Chapter Text
The sun beat down on Eret’s skin from above, the heat oppressive and suffocating. It reminded them of dragons’ heat, but with a crucial difference— dragons’ heat never made her feel like they couldn’t breathe. He sat in the audience among rows of other people, wishing they could be just about anywhere else. But she couldn’t leave.
They had something important to do here.
They spared a glance in the direction of where their faithful friend sat, patiently waiting amongst his kind as his emerald eyes stared at the platform. The harsh rays of light reflected beautifully off of Foolish’s golden scales. Eret almost mourned the fact that the rays couldn’t reach his silver underside from where he sat. Those scales sparkled as beautifully as his golden ones. Foolish’s shark-like tail twitched before one of his hind legs lifted to scratch near the back of the saddle he wore. Their eyes wandered as they noticed his webbed front claws began to fidget nervously, toying with the reins around his silver horns that were currently tied - loosely she reminded herself - around the post the others of his kind present were tied to much more tightly.
Foolish was the most beautiful dragon Eret had ever laid her eyes on. He easily stood out amongst the other dragons that were present like a gorgeously decorated thumb. Far too many people would kill, sometimes literally, to get their greedy hands on him for various reasons. She hated all of those reasons.
In this world, far too many humans viewed dragons as the ultimate exotic pet. The wealthiest families had manageable hordes in too small stalls like horses. Farms who could afford the expensive care these amazing creatures demanded had replaced farm hands with dragons who were strong but never grew too big so they could be more easily controlled. Hunters would take dragons who wouldn’t fully submit but could still be controlled and use them to aid them in hunting down animals or worse, humans. Families who were able to afford them would often parade their new “pet” around town and treat them no better than a common animal.
Just the mere thought of all of these facts made Eret absolutely sick. She despised it all. Those who treated dragons, the most gorgeous and intelligent sentient beings he’s ever known, as nothing but pets, mere slaves, or oversized pests who steal their livestock and “mindlessly” attack their towns were almost as bad as those who he hated the most, the entire reason him and Foolish were even there.
The dragon hunters.
The most common dragon hunters set traps to capture dragons with the sole intention of “conditioning” these beautiful creatures into submission to sell at auctions into enslavement. He’s seen how they do it. Just thinking about all the times he and their best friend had witnessed it made Eret’s face burn red with rage. His eyes returned to the platform, glaring at it with the rage of a rampaging horde in search of their missing member as a low growl started making its way up his throat.
A dragon’s soft but audible growl was heard from the group to the side, a sound that caused the people gathered to flinch and cower away from but calmed the enraged human. He was the only one who knew what it meant.
“It’ll be alright, Eret.” Foolish cooed to his human. “We’re here to right this wrong just like we’ve done in other towns.”
The other dragons looked at their gold and silver brother in confusion, a look shared by the people who heard him but for different reasons.
Eret sighed before smiling at the beautiful creature they had befriended. “I know, my friend. Thank you for helping me keep a levelhead.” There was a brief pause before she chuckled. “Again.”
“Someone has to when you get into your ‘I hate my kind for being dicks’ mindset.” Foolish snickered teasingly.
She rolled her eyes at her friend, not paying attention to the looks she was receiving from those around her. So what if humans looked at her like she was crazy for being able to talk with Foolish in his tongue? What they said was their business. It’s not like dragons can’t learn other languages and teach a human how to understand them in return. You just have to earn that right.
The sound of frightened dragon growls caused everyone to snap their attention back to the platform. Eret felt her stomach twist in knots as Foolish twitched in place nervously. The auction was about to begin. They dreaded seeing what damage has been done this time.
Everyone watched as the hunters came around the corner followed by their own dragons. Chains were latched onto the wonderful creatures as they were made to pull the line of rattling cages. Most kept their heads down, but strangely, one held his head up high. He almost looked… happy? The green scaled dragon with a tuft of brown fur on his head was almost giddy with excitement as if he couldn’t wait for the auction to start. There was no trace of fear in his blue-green eyes or any scars on his body to even suggest he was beaten into submission. The sight confused Eret immensely. The other dragons the hunters had were clearly afraid with their faces full of regret for having to turn on their own kind like this, but by the way this one acted, it was as if he had no reason to be afraid or feel regret at all.
She couldn’t question it further when she glanced at the hunters and froze upon meeting the eyes, or more accurately eye, of one of them. He stared back at them, surprise meeting pained recognition. Eret knew this hunter.
“Quackity,” one of the hunters called, snapping him out of his trance, “what’s wrong? You look like you saw a ghost.”
“Erm…” Quackity glanced back at Eret, who in turn had looked away, before shaking his head. “It’s nothing. Thought I saw someone, but I was mistaken.”
As the hunter went to help his team get the cages on stage, Foolish spared a worried look at Eret. He was aware of the shaky history between them and Quackity. If they had known who was selling, perhaps they would’ve planned a more stealthy approach to their current goal.
The brunette gave the dragon a wobbly smile before focusing back on the cages. Now was not the time to focus on ghosts of the past. They had more important things to worry about.
“Welcome valued customers!”
Eret scrunched up his nose bitterly. Of course Quackity was the one who gave the sales pitch.
“We found the best of the best for you today! These particular dragons certainly put up quite the struggle, but we just knew this meant they’d be perfect for those who wish for guardians!”
As Big Q proceeded with his pitch, Eret felt like he could honestly vomit right then and there. Hearing anyone try to talk up a dragon’s “usefulness” was revolting enough as it was, but hearing it come from Quackity’s mouth just made it all the more disgusting. With a quick glance at Foolish, he could tell he was in the exact same boat. His eyes were narrowed in disgust and anger and his tail flicked like an irate cat’s. A small amount of smoke was billowing out of his nostrils.
“However!” Quackity suddenly shouted, a pleased grin stretching across his face. Eret didn’t like the look of it. “This last one, oh-ho-ho, this one is perfect for those who like to hunt! A real beauty with strength to match! No amount of conditioning could help us calm its savage instincts, but its fiery determination and laser focus makes it the best choice if you have any dangerous game you need assistance with! Just remember, it’s a real biter! Nearly took off ol’ Jeremy’s arm when he got too close to it!”
The hunter, who was apparently named Jeremy, raised his bandaged up hand proudly. Eret glowered at it.
‘Should’ve taken it off,’ they thought bitterly.
The excitement of the crowd disgusted them. For the first time today, they were thankful for the suffocating heat. It made it easier to hide the increasing shades of red on her face from how enraged she was. Off the corner of her eye, she saw Foolish lift a wing before folding it back up. A subtle sign to remain calm. They needed to not draw any attention to themselves if they wanted to achieve their goal.
He sighed, toying with his black cloak as he watched the hunters begin to uncover the cages, showing off the poor dragons inside. He bit his bottom lip as the crowd that gathered marveled at the “merchandise”.
The hunters hadn’t yet revealed all of them, and yet already, the state of the beautiful creatures was heartbreaking. They were cowering before the humans, some curling up to look smaller than they actually were. Even the one covered in fur had very visible and still healing scars. The ones with wings had them bound with heavy chains that very few species could break. All of them were shackled and muzzled with the same heavy metal the chains were made of. It didn’t even look like they were properly cared for after being captured and conditioned.
The lone fur covered dragon had a fur pattern that vaguely reminded Eret of a fox. His yellow eyes rapidly scanned the crowd before they suddenly met theirs. Their heart ached as they could see the silent pleading for help through them, a sight that almost made her cry. She could immediately tell this one was not from around this territory. Her and Foolish have been staying in the area for quite some time and not once have they encountered a dragon much like this one. He had to have been brought from somewhere else.
How long have the hunters kept this one?
Eret couldn’t think more on the topic when the last dragon was revealed and immediately started slamming against the bars, sending the hunter who pulled off the cloth to the ground from the sudden momentum. The crowd gasped and backed away. Some shrieked while parents held their children close at the sight of the still struggling dragon. He on the other hand remained rooted in place with his eyes fixed on the terrified creature in horror.
The dragon’s horribly scarred body was purple with blue markings on his legs and bound wings. The scales on his bottom jaw were the same shade of blue running down to a gradient just below the center of his stomach, an effect that was on his wings and hind legs and part of his mostly blue horns. His purple claws desperately scratched at everything he could reach as his tail flailed wildly. His green eyes darted around frantically, jumping from the hunters to the crowd before flying to the gathered “tamed” dragons. When they did, he suddenly froze in his frantic struggling as he stared hard in disbelief. Eret followed the dragon’s gaze.
He was staring at a suddenly very horrified Foolish. A horrifying realization clicked in her head.
He began struggling again, slamming his body in his direction.
Foolish suddenly lunged forward, the loosely tied reins coming undone in a second.
“BROTHER!” Foolish wailed in English.
With Eret watching, frozen in place, the gold and silver dragon gave a strong flap of his wings to leap over the scattering crowd and onto the stage. The hunters immediately reacted fast, grabbing at his reins as he slammed his horns against his brother’s cage before some of their dragons forced themselves between him and his brother to keep him away. The force of the headbutt dented the bars and knocked the metal prison over, nearly dragging the others with it. The other caged dragons cried out in fear as one of the hunters raised a whip, ready to get the situation under control his way.
The sight was enough to snap Eret out of his trance.
“STOP!” Eret screamed as he frantically scrambled onto the stage, startling the hunter with the whip. “DON’T HURT FOOLISH! THAT’S DREAM! THAT’S HIS BROTHER! YOU HAVE HIS BROTHER!”
“BROTHER! BROTHER!”
Tears flowed down Foolish’s face as he struggled against the pulling on his reins and the pushing of the hunters’ dragons. He lunged and snapped and swiped and flapped, but he couldn’t get any closer to his little brother. Dream stared back at him, scared, hurt, and confused. He looked so broken and yet, he still held a frightened concern for him at the sight of the human objects he was wearing.
“Brother! I’m alright! We’re gonna save you, me and my human! That’s why we’re here!” Foolish shouted, this time in their tongue.
Dream’s eyes snapped to Eret as they yelled at the hunter to stay away from their friend. He didn’t understand what the human was saying, but by his experience with seeing the vile creatures raising their voice, he cowered at them. He flinched when it didn’t go unnoticed by “Foolish’s human” before they pointed at him.
“That dragon, how much for that dragon?!” They questioned.
This wasn’t how the raid was supposed to go, but they needed to adapt. She had to get Dream out before they could focus on the others.
Quackity, who had been just observing the entire thing, stepped forward with his face twisted in anger. He should’ve known they’d do something to fuck everything up.
“First things first,” Quackity began harshly, “get your fucking dragon under control.”
Eret leveled an enraged look at the beanie wearing hunter before he turned to their friend. He shoved the other hunters away to take Foolish’s reins in one hand with a gentle tug and a soft dragon-like purr as he ran his other on the frantic dragon’s neck. It took a few long seconds before the combined actions calmed the worried brother enough to stop fighting his human, leaning his head against the brunette’s hand with the reins as his body shook with his growling sobs. Eret cooed gently and pulled his head down to press a feather soft kiss to his snout.
“Shhhh, shhhh, it’s ok, Foosh…” Eret purred in the dragon’s native tongue. “Calm down. I’m here. I’m right here and I swear to you on my life that we’ll get Dream and all the others out in one piece. We just need a new approach.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be. This is your brother. I know how much you care for him.”
Dream could only watch in amazement through his fear. A human who spoke Dragon… He’s never heard of such a thing in all the time he’s avoided these creatures. And the words they spoke, a promise of salvation… He didn’t trust humans like Foolish apparently did, but if they spoke the truth, maybe…
The moment was broken by the scoff of one of the hunters.
“Ohh, I see,” he jeered. “We’ve got a dragon lover in our midst.”
Foolish snarled at the human as Eret pressed a hand against his head. That was something humans called others who just so happened to have a similar mindset to Eret. It was meant to hurt them and while it does hurt some, he embraces it.
“So what if I am?”
The hunter scoffed as Quackity nudged him. For a moment, Eret almost thought he was gonna defend him. Emphasis on “almost”. They knew better.
“Look, what’s your name?” The black haired man questioned, pretending he didn’t already know her to save face.
“Eret.”
“Well Eret, after what your dragon just did, neither of you are permitted to be anywhere near where the dragon auction is being held. You lost your chance to buy this one the second your dragon tried to free it."
Your dragon.
That phrase always left a bitter taste in her mouth. It made it seem like Foolish, her friend, her equal, was nothing but mere property.
Foolish looked at Eret worriedly. The brunette looked at the gold and silver dragon before looking at all the trapped souls, lingering on Dream when the other dragons put the cage right side up. He ignored the angry shouting of the crowd wanting to buy one of these beautiful creatures as he stared at the purple and blue dragon’s scarred body. There were so many, and he just knew they all happened because he refused to submit so easily because of…
His eyes latched onto the faded bite mark on the side of the dragon’s throat.
It wasn’t a fight bite from another dragon in a fight for territory.
‘That’s it!’
Eret climbed onto Foolish’s back, settling on the saddle after strapping in before he tugged at the reins. “Let’s go.”
“Wha- But-”
She leaned close to the dragon’s ear and whispered something in Dragon, barely audible over the still angered crowd. Foosh’s ears perked up, his eyes glancing at Dream’s bite mark before he turned and began walking off stage. When Dream let out a muffled cry, Eret looked back.
“We’ll be back with help. I promise.”
Dream could only blink in confusion as he watched Foolish take off into the air, the brunette safely strapped into the saddle. He didn’t understand what that meant. Who could help them except…
He shook his head as the hunters were forced to reschedule the auction for a bit later.
Surely Foolish wouldn’t… Would he?
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He knew the territory like the back of his webbed claw. He used to live in this area before he met his human after all. As such, it was easy for Foolish to go on autopilot as he looked back at Eret.
“Are you sure about this?” The dragon questioned over the wind.
There was a gentle kick against his side. Eret had learned quickly that it was better to communicate with her scaly friend as well as keep bugs out of her mouth if she kept their lips shut and just use nonverbal cues. For situations like this, one kick against his side meant yes, two meant no.
“But you know how they feel about humans! Those two especially!”
Eret smiled and began petting the middle of the back of Foolish’s neck with one hand.
Calm down.
“How can I when I’m not sure if I can keep you safe?!”
A silent nod with a caring smile.
I trust you.
Foolish sighed and smiled back as he landed at the entrance of the cave high up in the mountains near the town. It had taken them a good while to reach it, but he knew from experience that the hunters always hired people from the towns they held auctions in to prevent any further interruptions should one have occurred. They had time.
He looked up at the cave as the brunette unstrapped herself from the saddle and climbed off his back as they raised the shades they had been wearing to rest on their forehead. He gave a quick sniff inside, faint familiar scents filling his nostrils alongside the usual scent of a cave. Foolish nodded at the human and lifted a wing so they could get to their bag. This hadn’t been the way he had hoped to introduce them to his human, but desperate times called for very desperate measures.
Foolish watched as Eret pulled out their lantern, lighting it before they went in first with him not far behind. The human carefully navigated through the darkness towards the end of the cave. He jumped when he heard something crack under his boot, the sound nearly deafening in the eerie silence save for the sound of the pair walking. He didn’t feel like shining the light down at his feet to see if it was discarded bovine or horse bones. Instead, he reached up and grabbed at Foolish’s head, pulling him close to rest on their shoulder for comfort and reassurance he was nearby in the dark. They gave a small giggle when he nuzzled into the side of their face.
The second they reached the end of the cave, they were immediately met with hostile growls from multiple dragons. Four pairs of eyes reflecting the light of her lantern glared back at the human. As Foolish quickly moved in front of Eret, the sound of something hard slamming against the ground was heard before light flooded in from above. Eret flinched and blinked against the blinding light, lowering their shades to protect against it as they regained their sight. When he did, he was met with who they were searching for.
Four dragons were before them, one resting in a nest but was trying to rise up to intimidate the intruder. The largest in the group was a shadow dragon with black scales. His hollow white eyes glared at him. His long limbs, large black wings, black horns that curled back, and red markings on his face and the sides of his front legs were both gorgeous and intimidating. He kept a clawed hand on the one in the nest. To others, it may have looked like he was holding him down to go for the kill, but Eret knew he was actually trying to keep him down for his own safety.
A flame wyvern with a red and orange scaled body was on one side of the shadow dragon. His ashy gray horns were long and sharp with a tuft of black fur on his head between them. His piercing yellow eyes that burned with a protective fury stared deep into the human’s soul, though a part of her knew he was trying to instill fear in her.
At the leader’s other side was a diamond type earth dragon with hard brown and blue scales that were as solid as a diamond. He had blue colored diamond-like armor on his shoulders, legs, face, and tail. His horns sparkled like the most beautiful diamonds against the light. Atop his head were dark brown spikes that vaguely reminded Eret of a mohawk.
The dragon in the nest had a yellow scaled body with the cream colored scales on his bottom jaw running all the way to the bottom of the tip of his tail. Orange brown spikes ran down from the back of his neck to the tip of his tail. His sharp claws and long horns were the same shade of orange brown as his spikes. He had a brown tuft of fur on his head, and brown eyes that glared deep into Eret’s soul. Despite the efforts from the shadow dragon to hide it, the human could see what looked like a faint burn from a small explosion on the side of the yellow dragon.
“Wait, don’t!” Foolish cried out, flaring his wings out protectively. “They’re with me! This is my friend, Eret!”
“Humans are not friends to our kind, Foolish!” The wyvern snarled as he moved to stand in front of the one in the nest.
“But this one is! I promise on the Broodmother’s name!”
The shadow dragon lashed his tail threateningly. “You swear on her namesake for this vile creature?! You wear what others have been forced into!”
“It was my choice! She never forced me, I swear!”
Diamond shards began protruding from the earth dragon’s back. “How can we be sure this is true?! Have you forgotten the stories of other dragons swearing the same thing, only to turn around and betray their kin?! We cannot risk anything, especially when George has been harmed by one after he went out hunting!”
Before Foolish could say more, Eret put down the lantern and pushed past her friend, earning the increased growls of the horde before them as she took a step towards them before quickly dropping low to the ground. She proceeded to crawl forward slowly with an almost perfect dragon-like purr, all while maintaining eye contact with them.
At the sight of the human’s actions, the horde paused in their aggression. That wasn’t just any action. This was what dragons did to show they meant no harm and were only there in peace. No human could gain such knowledge of dragon culture unless they were trusted by another, something none of them had ever heard of.
“I would never hurt Foolish,” Eret began, watching the horde’s eyes widen at their perfect Dragon, “and I would never force him to do anything he wasn’t comfortable with. I swear, he’s telling the truth. And while we had planned on introducing me to you, this isn’t why we’re here. Please, we need your help.”
The horde exchanged glances before finally relaxing for the most part. Eret could still tell they were on their guard. Understandable given everything Foolish has told him about them. He slowly rose to his feet, keeping her hands up to show she won’t do anything to hurt them.
“There are dragons in the town nearby. They’ve been taken by dragon hunters and are close to being sold. We were there to free them, but then… we ran into a snag…”
Foolish began tearing up, putting the horde, who were already tense at being told about the nearby auction, on edge.
“What… What kind of snag?…” George, the dragon in the nest, inquired fearfully.
Eret’s eyes scanned their worried faces, mentally identifying them.
‘George, Sapnap the flame wyvern, Skeppy the earth dragon, and BadBoyHalo the shadow dragon. Dream’s horde.’
They took a deep breath.
“They have Dream…”
The reaction was immediate. Before anyone could stop him, George was on his feet and booking it out the cave, crying out for Dream. Sapnap quickly gave chase, shouting that he wasn’t ready to challenge a town yet. As Skeppy quickly burrowed into the ground to follow them, Bad shot the pair a very worried look.
“You’re sure it’s him?”
“With how Foolish reacted? Yes. He tried to free him and now we need a new approach to save them all.”
Foolish ducked his head. “We had a plan and I ruined it…”
Bad nodded, already sinking into the shadows.
“You’re in our debt, human.”
Once he fully emerged in the shadows, the horde leader was already rushing through the shadows to follow his mate, son, and friend. Foolish and Eret were quick to follow after them. They weren’t gonna let them do this alone.
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Dream trembled as he saw the humans begin gathering again. He looked around, noticing more humans wielding their shiny metal sticks and long pointy sticks. A lot had pouches with smaller sticks with pointed tips and feathers at the ends while keeping the strange thin branches they used to fire them in hand. He didn’t know what these things were called nor did he care. He just cared that these vile creatures stayed away from his den. George was hurt when he had last gone out hunting on a human’s territory. When he had spotted the hunters dangerously close to the mountains after he had gone hunting for him, he had to lead them away from his horde and especially from his injured mate.
He didn’t know what he’d do if his precious Gogs was taken because he couldn’t defend himself.
“Aren’t you excited?” The green dragon suddenly squealed, startling him out of his thoughts. “You get to go to a new home away from all the hardships of being wild! Why are you all always so sad? This is a good thing!”
Dream just stared, not understanding a single word he said. This dragon was the strangest he’s ever seen. Not only did he help out these wretched things capture his own kind willingly, he didn’t understand a single word he spoke. It was as if he had never known the language of dragons once in his life.
“Sorry for the delay, folks!” The one eyed hunter announced. “But now we should be safe from any more interruptions! We’ve taken precaution to ensure that dragon lover doesn’t come back!”
Dream could only watch as the humans gathered clap their grubby hands. He didn’t have the strength to try and break free anymore. He was in so much pain from his struggling. When he noticed a human in the crowd staring at him with wide eyes, he growled weakly, feeling smug satisfaction when they looked terrified of him.
It was short lived when a hunter cracked the whip in front of him, causing him to flinch back. He opened the cage before grabbing Dream’s chains and pulling him out harshly onto stage, where the exhausted dragon tried pulling away despite his clear exhaustion.
He would never stop fighting for his freedom. He would rather die than be owned by a human. He had a horde to provide for, a mate that needed him.
Tears flooded Dream’s eyes at the thought of his horde. He missed them. He missed watching George bicker with Sapnap. He missed hearing Bad and Skeppy argue over something stupid before they eventually moved on and laughed it off. He missed curling up with George in their nest. He just missed them.
‘I’d do anything to see them again…’
Just as Dream began to close his eyes as the hunter raised the whip again, a sudden crash accompanied by human screaming was heard in the distance. Everyone had stopped and looked in the direction of the sound, seeing a large billow of dust from what Dream assumed was a collapsed building. A familiar roar echoed throughout the streets, one that made him lift his head suddenly.
Was that…?
A human from the town not in the auction came running from around a building, fear evident on his face as the sound of something large crashing through the human structures grew closer.
“Dragon attack!” He screamed. “Dragon attack!”
All of the dragons, save for the strange green one, had perked up while the crowd that was gathered immediately scattered, all of them screaming in fear. Most of the dragons didn’t know what was being said, but they all knew the sound of a dragon’s roar anywhere.
The ugly shrill of a female human pierced through the air as a familiar yellow dragon crashed through a building with a loud, ferocious roar. His eyes scanned the area before landing on the scarred dragon in chains on stage.
“Dream!”
Dream lurched forward, trying to reach his mate. His cries of pain were muffled by the muzzle when the hunter holding his chains brought down the whip on him. A part of his rational mind could only think about how stupid that was. His mate was here for him and dragons will do anything to protect their mates.
George roared at the sight, charging toward his hurting mate to protect him and slaughter the human who was foolish enough to harm Dream in front of him. The humans brought to protect the auction charged at him, tripping over themselves when he simply leapt over them and continued. He jumped onto the stage before they could regain their bearings and pounced onto the hunter with the whip. The sickening sound of his gargled screams echoes throughout the area as George tore into him, ripping the body in half and thrashing the upper half in his jaws wildly before throwing it over the heads over the other hunters.
George was quick to push Dream down before slamming his slightly shorter front legs down on the other side of his mate, arching his back as snarls came flooding out of his throat. Even if he was still healing, he will protect Dream.
Another hunter raised their weapon, a strange handheld thing that had one of those small pointy sticks in the middle, at the pair. They didn’t get to fire it before Sapnap swooped down and snatched them, lifting them high up in the air. He dropped the struggling human just as large walls of diamond came shooting up from the ground, piercing mercilessly through the stone streets and weak human buildings while trapping anyone who wasn’t fast enough or too paralyzed with fear in the town center. The hunter landed face first on one of the diamond walls, the sickening crunch from the body bone chilling to anyone who could hear it but very satisfying for the captured dragons.
There was a small tremor before Skeppy bursted out of the ground and onto the stage. Despite his small size compared to his horde, the earth dragon wasn’t any less dangerous as they were. Shards of diamond protruded out of his body as he lunged forward, stopping just short of the hunters to send them back.
Just as the humans that tried to stop George raised their ranged weapons at them, Bad came bursting out of the shadows with his wings and front legs outstretched. He encased those unlucky enough in his grip before dragging them kicking and screaming down with him, their shadow outlines forever embedded into the ground. The shadow traveled quickly to the stage where Bad stepped out, putting himself between the horde and the hunters with a menacing growl.
Dream looked up at his horde. He whined through his muzzle, something that caused George to give his full attention to him. The purple and blue dragon purred when his mate nuzzled him.
“Dreamie…”
Dream’s tail thumped against the stage in a weak wag.
“Oh Dream, what have they done to you?…”
Sapnap landed beside his friend, nudging his head with his own. “We’re here, buddy…”
The people who remained were horrified at the turn of events. It wasn’t uncommon for the horde of a dragon who had been captured to come looking for their missing member to get them back. When they did, there was always an untold loss of life. It was especially worse if they couldn’t find them as they’d go around the entire human settlement destroying everything in sight before moving on to the next one. But these dragons knew exactly where to go.
“HEY!!”
Everyone looked up at the shout. Foolish was flying high above them all, Eret on his back with her bow in hand. She nocked an arrow and drew the bowstring back, aiming directly at Quackity as the gold and silver dragon growled, sparks cracking around his mouth.
“THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE, QUACKITY!! RELEASE THE DRAGONS YOU’VE CAPTURED OR BE BURIED BENEATH THE RUBBLE OF THIS DISGUSTING TOWN ALONGSIDE THE PEOPLE WHO CHEERED FOR YOUR PRACTICE!!”
The hunters still alive and the green dragon looked at Quackity. A snarl had made its way to his face as he glared back at the brunette atop their dragon. He never understood them and their soft views on dragons. Everyone owned dragons this way. What difference does it make to earn a dragon’s trust or taking it by force if it just ends the same way?
“FUCK!! YOU!! YOU WERE ALWAYS SOFT!!”
Eret squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, a brief flash of pain coming across his face. He felt Foolish reach back to lick at the back of his hand to comfort him. He leveled a hardened look at the dragon, tapping both of his feet against his sides.
Foolish lowered them closer to the ground, stopping within hearing distance.
Eret took a second to look around at the town that could be seen through the diamond walls.
“Ya know something, Foolish? I never did care for this place anyways.”
The citizens that were still in the town center tensed up. Eret had spoken to her dragon in Dragon exclusively before, but they've never heard it spoken with such anger. They don't know what was said, but when the dragons that had charged into town for the purple and blue one chained on stage turned to them with malice clear as day on their faces, panic was quick to set in.
With matching snarls, Skeppy burrowed back into the ground as Bad, Sapnap, and Foolish took flight with powerful flaps of their wings just as the vile humans against them charged. The diamond walls sunk back into the ground before shooting back up in waves, spreading throughout the town. The mangled bodies of unlucky humans in other parts of the human settlement were seen flying before they were plummeting back down, blood and debris flying in all directions. Dragons who were bought during previous auctions could be seen taking off the moment their prisons were destroyed by Skeppy’s diamond walls. Their grateful cries echoed throughout the air as they raced back into the wild.
Bad and Sapnap swooped down on the poor townsfolk trying to escape as well as the hunters chasing them, their fiery breaths setting everything in sight ablaze. They both dove and swerved at the rain of arrows coming down upon them. Suddenly, the shadow dragon cried out in pain when he felt an arrow fired from a crossbow embed itself deep into his side. He quickly grabbed his son and dove back into the shadows to hide with him from the onslaught.
The hunter’s smug look of believed victory was short lived when they felt the ground beneath them shake. They desperately tried to stumble back, only to be pierced from below by a large diamond. The other hunters watched in horror as they let out one last gurgle before slumping forward, their body giving its final twitches as their life was ripped from them like the many dragons whose lives they helped ruin.
The father/son duo were quick to emerge from the shadows to pounce on the unsuspecting humans, tearing them limb from limb as those who tried to stop them were swatted away like the insects they are by their powerful wings and tails.
Back on stage, George was bellowing as he swatted charging humans with swords and spears away with his tail. He gnawed at the chains on his mate wildly in between his breaks to attack, chomping his jaws and thrashing his head like a shark ripping off the flesh from a whale carcass in a desperate attempt to free Dream. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t break the chains. Not even breathing small amounts of his blue flames could melt them, something that both baffled and infuriated George.
The sound of something slamming against one of the cages startled the yellow dragon out of his head. He looked up to see the fur covered dragon staring behind him, his eyes wide in panic and worry. George wasn’t able to turn around before he felt Dream suddenly lunge forward. He was knocked onto his back as his mate stabbed his blue claws into the human with a spear, his muffled howls of pain barely audible over the chaos as the weapon grazed his arm, reopening a barely healed wound in the process. The human beneath the purple and blue dragon pushed frantically against him, choking as blood began filling his lungs. The claws were finally removed when George nudged his head under Dream and helped his mate back up, pressing his foot down on the dying homosapien and pushing him off his mate’s claws.
George gave a purr of gratitude at the caged dragon before licking at Dream’s wound. The larger dragon slumped on the ground, too tired to stand after using what little energy he had left to protect his already injured mate. He whined and purred at the smaller one trying to tend to his wound their way.
Both flinched when an arrow suddenly flew past them and into the dying human’s head. They looked up in time to see Foolish and Eret race by overhead, both closely pursued by the strange green dragon and Quackity.
Eret held on tightly to the reins in a way that wouldn’t pull on Foolish’s head too harshly with practiced ease, something that could not be said about how Quackity was faring atop his own companion. Quick glances back helped them catch how the green dragon would occasionally falter from the rough way the one eyed hunter handled the reins tied to his horns before desperately trying to make up for his lost speed.
“C’mon, Charlie!” Quackity shouted. He growled as Foolish flared open his wings while Eret braced herself, both coming to a sudden halt to get behind the pair before racing in a new direction. “They went that way, c’mon bud!”
Charlie yelped at the harsh pull on his reins to get him to turn. He tilted his body to fly back around, fighting against the rough way his human held onto the reins. It was almost impossible for the dragon to keep up with the enemy pair. Him and Quackity weren’t like them. Eret and Foolish were a more complete unit in how they did anything together than the hunters could ever hope to be.
Taking the opportunity, Eret tapped their feet against Foolish’s sides one after the other, causing him to swoop down and flip over. With a single swipe of the knife they kept in their boot, Eret slashed the reins of the dragons still tied to the post before his dragon friend swooped back up and flipped right side up. The pair watched with a smile as they all immediately took off while bellowing their gratitude.
Foolish was quick to dive out of the way of Charlie’s attempt to suddenly dive bomb him. The sudden movement caused Eret’s balance to fumble for a moment as she tried to maintain her grip on her knife. She didn’t want to cut him by accident. She could feel him trying to steady himself long enough for her to regain her lost balance. The human kept her eyes on Quackity and Charlie, making sure they kept their distance long enough for him to right himself. From the way he was beginning to move sluggishly, the human could tell the green dragon was getting tired.
The gold and silver dragon beneath him pulled back against the reins to right his human, allowing him to lean forward to his ear while sliding his knife down his boot again.
“Dive bomb them into the nearby reservoir.”
Foolish glanced between the hunter and his dragon and the reservoir a fair distance away by walking standards but a quick glide by a winged dragon’s before his teeth flashed in a mischievous grin. With Eret bracing herself, he charged at Charlie, slamming into him at full force before he could react. The horde and caged dragons watched as all four of them went crashing into the reservoir with a big splash.
The larger gold and silver dragon sunk his teeth and claws into the struggling green dragon to hold him still. Eret quickly detached herself from the saddle and lunged for Quackity. Seizing the hunter’s frantic hands from trying to free himself from his own saddle, she pulled him forward to slam his face against her elbow, disorienting Q long enough for Eret to snatch the ring of keys from his belt before tying his wrists with Charlie’s reins. She settled back in Foolish’s saddle and strapped herself back up, leaning forward to scratch her friend behind the ears exactly three times.
Surface.
With strong flaps of his wings, Foolish resurfaced out of the water, dragging Charlie and Quackity out with him. The hunter began coughing violently as he gasped for air, having breathed in water upon impact. The green dragon was crying out in pain as Foolish had not yet released him from his jaws. Eret simply grabbed as many of their arrows that floated out of their quiver as they could before squeezing the water of their hair.
There’s a lot of benefits to being friends with a dragon.
Foolish carried the bound hunter and his dragon back to the town center, dropping them unceremoniously onto the pavement. Many humans lay dismembered or dying all around them, the cries of those still alive still audible over the raging flames of the destroyed town. The horde was back with their stolen member, Skeppy trying his hand at breaking the chains on Dream, but to no avail. Bad was limping from the arrow still in his side, the pain having gotten worse from moving so much during the attack.
Worried, Sapnap lowered his head to try and pull it out.
“Don’t touch it!” Eret called out. “It might break under your teeth and then it’ll be harder to pull it out!”
Sapnap was quick to jump back, still startled by the fact there was a human who could speak dragon. He shot her a wary look.
“Then what should we do?”
“I’ll remove it, but only back at the cave. Reinforcements might be on their way, so we need to act fast.”
Detaching herself from the saddle again, she quickly climbed off of Foolish and rushed over to Dream, lowering herself to the ground to crawl when she got close enough. Dream just watched with scared yet intrigued eyes.
“I’ll set you free,” he purred gently, “just like I promised your brother.”
Dream hesitated for a second before he gave a weak growl to George, wanting him to get off to let them. The yellow dragon backed away enough to stay near his injured mate. The horde watched as the human crawled closer, gently running their hand on his head despite the flinch to calm him.
“Shhh, shhh, relax… You’re safe…”
After a few failed attempts, Eret found the right key and unlocked all of the chains and the muzzle. They backed away after one last pet to allow the horde to happily crowd around their rescued member, all of them nuzzling and purring with tears in their eyes. Foolish shared a look with Eret, who simply smiled at him, before pushing through to curl around his brother.
“Brother…” The larger dragon sobbed.
“You… came back…”
Their hearts ached at how weak he sounded.
“We’re family, Dream. I’ll always come back for you…”
Eret climbed onto the stage where the other hunters’ dragons waited beside the caged dragons. They were all staring at him, hope evident in their eyes.
“No dragon left behind.” The brunette purred.
He chuckled at how excited they all looked. One of the dragons from the hunters helped him figure out the correct key for everyone, squirming with excitement as he set him and his brethren free before taking off. With those dragons freed, he turned to the ones still in the cages. Eret mourned their conditions. Their once battle hardened bodies from battles over territory were now littered with the wounds his kind inflicted.
Eret was quick to set them all free, some nearly trampling him as they all rushed back into the wild.
All but one.
The fur covered dragon just stood in place trembling, a lost look in his eyes. He looked around as he sniffed the air. He suddenly rushed over to curl up at Eret’s feet, his fur puffed up from fear.
“I-I don’t know wh-where to go…” He whimpered in English, much to the brunette’s surprise. “Nothing smells f-familiar…”
Eret looked over at the horde where Foolish was watching. He was just as surprised as they were. Dragons who are captured are never taught English. They strictly only speak Dragon to spite the humans who capture and buy them, never wanting them to know what they’re saying. The only reason a dragon would learn another language is by choice if they genuinely like the human they’re with, something that is very few and far between.
The human reached down after a moment of hesitation to gently run her fingers through his fur, careful to avoid his scars. “You’re ok now… You’re safe…”
“You…”
Eret and the dragons turned to look at the one eyed hunter who was now glaring at the brunette. She scoffed.
“Oh yeah. Forgot about you.”
Quackity glowered at her. “You fucking… dragon lover!”
Foolish was quick to jump to his feet with a deafening roar, wings flared as electricity sparked around his mouth. His eyes glared deep into the black haired man’s soul. He paused in his aggression at the sound of a soft whistle from Eret. The large dragon snarled, but otherwise backed down.
Eret just folded his arms as he stared back at Quackity.
“Call me whatever you want, poacher, I don’t care. I know who I’m siding with and it sure as hell isn’t you. Not anymore. That ship has sailed years ago.”
The human placed a hand on the fluffy dragon’s head before giving Foolish and the horde a soft smile.
“Let’s go. We’re done here.”
Foolish was at Eret’s side in an instant, lowering himself to allow them to climb on more easily. He turned to the fluffy dragon as they began to strap themself in, wordlessly lifting his wings in a silent question. The dragon nodded shakingly as he flapped his wings, lifting himself a few inches off the ground as he awkwardly waited to follow. Once his human was strapped in, Foolish took off, picking up his exhausted brother. Sapnap grabbed George, who was now feeling the pain from his last injury once again. Bad, who was carrying Skeppy, and the other dragon were not too far behind.
Quackity could only watch in anger as the traitor in his life left with the horde, with his merchandise. He knew he was spared because of their past together along with being viewed as weak by the horde. He fumed at the pity he received. Big Q was a goddamn dragon hunter. The disrespect he was dealt with would not go unpunished.
His gaze softened when Charlie whimpered from pain. Carefully picking up the green dragon’s head, Quackity cradled it close to his chest. He smiled when he could hear him begin to purr.
Revenge can wait for a few days. Charlie needed rest.