Mix Matched

10

 Emma followed Mist willingly, but with some doubt. Mist was injured, and Emma was terrified. Was this really the best idea they had? Couldn't they go somewhere else? Emma thought through the possibilities again. Nope. This was the only way.

Despite the facts, Emma had to ask Mist one more time, "Are we really asking The Universe to help us?"

Mist sighed, "Yes." She sounded worried, her broken wing shifted slightly, causing her to wince in pain.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"..."

Emma jogged to catch up with Mist's quick stride. "I can help you with your wing, if you need it."

Mist just nodded, and continued walking.

What could she be thinking about? Emma wondered, watching her friend walk in silence beside her.

The farther they walked, the stranger Emma felt. It was like The Universe was pushing her away from the edge of the forest. She remembered the feeling from the time Mist had saved her, but they had only walked for a day, and that spot had been miles away. Why could she feel it already?

"Can you feel that?" Emma asked her friend.

"Yes..." Emma could hear the strain in her friend's voice, as if she were in pain.

"We should rest. It sounds like you need it." Emma saw the relief in Mist's expression, as she sat down. Emma crawled to Mist's broken wing and started shifting it around, ignoring the yelps of protest from Mist. When Emma was done, she leaned against a tree, not too far away from Mist. Mist seemed to be concentrating on something, so Emma got up, saying that she was looking for firewood.

Mist's really quiet. I wonder if she's alright.

As Emma walked around gathering sticks and fallen branches back to where Mist was concentrating, she could feel the temperature around her drop. It started slow at first but Emma could tell that it was starting to drop every second now. She started on the fire and after she lit the first spark sat down next to Mist and used some of her magic to help it grow faster.

For what seemed like hours none of the girls said a thing, they just sat and kept to their own thoughts. Several times one of them would want to say something but at the last second regard it and move on.

Darkness fell over the girls, the fire being their only light source. Both grew very tired from the past few days and after some time both fell into a deep sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I-I swear, there was no way they could get out sir! I checked them and everything!"

The two dark figures stood over the broken glass of the cage. Looking at the bent bars and the broken cufts.

"Clearly you didn't check hard enough." They said picking up the broken remains of two bottles.

"I'm sorry sir! It was an accident! It won't happen again sir. I-I promise, just give me another chance! Please."

"Oh I believe you're sorry, and I know it won't happen again."

"R-really? Thank you! You won't regre-" The poor guard was stopped when something sharp landed right in his heart. Blood flowed out quickly and his vision blurred, it got cold fast after he sank to the ground.

"It won't happen because of you anyway."

They walked out of the small room, leaving the man to bleed on the floor and walked into a more crowded room.

"Distractions are not necessary and with them getting away agAIN IS UNWANTED! IF I DON'T GET THEM BACK HERE BY TONIGHT YOU'LL ALL PAY."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cold light of the moon woke Mist. She looked around, seeing the embers glowing on the ground, the darkness of night around them, only interrupted by the bright moonlight from overhead. The moonlight had always been bright here.

Pushing herself to her feet, quietly so not to wake Emma, and to keep her wings from hurting too much, she walked around, picking up twigs, only leaving sticks and branches on the ground. Eventually, she made it back to the campsite, and she used the twigs to light the fire again.

"That's better," she whispered, feeling the warmth slide over her skin.

A sound caused her to look right, thinking of squirrels or some other small rodent, but instead, seeing a shadowy figure standing there. The shadow looked at Mist with light amber-ish eyes, and seemed to glare into her soul. Mist instinctively took a defensive stance, and tried to look brave, though she was internally panicking. When she moved, her foot landed on a stick, cracking it in two, and waking Emma.

"What's goin' on?" she slurred, not quite awake to speech properly.

Mist blinked, and the apperistion was gone.

"What're you lookin at?"

"Nothing." Mist tried her best not to act spooked.

"Ok. Are we *yawn* going to keep moving now or what?"

"Sure." Mist was still staring at the spot where the shadow had been. Not again. Not again. NOT again. She thought hard.

Behind her, Emma stood up, put out the fire, and grabbed Mist's arm. "Time to go."

Mist nodded, still spooked, and walked numbly beside Emma.

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

"You don't seem alright."

"Just a little spooked. That's all," Mist's tail twitched, causing one of her feathers to fall lightly to the ground behind them.

Emma scratched the top of her head and said, "Can you feel The Universe? It's really strong..."

Mist looked at Emma, concerned, "Yes, but why do you ask?"

"I have the feeling, it's trying to tell us something," Emma quickly added, "It's not like the Universe can speak or anything, right?"

"I have a feeling it can communicate somehow, but not through talking, but what is it trying to tell us?"

"Why don't you ask it?"

"I don't know how, and it's speaking to you! I only feel it pushing me away..." Mist stopped speaking, wondering if that had to do with the thing she'd seen before they left the campsite.

"I think it's telling us to turn around."

They turned around, and both saw the shadow at the same time. It seemed different somehow, maybe it was because of the morning sun rising behind it, but suddenly, Mist recognized it. It had haunted her ever since she left Fortune.

In a voice just above a whisper, Mist said one name that had caust her everything.

"Night's Sky."