Reunion

After all that I had been through there was no room left in my body for hesitation, and even my flight response was almost completely gone, in part due to my dragon's blood still affecting me, even in my smaller form. Considering all that, maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise. The moment I saw my Bhaltair I drew my sword and slashed at him with everything I had. Every ounce of manna flooded through me so intensely that my muscles strained and the air snapped between us like I had cracked a whip from the speed of my sword's tip.

He raised a single arm to try and block, and while his metal armor stopped my still-dulled blade from killing him, it dented heavily and cracked under the weight of the blow.

Everything froze. I still wasn't breathing, I couldn't even tell if my heart was beating or not, but I couldn't move. My brain was trying to tell me that I had just destroyed my muscles, but I couldn't even feel the pain, even though I somehow knew it was there. 'That much power… And he's still standing?' Doubt suddenly filled me as I remembered the time I lashed out against my father, trying with everything to destroy him and only leaving slight burns on his arm, barely drawing blood.

After staring at me for a long time, he solemnly lifted the blade off his arm with his other hand and dropped it to the side. I didn't even have the will left to hold on and it fell to the ground. 'What… Is it even happening here? I struck him? No, forget that. Why is he here… He's the brother they were talking about?'

"That was quite the greeting…" He stepped forward but I was still frozen. "How about I return the favor!" He yelled, slamming his fist into my stomach as hard as he could. Even without moving my manna reacted on its own and toughened my body, but without breath in my lungs or tension in my core, it hardly stopped it from shaking me to my core. Still, I felt no pain, just the knowledge that it hurt as my body staggered, refusing to fall to its knees.

'I don't want to be here… Not again… No… Maybe… I can run? I've run away before…' I started feeling an uncontrollable rage, growing till it began overshadowing any fear. 'I want to hide… I don't want him to find me…'

My body suddenly rapidly started to grow, and after a few moments I started to breathe and my body began to move on its own. My voice growled and dropped, rumbling. "From what I understand it's common to repay kindness with kindness is it not," I said slowly, straightening my back and wrapping my fingers around his neck, digging into his skin until it bled from my claws.

His solemn eyes rose as a soft grin took over his face before he hit me again, but this time my body was bracing itself, and with its new form felt practically unmoved. I breathed fire. He closed his eyes and stopped moving. "Touch me again and I'll bite your head off," I growled before pushing him back, forcing him to move away.

Despite how angry the dragon sounded, his breath wasn't even hot enough to burn Bhaltair's face, which was impressive for both in a certain sense... I could feel myself starting to cry, shutting myself off from my body even further until I had nearly completely left it altogether, hovering over my own shoulder like a ghost. After rubbing his dry eyes and fixing his hair, he shook out his cloak. "Your teeth aren't sharp enough for that." He sighed. He then wrapped the cloak around my shoulders, clasping it in front to cover me, after my clothes had mostly torn from my dramatic increase in size… "With that out of the way. Let's begin. Follow me."

'Shouldn't I change first? Wait, is that seriously what we're worried about right now!'

My body growled. 'Stop being such a coward and control your own body. I'm ashamed of you.'

'I'm sorry ok… You don't…'

The rumbling stopped as I suddenly stood still for a second before continuing on. 'You're making me mad.' He mumbled. But contrary to his words, the growling had completely stopped. You have no right to fear something weaker than that which you've killed… Does this man truly frighten you more than a demon of combat from the abyss?'

'I ran away from him too, remember… And we had two other people with us… One of them was Rafi…'

He sighed. 'For now, I will control your body then… But tell me this. Who is this person? I have never seen or heard of them.'

'Oh… Right… I didn't drink the potion till after he left… He's my oldest brother by blood. Firstborn. Stronger than Airsidh, He tortured me every day for my whole life, and eventually, he broke my left arm clean in half. The bones stuck out and everything… I was unconscious for a while so I don't actually know what happened, but I was told he was disinherited and left.'

'I can kill him if you want.'

I couldn't respond. I wanted to say no… But I couldn't actually bring myself to do it.

'I won't unless you tell me to'

'Mr Dragon…'

'Yes?'

'Why… Are you helping me like this… If it makes you so mad…'

He casually opened our mouths and began pushing against the sharp fangs with his thumb. 'You know I will disappear if I stay in this form for too long, and yet you always choose to change back. It is in my best interest to give you reasons to continue on this way.'

'Thank you…'

'Hm…'

After a long walk in complete audible silence, we arrived at Bhaltair's garrison, where he conducted his duties… Differently than the others. For starters, all the paperwork and reports were handled by his logistics officer. Meanwhile, he spent the whole day training directly with his men, pummeling them until everyone was almost dead… The same officer, true to his title, actually had a change of clothes in my size.

Naturally, this training included me… Or I guess Mr Dragon, too. With my body damaged from my over-the-top reaction at seeing Bhaltair again, even Mr. Dragon couldn't hold out against him directly, especially because I was the one who was good at martial arts… Not the dragon. He fought off instinct alone and decimated most of the troops, but was no match against the guild masters and Bhaltair himself. That… Was the entire day. I just watched Mr Dragon go wild, with a scary grin as he nearly ripped people apart, even enjoying when he got hit… Not necessarily because of the pain as much as the fact he knew he wouldn't get hurt from his tough hide… But still…

I didn't make it back to my dorm until late at night, my body pausing before I entered. 'Siya… Are you awake?'

'Yeah… I'm still here… Sorry.'

He growled at my apology. 'It would be best if you took control again… Should I be the one in control while walking into a girl's room, much less taking a shower…'

'Yeah… I get it… You aren't exactly known for your self-control…' I sighed. 'Can you help me become small again too? Or do we still need Lu for that?'

'Try using dark magic.'

I sighed again, taking control of my body, but the moment I did my legs started to shake and I suddenly felt cold and numb. Everything ached, like my whole body was sore, even before transforming. 'Mr. Dragon… Is it ok… If I stay like this? Just for a little while…'

'Do whatever you want.'

"Sorry…"

He growled again before going silent.

'I did it again…' I sighed, finally opening the door and slowly walking in. Everyone else was already there. Mo was casually lying down on her bed, juggling three throwing knives with just her wrists while staring up at the ceiling, while Rune was trying to teach Isy the fun little card game we made together. "I'm back…" I muttered…