Talons of Peace-Black and White

== Thank you creators~ ==
This series is a collaboration between Nyferine-RaidenWandersinger and TheIceWingPopsicle. Do not steal or copy or use anything from this fanfiction unless we give you permission. Disregard this, and we will report you to the moderators. Be warned.
== Foreword ==
The authors of this fanfiction did our best on this fanfiction, but we still welcome your comments and more! Your opinion is very valuable to us. If you haven't read the first book in this series, I highly recommend you read it here.
—Nyferine
== Dragonets ==
Artistic was always more of a lone wolf. Her entire childhood, she’d been abused and neglected, with no sign of who killed her father. But after she meets Bark…she doesn’t want to be alone anymore. Even though half the school is against her and Bark’s relationship, Artistic has to persist…or she fears she’ll turn invisible in everyone else’s eyes.
Terrain barely spoke for five years, each day getting more and more silent. His sister, Crimson, says he should see a therapist, just like her. But Terrain can’t speak well and loud like Crimson can. When a murder mystery of one of the students entails, Terrain is devastated to find out that his only family member left has left him to figure out who it was, along with the other students, so he has no choice but to remain in the school. But Jade Mountain Academy isn't safe......
Slate is a huge fan of Mesaflight, the mute daughter of Moon and Qibli with extraordinary powers of mindreading. So when Mesa goes on a journey to solve the recent Academy murder mystery, Slate is inclined to follow and help out her idol. But is the truth really that easy?
Brimstone barely experienced pain and sadness in his life. With his prefect dragonethood with Oleander and his parents, Blue and Cricket, life seemed great--or is it? When a student gets killed, Brimstone discovers that life has a menacing dark side as well. He has to be strong enough to get through his shock and help solve the mystery, or else......
Hyacinth has been the center of negative attention all her life because of her odd coloring: no other leafwing was pink and blue like her. When she started to attend Jade Mountain Academy, everything seemed okay. But shattering news from her dorm mate seemed to throw the world off track. Could Hyacinth help her friend through a huge crisis? And would she learn to harness her developing powers?
Celastrina will never be accepted. She gets turned down at every single curve of her life. Perhaps it's because of her strange wings, or her terrifying, uncontrollable powers, or the strange things she says that no one can understand, but everyone she meets turn their heads in disgust. When the only dragon she cares about in the world dies, she is thrown into despair. Nothing in life seems tempting, and she wishes to end her own life. Will Jade Mountain and its friends change her opinion? Or will a dragonet with powers unknown dissolve into time?
== Chapter One-Terrain ==
Terrain soared through the halls of Jade Mountain Academy, looking for Crimson. He still didn't trust her to go anywhere by herself, in fear that his sister might go on a frenzy again and actually kill someone this time.
He passed Mesa on the threshold of a cave, and he stopped her: "Hey, have you seen Crimson around here?"
Mesaflight thought for a second before making some weird talon-signals. Even though Diamond Winglet and Copper Winglet worked together often, Terrain still couldn't translate the mute hybrid's signals. This time however, he thought he understood a bit.
"Looking at...wait no....Meeting...new...dragons......students?" He got a vigorous nod from Mesa. "So, is she in the Winglet dorm?"
Another series of signals, this time more complicated and harder to understand. "Is that......dragons walking? Flying? Circle? Dragons entering--oh, you mean entrance."
She nodded again, and Terrain dove past Mesa, muttering his thanks. Hope Crimson makes a good impression. At least Dust and Geyer would be there.
Many other students were also heading over to the entrance, and he also saw the rest of the Copper Winglet and a crowd of dragonets from the remaining six winglets, all here to meet the new students.
If he remembered correctly, all the winglets are now filled with students, and the academy had allowed one more slot for every winglet. That meant that Diamond Winglet was getting three new students, and Copper was getting one new dragonet. Seven dragons for each Winglet.
That's a lot of new students. Will they enjoy our company?
Terrain tried to shove his way through the crowd, but no luck. He tried to lift off, but the ceiling was too low. Finally, too tired to do anything about it, he settled down to listen to the conversation of some other dragons. 
There were two dragonets huddled in the corner, both male. One was a Sandwing with odd flecks of black on his wings, and the other was a green-eyed seawing. 
The Sandwing was whispering to his friend: "I really look forward to the two students that are coming to the Quartz Winglet this year, Amazonite! I mean, look at the dragons in my Winglet! The girls are no fun, Glarestar is so cranky, and Darkglass is so meh. We really need someone to cheer us up!"
Amazonite nodded glumly: "I totally get it, SpeckledGlass. We only have five as well, and most of them are too shy to speak with the other Winglets. I was hoping we'd get more lively dragonets as well."
Terrain was so engrossed in the conversation that he almost jumped and yelped when someone touched his shoulder. He spun around, only to see his sister, her green eyes flashing.
"Don't look at me like that!" Crimson snapped, then realizing her tone of voice, added hastily, "That therapy lesson did not go well."
He waved her off. “It's okay, I was trying to look for you and Mesa told me you were at the entrance already." He couldn't help but notice that the sides of Crimson's eyes were a bit puffy, like she had been crying, "Anyway, who are you hoping we'd get as our new members?"
Her eyes wavered a bit, becoming a bit unfocused. "I don't know." She mumbled, "Could be anyone."
”COULD BE A MURDERER DRAGON!” Slate, who he remembered was from Moonstone Winglet, shouted, popping up behind Terrain. Terrain cowered, covering his eyes with his talons.
”Oh, toughen up, softy,” Crimson scoffed. Slate rolled her eyes playfully, put her nose right up to Crimson’s, and said, “says the dragon who goes to therapy.”
”HEY.” She growled. “YOU LIKE ARSON, SO WHY DON’T YOU GO TO THERAPY?”
”I don’t like arson! I just…I use papers to uh…warm myself up?”
Terrain carefully nudged his claws away from his eyes, embarrassed: "Uh, now that you're here," He turned to Crimson, carefully avoiding Slate's gaze, "We could go meet the new members of our Winglets!"
"And I'm coming along!" Slate held her head high, "With the friends of Mesaflight!"
Sometimes, Terrain wondered why Mesaflight was Slate's idol. The quiet and withdrawn sand-night hybrid was completely different from the mudwing in front of him, who apparently liked arson. 
Nevertheless, he sighed and tried once more to poke through the crowds of dragons, none of which seemed affected by Slate's outburst. Surprisingly, the crowd parted in front of him, maybe because they heard Slate and Crimson yelling. He heard footsteps behind him and saw Lobster, Tsunami's son, quietly join him. Terrain shot him a smile, and Lobster smiled back.
Terrain, Slate, Lobster, and Crimson strolled up to the main entrance, and a gust of wind nearly buffeted Terrain away. Oh, fresh air again!
It was only then did he notice the new students standing on the ledge of the entrance.
One looked like an average orange-and-red skywing, but with black flecks on her that looked like spots of ash. There was a rainwing with shimmering scales that reflected all the colors of spring. Another one was a beautiful nightwing with silver scales all over and black star scales and black teardrop scales near her eyes.
”Oooooh!” gasped Slate, “they look so pretty!”
"Yes, but wait 'til you see the dragonets from our Winglet." 
Terrain spun around, and a smile crept onto his face: "Dust! Geyser!" It was the sister of Lobster and Mesaflight's brother, the other two students of Diamond Winglet. 
“Lobster!” Shouted Geyser, running up to give her big brother a hug. 
At that moment something snapped inside Terrain. The two siblings had a great relationship. Why did he and Crimson have to be so broken? Why did Terrain have to envy those two?
Crimson must have been thinking the same thing, because she whispered into his ear, “We…should go. We’ll be introduced to them later.” 
Terrain had nothing to say, so he and his sister bounded away, past the students who made room for Crimson.
"Where ya'll going?" Terrain saw a golden flurry pounce on his tail, and judging by the look on Crimson's face, Dust had also grabbed Crimson's slender skywing tail: "You have to meet the new students! You two are important to make a good impression!"
"Like we could give them a good impression." Crimson grumbled, but she reluctantly followed Dust, and Terrain trailed after her.
Standing at the very edge of the new students' crowd were the new members of the Diamond Winglet. 
The first student was apparently a rainwing, with a sleek build and scales that rippled a shade of different colors: sandy yellow, dull orange, charred brown, dark black. The second student was a leafwing, with strange pink and blue scales that seemed to slightly catch the light, with purple, white, yellow and orange scales dotted here and there, like a bouquet of flowers. 
The last student was also the "strangest" of the three. She looked vaguely like a silkwing, but had nightwing star scales and colorful icewing spikes on her head. Each single scale seemed a different color, and the tribrid looked like she had a rainbow sewn into her scales. She had her delicate head lowered, so none of them could see her face or eyes.
"Holy three moons." Terrain knew he was staring, but he couldn't resist. These were some of the most beautiful dragons he had seen in his entire life. It was like someone had painted their scales to have that effect on purpose.
It was Dust who spoke first: "Geyser and I have already talked to them already. This is Constrictor," he pointed at the rainwing, who gave them a toothy smile as a small burst of yellow shot through his scales, "This is Hyacinth." he gestured at the leafwing, who nodded shyly.
"And this dragon," Geyser waved at the tribrid, "has refused to tell us her name." The seawing took a step forward and nudged the tribrid's scales, "You feeling alright?" 
The tribrid chose then to lift her head, and the whole Diamond Winglet gasped collectively. 
Her eyes were cold, cold ice blue, with a hint of silvery metallic to it. Her irises seemed to have layers of it, hypnotizing and startling at the same time. Her gaze seemed to be able to pierce anything, and staring into those silvery blue eyes made Terrain feel like she was reading him. Not just reading his expression and his pose, but reading his memories, his history, his mind, his soul. From the different expressions on the other's faces, ranging from horror to surprise to fear, he could tell that they were feeling the same. 
Terrain backed away instinctively, as if the tribrid had suddenly been surrounded in poisonous thorns, and he could feel Crimson hiding behind him, still as a statue. Who is this strange dragon? 
Geyser broke the silence: "Woah. That's......You look......looks cool." 
The tribrid didn't speak, she just stared at them, her silvery blue eyes meeting each of the dragonets' in turn. She seemed to be waiting, thinking, studying them, evaluating something. 
Dust spoke up as well: "So......could you tell us your name?" The tribrid regarded him, and there was an awkward silence for a few seconds. Suddenly, she burst into a flurry of words: 
"One of the chosen and the shunned, one of two that shouldn't be, two of the harbinger of hate and blood. Death, pain, torture, endless conflict, scape of battles and gore, a shrapnel that will pierce your heart. Sunrise and sunsets, all connected, all connected. You shouldn't be. You all shouldn't be. Deaths, hundreds of them, like little fairies. Couldn't be prevented......" The tribrid kept on ranting, speaking words of nonsense, blathering to no one in particular. Suddenly, she started shuddering and trembling, and she emitted a strange wailing sound. 
Terrain was planted to the stone ground. He wanted to run away, away from whatever was happening here. But he couldn't move. He could sense that the tribrid was attracting attention, and there was a crowd gathered here now, students from the other winglets, all curious. Terrain could see those two dragonets who were talking earlier, Amazonite and SpeckledGlass, peering at the new student. 
A soft voice broke the frigid tension in the entrance: "Staring would only make her condition worse, you know." The crowd parted, and a hybrid walked out. She had golden scales with an orange tint and the same-colored frills, with large feathery wings and lush forest green eyes that looked just like Crimson's, just much softer. One look, and you could tell that she was a sky-sand hybrid. 
She walked up to Terrain and his friends, giving them an apologetic look: "Sorry for my little sister. She has......ah......a special condition." The hybrid bounded up to the tribrid's side, unfolding her huge wings and covering her sister, whispering in comforting tones. The tribrid relaxed in her embrace and stopped trembling, although her eerie blue eyes still peeked out. 
Slate, who had been awfully quiet for the last few minutes, leaned up to Terrain and mumbled in his ear: "That hybrid's Ryiila, from our Winglet. Even though we're in the same sleeping cave, I don't know her well. She seems mysterious to me." 
Ryiila looked up, with a small smile on her face: "This is my sister, CelastrinaLucia, or Celastrina, for short. She's born with associative synesthesia, which is why she speaks this way. But it's okay, I assure you that she won't hurt anyone." Ryiila bent her head down to talk to Celastrina, "Do you want to speak to your Winglet members?" 
Celastrina opened her mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out. She shook her head in frustration, and Terrain saw something flash across those two ice-like irises--fear, perhaps? 
"All right then," Ryiila patted her sister on the head affectionately, "Cela's just a bit shy now. How about you guys introduce yourselves to her first?" She unfolded her wings from Cela's scales, and the little tribrid was left standing as Ryiila moved into the crowd again. 
Geyser and Dust were more than happy to talk to Celastrina, and the tribrid even shot them a smile, even though there seemed to be a layer of puzzlement below that grin. When Terrain walked up to her, Celastrina gave an obvious frown and tilted her head, but didn't say anything. 
"Come on, Crimson." Terrain called out to his own sister, who had been frozen still the whole time. 
Crimson gave the tribrid--who was now scanning the crowd--a searching look: "I don't know. She just seems......strange. I don't feel good about this. I just feel......" She trailed off. 
Dust called out: "We've all talked to her. You're worrying about nothing!" He tried his best to persuade Crimson, and finally, she reluctantly decided to at least say hello to Celastrina. 
The second Celastrina's silvery blue eyes landed on Crimson, her eyes widened, and the tribrid did something none expected: she begam to scream. 
It was an ear-piercing sound, like the screams of the wounded and dying on a battlefield, but much sharper and definitely shriller. The front row students, including Terrain, all covered their ears as Celastrina screeched, the sound echoing through the halls. It was a sound of pure fear, and she backed away from Crimson, screaming that horrible scream. 
Then, as Terrain watched in horror, Celastrina's silvery blue eyes started to glow, like a blue thread of blaze-silk burning in her eyes. The tribrid raised a quivering talon towards his sister and shrieked: "MURDERER!" 
== Chapter Two-Slate ==
Slate had been in her own mind, in her own thoughts. She hadn’t even minded the shrill yelling. But it took her a few moments before she could fully process what Celestrina yelled. She called Crimson a murderer.
Well, what if Slate could be helpful? What if she could affirm what Cela just said? But that seemed like a pretty bad idea… 
“Oh yeah, Crimson did try to mur—“she was cut off by Crimson pouncing onto her and covering her snout with her talons to shut her up. 
The skywing's eyes were full of fear and a “please-don't-talk-about-that-you-stupid-MudWing-its-personal-just-shut-up” look.
Students were evacuating, some screaming their heads off, some flying as fast as they can, others shrieking as they bolted towards any place where they could just hide from the screaming. Frost, white and shimmering, formed on the walls for no apparent reason, spreading along the rock, inching towards the corridors, like tendrils from a sundew plant.
Celastrina was still screaming bloody murder when Ryiila finally tackled her and covered the younger tribrid with her wings. Even through the feathers, Slate could still hear muffled screaming.
Crimson let go of Slate and fled the cave. She was left standing there with Terrain, Geyser, Dust, and that newbie leafwing--what was her name? Hyacinth or something. Terrain was crying and hiding behind his own wings as Celestrina screeched. The screaming began to slowly die down until it stopped completely.
Ryiila’s face was bright red, and then Cela looked up from under the feathers. Her eyes still had a trace of faint bluish light to it. “It's so cold. So freezing. My scales are like ice.” she whispered. The frost on the wall receded a little, melting into water and dripping onto the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, Slate saw Dust and Geyser staring at the frost, frowns on their faces. 
Ryiila said quietly: “You should talk to these dragons, Cela. They stayed. They did not run. The crowd is gone and you’re safe.”
Celestrina looked over at each of them. She then walked over to Geyser, her sister trailing after her. She studied Geyser, her eyes full of wonder: “Sparks are crackling here. Fire. But…blue fire.”
”Three moons, is she talking about me?” Geyser asked in surprise, her tail lashing around, forgetting about the melted frost.
Celastrina swiveled her head to eye Dust: "And the fateful one......" She nervously traced an unidentifiable pattern on the rock, "Deathly whispers in the sand and the darkness, ghostly figures. Beware."
Dust looked sickly: "Beware what? What are you talking about?"
Ryiila took a step forward: "Celastrina......"
Celastrina's eyes landed on Terrain, who was cowering again: "Born of flames and washed by the mud. Two sides, one fate. Deaths, so many deaths, blood on your talons."
Terrain was shuddering, and Slate could swear that more tears were forming in his eyes. Ryiila put a firm talon on Cela's shoulders, her calm voice edging into panic: "Cela, please don't--"
Cela's gaze shifted to Lobster, and she regarded the shaking seawing dragonet: "Your fate, your destiny. It's all clouded, like fog on a cold day." Lobster's eyes widened, and Slate could tell that the seawing dragonet was doing everything to keep himself from bolting down the hallway in fright. 
And the tribrid turned to Slate. Slate didn't like the way those beautiful but icy and creepy eyes fixated on her. She tried to focus on fire. For some reason, fire always calmed her down. She loved the flames, like a leafwing's love for plants. But Celastrina's gaze was like a wall of water, quenching the flames, dousing the embers, sending a cold feeling up Slate's scales. 
The tribrid made a noise like a cross between a hiss and a scream: "Harbinger of fires, you shall not follow the path of the smoke and deaths, you shall be dragged from the world you live in if you do so."
A cold, sinking feeling filled Slate's heart. She tried to look confident, but she could feel the confidence wilting from her heart. What is she talking about?
Lastly, Celastrina turned to Hyacinth. For a heartbeat, the tribrid studied the young leafwing, and Hyacinth stared back at her, her own grass green eyes wide. Suddenly, all the icy blue light in Cela's eyes died, and with a small whimper, she slumped to the ground. With a soft hiss, all the frost evaporated, curling into steam and drifting away. 
Ryiila let out a faint gasp and rushed to Cela's side: "Celastrina!" 
The small tribrid weakly raised her head and looked into Ryiila's eyes: "Darkness and shadows, please let them envelop me for now." 
Ryiila sighed in relief, patting Cela's wings. She turned to the rest of the dragonets: "She's okay. Cela just needs some alone time for now." She let out a somewhat forced smile, "And in the meantime, why don't you go back to your dorms?" 
The dragonets didn't hesitate. Terrain and Dust were both pale as they flew down the corridor leading to their dorms, with Geyser, Lobster and Hyacinth trailing behind them, lost for words. Slate followed, ignoring the spreading chill in her heart. Constrictor was gone, probably ran away in confusion or fear. 
Lobster stopped at one of the doors, his shaking was subsiding, but his wings still trembled as he gave a frightful look: "I.....I'd better......Mesa......Everstar and Mirage......I'd better go." With that, he was gone. 
The six remaining dragonets continued on, in silence. Finally, Geyser whipped around and blocked Hyacinth's way: "What did you do to her?" Slate could tell that everyone was pretty shaken up, even Geyser, who was usually so confident. Wow, so it's not only me. 
Hyacinth skidded to a halt, faltering in surprise, nearly tripping Slate. Her voice was soft and delicate as the first shoot in springtime: "I.......I don't know! I just stared at Cela in her eyes. I.....I felt......" She abruptly stopped, "I don't want to talk about it. I can't." With that, the little leafwing rounded a corner and bolted into the long corridors. 
Dust stared at where the leafwing was standing a second ago: "What does she mean, she can't talk about it? Is she a mindreader or something? Did she sense something in Celastrina's mind?" 
No one responded. Everyone was submerged in their own thoughts. Celastrina, Celastrina......what does she mean 'dragged from the world I live in'? What deaths and smoke? 
What is wrong with this tribrid? Why did it seem like she was reading my future and mind? 
== Chapter three-Celastrina ==
Celastrina was tired. Tired of the school, tired of dragons running away, tired of her powers, tired of everything. 
Her sister promised her that Jade Mountain Academy would welcome her and won't push her away. Sure, her winglet members didn't flee immediately when the rest of the school did--well, most of them anyway--but she still saw the fear and the unconscious disgust in their minds. 
She had never managed to contain her prophecies and strange words, and sometimes, she didn't even understand them herself. Cela hated it when her mystic words sprang from her, no matter how hard she tried to clamp her mouth shut. It had turned worse for the past few days too. Her visions of the future, which usually appeared in her dreams, were now bothering her during her waking hours. When she looked at other dragons, she saw futures concerning them, and none of them were bright and happy futures. 
In her visions, Cela saw a blue night-seawing hybrid, with shimmering wings, screaming as a hanging stalactite fell and pierced her wings. She watched on as a red and orange skywing shaking a black and white nightwing, crying as the nightwing's body stilled. 
And worst of all, she saw Ryiila. Ryiila, who had taken care of her for all those years, Ryiila, who didn't flinch when she blurted out prophecies, Ryiila, who loved her more than her actual family. She saw her lying in a pool of blood, her eyes blank and emotionless. 
Ryiila was the one who took Cela under her wing, when the whole world had abandoned her. Ryiila didn't care if Cela had mindreading skills, or twisted foresight, or occasional associative synesthesia. Ryiila cared when no one did. She still remembered the day she escaped from Duskywing and Achelous, her parents. Ryiila had taken Cela's claws in hers, and the two had flown away from the hut. Celastrina didn't even look back as she beat her wings, heading away from the place she spent most of her depressing dragonethood. 
"--Go to the infirmary? Cela?" Ryiila's voice jolted Celastrina from her deep thoughts, "You look paler than usual.” 
Her mind was still shaking. Cela thought the school had looked safe from the outside, but on the inside, a menacing aura chanted “murder will come.” Sha wanted to tell her sister how she felt. It’s not safe here, she wanted to say. Something bad will happen. You saw the frost, right? That was my fault. We need to go. Ryiila, nothing can happen to us if we leave. 
But her mystic words wouldn’t let her. “The fire,” she said quietly, “the blood.” She managed to shove the rest into her mind and tried to sort through her thoughts, "Awakening deaths, tears to be shed, endless torture." 
WIP
== Chapter four-Artistic ==
== Chapter five-Brimstone ==
== Chapter six-Hyacinth ==
== Gallery ==
File:JMAWingletdistr.ToP.jpg|Jade Mountain Academy Winglet Distribution
== Pages ==
Here are some of the character pages you could check out, but be warned, some of them might contain spoilers.
-Artistic
-Brimstone
-Oleander
-Hyacinth
-CelastrinaLucia
-Ryiila
-Crimson
-Everstar
-Mirage
-Geyser
-Mesa
-Lobster
-SpeckledGlass
-Amazonite
-Darkglass
-Mockingbird
-Glittersky
-SpeckledSnow
-Bluebird
-Achelous
-Duskywing
=== Backstories ===
-Crimson's Backstory
-Artistic's backstory
===Series===
Check out all the books in the Talons of Peace series!
* Book one: The Unlit Moon
* Book two: Black and White
* Book three:
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Content (TheIceWingPopsicle)