Series: On Dragon's Wings||Title: Ring The Dinner Bell||Chapter: Dream
Romance: Mizael x Vector
Chapters: 6-10||Words: 1,570||Total: 9,561
Genre: Romance, Fantasy||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Diversity Challenge, YGO Zexal Aus, section I12, 10 chapters
Notes: This is an AU with princes, magic, knights, dragons, flying horses, and other such things. But no dueling with cards.
Summary: Dragons devour virgins and keep princesses captive. At least, that's what the legends say, and when a dragon arrives in good Prince Vector's kingdom, the prince finds that his father knows a lot about legends. But maybe he can learn a little something about dragons?
All around him they moved, tall figures robed in shadows, eyes of flame-scarlet peering down at him. Laughter sounded from everywhere and nowhere, far too familiar and a sound he hadn't expected to hear here, if anywhere else, ever again.
He tried to move but his limbs refused to obey him. He tried harder, but still to no avail, straining until sweat coursed down his forehead and stung into his eyes.
No chains bound him, no restraints of any kind, and yet he could not move. He shook his head, hair slapping against his skin, heart pounding faster with each passing moment.
"Where is he? Where's Mizael?" The dragon should've been there. Vector knew he should, but there was no sign of either golden scales or golden hair.
"You mean this?" One of those figures stepped closer and held up something. Vector could not see it at first, until blinding light broke over him, and when he saw, he screamed, trying once more to throw himself away. He didn't want to see anymore.
A dragon's head…
A dragon with golden scales.
The one who held it raised it even higher and that far too familiar laughter echoed all around.
"We've triumphed! The evil beast is no more!" His father's eyes turned down toward him, a cruel tilt to his lips. Vector had seen that far far too often, when the king passed judgment on those who'd transgressed the laws. "And it was all thanks to you, my dear son. You gave him to us, our lawful prey."
Words choked in Vector's throat. He wanted to deny it all, but images that had never happened, that he did not remember happening, flickered before him. Holding Mizael close in a warm embrace. Keeping him still while his father's warriors crept in closer. A collar locked around the shapechanged dragon's neck, keeping him from resuming his true form.
Mizael, screaming in pain as he was tortured, for no reason other than being a dragon.
Mizael, drained of his power, forcibly returned to his dragon shape, but unable to fly or fight.
And then...Vector himself… axe rising high…
Vector nearly threw himself out of the bed, eyes wide, soaked in sweat, heart pounding so hard he wondered that it didn't echo off the walls around him.
A...a...a nightmare?
Yes. That was all that it was. A silly, meaningless dream that would fade away in morning's light.
Yet his mouth remained parched and it was all he could do to bring himself to his feet, his hands shaking and unable to close his eyes without seeing those images all over again.
Was he just worried over what could happen? It couldn't be that bad, could it?
He recalled seeing a small stream not that far from the cave mouth and decided that he needed a drink of water. Mizael wouldn't mind, and it was clearly still too late for any strangers to be wandering in the area.
He moved carefully, passing through the large cave where Mizael slept, staying as quiet as he could.
Better not wake him up. He could use his rest. Vector did take a few moments to admire the long, sleek golden beauty and to wonder what it might be like to feel those arms around him, as he had in the dream. No. That isn't going to happen.
He didn't know if he meant Mizael holding him or his father's warriors taking the dragon prisoner, but if the one meant the other, then he would gladly go without.
The sooner this whole farce had been dealt with, the better, he decided. He would need to get things sorted at the palace and return there. Then Mizael could do as he pleased.
He'll want to leave. Vector didn't like the idea but he would not stop the dragon. It would probably be for the best, anyway.
That didn't mean there wasn't a tiny shard of displeasure at the thought. But he wouldn't hold Mizael anywhere that the dragon didn't want to be held.
Still taking each step with extreme care, Vector made his way out to the stream and looked for something to hold water in. He almost smacked himself when he realized there weren't any cups around here and he would have to make do some other way.
Mizael would laugh at me for this. Just as well the dragon slept and wouldn't even know he'd left the cave.
"Forget something, your highness?" Many levels of amusement layered the dragon's human voice. Vector sagged back onto his heels and didn't bother to look behind himself. "Oh, don't forget to drink on my account."
Vector ground his teeth for a moment. He'd never drunk out of anything that wasn't a cup or a goblet in his life. He didn't even know how it could be done. He knew it could; not everyone had his advantages. But he'd never done it.
"I don't suppose you have anything that could help?" He asked, still not looking toward Mizael.
"Not with me, no," Mizael replied easily. Vector pressed his lips together and stared at the stream for a few moments before he pushed himself forward and scooped up a handful of water.
It wasn't the most elegant way to take a drink, but he couldn't think of anything else, and he needed it. He managed to get enough handfuls down to slake his thirst and wipe off the sweat that still stuck his clothes to him. Once he'd taken care of that, he decided that looking at Mizael couldn't be that bad.
Seeing the dragon there after that dream shocked him on a few small levels. He remembered what he'd seen so very vividly, but to see Mizael alive and unharmed seemed to push the dream a little farther away.
"You had a nightmare, didn't you?" Mizael asked, leaning forward, sniffing at the air. Vector blinked at him.
"What are you doing?"
"I can smell the fear on you still. Was it bad?" The dragon almost seemed compassionate in some way. Vector turned his gaze away.
"I've had worse ones." Not that many, but some. He fiddled with a handful of pebbles scooped up from the side of the stream. "Tomorrow we go to the city."
They'd already decided that but Vector wanted nothing at all to flag his determination. He wanted this settled and done. Those who'd toyed with his father, urging him to do these horrible things, would be dealt with, once and for all. If that meant Mizael ate them, then Vector didn't think he cared. They were already guilty; he knew that just by the fact his father believed that he would ever want to try to take over the throne before his time in the first place.
Vector did not always like that being the monarch meant that someone could decide guilt or innocence at a whim, but there were cases where such could be extremely useful.
Mizael raised his head, sniffing once more, but this time into the breeze. "Someone's coming," he said, breathing in deeply.
Vector couldn't move, the horrid memory of his dream sinking claws of dread into him. His throat closed up and he did what he could to totter to his feet. At least this time he could do that, wasn't frozen as he'd been in the dream.
"Not warriors," Mizael mused, more interested in finding out what was going on than in whatever was going through Vector's mind. "There are several of them." A frown formed between his eyebrows. Whatever he might've suggested, Vector interrupted.
"I think they might belong to the city." It didn't matter that they weren't warriors. They could be in disguise, unarmored, or it could be something else altogether.
Mizael bared his teeth; such a sight wasn't even close to a smile and Vector didn't pretend it could have ever been. He started to lurch forward, to do what he didn't know, and all of his muscles did freeze. He didn't fall, though, and this time he recognized what the reason was: a spell.
Vector had never bothered himself with much magic, but he knew the effects and had seen the mages doing this in the royal court. Feeling it on himself was another matter altogether. At least it could be used on Mizael. Magic did not affect dragons as it did humans.
A soft, harsh cry of pain told him that they had something that could affect Mizael, however, and the far too clear memory of that dream rushed back in thick and choking clarity. He managed to jerk his head upward the tiniest bit, enough to show him what he wanted to see.
No. Not wanted, but needed. Because he would never, ever have wanted to see Mizael with an iron collar around his human neck, with a half-dozen mages circling him, winding him with ropes that hummed and glowed with binding enchantments.
Another robed mage stepped from just out of sight, coming over to Vector. "Greetings, highness," he said, satisfaction lacing his tone. "I should congratulate you for successfully distracting the beast while we corralled it."
Vector's eyes widened. He couldn't see Mizael very clearly now, but the thought of betrayal in those sky-blue eyes terrified him. The mage smiled more, as if reading the prince's thoughts.
"Now, it's time for us to go home. Your father wants to see both of you very, very much."
To Be Continued