chapter by butterseer. you're welcome
~
Qibli's jaw dropped. Moon was gone. In her place was... well, Moon, but a lot more edgy. He stumbled forward and tried to touch her cheek. "Moon?!"
Her claws swept at him, swatting him away. "Stop being so clingy, Qibli. And I'm not Moon. Call me Moonwatcher." In her voice was a venom Qibli had never heard her use before. Ever. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw Winter looking horrified but not surprised.
"I'm horrified but not surprised," Winter snapped, his pupils slitting. Rats, thought Qibli, knowing Winter was about to lose his temper AGAIN. Gee whilikers, that happened so often for him. "After all, Darkstalker enchanted ME TOO. No wonder he enchanted Moon."
"MOONWATCHER," the NightWing seethed. "Moon sounds like a name for a petite little fairy, which I am not! And by the way, have either of you seen Darkstalker? I heard you mention him just now. I want to see him!" There was excitement in her voice, which disgusted Qibli greatly. He shuddered.
"Just so you know, Anemone, I'm VERY pissed at you. This is even worse than the Kinkajou love spell you put on Turtle!" he yelled. "Moonstalker has an awful age and power gap. I hope you see that, or we have a very serious problem."
Winter rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about, Qibli? Anemone went with Turtle to find Kinkajou a while ago."
"Then... then... that's not true. Anemone was just here! She put the spell on Moon!" Qibli looked around in a panic but the SeaWing baby was gone. "What the? Where did she go?"
Winter got down on his KNEES and began crawling around, peeking under the bushes. "Anemone? Anemone?"
Qibli lifted up a rock and peeked under it, knowing as well as Winter that a short-legged toddler couldn't have gone far. Suddenly he dropped the rock, and it landed on Moon's toe. A sickening crack was heard.
"YOW!" Moon screamed. "You DISLOCATED MY TOE!" (injury warning)
"M- oh man, I'm so sorry!" Qibli lost his train of thought for a moment, reaching for her. But Moonwatcher slipped out of his reach and flapped up onto a broken pillar.
"I'm really tired of both of you. You say it was a spell, but I don't think so. Anemone just helped me open my eyes," she ranted, glaring down at them with the moon behind her silhouette. "You're both just... completely incompatible with me! What was I thinking? What were YOU thinking? Qibli is clingy and silly, and Winter is emotionally unstable. I feel like with Qibli I'd be basically living with a friend my whole life, and I feel Winter would be the type to beat his wife and cry about it later. God! I'm much better than both of you COMBINED!" With that, she flew off, leaving the two boys behind.
Qibli and Winter were stunned.
"What the hell? I didn't know she could even SPEAK with that tone," said Qibli, shaking his head. He was beating back his feelings of self-hatred and sadness, trying to cover it with humor as he always did. "Well--"
Winter however was clearly not doing the same thing. "HOW DARE SHE SAY SUCH A THING ABOUT ME? AFTER ALL I DID FOR HER?" he yelled, his temper breaking like an iceberg after record summer temperatures. "I abandoned my TRIBE for Moon and she called me a fucking abuser? Do you know how much that hurts?"
"Well, to be fair..." Qibli let his words trail away when he saw Winter's furious eyes. He changed the subject fast. "Okay, let's just... think. If Anemone wasn't here, then... who was it?"
"ANOTHER ANIMUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" they both screamed in horror. Winter got up from his hands and knees, brushing the dust off on Qibli's shoulder.
"Who could it be?" Winter demanded hotly, but Qibli already knew the answer.
"It was DARKSTALKER HIMSELF."
---
Meanwhile, Turtle and Anemone were walking through the palace, both feeling insecure about their OWN home palace while doing so.
"If only Queen Coral put more thought into real estate," Anemone grumped.
"Anemone, shush," Turtle hushed his little sister. "You know the market isn't great right now." He looked in front of him and saw the dungeons just being there. "Omg we are here. We're at
Darkstalker's Dungeon."
