Under One: Fanfiction Edition, Part One

Soooo… A while back I said I would do a fanfiction based on a roleplay I did. Here is Part One of Three.

Credits to Princess Firefly 200 for helping me with this enormous task

Also credits to me (GaminDuckey76)

Note From Firefly: this is my second fanfiction I helped write. I have been working on my fanfic. So there are three fanfics I have been in. (also I am the main person who has been working on Silent One’s(diamond’s) chapters)

Prologue

Eclipse

Eclipse watched from outside the hatchery. Her parents were so happy. Darkstalker and Clearsight had been waiting for their dragonets since the last sunset. The night was almost over, and cracks were beginning to appear. The first of the seven eggs splintered and cracked, and finally shattered, with the second one close behind it, and the third as well. “Ooh, a fierce one!” Clearsight yelped as the dragonet thwapped her talons against Clearsight’s leg. “That one is going to be Shadowhunter.” Darkstalker pointed at the dragonet. “And as for this one, I’m thinking Nightslayer.” He said to the second dragonet who had climbed on his shoulder. “You and your names,” Clearsight said, sighing. “Alright. But I want to name a few of them. Like that one over there.” She pointed at the third dragonet, who had just tripped over his talons. “I’m thinking, Nebula. And Lunar, and Nova.” She pointed at two more eggs, the former close to hatching. “Alright, you can keep your names.” Darkstalker smiled. “But that one is ArcticShadow, and that one is NebulaFlyer.” He pointed at two eggs in the corner that weren't going to hatch tonight. Eclipse narrowed her eyes. She hated her father. He had already started to forget about her, and seven more dragonets weren’t going to help her case. She flicked her finger, casting a spell in her mind at her earrings, making her mind unable to be read. As she did so, she felt a strange, uncomfortable, coldness creeping through her talons. She smiled creepily. An idea was forming in her head.

Chapter 1

Stardust

Stardust hated his life. His parents were dead, his home destroyed, and his entire life consigned to being Darkstalker’s family servant. The ring on his horn said so. His hatred for Darkstalker and his dragonets was undying. The only one who was nice to him was Nebula, who wasn’t even here. He was down in the kitchens getting some breakfast. But was Stardust allowed any breakfast? No, of course not. Darkstalker ordered him to go to the hatchery, and his animus-touched horn ring forced him to. The only dragons in the room with him were Clearsight, Darkstalker, and young Lunar, who had only hatched a year before. Stardust had been brought to the palace a week after the hatching of Nebula, Shadowhunter, and Nightslayer. Young enough to not be able to put up a fight, as his parents did, but old enough to understand what was going on.

And somehow he arrived here, in the worst place he could ever want to be. A few days later, the family pet, a scavenger named Apple arrived, too. Apple was in the same position as Stardust, with an animus-touched collar that had the exact same spell. But obviously, it was silly to have pitying feelings for a scavenger, right?

Tonight was the night Nova and ArcticShadow were supposed to hatch. Stardust sat in the corner of the room watching the cracks appear on their eggs. He noticed Eclipse watching from her room, with an angry look on her face that made Stardust feel slightly unsettled. He turned back just to see ArcticShadow smash out of her egg. “Stardust, go and pick ArcticShadow up,” Darkstalker ordered. Stardust sighed an angry sigh, as his legs moved toward ArcticShadow against his will. He picked the dragonet up to let her see the pure hatred in his eyes.

A moment later, he found himself flapping in the air as a bat.

ArcticShadow looked up at her father and said, “DADA! I tun Satdut into Ba!!” She tried to whap Stardust with her hand, and he dodged and squeaked annoyedly at her. Darkstalker walked over to Stardust, waved his talon dismissively as Stardust turned back into a dragon, and picked up ArcticShadow. “Who’s my little animus daughter. You are, that’s right!” She curled up in Darkstalker’s giant arms. “Nappy…” she mumbled before falling asleep. Stardust sat in the room, watching little Nova’s egg roll over as she tumbled out, squeaked a scared squeak, and went back to hiding under her eggshell. He heard Darkstalker say to the captain of the guard, “Deploy the soldiers. Someone is coming to attack the castle. Stop them and protect the dragonets at all costs.” That sent a shiver down Stardust's spine. ''Someone is coming to attack the palace? But who would be brave enough to do such a thing? ...and why?''

Chapter 2

Gecko

Gecko had finished looting the body of the unconscious guard when he realized something was wrong. He looked up and realized he was right. Streams of black dragons began pouring out of the Guard towers. ''“Oh shoot. Whelp, so much for stealth!”'' He thought as he began frantically copying the unconscious guard’s appearance. He finished just in time as the guards approached. He spread his arms. “Nothing here,” Gecko said, hoping the guards would believe him. They gave him a suspicious look and started looking around anyway. Gecko started to fly to the palace.

He had almost made it when a guard shouting made him abruptly turn around. “Hey! That’s not Deathslash! Deathslash is right here!” All the guards lifted off at once after Gecko, who was silently cursing in midair. Quickly he spun in a spiral and shot venom at all the exposed scales he could see. Three guards fell to the ground screaming as the black droplets fell on their wings, but the captain and his assistant pushed forward, unharmed.

Gecko drew his blades as the second in command reached him. He kicked the soldier away and slashed at his wings, and he fell to the ground as the Captain reached him. The captain stabbed his sword into Gecko’s neck, barely missing all the major arteries. Gecko gasped out of shock and instinctively camouflaged to escape. He flew around and stabbed his knives into the captain’s back repeatedly, before throwing him to the ground.

It seemed as though he barely made it to the open window he found, raggedly gasping for air as the stab wound took its toll on Gecko’s body. But he was on a mission, and he wasn’t giving up easily. The window leads to a fairly small, unused room between the Scavenger room and the Hatchery. He climbed through, quietly collapsing on the palace floor, as he hurriedly bandaged the wound before he died of blood loss. Gecko snuck into the Scavenger room, quickly picked the lock on their cage, and upended his sack of Scavenger-sized weapons in front of them. After they were all armed, He guided them in the direction of the Hatchery.

Maybe it wouldn’t be much of a distraction, but it could be just the one he needed.

Chapter 3

Apple

Apple couldn’t believe the irony of the situation he was in. One moment he’s the hero of his village for killing three adult dragons, raising his pets, the next he’s trapped in some palace by a dragon that was THREE TIMES the size of the dragons he killed, becoming that dragon’s pet! He was sitting in the cage next to the eggs as dragons started to break out of their prisons. He squeaked helplessly as dragons rushed in and out, getting ordered around. He sat, bored out of his skull when the dragonet walked by. “Nappy…” She mumbled to Apple. ''“Well, go take a nap, if you want to. I’m not your mom.”'' He thought. The dragonet looked… sad. He didn’t realize dragons could have emotions. This one must have been one of the mind-reading Night Dragons. ''“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you could read my mind.”'' He thought.

As the dragonet looked up to meet Apple’s gaze, it was yanked away by a larger dragon. The dragon looked at the small dragonet in the eyes, and as it did so, the larger dragon was suddenly transformed into a small bat, about Apple’s size. “Moons above…” Apple thought with awe. The larger dragon flapped around a little bit before the big dragon that had captured Apple turned the bat back into the dragon, who left the room. Apple watched as the big dragon picked up the tiny dragonet and carried her out of the room. The tiny dragonet waved sleepily to Apple, and for some strange reason, Apple found himself waving back.

All of a sudden, Scavengers rushed into the room. Apple looked at them in confusion. “What are you guys doing?” He asked. “Escaping!” They chorused. Two of the scavengers grabbed some rope and began rappelling down the balcony, while three more charged a small dragonet, who ran to the safety of her mother, who was just entering. She called for someone, and another dragon entered the room, who obviously wasn’t who she wanted. He grabbed a small bundle and rushed out, as quick as he could. Apple watched wistfully as the Scavengers made their brave escape. He wished he could join them. “Maybe someday…”

Chapter 4

Gecko

Gecko was almost there. He rushed into the Hatchery, and his eyes scanned the room. They landed on Nova’s eggshell and spotted a bit of her tail poking out. He looked up and saw the guards flying down to the balcony, looked back at Nova, and grabbed her eggshell with her in it without a second thought. By now the guards were low enough to block his escape. He spun around back through the hallway he came through and aimed for the large open window in the Guard tower.

He almost made it.

All of a sudden something yanked his tail, pulled him forward, and smashed him into the cold, hard stone walls. Gecko had only slightly recovered from that when he realized that Nova was still in the air. He heard her terrified squeaks, turned around, and came face to face with Darkstalker himself. Knowing he couldn’t stay long before Darkstalker started casting animus spells left and right, he lunged forward, grabbed Nova out of the air, and tossed two chakrams at ArcticShadow to distract Darkstalker.

However, what he didn’t realize was that ArcticShadow was also an animus.

She swung the chakrams around with a flick of her hand and they flew back at Gecko. The first one sliced off the bandage for his neck wound, which promptly started bleeding again. The second chakram cut deeply into his shoulder, and Gecko roared with pain.

He sprung up to the window above him, realizing that that was his only way of escaping, and smashed through the top. The shards of glass cut under his scales, and he started to feel a little woozy as he fell. He curled around Nova’s egg, protecting her from any stray shards. He landed on the bottom with a bone-shattering crunch, and rolled down the hill, towards the river. He managed to stop himself and fumbled around in his satchel for a dart marked with white paint. He stabbed it into his leg and dragged himself to the shade of a nearby tree. The last thing he saw was black dragons pouring out of the palace, and passing over him before he blacked out.

Chapter 5

Silent One

Silent one was in the shadows of Darkstalker’s Palace. She was thinking of everything she hated about Nightwings and Darkstalker. She wanted to kill Darkstalker but she couldn’t because of how powerful he was. I will find a way to avenge my parents’ death in any way possible- Silent One thought.

She was about to go to her house when someone jumped out of the window, fell and landed on the ground by the river. where you can hear their bones break. She went up to that dragon and saw they weren’t Nightwing so she grabbed him and dragged him into a hidden spot in the shadows and went through her pouch looking for a herb that will help calm the pain and speed up the healing process. She found it and opened his mouth and dropped the herb into his mouth.

Suddenly the dragon coughed and opened his eyes. “Sup.” He said. Silent One said nothing but continued to rummage around in her satchel. The dragon coughed a couple more times and produced a small egg from his sack. Out of the eggshell popped a tiny dragonet. “She might need some healing, too.” he said ”ok” Silent One whispered. She looked at the dragonet. Her eyes were a weird cloudy grey, and Silent One immediately concurred that the dragonet was blind. She turned to the other dragon, who had gotten up. “Gecko, at your service.” He said. “Number one most wanted RainWing in all of Darkstalker’s gosh-forsaken kingdom.” Silent One nodded. “...And you are?” “Silent One” Silent One whispered. Gecko let out a small laugh. “I gather that you hate Darkstalker as well?” Silent One nodded. “Good. Then we should probably get off his front doorstep.” Gecko said.

Silent One led Gecko, who was holding Nova to her secret house. All the way Gecko told her the story of his infiltration of the palace, and his dangerous escape with Nova. They were halfway there when Darkstalker’s roar echoed in the forest around them, and as Silent One reached her house, she began to think that they might actually make a difference in this cruel and twisted world after all.

Chapter 6

Stardust

Stardust wandered the halls aimlessly, glaring at Lunar and Clearsight, who was near the hatchery. Lunar was crying, for some reason. Stardust ignored them and kept walking. He bumped into Darkstalker. “What do you want?” Darkstalker asked with a surprisingly bitter sting to his voice. “You’re the one who bumped into me you big-“ Stardust snapped his mouth shut but his mind finished the sentence. “IDIOT.” “I heard that. You’re the idiot.” Darkstalker said angrily. “You’re the one who wasn’t watching where he was going!” Stardust nearly shouted. He bared his teeth at Darkstalker. “Maybe you should shrink yourself so you can look where you're going” Stardust spat. "Maybe you will spend the next night in the dungeon!" Darkstalker roared. "Go to the worst unoccupied cell and lock yourself in until it has been a day, without food or water."

Stardust glared at Darkstalker while walking away to the dungeon “Brat.” he thought bitterly. He stormed down to the dungeon, made a point of slamming the door so hard it nearly came off its rusted metal hinges, and locked himself in the cell.

“WHERE IS NOVA!!!!” He heard Darkstalker roar. Stardust slightly smirked, knowing that whoever had stolen that tiny dragonet had hit Darkstalker where it hurt. He fiddled with the hoop around his horn, trying to get it off even though he knew it was useless. “Stupid Darkstalker and his stupid spells!” He thought angrily. Finally, he gave up and curled up to go to sleep.

When he woke, Darkstalker was in front of his cell door. “Ah, I see you’re up.” He said. “A traitor has infiltrated the palace. You and Nebula are going to hunt them down. Get yourself a quick breakfast and meet him on the balcony.

Stardust’s heart raced with gratitude when he heard he was going to be deployed with Nebula. In his haste to prepare, he forgot his breakfast, but at this point, it didn’t even matter. He met Nebula on the balcony. “So, are we just gonna go?” Stardust said awkwardly. Nebula nodded solemnly. Stardust took off and headed for the forest, assuming Nebula was right behind him. He stopped near a small hill with heavy foliage around it, with a quiet, quaint lake nearby. He sat down near the lake to rest and catch his breath when a small dart-like object hit him in the back of the neck. “What the-” He mumbled before the whole world tilted sideways and faded away into darkness.

Chapter 7

Nebula

Nebula was waiting at the grand balcony when Stardust arrived. Stardust awkwardly asked him if they were just supposed to go, and he nodded. Stardust took off, and he started to follow, but Lunar suddenly ran onto the balcony and grabbed Nebula’s leg. He quickly shook her off and tried to continue, but Lunar tried to grab him again. He sprung up in an attempt to ward her off, and Lunar lunged for him, missed, and fell off the balcony.

Nebula saw this and instinctively dived toward Lunar, catching her and bringing her back to the balcony. “I. Go. You. Stay.” He said clearly, pointing at himself and Lunar respectively. Lunar stopped but gave Nebula a sad look that he couldn’t help to leave. A voice in the back of his head whispered that Stardust would probably need help looking for the traitor, but the part that was enticed by Lunar’s pitying look pushed that away. “Aww…” He said. “I’m sorry Lunar. But it’s a big wide dangerous world out there, and Daddy said for just me and Stardust to go. So you stay here, and I’ll see you when we get back, ok?” He stepped back, and then quickly flew into the air and followed Stardust before Lunar could change her mind.

As he was following the path Stardust took, he contemplated the vision of the future he saw. Deep down, he hated his father, mostly because of the way he treated Stardust, but also because he was a cruel and unjust ruler of the world, and Nebula desperately wanted to replace him, to try and fix the broken pieces of the kingdoms Darkstalker conquered. The vision showed a RainWing and his friends overthrowing Darkstalker. A possible future… that he wouldn’t necessarily be against. He smiled.

Nebula landed where he saw Stardust land a bit ago. But as he reached it, he saw there was no Stardust to be seen. “Stardust?” He called out. “Stardust, this isn’t funny.” He turned around, and he could have sworn a doorway opened from behind the foliage, but something struck him lightly in his chest, and he collapsed forward, unconscious.

Chapter 8

Lunar

Lunar was very angry. No one had been listening to her at all! Her father and mother had been mostly ignoring her, and now her favorite brother had started to ignore her, too. She tried to get him to stay home. She’d put on her cutest face. And all of it was for naught. She was back in the hatchery now, watching NebulaFlyer’s egg rock around, as the Blood-curdling inside stretched her wings. She looked at Shadowhunter, watching from the hallway, and all of a sudden the world fell into darkness.

Blood-curdling screams echoed all around her. A giant shadow was chasing her. She tripped and rolled into a corner, huddled in a ball, as a deep voice cackled creepily around her. Nebula’s limp body fell beside her, like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The shadow approached, reached out with its arms, and grabbed her.

Lunar awoke with a start. She was in the hatchery. How many hours had passed since she fell asleep, she didn’t know. All she knew was that that dream was a vision of the future, a vision that could come true if she wasn’t careful.

She rushed to the balcony, opened her wings, and took off, determined to follow Nebula and Stardust.

She noticed a spot where Nebula had landed and flew down. “Nebula?” She asked. “Nebula, are you here? If not, then I’m sorry.” She heard a creak behind her and turned to spot a door through the foliage. “Now I know someone lives here…” She muttered to herself. She spun in a circle, before turning and finding a dragon who wasn’t there before.

Before Lunar could react, the dragon fired their dart, striking Lunar in the arm. “WHAT-!” she said, before the world dissolved into darkness, darker than a starless night.

Chapter 10

Silent One

Gecko put Nova onto a bed and went to a table to work on some alchemy. “I see you like alchemy stuff, don’t you,” Silent One whispered. “Yes, I do,”  Gecko said, “Do you want to see my collection?” she asked “Ooh, yes please,” he said. “Ok, then follow me,” she said walking outside and going into a cave that was overgrown with vines.

She told some of the plants to move out of the way and they did, which let the light shine throughout the cave. The light revealed tons of dragon armor. “Cool cave,” Gecko said, walking in. “These are just armor I made that are mixed with some alchemy.”

“Cool! I never thought to mix my daggers with alchemy.” Gecko said, pulling out his daggers and giving them a significant look. “I know,” she said. Gecko looked back at the cave entrance “I think I might have heard someone. I’m going to check it out, be right back.” He said, sneaking to the door and leveling his dart gun.

Silent One heard a quiet thwack, and then a thump, before Gecko reappeared, dragging a strange dragon in. “I caught this naughty boy sneaking around your house.” He said with a sly grin. “Where do I put him?” “In my house,” Silent One replied. “Yes, of course, I know in your house, but where?” “Just put him in the side room.” Silent One said, and Gecko left to do so.

Silent One went back to moving the plants back to where there is no light and started heading back out of the cave. Then she heard another dragon land, call out for someone named Stardust, and then flop to the ground. She heard the dragging sounds of Gecko dragging the second dragon into the house. Then she heard a third dragon land. This dragon called out for a Nebula. Silent one peeked out and noticed that the third dragon noticed that the door was open a crack. She quietly leaped out and fired her blowgun at the third one, knocking her out, and growing some strong vines, with her leaf speak, to keep them there when they woke up.

Chapter 11

Eclipse

Eclipse growled and packed her things “Hmmmm, I need a way to hide.” She thought. “Oh yes.” she growled and grabbed a bracelet “I enchant this bracelet so when I whispered hide me I turn invisible, and when I say show me make me visible.” She put the bracelet on. “Hide me.” She whispered. She went invisible. “Show me.” She said and appeared again. She smiled. “Perfect.”

She continued to pack. “Midnight… I will disappear under the moonlight...” Eclipse hissed lightly. She started making more enchantments. She smiled. “Good, five things enchanted for a good use.” she smiled again and shoved them in a bag. She walked over to her window and pushed it open, and made sure she had her Skyfire on her.

She smiled “Tonight is the last night we stay under one ruler....Father.” She thought bitterly.

She dove out the window and flew up to the Nightwing sky and disappeared. She knew nobody carried for her, and her father would be happy to see her gone.

Eclipse landed in the forest and hissed as she grabbed a stick. “I enchant this stick to turn into an owl that I can control and see through its eyes when I want to,” she said. The stick became an owl, she made it fly to the kingdom.

She watched through its eyes

“Perfect, no one knows I’m gone,” she said and took off flying again.

Chapter 12

Gecko

Gecko dragged the third dragonet in. “Moons above!” He thought. “Are we going to end up with every single one of Darkstalker’s children here?” He finished tying up the third dragonet when the second one (whose name was Nebula, Gecko assumed) woke with a start. “Hey!” He said suddenly. “I just wanted to talk- I saw you in a vision!” Gecko turned to him. “What vision?” He asked with as stern a look as he could bear on his face. "It was a possible future.” He replied. “You were in it. And Darkstalker." He explained. "But I'm not saying more until I trust you."

“And why can’t you trust me?” Gecko asked. Silent One walked in. “How is everyone finding my house all of a sudden?” She whispered in slight astonishment. “UM,” Lunar said, suddenly waking. “Let me think, you shot us." She said sarcastically. “UM,” Gecko said to Lunar. “Let me think, your dad took over the world and killed my parents." He shot back. "Well, I don't know you, like, at all." Nebula grumbled. "And we didn't pick for that to happen." "Ok, I'm sorry," Gecko said. "But now that you know where our base is you can't leave without joining. Unless..."

"I'm sorry." Lunar said "But killing his kids isn’t going to do anything. Unless what?" She challenged. Silent One shot a dart at Lunar that barely missed her neck by an inch, sticking into the wall next to her. "Unless I do that." She whispered pointedly. Lunar looked down at the dart, then back at Silent One, wide-eyed.

Nebula nodded quickly to avoid getting shot as well. "You said join-join what?" he asked. "Join the rebellion.” Gecko explained. “You know your father is doing a... less than ideal job of running the world. We're gonna take him down." Nebula smiled. "Who shall take the throne after?" "Depends,” Gecko replied. “We are going to re-establish the kingdoms, not continue the absolute monarchy he has now. The original idea was to let the NightWings figure out themselves who should be leader over their kingdom."

Nebula nodded seriously. "Perhaps a prince could swoop in and save them." He smiled. "I'd like to join. And as for the vision of mine..."

"Let's just say that Darkstalker is most likely going to be overthrown."

Chapter 13

Eclipse

Eclipse was at the border of the Night kingdom. She laughed a little bit. “That was sooo easy!” She said.

Eclipse was far from the kingdom. She then got an idea. ''“Maybe I should take the throne. there has to be a way to get rid of both of them.”''

“Or I could challenge him and see.”

“Noo that fight would last forever.”

She lightly growled. “I’ll show you to abandon me,” she whispered and kept flying.

She was now outside the Night Kingdom. ''“Hmmm, maybe start a war? No shame in a war caused by him… everyone would hate him then.”'' She smiled devilishly. “Maybe find a way to get someone he loves to betray him?” She growled softly. “I could get rid of those pesky hatchlings…” She hissed.

She had a memory of her and her father playing. She had just hatched. But after a year her father ignored her.

She hissed. “I promise I will make you regret you forgot about me” she smiled and threw a knife at a bat, hitting it with deadly accuracy. “Soon.”

Eclipse sighed and sat down. “This is not how I imagined life would be… Not like I wanted to be like this anyway.” She growled lightly.

Eclipse started crying. She hissed and then forced herself to stop crying “Stupid emotions.” she growled, “I need to keep moving… well not like Father is going to pop up behind me.” She growled, then thought for a moment. “I enchant myself so no other animus magic will work on me… only mine.” She hissed again, and her smile grew. “Let’s see if I can cause some chaos.” She smiled and looked around. She already lost most of her soul.

Chapter 14

Stardust

Stardust awoke tied by strong vines next to Lunar and being examined by two dragons he had never seen before.

Not the most dignified of situations.

He yelped. “Who are you, and where am I?” He tried moving, but he was tied up by strong, heavy vines. “What the-?!” A strange RainWing approached him. “Ah, Stardust. You are finally awake! I am Gecko, the most wanted RainWing in all of Darkstalker’s kingdom. I run the resistance.”

“P- Prince Nebula, are you alright?” Stardust said, panic rising in his voice. He kicked at the vines, trying to untie himself, wide-eyed and panicky. “I’m fine, Stardust.” Nebula said, sounding bored, to Stardust’s right. “Not the resistance! No no no, Darkstalker will kill me! Or make me do something horrible!” Stardust said, panicking more.

“Now Stardust, you have two choices,” Gecko said. “You can either join us or forget all this ever happened.” “Best to make him forget.” Nebula said to his right. “He did come in search of the missing princess though.” Nebula motioned to the corner, and when Stardust looked over there, he saw little Nova sleeping in a makeshift cradle. “Oh no no no. This is getting worse by the minute!” He thought. “Even if I did join, Darkstalker would use me!” Stardust said, panicking, trying hard to get off of the vines. “Fair enough,” Gecko said, producing a syringe from his satchel and stepping ominously closer to Stardust.

“Wh- what are you going to do?” Stardust stuttered, trying to push himself up against the wall, in a futile attempt to get some space, any space between him and that needle. “Oh, don’t worry Stardust. Soon it will all be over… “ Gecko said creepily, taking another step and aiming the syringe at Stardust’s neck. “Wh- What?!” Stardust leaned away from the needle, causing him to tilt himself over and topple onto the ground. He looked at Gecko, panicking so much now that he had begun to start violently shaking.

Nebula smiled. “So we give him Nova, and wipe his memory?” “W-wait!” Stardust near-shouted nervously. “H-how about an exchange of knowledge? I know a few things Nebula doesn’t!” Nebula let out a slight laugh. “What do you know that I don’t? I’m his SON, for moon’s sake!” He turned to Gecko. “We could get the info just in case and then wipe him.” Gecko stopped. “Go on…” He said to Stardust. “I know the times of day when he is vulnerable and where his most precious items are!” Stardust said, “Just please don’t wipe my memory for the moons above!” Gecko turned to look at Nebula. “You wouldn’t happen to be an animus, would you?” He shook his head. “Unfortunately not.” He said. “Just future-seeing. Pretty powerful if I concentrate; I can look down certain paths further.” Stardust kept shaking. “Why oh why did I have to be part Nightwing?!” He thought miserably. “W- wait!” He said. He had one last way to weasel out of memory loss.

"Yes?" Gecko asked. "Believe me, I want you on our team, but the problem is your animus object." Nebula turned to Gecko. "I think Darkstalker enchanted it to not come off." He said. “Y-yes but he also enchanted it to obey his immediate family and P-prince Nebula is his son r-right?” Stardust said. “Three moons above, please let this work!” "Interesting... We could use that." Gecko replied, with a look on his face like he was beginning to formulate a plan. "Stardust, if I really can control you..." Nebula murmured, with the same look on his face.

Stardust didn’t like his idea but he’d do anything to get away from memory loss. Nebula and Gecko sat, giving each other looks for a moment that seemed to go on for an eternity. Finally, Gecko spoke. "Alright Stardust, you've proved your loyalty for now. Tell us everything we'll need to know to take him down and I might untie you." “Or don't and I'll make you anyway," suggested Nebula, with a slight grin on his face. “Y-you can just please don’t make me lose my memory!” Stardust said. He took a deep breath in. This was going to be hard, but he had to do it.

“He is most vulnerable at noon when Clearsight bickers with others so he grabs a scroll and goes to his private room, and makes it so he can’t hear someone coming! His most precious items are Clearsight and his treasure.” Stardust said shakily. "And how could we take away his powers?” Gecko asked. “I-I don’t know,” Stardust said, looking down. But maybe things were looking up. Maybe Nebula would be king. Maybe Darkstalker would get defeated. Maybe this moons-blasted horn ring would finally come off. Maybe, I’ll finally get to choose my destiny again...

Chapter 15

Nebula

Nebula thought that all this might actually work. “Um… c- can you untie me now?” Stardust asked. “Oh yes… of course,” Gecko said, as he untied Stardust. "Does anyone know where we could find an animus?" Gecko asked as he did so. “Nebula’s sister Arctic Shadow is an animus but she’s a brat who turned me into a bat,” Stardust said bitterly. "And she probably wouldn't be willing to take down her father. Anyone else? Lunar or Nova, perhaps?" Gecko asked. He walked over to Nova’s cradle and shook her awake. “I don’t know,” Stardust said anxiously. Nova awoke, and stretched her arms. “wat” she said sleepily. "Nova, you don't have any powers, do you?" Gecko asked, and Nova shook her head no. “Our sister Eclipse is an animus.” Nebula offered. “And she hates our father.” At the same time, Lunar quietly said, “Um… I’m an animus…” Nebula, Stardust, and Gecko gaped at her. The silent one just shrugged.

“Well, I guess we’re all set, then,” Gecko said, breaking the awkward silence between the five of them. “I’ll do it,” Lunar said. "Alright, sweet. Now we just have to wait until noon tomorrow." Gecko said. “What do we do until then?” Stardust asked, slightly shakily. "Sleep I guess," Lunar said, as she laid down on one of the beds, and immediately fell asleep. "Prepare. I'll have to make some more darts, and we should go over the animus spell Lunar is going to cast." Gecko said at the same time.

“What spell will we cast?” Nebula asked curiously. "I was thinking a spell that would erase Darkstalker's animus powers, mind reading and prophecy, and reduce him to normal size." Gecko replied, writing it down on a spare piece of paper. “I agree.” Stardust said. "Are you sure he hasn't made himself protected from animus spells?" Nebula asked, trying to think of every possibility. “I don’t know sometimes he just makes me sit there and not do literally anything but breath and blink so I don’t really remember.” Stardust replied, with a thoughtful look on his face as he played with his horn ring. "Then we can declare Nebula king of the NightWings, reinstate the kings and queens and boundaries of the different kingdoms, and release everyone from Darkstalker's rule." Gecko said, continuing to write. Nebula nodded quickly. He desperately wanted to be king.

"Wouldn't it be if we design the spell correctly it should bypass the protections?" Gecko looked at Stardust. “I suppose but his other spells can’t be undone he spent a day casting the spell on me.” Stardust said, pointing to the loop on his horn. "Ok. We'll have to think about this a lot." Gecko went back to writing the spell. Nebula nodded, still caught up in a daydream about being king, which was immediately shattered when they stormed in.

Chapter 16

Eclipse

eclipse attacked the sandwing and killed him, getting red blood all over her. she killed another sandwing, and almost killed a third, but he barely slipped out of her talons, flying in the direction of the nightwing palace. eclipse was angry that the sandwing got away but was happy. she was covered in blood and multiple slash marks. she hissed and ran off to find someone else.

eclipse had lost all of her soul and was killing anyone she could. she hissed “come on father I know you're having visions right now” eclipse hissed, heading in the direction of the sandwing palace.

eclipse was going insane, she hissed and blasted fire at a another sandwing

she that she was getting close sandwings castle she smiled “i guess i’ll kill a queen....” she took off into the air

she hissed and had a vision of a nightwing coming to find her “ooooh so fathers not even going to show up” she growled.

the nightwing tackled eclipse out of the sky.

She roared and slashed at him and slammed him to the ground and shoved her claws near is throat “let me guesssssss your sssssomeone my father sent?” Eclipse growled

“y-y-yes h-he want you at the castle” the nightwing said

“oooh my father actually remembers what I looked like?!.....so did I have to kill seven sandwings to GET HIS ATTENTION!?” she roared

“you fly back there and tell my father....this is his fault!” she growled and let the nightwing go “I’m never going back.....never” she snarled and took off into the air heading to the sand palace.

Darkstalker appeared, his mighty figure blocking the sun and casting a large shadow. "Eclipse, come out NOW." he growled.

she hissed and appeared not far from her “i’m right here” she snarled

she was covered in blood she hissed again.

"Eclipse." his voice grew softer and he flew down next to her. "What happened?" he extended a talon to magically wipe the blood away.

“what!?” she snarled at him and some tears began to fall down her face “what do you want after all these years of ignoring me WHY DO YOU HATE ME!” she hissed at him backing up.

Darkstalker blinked confusedly at Eclipse. "Y-years?" he whispered softly.

“yes years” she looked away from him closing her eyes “you just ignored me......you loved my other siblings so much you made me feel like you forgot about me.........that you never cared” tears went down her face.

"I-I-" Darkstalker was at a loss for words. How could he have forgotten such a precious dragonet? "I am so sorry," he whispered.

She didn’t know what to say she was crying to much thinking she was a monster

She didn’t know if she should trust him

She hid her face “I-I thought y-you hated me f-for so long.....I-I didn’t know what to a-and now I lost my mind and soul.......I screwed up” she said through tears

"It's alright." he said. "It's my fault. I'm sorry I didn't pay more attention, Eclipse. I promise I will from now if, if you'd like."

She looked at him still crying, she then hugged him “I would like that” she said Eclipse said she stopped crying a little.

Chapter 17

Toucan

Toucan knocked on the door to Silent One’s house. “Hey, Silent One!” He said when she opened the door. “I saw all these dragons coming. What, are you having a party or something?” “Oh… uh… maybe I should go…” He said, looking at everyone. “No stay here, we might need your help,” Silent one whispered. “Gyaaah!” One of the dragons in the corner yelled, realizing Toucan was there. “Who are you and how did you find us?!?” The RainWing shouted. “SORRY, SORRY!” Toucan shouted. “I was just passing by, and I heard you guys! Sorry. I can leave.” He said, taking a step toward the door. “No, it is fine, Toucan.” Silent One whispered, taking a step towards him. The RainWing named Gecko glared jealousy at him and Silent One for a reason Toucan couldn’t understand.

"So... you guys are basically planning to overthrow DarkStalker? Yeah, ok, I'm good with that." “Yes, finally some action.” Venom said in his head. “Yes, that is our plan.” Silent One whispered at the same time.

"Well, we're gonna have to do it quickly,” Gecko said. “Silent One, can you get some weapons and stuff for Nebula and Stardust and... uh... what's his face?" “Toucan,” Toucan replied. “My name is Toucan.” “No we have to be unpredictable, so he doesn't see it coming.” Silent one whispered. "Ok, well then what kind of unpredictable-ness do you have in mind?" Gecko asked Silent One, and Toucan noticed he slightly edged closer to her, away from him. "I can help with... um... basically any part?" Toucan said. "And Venom, when I say I can help with anything, I mean I. This is not a 'we' thing, so stay out for right now." He said out loud, obtaining some weird looks from Stardust and Nebula. “Fine-” Venom said, and Toucan sighed, knowing he was most likely going to mess it up.

"What do I do?" Lunar asked, waking up. "Ah, Lunar. Here's the spell you have to cast on this dagger." Gecko said, thrusting the dagger and a piece of paper into Lunar's talons. Lunar read it out loud, casting the spell on the dagger.

''“I enchant this dagger to bypass all of Darkstalker's protection spells and not show up in any of the futures Darkstalker can predict. When it is plunged into his neck, it will erase his animus powers, mind reading, and prophecy powers, and shrink him to the normal size of a NightWing adult.”''

"Um… so now are we trying to kill my dad?" Lunar asked. “Not kill more of… make him not in power and/or evil” Stardust said shakily.

"He was a jerk in my opinion because he never even noticed me even when I tripped over Nova in the hatchery and I had a cut on my nose," Lunar said, clenching her talons. "Yes, and he killed my parents," Gecko said, rummaging around in his satchel. “He kidnapped me from Pantala and killed my parents in the process,” Stardust said looking up. "He never knew I was ever there. The only dragon he ever noticed me was Arctic Shadow." Lunar said.

All of a sudden, Toucan started getting forcibly dragged by an invisible force towards the palace. "Ah! Sorry! I have to go, Darkstalker is calling the RainWings to the castle!” He called, as he got gloomily dragged out of the house and towards the castle.

Chapter 18

Gecko

Gecko had a moment’s reaction before the thing that happened to Toucan started happening to him. “Well, it is a good thing I am a tri-breed” He heard Silent One whisper before he started getting dragged forcibly in the direction of the palace by an invisible force. "Aw, frick. Nonononononono!" He said, trying to run in the opposite direction, but to no avail. Stardust yelped and grabbed onto Gecko’s talons to slow him down, but that didn’t work either. "Just- Get the dagger! I'll meet you guys at the castle." Gecko shouted, forcing Stardust's and Nebula’s talons off him just as he got teleported to the castle.

Gecko popped into the palace right in front of Darkstalker."Aw, frick." He thought. "Not the place I wanted to be at this moment."

"In fact." Darkstalker was saying, "We found RainWing venom on our guards. Whoever finds the RainWing traitor will immediately be brought up to the highest class once they have turned him in." Darkstalker smiled. "And... go.” He said, releasing all the RainWings as they rushed out of the hall. "Not so fast, Stardust. Hold still." Gecko heard Darkstalker say, as he flicked a talon."You will not rest until you return the traitor to me." Darkstalker snarled. "I have to stall him until they can get here!" Gecko thought bravely.

"Yoo-hoo! Down Here! Yo! Mr. Big Fat Boi! One Traitor at your Service!" Gecko yelled as loud as he could. Darkstalker waved a talon to lift Gecko high into the air and disable his wings, and he wavered, as the hard stone floor spun underneath him. "Oooooh boy. Maybe I should have thought this through." Gecko thought. "Hey, Darkstalker! He yelled again. "What?!" Darkstalker roared deafeningly. "Careful what you say, or you go splat."

Gecko gulped and tried to say something, but nothing came out. Darkstalker grinned. "Last chance. Or you drop." He lifted Gecko higher. "Ohhh frick oh frick oh frick oh frick.  Gecko'' thought. “Put Gecko down!” Toucan yelled, rushing inside. Gecko watched as a blackish substance covered Toucan, until his eyes were a pale white, and his scales midnight oily black, and began attacking Darkstalker.

"Well, I mean, I want to go out with something cool, but I can't come up with anything. What do you think?" He asked Darkstalker. Darkstalker ignored Gecko and randomly said. "Then bring her to me." He tossed a bracelet into the air. "Make the wearer 4x fast." He said as the bracelet disappeared in mid-air.

"Ahem. Darkstalker? Hello? Still, floating up here? I need help with my final words." Gecko said quickly, to distract him. Darkstalker shook Toucan off annoyedly. "Perhaps you don't need any." He dropped Gecko a short drop and then made him hover again going up a higher distance. Gecko yelped and spread his wings for when Darkstalker will drop him again, even though he knew they wouldn’t help him. He looked up to face Darkstalker. He took a deep breath in…

And stopped when he saw Stardust rush in with the bracelet and stab Darkstalker in the back. Gecko’s heart filled with joy, as he saw Darstalker shriek and roar in agony and rage. Then he realized that with Darkstalker shrunken and his animus powers removed…

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!” He screamed as he fell, his wings opening and closing to no avail. He crashed into the ground, with a bone splintering CRAK, and the world disappeared as he fell unconscious.

Chapter 19

Stardust

Stardust yelped as Gecko suddenly got dragged out the door. He tried to grab onto one of Gecko’s talons, but Gecko shook him off and yelled something at him and Nebula.

Stardust immediately grabbed the bag with the dagger, and slung it around himself. “We should start flying, Nebula.” Stardust said, rushing outside and taking off without another word. Stardust flew towards Darkstalker as quickly as he could, wanting to save Gecko. “After all… he didn’t wipe my memory so I guess I owe him one.” Stardust thought. All of a sudden, he froze in midair with a yelp, immediately realizing that Darkstalker must have commanded him to do so. “I need to save Gecko!” Stardust yelled, trying to move but couldn’t. “

Darkstalker I uhh… found Nova!But don’t hurt the rainwing!” Stardust panicked as loud as he could inside his head. Suddenly a bracelet appeared on Stardust’s arm, and he found he could fly four times faster than normal. He flew to the palace as fast as he could, readying the dagger.

He slid into the room, flew up to Darkstalker, and thrust the dagger as hard as he could into his neck. Darkstalker roared and shrieked in agony and rage as he shrunk, ripping the bracelet off of Stardust’s arm, and rushing away with it.

Stardust flew back down to the floor, next to Toucan, unable to hide the joy bursting up inside of him. Suddenly Toucan pointed up with a yelp. Stardust followed his gaze and saw it too. “WAIT! Gecko’s gonna fall!” Toucan yelled. Stardust watched with guilt as Gecko screamed on his way down, and crashed into the hard, cold stone floor, with a bone-splintering CRAK. “NO!!” Toucan yelled, rushing over to Gecko’s nearly dead body, with Stardust close behind. “SOMEONE HELP!!!” He screamed. Stardust helped Gecko onto Toucan’s back, and he flew him as fast as he could to Silent One, with Stardust close behind.

All the way back, Stardust’s thoughts raced around him. ''“What if he dies? What if we lose him? ...What if… it’s my fault?”''

Chapter 20

Silent One

Silent one was getting ready to go help them attack Darkstalker when Toucan came in carrying Gecko who was unconscious. She ran up to him “no. no. no. no. no. no. no. no. no. noooo. Not again. Toucan I mean venom did he fall again?”Silent one asked “yes he did from a very high distance. '' Venom said “he wasn’t fully healed from the last time he fell. I bet he might just end up dead but I will see what I can do,” Silent one starts looking through her pouch and she finds the herb and puts it in gecko' s mouth. She crosses her talons hoping he will live.

After a few seconds, she checked if he still has a pulse and is still breathing but felt nothing. Tears start rolling down her snout “no...no...NO!...this can’t be real”silent one said crying. She ran out and went to the lake in her backyard, sobbing.

''I never got to tell him my name or show him my collection. I also never got to tell him that i loved him. Also i was going to ask him if he wanted to see the new continent. Why does this have to happen.''-silent one thought

Chapter 21

Gecko

Gecko opened his eyes. His mother and father were sitting on the porch they had in front of their treehouse. "Come, dear!" His mother said. "Come sit with us." Gecko smiled. He choked out words. "I- I thought you were dead!" "Dead? Never, never. Come sit with us!" Gecko sat with his parents as they watched the sunset, like they always used to. He was happy as he can ever be.

Epilogue

“Gecko???” Toucan asked. Stardust looked at his talons and sat there, crying. “I-its my fault Gecko’s dead.” He said, shakily. Nebula gasped. "Gecko! Who did this?!" he snarled. Toucan put his talon on Stardust’s shoulder. “No, it’s not.” He said. “But we have to move on.”

“However we go on, we should do it with the memory that it’s what Gecko would have wanted.”

END OF PART 1