Twinkle's Story: Chapter 29

*I'm finally here with a new story chapter! Surprise!*
*Let's see what happens....*
*Enjoy! ^-^*
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FAUNA

As I conclude telling the aunt and uncle what I saw, I feel a sudden quick tap on my left shoulder. I perk my ears up, confused, and then peer over my shoulder. Eternal is there.

"Me. You. In private," he curtly says.

I obey by backing out of the circle where the aunt and uncle also are, and then I follow Eternal who goes around a corner.

When I'm caught up to him, he glares at me. As his eyes are narrowed down to slits, he growls lowly, "You saw me."

He doesn't even ask me that. He says it like he knows it's true; a statement. He repeats himself. "You saw me."

I hesitate before saying, "Y-Yes. We're worried about you."

Eternal's face beams with interest. "Is that so?"

"Yes."

"Come here. Closer..." He beckons me with a paw.

I move closer to him. "Closer," he says again.

I move so close to him that I can practically smell his scent. His scent sends trembles down my spine. My wings ruffle. "Uh...."

Eternal looks down at me as he says, "You're teaming up in the rebellion," he pauses and then continues, "Aren't you?"

I stammer, "Rebel-rebellion?"

"The ones who are destined to change Jamaa forever. Am I correct?"

"I-I... I have no idea what you're talking about."

Eternal then starts shouting. "DON'T YOU DARE GIVE ME THAT POOP, FAUNA! YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!"

"No I don't."

"STOP LYING TO ME, GOSH DARN IT! STOP BEING SO INCOMPETENT!"

Beginning to get annoyed, I stand up for myself. "I'm not incompetent!" I float up higher, so I am eye-level with Eternal.

"Yes you are. Great reputation you have, Mira's fox descendant. Of stupidity."

"What did you just say?" I ask, interested.

"You're a stupid little girl."

"No. Before that."

"Oh.... You honestly don't know?"

"Uh.... No."

He rubs his two paws together. "Want to know why your parents cared so much about you than Twinkle?"

"Umm.... Because I'm blind...?"

"You're getting there." Eternal floats up higher. I now look up at his face, shadows dancing across his face.

"Ugh, just get to the point already!"

"As you wish." He smiles suspiciously. "You and your sister are two very special foxes," he pauses and then continues, "Unlike Duke and her," he brings emphasis on that last word before going on, "you two are special for the good."

I just let Eternal pour out everything he has left to tell me.

"However, Duke is persuading her to go to the dark. Not intentionally- he just naturally does. Because of who he truly is. You see, Fauna, in the last remaining moments before my sudden death, I've gathered information. I have gotten hold of the truth. The heart-wrenching, devastating truth in a web of lies."

"What do you mean?" I ask, not sure if I'd like to hear the answer or not.

"Your power is the power of healing; of peace. You're the one who brings light into the dark. Your sister, Twinkle's, power is of the feathery tips of Mira's snow-covered wings. The wisps turning into flowing ice. A rare specialty indeed. However, Duke's constant persuasion is forcing her ice to turn into ice-flames."

"How do you know all this?" I ask, feeling uneasy.

He never answers that question of mine.

"Duke, however, doesn't have his dark flaming powers from the spirit of Mira. Quite the opposite, in fact. You see, Fauna, I've learned the true meaning of his name, Duke."

Eternal then pauses; the suspense of his words killing me.

"He's the second one; the reincarnation. In that other form of his, that is. If you think he's dangerous in his Jamaasian form, you have no idea what else he has in store for you. That demonic phantom form.... Now that's when he'd be deadly."

He ends with, "In his demonic form, he is the duke of them. The original being the king. The current him being the duke."

Speechless, I breathe, "Whoa..............."

Eternal adds one more thing before departing. "Well, that's Duke for you...... Or should I say the second Fierdan."

As Eternal leaves me, I just stay there, feeling paralyzed. In my heart, I know that he spoke the words of truth to me.

But why now?

I stay still as a cool breeze passes by, ruffling my angel wings.

I breathe in and out, slowly.

I feel more lost than ever before. Lost in who we all are in this world.


TWINKLE

"Duke, I can't believe you actually peed on at least one cactus."

He giggles. "Well, I did!" He pulls his pants higher up his waist.

"You're disgusting."

"Oh. Really?" He arches an eyebrow.

"Yes," I say, unblinking.

He runs a claw through a few strands of my hair. "Oh my Zios!" he whispers as he puts his arm back down to his side again.

Feeling completely disgusted, I yell, "You better not have put drops of your pee into my hair. There's no water here."

"Use your ice powers then."

I gasp, then glare at him. "Oh, you little....."

He throws his paws out in front of him. "Kidding, kidding....."

I blink. "I swear to Zios, you better be."

As he holds the hairs he ran his claw through, I say, "You're harassing me."

Duke yanks my hairs, bringing it down so I can see them.

My heart skips a beat. "Duke..... What did you do?" I say, trying to remain calm.

My hairs, originally blue, are replaced yet again. My original light orange colored hair appears in the same spot Duke ran his claw through. I cover up the sudden orange in my hair by placing strands of my blue hair onto it. I look at my reflection through Duke's pupils, and smile, satisfied.

I sit down in the dead grass that surrounds us. "You've got a point there, though. I should've thought of this way earlier!" I make everything around me fade to the back of my mind. I close my eyes to slits. The bright blue of my eyes shining through. I take a deep breath in. I focus on only one thing.

As I breathe out, I quickly stretch out all the fingers on both my paws. On the tips of all my claws on my paws, tiny ice-blue lights shoot out. They shape into shapes that are similar to flames- ice-flames. However unlike Duke's flames, they don't stop at the tips of my claws. The blue light flows down to the quicks of my claws, and then they flow down my fingers. Before I know it, my entire two paws are surrounded by ice-flames.

I smile, relieved. The ice is chilling me down in this area of intense, endless heat.

Duke sits down next to me, our tails behind each other's backs. We share the feeling of ice coldness as he holds one of my paws covered in the ice-flames. I imagine the ice running into his veins as I feel his flames, though restricted inside himself, running into my veins.

The conversation we just had goes to the back of our minds. As we turn around to look at each other, I completely forget how I could've ever called him disgusting. He'll always be as hot as a fire.

I perk my ears up, surprised, as Duke wraps his arms around my upper back. His head hangs over my shoulder. He shudders, chills running down his spine, as he whispers, "I.... I don't know who I am anymore. Please, Twinkle, please....... Never let me go." As he stops putting his head on my shoulder, I see tears collecting in his eyes.

As I wrap my paws around his back, I whisper, "I'll never let you go."

The tips of our noses touch. Tears run down his face. I trace the path of one of his tears with a finger. I stare at that finger, it still covered in ice-flames. I put the arm back around Duke; back into the hug.

Duke might not know what I've been through.

I might not know what he's going through.

But that doesn't divide us. Not in the very least.

Everything fades to a dull gray around us two, in my eyes yet again. Us two are the only life among the dead.

Then our lips touch.


DUKE

Fierdan. Why won't that word just escape my mind already? In my head, I just want to explode into flames. Swear and yell into the plain void. I blink and then open my eyes. No, this isn't the time and place. I just let out all my feelings coming from this cursed Fierdan thing, come out of me in the forms of tears. I close my eyes again. Tears stop running down my face as I suddenly feel Twinkle's lips against my own.

I open my eyes again. "Why......" I say, suddenly feeling breathless. I gulp as I feel my face beginning to heat up.

Twinkle simply replies, "Thank you."

Speechless, I just blink at her.

After what feels like sitting for a few minutes in awkward silence, I clear my throat. I curse myself in my head because of how awkward it must've been to Twinkle. "Thank you, too......"

I sniff the pale green substance that covers my scars on my shoulder. That darn mint. Just like that mint tea.

Is the servant from my dream, and whoever put this minty substance on my physical scars, related?

There's no mint plant or anything anywhere near here.

Why did she keep on calling me Fierdan?

Who is Fierdan?

Why is this not escaping my mind, no matter how hard I try?

I feel myself breaking, starting from my heart and then spreading out.

Just leave me alone already! Stop hurting me! Please........