~Qibli~

Qibli loved life. Darkstalker was listening to him and well, he had just met the love of his life! Well, he wasn't sure Moon thought of him the same way but he doubted it. How could such a wonderful dragon like her love someone like him?! Would be what he thought before. 

But Darkstalker had said Moon would love him just because he was the heroic Darkstalker's friend. Qibli believed him to the bit. If anyone else told him that, he'd laugh it off but how could he dismiss Master Darkstalker's words? They were always right. After all, he was all-knowing and all-seeing.

"AUGH," A squeaky voice yelped. "Sorry, sorry, sorry." She bowed her head low, as if too afraid to even make eye-contact. 

Qibli quickly analyzed the dragonet. She looked a bit too young to be working in the palace and was a RainWing. A lazy RainWing. Darkstalker said he hated them. Why would there be one here? Regardless, he offered her a talon. "It's fine!" 

"Oh thank you--- WAIT, QIBLI?" She yelled, shocked. "TURTLE, IT'S QIBLI!" 

"Oh hi..?" He said awkwardly as a SeaWing ran in quickly. Although the RainWing looked horrifyingly worked to the bone, the SeaWing dragonet looked even worse. He had bloodshot eyes and a blood-thirsty expression. It quickly turned into a mix of shock and happiness though.

"Oh thank god you're fine!" Kinkajou chirped, suddenly lively. "I thought Darkstalker had killed you or something..." Qibli frowned. This RainWing clearly did not know how to make jokes. 

"No. He would never." Qibli growled, a bit too harshly. 

Turtle furrowed his brow. "Did he enchant you or something?" He said half-jokingly and half-serious. "You're speaking nonsense. Darkstalker would do a lot of things. He's like the villain of every scroll. That bastard." His eyes turned bitter and angry. "I'll kill him. I'll kill him." He muttered.

Qibli was greatly disturbed by the SeaWing's statement. He was ALSO greatly disturbed on why the two were treating him like they were ol' pals or something. But then again, judging from their expressions-- pale, sick, and revenge-stricken--- it was pretty clear they were insane. 

The SandWing felt kinda bad though so he decided to play along. After all, what harm could this be? And it just felt right. Like an event that was planned in a writer's book. "Haha.. no, Mas- Darkstalker's been pretty nice to me." He blurted out with an awkward smile.

"Oh?" Kinkajou pouted. "Well, not for me. He's sending me on unnecessary errands every damn minute. I never get breaks. Even when I'm done for the day, I'm squeezed into some circus entirely made for Darkstalker's entertainment at night and I sleep in a decorative tree as his "artwork" just like Glory." 

"And I do Darkstalker's dirty work. If he needs someone assassinated, he uses my magic. He wants to shield his actual face from the publicity by using me, the small, innocent-looking dragonet who's actually a monster." Turtle muttered. "It's affecting me inside and out. People throw stones at me everywhere I go, send death threats and chant for me to be be-headed."

"It's not worse than Winter though," Kinkajou said sympathetically. 

"Wait, Winter?" Qibli demanded. The dragon that Moonwatcher kept on visiting? 

"Yeah, he's stuck in jail. Poor guy. Even we get decent food, but him . . . he's not so lucky. I heard he's getting played by Darkstalker every day." Turtle replied. 

So these lunatics were friends with that Winter guy. And Moon was also friends with this Winter. He frowned. Why do these dragons love him so much? Just who is this guy? He's taking everything I should have away from me. Darkstalker says Moon is mine! Why is he stealing her?  A good-for-nothing prisoner like him should just rot forever! His toxic thoughts were booming against his head yet something felt so wrong.

It felt like these thoughts were him reading off a script. Like, it wasn't actually his emotions and how he felt. Suddenly, he saw Moonwatcher whisk by the hallways a few moments after Turtle and Kinkajou had left hurriedly at Darkstalker's annoyed call.

~Moon~ (A/N: which soon turns into just 3rd person view..)

She grinned from ear to ear. She had just come back from the fourth meeting with Winter. She did not know why she loved talking with him so much, but it was simply like breathing. She felt as if she did not visit him often she would die- not actually, but mentally with boredom.

The weeks Moonwatcher spent with Darkstalker were so boring. He kept getting her to try out weird things like moon bathing with him or counting the stars. (A/N: I really need to pause here. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A FATHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP. Also, in reality, Darkstalker had only forgave Moon because she reminded him of Eclipse so much, he almost got the illusion that Moon is Eclipse.) 

Every single second, she couldn't wait for the completely dark NightWing- Nightshade, to come sneaking into her absurdly humongous room in the middle of the day and notify her about Winter's new meeting arrangement. She had no idea, why she liked someone who killed her and will still possibly kill her in the future, but she did. And nothing was stopping her from meeting him.

Nothing.

Three small knocks startled Moon out of her thoughts of boredom. She smiled hugely, and said softly, "Come in!" But it wasn't the black dragon she expected. In fact, it was someone the opposite of the dragon's scales. 

It was Qibli.

"Hey," Moon said, a little disappointingly. 

Qibli noticed it right away. "I'm sorry, is this a bad time? Should I come another time? I- I just wanted to ask you something." He stammered, glancing at the door as if he was hoping he could just teleport out by looking at it.

The beautiful NightWing shook her head. "No," She said, forcing a fake smile to appear on her face. "I was just expecting someone else. I was just pretty shocked. Anyways, what did you want to talk about, Qibli?"

He smiled back, "Well, for one thing, I met Turtle and Kinkajou today, while I was roaming the halls." Qibli started, flicking his tail around with slight impatience, as if he was wishing to talk about something else, but couldn't just yet.

Moon went from fake smiles to full beaming. She jumped around with happiness, but quickly blushed with embarrassment, and perched on her soft couch elegantly. "Sorry, I'm just so glad they're okay." She said softly, digging her claws into the fine fabric shyly. "I've been trying to look for Kinkajou, Turtle, and Foeslayer for so long, but I had no luck finding them." 

Qibli narrowed his eyes, and looked straight at her with a serious expression, sending shivers down Moon's spine. "What about Winter?" He suddenly asked in a curious yet demanding voice.

Moon froze and then fake-laughed very terribly. "What are you talking about? Winter's been taken as prisoner, don't you remember?" She asked, rubbing her wings anxiously. He hadn't known about the meetings she had with Winter, did he? "There's no way I was looking for him! He- he was trying to kill me remember?"

She was expecting Qibli to immediately shout about how she was lying, but he just beamed at her brightly. "Of course not! I was just curious because Kinkajou and Turtle seemed to sympathize with Winter, instead of hating him. I knew you were going to be clever. I knew you were going to be different than them."

Moon was a little taken aback by Qibli's weird statement. Did he mean that she was different than Kinkajou and Turtle? As in being more clever . . . or something else?

Another knock echoed from the door. Her whole face lit up happily again. She quickly dashed to the door, not even realizing Qibli was there for an entire minute and slammed it open to see the dragon she wanted to see. "Hi, Moonwatcher," Nightshade said, grinning from ear to ear. 

He quickly stopped, his face suddenly pale. "Why is that SandWing here?" Nightshade demanded through gritted teeth. "You know I only deliver your messages 'cause I love romance and being a prison guard is as boring as history. I'm not trying to lose my job- or otherwise, MY HEAD!" 

Moonwatcher quickly let out a nervous laugh, and chuckled, "Hey, Qibli. Can we talk another time? I'm really tired right now." She said, faking a yawn.

The SandWing raised his eyebrows with suspicion, but he nodded politely and left, leaving Moon and Nightshade alone. 

Moon smiled sincerely for once, and quickly patted the seat beside her, gesturing Nightshade to sit down next to her. "Is Winter doing alright?" She asked immediately. Before Nightshade could even answer the question, she interrupted, "And, when is our next meeting? I'm really in need of company right now."

Nightshade sighed dramatically and muttered, "youngsters and their love. Sometimes I'm glad I'm single." (A/N: . . . Don't jinx it Nighty.)

"That IceWing wants to meet with you right now," He said, fiddling with the keys of the prison cells. It dropped and make a loud noise, but Nightshade quickly scooped it up before it could last any longer. 

Moon looked as if she was practically going to squeal with excitement. She grinned from ear to ear and jumped up from her couch immediately. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" She shouted, gripping Nightshade's hand tightly, and this time, instead of him leading Moon towards the cells, she led him. 

They traveled quietly, and slid into the shadows most of the time, to make sure no one was following them. It seemed no one was. After all, they were very stealthy with their meetings. . . 

But the dragon trailed after the two NightWings, almost as stealthy as them. It was muscle memory. Even if he didn't exactly remember doing it himself, his body did. He glided swiftly through pillars and stones that stuck out from the walls. His eyes looked around everywhere to make sure no one saw him sneaking after the dragons, and of course, to make sure Moon and Nightshade didn't see him as well.

Once they had arrived at the prisons, Moon quickly dashed off to the last cell, leaving Nightshade to trail after her. 

"Winter!" Moon cried as soon as she saw him. 

The two stared deep into eyes of each other and smiled from ear to ear. "I'm so glad to see you, Moonwatcher." He whispered, gently brushing his wings with hers, although it became sorta awkward when he tried to get his wings back in the cell, as they got stuck in between the bars.

Moon laughed, her eyes crinkling adorably as she did. "I'm so glad to see you too, Winter," She whispered, nudging him. Her expression brightened even more as she explained how Qibli had seen Kinkajou and Turtle, and how they were all right. 

Winter pretended to crinkle his snout in displeasure. "Qibli?" He snorted with fake disgust. "Hey, I was planning to be the superheroic guy. Too bad he got the role first. So unfair. I'm an IceWing prince! Royalty! Queen Snowfall's my cousin!" He tapped his chin thoughtfully, and smiled again, "Is the role for your closest friend signed out?"

The NightWing chuckled again. "I'm afraid that one is signed up as well," She said, smiling. "Unless you want to fight an extremely red Kinkajou, I say, stay as my lovely buddy." 

Winter laughed and reached through the bars. He wanted desperately to feel the cold touch of Moon's hand. He wanted to go star-gazing with her. He would never admit it, but he even missed Kinkajou's annoying voice, Turtle's fidgeting, and Qibli's "hilarious" puns. 

Moon squeezed Winter's hand through the bars and rested her forehead on the gate that was keeping them from ever being reunited. "I promise you, Winter." She whispered gently, only loud enough for Winter to hear. "I wish more than anything to be able to hug you as well. I promise, I'll find a way to get us all out of Darkstalker's grasp... I'll find a way," she repeated, again and again in her mind. 

Winter sighed sadly, and forced a small smile, "Don't worry. I believe you." He said.

A loud sound of talon steps echoed through the hallways. It was Nightshade. "Hate to ruin your forbidden romance and everything, but I'm off duty, now. And- no, Moonwatcher, I am not sacrificing my lunchtime for your cheesy love story." He quickly snapped, when Moon opened her mouth to protest.

Winter rolled his eyes dramatically but nudged Moon away from him. "Don't worry, we'll meet again," Winter whispered, biting his tongue so he wouldn't shout for her to come back. 

Once Moon left, Winter's cheerful and happy expression quickly turned into a blank face and a cold snarl, "What are you looking at, chubby NightWing?" He demanded, glaring at Nightshade. 

"Aw, shucks, Snowy." He responded, waving his talons as he left for lunch. "Gosh, I don't get paid enough for this." He mumbled, but his amused smile never left his face.

Winter sighed with depression, now that he was the only one alone. 

But in reality, he wasn't. Qibli- who had been hiding behind a boulder that had been sticking out of the wall- gritted his teeth, and tears of anger blurred his vision. He didn't know why he was so angry, but he felt as if he was getting stabbed a hundred times in the same place. His heart. It ached so much. 

Winter... Qibli thought with rage. He had loved Moon so much, that it hurt to see them so close together. He had originally thought they were just friends, but after seeing their interactions with each other, it was clear. His observant personality told him they were definitely more than just friends- perhaps they both had not realized, but he knew. 

Qibli's small bud of hate for him before bloomed into a small flower. He knew it was only going to grow, but he was determined to eliminate it . . . not by giving up Moonwatcher of course- that would make him a loser. And Darkstalker had always told him losers weren't tolerated. He would fight Winter claw to claw for Moon. 

He would prove that he was more worthy to Moon than a prisoner. He was Darkstalker's sidekick! He had animus magic! He was important when Winter was nothing but a hostage to Darkstalker! And when he did. That flower would be crushed. He would never have to feel that stinging emotion of heartbreak again. 

He was a winner.