Chapter 13

Matheus felt his body tense as he saw the Arctic wolf staring at him while he was in the courtyard of the castle, the wolf's saphire eyes accusatory as they pierced through the Alligator.

He could immediately recognize the wolf as the leader of the army after his father had died, a man highly trained to kill, one that had just caught the Alligator red-handed, with the sword in his hands.

He had gone to this place to keep his mind off the fear of whether the dragon would awaken, whether he would survive the overdose of the kryptynion, deciding to kill someone from the most important building of the canines country, knowing how proud it would make his master.

But he quickly realized that this was certainly one of his most foolish decisions, a place like this was certain to have some of the most powerful and important of the Anthros.

The Alligator ran back from the route he had taken, not awaiting the wolf's next move as he sprinted through the spacious hallways, heart pounding as he sprinted from the wolf, his fear of how deadly he knew this wolf must be his main motivation as he ran through the castle, the halls almost completely dark, only the moonlight shining in from the large glass windows illuminating the halls enough for the Alligator to see where he was going.

After a few minutes of running, he could begin to hear the sounds of the wolf's corresponding and louder footsteps begin to fade, the sound finally fading away as he turned the final corner, the exit to the castle near.

The Alligator took deep breaths as he looked behind himself for the final time, the Arctic wolf no where in sight from where he was now, the Alligator feeling pleased that he was able to escape the wolf, especially with his deadly reputation, that he was a cruel and merciless wolf who would likely kill without even a pang of sympathy.

The Alligator sighed heavily, disappointment quickly replacing his relief as he knew that he wouldn't be able to surprise the dragon, that he wouldn't have anything positive to be brought when he woke up, leaving Matheus with the feeling that he had failed.

He receded through the forest which he had used to get to the castle in the first place, somewhere that he knew would be completely empty as he returned back home sullenly in defeat. There was a long walk ahead of him, that much he knew for sure.

~

Matheus found himself going straight towards his masters room the moment he returned home, even with his scales drenched in sweat from the long walk that he had been forced to take to return back to the gloomy caves that he lived in.

Though unsurprising, he felt disappointment wash over himself as he saw his master, looking almost lifeless laid across the bed in an awkward position, the dragon looking quite strange with his facial features relaxed instead of scrunched into a scowl like they almost always were when he was awake.

It almost made him look at peace, for once even with him always seeming like such a stressed dragon, looking to be retaining such peace, even in the dismal state that Matheus knew he was in.

The Alligator tentatively bent down, pressing his ear to the dragons muscular chest, relieved when he heard the steady and strong heartbeat that showed that his master was still alive, still hopefully in a state that was possible for revival, to be awoken once again, something Matheus found he wished for so badly.

Over the course of the night, Matheus had returned to his masters room for what seemed like much too many times that, not able to sleep with the anticipation looming over himself, the Alligator finding himself returning constantly, just to make sure the Dragon was not yet dead, a sick feeling ravaging through him at the thought that the Dragon might not make it, that his master might die, just because Mathias had been to much of a coward to withstand his master's outbursts.

He wished he could have simply told the Dragon that he did not know where that awful substance that his master had come to have some sort of strange addiction to was, even if he would get hell for it, at least his masters life would not be at stake.

He finally gave up fighting with himself internally, pulling a chair and sitting in the corner of his masters room, just waiting for him to wake up. Oh how much the Alligator wished he would wake up, even with how cruel he had been treated, he still found that he did care for his masters life.

He finally heard a sharp gasp, the dragons body jerking awake, his master almost lurching out of bed, before his face twisted in pain, prompting him to lay down once again.

"M-master!" Matheus blurted out, barely able to contain his relief at the fact that his master had awoken. "Y-you're awake!"

The dragon took a moment to situate himself, pushing himself into a sitting position, looking vaguely at Matheus before asking, "W-what happened?"

His voice sounded low, unused. The dragon still clearly sounded exhausted.

"You had the kryptynion, more than I think your body could handle at that point. I told you it would be too much... but you didn't listen to me." Matheus murmured quietly, cringing at the last words, for fear of how his master would react, the man often hating it when someone accused him of being wrong.

"Well, I suppose I shouldn't have had so much, but I'm fine." He responded, voice strangely void of emotion.

The dragon then seemed to try to get out of bed, but he sharply groaned, sinking back into the mattress, eyes looking almost defeated in pain.

Matheus had never seen the dragon in a state quite like this before, always seeming to be the definition of confidence, but was now reduced to this, sounding almost like a different person entirely.

Matheus quickly was at his masters side, making sure that he was still well, the dragon feeling puzzled as he saw the Alligators eyes full of worry. He had always known that Matheus was quite expressive when it came to his emotions, rarely ever hiding them from him, or anyone for that matter. But he had never seen him like this, acting as if he were a parent fussing over a child, as if the dragon himself wasn't the one in charge here.

"Master, do you need anything?" Matheus asked, his words rushed, the Alligator looking at his master quite attentively, eyes bright and unblinking.

"Er, I'm alright Matheus. But you shouldn't be in here, you know what I've told you about being in my room." The dragon said, trying to command that authority he always found he had over the dragon, but found his voice frail, weak.

Matheus looked at his master with genuine worry, quickly saying, "Alright, but please allow me to stay master. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you, especially in the state that you are in right now."

The dragon growled in a low tone, feeling too tired to argue with Matheus at the moment. And especially with how insistent the Alligator sounded in that moment, the dragon decided just to let him.

"Fine then, make yourself comfortable." The dragon snapped, though his words held minimal conviction as he pulled the blankets tighter onto himself, closing his eyes softly as he tried to fall asleep.

Matheus felt a bit shocked of this, that the dragon hadn't been so angry that he had technically disobeyed his orders, the dragon any other time would have certainly punished Matheus greatly any other day.

And seeing the dragon just deciding to go to sleep right in Matheus's presence, something he knew the dragon would consider a sign of vulnerability, he found that odd as well.

Did that mean that the dragon felt more comfortable being near him? Matheus recalled that he had been helping his master for quite a few years now, and the dragon had never done something like this.

Matheus felt a smile creep into his face, feeling the sudden urge to hug the dragon, though he knew the fury that he would surely show if anything like that would happen, so he merely watched, a soft smile on his face as the dragon drifted off, a quiet snore coming from the dragons snout, nudging his head deeper into the pillows.

But he could see the upside down crescents under his eyes, the sleep revealing something that Matheus hadn't noticed earlier, how exhausted his master seemed in that moment.

He was glad though, that his master was finally getting rest, something that the dragon had not often allowed himself.

Matheus stepped out of the chair, feeling sleepiness gnaw at himself as well.

He softly patted the head of the dragon, the scales feeling rough under his hands, the Alligator whispering a simple goodnight, though he knew that the dragon couldn't hear him, or so he thought.

"Goodnight to you as well." The dragon suddenly replied in a groggy and rough voice, one of his eyes opening to look right at Matheus, a smirk on his face. the Alligator froze, feeling surprised that the dragon had even woken up.

The dragon though, quickly turned over, readjusting himself in the covers, acting as if it had been nothing, though him being kind to Matheus was something that almost never happened.

The Alligator felt his cheeks heat, a blush forming, though he could tell his master found amusement in this, even in a time like this where he had nearly died.

But Matheus would take it, his heart fluttering. Something as out of the ordinary as the dragon being kind to him felt like something monumental, and with the strange feelings that he felt arising for his master, he would take that as an accomplishment.