Dragons and Cross-dressers – Chapter twenty seven

The dragons sat in a loose circle. Jokes and laughter were rarely common in the group due to the grim situation but with a new arrival, everyone was trying to get to know him. Iain soon found himself part of the close cluster.

Peter was currently playing with Elizabeta and Yong Soo as they were the best ones with children. There was not much to play with inside the cavern but the blonde salamander boy didn't seem to mind or notice.

The group was also currently listen to the friendly Lena jokingly complain about the price of chocolate back in her home region, while Magnus sniggered, saying that she needed to eat less sweets anyway.

He soon found Luka's icy cold glare staring right at him. He just laughed it off though. Lena laughed as well, deciding to ignore the insult.

"Gosh… I really like it when we get to talk together like this. It's like being on Cloud Eleven."

"Don't you, like totally, mean Cloud Nine."

"But if I'm two clouds more, wouldn't that be better?"

The Cuban dragon laughed loudly, breathing out a thick plume of dark grey smoke. He almost seemed like he was smoking a cigar.

"That's great, bro! I never thought of it like that!" The group nodded in agreement.

"Why do you not try twelve or thirteen clouds instead, Lena-san."

"'Cause thirteen is very bad luck." The red head pointed out.

The small black haired man nodded in vague understanding. He wasn't well versed in the Northern Kingdom's beliefs.

"Yes…. But we already… have bad luck… by being…" The Greek yawned before finishing the sentence with the last word. "…here…"

The room went silent as they remembered the horrible prison that they were trapped in. Suddenly the red head spoke.

"How dee ye escape?"

Elizabeta answered in a stage whisper. "There is no escape."

"How could I escape then?" There was a strange silence in the room. Lena cleared her throat slightly.

"I guess… The only way, in or out, is that door. But it is impossible to move it with these collars."

Subconsciously, everyone, except for Peter who lacked one, touched the thick, unmoving collar on their necks. They were uncomfortable and heavy. If a human was wearing one, they would be unable to sit up or move their head.

He stood up suddenly and started walking towards the door. "Wait! Iain! Where are you going?"

"Tae try and move tha door agen."

"That's crazy!" Amita exclaimed.

"Cannae hurt tae try." He said as he stopped to face the group that were staring at him in shock, fear and admiration.

"It can!" Elizabeta snapped. Roderich nodded solemnly.

"Yes. It is foolish to even think about trying. If we attack the door too much they respond by using the collars and punishments."

"As long as we wear these 'chains' we cannot leave, bro." The Scotsman crossed his arms.

"I'm still gonnae try."

Amita tsked loudly, muttering something in Indian that sounded similar to 'He's so stubborn.' Lena frowned slightly.

"But why?"

"'Cause I haff a very important reason." He said sharply.

General indignant went through out the group. "We all have our own reasons to escape here, Iain san." Kiku said in a strained polite voice. It was clear that he and many others felt annoyed by the last comment.

"Yeah. So what makes your reason better than ours, bro." "I didnae say that." He muttered. "I just haff a reason so I want tae leave."

"And what is this reason?" Amita asked snippily. Iain paused with his mouth slightly open, as if considering telling the truth or not.

"I hafta find me brother and protect him."

There was a slow murmur in the group. Everyone could hear what everyone else had whispered because of all of their sensitive hearing but for politeness, they pretended otherwise.

This was the first personal bit of information that they had learnt and they wanted to know more. The red head had been strangely secretive about his previous life before being captured. His previous comment was now forgotten.

Lena was the one who took it on herself to ask all the questions, the others had only whispered. "I didn't know you had a brother… Is he red too?" She tugged on her silky brown hair for effect.

"Nee. He's human and he's blonde." A gasp or two rang out.

"A human?" "How can a dragon, like, have a totally human brother?"

"Step-brother then." He muttered gruffly. He always considered the blonde as his brother so it annoyed him slightly when people seemed insistent on pointing out that they were not even the same species.

"So why do you have to protect him? I see lots of humans doing fine on their own. In fact, it's the human's fault that we ar~" Magnus was silenced by an elbow to the chest from Lukas.

The red head glanced to his side awkwardly. "Uh… Well… He just does…" Everyone gave slight nods, not daring to voice or whisper anymore questions. Lena gave a small half smile before standing.

"Um. Guys? Why don't we just give it a try. If me, Lukas and Roderich are dragons and if we all work together… we might be able to move the door… I miss Japp bars… though they were expensive."

"Japp bars were made in the Korean region…. And I miss the Korean region, especially all the inventions and tasty snacks…" There were a couple of exasperated sighs. Elizabeta smiled.

"I miss the forests and absolute freedom… Remember when we went to the beach and watched the meteor shower, darling."

"Yes…. I also miss my piano. Music was always one of my passions."

"Cigars and ice-cream, bro. That's all I need to say."

"…." Gupta looked dreamily into the distance and stroked what appeared to be an invisible vase or pot.

Heracles mumbled something about basking in the sun all day with cats and a annoying man called Sadiq.

Amita sighed happily. "I miss my home town. The ground was always a beautiful reddish brown and the air was filled with dozens of spices. Cows were sacred so I had to eat sheep…"

Peter frowned funnily. "I don't know where I come from… Is it nice outside?" Elizabeta patted his head and smoothed his hair over.

"It's okay, Peter. It is very beautiful. You will love it."

"Ye neva been oot?"

"No. My egg was mistaken for a dragon's egg and taken here. Then I hatched… They couldn't be bothered selling me so they just keep me down here." He didn't sound very sad, just accepting. It also explained his obsession with trying to be recognised as a dragon. If he was a dragon, he could leave this room sometimes.

Feliks tugged at his baggy brown shirt. "I like miss all my fabulous clothes, especially the pink ones or the glittery ones. These are just fashion disasters." Lena clapped her hands together.

"So, it's agreed! If we all work together, we might be able to leave." There were nods throughout the group as some of them stood.

Magnus threw his fist in the air excitedly. "Let's go kick some door ass!"

Suddenly a horrible stench filled the air. Almost instantly, all of the dragons started gagging at the smell.

Peter looked flustered as his nose was the same as a human's and the smell was not strong enough yet to affect him. Human voices were heard now.

"The smell drives them into a corner. If they refuse to move, it vill immobilise them or knock them out."

"Ja. It vas my awesome idea. Ve can retrieve our stock vithout any harm to us or the items."

"That is smart, aru…."

"Da…."

The two didn't actually sound that impressed but Iain could still hear the smugness in the other's voice.

"Kesesese~ Danke."

The dragons were suddenly moving quickly away from the smell. Hungary was carrying Peter to protect him from the approaching humans.

Iain glared in the direction of the odour though.

He climbed up onto one of the piles of boulders while Greece hurried past it with Egypt and Poland.

The fouls smell made him feel dizzy and disorientated but he persisted until it became too bad. He was on his knees coughing violently when the first human came into view.

They all wore strange gas masks over their noses and mouths. He watched them from above, choking on the thick ammonia. A blonde was pushing a jug of it in a cart with the lid open.

The sight of the masks gave a red head an idea. He tore off his sleeve and tied it tightly around his nose.

It made it difficult to breath but the smell did not choke his senses as much.

The fours humans were coming closer, not noticing him on the 10ft high mound as they assumed the dragons would be gone from this area.

He could recognise the Russian trader easily, due to his massive height and platinum blonde hair, beside a much shorter black haired man.

He gritted him teeth and let out a small snarl that rumbled in his chest. The humans did not hear it though.

He crouched as they approached, ignoring the wooziness from the odour, and prepared to attack.

(A/N – One of my friends pointed out that my Scotland is 'a big meanie'…..

Scotland is actually very friendly, his country depends on tourism after all, but he reserves some special dislike for one or two lovely people. England, America and occasionally his other brothers and France only unless provoked.

Since you guys have only ever seen him react to these listed countries, I'm worried that you might think he is always a jerk or something. He's only a jerk to a couple people and mainly nice to everyone else.

So he is not 'a big meanie'. Unless his brothers or America is involved…. Then he is.

REVIEW PLEASE! Because no one did last time…. TT^TT)