Aiden woke up.
He hadn't realized he'd even drifted off until he was awake again, staring groggily up at the lit cave, crystals glowing multicolor and washing the cavern in light that looked almost sickeningly pastel, and he probably would've scowled except the pastel meant that he was awake (and thus alive), so screw it, he'd stare at the pastel all day.
Lukas's head appeared in his field of vision, a relieved smile tugging at his lips. "Oh, good. You're awake."
Aiden sat up, rubbing his eyes and groaning quietly. He actually didn't feel that bad about it- no flare of pain in his midriff when he sat. Maybe his injuries were numb, but somehow he didn't think that was it.
"I'm just as surprised as you," he muttered, trying not to feel sore and surprisingly succeeding. "I thought I was dead."
"Yeah, you and Jesse and all the rest of us," Lukas replied, halfheartedly punching him on the shoulder. "Next time you're planning on taking a nap, let us know, okay?"
"Fuck you," Aiden replied with no venom, trying to recall what had happened.
His ribs had been on fire. He'd been trying not to look at his stomach because his guts looked as though they would spill out of him if he stood up.
Jesse had been talking to him when he passed out.
His eyes scanned the cavern, finding Maya resting against a wall and arguing with Gill, Petra leaning up against the dragon, which was lying down, Reuben curled up in a little pink ball.
There was no sign of the little human.
Not that he personally cared that much, but if they'd lost Jesse (or if they'd died), he was pretty sure Romeo was going to give them an earful.
"Uh... where's Jesse?"
Lukas pointed at the dragon.
Aiden took a moment to figure out what he meant by that- surely he didn't mean the dragon had eaten them or something, or that Jesse had turned into the dragon, but then he spotted a little fuzzy black jacket that didn't match the glossy, almost iridescent scales of the dragon.
The dragon was curled around Jesse, periodically licking them as if to groom them or wake them up. Reuben was also curled up on Jesse's chest, rising and falling with every quiet, even breath. Petra was awkwardly resting against the dragon and periodically checking on Jesse, which the dragon seemed to be barely tolerating.
If the large violet eyes periodically flicking backwards to stare at Petra and then back down at Jesse were any indication.
Aiden stared at the dragon basically treating Jesse like it was its (very tiny) baby, Jesse still and quiet and silent and looking for all intents and purposes like they were fast asleep, then looked back to Lukas.
"Uh... they're passed out with a dragon."
He said this in the manner of someone perhaps casually remarking about the weather, except with an undertone of "what the hell, Lukas, this is not normal".
Lukas sat back on his haunches, giving Aiden a weak smile. "Yeah, well, I guess that's what happens when you use the, uh, most literally advanced healing spell in the book to heal someone."
Aiden stared at Lukas.
Stared at him a little more.
"... what."
Lukas ran his hand through his blonde hair, rumpling it up slightly as he gave a slightly nervous chuckle. "Yeah."
Aiden stared at Lukas, expecting- what was he expecting? For Lukas to randomly grin and punch him on the shoulder and tell him "haha, sucker!" or for someone to yell at Lukas for screwing around? Lukas wasn't that kind of person.
"... you're serious."
At Lukas's nod, he looked back at Jesse. The dragon was currently licking their still face with a thin, reptilian tongue, rubbing its nose against their still body.
Well, thin was relative, it was probably the width of Aiden's arm, but compared to the rest of the dragon it was tiny.
"... humans... can't... use magic."
Or, at least, he'd never heard of any instance where a human was able to use magic.
"Tell that to Jesse," Lukas muttered. "Maya's thinking maybe the crystals or the dragon's presence or both boosted it enough that they could do magic, but..."
Aiden was still staring at Jesse, but he knew that hesitant but, trailing off into silence, was the preamble to something that would knock that theory to pieces. "But what?"
Lukas shrugged helplessly. "I dunno- yes, the dragon being literal magic does help boost the user's ability to use magic- as long as the dragon likes them, which is definitely true for Jess, and the crystals too, but... the most powerful healing spell in the book?"
He shook his head. "For that, I'd say it'd have to be some kind of magic affinity. Which Jesse shouldn't have, since they're just a human."
Aiden could feel his lips turn down in a frown as he considered that.
"Hey, why were they using the most powerful healing spell in the book, anyway?" he abruptly asked, the question just now occurring to him. "Magic isn't a toy- you didn't warn them that they'd probably pass out?"
The blonde half-demon stared at him with what was probably the most unimpressed look in the whole world, and then slapped his hand to his forehead. "Oh my god, Aiden."
"What?"
"They did it to heal you," Lukas mumbled past his hand, a little muffled.
"What?"
Lukas glanced up at Aiden (well, with the blindfold it was hard to tell, but he thought that Lukas did) again. "Maya and I couldn't do anything to fix you." He gestured with his head at the little human curled against the dragon's scaly body. "They... they somehow managed it."
Aiden looked down at himself, running his fingers over his blood-smeared stomach. Despite his fingers coming away a little smeared and red, he felt nothing but smooth skin.
"Holy hell."
"I know, right?" Lukas chuckled and gave an almost admiring shake of his head. "That human's just full of surprises, huh."
Aiden stayed quiet, absently feeling his healed midriff and feeling a distinct lack of pain.
He didn't know if he liked the thoughts spiraling in his head-
(They had saved him)
- and so he did not think them.
A/N: Aiden, you're up! How do you feel? Surprisingly not horrible! I'll take it xD
FNAF VR has been fun to watch, especially with Jack screaming at the animatronics xD
Responses to reviews!
ThinMintE: It would indeed xD / Heh, yeah, I think Jess did a nice job xD / Thanks!
Toni42: Hehehehe xD / That's honestly pretty accurate actually xD / N'aw xD / Heheeeee, thanks, now I wanna draw it too xD / He would, honestly xD
LegendEmpress: Whoops. Yeah, that'd do it xD / Haha, thanks. It was just amusing to think of.
TheAmberShadow: I don't think you missed too much xD / I don't mind, because you sea, I'm sure there's just an ocean of puns for you to find. / Well, it also doesn't particularly adore Aiden xD / Hehe, thank you xD / Jesse has a magical resistance and magical sensitivity, but being resistant to combat-like magic or sensitive to magic doesn't correlate to magical affinity, though it can be an indicator.
Guest: Lol, big mood. I've done it too, just not recently.
Darkbeast Dend: Jesse's enby, not female. Glad you enjoyed it, though.
That's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!
x.X. A.L. X.x
