Warning: A bit heavy at the beginning, lighter towards the end
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except my OC/SI.
Chapter 2
Between year 1/2
This was spiritually soothing to her.
A soft almost non audible croon left her with each exhale, cuddling more onto the thick cooler spine she was leaning against.
She distantly heard a commotion and physically felt the Gentle Beast beneath her move, but all of it felt faraway from her grim melancholic thoughts non stop circling.
Her younger sisters who loved the franchise would have loved to be in her position. They wouldn't understand the gravity of the situation and would have explored more of this world with innocence in their actions. Their father would just silently enjoy his daughters having fun, their mother joining in every now and then because even she loved these type of movies. What really pierced her heart with a deep ache every single time was when she thought of the last time she saw them.
Vision full of crimson, she wanted to tell them not to worry, that she loved them and she would still be there watching over them, but her throat could only cough out bright red, she didn't know how much longer she could hold trying to breath through the blood clogging her throat and every other respiratory airway. Their terrified deep colored faces from yelling silent screams was the last she saw of them.
She felt so incredibly guilty each time she saw the beautiful views in front of her, the wondrous creatures (Dragons!), surrounding her, and her completely healthy body when the last she saw of them they were suffering so much due to her, and what if they're still anguishing and are mourning her yet she's in this peaceful place full of Supposedly fictional creatures enjoying her new life?
It made her physically ill.
At least by now she could eat a bit more than before, when the only thing she could stomach was water for the first weeks.
A keening noise of desolation softly left her throat as her thoughts circled back, slowly darkening with each minute.
The Gentle Beast beneath her froze momentarily, and she could feel when he huffed upwards, the familiar cold icy breath of his instantly cooling down her panicking slowly rising temperature. She cooed warmly against his spike, gently tapping the entire length of her velvety tail on him in heartfelt thanks.
The breath was refreshing each time, and she honestly didn't know how it always managed to cool her mind down and lull her thoughts to a respite.
But she was so so grateful for his actions.
Her subconscious cleared gradually, dark images distancing from her mind as she tried to focus back on the rare commotion going on directly some length in front of the Gentle Beast.
Slit oval pupils in the middle of azure and turquoise irises brightened in small curiosity, she took her time rising her upper body and head, flattened ears arising in attention as she now easily picked up the sounds of what was happening.
Dark warbles, curious growls, threatening barks, innocent chirps, all sorts of chaotic sounds filled the foliage covered ridge, a multiple of different colored dragons of various sizes surrounding just one, a rather large reddish shaded grey dragon right in the midst, both set of large wings on each sides protecting something to his chest, hiding it from all the others proclamations, his own growls joining in but in defensive tone instead.
Oh?
Her head tilted curiously, musing just what could be so important for such fuss?
Filtering through the recognizable words underneath the combination of chaotic noise, her eyes widened slightly.
A Human?
Her head unconsciously tilted to the other side.
A human in this land of dragons place...
Her ears propped straight upwards, herself straightening up right without realizing it in a whiplash memory.
Of course!
The mother of the protagonist! Huh. Her head tilted again. She couldn't remember the females name, despite still remembering the main protagonists and his dragons name. (Even though those were the only two she remembered.)
Well...
She huffed to herself. That's enough for them, she didn't even remember her own name (something that still irritated her as much as it made her want to cry in frustration.)
Anyway, what were they wanting to do here? Her focus snapped back easily, eyeing down from where she was leaning against the Gentle Beasts thick spike on his upper right side of his head.
Perhaps they needed the Gentle Beasts permission for this situation? His judgment? Since he is the owner and creator of this land, plus a guidance to every dragon here. Her ears fluttered low in interest, mentally pondering what he'll do, narrowed pupils gazing in blank curiosity. She assumes that he'll allow for the human to stay, since that's what happened in the movies, but who knows really how that happened.
The deep baritone rumble beneath her resounded everywhere, the hoard of dragons surrounding that single large reddish one scattering rapidly away in a flutter of wings and chattered growls in different directions, it was almost beautiful. Her gaze went back to the now lone responsible dragon, humming lowly in wonder.
The Gentle Beast lowered his head marginally, only a small bit and it seemed like he was heavily gazing down at the now visible trembling female human being held gently but firmly by the reddish dragon who's head was lowered, eyes down in respect.
The two petrified light green eyes stared back in terrified fear for a few seconds, and then the look, sort of changed?
She saw how the female looked back shakily to the dragon holding her, and then back to the Gentle Beast, swallowed and slowly began descending to a knee, the dragon behind her allowing the movement with a flicker of his eyes and large horn like ears, the females head bowed but still her body trembled greatly.
The white dragon couldn't help it, she cooed lightly in rising respect and silent praise.
It wasn't every day, from what she remembered, that a human would react with the right etiquette when it came to dragons in this franchise. Especially with the way they're portrayed here.
A few seconds pass, which then she feels the Gentle Beast rumble again, only this time right afterwards she sees how he opens his giant mouth, the usual familiar cool breath passing by the air below right through the pair, shocking the human female into jumping back bumping into the now purring dragon behind her, her face staring in widened eyed and open mouth astonishment, tremulously touching her hair and grabbing at the white snow lightly patted there.
So, that's how she knew when she told her son in the movie. Huh, interesting.
Matter settled in her mind, she gracefully lowered her body back down, crossing her paws one over another and leaning her right side back where she was resting it before, placing down her head atop her paws; eyes glancing for one last time at the human, who coincidentally enough caught her glance and she saw how they widened again but closed her lids, not catching the rest of what happened as she felt the Gentle Beast move back to where he was resting before the whole ordeal, a soft warble came out of her throat, the slim hard edge of her tail lightly patting down; don't worry, we can both rest together.
And perhaps her thoughts won't go too dark this time.
She firmly put the subject at rest, wanting nothing to do with the woman and being absolutely okay with her decision.
Just because she was curious to know what was going on when the female arrived, does not, in any moment, mean that she wants to be buddy buddys with her.
Few days after the humans arrival, the dragon always with her became like a bodyguard (she secretly thinks its adorable), usually seen with her and teaching her everything in his own way, alongside the other more friendlier dragons. Others, like her, stayed away out of caution, but then with some more time passing also began warming up to the genuine gentle two legged female, until she became more or less rather well known within the dragons of this land. All the tricks and their ways she was learning due to living deep within this land began paying off in small but gradual achievements with every dragon she met and learned more about.
But her? She stayed to her schedule. No other being, especially a human (she used to be a human, how bittersweet), would interrupt her time for her Other. Where she needs to pay her respects for them. Where she needs to Remember them, because if she forgets, then what will she become?
She didn't want to think about it.
And so, the interruption in the form of two legs and stubbornness to match that of a dragon began.
At first official greeting, the human female introduced herself with her name and an honest warm smile when she approached while the slimmer white and light cream colored dragon was leisurely laying on the edge of a moss covered rock, tilted head atop crossed paws.
Azure and turquoise snapped open and pinned her with very thin pupil narrowed cat like eyes, no teeth showing because she was being polite, but a short growl of warning rose.
When the woman took a few careful steps back, she counted the steps of her feet with her furrowed eyes and nodded satisfied at the wide length of space between them. The woman halted at the nod and had a look of joy and befuddlement on her expressive features.
She didn't feel like staying here anymore, despite how childish it made her sound like.
Grumbling with a low warble, she only gave Valka a glance through the corner of her turquoise eye before rolling herself off from the high placed giant rock backwards, feeling a slight spike of amusement when she heard the sharp gasp that followed, though not glancing back when she smacked her hind legs against the long length of rock near her, twirling in the air with wings tight against her body, then opening them swiftly, allowing the natural glide to move her forward, away from the human who she could feel still watching her.
Seeing those similar features had her remembering that she shouldn't be enjoying her time just lazying around. She needed... she needed to do something to be connected to her Other.
Crooning quietly to herself, eyes stinging in what she knew were tears, the familiar form of the Gentle Beast appeared in her vision and her body drooped in relief, flapping harder to get there faster. Deftly landing without a sound in her usual spot behind some larger spikes on his right side of the head, a forlorn sound whined out of her, she could see their faces, but it was getting harder to remember the details and their Colors, and just-
Her body curled into itself, tucked behind the thick spike, minute trembles coming and going, stifling her mourning to herself.
She didn't know if she felt worse because she was forgetting them, or because her pain from remembering them didn't feel as bad as when she first arrived here.
She didn't know.
When the human began disappearing for a few days then reappearing with even more dragons, she thought to herself No wonder there wasn't that many dragons here compared to in the movie.
Was it because the female was studying them and training with her dragon (that Cloud one), to be able to rescue them? She vaguely recalled from when she wasn't flying away from the human, the woman would be talking out loud mainly with her dragon, but also frequently with the others, and would practice difficult agile moves in the air and on the ground very often with the larger dragon.
So it was thanks to Valka that there was so many in the future, because she rescued them apparently from where they were at before.. and from how some or most of them looked like when they arrived with the female, she could accurately guess as to what they went through.
It was safe to say that she stayed clear from all that the female human was doing, even though she felt a small pang of guilt whenever she thought of how she could help, but no. She's already deep in her own issues, she doesn't need to enter any more.
That doesn't mean she didn't try to make the dragons that were mentally scarred feel a bit more comfortable here with soothing sounds and gentle touches. However much she tried to do it as far from where the two legged one could see, she somehow always had a feeling that the human knew what she was doing, but feigned ignorance.
Grunting a sharp rebuff at the too rough push to her neck from the baby dragon beside her, the dark purple small pup whined at her from her reproach.
"Not too rough." She growled lowly, face smooth giving the female purple pup a warmer glance.
The dragon purred in apology, with more caution pushing her larger two curved horned head like a baby purple bull vying for attention over the side of her neck.
Huffing out through her nostrils, the warm puff of air pressing down abruptly against the younger dragon caused it to gleefully squeal out, shaking its head like a bird ruffling its feathers.
She cooed out, gently nudging the baby with the tip of her snout towards its mothers direction.
Its mother who was peacefully laying down not too far away, sometimes glancing to where her baby was, mostly just enjoying the peace. Considering how physically scarred the older lilac dragon was and how the baby was free from damage save one or two darker burns, you could tell she tried her everything to not allow anything to happen to the little one.
It vaguely reminded her of her own mother from the Other.
"You don't need to, I know she's safe with you."
Which was saying a lot, with what she went though not too long ago. She tilted her head at the larger older dragon, edges of mouth tugged down the only change in expression.
"You shouldn't trust too easily", her tone wasn't demanding, just low and almost vulnerable. While yes, she would like to be trusted, it still makes her incredibly uncomfortable how easily the dragons trust changes. Sometimes she wondered if it was because they were more in-tuned with their instincts than herself, or if it was because of some other factor that she would either never know or find out because her soul used to be human.
But honestly, you'd expect dragons who have gone through so much cruelty to at least be more weary of the human female but no such case. It mystified her as much as it humbled her. They were ninety nine percent more noble than humans ever were.
The eyes of the other dragon softened, "I trust you more than you want to think."
What was with the dragons around her and their too trusting ways? Seriously.
She grunted, the only answer she could give to not offend.
The other larger female tittered in laughter at her response as the baby pup bumped its head one last time against her neck before beginning to hop away in a bird like fashion towards its mother who accepted her baby with a loud purr, large folded wings unfurling and folding over the excitable chirping baby, obstructing it from view.
While sometimes she was easily accepted into this circle of dragons, other times they wanted absolutely nothing to do with her and her gentle but insistent care.
Which she understood one hundred percent.
It had naught to do with trust, they trusted her plenty, but had more to do with their mental state from the harsh and cruel ordeal they all went through.
Already she could see from the corner of her eye some restlessness forming in the vague outlines of dragons within the circle, fidgeting claws, short huffs of breaths, the first signs.
Calmly standing up, she hummed in her throat as she stretched her wings out one at a time, tail swishing lazily left and right. No need to show panic, especially to these types of dragons, it would only make them either more scared or accidentally attack.
She warbled warmly in response at the grunts and warbles half of the dragons voiced, dipping her head in farewell before turning back and trotting away to the edge of the cavern, jumping lightly on each of the oval pointed rocks that led to the edge, and swishing her tail deftly down as she jumped off the last rock. Giving her more lithe of the hop, allowing her to easily extend out her wings settling into a tilted sideways glide, smoothly leaving that area.
Even as she little by little helped with these dragons, that didn't mean she wanted to get attached to any of them. And that's how its going to stay.
Despite the small warming of her heart each time she sees how they've improved since they arrived here, mentally and physically.
A loud amicable roar from behind had her flinching out of her thoughts, glancing to the front and seeing that there's nothing flying in front of her for long distance ahead, she dexterously twisted her body upside down, now facing the familiar large form of that Cloud dragon that's always with the female human- that was riding on his back and rapidly catching up to her with a wide elevated smile.
She was sure she had on the most bewildered expression seeing that.
Yes, she had seen the human female flying around many many times with mostly Cloud and sometimes other dragons, but this was a first to see the human following her.
And on Cloud.
That dragon was the most agile of the place, from what she could remember and has seen.
From beneath her she felt something bubbling up, her persistence and stubbornness rearing up with a sharp growl of challenge.
Her oval pupil eyes narrowed into slits and she showed a slight sight of teeth to them, uncaring how the females eyes narrowed thoughtfully or at Cloud's low warning growl of protectiveness before gracefully flipping back, slanted cat like eyes narrowed even more in concentration, she was going to out fly them.
Splitting her spines protruding from her vertebrae for better maneuverability, ears and nubs on her head lowered tightly against her head, and wings flapped quickly down, tips almost touching together as she descended her tail rapidly for more speed.
Zooming past above caves and foliage and nature formations in a cool blur, she didn't need to look back to know that Cloud was easily catching up by the sounds of wings ascending and descending with rapid motions.
Glancing to the sides of what she was passing, her narrowed eyes and mind calculated. If she can't out fly him at this moment, then she's going to out maneuver them.
Zipping past a corner cliff edge rapidly, she tucked her wings abruptly against her, the wind helping her descend harshly close to the cliffs wall before she opened one wing forming a seemingly out of control spiral, nimbly entering a dark hole that was larger inside than what it looked like on the outside due to the shadows outlining it, after a few seconds of flying through the hollow vertical pit, she came out from the other side and unfolded both wings into a level glide.
That hollow hole she had found a long while ago, and used it to sometimes test a few of her flight practices for more tighter and darker areas than complete open space. It was very convenient, and even though she wasn't the only one who used it, based on the scents of other dragons in there, she was the only one who used it for such practices. Plus, she can detect when its occupied or not by the scents inside.
Fortunately, there wasn't any dragon near by when she used the pit to disappear from their sights.
Peeking behind, she felt relief when she didn't see anything from the corner of her eyes.
Focusing back forward, she huffed out through her mouth.
Lately there were too many interruptions taking over her time of reflection for the Other, and she was conflicted on how she felt about that.
Sounds of tiny wings rapidly flapping reached her ears and she crooned warmly at the rather colorful mixture of around five to six baby pups now surrounding her smooth slow flying with their rapid winged one, the chattering of short words mixed with high growls and baby barks had her glancing to where their mother was, catching the serene amber eyes of a long shaped and short spiked red older female dragon flying not too far away, the faded old whip marks familiar.
Ah. She was one of the dragons from the first batch that Valka brought, the dimming scars and calm gliding evidence of how long it was.
Her eyes widened in sudden realization.
Turning her widened gawk back to the non stop chattering pups with no human marks on their rather young bodies flying around her.
And then back at the now amused amber hues of the older female, like she also understood what her widened stare meant and it brought great amusement to her.
She had procreated!
It was a bit surprising to know, considering everything they went through but also heartwarming to know each dragon was passing that stage and resuming their life in this peace.
She ignored the tiny voice and oppressed feeling inside her whispering how she could also do that.
Sending out a short warble of joy at the older red dragon, she crooned when the other sent back a high bark of elation, reciprocating a nudge to one of the brightly red colored spiked pups that nudged her white cheek with its head.
Watching the pups chirping loudly and flying back to their mother with quick wing motions made her give them a rare high chirp as well, chuckling when their chirping and lively barking words got even louder, vivacious chattering having their mother and her share an understanding glance that she knew couldn't be expressed with words.
One of the things she mused about being what she is now, is how incredibly expressive dragons are. If not their face, then their body language. They can speak in their own language, yes, however she always thought it was more amazing how easily you can understand them just based on those two.
Not mentioning how much she has tried to not easily show what she feels, attempting to train her face and body to not reveal what she experiences inwardly has been difficult but is still in the process.
Like now, hearing that voice of the human yelling at her to Wait from behind.
As if she were a puppy learning to heel.
Ears flopped back, an annoyed growl escaped her throat, lips pulled back to reveal her teeth in a silent snarl.
Still in the process, still in the process.
Thank you readers for the favs/folls!
Aurora9871: Thank you for the review! Glad you like the story so far!
Hope you guys enjoy the chapter, a bit more insight on those first two years.
Timeline:
-Our MC was a dragon pup of six months when she awoke in this franchise.
-A year passes by as she assimilates herself (or tries to) in her new body/world.
-Valka arrives. MC is a year and six months old.
-Two years pass by, Valka tries to befriend MC during this time.
-Present: MC is three years old now. (physically)