Daniel James Fenton was tired of being ordered about by his mother and father. Really, he'd rather go out with his best friend and practice archery or swordsmanship, but this? This was entirely ruining his day.
Daniel was walking through the forest outside the kingdom grounds, feeling rather worn down and annoyed at the order to seek out the dragon girl that had been so diligently pestering the kingdom for the past three full moons. Behind him, stumbling over the various rocks and sticks that lay about, was Tucker Foley. His father was an baker and his mother a clothier. It was because of Tucker's mother's occupation that Daniel Fenton, future King of Amity, had grown close to the boy. It was she who created the very shirt and pants that Daniel was currently wearing underneath his armor as he scoured the kingdom's surrounding forest for signs of the dragon girl.
Tucker, by default, had become his manservant. His parents had requested that he take the job upon noticing Daniel and Tucker's unfaltering connection, and Tucker very happily obliged.
Daniel hardly forced Tucker to do his things, though. He was a perfectly capable young man that could dress and clean himself, thank you. His best friend's status was really of no need to him, but his parents insisted, and by Daniel's side Tucker stayed. He wasn't complaining, mind you.
He loved having Tucker around! He just didn't enjoy the way his parents ordered him about or Tucker's persistence in fulfilling his job.
"Is something bothering you, my liege?" Tucker queried from behind, breathing rather heavily as he struggled to keep up.
Daniel politely slowed for him. "For the last time, Tucker, please stop calling me your liege."
"Your parents insist."
"My parents are dollopheads. The dragon girl that we're after is nothing but a nuisance to the kingdom. There's really no reason to seek her out, if you ask me. I was looking forward to running about with you."
"Your parents are not dollopheads!" Tucker looked rather shocked at the terminology.
Daniel glanced at him, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
"Okay, maybe a bit," Tucker admitted, studying the ground. "But they're the King and Queen! You know they'd come after the dragon girl themselves if not for other engagements."
"Yeah, yeah." Daniel waved him off with a roll of his eyes. "Save the sweet talk for my parents, please. You know I don't care for–"
A chilling roar cracked through the forest, sending birds into disarray and otherwise noisy creatures deathly silent. Daniel's sword was out in an instant.
"Tucker, get behind me," he muttered. Tucker happily obliged.
The biggest dragon Daniel had ever seen broke through the trees, its footfalls so heavy that it reduced large rocks to mere pebbles. It studied the two boys with head held high, a huff of smoke soaring from its nostrils and ruffling Danny's stark black hair. He brought himself down into a defensive position, eyes narrowed.
The sword glinted in the beast's large black eyes and it growled lowly. Tucker shook like a leaf behind him.
Daniel was the first to act. He rushed forward with a yell of malice, slicing a thin cut into the beast's stomach before it could react. It let out another ear-splitting roar and snapped angrily at Daniel's heels, following his diving figure with its long, scaly neck. It's mouth opened wide, internal fire lighting the insides a horrible red.
Daniel jumped and dove into a somersault, stumbling as he just barely avoided the spray of molten fire. The surrounding trees were reduced to ashes in mere moments, fire igniting the grass and casting menacing shadows across the dragon's face.
Tucker screeched. His hat, which he was never seen without, has burst into flames atop his head. He threw it to the ground in panic, stomping desperately on the flames in an attempt to stifle them.
Tucker's head had almost been roasted. Daniel's wide eyes turned to face the beast once more, a determined gleam lighting his blue eyes.
He couldn't let Tucker get hurt.
With a yell, he raised his sword and brought it down upon the dragon's low neck. The beast was too large and didn't manage to swerve out of the way before the blade made contact and sliced through his scales. Blood spurted from the wound and the dragon screeched in pain rather than anger. The ground shook.
His sword smacked against hard bone and he brought the bloody thing out of the beast's neck, watching it hit the ground with a resounding thud that echoed throughout the forest.
The last of the flames were beginning to fade due to morning dew and the still-wet foliage from last night's rainfall. The fire could not thrive in such circumstances.
Daniel was breathing rather heavily. The tip of his sword hit the ground and he swayed ever so slightly in after-battle exhaustion. Then, as he wiped the mixture of dragon blood and sweat from his forehead, he turned to face Tucker and ask him if he was alright.
A woman, with shoulder length black hair and a dress fashioned from leaves, was standing over his unconscious form.
The dragon girl.
She turned and scowled in Daniel's direction, a tear falling from her eye and landing on her sun-tanned skin. Vibrant colors stained her cheeks and neck in swirling patterns. The same design, though cracked and a bit more faded than the colors on her face, painted the back of her hand and crawled up her forearm.
She was beautiful, but she was also dangerous and insane. Daniel had to get rid of her like his parents had ordered. She had hurt his friend . . !
"Daniel Fenton. You have taken my friend's life."
He scoffed, lifting his sword. "Your . . . your friend? That beast tried to kill me!"
"After you had already attacked it with your sword."
Daniel scowled. He didn't have time for this. He went to lift his sword to his neck and demand she come silently back to the kingdom . . .
His sword flew out of his grip and clattered against a tree that was across the burnt field the dragon had created in its flaming fit of destruction. Daniel followed it with his eyes before whipping back towards the girl, newfound hatred burning throughout every inch of his body.
"You . . . You witch!"
The dragon girl hummed. "My name, Daniel, is Samantha." Her hand lifted, fingers splayed, and he noticed that it was glowing red. "This is a name that I do not believe you will soon forget."
Daniel had to get out of here, but he couldn't leave without Tucker. He was unarmed against a demented witch. What was he going to do?
"Look, I'll let you go if you give me my friend." he gesticulated toward Tucker's slumbering form.
Samantha barked out a harsh laugh. "You'll let me go? Oh, Daniel, you're as ignorant as your parents. You hunt my family, my friends." She paused, and a grin lit up her sorrowful expression. "I think it's only proper that you're hunted by those you love as well."
Daniel didn't know what she was going on about. He had to get him and Tucker out of here, and now.
"Such hatred and fury in your young heart. I'll teach you love. I'll teach you understanding."
"Look, lady, I don't know what you're going on about–!"
He felt himself fall unconscious before he could finish his sentence.
Daniel awoke in complete and mind-numbing pain. His entire body felt as though he had walked through the pits of Hell and barely survived to tell the tale. He groaned, bleary, confused eyes opening to stare upwards at foliage and open, blue sky.
The witch!
Daniel sat up and his head swam. The world tilted at once and he fell back to the ground. Two rather uncomfortable rocks persistently prodded him in the back.
He groaned again, eyes squeezed shut against the blistering light. Why was it so bright? Everything around him was much too vibrant. His nose was being assaulted by a variety of smells each so incredibly distinct. His ears pounded with the sound of bugs and birds and his own rushing blood. Someone close by was breathing rather heavily.
Tucker. That was most definitely Tucker. Was he okay? Did the witch do something to him?
Swiveling his head towards the noise (and the smell; Tucker really needed a bath), Daniel squinted against the sunlight. Slowly but surely, Tucker's form came into focus. He was pressed against a tree, staring him down with wide eyes. A flow of continuous tears stained his cheeks and wet his shirt, and his white knuckles held a charred stick in their grasp and though it was his lifeline.
Daniel sighed in relief. "Tucker! You're oka–"
The words that had came out were not his own. In fact, they weren't even words. Rather, it sounded more like a collection of chortles and gurgles, quite similar to a dragon's.
A dragon's. The witch's words came back into the forefront of his mind. He hadn't thought about them before, but now . . .
"I think it's only proper that you're hunted by those you love as well."
Daniel's eyes widened despite the pain that blossomed in his head. His head whipped around and he stared down at his laying body . . .
Shiny black scales met his gaze. Two black wings, striped at the edges with white, sprouted from his back (he had previously believed those to be two uncomfortable rocks!) and a black tail, striped at the end like the wings, lay unmoving on the ground.
He tried to stand in surprise only to find him tripping over his feet once more. They felt clunky and overgrown.
Tucker screamed when he tried to stand, clutching the stick closer to his chest.
"Tucker, you turnip-head! It's me!" Daniel shouted, but, to Tucker, it sounded only like a low grumble and a slight roar of anger. He tried to sink into the tree behind him.
"You killed my friend," Tucker muttered, gazing landing on something beside Daniel. "You . . . You killed him, and–"
Daniel looked over. His own clothes, now ripped and in tatters, lay beside his massive form.
The reality of the situation hit him like a rock. Before, it had only been a little thought in his clouded, sleep-shrouded mind; now it was reality.
Daniel couldn't believe it. He refused to.
That witch had turned him into a dragon!
He yelled, struggled to get to his feet once more, and, upon standing on his back two limbs, found himself quite overbalanced and fell flat on his back. Pain shot through his wings and into his back and he yelped, tumbling over onto his stomach and struggling to push himself up once more.
Something started hitting him. He turned around to see Tucker jabbing at his back with the charred stick.
"Stop!" he shouted. This came out as a short roar, loud even to Daniel's ears, and Tucker dropped the stick in pure fright and fell backwards once more.
How could he explain this to Tucker? How?
Daniel groaned. He was still in a world of pain.
An idea bloomed in his mind, and he sat up (Key word: sat. He still hadn't gotten a hang of standing yet). Taking a finger, no, a claw, Daniel drew letters into the ash and dirt.
Tucker's eyes widened. What on Earth was that dragon doing?
Daniel finished, looked up at Tucker, and saw that he hadn't moved from his spot. He stomped once, looked back down at the writing, and then looked up at Tucker once more with a pointed glare. This continued for several moments before Tucker got the courage to crawl cautiously forward.
The words were upside down, but Tucker could quite clearly read the shaky handwriting.
It's me, you idiot. It's Daniel.
Tucker looked up. If possible, his eyes grew even wider than before. "M-My liege?"
Daniel stomped. "You know I don't like being called that!" he said, but the resulting sentence was only grumbles and chortles of distaste in Tucker's ears.
Tucker still got the message, though. A disbelieving grin broke across his face and he wiped at the tears on his cheeks. "Danny! I thought you were dead!"
Tucker hadn't called Daniel 'Danny' since they were eight. The response surprised him quite a bit, but he was taken aback even more by the succeeding hug.
Tucker could hardly wrap his arms around Daniel's neck, but he tried valiantly to do so, anyway. Then, stepping back, he looked Daniel over with newfound fear and curiosity.
"Did–Did the dragon girl do this to you? Was she a witch?"
Daniel nodded emphatically. Yes and no were the only responses he could give without writing.
Tucker's face fell suddenly. "You can't go back to the kingdom."
Daniel sent him a quizzical gaze, head tilting. Tucker must've gotten the message, because he responded, "Daniel, they'd kill you! You know how the kingdom feels about dragons! You'd be dead before you could write the first word!"
The full reality of the situation dawned on him with Tucker's words. He couldn't go back home.
What was Daniel going to do?
i noticed another thing whilst fixing the formatting on this oneshot: everything that i had italicized was no longer, well, italicized. i tried to fix the things that needed obvious italicizing, but if you notice anything else, please let me know and i will gladly fix it.
once again, along with the italicizing thing, please let me know if there are any formatting issues in this chapter. i would really, really appreciate it.
finally, please review. i had to leave the laptop to go to a dance recital and am now looking at a long night of writing ahead of me, along with the format editing of the oneshot that will be published after this one. i would really appreciate a nice little review for my worries, and, if you cannot, that's perfectly alright as well.
xx