Ray and the Last Dragon

Chapter 9: Spine

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Ray was checking the map when a shrimp was thrown at it. He looked up to the the baby and the Ongis eating a bunch of food.

"Hey! Stop eating!" Boun yelled, popping up behind them and chasing them.

It was complete pandemonium on the boat. Ray cringed in annoyance, until he heard a soft giggle behind him. He looked up and saw (Y/n) standing behind him.

"Don't worry, I got this." She whispered. "Hey! Hey, guys? Do you wanna play hide and seek?" She asked.

Everyone froze and looked at her before jumping with excitement. (Y/n) covered her eyes.

"All right. Ready? One. Two...Two and a half..." she peeked out at Boun and Ray who looked at her in thanks.

Ray stood up and walked to the end of the boat where Sisu was.

"Three!"

Ray sat down next to her. "Remind me to never have kids." He sighed.

"Being people is hard." Sisu confessed.

"Yep." Ray agreed.

"Six! Seven!"

"You have small heads. No tails. You lie to get what you want, like the Talon Chief back there."

"Yeah, well, the world's broken. You can't trust anyone." Ray said.

"Or maybe the worlds broken because you don't trust anyone."

"You sound just our Ba's." Ray admitted.

"Well, they sound like smart people."

"Yeah, they were. I really wanted to believe them. I really wanted to believe that we could be Kumandra again." Ray confessed.

"And we can."

"Literally thousands of people turned to stone would argue otherwise."

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't try." Sisu told him.

"And we did. And you know what happened? I got kicked in the back by someone who gave me a gift. Look around. We're a world of orphans because people couldn't stop fighting over a gem. Wanna know why other dragons didn't come back? It's because people don't deserve them." Ray stated firmly.

"But you can change that." Sisu insisted.

"No, Sisu, I am done trying. Kumandra is a fairly tale. The only thing important to me now is bringing our Ba's back and protecting (Y/n). She's the only person I have left that I can trust, and if I lost her, I would never forgive myself."

"You really love her don't you?"

Ray sighed, and then nodded. "I do. Which is why I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep her safe."

"Why don't you tell her you love her?" Sisu asked.

"I guess I'm...afraid. If I tell her, things would be different, and I'm not sure whether or not they would be a good different, or a bad different." He said.