw her wearing last I saw the two of you."

"Yup, that's it." Lavender nodded.

"Hmmm, let me see if I have anything that'd match with her current jewelry and style."

Lavender watched as Embers went to the back of her stall, moving behind the blue cloth that shaded most of the stall from the sun, which would keep Embers out of the suns heat for the time during he day she'd be working in the market.

As the time seemed to tick by, a scarlet red SkyWing with cold amber eyes that seemed to blaze like fire walked over to the stand and gave her an odd, almost a glare, look.

As Embers walked out from being the blue cloth, his eyes quickly shifted over from Lavender onto Embers.

The peachy coloured SkyWing was holding several necklaces in her talons as she set them out onto the table in front of Lavender.

"So I've found these and you can pick which you think would be best and then I can give you a pri-" Embers looked over to notice the other SkyWing and grew silent for a few moments before with a twitch of her wings, she spoke up again. "Hello Sparks, is there something I can do for you dear?"

Dear? Lavender wondered as she looked back over to the deeply coloured scarlet SkyWing. That's her husband? He looks like he wants to murder everyone in all of Pyrrha with a single glare!

"I thought you weren't working today." The Male SkyWing grunted with a slight snarl to his tone.

"No, I'm fairly sure I told you I was working the market again today. But was there something you needed? I'm currently working with a customer."

"The hybrid can wait." He hissed slightly as he looked at Lavender from the corner of his eye before looking back towards Embers. "Your sister said she was coming to visit, I don't want to keep her entertained while you're working."

"It's not my fault that today was the one day she gets off work. You know how busy she is. Just, keep her entertained at home and start to get her talking. She'll ramble on for hours if you let her. By then I'll be home to spend time with her so you don't have to."

Sparks eyes seemed to harden slightly, but he kept his mouth shut as he flicked his tail.

"Fine, but you better be home soon." He grunted before he turned to walk away.

Lavender looked back over towards Embers once she heard the SkyWing sigh. "I don't know how I ever learned to deal with him." She sighed before looking back over towards Lavender with a smile. "Sorry about that dear, have you picked which one you think Salamander would like best?"

"Um," she looked down at the necklaces before her quickly, as though she'd been looking them over the whole time and not paying any attention towards the conversation that had just happened around her.

One necklace caught her eye instantly.

It was a leather strap necklace that had a singular pendant. The pendant was lined in gold and the jewel looked to be a mixture of an emerald and a piece of obsidian. The jewel was mainly green and looked to have swirls of black swirling within in that looked to sparkle. The pendant was shaped to look like a lizard all curled up with its tail covering most of its body, hiding its legs from view.

"I'll take this one." She pointed at the necklace.

"Wonderful choice, she'll love it." Embers smiled as she put the others away. "That'll be eight coins."

Lavender had been saving up for a few days and had managed to earn ten coins. She smiled as she handed over the eight gold coins to Embers, who took them with a smile.

"Come back tomorrow if you're still in the Sky Kingdom to tell me how she liked it."

"Alright, I will!" She waved with her wing as she picked up the necklace in one of her talons and started to make her way back to where she left Salamander, a warm and excited smile on her face.

Ohhhh I hope she likes it!

-~-~-~-~-~-~-

It was sunset and Lavender had lead Salamander up into the sky not to far away from the SkyWing village outside of the palace.

"Why are you taking me here Lavender?" Salamander chuckled as she continued to fly after Lavender who had a playful smile on her face as she flew higher.

The Sky was starting to turn a scarlet red with a few stars poking their way through the sky to start twinkling early before night fully fell upon Pyrrha.

"I want to give you a your hatching day gift," she smiled as she looked back over at Salamander. "And I thought during a clear sunset, it would be the best time to give it to you, right before the end of your hatching day."

"Oh? And what's this present?" Salamander asked with a smile as they soon came both to a stop, flying in the sky less than a wing length apart.

"Don't peak!" Lavender smirked as she turned around and tatted to unbutton the flap on the thigh pouch that was strapped onto her right leg. Once it was open, she reached in with her talons to pull out her necklace she bought from Embers earlier today.

"Okay, happy hatching d-"

"Lavender look out!" Salamander's shout startled the smaller purple hybrid. Her head shot off to her left where she heard another set of wings beats from above. When she looks, she hardly got a glimpse of a red-ish brown blur before a force slammed into her and stared to force her down plummeting towards the jagged peaks below her.

She felt talons shove down harshly onto her chest and grip her tightly as they continued to force her down. The wind that blew past her was harsh and unforgiving, roaring in her ears and stopping her from being able to use her wings to stop herself from falling, plus she was being forced down by something, or someone.

When she managed to open her eyes, they widened in shock at the dragon she saw before her. The broad shoulders NightWing that was forcing her down, pushing with her wings and her heavier body weight, speeding up their decent.

It was Animosity.

The NightWing's golden yellow eyes were narrowed in anger, rage and pure hatred. The left side of her face had an awful burn that was just below her eye and reached up to her horn. Her left ear was torn, ragged where Lavender had ripped the enchanted earring out of her ear.

"You want to be a hero Lavender?" Animosity snarled as she bared her teeth. "Then die a hero."

Lavender couldn't even give a response before Animosity leaned back and let go of Lavender, with a kick of her hind legs, propelling her off of Lavender's stomach making the Air Force itself out of her lungs.

Before she could react, Lavender felt herself slam hardly down onto the ground, onto solid stone. A sickening crack filling the air, her eyes widening as her body fell limp on the stone. She was taking in shuddering breaths as the world seemed to blur around her.

She heard the some of something shattering in front of her. She tried to focus on it and all she could see was the blurry shape of the necklace she'd bought Salamander earlier that day.

Lavender sucked in a shuddering breath. She couldn't move, her body wouldn't move. Her lungs felt as though they were on fire and she just felt broken.

Her ears were ringing loudly, deafening her to the world around her as her vision continued to shake and become more blurry.

But soon, a blurry shape landed in front of her. Familiar brown and sandy yellow scaled legs were standing front of her before she could see the dragons face. Their features were blurry and she could hardly make them out with her wide and shocked eyes that struggled to see properly.

She could see their mouth moving, or, at least, it looked to be their mouth? She couldn't tel anymore as the world seemed to be smushing itself together like pain being mixed with a paintbrush. She could hardly hear the words the dragon was saying.

Is that Salamander? Why can't I hear her?

Her vision cleared just enough to see that the other hybrid was crying, tears streaming down her face and falling down onto the stones.

"-ender!"

What was she saying? Her mind was swirling in a panic as she felt her breathing start to slow. Can't she be quiet? I just want to sleep....

"Lavender!"

She could hardly make out Salamander's voice above the loud ringing in her ears.

"Lavender! Stay awake! Stay with me!" She felt Salamander's talons careful grasp the side of her face, lifting it up slightly off the ground as her pink eyes started to droop, her eyelids lowering slightly as she felt tiredness grip their talons into her even more, tugging at her, wanting her to fall asleep as though everything would go back to normal if she did.

"Y....you know...." Lavender took in a shuddering breath, her voice cracking. "I never.......got the chance.....to tell you...."

She took in another shuddering breath of air that seemed to invade her burning lungs in ice.

"That I love you too." She tried to give a weak smile before she let tiredness claim her. Her pink eyes closed as her body grew limp within Salamander's talons.

"Lavender!!!!!"

————————————————————
This chapter was a lot longer than I thought it was, but I'm happy with it!

Everyone loves cliffhangers right? Oh I know you all do! :)

- MindlessTyper