Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans. I own only the plots/ideas/situations that I have placed the characters in and my OCs.
Important notes at the bottom.
Fractured Minds
Chapter 17: Fractured Fragments
Jump City; The old library/Day 20
She shivered as Raven's voice echoed around her. A shadow fell upon her and as she looked up she says, "It is time. The prophecy shall be fulfilled."
She tries to dislodge the image from her head but more rise up.
They are all round her. Entities of fire and malice, they will not harm her. As she makes to ascend the alter, a commotion behind causes the entities to spring into action.
"Raven!"
With a wave she sends them away.
"It has already begun and there is no stopping what is meant to be."
He argues but it is futile.
"I've known my whole life that this day was going to come. I tried controlling my dark side, I hoped that by fighting against evil I could make up for the horrible thing I was born to do."
"No one knows their destiny. There are things that are impossible to know." He was pleading, but it was his fervent almost desperate hope that pained her.
"There were somethings I didn't know." It was difficult for her to face them but they need to hear it, it was after all the last that they would hear from her, "Like how I'd make wonderful friends. I just wanted this last day to be perfect. Instead you spent it worrying about me."
His smile was warm. "And that's what friends do."
She moved away from them, her soul-self gathering, "And as my friends you have to let me go."
It is the strongest manifestation that she's ever created without her mantra. As they attempt to break it, she feels each hit, the anger, the helplessness, and the loss. The stone beneath her rises and helps her ascend the alter. She falls easily into the lotus position atop it. "The gem was born of evil's fire, the gem shall be his portal, he comes to claim, he comes to sire, the end of all things mortal."
With the last line of prophecy spoken her eyes light up and her birthmarks flare, glowing the brightest that they ever have. She forces the agony down but a muffled scream rends the air. Everything goes black.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Raven's voice breaks through the slew of memories. Her right arm is glowing faintly but its cold where Raven's hand rests. She swiftly steps back and barely manages to keep from falling as she trips over something. She glares daggers at the rocky ground and kicks the likely culprit away. It clatters loudly in the darkness. Real. Its all real. This is really happening. Real. Real. Real.
Her breath is fast as is the beat of her heart, the darkness around her was closing in. Her chest was tight, constricting painfully.
"It was not my intention to harm you further." Raven's tone wasn't flat like before, it wasn't warm either but it cut through her panic like a knife. "I'm sorry."
"Harm? You've done more to help me than my own family. If I can live with seeing dragons for most of my life, I think I can handle your emotions." She was equal part baffled, equal part grateful. She did her best to ignore how bittersweet it all was; that complete strangers cared more for her well being than her family ever had.
"There are a few things that I couldn't tell Cyborg about our bond." The flatness was back in Raven's tone. But she was overwhelmed with emotions that were very negative, almost deadly.
"What things?" She was distressed to see no visible reaction from Raven. She was even intentionally trying for intimidating, instead a crooked grin was the response.
"I don't know about you but I could do with some sun."
This time she was ready for that encompassing chill.
Jump City; Titan Park/Day 20
She was basking in the sun, it was hard not to, after being released from Raven's shadows, they were cold. Her teeth were chattering and shivers racked her body. She'd only ever been this affected by cool temperatures before she was five. It seems my bending is going to be difficult now.
"Its not a fur lined parka but it will keep you warm." She can hear the faint amusement in Raven's voice. She wants to rejected the proffered cloak, believing that Raven is making a joke at her expense but as soon as that thought is there; she knows that its not a joke. Or rather its a joke that Raven and Zen share.
Her lips twitch as she accepts the black and gold cloak. Once she has it clasped securely around her, "I take it that is one of those 'things' you've neglected to mention to Cyborg?"
"Among other things." Raven's non answers were starting to frustrate her to no end. But when Raven gestured toward a nearby fountain surrounded by benches, she pushed her frustrations down and followed after her...'Guide? Friend? Savior? Just what or who is Raven to me?'
'Does it really matter, Sifu?' The yellow armored Intelligence loosed a sigh when their mistress's presence faded. 'Way too soon to establish contact. Had she just waited a second I could have answered her question. Ah well she'll figure it out.'
And more importantly it was her turn to monitor the situation in the dungeons and to see Rage about how wonky their bending was acting lately.
'Honestly even when those dragons finally leave us alone they cause problems.'
Her steps faltered when she'd heard another voice in her head but thankfully they had reached the benches and she instantly sank down onto the nearest one. She did her level best to force her racing thoughts to slow.
"That's another thing that I had Cyborg save for me to explain. Somethings can't be learned second hand."
"So you just decided to let him confuse me even more about damaged minds and a bond." Normally seeing the target of her ire flinch was satisfying but Raven's flinch made her feel awful. But she was done waiting for her answers. "You seem to have recovered rather well from said damaged mind."
"Does sensitivity to light, sound, and having no barrier up to temper my empathy with or reliably at any rate sound like better to you." Now that Raven mentioned it, she did notice the sunglasses. "And its a good thing I've already established a foundation matrix for travel to and from your dimension. Because my shadows are unstable and unsafe for anyone other then me and you right now, at least for things like dimension travel."
Azula was unsure of how to respond to that nor did she know how to handle what she believed was whining from Raven. But it wasn't whining, it was pain. It was alive behind her eyes as the sunlight was reflected off of a passing bicyclist's bike it was like shards of glass were being shoved outward. Her skull was throbbing as every footfall rocketed around inside of it. Mercifully the sensations left her.
"You're lucky that the bond hasn't stabilized yet. I'll start with the most obvious thing; our emotions. I'm already familiar with yours but mine are demonic in nature and as a half-demon, I feel them differently. My emotions are also physical. For example my rage ignites every muscle in my body with unbearable heat that needs an outlet, that's where the shadows I control come in, by destroying windows or cracking walls. My emotions shouldn't trouble you too much, I'm adept at controlling them. So the most that you will feel of them is an echo."
If she had not seen Raven's memories she wouldn't believe any of what she was being told. More alarmingly she understood it for the most part.
"The less obvious is the repression of your memories in favor of reliving mine. The Pit is designed to force anyone caught in it to relive my worst memories as if they were experiencing them as I did. Insanity is the only outcome as my memories haunt the victims. They hallucinate about key moments of my life that twist into their worst fears which in turn causes them to lash out violently. It will be different for you. I protected you from the worst of it. But as the bond stabilizes you'll learn more about me as you work your way through my life."
"That doesn't sound too bad." It didn't sound any worse then the dragons.
"That sentiment won't last long." Raven's response shouldn't have bothered her as much is it did. But it did bother her. Everything about this conversation had then it all fell into place.
"You're not him." She whispered and from the sharp intake of breath that greeted her words, she'd hit the nail on the head. "You're not your father. He wouldn't have cared enough to protect me in that pit."
She wanted to laugh at the irony of this moment. She never could stand seeing the people that she cared about in misery; the truth was that in an alarmingly short time, she's grown to care about Raven, Starfire, Zen and the other two. 'Well mother? How did I do? Is that good enough for you to love me now?' She sighed, not expecting any answer, least of all from the one person she needed them from.
"We're not the only ones who care."
She couldn't help the laugh that did break free of her control at that. "Even though my memories are repressed right now, and the last six years are vague, I don't recall any of my so called friends trying to visit or prove that they care."
"Your uncle tried to get your brother to see reason and get you off of Crescent Isles. Your brother then threatened to have him imprisoned." At her imploring look, "I can only assume that he warned your friends. But if you want his reasons for arguing your release, you'll have to ask him."
They fell silent. Both of them were lost in this crossroads of family drama that's left marks upon them, some more visible than others. It was a pleasantly tension free silence. That is until a scream shattered it. "Mommy!"
Her eyes were instantly scanning for the source of the shout and what she saw, made her blood boil. There was a person running along one of the many paved pathways through the park, holding two screaming kids under their arms. The person was racing for a nondescript van idling at the end of the path. She wanted to rip this person in half. She gave herself a shake but the heat that burned through her veins did not abate. She risked a glance at Raven, she was nowhere to be seen.
And suddenly she couldn't breath. Stars danced across her field of vision and pain blossomed over her muscles. Then the sensations were gone and she could breath again. Her attention was drawn by the murmuring of a crowd. The person was sprawled on the ground in front of a wall of shadows. Beyond that wall she could just make out Raven standing in front of two kids.
She watched fascinated as Raven covered the person in shadows before disappearing herself and reappearing moments later. That's when another echo from Raven hit her, it was unlike anything before. There was fear, so much fear, and hatred. Fear was the deepest pool that drowned Raven.
"I hope those kids are okay."
"Yeah I though that monster was kicked off the team for what she did to those rioters last year."
"You would think that after she almost killed Holly Forgen that she'd never be allowed to go near kids again. What's their leader thinking?"
"She set a dragon on her own teammates once."
As she went to rise from the bench to set someone on fire, "They're not worth it."
She glanced around and spotted a rather attractive blonde haired girl reading a book on the next bench over. "Those idiots should be thankful that Raven's a hero. Cause if she ever grows tired of their bullshit...the whole planet is well and truly fucked."
"And you are?" Blondie waved a hand dismissively at her.
"No one important, Azula of the Fire Nation. But if you must know a meta-human that wasn't born with a flashy active power like being able to shoot lightning bolts from my eyes. Meta-humans are like benders from your neck of the woods. My powers only work when they are needed and the powers I get vary from auspicious moment to auspicious moment.
Like today I received a vision of Raven and you, having a very emotionally wrought conversation about family. But then she leaves to do her job and you getting riled up on her behalf. I can also read your mind. I'm here to stop you from doing something drastic. Raven's lived with this animosity for years. She'll be fine."
"Why else are you here?" Blondie turned a page and seemed to be completely ignoring her. Then a smile spreads across Blondie's face.
"Who knows? I just go where my flighty powers take me. Maybe I was supposed to be here to give Raven a beacon of positive emotions to focus on so she wouldn't give up the life of a hero and maybe I was here for you to ogle."
"Don't flatter yourself." Blondie finally looks in her direction there's a smirk, small and almost innocent, almost.
"I get it. I'm not her am I?" She completely ignores Blondie's question as from the corner of her eye she spots Raven's shadows spreading across the park's trees. She already closed half the distance between her and Raven. As she approaches the small crowd and the mother of the children, she hears, "Get away from them."
"I think the words you're looking for are thank you." She always prided herself on mastering a voice that's as cold as ice. It amused her that everyone expects the prodigy firebender to be warm and inviting like her element; she only reserves warmth for those she finds worthy.
"E-Excuse me?" She notes that the woman has a kind face and seems to exude that kindness in her eyes. But its all marred by the secondary echo of emotions that the firebender feels from her bond with Raven.
"I said ' I think the words you're looking for are thank you'." She smiles and it gets wider as she see's the spark of fear in the woman's eyes. "If I were Raven, I wouldn't have lifted a finger. I would have let your brats get taken. I fail to see why she even bothered to save them, if this is the thanks that she gets."
"I-"
"Mark my words, one day she might just let it all burn." A heavy silence settles between them, gold eyes boring into pale green.
"Um Miss scary lady?" The question is accompanied by a tug on the cloak that forces her to look down. Where an awed grin greets her. Its one of the brats. "Please ignore our mom. She doesn't like that fact that Miss Raven is our favorite Titan. She's the coolest."
"Uh huh. And if you're a new member of the Titans we think you're pretty awesome too."
Not long after the children's declaration Raven and Miss scary lady disappeared from the park and everyone continued with their day. On a bench near the fountain a blond girl slowly closed her book, stood up, stretched the aches out of her muscles, and walked along the paved path nearest her out of the park. "Or I was here to inspire you, Azula, to help keep your girlfriend from blowing the park sky high."
Titan's Tower, night; the roof/Day 20
Her mind was a jumbled mess and not even the vast ocean below brought any sense of peace to her thoughts like it usually did. They'd returned to the tower after the incident at the park. Raven assured her that they would resume their interrupted conversation later. Then she was surprised, though she really shouldn't have been, when Raven left her to her own devices. As usual her thoughts drifted to Raven.
She recalled the intense burning rage that enveloped her when she saw the kidnapper running across the park. Then the pain of the kidnapper's impact with the shadows, the overwhelming fear, the hatred, and all of it left her raw.
'If that was an echo...I would hate to feel the full brunt of her emotions.' She shivered and pulled the cloak closed; she was still wearing it and was reluctant to part with it.
'Still an improvement over the dragons, Sifu.' She tried really hard not to jump at the voice.
'Six years in that hellhole and its only after I escape that I start hearing voices.' An image of herself wearing yellow armor sporting a pair of glasses superimposed itself across her vision. The person sketched a bow and vanished.
"They're not voices." She didn't turn to look at Raven as she glimpsed the blue cloak on her left, Raven's back was leaning on the railing. "Its a side effect that my mirror has on anyone whose used it. It establishes a connection to your mindscape allowing you to converse with your emoticlones or emotes; people created from your emotions. They are your thoughts. One day you'll be able to enter your mindscape through meditation."
'That's not good. That's not good at all.' She did her level best to ignore the interruption.
"What does the yellow one signify?"
"Intelligence, mine also goes by madam Snark, Bookworm, or Mistress Worm. She's the one that is the least aggravating for me."
"Yet you gave her a nickname."
A weary sigh escapes Raven. "The other emotes gave her those. I have never addressed them as such, it would give them the wrong idea as well as an invitation to exert their will over me."
"Are you afraid of them?" Her tone is incredulous even if its kind of hypocritical of her to feel this way. She herself was just as afraid of emotion, anything that her father perceived as a weakness. And unfortunately emotions were weakness.
"I was for the longest time. Control was the safest option, the only option, to prevent destroying the universe. Its still hard to let go of that control mostly because my soul-self is destructive by nature."
She nodded in understanding but loosed a frustrated breath as she did so.
"Subjective omniscience is another side effect from the bond as it begins to stabilize. Everything that I know on a instinctive level in regards to my abilities, emotions, and memories, gives you the sense of understanding and sub-consciously fills in the blanks."
"So ordinarily if we didn't share this bond I wouldn't have understood any of what you just said? Is that also way I have the urge to find Slade and skin him alive?" She said while cursing inwardly as she waited for a reaction from Raven.
"Pretty much."
"This bond is getting worse the more its explained," Despite her inability to see Raven's face she can feel the bubble of negativity swell, "I hate how easily I trusted you, it frustrates me how safe I feel around you, and If I hadn't felt those things before the tussle with my father and Slade in your mind happened. I wouldn't hesitate to kill you for manipulating me. But from the moment that you made good on that promise, to help me in that hellhole, I trusted you. All of that points to one terrifying logical conclusion that, I'm fond of your company."
"And you don't trust it."
This was getting ridiculous she was supposed to get help for her issues not the other way around. "I'm very well aware of my feelings toward you. I happen to be in agreement with them but you won't like who I become when my memories surface. Essentially as nice as these feelings are they complicate matters far too much. And you don't deserve such a broken individual."
"Well Firecracker, its a good thing you don't get to choose for me." The maelstrom of emotions that followed Raven's words was a declaration of her intention.
Before Azula could say anything Raven was gone once again.
Titan's Tower; the Training room.../Day 21
There were many reasons why she was often apathetic in regards to her bending, especially in the early morning hours after a long night. Yesterday was one of the longest that she could remember. 'Sifu stop worrying about it. You're giving me a headache.'
She rolled her eyes and said, 'Technically I'm giving myself one.'
'Don't be cute. It doesn't suit you.' She almost felt bad for Mai and Ty Lee now that she was on the receiving end of her own sharp tongue.
'Do you think she meant it though?'
The emote was silent for a long time. 'She wouldn't have protected us if she didn't. I also think that that slip last night was unintentional. She hasn't quite realized that she belongs to us.'
'We can't just-'
'We belong to her too.'
'We were hers the moment she made good on that promise.' It was quiet between them for a moment.
'That's a terrifying prospect, Sifu.'
"Hey," It was a struggle to not flash fry the man sitting across from her, three feet separated them. She hadn't even noticed his entry. "its Azula right?"
A nod was his answer.
"I'm Robin. Its nice to see that you're doing better now."
"Why do you care? Why do they care? Why does..." She trailed off, unwilling to let him get close. She is still unsure about him.
"Short answer? Raven went out of her way to bring you here. She went Red Menace, that's what we call her demonic half/Rage, on that Ashfall place. And that tells me that what ever happened when she was in your mind affected her." He said amusement layering his tone.
"You care because she does?"
"No. I care because you're not afraid of what she is. Rage can sense that and so can Raven." He loosed a breath and that white sightless mask was focused on her. "Despite our best efforts she can tell that we're afraid that Rage will take over and we'll lose her."
"Typical of peasants to be so stupid. She's the same person." She was surprised by his laughter and the smile that he flashed her.
"Say would you like to spar with me? Raven said you were a general and something about conquering a huge city without casualties." She was taken thoroughly aback at his offer. Then a dangerous smile split her face.
"Very well. I hope you won't be disappointed when you lose."
"That's funny I was about to say the same to you."
Three rounds later and she was laid out on the mat breathing hard. Her only consolation was that Robin seemed to be in the same condition. She wanted to keep going but Robin said, sounding suspiciously like Zen, "I would hate to see what you can do when your fully recovered. I think your last kick broke a rib."
"I learn the hard way, go big or go home." The turn of phrase caught Robin's attention. It was odd to hear it from Azula even though he was expecting something like it. After that Slade fiasco and Raven's trip into his mind, they both had some weird innate understanding of things that they hadn't had before; like spells and rituals for him while Raven got a basic feel for martial arts.
"Speaking of that, I was expecting you to use your bending."
"That was one thing my father never managed to convince me of. Bending is all well and good but when I was really young an old nobleman told me a story. A story that had been passed down in his family for generations. The day of Black Sun, the day when every firebender lost their bending and the Earth Kingdom almost destroyed the Fire Nation. But it was his ancestor whom never relied solely on his bending to defeat his enemies; General Tao lead the Fire Nation's non-bending soldiers to victory against the invaders. I gained a healthy respect for non-benders after hearing about it and strove to master a non-bending form of defense." She wasn't going to tell him the whole truth behind that respect that grew over the years but he was rather perceptive. So with a rueful small smile she added, "That and my bending isn't very impressive right now. I've lost the drive that fuels it. It'll just be a matter of finding a new one."
"You'll find one." He said as he stood and held out his hand for her. "Come on. The faster we get done with the cool down, the faster we can have breakfast."
Agony seized her heart as she allowed him to pull her off the ground. He was so much like Zuzu but unlike her brother, Robin actually cared.
The sight that greeted them as they entered the common room was unexpected but very welcome to the starved pair. Raven was making pancakes, that actually looked really, really good. "Robin my empathy is still extra sensitive."
He valiantly tried to curb his astonished disbelief that she could cook. Yesterday was Cyborg's turn to cook but the H.I.V.E incident interrupted, he figured that Cy managed to finish cooking before they got the alert...Now that I'm thinking about it she was in the kitchen when we got back.
"I almost dragged both of you here. And you do know that Zen is going to feed you your intestines when she finds out about the sparing session, right?"
"She doesn't scare me. Since when do you know how to cook?" He asked as he sat at the bar. Azula joined him shortly after and was witness to the nastiest glare that she'd ever seen on Raven, directed at Robin.
"Cyborg flat out forced me into cooking lessons after my disastrous one time stab at it on that day three years ago." The floating assortment of kitchen utensils belied Raven's glare. "Question my skills again and I'll feed you those."
Robin shuddered involuntarily at the insinuation of her 'specialty pancakes', "I wasn't questioning, its just surprising is all. I thought it was Starfire's turn to cook."
A trickle of sweat slid down his face before Raven turned back to the griddle.
He had to salvage this somehow. "So what are you making then?"
"I made a batch of 'those' for Starfire. Everyone else, who don't have nine stomachs, get blueberry pancakes."
"Pancakes?" She asked and hoped that pancakes were as good as those waffles.
"You can't be serious." She saw him occupy the seat on her left. Then he leaned in way too close but not close enough to justify a fiery reaction. "First waffles and now pancakes. What next? French toast."
"Allow me to remind you gears for brains that I'm not from this dimension." The way he recoiled as if burned was entertaining, the kicked puppy look was the cherry on top.
"Excuses, excuses Princ- urgha." He was cut off as a water whip slammed into him. He tumbled off the stool and hit the ground with a nice solid thud.
"Be nice mister or I'll siphon out all the lubrication components in your oil ducts." A pained sounding whimper was his only response as the waterbender stepped around him and stole his seat.
"Why do you look exhausted Azula?" The waterbender's eyes narrowed as Robin started, she wouldn't have caught the movement if she hadn't been watching the Titans training sessions.
Right as the tension had reached fever pitch a shout shattered it. "Friend Azula I wish you the good morning."
"Thanks Starfire." It was easier than she expected to get used to Starfire's enthusiasm and to keep the pain from surfacing at the reminder of her own enthusiastic friend.
"If everyone's done bickering, the food's up." Everyone's attention was drawn to the plates in front of them. In addition to a stack of five pancakes, four strips of bacon, and hash browns filled their plates; with exception of Starfire's, her plate had a dozen gooey bubbling brown things covered with green fungus that were drowned in mustard on it.
As the others started to dig in, Azula paused as she saw Raven move further down the counter towards the fridge. She made the effort to control her emotions so that she wouldn't give her curiosity away and focused intently on not devouring her pancakes with abandon, it was the same struggle that she'd had with those waffles, while subtly watching Raven out of the corner of her eye. From the fridge Raven pulled out a covered metal bowl. She knew it was filled with raw meat and blood.
She saw Raven freeze, felt the disgust, loathing, and bottomless hunger. As always the emotions were a fleeting sensation like the momentary warmth as the fire spills from the mouth. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before letting detached indifference be all that she felt. Though she would admit to being curious as to why raw meat as opposed to the cooked variety.
"High Priestess Azar, thank the gods you're here." The cloaked figure's eyes betrayed nothing as she swept past the ignorant fool. "The order will compensate you for any damage our youngest member caused."
The shell-shocked man's eyes widened."She's a member?"
"Leave." The man bowed and left. As a precaution she threw up a barrier to keep him out. She strode in through the door and stopped dead. Piles upon piles of bones lay strewn throughout the storage area. Her eyes swept back and forth over the piles looking for her charge. It was as her eyes passed a pile in the corner that she heard the steady rhythm of her charge's breathing. But before she'd made a single move, the shadows came alive. She was taken aback when it coalesced into a fully mature version of her charge.
'I don't have much time to spare. If you do not want a repeat of this, heed my words. As a demon, half or otherwise, I require large quantities of fresh meat and blood. The majority of it has to be raw. The protein will keep the shell that I am bound to, together.'
Then the shadows vanished and she quickly swept her sleeping charge up while sparing an idle thought for the clean up. Her magics were on top of that as her sole focus was on Raven.
"The burdens you carry will destroy us all if you let them. I am going to help prepare you as best as I can to fight him." She closed her eyes against the torrent of memories, the choices that their foolish elders made. "One day when you know the truth I won't begrudge you your hatred. For now the training I will give you, is all that I can do to make those burdens easier to bare."
It was enough to make her sick to realize that Raven was who she could have been if anyone, had given her a chance. Her vision was tunneling as each breath came faster as a familiar soothing emptiness grew within her. The tower's sirens were a welcome distraction from her distress. She stayed unnaturally still as the others around her rushed off to save the day.
The room was empty in seconds, well almost empty. "Follow me."
And she did as the soothing emptiness started building again. Her mind was filled with a fog of rage that she was all to happy to lose herself in, once upon a time. She fought against it as hard as she could but she was so tired of fighting it. So she gave in and the emptiness was all that she knew.
She woke to find herself, once more, in a room she doesn't remember entering. But this time it was a far more interesting room then the many other's she'd been in. The walls on either side of the bed were covered in books, scrolls, and strange artifacts. There was a rustle to her left and her eyes locked on the source, it was Raven.
"What happened?"
She watched as Raven placed the black ribbon inside the book, closed it, and send it to the top shelf of the bookcase behind her. "The bond we share caused a feedback loop. That memory at breakfast synchronized my emotions from the memory and amplified your emotions. That put a considerable strain on your mind and body. The excess energy caused by my runes on your arm, it needed an out. Once it completely stabilizes that won't happen anymore."
"I really should be angry about this bond. Its the ultimate form of manipulation but I can tell how much worse it is for you." She hated all of it. The confusion, the fear, the rage, how bothered she was by Raven's self-loathing, and she was frightened by how she cared. She wanted to do something to, anything to get Raven to feel something other than self-loathing. She was so much like her mother that it hurt but she didn't care, she never did when the people worth her time needed her. "Just tell me why you protected me? I need you to say it."
"I'm fond of your company too..." She almost set fire to that blue cloak when there was no inflection in Raven's voice as it trailed off. She looked away from the infuriating woman only for her eyes to be drawn to the glowing gold dragon on the cloak that'd been serving as her blanket."Firecracker."
So this chapter was a royal pain in the ass to get out. And I do apologize for the wait to anyone who is new to the story or is re-reading what I'm revising, I can't promise that it won't happen again. Fuck you writers block. Lastly this is hot off the presses so please ignore any errors as I will be combing this over for them when I get up later today(its 3:00 am).