Chapter 22

To Be, or Not to Be

They were all roosting after a while of flying and it was Shade's suggestion to roost. Kassidy had her back against a tree with one of her feet against the bark of it as she easily had her other foot on a tree branch and she had her arms crossed as she was listening to the boys' conversation with their new supposedly friends and allies. The more she listened the more she wanted to fall asleep and not listen any further but it would be pretty rude of her to do so. Plus she wanted to gather the best of information she could get from these giant bats, so she knew she had to pay close attention to the way they spoke and made their facial expressions. She and Marina barely said a word and were mostly listening to the conversations.

The boys and Marina were hanging below Kassidy on the branch she was on while on the other branch close enough to them the giant bats were on, the two spouses were hanging upside down on it while the brothers were merely standing on it. What was irritating Kassidy was the fact that Dianna was sharpening her claws like they were daggers with a rock big enough for her to hold. Kassidy remained calm however and tried not to yell at Dianna to knock off her crap. She noticed that the brothers looked a little irritated too every time Dianna slid her rock across one of her claws. Martin on the other hand just had his arms crossed as he was next to his wife. The boys didn't seem to mind but Marina didn't look comfortable when she kept staring at Dianna's claws as they were being sharpened.

"How do you little bats survive this cold?" Goth asked. "Where we are from it is warm and sunny all year round, makes a bat grow to a reasonable size." Goth spread opened his wings and he started to laugh. Kassidy didn't even see how that was funny and she showed no expression to this whatsoever but she slowly shook her head. "As a Prince, I am a magnificent specimen, even in my colony's standards."

Throbb chuckled and then he started to cough and Kassidy assumed he might've been coughing on a fly that flew into his mouth. Kassidy then noticed that Martin was rubbing his temples irritably, either because he was getting a headache from Dianna's claws getting sharpened or the fact he didn't want to listen to Goth talk about himself. Kassidy probably assumed he heard Goth talk too much about himself. Kassidy could easily compare Goth to Holden and Chinook. Dianna, on the other hand, didn't seem to care for what Goth was saying.

"Tch," Kassidy said as she rolled her eyes and this earned a look from Goth. She stared at Goth as if to dare him to say something to her as she furrowed her brow.

"How'd you end up so far from home?" Marina asked.

Kassidy wanted to thank Marina out loud for asking the giant bats that question but she kept silent. But she then noticed that Dianna tapped Martin on the shoulder as she dropped her rock to the ground and when Martin looked at her she gestured with her hand to come closer. He moved his face closer to her and then she started to whisper something in his ear while she had her hand cupped near his ear and whatever it was that Dianna whispered in his ear obviously made Martin smirk.

"Oh eh… the royal guard was not acting with his ears wide open," Goth said while frowning and Kassidy then saw that Martin cupped his hand near Dianna's ear and he then whispered something to her and this made her giggle and Kassidy was looking at them confused again. "The daily humans captured us-" Goth stopped in the middle of something he was about to say and he was looking below him with his eyes widened and Kassidy knew what he was looking at.

When the others saw what Kassidy and Goth were staring at their eyes widened to see Martin and Dianna making out. Their tongues were intertwined as Dianna had her hands gripped on Martin's mane as if she was trying to taste him better and Martin had his hand on her back. Shade and Marina looked disgusted by what they were seeing. Kassidy then noticed that Martin was slowly bringing his hand down Dianna's back and Kassidy couldn't even believe they were doing something like that at a time like this and she furrowed her brow in outrage.

Martin and Dianna stopped what they were doing and they looked up to see that everyone was watching them. Martin cleared his throat and he smoothed out his mane as he smiled. "Forgive us; we got a little carried away."

Holden smiled and he then started to laugh. "No hard feelings man, my girlfriend and I sometimes get carried away when it comes to making out."

Martin stopped smoothing out his mane as he looked at Holden. "A girlfriend, eh? You must be lucky, boy."

"Oh, yeah. She's one of the hottest chicks in…" Holden looked at Kassidy and Kassidy held her breath and hoped he wouldn't give away that they were humans. Holden looked back at Martin. "In the colony. She's one of the most popular bats, kind of like how I'm pretty popular in the colony. If you ever saw her you can tell that she's a fox." Holden laughed.

Shade, Marina, Goth, and Throbb looked at Holden confused at the last thing he just said. Holden turned sheepish when he realized that they didn't understand what he just said and Kassidy noticed that Martin and Dianna didn't look confused about what Holden said which was interesting to her to say the least.

"It means she's very attractive," Holden said as he rubbed his neck.

"What's a fox?" Throbb asked.

"They're omnivores that belong to the dog family," Kassidy said. "They're about medium size and they stand on four legs."

Martin looked at Kassidy. "You seem like you know your facts. You must've been paying attention to know this sort of stuff."

Kassidy shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say? I learn from the best."

Kassidy noticed that Marina was looking at the giant bats' bands. Marina then looked at her own band. Kassidy then noticed that Dianna was smiling at her and she had her teeth slightly on the side of one of her claws. "I forgot to mention that Marina here has a band like us, only it's silver."

Martin, Goth, and Throbb looked at Marina's band and Marina looked slightly embarrassed that Dianna mentioned her band out loud that she hid it behind her wing. "No need to cover it, little lady," Martin said. "It must've been very difficult for you when those overgrown sized monkeys took you in as their prisoner."

Kassidy furrowed her brow at Martin. Not all humans were bad even though she was not one to like humans that much. However, it did make her wonder what these four have been through to make them dislike the humans because she could tell that they had a huge disgust for them. Yes, they were captured by them, that was one reason. Whatever these humans-or scientists per say-were doing to them they obviously didn't like it. This made her think that these scientists were trying to help them in some way so that their kind wouldn't go extinct. Or was it the other way around? She sighed and didn't want to think about this any further.

Marina furrowed her brow confused. "The humans? Oh, no, they didn't imprison me. They gave me the band, and let me go, but-"

"They didn't take you to the false jungle?" Goth asked muddled.

Kassidy knew Marina didn't know what a jungle was but Marina then shook her head after a moment of processing what Goth just said.

"What's a jungle?" Shade asked as he flew off his roost to join the four giant bats on their branch.

"A jungle?" Goth asked sounding surprised but he then chuckled as Shade landed on the branch he and the other three giant bats were on. Goth then held out his hands making them look like a picture frame. "A jungle is an explosion of color. Born in the heat and the sun. We live as we choose in our jungle. With the warmth on our wings and our bellies never empty. We eat the most succulent of small birds, the tastiest of lizards and other… small animals." Goth grinned at Shade as he leaned closer into him.

Kassidy didn't like the way Goth was looking at Shade but she then slowly clapped her hands and everyone looked at her. "Wow, I mean wow," Kassidy sneered. "Lovely poem you just said to us, Fancy Wings. I just got one question though." Kassidy's face then turned into a serious one. "Do you take pride in what you say? Because a lot of times having pride is nothing to be proud of."

Her friends looked at her shocked with what she just said but she didn't care whatsoever. Goth looked at her surprised and she waited for him to answer her question but he did not say anything.

Holden then smiled the best smile he could show at the four giant bats. "Well… it sounds pretty cool when you think about it. Kind of makes me want to move there."

Shade smiled at Holden. "Definitely, sounds more like a paradise than up here."

"Tch," Kassidy said. "Right, that's if you want to get eaten by giant ludicrous animals."

Shade and Holden's smiles went down. Holden furrowed his brow at Kassidy. "Well, you just killed the mood here, thanks a lot."

Kassidy shrugged her shoulders. "Well don't say I warned you when you move to the jungle one day."

Dianna moved some of her hair out of her face and then she looked at Kassidy. "Have you ever seen a jungle before?"

Kassidy's seen pictures of jungles in books and the internet but not in real life and she thought it would've been awesome to see one in real life. She kept her serious look on and she tried to think of what to say. "No, but I've heard stories about it from others. I've heard about piranhas, jaguars, anacondas, orchids, lobster claws, stuff like that."

Goth smirked at Kassidy. "I'm impressed you know so much about the jungle, señorita. You really must have learned from the best."

Kassidy didn't smile back at Goth. "Good to know, Fancy Wings."

Before things could get any more awkward than it already seemed like, the boys started to ask the giant bats more questions and Martin, Dianna, and Goth happily answered their questions while Throbb, on the other hand, looked bored out of his mind. He then mumbled something about being hungry and about going hunting and he flew off from his roost for some hunting. The questions and answers just kept coming and coming.

Kassidy knew she was sounding kind of rude to their new travel buddies but who could blame her? She wasn't one of those people who wanted to trust others immediately, oh, no. She preferably preferred to do it her way. She'll start by slowly getting to know him or her and when she got to know them better that's when she'll decide for herself if that person's worth trusting or not. Right now she just couldn't see any reason as to why she should trust the giant bats.

"Alright, I think we've spoken too much about us," Martin said as he stood upright with Dianna. "How about you? Tell us something we don't know about."

Shade instantly smiled. "Oh, well we Silverwings live as we choose to too." Kassidy furrowed her brow at Shade like he was crazy as he said it trying to impress the giant bats. "Like the rule that bats can't look at the sun. Well, Kassidy, Holden, and I did, even if the owls didn't like it."

Kassidy clucked her tongue. "Shade, I don't know if you have amnesia or not but the owls burned down Tree Haven."

Holden looked at Kassidy annoyed. "But let's not forget that those owls have gone mad. I mean look at what happened. I almost got killed by one of them and now I got a scar right here." Holden pointed at his back using his thumb. "And you almost got killed when you were trying to save Tree Haven and not only that they were going to have you killed all because you're a witch."

Kassidy kept staring at Holden with her brows furrowed but she knew Holden had a point about the owls. But the only reason why the owls were after her, her friends and her colony was because they thought they had something to do with the killings of the pigeons. Especially her.

"They wanted to kill Kassidy all because she's a witch?" Martin asked.

Shade looked crossed when Martin mentioned the owls. "That and because they think she used her magic on my colony to ambush the pigeons and kill them. A lot are afraid of her because she's a witch and the way she looks. A lot have even called her demon or devil, it wasn't just the owls. One of the owls, however, did say that she might bring destruction to the birds and the beasts, but I don't believe she would."

Kassidy didn't even want to talk about what those animals have been calling her lately. However, it did make her a little angry just hearing the words demon and devil. If there was such thing as a word eliminator to demolish words for good and she had to choose a couple of words to get rid of those two words would've been the words she would've gladly chosen. She could easily remember those exact same words Brutus said about her bringing chaos to a lot and she didn't want to believe it, she just couldn't.

"Very tragic, I must say," Dianna said. "But I can see why a lot would be afraid of her."

Kassidy narrowed her eyes at Dianna and wanted to tell her that not everyone was but she decided it was not worth it.

"Why did your males not save you?" Goth asked.

"Believe us, man, even if they did try to save us everything would've been a disaster anyways," Holden said.

"Yeah, but they weren't there," Shade said. "They were waiting for us at Stonehold." The three giant bats looked at Shade confused. "That's where we were getting to migrate to before the owls attacked." Shade stood upright as he looked angry once again about the owls. "I hate the owls even more than I hate that treaty."

"Treaty?" Martin asked. "What treaty are we talking about here?"

Shade looked at Martin. "Basically the bats were punished for not taking sides in the battle of the birds and the beasts. That's why we have to fly at night."

Shade then flew up to a higher branch from the giant bats and he then roosted on the tree branch and as he did, Kassidy saw Martin thinking and then he looked at his wife and partner with a smirk. He then looked at Shade. "You know this whole thing can come to an end once and for all. We, after all, wouldn't want you or your friends here to suffer any further."

Shade looked at Martin interested in what he was saying. "How can it end though? It's not like one small bat can knock out one large animal."

"That may be true, boy, but imagine this. A colony of huge bats coming here to end this persecution, teaching the owls a lesson or two about why they shouldn't mess with bats. With our strength and speed, we'd be able to end this malice that the owls are bringing to you and many others." Martin then roughly put his hand on Goth's back and Goth looked like he was about to lose his balance but he kept himself in place. "My good friend here being a Prince and all would be most obliged to send an army of his best soldiers up here." Martin then looked at Goth as he put his hand down from his back. "Right, Goth?"

Kassidy could see some annoyance in Goth's eyes as he looked at Martin but he then looked back at Shade with a smile. "Of course, it wouldn't be right not to help." He then pointed at Shade. "You Shade, could be my Commander and Chief." Shade had his mouth wide open and this certainly surprised Kassidy and the rest of her friends. "I think you have the makings of a great warrior!"

Shade gasped but he then smiled.

Kassidy couldn't believe what she was hearing and she for sure knew she didn't have a lot of earwax in her ears to be hearing things. Even as this did sound strange and crazy at the same, Shade looked ecstatic about what he just heard and Holden was even smiling for him. Kassidy was no expert on military positions but she knew one thing for sure was that if someone was to be a Commander in Chief they would need a lot of experience and they had to earn it by proving themselves. Besides, Shade didn't even have the experience even if he wanted something like that but she didn't want to say it out loud because she didn't want to hurt Shade's feelings. But the more she thought about Martin saying that Goth could bring an army of other Vampyrum bats up here the more she realized that things could only bring more problems.

She and Marina looked at each other and they knew they were thinking the same thing. They certainly were going to have a lot of talking to do later.

Holden flew up to Shade and landed next to him. "Holy crap, Shade, that's a huge position for someone to have! You can't lose this opportunity!"

Shade slowly looked at Holden still smiling. "I feel like I'm dreaming. Pinch me." Without thinking, Holden punched Shade in the arm. "Ow!" Shade rubbed his arm as he looked at Holden annoyed. "I said pinch not punch!"

"I know," Holden said. "I just felt like doing it."

"Holden does make a good point, amigo," Goth said, still smiling. "This position is a very important one and it'll be something you don't want to pass on as he said. Your Father must be very proud."

Shade then looked gloomy after what Goth said and he had his eyes down and sighed and this made Holden's smile go down and he and the girls looked at Shade concerned. The three giant bats looked at Shade confused.

"Are you alright, Shade?" Dianna asked.

"I… don't have a Father," Shade said quietly. "Uh, Cassiel, my Dad… disappeared while scouting one night. They say the owls took him…"

Kassidy looked at Shade sadly and couldn't stand to see him like this. All she wanted to do right now was go down there and hug Shade and tell him that everything would be alright but she just couldn't find it in herself to move from her spot. Right now she felt like a bad friend for not doing that.

Goth flew up to the boys and he landed next to Shade. "Ah, a boy… without a Father." He then put his hand on Shade's shoulder for comfort and this made Kassidy want to go down there and push Goth away from Shade, but she knew Shade needed comfort right now.

Holden smiled weakly at Shade. "You may not have your Father, but at least you have us."

Shade looked at Holden and he looked like he wanted to spill tears but Kassidy could tell he was trying to hold them in. Shade then smiled weakly and nodded. "Thanks, Holden."

Kassidy sighed as she looked down sadly and she didn't want to but she thought about her parents and her kidnapped family. Brushing it aside has just proven to be too difficult for her and how could she just brush them aside just like that? She just couldn't. She loved and missed them very much.

When Kassidy looked up she saw that Martin was staring at her with those snake looking eyes. Kassidy thought that maybe Martin was looking at something else, but no. He was staring directly at her. The way he looked at her was kind of creeping her out but she tried not to show it whatsoever.

"So, Kass," Martin said and everyone turned their attention to him. "Are you good with magic?"

Kassidy couldn't believe Martin would change the subject just like that but she figured he wanted to talk about something else since things seemed too sad right now. Everyone was now looking at her like she was about to do improv. She then breathed in the cold air. "I… guess."

"Do you enjoy using magic?" Martin asked.

"It depends."

"On what?"

Kassidy shrugged her shoulders. "On how I feel."

Martin then smiled and chuckled. "I must say you intrigue me a lot, Kass. It's not everyday I get to meet someone like you. Your parents must be very proud of what you've become."

Kassidy's heart sank at the mention of her parents and she looked away from Martin sadly and her ears went flat. "I prefer not to talk about them…"

It was silent for a while and all that could be heard were crickets and it felt very awkward. Kassidy didn't know if anyone would say anything but she didn't care. She no longer cared as long as if no one said a thing further about her parents.

"May I ask why you don't want to talk about them?" Martin asked. Kassidy didn't look at Martin but she slowly started to get angry when Martin brought up the topic of her parents. "Did they abandon you at a young age and they left to go somewhere else?" Kassidy felt her hands turn into fists and as they were now curled into fists she could feel the heat coming inside her and it was bubbling slowly. She wanted Martin to stop talking and she couldn't find it in herself to do her breathing technique as she bared her teeth. "Perhaps they weren't good parents and didn't care-"

"My parents never abandoned me and they cared about me," Kassidy shouted at Martin in rage and the flames erupted all over her body and everyone looked at her surprised. "Who the hell do you think you are of questioning about my parents!? My parents would do no such thing and they loved me! My parents are dead! You hear me!? Dead, you son of a-"

"Kass," Marina shouted to try and calm her down.

Kassidy slid her hands through her hair angry but sad at the same time as she continued to bare her teeth but the flames on her died. Having enough of this, Kassidy took off from her branch and flew deep into the forest.

Holden couldn't believe that Kassidy lost control of her anger again. He could even tell that everyone here was surprised by her reaction. It was exactly the same anger she felt back at the cathedral. When Martin was trying to ask Kassidy about her parents he could see the anger on her face. He thought Martin didn't mean to upset Kassidy like that and he knew Martin didn't really know what happened to her parents but Holden said to Kassidy that he wouldn't give away that they were actually humans.

Then Holden saw Marina look at Martin angrily and she had her teeth bared at him. "What's your problem? She didn't want to talk about it!"

Martin looked at Marina as did the others. "No need to yell, little lady. I was just trying to make talk with her."

"You know a lot have stuff that they don't like to talk about!"

"Marina, calm down," Holden said. "Look, let's just let Kassidy be alone for now and let her calm down. Let's just forget that this ever happened."

Marina looked at Holden. "Holden, you know how she can be. She might not get over this."

"Martin didn't mean to, Marina," Shade said. "I know because they're new and barely know us."

Holden could tell Marina wanted to argue with Shade but instead, she sighed and looked to where Kassidy disappeared off to. He did the same thing and he hoped that Kassidy would calm down soon.

She did it again… she let her anger get the best of her once again. She couldn't find it in herself to try and breathe and her heart continued to sink as the Titanic did. She couldn't get over Martin's words and it still made her angry to the part where she wanted to burn something, of course, it wasn't going to be an animal.

Kassidy was on her knees near a pond and she was hugging herself as she had her head down. She was glad she didn't see her friends' reactions once again to her anger because she didn't want to think about it. However, she didn't know how the three giant bats reacted to this but she didn't care. They probably didn't care about her like her friends and family did.

She then looked at her reflection in the pond and she saw her gothic self staring back at her. She thought when you look at your own reflection you can understand who you truly are and right now she understood what she was. She was a misfit, a witch… an orphan… a depressed teenager.

She then heard thunder and then it started to drizzle rain. The thunder sounded again as she continued to stare at her reflection but she didn't care for the thunder or the rain, but as she continued to stare she swore she saw a younger and happier girl that was her laughing and playing with her parents. Kassidy put her hands to her eyes and as she did, her anger surged and the fire on her erupted slowly and then she growled and she looked back at the pond and started to splash the water very hard and it went on for a while. She couldn't stand to look at herself. Looking at herself could only remind her that she had half of what she took from her parents.

After a while of splashing the water, Kassidy then started to breathe hard when she stood up but she didn't dare to cry. She held it in but closed her eyes and bared her teeth.

Kassidy then heard rustling and when she turned around she saw standing near a bush looking at her shocked was Throbb. Kassidy didn't want to deal with this, especially not with Throbb. She furrowed her brow at him and he looked like he was going to say something but Kassidy didn't want to hear it and she flew off.

The raindrops were not like the ones he was used to back in the jungle. They were icy cold and the way they landed on him did not seem right to him. How could anyone even stand this sort of weather?

Goth was flying a little far back from the four insectivore bats with Throbb, Martin, and Dianna. He hoped Martin knew what he was doing because he wanted to be out of this strange place as soon as possible. Nothing about this place looked anything like the jungle. He couldn't understand the trees here, some with spindly leafless branches and others with sharp prickly needles. He still couldn't stand the coldness and every time the wind blew he would start shivering violently. The sooner he was free from this northern wasteland the better.

As they kept on flying and following the four insectivore bats, Goth couldn't help but notice that Martin and Dianna didn't seem like they were cold. In fact, when he and Throbb started working together with them he's noticed that they never looked like they were freezing no matter how cold the wind felt. He thought perhaps they've gotten used to the weather up here since they were first brought to their fake jungle. It kind of irritated him that they didn't seem to mind the cold while he and Throbb couldn't take their minds off of it.

When Goth was back in the city with Throbb, Martin, and Dianna, Martin said he needed to have copies of Goth and Throbb's bands for him and Dianna so he wouldn't draw any suspicion from the insectivore bats. It was a good idea, no doubt about it. Shade and Holden seemed to trust them, however, he could tell that Kassidy and Marina were having doubts about them and he could easily tell. Especially when Kassidy yelled at Martin. The way the fire was on her body when she yelled at Martin made it look like she was an actual devil. Throbb even told him privately that he saw her with flames on her and she was viciously hitting and splashing at a pond. Martin really must've gotten to her.

As Goth was trying not to let the rain bug him, he could hear Throbb clattering his teeth. "How can it be so cold and… wet and… cold?" Throbb asked.

Dianna rolled her eyes and she grunted annoyed at Throbb's whining. "Because that's weather and that's how this weather here has been for some time now. So suck it up, we're going to be here for a while." Throbb whined again and Dianna looked at Goth. "You might want to control him here if he keeps it up. If he keeps whining I'll make him stop whining a different way." Dianna then looked at Throbb slowly and this made Throbb look a little skittish. "A very different way."

Goth sighed annoyed but he really couldn't blame Dianna. Throbb had done a lot of complaining lately and he's pretty much been embarrassing Goth to the point that he wanted to take Throbb back to the fake jungle and keep him there and then he could continue on his own with Martin and Dianna but he has tried to be patient with him but his patience has pretty much run out and he could tell that Martin and Dianna were sick and tired of Throbb's attitude.

Goth looked at Throbb with his brow furrowed. "Just stay quiet, will you? I've had enough of you to deal with lately."

Goth then heard Martin chuckling and the three of them looked at him. "Dianna, let's not get rough here but as much as I like to see you get rough you might want to save it for the big occasion."

Martin was smirking at Dianna and then slowly Dianna started to smirk as well. "Of course, I should save it for when the time comes."

Goth and Throbb looked at each other and then they looked back at their partners. "What occasion, amigos?" Goth asked.

Martin chuckled more. "For your departure back to the jungle, my friend. Your time of eating a whole colony will soon be here and when that day comes, your tongues will taste the sweetness of blood as it oozes down your throats and as your teeth crunch the hard bones and the best parts of the meat. Have patience and have your eyes on the prize. I mean why settle for four young bats when you have a whole colony to look forward to feasting on?" And right on cue, a low rumble was heard from the sky as Martin and Dianna kept their smirks up.

Goth and Throbb looked at each other and they smirked and then they looked back straight ahead and kept following the insectivore bats. Martin's words about bat blood and bat flesh hungered Goth to keep going farther until they can eventually find the colony and so Goth can slice through and bite through their skin deeply and see them bleed that dark, red blood like he was going to cut some sort of fruit. He could already picture the whole hunt in his head.

As they kept following the insectivore bats, Goth couldn't help but look at Kassidy. She barely spoke to anyone or looked at any of them and was mostly keeping to herself since she yelled at Martin. He could tell she was still angry about what Martin said but he could also see depression in her eyes. He thought she must've been through a lot when her parents died and you could tell by the way she yelled at Martin. He did see her with fire in her hands but not on her whole body and when he did this really did make him freeze in place like he needed to. Martin hadn't apologized to her and Goth didn't know if he would or not.

As Goth kept staring at her, he then hummed to himself and started to form an idea.

A/N- I can't tell you enough of how proud I am to get another chapter done. I enjoy writing, I really do and when I was looking off my notes of what I wanted to write in this chapter I felt excited.

For the title of this chapter, you might recognize it from somewhere. If you don't it's a quote from one of Shakespeare's plays and the play that this quote can be found from is in Hamlet. I love Shakespeare's plays and there are so many good quotes from his plays.

As far as getting chapters in-you know what? I'm not even going to say what my schedule is like because I think you all pretty much know what my schedule is like. Well, the next chapter will be out soon and until then have a nice day.