Drakon

reality return

[♘a l i s t a i r s e l w y n♘]

"How is he not awake yet? And why does he have a black eye?"

I heard a voice. Then I thought- could you hear things if you were dead?

"The black eye was not my fault. As to why he's not awake, how am I supposed to know? This is my first time doing the whole mind to world thing!"

Another voice spoke. This one was incredibly familiar. I could smell the scent of lavender. It was Kia.

"Can you guys stop arguing? I'm getting a bit worried now."

One of my eyelids fluttered open. The other remained stubbornly shut. Staring down at me were two very familiar faces, and one slightly less. One was a girl, with pursed red lips and dark hair in a braid that hung over her shoulder. Kia. The other had messy blonde hair, and a worried expression planted on his face. My brother, Cole. What was he doing here? The last face belonged to a young man around my brother's age with chin-length black hair, and a smug but slightly annoyed expression. He stood incredibly close to Cole, and had an arm looped over his shoulder. I assumed he was the infamous Dagen Nightdrake, my brother's new beau.

Dagen grinned, as Kia knelt by my side. "Well, our own Sleeping Beauty's awake! What took you so long?"

Cole raised an eyebrow. "Sleeping Beauty?"

Kia smiled, but I could tell that it was a bit forced. Was she still mad at me for slicing the Guardian's eye? Was she mad at the Guardian? Or was it something else?

I groaned, trying to sit up. "I know I'm pretty, but please don't call me Sleeping Beauty." I lifted a hand to my face, feeling around the eye that was swollen shut. Thanks to the Guardian of Death, I was now sporting a black eye. It was cool for a few seconds, until it started hurting. "Ow!"

Cole sighed. "Do I have to do my magic again?" He wiggled his fingers.

I frowned. "What magic? Oh right. We're sons of a warlock. Of course we both have magic."

Dagen made a face like he was saying 'duh'. "Gosh, you two are nothing alike." He glanced at Kia. "What do you see in him?"

Kia narrowed her eyes, glaring at the older boy. "Try figuring out your own love life before asking about mine, yeah?" I had to admit, I was a bit hurt by how she didn't instantly jump to my defense.

Dagen raised an eyebrow. "Somebody's touchy today."

Kia scowled, violet eyes flashing. "Terris was already being an arse about it earlier. I don't need you too."

Cole waved his arms around. "Okay, guys, stop arguing!" He accidentally smacked Dagen on the face. "Peace!"

"Ouch." Dagen muttered.

I couldn't resist the urge to snicker. "Good job, Cole."

Kia cracked a smile, just as a bush groaned. Wait. Bushes didn't groan. A blob popped out of the bush next to me. I let out a girly scream. The blob let out an even girlier and more shrill scream.

"WHAT THE BLOODY F***?" The blob shrieked. I blinked. Now, it looked a bit like a chubby deformed coconut with a black fuzz on the top on the top. "Chubby deformed coconut?" I frowned. It hurt to frown. Coconuts didn't speak! "Are you kidding me? Even a toddler would know that coconuts don't speak!" The deformed coconut stood up, and it became- a stark naked human?

Kia shrieked, covering her eyes. "What in Drakon, Gavvy?" She yelled condescendingly. Wait. Gavin?

I was so startled I fell over, flopping onto Kia's lap. She yelped, shoving me off. My head hit a rock, and I could've sworn I saw little birdies flying around my vision. "Ow."

Dagen cackled, only to be whacked on the shoulder by Cole. "Shh. I want to see how this plays out." He plopped himself on the floor. "Gosh, I wish I had food... "

Kia continued covering her eyes, but she looked concentrated. Dagen yelped as his cloak levitated off him and onto Gavin, where he was lying on the ground. "Put it on, Gavvy." She sighed. "What is it with guys and shameless nakedness? First Ash, now you... "

Gavin sat up, and thankfully, he was dressed. "It's not my fault shifting between forms makes you naked!"

Kia raised an eyebrow, finally peeking out of her fingers. "Have you ever heard of spare clothes?"

Gavin put his hands up in the air in surrender. "I forget things all the time, okay? At least, Terris reacted even worse," He grumbled sulkily, "she almost electrocuted me."

Kia chortled, finally picking up the guts to lift her hand off her face. "Good job, Gav." She gave her brother a friendly smack on the head, and he grunted, annoyed. "Oh yeah! Cole, do you mind healing Alice's eye? I don't want him mistaking Terris for an unripe banana or something when she returns, and her electrocuting him with her batons." I nodded. The bruise didn't hurt as much as the stab did, but the blurry version still annoyed me.

Cole snorted, placing a hand on my face. "Unripe banana! Funny joke, but I have a feeling he'd actually say that. I'm as smart as a barely educated prince. Niss is wicked smart- she's pretty much an oracle. She knows everything." A tingling sensation came over my face, and I felt the bruise and swelling fade. Cole winced. "Sometimes I wonder whether Alistair is actually my blood brother." I gingerly poked at my face. It felt completely fine, although I wasn't sure appearance wise. "Also, thanks for asking me whether I mind, by the way." Cole made a face. "Usually, people just go 'Hey, Lukar-Prince-boy! My son scraped his knee, heal it!' or 'Somebody dropped a watermelon on my leg, and now it's broken and it hurts! Heal it!' It's so annoying. Nobody understands how I feel every time I have to heal something." It seemed like there was a lot more to my brother than I knew. "Every time I heal a bruise, it's fine, or a scrape, it's fine, even a broken limb... " He stared off into the distance. "Things like poison, however-" He shivered. "Those hurt like hell."

Cole plopped himself back on the floor, looking miserable. I felt bad- I should've stopped him from helping me. I should've just let the black eye heal. I should've let him be.

Kia was silent. "I'm sorry." What did he have to be sorry for?

I was poisoned, because I got scratched by a roc. Gavin explained. When did that happen? And how could he be scratched by a rock? Didn't dragons have super tough scales and all? R-O-C roc, not rock. Also you were unconscious. I was kinda delirious, but I heard Kia yelling at Cole to save me. He groaned. I feel terrible.

It's not your fault, I thought back. You were probably going to die if Kia hadn't gotten Cole to interfere.

You don't understand, Gavin said frustratedly, he was screaming, writhing on on the floor. And it was all my fault.

Hypocrite. A new voice intercepted. It was Kia, who was smirking at us. Dagen is complaining about you guys looking at each other weirdly. She rolled her eyes. He keeps saying I have 'competition', but I have no idea what he's talking about.

Gavin made a face. Dude, that's just gross. Speaking of you, Alistair, we need to talk-

Dagen interrupted our mental conversation by poking my side with a shadow. I yelped. "Hey!"

The prince of the night dragon just snickered. "Ticklish?" I just glared at him. "Definitely ticklish, then." I threw a rock at him, but he ducked out of the way. "You missed!" He shouted gleefully.

Kia closed her eyes. Soon, almost all the rocks on the floor were hovering in midair, all aimed towards Dagen's head. She opened her eyes again, grinning. "Try escaping that." What can I say? I love a good bit of karma.

It was Dagen's turn to surrender. "Hey, hey, hey! Don't kill me! Just because I said Alistair would be the one you see naked next-"

All the rocks hurtled towards him. He fell backwards, disappearing into his own shadow. He reappeared on top of a tree, hanging on for dear life. "Please don't kill-" The rocks dropped to the floor like, well, rocks. The tree, however, bent backwards. Dagen howled, legs dangling. Cole laughed, lying down on the floor and watching the 'show'. The night dragon shrieked as the tree straightened again, sending him flying into mid-air. Even I couldn't resist chortling at his misfortune. "MEEEE!" That set all of us laughing.

Well, until a terrified female scream shattered the happy scene, and a pink and blonde blur fell out of the sky.