Characters in this prompt: Dragon Slayer Ornstein/Nameless King
Summary: Half transformed KoS!Ornstein gets feral and attacks his master. KoS-AU
(Author's note: While I don't personally subscribe to the "Ornstein is the King of Storms"-theory, I still like it enough to see it as some kind of AU possibility. And because I know my requester here subscribe to the theory, I decided to use this scenario for the prompt. Enjoy!)
Gwynfor had gotten up early to prepare the meal for the day. It contained of mostly meat, cause recently Ornstein had trouble eating anything else than this.
A few months ago, the former dragon slayer had made his way up Arch Dragon Peak, both furious and relieved to finally have found the one he once had called a lover. Gwynfor had been very pleased to rekindle their old relationship and allow Ornstein to stay with him on Arch Dragon Peak. But then the already poor health of Ornstein had taken a turn for the worse. They had been sure, that the knight wouldn't have long to live anymore. That was when Gwynfor made a suggestion.
And Ornstein had accepted the suggestion and tried to walk the path of the dragon to save himself from death's bed. From the way Ornstein started to transform, Gwynfor knew the former dragon slayer would turn into something big. But it was a slow transformation. One that often was uncomfortable and sometimes painful for Ornstein. Gwynfor helped his boyfriend the best he could, getting him things to shred when his teeth grew, holding his hand when the horns were breaking through his head, finding a way to ease the itch when the first scales started to grow and staying with him in the night when his feathered wings and tail formed.
Ornstein had trouble talking while transforming, but from the look Gwynfor received from the green eyes of his boyfriend, he knew how grateful he was for the support. In fact, they had found a lot of little wordless gestures to communicate with each other, it seemed that the transformation slowly would take Ornstein's voice away.
Gwynfor finished cutting the meat and put it into a bowl. He considered roasting it up first, but Ornstein had developed a taste for raw meat lately and because he didn't get sick from eating it, it was completely harmless. Also, he was totally capable of roasting it himself with his new fire breath if he wanted to.
Gwynfor picked the bowl up when he heard the growl. He sighed. It was one of the bad days. It rarely happened, but it was possible for Ornstein to go completely feral and Gwynfor needed to calm him down. It was very important for the former prince to not make any sudden movements now. He slowly turned around, bowl still in his hands, when the growl turned into a howl and a clawed hand slammed him into the nearest wall, bowl falling to the ground, scattering the meat pieces.
Damn, that had hurt. Gwynfor was sure he had heard the cracking of a few broken ribs. He slowly opened his eyes, pulling himself up, gasping in pain. He could see Ornstein's frame standing before him, still growing, wings puffed out, tail lashing back and forth. His eyes showed no sign of him having a clear mind.
Gwynfor put his hands in the air, showing that he was unarmed: "Ornstein, stop it. It's me. Your master."
This didn't had the desired effect. Ornstein sprinted forward and pinned Gwynfor against the wall, his claws digging in the flesh of his shoulders, blood slowly seeping out. This distracted the drake for a moment, sniffing in the smell of the fresh blood. Gwynfor tried to reach out to his boyfriend again: "Don't you recognize me, Ornstein?", he asked. "We share our bed every night."
At the sound of his voice, Ornstein snapped back and increased the pressure, a deep growl still coming from his throat. This was bad, really bad. Ornstein had become feral before, like Gwynfor had started to call it, but he never had attacked so relentlessly. Most of the time, he had been scared by something and his instincts just took over. Gwynfor wondered what could have made Ornstein so terrified that he saw him as a threat.
"Ornstein, please, you are hurting me.", Gwynfor said between clenched teeth. "Did you had a nightmare?" Ornstein had nightmares quite frequently. Most of the time he would wake up in the night, shivering and sweating, but usually Gwynfor would be next to him to give him comfort. Only that this time Gwynfor had left him alone to prepare breakfast while the drake still had been asleep. The fact that Ornstein didn't even had put any clothes on yet and that his long hair was flowing freely made it also clear that he just had woken up, so a nightmare was the most plausible explanation.
The pressure of the claws increased even more, Gwynfor was sure that he would get some new scars of this. "Ornstein, please, snap out of it.", Gwynfor begged. The answer of the drake was to slam him against the wall once again, shrieking loudly in the process.
Gwynfor's head exploded with pain and he saw stars shaking before his eyes. Ornstein just wouldn't calm down. But Gwynfor didn't want to take up the fight. First, he didn't had his weapon with him, second, he was hurt and third, if he fought against Ornstein in this terrified state, the drake would probably be scared of him forever.
He needed to get Ornstein out of this state without any violence.
Still lying on the floor, one hand touching the wound on his head, Gwynfor found his voice again.
"Ornstein please! You need to calm down! It's me! Gwynfor!", he shouted.
The drake that already had prepared another attack suddenly stopped at this words, hissing and growling. He fell down on his knees, both hands grabbing his head, self-awareness slowly returning in his eyes. Ornstein looked around confused, noticing the blood on his claws with a frown and finally spotting his master lying on the floor.
"Master!", he shouted, running up to him and kneeling down. "By the lords, did I do this?" Ornstein carefully laid his hands on Gwynfor's body but then promptly withdrew them and stared at his blood soaked claws with disgust.
"You are back, that is good.", Gwynfor said, voice a bit hoarse. "Could you help me up and get me to our bed? I need to get fixed up."
"O... Of course.", Ornstein said and very carefully helped Gwynfor pulling himself up, supporting the man's weight. On their way to the bedroom, Gwynfor could hear Ornstein whispering "Sorry, I am so sorry." all the way through.
Ornstein gently helped Gwynfor lying down in the bed and then rummaging around in the room searching for the medical supplies. He quickly found them, returned to the bed and sat down on the edge.
"Where did I hurt you, master?", he asked.
"Ornstein, I appreciate that you want to help me out, but how about you get yourself dressed first?", Gwynfor said with an amused tone in his voice. Ornstein looked down at himself and shot up immediately.
"Oh no, how embarrassing.", he whispered and rushed out of the room.
"I don't mind seeing you naked, you know.", Gwynfor whispered to himself and grabbed the bag with medical supplies. As a god of war, he luckily was sturdy and the injuries wouldn't hinder him much. He still needed to rest for a bit though. He assumed a few broken ribs, he had to treat the claw marks and he felt like he had a slight concussion from the second encounter with the wall. Gwynfor fished a bloodred moss clump out of the bag and pressed it on the bleeding wound on his left shoulder first. Right at this time Ornstein reentered the room, having been dressed in some loose clothes, his hair tied up to the usual ponytail. He also seemed to have taken the time to wash his hands, cause the blood on his claws was gone. Ornstein crossed through the room with a few large steps and sat down on the edge of the bed again, tail curled around his feet. Gwynfor knew that this position meant guilt.
"You don't have to feel guilty for this, you haven't been yourself.", Gwynfor said and tossed another bloodred moss clump to his boyfriend. "Would you treat the bleeding on my head with this, please?"
Ornstein took the moss and searched for the wound in Gwynfor's long white hair. "This was a first...", he mumbled.
"What do you mean?", Gwynfor asked, satisfied that the bleeding on his left shoulder had stopped and moving on the right one.
"Attacking you, that is.", Ornstein said, pressing the moss clump a bit too hard on the wound, which made Gwynfor wince. "Sorry...", Ornstein released the pressure. Gwynfor noticed that the wings of his boyfriend were dragging down. A sign that he wasn't feeling well.
"What's on your mind?", Gwynfor asked.
Ornstein looked up, then down, then up again but finally averted his gaze slightly so that he didn't have to look his boyfriend in the eyes. "I...", he started and then his voice broke. Gwynfor used his free hand to take Ornstein's clawed one into his own.
"Take your time.", he said.
Ornstein swallowed, tears starting to form in his eyes. "I start to think that his has been a mistake.", he brought out.
"Ornstein, you knew what you were getting into.", Gwynfor said. Now that the bleeding had stopped, he prepared some bandages for his wounds. "I explained everything to you."
"But I didn't know how strong I would get. What would had happened if I hadn't snapped out of it? I could have killed you.", Ornstein said, tears flowing freely from his eyes. "What will happen to you if I turn into a real dragon and start to lose my mind...?" Ornstein buried his face into his hands, curled his tail around himself and folded the wings in as to hug himself. Gwynfor extended a hand to gently pet one of the wings. Ornstein winced at the touch, his wings were a highly sensitive spot.
"I haven't been prepared.", Gwynfor said. "I would have gotten out of this unscathed when I wouldn't had been so surprised. I simply had my guard down, that is all.", he said.
Ornstein raised his head for a brief moment before burying it back into his hands again. Gwynfor decided to let him be for the moment and started to bandage the wounds, but soon needed help.
"Would you help me bandage my wounds, please?", he said and hold the end of the bandage out to Ornstein. The drake broke out of his pose and silently got to work. When he was in the process to bandage the wound on the head, he suddenly spoke again: "It's just... I think I am scared of myself... of having this body."
Gwynfor huffed: "Ornstein, being scared is what makes you go feral in the first place."
Gwynfor could feel how Ornstein got tense. "You need to be more accepting of your own body. And you need to stop blaming yourself for everything that happened. Or your nightmares will never stop.", he said.
"I know this...", Ornstein hissed. "It's just... it's so hard to wrap my head around it..."
"As long as you wrap the bandages right around my head.", Gwynfor said jokingly. "I need to organize some ice for the bruises, ow...", he said with a look down his chest. Ornstein immediately took in his guilty posture again.
"Look, we don't have to tackle this issue now, but promise me that you start to work on this, right?", Gwynfor said. "And I try to not be taken by surprise anymore, so that you don't even have a chance hurting me." Gwynfor softly laid back into the pillows, looking deeply into the eyes of his boyfriend.
"I promise.", Ornstein said, practically forcing himself to not avert his gaze. "I promise that I work on not blaming myself for anything anymore."
"That's the spirit.", Gwynfor said, grinning. "And now that I need to stay in bed for a day or two, how about you get us some breakfast?"
(Author's note: If you have trouble imagine how Ornstein looks like here, he is still mostly human, but he already has some dragon features like horns, wings, tail, claws, sharp teeth and the scales are starting to growing in.
Requested by barasbu on tumblr)