Hi! I'm Rhape Seuhans! And I'm a big fan of medieval stories, so I thought it would be fun to put YOI together with that Era. I hope you like the result. And remember to leave comments so I will know what you like or disliked about my work~!
Warnings: Viktuuri, Otayurio (background). Mention of blood and wounds, fluff, a little humor. Medieval times.
Yuuri Katsuki couldn't believe his eyes. He took off his spectacles for a moment and carved them, thinking that maybe he was very tired from his journey. He had been walking for three days in the direction of another town where he would begin his new work as Scribe. He had barely stopping to rest, to sleep or to eat the few portions he could carry. But no, he wasn't too tired to hallucinate.
His eyes weren't deceiving him... A dragon!
A real dragon was lying wounded on a floor of scorched grass. Its large body was severely damaged by cuts made by a sword. Even the membrane of its gigantic wings seemed to have been pierced by iron arrows to disable its flight.
It was still breathing. Yes, but painfully and slowly.
Yuuri held his breath for a moment, half frightened and half excited by his discover. He was aware that there were still dragons scattered throughout the world. However, they were few, since Kings ordered to hunt them to take possession of their treasures. And many knights, boasting about their nobility, murdered them and crafted weapons from their valuable scales. So, more than encountering a dragon, what really surprised him was the fact of seeing one who was still alive.
Looking at the surroundings, the dark-haired man could see the blood spreading. Blue blood of a dragon combined with red blood of human, which made Yuuri think that there were at least four or five knights who were after the dragon, and they might had been very wounded to finish it and decided to retire to return later for its scales. There were no signs of swords or broken armors to think that the dragon had eaten them.
Yuuri, beside the obviously terror of being before such a majestic and mythical creature, he felt sorry for it. Trying not to make too much noise, he stepped forward to have a better view of it. He knew he was committing a stupidity, but he remembered reading in some book that the dragons only attacked if they felt threatened or you try to steal their belongings, but that one looked very wounded to even move. In theory he was in no danger. And probably that experience would not be repeated again in his life and he didn't want to miss it.
The dragon was gigantic, maybe fifteen meters..., or perhaps a little less. From the angle where Yuuri was looking at the dragon, it was too imposing even with his ghostly appearance. His scales were white, but they had a beautiful and contrasting platinum glow. The blood of some of his wounds seemed already dry, sure to be shallow injuries, but in others they still dripping celestial threads. And a small portion of one of its thighs appeared to be scaleless. The knights must have ripped them off to prove their bravery.
In order to put an end to his curiosity, Yuuri approached to it head, feeling how its still hot breath had the strength enough to push him back a little, and with precaution, Yuuri extended a trembling hand to touch it. The dragon's skin was cold and hard, like a rock, but it had a soft touch, just like silk.
It was a really shame that such a beautiful creature had to die in such an agonizing way...
The dragon made a grunting sound and Yuuri stepped back. The dark-haired man looked up and noticed a pair of huge eyes as blue as sapphires looking directly at his owns browns. Yuuri felt a strong jolt all over his body. It wasn't just panic... He felt as if he were looking at a divinity; A strange mixture of respect, adoration, and terror buried in his chest. His head ordered him to run, but his legs didn't obey him. Although he would lie if he said that he had not been paralyzed just to keep staring at those shining orbs.
However, the seconds passed and the dragon did nothing but blink. It didn't move or give any indication that it was going to do it. It was as if Yuuri's presence didn't bother the dragon at all. Then Yuuri could see the loneliness and bitterness in its gaze, and he understood.
The dragon had surrendered. It was waiting patiently for the moment of its death.
That thought brought on a terrible affliction in his heart. Yuuri couldn't let the dragon die like that. It would be inhuman of him to leave it without even trying to help it. But it wasn't like he could do anything to calm the pain... Unless ... Among the things he carried in his backpack Yuuri was sure he had a bottle filled with medicine. It was a kind of elixir that was made in his hometown, because the herbs that were used in the mixture grew there naturally. The potion was neither magical nor miraculous, but it cured some non-lethal diseases and relieved pain. He didn't need it and he could surely buy more in the town he was going to, so he decided to give it to the dragon.
"He-hello ..." He mumbled with fear, without having stopped trembling, but the dragon still didn't react, it just looked at him expectantly. "I ... I want you to... take this." Yuuri showed the bottle. "It will take away the pain... Al least that's what I expect ... I don't really know if it works with dragons ..."
Oh, but what was he doing? Even if the dragon could understand human language, it surely would not trust in him, since it was the humans themselves who left him in such a pitiable state. However, to his surprise, the dragon open its jaws and stuck out its tongue. It took to the black-haired man only a few seconds to process what was happening, and then hurried to pour half the liquid over it's tongue and instinctively push his hand away in a hurry. The dragon swallowed the medicine.
Yuuri smiled and tears welled up in his eyes. But he cleaned them up at once, ashamed of himself. Who was suffering a painful death was not him but the dragon.
Seeing that the creature had no intentions of attacking him, he searched his luggage for a rag, but he only found an old garment that he knew he would never use again, so he used it to pour medicine into it.
Yuuri circled the dragon to get to his wounds, raising his hands in a submission way and letting know to the dragon he wouldn't hurt it. The dragon gently dropped its head to the grass, turning toward him, perhaps curious to see what the human would do next.
"S-sorry, this might be hurt a little." Yuuri warned before he laid the garment on one of the wounds and began to move his hand as gently as he could.
He went on like this with relative calm with each of the wounds while the dragon did not seem to mind that he touched it. Some of the wounds, however, were too deep and sometimes the dragon made weak moans of pain, but for the small ears of the human they sounded loud. Then Yuuri stopped for a moment, fearing of making the dragon suffer instead of thinking that it could attack him in revenge.
Then he reached the part where the scales were missing. The blood was still fresh and the smell was unbearable. Yuuri didn't have the stomach to continue.
So there was nothing more that Yuuri could do for the dragon. The sun was about to hide behind the trees and the wind went cold. The best thing he could do now is get back on track before the thieves started to fill the roads. After all, he need to arrive the town on the same day to report to his new job.
"I must go now..." Yuuri announced as he gathered his things. He approached the dragon and stroke his nose and lay his forehead on it. He was so tired that he didn't even realize when he stopped being afraid of it. "I hope you get better. But if not... I'm so sorry, some humans are very cruel." He said, and without looking back he continued on his way.
Yuuri managed to reach the town before midnight, giving to his superior the excuse that he had to take another way to avoid a group of thieves, so he had no problems of being late. He got a room in the Inn, dined and took a bath to remove the dirt and blood he could hide using gloves, which he also washed.
Even though the bed was comfortable enough, it took him quite a while to fall asleep. Yuuri still couldn't assimilate what had happened to him that day... A dragon. He had a meeting with a dragon! And he came out of alive!... Of course, that was because the dragon was dying instead... He sighed wearily and closed his eyes.
Yuuri did everything he could to keep the dragon from suffering. Now he only had to wait until it died in peace before the knights came back to finish the job. It would be difficult for anyone else to find the dragon in the thicket of the forest. He himself came upon it by accident as he pursued his gourd canteen that fell from a bridge to the river, which led him away from the main road.
The next day Yuuri couldn't stop thinking about the dragon. Although perhaps by that time it should have died already... or still dying. Because Yuuri's job was to copy texts he had no problems when his mind began to wander, he could even think of an excuse to get away from his co-workers who wanted to give him a little welcome party.
When he finished his shift, he rushed to a potion store to buy another elixir. He prepared his travel bag again, but this time without filling it too much. He only put inside some rags that he found in the Inn, the medicine, his gourd canteen, and some food.
Guided only by his memory, he sought the place where they meeting had been take part. It took Yuuri some time to recognize the exact path, since adrenaline and darkness of the day before made him dificult to remember references, but he managed to find the right path after several attempts.
And there it was again. The dragon ... His eyes were closed ... but he was breathing. And he looked quite calm. Yuuri even would have believed that it was another dragon if it wans't for the location of the wounds. The dark-haired man approached it again very cautiously, but stopped when the dragon looked up. His sapphire eyes looked different, with more life. Then he rested his head on the floor, not feeling alarmed of his presence.
Yuuri, still in fear, resumed his march. He didn't know if the day before he was safe because the creature was tired or not hungry, but now he seemed to have the energy to attack if something bothered it. He needed to be twice as careful if he didn't want to be the one who died. Yuuri shook his head, putting aside those dark thoughts, and smiled.
The dragon was alive and seemed stable, that was the really important thing.
He didn't know if it had been thanks to medicine, or perhaps the dragons had the ability to regenerate themselves, but Yuuri felt happy.
"I ... I'm glad you're okay." He remarked, and the dragon this time deigned to look at him. "I brought you more medicine. But... I don't know if you want to drink it again..." The dragon made a sound like a sigh, or so Yuuri believed. However, the white dragon stuck out its tongue and they repeated the process.
But now Yuuri used the gourd canteen to wet one of the rag and clean the blood as best he could, at least enough to make the scales glow a little. When the rag turned completely blue, he changed it for another. And when he had only one left, he used it to spread the elixir again. This time he dared to approach the area without scales, taking special care of the exposed skin, however, the dragon now did not seem to feel pain.
Before the day went dark Yuuri returned to the town, promising to the dragon that he would return the next day. And so he did.
During the following days, the dark-haired man continued to visited the dragon. He even brought with him some dried meat and fruits. He supposed that the dragon hadn't eaten anything, because it seemed like it hadn't moved from the same place yet. According to a book he found in the library where he worked, dragons could eat anything, even junk, but Yuuri thought it would be better to give it food in good condition.
Although he spent much of his evenings with the dragon, Yuuri wasn't sure what he was trying to achieve. It was obvious that he couldn't keep the dragon as a pet, his economy would not allow it; And obviously the creature was too huge to be noticed by the townspeople. Nor could he be sure of what the dragon would do once recovered. The only option he had was to take care of it and pray that it's wings would get better and it could fly away from the humans.
On a of those afternoon Yuuri was reading a book while leaning his back on one of the dragon's front legs. He wasn't sure, but he thought he could feel for several minutes the curious blue gaze on him, maybe the dragon was wondered what was that object in his hands.
"It's a book about dragons," Yuuri said, opening the book to show a specific page, which had illustrations of other dragons. "It says that exists several races of dragons, and that they are distinguished by their colors. Besides, their scales are as valuable as silver and gold, but you... " He turned the page and his face became serious. "You are a white dragon, a rare specimen even by the standards of your species. Your scales are worth the same or more than a diamonds... Is that why they attacked you?" He asked, unable to avoid the sad feeling when recalling his condition days ago. "Ah... I don't even know if you can understand me at all." He sighed, feeling surrender, but the dragon used his nose to tap his cheek, and Yuuri frighted a little. "You are saying that... can you understand me?" The dragon shook his head, as if it trying to say yes. "I see. It's good to know." Yuuri smiled and patted the dragon's head.
The dragon, pleased with that, pushed its face against Yuuri's body, just as a dog would, and Yuuri laughed because it tickled him. Apparently, they were becoming fond of eacht other.
"So, you're the one who's been caring Viktor." They heard a male voice and they turned back to where it came from.
The voice belonged to a boy with golden hair that fell to his shoulders, and his eyes were as green as emeralds. Yuuri was able to deduce that he was a teenager, perhaps fourteen or fifteen years old. In spite of being so young, his features were hard on his face, adding his frown furrowed in disdain.
After a moment, Yuuri panicked and instinctively wanted to protect the dragon by trying to hide it behind his outstretched arms, which was ridiculously useless because of its enormity. However, the dragon, which had been referred to as 'Viktor', did nothing to try to defend itself.