Shadows Burning

Ribbon hesitated for a moment, then decided to tell Darkness. "I was arguing with Burning, like when I was trying to get him to move away from Dancing, when he got bigger and morphed into this creepy dragon-man creature," she whispered, shuddering at the memory.

"Can you describe what he looked like? Maybe draw a picture?" Darkness knew it was going to be hard to get this out of Ribbon.

"I don't want to," Ribbon said, knowing she sounded like a little kid but not caring, because that was how she felt. Right now she just wanted to go back to sleep, but was afraid that it, the creature, would come back. She didn't want to talk to Darkness, didn't want to draw a picture for her, didn't want to do anything.

Raindrop, still wide awake from her own encounter with the dagon-man, turned on her side, facing Ribbon and darkness at the bed beside her.  "i saw him too." she said softly, shivering from the memory.  the image was still fresh in her mind. 

"Can you describe him, then?" Darkness asked, losing patients. "Maybe you should speak to the headmasters."

Darkness still wanted to know about the dream and what the creature looked like, but decided it was a bad idea.

"well, he kind of had leathery skin and big wings and a tail, but he walked on two legs. he had big claws and big fangs and he was creepy. '  Raindrop couldn't find the words for any further description.  she didn't know how to explain the strange features of his face or the way his limbs didn't seem to fall quite right.   

"Some parts of him looked like they didn't know whether they were supposed to be dragon, or supposed to be man, and it was just wrong," Ribbon joined in. She started to shudder again, as if trying to clear her mind of the memory.

"Do you think Shadows has had the dream?"

Darkness said looking over at Shadow's bed. "Maybe it was just a bad dream. It's been a long day and maybe it's getting to you." Darkness said, walking back over to her bed.

"I don't think it was just a bad dream," Ribbon muttered. She stared at the ceiling, exhausted but trying not to fall asleep again.

"If it's okay with you guys, I think I'll turn in. It's been a long day, and we'll probably have another one tomorrow." Darkness said, crawling into bed. She closed her eyes and rolled over.

"If you see it, well, you've been warned," Ribbon said in reply.

"Maybe, maybe not." Darkness mumbled back. She doubted she would see it, but there was always a chance.

Raindrop nodded her agreement and buried her face in her pillow, lying on her stomach.  she always slept this way.  for her, it was the only comfortable position.  soon she was asleep again, but this time her sleep was dreamless. 

Darkness began tossing and turning in her sleep. Of course, right after she had been warned, the nightmare came. A Disgusting half man half dragon creature came into veiw. Slowly, he opened his wicked mouth and the words of the prophecy came out. FInally, she woke up. She found her hands clamped over her ears. She layed there, slowly taking her hands away from her ears. Darkness then pulled her blanket over her head and curled up in a ball. Then she just layed there, waiting for the night to finally end.

Ribbon, unable to stay awake any longer, drifted off. Unlike Raindrop's, her sleep was again haunted with terrible nightmares.This time, Dancing was carrying Raindrop off again, but Ribbon couldn't find Flowing to go after her. Then Burning snatched up Shadow, and one by one each of her friends was taken. She felt jaws close around her own waist. Screaming, she twisted her head around to find herself face to face with the half-dragon.

Darkness poked her head out from the blanket to see that Ribbon was having another nightmare. Darkness uncurled and pushed herself out of bed and walked over to Ribbon's bunk. Putting both hands on Ribbon, she shook her as hard as she could.

Ribbon felt Darkness's shake, and her first thought was that the dragon-man was shaking her. She struggled, still asleep, shrieking  more and more frantically in her terror.

Darkness realized that shaking Ribbon wasn't going to work. Going to drastic measures, she ran over to her bunk and grabbed the glass of water she always kept there. She rushed back over to Ribbon's bed. "I'm sorry about this Ribbon!" She said, and dumped the water on Ribbon.

Sputtering, Ribbon woke up to find Darkness once again standing over her, this time with an empty glass in her hand. She was shaking. It had felt so real; usually she couldn't feel physical sensations in her dreams.

"Not to try and deprive you of any much needed rest, but I don't think you should go back to sleep." Darkness said.