Disclaimer: I own nothing, I have never owned anything. I don't even own the computer I write on.

Warnings: AU, weirdness, a plot (a small one, but anyway), OOC (there is a reason for that other than just my sucky writing skills) and bad english (english isn't my first language).

Beginning: The hunt is on.

Prologue: Was it a Dream?

It was dark, so very dark, not even the moons light reached the ground because of the thick branched trees above the moist soil that was mostly covered in different kind of mosses. It would have been hard to see in that poor light anyway, but now it was nearly impossible with fear his eyes and clouding his mind. The fear, he was nearly paralyzed with it.

Like the darkness wasn't enought for the forest that looked like it came straight out of a fairy tale, it was also silent. The silent certainly wasn't comfortable, it was as far as it possibly could be from comfortable. It was like the silence that comes when a lion is about to make its kill and the prey has just noticed something is wrong, but this silence was far more deadly. It hung heavy it the air and could almost be seen. Not a sound could be heard, if you excluded the sounds of frantic running, panting and some loud yells and thumps as the person running fell down (1).

Zell cursed very loudly and with very colorful words as he stumbled and fell for the third time that night as his foot caught on some root that happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Poor root, like it could have known someone would be running around in the middle of its forest after midnight like a headless chicken.

After a few very loud noises caused by him falling for the second time, the blond boy had decided there was no point in trying to be silent anymore (not that he would have been anyway.) and now he was just concentrating on getting away from the damned forest and whatever it was following him like a blood hound.

He had been running for what felt like hour (more like days.) and after having been on a week long and very annoying mission he definitely didn't have the strenght he needed to fight the thing, no matter what it was. He cursed again at himself for not killing the thing when he still could. At the moment he was exhausted and the only thing that kept him still running was the fact that he was too frightened to stop. Right now it didn't matter that his legs were killing him and every muscle in his body was aching with his every movement.

He didn't even know what he was running from or if there even was anything after him. It might be something equivalent to a mouse for all he knew, a mouse that was very bent on following him that is.

He had just finished his mission that Squall had sent him to, there had been some weird cult in the forest that had caused disturbances in nearby areas and he had been assingned to take care of them. Sure, it would have been an easy job if the "sorceresses" hadn't kept hiding and running away from him all the time.

Anyway, when he had completed he thought that he could easily go back to Balamb garden and be there before sunrise. That would have given him the rest of the day off. / So stupid. /

There should have been no real problems, or so he thought, since he hadn't seen any monsters at all during his stay in this godforsaken forest. Of course he never even thought that something might have killed/eaten/chased away all the monsters that had lived there before he got there. (Though why the wannabe sorceresses would have held their cult in a forest full of monsters?) So he had collected his stuff, put out his camp fire and started walking back home.

No more than half an hour later he had started feeling like he was being watched (he was a SeeD after all, he was supposed to notice if he was spied on). So he had stopped, but since nothing had attacked him from the shadows he had continued his jorney. / Such an idiot. /

The feeling hadn't gone away and he had started feeling quite uncomfortable, after that had asked if there was anyone there (well, maybe that wasn't the most intelligent thing to do). Only the wind had answered him. It had carried a strange scent, something he had never smelled before -not that he knew atleast-, something dangerous.

Under a second the scent had had him running for his life for no sensible reason. The longer he ran the more scared he got and the more he wanted to get away. His imagination only served to intensify the feeling and made him want to run. / Faster dammit. /

He knew he shouldn't be afraid of the "bogeyman" after him, knew he needed to kill it before it killed him. But it was like an instinct and he also knew somewhere in a hidden corner of his brain that hosted his "wild side", that this "bogeyman" was right behind him just waiting to pounce at the very second he looked back. Zell was almost sure he could feel its breath against the back of his neck.

Suddenly there was a sound of a dry twig snapping under a great weight, or not, Zell couldn't tell if it was just his imagination playing tricks on him or if it was as real as he was. It sounded real, though Zell didn't know and wasn't willing to quess how far away or from which direction it came from. The sound seemed to echo around the whole forest. / Oh shit. /

Overhelmed by sudden panic the blond darted to the right like a rabbit, thinking that maybe, just maybe, he would still be able to lose his unwanted pursuer. Unfortunatedly for him, and luckily for his maybe-there stalker, he didn't notice that the ground had disappeared from under him before he was already falling. With a shout Zell hit the steep hill and started rolling down to the bottom. After the unexpected downwards motion stopped, Zell just laid there on his back with his eyes closed and couple of new bruises and cuts marking his skin.

He wondered if his follower had finally left him alone. If there still was someone or something it should have already caught him, unless it was waiting for something to happen or was toying with him.

Zell groaned at the thought of being toy to someone like a mouse was to a cat and moved to lay on his stomach, everything bad always happened to him. / I wonder when I lost all my stuff... / His back had felt strangely light and nothing had made his hillrolling any more nasty.

The ground under him was soft and the grass tickled his nose as he rested his face in it. He was tired and wanted nothing more than just to lay there and go to sleep without worrying about anything, but he still had to get back to garden and away from this creepy forest.

He sighed and opened his eyes slowly to see dirt and grass and oh, there was an ant too.

The martial artist pressed his gloved palms against the grass and tried to push himself on his hands and knees so he could get up. He almost managed to do that, but before he could fully straighten his arms he felt something press against the whole lenght of his back preventing the action. A shiver traveled through Zell.

He breathed it deeply. / No reason to panic yet, there is no proof that it's anything dangerous. Please don't be anything dangerous. / Warm puffs of air touched the back of his neck followed by a deep growl. Now he was sure he wasn't imagining at all, he couldn't even think let alone imagine anything. He shivered again and not from the cold.

Whatever creature it was looming over him took few small steps forward (small for a something its size.) and as it moved its stomach rubbed against Zell's back, pressing him further down. It oozed warmth through his jacket and shirt and even as it creeped him out, he was still briefly curious about how warm it just had to be to emit so much heat his through his fairly thick clothes.

Now that it had moved the small blond could see a large clawed front leg covered in smooth golden scales next to both of his own hands. The monster clawed the ground and easily broke its surfase and growled again, louded this time. And with the growl, somewhere above Zell's head and almost completely out of his sight, a small golden and ruby red flame came out of its mouth.

Zell bit his lip and tried to crawl away from the monster to have enough room to attack it, but before he had a chance to do a thing he felt it wrap its two strong front legs around his waist and press its sharp claws through the material of his jacket and dig into his skin. He blinked in horror and opened his eyes wide open, clenching his mouth closed as he forced himself to keep from screaming, he didn't want to encourage the creature to attack him. It still wasn't enough to stop a strangled sound from leaving his throat. / Oh god, oh god. OHHYNE NO. /

There was hard pressure against his ass and then he was being humped against. Zell shut his eyes so tightly that it hurt, he had seen this coming. This was the only reason why he wasn't visiting the monsters stomach yet. He went with the rocking motion, there wasn't anything else he could do. He couldn't hit it from this position and if he attempted to kick it away he would propably (read: most likely.) get his head bitten off. Fun! So he couldn't defent himself in any way against being molested by an overgrown lizard!

After what felt to Zell like an eternity of desperation, it roared and the scent that he had smelled in the air earlier got stronger again.

He bit his lip to keep from wimphering and risked being killed by struggling, but the weight on his back was too heavy for it to help at all. Last thing he remembered before everything faded away was something wet and hot against his behind.

-

Zell was laying on a bed, a soft, warm, fluffy bed. It had a pillow and a thick blanket and everything and he didn't want to get up. He had been awake for several minutes, but hadn't opened his eyes yet. What happened, it had been a dream, right? It wasn't like that could really happen to anyone, if you got into a situation like that you were eaten. He took a breath and slowly opened his eyes.

White, the ceiling was white and spotless, good. He lowered his gaze to the walls surrounding him, they were white too. Not so good, they were too hospital like for his comfort, they weren't his own.

"Good, you are awake. Headache?" Zell turned his head towards the voice and blinked. Dr.Kadowaki, so he was in the infirmary then? Damn, it had been real.

"Mr.Dincht?"

"Uh... No." He answered, now how had he gotten in here? Why wasn't he eaten?

"Good, good. Anything else?" Dr.Kadowaki asked in a professional tone. He thought about it for a second before he winced as the pain in his muscles finally registered into his brain. / Ouch. /

"I'm a bit sore, but I'll survive." / I'd better so I can find that thing and beat the shit out of it. /

"Hmm..." Dr.Kadowaki opened a drawer and picked up a few different kind if bottles from there. "Some cadets had been walking around garden, they found you unconsius from somewhere near, I don't know the exact place... Do you need to tell me anything?" She looked at him expectantly as she handed him one bottle of pills and put the rest back.

"No, I'm okay." He shook his head and gave her a fake grin. She nodded in response and looked like she understood something that he wasn't even trying to get her to understand.

She made a gesture towards the pills and said, "take a few of those every day until the pain goes away, completely. Get a lot of rest and remember that you can always come here to talk."

"Err... Okay." He replied as she made her way out of the room, but stopped to say something more before hurrying away.

"Oh, and Zell, take a shower."

He blinked and then his eyes widened so that they almost fell out of his head. There was quite strong musky smell in the air around him.

Tbc...

(1) They weren't screams. No real man screams like a girl when they are scared. Not that he was scared.

Author's notes:

That was horrible, absolutely terrible. My writing sucks and I never manage to update anything. And now I'm cranky and my neck hurts from sitting in front of a computer for hours typing this thing, twice. The first time my computer didn't save but closed the program anyway (damned computer from hell). And I haven't even slept for days 'cause I was writing this and now I won't leave the bed for the next 24h.

Ps. Please don't flame the dragon thing, it will be (hopefully) explained later.

Edited to make the thoughts easier to read.