🌑Chapter 10: An Opportunity❄️

  Look, before this chapter starts, I just wanted to let you guys know, once again, how amazing all of you are. I try not to be one of those guys who goes 'OMG I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH YOU ARE THE BEST I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU', okay, but it's hard to contain myself sometimes! I've recently checked the demographics of this story, and we've got readers from all over! The US is where most of you are based, but there's also Canada, Germany, Vietnam, Malaysia (I hope I spelled that right), Australia, and South Korea! Malaysia, Vietnam, Germany, and South Korea surprised me most, but anyway, let's get on with it, shall we?

  Moon was thankful there hadn't been classes today, because it turned out to be kind of tiresome trotting around the whole academy for hours, introducing Sparrow and Karma to all the teachers and showing them where their classes were, the prey center, the underground lake, and pretty much everywhere else in the school. They got lost frequently, having never explored some parts of the tunnels. Now, she was alone, although by choice; she hadn't been able to fall asleep after half an hour of tossing and turning in her leaf bed. She'd tried everything from reading to counting sheep, but nothing was working. Moon had decided that taking a walk might help her wind down a bit.

  Sure enough, after what she assumed was around ten minutes, the NightWing started feeling drowsy and thought it would be wise to call it a night. She should've realized beforehand how stupid wandering the halls at night was, especially when she was exhausted.

  With her mind in a foggy haze of drowsiness, it was easy for Flame to ambush her as she was walking back to her cave. One moment she was on her own in the dark halls, the next she was up against a wall, his sharp talons at her throat.

  "Looks like nobody's here to save you now, huh?" he snarled at her, his rank breath hot against her scales. "It's just you and me, NightWing, and don't you think that just because that IceWing helped you out before doesn't mean I forgot about our unfinished business!"

  Moon tried to scream, fight back, do anything to get out of this situation, but he was far more alert than her. He clamped the talon that had been holding her throat over her mouth, slamming his knee into her stomach and knocking the wind right out of her. It was hard to tell what he was holding in his other talon, but the silhouette suggested it was a nail polish bottle.

  How could I let this happen? Again?! 

  Flame brought the bottle up to his mouth and popped the cap off with his teeth, determined to not release his hold on her this time. "Trust me...this is going to hurt so bad, you'll wish you were dead before it's even halfway over."

  The rotten SkyWing eased it closer to her arm, a crooked grin creasing his face as he did so. Moon moved as far away from it as she could, which wasn't far at all, considering the circumstances.

  I wish somebody, ANYBODY were here right now...I can't do anything; he's too strong. 

  The only thing that came to mind were her powers, but mind reading and visions of the future weren't exactly made for combat. Still, Moon tried with all she had, attempting to mess with his head or something, if that was even possible. However, nothing happened. She was helpless.

  "What do you think you're doing?!" a voice as deep as Flame's, but not as gravelly, came from the right.

  The crimson dragon startled, clearly not expecting Winter to sneak up on him like that. Moon definitely hadn't, but it may have just been the worst mistake he could've made right then.

  As Flame jumped out of fear, the bottle slipped from his talons, its contents splattering all over Winter's chest.

  Moon and Flame both stood, watching in horror as the pale blue dragon collapsed, an agonized scream erupting from his mouth as he clawed at his scales, as if tearing his chest right open would cease the extreme pain plaguing him. 

  She looked to her left and saw Flame going extremely pale, his eyes bigger than saucers. She had a feeling he hadn't anticipated that the results of the venomous polish would be so terrible. He began to race off, but she caught him by the shoulder before he could. He whirled around and slashed his impossibly black claws across her arm, and she responded by punching him in his disfigured snout. There was a sickening CRUNCH, and she knew she'd broken his nose as he went unconscious, blood quickly flowing from his nostrils.

  Winter continued roaring in pain, writhing like a dying animal on the tunnel floor, his arctic blue eyes crackled with veins as they darted this way and that. They finally rested on her, a pleading expression on his face. 

  Why isn't she doing anything? Can't she see I'm practically DYING here?! This hurts so muuuuch...

  The IceWing's thoughts cut off after that, as he emitted more cries of agony. By now a crowd was gathering, several dragons woken from the noise of it all. They all stared on in shock, but none of them did anything. Moon recognized one of them as Icicle; she wasn't sure if she and Winter were brother and sister or something, but she knew they were related somehow.

  "Icicle, please," Moon said, rushing over to her. "Can you go get help? I don't care who it is, as long as it's Sunny, or Clay, or some other adult who can handle this, but will you please find someone?"

  The female stared at her in disgust, and Moon could tell she wanted to refuse. However, Icicle took another look at Winter over her shoulder and then darted down the hall, another NightWing following her. It looked like it could've been Bigtail, but it was too dark to know for sure, the fire globes only lit in certain areas of the hallway.

  Moon sighed in relief, turning around to go see if she could help Winter in any way, only to notice five sets of familiar eyes staring at her from the opposite end of the tunnel. It was the entirety of her winglet, even Carnelian and Turtle. 

  They all came running over to her, several questions spewing out of their mouths at once. Karma was already kneeling down by Winter, trying to get him to calm down. Moon felt some sort of twinge in her chest, but shoved the feeling away, knowing there were far worse problems at hand.

  "What happened?" Kinkajou asked her, her scales an overwhelming mix of green, white, blue, and spots of red here and there.

  "Flame cornered me again," Moon admitted, feeling her eyes well up with tears, partly from the pain of her arm. "Winter tried to help, but Flame had this toxic nail polish made with dragonbite viper venom, and it got spilled on him, and then Flame tried to get away, but-"

  Moonwatcher could hardly speak, her breath coming in short hiccups. Blood was sleeping from her fresh wound, Flame was out cold on the ground, Winter was in agony...everything was a mess, and half the school had gathered to witness it all.

  The small RainWing hugged her, clearly hoping it would make her feel better. Qibli did as well, but if anything, all it did was make her feel worse. Not only did it look incredibly bad that she had been standing here, a SkyWing knocked out and an IceWing writhing in pain before her, but now it looked like she was being a sensitive crybaby.

  After a minute of Karma trying to get Winter to calm himself, she gave up and walked over to the rest of them, letting Sparrow have a go. Soon after, what seemed like every staff member in the academy arrived, even Starflight, who seemed very anxious, as he couldn't see what was going on. Fatespeaker and Webs were there as well, but to be honest, the dragon Moon was most grateful to see was the school nurse, who quickly pushed his way to the scene before them all. He was carrying a small briefcase and he set it down on the floor as he attended to Winter first.

  "This is some kind of venom, right?" he asked Moon, simultaneously calming the agonized IceWing.

  "Yeah," she said, breaking away from her friends. "It's dragonbite viper venom."

  The SeaWing made a clicking sound with his tongue. He opened up the briefcase, which contained three hypodermic syringes (medical needles), each filled with a different colored liquid. He removed one that had a blue liquid inside.

  "Antivenom," was his one-word explanation, before he inserted the needle into Winter's arm and injected it. The pale blue dragon was unconscious within moments. "Don't worry, that's normal," the nurse assured them all as he put the needle back in the case and snapped it shut. "He should be alright now, but he'll definitely need to rest a couple of days, if not more, before he's back to normal." He then proceeded to patch up Flame, but the Jade Winglet was more concerned about Winter, and how they were going to get him back to his cave.

  The students and staff around them began to talk amongst one another, and Moon squinted her eyes shut as their thoughts were even louder than their words.

  "Okay everybody, back to sleep," Clay boomed. "C'mon, leave them be," he said to the few stragglers. 

  And then, even the nurse left, carrying Flame with him, to his office judging by his thoughts. Now, they were all alone.

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  Winter woke up lying on his back, faint rays of sunlight entering his and Moon's cave through the window. The sun hadn't fully risen yet judging by the fact that it was still considerably dark outside, but the familiar NightWing was waiting patiently next to his icy ledge all the same.

  His immediate thought was to get up, uncomfortable with her staring right at him. He attempted this, but quickly decided to stay put as that awful burning sensation from earlier flared up in his chest. 

  "Are you alright?" Moonwatcher asked softly, her scales glinting with orange light. "You've been out for almost six hours now."

  Why does she care? Why do I care that she cares?!

  "Things could always be worse, so yeah, I'm fine," he said before he could stop himself. "I'm...uh, sorry you had to deal with all that." Winter felt a rush of embarrassment as he remembered flopping around on the floor like a fish out of water, screaming to the point where his lungs burned. Then that feeling was replaced by rage as it came back to him that Flame had caused that. However, he had startled him and in turn the SkyWing had spilled that black concoction all over him, so he was partly to blame as well.

  Moon shook her head vigorously. "Don't apologize; it's my fault for being so stupid. I shouldn't have been walking around at night after everything that's been happening with Flame."

  "But I was the one who tried to stop him. I shouldn't have gotten so close to him before revealing that I was there."

  She sighed, but he saw a hint of a grin on her face in the darkness. "Well, thank you for trying to help. I know you only wanted to do the right thing. Also, you're stealthier than I thought you'd be; I couldn't even tell you were there!"

  Winter forced a smile. "You're welcome. And I took extensive stealth training back home, so I know a thing or two about staying hidden. Like the expression goes, never show all your cards."

  She tilted her head at him. "I've never heard that saying before."

  "That's because I may have possibly just made it up."

  The NightWing giggled for a second. "You're something else, Winter."

  The duo sat in awkward silence for a moment, one half of their faces hidden in shadow, the other illuminated by the golden sunlight shining through the window. 

  "The nurse said you'll have to stay here and recover for at least two days," she informed him. "I'll make sure I bring any assignments you'll need to make up her after all my classes, but that's not until tomorrow. I think after everything that happened last night, it would be best for both of us to just relax today."

  Winter nodded. "That sounds kinda nice."

  "And if I have to go somewhere, I'll make sure someone else is nearby so they can help if you need anything," she said. 

  That offended him a little. "I'm an IceWing, okay? I can handle myself for a few minutes if you're gone."

  She was quiet after that, and he worried if he'd annoyed or angered her once again. Moon turned away from him and opened a scroll, laying on her side with her back to him. He hadn't realized this before, but she had moved her pile of leaves and moss close to his bed. Was she really that concerned about him? And if so, then why? 

  Winter found that if he moved much at all, pain flared up in his midsection. He was basically immobile, which was not good; he HATED just sitting around and doing nothing. In the Ice Kingdom, it was expected of everyone to always be doing something productive, and that had seared itself into his mind so that it was a part of everyday life. To keep himself occupied, he did one of four things: thought to himself, iced over his bed once it began to melt, read a scroll, or stared at his moon globe.

  "Don't mind me asking, but what exactly is that?" Moon questioned when she saw him fiddling with the glowing object. She placed her arms on the edge of his bed, putting one on top of the other and resting her head on them as she gazed at the item.

  "This?" he asked, as if it wasn't obvious. "It's called a moon globe. You can only get them in the Ice Kingdom; they grow on a special tree that an animus created thousands of years ago, before even Darkstalker was around. When we still had animus dragons," he said with spite, "they had to create something that would benefit the tribe. Her name was Frostbite, and she gave our tribe the gift of light."

  "That's pretty cool - no pun intended," she said with a smile. "Can I hold it for a minute?"

  He was reluctant to do so, but he let her examine it.

  "And what happened to the IceWing animus dragons?" Moon asked as she played around with the moon globe, rotating it to adjust the light. "You talked about them in the past tense."

  Winter gave a *huff* sound. "Stolen by your filthy ancestors. That's what happened."

  She ripped her gaze away from the globe and locked it onto him. "I don't appreciate you talking about my tribe like that," she spat. Once she had cooled off, she asked "But how do you steal animus magic?"

  He wasn't startled by her sudden burst of anger like he had been the first couple of times. "Animus magic is inherited. Prince Arctic was our most recent animus, but Foeslayer stole him away from our tribe thousands of years ago. He had dragonets with one of them - presumably her - and then was killed several years after. As a result, there could still be a NightWing animus out there, but there will never again be an IceWing animus unless that NightWing would breed with someone from my tribe. That is what happened to our animus dragons, and it's also why I'm supposed to hate you and the rest of your tribe even though I just can't!"

  The room fell into uncomfortable silence. Moon had taken her full attention away from the moon globe, now exerting it toward him instead. 

  "You don't hate me?" she whispered, softer than he'd ever heard her speak before.

  Before he could reply, his vision caught a flash of movement outside the cave entrance. There was nothing there, but there was a slight wobble to the air. Picking up a small pebble, he flicked it over in that direction. There was a dull pop as it connected, followed by an "Ow!" from a spying Kinkajou.

  "Didn't you ever learn to mind your own business?" he hissed as she materialized outside the doorway.

  "Winter, leave her alone," Moon said. "What he meant to say, is could you please not eavesdrop on us, Kinkajou?"

  "That's not what I-" he started to say, but stopped himself as Moon shot him a glare sharper than a dagger.

  "Okay..." the small RainWing whined, her scales becoming a cloudy blue as she left them alone.

  They waited a moment to make sure nobody else was spying, the continued with their conversation. 

  "Winter, you shouldn't be so rude like that," Moon scolded. "All you have to do is ask nicely."

  "That's not what I was taught," he replied. "Anyway, no, I just...I try to find every reason I can to hate your guts, but I can't. I'm supposed to loathe you and your kind, but I guess I just know that you never had any direct relation with what happened to our animus dragons. It's not your fault, nor any other NightWing's, but my tribe just doesn't seem to understand that."

  "Oh," was her response. "Well, I'm glad you don't hate me, because even though you can be a bit much sometimes," she said carefully, "I don't hate you either."

  Those five words remained stuck in Winter's head for the rest of the day. True to her word, Moon only left when she had to, and she even brought back some food for him when she went to the prey center. They passed time by playing little games like 'I Spy' or 'Twenty Questions', or reading. She did most of the reading though; Winter was never the best reader, as his tribe didn't focus too much on literature. He didn't mention this to her, though, and didn't plan to.

  It was towards the end of the day when Moon was out talking to a teacher about something, when Winter was approached by a large SkyWing. He was as large as Clay, but far more muscular. There was a good chance he was a hybrid between a SkyWing and a NightWing, as his underbelly and wing membranes were jet black, while the rest of him was dark red, almost as dark as Flame. He had the body of a SkyWing as well. What intrigued Winter the most was the many knives and other blades strapped to his arms and legs; he was astonished he was allowed to  carry those with him inside the building. There was also a sword on his back, and he was holding a stack of flyers.

  "Hello!" the stranger said, letting himself in. "Before you tell me to leave or something, I'm only here to give you this." He handed Winter one of the flyers. "The name's Argo; that's all you need to know."

  "Argo, hurry up!" a female voice called from the hallway.

  "Give me a break, Cynthia, I've been in here for twenty seconds at most!" he shouted back, before flashing a grin at Winter. "That's my girlfriend. We argue sometimes, but everybody does, am I right?" Without another word, he left Winter's cave, leaving him to examine the piece of paper he'd been given.

  'Join the Midnight Marauders! Do you or your friends ever feel unsafe walking the halls at night? If you answered yes, you should consider joining what will be an elite group of guards patrolling the academy at night! I will only choose the best of the best, so you'll have to be ready for anything! Come to the Great Hall on Wednesday after classes to learn more.'

  No doubt was this about what had happened last night concerning him and Flame. He knew he would be a good candidate, considering all the training he'd been put through back home, but did he really want another responsibility outside of schoolwork?

  Well, if it means protecting Moon and everybody else...sign me up.