Draconis 9/10
Title: Draconis chapter 9/10
Pairing: Jensen/Jared
Chapter Rating: R
Summary: Jared's a prince who always does what's expected of him, even as he dreams of following his heart. When his father signs an allegiance with a dragon clan and he meets Jensen, everything changes.
Disclaimer: Neither of these beautiful men are mine. I just play with them sometimes.
Author's Notes: This chapter kicked. My. Ass! I wrote and rewrote so many times, but I'm finally satisfied. Also, please heed the warning, guys. Seriously. BUT! Also keep in mind that this story WILL have a happy ending, I promise ;)
Warning: This chapter contains battle, some gore, and character death.
Previous Chapters: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight
(Awesome header made for me by the talented Inanna-Maat)
All throughout the flight back to the castle, Jared held on tightly to Jensen’s thick neck. His body trembled in fear and anticipation, and the tremendous height wasn’t helping matters either. With Ansem he’d been unconscious, and Jared couldn’t help but think that it had been a lot better that way because the ground was very, very far beneath them.
There were three dragons in formation, and their positions reminded Jared of flocks of birds he had seen flying together. Jeffrey Dean was leading of course, while Jensen and Chris flew behind and slightly to the sides of him.
Peeling his face from Jensen’s neck, Jared sat up a little in order to get a good look at the other dragons. He watched their massive wings flap every few seconds, the leathery lengths extended to mostly carry the dragons on the wind. Their legs were tucked close to their bodies to prevent resistance and he could clearly see the sun glistening on the shifting muscles beneath their strong, scaly skin.
It was amazing to be a part of them like this, even though the circumstances surrounding it were less than ideal. That childish awe that had never truly faded from inside Jared could not help but continue to be thrilled with the fact he was flying with such amazing creatures.
Jensen’s wings extended more fully towards the sky as they started to descend a little, and Jared looked down to see the sight of his family’s castle. It looked so much bigger and unfamiliar from his angle, but he could clearly make out the destruction that had occurred on the ballroom from the previous attack.
As they got closer, Jared was suddenly aware of a strange sound that he could clearly make out over the rustling whistle of the wind. He started in surprise when Jensen shot to the side just in time to miss a crossbow’s arrow.
Jeffrey Dean bent his body nearly in half before taking off for the castle like a shot, Jensen remaining in the air while the Chris immediately followed.
“No!” Jared cried. “Jensen, do something!”
The dragon’s massive black head turned to look at Jared, determination swirling on those expressive green eyes. Jensen shook his head slightly, then as Jeffrey Dean and Chris had done he flew towards the ground but with enough care as to not knock Jared from his back.
Jensen lowered himself to the ground right in the market square with a deafening thud that Jared was sure shook the ground and jarred his teeth, causing the villagers to scream and run away in terror. Ignoring their cries and scrambling like ruffled chickens, Jensen tilted his body so that Jared slid off and onto the ground.
Jared’s vehement protests and pleading were lost on the dragon as he flapped his wings, sending nearby vender carts flying back with the force, one of them smashing to bits against a tree. He took back off into the sky and headed straight for the castle, a fireball shooting from his mouth to hit the drawbridge door. The wood burst on impact, splinters flying everywhere.
Jared immediately took off running, slipping clumsily over the broken pieces and through what remained of the destroyed doors. He had just made it inside when a hand reached out and snagged his arm, sending his chest tumbling against he wall and Jared froze as a solid body pressed against his back and held him there.
“Where are you off to so quickly, hatchling? To save your lover or to save your family? I wonder where your loyalty lies.”
Jared hissed as Ansem’s fingers tangled into his hair, yanking his head back to bare his throat in mock submissiveness.
“My loyalty lies with whoever deserves it!” Jared replied, his voice strangled from the painful position his neck was in. “You don’t care about anyone but yourself, you coward!”
“Loyalty’s a dangerous thing, Jared,” he stiffened in surprise at Penn’s voice. The tone was darkly amused, and though he had been positive before it was even more obvious now that his fiancé had no intention of ever acting righteously. “Haven’t you learned by now that the only one you should care about, is yourself?”
“You seem to have that logic down pat, bastard!” Jared squirmed against Ansem’s hold, which loosened slightly just so the dragon could enjoy watching Jared act as though he was a worm on a hook. “I know all about Genevieve, and the poison! Your allegiance with this scum is just icing on the cake!”
“Hey now,” Ansem admonished, mockingly scandalized as he forced Jared around to face him. “Calling me names? Now that hurts.”
The hit to Jared’s solar plexus caused him to gasp and protectively bend over. A stream of blood burst from his nose as Ansem’s foot connected with his face, sending him sprawling back onto the hard ground.
Jared squinted up at Penn as he moved to stand over him, the metallic taste of blood coating his palate as the sticky crimson dripped into his mouth.
“Such a waste,” Penn sighed. “Our marriage would have been ideal, Jared. I’d have status, and you’d have a purpose. But then you had to get nosey and foolish and I can’t allow you to blab to your family about me.”
Ansem crouched down and curled his fingers into Jared’s hair again, yanking his head up brutally. “I thought you didn’t want me to kill him,” he said, looking over the young brunet’s blood-smeared features.
“Are you deaf? I just said why it has to be done. So do it!”
Releasing Jared’s hair, Ansem stood with a low growl. “Don’t order me about!” he snarled at Penn. “I’m not your pet and I’m not your slave.”
“No? I paid you for your services, I call that my slave. You’re to do as I say until the job is over and it’s far from it!”
Fighting back against the pain that was coursing through him, Jared twisted and swung his foot as hard as he could into the back of Ansem’s leg.
Not expecting the move, the dragon’s knee gave out and he crashed to the dirt. Jared pushed himself up and lunged at him, becoming tangled in Ansem’s arms as they wrestled across the ground.
“So you do have some fight in you!” Ansem spat blood as Jared’s fist connected with his face, the droplets splattering onto Jared’s shirt. He knocked the prince back and straddled his hips. “Good. I was hoping you’d make this a little more fun.”
Jared’s head snapped back and forth as Ansem punched him, his skin splitting under the force of his knuckles. Darkness started to encase him, his brain eager to escape the pain but Jared refused to give in. He bucked hard as his hands made contact with Ansem’s body, managing to shove him to the side.
He rolled over in an attempt to force himself to hands and knees when a foot connected with his side. Jared cried out and curled away as he distinctly heard a crack, feeling agony so intense like liquid fire that he nearly lost consciousness again.
Panting, he braced himself for more but nothing came. After a few seconds of silence, Jared’s eyes rolled open and he glanced up to see Ansem staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face.
“Why’d you stop?” Penn demanded angrily. “Kill him!”
“No.”
“What?! Have you forgotten that his family has been slaying your kind for generations?! This is your chance for revenge, it’s what you’ve been aching for!”
Ansem looked at Penn, his faced bruised beneath the blood. “I will never forget. But I won’t do this. I told myself over and over that I’d get closure by killing one of them, but it’s not true. As much is it makes me want to throw up to say this, Jared’s not the one I want.”
Expression twisted in disgusted, Penn slipped a dagger out of it’s sheath that was hidden at his waist. The hilt was decorated beautifully with jewels and gold, the sharp, unflawed blade slightly curved near the end and distantly, Jared recognized it as a family heirloom.
“Fine, you worthless lizard. I’ll do it myself.”
<>***<>***<>***<>
Sandy clutched Megan closer, the younger girl’s scream muffled against her dress as the castle shook above them. They were huddled together in an underground tunnel that had been connected to the basement; it was the only place strong enough to protect them should the castle collapse. Sharon had left them not long before, unable to take the suspense and worry for her family any longer though she bade Sandy and Megan to stay.
Sandy closed her eyes and prayed, desperate for something to think about to keep her mind off the fact that her family could be dying and there was nothing she was able to do about it.
“This shouldn’t be happening,” Megan murmured shakily, clutching her sister-in-law with trembling fingers. “The dragons are good. I’ve seen it with my own eyes!”
Unable to find a reply that would satisfy them both, Sandy remained silent and stroked a soothing hand over the younger girl’s hair.
When she was a child, Sandy had found a love for fairytales as deeply as Jared had about dragons. In those stories everything always ended so happily and for the first time since she’d grown Sandy wished that real life was the same.
The castle shook again and the girls clung tighter to each other.
<>***<>***<>***<>
Jeffrey Dean reared back with a cry, blood raining down from the place his left eye was supposed to be. The dragon stumbled, lost in the pain and smashed into the side of the west tower.
Chris was instantly in front of him, using his tail as a whip to send a cluster of hunters flying like rag dolls. They crashed to the stone floor, most landing at odd angles and remaining still.
Jeffrey Dean struggled to his feet, half blind and shaking with blood loss and pain. A human body crunched like eggshells beneath his bulk as he stepped upon it, the insides splattering out in a mockery of toothpaste.
Chris' dripping jaws were parted as he panted, aching with exertion but refusing to move from his protective stance.
Fire erupted from Jensen’s mouth, humans scattering to get away as the large catapult caught aflame. The sight couldn’t even be satisfying, Jensen’s attention already on the men as they relentlessly attacked him again with hand-held spears and axes.
He caught a couple between his teeth, clamping down and ignoring their screams before tossing them uselessly aside. The metallic taste of blood in his mouth burned his throat, and he forced down the urge to gag. Human blood always tasted foul to him but he’d have to find time to be ill later.
At Jeffrey Dean’s command Chris took to the sky and flew in tight circles around the castle at lightning speed, flapping his wings hard against the wind as he spat fireballs at the enemy. At the same time, he dodged around boulders and arrows that were catapulted towards him, the stone of the castle suffering with each miss. His screeching roar pierced the air loud enough to break the eardrums of the hunters close by.
“Son, you have got to stop this madness!” Gerald cried, watching the battle with ever growing horror. “This isn’t solving anything!”
“I beg to differ,” Jeff replied smugly, sweeping his arms to indicate the view of the chaos in their line of vision. “The dragons are tiring, while our numbers just keep coming. Don’t you see? In a matter of moments it’ll all be over.”
“But at what cost? It’s not just the dragons you’re destroying!”
“Your love for them has blinded you!” Jeff snarled. “Have you forgotten that they took Jared? They wanted this war and by God, they got it! I will not sit back and let them do as they please!”
“Is it not just the dragons and hunters that suffer!” Sharon’s indignant voice cut through their argument as she rushed to her husband and son’s sides.
Before Jeff could even say a word she dragged him to the window of the part of the castle they resided in.
“Look!” she insisted, pointing down towards the village. “Look and see what you’ve done!”
The village below was completely destroyed, debris from carts and buildings littering the ground. A boulder flew down and hit the ground, and Jeff watched in horror as it smashed a man who had the misfortune of being in it’s path. The only thing visible was his legs, which were still twitching like a crushed insect’s as blood started to pool beneath him over the ground.
“The hunters are killing our people, Jeff!” Sharon’s anger melted into fear. “Please, stop them! You have to!”
A strong chain lashed out and tangled itself around Jensen’s neck, dragging him to the floor with a loud cry. He attempted to yank away, but the end of it was attached to a winch and pulled his head right back down while it started to cut his airflow. Jensen snarled and snapped his jaws, attempting to bite through as he fought not to panic. Never before had he dealt with anything human made that was so strong, but the chain was no where near ordinary. It was almost as if it had been made by a dragon because only their powers would have been able to make it so impervious.
His roaring and squirming caught the attention of the other dragons, and they instantly came to him. Jeffrey Dean’s half blindness was a distinct disadvantage, but it didn’t stop him from taking a protective stance in front of Jensen to block him from the advancing hunters. Chris attacked the chain like Jensen was attempting to do but it continued to have no give, even with both their sets of teeth gnawing at it.
The remaining hunters moved in for the kill, circling the three dragons with their spears and crossbows and catapults that seemed to have never ending ammo.
“Stop!” Jeff’s commanding voice broke through the adrenaline, although the hunters did not take their eyes off of their tiring prey. The humans too were exhausted, but their continuing numbers put them at an advantage no matter how much smaller they were than the dragons.
“We’re doing our job, Majesty,” the head dragon hunter, David Boreanaz, spat at the king. He was bruised and bloody, but there was still a dark anger and a savage thirst in his eyes that froze even the toughest of men in their tracks.
Even so Jeff marched right up to him. “You were only supposed to kill the dragons! Yet I still see all of them breathing while the village is in ruins!”
“There’s always casualties in war.”
“Only when you’re sloppy!”
David narrowed his eyes. “I respect your family, sire. They were the best of us. But king or no you’re not a hunter and my regard for yourself is waning. I’d choose my words and commands carefully if I were you.”
“You dare to threaten me?”
“I dare to do a lot of things. Don’t test me.”
The two men stared at each other, nostrils flaring like territorial dogs.
“Sounds to me like you’re starting to go soft there, majesty,” Ansem said mockingly. In his arms he carried Jared’s limp body bridal style, the act effortless as though the prince weighed next to nothing.
Horrified, Jeff and his parents shoved passed the hunters to rush over as Ansem laid Jared on the ground. Jared trembled, his hand trying to keep pressure against the profusely bleeding wound in his stomach.
“No!” Jensen reached him first. To escape the chains he’d transformed back in his human body, and act he that would have caused him instant death had the hunters still been attacking. He collapsed to his knees beside Jared’s body.
Jared swallowed a few times but couldn’t prevent the blood from spilling from his lips, a crimson trail sliding down the corner of his mouth and jaw line to drip onto the ground beside him. His body feebly jerked a couple times like a fish out of water and the light was quickly fading from his eyes, turning the once brilliant emerald into a dull jade.
Jensen pulled Jared to sit up and gathered him into an embrace, one arm wrapped around his back while the other hand buried itself in Jared’s hair. “Please, Jared no. Don’t do this. Don’t leave me. Not you. I wasn’t supposed to lose you!”
Jared’s breathing was slow and shallow and wet, body limp like a rag doll as the jerking turned to small tremors. His hand found purchase on Jensen’s leg, giving a feeble squeeze and Jensen released a sob as he realized that Jared was still trying to be the comforting one.
His pale, slightly parted lips quivered and moved just enough to form weak words against the Jensen’s ear. Then he was gone, his lifeless body slumping despite the desperate embrace around him.
“I‘ll be Draco now.”
Distantly, as though he was underwater Jensen could hear Jared’s family openly weeping. Sharon’s voice was the loudest, her breaking voice screaming and begging to God and anyone else who would listen to bring her son back. Please give her Jared back. She struggled against Gerald hold, desperately trying to get to Jared but her husband held her back.
“He’s gone, he’s gone,” Gerald murmured through his sobs, voice wrecked in his devastation as he clung desperately to his wife.
Jensen buried his face in Jared’s neck, his tears feeling hot against the cool skin. He continued to rock him, tightening his hold as Chris put his hand on his shoulder.
“Jensen..”
“No!” he shouted, knowing what Chris was going to say. “I won’t let him go! I was supposed to protect him! Jeffrey Dean told me to. I want to! I have to!”
He felt the weight of Chris' hand shift as he knelt down beside him, and finally he lifted his head to look at the other man. Blood and bruising mixed on the Chris’ face like morbid war paint, his free wrist bent at a weird angle as he held it to his chest. It was no doubt that the bone was broken, and yet the only pain Chris showed on his face was his sorrow for Jensen.
Jensen turned away from him to look up, the clear dark sky a twinkling mass of millions of stars that wavered and swam in his vision from the tears that still kept coming. Jared’s last words sent fresh wet rolling down Jensen’s cheeks, because he knew that Jared meant he would protect and watch over Jensen now just like in the story of the constellation Draco that he‘d told him. But Jensen couldn’t let that happen. He wasn’t ready. They weren’t ready. He wouldn’t let it end this way.
With tender care he laid Jared down. The younger man’s shirt over his belly was completely soaked with red, the fabric sticking to the still lazily seeping fatal wound just below.
Jeff instantly attempted to go to his fallen brother, but Jeffrey Dean’s hand shot out to stop him. Infuriated, he turned to the dragon but halted at the look on his face.
A whole half of the dragon leader’s face was coated in drying blood, but his remaining eye held understanding and sorrow tangled together unmistakably. They were emotions that despite everything Jeff had never really thought a dragon capable of until now.
In a rush of overwhelming understanding, sorrow and complete awareness of his stupidity he finally got that the dragons were really no different from them. Jeff finally realized just how blind he had been, and his knees gave out as he faced the truth.
Jared was dead, gone and never coming back because of Jeff’s close-mindedness. Because of his desire to see nothing passed the end of his nose, his desire to be a great king and make something of himself. His unwillingness to accept the dragons as they were just like Jared and Gerald had.
His little brother lost his life because he’d loved and believed in a cause that Jeff should have backed him up on but instead had condemned him for.
Gerald had one arm around his wife, Sharon’s body trembling although she’d lost the energy to cry anymore. His other hand grasped onto Jeff’s slumped shoulder. He watched Jensen and Jared through his tears and could now see the love that the dragon expressed for his son. He realized, too late, that he’d always noticed it but refused to give meaning to the looks he’d seen pass between the two. Jensen had loved Jared more deeply than Gerald, despite his understanding of dragons, had ever believed possible. And he realized that the feelings from Jared had been nothing short of mutual.
All that time they had been pushing Jared on Penn because of a stupid promise to the man’s parents and a naive belief that Jared would learn to be happy. While during the duration of their pigheadedness there had been Jensen, protecting and loving their son right in front of their blind eyes.
Gerald would give anything, even his own life, to take it all back.
Chris watched Jensen stare intensely and unwavering at Jared’s corpse, a set to his jaw and determination in his eyes. Frightened, realization dawned on him.
“Jensen!” he cried, using his unbroken arm to try to pull his clan mate away, “you can’t do this!”
“Is that so?” Jensen’s body tensed, refusing to be budged.
“What you’re thinking of doing, it’ll kill you! No one‘s ever done it successfully!”
“I love him, Chris. I haven’t felt nearly as much for anyone since my family died. I wasn’t able to save them but there’s a chance I can save him.”
“I know, I know how much you love him, Jensen. But is it really worth dying for? He wouldn’t want that!”
“Without him I might as well already be dead. This is the only way.”
Not waiting for Chris’ response, Jensen placed his hands on Jared’s unmoving chest and closed his eyes. At first it seemed as though nothing was going to happen, but then slowly, so slowly a blue light started to encircle him. It began faintly, but as the light crept and stretched over his body and down his arms to Jared it increased in intensity.
Chris was forced to move back as a strong wind encased Jensen and Jared, hair and clothes whipping about violently while everyone else was untouched.
In his mind’s eye, Jensen saw nothing but darkness. Then a light began to form, so very small as though he was seeing it at a distance. Hastily he moved towards it with the knowledge it could go out at any minute, his unseen hand reaching desperately for it.
The light became bigger at his approach, and Jensen began to feel the heat that radiated off of it as a slow pounding like the beat of a drum began to echo in his ears.
The light slowly morphed into a body, completely naked and achingly familiar.
“Jensen?” Jared’s voice was weak as he faded in and out like a flickering candle, and Jensen knew he was quickly losing him forever.
“Don’t go, Jared. Please.” Jensen rushed forward and hugged him, wrapping his arms tightly around the other man. He was just as still in his human form and naked as well, but was unable to feel anything other than cold even as their bodies touched.
“I have to.”
“No! You don’t have to do anything. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from you it’s that you can do anything you want to even if you thought it impossible. You don’t have to die.”
“Neither do you.”
“If you do then I will! Not because I have to, but because I simply will. You’re all I’ve come to want, and life means nothing if you’re not with me! I love you, Jared. No matter what this is about you and me. No one else. Draco and his treasure.”
There was a moment of stillness, then Jared’s arms slowly wound themselves around his waist.
“Jensen.”
As abruptly as the wind started, it died down and the blue light faded as though it had never been. Both dragons and humans alike all watched, lungs burning from held breath, as seconds passed by and neither Jensen nor Jared moved.
All at once Jared’s eyes snapped open and he gasped as though he’d just came up from spending a long while underwater. The color returned to his skin like a cloud drifting away from the sun as his wounds were instantly healed, the blue from lack of oxygen fading from his lips.
Jensen’s eyes slid open more slowly, but the smile that lighted his face was evidence enough that he was alright. The dragons enveloped him in a tight embrace as Jared’s family rushed forth and did the same with him, all talking over each other in a rush to find answers. The mourning cries had turned to tears of happiness and infinite relief, hugs tight and full of affection.
Too tired for explanations that he wasn’t sure he had anyway, Jensen did not speak. He looked over Jeffrey Dean’s shoulder to see Jared alive and well, and strong affection more powerful and complete as he’d never felt before surged through his body as Jared met his eyes and smiled.
<>***<>***<>***<>
Jared watched Michael and Thomas lower their dragon forms close to the ground so that Chris and Jeffrey Dean could climb onto their backs. Neither male was in any condition to try flying the long distance back home.
“You could come with us,” Jensen said from beside him.
“You could stay,” Jared replied.
They fell silent for a moment, both knowing that neither option was plausible. Despite everything they still had obligations to their families, and there were things to do. Cleanups, odds and ends, rebuilding, those kinds of things.
“I overheard Jeffrey Dean telling you he wants you to be his successor.”
“He doesn’t feel like he can truly lead now with only one eye, but I think he’d still be okay. Might need help though.”
“And you’ll be the one?”
“Maybe.”
Jared smiled sadly. He wanted to be happy for Jensen, but he just couldn’t. He turned to face the older brunet, and when those clear green eyes focused on him Jared felt his own fill with tears.
“You saved my life, Jensen. I don’t know how I could ever thank you.”
Jensen’s features softened and he reached up, laying his hand on Jared’s cheek. “Don’t thank me, Jared. I did it because I love you, that hasn’t changed and it won’t ever.”
Jared leaned into the touch. Something had happened when Jensen brought him back, something beautiful and scary and he felt as though they were connected somehow. It was deeper than feelings, it went straight to their souls.
“Will I see you again?”
“You will,” Jensen replied assuredly. “One of our priorities will be trying to find Ansem. He disappeared in all the confusion. And after that, when things have settled for both of us, I won’t be far away.”
“Don’t be too hard on him,” Jared said. It was a little odd but in the end, Ansem had helped him in a way.
After Penn stabbed Jared he didn’t remember much outside of the pain. But he still knew that Ansem had attacked Penn, the sound of his neck snapping like a twig forever edged in Jared’s memory along with the sight of his ex-fiancé’s lifeless body collapsing to the ground. Penn’s death had been quick and painless, but at least it was over.
When the dragons were ready to leave, Jared stood with his family and watched them take to the sky. He refused to move until they had disappeared from his sight, their path blocked by the clouds of the early morning.
Despite Jensen’s promise, Jared tried not to let it feel like goodbye.
Chapter 10
Pairing: Jensen/Jared
Chapter Rating: R
Summary: Jared's a prince who always does what's expected of him, even as he dreams of following his heart. When his father signs an allegiance with a dragon clan and he meets Jensen, everything changes.
Disclaimer: Neither of these beautiful men are mine. I just play with them sometimes.
Author's Notes: This chapter kicked. My. Ass! I wrote and rewrote so many times, but I'm finally satisfied. Also, please heed the warning, guys. Seriously. BUT! Also keep in mind that this story WILL have a happy ending, I promise ;)
Warning: This chapter contains battle, some gore, and character death.
Previous Chapters: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight
(Awesome header made for me by the talented Inanna-Maat)
All throughout the flight back to the castle, Jared held on tightly to Jensen’s thick neck. His body trembled in fear and anticipation, and the tremendous height wasn’t helping matters either. With Ansem he’d been unconscious, and Jared couldn’t help but think that it had been a lot better that way because the ground was very, very far beneath them.
There were three dragons in formation, and their positions reminded Jared of flocks of birds he had seen flying together. Jeffrey Dean was leading of course, while Jensen and Chris flew behind and slightly to the sides of him.
Peeling his face from Jensen’s neck, Jared sat up a little in order to get a good look at the other dragons. He watched their massive wings flap every few seconds, the leathery lengths extended to mostly carry the dragons on the wind. Their legs were tucked close to their bodies to prevent resistance and he could clearly see the sun glistening on the shifting muscles beneath their strong, scaly skin.
It was amazing to be a part of them like this, even though the circumstances surrounding it were less than ideal. That childish awe that had never truly faded from inside Jared could not help but continue to be thrilled with the fact he was flying with such amazing creatures.
Jensen’s wings extended more fully towards the sky as they started to descend a little, and Jared looked down to see the sight of his family’s castle. It looked so much bigger and unfamiliar from his angle, but he could clearly make out the destruction that had occurred on the ballroom from the previous attack.
As they got closer, Jared was suddenly aware of a strange sound that he could clearly make out over the rustling whistle of the wind. He started in surprise when Jensen shot to the side just in time to miss a crossbow’s arrow.
Jeffrey Dean bent his body nearly in half before taking off for the castle like a shot, Jensen remaining in the air while the Chris immediately followed.
“No!” Jared cried. “Jensen, do something!”
The dragon’s massive black head turned to look at Jared, determination swirling on those expressive green eyes. Jensen shook his head slightly, then as Jeffrey Dean and Chris had done he flew towards the ground but with enough care as to not knock Jared from his back.
Jensen lowered himself to the ground right in the market square with a deafening thud that Jared was sure shook the ground and jarred his teeth, causing the villagers to scream and run away in terror. Ignoring their cries and scrambling like ruffled chickens, Jensen tilted his body so that Jared slid off and onto the ground.
Jared’s vehement protests and pleading were lost on the dragon as he flapped his wings, sending nearby vender carts flying back with the force, one of them smashing to bits against a tree. He took back off into the sky and headed straight for the castle, a fireball shooting from his mouth to hit the drawbridge door. The wood burst on impact, splinters flying everywhere.
Jared immediately took off running, slipping clumsily over the broken pieces and through what remained of the destroyed doors. He had just made it inside when a hand reached out and snagged his arm, sending his chest tumbling against he wall and Jared froze as a solid body pressed against his back and held him there.
“Where are you off to so quickly, hatchling? To save your lover or to save your family? I wonder where your loyalty lies.”
Jared hissed as Ansem’s fingers tangled into his hair, yanking his head back to bare his throat in mock submissiveness.
“My loyalty lies with whoever deserves it!” Jared replied, his voice strangled from the painful position his neck was in. “You don’t care about anyone but yourself, you coward!”
“Loyalty’s a dangerous thing, Jared,” he stiffened in surprise at Penn’s voice. The tone was darkly amused, and though he had been positive before it was even more obvious now that his fiancé had no intention of ever acting righteously. “Haven’t you learned by now that the only one you should care about, is yourself?”
“You seem to have that logic down pat, bastard!” Jared squirmed against Ansem’s hold, which loosened slightly just so the dragon could enjoy watching Jared act as though he was a worm on a hook. “I know all about Genevieve, and the poison! Your allegiance with this scum is just icing on the cake!”
“Hey now,” Ansem admonished, mockingly scandalized as he forced Jared around to face him. “Calling me names? Now that hurts.”
The hit to Jared’s solar plexus caused him to gasp and protectively bend over. A stream of blood burst from his nose as Ansem’s foot connected with his face, sending him sprawling back onto the hard ground.
Jared squinted up at Penn as he moved to stand over him, the metallic taste of blood coating his palate as the sticky crimson dripped into his mouth.
“Such a waste,” Penn sighed. “Our marriage would have been ideal, Jared. I’d have status, and you’d have a purpose. But then you had to get nosey and foolish and I can’t allow you to blab to your family about me.”
Ansem crouched down and curled his fingers into Jared’s hair again, yanking his head up brutally. “I thought you didn’t want me to kill him,” he said, looking over the young brunet’s blood-smeared features.
“Are you deaf? I just said why it has to be done. So do it!”
Releasing Jared’s hair, Ansem stood with a low growl. “Don’t order me about!” he snarled at Penn. “I’m not your pet and I’m not your slave.”
“No? I paid you for your services, I call that my slave. You’re to do as I say until the job is over and it’s far from it!”
Fighting back against the pain that was coursing through him, Jared twisted and swung his foot as hard as he could into the back of Ansem’s leg.
Not expecting the move, the dragon’s knee gave out and he crashed to the dirt. Jared pushed himself up and lunged at him, becoming tangled in Ansem’s arms as they wrestled across the ground.
“So you do have some fight in you!” Ansem spat blood as Jared’s fist connected with his face, the droplets splattering onto Jared’s shirt. He knocked the prince back and straddled his hips. “Good. I was hoping you’d make this a little more fun.”
Jared’s head snapped back and forth as Ansem punched him, his skin splitting under the force of his knuckles. Darkness started to encase him, his brain eager to escape the pain but Jared refused to give in. He bucked hard as his hands made contact with Ansem’s body, managing to shove him to the side.
He rolled over in an attempt to force himself to hands and knees when a foot connected with his side. Jared cried out and curled away as he distinctly heard a crack, feeling agony so intense like liquid fire that he nearly lost consciousness again.
Panting, he braced himself for more but nothing came. After a few seconds of silence, Jared’s eyes rolled open and he glanced up to see Ansem staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face.
“Why’d you stop?” Penn demanded angrily. “Kill him!”
“No.”
“What?! Have you forgotten that his family has been slaying your kind for generations?! This is your chance for revenge, it’s what you’ve been aching for!”
Ansem looked at Penn, his faced bruised beneath the blood. “I will never forget. But I won’t do this. I told myself over and over that I’d get closure by killing one of them, but it’s not true. As much is it makes me want to throw up to say this, Jared’s not the one I want.”
Expression twisted in disgusted, Penn slipped a dagger out of it’s sheath that was hidden at his waist. The hilt was decorated beautifully with jewels and gold, the sharp, unflawed blade slightly curved near the end and distantly, Jared recognized it as a family heirloom.
“Fine, you worthless lizard. I’ll do it myself.”
<>***<>***<>***<>
Sandy clutched Megan closer, the younger girl’s scream muffled against her dress as the castle shook above them. They were huddled together in an underground tunnel that had been connected to the basement; it was the only place strong enough to protect them should the castle collapse. Sharon had left them not long before, unable to take the suspense and worry for her family any longer though she bade Sandy and Megan to stay.
Sandy closed her eyes and prayed, desperate for something to think about to keep her mind off the fact that her family could be dying and there was nothing she was able to do about it.
“This shouldn’t be happening,” Megan murmured shakily, clutching her sister-in-law with trembling fingers. “The dragons are good. I’ve seen it with my own eyes!”
Unable to find a reply that would satisfy them both, Sandy remained silent and stroked a soothing hand over the younger girl’s hair.
When she was a child, Sandy had found a love for fairytales as deeply as Jared had about dragons. In those stories everything always ended so happily and for the first time since she’d grown Sandy wished that real life was the same.
The castle shook again and the girls clung tighter to each other.
<>***<>***<>***<>
Jeffrey Dean reared back with a cry, blood raining down from the place his left eye was supposed to be. The dragon stumbled, lost in the pain and smashed into the side of the west tower.
Chris was instantly in front of him, using his tail as a whip to send a cluster of hunters flying like rag dolls. They crashed to the stone floor, most landing at odd angles and remaining still.
Jeffrey Dean struggled to his feet, half blind and shaking with blood loss and pain. A human body crunched like eggshells beneath his bulk as he stepped upon it, the insides splattering out in a mockery of toothpaste.
Chris' dripping jaws were parted as he panted, aching with exertion but refusing to move from his protective stance.
Fire erupted from Jensen’s mouth, humans scattering to get away as the large catapult caught aflame. The sight couldn’t even be satisfying, Jensen’s attention already on the men as they relentlessly attacked him again with hand-held spears and axes.
He caught a couple between his teeth, clamping down and ignoring their screams before tossing them uselessly aside. The metallic taste of blood in his mouth burned his throat, and he forced down the urge to gag. Human blood always tasted foul to him but he’d have to find time to be ill later.
At Jeffrey Dean’s command Chris took to the sky and flew in tight circles around the castle at lightning speed, flapping his wings hard against the wind as he spat fireballs at the enemy. At the same time, he dodged around boulders and arrows that were catapulted towards him, the stone of the castle suffering with each miss. His screeching roar pierced the air loud enough to break the eardrums of the hunters close by.
“Son, you have got to stop this madness!” Gerald cried, watching the battle with ever growing horror. “This isn’t solving anything!”
“I beg to differ,” Jeff replied smugly, sweeping his arms to indicate the view of the chaos in their line of vision. “The dragons are tiring, while our numbers just keep coming. Don’t you see? In a matter of moments it’ll all be over.”
“But at what cost? It’s not just the dragons you’re destroying!”
“Your love for them has blinded you!” Jeff snarled. “Have you forgotten that they took Jared? They wanted this war and by God, they got it! I will not sit back and let them do as they please!”
“Is it not just the dragons and hunters that suffer!” Sharon’s indignant voice cut through their argument as she rushed to her husband and son’s sides.
Before Jeff could even say a word she dragged him to the window of the part of the castle they resided in.
“Look!” she insisted, pointing down towards the village. “Look and see what you’ve done!”
The village below was completely destroyed, debris from carts and buildings littering the ground. A boulder flew down and hit the ground, and Jeff watched in horror as it smashed a man who had the misfortune of being in it’s path. The only thing visible was his legs, which were still twitching like a crushed insect’s as blood started to pool beneath him over the ground.
“The hunters are killing our people, Jeff!” Sharon’s anger melted into fear. “Please, stop them! You have to!”
A strong chain lashed out and tangled itself around Jensen’s neck, dragging him to the floor with a loud cry. He attempted to yank away, but the end of it was attached to a winch and pulled his head right back down while it started to cut his airflow. Jensen snarled and snapped his jaws, attempting to bite through as he fought not to panic. Never before had he dealt with anything human made that was so strong, but the chain was no where near ordinary. It was almost as if it had been made by a dragon because only their powers would have been able to make it so impervious.
His roaring and squirming caught the attention of the other dragons, and they instantly came to him. Jeffrey Dean’s half blindness was a distinct disadvantage, but it didn’t stop him from taking a protective stance in front of Jensen to block him from the advancing hunters. Chris attacked the chain like Jensen was attempting to do but it continued to have no give, even with both their sets of teeth gnawing at it.
The remaining hunters moved in for the kill, circling the three dragons with their spears and crossbows and catapults that seemed to have never ending ammo.
“Stop!” Jeff’s commanding voice broke through the adrenaline, although the hunters did not take their eyes off of their tiring prey. The humans too were exhausted, but their continuing numbers put them at an advantage no matter how much smaller they were than the dragons.
“We’re doing our job, Majesty,” the head dragon hunter, David Boreanaz, spat at the king. He was bruised and bloody, but there was still a dark anger and a savage thirst in his eyes that froze even the toughest of men in their tracks.
Even so Jeff marched right up to him. “You were only supposed to kill the dragons! Yet I still see all of them breathing while the village is in ruins!”
“There’s always casualties in war.”
“Only when you’re sloppy!”
David narrowed his eyes. “I respect your family, sire. They were the best of us. But king or no you’re not a hunter and my regard for yourself is waning. I’d choose my words and commands carefully if I were you.”
“You dare to threaten me?”
“I dare to do a lot of things. Don’t test me.”
The two men stared at each other, nostrils flaring like territorial dogs.
“Sounds to me like you’re starting to go soft there, majesty,” Ansem said mockingly. In his arms he carried Jared’s limp body bridal style, the act effortless as though the prince weighed next to nothing.
Horrified, Jeff and his parents shoved passed the hunters to rush over as Ansem laid Jared on the ground. Jared trembled, his hand trying to keep pressure against the profusely bleeding wound in his stomach.
“No!” Jensen reached him first. To escape the chains he’d transformed back in his human body, and act he that would have caused him instant death had the hunters still been attacking. He collapsed to his knees beside Jared’s body.
Jared swallowed a few times but couldn’t prevent the blood from spilling from his lips, a crimson trail sliding down the corner of his mouth and jaw line to drip onto the ground beside him. His body feebly jerked a couple times like a fish out of water and the light was quickly fading from his eyes, turning the once brilliant emerald into a dull jade.
Jensen pulled Jared to sit up and gathered him into an embrace, one arm wrapped around his back while the other hand buried itself in Jared’s hair. “Please, Jared no. Don’t do this. Don’t leave me. Not you. I wasn’t supposed to lose you!”
Jared’s breathing was slow and shallow and wet, body limp like a rag doll as the jerking turned to small tremors. His hand found purchase on Jensen’s leg, giving a feeble squeeze and Jensen released a sob as he realized that Jared was still trying to be the comforting one.
His pale, slightly parted lips quivered and moved just enough to form weak words against the Jensen’s ear. Then he was gone, his lifeless body slumping despite the desperate embrace around him.
“I‘ll be Draco now.”
Distantly, as though he was underwater Jensen could hear Jared’s family openly weeping. Sharon’s voice was the loudest, her breaking voice screaming and begging to God and anyone else who would listen to bring her son back. Please give her Jared back. She struggled against Gerald hold, desperately trying to get to Jared but her husband held her back.
“He’s gone, he’s gone,” Gerald murmured through his sobs, voice wrecked in his devastation as he clung desperately to his wife.
Jensen buried his face in Jared’s neck, his tears feeling hot against the cool skin. He continued to rock him, tightening his hold as Chris put his hand on his shoulder.
“Jensen..”
“No!” he shouted, knowing what Chris was going to say. “I won’t let him go! I was supposed to protect him! Jeffrey Dean told me to. I want to! I have to!”
He felt the weight of Chris' hand shift as he knelt down beside him, and finally he lifted his head to look at the other man. Blood and bruising mixed on the Chris’ face like morbid war paint, his free wrist bent at a weird angle as he held it to his chest. It was no doubt that the bone was broken, and yet the only pain Chris showed on his face was his sorrow for Jensen.
Jensen turned away from him to look up, the clear dark sky a twinkling mass of millions of stars that wavered and swam in his vision from the tears that still kept coming. Jared’s last words sent fresh wet rolling down Jensen’s cheeks, because he knew that Jared meant he would protect and watch over Jensen now just like in the story of the constellation Draco that he‘d told him. But Jensen couldn’t let that happen. He wasn’t ready. They weren’t ready. He wouldn’t let it end this way.
With tender care he laid Jared down. The younger man’s shirt over his belly was completely soaked with red, the fabric sticking to the still lazily seeping fatal wound just below.
Jeff instantly attempted to go to his fallen brother, but Jeffrey Dean’s hand shot out to stop him. Infuriated, he turned to the dragon but halted at the look on his face.
A whole half of the dragon leader’s face was coated in drying blood, but his remaining eye held understanding and sorrow tangled together unmistakably. They were emotions that despite everything Jeff had never really thought a dragon capable of until now.
In a rush of overwhelming understanding, sorrow and complete awareness of his stupidity he finally got that the dragons were really no different from them. Jeff finally realized just how blind he had been, and his knees gave out as he faced the truth.
Jared was dead, gone and never coming back because of Jeff’s close-mindedness. Because of his desire to see nothing passed the end of his nose, his desire to be a great king and make something of himself. His unwillingness to accept the dragons as they were just like Jared and Gerald had.
His little brother lost his life because he’d loved and believed in a cause that Jeff should have backed him up on but instead had condemned him for.
Gerald had one arm around his wife, Sharon’s body trembling although she’d lost the energy to cry anymore. His other hand grasped onto Jeff’s slumped shoulder. He watched Jensen and Jared through his tears and could now see the love that the dragon expressed for his son. He realized, too late, that he’d always noticed it but refused to give meaning to the looks he’d seen pass between the two. Jensen had loved Jared more deeply than Gerald, despite his understanding of dragons, had ever believed possible. And he realized that the feelings from Jared had been nothing short of mutual.
All that time they had been pushing Jared on Penn because of a stupid promise to the man’s parents and a naive belief that Jared would learn to be happy. While during the duration of their pigheadedness there had been Jensen, protecting and loving their son right in front of their blind eyes.
Gerald would give anything, even his own life, to take it all back.
Chris watched Jensen stare intensely and unwavering at Jared’s corpse, a set to his jaw and determination in his eyes. Frightened, realization dawned on him.
“Jensen!” he cried, using his unbroken arm to try to pull his clan mate away, “you can’t do this!”
“Is that so?” Jensen’s body tensed, refusing to be budged.
“What you’re thinking of doing, it’ll kill you! No one‘s ever done it successfully!”
“I love him, Chris. I haven’t felt nearly as much for anyone since my family died. I wasn’t able to save them but there’s a chance I can save him.”
“I know, I know how much you love him, Jensen. But is it really worth dying for? He wouldn’t want that!”
“Without him I might as well already be dead. This is the only way.”
Not waiting for Chris’ response, Jensen placed his hands on Jared’s unmoving chest and closed his eyes. At first it seemed as though nothing was going to happen, but then slowly, so slowly a blue light started to encircle him. It began faintly, but as the light crept and stretched over his body and down his arms to Jared it increased in intensity.
Chris was forced to move back as a strong wind encased Jensen and Jared, hair and clothes whipping about violently while everyone else was untouched.
In his mind’s eye, Jensen saw nothing but darkness. Then a light began to form, so very small as though he was seeing it at a distance. Hastily he moved towards it with the knowledge it could go out at any minute, his unseen hand reaching desperately for it.
The light became bigger at his approach, and Jensen began to feel the heat that radiated off of it as a slow pounding like the beat of a drum began to echo in his ears.
The light slowly morphed into a body, completely naked and achingly familiar.
“Jensen?” Jared’s voice was weak as he faded in and out like a flickering candle, and Jensen knew he was quickly losing him forever.
“Don’t go, Jared. Please.” Jensen rushed forward and hugged him, wrapping his arms tightly around the other man. He was just as still in his human form and naked as well, but was unable to feel anything other than cold even as their bodies touched.
“I have to.”
“No! You don’t have to do anything. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from you it’s that you can do anything you want to even if you thought it impossible. You don’t have to die.”
“Neither do you.”
“If you do then I will! Not because I have to, but because I simply will. You’re all I’ve come to want, and life means nothing if you’re not with me! I love you, Jared. No matter what this is about you and me. No one else. Draco and his treasure.”
There was a moment of stillness, then Jared’s arms slowly wound themselves around his waist.
“Jensen.”
As abruptly as the wind started, it died down and the blue light faded as though it had never been. Both dragons and humans alike all watched, lungs burning from held breath, as seconds passed by and neither Jensen nor Jared moved.
All at once Jared’s eyes snapped open and he gasped as though he’d just came up from spending a long while underwater. The color returned to his skin like a cloud drifting away from the sun as his wounds were instantly healed, the blue from lack of oxygen fading from his lips.
Jensen’s eyes slid open more slowly, but the smile that lighted his face was evidence enough that he was alright. The dragons enveloped him in a tight embrace as Jared’s family rushed forth and did the same with him, all talking over each other in a rush to find answers. The mourning cries had turned to tears of happiness and infinite relief, hugs tight and full of affection.
Too tired for explanations that he wasn’t sure he had anyway, Jensen did not speak. He looked over Jeffrey Dean’s shoulder to see Jared alive and well, and strong affection more powerful and complete as he’d never felt before surged through his body as Jared met his eyes and smiled.
<>***<>***<>***<>
Jared watched Michael and Thomas lower their dragon forms close to the ground so that Chris and Jeffrey Dean could climb onto their backs. Neither male was in any condition to try flying the long distance back home.
“You could come with us,” Jensen said from beside him.
“You could stay,” Jared replied.
They fell silent for a moment, both knowing that neither option was plausible. Despite everything they still had obligations to their families, and there were things to do. Cleanups, odds and ends, rebuilding, those kinds of things.
“I overheard Jeffrey Dean telling you he wants you to be his successor.”
“He doesn’t feel like he can truly lead now with only one eye, but I think he’d still be okay. Might need help though.”
“And you’ll be the one?”
“Maybe.”
Jared smiled sadly. He wanted to be happy for Jensen, but he just couldn’t. He turned to face the older brunet, and when those clear green eyes focused on him Jared felt his own fill with tears.
“You saved my life, Jensen. I don’t know how I could ever thank you.”
Jensen’s features softened and he reached up, laying his hand on Jared’s cheek. “Don’t thank me, Jared. I did it because I love you, that hasn’t changed and it won’t ever.”
Jared leaned into the touch. Something had happened when Jensen brought him back, something beautiful and scary and he felt as though they were connected somehow. It was deeper than feelings, it went straight to their souls.
“Will I see you again?”
“You will,” Jensen replied assuredly. “One of our priorities will be trying to find Ansem. He disappeared in all the confusion. And after that, when things have settled for both of us, I won’t be far away.”
“Don’t be too hard on him,” Jared said. It was a little odd but in the end, Ansem had helped him in a way.
After Penn stabbed Jared he didn’t remember much outside of the pain. But he still knew that Ansem had attacked Penn, the sound of his neck snapping like a twig forever edged in Jared’s memory along with the sight of his ex-fiancé’s lifeless body collapsing to the ground. Penn’s death had been quick and painless, but at least it was over.
When the dragons were ready to leave, Jared stood with his family and watched them take to the sky. He refused to move until they had disappeared from his sight, their path blocked by the clouds of the early morning.
Despite Jensen’s promise, Jared tried not to let it feel like goodbye.
Chapter 10