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Crystal set about shifting through her things, wondering what to keep and what not to. She planned to ask if Vergence and Genesis would be willing to let her join them on their travels around Voval. She wanted to see the world beyond the city, meeting them and Onyx had ignited that desire and she hoped that maybe she'd be able to see Dillon again. She didn't like the idea of leaving Kasey behind, as he had grown to be an invaluable friend but she didn't perceive any way to convince him to leave. Even if she could, there was no guarantee that Vergence and Genesis would agree with her. She sighed and looked over near the window where her lance sat, propped up against the wall. She walked over and lifted it into her hands, remembering how Vergence had ended up buying it for her and how overjoyed she had been to receive it, blushing slightly as she recalled how she had glomped Vergence. She was snapped out of her thoughts by a thunderous bang. Rushing to the window, she looked out to see a fireball rising over the city. "By the gods." She muttered. "Crystal!" She looked down to see the cloaked figure of Onyx. "Onyx!" She watched as he dashed forward and leaped up to grab onto the edge of the window. "Mind making room?" She stepped aside so he could pull himself in. "Onyx, what's going on?" "Its Uvaris. They're invading." "What?!" "We can talk more later. Right now I need to get you out of Scarlett City before the Uvaris soldiers catch you." Before Crystal could reply, the door burst open to reveal Kasey, rapier in hand. "Crystal come on, we must be going." "Okay. Kasey, this is-." "Later, even then I already spoke with him a few days ago." Crystal of course had questions but recognized that now wasn't the time. She dashed down the halls of the castle alongside Onyx, Kasey, a female catfish named Hera, and three other royal guards. As they burst into the main hall, several Uvaris soldiers took notice. "There's the princess!" "Get her!" Onyx stepped forward and drew his sword from its sheath. "Kasey, get Crystal out of here." He commanded. "Wait, Onyx!" "Go. I'll catch up, promise." Crystal reluctantly followed after Kasey, hoping Onyx would catch up, and wondering if she'd have to use her lance. Once outside, Crystal took the moment to ask Kasey one question that she'd an answer for now. "Kasey, where are my parents?" Hera ended up being the one to answer her. "I'm sorry Princess. I was in the gardens with them when the attack happened and....." Crystal ended up filling in what Hera left unsaid. "No..." Crystal could feel the shock and sorrow welling up inside of her and she nearly ended up losing it there when a familiar about snapped her out of it. "Crystal, hey!" She turned to look down the road to see Genesis running up. "Genesis? What are you doing here? And where's Vergence?" The royal guards relaxed a little, seeing that Crystal was familiar with the female raptor. "Verge is okay, him and Coby have secured the gate from the city alongside some of the city guard and we were both worried about your safety." "Thanks. We need to get out of the city." "Agreed, let's go." The group set off and linked up with Vergence, Coby, and the city guards before fighting their way through the streets toward the eastern gate. Unfortunately they ended up surrounded by Uvaris soldiers and the captain stepped forward to address them. "You've got nowhere else to run. Today, the Kalmarsh royal family dies." Archers stepped forward, an arrow strung and ready on their bows. "Archers, ready. Aim." The arrows were drawn all the way back and with a wall of enemy soldiers behind them, their options were limited. "Guys, what now?!" Crystal nervously asked. "Fire!" As the arrows were launched from their bowstrings, Crystal and Coby both watched their lives flash before their eyes, believing that they were truly about to die. In an instant a wall of ice formed up around the group of Kalmarshians, stopping the arrows short. "What the fuck?!" The Uvaris captain exclaimed. In an instant a black cloaked figure dropped down, his sword cutting down the opposing archers. With a flick of their left hand, the ice wall shifted to move behind Crystal and her group, cutting off the enemy soldiers behind them. "Onyx!" Crystal exclaimed. "Sorry to keep you waiting Crystal." Before anything more could be said two Uvaris soldiers, one armed with an axe and the other a mace, charged at Onyx. Onyx used his sword to block the incoming axe and fired a spear of ice into the chest of the mace wielder. He broke the block and sliced the axe wielder across the chest. Onyx reached up with his left hand and undid his cloak before flinging it aside, revealing a pair of dark green and grey wings and a long, thick dark green tail. "No point wearing this now." "What the fuck is a dragon doing in Kalmarsh?!" The enemy captain asked. "As a matter of fact." Onyx started as he reached up to lower his hood. "I grew up here." With his hood down, Onyx's full appearance was visable; dark green and dark grey scales, dark blue stripes on his head, messy dark brown hair, green eyes, and two golden brown colored horns atop his head and a row of three spikes along his jaw on both sides. Vergence, Genesis and Coby gasped in surprise as they recognized the dragon. There however wasn't time to address it as the enemy charged at the group of survivors. "Charge everyone! We must break through!" Kasey shouted. "For Kalmarsh!" The royal and city guards shouted as they charged forth, with Vergence, Genesis, Coby, and Onyx close behind. Crystal ended up finding herself between Onyx and Vergence, the two older males intent on not letting anyone get to her. She made a few jabs with her lance whenever she saw an opportunity, often providing Onyx or Vergence an opening to strike. The group kept pushing through and soon reached the gate. Kasey and Hera set about opening it and once open, the group fled from the besieged city.

\\\POV Dusk/////////////////////////

We soon made our way north, Kasey reasoning that we should head to Dragis and inform King Winterfang of Kalmarsh's invasion and request his assistance in fighting Uvaris which Kasey felt negotiating with him would go a bit easier with Crystal having survived the attack. We ended stopping along the road to catch our breaths, inspect wounds and process what had happened only a few short hours ago. I noticed Crystal was standing a short distance away from us, staring back at Scarlett City. I walked over to stand next to her. "You okay?" I quietly asked. "Not really. Seeing the city that I grew up in going up in flames is pretty hard to process, especially since neither of my parents made it out." "I'm sorry Crystal. When the walls were breached I ran to the palace as fast as I could but..." "It isn't your fault. I honestly wouldn't have made it out if not for you." I turned to look at her to see her facing me, trying to keep it together, to smile for me. "Crystal..." The smile wavered and tears started to spill down her cheeks. "You don't need to try and act tough for me. Let it out, you're allowed to grieve." As soon as I finished talking, the smile was gone and she threw her arms around me, heavily sobbing in grief. I wrapped my own arms around her and hugged her tight. I still remembered what it was like to lose a family member and it was a pain that still lingered years after. Crystal would carry this pain and heartbreak for the rest of her life, having lost both her parents and home in one day. As she stepped back; her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks were tearstained and her nose was runny. It wasn't a very dignified look for a princess but she was also a young woman who had just lost her parents. She deserved some time to grieve. "W-. What do I do now?" Crystal asked in a sorrow choked voice. "You part with the sorrow, remember their memory and you help Kasey convince King Winterfang to help us liberate Kalmarsh." She nodded in reply. "I'm with you Crystal. After everything that's happened, I don't plan to walk away." "Thank you." She murmured and smiled up at me, a genuine smile. "I hope you don't expect me and Gen to walk away either." Crystal giggled before turning to face the green scaled raptor. "Of course Vergence. I'd be very grateful for your help." "Now that we've got that out of the way." He turned to face me with those blue eyes of his. "Hope you've stayed out of trouble these past couple years." Vergence remarked. "I'm the one who should be asking that." I replied, unable to stop the smile that came. "Me? You really think me and Gen would cause trouble? Why, we're the very picture of innocence." The moment he finished I was unable stop from laughing as I knew how much that statement was so full of bs. Verge joined in on laughing with me. "Uh, guys?" Crystal interjected. "Yeah?" "If you actually know Vergence and Genesis, then does that mean your actually...?" I nodded, easily seeing where she was going. "That's right. My name is actually Dusk Skyclaw." "Skyclaw? I thought it was Neval on account of you being Coby's step-brother?" "It was. After I left home I changed it to Skyclaw, though it wasn't the only reason I had for changing my surname." "It wasn't?" "Remember how me and Gen mentioned how Coby betrayed Dusk's trust and it destroyed their relationship?" "I do. I also remember that you guys didn't want to discuss the specifics." "Right and we still aren't going to talk about it." "In that case Vergence, can you at least tell me what that incident was that involved you, Genesis and her parents?" The incident she was referring to immediately came to mind and I could tell Verge was willing to finish telling Crystal about it. "Ahh, I most certainly am willing to talk about it with you Crystal. As you recall, her parents didn't quite like me very much, though it also mostly came from her dad. Anyway, we were both eighteen, we'd gotten together two years before, it was a calm spring afternoon. I was over at her place, her parents absent from the house allowing us to spend time with each other. However, despite thinking that-." Before he could finish though, Genesis was striding over. "Vergence if you even dare finish that, I will shove a sun flare spell up your ass." As Vergence tried to convince Genesis of what story he was actually telling, Crystal sighed. I leaned down to whisper to her. "I know what happened." "You do?" "Yeah. What happened was-." "Don't you tell her either Dusk! Don't think that you can get away with telling it either." "Telling what?" I asked, feigning ignorance. "You couldn't possibly be talking about how your parents walked in on you and Verge having sex. So what could you really be referring to?" Gen's face became red with embarrassment, Verge gave a slight chuckle though his cheeks were a bit red as well and Crystal was pretty surprised. "D-. Did that really happen?" She asked. "Yes, it did." Genesis replied. "As you can imagine, my father wasn't happy to catch us in the act. He ended up throwing Verge out and forbid me from interacting with him in any way, which he enforced though Dusk managed to help us get around it." "And when Gen says that Kane threw me out, she really means it." Vergence added. "You mean he literally threw you out?" "Yup." Gen turned to face me. "As for you. It's time for you to pay the price for speaking of what I insisted that not be spoken of." I strode up to stare her in the eye, before reaching up and lightly booping her snout with my right pointer finger. "Half to catch me first." I stated before I turned and ran. I glanced behind me and sure enough, Gen was in pursuit. I'd never been a very fast runner, especially compared to Gen and Verge as I figured that raptors were naturally fast runners. I quickly used the one advantage I had over her, which involved me spreading my wings and taking flight. "Dusk you cheater!" "It's completely fair. Though I still don't get how you're still a faster runner than Verge when his body is more aerodynamic." I retorted. "Oh you are so dead."

\\\\\POV Crystal/////////////////////

I watched as Genesis continued to chase after Dusk and couldn't help but feel a bit confused. "Uhh, Vergence?" "Don't worry too much. It's just kinda part of how the three of us interact. Me and Gen joke with and tease him just as much as he does to us." "Really?" "Yeah. Regardless of how it might of seemed earlier, Dusk actually is really good about keeping things secret for us. It's just that the incident with Gen's parents is something that he likes to tease us about and me and Gen usually don't mind it. Though I figure he felt that you knew us well enough to actually know." "Oh." It still caught me off guard though and it was strange to witness such a dynamic. "If you ask me they're a bit too open with each other." Coby remarked as he walked over. "Guess it's a good thing that no one asked you then." Vergence retorted. As Dusk and Genesis walked back over, I watched as Dusk's mood did an immediate 180 at seeing Coby. "Coby. Not surprised that they were struggling with you present." His tone was cold and sharp, making it clear that the dragon wasn't too happy about being in the presence of his avian step-brother. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" "Your form with a lance is as sloppy as your short reputation as a mercenary. You depend on charm and subduction far too much and it leaves you as a sub-par fighting." "I'm better than miss princess here." "No, your not. Crystal has much better form than you do. You spent years learning how to use a lance, she spent days and she is still better than you." I watched as Dusk sent a puff of grey smoke out of his nostrils and I couldn't help but shudder at the frosty glare he was shooting at Coby. "Coby!" Kasey shouted, thankfully breaking up the tense moment. "I want you up here, now!" Thankfully he didn't waste time heading over to Kasey. "Stupid, featherbrained, cock slut." Dusk mumbled out loud. It hit me then and there that whatever it was that happened between Dusk and Coby, had well and truly destroyed whatever sibling bond that they might have had. Dusk was seething with quiet, venomous anger at having just been in Coby's presence. I briefly wondered if Dusk would trust me enough to one day tell me what had happened between him and Coby. "Crystal!" Kasey's shot interrupted my thoughts and I saw him motioning for me to come over. I glanced at Dusk, Vergence and Genesis. "We'll be right behind you, don't worry." Vergence remarked. I nodded before heading over to Kasey. "What's up Kasey?" "We're about ready to move out, put some more distance between us and the capital. I also talked with Hera and she's going to fix Coby's lanceplay and it'll have the benefit of keeping him and his step-brother separate as much as possible until we get to Aurora City." "You noticed that, huh?" He nodded in reply. "How far are we going before stopping?" "Not sure, just stay close and keep your eyes open okay?" "Understood."