A/N: Yohoo, the sequel/next chapter of A Knight's Prophecy is finally here! Yay! My writing style does tend to fluctuate, so this is not as crack-ish as AKP.
Summary: NozoEli are introduced in their gay garden, and Maki tries to escape from her predicament. Nico gets annoyed and upset and bullied. Souhi's summaries become shittier.
Pairings: NicoMaki, NozoEli
The Dragon's Princesses
A black Dragon swooped down from the top of the castle, wings spreading elegantly, allowing the Dragon to glide down towards the inner wards of the castle.
Truth be told, the magnificent castle the Dragon resided in was a farce. The Dragon resided in the corner tower which was accessible after one passed the inner ward, but the other towers were useless (and ugly) so the Dragon had the interiors scrapped, leaving more space for the Dragon and still maintaining that imposing and distinguishable structure that could be admired from all angles. The keep had been torn down to half its original height, allowing sunlight to stream in from the top.
As the Dragon approached the keep, the Dragon started to shrink. Magnificent black wings folding in, tail shirking back, and scales fading, the Dragon started to morph until a small girl with disappearing wings landed at the entrance of a greenhouse.
She sighed and grumbled, storming past the open entrance.
"I can't believe it! This is your doing, isn't it?" She shouted, looking around the lush greenery for telltale signs of eccentric royalty. Eccentric and horny, she added. She spotted a discarded article and her grumbling became more audible as she followed the trail.
Giggles from behind a bush alerted her to where the culprit of her previous predicament was. She parted the thick leaves and raised her eyebrows, one of which was twitching.
"Get dressed already!"
"I see. So Nico has met her today. So today's the day." A blonde calmly sipped her tea, and her fingers splayed open to dance around purple hair.
"Yes. Yes I met her. I didn't expect this." Nico folded her arms. "This is all that boob monster's fault."
The boob monster smiled merrily at Nico, but it wasn't a warm smile. It was… it was a smile of promised death to one's chest tissues, and Nico's arms tightened around her chest protectively.
"I did try to tell you, Nicocchi." The purple haired boob monster leaned into the blonde's touch.
"Nozomi! You told me that I would find a handsome knight attractive, nothing more! Aren't your stupid tarot cards supposed to predict things accura-" A harsh glare from both females opposite Nico shut her up, and despite being a Dragon, she slinked back down in her seat.
"My tarot cards aren't stupid, and they're pretty accurate." Nozomi the boob monster took out her deck from her cleavage and started to shuffle them.
"Oh my god, do you always keep them there? I can't believe I touched those cards before." Nico jerked back and nearly fell over. "How many things can get lost in your boobs?"
Nozomi giggled. "Well, Elicchi's hand has also gotten lost many times, not just there too."
"Nozomi!" The blonde whined, blood starting to rush to her face, but her hand remained where it was, creeping down Nozomi's neck.
"Gross." Nico mimicked throwing up. "But what was with that reading?!"
Nozomi shuffled her cards and glances at Eli with slight irritation when the blonde's hands crept further down.
"It was as accurate as I could get without disrupting the flow of destiny or angering the gods." Nozomi spoke calmly as her cards slid over each other with a fixed rhythm.
"What would I have done if I had known that the knight you were referring to was a girl? Fly away? You know I can't possibly do that!" Nico scowled.
"Actually, you might, Nico. The only thing is that you might be mistaken for a lost child whichever town or village you end up in." Eli smirked and winced a second later as Nozomi swatted her hands away.
"T-that's not it! I have a reason to stay here!"
"And what would that reason be, Nicocchi?" Nozomi grinned.
"The two of you… the two of you would just run wild without me here!"
Nozomi leaned over the table suddenly, nearly upsetting the two cups of tea and Nico squeaked.
"You're not being an honest child, Nicocchi. Why can't you just admit that with Elicchi and I here, your life is full of joy and excitement? Not to mention, every dragon has a princess. It's necessary for their reputation."
"And you get two princesses. If you run off, you'd probably return because who else would send out the pleas for help? We still have our seals after all." Eli finished her tea and set it back down.
"…tch. Annoying." Nico mumbled.
"Now, I remember you saying something about my tarot cards…" Nozomi closed her eyes, and drew out a card, flashing it before Nico's eyes far too quickly for the petite girl to notice.
"And this time the cards say…" Nozomi stood up and moved towards Nico, who resisted enough to look up fearfully.
"That someone needs a Washi Washi Max!"
Nishikino Maki, knight-in-training shuddered on the way back. For some strange reason, her fourth finger had twitched and she felt as though it was a little hard to breathe. She wondered if she had inhaled something that the dragon, ah, no, that girl had spewed out. Surely dirt and germs would have escaped the girl – dragon – argh! Something would have escaped with the flames.
Her lungs no longer seemed constricted and she shrugged, heading to the nearest village that was not in the way of her hometown.
Yazawa Nico lay in her bed, curled towards the wall. Her chest still hurt and she now owed Eli a favour for distracting Nozomi long enough for her to sneak away. She dreaded going back to the greenhouse where the two almost permanently resided.
Nico snorted. Sure, the greenhouse was calming but they were almost there everyday. And to get to the middle where the nice mini-lawn and tables and chairs were, one had to navigate through a maze of lilies. Nico hated the smell of lilies. She had tried to replace them with something cuter like sunflowers or roses, but Eli had thrown a huge fit and refused to write any letters for a whole two months. Her reputation as a fearsome Dragon had suffered because of that.
And now her reputation would suffer more when that stupid knight returned. She knew that it was unavoidable. Nozomi was regretfully, always accurate in her readings.
"Two days, huh?" Nico sighed and the image of the attractive red haired knight invaded her mind. Okay, so maybe Nishikino was attractive, maybe even both handsome and cute with her looks…
"Ahhh, no, no, no, no!" Nico buried her face into one of her many pillows. "This is stupid, why am I thinking of her! She's a rude brat!"
"So are you, actually."
Nico flinched at the taunting voice and spun round to face the blonde, who met her gaze with cool blue eyes.
"I am not a brat." Nico growled, although her pout didn't do much to help her argument.
"Whatever you say, Nico." Eli shrugged. "You owe me a favour, right?"
"Ye-"
Eli put up her hand, silencing Nico. "That was a rhetorical question. I hope that you can help me replenish my chocolate supply when your tantrum is over."
"!" Nico gestured wildly, mimicking strangling someone, but Eli ignored her.
"Thank you for being such a good kid, Nico!"
"ARGHHH!" Nico groaned and flopped back onto her bed.
Sometimes she wondered why she still stayed with the two assholes.
"Royalty my ass." She muffled her complaint with a pillow lest any of them happened to be lurking around again.
"Nozomi, you said you should never try to get in the way of destiny, right?" Eli asked, stroking the hair of the girl lying in her lap.
"Yup! It is dangerous to do so, since destiny is an unstoppable force. Especially when it comes to two people."
"Hmm, did destiny lead me to you?" Eli mused, her hands working to untangle a small knot.
"Maybe~ It definitely led you and I to this castle, where we met in the glass garden." Nozomi smiled.
"And it led us to Nico, huh?"
"Ah, well, I didn't know what we were expecting. My cards didn't predict that." Nozomi reached out and placed her hand over Eli's.
"Mmm. But it all turned out fine. Three runaways meeting and becoming good friends."
"Friends. Yup." Nozomi smiled. "I'm really, really happy I met both Nico and you."
"I don't know how long you had no company, but it must have been tough on you, Nozomi. I'm sorry for being so late." Eli changed their positions so that they were now lying side by side.
"Silly Elicchi, it's enough that you're here now."
Maki had had a restless night despite being given the best room in the inn. The bed's soft lining and fluffy pillow seemed stuffy and scratchy at night, when her thoughts were running free and wild. Black hair and red eyes had disturbed her rest, keeping her awake even though she needed to sleep.
"I wanted to-"
A rooster crowed as the sun decided to show its face.
"- a dragon."
Maki slapped a hand over her eyes. No way was this true. Some stupid fortune teller actually predicted this. She had expected that sentence to mean that she would slay a dragon and make its life hell before doing that, but… but …
Maki turned to her side but fell off the bed with a heavy thud.
"I told her I'd be back in two days too…" She curled up, ignoring the dull throbbing in her right shoulder and hip.
She shot up, a scarily twisted smile emerging. She burst out laughing triumphantly.
'Of course! I just have to avoid that dragon and find some other terrifying dragon!' She laughed as she reviewed her clearly brilliant plan.
"Erm, excuse me, are you all right there?" A knock and a timid voice snapped Maki out of her own world and she made sure she was presentable before answering the door. The nervous innkeeper was looking at her with concern, and Maki smiled before remarking she was fine and that she would be staying for two more days.
'Two more days and that deadline will have passed! And I can remain here to prevent myself from meeting that dragon!'
The castle was a mess. The usually responsible, reserved and cool Ayase Eli was now throwing a fit because Nico had accidentally destroyed the chocolate stash, melting it when Nozomi had given her another 'special massage'.
"It's not my fault, Eli! F-fire just comes out when I receive enough shock!" Nico dodged Eli's frightening accuracy. A bowl smashed into the wall behind her, and Nico tried to make a dash for the window, where she could just dive out and transform.
"I! DON'T! CARE!" Eli roared and actually lifted the wooden table and flung it at Nico with enough force for the legs to pierce the wall, trapping Nico between this still salvageable piece of furniture and the wall.
Nico really didn't want to destroy this part of the castle, but she also didn't want her beautiful face to be marred. She squirmed and tried to wriggle down and past the table, glad that she wasn't like Nozomi in this situation.
Eli was gaining pace, moving steadily towards Nico.
Nico squeezed downwards, feeling her knees pass the edge of the table.
Eli grabbed a brick that had fallen loose from their intense game of tag, and marched towards Nico with unshakable determination.
"N-Nico?" Nico smiled nervously, inching downwards until she felt her chin tap the top of the wooden table.
"Oh shit." Nico muttered, and started willing her body to move in the opposite direction, struggling to free herself without harming this table or the wall behind her. Furniture was a pain to bring back, and this table was one of her favourites. She already needed to replace two beds, one wall, eight chairs, one teapot set, three bowls, two plates, and one fork.
Eli moved closer. If Nico didn't hurry up, they would need to replace more than those.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." Nico muttered and inhaled deeply, trying to shrink her body. "Oh shit, oh shit, ohshitohshitohshit."
"Elicchi! Stop!" Nozomi burst into the room, panting. Eli paused and looked at Nozomi with a warmer gaze.
"Finally." Nico mumbled, wondering if the extra weight slowed Nozomi down. The blonde turned sharply to her, brick raised. "Eep."
"Elicchi!" Nozomi said in a stern tone, and the blonde froze once again. "That's more than enough! Shouldn't you know what you shouldn't do?"
Eli dropped the brick and looked down at her shoes.
"You're not a child anymore! I want you to apologise to Nicocchi, after freeing her!"
Eli nodded and broke the legs of the table, making Nico wince. The table fell free and Nico sidestepped her way out.
"I'm truly apologetic, Nico. I just… I just lost it when I saw all that chocolate flowing down, especially after I told you two days ago that it was running out.."
"Elicchi! I told you that friends are important!" Nozomi chided, and Eli shrunk back, twisting her fingers in front of her. "Stop that, Elicchi! I'm talking to you! No matter how much chocolate Nicocchi destroys, you can't wreck the castle or harm others!"
"It's alright, Nozomi. I know that Eli needs chocolate." Nico adjusted her twintails. "I'll just fly to the nearest village and raid their sweets store and furniture store."
"Ah, please pay them for both. I did make some money off gambling a few days ago." Nozomi retrieved a pouch and threw it to Nico.
Nico sighed and walked out from the broken wall, transforming into the Dragon.
"Elicchi, it's alright, no need to cry." Nozomi stretched out her hands and embraced the sobbing blonde.
"I lost control again, Nozomi." Eli sobbed, hands dangling beside her limply.
"It's alright, Elicchi, we'll work through this together." Nozomi hugged the blonde tighter. "You can touch me, you won't harm me."
"H-how do you know?" Eli whimpered, her fingers twitching but she held them by her side.
"You won't harm me, I know it. You're so gentle,Elicchi." Nozomi nuzzled the blonde, and felt hesitant fingers tapping her back. "It's alright, Elicchi. Let's try and clear things up and make it easier for Nicocchi, shall we?"
Nico eyed the polished table in the shop display. She was currently in her human form, with a cloak wrapped around her so no one could call her 'little girl'. The table was pleasing, but it was regretfully a little bigger than the previous one. There was plenty of space in the castle, but the thing was that Nico had a habit of placing all the food in the center of the table, and a bigger table meant that she had to stretch over and look like a fool when she wanted to take food.
"Maybe not this one." She sighed, and her eyes fell upon the next shop, which was selling cloth. One piece was a beautiful, striking red, not as piercing as her own eyes, but slightly lighter, just like… just like…
"Ah!" She gasped out loud, and a few people turned to look at her. She coughed and pretended to clear her throat. 'That's right, today… today is the day! She's supposed to come! I'll… I'll just find stuff and quickly fly back! I need to be there or Maki-chan will end up meeting those two perverts instead!'
Nico hastened her footsteps. 'Wait, Maki-chan? Where did that come from?'
She quickly made a mental map of where everything she needed was, and left the town to transform. Thank goodness this town had a sweets store, a carpenter, an earthernware store, and she would just grab bricks from fallen structures that she would 'accidentally' destroy. What else was needed? Oh yes, beds. She noticed there was an inn. Perfect, she would grab a fork and two beds from there later. And the cloth would be used to bundle everything.
"That is a pretty strong wind." Nozomi noted, looking out towards the direction Nico had flown towards.
"It is, isn't it?" Eli remarked.
"It wouldn't be this strong if you didn't destroy the wall, Elicchi." Nozomi deadpanned and Eli winced.
The Dragon inhaled and snorted black smoke all over the first half of the village, making sure most of the villagers escaped before swooping forward to get the Dragon's loot, sprinkling the coins Nozomi had given the Dragon in the process. While this seemed fun, the Dragon was stressing out over it. Not only did the Dragon have to play the perfect elegant and terrifying Dragon, the Dragon had to make sure not to kill any villager. Right now the Dragon had a reputation of stealing cattle occasionally and guarding a princess. But if the Dragon harmed any innocent human, there was no guarantee that the Dragon would not receive mobs entering the castle.
The Dragon had to be great and preferably perfect, not doing anything bad to mess up the Dragon's reputation. Imagine if the Dragon managed to miss the Dragon's target and crash into the wrong store or even worse, kill a human for no reason. Plus, blood was pretty hard to wash off.
The Dragon flew towards the inn, most of the wanted items wrapped in many layers of beautiful red cloth and safely secured in the Dragon's claws. The Dragon was too excited and ripped off the rood of the inn.
The Dragon shook the Dragon's head and scattered all the remaining coins into the inn before sweeping two beds into the bundle carefully.
Darkness and jumbling sounds. That was all Nishikino Maki knew about the current situation she was in. Was she kidnapped? Did night and day reverse? She had finally managed to fall asleep (in her armour, no less) after finally being convinced that her plan was foolproof, and something else was now happening. She felt around and realized she was still on her bed. Maybe she did sleep through the day. Something jerked and her bed started to move.
"Hyaaaah!" She screamed as she started to slide down. She grabbed onto the bedframe and felt the whole world shake and swing about, making her slightly dizzy. She would have loved to sit down but it seemed to be impossibly in her current situation. Her legs dangling over the bed were hit by something and she tucked them back up before. Her sword flew over her chestplate, the strap smacking her in the face.
"No matter! I will get past this dark storm!" Maki declared, and tucked herself under the blankets, which were snug and tight below the mattress. She was only safe this way.
*LINE BREAK*
The Dragon hovered near the hole in the wall, and Eli helped to unload the huge bundle.
"Niccochi, please pack them separately next time!" Nozomi shouted, and the Dragon snorted.
The bundle entered the castle safely, and Nico swung down after it.
"I'm sorry I don't have people helping me to wrap things up nicely when I'm putting on a show." Nico scoffed, and threw a large box to Eli, who excitedly unwrapped it.
"Later, Elicchi! We need to restore the castle!" Nozomi warned, and Eli put the box down obediently.
Nico undid the top knot, and they waited for the folds to drop down.
Nishikino Maki, now aware that the world around her had stopped moving, peeked out from behind the covers.
And saw a mess of furniture beside her. As expected, it was probably a storm.
She sat up straight, and saw three girls. One of them looked extremely familiar, with red eyes, black hair tied in twintails, and a flat ch-
"AHH!" "AHHHHHH!" Two screams pierced the ears of everyone present, and Maki jumped on top of the bed, slightly embarrassed.
"What are you doing here?!" "What am I doing here?!"
"Oho." Nozomi covered her mouth.
"I was trying to avoid you-" Maki burst out, but bit her tongue when she saw Nico's expectant half-smile fade into a shocked 'o'
"I see. That's how it is. I'm sorry I'm not like these princesses here then, oh high and mighty knight." Nico frowned and turned away, eyes shining brightly.
"N-no, it isn't like that!" Maki glanced at the two people Nico had gestured towards, but that split second was enough for Nico to walk right out of the hole and drop down.
Maki ran after Nico, just in time to see the girl transform into a black blob with wings.
"Ah." Eli and Nozomi mumbled when the red haired knight walked away.
"Hah!" They screamed in panic when the red haired knight ran forward and jumped, following Nico's path out of the walls.
"Nico-chan!" Maki yelled as she plunged down, grabbing tightly on the Dragon's back when she landed.
The Dragon, alarmed, thrashed about but could not fling the persistent knight off.
"Nico-chan, please listen to me!" Maki shouted, clinging onto the Dragon for dear life. She started to move up to the Dragon's head. That way she could get her message through clearer.
The Dragon snorted and flew higher up. Maki followed the ascent.
"Nico-chan!" With each shout like that, the Dragon started struggling less, but was still reluctant to stop.
"Nico! Chan!" Maki pulled herself higher, wrapping her arms around the Dragon's neck, closing her eyes as she felt dizzy again. She blindly snaked up higher, hoping that Nico would listen to her.
"Wow, look at her go." Eli commented, and Nozomi stared in amazement.
"I knew she was an amazing knight thanks to her display of skill, but… but this is truly amazing."
"Nico-chan! I avoided you, that's true!"
The Dragon twisted the Dragon's body agitatedly.
"But, but I did that because Nico-chan was too distracting, and I couldn't, I couldn't fall asleep at night because I was thinking too much about Nico-chan!"
The Dragon stopped struggling all at once.
"I… Nico-chan, I don't know what you did, or why this is happening, but, but I don't hate you! I don't know what to do, and I was afraid! So I… so I tried to!"
The Dragon swopped in, morphing as it did so, leaving a red haired girl tightly embracing a black haired girl from the back.
Nico spun around, breaking the hug, and slapped Maki hard enough for the knight to fall down. "Idiot! I was scared too! I was so scared!" She pounded at Maki's chest armour, and the bewildered knight stared at the small, trembling girl in front of her.
"Nico-chan…"
"Maki-chan you idiot!" Nico cried, and in that instant, Maki knew exactly why she called Nico 'Nico-chan'. She hugged Nico instinctively, and almost sighed at the contact.
"Ahem. These per- people are Toujou Nozomi and Ayase Eli." Nico introduced, and Maki bowed to both of them politely.
The four of them were seated on the new chairs. Nozomi had set things straight and made sure everyone pitched in some effort to fix the castle before talking.
"Ah. I'm Nishikino Maki. Ayase-san,"
"Eli is fine." Eli spoke with such coldness that Maki thought twice before going along with it.
"Eli, are… could you be that princess that was mentioned in all those letters?"
"Perhaps." Eli replied swiftly.
"Elicchi is. And before she was here, I was the one writing these letters." Nozomi voiced out.
"Ah. So it was just a coincidence." Maki stated, and Nozomi shook her head.
"I had always known." Nozomi smiled. "Ah, that's right, you're probably wondering what Nicocchi is doing with two of us here."
"It is quite a mystery." Maki admitted, and Nico rolled her eyes.
"Nicocchi is a dragon, you know that."
"And dragons need princesses, blah blah. So they are both my princesses." Nico cut it proudly.
"Well, I guess." Nozomi continued. "Elicchi and I ran away from our castle and we've been here for some time. Nicocchi is the perfect protector and chef. In exchange for her services, we give her reputation by issuing letters of challenge in her steed. The more famous she is, the easier her life is, you know. She won't have to kill people like some other dragons do. She only has that obligation towards the challengers."
"Yeah, so they're my princesses. I call the shots." Nico folded her arms.
"I never acknowledged that." Eli shot back.
"Well, Elicchi is a little frosty towards new people. But she's nice." Nozomi smiled. "I think you'll be staying here for some time, Maki. So make yourself comfortable."
"I am not getting a new bed from that town I just ravaged." Nico muttered.
"Oho? Do you want to share a bed with Maki so soon?" Nozomi teased, and watched curiously as Maki turned red and sputtered while Nico stood up and started swearing.
"Well, Elicchi can give up her bed." Nozomi suggested.
"No way! I don't know what you've been doing on her bed."
"I won't acknowledge that decision, Nozomi."
"I could give up my bed." Nozomi tried again.
"No, you deserve a bed."
"I won't acknowledge that either."
Maki watched all of these in awe. She was too overwhelmed to join in, and it felt so new but… nice. 'So this is how… friends are like?' She watched the squabbling trio and couldn't hold back her amusement.
The trio turned to the laughing knight, and especially Nico was transfixed by her pure joy.
"I guess I can fly there after all…" Nico gave in.
"Nicocchi, we can go shopping."
"All of us?" Eli asked hopefully.
"Huh, no way!" Nico protested, but her words fell on deaf ears.
"Would you like to join us, Maki?" Nozomi asked.
"What? You're not dragging her onto your errand!" Nico insisted.
"Your opinion is irrelevant, Nico."
Maki looked at all her new companions. 'I don't think those are the dragon's princesses.'
"Of course. I'd love to."
Nico's shocked face and the princesses' triumphant looks confirmed that.
"Nico's the princesses' dragon." She said out loud.
Eli smirked, and Nico's move dropped.
"You're wrong, Maki." Nozomi shook her head, and Nico seemed touched.
Nozomi blessed everyone with a charming smile.
"Nicocchi is the princesses' and the knight's dragon."
END
Yay! Chapter 2 is done! Thank you all those who reviewed previously!
Some of you might notice that some things are touched on briefly. I am planning a third chapter, which might take some time. But that will come when it will. I'm sorry for any mistakes. It is past 4am currently and my eyes hurt and my brain is no longer functioning at normal capacity.
I hope you enjoyed this fic!
Do leave a review and let me know what you think of this update, what will happen etc! I'd love to hear from you!
