Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal
Title: Ring The Dinner Bell: Chapter 1: Dragon
Romance: Mizael x Vector
Word Count: chapter: 1,615||story: 1,615
Genre: Romance, Fantasy||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Diversity Challenge, section I, #12, a multichap with exactly 10 chapters; One Ship Boot Camp, Mizael x Vector, prompt #30, dinner
Notes: This is an AU with princes, magic, knights, dragons, flying horses, and other such things. But no dueling with cards.
Summary: Dragons devour virgins and keep princesses captive. At least, that's what the legends say, and when a dragon arrives in good Prince Vector's kingdom, the prince finds that his father knows a lot about legends. But maybe he can learn a little something about dragons?
Prince Vector studied the opening of the cave, looking for he knew not what. He knew who, or what, was supposed to be there, and he couldn't say that he looked forward to encountering the creature. No one sane would, so far as he knew. No one sane had.
He fidgeted, then froze, not wanting the clink of chains to sound. The guards who stood on each side of him, however, weren't so inclined to keep everything silent. One of them beat on his shield with all of his strength.
"Your tribute has arrived, great creature!" He shouted. Vector made a point of not rolling his eyes. So far as he knew, this 'tribute' was only his father's decision, guided by his advisors. The dragon itself hadn't ever indicated that it wanted any such thing.
Yet the virgins who'd been brought here before had all vanished, so something must have happened to them. No one had seen them, which had to mean they'd been devoured? Didn't it?
Vector didn't know. What he knew was that he stood here, arms stretched outward and chained to the rocks just outside the cave mouth.
From inside there came a noise as of someone moving. Someone, or something. Something very large. Vector steeled himself as the noise grew closer, and the guards didn't wait around. They backed off, one of them throwing the young prince a sympathetic look in the few moments before they fled out of sight.
Vector raised his head higher and stared once more at the cave. He refused to admit the thread of fear that wrapped around his spine even existed as the shadowy form within the cave grew clearer.
He couldn't really grasp how big the dragon was. While there were creatures larger, he'd never seen one himself, not in the flesh. Golden scales covered the beast from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail. Great wings arched from the back, and the talons gleamed bright and strong, easily capable of handling any number of enemies, as his father's armies had found out to their sorrow. The teeth were every bit as sharp as the talons and there were so many more of them.
What startled Vector most of all were the eyes, however. They were large and curious and distant all at the same time, and shone the bright blue of a summer's day.
Vector steeled himself. How many young virgins had stood where he did, waiting for this creature to shred them alive, to consume them in a few bites, and see what lay beyond in the afterlife? He could do no less than they did, facing his death with dignity.
Would the dragon roast him first? Or would he be eaten raw? Would his sacrifice be enough for the dragon to leave?
A long, low sigh interrupted his scattered thoughts and he stared at the dragon in confusion. Was it going to burn him now?
"Another one?" The voice was not what he'd expected, a cold and evil rasp if it spoke at all. Instead, the dragon sounded annoyed. "Are you going to start howling and yelling like the others did?"
Vector could only stare even more at that. "E..excuse me?" He shook his head, trying to get his thoughts sorted. No one had said anything about the dragon talking. No one had even asked it any questions.
"I said, are you going to start yelling?" The dragon stared down at him, the tip of its tail, just barely visible where it lurked in the shadows of the cave still, twitching as if in annoyance. "All of the rest of you ridiculous humans did that as soon as they saw me."
The prince shook his head again and swallowed, not yet having made any progress in thinking clearly. Being near the dragon and all of those teeth and that huge mouth made it all but impossible.
"No?" He hoped, anyway. It wasn't as if yelling would do any good. Maybe the dragon didn't like noisy food? He braced himself; the dragon would need to know who he was. "Dragon, I am Prince Vector, firstborn son of the king of this land. I've never lain with a woman or a man. I hope this makes me an acceptable sacrifice and you'll leave the rest of my people alone."
The dragon tilted its great head to the side, and if Vector faced a human, he would've sworn that this was done in confusion. "Excuse me?" No, human or not, that was very clearly confusion.
"I am a virgin prince, formerly heir to the throne until sent here. If that isn't acceptable to you, please let my father know what tribute would be." Vector kept his head up the whole time, still watching to make certain he knew when the final moment came. He would not cower and shy away. He was better than that.
Now the dragon leaned closer and it was all Vector could do to keep himself from flinching. He'd heard of dragonfear before but he'd never thought it would be so terrifying. This monster could make a single mouthful of him and never even notice it.
"You think I want a sacrifice?" The dragon's breath ghosted against his skin, hot but not scorching, enough to redden, but not to burn and Vector hissed anyway, pulling himself as far back as the chains would allow. "Is that what all of this has been about?"
Vector breathed hard, and all he could taste was the dragon's scent, like and not like a lizard, greater and far more terrible than anything he could've ever imagined before he looked into eyes so human and not human at the same time.
"Yes?" This wouldn't end well for someone. Though if it were him or someone else, the prince didn't know.
For a few moments the dragon remained still, and if it was thinking of eating Vector anyway, it didn't show on the reptilian features. Vector didn't dare to ask either. He hadn't made up his mind if he even wanted to know.
At last, the creature moved again, raising his head. "I think that we should speak, prince."
So he wouldn't be eaten. At least not yet. He couldn't put his trust in that he wouldn't be eaten at all quite yet. But for now he kept his head up, his eyes on those fair blue eyes.
"As you wish, sir dragon. This is your home." And his mother had always taught him to be polite to all, from the least of beings to the greatest, so long as they were in that person's home.
The dragon stared down at him, and a low, strange sound came from within. It took Vector a moment to realize that the dragon was laughing. He was about to ask why when the dragon's claws suddenly hovered above him. He tensed up, mouth open, but no sound came out until one claw rested on top of the rocks he was chained to.
"I don't think you can break the chains like that," he gasped, realizing all over again how much larger than he was the dragon was. How was he going to get out of this?
"You might be right. Just a moment." The dragon pulled the claw away. Vector focused his attention on the chains, wishing that some kind of key had been provided. What if a hero of some kind had appeared and slain the dragon? Would he still be doomed to be chained here?
There was an odd sort of hiss, but Vector still stared at the chains, wondering if there was any way that he could pick them or slide out of them. His thoughts skittered away in surprise as a slender, human hand rested upon his wrist without warning, and snapped the chain as easily as if it were made out of simple thread.
Vector jerked his head around and stared at the young man who stood in front of him. The outfit he wore was elegant, a mix of pure white linen and golden armor, and his hair fell down past his shoulders, as bright gold as the dragon's scales.
"Who are you?" Vector blinked again as he realized that the dragon wasn't anywhere to be seen now. The stranger reached over to crush the other chain before he said anything.
"You don't recognize me? I'm certain I still smell the same." His voice was faintly familiar. Vector rubbed his wrists absently; he'd had a very long day and his thinking processes weren't up their usual pace.
"Smell?"
This had to be a warrior of some kind. He carried a long sword by his side, and underneath his clothing, Vector could see strong muscles. The warrior gave him an amused look that reminded him strongly of... of the dragon?
"Are you..." He really felt he should've read more about dragons before this.
The smile reminded him even more of the dragon, though the teeth now weren't quite as sharp and there weren't as many of them, either. "You can call me Mizael. I'll stay like this for now. Perhaps you'll be able to speak more intelligently if you're not being awed by my true form."
Vector blinked a few times, then shook his head as hard as he could. "I think I should be offended by that."
"If you want to be you can be. Come along. I said we needed to talk and we do." Mizael strode toward the cave opening and Vector followed along, wondering in the very back of his mind if he'd already been eaten and this was some kind of unusual afterlife.
To Be Continued
