~2~

Unicorns, Fairies and Mermaid, Oh My!

Axel kept flying until the sun started to set knowing that it would be too cold for Roxas if he continued and that he was far enough away so that the dragon hunter wouldn't be able to catch them. He spotted a small clearing by a lake, circling around until his feet touched the ground as to not to stir the the blonde. His attempt was foiled when the human let out a small yawn and stretched forgetting he was still riding a dragon successfully causing him to fall off and hit the ground. The dragon couldn't help but laugh as he transformed into his 'human' form offering the boy on the ground a hand.

"What the?" the blonde groaned rubbing his head blinking at the dragon in front of him. He had thought it was all just a dream that was too good to be true, but here the dragon was, standing in front of him. That was unless he was still dreaming, but for some reason he doubted it.

"Sorry," the redhead apologized, "I didn't expect you to wake up."

"I thought you said you wouldn't let me fall off?" Roxas complained as he took the redhead's hand wincing when too much pressure was placed on his left ankle.

"I can only do so much," the dragon replied with a small shrug, "Now let's look at that ankle of yours." He helped the blonde to a boulder by the lake before taking off the boy's sock, shoe and makeshift cast revealing an extremely swollen ankle. His long fingers gently touched the blonde's skin feeling the bones shattered in multiply places. A frown found the redhead's face as he realized the ankle had been that way for at least a day and hadn't even been relieved of pressure during that time. With a sigh he broke one of his fingers so that a part of the bone stuck out then using one of his sharp nails to cut a sliver out of the bone the size of a ladybug.

"What are you doing?" Roxas asked in shock gently taking the dragon's injured hand into his own as his blue eyes looked around for the nearest stick.

"Dragon bones heal broken bones," Axel simply stated with a small smile, "Your ankle will be as good as new. I can't believe you don't know this when you've been living with a dragon hunter. It's the reasons that dragons have to hide now because every part of a dragon can heal anything."

"I didn't know there were dragons until I met you," the blonde said with a sigh. "And if you knew Marluxia was a dragon hunter, why did you help me?"

"Everything happens for a reason Roxie," the dragon smiled, "Now take you medicine so your ankle will be healed." He placed the small piece of bone in the blonde's hand.

"I can't eat this," Roxas complained holding it out to Axel, "It's gross."

"Roxie, eat it," Axel insisted pushing the blonde's hand back, "It's good for you. Besides you can't leave your ankle like that or do you want to limp for the rest of your life."

"No," replied the blonde with a heavy sigh as he looked down in defeat. He closed his eyes and popped the small piece of bone into his mouth like a piece of candy. "There, you happy now?" He growled with a frown as he crossed his arms glaring at the dragon.

"How's your ankle feel?" the redhead asked gently running one of his long fingers down the human's ankle that wasn't swollen any more. Roxas blinked as he tested moving his ankle around surprised to feel no pain or discomfort. It was completely healed just as the dragon had said it would be which was nothing less than amazing.

"How?" Roxas asked jumping off the rock to test out his left ankle and again there was no pain or discomfort.

"Weren't you listening?" Axel chuckled grabbing both of the blonde's wrist to bring his hands to his mouth. "How about another demonstration then?" He began to lick Roxas' hands to get rid of all the blisters that he thought were extremely painful for the human.

"What are you doing! ?" the human exclaimed pulling his saliva covered hands away from the redhead with his blue eye wide with shock. "That is disgusting!"

"Getting rid of your blisters," Axel smiled with a small shrug as he looked up into the darkening sky. "It's getting late. Are you hungry?" The grumbling noise that came from the blonde's stomach gave it away as he blushed embarrassed from the loud noise. The redhead couldn't help but laugh only causing the human's blush to deepen to give the redhead's hair a run for its money.

"I'll take that as a yes." the dragon laughed with a huge grin, "Wait right here and I'll be back with some food." He jumped into the air transforming into his dragon form and turning invisible so that he wouldn't draw attention to himself.

Roxas' blue eyes scanned the shadow covered clearing before landing on the lake's surface. There was something in the water, but due to the lack of light he couldn't tell what it was. The only thing he knew was that it was coming closer to him, sometimes disappearing under the water's surface before emerging again. As the object got closer he noticed a set of gleaming green eyes that seemed to be beckoning him into the water. Slowly he made his way into the water, eyes never leaving the mysterious green ones. He stopped when the water reached his waist as the green eyes came closer until they were an arm length away. The water moved up like a tentacle with the green eyes meeting blue at eye level before the water began to take the form a women with long wavy icy blue hair, skin a soft sky blue, and ears that were not ears at all, but fish fins.

The women raised her right arm, long dark blue nails brushed along Roxas' cheek before slender fingers cupped it as she moved a step closer. Her white lips parted slightly as they curled into a smile, pupils covering the green like a moonless night covering the forest in darkness. She took another step closer so that their noses almost touched, her left arm wrapping around the blonde's slender waist while her right curled around his neck, something else under the water twisted its way through his legs. Before Roxas could take another breath, the woman pulled him into the water, her strong arms and fish tail tightly wrapped around him tighter than a boa constrictor as they sank towards the shadowy depths of the lake. The blonde struggled to break free in vain as the lack of oxygen was causing his mind to darken. He looked back at the girl whose smile was full of shark like teeth, eyes black as the pits of hell, nails as sharp as her teeth and hair of jelly fish stingers that were numbing his body. Roxas felt darkness closing in, his body numb and his lungs filling with water. Even though he was close to dying, the only thing he could think of was Axel.

~0~

Axel flew through the night sky scanning the forest for a deer or wild boar to catch for dinner. As he was flying, he thought about the stories that his parents told him about the times when there were such things as dragon riders. Every year during the late spring early summer, a group of humans would enter into one of the dragon territories hoping to find a dragon that would accept them. It was extremely rare for a dragon to accept a human because once the dragon was committed to a human, they were both connected through magic that was even older than the eldest of dragons. Those selected where known as dragon riders and were meant to keep peace throughout the world. Both of Axel parents had a dragon rider at one point in time, but their humans had died when the dragon riders attempted to stop dragon hunters.

According to his parents, the moment they met the eyes of the human they were connected, a bond that could only be broken by death. He had asked them what it felt like, but they said it couldn't be described and he would know if he ever got the chance. Of course they told him that it would be too risky to try to find a rider with dragon hunters everywhere and dragons now having to live in hiding. They especially warned him about allowing a human to ride him because then he would be slave to that human, not a partner of a dragon rider.

He knew that his parents would be shooting fire out of their butts if they knew that he had let a human ride him, but there was something different about the blonde. When he had first met the human a strange feeling came over him that he couldn't explain. It was like he could feel the human's pain and it made him angry that someone would dare harm him even though they had just met. There was this connection.

A shiver made its way up Axel's spine causing him to stop. Something was wrong, and it wasn't because he was in danger, Roxas was. He didn't know how he could tell, but he could. Without a second thought, he turned around attempting to return to the human as quick as possible hoping he would make it in time.

When Axel arrived back at the lake Roxas was no where to be found, but something was pulling him towards the water. Being a fire dragon he tried to avoid water at all costs except to drink, however, there was this feeling deep in his gut that was telling him the blonde was down there. A soft growl escaped through his sharp teeth as he dove toward the lake in a perfect dive, transforming into his 'human' form right before hitting the surface. The force from the dive propelled him deep into the water where he spotted a mermaid about to have Roxas as its dinner.

Using the rest of the force from the dive he shot himself towards the mermaid nails extended and the feathers on his tail stiff and sharper than any human blade. He twisted his body around aiming his tail covered with razor sharp feathers towards the mermaid's weak point, where the fish tail and human torso meet in the back. However, it didn't connect due to the tangled mess of jellyfish tentacles wrapping around his tail preventing it to come any closer.

The mermaid turned towards her attacker letting out a loud screech that seemed to echo through the water. Her tail wrapped tighter around the unconscious blonde as she focused her top half to attack her new prey caught in her jellyfish tentacle hair. A toothy shark smile made it look as if her face was going to split in two as she pulled Axel closer.

Axel let out a growl as he twisted his tail around cutting the tentacles that held it causing the mermaid to let out a painful scream letting go of Roxas. He took the chance to grab Roxas only to feel the sharp pain of thousands of teeth tearing through his upper left arm as a thousand tentacles stung him everywhere they made contact leaving hair thin red marks wherever they touched him. Struggling to break free, he swung his tail as best he could at the mermaid's weak spot hoping her defenses were down and he'd be able to break free.

He felt the mermaid let go of his left arm as her eyes closed and she drifted into the dark waters towards the bottom of the lake. With what energy he had left he used his wings and legs to return to the surface with a firm grip on the unconscious blonde. When he reached the surface, he gasped for air continuing to make his way to the shore. He picked Roxas up when it was shallow enough and ran a safe distance away from the lake before setting him down gently. Taking in a breath of air, he plugged the human's nose and exhaled into his mouth knowing the warmth of a fire dragon's breath would help evaporate the water.

Roxas took a huge gasp of air before coughing up the remaining water in his lungs. He felt someone help him sit up so he wouldn't choke on the water again. Eventually his breathing became steady and he looked to his left to see Axel in his 'human' form with a worried expression.

"What happened?" Roxas asked trying to remember what happened after the redhead had left, but everything was just blank.

"You were almost a mermaid's dinner." Axel frowned helping the human stand up and hiding his injuries to his left side. He was thankful that the shadows from the trees mostly covered him and humans' poor eyesight at night.

"Mermaids?" the blonde blinked curiously trying to comprehend what he just learned. It had been less than a day and he just found out that dragons and mermaids were real, but mermaids eat people for dinner instead of dragons like in the stories he had heard.

"Come on," the dragon sighed, "We should find a cave so we can get dried off." He shook himself similar to a dog causing water to fly everywhere and the human to recoil with a frown. Afterwards, he held his left arm with his right hand attempting to stop the bleeding until he could stop the bleeding properly.

"Are you okay?" Roxas asked noticing how the redhead was holding his left arm.

"Why do you ask?" Axel replied with a questioning eyebrow hoping the human would just drop the topic.

"You're holding your left arm," the blonde admitted, but that was only half the reason why he had a feeling the dragon was injured. There was a small pain in his upper left arm, like a bruise forming from running into the end of a table. Axel glanced over to Roxas who was holding his upper left arm and looking down at the ground as if deep in thought.

"You're not hurt are you?" the redhead asked as he pulled up the human's sleeve without asking. He let out a deep breath when he noticed that there was just the slightest hints of a bruise forming on the blonde's left arm. He didn't know why, but that anger built up again at the thought of not being able to protect Roxas. Yes, he had managed to keep the human from being mermaid food, but he still got injured which made Axel's blood boil.

"I'm fine Axel," Roxas sighed as he pulled his arm away only to grab the dragon's injured one. The dragon winced from the pain and Roxas could feel the blood gushing out of the deep wound. "But you're not. We need to stop the bleeding and wash it out so it doesn't get infected. First, we are going to need to find someplace to sleep. Then we'll build up a fire and get water boiling somehow." He didn't know what he was going to use to bandage the dragon's wound up because all he had was his own tattered clothes that were all wet.

"I know where we can rest." Axel sighed as he pushed passed Roxas through the shadow covered forest. Roxas let out a sigh as he followed the dragon with much difficulty due to his lack of night vision. Eventually they came upon a large cave at the base of a mountain, from the looks of it, Roxas assumed that it was at one point a mine for precious jewels. He figured the miners must have abandoned it when there were no more jewels left.

"Okay, I am going to find some wood for a fire," the blonde said with a smile, "You wait here and try to get some rest. I'll be right back." Before he could run off into the forest a strong hand grabbed his arm.

"Don't be stupid," the dragon growled, "There are many dangerous creatures that come out at night. Creatures that you stupid humans think are just legends and aren't dangerous. I bet you think that unicorns and fairies are sweet innocent creatures too. Like mermaids?"

"But we need fire and hot water to clean your wound." Roxas argued trying to get the redhead to release his arm with a stubborn expression. "You were hurt because of me and I'm not going to let you get sick because I didn't clean your wound. Now let go of me!"

"It wasn't your fault!" Axel yelled causing the younger male to still. "I should have known not to leave you alone so close to it being dark." He looked down at the ground with a heavy sigh, "I'm sorry Roxas... you almost died because of my stupidity. I won't let that happen again. As your dragon, I am sworn to protect you. I'm sorry."

"My dragon?" the human blinked, "I don't understand." The dragon smiled slightly knowing that Roxas knew nothing of the laws of dragons and humans. However, he didn't mind if Roxas was his master and he was now sworn to listen to his every word, Roxas was different.

"When a human rides a dragon," the redhead explained, "whether the dragon allows it or not, that dragon bound to that human. They must protect and obey the human even if it costs them their life."

"Like a slave?" Roxas asked which was confirmed by a slight nod from Axel, "Then why?"

"There is something different about you," the dragon said with a small smile, "When we first met I felt this connection... I can't explain it...it just... it just felt right to let you ride me." He scratched the back of his head in frustration since there was no way to describe what he felt when they met. He didn't even know why he was telling the human about the laws of dragons and humans because he could of been pretty much free if he didn't open his big mouth. After all, everyone knew that he was a free spirit which is why he left in the first place to explore instead of just hiding out with the rest of the dragons he lived with.

"Thank you," the human smiled, "because of your choice I was saved."

"You're welcome..." Axel said with a sigh not knowing what else to say.

"But now you have gotten us off topic," Roxas frowned with his arms crossed. "And if you are my dragon, then it is my responsibility to protect you as well, yes? Now no more arguments, I will stay close to get some fire wood and hopefully find a stream or river to get some water."

"Don't worry about the fire," the dragon laughed, "I'm a fire dragon silly. Besides, I think I'll be fine until the morning. Then we can worry about patching up the wound I got when that stupid mermaid bit me."

"But it will get infected and it's still bleeding." the blonde complained not wanting Axel to hurt himself more. "And if what you say is true then you have to listen to me. I didn't want to be like this with you, but you've left me no choice."

"Fine, but we'll deal with my wound my way. Agree?" the redhead asked holding out his good hand. Roxas contemplated it for a second and figured that it would probably be best if they compromised. He knew that Axel would be stubborn and follow him, order or no order which would only make matters worse.

"Deal," the human agreed shaking the dragon's hand. "Now what do you have in mind?"

"Something that doesn't require you to leave the cave." Axel grinned as he transformed into his dragon form to pull off a small, but long stalactite from the top of the cave. He then blew some fire heating the tip before handing it to Roxas and laying down blowing a small flame to give them some light.

"The heat will kill anything that will cause an infection and will also seal the wound." The dragon said as he smirked at his idea being so brilliant, but simple at the same time. Roxas just shook his head before stopping the bleeding with the heated stalactite in his hand. It didn't take long to stop the bleeding and to his surprise Axel didn't react much. He figured it must be because Axel was a fire dragon so burns wouldn't hurt him much, at least that is what he hoped. He ended up ripping off his pant legs to wrap the wound, hoping it would help even though Axel request he didn't. In the end they came to the agreement that if Roxas wanted to bandage up the wound with his pant legs, then he would have to sleep next to Axel. He was a fire dragon so he was naturally warm which would keep Roxas warm as well.

Roxas let out a small yawn as he curled into the black and red dragon's side. The feathers curled around him protecting him from the cold while the dragon's wing hid him from the sight of any magical creatures that might be looking for a nice human snack. Most wouldn't dare challenge a dragon, but there were some of the bolder ones out to make a name for themselves. Either way, Axel didn't want to risk failing to protect the human again. Doing one last scan of the forest outside, he felt it was safe enough to fall asleep.


A/N: Sorry for the late update. I had school and then work was kicking my ass recently...and still currently is. . fml. So yes, the long awaited chapter 2! XD yay!

Please review and tell me what you think.

~Love ya