It was after school and Ray was walking Lucy home. The dragon and windian were talking casually together as they made their way through Middle Windia towards the Conwing's home.

"Well I sure hope Frank's alright." Ray rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully. Lucy shrugged.

"Didn't sound all that serious. Frank should be back in school tomorrow anyway, but I think Janet kind of wanted to see him today."

Ray raised an eyebrow as he turned to Lucy. "Oh? Why's that?"

"Janet's never been at a dance before without having the WINGS there to perform." Lucy chuckled lightly. "Actually, neither have I really, but Janet's been a bit bothered that now she doesn't have a band or anything to sing in, so she's been wanting to ask Frank if he might consider letting her join The Blazing Dragons."

"Really?" Ray looked a bit surprised as Lucy nodded.

"Yea, she's trying to get me to ask too."

"You going to?"

"I don't know."

"You should, you have a nice voice. It'd be a waste to not be able to hear you sing."

"Ray..." Lucy chuckled and gave the dragon next to her a teasing look. "Oh, I don't know. I'll think about it. Anyway, it seems a bit late to be asking now anyway, since it's so close to the dance already." The windian sighed as the two stepped up to her front door. "Well, I'd ask you to come in but you probably need to go get Britney don't you." Ray nodded and Lucy brushed a few strands of her black hair out of her face. "Alright. Hey, if you have some time, just come by the house later, won't you?"

Ray smiled. "Sure thing." Lucy gave him a quick peck on the cheek and waved him off before turning and heading into her house.

All she had to do was open the front door and she knew something was wrong.

The raven haired windian glanced around her quiet house. Usually by now her mom was downstairs, moving about as she did her cleaning. Lucy stepped inside uncertainly and set her bag down, looking around as she began to walk through the house. "Mom?"

A noise from the kitchen caught her attention and Lucy made her way quickly into the next room, stopping suddenly as she caught sight of the figure who was standing in the kitchen along side her mother. "Dad?"

Matt Conwing looked over at his daughter, a sad look on his face. Lucy glanced in confusion from her dad to her mom. It was then that she noticed her mother's tear streaked face and heard her sobbing quietly. Lucy took an uneasy step towards her parents. "Mom? Dad?"

"Lucy..." Her father gave a sigh and rushed up to his daughter, pulling her into an uneasy hug. "Thank Landon, atleast you're alright."

That was when it sank in. He knows now. Mom just told him... Lucy wondered for a moment what it must be like to come home to your family after being away for a month and having the first words that you hear be 'your son is dead.' Lucy swallowed as she felt a lump rise in her throat and suddenly the emotions that she thought she had gotten over concerning her brother's death came rushing back. As she listened to her mom crying quietly in the corner, she too began to feel tears building up behind her eyes and she rested her head on her father's shoulder as she let the tears fall, refusing to hold them in. Matt just kept hugging his daughter, all the while muttering over and over again his thanks to Landon that his daughter was still alive.

"We can hold a ceremony for him." Matt finally turned back to his wife. "He was a Guard you know. We can hold a memorial in his honor."

"I don't know." Lucy sniffed quietly as she wiped her eyes. "You know Brandon never liked that fancy stuff anyway."

Matt was about to say something in response when there was a knock at the door. Lucy excused herself from the kitchen and went to see who had come by the house. Can't be Ray already, he said he had school work to do. The windian curiously pulled the door open and looked outside. "Maria?"

"Lucy." The Guard nodded to her as her golden wings twitched. "I'm really sorry to bother you, but is the Captain in? There's some business over at the office that's suddenly come up."

"Maria?" Matt stepped out of the kitchen as he heard the Guard's at the front door.

"Captain!" Maria snapped to a salute. Matt returned it and nodded.

"At ease. You said there was business that I needed to know about?"

"Yes, sir. A report that just came in today." Maria considered the Captain for a moment, her golden wings twitching. She couldn't help but notice a bit of distress hidden in Matt's eyes. "Sir, is this a bad time?"

"No, no, just got back home you know, still settling in." Matt nodded. "I'll be over at the office in a few minutes."

"Yes sir." Maria left and Lucy closed the door behind her. Matt just groaned and rubbed his forehead.

"Landon, it's just one thing after another isn't it?"

"You could stay home today." Lucy's mom came walking out of the kitchen. "I'm sure whatever has come up, they don't really need you there..."

"No, Kelly, it's alright." Matt gave his wife a hug and a kiss. "I'll go ahead and go check on them. We'll talk again tonight at dinner." Even though he tried to talk like he was alright, Lucy noticed that her father still couldn't hide to loss in his eyes. As Matt uttered a quick 'goodbye' to his wife and began to head out the door, Lucy suddenly moved to intercept him.

"Dad!"

"Lucy?" Her father paused and stared down at her. "What is it?"

"It's just..." Lucy chewed her lower lip for a moment. "Dad... look... around school, no one really knows yet... about Brandon... and actually, I don't want word to get out right now to my friends, but I know that some of the people you work with might know some of them." The raven-haired windian sighed. She knew that Frank sometimes did deliveries for the Guards. If anyone was going to be the first to find out about Brandon through the Windian Guard's, she figured he would be the one. But I don't want him to hear about it like that. Brandon had been a good friend of Frank's, and Lucy knew that. Honestly, she felt guilty about not telling Frank about his friend already. But the thing is... I'm just getting over it myself now anyway. I couldn't handle telling other people, especially not Frank when he and Brandon were such great friends. The raven-haired windian had already decided that if anyone was going to tell Frank about her brother, it was going to be her. She just didn't want to do it yet, and she didn't want the chance of Frank finding out any other way. Matt considered his daughter for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Alright... I think I see... look, we'll talk about this more during supper. I've got to go see what this sudden business is about." Matt gave a kiss to both his wife and daughter before he headed out the door. Lucy and her mother both watched him leave before Lucy headed upstairs to her room and her mother moved back into the kitchen.

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