~Chapter 11~
Dark flame shot skyward, blackening the sky and searing the air with a strange distorting heat. Lunara's eyes blinked in confusion, then terror as the fire seemed to take on a mind of its own and pursue her.
The towering spire of black death remained barely a foot behind her running steps, behind her everything was consumed soundlessly. Lunara's orange irises kept focused on the path before her, her breathing coming in rhythmic gasps. She felt the heat grow closer, and the Dark Chao put her head down and sprinted faster.
A shriek made Lunara look up, slowing slightly but remembering to keep running. There.
Stara, tangled in a briar before the chasing flames.
"Stara!" Lunara cried back. Then her eye caught something else.
Shade, veiled in shadow, lying on the ground several yards from Stara.
Lunara looked from one to the other, and closed her eyes, shuddering. What do I do…?
Where were the others? Why couldn't they help? Were they…already dead?
Lunara drew in a breath between her teeth. This was gonna be close. She whirled on her heel sharply, and with determined terror fueling her speed, Lunara ran at Shade, scooping him up and then charging toward Stara.
Lunara's claws made quick, panicked work of the briar, leaving Stara to stand, freed, from her trap. The flames seemed to disperse, closing around them like a noose. Lunara grabbed Stara's arm, "We've gotta go!" she said urgently.
But Stara didn't move. Lunara looked at her. Was she injured? No…she was fine. But…not quite. Stara just didn't seem like Stara…with her eyes almost glazed and distant. She was unrecognizable. Lunara jumped as she thought she saw some sort of dark spark in her sister's eyes.
"Stara…?" Lunara murmured, feeling panicked inside as the flames surrounded them.
Stara turned her emotionless, cold gaze on her. Lunara flinched, "It's coming." She said, raising her bionic arm with a whirring sound. The fingers wrapped themselves around Lunara's arm with unearthly strength. Lunara stared at Stara, shocked, and remembered to struggle vainly before the fire ring tightened around them.
Just before everything went into a smothering blackness, Lunara felt a a scream of horror well up as she saw her sister, metal and machinery parts crawling over her other arm, legs, and face. One eye pierced her vision with a sharp beam of red…
Lunara felt the scream escape, though she knew she had no body. A disembodied scream…
So it was thought.
A sharp pain woke Lunara instantly. Her orange eyes flew open, legs kicking and wings flared in alarm. Her ears were pricked tall as she surveyed the scene, expecting it to be burnt or flaring with black flames.
Normal. It wasn't even dawn.
Lunara sighed, looking visibly relieved, and suddenly her pain receptors reacted. She winced, rubbing a bump on the back of her head where it had struck the wall in her panicked flailing. Lunara caught her breath, and staggered to her feet, feeling fuzzy-headed and slightly shaky. She stumbled toward a patch of fresh snow at the mouth of the cave, dampened her paws in it, and rubbed her face. She remained on her paws and knees for a moment, waiting for her heart to stop hammering in her chest.
What was wrong? It was just a nightmare. A simple, harmless, meaningless nightmare. Why was it so startling, especially since she had been living a nightmare since the DVoid entered her life. Forget about it.
Lunara heard footsteps behind her. She turned her head, staggering to her feet, hating how she still felt so unsteady.
"Lunara?" It was Berry. The swimmer Chao looked at her with slight concern. Lunara swallowed, feeling her suddenly sore throat,
"Uh…" Lunara wasn't sure what to say. She was caught kneeling over in the snow, anyone would probably be concerned by that.
"Are you okay?" Berry asked, putting her head to one side.
Lunara nodded hastily, "Yep, fine…just…dream." She said, hating how her voice was as shaky as she was. She hated how she was so shook up by a stupid dream. But then again…it certainly knew where to strike her. Endagering her sister? Yes, that was enough to send chills up her spine, but that wasn't all, was it?
Whatever.
Berry blinked, "You don't look so good, Lunara. Your eyes are all red."
"I was on watch." Lunara pointed out.
"Right." Berry replied, "Why don't you get some sleep? I'll take over from here."
"It's not even dawn." Lunara said.
"I know that." Berry said, "I'm always getting up early to go swimming. This is nothing new. Go to sleep." She said, waving Lunara away.
Lunara sighed, her feet dragging with sudden exhaustion. She fell against the wall, letting herself slide down to the ground next to Shade. She looked at him. He was wincing in his sleep, constantly twitching. Some of the makeshift bandages were stained darker, bled through. Lunara knew they would need to be changed, but what could they make more bandages out of? Lunara shook her head, feeling too confused and tired to sort anything straight. She glanced at Shade again. There was still a bold red flush on his face, and when Lunara nudged him, she still felt the heat of his fever. Yet he kept shivering as if cold. Lunara sighed, sliding onto the ground and curling up, wings draping around her arms for warmth and tail wrapped around her legs. Knees drawn into her chest, eyes closed. Lunara hoped she wouldn't be plagued with another nightmare.
…
It felt like days since Lunara fell asleep, and she woke, feeling more refreshed, her nightmare fainter. Already a dim sun was filtering through the cave mouth from outside. Lunara stretched, suddenly realizing her head was laying on something soft…and…breathing? She was hearing a rhythmic beat as well. Her eyes blinked wide open, traveling up…
Her orange eyes met a pair of slightly glazed crimson eyes. Hers blinked, and the others blinked. She shot up, gasping. Shade was awake, looking worse for wear but alive. He was looking at her with weak amusement in his eyes.
Lunara's eye twitched. Oh god…had she seriously been sleeping on Shade's chest? Oh god…had anyone seen? Lunara's skin was prickling in strong embarrassment.
"Sleep well?" Shade rasped mischievously, sounding like claws grating down a stone wall. Lunara scowled at him,
"You can shut up!" she growled, standing up and walking off in a huff.
If Honey mentions this…ever…I'll slug him into next month. She thought harshly.
She looked up. The group were all awake, busy with some sort of job or other. It looked like they had been up for a while, and Lunara winced, knowing it was too much to wish that no one had seen her humiliating position earlier…
Then she noticed. Stara was standing away from everyone, in the corner of the room, staring at the wall.
Strange…was she in thought? Lunara was about to head over to talk, but Honey beat her to it,
"Hey Stara!" he announced, "Want to…" his invite was cut short and punctuated with a cry of pain. Lunara blinked in shock. Stara had twitched in response to Honey's sudden voice, and had whipped around, and with a flash of metal and loud whir, had pinned Honey's arm behind his back. Her eyes were hard and cold like the stone around them.
"Stara! Let him go!" Lunara shouted. Stara blinked, and again, and her grip loosened. Honey shrugged her off, rubbing his arm tenderly,
"Jumpy much?" he grumbled, moving away. Lunara stepped toward Stara, alarm making the fur on the back of her neck bristle,
"Stara…sweetie?" she murmured. Her sister's gaze locked on her,
"Yeah?" she asked in all normality, as if nothing happened. Lunara blinked,
"What was that?" she asked. Stara blinked rubbing her head with her good arm,
"I don't really know…he startled me." She replied without much certainty. Lunara winced. She knew Stara like she knew herself, practically, and she knew her sister would never reflexively attack someone out of surprise. Was this caused by her "enhancement?" Who was this "Mister," and what did he do to Stara?
It wasn't the only thing that worried Lunara. She wanted to know what had happened to herself as well. Something had changed, or was starting to change…did she want it to?
Woo-freaking-hoo. Boring chapter, except for the slight fluff. Heh…I really doubt many people are reading this. If you are reading this, REVIEW. Thanks.