NOIR:- A Wings of Fire Fanfiction

Chapter 25

It had been a few days time since Star had let Terra stay with them. He seemed really nice, other than the fact that every time Star had any thought of him, she usually was thinking of the blood red X on his throat. He didn't have too long to live from the looks of it. The X was Prophet's kill mark, something he could use to track his victims.

Not too good for Star's conscience.

Prophet was out there, and she had brought a marked dragon into their home. Course, she hadn't told any of the rest of the winglet about the mark, and she knew if she did, Terra would be out on the streets before she could even finish the statement "talons and tails, I've done it again!"

Star sat in her room, staring at the ceiling with these thoughts in her head. It wasn't too easy, being the person technically in charge of the mansion. Python and Mamba were running the newly remade mafia, and Paragon and Tigerfish were well-

Tigerfish was still in a coma, and Paragon never left her side, not for just a second. Star had brought him food now and then, but it was evident that Tiger was not getting better, only worse.

She heard a slight knock at the door, and saw Terra, standing there with his writing slate that Star had made for him so he could talk. On the slate was written three words:- "You Doing Okay?"

Star read the note and hesitated before responding. "I don't really know if I'm okay or not. Lupus has been gone for a really long time and I don't really know how to cope with that."

Terra nodded and scribbled some on his pad. "Do you want to talk about him?"

(From here on out, I'll simplify the works to just say he wrote it, in quotes. This is complicated for me and it's really getting hard to remember Terra cannot talk)

"No, not really, not at all." Star said with a sigh. Terra nodded and looked down.

A long moment of silence presumed, with neither party choosing to make any more conversation. Finally, Star broke the silence.

"Why did you do it?" She asked.

"Do what?" Terra wrote in reply, following his note with a confused expression.

"Brainwash Lupus." she stated plainly, in a rather low, quiet voice.

"I didn't do it. The Alchemist did it, not me. Darkstalker made the Alchemist using pieces of me, and he ripped that crazed lunatic to pieces, right as soon as he had fulfilled his purpose." Terra wrote, and Star could see a bit of hate for The Alchemist deep in his eyes.

"so why'd the Alchemist do it?" Star prodded. She wanted to know what Darkstalker's plan was with her lover.

"It was either turn him or kill him." Terra wrote, wincing.

Star nodded and sighed. Well, at least he's not dead..

At least, I hope he isn't.

Star stood and got up, finally deciding to trust Terra. He was remorseful of what happened to Lupus, and he seemed caring to her.

"I need to show you something." She said, and they made their way down the lavish halls of the mansion to the bookcase. They stopped here, and Star pulled the book to unlock the door.

The shelf slid aside to reveal the stairs, and Terra let out a soft gasp. Star turned and grinned. "Fun, isn't it?"

Terra nodded and followed Star up the stairs.

They arrived in the study, and after a few moments of Terra marveling and Star attempting to drag him over to the vision board, they finally made their way to the massive wall of information.

"Wait, this is-" Terra started on the slate,  his eyes growing wide with understanding.

"Lupus's vision wall." Star finished for him, looking at the board.

"Wait! This!" Terra said, going over to an old sketch of some papers, along with a dragons talon next to them. "T-that's my talon!" He wrote on the slate, his talons shaking excitedly.

Star looked confused, but walked up to stare closer at the image. "Wait, that is..." she said, looking at the sketch. "Can you make out the papers?" She asked.

Terra nodded frantically. "I remember that day, it was the day right before The Alchemist brainwashed Lupus." He wrote, before taking the sketch down gently and moving it to a table so they could see it better. Star followed, bringing over a small lantern to light the paper up a bit more.

"These papers are still fresh on my mind. Could you get me a paper and a writing utensil of some sort?" Terra wrote on his slate, staring at the image. His ears were lowered, and it looked as if he was deep in thought.

Star nodded and ran over to the desk, grabbing an inkwell, feather, and a piece of scroll. She returned and set the materials in front of the MudWing.

"Thanks" Terra wrote his reply onto the desk. He frantically began sketching and writing. Pictures of Prophet flooded the page, along with notes, and other miscellaneous sketches. Terra was a really good artist, just like Lupus. Lupus was pretty good at just sketching things out roughly. However, Terra's sketches were precise and detailed, making sure not to waste even an inch of space.

After a while, Terra set the feather down, looking to Star. "Done, for now. That should be a lot of the notes, but some more may come to mind later on." Terra said on the slate, leaving the paper on the table.

Star nodded, understanding. "Let's head back down, Paragons probably worried about us." She said. Terra nodded, and the pair headed back downstairs.

They were greeted by Paragon, standing there and looking around frantically. "S-Star!" The hybrid exclaimed, running over. "It's Tiger....s-she's not breathing....I also can't feel her pulse..." he finished, his voice full of worry.

He led them back to the room that Tiger was resting in. As they walked in, Terra pushed his way through Paragon and Star, running over to Tigerfish. He mutely began checking her pulse, breathing, and everything else.

After a while, he pushed down hard on Tigerfish's chest, then pulling her into a kiss. Paragon let out a gasp, but Terra lifted up a talon to shush him. Terra continued pushing on Tigerfish's chest, as if he was giving her compressions. Every once in a while he kissed Tigerfish, and from the looks of it he was breathing into her.

After a while Terra stopped, checking Tigerfish's pulse. He gave Paragon a thumbs up, going back to stand with Star. Paragon rushed over, giving Tiger a hug and listening to her heartbeat, along with her breathing.

"S-she's stable." He said, and then murmured a thanks to Terra. "T-thanks, Terra." Terra nodded and walked over to Tiger, checking her up some more. He walked back to a nearby chalkboard and wrote some things down in white chalk.

Tigerfish needs a special herb, only found in the SeaWing kingdom. It's a type of seaweed, said to heal SeaWing wounds. No sightings of it have been reported in the last year, and it is possible that the plant has gone extinct. It resides in a cove, out at sea, close to the Summer Palace.

Paragon read the notes and nodded. "S-so she needs something from the Sea Kingdom?"

Terra nodded simply.

Suddenly, there was a loud boom, from the front door. Star practically flew down the stairs, with Paragon  in tow.

The door had been slashed open, and lay on the floor, cut in multiple pieces. Smoke and darkness billowed from the opening.

Suddenly, a hooded figure walked into the opening and stood there. Casting back his dark hood, his face was revealed.

The face of Star's lover, now scarred and marred with scratches and cuts, stared back at Star. His eyes were black soulless pits, empty and devoid of love, empathy, or remorse. He drew a wicked dagger from his cloak. It was jet black, enlaid with obsidian on the hilt and handle.

Prophet spun the dagger, as if ready to strike, like a snake.

He opened his mouth to speak, and the voice that issued wasn't that of Lupus. It was darker, emotionless.

"Bring me The Alchemist."