Hello again! Here's another chapter, this time starring Gigas being much too friendly with these new dragon's for Justice's comfort, and Sienna realizing that the Lieutenant just left her alone with the Albains.

73. Prisoners

They worked as quickly as they could, but they still weren't ready to leave until the sun was sinking towards the horizon. By then, Ren was half-asleep on his feet. They had to search the entire camp, pack up whatever food and water they could find—technically stealing, but they didn't have much choice if they wanted to make it through the desert—and destroy anything they thought could be used to inject more eggs.

Then there were the weapons. Mostly guns and knives, though there were a few more esoteric ones thrown in. Twiggy, Zircon, and Quake worked together to bury them deep enough that the White Fang wouldn't be able to find them if they came back.

Finally, Winter called them out in front of the tent where the lab had been and said, "Ilia will ride on Quake." She turned to the tall man, who was clearly still woozy with blood loss. "You will stay with me." Justice and the indigo dragonet, whose name was apparently Gigas, protested loudly. "You two," she went on, with a pointed glare that silenced them at once, "will behave."

"Um." Ilia winced when Winter looked at her. "Gigas can't fly yet."

"Justice will take him."

There was a slight pause. "Move," she barked. "We need to put some distance between us and the White Fang before dark."

Ren couldn't help a small smile at the sight of Gigas perched on Justice's back. He sat inside a basket that Blake had found and strapped to the saddle, his head poking out and his tiny wings fluttering. His rider made a much more sinister picture where he sat behind Winter. One arm was still immobilized in bandages, and the other had been tied behind his back with a loop of rope.

It was all a bit haphazard, and Ren suspected that most of the White Fang members they had caught would escape long before Vacuo could send a Flight Squad after them. Only the big man, as far as Blake knew, had any kind of rank in the organization, so they could at least bring him along with them and make sure he ended up in custody.

There was a small hiccup when Twiggy refused to give Pyrrha up. She and Jaune took turns trying to talk her down, until eventually she allowed her to climb up onto Quake's back behind Ilia.

Then, finally, they took off. Sunset already stained the horizon a dazzling pink. Ren watched it for a while, enjoying the peace of the moment as the clouds faded to violet. He stared so long that he started to see phantom spots, and blinked them away—along with a small speck that vanished, unremarked, an instant after it appeared.

"Where's Flux?"

Justice groaned. "I don't know," he said, for the fifth time. "She escaped with Sienna."

Gigas pawed at his back. He turned his head just enough to shoot the dragonet a quelling look.

"Where are we going?"

"Atlas," Justice spat, seething. Ilia had told him stories about Atlas.

"I want Ur—the Lieutenant."

"Don't you know what a prisoner is?" Justice asked, exasperated.

"I don't want to be here," Gigas whined. "I want to be with Flux and Harbinger and the big one!"

"No you don't," he snapped. "Stay away from her, she's dangerous."

Gigas started wriggling in his basket, as if he was trying to escape. "Stop that!" Justice barked, alarmed. With his stumpy little wings he'd probably plummet straight down.

"I want the Lieutenant!"

To Justice's horror, Specter noticed the commotion and dropped back from his place between Pit and Fang. "We'll be landing pretty soon," he told Gigas. "Then you can stay with your rider. Just... don't start throwing things, please."

"Or what?" Justice snarled. "You'll hurt his rider?"

"What? No!"

He scoffed. "Why do you think the Schnee made us fly separately?"

Specter glared at him. "We're not going to hurt Ilia for something you did. But if she was on your back you'd just fly off, or try to set us on fire."

Gigas whined at the sharp words, and hid behind the rim of his basket.

"Sorry," Specter said, more softly this time. "I know how it feels to have to do things you don't want to."

"Huh?"

"Don't talk to him, Gigas," Justice said, looking pointedly away from the ice dragon.

"Well," Specter went on, ignoring him, "do you want to fight?"

"I want Flux. And Harbinger, and the big one, and Brand—"

Specter's ears perked up. "Brand isn't the big one?"

"No. Well, he's bigger, but he doesn't talk to us much. Mostly he just sleeps when there aren't any Grimm around."

"Is the big one the one that attacked Pyrrha?"

"Shut up, Gigas!"

"Who's Pyrrha?"

"The human with the long red hair. Flux's rider and another hybrid attacked her in the woods."

"Oh, that wasn't her," Gigas said confidently. "She doesn't listen to Sienna like Flux does. Harbinger says she must be broken, and that's why she—hey!" His weight shifted dangerously as Justice sent a warning flash of heat through his scales.

"I told you to stop," he hissed. "He's trying to make you tell him secrets!"

"I'm not!" Specter protested. "I just want to know who attacked my friend!"

But Gigas finally went quiet, and didn't say anything more about the traitor hybrid. He did keep whining that he wanted to be with the Lieutenant, and Flux and Harbinger, as if the humans were going to let them go just because he was upset. But he ignored it when Specter kept apologizing, and eventually used his powers to tug on his reins and shove him away from them.

The sun was almost set when he finally got tired and stopped talking, leaving Justice alone with his thoughts. He tried to think of some way that he and Ilia could go back. They could tell the others that it wasn't her fault, that the humans had tricked her. But he didn't think anyone would believe it, not even when it was true. They couldn't go back. Not ever.

And then, in the back of his mind, Not with Ilia, you can't.

Anger roiled in the pit of his stomach, a flash of hatred so intense that it heated his scales and woke up Gigas. Just because there was something wrong with her, she had to make him think these things, too. He hoped Brand had found her after the fight. He hoped the Fang got away from her, and she was left all alone in the woods with nothing to hurt except the Grimm.

But at the thought of it the anger drained away, and he was left feeling hollow instead. He thought of Gigas, stubbornly demanding to go back to Flux and Harbinger. Justice wished he wasn't too old to make demands like that. More than that, he wished he knew what to ask for.

They landed as the last color faded from the sky. The forest had gone yellow and patchy, and Pit didn't have much trouble finding a spot to curl up for the night—but he didn't go to sleep just then. For one thing, Blake and Weiss were talking. The kind of talking that meant he and Specter should probably leave them alone for a little while. For another...

He padded over to where the dragonet huddled in the crook of his rider's arm. Tai and Quake sat nearby, watching both of them in case they tried to escape. The big man was asleep, probably exhausted from trying to fight with his injury. Two violet eyes glared at Pit as he approached, and a low growl sounded in the back of his throat. His voice was so low for his size that he sounded more like a Grimm than a hatchling.

"Are you hungry?" Pit asked.

"No," the dragonet said stubbornly. He was curled up around his belly and, when Pit extended a pawful of oats, his head stretched involuntarily towards it.

Pit chuffed and dropped the oats next to the dragonet. After another suspicious glare, the little one attacked them furiously. Specter, hearing the noise, wandered up to the two of them.

"Hello," he said quietly.

"No." Gigas hid his head under a wing. He had to twist his body around to do it, since his wings were so small.

"He smells a little like you," Specter said. "All... heavy, and—" he cut off with a startled yelp, as Gigas lunged forward and bit him on the nose. "Hey!"

"Let him go," Pit told Gigas. "And give him some space, okay?"

Specter put a paw over his snout. "I already figured that out," he grumbled.

"Do you need anything?" Gigas kept staring at him, his little wings slightly extended to make himself look bigger. Not that he needed it. He was built like a boulder, all heavy bone plates sticking up from his spine and thick spikes jutting from the end of his tail. Pit could see his own square jaw reflected in the dragonet, even more pronounced.

Pit tried again. "Water, maybe? I think Tai has some."

"I want Flux."

His ears drooped as he remembered the grey and gold dragonet. "Flux is your..."

"My sister." He pawed at the ground. "You chased her away."

He glanced at Specter, and saw that his tail had gone limp with guilt. "Sorry," Pit mumbled. "We didn't want for that to happen, but we had to shut down their lab."

"I don't care about the stupid lab."

A sickly knot formed in Pit's stomach. How was he supposed to explain to a hatchling that his rider had been willing to experiment on dozens, maybe even hundreds of eggs to make him? It was hard enough to wrap his head around the fact that he'd been made in that place that smelled like blood and death. If Blake had been participating... he shuddered.

"What's your sister like?" Specter asked.

Gigas bared his teeth.

"Nothing secret," he promised. "Just... what games do you play together?"

The hatchling was quiet for a minute. Just when Pit thought he wasn't going to answer, he said, "We chase each other mostly."

Specter bobbed his head. "That's always fun. I did that with Pit and Storm, though usually if Fang and I tried it we ended up wrestling instead."

"She always wins," Gigas admitted. "And then she jumps on me and shocks me by accident."

"Have you played this one?" Pit asked, and pounced on Specter's tail. His brother squawked and flailed, then fell over onto his side.

Gigas watched them dubiously. "I think that would hurt," he said.

Pit nodded. "We probably shouldn't jump on you... but I bet you could get Specter." Specter stuck his tongue out at him.

Over the next few minutes, they slowly coaxed Gigas out from under his rider's arm and got him chasing the tips of their tails in circles. He was clumsy—he kept tripping over them and rolling in the dirt—but he twanged happily every time he managed to catch one of them. Pit started secretly letting him win. Tai watched them play with a smile on his face.

The sun set, and the moon crept up over the tops of the scrubby trees. Gigas lolled on his back, making noises like someone plucking a rubber band while Specter gently poked his stomach with his tail. Pit was trying, and failing, not to laugh. Then a sinister red light fell over them, and all three dragons froze.

"What are you doing?" hissed Justice.

Steele, who was keeping an eye on him, cuffed him with one paw. "You're not starting another fight," he warned.

Justice ignored him, glaring instead at Gigas. "I told you to stop talking to them!"

Gigas twanged in alarm and darted back under the big man's arm. His tail jostled him enough that he grunted and opened his eyes. Pit froze as the man fixed him with the most poisonous glare he'd ever seen.

"Fuck off!" he snarled.

Reluctantly, they backed away. Justice watched them go, his eyes glowing scarlet, his teeth bared. "Stay away from him!" he growled, even as Steele fixed him with a warning glare.

It was probably time they left, anyway. Weiss and Blake were already half-asleep, sitting with their backs to one of the trees. Pit scoffed and nudged them with his nose until they got up, then settled down behind them so they could lean on him instead. Specter's tongue poked out as he yawned, padded in a small circle, and lay on his rider's other side. All three of the others were asleep in minutes.

Even though it hadn't been that long since their grueling chase, Pit couldn't sleep. He kept remembering the sickly smell, the glass vials and metal machines, the shards of shell scattered in the dirt.

He pushed his nose against Blake's side and took a long, shaky breath. She stirred, opened one eye, and patted his forehead. "What's up?" she mumbled sleepily.

"...Tank 'oo."

"Hmm?"

Pit didn't know how to explain, so he purred softly until she fell back to sleep.

It took almost ten minutes for Flux to find her. By then she'd finally come to her senses and fled the scene—but not before lingering much too long in the shadows, watching...

What did they do to you?

Sienna looked up at the sound of a high, terrified shriek, and raised an arm in time for her dragonet to collide with it at top speed. She clung there, claws digging in painfully, squeaking and wailing and sparking.

"Quiet!"

Her jaws snapped shut. Her eyes still darted back and forth, her whole body trembling, her tail winding around Sienna's wrist until she started losing feeling in her fingertips. She shushed the dragonet, stroking her back until the shaking subsided a little.

"There," she murmured, scratching the tiny creature under the chin. Flux's eyes fluttered shut, and she buried her face in the crook of Sienna's elbow. A small whimper escaped her.

"Did you see anyone else on your way here?" Sienna asked.

Flux squeaked and bobbed her head.

"Where?"

She tilted her head to one side, then pointed with her tail. Sienna wasn't sure it would work, but she thought it was worth a try—she gave her wrist a light toss. Flux jumped and clung even tighter, wailing in distress.

Sienna winced and muttered an apology before placing the dragonet on her shoulder. She had, as far as Sienna knew, only just figured out how to fly. Of course she was exhausted. That she'd even managed as much as she had was impressive.

She didn't know how impressive, since she'd never attended a Dragonry... but Harbinger had only recently started taking small flights around the camp, and he was much older. Probably something to do with the fact that he had earth and fire in him, and Flux was almost all lightning.

So Flux pointed with her tail, and Sienna followed her directions on foot. She found several of the Fang running that way, including their medic, and let out a quiet sigh of relief. That was one potential disaster averted, then.

Over the next several hours, small bands of their members came together slowly, often in twos and threes. She found Fennec and then, almost an hour later, Harbinger and Corsac. The hybrid jumped on Fennec, tackling him to the ground. With them came Brand—and Hazel.

Sienna started to hope when they found Perry, along with several pieces of injection equipment that he'd hoisted over his shoulders. But the next group brought worse news—one of them had seen the Lieutenant and Gigas, along with more than a dozen others, captured by the Schnees. Flux had barely escaped them.

Harbinger, on hearing the news, started to howl. It took Corsac and Fennec's combined efforts to quiet him, and Sienna had to pinch Flux's jaws shut to get her to stop crying. "They might still be close," she whispered. "We can't make so much noise." The dragonet peeped and tried to hide inside Sienna's shirt. It took several minutes to persuade her to wrap herself around her neck instead, nestled under her hair and making her skin prickle with latent electricity.

Sienna didn't let herself react to the news, except with a grimace. Privately, though...

Damn it.

He'd probably saved half the camp by delaying the enemy the way he had... but he'd also left her alone with the Albains. And Hazel, which wasn't any improvement.

And...

The tingling at the back of her neck had nothing to do with Flux, this time. She glanced over her shoulder into the shadowy woods. Nothing there... but the rogue hybrid was very good at going unnoticed. What if...?

She swallowed and turned her head away, trying to listen to Corsac's plan for reuniting with everyone else who'd managed to escape. But in the back of her mind, she kept seeing those yellow eyes. The bruises on her back, where she'd been thrown into the ground, throbbed at the memory.

The hybrid had attacked her—she'd learned to expect that. But she had also defended her against the human. Why?

But that wasn't the real question. Why run away? What was wrong with her?

What did they do to you?

Her lips pulled back in a snarl. What had they done, besides feed and shelter and raise the ungrateful little creature?

Unwillingly, she remembered the first dragonet that would have been hers, the one that had died within hours of its hatching. She grimaced. But without that failure, the hybrid would never have existed in the first place—and besides, she didn't know.

Unless...

Flux squeaked and nibbled on her ear. Not hard—but a spark jumped, making it a lot more painful than it was intended to be. Sienna winced and patted the dragonet's head. She'd been planning to introduce her and Gigas to the lab soon, but perhaps it would be better to wait.

And if the hybrid was still following them, maybe she could be reasoned with. The human seemed to have had some success, after all—which rankled. If they could explain things to her as they'd explained them to Harbinger and Justice, maybe...

Sienna hoped she hadn't followed—deep down, she knew how that would end.

Alright! We've finally gotten another collision between the White Fang and the main plot, after like... fifty-somethingish chapters. Which looked like a bit less time laid out in a grid, not gonna lie. I am curious what people think of the Fang dragons, too. They've been fun to write, even if they've kinda been in their own world for a while.