Chapter 6
The Rite of Passage
Izuku's consciousness faded into darkness and at first, he believed that he had fallen for the dragon's trap and that this was his end. He felt his heart pound and unconsciously began counting the beats in his head, fearing that each one would be his last. Suddenly, the darkness around him exploded with light, a warm light that washed over him and wove its golden fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes for a moment, unsure of where he even was. He knew he wasn't in the bedroom anymore, well, maybe he was. Who knows? Maybe the dragon had a quirk that could change how his mind viewed the environment around him. He tried to get ahold of his breathing as the light around him wavered and bubbled, forming unrecognizable shapes that floated and morphed around him. Then, he recognized a shape, the shape of a tree. As he gazed around his peculiar surroundings, he found more recognizable objects. Izuku closed his eyes for a moment, reaching up to rub at his temples.
Izuku opened his eyes and blinked in surprise. The light that had once been holding him suspended in the air was gone and had been replaced with the clearing in the forest where he had met the Night Fury. He looked up into the canopy of trees and raised a hand to block out the warm sun that was glaring down at him from between the leaves. A soft growl had Izuku whipping around to face behind him and his eyes widened fearfully once he saw the Night Fury, sitting in front of a large oak tree. Fear blinded Izuku at first but then he noticed that the dragon had changed, it was no longer hurt, its scales smooth and its wings full and untorn. Its paws were settled underneath itself and its tail was laying across them neatly. The dragon and Izuku stared at one another for a little while, those piercing eyes glowing and never leaving his face. Izuku gulped softly.
"Hello," Izuku said.
The dragon tilted its head.
"Where are we?"
The dragon just blinked at him in response. Izuku placed his hands on the soft, spongy earth beneath him where he had fallen over after the light had disappeared and stood up slowly. He waited for the dragon to lunge at him, to bite at him or to even just growl at him but it didn't do any of those things. It just watched him warily. Izuku dusted off his pants and made eye contact with the Night Fury again, still trying to wrap his head around where they were and why. The dragon remained still and after a few moments of thinking, he sighed and realized that there was only one way to get the answers he needed. Izuku took a deep breath and forced down all of the fear that was rearing up inside of him, threatening to burst through him, and walked up to the dragon with his head held high. The Night Fury's eyes widened ever so slightly but it still did not react other than that. Finally, Izuku stood directly in front of the creature and stared up into those fierce-looking eyes as the beast lowered its head to look at Izuku properly.
"Um… hello, again, w-we may not know each other v-very well but I meant what I said back there, that I w-want to help you. I don't know what you are after, or why you branded me, but I want to help you because I have the strangest feeling that there is more to it than just wanting to eat me."
The Night Fury considered him for a moment, its eyes narrow and calculating until it finally relaxed a little bit and dipped its head, its eyes closing. Izuku felt his heart flutter a little bit at the rebelliousness of helping a dragon but also the happiness of possibly not dying today.
"Well, first thing's first, I need to get to know you a little bit, I want to research you."
The dragon growled a little bit at the word 'research' and Izuku cringed slightly, clearing his throat and feeling his face go pale.
"I meant I want to learn more about you," He corrected himself. "For starters, my name is Izuku Midoriya, but most of my friends call me Deku. I know you probably don't understand Japanese, but I want you to get to know me as well."
Izuku felt a little less anxious once he started talking. He knew that the dragon was familiar with certain words like 'research' but he had no idea how well-versed the dragon actually was in human language. Even so, he continued to talk as if he were having a normal conversation with a friend, hoping to convey through the emotions in his words that he meant no harm.
"You don't have a name so maybe I should give you one? I feel a little strange naming a dragon as if it were a pet but I don't want to call you 'The Dragon' for the time being. I don't even know if you know what a name is, to be fully honest so maybe it won't matter?" Izuku eventually decided that choosing a name for it would help make the dragon seem less frightening and more like someone he could work with and so he started running through a list of possible names in his head.
"Flash? I've heard that Night Furies are one of the fastest dragons on the planet," Izuku suggested. The dragon bared its teeth and Izuku flinched a little. "Alright, not Flash then."
He thought for a long while, his eyes glued to the ground and his feet beginning to shuffle as he mumbled to himself. He looked up at the dragon.
"Salazar?"
"Grim?"
"Fang?"
"Azriel?"
"Montag?"
"Pyro?"
"Yoru?"
"Cerberus?"
Izuku knew he wasn't the best with names but he was sure that at least one of those would have stuck. But he was wrong, the dragon rejected all of them, its eyes narrowing and its paws shuffling in impatience. Izuku glanced down and started mumbling again, ideas and thoughts running across his mind as he rushed to find a good name for the dragon.
"How about-"
That's when it hit him.
"You're female, aren't you?"
The dragon watched him for a moment before dipping her head with her eyes closed once more, a soft purring sound coming from her throat.
Izuku felt a little shocked at first but then he smiled. No wonder she had been so agitated, he had only been suggesting male names! He placed his thumb and forefinger on his chin and thought some more. With this new development, it only took Izuku a few minutes before the perfect name drifted across his brain.
"What about Dakota?" He asked, his heart hammering. The Night Fury tilted her head as if she were thinking about it, tossing it around in her mind and tasting it on her tongue. After what seemed like an eternity, the dragon leaned forward and placed her head against Izuku's palm so that their symbols matched up. In no time, the forest scenery had disappeared and Izuku jolted awake to find himself on the floor of his bedroom, leaning against the black dog's flank. She snarled at him and he shot up, scooting away until he was a healthy distance away. His body was shaking and his nerves were tingling but he managed to stand up and wobble over to the bed where he collapsed down onto his blankets and pillows. He glanced at his alarm clock and realized that only one minute had passed since he had placed his palm on her head. He still had no idea where he had gone or why and he wasn't completely sure that he hadn't gone crazy but he was happy to be back in his bedroom in one piece. Izuku took a shaky breath and leaned over to turn off the light.
"Goodnight, Dakota."
The dog only responded with a soft sigh, but compared to the growls and snarls she had been giving him up until that point, Izuku was willing to go out on a limb and say that she didn't mind the name.
It was only three hours earlier when Izuku's mother opened the door to Izuku's room to check on him. She had barely slept that night and had eventually given up at 6:00 in the morning to settle her concerns. She peeked through the open door and saw her son fast asleep on his side, facing her. His mouth was open and he was snoring a little bit in a way that made Inko smile. She then looked at the make-shift dog bed on the floor to see the dog. The dog had woken up to the soft sound of the door opening and was watching Inko warily but her paws were tucked underneath her body and her ears remained pointed into the air rather than pinned back so although Inko sucked in a breath at the sight of the dog staring at her through the darkness she was able to calm herself. After glancing around one last time, she silently slipped the door closed and padded back to her bedroom to try to get some sleep.
Even though Inko had peeked in at 6:00 am, Izuku did not wake up until almost 10:00 am, his body groaning at him as he sat up as if he had just run six miles. He sighed and placed a hand on his forehead, trying to get his tired, jumbled thoughts in order. It was when he was yawning when the memories of the strange experience with the dog from last night came flooding back causing him to pause mid-yawn and widen his eyes. He closed his mouth and leaned over the bed to look down at the dog, who he saw was fast asleep. Her head was resting on the edge of a pillow while her paws were tucked neatly underneath her body so that she resembled a large black croissant. Her tail was wrapped around her body and her ears were flicking a little in her sleep. As Izuku watched, he concluded that she was almost cute. Terrifying and the offspring of nightmares and death, but cute.
She must have felt his stare because she eventually opened her eyes a little and glanced up at him. Izuku quickly backed away from the end of his bed and waited, his breathing quickening slightly as if he had almost fallen off of a high edge. The dog stretched a little and yawned before trying to stand up. She may have acted brave and fought through the pain in the forest clearing but now that she had gotten some rest and all of the adrenaline was gone, as soon as she put weight on one leg she was a yelping mess. Izuku didn't even hesitate to jump over the side of the bed and rush to her side, his brain not even processing the fact that he was going near the most dangerous animal on the planet. He crossed the room in a matter of seconds and met her on the floor, his hands automatically shooting out to stabilize her as she swayed in place and collapsed back into the dog bed. Once she was stable, she sighed along with Izuku before the pair suddenly realized how close he was to her. She snarled at him with a loud guttural sound that resonated through him in a way that struck him like lightning and he leaped away with the speed of a rabbit outrunning a fox. The dog glared at him with her teeth bared and her ears pinned flat to her head but she didn't move, either because she was too tired or too injured too, but Izuku remained far away from her, afraid that she wouldn't hesitate to lash out despite her crippling injuries.
"Sorry… I just wanted to h-help you." Izuku said shakily, the flash adrenaline rush making him feel dizzy.
The dog finally relaxed after a few minutes, she allowed the fur on her scruff to lay flat once more and her lips lowered back over her sharp, pearly fangs. She yawned and moved her head so that it was resting back over her front paws and began to her eyes to close slowly. Izuku saw that her eyes were closed but he had no doubt in his mind that she was listening intently for him to move to harm her and so he stood as slowly as possible and opened his bedroom door to find something for the both of them to eat.
It wasn't until he had entered the kitchen that he was able to fully relax and think about the situation. He knew he had a strange compulsion to help the dragon despite how dangerous she was but he also knew that she was scared and hungry and injured. He took a deep breath and marched around the corner to find his mother sipping at a steaming cup of tea and staring off into space. She had dark circles under her eyes and her fingers were quietly tapping on the side of the mug.
"Mom?"
"Oh, Izuku!" Inko jumped in her seat and looked up at her son with a tired smile.
"How did you sleep?"
"Pretty well," Izuku lied with a tense shrug. He knew that his mother could see through the veiled lie but she nodded and let it slide, going back to sipping her tea as he dug around for some breakfast for both him and Dakota. He froze as he opened the door to the fridge. What do dragons eat? He knew that they loved meat and most were definitely willing to pick off anything from a sheep to a human but he really didn't know if they had preferences to specific meat or if they couldn't eat something in particular. Finally, after digging around in the fridge for a little bit, he found some frozen waffles for himself and a three cold burger patties for Dakota, all of which he heated up before placing it on a plate to bring to her. He gave his mother a quick morning hug on his way back to his room, his concern for her health helping to clear up some of his own exhaustion, and then headed back to his bedroom, his hands shaking as they reached for the door handle.
Upon opening the door Izuku half expected the dog to be waiting for him with bared teeth and a snarl but he found her curled up in her bed, her ears drooping and her paws crossed. Her eyes shot to him as he opened the door and slipped inside but she seemed almost too tired to move. Izuku walked as slowly and non-threateningly as possible, ready to bolt for the door should she try to make a move and placed his plate on the bed. He then crouched down until he was low enough to slide the plate with the beef on it to her. She growled at him as he lowered himself onto the ground beside her but did not move or bare her teeth, her eyes following every movement of the plate in front of her.
"Easy girl, I won't hurt you, this is something that will help you feel better I promise," Izuku said, forcing his voice to remain steady as he pushed his hand even closer to her. Finally, he gave one last small push and pulled his hand away, the anxiety of losing a hand making his skin buzz with fear. Dakota watched him out of the corner of her eye as she leaned over the side of the bed, her body shifting to compromise for the added weight to her front legs and sniffed the meat. Her body stiffened at the pain of moving and putting a tiny amount of weight on her broken paw but she continued to examine the meat. Her eyes never leaving Izuku's, Dakota suddenly snapped up the meat, the movement so fast that Izuku almost missed it. It sent a shiver down his spine thinking of the idea that that could have been his hand. After she had finished the first burger patty, she wolfed down the other two, licking her lips and smelling the air for more.
"I'm sorry, I don't have anymore," Izuku said as he slowly rose to his knees and crept back to slide up onto his bed, the smell of his own breakfast bringing him away from those snapping quicksilver fangs. The dog growled at him and pinned her ears again before turning away from him in disappointment. The pouty-like movement almost made Izuku chuckle but he kept it to himself as he ate, his mind lost in his plans for when his day off from school ended. He glanced at Dakota once more and felt the beginnings of a smile tug at the corner of his lips. He was slowly getting there, baby steps toward her heavily locked up personality.
