Hey guys! Guess what? THE PROPHECY IS CHANGED! And I have this new chapter out! The ending is a little weird, but I needed to give the college students a reason to start their journey. This chapter is mostly fun and games; also a hint about Moon's love life that will remain dormant for now. I hope to eventually get to Moonbli, but it won't be for a while. I'm learning not all ships happen immediatly...
Also, I'm going to set a poll up in my profile. If you don't know how to find a poll, here's how it works for me. If I want to find a poll for someone, I click on thier profile. (If you're doing mine, Cobalt the SeaWing.) Then at the very top, up above their profile picture, there is a little bar that says the poll question, and on the right side of the bar is where you vote. My poll is going to be for which story I should work on more, since I don't have a lot of free time on my hands. I also have a question for everyone reading.
Would anyone like to help me choose a draft of a FanFic I'm writing? It's a Divergent FanFic, and since I'm lazy, if you want to help me choose a draft to use, look at my Hunger Games last chapter. (No, I'm not encouraging you to read the story. It sucks. Feel very free to skip tp the remake note and just read it. It's at the bottom.)
I want to quickly thank everyone who's stuck with me during this story. You all are awesome, and I couldn't have made it this far without your ideas. Special thanks to Brian H. H who helped me with this chapter. If you have any ideas, feel free to PM me about them.
Hands steady, eyes ready, READ! (I'm weird, don't ask.)
Moon
Moon loved school. She really did. But why did it have to be so boring?
The last bell rang, and Moon gladly packed her bag. Slinging it over her shoulder by one strap, she hurried out of her classroom. She took the stairs along with another group of kids; but stayed near the back of the group in fear of getting trampled. Legs burning, she made it to the fifth floor, and pushed open the door of the dorm.
And stopped. Moving.
Qibli had cleared the mini-kitchen island off, and had piled on it note cards. Moon was scared to even ask; like, really scared. She started to take a step back, but the motion alerted Qibli, who's head popped up from the note card package he was unwrapping.
"Hey Moon, come help me?" Moon hid a sigh and went over to the island, dropping her bag on the couch as she went by.
"And what am I helping with, may I ask?" Qibli stopped unwrapping his package of note cards and leaned against the island.
"Well, I was gonna play a game. And also, this is my 'Community Work' for the little-kid schools. I have to unwrap a hundred packages of note cards by tomorrow, and I really wanted to play this game." He gave Moon a set of puppy-dog eyes, and she laughed softly.
"Ok ok, I'll help. What is this mysterious 'game' you speak of?" She picked up a package of note cards and started peeling off the plastic. Qibli finished his package, balled up the plastic, and threw it at Moon's head. Moon ducked, laughing, and threw her wad of plastic at him.
"It's a surprise!" He said in a sing-song voice, and caught the plastic ball; tossing it back. Moon laughed a little harder, and then grabbed the edge of the island.
"I feel like we should be unwrapping these, not trashing the dorm." Qibli chuckled, and threw another ball of plastic in the trash can.
"Fine; let's just hurry!"
Ten minutes later…
"Done!" Moon tossed a last ball of plastic into the trash can, and leaned against the island. "Now, what's this game?" Qibli grinned and pulled out his phone.
"Just make sure we have everyone at the Park in fifteen, ok?" Moon rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone too.
"Still no answer for the game we're gonna be playing?" Qibli grinned.
"Nope."
FIFTEEN minutes later…
"Ok guys, I have called us together for a very specific reason. I have realized that at this point in time, college is making us want to die. It's so boring, I'm pretty sure Kinkajou has lost the ability to change her hair to sparkly colors." Winter snorted to hide a laugh, and Kinkajou flared at Qibli's remark.
"HEY! I can too!" Her hair switched from dull blonde to a blinding pink. Qibli threw up his hands, as well as Winter.
Moon took the time to look around, just because she could. A giant oak tree canopied the five benches they were sitting on, and a cobbled square was in front of it. A small stone fountain trickled water weakly from the middle, and grass poked up between the sanded stones.
"Geez Kinkajou, I was just kidding." Qibli peeked from between his fingers as Kinkajou switched to a duller-but-still-fairly-bright reddish color.
"There," she said with a huff, and Winter slowly took down his hands. Qibli brushed off his shirt as a comforting gesture for himself, and then folded his hands together in front of himself.
"Ok, anyways, I have a game that I'm sure you all will love." He flashed a mischievous grin, and Moon refrained from getting the answer herself. What was his game? The question was answered almost as soon as she thought it.
"Ever heard of Truth or Dare?" Winter groaned, Kinkajou's hair grew a very bright streak of yellow, and Moon stopped from rolling her eyes. Truth or Dare. How very Qibli of Qibli. He would enjoy himself so much here. His mind was complex enough to have already thought out at least three dares for everyone, and at least one truth.
"C'mon, Qibli, do we seriously have to do this?" Winter complained dejectedly. Qibli's grin grew.
"Of course my friend! What fun we'll have!" He popped over to Winter's bench and threw an arm around his shoulder, using the other to gester at the girls.
"Fine," Winter muttered, and Qibli clapped him on the shoulder.
"Atta boy!" He went back to his own bench and left Winter muttering incoherently to himself. Qibli rubbed his palms together like the bad guy might in a movie.
"Who wants to go first?" Kinkajou's hand shot up as fast as she could possible could. Qibli flashed her a smile, and then hit his palm on his forehead.
"Y'know what I forgot?" Winter groaned again, and Kinkajou looked mildly confused. Moon waited for an answer; not wanting to pry into his mind quite yet. "To call Coati over. Lemme text him real quick; he'd love to play with us." He flipped his phone out of his pocket, shoved in a password, and started tapping at the screen keyboard.
Since I'm lazy… Five minutes later…
"Who's turn is it?" Coati asked as he jogged into the Park, plopping down on Qibli's bench. Kinkajou looked down for about two split seconds, then brightened back up as Qibli answered.
"Kinkajou's getting asked first by me, then someone will get asked by Kinkajou." Coati nodded, and Qibli once again rubbed his hands together.
"Kinkajou," he said, a slow smile gathering on his face. "Truth or dare?"
"Dare!" She shouted, and when her hair went yellow with purple polka-dots, she hurriedly turned it back to the strawberry-red color.
"Alrighty. Kinkajou, I dare you to walk into a very fancy restaurant, scream 'COCONUTS ARE AWESOME', and make your shirt or dress go sky blue with coconuts on it." Kinkajou giggled, and then nodded fiercely.
"Time limit is two days, and for evidence I need someone to film it." Qibli looked greatly happy with his dare and instructions, and Kinkajou was a nodding storm.
"My turn!" She said excitedly, and turned to Moon. "Moon, truth or dare?"
"Ummm," Moon hesitated. She wanted desperately to dig into Kinkajou's head and find out what each choice would hold, but then again, what's the fun in that.
"Truth," she finally said, and figured, what the heck? How could this ever go wrong?
"Aw man, that's boring." Kinkajou's hair lost the vibrant sheen of red, and Moon could tell she was struggling to come up with something.
"Ok, well, since you went with the totally boring option, I don't really have anything. I guess I'll just go first-grade with this." Kinkajou twirled her hair boredly, and Moon awaited her truth.
"Ok, Moon, is it true you have a crush on someone in this group?" Moon bit the inside of her cheek. No one would know if she lied. Heck, she wasn't even sure what was a lie? Did she like any of them?
She looked around the circle. Qibli's wildly grinning face, his eyes flashing. Winter's blue hair falling over his face, looking greatly bored. Coati, his legs bouncing, looking happy to be with the group. Kinkajou, her red hair standing out (dimmer, but still red,) against the green background. Turtle, (who Moon had forgotten was there,) looking like he really didn't want to be here; or anywhere with people, for that matter.
Did she like any of them?
Wait, why was she even thinking about it? Just say no; if she lies, she lies. If it's the truth; there you go.
"Umm," she found herself saying, and bit down harder on the inside of her cheek. "I don't really know." Kinkajou rolled her eyes.
"Yes or no? It's not that hard." Moon's eyes flickered to everyone again.
"Yeah," she blurted, and then felt bad about it. Why couldn't she be normal and not say anything? And then the thoughts came.
Wait, WHAT. Does she like me? Does she know I like her? What if she likes Winter? Qibli's furiously racing mind suddenly grew clouded, and the only words Moon could see through the shield were Test next Tuesday, test next Tuesday.
Does she like me? Came the overwhelmingly small voice from Winter's mind. Why do you care? He asked himself, and let a frown slip through.
Moon struggled to stop the thoughts. Did she like either of them? What the flip was going on with her mind.
"Or… not really," she thought again, and saw Coati puff out a breath. Qibli's thoughts halted to an abrupt stop, and it seemed like he was thinking through molasses. Winter fixed his eyes on the ground and gently tapped a finger on his knee.
"BORING!" Yelled Kinkajou, whose hair went dark red. Her shirt went black with red flames, before she switched her hair to platinum blonde, and her shirt to light pink. "Boring," said Kinkajou, using Moon's new nickname, "I guess it's your turn. But please don't make it boring, Boring." Moon huffed.
"Whatever," she sighed, and looked around the group. "Winter, truth or dare?" His eyes slid over to hers before he just looked down again.
"Dare," he mumbled. Qibli held a hand to his ear, and when he spoke, he voice was loud.
"What was that? I couldn't he-ear you!" Winter glared at Qibli.
"I said dare," he said, louder. Moon just shook her head at them.
"Ok, Winter, I dare you to break into Clay's office and rearrange the food in the mini-fridge." Winter's face went passive, and he nodded. "Take pictures of the food in the fridge before you move it, and then again after you've moved them. Uh… three day time limit."
"Easy," he said, and moved his gaze to Coati. "Coati, truth or dare?"
"Did you really even have to ask? Dare my new group of friends. Always dare." He flashed a grin, and Winter just puffed a breath.
"Coati, I dare you to take a few cans of spray-paint and graffiti a side of the school. You have to have someone film you, and you have a time limit of three days."
"Yes! Something exciting!" Coati grinned, and Winter just rolled his eyes. "Hey, Turtle, truth or dare?" Coati asked, including the Sea.
"Um… truth, I guess." Turtle looked very nervous, and also like he would have rather been left out of this game.
"What's the most embarrassing show you've ever willingly watched?" Turtle still looked on edge, but not as much now that Coati had asked the truth.
"When I was about to go into first grade, me and my brothers all sat down and watched four episodes of My Little Pony because we wanted to know what the girls were all talking about." The group was silent for about three seconds. Turtle grew more uncomfortable with each passing one, and then the tension was eased as both Qibli and Coati burst out laughing. Winter started laughing too, and Kinkajou giggled. Moon bit her lip, trying not to laugh out loud, but grinned widely anyways.
"That… that's hilarious," Qibli said, pausing in his laughter for a few seconds. Turtle broke out in a grin, making him look more alive than any of them had ever seen.
Soon, the laughter died down, and it was Turtle's turn.
"Umm, Qibli, truth or dare."
"Dare; as my great friend Coa said, always dare." Coati laughed a little, and fist bumped Qibli.
"Ok, so um…" Moon could tell he was scrambling for an idea, and she decided to try something. She had found out if she concentrated very hard, she could give thoughts to other people. She focused on Turtle's mind, which was still blank for her. She took an idea she had once heard, and fitted the image of the scene in his mind, and then waited for him to realize he had thought of it.
"I dare you," the words spilled out of his mouth, coming faster than normal, "to spill a can of red paint over the tallest public roof near the school, and leave a red-paint-splattered mannequin on the roof." Turtle looked shocked, and Qibli looked… well, if there was a word to describe what he looked like, it was unknown to Moon. Joyous. Elated. Thrilled. Thrilled was closest.
"Awesome! Time limit?" Turtle looked confused, and he answered slowly.
"Uhm, six days. And the evidence… umm, a before and after picture." Qibli smirked.
"I feel like the crowd of screaming people will let you know if I've done good or not, don't you think?" Turtle gave a small smile, and Moon saw Kinkajou's shirt grow a brighter pink. She quickly dimmed it down, acting like nothing ever happened.
"Is that all of us?" Qibli looked around the circle, and when everyone nodded, he clasped his hands together. With a sly grin, his next words were mischievous.
"Let's do this!"
Somewhere along the plot line of timeskips…
Kinkajou's dare:
"Moon, come on, you have to film this!" Kinkajou's eyes were wide as she begged Moon to film her dare.
"Fine," Moon grumbled, finally giving in after ten minutes of arguing. Kinkajou had picked out Cheddar's for her dare, and Moon was instructed to go inside and wait for Kinkajou to come in. Then, Moon would film her as she did the dare, and then show Qibli the video.
"Ready?" Kinkajou asked, minutes later. They had gone to the dorm and Kinkajou had changed into a long, plain white dress that hovered right above her ankles. It was sleeveless, so at least Kinkajou wouldn't look like she was going to a wedding or something. It was smooth; no ruffles, no sequence, no lace bunches.
"Yeah," Moon said, and pushed open the door to Cheddar's. A waitress was waiting inside, and she quickly escorted Moon to a booth within view of the door.
"What can I get you to drink?" she asked kindly, flipping a menu down on the table and smiling.
"Just a water; thank you." The waitress nodded and disappeared. Moon had brought a little bit of money; it was Cheddar's; how could she possibly come and not eat?
The doors burst open, and everyone in the place turned to look at the excited Rain in the doorway. Moon quickly pulled out her phone and taped the record button. It made a small beep, and she gave a thumbs-up to Kinkajou.
"Coconuts are awesome!" She said loudly, and her dress went sky blue; cut-in-half coconuts dotting the space. It was very realistic; several dragons laughed, and Moon found herself holding back a giggle. With another thumbs-up, Kinkajou left the restaurant grinning, and Moon settled down to order.
Winter's dare:
Winter laid the note on Clay's desk. He slipped out of the office and wandered down the hall until he saw Clay enter his room. Winter started heading that way, and Clay came out.
"Oh, hey there Winter," Clay said casually, and walked past him out of the hallway. With a small grin, Winter went back to the office and pulled open the fridge.
"Moons of Pyrrhia," he said quietly, and took in the piles of food crammed inside the metal box. Pulling out his phone, he took several pictures of the jammed food. With a sudden spark of inspiration, he jerked it all out. He picked up an armful of the food, and hid the items around the room. Pushing a box of crackers under the couch in the office, Winter went back to the food on the floor. Packages of meat and cheese were spread out, and he carefully arranged them inside the fridge again.
"Done," he whispered to himself, and pulled out his phone again. He took a photo of the fridge as it was now, and then of some of the items he had hidden. With a grin, he left the office and walked down the hallway; hands in his pockets as if he had done nothing wrong at all.
Later in Clay's office…
"NOOOO!" Clay yelled, and Sunny ran into his office.
"What's wrong Clay?" She asked, breathless.
"Someone moved my food!" He said, and Sunny burst out laughing.
"Have fun finding it Clay!" She said, and ducked out of the room again, chuckling.
Coati's dare:
Coati shook up a can of spray-paint and grinned at Ostrich, who was holding his phone by the wall.
"This is gonna be so funny," she said, and giggled. Coati's grin grew, and he used all of his street lessons to start spraying paint on the side of the cafeteria. It was dark; yes; but he was still worried about getting caught, so he had chosen the side of the building where very few people went during the night.
He hummed a little tune as he sprayed more and more paint, switching colors often and layering the wall several times.
He stepped back after a while and admired his word. A large picture of Spiderman shooting a web was now portrayed on the wall, and Coati was proud of his work. With a final soft spray, he added the webs, and then turned to Ostrich, whose jaw was slack.
"Wow," she said, and then laughed. "Won't they be surprised tomorrow!" She high-fived Coati as he took his phone back, and they walked off into the night, just friends who haven't ever committed a crime.
Qibli's dare:
Qibli tugged his phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture of the roof. He had taken the stairs to the top floor of the Ring; a very tall, fancy place used for parties. Qibli had claimed to be going to the ball on floor three, but had taken the stairs from there. He had worn a black jacket, but now he was regretting it. He quickly shrugged it off, the Autumn heat making him want to jump in a cold pool and drown there. Qibli set his jacket down on the roof, trusting it would not get paint on it.
He bent down and quickly fished a screwdriver out of his jacket pocket, standing back up when he had it in his hand. He popped open the lid of red paint he had hidden inside a basket he had said was drinks, and set it down on the roof. He pulled out the cheap foldable mannequin out too, and then arranged it in a broken position before splattering it with red paint.
"Wonderful," he said brightly, and finished throwing paint over the roof. He hoped there were no cameras…
Quickly, he took another picture and then picked up his jacket again. With a final nod, he collected his tools and took the stairs all the way down, leaving the Ring behind him as he slipped away into the night.
Sheer minutes later…
Screams pierced the night, and cop lights flashed. Blue red, blue red, blue red, blue red. Qibli mingled with the crowd, an appropriate look of shock and confusion on his face. He pushed forward, looking up at the roof, where several people were up there, flashlights shining. One of them, voice far away, called down at the crowd; "It's alright folks! Just some teenager prank. It's paint; no need to be afraid!" The crowd stopped screaming, and a few people started laughing. Qibli grinned, and noticed a Rain beside him. Kinkajou.
She glanced at him and broke into the biggest smile ever. "Good job," she said, and tapped her phone screen. There was a small sliding sound, and Qibli knew that she had stopped a recording. With a grin, she walked off into the crowd, and Qibli started towards the dorms.
In the dorm:
Phones were swapped around until everyone but Carnelian and Umber had seen the pictures and watched the videos. Laughter filled the main room, and eventually Qibli hooked Kinkajou's phone to the TV and everyone crowded together on the couch to watch the video she had taken. Evidently, she had videoed the whole thing; she had been waiting at the bottom the whole time.
Ostrich had been invited into their dorm, but she had politely declined, saying her dorm-mates would be all alone without her. Coati had also been invited over for the night, so he bunked in the boys room; much to Winter's dislike.
"One messy Sand is enough," he had complained. Both Coati and Qibli had laughed, and the night went on.
Moon was still a little concerned about what she had said in Truth or Dare. She knew it was silly; so what if she liked one of them? So what if she didn't? Why would it matter either way? She wasn't really within the flow of events that night; mostly detached from the real world, lost in her thoughts.
When the clock struck midnight though, everyone settled down, and Moon found herself alone in the main room. With a small sigh, she flipped off the lights and just fell down on the couch. She was tired. She hoped when she woke up, she could have forgotten about everything she had said. Something about it… seemed important. Life. Changing. Oh well….
The dorm was silent. Nothing moved. Nothing… except for the soft, soundless footsteps of a dragon outside the hallway. The mysterious stranger slipped a note under the doorway. They had their orders. The Night had gotten the vision. It was time for her to figure out what it meant.
The footfalls receded, and the dorm was silent once again.