Light and Darkness United

He didn't look like Scinan, his fur was burned dark as shadow. His eyes had changed too, gone from gold to a deep crystal blue, like the fire he wielded. Behind him there were no foot prints, as though he had been standing there all along or had just materialized there and no shadow of him was cast upon the sand. He was a shadow.

Spirit let out a little squeak of shock. "S – Sci? Is that really you?"

He grinned again, white fangs flashing against his dark hide. "Of course it's me. Don't look at me like that Auraria."

The faerie jumped at being addressed. "H – how?" She stammered, "I – I thought."

"You thought right," Scinan said, coming forward to sit next to Spirit, his gaze drawn out across the water. "The spell song Spirit played did its job perfectly. It unraveled my life force and power and used it to rebuild the world with darkness, gave it new life with my own." He trailed off and looked at Spirit, "but it seems that the heart of light was not willing to let me go." He raised an eyebrow at Spirit.

She blinked. "Heart of light?"

He nodded. "Yup, like me, you have a purely elemental being. Your soul is made entirely from light. But unlike me you didn't have your power restrained at birth so it didn't get bigger and have no place to go, that's what happened to me. My power wasn't able to grow freely, so it threw all its strength against my binding chains until it was able to break free, but it broke free with all the power it was using to break the chains. Like a dam bursting before a swelled river. I tried to stop it from happening but by the time I realized what was going on, I couldn't stop Neopia from being affected. You however Spirit, were not chained and your power was able to grow freely and take any form you wished it to be. It was your power that saved my life, because you didn't want me to go."

Spirit flushed. "No, I didn't want you to go Sci, not after everything we'd been through."

Scinan reached out and pulled the yellow Lupe to him in a firm, but gentle, embrace. "Thank you ArizonaSpirit," he murmured, "thank you for calling for me to come back and for giving me a reason to choose to."

"Sci," Spirit whispered, tears formed in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks to soak the dark fur of Scinan's shoulder. He was crying too, steady tears as crystal colored as his eyes. A strong wind from came from nowhere and blew about them in a small whirlwind. Auraria watched in amazement as glowing white symbols and marks etched themselves in Scinan's fur, on his back and across his face.

Spirit's fur shone with and unnatural gleam, it grew steadily lighter and lighter until it was a beautiful gleaming white. The same marks on Scinan, etched themselves in black, purple edged light across Spirit's body.

Finally the two Lupes broke their embrace, the light, the wind, the glowing marks faded. But Spirit's fur remained a crisp, snowy white. She looked at herself, unsure of what just happened. She looked up at Scinan, "is this what happens when an Elemental accepts their power?"

Scinan shrugged. "Maybe, I actually have no idea."

Spirit grinned. "And here you were acting all knowledgeable and wise. You fooled me for a second there Sci, making me think you had all the answers."

"No one can have all the answers." Scinan replied, "come on let's go mend my owner's broken heart." Spirit nodded and stood, they walked shoulder to shoulder back to the house with Auraria trailing after them.

Hryre was still kneeling on the ground with her face in her hands. The faeries stood in a half-circle around her and Aisa and the other pets. The only difference was that Jhudora has joined them. The dark faerie noticed first that they were coming, she turned her head and her violet eyes widened in shock. She nudged Fyora in the ribs and the Queen turned to look at what Jhudora was gawking at, her mouth opened slightly in astonishment. The other faeries turned and looked and they too found themselves looking at a ghost.

Scinan came forward and shoved his nose under Hryre's hands. She looked up and made a little squeak of surprise that sounded more like a hiccup. "Sci?"

He grinned. "Who else?" Hryre cupped the Lupe's face in her hands, unsure whether to believe it was really him. Yes he was shadow painted, yes his eyes were different, but it was his voice. But the faeries had said Scinan was dead, how could this be him? "You were right Hry," Scinan whispered, "shine was the perfect name for me." Tears ran down Hryre's cheeks and she threw her arms around her Lupe. It really was him.

"I would say 'impossible'," Fyora murmured, "but that Lupe has proved a lot of impossible thing to be possible."

Auraria came up and stood next to her. "Nothing is impossible Fyora as long as we have mind enough to look at things in different lights." Jhudora looked at Auraria, she was wearing a black obsidian ring that encircled her forehead. At the front was and amithyst cut in the shape of an upside down triangle. Auraria caught Jhudora's glance and she held the dark faerie's gaze. Jhudora broke it first to look back at Scinan.

"Auraria," Fyora murmured, "I have a job for you, listen." Auraria did and agreed to the task Fyora had proposed.

Fyora stepped forward and Hryre looked up. "Ruinstar, I believe this incident ties you and your family to the Faerie Council. So I shall be appointing a faerie guardian to your family. The one who has volunteered for this duty is Auraria BrightStar. I also think that you should know," Fyora raised her eyebrow at the shadow Lupe, "I am opening a seat for darkness on the Faerie Council in your honor."

Scinan rose and bowed to the Faerie Queen. "I'm honored Fyora, who did you have in mind of filling the post?"

"Oh, I have several ideas." Fyora replied, looking more mischievous than any regal personage should, but she didn't care. "I wish you good luck and fare well ScinanDarkShine." She rose into the air followed by her Council. Now none but Auraria and Jhudora remained.

"ScinanDarkShine," Jhudora called, "may I speak with you?" The Lupe nodded and came over to Jhudora.

"What can I help you with Lady Jhudora?" He asked. To the Lupe's astonishment, and that of everyone else. Jhudora lowered herself to her knees with a hand over her heart and bowed low.

"You have already helped me and all of our dark kind." She murmured. "Both you and ArizonaSpirit. We are indebted to the two of you in more ways than you can ever imagine. You have shown Fyora and her stuck up Council that darkness is not an evil power. Darkness has always been known as a force of evil, maybe because it is the most terrifying of elements. But faeries like myself have always been scorned and hated because we chose to wield darkness. Others seem to see it as a kind of betrayal to all that is good and true. If a dark faerie tried to do good, others would suspect an evil plot. Tell me ScinanDarkShine, have you ever heard of a dark faerie doing anything good?"

Scinan shook his head. "Never."

Jhudora stood. "We have done some good things, they are always out of knowledge except to the ones we help. Those are too few who know that we are not all evil."

"Of course you're not," Spirit said, moving to Scinan's side. "Nothing is good or evil by itself. It, or its wielder, must make that choice. And even then, nothing can be purely good or evil, it's impossible. Nothing is perfect, but if we try really hard, we can make it pretty darn close."

Jhudora smiled at the white Lupe. "You are wise for your young years and shall make a magnificent Light Elemental. You two have broken down the barrier that blocked the Councils' eyes from the truth. You have made the way for change, it won't happen over night. But some day darkness will see its redemption." The dark faerie reached up and unclasped her necklace. "Until then don't give up fighting for us." She reached out and clasped the necklace around Scinan's neck, making it a dark faerie collar.

Scinan grinned. "Who do you take me for? I just went through death and back to bring this about, do you think I'm going to stop now?"

Jhudora stood. "Please don't, it means everything to us." She spread her Korbat like wings and rose into the air, flying out of sight.

"Change," Scinan murmured, "does she really think I can do it? Even after I made the mistake of not realizing my power in time?"

"You have already set change in motion." Auraria reminded him, "for the first time since its founding, the Faerie Council has opened a place for darkness to have its say. That is the unheard of and the unthinkable."

Spirit leaned against Scinan. "ScinanDarkShine," she said knowingly, "one mistake doesn't ruin your chance to change the world."

Scinan smiled. There was a stretch of awkward silence then Hryre said. "You know? I'm really hungry, how about you guys all come inside and we have something to eat?"

Aisa laughed. "Only if you let me do the cooking. No offense Hry, you're really bad at it."

Hryre grinned. "Deal."

Spirit took Scinan's paw and held it tightly as they walked into Hryre's home. Auraria smiled as she followed the chattering pets and humans. Darkness and light would be forever united in the minds of these two Lupes. That change alone was enough for now.