#hatchling would probably remain confused over all though

[catflowerqueen]

It would be so funny if the Hatchling just somehow accidentally glitched into the Prisoner's cell.

Like. Not with the official glitches they're supposed to use.

They just, somehow, before they even really started exploring the simulation or realized there was anything even hidden in that vault, glitched their way in and, like, fell through the ceiling and landed right in front of them.

Sure, they wouldn't actually be able to let the Prisoner out if they did this... But they could still share their story, at least.

[edgeray]

I just read your dragon arle x dragon hunter reader fic and I can't stop rereading it. Can I request either the dragon sibs & arlecchino's pov of the fic or a continuation of the fic (either of just reader's daily life now that they've been adopted by a dragon family or of arlecchino and (maybe) the dragon babies having human forms and surprising the reader with them (maybe both))?

Also could I be 🏹 anon? (I'm not the one who requested dragon arle x dragon hunter reader but damn do I wish I was)

Dragon Hunter Mother Part 2

(Arlecchino x Fem! Reader)

A/N -  Part 1 here I'M BACKKKKKKKKKK. Okay, wow, uh, hi, anons! Yes, you can be 🏹 anon, I added you to the list a while ago. To the anon that was asking for readers to fight off other dragon hunters, if you request again, give yourself a name/emoji like my other wonderful anons :). 🍎 anon, I'm not sure what you mean by real form, but I had the real form for Arlecchino as her human form.  If it wasn't clear, I thought I was just going to combine all three of these into one part, hopefully that's okay with you guys. I wrote this as best as I could. I didn't think the dragon au! would be so liked but guess the world building I pulled from my ass paid off. Reader will be fem just like the first part. Hopefully you guys like this sequel! And hope the world building for this is okay. I don't know why, but I decided to put an excessive amount of stupid world building that probably doesn't make sense… Also made the babies smaller (and I changed this in the first part too) so cuddling them can be better <33 sorry this took so long... hopefully the length makes up for it. 🫶 this makes the longest request I've done so far, and somehow I wrote all of this today... Content warnings / info - creature x reader, arlecchino is a dragon. fem reader, graphic violence, you get called a bitch (sorry), 3.9k words

Being kidnapped adopted by a family of dragons was not on your bucket list, but here you are. At the beginning, you considered running– after all, you had no idea if you were just going to be emergency dragon food or something, though logically you knew that dragons didn't eat humans. You were a hunter, and you were on a job, but you couldn't find it within yourself to pick up the sword again. Not only would that be foolish because there was no fathomable way for you to beat the Father dragon, but the trio of younglings had grown on you in such a short amount of time. It's only been a few weeks, and you feel like you've quickly adjusted to this weird, but cozy family nonetheless. 

The first night you met the dragons quickly became a fond memory to recall back to. What transpired during that night was this: after the babies had successfully calmed down their Father, their Father sat up, growling something to the hatchlings. The large dragon began striding in the direction of where it came from, and the babies left your side to follow. Confusion struck you and you approached the Father dragon.

“Hey, wait, where are you guys–” your own yelp interrupted you as the larger dragon's tail coiled around, picking you up like you were no more than a leaf. You squirmed in its grasp until you were dropped onto the Father’s head. Your eyes widened upon realizing what they were going to do, and you cling onto one of the spikes on the dragon’s head for dear life. The Father dragon flaps its wings a few times, striding backwards, and then begins running. The movements nearly threw you off of the dragon had you not white-knucle gripped onto it, and then you feel the rushing of wind all over you, threatening to blow you away. Your eyes burned from the oncoming torrent, and you shutted your eyes as the frigid night air whips around you, just praying to your archons that you remain alive after this. 

You didn’t know how long you squeezed your eyes shut, but by the time the icy gusts stopped pricking at your skin–only just caressing your skin like a gentle embrace–it’s when you finally opened your eyes. A black canvas dotted with various bright specks greeted your vision, and you gaped silently. You’ve always thought that the night was beautiful, but up close, you were sure of it; it’s entrancing and no short of magnificent. The beating organ inside of your chest thumped rhythmically, and you thought that if you reached out your hand, you would be able to feel the stars on your fingertips. 

You heard a croak beside you and you recalled that you were among dragons. You looked down. The dragon below you tilted their head towards you, glaring back at you over its wings, piercing crossed eyes scrutinizing you. Sheepishly smiling, you rub its head gently with your hand, and you could physically feel it shiver. You relaxed your hold, leaning forward and allowing your front to press against its scale to rest. Turning your head to the side, you watch miniature dragons fly, somehow keeping up with their father. You tentatively peeked down to see how high up you are, and your stomach churned uneasily. Distracting yourself from the terrifying height you’re at, how you can barely see the peaks of the coniferous trees, you try to think where they were taking you. Surely… you weren’t going to be stowed away in their den as emergency food… right? The babies would protect you… hopefully. 

The rest of the ride was smooth; somehow you had not fallen off. They took you to a cave at the base of the mountain in the center of the forest. Inside the cavern, the ground was matted with wool. This must have come from the sheeps that the Father dragon reportedly stole from the nearby villages. You assumed that this is a nest. The red one (should you just give them names instead of referring to them by their colors? You'll call the red one “Ruby” for now), nudged the back of your leg towards the nest, before its siblings leapt into it. Like cats, “Aqua” (short for Aquamarine) circled around a certain area before laying down, its sibling, “Amber,” following it and curling beside it. 

You gazed at “Father” to check for any signs of protest, but it too steps towards the nest before laying down. Its massive body took up the majority of the nest, and it used its tail to gently push “Aqua” and “Amber” closer to it. Seemed like there was no protest from Father. Hesitantly, you approached the nest, feeling like you just stepped onto sacred grounds you didn't belong to. Tentatively, you laid on your side and Ruby went to snuggle against its other siblings. 

Soon, the babies’ snores filled the cavern. Sleep was hard to come by, especially since you were still in your armor and the matting wasn't very comfortable. The cold didn't help either. You ended up just gazing at the wilderness beyond the cave, observing the crescent moon. Eventually, your body became sore from the uncomfortable position, and you figured that slumber wouldn’t come to you soon anyways. Standing up, you made your way towards the exit, just to stretch your legs and take some fresh air. 

Leaning against the entrance, your thoughts ran rampant with wonderings. 

Should you run away? Did you even want to run away? What about your family? What about your job? Well… your family cared about your other siblings more anyways and it wasn't like you liked your job–you've always wanted a break from it. You doubt you could run away from them if you did; dragons had an impressive sense of smell and you wouldn't get very far in this terrain anyways. The babies specifically seemed especially fond of you, and their father tolerated you enough… maybe they had adopted you as their family? If so, then… What was wrong with having a serene life with dragons? 

Well, assuming, again, that they didn't want to eat you. But you didn't want to go back. That life of glory was for someone else. You'd rather live quietly and cozily, even if you were dirt poor. 

“Do you not intend on running away?” 

Your blood froze from the sudden voice, coming from behind you. You whipped around to see a human–no, something that looked like a human–advancing, and you took a step back. You notice the missing large dragon from the nest, only the hatchlings remain, unaware of their missing father. This… creature looked human (a rather pale, tall, and handsome female human) with two spiky, blackhorns peaking above her predominantly white strands, a draconic black and red tail loosely curled around her legs, and black forearms and clawed hands. But the moment you locked eyes with red x-eyes, you knew who she was. Or more like, what she was. 

She was, perhaps, the most breathtaking being you've ever seen, the moonlight making her seem elysian. The embodiment of perfection, for both human and beast, with her voice belonging to those of angels. 

But she was still a dragon, and that thought threw you back to reality. 

“You're human… but a dragon,” you stated matter-of-factly, your flusteredness apparent in your voice.

Her face remained as stoney as her dragon form. “You're correct, Miss Dragon Hunter.” 

This was new. Even if you had extensively researched dragons, you never knew of this. “How?”

“Is that something I should be telling a dragon hunter?” 

You bit your lip. “Is this how ancient dragons were able to stay hidden from us?” You wondered out loud.

“Precisely.” 

“If your human form is female-presenting… Does that mean you're a female dragon? But why? Female dragons take… well, a maternal role, but you serve the paternal role. I thought… that you were a male dragon.” 

“I am indeed a female dragon. However… I never sought out a mate, and so I could not produce my own children. The children,” she gestured at the sleeping hatchlings. “were runts when I found them. Like myself, they had no paternal figure, and the maternal figure naturally abandoned them after birth, so I stepped in.”

You nodded. “Why… did you not kill me?” 

“You fed them. And, with that, I believe they saw you as the maternal figure they lacked. They would be saddened if I killed you. But… considering that you’re a dragon hunter… it's quite a shame,” she remarked threateningly as she extended out her claws, nearing you. Your heart thundered in your ears, fear pumping through every vein. She was going to kill you? 

“Wait, wait. I'll give up. I won't go back. I swear,” you state, stepping back. 

“And why should I believe you?” 

Quickly, you removed the chainmail armor off of you, and with great effort, ripped out the patch stitched onto your shoulder pad. You chucked the armor into a forsaken direction, before you offered the patch to her. “This… this is a symbol of my occupation as a dragon hunter. Without it, I'm nobody. It’s my proof that I'm a dragon hunter. If I don't have it, I can't get any kill orders or receive any weapons or additional aid.”

The dragon raised her brow. A clawed hand took the patch from your hand, before a fire erupted from her palm, effortlessly burning it into ashes. “But how do I know you won't attempt to hurt my family?” She growled.

“I wouldn't. I've… never wanted to be a dragon hunter. I was born into a prestigious dragon hunter family, and I was expected to hunt myself. But… I never wanted to kill dragons.” You tilted your head down, breaking eye contact from her in favor of looking at your feet. 

The dragon stalked towards you until she was only a few inches away. Even in human form, she still towered over you. She pulled you with her tail, which winded around your midsection tightly until she was flushed against you. She gripped your chin in between her clawed fingers. 

“I'll be watching you myself. For now, my children enjoy your presence. But if a single one of them cries so much because of you, know that you will be killed, mercilessly and painfully. Do you understand that, human?”  

“Yes…” You paused when you realized you didn't have her name. You looked at her expectedly. 

“It's Arlecchino.” 

“Yes, Arlecchino. I understand.” Her name sounded right on your tongue.

“Good. Come now, the children are rather quick on noticing my absence from the nest.” Arlecchino expressed, turning back.

“I think I'll stay out here for a while. It's hard for me to fall asleep… it's a bit cold for humans,” you sheepishly admitted. “I'll come back when I'm more tired, I promise.” 

Arlecchino turned around to observe you, noticing your shivering form and the goosebumps on your skin. “I believe I have a solution. Come,” she said, offering her hand towards you. 

You took her hand, and she laid you to the nest again. She laid down on her side first, before urging you to follow her. The nest was comically large compared to the two of you and the baby dragons now that she was in her human form. As you set yourself down, back facing her, clawed hands found their way around your waist before hauling you towards her, her chest pressed against your spine. You hear the flap of a wing, and then the wing is casted over the two of you, acting as a makeshift blanket. You gasped as her hot breath tickled your earlobe, the tips of your ears burning. “Warm enough for you now, human?”

You still had trouble sleeping that night, but for a different reason. 

— 

You learned of the hatchlings' names the day after. Translated to human language from the draconic tongue, “Ruby” was actually Lyney, and his siblings Lynette and Freminet, “Aqua” and “Amber” respectively. Their personalities shone through pretty quickly the longer you stayed with them. 

Lyney, undoubtedly, was the most energetic and clingy, in an endearing way. Always the first one up and stirring up trouble, alongside his younger brother, Freminet–even though Freminet was the shy, considerate one. Lynette was quiet but always present, comparable to a cat when Lyney acted the most like a puppy, and Freminet, a deer. Lyney had once nearly burned down the nest out of sheer eagerness when you surprised them by arriving at the cave with fish when they had just woken up. It didn't take you long to realize that cod was Lyney's favorite, even when you didn't understand dragon language. 

Arlecchino warmed up to you eventually. The first night helped a lot, and so did the children. Standoffish at first, once she realized you had the best intentions in mind for her children she was begrudgingly softer with you. The ‘nestling’ (as the children resorted to calling it after Freminet saw it, having woken up in the middle of the night when Lyney's tail accidentally whacked him) became a nightly occurrence, and you couldn't say that you were complaining. It became evident to yourself that you were attracted to Arlecchino. She was wordlessly sweet, and attentive to you, but especially the children. A powerful, ancient dragon practically bowing down to dragons five times smaller than her was amusing to witness. 

You were able to dissuade Arlecchino's attempts from visiting the nearby villages now that you were able to get the food for the hatchlings. Arlecchino had stopped visiting villages once she was able to obtain a human form, which allowed her to more efficiently metabolize food unlike beforehand. However, upon taking care of the Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet, she needed much more than what the forest could provide, hence the frequent visits. 

Arlecchino did eventually tell you how her human form came to be. Dragons are, first and foremost, creatures created with magic, and so also hold magic. There are two different maturities that dragons reach in their lifetime. The physical maturity, which is when their wings are fully developed and they reach the age when they no longer have to be sheltered. Then, there is the magical maturity, when they learn to properly utilize the magic they're born with once enough magic has been culminated internally over the years. Dragons reach magical maturity after their second molt, and shapeshifting is the most common application; though most dragons like Arlecchino use human forms in order to assimilate into human society. It explains why ancient dragons are rarely ever seen. Draconic magic is unlike anything you've ever seen, incomparable to how humans use it–you couldn't even wrap your head around it. Either way, once Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet reach of age, they too will have human forms. You wondered what they would look like. 

Your life is simple, albeit a bit boring, but nonetheless, you couldn't love it more. You have children that keep you on your toes, and you have… well, Arlecchino, your personal heater at night. It's the cozy life you've always wanted, though you'd like for the nest to be more comfortable, and considerably warmer. 

It's why you’re currently at a nearby town, buying more wool with the money that you had when you were still a dragon hunter. You had traveled with Arlecchino to your hometown to retrieve the money you secretly stashed away, which could have bought a large house in the center of the town. At least, being a dragon hunter wasn't entirely useless. 

You buy your wool and head towards the edge of the forest that bordered the town. The children were waiting for you there, wanting to see what new treats you were getting them. Last time was grilled steak. This time it's dried fruits. It'd be the first time that they tried dried fruits, you hope that they'll like them. As you treach back to where you told them to stay, you notice footprints in the dirt– footprints that weren't yours, and there were multiple of them. All of them seemed to belong to men. Terror struck you in an instant. Why were there people here? People rarely come here. No, it should be fine, it’s just foragers, right? 

Anxiety grips at you as you continue, but it's quickly dispelled once you find the dragons, all safe and sound. You exhale and giggle as Lyney leaps into your arms, while Lynette brushes against your leg and Freminet perches on top of your head. 

“Freminet, you're heavy–” you stop when something snaps behind you. Immediately, you set down Lyney and Freminet before turning around, and your worst fears come to fruition as your sight lands on a group of men coming from the bushes, familiar swords and armor gleaming in the sunlight. Your stomach drops upon the realization. Dragon hunters. And there's about ten of them. Ten of them versus one of you. 

You step in front of the dragons immediately, your hand trailing to the small knife in your pocket. 

“Hey, the old man was right. Following that bitch would lead us to the dragons,” one of them said. “How much is for each head?”

“Well, babies are rare. So a few million Mora per head. Can be ten times more if we get them alive.”

“Get your Father,” you whisper to them, as you push the dragons. They croak worriedly at you, their teeth tugging on your boot for you to come with them. 

“Go!” You yelled a little more assertively. Lynette and Freminet fly off to the direction of the cave, while Lyney remains. You were about to shoo off Lyney too, but then you hear the sound of a bow being drawn. 

It's like you suddenly become possessed, your body moving on automatically as you charge at the archer, short knife in hand. You knock his hand away, making their arrow shoot astray instead of at one of the dragons still flying, before you slit his throat. You narrowly dodge one of the swordsmen's strike, his long-blade an inch away from your chest. Another one from behind you swings, and this time it cuts your side, only shallowly so. You're thankful that your dragon hunter instincts and reflexives are still imprinted on your body, as that's the only thing keeping you alive and allowing you to dodge them. Though they all seem like amateur dragon hunters, compared to you who was the best out of your year, there were still many more of them than you

Another archer draws his bow, but you're still preoccupied with dodging. This foraging knife can barely do shit, and you're hardly able to fend off against the ones surrounding you. The group of dragon hunters split off, half of them chasing towards where Lynette and Freminet went while the other half is currently fighting you.  

No, no, you can't reach him in time, what if he hits Lyney or Freminet–

Fire abruptly emerges, scalding the archer's face making him cry out. The fallen archer's scream successfully distracts the men around you, and you weasel your way out, grabbing Lyney who’s in the process of breathing out fire again and running. You drop your backpack to allow you to run better, but not before making sure you chuck it at one of the hunters. 

“Good job, Lyney,” you praise the hatchling in your arms, stroking his head. 

You had to make sure the group in front didn't find the cave. Lynette and Freminet aren't fast flyers, their wings aren't nearly developed yet. You fear that more archers are with the group in front. Thanks to the lack of weight on you, you're able to evade the ones behind quickly, and catch up to the half of the hunters that had run off earlier. 

The sound of their own footsteps mask yours, and you’re able to stab the swordsman that's lacking behind in the neck, before stealing his sword. His scream attracts the attention from the other hunters and they spin around to face you. Good, they won't be focused on the other dragons now. 

“Lyney, go, please. Your siblings need their big brother,” you whispered, giving the hatchling one more stroke on the head before throwing him up in the air. Lyney, this time, obeys you, flying away but not before giving you one more glance back. It’s just you and five hunters in front of you, another three coming soon. The archers are the most pressing concern, as you rush at them. However, two swordsmen block you from them. 

“No!” You scream as the archers take aim, their arrows aimed at Lyney. You throw your knife, past the blade-wielding hunters and into the back of the head of one of the archers. However, that action cost you your arm getting cut, a long slash down the side of your forearm. You hiss, backing away, but the three of them quickly surround you. There’s still a single archer left. 

“Fuck, what are you even protecting those stupid reptiles anyways? Just tell us where they live and we'll let you live!” 

You only grit your teeth and ready your sword. The only way you can get to the last archer is if you brute force your way, but you can't. You hear footsteps approaching from behind, and the remaining three are already here. 

“We need her alive for now, so she can tell us where it is,” you hear one of them say.

The idea starts settling inside of you–that you're going to die, if it continues like this. You’re not going to tell them where the cave is obviously, even with whatever sick torture they have in plan for you. But were you willing to die now? After you've just achieved the life you had always wanted? You just wanted to live a peaceful life… was this your karma for being a dragon hunter? You swallow thickly, trying to imagine not seeing the hatchlings again or even Arlecchino. In the short time you’ve spent with them, you really have seen them as your own, your family. Ironic that you end up dying for dragons when you yourself were a dragon hunter, huh?

Continuing fighting would be pointless. You’re dead either way, why struggle more? Still… the children are safe. It'd be okay. It'd be okay. They've survived before you, and they'll continue to survive after. Dying would be okay. 

You close your eyes, trying to blink the tears away. It'll be okay, it'll be–

A roar booms through the forest, and then a loud boom, the ground shaking violently underneath you, causing you to tumble onto the floor harshly. In front of you, on top of the crushed bodies of the former dragon hunters, the dragon form of Arlecchino appears. You quickly run to her side, grasping onto one of her legs. Soon, dark red flames escape out of her throat, enveloping the last of the hunters and then, all ten hunters are dead, just like that. 

Once the last hunter falls, Arlecchino immediately turns into her human form, holding you in her arms. You collapse into her arms, the exhaustion from the running and fighting weighing down on you as the adrenaline quickly disappears. 

“The… children?” you're able to pant out as you look up at her. 

“They're safe.” Her eyes hold gratitude towards you. “I thought I lost you.”

“I'm okay, Arlecchino, I promise. Just a few cuts,” you reassure her with a smile, nuzzling into her neck. She sighs and kisses the top of your head. 

“I’m not letting you go anywhere without me anymore.”

“Fine…” 

[modern-inheritance]

Modern Inheritance: Dress Code (Post-War ficlet)

(A/N: Some Post-War MIC!Eragon/Arya for you all. 

I’ve extended the Rider War timeline to be closer to 5-ish years. Eragon has more time to mature, Arya has more time to heal. They start a relationship around a year before the war ends, and while I have a basic idea of how it comes about I’m not ready to put it into writing for you all yet. There’s about a year or so of Arya and Fírnen remaining behind in Alagaësia to help with reconstruction and reintegration of the elves into the world without starting an incident while Islanzadí heals, and then they join Eragon and Saphira at the Rider School. At this point, even a year on, the school is still in some phases of construction and only has maybe a dozen students + their dragons, possibly less. Everyone is still trying to settle in to the new reality, and Eragon is still getting used to the admin role he now has to take.

I’ll probably post more about MIC!Eragon and Arya’s relationship, especially as it is post-war. In the meantime, take this. It’s a little spicy, so fair warning. Cheers mates!)

~~~

Eragon scrubbed his hands through his hair, frustration edging his voice. “Remind me why I agreed to host this?” 

Invitations to the Rider School’s gala were strewn across his desk, addresses of dignitaries from the chiefdoms surrounding Mount Arngor paperclipped to each. He held in his hand three different menus in various stages of translation and tweaking, trying his best to work through the grammar of the local dialect and please the varied dietary restrictions of all in attendance. An itinerary draft sat incomplete under a handful of pens, half abandoned until the Rider’s leader could muster up the focus to finish it.

For all the good will these events garnered, they always brought in more paperwork than he thought they were worth.

“Because people tend to get nervous when dragons and Riders begin massing in one place and it looks like no one knows what’s going on.” Eragon leaned back in his chair and tilted his head to watch Arya across the room. His mate was cross legged on the floor, a portion of Fírnen’s saddle in her lap while the rest spilled out like a comically large sea turtle. A half-threaded leather needle dangled from her lips as she closely examined a patch of torn stitching to judge the length she needed. “And it’s one of the fastest ways to show that yes, the Riders have leaders in you and Saphira, and that you both aren’t as scary as they might think.”

From outside the exterior porthole a chuffing snort signaled Saphira’s amusement. That anyone would dare to put her majestic yet terrifying visage into the same league of frightening as Eragon’s squishy, scaleless frame was laughable.

Down below the cliffside, the sounds of Fírnen’s playful growls as he entertained a handful of yearlings and hatchlings rumbled up the mountain. The fledgling Riders and their dragons were on a day of leave after a month of hard work and lessons, leaving Eragon, Saphira, Arya, and Fírnen time to catch up on the tasks that went by the wayside during instruction. 

Eragon felt Saphira yawn wide, barbed tongue curling at its tip. His jaw twinged slightly as her teeth clicked together. Don’t forget your meeting this afternoon. Saphira stretched out one massive paw and began fastidiously cleaning the scales around her claws, irritated by the stone dust from construction that still remained in the nooks and crannies of the mountain’s halls. I will fly you down, but after that I must take the hatchlings to hunt.

Thank you. I won’t forget. Eragon assured as he set the menus down and picked up the draft of the event itinerary, clicking his pen in distracted boredom. As he worked, Arya finished her repairs and began the process of conditioning the rejoined pieces, working neatsfoot oil into the saddle with a soft rag.

Saphira’s deep breathing outside signaled her shift to a light doze in the afternoon sun. The sound was soothing, lulling her Rider into a state of half focused haze.

Once again drifting away from his work, Eragon’s eyes snagged on the invitation’s request of a black tie dress code. It sent his mind to other places, and, the corners of his lips curling into a mischievous smile, he let his chair turn again. 

“You know…” Arya looked up to see her mate tapping his pen against his lips. “There is one thing I don’t mind about these fancy events though.” Mirth danced in his eyes, along with something a little more, as he lifted his gaze from the papers in his hand. 

The elf set the saddle aside, wiping her hands on the rag. This should be interesting. He only acted this innocent for two reasons, one distinctly more alluring than the other. “Oh really?” She stood and stretched, fingers linked above her head as she lifted onto her toes. “And what would that be?”

“You.” Eragon broke into a blush tinged smile and set the itinerary aside, turning his chair fully to face her. “I will never get tired of seeing you all dressed up.”

Arya let out a soft laugh and approached him. His gaze boldly roamed over her form, still marveling years on that she was his and he was hers. “Really! I love you no matter what you wear. But there’s something about the way you can pull off a black dress….” Eragon practically purred in approval as the elf settled into his lap, her knees on either side of his hips. The tang of leather conditioner wrapped around Arya’s earthy scent, reminding him of their time in the field and nights around watch fires, working on their gear and simply enjoying each other's company. It was just so simply her, so entwined in his mind with who she was, that it made his heart flutter. “What will you wear this time?”

Arya cocked her head coyly, braid brushing against her back as she shifted her weight to his knees with a thoughtful hum. “I don’t know. You pick.” A sly grin touched her lips. “Within reason, of course.”

Eragon leaned back, mind awhirl with possibilities. Almost subconsciously his hands had found Arya’s sides to steady her on her perch. As he mulled over the choice she had given him, his thumbs rubbed small circles against her ribs, eliciting a pleased sigh that danced in his ears. She leaned into his touch, content. 

“Hmm...I think…” An image solidified in Eragon’s imagination, bringing back that hooded eye grin as he went a step further and imagined it covering less of his mate’s body and more of his bedroom floor. “Black dress. Mid length. Something backless.” 

Arya huffed a quiet laugh, her smirk suddenly tinged with a tiny twist that he couldn’t quite place. Awkwardness? “Love...we’re trying to make friends here, not send them running for the other side of the continent.”

It took a long, long moment for Eragon to realize her meaning. With a slight pang of guilt his grin drooped, and in quiet apology he slipped his hands under the soft material of his mate’s shirt. Calloused fingers slid up her back, ghosting over the multitude of scars that still decorated her skin, as he pulled her down to him until their foreheads touched.

“I’m sorry.” He murmured. He could feel the uptick in her heart rate through her skin, the warmth of her breath against his cheek as he massaged the silky rifts below her shoulder blades. “I’m sorry. You’d think after all this time I’d remember. They’re so much a part of you that I–” 

Arya silenced him, brushing her lips against his. The contact flushed warmth down from his cheeks to his throat and over his chest. “I like that you forget.” Her smile feathered against his skin as she shifted her body closer to his and pulled away from the light kiss. “I think it’s one of the sweetest things you do.” 

Relieved, Eragon smiled back. Taking one of his mate’s hands from where she had braced against his shoulder, he pressed lips to her palm in one last apology before returning his grip to her sides. The feeling of warm, bare skin beneath his fingertips and the new position of her hips had him quickly distracted again, and he soon found himself itching to continue their banter. “Well...what about me, then?” 

“What about you?”

“What should I wear for the gala?” 

Arya hummed quietly, teasing her fingers down his chest. “It’s black tie, isn’t it?” Eragon nodded in confirmation, doing his best to keep from moving beyond the gentle dance of his fingers against the elf’s sides. She was always more composed than he during these little games, to the point that the Rider’s leader found himself pushing his limits to better match her whenever they arose. “Well then. I say you should wear just your slacks and a tie.” She gently tapped the end of his nose before dragging her hands across the tightening muscles of his abdomen, nails lightly scraping through the material of his shirt. Her voice took on a low purr, rippling with a possessive edge from deep within her chest and sending tingles of anticipation across Eragon’s skin. “It doesn't say anything about wearing something along with it, does it not?”

Eragon raised his eyebrow, control cracking. His hands settled on her hips as she draped her wrists over his shoulders, pulling her closer. He could feel the heat between their bodies growing, pooling over their clothed skin. “Well, if it’s the dress code you’re insisting on, who am I to break the rules?” His mate grinned that little devilish smirk that set his heart pounding, fire dancing in her eyes as she leaned in closer. Eragon let his eyes drift closed, lifting away from the back of the chair to meet her–

And frowned in confusion when he felt her cheek brush his. The light touch was followed by a breathy whisper in his ear. 

“You’re going to be late for your meeting with Blödhgarm and Telvi if you don’t hurry.”

Eragon opened his eyes to find Arya pulling away from reaching over his shoulder, the small clock he kept on his desk in her hand. 

It read only eight minutes to two in the afternoon. He was supposed to be meeting the elves to go over plans for a new family housing addition at two o’clock sharp.

“Oh shit!” 

Eragon bolted to his feet, unceremoniously dumping Arya off her perch on his lap. The elf couldn’t help but laugh as he dashed around the room, searching frantically for the plans Gerard had drawn up for him and the set of drafting tools necessary to make any adjustments. Outside Saphira similarly surged to her feet and shook herself. Her wings rustled like parchment as she unfurled them and stretched, ready to leap from the mountain shelf to the courtyard below.

I can see them nearing the gate. Saphira’s warning echoed in Eragon’s mind. You need to hurry, Little One.

I’m trying! I can’t find the damn plans! Eragon jerked his gaze from ripping apart a cluttered drawer of stationary when his mate gave a short, sharp whistle. Arya stood by the porthole with his messenger bag in hand, and wordlessly slipped the protected tube that held Gerard’s plans and the box of tools in when the man looked up. He let out a wordless cry of relief and hurried over, ducking his head and lifting his arm slightly to allow Arya to loop the strap down over his shoulder and settle the bag onto his hip. 

“Where would I be without you?” Eragon asked, half sincere and half rhetorical as the elven Rider adjusted his shirt. He leaned in, hopeful and thrilled as always.

Still grinning, Arya allowed him to give her a quick kiss. Her hand lingered at his cheek, checking him over out of habit before swiping a few stray locks of his curling bangs away from his face. “In Carvahall, living a quiet life without dragons, elves, dwarves and Urgals.” Pleased that he was presentable, the elf gave him a kiss of her own before turning him to the waiting Saphira and giving him a push. “Now go! Fírnen and I are teaching Silas and Rakka some flying, so we’ll see you both at dinner.”

Eragon gave one last wave and tightened the saddle straps around his legs. With that, Saphira took two great strides and launched herself from the cliff.

[charlettebffxiv]

Prompt #5 Persimmon (Extra Credit)

Picking fruit was not exactly tiring work. It’s not hard on the limbs, it does not ask much of your muscles, and it isn’t going to make you run malms upon malms. What it is, though, is time consuming. Little actions, over and over, in the heat of a summer sun for bells on end will wear anyone down. It does not matter how tall, how wide, how thick or how lithe you are. It will wear you down eventually. The grate of bark on your fingers will become cutting, the weight on the straps will pull down harder on your shoulders, the sensation of sweat trickling down your neck, back and between unmentionables will awaken a chafing you couldn’t imagine. This sun Charlette was reminded of that fact and the nostalgic shine of it would reveal itself to be almost completely untarnished by it. Almost.

“Twelve above, I could drown someone in the sweat collecting in my linens. Are persimmons really worth this much toil? Is old Lodden unwittingly guilty of torture and callous mistreatment of the young? Of child labour? You used to pick his crops when you were young, right Charlette?” Maxim’s whining had been noise in the background, another buzzing pair of wings to join the chorus of summer hatchlings finding their nectar. Hearing her name though, brought it roaring back into her ears sadly. “When I was young, Maxim? You are two twelvemoons older than me.” The Wildwood was leaning against the trunk of a particularly bent tree, lounging really, in the crook formed by the winding body of the old growth. He waved a hand at Charlette, swatting away her words like flies. “Yes, yes. You know what I meant. When you were a child! I bet you were a dhalmel back then already. Is that why Lodden took you on? Could you reach all the way to the top even in your tenth season?” Charlette tossed an over-ripe persimmon at him, it missed, hit the tree and squirted its fermented juices far enough to stain a sleeve. Maxim was quick to escape his perch, holding the drenched fabric from his arm and scowling at the stink now stuck to him. “Aww! C’mon! That’s going to stain! Not that it matters, but it smells too! And I was not even wrong, was I!” but Charlette had returned to her picking, not even paying him the slightest bit of attention. Well, not obviously. Fat, heavy, ripe Persimmons were being dropped into the woven baskets that sat at the base of each tree. Baskets that would be hauled back by chocobo cart once they reached this section. The fuller the collection, the more pride Charlette felt. It was simple work, and she felt drenched to the hind quarters, weary with the repetition, but just so simply satisfied with a visible measure of progress. It was so good, beholding the burgeoning baskets, for the moment it was allowed before Maxim whipped his sleeve against Charlette’s cheek. “Ack! Maxim!” “I’m sharing.” “It stinks! Oh- hurrk!” Charlette gagged, a hand shooting up to wipe the sticky leavings away. But nothing will remove that smell from the inside of her nose, nothing but time and retching. “Oh don’t be so dramatic. You’ve smelled worse in the green houses, hells you’ve probably tasted worse too! How does it compare to mite ichor?” The reminder of that only made her turn away, the dirty look she was shooting ruined by the sudden flex of her throat and loud “Guurh!” that escaped her. His reminder of that foul taste, and texture, only made the entire moment that much harder to handle. “Shut up! You deserved that.” “I don’t think so. I think you deserved that. To wear my new scent, ‘Essence of Orchid Garbage’. I think it’ll be big in Ishgard.” He struck a pose, hip cocked out, hand on waist, the other holding his stained sleeve out with a pinky raised. He looked cultured, in a stupid kind of way. She hated that it made her laugh, partly because she gagged in the middle and tasted acid in her mouth. Maxim took a deep sniff of his new cologne, noise raising up in such a lordly manner you’d think he was King of the Gabage Grove, and joined Charlette in her tortured choking. “Woof! Oh dear, huurp! That’s a stench! Hah!” His enjoyment of the process, though, irritated her. She was  leaning on fence post and trying to pull in deep breaths of fresh, summer air when a voice called out. “Still can’t handle it, can she?” Charlette had not heard that tone in so long. The comforting pitch, the annoying confidence, the cocksure suggestion that it belonged to someone who just knew her, and knew what had happened to her. “Nope!” Maxim responded with far too much glee, the shit. “But she did ask for it, so don’t feel bad, or try to help. It’s not how penance is supposed to work. Instead, tell me how you’ve been Chloe.” Charlette’s sister was a few ilms shorter in height, white in hair, several shades darker in skin, and inhabited all the self-assured confidence someone needed to both be incredibly likable, and hateable, at the same time. Maxim had already draped his arm around her, Chloe equipped in her best picking overalls, which is to say she wore the same blue, worn, badly-fitting but sturdy kind that Charlette and Maxim did. Borrowed from Lodden, and smelling of one thing: farm. “Penance? Oh good, I’m glad the eldest still gets to spend time doing her favourite thing.” Charlette looked to Chloe, and made a hand-gesture that made Maxim gasp, and Chloe smile. It was very out of character. “I thought you weren’t going to make it this season. Weren’t you in Limsa? Or Doma?” She stepped to them and drew herself to full height, Charlette let the two shorter Elezen look up to her. No need for sharp words when she literally always had the high ground. “Yes! And I made a special effort to come through this season. I’d heard you were back home, and I missed you so very much I just had to come and see you again.” Maxim’s face turned between the two, his mouth drawn tight and remaining shut, a rarity for the man. “Mmhm. Well if you are done lying, we were about to start on the next tree. Come along.” and Charlette turned in a sweep, her nose held high in the air, long and determined steps carrying her away from the two. “She’s happy to see me.” Chloe said as she followed from behind. “That so? Did I just witness a pair of Bellamy’s hugging? Y’know, if I think about it, that makes sense. It’s very polite, cold enough to ice tea, and no one would have any idea it’d happened unless told.” A very fake scoff had left Chloe as she pantomimed offense. In all the years Charlette had known her sister, she knew she was incapable of two things: Shame, and seriousness. “How dare you! What you describe is far more intimate than a hug, to suggest my dear sister and I would embrace in such a way in public is positively scandalous.” Charlette glared back over her shoulder at the pair, but they couldn’t see it. Chloe and Maxim had started up a series of bows to each other. Maxim with one hand behind his back and bending low at the waist as far as he could while they walked. “My deepest apologies Lady Bellamy!” Chloe gripped the baggy edges of her overalls and pulled them out in a shallow curtsey. “Fret not Ser Flowerman, all is forgiven for such a gentleman of culture!” Maxim’s chuckle was loud, hearty, his smooth tone a little bit of a liar in its suggestion that he’s a smooth man. “Ser Flowerman, that’s going on my headstone when I pop off this mortal coil.” “You’re very welcome. It suits you.” They couldn’t reach that next tree soon enough. Charlette picked her harvest in silence while the other two continued to cajole each other into further impressions and comedic takes on, well, just about everything. It was very distracting, Charlette thought. But it was also very nice, as it reminded her of a similar time, out here in this old orchid. The three of them younger, nevermind what Maxim thinks. Only it was not with Maxim. No, back then it was Frederick who was helping distract Chloe and the others. Who was her sister’s companion in gently teasing her, or tossing the fallen, rotted persimmons at the others. He always managed to get poor Alistair on the back of the head, knew just when Brianne had him distracted enough to… “Charlette? Yoohoo, you there?” a charcoal-skinned hand waved in front of Charlette’s face, the sudden silence that had been lost on her came back. Maxim had stepped away, or perhaps been sent away? Why? Charlette looked down at Chloe’s face, which was suddenly serious. What a surprise. “I thought you couldn’t do that.” She asked. “Do what?” Chloe looked confused, perhaps even worried. How dare she. “Nothing. Did you need something?” “I asked if you are okay. You didn’t say anything, you were off with your books again I think. Dreaming of the library?” just a little curl of her lips came out. Hah! See, not a serious bone in Chloe’s body. Charlette looked at her little sister, perhaps staring for a bit too long. Then reached out, pulled her into a gentle hug that Chloe returned as easily as slipping into fresh sheets on a newly made bed. “No. No I’m not okay.” And just then, for the first time since Charlette had been pulled back home, it felt okay to be that way. Goodness, picking fruit was tiring work.

[heir-of-talon]

So I have commissioned these busts of the characters. I will post a bust of the person whose POV the chapter is written in ❤ Some may be spoilery but hey! It's just fanfiction 😉

HEIR OF TALON 2

Warnings: explicit/underage/violence

Summary:

After slaying Elder Wyrm and becoming CEO of Talon Ember works very hard. Slowly changes are creeping in, that threaten her relationships with Garret and Riley, her sense of self and her sanity.

Life at the top

Ember

I woke up with a yelp. The bed sheets and my shirt were rumpled and soaked through with sweat. I reached for a glass of water on the night stand and drank trying to wash away tightness in my throat tasting salt of my tears mingling with contents of the glass. It was just another nightmare I tried to calm myself, but at this point I had little doubt that these were true. As was ensuing weeks of captivity, when Gerard found more and more horrid ways to torment Ember after he learned, that she could heal quickly from injuries that would have killed anybody else. His lord and his men, formed a group around her, torturing her and slowly learning her secrets... Bloodlettings so they could bathe in her blood and become resistant to harm and disease. She has suffered it all without even feeling tempted to shift, because there inside her... a spire, only remaining reality of her happiness, of their destiny. No, she could still salvage him, she would endure and once he was out of her body she would shift and fly them both away to safety, to another world if need be, there was nothing she would not do for him, her little Dante. Her love though betrayed so cruelly have found new anchor and she would preserve.

And then... birth of their child, ten men with swords and kludges awaiting, hitting her, bleeding her and Gerard... he tossed his son into flames right after he nearly ripped him from her body amid her agonizing cries.

Hatred. All consuming, all destroying all mighty. She shifted and ripped them apart limb for limb, the men, the women, the children, anyone within the vicinity of the estate. She had nothing left for humans, the vile, cruel, mindless creatures...

These dreams always filled me with grief and despair. But I was not her. Or was I? Sometimes I was not sure anymore. I would better get up, it was going to be another long day.

Vipers were resisting my changes to the organisation and demanded to be allowed to form their own organization apart from Talon, my bare ass! I tossed my shirt aside and hurried to bathroom where I laid down in the bathtub and turned the water on. As warm water crept higher and higher covering my body I relaxed and garish details of the nightmare started to fade. My thoughts were sharp and clear again. No way I was going to relinquish control of Vipers, I will sooner get them all killed. But how do you do this exactly? The only way is to get them to kill one another and then maybe set the last one up to a surprise date with the Order? This would require some serious diversion though, to make sure they accept the orders and don't figure out the game too soon... Hmm maybe later, as the last instance, for now I would rather regain their obedience. Hot water have filled the tub to the brim and I ceased to think giving up to the utter delight of being submerged in relaxing warmth.

***

"Autumn and Cobalt are here to see you ma'am" my assistant's Rose voice sounded through intercom. "Let them in" I grunted, not at all happy. After momentary relief in the bath I have developed a nasty headache and painkillers did not really work on dragons. I was not sure if dragons should have headaches, I have not been sick one hour of my entire life before I have become CEO of Talon.

"Hello Firebrand, you look positively awful, what the hell happened to you?" Riley strode to my office and unceremoniously sat on a chair in front of my enormous desk pulling another chair closer and indicating for Autumn to sit next to him. This irritated me, I was the CEO, this was my office and he come without notice and behaved as he owned everything here. "I had a hard night" I said slowly "so this better be important" I gave them a tight smile.

"It's about my egg" Autumn said. "It's in hatchery now, and I don't want my baby to hatch there. I want him to be born free, not to spend his childhood in an isolated facility being drilled by Talon like we did." She talked calmly and was obviously at ease, while her ridiculous request literally made me seething inside. I waited till she was finished and replied. "How do you imagine to hatch a dragon egg and then rear a hatchling, unable to shift for two years and to stay reliably shifted for another ten in the middle of human society?" I asked calmly. "How are you going to feed it until it can shift? How are you going to avoid it being seen?". Autumn stared at me surprised by coldness in my voice.

"Easy Firebrand, this is why we came here. To find alternative solutions for these... challenges" Riley's voice was calm but he was now watching me with slightly narrowed eyes and I could hear him thinking hard. But I could not let Autumn take that egg away. These four eggs was all the organization had left. We've sustained substantial loses when the laboratory exploded, every dragon counted for survival of our race. "We were thinking about it for quite a while actually. There's four eggs that need to be reared. There probably won't be any new for some time now, as Talon's members will no longer be forced to mate and dragons breed extremely rarely on their own volition, being immortal, territorial and such. So we just need to provide these four hatchlings with a place to be in two years. It should not be that difficult..." "Oh you've got it all figured out, don't you!?" I cut him off. I was furious at his shortsighted sentimentality. "And who is going to provide these hatchlings with education and training? Their mothers, who's never set their foot outside of the breeding facility?!" Autumn looked as if I've hit her, but I didn't care. These hatchlings were important for the organization, now that the vessel program was abandoned. If they were raised outside of the organization will any of them wish to serve it? Will they even be suitable for our purposes? "What are you talking about?" Riley was furious now. "They will be instructed and influenced by our entire community. Just because you won't have total control over every moment of their lives, doesn't mean they will not turn out just fine". He took stunned Autumn by her hand and rose to his feet. "Come, we've must have caught ma'am CEO on a bad day." And then to me. "Do not think that you've heard the last of it Firebrand. This is important, this is the freedom we've been fighting for all this time. And I will not relent, just because you get to be the boss now!" He left with scared Autumn in tow leaving me to my headache and grim thoughts.

I pressed intercom button. "Rose? I am taking off the rest of the day. Tell the Archivist to schedule new date for meeting with Vipers" "Yes, ma'am." I dragged myself out of the office and staggered when the heat and sunshine of the day outside hit me. I could not remember being out in a middle of a day. Ruling Talon was consuming all my time and energy and throughout last few months I begun to see the point of the control and discipline within the organization, as dealing with Riley's rouges, Jade and other free spirits was clearly the most annoying part of my new situation. I could not remember the drive home. To a vast top floor apartment furnished by Rose to impress an empress as she has phrased it. I had no time to interfere and only added piles of discarded clothes to the setting. And these were cleared every day by a maid. So I entered my lavish suite kicked off my ballerinas, flopped on white leather sofa and closed my eyes.

***

I woke up with a start that made it clear, that my headache was still there. It was evening and someone was knocking on my door. I insisted on no Gilas in the building I lived in, just as I insisted on living among normal, if wealthy people, rather than in a fancy all Talon apartment complex few blocks from the HQ. Now I was suddenly reluctant to open the doors. "Ember?! Are you in there?" Garret. I sighed and dragged myself to the doors. "Hello commander" I tried to smile. "Come in and fix this shitty day". He did not smile just stepped over the threshold taking in my surely messy hair, crumpled suit and tired face. "What is wrong?" He asked dropping his duffel bag at the doors and pulling me into strong embrace. I closed my eyes breathing him in and feeling my headache and confusion melting away. But after a way too brief moment he pushed himself away to arms length and looked into my eyes. "What is going on Ember? You look so tired. And you missed the meeting today, the Archivist would not tell us anything, but Rose told me you went home feeling unwell so I come to check up on you."He said. "Wait a minute. What meeting?!" I felt an ugly suspicion rising. "Meeting with Vipers." He looked surprised and worried that I would ask. "The Archivist spoke in your name and got them in line, no worries. They are allowed to leave the organization under a long list of conditions, that shortly sums up to not killing, assaulting or terrorizing anyone ever and attending monthly meetings with their rehabilitation supervisors, new units consisting of one Talon employee and one Order's employee. Of course the agreement is only valid after you've approved it. From the looks on their faces no one is leaving for some time." He smiled to his thoughts.

I had plans for Vipers and this was not exactly what I would have gone for. I should be furious about Archivist bypassing me like that. But somehow it did not matter much. No, when Garret was here I was just relieved and thankful that things were taken care of. Suddenly I could breath freely and I thought that if only I could stay in his arms long enough I would heal and become whole again, the way I was before leaving Talon and the violent time that followed. I leaned in to kiss him and he answered crushing me to his chest. Then he lifted his head again and asked "Have you eaten?" Seemingly abandoning the topic of my bad looks. "No, I slept since noon. " Suddenly I could feel how hungry I was but at the same time I did not want to release him. "How about we order some tapas and eat here?" I pointed to the couch. He peered down at me and truly smiled for the first time since he saw me and I had a hard time trying to stay focused. There was my Garret, this intoxicating mixture of desire and disbelief in his gray eyes. "Give me a second to change, make yourself at home commander. Maybe order food, I want wine boiled chorizo, meat balls with tomato sauce and bacon wrapped dates big pile of each."

I winked at him and rushed to my bedroom and beyond to the walk in closet the size of an average apartment on Manhattan, as the real estate agent described it. There I quickly shed my office clothes and changed into oversized multicolor sweatpants and a knitted crop top. I turned and felt sudden apprehension about going back to the living room. My headache was on its way back and I just wanted to run as far away from Garret as possible, I sat on a chaise long in the middle of the closet. The boy was a nuisance putting it mildly, making me reckless and weak. The thoughts popped in and out of my head along with a passing stab of migraine until I heard his voice coming from somewhere close.

"Ember?" I exited the closet and found him standing at the doorstep to my bedroom. He quickly stepped outside, when he saw me, and I rushed to grab his hand. He sent me that worried look again. "Are you all right?" "Yes, was just changing." He looked me over doubtfully. "Food is here." He said. "Wow, that was fast." I chuckled slightly confused.

We ate talking about things we've been doing since we've last seen each other almost a month before. Garret got in touch with Order's Academy and tried to persuade them to provide much needed reinforcements sooner, than they meant it was possible. More and more survivors of Night of Fang and Fire surfaced all around the world and it was difficult to maintain his position as their leader. I sat buried neck-deep in documentation on Talon, that the Archivist deemed best suited to give me insight and understanding of Talon. I was also struggling to establish satisfactory level of authority. In other words both our lives sucked badly and we could not see the end of it. Afterwards I turned on some music and we went to the couch. Garret sat down in one corner and I nestled between his legs leaning sideways against his chest. I wanted to touch him, kiss him talk some more.

***

"Ember, better go to bed it's past eleven." Garret was shaking my arm lightly. Have I fallen asleep? Again!? "Don't leave me!" I blurted. "Stay with me Garret". He shifted under me. "My leg is sleeping. " He said and tried to stretch. "Let's go to bed then." I rose and he followed collecting his bag from the floor by the doors. I pointed him to guest bathroom and hurried to my own to brush my teeth. Then I slipped into the closet to change into shorts and oversized t-shirt with Toothless serving as pajamas. As soon as I slipped them on I rushed out and waited for Garret in the hall. He come out soon wearing only black boxer shorts, he was lean and tan, his hair bleached by the sun.

I felt my stomach twist with longing and dread, at the sight of him. I wanted him so much, yet I did not feel fit for passionate lovemaking. I was tired and haunted, Talon required things of me, that I doubted, he would accept. Going on like this was a torment for both of us, but we could not see any alternatives right now and I would not accept ending the relationship either. Garret was the only ray of sun in my existence, he loved me and I needed him, completely and desperately. Around him I was myself, battered and wan but myself, when he was gone I did not know who I was anymore.

I strode to him and hugged him tightly, which he returned with a purr. Then I caught his eyes and said solemnly "Garret I love you and I want to be close, but I have not been feeling well lately... And I know, that we don't see each other much, but I can't go all the way tonight. Actually I... might not want to do anything tonight" I felt lame, but he brushed hair off my temple, his expression soft. "It's okay. We are not obliged to do anything Ember. Let's get you to bed." He lifted me up and carried me to my bed, that was neatly made with fresh linens. He put me on the floor and lifted the comforter for me to crawl in. I laid down obediently and patted the pillow next to me. Garret slid under the covers beside me and the warmth of his body engulfed me as he put his arm around me and turned the bed lamp off. In the relative darkness of my bedroom with Garret so close all worries and problems seemed insubstantial, only his heartbeat was real, only the scent of his body and the warmth of his skin mattered. For the first time in weeks I fell into deep dreamless sleep.

[mjwiththefangs]

Beautifully Deadly (NaLu) #7

Chapter 7

Vampire/Supernatural AU

Rating: M

Summary:  "Supposedly an entire kingdom disappeared when their queen went beyond the borders, remember?" When Natsu Dragneel leaves the kingdom to investigate mysterious disappearances, he finds a much bigger adventure than he was bargaining for, including a beautiful vampire hidden away in an ancient castle. She has little to say about her past, or why she's locked away. Who did this to her? What has she been feeding on? One thing Natsu knows for sure that she is dangerous... Could she have something to do with the disappearances? "I'm sorry, Natsu, but I'm just so thirsty."

Chapters: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7

Read it on: AO3 & FF.net

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AN: Hello again! So, once again, my update was late. oops. My bad! Im almost moved in with Gary now, just a few more things and we’re good! So, since my work hours are doing crap, i ought to have more time to write :) This one is a bit shorter again (sorry) but i made up for it with fluff. I hope you all enjoy reading, let me know what you think! As always, thank you all for your patience and reviews, and thanks to both my Betas, @mannyegb and @bmarvels !

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 Review shoutouts! to:  ChaosreigN,  darkvampirekisses,  KatanaNoNeko,  Anna5949,  YunaYue

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Jellal felt grim. He was following Arlock and a few others down a darkened stairwell. They were taking him to “view their progress”. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he felt it in his gut that it was not a good thing. The Angel could still sense the wariness and suspicion of those around him and he ground his teeth in frustration, he had to remain in power of this situation.

His magic thrummed beneath his skin, as it had during the entirety of his stay here. It flexed and crackled like a live wire, ready to zap any who dared to come too close. He kept it that way, alive and ready to strike. He made sure that those around him could sense it. Heavenly magic was certainly a force to be reckoned with, after all.

Arlock in particular kept his attention on him, Jellal was all too painfully aware. Still, he followed him silently. Jellal narrowed his eyes at the iron door before him. He turned his gaze towards Arlock. Beneath the unusual mask adorning his face, he smirked and side stepped Jellal, gesturing towards the door, 'Siegrain’ he inclined his head.

Jellal felt wary. Hesitating for a fraction of a second, he stepped forward, his hand grasping the cold door knob and opening it.

The Angel had always been an expert at concealing his own feelings, a professional actor. He would later be glad of this skill set, but he was currently struggling to retain his composure.

As an Angel, one of his powers was being empathetic to the emotions of souls. It allowed his kind to assist all manner of creatures and guide them.

However, as soon as he opened that door, he felt assaulted by the anguished cries of suffering souls. It took every fibre of his being to not rush to their aid, to fight his instincts.

The only physical reaction to come from him was a sharp exhale of a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding.

The door opened to a long, white corridor. Either side was lined with cell doors. Moans of pain, distraught sobbing, confused screams… Jellal could hear it all. He stiffly turned to regard Arlock.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he finally registered exactly what Arlock was, and briefly wondered how he hadn't noticed sooner.

Arlock's mask glinted in the light. Saying nothing, he strode past Jellal down the corridor. Jellal followed like a shadow.

They stopped in front of a cell door and he noted that it even had a barred viewing window, through which he saw a trembling figure chained to the wall.

Arlock reached into his cloak, withdrawing a key and unlocking the cell. Jellal, meanwhile, observed carefully, newly aware that Arlock was a Golem. A Golem without a master, apparently.

'Siegrain. I'd like you to assist with it.’ he pointed at the figure in the cell, ‘Take the chains and bring her with us.’

.

The blue cat yowled unhappily and squirmed against Lucy's gentle grip, his sharp claws skittering across the smooth granite surface. She gnawed on her lower lip, careful not to puncture herself with her fangs as she had done many times previous, muttering to the damp cat.

She'd been somewhat successful bathing him, but now she found herself struggling to dry him off with a towel.

‘You can't run off still dripping wet,‘ she scolded softly, ‘you might catch cold!‘ the cat glared at her indignantly. He hissed with vehemence and leapt from the counter, fleeing the washroom in a flash.

Lucy sighed. She wiped her hands dry on the towel and left to pursue the blue feline.

.

Meanwhile, still chained to the wall, locked in the small chamber,  Natsu was growing frustrated. He sat cross-legged on the cot, cupping his palms together. He scowled intensely, concentrating all his magical energy into the empty space between his hands.

A growl rumbled in his chest. He was deeply focused, seeking out the fire in his belly. He exhaled slowly, wisps of smoke pouring from his mouth.  He felt the warmth trickling through his veins, albeit sluggishly, lightning him up from within.

He tried again.

The air between his hands trembled, and finally a small flame sparked to life. His face burst into a grin, elation flooding him. The flame flickered with his lapse in concentration and he swore, his eyes locking onto it again.

It shimmered and danced between his palms. Natsu honestly couldn't remember the last time he had needed this much focus to create a flame. Probably when he was still a hatchling, he mused to himself.

Suddenly, drowsiness washed over him, like having icey water tipped over his head. He swore again, watching how the flame dimmed and was abruptly snuffed out.

The Draconic groaned heavily, slumping back against the wall. He hated it when his magic power dwindled. His mind just couldn't wrap around why his supply was so low.

His hand reached upwards, only to snatch at thin air. He blinked suddenly, bewildered. ‘what…?’

He straightened up again, whipping his head around frantically. He cursed himself for not noticing sooner. Especially when he’d already discovered bandages wrapped around his torn throat.

Had the blonde woman taken it? Maybe it had been strained or torn when she drank from him? His heart clenched at the thought. He whined softly.

Before he could further wonder where he may have lost his beloved scarf, a familiar scent caught his nose. A scent that probably shouldn't be here, Natsu found himself thinking, deciding in that moment that he must be hallucinating.

As the scent got nearer, his hallucination got stranger. He could almost hear paw pads pattering along the stone floor. And then there was the long mewling, and claws scraping at the door.

The bewildered Draconic quirked an eyebrow. He shrugged to himself, and summoning what little magic power he had left, he felt the fire inside him bubble and spat a small fireball at the doorknob.

'Now that was pathetic' he mentally scolded himself. His fire had been successful though, the door swinging freely open as the metal latch melted away.

In a flash of blue fur, the cat launched himself into the room and leapt into the man's lap. 'Happy?!' He exclaimed, 'what the hell are you doing here?'

His question was answered with a self-satisfied purr, and then footsteps approaching down the hall at a brisk pace. He recognised her scent immediately, his eyes moving to the ajar door.

Happy meowed expectantly, shaking droplets of water from this fur. Natsu smiled apologetically,  'Sorry little buddy, I'm all outta magic to dry you off' and he truly was, he realised, unable to even summon warmth to his palms now.

There was a creak as the door was tentatively pushed open, the noise snatching the man's attention. He immediately saw the flush on her cheeks and how she quickly averted her eyes from his face. He felt his lips twitch into a smirk. She was definitely amusing. He'd never known anyone as easily flustered as she was.

He didn't want to scare her off again. So he decided to introduce himself. 'My name's Natsu,' he said to her, making sure to keep his voice low and calm, 'I didn't catch yours before.'

Her honey gold orbs slowly moved to regard him- Natsu. She felt herself beginning to relax, but she still hesitated, reluctant to divulge that information to him. She still feared that her new visitor would result in her being found.

Natsu sensed her hesitation. He felt as though he understood something about her already. She was afraid of something, or someone. He wanted to know more about her. So when he felt tiny claws kneading his arm, he tried a new approach.

'I see you've met Happy.' He said, gesturing to the blue cat. She glanced at said feline, the question falling from her lips on impulse, 'His name's Happy?'

Natsu grinned. 'Yep!'

'And he's your cat?'

'Yep!'

'Why is he called Happy?'

'it's 'cause I was happy when he hatched.' Natsu shrugged, as if that explained everything clearly.

Lucy blinked at him. 'He hatched?' She asked, incredulous.

'Well, yea, he's an Exceed.' the man deadpanned. Happy meowed loudly in agreement.

The blonde's expression softened. What an unusual pair. Perhaps she could trust him. After all, how many evil folk would name a cat 'Happy'?

She smiled softly, her decision made. 'My name is Lucy.' She told him. Natsu beamed at her then his expression suddenly turned mischievous, 'Nice to meet'cha Luigi!'

He burst into cackles at her vexed expression and found himself laughing even harder when she pouted at him. Even Happy made small snuffling mewls, that sounded uncannily like giggles.

Natsu's laughter died down to snickers and he wiped tears of mirth from his eyes. He turned his head, still grinning, towards the blonde stood glaring at him with her hands on her hips.

If he'd had any more magic in his reserves, he would have blown a wisp of flame at her. He was definitely going to have fun teasing her. Now that he was done laughing, he realised her scent was slightly different from before. The scent of lingering magic clung to her skin.

He met her gaze curiously and asked her 'Do you use magic?'

Her eyes widened fractionally, and for a moment he thought she wasn't going to answer him, before she quietly uttered 'I can't anymore.'

'You smell like magic though.' He told her, gesturing with his hand and disturbing the Exceed in his lap, 'did you try a spell?'

She shook her head, golden strands dancing in the light. Her heart was pounding beneath her breast. She surprised herself at how calm her voice came out when she spoke, 'No, nothing like that.' She sighed silently, 'I just had a visit from an old friend. I… don't think I'll be seeing them again though.'

Natsu listened intently, his curiosity burning. His mind was piecing some things together. Sure, Natsu could be a bit obtuse sometimes, but his instincts were sharp. His own magic was still sluggishly recovering since she bit him, barely even there. Now Lucy stood before him, smelling of magic, saying she couldn't use it.

He knew she felt regret for having attacked him. He spoke carefully. 'Lucy,' he began, 'did you drink away my magic?'

She stared at him for a long moment. 'Yes' she thought.

Instead, she began to gnaw on her lip, anxious of what he'd say, if he'd judge her. Natsu kept his gaze on her, taking her silence as the answer. Slowly, he nodded and his frown fell to the ground. His brows drew down into a frown, falling deep in thought.

Lucy, however, bit down worriedly on her lower lip, misreading his expression. She instantly winced, hissing in pain as her sharp fangs pierced the plump flesh. ‘Sthit…’ She muttered, raising her hand to dab at the blood.

The sound of chains pulling taut and a disgruntled yowl from a certain unseated Exceed snapped her attention. Her eyes landed on Natsu, who was glaring at the cuff around his wrist, and Happy, hissing at the man then trotting off.

Natsu tugged at the cuff again, growling when the metal chains clinked together. Oh, how he wished his magic was replenished! Maybe he could ask Lucy to bring him some fire to eat…

He whined in his throat, turning back to the blonde before him. She held one hand beneath her split lip, trying in vain to catch the blood and her tongue darted out to wipe over the cut. She repeated the motion, Natsu’s onyx orbs fascinated with the movement.

Somewhere in the back of his head, he found it amusing that her fangs grew even when it was her own blood, but her eyes remained that stunning honey-gold even as she grimaced at the flavour.

She stepped towards him, reaching for his hand and he stood still as a rock when she mumbled something that he supposed was meant to be ‘Dont move’. Her fingers moved nimbly and quickly unlatched the cuff, Natsu didn’t hide his surprise that it didn’t need a key.

He rubbed at his wrist, relieving the discomfort from having been constrained for so long. He grinned, ‘Thanks, Luce!’

She half-smiled in return, still trying to stop the crimson liquid dribbling down her chin. He clicked his tongue. The scent of her blood was distressing to him. She seemed nice enough, after all, and he definitely had fun teasing her. His instincts screamed at him to hoard her just for her golden hair, and made it very difficult for him to ignore that she was injured.

She watched him questioningly when his hands slowly reached for her face, ‘Nat’thu?’ she whispered his name.

He brought one arm towards his mouth, ripping a length of the shirt sleeve with his teeth, ‘Just hold still, Weirdo… Let me get that for ya’... ‘ He murmured. He rolled up the torn scrap clumsily, then, with a face of pure concentration, he gingerly wiped at her lip. He ignored the way she took a sharp breath, and the way it brought some colour to his cheeks.

She didn’t move a muscle as he tended her, partly so he could work in peace and partly because she was in shock about the gentle treatment, having lived in isolation for so long now. She had missed having the company of others, and she realised then how much she longed for physical touches.

Her thoughts returned to the present, and she stifled laughter at the expression on the Draconic’s face. Especially the way his tongue was sticking out. She burst out in giggles.

‘What’s so funny?’ Natsu grumbled, although the corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

‘S-sowwy!’ She giggled, ‘It’th jutht.. Your face!’

‘What’s wrong with my face?’ He almost sounded hurt. Almost.

‘You were thticking your tongue out’

He pouted, but she saw mischief shining in his eyes. With gentle movements, he pulled his hands away from her face. She immediately missed the warmth they radiated.

‘There, stopped bleeding now.’

She blinked, having forgotten why exactly he had been wiping her lip to begin with and moved to graze her fingers over the tender injury. She saw how his pout morphed into a smirk, and he stuck his tongue out at her, deliberately this time, and blew a raspberry in her face.

He grinned, satisfied when she laughed. He gazed around the room, spotting the trail of wet paw prints leading out the door. He nudged her gently, pointing at the floor.

‘Happy’s taken himself for a walk.’ He mused. Lucy opened her mouth to suggest going after him, but Natsu cut her off. ‘Don’t worry,’ He shrugged, ‘He’ll have gone to find some fish.’

The blonde frowned, ‘Fish?...’ She gasped, a realisation hitting her and she groaned, ‘Oh no, He’ll probably go looking for Juvia! And i just got that pond smell out of his fur, too.’

Natsu snickered, ‘He’ll be fine.’

[violet-galaxies]

SuperNova: Prologue

Craweled out of hell and saw a lot of people started following me for some reason??? So, to apologize, here’s the first draft prologue that a friend edited for me Hope you all enjoy it.  Also, whoops, haha, 1/3 of these characters are going to be dead by chapter 1, place your bets now lol. idk if I did this right either, but I’m trying man. Now, someone help me out of this damn grave.

The dark indigo dragoness nervously glanced at the clock that hung on the wall, silently ticking along. 1:42 it declared nonchalantly, as if this wasn’t the most important night of Ophelia’s life, along with, of course, her husband, Umbriel. Where was he? As soon as she had noticed that their egg was hatching, she had a messenger sent out to give him the news. Gods, of all the nights for him to decide to work late. It was even a holiday for Heaven's sake, probably the most important holiday in fact. Sometimes she wished Umbriel hadn’t decided to found his company with Eclipse.

     Ophelia stopped her anxious pacing to look at the small statue of Elera that she had been giving during the party in congratulations for her egg. Elera was the goddess of safe childbirth, and having a statue of her was said to provide a safe hatching. Ophelia gently touched the face of the statue of the beautiful goddess, feeling a slight comfort in the fact that hopefully the gods would be watching over her child.

     Suddenly, Ophelia heard the door to the apartment burst open. She rushed down the hall and turned the corner, nearly crashing into the love of her life, Umbriel. Seeing his soft lavender scales sent a wave of peace flowing through her. The two paused for a moment to put their heads together and wind their tails around each others’, before pulling their heads back to speak.

     “Has the egg hatched yet?” His brilliant blue eyes were full of concern and worry, and Ophelia noticed that he hadn’t brought anything he had left for work with.

     “Not yet love. There are some cracks, but you haven’t missed much yet.” Umbriel let out a sigh of relief before gently unwrapping his tail from his wife’s, and the two moved together to their hatchling’s room. They had had it all set up for months, but since then it had all remained mostly untouched, except for the small area where they kept their egg. It sat carefully on a group of pillow to keep it safe and support it, along with the ring of plexiglass. The light of the moon seeping in from a window on the ceiling, shining right onto their egg, the small rainbow speckles shining against the black shell of the egg.

     There were a few more small cracks then Ophelia recalled, but thankfully nothing major since she had last checked. The two nestled up together, and wrapped their wings over each other, knowing the night would be long.

~~~~~

     It was nearly an hour later, the egg had made little progress in hatching, and the couple was drifting in and out of sleep, doing their best to keep each other awake.Umbriel was rubbing his eyes, Ophelia leaning against him, asleep again. He was planning on letting her sleep for just a bit longer, however, that was when the hatchling inside their egg decided that now was a good time to finally hatch fully.

     Umbriel gently nudged Ophelia awake, and the two cautiously approached the egg, which was cracking more than it had ever previously. The couple watched, frozen to each other, as the egg began to hatch, cracks stretching over the shell like veins. The pair were mesmerized by it, hypnotized as their daughter finally emerged, her violet head poking out between two pieces of her now shattered egg. She shook herself a bit, shaking off the eggshell that was stuck to her, the slimy egg internals that covered her weighing down her small wings. She looked at her parents with some confusion, her silvery blue eyes wide and shining. 

     Umbriel was still petrified in awe and terror. Ophelia had broken out of her trance however, and carefully, she reached out for her new daughter. Excitedly, the little hatchling attempted to leap to her mother, but bumped into the plexiglass ring instead.

     Ophelia laughed softly, picking up her child in her claws. The hatchling was seemingly unopposed to this, making a gurgling noise that was probably good. Ophelia pulled her daughter close to her chest, looking down upon her as her daughter stared back, not understanding the wonder she had brought by simply being there.

     “Nova.” Ophelia whispered softly to the hatchling, who cooed back in the nonsense language of babies.

     “What?” The word broke Umbriel free, though he was still very anxious, while his wife was somehow eerily calm.

     “That’s what we’ll call her. Nova. Isn’t it wonderful?” The newly named Nova seemed to like her selected name, reaching up towards her mother in response.

     “It’s the most beautiful name I’ve ever heard.” Umbriel replied, looking down at Nova, who had just fallen asleep. “Besides yours, of course.” The couple put their heads together again, their tails wrapping around the others like a pair of serpents.

Taglist: @twentytwohearts  again, sorry for forgetting about this!

[inshadowofthegods]

A Discussion

Days passed, and then weeks. Fortnight of the Nocturne ended, and the hectic state of the world outside began to ease. The nocturne hatchlings came of age, and though none picked up Ila’s love of sewing, she did manage to spark the creative spirits in some: Clade developed a passion for drawing and cataloguing their native plants, and soon had begun a guide that listed each ones’ various uses, from fiber to food to poison. Hazel adored seeking out scraps and trinkets she thought might be useful, building trinkets and weapons from any scraps Ila couldn’t use. Marshall and Espen weren’t quite as creatively minded, and simply loved to tear their way through the forest and keep their siblings safe while they worked. Ciron grew up, as well, and desperately wanted to start earning his keep. In spite of protests from both Edan and Saerun, he was steadfast, and a way was worked out. With Rorin at his side to sweep the area and watch for anyone coming, and Saerun to keep an eye on him and identify any threats from their old clan, another full team was formed. Though they only went out for short excursions - and Edan went to supervise most of them - Ciron became a skilled healer, and Saerun rebuilt her strength bit by bit, becoming a formidable hunter in her own right. Every dragon that had fallen into the fold was now earning their own keep, and their home’s larder had never been so full. If situations had been different, Edan would have thought times were good. Wonderful, even. But he knew better than to relax, and he made sure that everyone knew that each day they might face something horrible. He made sure they were prepared. It always paid off. He had returned from a successful hunt with the new group, only to find Ila waiting outside the door to their home. Her arms were crossed, and her expression was strangely blank. “Someone came today,” she stated simply, looking between Saerun and Edan. “None of ours have been hurt.” “Wh - where did - ” Saerun stammered, panicking. “Rorin, take Ciron inside, alright? Wait - they’re not inside, are they?” “No,” Ila shook her head. “I put him in the cellar.” “Is he dead?” Edan asked, stepping to the side as Rorin ushered the fire-eyed pearlcatcher inside. “No, I thought we might need some information from him, so I invited him in and poisoned his tea,” Ila replied. She smiled an empty smile. “Then I tied him up and tossed him down there, so… what you do is up to you.” Edan was speechless. He slowly turned to look at Saerun, who seemed a mix of confused and terrified. “You might want to go in and have a look?” Ila suggested, cocking her head to the side. “Just to make sure it is someone you know, and everything. He was a pearlcatcher looking for another pearlcatcher so I’m pretty sure, but… you know.” “Uh,” Edan blurted, his throat dry. “That… would probably be best. Do you think you can handle that, Saerun?” The skydancer silently nodded. “Good,” Ila nodded back, then turned to head inside. “Then I’ll start dinner for you. See you soon.” Edan found himself equally unnerved by the nocturne’s demeanor as he was by the task at hand. He shook his head and headed toward the cellar’s trapdoor, unlocking it and heading down first to make sure their uninvited guest was indeed still unconscious. Saerun nervously poked her head in after him. “Yea, he’s out,” Edan stated after nudging the unresponsive dragon a bit. He looked over the pearlcatcher, frowning at the sight. “Wonder what Ila used on h -” He stopped, starting at Saerun’s sudden, sharp laugh. “What the hell?” he hissed, turning to look at the skydancer who was now wearing a completely unreadable expression. Her eyes were wild as the day he first saw her. “I can’t believe it,” she breathed, sounding almost giddy. “I can’t believe it! Edan, I have… I have to talk to him when he’s awake. Please, please let me talk to him. Oh my gods.” The mirror gradually realized her bizarre excitement was actually rage. The hatred in her eyes as she stared at the unconscious pearlcatcher was overwhelming. “Of… course… you can,” he replied hesitantly. “But I’ll need to be present for it.” “Fine!” Saerun shouted. She began to pace, swearing and repeating herself under her breath. “I can not believe it.” “We might want to head back out,” Edan suggested. “We don’t know when he’s gonna wake up. Can check back in an hour or two?” “Can we try to wake him up first?” Saerun asked eagerly, still pacing back and forth. “Oh I have so much to say, I have so much… please try.” Edan nudged at the pearlcatcher again, to no response. He pushed a little harder, rolling the dragon onto his back - and, in spite of himself, took a moment to be impressed with how thoroughly Ila had managed to tie his limbs together. Then he aimed a hard slap to his face. The pearlcatcher came to with a yelp, then groaned, trying to focus on Edan’s face. “Wh-? Who… are you?” Saerun laughed again. Edan glanced behind himself to see the absolute fury on her face, and briefly spread his wings to block her way. Taking the hint, the skydancer calmed herself. Her expression was neutral when she approached, and he stepped out of her way. “S-Saerun?” the groggy male asked, voice peaking in disbelief. Saerun responded by kicking him in the face. Judging by the resulting crack and horrific yelp, it was enough to break something. “Veldr,” she snarled, with a rage beyond anything Edan had seen from her before. “He sent you after me, of all people?” The pearlcatcher wasn’t in any state state for responding, writing in agony and struggling against his bindings in an effort to shield his face. The skydancer let out a frustrated yell and reared back again, preparing for another kick. “Hey! Hey,” Edan rushed to grab her shoulder, pulling her back. “You’re not going to get anything from him if you break his jaw. Calm down. Please.” Saerun nodded and stood straight, shutting her eyes for a moment and taking a few slow breaths. Her hand clenched into a fist as she looked back down at the male and waited. “Not you. He didn’t think you were alive,” he finally hissed through bloodied teeth. “He wants his son, Saerun.” “And of course, you were going to come and deliver him to him,” Saerun scoffed, each word dripping with venom. “Always his good little lapdog, aren’t you?” “I have to listen,” the pearlcatcher shouted back. “He’ll punish me if I don’t! You know that!” “Oh, poor you,” Saerun mocked. “Oh, he might be mean to you! He might yell at you! Do you have any idea what he did to me? To Ciron’s mother?” “I - ” “No. Veldr. I know you do,” Saerun interrupted. Her voice cracked, though the fury stayed clear on her face. “And you never did anything until you decided I was of some worth to you. It was never because you had any shred of decency as a person. You only cared about your property.” “I couldn’t go with you! I never had a chance to slip away!” “You’re lying!” Saerun barely held herself back that time, visibly shaking. “You know I can tell! What made you change your mind? If you try to lie to me again I swear I’ll -” “I got scared!” Veldr shouted. “I was too afraid of being caught! I’m sorry, Saerun!” “You’re… pathetic,” Saerun replied, still shaking with emotion. “You useless, selfish piece of -” “I know,” he replied, fighting back tears. “I know I am. And I’m so sorry. I’ll do anything to make it up to you.” “Wh-” Saerun paused, her antennae twitching. “Why in the gods names should I give you a chance?” “Because I still love you, I want to make things right,” he pleaded. “I…” Saerun stammered, clearly taken aback. Then a look of absolute disgust took over. “And I hate you, you absolute idiot. What we had was a business exchange, and you couldn’t even keep your end of the bargain! What can you possibly do to make anything up to me? Regrow my arm? Undo a lifetime of abuse and pain that you stood by and watched? The best thing you could do for me now is drop dead on the goddamned spot!” Veldr made a noise that was more pained than when he’d been kicked in the face, and Saerun turned and hurried to the ladder outside, motioning for Edan to follow before climbing out. He didn’t follow right away, still a bit too blindsided by the scene to react. By the time he did, he found her seated on the ground outside, wings wrapped around her legs. She wiped a tear from her eye. “Are you… going to be alright?” Edan asked hesitantly, unsure of just what to say. “Yeah,” she sighed, forcing a frail smile on her face as she turned to meet the mirror’s gaze. “I never thought I’d actually have the chance to yell at him. I just… gods.” Edan quietly moved to sit near her. “He wasn’t lying about wanting to help… or about caring about me,” she said bitterly, bowing her head. “I wish he was. It would make this a lot easier.” “What do you want me to do?” Edan asked, trying to keep his tone gentle. “I… can we just leave him like that for tonight?” she asked, glancing at the trapdoor. “I need some time to think… and we can see if he still means it by tomorrow, with everything I said.” “Well,” Edan paused, considering the state of the pearlcatcher now locked in his cellar. “…It’s not like he’ll be able to get out of there.” “Yeah,” Saerun let out another sigh, standing with some difficulty and nodding to the mirror. “Thank you… for working with me on this. I need to go talk to Rorin, I think. And Ciron. They both need know about this.” Edan nodded, remaining seated until the skydancer had made her way into the house. Then he stood, pacing and scanning the area as he tried to work off his own nerves. Gods, what a mess.

[wavesofthewest]

Chapter 4: A Tribe’s Clan

Fate: 40-50 coli battles

As Blue watched the sunrise over the cliffs in the distance, she couldn't help but wonder where the hatchlings were. They hadn't come in to wake her or Sage, nor had they appeared in the middle of the night to ward off nightmares. She wasn't worried - they'd probably found other hatchlings to play with - just curious. The guardian glanced back to make sure she hadn't woken anyone before stepping out of the den to look for her children. They'd be off after the rest woke up, after all. It was better that they didn't wander off and get lost before then.

The Clan of the Rising Tide was a fairly large one, to say the least. They were spread out over multiple large caves, connecting them with an underground system of tunnels. The Clan Elder had explained the night before that the idea for the tunnels had come up after a war with a neighbouring clan, which they'd lost due to being outnumbered. The tunnels would confuse the attackers and let the clan have an edge when defending that they wouldn't otherwise have. They were also useful as a means of travel since they wouldn't be affected by strong weather while underground.

Blue did, indeed, get lost while walking through the tunnels. She had been trying to get to the cave where the hatchlings were kept, but she kept on running into dead ends. These guys put a lot of dedication into digging out these tunnels...I'm impressed.

"Hey! Need a hand?"

The guardian turned to see a pink tundra headed her way and smiled.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind a little help. These tunnels confuse me - I think I would have been better off going to the surface instead," she grinned, a little embarrassed.

"I can't blame you. They confused me when I first joined, as well. I'd feel sorry for any tundras that live here - their poor memory must forget all the pathways. Where are you headed?" the other dragon replied. As she came closer Blue could see that they were a long-haired gaoler, not a tundra. She assumed a lot of misunderstandings had been made based on that.

"Wherever the kids sleep. I'm looking for Ashes and Heaven is all."

"Right this way, then!" Both dragons smiled and Blue followed the gaoler through the tunnels and out to a smaller cave with around ten hatchlings. She checked the perimeter of the cave to see if they were hiding in any hidden nooks or crannies since neither Heaven nor Ashes were amongst the ones initially noticeable. They weren't in the cave.

"Maybe they woke up early and snuck out?" the guardian asked, half-hoping that was the case. She didn't want to think about what could have happened instead.

"I doubt it. The kids have superhuman hearing, they'll wake up at the slightest stir. Maybe we ca-"

Everyone stopped what they were doing at the scream that had cut the gaoler off mid-sentence. Blue looked back towards the tunnels, narrowing her eyes.

"What was that?" she asked as every other dragon in the room stormed towards the tunnel entrance. The gaoler looked back and gestured for her to follow them, so she did.

They came to a larger cave, that Blue recognised as the Clan Elder's den. She'd been invited earlier to discuss potential trade and relationships - to which she had politely declined. The Tribe was still young and they wanted to remain as neutral as possible.

Before she could shoulder her way to the front to see what had happened, another dragon made his way to the front - a purple skydancer with turquoise wings. Others stepped aside so that he could get there easily - Blue assumed that he had a large amount of respect within the clan.

"Let him decide. He's a mage, he would know what happened," a voice said. Every head around Blue's turned to see who it was, so she looked as well - a white fae with purple tints to her wings stepped forwards towards the skydancer. "Zephyr, work your magic. Do you know who did this and how?"

The skydancer paused before answering. "It wasn't the wound that killed her," he eventually said. "She was poisoned long before that - you can tell from the way the blood coagulates around the knife. As for who - I'm not sure. Not many have a motive, though, and it should be easy to pick out who did it."

"We should start by seeing who has an alibi and who doesn't," another voice cut in. Bluee strained her neck to see who it was - and was a little surprised to see the gaoler from earlier join the fae and skydancer by what she could now see was the dead body of Alika, the Clan Elder.

"Almost everyone was at the gathering last night. It'll be easy to pick out who wasn't there," the fae added. "Good idea, Secret. And motive...I can think of one particular group who would have reason to kill our elder. The Tribe of Clear Waters. They are outsiders. they would have reason to take us down - we are a large and powerful clan - but they are too weak to wage open war on us. I say we bring them in for questioning."

"I can think of another person who would kill Alika, and that is you, Poison. You are our deputy. You are next in line for power - and we all know that you're not shy to use your own methods to get what you want. Surely getting rid of Alika now to grab the power before it can be contested is a good trade-off for a little unrest in the clan," the gaoler spat back. "I propose that we do not declare a new elder until this matter has been solved - and that we put the clan on lockdown."

"You-"

"Quiet, both of you, Secret has a point, and so do you, Poison. I think that those are good ideas - we'll bring the Tribe in for questioning, put the clan on lockdown and postpone the declaration of a new elder. Poison, you'll be questioned too - just to be sure," the skydancer sighed. He stepped in between the gaoler and the fae as if to say that they were done talking to each other.

"You say to postpone the declaration, but you take matters yourself as if you are the elder. You haven't even suggested that the Council vote on these matters." A black nocturne came into view in the clearing. "You take the role of a tyrant, taking power and dismissing the others."

"Allumen, the Council has an even amount of members. Voting would be meaningless as we could end up with a draw," the skydancers sighed. He began to pace, gradually accelerating with every step. Blue frowned.

"In that case," she said, wincing as she felt everyone's eyes turn to her, "let me be the odd addition to the Council. I am the leader of the Tribe of Clear Waters, and as we are involved in this affair, I think it only fair."

"Yes, so you can vote against us suspecting you," the fae sneered. "No thanks."

"Hush, Poison. Blue has a point - it would seem biased to make these decisions without a member of the Tribe to weigh in on things. I assume nobody else has objections to Blue joining the Council as a temporary member?"

"You're too soft, Zephyr," the fae muttered, looking to see if anyone had objections. Nobody did.

"Welcome to the council, Blue of the Tribe of Clear Waters."

[ixiomdraws]

[CLOSED SPECIES]

I would like to officially introduce a creature species I've made. They arent really new since I've had them for years and posted them several times on a couple different blogs, but they were originally just one, not really a species, but I love them and i just wanted to expand on them and what they were, so here we go.

Please read under the cut for full info on budbugs.

BUDBUG is the species name, named after the original, Pillbug.

(this is Pillbug^)

Pillbug was the only of their kind, created in a lab for testing purposes, and not good ones. They were practically tortured, cut open countless times, experimented on, ect. They were made to be docile and obedient, no aggressiveness at all, to the point of almost being just a living stuffed animal.

Pillbug is quiet, and pretty much completely incapable of choosing to do anything. They will wait for someone to tell them to do something, sitting in the same spot till they starve to death. Think of the sims with free will option turned off. This is specifically Pillbug, the first and original, and does not apply to the whole species. All budbugs come from Pillbugs DNA, so, in a way, Pillbug is the mother/father to all of the others.

now onto the species:

BUDBUGS

Scientific name:Vitula mollisparva

CLOSED species

Lifespan: unknown. Oldest living budbug is 36 (human) years old.

Average height: on all fours:around 1 foot. Standing: 2 feet(bitty versions also available)

Average weight:15 pounds

Sex: Budbugs are a genderless species, and cannot reproduce. if you adopt one, you can choose any pronouns youd like to call them, they don’t care.

DIET: they can pretty much eat anything. Their diet is whatever is offered to them or available, including things like bark. They have no specific needs, but  there was a recorded overall preference of fruit and sweet things. Sweet milk is the number one way to attract them. It seems to be their absolute favorite, warm or cold. They have some semi-sharp molar like teeth in the back of their mouth that they use for crushing/chewing harder materials.

YOUNG: a hatchling(called pups) will not have vision, or be able to walk. they have feeling and scent to go on, much like a puppy. they have slight hearing that comes through to them as muffled sound. they are bottle fed milk like substance and sugar water(or a mix of both) for 3-4 months. 

since budbugs dont have the ability to reproduce, nor a gender, there is no mother to nurse them and is done by bottle. there is the possibility of an adult budbug attempting to nurse young, but it’s unlikely theyll produce milk in time before the young starves.(we of course have the ability to make ‘nursemaid’ parents, bottle feeding the hatchlings until their milk comes in from stimulation((e.g pups attempting to nurse on them for prolonged times))

 It's best to feed them mushy like food up to 6 or 7 months old. eyes open around 2-3 weeks old, along with better hearing. they start walking shortly after, 4-6 weeks. they will follow after people or animals in a fashion similar to ducklings, seeking a bigger ‘parental’ figure to protect them and make small chirp noises.

PLANT GROWTH:

Typically has any type of plant matter growing on their head, sometimes it can trail down their back and tail or even have random patches of plant matter elsewhere. the plants that grow on them are a part of them, for instance- cutting off a flower will cause a pinkish blood drop to emerge. They don’t seem to feel the pain of cut flowers/plant matter, nor does it need to be bandaged or treated, its fairly similar to regular plants in that aspect. [note:please do NOT use a mower or weedeater on your budbug]

The plants that grow on them are similar to regular plants, but often are more 'sturdy' and a little tougher to break/cut. This can vary somewhat by the individual, some will have more fragile type plant matter that easily comes off, others may have plant matter that is thicker, rooted and more connected to them. Usually youll know depending on plant type, thicker looking stems and such are most likely more rooted and a part of them and we highly recommended not trying to pull any plant matter out/off of them.

 its best to let the plant naturally die/fall off, and typically the plant doesnt overgrow to a point of causing difficulty to the budbug.

BEHAVIOR:

a common site is seeing the budbug grooming itself; licking like a cat and patting or somewhat 'pulling' on leaves or whatever plant matter they have, to shed the dead leaves, ect. If left with water, they might bathe themself, somewhat like a hamster or cat, except they dip their arms in the water instead of licking them.(if water is available)

They have horn-like nubs on their head covered in fur/felt, the horns stop growing at a certain point and then remain that way for life. Their horns have no use other than for hatching out of an egg at birth. Its extremely rare for them to be aggressive toward anything, including others of their species. They’re very sharing, and around their own kind, they will often groom each other, make soft calls, and sleep in piles. 

The few aggressive ones only did some mild growl like sounds and avoid the others, most of which stopped within an hour and joined in the regular activities.

There have been no cases of any attacks or biting, whether to their own species or other animals/people.

Meeting other species, they wont typically make the same call noises as they do to each other, but will still act friendly and try to sit next to or sleep with, and  even try to groom them.

They’re quiet, almost mute. They can make soft call noises and various other light toned sounds, they cant bark/moo, and even in distress or extreme pain, they typically only make soft whine noises or stay silent. they also make rumbling like sounds similar to a purr. They have a very high pain tolerance, some people might even claim they cant feel pain, but trust me, they do.

heres some similar noises they can make(budbugs sound a bit more soft though, kind of like cooing? if that makes sense) 

[1][2][3][4]

urgent call/trying to get attention(rare)

young/baby chirps

distress/pain call(rare)

Their arms are flipper like, though still usable as paws if needed, they prefer walking upright. their eyesight differs greatly, some excellent, some poor.  If you don’t like things staring at you, this isnt the pet for you. They are very observant, watching others is probably like tv to them. smell is their best sensory, along with hearing. their fur type can vary from otter-like(waterproof) to very fine silky soft fur and many others.

Personality:

trusting, obedient, friendly, happy, quiet, patient. They will spend the majority of their time observing their surroundings or others.(some are 'lazier' than others, falling asleep instead)

Intelligence:

varies. They can learn a lot, but they typically have low functioning free will and require commands or encouragement to act on things.

As an example, we set a waterer that works similar to a fountain, needing a button to be pressed to release water for drinking. The creature sees us operate it and with mild encouragement, will press the button and drink. We leave them alone for days,  and while they know how to operate the device, they do not, simply waiting.

It took several days of being completely alone before they finally activated the water by pressing the button. By their straightforward action, we could tell they knew how to operate it and it wasn't an accident. This test was ran on several others, all similar reactions. On average, only 3 out of 10 would react sooner, within 24 hours, 5 took about 3-5 days before reacting, and 2  passed out from dehydration and had to be taken to medical. (test was ran on 5 groups of 10)

Many other tests provide similar information: they typically wait for something to encourage or command them to act, even on simple survival such as food and water. If it isnt offered to them, they seem to get confused and wait for an offering, even if theyre next to a stream.

 In some tests conducted, when in groups, they will follow suit after others, even of different species. e.g, one walks to a stream to drink, they follow suit to drink as well. It’s possible this is a faulty instinct of survival, watching others to drink or eat something to make sure its safe for themself, the faulty part being that even once they know a source is safe, they’ll still often wait for encouragement to engage.

 thankfully, about 74% of them will get over this faulty instinct over time and regular encouragement towards a water/food spot. moving their dish or having a non-regular feeding area can cause this faulty instinct to return or worsen. it’s recommend to have a designated water and feeding spot set up for them to help them overcome that behavior.

other than that, they are extremely adept at learning commands and copying (to the best of their ability). they learn tricks incredibly easily. (e.g, roll over, sit, fetch, ect)

again, this is a CLOSED species. you do not have permission to make one of these without my consent. below are permissions if you get one- RETURNS: If you decide you do not want your budbug anymore, you can message me and I’ll take it back, either keeping it or putting it back up for adoption.  but i can not and will not refund you. Which should be obvious, but just in case, i’m stating it here. PERMISSIONS: -you have complete permission to draw/write/ect of them. harm/violence/gore is allowed. I dont mind gore or sad angst stories, so whatever you want to do with them once bought, you can. However, you do not have permission to include them in anything sexual. if they’re just being the pet that watches their owners do it, like how cats sometimes do, then that’s fine. But absolutely no fucking the budbugs or other sexual activities with them. -You do not have permission to resell them or sell merchandise with them on it.

This post will be updated as needed if anything changes to their species info. Last update: 10/18/2018 

[stories-from-my-mind-to-yours]

Humans. Pet, Protégés or Predator? Part V. Ancient truths.

Omega draconis, Omega homeworld. Five days had passed since Cerin's... experience. He had decided to take some time off, due to obvious reasons. The vote concerning the humans had proved useless, since they had opted out of an inauguration, and instead had simply asked to form a coalition of sorts, in all but name exactly the same thing, but in the humans paraphrased words: "but this was our idea."

He couldn't really blame them, young as they were, it's like watching hatchlings try to catch their first rekkh, (a lava-living snake, 2 ft in lengt, often kept as a pet) absolutely convinced no one had ever done it before. Well it had been four million cycles since any egg had actually hatched, but still. The humans were so... for lack of a better word, childish. But at the same time, one of the most tenacious, inventive and dangerous creatures to ever sail the cosmos.

His mind wandered far, as it does when one has nothing to do but wait. He thought of a story his father had told him when he was little. The story of The First Four.

In the beginning there were Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. Alpha and Gamma were female, Beta and Delta were male. Alpha was blue, Beta was red, Gamma was green, and Delta was yellow. The story went on to describe the many great things they did, Alpha had lain thousands of eggs, and she cared for them all, for she was the Brood Queen. Beta was the Father and Teacher, he had shown them how to hunt, and taught them speech and writing. Gamma was the Caregiver, she who gave them heat and comfort. Delta was a trickster, mischievous and inventive, he had found all kinds of new things, like the magma caves they most often slept in.

This is of course considered pure myth by some, and there is no scientific evidence that they had ever existed. But Cerin was a believer, and as such he drew his heritage from Gamma. His thoughts trailed to the fragile creature that slept below his feet.

The female Omega had spoken very little, she answered with yes or no, or a few words together, she had even forgotten to tell him her name, but there would be time for pleasantries later. He had brought her home, not in any way because he felt any obligation for either of them to mate, but simply because it was her home.

He had offered her food several times on the journey home, but she insisted on not feeding until she stood on Omegan soil again. He had obliged her, considering the circumstances, Omegans that hadn’t fed in a prolonged period became irritated and sometimes aggressive, and he didn’t want to provoke her. When they reached his home she had devoured not one, but two whole karrahk! (Imagine a crossbreed between an crocodile and a sabertooth tiger) and for a creature not even five feet tall, that was unbelievably impressive.

After she had fed she needed to digest, so naturally he had offered her one of the volcanic caverns beneath his dwelling, which was for that purpose after all. So she slept, for four days so far, but he had no idea of how long she had hibernated inside the Obelisk. They could hibernate for millions of cycles, but encased in stone? That was new to him. New to anyone. They did need to breathe after all, even though they could ingest oxygen or sulfur through their scales, it was far less effective. But solid rock? As far as he knew, that wasn’t possible. They could swim in lava, but not breathe in it. Should one be trapped in hardening lava or in the vast emptiness of space, you would die.

But that wasn't what occupied his mind at the moment. She would be ready when she was ready, questions could wait until then.

The news of the events that had taken place on Titan had been live broadcasted throughout the universe. Trillions had seen this unassuming little green lizard, barely five feet tall, increase in size tenfold, and turn into a fairytale monster mothers would scare their young with. He had seen the images of it, and it had left him speechless. But reporters didn't worry him the least, since the atmosphere on Omega is toxic to anyone who doesn't breathe or can at least tolerate high levels of sulfur and sulfuric acid rain, and Omegans weren't that interested in him.

But the news of an Omega female had quickly spread far and wide, and most Omegans had returned home to see this legendary being. That was what bothered him the most. They had never been especially numerous, but this, this was truly horrifying. At their peak there had been around 400,000 Omegans. Now, on their entire planet, there were 172 Omega. Even worse, was the fact that of the few who had survived, over a hundred of them were so old they probably didn't have many cycles left in their hearts. He felt sorrow for his many sisters and brothers that lay sleeping in the eternally churning magma below. But there was nothing he could do for now, but wait. He painted. He slept. He hunted and prepared the meat. And then slept again. But eventually he got terribly bored.

He decided it was a good time to see if he could transform again. He tried everything he could think of, even hitting himself to induce pain, but to no avail. For two full days he experimented, before deciding it must be involuntary, and simply gave up. It was almost morning, he had fed a little, and was just about to get some rest when he heard the soft rasp of scaly feet traversing the tunnel from the magma caves.

He had heard the old ones describe young fertile females, the way they had exaggerated their beauty had made him believe their old age had made their minds... slightly less trustworthy, to not speak ill of the dead.

But their words fell oh so short in light of this creature before him. No words could describe her beauty. Cerin had most certainly fallen madly in love with this, for him, unobtainable goddess. The shape of her body enticed him in ways he had never felt before.

He watched as she slowly crawled up out of the tunnel in the floor, not completely awake by the look on her face, but he undoubtedly saw she had shed her skin. Considering how long she had hibernated it was probably long overdue. It explained the excessive feeding as well as the long sleep.

Before, her scales had been a very dull light blue, almost grey. At risk of being insulting, he would have described her as boring. But now... She took his breath away. The now fierce blue tint of her scales revealed she was a direct descendant of Alpha, one of their First Four. He had never seen such strong coloration of scales before. It was a deep, dark midnight blue, and the shimmer on her scales was mesmerizing.

The red jagged lines that before had been barely visible, now had spread across her cheeks, highlighting her feminine snout that now glowed with heat, indicating she must’ve slept very close to the magma.

He remained still, certain she would notice his presence, unwilling to startle someone that had just awoken. She took no notice him, instead she walked into the storage room, where he had hung meat to dry. He felt slightly insulted, but decided to give her some leeway, and sat down at the carved stone bench that was as round as the main dome of his dwelling. The fire pit in the middle had gone out, but the sun would soon heat the surface to a more pleasant temperature. She returned from the storage room with a dried karrahk hind leg, with a large chunk already missing from it. He watched her silently as she made her way around and sat down at the opposing side. She ate in silence, and didn’t even acknowledge he was there. This confused him.

“Ssheeyak sha rasshassh ssherr?” (Did you sleep well?) He asked in their ancient native language. He had missed speaking it, to speak to someone of his own kind.

She had apparently not noticed he was there. She quickly looked up, startled, and swallowed hard, and immediately looked down at the floor.

“Forgive me, I did not see you Guardian, please forgive my faults and be lenient in my punishment.”

“Punishment? Why would I punish you? And why do you call me guardian?”

He couldn’t see her face, but her hands moved nervously, and she stared at the floor. When she spoke, she whispered so low he could barely hear her.

“You... you are of Gamma. You are Guardian. I... forgive me Guardian, I do not understand...” He could hear in her voice that she was close to tears.

He stood up and walked to her, and kneeled at her side. He put his claws under her jaw and lifted it so she would face him, but she shied away and turned her head, as if he would strike her.

“I may be of Gamma, but I will not harm you in any way. I would never do that.”

He paused briefly. He could see that she listened.

“My name is Cerin. The only female I have ever seen died when I was only a few hundred cycles old. She was the last female that lived.” He hesitated, not sure what effect his next words would have.

“No eggs would hatch after that, and most of the remaining males grew old and died. We may have forgotten many things, but I would never punish you for not seeing me, and I have never heard of a Guardian. Now, please, look at me.”

As he begged her to look at him, she slowly turned her head to face him, with disbelief and tears in her eyes. He knew not how old she was, but he knew she must be ancient, to have lived under such a rule.

“Please, speak to me. Why don't you start with your name? And if you can, please explain why you were inside the Obelisk."

She hesitated. She wanted to speak, but couldn’t control her voice just yet.

“Take your time,” he said, “I’m not going anywhere.”

He heard her breathing and hearts slowly returning to normal.

“My name is Amara of Alpha.” He looked into her deep blue eyes. He was utterly lost. He would give anything at her whim, be it his life if she wanted, he wouldn’t hesitate. As she continued he sensed the pride in her heritage, being Alpha is to be the Mother amongst children. Alpha leads, all others follow.

“I am the oldest hatchling of my den. I was encased in The Obelisk because the stone would protect us when all others died, to preserve us deeper than hibernation. My mother and her sister was among the first to die. After that my father made the obelisks to protect me and my sisters.”

“There are others?” He didn’t dare hope there were more like her.

“There were,” she answered. “I don’t know if they remain. We were nine sisters. My father made nine, pillars of rebirth he called them.”

“Your father, how did he make them?”

“With fire, like yours, when you saved me from the stone. I never thanked you.”

He bowed graciously. He saw a hint of a smile.

“You were calling my name from within the Obelisk, then I transformed into... whatever that was.”

“A primordial.” She answered. “How do you not know this?”

“We forgot so many things... We forgot how to transform.”

“Shapeshift.” She corrected. “You are a shapeshifter.”

"Please tell me, you called me Guardian. What did you mean?"

"You are the Guardian. You are a descendant of Gamma.”

She sat before him, confused. Tears fell from her bright blue eyes and trickled down her thorny cheeks. When she spoke her voice cracked with despair.

"So much knowledge lost... Gamma was the first Guardian. The Protector. The Keeper. She was also the first shapeshifter. She guarded our lands, our people and our knowledge."

She fell silent, tears streaming down her face.

Cerin softly wiped her tears away.

"You speak of her as if you actually knew her."

She shook her head and took his hand in hers, holding it softly.

"No, I never got to know her, but I remember her from when my father took me to see her as she lay down for the longest sleep. She was beautiful. You have her eyes... Cerin of Gamma."

He sat before her with a look of absolute disarray on his face. He struggled to fathom the age of this fragile creature before him. And to have met one of the First Four. He was speechless.

"She really lived? Do you... So long you must've slept... How old were Gamma? How old were you when the Sundering began? I have so many questions."

She put her hand on his studded cheek.

"I will try to answer all your questions, but there is something you must do for me first."

He nodded. "Anything."

“There is something I want to show you, but I don’t remember where it is, I only know there is a colossal door at the foot of one of the biggest volcanoes.”

He frowned his snout in thought. “I don’t know of any doors, but the biggest volcanoes are on the other side of the planet, the sleeping ridge. I don’t have a ship here and It’ll take weeks to get there.”

She smiled very lightly, which is the only was an Omegan can smile, since their taut scales allow very little movement, making them masters of face and body language.

“What?” He looked insulted, he didn’t understand but her face told him he had said something incredibly amusing.

“Cerin, you may be older than I in years lived, and one should always show respect for the Guardian, but in my time you would have been called “sshasscheesh”.

He chuckled to himself. Village idiot, hm?

“Well,” he spoke softly, “had there been anyone as beautiful as you here to teach me, I would’ve known even less, as I would’ve only gazed into your bottomless blue eyes.” Her eyes widened and the red lines on her snout blossomed in color, as she turned her face away and closed her eyes.

He was surprised by her reaction. “Forgive me, did I insult you? I apologize. I meant not to hurt you.”

She gazed upon him under halfclosed eyelids. “You did not insult me, Cerin of Gamma, you made me blush.”

“Ah... well, I do not regret it. You are a very beautiful female, but I have only seen two. But I... I feel different when I’m close to you.”

She smiled again. “I know Cerin, your cheeks are practically glowing.” He quickly felt his cheeks, they were warmer than ever, he quickly walked to the mirrorpond, and gasped at the sight of his face. They were glowing!

“What does this mean? I have never...”

She had without a sound walked up behind him, she put her hand on his shoulder, and turned him around. She stood much to close he thought, so close he couldn’t move.

“Amara, what...” she interrupted him. “Shh... You have never, and neither have I, but my mother told me I would know when I found my mate. You make me happy, you make me feel beautiful, and you have already saved my life. I know I want to be with you. From now on, Cerin of Gamma, you are mine, and I am yours, until the end of time, if you will have me.”

He was absolutely stunned. He couldn’t speak, he tried but couldn’t form a single sound. Her smile made his knees weak, and he felt he could drown in those beautiful eyes.

“Cerin, are you all right?” She asked. He could barely nod.

Something inside him had awakened, something he had never felt in his long life. Lust. Desire. Love. He didn’t know what to call it, but her, confessing her feelings for him had given him all he could ever want. He lifted her into his arms and carried her into the magma caves. He carefully placed her on the biggest stone in the cave, her eyes glinted in the glowing light of the bright orange magma. The heat in the cave made him tremble, his hands were shaking. His breath was hot, and his hearts pounded in his chest.

“Easy,” she whispered. “Cherish this moment, it is the last of our lives as children. We will be reborn, as it has always been.” He didn’t understand, and his expression reflected it. “You really have forgotten everything haven’t you?” He thought for a second and nodded.

She sighed. “I will teach you all I know, and we will teach our hatchlings. And they will teach all our people. But for now it is just you and me. Lay with me, my love, and see what happens.”

She pulled him close, and in the bright orange glow of churning magma, they made love for the first time.

Cerin woke slowly, he felt different somehow, but the feeling of Amara’s warm scales pressing against his body made his hearts beat faster. He put his arms around her and pulled her tightly against him.

“Your breath tickles,” she mumbled. He rubbed his chin against hers, feeling the warmth she radiated.

“Feeling you-“ he interrupted himself, shocked to hear his own voice, and sat up quickly. He had not expected to hit his head on the ceiling of the cave that he had walked down into, and he hit it hard.

“What? Why do I sound like this?” His deep growling voice scared even him.

She laughed, and the sound echoed of the walls. She sounded differently too.

“I told you, my love, you would see what happened.” She sat up and turned towards him. She looked very much different, but still the same eyes. He touched her face, and in the orange glow he saw his hand. He could barely recognize it, the scars he had earned was there, but this was not the hand he had been born with. The six fingers were longer and thicker, the claws sharper than karrahk teeth.

“Wait until you see your face my love.” She crawled of the stone, and had to crawl out of the cave. Had the ceiling caved in? He didn’t understand, a feeling he was getting used to. And what was this about his face? He rolled of the stone and crawled towards the entrance to the cave.

Amara had already crawled up, he saw light from above as he started crawling through the tunnel. Halfway up, he got stuck. There was nowhere near enough room for him to get out, he reached out with one arm and could feel the floor of the dwelling above.

He sighed. “Amara, I’m stuck. How can I be stuck? This makes no sense! And why do I sound like a karrahk male in heat!?” She looked down from up above. “It’s fine my love, just dig in your claws and pull yourself up.” He grunted, tried to twist himself around to get a better angle, and pressed his claws down into the massive stone floor, and pulled. He heard and felt the stone around him crumbling, his shoulders and back scraped against the jagged rocks. Finally his other arm came loose, he dug down in the floor and pulled his way up. When he stood up he looked around himself, baffled by how different everything looked. Everything was so small! “It isn’t your dwelling that has changed my love, it is you. And I.”

He turned around, and the sight before him made his cheeks warm. Amara was changed, her tail was longer, her body more curved than before, her legs looked longer, yet she was shorter. She came closer and embraced him, she barely reached to his chest, where she before had been almost the same height as him. She looked up at him. Her cheeks were wider, her snout smaller, and short fur covered her scalp. “Why are you shorter?” He asked. She laughed. “Oh my love, I’m not shorter, it is you who are taller! Look in the mirrorpond if you do not believe me.” He turned around, and the insight hit him like a rock in the head. The mirrorpond that had earlier reached him to the chest, now didn’t even reach his waist. He bent down and gazed upon his face. The pond was too small to let him see his entire face, but what he saw scared him. It was the face of the monster, the Primordial that stared back at him. The elongated snout and jaw, teeth made to kill, the bony ridges around his eyes, oh and the eyes, if those eyes didn’t scream murder he didn’t know what did. He quickly turned to Amara again.

“Please tell me this is a dream. It cannot be real! I am a monster!”

“Oh it is very real. When there is no Queen or Guardian anymore, our bodies sense it, and when two lovers mate, they evolve into what is missing. When the last Queen and Guardian died, our world was made wanting.”

“Now it is our turn, our responsibility to fill that void. And we will fill it, with our hatchlings, and they will fill it with theirs. But we will be Queen and Guardian for the rest of our lives. This is our time, my love. And you are not a monster. What you was before was a child. Now, you are the Father.” She caressed her stomach. “In here lay your children, for now. Come, feel them.” He knelt down before her, and in her abdomen he could sense them, he could see them. Small glowing pods of slumbering fire. “There must be hundreds!” He beamed with pride and joy. He stood and swooped her up into his arms in one sweeping motion, intoxicated by her, by himself, and the things he had learned.

“I love you, my Queen.”

“And I love you, my Guardian. My terrible fire breathing monster.”

[greatshell-rider]

SKELETAL ESCAPADES: EPILOGUE

[Chapter Index] [Previous Chapter]

Tibia slid the final vertebrae into place, then tapped the skeleton’s skull, muttering the activation spell. Magic leeched off her and infused the bones until they glowed a light purple. Sit up, she told it, and it did so. Do a somersault. And it did, to her hatchling’s delight.

Not a hatchling anymore, really, Tibia thought to herself, watching fondly as Fern batted gently at the skeleton, then jumped back in surprise when Tibia made it turn its skull suddenly his way.

The small fae looked up at her with wide eyes, Tibia flared her crest, and he ruffled his own back happily.

“Here,” she said, while giving the skeleton a mental nudge, “now it’ll do what you tell it.”

Fern’s crest shot up in surprise, and he turned a surprisingly serious look upon the skeleton sitting patiently for orders. “What’s your name?” he asked it.

Tibia flinched, and fought to keep her crest still.

Fern’s crest drooped when the skeleton did nothing. “Atomic told me they could talk,” he whined. “I want one who’ll talk to me. Oh! Should I have told it my name first? Was I rude? Does it hate me now? Does it—”

“It doesn’t hate you,” Tibia was able to force out, overcoming her shock. “No, no,” she chuckled, “it just old bones, it couldn’t talk if it knew how.”

Fern cocked his head. “But Atomic . . .”

“I once made necro-animations that could talk, yes,” Tibia acknowledged. “I don’t do it anymore, though.”

The fae tipped his head the other way. Tibia wondered idly which of the familiars had taught him that. “Why not?”

Tibia tapped her claws against the rug, wondering how much the banescale had told him. Probably not so far as that. “Well, if it were to talk, it would need its soul brought back too.”

Fern blinked. “S-soul . . .?”

“Every living thing has one,” Tibia told him. “When a thing dies, its soul leaves, leaving its body to be used by other living things, that way it doesn’t hurt them anymore. When I animate bones like this,” she gestured to the necro-animation, “I only use magic to do so. For harder things, like talking, I need to bring the soul back.”

Fern stared blankly at her.

“Like . . . calling you back for dinner. What does Lamp do?”

“Fa calls our names! And we can smell meat and insects roasting, so we know it’s a good call.”

Tibia twitched her crest in amusement. “Indeed. Just as you come back to the lair for food, the soul comes back to live in its bones.”

“Well, if it’s eating dinner in its bones, why not tell every soul to come back?”

“Remember when Crescent ate a yucky fish and was sick for days? And even now the smell of that fish can make his stomach hurt?”

Fern nodded solemnly.

“When souls get hurt, the hurt . . . doesn’t always go away. Sometimes it seems to, but then things like fishy smells make it come back. And it can’t eat that food any longer.”

And sometimes when forced to be surrounded by that smell, a soul had to use more and more power to ward off the sickness, to keep it going at the same strength. Sometimes in needing more power, it started taking more than it received. Sometimes it became a revenant, a mage like Tibia herself but in being undead, had more ability and less control, less stability, and it collapsed into itself. Then to reintroduce the smell once more . . .

The metaphor had stretched too far. Atomic had definitely not told them this much. A mixture of boredom, confusion, and impatience glazed the young fae’s eyes.

“It’s just safer this way,” Tibia said, scooping the mouse skeleton up and holding it out for Fern to take. “We don’t want to hurt our little friends, or make them sick, yeah?”

Fern accepted the offering somewhat gingerly, and Tibia was pleased to see he made sure not to crush any bones accidentally with a too-strong grip or press it too tightly against his chest. “Yes!” he said, once the skeleton was secure. “Thanks, Mama!” And he darted off to show his new friend to his siblings.

When he was gone, Tibia looked up to the small ledge carved high up into the den wall, upon which sat a single bone. An old, tiny chipmunk skull, cracks and a smear of red its only ornamentation. A glance at that made her gaze sidle to a patch on the floor just inside the den. Though the area had been cleaned thoroughly multiple times, images of the gore that had greeted Tibia upon her and Atomic’s return to the lair that past winter still flashed through her head.

The piling worries after Tibia had woken from the trance she’d put herself in after CS2 had severed their link almost entirely, and she’d woken to find she couldn’t sense the necro-animation at all. The terror evoked upon the sight of the disturbed lair entrance, and the trail of bone shards and dust leading the way in. Then the shock of the mess of the banescale corpse, practically splattered onto the walls.

Tibia stopped herself before she could sink too deep into the memories, flinching away as usual from remembering the last few minutes of CS2’s reanimation. That had been a bad time. She’d learned from it, and moved on. As all living things must. As all dead things, she’d learned, when glimpsing into CS2’s memories as its pain had spilled into their connection, could not.

She flew up to the ledge, perching on the tiny handholds leading up to the niche so she could peer at the skull up close. Though she always had the thought to, she didn’t dare touch it with a claw. Safer this way.

As a necromancer, Tibia could bring souls back. She’d never dared try bringing one bigger than a squirrel back, even before CS2’s breakdown. There were warnings stretching back hundreds of years about that. Because even as a necromancer, able to reanimate things, she didn’t know where exactly she pulled them from. Couldn’t know a soul’s previous life, and how they would react to awakening again.

Her claw hovered over the skull.

She could try it again. Just to get her questions answered. Her curiosity satiated. Her forgiveness begged.

The hope was painful. Her wish felt tarnished, dirtied by her own guilt and greed. But other than this one remaining bone, it was all Tibia had left.

May you have gone to a better place, Tibia prayed, as she backed away. May you know peace. Her feet fit the ground with a soft thump, leaving her to look up at the sole remnant of her servant. May you rest.

[shardclan]

The Sundial Brewery was different after Cassis left, but not half so much as it was after Shiraz had descended to take his place. While Cassis had been a jolly crooner that brightened the mood, Shiraz was an idol that could bring out a frenetic, edgy energy in the patrons of the Brewery. Both of them were natural born entertainers, but it was very obvious why Shiraz occasionally did concerts at Bramble Step while Cassis had been content to play soulful yet light-hearted music by the riverbend.

Carnelian and Arcanus sat with their backs to the bar, sipping thougtfully in the company of the equally bemused owners. Cloudwhyte and Alchemilla weren't used to this sort of energy. As far as they were concerned, they ran a quiet bar that happened to keep musicians on hand for mood music, but the vibe had suddenly become that of a concert hall. Shiraz was strutting and stomping and wailing all up and down a range that was bafflingly powerful at every note. Even considering he was a nocturne didn't make it less astonishing. Shiraz had taken his natural talent for mimicry and made something amazing out of it. The crowd around him seemed to lean back every time he released more of his voice, literally being blown away by it, and with every pause for breath they rushed back in for more.

And though Shiraz' performance was technically a Trickmurk event (for those who didn't have the fortitude for the kind of celebrations Bramble Step was having), right at the front was Stellaria, flushed, bright-eyed and dazzled in a way she usually only was after she'd gotten in a fight. Verbena and young Rebis were bouncing along to the music beside her on one side while on the other Xandina was showing a surprising lack of bodily coordination for a hunter. Eos had come with them, despite being totally out of their element. Shiraz' style was too much for their already high-strung and nervous baseline state and rather than join the thrashing crowd, they'd opted for a single glass of wine that had overpowered them in a very different way.

Carnelian leaned back and shouted over his shoulder to the owners. "Where's Merlot?"

"She's taken Cassis leaving pretty hard," Cloudwhyte answered with a shrug. "New partners are hard for skydancers. If she doesn't like what she feels from Shiraz or the energy he generates when they work together, she won't sing with him."

Carnelian glanced thoughtfully at Shiraz, and a moth-eaten memory of a very different musician arose. "How'd she get on with Rime?"

"Rime had nothing on Shiraz," Alchemilla balked. "Rime was a mad scientist hiding in a musician's body!"

"Doesn't answer my question."

"What? Oh, I dunno, they got on okay, I guess? Rime was a screamer and Merlot's voice sounds the way top shelf brandy tastes so it's not like they ever sang together."

Carnelian hummed into his glass and nudged Arcanus. "You'll bore a hole through her if you keep staring."

Arcanus ignored the jibe and kept his eyes on his niece. "I understand the two of you had a talk."

Carnelian pressed his lips together, and patiently reasoned to himself that Arcanus hadn't asked about Atsushi at all and that was behavior that should be rewarded. "We did. Ironed some things out."

"I gather. She looks happy." He smiled faintly. "You know Ashes is jealous."

"Of what?!" Carnelian snorted. "I'm not her dad!"

"When did I mention anything about her being your daughter?" Arcanus asked innocently, just barely hiding a smirk. "She knows who and where her dad is--it's not a hole that needs filling." He dipped his head over toward the snugly sleeping figure of Eos. "But she's been very fond you since the event with the pearlcatcher scroll."

"Fuck off, that girl doesn't love anybody as much as she loves her Uncle Arcanus."

"She relies on you," Arcanus pressed smoothly. "And that's something that Ashes can't say. He's great for an inquiry about magic, but no honest person would call him reliable."

Carnelian stared at his friend with a curled lip and a tight fist. He couldn't get a rise out of him tonight and it was starting to piss him off. Even though he smiled and talked and phrased his words in just the right way to pick at Carnelian's nerves, Arcanus was poorly concealing an unusual anxiety.

"You're killing my mood," he accused. "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm not sure."

Carnelian drained the rest of his drink with a mutter curse before dragging Arcanus out of the bar onto the open streets of Noon Point. The crowds of celebrating shadow dragons were dying down for the day, migrating to Bramble Step where they could cut loose and cut throat if it came to that. The queen was likely around somewhere with Bestialcian in tow, but Trickmurk was the one elemental holiday she didn't offer any kind of official celebratory address. They didn't hatch shadow eggs either--the last one had been Ilkilides and that had been more than enough to let them know that Aphaster was on poor terms with the Binder. 

To keep out of the way of the milling crowd, Carnelian pulled them into the mouth of an alley where they could speak in private. "Did something happen between you and...?" 

"No."

Carnelian squinted at the way Arcanus very noticeably didn't turn red. "Holy shit, did you actually get over her--ah, wait, no, there it is, you're blushing. False alarm."

"There are other things I concern myself with!" Arcanus insisted with what remaining dignity he had.

Carnelian shrugged and pulled a cigarette from his pocket. "To me they don't exist until you tell me what they are."

Arcanus crossed his arms. "I don't know yet. I would express it to you if I could, Carnelian, as my confidante."

"Easy on the flattery,” he mumbled over the cigarette. “So you just got a bad feeling?"

"An uneasiness, yes. An agitation I cant soothe with will or distraction."

"Spring is coming." He held his hands up peaceably to fend off the weary glare Arcanus shot him. "I'm not joking. Spring gets weird when you care about someone."

Something about the way he said it left Arcanus faintly wondering when Ismene was born. He had never asked. He probably never would. "I don't think that's it," he murmured. "Lately everything seems..." His brow creased with the strain of finding the right word, but to no avail. "I'm unsure. All I know is that I feel relief seeing that both you and my family are settled."

"Okay, whats your best guess why that might be?"

Arcanus looked around while he thought, which was in itself a tell. Sure, he'd loosened up a lot since they became close, but he was still a knight. His day job was to be a menacing presence at the queen’s back while showing little to no sign of personal emotion about the politics.

Carnelian wondered, not for the first time, if Arcanus' emotional trouble wasn't just a side effect of boredom. The Isles were unpredictable, you could lose a charge permanently during a simple walk in the woods or forget entirely that you had one because of a bad storm near the Liminal Band. He probably never had the time to have a bad feeling over something that didn't make itself known within the next few hours.

"I dont want to say it," the guardian finally admitted. "I don’t want to speak it."

Carnelian bobbed his head. "Something that bad you don’t want to give the universe ideas? I get that."

"You should remember that the universe will get ideas whether you speak them or not."

Carnelian leaned out with a snarl on his lips and a curse on his tongue, and both fizzled when he saw the distinctive match of a water emblem over Arcane eyes. Kiele was perhaps the rarest seen of all the witches of the Starwood coven. Being water-touched and a choosing to live as a witch had left her in a similar position to Tungsten, but while Tungsten had to use carefully applied ice magic, Kiele had Faded. She could never know when a vision might suddenly strike, but she had eons worth of Faded's magic laced as delicate as frost over her mind. Neither of them had known much about her to begin with, but like all young dragons who became witches, she wasn't the same dragon she had been before. It was hard to miss the family resemblance she shared with Kea, but that was about all they had in common.

"I'm pretty sure eavesdropping during Trickmurk is considered sacrilege," Carnelian muttered, leaning back into the shadows.

"...I'm clairvoyant," she deadpanned. "I don't think I was ever gonna win any points with shadowlings." She tossed her chin at Arcanus. "Besides, the knight's right."

"Is he now." The flicker of a match momentarily lit Carnelian's dour expression. "Some more business with the spirits?"

"There is plenty on this plane to make a keen man wary. The boy agrees with me."

Carnelian and Arcanus both exchanged a look of confusion, and leaned out together to find Apokathisto idling in one of the charming little nooks in the cafe’s facade with a half-demolished slice of aggressively violet black woods cake. He had the look of someone who was deeply embarrassed but was trying to pretend otherwise--which, combined with the smear of blackberry preserves on his chin, only made him look more guilty.

"How long have you been there?"

"I-I'm sorry," he stammered. "I was just trying to eat my cake..."

"How long. Have you been there."

"...The whole time."

Both men glared accusingly at each other in a furious but silent exchange. Carnelian was a detective, he stalked people all the time, he should have noticed a gawky adolescent  hanging around; and Arcanus was supposed to be aware of his surroundings, he was the queen's knight after all. But it was a holiday and they were both a little drunk, so they made peace with a sigh.

"I thought it was odd to not see you around with Rebis here," Arcanus admitted. "Why aren't you in there with them?"

Apokathisto wilted and pushed sullenly at his cake. "There's no boys my age and I don't like the music."

It was hard not to sympathize with an answer like that. Even when they lived in the Isles, the clan had always had an unusually high number of female hatchlings, and that hadn't changed. Phage, Foster, Katiyana, and Lamium were the closest Apokathisto had to same-sex peers and they were, in order, a terrible influence, infamously shy, disinterested in dragons that weren't Zo or his relatives, and friendly but troubled. It shed a very lonely light on the situation.

Arcanus cleared his throat as subtly as he could, and Carnelian took the hint with a raised brow but nothing else. There was a short shriek as he threw Kiele under his arm and stalked off with her as though she were a just an unruly bag of potatoes, but it was quickly muffled by Shiraz' performance and the natural noise of the thoroughfare.

Not long ago, Apokathisto would have held Arcanus' hand as they walked, but he was getting to be that age where he felt such a thing was childish. It was often forgotten but Arcanus had been the caretaker and protector of dozens of hatchlings and watched over several into their adulthood. The behaviors of fledglings were no mystery to him, and the basic ability to respect their turbulent, often contradictory feelings made him very popular among adolescents. It was just rare anyone got to see it. But sure enough, as soon as they had passed beyond Noon Point and were alone on the walkways through the Summerlands, Apokathisto began walking a lot closer to him.

"You've been uneasy too?" the boy asked.

"I have," Arcanus answered honestly. "But I'm old and I've seen a lot and I have to wrestle with that myself. Children shouldn't be so troubled. What's wrong?"

Apokathisto grabbed a dried out stalk and snapped pieces from it as they walked. "I don't want to speak it."

"Has anyone harmed you?"

Snap. "No."

"Has anyone made you feel threatened?"

Snap. "No."

"Do you feel that you're in danger in any way?"

Snap.

Snap.

Snap. "I don't know."

"Is there anything I can do?"

Apokathisto threw the last of the stalk away. "I don’t know."

Arcanus stopped them both, and knelt to look into Apokathisto's eyes. The boy always wore difficult expressions, but he usually wore them openly--now he seemed evasive, as if he didn't want it to show that something weighed on him. "I won't press you. But if you think of anything I can do, I hope you'll tell me."

At that, the boy did meet his eyes. They were striking as always--with their blue-white streaks like shooting stars, and the intensity of them was enough to catch even Arcanus off guard. There was anger in him; confusion and fear. "Is something going to happen to me?"

"Something like what?"

"I don't know...!" he cried pitifully.

The boy's face was going red. Again, Arcanus felt a poignant sympathy for the boy. If he was dealing with the same worrying unease that Arcanus was, it wasn't a wonder he was so upset. He was already so wary by nature, and he didn't seem to have anyone to confide in. He was frustrated and frightened, and in that moment Arcanus knew what it felt like to be Hart--to want nothing more than to be at Apokathisto's side and reassure him that he was safe. But to promise that would have been to lie in the boy's face in his moment of vulnerability.

"You know that my charge must come first," he said apologetically. "I cannot vow to protect you from all things at all times. But I can swear to you that I would never ignore it if I so much as suspected anything was going to happen to you."

It wasn't the most reassuring answer, but it was the truth. For a boy like Apokathisto, that was far more important. Though he wasn't crying, Arcanus turned his back and let the boy have a moment to collect himself and rebuild his idea of a mature demeanor before they continued along the quiet footpath.

At some point, Apokathisto quietly took Arcanus' hand and didn't let go.

[lamiaward]

Devour me

I do not own OUAT

I think the only warnings are a mention of sex (nothing graphic) and an allusion to torture ( but nothing specific)  but honestly I am so tired my brain isn’t working so..  

I hope you enjoy : )

After Mal had hatched, she quickly learned that you had to be tough. You had to be tougher than a mountain, tougher than dragon scales even. You had to be so tough that no human could hurt you, and no dragon could beat your fire. Dragons are not meant to be soft, or pliable or even have the slightest affection for humans.

Before, there used to be human-dragon settlements. But by the time Maleficent hatched, there had been a horrendous betrayal and one of her first lessons was to never trust a human. To never even allow them to get close, physically or emotionally. In fact, it was better to immediately kill them or fly away. All the other hatchlings were told the same: humans are slippery, awful creatures. They are prey, but be careful. Because they have odd things that could kill you, and strange power that could trap you.

Every night, there were stories to enforce the rule. With the cold of the cave’s stone wall almost enough to chill her, she can almost imagine she is at the nest again, listening to the familiar voice. She would lay in the fire’s embers and hear all these stories. About dragons who saw human villages being attacked and helped- only to be chased and killed by the people they saved. About dragons that listened to humans dressed in steel, and agreed to help them in their battle – only to be betrayed.

Sometimes, there were dragons who formed friendships. Who fell in love. Who were nothing but loyal and passionate the way dragons are, and whose stories all ended in the most gruesome ways.

So Maleficent knows better than to trust humans. She has lived stories like the ones she used to fall asleep to. So why does she look at her princess, and forgets all of that? Her species’ history is filled with tragedies caused by humans, and yet she doesn’t see something despicable when she looks at Regina.

Regina is sweat-soaked, her hair matted to her face. She sounds pathetic whenever she whimpers, which is often. Sometimes, she still cannot sit up without help, and falls asleep after even the easiest of tasks such as sipping the drinks Maleficent gets for her. Any dragon would think off her as weak prey, and either leave her to die in dignity and peace, or eat her if they were hungry.

Maleficent has tried. She has tried to abandon the princess, but her wings always returned her to this cave, the hoarded objects and the smart, hot-headed yet sweet woman that freed her.

Perhaps I feel indebted to her, because she liberated me. Perhaps that is what is causing my unwillingness to leave her.

Maleficent is not stupid though, nor is she oblivious. She knows it is probably far more than that. Especially because she cannot stop thinking about the way her princess bites her lip whenever she gets a spell right. Because she can’t stop her own smile at the reminder of what sleeping with Regina in her arms feels like. She knows she is deep trouble, and she should leave because of more than just dragon rules.

“Mal?”

Maleficent slowly lifts her head, and then looks in Regina’s direction. She is struggling to sit up, eyes still a little bleary. They quickly clear however, and Maleficent knows that if she had her wings right now, they would be moving and her tail would be sweeping the floor, like it does whenever Regina looks at her like this.

Perhaps she actually can read minds, or sense emotions. That could even be a human thing, although I have found no evidence that the ancient stories are true.

“ I still despise that nickname” she grumbles.

Regina stretches, and yawns. “ Well, you still have not told me your full name so the nickname will have to stay”.

Maleficent slowly stands, and prowls towards Regina. “Mal is an insult to my ancestors, who granted me my name after I had proved myself worthy of one. Names are sacred and should be chosen after great consideration and never abbreviated” she growls, climbing on the bed and looming over Regina.

“ I like it” Audacious girl. Regina’s smile just grows, and Maleficent thinks about all the ways she would teach Regina that she is playing with fire. “ Mal”.

Maleficent is actually so stunned that she leans back, and forgets to be intimidating. “ You have never spoken it that way before” she says. Regina’s smile turns a bit shy. Maleficent eyes the blush and feels her cheeks stretch by her own pleased smile. “ Do it again” she commands.

Regina rolls her eyes. “ You are not in charge of – “ her voice trails off when Mal wraps a strand of dark hair around her finger, and leans in even more. “ Do it again” she whispers, and smirks when Regina flushes and stammers for a moment.

“Um -  Mal?”

“ Not like that. Like before. I enjoy it so much more when you speak it like that”.

“ Mal “.

“ Something like that, yes. But- “.

Maleficent glares when Regina pushes her away. “ Stop it.

“ I was enjoying that”.

“ What did they make you do?”.

Maleficent blinks in confusion at the sudden change in subject. It isn’t unfamiliar, as her princess often quickly changes the subject when Maleficent has managed to fluster her quite deliciously, but it doesn’t mean she has gotten any better at understanding what is meant.

“ You were upset because you only received your name after you had proven yourself worthy. What does that entail?”.

Ah. “ You are very interested in dragon customs, are you not?”.

Maleficent almost smiles as Regina nods eagerly. Then her old training kicks in, and her lips stop twitching.  Regina doesn’t shy away when Maleficent presses against her, and grabs her chin to yank her head forward.   “ Why? So that monster Cora can trap and destroy the last of my kind, as soon as you have told her how?”  

“No, of course not “ Regina protests.

Maleficent slowly lets go.  “Why then?”.

“ Your kind – it is fascinating. You always have been” Regina frowns. “ I do not know why. You just always were” She licks her lips. “Mother has never approved of my fascination with your species”.

“ Perhaps she wished you to be as weak as possible”.

“ I am not weak” Regina snaps.

Just when it seems like Regina’s anger is about to explode, Maleficent speaks again.  “ No. You are not” she simply states.

“ So will you tell me? Please? “

“ My kind only receive their names after they have proved themselves. They have to prove themselves strong, courageous and unbreakable”.

“ How?” Regina questions, settling against the things Maleficent got from a cottage somewhere. She took them because they looked very comfortable, and soft. The farmer was very willing to give her anything she desired. Regina doesn’t know this.  Maleficent leans against them as well, pleased that she got them even if she would likely have an argument with the princess if Regina ever found out.

“ They have a day to find a prey, and kill it. They have another day to return with something taken from humans in a fight. And they have a last day to fight each other” Maleficent waits a beat, then adds “ to the Death”.

As she expected, Regina is horrified. “ What”.

“As you may have noticed, this world is not exactly kind to my species. Only the strongest and most capable survive. It is necessary that only the strongest survive- lest someone traps a weaker dragon, and somehow manages to extract our secrets from them”.

“But you are already captured” Regina says, voice soft and eyes even softer.

“ Yes. But I assure you that the humans have yet to discover torture methods that will convince any dragon to give up our secrets”

“ So you force your children through beastly iniation rituals, only so that maybe they will not tell humans anything? “.

“ Do not judge our ways, princess, or do I need to remind you what your kind has done?”.

“ Not every human would hurt a dragon, many would never - “.

“ Look at yourself princess. Is it not custom for humans to lock their kin away, to trap them and treat them as pretty things to be traded?”.

“I am not- “.

“ They stuck you into a tower, and decided your fate without ever asking you what you wanted. They had no regard for who you are, and who you can become. And you are not alone. There are so many like you, and I know it because the skies are no longer filled with dragons. They are all rotting in the ground, or in what you humans have named ‘dungeons’. Waiting to guard a treasure so much more valuable than your kind seems to know, and murdered by someone who only wishes fame and beauty”.

“ I thought you didn’t care about humans “ Regina says, turning her face away. Her voice is hoarse, and Maleficent has already seen the tears.

“ What makes you think I do? “.

“ You sound angry about how we are treated”.

“Your species infatuation with towers and princes means my kind has to suffer”.

Regina swallows. “ Mother and her allies would have made you suffer anyways  “ she whispers

“ Quite likely. But we could have stopped them. Their numbers would have been small enough for them to be no real threat. But now, there are humans with meaningless titles and jewels on their head that wish their daughters to have a dragon guard- and so we are no longer free”.

“ The books say there are still great numbers of you”.

Maleficent laughs, and sees Regina flinch subtly.  “ We were great, once. But now- so many of us have left, and the ones that are left are fighting a losing battle”.

“ But you are dragons. You can fly for hours and miles- and if legend is true, you can even reach other realms. You breathe fire, fire that is even hotter than mundane fire and burns through our strongest armour. You are nearly immune to magic, and have your own magic. You are gargantuan and strong and terrifying – “.

“ And you have great numbers. Even if you are usually divided by greed and intolerance , you still manage to form huge groups with weapons that can fatally wound us.  You never surrender, and you remain standing even when you are so small, and so weak. Your kind has no honour, and plenty of cruelty”

“ You have a grim view of humankind”.

“ My little fireball, you forget I have met humans. And you are the first one to show any sign of honour and dignity. You are the first human with dragon qualities”.

At first, Maleficent thinks her words have angered Regina or perhaps made her feel some other emotion. They have had conversations like this before, after all, and they often end with Regina yelling or receding back into herself “ How many have you met?”.

“ Too many”.

“ I thought you only had met mother- that she captured you, and- “.

“ I am ancient, mi cielo. I have lived for a long time, and I have met many humans during my lifetime”.

“ They can’t all have been bad”.

“ Perhaps some were not bad in the beginning. But they soon changed. Which is how I learned how changeable your species are”.

Regina scoffs. “ And dragons are not?”.

“ No. As soon as we have matured, we stay true to ourselves. But humans- you seem so uncertain of who you are, and then spend your entire lives changing “.

“ But if you have lived a really long time, then surely you have developed as a person and experienced new things and adjusted your beliefs?”.

“ Not really. Dragons do not have the complicated and odd rules humans seem to have in many cases.  I have always just observed and formed my own opinion. Humans come with pre-formed, forced opinions”.

“ What do you mean?”

“ Your kind has rules for every tiny thing. You have thoughts about what each person should be like, what they are and how they ought to behave. This means that as you grow, and become your own person, you change a lot of those ‘beliefs’. Dragons are not like that, we are free creatures. The only rules are to be strong, and to survive”.

“ Rules are necessary- they protect you”.

“ Perhaps- but your kind overdoes it. I admit I do not fully understand humans, or their customs. But what I have noticed during my travels into human territory, is that some of your rules make no sense. They are not just or there to protect, they take and the majority receives nothing in return “.

“ I know that” Regina says, a thousand thoughts and memories flitting through her mind. Her own mother has installed many rules to ‘protect’ her people, which in reality only increased her own power.

“ Do you?”.

“ Of course I do! I am not oblivious and- “ I have observed mother and her allies for a long time. Even if she did not wish me to

“ Her “

Regina closes her eyes. “ Please don’t”.

“ I was not doing anything”.

“ You despise my mother, do you not? “ Regina has to swallow twice ( it hurts, like that time her mother’s magical constraints were around her throat, and she only let go when Regina nodded and promised her total obeisance ) and her voice is still only a hoarse whisper.

“ There is nothing in that woman- there is just this great hole filled with sickly greed and ambition”

“ She is my mother. And she has her flaws, but she- “.

“ Do you believe her capable of love?”.

“ Mal- “.

“ Dragons may be harder than the material your people use to kill my kind, and will force their kin through hardships so to strengthen them, but they would never hurt someone the way your mother hurt you. Love is sacred to us. Those we love are sacred to us “.

“ Mal- “.

“ I know you humans are quicker to spit on those you love, but the way your mother treats you is extreme. Even by human standards, I believe- “.

Maleficent arches her eyebrow when Regina jumps ( actually, it is more like she is falling. The princess is still weak) off the bed and turns to her with the most furious expression Maleficent has ever seen. “ She is my mother. She raised me, and cared for me my entire life. She just thought her way was the best, and believed that in time, I would agree with her. Just because she was utterly wrong and believes it is more important that I never go hungry and face none of the uncertainties the peasants do , does not mean she doesn’t love m-me”

Regina furiously wipes at the few tears that have managed to escape.  Maleficent cannot help but admire how she is obviously breaking inside, but she is still poised and has her chin raised. If she did not suspect that that horrid creature had something to do with it, she would be proud with her princess for being able to hold it together like this. But all she can think about is the weeks – or months, time was not really a concept that existed in the dreary, empty room she was kept in- before she was sent off with the princess, and what that thing has done to Regina to make her able to collect herself in two seconds. To make her terrified of showing pain, or love or sadness.

“ Regi- “

She was lost in thoughts for too long. Regina is already gone.

She wants to stay in the cave at first, suspecting that Regina just wishes to be alone right now. But she is only waiting for two minutes when she realizes how much like prey Regina still is. She might be able to sit up again, and even walk, but she is still recovering. She is in the air before she has even really thought it through, and her wings quickly bring her to where Regina is.

She is sitting on a large rock, arms around her knees and body shaking furiously. She doesn’t spot Maleficent approaching- probably because her face is hidden, pressed against her own arms. Maleficent flies back a little , placing enough distance between them to respect Regina’s desires but not enough to be too late if something would happen.

It is only when Regina stands up, and starts to scream and yell and stump that Maleficent gets closer again. She hovers, carefully watching the princess as she screams and paces on the rock. It is a struggle, but she keeps the distance between them-

Right until the moment Regina’s foot slips

Maleficent has caught her princess before her scream has even finished, flies to the shore and carefully drops her. She transforms back, and she steps forward carefully. When Regina doesn’t show any sign of being upset at her proximity, she takes another step.

“T-thank you”

Maleficent just nods, and gets even closer. Regina barely flinches, and she pauses. As soon as Regina relaxes again, she gently places her hands on the princess’ shoulders and slips them down.

“What a-are you doing?”.

“ Checking for injuries”  she mutters, carefully watching Regina for any signs of discomfort or pain when she slides her hands over Regina’s arms, and presses down. She stops with her hands on the princess ‘ hips when Regina quietly protests.

“What is it?”.

“ Do you remember our various conversations about what is appropriate and what is decidedly not? This is very inappropriate”.

“ I have to know whether you are all right”.

“ I just told you I am”.

Maleficent looks up. “ Can you be certain?”.

Regina huffs. “ Is this another dragon thing?”.

“ Yes”.

Maleficent hides her smirk when Regina’s eyes light up. “ Oh?” she inquires.

“ Yes”.

“ So it is a custom?”.

“Yes” Maleficent gently takes Regina’s chin and bends it this way and then that way to inspect it for anything that could mean Regina is hurting. “ We dragons are very careful with those that have managed to make a good impression on us. And naturally we are instinctual creatures so if there has been any kind of threat to them- “ .

Regina gasps when Maleficent lets go of her face only to squeeze her legs for a second. “ Do you feel any pain?”.

“ No”.

“ Are you certain?”.

“ Yes”.  

Maleficent is just starting to kneel when Regina speaks again. “ So dragons are very protective?”.

“ We are more than protective. If anything we care for gets threatened, we can be consumed by the need to heal and then protect it. I know stories of dragons whose lovers got hurt, and they whisked them away to some faraway land and would not even let kin get close”.

“ But I thought you were solitary creatures- “.

“ Yes, but we can still love”.

“ No, I meant- you speak off your family as though you form close bonds with them. But you do not actually live together, do you?”.

“ No. But from the hatching onward, we share a strong bond. And we do not fight with each other, or even compete”.

“Huh. But how does that- “  Regina trails off, eyes widening when Maleficent’s fingers gentle brush her ankle and press against it. “ You slipped with this foot. Is it okay?”.

“ Y-yes, it is fine”.

“ Good. And here?”.

“ F-fine. So are you close with your p-parents?”.

“ Bold question, my little fireball”.

“ Not as bold as your touches” Regina mutters

Maleficent chuckles. “ Fair enough” she slowly stands up again, and stares at Regina. She almost expect the princess to look away- she used to do that a lot, ages ago- but Regina raises her chin and stares right back.

“ I would not say I am close to my parent”.

Regina frowns. “ Parent? But what about- “.

“ Dragons have several ways to reproduce. One way is – “ Maleficent interrupts herself, and enjoys the way Regina blushes and swallows as she gets a smirk sent her way. “ You do know about sex, do you not?”.

Regina glares at her. “ Y-yes – I mean yes, of course I do”.

“Are you- “.

“ C-can you just explain ? I know all about- “ she vaguely gestures and Maleficent chuckles. “ Poor dear. I doubt you know much at all”.

“ I was promised to a prince, remember? I was groomed for marriage, including that”

Maleficent takes this moment to come closer, and Regina takes a step back for the first time in months. She calmly grabs Regina’s collar, and gently pulls her closer. “ I doubt they told you much about it” she leans in even more, chuckling when Regina’s eyes widen comically.  “ Especially the enjoyable aspects. Do you- “.

“ Stop it”

Maleficent slowly lets go. “ You are no fun” she sighs

Regina crosses her arms, and looks the other way. “ I do not enjoy you toying with me. It is offensive”.

“ All right, princess” Maleficent might not understand why, but she can see the princess is upset so she stops teasing. Her tone is a lot more business-like this time. “ There are two ways for my species to reproduce. One requires a male, the other does not”.

“ Wait, really?” Regina’s mouth actually drops, and all the tension leaves her body.

“ Yes. We are predominantly female, and most of us can reproduce without males”.

“ How?”.

Maleficent chuckles. “ We do not completely understand it ourselves mi cielo, and it is not like we have studied it. We just do”.

“ But surely there must be a progress. Is it magic?”.

“Not everything is magic”.

“ But how does this work” Regina gasps, and Maleficent pauses just to look at her. Her eyes are shining, her mouth is slightly open and she just looks so endearing. Maleficent kind of wants to take her far away from civilization, and keep her forever.

“ It is rather simple. We lay eggs, do you know that?”.

Regina nods.  “ The books said so. They say you mate in dragon form- “.

“ And then lay eggs. This is all true”.

“ What does that have to do with it though?”.  

“We still lay eggs even if we do not have sex with a male”.

“ Oh. But don’t you need-“

“Instead one of the other females approaches you - “ Maleficent gently grabs Regina’s hips and pulls the princess against herself. “ And has sex with you, or simulates it- “

“T-that is fascinating” Regina says absent-mindedly.

“ Yes.  So afterwards, we lay eggs and they become dragons if they are fortunate”.

“ If they are fortunate? “ Regina’s eyes flit away from Maleficent’s hands on her hips, only to return perhaps two seconds later.

“ Not all eggs hatch”.

“ That is awful. I am so sorry”  

Maleficent shrugs “ It is quite all right” she gently tugs on a lock of Regina’s hair. “ Have I satisfied your curiosity now? “.

“ Uhm. It is not completely clear, but mostly yes. Although I will probably continue to have many questions” when she sees Maleficent’s arched eyebrows, she quickly adds “ Not about that, but about your species in general”.

“ You are fascinated, are you not?”

“ Of course I am. You are beautiful and magical and we know so little about you”.

“ I daresay you know more about us now than all the other humans know combined”.

“ I hope so. Although I still feel like I do not understand your species”.

“I am not sure our species will ever understand each other. Much of your human customs remain a mystery to me as well”.

“ Like wha-  “ Maleficent nearly cries out when Regina suddenly stumbles and she only barely catches her. When she automatically places her hand against Regina’s forehead, she realizes the woman is burning up. Without thinking about it , she scoops Regina in her arms and transforms again.

She flies faster than she ever has, crashing into the cave and transforming mid-air. Regina has started to groan softly, and she is really radiating heat by now. As soon as Maleficent’s feet touch the stone floor, she runs to the bed and lays Regina on it. She has a bucket with cold water next to the bed for this purpose, so she immediately grabs the piece of cloth( Regina really did not enjoy having a bucket full of cold water thrown on her, so she ripped of a part of her sleeve and gave it to Maleficent) next to it, dips it in the water and lays it on Regina’s forehead.

Regina seem to sink quickly into a deep slumber, one that seems to have no nightmares for once, so Maleficent relaxes slightly. She leaves her post next to the bed to change into her dragon form and curl around the bed as much as she is able to. She slowly closes one eye, the other one focused on the gaping mouth of their cave.

Soon, my little fireball, you will be strong again. And until then, I will protect you.

I got the idea of dragon reproduction from :

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/11/basic-instincts-whiptail-lizard-asexual-reproduction/

http://thehigherlearning.com/2014/07/11/how-these-all-female-lizards-are-able-to-reproduce-and-thrive-without-the-help-of-any-males/

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/science/strange-tale-of-new-species-of-lizard.html?_r=0

[artofwar-nuzlocke]

005. The Echo You Created (outlasts my last breath)

At first, Will continues to lead his pokémon toward Mount Coronet. He keeps his eyes up, toward the mountain, and only winces slightly when he feels something too soft under his feet. Evangeline is walking steadily ahead of him, undisturbed by the bodies that surround her. Next to her, Zuzu easily picks her up when he needs to, or otherwise distracts her when the blood is too visible from over the rubble that Oreburgh has become.

“It’s not like she knows what’s up,” Adelaide, says, rolling her eyes. “He doesn’t need to do that.”

She’s perched on Will’s left shoulder, and Ronan timidly grips the boy around the neck with his wings. At this, Will doesn’t know what to do: the feeling of something so close to his neck is disturbing, makes his pulse jump every time the zubat so much as moves. Ronan notices, and he loosens his hold on Will just a bit.

“But… she was so scared when we found her,” Will’s voice wavers, looking around for the tower that sends out the distress signals. He can’t see any, and that worries him. There could be an oncoming attack right that second and Will would just be an easy target.

“Yeah, and you’re scared now, what of it?”

“You’re not scared?”

Adelaide pauses and tilts her head lightly toward the sky. Her whole body shivers, her feathers fluffing out as she attempts a full-body shrug.

“I’m just glad to be out of those bushes.”

“The bushes Zuzu found you in?” Adelaide bristles, turning to eye Ronan, whose face is buried in the back of Will’s neck.

“Yes. Yes, those bushes.” Adelaide grunts, rolling her eyes. “My flock was way too big, and it was annoying with all those hatchlings around.” At her words, Will feels a pang in his chest and his eyes finally tear away from the mountain.

He tries not to think back to Twinleaf, to the pain that made his head spin for weeks in the end. He blinks, focusing gray eyes on Zuzu and Evangeline, and tries not to think of his mom’s hand covered in blood or the way her kangaskhan burned like a funeral pyre.

Will feels the bitter flavor of bile crawling up his throat, and he swallows, the corners of his mouth pulling down automatically.

“Are you gonna throw up again?” Adelaide asks, looking at him warily. At this, Zuzu looks back from where he’s helping the tiny shinx keep her balance over a few lose rocks.

“Wi—”

Zuzu slips, dragging Evangeline down him, and Will snaps out of his thoughts as he surges forward to get to them. It’s a steep slope, and even though Will is kneeling at the edge, his hand slides down the slippery sand, and he struggles to scramble back to firm land.

“Zuzu, are you okay?!” When Will manages to look, his head poking out toward the bottom of the pit, Zuzu has stood up, though he’s rubbing what little he can reach of his back. Evangeline is shaking herself to get rid of the sand that clings to her fur.

“Yes. Don’t worry, Will!” Zuzu chimes, and Will takes the chance to look around the terrain. Besides the dent Zuzu and Evangeline fell in, there is no other way to keep going. The ground is broken up in sandy pieces that they would surely slip on.

Will purses his lips and then turns to Adelaide, biting his lip.

“Can you get us across?”

Adelaide lets out an indignant squeak, nudging Ronan with her wing. “Not you,” she says, pointing at Will and rolling her eyes “you’re way too heavy.”

“Oh.”

Adelaide and Ronan ignore him, carefully flying down to the ditch the others fell in.

“Zuzu, you carry Eve—No, just one hand, stupid, and grab Ronan’s leg.” When the monferno does, she sinks her paws into Zuzu’s other arm. He hisses, but Adelaide shakes him painfully. “Be quiet, you. Ronan, on three, we both try to put them up over there.” She says, pointing to a spot next to Will. “One, two—Three!”

With their wing powers combined, Adelaide and Ronan can only barely lift the monferno and shinx. Ronan screeches, and Adelaide grunts and flaps her wings faster. Ronan quickly imitates her, and Will, carefully holding onto firm ground, reaches out once they are close enough, wrapping his arm around Zuzu and trying to swing him closer to the ledge.

Zuzu uses the momentum to jump, landing between Will’s legs. He quickly grabs his trainer’s ankle, effortlessly pulling him away from the edge and waiting for Adelaide and Ronan to land in an exhausted heap beside them.

“Thanks!” Zuzu says. He waits for Will to sit up, then hands him Evangeline and goes over to pat the starly and zubat’s heads.

Will cradles Evangeline in his arms, stroking her fur until she’s burrowing her head in his chest.

“Well, can’t go that way,” Adelaide sighs, vaguely pointing her wing toward Mt. Coronet. “So where should we go, Will?”

Will sniffles and motions for Zuzu to jump to his lap, which the pokémon does without question. Will sighs contently at the warmth and hugs Zuzu closer to him, making sure Evangeline is sandwiched between them.

“Will!” The boy snaps back to attention, looking around in quick glances. “Will, where are we going now?”

“I…” Will hesitates. “If the way through Mount Coronet is closed then…” He falters, fidgeting uncomfortably. “We have to go back to Jubilife. And… and then toward Eterna City. There’s… like… a power plant in the way and everything.”

“But you said we shouldn’t go back to Jubilife!” Zuzu complains softly.

“Well, I’m—better, now… I think. Maybe Team Galactic will let me join now! And if they don’t we can just… run again, you know?”

Ronan cannot stare at Will, but he does manage to face in his general direction, and stays there before faltering, holding onto Adelaide.

“Fine,” Adelaide says, throwing her wings to the air as if to get herself rid of the responsibility of this decision. “Let’s go, then.”

{…}

It’s an admittedly rough trip back to Jubilife. They all but fly through the cave Hunter attacked them in, but even then Zuzu remains tense the entire time, so Will takes to play and carry Evangeline around to shake the cold off his skin. When wild pokémon attack and Evangeline struggles to get at them, Will holds back everyone else and lets her go while the others wait tense on the sidelines.

“Why is he doing that?” Ronan whispers to Adelaide, making sure nobody else can hear him. Adelaide only shrugs, because hell if she knows how this boy’s brains work. Still, the question stays with her and so she perches on his shoulders just as the bright lights from the billboards start to shine in the horizon.

“You, why are you letting Eve fight, you?” At this, Will tries to make himself smaller, though he doesn’t shake Adelaide away from his shoulder.

“I just…” Will flinches as he thinks back of bloodthirsty scythers and the smell of smoke takes over his senses.

“So she learns how to fight, right Will?” Zuzu pipes up. He latches to Will’s pant leg to tug lightly and Will jumps, shaking his leg so Zuzu lets him go.

“Yeah,” He says shakily, and Adelaide grits the front of her beak.

“Great. First you ignore me about that dickhead, and now you send the baby in to fight. Well done, William.”

Will lurches. There’s wet in his breathing, and his hands curl into fists. He halts even though he knows they are already in the city, that he only has to walk a few more meters and ignore Adelaide and the cave is already behind them.

“Don’t call me that!” Will roars. The volume scratches painfully at his throat, and his chest is heavy with the pressure of the words. There’s wet when his breathing becomes ragged, and then he blinks and there’s wet on his face too and he uses the heels of his hands and his knuckles to scrub it away.

Adelaide startles enough to lose her balance when Will whirls violently, and she lands on the ground as softly as she can. Zuzu is on Will’s face immediately, hooking powerful arms around Will’s neck and breathing in deep to increase his body temperature.

Will seems to go weak at the knees, and soon the boy is on the ground and Zuzu is on his lap and Adelaide, Ronan and Evangeline are all standing a little to the side, watching and not knowing what to do.

“William?” And Will sways again at the new voice, covering his ears and burying his head on his knees so fast Zuzu has to jump away or risk hurting him.

A man kneels next to him, and though Adelaide wants to push him away, Zuzu only smiles at him before looking back at his trainer. Adelaide studies him while she can; he’s tall and overweight, though that is probably from old age—his hair is white as snow and his moustache prominent—.

“William, what’s the matter, child?” The man tries again, hands resting on the boy’s shoulders. Will springs away from him, and he knows he looks like a mess with the scar on his temple that bites into his hairline and the tears running down his face and his flushed skin. “My boy, it will be fine. Come, I have managed to acquire a room and Dawn is staying with me for the time being. Why don’t you come in and we can discuss whatever is happening to you—”

“I don’t wanna talk! I just want my mom!” And then Will is crying all over again and Professor Rowan can only look confused as people start gathering around them to watch. Zuzu wraps his arms around the boy again, though the position is awkward from the way Will keeps trying to curl himself into a ball.

“He’s just scared and tired.” Zuzu explains, looking around at the crowd that’s now standing in a circle around them, and then up at the professor.

Professor Rowan pauses, hands hovering, and moves his eyes to stare directly at Zuzu. “Chimchar?”

Zuzu smiles as he rubs his trainer’s back, nodding.

“You—”

“Just what is going on here?!” The new voice is loud and Will cringes. Zuzu holds him even tighter, and now Professor Rowan steps closer to them, as do Will’s other pokémon.

Two soldiers in white uniforms shoulder their way through the crowd until they can see what the commotion is about. Except they can’t. They only see a man and a crying child and some pokémon snarling at them.

One of them, the woman, practically snarls back at the pokémon.

“Yo, gramps. You need to control your grandson. He’s freaking everyone out,” The other soldier snaps.

“Listen to him, old man!” The woman says, stepping closer to them. Professor Rowan quickly holds Will away, grabbing him and pulling him toward him. Will struggles, and Zuzu rubs his face to Will’s chest until he calms down slightly. “Fuck this. We’ve been in this city for weeks and people are still too scared to join us against Kanto. Your shithead of a kid is only going to make things worse! Shut him up or I’ll shut him up for you!”

Professor Rowan doesn’t skip a beat. “Quiet, you lot! The boy wouldn’t be acting like this if you shared your rations with the rest of us. He hasn’t eaten in days. That is the only reason you’re here—to protect the citizens, not to terrorize them. If you learned that then perhaps you would acquire more troops for your cause.”

The male soldier grits his teeth and gives a step forward. Adelaide chirps obscenities that the man doesn’t understand as she settles between the soldiers and his trainer, puffing herself as much as she can to appear bigger, more threatening. Next to her, tiny little Evangeline yowls in an attempt to imitate Adelaide.

This only makes the soldiers angrier. They reach to their belts, fists tightening around their pokéballs, and move to throw them in the air.

“Halt, you two.” It’s not overly loud, but the command has a notable ring of power to it. This time, the crowd around them shushes as the person continues “Garrett.”

The arms holding Will let go of him. Will can hear the rustle of clothing as the Professor straightens his back and looks straight back at the person he’s talking to. “Cyrus”.

At the name, Will dimly looks up. And there he is, the leader of the Galactic Forces, white uniform pristine and golden G stitched proudly to the breast. Slowly, Will disentangles from himself, grabbing onto Zuzu and clearly more aware than what he was minutes before.

“Professor of Pokémon.” Cyrus uses the title, but he’s not looking at Professor Rowan, but at his soldiers, his lip curled down in disapproval. “Were these soldiers being disorderly?”

“A nuisance, more like,” The Professor huffs “Thinking they were strong because they were in a group, and raising their voice when this poor child couldn’t stop crying.”

At the mention of the boy, Cyrus finally turns to acknowledge him. There’s clearly some recognition there, and Cyrus ventures: “The boy from the lake.”

His words clearly make an impression on the crowd, who has, for weeks, been watching the footage of Will being cradled by Cyrus to get away from Twinleaf. The murmurs around them raise in volume and pitch, and out of the corner of his eye, Will can see someone dressed as a reporter snapping pictures like he had a way of actually publishing them. Behind Cyrus is once again a cameraman, filming Will’s tear-stained face as he nods to Cyrus’ prompt.

Around him, Will’s pokémon look utterly confused.

Cyrus nods back at Will and offers his hands to help the boy and Professor to their feet. Will looks up at him with wide eyes.

There should be something unsettling about Cyrus’ face, about the coldness on his voice, but the sternness of the man’s expression makes Will feel light as a feather, and the lack of inflection in his words is like a blanket being wrapped around him. This man carried him away from the fire and smoke and into Sandgem. Led the expedition that saved his life.

When Professor Rowan tries to touch his shoulder, Will flinches away from him, but he steps closer to Cyrus. Cyrus’ brow furrows slightly, his head tilting to the side.

“Sir, I can join you!” Will says. Adelaide almost slaps her own face when she hears him.

“Pardon?”

“I can!” Will insists. From the back of his head, he can hear something telling him to shut the fuck up, that there are cameras and people and he shouldn’t do this at all. “Look! My chimchar evolved, and I can help you!”

A woman in the crowd coos at him. The guy with the camera cheers as he moves around to get some different angles in his pictures, and the cameraman behind Cyrus also moves a little; enough that Will can see the logo of Jubilife TV stitched to his vest.

“Child, I cannot take you into my ranks because it is kids like you who I’m trying to protect,” Cyrus says, though his tone doesn’t change. “You should go with the Professor.”

“But—!”

“Just quit it, boy!” Adelaide chirps, and Will finally backs down.

He sets his sight on his sneakers and nods sadly at Cyrus, who pats his shoulder rather awkwardly.

“Garrett, I will be going now. But you seem capable of maintain order. Perhaps you will see it fit to helping me manage this city?”

Professor Rowan purses his lips. “I’m afraid I would have to be younger to do as you say.”

Cyrus doesn’t say anything, only nods, and leaves the way he came from as the crowd opens a path for him. His two soldiers follow when he signals for them to do so, each on either side on him while the cameraman leads the way.

“Will—” Professor Rowan trails off when he remembers the boy’s reaction to his name.

“Will, we should go with the Professor!” Zuzu says, looking between them.

The crowd around them begins to disperse, so the Professor tries to get closer to the boy again. He’s stopped by Adelaide and Evangeline, who snarl and chirp and curse up at him. Ronan makes his way to Will instead, flying close to him until the boy opens his arms in an invitation.

“But… But we need to catch up to Emery,” Will tells Zuzu. His fingers scratch Ronan’s head, and the zubat leans into the touch.

“But you’re tired! Ellie, tell him he has to rest!” Zuzu turns around to call out to the starly, and the starly jumps.

“Ellie? Tch,” She whispers under her breath, but does look back at them “Come on, kid. You really want to spend the night with an old man again?” Will closes his eyes and folds into himself again, and all Ronan can do not to be crushed is burrow into the hollow between the boy’s legs and torso.

“The Professor isn’t like that!” Zuzu yells.

“‘Again?’” Professor Rowan repeats slowly.

Adelaide startles and whirls around to glare at the Professor. The man is not looking at her, though, focused instead on the hunched figure of the boy and the monferno beside him.

“Mesprit, lad. Are you okay?” Professor Rowan asks just as Adelaide briskly asks Zuzu why he didn’t tell her the man could understand them.

Will stays quiet. After a few moments, he shrugs his shoulders. Zuzu tugs at Rowan’s coat, and dark eyes struggle to tear away from the sight of this boy that he allowed to get hurt.

“Professor, can we go to your room now? Will is going to be fine, promise! I’ll protect him!” Zuzu’s enthusiasm is out of place considering what the boy has been through, but Rowan tells himself there must be an explanation for all this. That there is a chance what happened was not as bad as the starly made it out to be. Or how he imagined it to be, really, since the starly merely hinted.

“That would be acceptable,” He says, clearing his throat. “Will. Can you stand?”

“He better do. I’m not carrying him.” Adelaide says as she approaches. Evangeline follows her, then nudges her head to Will’s leg when she reaches him.

At this, Will finally nods and struggles to get to his feet. His eyes linger on the concrete, mouth pursed. He bites his lip, though he tries to pretend he’s not, and hunches his shoulders when Zuzu only looks at him for a second before falling into step next to the Professor.

And Rowan is patient. He walks ahead of him to show him the way because he understands Will doesn’t want to be touched, doesn’t want anyone to be near him unless he trusts them completely, and clearly Rowan hasn’t earned that. The Professor tries to remind himself that, though this boy looks a lot like Dawn, he has known that girl almost since she was born, and this child is still an unknown; that they lived under the same roof for a few weeks before Will left, that they have not seen each other far, far longer.

Instead, the Professor settles for listening to Zuzu blabber on, as he always has, and it’s only when they reach his building that the man leans down, frown newly in place, and strokes his thumb under Zuzu’s chin.

“And where did you get this?”

At the contact with the new scar, Zuzu closes his eyes, but stays still so the Professor can look at it.

“Cole and I fought,” Zuzu explains. Rowan looks over at Will’s other pokémon and quickly determines that none of them could make a scar quite like this.

“I see.” The Professor doesn’t really see, can’t quite understand why Zuzu would call another pokémon by name when they hurt him so. From his pocket he pulls out a key and opens the door before stepping aside, allowing his guests to walk in first.

Zuzu does so immediately, but Will only follows when Adelaide perches on his shoulder and Evangeline bounces in so quickly that she almost trips him. Ronan stays back a bit, but obeys when the Professor shoos him inside.

Rowan’s apartment is quite clearly the result of a salvaging and rebuilding effort. The side of the wall would have a hole in it if it wasn’t covered with wooden beams. Some of the furniture belonged to the last tenant, Will can tell because they match, but everything else is mostly dirty or burnt or two pieces of different bunches of scraps welded together.

Will makes it a full three steps into the apartment before the shrill cry drowns him, and suddenly there’s a pair of arms wrapped tightly around his neck and his face is nestled against the fur linings of a winter coat. Will struggles, but the arms only let him go when Evangeline tackles their owner and Zuzu has to grab her by the sides to keep her from doing it again.

“Dawn, be a dear and try not to touch the lad for the time being.”

When Will looks up, he’s met with Dawn’s disappointed face and a vague sense of apprehension. Dawn’s face, like his, is smeared with dirt, but only lightly so. Her winter coat is no longer the bright pink it was back in Sandgem, or even how it was when he saw her in the basement of the Pokémon Center, but there’s still distinct color to it. There’s a bruise on her jaw but mostly she looks upset that Will rejected her hug.

“You just left, Will Pierce!” She’s frowning, hands balled at her hips. The bruise in her jaw shines against her pale skin, and Will knows that if he’s not careful she would be willing to punch him.

“I had to find Emery. Have,” Will mutters, looking at the floor and refusing to move his eyes away from the shiny wood on the sofa’s leg.

“You could have said something!”

Will stays still because Dawn is right, he could have. He honestly didn’t even think about her when he slipped through the basement window. Before will knows it, he has drawn his shoulders into a hunch that strains his back muscles and tugs a little at his injured side.

Then Evangeline is growling from Zuzu’s arms and the monferno has to put up a fight to keep her from escaping.

“Dawn Elise, that’s enough,” Rowan finally snaps, though his tone of voice doesn’t change and his arms are still neatly folded behind his back. Will steps further away from the man, and Rowan sighs. “I didn’t mean to scare you, William.”

“He doesn’t like to be called that,” Zuzu interjects, putting Evangeline back on her feet when she looks like she’s no longer planning to bite Dawn’s ankles. “But just Will is fine, right, Will?”

Instead of answering, Will holds out his hand and Zuzu takes the invitation, rubbing his head against it. “Will! Will, ask her where Mei is!”

“I, uhm. Zuzu wants to know where Mei is.”

Dawn is still very much leering at him, so Will keeps his eyes on the carpet and only moves to pick Evangeline from the floor when she starts to yawn. He cradles her against his chest, and it is only then that Dawn’s frown melts away, leaning in to coo over the shinx that had tried to attack her.

Clearly, Dawn has the self-preservation instincts of a pachirisu.

“Mei is asleep in Dawn’s room, Zuzu,” The Professor says, and Zuzu leaps up, grin stretching across his face.

“Thanks! Adelaide, Ronan, come on!” Zuzu goes over and pulls Adelaide’s wing before she snatches it back. Will remembers that that wing was hurt not too long ago, and tells himself he needs to remember to check on it. When Adelaide slaps Zuzu’s hand away with the softer feathers of her wing, Zuzu’s smile doesn’t falter, and the monferno instead grabs Ronan so he can pull both of them down the hallway.

With Dawn cooing at Evangeline, Will can’t do much else than stand there, looking oddly clumsy for someone that’s not even moving. To him, even his breathing sounds and seems inept, and the Professor clearly catches sight of it—or of something, at least—and clears his throat.

Will jumps even though Garrett Rowan is standing at the far end of the attached kitchen, hands still folded at the small of his back to appear as unthreatening as possible.

“I would offer you a shower,” the Professor says “But I’m afraid we don’t have running water. I could go to fetch a bucket, however, if you pleased.”

The boy shakes his head so hard his vision swims, and suddenly Dawn doesn’t seem half as safe as she did and Will tugs Evangeline out of her grasp to bury her deeper in his chest.

Dawn frowns lightly and puffs out her cheeks, blowing a raspberry. The Professor looks categorically unimpressed.

“Dawn, your father would be very disappointed in you. I am well aware he tried to raise you to be a proper lady, now, didn’t he?” Rowan says, because it sounds nothing like the question it is worded out to be.

The girl’s brow furrows even deeper at that and she turns, hands on her hips and tongue like fire “Well, he’s not here, is he? And you wouldn’t lecture Will Pierce if he did it!”

Will’s name sounds like stones when it comes from Dawn’s mouth, and he has to resist the instinct to cringe. He’s not sure why she’s saying it like that, a shortened version of his given name and his last name spilled like poison, but he knows he doesn’t like it. Emery calls him Will Pierce, but not because he’s angry, but because he likes him, and he liked his name. It sounds like a virus when Dawn says it.

Professor Rowan looks like he’s having a hard time not rolling his eyes. “Will is not a young lady,” he says.

“And how would you know?!” Dawn spits “You haven’t asked!”

Will thinks he this isn’t a conversation he should be listening to, but the front door is locked, his pokémon in another room, and he doesn’t like the darkness that swallows the hallway so as to go get them.

Professor Rowan sighs, clearly deciding this is not a battle he wants to fight tonight. Through the window, Will can see the orange light of the sunset and comes to realize the apartment will be washed in black soon enough.

“Will,” Professor Rowan says, detouring the attention he had put in Dawn. “You wouldn’t happen to be allergic to Moomoo milk, would you?”

{…}

In the span of dinnertime, Will comes to learn several things:

There is no electricity in the apartment.

The reason there’s no electricity in the apartment is because the Galactic Forces need it to broadcast their announcements to the entirety of Sinnoh (which makes sense to Will, even if he can hear the disapproval in Professor Rowan’s voice).

Dawn’s parents both joined the Galactic Forces and are now somewhere in Veilstone or Celestic, no one is really sure.

Sometimes, Dawn goes out bare-handed and returns with food and scratches and shiny bruises to show for it.

Even if he’s not allergic, Moomoo milk does make Will feel a little bloated, so he probably shouldn’t drink it either way.

From where he’s lying on the couch, stolen blanket wrapped around him, Will tries not to think about any of these things. He wants to sleep before the candle next to him burns out completely and he’s left in absolute darkness.

“Hey, Will, are you awake?”

Will finally stops pretending Dawn is not sitting on the floor across from him, a surprisingly clean notebook on her lap and a pencil in her hand. He’s not sure how she can draw in the dim light, but when he looks up, Will sees that the orange hues of the fire make her a little more unthreatening. It’s weird. Fire is a threat, fire is fear. Fire means smoke, and smoke means fumes in his lungs and difficulty breathing.

“Yeah,” Will says, or he thinks he says. Monferno is curled to his chest, and Evangeline rests on his hip because his side still hurts. Ronan is half draped over Adelaide, who’s in front of the couch protectively. Will tries not to think about the geodude somewhere on his bag.

Dawn hums, tilts her head to the side and squints, then draws something else. “You say things weird.”

“No, I don’t,” Will whispers. He shifts a little and stops so he won’t knock Evangeline down.

“You just did it again.” There’s a smile on her voice, so Will thinks whatever she hears is probably not too bad. Her expression sobers, she looks down to her drawing and purses her mouth. “I like them better with color,” she explains. She pauses again, her shoulders droop under her pale green nightshirt. “I’m sorry I yelled at you, Will Pierce.”

This time, the name is not venom. Will pulls the blanket a little further up so that is covers his mouth and nose. “It’s okay, Dawn—” He stops, and he’s conscious of his tone going up a few octaves in question.

“Pollard.” Dawn supplies.

“Then, it’s okay, Dawn Elise Pollard.”

She finally closes her notebook and puts it away, pencil tucked into the pages as a bookmark. “Not fair,” she says “I don’t know your middle name.”

Will hesitates because, until now, no one but his mom had ever called him by that name. His breath hitches, and he can smell smoke and burnt skin. “Bennett.”

“Will Bennett Pierce. Sorry I was a bitch earlier.”

Will starts to shrug his shoulders, then he realizes the girl won’t see if he does. The smell of smoke relents a little, but the image of his mom’s hand is stamped on his brain. “Sorry I left without telling you.” His eyes feel heavy with the need to sleep now. “Gotta find ‘M’ry.”

“Emery’s that blond guy that they brought in with you, right?” Though her words are light, Dawn’s voice is laced with jealousy. “I saw him, you know?”

Will’s limbs feel electrified. He feels like Dawn will tell him that what she saw was Emery’s body. Or maybe that she had to fight him for food. Anxiety claws at his chest and his heart feels heavy.

“W-where?” Will’s voice is small even to his own ears. The voice of a child that, as far as any adult is concerned, cannot fight to keep others safe.

Dawn falls silent again, pulling her nightshirt so it covers her knees. Will waits. “You have to stay here for a bit if I tell, though.”

Will bites his lip and tastes blood. He stops and licks the coopery taste away. “Okay.”

Dawn looks torn between relief and disappointment. “He was headed to Floaroma Town. Or I think he was. He was walking that way.” She points north for further clarification.

“How did you know it was him?”

Will knows his question is stupid. No one could confuse Emery with anyone else, loud and blond and grinning like an idiot as he always is. Orange and white stripes of his shirt would be like a beacon in a crowd. If he’s still wearing that shirt, that is.

“I knew.”

“But how?” Tomorrow, Will is going to blame this childish insistence on lack of sleep.

“You’re scared of the Professor,” Dawn says matter-of-factly, effectively changing the subject.

Will pulls the blanket completely over his head and rolls around so he has his back to her, catching Evangeline when she slides off his hip. He closes his eyes and tries to rid his mind of pokémon burning like pyres and men named Hunter lurking in the shadows.

{***}

White light floods the room, and the Team Galactic grunts stand stiffly side by side, their arms pressed to either side of them. Behind the table, Cyrus Reed frowns back at them. The artificial white light makes his already unnaturally pale skin look ethereal, his veins visible is blue-green pathways crisscrossing over muscle.

“And what, pray tell, were you thinking?”

Both grunts hate the way Cyrus speaks through his teeth.

“Sir—”

“Save it,” Cyrus says harshly, perpetually intense eyes blazing. The male grunt tries to make himself smaller and the woman holds her tongue so she doesn’t say Cyrus asked the question in the first place. “You’re supposed to be acting like you’re protecting the Sinnohans, terrorizing children is not protecting them.”

The grunts remained quiet, eyes downcast, and finally Cyrus leaned over the desk, pals of his hands pressing against iron.

“Now go to where you’re supposed to be. And make sure to listen to Commander Mars, as I am sure she would love to make you obey one way or the other.”

{***}

“I’m sorry,” Will says. He’s been at Professor Rowan’s apartment for the best of two weeks. His side only feels tender now, it no longer hurts nearly as bad as it did. He’s glad the Professor doesn’t own a mirror, because he can feel the two scars on his side under his fingers and doesn’t think he’d like the look on them.

Adelaide is nibbling at Evangeline’s head, and the shinx leans into it, stepping out of Zuzu’s embrace to do it. Zuzu gives him a side glance, realizes Will isn’t talking to neither him nor Ronan, and nudges Adelaide with a thick fist.

“He’s talking to you,” Zuzu says in a shouting whisper.

Adelaide huffs, but looks up at Will, looking oddly large for a starly. “What’s up, kid?”

“I’m sorry,” Will repeats, zipping up his bag and hugging it to his chest. “About… about the cave. For not listening to you.”

It’s early morning, and they are leaving. They are protected in this city, but Will needs to find Emery, and so they have to leave again. Tension coils uncomfortably in Will’s stomach, but none of his pokémon have said anything, so Will figures this is okay.

Adelaide stares at Will, tiny body puffed up as she uses her feathers to make herself look bigger. She looks up at Will, the watery gray of his irises framed by the angry red that decorates the eyes of people who haven’t slept in days, and sighs, entire body deflating.

“I know you are. It’s fine,” she reassures. She opens her wings to her sides “You just need to listen more often.”

Will knows she’s right, so he keeps his mouth pressed shut and nods his head.

The Professor and Dawn are waiting for him, for them, by the doorway of the apartment building. The Professor still stands tall, shoulders squared like he’s not letting Will leave again, like that choice is not eating him up inside. Dawn pouts and crosses her arms over her chest and doesn’t look up when Will tries to give her some sort of parting hug or smile or handshake.

Zuzu looks too comfortable in the Professor’s arms, and Will wonders even further on what he’s about to do. The empty feeling on his chest grows, but Will looks at Adelaide and Ronan playing with Evangeline and suddenly his bag feels heavier, weighed down by the pokéball that doesn’t really belong to him. He does have to find Emery, but he also has to find a place where the geodude can stay.

“Will,” The Professor calls just as Will reaches the last step of the porch. “Do try to put a roof over your head when you reach Floaroma, lad.”

“I have to find Emery first!”

“You really do have a one-track mind, do you not?” The Professor says, and Will is not sure if that’s good or bad, so he just shrugs and looks down at his sneakers.

He tries to say goodbye to Dawn again, but she still won’t look at him, and then Evangeline has her fangs on his pant leg and she pulls with all her might, which is not much because she’s tiny and maybe a month old, but it gets Will moving. He turns around to wave at the pair he’s leaving behind until Adelaide huffs and pinches his hand.

“Eyes on the road, boy!”

Will massages his hand, but does as he’s told, “This isn’t a car,” he mutters, though he doesn’t know where the words came from.

The streets are crowded with new Team Galactic recruits and a stream of people keeping their head down as spokespeople call out to them to join their religion, which they say will save all who decide to join. Will pauses when he’s in front of Arceus’ church and his pokémon all halt and look back at him, waiting.

“What is it, kid?” Adelaide asks.

“Nothing,” Will says, eyes glued to the once-fine stonework of the cathedral. “I was invited here, remember Zuzu?”

Zuzu looks vaguely uncomfortable, and he eyes the graffiti now marring the walls. Will doesn’t know if Zuzu can read, though he can only assume he can’t, but it’s hard not to look at the red stains that cover the limestone.

“What’s he talking about?” The voice is new, and Will whirls around to see that is was Ronan who spoke. Zuzu doesn’t seem remotely surprised; the monferno spreads his arms so that Ronan has somewhere to land and the zubat does.

“A man tried to get Will to join a group the first time we got here. Right, Will?”

“Uh, yeah,”

“But he was being real mean, too, so I scared him and we ran.” At this, Zuzu turns to Adelaide, who is trying to pull a piece of trash out of Evangeline’s mouth. “You were really hurt, remember?”

“Can we quit it with the reminding of depressing crap?” Adelaide snaps. “Will, Evangeline won’t let go of this thing!”

Will kneels next to the tiny shinx, grabbing her by the middle and using the thumb and index finger of his other hand to pull the thing she has between her teeth.

“C’mon, that’s bad for you, Evangeline.” Will tries to pull again, his index finger curled around the object, but Evangeline fights to keep her jaw clenched shut, and Will finally gives up. Just as he does, Evangeline spits out a piece of garbage, and Adelaide gags.

“Can we just get out of here? This city smells like someone took shit on it.” Adelaide says. She doesn’t wait for any of them, just takes flight like her wings could get rid of the smell that permeated the air.

Will ignores the shadows around him. He’s not sure if they are really there, but since he’s not sure, he keeps his head down, face burrowed on the neckline of his jacket. He can feel the stares, though he rationally knows no one is sparing him a glance.

“Young lad,” Will nearly jumps out of his skin when a hand lands on his shoulder, and he whirls around to find an aging man he instantly recognizes. The cheap brown suit is gone, replaced by dirty yellow and orange of a clown’s suit. The wrinkles Will remembers are likewise covered in bright white paint, and graying hair under a hat. “It is I, Looker, from the International Police.”

Will remembers very well, and knows this man left the city even before he did. “I could tell.”

Looker is taken aback. His face serious under the clown make up. “You could, could you not? I must assume you did decide to stay, as you are still here.”

Will grits his teeth together. “I left!” He yells, “And I’m back, and you’re back, too! Did you think better about the Galactic Forces?!”

Looker crosses his arms over his chest and he doesn’t look anything like a clown anymore. Will takes a step back at the same time all his pokémon give a step forward, standing between trainer and threat.

“You must be confused, as before. Stay away from Team Galactic, for it is not safe.” Looker says.

“Mr. Cyrus saved me and my friend!” It’s the same argument as before, and Will will defend that to his dying breath. “You’re lying!”

“Did they not ask you to give them your pokémon to heal?” Looker says, “When you first came to the city?”

“Yeah, so?” Adelaide and Zuzu are already poised to attack. Ronan and Evangeline don’t look convinced, but stand their ground. From behind them, Will tries to stand a little taller, though his knees are shaking and his eyes sting.

Looker is not impressed. He digs into a pocket of the clown suit, and Will flinches, losing his nerve and scooting away. “Here,” Looker says as he holds something blue and black in Will’s direction.

Will opens his eyes, shoulders still drawn in fear, “W-what?”

“You are leaving, as you should. You have a bag.” Looker doesn’t reach beyond Will’s pokémon, just holds out his hand. Hesitantly, Will reaches for it.

It’s a pokétch, and Will can’t believe he’s actually holding one. The hype they gave it in the commercials made it obvious it was expensive, even if Will always closed his eyes and put his fingers in his ears when he knew they were about to announce the price. His mother had promised him that, when he became a trainer, she would try to find a way to pay for one.

And here it is, sturdy blue plastic with a blue metal lining to protect the screen and body from damage, a comfortable wristband stripped in black and blue. Will lifts his eyes to try and understand.

“The watch, it could be a good tool for trainers, I was told. I need it not.” Looker talks weird, but he’s giving him a gift, an expensive gift that looks shiny and new.

“T-thanks.” Will says. Looker merely nods and starts to back away, stopping only for a second.

“My friend,” He says. Will wonders just when they became friends. “I suggest you remain vigilant for shady grown-ups!”

{…}

Route 204 is the cleanest route they have seen so far. There is no debris and clearly all the sane trainers have abandoned it in favor of Jubilife. Will squeezes Evangeline before he lets her jump down from his arms. The shinx is delighted; she runs around the trail and cries out in delight even though the snow must be gnawing at her paws.

Will can only smile.

The first pokémon they come across is a budew, and Will is throwing a pokéball before he can think about it. It shakes a couple of times, and when it stops, Will lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Everyone but Evangeline is looking at his like he grew a second head.

“You realize that’s another mouth we have to stuff with food right?” Adelaide says, words harsh and unfaltering even though her trainer is breathing hard, sharp intakes of air.

“I-I…” Will falters, and Zuzu’s suddenly there, one strong arm around his knee.

“It’s one more friend, Adelaide!” The monferno says, frown in his voice. When he looks up at Will, Zuzu is all soft words and gentle reassurance. “Can we see?”

Budew presents himself as Ezra The Magnificent and haughtily refuses to be called anything else. He looks at the rest of the group up and down, and is most definitely displeased with what he sees.

“Can you not smell the dirt on you? Uhg!”

Adelaide looks at the budew in disapproval and moves closer so she can peck him with her beak. “Shut up,” She says. “We’ll just call you Ezra, if that.”

Ezra clearly doesn’t like it, but he focuses his attention on Will, who still looks like he’s not quite sure of what he’s doing or why he’s doing it. Will stares back at Ezra, and the pokémon seems outright pleased with this.

“Are you lost, honey?” Ezra asks, all charming smiles that would look cute on a child but look plain scary on a budew.

“I, ah, no?”

“Um, Will? Can we go inside the cave before it gets darker?” Zuzu pulls at Will’s leg, but he’s already holding Evangeline on one arm and rearing to go. Will looks nervously at Ezra, but follows Zuzu without a word and hoping the rest would follow.

The pokétch has a map application, though Will is unsure if the app is preloaded or if Looker or someone else added a card to it as a gift. Still, the name of the cave has him shivering; the Ravaged Path is not a place where Will wants to spend the night, but it’s warmer inside, and his pokémon all seem ready to settle down.

“Wait,” he says, lips pursed “Let’s keep walking. We… we can sleep inside, but I think…The exit…”

Ezra is all smooth lines and looks for something so round and small, but Will has to give him credit: he didn’t look remotely put out when he noticed Will could understand him, and now he’s the first to move, strutting down the cave like he knows no fear.

“I hate him already,” Adelaide mutters. It echoes on the walls, though, and soon Ezra’s voice bounces back:

“That’s too bad, darling! The little one captured me fair and square!”

It only works to piss her more, and Zuzu holds her back when she looks like she’s about to go on a warpath. Ronan lands on Will’s shoulder, and Will strokes the back of his neck. Evangeline is oblivious to anything that isn’t right in front of her, and so she bounds away to follow Ezra.

Will hesitates, but Zuzu reassures him that it’s okay, and the three of them start walking, Ronan still perched on Will’s shoulder. It’s almost half an hour later that they see Ezra and Evangeline again, both sitting in front of a couple of rocks that block their path.

Evangeline looks up and runs toward them, practically bouncing as she nudges Adelaide with her nose.

“Stop disappearing, brat.” Adelaide says, though she puts a wing over her. Evangeline purrs.

Will looks around at the rocks, tries to push one, and winces. With a hand on his tender side, he gives a step back, trying to see what else he can do. It doesn’t look very solid, but when Zuzu tries to punch it, only a few pieces crumble under his fist.

“You’re not that strong, are you, sweetie?” Ezra asks Zuzu.

Zuzu shrugs. “I guess not for this.”

“Maybe John can help.” Will says, more to himself than the others.

“That’s a stupid idea,” Adelaide says.

Ezra squints up at Will, “Who’s John?” He drags out the name like it leaves a bad taste in his mouth, and Will tries to make himself smaller.

“It’s a geodude that shouldn’t be here.” Adelaide replies.

“But Will is right, maybe John can help!” Zuzu turns to look at Will, eyes big and innocent. “Ask him!”

Will takes the backpack off his back and kneels down so he can reach better into the pocket he has stashed John’s pokéball. He holds the white-and-red sphere in his hand, and Adelaide drags Evangeline and Ronan away from them, near a corner where she can watch and not be in Will’s direct line of sight.

When John is released from his pokéball, he only has to look around for a second before he notices the rocks.

“J-John,” Will starts, hands nervously clutching at his bag. “Can you help us?”

“How long until we get somewhere safe?” John retaliates, eyes on the rocks.

“I… I can’t say for sure,” Will confesses. Next to him, Zuzu leans to his uninjured side, and Ezra stands boldly right where he is despite everyone’s hesitation. “Jubilife isn’t. We’re going to Floaroma, but I don’t know…”

John sighs and doesn’t even try looking for the rest of the group. It’s clear he prefers not to have a crowd around him. Will can relate. “Fine. But don’t forget our agreement.”

“Of course not!”

John tells Will to back away, and Zuzu and Ezra obey, too, hovering next to Adelaide, Ronan and Evangeline. Then John lifts a heavy fist and closes his eyes.

For the next twenty seconds, absolutely nothing happens.

Ezra is not impressed. “Cute plan,” he says. “But perha—”

John growls and finally lets his fist fly, connecting to the rock in the center. The rock explodes and Will falls on his butt and covers his head from the debris. When Will looks up, John is approaching. Ezra is outright staring as John takes his own pokéball from Will’s hand and starts to press the button.

“Ah, thanks, John.”

And then John is gone in a beam of red light.

“Let’s just go already!”

Will reacts at Adelaide’s impatient words, putting John’s pokéball back in his bag and zipping it up. He straps it back on his back, and looks around for anything he might be forgetting. Ezra is still staring at the place John had just been standing at.

“Ezra?” Zuzu tries. Ezra only blinks. Will picks him up instead of trying again, and they all set off to chase after Adelaide.

When Will gets to the other side of the cave and looks out the opening, he realizes he can’t see the stars. Everything is covered with a sheen of either smoke or clouds, Will can’t tell. Whatever the case is, the night is very obviously set; his pokétch reads 22:20 when he figures out he can tap the touchscreen to activate the backlight.

“We can rest here, Will.” Zuzu assures him.

“Ah, yeah, right.” Will responds.

Will kneels in front of his backpack and pulls out the blanket. There are more of them now, but even though Zuzu evolved, the others are still small enough that they can all fit under the blanket if they press close together. Next to him, Zuzu reaches into the bag to pull several cans of food and sets them in front of Will so he can count them.

“Evangeline is asleep but I’m not very hungry, so I’ll share with her.” Adelaide clarifies. Will nods, and looks over at Ezra who is still looking out of it.

“Ezra?” He calls.

The budew plops down on the rock beneath him. “He’s so strong.” Ezra’s voice is distracted, almost like his words were meant for thoughts and not spoken.

Adelaide rolls her eyes. “Oh, this is great. Good job, kid.”

“I-I didn’t do that.”

“Just give me food already.”

Will does. He opens the cans carefully and asks Zuzu to heat them; it’s cold outside, and Will is scared to light a campfire inside the cave, no matter how close they are to the opening. Staying outside for a few hours could be safe, but not with a beacon screaming their location with light and smoke.

Ezra and Zuzu eat normally, but Ronan refuses to eat facing everyone, and instead drags his can of food to a darker place and returns only when he’s finished. As promised, Adelaide leaves more than half of her can unfinished and places it next to Evangeline, who is still very much asleep.

One by one, they all cuddle close to each other and sleep under the blanket, kept warmth by Zuzu’s high body temperature. Will remains awake, and he releases John again when he’s sure the others won’t hear them.

“You should sleep more, kid.” John says.

“Yeah. But you need to eat.” He offers a can to the geodude. It’s cold because Will still doesn’t know how to ask Zuzu to warm an extra can without tipping off Adelaide. He never thought he would have to feed someone in the middle of the night, at least not in secret.

But for once, John looks grateful, even though the feeling of cold food must be uncomfortable.

“Uh, Ezra seems to like you.” Will pipes up suddenly. He’s aware of the uncertainty in his voice, and John refuses to look up from his food. “So, uh, you know. When… when we get to a safe place… maybe you can, like, say good bye to him?”

John does not acknowledge him, and though Will tries a couple more times, he ends up asleep against the wall before John finishes his dinner, lulled by the warmth wrapped around his legs.

He’s roused from his sleep when Adelaide slaps him with her wing, and he looks at her as she moves all around them, lifting the blanket to look under it and looking nervously toward the end of the cave. John is nowhere to be found, but the others are jittery, looking all around as Zuzu approaches from the way they arrived.

“What—?” His head feels heavy and his eyes puffy.

“Evangeline is gone!” Adelaide cries. She’s fluttering near the entrance, looking torn between staying with them and going on a search outside by herself. “I’m—I’m going!”

“Wait for me!” Zuzu calls after her. He tells Will to hurry and then he’s running after the starly. Will picks up his bag and throws it over his shoulders. Heart thundering in his chest, his feet tangle with the blanket and he struggles to get free before he can fall on his face. Ronan is crying out with anxiety, hovering right under the threshold.

“Ah, ah! I can’t run that fast!” Ezra shouts, all previous act of elegance gone as he struggles to keep up. Will turns back, grabs him against his chest, and runs, leaving the blanket behind. Ronan is close, using Will’s head to propel himself forward when the speed is too much for him to keep up with.

There’s a body on the ground. A boy, maybe younger than Will. Will closes his eyes and keeps running, but he can feel the way Ezra stops moving in his arms, the way he turns slightly to keep watching as they move.

“Don’t look at it.” Will whispers. It’s a warning to himself, but it also works for Ezra, who uses the vines at the top of his head to cover his eyes.

To follow the path is easy; this is a trainer route, especially designed for relatively easy travel for the children and adults on a pokémon journey. Despite the destruction, the path is mostly clear, and flights of carefully designed stairs ease their climbing up the mountain. He can see Zuzu and Adelaide now, not much ahead of them, and Will struggles to run faster, fights against the dull ache on his muscles and the difficulty he has breathing.

He catches up, “Can you see her?!”

He sounds desperate to his own ears.

“Just!” Adelaide replies from her high vantage point “There’s a guy—!” Then she lets out a shrill cry and accelerates even more.

Limbs pumped with adrenaline, Will does the same.

There’s a boy, older than Will, maybe older even than Emery, and he’s laughing. The sound sends a shiver up Will’s spine; it’s a cold, manic sort of laughter, empty on any emotion except maybe despair. He remembers it from Twinleaf, he remembers it from Sandgem; when the news reports announced new bombings even far off in Snowpoint and the frightened anchors recommended nobody leave their homes. When footage of red-clad soldiers made it to the giant screen in Jubilife.

All the sane trainers have abandoned the route. This isn’t a sane trainer.

The red of the Kanto Forces uniform is reflected on the metallic exoskeleton of the Scizor standing over Evangeline. Evangeline, for all her ignorance, stands in front of the giant pokémon confidently. Will is too far away to know if she’s trying to say anything, but it hardly matters. The Scizor raises a pincer, and it strikes.

Red sullies the snow and grass around them, and Will can’t breathe.

With a war cry, Adelaide glows pure white, and when she strikes, her wings are strong and her feet have claws.

Will runs faster than he’s ever run. He lets go of Ezra when Evangeline is close, and the other pokémon stop with him while Will howls. From the corner of his eye, he sees the Scizor turn to intercept him, and a second later, Adelaide is on top of it, striking with powerful attacks fueled by anger. Will throws his shoulder against the guy.

His hair is brown, but he’s pale, though Will cannot know if it’s because of the weather or if that’s how he naturally looks. Whichever the case, the boy is bigger than Will, and when Will punches, the older boy retaliates. Will can’t feel the bloody lip nor the swelling on his cheekbone, just rage and fear.

“She was alone!” He cries. He puts his hand over the other’s nose and mouth, and uses his entire weight to keep him still. The other boy punches as best as he can, but soon Adelaide is there, breathing hard and still furious. “She was just a baby, you stupid—!”

Strong arms grab him by the chest and drag him off the boy. Will doesn’t look away when Adelaide raises her wing and forcibly lowers it over the boy’s head; doesn’t look away as the shiny red of the boy’s blood pools under him.

“Will?” Zuzu coaxes him, gentle hands touching his face. Will winces when Zuzu gingerly pats his bleeding lip. He can feel it now, his mouth numb.

Zuzu looks haunted. When Will looks, Ezra and Ronan are deflated next to Evangeline. Will struggles to his feet, but the surge of strength has left him, and the best he can do is crawl over to the tiny body of Evangeline and kneel next to her.

“Eva?” Will asks. He knows she won’t respond. Her head looks wrong, caved from the blow. He reaches to touch her, and the tears finally fall, again. “I’m so sorry,” he says. And he repeats it over and over until the words don’t make sense anymore, until they’re just a string of letters that don’t feel like they should be together.

When John is brought out by Zuzu, he takes a look at Will’s face; the blood and tears and the green that is starting to color his cheekbone, then he looks at the patch of blue fur he can barely see from between Will’s arms, and no one says anything: he just starts digging.

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{E N D - 0 0 5}

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Pokémon| 5; Deaths| 1

Name| Zuzu Species| Monferno Nature| Mild Characteristic| Often lost in thought Ability| Blaze Level| 17

Name| Adelaide Species| Starly Nature| Timid Characteristic| Proud of her power Ability| Keen Eye Level| 13 {She technically evolved while grinding in what counts as the next chapter}

Name| Ronan Species| Zubat Nature| Bashful Characteristic| Happily eats anything Ability| Inner Focus Level| 9

Name| John Species| Geodude Nature| Lonely Characteristic| Scatters things often Ability| Rock head Level| 6

Name| Ezra {The Magnificent} Species| Budew Nature| Brave Characteristic| Often lost in thought Ability| Natural Cure Level| 9

[shardclan]

A handful of light-born nobles had remarked to Telos that House Betelgeuse was wasteful and excessive given less than half the clan lived there. Often those same nobles would later throw a fit over their designated accomodations being little more than glorified kennels, and Telos would always raise her eyebrows and widen her eyes until her expression of innocent confusion was well into the territory of caricature, and say "My apologies; I understood your preference was for conservative, utilitarian living spaces."

They soon stopped remarking.

House Betelgeuse was absolutely too big, but it was precisely that ludicrous scale that allowed for dozens of large breeds to sail the upper chamber and walk the courtyard without any crowding. Add to that its being way up in the western cliffs away from the Summerlands and it was rare to see anyone who wasn't stomping around in full form. This made it very easy for Telos to identify Ranti. She sat cross-legged in her humanoid glamour, draped in silks the color of a steam gyre flying by night and sighing curious salmon-colored smoke courtesy of a beet molasses. And down below her cool gaze were Shekhinah and Faded, flaring at one another like angry capricats.

"A back row seat is prudent," the bogsneak warned. “Neither heed us now.”

Telos nodded faintly, and found herself a bit light-headed. Shekhinah almost certainly understood Faded's nature right away, because he wasn't forgetting that they were there when they phased out of his sight. And Faded was probably the only one for miles who had a good handle on what Shekhinah was, which made it either very relaxing or completely terrifying that they didn't like one another. 

"I think with Faded present it's time that this shyness about what you've been waiting for comes to an end."

Ranti hummed and smoke gushed from her nostrils. "Shyness is not, I think, the term. Sometimes you know a thing without knowing the true shape of it; as one knows a stray egg contains a hatchling but can never say what its appearance will be."

She gestured to the sky above the warring oddities. "There, something strained. You were not ready perhaps? It matters not. The birthing place of the Seat in the Sunbeam Ruins is neat and controlled. Covered and guarded by the portal within the Archmage's once-staff. But up there? A place it almost tore through. And now something else will come through."

Lutia unconsciously began to shrug off the extra layers of her cloaks, but Telos paused her with a tired wave that clearly said 'don't even bother'. “May I take by your calm that it’s not going to be a bad thing?”

“I cannot say. But if it cannot be brought to heel between Shekhinah and that one there we never had a chance anyway.”

Telos lips thinned, but she took a deep breath and sat beside Ranti. Lutia remained standing, and watching, but the Morning Queen had learned--gods had she learned--that sometimes things had to take their course and nothing but headaches came from fretting before they did.

It seemed she had only settled herself onto the grass when both the imperial and guardian suddenly stopped bickering. The air shimmered above them. It turned and twisted in a way that made Telos’ eyes itch. Where she had once seen nothing and felt nothing she was suddenly aware of a glaring fissure in the sky, cracked and hideous as an unhealed wound. A chill ran down her spine, and she caught both Lutia and Ranti stiffening on either side of her. They seemed expectant, but Telos felt a very particular kind of dread-- the one typically reserved for when you realize you’ve left a door unlocked through the night and you understand you were at the mercy of the indifferent universe while you slept in perfect, assumedly safe contentment through the night. 

Then there was light. Like a rising sun appearing in the sky right in front of them. Only when it had fully passed through did it reveal its true shape.

It was a pearl. Smooth and impossibly perfect for its size and so enticing in its light that could instill greed in the heart of even the most humble and charitable dragon only to blind them when they came too close. 

A creature came with it, but it was difficult to say if it was truly a pearlcatcher. It had four arms, two of which were held around the pearl by a shining chain. It also have four wings--each a creamy, translucent white-gold membrane. It had no eyes, and where they should be only a fluttering, glittering cloud of damselfly wings could be seen. It had no mouth. Merely a smooth jaw with no openings to be seen. It had horns, but they didn’t appear to be a pearlcatchers, or an imperials, or match any known species for that matter. 

This creature, whatever it was, fell from the gap with a sound like the entire sky sighing at once, right into Faded��s arms. And in an action that made Telos feel queasy and caused every hair on Lutia’s body to stand, they began to dance and coo with it as if it was some beloved offspring they had finally been blessed with. All the while Shekhinah trailed after them like a younger sibling demanding their fair turn with their elder’s toy. The attachment was instant and painfully obvious. 

But Faded wasn’t supposed to attach to anything. Their very nature was to go unremembered and to let no living thing sway them. Yet here they were; beyond happiness, beyond joy, and shooting past delighted like a star.

The fissure in the air took on a that sullen hue again, and both of them forgot their reverie. Despite the animosity between them only a moment ago, they stood close together, fangs bared as the sky seethed. Something else was coming, and this was not something welcome. 

Ranti’s pipe barely had time to hit the grass before she was up and running. 

Moyo used magic circles to bring the stones to life. An elder sister to both of them sang the stone to life. Their father had once chanted the stone to life, and others of their ancestry were well known to dance mountains into being. Ranti did not call on the stone in any of these capacities. She had prayed in the lonely dark below the Shatter Pillar, and the lost understandings had been given to her. 

She pressed two fingers to her lips and murmured an ancient word between them. With the power caught there, she traced her wish into the world, and what answered her was not mere stone. Around the murky edges of the ear in the veils, a pale blue cloud formed and thickened and solidified until it formed a  crust of crystal, pale but so clear it was nearly invisible.

Telos advanced, already intent on figuring out just how an Earth dragon could possibly call on something like celestine, but Lutia gripped her shoulder and tugged her back with enough force that it bowled the both of them over. 

“Don’t,” she said with such urgency that Telos couldn’t even be mad at the sudden outburst. “Look at it. It’s white.”

“Is that bad?”

Lutia hesitated, and her eyes flicked as she sought the words to explain. She had never expected to use them though they had been taught to her when she was young. It was supposed to be just a fable. Something that circuses and crooks crafted to scare Arcanites.

“It’s white celestine!” she finally cried.

“The original celestine,” Ranti added, cresting the hill and passing them by. She sat again at her hookah and pulled in deeply. “Created between gods of Ice and Earth who knew the Arcanites would destroy themselves as the Arcanist had if left to their own devices.”

She exhaled long and slow, her eyes distant, focused on something only she could see.  “It is celestine as it was designed to be. And it will kill you if you touch it.”