Dark Side Of The Moon

Chapter 30: Chrissy

 It was past midnight when Chrissy heard a very peculiar knock at the door. She and Yujin were back at home, and she was curled up on the couch reading a soap opera. Yujin lay soundly asleep, his head resting on her shoulder.

Hearing the knock, Yujin jolted awake, rising to go get the door.

"Yujin, I'll get it," she pushed him down playfully. "You just sit here and be good, ok? You've had enough for one night."

The banging on the door was persistent. Chrissy gathered some changeling slime in one hand to use as defense, while she opened the door cautiously with the other.

"Help! Please help us!"

It was Seunghee, her hair matted, and streaked with dirt. No...not just Seunghee. She had five others with her. A man and a woman in their fifties. A woman in her seventies. Two boys in their twenties. All of them changelings, all in the same state of exhaustion.

"Seunghee...I didn't know you had so many new friends," Chrissy said, the dig that she made visibly affecting her, seeing from how she winced.

"Chrissy, I'm sorry for what happened. But we really, really need your help. Please let us inside!"

Chrissy didn't exactly want to help her, but she had come with a large group. If they were spotted, it would take a lot of explaining to cover up the situation.

She opened the door to let everyone in, then locked it behind them. Chrissy returned to the sofa, crossing one leg over the other. "Why, exactly, should I help you?"

Seunghee dropped to her knees. "Please, we're so lost and you were the only one-"

"The only one?"

"Yes. The only changeling who actually understands this." Seunghee gestured to everyone's insect-like wings and fangs.

"Tell me more," Chrissy said, intrigued. "How did this happen?"

"Immediately after I ran away, I decided to go to my most trusted friend, Leo," she explained, pointing to one of the boys. He was tall and had a mole above his left eye. "I explained the whole situation, and he thought it would be a good idea for me to feed off love."

"Oh, shit," Chrissy muttered, already predicting the end.

"Yeah," Seunghee admitted. "You can guess what happened. Leo, do you want to continue it?"

"Ok," he said. "After I became a changeling, me and Seunghee decided that we should feed off the love of people we didn't know instead."

"And you killed them," Chrissy finished.

"What?' Seunghee gasped. "How do you know that?"

"Happened to us today," Yujin mumbled, waking up. "I'm a murderer."

"Yeah, me too," Leo said. "We decided we should leave the city, but not without letting my family know first. This is where it gets confusing. I didn't even try to feed off love, but somehow it happened. That's how my brother Lucas, mom Sofia, dad Alejandro and grandma Luisa all became changelings too." He hung his head. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Lucas said. "The fangs totally help me achieve the bad boy look." He gave Seunghee a flirtatious grin and she rolled her eyes, though she was smiling as well.

"Hmm," Chrissy considered it. "Yujin, what do you think?"

"Me?"

Chrissy nodded.

"Help them. You remember how lost you felt when you first became a changeling," Yujin suggested.

Chrissy thought over it. Part of her felt like her best friend didn't deserve the help after her betrayal, and she had little care for strangers. But she was curious to learn more about her abilities, and it wouldn't hurt to have a few more allies. Besides, she enjoyed having this sort of power over people.

"Ah...ok. I'll help you. But everything has a price. Let's make a deal. I'll help you adjust to your new form. But in return, I want your loyalty and submission," Chrissy bargained.

"Deal," Seunghee replied, followed by the rest of the group. "So, how does this whole "taking love" thing work? It seems to have different effects on different people."

"You're right. If you have a connection to someone in any way, they become a changeling. But if you take love from a stranger, they die, as there was no connection," Chrissy tied all the information together.

"Wait! There's one more example," Alejandro said. "I was on the outskirts of town, and I ran into one of the rival vendors. He's always had it out for me — tried to sabotage my business a few times. That day, he attacked me. One thing led to another, and I ended up sucking all of the love out of him. I don't know how to explain what happened. He just....lost himself."

"But you knew him," Chrissy clarified. "So wouldn't he just become changeling? You guys had a connection."

"Not the good kind," Sofia replied. "They were enemies."

"So he's still alive?" Chrissy asked. "And not a changeling?"

Alejandro furrowed his brow. "I think so. After that happened, he stopped fighting. He had this blank look in his eyes, and he wandered off in the opposite direction. That was the last I saw of him."

"Is there any way to fix this?" Seunghee asked. "We have to feed off love, and that either means we kill people, turn them into a changeling, or you know, completely strip them of their personality and leave them an emotionally dead shell of their former self-"

"We get the point," Lucas said. "Basically, no matter what, we're screwed."

Everyone looked at Chrissy for her reply. "You couldn't say it better."

"So there's no way out of this?" Seunghee demanded. "There has to be a way to fix it! I-I don't want to live like this....."

Leo gave Seunghee a reassuring hug.

"Well, we could go back," Chrissy suggested. She told them about her life in Canterlot, her friendship with Princess Luna, how she was sacrificed to fulfill the dreams of the man who would ultimately become the Shadow King.

Everyone was silent for a few moments, staring at her in awe.

"Damn. That is one hell of a backstory," Lucas commented.

"It never gets old," Seunghee replied. "The part where he's like "take her instead" always gets me, like, you asshole!"

Luisa cleared her throat, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, sorry, sorry, grandma," Seunghee muttered. "That was not the right word to use."

"So, we have to go to the Wish Granter's Hut then?" Sofia asked.

"Yes. But, you can't just show up. We had to time it correctly. We went during the Dark Side of the Moon. When it was pure black. And that won't happen again for another seven months. I don't know if we can wait that long."

"What do you mean?" Lucas asked. "We're not going to die, are we?"

Chrissy sighed. "The longest I went without feeding off love was two weeks. And I was severely malnourished by that point. The sooner we can go, the better."

"Well, the Dark Side of the Moon can't be the only time it's open, right?" Sofia asked. "I don't remember where I read this, but it was something about how the world needs balance between darkness and light..."

As if on cue, Luisa, the old woman in her seventies, started singing a song with a haunted, almost foreboding melody. Her voice was raspy, but it had a strange hypnotizing quality that made everyone fall quiet to listen to her:

I know a tale spread far and wide

They say the grass is greener on the other side

The mountains are cold

But the moon is bright

So bright, you cannot tell day from night

It's Illumina   

A/N: Hi everyone! Thanks so much for sticking with me! It's been a while, but I hope to get this story finished ASAP! If you have any ideas/suggestions, feel free to comment. I love to hear your thoughts!