The fact that nothing went wrong today really should've tipped him off that some thing was going to go wrong tonight.
After all, as the dragon who probably held the record for most times saved the world, he really should've guessed that a day as nice as today could only end with something going wrong
Because really, nothing went wrong today, really. No invasions, no Rose stuff, no explosions, no nothing. All they did earlier was go to the inn for an afternoon and once that was over, they spent the rest of the day at home, him relaxing in his dragonbed, her hanging out with the rest of the family, something she almost never got to do after the ice. For the first time in what felt like forever, she actually had both the time and the energy to cook and they got to have a big family dinner together because of it. There were even muffins for dessert and she made a whole separate batch, just for him. It had been a good evening. The best in a long time.
Really, he should've expected that something was wrong but... it had been such a good evening. He couldn't help but relax.
Waking up in the middle of the night to find her gone put an end to that.
He didn't panic, obviously. He's a big dragon and he doesn't need someone to hold his claws anymore. Heck, he spent most nights sleeping outside the house since she kept home so stuffy (he gets that she hated the cold but that didn't make it any more comfortable to sleep in sweltering rooms). He could be on his own just fine. It was only natural that he go look for her because leaving in the middle of the night without telling him she was leaving was—was just something she didn't do. She never left like that. Never, ever.
At first, he tried to check on her using their bond (they did have a mental connection, after all) but nothing he saw made sense and it all just felt bad. What little he got to see, anyway. It was all just… flashes.
—A flash of pride that quickly turns to horror and guilt, poison dripping from the arrows she'd planted in—
—Fluffy as the SMUDD, roaring in defiance—
—A fleeting glimpse of a dragon that looked like—
Then nothing.
Whenever he tried to focus, it all kept…. fading. And when he tried to contact her, just to see if she was doing alright, he got the briefest flash of fearregrethorrordisbeliefhowcouldIdothis before he… hit a wall. A mental wall.
If there was something annoying about having a Cryptic for a Dragonlord, it was that Cryptics were really, really good at hiding things, at being… cryptic. It wasn't like normal, non-Cryptic Dragonlords couldn't keep things from their dragons, Elysia told him that much, but Cryptics were the best at it. And she didn't even have to have her gear on to use all her mental blocking tricks. Just like the simple illusions she used to show or hide the gear she was using, mental blocking was apparently easy enough that she didn't even need Cryptic gear to focus her powers to do it. He knew that from experience.
(One time, he tried to use their connection to find out where she hid his birthday Fresc-Os, figuring she wouldn't notice since she was an Epoch at the time. Big mistake. She made him look through sudoku puzzles for hours before he finally gave up and stopped trying to peek.
She did give him an extra-large slice of cake for solving some of the puzzles though, so it wasn't a complete waste of time, at least)
It's not like he was worried. Even in the moment he realized she was gone, he still knew she was alive thanks to their bond. It's not like he needs her around all the time. He's a big dragon now and he guessed she was more or less a big human herself. She was probably fine, setting aside all the weird stuff he saw and felt in her head.
But that didn't mean he couldn't look for her.
He was ready to fly around the entire continent if had to but, thankfully, she hadn't gone far. Not at home or at the inn, he found her sitting on the cliff by the Guardian Tower, legs dangling from the ledge as she stared up at the night sky. The moon was bright overhead.
"Evening, Adri," she said tiredly, without looking at him. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"
That she wasn't looking at him was a bad sign. He knew that usually meant something was wrong. He was an expert on her language, after all.
It was common knowledge that his human could speak common and, after she got her Amulet, Draconic. What most people didn't know was that she spoke at least four languages, and one of them was something that he's been calling Riese-speak (though he's also considering Hero-ese). It was a dialect that she came up with by herself that he's pretty sure most people didn't realize existed. The tricky part was that a lot of it sounded identical to common or even Draconic, even if the meanings were completely different. The key to getting it was looking at her face. Her face was what gave it away.
For example, "I'm still good to go" with dead eyes and a laugh really meant "Let's get this over with; I want to go to sleep."
"Adriel" sweetly and with a little smile means "don't forget, I'm the one who knows where the Fresc-Os are."
And "Adri", quietly and with disbelief means "I feel really happy and it's overwhelming." And so on and so forth.
He's pretty sure he's the only expert in Riese-speak. Well, he and Hae, and Hae didn't count since he knew her even longer than he did. Ash got it sometimes and Aegis could get close every now and then but, for the most part, there were only two people in the world to really understand when she started talking in Riese-speak.
On nights like this, Riese-speak was a necessity.
"What are you doing here?" His eyes were fixed on her face. She looked… tired. She was always tired these days but, normally, she at least tried to hide it. Tonight, she just looked drained. It was a bad sign. "It's really late, you know."
"I just needed some air," she said quietly. She wasn't even looking at him. By the looks of things, she hadn't bothered to change into armor or even put on shoes. The only piece of adventurer equipment he could see on her was her Dragon Amulet and he was pretty sure she never took it off, it had been a constant part of her ever since she first got it, years after he'd hatched. She just shrugged a cardigan over her nightclothes and walked (or maybe floated, she was usually a Cryptic) barefoot from home to the cliff. All for 'some air'.
"You can get air anywhere," he pointed out. "Air is everywhere."
As he was talking, he flew over to land by her side. Part of him sort of wanted to land on her head or her shoulders, just like he used to back when he was still a baby, but he's too big for that now. It'd been years since the last time.
"You… know I would never hurt you, right?"
The question was so quiet, he didn't even realize it was aimed at him until he noticed her staring at him.
"Well, of course—" he began.
"Because I can't, you know? E-even if it were to save the world, if it meant I'd have to hurt you then—I wouldn't—couldn't—Avatars, even the thought of it hurts worse than just turning my blades on myself, if I had to do that I'd rather just stab myself in the heart and—"
"Don't say that," he hissed, suddenly furious. "I know you'd never hurt me. I know you."
It was the sort of thing that didn't even bear mentioning. It was obvious. Like saying she was his human. Like saying he was her dragon. It went without saying. She would never hurt him, not really. Just like he would never hurt her, not in any way that counted.
She released a breath that sounded like she'd been holding it in for a while, all shaky and tired. "That's... That's good."
"It's obvious," he countered. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden…"
He inched his way a little closer then paused when he saw her notebook open on her lap. On it was a rough sketch of a pair of dragons, shaded in black and red ink. One of them sorta looked like Fluffy did as the SMUDD and the other one sorta looked like—
...Oh.
"You were having nightmares again, weren't you?"
She gazed out onto the seas. "Mmm."
He curled up against her knee, his back against her leg. They were both quiet.
It was probably because they went to the inn earlier. To be honest, he doesn't really like that place. He never remembers what happens when they're inside, of course, but he does know that her nightmares always got worse after they went home from there. Her nightmares were already terrible as they were but the ones after a day at the inn were always so much worse.
The thing was, he could never stop her from going. She kept on coming back so she could keep improving and be the best Hero she could be and he could never stop her when she was being like that. Not even if he wanted to.
And he did, sometimes. Not that he wanted her to stop improving but… he wanted it to be a little easier on her.
Not knowing what else to do, he peeked over her knee at her notes. Her handwriting was terrible but he was pretty great so he can understand them. That she was the one to teach him how to read obviously didn't factor into it. It totally didn't.
Use viper arrows?
The fact that he could actually understand her handwriting didn't mean he'd understand her notes though. Her notes were always weird. He never got what all the math was about or—anything in there, really. If he didn't get it, it probably wasn't important but still.
Focus focus focus focus focus quick reflexes
Play along with antipolarity?
That thing is not Adriel
IIII
all fights in the inn are just illusions
He stared at the line with his name. It had been written with such force, it tore through the page, the ink bleeding through. The underline looked almost like a wound
"It wasn't me, you know," he eventually said. "Whatever it was, it wasn't really me."
She sagged, head bowing so that her gaze was fixed over the cliff's edge. "In my head, I know that. I can't even remember the fight, really, but I keep waking up feeling like I just—" Her voice broke and her knuckles turned white around the grass. She was shaking as she closed her notebook and put it away. "And, you know, so many people tried to convince me, back then, during the Black Winter, that maybe we'd have to—that maybe we wouldn't be able to save you and that I might have to—"
He doesn't know what to say. He rested his snout on her knee and stayed there until she stopped shaking. She wasn't looking at him. By the looks of things, she couldn't bear to.
"And I said no every single time they even tried to suggest it because—because I just can't but now, I know that I… that for a dagger, I…"
He hadn't noticed it before, but under where her notebook had been was an unsheathed dagger, a wicked-looking weapon with curving black blades at both ends, connected with what looked like bone. It was a Doom weapon. Hers.
He'd never liked Doom weapons, and the whole ordeal with that worm didn't help. Both of hers were…behaved, more or less, but still. They smelled bad and they were always so noisy. Destiny weapons were similar but at least they could shut up every now and then.
This time, though, it smelled even stronger than usual. Almost unreal. Had this been the prize for the battle earlier? It wasn't like he could remember and he never dreamed about the inn.
Either way, it didn't matter. After all...
"It wasn't. Me," he repeated. "Riese, come on. It was never me. The fights in the inn aren't real. Look at me."
Finally, she does. Her eyes were dry but rimmed with red.
"I'm here. See?" He did a quick lap around her head, flying around with his wings spread as far as they could go, before landing heavily by her side. "Not going anywhere."
"I… I know that, but…" She shook her head. "I… I don't want to talk about it. Please. It'll pass, it always does."
He knew enough Hero-ese to know that that meant she needed to talk but he didn't push. Just this once, and only because it was so late already. "At least talk about this with your therapist or something," he grumbled, settling back down. "You're paying him top gold."
She gave a ragged laugh. "How am I going to explain this? 'Morning, Doctor, there's an inn that lets me fight all sorts of stuff without consequence. While I was inside, I killed my dragon but not really and now I'm having nightmares again.'"
"You could say it like that. You are paying him to listen to you," he pointed out. "So he will. Even if you do sound crazy. Crazier than usual."
She laughed, softly and without any life to it. "Maybe," she said. "I don't know. I don't want to. Not now. Right now, I just…"
Her gaze drifted to the dagger on her lap. She lifted it gingerly, seeming almost mesmerized as she lifted it up to the moonlight. It was so dark, it stood out against the white circle of the moon.
Then it disappeared.
For a second, he thought she threw it off the cliff but no. She just put it away back to where she kept all of her weapons. By the heave of her chest and the look in her eyes, though, he thought she might've been tempted to actually get rid of it.
"Are… you okay?" He hated that he even asked. The answer was obvious. But he didn't know what else to do. "Riese, please. Talk to me."
Her gaze was bleak. "Adri, I'm… I don't want to… Please," her voice broke. "For now, could you please just… stay with me?"
He almost scoffed. "As if you have to ask." He clambered onto her lap, avoiding hurting her with his claws as best he could, before curling up against her. His scales were attuned to fire and very warm. Her skin felt cold and it wouldn't do for her to get sick. "I'll never leave your side."
Seemingly on reflex, she stroked his head, her hand gentle against his scales. It felt nice and relaxing, it always did, but he had a feeling she was doing it more for her comfort than his. Not that that mattered, he thought, leaning into the touch. When, regardless of her reasons, she still gave the best headpats.
"And I call myself a Cryptic," she suddenly said, breaking the silence. She sounded angry, though her hand remained gentle. "Believing in an illusion."
"You were a Ranger this morning," he said fairly. "Not a Cryptic. And now you're just… a sleepy hero. Still not a Cryptic or any kind of illusionist."
"I shouldn't be like this," she insisted. "I shouldn't be breaking down over stupid—gah, I know it wasn't real. That you're here." To emphasize her point, she gently rubbed the base of his skull just so, her blunt nails nice and soothing. "You're here. Not…"
To his displeasure, she stopped, leaning back against her hands once more. He grumbled but she still didn't make any move to go back to giving him head rubs.
"You're here," she repeated as if reminding herself. "You haven't…"
"Haven't what?" he prompted, and if he sounded just a bit grumpy, she really should get back to giving him head rubs instead of teasing him with half of one.
"It's… stupid, really but even though I know it's not real, I keep on… waking up, expecting you to be gone. Expecting that you've left and it'll be like… like that time with Caitiff. That you'd be gone. "
He stopped.
"And I wouldn't even blame you," she continued. "Not like I ever blamed you, of course! That time was all Caitiff but, this time… it would be because of me. All me. Because I'm the kind of person who would—just for a knife would…"
Her voice trailed off. She was looking at her hands, bare aside from her wedding ring. The moonlight made them look washed out, hid all the callouses she'd earned from years of wielding weapons, the scars from countless battles. They didn't look out of the ordinary to him but she stared at them all the same as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
On a hunch, he tapped into their mental connection and—
—Blood and poison clinging to her fingers. Guilt and horror pounding in her ears. The knife in her hand was still dripping, even as she moved automatically to avoid an enraged wave of black fire from the dragon, even as the sight of his fallen form burned—
But all of it was fading, even as he tried to focus. It wasn't that she was keeping him out, not anymore. She was already forgetting.
Just how it should be. It wasn't worth remembering. It wasn't real in any way that mattered.
But then
Why—
Why did it all still feel so bad?
"Come on, Riese. There's no way that's ever going to happen." He sat up on her lap, taking care not to hurt her with his claws, and glared. "And you know it! You have to!"
His human. Her dragon. Those two came hand-in-hand and they meant the same thing; that they would never be apart, not really. They had a bond since long before she got her Amulet and was truly considered a Dragonlord and they would have it forever. They would never be separated, not by anything but death—and he was going to make sure that that wasn't going to happen any time soon (if ever) even if he had to shatter worlds to do it.
She had to know that. She did know that, didn't she? She had to!
She looked at him helplessly. "Of course, normally, that'd be the case but… I mean, I wouldn't blame you if—"
He was so offended, he couldn't help but interrupt. "You think I'd leave?" His voice rose an octave. The idea she would ever even think he could do that was just—baffling! Stupid! Unbelievable! The only time he'd ever even considered something like that was when Caitiff had promised it would spare—when he'd made a mistake and trusted a worm and that was obviously never going to happen again!
She ran a placating hand down his head, from his forehead down to the tips of his horns. It was hard to hold onto his anger when she did that sort of thing. Hard to even just resist the urge to lean into it. As it was, he held his tongue while she stroked his head, her eyes distant as she kept her gaze away from his. Through their bond, he could feel the way her heart weighed in her chest, could feel an ache that made her feel all raw on the inside, even with the memories fading from her mind.
He doesn't understand.
Why was she still dwelling on all this stuff? Why did she feel so guilty about something she didn't really do? Something that never even happened?! And—
Why can't he make things better for her?!
He's the world-destroyer of prophecy and the greatest dragon ever but he can't do anything about this! He could heal broken bones in a second with his protection but this stuff was just—beyond him. He could be in full-on Titan form, using every bit of protection and assistance training he knows, and he still wouldn't be able to heal any of this.
And he doesn't get it. He really doesn't. Here she was, dwelling on stuff she knew wasn't real and drowning in the guilt of something she didn't do. It didn't make any sense! When it came to the opposite, she—
"Turn me into a Titan," he said suddenly. "Let's go flying."
"I—what?" She stared at him. "You… know it's dangerous, right?
He snorted. "What can the Rose do to me? Shoot me?" He was as worried of Rose arrows as she was of their weapons, and she once "blocked" a Rose soldier's stab with her abs (her abs won). "We never get to fly anymore," he pointed out, trying his best not to sound childish as he stared up at her with wide, pleading eyes. "Come on, Riese. Please?"
"... Only for a little while." He could see she really didn't want to risk it but couldn't refuse him anything, the way she was feeling. He totally didn't feel guilty taking advantage. Totally. "And we're staying away from any Rose territory, alright?"
He sniffed. "Those places stink anyway."
"Sure..." Her Dragon Amulet gleamed at her ear and power rushed through his bones, filling his every scale as the transformation rushed through him.
He should be used to this by now, they've done this a lot, but it's always exhilarating. It made him feel invincible and that was saying a lot, he's already amazing as is. It only got better once they were in the air together. When it was over, he was big enough to dwarf the Guardian Tower itself, his jaws big enough to crush houses, and his hands big enough to carry her. Even with his hindlegs seated at the base of the cliff, his head towered over her, casting her in his shadow. His voice came out as a rumble that seemed to shake the air. "Come on," he urged, lowering his head so she could climb on. "It's been ages."
She sighed but obliged, lightly stepping up onto his snout, her bare feet cold against his scales as she got into position. Even without her Dragonlord armor, even just in her pajamas, she had no problem going on dragonback.
In his Titan form, he was so strong, she seemed light as a feather. He's sure if he'd been like this back then, he could have broken the ice on his own in seconds, he just knew it. In the air, his outstretched wings dwarved houses. The air shook with his every wingbeat. The glowing marks from his attunement to Primal Fire blazed bright in the dark of the night. Despite everything going on, he couldn't help but feel light like this. There was just nothing in the world like flying as a Titan together. It was the best feeling in the world.
It helped that it was a beautiful night. For all the heavy talk they'd been having, the skies had been clear and cloudless all day. It was days (or, well, nights) like this that flying as a titan was a real treat, and this kind of night has been a rarity ever since the elemental dissonance started. The moon shone so brightly, even the stars seemed dim in comparison. Even if he weren't flying as fast as he was, it would've been breathtaking. But from the way he could feel her face pressed against the scales at his neck, he didn't think she saw any of it.
We can't go too far, okay? Her voice whispered through their bond. Even in thought, she sounded tired. We can't stay like this for too long.
This was all wrong. She loved flying as much as he did, he knew it. He felt it whenever they used to fly together, back when there was no danger for them to take it to the air. Back then, her heart practically sang whenever they took to the skies, her laughter bright in his ears as she reached out to touch the clouds as they passed. Now, it was just… not. Even as a Titan, he couldn't stop her from feeling so awful and guilty. It was just—
I know, he replied, just a little irritably. We won't be long.
He put on a burst of speed and flew hard north. Autumn was fading fast but where they were going, it would seem like it was already over. The wind had to have been cold but he didn't feel it and he made sure she didn't either; while attuned to fire in his Titan form, his scales radiated heat enough to melt icebergs, much less snowflakes. Even after he hit the snowy regions, he made sure she didn't feel anything but warmth.
Where are we going, anyway? Her voice asked. He could feel her face still buried against his scales as she clung to his back—which was odd to him, she always told him the key to staying on dragonback was to grip with your legs and guide with your hands. Sometimes, she didn't even bother with either, instead just standing on his back, arms outstretched, to feel the wind on her face, either trusting him to keep her from falling or in herself and her ability to find her way back one way or another. But right now, she clung to him, so tight, he could feel her breath against his scales, cold in comparison to the heat he radiated. Right now, her heart felt heavy in her chest, and, through their bond, he could feel the weight of it echoed in his own. If it had been a physical weight, it might've been enough to make him struggle to stay aloft.
But it wasn't and anyways, he was strong. He can take it. He had to.
It's a surprise, is his reply. He put on another, greater burst of speed as snow began to hit his snout. He could already begin to smell cocoaberries in the breeze. But it's completely safe, I promise.
Okay. I trust you, her voice whispered. But we can't stay for long, wherever this is, okay?
I know, I know.
Frostvale was always snowy and moreso during winter. In the dark of the evening, blanketed by the snow, the moglin huts looked to him like a bunch of iced cakes on a platter. The warm lights glowing at the windows made the little village stand out all the more against the gleaming white snow. It was a pretty sight. As late as it was, there were still a handful of frost moglins scampering around. Some of them noticed him in the air as he stopped to fly in place, as steadily as he could, high enough that his wingbeats wouldn't disrupt the snow below. They waved. He could be wrong but he was pretty sure one of them was Blizzy.
Riese, he prodded. Look. C'mon.
Almost reluctantly, she pulled her face away from his scales. Her breath caught in her throat.
"Is that…" she whispered, her voice audible to him even through all the wind. "Is this…?
It's almost Frostval, is what he answered. He craned his neck forward to let her see the view he saw, the bright, beautiful evening, the pretty sight of the village below, and even the frost moglins already beginning to prepare for Frostval. Don't tell me you've forgotten.
Of course not. She slowly sat up on his back to peer down at the town below. If there was a disadvantage to flying together like this, it was that he couldn't see her face, a deadly detriment when it came to understanding Riese-speak. Still, even her silence could be telling. After a few long moments, one of her hands left his scales. When he craned to look at her, he saw that she was waving back, the ghost of her old smile on her face. It is the most wonderful time of the year and all that or whatever.
He snorted. Of course it's the most wonderful time of the year. Frostval's a party for the best reason there is. Don't you remember?
What, the reason for Frostval? Of course, I remember. The frost moglins started Frostval to remember the time I—
She stopped.
He does not. The time you and the other heroes first saved Frostvale. And all the times after. Don't tell me you forgot?
He always loved Frostval. Any day where people celebrated his human was a good day, as far as he was concerned. She saved people so often, people took it for granted and even forgot to say their thank-yous (and she was very strict about him saying his pleases and thank-yous and if he had to say them, everyone else did too). That she had this day for herself and her hero friends was something he always loved. On top of the food and presents, of course.
Even when she was frozen, Frostvale didn't stop celebrating Frostval. He knew that for a fact. The frost moglins never forgot. And, as a matter of fact, a lot of the people she saved never forgot either. That was real and that was all the more important because of it.
Whatever she saw or did in the inn—it wasn't real, not in any way that counted but this was. The people they saved, the people they helped— they were real. There was no point in her keeping on feeling guilty for something she didn't do, something that didn't really happen, when she could feel proud of something that she did do, something that did happen.
Why focus on a doom that wasn't real when you could focus on a salvation that was?
Honestly, it was something so obvious, it shouldn't need saying. But he doesn't mind stating the obvious every now and then, not when sometimes, she didn't seem to see it and especially not when it was about something important.
"Of course, I remember," she said out loud, so quietly, the wind almost drowned it out. But he heard. He's listening. "It's… not something you should forget."
So don't, he answered bluntly. And forget the stuff you should.
Then, as an afterthought. You focus on the dumbest things sometimes, you know?
What came out of her mouth was only half of a laugh and even then, it sounded like she wanted to cry, just a little. Master of Riese-speak that he was, he knew to take it as a win.
Frostvale was close enough to Falconreach that he's not even tired when they make it back, especially not with all the muffins from dinner earlier. He landed right by the cliff next to the Guardian Tower, first letting her disembark down his snout before he finally let the transformation drop. She caught him as he did, holding him in her arms like she used to back when he was still just a baby dragon, before going down to sit again by the cliff's edge, still cradling him in her arms. He was too big for her to hold these days, his body spilled out of her arms, but he wasn't going to complain. Her arms were strong and unwavering, even with his weight. He could feel her heartbeat against his ear, less frantic than before.
For a few moments, they stayed like that, her holding him like he was still just a baby, him listening to her calming heartbeat. Then, at last, she let him go, letting him curl up atop her lap as she did.
Finally, she spoke. "Doesn't it…" she swallowed. "Bother you? That I'd... that I'd kill you for a dagger?"
He snorted. "A fake me. You couldn't hurt me."
She smiled, just a little sad, before stroking his head. Her hand felt gentle against his scales. It always did. "I would never."
"But you know, I'd definitely kill a fake you for Fresc-Os," he continued as if he hadn't heard. "Or even Pwetty Pwincess Fwakes! Or even just Puppy Snax…"
She snorted. There was the tiniest hint of an actual smile at the corners of her mouth, so he forges on.
"But only because they're not real yous. I know you'd be home when I got back." He closed his eyes, once again nestled atop her lap, and exhaled, steam coming out from his nostrils. She bought him a dragonbed but he liked sleeping like this better. "Ready to feed me like you always are."
She really did laugh this time. The sound was music to his ears. "Is food all you ever think about?"
"I think about you, too!" Sometimes. All the time. Whenever she was gone, most of what he did was try to find a distraction while he waited for her to get back. But he wasn't going to say that; it was obvious and didn't need saying. Instead, he said: "After all, you're the third-best at making dragon chow in the whole world!"
"Third-best…" She shook her head. "Only three people have ever made you dragon chow, Adri. That's not a compliment."
"It is," he insisted. Adri. That was a good sign. He knew his Riese-speak well. "You should be proud of it. Learning how to make dragon chow was the best thing you ever did!"
She learned how to make it for his birthday, way before the ice. She was a good cook but as far as Dragon Chow went, both Celestia and Elysia were better. Hers were his favorite all the same.
Still, she only sighed. "I also saved the world a bunch of times…"
"The world sucks," was his immediate response. It was dumb and ungrateful and filled with people who kept on causing trouble. "I wouldn't bother with saving it if it weren't for you. Heck, I'd destroy it myself if it weren't for the Chow. Speaking of which..." He looked up at her expectantly. "Let's get a snack, I'm really hungry. Titan-mode takes a lot out of me, you know!"
"You were the one who asked me to turn you into a Titan," she pointed out. "Remember?"
"Yeah." He was completely unrepentant. "So?"
"Ugh, you really are so annoying," she grumbled. Her hands came to rest gently at his head and began to scratch at that spot under his horns that he could never reach but that she always could, one that always made him want to curl up and purr. "You know that, right?"
As an expert in Riese-speak, he knew that what she really meant was 'I love you' so of course there was nothing else to do but answer in kind by nuzzling her hand before blowing a raspberry at her face and saying: "No, you."
end