Wings of fire - qinter

Chapter 6

The next Morning, Qibli's brain felt like it was swimming through a pit of stones. 

Whenever he tried to remember what had happened last night, it felt like pushing through a wall of rock.

 At first, he woke to a gentle shaking and somebody talking to him, it was strangely comforting, it felt like reciving the love his mother had never given to him. 

He let himself be comfortable, just for a second, until he realised that he was at school, and the person shaking him was Winter.

 But the fact that it was Winter and not the mother he never had didn't make it seem any worse, still, he Knew he had to get up. He sat up and faced Winter's shiny presence, " hey winter" he smiled in what he hoped was a cheerful voice. He then tried to stretch, only to be met by a throbbing all over his body, It was like he had fifty bruises.

Qibli was suddenly aware that Winter was watching him, it would have felt nice if the back of Qibli's head wasn't hurting so bad. He walked out of the cave to stop the moment getting even more awkward.

When Qibli entered the prey center, he was met by weird glances from everyone. 

They ranged from discreet to openly goggling. Qibli frowned, WHY exactly was he being stared at? Did he have a peice of rock stuck to his forehead? He checked just to be sure.

When he made it to his usual table he was met by Kinkajou, whith a REALLY big bruise on her ribcage, it was white in scale colour but you could definently see the blues and purples in there. 

Qibli winced and was about to ask what had happend when Kinkajou suddenly bounded over to him and shouted. "WOW qibli! you have the biggest bruise I have ever seen right on your forehead!", she whirled behind him and excaimed, " and the one on the back of your head is probaby bigger than an EGG!" Ah, he thought, grimly in his head, that explains why everybody was staring at me. "OH! and THREE MOONS!!! that one on your ribcage is probably bigger than a moon!" Qibli let out an exasperated sigh, grabbed five fried scorpions from the table and dragged Kinkajou by the ear to a secluded cave.

"HEY! ow! ow! ow!" Kinkajou struggled. He finally let her go and she sat sulkily In the darkest corner, turning her scales midnight blue. Qibli wasted no time, "Kinkajou", he glanced at the cave opening to see that nobody was there, "Kinkajou, look here, those bruises? I actually don't remember getting them" Kinkajou shot him a confused look but motioned for him to keep going. 

" Well" He said, choosing his words carefully, " Kinkajou, you might not have noticed but YOU actually have a pretty big bruise on your ribcage right now" Kinkajou Immediately looked and jumped back whith a startled gasp, " alright Qibli, got that" she whispered. 

Then she looked meaningfully at Qibli, he could see she was starting to click things together in her head.

"So", she comprehended slowly, " you think our injuries are related?" "Yes", replied Qibli eagerly, he needed to get to the point quickly. "We need to get to the bottom of this"

Kinkajou nodded. "I'll talk to Moon after class", then, she paused, frowning, "wait, that didn't feel right". Qibli felt it too, asking Moon seemed wrong somehow, I'll figure it out during class, We've got maths.

Qibli bid farewell to Kinkajou and bolted to class, Kinkajou was taking extracurricular activites, otherwise Qibli would have loved to keep theorising with her.

Qibli burst Into the classroom absolutely out of breath as the final gong sounded. "Oh hello," said Webs sarcastically, "so glad you could make it". Qibli mentally made a note to throw a frog into Webs' bed the first chance he got, he obviouly couldn't make a snarky remark back so he muttered an apology and plonked himself on the last remaining seat.

Qibli was about to tune out and try harder to remember what had happened the night before when he realised who he was sitting next to. Winter, looking shiny and immaculate, he was still avoiding Qibli but not as much as yesterday, he also looked a bit concerned for Qibli. Qibli flashed a brief smile at Winter before facing the front to pretend to be listening, he could swear Winter had blushed.

Qibli smirked inside his head, ha! prince frosty-face can't resist me even when he's cross. But then again, he could just be embarassed to see me, Qibli's mood sank down again.

He was about to start a really good moping before he felt a strike of pain flash inside his head. Arrg, he thought, did I just get hit in the head again?  

 Then he realised that nobody in here was close enough to club him over the head. Must be a head-ache from all my other head injuries, he thought, It'll die down in a bit.

However, Qibli was soon proven wrong, the pain didn't die away, it got worse. At one point Qibli had to fight to stop himself from gasping in pain. The pain kept coming, red-hot hammers pounding his head.

Soon he wasn't able to stop himself gasping and shaking. His breaths burned the moment they touched his lungs, his head was boiling hot and heavier than a bag of stones. His heart rate was accelerated and he was shaking with fever and cold sweat.

Qibli thought he might faint until a cold talon touched him on the soulder and eased the pain a little. "Hey", whispered Winter, looking genuinely concerned, " are you okay?" Qibli made a brave attempt at a smile, then collapsed onto the floor as the pain racked him harder.

Webs looked up, "no speaking in class boys-", he cut himself off arubtly as he spotted Qibli, apparently he looked as bad as he felt. Half the class stood up to see what was happening, Qibli thought he saw turtle trying to politely force his way to the front of the crowd.

"N-no", Qibli rasped, desperately trying to force some cool air into his lungs.

Then It clicked, he could suddenly remember. He remembered everything that happened last night, the thorns, terrified kinkajou, Moon bound and bleeding. He remembered the hungry green glow that had been in Moon's eyes the last couple of days. A strange white shape smashing him on the head. Wait. MOON! kinkajou is going to talk to moon! she could get hurt!

He struggled to get upright as Webs frantically sent a messenger to bring clay and sunny. He could see Winter, gazing at him with troubled blue eyes. "K-kinkajou", he rasped, the words scraped his throat and crushing his brain, "t-tell kinkajou, don't talk t-to Moon, p-p-please" The words struggled to get out at the end, he felt like he was choking on air.

"T-tell kinkajou", he wheezed whith the last of his strength, the room started spinning and he fell unconcious. Everything was pulsing dull red pain and black stars.

Then he couldn't feel anymore.

Black.

A/N: Finally finished! 1179 words! (me also listening to lofi while writing, was originally listening to bouncing seals)