Fly High (Ninjago Dragon AU)

Chapter 5: Feathers the Color of Jade

I've begun teaching Echo how to read. He's taken to it quickly, and he quite enjoys it. His favorites seem to be fairy tales, especially those that feature his own kind as heroes. Once again, I find myself glad that the queen doesn't know of my hiding place, as she surely would have the books destroyed. Reflecting on this, I think it really was my best choice to leave the kingdom when I did. Otherwise, I'd likely be in a dungeon for my work, and Echo most likely would never have hatched.

—From the journal of Professor Julien, noted dracologist (current whereabouts unknown)

Lloyd stepped out of the cave entrance, blinking in the bright sunlight. He smiled, stretching his wings to catch its warmth. Several weeks had passed since his arrival at the Den, and he felt more at home here than he ever had anywhere else.

Maybe that wasn't quite true. He had a vague memory of his mother, of long brown hair, a gentle voice, and a feeling of safety, but that was all. Much clearer in his mind were Jay's jokes, Pixal's sarcasm, Nya's creativity, Zane's intelligence, Cole's levelheadedness, and Kai's... 

Well. There were a lot of things about Kai that caught his attention. In the short time he'd spent with the others, he'd found himself spending more time with the fire dragon than anyone else. Maybe it was because Kai had been the one to save him from the village... 

Shaking himself from horns to tail, Lloyd set off down the cliffside toward the woods. He was just inside the trees when a red blur slammed into him and sent them both tumbling down the shallow slope. After a moment, they rolled to a stop.

"Ha! Gotcha!" 

"Get off me!" Lloyd swiped at the fire dragon. Kai laughed, hopping back and crouching on the balls of his feet. 

"You should've seen your face!" he crowed. "Priceless!"

Lloyd grinned mischievously. "Oh, yeah? GRAWR!" He sprang, tackling Kai, and the two of them rolled around play-fighting for several minutes. Afterwards, they collapsed to the ground, laughing.

A scream echoed through the woods. Both boys sat bolt upright, eyes wide. It came again. "Help!" Without a word, they stood and raced toward the sound.

Lloyd reached it first, crouching behind a rise and waving Kai to do the same. Down below them, a small dragon-girl sprinted into view, looking fearfully over her shoulder. A moment later, three humans in leather armor with an eye symbol painted on it followed her. She screamed again.

Lloyd stiffened, remembering the feeling of being surrounded by hostile humans. "We have to help her!"

"No arguments there," Kai growled. His fiery eyes were narrowed, smoke seeping from between his gritted teeth.

"You go left, I'll go right." 

"Got it."

They split up. Lloyd slipped through the bushes until he was directly behind one of the humans' backs. The dragoness was surrounded, and she looked terrified. He crouched, tail lashing, spread his wings, and sprang.  

He shot into the clearing, tackling the human nearest to him. "Leave her alone!" The human's hand caught his wing and grabbed, twisting painfully. Just TRY and hold on! Lloyd gathered his power and struck, a ripple of green light racing across his scales. The human yelled and let go, and Lloyd swiped it with his claws. It swept its arm under his chest, flinging him to the side. As he rose to his feet, the human ran.

Turning back to the fight, he lunged at the second human as Kai tussled with the third. Humans, he reflected, really weren't as tough without a large group behind them. 

The last of the humans fled, and Lloyd turned to the dragoness. She was crouched on the ground, her eyes wide as she looked up past her tented wings. "Are you alright?" Lloyd asked, offering his hand to help her up.

She took it, and he pulled her to her feet. Her scales were green, but a lighter, more muted green than his own, more like jade than emeralds. Her eyes were a similar color. "You— you saved me." Her eyelashes fluttered as she stood. "You were so brave."

She was small, even tinier than Nya, and she looked about thirteen. She had white-blonde hair, like Zane's, pulled into a bun pinned with twigs, and from it poked a double set of green horns and ears crested with green feathers, matching the crest at the end of her tail. Her wings were interesting— batlike membranes, but with a layer of soft feathers growing from the arm of the wing. "I can't believe you fought those soldiers all by yourselves," she said, looking up at Lloyd through her lashes.

"It was nothing!" Kai grinned, flapping his wings. "Dragons look out for each other."

"Do you need someplace to stay?" Lloyd asked, giving her a friendly smile. "We can take you back to the Den."

"You'd really let me stay?" She blinked in awe. 

"Yup! I bet you'll like the others, too. I'm Lloyd, he's Kai. What's your name?"

The young dragoness smiled. "Harumi," she said. "My name's Harumi."

I know, I know. I'm screaming "don't trust her" along with the rest of the fandom. Unfortunately, our dragon boys only mistrust humans, and have not realized that one of their own kind might betray them and their friends. 

One only wonders what fate this will lead to for our seven intrepid dragonets.