Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The children never knew why they were taken away from their orphanage. One day, some weird people in suits came to them and adopted them and after days of travels, they were all put together in a circular white room with a new set of white pants and shirt for each of them. They don’t know each other, but starting today they were told they were “siblings” and that their name before their arrival is not important anymore. Come to think of it, right now, they don’t remember much of their life at the orphanage.

Looking around, the nine children are timid at first. But thanks to a blond one, they finally break the silence.

“What’s the number on your wristband?” he asks a young girl attached to her red beanie.

“02.” The girl, with a timid stance, moves her eyes to the floor. She is scared of what is going to happen to them, and she is also scared of all the other kids in the room. Strangely though, she did not feel that much threat coming from the blond boy.

“I’m 06! Do you remember your name before?”

02 shakes her head. It was then that they tried to remember how they got here. But only passing images from the orphanage, their age and their language remained in their memory. Most of them, if not all of them, spoke Spanish and English. The blond one spoke one more, the German language.

They stayed in that room for quite some time, they spoke to each other, and then, stayed close to each other. Before the white room, the kids never met each other. As if they all came from different places around the world. Places who don't have any names, or memories attached. Either way, they promised that they would stay together forever. No matter what happens.

A girl with glasses asks a question.

“Do you think that we’ll get out of this room? It’s been hours.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” responds one with a black top hat.

“Maybe we’re all gonna die here,” laughs one with a red headband attached in a knot on their head.

“Don’t say that!” butts in the girl with her red beanie.

“I’m sure we’ll be fine, after all as the oldest here I’m going to make sure to protect you all,” adds the blond one with a little plastic yellow duckie in his hand.

“Yeah, sure.” The boy with a brown scarf covering the lower part of his head looks at the doors that remained shut since their arrival in the white room.

“Maybe it’s a new kind of orphanage, maybe we are waiting for our parents.” A child with a red cap lay down on the floor.

“I’m bored, I want to do something,” said a boy in blue overalls also lying down on the white pristine floor.

“If only they could be a little faster.” A boy played with his colorful hat with a spinner on top. But it wasn’t that much amusing after hours now.

Before they lost their memory, they were all allowed to keep one thing from their past. But now they don’t remember why they kept them. If they could, maybe they would’ve asked for a game, or even cards to play with. Because right now it seems so boring.

Suddenly, after what felt like hours, a voice resonates in the white room.

“GOOD MORNING CHILDREN OF QUESADILLA ISLAND, YOU ARE NOW GOING TO BE CHOSEN BY YOUR NEW PARENTS. THE NUMBER ON YOUR WRISTBAND WILL BE CALLED. IF YOU HAVE THIS NUMBER, PLEASE WALK IN THE OPEN DOOR AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTION OF THE EMPLOYEES.”

“03” The girl with glasses looks at her siblings. She is scared  to go alone.

“You’ll be fine.” The blond boy took her hand and gave some of his warmth to his sister. “We’ll find each other again outside, I promise.”

She nodds, holding back the tears behind her glasses, and walked towards the employee. It was a man, or maybe not. She is not sure. Like a bear with no face. She couldn’t figure out if it was a costume or a real bear... It’s pretty creepy and didn’t help the anxiety at all.

“01” The boy in a top hat walked towards the door and follows the creepy employee. He glances one last time at his siblings before disappearing.

“04” The boy with the brown scarf follows behind. He also looks at his siblings before disappearing.

“Let’s meet again sometime,” he murmurs.

“09” The boy fidgeting with his hat walks toward the door. Finally, something was going to happen.

“08” The child with their red headband didn’t want to go at first. They want to see what would happen if they do not follow.

“NOT LISTENING TO THE INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE PUNISHED BY AN ELIMINATION.”

Not knowing what it meant, the red-headbanded child sighs—and walks towards the employee. They are scared of what “elimination” means. Especially if now they don’t remember anything of their previous life.

“05” The boy in blue overalls runs toward the door right in front of the employee. Finally, they are going to do something fun! He’s not scared, a bit still, but now he is excited to go outside.

“07” The child in a red cap walks towards the employee, staring at the two children left. “See you outside,” they smile before disappearing.

“06” The blond boy starts to walk, but suddenly feels a pull on his shirt.

“Don’t leave me here, please,” 02 say looking at the blond boy. 06 feels like something is wrong. No, he knows that once he leaves, she will probably not be able to follow. He doesn’t know why he has this feeling. But, he knows it. So he turns around and looks directly into her eyes before holding her close in his arms.

“I’ll come back for you. I promise.”

The girl with the red beanie started crying. And the voice calls for 06 again. The blond boy smiles at her.

“You better come back, or I’ll hit you when I find you.”

“I promise.” The boy walks toward the employee and disappears behind the doors.

But the door closed and did not open again. They never opened again. And they never called for 02 ever. The girl with her red beanie ran toward the door. She tried to open it. She screamed. She cried for help.

But nobody came.

Only food at different times of the day. And no one to talk to.

What a sad, sad, little girl.

But the other children did just fine. In an adoption centre, they are met with strange creatures. Very strange and very big creatures they’ve never seen before. The children are all placed behind a huge glass wall, separated by white concrete. The blond boy could see the girl with glasses right in front of him, just on the other side of the room they are positioned in.

“We have to adopt children ?” one of the creatures snarls. “Human ones ?”

“That’s what they said, or we’ll be eliminated.”

All of these creatures are huge, some more than the others. With scales for skin, wings on their backs, and claws on their hands. Some of them had feathers, one was covered in a strange green goo. They all have different colours, and all have different forms.

“Dragons.” The boy with a top hat frowns.

Dragons? The blond thought that their situation couldn’t be worse. Humans and dragons do not have a good history with each other. It was paved with blood, death, and fire. Dragons are vile creatures that feed on destruction and the fears of humans.

Monsters.

“Come on guys, it’s a first in history. I’m sure it’ll be fine to take care of humans.” One dragon with blue feathers says looking at the boy in blue overalls.

“Los humanos son criaturas viles. Solo saben robar y destruir. Solo saben matar y destruir. (Humans are vile creatures. They only know to steal and destroy. They only know to kill and to fear) .” One insults in Spanish. It’s a dark brown dragon, looking at a kid with a colourful hat.

“Pero si tenemos que hacerlo (but if we have to do it) ” he adds “No me importa elegir este. (I don’t mind choosing this one.) Does it bother you, Dan?”

He turns his stare towards a dark blue dragon.

“Yeah! I like his hat,” A dark blue dragon is looking at 09 hat, and the poor little kid is shaken in fear from the two dragons looking at him. He feels like he’s going to be eaten.

The blond boy is also scared. Especially with the black-feathered dragon looking right at him. And one with its skull outside of his skin next to the other. He has been chosen by the most terrifying-looking dragons. What a nightmare.

Chayanne is the name he’s been given. He is now on top of a massive wall not knowing what to do with two dragons. Maybe he can try running away, or maybe he can try killing them and free his siblings. When he got out of the adoption centre, Chayanne looked around for 02 but her presence was nowhere to be seen.

It worries him. He needs to find a way to go back to the white room and save her sister. But he can’t say anything to the dragons, he doesn’t trust them yet anyway.

“Do we have to build a house?” Starts the crow-looking dragon. “That’s where humans sleep right?”

“Can’t be that hard to build a house,” the skull-dragon responds.

“Ah, maybe we should introduce ourselves to the human. We gave him a name to take him but he doesn’t know who we are.” The crow dragon turns around toward the human and lowers his head to his level, trying his best not to scare him.

“I’m Philza, nice to meet you, Chayanne.”

The skull dragon does the same.

“You can call me Missa.”

What odd names. No humans would call themselves these names that’s for sure. At least they gave him a decent human name.

“Nice to meet you,” he says politely, holding his rubber ducky closely against his chest.

“Let’s start building this house, I’ll go get wood. Please look after the kid.” Philza flew down the gigantic wall towards a massive forest in the distance. Missa stayed next to Chayanne, who sat down together on the rocky ground. Chayanne is curious about everything here. So he thinks for a bit.

The voice said they were on an island, but it seems huge for a simple one. Maybe it’s one of these pocket dimensions they make to imprison powerful dragons. If that’s the case, why bring human children in there? Especially to be adopted. Is it some kind of test to see if humans and dragons can understand and be friends with each other?

No way. Even if he doesn’t remember much from the orphanage, he knows why he’s been sent to one.

And it’s definitely because of dragons.

“Entonces… (So…) ” Missa breaks the awkward silence between them by speaking in Spanish.

“¿De donde es? (Where do you come from?) ”

Chayanne doesn’t remember. He speaks back in the same language, even if it’s a little broken. He doesn’t know a lot about Spanish yet but at least he can understand it.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember much.”

“Me neither. I don’t remember where I come from either.”

That information sparks interest in the boy’s mind.

“We all woke up together on the island, separated by this wall. Everyone trying to fly above it was immediately hurt with some kind of electric shock. We found a red button on the wall and pressed it, and it immediately exploded. We’ve been surviving there for I think two months before you.”

“What did you do during these two months?”

“Trying to find a way to escape. Some of us are…. They disappeared and we think they managed to escape. Or the federation took them.”

“Federation?”

“The guys that brought you here.”

“So that’s what they’re called.”

“Yeah.”

In the distance, Chayanne sees Philza coming back with huge trees in his claws. He throws them next to Missa and lands next to Chayanne. Philza seems to be very skillful in its flight.

“I’ll go find some stones and cords to make the house.” Missa takes off. His wings seem to also have bone outside of the skin, like an external armour. A skeleton looking like a dragon who flies like he’s announcing the death of everyone who dares to challenge him.

Terrifying. And right now, Chayanne is wondering how he’ll be able to kill them, and then try to kill the other dragons without dying. Sitting on the wall, a bit scared to try and jump off in the water below, Chayanne looks at the dragon building the house he’s going to live in.

“Why are you guys adopting us?” Asks Chayanne towards Philza.

“Because they told us to do that. Well, no actually, I think I would’ve taken you in anyway. They told us weeks ago that we will be given human children, and to make sure they stay alive on the island without much information. The one that kills their children will be punished, while the other recompensed.”

“You said you would’ve taken me in anyway. Why?”

“I’m not one that kills innocent human children. I can kill adult humans, but one so little and fragile like you, I do not find a reason to end your life there.”

What a great conversation they’re having! If Chayanne was a little bit older, maybe he would’ve died right there on the spot. Another reason to not like dragons. They’re monsters, after all, that’s what his teacher at the school taught him.

Teacher? Chayanne doesn’t remember any teacher. This simple thought occurred to him. But the memory attached to it feels like it’s locked away behind an indestructible wall. Or like a fog that stops him from seeing far into the distance.

“Well If I could I would’ve killed you too.”

Philza laughs.

“Would’ve loved to see you try mate.”

Missa comes back with stone and cords, and together, the two dragons try to build a house for the humans. Surprisingly, Chayanne finds the dragons to be quite crafty with their claws. It’s different from humans, sure. But the house is going somewhere. Still, it seems to be quite big, too big in fact. But what else can a dragon do? Building houses is a job for humans.

Once the house is finished, some sort of smiling white bear arrives at the place. It appears right behind Chayanne who screams in terror at his sudden appearance.

The dragons also jumps, but they did not scream like Chayanne. That’s a thing humans do.

“GOOD MORNING,” says the bear in the same voice Chayanne heard earlier. So that’s the guy that’s responsible for all of this, right? He needs to ask for 02, and how she’s doing, but the bear walks past Chayanne and into the house. He places a single red bed and goes away as fast as he came.

“Goodbye Cucurucho,” says Missa, catching Chayanne's interest one more time.

“Who was this guy?” He asks. That time, it’s Philza who responds.

“I don’t know. He’s been there since the start, and he says he’s part of the census bureau. He’s unkillable and is very able to hurt us easily. You shouldn’t trust that guy.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” responds Chayanne running inside the house to be away from the dragon’s gaze. This day has been too much for him. And Chayanne wonders how his siblings are doing—especially 02 who he hasn’t seen being adopted by anyone. Earlier, while the house is being built, Chayanne swears he’s seen the green goo dragon flying into the wall. And the yellow one going away from it. Maybe 03 is below his house. Once the dragons are gone, he needs to go find her in secret. Maybe at night.

Inside the house, Chayanne continues to think about how he can save and protect his siblings. They are all in danger on this island, and if one dies it will be his fault again.

Again? Chayanne cannot recall why he thought “again”. He still feels the same fuzz inside his brain. The same block that keeps him from remembering. He’s going to find out why he can’t remember, and how to heal. Maybe he has information about how to kill dragons, who knows? If not, maybe his siblings do.

The dragons outside speak to each other, they speak about him but Chayanne doesn’t listen. Too concentrated to figure out what to do next. Chayanne waits, he waits for the night too scared to go outside in daylight.

At some point, Chayanne feels hungry. Really hungry. It’s been almost an entire day since he’s eaten. The boy looks at the door leading outside the house. Maybe he can ask for food from the dragons. No, he can never. What if they poison him? Chayanne waits a bit, he listens to any sound made outside the door. But nothing. Nothing at all. The boy opens the door and… There is no dragon in sight. But on the ground, in a little basket, there are avocados, bread and a little knife. Chayanne doesn’t know the dragons left to spread their wings a bit in the sky. And also to find more food for their human child.

Why? Why? Chayanne can’t understand why the dragons would feed him. After all, they’re monsters. They can’t understand each other. Still, the boy is hungry. But he doesn’t want to eat what’s in the basket. Instead, he takes the knife and walks towards the very edge of the wall.

There is no way for him to go down. Nor to get back up. But he’ll find a way. He knows one of his siblings is below, so why not try? Putting the knife in his teeth, he goes to the part of the wall that’s been blown up and jumps down on the broken part. Little rocks platform that could fall at any moment if he’s not careful. He climbs down, and down, and down towards the ground.

Arriving at his destination, he runs to the side and sees another hole in the wall with a tree growing out of it. So that’s where his sibling is. He’ll go see her after at night. It’s too dangerous right now. First, he needs to find food!

Walking around in the wilderness. Chayanne notices old unused buildings. Like a town that was abandoned years ago. There isn’t much inside. If not for spider webs and racoons who’ve set up shop there. He almost got attacked by one. Still, eating a racoon would not be that bad right? The problem is finding a way to cook the meat. Chayanne continues to explore the buildings. Suddenly, he notices movement in the distance. A dragon! A yellow one with small wings and duck-like feet, but with claws and more dragon-like features. Sadly, he doesn’t have a duck beak, which would’ve been funny. It’s a dragon, so what should he expect? They have teeth used to rip and tear the flesh of other living beings.

With him is one of his siblings. 08, the one with the red headband.

“Tomorrow Tilin you going to fight the neighbour’s kid ok? We’ll show them who’s better at having a son!”

Fight? He’s making his siblings fight? This monster. He needs to save his sibling as fast as he can. But right now, he can’t do much against a great dragon. A knife won’t do much to him, he thinks.

So Tilin is the name that was given to them. That’s a weird name, a weird dragon name. Chayanne is lucky to have a good name at least. Being careful to not be seen, Chayanne continues on his way in the wilderness. Making sure to hide below the trees, hiding in the bushes, and surveying everything around him.

On the other side of a river, Chayanne sees a house being built by two dragons. One scaly red with three pairs of eyes, and one blue feathered one, like a parrot. With them is the kid in blue overalls. They seem to have fun together.

“Bobby !” The blue feathered one screams seeing the kid falling down the stairs they just built.

Bobby gets back up just fine and smiles at the dragons. He takes a stick in his hand and goes back to building with the dragons. Why is his brother smiling like that? They’re dragons. They could eat him at any moment. Perplexed, Chayanne continues on his way in the wilderness in search of food.

“hm?” The blue feathered one looks in the direction of Chayanne who immediately hides. He holds his breath.

“What’s happening Jaiden?” The red one asks.

“I think… not it must be nothing. Let’s go back to building.”

“If you say so.”

The blue dragon can’t have seen him right? Chayanne waits for a bit, then goes away silently trying to make the least sound possible.

After searching for what seems like hours, Chayanne finally finds a berry bush. Too hungry to think, and too tired to care, the boy jumps on it and eats as many berries as he can. Berries don't feed him much, but at least he got something. He ate so much and so quickly that the red juice got all over his white federation-given clothes. That’s when he finds another one of his siblings.

In the distance, he sees the dark brown and the dark blue dragon. They finished building a house, and his sibling must now be hiding in the house. If he remembers well, they took 09, the one with the fidget-spinning rainbow hat.

“What about Trumpet? You tell me I’m going to take care of it myself?” Says the dark brown to the other.

“I can’t stay here, I told you! I’ll try to fly to the edge of the island, and go even beyond it. This dimension can’t go on forever. It’s not the first time I’ve been imprisoned, I know how to escape.”

“They’ll kill you.” The dark brown dragon spoke in Spanish most of the time, but the blue one didn’t seem to quite understand well.

“Then I will die. This is the only option for me. I need to find a way for all of us to escape.”

“You could stay a little longer, I don't know how to take care of a kid! A human one at that.”

The dark blue dragon still did not understand Spanish. He sighs.

“It’s going to be fine, we’ll be okay. See you on the other side, Max.”

Maximus snarls.

“See you on the other side.”

Dan nods, opens his wing and jumps into the sky. Flying towards the west and never stopping. Toward the setting sun and towards what he thinks is his liberty.

So sentimental Chayanne could cry. Ah! What a joke! The dragon is probably thirsting for destruction and not killing them is frustrating him. Chayanne is also frustrated. But wait until he gets stronger! 

Chayanne is about to leave until, suddenly, a dark shadow looms over him. It’s Maximus, the dark brown dragon who saw him trying to tiptoe away.

“And what are you doing here?”

The boy starts to run.

“Hey! Wait!”

He runs and runs far into the forest where the dragon can’t reach him. Maximus flies above the trees, but he can’t fly inside the forest. He runs and runs until he finds a little cave. He hides inside it and waits for the dragon to pass him.

“Where is he?”

He hears coming from afar in the sky. The dragon loses Chayanne, and after what feels like hours, the boy walks outside the cave and continues his exploration of the island.

This was scary, and the light of day seems to be disappearing by the minute. Soon Chayanne will be in total darkness. This is even more scary. He knows that at night monsters come out and attack humans. Like zombies, Skeletons, and spiders. Chayanne runs towards the wall. Night falls just when he arrives in front of it. He walks along it, back to where the blown-up part was. He goes inside a bush near the tree growing out where his sibling with the glasses is. He waits, and waits, wondering how long it takes for a dragon to fall asleep. After two or three hours, catching himself falling asleep multiple times, Chayanne climbs up the tree toward the hole in the wall.

Inside, he sees the green goo dragon sleeping peacefully on the right side of the wall. On the left side, there is a weirdly hidden door. With fallen rubble and tree branches. Making sure to not make a sound, Chayanne opens the door and sees a little dark room.

“03?” he whispers.

“06..?” She whispers back, getting out of her bed. They don’t have any light, and they can’t see each other well. Their white clothes help a bit, but still, it is very dark in here.

“Are you okay?” Asks Chayanne, taking 03’s hand.

“I’m fine. Well… as fine as I can be, I guess.”

“Why? Did they do something to you?”

“No… They kept fighting with each other, then making out with each other, and they gave me a weird name too. Because I backflipped once it made them like me more.”

“You backflipped?”

“Long Story. I am JuanaFlippa now. At first, they thought I was a boy and named me JuanFlippo. Well, I can’t blame them, I look like one. But I said to them that I was… you know… a girl inside and that I would prefer…And I’ll get my hair longer either way so like…”

“I know, you’re okay.”

“Yeah… Thank you. What's your name by the way?”

“Chayanne.”

“Lucky, you got a pretty normal human name.”

“I guess so yeah. I was on the top of the wall this morning.”

“The top? The very top you mean? It wasn’t too scary flying up there?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. It’s not like I had a choice in the matter anyway.”

“But how did you get down?”

“I jumped.”

JuanaFlippa stayed silent, in shock.

“Are you okay?”

Chayanne laughs a bit. “Yeah, I am. Do you know anything about 02 by the way? I haven’t seen her being adopted like us.”

“No, not at all. I’m worried about her. I haven’t been able to go outside. Charlie seemed to like me a lot and brought me a lot of fruits to eat. Do you want some?”

“Really!? Give me some!”

Juanna Flippa wobbles in the dark and goes toward her chest. She takes out an apple and wobbles back to her brother.

“Here.”

Chayanne furiously eats the apple. But he is still so hungry.

“Aren’t the dragons in charge of you searching for you? Didn’t they give you any food?”

“They did, I just didn’t eat it.”

“Why?”

“I don’t trust them.”

“Understandable. You should stay here. Right now the outside is dangerous. Charlie told me that it’s full of monsters at night, and it’s really dangerous even for a dragon.”

“Yeah, I saw them earlier. I can’t stay here though, what if the dragons see me and eat me?”

“Just leave early in the morning; Charlie won’t see you that way.”

Chayanne stays silent.

“Is Charlie… The dragon?”

“Yes, did you think I was talking about one of our siblings?”

“Well yeah, no dragons are named Charlie.”

“Charlie is a bit different, he’s like, covered in goo. And I think even his body is goo. So he might not be a complete dragon.”

“Isn’t that worse?”

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll see.”

Chayanne and Flippa talk a lot together. Until at some point, they fall asleep together. Chayanne is below the bed, where the dragon will not find him, and Flippa is under the covers. It is hard to sleep on the ground, but it’s not the first time. Can’t remember when it was the first time though. He just knows it’s not the first.

Before falling asleep, Chayanne thinks of 02. He hopes that she’s been adopted too, and that wherever she is, she is not alone, or scared. And even if she is, he’ll do anything to find her again. After all, he made a promise. And Chayanne never breaks promises.

That is how the first day on Quesadilla Island ends for the human children. Adopted by dragons, and forced to try and understand each other by some evil federation, they sleep in their newly built homes. So many adventures await them. And some of them cannot wait to see what the next day has to offer.

Chapter Text

It’s morning now, and Chayanne’s back hurts a lot. He has been woken by the slight light coming through the wooden door. And Flippa woke up to see the dragon that was calling for her. Chayanne listens and waits for them to go away. She asks Charlie something. He agrees and they leave together. The hole in the wall now empty, Chayanne carefully opens the door and climbs down the tree as fast as possible. Always with his little knife in hand, and his dirty clothes. They’re torn in some places, covered in mud and red berry juice. He’s hungry and his stomach makes sure to notifyce him. Making a low and annoying rumbling sound every time he tries to be quiet.

In the sky, Chayanne can see Philza and Missa flying around looking for him. But he’s not going to let himself be found that easily. The kid continues to explore the wilderness. He comes across some strange structure. It seemed like lava that had suddenly cooled down. On top of that weird lava cast, there was a house. What kind of dragon can just do lava like that? That’s when he saw it. A strong heavy armoured dragon with a thorax bigger than any other. His jaw chiselled in a way that made him look like a robot. He doesn’t have any wings, but he is huge. Is that the dragon that made the lava? His suspicion is confirmed to be true when he sees a red burning hot liquid vomit on the ground. He then takes an enormous sip of water that he pours down on the lava. On his head is a little figure, with a brown scarf covering the lower part of his head. It’s 04!

“Still okay up’ there Ramon?”

“All good Fit. You can continue!”

Seems like the two of them are good with each other. Even if Chayanne can never really know what 04 is thinking. It’s the first time Chayanne has seensees a human sitting on a dragon's head. Maybe “Ramon” found a way to make him obedient. There is no way a dragon would ever let a human ride on their back.

Taking notes in his head, Chayanne continues his adventure on the island. But no matter how much he walks, and searches, the young boy can’t find the last three siblings that were missing. 01 with the black top hat, 02 with the red beanie and 07 with the red cap.

He hopes they’re okay, and he hopes that they’re not the three children he won’t be able to protect. But now is not the time to think about that. Finding another berry bush, Chayanne eats it all in one, putting even more red onto his white shirt, and goes to try and find 08 with the red headband, also known as Tilin, who is supposed to fight against another of his siblings. He searches and searches but only arrives too late at the blue feathered dragon house. There, he sees Tilin and Bobby facing each other with sticks. He needs to stop them.

Chayanne is about to run between them when he suddenly notices Philza and Missa in the sky. So the kid hides again. Tilin and Bobby stop their face off and look at the two dragons who land next to the house.

“Excuse me guys, have you seen Chayanne? The kid with blond hair ?” Asks Philza. Tilin and Bobby run around Jaiden and the red dragon with sticks. Bobby is trying to hit Tilin while they’re running away laughing and screaming. The blue dragon tries to stop them but to no avail. That’s only when the red dragon butts in, speaking in a loud Spanish voice that they stop and sit on a bench. It sounds like an angry Mexican dad annoyed with his children.

“So you lost your son Philza? Oh, the great Philza isn’t even capable of taking care of one single human child.” The yellow duck dragon mocks him in a voice that seems to go in the highs sometimes before going back into the lows.

“Oh quiet Quackity” Philza laughs a bit. “But still, please tell me if you have seen him. We looked for him this morning inside the house and he wasn’t there. We feared he fell down the wall but we found nothing below.”

“I think he’s okay.” The blue dragon, smaller than all the others, says this sentence while putting Bobby’s hair back in place with her little claws. She’s a bit bigger than a horse, or even two horses on top of each other. She resembles a parrot with her colourful shades of blue on her wings. “We’ll tell you if we see anything.”

“Chayanne? Is that how you named 06?” asks Tilin.

“06?” Philza is a bit confused with the term, he doesn't seem to have known they had numbers assimilated to them. 

“Yeah!”

“Not me, Missa gave him the name.” Philza laughs.

Suddenly a shadow looms right above Chayanne. A low booming Spanish voice resonates in his ears.

“Te encontré. (Found you.) ”

Chayanne is scared to look above, he just knows it’s Maximus. The dark brown dragon.

“Shit.”

The kid tries to run away but is immediately stopped by an enormous force against his back. Stuck between the ground and the claws, Chayanne takes his knife and tries to attack between the fingers but to no avail. It doesn’t even pierce the scales.

“Let me go!”

“I think I found your Chayanne.”

“Maximus!” Missa exclaims.

“Chayanne!” Philza does the same.

The dragons get rid of the bushes Chayanne was hiding in and lower their heads towards him.

“Where have you been? We’ve been so worried.” Asks Philza.

“Hi, Chayanne!” On the back of Maximus, there was Trumpet with new clothes and a freshly cleaned face. While he, the blond kid, is dirty and hungry. With sunken eyes and berry juice on his clothes.

Chayanne is confused and doesn’t know what to do. He abandons the idea to escape or run away. There are too many dragons. He doesn’t even dare look at Philza and Missa.

“Thank you, Max, we’ve been looking for him everywhere.” Says Philza while Max frees Chayanne from under his claws.

“Chayanne, what happened to you? Are you hurt?” Missa now completely worried for his kid panics at the sight of the berry juice that looked just like blood. “We need to get him to the hospital! Cucurucho might know how to heal him!” Missa panics even more not knowing what to do.

“It’s just berry juice…” Chayanne says, shying away from his eyes.

“What a stupid kid,” Quackity adds looking at the situation, which immediately annoys Chayanne.

“I’ll kill you, you stupid dragon.” Chayanne points his knife towards the duck dragon.

“What’d you say you little sh-“

“Chayanne, let's go home.” Philza takes Chayanne's shirt in his beak and opens his wings, preparing himself to jump. It’s about to be another trip into the sky and Chayanne tries his best to get off. But Philza knows how to kidnap someone too well. 

“Thank you again. Goodbye everyone,” Missa ends before taking off.

In the distance, it is possible to hear Chayanne’s high pitched screams.

“Poor guy,” Tilin says, looking at them fly away. 

“It’s deserved for running away” adds Bobby playfully pinching Tilin’s skin. This one responds with a punch in the head and it ends in another brawl yet again.

Back again on the wall, Philza delicately puts Chayanne down and examines him for a bit making sure he’s not hurt anywhere.

“So…” Missa breaks the awkward silence.“Why did you run away?”

Chayanne doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t even want to look at them.

“Chayanne…” Philza is about to say something, when suddenly.

“I don’t trust you,” Chayanne finally lets out.

The two dragons stay silent.

“After all you guys are dragons. You are monsters that can’t be trusted with. You eat, hurt, kill, you destroy and burn everything in your way. You do all this good lovey-dovey stuff with everyone but at the end of the day we’re all going to be eaten.”

“We’re not going to eat you.” Philza seems a bit saddened by what he hears. It’s the same for Missa.

“Liars. Earlier today Tilin was about to fight against Bobby. I can’t let my siblings fight each other for your entertainment. I also can’t find three of my siblings and it…”

It terrifies him. Chayanne wants to have his little rubber duckie with him, but he left it in the house when he ran outside to find food yesterday.

“Scares you right?” Philza sighs. “I know you’re scared, we’re all a bit too. We’ve been imprisoned here by what we thought were humans, but since we saw you guys here stuck with us, it doesn’t feel like that anymore. So, we decided, all of us, to protect you all and be… families, like they said.”

“Made up family. It’s only lies, we’re too different for that.”

“Differences are what makes a family Chayanne.” Philza lies down to be at Chayanne’s level once again. “About Tilin and Bobby, it wasn’t really serious. It’s just Quackity that likes to be competitive. It didn’t lead to anything as you could’ve seen. And about your three other siblings, I’m sure they’re fine. When we learned you guys were coming and that we needed to adopt you, we talked about it with each other for a long while. Some of us didn’t agree at all and left. They’re somewhere on the island but I doubt we’ll see them again. Even if I hope…I hope they’re okay. We decided with the remainder of us that you probably are also victims of the federation. They like to do experiments on us and see how we react to certain things. So, we’re all in the same situation and I think we should learn and survive together. The three other siblings you didn’t find, if you want, we can look together for them. If that puts your mind at peace of course.”

“I don’t know… I’m…”

“Or I can let you stay at the house and think about it. But I’ll always be there if you need me, Chayanne. I know it’s confusing, and I know you want to go home. We all do. But first, we need to understand each other.”

Chayanne stays silent for a while. Thinking. Is he wrong about everything he knows about dragons? After all, the thoughts that came to his head are not linked to any memories. The feelings, the knowledge, it doesn’t come from anywhere at all. His past is foggy, the people who cared for him before disappeared. All that is left now is two dragons who say they’ll take care of him.

“I want to see my siblings.”

“Then we’ll go see them together.” Philza lies completely down and gives the option to Chayanne to go on his back.

Missa stays silent while looking at Chayanne climbing up hesitantly on Philza’s back.

“You know, I’ve only ever let one man go where you are.” Philza gets up and spreads his wings, letting Chayanne cling to his feather. He feels a tingly feeling from his feathers being pulled.

“Who?”

“The greatest hero I’ve ever met. Are you ready?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Are you coming Missa?”

“I’ll stay here for a bit. I need to check on some things. I’ll see you around Phil.”

“See you around mate.”

Just like that, Philza the dragon flies down the wall and above the trees. Above the abandoned buildings and the abandoned train station, something Chayanne never noticed before. They fly above the clouds before back down below. Chayanne is scared to open his eyes. And he clings so tightly on the feathers he feels like he might just as well pluck them out.

“Don’t worry Chayanne, I won’t let you fall. Which one of your siblings do you want to see ?”

“Hum.. 07, the one with the red cap, 01 with the top hat, and uh… 02 with the red beanie.”

“Hum, I don’t know what any of those numbers mean, but I think we can start with Leonarda, I think she is with Foolish right now.”

“Okay, let’s go see Leo.”

“Let’s go then.”

Flying to a huge dragon-looking structure, Philza lands at the entrance of what seems to be a huge house made of quartz. Pristine white. Out of the gigantic entrance appears a huge golden dragon with shark fins. On its head is little Leo laughing her heart out after playing with his dads. That’s when they notice them.

“Ah, Philza!” All excited, Foolish runs to the crow dragon. He is huge, gigantic even. He’s probably even bigger than Ramon’s dragon. “Hello! Hello! Philza, how are you doing?”

The dragon looks like a dog, wagging his huge shark-dragon tail all happy to see one of his friends.

“I’m good. Little Chayanne here wanted to see if Leo is okay.”

“Oh, Leo! Do you know this guy?”

“Sí, es mi hermano! (Yeah, he’s my brother!) ” they say in Spanish.

“Oh, that’s cool.”

Leo waves to Chayanne, who also waves, still a little confused at what’s happening.

“We’re going to make a garden together, want to join Philza?” Foolish continues to wag his tail.

“No, not today Foolish, we’re going to see if Dapper is okay.”

“Oh okay then, goodbye then!”

And then Foolish and Leo go on their merry way. Foolish doesn’t seem to have wings either. But with his shark-like attribute maybe he lives more in the water. Philza makes sure Chayanne is okay and flies back into the sky.

“They seemed…”

“Yes, Chayanne?”

“They seemed happy.”

“Of course, Foolish is one that is easy to put a smile on your face. You’ll grow to like him, you'll see.”

Chayanne is still not so sure. The thoughts in his head still say that dragons can’t be trusted. But right now, the blond boy wants to believe that maybe they can. Right now, all their siblings seemed to be okay.

Philza and Chayanne flew a while before landing again in front of a small house. The dragon living here is completely black, with white glowing eyes. Even the inside of his mouth seemed just as white.

01 with the top hat ran outside when he saw Chayanne and Philza.

“Dapper, wait!”

“06! You okay? You look awful.”

Chayanne gets down from Philza’s back and looks at Dapper with his fresh new clothes.

“Yes, I’m okay. And you?”

“I’m fine I guess. Still don’t know how to get rid of that dragon that follows me around. I’ve been doing stuff. There are a lot of animals here. I think I’m going to try and get one of each species.”

“What.”

Chayanne doesn’t know if Dapper is happy with his situation or not.

“Have you seen the others? Are they okay?”

“Yeah, they are okay.” Chayanne glances towards Philza who’s talking about some dragon stuff. But Dapper takes all the spotlight and attention of Chayanne.

“Oh, then that’s good. I’m glad they’re all okay.”

“I’m going to go find 02 with Philza now… It was nice to see you.”

“You seem kind of down, Chayanne. Did you eat at all?”

“Only berries. And an apple last night.”

“Go ask your dad then, I’m going to go adventuring with mine. See you later!”

Dad? Just like that, Dapper leaves with his dad dragon, and Chayanne stays there, confused about everything. How is everyone doing so well with their dragon? How are they okay with this? Is it because of the lack of memories? Or a way of coping maybe. Or maybe they already had that discussion with their dragons while he was gone adventuring all day.

“There’s one last sibling to find, but I’ve never seen one with a red beanie. We should ask around to everyone else.”

Chayanne nods, going back to Philza’s back. They fly all day. Chayanne meets Fit and Ramon who are trying to revolutionise their little farm together and dig a hole in the ground. They also meet Charlie, Marianna and Flippa who, as usual, bicker about stupid stuff while his sister feels embarrassed behind. They meet Jaiden and Roier who are taking care of Tilin and Bobby, while Quackity is somewhere around the island. Doing his own thing. Then, they see Foolish, Vegetta and Leo again, and Maximus who is playing with Trumpet, and to finish, they see Dapper and Badboyhalo again. To every dragon they saw, they all asked the same question.

“Have you seen a little human girl with a red beanie?”

But none of the dragons knew, nor had seen any girl with a beanie. Night falls, and Philza goes back home. In front of the porch, there is a box. It’s full of new clothes and cleaning devices for Chayanne. With a bit of sadness in his heart, Chayanne cleans himself up with water and soap. He puts his new clothes on and goes back out of his house and looks at Philza who’s looking at the night sky.

Chayanne looks up too.

“I’m sure we’ll find her Chayanne. Wherever she is.”

“I know where she is. I just don’t know how to get there yet.”

“And where might that be?”

Chayanne sits down, still quite a bit far from the dragon.

“I’m not telling you.”

A silence sets itself in between the two.

“I’ve seen they gave you numbers.” Philza breaks it again with a new question. 

“Yeah.”

“And they got everything you remember of your life before too.”

“Yeah.”

“These…” Philza snarls an insult in his breath, but Chayane isn’t able to hear it.

“Maybe our theory is right, humans can’t be able to hurt their own kin right? Or maybe they are as horrible as we thought.”

The silence sets in again. It’s an awkward situation. 

“What theory?” The boy asks, now more curious of this whole situation between them.

“That what captured us aren’t humans. See how cucurucho resembles a bear?”

“Yes, I saw.”

“I think you guys were kidnapped, and sent to this island.”

“No, we were adopted. We all come from a different orphanage.”

“What they’re doing is still horrible, and I think it's a crime in your society. Maybe outside of this island, they are searching for you. Like we are searching for a way to get out.”

“Who would care about some orphaned children..” Chayanne lets out in a breath, thinking Philza would not hear.

“I would care. And I care now. And it’s the same for everyone else. Some left or even tried to deny it, but it’s because they are also scared.”

“Left?”

Chayanne remembers the dark blue dragon flying away, leaving Maximus and Trumpet alone in an almost built house.

“Dragons whose desire for freedom is stronger than the will of the island keeping them here. I too was about to leave, but seeing you with Missa made me realise how much bigger this situation really is.”

“Or maybe you guys just don’t like the idea of not eating us.”

“Why do you think that Chayanne ?”

“Because…”

 Chayanne doesn’t remember. He knows he hates dragons, but not why. He knows they’re dangerous, but can’t seem to recall who taught him all of this knowledge. Why can he speak? Why does he know he’s the oldest while ignoring his exact age? Why is he speaking with a dragon right now without trying to run away? What kind of memory is compelling his thoughts to think so badly of everyone on this island except his siblings? A silence sets in. Chayanne thinks, and thinks, and it feels like hours. 

“You know Chayanne, you remind me of myself.”

“Hum.” The boy is trying to end the conversation by walling himself in silence. He will listen, but now he won’t respond to anything the dragon asks of him. It’s already been too hard already, and he feels exhausted.

“I wanted to kill every human I saw. Eating, destroying, tearing, burning. I saw cities and kingdoms fall by my claws. Humans in my eyes were insects, and they hated me too. My hatred was fueled by their desire to never leave me alone. Calling my feathers priceless, my head useful when detached from its body, and my claws beautiful. Their greed set me on a warpath to protect me, but also the ones that were dear to me.

Like you.

You want to protect your siblings from us.”

Chayanne doesn’t move, looking at the sky slowly getting dimmer and dimmer as the sun disappears behind the horizon.

“I attacked a city once, trying to end the waves of hunters attacking me and my family. But one man was stronger than the other. He was really different too. Pink hair, broad shoulders, and a sword in hand, he looked like a king but was not. We fought, and fought until I could not bear the wounds he inflicted on me. I fled the city, and fell into a forest, almost dying from blood loss.”

Chayanne is imagining this story, seeing images in his mind of Philza’s memory. Replacing the ones that were missing.

“But he followed me. Hunted me, and found me almost dead in a clearing. This time was my last, I thought. I would never see my family again, my sons, my love, everyone else. I closed my eyes and waited for the finishing blow.

But it never came.

Instead of killing me, he decided to treat my wounds, and give me the last bit of food he had left in his bag. When I asked him why, he said my eyes looked way too sad for a fearless and cruel dragon. Way too pitiful for the great angel of death.

Every night from them on, he would come and find me to treat my wings and the infections. To feed me animals he hunted in the forest, and tell me stories of his family and his city.

I remember thinking he and I weren’t so different.”

Chayanne was dozing off listening to this tale, like a bedtime story putting his mind to sleep. The exhaustion is catching up to him, and Philza takes notice of that. 

“I will tell you the rest of the story tomorrow night. You should sleep now, little warrior.”

And just as the dragon says this, the boy immediately falls asleep. Leaning against the feathered body of the big bad and fearful dragon. 

“Goodnight Chayanne.”

The sun is now completely set, and using his body as a pillow, and his wing as a cover for the boy, Philza can now rest peacefully knowing his little kid is safe and sound with him. He leans his head down on the concrete, and closes his eyes.

Tonight marks the second night on Quesadilla Island.

Leo was scared of Foolish at first, she even ran to hide herself in the house. But the sweetness of the golden dragon and the kindness of Vegetta made her try to know more about her new fathers.

Dapper tried to kill Badboyhalo, multiple times. He failed, not knowing how to kill a demon dragon. Now, he just gave up and let the dragon follow him around.

Ramon was not scared at all. He asked a lot of questions about how Fit was able to vomit lava and make a lava cast. He also tried to kill him, but that didn’t work out. Instead, the dragon laughed it off and told him stories of the land he came from.

JuannaFlippa hid at first from her dragon parents who kept referring to her as masculine. To catch their attention and to stop them from saying “he”, she backflipped. Which shocked the two dragons who immediately loved her. She told them of her pronouns and got a brand new name, going from “JuanFlippo” to “JuannaFlippa”.

Trumpet hid inside his house at first, and did not want to talk to Maximus. But when Dan left, and he saw the slight glimmer of sadness in Max’s eyes, he got out and decided to take the first step and build a bridge between their differences. Slowly gaining the heart of a dragon that doesn’t like humans.

Bobby had a fantastic time. He kept scaring his parents doing all sorts of stupid stuff, putting himself in danger, fighting against monsters outside, and even jumping down trees on their backs. The parents are stressed every day, but they love their little Bobby.

Tilin doesn’t know much about Quackity who’s very competitive, and the kid was left mostly at Jaiden’s house with Roier for the day. They like him. He’s fluffy and soft, and at first, didn’t know how to react to his temper problems. He’s funny, and their energy matches quite well. He just hopes he can stop only referring to them as “son”. Still, it warms his heart hearing him call for them.

02 never met anyone in the white room. She waited and waited. She slept on the ground and ate the cold porridge that was given to her every day. She could eat mud and the taste wouldn’t change at all. Nothing to play, nothing to do. Sometimes the employees would come to see how she was doing. She was given a flute to pass the time and wait. She misses 06. She misses her siblings. She misses everyone.

“Please come back for me.” Her voice breaks into tears.

What a sad, sad, little girl.