AN: Hey guys and welcome to the eighteenth chapter of "Switching Sides."

I want to thank everyone who Favorited, Followed, and Reviewed!

I also want to apologize for the time it took me to update. I had some problems with this chapter, and it took me some time to eliminate them, so I apologize for that.

This chapter will feature a backstory that I made up for two characters so expect some AU and OOC in this chapter. This chapter will also be the build-up for the fight that was teased in the last chapter.

I worked hard on this backstory in various ways, so I hope that you'll like the result!

I also want to say that unlike the other chapters, this one I wrote without the help of my beta so the reviews you guys leave will be very valuable for me so please make sure to review in a civil manner! :)

Also, about the rewrite of my first story. There have been some problems with it as well, so it will take me some time to complete it, but I am making progress with it so don't worry.

Now, without further ado here is the next chapter. Enjoy!

"..." Talking

'...' Thoughts

"..." Quotations

*...* Actions i.e., Yawning and Sighing

(...) Flashback and time skips

["..."] Talking through the Sacred Gear

['...'] Talking in the Host mind

[...] Sacred Gear Actions and modes

Tiamat... That was her name.

She was a beautiful girl in the same age as Yasaka; she has a pale, long beautiful blue hair which also matched the color of her eyes and her bust rivaled that of Kuroka in its size. Her clothes were a combination of a navy blue blouse and blue denim pants that hugged her figure tightly; she was a beautiful girl, and that fact didn't go unnoticed by Issei who would've found himself wiping the drool off his mouth if it wasn't for the fact that this was no ordinary girl.

The girl looked exactly like any other ordinary girl; her face, her body, her hair, her clothes... Everything just matched up, but inside of that body who only pretended to be human hid one of the most powerful Dragons in existence.

Tiamat had many names during the course of history. Some called her "the Blue Death" while some called her "Blue Chaos." It didn't matter how the people who knew her liked to call her because one thing was for certain regardless of what name they used more often and that thing was that Tiamat was not to be messed with unless you had a death wish.

Upon hearing Ddraig and Albion speak her name something rang up in Issei's mind as if the name he just heard sounded vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't remember where exactly did he hear it until it finally dawned on him.

This was the same girl that Tannin had told him about during their training back in the Underworld. This was one of the Great Five Dragon Kings, and Issei wasn't a fool; he knew that Tiamat had got the exalted title of a Dragon King for a reason and not because of her graceful form and beautiful color.

And that same woman, that same Dragon King for some reason had someone she hated more than anything in the world to the point that she searched for him for many years, and just for Issei's poor luck that same being was the Dragon who inhabited his Longinus.

"You should relax boy; I can smell your fear all the way from here. You shouldn't worry; your death will be very quick," Tiamat told Issei, her voice filled with mockery and disdain and her face graced with a sick grin aimed specifically at Issei, who slightly shivered in response.

"W-Why do you hate Ddraig so much? What could he possibly has done?" Issei asked with a voice slightly shaken as he continued to maintain his stare on Tiamat as if he was afraid that she could disappear for a second and kill him.

"Why I hate him you ask? That's a good question and the story behind it is quite long, but I'm afraid you won't have the time to listen to it since you'll soon be dead," The bluenette replied before she started to tread towards Issei slowly.

With each step she took she became closer and closer to the brunette and as she did Issei could slowly see more of the emotions that hid behind her eyes; the emotions that her mouth has yet to release to the world.

So much... Spite, so much bitterness, and so much regret; her eyes didn't hold any innocence or alacrity behind them as the faint traces Issei could've seen had suggested. It was as if the owner of those eyes died a long time ago and in her place was a being full of unadulterated rancor.

"Tell me... I want to know. Maybe some things could be reversed," Issei asked with a small voice for only Tiamat to hear.

"Reversed?! Hahaha, you are a naive boy. The things that Ddraig had done to me were many years ago, and the things I experienced because of that made me the Dragon I am today," Tiamat briefly widened her eyes at Issei's remark before she narrowed her gaze at him and laughed bitterly at his words.

"Maybe you're right, but the least you can do for me is tell me before you try to kill me for something I don't even know," Issei replied with a voice that showed Tiamat and the rest of the occupants of the room that this was something he wasn't going to give up on.

"Hmm... Very well, I suppose I see no harm in delaying your death in a couple of minutes," Tiamat said with a shrug of her shoulders as she halted her movements towards Issei.

['Partner I don't think it's a good idea...'] Ddraig anxiously told Issei. He already knew the meaningless of his words. He knew Issei to good to know what the brunette will say in return.

'Shut up Ddraig! I want to know how you messed up!' Issei replied in irritation just like Ddraig had anticipated.

"Hey boy are you listening? Or I should just finish you off right now instead?" Tiamat asked in annoyance upon seeing the distraught look on Issei's face.

"S-Sorry! I'm listening!" Issei retorted, with a slight hue of crimson on his cheeks upon being caught in a daze.

"You see, many years ago I wasn't one of the Five Great Dragon Kings like I am today. Back then a big war had occurred, a war between the former Five Dragon Kings and the rest of the Dragons who were against their ideal that peace should be made between the Supernaturals and the Dragons. This war had lasted for many years, and many lives of both fighters and innocence Dragons were lost during its course, but in the end, we, the resistance who stood against the Dragon Kings ideals had emerged victorious. It was during this war that I had first met Ddraig; A Dragon who was among the few rare Dragons that stayed completely out of the war... Well, until that incident..." Tiamat started while everyone in the room including both Dragons who already knew the story listened intently.

(Flashback...)

It was a day like any other. The sun shone brightly in its full glory upon the land, signaling that the summer was far from being over. Birds were tweeting all across the forests that went on for miles until the eyes of an average human who stood on one of the mountains couldn't see the edge of it. Their tweets, those melodious tweets of them were like music to the ears of many of the beings which occupied the forest; it made them serene. But not everyone considered it as music to their ears, as an overly pissed Blue Dragon worried to show.

"God, I hate those birds! They always wake me up from my slumber!" She bellowed, her tone signaling to whoever was nearby that this wasn't someone they should mess with.

Seeing that there was no way for her to return to her sleep unless the birds would be disposed of one way or another, the Dragon smirked deviously when an idea to achieve just that had popped into her mind.

*Roar!* Her roar was one of fierceness and anger, one that shook the ground and the trees around her and even made the animals in the proximity to shiver in fright before they opened in a vigorous dash to escape from the source of that terrifying roar.

And so, she cracked a triumphant smile upon achieving her goal before her eyes closed once again in preparation for the slumber that awaited her.

(Later That Day...)

"Tiamat, wake up!" She heard a voice call to her as she was slowly being pulled out of her slumber.

"Huh? What are you doing here?" She asked as she woke up and gazed at the Dragon who stood in front of her in surprise and perplexion.

He was one of the Dragons that stood with the rebels in the war against the Dragon Kings, she vividly remembered seeing him in one of the meetings they had about their next course of action, but for some reason, his name had escaped her mind.

"I got an order to tell you to return to the frontlines by midnight for preparations for our next assault on the Dragon Kings army," The messenger Dragon told Tiamat, his tone indifferent as he told her the message for which he was sent to give.

"I see... I shall fly there within the next hour. Thank you," She thanked the messenger after she rubbed the last remnants of sleep away from her eyes.

The messenger only nodded in return before he took off with a flap of his wings.

It wasn't long after her talk with the messenger that Tiamat saw no point in staying and took off towards the forces that awaited her.

By the time she left the sun she had gone to sleep with was instead replaced by the moon that greeted her with its full form.

She flew north towards the forces, but much to her dismay and horror she didn't manage to travel much as she was abruptly met with five Dragons from the Dragon Kings Army that seemed to be waiting for her.

They were big, each with a different color adoring his form, and many nasty scars could be seen on various parts of their body, scars that told only a fraction of the story that stood behind it.

"Well well... We waited for you for quite some time now little Dragon," One of the Dragons said with a cold voice and a sick grin that said differently than the coldness in his voice.

"What is it that you want from me?" She asked dumbfoundedly.

She had her guess as to what they wanted, and she was confidence that it was right despite how much she didn't want it to be. She thought that maybe if she would play dumb than the Dragons would reveal more to her like how did they know about her affiliation and the course of her flight towards the forces.

"A little Dragon told us that a very powerful Dragon of the rebel forces would be making its way towards the forces that fight in the north, and we thought that this is just a golden opportunity that shouldn't be missed," The Dragon said, his tone now matching the wickedness of his grin.

"A golden opportunity to get your asses handed to you?" The Blue Dragon teased back in mockery. A smirk was adorning her face when she saw the tick marks that graced her enemies.

"You should know when to keep your mouth shut. You're clearly at a disadvantage here so I would advise you to think before you speak," The Dragon replied back in irritation.

"Oh? You may have the numbers, but I have the strength," Tiamat said before she rushed at the Dragons with all her might.

(Sometime Later...)

It has been quite some time since Tiamat, and the Dragons had started to fight each other, and so far things weren't looking bright for the lone Blue Dragon.

As much as she hated to admit it, the Dragons she fought against were a force to be reckoned. At first, she thought that due to the ample scars that graced their forms then they were Dragons who had seen many losses in their fights. But now she understood that those were scars that were made by an opponent which luck was on his side and nothing more.

She tried to land a few hits on them, both with her fire and her paws, and she did succeed, but the number of times she did could be counted on one of her paws in comparison to the times they had managed to strike her.

"We're going to end this fight!" The Dragon that she spoke to earlier cried in vigor and triumph before the other four Dragons had joined their friend in preparations for the killing blow.

Tiamat knew that her chances of survival were very slim; her body was injured severely, her wings and legs were incapacitated, and her sight was blurry; she was in no condition to escape whatsoever.

And so, without a choice, she waited petrified in her spot for the killing blow to come and end the pain that overwhelmed her entire body.

But... It never came. Instead, something quite peculiar had happened, something that left Tiamat with her mouth agape and her eyes wide in shock.

She saw how an enormous torrent of fire had suddenly appeared and engulfed the five Dragons.

She was glad for the distraction that the torrent of fire had brought, but she was sure that the five Dragons would soon recover from the surprise and go on the offensive, but then it happened... In place of the five Dragons, Ash came dropping down onto the ground before the torrent of fire had stopped only to reveal that the Dragons were not there anymore.

"T-They're Dead?..." Tiamat asked, her voice weak as she continued to lose blood, her vision slowly blackening.

"Yes; there isn't a single being in existence that can withstand my mighty flames," A voice had told her before she felt the ground tremble a bit as the owner of the voice had landed in front of her.

His form was Crimson-colored; his eyes emerald and his form told Tiamat that this was a Western Dragon.

"T-Thank you for saving me... But I fear that it's too late for me. Can you tell me your name before I pass so I could remember my savior's name when I reach the afterworld?" Tiamat asked, her voice getting weaker and weaker as she spoke.

"You are not going to die, but I will tell you my name, and I'll wait to hear yours once you wake up. I'm Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor!" Tiamat had only managed to form a faint, grateful smile before everything went black.

(A Few Days Later...)

It wasn't until a few days later that Tiamat had woke up for the first time since she was ambushed by the five Dragons from the opposing army of the current Dragon Kings.

Upon seeing the light that invaded her eyes, Tiamat had quickly opened them in surprise before a gasp had erupted from her throat from seeing that the light wasn't a part of the long dream she had but rather a part of the real world. The world she didn't think she'll have the chance to see again.

"I... I'm... Alive? How? I thought I died back then," She asked herself in bafflement, still confused as to how she survived the grave injuries she sustained from the ambush.

She was certain that her mind didn't mistake her. She remembered the injuries she suffered during her fight against the five Dragons; the nasty cuts that adorned her body, the bite marks that penetrated the scales on her wings and neck. But those injuries weren't the ones that caused Tiamat to bid farewell to her life earlier than she should've done so. No, the injuries that had caused her to do so were the ones caused by the Dragons abilities rather than the physical attacks.

The extreme coldness that enveloped her body with each time one of the five Dragons, a descendant of the Blizzard Dragon as Tiamat assumed, had struck her with his attacks.

The boiling venom that threatened to burst her blood vessels with each time the Venom Dragon, the one that spoke to her before the fight, had managed to land a nasty bite on her.

The sudden numbness of her senses that followed each time she inhaled some of the particles that were mixed in the roar of the Yellow Dragon that Tiamat assumed to be a Sprite Dragon.

While those three Dragons had been the primary source of Tiamat's injuries, it didn't mean that the other two Dragons who inflicted the physical injuries on her did not have a hand in her downfall.

She remembered all of it like it happened only minutes ago and as she did, she found herself involuntary shrinking away as if she was reliving the horrors she experienced in the ambush.

Only when she realized the meaning of her reaction to those horrid memories did Tiamat understand that those damned Dragons had managed to not only wound her physically but also mentally and for that, she would forever curse their existence.

Her mind had realized the effects that those memories had caused it and in exchange had switched the horrid memories in the memories that followed them.

"I wonder how that Dragon is... He said his name was Ddraig right? I wish I could've thanked him for saving my life," Tiamat said in frustration for not being able to thank that mysterious Dragon who saved her life.

That Dragon... He was so beautiful; the Crimson color that made his Western figure all the more majestic, those emerald eyes that managed to mesmerize her in the glance she gave him, and the incredible strength he possessed had left Tiamat awed like she had never been before.

"I see you are finally awake," She shrieked upon suddenly hearing a booming voice making its presence known to her.

"W-Who are you?! Stay back!" She cried in panic as fear gripped her upon thinking that this was an enemy.

"Relax; it's me, Ddraig," Ddraig told her, his voice now a bit softer so the Blue Dragon in front of him won't be frightened even more.

"D-Ddraig?" She hesitantly asked.

"Yes. Don't worry you are safe," Ddraig told her as he made his way to her side so she could see that indeed it was him.

When Tiamat had laid her eyes on Ddraig, the fear she felt vanished like it never existed and in its place was now a feeling of happiness and gratitude toward the Crimson Dragon who saved her life.

"It's really you... I am so happy to see you Ddraig! I wanted to thank you for saving my life! If it weren't for you I would've been long gone by now," She told him with a sincere smile that showed the immense gratefulness she felt and tears pouring from her eyes.

"O-Oi... Relax; it wasn't that big of a deal," Ddraig sheepishly told her, his face redder than it was supposed to be.

Tiamat struck Ddraig as a very strange Dragon; her color, her powers, her figure, and most of all her behavior. He saved quite a few Dragon in his life both males and female alike, but none of them had expressed their gratitude in the way Tiamat had been.

The males praised his strength and challenged him to a duel, so their last remnants of pride that survived the shame of their defeat had brought could be salvaged and restored back to their previous glory.

And the females were all the same; the coy smile of gratitude and the not so humble attempts at repaying him with their bodies as they continually tried to seduce him. But Ddraig didn't care for such things; he found their efforts to be futile hinders to his true goal to find the one who won't turn to ash under his fire.

But it didn't mean that Ddraig didn't care for girls; he was a male, and like every other male he appreciated girls in his own way. But he had his priorities set, and the only thing that could've set him off his track was if he were to find a female Dragon that was not like the others.

As Ddraig examined Tiamat more and more his mind continued to tell him that this girl was different, that she would be the girl who would set him astray of his goal.

This was something that Ddraig considered obscure, baffling; this was something he knew little about.

He was a Dragon of War! One that lived solely to fight his way to domination and not to solve the obscurity of his mind; he was a Dragon of sheer power and not one of knowledge. But against all the odds, he found himself attracted to the Dragon he saved from death's door with the only explanations for it being the odd feelings in his heart that slowly fueled his instincts and the puzzling thoughts that his brain had conjured.

"A-Are you alright Ddraig? You seem a bit off for quite a while now, and it got me worried," Tiamat soft voice snapped him from his train of thoughts.

"I'm alright, but I fear that I forgot to ask you something important,"

"What is it?" She inquired in perplexion.

"What is your name?" His question caught Tiamat off-guard.

Tiamat did not expect this kind of question. When Ddraig told her that he wanted to ask her something important she assumed it to be along the lines of why she was there and why did those Dragons ambush her and not something as trivial as her name.
If it were any other Dragon Tiamat would have shot him a nasty glare for making her worry that much, but he wasn't any other Dragon; he made her heart to feel warm and her stomach to feel like butterflies were flying inside it.

"T-Tiamat," She gently whispered as if she feared that someone other than Ddraig was listening.

"Tiamat huh? That's a very nice name," He complimented with a grin on his face.

"T-Thank you..." She replied sheepishly with her cheeks now red.

She couldn't explain the origin those odd sensations, but she wasn't clueless as well. She knew that those feelings were felt when you loved someone, and she had a wild guess as to who she felt it for, but she didn't understand why.

Why did she have those feelings for Ddraig? She just met him after all, and she knew little or none about him! But still... There was something about him other than his looks that had Tiamat completely captivated without her even realizing it.

His aura; it was one of sheer strength and domination. It was an aura that promised pain to his enemies and cares for his allies, but that wasn't the thing that captivated Tiamat. It was the feeling of emptiness that his aura gave off.

He felt strong, dominative, but at the same time, he felt empty as if there was an entire part of him that was missing.

And then it hit her: Those were the only things she felt from his aura.

He didn't possess any emotions other than wrath for his enemies and happiness for his allies.

Love, sadness, hope, excitement, and humor all looked as if they were complete strangers for the Red Dragon in front of her and she didn't understand why.

She didn't feel even the tiniest of malice in his aura, and the fact that he saved her when he had no reason to do so only proved his kindness even more.

He was incomplete, and Tiamat wanted to be the one who would complete him.

She wanted to be with him, to introduce him to the emotions he never knew about, to show him that there was more to this world than fighting even if it was the goal in his life, and even if he did want to fight, she wanted to give him a reason to fight! She wanted to fix the Dragon who saved her life, the Dragon she loved.

"Ddraig..." Tiamat whispered softly.

"Yes?" He said as he inched closer to Tiamat so he could hear her.

"Why is it that your aura feels so... Hollow?" Her question caused Ddraig to draw back and widen his eyes in surprise.

"Hollow? What are you talking about?" He retorted as if his answer was a part of a long-lived reflex.

"Your aura... No matter how much I try I can only sense strength and domination from it and nothing else as if a part of you is missing," She confessed.

Ddraig widened his eyes even more upon hearing Tiamat's confession. His mind was right; this girl was nothing like any other girl. She could do what none other could: she could sense the hollowness of his soul.

"You can feel it huh? I never met someone who could sense this in my aura," He nervously admitted.

He didn't like being exposed like this, to be read entirely by someone; he didn't like having this weakness of his known, but For some reason, when it was Tiamat he didn't care if she saw his weakness or not.

"Yes, and I want to know what caused this emptiness in you," She sincerely told him, her tone showing her yearn to learn more about this mysterious Dragon.

"Alright. I'll tell you," And with that Ddraig started to tell Tiamat everything about him.

He told her of his harsh life as a young Dragon where he learned the cruelty of life and the superiority strength had in compared to emotions like love. He told her of his goal to find the Dragon that will not turn to ash under his flame, a goal that gave meaning to his empty life.

And then he told her of the weird feelings that had been triggered inside him since he met her with hopes that she would be able to help him with them, but little did he know that what he just told Tiamat would bring him something he wished for many years.

His confession left Tiamat surprised, and overjoyed. When she heard about his strident past, she felt sympathy for him due to her past not being that different from his, and when she heard him say that his life felt empty, she felt pity. When he told her about the gravity of his goal, she felt happy that he found something to cling into so he would be distracted from the emptiness of his soul, but when she heard him confess to her about his weird emotions she found herself overjoyed beyond relief and also amused.

He was telling her that he loved her with every part of his being and he didn't even realize that.

But with the happiness that this confession had brought also came sadness when she realized that Ddraig didn't understand the meaning of his confession because love was a stranger for him.

"Ddraig, I don't know if you realize this, but what you just described is love," She told him, as she narrowed her gaze at him and waited eagerly for his reaction.

"Love? So those weird feelings mean that I love you?" He asked in confusion.

"Yes Ddraig and it's fine because I feel the same as you," She told him with a timid smile and a crimson hue adorning her face.

Upon hearing Tiamat's reciprocating his emotions, despite still not understanding them entirely, Ddraig felt as if the space in his soul was now a house to the emotions he never experienced in his life; he felt whole for the first time in his life.

That day was the day both Tiamat and Ddraig had received their biggest gift in life; the unconditional love of one another.

They stayed together for a long time, enveloped in each other's love as Ddraig continued to learn more about the emotions he never knew of.

They continued to live their life as an ordinary couple. Tiamat had quit her life as a warrior and had stayed with Ddraig in the clearing where she first woke up, the clearing where everything had started.

But the place that saw the beginning of the love between the two Dragons had also seen the end of it.

(A Few Months Later...)

It had been a few months since that fateful day at the clearing, and so far things couldn't be better for the two of them. They were closer than ever, and words like arguments or disagreements sounded like nothing but things you hear in fiction; they lived in perfect harmony with each other.

But on a fateful day while Tiamat had been out hunting for dinner as she would usually do Ddraig stayed in the clearing where he took a nap.

This was a usual thing for the couple. While one of them were out hunting their dinner, the other one would use that time to take a nap and this day wasn't any different... Yet.

While Ddraig was stuck deep in the depths of his subconscious, he failed to notice the odd noises that came closer and closer with each second. Only when the noises sounded like they came from right beside him did the Red Dragon finally woke up from his slumber.

"W...What the hell is that noise?" Ddraig drowsily asked as he slowly started to recover from his sleep.

At first, he didn't think much of the noise and had assumed that it was probably Tiamat or a nearby animal. When he received no answer from Tiamat and his nose had failed to detect any smell of nearby animals other than the Dragon scent that he and Tiamat gave off he started to get suspicious.

'I should take a look to make sure it's nothing' He thought to himself, hoping to get this over as soon as possible so he could return to his sleep.

As he looked around the clearing in search of the thing that arose his suspicious Ddraig had found nothing which caused him to release an exasperated sigh.

"I guess I was disturbed in my sleep for nothing," He said to himself, upset that his precious sleep was interrupted by nothing but one of the tricks that his mind had played on him.

"I wouldn't call that nothing boy," He heard a voice that sounded like that of a female speak as if she was right beside him, whispering in his ear.

He tried to turn around to see the identity of the owner of this voice, but he was too late as his head was met with a painful strike before everything went black for the Red Dragon.

(A Few Minutes Later...)

Tiamat made her way back to the clearing where her loved awaited her and the animal she held in her mouth.

Even though it's been a few months by now, she still couldn't believe how her life had turned to the best as they had. She still failed to comprehend the fact that she found the love of her life.

She knew that if someone would've asked her a few months back where she would see herself in the near future, Tiamat never would imagine that she would be spending her life with her lover as an ordinary couple. The best she could probably guess at that time was her living through the war.

Things were going very well between the two Dragons, but for Tiamat, it felt like things were stuck at their place and despite liking the place they currently stood at in their relationship she wanted more.

And so, during her hunt, she decided that once she came back, she would ask Ddraig the question that had been plaguing her mind for a while now. The question of having baby Dragons.

She wanted to have a legacy, a continuation of the things she stood for, and she wanted to give life to baby Dragons that would hopefully get to live in a world where the war they were currently at was nothing but history.

The Blue Dragon was unsure as to what her Crimson lover thought about the issue of having babies, but she hoped that the harmony they had in their relationship would stretch to that issue as well.

She wanted to be a mother, to give her babies the lives she never got to experience when she was little, life without horrors in it. She wanted to know for certain if Ddraig really loved her as she loved him.

Yes, even that long after that fateful day Tiamat had her doubts about the Ddraig's feelings towards her. He told her that he loved her each and every day during the time they spent at the clearing and Tiamat knew that he was sincere with his words, but the uneasiness in her heart refused to leave her regardless if her mind believed his words or not.

Tiamat knew that having babies together would finally prove to her heart what her mind had already known.

"Ddraig I'm back," She announced her return in elation, happy to see her lover again.

But the elation Tiamat had felt upon returning was soon replaced with anxious upon seeing that her lover wasn't anywhere in sight.

She spent no time and quickly went to the place where she last saw Ddraig and had quickly used her nose to try and find any suspicious smells that could give her more information about what happened.

Tiamat wasn't the type who would instantly assume that the worst had happened, but for some reason, this situation was different for her; something in her had told her that this time assuming the worst wasn't a bad thing.

And as she used her nose did Tiamat realize that the uneasiness she felt was justified.

"W-What is it... I don't recognize those scents," She said with a shaky voice and a panicked expression when her nose had caught three offbeat scents surrounding Ddraig's.

She tracked the scents to a nearby log where the piece of the puzzle that she needed waited for her.

"They... I'll make sure they pay!" She bellowed in spite when she saw a familiar insignia engraved in the log; the insignia of the current Five Dragon Kings.

And so, with only the thoughts of rescuing her lover from the grasp of the Five Dragon Kings and destroying them in her mind, Tiamat set off to the front lines where the remaining forces of the rebels fought valiantly against the last line of defense of the Dragon Kings castle.

That day was a day that would forever be remembered in the history of the Dragons. The day where a lone Blue Dragon broke the last line of defense that stood between the rebels and the Five Kings. The day where a Blue Western Dragon, a Black Eastern Dragon, a Green Asian Dragon, a Grey Eastern Dragon, and a Golden Western Dragon had fought against the Five Kings until they had finally perished under their strength.

After she and the other four Dragons had successfully defeated the Kings, Tiamat had rushed to the dungeon where she found Ddraig with heavy injuries all over his body.

"Ddraig... What have they done to you!" Tiamat cried in dismay, tears freely dripping down her face.

But she received no answer and only when she got closer did she find out that Ddraig was unconscious.

And ever since she and the rest had defeated the previous Kings things began to get odd for the Blue Dragon.

It started when she was suddenly called by a few Dragons only to find out that she was to be one of the new Five Dragon Kings alongside the other four Dragons who helped her in her fight against the former Kings.

But it didn't stop there for Tiamat as the more she invested in her new duty, the more the harmony she and Ddraig had slowly faded.

Arguments and disagreements no longer sounded like words from fiction and were now things both Ddraig and Tiamat experienced first-handed.

Tiamat, who wanted to spend all her time to give back to her kind so the losses of the war would be forgotten, found herself arguing against Ddraig, who wanted Tiamat to relinquish her title so they could return to how they used to be before that incident.

She wanted to give! To restore, and to create while Ddraig wanted nothing more than the one he loved instead of this new Tiamat that placed him in the bottom of her priorities.

He hated to admit it, but he missed the time when he was her center of attention where they spent days without food so that they would not be separated from each other even for a moment.

He missed the Tiamat who bantered him, the Tiamat who has been affable and gracious towards him, the Tiamat who neglected her duties in the war so that she could continue to live with him; the one she loved. He missed the gentle smile she would flash him when she gazed at him; a smile full of love and happiness that showed Ddraig the content she felt from the life they shared together.

That was the Tiamat he fell in love with not the one who held titles like King; that Tiamat was the exact opposite of the one he loved.

She cared, loved, and smiled but not for him. She only cared about the greater good of her kind and not about herself or the one she loved. She would dismiss Ddraig complaints about the way she behaved as nothing more than trivial things as if she cared little to none about what he thought about her.

He found himself gazing at Tiamat during the brief time she actually spent in his company while his heart clenched and his mind told him that the Dragon beside him was not the one he came to love; she was a stranger to him, an entirely different person.

It took Ddraig a while to finally find the solution he desired so much, but when he did, he realized that there was no way for his heart to stay whole.

And so, with nothing in his mind but the solution he found and the possible outcomes it would have, Ddraig went to get as much sleep as he could in preparation for the next day.

(The Next Day...)

So far this day has been nothing but ordinary for the new Blue Dragon King.

Her day started as it would usually start: She got up and quickly got ready before she left the room where Ddraig continued to sleep soundly.

The rest of her day she spent dealing with Dragons who came to ask stuff from the new Kings, and when the Dragons had ceased to come she spent the remaining of her day with her fellow Kings as they engaged in conversations about their past while they merrily drank.

But unlike any other day, this one ended up entirely different in a way that left Tiamat with nothing but the remnants of her broken heart.

Shortly after the sun had set down Tiamat and her fellow Kings, who were still engaged in their conversations, found themselves greatly surprised when the door to their quarters had been harshly broken by a Red Dragon that was only known by Tiamat, who had her eyes widen in shock and horror.

"D-Ddraig what are you doing?! What is the meaning of this?" Tiamat asked in alarm. Her voice was shaking as she continued to examine her lover.

His face... Something was different about it. She didn't remember ever seeing Ddraig wearing the same expression he currently had before, and it caused her to start worrying for the Red Dragon in front of her.

She continued to stare intently at him, trying to figure out the meaning behind his dreadful expression while the uneasiness she felt in her stomach only continued to intensify.

His expression was one of grief, sadness, and anger all at the same time and it bewildered Tiamat as to why he wore that expression.

'Did something bad happened?' She asked herself in worry as her mind struggled to find the reason behind it to no avail.

She realized that she would've been able to easily answer that question if only she spent more time with him. But as much as Tiamat wanted to do so she just couldn't. Things were different now, and she accepted that reality with a heavy heart.

"I had enough Tiamat! I don't recognize you anymore; you are not the Tiamat I fell in love with back at that clearing, the Tiamat who taught me how to love and gave a meaning to my life other than fighting. You keep neglecting me every time we meet, and I had enough of that! I found myself feeling regret when I thought about the day I saved you from those Dragons. You might've been the one I loved, but now I'm not sure that you are and I'm not certain that I am the one you love anymore..." Ddraig told her, his voice harsh as he continued to tell Tiamat about what he felt.

He knew that he was probably too harsh on her, that he should've said it differently, but at that moment his heart ached so much that he saw no other way nor did his mind managed to come up with another way.

Ddraig never felt sorrow in his life like he felt at that moment where he told Tiamat everything that troubled his heart and mind, and he just wished to end it as soon as possible so he could try and forget it.

"D-Ddraig I'm..." Tiamat stuttered in a loss of words while she looked at Ddraig in shock.

'I never knew he felt that way... If only I'd done things right' She wistfully thought to herself as remorse started to flood her.

If only she realized the effects that her behavior had on Ddraig. If only she spent more time with him instead of her fellow Kings... The sorrow she and Ddraig felt could've been prevented if only she did all that.

"Don't Tiamat! I only want to ask you the same question I used to ask you countless of times before: Would you relinquish your title and come back with me to the clearing we first met in so we could return things to how they used to be back then or do you wish to remain here as one of the Dragon Kings?" Ddraig asked her with a heavy voice.

"I'm so sorry Ddraig! I love you so much, but you know that I can't leave..." Tiamat replied in sorrow as tears freely cascaded down her cheeks.

She hated it! She hated telling Ddraig that she couldn't go back to the clearing with him, but she hoped that he would understand the duty she had as one of the Kings and the reasoning behind her decision to stay.

"I see... I never wished for it to end that way, but I see no other choice now that I've heard your final answer. I'm sorry Tiamat, but you left me no choice other than leaving. I can't stay here knowing that I'll only be neglected by you and would be considered as nothing but a burden for you," Ddraig told Tiamat in sorrow with his head down so the Blue Dragon wouldn't be able to read his expression.

"No... Don't leave Ddraig, please! I promise I'll make things right!" Tiamat cried in anguish upon hearing Ddraig's decision to leave.

"I'm sorry Tiamat, but there is no possible way for things to be right between us as long as you maintain your title of King,"

"No... I don't accept that... I won't let you leave Ddraig! I'll make you stay here so I could make things right between you and me just like it used to be," Tiamat told Ddraig, her voice now having a sick tint to it. One that made Ddraig slightly worried about Tiamat's mentality.

"I'm sorry Tiamat, but it can't be helped,"

"No! I am not letting you go away!" She roared before she suddenly lunged at Ddraig.

"Tiamat!? What are you doing? Stop this right now!" Ddraig cried out in shock as he struggled to protect himself against Tiamat's sudden attack.

"No... I can't Ddraig! I won't let you leave knowing that I did nothing to prevent that from happening! Fight me and if I win you will stay here with me so we could both try and make things right again," She replied, her voice filled with anguish while her tears continued to drop from her eyes at a steady pace.

She couldn't accept that. Both her heart and mind had failed to comprehend the words Ddraig had spoken to her. How could she? He was the one she loved more than anything, and she treated him like poorly to the point he decided to leave, and she wanted to make things right again, she wanted to get rid of the guilt she felt.

"I understand... You leave me no choice but to fight you back Tiamat!" Ddraig somberly told her before he pushed her back as he prepared an attack of his own.

And so, the decisive battle between the two Dragons had started, a battle that terrorized the entire Dragon race for more than a week, a battle that left the earth scarred beyond recognition.

They fought valiantly against each other while both had a different resolve that fueled their power reserves. There wasn't a single place on earth that was left untouched from the vicious fight the two Dragons had, and there was no Dragon that was left with nothing but fright when he saw the two Dragons approaching their location.

But with every beginning comes an end and after a long week of fighting the battle between the two Dragons was decided.

"Do you recognize this place Tiamat?" Ddraig asked Tiamat as he landed in a familiar place.

"Y-Yes... This was the place we fell in love with each other," Tiamat stammered in sadness as she scanned her surroundings, a sad smile adorning her face.

"Yes... This was the place where it all begun, and now it's the place where it all ends," He replied with the same smile Tiamat had.

"I'm sorry Ddraig, for everything. Please, reconsider your decision and come back with me," She pleaded with tears in her eyes.

"I know Tiamat... But I'm afraid I cannot do that," He said while he noticed that Tiamat had started to close her eyes slowly.

"Goodbye Tiamat; my biggest gift... My biggest curse," He bid her farewell one last time before he left with a flap of his wings.

And so, after Ddraig had emerged victorious from the fight against Tiamat he bid her farewell before she lost consciousness from her injuries and left without looking back.

(Flashback End)

"Now you understand why I loathe him? He left me alone for me to deal with the remorse and anguish I felt from my actions. He never gave me a second chance, a chance that I know that I would've taken full advantage of so I could make things right between him and me... He was my source of happiness and my source of sorrow," Tiamat finished her story with tears in her eyes as she told Issei the things she desperately wanted to forget.

"What happened after you woke up?" Issei asked, shock evident all across his features.

By the time Tiamat had finished telling Issei her story, the brunette had found himself at a complete loss for words.

He never imagined that Ddraig used to be like Tiamat described him to be, and it shocked him greatly when he heard that, but he also felt sorry for the Dragon whose heart was mended only to be broken again; it reminded him of himself.

How Rias and the rest had mended his broken heart only to break it again.

"After I woke up I returned to the Palace where I kept myself locked in my room for weeks... Eventually, I came out, and when I did things were... Different. I no longer cared about my people, and my need to give back to them had faded when there was no one by my side to support me. As time went by the other Kings and me cared less and less about our title, and we ended up doing the same thing that caused the war to start in the first place; we made peace with the supernaturals. I promised myself that I would find Ddraig and make things right again, but that promise had twisted itself in the most vicious of ways. Instead of making things right for both of us I wanted to get rid of the feelings that burdened my heart desperately, and the only solution that came to my mind was to get rid of the one who caused them... Desperate need to fix our relationship had turned to merciless hatred toward the one I now considered as the source of my sorrow," Tiamat somberly told Issei.

"I... I don't know what to say Tiamat," Issei managed to say as he struggled hard to find the right words for what Tiamat had told him.

"So don't say anything boy because right now, with Ddraig in front of me, I find myself conflicted. My unwavering resolve to get rid of the source of my sorrow is now being mixed with my old desire to make things right between you and me, especially now when I think of the history we had together," Tiamat confessed. Her long-lived resolve to put an end to the source of her sorrow was now fighting against her old desire to return things to how they used to be back at that clearing so many years ago.

"Even though you are my enemy, I can't stand seeing you like that so fight me Tiamat! If I win then use this chance to make things right between Ddraig and you and if you win then know that the source of your sorrow had been finally eliminated," Issei told her as he looked Tiamat straight in the eyes so she could see the seriousness of his words.

"Issei don't do this! What if you die? We won't let you leave us..." The girls cried out to Issei in dismay upon hearing what he told to Tiamat.

"Don't worry; I'm never going to leave you," He told them with a grin adorning his face.

"Why are you doing this boy? You have no reason to help me like that... I was about to kill you just a few minutes ago," Tiamat asked Issei in bewilderment.

The Blue Dragon was really shocked when she heard what Issei told her and she didn't understand why that boy, the possessor of Ddraig, and the one she came to kill was now wanting to help her.

"Because, even though you are my enemy, I can't see you like that knowing that I can ease the pain you feel," Issei confessed to her with a smirk on his face.

"I..." Tiamat found herself at a loss for words upon hearing the boy's remark, but she knew what she had to do.

"Don't expect me to show any mercy just because of what you offered me," Tiamat told Issei with a smirk of her own before she rushed at him.

"Heh, I didn't expect you to," Issei replied with a chuckle before a bright light enveloped the brunette and Ddraig's voice roared through the room.

[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker]

"Let's do this!" Issei had said to himself before he rushed at Tiamat clad in his Scale Mail.

And so, after many years the two Dragons found themselves fighting once again with the feeling that this time things will be different.

AN: I hope that you liked this chapter! Don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and Review! I'll see you next chapter.