Our Planet has Crashed [COMPLETE]

forty five - Wings of Fire

Qibli POV:

Qibli jerked awake. What time was it?

He peeled his eyes open slowly, just in time to see a green dragon—probably a LeafWing. The place was infested with them—come in and say something about Turtle and Anemone.

Well, whatever it was, it had Moon up and moving. The elves followed suit.

The LeafWing began to follow, but Qibli stuck out his tail and tripped him.

"Hey!" he cried.

"What happened?" Qibli asked at the same time.

"Oh," the LeafWing said. "Turtle and Anemone are back,"

"WHAT?" Qibli yelped. "WHEN?"

The LeafWing looked taken aback. "N-now?" he stammered.

"I have to go see them!" said Qibli. "How are they?"

"QIBLI," Jerboa thundered, and Qibli gave her a cheeky wave before dashing into the night. "QIBLI!" Jerboa yelled as she dropped the piece of fish she had been peacefully munching on to chase after to him.

Once outside, Qibli coughed. He still wasn't completely healed, and this exertion wouldn't be good for him. And yet . . . he had to see Turtle and Anemone. They had been missing almost five days now, and the rescue team had just left two days ago. This is fast progress, Qibli thought, but that didn't mean—

Qibli paused a moment to catch his breath—but only a moment. Jerboa was catching up. He sped towards the ocean, where a clump of shadows and panicked voices were.

"Moon?" Qibli yelled as he approached.

"Qibli?" she yelled back, squinting into the darkness.

"That's him," said the blonde elf.

"How can you tell?" asked Moon.

"We can train to see in the dark." she replied.

"What can't you do?" a voice that Qibli suspected was Cricket asked. He didn't have night-vision like some people.

"How are they?" a frantic voice asked. Could it be . . . Tsunami?

"Tsunami!" a weak voice said happily.

"Anemone!" the voice said.

"Is that you?" Moon and Anemone asked at the same time, except Anemone was asking Tsunami and Moon was asking Qibli.

"Yes!" Both replied at the same time.

"What are you doing here?" Moon scolded him as Tsunami hugged Anemone. "You're supposed to be resting!"

"Sorry," Qibli said unapologetically. "But Turtle and Anemone are back!" He retorted.

"So? We can take care of them!" Moon argued.

"Sounds like you and Keefe," an elf named Marella—or was it Maruca?—said to the blonde one.

"Who's Keefe?" A chorus of voices asked, including Qibli.

"Someone . . . else. Not here. Injured. Sort of." Sophie whispered the last part.

"'Someone . . . else,'" the same elf—Qibli was 99% sure it was Marella—quoted with the exact same tone. The blonde scowled in the moonlight.

A cough ended the awkward silence.

"Turtle!" Moon, Qibli and Tsunami all yelped happily.

"Why are you here, big sister?" asked Turtle.

"When I heard you and Anemone were gone, I came right away. I arrived tonight, when you guys were brought back." Tsunami said. "Are you alright? Should I call Queen Cor—Mother? Or what? And, HOW in THREE MOONS did you get caught? Aren't you guys better swimmers than me or something? You literally spent most of your time in the Deep Palace, right?"

"We are totally better swimmers than you," Turtle croaked, and Anemone laughed before getting caught in a fit of coughing.

"Bring them to my hut." Jerboa said, shooting a disdainful look at Qibli. He smiled sheepishly. "Along with this one," she sighed.

Moon tried to drag him back, but only managed with the elves' help (ARG, telekinesis), much to Qibli's disappointment.

Back inside, Moon gave Qibli her most stern face and gave him an hour long lecture on staying in the hut.

Qibli tuned her out.

Next to him, Cricket's makeshift palm leaf bed was occupied by Turtle, and Jerboa's bed had an unconscious Anemone in it. She assured them that she would be fine sleeping outside in the sand.

It was midnight by the time Qibli fell asleep that night, his dreams filled with what Queen Wasp must've done to Turtle and Anemone to make them so worn out and exhausted.

After all, they were animuses—or amini, whatever—so what could harm them?

Or . . . what if the right question was, why?