What should have been a simple life in the desert sand and stars becomes anything but. Haunted by dreams of a life of violence, and seeking answers as to why, Peridot and her friends find themselves caught in an ancient battle between Light and Dark...and find that the cost of being a soldier is higher than they might have ever thought.
Peridot: He's a big bag of hot air parroting his Dad.
Fern: Yeah, but people like his Dad...they can be dangerous, too. I just want you all to be safe. ....I'm sorry. I know I don't make sense sometimes.
Fern: Grownups don't make sense sometimes. Did you ever think that about your Mom and Dad?
Fern: Oh, all the time. Grownups are supposed to know more 'cause we're older, but the truth is? We can be just as scared and lost as kids sometimes, too.
Peridot: Well, you don't have to be scared about this. We're gonna be okay, Ma. If Parsley tries anything, I'll break his teeth.
*bell rings*
Rainbow: Alright, everyone! One last thing before you take off--the Sugar Scouts trip is next summer, so I need all those forms filled out and on my desk when you get back from break, okay?
Celestial: Two whole months in the woods. What could be better than that?
Peridot: Bug-free life?
Royal Cola: Will be pretty! Do not have forests on ships.
Cinnamon: Or in deserts.
Parsley: Pff. Waste of time!
Rose: Miss Skittles, do we have to room with him?
Edelweiss: Not if Dad has anything to say about it...
Rainbow: Now, girls, be nice. The cabins will be divided between boys and girls. Oh, Royal, you'll have to choose a cabin, I'm sorry.
Royal Cola: Girls!
Rose: *laugh*
Candle: Hey, not funny!
Candle: Just 'cause you don't have to sleep with him doesn't mean we don't!
Dawn: Yeah, and I bet he snores!
Parsley: I do not!
Dawn: Great! I'll bring earplugs anyway.
Candle: Hey, Cel! Pack a basketball and we can keep practicing.
Celestial: On what court, man. Just...take a break for a while. We need it.
Peridot: We do?
Peridot: A break from what?
Rainbow: Well, the spring semester, at least! Now, everyone have a good Winterfest, and I'll see you all next year!
*happy chatter*
Parsley: What a stupid, stupid waste of time!
Cinnamon: Be alright with girls? Can ask to switch?
Royal Cola: No, no, girls fine. Have same parts, and all friends. *muttering in Sixam* Not know Rose well, but friendly.
Cinnamon: Is true.
Celestial: What? What did I say?
Peridot: Not what, how! You sound like an old man sometimes, Cel!
Rose: Your Dad is seriously gonna let you come? I thought he was paranoid about you not leaving town.
Edelweiss: Nah, just about going to Glimmerbrook. Granola Falls is way far away, so it's fine.
Candle: Hey, d'you have spare earplugs? Parsley may not snore, but I bet you anything that Cel does.
Dawn: Sure! Summer does, so I've got plenty to spare. I'll pack triple just in case.
Candle: Thanks, man. You're a lifesaver.
That afternoon...
Bumble: You're serious?!
Fern: Absolutely. I don't see any reason not to be.
Obsidian: Vampire specific defense classes? That's...wow.
Fern: I really don't see why not. A huge part of the bad rep Vampires have with the Hunters and non-occults is how overpowering they can be. But if that power can be channeled into defense, not offense, well. It may help build some bridges. I'd offer to the wolves, too, but.
Obsidian: Yeah, they haven't left the wood in a while...
Bumble: But it's still such a risk! You took over for Ardere and that went well, but this...it's going to get attention, Fern.
Fern: Let it. I won't let good people live in fear or be seen as less just because of what they are.
Fern: And if Master Chronos has a problem with it, he can deal with me personally. By coming here and letting me lay him flat.
Obsidian: *startled laugh*
Bumble: Fern...thank you. I can't...just...thank you.
Obsidian: Seriously. I was turned, but everything I heard...no one's stood up for Vampires in a long, long time.
Fern: Well, we're just going to have to change that. A-and of course I'll listen if you have any ideas! You know Vampires and how that'll be seen. This is just what I know.
Virtue: So that's the good news. The bad news is every contact I have just about panicked when I told them about this.
Citrine: Panicked and found answers or panicked and ran for cover?
Virtue: That last one.
Virtue: Visions are no joke. I think I got half the community running for cover with one question.
Citrine: Yeah...Fern said they couldn't be broken. I don't understand why not, but...
Virtue: To know is to be bound.
Citrine: ...what?
Virtue: The way Gossamer explained it to me was that Visions are prophecies. Once you know of a prophecy, you're bound to its outcome no matter what you do. Only in not knowing are you free to make changes.
Virtue: That's why I haven't told El about how it was read over her, and why I think you shouldn't tell Peridot. It's about them, and we know about it, but...
Citrine: If they don't, they might still be able to change things.
Virtue: Exactly.
Virtue: Change for good or bad, I can't say, but...it's still a chance.
Citrine: ...and sometimes that's the best we can give them.
Raven: Why did I think this was a good idea?
Cinnamon: Sounded good at first!
Royal Cola: Is not so bad! Do not punch so hard!
Peridot: Quick jabs, not your whole back into it!
Peridot: Keep it moving and you can do it!
Celestial: Eyes up, fists up!
Edelweiss: left right left right!
Dawn: I am going to regret everything in the morning...
Hyacinth: You can do it, kids! We believe in you!
Orchid: That's it, that's it!
Calypso: Oh, good form, Cel! You've been practicing!
Celestial: Yep!
Edelweiss: Show-off!
Dawn: I'm not the only one feeling it, right? We all know each other from somewhere? Like, even though we can't have met before?
Edelweiss: We all go to school together, but Scarlet and Raven...
Scarlet: Yeah, no. but I do feel it, too.
Candle: Where, though? We don't hang out at the same places, go to the same school...I mean, us who go to the Academy, sure, but before today...nah.
Raven: But we all feel it anyway! That's got to mean something.
Peridot: ...maybe...okay this is gonna sound real strange, but. Have any of you been having weird dreams? About learning to fight under a sky with no sun?
Celestial: ...yeah.
Cinnamon: Yes. Strange--cannot remember if stars in that sky. Did not recognize moon.
Royal Cola: Not on any lunar chart. Asked Zee, did not recognize either.
Edelweiss: You guys too? Huh.
Dawn: Wait a second--we've all be having those dreams?!
Raven: For a while now.
Scarlet: I thought I was going nuts!
Candle: Maybe we all are? What're the odds of nine people have the same literal dream?!
Dawn: Can't be great!
Edelweiss: Don't ask me. But that must be how we know each other! From those dreams...somehow.
Royal Cola: Another world? No...*muttering in Sixamese* Plane? Gah! Cinnamon--
*rapid exchange in Sixamese*
Cinnamon: Ah! Other reality. Other life!
Celestial: Is that even possible?
Cinnamon: All things possible. Not certain how.
Peridot: But another life? How could that even happen? I thought you only get one...
Celestial: Maybe something went wrong, and we got another chance? Like in those sci-fi stories.
Royal Cola: Time travel not possible.
Edelweiss: They used to say that about magic, and aliens, and vampires. We just don't know enough yet, that's all.
Edelweiss: Not sure where we'd learn more, though...
Dawn: And if we say this to anybody they're gonna think we're nuts!
Scarlet: I mean, we kinda are?
Candle: There's good nuts and then there's bad nuts. This is...definitely bad nuts.
Candle: Maybe we shouldn't say anything?
Raven: If I told my parents they'd haul butt back to the mountains. No thank you!
Peridot: I told Gram and she just said I was reading too many books. They wouldn't believe us anyway.
Celestial: So we don't tell anyone.
Dawn: Fine with me!
Scarlet: Same. Ren and Daddy worry enough about me anyway.
Candle: Deal. But man--it's so cool! We're all already friends!
Edelweiss: It is pretty neat to skip that awkward introduction stuff, yeah.
Dawn: Man...Summer and Golden are gonna be so weird about this!
Scarlet: *giggle* Just tell them we bonded through sweat!
Celestial: *snorting laugh* I mean, we did!
Cinnamon: Yes! ...still very strange. What cause dreams now?
Royal Cola: All same age? Few moons difference.
Candle: Or maybe just all being in the same place?
Raven: That can't be it. I've been having dreams for months but you guys have gone to school together for years! Why would I be having dreams when the only one of you I knew before was Scarlet?
Peridot: That's...huh. You're right.
Peridot: So if it's not knowing each other before, maybe it's living in this town for so long?
Celestial: Could be?
Cinnamon: Unlikely. Lived on Sixam until two solar rotations ago. Not enough time.
Royal Cola: Lived in Delana one solar rotation ago. Had dreams there, too.
Celestial: So not the town, not the school, not knowing each other...that does leave our ages, doesn't it.
Peridot: Well, whatever it is, I'm glad. With bullies like Parsley, having more friends is always a good thing.
Celestial: ...yeah. It is.
Moonstone: You're going to love the Falls, sweetheart. There's so much to explore up there.
Saffron: Though we're going to have to pack extra bug spray.
Citrine: And remember to stick to the paths.
Fern: Oh, come on. Where's the fun in that?
Citrine: In not getting eaten by a bear.
Peridot: ...are there really bears up there?
Calcite: it is a forest, baby. It's their home more than it's ours.
Nova: Did you go when you were Peri's age?
Calcite: Ah--no. Amber and I were both a little...less than enthusiastic about camping. Our cousins went and apparently Lacus hated every second of it.
Nova: *snort* I believe that!
Fern: Oh, come on! Camping's not that bad. At least it's not winter.
Saffron: Oh don't tell me your Uncle had you camping in the dead of winter!
Fern: Only 'cause we went into the woods when it was summer.
Moonstone: Well! Summer in the falls is gorgeous, especially the sunrise over the water.
Calcite: It was pretty in fall, too. Though we did have a whole building to ourselves, so...
Nova/Peridot: That's not camping!
Peridot: ...though I think we'll have cabins instead of tents, too.
Fern: not too late to pack a tent, kiddo.
Calcite: Ha, you don't want a tent! We used to camp in the old mine, and, heh, those things are not great.
Nova: Babe, that was over forty years ago. New tech all the time.
Calcite: Still! Better a cabin with a bed and everything. Even if your roommates snore.
Peridot: Nah, I'm good with that. Candle's packing earbuds for everybody.
Fern: I am still amazed you kids made friends so quickly! It's like you've all met before.
Citrine: Well almost all of them are in the same class, so...
Peridot: And who wouldn't get along with Scar anyway?
Fern: That's a point--she's a real sweetheart, that one.
Citrine: Entirely Pep's influence.
Nova: We could go camping in the mines again...like old times?
Calcite: *snicker* Your back would kill you, babe.
Fern: Oh, no no no--I wouldn't sleep on stone and I'm almost thirty years younger than you, Pop! Don't do the thing!
Citrine: Please don't! I know the clinic is close but--
*everyone laughs*
Saffron: You know...we could go to the Falls again.
Moonstone: Hm? Another glamping trip?
Saffron: Well, yeah. Make a weekend of it, go walking in the snow and the forest together.
Moonstone: ...I'd like that. After the year turns over.
Moonstone: Just us, or...
Saffron: Just us. Like when we were kids.
Moonstone: *snicker* Kids we are not. Ayway--Peri, is there anything you're missing from the checklist they gave you?
Peridot: Nah! So long as I don't outgrow my boots, I'll be fine this summer.
Fern: Well, if you do we'll have plenty of time to get you new ones. Watcher you're getting so big so fast!
Peridot: Ma!
Calcite: Kids do that!
Calcite: Life marches on.
Nova: Yeah, but I think we're meeting this pace just fine.
The next day...
Virtue: Last chance to back out, kiddo.
Edelweiss: Dad, really! I want to go! Especially since...
Virtue: Especially since?
Edelweiss: Um...
Virtue: Oh, El...*sigh* I'm sorry. I know I promised we'd go to the beach together someday, but this case...
Edelweiss: No, it's okay! I know it's gotten really big. You were up late on it, weren't you.
Virtue: Too late.
Virtue: but I don't want you to worry about that, okay? I'll handle it.
Edelweiss: I know. Um...is there anything I can do to help?
Virtue: Honestly I'd be too worried about you if there was. So...I suppose you're right. Going would be good for both of us. So, you're sure?
Edelweiss: One hundred percent.
Virtue: Alright then! One email signed and sent.
Edelweiss: Thanks, Dad.
Edelweiss: Um...about your case...
Virtue: Ah ah. No talking about work until you're at least sixteen.
Edelweiss: Dad! *sigh* Can you at least tell me why it worries you?
Virtue: I can, but I won't.
Edelweiss: Dad...I'm not a baby!
Virtue: No, but you're my baby. Your only job is to be a kid while you're a kid. Leave the other job to me, okay?
Edelweiss: but I want to help!
Virtue: And you will! When you're older.
Edelweiss: Dad...
Virtue: no, don't Dad me. We have our agreement, remember? Be a kid, go to school, and when it's time for internships I'll take you on if you still want this line of work. No sooner than that.
Edelweiss: but that's years away, and you're worried now!
Virtue: El...*sigh* I am. This might have something to do with why your Mother and Father gave you to me, and you might have a reason to worry, too, but until you do you just leave it to me. I'll keep you safe.
Edelweiss: And who's going to keep you safe?
Virtue: El, I can handle myself. I promise, nothing's going to happen to me. Okay?
Edelweiss: ...okay. I trust you.
Edelweiss: Dad?
Virtue: Hm?
Edelweiss: I love you.
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