Banished

Chapter One: Phantom's Return

A/N: So sorry for the absence!! School is taking up my life. Being a sophomore is hard. Also we haven't had electricity for awhile due to the storm. BECAUSE of the power outage, we don't have internet either. :/ Left to right: Lunadust, Phantom, and Lupa.

MERRY THANKSGIVING!!!

Chapter One: Snowfall

I was cast from the building and fell outside. My eyes closed and I felt something warm snuggle up against me.

On the Moon

Lupa finished his letter and breathed on it. The letter dissolved.

"Lupa."

Lupa turned around. "Lunadust? I thought you had left." His voice was tired and strained. He had probably been up for a couple of weeks without sleep.

"No, well, yes, but," Lunadust's eyes were frightened. "Lupa, I need help."

Lupa's tail went frigid. Something was wrong. "Lunadust, what's wrong?"

"It's Phantom. He's coming back."

"Phantom?! He hasn't been seen in eons! Not since Benacias became a Guardian. That was the last I've hear of him, at least. How ... how come he's come back?"

"Lupa, you know how I said that Nebulous has changed? That he's not who he was?"

"I thought you said Nebulae."

Lunadust shook her head and stomped one of her legs. "Nebulous is a formal version of his name. People will know him by Nebula, or even Nebulae."

Lupa nodded. "Gotcha. Moving on, though. Lady Luna, what's wrong?"

"Phantom appeared to me last night. He was a shadow - a veritable phantom. He came to me and muttered and whispered strange things. Terrible things. Lupa, he said we were going to die!"

Lupa took a step back. He lifted his right foreleg. "What ... what exactly did he say?"

Past and present and then the future

Past becomes future, future becomes past

Shadows, grey, and then the whitest light

All will merge into one.

A sinister voice spread around us. Lupa leaped in front of Lunadust. His eyes were visibly scared. "Phantom," he whispered.

The shadow closest to Lunadust rippled and took form. "Oh, yes. You're right, it is me. Do I get a welcome back into the world? No?" The shadow turned into a black wolf with red eyes. His eye color faded to a yellow. "Lupa, Lady Luna! It's been too long." The wolf walked forward jovially. He sauntered over to Lunadust and examined her with his eyes. "You're looking good."

Lupa growled.

"Oh, Lupa, did I step over your property?"

"She isn't my property," Lupa growled.

"Right, still in that denial. You both know who owns who, though, right?" Phantom circled around the two wolves and walked backward. He came to a stop and sat down. He curled his tail around his legs. "We have so much to catch up on!"

Lupa stopped growling, although he still stood in front of Luna. "We don't want any trouble, Phantom. We won't fight you. Not here, not now. Blood shan't be spilled on the moon."

Phantom sneered. "I see your weakness and cowardice, Lupa."

Lupa bristled. "Never ever mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance, or my kindness for weakness. Courage is about having the strength to go on when you don't have the strength to. I have all of these."

Lunadust came out from behind Lupa. "What changed you, Phantom? You used to be good."

"I was in the darkness, and so I became the darkness."

Lupa shook his head. "Phantom -"

"Look, you don't understand my choices. You don't understand my life. You may think my life is something you and your queen can control, but it ain't. This is my life. I can do what I want. i can kill myself if I so choose."

"Phantom, you can't kill yourself," Lunadust said, a tone of worry in her voice.

"Oh, but I can. I found out how. No one could stop me - not even if they wanted."

"But your life is so much more than that!"

"So, Lady Luna? I'd throw it away in an eternal moment if it meant eternity in life. Even if I was meant to be the darkness and mess with Nebulae's head, if I could live forever, I would choose this."

"What? You're the one messing with his head?!" Lunadust starting to get angry now. She was steadily growing larger than she was. She passed four feet at the shoulder.

"Now, now. There's no need to get mad over this," Phantom said hastily.

"But Phantom, you're ruining my son's life!"

Phantom let out a bark of laughter. "You adopted him? Ha! Like I'd believe that."

"But she did. And I adopted Iridescent."