Chapter Text
“Let us commence the ritual.”
A bright and shining knight lying in his golden coffin, filled with various of flowers but most notably, yellow roses spread gloriously shown in the display in the middle of the church. He is now long gone after the winter came, destroying everything that he loved. He could not say goodbye to his comrades in such unfortunate event.
Everyone in this church can see that one’s own death in such a beautiful display that the ritual shall take place. Each one of them who visits starts to fade off and walked away to their usual schedules.
A funeral for a memorial is short.
Nothing is always impressive that could stay in your mind after you take a glance.
A forgettable memory. What a shame.
It was meant to be a glorious day specifically for Drakaina after hearing the news. Her mortal enemy was defeated so she can rest easily and hibernate for a longer period... unfortunately, it was unexpected that on the same day, that he will rise back to haunt the White Dragons after the ritual during the evenings.
“Watchman dear, don’t stay up too late. You should take a long rest after how much effort you put into this event,” Drakaina shook her head in disappointment. She knows he likes to see and clean the corpses without realising the time he spends with them. It was also no surprise at the thought that Watchman was the one who insisted to keep his corpse as a memento in the church. He could have ended in a beautiful burial under the ground despite being enemies to the Red Dragons but Watchman had his reasons to keep him here which Drakaina accepts.
To others, they know him as just a mere servant under Drakaina’s commands, and nothing more, but Drakaina has always treated him more special than others as equal as her own daughter that she controls to the point she sometimes calls him as her own son despite only relate by species and not by bloodline. He gets free reign on his decisions that he could just go on his day to explain his love for the quiet and silent corpses that he lives within the same place as them to her. But what does she know anyway... as long it makes him happy, she does not deny his decisions.
Watchman nodded before seeing Drakaina off from the church with her daughter back to the clock tower. The time struck midnight as he locked the church door for safety. Before he returned to his room, he noticed the coffin started to rattle a bit so he went to it only to be caught in surprise that he is still alive. Watchman’s expression frowned at the sight he saw as the Dragon Hunter got up from his coffin. How can he explain to Drakaina now that this would have been his responsibility since he brought this idea to her. She would be enraged finding out the Dragon Hunter is still alive and, in her domain, to kill her what is told in the prophecies.
‘I will not let him do that.’
Without hesitation, Watchman quickly looked over the desk behind him to grab anything that is worth as a weapon to leave the knight permanently dead for good but once he had his back turned away from the knight, something sharp was pointed at his neck in front of his.
“Put that dagger away.”
“Weren’t you going to do the same?” the Dragon Hunter scoffed as he pushed the Watchman down to the desk with his body as he held both of his wrists flat down. This prevented Watchman from grabbing anything in his sights and even if he did, he cannot move freely. He was too weak to pull out from his grip. He underestimated Dragon Hunter’s strength from what other folks been telling him years ago and he did not want to believe it but now, he looks like a fool if the others see his current state.
He stayed silent for a minute before asking, “You just wanted to slay her , don’t you?”
“Her? If you meant Drakaina, then it is none of your business to know. That is between me and her, so you should stay out of things that don't involve you. However,...”
He glanced at Watchman’s appearance for a minute; taking his time to analyse his features. There are scales on his skin as similar as his own skin, but they are white in colour, which gave him a sign Watchman is one of their kind as well. He went ahead to use his dagger held on his right hand to poke at the right side of his scaly forehead lightly, “You must be related to her if you are that desperate to know, eh? What is she to you?”
Watchman stayed silent as he looked away from Dragon Hunter’s eyes. He refused to tell him anything in regards to his relationship to Drakaina further as that would endanger her life even more as he knows her current living location. She is always believed that everyone under her will not betray her and if Watchman missteps, it could be the end of his life either way.
She treats Watchman as a son more than anything in this world next to her daughter so betraying hurts him to even do such after for so long when she took him in as just a mere servant previously. Without her finding him, he could have died on the streets along with his kind while those other hunters slaughtering his kind. He was grateful so why should he?
Without any second thoughts, Watchman shouted, “What if I were to say that I am related to her? It won’t change anything but you can’t kill her! I won’t let you!”
From up close, Dragon Hunter can hear Watchman’s growling in anger. While Watchman sees Dragon Hunter as no more than a threat to Drakaina, the knight sees something different and unique when he lays his eyes on the servant. The Dragon Hunter’s expression is way too obvious at this point that he is not taking him seriously as he tried to suppress giving the awe face. It was only lucky that Watchman cannot see his face from this position otherwise he will not able to continue to tease him like this.
“Cute,” he desperately wanted to squish his cheeks but he prefers not to do it now since this is a serious talk he is in now. He asked, “So, what will you try to do? I don't think I would easily change my mind just from mere sentences.”
“You can just kill me right here.”
The knight raised an eyebrow when he heard his reply. He was not expecting a very straightforward answer from his mouth but he let him finish his sentence out of courtesy, "I don’t care if you would hurt me just... leave her alone. She never did anything wrong and you can’t tell me otherwise!”
“Does she care for you a lot?”
The Watchman took a moment to process that question before answering whatever comes to his mind. The Dragon Hunter can hear his emotions in those words he never heard in a long time.
“Yes... she took me in as her own son when I was helpless. I felt indebted to her as a child as well as everyone else who are under her for the longest time. Without her, we could have not been alive right here right now. Now that I am grown, I understood what it meant a sacrifice must be made so losing my life will not be a problem.”
Watchman slightly shook in the thought of dying... he did not think this through now to think about it. He did not want to die in any scenario. The knight suddenly felt bad for Watchman when he heard his story so the knight was in deep thoughts about it as he placed his dagger back to its case. He was not planning to hurt him if possible.
However, that gave Watchman an opportunity to try to escape from his grasp while he was not aware. He got his hands off from his grip and pushed the knight off before stumbling off the floor; running as fast as he could out from the church.
Watchman then realised his mistake when he puts his hand on the door that leads outside... it was locked. He forgot that he was the one who locked it earlier so that was either embarrassing or stupid for him to instantly go to the entrance instead of his room to block him off. He ends up panicking trying to unlock the door before getting tackled onto the floor by the red dragon; wincing in pain when his whole body slammed to the floor. Luckily, his bones were not damaged when he fell against it but it left him unable to lift himself up temporarily.
He opened his eyes; seeing face to face looking at the knight’s eyes glaring into his. The Dragon Hunter’s expression seemed... more pissed, the fact that he was guilt tripped and shoved off when he was close to showing empathy towards his kind. It was a missed opportunity but not that Watchman knew it was coming, "I-I’m sorry...”
“You know ‘sorry’ doesn’t cut it.”
The Dragon Hunter went to pull out his dagger again from the side as his right hand prepared to stab Watchman. The white dragon servant closed his eyes embracing for the impact of the injury. He is not wavered by the death of others for the past years living surrounded by corpses but what if it was his own life? His head went blank at the thought of it. He could not process it... though...
“MM?”
Instead of a sharp pain, he felt something on his lips. Something softer than anything that he has touched with them. He was partially afraid of opening his eyes but with confidence decided to open his eyes without hesitation.
His hands were interlocked with the knight’s as both bodies pressed together on the ground with sync heartbeats together. Dragon Hunter’s face is close... too close that his warm, soft lips pressed with his own passionately.
Watchman became frenzied in thoughts. Dragon Hunter was here to kill him since he is interfering with his goal but what does this have to do with anything related to Drakaina? That cannot be right he thought to himself. This could have been another tactic to make himself weaker but the more he thinks about the kiss, his whole body slowly starts to melt with him, accepting this new experience considered that this is his first time experiencing such unique feelings from another being.
Dragon Hunter cuts it off the kiss, leaving the Watchman breathless. The knight gaze to his eyes as he took his right hand to run his fingers on the white dragon’s hair, "That should cover your apologies. I want a better apology next time when you do another mistake.”
Dragon Hunter got off from Watchman to allow some distance between them. The white dragon lifted himself from the floor as stood up in a daze before looking back at the red dragon. His mind said it felt like he was toyed around or used but his heart felt differently that it hurts for him to understand. After he came back to reality, he realised the knight is saying something while he was still dazed. He has no idea but by the looks of it, it seems like he is waiting for him to notice something.
He decided to look around him to see anything new until he felt something was on his fingers that was not there before. He lifted his left hand near to his sight to notice a ring on his fourth finger. It was a simple shaped ring that held a diamond in the middle but up-close inspection, it is shaped as a rose. He was surprised because his favourite flowers are roses though yellow in colour more specifically. He never gotten a gift this expensive but... he snapped back to reality to also realise, what was this for? There should be some special reason he gifted it to him.
“What is this ring for?” he asked in confusion. He does not know what was the knight’s intention for giving that to him. That made the Dragon Hunter chuckle even more. Oh, how badly that the knight wants to pinch his cheeks for being so filled with naivety but he is still suppressing the urge to do it without the white dragon’s consent. That can be done in another time when he gets the chance to do it.
The Dragon Hunter tried to find a straightforward way to word it in a way that the white dragon could understand and went with it, "Since she is especially important to you, this is another way to cover my goal to make peace with her from this long war. I had that ring for a special occasion to find that special someone ...”
Dragon Hunter went over to Watchman as he held his left hand gently. His expression softens.
“And looks like I did. Isn’t it lovely, my future husband?”
-
In a distance from the Clock Tower, Drakaina's mind went blank in thoughts filled with rage. She overheard with her servants about the situation in the middle of the night after they spied from the outside. She was not too happy to hear this that her roaring vibrates throughout the village frightening anyone whoever heard it. By tomorrow, she will pay a visit to both. War or not, her son is her main priority that she wants to listen from.