Shadowed Shells

Shadowed Shells is a BlogFic by Fawnberry. It is a WIP.

ALLEGIANCES
WIP

PROLOGUE- FAWNY'S POV
I felt a sharp thing on my neck one night while I was sleeping. It was weird… Really weird. Maybe it was just a piece of trash, I thought. After all, I DID sleep in an alleyway. And I’ve found a LOT of sharp things in the place that I call home. I’ve never had a real house, since I’ve never had a real family. I was shunned because of my relationship with my cat, Fritz, and my powers. I could barely even see out of my broken glasses anymore. But when I felt the blood pouring out of my neck, and heard my unintentional screeches of pain, I knew that it was sharp enough to make me die. And that was what I was doing right now. Dying. And there was another reason they teased me. I had this really weird ability, along with my power to control fire. I could feel, see and hear things while I was sleeping. I couldn’t see anything right now, but I heard the splash of water as I fell into the small, polluted creek beside me that I knew so well, and felt myself being carried away. And then I couldn’t hear anything either. And I definitely couldn’t feel anything at all.

When I got up, it still felt like nothingness. I decided that I was dead, and in the underworld. But it felt more like a dream, before you start a new life… I heard a voice, like those women on airplanes, the flight attendants… Yeah, a voice like that. And I got that sorta… Airplane vibe from what she said, too.

“Hello, Fawny. Welcome to the World in between. Before I can allow you to transition, I must ask you one question. What is your favourite animal?” I shuddered. I wasn’t about to tell this strange lady ANYTHING about me, much less my favourite animal. I wanted Fritz back!

“LEAVE ME ALONE! I WANT TO GO BACK HOME!” I was surprised at myself. Why would I miss that alleyway? And call it HOME? I guess I just missed Fritz a lot. The lady’s voice echoed again as she repeated the question.

“What is your favourite animal?” This time, I just ignored her, not saying anything. Her voice grew harsh and strict as she screamed “ANSWER MY QUESTION, OR YOU WILL HAVE NO CHANCE AT LIVING AGAIN, AND I WILL CALL FOR YOUR REMOVAL!” I shuddered. And then I nodded, more worried than I’d ever been… And scared too. I stuttered slowly

“C-c-cat.”

CHAPTER 1- FAWNY`S POV
I woke up on a sandy island. Except… It wasn’t exactly an island. It was actually moving, so I decided this ‘island’ wasn’t rooted to the ground. I looked up, and I saw two cats standing in front of me- one a white she-cat with pale stripes, and the other a fluffy Cornish Rex. I pet the she-cat and she did not hesitate to purr loudly. I reached out to pet the Cornish Rex, but as doing so I heard a screech.

“siR MCGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” A curly haired brunette girl with cat ears and a tail jumped onto the cat, soon cradling it in her arms. It took a few moments for her to notice me, and by then another person had already picked up the other cat, starting to pet her. This person was obviously has no gender – they had a light orange shirt, a gray and red jacket and baggy camo pants. They noticed me immediatly. At the same time, both the non-binary and the girl said “Hi!” And then they started giggling. The genderless person was the first one to stop laughing. They had a friendly smile on their face as they looked me in the eyes and introduced themself.

“Hey. I’m Flame.” I immediately liked this kid. They just gave off that friendly vibe! The girl smiled too, and I could tell she would be fun to hang around. She introduced herself as well.

“And I’m Hazel!” They both did a gesture toward me with their hand, which I assumed meant they were waiting for me to introduce myself.

“Uh, hi, I-i’m Fawny.” I stuttered. Flame gave me a quick scan -literally, like with a computer scanner- and smiled, again.

“See you like cats too.” I was kinda amazed, kinda disturbed.

“How did you know that?” I asked, sounding more shocked than I actually was.

“Look in the ocean.” Hazel pointed to the ocean, and I listened to her. When I saw what happened to me, I gasped. I had grown a pair of cat ears, and a cat tail. Before I could turn back to Flame and Hazel, I heard a small meow beside me. I looked… And it was FRITZ! I squealed in delight.

“FRITZ!” I tackle-hugged my cat, and he nuzzled me back. I stood up and moved back toward Hazel and Flame, Fritz in my arms. I looked around, and asked “Where am I?”

“This is Element Beach.” Flame started to explain. “We call it that because, here, we live in four tribes, all according to our powers. But if you have a power like mine, well, you can choose your tribe.” I looked around closely, and saw four large groups of people: One was just prancing around in the sand, while another was in the water. Another group was… Flying? And the one I was near was around a campfire.

“What tribes are there?” I asked, pulling Fritz closer to my body. Hazel pulled out a hand and began to list off the tribes.

“Well, there’s Water Swimmers, the people with water powers, Wind Flyers, the people with air powers, Earth Touchers, the people with earth and nature powers, and Flame Throwers, the tribe Flame and I are in. We have fire powers.” Hazel listed, pulling out a finger with one of her others for each tribe. Fritz had hopped out of my arms, as did Flame’s cat, and they had started playing with each other, Hazel’s cat, Sir Mcgoo, joining in at random times. Just then, two more girls walked up, and their gaze immediately fell on me. I observed them for a second. One was a Hispanic-looking girl with black hair and dark brown eyes, with attributes of a dove, and the other was a tannish-pale girl with russet brown hair and gray-green eyes, with falcon attributes.

“Who’s this?” The falcon girl asked.

“That’s Fawny.” Hazel introduced me. “She just washed up.” Hazel gestured to the two girls, introducing them both. “The one who just asked who you were? That’s

Blaz. And the other one’s Lup.” Hazel looked at Blaz and Lup. “Look, can you two go do me a big favour, and each of you ask one of the leaders to meet at the Element Connector?” Hazel all of a sudden got really nervous. “Cuz I can’t do it all myself…”

I heard Lup mutter under her breath

“No, you’re too lazy to.” But her head bounced right up and she said “Sure!” While Blaz nodded. Hazel smiled.

“Great!” She jumped with joy. “Blaz, you go see Jaylinn, and Lup, you do Lillianna.” She turned to Flame. “And, you go see Icy. I’ll do Blue.” Blaz and Lup left to do their jobs immediately, and Flame shrugged and smiled.

“Okay.” They said. Then they kissed Hazel on the cheek, and before they walked away, they said “I love you.” And made a heart with their hands. Hazel touched her cheek where thye had kissed her, blushing like crazy. I elbowed her and said

“Somebody’s in loooooove.” She giggled and elbowed me back.

“Stop it!” She said between laughs. She then saluted to me, and ran off to do her job.

At least 15 minutes later, Hazel returned, and told me to follow her. I did as she said, and soon she led me to a little shrine of some sort, where all sorts of people were gathered round.

“So THAT’S the new girl?” A girl who was half wolf spat. “Hah! Wimp!”

Another girl, half platypus, smiled and whispered “She’s kinda cute though…” I blushed.

“Dark, stop.” A girl who was half Doberman ordered her. Dark stopped immediatly. This girl must be the leader. A girl who was half deer smiled at me. She gestured to me.

“The floor is yours.” She said gently. “Show us your powers.”

I looked around anxiously. I’d never shown anybody my powers on PURPOSE before..

“O-okay.” I stuttered. I waved my hands around, and fire started coming out. I saw a few people shield their eyes, but I kept going. Finally, as the big finale, I spit out some flames, almost like a dragon. I heard some cheers behind me, and saw Flame and Hazel, cheering for me while holding hands.

“It is decided then.” The Doberman girl nodded. “Congratulations, Fawny. You are a Flame Thrower.”

CHAPTER 2 - HAZEL`S POV
There was a new girl today. Her name was Fawny. And Flame just had to kiss me the one day when the new girl was looking. Of course… they can kiss me anyway, not that I care. Not that I want them to kiss me, for that matter. Anyway, Fawny’s in my Tribe now. She’s fun, but I’m not 100% sure that I like her. Of course, nobody is, since we’ve known her for not even an hour. Our cats seemed to like each other, though. I was supposed to give Fawny the tour of the camps today, but maybe somebody else could? I wasn’t feeling up to it, I guess. Well, I’m never up to anything, but I thought I’d ask Blue if I could skip it. I walked into her den, and she was quietly singing “Oh, you make me a, you make me a believer, believer…” While reading something. I looked over her shoulder and saw that it was Robin x Regina fanfiction. I thought about backing away, but I didn’t. I tapped her gently on the shoulder. “ooOOOH, YOU- AAAAAAA” she screamed, turning around to face me. “Oh, hi Hazel.”

“Hi.” I almost mumbled, with a small wave. Blue stood up, getting out of her rolling chair (which I have no idea how she aquirred) and said the thing I feared she would.

“Say, aren’t you supposed to be giving that Fawny a tour?” I jumped and stuttered.

“Y-y-yeah! I’ll go do that now.” I backed away, and heard Blue put her playlist on shuffle, and a distant

“I’m on top of the world, eh!” I walked away to find Fawny, and it didn’t take long. She was playing with Fritz on the shore. I slowly tapped her on the shoulder and she jerked her head toward me.

“Hazel!” She smiled. “What’s up?” She said and stood up. I smiled. She seemed friendly enough, but she gave off a weird vibe, for some reason.

“Gonna give you a tour of the camps.” I motioned for her to follow me, and we went back into Blue’s den. I saw that she had closed her computer, and was now standing on her makeshift desk, belting out all the songs from the OUAT musical episode, with a hairbrush in her hand. She saw us and jumped off, clearly embarrassed.

“Hazel? Why are you back?” I felt awkward as she stared me down, a serious expression on her face. Luckily, Fawny piped up.

“She’s giving me a tour. Who are you?” I stared at her, and was scared of what Blue was gonna say.

“You don’t know your own LEADER’S name?” Blue said, obviously joking around. “I’m Blue, your Ember Sparker.” She bowed gently, and a Doberman came running up to her side. “And that’s Thorn.” She smiled. She then shooed us off, telling us to go see more places. First, I went to the Training Corner. Virdian was over there, training his Ash Scooper, Lup, and Swan was training Virdian’s little sister, Dandileon. We went over to say hi. Virdian noticed us before Lup and the others. He was nice enough.

“Hey, I’m Virdian. You must be Fawny. I’m the Fire Jumper here. Second in command.” He saluted, and Fawny smiled a bit. Swan noticed Fawny and smiled softly, waving. “I’m Swan, and that’s Dandileon, my Ash Scooper.” Swan gestured toward Virdian’s sister, who still hadn’t noticed Fawny.

“FAWNYYYYYYY” Lup screeched, and tackled Fawny as soon as she noticed her. Then I heard her whisper in her ear “Meet me in the forest after the tour, I wanna show you something.” Fawny nodded and got up. Dandileon bounced a little at the sight of Fawny, but did nothing more.

“This is the Training Corner. It’s where people who haven’t quite gotten the hang of their powers yet train.” I led Fawny away, toward the Food Fire. Around it were Dark, Blaz and Flame, each holding a stick with a raw piece of chicken on it. Flame’s was almost roasted completely, while Blaz’s was slightly cooked, and Dark’s still looked totally raw. “And this is the Food Fire. It’s where we cook and eat.” Flame hadn’t noticed me yet, and when they did, their smile was so big, my cheeks turned bright red.

“HAZEL!” They placed their food down gently and tackle hugged me

“It’s been like, 30 minutes since you last saw me!” I smiled, and giggled a bit. Flame shrugged and squeezed me harder, hugging me like his life depended on it. I giggled even more and between laughs, I managed to say “Flame, I need to continue the tour!” They let go reluctantly and blew me a kiss as I walked away.

“In love much?” Fawny joked, and I elbowed her jokingly. Nobody was in any of the dens, other then Blue in her own, so I gave Fawny a quick tour of the other two dens, and then we headed over to the Earth Touchers camp.

The first thing we saw when we walked into the Earth Touchers camp were all of the high ranks. Standing right in front of me was Icy, the Land Shaker, and in front of Fawny, Frosty, the Pebble Thrower. And off to the side was Peto, the Stone Smoother.

“Tour?” Icy asked gently. Sometimes I wished Icy was my mom. Icy would make a good mom. I nodded, and Icy smiled. “I’m Icy, and I’m the Land Shaker- the leader- of the Earth Touchers.” Icemom gestured towards Frosty and said “This is Frosty, my Pebble Thrower- right hand man – here comes the general, and that’s Peto, our Stone Smother. She handles the herbs.” Both Peto and Frosty waved enthusiastically. “Want me to take over for now, Hazel?” Icy asked kindly.

I shook my head. “No bc this is my POV chapter” Icy nodded, and I continued the tour. We visited their Food Tunnel, where we saw Sunny stuffing herself with food.

“Hllo” she sounded really muffled, as her mouth was full of food. We both nodded hi back, and went over to their Training Dune, where Fawn Spots, one of the only two people who remembered their last name, was training her Sand Speck, Fallen. Fallen waved at us.

“Hi Fawny! Hi Hazel! I’m Fallen if you didn’t know.” She smiled. Fawn Spots introduced herself too.

“Hey Fawny. I’m Fawn. Nice name.” The 18 year old winked. Fawny waved to both of the people and we continued. Once again, the dens were deserted, but I showed her them anyway. And then it was time for the Wind Flyers.

We were greeted by Jaylinn Cloudrunner, the other person who knew their last name, and the High Soarer of her tribe.

“Greetings.” She smiled. “We are the Wind Flyers. I am Jaylinn Cloudrunner. Continue your tour.” The half-Merlin let us pass. We saw Moss, the Fast Flyer, or second-in-command, in her den, and decided not to disturb her.

“That’s Moss, the second-in-command.” I whispered to Fawny. She nodded. Then we saw Rosa, the Breeze Floater, treating Sorzi’s wounds in her den, and GreGray, Rosa’s cuttlefish and Livri, Sorzi’s eagle, were both there as well. I decided to say hello to them.

“Hello, Hazel. Who’s this?” Rosa asked. I then realized that neither Rosa nor Sorzi had gone to the Tribe Selection Ceremony around an hour ago. I really didn’t feel like introducing Fawny to anybody else, but luckily, she did it for me.

“I’m Fawny. I’m the newest member of the Flame Throwers. My kitten, Fritz, is back at camp.” She smiled. “And you?” Fawny gestured to the two girls in the den.

“I’m Rosa, and I take care of the herbs here.” The Breeze Floater explained. Sorzi popped in with a short self-introduction.

“And I’m Sorzi! I was SUPPOSED to be training with Aster today, but Livri accidentally scratched me.” Sorzi blabbed. Fawny nodded, and waved to them both before we walked away. Nobody was at the food cloud, and we couldn’t get up there, so we didn’t bother trying. At the Training Pad, I saw Snowy and Aster, flying low.

“HI FAWNYYYYY” Snowy yelled, and we heard nothing more from her. Aster landed on the pad, and talked to Fawny for a bit.

“Hi, Fawny. I’m Aster. I was supposed to be training Sorzi, and Moss training her own apprentice, but since Sorzi’s injured, I have to train Moss’s apprentice while she lazes around.” Aster groaned, and flew off. Once again, all the other dens were empty, so after a quick look around them, we went to go see the final tribe: the Water Swimmers.

At our final stop, we were once again greeted by the leader, this time Lillianna.

“Welcome. I’m Lillianna, the leader – or Rain Pourer, of this tribe. Show yourselves around.” Lillianna said simply, and walked away. Sky, the deputy, was obviously off somewhere, so we didn’t get to see her. Dew was in her den, sorting herbs, and I didn’t want to disturb her. We decided to head to the dens first, where we met Spirit and Kinks. They were each really nice to Fawny. I don’t really remember what any of them said though. I guess I wasn’t listening. Shivy was stuffing her mouth in the Food Puddle, and nodded to us, acknowledging our existence. Then we went to the Training Waters. Strem and Leo were swimming together, Strem training Leo. Strem looked at Fawny and said

“Hi! I’m Strem!” Fawny’s cheeks turned bright red, and she turned her head away as she mumbled

“Hi.” Leo interrupted the awkwardness by introducing herself.

“I’m Leo! I’m half lion!” She swam around like crazy. We were pretty much done now, so I quickly showed Fawny the Hill of Unity, where we gathered every half moon. When we were walking back to camp, I elbowed Fawny.

“Who’s in love now?” Fawny blushed harder then ever.

“Youuuuuuu.” She muttered. I giggled and by the time I finished, we were already back. I plopped down near the Food Fire and said

“What do you wanna do now?” Before I could get an answer, Flame sat down beside me and hugged me tightly without warning. I smiled and hugged them back. I missed them too. Fawny giggled a bit and then answered my question.

“Gotta meet Lup in the forest. See you later!” She waved to me while walking away, and I sat there, hugging Flame, and wondering why in the world a beach would have a forest.

CHAPTER 3- FAWNY`S POV
I was in the forest almost immediatly. I couldn’t tell what kind of trees they were. Some were oak, I think. I’ve always liked fire more. Not so far into this forest, there was a huge hill, and a slightly uphill hill. There were a few rocks at the bottom of the huge one, and one was tilted upward. I decided to lift up this rock. And when I lifted it up… I fell in. There was this hollow under the rock… And oh boy, it was AMAZING. There was a television, and iPad minis. How Lup acquired them, I have no idea. And Lup was sitting on a rolling chair in the centre of the hollow, watching TV. I tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey.” I said. She turned off the tv and waved happily at me. “Uh.. Why’d ya call me here?” I asked, but Lup was gazing into space as she said

“Hey, didja know Flame is 12 and I’m 13, but he’s a higher rank then me?” I giggled.

“Heh, weird.” Lup looked down, kinda dazed as she mumbled grumpily

“It’s cuz I don’t know my powers yet.” She looked at me and snapped back to reality. “Anyyyyyway, why I called you here.” She nodded. “I’m gonna share a tale that is most popular around us Flame Throwers, but EVERYBODY knows it.” I flashed her a thumbs up, and she started.

“So, the founder of the island, her name was Cake Star. Her power was to create forests, but back then, you could choose your tribe, so she was a Flame Thrower. Her animal was a cat.” Lup smiled at me. “Like you.” She then realized she was off topic, so she continued. “Anyway, she made this BIG forest, but only us Flame Throwers can see it and go in it. That’s kinda it about the forest.” Lup suddenly turned all serious. “But there’s something about you I wanna talk about.” I was surprised. Talk about ME?

“What?” I shrugged, trying to act casual.

“You see, Cake died in the 1st Element War, and she never came back. The last words she said before she died were ‘My distant kin will come and rage a battle greater then this, burning many lives in the process, but only they can save the lives they turned to ashes.’ Since Cake was a cat, we knew her distant kin had to be one too. There’s normally one cat per 50 years, but it’s only been six years, and we have three cats. First Hazel, who doesn’t have enough fire in her power to burn a life, let alone many, then Flame, who doesn’t even HAVE any fire in his power, and then you… You might be the cat in Cake’s prophecy. I just wish it coulda been me. But no WAY. I don’t even HAVE powers yet.” Lup grabbed a stick and threw it, and it crumbled into millions of little pieces. She didn’t even use any force! She blushed. “I… Take that back.”

“Nice power.” I smiled. “I… Should get back to camp now. You can stay here.” I climbed out from under the rock and walked back to camp. But the entire way back, I couldn’t help wondering… If I really was the distant kin of Cake that was in the prophecy?

CHAPTER 4- ICY`S POV
Earlier today, Fawny, the new girl, arrived, and joined the Flame Throwers. About 15 to 30 minutes ago, Hazel came and gave her a tour of our camp. She declined my offer to do it, and left me alone. Everybody seemed a bit… worried about Fawny, so I decided to call a meeting.

“All people who are one with the Element of Earth, gather at the Dust Rock.” Everybody gathered at the Dust Rock, no surprise. Sometimes I wondered why they bothered listening to me. Well, I was their leader, but still. “I noticed that we all have become stressed out by Fawny, and I don’t understand why.” Fawn Spots immediately shouted out

“she’S THE ONE IN THE PROPHECY MOM”

“doN’T CALL ME MOOOOOOM” I yelled, blushing. whY DOES EVERYBODY ALWAYS CALL ME MOM I’M NOT A MOM. I heard arguments from my Tribemates and felt a bit bad, so I called off the meeting. But I couldn’t help but keep thinking about what Fawn said. Was Fawny REALLY the one in the prophecy? I didn’t know, and there was no way I could find out.

 

Coincidentally, tonight was the night we gathered at the Hill Of Unity to share news. I led my ‘subjects’ to the Hill, and as soon as we reached there, I ran to Fawny, who was talking with Strem, her cheeks bright red. I tapped her on the shoulder gently, and she turned her head toward me.

“Hiiiiiiii” she blushed, and I pulled her away.

“Do… do you know about the Prophecy?” I asked her. Fawny nodded and asked me why I wanted to know. “Well… I think you’re the one in it.” Fawny nodded, a bit disturbed.

“Ooooooooookaaaaaaaaaaaay.” And she walked back to Strem. I sighed and climbed up the hill to share my news. I let Blue go first, since I was nice.

“As you can see, we have received Fawny in our tribe. Nothing else exciting has really happened here. We have had good food, and yeah, that’s it.” Blue’s mind was obviously on OUAT. She nodded to Lillianna, who took over.

“Sky has gone missing for a bit, but do not fear, I am sure she will come back. We have no other news.” Next, it was Jaylinn’s turn, but she had nothing to say at ALL. I looked around.

“Uh, Fallen is almost done her training, and we have lots of food. We have all spoken, so I believe we can depart.” And we all walked off. I was wary of Fawny, but I wish I wasn’t. How could I not be, though, when she could possibly BURN LIVES?!?!?!

CHAPTER 5- FAWNY`S POV
We got back from the Hill of Unity almost right away, and everybody headed to bed but me. I started wandering around the shore. Maybe something washed up? And I was right. On the shore I found a wireless keyboard, so I picked it up and turned it on. I thought of what to play, and remembered a childhood experience. Once, somebody left a car in the alleyway I was living in, and the radio still worked. So once, I turned the radio on, and I heard a song I really liked. The next day, I came back, and the car radio was gone. I noticed how much that song fit me, and I decided to sing it. I started playing the instrumental before the lyrics. And then I started singing.

“I ponder of something great.” I thought while singing this line. Was this the great thing I was pondering of? I kept going.

“My lungs will fill, and then deflate.” I breathed after this line. I don’t know why, but I guess it fit. “They fill with fire, exhale desire.” I liked this line especially, since my fire powers, and my desire for friends were really important.

“I know it’s dire, my time today.”  I never understood this line, but I was starting to understand it more.

“I have these thoughts so often I ought to replace that slot with what I just bought.” I found this statement didn’t fit me as much, since I’ve never bought anything in my life, but I kept singing.

“‘Cause somebody stole my car radio, and now I just sit in silence.” I felt this lyric fit me a lot. I did this all the time after the radio was gone, until the old broken-down car disappeared. I was quiet for a second, and then continued.

“Sometimes quiet is violent.” I nodded. Quiet hurts, no matter what circumstance it is in.

“I find it hard to hide it.” I find it hard to hide everything, so I connected to this.

“My pride is no longer inside.” I remembered the times when I was little, and had so much pride. It’s gone now.

“It’s on my sleeve, my skin will scream.” A quick look at my sleeve surprised me. This song really was believable.

“Reminding me of who I killed inside my dream.” Thinking of the dreams I had, in which I killed so many people without even knowing, I shuddered.

“I hate this car that I’m driving, there’s no hiding for me.” I actually remember saying this, around 7 years old, in that broken down car.

“I’m forced to deal with what I feel.” My feeling were crazy. I’ve always hated dealing with them.

“There is no distraction to mask what is real.” This song was right. There really isn’t.

“I can pull the steering wheel.” I remember halfheartedly pulling on the steering wheel. I was more philosophical as a kid then I needed to be.

“I have these thoughts so often I ought to replace that slot with what I just bought, ‘cause somebody stole my car radio, and now I just sit in silence.” I repeated these lines, and played the little instrumental break. Then I kept singing.

“I ponder of something terrifying,” Everything in the real world is terrifying. No wonder.

“But this time, there’s no sound to hide behind.” I always felt that I hid behind a wall of sound, never coming out.

“I find over the course of our human existence that one thing consists of consistence.” I remember that one thing, so I kept going.

“And it’s that we’re all battling fear.” My heart started to beat a little faster, because I was worried. This was true.

“Oh dear, I don’t know if we know why we’re here.” I shrugged. Nobody does, really.

“Oh my, too deep, please stop thinking.” I tried to do that all the time. It never worked.

“I liked it better when my car had sound.” Sound was always important to me. As I said before, silence hurts.

“There are things we can do, but from the things that work, there are only two.” I’d almost forgotten what the two things were, but I remembered all the lyrics to this song, so I hadn’t quite.

“And from the two that we choose to do,” I didn’t really think of anything during this lyric, I just kept singing.

“Peace will win, and fear will lose.” I wished this was true. But in reality, fear would probably win.

“It is faith, and there’s sleep.” I hate sleep. It’s hard. So I’d probably choose faith.

“We need to pick one please, because,” As I said, faith. I’d definitely choose faith.

“Faith is to be awake, and to be awake is for us to think, and for us to think is to be alive.” On second thought.. Living was hard too.

“And I will try with every rhyme,” I liked rhyming. It sometimes annoyed people who annoyed me.

“To come across like I am dying,” I thought that I should die all the time. Maybe this song rubbed off on me.

“To let you know you need to try to think.” I never try to think… It just happens. But I guess trying was good too.

“I have these thoughts so often I ought to replace that slot with what I once bought, ‘cause somebody stole my car radio, and now I just sit in silence.” I repeated these again, and played a little instrumental. Weirdly, I started to feel tears streaming down my face. The next part was usually the most fun part to sing but..

“And now I just sit in silence…” I felt my tears slowly fall onto the keys, and I noticed I was screaming this line.

“And now I just sit in silence…” I kept singing. I didn’t care how loud I was, I needed to let my feelings out.

“And now I just sit…” I cried harder.

“And now I just sit in silence…”  I kept singing and crying, not noticing Swan behind me.

“And now I just sit in silence…” I was surprised how good I was still playing the keyboard.

“And now I just sit in silence…” I swallowed my tears, since I knew the song was almost over.

“And now I just sit…” There was a music break after this lyric, so I breathed a little

“I ponder of something great, my lungs will fill and then deflate. They fill with fire, exhale desire, I know it’s dire, my time today.” I repeated the first lyrics of the song.

“I have these thoughts so often I ought to replace that slot with what I once bought. ‘Cause somebody stole my car radio..” Once more, I repeated the lyrics, and the tears came out again as I finished the song by singing

“And now I just sit in silence.”

I heard a voice behind me say

“Nice song.” I turned and it was Swan. I blushed, threw the keyboard in the ocean and ran away. I couldn’t let anybody see me like this.

CHAPTER 6- SORZI`S POV
I’m bummed. Darn Livri made it so I couldn't go to the Hill of Unity tonight. Now all I could do was sleep, while I still could. And so I did, and I dreamed. I dreamed of Fawny, for some strange reason. She was burning down all the camps. More of a nightmare than a dream, if you ask me. Livri woke me up by cawing at me. Livri is a bit of a bum. Only a bit. Except only a lot. Then I remembered something. I woke up Rosa by shaking her.

“Whatttttt” she groaned.

“Fawny's prolly gonna be the new Healer of the Flame Throwers.” I told her. Rosa’s face filled with dread.

“B-but she’s the one in the prophecy!” The girl fretted. I felt a bit bad for the half cuttlefish. “She'll kill us all!” I shook my head, trying hard not to believe her.

“Nonsense.” I smiled, since I was acting older than Rosa, when in reality, I don't even remember her age, but I THINK she’s older than me? “She'll be fine!” And then, the weirdest thing happened. Rosa stood up..

And slapped me in the face.

“What do you MEAN ‘She’ll be fine’?” She screeched in a mocking tone. “She will EXTERMINATE THE TRIBES! HOW IS THIS FINE?” GreGray waddled? Up to me and bit my toe. Ouch. I yowled in pure pain and ran out of the den. Jeez. I flopped facedown on the training Pad and fell back asleep.

CHAPTER 7- FLAME`S POV
I picked at my food and threw it in the fire. Eh. I wasn’t hungry. It was SUPER late at night, but I didn’t care. I hate sleeping anyway. As the sun began to rise, I sighed. I didn’t get any sleep. That was a good thing. For me, at least. I look around camp. To my surprise, Fawny hadn’t slept either.

“Why didn’t you sleep?” I asked her. Of course I knew what she was going to say back, and I have no idea why I asked her that.

“Why didn’t YOU sleep?” Fawny retorted. I facepalmed.

“Because I hate sleep.” I mumbled. Fawny sat down beside me.

“You do?” She clarified. I nodded, and she said “Same.”

“We’ve got a lot in common already.” I muttered, and Fawny nodded this time. “Do you play Overwatch?” Fawny looked at me like I was a crazy person.

“Da hek is Overwatch?” she asked, wearing a confused expression. I huffed.

“Well, do you like Of Monsters and Men?” I asked her. They were an amazing band and I lOvEd ThEm. Fawny shrugged.

“I’ve heard two of their songs. They’re good, I guess.” I sighed again. In a final desperate try, I breathed.

“How about Undertale?” Fawny’s eyes lit up.

“yOu LiKe UnDeRtAlE tOo?” She screeched, and I nodded again. Fawny screamed in delight, and then slapped her hand over her mouth. She blushed. “Sorry.” she muttered quietly. I smiled.

“Is kay.” But then, Kinks burst into our camp.

“I’M 2ND IN COMMANNNNNNDDDDDDDDDD!!!” She screeched.

“Er… what about Sky?” Kinks shrugged, and left. I looked around, a bit disturbed. Then I turned back to Fawny, but didn’t have a chance to say a word to her, as a brunette sat down in between us. I grinned. Hazel!

“Heyyyyyyyyyyy” Hazel flashed finger-guns at us both. Both Fawny and I flashed them back. “Wuzzup?” She asked. Fawny shrugged.

“Nothing really.” Hazel smiled.

“‘Kay.” She grinned. Then Darkpaw came over. Darkpaw wasn’t always… the nicest to the new ones. It took her a while to get used to them.

“Hey, stop hanging out with the newbie, Hazel and Flame.” Darkpaw mocked us. “You’re too cool for her. Leave her alone, she doesn’t deserve any friends anyway.” Hazel was getting REALLY mad. So was I. I was just getting ready to turn Darkpaw’s powers off, and Hazel was ready to set her pants on fire, when Fawny burned the bench we were sitting on into pure ashes.

“Don’t. Talk. About. Me. Like. That.” She growled, fire burning from her hands which were facing Darkpaw. Darkpaw seemed intimidated, and we all gave a silent signal to each other and walked away.