"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rogue asked, following Sting, Erik, and Erik's friends. Why he had let them talk him into leaving the barrier, the very same thing that protected the city from the Ferals outside that wished them a lot of nasty harm, was honestly beyond the young Shadow.
Macbeth scoffed, "Oh please. There haven't been Feral sightings in days. Besides, haven't you ever wanted to see what was outside the barrier?"
Rogue scoffed back at him, "I can tell you what's outside. The exact same type of forests that are inside the barrier!"
"I can hear Ferals coming from miles away, so if one shows up, we'll already be back inside the barrier by the time they reach it!" Erik boasted, flicking one of his sharp ears proudly.
"Yeah but, your hearing isn't perfected yet.."
"Even if a Feral tries to fight us, we can take it on!" Sting exclaimed, only to flinch and grin apologetically when Rogue shot him a betrayed look. "Sting, you're supposed to be on my side with this!"
"Yeah.. but think about it. Imagine how cool it'd be to leave and see what's out there!"
"Can't you guys wait until we're adults and able to leave when we go out on jobs for the Guild?" Rogue asked, desperate for anything that'd change their minds.
"Most of us here aren't a part of Fairy Tail," Macbeth pointed out. Rogue wanted to press his face into the dirt and scream.
Deciding to try a new tactic, he asked, "What if one of our Dragons finds us out there? What if Belserion finds us?"
"You worry too much," Sawyer shrugged off Rogue's concerns. Sorano snorted in response, "Yeah, and when did we ever care about what Belserion thought, anyway?"
"You need to start! He tells us not to do things for a reason!" Rogue exclaimed.
"Rules are meant to be broken!" Erik laughed.
Rogue growled when he realized none of them were taking him seriously at all. "Fine, if you guys are so sure, but if I see a Feral, I'm flying away."
"Coward," Macbeth grinned, causing the others, aside from Sting, to chuckle.
Rogue growled, "We've all heard Irene's stories. There are Dragons out there that are so strong that not even Belserion can take them on!"
"Because he fights them alone. We're in a group," Sawyer pointed out.
"Belserion is older and stronger than all of us combined! If he can't take them on, what hope do we have?" Rogue exclaimed.
"Quit being a spoil-sport! It'll be fine!" Sorano waved her hand dismissively.
Once they reached the barrier, Erik looked up at it. With a smirk, he ran up to it, and the Lacrima around his neck glowed, allowing him to run through it unhindered. Sting grinned and trotted after him, his earring glowing just as brightly. Rogue hesitated, watching the other three walk through, leaving him the last one still within the barrier.
"Well?" Macbeth looked at him, placing his hands on his hips impatiently. Rogue reluctantly walked through the barrier, wishing he had left his bracelet at home so he at least had the excuse of forgetting it so he could go back and pretend this never happened.
Erik inhaled, then sighed, "Look at this! We're free from the barrier and have this whole field to ourselves!"
Sorano gave him a look, "Why just the field? Are you not brave enough to go farther out? Let's explore as much as we can while the sun is still up!"
Erik growled challengingly, "Fine then! Show me how far you're willing to go out, Sorano! I can go way farther than that!"
Rogue groaned, feeling mildly tempted to stay behind, close to the barrier. At the same time, the others were leaving without him, and he really didn't want to be alone out here, so he hesitantly followed, staying close to Sting's side. Sting placed his wing over Rogue's back comfortingly, "Don't worry! We'll be just fine! Before you know it, we'll be back in the barrier, sleeping peacefully in our nests."
"If you say so…." Rogue murmured. "We should probably get back before noon, at least." He wasn't fond of the idea of staying out for even that long, but he was hoping the others were willing to compromise so they weren't out here all day.
"Only noon? Come on, Rogue, I know you're braver than that," Erik scoffed. "You can stop worrying now. There's no Ferals nearby, now let's go!" And with that, the Poison took flight.
"Hey, wait for the rest of us!" Sawyer ran after him.
"We're going to get into so much trouble…" Rogue sighed as he chased after them. If he couldn't convince them to go back, then the least he could try was to keep them from behaving too crazily.
"Wow, that tree is massive!" Sorano exclaimed as she reached the treeline, "I wish we had one that tall in the park!"
Macbeth looked at her and smirked, "Bet I could climb to the top of it?"
"No, I bet you're either going to reach halfway up and fall, or get stuck at the top and cry for Erik to save you," Sawyer snarked.
"That only happened once and I was nine! Give me a break!"
"Wait, Macbeth, did this actually happen?" Sting asked, causing Macbeth to growl irritably as his face burned a very bright red.
"Yep! He tried to climb the tallest tree in the park, got stuck at the top, called for Erik to save him, then Erik got stuck as well, because all of you were still training to fly at the time, so Sawyer had to go get a grown Dragon to help the two of them," Sorano explained. "He was really shaken after that. Took Richard an hour to get him to stop crying."
"Okay, that's enough," Macbeth huffed, glaring in annoyance.
Erik landed somewhere nearby, using his Lacrima to change his form to human with tan skin and spiky maroon hair that mimicked his crown. He stretched his arms over his head and grinned, "There's nothing quite like this, you know?"
"I disagree. We're going to get into so much trouble…" Rogue sighed.
"Not if we don't get caught! If we're back by sunset, nobody will even have noticed we were gone," Macbeth stated.
Rogue sat down, 'There's no getting through to these guys….' he thought. He then glanced up, looking at the clear sky. 'Maybe I am worrying too much.'
"I'd say so," Erik spoke up, which startled Rogue. "I hate it when you do that!" he snapped, causing Erik to chuckle.
Rogue growled, then looked up, opting to ignore the cheeky Poison. The sky looked wonderful for a flight, and maybe it'd help calm his nerves. He spread his wings, then launched himself up. Before he knew it, he was gliding on a warm current of air. He grinned, then flew higher and higher. Once he reached a point he was happy with, he tucked in his wings and dove towards the ground. Before he got too close, he quickly spread them, catching air and very quickly soaring just above the ground.
"Wooo! Nice!" Sting roared. "My turn!" he flew up to mimic Rogue's dive.
"I bet you couldn't do better!" Macbeth taunted Erik, who simply snorted, "Oh just watch me!" The Dragon changed back, then took flight after Sting.
The next thing everyone knew, the three Dragons were racing. Without Wendy around, the race was a bit more fair, since the Sky was a champion at racing.
Rogue rushed by, then flew up, twisted around, then dove back to the ground, landing in front of the others.
"That's three for Rogue. Erik is second with two, and-" Macbeth was cut off by Sorano, "And poor Sting is stuck at zero!"
Sting landed next to Rogue, snorting angrily.
"Better luck next time!" Erik grinned, nudging Sting with his wing before going to sit next to Macbeth.
xXxOxXx
Rogue yawned, lying on his back as a human with his arms behind his head. Sting and Erik were also lying around, resting from the racing. He cracked open an eye to look up at the sky, looking at a cloud that lazily floated past. Now that he had relaxed, this actually felt nice.
However, despite the fact that the threat of a Feral finding them was beginning to look more and more slim as time passed, the odds of a patrol Dragon finding them seemed to grow, and Rogue didn't want to be out here when one made their rounds. Besides, it was well past noon. Someone was bound to notice their absence by now.
"Hey guys, we should really head back. It's getting late," he spoke up, sitting up.
"It's midday," Sorano said, not looking up from her wrestling with Macbeth.
"It's past midday!" Rogue exclaimed, causing the two of them to glance up. "So it is," Macbeth commented, then twisted his body, throwing Sorano off.
"And?" Erik asked, looking up from his spot on the grass. "And people are most likely noticing that we're gone by now, or a Dragon patrol will find us out here," Rogue explained.
"Alright, alright, we'll go. Next time, we're coming out here without you," Sawyer huffed.
Erik stood up, changing back to Dragon and shaking the grass off of himself. "Whose idea was it to bring him along to begin with?"
"Sting's," Sorano pointed out. The White in question grinned sheepishly, "Well, Rogue and I go everywhere together!"
"Well, next time, the two of you can stay behind together," Macbeth smirked, causing the others to laugh.
The laughter, however, came to an abrupt end when they all heard the sound of a loud shriek overhead, followed by thundering wingbeats.
"A Dragon?" Rogue raised his neck.
"Erik! Why didn't you say anything?!"
"Because I didn't hear anything! Not before now, at least…"
"It's.. just a patrol, right..?" Sorano asked uneasily. "Not a Feral..?"
"I'd rather not stay here and find out! We need to get back into the city!" Sting exclaimed.
"Stay low to the ground and stay quiet," Macbeth hissed.
They quickly hid under the shade of the trees, then tried to make their way back to the barrier. All the while, Rogue couldn't shake the fact that Erik looked as if he was about to be sick.
The large Dragon landed, and Rogue could immediately tell that it was a Feral, due to the lack of any Lacrima jewelry. It was large, with its wings attached to its arms akin to that of a Wyvern. It also had a nasty look in its eyes, promising harm.
Sorano gasped, then immediately clasped her hands over her mouth, Macbeth looked dangerously pale, as if he was going to be sick, and Sawyer outright froze in place.
"Guys, what's wrong?" Erik asked, as loudly as he dared.
"That's.. that's the Dragon.. who attacked.. our home.." Macbeth said shakily.
"It found us again.. This isn't happening.. This can't be happening.. It found us again..!" Sorano rambled, covering her head with her hands as tears poured down her cheeks.
"Let's get out of here as quickly as we can. It might not notice us if we're fast enough," Sting moved forward, trying to use his wings to herd the human kids to keep moving forward.
"Uhh…." Erik froze, staring up at it.
Sting kept pushing, then turned when he realized that Erik had stopped. "What are you doing, Erik? Move!" he hissed anxiously. When he didn't, Sting followed his gaze, and froze as well.
The Feral was looking right at them.
The next thing they knew, it lunged, tearing up trees as it tried to reach them. Fortunately, they all managed to scatter, thus avoiding the Feral's large claws.
"Hmm.. I thought I recognized that scent.." a deep, raspy voice rumbled out of his throat. "Some of you pests survived, I see.. Well that's just insulting! And I don't take being insulted lightly!" he bellowed angrily.
"There's no hiding from it now!" Macbeth shouted.
"What now?!" Sorano panicked.
"We run!" Sawyer shouted.
"And make no ground when it manages to catch us?!" Rogue demanded.
"Then we fight! Maybe we can scare it off!" Sting growled.
"Are you insane?! We can't fight that thing!" Erik cried.
"Where is that confidence from earlier? When you were bragging about us being able to take it on? Don't back out now!"
"We can't fight it.. We can't..!" Sorano cried.
Sting watched the humans, then growled angrily and launched himself up at the larger Feral, narrowly avoiding being snapped up in his jaws.
"We can't outrun it… We can't win a fight against it…" Rogue murmured, then snapped his head towards Sawyer, "You! You're the fastest out of all of us! Run back to town! Find someone! FIND ANYONE!" he shouted.
"What?! I can't leave you guys behind!"
"Just find someone! Hurry! Bring an older Dragon back here and we'll stand a chance!"
"But-"
"If you don't, then it'll tear us all apart! GO!"
Sawyer hesitated, then turned and ran, using his Speed magic to boost himself.
"Please hurry…" Rogue turned to look at the Feral, who was currently swatting at the air trying to get Sting, who was flying around its head to distract it.
xXxOxXx
"Have the patrols found anything?" Belserion asked.
Irene shook her head, "Not as of late. Phantasmagoria and Aceron are planning to go out there today, but neither of them seemed to think there'd be much of anything out there."
"There haven't been sightings of a Feral in weeks. This is a good-" Belserion was cut off as Sawyer ran up.
"There's…. a Dragon… it's… attacking my friends…!"
"A Feral?! How did it get inside the barrier?!" Belserion demanded.
"It… didn't… We were outside…"
"What?!" Irene growled.
"No time for that. You stay here, I'll go help your friends," Belserion spread his wings and took flight.
"But.. you don't know-!"
"I can follow their scents. And a Feral's stench is impossible to miss," he hissed.
xXxOxXx
With a roar, Rogue charged, breathing his shadow breath at the Feral, however, it bounced off of his scales. He smirked–as well as a Dragon could, at least–then raised a talon and swiped him out of the air effortlessly.
With a grunt, he hit the ground. Fortunately, he didn't break anything, but he knew he couldn't keep up this losing fight.
Erik flew at the Feral, with poison dripping from his mouth. He latched onto the Feral's face, trying to burn it with said poison. The larger Dragon swung his head, throwing him off. Erik hit the ground hard, roaring out in pain.
The Feral lunged for them, but Sting flew by, blinding it with his magic and causing it to shriek in pain and fall back.
"We're getting nowhere with this thing..!" he gasped for breath, landing next to Erik.
"We can't defeat it, but we can at least give it some scars to take home!" Erik angrily flew up, roaring defiantly at the Feral. He built up poison in his throat, and the Feral raised a talon, getting ready to retaliate.
Both of them acted at the same time, but the Feral's attack was the only one that landed. His talon slashed across Erik's face, leaving a long, nasty gash going up from the base of his neck, all the way up through his right eye.
Erik let out a blood-curdling screech, talons reaching up to his eye as he haphazardly flapped his wings before finally hitting the ground. He writhed on the ground as blood poured from his injury, and after one final cry of pain, he eventually went still.
"Erik, no!" Sorano screamed. She ran to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. The Feral hissed and lunged for them, fangs bared, only for Rogue to fly in, slamming his body against his head.
"What happened?!" Sting landed next to Erik.
"He's so bloody.."
"Shit, that's not good.." Macbeth murmured. "Is he..?"
"He's breathing.. He's breathing.." Sting assured, "And I can hear his heartbeat.."
"His eye.. Oh my God.." Sorano choked, covering her mouth.
"Where is Sawyer?! We can't fight this thing forever!" Rogue demanded frantically.
"We'll fight however long we need to!" Sting raised his head and roared, glaring at the Feral as he regained his balance. "We'll stand here… We won't fall!"
The Feral let out a furious bellow, before charging at the kids again, "I will not let you escape again!"
Everything that happened next was a blur, and Rogue knew he'd never be able to remember the details clearly long after the fact. Flames erupted from the Feral's mouth, and Rogue closed his eyes with a last, defiant roar alongside Sting. He could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears, and felt the scorching heat from the attack, but knew that it had missed its mark.
He worked up the courage to open his eyes, and watched as the Feral thrashed around with his neck trapped in Belserion's jaws as he angrily thrashed around.
What Sting, Rogue, and Erik couldn't do together, Belserion was able to manage effortlessly on his own. He tore the Feral's scales with his teeth and claws, leaving behind heavily bleeding gashes.
"Another Tamed!" the Feral shrieked angrily, latching onto Belserion with his claws and wrestling him to the ground.
"Belserion!" Sting, Sorano, and Macbeth exclaimed at once.
"Don't just sit and stare! Get back to town! It's not safe here!" Belserion ordered as he threw the Feral off.
"Rogue, help me with Erik!" Sting shouted, then tried to lift the Poison onto his back. Rogue quickly ran over, shouldering some of his weight.
The two Dragons, alongside Sorano and Macbeth, hurried back to the barrier.
"We need to find a doctor for Erik," Macbeth said.
"Hopefully, Porlyusica is in town," Sorano murmured.
"Yeah, hopefully. She's the only one who can save him.." Macbeth said breathlessly.
Once they reached the barrier, the three Dragons' Lacrimas glowed, allowing them access through. Sawyer quickly met up with them on the other side. "Oh God, what happened to him?!"
"The Feral messed him up. We're hoping Porlyusica can save him.." Sorano explained, sounding exhausted.
Sawyer hurried forward, helping them carry Erik to the infirmary. Fortunately, possibly the only good luck they'd had all day, Porlyusica was already there. They wasted no time explaining the situation while placing Erik down in one of the nests.
"Can you help him?" Rogue asked, "Please.. Can you help him..?"
"Of course I can.." the ornery old woman was already by Erik's side. "Hm.. That gash will scar.." she held his head in her hands, gently turning it as she examined his face, "Unfortunately.. I don't think I can save that eye.."
"But he'll survive, right?" Sorano asked, wringing her hands nervously.
"Of course he will, now that he's here," Porlyusica stated. "I'll take care of him. The rest of you need to leave. I need space to work, and you all have a lot of explaining to do."
"As long as he survives.." Macbeth murmured quietly. "Everything will be okay as long as he survives.."
Rogue gently ushered the rest of them out, "We need to go find Irene.."
xXxOxXx
An hour later, Erik was resting under Irene's close watch. The others sat nearby, waiting for Erik to wake up.
"Why were you all outside the barrier? What possessed you to leave it?" Irene demanded, glaring down at the group. "Did none of you learn anything from us explaining to you that, at your age, access outside is forbidden?"
"We just wanted to see what was outside. There hadn't been Feral sightings for a long time! We didn't expect one to sneak up on us like that…" Macbeth said. Irene narrowed her eyes at his response, then turned her gaze to Sting and Rogue, "Give me your Lacrimas."
"Huh? But why?" Sting looked up at her.
"The Lacrimas you wear allow you to leave the barrier. Without them, you will be stuck inside. A fitting punishment after what you did. Give them to me," she ordered. She already had Erik's, having taken it off earlier while he slept.
Hesitantly, Sting unclasped his earring. Rogue did the same with his bracelet, albeit less hesitantly, then got up, "I'm going home…"
"Good. The rest of you will be kept under close watch, to make sure you don't leave the barrier again either."
"We understand…." Sorano nodded.
"After what happened… I don't think I ever want to leave again…" Macbeth murmured.
"No kidding. How did it manage to sneak up on us like that? Erik would've heard it, wouldn't he?" Sawyer asked.
"He's still training, just like how all of you are still training for your respective spells. It's not surprising that a Feral snuck up on you."
"What about Erik? Will he be okay?" Sorano asked.
"When Porlyusica tended to him, she said that his eye was beyond saving. However, he will recover just fine otherwise," Irene turned her gaze down to Erik. "You all should go home as well. Sitting here worrying won't help him recover any faster. I'll let you know when he wakes up."
Macbeth nodded, "Yeah… Alright…"
"Hey.. Irene..?" Sting spoke up. "That Feral out there.. He referred to Belserion as a Tamed.. What did he mean..?"
"The same reason we refer to them as Ferals. Neither side believes the other are true Dragons." Irene explained quietly, "We refer to them as Ferals because to us, they are uncivilized, feral brutes. They refer to us as Tamed because they view us as human-tamed animals. As if we're nothing more than beasts of burden.." she hissed quietly.
"Oh.. okay.." Sting nodded.
"You should go home now. All of you have had a long day. You need rest."
He nodded, then turned to follow the others out.
Upon reaching their home, Sting watched as Rogue darted inside, and followed after him. He walked into the room that he and Rogue shared, looking down at the Shadow as he laid under his blanket.
"Rogue…?"
"I said it wasn't safe… I told you guys we shouldn't have gone out there…."
"Yeah… but at least we made it back…"
"Erik is injured, and the rest of us…. We could've joined him… we could've….." Rogue didn't finish. Instead hid his head under his wing.
"Hey… don't worry about what could've happened… What's done is done… We all made it back, and we learned from this…. I bet even the others are too shaken to go back out there… I know I sure am."
Rogue grumbled, "Quit acting as if everything is alright…"
"But it is alright…" Sting lied down next to Rogue, gently placing his wing over him. "By this time next week, everything will go back to how it used to be, just watch."
Rogue sighed, "No it won't. It won't go back to how it used to be. Erik is injured. He'll be injured for a while. This might even affect his life.. I shouldn't have let my guard down. I shouldn't have stopped until I convinced all of you to get back into the barrier. I said... I-I said.." he choked up, then buried his face under his talons.
"Then we'll help him. We'll get through this together. Life surprises us, but we'll always be together to face those surprises together, I promise."
Rogue slowly lifted his head. His breath hitched as he pressed his head against Sting's neck. "I hope so... I hope so.."
Sting grinned. It was that same stupid contagious grin that had Rogue smiling slightly back at him. "I don't hope so. I know so," he assured.
Rogue closed his eyes. 'Everything we do. Everything we go through. At least we'll all be together..' he thought as he nodded off.
xXxOxXx
When Erik finally woke up, he found himself alone in the infirmary. His neck and face were covered in bandages and his necklace was gone. He had tried looking for it, but gave up when he realized that it was probably taken for a reason. So he went to find his friends instead.
He went to the house they shared, pushing the door open, and walked inside. Sorano, who had lied in bed awake because she couldn't sleep, jolted when she saw him, "Erik! Erik, you're okay!"
That quickly got the others' attention, and they all got up to go sit with him. "We're so happy you're okay!" Macbeth exclaimed, only to reel back when he noticed that Erik actually wasn't okay.
The Poison was shaking and crying. His breath hitched as tears poured from his uninjured eye.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Richard asked.
"We could've.. we could've.. c-could've…" Erik was hyperventilating and hiccuping, unable to form a coherent sentence as he broke down.
"Hey, hey, hey, breathe. Slow down. Deep breaths," Richard rubbed his neck.
"Yeah, just breathe. We're okay," Macbeth held the Dragon's face in his arms. Erik jolted away from them, trembling badly, "Okay? O-okay?! We could've DIED!" he exclaimed. "And it would've been all my fault! It was my idea for us to go out there! And that Feral.. You guys knew that F-Feral.. And I led.. I led you guys back to him.. He could've killed you.." his legs gave out from under him and he collapsed onto his stomach.
"But we didn't! We didn't die! He didn't kill us!" Sorano hugged him. "And we won't be going out again anytime soon. Irene made sure of that."
Erik reached to his neck, so that's why she took his necklace. "Everything hurts…" he complained quietly. The gash on his neck was the worst of it, but his muscles ached from the times he hit the ground.
"Then lie down. Rest for now, okay? We're safe," Sawyer gently pushed him, trying to get him to walk over to his nest. Erik shakily stood up, then paused as he caught a glimpse of himself in Sorano's vanity mirror.
Seeing himself covered in bandages was jarring, especially his eye. He likely wouldn't be able to see out of that eye again either. He shook his head before he could start crying again. He didn't deserve to feel bad, it was his fault they got attacked. It was only natural that he was the one who got severely injured.
"I know that look… Stop thinking about it. None of us deserved any of this, especially not you," Sorano ran her hand along an uninjured part of the Poison's neck, gently guiding him to his nest so he could lay down. Afterwards, she gently tied his Sealing Cloth around his neck. "No need to feel guilty about it. It may have been your idea, but we all agreed to it. We're all at just as much fault as you…"
"It's okay.. it's all okay now.." Macbeth sat against him, curling up against his stomach. Sawyer sat next to him.
Erik sniffed, closing his eye as Sorano ran her hand down his neck. She hugged his head close to her stomach.
"Just take it easy for now, okay?" Richard spoke up. "You need the rest more than anybody here."
"And we'll worry about whatever punishment Belserion wants to give us tomorrow when it happens," Macbeth said.
Erik hummed quietly in response. Everything about today had been so physically and mentally taxing. His eye was gone, and he could already feel the effects that would have when he stumbled around uneasily just trying to get home. He didn't remember the details of it, but he did know that Irene had said something about missing an eye, and how it affected how a Dragon lived their life.
He wouldn't be able to keep how he lost it a secret. As if the other young Dragons didn't have enough reasons to consider him a braindead Feral, he could add rule-breaking and leaving the barrier just for a stupid thrill to that list.
Erik closed his uninjured eye. The guilt of what he did still weighed down on him, but with everybody lying against him, and Sorano gently scratching his neck with his head in her lap, it didn't feel as unbearable as before.
He decided to take Macbeth's advice. They could deal with the consequences of this tomorrow. For tonight, all they had to do was just sleep.