Author's Notes:

Although I've been familiar with the existence of dating simulators and/or visual novels, I've never gotten into those since it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. So Angels with Scaly Wings (AWSW) is officially my first foray into this genre, if only because I love dragons. The game earned my respect for the genre, and now I'm itching to play the visual novels for Stein's Gate and Fate/Stay Night.

But enough about that. I enjoyed AWSW much more than I expected. I actually thought I was done with the game until I realized it had some damn good mods! The mods made by EvilChaosKnight (ECK) are f*cking AWESOME. I especially enjoyed his latest work "A Solitary Mind", which I only and recently learned about through someone else's entry here in FFN.

How much did I enjoy it? To the point that I've been hit by the inspiration bug to do two things: (1) try learning Python (the real world possibilities should be good if I can manage this) and (2) writing my own little tribute to the AWSW fandom.

This short story features—surprise, surprise—an original character from ECK's mod! It's my first time actually handling a fanmade character without any feedback from their creator, so I hope I can do her original portrayal some justice. Reading this will require you to actually play "A Solitary Mind" and achieve the "A" ending. So… yeah. GLHF with that. MIND THE SPOILERS!

Oh, and WHY THE HELL do the handful of decent AWSW fics here keep naming their human ambassadors Alex? You know what, I'll call him Saunders. As in, after M.B. Saunders, the dude who created the entire AWSW concept and probably developed the entire game. You did well, man! I hope whatever games you make in the future will be just as great!

And lastly… this is my first time writing actual romance and I need the practice for future scenes in my real story. So if the romance comes out as crap... y'all can blame my inexperience!

Enjoy!

LAZY MORNING

Word count: 4,689

The nightmares were unbearable.

Flashes of light assaulted your mind.

Voices screamed and yelled. Others called your name. Some cursed it. There was even the odd voice whispering in your ear, portending your own imminent death.

You saw a scarlet wall of fire destroying everything it touched. Bullets digging deep into your skin, bleeding your life away. Water rushing into your lungs as you clawed at darkened walls, alone and desperate. A beloved colleague struggling to stand on three legs, hurt, bruised, with one forearm broken. Yet none of that compared to the heartrending pain thumping at your chest while eight faces swirled in this maelstrom, their hearts and souls transparent in their varying expressions. Anxiety. Anger. Rage. Grief. Agony. Their mouths agape, you could hear the cacophony of their shrieks and shouts of emotion tearing your ears to shreds.

"S-saunders?"

Somehow, you recognized the faces. Barely. Most of them alien, terrifyingly reptilian. Only three were human. You saw someone you once trusted to watch your back. You remembered someone who stared out into the void with jaded, lifeless eyes. And someone...

"Hey, wake up."

Someone who wore your face. A doppelganger. There was no mistaking that devilish grin. He was bad, bad news.

"Wake up!"

They reached for you. You scrambled backwards and screamed. You kicked at their feet. You pushed away their hands. You bared your teeth like a rabid animal, and snapped at any part of their bodies. But there was no delaying the inevitable—

"SAUNDERS!"

Light burst into sight the second your eyes snapped open at the voice. You sat up, alert. Hazy memories of your body breaking apart, disintegrating, and reforming as the Portal surpassed the limits of modern science and brought you back to the past. Damn it. You had to get up, NOW. The Administrator could be waiting nearby any second. Who was it this time? You? Izumi? Ah, crap, that didn't matter. Whoever it was would keep history consistent. You just needed to walk into town and—

A pair of hands clasped your shoulders and shook you violently. "Snap out of it!"

"H-huh?" You stuttered. Only now did you realize you were back in your apartment. Sitting up in your king-sized bed, with the comforter neatly folded in the corner. You also noticed the hands holding onto you weren't human. They were blue, with dark, sharp talons. Four each. One on an opposable thumb. "Where..."

You felt those same hands lower down to your waist. Before you could get a good look at your captor, they lifted you up and into soft, gray leather. From this distance you could clearly see the individual scales. Your ears heard the rhythmic beating of a heart working hard beneath them. Subconsciously your hands went up on their own accord and wrapped themselves around the living thing in front of you, barely making it all the way around. A cooing sound reached your ears. "...Another nightmare, huh?"

You turned your head, and saw a blue muzzle hovering next to yours. Your gaze locked with her green eyes. She looked worried. It took a few awkward moments for you to recognize the quadruped dragoness, with the two gray stripes behind her nose, the pointed muzzle, the scales running down from her lower jaw, and her spiral horns. Actually one of the faces from your relentless nightmares, you acknowledged, but that was a fact you knew in your heart you could lock away, forever. After all, that wasn't your problem. Not anymore.

"Good morning, Naomi," you said, weakly.

She didn't reply. The staff analyst ogled you for a few seconds before taking a deep sigh. A long, serpentine tongue slipped out of her muzzle and gave your face a slow lick, running up from your lips up to the tip of your nose. Notes of brewed coffee, you noticed, and a faint whiff of the bacon she had last night. What time was it? She couldn't have had that much sleep last night, and it was your fault too, turning what was supposed to be a quick midnight snack with a long story of local government bureaucracy.

"Good morning to you too. Everything alright?"

You stiffened. Of the many jumbled memories of other timelines plaguing your mind, one in particular floated to the surface. You were back in that underwater facility. The computer console in the power unit had interrupted your diagnostics with its automatic update module, plunging into an endless loop of errors that rendered the workstation completely non-functional before you could even read the manual.

You tightened your embrace on Naomi's scales, and traced slow circles along her skin. "I'm okay now," you replied, not wanting to look at her right now. It was hard to forget the grief-stricken expression she had in that dream—that memory. The sad kiss they shared, and her regretful expression on the last moments before the explosion. "It, i-it was just a bad dream, like you said."

"...who did you see this time?"

You peeked at her. "...you."

"What happened?"

"We died down there, in that thousand-year-old lab. The only working computer conked out on me before I could find out about the magnetic locks or the emergency escape procedures."

Her eyes widened. Like the other people you interacted with across all the timelines, Naomi had been experiencing nightmares of her own, but from the look on her face this was new to her. She closed her eyes. A few tears dripped down her muzzle. You figured the mere mention of that day brought the analyst back to the scariest thirty minutes of her life. "Did I, d-did I—

"You didn't die alone, if that's what you're asking." You placed your hand behind the pink frill on her cheek and pulled her head closer to you. "I went looking for you the second it crashed. When I found you, we spent the last twenty minutes together until the end. We even kissed, just like this." You craned your neck towards her and gave the dragoness a deep kiss. She leaned into it, not worried about squishing you into a wall when her soft, underbelly scales were there to cushion your body. Her tongue leapt at the open invitation, as did yours. You sucked her lower lip, just like you'd normally do to another human. It felt weird, but you managed. She followed your lead, only to plant the tip of her snout into your mouth.

It ruined the moment. The two of you pulled away. You couldn't help but notice the strings of saliva breaking off from your mouths. And so did she, judging by the way she let out a playful giggle. "Oooops! Sorry. I'm still new to this."

You smirked. "Regretting being more than friends with me, Naomi?"

"Not in the slightest." She grinned back at you. "I have a legendary human all to myself! I see no logical reason why I have to give up someone sooooooo cuddly!" Naomi strengthened her hold on you. Her wings wrapped you up in a warm, leathery blanket as she nuzzled, licked, and nipped at your cheeks countless times while flailing all over the bed.

"And there's the girl I love so much," you said, chuckling.

She squealed, "I can't get over you, Saunders. You're just so, so... smooth! Soft! Springy! Every single day all I want to do is hug you for hours and hours and—whoa!"

Both of you fell to the floor. Her sheer weight knocked all the air out of your lungs. You gasped for breath. The dragoness instantly moved away from you in one fluid roll, lying down on her side with her head beside your own.

An awkward pause descended on the both of you. It didn't go away until she suddenly broke into fits of laughter. Your heart warmed at her dopey smile and it wasn't long before you started laughing yourself.

She placed her paws on your sides and pulled you to herself. She gave your face another messy lick before putting your heads together. You have long acclimated to the rougher, blue scales dotting her snout. "Look, however scary or sad those, t-those memories are, that's not what happened to us. You found a way to escape the facility and prevent the explosion. Mav and I wouldn't have taken Reza down so easily if it weren't for the lessons you taught me back there.

"If you ask me what I think, the people who died back there would be happy if they knew we ended up together here, in this timeline. I know I would have wanted to be with you in a better life, and," she tittered, "here we are."

You frowned. "But, I, I can't get it out of my head. I'm so worried. Did I succeed? Or am I still stuck reliving the past few weeks with all of you over and over? The comet... Reza... my people back at home—

The analyst licked you again, catching you by surprise. You started coughing. "Bleh. Naomi!"

"How else was I going to stop you? I didn't want to hurt you." You grunted, displeased at her response. She could have just done something else. "Saunders, even if you feel this way, it doesn't change the fact you can't do anything about it anymore. It's all on the... 'other you' now." The reference to your alternate self came out weird. She was still coming to terms with the existence of time travel. Naomi shook her head. Just saying that probably made her feel like she was in one of those science-fiction books she reads.

"I know," you said. "But I can't help worrying about it."

"And there's the person I love so much." She nuzzled you. "Are there a lot of humans who think like you, back home?"

You let out a deep sigh at the innocent question, even resisted the urge to roll your eyes. "Not really. Many of us thought more like Reza."

"Oh. Sounds, like, we lucked out with you."

"Not gonna lie, but you kind of did? My people live in desperate times. Nowhere near the kind of life I'm having now." You massaged her paw, and gave it a quick kiss eliciting a touched coo from her. "With you."

Your eyes fell on the police badge worn around her neck. One glance at the window and you can tell it was about six in the morning. "Do you have to go to work now?"

"Well, actually I—

"Don't leave just yet, Naomi." You leaned on her side. It was enjoyable to hear her slow, quiet breaths, to feel her chest moving up and down, to listen to the occasional rustling of her wings. You rubbed your head on her neck and embraced what you could. The gray scales were so soft and warm. It felt like one of those ultra-expensive handbags humanity made before the flare, but even better. "Please stay, just a bit longer."

A chortle. "Someone here's being clingy today."

You looked up at her snout and glared at her. "Come on! Really? You're not going to let me forget that?"

"Nope! Of course not! Besides, it takes one to know one." The dragoness had a smug grin on her snout. "But I still can't believe you called me 'clingy' on our second date! The nerve! What kind of person would say that to a girl's face? If you hadn't been so nice to me, I would have thrown you out for that."

"You liked me back then, didn't you?" You teased her. "Eh? Did you? Was that the secret you didn't want to tell me? Hmm…?"

"Mmmmaybe." She broke eye contact and stared up at the ceiling. You noticed a slightly red tinge on her muzzle. Her tail flicked upwards. "To be honest, that time I was still unsure about you. It's true that I liked you enough, but I didn't know if you were going to be like all those dragons back in university, or if you were really open to being with someone who isn't the same species as you."

"Uh, wasn't I clear about that on our first date?"

"Not really. 'I just might be' was an ostensible come-on. I thought you were trying to annoy me."

"Annoy you? But I meant it!"

"Awww, you're so adorable!" Naomi smiled and rubbed your cheek.

You loved her, you told yourself. You loved her so much, but sometimes her affection was just a little too much to handle. "Naomi..."

"Shouldn't you be used to this by now? You know I can't help it when you're so... grrrr!"

Hearing her cute, excited growls made you forget the irritation building up inside your chest. You laughed again, and you couldn't help but scratch behind her frills. She purred.

"For your information, you were still meeting me in a somewhat official capacity. I was nervous when I first met you. Ambassador of a mythical species! You know I never believed the whole humans-are-gods stuff, but still, that… that was the last thing I'd expect to hear from a diplomat! And even if you meant it..." An embarrassed smile appeared on her muzzle. "That was simply too forward. When you arrived at my apartment I was already having second thoughts on whether I should call off your visit..."

"I'm happy you didn't."

"Me too." Without hesitation, Naomi pulled down on your shirt, her sharp claws unknowingly destroying the poor thing. You fell easily to the floor, and in a second, you found yourself laying down on your side, staring into her deep, green eyes. It didn't take long before you felt her hind legs digging into your shorts, toes touching the bare skin. "You... you want to have some fun today? Right here?"

"On the floor? Who's the one being forward now?" You didn't bother stopping her, even when you felt the air turn cold waist down. "I thought you weren't that kind of person."

"I'm not! But when you're in a wonderful relationship like ours"—the analyst leaned forward and mashed her muzzle on your face in one wet, passionate kiss.—"why deny yourself the perks?" The apparent eagerness in her tone and her curled flews stirred your body into excitement. You knew what's coming next. "Right, Saunders?"

"Yeah. Let's take this up a notch."

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

You woke up downstairs in the living room, on the couch, dressed in nothing but your birthday suit. How did that happen? You were certain you and Naomi had your morning glory in your bedroom. That must have been one hell of a thing you two just had. The sun was bright outside. An hour and a half until noon, you reckoned.

"Naomi?" you called.

There was no reply.

You raised your voice. "Naomi!"

...no reply again.

You walked to the door and turned the knob. It was unlocked. Other than the brewing machine, the kitchen was unused. You went up the stairs and swung the bedroom door open. Bright scarlet tinged your face when you saw the mess you and Naomi left behind this morning. One side of the wall had three holes near the floor, close enough to each other that it was pretty clear a dragoness left irreparable marks in your room. You picked up what was left of your shirt, shorts, and underwear and threw the torn fabric in the garbage. The bedsheets looked like a hurricane had gone through it. Looking up, you spotted dents on the ceiling, probably from the analyst's wings.

You scratched your head. That didn't happen the last time you did it here. (How else were you two supposed to celebrate your decision to stay in this timeline? Staying in that couch all day? Really?) And there was definitely no mess like this after your blissful first time up at the penthouse on that date you had just before your showdown with Reza. So how...?

You shook your head. Maybe it was just that good? Who knew how dragons acted during a fierce, ardent coital experience? Even you didn't remember much beyond waves upon waves of pleasure. It was enough to drown out all the nightmares that still plagued you to this day. You dismissed the whole mess as a natural consequence of having active and frequent "engagements" with Naomi in your apartment. So with that load off your shoulders, you slipped into a new change of clothes and did your best to fix the whole mess.

The doorbell rang a few times by the time you were done. Who could that be? The Council shouldn't be finished with your citizenship and residential documents. Government procedures never worked that fast! You strolled to the door, unfastened the locks, and pulled it open, only to have Naomi barge in like she owned the place. You could feel a small headache coming on. This wasn't what you meant by "feel yourself at home".

"Hey Saunders! I'm back!" The sea dragoness greeted singsong, walking inside without a hint of shame. She bounced with every step.

"Why are you here?" you asked her. "Aren't you supposed to be at work? Bryce—

"Gave me my morning off," she preempted. "I was trying to tell you earlier, but you cut me off. You remember what time I got here last night, right?"

"It was almost midnight."

"Worked my rump off on the latest case on our plates," she told you. "Robbery and family drama rolled into one."

"I assume you got it all done?"

"Analyzed, triple-checked, cataloged, and uploaded, like usual. I hold myself to very high standards at work."

"You told me that a while back." You followed her into the kitchen, jaw dropping when she pulled out several plastic bags worth of household supplies and meat from her belt pouches. "Now what's this stuff you got here?"

"Groceries," she stated plainly. "You live closer to the police station than me. As a plus, your apartment's slightly bigger than mine and the furnishings are homey. I will miss the corner balcony and the sunset view, but the pros outweigh the cons so… why not move in?"

As much as the news sent a delightful flutter through your heart, you felt concerned about this. Wasn't she going a little too fast for this? From dating to living together? "What's all this about, Naomi?" you asked.

Naomi reasoned, "We're going to be together for the long haul. For decades. I concluded this will be the best course of action for us. Right now the rest of the world sees you as the 'legendary human' who can't do any wrong, but you and I both know there's a lot you'll need to learn if you want to keep it that way."

That knowing smile she had at the end gave you chills. Ultimately you swallowed down your nervousness and spoke up. "That's not what I meant. I understand this is a huge move for you, and I'm fine with that."

"And so, what's wrong with it?"

"I'm not sure," you admitted. "As far as I can tell, you're just making sure we're not going to lose each other over the years—the decades to come. I love the way you're taking initiative, but… but I can't help feeling you're doing all this for a different reason."

"A different reason?" She grimaced. "Excuse me," she growled, icily. "Just what do you mean?"

You raised your hands in self-defense. "I, I don't know! I just find this development a little too sudden and—a-and… wait a minute…" Your voice trailed while you ruminated over this. You already told Naomi about the Council stripping your ambassador status a week after Chicxulub was diverted. With her position in the force and her analytical skills, you wouldn't be surprised if she knew—even anticipated—what fate awaited you once your papers were notarized, filed, and uploaded to the national database.

"You…"

Fancy medals wouldn't put money in your pocket. You could lose that apartment the Council awarded to your name to a tax foreclosure. As for the lumpsum they gave you for your "most meritorious, most laudable" service to the community, the Council had been brutally cheap, giving you only six months' worth of minimum wages despite literally saving the world from global extinction. Anna would even sympathize with you, having been on the receiving end of this abuse herself.

Anyone from pre-flare Earth would be petrified to face this situation. You'd be lying to yourself if you didn't admit you were apprehensive, if not under bone-crushing pressure, to confront the task of overcoming the universal demon that was poverty. Your friends here accosted you about this in the few weeks after the festival, but whenever they asked, you always put up a brave, confident front. You've got a plan, you always said, even though you knew you were lying to them in the back of your head. Some suspected the truth, but the lack of initiative on their part meant they would be ready to help if—and only if—you asked for it.

Help you wouldn't seek to begin with. That kind, gentle soul you have refused to let you unload your burdens on them. They've had plenty of problems already a few weeks ago, during the Reza case. This was your tribulation, your challenge. You had to—you needed to face it alone. You knew you could manage it. Somehow. Despite all odds. Poverty was a first-world problem compared to the literal apocalypse, it seemed to you.

"…You're worried about me, aren't you?"

Naomi flinched when you called her out. She sat on her rump and tilted her back as she always did, eluding your gaze. "Uhm..."

You bent down and kissed her flews. "You really are, huh." Her tail went stiff at the gesture.

She huffed and glowered right at you. Your eyes were level with hers whenever she sat like this. "Of course I am! We all are! But I can't stand aside and watch you struggle until you ask for help." Her pink wings flared for a bit, nearly hitting your shoulder. "I just can't! I made a promise, Saunders, to always be with you, no matter what. I can take care of you. You know money isn't a problem for me."

"Naomi…"

Her muzzle turned doleful. The analyst took a step closer and, shuddering, held you to herself. Her wings wrapped themselves around you, as though protecting you from the harsh reality of life. "Just stay here and let me help. As long as we're together, we'll make it through all the challenges the future will throw at us."

A sad smile formed on your lips. "That's not the issue at all. It's just that, I need to do something. I need to rely on myself. It's what I've done all my life before I came to your world. I can't just stay here in my apartment and waste my life doing nothing. I'll go crazy!"

You and the dragoness sat down on the kitchen floor for minutes. Neither of you wanted to break the silence that had settled between you two. By the time she released you from her cocoon, it felt like the entire day had passed. Naomi firmly pressed her mouth against yours for one last moment, before pulling away. "You should've told me."

"I didn't want to worry you."

A poignant laugh nearly flew out of the sea dragon's mouth. "Ahhh, that compassion you have for others..." She shook her head in disbelief. "It's noble, even if it makes you do stupid things."

Naomi focused her tender eyes on you and sighed. "But it's also why I love you." She then licked your face in one fluid, upward sweep.

You sniffled and wiped her saliva off on her own skin. "Naomi?"

"I know the feeling, Saunders. What you're suffering now, it's what I went through when I was looking for work. If you stay on this path, you will end up neck-deep in the same place I did and start questioning your existence. I know it will be worse for you, being the only human on this entire planet."

"True," you concurred. "I, I can see the similarities, now that I remember your story." You tried not to dwell on the last thing she said. The thought threatened to demolish what remained of your composure.

"Yeah, and that's why, I'll make sure you don't fall into the same trap." It was a touching declaration. You felt a little skeptical, but in the end you decided to trust in her words the same way she trusted in yours.

"Sounds like you have an idea," you noted.

Naomi smiled. "Yes, and I know exactly what kind of job someone with your talents can do."

"What is it?"

"It's a secret," the dragoness said, if a little smug. "But don't worry, it's something that will take care of the holes I can't fill."

A forgotten memory of another timeline sparkled to life in your brain. Bryce hired you as one of the investigators in his team, putting you side by side with Naomi. Although the two of you over there didn't know each other the way you did in this timeline, it turned out to be a great decision on his part. The two of you made an excellent team, not to mention having the "legendary human" onboard made police work very interesting.

"You're not planning on going to Bryce and asking him to hire me, are you?" you guessed.

"Oh?" Naomi blinked and raised a paw to her mouth in complete, utter surprise. "Oh! OHHHH! I didn't think of THAT! Now that you mentioned it, you'd be a brilliant addition to our team." She began nodding to herself, and soon the dragoness became lively again. "Yeah… yeah! I'm sure things are going to work out the way I think it will. At this point, Bryce, Seb, and I have a firm grasp of your work ethics and your, investigative talents."

You found her mischievous grin suspicious. "We are NOT making a mess of that couch in your office."

Radiant, Naomi stuck her tongue out at you. "Your words, Saunders, not mine!" She snickered impishly for a bit until she calmed herself down and, to your surprise, shot you a stern look. "Tempting as it sounds, I never make compromises on my professionalism as a police officer. I will ensure you'll do the same."

And there was that cute smirk again. "Only while I'm on the clock, of course," she added. "Off-hours, though, you and I will have plenty of time for stress relief."

"Naomi, if I get this job, you realize we'll end up spending time with each other all day every day?"

"Exactly!" You found it impossible not to notice her excitement. Her entire body was shivering in delight. "Doesn't that sound great?"

You rolled your eyes and ignored the dreamy tone in her voice, opting to gawk at the clock instead. A few more minutes until noon. "Okay, Naomi, I think it's time for me to cook us some food. I'm starving."

Naomi's tail fell in front of you, obstructing your path to the fridge. "Don't you want to continue this lazy morning? We can save all that food for meat snacks tomorrow. How about… we have Adine come over here and deliver some fish and algae?"

You blanched at the idea. That special dish from the cafe you went to with Reza back in Day 1? Hell no! "There's this restaurant Anna told me about—

"Don't be silly. You're with a sea dragon. There's this seaside bistro I want to take you to—badly—but I'm not going there without you, and I promise you won't enjoy any of the food there until you develop a liking for Uncle Megun's fish."

It took a minute for you to acquiesce. She got you there, you said to yourself. You sighed, then landed a quick kiss on her nose. "I love you, Naomi. Thank you for, well, everything."

"Love you, too, Saunders. Always. Now, where's the phone? I have a call to make."

Author's notes:

And that's it! Probably the first and last entry I'll ever make for Angels with Scaly Wings.

I think I messed up Naomi's character. D: Made her a bit too aggressive maybe? I tried to cut down on it, but I felt that someone like her would lower her barriers towards the MC after everything they've been through in the game. I hope she came out right… (๑ʘ∆ʘ๑)

So, ECK, if you ever get to read this and you think I did badly… I'm sorry! I dun fucked up. DX

As for the romance shit… ehh I probably f*cked it up too. Bleh. Popping my romantic writing cherry sucks. Either way, feel free to give me your comments. Praise me, flame me… I don't care. Feedback is feedback! Just… PLEASE give me something constructive so I can AT LEAST put it to good use on my real story.