• I don't know what, when, why, or how it happened. But I do know this; it's how my sister and I became the Winged Knights, and how I found love. My name is Long Danzi, and my sister is Elaina, and this is our tale.

    I woke up on a cot. Earlier I was attacked by a black market hunter. I was a skinwalker, I had a lush tan coat with brown stripes, and if some selfish person were to kill me, they would get my pelt. People often came hunting for me and would take me to the black market. I expected to wake up in a cage, but no. I was on a dark green cot. I looked around, in the room were other people who were injured. Some were helping them, others were bringing in more, and some were leaving.

    "Hey you!" I said to a woman who was passing by. "I have a sister, she's a black Oldenburg centaur, about as high as me, is she here? She's got red hair and cat red eyes." I said. She thunk for a moment, then nodded. "Come with me." She said and helped me off, I stumbled and fell and hit my side. I growled in pain, that hurt more than it should have. She helped me up, then I noticed the bandage on the side of my abdomen, the must have been where the dart hit me. I leaned on her for support as she took my to my sister.

    She took me to some stabled. "Danzi! Over here!" A voice shouted. I looked, my sister was looking at me through the stables of other centaurs. I ran to her. "Sis! Are you okay?!" I asked. She nodded. "I'm fine, what about you?" She asked. I nodded as well. The woman backed up a bit. "Is something wrong?" I asked. "Forgive me, but strange things have been happening all around Japan, and we're all wary of anything that isn't human." She said. I raised an eyebrow. "Mind telling us more?" Elaina asked before I could. "You'll have to ask Zero." She said. "Who's Zero?" I asked. "Follow me." She said and motioned us out. I freed Elaina from the stall and followed her.
    ~~~~~~

    She lead us through what seemed to be a guild. Past the crowd I could see somebody slightly shorter than me wearing a long, flowing scarlet cape and a blue and white helmet with a pair of golden wings on the front talking to a woman. He seemed to have full body armor, I couldn't see even the slightest hint of human skin. We walked over to him.

    "Zero, these two don't know about the strange things going on, would you mind telling them?" The woman asked. He turned around to fully face us and the woman went back to work. "Of course, thank you, milady." He said. I could feel myself blush for some odd reason. Why the hell am I blushing at a time like this?

    As for what he looked like, he had rather elegant looking armor that was white as snow and blue as lakewater. His eyes were a rather pretty electric blue color. I found he wasn't human at all. He was a mecha, a robot. But... He seemed more intelligent than a robot though, like he was a human.

    The woman walked away. "You two know nothing about what's been going on?" He asked in a polite way. Elaina elbowed me, I guess I was a bit distant and I jumped. "Uh... Yeah, what's happened?" I asked. "All of the magical creatures in all of Japan have turned against us, and guilds like this have turned into havens for the injured and those who want to help get rid of the problem." He said. "Hey, I read about this somewhere." Elaina said. "It's unusual, nothing like this happens in the skinwalker forest." Elaina said, that was where we lives, at least, anything that wasn't human. I covered her mouth. "Elaina, he doesn't have to know we live in that forest!" I urged. "Right, sorry." She said quietly. "It's okay, I know." He said.

    "Anything we can do to help?" I asked. He thought for a moment. "Come with me." He said and hovered. He gave off a rather pleasant hum when he flew. Wait, why am I saying this?! He soon flew into another room, we followed.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    We walked into a room about the size of a small library. It was dark but I could see the shadows of weaponry, no guns or anything. At the end of the room were two fires as high as me, but they were light blue and orange at the top. I could see what looked like a set of armor. The mecha lead us to him.

    "Touch one of these flames, if they don't burn you, then you will be able to wear the armor that they guard." He said. I glared at him. "Okay but if this is a trick--" I stepped a little closer to one fire without noticing. "I'm gonna--"

    "Danzi! Look!" Elaina said. I looked at my leg, I was standing near the fire, touching it. It feel cool to the touch, I put my hand on the breastplate, it was a little bigger and didn't look fit for a male chest. Maybe for a female, perhaps? But nothing happened. Elaina touched it and in a flash of blue light she was wearing the armor and her arms looked like feathered raven wings. I stared in awe. "How does she have wings?!" I asked in shock. "This is the armor of what was the Winged Knights, they once saved the world from a great evil thousands of years ago. Before they died, they said, "we may die, but our souls will forever live in our armor. Pass it down, but the ones who shall wear it will not be males, but two chosen females. We will wait until next time." And then they died. They left their armor behind and it has been passed down from generation to generation and from family to family and it ended up here. I could have sworn I saw a male face in the other set. I shook my head and looked, nothing.

    Now to describe Elaina's armor, her breastplate was black with wolf head-shaped shoulder pads and it have ruby details and eyes. Her abdomen was bare. Her arms, as I've said, had raven wings. On her head she had a circlet that had wings like the ones on Zero's forehead, but they had black feathers and a ruby between them.

    I touched the other set of armor, and in a flash of blue light, I was wearing armor as well. My armor was dark blue, with a dragon theme, my breastplate was blue with a golden stripe along the side of it. I also had one shoulder plate that looked like 3 stacked together to make one. I had no circlet. I was in my true form when it happened and I was wearing dark blue scaled skirt armor. I was still wearing my black boots with red laces. But I had no wings. "I have no wings..." I said. "Stay still." Zero said and stood behind me, he pinched my shoulder blade and made me jump. Was he trying to flirt with me?! "What was that for?!" I asked. "I was touching your new wings." He said calmly. I tried to look over my shoulder. "He means these." Elaina said and reached over my shoulder and pinched something. Ouch! "Ow! Elaina, that hurts!" I said and jumped. I rubbed that side and felt a leaf, I tried to brush it off and I realized they were my wings! How could I fly with those?!

    "How the heck am I supposed to fly with these?!" I asked Zero sternly. "The one who wore it before you in legend said he had to use magic for that. I know the spell used for that. But will you help defeat this evil?" He asked and got on one knee. We nodded. "We will, what do we need to know?" I asked. "I can train you on how to use this armor. It's not like any other." He said. We nodded again. We spent that day training. Geeze it lasted ALL DAY!!!
    ---------------------------Part II--------------------------------------------

    I realized the next day I must have passed out. I was laying on something warm, yet made of metal. I snuggled up to it and wrapped my legs around it, and purred. I felt a spike and then felt something shaped like a wing, and I nibbled on it. I ran my hand along the surface of what felt like armor. My arms were around what felt like a chest plate and an arm was around my hip and a hand was on my wrist holding it gently and--

    "DANZI WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD ARE YOU DOING?!"

    Shrieked a voice. My eyes instantly flashed open. I was laying in a pile of armor, I got up and looked around. I looked where I layed, Zero was there too, I realized I slept with Zero and I LIKED IT!!! We screamed and bolted to different sides of the room.

    "Holly cats! Zero I am so sorry!!"

    I huffed and leaned against the wall in a panicky way like I was gonna get raped. I looked at Zero. He was avoiding eye contact. "Zero, using magic and info from others in the guild, I found the source of what's been going on, can we PLEASE go so THIS doesn't happen again?" She asked with her face in her hand. I snuck over to my armor and touched it. My armor was on instantly without the flash of light. I came back to them.

    Zero calmed down and nodded. "Get your weaponry, both of you." He said. I already had mine. Elaina went to hers and put it on. This time her raven wings were on her back like a peguses instead of on her arms. She didn't seem to care though. Elaina grabbed a sword and shield and I summoned my staff. Zero summoned a red, black, and gold shield along with a sword sheathed in it. We flew out then suddenly a man looking about 20 years old ran out. "Zero! Trouble!" He panicked. "Fox demons are attacking the front of the guild! We're trying to hold them off but it's not working!" He said and ran back out. Zero flew after him. We followed.

    In the front of the guild there were some beautiful foxes of different colors attacking humans. They were fox demons, but they NEVER attack humans! We helped out.

    Zero fought elegantly I could hardly concentrate on fighting. Elaina and I fought back-to-back and in a minute 5 foxes died and the rest ran away. Zero turned to the man who warned us. "Kai Duan, watch the guild. Elaina found the source of this evil and we're going after it." He said. The man nodded. "Okay Zero, good luck and be careful." He said. Elaina lead the way since we didn't know the way. Zero hovered. But for some reason I couldn't help but stare at him as he flew. Wait, something is wrong with this picture....
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    After about an hour of walking we ran into a group of pegicorns. We fought them as hard as we could.

    Even in battle, I couldn't help but stare at Zero. He was so elegant when he fought. I could only stare and forgot I was in battle... Okay I finally admitted it, I was in love with him. But how could I get the heart to tell him? Then...

    "DANZI LOOK OUT!!"

    Elaina shrieked. I sapped back into reality. I was about to be attacked by 4 pegicorns at once! I was to shocked to react. Elaina jumped in front of me and took the blow, 4 peguses horns were stabbed in her side at once! My eyes glowed red with rage. I flipped my staff and it became a dagger. I bolted and in seconds all the pegicorns were dead, one was left and it flew away. I ran to Elaina. I checked for a pulse and a heartbeat, nothing. Tears filled my eyes and I started to cry. Zero dropped his sword and shield and put a hand on my shoulder. "Milady, Elaina may be dead, but we have to keep pressing--" But before he could finish I clung to him and wept. I dug my claws into any crack in his armor I could find.

    I guess he knew I liked him, he kissed my cheek. His mouthpiece felt warm to the touch on my cheek. I sighed after that and pulled away. "T-t-thanks Zero, I n-needed that..." I said, and wiped a few more tears away. We looked up, it was cloudy and dark. It was night, and it was going to rain. "Danzi, we must find shelter." He said. I nodded and got up. I took Elaina's macaw hairpin out of her hair and put it in mine. We both had one, hers was red and green, mine was blue and gold. Zero found a nearby cave and flew to it. I followed.

    I layed down on the floor of the cave. Zero layed down as well. "Well Danzi, I suppose we'll have to find it ourselves tomorrow." He said. I nodded and started to fall asleep. Zero did as well. I'm telling him the truth. I opened an eye and looked at him. He was already asleep. I sighed. I got up and walked to a small cliff on the side of the hill. It was a sharp drop down.

    I started to sing softly,


    In a perfect world
    One we've never known
    We would never need to face the world alone

    They can have the world
    We'll create our own
    I may not be brave or strong or smart
    But somewhere in my secret heart

    I know
    Love will find a way
    Anywhere I go
    I'm home
    If you are there beside me

    Like dark turning into day
    Somehow we'll come through
    Now that I've found you
    Love will find a way

    I suddenly heard a soft hum. I looked behind me, Zero was hovering towards me. He landed and sang, picking up where I left off;

    I was so afraid
    Now I realize
    Love is never wrong
    And so it never dies

    There's a perfect world
    Shining in your eyes

    My eyes sparkled. I ran to him as he took my hands gently. We both flew upwards slowly and sung together,

    And if only they could feel it too
    The happiness I feel with you

    They'd know
    Love will find a way
    Anywhere we go
    We're home
    If we are there together

    Like dark turning into day
    Somehow we'll come through
    Now that I've found you
    Love will find a way

    Our foreheads touched gently, letting me feel the gem on his forehead between the golden wings on his head as we slowly came back to the ground, we sung one last line softly, in unison;

    I know love will find a way

    I blushed slightly, "Zero, I never knew you felt that way...." I said softly. My heart started to beat so fast it made a cheetah's speed look like a tortoise.

    "I knew you felt this way about me Danzi. I never said anything, but I feel the exact same way." Zero replied gently.

    "I thought on this journey, I would save China and my sister and I would gain a friend, I lost a sister, but I gained love...." I finished. I could feel my arms weakening. I tried not to show it.

    "I thought the same, I thought I would gain two allies, the saviors of China, but instead, I lost one, but fell in love with the other, something I thought I would never do." Zero said in response.

    My eyes fell away from his electric blue eyes. "I'd love to kiss you too....." I muttered softly without thinking, then I slowly glanced up at his eyes, realizing that I was so close he could hear me whisper. I masked a gulp.

    "I thought that would be weird." Zero teased, probably trying to shed light on my remark. I smiled, "Well I guess that just makes us the strange ones here." I said back, leaning in closely, seeking a kiss.

    Gently our lips locked. I noticed even through closed eyes that the gem on his chest was pulsing from the way it glowed. My wings fluttered like a butterfly and lifted me a few inches off the ground, Zero followed. I kept my scar-covered hand in his gentle one, while keeping my lips pressed against his mouthpiece. I would purr, but I didn't. We continued to float, the hum from his flotation device was music to my ears. Slowly though, I began to pull away.

    "I love you," He said gently while holding me in mid-air letting me stop flying, yet letting my small wings continue to flutter like a butterfly.

    I looked into his sparkling electric blue eyes, they were so beautiful, "I love you too," I responded as we came in for another kiss.....

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The next morning it was raining outside. I woke up and looked. My Winged Knight wasn't in my arms like he was the night before, no pun intended. Where he layed the night before were some rocks. I got up and yawned. It clouds didn't look so dark, but they were still a dark shade of gray and it was raining. I saw Zero standing on a small hill staring into the distance. I walked to him.

    "Zero, are you okay?" I asked. I pointed to a cave with a black aura pouring out of it. "That must have been what Elaina was talking about." He said. "We have to go in." I said. Zero looked at me. "Fair and courageous, a combination I rarely ever find." He said. I blushed slightly. "Thank you, my Winged Knight." I said. He nodded and flew towards the cave. I followed. I watched as he flew. His hum was music to my ears. Wonderful!

    We soon landed near the cave. My fur was soaked. The light through the clouds made Zero's armor look elegant. Then again, he already WAS elegant. Water gently dripped off his armor. I walked into the cave. It was dry. I could feel a warm breeze coming out of the cave. Probably dragon breath. I summoned my staff and walked in. It smelled of rotting flesh.

    "It's a dragon cave." Zero said. "What makes you say that?" I asked, keeping my wolf ears out to listen for trouble. There were bones, fur, feathers, and skulls scattered everywhere, so it was obvious. "Feel that warm air? Dragon breath. Those bones are obviously leftovers from prey, it's obvious." He said. I nodded without turning around. Next we entered a dark, open chamber. I couldn't see my own hand in front of me. But the breath felt warmer. I could see Zero's glowing eyes.

    "Who dares to enter my chamber?!"

    A dragon roared. I saw a pair of glowing red eyes open and a neck flex itself. It WAS a dragon! "We do!" I growled. A few fires lit up around the room revealing dead animal and human carcasses. The dragon had pure black scales and bloody teeth and glowing red eyes. It chucked. "So, you are the winged knights I've been waiting for. You don't look so winged." It said. I growled and clutched my staff. It lowered it's head to face me. "I believe we've never met. I'm Diao, the Dragon of Darkness, and you are...?" It asked. I jumped on its snout and my staff became a sword. I stabbed it between the eyes as hard as I could.

    It shrieked, and swatted me like a fly and I crashed into a wall and landed in a pile of bones. My staff nearly stabbed me. Zero flew. "Hear me Omana!" He chanted and sliced the air with his sword, an electric blue crescent not unlike his eyes flew through the air and hit the dragon's eyes. It shrieked and thrashed and rubbed it's face. "Milady! Now!" Zero yelled. I flew and sliced the dragon's head off. It fell down dead and disappeared. The whole cave lit up and the fresh carcasses were lifted. But it lasted only a moment. Zero and I saw a cage with a small silver and gold dragon in a cage with dark blue eyes. I ran to it and freed it. It dropped on the ground. "Zero, is it alive?" I asked Zero. He walked to me.

    Zero picked it up carefully. "Yes, she's starved, a little malnourished, and dehydrated. She needs some sunlight too." He said. I picked up the dragon and ran out of the cave. Zero flew after.

    Outside of the cave was a stream. It was dry when we came out, but now it was flowing with water and fish were jumping in and out like there was no tomorrow. I put the dragon there and put it's nuzzle in the water gently. I saw it's jaw move, meaning it was alive and needed water. It took a minute, but it stood, and fell again. "Food." A voice said in my mind. "I need food." It was telepathy, the dragon was trying to talk to me. I saw a raspberry bush nearby. It tried to crawl to it. I picked it up and helped it. It started picking and eating the berries bit by bit. I picked a few and offered them to the dragon. It ate them and soon stood straight. "Thank you, brave knights." It said.

    "You have saved me and all of the world from a devastating fate. I am Selma, the Dragon of Light and protector of living things." it said and stepped into the sunlight. "Wait, Selma, there was one more. She was my sister. But... She died trying to save me." I said and hung my head. "I know. Head back to whence you came, I'll have a surprise when you return." It said and disappeared. "Come milady, let's leave." Zero said. I nodded and started to fly off. My staff disappeared. I hung my head a bit.

    "Something wrong?" Zero asked.

    "Well Zero... It's just... After this I must go back to the skinwalker meadow, but only I can go. I have to leave you behind. I can't do that, I love you." I said.

    "Then stay with me." He urged.

    "I would love to Zero, but I cannot." I said. A tear lodged itself in my eye. Zero put a hand on my shoulder. "Then we'll have to make our last moments together last." He said. I nodded sadly.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Soon enough, we returned to the guild. We were greeted by others in the guild as well as animals who were released from the dark curse. We landed holding hands. "Hey! Over there!" A telepathic voice shouted. Zero and I looked. A familiar black centaur flew towards the guild. We all cheered, then she crashed into the guild with a CRASH! Everybody laughed, even Zero and I. We helped her up.

    "But sis, how?!" I asked. "I was dead, but I was revived my a dragon." She said. Zero and I shared a look. I told Elaina what had happened, she thought it was strange, but she didn't think bad of it.

    Many hours later it was time for Elaina and I to leave. Elaina left us alone to say goodbye for what seemed like the last time. I struggled not to let go of his hand, but I did. "Goodbye Zero." I said. He kissed my lips. "Goodbye my love. I hope our paths will cross again." We held eachother's hands for a moment, then I slide my out of his reluctantly and walked away. I wiped a few tears away, then took off at a run, not wanting to look back. Elaina saw me and followed.
    --------------------------But that's not the end-------------------------------------

    I cried myself to sleep that night, I wasn't sure if Elaina could hear me, but I didn't want to know. Then.....

    "DANZI WAKE UP!!"

    Elaina shrieked next to my ear the next morning. I gasped and rolled out of bed wearing a black, flowing night gown. "What is it sis? It's...." I looked out the window. It was to cloudy, I couldn't see the sun. "Early, this better be important." I said. "Well first off, somebody is here to see you!" She said excitedly, "and clean that dried blood off your face." She said airily. I looked in the mirror, I cried blood last night. I went into the bathroom and washed my face and put on my scarlet hairpin. I walked into the living room, and gasped!

    Hovering,

    right there,

    rose in hand,

    in the middle of the room,

    was Zero, the Winged Knight. I gasped, and ran to him. "Zero?! Is that really you?!" I nearly screamed with happiness. "Yes my love." He said, and offered me the rose. I took it gratefully and hugged him. "But how?!" I asked, and looked at Elaina. "Well Danzi, I couldn't stand being so far away, so I spent the whole night coming to the skinwalker forest. I went through the gates and looked everywhere for you and Elaina." He said. "And your sister.... Well...." He stopped in mid-sentence. I looked at Elaina. "I offered for him to live with us, for good." She said. I nearly screamed and let go of Zero. "You mean it?!" I screamed with joy. Both nodded. I hugged Elaina. "You're the best sister ever, than you." I said and ran to Zero and hugged him again, then gave him a kiss on the mouthpiece in a surprise attack. He was surprised at first, but he didn't fight back. '

    I did always wonder one thing though, if we do have kids, what will they look like?! :O