Chapter 6 – Perspective

For the first time in a week, I wasn't woken up by Ashburn's nagging.

I came to, a little confused and unable to move much, but still warm and comfortable. For a brief moment I assumed it was simply my sleeping bag restricting my movement, and then I remembered what happened the night previous.

It was Ashburn's breathing I could hear right beside me, his scales that were all around me…

I felt a spike of anxiety as I realized where I was. I tried to move my arms, to escape the dark confines of his wing. If someone saw me like this, they would completely get the wrong idea! What was I thinking?!

I got my answer as I finally managed to get one arm free, and started pulling myself out, accidentally knocking my elbow against Ashburn's snout. I winced and stopped moving as he groaned, shifted, but didn't wake up. He stretched in his sleep and dazedly curled a paw around my waist, dragging me back into his hold with surprising strength. He purred as he tucked his head against my neck, and I noticed the dried tear tracks down his cheeks from last night.

Right…that was what I was thinking. I relaxed again and tried to tune out the outrageous scenarios my brain was making up. Sleeping in such close proximity didn't have to infer anything intimate...he was just a lost, scared child that needed help. He was in desperate need of someone to console him after he'd essentially been orphaned by Tutor, and I felt my face twist into a scowl at the thought. One mistake and they had just locked Ashburn out, leaving him in an alien world with only his own wits and that 'Library'.

I'd meant what I said last night—I wouldn't abandon him.

- O – O – O – O -

- O -

- O – O – O – O -

I dozed on and off for the next while, until eventually I felt Ashburn shift and wake up as well.

"Morning," I mumbled, slowly getting to my feet as he uncurled himself from around me.

He said nothing, standing up and looking tiredly around, seeming a little lost.

I sighed and softly rubbed one of his earfins between my fingers. "Why don't we both get some breakfast, then we can talk about last night, okay?" I suggested, meeting his eyes. He gave a small nod, rapidly blinking a few times before moving into the lake, lacking his usual energy. I kept a careful eye on him until he submerged, then got out some cereal.

With the knowledge that Ashburn would be staying with me for the foreseeable future, I began to think. It would be easy enough for us to do what I'd planned already—months of travelling and camping. But there was one major obstacle I needed to cross first…

I formulated a plan, and with it set in my head, focused back on reality as I heard Ashburn come back to shore.

"Feeling better?"

"A bit," he said quietly. Unsurprisingly, he lay down around me so my back was against his side, and I put my arm over his shoulders as he settled.

"Now…you said there were some other things Tutor told you last night?" I continued eating with my free hand.

"Y-yeah…um," he sniffled, and then seemed to compose himself again. I focused on my food, not wanting to put any pressure on him until he was ready. "Tutor said…he knows what the Silhouette is."

I was caught off-guard, and turned to him with a surprised look. "What?"

"Apparently it's one of the Chaotics…he thinks they must have been spying on the Utopian Network when I…left."

"Oh shit…they're the guys that just hurt people for fun, aren't they?"

"Yeah…and I led them s-straight to y-you!" he began to sob, and I quickly put down my bowl, wrapping my other arm under his chin.

"Hey, hey, no you didn't. You couldn't have known," I reassured him, gently but firmly turning his head so I could meet his eyes. "Ashburn, look at me. There was no way you could have known."

"B-but if I'd never come here in the first place…you wouldn't have been attacked by the Silhouette! And I wouldn't have gotten locked out of the Above…everything would have been so much better…" he quietened, staring at the ground again as I relaxed my hold.

"I think you're being a little ridiculous. We haven't seen the Silhouette in almost a week; it probably thought we were too boring and left to go bother someone else," I tried to joke a little to lighten his mood. "And hey, we would never have met otherwise," I smiled.

"I guess…" the corners of his mouth turned up, and he looked at me with gratitude written all over his face. "Spending time with you has been really nice," he nuzzled my side.

For the first time, I welcomed the reddening of my cheeks as I scratched the back of his head. We sat for a moment in comfortable silence, before I reluctantly got back to the topic at hand.

"So…was that the reason you weren't allowed to go back home?"

"Kind of. Tutor said I couldn't come back because it might draw more of the Chaotics to the Utopian Network, and they might try something…I'm not really sure. But it's my fault. I…stole pattern matrices and used them to get here, and that's not allowed," he lowered his head in shame.

"Heh, I can completely understand breaking the rules to get what you want," I chuckled.

He looked up hopefully, eyes widening slightly. "You can?"

"Oh yeah. When I was in school, I'd basically given up on wanting to study—I only wanted to go exploring, so I snuck out of class constantly. Eventually my parents had enough and kicked me out. I know exactly what you're going through," I provided him with a reassuring gaze, mouth tilting upward.

"Thanks," his expression brightened, knowing he wasn't alone.

"So, what are these 'pattern matrices' then?"

"They're these sort of diagrams that entities use to do things they can't normally. I copied them from Tutor's memory when he wasn't paying attention to me…"

"Wait, wouldn't he be able to tell? Even afterward, since your minds are linked in the Above?"

"He was focusing on something else, so I just had a quick look at his memories of them, and I had to be really careful not to think about them after. Usually we only get each other's most recent thoughts unless we go looking for a specific memory…like what they're thinking at the moment, not all memories at once. That could be…really damaging for any entity, getting all those experiences and knowledge from someone's mind."

"Yeah I can imagine…" I sat back, lost in thought once again as Ashburn explained a little more of his world. "Was there anything else Tutor told you that I should know about?"

"Um…yeah. He said he's glad you found me so you can teach me about this world, and I don't get hurt. That way I can still contribute knowledge to the Library, even if I can't be in the Above."

"You're still Connected to it then? Despite being, y'know…" I made a vague gesture.

"Yeah, it's still there. I don't really know how it all works though—Tutor didn't really have much of a chance to teach me in the four weeks I was there, so I just have to guess for a lot of it. I think my mind is actually now in this body, instead of in the Above, otherwise I'd be able to get back to it. The Library is like…a weaker Connection? It's hard to describe…" his eyes glazed over a little as he focused, staring into the middle distance.

"So, when Tutor Connected with you, was he Connecting to your mind within your physical form? I remember you passed out last night."

"No, he brought me back to the Above briefly, which meant I must have actually left this body," he sighed and laid his head down on the grass. "I thought I was going home…and then it was just…gone."

I made a sympathetic face, scratching his neck. "Well it's not all bad."

His eyes flicked towards me questioningly.

"Tutor didn't want you coming here in the first place right? If you go back to the Above, he might not let you leave again."

"And I would be stuck as an Observer, maybe forever…" He lifted his head, catching on to my train of thought.

"Exactly, but this way…" I prompted.

"This way I get to learn and explore anyway, add to the Library, and help all the other Utopians out!" he grinned at this realization, and I returned it.

"Yep! And you'll have a lot more to learn, come this evening," I gave him a sly smile.

"What? What are we doing?" he asked excitedly, his earfins perked up.

"It's a surprise," I smirked as he pouted, having predicted his exact reaction. "What I can tell you though, is that we're going to spend the day travelling back to Keswick, and you're going to get to see my home."

"Ooooh!" his eyes widened.

"But first," I picked up my bowl. "I need to finish my breakfast."

- O -

- O – O – O – O -

- O -

I swooped down to land beside Aiden, who was slooowly pushing his bike along through the forest again.

"Now?"

"No," he replied almost instantly.

"Please?" I made a keening noise in the back of my throat, turning to give him a tearful stare. It was all fake of course, but over the last week I'd learned Aiden was more susceptible to my pleas when I acted this way.

"For the millionth time Ashburn, no," he said firmly, but still with a small smile. "You'll enjoy this so much more if it's kept as a surprise. Go on, get back in the air, the more practice you have for tomorrow the better—it's a long journey and we won't be able to stop."

"But my wings hurt…" I rolled my shoulders, trying to make the aches disappear.

"Alright, walk for a stretch then, it's probably best you're not exhausted tomorrow."

"I don't understand; why do I need to fly so much tomorrow?" I tilted my head.

Aiden turned to me. "Because you'll be following the coach I'll be in for most of the journey. My family and I are going for a caravan holiday in a few days, and obviously I'm not going to leave you behind," I smiled and lightly pressed against his side at this. "So, I'll introduce you to my family before we go, and we'll just try to keep you hidden. My original plan was to take the bus most of the way, then camp the last little distance, and that works fine, except it means you need to be able to keep up with said bus, all without being seen yourself."

"Why can't I let anyone see me? I'd love to meet people!"

"Because…of the reaction they'll probably have," he sighed and stopped walking, and I sat on my haunches to listen. "They'll most likely think you're dangerous—despite the fact that you're not," he quickly added as I opened my mouth to disagree. "Dragons are…usually seen as aggressive predators by humans, so if you're seen just walking around, chances are there'll be panic. Then someone will call the police, or worse, and…I just don't know what will happen. I don't want you getting shot, or locked up in a cage."

"Couldn't I try talking to them? Wouldn't they be okay with me if they knew I wasn't going to hurt them?"

"Oh yeah, because that went so well the last time," he snapped sarcastically, and I winced, pulling back my earfins. I remembered what happened with the woman I ran into before…she thought I was going to eat her…

Aiden's shoulders slumped. "Sorry. But, you will get to meet and talk to my family in a few days."

"Won't they be scared of me too?"

"They'll be wary, sure, but I'm going to tell them what to expect before they actually see you, so that should help. They've also seen the film your body is from…aaand I've said too much," he turned on his heel and started quickly walking away.

I sat for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly he meant. "Hey, wait!" I leaped after him. "What film?"

He refused to give me even the slightest hint, no matter how much I begged, and eventually I gave up as the day went on. I'd seen all this scenery before, so to quell my boredom I started trying to get used to my other senses.

A lot of the time I'd been aware of the smells, sounds, tastes and feels of the world, but I had some trouble sorting through it all. The Library allowed me to identify some of them, but there was so much still foreign to me and my senses were stubbornly remaining highly sensitive, making it even more difficult. So I spent the parts of the day when I wasn't flying sniffing and touching each different thing I could find in the forest. I even tried tasting a few leaves and plants, but quickly stopped when Aiden told me some of them could be poisonous.

As it was getting quite dark, I started to hear new sounds in the distance, a lot of which I definitely couldn't recognize, along with a faintly acrid smell that I really didn't like.

"Are we getting close?" I asked Aiden, bounding alongside him as he cycled.

"Yup. Which means you're going to need to fly above me until we get to my flat. There won't be many people around at this hour, but better safe than sorry. Just make sure you don't lose me alright? I'll give you a wave when it's safe to come down."

"Okay," I took off, careful not to hit any trees on my way up. I kept glancing down to make sure I knew where Aiden was, but he wasn't too difficult to track; he had a strong light on the front of his bike, which became more and more obvious the darker it got. I could see a glowing area growing closer in the distance, and it quickly resolved into a large area of buildings and streets—Keswick.

I scanned over as much of it as I could while keeping an eye on Aiden, and I desperately wanted to fly down and investigate everything I could see. It felt like there were a thousand opportunities hanging just below me, and if I could just get a closer look at a few of them, then make a quick escape…

It seemed like Aiden had stopped in front of one of the taller buildings, and there was a dark spot not too far away.

'As long as I don't get spotted, it's okay,' I told myself.

I darted down into some kind of garden, seeing all sorts of colourful flowers and a strange, tiny building in the corner, an opening on its front. After a quick glance around I approached it, finding a curious smell emanating from the little house.

Suddenly, something shot out of the hole, causing me to jump backwards with a yelp. The little furry thing was barking and snarling like mad at me, and I realized it was a dog. It kept snapping and growling and I backed away, not wanting to get hurt or hurt it by mistake.

"Please be quiet, please," I whimpered, despite knowing it wouldn't be able to understand me.

Then I heard a door open, and a voice say in a shocked voice: "What the fuck?!"

I looked up at the sound and saw a woman standing at the back door of their house, staring straight at me. Aiden's words echoed through my head; 'Dragons are…usually seen as aggressive predators by humans, so if you're seen just walking around, chances are there'll be panic.'

But it felt like I was far more panicked than she was.

Dread and fear jolted me into action, and I took off straight up, trying to get back into the darkness where I could hide. I heard a distinct click and saw a flash behind me as I rapidly turned in a circle mid-air, trying to find Aiden. I started to tremble a little until I spotted him frantically waving from the ground, and dove towards him.

"I-I'm sorry—" I began to stutter as soon as my paws hit the pavement, but Aiden quickly shushed me.

"Get inside, and stay quiet!" he hissed, holding the door to the tall building open.

I held my wings tightly to my sides and rushed through the doorway, finding it only just big enough to fit me. I had entered a large open room as Aiden shut the door quickly behind us and quietly ran ahead to another. Once again I could see a thousand little things I wanted to investigate, but I held myself back this time, sensing Aiden's anger at me.

He led me up a few sets of stairs and through a couple more doors, down a hallway and into another room. The entire time we tried to keep as quiet as possible while moving quickly, and he kept checking each corner for people before going around it.

As soon as we were both inside, he did something with the door after shutting it, and there was a satisfying click. Aiden let out a huge sigh of relief and sank down to the floor against it.

For a third time, I was presented with lots of objects I didn't understand right in front of me, but instead I sat down and hung my head. I'd done exactly what Aiden told me not to, and even worse, someone saw me!

I stared at my claws and cowered, waiting for him to shout at me, hate me like he hated all those other 'shitty people' he talked about before. A knot of tension tightened in my chest as the silence dragged on for a few moments, until he regained his breath and stood back up.

"What did you do Ashburn?"

"I'm sorry…" I cringed, expecting to feel an impact. I felt the slight movement of air as his hand came close to my cheek, and I flinched.

"What—hey…did you think I was going to hit you?" Aiden asked incredulously.

I slowly looked up a little, giving a tiny nod.

"What would have made you…oh Christ," he dragged his hand down his face. "This is my fault isn't it? When you were learning to swim and I…did you think I would hit you any time you did something wrong?"

"…A little," I mumbled.

"Fuck…" he stood back, running his fingers through his hair.

"You're not…angry at me?" I asked tentatively, raising my head.

"No. Well, I am a little. But I'm absolutely not going to hit you for it. I mean, you've already been through so much, and you're only a child, I can't exactly expect you to follow my every word…so no, I'm not angry at you," Aiden sighed with a small smile.

My heart fluttered with joy and relief, the emotional knot unravelled, and I leapt forward, wrapping my paws around his shoulders. I was careful to put my weight on my back legs so I didn't crush him, pulling him against my neck and tucking my head over his back. I felt him put his arms around me briefly before stepping back, and I fell onto my haunches again.

"Calm down, calm down," he laughed, his face turning serious. "I just need to make this clear—I'm not going to hit you for doing anything, alright? If I ever do that again, and I have absolutely no intention of it, but if I do…I won't be thinking straight. I promise I will never hit you for doing something wrong, okay?"

"Okay," I smiled gratefully, extremely glad that he wasn't angry at me, and had made that promise.

Aiden seemed to be as relieved as I was that the air had been cleared, and he took his rucksack off, leaning it against the wall by the door, letting out a long sigh.

"So um," I began to bounce a little on my paws, my tail swishing back and forward as I got excited. "Can I look around? There's so much here I've never seen before!"

"Go for it," he laughed, and I cooed happily. "Just try not to make too much noise alright? You're not really supposed to be here. And no licking anything; I need to keep this place clean for when we leave tomorrow."

I nodded eagerly, the terms set, and gave him another quick hug before turning to the multitudes of new things in front of me.

- O -

- O – O – O – O -

- O -

I watched in amusement as Ashburn started poking around my apartment, sniffing and pawing at everything he could find. More often than not he'd ask what something was, what its purpose was and how it worked. A few times he knocked over a chair, pulled it back up and turned around, only to knock it over again with his tail or wings. Then as I pulled out a frozen pizza for my dinner, he realized that the cupboards could be opened, and that there was stuff in there too.

Eventually I sat down in front of the TV and gestured him over. The tiny sofa I had in my flat was obviously far too small to fit him alone, never mind both of us, so he lay down with his side against it.

"What are we doing?" he turned his head to give me an intrigued look. I pointed to the television in response as I turned it on and opened Netflix. I navigated to the first How to Train Your Dragon film and almost choked at seeing the familiar thumbnail. The last time I'd actually watched this was…over a year ago.

With Sophie.

At that moment, I was very glad Ashburn couldn't see my face. I quickly wiped at my eyes and took a trembling breath, before hitting play.

I tried to relax as the movie began, but with every moment, every recognizable visual and sound, all I could think of were the times when I used to watch it with her. I started to focus on Ashburn's reactions instead, which wasn't difficult as he was completely transfixed. But as the initial dragon raid scene began, his earfins curled back and he withdrew on himself, shock and horror evident in his eyes. I quickly paused the film and reached out a hand to his neck.

"You alright? You know this isn't real?"

He jumped as I touched him, obviously completely zoned in. It took him a moment to answer.

"…Somewhere it is," he said worriedly.

I opened my mouth to respond, and then immediately shut it, realizing he was right. If a universe was created any time anyone put enough thought into an idea…there were countless realities of it out there in the multiverse. Of…any piece of media…even non-fiction adaptations, stories, comics, video games…

I sat there, eyes bulging in awe and horror at the same time, before I shook myself and got back to the moment at hand. I could probably spend hours contemplating the possibilities and never actually know anything about them.

Ashburn turned to me. "I-is conflict this bad everywhere? I never saw much, b-but this is…" he looked back at the film, paused on Vikings and dragons fighting relentlessly. "I thought the multiverse was nice…" he whimpered quietly.

Thoughts of humanity's wars and nuclear bombs flashed behind my eyes. I realized I was going to have to tell him what Earth was like sooner or later…

…but not right now.

I moved off the sofa, sitting beside him on the carpet. "It's really complicated honestly. But all you need to worry about at the moment, is that this film—" I gestured to the television. "—was created with kids in mind. Yes, there's fighting, but nobody really gets hurt, which would mean in the universe itself, somewhere out there, nobody gets hurt either, right?"

"I guess…" Ashburn wasn't convinced.

"Look, trust me, this film has a really happy ending, you'll enjoy it. Along with something else you'll see in a moment…" I pressed play again and watched his reaction, as the Vikings shouted; "NIGHT FURY! GET DOWN!"

That got his attention.

"Wait, but you said I was a—" he glanced at me with surprise and realization for a brief moment before turning back, not wanting to miss a single moment.

"Yup," I smiled amusedly. "Keep watching."

As the film went on, I found I was slowly able to relax. Despite my memories of Sophie haunting and tormenting me, having Ashburn at my side—just existing—seemed to nullify them. I began to enjoy How to Train Your Dragon for the first time in what felt like an eternity; seeing it after spending a week with an actual dragon put an interesting spin on the viewing experience. I leaned onto his side as I let out a long breath, feeling…at peace.

Ashburn's reactions to it all were entertaining in their own right—he jumped and yelped when Toothless pinned Hiccup to the rock, and when the Red Death was revealed he tried to hide behind the sofa. He cooed as Hiccup and Toothless became friends, and at the romance with Astrid. He even started to emulate some of Toothless' movements and expressions—as much as he could while lying down anyway.

The vast majority of the time though, he was simply staring in wonder, absorbing it all. When the credits finally rolled, there were tears of shock and joy trickling down his scales, and he seemed almost in a trance.

"So…questions?" I asked with mirth, imagining he had at least a few hundred.

He took a minute to recover, as if he was out of breath. Then eventually:

"Can we watch it again?"

I laughed, not expecting that, but didn't object. It only took a few minutes into the opening scene for the questions to start coming, several dozen at a time. We ended up making a little system; watch a scene, pause the film, answer as many questions as I could, resume. This went on for what must have been at least an hour before we came to the 'See You Tomorrow' montage.

"Try that scratching thing on me!" Ashburn said eagerly.

"What, on your chin?" I hummed, wondering if it would actually work the same way.

"Yeah!" he lifted his head to give me easy access. I reached out and scratched the scales in the same spot Hiccup had, dragging my fingernails across the surface. Immediately Ashburn's eyes rolled back in his head and he went completely limp, collapsing to the ground and purring loudly. I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.

Then I noticed something strange—he had a scar. Not just any scar though; this was the same one that could be seen on Toothless in the film, on the right side of his neck. I glanced between Ashburn and the TV, confirming that they were in fact, exactly the same.

Yet another confusing question with no real answer in sight—I was beginning to have quite the list of those.

I sighed and glanced at the time: 9PM. Dammit, I'd almost forgotten to get Ashburn some meats for tomorrow, since he wouldn't have time to hunt.

"Hey, can you hear me?" I gave his large head an experimental push, and all I got in response was purring. Figuring he would be like that for another while, I made a quick trip to the supermarket before it closed.

When I returned, it was to an ominous lack of noise. I dropped my bags at the door and peered cautiously at his dark form, the sofa blocking my view of his front half.

"Ashburn?" I asked, my voice cutting into the silence like a knife. I couldn't even hear him purring or snoring.

Starting to get quite worried, I made my way around until I could see his head, and froze. He was wide awake, eyes slitted and flickering back and forth. I dared not move for a moment, afraid that something might have happened to turn him 'wild'. Then his thin pupils locked on me and immediately softened, widening back into their usual shape. I breathed a small sigh of relief, but anxiety soon began to set in once again as I heard nothing but a weak gurgle come from his throat.

"A-Ashburn?" I stuttered out, rushing toward him and falling to my knees. "Are you okay? What happened?!" I placed my hand on his head as a couple of tears trickled down his cheeks. He didn't respond, only moving his eyes back and forward a little.

"Can you move? Can you talk?" I realized these were stupid questions as he still didn't answer. All he seemed to be able to do was move his pupils a small amount. "Okay uh…move your eyes up and down for yes, and side to side for no. Can you do anything?"

His gaze flicked left, then right. No.

"Shit…how did this happen? I left after I…scratched your chin…and you passed out," I looked up at the television in dawning comprehension, still paused on How to Train Your Dragon. "So…that paralyzed you? How?"

All Ashburn could do was stare at me, and I realized he was likely panicking and unable to show it, yet here I was just asking stupid questions with no answers. Again.

"Sorry," I sighed, rubbing his muzzle comfortingly. He closed his eyes and I finally heard a tiny purr as I gently ran my fingers over his head. "I guess we just have to hope, and wait for this to wear off. I'm sure it will…it has to," I said, both for my benefit and his own.

It had to.

I glanced around, unsure of what to do with myself, until my eyes landed on the TV remote. I sat down with my back against the sofa again, and heaved Ashburn's head and neck onto my legs so he could see the film better.

"You're bloody heavy you know that?" I grunted. "How many fish have you been eating?"

No answer came other than a small twitch of his jaw, so I simply resumed the film and wrapped my arms securely around Ashburn's neck. I scratched his scales soothingly and tried to relax as we waited for the paralysis to wear off…

- O -

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- O -

Author's Note

Welp, there goes my two month minimum update interval. Sorry about that. But my plan is to release two, maybe three more chapters over the summer since I have a lot more time now. We've also passed 3,000 views as I'm writing this, which is mental, so thank you all very much! And of course, thanks to my beta readers netWARIOR and SteenGooier for putting up with my nagging :P

Also, to the guest(s?) leaving reviews asking about progress, I'd be able to PM you back if you created an account, just sayin'. It has given me an idea though—I'll start putting little updates on my FFN profile, just current word count progress and anything else I'm working on, so keep an eye on that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thanks for reading!

Rowan