Kes stood, waiting for Quinn to get into the helicopter. She was last
to load, and therefore, had the power to hold them back.
"Kes! Kes!!" a voice cried. She turned around, and Zene came running to her from Jared's watch.
"Zene? What is it, hon? You alright?" she asked, kneeling down. He threw himself at her, holding her.
"I don't want you to go! What if you don't come back?! What if you end up like your brother?" he cried. Kes ran her hand over his head, trying to calm him, and gave Jared a look.
"Don't worry, Zene. I won't die. It's too soon for me to go see Denton. I'll be coming back, don't you worry. And just to prove it, I'm giving you this." She slid the tooth off her neck, and gently put it around his. "You wear this, and protect it until I come back. Alright? Because I know I can count on you." A smile came through his tears, and she held him once more.
"You take care, alright?"
"Okay, Kes." He waved, and went with Jared. Kes waved to him, and got into the helicopter.
They started off, and as they neared London, Kes reached out and took Quinn's hand. He looked at her.
"Are you okay?" he asked. She shook her head.
"Why?" Ricky asked.
"Well, I guess I'm as okay as anyone who's gone off to fight dragons can be." Quinn smiled.
"It'll be alright. Remember: we've done it once, we can do it again." Kes sighed, and Quinn hugged her. She hugged him back.
"I just can't stop thinking about my brother." Ricky looked at her.
"What?"
"Denton. I can't stop thinking about what happened to him." Quinn pulled back, and looked at her.
"He was your brother?" Kes stopped. After a moment she realized that she had said that.
"Yea, he was. He was older than me and Ricky, and that's why he gave me that tooth: I was his weakness."
"Where did you put it now?" Quinn asked, touching her neck.
"I gave it to Zene to hold on to, so that I have a reason to come back alive." He nodded. She reached up, and touched his hand. He took hers in his, and looked at her.
"London is in sight. I repeat, London is in sight." They looked up, and saw the city before them, in horrifying condition.
"I never thought I would say this, but I want to go home," Ricky said. Kes laughed.
"What?" Quinn asked.
"Back home, there is a little more than enough to get by on, but people will kill for food. I mean, I've gone down the road, and seen someone eating a human. Cannibalism, man. I guess when you've got nothing, you can do what you will." Kes nodded, and looked out as they landed. They got out of the helicopter, and Alex went around the nose of the copter, catching up with them on the other side. They hunkered down low on the steps nearby.
"Kes, I wanted to ask you something," Quinn said.
"Shoot."
"When we stopped Eddie from going harvesting, why did he say you were one of them? What was he talking about?"
"Well, there are two ways to interpret that. One way is that I'm one of the American's, which is something I cannot deny. But the other.is that I'm one of them," she said, nodding her head at the dragons. Quinn looked at her.
"Are you?"
"In a way. I was born with a mark, a mark that denotes my destiny. I can stay human, and never risk my life for those I love. Or I can become a creature of such power, that I can no longer be human. So I could become a dragon, and protect you guys, but I am not sure if I should." Quinn reached over, taking her hand.
"Whether you do or not is up to you." They stole into the city, and slid down into a tunnel. Kes was the last to jump down, barely missing being seen by a dragon.
"He's up there."
"Who?"
"The male. He is about twenty feet from the hole, now. But he does not know we're here. Which, in my opinion, is a good thing." Quinn nodded, and they raced down the tunnel, trying to find a way out, into the center of town, to fight that dragon.
Kes made sure they were on the ladder going up before she even tried to climb. She went slowly, trying to decide whether or not to reach her destiny. She got partway up, and stopped. Something from her past came flooding into her mind.
"Momma! What is this?" she asked, running up to the woman in the living room. She stopped her, and looked at the mark on her back. The woman stopped cold. "Momma? You alright?"
"Kes, you have the mark."
"Mark? What mark?" Her mother placed the tip of her finger on the mark that rested on the small of her back.
"This mark signifies your destiny. It is the mark of the Dragon Child."
"Dragon Child?" Her mother nodded.
"A day will come when you will face a challenge: you must either sacrifice your life as a human to save those you love, and care about, or stay human, and let the problem do what it wishes."
"What's that mean, momma?" she asked, sitting down. Her mother sighed.
"It means one day, you will be faced with a problem. A problem that will threaten the lives of those you love, those you care about. If you choose not to follow that path, then you shall stay human forever, and the problem will do what it wishes to those you love. If you choose to follow your destined path, then you will turn into a dragon, and protect them. But keep in mind that if you pursue that route, then you can never become human again. Ever. Most things of your human life shall follow you to your dragon life, but there are some things, things that were very important and special to you, that you will never remember again.."
"Kes! Denton! Ricky! Run! Now!" her mother screamed. Kes lifted her head, and saw her mother ducking, trying to avoid the dragons swooping about. As one came from behind, her parents not seeing it, her heart rate increased, and she could feel the air building in her lungs.
"Mom!!!! Dad!!!!!" The dragon had them in its mouth before she finished saying "Dad." Her eyes widened as they filled with tears.
"NO!!!!" she screamed, and tried to run to them, to save them. Denton and Ricky grabbed her, hauled her away, and ran to their home, down into their basement, and on into their bomb shelter. Kes began to cry, and hit Denton as Ricky locked the door.
"Why didn't you let me go? Why didn't you let me save them?! I have the mark! I am the Dragon Child! I could have saved them!!!" she cried, beating against his chest. He grabbed her, and tossed her onto the cot.
"You sit there and be quiet! You're too young to change, Kes. They would have wiped your bones clean before you could ever roar, understand? You had no chance!" Denton said, pointing his finger into her face.
"Yes I did!" she cried, pressing her head against the bars of the ladder. Ricky looked down.
"Did what?" She looked up.
"I could have save mom and dad, Ricky! Didn't you notice that the only dragon still there was a child?" He reached down, grabbed her hand, and pulled her up, racing to catch up to Quinn and Alex.
"What were you screaming about back there?" Quinn asked.
"I'm the Dragon Child.my mother told me the myth, the legend.the sacrifice I would make. And the day they died, I wanted to change. I wanted to save them, but Denton and Ricky refused to let me." Quinn grabbed her hand.
"I'm glad they did. Otherwise, I wouldn't have met you." Kes smiled. The dragon landed. Alex handed out the weapons of choice, and they split up. Alex climbed up, above the others, on the roof of a small house. Kes parked herself in a darkened little corner that was getting hit just right, the dragon hadn't a clue she was there. Quinn and Ricky were supposed to go across the street, run when the dragon wasn't looking. Somehow, Quinn stumbled, and the dragon looked. They were frozen in the middle of the road. Kes stood as she realized they had a problem.
"Run, you guys! Run!" she called. They tried, but somehow, they couldn't move. She ran, hauling her weapon with her. Pushing herself to a charge, she knocked them off the road and to the side before the dragon could burn them.
"Kes! You were supposed to stay over.what are you doing?" She dropped her bag, and looked at them.
"Keep these with you. You may need them." She started out into the middle of the road, covered in debris from the London that Quinn had once known, and loved. Her eyes flashed from her normal eyes to dragon eyes, causing the dragon to stand there, not move.
"You think you are tough, don't you? Picking on people so much smaller than you. It's like us picking on an ant. It isn't fair. So this is it. I fight you. I follow my destiny, I become the Dragon Child I was supposed to become. And this time, no one can stop me." She stopped in front of the creature, and Alex, Quinn, and Ricky watched as her skin began to turn green, and scaly. She turned her head, as she grew a longer face, and looked at Quinn.
"I love you, guys. I love you a lot." She closed her eyes as her body grew, stretched, and a metamorphosis took place, changing her from a human to a dragon. The other dragon froze a little, seemingly confused. Kes pressed her wings against her body, and looked up at the other creature. Taking a breath, she reared back, and spit. Nailed the other creature in the face, causing it to scream. She gave a look to her brother, and he fired an arrow into the male. Kes blocked her face with her wing as the creature exploded. She began to flap her wings no more than a moment later, and rose up into the air. They watched her, then began to run after her, keeping safely out of sight.
They watched as she looked around London, unhappy with how it looked. She turned to Ricky, and the last bit of human voice she had came out.
"Run. Go back to the helicopter, and keep down. This will not take long. Count to ten from the time you get the copter into the air, then fire all your weapons into the city. Go!" Ricky and Alex began running, but they had to haul Quinn to get him to leave. Alex got in, and started the copter. As they rose up, Quinn and Ricky looked out, behind the copter, to see what Kes had in store. Flames rose above London, grasping at everything it could. The city screamed as it burned to the ground. Dragons were dieing here and there, none were able to escape the fire, the death.
"One.." Alex called. They turned and looked at her, and sighed.
"Two." Ricky said.
"Three. Four. Five," Quinn continued.
"Six. Seven." Alex said.
"Eight. Nine," Ricky said. They all looked at each other.
"Ten!" they cried, and Alex fired the weapon on the copter as Quinn and Ricky fired their weapons (and Alex and Kes') into the city, causing the flames to explode, and cause more destruction. Quinn's weapon ran out, and he dropped it off the side of the copter as he realized that Kes never flew out of the city.
It had been a week. Kes had not been seen since the fire that they made that destroyed London and all those dragons. Quinn missed her, more than anyone, but didn't let them know because he barely talked to anybody. Especially the kids, who really wanted him to talk. Continually they asked where Kes was, but they never got an answer.
He stood, leaning out the window of the little chapel that was in the castle. Jared was in the next room with Ricky and Alex, telling the kids a story. The sun had begun to set, and Quinn's eyes were staring out at the mountains. He saw something, a figure, standing on them, looking around. Quinn stood up straighter as the figure began to slide down the mountain, towards the castle. The kids went passed him, giving him their goodnights, and then, the room was silent again.
"Jared!" The boy walked into the room.
"Yea, Quinn?" He pointed out the window.
"Tell me what you see." He looked out, squinted, and pulled back.
"Looks like a person," he said. They ran from the room. Ricky walked in, Alex behind him.
"Where are you going?" he called.
"Someone is coming this way!" Jared exclaimed. Ricky and Alex ran after them.
They burst outside, and ran into the gravel before they noticed that something was behind one pile of stones. Quinn ran over, and slid around it. Zene's little dragon friend looked up at him. Quinn sighed.
"Your lost, aren't you, buddy?" he asked, and dropped down to pick it up. He reached down, and lifted it into his arms. Jared sighed.
"What did you think it was, Quinn?"
"Well.nevermind. It's silly." Ricky shook his head.
"You thought it was Kes, didn't you?"
"I hoped it was." Ricky patted his shoulder.
"So did I, Quinn. So did I."
They walked inside, and Quinn headed up to Zene. The little boy stared at the ceiling.
"Zene?" he asked. He looked over.
"Yea?"
"Here. You may have a pet," Quinn said, handing Zene the dragon. Zene laughed, and took her.
"Jess? Where'd you find her?"
"Outside. I think she must have come looking for you, because she managed to come here." Zene held her, and smiled.
"Thank you, Quinn." Quinn nodded, rustled his hair, and headed to his own room.
The moon shone down brightly that night, despite the fact that clouds passed over every few moments. He couldn't sleep, so he just stared up at the ceiling. Closing his eyes for a brief moment, he thought back to the first night Kes had her own room. It was about the same time, almost midnight, and she wasn't able to sleep alone. She got up, and came to his room, opening the door. Quinn could hear it in his head as he remembered. Kes had walked over, and curled up next to him. Only then did he realize something. Someone else was in his room.
He opened his eyes, and saw his door slightly open. Quinn had completely shut it when he came in. He heard someone breathing, and felt as they slid down beside him on the bed. The person sighed, and his eyes widened.
"Kes?" he whispered.
"Kes! Kes!!" a voice cried. She turned around, and Zene came running to her from Jared's watch.
"Zene? What is it, hon? You alright?" she asked, kneeling down. He threw himself at her, holding her.
"I don't want you to go! What if you don't come back?! What if you end up like your brother?" he cried. Kes ran her hand over his head, trying to calm him, and gave Jared a look.
"Don't worry, Zene. I won't die. It's too soon for me to go see Denton. I'll be coming back, don't you worry. And just to prove it, I'm giving you this." She slid the tooth off her neck, and gently put it around his. "You wear this, and protect it until I come back. Alright? Because I know I can count on you." A smile came through his tears, and she held him once more.
"You take care, alright?"
"Okay, Kes." He waved, and went with Jared. Kes waved to him, and got into the helicopter.
They started off, and as they neared London, Kes reached out and took Quinn's hand. He looked at her.
"Are you okay?" he asked. She shook her head.
"Why?" Ricky asked.
"Well, I guess I'm as okay as anyone who's gone off to fight dragons can be." Quinn smiled.
"It'll be alright. Remember: we've done it once, we can do it again." Kes sighed, and Quinn hugged her. She hugged him back.
"I just can't stop thinking about my brother." Ricky looked at her.
"What?"
"Denton. I can't stop thinking about what happened to him." Quinn pulled back, and looked at her.
"He was your brother?" Kes stopped. After a moment she realized that she had said that.
"Yea, he was. He was older than me and Ricky, and that's why he gave me that tooth: I was his weakness."
"Where did you put it now?" Quinn asked, touching her neck.
"I gave it to Zene to hold on to, so that I have a reason to come back alive." He nodded. She reached up, and touched his hand. He took hers in his, and looked at her.
"London is in sight. I repeat, London is in sight." They looked up, and saw the city before them, in horrifying condition.
"I never thought I would say this, but I want to go home," Ricky said. Kes laughed.
"What?" Quinn asked.
"Back home, there is a little more than enough to get by on, but people will kill for food. I mean, I've gone down the road, and seen someone eating a human. Cannibalism, man. I guess when you've got nothing, you can do what you will." Kes nodded, and looked out as they landed. They got out of the helicopter, and Alex went around the nose of the copter, catching up with them on the other side. They hunkered down low on the steps nearby.
"Kes, I wanted to ask you something," Quinn said.
"Shoot."
"When we stopped Eddie from going harvesting, why did he say you were one of them? What was he talking about?"
"Well, there are two ways to interpret that. One way is that I'm one of the American's, which is something I cannot deny. But the other.is that I'm one of them," she said, nodding her head at the dragons. Quinn looked at her.
"Are you?"
"In a way. I was born with a mark, a mark that denotes my destiny. I can stay human, and never risk my life for those I love. Or I can become a creature of such power, that I can no longer be human. So I could become a dragon, and protect you guys, but I am not sure if I should." Quinn reached over, taking her hand.
"Whether you do or not is up to you." They stole into the city, and slid down into a tunnel. Kes was the last to jump down, barely missing being seen by a dragon.
"He's up there."
"Who?"
"The male. He is about twenty feet from the hole, now. But he does not know we're here. Which, in my opinion, is a good thing." Quinn nodded, and they raced down the tunnel, trying to find a way out, into the center of town, to fight that dragon.
Kes made sure they were on the ladder going up before she even tried to climb. She went slowly, trying to decide whether or not to reach her destiny. She got partway up, and stopped. Something from her past came flooding into her mind.
"Momma! What is this?" she asked, running up to the woman in the living room. She stopped her, and looked at the mark on her back. The woman stopped cold. "Momma? You alright?"
"Kes, you have the mark."
"Mark? What mark?" Her mother placed the tip of her finger on the mark that rested on the small of her back.
"This mark signifies your destiny. It is the mark of the Dragon Child."
"Dragon Child?" Her mother nodded.
"A day will come when you will face a challenge: you must either sacrifice your life as a human to save those you love, and care about, or stay human, and let the problem do what it wishes."
"What's that mean, momma?" she asked, sitting down. Her mother sighed.
"It means one day, you will be faced with a problem. A problem that will threaten the lives of those you love, those you care about. If you choose not to follow that path, then you shall stay human forever, and the problem will do what it wishes to those you love. If you choose to follow your destined path, then you will turn into a dragon, and protect them. But keep in mind that if you pursue that route, then you can never become human again. Ever. Most things of your human life shall follow you to your dragon life, but there are some things, things that were very important and special to you, that you will never remember again.."
"Kes! Denton! Ricky! Run! Now!" her mother screamed. Kes lifted her head, and saw her mother ducking, trying to avoid the dragons swooping about. As one came from behind, her parents not seeing it, her heart rate increased, and she could feel the air building in her lungs.
"Mom!!!! Dad!!!!!" The dragon had them in its mouth before she finished saying "Dad." Her eyes widened as they filled with tears.
"NO!!!!" she screamed, and tried to run to them, to save them. Denton and Ricky grabbed her, hauled her away, and ran to their home, down into their basement, and on into their bomb shelter. Kes began to cry, and hit Denton as Ricky locked the door.
"Why didn't you let me go? Why didn't you let me save them?! I have the mark! I am the Dragon Child! I could have saved them!!!" she cried, beating against his chest. He grabbed her, and tossed her onto the cot.
"You sit there and be quiet! You're too young to change, Kes. They would have wiped your bones clean before you could ever roar, understand? You had no chance!" Denton said, pointing his finger into her face.
"Yes I did!" she cried, pressing her head against the bars of the ladder. Ricky looked down.
"Did what?" She looked up.
"I could have save mom and dad, Ricky! Didn't you notice that the only dragon still there was a child?" He reached down, grabbed her hand, and pulled her up, racing to catch up to Quinn and Alex.
"What were you screaming about back there?" Quinn asked.
"I'm the Dragon Child.my mother told me the myth, the legend.the sacrifice I would make. And the day they died, I wanted to change. I wanted to save them, but Denton and Ricky refused to let me." Quinn grabbed her hand.
"I'm glad they did. Otherwise, I wouldn't have met you." Kes smiled. The dragon landed. Alex handed out the weapons of choice, and they split up. Alex climbed up, above the others, on the roof of a small house. Kes parked herself in a darkened little corner that was getting hit just right, the dragon hadn't a clue she was there. Quinn and Ricky were supposed to go across the street, run when the dragon wasn't looking. Somehow, Quinn stumbled, and the dragon looked. They were frozen in the middle of the road. Kes stood as she realized they had a problem.
"Run, you guys! Run!" she called. They tried, but somehow, they couldn't move. She ran, hauling her weapon with her. Pushing herself to a charge, she knocked them off the road and to the side before the dragon could burn them.
"Kes! You were supposed to stay over.what are you doing?" She dropped her bag, and looked at them.
"Keep these with you. You may need them." She started out into the middle of the road, covered in debris from the London that Quinn had once known, and loved. Her eyes flashed from her normal eyes to dragon eyes, causing the dragon to stand there, not move.
"You think you are tough, don't you? Picking on people so much smaller than you. It's like us picking on an ant. It isn't fair. So this is it. I fight you. I follow my destiny, I become the Dragon Child I was supposed to become. And this time, no one can stop me." She stopped in front of the creature, and Alex, Quinn, and Ricky watched as her skin began to turn green, and scaly. She turned her head, as she grew a longer face, and looked at Quinn.
"I love you, guys. I love you a lot." She closed her eyes as her body grew, stretched, and a metamorphosis took place, changing her from a human to a dragon. The other dragon froze a little, seemingly confused. Kes pressed her wings against her body, and looked up at the other creature. Taking a breath, she reared back, and spit. Nailed the other creature in the face, causing it to scream. She gave a look to her brother, and he fired an arrow into the male. Kes blocked her face with her wing as the creature exploded. She began to flap her wings no more than a moment later, and rose up into the air. They watched her, then began to run after her, keeping safely out of sight.
They watched as she looked around London, unhappy with how it looked. She turned to Ricky, and the last bit of human voice she had came out.
"Run. Go back to the helicopter, and keep down. This will not take long. Count to ten from the time you get the copter into the air, then fire all your weapons into the city. Go!" Ricky and Alex began running, but they had to haul Quinn to get him to leave. Alex got in, and started the copter. As they rose up, Quinn and Ricky looked out, behind the copter, to see what Kes had in store. Flames rose above London, grasping at everything it could. The city screamed as it burned to the ground. Dragons were dieing here and there, none were able to escape the fire, the death.
"One.." Alex called. They turned and looked at her, and sighed.
"Two." Ricky said.
"Three. Four. Five," Quinn continued.
"Six. Seven." Alex said.
"Eight. Nine," Ricky said. They all looked at each other.
"Ten!" they cried, and Alex fired the weapon on the copter as Quinn and Ricky fired their weapons (and Alex and Kes') into the city, causing the flames to explode, and cause more destruction. Quinn's weapon ran out, and he dropped it off the side of the copter as he realized that Kes never flew out of the city.
It had been a week. Kes had not been seen since the fire that they made that destroyed London and all those dragons. Quinn missed her, more than anyone, but didn't let them know because he barely talked to anybody. Especially the kids, who really wanted him to talk. Continually they asked where Kes was, but they never got an answer.
He stood, leaning out the window of the little chapel that was in the castle. Jared was in the next room with Ricky and Alex, telling the kids a story. The sun had begun to set, and Quinn's eyes were staring out at the mountains. He saw something, a figure, standing on them, looking around. Quinn stood up straighter as the figure began to slide down the mountain, towards the castle. The kids went passed him, giving him their goodnights, and then, the room was silent again.
"Jared!" The boy walked into the room.
"Yea, Quinn?" He pointed out the window.
"Tell me what you see." He looked out, squinted, and pulled back.
"Looks like a person," he said. They ran from the room. Ricky walked in, Alex behind him.
"Where are you going?" he called.
"Someone is coming this way!" Jared exclaimed. Ricky and Alex ran after them.
They burst outside, and ran into the gravel before they noticed that something was behind one pile of stones. Quinn ran over, and slid around it. Zene's little dragon friend looked up at him. Quinn sighed.
"Your lost, aren't you, buddy?" he asked, and dropped down to pick it up. He reached down, and lifted it into his arms. Jared sighed.
"What did you think it was, Quinn?"
"Well.nevermind. It's silly." Ricky shook his head.
"You thought it was Kes, didn't you?"
"I hoped it was." Ricky patted his shoulder.
"So did I, Quinn. So did I."
They walked inside, and Quinn headed up to Zene. The little boy stared at the ceiling.
"Zene?" he asked. He looked over.
"Yea?"
"Here. You may have a pet," Quinn said, handing Zene the dragon. Zene laughed, and took her.
"Jess? Where'd you find her?"
"Outside. I think she must have come looking for you, because she managed to come here." Zene held her, and smiled.
"Thank you, Quinn." Quinn nodded, rustled his hair, and headed to his own room.
The moon shone down brightly that night, despite the fact that clouds passed over every few moments. He couldn't sleep, so he just stared up at the ceiling. Closing his eyes for a brief moment, he thought back to the first night Kes had her own room. It was about the same time, almost midnight, and she wasn't able to sleep alone. She got up, and came to his room, opening the door. Quinn could hear it in his head as he remembered. Kes had walked over, and curled up next to him. Only then did he realize something. Someone else was in his room.
He opened his eyes, and saw his door slightly open. Quinn had completely shut it when he came in. He heard someone breathing, and felt as they slid down beside him on the bed. The person sighed, and his eyes widened.
"Kes?" he whispered.