Tales of a Dragon

Chapter Thirteen

"So, he just looked at you and let you go?" Avril asked, disbelief filling her voice.

"Yeah. It was strange." Axis leaned back in his chair and ate the mint and oat cereal with honey milk that Avril had made for him that morning. When he looked out the window, Helio was still gone. He should worry, but he still felt that she was safe. There was a presence in the back of his mind that told him that.

"Huh. Let me check to see if Rastiv is at the field." Avril put her bowl in the sink and ran water on it. "I've finished eating anyways."

Axis nodded and swallowed his food. The honey added a nice, thick, sweet touch to the cereal and it felt like he hadn't ate in months. He devoured the rest of his bowl and ran water over it. 

The house seemed bigger compared to the Crossbones's hideout. But it still wasn't that big. There was the red sofa there, and the stairs that led to the second floor. He went up those stone stairs and looked out the window. Helio was still gone.

He looked in his room. There was a picture of Avril and Axis together hanging on the wall there. They looked about the age of six, both their hair very short. They looked so much alike, and not at all at the same time. There was a picture of Fern, his mother. She looked young, too, and Axis felt like she didn't know the woman at all. 

He sighed and looked at the picture of Dargo.

Dargo had glasses back then, and he was smiling that huge grin of his, spread across his mouth, the brightness in it shining. His hair was ruffled. OH! That reminded him! It wasn't a Friday, but he had missed the Friday before to visit him. And the one before, and before, and before. Those two months of training and stress had gotten to him. He had forgotten. He mentally slapped himself.

He picked out a gift for Dargo. This one wasn't as special, he felt, but he walked to the graveyard. Even thought it was warm outside, internally, he was freezing.

Maybe he would join Dargo one day.

===

"Emilia! Are you training or not?" Jackson asked the girl with the short brown hair. She had glasses, too, and Clara didn't seem to recognize her, which was strange because she knew every single one of the Crossbones. She must be a newbie.

"Don't ever call me that again. It's Emma." The girl had sass in her, Clara thought, and smiled.

"Emma, Em, Emilia, Emmy, whatever, just come. Clara, come too." Emma rolled her eyes and followed Jackson to the training. Clara was right behind her, standing much taller than her.

Alex, Jackson's brother, was already training. Clara only knew that Alex was extremely skilled in the element of water, enough to scare her. What had happened to his hair, though? It had used to be shaggy and blonde, but now it was much shorter. Huh.

"Alex," Clara said, grabbing a sword. "Hey."

He nodded a greeting and blasted a spurt of bluish-white water at a dummy, knocking it about, the water slamming against its plastic chest. The dummy disconnected its torso from its waist, and its torso fell to the floor. She gaped at Alex. There was a flicker in his eyes, a devious smile twisted on his lips.

She saw a blast of fire from across the room. The girl, Emma, was blasting fire from her palms at another dummy, the flames licking its torso and melting part of the plastic on its arm. She smiled and jumped upwards, kicking it straight in the chest, sending its torso flying.

These two were deadly. That's what the Crossbones were all about. Deadliness.

Clara cocked her head and smirked. There was that confidence again, and it reminded her of Axis. But she couldn't let that be, and she roared on the inside. Flames burst from her palms, lighting the whole room and engulfing three dummies in a bright fire. 

Emma, Jackson, and Alex were all looking at her as she smiled, the flames fading away. All three dummies were in a goopy, melted mess.

She would end this government. She would end the King for what he had done.

===

The repitive clinks of shovel against stone and dirt hypnotized Axis into a trance. He looked off into the distance as he dug. Clink, clink, clink.

He shook his head out of the trance and opened his pouch. He had something there. It was the picture of him and Dargo together. Avril was in the back, trying to bomb the photo, but their father had taken the picture at the perfect time; Avril's face was hilarious.

He smiled a sad smile, a tear forming around his eyes. He let it fall.

Axis wouldn't live. He wouldn't be able to kill someone that had done no wrong to him or Helio. He knew for certain if he did live even the first round, his father would find out he was an Eden and he would kill him. He didn't doubt it one bit.

He sighed, his breath a mist in the cold air.

"Dargo," he said, his voice shaking. "It's been so long time. I am sorry." Axis sat down, taking out the picture.  "I have something, though, that could make up for my absences."

He put the picture in the center of the hole he had dug. "There. I hope you like it."

There was a moment of silence as Axis put his thoughts into words. "The Tournament is tomorrow. And I used to think that I wanted to die, with you, for you, but now I'm scared.... Dargo... I'm really damned scared..." He was sobbing uncontrollably now. His heart ached.

Suddenly, there was a rustle of wind and wings. He turned and saw Helio coming towards him, her blue dragon eyes moist. She sat down next to Axis, and shook her head. It's Dargo's grave...

Axis nodded. "Yeah."

Helio growled deep in her throat. My first master. I cared for him.

"Me too." It was lame to say it, but he couldn't think of anything else to say. His mind was blank, yet full of thoughts at the same time.

Axis. Helio looked straight at him with her deep eyes. I will not mess up again.