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“Oh, I don’t understand!” Came the almost chirped reply. The little dragon swiveled its head around, looking away and then back, seemingly grasping for the answer he sought. “Why is it they died?”
“I never really thought it was a smart story myself, but Shakespeare is Shakespeare. It’s a classic, even if it’s none too smart.” He replied, leaning back against the tree, bark rough even through his jacket. Levitas grumbled, shifting his small body on his lap, most of his tail, and back legs on the ground.
“Surly you must have gotten some part wrong, remembered the ending a bit off?” The dragonet plied hoping for a happier ending. Jeremy shrugged.
“I’m sure some parts I’ve forgotten, and certainly the wording was off, but the ending was the ending. They both died.” Levitas looked up at him, almost dog like, with pleading eyes. Jeremy put a hand on his back, the scales warm under his touch. “I would have told you a happier tale, but I can’t seem to recall any.”
“So there are no happy endings?” The little dragon asked voice low and sad. Jeremy frowned, regretting giving in to the little creature’s insistence on a story before sleeping. He let out a sigh.
“Oh, there is no reason to fret over something that never actually happened. A story is just a story, they’re not true. The people never existed, they never actually died.” Levitas didn’t seem any more pleased then he did before. His eyes still somber, almost glassy, as if he was capable of tears.
“But if people thought of such tragic things, then such tragic things must happen in reality, correct?” The hatchling squeaked quietly. Jeremy was a loss of what to say. He was twelve, having little to no life experience to draw upon. He was by no means wise, and his head was beginning to ache from trying to come up with a good answer.
“Well…of course. Life has sad moments.” The little creature looked away from him, eyes, glued to the ground, dejected. Jeremy let out another sigh, frustrated. He didn’t want the little thing to lose all hope or joy in life when he was barely a week old. He started to run his hand over the creature’s back, the little spiny fins flatting against the dragonet’s spine as his hand drew over them.
“Romeo and Juliet is a play, it has acts. Just like a play, a person’s life has different acts, some acts are full of joy and others are not.” Levitas glanced up at him questioningly, his cat like eyes focused solely on him. “Sometimes you have to get through an unpleasant act to get to one worthwhile.”
“But what if it ends on a bad act, what if you don’t get a happy ending?” Jeremy frowned down at the tiny creature, placing an index finger on Levitas’s snout. After being rejected by Celeritas he had assumed all dragons were large frightful creatures, never had he thought he’d be surrogate parent to one.
“Then it’s over.” He stated simply, never having contemplated his mortality before. Even when his brothers had been doing there utmost to terrify him, he had never thought what would happen to him if he died. “I suppose either you go to some afterlife, like the church says or maybe nothing at all. It doesn’t really matter though because in the end you won’t be in pain anymore, and that’s something at least.”
“So happy ending or not I won’t be upset?” Levitas asked, feeling perky enough to nip at Jeremy’s index finger on his nose. Jeremy just moved the finger underneath the dragonets chin, playfully moving the little beast’s head around in different directions. Levitas let out a small, almost bird like noise, seemingly in better spirts with the small action.
“Stop obsessing. You’re not going to die anytime soon. Dragon’s live along time” Levitas grabbed his sleeve with his claws, rolling onto his back, nearly hitting Jeremy in the face with an over-sized wing. He poked the dragonet a few more times on the nose, gaining a few more happy growling, peeps from the beast.
“Will I live longer then you?” Levitas asked, voice still pitched high with excitement from the minor play. Jeremy couldn’t help but smile a bit, he just had to get a curious little beast didn’t he?
“Yes, a lot longer.” Levitas swatted at the hand trying to scratch his head, managing to grab hold of it lightly, holding it still. His eyes were once again sad, though it was almost a faraway of type of look, as if he couldn’t quite comprehend Jeremy ever being gone to begin with.
“Who will be my Captain then?” Jeremy used his free hand to poke at the dragonet’s back feet idly.
“Someone from my family I suppose.” He answered with a shrug. It would be a long time before he could retire from the Corp, so he didn’t much care at the moment who took over as Levitas’s Captain once he was gone. They probably hadn’t even been born yet.
“Is your family nice?” Levitas kicked casually at the fingers at his feet, still holding on to Jeremy’s other hand in both his front claws. Jeremy shrugged again, answer simple, mirroring the one he gave the dragonet before.
“Family is family. What you get is what you get.” His brothers were a pain, and his parents were demanding, but he loved them all the same, and it wasn’t as if he could replace them. “Whomever you get after me will be decent.”
“But they won’t be you.” Jeremy couldn’t help but smile a bit wider, flattered. He touched his finger to the dragonet’s snout making him let out a small snort, and wrinkle his nose, holding onto Jeremy’s other hand even tighter. It almost made him laugh.
“No, they won’t be me.”