Captain Igneous and five of his top men, including his right hand and mate Lake and her brother Astral were gathered in the war room of the dark palace for a debrief.

“Okay ladies, listen up, we have a special task at hand, it's a little different than what we're used to. So Maximus, pay your ass attention.” Igneous starts.

Chuckles and looks went towards the brown and orange dragon with the small muzzle, tiny head but large body. Maximus scratched the back of his head, sliding his gameboy away from view and in his pocket.

Lake walks around, sliding the Prince Captain a look, her tail grazing his leg before getting in position. Stood a head taller than the prince himself.

“Here’s our briefing, two weeks ago, a high diplomatic associate of the Hippogriffs was assassinated,” Lake assessed, sliding photographs of the dead associate. Before and after photos. The hippogriff was blueish white with mint green accents. First picture was of him dressed formally, looking like it was taken at the recent Grand Galloping Gala. The second photo was of him a couple of hours later, laying dead in one of Twilight's rooms in Canterlot. There was a large hole in his chest and head was removed from his shoulders. “We are tasked with tracking the killers down. Requested by the Princess herself.”

“Wait a sec, if this was done in Canterlot, aren't The Princess’s guards responsible for doing the investigation?” Astral asked, looking at the photos.

“Because it's not the first time a high rank diplomat was murdered.” Lake said, sliding mote photos of the ones who are dead on the table for all to see. So far, there have been five murders, all died in similar ways. “At first it appeared to be random but now we know they are all connected.”

“Do we know who did it, or why we were asked specifically to do this mission?” One of the other males asked.

Igneous nodded before tossing a folder down and opened it. “The Night Guards in Canterlot managed to capture an image of the killer.” He showed it to all of them. Though the figure, who was going fast as the picture was taken, was a little blurry and dressed in all black, the shape was unmistakable.

It was of a muscular built male dragon, black and sickly green scales, many horns, piercing yellow eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. There seemed to have a white mark on his face beside his right eye but it was unable to tell what the design was.

“We all know the deal, when the situation involves dragons, we take jurisdiction.” Igneous said. “After doing some digging, which is not much, this dragon goes by the name of Rakom. He challenged Dragonlord Torch for the throne but was then banished after the big guy kicked his ass before stepping down. Since then, the bastard has become a ghost, no one has seen or heard of him since until now.”

“Let's find this fucker and kill his ass, what's one dragon against all of us? Hell, I can do it in my sleep.” Maximus said, popping his knuckles.

“Love your enthusiasm but it's not that simple. This guy became an assassin, he nearly won the title of Dragonlord. When he left, several other dragons did too, they were his followers.” Lake explained, her eyes looking at Rakom's photo. “This guy formed a league that took over a century it seems.”

“If he has a following, he might try and challenge my father for the throne since he has backup.” Igneous knew his father might be able to take the guy out if it comes to that. Heck, even use the blood staff to summon him. Dragonlord Spike had done it in the past. But before Iggy goes to ask dad for a helping claw, he wants to do it himself.

“I want us to stop Rakom and his league before the Dragonlord and Queen steps in. Get your game faces on, look sharp, and let's find out more about Rakom and his crew and bring them down for the Dragonlord. We'll start early in the morning. Dismiss.” Igneous ended the meeting.

After talking to the guys a bit and seeing them out, Igneous felt a pair of hands wrapped around his shoulders, causing him to smile.

“You did well there.” Iggy chuckled before turning to his mate.

“I know,” his tall lady pets the fur around his neck. “What do you think of this guy?”

Iggy shrugged. “Like any other criminal that tries to rule their own way, nothing that we had stopped before.”

“This is different.. We've dealted rogues before, mercenaries, but this guy made himself an assassin gang. You do realize the older a dragon gets the stronger physically they get?” Lake asked.

“Having one of your bad gut feelings again?” Igneous questions, moving from her to clean up the files. “We can handle it.” He dismissed, Having full confidence in their team.

Lake grunted, approaching him. “Igneous, I'm serious, we have to be careful. We don't have much going on with this guy or how deep we go.”

“It's normal to tread cautiously on these assignments but we got this. We're strong together. We've fought a lot of bad guys over the years, we're total badasses.”

“Have I ever steer you wrong? Each time I have these instincts, when you listen, things actually happen that save you and everyone else?”

Iggy sighed, putting the gathered folders down. She was his right hand for a reason. “I'm sorry,” he apologized. “You always seemed to know things.”

“Idiot.” She said before sitting down. “So you'll take this threat seriously?”

Iggy approaches his mate, frames her face in his hands. “I will, I promise.” Iggy swore.

“Good.” Lake hmphed, crossing her arms looking at him.

“Love you, Lake.” He kisses her.

She kisses him back. “You too, idiot.” She chuckled, relaxing.

When Igneous pulled back, he let out a painful scream as the scenery instantly changed.

His hands were still holding onto Lake's head, but it was just her head.

Her head looked like it was ripped right off her body. It was at a stage of decomposition that its flesh was starting to rot off the skull, maggots feasting on her painfully descaled face, permanent state of twisted pain and anguish.

Igneous wakes up with a scream, sitting straight up on his bed.

Feeling so sick, he barely had time to race for the toilet and threw everything in his stomach out.

His hands shook as he held onto the seat.

After ten years, he could still feel her head. Still see how she came back to him, looking like that. The awful smell coming out of the package before revealing the contents.

His heavings turn to sobs, slipping off the toilet and onto the ground. “Oh baby… I'm so sorry….” He bawled. “I'm so sorry….”

The pain of losing her is unbearable. The loss, the anguish, the guilt.

He would give anything to be rid of this pain….

Morning came, Igneous was just staring at the bowl of wheat. Had not moved for a bite since he had sat down.

After the dream he had, the breakfast just looked like decomposed goop, making him lose his appetite once again.

“Come on, you need to eat before we head out to the training yard.” Ember said as she was finishing her bowl.

Igneous sat in silence, just staring blankly at the bowl.

The rest of his siblings ate, going along with their own little worlds and relationships. He couldn't help but glare at them.

Splinter shrunk a little in his gaze, causing Cinder to pat his back to assure he was okay.

“So… how is it that each time we see you, you look worse and worse?” Flare asked, the first time she spoke to him all morning.

Igneous grunted, not wanting to speak, he forced himself to grab the spoon and wolf down the bowl.

“What? You're not gonna say anything? Too good to speak to your family?”

“Leave me alone, Frosty, you're still upset that we made you skip your damn date.” Igneous growled.

“Oh grow up, at least none of us ran away. You're the one that hasn't even acknowledged what you did. Figured since you were screaming last night night, you had.” Flare grunted.

“Can it, you two, we're not starting this again.” Ember told them.

“Yeah, what she said, butt out of it.” Forge spoke.

“Shut up!” both Igneous and Flare snapped at Forge.

Then the two siblings started to argue, talking very loudly. Ember was trying to get the two to stop but they seemed to get louder and louder.

Cinder, very suddenly, slams his closed hand on the table so hard, it produces a loud, ringing thunder clap. Lightning/electricity was seen visibly coursing through his body. “SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!” Cinder's voice boomed.

The argument stopped instantly, all eyes turned to the middle child.

“For fuck sakes, it's only been two days since the assault, and you two are going at it like we're fucking teenagers again.” Cinder snapped at both of them.

“He/She started it!” The two eldests pointed fingers at one another.

“I don't give a shit. None of us has sat together in a decade. Mom and Dad are at a crucial state and there's an enemy out to get us. Ripping each other apart will only let Crow's Talon win because we'll be doing their dirty work.” Cinder pushed the glasses up on his face. “Now we're all together again, can we please act like we like each other for mom and dad's sake???”

They heard a cough that caused everyone to turn. Seeing Spike had joined them. He looked just as bad as Igneous.

“Dad.” Cinder's charge died down.

Spike looked at his five children and Guardian before taking a seat at the head of the table. Sitting directly across from Iggy.

“Kids, your mother is doing well, but as we know that Healing Stasis takes time to heal the ruler.” He tells them, Sitting up straight. “Ten years it's been since we all sat under one roof, something your mother and I wanted for a while now.”

He looks over to Iggy, who averted his gaze away from his father.

“Hopefully now together again, we can work on setting things straight once and for all.”

“You said it, daddy.” Gorge said as he ate a bear's leg.

“You sure you're okay taking back over?” Ember asked him. “It's okay to take time.”

“If I just sit there, I'm going to go nuts, I need the work…Rachel's okay where she's at…” Spike said as he gathered his plate to eat.

Igneous quickly finished eating before he pushed his empty bowl out of the way and stood. He goes to walk past his father and out the doors before Spike stopped him.

“You know we have some unfinished business, right?” He asked his son, giving him a hard look.

“Right…” Igneous grumbled before walking out.

Spike sighed heavily before he silently ate as well. Ember followed the prince out, ready for another long four intense hours.

During the four long hours, Igneous said nothing as he was doing what Ember wanted him to do. Ignoring the looks his fellow guards gave him or the remarks.

Fuck them, fuck everyone in this palace… Igneous thought as he went through the drills.

Seeing the before and after images of his beloved mate made him produce a lot of smoke. Fur brustled, thinking of the bastard who did it to her.

Crow's Talon is going to suffer for what they did to Lake. All of them were going to suffer greatly just as she did.

He swore it.

As Igneous was making laps, he heard a couple of the guards talking about the attack.

“Have you heard, the assassin is now awake. Heard the Dragonlord is going to be visiting them later.” One of the guards said.

“He'll be having a rude awakening after what happened to the Queen.” The other said.

Not after I deal with him first.

When Ember was turned to talk to one of the trainees, Igneous slipped away.

This assassin was his.

Author's Note

Iggy may have inherited a certain knack from one of his grandfathers.