Crashed
Before we begin, I'd just like to make a few personal comments on the story (because sofurry doesn't have the same description box that FA does). This story is based (if-loosely) on the song by Daughtry of the same name. It isn't exactly like I had envision the story to be, but that's one of the things I like best about my writing style. No plans, and the story goes where it wills, save for a few key plot points. This story was specifically hard for me because it is the only story I've written that I didn't know the ending before I started. But, since you are reading this, I've obviously worked it out into something that I've deemed reasonable. Anyway, enjoy.
P.S. And if anyone wants to know, the setting is based off of the area of Port Alberni, British Columbia. Google Maps it, 's a nice looking fjord.
Warning: This story will and does contain some mild language (of the swearing variety) and some heterosexual acts. Reader discretion is advised.
She was plummeting, that was all that she could comprehend. There hadn't been any warning or provocation; she had just been flying over the forest one moment, and then careering downwards the next. She couldn't even remember why she had been flying there at that time. She had seemed to be in a rush though, and maybe not looking where she was flying. That didn't explain how she had gained so much downward momentum though.
She tried to raise her wings. No, they didn't work. She tried to move a random limb, her left rear-leg. It wasn't responding either. All she could manage to do was close her eyes. The wind was beginning to sting anyway. On the other hand, now she could see where she was going. Not that it mattered, if she was slamming face-first into the ground at this speed anyway, she was quite dead. But now that she thought about it, she may not have been over a forest at all. Oh well, she was fairly sure that the impact would break her neck, regardless of what material she collided with.
She must be getting close to the ground by now. Why had she been flying so high in the first place? Why had she been flying in the first place? Why was she here? What was her purpose? She stopped herself short. She didn't want to die thinking philosophically about everything that she might have maybe needed to do. It wasn't good. The bottom of her tongue was suddenly itchy. She moved her lower jaw to scratch at it. Then, she realized that she could move her jaw. And if she could do that, she might well be able to talk. She might as well go out with a bit of dignity...
"It is an absolutely perfect day." Craymer said to himself, a smile cracking his scaled lips. "There is no possible way that this day could go anywhere but up."
Craymer was lying on his back, floating in the water not a hundred feet from the entrance to his home, a half-submerged cave weathered into the base of a mountain. He was a water-based dragon, a cousin of the more commonly known winged dragons. He had a hide of cyan scales which mixed into deep shades of purples and greens when the sunlight bounced off of the oils his body produced. He was rather lithe for a male, a little slimmer in the shoulder and waist, but he made up for it with a grace unrivalled by even some of the most acrobatic of his neighbors. Not that he had many neighbors anyway. His territory was a long and narrow fjord that ran inland from the ocean. It gave him plenty of fish to eat, and the room to swim and generally frolic as he pleased. The only time he ever saw any other dragons was during the mating season, which had just passed not two weeks ago. He had mated and left, like all of the other males, and not heard a word of his brood since. As far as he knew, he had produced seven broods over his lifetime, but there success was unknown to him.
Craymer sighed to himself, and then tossed his head in the air, just for the fun of it. He liked the colors that the water made as the sun passed through them. It only helped to heighten his already stellar mood. He already had his whole day planned out. Hell, if everything went just perfectly, today's routine would last for the next ten months. In the morning, he would frolic. Then, he would eat, take a short nap, and then frolic some more. He would frolic his way up and along the edge of his territory, and then frolic back home. Then he would eat again, sleep, and then repeat the process.
At this point, though, he wasn't feeling very hungry. He might just skip the morning meal and start frolicking now. It was a possibility, but then he might eat too much later. He'd contemplate it over a quick back flip. Aerial maneuver always helped him to think, and besides, maybe the short exercise would make him hungry enough to-
"SSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!" A disembodied voice screamed over the wonderful silence. This caused all of the birds start to chirp noisily and flee their roosts, ultimately ruining one of the best aspects of this day. And it wasn't even anywhere near midday yet.
Craymer cast his eyes about, looking for the source of the disturbance. He found it in the form of a long, green streak, plummeting out of the sky at a fantastic speed. It would have been quite fun, Craymer thought to himself, if the thing that was doing it seemed to be in any way in control of it. In order to properly express the complete lack of control, the object smashed into the water about twenty feet away, casting up a spray large enough to soak Craymer where he was. Curious, and even a bit concerned for the object, Craymer swam over to investigate.
By the time he reached the crash site, a mere four seconds, the object had already sunk like a rock, making its way ten feet down the eighty foot depth. Craymer dove after it, playful twisting around it as it sunk. He soon recognized its shape as that of a winged dragon, which seemed to be moving its lower jaw in a quite panicked motion, but was otherwise unconscious. Getting down beneath it, he swam up under it, lifting it back up to the surface.
When Craymer felt the body break the surface, he continued to swim beneath it, hauling back towards his cave. Once inside, he hefted it up onto a small, dry rise at the back of the cave, just above his own bed. There was ample space there for both him and his uninvited guest, and his pulled himself up onto the rocky platform after the body.
His sensitive webbed feet hadn't touched dry land in weeks, not since he had crawled his way up a beach to mate. It was a lot rougher than the soft sand beach that had been made into his female's nest, but the pads on the bottom of his feet helped him to cope with the sharp edges.
The body that lay before him looked oddly mangled from the way he had thrown it up, and he carefully rearranged the limbs into a position that looked more comfortable. He put his head down next to its head, listening for breathing. There was a distinct lack of it, so he used his neck to give the body a firm bump on the chest. He heard a wet squelching sound, but nothing else happened. He sniffed nonchalantly, and caught a very distinct and powerful scent. This body, a female, was most definitely alive, and in heat. Though it was a little late in the season, it was unmistakable, and it made his penis begin to grow erect, even as he stood there. Regardless of his feral motivations, he continued to compress the female's chest, until she finally coughed, sputtered, and gave a wheeze as a torrent of seawater gushed from her throat.
"Uggh...Since when was dirt so salty." She muttered, and then sat up and looked around. She must have noticed that she was in a small, submerged cave, because she got a sudden look of confusion on her face. "This isn't the forest."
"Certainly not," Craymer replied, stepping into her field of view and staring down at her as she stared up at him. "It's not often that a winged dragon such as yourself does such a wild and uncontrolled dive at that speed. You must be quite the thrill-seeker."
"I...I don't remember what I was doing." She said, rubbing the back of her aching head. "It may have been important."
"Well, whatever it was, you took quite a spectacular nosedive into my water." Craymer said. "You would have drowned if I didn't pull you up here."
"Oh, well thank you," The winged dragon said gratefully. "I don't even know your name?"
"It's Craymer," He replied. "What about you?"
"Vale," She replied.
Craymer nodded. "Are you hungry?" He asked.
"Oh, I don't want to be a burden on you." Vale said suddenly. "I'll be on my way. There's no need to stretch your food source to accommodate me."
"Quite a resilient one, aren't you?" Craymer asked. "I don't know many people who fall like that and can just get up and leave. Then again, I don't know a lot of people that get into the air in the first place."
"Yeah, there aren't a lot of dragons in these parts." Vale agreed. "At least, I think."
"Obviously not," Craymer said. "You haven't mated yet."
"Haven't I?" Vale asked.
"Your scents say no." Craymer replied. "They are beginning to intensify in potency."
"Oh, I see they've had an effect on you," She said, giggling a blushing a little as she noticed his still erect penis.
"Yes, well," Craymer began. "I've already mated this season."
"Oh, come one. Don't tell me you've never taken more than one female a season before." She said. "I sort-of remember taking at least four males one season."
"Didn't that hurt your first brood?" Craymer asked.
"Not at all," Vale replied. "In fact, it made it more diverse. But, again, I'm a little foggy on the details."
Without any provocation, she spread herself across the narrow ledge, allowing more of her feral scent to waft into Craymer's nostrils. His erection stiffened up immediately, and he had to shake his head roughly to keep in control of his instinctual urge to mate.
"Come on, my heat's not getting any weaker." She said playfully, sensing his hesitation. "You swim around all day, you must be nice and cool. Perfect for cooling me off."
"Shouldn't you find a male of your own species?" Craymer asked, suddenly realized that he had been staring at her spreading vent, and forcefully tore his eyes away.
"Oh, you're close enough." She replied nonchalantly. "Besides, my lust is always strongest when I first wake up. And I don't know if I could stop myself from forcing you into it."
"Are you threatening to rape me?" Craymer asked. This was turning out to be a very perplexing morning.
"Do you want to take that chance?" Vale asked. "Come on, you seem to be a fun-loving guy. You look like you enjoy frolicking around. Why not frolic with me?"
"You are a very strange person." Craymer said, and turned towards the entrance to his cave. "I think I'm going to leave, and let you rest a bit."
"No! Don't go, Please!" She was pleading now, in tears even. "I need...I need to quench it. Please, help me!"
She was balling uncontrollably now, and she made a lunge at his leg. She managed to catch his ankle and hold on tight, keeping him at bay. Unfortunately, he knew that he was never going to get her calmed down unless he gave into her pleas. With a sigh, he turned back and walked over her, lining himself up with her dripping vent. She looked up at him pathetically, her lower lips twitching and her eyes sodden with tears. Not wanting to see her look so pitiful, he dropped his penis straight into her, hilting himself on the first penetration. She gasped and her arms leapt into the air with glee, wrapping around his neck and pulling him into a full kiss. Though kiss may have been the wrong term, as she closed her maw over half of his snout, and was licking the end quite ferociously. She must have been with some quite large males before, which explained why her vent was already so open.
Craymer began to thrust quickly, wanting to sate her lust as quickly as possible. It wasn't that he wasn't enjoying it, her insides felt amazing as they pulsed and wrapped tightly around him, but he was the kind of person who liked some order in his life. This was definitely disorderly.
She was obviously enjoying it too, as her kiss grew deeper and deeper, and she engulfed more and more of his face. Craymer was beginning to worry that she may just swallow his whole head by the end of it. But upon his third thrust, she sighed deeply and dropped her head back to the floor, leaving his head still drenched in her saliva. He shook himself thoroughly of the slime and clinched his jaw to prevent a roar as his orgasm suddenly boiled to a head. Vale herself clenched and began her orgasm from the sudden influx of semen. Her insides began to milk at Craymer's cock, slowly draining his energy along with it. Mating had always been a complete task to him. He would never leave it half-finished, no matter how willing or unwilling he seemed to be.
"Ah, thank you..." Vale sighed, her eyelids drooping and closing shut, much like her vent. Craymer quickly pulled himself out of her as her vent began to become uncomfortably tight, and watched her as she slowly drifted off to sleep. He contemplated crashing down next to her and sleeping, but decided against it. He needed to clean up, and eat something. He dove back into the water and swam away much quicker than he had intended, but he wished to get away from her before anything else happened.
Twelve hours later, Craymer was lounging just outside of his cave, staring up at the stars. Vale was still sleeping in his cave, and, though she looked a little shaky as she slept, was fine. This left Craymer feeling a little strange. He barely knew this female, yet she was sleeping soundly in his home after he had mated with her. They weren't even in the same species, and their gametes were incompatible. This would not quench her heat, and she may continue to seek sexual intercourse from him to sate her need. Hopefully, he could get her out of here before it got that far.
That was the hard part, though. He had far too large a conscious to kick a female out of his home after all she was going through. She was suffering from amnesia, no matter how moderate the symptoms seemed. How could he let her go off on her own if he didn't know that she could remember her own way home? That would just be plain wrong. No, he would force himself to nurture her back to health, and that included dealing with her lust when it arose. He just hoped that it wouldn't rise too often.
"Craymer!" A scream echoed from the back of the cave, followed by heavy sobbing. "Craymer!"
He sighed, and swam to the back of his own cave. After hauling himself up next to Vale, who was now sobbing uncontrollably for whatever reason, he laid himself down next to her and allowed her to cling to him.
"What's wrong, Vale?" He asked in as soothing a voice as he could muster.
"I had a bad dream," Vale replied, her tears ebbing and reducing her to a quivering mass.
Craymer sighed inwardly. "It's okay, it's okay," He said comfortingly, cringing even before he said his next sentence. "I'm right here for you."
"I...I was all alone," She began, sobbing a little more now. "It was dark, and I felt a powerful sense of urgency. But I didn't know where to go, or what to do. I felt as if I had lost a big part of me, and I had no idea where to look for it."
"Don't worry, Vale," Craymer said soothingly, gently stroking her forehead. This seemed to calm her down a bit, which was good. "You know what helps me when I feel bad?"
Vale shook her head.
"I just look up at the stars, and then all of my troubles seem to just disappear." He replied. "Do you want to come out with me and watch them?"
"But...But I don't know how to swim." Vale whimpered.
"Don't worry, you can just hold onto my back." Craymer replied, and then slowly dropped himself into the water. He stayed close to the edge as Vale inched her way towards the water, and then braced himself as she brought her two forelegs onto his back. It wasn't particularly deep there, and he could almost touch the ledge below him. She slowly eased herself down onto her rump, and then began to ever so slowly dip into the water, her legs wrapped firmly over his back. Craymer tugged at her ever so slightly, and she finally dropped into the refreshing liquid. Vale floundered a little, but quickly threw the majority of her chest onto Craymer, causing him to sink a little more. Now that she was secure on him, he began to slowly swim out of the cave.
"See, this isn't so bad," Craymer said, and then they passed through the mouth of the cave.
The sky was beautifully clear that night. Not a cloud in the sky. The moon was full, hanging right over their heads, and the stars shone brilliantly. Even the water was still, reflecting the scene perfectly.
"Have you done a lot of stargazing before?" Craymer asked.
Vale shook her head.
"Oh, well we water dragons use the stars to navigate on long journeys." He said matter-of-factly. He pointed up at the North Star. "That is 'Polaris'. It's out main tool for navigating. As long as we know where it is, we always know which direction to head in."
"What's that one?" Vale asked, pointing up at an unusually bright star just off to their left.
"That one? We call it the 'Alley Star'." He said. "If you follow it from anywhere in this ocean, you'll line up perfectly with the channel that leads to the mating grounds.
"'Alley Star?'..." Vale repeated, several times. Then, suddenly, her eyes went wide with shock, and she began to quiver against Craymer's back.
"Vale? What's wrong?" He asked.
Suddenly, Vale's legs began to kick, and she pushed down on Craymer's back, launching herself up into the air. Craymer let out a gasp and inhaled some water as he was suddenly and violently submerged, and by the time he resurfaced, Vale was in the air. And then her dark silhouette disappeared amongst the field of the sky, and she was gone.
"Never met a female like that..." Craymer muttered, and then returned to his cave. He lowered himself down onto his reedy bed, with the water comfortably up over his head, and he fell asleep.
The next morning, Craymer awoke, groggy and sluggish. This was in stark contrast to the previous morning, as he in no way felt like frolicking. He was tired, completely warn out from the previous day. He wanted to go back to sleep, but now that he was awake, figured that he should eat something.
The salmon were plentiful at this time of year, and Craymer's catch was in no way disappointing. He managed to catch and gobble down nine from the massive school before they darted away in fright from his claws and gnashing teeth. His belly now comfortably full, he returned home, hoping to maybe return to his normal schedule. But first, a power nap to get him up to full strength.
Craymer hadn't slept for half an hour before he was jarred awake by frantic splashing and rushed gurgles just outside of his home.
"Craym...Help..." Was all that was legible as the words rose and sunk in the waves. It was Vale, and she seemed to be drowning again. Going on nothing but this thought, Craymer kicked off the wall and swam to Vale's aid, almost roughly pushing her head above water as her body began to sink further. He got a hand on her chest and heave upwards, brining her up to the surface. With a quick twist, he got her balanced on his back, and swam to the ledge in his cave. Once they were within reach of the platform, Vale anxiously clawed her way up and to safety, huffing with exertion from her floundering.
"If you wanted to talk, I could have just gone to the shore." Craymer said, hauling himself up next to her.
"I'm sorry, Craymer." Vale said suddenly. "About everything. About my crash, the sexual encounter, and my flying off. It's just, you helped me to remember something important, and that cured my amnesia."
"Oh, you remember now?" Craymer asked. "So why were you dropping out of the sky yesterday?"
"I was looking for my son." She replied. "His name is 'Alistair'. That star you told me about last night helped me to remember him, and that's why I took off."
"To go look for him." Craymer finished.
"Yes," Vale replied.
"Did you find him?" He asked.
Vale nodded. "He's back at home now, safe and sound."
"But you never told me how you crashed, or how you lost your memory." Craymer said.
"Oh, you know that cliff face across just on the shoreline?" She asked.
Craymer nodded.
"I, uhh, wasn't watching where I was going, and I flew straight into it." She said, and chuckled.
"You must have been going pretty fast." He said, and laughed with her. They laughed for what felt like a long time, though it may have only been a few seconds. The moment soon faded away, leaving them watching each other in the midst of an awkward pause.
"Well, anyway, I just wanted to thank you for all that you did to help me." Vale replied.
"You're very welcome. It was a pleasure to have you around." Craymer replied, almost half-lying.
They suffered through another awkward silence, both parties wondering not wanting to end the conversation, but knowing it was already over. Vale cleared her throat, but Craymer spoke first.
"Maybe, you could come by some time?" Craymer asked. "I could teach you to swim."
"Sure, and you can come over and I'll teach you how to fly." She replied, and they both laughed.
"Maybe not, but I was serious." Craymer said.
"I'd love to." Vale said with a nodded.
Craymer lowered himself back into the water, and Vale got onto his back, in the same fashion as last night. Taking long and leisurely strokes, he paddled them both to the shore, smiling to himself as felt Vale's head rest against his neck. She began to idly and affectionately lick at the oils on his hide, and that made their arrival at the shore come all too soon. Vale stepped down into the sand and trudged up onto the beach, looking back at Craymer as she did so. He simply floated there, captivated by her. But with one final affectionate blink from her, Vale rose into the air, and flew out of sight.
Leaving Craymer at the beach, feeling oddly empty inside.