A gentle light emitted from the bodies of all prisoners and vanished quickly.
"THE SEAL IS GONE!"
"GET TO THE DOCK!"
True. I can breathe fire now.
-8- Smite
The cell was cold and the meals were bland and tasteless. I had no blanket, no mattress, just a metal frame with a metal sheet to support me. There was no way this was real, just some bad nightmare. One of the guards threw a newspaper at me, showing my photo on the front page along with "MURDERER DEPORTED TO DRAGON LANDS."
"I'm an Equestrian citizen," I said with a cracked, weak voice. "I helped with Winter Wrap Up... I announced the Running of the Leaves."
The article slandered me repeatedly, bringing up all of my mistakes that were worth it such as my greedy growth after my birthday, or the fact that I 'kidnapped' a phoenix baby, or aligned myself with several younger dragons that made trouble in Equestria during the Great Dragon Migration. I guess that was all it took to turn the public against me.
It took photos and an impostor as well as science to turn my friends and hometown against me. And it took the realization that even if it wasn't true, I would turn into a monster to turn my mother and lover against me. A cold slap to my ego and heart, trapping me in the prison of agony and pain. I kept denying it and repeating that it's wrong, and Celestia would back me up, pulling me out of this cell. Maybe keeping me in hiding, right?
A clanging on the door snapped me out of my thoughts, the small window being slid open. A guard's menacing face showed itself.
"Dragon, you have a couple visitors," he said with a deep voice.
"O-okay," I said, gulping the fear down enough to speak.
The little window door was slammed shut and a click sounded, the heavy door to the room opening. Bars still kept me from going anywhere near the door, yet I already stopped trying to claw my way out. I figured that after a few days, I'd be told that I'm being taken out and put into hiding for a while until Celestia could give Equestria the news that the impostor was found. Twilight, Rarity and the others all pooled in, six mares and one dragon in the same room. It sounds alien to call myself a friend to them, but it's all I have. Benches around the room were moved as if Twilight had an OCD regarding them and each pony sat down, refusing to look at me. Uncomfortable silence took over until Twilight tilted her head to the side, her eyes looking at me.
I chuckled, snorting and shaking my head. "I figured you of all ponies would have spoken up, given you usually have a full speech prepared for situations," I said, turning my back to them, leaning my back against the bars. Hanging my head down, I looked at my lap with sadness.
"Spike... for the first time in my life, I don't know what to say, nor do I know what to do. I feel like I failed as a mother," Twilight said slowly, quietly.
I stood up quickly, spinning around and grabbing the bars with both hands. "No, of course not! You've done nothing but good for me, and for Ponyville," I said with a sense of urgency. I sunk down to my knees, my grip on the bars loose. "I'm... I failed to convince everypony it wasn't me. No matter how sad I act, none of you will believe me."
Applejack's head tilted up and stared right at me rather than a little glance. "Spike, it's jus'... Ah'm not sure any o' us know what t' think. N... none o' us want to think that sweet lil' Spike coul' be a cold-blooded killer, but th' evidence, the photos and magical signature stuff—" She turned away before hanging her head, basically whispering the rest. "Ah can't... trust ya at the moment."
My grip on the bars tightened, blood rushing into my arms as I felt a pinch in my throat, holding back any retort I could have. Rainbow coughed, bringing several eyes to her.
"Spike, I'm really freaked out myself. I mean, I don't want to think so, but there's nothing saying you aren't this—" Rainbow muttered several words, trying to find an alternative before sighing. "This killer. I mean, this could be a really good act on your end for sympathy or to try to trick us, or maybe you are telling the truth, but—" She stopped again, this time groaning. "Darn it, I'm sorry, Spike. I just can't think right now. Just," she paused, shuffling off the stool and walking towards the cell, "if you really are innocent, just stay strong while you're at this Castle Bahamut. Maybe we'll sort this out within the first three days, or maybe you wind up proving to the Warden that you're changed within the first week, but you can't be like us." She sniffled, causing me to look up from the floor. Her eyes were tear-stained and she was starting to lose her composure. "Only you know the truth and if nobody believes you, stay strong and they'll believe you over time. Please, please don't let us believe you're a killer."
Anger started to well up, and I found myself holding back a growl. I still barred my teeth and I had a twisted gaze upon facing Rainbow Dash. She stepped back away from the bars as I rose to a full stand, and I swore I could have broken the bars.
"Don't let you believe!? I DON'T CONTROL YOUR BELIEFS!" I shouted, causing everyone in the room to flinch. Tears were going down my own eyes now and I didn't bother trying to look tough. All eyes were sympathetic or scared or confused, and they were all aimed at me. "I don't control whether or not you like potatoes, or if you like triple chocolate ice cream! I don't control anything about you, so how am I supposed to control my image of you!? How am I supposed to stay strong when all of Equestria wants me gone?" I gulped, feeling some snot welling up in my nostrils. "H-how am I, a b-baby dragon, s-supposed t-to stay strong in a p-prison when my own mother c-can't even reassure me that everything w-will be okay?"
Rarity stood up, walking towards me as we both shared the teary expression, the difference being rage. "Spike—"
I pulled my hands back, slamming them against the bars. "DON'T! YOU SAID YOU LOVED ME! But no, you can't now, can you!?" I shouted. Her eyes widened, Rarity shaking her head with denial as her legs trembled. "How about your image now, huh? Can't be with a dragon. Can't be with a murderer. You gonna dump me? You going to lie to me again? That it's gonna be alright? No, you can't. One day, I'll be in prison, getting my ass kicked for petty reasons while you'll probably be screwing some pony you found in your depression because you're such a shallow bitch, 'Oh Spike, I love you, oh Spike, you've always been there for me!'" I spit a small ball of fire at Rarity, not singing her. It hurt me so badly to say this. It hurt me so badly to look at any of them or treat them bad. I love them, but they don't love me. "Take your sorry speech and shove it up your hoity toity snout, Rarity, because I don't give a damn."
With that, I turned around, leaned against the bars, and slid down onto my behind. I wiped away the tears, huffing from the anger that welled up in such a small time frame. Without any warning, two hooves slid under my arms and wrapped themselves around my torso. They pulled me into a tight squeeze; even against the metals bars, I felt its warmth.
Like a foal admitting a wrong doing, Rarity whispered ever so quietly. "I love you, Spike."
Just like that, the anger vanished yet I did my best to hold onto it, just so I can let them know how much this is ruining me. Another set of hooves wrapped around me, this time setting themselves on my belly.
"I love you, Spike," Twilight's voice said.
My arms were trembling and they started moving by themselves. And again, more sets of hooves wrapped around my body until all six girls were holding me. Each told me the same thing...
"I love you, Spike."
I broke down once more, no anger present in my body. Just the child inside of me letting out his last tears before the adult has to step in for good.
[*][*][*]
"Jeez, I need an adult," I said with dull surprise.
A roar from the mighty dragon was all it took to cement its dominance over the entire prison. Unfortunately, this is a prison. As in none of us are likely to listen to authority. Being reckless, a majority of the dragons decided to hurl themselves towards Bahamut, some of them with wings taking off into the sky and were clawing at his body. Bahamut had a low rumble escape his mouth, leaning his head forward and snapping his jaw on several of them. The large dragon easily tore through the airborne drakes, causing those on the ground to freeze up.
"Ce-Celtok... what is...?" Gelid asked, shell-shocked.
Haruo immediately jumped up and ran over to Gelid and also grabbed my arm. "We have to get out of here, let's go!" he said, yanking us back into the library. Gelid didn't budge, her eyes locked on Bahamut. Haruo groaned and turned around, letting go of her arm. He slapped her face, finally causing her to snap out of it and face us.
"Gelid, get your shit together, we can't stay here," I shouted.
She nodded her head dumbly and Haruo yanked her arm again, this time she followed. All three of us entered just as a huge bang sounded from the courtyard, the ground shaking and several dragon's screams stopping half way. None of this was registering other than the fact that it was dangerous.
"Wait, why are we going back into the prison!?" I asked.
"Run, hide, wait for reinforcements," Haruo said with haste.
We tripped down the stairs, rolling down the bottom and into the library, just as the roof of the stairwell crumbled from some impact. Several stone and debris landed on our legs but none of us complained. Dust filled the library as the large wall crumbled, revealing the library to the courtyard. No longer was there a riot, just everyone attacking or fleeing for their life. Struggling to stand up, I was yanked to my feet as Haruo had already forced himself up along with Gelid.
"Head towards the cell blocks, let out anyone who isn't out," Haruo shouted.
"What about solitary!?" I asked, darting down the hallway.
"They're safe, or were, so I'll go. GELID, FOLLOW HIM!" Haruo shouted, running into a different hallway.
I had no idea where to go from here so Gelid ran by, grabbing my arm and yanking me alongside her. Once more, the dank smell of cobblestone and a permanently overcast area seeped in, with the bonus of a very faint scent of blood. We didn't get far before realizing we don't have freedom at all. Several other inmates were following us, running from the chaos only for a massive claw to slam down on the hallway, most likely ending their lives. Only ten feet behind us, a sense of urgency took over and Gelid and I broke out into our fastest speed, fuelled by adrenaline. The roaring and shouts heard from inmates and prisoners was loud, indicating they were very close. In complete contrast, one roar from Bahamut made the residents of the island sound like mice.
Several twists and turns later and I was completely lost. All of my time here was mostly in solitary, so I never managed to learn the layout of the prison. We turned one corner and I finally saw the cell block ahead. Shouts and roars could be heard in here faintly, until Bahamut roared. That sounded like an explosion going off next to your ear, so no doubt everyone was awake. As I ran into the cell block, Gelid yanked on my arm, causing me to stop.
"We need the keys first!" she shouted.
Groaning, we backtracked several feet and took a turn into a small hallway, seeing one of the guard rooms. A heavy door was, thankfully, unlocked, and we entered, grabbed the key, and left. I broke the ring and slid half the keys off, throwing them to Gelid.
"Just see what works," I shouted.
She didn't respond as we ran into the cell blocks, splitting up. Visibly, there were at least thirty dragons still in the block, each clawing at the bars or trying to break them.
"Hey dude, what's going on!?" an older dragon asked me as I fumbled with the keys.
"Dragon God Bahamut was accidentally revived by Lockdown. Warden is dead, inmates and guards are getting slaughtered, full panic," I spat out. I jammed a key into the hole, twisted it, and it opened up.
He didn't waste any time as the door opened, dashing out and running for the exit. A loud roar sounding very close made us all look upwards to the ceiling and as if on cue, an impact shattered the roof of the prison. Stone and brick fell down causing Gelid and I to temporarily retreat into a cell as it passed. Bahamut's massive form loomed over head and he stared into the room.
Acting quickly, Gelid and I practically ran by each cell, jamming the identical keys into the holes for the inmates to unlock themselves. Rather than running off like the first one, they began helping each other out.
"A jailbreak; what has my species become? Why has my holy island become the housing grounds of such scum?" Bahamut said with a low, menacing voice.
I stopped trying and just threw the keys at the other cells and it seems Gelid and I had the same idea. She reached the end of the hall and ran across the balcony. We almost ran into each other upon reaching the stairwell and darted up it, continuing our mad dash.
"Dock! Get to the docks! Escape the island!" I shouted to Gelid.
"Spike, I can fly, just get on my back when we leave," Gelid shouted.
The whole hallway shook and the ground beneath us became unstable. Looking out one of the small windows in the cobblestone wall, Bahamut was standing in the bay yet still reached the prison itself. He had smashed the wall below us, causing the dragons in the lower halls to fall into the bay. The ground beneath Gelid and I started to crack and we both started running our top speed once more. We cleared the hallway just as the rest of the wall came tumbling down. This side of the prison was completely destroyed now.
"Gelid, we can't fly, Bahamut will take us down!" I shouted.
The area of the castle we were in once again shook, this time the whole room shifted; part of it tilted to one side indicating it was either collapsing or falling over. We both were thrown against the wall as it shifted and felt gravity pulling us backward. The ceiling seemed to crumble as it did and Gelid grabbed my wrist. Flapping her wings, she started flying straight up, miraculously missing the heavy rock and cobblestone raining down on us. I had my eyes clenched shut and gripped her arms as hard as I could. Whether it bugged Gelid or not, I didn't know. Flying up, she continued dragging me through the air down the hallway as the walls started breaking apart. Finally having enough, we came to an area of the prison with larger windows and she yanked me through it, bumping my ankles in the process. Rather than go straight up, she seemed to heed my warning and stayed close to the wall, zipping towards the front of the prison.
We landed on one of the large walls surrounding the courtyard and turned back to see the part of the prison we left. The whole side collapsed into the sea and Bahamut was already in the sky. He landed on the wall looking down on the front of the prison. Several of the guards were launching fireballs at Bahamut, some of them massive, especially when placed against the dragon that I stumbled upon when Owoloysius came into the picture. Bahamut withstood it with ease and took a deep breath. All of the inmates fled the courtyards at this point, wailing on the door and hitting it with all their strength. Several other dragons had flown up and were manually opening the gate. By the time the gates opened and inmates were flooding out of the prison, Bahamut spat a great ball of white fire that was almost blinding to the eyes. I closed my eyes and turned away from the flames, only to hear screams and shouts of the guards. A dragon landed next to us and Gelid and I got into position, ready to attack only to find that it was Haruo. The light faded from the courtyard and we all looked down to see several of the guards on flames, others completely roasted.
"Heh, I never thought the day would come where I'd see us fire proof dragons burning to death. Can you imagine how hot that must have been?" Haruo said, chuckling with a solemn look on his face.
I slapped his shoulder along with Gelid. "The brightness was enough, now cut the shit, we have to go!"
He shrugged his shoulders and we both started running down the right wall of the courtyard. Emulating my tactic, I jumped off the roof first, once again impacting the tree. The pain was minimal compared to last time, or the adrenaline was just streaming throughout my body. Haruo and Gelid followed suit, both of them shaking it off the same as I did and we joined the herd of dragons running towards the docks. Down and down the large steps we ran; upon reaching the docks, several of the inmates had already ran onto the boats and were trying to push-off. It seems all those with wings had already found out that flying is a bad idea, so we all wound up flocking towards the boats.
The boats themselves weren't cheap and made of wood, rather opting for metal ships crafted as if they were for diving. Each of the ships here could carry us all, but they weren't being operated by the proper dragons.
Before Gelid, Haruo and I made it anywhere near the docks themselves, a massive white fireball impacted the ships. Each were hit by the hot flames and each engine wound up exploding, sending metal shrapnel as well as various other things such as chairs all over. Gelid, Haruo, many other dragons and myself were thrown back from the force. Us three slammed into a rock and I found myself almost completely limp, probably from shock. My eyes had forced themselves closed from the lights and I opened them up, seeing a plethora of smoke and inmates flying above. I pulled myself up into a sitting position, any ability to move fast gone. It was as if I just woke up and was too lazy to get out of bed; dazed and unable to move. I looked to my right to see Gelid face down on the ground, lying still while Haruo was constantly turning his head, his hands on his ears as his eyes were blinking. It seemed he was temporary blinding. His mouth was moving yet I heard nothing, a strong buzzing sounding in my ears. After a few seconds, I started hearing shouts as well as Haruo shouting.
"SPIKE, IS GELID OKAY!? I CAN'T SEE, I CAN'T HEAR!" he was shouting, smacking himself in the head.
Drowsily, I leaned over and poked Gelid's head, giggling as I did so. "'ey girl, c'mon, wake up sleepy head," I said with a dull, almost drunken voice.
Gelid's body shifted and I tuned into the situation, my senses coming back full strength. My eyes widened and my whole body shifted. I leaned over Gelid's body, grabbing her shoulder and rolling her back onto my lap. Cradling her head in my arms, I slapped her cheek lightly.
"Gelid, wake up, wake up!" I urgently spat out.
An arm reached over her body, grabbing her left arm and yanking her up. Haruo hoisted her up onto his back and held her in a piggy back position and he looked down at me, squinting his eyes.
"High-tail it, Spike, don't go back to the prison. Head to the flower field on the right," Haruo shouted, his joking tone completely gone.
I didn't object regardless of the question I had and started running along with the others. I was like every other dragon on this island right now; without hope. Lockdown is dead, the guards are dead, all ways to escape are completely gone, and the Dragon God is having a rampage. Is this what Lockdown was talking about? A dragon rage from agony? Or is Bahamut just mad?
Haruo, Gelid and I proceeded towards the flower field yet he never stopped running. Following suit, we passed the field and came to the edge of the cliff. We peeked over the edge, spotting a groove in the rock. Nodding, Haruo slid off the edge with a claw holding him up, the other on Gelid. He motioned for me to do the same and I nodded, following suit. He dropped down, his claw latching onto the ledge of the groove. Upon doing the same, I discovered that it wasn't a groove but a legitimate tunnel. We both ran into the cave until it was hard to see. Haruo then grabbed my wrist and yanked me, seemingly knowing where he was going. I simply trusted him, allowing him to lead me. We wound up hitting a metal door to which Haruo opened, revealing the bottom of the Warden's Tower. Thankfully, torches lit up the maroon brick down here so we had some light.
"Alright, we need a plan of attack. This island won't last if Bahamut is set on destroying us, which is very likely. He sees us as scum, defiling his 'holy land', so he's most likely going to wipe us all out," Haruo said, gently setting Gelid onto the ground.
"So, what? Are we supposed to fight him?" I asked, leaning against the wall.
He shook his head. "No, that's just dumb. At least by ourselves. At the very least, we could do something to hold him off until help arrives, or we could think of a plan," he said.
"None of us are anywhere near big enough to fight him, and he's fully grown," I responded, sliding to the ground.
"No." Glancing up at him, Haruo's face was void of his usually goofy self. He looked at me, not even giving me a reassuring smile. "Bahamut took the kids body, implementing himself in it. He didn't age it. The size of the very ship that carried us is the size he was at your age. Bahamut is genetically greater than any living dragon," he said.
I felt any hope I had die out at that moment. Shaking my head with disbelief, my arms drooped down and I hung my head. Silence took over with the quiet roars and screams acting as background noise. Now and then, the ground would shake and the whole tower rumbled, dust coming off the stairs. I remembered something Twilight told me and my hopes started to reignite.
"No, we have a chance," I said.
Haruo's face turned to me with complete doubt written over his face. "A chance. Right. I'm actually Bahamut's son, so I'm gonna become Godzilla and take him down. Sure. You have fun with your fantasies."
I stood up, approaching him. "No, I'm serious. We have a chance. Lockdown said he needed magic from dragons and it typically killed them, right?" He nodded. "That's true for Unicorn's, remove their magic, and they die. Same for Pegasi and Earth Ponies. But if you take some magic, like, say, half, they get a little tired."
"Get to the point."
"I don't feel tired. I feel great. I feel absolutely amazing, and that's the thing; I'm still full of magic, more than what Bahamut has," I said, feeling sincere hope.
"You don't have shit for training, so even if you have more, you can't use it," Haruo responded, starting to try and wake Gelid up.
"At birth, my mother infused the magic into me, and only a little of it caused me to grow to monstrous sizes. And by that, I mean grew to be someone the size of Bahamut. I have a well of untapped magic, I just have to try and force it out." I stopped, looking up. "We need to go to the Warden's office, I need a pen and paper!"
"Dammit, fine," Haruo said, hoisting Gelid up once more.
Without wasting time, we both started the long climb up the stairs. Two minutes later, we reached the door leading into the Guards area and continued our climb. It was dangerous, what with Bahamut rampaging, but we had to keep climbing up the death trap. The fear of the whole tower going down was fresh in our minds so we never once slowed down, even thought we started to finally feel exhausted as our adrenaline died out. Through sheer willpower, we reached the top and came upon the room before the lookout. A modest office with exactly what I need on Lockdown's desk. I ran over, grabbing the sheet of paper as well as a pen and immediately began writing.
"What're you doing?" Haruo asked, setting Gelid down on a chair.
"One... sec... Haruo," I said, finishing off the letter.
"'Celestia, shit is going down. Bahamut resurrected, need help. Wrongfully-convicted (you fuck), Spike'," I said, reading off the letter.
"You're just gonna up and insult your princess like that?" Haruo asked, chuckling.
"She's lucky I don't go up and give her a real reason to imprison me when I escape this place. Same goes for the rest of that Ponyville lot," I said, snarling as I blew fire over the letter.
Haruo watched the letter vanish and leave in the direction of Equestria before facing me again. "You should stop, that's the anger talking."
"NO, you don't GET IT!" I responded. "I HAVE to get angry. I HAVE to be enraged. Anger is more useful than despair in a situation like this."
I turned to the window and looked down on the courtyard. Bahamut sat there, a large number of prisoners still attacking even if it's a lost cause. I don't blame them. I'm in the same situation, trying to use a hair to motivate myself, tricking myself into believing that we have a chance at living.
"This has to be it... listen to me, this is our last chance. If this doesn't work, we're a lost cause. I need to access that well of magic, and the closest thing I have to magic is my flame breath," I said, feeling nervous sweats coming off my scalp.
"So what you're saying is you need to exhaust your flame breath until you're forced to rely on the Unicorn magic?" Haruo asked. I nodded in response. "That could kill you."
I pointed down at Bahamut. "No, THAT thing can kill me. This tactic SHOULD kill me." I slammed both fists down on the sill of the window. "Times like this are why desperation attacks were made, except this is more of a gamble."
"Gamblin' is stupid," Gelid's voice said.
I turned around just as Haruo looked down. Gelid was slowly sitting up, rubbing her scalp. I ran over to her and cradled her head in my arms before she swatted Haruo and I away. "Fug' off, I'm good." She spat out some blood to 'support' what she said. Pulling herself up, Gelid stretched her body, staggering towards the window. Peeking out, she had a dull surprise to the chaos.
Below, there was still the equivalent to an army attacking a titan to no success. She shook her head and spun around, looking at us.
"Even if this idea of yours doesn't work, we have to at least whittle down his stamina. Drop down, hope you do some damage," Haruo said.
Letting out a deep sigh, I nodded. Peeking out the window, Bahamut seemed to be enjoying this. All he was doing was swatting them around, not even hard by his size. No fire, he didn't even kill anyone. Just smacking them around like punching bags.
"Alright, Gelid, you're up," I said, turning to her.
"Wait, what?" she asked, shaking her wrists out.
"Fly Haruo and I out over Bahamut and we'll drop down on his head. We can't dick around so grab us, zip out there and drop us on a trajectory towards his head. We'll have to hope we fall faster than his senses can detect," I said.
Haruo shrugged, Gelid nodded; the former took his place next to the window alongside me and Gelid fluttered her wings. She crouched down in a runner's position and prepared to take off, raising her wings high in the air. Haruo and I stepped out of the windows and hung out of the prison in preparation.
Gelid launched off, through the window while Haruo and I jumped, grabbing her feet. A dip in her dive occurred yet she held us up. The skies were almost completely clear, the sun peeking down on the whole prison.
"Gelid, veer right; we'll be in front of the sun," I shouted.
She didn't nod but tilted her body. We veered right and just as I predicted, our shadow appeared above Bahamut's on the cobblestone ground of the courtyard. Haruo glanced at me and I nodded; we both let go and began the drop. We must have been a hundred feet above the ground and forty above Bahamut's head.
I tilted myself forward, doing a straight dive with Haruo emulating me. I crossed my arms in an X position, peeking over my forearms as I did my best to manipulate my body through the winds. The drop itself seemed to take forever, time slowing down as the moment was now caught in my head. Very slowly (or maybe it was the adrenaline taking over), Bahamut's head turned towards us, obviously due to spotting our shadow. Luck was on our side, and we were never attacked. Just as we approached Bahamut's head, us fully in his gaze, I let one arm fall limp to my side while I extended my other hand above my head to act as a spear. I didn't see Haruo but I could only assume he did the same.
I hit my mark. My fist pierced the Aqueous Humor of Bahamut's large eye. The damn thing was larger than me. My fist went right through the fine layer and hit his lens, pushing the bead into his Virtuous Humor. My head and body slapped against his cornea while my right arm was directly inside his eyeball.
Right away, I found myself panicking as his large eyelids slammed down on my arm. As if I wasn't stuck enough, now I had to worry about the lid ripping my arm off. I yanked my arm back enough to move so I set my feet against his eyelid, grabbed my arm with my free hand, and yanked on it with my legs acting as my power. Bahamut's shouts indicated that I did some damage, but Haruo didn't make any noise. Either he died or was in the same situation.
Bahamut threw his head back, launching me into the air backwards. Haruo was thrown back as well yet we were both flying limp, the force of the throw as well as the impact painful. We headed towards the guards tower near the rear of the island and, luckily, we flew right through the window of the top floor. We slid against the ground and extended our legs. Lucky too, because just as we did our feet hit the opposing wall, our legs absorbing most of the shock.
We skipped the groaning and leg rubbing and rolled onto our fronts, pushing ourselves up to our feet. Darting back, we leaned against the window to see Bahamut threw us from the centre of the island to the very far end. He shook his head, rubbing his eyes with his hands.
"Seems our attack was motivating," Haruo said.
Looking to see what he meant, I squinted my eyes and saw hundreds of little fire balls aiming for his face coming from the courtyards. Every dragon was in the same desperate state as we were, giving up trying to escape and aiming to do as much damage as possible. Gelid's blue figure zipped towards us and hovered outside of the window. Bahamut blinked and a white light came from his eyes. After the light vanished, his glare focused on us. He took a deep breath and our warning lights went off in our heads.
"Hurry up, grab my legs," she shouted.
"NO TIME!" I shouted.
Haruo and I both leaped from the window and grabbed Gelid's body, folding her wings down and we both dropped. Just as we jumped, Bahamut spat a massive fireball at the tower and we plummeted, the fireball barely missing us. Impacting the tower, the entirety of the guard's block was destroyed from the resulting explosion and collapse of the tower, destroying this part of the castle as well. It seems only the courtyard, Warden's tower and few parts of the recreational buildings were left standing; almost 70% of the prison was gone.
Gelid and I started screaming as we rapidly approached the ground. Haruo let go of her body and grabbed her leg, forcing me to do the same. Her blue wings started flapping as fast and as hard as possible. Our descent slowed down and just on time as well. Bahamut spat more fire at us towards where we would land, impacting the ground and base of the crumbling tower. The heat caught Gelid's wings and sent us higher into the skies. The heat itself was nearly unbearable as the white flames burned the stone below. We were nothing but Bahamut's shooting gallery. Understanding this, I let go of Gelid's leg causing the female dragon to have a lopsided balance, dropping her and Haruo as well. We tumbled down, regardless of Gelid's attempts to level out, and hit the ground below us hard. We were in what seemed to be an exercising courtyard, with draconic equipment all over.
My whole body was aching all over while my legs were sore and burning, the ability to stand not quite yet gone. I forced myself to stand as did the other two and we ran towards the nearest entrance. Bahamut roared once more, the sound directed away from us. The inmates seemed to hit their mark and do their part for protecting themselves so we had a minute of freedom. Unluckily for us, the area of the castle we ran into was destroyed so we ran atop rubble and shingles towards the courtyards. The walls were almost destroyed and Bahamut was now moving, actively trying to kill the inmates. He slammed the creatures that seemed like ants to him into the walls, killing them as well as breaking the walls.
Hard to believe that Lockdown only resurrected him twenty minutes ago. Swallowing the fear, I managed to speak without croaking.
"Oh god, what are we gonna do?" I asked, starting to feel the hopelessness of the situation yanking on my shoulders.
"We have to—" Haruo started.
He was cut off as a claw launched through the wall, sending three inmates through it. One of Bahamut's large claws grazed Haruo's stomach, causing a deep gash on his side. He let out a shout of extreme pain and tumbled to the ground, clenching his side. He did his best to hold the blood inside and rolled around, writhing in agony. Right away, Gelid and I tried to calm him down, even though Bahamut's claw was tearing apart the building around us.
"HOLY BAHAMUT OF ERASURE!" Haruo shouted, clutching the wound.
Looking up, many large bricks fell down, several landing on all three of us. I thought for sure my leg broke when a chunk landed on it yet it withstood the impact. It did send a fire throughout my whole body. Gelid and Haruo were both hit, yet Haruo seemed preoccupied with his gash to worry about it. Gelid, unfortunately, had a rock pierce her wing. Or, on second look, it tore off a chunk of it. All three of us were laid out in agony as the castle started breaking apart and none of us seemed to care.
I grunted, snorting repeatedly as I stood up. The pressure being put on my leg was killing me yet I persevered. Taking a deep breath, I stood up and looked out towards the castle. Bahamut was walking by, swatting inmates away like broken toys. I looked down to Gelid and Haruo, the former doing her best to stand as well. Haruo was blowing fire on the wound and within a few seconds, the whole thing was cauterized. He continued laying down, catching his breath while Gelid joined me in what has to be our twentieth wind.
Growling, we both ran out of the hole in the wall, joining a mob that was chasing after Bahamut. Alongside them, we started launching fireballs, praying that Haruo would be okay where he was. We didn't have much choice but to leave him due to the imminent death. All of us aimed for Bahamut's face, my attack on his eyes an obvious inspiration.
Airborne dragons were repeatedly taking off after being smacked down no matter how hard. Several were even missing limbs yet still fought. It was all or nothing right now
Bahamut turned towards our group and everybody stopped moving immediately. He kept having to blink to stop fireball attacks towards his eyes, yet he wasn't blinded. Gelid and I were once again separated as we ran in different directions as he swung his large tail down.
The spines dug into the ground upon impact and cracked the cobblestone and upon lifting up, threw several large rocks in numerous directions. Dragons all around me were hit by the stone but continued going, shutting out the pain to escape with their lives.
Someone shouted "NOW" and as he said that, every dragon shot their breath towards Bahamut. Various colours and types of breath were thrown into the air: purple; red; green; blue; ice; lightning; snow, and the traditional fire. I joined suit, and we didn't stop at just one. We continued huffing balls of magic breath at Bahamut and each hit all over his body, most of it the face. After a few seconds, all of us were completely exhausted and panting, trying to catch our breaths. Bahamut was still and we looked on in eager hope. Like the movies, we were dead wrong; Bahamut's arm slammed down into the ground and he swung it in a sweeping motion, throwing many dragons around into the walls, ground and each other. Very few, such as myself, hurled themselves into the air to avoid the hit.
When all was said and done, very few were left standing; not because of the will to fight, but because we were the only ones that could. Everyone else had their injuries taking effect, and there was only ten of us left. Gelid was standing on the other side of the courtyard and Haruo just ran in from the hole, staggering as he did. Rather than lift his arm, Bahamut surprised a few of us, including myself, by sweeping his arm back the other way. Stone was kicked up and two dragons along with myself and Haruo were thrown across the yard. I hit Gelid, knocking her over yet I had to be thankful since it broke my throw. We tumbled over, sliding until we slowly bumped into the wall. We staggered to our feet and Bahamut loomed over us all, lowering his head to look at the few standing in the corner.
"Purple one, you are the one responsible for my resurrection, so you shall gain my pardon. Leave the island immediately," Bahamut said.
I looked over at Gelid and Haruo and they both motioned me to listen. "This may be your only chance, Spike," Gelid said calmly. I shook my head in response and Haruo slapped me upside the head.
"Move you idiot," Haruo said through his teeth
"I'm not leaving you," I responded.
"Now is not a good time for your dragon honour to kick in, Spike," Gelid said, trying to shove me away.
I smacked her arm away and looked up at Bahamut. "This isn't about honour. This is about friendship. There is good in us all. Nobody deserves to die, and I'll be damned if I'm going to get off scot-free while a big bastard who kills for no reason offs us," I said, spitting at Bahamut.
Gelid and Haruo stood in shock at my response as did many other dragons. Maybe it was stupidity, I was fearless or I really didn't care if I died anymore, but I stared a god down, standing stronger than I ever have in this hellhole.
Bahamut didn't sigh or say anything back as I finished. A simple claw moved forward, towards my body and I was far too slow to react, the pain messing with my nervous system. Instead, I found myself being shoved to the ground by Gelid, the claw missing me entirely. I watched the massive claw impale Gelid in the belly and go through her whole body, drag her towards the wall and stop when his claw got lodged. Bahamut pulled his claw back and Gelid held onto her gut, attempting to stay standing before stumbling onto her knees and falling over.
I was ready for this, wasn't I?
I hesitated at first, but I slowly crawled over to Gelid as she lay on the ground, bleeding out. I rolled her back onto my lap and I cradled her head in my arms once more, looking down at a glazed look on her face. She smiled at me with half-lidded eyes, the curve of her mouth genuine and sincere.
"Spike, I saw my best friend again," Gelid whispered quietly.
And then her breathing stopped.
