28
Calming a Dragon
The tail that had circled them and had once protected them no longer did so.
It moved with great speed and the wraith of the dragon was turned to them.
Crystal was scared. The first time he did this –and the only other time- he looked younger and almost cute, but now, he was mean and angry. Maybe time had made his features softer in her memory but Cyron sure looked a hell of a lot meaner. His features were a lot sharper than she remembered and she was pretty sure that those teeth were larger too! He also seemed a lot bigger as well. Wasn't he smaller before?
The dragon growled and looked down at them and sniffed the air.
"Cyrus!" Benot called. "She is alive!"
The dragon sniffed again and then blew out some air. How could a creature be so cold? She was freezing. It was almost like Cyron was sucking all the warmth out of the air into him.
"Please Cyrus! Come back to us! After all this time!" Benot said. Boy, she didn't realize how gruesome Benot looked. He was covered in blood and it looked like it was starting to freeze on his body. It was quickly turning from that brilliant red to a dull black brown and it looked like it was caking on him.
Gross.
"There is no Cyrus here," The dragon growled and sniffed the air again and his head turned to Trunks. She saw him jump and clutch at his daughter tighter than he had been before.
"I have to get her help," Trunks said in a surprisingly confident voice. He sure didn't look confident and he did look a little funny without his hair in a braid, it kept falling in front of his face. He really needed a haircut. "She will die if I don't!"
The dragon made a sound like laughter. "And why should I care?" The dragon said. His body wiped around them but not like before. It was to keep them in check. "If one of you die!"
Benot yelled. "It is our mother! Remember you mother! She will die if you don't let us get her help!"
The red eyes of the dragon turned to Benot for a second and then back to Soyna in the arms of Trunks.
"That is not my mother," he said. The circle seemed to tighten. Damn. His skin was even starting to form ice and her feet were going numb and was he getting bigger? She did not like this. And he sure forgot things a lot quick than last time. She remembered how Goku had calmed him down by forcing memories back to the surface. Would they be able to do it this time? She hoped so.
The dragon smiled all of a sudden and pulled back. He threw his head back and raised his arms to the sky. Some ice fell off of his shoulders that had formed there. He let out an awful sounding laugh, "I AM FREE!" He laughed.
Free?
Great. Just great.
"I got to get her to the hospital," Trunks said in a panic filled voice. He looked to the dragon and was scared. Vegeta set his jaw and looked at the dragon with uncertainly. There was no way they could fight the dragon. No way. "How do you get him to change back?"
Benot just shook his head and flew up to view the dragon in the eye. "Please, little brother," he said and the laughter stopped. "We need you back little brother. What would I do without you?"
The dragon made a noise of contemplation and looked liked he was sizing up Benot. It also looked like he could just snap him up in his jaws.
"I can take care of myself now," the dragon said. "I am THE force in the Universe." He smirked with satisfaction. She did not know how a dragon could smirk, but he did it. This was scary.
"Don't leave me alone with Crystal!" He yelled.
"Hey!" She said and felt herself putting her hands on her hips. This was no time to start an argument. Plus, she didn't like how the eye of the dragon turned to her. Damn. Before, she was pretty sure there was Cyrus in those eyes, she only saw dragon.
Vegeta put a hand on her shoulder and whispered sharply in her ear; "Don't start a fight now. Calm yourself down. Fighting with him after we got Cyrus back."
She knew he was right. It didn't make her any less mad though. How dare he insult her like that? What was wrong with her anyway?
The dragon lifted his chin. "Why should that matter to me?" he said "I have the freedom that I always wanted now."
His whole body rippled and started to
expand a little around them. He was
getting bigger. "I am my own now and I
don't plan on being pushed aside again."
And as if to make his point, his large hand swatted Benot down on to the
ground beside her.
She rushed to him. The guy was so hurt; she didn't know he had the energy to even breath. She would be mad at him later. His right arm looked like it was useless. He had tears in his eyes. "I can't get through to him." He had that I give up look.
"I will talk with him," Vegeta said. "Take Benot to the hospital and you take Soyna and 'Geta," he pointed to Trunks. "I will bring Cyrus to you after I talk him down."
"But how can you talk him down?" Trunks said.
"Just go!" he said. "I will not have another death on my hands!" Vegeta said sharply.
Crystal wanted to slap her grandfather but she didn't. He had to have a plan. He knew that he couldn't fight the dragon. How was he going to talk him down?
She picked up the pesky Benot who grumbled about being rescued by a girl but didn't really put up a fight.
Vegeta rose to talk to Cyron who was reveling in his newfound freedom.
…………………………….
Vegeta was glad that Cyron was not even noticing the others leave. That was good. He had no idea if it would work, but he had to try.
"Cyron!" He yelled.
The dragon turned to him. He certainly looked bigger than before. How big could this guy get? He still was not as large as he remembered Shelong being but he must be working his way up.
"No more wishes to grant! I am free of that curse!" Cyron said sharply to him. The former amusement was gone from his tone. "I will no longer be trapped!"
"But what about your family!" he yelled. "You will no longer have them!"
"They are all dead!" Cyron said with a growl. The air grew a little colder. He could see his breath. The dragon's mouth turned into a snarl. At least Cyron remembered that he had a family. There was a little bit of hope yet.
"What about your brother? What about Benot?" He said.
The dragon blinked, the red eyes darkened a bit. "He does not need to worry about me any more." He said and the red eyes brightened again. "I am my own!"
Vegeta scowled. This was going to be hard. Very hard. The body of the dragon swooped around him and he felt trapped. That must have been what Cyron wanted him to feel because the dragon chuckled. "Nervous, Vegeta?"
"You wanted me to help you!" he yelled at him.
"You refused!" The dragon snarled before he could finish. Those eyes flared red!
"I had made a new decision!" Vegeta said. "I will do what it takes."
The dragon drew very still and leaned closer to him. Vegeta floated back only to bump into the freezing body of the dragon. He was like ice.
"And what decision is that?" The dragon rumbled. "Would you be even able to leave your woman? Would you be able to even do it?"
Vegeta resisted the urge to bolt. He had to connect with the boy in there. Isn't that what Crystal said Goku had done. He may not be able to do it the same way that Goku had but he had to try.
"I don't even know what I had to do!" He said. "But I am willing to do it!"
The dragon scowled at him. "And let me give up my new freedom?" He laughed now. The dragon's laughter was terrifying. Vegeta hoped that he wasn't too far-gone. "To be in that little weak boy again! To not be able to stop anything! To not be able to fight back. I do not think so! I do not like being weak!"
The dragon's body began to move again. He backed away from the cold scaly body only to find himself right in front of the eye of the dragon: Bright red and full of anger.
"What about all that you have done!" He yelled. "All your traveling to find me to fix things!? Are you just going to throw it all away?"
"It is all over!" he laughed. The dragon laughed. "I am free!" He started to turn away and its body defiantly had grown. Yeah. He wondered what would happen he got to his full size. "That is all that matters. I have my freedom. I do not have to worry about such petty things."
Vegeta felt his blood boil. "You called me selfish!"
The dragon stopped and he found himself in his grip, not unlike how Drak had been not that long ago and from the look of it, it was the same talon as well.
Disgusting.
He screamed as the grip increased and Cyron's face was right in his.
"Selfish! I have spent most of my existence granting other people wishes! People like you that want nothing more than their selfish desires met!" He snarled. "Trapped by a curse that I no longer have to follow! I am my own now. I do not have to answer to a single other!" The dragon said let out a laugh. "You are calling me selfish."
Well, at least he struck a cord. "Yes!" He said. He could barely breathe; the dragon's grip was so tight on him. "What about those that helped you!"
"Helped me?" The dragon said. "They are all gone! I owe no one a debt."
"What about Cyrus?" He said. The dragon grew still and the grip decreased a bit. He was able to breathe again. He could have probably got free but he thought it best to wait. He could be getting through to him. This was his only chance.
The eyes of the dragon narrowed and darkened slightly. "What about him?"
"He did not have a choice!" He said. It was one of the things that had bothered Soyna that he did not have a choice to carry such a heavy burden. She did not like her decision but of course, he had put her in that position. Benot or the unborn child. Benot had died. Her only choice was to hope that the child, Cyrus, could forgive her. And he had from what he understood. "It was even a hard choice for Soyna."
The grip on him increased again and the dragon made a deep grumbling sound.
He fought the pain. "He wants to make everyone happy. He has been trying to fix things so that everyone is happy. Even you!"
The eyes of the dragon flared red and a blast of cold rose from him, "He was using my power at his whim! MY POWER!"
He grunted. "He was trying to save the universe. You should know what he was trying to do!" He said. "I would hardly call it selfish!"
The dragon growled. "He just wanted…" the words were lower, "to be himself." The eyes darkened again.
Damn it. Was he getting through to his monster?
The dragon looked to the sky.
"He wanted to make it so that none of this would ever have happened," The dragon scowled and frowned and he looked back down at him.
"How is that selfish?" Vegeta grunted. If he didn't get out of this blood soaked hand soon, he was going to add to the mess!
"IT JUST IS!" The dragon roared and those eyes flashed red. "You are not one to talk! You started this mess."
"Yes, and I had chose to fix it!" He said and the grip seemed to get worse. He let go a scream that he couldn't hold back. "Cyrus!!"
The grip loosened. He looked up at the dragon. His eyes were black. Not red.
"Vegeta?" It was the boy's voice. "But what if it can't be?"
He just blinked.
"I would rather be strong and unstoppable than that weak boy." He said. "I am strong like this." The eyes were turning red again.
"What good would having all that power when everyone is dead?" He said. The grip loosened from him and he quickly darted out of the hand but did not go far. "What good is having all that power if you can do nothing but destroy with it? Cyrus was trying to do good with your shared power."
The dragon started to take deep breaths and seemed to calm down a lot. The air was no longer getting colder. He did not look as large as he remembered the dragon being, or maybe he had hit the right cord.
"You will go back?" The dragon asked.
"Yes."
"It may not work." The dragon said.
"Cyrus was willing to take that chance and so am I."
The dragon just nodded.