11.

Sheldon heads north. Back through the way he'd come. Closer to the mystical caves where he had been cursed. If being a Dragon had anything at all to recommend it, it would be flight. A months journey could easily be reached in mere hours among the clouds. The moonlight providing just enough light to illuminate the miles of forest beneath them. It was strangely beautiful, and he was glad for Penny's company as she pointed out every particularly aesthetically pleasing sight he might of otherwise dismissed. He was not generally someone who appreciated such things. But spending time with Penny was slowly changing that.

It was as if the constant acknowledgement of her own beauty worked to help along his appreciation for other beautiful sights. He wonders if she will see the magic of the caves as beautiful the way he does. Beautiful for their promise of power instead of the exotic patterns of the runew. The magic and knowledge of them appeal to him in a way the glittering ice does not. Or perhaps he will come to find them even more beautiful than he did before, due to Penny's influence.

Normally, being a dragon and as incapable of magic as he finds his current body, he would never consider going back. Not with the magic being as ancient and treacherous as it is. There was a reason that he had required a four man team upon his initial explorations. Fortunately Penny is enough of a warlock now to defend them both from the enchantments.

Part of him can't help but think that something about the caves magic altered his curse. Nothing he has instructed Penny to do has worked.

He has been treating his state as temporary-but curses should not be so hard to break. Not with Penny's abundance of power and his guidance. He was beginning to lose hope. The enchantment didn't function like anything he was familiar with. The caves were risky, being what they were. But they might also be his only hope.

12.

Penny had mentioned the tales of her childhood to Sheldon before. They had discussed the merits of enchanted sleep, and the true extent of the foolishness behind asking for the aide of the fey. They had even covered true loves kiss, which was apparently True Magic in a way no enchantment could deny.

Penny can't quite stop thinking about it. About kissing Sheldon, the Dragon. It is an exceedingly strange thought. She has always known him to be a Dragon. She has no idea what he would look like as a man. He could be disgusting, exceedingly spotty or warty, and she might never know. Except that she looks at Sheldon's draconic body. The shine of his scales, the intelligence and focus behind his jewel toned gaze, and can't quite believe that his human body won't be just as compelling. Just as attractive.

It is so strange to consider a Dragon, a creature she'd once held in both awe and fear, as attractive the same way she'd once considered Kurt attractive. Only, it's nothing at all like her attraction to Kurt. She'd never spoken with Kurt for hours, never gazed at the sky in his company. Never wanted to spend time with him that wasn't spent kissing, or flirting.

She has no idea how she could possibly flirt with Sheldon. She had asked him if he had ever been in love, and he'd told her his only love in life had been magic. She'd gathered that he'd never had many friends. The only family he spoke of was his adoptive grandmother he's called Meemaw. He had her pen letters to the older witch, assuring her that he was fine and in relatively good spirits. Asking after her garden, and her health. Penny could never quite hold back her smile as she wrote those letters, no matter how he fussed about their state.

She always felt so fond of him when he did such clearly human things. Fondness and an emotion that was worryingly similar to hope. Hope that there was a normal man under those scales, hope that he might feel the same way about her someday. It was silly.

But she knew that he felt the caves might be his last chance to regain his humanity. So while he might not welcome the idea, he would try it. If only to check the possibility off the list. So Penny set up the protective spells around them and gathered every scrap of her courage.

"Sheldon? You've tried everything you could think of to break the curse, right?" She asked, biting her lip nervously.

"Of course." Sheldon replied, with a regal nod of his head.

"I have an idea I'd like to try." It was stupid, so stupid. But it was now or never. If she didn't try, if Sheldon found some other way to shed his scales, she would always wonder. At least this way she'd know for sure.

"Very well." Sheldon said, carefully lowering his head so that it was level with her own. "What is it?"

Penny took a deep breath, and unable to force the words past her lips, decided to take a chance. He was close enough. All she had to do was step forward and press her lips to his scales.

So she did.

Felt a breeze on her face that carried the faint hint of magic. Opened her eyes to see that it had been true loves kiss.

13.

Sheldon does not expect Penny to kiss him. He has no frame of reference for concepts like romance or a couples love. It doesn't keep his heart from skipping a beat, or the enchantment that had held him prisoner in a Dragon's body to fall away.

True Magic unraveling it. The True magic that was true love.

True love because Sheldon loved Penny the way she apparently loved him. It wouldn't have worked otherwise. True loves kiss only happened when both parties felt the same. He hadn't realized. He'd had no way of knowing why he enjoyed her smile and her laughter the way he did. What it meant that he went out of his way to make her happy. Or the consideration he displayed towards her that it had never even occurred to him to offer anyone else.

So the first thing Sheldon did now that he was once again a man was not cast a spell, revelling in the magic he'd sorely missed. Or begin planning his vengeance, as he had once assumed. The first thing he did was lean back in and offer Penny a proper kiss. Feeling joy bloom in his heart and spread to the very tip of his very limbs. He didn't even register his nudity.

He would have gladly kissed Penny with everything he had until their lips went numb. But he never had the chance as a spell struck him in the back.

When he wakes he is in agony. He can barely think past the pain. He has been covered in rags and the spells they use to bind him burn and bite into his flesh. He recognizes the chamber once he gets a good look at the chains. He's never been in the holding cells before. But hearsay was quite explicit and rife. It had even reached him, after all. The holding cells were where they held Warlocks who had gone dark.

"We knew you'd be back." A voice says from behind him. It's the Head of the Warlocks Brotherhood. Gablehauser, of course it was Gablehauser. He'd never been much of a Warlock himself, he'd always gotten others to do his spellwork. Sheldon opened his mouth, a scathing diatribe on the tip of his tongue when magic clamped painfully around his throat. Keeping him silent. "Any warlock who can divine any magic from those walls is dark. It's a test, you see, Warlocks find dark magic irresistible. We give it to the professors before they are approved for the positions. Such a shame. You had so much potential, you would have been our youngest professor. Not that any of us were surprised, of course. You only cared for power. We all knew it was only a matter of time."

Sheldon had almost forgotten how much Gablehauser liked to hear himself talk. Of course the petty practicians of the brotherhood would consider magic they were incapable of understanding dark. They had no appreciation for knowledge, or innovation. Most lived happily under the delusion that women couldn't be any good at magic. They were fools.

He tried to examine the enchantments on the chains, but every attempt to reach his own magic resulted in a vicious stab of pain in his sternum. It was hard to work through the pain. he had never had much tolerance for it. Especially once he'd discovered magic that would keep it far away.

"Now your little girlfriend, that was surprising." Gablehauser continued, immediately capturing the whole of his attention. What had they done with Penny? "You never seemed to care about women before. But I suppose a beauty like that would tempt anyone. Did you enchant her to please you? Of course you did. It's not like any woman would be with you willingly."

Sheldon knew in that moment that he would enjoy killing Gablehauser. He would have reveled in it if only for the sake of revenge for the orders betrayal beforehand. But now it was personal in a way it wouldn't have been before Penny. Couldn't have been, because he had not had a true love for the man to insult at the time.

Gablehauser tisked, "Very dark magic, Sheldon. But then, what else could one expect from someone who summoned a Dragon of all things."

They thought he had summoned himself? Sheldon snorted silently, the magic keeping the sound from escaping. So they hadn't even managed the curse he'd spent years laboring under. It had been something the caves had done. He felt stupid for believing such pathetic Warlocks capable of such strong magic.

"So Sheldon," Gablehauser steepled his fingers, "You were never particularly malicious. Just power obsessed. I think we could broker a deal. Perhaps a more comfortable cell? Better food? All you have to do is tell us how to summon a Dragon. What do you say?"

Sheldon glared furiously at the man before him and considered the merits of spitting on his face.

That's when a warlock burst through the door,"Professor! There is a woman, we think she's fae. She's killing people."

"Gather the others!" Gablehauser ordered. "Every man into the the pentacle at the mouth of the dungeons."

And that, that couldn't be borne. Sheldon knew down to his bones that the woman was Penny. That the order would gather in order to work up the power to hurt her. Kill her. Sheldon wouldn't allow it as long as there was still breath in his lungs. So he ignored his bodies anguish and dug deep inside himself. Dug for the power that would save Penny.

He brushed against his old scales. The Dragons fire.

14.

Penny woke in a white room. Her panic was instant. She was surrounded by men she didn't know. The last thing she remembered was Sheldon. Kissing him and breaking the Dragon curse. He was handsome as a human. Just as she knew he'd been. Dark haired and blue eyed. He'd looked at her like she was the most amazing thing in the world.

"Sheldon!" she said, searching the room for him desperately, "Where is Sheldon?"

They had been kissing. She remembered that. The softness of his lips, the warmth of his arms around her. He'd taught her powerful spells that hadn't felt half as magical as pulling him flush against her.

"I don't think the spell is broken." A man with a foreign accent commented as Penny rose to her feet.

"It must be really advanced dark magic!" A short bespectacled man exclaimed. " I can't find any enchantments on her at all."

"Maybe it's because she's so enchanting all on her own." Another short man said, eyeing her with clear interest.

And then she remembered. They had been caught by surprise. Unprepared for the other Warlocks presence in the caves. They hadn't even known they had been in danger. There had been her protection spells in place of course. But she had layered them on the cave walls. None of her magic had shielded their vulnerable flesh. She hadn't thought to.

Her anger is sudden and all consuming. She refuses to be helpless, to let these second rate warlocks who hadn't had the gall to face them in direct combat get the best of her. Of them, because Penny had every intention of holding on to her true love now that she'd found him. Penny reached for the magic inside her and turned a tendrel into lightning. She sent it into the heart of the one who wore glasses.

She didn't let the sight of his corpse phase her. Every Warlock in the order was dead. They just didn't know it yet. But first things first. She turned to the others.

"Where is Sheldon?" Penny demanded.

The answer was quickly forthcoming after that. Penny friend them regardless. She'd been taught better than to leave a hostile enemy at her back. She struck down every Warlock that crossed her sight. Heading down, towards the dungeon. The holding cells where they were keeping Sheldon.

She only paused when the stones beneath her feet trembled. Then she heard a roar. It was familiar. She'd heard it before. The blue flames consuming the occasional Warlock she came across was the final clue.

A Dragon.

Her Dragon. Sheldon. Had it all been a spell. A way to keep her happily unconscious. Had the magic only taken a brief respite before flaring again? Sheldon couldn't be a Dragon again. She'd broken the spell. She knew she had. Her kiss had worked. It had!

Penny looked at the dragon that had once been her constant companion. Her friend, her teacher, the man trapped inside of scales that she had fallen in love with. The man whose curse she'd broken through the strength of her love alone.

Or so she'd thought.

It clearly hadn't been enough, because Sheldon was a Dragon once again. She's know those scales anywhere. He sent a blast of fire just behind her, and she heard the dying shriek of more warlocks. Sheldon gracefully lowered his neck, the way he always did when she wanted a ride in the sky.

She climbed aloft automatically, almost in disbelief.

She barely noticed as Sheldon destroyed the castle in it's entirety, all fury and Dragon fire. Not even the terrible dying cries of the Warlocks breached her veil of sorrow.

Perhaps it hadn't been true love. Perhaps Sheldon didn't love her back after all. Perhaps nothing. The proof was before her very eyes. Sheldon gave a victorious roar and launched into the sky.

15.

"Free at last," Sheldon announced with satisfaction. The wind beneath his wings, Penny straddling his neck, and the burning ruins of his former home disappearing into the distance at his back. Penny said nothing, the silence stretching oddly, as though she were unhappy.

"Are you wounded?" Sheldon demanded, unable to think of anything else that could possibly taint such a complete victory. "Did a spell hit you?"

"I'm fine." Penny said shortly, in the tone of voice that he'd learned to be a clear indication that she was anything but.

Sheldon beat his wings faster, his draconic vision spotting a clearing that would hold his current bulk a reasonable distance away from the flames. He would coax whatever problem Penny was experiencing out of her there, and then they would celebrate. He'd come to find kissing was very a very enjoyable affair.

"I'm sorry!" Penny burst out as he landed. Sheldon cocked his head in a clear question gesture.

"I'm sorry." Penny repeated, clinging to his back. Hiding her face in his scales. She trembled against him, breath hitching strangely. He could only hope she wasn't crying. He had no idea what he could do in the face of her tears.

"What's wrong?" Sheldon asked helplessly, he didn't understand what Penny could possibly be sorry for.

"It wasn't enough." She whispered. If his ears hadn't been that of a Dragon's, he wouldn't have heard. "I'm sorry it wasn't enough. That I didn't love you enough. That my feelings for you couldn't break the curse all the way. That it wasn't true loves kiss after all."

Sheldon huffed, snorting fire out of his nose in amusement even as the deep well of affection he felt for the woman on his back spread warmth throughout his limbs. Love was a very curious feeling. He was still surprised he could now recognize it for what it was.

"Don't be silly Penny." He said, pulling the part of himself that was a dragon back into his soul and under his skin. It left him standing nude, the rags he'd been shrouded in by the warlocks having been torn to shreds upon his transformation. Penny's weight on his back more notable now without his large draconic mass.

"What!" Penny cried startled at his change, perhaps also at the swiftness of it.

He turned around, pulling her into his chest, holding her close so that she could see and feel his humanity for herself. He looked into her wide green eyes and touched his forehead to hers.

"You love me more than enough. Better than that, actually. You love me exactly for who and what I am." He assured her. The very thought of doubting her love was preposterous. She'd given him true loves kiss. The power to shift back into his mortal form without surrendering the power and freedom of being a dragon.

"Oh." Penny said, voice very small. Then she surged forward and kissed him. Pure passion in every brush of her lips.

It was the perfect kiss. Each one would always be. Such was the power of true loves kiss. And the love between two Warlocks of their magnitude would always be magical indeed.

x

So this chapter was a beast to write, and I dearly hope it was worth the wait.

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to review, favorite and follow this. Thank you for your interest, it really helped me write my way into actually finishing this. I really hope you enjoyed it.

If you guys like Dragons you might wanna check out my story Fairy Tale, which is the story that the plot point from chapter two ended up as. I also wrote another mideval fantasy called Of Knights and Fey. If this story was relevant to your interest.

If the strength of the shenny love seems too sudden, then I did not do as good a job as I thought on the whole 'explaining that they both understand the strength of true love and that they are it for each other' thing. And I apologize. If it seemed legit then thank fuck because writing that was tricky as hell.

Please for all that's sweet and holy let me know what you guys think.