Red & Blue, Black & White
Summary: REWRITE. Dragon AU! Seto Kaiba is the lieutenant of the Rafter of Domino Peak, living his days in frustration after the death of his father. Not only is he second-in-command to his lifelong rival, and the only caretaker to his hatchling brother, but his attitude towards his leader has 'earned' him solo patrol duty for the next month. On one of those patrols, he comes across an odd, aggressive black dragon who comes with his own set of baggage.
Pairings: Kaiba/Jounouchi, Yugi/Anzu, Honda/Otogi, Ryou/Marik(not Yami Marik), Yami/Yami Bakura, other minor shippings will be mentioned as the story goes.
Rating: M
Authors Note: So, if you're wondering where I've been, I promise I didn't give up. I've just been busy, you see, I am moving soon and I''ve been trying to get my affairs in order (bills and such, work situation, ect) so don't worry, once I have everything settled I should be back updating normally.
Chapter 12: Inheritance
"Pe-ah-ple."
"It's pronounced 'pee-pull', actually."
"But there's an O, how come we don't sound it out?"
Seto pinched the bridge between his eyes as he closed the in frustration. He was glad he wasn't part of the education council because he did not have the patience for formal teaching. He was in the library with Nosaka, keeping the order of teaching her the more formal side of being a Lieutenant. While in olden days a Lieutenants main duty was to organize hunting and fighting patrols, things were different in modern Rafters. While big plans and projects were organized by the diamondtooth, a Lieutenant managed everyday operations such as law and order, and supplies. This required being literate, which the Shadow Forest Dragons were not.
"There's rules to pronunciation, but also language tends to evolve and even deviate from its own rules in certain instances, mostly because this language is an amalgamation of several pre existing languages." Seto explained, then closed that leatherbound book. They were about a month into the winter now, and while his fellow Lieutenant managed to learn a lot, she still had very juvenile habits when it came to reading, such as moving her lips when she was reading or pronouncing letters that are meant to be silent. He supposed, however, that she was doing well for someone who had no formal education, especially since most people take years to learn how to read properly.
Despite his earlier order of keeping an eye on Jounouchi, he ended up being around Nosaka more since they were the same position, and she had shifted into not being nocturnal anymore, she she could represent her Rafter during the day. Watch over Jounouchi was now mostly done by Yugi, despite the latters earlier protest of it, the two initially were professional with each other, but as the days went on and they had to be around each other more, they grew very friendly with each other, Yugi really just seemed to soak up friendliness of the other diamondtooth, and vise versa.
This however, didn't stop Jounouchi's refusal to take a form other than dragon, or from his sleeping right outside of Seto's hut during the day.
Nosaka sighed and picked up a scroll, opening up and seeming relieved that there were illustrations of dragons. "This looks like Diamondtooth Yugi." She sid, pointing to the illustration of the dragon.
"That is him," Seto deadpanned, unrolling the scroll fully "This is the genealogy book of the diamondtooth heirs for the past few generations." He put his finger on the circle that covered the illustration of Yugi, and slid it up slowly to the dragons above him "you can see here the heir apparent before him was Yami, who's crossed out because of his disappearance, their father was the heir before Yami but he passed away shortly before Yugi was hatched, and this is the late Diamondtooth, Sugoroku." He explained.
"Then who's this after Yugi?" She said, referring to the currently lowest circle around the illustration of a dragon fledgeling.
"That's Rebecca Hopkins, she's Yugi's heir presumptive." He explained, then moved his finger to point to the dragon that was linked with Sugoroku Motou "Here is his mate, Arthur Hopkins, and they had two children that survived to adulthood, one being Yugi's father and the other being Rebecca's mother; because Yugi's father was born first he, and his lineage, became heir apparent line."
"Presumptive…?" Nosake still looked a little confused; perhaps the apparent and presumptivesystem wasn't used in her own Rafter.
"An heir apparent is the automatic heir," Seto explained "and a presumptive heir is an heir who's status can be revoked by the presence of an heir apparent. Take Yugi and Yami for example - Yami was the oldest, so after their father died he was the heir apparent, but once he left Yugi was the heir presumptive; he was the heir, but he would no longer be the heir if Yami returned."
"Oh," Nosaka blinked "are all of the high ranks like that?"
"Only Diamondtooth and Lieutenant; for Lorekeeper and Healer, they choose a student." Seto explained.
"All of the higher ranks are inherited in our Rafter." Nosaka began "It's almost always father to son, the only time a female inherits is if there's no sons. Except healer, healer was the opposite, mother-to-daughter unless if there was no daughter." She explained, "That's how Mai became the Lieutenant, and Bakura became the healer."
"You Rafter is just so..." He sighed heavily, not wanting to have this discussion. It wasn't her fault it had been so oppressive, she herself having been a victim of it.
"But things are changing and… it makes Miho really happy." She said, smiling gently up at him with shining blue eyes.
"Yes, there's a reason 'old fashioned values' faded as society advanced." He said, rolling the scroll back up and putting it back where it had been, he looked outside to see the snow falling softly outside, when earlier it'd been rapidly swirling "The snow is letting up," he said "We can do something a little more within your realm of ability - how about organizing a hunting patrol?" He asked.
"Is there specific rules for the winter?" Nosaka asked, but she still seemed excited - Seto was the one who solely organized patrols during the day, and during the night they were being organized by Jounouchi.
"For the most part you choose adults without children, and fledglings who aren't attending classes." Seto explained "You gather up some people, I'm going to my house first. Meet me in front of the Council Hall." He ordered, before walking out of the library.
His skin prickled at the cold air, but not enough to form goosebumps. He pulled his buffalo cape more over him as he headed in the direction of his home.
As he came closer, he saw, to no surprise, that Jou was curled up asleep by his hut, as expected. About half of the Shadow Forest adult dragons had taken human form by now, but Jou still refused to transform.
Jou was laying down curled up, with wings drawn over his limbs and close to his body, and his tail wrapped around his side and over his muzzle. He appeared quite tranquil as he slept, even though he slept on top of and covered by piles of snow. As fond of winter as Seto was, the thought of sleeping in the snow while in his cold-blooded dragon form made his skin crawl.
He approached the snow-covered dark lump to make sure he was still breathing and didn't freeze to death - he was breathing slowly, but evenly and not weakly. Muttering under his breath about this dragons lack of intelligence, Seto went back into his hut and quickly changed into his off-white robe, which would be easier to change in and out of when he transformed into a dragon. He then put a buffalo cloak over it, and grabbed his brown leather satchel - it was large since he was in his human form, but he'd be able to harness it over his back in dragon form.
Leaving his hut, Seto headed towards the Council Hall and was relieved to see that Nosaka had already gathered up a decently sized patrol; besides them it consisted of Yami, Otogi, Ryou, and Mazaki. The fledgling group, already in their dragon forms, consisted of Nezumi, Rebecca, and Tozokuo, who all looked nervous, likely because they were in a hunting group that had two Lieutenants.
"Where do you want to start hunting?" He asked the lavender haired woman, who hummed and cupped her chin in her thumb and forefinger.
"The wind is going South..." She began, and turned South "If we go to the plains on that side of the mountain, we'll be shielded from the wind."
"Good idea Miho." Mazaki said, smiling "We can show you and the Shadow Forest fledgelings hunting techniques used by our Rafter because we usually hunt downwind." She explained.
"So does any dragon with wings." Seto retorted sarcastically; the woman shot a harsh glare at him, not that he was phased.
The adults stepped back several feet to make more room, and shifted to their dragon forms.
Grunting at how the winter air now hit him harder in his cold-blooded form, Seto moved his leather satchel over his back after putting his human garbs inside of it.
Nosaka spread her lavender wings high over herself, while her second pair of transparent wings hovered straight to the side parallel to the ground. "Shall we?" She asked the hunting group, who answered nonverbally with a variety of gestures. Nodding, Nosaka took a few leaps forward with her front talons taking the lead and her back legs kicking out before taking flight.
"What are you two doing?" Otogi asked curiously watching Yami and Nosaka, who while walking in the snow were making constant twitching gestures while looking at each other.
"Claw-speak." Yami replied as he looked back to the green dragon.
The Domino Peak dragons were all confused.
Yami cleared his throat "Claw-speak is a nonverbal language." He explained "It's used mostly by deaf and mute dragons, but all Shadow Forest Dragons to learn so they can communicate night without losing stealth by talking. Claw-speak uses movement of the paws, wings, head, and tail to represent different words."
Seto supposed he shouldn't be surprised since the Shadow Forest Rafter hunts in groups at night, but most of what he'd learned about them was about their bigotry and actions regarding their bigotry. So to hear they casually did something so… communal, and intelligent, was surprising.
"Wow, that's pretty neat." Mazaki commented, her eyes sparkling. "You should teach it to some of us. The poor old Hopkins has had a hard time communicating with us since he started losing his hearing." Seto thought about it himself - deafness was an ongoing problem for the older members of their Rafter, the loss of communication often caused them to get infantilized, or pushed out of any regular duties and social circles.
Perhaps Mazaki had a point, he would talk to Nosaka about it later.
They came to a cliff-edge.
"So, how do you hunt?" Nosaka asked them.
"From vantage points," Seto answered before Otogi and Mazaki could "we swoop at the prey either straight from the air, or from the tops of cliffs, mountains, or trees, that way we're using not just our claws and teeth, but also our momentum."
"Sooo, like a hawk?" Nezumi asked curiously.
Seto nodded "Like a lot of birds or prey really." It was their traditional way of hunting, but it did carry risks, since they had hollow bones they were prone to breaking their rib cages upon impact, especially fledgelings, but most adults learned not to be so overzealous and not slam into prey to significantly reduce the chance of breakage. It was still very much a learn-as-you-go skill, as the dozens of healed fractures in all of their ribs would show.
Seto himself hadn't stopped breaking his ribs until he was… what, 130? And he was a prodigy of his peerage. It was a sensation… that he really didn't miss.
"Do you move spots if you don't see prey?" Nosaka inquired, breaking her fellow Lieutenant from his thoughts.
"From a vantage point this high we can see as far as we're able to dive - mostly if we go long enough without seeing buffalo we'll switch to the other side of the mountain." Seto explained; his eyes flicked upwards at the dark gray sky; it'd been a while since the snow had stopped, but there was some kind of pressure in the air that made his spines stiff. It was a weighty feeling. Perhaps this brief respite from the snowy weather was indeed a brief respite, and the snow fall about to come was going to be monumental.
Tozokuo was watching the plains curiously, his spiny back was arched and his tail was raised while his head was basically resting on his front talons. "Can't they see us from up here?"
"Buffalo don't usually check upwards for predators," Seto explained calmly "birds of prey are never a concern for them. They're conditioned against terrestrial predators, not airborne ones." I
"You'd think that the other animals would be used to dragons..." Rebecca chirped, curiously close to Tozokua and her voice was overly chipper, even for her. Her human half was in that age where amorous feelings started to surface after all.
Seto internally hummed. Most animals had adaptations against common predators; dragons weren't rare, and they'd been around presumably as long as everything else, and yet… dragons, and the rest of the natural world, always seemed to evolve outside of each others influence. It was an interesting phenomena, perhaps it was because nature was natural, and while dragons depended on nature, dragons were magical.
Tozokuo didn't seem to pay attention to what Rebecca had said to him though, he just continued to watch the plains; his wings slowly seemed to wilt by his side. Yami seemed to sense something that the other dragons didn't, and walked over to his son, draping his own lightning patterned wing over him. With what Yami lacked in size in body, he seemed to make up for in his wing span, something Seto hadn't noticed before given how much the former heir spent in his human form.
Tozokuo was mumbling quietly to his father, but not so low that Seto couldn't hear him. "Akef wouldn't like all of this snow." Yami had a verbal response that was too quiet for Seto to pick up, and then he curled his wing over his offspring and pulled him closer. Given to cold weather, it wasn't a strange sight. Seto didn't pay too much attention to any other exchange to two had, he felt the strange pressure continue and if he hadn't perfected inhibition control, he'd probably be fidgeting where he stood.
"Hey!" Nezumi chirped suddenly, not noticing the infantile sound he'd just made the fledgeling used the tip of his wings to point at a certain direction; narrowing his eyes slightly to focus, he noticed a small cluster of shapes. "Look! Buffalo?" He looked up at the other adults.
"Looks like it." Mizaki confirmed. "They're a bit too far away though, once they get closer."
"I could get it." Ryou offered softly; while the silver dragon wasn't the fastest flier among them, he was a very cautious type, he had the most stable and consistent diving form, probably being one of the first in his fledgling group to stop breaking his ribs. He would be a preferable candidate to teaching their hunting techniques.
Before anyone else could say anything, a harsh crash from above them reverberated for miles as thunder roared in the belly of the dark clouds above them. Seto released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. The odd sensation he'd been feeling was the prelude to the thunderstorm. Having lightning as an element, and presumably being half Stormbringer, he had an instinctual connection to lightning and thunder, similar to how the Winderiders of his Rafter had inklings when there were going to be dangerously strong winds.
"S-Should we really be hunting?" Nezumi asked, voice weary as he looked up as Nosaka.
The violet dragon also seemed perplexed "This isn't usually a concern in the forest… lightning strikes the tallest thing, and that's usually the trees..." She looked to the other adults.
"I haven't seen any flashes in the clouds." Seto dismissed, in spite of the tingling he felt in his spines, if he was in his human form his skin would probably have goosebumps. "But, if this buffalo gets closer, I'll catch it and we can go."
"If you say so, Lieutenant." Yami replied "One buffalo for a hunting party this size isn't going to be very impressive, though."
"We can always go to the outskirts of our territory." Nosaka reminded him "With only the night patrol doing hunting in that area, it isn't going to be over hunted."
Seto walked up to the edge of the outcrop, taking proper diving stance, his head low and hindquarters raised, wings stiff but lifted above his back. He watched the group of buffalo wander around the plains, no doubt sniffing for any grass that might be poking above the snow. Taking in a deep breath, Seto readied himself for his descent, watching the group wander closer to the mountain.
Suddenly, before he could make a move, Rebecca shot out in a sleek golden blur in the direction of the herd, diving in a less-than stable form.
BOOM!
When the thunder sounded overhead, A=all of the scales in Seto's body bristled and time seemed to slow down for him as he realized what the tingly feeling he had was alluding to. All he could see was the bright streaks zapping around the dark clouds, and an oxidizing smell, a smell similar to soldering metal, filled the air. His body moved without a thought in his head except for Rebecca's safety as he flew out at top speed towards her.
A blinding light appeared above him and he sharply inhaled and held it in as he tackled the golden fledgling mid-flight knocking her off course and hurdling towards the ground in a spiral, and Seto was struck.
He gasped as searing heat carved a path from the tips of his wings, across his spine to every individual nerve in his body . His body was completely stiff to its fullest capacity, but only for a split second, and just as soon as the stiffening came, it ended and his body became totally limp; his brain was slow in taking on details as he too fell head-first in a spiral to the snowy ground before him.
He could barely see that he fell on top of a dark orange body before he could hit the ground, all he felt was a searing cold pain that stimulated every pain receptor, a pain so overwhelmingly powerful he couldn't even react to it.
He felt his limp body being rolled onto the snow. His eyes were open but he couldn't make out many details with his eyes. He could hear many panicked voices around him, and felt that he was moved onto his side.
He smelled… Burning. Charring.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" He heard a hysterical Rebecca chirp in distress over and over again, he could hear Yami trying to talk her down.
"We need to get him back to Marik and Bakura!" Ryou said.
"Is he… Is he even alive?" Otogi whispered harshly, in shock.
To spite him, Seto managed a low growl, but it took whatever energy he had left.
"But how are we going to get him back?" Tozokuo asked, a surprisingly calm tone given his age and the situation they were in.
Maybe, tragically, mortal injuries and death weren't unfamiliar to the young Shadow Forest Dragon…
Seto tried to stand on his feet, move his wings - anything. But while he could feel his body, he was unable to control it. He felt like a ragdoll, limp and unmoving. Or, more precisely, he was reminded of an incident when he was a chick, he'd jumped into a rushing stream not knowing any better, the churning currents easily overpowered his younger self, and when he was caught beneath the waves in the undertow, he couldn't move his body at all. He could feel the powerful pull of the water around him, but he was unable to move against it.
He doubted Gozaburo was going to pull him out of this one.
"Try to push him over my back, I might be able to carry him back." Mazaki offered. He would have snorted if he could - Mazaki was above average size, being bigger than the others, but Seto was much larger than any of them, there was no way she could carry him.
He felt two snouts press at his side and attempt to roll him over a scaly bulk beside him - he was guessing Mazaki.
"Can't we prompt him into his human form? He'll be easier to carry!" Nosaka suggested, likely because their efforts at moving him weren't succeeding.
"We can't, humans can't deal with traumatic damage to this degree! If we change him, he might not s-survive." Yami rebuked, his voice becoming quieter with every word.
It was at this point Seto's consciousness started to fade, he was vaguely aware that he was formed onto his feet, and made to limp foreward, he was wedged between two dragons - Mazaki and Nosaka, maybe? His massive wings, which held most of his agony, were draped over them to keep him from falling over.
They didn't get very far when his ability to perceive things through his vision began to reappear.
He saw his front talons limply dragging through the snow, he could see somewhat of his leg, it had… streaks. Not a scale colouring of streaks either, but bright reddish-pink scar-like cracks between new cracks in his scale plating. It was the very flesh beneath his skin.
The streaks seemed to be in a reminiscent pattern between lightning, and veins.
He heard the furious beating of wings and a sudden crunch in the snow.
"I came as soon as I heard!"
"Y-Yugi." Seto tried to growl, but he doubted he was heard.
"Here, put him on my back, I'm strong enough to carry him" Was that, Jounouchi?
Seto was wondering how and why they were here as he felt himself being rolled onto the back of the black Diamondtooth. He felt himself being lifted off the ground, his body now wedged between the alpha's wings. If he wasn't so disoriented, he might be surprised that Jounouchi, who was smaller than him, Ryou, Otogi and Mazaki given his younger age, was able to easily carry him on his back. He kept his eyes shut, the pain was giving him a migraine to just add onto his pain.
"We don't have time to bring him back - bring him closer to me." Yugi said, Seto felt Jonouchi walk over "Place him on the ground, belly-down." The black dragon did just that, and very gently Seto felt himself once again lying on the cold snow, the chills in his body aggravating the pain further, but soon numbing it also.
"You'll be okay..." He heard Jou whisper to him, if he could he would have swatted at him.
"Anzu, I need you to take the fledglings away, leave me and Jou alone with Lieutenant Kaiba."
"But Yugi-"
"Now." Seto rarely heard Yugi use his authoritative tone, and never towards his mate. "They don't need to see what we're about to do." He heard crunching in the snow and the sound of beating wings, a little bit of Rebecca's crying.
"Kaiba, I need to to hold on just a little longer, okay? This is going to hurt..."
What was more pain at this point?.
Gasping, Seto opened his eyes again, he was lying on his left side so only his right eye could see. He saw a concerned, cringing Jou standing over him. As was Yugi, but Yugi - his eyes were beginning to glow white…
Still panting a bit, Seto dared look over his shoulder at his wings, which even in the snow felt like they were on fire with agonizing pain.
He wished he hadn't.
His once pristine, blue-highlighted white wings were now frayed into backened ribbons. They looked like burnt paper barely hanging from the framework skeleton of his wings.
His eyes widened and he froze, staring at his wings for what felt like hours. But really, it was only a split second, and the shock of what he saw shoved him right into the blackness that had earlier been a fading mirage to him.
A sharp claw prodded into his side. "Wake up." A gravelly voice he recognized all-too-well demanded.
Seto struggled to open his blue eyes, and he jolted with a gasp as consciousness seemed to hit him all at once rather than slowly come to him.
"Well, good evening beta." An almost amused voice told him with a snort; he looked over see Bakura in his dragon form greeting him.
Blinking in confusion, Seto steadily looked down at his front talons - no pink streak marks.
"You've been out for a while - you hungry or thirsty? We've been supplementing you with magic but you need physical sustenance- are you even listening to me?" Bakura stopped himself near the end of his explanation as he noticed his patient was too busy looking over himself to pay attention.
"... What happened?" Seto asked flatly. Slowly, he lifted his pale head up to stare down the silver healer, who was unaffected by the cold stare.
"You've been recovering in the Healer Cave for the past three days." Bakura stated as-a-matter-of-factly.
"I was struck by lightning." Seto growled, flexing his front claws.
"Yes, you were." Bakura confirmed, sitting upright with his tail wrapped over his front talons.
"Cut the crap Bakura - I was scorched by lightning! I looked at myself - my wings were burned beyond repair! There's no way I can be here without a scratch on me just after sleeping for three days." Seto told him, perplexed. While he was relieved beyond proper explanation that his wings, and he himself, was whole. However, it simply didn't make sense. He should be covered in scars from nose-to-tail, with crippled wings.
While dragons could in fact regenerate, this regeneration was extremely limited, and like many other reptiles only applied to their tails. They couldn't regenerate limbs, and especially wings.
Bakura also looked perplexed "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, hi own tone edging on confusion "Yugi and Jounouchi brought you in like this - you looked completely fine, just unconscious. The only real sign injury was your elemental core being extremely weak."
"I..." Seto trailed off, not sure what to say "This… this doesn't make sense."
"You should consider yourself lucky," Bakura grunted, padding over and shoulder-shoving Seto out of the nest "most dragons who get hit by lightning either end up dead or severely damaged. Maybe lightning being your element made it… not affect you?"
"We both know elements don't work like that." Seto mumbled, glaring down at the silver dragon. Dragons were only unaffected by elements they themselves produced, and only while they were using it. Bakura should know this even with a non-damaging element, as Jou had been badly burned by fire when he was driven out of their territory.
Bukura said nothing as he whacked him with his wing and basically dragged him across the cave where he had a change of human clothes and what appeared to be a pile of herbs. "I'll prompt you into changing into a human, I need you to take this medicine and eat some actual food."
"I don't need prompting-" Seto tried to argue, but the healer shot a glare at him.
"Your elemental core is still weak, I've supported it through supplementation while you were unconscious, but you need to strengthen it up. For the next week, no transforming, no supplementing magic, and no use of your element. You can still prompt others though, since it doesn't use your own energy." The healer instructed, every point making Seto's face twist further into a grimace.
Sighing in defeat, Seto picked up the tunic and closed his eyes as he felt himself being prompted for the first time since he was a fledgeling. Allowing the healer to prompt him, Seto quickly pulled the tunic over his human body, and opened his eyes once he was properly covered. "How is my brother?" Seto asked as he picked up the mixture of fresh and dried herbs, swallowing them down with very little chewing since the flavor was a mixture between bitter, grassy, and fucking awful.
"You brother and the alpha's whelp have been watched over by Ryou and Mazaki." Bakura explained, watching the Lieutenant to make sure he was going to eat all of his medicine. "Now, Jounouchi should be waiting for you outside, he'll escort you back to the village. Once you're they, you are strictly going to rest and if you are going to work, nothing strenuous and only in your human form. If you do not follow this plan, I will break both of your legs."
While Seto wasn't that threatened by Bakura given that in dragon form he could tear the silver dragon to pieces, he knew the healer only wanted him to fully recover. It was winter anyways, it was best he conserve his energy best he could, especially since he was going to be using more energy to recover his elemental core.
Seto started towards the cave entrance before he stopped and looked back over his shoulder "Why is Jounouchi here?" He asked.
Bakura rolled his eyes and squashed his snout "You know that mutts a sentimental fool. He's been guarding the cave entrance during the day since you got here. He leaves at night to do his usual duties, but he comes back during the day."
"That stray." Seto mumbled under his breath, then flicked his eyes back up "Why isn't Marik here? Shouldn't he be treating me?"
Bakura seemed to stiffen, and then droop immediately "He's been… Occupied." Bakura admitted in a tight tone "His daughter came down with a fever and he refuses to let her out of his sight at the healer hut." Seto nodded in understanding; he knew that he was referring to Amane.
"Is… Rebecca alright?" Seto asked, all he could remember was her crying and not much else.
"She got dislocated her shoulder and got some nasty bruised ribs from the forced landing, but she's fine. In fact, she's been extremely worried about you, the brat feels guilty for getting you fried in the first place."
Seto felt burning - it wasn't a flustered type of burning though, the word fried seemed to trigger him to feel heat where he swore he'd had lightning scars before.
"You coming out, Kaiba?" He heard Jou call from outside of the cave, bringing the brunet back out of his thoughts. Nodding curtly to the healer, Seto exited the cave.
"I could have walked you know."
"Relax snowdrift, Bakura did say to relax you know."
"Don't call me snowdrift."
"Why not? As a dragon you're basically a big pile of snow. Being all white, and cold."
Seto rolled his eyes as he sat straddled on the back of Jou's neck,. He'd initially refused to be carried and ride on the back of the black dragon, but given that he was in his weak human form he wasn't in any place to really argue.
If anything, he was just thankful that the hybrid Diamondtooth wasn't carrying him in his mouth.
"...Jounochi." Seto addressed amongst the silence.
"Yes?" The black dragon didn't bother to look over his shoulder.
"What happened back there?"
There wasn't a hitch in Jou's step or tone when he answered "What do you mean?" Seto knew that the other dragon knew exactly what he was talking about and was now trying to deflect.
"When I was struck by lightning, I was mangled." Seto stated, because he knew what he saw and he saw himself burnt with broken wings. The image of his horrifically maimed wings was burned into his memory. "And they tried carrying me, but then you and Yugi showed up."
"We were warned-"
"And how were you warned?" Seto stopped him in his tracks in both conversation and in actuality, as he slid off the other dragons neck and landed neatly onto the snow, stepping in front of him to look up at him as he spoke "Nosaka arranged the hunting party and no one outside of it knew about what we were doing, and when I was hit no one left to get help, they were all trying to bring me back to the village." Seto recalled the conversations that he could hear but not see "And even if someone left to get Yugi, why would they bring back both of you? Not that enough time had passed for any of us to fly away, get Yugi and yourself, and then fly all of the way back."
Jou slowly blinked down at him, his talons were shuffling a little but his ruby red eyes were completely unreadable "I… Knew you were in danger. So I told Yugi."
"How?" Seto demanded.
"I…" Jou cleared his throat, and looked side to side as he brought his massvie dark head down at level with the human Lieutenant "It's hard to explain."
"Explain it. I'm no fool." The brunet told him. Jou wasn't discrediting or shooting down anything he was saying, so clearly something else here was going on.
Jou tilted his head a little"What do you know about Diamontooth's?" He suddenly asked.
"They're the head of their respective Rafter." Seto answered impatiently, not missing a beat.
"What do you know about a Diamondtooth's abilities, though, Kaiba?" Jou asked, this time his tone was more hushed.
Seto frowned at the inquiry "The diamond teeth themselves as an enhanced weapon for biting, they're passed on through magical means of either an heir, or a Lieutenant if the former Diamondtooth had no heir, upon becoming diamondtooth the dragon in question gains a boost of their physical, mental, and magical abilities." He trailed off, everyone knew these things, that was why a Diamontooth was more than a figurehead. They were meant to be the most powerful dragon in their Rafter.
Jou seemed to hesitate, and he sighed "There's more to it. There's a secret known only to the big three of a Rafter; the healer, the Lorekeeper, and the Diamondtooth. Lorekeepers usually only tell a new Diamondtooth once they gain the rank. Even heirs aren't normally told of it."
"Stop beating around the dragon grass, either tell me or don't." Seto told him sharply, crossing his arms hard over his chest.
Jou stared hard at him for what must have been at least a minute, clearly hesitating "Diamondtooths have powers." He finally said, his voice straining.
"That isn't-"
"Unique powers." Jounouchi corrected himself, he sat down and wrapped his tail over his talons, looking down at Seto with less hard eyes as he continued "Every Diamondtooth has a power that is unique for it's Rafter, and it's passed down to each subsequent Diamondtooth, usually that power has something to do with their Rafters culture, strength or survival adaptations." He explained.
Seto furrowed his brows together. Unique powers? "Like what?" He pressed.
The black dragon sighed deeply, and he actually looked guilty for a second "My Rafter," he finally said, "we're nocturnal, so we're active during the night. However, most other dragons are active during the day so we're technically vulnerable during the day to most other dragons. So the alpha is supposed to keep watch during the day, so to do this… we never sleep."
Seto quirked a brow up "I've seen you sleep. You sleep outside of my hut all damn day."
"Our bodies sleep," he corrected "our minds do not. When I fall asleep, I can leave my body."
"..." Seto narrowed his eyes.
"I can see you don't believe me." Jou observed "It's similar to astral projection, it's so that I can watch over the territory when the rest of my Rafter is asleep."
"And what does that have to do with me getting struck by lightning? Get to the point, stray."
"When my mind projected out of my body, I followed your group and saw you got struck, so I woke myself up and went to get Yugi."
"As interesting as that is," ultimately, it was extremely interesting, he knew that a Diamondtooth was powerful, but a unique supernatural ability per Rafter was something else "that doesn't explain why I'm not a wreck."
"Oh, you are, don't get it twisted." Jou sassed him, if Seto were a dragon he would have shoved him over "Tell me, haven't you noticed how healthy your Rafter is? Ribs breaking, gored by buffalo, and yet most of you don't stay injured for much longer than a few days." Jou said.
He thought for a minute. When he was younger, he and his peerage broke their ribs often, Mazaki especially seemed affected by this affliction, However, her frailty seemed to disapear as soon as they came out of fledgeling stage.
In fact, there was the time she broke her leg, yet was doing regular duties no more than a few days later… And she didn't even have a limp, like a lot of dragons who break their limbs do even after their bones re-mend.
But, this occurred not long after Yugi became Diamondtooth.
"Healing," Seto concluded, looking up to the black dragon "Yugi can heal other dragons." Jou nodded "But, how did you know that?"
"If I project out of my body, that doesn't mean I can't project into other ones." Jou said "I can go into the minds of other dragons… but only while they sleep. I believe this dream-walking was so a Diamondtooth of the Shadow Forest could know all of the secrets of their dragons." Being sneaky was one of the Shadow Forest Rafters main attributes, and while they weren't above lying and sneaking and spying to get their way or find out information, their Diamondtooth took these tactics to the extreme by going into a dragons very mind, finding out things about others that could otherwise be kept as secret.
However, if Jounouchi could dream-walk, that meant-
"Have you been coming into my dreams?" Seto asked in a tight tone.
"Yes." The black dragon had the decency to at least now not try to hide it "You have very stable dreams."
If Seto were a dragon, he would have bit him by the scruff of his pointy neck and flung him across the plains, but he wasn't a dragon now, he was just a human.
"...Take me back to the village." Seto growly lowly, and he noted with satisfaction his tone of voice clearly bit into the other dragon "And do not carry me. I'm fine walking, When we get there, stay the hell away my hut unless if you're picking up your daughter." He turned and started down the path, and he heard Jou shuffle his talons, and begin to follow him.
"Okay." Jounouch answered curtly, but there was guilt leaching into his tone.
"And more importantly," Seto looked over his shoulder to glare even as he continued down the path "stay the hell away from me."
To be continued...
Authors Note: Okay, so we have a lot to unpack here.
For starters; The Shadow Forest Rafter has sign language! It's called Claw-Speak when it's the dragon equivalent.
Rebecca is the heir presumptive to the Domino Peak Rafter, because she and Yugi are cousins (Sugoroku and Arthur were mates, the heir system is actually passed through who the dame is rather than the sire in this Rafter unless if the dragon in question only has children through being a sire)
And I've said in the authors note a few chapters back that Yugi and Jou have unique powers because they are a Diamondtooth. Some guessed that Jou's had something to do with dream-walking, which is part of it. Yugi's is healing though, and this was hinted to a couple chapters ago talking about Anzu's injuries. This isn't very 'conventionally' healing though, will go more into depth next chapter.
And Kaiba's pissed because, well, Jounouchi literally intruded into his mind without permission. Going into someones mind is kind of like busting open their diary... only it's worse, really.
These abilities will come into play soon, along with more personal lore between some characters, some of you may have noticed.