Moon

Smokescreen eventually went back to power down, but I still couldnt fall back asleep.

I kept thinking about the corridors of the Academy.

Why did I see them? Why was I walking through them?

I felt it at the back of my mind, just barely out of reach.

I sit on the couch, feeling the vision become more clear as I felt my feet on those blue carpets.

I was in the black room again, and Mother Moon was on her knees, head dropped.

I run over to her, lifting her head up with my fingers.

She wrapped her arms around me, engulfing me in a soft hug.

I return the hug. "What is the matter?"

"I let you down. I should have shown, after all the work you have put through. But I couldn't."

The ceremony. Renew.

"Why not?"

Her lips tightened. "I couldnt handle it. I would perish even if I tried leaving this place." She gestured to the room around her.

"You're trapped here?"

She nodded, grimacing. "All thanks to my sister."

"How do I get you out?" Her citizens need her back. We all do.

She shakes her head. "You can't. Take my place."

I back away.

I couldnt handle that much responsibility.

I can't be the next Mother Moon.

A great honor, yes, but I wouldn't just crack, I would turn to dust.

"Mother Moon, I can't. I'll crack under the pressure. I can't live up to your name."

She smiles sweetly. "I knew you earned them."

I was confused.

"Earned what?"

She smiles sadly. "All the years I stole from you."

She shifts a little as if she was hurting, but she still stands with more grace than a dancer.

She spreads her wings and hands all the way out, her feet leaving the ground, eyes glowing a comforting violet.

Her face aged, wrinkles around her eyes forming.

"Make me proud."

I remember.

All my years of training.

Learning spells.

Creating potions.

Forging my own armor for a year, now just sitting and collecting dust in a compartment near the Stone Hall.

Learning all the climates and elements of the farthest solar systems, mastering them until perfection.

I remember it all.

I wake up back on the couch, and I fell better.

Smarter.

Stronger.

Wiser.

I know who I am.

But I don't remember who I was. That part was the fuzziest of all.

I vaguely remember my birth mother.

Her brown amber eyes are all I can see clearly.

I dont remember her face, her lips, her voice.

I dont remember anyone else in my family.

Maybe Mother Moon is letting me regain my memories as time goes on.

Nightshade sniffs me and snorts louder than usual, continuing to sniff.

Apparently my scent changed.

My clothes and everything else was the same, except I had a leather belt with custom hand-stitched sleeves for my daggers.

I fell the soft black leather. I made this my first year at the Academy.

That's where I met Ruby Blood. I graduated with him.

I got him and his wife together.

I allowed them to have a child.

I go down to the main floor and feel my hands buzz.

Great.

Power surge.

It happens a few times a year, where power builds up in our bodies as a natural flushing system, getting rid of any sort of virus.

Kind of like a human fever. But we don't get sick.

It serves as making you more powerful for a month or so.

Ratchet came in, eyes still tired.

"Hello." I say.

He grumbled in response. Not much of a morning person.

"What are you doing up so early?" He asked, turning on the console.

"Couldnt sleep."

Ratchet's face turned understanding. "Oh. How is Anti and his mother?"

I flutter up to the console, making it easier to talk to Ratchet without waking anyone else up.

"I wouldn't know. I left when they carted Anti off to the E.R."

He nods, sighing.

"You okay?" I ask, watching his eyes droop a small bit.

He nods. He's lying.

I tap my foot impatiently. "You know I can tell if you're lying, right?"

He looks at me, surprised.

I get a buzz in my ear.

Pressing my finger to my earpiece, a voice spoke: "Galaxy is in critical condition. Come to the hospital immediately." The fuzz cut out.

I opened a portal on the floor and dived into it.

I tumble through the portal on the front lawn of the hospital, bursting through the doors and running to Galaxy's room as fast as my feet would allow.

I rip open the curtains, my lungs too worried to breath.

I counted five doctors and two nurses crowding her, Cosmic holding her hand.

One of the doctors notices me, taking my shoulder and walking me out of the room.

"How is she doing?"

His brown eyes look pained.

"She'll live, but we had to take out her voicebox. The infection destroyed it beyond healing."

I feel like crying.

I can't imagine Galaxy without her voice.

Who'll sing Anti lullabies?

Who'll tell me jokes when her and I go shopping?

Who'll tell me to keep going?

She was the one who did all those things.

Now, all the words that she wanted to be out in the world were silenced in the worst way possible.

"I...." I collapse on my knees, sobbing.

What else was there to do?

Nothing, thats what.

Who will tell Anti what happened to his mother?

I feel the doctor beside me, on his knee, comforting me.

I didn't feel the comfort.

I would rather give up my own voice to help her speak again.

That's just what I need. A vocal transplant.

No. Galaxy would never let me.

I wanted to disobey her, to do it anyway.

But she would never forgive me. I could never live with that.

"Come now." The doctor said, his voice stern. "Don't be that way. Do you want to see her?" His voice turned gentle.

I nod, sniffling.

He lifts me by my arms, his white scrubs newly washed.

We walk in, and Cosmic's knuckles were white from gripping Galaxy's hand to hard.

His eyes were puffy and red from crying.

His son was in critical cindition, and now he'll never get to hear his wife's voice.

He got up, hugging me.

I wrap my wings around him, squeezing him tightly.

He needed someone to hold.

He gripped me back, crying into my shoulder.

When he let go, the nurses and doctors left, giving us time alone.

Galaxy's neck had a patch on it, a small spot of blood in the middle.

Her eyes were exhausted, face whiter than Mother Moon's hands.

She was dressed in a blue hospital gown, clothes newly cleaned, folded neatly on a chair in the far corner.

White sheets were covering her legs.

Her hair was matted to her face, her breathing silent.

I had a feeling no sound would ever come from her lips again.

No one else in the Moon realm was mute or deaf, so no one needed the treatment for it.

She would be this way for the rest of her days.

And I can do nothing to help her.