Ghost's Reign Chapter 18: Masking Emotion, a How to Train Your Dragon + Big Hero 6 Crossover fanfic

Chapter 18, everybody! Why are there two Columbus Days on my calendar….

I have no idea if porcelain could even be added to but seeing as how it's a type of ceramic it's more likely that Obake simply fired himself a new one. Also Tadashi and Baymax having some deep discussions that's nice.

So to summarize his week, mornings were spent attempting to fly Tadashi, afternoons were spent trying to evade Momakase and Carl, and the rest of Obake's time was spent trying to recover from all this. In sum, a really sucky experience. His current best time on Tadashi had snuck up to twenty seconds, but that was really all he could go with—twenty seconds and then a lot of bucking and brawling and rolling over, and when all that didn't work Tadashi would launch into the air and attempt to use centrifugal force to rip Obake off his back. Should probably be grateful that he hadn't yet graduated to trying to scrape him off on one of the sea stacks or dive deep and drown him—Light Furies were good at diving, it stood to reason that their near cousins were adept as well.

"Hrr," Hiro noised, hopping up onto the bed Obake was currently flopped on.

"I need an estimation on how quickly you grow," Obake muttered. "Because your brother is being decidedly uncooperative."

"Hrr," Hiro noised—apparently decided that standing on Obake's chest was productive, grumbled when Obake pushed him off.

"Well I do like breathing," Obake said, scrubbing at his face. Okay what else hadn't he tried? Roll over, dig under his bed for one of the notebooks he stashed under there—

Blinked, had to drag himself a little further off the bed to look when he felt something cool and smooth instead.

"Ah," he sighed, reaching under and pulling his mask out—didn't remember it going under there, felt that had probably been an instance of cleaning out his pack and pockets in favor of focusing on tending a dragon and had ended up kicked under there. Story of his life, no doubt.

"Wrr?" Hiro noised, ear flaps alternating between lifting up and flattening against his neck.

"Oh yes, you like it?" he asked, angling it so Hiro could get a better look—Hiro's response was to arch his back and hiss. "Ah, right—you haven't seen this since I shot you down." Did he ever fetch his knife from that clearing? So much had happened since then. Ponder the dragon, experiment—

Hiro backed up hissing when Obake held the mask in front of his face.

"Good, that's the reaction it's supposed to garner," he said, tossing the mask on the bed and enjoying Hiro's look of absolute consternation. Watch Hiro nose at it, paw at it, leap back—sneak forward again, nose it over, sniff at the inside before looking at him in confusion.

"To properly explain I'd probably have to enlighten you on the concept of clothes," Obake said, flopping back down. "And seeing as how that's a losing battle…probably for the best we leave it be for now. Besides, that thing's useless now." Useless because they were no longer to be the marauding murdering Yokai, whose upper members wore those porcelain masks to better hide their humanity and emphasize what people feared, that they were little more than revenants bent on the destruction of all those before them.

He scowled at that thought, at the recollection that, after Callaghan had shown his own mask and explained its purpose, that Obake had been the first to earn one, to the bitterness of more than a few—at the time he had thought that he finally had purpose and respect, had been brimming with pride and gone nowhere without it, had taken to learning how to lurk in the shadows with it on to better torment certain naysayers he had mentally painted a target on. Oh, it had been good to exert that sort of power, that sort of vengeance…to be able to turn his mind to destroying whoever stood in his way.

But that was so long ago, now—now, the mask was just a reminder of what had been, a symbol of the snare he had happily let himself into, not attempting to struggle out of it until it was crushing his throat.

Now, it was just a symbol of the trap he was in.

"Wrr!" Hiro noised, starting back when he launched up, snatched the mask and flung it—buried his face in his hands, trying to calm himself…still trapped, in the role of chief but still with the Yokai, and unless he could figure out how to get this stupid dragon to let him stay on there was no getting out—

"Wrr."

Start at being nudged, look up to see that Hiro had retrieved his mask for him and was eyeing him worriedly. Probably figured he had thrown it to play fetch. Sigh, pick up the mask again—probably all it was good for, it wasn't like it offered much protection, only really keeping the wind off his face—

Hold it.

Consider the mask again, consider Hiro sitting there, ear flaps raised like he wasn't sure what to make of this. Let's analyze this, shall we? The mask kept the wind off his face, but Night Furies were built for streamlined, aerodynamic flight…what if….

"Come on," he said, launching out of bed. "I've got an idea."

That idea saw Carl finding him in the forge early that morning, after a lot of work trying to get his new idea to properly pass muster.

"I'm going to guess you were in here all night," Carl observed, putting a basket on the counter.

"Not all of it," Obake said, waving him off. He had gone on worse tears.

Carl made a noise that suggested he either didn't buy it or didn't approve. Possibly both. "What are you doing, then."

"Trying something different," Obake reported, turning the newly-furnished mask over in the tongs before holding it up in front of his face. "What do you think, Hiro?"

He was holding it a good foot from his face and a few inches over so he could watch Hiro's expressions, was rewarded with a look of such consternation that he really had to hurry and jot it down.

"Maybe you don't have the mask around," Carl suggested. "They probably don't like not being able to see a face."

"That was the purpose of the things," he muttered, still sketching. And it was—the Yokai masks that only the elites wore, to further strike terror into those they attacked. Blank of expression, tilt of the eyes suggesting danger, white with red stripes—good thing it did, too, because peripheral vision in those were awful.

Hence some of his tweaks—eyes slightly bigger but not enough to fully change the expression, and he was planning on adding the stripes that had been worn off back in, still devoid of any other physical features that made it look human.

Especially with his little additions—protrusions on the back and sides in imitation of Night Fury ears and nubs, designed for streamlining wind and to protect his ears, with the intention of wearing it the next time he tried riding on Tadashi. The idea was it'd keep the wind off of his face and maybe let him see better.

Note to self: remember to add the strap, would be useless without one because first of those barrel rolls and it'd go flying—dangit, he was going to break this dragon if it killed him.

Knowing Tadashi, it probably would.

Tadashi knew this round was going to suck, and the mask being put in front of him just cemented that feeling.

"What is this?" he demanded, backpedaling and growling at first the mask, then the Yokai who put it there. He already knew the answer, it was a Yokai-face, and he certainly didn't need that on top of Obake trying to ride him. He could maybe tolerate Obake on a really, really good day—he wouldn't be able to tolerate him wearing that on top of it and looking like a full-blooded Yokai.

"This is supposed to help Obake keep the wind off his face so he can see better," Hiro explained.

"You canNOT be okay with this."

"It…needed some explaining," Hiro admitted, grimacing.

Uh-huh. "Nope," he said, turning around and stalking off. "Nope, I'm done. Not this time."

"At least give me time to resort to bribery," Obake grumbled. Uh-huh, no.

Besides, he literally had better things to do.

Finding Healing-Talons took longer than he had hoped, finally spotted the white dragon exiting a cave in the cliff-face that the Yokai-nest clustered around. Okay, questionable.

"Tadashi," Healing-Talons greeted when he landed. "I have been discussing healing plants with Bikong—they've been doing research into which healing plants Yokai also use."

"Hi—what?" Tadashi asked, caught flat-footed. "Who's Bikong?"

"Sky-Blue-Zippleback," Healing-Talons clarified. "The Yokai they are studying gifted them the name."

Tadashi grumbled at that. "Am I the only one who remembers that the Yokai kill dragons?"

"Since coming here I have not heard a single report of a Yokai killing a dragon. It could be that our continued presence is reducing that urge."

"Healing-Talons, I really need you on my side for this."

The Wooly Howl twitched his tail. "Please follow me."

Tadashi tipped his head at that, confused—followed Healing-Talons as he trotted off.

"I do not see why I have to pick sides," Healing-Talons said as they walked. "Both sides have very valid points, and the existence of one side does not invalidate the other."

"You've lost me," Tadashi told him.

"There are absolute, universal truths," Healing-Talons explained. "Things that cannot be refuted. Items dropped will fall. The sun will rise and set."

"Meat will always land fur-side up?"

"Yes." Stopped, indicated the open space they were on the edge of, near the middle of the nest. "And living things have free will. Mountain-King seemed an unstoppable force, and yet you defeated him because you chose to."

"It wasn't choosing—I thought—I thought…."

Healing-Talons nudged him with his great fluffy head. "You thought that Little-Brother was dead. In your anger and your grief you lashed out at the one responsible for creating the situation to begin with." Lift his head, tip it, considering. "What Mountain-King did was a perversion of nature. No one's will should be superimposed on another living being. He was doomed to meet a poor fate due to his own decisions, his own free will."

Tadashi snorted. "Well let me tell you about my week then."

Healing-Talons sat, listened as Tadashi elaborated on the daft thing Hiro and Obake were plotting, mostly Obake, the saddle and the riding and everything—was breathing heavily when he finished.

Healing-Talons blinked at him. "Obake is not imposing his will on you."

"What?" Tadashi demanded. "Did you not listen to what I just said?"

"I did," Healing-Talons confirmed. "Obake is not imposing his will on you. Not like Mountain-King did. You are still free to refuse, to walk away and not acquiesce to his demands. You are here with me now, instead of with him, engaging in that behavior."

Huff. "Do you mind? I'm trying to be justifiably mad."

"You are upset," Healing-Talons said, leaning against him and patting him with a paw. "There, there."

"This isn't helping me."

"Is continuing to be angry improving your health?" Healing-Talons asked, leaning back.

Tadashi blinked. "Uh…I don't think so, no…staying away from the Yokai does but Hiro insists on hanging out with him so THAT doesn't help—"

Healing-Talons put a paw on his, making him pause. "Continuing to be angry is not improving your health."

Tadashi shook his paw free. "What am I supposed to do? Just be all hunky-dory because the Yokai aren't trying to kill us today? What about tomorrow? What about next week? What about—" What about the fact that a Yokai did my job better than me, he thought. Hiro was in better health after a couple of months with a Yokai than a couple of years struggling under Mountain-King.

I should have done something sooner.

Healing-Talons blinked at him. "You are distressed," he observed. "And not simply from being around the Yokai."

"I should have done something sooner," Tadashi said. "If I had, then maybe…."

Healing-Talons nudged him. "You cannot change the past. You can only use it to moderate how you react to the present." Toss his head, indicating the clear space—no one seemed willing to dart straight across, Yokai and dragon alike sticking to the sides. "Yokai and dragons were mortal enemies. Now they are living together. Everyone is uneasy about this, but you and Older-Light-Fury and myself and the rest of our friends have the greater unease of worrying about Little-Brother for so long. You and Older-Light-Fury believed him to be dead. That level of upset doesn't go away without taking several bites first."

This was true.

"It is very likely that, had you attacked Mountain-King sooner, you would not have succeeded," Healing-Talons continued, watching the activity in the shadows of the nests surrounding the clearing. "You did not have the motivation, nor the power to take him down. Things happen when they do for a reason." Blink, look at him. "You feel things strongly. Not accepting the Yokai quickly is understandable. You are approaching this at your own pace, and will come to your conclusions when you are ready."

"Stop being so understanding," Tadashi grumbled—tossed his head, indicating everything before pointedly looking at Healing-Talons. "What if I say no? What if I say 'well we tried, it was a good run, time to go'?"

Healing-Talons considered this. "Everyone has free will," he said. "You have the free will to decide to do that. Others will have the free will to decide not to go, to instead stay and try this." Blink, watch a Gronkle on the other side of the clearing walking next to a Yokai. "I do not think you will make that decision."

"Oh you don't?"

"I do not," Healing-Talons confirmed. "I think you are acting as a good alpha should and considering every possibility, both good and bad. It's just that currently, you are more focused on the bad."

"I feel like there's reasons."

"There are," Healing-Talons agreed. "But if you felt so strongly about it, you would have given the order to leave before now. Yes, part of it is humoring Little-Brother, but I think that part of you is curious to see how this will go."

Huff—was it curiosity? Okay yeah fine part of it was but still. The fact remained that he didn't trust Obake and this whole thing was just flying around in circles now.

"Honeysuckle and I found out something yesterday," Tadashi told him, deciding on a subject change. "You said you thought the blue crackling on my back was from the scales superheating, right?"

"Yes, that was my assessment."

"Well, yesterday I flew through one of my blasts and disappeared like Honeysuckle does."

Healing-Talons perked at that. "Oh?"

"Yeah, we were wondering if maybe my blasts were stronger now."

"That is worth studying," Healing-Talons said, standing. "Will you show me?"

"Sure," Tadashi said, standing as well—perked his ears at the sight of a Yokai powering straight across the clearing, the first one he had spotted doing so—that blue one that Swift-Strike had been—

No sooner than he thought it, Swift-Strike flew down and landed in front of the blue Yokai, watching it jump back, alarmed, before dumping what looked like throwing-claws in front of it. Gave it a pointedly smug look before stalking off, pausing at the edge of the clearing to look back and bark "Well? Are you coming?" Wasn't sure what to make of that, or of the Yokai gathering up the throwing-claws and running after her.

"What was that about?" he had to ask.

"Gogo has been working with that Yokai," Healing-Talons supplied. "I am unsure as to the reason why."

"Me neither, because my next question is 'why did she give it throwing-claws?'"

"Perhaps she has given the concept thought and is willing to try the experiment," Healing-Talons said. "Maybe she trusts that Yokai to use its free will to not attack her." Blink at him. "You were showing me the new effect your blasts have."

Right. Something within the realm of sense. He could work with that. Launch into the air, Healing-Talons following. In all honesty, he desperately needed to have something he could sink his claws into, something that didn't feel like shifting sands between them.

Something that didn't feel like failing, somehow.