(Raya and the Last Dragon x reader) The Seventh Dragon

⚡️ The Thrill of the Chase ⚡️

Hi again, everybody! This chapter has been a long time coming... A long, long time. To be completely honest, this year has been an emotional rollercoaster. I went through a massive, life-changing experience that sent my mental health spiraling and I essentially lost all motivation to do, well, anything. So that's why I've been MIA. Regardless, I'm back, FOR GOOD. I hope you don't mind, but I've completely forgotten everything that was said in the movie and I can't be bothered finding the script 😬. Instead, the characters will all be speaking their own words. Also, don't ask about the time-skip between the war and now LOL. I wasn't quite sure how to fill the gap, sooo yeah. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy this long-awaited chapter!

Y/N's POV:

One foot after another, I walk towards the 'end of the river'. I'm too low on energy, too low on water, to fly. My senses are stuck on high alert; each whisper of the wind sending jolts of panic down my spine. I am completely present. Like infinite shards of glass, the scalding sand shreds my feet as I trudge onward. The pain keeps me focused. It's grounding. Still, intrusive thoughts nag me with every footfall. I have to keep going. I can't give up now - after all I've been through. The lingering odor of Druun is everywhere, coating the world in some sickly cloak smelling of rotting flesh and stagnation. I can't seem to escape it. A raging, fiery sun beats down on my back, a never-ceasing reminder of the hopelessly barren wasteland in which I'm trapped. Nevertheless, I continue forward, my end goal in plain sight through the blazing air.

A shape in my peripheral catches my attention. I can smell what it is before I even turn to look at it, yet I shift my gaze nonetheless. I wish I hadn't. It's a family - all with their hands outstretched before them as though they were offering up their soul... To the Druun. In the center, solidified into pure stone stands a lone woman. Like all the others, her hands are raised, but my attention is elsewhere. Strapped to her back is something, or rather someone. My heart sinks ever-lower, dropping to the pit of my stomach. Bile rises in my throat as fresh tears prick my eyes. This is far from the first time I've seen something like this, but for some reason, this strikes a new nerve. A strangely foreign feeling of anger rises in me, but it's different. This isn't like the anger I felt before... No, this is more. This is a feeling that boils and bubbles like magma, threatening to explode at any unexpected moment. This is a feeling that makes even the stiffest of emotional callouses shatter. This is a feeling that ignites a flame of pure, unfaltering fury. With its head pressed to the woman's back in fear is a small baby, frail and defenseless. Though gray and unseeing, the child's stone eyes seem to stare directly through mine and into my heart. They ask, they beg for me to help them. To save them. But it's too late. What's done is done.

Some strange sadistic voice echoes in my mind, "Maybe this is what you needed. That final push to-" I don't let it finish. Instead, I try to refocus myself. Then, as quickly as it came, the voice recedes back to the deepest depths of my conscience. But it's right. I've been losing sight of my goal for a while now. With each sinking sun came a new wave of hopelessness, leaving me shaking in the cold and lonely nights. I'd turned to the glittering stars, pleading for some kind of sign that I was doing the right thing, that I wasn't following phantom tracks that would dissipate with the wind. Now I realize that they weren't the answer, and nor was my family. The answer was me. A mere whisper of newfound motivation sparks within me, but that's enough. I tear my attention from the child, a single firm intention now cemented in my mind. Get to that ship. Raising my paw in a futile attempt to shield my eyes from the blinding sun, I take a moment to watch as it begins sinking below the dunes, sending giant serpents of golden sunlight out to slither across the horizon. Yet, the ethereal sight is tainted by the reality of what's to come. I force myself to press forward nonetheless, in spite of the voices screaming at me from within my brain to turn back. It's so close yet so far. Come on y/n, you can do it. Don't you fucking give up now. I command within my brain, hoping, praying it will get me far enough. Just a few... more... steps... Suddenly I freeze. Just as I reach the summit of a particularly steep dune I notice a small brown spot headed towards the shipwreck. It's moving. Fast. Something feels off about this... Whatever is happening, whoever that is, I need to get to that shipwreck as quickly as I can. I pick up a frantic pace, dropping to all fours and beginning to race down the side of the dune. With each step I kick up a cloud of dust which quickly settles before another rises again. Suddenly a billow of sand flies into my eyes, blinding me and pulling a sharp hiss from between my clenched teeth.

Even then, I don't stop.

A booming sound echoes in  my skull, louder and louder and louder until it feels as though my head is going to burst. It's my heart, swelling into a mallet and pounding against my ribcage, threatening to explode. The thump-thumping radiates up to the crown of my head, eliciting nausea more intense than I'd ever felt before. The pressure builds up within every inch of my body, making my limbs go numb with trepidation. I feel the flicker of energy erupt into a roaring inferno within me as the shipwreck trickles closer and closer. The deteriorated wood of what used to be a ship juxtaposes the serene landscape around it, with its cobalt sky and golden sand. How could someplace so beautiful be so dangerous? My feet seem to have a mind of their own as I focus whatever energy I have left on the wreck and the person racing towards it. Our paces match each other as I bound further and further. I'm only a stone's throw from the person now. My four legs send me further and faster than the human's mere two. Before I know it, I've surpassed them and the shipwreck is closer than ever before. I can smell the rotting wood from where I am, but there's something else. It's another odor. It's... familiar. I try my hardest to suppress the feeling and to just keep running, but it tugs at my senses, shredding any lingering good sense I had. Eyes narrowing in painful concentration, I try my hardest to ignore the person sprinting just a few yards behind me. Suddenly it clicks. My feet stop moving and instead dig their heels deep into the sand completely on their own accord. I recognize the smell. How? It can't be. The sudden halt of motion sends me flying forward, my skull hitting the sand with breakneck force. A dagger of pain shoots through my body, paralyzing me, as white-hot pain clouds my vision. My breath hitches in my lungs, unable to escape. That's impossible. How... HOW?! I lie there, neck bent at an agonizing angle as endless thoughts swirl  through my brain, none of which are comprehensible. The world seems to stop spinning for an endless second and I feel disconnected from the world, from my thoughts, from myself. I don't notice the person closing in on me. I don't notice them stopping beside me to stare down at my crumpled form. All I can register is the smell. All thoughts vanish from my brain as they are overtaken by only one. The smell - it's Sisu. My sister.

To be continued...

Wellll. That was refreshing, wasn't it? I think I've finally come to my senses lol. This was a lot of fun to write, and the next chapter will probs be out within the week. I hope everyone has a wonderful new year, and I wish you all tons of happiness in 2023! Love you all~

Okaaz out ❤️