The Last Ones (Toothless X Reader)

Chapter 6 - Protective Instinct

      Landing soundlessly is second nature by now.

   Sniffing deeply and rapidly as I step closer to him, my ears pick up the sound of his deep, uneven breathing.

   "Good, you're alive," I purr internally, but only let myself step closer to him. Then, the scent of irony blood hits my nostrils.

   "Where are you bleeding?" I inquire instantly, and have to dive towards the sky before his blue-purple shot burns me. "What was that for? I'm trying to save your scales, idiot."

   "You came back? You're real! I thought I just imagined you when-"

   He doesn't answer my question.

   "I asked you a question, and you seemed pretty intent on spending time with me last night," I begin, wanting to crack him open and get him talking to me. A rambling Scaled with bleeding won't help me. "So, if you want my help, you better begin talking about your injury."

   He hesitates for a few second before finally answering my question; his eyes saddened and he seemed to deflate slightly after I cut him off. Too bad I'm not here to heal him but to get him out.

"My tail... My tail hurts the most, but I can't see it," he complained.

   A swift nod later, and I'm already following the scent of blood towards the tip of his tail. He wasn't wrong about the pain originating from there, it seems. That's good, so the hit didn't disorient him beyond use.

   When I reach his tail, I recoiled a few paces from pure shock and disbelief. One of his fins is missing, and it tore up part of the flesh with it. It looked awful and disgusting. And then it dawned on me why he looked dead.

   He wanted to be dead.

   As morbid as it sounds, it's true; a scaled who can't fly is out of the game. Our flight is the most essential part of our lives. Without it, not only would've we been hunted down by Scalelesses, but there would be no way for us to travel across the water. Well, unless we became like those water-dwelling dragons who can't survive without it. And that's a life not many of us wish for.

   "Did the tangled vines tear your tail off? Or did the crash?" I inquire him. It won't make a difference when his fin was ripped off, but at least it'll take his attention away from me while I snap the vines with my teeth.

   "I think it was during the crash. A tree knocked me out though, so I'm not sure."

   I snap a single vine when the whining voice of a Scaleless reaches my sensitive ears. And there could be more. An entire horde, maybe. And who knows what they'll do to two Night Wings?

   "Pretend to be dead. That way they might leave you be for a little while and I'll be able to get you out of those vines," I instruct coldly, jumping behind another boulder when I hear the increasing sound of paws on the ground.

   By the time I'm behind the boulder, I can hear the whiny sounds that escape the mouth. It seems extra squeaky, and even more than that, it seems to be shaking like a leaf. The sound only half voice and the rest air.

   "Why aren't you shooting him?" I screech in my mind. His mouth wasn't shut, he could blow the Scaleless to bits. So why isn't he doing anything?

   That's when my previous train of thought makes a reappearance: He wanted to be dead. Well, too bad for him. I won't let him get himself killed because he feels bad and hopeless. He just made me and – possibly him as well – not the very last ones of our kind.

   Using my sense of hearing and smell, I pinpoint the location of the Scaleless. A simple jump around the boulder and a shot should be more than enough to get rid of them permanently.

   I take a deep breath, heating the fire before I freeze it. I jump out, a screech leaving my mouth as I freeze the fire.

   "DON'T!" The other Night Wing roared at me.

   That single, sharp sound is enough to disorient me. And I miss my shot by the width of my tail tip.

   I missed.

   "Well, if he wasn't dead before, he will be for sure now."

   My shot explodes into turquoise ice on the boulder behind the small, male Scaleless, coats a good part of its mossy surface and lets the rest sprinkle around on the ground, burning with bright blue flames. The boy lays on the ground, unmoving but breathing; he had gotten knocked out.

   "Maybe I didn't miss completely after all," I think triumphantly. The Scaleless must've been knocked into the boulder. And then I turn around and almost slap the Night Wing with my tail fins. "What was that about? I could've got him easily if it wasn't for you!"

   "You can't kill him!" He protested.

   "And why in the name of the Alpha not?" My anger was beginning to rise, and my offensive pose suggested it enough for him to know I wouldn't hesitate to attack someone who betrayed me; betrayed the dragons.

   Then, much to my shock, he stood up on all fours, shook himself and answered me.

   "Because he didn't kill me."