Enslaved

Chapter 24

Ryuu felt the sun on his eyelids and slowly opened his eyes, blinking at the sunlight that filtered through the window in the bathroom from the door that he had forgotten to close. He must have rolled over in his sleep to face the bathroom. He sat up and ran a hand through his hair with one hand, rubbing an eye with the other hand before throwing back the covers and standing up, stretching his arms above his head. His wings stretched out behind him and he basked in the stretch of his muscles, reaching his arms now down to his toes as he did so before folding his wings back in and turning to the door. Without so much as a glance back behind him to the room he had lived in for close to five years, he left and walked down the stairs, opening the door and stopping dead in his tracks when he saw two figures fighting right in front of his house.

He immediately recognized the golden blonde hair to be Kaida but it took him a second to recognize the quick, accurate moves of Kajeel. He slammed the door behind him, all of his previous thoughts draining away and jumped down the porch, flaring open his wings and pumping them hard to stay in the air right above the grass before arching up a bit. What had happened? He soared quickly over the Earth, the wind ripping at his eyes as he came to a rippling halt above the fighting pair, half-flapping with his wings to stay there. He watched as Kaida threw a crooked, poorly-formed punch and Kajeel blocked and threw one of his powerful ones right back. He winced but to his immense surprise, Kaida blocked it effectively before jumping back into action. They were a whirlwind of activity, Kajeel throwing beginner punches and kicks to Kaida and Kaida blocking each of them with an easy block he taught all new fighters.

A smile spread across his face when he realized that Kajeel was teaching her how to fight and defend herself and he felt his shoulders relax. He flapped harder and rose into the sky high enough to see the entire encampment and noticed that all the hybrids were in the pavilion or around it, small packs littering the ground everywhere. He closed his wings and flipped his body over backwards in midair, dropping like a stone headfirst towards where Kajeel and Kaida still fought. He opened his wings when he was just above them and they caught the air immediately, keeping his right foot five inches away from Kajeel's head. They stopped and looked up when they felt the gust of wind, Kaida's mismatched eyes full of resolve and that glimmer of life he had watched appear earlier. They were both breathing hard, sweat glittering on their brows and in their hair.

"What did Kajeel do to deserve this beat down?" Ryuu asked slyly, flashing Kajeel a smirk. "I mean I know he's annoying as hell but he's actually kind of a good hybrid when it comes down to it."

Kaida cracked a tired, tentative smile but Kajeel howled with laughter, sending a few birds into the air. Ryuu flapped to his left and moved away from them so he could land on their right before he folded his wings back in and brushed off his pants, looking up to them quickly.

"Nice bedhead, Ryuu!" Kajeel cackled, his voice still full of mirth. "It really accents the whip-lashed hair style you usually have."

Ryuu shot a halfhearted glare to Kajeel but kept his eyes warm as they met the other dragon's eyes.

"Everybody seems to be ready in the pavilion." Ryuu said to Kajeel, his voice slowly turning into leader mode. "Go fly perimeter since you seem to have the energy to spare, and tell the morning guard to meet us there. We'll have to carry all of the new hybrids to the new location."

Kajeel groaned but nodded and opened his wings to take off before he looked back to Ryuu.

"Valik is still inside, Ryuu." He said, his eyes flashing. "You'll need to carry him over to the pavilion if he can't walk."

With that Kajeel down flapped and took off, buffeting Kaida and Ryuu with the wind from his wings. Ryuu rolled his eyes at Kajeel's retreating form before turning back to Kaida, locking eyes with her mismatched ones and noting how her hair was actually wavy and not straight like he had originally thought before he noticed her clothes. She was still wearing his shirt and a pair of his pants and while he was glad they were his and not Kajeel's, he thought she would prefer to wear better fitting clothes. He gave her a warm smile before gesturing in the direction of the pavilion.