The Dragons Of Crestwood Forest || Sanders Sides

Chapter Nine

I'm just vibing lol

TW: swearing, yelling, talk of pain, slight angst,

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It was awhile before any of the others woke up. The conversation between Remus and Thomas had fizzled out, leaving them in a comfortable silence. A new understanding had passed between the two, letting them both relax more. Thomas felt more comfortable knowing part of Remus' story. He could relate with him. The more he found out about the dragons, the more he felt like he could trust them.

The first of the others to wake up was Logan. He was still in his dragon form when he emerged from the cave. The only thing he did was give them a small nod of greeting before taking off into the air, flying towards the border of the forest.

"Where's he going?" Thomas asked, breaking the peaceful silence. Remus watched him leave with an unreadable expression.

"Probably to patrol the border. We have to make sure that no humans wander into the forest, or they don't last long in here," Remus explained. "The magic tends to make it colder to anything without magic. That means that humans get very, very cold. It also makes it darker in here. That's why anyone who stays has to drink a little lake water. It gives just enough magic to shake off some of the cold and light effects."

"That makes sense. So all you guys do is patrol and guard the lake?"

"Basically." Remus sighed, shaking his head. "It gets boring some days, but the only other thing to do around here is hunt or make sure Roman and Virgil don't kill each other. Which has almost happened several times. And hunting has its own dangers."

"What kind of things do you hunt?" Thomas didn't know anything big enough in this area for a dragon to hunt. Then again, he hadn't known that dragons existed until recently either, so there could be anything.

"You don't want to know the kind of things in this forest," Remus said quietly. "It's better to just not wander on your own, and then you won't have to find out. If you see anyone but us, run. Don't hesitate. Hesitation brings death."

"Noted."

"You bitch!" Remus sighed at the sound of Roman yelling.

"Says the even bigger bitch!" And there was Virgil.

"They fight often, don't they?"

"All of the time," Remus grumbled. "I don't understand it. I don't know if they're just hopelessly attracted to each other yet hate each other or if the fact that they're attracted to each other makes them angry. Their relationship doesn't make any sense. Ever since day one they've been constantly at each others' throats. The first time Roman ever changed into the dragon form he almost died because he instantly attacked Virgil."

"Wow," Thomas said. "Why are they both so angry?"

"Like I said, I think part of it is that they're attracted to each other and hate that fact." There was the sound of more yelling coming from the cave. "Another part might just be that they're angry. Roman has always been so angry. About anything, really. He hated our life before this, and now he hates our life as this. The world never treated us fairly. I think that makes him angry, and he doesn't know how to deal with that, so he just attacks Virgil."

"But why Virgil? I mean, besides the attraction thing."

"Honestly, I've got no idea. I think it was the fact that he had carried around the anger for so long without blowing up at someone that when he saw Virgil, someone who he neither knew nor cared about, he just lashed out. And then after that it never really changed. When he found out what happened to Virgil it only got worse. He would constantly take shots at it just to make Virgil angry. Which, considering what Virgil went through, was not a good idea."

"How did you guys meet Virgil?" Thomas cringed at the fact that he asked another question. "Sorry for asking so many questions. I'm just curious."

"No, you're fine," Remus reassured him. "I don't mind. After running away, we found the lake. None of the others had found us, and we had no idea that the lake would be dangerous to go in. It looked warm, and we were probably delirious from blood loss, so we jumped in. The pain was awful... at some point I blacked out. When we woke up we were out of the lake, and Virgil was there. He looked concerned, but Roman didn't really care. I guess pain and anger can make anyone lash out, because that's what Roman did. We weren't able to change until later, though." There was the sound of a large crash from the cave. "Well, I'd better stop the dumb fight before it gets any worse."

Remus got up and walked towards the cave, leaving Thomas alone by the water.

826 words.