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 2: Discussion
Romance: Mizael x Vector
Word Count: chapter: 1,578||story: 3,193
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?
Vector didn't know what he'd expected inside of a dragon's cave. Treasure, of course, because everyone knew that dragons collected treasure. Perhaps the bones of past victims, human or otherwise? He hadn't ever given what a dragon might decorate with that much thought.
Now that he stood inside of one, he had to admit that he wished he had. As he'd never thought he would stand inside of one, perhaps his neglect in doing so wasn't unexpected. He took the chance to look around now that he could.
The walls were as rocky and uncomfortable as he would've imagined, but there wasn't a huge pile of gold or even treasure chests anywhere. There were a few bones which he did recognize as being cattle, not human, as well as some that he didn't recognize at all, which were much larger than human or cattle.
A faint scent permeated the area, something rich and inviting, but not one familiar to him either. He sniffed a little and glanced at his strange companion.
"What's that smell?" He hoped he wasn't being rude. It wasn't a good idea to offend one's host, especially when said host was in actuality a gigantic dragon perfectly capable of biting one's head off and hardly noticing such a thing had been done.
Mizael didn't seem offended, though. His lips turned into a smile, one that Vector thought should show far more teeth than it did. Maybe it was the 'actually being a dragon' part.
"Me. I've stayed here long enough so that the rocks are beginning to smell of me." He leaped onto one of the rocks, making a more comfortable perch than Vector would've thought was possible. "Now, someone thinks that I want virgin sacrifices?"
In all of his life, Vector hadn't ever thought that someone could say 'virgin sacrifices' and sound so actually offended by the words.
"And you don't?" Vector decided to feel his way carefully through this conversation.
Mizael gave him a look that could only have come from a being used to looking down on everything that it didn't actually eat, and most things that it did. "Why would I want them?"
Vector winced at that, just a little bit. He was a prince; he didn't want to give a bad impression of himself. "I've always heard that dragons eat virgins?" He really, really didn't want to find out that was true and all of Mizael's questions so far were meaningless.
v For a few moments, the shapechanged dragon only stared at him even more, and Vector had never in his life felt so incredibly small. Finally Mizael shook his head. "You saw my true size."
Vector nodded.
"Those virgins were being sent once a week. Do you think that if that were the only thing I ate, once a week, that I could get to that size?"
In all of his life, Vector had never blushed as deeply as he did now. He ducked his head and stared at the scattered pebbles on the floor of the cave. "That's just what everything we know about dragons have said."
"You clearly don't know enough about dragons," Mizael snorted. "Who arranged for these deliveries?"
Vector found himself wishing Mizael wouldn't call the sacrifices 'deliveries'. It made him think of food all over again, and if the dragon didn't want them, he didn't want to think about them like that.
"My father ordered the sages to research everything they could find about dragons, and that was what was found," Vector offered. "He showed us all the books and they all agreed."
That got another snort from Mizael, along with a faint trace of smoke from one nostril. "So why all of the others before you? Didn't they realize when I didn't eat the first one that I wasn't going to?"
Vector frowned, fingers clenching on the nearest rocks to him. "You didn't eat her?" But all of the sacrifices before him had been… had vanished, he reminded himself. "You said that they started yelling..."
"That's right," the dragon nodded, drumming his fingers lightly on his rocky perch. "They yelled and I left them be. They stopped yelling eventually and when I looked out again, they were gone. I could smell other humans around, so I assumed that they took them back home."
Vector slowly shook his head. "None of them ever came back." He would've known. His father would've told him.
Again smoke drifted from Mizael's nostrils. Given he was in human form, that really looked much stranger than it would have if he wasn't. But Vector knew better than to point this out. His mother had, after all, taught him manners.
"They expect me to eat you," Mizael said, his eyes now focused sharply on Vector. "If you return to your city, you may not have returned for long."
Vector blinked, then his own eyes narrowed as he put together what the other meant. Whoever removed the girls would likely find a way to remove him as well.
"Then we need to find out who is doing this and stop them." His father wouldn't like this at all. He was doing his best to protect his people, and someone was using it for their own purposes.
Mizael nodded ever so slightly. "They won't enter my lair, so you'll be safe in here." He smiled again and once more Vector could've sworn there were far more teeth visible than there should've been, and most of them were sharp and glittering. "I won't eat sacrifices, but intruders are a different tale altogether."
Vector decided that was a very good thing, too. He glanced around again. "How do we find out what's going on?"
"You'll have to stay here until I can find something to disguise you in."
"What do you mean, disguise me?" The question was out of Vector's mouth before he could restrain it. But he didn't want to pull it back; surely a dragon would be a lot harder to disguise than he was?
Mizael gave him another of those looks, until once more Vector wanted to bend his head and vanish into a puff of smoke. The dragon stood before him in full human form, and he wondered how he would disguise himself.
He did try to recover himself, though. "Well, you're still not very - " Vector struggled for the words, his cheeks heating up as he failed. "People are still going to notice you. You stand out. You're -attractive."
Which was probably the worst understatement he'd ever made in his entire life. Mizael was beautiful; no other word truly could describe him properly. His outfit was different from what most of Vector's people wore, but they could write that off to him being a foreigner. The point was, people would notice him, no matter what he wore.
Mizael only shrugged. "So? I look human enough to pass, and I can find what I need for you in your city."
Vector could tell that he wasn't going to get anywhere on this argument. "What else did you have in mind?" Maybe it would be best if they just figured out this mystery and went their separate ways. Being around the dragon clearly wasn't good for him.
"They expect me to eat you," Mizael repeated. "I will announce that I have and that the royal virgin was so delicious that I want another."
That got a mental groan from Vector. "There aren't any others. I'm an only child."
"So? I wouldn't eat any of them anyway." Mizael tapped one foot in impatience. "But once we see what happens when I do tell them that, we can make progress."
Vector considered that carefully. It wasn't the best plan, and he wasn't certain he liked it at all, even if it had been the best. Talking to his father would possibly be a little less risky, but that also brought up something he hadn't considered before.
The sages. They could be the ones doing this. Perhaps they need virgins for rites of their own? The sages and magicians weren't supposed to use magic that required such things but it wouldn't be the first time one of them chose the path of evil and blood sacrifice of the worst kind. They all remained close to the king, sheltering under his protection, which meant if Vector approached his father now, they would know about him being alive in short order.
"All right. We should probably get a disguise for me before you say that, though." It would give him the chance to slip into the city and be in a position to see the reactions of the sages when the word came.
Mizael nodded, jumping lightly to his feet. "Stay here."
Vector found a bit of a smile on his lips. "Where else would I go?" He tried not to think about how risky it was to even go back to the city now. If he were discovered, then whoever was behind this, be it the sages or not, would know sooner or later.
Mizael said nothing to that, but vanished out of sight in another breath. Vector watched the way he went, but saw no sign at all of him. He let out a long, deep sigh.
I hope he hurries. He wanted this taken care of as soon as possible. The idea of living in a dragon's uncomfortable lair for the rest of his life didn't appeal to the prince in the slightest.
To Be Continued
