The Mate of the Naga Prince

Chapter 1: Arthur

A/N: Ok, quick Author's Note before we get started. To anyone who has seen the original to this book, I would like to give a shout out to @AurthorChan69 for telling me I was technically copy writing her story, which I was loosely trying to base mine off of, so thank you for bring that to my attention. Also, a quick warning, this story contains alcoholism, abuse, mild hints of rape, running away and PTSD flashbacks. If you have an issue with any of these things, please click off of this story now.

~Scarlet's POV~

I hold onto my mothers hand nervously, my head hanging so I was staring down at the dirt road with my favorite book, the velveteen rabbit, clung tightly to my chest. It was my sixth birthday, and my mom had convinced my dad to take me for a walk in the forest, which was my favorite place to go. Of course, she was scared to ask my dad, because my father was an alcoholic and was always drunk and always looking for any excuse to hit my mom. But, he was in a somewhat good mood the day she asked, so he agreed. I look up at my mom, who was rubbing the newly formed bruise on her right arm. My dad had hit her in the car on the way here for telling him where to turn. He mistook it as, 'her bossing him around.' I rarely ever spoke in fear of getting hit like my mom, so I never talked when he was around. "Stop rubbing your arm. The sound is annoying." My dad growls, taking a sip from his flask. "Y-Yes honey..." Mom whispers, removing her hand from her arm. "What was that?" He glares, stopping. "N-Nothing honey! I was doing what you asked!" She replies, looking at him with fear. "It sounds like you were talking back!" She looks at me, fear in her eyes. "S-Scarlet, honey, why don't you go exploring why me and your dad have a talk?" She forces a smile, gently taking my hand. I look at her, tears in my eyes. "Is daddy going to hit you again?" I ask softly. She sighs softly, hugging me. "He's just had a lot to drink baby. Now go, see if you can find a pretty rock for mommy." She smiles, her eyes filling with tears too. I slowly nod, to scared to piss off dad. I walk off into the woods, clinging to my book tighter. I wasn't even off the path before I could hear a loud smack from behind me. I began to shake and ran off into the woods. Tears began to stream down my face as I continued to run. The smaller animals moved out of the way when they saw me coming. I continued running until my foot got caught on a tree root, making me trip and fall. I cry out as I scrap my knee on the rough ground. My book flew from my arms as I tried to catch myself, landing a few feet away from me. I sobbed quietly, looking over at my foot, which was still caught on the tree root. I attempted to pull it out, only to realize it was stuck. I whimper, turning to where my book was laying. I slowly reach for it, managing to grab the cover. As soon as my hand touched the cool surface, a warm hand covers mine. I gasp loudly, retracting my hand as I look to see who was there. A young boy looks down at me with a warm smile. He was only a couple years younger then me, maybe nine or ten years old. Strange cobalt blue scales peppered his broad chest. He had faint abs showing on his stomach, his muscles being a strange size for someone his age. His skin was lightly sun kissed, his hair a dark shade of black and his eyes bright blue. He smiles again, slowly moving closer. I gasp loudly, noticing a cobalt blue snake tail attached to his lower half, a strange crescent moon pattern in lighter blue going down it. (Like the image above, but the dark blue scales are a lot darker) I noticed claws on his fingers, making me grow nervous. "Are you alright?" He asks softly, moving closer. I whimper and try to move away from him. He tilts his head slightly. "Hey, it's alright, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Arthur." He smiles warmly again. "We don't see too many humans this deep in the forest." I look up at him, still terrified. He looks over at my leg, knitting his eyebrows. "Are you stuck?" I slowly nod, fighting back the tears in my eyes. He slithers over to the root trapping my leg, examining it. "You twisted your ankle pretty bad... But I can get you unstuck." He smiles. I just stare at him, not sure what to say. He gently grabs the root, using his claws to cut it. I slowly sit up, wincing at the pain shooting through my leg. "Here..." He begins to climb a tree, grabbing some vine, leafs and bark. "If we put these together, it'll help keep pressure off your foot." He comes closer, making me shoot back. He tilts his head slightly. "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you." He whispers softly. I whimper again, slowly relaxing. He smiles and slithers up to me, gently putting the pieces of leafs and bark against my ankle and tying them together with the vines.  "So, what's your name?" He asks, looking at me. I bite my lip, contemplating on telling him. "S-Scarlet..." I whisper. He smiles. "That's a pretty name." I found myself smiling slightly too. He looks over his shoulder, grabbing my book off the ground and lightly shaking the dirt off of it. "The velveteen rabbit?" He asks, reading the title. I nod, sitting against the tree. "Interesting... We don't get a lot of books out here either." He hands it to me. I go to say something, only to be cut off by my mothers voice ringing through the forest. "Scarlet! Honey! Time to go home!" Arthur glances towards her voice, fear slowly spreading across his face. He turns to me and gently cups my cheek. "Hey, I have to go... You won't forget me right?" He asks softly. I nod. "Promise?" "I... I promise." I whisper. He smiles slightly, giving me a soft kiss on my forehead before slithering off into the brush. I look over to see my mom running towards me, a hand print on her cheek. "Oh honey, don't wander so far next ti... Oh, what happened to your leg?!" She asks worriedly, looking at the splint Arthur made. "I-I tripped..." I whisper. She sighs softly and hugs me. "We'll go get you a proper splint when we get home." She picks me up and holds me close to her, the book resting gently on my chest. I look over in the brush to see two bright blue eyes watching us as we walked back to the path.