Series: On Dragon's Wings||Title: Proper Behavior||Chapter: Contemplations
Characters: Mizael, Alit, & Leonius
Chapters: 5-8||Words: 1,617||Total: 7,988
Genre: Friendship||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Diversity Writing, YGO Zexal Aus, section I10, multichap with exactly 8 chapters
Notes: This takes place in the same world as Ring The Dinner Bell, Face of Death, and Diamond of the North, and occurs after Mizael left Vector's kingdom.
Summary: Mizael's evening rest is interrupted by two strangers who think they've seen a dragon. Really. A dragon. How silly.
So far as Mizael was concerned, the real problem with the chamber he was being kept in now wasn't that it didn't really have that many amenities, but that it wasn't big enough for him to assume his real form and be comfortable in it. Leonius had told him to resume his human form; he'd never said anything about keeping it. Mizael wanted to make certain they all remembered what he really was and that he took human form for his convenience, not theirs.
But what amenities the room had, he took full advantage of, lounging on the bed and enjoying the light meal that had been provided. At least being a 'prisoner' – one who stayed because he chose to not because he had to – didn't mean they'd forgotten what he'd requested the night before. Meat, as close to rare as possible without actually being still alive.
Really, he didn't know why they hadn't guessed what he was from that alone. He didn't know too many humans who enjoyed their meals the way that he did.
His thoughts strayed back toward the vase, his vase. He would never stop wanting it, not so long as it existed, because it was his and nothing at all they could do would change that. He hoped they understood that. Keeping it from him would be a very bad idea. Trying to keep him near it without letting him have it would be even worse.
Perhaps I should send a message to Merag and Nasch? No, he would handle this himself. The siblings did not need to be involved more than they were by having given the item to Leonius in the first place.
He trailed his nails alongside the blanket underneath him, putting his thoughts in quiet order. He'd met many interesting beings during the course of his life and he knew that he'd meet many more before it ended. Only a few truly resonated with him. Vector. Alit. Nasch. Merag. That strange V.
He wished to meet V again, to see if he'd made any progress on breaking his curse. Perhaps he had; the few times he'd stopped in the area where they'd crossed paths, no one had babbled tales of a creature so lovely that his features brought death.
Perhaps one day soon he would return to Vector's kingdom and see what had been going on there. It had been some time since he'd left, and unlike with V, there had been plenty of rumors about what was going on there. Rumors that he did not like the sound of and wanted to check on the more he considered them.
He made a deal with a demon for my sake. For that reason alone he wanted to find out more about what was going on.
The only people who came near him at all that day were those who brought him food. No one said a word about what judgment the Emperor might pass on him, and the two servants continued to stare at him worriedly for the few moments they were in the room, as if they expected him to pounce on them for his meal instead of what was being served.
Neither one of them looked as if they were up to his standards for dining on even if he'd wanted to eat humans in the first place. They had nothing to fear. But his brief times with humans taught him enough to know that telling them this would not be a very good idea at all.
He wanted Leonius to hurry up and make his decision so he could leave, preferably with his vase tucked away safely until he could get it back to his lair. He had a lot of traveling to do and the sooner he could get back to it, the better.
Somewhere during the day he fell asleep and did not open his eyes again until the following morning. The only reason he woke then was because someone knocked on the door to his room.
"Come in, if you're bringing breakfast," Mizael yawned, flexing his fingers as if they were his talons. He wanted a chance to get back in the air, whether or not the 'case' was settled today. He needed to fly like he needed to breathe. He was a dragon, after all.
The door swung open to reveal a small cadre of guards. Mizael gave them all a very stern look.
"Where's my breakfast?" They could at least give him one more meal before throwing him out on his snout. Or whatever they thought they had planned.
"You're being summoned to the throne room for your sentencing," the chief of the guards said, staring at him firmly. Mizael returned the look with one of his favorite smiles, the one Vector had told him made him look as if he had every single one of his dragon's teeth in his human's mouth.
"So, no breakfast."
The guards inched back. Mizael rose to his feet and brushed himself off. One of the amenities this room failed to provide was a comb or a brush. That did not please him at all. Unable to groom himself properly and a lack of breakfast? He'd thought better of Leonius.
But perhaps he could leave the city today and find his own breakfast. That would be a clear improvement, since strips of warm meat weren't nearly as delicious as actual raw meat.
He strolled along with the guards, paying them little mind, until they arrived at where Leonius and Alit waited. Neither one of them looked especially happy. Mizael did not like the feel of this.
"Mizael, dragon," Leonius said, opening the proceedings as Mizael stood before them. "You are accused of attempted theft of an object belonging to the crown."
"Which I did not do," Mizael corrected with a hint of asperity to his tone. "I told you before. That vase is mine, meant to be part of my hoard. One cannot steal what belongs to someone else."
More than one guard and attendant grumbled, along with some of the sorcerers who lined the room. Mizael gave them very unamused looks. If they didn't believe what he was after seeing him change, then he could find other ways to persuade them.
"By our laws, which are the laws in force here, you have attempted theft," Leonius continued. He sounded more than a little saddened by this as well. Mizael frowned, listening as he kept on. "As you have admitted to this, you are found guilty. There are a variety of punishments for such an act, but I feel there is only one that is suitable."
Mizael's teeth ground together. A dragon doing that was far more impressive than a human, even when that dragon was in human form. But the Emperor continued.
"Banishment. You may not enter my kingdom under any circumstances, starting at dawn tomorrow. By dawn, you must have left the kingdom. You may spend your time before then as you please, as you have caused no true harm in the kingdom."
Mizael's fingers clenched and unclenched. When he spoke, he held back every emotion that he could manage. "Keeping something from a dragon is not a wise idea. But you and yours forget: I am a dragon. I can wait a hundred years and take what is mine when you and yours are naught but dust." His lip curled into a faint smile. "But perhaps I will treasure it all the more for having struggled harder to obtain it."
He began to turn away, but stopped when Alit called his name. "Mizael, I kind of feel like this is my fault. I went out to find what I saw, and that's why you're here."
Mizael turned a thoughtful look upon the gladiator. "If there is one thing I would like to see before I leave here, it is you fighting." Even from the small amount of time they'd spent together, he could tell that Alit enjoyed fighting. Sparring against him personally would be a bad idea, but to see Alit against someone else? A sight that would be worthy of his last in this city.
Or at least his last until he chose for it to be otherwise.
Alit glanced at Leonius, who returned a quick grin. "I think we can grant that," Alit said, eyes sparkling with anticipation. "Should we give him the good show?"
"I think that might not be such a bad idea," Leonius agreed. "This afternoon, perhaps? I have other matters that need tending to until then."
Alit bounced down from where he'd stood beside Leonius throne to in front of Mizael. "Until then, I'll show you around the town. You didn't really get a chance to look at it yet, you know."
Indeed he hadn't; from arrival to trying to take what was his to being locked up for far too long, Mizael hadn't at all had the time to explore. He wasn't certain if he even wanted to, but it would keep him occupied for the moment.
"Shouldn't we send guards with them, Majesty?" One of the soldiers asked. "Just for safety?"
Alit glowered over at the soldier. "Mizael is a dragon. How many guards do you think it would take if he really wanted to hurt someone around here?"
Mizael sniffed at that. "I've said this before. I don't eat humans. Even if I wanted to, you're all wearing armor." He eyed the guards distastefully. "That is very difficult to get rid of and it doesn't taste good at all."
For some reason he couldn't figure out at all, none of the guards looked especially comfortable with that. Humans. Who could understand them?
To Be Continued
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