🌑Chapter 13: Cold Snap🌑

  Not to brag, but I feel like I've been rocking these titles lately! Idk why I feel like sharing this, but I just heard some obnoxious sound that reminded me of a goose honking, a small dog barking, and one of those squeaking chicken toys all at once outside my window. Ok, I'll get on with the chapter now. Also I just put the picture above because of cold snap in the title; it isn't freezing where I live, thank god. We had a brutal winter. But unfortunately, I believe I'm getting the flu again. I Googled the early symptoms, which include runny nose, sore throat, and fatigue; all of which I've been feeling for the past couple days. It seems influenza isn't done with me yet. NOW onto the story!

  Moon sat in a dark, cozy corner in the school library, curled up on a pile of soft leaves with a scroll clutched in her claws. Like many mornings already, she had come to the library in search of a new scroll to replace one she'd recently finished. Normally she would've gone to the fantasy section, but today was different. She had felt some urge to take a look at the nonfiction scrolls, seeking something related to the topic of NightWing powers. There weren't many, since her tribe's powers were supposed to be a big ruse, but eventually she'd found one about the War of SandWing Succession - as it was being called - that would hopefully have some information about NightWing powers. Moon had always thought the name for the war that had plagued the continent for so long was stupid; it sounded too sophisticated. Why couldn't they name it something shorter, less tongue-twisting?

  Moonwatcher scanned the scroll, disheartened to not find anything specific about NightWing powers other than the fact that they'd 'never existed in the first place'. However, there was one sentence that told her where she might be able to learn more about them, if she could find the right item.

 "For more about the supposed powers of NightWings, read 'The Biggest Lie in History' by Stargazer the NightWing," she read aloud softly. "Funny that a NightWing would write about that."

  Moon put the scroll back where she'd found it, satisfied with this new information. She then walked over to Starflight, who was somehow folding an origami bird at the counter despite his blindness. 

  "Hey Starflight?" she asked.

  The librarian set down the folded paper and looked right at her. It was more than a little unnerving, but he'd gotten much better at locating things based on what he could hear or feel. Fatespeaker was still by his side most of the time though. Either she still didn't believe he could fully function on his own without any major problems, she had nothing better to do, or she had underlying feelings for him and just wanted to spend more time with him. It could be a combination of all three, but she didn't dawdle.

  "Morning," he greeted her. "Need help with something?"

  She almost said no, but forced herself to mutter "Yes." Moon knew she had trouble socializing with dragons she wasn't super familiar with, especially if she needed their help. She always thought she would be inconveniencing them in some way, but it was his job to help students. "Do you know if there's a scroll here anywhere called 'The Biggest Lie in History'? I think it's about the powers that the NightWings made up during the war."

  He tilted his head curiously. "Yeah, it should be over in the realistic fiction section. Can I ask why you're looking for it since none of it is true?"

  Now she found herself getting a bit flustered. "It's for...a personal project. Thanks!" she said, hurriedly ending the conversation and walking over to the realistic fiction shelves before he could ask any other questions.

  Why didn't I think of realistic fiction?! I know I'm usually smart, but sometimes I just don't use my head...

  After less than a minute of searching, she found it. Removing the scroll from the shelf, she noticed the parchment was slightly yellowed. That made sense: after all, the war concluded less than a decade ago, but that was still long enough for the paper to yellow. A thin layer of dust covered it, which she dusted off. It seemed this hadn't been touched at all so far.

  Moon skimmed through it, amazed at everything it described about the rumored powers of her tribe. Not so nonexistent in her case, but for everybody else on Pyrrhia - or at least to the best of her knowledge - everything in here would be a lie. The scroll told about what the cause of these powers was thought to be, as well as different ways NightWings had claimed to be able to use their powers. There was even a small section about methods used to ease the pain that mind-reading could cause; that was the most important part to Moon, as it had been why she was looking for a scroll on this topic in the first place.

  She still had fifteen minutes until classes started for the day, but she knew that wouldn't be nearly enough time to uncover everything this scroll had to offer, so she requested to check it out.

  "Sure thing!" Starflight said when she asked. "I'll need your check-out scroll, please. And if you have the other scroll you borrowed last week, could I have it as well?"

  Moon realized with a sinking feeling that she had neither of them with her. "I'm sorry," she said. "I must've forgotten them at my cave. I'll go get them right away!"

  The purplish-black NightWing chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll keep this safe while you get them," he said, motioning for her to hand him the scroll. 

  Moon did that, thankful that he couldn't see her blush in embarrassment as she scurried out of the library. 

  As she was getting nearer to her destination, a horrible, sickening feeling suddenly materialized in her gut, as if she'd just swallowed a large chunk of something not meant to be in her stomach, like metal. At the moment, it didn't occur to her that maybe it was her body subconsciously warning her of what was about to happen, because at that precise time, pitch black talons locked around her neck and she was forced up against a wall, exactly like she had been almost two months ago. 

  Moon would've screamed if her breath wasn't currently being cut off. 

  "You remember me, right NightWing?" Flame hissed, flecks of spit spattering onto her face. "You were supposed to be taught this lesson long ago, but you had to go and break my already disfigured, ugly snout." She heard his voice falter for a moment, and she realized that was one of the main reasons why he was always angry. He hated his disfigurement, and that was why he was such a jerk to everyone; he was just trying to take his mind off of it, or distract himself from thinking about it all the time, or something else like that. "So now, your punishment is going to be two times as worse." He produced a knife from behind his back. "Two times...as deadly."

  "I wouldn't have had to hurt you if you hadn't hurt me first," she gasped. He only tightened his grip on her neck, forcing any remaining air out of her lungs.

  "No no no," he scolded. "That's not how this will work. You see, you're going to keep your mouth shut, I'm going to do what needs to be done with my little friend here," he motioned with the knife, "and nobody's ever going to know. Capeesh?"

  Moon frantically nodded, though she had no intentions to play along. 

  "And just to make sure you don't talk," the corrupt SkyWing snarled, "I'm going to do this..."

  He slammed a fist into her lower jaw and Moon heard the CRUNCH of bone cracking, immense, unbearable pain erupting as a result. She whimpered helplessly, tears flowing from her eyes. Flame was unfazed, reminding her of just how morally messed-up he was to not have any emotional reaction to others' suffering.

  She suddenly heard a gasp to her left. There was a nerdy-looking MudWing standing several feet away, witnessing this unfold. 

  "Don't you dare!" Flame roared at them, before they dropped to all fours and bolted down the hall, clearly going to tell someone about what was happening. The SkyWing let out a frustrated growl. "I'm going to make this quick; you'll have that dense moron to thank for it," he said, wasting no time in pressing the blade to her cheek and making a clean, but extremely painful cut  that must've been about three to five inches long based on the area where more pain immediately sprung up. He brought the knife to her right shoulder and made another swipe, thankfully not digging in very deep with it, but still causing searing pain. 

  Moon's tears were flowing freely now, and she wished for one of her friends to see this; they would at least try to help. But most of all, she wished for Winter. Maybe she could stall Flame, or fight back, do something to give her a window to escape.

  The SkyWing's grip on her throat lessened for a moment, and she quickly drew in a sharp breath before letting it out in the form of a scream, knowing it would attract some attention from anyone nearby. Which turned out to be several dragons. 

  "Hey, let her go!" a stranger shouted at Flame. Their eyes widened and they backed off, however, when he bared his teeth at them and spat a burst of fire their way. 

  Moon was suddenly punched in the already tender spot on her face. "You're SO dead the next time we run into each other," Flame growled, but he still didn't let her go.

  Moments later, more students arrived at the scene, and the MudWing from just a couple minutes ago came back with Starflight and Fatespeaker; neither of them seemed very combat-ready, but they were probably the closest adults around. Technically not adults yet, but pretty close to it, anyway.

  "Flame, you drop that poor NightWing now!" Fatespeaker ordered, approaching them. "You bet your tail you're getting expelled after this, suspended at the very least!"

  Flame rolled his eyes. "Like I care. This place is a dump; I never wanted to be here to begin with."

  Starflight's companion seemed very peeved at his disrespectful remark, as she tried to tackle him. He tripped her up easily though, then without letting go of Moon, stomped down on a spot between her neck and shoulder blade.

  "Fatespeaker!" somebody cried.

  "What? What happened?" Starflight asked, obviously starting to panic.

  "I knocked out your girlfriend, that's what," Flame retorted. 

  Moon was relieved to hear that she wasn't dead or seriously hurt, but none of this made the situation any less tense. During an argument that quickly sparked between him and Starflight, Flame's grip on her slipped for a fraction of a second too long. Moon threw him off of her and he stumbled backward over Fatespeaker's unconscious body, landing on his back. The blade of the knife snapped when he landed, but he simply tossed it away with a curse before getting back up.

  She didn't waste time examining her wounds or anything, as he was coming straight for her like a charging bull, anger like she'd never seen before in his dark orange eyes. Moon tried to avoid it, but he adjusted course and pushed her to the ground anyway, pressing his weight down onto her so she was unable to move once again. 

  "You know what, scum?" he snarled, his voice shaking as she tried to fight back. "I might just kill you now."

  He punched her in the mouth, and Moon felt warm blood trickle out of it. He'd probably knocked a tooth loose. Sure enough, amid the salty tang of blood, she felt something triangular rolling around in her mouth. Luckily, dragons grew teeth back in a matter of days, so it wouldn't be much of a problem.

  Especially not if she died here.

  Flame locked his claws around her throat once more, literally squeezing the life out of her. Her vision began to darken and go fuzzy.

  "You know something?" he asked. "It won't even matter when you die, because all you are is a rotten, introverted, shy little runt that nobody cares about."

  Moon wouldn't have responded even if she could, for she was about to pass out. 

  Then, at the very last moment, the pressure on top of her lifted suddenly, and air was able to flow back to her lungs once again. She savored it, treating every breath as if it would be her last. For several moments, she just sat there breathing, regaining her strength before she realized that Flame hadn't just let go of her or something; rather, someone was to thank for that. 

  Winter was in the process of choking Flame from behind, the crimson dragon's eyes wide as he tried to pry his serrated claws off of his throat. It seemed as though Winter was going to end this quickly, until he got elbowed in the stomach and let go, gasping for air as Flame crumpled to the ground. Winter recovered first. He pounced on top of the SkyWing, relentlessly punching and scratching him up, even biting him a couple times. Moon could only watch in disbelief.

  Several of the spectating dragons around them began chanting "Fight, fight, fight, fight!" like they couldn't see what was already happening. Starflight was trying to calm them down, but him not being a very loud dragon meant it had no effect. 

  Flame managed to throw Winter off, the pale blue, enraged dragon landing forcefully against a wall. The impact knocked a quote board from the ceiling, and it came down on top of his head. Luckily he didn't pass out, but he was clearly dazed for a moment before he got back up. Flame was trying to make a hasty escape, but the students refused to let this happen as they pushed him back when he tried to go through them. 

  Winter took control of the fight once again, grabbing Flame by the back of his neck and dragging him over to a wall. 

  "Don't you ever lay another claw on her again," he snapped, loud enough for Moon to hear it from where she was. Then, he slammed Flame's skull into the wall, and the fight was over as soon as it had started. 

  There was no cheering. No applause. Everyone who'd been watching simply left once Flame was knocked out, and Moon was upset that none of them had done anything besides the select few. Then again, what more could she expect? Starflight was the only one who stuck around, apart from Winter.

  "I'm assuming Flame lost?" he asked quietly, still shaken by it all.

  Moon nodded, then realized how much of an idiot she was before she confirmed it. 

  "Fatespeaker is okay...right?"

  "Yeah, just knocked out, is all," she assured him. "Winter, could you try and get her to the infirmary?"

  The IceWing seemed unsure. "What about-"

  "I'll be okay getting to our cave," she said. "If anything happens, one of our friends can help."

  He gave a curt nod. "I'm not gonna bother taking him," he said with a flap of a wing towards Flame. "He'll wake up eventually; he shouldn't be much more screwed up in the head than he was to begin with."

  Winter attempted to lift Fatespeaker on his own, but buckled beneath her weight after a few seconds. "Hey, Starflight? I'm gonna need some help here."

  Moon made her way back to her cave as they worked out a way to carry her, hoping none of her friends would notice her wounds. 

  That hope lasted longer than she'd thought; almost fifteen minutes passed once she arrived before Kinkajou spotted her bleeding cuts.

  "Ohmygosh, what happened?!" the tiny RainWing exclaimed, quickly drawing the rest of the winglet to her cave. "It was Flame again, wasn't it?"

  Moon nodded sadly. "He jumped me in the halls again. He was planning on killing me, and he would've, if-"

  "If Winter hadn't assumed the role of Prince Charming to save the day?" Qibli finished with a roll of his eyes. "You know, I would've helped, if I had known!"

  "I know, Qibli."

  "I'd watch your tongue if I were you," Karma advised. "He doesn't seem like the type you want to cross."

  There was a quick flash of some almost-hidden thought in the hybrid's head, but Moon recognized it almost instantly. Karma had a crush on Winter, and a big one at that. She did a good job of hiding it, as Moon wouldn't have been able to tell without hearing it in her mind.

  Then, she could've sworn she detected that same sort of feeling deep within herself.

  No...I don't like him! Not like Karma must. Do I? Maybe I do, but how can I be sure? It's only been a couple of months that we've all known each other; is that long enough for me to know, or too soon? I think I would know for sure if it had been a long enough time. 

  Kinkajou and Sparrow started to rush to her side, but she stopped them, insisting she would be alright until Winter came back. She knew he'd gotten some sort of medical supplies, probably bandages; nobody could be dumb enough to go to the nurse's office and not get anything when they had an injured friend.

  "Hey guys?" Qibli asked them and Karma. "Could you leave for a minute? There's something I need to talk about with Moon. As long as it's okay with you?" he said, turning his gaze to where she sat on Winter's freezing ledge.

  She had a feeling that she knew what this was about, but she agreed anyway.

  Karma, Kinkajou, and Sparrow each gave them questioning looks, but did as the SandWing asked and left them alone. Qibli came in and sat next to her, but not uncomfortably close.

  "I'm guessing you've figured out by now that I like you," he said, getting straight to his point. 

  Moon nodded, not expecting him to just flat-out say it. "Yeah...look, Qibli, you're really nice and all, but-"

  "I'm not your type," he said, practically taking the words right out of her head. "Or you don't feel the same. Both of which I was expecting." He grinned, but it seemed uneasy. "I just felt like I needed to get that off my chest, because I think I like somebody else. I'm not gonna say who, but I wanted you to know so you didn't worry about it."

  "Wait," she said, "this isn't some sort of reverse-psychology thing, is it? Where you admit this to me to make you seem like a better dragon and then you use that to try and get me to like you?"

  Qibli laughed. "You're way too smart for me to try that. But, I did want to talk about Winter..."

  "I know that you and him got into a little scuffle in your cave over me," she told him, in case he didn't think she did. "I overheard it on the second day of school."

  That did seem to catch him by surprise. "Oh. Well, then I guess it'd be an appropriate time for me to say we've had more little fights like that, previously. The most recent one was on Sunday, but now that I like somebody else, I mainly started it to try and discourage him from liking you. I know that makes me sound horrible, but Moon...I just don't think he's right for you, if you were thinking about anything like that. I know he's pretty nice to you, and he's charming, and sarcastic and all that, but I've seen his angry side. I don't want him to ever hurt you because of his anger."

  That stirred up a swirl of emotions inside her. Embarrassment, disbelief, even a little anger.

  "Qibli, we've all seen his bad side. If it ever gets to a point where I feel threatened by him, I'll do something about it. But I don't even know if I like him like that, and he probably doesn't like me in that way, either," she told him. "I'm glad you're worried, but I think I can work everything out on my own, for now."

  The sand-colored dragon nodded, not appearing to be hurt or offended by what she said, which was a relief. "Alright. Just wanted to make sure it was on your mind, at least. Just in case. I'll go now, but thanks for being so understanding with all this."

  "Bye, Qibli," Moon said, before he left the cave. She wasn't all too happy to hear that he had been picking fights with Winter, but as long as things between the two males quieted down, it didn't bother her too much.

  As time went on, her cuts began to hurt worse, especially the one on her face. The one on her shoulder still hurt a ton, but not as much as that one. Still, she was thankful when Winter finally showed up with a roll of bandages held in one talon.

  "Sorry that took so long," he apologized. "It proved to be pretty difficult telling Starflight where to go."

  "It's okay," Moon replied, simply glad he was here. Without thinking, she stood up and hugged him for a few moments. "I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you for helping me."

  "That's easy; you don't," he said, returning the embrace. She loved the feeling of his cold wings enveloping her, even when it wasn't blazing hot like it had been a few days ago.

 "You should go get those cuts washed out," Winter said. "I'm coming with you, of course. It'll be a cold day in hell before I let Flame hurt you again."