Final Heartbeats - Wings of Fire

Chapter One - Thunder

Thunder shook her body, scowling to herself and she scattered frozen water droplets everywhere.

"You okay, sis?" Her brother, Vortex, asked softly, his icewing spikes clattering on his back as he trembled from the cold.

"I'm fine." She scowled, not even looking over at her brother as she dragged her talons away from the hole in the frozen lake. "Why do we need to go ice fishing? It's stupid!" She roared, sitting next to him and adjusting his fur blanket.

Thunder and Vortex were children of Queen Lynx, meaning Thunder would have to inherit the throne but there was a sort of major problem; the fact that the queen had her children with the former skywing king. So not only are they hybrids, but they were a product of a cheating skywing scum!

Seeing as they were twins, and as fate would have it, Thunder ended up with a frost equivalent of flamescales, which she titled frostscales, while Vortex has zero frost so he needs to wear fur clothing like a scavenger.

"Well, fish is a delicacy meal and the scales can be used to make jewelry or used in trade!" Vortex pointed out, smiling happily at Thunder's gesture. "And it's nice spending time out here with you..." He murmured, his eyes seeming to fill with an adoring gaze.

Thunder nearly squealed from happiness when her brother said this, flapping her wings to hide her complete and utter joy. "I guess you're right." She tried to say with a serious voice, but a goofy smile spread across her face and she ended up giggling a little.

"I think we have enough, though." Vortex said, padding over to the baskets overflowing with fish and grabbing two. "And you fell into the lake way too many times." He chuckled, making sure his cloak was tied around him securely before spreading his wings and flying a few feet upwards.

"Yeah, I'm going to need to take a long bath when we get back to the palace." Thunder agreed while chuckling, grabbing the other two fish baskets and following her brother back to the palace.

Once inside, Vortex seemed to warm up a little as he stopped shaking quite as much, and the two could walk up to the royal kitchen, their journey completed with every icewing's eyes glued onto their red scales in pure hatred.

"Why do they hate us so much?" Vortex whispered, frowning as he lowered his head. "We can't control who our dad is..."

"Head high, show pride." Thunder reminded Vortex, smiling proudly when he listened to her words with a sheepish grin. "They're all about 'purity' or whatever and we're too different for them, but why be basic when you can be different? Be unique. That's what Mom always said."

Thunder and Vortex were lucky to have such an overprotective mom since she always defended her kids with her life. Even when the enraged skywings tried to have the two siblings killed, she fought viciously and lost an eye protecting her young, and she treated her kids like other tribes would and not like the standard icewing parents.

"Prince, princess," A burly icewing greeted the two as he swooped in from above. "Pardon my manners for flying in the palace."

"Mammoth." Thunder greeted the icewing, dipping her head respectfully. "Still trimming those tusks, I see?" She commented, noting his shortened tusks.

Mammoth was a normal icewing except for a very obvious deformity; mammoth-like tusks jutting out from his top jaw, making him look intimidating and honestly gorgeous.

"How did the fishing trip go? You look wet." Mammoth commented, looking Thunder up and down before turning his head to Vortex. "And you're dry." He hissed.

"He can't go in the lake, dimwit." Thunder snarled, defending her brother. "I'm the only dragon in this moons forsaken palace who can spend more than a minute in the water here!"

Mammoth glared at Thunder, clearly offended, before he spread his wings and flew off to the bottom floor of the palace, allowing Vortex and Thunder to enter the Royal Kitchen.

"Greetings, dragonets!" A chef greeted them happily, flicking his tail to lead them to the back where there was a door leading to a freezer, which was approximately thirty degrees cooler than the Ice Kingdom. "Place your fish in here! We will be having a feast tonight so I appreciate the amount you two have gathered."

Thunder took the fish inside the freezer, shutting the door behind her and shaking her wings, feeling uncomfortable by the sudden temperature change.

"Dragonets!" Another chef called, scrambling over with a scroll in his talons. "Dragonets," He panted, sitting down on the icey floor. "Scroll from the Jade Mountain Academy..." He wheezed, shoving the scroll into Vortex's talons.

"Jade mountain?" Vortex repeated, unrolling the fragile scroll and holding it in between the two siblings so they could read it.

Dear royalty icewing dragonets,

We are writing this letter in hopes that we get a quick reply from you as we would love to have you in our school!

Here at Jade Mountain Academy, we like to make our school as accessible as possible for dragonets, so we have accommodated your scales!

Please write back to us or visit us as soon as tomorrow when the sun is highest.

Jade Mountain Academy.

Thunder could barely believe her eyes, and it seems like Vortex was feeling the same way due to the fact that he was visibly holding back the urge to hug the cold dragons around him.

"We're going to Jade Mountain?" Thunder asked the new chef, visibly confused. "I thought we weren't allowed outside of the Kingdom of Ice."

"Yeah, same here. skywing's are trying to kill us every time we leave the safety of the palace." Thunder's face twisted in confusion, feeling like this was just a ploy to kill the prince and princess.

"You will be escorted." Replied a deep, gruff voice. "We will take you to Jade Mountain along with the letter."

Mammoth along with three other icewings walked into the kitchen and behind the siblings, nudging them along with a thick, long stick.

"Snowcap, Quartz, and Hailstorm, hello." Thunder greeted the icewing guards, snarling as she jumped towards them, protecting her brother. "I would like to request Queen Lynx as our escort, seeing as you four have a poor history with the royal family."

The guards looked at each other before snarling and stomping out of the kitchen and shortly returning with the queen.

"My babies!" Queen Lynx greeted her children, her eyes filled with all the love of the moons. "So, you want me to escort you to Jade Mountain?" She confirmed, beaming with excitement.

"That's right, I think." Vortex replied, a sheepish smile on his face as he scooted closer to Thunder. "I don't know if this letter is real, though... There isn't anything special about us and we never even applied!"

"You might not have applied, but I did!" Queen Lynx replied, happily scooping up Vortex and gently patting Thunder on the head, despite her freezing cold scales. "I sent a letter to Jade Mountain for both of you to get in, you will both be with dragonets your own age for once!"

"You signed us up?" Thunder asked, visibly confused as she swatted her mother's paw away. "Why? It isn't safe for us outside the palace without dragons watching us ominously from the bushes." Thunder looked over at Quartz, growling. She recalled spotting his emerald green eyes piercing her and her brother from behind shrubbery or snow banks.

"Without dragons what?" Her mother repeated, slowly looking over at the guards who brought her to the kitchen, scowling as they slowly shuffled away. "Well, I am escorting you and I will ensure I meet with you two everyday and if those sorry excuses of teachers aren't protecting you, I'll have their sorry little heads on icicles outside the throne room!" Queen Lynx threatened with an overjoyed tone and smile.

"'Kay..." Vortex nervously nodded, curling up in his blanket to avoid his mother's chilly scales.

"Now let's go!" Queen Lynx announced, going to grab Thunder but quickly taking her hand back, a defeated look falling upon her face before she just motioned the physically and emotionally cold princess to follow.