Series: On Dragon's Wings||Title: Ring The Dinner Bell||Chapter: Deviation
Romance: Mizael x Vector
Chapters: 8-10||Words: 1,615||Total: 12,803
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?
Vector. Prince Vector.
Vector's head snapped up. "Who said that?" He was not at all in the mood for games. He didn't know how long he'd been in here, but he knew that his time to make his decision had to be soon, and he was no closer to making it now than he had been when he'd been thrown in here.
Prince Vector. From beneath his feet, runes that he hadn't seen before, half-covered in straw and dust, began to glow a strange, sickly reddish-brown. Vector stumbled back, but with the cell being as small as it was, he had little room to move in.
"Who are you?" This was the very last thing he needed, some kind of thing wanting to eat him while he agonized over how to save Mizael and himself.
Prince Vector.
Vector drew breath to tell whoever it was that he was Prince Vector, but all the words died when a warm hand pressed itself against his throat. The hand was larger than Mizael's, larger than his own, the fingers strong and slowly tightening enough to cut off Vector's air.
Vector's eyes followed the hand and the arm it was attached to, then tilted upward to see a tall being standing before him. His mind scrambled to comprehend what he was seeing; the creature looked vaguely human, not at all like when Mizael assumed human form, but in the sense of having two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head. The face wasn't very well defined, save for glowing scarlet eyes. Most of the form gleamed a strange sort of black, with red streaks on the arms and legs.
He still couldn't speak, but the creature – the demon, that was all that it could be – had no such trouble.
You wish to save your friend, Prince Vector. I can make it happen. Lips parted into something that Vector thought was meant to stand as a smile. He'd never felt less like smiling, even if he hadn't had the choice that hung over his head. Without having to kill your pretty dragon or see him on your father's leash.
Vector tried to say something else but the demon's hand didn't move from his throat.
That is what you want, isn't it? To save him. To not have to deal with this.
Images burst into Vector's mind, clear as if he lived them. Mizael, in his human form, knelt before the king. He lifted his head and Vector saw those luminescent blue eyes now dark and dulled, no defiance at all in them. Even through the veil of Mizael's hair, Vector saw scarring on his back and sides. A tiny spark of pride lit from that, painful as it was to see. Clearly Mizael hadn't broken easily.
The image shifted, and now Mizael in his dragon form carried the king through the skies, belching out fire from his mouth. Vector recognized the capital city of one of their neighbors, now lit aflame, the people running heedlessly in their terror, and his father's laughter echoing over all.
Another image; this one of dark city streets: the streets of this city. He saw himself there now, dressed in rags, stumbling through the night. The image of himself stopped when a dragon's roar split the air, and a heartbeat later, Mizael, once more in human form, stood only paces away from him.
Vector could not hear his own voice, but he recognized the shape of his own lips as his vision-form called for Mizael. The dragon made no response, save to pull Vector out into the open. Vector of the vision tried to pull away, but he'd clearly missed too many meals and too much rest to make a proper escape.
The dragon had missed no meals at all. And he did not miss this one either.
The last thing Vector saw was his father standing behind Mizael, pride in dominating such a great creature in his eyes.
When he could see clearly again, the demon still stood before him, keeping him in place with one hand. Would you see more? See what other horrors await if you spare his life?
Vector could only shake his head. He couldn't do that to Mizael. But he couldn't kill him either. He didn't even want to know what he would see for that course of events.
Again the demon smiled. You need not worry. I can save you from both those paths. All you have to do is agree to help me.
Now Vector could speak. His voice wasn't all that loud, but he wasn't going to complain. He didn't want anyone peeking in here and finding out what was going on. Not that he knew what was going on.
"Help you with what?" Despite the question, the thought of being able to save Mizael and save all the innocent people that his father hadn't killed yet teased and tugged at his desires. But to ally with a demon to do it?
The more often Vector saw it, the less like a smile that expression became. Only a few things here and there. Nothing that you don't agree to. If you don't want to do something, you don't have to.
Vector didn't have much experience in dealing with demons. What he mainly recalled from his lessons involved knowing how they were summoned, so he would know if one was and know to avoid the area altogether. The runes called this one here, he realized now, and there had to have been human sacrifices in this cell, for the runes spoke of binding a demon that could only be summoned by the death of humans.
They are already dead, Prince Vector. Nothing you can do can save them. But you can still save your friend, if you move quickly enough. If you choose quickly enough.
Vector found it hard to get enough air in his lungs and he didn't think it was because of the hand that still wrapped around his neck. The image of Mizael so completely obeying his father's whims rose up in the back of his mind, sharp and clear and horrendous. He didn't want to think his father wouldn't do it. He knew that he would.
Before he could shape a word, be it yes or no, the demon laughed, and a cascade of deep golden hair flowed into existence all around. It was longer and shimmered with a supernatural glow that Mizael's didn't, but there was no doubt of what it was meant to evoke.
Choose, young prince. Your time has nearly come to an end. Will you end your friend's life on your own blade? Or will you let him live, and suffer as your father's private plaything, used to spread fear and conquest all over the world? Or will you walk with me, and bring your own will to bear in all of this?
Vector had lived his life wanting to bring peace to the kingdoms that remained in a state of war against his father. More than once he'd tried to broker ceasefires and peace agreements, and those few times he'd succeeded, his father always broke them and waged bloody war again and again.
It's for the good of the kingdom. And the good of Mizael. Father can't keep on like this. He loved his father. But he couldn't let him keep on ruling. His history lessons told him that as well, that a monarch who would not care for their people did not deserve to remain in power. Someone, sooner or later, would kill his father.
The choice Vector had in front of him was if he were that person, doing it for the greater good of the people, or someone else, doing it only for what power they might gain from it.
Down the corridor came the sound of rattling chains and his father's voice. "It's time to see this taken care of." He sounded so satisfied and that alone sent dark chills flowing through Vector's veins.
Your father is the one who called me here, Prince Vector. He expects you to deny me and then he can proclaim to all the land that you consorted with demons in a misguided attempt to claim the throne. People will cheer his taming of your dragon. They will rejoice at seeing him chained and enslaved, never to fly free again.
Footsteps came toward the door. Vector did not dare take the chance that leaving the cell would mean he couldn't talk to the demon anymore. It might be bound in here. Which meant that he had to make his choice.
And now there was only one choice at all that he could make.
"Yes," he murmured, too low for the approaching people to hear, just enough so he wasn't whispering. "Yes, I'll do it."
Dark energy flared all around him, leaving strength and power in its wake. Vector looked down at himself automatically, and saw rock-like gray skin – or perhaps gray skin like rocks – instead of his normal tones. Something moved on his back and he looked to see wings there, ones that moved to his will.
Now the footsteps hurried closer, and Vector realized that he no longer had a mouth. He didn't care. He smiled anyway, with his heart and his eyes and his fingers as he raised one hand and blew the door outward with nothing more than a gesture and a blast of energy.
"Hello, father," he said, stepping outside to see the mages and his father standing there. Some of them stood. His father was one of them. The rest had fallen backwards with his destruction of the door. "I've made my choice."
To Be Continued