Welcome to another fantasy dump of mine. Boy do I love fantasy and magic, and boy do I love messing with Sweden. Pooooor Sweden. Oh well, at least he (usually) gets his Finny at the end.

WARNINGS:

T for some future action scenes.

NOT PRE-WRITTEN. Update speed will vary.

SuFin (Dragon!BerwaldxTino)

Fluffffffffff

If you like it, review it. If you don't, review it and tell me why. Thanks~


The forest was almost pitch black. Once it was so serene, but now the branches of tall trees appeared as gnarled claws scraping at the dark moonless sky. Everything was different at night, from the sights to the sounds, and even the smells of what should have been so familiar were alien. Feet pounded at the ground without a care of how loud they were compared to the clicks and hoots of normal forest life. It didn't matter as much as it should have to the terrified Finn jumping over dark fallen logs while the presence of his pursuers closed in.

Just minutes ago, Tino was at peace in his modest home. He lived away from the bustling of town life, preferring a solitary life to his scrutinizing neighbors. Every month he would go into town to sell animal pelts, shop for supplies, and say hello to the few townsfolk who were kind enough to befriend him despite his oddity. Bright lilac eyes kept most at a distance. They were thought to be unlucky.

Perhaps they were. His entire life was one tragedy after the other, such as this one.

Tino's breath came ragged as he felt himself reach his end. Could he stop and climb a tree? No, the branches were too high! There was no chance of him fighting back, either. It was a miracle Tino was able to escape their rough grasps before he was spirited away the first time. His only hope was to keep running and pray for a form of salvation.

The young man came to an abrupt stop. In the darkness, he nearly ran into a tall rock wall in his immediate path. It was a cliff with rugged rocks jutting out from compact soil for several feet straight up, and there was no way around it. Tino only had a second to curse under his breath before he started to climb. Sharp rocks dug into his palms, but the pain was impossible to feel over the numbness his adrenaline provided in his state of terror.

He didn't get more than a few feet up before his hunters came crashing through the brush. Their dark forms collided with the wall with a sickening thud, but it only stunned them for a mere moment. The creatures didn't seem to feel pain, nor were they very smart, but they were persistent. One reached out and grabbed Tino's leg and the boy screamed, desperately trying to kick it away while still clinging to the face of the cliff. It held fast, and soon the other two were grabbing and clinging to whatever they could reach. The creepiest thing of all that elicited the most fear was how quiet they were, like silent black ghosts with blank faces. There was no mouth to hiss or snarl. Nothing to show that these inky beings were even alive. Tino made up for their silence with the sounds of his screaming and struggling, but like a nightmare, it did little good.

Just when he was sure he was about to fall backwards and be carried away, there was a roar. Whatever starlight illuminated the forest disappeared when another shadow jumped over the top of the cliff. The creatures let go so suddenly that Tino was unprepared, and he felt himself lose his balance on his precarious perch. The only gravity he could feel as he fell was the sensation of his stomach sinking in his gut. For a split second, there was no up or down. Tino didn't know where he was. He heard heavy thuds on the approaching ground and the sound of feral growling like none he'd ever heard before, then nothing. The impact didn't hurt, because Tino was knocked out on contact.

Heavy eyelids struggled to open when the boy woke up. He instantly knew something was wrong. This didn't smell like his cottage, nor did this bedding feel anything like his own. It didn't take long for his memories to return, and he opened his eyes to a warm orange glow cast from a dozen torches lining the gray walls. It looked like a cave of some sort. Under his body was a large pile of fur pelts from all kinds of creatures, all soft and pleasantly warm. Above, the rock ceiling somehow twinkled like stars.

Tino moved to get up, but as soon as he did, he regretted the action. Pain shot up from his leg and he hissed through gritted teeth. He couldn't move it. There were bandages tied tightly with silver cord around his ankle, and his boots sat together not too far away. A bump on his head also pained him. It appears he was hurt, and whoever saved him dressed his wounds.

The boy let out a long breath and lay back down. His eyes wandered to the floor, and he caught sight of something that took his breath away. Gold. The floor was covered in gold. Pieces of jewelry, coins, sparkling colorful gems, various objects cast in rare shiny metals littered the floor until you could barely see what lay beneath! No wonder the ceiling sparkled with so much glitter reflecting from down below. What was this place? How did Tino he get here? Those things couldn't be stopped by any normal means. Unless they did capture him, and this is where they wanted to take him. But why tend to Tino's wounds? What did they want from him?

Echoing footsteps stopped Tino's thinking. He raised his head to look at the only exit, a dark hole on the other side of the room, waiting to see something reveal itself and dreading the sight of a faceless creature like the ones that attacked him. The heavy footsteps stopped. Tino gulped as he waited, but nothing happened. He could make out a shadowy outline just beyond the torchlight. Hesitantly, he called with a voice that was a bit meeker than he intended.

"H-hello?" He felt so empty and alone when his voice bounced off the walls. The figure stayed where it was. Tino could swear he saw eyes flicker like tiny flames. "Are you the one that brought me here?"

A deep grumbled hum responded. It also repeated a few times throughout the cave as an equally empty echo. Tino was feeling dread pool in his stomach as he desperately tried to deduce if this was good or bad. Obviously it wasn't one of the faceless creatures or it wouldn't have made a sound, nor have eyes. But what was it?

Tino sat up carefully, avoiding moving his ankle. "…Who are you?"

The figure shifted and grew taller as it came forward. Tino felt his heart start to pound as he realized it wasn't human in any shape or form. It moved into the light, standing taller than a horse on all fours.

A dragon.

The boy started to shiver as the realization dawned on him. There was nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. Thanks to his injured leg he could hardly move, much less run. He was in the middle of a dragon's horde of treasure, and he was helpless! But instead of attacking, the creature simply walked forward through the only path cleared of glittering trinkets leading to Tino's bed. It stopped in front of him and sat down on the floor, its dark blue slithering tail coming to a rest beside its hunched body, and it stared down at the terrified boy at its feet.

What happened? What was going on? Why did the dragon look so docile when it should be infuriated?

Tino pulled up one of the pelts and hid under it, only his eyes showing as he watched for any sign of a threat. It was all he could think to do as the silence stretched on.

"Come out."

Tino blinked in surprise. Did the dragon just talk? The echo on the walls confirmed that he wasn't hearing things. Slowly, the boy slid the covers down past his chin in utter shock.

The beast leaning over him was covered in dark blue scales with a golden yellow underbelly. Pale claws on its hand-like paws and pearly white sharp teeth poking out from under the creature's lips made Tino tremble. Dragons were known for ripping people to pieces without much strain. So why wasn't this one? Even more puzzling were the red scratches scattered over its chest and legs like claw marks, and they looked fresh. This dragon was recently in a fight.

Tino was caught between relief and an unmanly shriek of terror when the dragon spoke again. His voice was deep and rumbling. "Eat." It pointed down with its nose to reveal a wooden bowl sitting to the left of the frightened Finn. He didn't notice it before. Tino looked down at it to see it contained what looked like chunks of meat in a steaming broth. He gingerly picked it up, and the dragon made some kind of hum of satisfaction, then rested its head on the edge of the bed while still peering at Tino with shimmering oceanic eyes.

Tino found it impossible to take even a tiny sip of the broth in this situation. He was too nervous to swallow! The boy was certain the dragon was boring a hole through his head with that look of his. Something really seemed to interest it about Tino's face.

"Eat," it commanded again and Tino jumped, making some of the broth spill. The liquid was hot when it hit his lap and he gasped.

"Ah! I'm sorry-"

"You hurt?" The creature's eyes narrowed and it lifted its head. Tino took it as anger.

"N-no! It was only a d-drop, and it cooled already so I'm fine!" Tino squeaked out. The dragon seemed to accept this and settled down, not once looking away.

This was so weird! Tino did his best to appease the beast and eat some of the stew, but without a utensil it was sort of hard. He drank what he could until he gathered the courage to ask the question that was burning on his mind this whole time.

"Who are you?"

The dragon hesitated before answering. "…I am called Berwald. You?"

"Tino," he said with the best smile he could muster, hoping it would help diffuse the tension. Tino often smiled in the face of danger because he was too afraid to do anything else. "Um, what happened, exactly? And why am I here?"

"I brought you here," Berwald said simply. "You were being attacked."

"And…you fought those apparitions off? Is that how you got those wounds?"

Berwald nodded.

"Wow…" Tino shook his head of his disbelief and remembered his manors. It wouldn't hurt to be nice to the scary beast that could kill him on a whim. "Um, thank you for helping me, and I apologize for causing you harm! Shouldn't those wounds be dressed? You wouldn't want them to get infected…"

"S'fine. They will heal."

"Yeah, but…" Tino trailed off when he realized Berwald was moving closer. He tried to back away, but dragon's long neck could reach him no matter how much he leaned away. His snout came closer until their noses were almost touching. Warm breath tickled his face, and Berwald just stared. He seemed to be inspecting something about the boy.

What brought this on? The Finn froze in fear with his eyes wide as Berwald studied, unable to tell if this was good or bad.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

"Gems," the other murmured. Tino wasn't quite sure he heard him correctly. Berwald finally moved away and searched the ground around him. Tino scooted back, very timid of this strange dragon's behavior, as it plucked something out of the clutter on the floor. Held delicately between two claws was a small purple jewel polished and imbedded in a silver ring.

The ring was held out for Tino to see, but it only made his confusion grow as to why he was being shown it. And why did the ring look familiar somehow? "I don't understand…"

"Amethyst," Berwald clarified.

Tino blinked at him. "So it is…I'm still not sure what this has to do with my question."

"Eyes," Berwald motioned, once again staring in a way that looked sort of mesmerized. "Your eyes. They are amethysts. How?"

Oh. Berwald was pointing out the strange lilac color of Tino's eyes. He guessed they were the color of purple amethysts, which is probably why the ring looked familiar. "I don't know. I was born with them." He left out how some villagers thought he was the royal son of Hel because of their color.

Berwald's brow lifted in what could pass as surprise. His voice was under his breath, wonder etched in his slow words. "Born with gems for eyes…"

Wait, did he seriously think there were rocks in Tino's head? "…My eyes aren't actually amethysts. They only have the same color."

The dragon shook his head. "No. They are real."

This was getting ridiculous. "You can't use stones for eyes."

"You do."

"And how are you so sure?"

"My eyes see," he said. "I am a dragon, so my eyes see all treasures. Even those cast with dark magic, like yours." At that moment, one of the torches on a nearby wall went out. All of them looked close to dying, so it was no surprise that a draft could have extinguished one. The increasing shadows made Berwald look even fiercer.

The dragon stood up. Berwald walked through the gold clutter until he reached the torch. What happened next made Tino gasp in shock, because he drew in a breath and exhaled bright hot flames from his mouth. It licked at the air and grabbed hold of the smoldering torch, lighting it again, and the trickle of fire ceased. The room was back to its original ambiance of flickering lights when Berwald turned back to Tino, who's heart beat fast at the display of power.

The Finn's head was practically spinning. "I-I don't understand why I'm here…don't you hate people? Why am I here, right in the middle of your home, when most dragons would slaughter anything that touches their treasures?"

"You are mine." That had Tino's breath hitch for a moment. Did he hear that correctly? Berwald stepped forward, slowly, until he was standing on his hind legs over the shaking Finn staring up at him with wide violet eyes. A paw reached out and cupped the side of his face, and Tino was too petrified to move. A thumb brushed his skin, the claw careful not to scratch as it lightly dragged just under one of those shimmering orbs that were the boy's eyes. "Never found something like you before. Beautiful…"

The realization dawned on Tino as the paw lifted away. Berwald thought his eyes were really jewels. Dragons loved to collect things like gems and rare metals, and apparently, this one collected him. Tino's eyes were part of a dragon's collection now. That means Tino was, too.

A flurry of emotion ran through his mind. Relief, knowing that Berwald would be keeping him alive instead of roasting and eating his corpse like the other monsters of lore. Grief, knowing that keeping him alive meant trapping him in this cave for the rest of his existence. Resentment, seeing how his cursed eyes have once again played havoc with Tino's life. But there was something else, too. Something very deep inside Tino's soul that burned like a small candle in the dark. A kind of recognition, he guessed, but of what he had no clue. Tino was too caught up in the madness of the situation to dwell on it.

Was he better off with those inky apparitions who wordlessly dragged the young man from his bed and out the door? Possibly. But then again, this dragon hadn't done anything to hurt Tino so far. He was even taking measures to make him more comfortable. He gave him a bed, food, and Berwald was even helping to heal Tino's wounds.

Perhaps this was actually a turn of luck? Those things wouldn't dare come after Tino while being guarded by a dragon. What were they, anyway? And why were they after him?


And where the heck do I come up with this stuff?

I think I should mention that I am using Western style dragons, which often have a few human-like features, such as hands. (But with claws.) According to legends, they keep hordes of treasure and kill any knight/Viking foolish enough to get too close. Western dragons often have a weakness for gems and the instinctive desire to protect said gems. Yup...I think that's pretty much all you need to know. ;)