A/N – This took SOOOOO long to write! I had so much trouble with the pirate scene that I ended up recruiting my best friend, DragonBlue, to help me write it! He is literally the best human ever and you need to go check out his AO3 page!
I hope you like this story though. I was listening to this song and knew I wanted to write a songfic for it with my favorite girls and I thought it would be cute if Maki the tsundere would be the one to have an imaginary friend.
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honahlee
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff
"Mommy, I'm bored." The three-year-old wined, tugging on her mother's dress. Her mother patted her daughters head, not even bothering to glance down at the young toddler, choosing to instead continue her conversation with the other adults in the room.
"Maki, mommy is busy right now. Why don't you go play in your room." Maki nodded her head solemnly, obediently walking up the stairs and heading to her room.
Maki always hated the parties her mommy and daddy threw. It was always filled with stuffy doctors and nurses from their hospital and there was never anyone to play with her because it was an adult only party and she didn't have any brothers or sisters to keep her company.
I wish I had a friend to play with. Maki thought sadly as she sat down on her bed. She grabbed a book off her shelf and flipped it open. She couldn't read yet, but she loved to look at the pictures, and the pictures in this book were always her favorite. They depicted a large green dragon playing on a beach with a bunch of pirates and kings surrounding him. The dragon in the pictures always looked so nice, even when he shot red flames at the mean pirates. Maki wished that dragons were real so she could play with him and be his friend.
"Hello," A voice said behind her. Maki turned around quickly and saw the head of a dragon smiling at her from outside her window. He looked just like the dragon in her storybook, with perfect green scales and ruby red eyes that looked so friendly and kind.
"You're from my book!" Maki said excitedly, running over to the window and giving the dragon a bright smile.
"I am. My name is Puff and I'm a magic dragon. What's your name?" Puff asked the girl.
"My name is Maki Nishikino, I'm three!" The toddler announced proudly. Suddenly Puff began to glow and shrunk down to a small enough size that allowed him to jump through her window.
"Well Maki, would you like to be my friend?" He asked her with a smile.
"Of course Puff!" Maki wrapped her arms around the dragons long neck and gave him a tight hug. For the rest of the evening, Maki and Puff played together in her room, with Maki showing Puff all her toys and Puff telling her all about the pirates that sailed by his cave.
Hours later, when Maki's mother showed up to put her to bed, she found the little girl fast asleep on her bed in her pretty party dress with her favorite dragon book clenched tightly to her chest.
Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff's gigantic tail
Noble kings and princes would bow whene'er they came
Pirate ships would lower their flag when Puff roared out his name
"Do you see them Maki?" Puff asked.
"Not yet, but I'll keep looking!" Maki told her friend. The seven-year-old was sitting on the end of Puffs tail and looking all around the beach to see if they could find the nasty pirates who had been attacking them recently. A moment later she saw the ships sail come into view from behind the trees and she jumped up. "PUFF THEY'RE COMING!"
"ARGH! Give us your treasure Puff!" The captain yelled ferociously as his goons jumped off the boat and swam to shore.
"Come on Puff, let's show these mean pirates not to take our treasure." Maki yelled bravely. She grabbed her toy wooden sword and charged toward the enemy. While Puff roared and smacked the pirates around with his tail, Maki fought three different pirates with her single wooden sword. She spun around like a top, blocking all their attacks just like Puff had taught her to do. It was true Maki had a few close calls but her training with Puff served her well now as she held up a strong stance against these bad guys. Of course, as hard as they tried no pirate seemed to even get close to Puff as he lashed his tail and spit out deep red flames. Maki could hear him behind her as he called out pointers and encouragement while fending off several pirates at the same time. As his goons fell one by one, the captain yelled out and charged toward the dragon with his weapon raised. Puff seemed to smirk as he stretched out one forclaw and swiftly snatched the sword away. Puff gripped the weapon between his claws and snapped it in two with a deep laugh. He cast the remnants at the captains feet. The captain looked around and saw that he was the last one standing. Maki had dealt with her foes as well and she now moved to stand beside her friend. Puff snaked his head over her shoulder.
"Good job Maki, I knew you could do it." Maki smiled, proud of the skills she just displayed. She turned her head to look at her best friend and let out a small laugh
"It's only cause you were here with me" She admitted. The dragon smiled and turned back toward the captain, who was still staring in shock at his broken weapon.
"Well captain, what would you say if I told you I wanted to...renegotiate our terms?"
The dragon allowed a small fire to flare in his eyes as he looked to the captain, smoke hissing from his mouth in a roiling stream. The captain looked to him then looked at Maki, who was standing with her hands on her hips and giving him a hard glare, and with a heavy sigh...simply nodded his head up and down in silence as if he were a marionette.
A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar
"Mom, I'm going to go outside for a little while," Maki called out to her mother as she slipped on her shoes and started opening the back door. The first year high school student couldn't wait to tell Puff all about her day and the new song µ's was working on. She also knew that the nasty pirates had come back since she could hear the cannon fire from her bedroom, so she had to go help her friend.
Maki had already ran halfway through her large backyard before her mom appeared in the doorway. "MAKI WAIT!" She heard her mom yell loudly, but to her the cannon fire was louder. A large smile grew on her face the closer she got to the lightly wooded area, a sight that was quite rare nowadays. Maki placed a hand on the trunk of one of the trees and looked around cautiously, trying to find the best way to sneak in and attack the pirates by surprise.
"MAKI-CHAN!" Maki immediately stiffened at Rin's familiar voice. She chose not to turn around, but the sound of feet running toward her got louder and louder.
"Maki, what are you doing?" Maki heard Eli ask. The redhead turned around and saw all her friends standing a few feet away from her.
"What do you mean? That's a stupid question to ask, anyone can see I'm…just…checking my trees! You know, to make sure they're healthy!" The redhead scoffed, looking down at her feet and twirling her hair around her finger awkwardly. She heard Puff's distant roar and she turned her head to look over her shoulder, trying to hide a concerned expression.
"You're checking your trees?" Nico asked with a raised eyebrow. Maki huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.
"What are you doing here anyway?" She asked sourly.
"Well, I need to go get some more material for our costumes for the next live and I was going to have Umi-chan and Honoka-chan help me. Honoka then asked Rin to come and to make a long story short we decided to just all go out and spend the afternoon together." Kotori smiled sweetly.
"You had already gone home for the day and you didn't pick up your phone, so we came by to see if you wanted to come." Eli added. "We're planning to pick out some fabric for the costumes first, then maybe go to the arcade for a bit before heading out to eat." Eli explained.
"Are you gonna come Maki-chan?" Hanayo asked.
Maki could hear the pirates shouting at Puff and she desperately wanted to go and help him like she always did. She had visited him every single day ever since she was 3 years old, there was no way she wouldn't visit him today. Looking around at her friends hopeful faces though, she found she didn't want to tell them no. If she went with them though, she didn't know what that would mean for Puff.
"Yea, I'll come," Maki felt the words come out of her mouth, but the words didn't register until she saw her friends faces light up. Maki turned around quickly and stared into the trees, a hard look on her face. She tried not to cry at the sound of Puffs roars and wondered how she could betray her lifelong friend so easily.
"What's their name?" A voice asked quietly beside her. Standing beside her, staring off into the trees with a calm expression, was Nozomi. Maki looked at her with surprise and disbelief while Nozomi simply smiled at the younger girl. "The one waiting for you." She clarified. A few weeks earlier Maki would've questioned Nozomi, accusing her of being ridiculous and stupid for asking such a thing. Now though, Maki was used the fact that purple haired girl seemed to simply know things about her friends, so she just let it be. The redhead let her gaze fall to the floor, her cheeks turning pink with embarrassment. She didn't want to tell Nozomi about Puff, but the way Nozomi was watching her with such a soft and maternal gaze made Maki feel safe enough to tell her.
"Puff." She whispered. "His name is Puff. He's a dragon."
"I'm sure you've told him all about us." Maki nodded at Nozomi's question, subconsciously noticing that the sounds of the fight between Puff and the pirates wasn't as loud as it had been a moment ago. The more she thought about her friends behind her, the less she heard from the forest in front of her. She had a feeling that if she went looking for the river where Puff would be, she wouldn't be able to find it.
"I'm not going to be able to visit him anymore am I?" It was more of a statement then a question, but Maki already knew the answer.
"You don't need him as much anymore, because now you have all of us. You have a group of friends now who you love spending time with and who love spending time with you in return. I'm sure that's something he's always wanted you to have. Just because you won't be seeing him anymore doesn't mean you have to forget him completely though. Think of it more as a, see you later, then a goodbye. After all, the ones who love us never really leave us." Nozomi placed a hand on Maki's shoulder and squeezed gently.
"Did you just quote Harry Potter?" Maki asked, causing Nozomi to chuckle.
"HEY ARE YOU TWO COMING?" Rin yelled out. The two girls turned around and saw their friends standing in the doorway of Maki's house waving the two girls over.
"Race you!" Nozomi smirked, taking off in a sprint.
"HEY WAIT FOR ME!" Maki yelled irritably, running after the older girl. As she ran toward her friends, the sounds of cannons and dragon roars became quieter. By the time she reached the house the only noise she heard was coming from her loud friends, arguing over what way they should go to get to Akiba.
Maki couldn't help but smile at her group of mismatched friends and wondered if Nozomi was right. Maybe she didn't need Puff anymore like she did as a young child, after all she had real, human, friends now.
"I'll see you again someday Puff, but right now I have friends to hang out with." Maki thought before walking into the house with her friends, leaving the magic forest and Puff behind.
His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane
Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave
So Puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave
"I'm scared, I don't wanna go in there." The young girl whispered, holding the sleeve of her sisters' jacket tightly. Her black hair was in a high ponytail and, her purple eyes were darting around, as if waiting for something to pop out and scare her.
"Don't be scared. Mama used to play in these trees all the time." The older girl comforted, pushing a piece of her red hair behind her ear.
"Are we really going to meet a dragon?" Her sister whispered. "What if he isn't nice?"
"He was Mama's best friend when she was our age, I'm sure he'll be nice! He looks just like the dragon in your favorite storybook that Mommy reads to us all the time. He lives right by the ocean in a small cave right on the beach." She grabbed her sisters hand and started walking into the mess of trees. The walked a short way before the smell of the ocean hit their noses and crash of waves echoed in their ears. The girls flashed each other a smile and ran further into the trees.
The girls ran onto the beach and watched in amazement as they came across a bright blue ocean that was crashing right onto the grass of the forest and off to the side in between two large trees was a small cave. The girls walked over quietly, peaking their head inside, unable to hold back a gasp when they saw a large, dark green dragon sitting next to a small fire. He looked just like the dragon in their storybook.
"Excuse me, are you Puff?" The older girl called out, pulling her sister by the arm into the cave. The dragon looked over in surprise and nodded his head slowly.
"I am" Puff nodded. "I can't see you well over there, come closer so I can see you better." The girls obeyed and walked over toward the dragon, allowing the glow of the small fire to hit them. When he saw the girls bright red hair his eyes widened "Wait, Maki?"
"No, Maki is my mother." The older girl shook her head. "My name is Sora and I'm five and this is my little sister Eriko, she's three."
"You're Maki's children?" The girls nodded at Puffs question and the dragon smiled. "How did you know where to find me?"
"Mama tells us stories about you." Eriko explained, still holding tightly to her sisters coat.
"Did she tell you about all our sword fights with the nasty pirates?" Puff asked. He always enjoyed reminiscing about the many fights he shared with Maki. He missed training with his best friend and showing her how to swing a sword and block attacks.
"Mama used to fight with a sword?" Sora's red eyes widened as Puff nodded his head.
"Your Mama was a great sword fighter. She would come out here and we would train everyday because we had to fight off the pirates that always try to steal my treasure," Puff explained.
"Can you teach us to fight with swords like you taught Mama?" Sora asked and Puff's heart soared.
"Of course I can!" He smiled. "Grab those swords there and follow me outside and we'll practice." The girls each grabbed an old wooden sword that had been laying in the corner of the cave and followed the dragon outside to begin their very first sword fighting lesson.
"Girls?" Maki called out with a frown, walking around the backyard hopelessly. It was nearly dinnertime and she needed the girls to come inside and wash up before dinner.
"Owe, good one Puff!" Maki's ears perked up at the familiar name. She looked over at the trees in the back corner of the yard and walked over silently. "No Eriko, we need to get this right before we challenge the pirates to a battle." Maki heard Sora say between heavy breaths. She peaked between the trees and saw her two daughters fighting against an invisible foe with the same wooden swords she used to play with years ago and although she couldn't see him anymore, she knew who her daughters were training with.
She smiled and instead of calling them over for dinner like she had originally planned, she turned around and walked back to the house without a word.
"Treat them well Puff. Take them on some amazing adventures for me." Maki whispered and, although she would never admit it out loud, she heard Puff roar in response.
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honahlee
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Forever&Always,
Kimmie