"Aaaah!"

Her yell barely echoed before being absorbed into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. She squirmed, legs and wings getting further entangled in the net. What was going on?

"Help!" she called, still struggling to free herself. "Help--!"

The faint sound of a chuckle cut her shout off. Luna looked around frantically, but all she could see was the velvety darkness, and a few stars glimmering far above her.

"Wh-who's there?" she called, hating herself for letting her voice tremble. The rope dug against her feathers, ruffling them painfully.

"Shouting won't do you any good, girlie..." The words emerged as a raspy whisper from somewhere in the shadows.

"Let me go!" Luna cried. "What've you done to me?!"

"The question isn't what... but why."

Even though Luna couldn't tell where the voice was coming from, it was definitely coming closer.

"Why then?" she demanded. Pain snaked up her back and spread across the Eyrie's wings.

"You have something I urgently need."

For the first time since her unexpected ascent, Luna remembered the item she was holding in a satchel on her belt.

She frowned. "I'm delivering this on a faerie's quest. What's it got to do with you?"

"I'll tell you..." The voice seemed to surround her now. "Once you hand it over."

"Fyora you say." Said the voice in an amused tone. "In that case my dear, you must give it to me."

Luna squirmed to free her hand enough to reach down and clutch the potion she had been carrying. "You dont understand," she said. "This potion takes Kauvara months to make. Fyora will not be pleased if she has to wait longer than she already has."

"Hand it over, and I will THINK about letting you go." Yelled the voice in an angry tone. "Fyora must not get that potion or everything will be ruined."

"What do you mean?" Questioned Luna.

"Well," said the voice getting closer. "It all started with the fall of Faerieland..."

"... with the fall, an enormous ammount of scrolls, magic potions and books was stolen or destroyed. Many of those stolen books... well, they ended up in the wrong hands. Specially the potions ones..."

"Wait", said Luna, in shock. "So you are stating that..."

"Maybe this potion isn't so innocent as it looks", said the voice. Even though Luna feared the voice, she started fearing even more what she was carrying in her belt. "The book containing the recipe for this potion was awarded to Kauvara in a Magic Competition. No one knows for sure who held that competition. However, Fyora knew the story, and requested Kauvara, an expert potion maker, to brew this." "But why would Fyora wants such a dangerous potion?", Luna asked. "Well", said the voice calmly. "There's a very good reason. It's..."

Luna looked down at the glass container that she was gripping tightly, she gulped as she felt a sudden fear of the potion.

In that moment a Gelert slowly trotted out from behind a cluster of trees.

"Why do you look so afraid?" The Gelert asked with a slight grim.

Luna realized that the mysterious voice belonged to the Gelert.

"Afraid?" Luna scoffed, "Not at all, why would be?"

Suddenly the Gelert pounced and knocked Luna over, hovering over her body he quickly stole the potion nd jumped back onto his hind legs.

"I believe the reason why you look so afraid is because you are scared of what I am going to do with it." The Gelert said as he pulled the bung out of the neck of the bottle.

He sniffed the brew as he swirled the liquid around.

"You didn't possibly think you could get away with this did you? He asked pushing the bottle towards Luna's mouth.

Luna could not help but drink the potion, a small few sips.

The Gelert chuckled. "Now what do you have to tell me..?"

"Who is this 'they' you're referring to?" the Gelert asked.

"A Faerie who said she was sent by Fyora," Luna replied. Her words froze the Gelert who had been pacing around her, and he slowly turned towards her.

"A Faerie who was sent by Fyora, you say? By any chance, was this Faerie wearing a cloak that masked her face and body?" he growled.

"Y-yes." Luna's mouth grew dry when the Gelert pierced through her with the glare in his eyes.

"This situation is already going from bad to worse," he muttered.

"Wha--"

Pointing one paw at her face, the Gelert leaned in closer and barked, "You, do you realize what you've agreed to? There's no time to waste; you're coming with me."

With a rough pull, he dragged Luna up off the ground and began running through the forest. Luna, between heavy pants for air, asked...

... the Gelert what was going on.

"You've been tricked," he said as he hurtled through the underbrush, leaving Luna with small scrapes as she tried to scramble as fast with clumsy legs. "That Faerie is an impostor. She's working against Fyora."

Luna didn't believe the Gelert. "Why did you set a trap for me then?" she inquired, a hint of scepticism in her voice.

"I was also asked to retrieve the same potion from the masked Faerie," he replied without hesitation, "but I eventually found out about her ploy. Little did I know that she would assign other hopeful questers with the same task. She probably doesn't trust any of us or believes that we can't complete the mission."

The two had reached the forest boundary, where Luna requested to take a break. The Gelert allowed her and continued to speak as he sat against a fallen log.

"I don't know how many Neopets are trying to find this potion but in any case, we've got to stop them!"

Just then, the sound of manic laughter filled the air. Luna and the Gelert instantly got up and looked everywhere around them.

"I don't think so. My plans won't be foiled by the likes of a puny Neopet like you."

A whirlwind formed in the middle of nowhere, sweeping through the area with powerful gales. Luna reflexively shielded her eyes from the dust and debris. The Gelert, meanwhile, held on to the log to prevent himself from being blown away.

As soon as the winds died down, the Eyrie squinted her eyes open to see ...

A cloaked figure standing in the fast-coming fog. Luna gasped with fear and tried steady her trembling legs. The long black hood covered the imposter's eyes, but it showed her baring teeth.

"Neopets are tools- not heroes!" she hissed. "Come now, Xavier. Why do you work for a fool like Fyora? Her powers are nothing compared to mine!"

With a great shock Luna turned to the Gelert who she was just starting to believe, the potion beginning to where-off.

"You- you know this faerie?"

He remained silent, only dug his claws deeper into the soft ground.

"Hmm... I'll make a deal with you." the imposter said. "Turn your back against Fyora, and work for me? You'll be rewarded kindly. At the least hand over the potion, and your lives shall be spared!"

Xavier's paws trembled as he held up the potion to the wicked faerie. His eyes were clouded with a red fog. 'What is he doing?' Luna thought with fear.

Summoning all the courage that she could muster, she launched herself into the air between the Gelert and the faerie, and knocked the potion from his paw. With a gasp of horror from the cloaked one the potion fell to the ground and the vile shattered.

"YOU DARE!" the faerie screamed. With a flick of her wrist a staff was summoned to her hands and she took aim to Luna...

Luna readied herself in the dusted cover of the night, for fear had taught her a simple lesson long ago: courage is not always found in absence of fear, at times it is found...in spite of...fear.

"You can't gain anything here, the potion is gone," Luna warned, voice wavering as she hovered between the raised malicious staff and Xavier who seemed to only be able to hover there, his eyes teared up and blinking fast as he gathered his bearings.

She felt the courage begin to wane, dying quicker than the last flick of an ember as a trickle of laughter was emitted from the shadow of the hood.

Her staff traced the outline of Luna's wings, resting the glowing jeweled tip at the soft spot of Luna's chest, right above the pounding of her escalating heartbeat.

"I wouldn't say it's gone completely...would you?"

With the taste of the truth potion still sweetened on Luna's lips, she found herself unable to lie, confronted with the threat in front of her as she fought relentlessly, and quite uselessly, against the implications of the imposter's words. With an excruciating effort, the truth potion peeled the final shake of her head - the blood veins of her body no doubt still holding the traces of the truth potion.

"I will have your compliance, one way or another," she chuckled, raising the staff into the chilled night air, the speckle of stars tossed out across the galaxy became a last witness as she gave a mighty swipe through the air. Luna felt the air sucked out and choked around her, a powerful wind flipping her body up before forcing her body hard onto the ground, a dustball clogging her throat and tearing her eyes as she landed.

Luna wavered between conscious and unconscious, the last flickering gleam of Xavier starring in horror at her, until he dimmed from view and a great and terrible coldness spread across the tips of her shuddered wings.

The faint echo of the imposters wicked laughter causing a last effort muscle spasm of terror...

"You won't succeed in your evil plans, my people have you surrounded on all sides" Fyora said angrily.

The faerie smirked at Fyora, and held her weapon pointed towards Luna.

"You will let me go or I will destroy the last of the truth potion and you will never know what you seek!! "

Fyora paused, and eyed the faerie carefully.

"I know you don't I?" Fyora said with shock on her face. The imposer Faerie laughed gleefully and said spitefully..

How will the story end...

...the dark faerie Jhudora herself.

Fyora scowled. "Why are you doing this?"

"My motives are none of your concern," she said vaguely. "I just knew I had to obtain the potion before you wasted it on your own silly utilizations." Tossing her purple-green hair, she frowned. "I sent a pathetic Neopian on a quest to retrieve it," she continued, glaring at Luna. "Of course, she failed. No surprise there. So I had to take up the job myself." She flashed a malicious grin. "But it seems we are both too late. The potion is gone. There's nothing you can do-"

Suddenly, two faeries appeared behind Jhudora. Then two appeared on her left. Then two on her right. Then four more appeared. Jhudora's smile quickly vanished from her lips.

"I told you that you were outnumbered," Fyora said calmly. "This is over now. You will drop your weapon, return to your Bluff, and abandon all ideas of obtaining such a potion again."

Rage ripped across the features of the dark faerie's face. "I will never forget this, Fyora. You can count on that," she said, dropping her staff as the faeries escorted her away.

Fyora turned next to Xaviar and Luna. "I hope you two are alright. I am sorry you had to be involved in this scuffle," she said as she brought them back to the ground.

Luna's drifted downward slowly and delicately back onto her feet. "Thank you for saving us," she said, still a bit stunned.

"It's no trouble at all, and again, I apologize for this mess. Please, come to Faerie City. We will take care of you two for awhile, and then you can be on your way."

As they started on their way to the City, Luna watched Jhudora recede into the distance, and thought she heard her cackle once more before disappearing into the night.

The End.