Hello to my new followers : ) Any chance of a review? I'd love to know how I'm doing, or what I can improve on!
I do not own the song at the end.
Thanks to my beta reader xfallenangel13x for another fantastic job!
Days slipped by and Joey now found himself sleeping in the barn. Since the episode with his father, he hadn't bothered to go home, and with a few meals from Tristan's house and a fresh pair of clean clothes, he didn't see the need to. Although Matt was an asshole, he'd never once laid his hands on Serenity. Maybe it was because she looked so much like their mother... Joey didn't really know. He just knew she was safe, and he didn't need to be around.
Things were probably better that way, or so he figured. It wasn't good for her to see Joey get thrown around from time to time. That kind of thing could leave a mental scar the size of a football field.
Joey's face had partially healed; his nose wasn't as swollen, but was still inflamed to a slightly-unnatural size. Light purple and yellow rings lined the bottom of his eyes. His lip still had a cut, but it was no longer painful to talk or eat. Overall, Joey was thankful he hadn't lost any teeth in the ordeal. Not having health insurance was a bitch when you had a broken tooth in your mouth.
To make things worse, progress with Ciaran was now painstakingly slow. The baby dragon had taken to hating any person that came near her, with the exception of Joey. She didn't try to bite him, but if he got to close she would hiss and trot away, a clear indication she didn't want to be bothered. After the fight with his father, Joey hadn't been able to get close enough to see if Ciaran was hurt, but in the morning light the next day he saw the ugly, blistering burn on her chest. All that day anger hung around him like a vulture, waiting for any compassion he had left to die so he could rage about the stables, taking it out on whoever came close.
This had led to Joey's current situation, where he held a hand full of bolts and some healing salve the other. Another inspection had Joey suspicious that her burn was becoming infected, and he didn't want to risk losing her after all this to a preventable illness.
Not knowing what else to do, Joey had trapped the small dragon in an empty stall, cornering her to prevent escape. One way or another, he was going to apply to salve. "Okay Ciaran, look here." He jingled the hand full of bolts out in front of him temptingly.
Now, Ciaran may have been young and small, but she wasn't stupid. The tiny dragonette hissed threateningly, showing the rows of her growing teeth to him. "Come on, don' be like that!" he begged, feeling desperation flood his heart.
Behind him, Seto looked through the stall bars, an eyebrow raised in interest. Earlier in the day he had commented on how small Ciaran seemed to be, and Joey had practically bitten his head off. Who knew such a young child could have such colorful language?
Ignoring Seto, Joey put the bolts away in his pocket and set the bowl down, sighing as he popped his knuckles. "Fine, you wanna be that way, I can be that way, too."
Then he lunged for the dragon.
Her lithe body moved quickly out of the way, a terrified squeak leaving her muzzle, abandoning Joey, who scrambled after her. With quick reflexes, Joey grabbed the dragon by the tail, to which she responded by turning and biting him. Teeth sunk into flesh and blood dripped down Joey's hand when she trashed her neck, instinctively trying to cause as much damage as possible.
Joey gritted his teeth, but refused to let the dragon go, instead holding her with her back to his chest. Realizing her attempt to be let go wasn't working, the baby dragon released her master's hand and lashed out with her tail. Had the sharp point at the end developed, it would have been a disaster when she trashed it against his stomach.
Ignoring her fit Joey quickly went over to the bowl he'd placed on the ground, stuck his hand in the salve then spread it over her burn. As quickly as he could he put another thick layer over the wound then dropped Ciaran to the floor. The dragon quickly retreating to the far corner, body slinking low to the ground. Joey cursed under his breath and flicked his injured hand, blood splattering to the floor as he did. Ciaran's ruby eyes never left the boy, watching him just like her mother had the night Joey had stolen from her: untrusting and hurt.
"Ya' know, that was a pretty stupid thing to do, if you want her to like you." A new voice came from the stall door. Joey looked up to see a young man, probably only a year younger than he, standing next to Seto. Despite being around the same age, this boy was clearly vertically challenged, as he only came to Seto and Joey's shoulders. His hair was wild, dyed three different colors that consisted of purple, black, and yellow.
Willing to bet this purple-eyed, pale kid was the only one in the world that would pull off a hairdo like that, Joey stared at him.
"What?" he snapped, unable to help himself, as his throbbing hand and lack of patience was getting to him.
Seto rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "Wheeler, if you are really going to take advice from a Muto, I'm going to have to excuse myself while I go vomit."
The young man ignored Seto altogether, almost as if he were used to his rude, cold personality. "She won't trust you if you snatch her up like that. You could have a lamb leg and she would just run away." His voice was light and kind, and he spoke like he were tutoring a stubborn child. "If you did something to hurt her, then you have to give her a reason to trust you again."
"A reason to trust him? Oh, good God!" Seto threw his hands up and began to walk away. "A hippie and a boy who can't even fish properly. Someone kill me now. This place really has gone to the dogs."
"Whatever," the boy's amethyst eyes rolled lazily as he slid the stall door open. "Ignore him. Here, give me something she likes and I'll show you." He squatted down and held his hand out, which Joey proceeded to fill with the dark, titanium bolts.
"Huh, she likes metal? Weird." The comment was made with a smile as this strange boy sat down, and looked pointedly away from Ciaran. He then tossed a bolt gently to the floor, away from himself.
Not haven eaten lunch yet, she snatched it up off the floor, looking curiously at the new stranger.
The process was repeated a few times, and each time Ciaran inched closer and closer to the boy, until she eventually took a bolt out of his hand, snatching it up quickly then running back to her corner. "There, see! She will come along," he said brightly, standing up only after she had retreated.
"See what? She didn't even let you touch her!" Joey retorted with a sigh, feeling defeated.
"That may be so, but she did come up to me, didn't she? You couldn't even get her to do that just a few minutes ago!" He paused before adding, "I'm Yugi, by the way." The newly-introduced 'Yugi' held his small hand out to Joey. Looking at the boy, Joey took his hand and shook it.
"How do you know about dragons?" he questioned, knowing he hadn't seen Yugi before. But he had the reminiscent feeling that he looked familiar.
"My grandpa owned a set of barns, before Kaiba bought it. He taught me everything you need to know," Yugi elaborated with a smile that could light up a room.
Joey bit his injured lip softly. "I'm Joey. Do ya' think you could show me... how you did that? I hold them out to her, but she doesn't care."
"Sure!" Yugi's friendly personality was throwing Joey off a bit, but he still wanted to listen. If he knew some way to get Ciaran out of her funk, then Joey wanted to know about it. "First, don't look at her. It's scary."
Joey had to interrupt right there. "Scary? How am I scary to her? She's the one with teeth!"
Yugi shrugged impatiently. "So? Whoever gave her that burn clearly had something worse than teeth." Joey promptly shut up at this and listened silently, allowing Yugi to continue. "Get down on her level too, let her know you are trying to talk with her, not just make her do something." Yugi squatted back, looking in the opposite direction with his hand held out, before continuing quietly.
"Don't try and grab her, it will only scare her. Let her come to you then leave when she wants. If you force her around you, then she'll just think you're a jerk," he explained as Ciaran slowly crept closer.
Her body was low to the ground and she stretched her neck out as far as she could, sniffing his hand in the hopes of finding more metal. When she didn't, she quickly retreated back into her corner. "See?" Yugi stood back up and looked to Joey.
Frowning, Joey tried to follow his lead and took some more titanium scrap from his pocket. He got on his knees and looked away from the dragon, then tossed a few bits out to her. He held his hand out, palm opened widely, fingers pressed together. Ciaran came up and took one, eating it. Her little, white-needle teeth made a peculiar noise as they chewed up the metal pieces, as she had stood around long enough to take another before leaving.
It wasn't anything monumental, but it gave Joey a bit of hope that she wasn't stuck like this forever. "That time she even stayed longer!" Yugi said enthusiastically, "Work with her some more, and she will trust you again soon." Again, the pale boy paused. He looked thoughtful, but almost scornfully so. 'Almost', because the word 'scornful' just didn't seem to match anything in the child's disposition. "What'd you do, anyways?"
"I didn't." Joey's voice had turned cold and hard. "My dad zapped her with one of those damn sticks."
Yugi winced at the explanation, hissing in a sharp breath. "Ouch! I hate those damn things."
"Huh?" Joey could hardly believe it when he heard the words leave Yugi's mouth. It was the first time anyone who worked with dragons had said that to him. Ever.
"I hate them." Yugi soft features tensed up, almost making him look mad. "They aren't just a bunch of big, dumb animals, you know. People just treat them like they are. They're actually very intelligent."
Joey swallowed, trying to stammer out an answer. "S-so wait, yer tellin' me you know how to work with them without that stuff?" The youngster felt weak in the knees, forgetting completely about his injured hand, which still had a small drip of blood running from his fingertips.
"Well, yeah, I guess. It's a lot to learn, though. More or less, you have to learn to talk to them. Sometimes –" Yugi was cut off by Joey, who enthusiastically embraced him, squeezing his skinny frame gratefully.
"Please teach me!" he begged, knowing that Yugi didn't realize just how much this meant to him. He felt his heart soar, hope filling him. It was almost overwhelming!
"Are you... crying?" Yugi's hands were stiff by his sides as he tried to look at Joey, whose voice did, in fact, tremble, making him sound as if he were crying.
"No! No, I'm not," was the quick answer. But when Joey pulled back, his nose was red and he had the beginnings of tears in his eyes. "Please, I'll do anything! Really. Just... teach me. Please!"
Unsure of what the big deal was, Yugi agreed. All his life his grandfather had taught him about reading body signals, using food as rewards, and just generally communicating with dragons. It wasn't anything special to him, so why Joey was practically groveling at his feet was nothing short of concerning. "You have to get her to trust you first, though."
"Sure, sure! I can do that," Joey promised, ignoring Seto, who was watching the whole scene unfold from Addis' stall.
"Everyone knows that crap doesn't work, Muto!" Seto snorted, unable to help but to put in his two bits.
Frowning, Yugi turned to look at him. "Yes, it does; Grandpa's been doing it for years," he defended indignantly.
Seto let out a small laugh. "He's been thrown out of every fighting ring he's entered, too! None of his dragons have even made it a finals ring, and you're in here spouting off crap like you know any better? Get real."
"Do you always have to be such a snarky jerk?" Joey growled, his bad mood from earlier coming back full force. "How about you go feed your little snake some more jewelry, and we'll let our dragons do the talking when the time comes!"
"Ha!" Seto legitimately laughed in his face. "Wheeler, never in your lifespan, will one of your dragons even come close to beating a White Dragon. That's a joke, just like you."
Before things could escalate any further, Yugi took Joey by the arm and began to drag him away from Seto. "Come on, just ignore him. He has always been like this."
Joey shrugged Yugi off his arm and left the barn with him. "I don't get why he is such a jerk all the time!" Joey shouted in frustration, pulling at his own hair once they had gotten outside. "It's like anything that comes out of his mouth has to be insulting, otherwise he just won't say it!"
Yugi gave a quietly, almost saddened hum. "If your dad stuck you out in the middle of nowhere, away from your family, with nothing but a dragon, wouldn't you be a jerk too?" Yugi said, sounding sympathetic.
That bit of information caught Joey off-guard. "I thought he went home every night?"
Yugi shook his head in response. "Nope, his dad is renting a small house down the street from mine, and he goes there every night. I guess his brother and his dad stay in their permanent home, someplace else."
The thought of Seto having any type of hardship in life sent Joey's brain reeling. "Wow... Here I was, thinkin' rich-boy over there had things perfect."
"Psh," the smaller scoffed, almost bitterly, "Nothing is perfect Joey. But, look, I've gotta go." A car was driving up the long gravel road towards the barn. "I'll catch you later; in the meantime, try singing to her, too! They love that!" he shouted back as he met the car when it came to a stop, and hopped in.
"Singing?" Joey stood there, looking stupid and rather lost as he tried to understand the suggestion. What the hell was he supposed to sing to her, Justin Beiber?! Not only that - if Seto caught him singing, it would be the death of him, he was sure.
Grumbling to himself, he mulled over what a bad idea that was as he went back into the stable, needing to finish cleaning out a stall. Before he grabbed a rake, he tied his hand up in a piece of scrapped cloth, and went to work.
After he was done, he went back to the lone stall Ciaran was in before, and sat down, taking a much-needed break from the day. He was surprised when Ciaran poked her head around the stall door and trotted in. Joey took the opportunity to shut the door, quickly but carefully, to prevent her from escaping, and took Yugi's advice, looking away from her immediately.
Rather than scratch at the walls and bite at the doors like she had done previously, Ciaran stuck to pacing around nervously, eyes stuck to Joey. A few minutes later, she had settled down as far away from him as possible, her tail twitching uneasily. Joey glanced at her and she looked away to the wall her back was settled against.
Hours later, they seemed to have come to some weird... understanding of each other. Joey didn't move, and Ciaran didn't bite him. It was as simple as that. This 'understanding' had left Joey with a numb ass, hungry, and slightly aggravated. The only thing left for him to do was pull his shirt off and use it as a pillow, trying to go to sleep.
Stuck in the horrible phase of being half-awake and half-asleep, Joey's mind began to think, his memory waking up as his mind started to rest.
Yugi had said to sing. Hadn't his mother said the same thing to him once, as well? Laying there, Joey stretched his mind back as far as it could go, trying to remember one of the times when his mother would sing him to sleep.
"You know, Joey," she had said, her voice so soft and kind - he could hear her as if she were there, beside him. "Dragons love to sing too. It is the way to their heart."
Then he could hear the old lullaby as she sung.
Listen, my hatchling, for now you shall hear,
Of the only seven slayers a dragon must fear
First beware Pride, lest belief in one's might,
Has you discount the foeman who is braving your sight
Never Envy other dragons their wealth, power, or home,
For dark plots and plans will bring death to your own
Your Wrath shouldn't win, when spears strike your scale,
Anger kills cunning, which you will need to prevail
A dragon must rest, but Sloth should you dread,
Else long years of napping let assassins to your bed
'Greed is good,' or so foolish dragons will say,
Until piles of treasure bring killing thieves where they lay
Hungry is your body, and at times you must feed,
But Gluttony makes fat dragons who can't fly at their need
A Lust for glory, gems, gold, or mates,
Leads reckless young drakes to the blackest of fates
So take heed of this wisdom, precious hatchling of mine,
And the long years of dragonhood are sure to be thine...
The last words came out quiet, almost in a whisper as Joey sung himself to sleep. Had he not been so laden with sleep, he may have noticed the way Ciaran's tail had thumped rhythmically with his song, or how she turned her eyes on him, ruby eyes watching with a soft, respectful expression on her scaled face.