A/N: This fic is written for and dedicated to fellow Lunar fan res123, who is a big fan of NallXRuby! The description of Ruby's human form belongs to res123 completely. Please read her story "A New Past," which also focuses on our favorite dragon couple!

Someone To Hold On To

Ruby was with Hiro and Lucia on a visit to Ronfar and his growing family when she first felt the strange sensation. Nall had told her this sort of thing would start happening as she matured into a full-fledged dragon of Althena. She was beginning to sense the emotional distress of a fellow dragon.

Ruby forced herself away from the crib of Mauri's precious baby to find a place to think.

The weather outside was warm and sunny. Ruby perched on a crate behind Casa de Ronfar.

She closed her eyes in concentration, focusing on the emotion she was feeling. Was it anger? Fear? Pain? No... It was sadness. Worse than that. It was grief. The sharp, twisting kind that went so deep it felt inescapable. And it was coming from Nall. What could have happened to bring this on so suddenly?

She had to go make sure he was okay. She hurried back into the house through an open window.

"Hiro, something came up... I have to go." She turned to Ronfar and Mauri. "Sorry, guys, I'll try to be back by tonight."

"Take care-" Hiro managed to say, obviously confused, as she flew out as quickly as she came in. He gave a quizzical look to Ronfar, who just shrugged in response.

Ruby gained some altitude, then transformed in mid-air from cat-form to full-dragon form, her powerful wings projecting her through the sky toward Taben's Peak.

The feelings coursing through her became clearer as she flew. Images began to pass through her mind: a young man in strange clothes, much like Nall's. He looked familiar, but she could not figure out how she knew him. Then, more faces. A blue-haired girl, who looked a lot like Lucia, and a boy with green eyes. She recognized them from history books she had read: Luna and Alex. Was Nall simply missing his old friends?

She hesitated for a moment. What if he just made fun of her for rushing over when nothing was wrong? It sounded like something Nall would do. He was great at making her feel foolish.

Ruby floated in the same place for several seconds, wondering what she should do.

"Oh, whatever!" she thought, angrily. "He's gonna make fun of me no matter what I do."

Her resolve renewed, Ruby flew even faster, the strange pain in her heart deepening the closer she got.

She made it to Taben's Peak within a half hour and landed gracefully into the playground in her baby dragon form. The infant in the crib outside was crying uncontrollably as a girl of no more than eight years tried to cheer it up. The overall atmosphere was gloomy. Some children tried to play, but their hearts didn't seem into it. Most of them just sat quietly, reading, napping, or doing various crafts.

Ruby approached a little girl who looked to be about six. She was making something out of the grass, but she stopped and yelled "Kitty!" with a smile when she saw the dragon.

Ruby let herself be squeezed and generally loved-on for a moment before she said anything.

"What are you making there?" she asked the little girl.

"A neck-liss for Nall," the girl said, cheerfully holding up the bits of long grass. "I wanna make him happy! Sissy told me he's sad right now." She said no more as she went back to work on her project.

"Sissy" could be any one of the girls here, Ruby thought, looking around. Some of the younger children seemed oblivious to the gloom, but most of the older ones were definitely in a depressed mood.

She wandered into the main hall and saw a group of kids gathered around a teenage boy. He had his hands over his face, and sobbed as three of the other Dragon Kids wrapped their arms around him.

"It's me next, I know it's gonna be me," she heard the boy say as she passed by.

Ruby saw more somber faces as she moved into the west hallway that lead to Nall's private chambers.

A short, preteen boy stood just outside the door.

"You can't go in there," he said, puffing his chest out importantly. "Nall's in a bad mood, and he doesn't want to be disturbed."

"It's okay, he's expecting me," Ruby lied.

The boy gave her a look of distrust. She just smiled back.

"Okay, fine..." he said, stepping aside. "But I better not get in trouble for this!"

He opened the door and Ruby flew inside.

"Damn it, Cale, I said no visitors!" Nall's voice came from the back of the room.

Cale shot Ruby a dirty look and slammed the door behind her.

"Nall, it's me!" Ruby called back.

"Go away."

She ignored his order (as usual) and slowly floated forward. There was a bed in the back left corner that she had never realized was there. Nall was lying on it in his human form, his back to her.

"Look, I'm not going to leave. Not until you tell me why I feel like this!" Ruby said.

"What are you babbling about? Your voice hurts my ears," Nall mumbled, still curled up on his bed.

"You said that as I matured I would begin to feel a deeper connection to the other dragons. You were right. I can feel your emotions right now, Nall. You're in pain," Ruby said, perching on a small table next to the bed.

"Would you just go away? It's not your job to come trying to help every time a dragon has a bad day. It's not always about you, you know," Nall said, his voice rising in annoyance.

"I know it's not about me!" Ruby said, suddenly hurt and angry. Nall never failed to tick her off when he wanted to.

"Then quit being a brat and leave me alone!" Nall shouted, turning over for the first time to face her.

Whatever comeback Ruby was coming up with dissolved when she saw his tear-streaked face.

"Nall-" Ruby began.

"Just leave. Trust me, I'm fine. This happens more often than you know. I've always gotten through it fine on my own," Nall said, his voice suddenly much softer and gentler. He rolled over and fell silent.

Ruby sighed. "Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to show him," she thought.

She left her perch, hopping lightly onto the floor. She closed her eyes and concentrated, focusing on the form she had only just recently learned to take. The process was still slow and a little uncomfortable, but it was steadily getting easier with each transformation. Thirty seconds later, she was standing before Nall on two feet.

"Well? Are you going or not?" Nall muttered.

"Nall, look at me," Ruby said.

He turned back over. "Why is your voice-" Nall froze when he saw her. Ruby, the Red Dragon, had taken on a human form.

"You-You're-" Nall seemed unable to get a full sentence out.

"It can't be that surprising. You spend most of your time in human form these days," Ruby said, defensively. In reality, she was secretly kind of happy to see him speechless.

"I just didn't expect you to look…like that," Nall finally said.

Ruby looked down at herself. This form was petite and slender, but not without a few nice curves. Her pink hair went down to her waist, and there was a long brown stripe in it just like Nall's, though it didn't reach her spiky bangs. She estimated that she looked about sixteen years old. What else could Nall have been expecting?

"What do you mean 'like that'?" Ruby asked.

"It's nothing. You…You look good. Congratulations, I know how tough the first transformation is," Nall said. He sounded sincere.

"Thanks," Ruby said, a bit surprised that Nall didn't find something to tease of her about. She sat down beside him on the bed, not waiting for an invitation. "Now that you're more calmed down, you can tell me what's wrong."

"And I suppose you're not going to leave until we spend some quality dragon time together?" Nall said, sarcastically.

"That's right. Now spill," Ruby ordered.

Nall glared at her, but he began nonetheless.

"Isaac left today. I raised him since he was a baby."

The young man with clothes like Nall's. Now Ruby remembered where she had seen him before.

"If it was going to upset you so much, why didn't you just ask him to stay?" Ruby asked.

"I don't think you understand. I told him to leave. He's about to turn 19, and no one older than 18 is allowed to stay here," Nall said.

"Why not? That seems kind of harsh…"

Nall sighed, heavily. "I knew you were too young to understand."

"I'm not a child, Nall, you can't keep treating me like one," Ruby said, angrily.

"But you are a child! The friends you were raised with are all still alive. You have no idea what it's like to watch your friends-no, your own children die of old age," Nall shot back. He looked away.

Ruby waited several seconds before responding.

"I'm sorry. You're right; I don't know what all that's like. But if you would just tell me, I might at least be able to understand," Ruby said. She placed one hand on Nall's shoulder. "Just try to help me understand. Please."

Nall absently put his hand over hers. "The first Dragon Kid I took in, Marcus...he was just a baby, like Isaac was. When he was old enough to leave, I let him have a choice. To stay with me, or go make his own life somewhere. He chose to stay. He grew old and died here. And it took until then for me to realize that letting him stay was the most selfish decision I have ever made. Marcus never fell in love, never had children. He could have been something, but instead…"

Nall's tears were flowing again.

"Nall-"

"They have to go, Ruby. I can't take away their chance to live like I did with Marcus." Nall put his hands over his face, suddenly sobbing.

Ruby scooted closer to Nall and wrapped her arms around him, leaning her head against his neck.

"I'm so sorry. I should have realized how hard it is for you," Ruby said.

"It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't beg me to let them stay," Nall said between sobs. Ruby was surprised when he suddenly laid down, resting his head in her lap. "It's just so hard, forcing them to leave, watching them say goodbye to the other Dragon Kids…"

Ruby began absently stroking Nall's hair.

"Then why do this to yourself? Why keep raising these children year after year when it hurts so much?" she asked.

"Because it's not about me anymore. Those children need a home and a parent to look after them. It's the best thing I can do for this world. Besides…I love them."

"Oh, Nall…" Ruby own eyes filled with tears. "I never realized how kind you are…"

Nall sat back up. "I'm not always kind. I'm sorry I called you a child."

"It's okay, I understand," Ruby said. She reached up and wiped some of his tears away.

"Your eyes are green," said Nall, suddenly staring deep into them. "I thought they'd be red."

"Their true color is green," said Ruby. Their faces were just inches apart.

"What I said earlier about your human form…What I meant was I didn't expect you to look this beautiful," Nall whispered. He leaned in, and Ruby closed her eyes as he placed a gentle kiss on her lips. He wrapped his arms around her and put his head on her shoulder, whispering in her ear. "Thank you for being here for me."

"I'll always be here for you," Ruby whispered back.

She was right. Nall had finally found someone he could hold on to. And she wasn't going anywhere.

Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think! :)

-Samuel