Following the introduction of Theodore's supposedly dead uncle and the announcement that Uncle Five had found them a way home, the three boys had wandered off the cult's property and down through Dallas, making their way back towards Commerce & Knox. Theodore had meant to head straight back to the little alleyway in which he had landed all those years ago, but Kiran and Yugi had convinced him that a small detour to pick up booze and other accoutrement wouldn't do any harm. Theodore reasoned that the alcohol would likely soften up his crabby little uncle even if they were only a few minutes late—Uncle Five sure did love his drink.
A lot of people had given the trio a wide berth as they walked down the streets of central Dallas; most people giving them odd looks whilst others crossed the street entirely, avoiding them like they carried some kind of disease. It was Kiran in the end, who had to explain to Theodore what was going on whilst they waited in some back alley that Theodore used to frequent in his homeless years in the city, purchasing booze from some guy with sun-kissed skin and missing teeth. Apparently Destiny's Children had quite the reputation around these parts.
Before long the three had popped the lids on the alcohol, guzzling it down like fine wine and splayed their bodies over the green blades of some patch of grass close to the plaza. Theodore was hesitant to call it a park, if only because of the size of the greenery and the towering buildings that leered down at them from all sides. But it was a sweet little place nonetheless. Whilst Kiran talked his ear off about this and that, seemingly talking about everything and nothing all at once, Yugi whittled away at a blade of grass trapped between pearly whites and watched them with eagle eyes. Theodore wasn't sure how long they'd been in the little park before the Mogadorians had arrived.
He hadn't really seen them coming—hadn't heard anything that could've alerted him to their presence, although that may have been the moonshine talking. All he knew was that Kiran had been dancing wildly, singing some jaunty little tune about Loric nights and the next he was stock-still and clutching at his stomach, his song long-forgotten. "Y-Yu?" Kiran stuttered, turning to the ginger with wide fearful eyes. Facing the older teen as he was, Theodore was able to see the gaping and smoking hole now engraved onto the boy's back from where he had jolted upright. None of them had even heard the firearm go off. "I—I don't feel so good"
"KIRAN!" Yugi cried, leaping from the bench and tripping slightly over his own feet as he tried to reach the boy before he hit the ground. "It's—it's okay. You're okay, you're okay"
A cocktail of possessive protectiveness surged through Theodore demanding vengeance as he rocked to his feet and spied the alien hunters as they crept from the shadows with cyber firearms in hand. A youngling in his care had been hurt and his guilty conscious demanded that that wrong must be righted. He didn't even have to think about his actions before his body began to fold and twist into unnatural positions as the shift took control. A snarl garbed his morphing muzzle as bones cracked and flesh receded in favour of the loralite scales flared in warning. With a dangerous growl rumbling from somewhere in his chest, the roiling ropes of serpentine muscle gave way to the so-called 'Dallas Dragon' who wasted no time in shooting forward to devour the hordes of Mogs lining the shrinking shadows.
Squishy flesh squelched beneath their clawed toes and bones crackled like toothpicks as Loren slithered about the small patch of grass like a snake, devouring Mogadorian soldiers as if they were nothing more than ants. It was clear to Loren at least, that this hunting party had been scrounged together at the last minute as there were very few soldiers actually present and they hadn't begun with the standard chimaera leading the charge like a hunting dog. Instead, the few that had dared to step foot onto the greenery were quickly and easily overwhelmed by the serpentine loralite. Loren was sure that even if Theodore hadn't fully transformed, he would have been able to take down these pathetic excuses just as easily. It was almost laughable, and that was why it hurt so much more that they had been able to land a hit on the youngling.
It was the raspy Loric song in the end, which brought their large muzzle swinging around to face the Loric pair still tucked in next to the toppled park bench that brought Loren back to attention. The ginger teen held the bleeding youngling in his arms, so tight that it would've likely hurt any other creature, but it's not like it mattered either way. Even from here, they could taste the bitter tang of blood on the air.
"My love, my love, my fearless love
I will not say goodbye
Sea may rise, sky may fall
My love will never die
Go on, go on, go bravely on
Into the blackest night
Hold my breath 'til your return
My love will never die…"
Loren let the Loric words roll over him like waves crashing over sharp rocks, smoothing away the anger with patience and time. Crawling closer, they recognised the words to be some kind of lullaby or promise to the youngling—a promise that he would never be forgotten no matter where or when he went.
"…My heart, my heart, my drowning heart
Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore
My love will never die
My love, my love, my fearless love
I will not say goodbye
Sea may rise, sky may fall
My love will never die…"
Roiling muscle curled up around their small patch of grass, encasing them in a dome of loralite and muscle. Now free of the persistent Mogs that had pounded at them only moments before, Loren dropped their head onto their claws with a pitiful whine. Dark eyes like deep pools watched the pair with such a hyper-focus that it was almost like they were afraid the Garde pair would disappear if they so much as blinked or turned away.
"…My love, my love, my fearless love
I will not say goodbye
Sea may rise, sky may fall
My love will never die
Sea may rise, sky may fall
My love will never die
My love will never die"
The last of the lyrics had barely left Yugi's lips when Kiran smiled brightly up at the elder and relaxed into him, weak arms coming up to clutch at the arms holding him in an awkward returning hug. "G'night Y-Yu" Kiran smiled happily as his eyes slid shut one last final time, before his body began to crumble down into the loralite-speckled ash of their homeland.
"K-Kiran!" Yugi desperately reached out for the twisting specks of ash as a gentle breeze drifted through the park, creeping in through the cracks between Loren's layers and picked up the broken bodies littered about them. Mogadorian and Loric alike were taken away on the gentle evening breeze, now moving on to a better place. "Come—come back! Kiran! Please! I need you…"
Curling in tighter around the grieving Loric, Loren could only watch with his heart clenching in pain for the boy as he collapsed back on to the grass beneath him and wailed like a banshee for the friend he had just lost. Fists beat against the ground in indescribable anger as telekinesis picked up clods of dirt and daisies, whirling around Yugi like a tornado of pain. Yugi's psionic powers were far beyond anything that either Loren or Theodore had ever encountered before, so much so that Loren would hazard a guess that the ginger's main Legacy leant more towards the mental prowess of the Ordin House than that of the Frija House. Of course, if that was the case then it brought up far more questions than answers. But now was not the time for that.
The earth quaked and the buildings around them shook like Jenga towers as Yugi howled his pain into grass still clenched between his fingers, weeping for the friend he had lost and despairing over his own stupidity. "…It's not fair! Why couldn't you just kill me? Kill me! KILL ME! KILL ME! DO IT! DO IT! KILL ME! I just want it to end~!" Scrabbling for a hold on the quickly disappearing ground, Loren and Theodore's shared mind scrambled for a solution that would allow them both to get out of this situation with minimal damage to both their surroundings and themselves. As durable as loralite was, it could only stand so much pressure before it eventually crumbled away. Nothing lasted forever, not even regenerative alien rock. Honestly, they were lucky that most of the damage had managed to be contained within the dome created by Loren's glittering coils.
Eyes squinted against the onslaught provided by Yugi, Loren contemplated pining the boy down or even swallowing him down if only to stop the ever-creaking buildings either side of them that sounded dangerously close to falling in on their little patch of grass. Absently, they noted the sudden increase in activity around their vicinity like there was people now there. Ducking their head and bending at an awkward angle, Loren peered out through a small gap in their coils to see what was going on.
Ash covered the park in such a thick layer that one would've thought a massive fire had run rampant through there, leaving only blackened soot and glittering embers behind. At least that would be the assumption until you took into account the golden canopy still swaying above them, their leaves dancing in a gently breeze that did not exist inside their coils. Down below, along the edges of the park lay a thick crowd of people that Loren could've sworn weren't there earlier. It seemed that their little scuffle had caught the attention of the public. Shutters snapped as cameras locked onto him and people pointed & laughed, happily gazing upon the elusive beast only barely spotted in the botanical gardens. Some children were even throwing rocks at them as if doing so would grant them wishes or something.
Loren was about to retreat back into their coils when a collection of familiar scents floated in on the wind, catching their attention. Roasted coffee, alcohol, old blood. That scent belonged to the littlest of Theodore's uncles with a penchant for killing. Salty sweat and musty ape. The scent belonging to Theodore's biggest uncle, Luther, and finally the scent of Theodore's vigilante uncle, Diego; smelling of the clinical medicines of a hospital, the sweet tang of death and the ever-present metallic tang of his knives. There. Pushing their way through the throngs and staring up at them with blatant disbelief and panic, the three uncles stood on the park's edge with wide eyes as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Of course, Diego and Five were the only two who had seen at least part of their transformation before, but for Luther who had only ever seen what they could do back in 2019, well, he appeared to be floundering like a fish out of water.
BANG! BANG!
Loren's head jerked upwards at the noise, head erupting from the coils so quick that it felt like whiplash. With ears pricked and nostrils flared, Loren tried their best to discern what was going on, but it was hard to tell over the fearful screams of the public and the pained wails of Yugi from within. Speaking of Yugi, in that brief moment that Loren had risen from their coil, the ginger's Legacy had lashed out harder than before and caught them by surprise, eliciting a pained roar from them.
ROOOOOOAR!
The hit was by no means damaging, but the surprise for which they had been hit was what elicited the response from them. Shaking off the brief ache accompanied by a slab of dirt rocketing upwards like a projectile, Loren made up their mind and dove back inwards with their jaw wide open, easily clamping their large jaws around the grieving Garde before they slithered over to the uncovered drainage ditch that flowed onto the sewers deep below the city. They were soon gone with a flick of their loralite tail, leaving behind chaos and disorder in their wake, although not entirely of their own volition.