So this is my first attempt at a Hearstriker story. I really liked the idea of Julius getting his fang earlier in life and chaos that would have caused in his life. After all, fang or no fang, he's still a nice dragon. Him failing even more extravagant expectations of being a dragon due to being the only one who can wield the Diplomat's fang sounded interesting. Not sure if I keep it as a One/Two-Shot or expand it out into a full story. We'll see.

The Young Diplomat - Chapter 1

Julius cringed as he stepped into the throne room. Trapped between the rest of his full-siblings and the hall of heads, he had to force himself not to bolt as they stepped forward into the massive room. This was the first time he had been here since he was a hatchling, but Bethesda insisted that all of J-clutch be present for this event. Today, Justin would finally achieve his dream and become a Fang of the Hearstrikers.

Earlier that week, his stubborn older brother had competed for the honor of replacing the recently killed Harold and taking his fang. This being Justin, he had naturally won and now Bethesda wanted his entire clutch to watch as their brother became one of the most influential members of the clan at the age of 18. For any other dragons, it would be a blow to their pride and an attempt to encourage more ruthless behavior in the future. For Julius, it was a terrifying encounter with the family he worked so hard to avoid. For the last hour, he had to endure the torment of the rest of his clutch, while being completely unable to run. So far, he had been tripped, punched, insulted more times than he can count, and almost cut in half by the elevator doors. As he listened to his mother begin to make her speech, most likely something self-aggrandizing and deliberately insulting to her less favored children, he tried to make himself as small as possible, hiding in the back of the crowd.

Suddenly the bite of dragon magic bit through the air, as Justin, on Bethesda's queue, pulled the Warrior's Fang from its resting place. After a moment, Justin belted the now sword shaped fang and went to stand by his mother.

"And so my new knight is chosen, just as I knew he would. Justin Heartstriker is officially a knight of the mountain. My dearest is the youngest Heartstriker to ever become a Fang and I know he will serve me better than the failures who came before him." Bethesda's voice rang out across the hall. However, as he tried to duck back behind the crowd, his motion must've caught her gaze.

Julius could practically hear the cruel smirk in his mother's voice as she said, "Julius, I see you are incapable of even hiding like a rat." His siblings laughter echoed through the throne room as she continued, chilling his blood with every word. "Get up here now." Bethesda said, her cruel voice turning hard as she gave him an order. The entire crowd parted in an instant to reveal him, and he froze like a deer in the headlights.

"Now!" Bethesda roared.

In an instant, Julius scurried up to where his mother and Justin stood next to the lowered skull of his grandfather. This had to be the closest anyone, other than his mother and the Fangs, were allowed near the skull. Bethesda was usually very protective of the clans greatest weapons, and was very careful to insure that only those whose loyalty she could insure were given the chance to get within 20 meters of the Quetzalcoatl's skull. Then again, she didn't see Julius as a threat and the sixth, and only remaining, fang had been impossible for anyone to pull free. Both of those combined meant there was no perceivable risk to bringing a failure like Julius close if it meant a chance to humiliate him.

As he walked up to the throne he could feel his siblings smirking as they waited for Bethesda to humiliate him, again.

His mother had him stand up as she went on a long tirade. The details escaped him as he turn in on himself, uncomfortable with being in front of the family he spent his entire life avoiding. He heard Bethesda, once again reiterate his complete and utter failure to be anything even resembling a proper dragon. She went on for at least 30 minutes. Regularly comparing him to Justin and pointing out the differences between the powerful, skilled Justin and the weak, cowardly Julius. Then as she finished his embarrassment and moved to dismiss him, Bethesda the Heartstriker changed history, and all of Brohomir's carefully laid plans subtlety shifted.

In 99.99999% of the possible outcomes of this moment, Julius manages to right himself and walk away his slight stumble yet more evidence of his failure, but in this timeline, this moment, Julius' distracted thoughts caused him to topple over, straight into the skull. In a last ditch effort to correct himself he reached out and grabbed something, but Julius still fell hard on the ground. For one terrifying instant, Julius thought that he might have damaged the Quetzalcoatl skull and now his mother was going to kill him. His train of thought halted as, suddenly, a familiar bite of dragon magic rushed through him. Julius felt the flame fill his body and for a moment he could feel nothing else.

Dragon magic was normally harsh and sharp, like the creatures that used it. The fire it was born from roared with a desire to consume and destroy. "But, this..." Julius thought,"...this was different." It felt warm and kind, like a nice campfire to huddle up next to on a cold winter night. It was so relaxing that it took him several moments to realize that he was still laying there, on the floor, in front of his clutch and his mother. At that thought, Julius shot up and looked around, expecting his mother to pounce on him at any moment and rip him to shred. Instead, he saw that the room had gone completely still. Even Justin, who had been preening throughout the entire ceremony, and Bethesda, who Julius expected to bite him for interrupting her speech with his fall, were simply staring at him in utter disbelief.

For a moment, Julius was confused as to what had happened. Until he realized he was still holding something and looked down. There grasped in his hand, was a long bone-like sword. A sword that until recently, had been a fang no Heartstriker could ever pull free.

Julius was holding the sixth fang of the Heartstrikers.