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sweebat · 3 years

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Short segment of an au I have. 2k mini-fic under the line.

Warning: Graphic descriptions of violence

“Drake…?”

Standing at a height of over twenty feet tall, armed with razor-sharp fangs and poignant talons and claws, with its muscular body adorned with thick armor and glimmering scales that illuminated through the darkness of the night, the beast loomed over the motionless body of his dragon—his childhood friend whom Ryouga raised since he was a hatchling.

Drake laid upon the moist ground in a bloodbath. His limbs were strewn about in a haphazard manner as though he was tossed and thrown around like a ragdoll. Along the entire length of his body, spreading from his face to his chest, torso, flippers and all, were deep, gaping wounds. Burn marks littered his skin. His arms and legs harbored bite marks and scratches with entire chunks of flesh missing. The leather of his wings was shredded until only a handful of loose sheets remained, dangling from the frame by mere threads of tissue alone. His blood leaked into the soil as much as it stained the rest of his scales. But then, Ryouga caught sight of it. At the base of his throat, Drake’s impermeable hide peeled away, leaving behind a dark crater that oozed with his own blood. The loose flesh struggled to hang onto his body as best as they could; however, even from his position, he saw that the wound deep enough to reveal bones underneath. With his throat torn out, his poor dragon suffocated in his own blood and…

The other behemoth snarled lowly as it inspected its mauled prey.

Ryouga tore his attention away from Drake and towards the killer.

Frozen with fear, the man watched while the massive dragon hovered over the corpse. Blood trickled from its crimson-soaked mouth. A slimy, purple tongue slithered out from the crevice of its maw before stroking along the bloodied pathway along its lips. It lapped up the remaining fluids before releasing a low bellow, a satisfied rumble of some sort.

A lightheadedness overtook Ryouga as the scope of the tragedy set in. His heart sank into the pits of his stomach, pounding heavily while doing so. His lungs refused to breath, and when it did, it was short, erratic, and ragged. His hands trembled, and his legs quivered. A painful bubble swelled at the back of his throat—tears formed at the corners of his eyes, worsening his blurred vision before a single blink cleared his sight for a brief moment.

“N-No…” Ryouga uttered.

Decades of raising his dragon, all that work and care and…

The iridescent dragon ushered another snarl. With its massive teeth protruding from its maw, the dragon leaned towards the fallen Drake. Its mouth unhinged completely, and it prepared to devour and further mutilate the body of his cherished companion.

His frozen hands balled into a tight fist.

His sadness shifted into a fit of rage.

Without a hesitant thought, he screamed at the glowing dragon. “Get away from him!”

The gigantic monster came to a sudden halt. It steadily closed its mouth while raising its head and turning away from the dragon below it. Before Ryouga knew it, a pair of glowing eyes pierced down at him. It released a low growl as the spiny armor running down its backside gradually rose in agitation. The dragon hunched onto hinds, twisting its body until it faced the small human standing behind. The spines and scales on its backside fanned outward, adding more girth to its already-impressive size.

Ryouga flinched when it locked its eyes onto him, but he shoved the fearful sensation into the depths of his heart.

He refused to let this fucker eat his friend. “Come on, you bastard!” He barked at it, swinging his arms to affirm its attention on him.

It unleashed a deafening roar.

The ear-piercing sound caused him to recoil in pain, but as he was recovering from the stunning effect, the large dragon lunged towards him. Its tuckered wings extended outward fully, engulfing the area in its shadow—with the same illumination as the rest of its form, the shroud of light from its wings blinded Ryouga, forcing him to cover his face with his arm if he valued his eyesight.

As he braced himself for a fatal impact, for claws to pierce through his skin, or fangs to rip his body in half, crushed in the powerful jaws of the beast—

A sharp whistle reverberated through the field.

Seconds passed. Ryouga noticed that the light was prominent, still, yet his body remained intact; not crushed or swallowed or blasted into oblivion.

He slowly lowered his arms. Eyes squinted to nullify the effects of the bright light, the first thing he saw was a gigantic, bloodied snout hovering inches away from him.

“Gah!” He cried as he stumbled backwards and away from the merciless killer. The spontaneous movement as well as his shock caused him to lose his balance. With a noisy thud, he fell onto his back.

The dragon, however, remained motionless.

Another whistle rang out—this one sounded more like a specific and ghastly tune than a single sharp noise.

Like an obedient dog responding to the commands of its master, the large beast retracted from the human, folding its wings back towards his backside; although, it released a series of low growls and grumbles as it did so.

“You really are foolish if you thought you could go up against my galaxy-eyes.” A deep voice sounded from above Ryouga’s position.

He jumped in surprise at the voice of person, and then he jerked his head towards the source of the sound, towards a small, rocky outcrop overlooking the clearing.

Through the radiance of the dragon, he caught the clear form of a humanoid. A man, in fact. The man stood on the rocks with his chin held high, arms crossed, legs straight. He gazed down at Ryouga with callous bluish-gray eyes—it harbored a hint of arrogance that crawled under his skin and infuriated him. The man’s blond hair was bulbous, almost, with a curled tip at the ends. Dark teal bangs encircled the base of his yellow hair, where it appeared almost like a crown of antlers. White trousers with a white undercoat, as well as white leather gloves, clung onto his pale and toned body. A large metallic belt wrapped around his waist, and attached to it were bundles of small, brown sacks. Over this, he wore a dark coat with a flaring tailcoat lined with markings of some sort, but Ryouga was too far away to tell what they were. He was dressed modestly with class, yet by his rugged appearance, he appeared more like a lone bounty hunter than a law-abiding enforcer.

Ryouga’s eyes hardened into a fierce glare. Shaking with rage, he scrambled to his feet before screaming at the newcomer. “That thing’s yours!” He pointed at the monster, the galaxy-eyes. “It murdered my friend, you fucking bastard!”

The man scoffed. “Friend? That thing of yours is no friend.”

His teeth gritted. Ryouga raised a fist, and the desire to pummel this guy into a pulp rose exponentially. “What did ya say!”

“It’s a Number,” explained the blond matter-of-factly, as through the designation was enough to justify Drake’s death. “My job is to exterminate every single Number out there. It’s not my problem that your so-called ‘friend’ happens to be one.”

Before he could berate the stranger for killing his dragon for no particular reason—and even if he had one, Ryouga would still be furious—the man continued.

“I was going to let my galaxy-eyes nourish himself, but I guess I could have a heart and let you finish mourning whatever’s left of it.”

“You bastard! You’re gonna pay for this!”

The man snorted in amusement. Finished with the conversation, the blond whistled yet another tune.

The galaxy-eyes rumbled lowly. Its wings gradually unfolded once more. After reaching its maximum length of several meters long per wing, the dragon propelled into the air through a series of gradual flaps. The gusts of wind knocked Ryouga off his feet, while the man above remained unfazed by the increasing flurries. The dragon took to the high skies; in a wide turn, it swooped down at the man on the rock.

Ryouga could do nothing but watch as the dragon quickly seized its master in its claws before launching above the canopy of the forest. The dragon and the man disappeared over the tip of the leaves, and as the distance between Ryouga and the killers grew more and more with each passing second, the powerful glow diminished until it disappeared entirely.

Ryouga was left alone with no one except for the cold body of his dragon.

He growled in annoyance. They got away so easily, but then he let out a frustrated sigh. There was nothing to be done about that even if he wanted to…

He turned his head to the large, unmoving form a little while away. The earth around him was scorched, yet it was also moistened by the blood spilling from his lifeless companion.

He somberly staggered over to Drake. A shaky hand stroked across the water dragon’s tough beak and smooth scales. As his fingers ran down the surface, it stained itself in the dragon’s blood. He stopped as his bloodied fingers traced under a hazy and dull eye.

His anger dissolved into sadness.

Not even an hour ago, the dragon was nuzzling into his lap, purring and lively, and now…

“Drake…”

Utterly exhausted, with his arms wrapped around the dragon, uncaring of the crimson sludge that smeared on him as he did so, Ryouga shifted into unconsciousness, wondering what he was supposed to do now that his dragon was gone.

— —

He awoke at the dawn of sunrise to the sound of boots on gravel. It was approaching him from behind—slowly, steadily, but not discreetly.

Who…

“You are grieving,” stated an unknown voice. It was high-pitched and child-like, but at least he knew it wasn’t that jackass from last night.

Ryouga grunted. He held onto the stiff body of his dragon. Off the corner of his eyes, he noticed scavengers creeping their way from the edge of the clearing to the exposed wounds, starving to pick the flesh off of the bones.

An annoyed growl erupted from him. “What does it look like.” He snapped at the child, or whoever this was.

He just wanted to be left alone.

The child laughed. “It looks like you want revenge.”

Ryouga froze upon hearing the assumption.

He jerked his body around. How does this kid know—

It was him.

A child bearing a metal mask—he heard of this mysterious figure in passing within towns.

The boy stood there with the horizon rays of sunlight illuminating him from behind, making it difficult to examine him apart from the most jarring characteristic of the boy. Engulfing his entire face was a silver, elegant mask. It had a slit for his right eye and half of his mouth, but other than that, the rest of the area was covered completely, making very difficult to read his expressions.

“What are you doing here,” he started with caution.

He heard that this child was a pawn of some otherworldly beings.

He heard that this child had no soul.

He heard that this child was not to be mingled with.

“I simply sensed your sadness.” The child laughed. “And I have a way to get rid it.”

Get rid of his sadness…?

“No thanks,” Ryouga muttered before turning around. He looked down at Drake. The dragon’s eyes glazed over, and it appeared more lifeless than ever.

As much as he wanted revenge against the murderers, it won’t bring his dragon back to life.

The child manifested directly over him, standing less than a foot away from where he kneeled. “What if I said you can bring him back to life and let you have your revenge?”

Ryouga jumped backwards in shock at the sudden appearance. As he absorbed the words of the child—"You—You read my thoughts!?“

The child giggled manically. "Perhaps~”

His eyes squinted. He had no idea what this child was playing at, but the thought of it intrigued him. Although skeptical, he pressed on. “What… What do you mean by that? What sorta trick is this?”

“No trick,” answered the child. The child ran his gloved hand across Drake’s scales. The blood was dried by now, and the stroke was so light that it left no stains on the flawless silk. “I mean exactly as I said. Your little precious dragon will be reborn, and you can get your revenge on that meanie Kaito for hurting him.”

“Kaito, huh…”

The child’s smile grew wide behind his mask. “There are powerful forces out there, Ryouga,"—he never told him his name—"and I can connect you back to them.”

#sweepat art #blood cw #violence cw

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