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Description
Gone Batty

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Chapter 23: False Prophecy

***

“So let me get this straight,” Melody closed her eyes and placed a claw between her brows which were creased in confusion. She took a moment before opening her eyes again, “you are a bat from my family’s conservatory?”

“That’s right,” Kevin affirmed politely. “If you need evidence, maybe you will recognize this band?” he held out his right wrist to her.

Melody hesitated before taking his wrist in both hands and reading the label on the band. Her eyes widened, “this is my company’s insignia…no way!” she gasped.

Kevin chuckled and retracted his hand when she let go. “Small world, isn’t it? But there’s one thing that I just don’t get-... “ he tilted his head slightly to the side with wonder, “how did you become a bat and come all the way up here? If it wasn’t for your scent and familiar voice, I never would have recognized you.”

“That’s kind of a long story,” Melody replied, not wanting to go into the details right now. In a way, she did not feel comfortable talking about herself when she had so many curious eyes focused on her, especially Scirocco’s. “It was an accident, that’s all to it.”

“Oh, I believe you’ll find that there are no such thing as accidents,” Scirocco suddenly appeared behind her and wrapped a wing around her shoulders, nearly scaring the crap out of Melody.

“Jesus! Don’t do that!” she snapped, trying to mat down her raised fur before shoving his arm off and glaring at him. “And since when did you become so touchy-feely?”

Scirocco took a step back and kneeled down before her in a low bow, “please forgive my rudeness-...Melody was it? Had I known you were actually a human, I would have paid my respects from the very beginning.”

The brunette grimaced and inched away from him, “please stop that.”

Scirocco turned towards his colony and raised up his wings, “everyone! I have told you that this day would come! Nocturna has sent Melody here to us as a sign to lead us back to the light!”

The bats cheered loudly.

“Umm, no. I am quite certain that isn’t true,” Melody quickly tried to say, but the bats didn’t listen. They instead started to chant her name over and over.

Melody was officially creeped out. She nervously stepped back even more and looked over to Shade and Marina for help.

Shade instantly flew over to Melody and stood in front of her, raising up his wings to try and shield her, “hey! That’s enough!” he yelled angrily and the bats fell silent. He pointed a claw at Scirocco, “look pal, I don’t know what kind of delusions you are having, but don’t drag Melody into this!”

“Are you still here?” the long-eared bat looked down at Shade with disdain and crossed his arms.

“Not anymore,” the boy growled before grabbing Melody by the hand and pulling her away from Kevin and Scirocco. “Melody, Marina- let’s go.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Melody muttered as she was dragged along after him.

When Shade noticed that Marina wasn’t moving, he turned around and called out to her, “come on, Marina! The storm’s over. We have to catch up to my colony. And Frieda, remember?”

The brightwing hesitated, “but I finally found…” she looked down at her band and then back at Scirocco who smiled pleasantly down at her. Marina gazed up longingly at the colony who silently muttered amongst themselves with smiles.

“She’s one of us.”

“Yes.”

“She’s one of us!”

Marina went back to Shade’s pleading eyes, but then she sighed and looked away. She had made her choice.

“Marina?” Melody asked uncertainly, hoping that this was a joke.

The brightwing didn’t look back at her.

Shade stopped Melody when she took a step towards Marina. He shook his head at her with a downcast expression.

Melody’s shoulders slumped in defeat and she looked back at her female friend, “then... goodluck. I hope you’ll be happy here.”

“Wait!” Scirocco stepped forward towards Melody, “are you going to leave us in our time of need?”

Melody’s face darkened and she glared at him. “I am not your messiah. Those bands on your arms are nothing but scraps of dumb metal that help humans keep track of you. And I suggest you stop lying to your colony about being able to transform into a human. It doesn’t work that way,” her cold words rang loud and clear in the room. It was harsh, but she has had it up to her neck with this bullshit.

Scirocco gave a disbelieving short laugh.

Kevin seemed like he wanted to say something to her. He opened his mouth and closed it wordlessly after thinking better of it. He gave a deep forlorn sigh before giving her a sad smile. “I’m sorry, I never should have said anything and laid this trouble on you. I’m really happy I got to see you again though, Melody.”

Melody’s features softened and she nodded, forgiving him. “I’m glad you are healthy again, Kevin.”

“Call me Barnabe,” the banded silverwing requested, ignoring the sharp glare he got from his leader.

Melody smiled, “goodbye, Barnabe.” With that, she lept off the bookcase along with Shade and they flew over the fireplace’s exit.

“Guys?” Marina called out to them, realizing that they were actually leaving. But they didn’t turn back. They flew up into the chimney and left.

As they flew away from the hut, Shade took one look back at it before huffing irritably and turning away. He glanced at Melody and his heart squeezed painfully. He could tell that Melody was doing her best not to cry.

***

Marina lowered her gaze to her feet, her own eyes starting to tear up. This wasn’t how she wanted this to end...Already she could feel regret building up inside her like a rabid anthill. She looked at her band and remembered what Melody had said. It was just ‘scraps of dumb metal?’ There was nothing special about being banded?

“Don’t be sad, Marina.” Betty comfortingly placed a hand on her shoulder, “Shade and Melody will be fine.”

The depressed brightwing sighed but didn’t say anything.

Two more bats flew down to her and greeted her with warm smiles, trying to cheer Marina up.

“Hi!” said a female bat with red hair.

“Forget those silverwings, they were rude! That girl had no idea what she was talking about,” a male bat with large front teeth stated with a smile. “You’re in better company now, believe you me.”

Marina glared at him, deep down wanting to defend her friends, but Scirocco decided to get down to business as he stood on a chair in the middle of the room.

“Everyone, it’s time to welcome our new sister. As with all who join our colony, we begin with the renaming.”

“Huh?” Marina did not like the sound of that.

“Brightwing, you will now be known as…” Scirocco thought for a moment before giving her a condescending smirk, “Veronica.”

“It’s positively you!” the bat with the large teeth complimented her.

Marina frowned at the name, “I prefer Marina, thank you.”

“I’d take the other name if I were you,” the female bat with the red hair whispered to her. “You don’t want to end up like Kevin.”

“Kevin?” Marina looked over at the silverwing. He had suddenly become rather dour as he silently hung from the ceiling.

“He questioned Scirocco’s visions and wanted to keep his name, so Scirocco challenged him to an echo projection contest,” the female bat replied.

“And I think you can bet how that has turned out,” another bat chuckled. “He didn’t even stand a chance, and now he’s the rear end of the colony. He has to do all the dirty work such as cleaning up all the guano and serving Scirocco. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

Marina felt a pang of pity for the silverwing and a sense of respect too. With the way he carried himself, one could never guess that he was a reject of the colony. It also made her lose respect for Scirocco. It was a rare ability to echo project and most bats could never accomplish it. She had a hunch that ‘Kevin’ was one of those bats who couldn’t echo project but still accepted the challenge just for the sake of fighting for his name.

Feeling her own determination well up, Marina clearly spoke down to Scirocco, “there’s nothing wrong with my name.”

“Then perhaps you prefer a different kind of initiation?” the long-eared bat suggested casually.

“We warned you,” the male bat with the large teeth said in a sing-song voice.

“I’ll let you keep your name, Marina… if you bring me that human food,” Scirocco pointed down to a pair of mouse traps on the floor. One had a piece of cheese waiting on the trigger while the other showed the consequences of being set off with the trap around the skeleton of a mouse.

Marina gasped at the horrible sight.

***

Shade and Melody flew in silence before resting on the edge of a mountain’s crevice not too far away from the banded colony. Shade glared back at the hut while Melody sat down and curled her wings around her body and shivered.

The boy gave a frustrated sigh and sat down, pressing up against Melody in order to conserve some warmth. His anger gradually dissolved as he realized that he missed Marina far more than he had let on. “Marina…” he whispered without knowing.

“You like her, don’t you?” Melody asked quietly, startling Shade.

“W-where did you get that idea?” he blurt out, feeling his face heat up.

“You two have been making goo-goo eyes at each for a few days now.”

“No we haven’t!” Shade argued.

“Have too.”

“Have not!”

“You most certainly have,” she insisted.

“Look, she’s not my type at all!”

Melody raised an eyebrow at him.

Shade breathed out and looked away, “it’s just that… I can’t believe that she was fooled by that big-eared phony.”

Melody nodded sadly and pressed her cheek against her fist, “you and me both…”

A shadow suddenly passed over them with the sound of flapping wings and Shade raised his head hopefully, “Marin-mph?!”

Melody slapped her hand over his mouth and pressed both of their bodies against the wall of the mountain, her eyes wide with fear. Shade looked upwards and he soon understood why Melody shut him up. Dread built up inside him.

Goth and Throbb were flying straight to the cabin’s general direction. Neither of them had noticed the silverwings’ presence.

Melody slowly let go of Shade when the giant bats passed them and they both shared the same notion. Marina was in danger.

***

Goth sniffed the air as he flew through the falling snow. “I smell a bat…” he muttered thoughtfully and breathed in again. His eyes lit up, “no, many bats!”

“My nose is too cold to smell nothing…” Throbb whined, his voice nasally.

Goth breathed in deeply, “oh, there’s a roost-full! And we are near, compadre. Very near!”

***

“We’re waiting, Veronica…” Scirocco smirked at Marina who nervously stared at the mousetrap.

“Stop it, Scirocco!”

Everyone turned to see that it was Barnabe who had spoken. He glared down angrily at his leader with repulsion.

“This is going too far!” The silverwing spoke to Marina with all seriousness, “you do not have to do this, Marina. It’s not worth risking your life for.”

“I believe Veronica is able to make decisions for herself, Kevin,” Scirocco flicked his wrist carelessly at Barnabe, deliberately riling him up even more. “If she’s friends with a human, I think this test would hardly be a sitch to her.”

Marina hummed to herself in concentration on the human-made trap. There was no way that she could try and get the cheese directly. Her eyes lifted up from the trap and up to the wooden shelves that were hammered to the wall above it. Her vision landed on a saltshaker and she grinned. ‘That’s it!’ Wordlessly she flew past Scirocco and kicked the saltshaker off the shelf, aiming it with exact precision onto the trap. The mousetrap was set off and with the force of the snap, the cheese was thrown towards the banded leader and landed before his feet.

Scirocco huffed and glared up at the brightwing who grinned back triumphantly

Barnabe sighed in relief and smiled. Scirocco would have no choice but to honor his word now.

“Very clever, Marina,” the long-eared bat said slowly. “But I don’t want clever bats. I want loyal ones. Repeat after me: I pledge my allegiance to the banded ones.”

Marina hesitated and repeated his words with uncertainty, “‘I pledge my allegiance to the banded ones’...”

“I reject all who are not banded.”

“Huh?” Marina stopped at that and glanced over at Barnabe as if to ask, ‘is this guy for real?’

Scirocco’s face darkened, “repeat after me! I reject all who are not banded!”

“No!” she snapped down at him. “I’m not rejecting Shade nor Melody! They’re my friends!” Finally had it with this place, Marina flew towards the fireplace only to have her path be blocked by Scirocco. She gasped, pulled up and landed on a shelf above Betty. “Let me go!” she yelled at him.

“Scirocco, if she wants to go, maybe we should just let her,” Betty tried to persuade him.

The green bat narrowed his eyes at the brightwings and did not step aside.

“That is a whole new low for you, Scirocco,” Barnabe said coldly as he hung from the fireplace, over the pissed off bat. “You take away our identity and now you are resorting to the deprivation of liberty?” He crossed his arms with scorn.

“Shut up!” Scirocco skewed around to him, his yellow eyes blazing. “This is the third time you have spoken up against me, you infidel!” He pointed his claw at the silverwing and hissed, “if you dare talk back to me again, I will rid you of that band myself!”

All of a sudden, they were interrupted as Shade burst out of the chimney, panting. His eyes were wide and fear-driven. “We just… saw Goth and Throbb!” he exclaimed.

“No!” Marina yelped.

“Everybody! You’ve got to get out!” Shade yelled as he flew around the room. “The giant bats are coming!”

“Giant bats?!”

“Oh no!”

“The cannibals!”

The colony was beginning to freak out.

“The silverwing is lying, he’s jealous of our bands!” Scirocco announced loudly.

Ignoring Scirocco, Barnabe yelled to the colony and flapped his wings, “everyone! Up the chimney! Now!” The banded leader suddenly flew up at him and struck him hard in the face with his clawed wing. Barnabe cried out as his head was forced to the side, a long cut running down the left side of his face, right behind his eye and down to the corner of his mouth.

“The one who gives orders around here is me!” Scirocco snarled before turning to his colony, “capture the intruder!”

Shade was immediately cornered by a bunch of bats and he turned around, trying to get away from their aggressiveness.

Marina tried to fly after him but a few bats blocked her way.

As he was being chased, Shade noticed a calendar hanging on the wall and an idea struck him. He examined the picture closely as much as he could before he heard Marina cry out.

“Shade! Don’t leave me!”

Shade dodged a hissing bat and he raced towards the fireplace, which was still currently being blocked by Scirocco. The green bat held up his wings to keep Shade from escaping when he was suddenly tackled to the ground by Barnabe. Taking that chance, Shade flew into the chimney and out of the hut with Marina screaming his name.

Melody, who was hiding behind the chimney and keeping watch, noticed that he was at least one bat short. “Where is Marina?” she hastily asked.

“She’s being held prisoner.”

“Well, we’d better do something now or else we’re all dead!” Melody pointed up to the sky. “They know we’re here!”

Shade looked up and gasped. Goth and Throbb had changed their direction and were now flying down towards them. “Come with me!” he said and flew down. “I have a plan!”

“What plan?” Melody quickly followed after him.

***

Bathsheba led the silverwing colony across the empty space in the airport and they blindly trusted her judgement.

There was a sound of an engine growing louder and louder and Mercury looked up towards the sound. To his horror, an airplane was landing right on top of them! “Look out!” he yelled.

Bathsheba gasped as she realized her error.

The silverwings screamed and split, flying in separate directions, trying to get out of the machine’s way. Luckily, they had all managed to get away in time, right before the airplane landed. They flew up to a high tower and hid there, shaking in terror.

Frieda stared down at the airplane before glaring angrily at Bathsheba.

The new leader just scowled at Frieda, refusing to admit that she nearly caused the deaths of the entire colony.

***

“Well, Veronica,” Scirocco smirked up at a restrained Marina while a few bats held a struggling Barnabe facedown on the floor. “It looks like we’ll have to teach you how to be loyal to the band!” He turned around and calmly walked over to the battered silverwing and his grin widened. “Kevin here will serve to be a good example.”

Barnabe glared up hatefully at Scirocco, blood running down his face and from his bitten ears. “My name is Barnabe,” he spat.

“Young and stupid,” the leader sighed and shook his head. “You have been denying the visions that Nocturna has been giving me from the very beginning. Do you still believe that someone like you has been given the gift instead?”

“Your visions are screwed up,” Barnabe growled. “There is no way that Nocturna would choose a select few bats and then forsake everyone else!”

The smile disappeared from Scirocco’s face and he was about to strike Barnabe with his claws when the front door suddenly burst open from the heavy gust of wind. Snow flurried inside the hut.

A human man, carrying a large car tire around his shoulder appeared and stood in the doorway with a strange humming coming from him.

Marina flinched and closed her eyes from the snow before turning back to look at the human with amazement.

Scirocco froze in place and the colony of bats began to whisper amongst themselves.

“Who is the one they call Scirocco?” the human asked.

The colony immediately pointed down at the long-eared bat who was standing there, dumbstruck.

“The time has come for the transformation! I will lead you now!” the man raised his hand.

The bats chattered amongst themselves with excitement.

“Our new leader!”

“A human!”

“Who knew?”

Scirocco narrowed his eyes and his mouth twisted, “don’t listen to him!” He pointed at the man, “he’s not a human!”

Marina blinked in confusion and took a closer look. She heard the rustling of papers on the wall and she saw the calendar that Shade had stopped at. On the calendar was the image of the exact same man! She gasped and looked back towards the human. He was an echo projection done by Shade! That explained the random humming and why his voice was exactly the same as Shade’s! The image flickered momentarily before fixing itself and Marina caught the sight of Shade hiding outside, behind the doorway. A smile spread across her face.

“Obey me, banded ones!” the projection ordered. “You must leave at once!”

“We should do as the human says,” Betty told Scirocco.

“No!” Scirocco exclaimed, “leave here and you will die!”

“Stay and you will die!” the projection retorted forcefully.

“It’s the silverwing!” Scirocco yelled up to his colony. “He’s playing a trick! Look, look… I can do it too!” the long-eared bat placed his claws onto his head and tried to concentrate. “Nocturna has made me the leader! She has chosen me!”

“Oh, have I?”

Scirocco’s eyes opened wide as a powerful female voice spoke behind him. The entire hut suddenly had become quiet and not a single peep came from the banded bats. Puzzled, he slowly turned around to see a large majestic bat, the size of a human with long flowing black hair and unparalleled beauty. Her body glowed as if eternally surrounded by moonlight. There was no denying who she was. “Nocturna…” he breathed out and fell to his knees.

Nocturna gazed down sternly at Scirocco. “You have been abusing your power, Scirocco,” she said softly, but her words emanated strength, “and you have been tarnishing my name with lies.”

“Forgive me…” Scirocco whimpered as he clasped his hands together in a pleading motion, his eyes tearing up as if he was being scolded by his mother. “Forgive me.”

The goddess was silent before she turned to the awestruck colony. “There is no transformation, my children. There is only hope. War cannot last forever and someday you will be free to fly during the day.” She faced the human projection and she nodded towards him, “thank you, Shade. You have done well.”

The echo projection smiled and disappeared.

“But heed this warning, all of you,” Nocturna’s voice grew firm. “There is danger approaching. You must leave now before it is too late.” She opened her glistening white wings, “now go!” she commanded.

“Everyone, fly!” Marina yelled and flew towards the exit. All the other bats began to scream and began flying out the door. The brightwing helped one of the bats back up when they got knocked over, “go! Go!” They both flew outside.

Scirocco lifted his head and noticed that the goddess began to waver and faded into thin air. He gasped, “an echo projection!” Her whirled around to see a certain brunette, hiding behind the opened door, her eyes closed in concentration. His anger exploded.

How dare she…

Melody opened her eyes and shook her head. All that concentrating was starting to give her a headache. She had used the image of Nocturna from her dream to try and help convince the bats to leave when it seemed that they doubted Shade’s echo projection. But now that all the bats were leaving, her job was done. She quickly rushed around the door to get outside but a hand roughly grabbed her by the arm. She yelped and turned to see a furious Scirocco glaring down at her.

“You’re not going anywhere human,” he hissed.

Melody tried to pull his hand off her arm, “please! Please let me go!” she begged frantically. Goth and Throbb would be here any minute!

***

Shade waited outside for Marina and Melody as the bats were all escaping. He saw Marina and he rushed over to her with a relieved smile on his face. “Marina, you’re okay!”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied before looking around, “...where is Melody?”

The silverwing’s eyes widened and he searched the crowd for the girl. She was nowhere to be seen. There was no time however as he saw Goth and Throbb getting extremely close. As quickly as he and Marina could, they gathered up all the banded bats that got out and hid under the roof.

Goth and Throbb chuckled as they landed onto the rooftop of the cabin.

Goth got down on all fours and sniffed about for the bats, crawling over the edge of the roof, right above Shade and everyone else. He continued sniffing at the air until he caught a familiar scent. An evil smile slowly curled up at the corners of his mouth, “Shade?” Goth growled softly as he predatorily hovered over them, his green eyes searching.

“Goth! Here!” Throbb’s voice whispered and Goth turned around. Throbb was sitting on top of the chimney and he was pointing inside with a smirk.

“Heh,” Goth grinned before flying down into the chimney followed by his brother-in-law.

***

A sinister laugh came from inside the fireplace and Melody gasped, recognizing the voice. Indeed, Goth and Throbb flew out, chuckling gleefully. Having no choice, Melody opened her mouth wide and bit Scirocco’s wrist as hard as she could. The long-eared bat shrieked and let her go. Unable to fly off the ground, Melody flapped her wings as she tried to hop out when suddenly the door closed shut in her face.

Description
Gone Batty

***

Chapter 23: False Prophecy

***

“So let me get this straight,” Melody closed her eyes and placed a claw between her brows which were creased in confusion. She took a moment before opening her eyes again, “you are a bat from my family’s conservatory?”

“That’s right,” Kevin affirmed politely. “If you need evidence, maybe you will recognize this band?” he held out his right wrist to her.

Melody hesitated before taking his wrist in both hands and reading the label on the band. Her eyes widened, “this is my company’s insignia…no way!” she gasped.

Kevin chuckled and retracted his hand when she let go. “Small world, isn’t it? But there’s one thing that I just don’t get-... “ he tilted his head slightly to the side with wonder, “how did you become a bat and come all the way up here? If it wasn’t for your scent and familiar voice, I never would have recognized you.”

“That’s kind of a long story,” Melody replied, not wanting to go into the details right now. In a way, she did not feel comfortable talking about herself when she had so many curious eyes focused on her, especially Scirocco’s. “It was an accident, that’s all to it.”

“Oh, I believe you’ll find that there are no such thing as accidents,” Scirocco suddenly appeared behind her and wrapped a wing around her shoulders, nearly scaring the crap out of Melody.

“Jesus! Don’t do that!” she snapped, trying to mat down her raised fur before shoving his arm off and glaring at him. “And since when did you become so touchy-feely?”

Scirocco took a step back and kneeled down before her in a low bow, “please forgive my rudeness-...Melody was it? Had I known you were actually a human, I would have paid my respects from the very beginning.”

The brunette grimaced and inched away from him, “please stop that.”

Scirocco turned towards his colony and raised up his wings, “everyone! I have told you that this day would come! Nocturna has sent Melody here to us as a sign to lead us back to the light!”

The bats cheered loudly.

“Umm, no. I am quite certain that isn’t true,” Melody quickly tried to say, but the bats didn’t listen. They instead started to chant her name over and over.

Melody was officially creeped out. She nervously stepped back even more and looked over to Shade and Marina for help.

Shade instantly flew over to Melody and stood in front of her, raising up his wings to try and shield her, “hey! That’s enough!” he yelled angrily and the bats fell silent. He pointed a claw at Scirocco, “look pal, I don’t know what kind of delusions you are having, but don’t drag Melody into this!”

“Are you still here?” the long-eared bat looked down at Shade with disdain and crossed his arms.

“Not anymore,” the boy growled before grabbing Melody by the hand and pulling her away from Kevin and Scirocco. “Melody, Marina- let’s go.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Melody muttered as she was dragged along after him.

When Shade noticed that Marina wasn’t moving, he turned around and called out to her, “come on, Marina! The storm’s over. We have to catch up to my colony. And Frieda, remember?”

The brightwing hesitated, “but I finally found…” she looked down at her band and then back at Scirocco who smiled pleasantly down at her. Marina gazed up longingly at the colony who silently muttered amongst themselves with smiles.

“She’s one of us.”

“Yes.”

“She’s one of us!”

Marina went back to Shade’s pleading eyes, but then she sighed and looked away. She had made her choice.

“Marina?” Melody asked uncertainly, hoping that this was a joke.

The brightwing didn’t look back at her.

Shade stopped Melody when she took a step towards Marina. He shook his head at her with a downcast expression.

Melody’s shoulders slumped in defeat and she looked back at her female friend, “then... goodluck. I hope you’ll be happy here.”

“Wait!” Scirocco stepped forward towards Melody, “are you going to leave us in our time of need?”

Melody’s face darkened and she glared at him. “I am not your messiah. Those bands on your arms are nothing but scraps of dumb metal that help humans keep track of you. And I suggest you stop lying to your colony about being able to transform into a human. It doesn’t work that way,” her cold words rang loud and clear in the room. It was harsh, but she has had it up to her neck with this bullshit.

Scirocco gave a disbelieving short laugh.

Kevin seemed like he wanted to say something to her. He opened his mouth and closed it wordlessly after thinking better of it. He gave a deep forlorn sigh before giving her a sad smile. “I’m sorry, I never should have said anything and laid this trouble on you. I’m really happy I got to see you again though, Melody.”

Melody’s features softened and she nodded, forgiving him. “I’m glad you are healthy again, Kevin.”

“Call me Barnabe,” the banded silverwing requested, ignoring the sharp glare he got from his leader.

Melody smiled, “goodbye, Barnabe.” With that, she lept off the bookcase along with Shade and they flew over the fireplace’s exit.

“Guys?” Marina called out to them, realizing that they were actually leaving. But they didn’t turn back. They flew up into the chimney and left.

As they flew away from the hut, Shade took one look back at it before huffing irritably and turning away. He glanced at Melody and his heart squeezed painfully. He could tell that Melody was doing her best not to cry.

***

Marina lowered her gaze to her feet, her own eyes starting to tear up. This wasn’t how she wanted this to end...Already she could feel regret building up inside her like a rabid anthill. She looked at her band and remembered what Melody had said. It was just ‘scraps of dumb metal?’ There was nothing special about being banded?

“Don’t be sad, Marina.” Betty comfortingly placed a hand on her shoulder, “Shade and Melody will be fine.”

The depressed brightwing sighed but didn’t say anything.

Two more bats flew down to her and greeted her with warm smiles, trying to cheer Marina up.

“Hi!” said a female bat with red hair.

“Forget those silverwings, they were rude! That girl had no idea what she was talking about,” a male bat with large front teeth stated with a smile. “You’re in better company now, believe you me.”

Marina glared at him, deep down wanting to defend her friends, but Scirocco decided to get down to business as he stood on a chair in the middle of the room.

“Everyone, it’s time to welcome our new sister. As with all who join our colony, we begin with the renaming.”

“Huh?” Marina did not like the sound of that.

“Brightwing, you will now be known as…” Scirocco thought for a moment before giving her a condescending smirk, “Veronica.”

“It’s positively you!” the bat with the large teeth complimented her.

Marina frowned at the name, “I prefer Marina, thank you.”

“I’d take the other name if I were you,” the female bat with the red hair whispered to her. “You don’t want to end up like Kevin.”

“Kevin?” Marina looked over at the silverwing. He had suddenly become rather dour as he silently hung from the ceiling.

“He questioned Scirocco’s visions and wanted to keep his name, so Scirocco challenged him to an echo projection contest,” the female bat replied.

“And I think you can bet how that has turned out,” another bat chuckled. “He didn’t even stand a chance, and now he’s the rear end of the colony. He has to do all the dirty work such as cleaning up all the guano and serving Scirocco. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

Marina felt a pang of pity for the silverwing and a sense of respect too. With the way he carried himself, one could never guess that he was a reject of the colony. It also made her lose respect for Scirocco. It was a rare ability to echo project and most bats could never accomplish it. She had a hunch that ‘Kevin’ was one of those bats who couldn’t echo project but still accepted the challenge just for the sake of fighting for his name.

Feeling her own determination well up, Marina clearly spoke down to Scirocco, “there’s nothing wrong with my name.”

“Then perhaps you prefer a different kind of initiation?” the long-eared bat suggested casually.

“We warned you,” the male bat with the large teeth said in a sing-song voice.

“I’ll let you keep your name, Marina… if you bring me that human food,” Scirocco pointed down to a pair of mouse traps on the floor. One had a piece of cheese waiting on the trigger while the other showed the consequences of being set off with the trap around the skeleton of a mouse.

Marina gasped at the horrible sight.

***

Shade and Melody flew in silence before resting on the edge of a mountain’s crevice not too far away from the banded colony. Shade glared back at the hut while Melody sat down and curled her wings around her body and shivered.

The boy gave a frustrated sigh and sat down, pressing up against Melody in order to conserve some warmth. His anger gradually dissolved as he realized that he missed Marina far more than he had let on. “Marina…” he whispered without knowing.

“You like her, don’t you?” Melody asked quietly, startling Shade.

“W-where did you get that idea?” he blurt out, feeling his face heat up.

“You two have been making goo-goo eyes at each for a few days now.”

“No we haven’t!” Shade argued.

“Have too.”

“Have not!”

“You most certainly have,” she insisted.

“Look, she’s not my type at all!”

Melody raised an eyebrow at him.

Shade breathed out and looked away, “it’s just that… I can’t believe that she was fooled by that big-eared phony.”

Melody nodded sadly and pressed her cheek against her fist, “you and me both…”

A shadow suddenly passed over them with the sound of flapping wings and Shade raised his head hopefully, “Marin-mph?!”

Melody slapped her hand over his mouth and pressed both of their bodies against the wall of the mountain, her eyes wide with fear. Shade looked upwards and he soon understood why Melody shut him up. Dread built up inside him.

Goth and Throbb were flying straight to the cabin’s general direction. Neither of them had noticed the silverwings’ presence.

Melody slowly let go of Shade when the giant bats passed them and they both shared the same notion. Marina was in danger.

***

Goth sniffed the air as he flew through the falling snow. “I smell a bat…” he muttered thoughtfully and breathed in again. His eyes lit up, “no, many bats!”

“My nose is too cold to smell nothing…” Throbb whined, his voice nasally.

Goth breathed in deeply, “oh, there’s a roost-full! And we are near, compadre. Very near!”

***

“We’re waiting, Veronica…” Scirocco smirked at Marina who nervously stared at the mousetrap.

“Stop it, Scirocco!”

Everyone turned to see that it was Barnabe who had spoken. He glared down angrily at his leader with repulsion.

“This is going too far!” The silverwing spoke to Marina with all seriousness, “you do not have to do this, Marina. It’s not worth risking your life for.”

“I believe Veronica is able to make decisions for herself, Kevin,” Scirocco flicked his wrist carelessly at Barnabe, deliberately riling him up even more. “If she’s friends with a human, I think this test would hardly be a sitch to her.”

Marina hummed to herself in concentration on the human-made trap. There was no way that she could try and get the cheese directly. Her eyes lifted up from the trap and up to the wooden shelves that were hammered to the wall above it. Her vision landed on a saltshaker and she grinned. ‘That’s it!’ Wordlessly she flew past Scirocco and kicked the saltshaker off the shelf, aiming it with exact precision onto the trap. The mousetrap was set off and with the force of the snap, the cheese was thrown towards the banded leader and landed before his feet.

Scirocco huffed and glared up at the brightwing who grinned back triumphantly

Barnabe sighed in relief and smiled. Scirocco would have no choice but to honor his word now.

“Very clever, Marina,” the long-eared bat said slowly. “But I don’t want clever bats. I want loyal ones. Repeat after me: I pledge my allegiance to the banded ones.”

Marina hesitated and repeated his words with uncertainty, “‘I pledge my allegiance to the banded ones’...”

“I reject all who are not banded.”

“Huh?” Marina stopped at that and glanced over at Barnabe as if to ask, ‘is this guy for real?’

Scirocco’s face darkened, “repeat after me! I reject all who are not banded!”

“No!” she snapped down at him. “I’m not rejecting Shade nor Melody! They’re my friends!” Finally had it with this place, Marina flew towards the fireplace only to have her path be blocked by Scirocco. She gasped, pulled up and landed on a shelf above Betty. “Let me go!” she yelled at him.

“Scirocco, if she wants to go, maybe we should just let her,” Betty tried to persuade him.

The green bat narrowed his eyes at the brightwings and did not step aside.

“That is a whole new low for you, Scirocco,” Barnabe said coldly as he hung from the fireplace, over the pissed off bat. “You take away our identity and now you are resorting to the deprivation of liberty?” He crossed his arms with scorn.

“Shut up!” Scirocco skewed around to him, his yellow eyes blazing. “This is the third time you have spoken up against me, you infidel!” He pointed his claw at the silverwing and hissed, “if you dare talk back to me again, I will rid you of that band myself!”

All of a sudden, they were interrupted as Shade burst out of the chimney, panting. His eyes were wide and fear-driven. “We just… saw Goth and Throbb!” he exclaimed.

“No!” Marina yelped.

“Everybody! You’ve got to get out!” Shade yelled as he flew around the room. “The giant bats are coming!”

“Giant bats?!”

“Oh no!”

“The cannibals!”

The colony was beginning to freak out.

“The silverwing is lying, he’s jealous of our bands!” Scirocco announced loudly.

Ignoring Scirocco, Barnabe yelled to the colony and flapped his wings, “everyone! Up the chimney! Now!” The banded leader suddenly flew up at him and struck him hard in the face with his clawed wing. Barnabe cried out as his head was forced to the side, a long cut running down the left side of his face, right behind his eye and down to the corner of his mouth.

“The one who gives orders around here is me!” Scirocco snarled before turning to his colony, “capture the intruder!”

Shade was immediately cornered by a bunch of bats and he turned around, trying to get away from their aggressiveness.

Marina tried to fly after him but a few bats blocked her way.

As he was being chased, Shade noticed a calendar hanging on the wall and an idea struck him. He examined the picture closely as much as he could before he heard Marina cry out.

“Shade! Don’t leave me!”

Shade dodged a hissing bat and he raced towards the fireplace, which was still currently being blocked by Scirocco. The green bat held up his wings to keep Shade from escaping when he was suddenly tackled to the ground by Barnabe. Taking that chance, Shade flew into the chimney and out of the hut with Marina screaming his name.

Melody, who was hiding behind the chimney and keeping watch, noticed that he was at least one bat short. “Where is Marina?” she hastily asked.

“She’s being held prisoner.”

“Well, we’d better do something now or else we’re all dead!” Melody pointed up to the sky. “They know we’re here!”

Shade looked up and gasped. Goth and Throbb had changed their direction and were now flying down towards them. “Come with me!” he said and flew down. “I have a plan!”

“What plan?” Melody quickly followed after him.

***

Bathsheba led the silverwing colony across the empty space in the airport and they blindly trusted her judgement.

There was a sound of an engine growing louder and louder and Mercury looked up towards the sound. To his horror, an airplane was landing right on top of them! “Look out!” he yelled.

Bathsheba gasped as she realized her error.

The silverwings screamed and split, flying in separate directions, trying to get out of the machine’s way. Luckily, they had all managed to get away in time, right before the airplane landed. They flew up to a high tower and hid there, shaking in terror.

Frieda stared down at the airplane before glaring angrily at Bathsheba.

The new leader just scowled at Frieda, refusing to admit that she nearly caused the deaths of the entire colony.

***

“Well, Veronica,” Scirocco smirked up at a restrained Marina while a few bats held a struggling Barnabe facedown on the floor. “It looks like we’ll have to teach you how to be loyal to the band!” He turned around and calmly walked over to the battered silverwing and his grin widened. “Kevin here will serve to be a good example.”

Barnabe glared up hatefully at Scirocco, blood running down his face and from his bitten ears. “My name is Barnabe,” he spat.

“Young and stupid,” the leader sighed and shook his head. “You have been denying the visions that Nocturna has been giving me from the very beginning. Do you still believe that someone like you has been given the gift instead?”

“Your visions are screwed up,” Barnabe growled. “There is no way that Nocturna would choose a select few bats and then forsake everyone else!”

The smile disappeared from Scirocco’s face and he was about to strike Barnabe with his claws when the front door suddenly burst open from the heavy gust of wind. Snow flurried inside the hut.

A human man, carrying a large car tire around his shoulder appeared and stood in the doorway with a strange humming coming from him.

Marina flinched and closed her eyes from the snow before turning back to look at the human with amazement.

Scirocco froze in place and the colony of bats began to whisper amongst themselves.

“Who is the one they call Scirocco?” the human asked.

The colony immediately pointed down at the long-eared bat who was standing there, dumbstruck.

“The time has come for the transformation! I will lead you now!” the man raised his hand.

The bats chattered amongst themselves with excitement.

“Our new leader!”

“A human!”

“Who knew?”

Scirocco narrowed his eyes and his mouth twisted, “don’t listen to him!” He pointed at the man, “he’s not a human!”

Marina blinked in confusion and took a closer look. She heard the rustling of papers on the wall and she saw the calendar that Shade had stopped at. On the calendar was the image of the exact same man! She gasped and looked back towards the human. He was an echo projection done by Shade! That explained the random humming and why his voice was exactly the same as Shade’s! The image flickered momentarily before fixing itself and Marina caught the sight of Shade hiding outside, behind the doorway. A smile spread across her face.

“Obey me, banded ones!” the projection ordered. “You must leave at once!”

“We should do as the human says,” Betty told Scirocco.

“No!” Scirocco exclaimed, “leave here and you will die!”

“Stay and you will die!” the projection retorted forcefully.

“It’s the silverwing!” Scirocco yelled up to his colony. “He’s playing a trick! Look, look… I can do it too!” the long-eared bat placed his claws onto his head and tried to concentrate. “Nocturna has made me the leader! She has chosen me!”

“Oh, have I?”

Scirocco’s eyes opened wide as a powerful female voice spoke behind him. The entire hut suddenly had become quiet and not a single peep came from the banded bats. Puzzled, he slowly turned around to see a large majestic bat, the size of a human with long flowing black hair and unparalleled beauty. Her body glowed as if eternally surrounded by moonlight. There was no denying who she was. “Nocturna…” he breathed out and fell to his knees.

Nocturna gazed down sternly at Scirocco. “You have been abusing your power, Scirocco,” she said softly, but her words emanated strength, “and you have been tarnishing my name with lies.”

“Forgive me…” Scirocco whimpered as he clasped his hands together in a pleading motion, his eyes tearing up as if he was being scolded by his mother. “Forgive me.”

The goddess was silent before she turned to the awestruck colony. “There is no transformation, my children. There is only hope. War cannot last forever and someday you will be free to fly during the day.” She faced the human projection and she nodded towards him, “thank you, Shade. You have done well.”

The echo projection smiled and disappeared.

“But heed this warning, all of you,” Nocturna’s voice grew firm. “There is danger approaching. You must leave now before it is too late.” She opened her glistening white wings, “now go!” she commanded.

“Everyone, fly!” Marina yelled and flew towards the exit. All the other bats began to scream and began flying out the door. The brightwing helped one of the bats back up when they got knocked over, “go! Go!” They both flew outside.

Scirocco lifted his head and noticed that the goddess began to waver and faded into thin air. He gasped, “an echo projection!” Her whirled around to see a certain brunette, hiding behind the opened door, her eyes closed in concentration. His anger exploded.

How dare she…

Melody opened her eyes and shook her head. All that concentrating was starting to give her a headache. She had used the image of Nocturna from her dream to try and help convince the bats to leave when it seemed that they doubted Shade’s echo projection. But now that all the bats were leaving, her job was done. She quickly rushed around the door to get outside but a hand roughly grabbed her by the arm. She yelped and turned to see a furious Scirocco glaring down at her.

“You’re not going anywhere human,” he hissed.

Melody tried to pull his hand off her arm, “please! Please let me go!” she begged frantically. Goth and Throbb would be here any minute!

***

Shade waited outside for Marina and Melody as the bats were all escaping. He saw Marina and he rushed over to her with a relieved smile on his face. “Marina, you’re okay!”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied before looking around, “...where is Melody?”

The silverwing’s eyes widened and he searched the crowd for the girl. She was nowhere to be seen. There was no time however as he saw Goth and Throbb getting extremely close. As quickly as he and Marina could, they gathered up all the banded bats that got out and hid under the roof.

Goth and Throbb chuckled as they landed onto the rooftop of the cabin.

Goth got down on all fours and sniffed about for the bats, crawling over the edge of the roof, right above Shade and everyone else. He continued sniffing at the air until he caught a familiar scent. An evil smile slowly curled up at the corners of his mouth, “Shade?” Goth growled softly as he predatorily hovered over them, his green eyes searching.

“Goth! Here!” Throbb’s voice whispered and Goth turned around. Throbb was sitting on top of the chimney and he was pointing inside with a smirk.

“Heh,” Goth grinned before flying down into the chimney followed by his brother-in-law.

***

A sinister laugh came from inside the fireplace and Melody gasped, recognizing the voice. Indeed, Goth and Throbb flew out, chuckling gleefully. Having no choice, Melody opened her mouth wide and bit Scirocco’s wrist as hard as she could. The long-eared bat shrieked and let her go. Unable to fly off the ground, Melody flapped her wings as she tried to hop out when suddenly the door closed shut in her face.