Strings of Sin

Chapter 7

"So then should we investigate?" December questioned with sudden excitement and grabbed Stardom's talons.

"Yes, you could do that for me. Just tell everyone that you're with the queen if they ask about your intrusion. If they're still on your shoulders, tell them 'You don't want to test your queen'," Thorn tasked the two and glared with impatience as she finished her last sentence. "I don't know particularly where their headquarters are, so you'll have to ask around. The wailing coming from the room last night has something to do with all of this, so I recommend you go there, first." The queen began smiling boldly at her serious, monotone voice and informative speech. "Good luck, my little detectives."

The pair reminded her so much of a certain someone, and she was determined to help them feel valued.

"We won't let you down, boss!" December saluted and pulled Stardom away from the table as she ran back to the dorms.

"But what about lunch?" Stardom asked as he glanced back at the table full of fancy, flavorful foods.

"Evil does not rest, Star, and neither do we!" she answered as she checked the numbers on the doors for the number 7 as they passed by them all.

"But didn't we go to sleep last night even though we realized that some evil was causing someone trouble?" the nightwing questioned logically as December gazed back at him with a disappointed face.

"Just go with it," the icewing shrugged as she finally found door number 7. "I need to change myself, first, though." She brought her teeth together in a tenacious twinkle as she reimagined herself as someone else and opened the door.

The door closed and left Stardom to wait. And then the door opened again.

"Hello, Star!" the icewing exclaimed as she showed off her new look. "What do you think?"

Stardom examined the icewing's gear and noticed that she was attempting to imitate a certain sandwing. December was wearing a common earring that had appeared in icewing history often; it was rumored to be from an unlikely source: a student, yes. How strange it is for it to originate from a plain place; wasn't it powerful? Tiny objects could be enchanted then. She is pretending to be Qibli: so basic, so strange, so dangerous.

"You look the same," Stardom observed as he scanned over his friend's body and admired her desire to achieve the metamorphic stage of a true hero. "But with a slight change." The nightwing looked up and finished his opinion. "You look great!"

"Thank you! I brought my dad's old earring from the dark times to become Qibli for smart situations!" December smiled as she surveyed the ceiling with an uplifting feeling. "Let's go to that room and find this stuff out! And also, call me Qibli now!"

"Okay-" Stardom started as his talons were squeezed by the excited icewing.

Taking Stardom with him, December raced to the door where the wailing was coming from previously and knocked politely. "You know how most heroes break down doors and walls to save the world and stuff?"

"Yes," Stardom responded as the two dragons waited.

"I'm not going to do that," the icewing explained as they continued to wait.

"Okay, Qibli," Stardom smothered a snicker.

The door never opened, and that was about the time when December got bored and decided to break it down. "So much for that door, huh?"

"Yes," Stardom answered when they were inside the room.

Stardom got a sense of his atmosphere and studied the space that he was surrounded by: he squinted at the boards in the room, the papers on the walls and floor, smelled the desolate scent of depression and disappointment, felt the old age of the papers, tasted the tireless hours of tearing apart the walls and floor, seeking something, a change, and heard helplessness, he heeded. There.