I love the twins. They are my favorite characters from the host club, closely followed by Kyoya. In my opinion, they come as a package and both count as my first choice. Still, if I had to choose one it'd be Kaoru. I like that he's a bit more rational, but I can't deny that Hikaru's impulsiveness is attractive, too. If you really care enough, it is completely possible to tell them apart. I was watching a few episodes the other day and specifically practiced calling out which was which. I did pretty well, if I do say so myself. The differences between them are slight, but they exist no question about it. They're admittedly easier to define when they're alone, though. Which are your guys' favorites? I imagine a lot of people like Tamaki the most, since he is the main love interest. How about Honey? Is he anyone's favorite?
On a more relevant note, onto the story!
A searing that brings tears to my eyes stops the scream in my throat in its tracks, transforming it into a pitiful whimper. A treacherous beast stands before me, scales a strong, burnt orange and eyes the same gold as Mother's wedding ring. Two long necks stretch from the slender body with wings folded at its side, two separate heads analyzing me with four intent eyes. The skull shapes are similar to that of a horse's, but sharper and covered in scales. A lengthy tail extends around its body, resting atop the talons as long as my arm.
One opens its mouth to reveal fangs that I find astonishing that they fit in its mouth. "What's your name?"
My...name? Why does it want my name? What will it do if I give it? What will it do if I don't? "Mari." I struggle to keep my voice steady. "Mari Kishi."
"Well, Mari-" One starts.
"What're you doing out here?" the other finishes. I glance between the two heads, confused. Do they have two separate minds? Or are they the same?
"I...I have a map," I explain feebly, smoothing out the parchment I'd grasping onto as if it could save me. "It's supposed to lead to where a unicorn was found, but now I guess I'm lost." I cringe at my words. Maybe it isn't the best idea to tell the dragon(s?) that I'm lost.
"Oh, may we see?" The heads thrust closer to me, curious about the paper. I fumble to turn it towards them, holding it between us like a safeguard. I'm not sure which head talks next. "Isn't that where Tamaki sleeps, Kaoru?"
"Yup! Should we take her there?"
I peek over the map. Take me there? Why would I follow them? If I run, would they burn me or eat me? Am I even able to run? "Wait," I stall. "I came with a dog. He's black and white with one eye and his name is Noni. I need to find him, first."
"We just offered to take you to a unicorn and yet-"
"You would rather find your dog? Is he magic?" I shake my head. "We'll take you only to one-"
"So choose. We'll take you to the dog-
"Or the unicorn."
I don't even consider it. "If you're really going to help me at all, help me find Noni! I can live without a familiar for myself, but Noni is everyone's!"
The dragon heads turn to each other. "She said familiar," the one on the right says. "So that means-"
"That she's a witch?" the left one concludes. They both look back to me, examining me up and down. "She's a lot prettier than any witches I've seen."
"Wasn't there that one a long time ago?"
"Oh yeah! Are you related to Chiyoka, Mari?"
Chiyoka? "I don't know. I've never heard that name." I raise myself into a sitting position gradually. "Are you going to help me find my dog or not?"
"Yeah, we'll help," they chime together. I rub my eyes with my less bloody hand, seeing the giant dragon begin to shrink. The scales melt into flesh, the tail disappearing entirely along with the wings. The talons shorten to fit fleshy, human fingers, still curved and dangerous. The faces, though, are what really draw my gaze. Hair the same color as the scales before grows messily, the sharp angles regressing into softer, human features. Their eyes round off a bit more, but still keep the slitted pupils and rich color of gold. By the end of the transformation, there are two separate people staring down at me, each wearing shirts the color of the scales and tan trousers.
I gape. "I'm unconscious," I mutter. "I hit my head and am dreaming right now." I have to be dreaming. Even if dragons could transform into people, there's no way they could ever be this attractive. This is all just a hallucination.
"Up you go!" They each grab one of my arms and gently coax me to my feet, then begin walking along the edge of the cliff with be between them. My feet barely have an impact on my movement, tending to drag more than actually walk.
"If you were just going to carry me," I swallow the lump in my throat, "why didn't you just carry me on your back in dragon form?"
"That's because we have no way of getting you on."
"Our claws are too long to pick people up without hurting them."
Speaking of claws, I glance at their fingers. Their nails are curved like an animals, as sharp as a cat's, but they each hold onto me in such a way that they avoid digging them into my skin.
"I have to wonder," the one to my left starts.
"Why are you looking for a unicorn to be your familiar? Does it have to be a unicorn?"
"Okay," I plant my feet, getting them to stop. "I'm confused. Are you one or two beings? You have two human bodies, but you finish each other's sentences, and in dragon form you have two separate heads but share the same body! What is it?"
They laugh. "For someone so injured, you-
"definitely talk a lot! We-"
They say the last bit together again. "-are twins!"
"That explains everything," I murmur sarcastically. "Where are we, anyway?" We've come to a tree as thick as a small house, reaching up above the trees around it and vanishing into the fog. They each extend their hands to knock on the wood, which doesn't sound any different than knocking on a door.
A chunk of the bark slides open, revealing a tall boy with clean black hair and thin glasses. What gets me, though, are the pointed tips of his ears that stick out from his hair, and his thick brown eyes that seem to almost glow.
"What have you two brought me this time," he sighs, looking at me as if I'm nothing but an annoyance. The irritated gaze of his causes heat to rise in my cheeks, but I stay silent. Is he an elf? They brought me to an elf? There are mixed opinions about the existence of elves, with stories of miracle doctors among their race, but gossip suggests that their incredible agility, accuracy, and strength has been used to slaughter entire towns before.
"She's a witch, Kyoya," one of them informs the elf.
"If her wounds aren't sealed soon, she'll get sick." They hold me forward, as if presenting a present. I eye the elf, Kyoya as they called him, with caution. What is he going to do with me? If he's a slaughtering elf, I don't have the ability to make a dash for it. As much as it bothers me, I'm going to have to trust this...these...dragons.
The elf closes his eyes and steps aside. "Bring her in." I'm carried inside the tree, where lanterns sit in carved alcoves and beautifully carved furniture decorate the interior. The color scheme seems to be a natural mixture of green, brown, and gold. The twins lay me down one of the two beds and move away so the elf can pull up a chair next to me.
"What about my dog?" I demand, glaring at the dragons. They rest their hands behind their heads in unison.
"We'll go look for it," one confirms.
"You said his name was Noni?"
For a second, I don't respond. They're leaving me with the elf? But what if something happened to Noni? I can't just leave him out there alone. "Y-yes. He should come when called, and if he doesn't trust you, he'll recognize my name." Of course, if he doesn't trust them, I'll need to find a way out of here as soon as possible.
Waving, the twins leave. I watch motionless as the elf sitting beside me crushes some sort of root and mixes it into what looks to be a shining red sap. Then he holds it out to me.
"Sit up," he commands. Not wanting to anger him any more than it seems I already have, I obey him, wincing. I take the wood cup from his hands, taking one last look at him before drinking the liquid. I get the feeling that if I asked if he meant me to drink it, it wouldn't go over well. The syrupy liquid crawls down my throat sweetly, relaxing every muscle it touches on its way to my stomach.
"What was that?" I question him, still suspicious.
"If you're going to ask," he tells me, wetting a cloth, "do it before you drink it."
"But...I'm asking you now. If you don't want to tell me what it was, will you at least let me know what it does?" He begins cleaning one of the larger gashes in my arm, his hand practiced as if he's done it a million times. I think he's definitely one of the doctor elves... I think.
"It speeds up the healing process and fights off bacteria that might have entered the bloodstream, as well as numbs the pain you might feel." He finally meets my eyes, smirking. "Did you think it might be a poison of some sort?"
"It might have crossed my mind," I admit stubbornly. Although, to be honest, I've never heard a story of an elf poisoning anyone. It's always a more brutal murder. "I have no reason to trust you."
"Except that you have to," he points out. "If we have evil intentions, there's not much you can do about it right now."
"I can use magic," I argue.
He chuckles. "If you had any magic worth noting, you could have healed yourself. Those two that found you found out you were a witch and didn't even consider you might be in training. They're just happy that there's a witch in the forest after all these years."
"Well, I'll be leaving soon," I pout. "If I could get out of here by sundown, that would be best. I have responsibilities back home to tend to."
"They won't be too happy to hear that. They've been wanting to find a witch for years, since they've never been familiars before."
"Too bad. My familiar has to be a unicorn."
He pauses, cloth hovering over my skin. "A unicorn, huh?" He gets back to work. "We'll see if you still think that way if you meet him." I ignore his comment and let him finish tending to me in silence. Even before he's done, some of the smallest scratches and bruises have healed without a trace. I stare at a cut as it closes as if it were never there, jaw dropped.
"Hey, your name is Kyoya, right?"
At this point, he's ringing out the remaining water from the cloth. "That's right."
"What herbs did you mix into that medicine, Kyoya? Can they be found near the village anywhere?"
"There aren't any herbs that will heal people like that medication did," he informs me. "The ingredient that does that is nearly impossible to come by, so I won't be supplying you with any. The plant I used only served as a painkiller and can be found all over this forest, although I don't know about outside of it. Perhaps if you stay a day or two, I'll show you how to find it."
My mouth hangs open, then snaps closed. I'm sure the children can survive a few days without me there, and that root he was crushing would be extremely helpful. We could all use more medication, no matter the means.
"If it's only for a day or two. But no more! After that, someone has to take me back home!"
"So, does that mean you'll stay?"
I jump, whipping my head around and coming nose to nose with one of the twins. "Aren't you supposed to be looking for Noni?"
"Yup, and here he is!" I turn back the way I was looking before, seeing the the other with the husky in his arms. Seeing me, Noni breaks free of the dragon's grasp and limps to the bed where I rest, hopping up next to me.
"Hey, if that dog ruins the mattress, I expect you to pay for a replacement," Kyoya warns.
"Noni, are you okay?" I worry, taking each of his paws one at a time.
"I think he twisted an ankle," the one who was carrying him shrugged. "Found him hauling his leg around looking for you." I throw my arm around Noni's neck, snuggling my face into his fur. Thank god he's safe!
"Did he…" I raise my head to the twin sitting on the bed behind me. "Did he trust you, or did you have to use my name and catch him?"
"That's a friendly pet you got there," he says, grinning at the dog. "He came right to us and licked our hands." I nod, taking the information in. Noni trusts the dragons. Considering he hasn't acted hostile towards Kyoya, I can trust him too. The one next to me on the bed leans so close that our foreheads nearly touch, getting me to lean back away from him. "So?"
The other one finishes the question. "Are you staying?"
I frown, hand resting on Noni's head. "I guess, for a few days."
The gleaming smiles on their faces contain nothing but pure joy, tempting me to smile as well. I wonder why they say in the village that the dragon is a monster? They haven't been anything but kind to me, going as far as to bring me to a elfish doctor and finding my dog for me. Perhaps the enchanted forest isn't as scary as they make it out to be.
I thought Kyoya as an elf worked extremely well. I mean, isn't it easy to imagine? His appearance is attractive enough already. All you have to do is add the pointy ears and voila! Why did I make the twins a dragon? I don't know, actually. That was just sort of on a whim, but I'll make it work. Do you guys like them as a dragon? It's pretty confusing for me, cause I don't know whether or not to call them a dragon or dragons. I mean, either one is technically correct, no? I mentioned Tamaki in this chapter, too. I mean to include all of the host club, of course, but they might come in one by one instead of all together. Anyway, I can't wait to see where this story goes! I tend to write better when my idea of the story is very general. I guess it allows me to develop as it goes, instead of targeting a specific event and hurrying towards it. That leaves me with you guys, along for the ride to see where Mari ends up. I'm seriously excited!
Till then, Kisses from SnowyNeko! :3 MEOW!