The Demons of Shadow Moon

Part 10 - Close Friends

Luna x Akira animatic!! ⬆️ you've read this far, treat yourself to a video ;)

"Sooooo, what do you guys wanna do now?" Atomu asked as they gathered in the living room, which had sofas, a table, and a stunning window view.

The stars from the night sky lit their conversion.

"Sleep," Echo grumbled, lying on the sofa, head on Luna's lap, facing away from everyone.

Leo was already abiding by that, lying asleep on the sofa next to them.

"Well, this was supposed to be our safe place. A place to form a family and grow strong! So that... others don't have to suffer. You guys know magic... so... I'm sure you know how dangerous it is. We can't let others misuse it! We can't keep losing things important to us..." Luna declared as Echo forced herself to sit up.

"... Hm. That's easier said than done, kid," Aki muttered, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall.

"I know that!!" Luna suddenly shouted.

"Calm down, Luna..." Echo put her hand on her shoulder to snap her out of her sudden overflow of emotion.

"... we want to become strong... so we can protect people," Yurio explained with little enthusiasm.

"Oh!! Then we should go adventure training!! It would help us all get to know each other too! We can explore the island together and uncover all its mysteries!" Atomu suggested in excitement.

"Ah! Yeah, I think that'd be fun!" Luna's expression soon brightened.

"We could use the distraction..." Echo mumbled.

"I think it'd be perfect! We need to explore this world to spread our love and kindness!! It will be really fun! Don't you think, Yurio?" Luna agreed with a gleam of motivation that the rest were lacking.

"... I don't really care what we do," he muttered.

"Don't we need to make money to eat and stuff? We've been starving for the last few weeks! Haha!" Atomu smiled.

"Then maybe you should have got a job heating people's fireplaces!" Echo replied coldly.

"Nu-uh! Aki doesn't do 'jobs'," Aki claimed.

"I do bl-"

"Galaxy!" Echo interrupted, knowing what she was about to say.

"OH! Yurio's mom used to make a living creating ice sculptures for her village! We can just get Yurio to do that!" Galaxy suggested.

"Galaxy...!" Luna grumbled to her careless mention of Yurika.

"Use our powers for money?! That sounds so easy!" Atomu said with a great big smile on his face.

"Well, it won't be. We need to gain the trust of the people around us if we do that. Not to mention the cost of backfiring. We shouldn't become too reckless, exposing our powers to everyone. Even Yurika was sensible enough to hide her magic. But even then, there were horrible rumours of her... people saying she was evil... a demon. A traitor... Cold Stone thought anyone with magical powers was fated to bring corruption," Echo explained.

Yurio's eyes widened.

"How taboo. Our village is pretty accepting of magic. Not that many can even use it," Aki mentioned.

"Well, they had reason to be sceptical. We're not heroes; the world isn't ready for that. The demons left the Golden Age for a reason," Echo told them.