American Dragon's Gem

Second Hand Fire

Over the next few weeks Alaska has avoided Pearl, always making excuses for why she couldn't talk. Through those weeks, she hung out with the turtles, Jake and her friends, Rose, just anyone who wasn't Pearl. 

Right now, she was on her roof, letting the wind blow through her now wavy and unbraided hair. She had her braids taken out so her head could have a break from them, the half-gem being tender headed. Alaska was also cleaning the katana Leo gave her, she had to use it again because of this heist her and her friends did for some leprechauns. 

Jake and Alaska had to fight a giant spider, and when Alaska sliced of its leg it grew back. But they got the leprechauns' gold back, nearly by the skin of their teeth. 

But back to the present. The gem watched as the sun set over the city she learned to love, and a small smile appeared when she heard the whooping of a certain dragon. "Hey, Snowflake." Jake landed as Alaska finished cleaning her sword. 

"Hey, Dragon. How was patrol?" "Pretty boring without you there. What about you? How are you holding up?" Besides her parents and the gems, Jake was the only one who knows what happened between Alaska and Pearl. 

"I was right about not being the same around her. Any time she walks up to me I feel scared, I don't feel safe unless someone else is in the room with us." Jake wrapped his scaly body around Alaska, letting her lean against his side as he put his head in her lap.

 Alaska set her sword down and ran her hand along the spines on her friend's head and neck, the sharp looking spines feeling more like hair or fur. 

"I'm sorry, I wish there's something I can do." Alaska softly smiled as Jake pressed the side of his face into her stomach, purring almost like her pet lion would but more reptilian. "You're kinda helping right now, you act more like a scaly cat than a dragon." 

Jake lifted his head and leaned it on one of his talons. "You just lost your privilege to pet the American Dragon." Alaska snickered and playfully rolled her eyes as she started to scratch under his chin and jaw. This proved to be effective since Jake's tough dragon act melted back to purring. "You can't live long without my scritches." 

Jake just set his head back into her lap and let her continue to pet him. Alaska looked out at the city as she pets her crush, but a patch of smoke rising made Alaska worried. It made her more worried that the smoke was coming from April's apartment. 

"Jake, there's a fire at April's!" The dragon shot up and the gem switched to her ninja gear. 

Frost quickly got on Jake's back and the two were flying towards the temporary home of her adoptive brothers. The two landed on a roof across the street; Alaska taking off her mask as she watched the building burn. 

The gem teared up as she tried to run to get to the burning store, but her dragon friend wouldn't let her as he held her. Despite how much she struggled she couldn't get free due to Jake's strength. "Snowflake, Frosty, Alaska! Stop! There's nothing we can do!"

 Alaska stopped and buried her face in his chest as she started to sob uncontrollably, they stayed there for the next hour as firemen put out the blaze. 

When the authorities left the now crumbled building, Jake picked Alaska up, but something caught his eye. "Alaska, you need to put on your mask. There's some cyber punk down there." The gem listened and put her mask back on. Once her mask was in place, Jake flew them closer and landed so they couldn't be seen by the man or his robots. 

"Baxter Stockman? April told me about him, he tried to kill her after she found out about his plans." They listened and got the shock of their life as Baxter reveled that there were no bodies. 

"The turtles survived the blaze." 

Alaska was so happy she started crying again, she tapped Jake's neck and motioned that they should go. The dragon listened and flew them back to the apartments they lived in and landed on Alaska's roof. 

"They're alive, my brothers and sensei are alive." Alaska switched back to her normal clothes and Jake went to his human form. 

"And we'll find them, wherever they are." Alaska hugged Jake and he hugged her back as she dried her tears.