Title- Dragon Age
Summary-
Jou is an ex military soldier raising his blind younger sister catapulted back into adventure and danger at the whims of his old army buddy, Seto. Together they search for the allusive mythical Red Eyes, said to of been extinct for several years now.
Pairing- Prideshipping (Seto x Yami Yugi), seen through the eyes of Jounouchi :3
[AU story with characters based loosely on mythical creatures called Gargoyles (in this story they will be referred to as "Dragons")]
A/N: There's a link to what the "Dragon" characters essential look like on my profile page
Enjoy~!
"1000 years ago
Superstition and the sword ruled
It was time of darkness
It was a world of fear since
It was the age of Gargoyles." – Gargoyles Intro
The breeze blew through the woods, winding through the close knit tree groups like an agile snake, emerging into the barest of clearings where a small cabin situated itself in the shadowy heart of the surrounding forest. The walls of the cabin shivered as the breeze blew past to the occupants within.
The walls of the home held in the rage of a silent storm, the figures in the middle of the room stared each other down neither willing to bow down to the other. Others would find the atmosphere around these two stifling, even suffocating, but two young teens moved around with relative ease.
Shizuka was preparing her easel while Mokuba stood beside her tying up his hair. Neither took notice as the honey-eyed man gave a deep sigh and stood up. Mokuba rolled up his sleeves and took the offered smock from Shizuka, she in turn gathered up the paints they would need for a painting session. The brown eyed man watched both of them for a moment, his gaze following them to the front door, waiting patiently for his blind sister to be lead from the cabin before he finally turned attention back to his old friend.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
The fire star was rising
Air smelled of rain
Morning…safe…could finally relax
Stretch stiff limbs
Little One was stirring
Jounouchi watched the cabin behind him disappear from view as he followed Kaiba deeper into the forest. The idea of ditching him and returning to the safety of his home kept nagging at the back of his mind but he ignored it for the moment.
"So, you just thought you'd abandon the city and your company, trek to the untamed northern region, and engage in the stupidest wild goose chase I've ever heard of? Geez, talk about mid-life crisis, however early it may be."
"Will you kindly shut up." The azure eyed male barked. Kaiba was dressed similarly to how Jou remember him, not the businessman that he had become in later life but as the army dog Jou had met when they were younger. Baggy pants with a leather belt, the ends tucked into his laced up black boots and a brown muscle T-shirt, the ensemble comfortable and meant for easy travelling. It was like Jou was in his early 20's again seeing his friend like this.
"No, I'm annoyed, I wanna talk about it."
Kaiba shifted the heavy backpack more comfortably and peeked over his shoulder to the blonde who was once again, he noted, checking behind them for sight of the cabin. With a sigh he stopped where he stood to lean against a tree.
"Whatever it is you need to say to me, Katsuya, say it now before we go any further."
The use of his first name had Jou whipping his head back to the front with such force he heard his neck crick painfully. He paused to face Kaiba and took in his other man's stance; arms crossed, feet set firmly shoulder width apart, his whole body turned more north, in the direction they were heading, turning his back where they had come from. Kaiba was determined to find what he had informed Jounouchi he was searching for. What Jou couldn't understand was why?
"The Red Eyes is a myth, Seto!" he purposely used Kaiba's first name to convey how serious he was on this, "All dragons are captured, tamed, raised in captivity even. There are no wild ones left anymore. The last one caged before our time! Why are you so intent on this? You already have a dragon of your own, Kisara is a pretty cool pet. If you want another than just buy one from the breeders, I'm sure you're rich enough now for that."
"This is isn't about greed, Jou."
"You say that but it seems pretty selfish to me. What about Mokuba, huh?" Kaiba flinched and averted his eyes. Jounouchi knew it was a low blow but at this point he could care less. When their parents had died, from what Jou knew, Seto had shoved Mokuba onto a nanny and entered the army as way to avoid taking full responsibility. When Kaiba went on to become a CEO two years later, Jou had been proud, assuming his friend was finally taking the initiative needed to care for someone dependent on you.
"You abandoned your brother once, are you really gonna repeat that mistake?"
Kaiba bowed his head and mumbled, it only angered Jou further and he pushed his friend roughly against the tree he had been leaning on. "What excuse could possibly defend the decision to leave your own family behind?"
Seto's blue eyes pierced his friend with a hard stare, "I thought you of all people would understand, you raised your sister…you were forced to grow up too soon." It was Jou's mature nature (at least when it came to raising his sibling) that Seto had counted on when he entrusted Mokuba to with him, he had hoped that the honey-eyed man would understand.
"Yeah," the blonde growled hatefully, "and it appears you haven't grown up at all." Jounouchi gave Kaiba another good shove against the tree for good measure before stepping back.
"It was not my original intention to ask for you to accompany me on this journey," Kaiba stated as he brushed himself off, "Mokuba is older now, he can fend for himself, I just requested he be somewhere safe with someone I trusted."
"So dragging me along this stupid expedition was a last minute decision?"
Kaiba watched as Jounouchi pointedly glared at anything and everything around them. With a sigh he turned and started uphill once more, pushing through foliage and mud, heading north for the mountains.
"I am not dragging you into anything, my friend, if you did not want to leave then why have you come this far already?"
To that, Jou had no answer; he too knew that Mokuba and Shizuka were old enough to fend for themselves. The cabin was in a safe area where they would not be disturbed and they had access to plenty of the necessities. But just because they could survive without their older siblings didn't mean they should have to. Honestly, the reason he made it this far was because the one that really need watching was Kaiba himself. He grumbled at being tricked into this and marched forward to catch up with his friend, no longer shooting wary glances behind him.
Little One has purple eyes, pretty eyes
Little One smiles, he purrs
Little One wants to play, full of life, unafraid and innocent
Little One is precious…must be protected…mine
The two men marched on foot for weeks, cutting and maneuvering about the forest, their goal the Northern Mountains. During this time they barely spoke, they moved efficiently with barely any social interaction. They hunted their food and ate as the sun fell, they bathed the moment they stumbled across a river and then continued the rest of the trek up stream so they'd have a constant water source. In the mornings, they'd snack on the dried fruits kept in their packs, that alone having to sustain them until the evening meal.
When they set up camp each night, they would eat in silence, take shifts while sleeping, and otherwise only speak when necessary. Anything else would be considered pointless chatter. But they watch each other, they traced each other's every move almost paranoid, it felt more like camping with an enemy than a friend.
Jou took this time to consider why Kaiba felt the urge to go trekking through the mountains after something that everyone in their right mind knew was just a fairy tale. There were no wild dragons left, anyone who tell you so; it had shocked Jounouchi when Kaiba had prosented the quest to him. He thought the brunette was more practical than that, he would never have guessed that Kaiba would be one to indulge in the unreal so enthusiastically.
The blonde first accused the man to be abandoning his younger brother, it occurred to him that maybe it was just a desperate way of reclaiming his youth, shed the shackles of responsibility and experience freedom once again. Jounouchi was a little ashamed to realize that that too had been reason to why he followed Kaiba like a lost puppy. And Kaiba was the one leading.
Tracking large animal prints, reading the signs of the forest, every broken twig and fallen leaf. Kaiba was trying to build a map of nature, following leads and discarding them, they circled through the maze of forest for the first few weeks before they even reached the base of the mountain. Kaiba had memorized the hunting ground of his prey before finally taking on his role as predator. Jou was almost scared to realize how serious his friend was taking all this. Something that any sane person would brush off as the legend it was.
Kaiba was leading Jounouchi, but obsession was leading Kaiba.
Overlook Little One play, watch for threat, be on guard
Little One likes animals, talk to them
Small creatures are not dangerous he says…
Birds fly past, warning cries, afraid of commotion, flee from near by trees...
The air smells weird…new scent…
Coming this way
Little One!
After weeks of searching and finding nothing, both men were not entirely ready to actually see what was in front of them. They had climbed the rocky side of a cliff and then rounded the bend to a flat overhang, ready to set up camp for another night. Kaiba spotted it first and froze causing Jou to nearly crash into him. The weeks of silence turned out to be a good thing for when the blonde caught sight of the reptile looking child his first reaction was to yell out in surprise, his unused vocal chords protested and all that came out was a strangled choke.
The dragon was pale, with smooth skin and irony talons; its hair was a shock of red, black and gold, sticking up in odd angles. It couldn't have been more than a child, at this age he probably couldn't even fly, Kaiba was instantly on guard. A dragon this young wouldn't been able to survive on its own without a guardian. On pure instinct alone he grabbed Jou's arm and flung them sideways against the rock wall just as a large shadow swooped down on them.
Jou yelped when his head met with the rock, he rubbed the sore spot and looked back to see what had cause the sudden act of violence against him. Producing another strangled yelp was all Jounouchi could manage as his eyes fell on the creature before him.
The dragon was an adult male with cinnamon colored skin and the same shock of color disaster hair as the child, with unmistakable blood red eyes that challenged either man to make a move for what was his. The Red Eyes' tail lashed out madly, his gaze flickering between both of them, sizing up each threat before him. With a bit of a wobbled effort the dragon stood up from his crouch onto his hind legs and spread his wings wide in territorial warning.
'It was real,' Jou thought in amazement, 'the legends were true.' The Red Eyes stood before them both in all his wild glory: beautiful, prideful, and oh so very real. The blonde was speechless, or maybe the appropriate word was breathless, he just stared in wonder. It wasn't until Seto stood up as well did panic started to swell in Jou's chest. Wild meant dangerous, and his friend had just stood up taller than the shorter dragon, an animalistic sign of challenge and defiance.
"Are you crazy?" Jou hissed, his eyes locked on the creature that threaten to rip them to shreds. Seto seemed not to hear him, his whole world focused on the male before him. It was a stalemate that didn't last long, but to Jou it was the longest heart pounding moment of his life. Would he die here? What would his blind sister do without him? Or Mokuba? Would Seto's last memory be of this magnificently frightful animal? Was it worth it?
And just as quickly the moment ended, the dragon's tail wrapped around its younger charge, spread his wings taunt and then bounded off the cliff side to soar up into the sky. Jounouchi let out a shuddering breath of relief, he felt like a good decade of his life just got sapped from him. He glanced up at Kaiba to see how he was taking in this whole ordeal, he had just dared a wild dragon to do its worst and the dragon had backed down.
He had challenged the legendary Red Eyes and escaped with his life.
"You must be on cloud nine." Jou mumbled. If the blonde could barely move after just witnessing the event he couldn't understand how the brunette was still standing. The azure eyes followed the dragon's flight until the clouds obscured his view. Jou watched emotion flash in those blue eyes and he released that this trip had been much more then mere obsession.
Kaiba was beaming with pride, not in himself for finding proof that the myth of wild dragons were real, but pride the dragon race itself for surviving man's attempt to tame them all. He had seen it, deep in the eyes of the one he had faced.
"Wild dragons will roam the earth again someday." Seto said with confidence.
The dragon age would return.