Disclaimer: I do not own Bahamut, much as I would love to. Imagine, having Bahamut as a pet.

Note: Some things in these short stories may be loosely related to an RPG I once began. Don't worry, you don't have to have played the RPG to understand.

Title: Laments of a Dragon King

Genre: General/Bit of angst at the end

Summery: Bahamut remembers

People usually assume that we came from nowhere, and have always been around, aiding those that can summon us in battle. Well, usually. Spira was different, because we technically didn't exist until we were locked within stone, for a perverted cause. But even on other worlds, where we have existed as far back as the humans history can tell, we didn't just magically pop into existence. I wish it were quite as easy as that.

No. You stand there, listening to me, you shall realize the truth. Our history is a bit more complex then magically appearing on each world. We do come from somewhere. We were once human, just like you. Humans who either had a tragic life that came to an equally tragic end, or those that earned it with their valor. The Knights of the Round, they actually are the original Knights of the Round Table. They earned the right to help like that, though I've never seen them since the Meteor Crisis.

Myself, I was under the category of 'tragic life'. Yeah, sad, isn't it? The King of Dragons started out life as a grubby orphaned child, who was killed at 14 or stumbling across Area 51. Shot by the guards. Still don't know whether it was an accident, or whether it was a deliberate act of murder. Doesn't really matter now. Fate decided I was to take on the role of leader of those that were chosen. That caused a big stir amongst them: 'a dirty little 14 year old orphan, leading us?' People like Odin became very vocal about it. Didn't stop it from happening. I don't even want this. I want to be good and actually dead! Not fighting more and more evils until time itself ends. Did you know that almost happened once? A sorceress named Ultimecia decided it would be a wonderful idea to compress time. She was a bitch. Corrupted my sister too, now she can never truly be one of us.

Out of all of us, only 3 of us are always involved in the crises of the worlds. Myself, Shiva and Ifrit. Because of this, we're much closer then any of the others. They fall under the category of having tragic lives as well. Ifrit, my best friend, he was once a pyromaniac. The town he grew up in beat him to death with red hot steel rods. No wonder he's a fire elemental. Shiva, she was of Japanese origin. Her family was murdered, and instead of becoming a slave to the murderer, she resisted. Her reward... she was raped and then left in the snow in her underwear. She froze to death. That explains both the ice elemental part, and the usually lacking clothes. Not that I'm complaining. But that one incident did leave its mark, she now fears human males. If ever I'm in human form, she can't to talk to me, she literally frozen in fear. Ifrit and I are the only males she trusts at all, even when not in human form.

Ah yes. Human form. Bet you never new that we have always had the ability to change between our human selves and our... other selves. Though they never realize it, I've met, and spoken to, each and every Hero of Fate, although my memory is blurry of those before Terra and the Kefka crisis. But I clearly remember Cloud onwards. If you were to ever ask Cloud Strife about his past, in his hometown, he may well mention a boy named Rex. That was me. I was possibly Cloud's only real friend. I was the one that gave him the idea of trying to get into SOLDIER. I wouldn't call it being manipulative, I'd call it saving his, and the rest of the world's, lives. I only wish that there could have been a way to help him do so without the mental damage he received as a result of Hojo's meddling. Then, later on, when he first reached Costa del Sol, after the first fight he had with Jenova, he played football with me. He won. Cheating Mako enhanced son of a... But I did play a slightly more vital role. Remember Cloud's being found on Mideel? How do you think he got there? Who do you think found him washed up on the shore? Me.

Even after the initial crisis was over, I still remained. It had become a hobby of sorts for me, to stay with the heroes as much as I could in human form. Later, as in two years later, I assumed the form of an orphan: Denzel, the Geosigma stricken orphan that Tifa and Cloud adopted. Yes, that was me. Before you ask about the 4 Dragon forms that I had on that would, I'll tell you now, they were shadows. The Lifestream on that world had a strange affect and created shadows of me. Now if Kadaj had summoned my true form, then I would have disappeared and reappeared as a dragon. Instead, I remained because a shadow had been summoned. And Bahamut SIN would not have hurt me during my charging at it, it would have recognized my scent as that of its original, and just tried to 'scare' me off. And I do believe that it was a bastard, it's me isn't it? And I know that I'm a bastard, so it stands to reason my shadows would be too. Regrettably, I 'died' of unknown causes a couple of years later.

The Sorceress Incident. I was there as well. Heck, I had more human forms on that world then any other. I don't know why, but Squall fascinated me. Maybe it was his being an orphan, despite his father being alive without his knowing. I don't know. Shiva, Ifrit and Leviathan both decided to join me in the talking to him as humans that time. Though only once did we do a disguise of being a family. The Resistance group in Timber actually. I was the child that asked for Gil from Squall when he peeked out our window. Leviathan was the older sister, Shiva the mother, Ifrit the younger brother. Trust Shiva to get so into her role though. I don't think my rear end had ever been in so much pain. Wait, there was that one time, eons ago. I wish I could say that the crying when I apologized to Squall was just good acting on my part. Regretfully, I can't. Humans have a much lower pain resistance then my dragon form, and being a child, do you really think that it helped null the pain? Ifrit still refuses to let me live that incident down, always bringing it up as blackmail against me; and to think I had been joking about the getting paid part. Probably didn't help that I was a male.

Do you remember that kid that was always running around Garden? The one training? Me again. I know, I know, I seem to favor being a kid as opposed to someone grown up. Perhaps the reason for that is because I never truly had a childhood. Being an orphan doesn't exactly do wonders to your innocence. But I did have a few adult forms. Squall spoke to me in the Timber Maniacs. I decided to just keep talking and talking and talking. I actually bored myself with just sprouting whatever came to mind, so I hate to imagine how Squall felt. I don't know about who the others were, but I do know one of Ifrit's forms. During the Galbadian occupation of Balamb, he was the weird man behind the cars. The one that offered tips. We both had a good laugh at the amount of times they came back to him, for more and more tips.

The Kuja Crisis. I was there, yet again. No, I was not Puck! I don't take on forms of royalty, and he was the prince if you recall. I did befriend Vivi though. I remember finding him crying his eyes out after Brahne summoned Atomos and used the Black Mages to invade Lindblum. I tried to cheer him up, but I couldn't find the words, because, while I had been alone all my life, I had never found that there were those in my exact image being used to destroy. It was partially my fault that the guards found him and dragged him to the Regent. I had been standing, talking to him when he was slouched over behind a pile of rubble, and a guard thought that I was alone and came over to take me to where all the survivors were being gathered to. He found Vivi and jumped to the wrong conclusions. If only I'd been allowed to kick idiot where the sun don't shine for being a prejudiced...

The Spira incident. Tidus saw my favorite appearance during that time, and knew who I was eventually, but he never suspected my other appearances. I still can't believe he kicked my blitzball and lost it. I liked that blitzball; it gave me something to do that didn't involve stalking the heroes. Oh well, he condemned himself, that's my defense. If he'd left it be, I would have only appeared as the cryptic and strange kid that tells him not to cry. He he, Tidus was to easy to annoy. I liked Yuna though. Where most of the time when summoned, I'm treated as a weapon or tool, Yuna treated me as a living breathing being. And where most would be afraid, she actually once kissed me on my scaly cheek in thank you for helping her. That was a first. The only other time one of us was ever kissed was when Terra's parents were an item. One human, the other Esper, as we were called then. Yuna was definitely one of our favorite summoners. I recall those of us who hadn't been involved in the Sin Crisis being jealous of those of us who were. How often is it that you find a summoner who shows you respect, no matter what you look like? Shiva once didn't even ask for her cloak back from Yuna, letting the young summoner keep it.

After the Sin Crisis and the whole Vegnagun ordeal came up, we were forced to fight against Yuna. A moment I wish to never repeat. The sadness in Yuna's eyes when we were killed in the fight against Yu Yevon had been bad enough, but here, it had looked as if we were fighting of our own free will, and Yuna cried at second deaths. As a thank you, we brought Tidus to life after she beat Shuyin. Fate had never said anything about us thanking people as such when we were directly involved in the villains schemes, when we had been awaiting our next call of duty. Yes, we have been forced to do evil before, myself being one of the worst in that case, since I am usually that much more powerful then the others, but somehow, it felt a little more personal when we were forced to fight Yuna. Phoenix understood this, despite not being one of those involved, reviving Tidus easily. Dream or not, Phoenix managed to resurrect him.

You know, it's strange. I've lived for over 10,000 years and I still have the same mentality as I did when I was 14. Sure, I'm a hell of a lot wiser now. Smarter: yes. More mature: nope. As I've explained, I seem to be making up for a lifetime of lost youth. But still, here I am, with the mentality of a 14 year old. Bet the heroes would all avoid me if they new I was a teenaged King of Dragons. It's annoying though, because I have a thing for Shiva, and will she ever notice me? I sincerely doubt it. She came from an upper class family, and sometimes her mannerisms show that fact off. What would she ever want with a filthy little orphan like me? And then there's her fear of males. For the King of Dragons, I don't have a lot. Just the being worshiped by every dragon I come across, even when in human form.

Ask any of us though, and we'll all tell you that growing up with our new forms was a pain. That's right. After our deaths, we were reborn, in a manner of speaking. We couldn't switch between human and our new forms for fifty of your years, for us it was longer though. But we were reborn, and despite the memories of our previous lives, we were children, and thus had to re-mature. Though in my case, as you know, I just stayed as a child in maturity, at least, after a great period of depression. Yes, I do get depressed; I had died, then suddenly I was thrust into this whole new world. But I didn't look quite as fierce back then, I looked way too cute. One of the terms you humans would use would probably be 'chibi.' Because of my future role, however, I was the one who was bullied a lot. Who wanted to be led by a cute little lizard? Odin was vocal about his not wanting to be led by me, but at least he was honorable enough to protect me when he could. I often saw Odin as an older brother-figure. We have our disagreements, but he was always willing to help me when the others decided to bully me. The same with the Knights, they were honorable enough not to get physical and sometimes protected me, but they always believed that Author should have been the leader, having been their King and most certainly a good leader. I believed he should have as well. I was an orphan, someone who was cursed at all my life, who was I to lead a group of powerful beings in an eternal battle against evil? Yet Fate was persistent.

Fate? Yes, the entity who controls destiny. Yes, it is a powerful entity, not some superstition. He, at least, I believe it's a he, was the one who chose us. He is the only one we answer to a whole. But he chose me to lead them. I had begged not to be the one. I'm no leader. My sister died because of ME! How can I be entrusted with the lives of these people? He never answered. The last thing we ever heard of him was that I was to be the leader, whether we all like it or not. Well, here I am. Do I look like I enjoy my task? I don't. Even though the others all respect me, I still don't want this role. King of Dragons, I can handle; leading them, I... I don't want to, I don't like it, and I'd rather Fate chose someone else, like Author, or Odin. Anyone but me. But any attempt I make at letting someone else have the job, they now refuse. Shiva and Ifrit, my two best friends, always there in every crisis, helping me. They are my support. I shouldn't need a support. I don't even deserve this task. I was shot in the head, I should be dead! Not fighting evil 'till he end of time!

But... I feel an obligation. As much as I despise it, I still do my job. I'm obligated to help people I don't even know, and probably never will. Perhaps that's why fate chose me... Because I hold no prejudice over humanity, despite having been shunned by them ever since I was one of them. Perhaps it's because of that obligation. I'll never know, Fate resides in a whole other realm from even where we reside.

You probably think of me as weak. I am weak. But everyone refuses to see it. No one sees the flaws. Only the few good points.

I'm weak. And I'm a coward.

Yet I keep fighting.

-End