Talons of Peace--The Unlit Moon

== THANK YOU CREATORS: ==
Thank you for helping me with this story: Moonshadow567 (Who has quit) Nyferine-RaidenWandersinger, and of course, TheIceWingPopsicle—Me! 
This Fanfic could not have been made without you. 
== Foreword ==
This is not an official Wings Of Fire book. The Talons of Peace series will not be known as an Arc Four, and if you have any questions, please place them in the comments. I’d love to see feedback on our fanfic, and note that only the creators (Me, Wandersinger, and Moonshadow567) are allowed to edit. 
Hopefully, you will enjoy our fanfic, as it is closed off for other creators to join. It has been finished, after many months of working on it.
-Popsicle.
== Dragonets: ==
Everstar has always been hiding something. She’s never accepted certain thoughts. She always shoves them away, but… she knows she’ll be okay one day. Right? 
Crimson hates everything—corruption, other dragons, and even herself at times. When she’s given the chance to end the existence of what she hates, she’s ready to use it—but after making new friends, she’s not sure she can.
Lobster would love to be as brave as his sister, Geyser. She’s exactly like Tsunami, their mother—maybe braver. But Lobster? He’s afraid of everything. He’d do anything to change that.
Mesa wishes she could talk. This makes her jealous of her brother, Dust. He can speak and communicate properly, so why can’t she? She only has one secret to keep from him and everyone else…
Mirage is the most hated student at Jade Mountain Academy; Tsunami wants to kill her, Geyser grieves Riptide, Crimson…she actually hates everyone, and she can't breathe fire or poison dragons properly. What could it take to get anyone’s approval?
== Jade Mountain Winglets ==
== Chapter One—Crimson ==
Crimson stared at the night sky. Her forest-amber eyes glowed with hatred. She remembered how her mother ran away from her and her brother, Terrain. Her father had been abusing her and Terrain for five years and ran away right after Mother had. Terrain was sleeping in Jade Mountain, and Crimson had escaped to be alone, away from those stupid, ignorant students. Why did this have to happen to her, of all dragons? 
She scraped her claws on the rock beneath her. The moon began to dip below the ocean, and Crimson felt sparks crackling from under her wings. They did that when she was angry. She thought about Great Grandma Peril and her brother Sky, the two happiest, sappiest, dragons in the world. Peril was happy with Clay, and Sky was happy rescuing animals with Wren. And so, if those two could be happy, why couldn’t she? The war was over. She was at Jade Mountain. Those two things should have made her happy. And yet, she couldn’t help hating everything. 
The stars glimmered in the night sky, sparkling smugly. Crimson even felt like hating the stars. Or maybe she was jealous of them; she secretly wished she could be up there, looking over all the dragon’s on Pyrrhia and Pantala. She could just watch the world sort out its problems and she wouldn’t have to lift a claw! That sounded amazing. 
But that was…too impossible. 
The truth was, everything the dragons at Jade Mountain talked about screamed “Impossible.” She practically hated them, more than anything else, for not caring an INCH about her and Terrain’s life. 
Of course, they didn’t really know…Terrain was on the shy side, and Crimson just didn’t think talking to the other students was worth her time. 
Crimson groaned and turned around to fly back home. It was almost morning, and she had to put on the “good student, I did not sneak out” look by pretending to wake up with everyone else. She hopped off the dark cliff and soared back to the school. A few dragons were out for early morning flights, enjoying the sun. But obviously, Crimson only really enjoyed disliking whatever she saw. 
Below her, a valley was spread out. It was covered in grass, rocks, trees, fallen logs and streams. She followed the nearest river to the academy and found it resting peacefully on the ground. She flew through the biggest window and trailed into the cave of the Diamond Winglet. Over the past year, the Winglets had expanded, which was how Diamond came into the mix. Soon enough, Crimson had run straight to a cave with a sign above it. The sign was made of wood, and carved into it were letters that said “DIAMOND WINGLET.” 
Crimson stalked inside and climbed atop her mossy ledge, then pretended to sleep. 
Why did she pretend? Why was she hated by her father? Crimson often thought of these questions. The answer to her was quite similar; She didn't deserve to live. Her heavy eyelids begged her to close them. She couldn't. She'll be at her father's hand if she did. 
Crimson struggled for a few minutes before drifting off into an uneasy sleep. She dreamt that she was back at her old den, and her father was in a particularly grumpy mood. Crimson tried to avoid him, as she always did with Father. Her spotted her this time, and she knew now there was no escape. "Crimson!" He called out to her. She scuttled over to him, legs shaking. "Yes, Father," she roared. "Clean the dishes!" Crimson nodded walking over to the dishes only for her to collapse— 
Someone shook Crimson on the shoulder, jolting her awake. 
In defense, Crimson lifted a claw to slash them over the snout. “Ow!” Said the dragon, and her eyes adjusted enough for her to realize it was Dust, the SandWing-NightWing hybrid. His mother was Moon and his father was Qibli. 
“Sorry, we…” Terrain began, who was on a ledge below her. His voice trailed off and he looked to the other dragons in their Winglet for help. “We wanted to wake you so you weren’t late.” Said Geyser, the royal SeaWing. She was such a loudmouth, just like Tsunami. 
Crimson growled. “I wouldn’t have been late!” She roared, then shook herself off. She shoved the nightmare to the back of her mind. 
“The first class today is art,” Geyser went on, ignoring Crimson. “It’s me and Dust’s favorite. Plus, it means I’ll get to meet up with my brother Lobster. And Dust can meet up with Mesa. And after that, we’re getting new Winglet Members!” 
“Then let’s stop blabbering and go.” Crimson snapped. She climbed off the ledge and raced out the door and to the classroom. If she could go back in time…she would have made sure they were still a family. She would have made sure she didn’t end up in the school, and maybe things could have been different. 
== Chapter Two-Mesa ==
She bounded along the halls and flew ahead of her Winglet. 
I can’t wait to see Dust. 
I miss him, and it would have been preferable if we were in the same Winglet. 
Mesa fiddled with the Skyfire she was wearing. None of the others had it, because they had stated it was ugly and Moon wore her own Skyfire to block thoughts. Try explaining that, then, Mesa had thought. She tried to act like she wore the necklace merely for the sake of the rules, but really, it was to protect everyone. 
Mesa could read minds.
When Mesa wasn’t wearing the Skyfire, Lobster and Artistic’s minds hummed with activity. Artistic, true to her name, was a NightWing who always thought about art and ideas. Sometimes she thought stuff like “Mesa, stupid dragon who can’t speak,” and Mesa had to try not to cringe. 
Mesa stopped flying and lightly stepped on her talons. She stalked into the art cave, the rainbow lanterns reflecting light. A string of flamesilk (Luna and Blue offered Pyrrhia some as a thank-you) was woven into a banner that said “Art Cave” to make things glow. 
Artistic smiled and bounded over to a canvas to begin working. Mesa and Lobster stayed behind to scan the cave for Diamond Winglet. She couldn’t see them. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. I can hear their thoughts! I just have to move my…she sighed. I have to hide it. Mother doesn’t even know that I inherited mind-reading. If I was caught playing around with my necklace, what would I do? 
Instead of her original plan, she stepped into the crowd of dragons. She pushed them away with her tangerine-pink tail and scanned through the moving scales with her grey eyes. Dust had to be nearby. Even with the protective rock to shield his thoughts, she could almost hear what he was thinking. 
When she didn’t expect it, a huge dragon trampled over her. She wanted to shout for help, to say something, but she couldn’t. This was why she was always picked on—because everyone suspected she couldn’t fight back. 
Hybrids like me are always small, she reminded herself. I’ll talk to Sunny for help—she’s a SandWing-NightWing. She knows how it felt. 
After being trampled more than a couple of times, Mesa rose up, shaking. She then noticed golden scales out of the corner of her eye, and she recognized immediately that it was Dust. She sidled up next to him without him noticing. 
”Alright, alright! Everyone, get into rows,” said a voice. The students recognized the teacher and got in two rows. “Good,” said Kinkajou, the Art Teacher. “We’re going to mix some things up; I’m going to put two winglets together for all of you, and then your groups have to paint a mural. And because I’m NICE, I’ll put the Diamond Winglet and Copper Winglet together.” 
Mesa smiled. She would get to work with her brother, the one dragon who listened to her. 
She heard Artist whispering with the IceWing of her Winglet, Bark. Bark giggled and pointed at Mesa with his tail. Oh yeah. I still have to work with these guys. 
It doesn’t matter. I’m pretty sure Crimson could scare them into being nice. 
“Silver Winglet and Gold Winglet, Jade Winglet and Quartz Winglet, Moonstone Winglet and Obsidian Winglet.” Kinkajou finished. “Now, you each get a set of the same stuff. When this class is over, wait by the Diamond Spray Delta for your new Clawmates to arrive. If you need help, call me. I also want you to practice shading and coloring in this. Now, go to your walls that you get to paint on, and start!” 
Dust sat up and finally noticed Mesa. “YIKES! That was freaky,” he said. Mesa tilted her head. “Anyway, let’s go to that wall.” He flicked his tail to the left wall. 
At the wall, there was a huge wooden tray of paints, paint brushes, sea sponges and glitter. Diamond Winglet and Copper Winglet began grabbing brushes and got ready to paint. “What should we make?” Asked Bark, thrashing his tail. “The war? Bones? Blood all over the ground? That would give all the students a fright.” 
”Heh.” Crimson hissed. “A little bit of blood doesn’t scare me.” 
Mesa thought she had an idea. She looked around for a scroll and pencil to sketch out her idea on. When she found them, she drew the three moons—but they were made of dragons. 
Unfortunately, nobody listened. Even Dust was preoccupied with painting a tree, with the help of Terrain. 
Mesa sighed. She wanted to take off her Skyfire for a few moments, but if she did…she could never forgive herself. Oh well, she thought. I’ll make friends one day. 
== Chapter Three-Mirage ==
Mirage’s tail thrashed carelessly. It wasn't like she was dangerous or anything. She was harmless above surface. And why? Why did her stupid father have to marry a SandWing and then have her? Why was she blamed for his crimes? She was just an innocent dragon.
She sighed and walked over to a quiet-looking MudWing and NightWing hybrid. She would be lucky if the dragon talked to her for a minute before running away. That was what most dragons did. Run away. Away from the dragon who made the SeaWing Queen mad by being born. "Hi there."
The dragon looked lost in her own thoughts. After a few minutes of waiting Mirage turned around. It always happened, why wouldn't it? She walked up to Kinkajou; the pink RainWing always worked with her. She was one of the only dragons that are kind to Mirage. Kinkajou tilted her head, "No one wanted to talk to you again?"
"That's exactly what it is," Mirage sighed. She picked up her current project gently with her claws. The painting was of a desert oasis at sunset. Mirage liked the way all the red and oranges blended in with each other. She smiled and set it down on the ground. Picking up a small paintbrush she started to paint the details on the palm trees.
"That's a nice drawing," a strange voice said. Mirage looked up from her drawing really quickly, startled by the voice. A RainWing-IceWing hybrid was standing there. Her scales were mostly minty teal with a violet underbelly. Dark blue swirls crisscrossed it. She was adorned in jewels and treasures. The dragon's head was tilted and she looked happy to see her. 
But who would ever be happy to see her?
"Who are you?" she asked. She let her tail flick slowly. 
”I’m Everstar,” said the hybrid. She tangled with a bunch of jewelry wrapped around her right horn, which Mirage then realized was half broken. 
”What’s with your horn?” 
Everstar shrugged. “I was born that way,” she answered simply. “I’ve heard that your Riptide’s daughter. That’s cool! Anyway, I have to go wait at Moonwatcher’s office. See you later!” Everstar bounded off through the hall, her frills shaking. 
…Did I just make a friend? 
Mirage looked back down at her painting. She began to draw a dragon with spikes and frills, then took the pencil and erased some of one horn. She added frills and looked down at it. Memorizing the blue swirls of Everstar, she took her paint and started mixing blue and green together. 
== Chapter Four-Everstar ==
Everstar sat patiently in Moonwatcher’s office and observed the scrolls.
A scroll hung from the wall, next to the door. The scroll writing was about the Winglets, and the teachers. A wall of books and scrolls was at Everstar’s right, and she was sitting on a pillow made of SilkWing silk and feathers.
If she remembered correctly, Moon taught about the moon cycles and the traditions NightWings had. Note, some of those traditions changed since Queen Glory took over. But NightWing traditions didn’t matter. Everstar wanted to learn about the ways of her mother’s tribe, the RainWings. 
She heard a rough sliver outside the door and lowered her head to see who it was. Dark talons stepped closer, and they led up to a dragon with grand silver tear drops in the corner of her eyes. 
“Hello, Moon!” Everstar said with a smile, bouncing on her talons. She looked to Moon’s left and right to see if anyone had come with her, but nobody had. 
Oh, well, she thought. This wasn’t the first time she had been alone…without anyone…only treasure… 
Dark thoughts and memories floated around her mind, distracting her from Moon’s presence. There was Aunt Penguin, who barely ever paid attention to Everstar. 
Blank, a RainWing who regarded her with an unreadable expression and fully white scales. 
Ginko, an IceWing who loathed her and always gave her a bad name. 
Everstar pushed away the thoughts, but she felt surrounded by blackness. A thundering noise pounded from her heart and through her body, and she began to shake uncontrollably. 
”Everstar?” Moon said, startling Everstar back into reality. 
“Yes, definitely.” Everstar said quickly. Moon sighed, and before she could say anything, she noticed a pinkish orange dragon with a pink underbelly standing behind her. Moon jumped, then smiled. “Mesaflight,” she said with a smile. The dragonet spread her wings. She seemed tiny, smaller than Everstar. 
Mesaflight began using her talons to create gestures and signals. Moon nodded. “I’m sorry, not right now love.” She said. Mesaflight pointed at Everstar, and Everstar waved in a friendly way. Moon nodded again. 
The dragonet sighed and walked away. 
”Anyway, Everstar, here is your scroll. You’ll be joining Diamond Winglet,” said Moon. She pointed at the little map on the bottom. 
”Gotcha,” Everstar winked and took her scroll. Diamond Winglet, she thought. Sounds promising.
***
Everstar followed the scroll to her dorm. Her jewelry clinked against her scales as she traversed along the winding halls. Blue lanterns aligned the walls and the mossy path stuck to her claws. She breathed a bit of frostbreath and checked the map again. 
Except the map showed a windier path, and this path wasn’t windy at all. Had she taken a wrong turn?
Everstar took a step forward and tumbled downwards.
She fell into a thick body of water. The shock of its cold sent chills up her spine, and she swam to the top of the lake. She then shook out her head thoroughly and sent droplets flying everywhere. Her spikes caused a number of ripples to appear. She paddled towards the surface, gasping and coughing.
Strangely, she was no longer in a cave. Or she was, but it didn’t have a roof. Sunlight shone in, reflecting off of oxidized copper walls and making the water glow.
Everstar realized half of the glow was from SeaWing scales. She dipped her nose towards the underground lake again and noticed that one was indigo-blue and the other turquoise. Their scales were peach-colored, glowing bright. Everstar tilted her head. 
== Chapter Five-Lobster ==
Lobster yawned after being jolted awake by his sister. LOOK! She screamed in Aquatic. LOBSTER, LOOK!
Lobster reluctantly flexed his talons and shivered coldly. He swished his tail and scoped out where Geyser had pointed. A sort of hybrid studied them from the surface. I think her name is Everstar, acknowledged Geyser, nodding at a waterproof paper that had fallen into the water. 
What’s she doing here? Lobster asked, itching his gills in a very undignified way. 
Geyser shrugged, and then she popped out of the water. Oh, good, thought Lobster. Time to sleep without that ripened banana in my face.
Most dragons commented that Lobster was lazy, as he slept more than the average SeaWing. Really, he only slept because when he got stressed (stressed about things like mother, losing prey, etc.) he didn’t have to worry about that. One thing really stressed him in school, though, so he tried to sleep a lot.
At least the fish in here are easy to catch, which will make hunting easier.
”LoBsTeR!” Shouted a voice from above the water. Lobster snapped awake again as his mother dragged him out of the lake. He protested, his stripes flashing in chaotic patterns, and he realized he had accidentally flashed an insult at mother.
She yanked him out and her sapphire scales glinted in the sun angrily. “I am NOT an Eel-Faced-Squid-Brain, Lobster!” Tsunami roared. Behind her, Geyser stifled a laugh. 
“Mother—I, no, I didn’t mean that—sorry—”
”Alright, but be more MINDFUL WHEN YOU FLASH YOUR SCALES.” She snapped. She turned to the hybrid, Everstar, who was standing and shuffling a pile of rocks around with her front claws. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the Diamond Winglet cave?” Tsunami snapped, still in a bad mood.
”I got lost,” Everstar said with a shrug. The jewels on her made clinking noses on her scales. Lobster realized she was covered in jewelry—necklaces, rings, bracelets, you name it.
”Geyser will show you the way.” Tsunami said. “After you get settled in your cave, the next day we will introduce you to the school. But first your clawmates will know you, priorities, because—”
”We can find the way, mother,” Geyser cut in. “Come on, Fashionista.“
”I’ll head back to Copper Winglet,” Lobster said with a yawn. “I think I got some mail from Cuttlefish, the SeaWing, and I better read it, priorities, because blank.” He imitated what his mom had said. He did that when he couldn’t think of his own words. Sure, Tsunami always gave him the squid-brain-glow-scales after that, but it didn’t matter to him.
And when I get there I can go to sleep.
***
Once Lobster got back to Copper Winglet, he saw a sight that would not let him go to sleep. 
Artistic, Mesa, and Bark were all settled into their moss comforters. Artistic was sketching out a new design on some paper while Bark mumbled about blood and death and—it gave Lobster the chills. Mesa had been next to him as he was the only nice dragon in their Winglet who included her. He was reading her a scroll, but another dragon had walked in. 
She had yellow-type scales and teal underscales and sail. Her wings had dark royal SeaWing patterns that didn’t light up but were still visible. 
Secretly, Lobster loathed Mirage. She was what had ruined his life, tearing two family members apart. Lobster hid his hate, but Geyser would shout it out to the world if she knew. 
But I do know, and she’d yell at me more if I didn’t tell her. 
He couldn’t tell her right now, obviously, but never mind. 
Mirage looked around like she was disappointed to see all of them. Her wings folded in and she sighed. Mesa stared at her intently for some reason, but then Lobster remembered that he wasn’t the only one who wished she didn’t exist. 
”Um, hello, is anyone named Everstar joining this Winglet?” She asked nervously. 
Lobster held his tongue, afraid he’d accidentally say something wrong, but glared at her harshly and left Artistic to do the talking. “No, she isn’t here,” Artistic said, yawning. “I don’t even know who she is.” 
Bark brushed his tail against hers. “I think she is the weird treasure-obsessed RainWing-IceWing hybrid. Kind of a smaller version of Blaze.” 
Mesa’s ears flipped up and Lobster chuckled quietly. 
However, Mirage did not take this well. “Everstar is nicer than you guys,” she said. Artistic gave her a glare and went back to drawing. 
”Night,” said Mirage. Then she went over to a patch of moss on a wooden slab and started to sleep. 
No. NOT NIGHT. You’d better have nightmares, or— 
He noticed Mesa looking at him funny. “What?” 
She shrugged and went to sleep. 
== Chapter Six-Mesa ==
You very stupid dragon! You took away my father! Thought Lobster.
I’ll never be at peace, will I? Thought Mirage.
That would be a great painting—ah, if only I could see the future to see how many painting ideas I will have! Thought Artistic.
Horror, bone crunch, grinding scales—Mesa cut off Bark’s thoughts.
Mesa had taken off her Skyfire to study her friend’s thoughts. Turns out, Lobster actually hated Mirage, Mirage felt blamed for her father’s doings, and Artistic wanted future-seeing powers.
Yes, Mesa knew she had broken the rules, but she found a chance to make peace with her winglet now. 
I can somehow help express their thoughts to one another, couldn’t I? If Lobster knew what Mirage was going through, then maybe— 
A voice inside her head screamed and yelled. Startled, Mesa shook Lobster awake. She knew she couldn't explain what was going on (partly because she was mute, and partly because translating that she could read minds would be tricky), but she had to show him. 
The internal screaming seemed to get louder, and before Lobster could ask what she needed, she clamped her claws over his snout and gestured for him to follow her. 
He yawned, and then he sloppily trailed after her as she stalked along the halls of the school. 
She could hear the yells in Diamond Winglet, where Dust was. Oh, shoot! I hope he’s okay! But a small flash of visions popped into her head, and they were mostly about SkyWings. 
She shivered as the visions got more vivid and looked back to Lobster, who was utterly confused. “What the moons are you doing?” He asked, and Mesa shushed him again. She followed the flashes of visions until they were right outside Diamond Winglet, where she heard little terrified squeaks from inside the cave. She peeked in, noticed where the visions were coming from, and her mouth dropped open. 
Crimson was squealing and gasping in her sleep. Mesa looked back to Lobster. His eyes were wide with surprise. None of them had thought fierce Crimson would be acting like this in her sleep. Mesa stared into her nightmare, where Crimson was in the ocean, being dragged down to the bottom of it by two other SkyWings. 
Then two SeaWings. 
And then—was that herself and Dust pulling her into the ocean, too? 
Crimson struggled to breathe and started inhaling water. Her nightmare spiraled into being in a black room, surrounded by candles, and droplets of lava began singing her scales. 
The candles burnt out, and then Crimson’s scales started flying away, turning her into nothing. Her scales turned into fire, and a dragon made of fire pinned down a different SkyWing—Terrain, Mesa realized. The fire turned into Crimson once again, Terrain faded away, and after all of that, the dream stopped. 
Crimson let out a real scream from her mouth. Her eyes snapped open, and Dust and all of the Winglet awoke. 
“Are you…okay?” Terrain asked Crimson. Crimson snarled and sat up. “I’m fine,” she hissed. “Go back to bed, you annoying worrywarts.” 
They all reluctantly nodded, and Crimson let off a single shiver before heading to bed. 
”Let’s go back, too.” Lobster suggested. Mesa followed him, shaken by what she had witnessed. 
The next morning, after finally falling asleep for two minutes after finding her Skyfire, Mesa found Dust just outside the tunnel that led to Herbal Class. She noticed him looking at her as if she should come over with him. She stalked over and followed him to a little crack in the stone, where he and Mesa sat as students walked to the next class. 
He looked like he wanted to talk to her. 
Mesa flicked her ears to show that she was listening. 
”Was it just me last night, or did Crimson cry out in her sleep?” He asked. Mesa raised a claw and used sign language to say: Yes, it was weird. She had a nightmare, which explains a little, but even I was surprised. 
“But how do you know that she had a nightmare?” Dust questioned. 
Mesa went still for a long time. After the pause, she heard the gong ring. She flicked her tail to say tell you later and bolted to class. 
The students sat on piles of leaves at tables with potions and flowers and herbs. Clay the MudWing walked up to his big desk at the front, with a bottle of greens and pollens and things that were natural seated atop it for him to work with. 
Clay regarded the students with a friendly smile, then began to speak: 
”Hello, class! Today, I will teach you about cures for common disabilities infected in certain dragons and how to make antidotes for it. Before we start, we have two new students. Please give them a warm welcome. They’re names are Everstar and Mirage, both Hybrids, and descended from the Talons of Peace! I think!” He said. Everyone exchanged glances and faked giving a warm welcome to the sparkly Everstar. Nobody talked to Mirage. 
Well…even through the Skyfire, Mesa could hear the faint thoughts of somebody thinking about somebody else. 
She took off the necklace for a short moment and heard two thoughts from Everstar and Mirage—Mirage. Everstar. 
Mesa noticed they were thinking about each other with happy vibrations in their thoughts. She put the necklace back on and her ears lowered. 
Once everyone was done with their herbal concoctions, and after Clay explained that oxeye daisies were a good remedy for asthma, he gave one final announcement: 
“Alright everyone! That’s it for today! Oh, and by the way, in two days we will have a Full Moon Festival—I think it will relieve all the tension I’ve noticed going on here.” 
Mesa felt like a tiny part of her was saying, “no. There won’t be a festival. It’s not going to happen, and there will be huge tensions.” 
Mesa shook off the voice and gripped her Skyfire tighter. 
== Chapter Seven-Crimson ==
Crimson’s nightmares were getting worse, and for that matter, so was her life. 
She dreamt about having a memory of her life—her family had gotten into their first fight, yelling and screaming. Crimson and Terrain watched. their eyes wide with terror. “THOSE STUPID DRAGONS! THEY CAN’T KNOW WE HAD DRAGONETS!” Their father roared. 
“MY GRANDMOTHER ISN’T LIKE THAT.” Snapped their mother. “She loves dragons! We’re not putting responsibility on her.”
”We are! After your mom died, how could she handle more beloved dragons lose their breath in front of her?” 
“THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE, BOULDER!” 
“YOU DON’T MAKE SENSE!”
In a flash, Father turned and kicked Crimson’s mom in the chest. She staggered back, gasping and tearful. “H-h-h-h-how could you?” Mother said in a shaky voice.
Crimson’s father found them watching in the hall, and he yelled at them, “what do you want?!” 
Crimson tried to run away, shouting after Terrain. But she noticed something—
Her dad had scarred Terrain’s wingspan.
Crimson watched, horrified, as Terrain cried out in pain. It was as if all the love had been dissolved into nothing. It was as if somebody was poking at her parents’ love. It was as if they forgot that Crimson and her brother were their dragonets, and then, things got worse.
There were fights almost every day. Her mother barely paid attention to Crimson. Every time she or Terrain were in a room during a fight, they got yelled at. Crimson started to get more fearful, and her father and her picked fights more often. He slashed her shoulder in one fight, and two fights after he slashed her snout. For five years, she had been taught life was a war. And even after hearing about how the dragonets stopped the War of SandWing succession, even after witnessing the teachers stop fights at school, even after apologizing and forgiving her brother, she kept believing that. 
Her dream quickly spiraled into her curling up on the ground, a gaping void of screams and yells around her. She felt like she was being beaten and clawed all over. She began to fall into a huge abyss, the world closing in around her. The whole school started clawing her, making everything hurt worse. She slapped herself on her temples in attempts to wake herself up, but her claws burst into flames that burned her so badly she began to cry. She hit the bottom of the abyss, her heart hurting worse than her bruises. And then a huge dragon, her father, towered over her, slammed her on the ground again, and then she screamed and opened her eyes.
Crimson’s heart—it was beating so fast, and she felt like she couldn’t breathe anymore, and tears were in her eyes, and she felt like she was dying. Dust and Terrain and Geyser—and a new dragon, Everstar—all came rushing to check on her.
”Crimson, what happened?!” Dust cried in alarm. 
But Crimson felt like she couldn’t make out the words to tell him. “Aaah…aaah—dad, he…” she kept gasping and crying. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe, but it was hard.
”Do you…IS SHE?” Terrain shouted. “IS CRIMSON DYING?!” He seemed like a walking exclamation mark. 
“Somebody get her a doctor!” Everstar exclaimed. “I think she’s having a panic attack,” she explained to everyone, while trying to cover her ears at Terrain who was practically screaming. “She’s sort of fine, and I’ve had one too—except not this extreme.” 
“So in other words, death is upon her,” Dust pointed out. 
Crimson now couldn’t feel her body, or her lungs. The whole room was spiraling. She couldn’t hear anything but her own heavy breathing. Suddenly, another bigger dragon entered the room. He seemed brown and looked like a crocodile. 
Then the whole world went dark. 
*** 
The panic died away. She could breathe. She could feel, and talk, and she was okay. Kind of. 
Crimson looked around. 
She was in the health cave, on a bed of leaves and moss. Around her, there were no other beds, just a wooden desk and some blankets piled up in a corner. On the wooden desk was a scroll and ink, and Crimson noticed a dark red blanket on her. She looked to her side, where another SkyWing sat next to her. Terrain looked happy to see her awake. 
”What are y-you looking at?” She said, trying to keep up her tough exterior. It was hard after that nightmare. 
”Stop acting, Crimson. They know.” Terrain sighed. 
“They do?!” She exclaimed, alarmed, then calmed herself down. “I mean—what do they know?” She corrected herself. 
”They know about Dad, and Mom. I think…they also know how you actually feel.” 
Crimson snorted. “Liar! I feel like I really hate them, that’s how I feel.” She hissed, only for her heart to beat a little faster at lying to herself. 
”No. You had a panic attack, and it was huge, and it was probably from keeping all of that truth in. Crimson, you were crying, for moons sake!” He added when Crimson gave him a look. 
Crimson felt shame wash over her. They saw her tears? They saw sadness? How could she ever talk to them again? She shook her head in disbelief and burrowed deeper under the blankets. “I may have,” she admitted quietly. 
“You did.” Terrain said. “Maybe…you probably do need therapy—“ 
“I DO NOT!” Crimson screeched, flinging off her blanket at Terrain. He handed it back to her when she backed down. She pulled the blanket over her head and suppressed her tears. “I just need a few days away from the school.” She admitted. 
”Okay.” Terrain said. “I’ll tell Clay. And then I can probably check on you again later.” 
Crimson heard him leave. Maybe she did need somebody to talk to. But she didn’t want to reveal her true emotions. They would only bring her more pain. And whatever made her scream and yell like that—whatever almost killed her—was definitely more than a panic attack. 
== Chapter Eight-Mirage ==
Mirage flew over the wide night sky. The stars glittered at her coldly. That was how everyone looked at her now-like they had eyes of ice. 
Well not everyone, she still had Everstar. 
Mirage didn't know why she liked Everstar so much. It was probably because she was the first dragon that was kind to her. She flew over to a small lake, where her father had said he wanted to meet her.
Riptide was the reason her life was ruined. Riptide was the reason everyone hated her. Riptide was the reason she wanted to die. Her mind blurred into visions of her father and mother. They hated each other now that they had a worthless daughter. They hated her.
Mirage's oasis-like wings beat harder, lifting her up into the clouds. If only she could get away from everything wrong in her life.
She saw the lake her father wanted to meet her at. She tucked in her wings and spiraled downwards. What was point of meeting him if anyone saw her? The royal SeaWing marks on her wings got darker.
Her father smiled at her. "How's my little sunshine doing at school?" His scaled lit up as in a manner of speaking aquatic. Even though Mirage was used to it, the flashing still annoyed her.
"Awful," she grumbled. Her tail flicked carelessly back and forth, the way it usually did. Riptide went closer to her. He tried to twine his tail around Mirage's. 
But Mirage pulled back and hissed. “It’s because your my dad and they hate me for it!"
She whipped around and flew back towards the mountain, ignoring her father's desperate pleas for her to come back. 
Tears slid down Mirage's cheeks as she glided across the night sky. She hooked her wings to pull herself a bit higher, emerging into the moonlight she soared onwards.
There has to be a place I can get away from it all.
Mirage let her wings carry her as she pondered over her thoughts. The thought that was most out there was:
Am I good enough to live?
Mirage collided into a bundle of cold scales, dark like a silhouette. Flinching back she roared, "Riptide go home!"
"It's not Riptide," a familiar voice said.
Mirage opened her eyes a tiny bit, ashamed that she was crying in front of an unknown dragon. She saw swirls of different shades of blue, and treasure criss-crossed all over the scales. Mirage sighed with relief when she recognized Everstar. The Rain-Ice hybrid was hovering in front of Mirage, eyes sympathetic.
"Everstar," Mirage choked out, feeling guilty for lashing at her like that. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped right away."
"It's fine," she said kindly to her. "What's wrong?"
"My toad-dung father," Mirage responded quickly.
"Tell me about him," Everstar roared softly, seemingly amused.
***
(PS THE SECOND CHAPTER FEATURES THIS CONVERSATION IN EVERSTAR’S POV.)
Mirage’s face was filled with tears. She saw that Everstar felt bad for her, and quickly blinked away the droplets. Everstar flicked her tail at the ground, and Mirage saw it as a suggestions to land. They both banked on a patch of mossy rocks under the star-filled sky.
Mirage felt embarrassed. First of all, she was turning into a puddle of sadness. Second, she was shoving her problems on another dragon’s shoulder.
But…she felt safe. She felt like she could talk, which was new. She usually felt like everything was against her. Not anymore, now.
”He ruined my whole life!” Mirage burst out. “He used to be mates with Tsunami, the queen of the SeaWings when Anemone isn’t ruling. They even had dragonets! Then all of a sudden, he just sends me to this school where her dragonets are! Your basically all I have, Everstar!” She sobbed about the hate and the pain being brought to her life.
Everstar tilted her head. “You shouldn’t be made at Riptide, though,” she countered. “It was wrong, but…he still loves you. I bet one day the pain will be over.”
Mirage looked up and suddenly saw Everstar right in front of her, wings wrapping over her scales. It felt…nice. Mirage had only been hugged when she was younger, as Riptide tried to keep her close to him when Tsunami threatened to kill her. Even then, it hadn’t felt like this. No, wait, he wasn’t trying to protect me. She reminded herself. He wanted me all to him. Selfish, selfish.
”I wish.” Mirage replied to Everstar. “He doesn’t love me, and if he does, he’ll stop trying to fix the unfixable.”
Everstar seemed sympathetic, which was a new emotion she saw in dragons. “I have to go. We can meet here tomorrow, you know…to escape the recent tension. After all, I assume you’ve had enough ‘Everstar’ for one night.”
”I think the opposite,” Mirage said. “I want to keep talking.”
They both exchanged a look. “Heh, that was weird, you go do you’re thing. Whatever that might be—I should get going too.” Said Mirage.
”Bye!” Shouted Everstar, and Mirage’s heart hammered happily at the thought of seeing her again.
But she was called back…
== Chapter Nine-Everstar ==
Everstar flapped her wings with Mirage. Looking at Mirage's tear soaked face, she felt pity. She pointed her tail towards the ground, motioning them to land. They both flew downwards.
They landed on the ground and Everstar listened closely. Mirage roared sadly, “He ruined my whole life! He used to be mates with Tsunami, the queen of the SeaWings when Anemone isn’t ruling. They even had dragonets! Then all of a sudden, he sends me to this school where her dragonets are! They hate me, along with everyone else, so I basically have no friends besides you. Everyone just hates and hates and hates me."
"You shouldn't be mad at Riptide, though," Everstar said. "It was wrong, but…he still loves you. I bet one day the pain will be over."
Everstar went closer and gave Mirage a hug.
But after all that…she said that Riptide should stop trying to fix what he couldn’t. Everstar gave an agreeing look, but she couldn’t help feeling like Mirage was wrong. Which was an awful feeling, towards somebody she basically just met. 
Before Mirage could take off, Everstar called her back. "Mirage! I have something I want to give you!" Mirage turned around and looked, at her confused. "Here," she said, taking off a line of blue sapphires with a heart in the middle. "Take this, it is my gift to you." 
"Thank you," Mirage breathed before leaping off into the sky. 
But she felt something else for Mirage, and as soon as her friend flew off, her heart sank.
As Everstar flew back home, she kept thinking about their conversation. Certain words popped up in her head:
I want to keep talking.
You’re all I have.
Your awesome.
No-she hadn’t said the last one. 
Everstar thought of things she should have said to Mirage—Like how Mirage was being honest and Everstar tried to help her, maybe the tables could have turned—about how Crimson had a panic attack, and how suddenly Clay was there, about all her brief but strange time at the rainforest, and how her dad had… 
No, no. That thought was trying to bump it’s way onto the list of Everything That Was Screwed Up. 
Everstar shook around her spikes and flexed her claws. All she had to do was get back to Jade Mountain. 
But suddenly the moonlight dimmed. 
Everstar whipped her head around. One of the moons looked…dark? Not glowing and bright? 
Unlit? 
Maybe it’s a metaphor. Thought Everstar. I’m pretty sure the moon can’t be this dim…can it? But if it is a metaphor, what would it mean? 
*** 
Everstar had no sleep after seeing the unlit moon. She felt immense amounts of shivers, shivers that even the IceWing in her couldn’t handle. She clutched her limestone circle necklace and tried to think herself to sleep. However, she couldn’t stop thinking about the moons, and how something wasn’t right. 
She opened her eyes, neglecting the thought of sleep. She noticed it was almost daylight, as little slivers of sunlight shone through the cracks outside the walls. 
But she also saw a small, dark, slim figure. 
Who is that? She thought, her heart thumping and images of dragons chasing after an IceWing came to her mind. She shivered, and shoved the thought away. 
But wait. Maybe they were after her. 
Maybe they found out that she was the daughter of a criminal, and they wanted to finish her off before she ended up like her father. 
She opened her mouth, debating wether to use venom or frostbreath. The figure stiffened, then poked her head out towards Everstar. It was Mesa, her pink-ish scales glinting. 
Everstar didn’t lash out. She instead looked at Mesa up and down. Mesa stalked over to Dust, who was sleeping below Everstar, and then shook him on the shoulder. “Hmmmwho?” He mumbled sleepily. Mesa clamped her talons over his snout and proceeded to wake up every other member of the Diamond Winglet. They all grunted or yawned as they got up. 
“Okay, what is it?” Asked Dust in annoyance. Mesa replied with a series of movements. What in moon’s name is she doing? Everstar wondered, then remembered that Mesa was mute. Dust’s eyes widened. “She says we have to meet up with the Copper Winglet,” he hissed. “Somewhere hidden. Did you say somewhere hidden, Mesa?” Mesa nodded. “Yeah. She said we have to stay well out of sight.” 
Everstar felt chills run up her spine. She felt like the daughter of a criminal all over again. 
But she followed Mesa out of the cave, along with everyone else. “Mesa says that the Copper Winglet is already there.” Dust said. 
The five of them trekked around the school’s stone floors, placing their talons quietly on the stone. One short trip later, they all rounded a cluster of stalagmites. Behind the cluster was a small group of dragons—an IceWing, a NightWing, and a Sand-Sea hybrid. 
Mirage blushed at Everstar and flicked her ears. Everstar’s heart beat a bit faster. She kept looking at her, not being able to look away. 
”Crimson’s in the Health Cave,” Dust said out of nowhere, making them all jump. It took Everstar a few seconds until she realized that Dust was talking to Mesa. “She had a panic attack. No, I can’t just go get her!” 
Terrain’s tail twitched. “I can,” he offered. 
Dust tilted his head. Mesa nodded quickly, and with that Terrain crept away. 
== Chapter Ten-Mesa ==
Mesa couldn’t believe she was about to do it. She was about to reveal her biggest secret that not even her mother knew. 
Soon, the Copper and Diamond Winglet would know that she could see their thoughts, that she had been doing it for three years. 
She took off her Skyfire and let the thoughts sink in. 
Okay, creepy Mesa, what is this about? That was Artistic. 
Is she going to murder us? Bark thought. 
At least Everstar’s here, Mirage thought. 
I cannot be like Dad. Everstar thought. 
What’s Mirage doing here?! Geyser thought, her mind humming with rage. 
I hate this. That was Lobster. 
I hope this is worth my time. Oh, that was Crimson, which meant she and Terrain must be back. 
Mesa shook around her head and felt her heart beat faster. Crimson walked in, her walk showing a confident and angry exterior. 
But underneath, Mesa heard fear. Sorrow. Betrayal. 
Betrayal from who? 
”Alright, what’s happening you stupid dragons?” Crimson bellowed. Everstar’s frills shook and she held up her claws. “Woah, calm down, RageWing.” She said, “Me and Mirage are new. Go easy on us.” 
”I’M NOT A RAGE—“ But Mesa slammed her claws on the ground, cutting Crimson off and getting all of their attention. Translate for me, she asked Dust in sign language. 
He nodded, and began to talk for her: 
”I think there’s a reason that I’m mute. I’ve been putting the pieces together since last year, and then, right before my hatching day, I figured it out. I’m mute because a hybrid absorbing the power of the moon and using it is a lot to handle. If I could talk, I wouldn’t have this power. I’m mute because I’m a hybrid who can read minds…” 
And no, I can’t see the future. If I could—keep translating DUST— 
“And no. I can’t see the future. I’m glad I can’t, though, because that’s mother’s job. So, when I saw tensions between our winglets, like with Mirage and Crimson, I did the only thing I could do. I learned all of this: 
“Crimson, you have nightmares about your past because your past was so horrible. Lobster, you secretly hate Mirage because you miss your father. Mirage, you hate Riptide and sometimes you feel like you’re not enough. Everstar, you deny certain memories. I don’t know what they are, but you’re definitely ignoring them. Besides that, there’s something about the moon that you won’t stop worrying about. What is it?” 
For a moment, Everstar was too shocked to answer. In fact, everyone was shocked. They all looked at her with open mouthed or wide eyes. Even Dust, who had kept on translating, was surprised. 
“Oh,” Everstar said after a few moments. “The moon. Yes. One is dimmer than the others and, tell me I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure a full moon festival is coming up…?” 
“There is one coming up. It’s supposed to get rid of tensions in the school by bringing us together or something.” Dust said. 
“But what if the unlit moon isn’t full?” Mirage asked. 
”Well, it’s more than just that, it might be a warning, or a metaphor,” Everstar pointed out. Geyser nodded. 
== Chapter Eleven-Mirage ==
After the meeting was over, Mirage flew out of the cave, her claws twitching nervously. Looking up at the moons, she noticed the dimmer one Everstar had pointed out. It was definitely darker than the other moons. 
Why did Mesa keep this secret from us? Why are the moons growing darker? Why do I like Everstar?
She glided over to a stone ledge to sit for a while. She needed to leave. Leave this place. Leave her memories. Go to an island where she could be all alone. First her father was making her feel unwanted, and so did her mother. Then, this secret Mesa had been hiding.
Why does this happen to me?
The others would be out looking for her now. She took one look back at the moons and then leapt off the edge, opening her wings to catch the air. She rose high above the clouds and turned her head towards the ocean. There were plenty of little islands to live on. That was were she would hide out for a while.
The wind whistled past her ears as she beat her wings. Someone was flying behind her. It was probably Everstar, Mirage thought. ,"Leave me ALONE, Everstar!" She roared. But there were no responses, meaning that Everstar wasn't following her. It was just her imagination.
Why did I have to be the daughter of Riptide?
She would need to find a place to sleep soon, but for now she could continue flying. She planned on flying until she found a nice spot of shelter. Rain had started pouring down, and there was a cave right beneath her. 
Perfect. The place where I can hide.
Mirage ducked down towards the cave, angling her wings against the restless hurricane that begun to form, and glided inside. It was all quiet and dark, and echoes bounced off the walls as she stepped further in. Drips of water landed on the floor as she walked. Suddenly— 
“MIRAGE!” 
Mirage recognized that voice. At first she refused to believe it was him, standing still in the middle of the cave and begging the universe that she hadn’t heard it correctly. 
But she heard it again. 
“MIRAGE! COME OUT!” 
Mirage slowly turned to see Riptide, scales aglow, staring at her in concern. 
Concern. Yeah, right.
“What are you DOING here?” She roared, her tail trashing.
”I’ve been trying to find you!” Riptide shouted back. “I know a place for us—The Ruins of the Summer Palace! Come with me, Mirage, we could start a life together!”
Mirage fully turned and waved her wings wildly. “No!” She screamed, louder than the howling wind outside as she approached Riptide. “I don’t want a life at Jade Mountain! I don’t want a life with you! MAYBE I DON’T WANT A LIFE AT ALL!” She lunged at him, scraping him roughly across his gills, and fled the cave.
With tears in her eyes, she ran through the billowing wind. Flying would be to dangerous. Maybe if she made it to the shore right across from Pantala, she could fly there, hide in the Poison Jungle or something, stay away from Riptide. The thought of leaving Everstar was painful, but she continued on until she came upon a wild, wavy beach. 
Mirage knew this was not the beach that would take her directly to Pantala. She continued down shore before a shape lunged on her and bit her tail. She shrieked and toppled over, howling with pain. She rolled over and slammed her attacker’s face with her claws. Blood coated her talons as she pinned them to the ground. 
And then she saw their face—Riptide had followed her and was trying to kill her.
He whacked her away with his tail and slashed her down her neck. Blood spilled over the wet sand and was swept away by the storm. “HOW COULD YOU!? I’m your FATHER and YOU BELONG TO ME!”
”I BELONG TO NOBODY BUT MYSELF!” Mirage screamed as she clawed and bit him. She sank her teeth into his neck until he slammed her on the ground and slashed her across her eyes. She tried to open her eyes, but the pain was too severe.
Riptide slashed her again, this time along her wingspan. “I WAS TRYING TO PROTECT YOU FROM THAT SEAWING, you IDIOT!” He exclaimed. Mirage blindly fought back and somehow managed to scratch the inside of his mouth. He coughed up blood and tried to choke her.
Mirage unfurled and pinned him on the sand and, now being able to open her eyes enough to see what was happening, realized where his weakest spot was. 
She bit into his shoulder until he whimpered. She let go and see eyed him. With that big of an injury, he would be going nowhere. She turned around and fled along the shore.
The waves were always unforgiving and restless, and this hurricane was no exception. Still, Mirage fought through it, even when she could barely see, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the flashes of blue scales stained with blood and ran across the beach at top speed.
Riptide got closer, flying, being swept side to side by the wind but still in pursuit, scales flashing. Mirage pushed through the hurricane. She had to fly. To go. To find somewhere safe. No, she thought. Riptide gained on her, coming closer. 
Somebody blocked his flashing scales, shouting. “STOP!” The dragon yelled. Mirage turned around, squinting, to see familiar light teal scales. 
Everstar flew over to Mirage. 
“Mirage!” She shouted, tears sliding from her eyes. She landed on the beach, rain beating down on her scales. “Mirage, I’m so happy to see you!” 
Mirage wanted to say the same, that she was relieved to see her friend, that she wasn’t just glad she had stopped Riptide, but that she had made Mirage have that happy heartbeat again. 
But she couldn’t. 
“I want to be alone,” she said, going towards the beach. Everstar grabbed her arm. “What happened to your eyes?” She said with concern when Mirage turned to face her. “Never mind, we can help you if we get back to Jade Mountain! Trust me, please come back!” 
“NO!” Mirage shouted, yanking her arm away. She bit her tongue, regretting shouting at her. It felt awful to yell at her. “I’ll never go back. Never.” 
She turned away, spread her wings, and began to fly, Everstar screaming behind her. “PLEASE!” She shouted, her voice cracking. “MIRAGE, PLEASE! PLEASE!!” 
All I have left is her bracelet, Mirage thought tearful. She lifted up her wrist to find it wasn’t there. Had she lost it when fighting Riptide? 
A gust of wind knocked her out, and everything went dark. 
== Chapter Twelve-Lobster ==
Lobster waited on the sand, blinking out the faint rain that was swirling into his eyes as Geyser flopped out of the waves and over to him. “Mirage was really upset,” she said, trying to hide a malicious smile that was twitching into place. Lobster couldn’t help but feel the same as Geyser. It was bittersweet to see the hybrid in so much pain.
”Good to think about how nobody will love her. All Riptide does is burn angry fire in her,” Geyser went on.
”Yeah. He’s annoying.” Lobster agreed, following the trail of a small white crab with his talon. “Anyway. You said you wanted to talk about something important?”
”Yes. About the…’Moon Inconvenience.’” She tried, flicking Lobster’s crab into the sea. Her scales lit up faintly in a pattern that said, we don’t know why the moon’s are this way. All we know is that it’s not going to be a full moon for the festival.
“Remember how Everstar called it a metaphor?” She said in real language. “What if it was a metaphor…”
For me?
“What? What do you mean, for you?” 
”I…Riptide sent me mail. Usually I would rip it up, but this time it said ‘CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU’ in really big letters.” Geyser continued, her fin flopping in the rain.
”Yes, and?” Lobster’s heart was pounding harder than he was expecting. 
“I read it. He’s coming on the Full Moon Festival.” She sighed. “I made a plan to do something. I…” she looked up at the sky and saw dragons approaching where they were sitting. “We can talk later. Like a lot later. Under the sea. Alone. Or never talk about this, it doesn’t matter at all. BYE NOW.” She flew away quickly, leaving Lobster on the sand and wondering if Geyser could flick him away as easily as she did the crab.
Well, of course, he didn’t tell her… about what he did.
Back at the school, Everstar had dragged in the limp, bruised body of Mirage. She said nothing about how she retrieved her from the terrifying ocean, because that was between Lobster and her.
Unbeknownst to the school, Lobster had saved Mirage. Yes, he wished she never existed in the first place, but he couldn’t just let her die, could he? After all, he was the only dragon capable of saving her in that moment. And if he didn’t, well, the teachers would probably start shouting at him about not saving a life that was right in front of him.
Kinkajou would be livid about it. She couldn’t lose her prized possession, right?
That’s why, when Everstar was there crying about Mirage, he told her to take her to the school. He shoved Mirage into the hybrid’s arms and swam away, hiding in the weird rocky cave formation that he remembered Tsunami had hid in with Riptide during a storm.
He could imagine Riptide and Tsunami in the cave, both talking, learning aquatic, and laughing.
”Coral told me Webs is your father,” Tsunami had said quickly, awkwardly. “Why didn’t you say something when we met?”
“It’s not how I usually introduce myself,” he said, his tail furling around the floor. “It makes dragons see me a certain way. I’m sorry, I should have told you. I was hoping you might, um—I’d like to know more about him.”
Riptide was never sorry.
His father was a liar. He betrayed Lobster and Tsunami and Geyser by having Mirage. 
No matter what, he had always hurt them.
Lobster was alone, in the cave, crying, wishing things had changed. He hated that this happened. He had curled up in a ball and wept while the storm howled outside.
He got up on his talons and sighed, spreading his wings to leave the beach.
Nothing will ever, ever change the fact that there’s no good in life. He thought, as he forced himself not to shed tears as he flew.
== Chapter Thirteen-Crimson ==
While Crimson was in the health cave, nobody really talked to her or visited her. The only time that happened was when the teachers refilled her food or water, though Crimson was completely capable of getting the food and stuff from baskets of the stone ledges jutting out in another part of the healthy cave. 
However, when Tsunami and Sunny came in and told her she needed to come with them, she was surprised. She hadn’t refused to go with them, but she was mad the whole time.
Turns out they were taking her to the bruised, bloodied body of Mirage.
Sunny was concerned. “Will she be okay?” She asked, receiving a nod from Clay. Kinkajou was clutching her tail, scales completely white with very pale green splashes on her frills and around her eyes. She seemed too horrified to say anything.
”If she’s dead, then that must be a huge weight off your shoulders,” Crimson said darkly. Everyone snapped their head in her direction. Before they could ask What or What the hell is wrong with you or why would you say that, Crimson continued with her eyes blazing angrily. “You’d have one less burden, one less student to deal with. You don’t need any more problems. If her heart never beats again, then lucky you.”
”Crimson!” Tsunami hissed, tail thrashing.
”She’ll wake up,” Clay said reassuringly, “Everstar will be happy to see her.”
”Well nobody’s happy to see me!” Crimson blurted suddenly, angrily. “Are you all blind?! Have you forgotten what happened Clay? Things don’t work out for anyone, and that’s just half of what you don’t know!”
”Crimson? What do you mean?” Clay asked, going over to her.
”Why would you bring me here? To convince me that other dragon’s have lives and feelings that will be lost and I should care about them more by showing me Mirage?” 
Clay went quiet. 
“Listen, I can’t believe how idiotic you are! Don’t you see? There is no bright side to anything, not for me, and dragons will always die so you can pull your snouts out of the mud and see that this,” she waved her wings at Mirage, growling. “Is completely, definitely, normal. That’s the truth you’ve been neglecting.”
”It’s not Crimson,” he said as she bellowed. “Listen, I know it must be hard to be away from your parents, but—“
”YOUR AN IDIOT!” Crimson screamed, making all the teachers jump. “ME AND TERRAIN’S PARENTS RAN AWAY FROM US! THEY HAD ABUSED US! HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE ME TO DRILL IT INTO YOUR HEAD THAT I HATE YOU?! THAT I HATE EVERYONE?!” 
Crimson slashed her claws across Clay’s neck, and began to run away, through the halls. She had to make it outside, or make it somewhere, or maybe kill her father for what he’d done if she found him.
Honestly, she didn’t know where she was going, or what she was going to do, but it didn’t matter. She let the memories of the brief time that her parents loved her and Terrain flood her mind and began tearing them into pieces.
There was when she was first hatched, her mother and father looking at each other with their two dragonets in their arms.
There was the time when Crimson’s mother read her stories before nighttime. 
And then there was when their father taught them both to fly, and little Terrain who was fun and less scared, and all four of them living in that same little den.
As Crimson shattered each memory into pieces, she neared the exit of the school. It was lightly raining outside, with grey clouds covering the entire sky. She came to halt before she broke her finally memory.
It was of her mother, right outside the balcony she flew off of to escape them.
That was the last connection she had to her mom.
“No,” Crimson whispered. “Don’t…leave me…” her legs gave out underneath her, and as she collapsed the memory split apart.
***
It was a perfect day.
The sky was blue with almost no clouds, and the only clouds there were looked like tiny wisps of puffy white.
But the unusual thing about this day was that there were no dragons around to enjoy this gorgeous weather. No dragons besides Crimson and the SkyWing next to her.
“It looks magnificent,” said the SkyWing, flinging her wings towards the wide open sky. Crimson bellowed, trying to act like this was the worst day of her life. “It doesn’t,” Crimson hissed, wings crackling. “It looks like the same old Pyrrhia, where I’m still alive and breathing. Yay.” 
“But that’s what makes it look magnificent,” The SkyWing pointed out, “that there are no other dragons here, so no cluster of scales to block up the sky.” 
Crimson slowly nodded her head—CRIMSON, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? AGREEING WITH THE ENEMY? She thought.
“I guess I just hate my life,” she said. 
“Why?” Asked the female dragon. 
“B-because…” she stammered. She shifted her talons, feeling herself heat up with embarrassment. Why should she be embarrassed? She wasn’t sure. “I hate my life because I have to act like I’m always brave. But I keep having panic attacks. And I’m afraid they’ll get worse and worse.”
The SkyWing nodded. “I don’t get what your feeling,” she said. “But I’m glad you told me. Should you go tell your friends?”
”I Don’t have friends!” Crimson hissed, before realizing she had woken from a dream.
Next to her, at the health cave, was a NightWing. She stared at Crimson, claws curling intently, her front legs nearly covered in all sorts of paint. 
“GET OUT!” Crimson screamed. Artistic stayed where she was, unfazed by Crimson. “Crimson,” she said calmly, “I’ll make this short. I have a proposition for you.”
”No.” Crimson snapped. “Whatever it is, NO. AND GET OUT.”
”Let me finish, RageWing.” She hissed. “I need you to kill someone.”
Crimson stopped and strained her ears. Kill someone? Kill who? “Why. I don’t understand.” She hissed back flatly. Artistic’s tail scraped across the floor. 
“I’m hoping if you kill someone—most likely, a teacher—everyone will be too preoccupied with the shock of someone dying that It will buy me time to get my things and get far, far away from the school.” Artistic answered. “You might have enough time to escape as well, if you hurry, but anyway.”
”What else is in it for me? After all, I’ll have to get payment out of my murder,” she whispered. 
“And that’s where your choice comes in,” she said. “You get to pick who you get to kill and how you get to kill them. But,” she held up a claw. “You’ll get three weeks. Three weeks to end your target.”
Crimson nodded slowly. “Same for you,” she whispered. “You have three weeks to get my payment. A map.” She added.
Artistic narrowed her eyes. “Really? Murdering who you have a grudge against isn’t enough for you? And WHY DO YOU NEED A MAP?” She scrunched up her brows and huffed. “Fine. Remember. None of our deals will work if you don’t do it,” she whispered. She then turned and ran away.
Crimson wasn’t sure how she would kill someone.
But she did know who she wanted to kill. Her claws curled with evil temptation for blood to spill.
Clay’s life would be over very soon.
== Chapter Fourteen-Mesa ==
Mesa was walking down the hallways, no one really trusted her anymore. Just because she hid the fact that she could read minds. Now, only Dust would talk to her and that was becoming less frequent than it used to be.
What have I done wrong?
She walked by the medical den to hear shouts. They sounded like Crimson and Clay. But why would those two be auguring? She stopped in her tracks to listen in on their conversation.
"Why did you want me to come visit her?!" Bellowed the female SkyWing's voice, it was flaring with anger. Mesa winced, whatever Clay had done must have been really bad for her to be screaming like that.
"She is just another dragon like you. You should be here to help her and support her." That was Clay's gentle voice. Trying to talk reason into Crimson, Mesa assumed.
She didn't even have to wait a second before the next yelling match went on. "No one was there for me when I was here! Why do care so much more about her than me?!" Crimson shrieked before dashing out of the room.
She noticed that different kinds of screaming and yelling was happening. She realized she did not have her Skyfire on, and so she must have mixed up certain thoughts with Crimson and Clay’s shouting. She sighed, realizing this was very bad, and went to find her room. However, before she got there, she noticed Everstar, who was staring at her talons. She looked unsure of something, but also completely perplexed. 
Mesa, tyying to be respectful, rushed to get her Skyfire so she couldn’t hear Everstar’s thoughts.
She came back out, wearing her necklace, and sat next to Everstar. You alright? She asked Everstar in sign language. Everstar looked to Mesa without a reply. Mesa realized Everstar didn’t know sign language, and she might think Mesa was reading her thoughts right now. 
Mesa scratched words in the stone that said, “Don’t worry, I can’t read your thoughts with the Skyfire on. Are you okay, though?”
Everstar sucked in her breath and said, “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” She then got up, walked into the Diamond Winglet cave, and opened a chest of jewelry next to her bed. She pulled out a small mirror too, then started arranging the jewels, bracelets and necklaces around herself.
She looked a little more miserable as she put them on though. 
Mesa reached for her Skyfire, wanting to know what was going through the hybrid’s head. But she stopped herself. That would be super, disrespectful. Maybe if she just pulled the Skyfire a little farther away, she could ever so slightly read her emotions and thoughts. She grabbed her necklace and lifted it away from her head. 
Don’t look like—Cover—sadness, a sinking feeling, and wanting to be normal—You’re not evil—why is the moon?—confusion and suppressed tears. 
Mesa put the Skyfire closer to her. This was bad. She still had to figure out why one moon wasn’t glowing, too, without help! As if not being trusted wasn’t hard enough! 
Mesa sighed and left, trailing along the school. She figured she would take a walk around the school to clear her head. Her claws tapped along the stone as she trailed through the stone halls, when suddenly Artistic bumped into her. The NightWing trampled over Mesa’s wing and turned a corner, walking a little faster before Mesa started to hear her running across the halls,
Suspicious. 
Did Artistic make the moon grow dimmer? No—how would that be possible, and why would anyone do that in the first place?
Mesa let out a sigh, then quickly tiptoed after Artistic. She needed to figure out what she was doing, and quickly followed her. But she was caught off guard when a student rushed right past her, colliding into Mesa!
”Emph!” Mesa mumbled. That was her attempt of saying “ow.” 
“Oi,” said the new dragon. “MOONLESS MERCY! Watch where you’re going, Slate!” She added to herself. She sat up and said, “Sorry, I was in a rush to my room, totally not to set a fire on my schoolwork and I’m NOT obsessed with arson!” 
Mesa looked at her, realizing she was a MudWing, though it was hard to tell. She had a flat head for the most part, but it ever so slightly sloped down, and she was less burly than regular MudWings. 
Mesa didn’t believe the dragon—she called herself “Slate?” Mesa remembered—about not being obsessed with arson. Who talked like that? Slate was very strange. 
“You go do your thing,” Mesa scratched out the words in the stone floor. 
“OOOOOOOH, HOLY MOONSCALES, YOU’RE MESA!” Slate exclaimed. “You can’t talk, but like—YOU CAN READ MINDS!”
Mesa instinctively used sign language to say Shut up! And stared at Slate. She wrote, “How do you know about that?” Slate stretched her wings. “I’ve been stalking you,” She answered simply, shrugging. “But even before that I’ve been a fan of you!” 
Tilting her head, Mesa asked, why? In sign language. She received a shrug from Slate. “Bye there Mesa! I’m going to not set my school stuff on fire!” 
That was an odd interaction. She thought, but it was nice to talk to someone.
***
Mesa then trailed along the stone, attempting to find Crimson. She knew that the SkyWing would be mad but…what else could she do? Would it harm her that much to check up on her?
She stopped by the art cave to grab a notebook with a wooden cover and pencil to sketch out replies on. Before she left, she heard muttering, to small to make out. Her ears twitched up to recognize the faint wisp of Artistic’s voice and turned her head. In the far corner of the cave, Artistic swept her brush across her canvas, creating intense like strokes, and Mesa was surprised she didn’t rip a hole in her painting.
She went outside one corner of the art cave and took off her Skyfire. She listened to Artistic’s thoughts, dying to know what was going on in the NightWing’s head. 
Crimson better hurry up. I can’t wait forever. Why did Mama leave me in this stupid, forsaken school? She thought. Once I get out of here I’m not coming back to our rat nest of a house, complete with my bratty siblings and rat mother.
Dad…why did you have to die? Mama is horrible and hates me for not having powers. It’s not my fault I’m not a moonborn! And I’m more well-behaved than my siblings. They’re full of themselves for having powers! I’m a big sister to my younger siblings, and they always blamed me when they picked on me first. Mama always took their side. My older siblings are equally as terrible, maybe worse!
I need dad back. He loved me, even if nobody else did.
Who was the one who killed him?
Mesa’s heart broke at Artistic’s thoughts. The NightWing beat the canvas harder until her brush broke through it. Artistic screamed in frustration and shoved her painting to the ground.
Running from the scene, Mesa carried her sketchbook. She could find Crimson and talk to her without getting fried, right? She could talk to anyone.
An overwhelming loneliness heaved on Mesa’s heart. She hated herself for keeping secrets. She began to cry the entire way to the health cave. She stopped for a moment and took a few deep breathes. She didn’t need to hate herself.
She crept into the health cave where Crimson would surely be, stalking past the shelves of medical supplies and under tables. She broke into Crimson’s health cave—
But she wasn’t there.
Mesa whirled around, wondering where the SkyWing could be. Her tail thrashed around and her heart beat frantically as thoughts of horrible things crossed her mind.
Where is she?
== Chapter Fifteen-Everstar ==
Staring at her reflection, Everstar frowned.
She looked exactly like her father. 
Which was NOT allowed. She grabbed her jewelry box and draped more strings of jewels around herself and clipped earrings on her frills and wore anklets and bracelets and tail-rings.
And she looked really different—and felt like she was losing everything. She couldn’t remember the dragon underneath all her treasures. 
And that’s good.
”Everstar?” Said female voice. Everstar turned to see a SeaWing, she remembered she was named Tsunami. “Yeah?” Everstar answered politely, hiding her depressive weight. “You can see Mirage. She’s doing better and is kind of awake.” Tsunami said, then disappeared.
Mirage was okay! Everstar tapped her tail and blushed. She realized she always thought about Mirage; did she like Everstar the same way Everstar her? And why did she feel this little spurt of “oh my gosh I need to talk to you” energy?
Everstar shook out her head and rushed towards the health cave.
She bounded down the halls, shoving students out of her way, her jewelry getting tangled. She was excited, vibrating with happiness and joy. She turned a corner and found the health cave, stumbled in, and stared at Mirage. She was covered with poultices and bandages and stuff, and Everstar reached out for her talon.
Mirage opened her eyes and lifted her head up.
”Mirage?”
“It’s you,” Mirage breathed. “The treasure-obsessed hybrid.”
Everstar laughed. “I’d hug you, except,” she waved her claws at her bruises. Mirage blushed at that. “It-It’s fine,” Mirage said. 
The tapping of talons made Everstar and Mirage turn around to look at where the noise was coming from. Mesa stood there, clutching a piece of paper.
”Why is she here?” Mirage hissed to Everstar.
Everstar shrugged as if to say “I don’t know.” 
Mesa rushed over, opened the piece of paper with the words, “I CAN’T FIND CRIMSON.”
Mirage lifted a brow. “And I care because?”
”Because Crimson could be on a rampage, literally killing everyone” Everstar observed. Mesa scrawled out the words “That’s not true!”
“Okay! Could you calm down, Mesa?” Mirage said. 
Mesa stamped her foot. That was definitely a way of saying “no, I can’t.”
Everstar reached over and grabbed Mesa’s talons. “Crimson’s not going to destroy anything.” She said. “We’re fine, at least for now.”
Mesa sighed. She wrote down, “Class is about to start. You should get going Everstar, but Mirage should rest.” Picking up her scroll, she gestured to Everstar to follow her. 
Everstar sighed. If she was lucky, she would be able to see Mirage again later. But she reluctantly let go of Mirage’s talons. “It was nice to see you,” she said. 
Mirage’s face flushed. “Um, er—yeah,” she stuttered. She looked away, furrowing her brows. Everstar caught Mirage looking at her out of the corner of her eye with a smile. “Bye,” Said Mirage. Everstar began to walk away, and then she noticed that Mesa had wrote the words, “You both have a crush on each other, don’t you?” on the paper sheet. 
“WHAT HOW DID YOU KNOW?!” Everstar screamed, falling backwards, which caught the attention of Mirage.
Mesa erased what she had wrote and instead replaced it with, “It’s pretty obvious. You don’t have to be a mind reader to know you two have feelings for each other.”
”Alright, well, I’ll go die now, goodbye you nerds.” Mirage said, her face pink.
Everstar looked over. “Well, uh—“ she mumbled. “I mean, she’s not wrong…” she sat and stared down at her talons in embarrassment. 
“Yeah, let’s just—I do like you, like a lot, so—“ Mirage said, getting out of her bed and sitting a bit away from Everstar.
and awkward silence followed. “I—I do like you too,” Everstar said, giving Mesa a look that said Help! I’m suffering and don’t know what to do!
Mesa shrugged and left the cave. 
“You should go, shouldn’t you?” Said Mirage, standing up to walk around and stretch her wings.
Everstar was silent for a few moments, and then, “I do really like you, Do you like me back?”
A million thoughts flew around Everstar’s brain at once. Did she say the right words? Would Mirage say no? Would Mesa come back and say she was messing with them both? Should Everstar get going? Was she already accepted by Mirage? Or did Mirage hate her? Would the school judge them both? Would—
“Um,” Mirage began. “Did you read what Mesa wrote down? Of course I like you back,” she smiled.
Everstar turned around, a smile spread across her face, her claws shaking. “Thanks…” she said before rushing out of the cave.
***
Everstar walked up to the announcement hall where the teachers usually were, she tried to keep her about from going pink as she walked along. No. Yes? She thought, her thoughts randomly running around her mind. Not only had she said something really stupid to Mirage, but she had also not THOUGHT about the fact that Mesa knew what she was thinking! 
Does everybody know that I like her?
She followed Mesa along, right to a sitting area, and waited. What was she waiting for? Everstar escaped into her mind as the students muttered around her. Her mind drifted off easily, forgetting about the sea of dragons around her.
”Attention, attention! A queen is speaking, you annoying monkeys!” Said a voice from the stage. “It’s good to know that literally everyone is paying attention, oh wait, not that dragonet there.”
Her head snapped up. The dragon on the stage was glaring right at Everstar. She was regal dragon with purple scales that faded into blue and green stared them all down, a halo of flowers atop her head. A sloth cuddled her neck, her fur silver-colored. 
Queen Glory of the Rainwings?
”SORRY!” Everstar said shamefully, loud and clear. Glory rolled her eyes and nodded: “As you know, RainWings are very RESPONSIBLE with their venom and do not accidentally shoot their venom at a sloth, only for that sloth to be saved by another RainWing jumping in front of the venom and shortly after, screaming in agony.” 
Everybody just stared. Glory cleared her throat. “My point is, RainWings can have a lot of incidents with their venom, so today you are going to donate some. Any RainWings or dragons who have fangs, just as RainWings do, please go to the main entrance and donate some venom.” 
Murmurings of surprise broke down in the audience as Queen Glory exited from the platform, and Everstar caught some strange looks towards her from the other students. The rainwings from the other Winglets were heading out of the room, and Everstar followed, her head ringing.
Why does Queen Glory need extra venom all of a second?
Nevertheless, she drifted after the others until she arrived at the entrance, where she saw the unmistakable shapes of Clay and Tsunami. The Mudwing was setting up a slab of stone, and the Headmistress was piling a few glass bottles onto the stone slab.
Once they were all set up, Tsunami pulled the first student, a lime-colored rainwing, up to the desk: "Name and Winglet."
She replied: "I'm Rainfall-Aria from Quartz Winglet.", and Clay scribbled it out on a piece of paper before dabbing it in a gooey substance and pasting it the one of the jars. 
He passed the jar to Tsunami, who motioned for Aria to open her snout. She did so, and the Headmistress placed the jar under Aria's two fangs. Instantly, two jets of black venom shot from the rainwing's fangs, and within seconds the jar was half full.
"That's enough, Aria. Thank you, and please return to your Winglet dorm." Tsunami gave the jar back to clay, who sealed the jar with a stopper and placed it next to the slab.
All of a sudden, a coppery shape flew past the dragons, grabbing the sealed jar and leaping off into the hallways before Tsunami and Clay could react.
"HEY YOU! DRAGONET! STOP! THAT'S DANGEROUS!"
Tsunami broke into a chase, following the coppery shape and was soon gone, leaving Everstar, Clay and the rest of the rainwings staring at the hallway in which two dragons had hurried into.
Minutes later, the seawing returned, her face darkened: "Didn't get to the dragonet. The brat escaped before I could get my claws on their scales." She turned to Clay, "Let everyone look out for a half-filled jar of rainwing venom, and if they do so report straight to us."
Her voice ringed in Everstar's head. Venom. Accidents. Coppery scales. Skywing.
She had a horrible feeling she knew exactly who that was.
== Chapter Sixteen-Lobster ==
Lobster had seen everything—He had seen his mother chase after Crimson, he had panicked when he saw her, he had fled to be in the underground lake. He had only dozed off for a couple of minutes when he noticed that Geyser was down their with him. He looked over. The female SeaWing’s arms were crossed and her brows were furrowed. So you’re finally awake, she flashed her scales. 
Yeah, I am, why are you down here?
Geyser sighed out bubbles. I’m planning on sabotaging the full moon festival, she admitted. Lobster’s eyes widened.
But hear me out, said Geyser quickly, I was only going to do it so I could leave the school without mother getting angry. But with everything that’s been happening, like Mirage getting attacked, Crimson stealing venom, the unlit moon…it really sucks, Lobster!
I know, Lobster admitted. He had been starting to begin to think that he only hated Mirage because he didn’t want to hate Riptide. He felt really weird because of it.
Geyser narrowed her eyes. There you go again with that face, she flashed harshly. The face of regret.
Lobster stared at her. He made a face when he regretted something? Huh, weird. Uncomfortable, he gave a signal that said, meet me by the beach. He had some things he needed to say to his sister.
***
Later at the beach, Lobster waited for his sister. He wondered if she would show up, and how she would react when he told her that he saved Mirage. “ARE YOU INSANE? Mirage is Riptide’s daughter, you clown fish! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?” Yes, that sounded pretty “Geyser” to him.
Finally, the Cyan SeaWing landed, her tail whipping the wind. “Alright, talk to me.” She said flatly, sitting next to him. She stared off into the waves, bluer than usually with sunlight casting sparkles off of the water. 
Lobster took a deep breath. He couldn’t wait anymore. “I saved Mirage.” He blurted. He shut his eyes and prepared for black-lash, but got none. He opened an eye to look at Geyser. “I figured.“ She hissed. “Leave it to my stupid heroic brother to save his enemy.” She shook out her wings and began to turn around.
”Geyser, wait.” He said, turning around after her. He saw her take a deep breath. “I know you meant well by saving her, but I don’t understand why. She’s Riptide’s daughter, Lobster.” She added, turning back around.
”But that’s not her fault,” Lobster pointed out firmly. “Just like how you can’t help having Riptide as a father.” 
At that moment he knew he had said too much. Geyser sighed, took a step forward, and said to him, “He’s not my father.”
”But I wish he was!” Lobster yelled. He saw Geyser’s shocked face, and then continued, trying to be calmer. “I miss him, Geyser. Maybe you don’t, but mom hasn’t been the same after that either. And I know…I know we can never get him back. But at least he was…he was there. For us, but it’s not fair because he’s basically never been there for Mirage in the way she needed. If I can’t get dad back, then at least…at least…” he didn’t realize how much he was crying at that moment, but suddenly Geyser hugged him.
”I miss dad too,” she whispered. “But you’re right. It’s wrong to hate Mirage. I want to fix what we broke, but I don’t know how.”
A moment passed before Lobster realized something. He backed away from his sister and said, “I do.” 
Geyser tilted her head, and then Lobster tapped on his wrist. “Her bracelet that Everstar gave her,” he said. “She lost it in the storm.
His sister’s face lit up. “Oh! You’re suggesting we go find it.” 
He nodded, and then Geyser sighed. “It’ll take forever, but…I guess we could do it.”
Lobster let go of his sister, and then dove into the waves. Geyser dove after him and immediately swam away. Lobster could see coral and mossy rocks and seaweed. He knew it would be hard to find a weird, rusty bracelet in the sea, but he also knew that the bracelet could be well distinguished by its detail and gemstones.
He slipped past the seaweed, his bioluminescent scales aglow. Some anemones furled back as he swam by. Lobster made sure to check between them, carefully brushing away sand. No luck. He swam off and circled a large rock. He sent a large flash of his scales, hoping Geyser saw him. Find anything like a gemstone to the bracelet yet?! He asked in aquatic. He saw the faint flash of scales that said, no.
He sighed and continued on, searching through rocky crevasses and in small caves and in clusters of coral. He thought he should just give up after awhile, but soon he saw a heart shaped rock, a bit scraped by the sand. He picked it up and brushed it off, but it looked more like a gemstone than a rock. Found something! He flashed brightly, hoping Geyser saw. He saw a glow in the distance, probably Geyser saying What?!
Lobster swam over to his sister, and showed the heart to her. That came from her bracelet? Geyser asked, receiving a nod from Lobster. Where did you find it?
Between that messy cluster of rocks and kelp and coral and stuff, he gestured behind him. It must have bounced off something for the heart to break off the bracelet. Geyser, without warning, swam off in that direction, going fast. Surprised at his sister’s energy, he raced after her. When he caught up, she had pulled something out of a somewhat big slit made of rocks. It was the bracelet, missing a few sapphires, and slightly rusted.
We found it! Lobster flashed. Let’s take it to Mirage.
By the time Lobster and Geyser had surfaced, the sun was almost down. The two had glided back to the mountain and rounded a corner into the health cave.
”Uh—hi,” Lobster said. He fidgeted nervously. “You, um—you lost you’re bracelet in the storm right? Um we uh—found it…”
He added her back the bracelet. It was missing a few sapphires and was rusted around the edges. Mirage took it, and grinned. “Aw, so you don’t think I’m a worthless pile of dog slobber!” She said.
Lobster’s ears twitched. “Uh,” he suddenly he heard Geyser laughing behind him, talons covering her snout. He smiled.
Maybe they could become friends with Mirage after all.
== Chapter Seventeen-Crimson ==
Crimson stalked along the long shadows casted across Jade Mountain’s halls. She kept her venom jar in her claws, praying it didn’t slip. She hid behind clusters of rocks when a dragon would pass by, listening to their talon-steps. 
She wasn’t exactly afraid of somebody finding her, or killing Clay. She wasn’t excited to kill him either. It was more like all emotion had left her body, leaving her feeling empty and careless. 
Her heart wasn’t pounding out of adrenaline. Her claws weren’t shaking. She didn’t care that Clay was about to die, all she cared about was letting everyone know what it felt like to lose someone. They could definitely argue that they already knew that feeling, but they didn’t. Not the way Crimson did.
When her parents left her, she had felt a switch turn off inside her. The switch of hope, love, liveliness, had been flicked off. In it’s place was a broken dragonet, not knowing what to do and feeling like she was walking on a tightrope everyday. She felt the urge to just fall, but who would catch her? Nobody would. 
She had felt the tears leaking out, but forced herself not to cry. Nobody would be there to comfort her. Nobody would care.
Crimson wasn’t just killing Clay because he had been forcing her to be hopeful and not asking how she felt, but because all the other dragons who knew him would be comforted by him the most when they were sad. If killing someone was what it took to get a map for Crimson, or let Artistic escape, or make everyone in the school depressed, then so be it.
Turning around a corner, Crimson saw an open doorway to a cave. Or more accurately, Clay’s office and sleeping place. 
Crimson stepped inside, clutching the venom in her claws. On a carpet in the middle of the room lay Clay. He was sprawled out, unaware of her. 
Crimson carefully uncorked the jar, then stepped over Clay. She tilted the venom toward him, more and more, but at the last second—
She stopped. 
Crimson drew the jar back and put the cork back in. She set it down and stepped away from Clay, heart beating. “I’m not a monster,” she whispered, claws shaking. Emotions welled around in her. I can't, I can't, I can't. 
Her father was a monster and her life was awful, but that didn’t mean she was. She couldn't be like her emotionless father. 
Crimson almost panicked, and she almost passed out. But she shook her head around and stepped away. She almost killed an innocent dragon. She almost became a murderer. 
Why would Artistic make me do this? FOR A MAP?
Filled with rage, Crimson slithered away, anger billowing inside her. She couldn’t even think she was so angry, but she knew where she was going.
To find that Nightwing.
***
She darted through the halls, weaving between the rock spires and heading for the dorm of Copper Winglet. Where Artistic was sure to be, packing her things and ready to take flight.
Crimson's claws curled in at the thought of that Nightwing, trying to attack her when she was the most vulnerable. The nerve!
She rounded the corner and nearly bumped into a dragon. By the look of her golden and blue scales, it was Mirage. Crimson shot past the hybrid, heading straight for the doorway behind Mirage—the Copper Winglet dorm room.
Artistic lay atop of her sleeping ledge. She was asleep, and Crimson lunged at her.
She shoved the NightWing off the top of her stone ledge and clawed her down the chest. Artistic, suddenly awakened, kicked Crimson away. Crimson bounded behind her and breathed fire at Artistic.
Artistic yelled and whirled around, slashing Crimson across her chest. Crimson whacked her with her tail, then shoved her to the ground.
“WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME?” Screamed Artistic. 
Bark had woken up, even if some of the other students were still asleep. “FIGHT!” He yelled. 
Crimson shoved her across the ground. “You wanted me to kill someone, for a stupid piece of paper! For you’re own selfish reasons! For the FUN OF IT!”
”Killing isn’t FUN Crimson!” She yelled, getting to her talons. By now the entire winglet dorm was awake. Crimson didn’t care if she looked like a maniac right now. She couldn’t stand how she felt any longer, and she felt the need to show Artistic what she could have done. And maybe Crimson just felt…the need to hurt someone.
”If killing isn’t fun, WHY FORCE ME TO DO IT?” Crimson shot back. 
Artistic stood up and grabbed Crimson’s horns. “NOBODY FORCED YOU TO!” Artistic yelled. “Nobody threatened you to do it! You made the decision to kill a teacher ON YOUR OWN!”
Everybody gasped or covered their mouths with their claws. “Crimson—“ Lobster began, then stood back.
Crimson looked around. Everyone was scared. Nobody said anything and looked at her like she was a shark.
”You crazy dragon!” Shouted Artistic, shoving Crimson away. “You need to do something with yourself! Stop hurting innocent dragons!”
Crimson stood there, staring at Artistic. She felt something break inside her, like a wire snapping. She felt like there was a mask, and Artistic had ripped it off. She felt like everyone could see her.
And she felt weak.
And she felt like she was about to have another panic attack. And she felt like the ceiling of the cave was about to fall on her. And she felt like a SandWing barb was stabbing her over and over. And she felt like she was having a heart attack. And she felt like she was losing every breath, every second.
But she also felt…scared.
Crimson snapped out of her state and shoved Artistic against a wall. “You want to talk about innocent dragons getting hurt?” She asked, her voice shaking and tears sliding from her eyes. “You want to talk about getting scared and traumatized? Guess what! I’m one of those dragons!“ Crimson gripped Artistic’s neck and pulled her away. “You see these scars? They came from my own father! He was the worst dragon ever, and nearly killed me at times. But I didn’t know what to do. And now you want to talk about getting hurt? I HATE YOU ALL! I HATE EVERYTHING! I HATE. THIS. STUPID. SCHOOL!”
At that moment, Mesa dashed onto the top of a ledge. She had a wooden slab which she seemed to grab from one of the bottoms of the beds. She swung the slab, and knocked out Artistic, who dropped to the ground with a grunt. Everyone stared at Mesa, and then Crimson, then Mesa.
Mesa stood frozen still, then made the sign language signals, “Oops?” Or that’s what it looked like to Crimson.
Mirage stepped over to Crimson and took her talon. Crimson slapped her hand away, trying not to cry but not able to stop her endless tears. 
“What did you say about your dad?” Mirage asked. 
Crimson flinched, but she didn’t tell her to shut up. “That he was abusive.” 
“That he almost killed you.” She added. She paused for a moment. “That would be…awful. I’m sorry.”
Crimson glanced at her for a moment, and then Lobster said, “I’m sorry that happened, too.” 
Crimson shook herself off. They were probably lying. “I’m going…to the winglet cave,” she said. She left the room and trekked down to Diamond Winglet.
She couldn’t believe she had started crying! How embarrassing was that? She was supposed to be fierce, and she had let her guard down. She sulked into the Diamond Winglet Cave where worried faces awaited her.
”Crimson! Are you okay?” Asked Geyser, who held a lantern. 
Suddenly, a MudWing popped out from under a bed, though she looked remarkably odd. “So this is the Crimson you were talking about?” She asked. Everstar, who was near by, nodded. 
“Do you know where Mesa is?” The MudWing asked. Crimson rolled her eyes and curled up in her bed. Almost immediately she fell asleep.
***
She was free.
She was soaring through the clouds, wind in her wings. She broke through the windy air as she sailed through the air and perched on a mountain.
She stood there and breathed in the crisp air, when a voice came from beside her. 
“Hello again,” said the dragon, who Crimson recognized. She had a dream about her before. And Crimson knew this was also a dream, where she was perched on the exact same mountain.
Crimson closed her eyes and willed herself to wake up, but with no use. “Hi,” she said ruefully.
“Why are you…here again?” Asked the dragon. “I mean, I know this is a dream, but are you okay?”
Crimson glanced at the dragon, holding up her tough exposure, before relenting and saying, “Not exactly.”
The other SkyWing smiled thoughtfully. “What’s wrong? You can tell me, after all who would hear you?”
“Mesa,” Crimson hissed. “She’s probably snooping around my brain.”
“Well we can’t know that for sure,“ Annoying Thought-Dragon pointed out. “But if she is listening, what would you want her to hear?”
Crimson didn’t have to wait a moment before it all spilled out. “How I don’t understand how she has such a perfect life! She has supportive parents who love everything about her! She has amazing magic powers! She lives an amazing life, she always has, and I get a father who almost killed my mother and Terrain and me, a mother who barely pays attention, and the fear of getting hurt by my own family!”
The dragon took a moment before nodding slowly. “And how do you feel?”
“Like a murderer,” Crimson snapped. “I almost killed my great-grandfather.” 
“I know,” the dragon said. “I think you need somebody else to talk too,” she added. “Not a figment of you’re imagination.”
“If you’re suggesting therapy, I strongly disagree,” Crimson snapped. 
“But think of it,” The other SkyWing began. “You always think nobody understand you. But talking with somebody who is trained to listen can help. If you explain how you feel to somebody who wants to listen, then that can help strongly.”
Crimson shrugged. “Maybe you’re right.” She said, only to realize she was awake. 
She looked around, but nobody was there. She stretched out her wings. And then she got out of bed.
== Chapter Eighteen-Mirage ==
Mirage had been s drawing and studying all afternoon.
After last night, she needed a break. Or maybe she needed a break ever since she was almost drowned underwater. 
Her eyes had been damaged by Riptide but were slowly healing. She knew they still looked kind of messy, but Clay said that after awhile, she would just have some scars left, nothing too bad.
She reached up to touch her eyes, and drew back immediately, wincing. They were still tender, and she was pretty sure they always would be. She shook her head out, humming to herself as she looked at her homework. She was studying vocabulary, to Starflight’s endless demand. Earlier that day, Clay had made a scroll for each student with a multitude of words. For any student that missed out, there would be one teacher passing out the leftover scrolls.
Crimson had slept in, so she didn’t get a scroll. And neither did Artistic, because she was in the medical room. Mirage never wanted to learn more vocabulary, but she had no other choice.
She examined the words, puzzling her mind. She had to learn how to properly pronounce each of them, and lucky for her, there were keys on how to say each letter.
Obsfucation. Variegation. Obs—fu—Kay-shin. Vary-gae-shin. 
As Mirage tried to sound out these words, she doodled some pictures. She especially found it fun to draw scavengers—wait, humans—their little fluffy fur on their head, their awkward little paws…
Mirage put her pencil down and looked around. She was in the library, where sunlight shone in through a large hole in the ceiling. She yawned, then looked at her next words.
”Hi,” said a voice from behind her. Mirage looked over and saw Everstar, entering the library and sitting at the table with Mirage. Everstar rolled out her scroll, then looked at the words. 
“Hi, Everstar,” Mirage said, smiling. She couldn’t help thinking that the only reason Everstar came here was to see Mirage. Everyone else had wanted to do their homework in their winglet caves for some reason. They probably wanted help, but Mirage had wanted to be alone without an dragons critiquing how she pronounced things.
But this was Everstar, who wouldn’t critique or fix or criticize anyone.
”Crimson’s going to be coming in here soon,” Everstar continued. “She says that she doesn’t want to, and that she’s fine, but I actually suggested that she needs to talk to someone who can actually help her.”
”Let me guess—she hates to talk to dragons who are there to fix her feelings,” Mirage said. Everstar snickered, then said, “I know she’ll come. I left it up to Slate, a random MudWing that is for some reason a huge fan of Mesa to annoy her.”
Mirage smiled. “I hope she doesn’t kill Slate.”
Everstar nodded. The two of them talked for awhile, reading their scrolls and practicing vocabulary. Mirage would sometimes mispronounce a word on purpose in overly ridiculous ways, and Everstar would laugh so hard she would knock over ink jars on accident.
Eventually, Mirage heard the angry talons stomping into the library, and she knew it was Crimson. The female SkyWing sat down on one end of the table, surveying t Mirage and Everstar. “Did you have to bring another dragon?!” Crimson suddenly snapped at Everstar.
Everstar looked frightened. “She was already here when I got here,“ Everstar explained.
”Yeah, don’t just blame endlessly, Grimson.” Mirage hissed. Crimson whipped around to stare at her. 
“Why can’t anyone shut up?” Crimson muttered, then looked at Everstar. “I KNOW YOU SENT SLATE AFTER ME!” She yelled. “STUPID MUDWING FORCED ME TO GO IN HERE!”
Wow. Everstar wasn’t kidding about Slate. 
“I…needed to talk to you,“ Everstar explained, shivering. Mirage twined her tail around Everstar’s as if to say, Don’t worry.
Everstar smiled at Mirage and continued. “I wanted to know exactly what happened. I heard everything, and I think I just need answers.”
Crimson scoffed. “What do you, specifically, need answers about?” She questioned. 
Mirage ruffled her wings. “Well, I, for one, think that I need answers about why you’d kill a teacher, which teacher you tried to kill, what Artistic has to do with anything, and how traumatized you are now.” 
Everstar glanced at Mirage. “What she said,” Everstar continued. “I think you need to tell somebody, one of your friends what’s going on.”
”YOU’RE NOT MY FRIENDS,” Crimson snapped. 
“Okay,” Everstar said, holding her claws up in defense. “I think you need to tell somebody you know wouldn’t hurt you what’s going on.” She lifted hunched her shoulders. “Actually, I know you need to tell us something.”
Mirage smiled. Everstar seemed confident in what she was saying, unlike all the other times she had talked to Crimson. 
Which reminds me, thought Mirage. “Can I leave you two right here?” She asked. “I have a painting to finish.”
== Chapter Nineteen-Everstar ==
As Mirage strolled out the room, Everstar turned to Crimson, curling her tail around her claws; "Well?"
Crimson groaned. “How could you understand?“ she hissed. “I’ll give you the short story summary: I hatched. I was loved by my parents. Terrain and I had a good first year of our life. Then my grandma and grandpa died, and my father wanted to be a big slug, and he abused by mother, and he had cut us across our scales, and, and, every day he would grow more powerful, and we couldn’t do anything to stop him, and we didn’t know how to escape…and he threatened to kill our mother, and she di-didn’t do anything to stop him, a-a-and he, he attacked her once, and whenever we went out somewhere, we always got in, into fights, so, mother—so she ran a-away, and left, and he left us…us too, and…” Her voice trailed off.
Everstar stared. Everstar’s father had always loved her, but Crimson’s didn’t care if she died alone, with her brother, in his home.
“That sounds extremely…” Everstar began, “Horrible. I’m so sorry.”
Crimson shook her head around and put her talons over her head. “I don’t understand,“ she said. “First Mirage says she’ sorry for me, now you too. Don’t you know I was going to kill someone? Why could my parents never work up the guts to say that?”
“Crimson, were you ever…scared, in you’re dragonethood?” Everstar had only ever been scared when…no, that thought was as forbidden as her identity. 
“What?” Crimson hissed. “Why should I be scared?”
”Because of that,” Everstar pointed to a scar on Crimson’s shoulder, then one across her snout. “I always wondered where you got those.” A thought struck her. “I’ll be right back, I need to check a scroll for word thingies.”
”How specific.” Crimson said sarcastically. 
Everstar searched through the scroll racks, opening scrolls and searching for words to describe to Crimson what was going on. At last, she found a scroll with the right words on it. She walked over to Crimson with the scroll and sat down.
”Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,” she read from the scroll. “When somebody goes through a traumatic point in their lives, they develop a sort of defense mechanism to anything that may be a threat, but it’s hard for their mind to recover from traumatic times in their lives. In this case, you’re response to fear is to be angry and act like you’re the strongest dragon ever. Terrain’s is to be quiet and fade into the background.”
Crimson lashed her tail. “Disorder?” She hissed. “What do you mean by that? Nothings wrong with me, my entire everything is fine!”
“Crimson, its not that anything’s wrong with you, but we all know you’re not fine.” Everstar said. “It’s just that things like PTSD need to be treated by dragons who know how to help you.”
Crimson slammed her claws on the table. “I know I need help, you idiot. But dragons don’t have magic rainbow powers that can fix you.” She took in a deep breath. “And…I’m scared. My parents hate me. I hate other dragons. If I can’t trust my own family, why should I trust other dragons?” 
Everstar took Crimson’s talons. “Because that’s the only way you’ll recover.”
Crimson shook out her head. “You’re probably right, but I hate that.” The SkyWing sat up and left the cave. 
Everstar smiled. She then looked at her claws. Recover…Did Everstar need to do that too? She did talk to other dragons, but wasn’t very…open about her problems. 
She shook off the thought and went to go find more jewelry.
***
Everstar fumbled through the jewelry in her chest she hid under her bed. Necklaces, bracelets, earrings, she had everything, but at the same time, she had nothing.
She sighed. Why did she care about this? She was so uncomfortable in her own scales, but Jewelry sometimes felt unnecessarily heavy.
Since when did I need to think about this?
She pushed the thoughts away and began to think about Crimson. I need to know exactly what Artistic told her, she thought.
Everstar flung on one necklace onto her neck as she snapped the chest shut and bounded towards the infirmary. That's probably where she is.
But when she arrived in the huge cave with hammocks and beds that served as the infirmary, no one was there.
Odd. Where could she be? Then, it hit her mind. Oh. The Art cave. Of course that's where she is!
“What are you doing here?” Asked a voice. “Are you stalking me? I came here to be alone, if it wasn’t obvious enough.” Everstar turned around. “Oh, Crimson!” She said. “I was just looking for Artistic. What are you doing here?” She added.
Crimson flinched, and immediately Everstar knew what was wrong: “A panic attack?”
Crimson sighed and nodded. “It was stupid Slate again. Where did that nuisance even come from? She just appears at the school one day?”
”Why did she trigger that in you?” Asked Everstar. She saw the way that Crimson wa s looking at her and shook her head; “Never mind. If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine.”
Crimson looked torn. “I…don’t want to to talk.” She sighed.
”Ok,” Everstar said with a shrug. She left the room. Crimson knew she needed help but…it was up to her to decide if she would get the help she needed. Everstar couldn’t force that, but that was okay.
She bounded along the halls and found Artistic at the Art Room as she expected. What she didn’t expect was Slate to be there.
Everstar walked over and looked at Slate and Artistic talking. “The heck is going on?” She asked them.
”We were talking about that enraged SkyWing that’s always freaking angry,“ Artistic snapped. “And how she panicked for no reason. You don’t have to be here, Detective Hybrid Blaze-Clone.”
”I don’t care what you call me NightWing,“ said Everstar, trying to be tough like Mirage. “What I’m interested in is why Slate, over here, set off one of Crimson’s triggers.”
”Oooooh, you mean when I told her my family would be at the Full Moon festival tonight? And how they love me?” Slate said. “And then she pathetically rushed over to the health cave and sat there and whispered ‘Don’t cry, Don’t cry,’ for eight whole minutes?”
Everrstar stared. “Yes?”
”Wait, wait,“ Said Artistic. “The full moon festival is tonight? Like Tonight Tonight?”
Slate smiled “Yep!” She said cheerfully.
An awestruck moment went by. Finally breaking the silence, Slate said; “Why do you two look so worried?” 
== Chapter Twenty-Crimson ==
Crimson was scared as soon as Clay walked into the Health Cave. 
“Oh. My. GOSH. LEAVE ME ALONE!” She groaned at him. She thrashed her tail wildly. She didn’t want him in here. Not just because she needed time to herself but…because she was reminded of her trying to kill him. Her talons shook. 
”I’m sorry but… this is important,“ Clay said. I don’t know if you know this, but…it’s about tonight.” 
Crimson flinched. 
”The school will be partaking the Full Moon Festival. You have to come, but…I’m pretty sure you won’t be comfortable, huh?” Clay said. Crimson really hated him right now. 
”Maybe you should talk to dragons you trust about this.” He suggested. 
“You idiot…” Crimson said. “Don’t you get that I can’t trust anybody?” 
Clay took a deep breath. “Then why do other dragons trust you?” He pointed out. Crimson curled her claws at that remark, surprised. “What?” 
“You’re winglet and copper winglet all trust you, like Terrain and Everstar. But mostly, they trust in you because they know you’re hurt. Hurt by you’re past.” Clay explained. 
”What are trusting me with?” She snapped. 
”They trust that you’ll do the right thing, and they still trust that, Crimson.” He said, then walked out the door. 
Just then, memories flooded Crimson’s mind. 
Memories of standing alone in the den, feeling empty. Memories of Terrain walking up to her and asking where their mother went. Memories of tears rolling down Crimson’s face, as something snapped within her and she realized she was…alone. For the first time in her life. 
As she remembered all these things, her heart sped up. She couldn’t be having another panic attack right now, it was too soon. 
But she took deep breathes and exhaled. She put her talons over her chest, to stop her heart racing. 
I don’t want to have panic attacks for the rest of my life. 
Crimson began to calm down. 
I’m going to get better. 
She stood up and walked out the health cave to talk with the two winglets that she had grown familiar with. 
*** 
Copper Winglet and Diamond Winglet had gathered in the Diamond Winglet’s cave. Crimson could see that it was nearly sundown, so she had to make this quick. She looked at Terrain, Mirage, Lobster, Artistic, Geyser… 
”Why are we here?” Asked Everstar. 
Crimson took a deep breath. She then began to explain, very quickly: “I’m thinking of going to therapy. But I’m scared. And the festival is tonight and everyone seems so calm and all of you are completely fine! Like what? And how do you trust me?” 
Everyone stared for a moment. Then Lobster walked up. “I think you made the right decision,“ he said. Mirage walked up and hugged Crimson, again. So did most of both winglets, except for Artistic, Bark, and Slate. 
“I know a few therapists around Jade Mountain,” Everstar said. She winked and shrugged, twining her tail around Mirage’s. “I maaaay have made a list of them. Just in case, you know?” 
Crimson rolled her eyes. “Alright, who are they and where do I find them?” Everyone had left the hug except for Terrain, who smiled and put a wing around Crimson. Terrain had always looked to his sister for comfort but…this time it felt he wanted to comfort her. Crimson smiled and listened to Everstar list them all. 
*** 
After Everstar listed every one of the four therapists in Jade Mountain, and which one was better at what, Crimson decided to try going to therapy with a dragon named Lace. She was a SilkWing refugee from Pantala, when the othermind was killing everyone. She sounded easygoing and extremely understanding, which Crimson felt would help her. 
”Here’s the map around the school!” Slate said, ripping a map off the wall. “You should use it because it was here. There’s your therapist,” she said, jabbing her claw at the map and accidentally tore a hole in it. She then proceeded to tear her claw down the map, ripping it. “Okay, I feel better now!” She said once she was done. Crimson caught a glance of Terrain snickering at her. She smiled. 
She took the map with the large tear and walked out the cave. Walking along the halls before night could come, Crimson found the cave where would meet Lace. 
She took a deep breath. 
And then she stepped inside. 
== Chapter Twenty One-Mesa ==
So how was your quick therapy session? Mesa asked in sign language before landing on the beach. Dust was translating, as usual, for her. 
“Good,” Crimson said. “It didn’t help much but…I think it will next time.” 
“Of course it will!” Dust said. “I’ll talk with my mom sometimes and that always helps.”
Crimson looked away and landed in the sand. Mesa perched right beside her, and watched as the teachers set up a table with cactus drinks, fruits, and food. Dragons from the school landed beside them, filling the entire beach with color and life. 
Mesa looked up at the moons. One was definitely still dark, but she realized that didn’t matter. They didn’t need all the moons to be full to have a Full Moon festival. They just needed to let go of their stress. If there was anything Mesa learned, it was that even though darkness may never go away, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any light. Copper Winglet and Diamond Winglet taught her that.
She smiled as wind blew across the beach, scattering sand around. The teachers were setting up fireflies in jars and oxidized copper stones in the sand. Mesa wondered what they were for and then realized that the moonlight reflected off them, giving the beach a strange blue-ish glow.
”Now what the heck do we do?” Mirage asked. “Wait for something exciting to happen? Wait for the moons to brighten up?” 
Mesa shook her head. She then beat her wings and took off, soaring towards the moons. She broke through a cloud and looked at each student, then circled backhanded in the crowd of dragons with her friends. Let’s fly, she said in sing language, and she knew Dust wouldn’t need to translate.
As soon as Diamond and Copper winglet took off, so did the rest of the school. Mesa grabbed hold of her Skyfire and broke it off. She could hear the minds of each dragon, and they didn’t seem worried. She watched her Skyfire fall into the ocean, and Mesa dipped down towards the water, and the dragons soon followed.
Mesa reached out towards the sea and washed her talons in the water. After a while of flying she flew back over to the beach and landed in the sand. Crimson, Dust, Mesa, Everstar, Mirage and each winglet member (Slate was there, even though she wasn’t part of either Winglet) landed around Mesa.
”You know, Mesa,” Lobster said, “I’ve been thinking…this is the most peaceful time I’ve had ever since joining the school. Besides sleeping of course but…thanks.”
Yes, Mesa said in sign language, as Dust translated: “Mesa says that we should be okay for now. It’s not about how dark it is right now. We were the ones who made the light. And maybe…we should be the Talons of Peace of the school?” Dust shook his head. “That sounds like a good idea but…would anyone trust us?”
”Nobody would trust me or Slate if we joined,“ Crimson said. 
“Oh!” Dust exclaimed. “Mesa says it doesn’t matter who trusts us right now. They will eventually.”
”I don’t think they would after you got rid of your Skyfire,” Geyser pointed out. “Why did you do that, anyway?”
Mesa shrugged. I wanted to fully embrace me, and each dragon had nothing to hide. They felt happy. She communicated, which was translated by Dust.
”So maybe we can do this whole… ‘Talons of Peace’ thing,” Dust said.
”SIGN ME UP!” Slate yelled and hugged Mesa. Mesa felt weird being hugged by her, but it was kind of nice. Slate respected her and was basically her fan, and that made Mesa feel a little happy.
“Of course I’ll do it too,” Mirage said.
”I want to help,” Said Everstar. She grabbed Mesa’s talons.
Crimson huffed. “Let’s just say we’ll all help, including Bark and Artistic.”
Artistic looked taken aback. “I didn’t agree to this!” She exclaimed. Crimson curled in her claws. “Too bad.”
Bark and Artistic growled, and Crimson rolled her eyes and looked back at Mesa. “Lets enjoy the rest of the festival.”
***
Mesa had danced with her brother and her friends, flinging out her wings and laughing. Crimson had sat by the table but talked with her brother, who listened. Each dragon had been called to eat at the feast, which Mesa had eagerly done. After enjoying the night, the students had begun to go home, and only Copper and Diamond winglet was left, sitting on the beach as the sky turned into a teal color and the sun began to come up.
”That was fun,” Slate said.
”Yeah, I liked dancing like a maniac.” Said Geyser, stretching. “I whacked Lobster in the face with my wing on accident.”
”That part wasn’t fun at all!” Lobster hissed playfully at Geyser. 
Mesa smiled. There didn’t seem to be conflict anymore. She enjoyed what was left of the night sky, then yawned.
Crimson yawned as well. “I think we should get going back. I’m going to sleep the entire day away,” she said. Everstar nodded and stood up. “Come on, Mirage.” 
“Yeah, yeah,” said Mirage. “You heard her, slowpokes. Let’s go already!” 
Each dragonet got up, stretched, and began to fly away. Mesa snuck a glance at the moons. She was surprised when she saw them, but smiled and began to fly away too. She took one more look at the moons, just to make sure. But they were just the same,
And…the Unlit moon didn’t seem so dark anymore.
== Epilogue-Celestrina ==
Celastrina loved the look of the school on the outside, even during nighttime—it was covered in lush plants, luminous moss, and all sorts of lovely and enchanting plants, looking more vibrant than from the day it had opened, according to Ryiila. Stars glittered in a friendly way, and the moons were little boats in the dark blue sky. Small fires glinted inside the school, like tiny fireflies.
Looking at Jade Mountain made her less nervous than before, and she opened and closed her strange curved double set wings excitedly. Right beside her was Ryiila, a beautiful female sandwing and skywing hybrid with feathery wings and golden scales, and she regarded Jade Mountain with a caring and proud light in her eyes, her mind a joyous fuzz, since Ryiila had skyfire.
The small tribrid knew that Ryiila had participated in Jade Mountain for years now, and that her best friend, also her only family, loved the school with her whole heart. So, if the only dragon that understood Celastrina thought going to a school was good for her, she was inclined to believe that as well.
Ryiila nudged Celastrina affectionally on the shoulder: "So what do you think, sister?" 
Celastrina's eyes shone with a happy and relaxed light as she surveyed Jade Mountain, her silvery blue eyes literally seemed to glow like her unnatural silk: "A new destiny, a new dawn for the Caves of Jade." 
The elder dragon nodded in agreement: "I knew you would like it. Come on, let's take a look inside." Ryiila spread her beautiful wings and leapt off the mountain outcrop they were standing on and soared towards the entrance of Jade Mountain School. Celastrina, however, hesitated, her wings in a half-open position. 
She didn't know what the students at the school would think of her. Most of the dragons she met had fled away from her, screaming, yelling, trying to chase her away, she still remembered, all those petrified, scared, and furious faces...... They are trying to flee from me. 
And they should flee, Celastrina's mind fluttered unhappily, they have every reason to fear me. 
Cela didn't understand why those unnatural things happened: fires, frosts, creaking and groaning sounds. Dragons got unlucky when they spent time with her, strange, unpredictable things happened around her. It was the burden of her curse. That insufferable animus curse. 
Ryiila turned around, her gentle green eyes landed on Celastrina’s tense wings, and all the laughter died inside her pupils died. Even though her sister wore skyfire, years with her made her understand her Ryiila's expressions clearly enough--She was worried about Celastrina, again. 
The elder hybrid landed again, her snout and limbs taunt with worry and fear for Celastrina: "Cela......you okay? Do you feel sick, or......" She trailed off. 
Celastrina shook her head: "No, sister. Uncontrollable fires and frosts, creeping up the stone walls. Blinking celestials, dancing spirits in the skies. Unreadable futures." Another reason dragons avoided her--she spoke gibberish. Celastrina didn't know if she was crazy or not, but what she thought in her mind didn't correspond with what she said, or what her mind looked like to other mindreaders. 
Ryiila's gaze flitted to Jade Mountain: "It's okay, Cela, it's going to be okay." The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, its first rays arcing through the air and chasing away the stars and moon. Ryiila's golden scales seemed to glint an even brighter gold under the sunlight, "I'll be with you forever, Cela. I'll shelter you. Remember, your curse is not your fault. You don't have to be afraid." 
Cela shifted uncertainly on her feet. All those years, hearing those screams, curses, and blame, all directed at herself. They sapped at her energy, her will, her sanity and honor. The only dragon that prevented her from self-pity was Ryiila, the only dragon who actually cared. 
A glimmer of empathy flitted across Ryiila's eyes, and she stepped forward, feathery wings outstretched. Cela felt the softness and warm fuzzy feeling as Ryiila's wings enveloped her, and her elder sister cradled Cela's head in her talons: "Oh, CelastrinaLucia, my dear. I know your curse is hard to fight, but be strong. Be optimistic. Be hopeful, and Celastrina, and I'll be with you forever. I'll be that lighthouse in the darkness for you. I'll never give up, Cela. I'll never, ever leave you." 
Celastrina relaxed in Ryiila's embrace, letting the smile and warmth chase her fears and doubts away. This was why she was more carefree when Ryiila was around--She was the perfect foster sister for her. Ryiila wasn't afraid of Celastrina's curse at all. In fact, She seemed to be the only dragon who had an ounce of empathy for Celastrina and her life. Perhaps it was because Ryiila also had a devastating childhood. But to Celastrina, there was something in both of their hearts that connected them to each other. 
But no matter what, Celastrina was happy enough with Ryiila. 
When Ryiila finally withdrew from the hug, Celastrina shook out her curved wings completely and ran towards the cliff. 
As she reached the edge, Celastrina flung out her brilliant wings and leapt off the rocky precipice. A billow of wind caught her as she soared away from the sheer cliffs, straight towards the front entrance ledge of Jade Mountain Academy. 
She heard the strong and steady wingbeats of Ryiila, who quickly followed Celastrina, spiraling downwards towards her foster sister, laughing: "I told you so, you'll definitely want to come here!" 
Celastrina landed before the entrance of Jade Mountain Academy. The entrance had beautiful vines and plants that glowed, casting a neon-like but warm light. Cela stared, awestruck, at this enchanting structure, as her foster sister landed softly beside her: “So, you've decided to join?" 
Celestrina glanced at the rosy pink and golden sky, the sunlight chasing away the stars and three moons. Clouds were gathering on the horizon, tinted red and gold by the blazing sunlight. It was a lovely sight, combined with the hypnotizingly beautiful school, the scenery rivaled the Queen's Palaces and the Rainforest. 
She nodded slowly; "Destiny calls for us here." 
Ryiila grinned and spread out her feathery wings, far out as if she wanted to hug the whole sky. 
"Destiny." She echoed back. 
== One Last Note ==
Hi, Popsicle here.
I have never been so happy, yet sad, to finish a book. This fanfiction has not only been an exciting adventure, but it opened my eyes to a lot of things, like trying to understand what someone’s going through and exploring who you really want to be. I have made amazing friends through this fanfic, like Nyferine-RaidenWandersinger and Moonshadow567. Thank you all for being amazing, and everyone who supported the fanfiction!
-Popsicle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nyferine here.
The Unlit Moon is the first collaboration that I ever attended, as well as the first collaboration that finished its book. I'm very pleased to see that readers enjoy this book, and it has given me and Popsicle motivation to keep working on the sequel, Black and White. Thank you all for supporting us through these years in which we've been writing this fanfiction, and thank you @Popsicle and @Moonshadow567 for being such amazing and excellent friends!
-Nyferine
== Pages ==
Here are some of the character pages you could check out, but be warned, some of them might contain spoilers.
-Crimson
-Artistic
-Everstar
-Mirage
-Celastrina
-Ryiila
-Geyser
-Mesa
-Lobster
-Rainfall-Aria
=== Series ===
Check out all the books in the Talons of Peace series!
* Book one: The Unlit Moon
* Book two: Black and White
* Book three:
=== Backstories: ===
Crimson
Artistic
Mesaflight
== Gallery ==
File:Yay Forever And Stuff.jpg|Cover by TheIcewingPopsicle
File:TopTumaltrcover.jpg|Alternate cover by NRW
====== GIVE US FEEDBACK! ======
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