"I desired dragons with a profound desire."

- J.R.R. Tolkien

~0~

"Hey. You know what would have been cool?"

For a moment, Cinder entertained the thought of pretending she'd fallen asleep to avoid a conversation. But she rolled over on her bed anyway - carefully, so as not to make her wounds start bleeding through the bandages again - and mouthed, What?

Mercury leaned back against her nightstand, uncrossing his legs and stretching them out on the dark carpeted floor. "Remember that big dragon Grimm you set free? Well, imagine we'd been able to get out of Beacon without anything going wrong - No, wait, come back!" he said quickly, when Cinder narrowed her eye and started to roll back over. "Listen, we could still do it."

Cinder paused, and raised her eyebrow. Do what?

"Okay, so, picture it," Mercury said, spreading his hands out in front of him as if pushing a curtain open. "The dragon. Us. We're all finished wrecking Vale, we've got to find a way back to home base, and we both know that it's a pain-in-the-ass long way to walk. Can't steal an airship, they're all gone. So what do we do? We hop on that dragon and fly out!" he declared. "I don't know if Emerald would like it very much, but the two of us could have a great time. You could get up on the head, and I'll hang out down between the wings or something, making sure Emmy doesn't throw up off the side too much. How about that?"

A smirk tugged at the corner of Cinder's mouth. She gestured for Mercury to move closer, and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "D...Dr-Dragon...st-stays...at B-Beacon."

"Oh, I know, I know," Mercury assured her, nodding. "We'll bring him back as soon as we're done. But listen, it's not just about having fun. You've got to assert your dominance, too! I mean, not that I've tested the theory myself, but do you really think that Mustache, Scorp, and Nutbuster could ever disrespect you again if you came back home riding a fucking dragon?!"

They'd find a way somehow. Even so, this image that Mercury was putting in her head...Cinder couldn't help but enjoy it immensely.

"It'll be so cool! We come soaring in, just slam down in front of all of them, and then the dragon roars in everyone's faces, and you're standing on top!" Mercury crowed, grinning proudly. "Nothing you couldn't make happen: that dragon liked you, didn't it?"

"Mm..."

Cinder leaned back against her pillows, looking up at the ceiling and thinking back to Beacon Tower. True, the memory was soured by the fact that everything had fallen apart mere minutes later. But despite that, those few moments still felt nice to remember. The dragon had flown right up to her, with a glow of intelligence in its many eyes that she had never seen in normal Grimm. It had looked at her as if it knew her, and she had spoken to it as if to an overwhelmed friend.

Shhh...This is your home now.

She wondered whether it would understand her now, with her weak voice, scarred face, and fear and uncertainty replacing her confidence. It was highly unlikely, but she decided to indulge herself with the idea that it would, that she'd be treated just the same. At the same time, she wondered how it would have been before. She closed her eye, let her imagination take over. For a moment that felt much longer, she could feel it: the night wind rushing through her long hair and whistling in her ears, the stars and shattered moon above her and the dragon's enormous horned head under her feet, her eyes wide open to the world and euphoria singing in her blood. Without her really thinking about it, a small smile made its way onto her face.

"Ah! There we go!" Mercury shouted, pointing it out. "I got you to smile!"

Cinder's eye flew open, the fantasy broken, and she looked down at Mercury in surprise. That's what this was all about?

Mercury's grin widened. "Haven't had anything to smile about since Beacon, have you? Once it won't hurt your throat to do it, I bet I can get you to laugh, too."

At first, Cinder simply stared. Then, she smirked, and leaned down to whisper, "B-Bet...you...can't."

"Oh, is that a challenge?" Mercury asked, quirking an eyebrow.

If you want it to be, Cinder thought. But instead of forcing another full sentence through her endlessly aching throat, she just nodded.

"Well, then," Mercury said, relaxing against the nightstand with a look of clear satisfaction on his face. "I'll see what I can do."

Cinder leaned forward and rested her chin on her undamaged fist. Will you, now?

"When we get back out there..." Mercury closed his eyes, and Cinder wondered briefly what was going through his head. He took one breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth. "You know, technically we won at Beacon, but we didn't exactly finish the job. I can't help but feel like too many of them got away without a scratch. And here we are, grounded in Grimmland, and you more messed up than any of them. Just doesn't feel right, does it?"

Cinder grumbled unintelligibly and flopped back against her pillows, rolling onto her side.

"See, I knew you'd agree," Mercury said. "Nothing to stress about, though."

"Hm?"

"Listen...I know it seems like everything's turned to absolute shit," he went on matter-of-factly. "You're pissed off at being stuck here, to be perfectly honest so am I, and I'm pretty sure Emmy's just one more freaky thing away from having an actual stroke. But, you know...This isn't forever." When the only response was a cross between a derisive snort and a grunt, he snickered, opening his eyes to look at his teammate. "I'm serious! The three of us, we're pretty good at surviving, even when the rest of the world just wants us to drop dead. Aren't we?"

He supposed the low hum was a better answer than nothing.

"You think about it a lot, don't you? What you're going to do to them all when Salem finally decides to let us loose again."

Cinder was silent, but she had gone completely still.

"I think about that a lot, too." The smile has faded from Mercury's face. "I don't care about much of anything, you know that. But still...I love a good fight, and I hate losing. Especially to stupid brats like those. I'm really going to enjoy it, when we get to hunt them all down. Finish what we started."

He felt like he should reach up to rub her shoulder or take her hand, or something comforting like that. But he settled for finishing his thought, instead. "That'll give you plenty to smile about, won't it?"

Cinder took a deep breath, and closed her eyes, remembering the scent of terror, the panicked screams, the racing of her own heart. The dragon's roar, shaking the sky and earth alike.

In a whisper so soft Mercury had to strain to hear, she said, "Y...Yes...It will."