Author's Note:

Might as well clear this up now, since it will most likely be relevant for the rest of the fic.

These are thoughts.

"This is telepathic speech between Brynden and Illuyana."

Hooray for quotation marks. Now onto the chapter.

Chapter 7: Can't Read My…

Illuyana watched as the humans that came with the jump ships carried supplies onto the loading ramps. Apparently the town they went to had a lumber yard at one point.

Not that there was any wood left… Time and rain made sure of that.

A lack of building timber notwithstanding, the saw blades and machinery that survived the weather gathered by the lightless made the trip worth it. She even overheard one of the workers saying how they could begin to harvest timber for houses en masse now.

Then again, I could just give them everything they ever wanted… But something tells me that wouldn't end well for me.

If she had the ability to, her tail would be twitching back and forth impatiently behind her. Glaring with her singular eye into the side of one of the worker-human's heads, she couldn't be bothered to give a damn about their hopes and dreams, she was only here because Brynden did.

Not that she had anything better to do right now though. If she had her way, she'd be sitting back in their tent sleeping still.

Looking over to her bonded, she saw him smiling as the family made their way into the ship. He looked content, and that's all that really mattered to her. That smile alone made the trip worth it.

I really am different from the rest of my kind now… aren't I?

"Hello!"

Looking over, Illuyana saw a ghost floating very close to her, making the disguised Ahamkara back up just a few inches.

"Hi?"

The ghost didn't seem disturbed by her clear apprehension at being so close, closing the distance that she made between them near immediately and returning to its position of too close.

"Your light bearer did great!" The ghost said energetically. "Where did you find him?"

Illuyana once again backed up a bit, her mechanical eye blinking slowly twice.

"What?"

Thankfully, the ghost didn't close the distance again, instead turning toward the humans all moving around the open area and spinning her chassis excitedly behind her.

"Where did you find him?" She said, spinning her chassis behind her in excitement. "I found mine near a waterfall on the continent to the north. What about you?"

Staring directly into the eye of the ghost in front of her for a long moment, Illuyana felt strange. No one other than Brynden has ever wanted to talk with her directly before. Every other time she has interacted with not-her-bonded, it has been indirectly as she inserted herself in a conversation he was already having, or sitting on the sidelines listening in.

She quickly realized that those conversations were only interesting because Brynden was involved.

I wonder if that is because of my ill-thought out wish, or if I am just an introvert at heart.

Staring into the eye of her personal-space-intruder, she went over the pros and cons of actually talking with the thing. She might be able to gather further intelligence from it, be able to properly assimilate with the ghosts, or even gain a trusted informant among the guardians.

But that would require me to talk to it…

She could answer this question truthfully, and it would cost her nothing. It would be easy enough to do so, but would that set a precedent that she liked to be talked to? One that she enjoyed conversation with others?

Unacceptable.

"No."

The floating eyeball tilted itself sideways in clear confusion. "What?"

Turning away and floating back toward Brynden. "Go away."

Ignoring the sputtering of the ghost behind her, she made her way over to her bonded.

"You let them go? Why?!"

Who is now angry.

Looking around for the source of his anger, she began to plot and scheme the best ways to make whatever it was that angered him disappear… violently. Finding nothing obviously out of place, she decided to wait and listen.

The two other lightbearers stared at him like what he was saying was completely beyond their comprehension.

"We do not deal in final deaths." Was Venra's calm response.

"And why not?" Was his response, gesturing toward the battlefield with his hand. "They clearly did! If we didn't act, that family would be dead! It isn't like they had a settlement to protect from the fallen."

Tallulah stepped in, her tone serious. "Think about it, newbie. What would happen to the city if every warlord found out the light bearers there were actively opposing them rather than just defending our territory?"

A moment of thought flashed on her bonded's eyes before he sagged. "They would rally against the city," It sounded painful for him to admit that, so she flew up next to him and landed on his shoulder. Locking eyes, he smiled in her direction before finding his voice again. "Still, someone should do something."

Venra snorted, drawing their attention. "That's what the Iron Lords are for." She said, casually examining her fingernails. "If you want to be the 'crusading for justice' type, go talk to Radagast. Otherwise, stick with routine missions and help us make people's lives easier."

The end of her halfhearted tirade was met with an elbow from Tallulah. "His 'crusading' just saved a family. I wouldn't be so quick to judge him."

"Never said it was a bad thing, just pointed him to where he could do the most good." Venra said, shrugging her shoulders before walking off.

Smiling, Tallulah put a hand on his shoulder. "That's about as good as you will get from her." She said gesturing behind him with a small nod of her head. Turning to see what she was pointing out, Illuyana saw the family from earlier all smiling brightly and conversing with the other human workers. "I wouldn't say we are sitting on our hands. Someone has to protect these people from the Fallen, and we have no issues with permanently dealing with those monsters," she said with a wink.

The two stood, or in Illuyana's case floated, there in silence at that, but Illuyana knew better that to assume that he wasn't. Sensing Brynden's emotions becoming a swirl of confusion, uncertainty, and rage, he turned to Illuyana and whispered.

"Can you kill them from here if I wish it?"

Blinking her eye, she thought over his request. The answer was easy enough, but she hesitated in replying. She fed off his desires and wishes, sure, but did he truly desire this? His emotions were an absolute wreck right now. She knew him well enough to know that if she granted this, he would later grow to regret it. She could lie to him, and say that she couldn't, but she had no doubt that he would eventually figure out her deception. Knowing her silence would speak for her if she took any longer, she decided on a different course of action.

Forcing him to confront his own thoughts.

"Do you want me to?"

Silence was her answer, similar to her own just a moment prior. She would do it should he ask it of her, but she knew him well enough to know it would be a mistake. After a long while, he returned her question with a simple, "No."

Knowing he was still a bit shaken up by his emotional crisis, she landed softly on his shoulder. He brought up a hand and patted her metallic chassis before cringing a bit at the pointed edges. The two of them were used to comforting each other after months on the road, but her metallic disguise was still jarring to the both of them.

"Come on rookie, time to head back!" Looking over, Illuyana saw that Tallulah was making her way onto the ship.

Taking in a deep breath, he made his way towards the ship. After a few steps, he seemed to hesitate before Illuyana finally felt his emotions stabilize a bit. Confused as to what caused the change, she followed his eyes to see the family of three all sitting inside the ship with smiles on their faces.

—

Once the two of them returned to the City, Brynden immediately volunteered for a sentry position. Feeling like the isolation of a sniper outpost on the outskirts of the City would allow him to think, it wasn't long before Brynden was sitting atop a hastily constructed wooden sniper's nest…

Attempting to fend off a strangely overly affectionate Illuyana.

"Yana, I'm fine. You can stop now."

"No."

Feeling the shrunken down lizard wriggling in between his undershirt and his fur coat burying her muzzle affectionately into his neck, Brynden shook his head. He should be paying attention to his surroundings, but all he could really do was cringe every time one of her talons poked through his shirt into his shoulder or back.

Right now, he was trying to think about how much anger and hatred toward that light bearer he felt. How immensely betrayed he felt when he found out Venra let their ghosts go.

They deserved to die, didn't they? So why am I still so- Ow!

"Seriously? Do you need to do that?" He said, shifting his gaze to his right shoulder to see Illuyana with her head plopped atop his shoulder looking at him playfully. "Aren't you strong enough now to ignore the cold?"

"Tell me, oh friend mine," She whispered without a single shred of regret in her tone, "Would you rather sit in a chilly room naked or a freezing one with a lit hearth nearby and warm fuzzy blankets atop you?"

Shifting his weight a bit, he returned his gaze to the lands in front of him without a word. Armed with his weapons and a portable radio that went directly to the other scout outposts and the city incase of emergency, he felt confident he could do his job with the distraction currently attached to his back. Scanning his surroundings with his sniper, he conceded her point…

Wait, no I don't!

"I'm not a fuzzy blanket!" He complained indignantly.

Feeling her forked tongue lick his cheek playfully, she laughed as her tail swished across his back a bit faster.

"Of course not! You are the fire, and your jacket is the blanket."

Sighing, he decided to ignore her and return to his thoughts.

Those bastards will almost certainly return to what they were doing before. They didn't seem to have any sort of castle or holdings, so why did Venra let them go? Surely she could see that- Ow!

"Alright now I know you are doing it on purpose!" He said, shifting his weight now as one of her rear talons scraped against his back painfully.

"Maybe if you stop being so sad, I'll stop having to wrench you from your own negative thoughts."

"Oh yeah? Well, let's see how you like getting poked and prodded!"

Poking her snoot with his pointer finger, he watched as she went cross-eyed for a moment. A heartbeat came and went before she tensed up. Muscles spasming, she let out a mighty sneeze that spewed green flames out in front of the two of them which thankfully didn't catch anything on fire.

A moment of silence came and went between the two of them before they began to laugh hysterically. The echoes of their mirth could be heard for miles he was sure, but in that moment he didn't care.

"Hey Yana?"

"Yes Bryn?"

"Thank you."

Re-burying her muzzle into his neck, he felt as her claws seemingly retracted and were replaced with soft paws.

"Anytime, oh friend mine."

The two then sat there atop the sniper post in silence for hours, happily enjoying each other's company. Time lost to them as they sat there, eventually they were treated with the beautiful sight of the sun setting under the mountains in the distance.

"Hey Bryn?"

Smiling, he glanced over to his draconic companion. Fully expecting another emotional moment between them, he was caught off guard with what she ended up saying.

"Yes 'Yana?"

"Now that you are back to normal, I need you to wish for a mental link between us so that you can talk to me and wish for things while around people without arousing too much suspicion."

"Hey rookie! I'm here to relieve you!"

Panicking slightly, he looked down to see a light bearer slowly floating upward to the platform he was on. Looking back to his shoulder, he saw ghost-Illuyana blinking at him expectantly.

Yeah, that's probably a good idea.

—

Illuyana was a dragoness on a mission… Not that you would be able to tell by looking at her.

She made her way down the dirt street, disguised as a red-haired woman with sky blue eyes. Confidently making her way towards a part of the city that housed quite a few lightbearers, she searched for phase one.

She was tired of all this cold, all this mud, and all these annoying humans everywhere. Brynden wasn't doing anything dangerous for the lightbearers today as he was in a simple briefing, so it was finally time to fully implement her plan to solve all these inconveniences and uncomfortable annoyances in one fell swoop.

All I need now is to find one of the…

Wandering the Last City, she found that there were now several wooden structures that were now cropping up. The humans all scurried about, hammering and sawing away at the lumber brought in by volunteers now that they could actually shape it with more than just poorly salvaged axes and rusted hand saws.

Unimportant.

Continuing on her path, she eventually spotted her goal.

By far and away the largest buildings scattered around the City were the many cafeterias and food centers. She knew full well that the buildings were temperature controlled, making them a spot for a great many of the city folk to converge. She had been studying these people for weeks now, focusing intently on what made them all tick.

Now though? Now she put her observations to the test.

Making her way across the line that stretched outside for quite a while, she found exactly what she knew would be here. A mother, with a small boy looking up to her with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

"Mommy? When can we get our food?"

"Soon enough sweetie, soon enough."

Looking over the two, she saw as the kid held his stomach as he glanced hopefully at the door.

"Oh I wish they have pizza today. I love pizza."

Perfect.

Smiling devilishly, she shaped her magic within her, but didn't release it quite yet.

Making her way around the back of the building near the loading bay for supplies, she waited until the coast was clear before she enacted her plan. Using the child's desires to summon forth a large metal shipping crate of food supplies next to the door, Illuyana smiled as surely what's inside would make quite a few people happy.

Striding confidently up to the entrance, she disguised herself in the clothing of a supplies worker and knocked confidently. It wasn't long before the door opened up.

An older woman wearing an apron answered. Illuyana could tell that she had a face that rarely smiled, perpetually stressed as she might be from her job feeding a tent city of refugees. Turning her dark eyes to the disguised wish-dragon, she barked out a quick, "What?"

Putting her acting skills to the test, Illuyana smiled brightly as she gestured to the massive crate next to her. "I have some supplies for the kitchen! I hope that this will be enough to supply the camp for a while."

Grunting, the woman put her hands on her hips before making her way to the shipping crate and opening it. Pausing for a moment, the grouchy old woman snorted before turning back to Illuyana. "What is all this?"

Illuyana shrugged before she herself looked inside. "Don't know. I was just told to bring it here." Glancing inside, she found a massive store of flour, yeast, sugar, tomatoes, spices, cheese, and pepperoni among other random assorted ingredients. Further back, it also looked as if there were canned fruits and what appeared to be a massive pile of candy. "It looks like food ingredients to me…"

That kid really wanted pizza and candy.

The woman seemed to lose a bit of her rough attitude before turning around and making her way back to the doorway. "Jeremy! Get your sorry butt out here and help carry this stuff in! Looks like we have our rationing problem solved!" Turning back to Illuyana, she only gave her a simple nod. Knowing her work was done, she nodded back before making her way back to the road.

"Wait!"

Turning back around, Illuyana saw the woman waving her hand after her. Tilting her head, she rose an eyebrow.

"What about the shipping crate?"

Shrugging, Illuyana shook her head. "Feel free to use it for storage or something. I don't think the boss wanted it back anyway!"

Clearly confused as to who 'the boss' was, Illuyana continued her casual stride away. Making her way back around the building, she waited for a moment by the line. She watched for about thirty minutes before the line sped up drastically. Glancing at the still-restless kid stuck next to his mother, she saw as he glanced her way. Smiling to him, she gave him a sly wink.

She didn't quite care that she probably made that kids day, along with everyone else who wanted free pizza, but the kid helped her out. She thought for a moment how Brynden would feel about what she did, and she knew full well that she wouldn't be able to stop herself from bragging to her human friend. She might not care for the kid she helped, but she knew that it would most certainly make Brynden smile…

Using their newly constructed link, she sent him an image of the child excitedly waiting in the line for only a moment, giving a bit of context before cutting it off.

After all, I have a plan to implement.

It didn't take her long for her to refocus herself and find phase two.

Surrounded by a sword buried into the ground was a group of about sixty humans all huddled together in a large field. They all appeared to be warm, their winter jackets scattered about as they conversed happily around the solar radiance the sword gave off. Tank tops and melted snow were in the field, showing that the warmth that emanated was akin to a warm summer's day.

There was just one problem.

It is FAR too crowded! It's a good thing I planned for that!

"Hey everyone!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, using a bit of her inherent magic to amplify her voice only a bit. After only a second of confusion, she got enough of the human's attention to do what she wanted. "The nearby cafeteria just got a massive supply of pizza ingredients! Free pizza for everyone!"

The reaction was instantaneous.

Half the crowd instantly began to rush to their winter coats, braving the edge of the circle-of-warmth to rush back toward the way she just came. One by one, two by two, the clearing slowly emptied.

Smiling devilishly, she was absolutely sure her slit eyes were showing as she made her way into the now half-empty field. Stealing a reclining lawn chair from some poor sod who left it behind, she placed it directly next to the sword. Feeling the radiant warmth coming from the blade, she removed her winter jacket and sat in the chair.

Looking around, she saw three lightbearers sitting at a table within the circle-of-warmth playing with a deck of cards. They were staring at her with idle curiosity. One of them she idly noted was Tallulah, but at that moment she didn't quite care.

Sure, she couldn't sunbathe in her draconic form right now, but this was the next best thing.

Looking down, she spotted a pair of sunglasses stuck within the cup holder of her appropriated folding chair which she promptly placed on her face. Closing her eyes, she smiled as she felt the calming warmth of the (almost) sun in front of her.

It's always good when a plan comes together.

—

Brynden was in a large tent, surrounded on both sides by light bearers. To his right was a strangely caped man with a shotgun attached to his back casually examining a knife, and to his left was a smaller woman in robes casually writing in a book whilst paying full attention to every word said in the briefing.

Despite the fact that he knew he belonged among them, he still felt immensely out of place. It really didn't help that Illuyana wasn't here to make him feel better.

As if she knew that he was thinking of her, which she probably did, an image of a large crowd of people all enjoying a bounty of food came through to him. A child excitedly waited eagerly in a fast-moving line to be fed, screaming "I knew it would be pizza mama!" made Brynden smile despite the seriousness of the meeting he found himself in.

I really need to figure out how this mind-link thing works…

Looking over to the center of the room, he saw a map of some unknown area marked off with flags and glowing colors. Osiris and Saint were both looking down to the map with differing expressions.

"The fallen houses have been getting more bold in recent months, attacking towns and settlements around the planet with more and more frequency." Osiris said, gesturing toward a map in the center of the makeshift briefing room. "At this point, we need to find out why. While the Iron Lords have been monitoring the situation, it doesn't mean they aren't an active threat to both The City and the civilians out in the scattered settlements around the world. There are several villages in and around the old Cosmodrome," He pointed to a spot on the map. "We will need a fireteam on the ground out there to scout out the situation. The Iron Lords can't be everywhere at once. Like it or not, we have the ability to help these people."

Saint moved forward, standing in front of the map to address the three of us. "You three were chosen because you showed interest in helping more than just the city folk. You all want to help, no? You are under no obligation to, as we can not give you direct orders, but-"

"Of course we will help." Came from his left, "Yeah." From his right. Brynden, for his part, just gave a quick nod.

Osiris looked pleased at this. "Good. We will send you three out tomorrow. Stop by the armory for supplies as this might be a long mission."

Saint piped up, gesturing energetically toward the group of three. "And worry not my friends! I will be there to help you. Perhaps once this is over, we will all be the best of friends!"

The caped man to Brynden's left didn't appear to be assuaged by his words, and the woman to his right seemed indifferent. Brynden however was glad to have Saint along.

The more the merrier, right?

"Very good. Now, let's discuss exactly what your objectives will be. First…"

—

"Full house."

Loud groans of annoyance came from the table nearby, rousing Illuyana from her nap. Without opening her eyes, she tasted the air for any emotions of desire. Feeling two immense desires nearby, she reached up and pushed her sunglasses down.

Turning her head, she spotted the group playing cards again. Tallulah was sitting dejectedly on her table with a companion, a red robotic man next to her having a similar expression on his face. The two watched as the third, a brown haired man, scooped up his winnings.

"Keep on like this Tallulah, and you might just lose your sparrow!" The man yelled, clearly happy with himself.

Digging deeper into her senses, she found that the desires of Tallulah and her robotic friend were the root cause of her distraction.

They really want him to lose.

Normally, she wouldn't care too much about any others, but Tallulah was Brynden's friend. This meant that the ahamkara, very slightly, cared about her as well. Pushing her sunglasses up, Illuyana made her way to the table with a devilish smirk on her face.

"Hello! I was wondering if I could join you?" She asked politely.

The three looked over, eyeing her with differing levels of confidence. The man with the large pile of winnings spoke up first. "Got something to put down? We ain't playin' for nothing."

Blinking, Illuyana quickly realized that she didn't really know what was going on. She knew it was a game of some sort, but not anything else from there. Looking down to his pile, she saw various jewelry, glimmer, and papers with scribbles on them… that she still couldn't read. The jewels and glimmer however? That she understood.

Now this just got a whole lot more interesting…

Shaking her head, she laughed. "Sorry, but I don't quite know how to play. Perhaps I can just watch?"

Tallulah brightened up, seemingly happy to help. "Sure, why not? Come over here and I will try to teach ya'."

Even as Illuyana made her way over, the brown-haired human spoke up. "So long as you teach her like you two play, I'm all for it! After all, who wouldn't want some more stuff?"

The desires of the other two for something unfortunate to happen to the cocky man skyrocketed even as the disguised ahamkara sat down. Internally smirking as her magic swirled within her, she glanced at the cards as they were passed around. Two of them began to put circular disks in as the robotic man began to write something on a sheet of paper, Tallulah spoke up.

"Okay so," Tallulah said, peeking at her cards and showing them to Illuyana. One had an A with and the other a four, both with hearts on them. "This game is a mix of luck, risk assessment, deception, and paying attention to your opponents." Immediately intrigued, Illuyana studied the table more closely. Each person had two cards in their hand.

"The goal is to have the best hand." The robotic man said, sliding over the piece of paper he was drawing on. Looking down, she saw a quick drawing of several different card combinations. Studying them closely, Illuyana looked up to the exo. "The lower on this drawing a hand is, the worse the hand. The person, when all cards are down, that has the highest hand gets the pot."

"And that, my dear newcomer," The man with the pile of winnings said. "Is how I will end up with your sunglasses!"

Squinting her eyes behind her reflective frames, she continued to swirl her magics within her heart.

We shall see, oh prey mine. We shall see.

—

Making his way down to his tent, Brynden found himself fiddling with the leather straps on his hammer. Helping out around the City and doing supply runs was one thing, but tomorrow he would be stepping into a veritable warzone for an extended period of time.

Looking up, he realized that it was getting dark. He was in the debriefing with Osiris and Saint far longer than he thought he would be. He could only hope that Illuyana was okay.

Come to think of it, I haven't heard from her for hours now…

Shaking his head, he turned a corner to see his camp. Sitting under his ship, he saw the large tent set up same as it was when he left this morning, but something seemed off this time.

Unzipping the tent entrance, he stepped inside and re-zipped it behind him. Turning, he was met with a strange sight.

Sitting atop a small pile of glittering blue cubes, jewelry, and what appeared to be gold pieces sitting atop his sleeping bag was a small Illuyana, smiling up at him with a bright fang-filled smile. Her red scales reflected off of the small pile of treasures below her, accentuated by the sunglasses perched atop her muzzle.

He had so many questions at that moment, but at that moment, he just didn't seem to care, so long as, "This won't cause us any issues, right?"

Wriggling around the small hoard of cash, she shook her head.

"No. Surprisingly, I didn't steal any of it."

Waiting for her to elaborate further, he was disappointed when she didn't. Removing his weapons and setting them aside, he began to make his way to his sleeping bag. Trying to slide his way in without disturbing the dragon atop her humble hoard, he finally settled down.

"We are heading out on a mission tomorrow."

He was met with silence for a moment before she shifted a bit. Feeling a wisp-like tendril wash across his mind for a moment, he shivered despite the blanket atop him.

"You don't need to worry, oh friend mine. I am here with you."

Feeling that tendril… replace? Fill? Envelop? His mind with confidence, he found himself looking atop his chest. Illuyana was staring at him with a serious expression, and he thought for a moment that he could see beyond her physical form to what lay beyond. In that moment, he quickly realized that the mental bond he wished for might have been a bit more than just a means of silent communication.

"And I will never let you go."

The revelation, he found, was a bit less profound when he saw that the little dragoness was still wearing the reflective sunglasses on her muzzle. Snorting, he scratched her under her chin like she always enjoyed before setting his head back down atop his pillow.

Tomorrow, the real fun began.

-Author's Note-

What happens if you remove the inherited malice from an ahamkara? You get free pizza parties while she steals your tanning spots to sunbathe. Yes, Illuyana is a lazy lizard who wants to sit and not be bothered by any of these silly creatures that aren't Bryn. She's a whole mood, and I absolutely love writing her. Writing "Go away." At the start made me more happy then I care to admit.

Who's ready for some dark ages stuff? I particularly liked the part where, when writing the next part, I said "it's dark ages time" and proceeded to dark age all over the page.

Oh, one more thing. If you play void or arc Titan running PK or anteus wards immortal in trials right now, I hate you. That is all.

Read and review, and if you like it consider giving me a follow and a favorite.

A/N 2

-If any of you are wondering why this was updated randomly, I asked my normal fireteam on the game to give me names and descriptions of Bryn's fireteam, and they came up with drastically different characters than the throw away ones I had. They now have fully fleshed out personalities, names, and looks. Helped me clear up a block I had. -