Chapter 4: Like a Boomerang
Imported from SF2 with no description provided.
Brian awoke in a rather rough state, having a very blank dream as per usual.
He lifted his head up, his long and golden hair everywhere in a mess.
“Uuuuuuughhhh…", Brian groaned as he sat up in the…well…nest.
Well, as it turns out, they had such a low possibility stuck in their heads that a human would come here for peaceful business, that they wouldn't have an actual bed for a person like him. As such, the best they could do was a very soft and plush nest, which was what seemed like a low, cotton-filled bowl of a sort with a pillow on the low edge. Brian, not being used to such a thing, expectedly had a hard time sleeping as a result of him being unused to such a way to rest his weary body.
Still, beggars can't be choosers.
A small square window let what little light there was in, the perfectly shaped hole letting in the wall, showing a brownish type of brightness.
Ah. It was early morning.
Brian's eyes acclimated to the light, his pupils getting bigger. He felt his body and bones realign themselves to their normal positions after the long nap. His body forcibly straightened itself, Brian feeling everything tingle, every muscle, fiber, sinew, bone, everything. Wearing his white undershirt, his pants, his necklaces, and nothing else, he groaned, getting his rump out of the bedding meant for a dragon.
He opened his mouth without his input, leaving it wide. Letting out a rather large yawn, he felt his feet touch the hard and sandy-colored stone of the private bedroom in the Inn. He then walked over to the barren, sparse, and surprisingly well-crafted wooden desk. On it were the rest of his belongings, his bright yellow tunic with the mail underneath, his gloves, his scarf, and his sword, and anything that was on his belt still on his waist. His boots were right in front of the piece of furniture.
Brian, while straightening his very disordered hair with his fingers, softly walked over to the pair of boots that always housed his feet. He bent down and took the right one with his right hand, standing on his left one to slip it on with ten fingers. He repeated the same with his left one. He began the arduous process of putting on the rest of his stuff. Slipping on his tunic, sliding on his gloves, the right before the left, wrapping the scarf on his neck, letting it hang over his right shoulder with the Union symbol, and put his great weapon and everything else he had either on his belt or in the neck of his clothes.
Now, finally, he was ready for the day.
Now all he needed was a breakfast. It was possibly the most important meal of the day after all.
Moving forward from the desk was the door, just opposite the window. It was overly simple like all the other ones here, but it looked nice enough. It was brown from the wood it was made of with a handle on the inside with a chain latch. This was meant for someone important after all.
Unlatching the door with a sound of metal sliding and a click, Brian pulled the more solid handle and pulled, going into the small hallway with a solid red rug in the middle that appeared to have been worn from the paws on it.
There were very few doors in the hallway. He only counted six, with one or two of those rooms likely bigger from being used by the receptionist with her daughter and mate. He never seen them and didn't know if they ever existed given that he saw only the dragoness with her hatchling, but his mind didn't dwell on it too much.
He went to his left after closing the door, hearing a click with a somehow dragon-made mechanism, and softly clopped his boots on the floor towards the top of the staircase, seeing light down there. How long did these torches last?
Fire dragon secrets. He couldn't pay attention to insignificant things like this.
He walked down the beach-shaded steps to the floor he ate the night before. Now on the ground floor, he saw the empty cushion “chair" and table and sought to occupy them once more. Placing his rump on the stack of pillows, he placed his elbows on the table, awaiting the receptionist to prepare the meal.
He took his canteen on his back and twisted the cap before drinking out of it, feeling the still cold water go down his throat. He wouldn't want a headache after all.
Brian continued his thoughts from yesterday and started the ones for today.
He could just leave without anyone noticing him. Maybe the guards aren't meant to be at their posts until when the Sun came up, which hasn't occurred yet, and the dragons here made it abundantly obvious he wasn't welcome here. The best they did was tolerate him given the scarf, but dear God, if they tried to hide their feelings about it, they were either so horrible at it or had no desire to contain it.
And after he left, then what? He had the idea twist his brain a bit. He would go back the way he came.
Back to Elara.
Ah, Elara.
Such a mysterious dragoness.
The things he did know were very sad and dark. He, for some reason he can't explain, had a desire to figure her out like a puzzle. Was it because he never had an actual interaction with a female before? Was he really that lonely? Did he really want more than one friend besides Voltson? He didn't know. What the hell was wrong with him?
And she was hurt. Dear Lord, she was hurt. The scars, bandages, her utterly mortified behavior when she ran and hid from him, and her shaky and rather unstable speech patterns told a story he knew nothing about, but the best he could do was make an educated guess.
And the guess he made was that she was fucked up real bad from humans.
Poor thing.
She seemed so innocent, so genuine, yet one to hold things to herself while withdrawing from the lives of others like she was terrified by it, similar to a horrifying and mentally and emotionally scarring nightmare.
It was simply awful.
Regardless, he couldn't do anything about it. He had nothing to go off of other than his experiences. Like everything else.
He heard something open up the stairs. Likely the electric dragoness receptionist. He knew children wouldn't get up this early. He heard shuffling and lazy steps of paws on the rug on the upper floor. Then, he saw her going down the steps, head down like she wasn't used to or couldn't cope with waking up at this time of the morning. She appeared not to notice him when she made her way down.
When she reached the foot of the stairs, settling down onto the stone floor she served the human the night before on. She was on her way to the door to the main lobby. However, she saw a shape on her left that kept getting her attention like a bright light. She blinked to get the sleep out of her incredibly tired eyes and saw that her vision got clear facing the silhouette.
When she did get better awareness of her surroundings, she saw him. The human.
Her eyes shot open and became as thin as pinpricks as she suddenly was surprised by his presence, just coldly looking at her.
“ Gah!", she gasped in shock and recoiled, her body nearly hitting the floor. She looked at him with frenzied eyes with darkened patches under them signifying a low amount of sleep.
Brian just stared at her, no surprise or emotion as usual on his face.
“Good morning.", Brian said, blank as a sheet of paper.
After a couple seconds of heavy breathing through her snout and processing what he just said, her heartbeat began to calm before trying to get herself standing properly.
She let out a very sleepless deep breath and lightly shook her head.
“O-Oh, it's you. S-Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night."
Once again, silence. Nothing came from the human.
He just…….stared.
Right into her soul.
She had a rather rough time in her nest after giving the human breakfast last night. And now, the same nerve-wracking stare he gave her made her rather uneasy.
Apparently, it was just what she needed to fully wake up.
Her dark yellow eyes gazed and studied his mind while glued into his line of sight when he spoke, catching her off guard once more.
“So, what do you have for breakfast?"
Brian, on the set of cushions, took a spoon into a white-brownish puddle of…something.
The dragoness sitting on her rump with her long tail on the floor took her maw and dipped it into a hardened clay bowl, taking in the substance with swallows and sips that were as quiet as she could manage, her eyes closed to taste the breakfast on her draconic tongue before swallowing it and letting go into her stomach.
Brian just continued taking in the rather unappetizing meal.
Brian let a sigh as he put the metal spoon of his into the dirt brown bowl to bring more into his mouth.
Dear God.
Oatmeal.
It just had to be oatmeal.
To the human, it was as bland as drinking liquified paper.
Brian hated eating foods that had absolutely no flavor. He was able to tolerate such a thing for about a singular platter of such a horrible foodstuff, but after that he would feel the unwanted sensation in his throat, signaling oncoming vomit with stomach acid and whatever he just ate.
Oatmeal was no exception.
To be fair, the dragoness, or…whoever there was here didn't really have many options in terms of food items that wasn't meat related. Brian didn't want something that he had to chew since doing such rigorous activity in the morning was sure to give him a headache. If there was a dragon to prepare such a poor excuse for a meal, it would likely be an earth dragon, since oatmeal came from, well, oats, a plant.
While anybody could've easily been an ass about it, Brian was raised and conditioned to be a hardened individual, as such, he will keep such things to himself. He was grateful he was given something to begin with. Without food in his belly after a long dreamless night, he would get a pounding in his head, leading him to want painkillers really, really bad. He just silently sucked the mostly liquid stuff into his nearly closed mouth without anything on his mind other than how much the food didn't taste like anything.
The dragoness joined him, not saying anything and keeping her eyelids shut as to not see those bright blue eyes look at her. She silently prayed to Bahamut that it was serviceable for him. She didn't want to find out he didn't at least find it adequate, as she didn't want such horrible treatment from the human if he thought that it was the worst thing he ever tasted.
Wait.
What was she thinking?
Would he even do such a thing?
She knew at least a very small inkling about the human's life and everything that led him here into his town. Still, it was incredibly tiny to actually go off of.
Regardless, what she does know is that saying his life was rough would be an understatement.
If what he said last night was true, then he had next to no love in his young life.
That was the thing. He was young.
If he had no family, then he had nobody except friends, and for somebody with not many years under his belt of living on the mortal plane, that was heartbreaking. And he spoke of the very important facts like it was nothing.
If this wasn't some fake account of drip-fed information, that would mean that he really grew up from nothing, or, well, something close to nothing.
She then stopped, opening her eyes to peer at the staircase, the whitish substance on her snout before she swished her tongue to stop it from dribbling onto the well-cleaned floor. She narrowly avoided the human's nearly lifeless gaze.
She heard a door opening and closing upstairs, along with soft paw steps on the rugs.
The receptionist then saw the small, delicate, and familiar paws on the top of the steps.
Ah, Nim.
What was she doing up at this hour? There was barely any light outside.
Her head was down. She probably noticed her mother and the human open and close their doors.
Well, that and her mind was racing with what to ask the human this morning, as her mother asked her to do so in exchange for turning in for the night before.
Brian didn't look at or even seem to notice her walking very lazily down the stairs like her mother, but even more so. Children needed significantly more sleep as a result of their body and minds growing with habits. While they lost those hours of slumber with each passing year, that didn't mean anything in keeping hatchlings healthy for the coming world ahead of them.
The war-torn and hellish world.
The mother was silent as she nervously watched her daughter slowly shuffle down the stairs with her eyes almost closed, likely from a lack of well-needed sleep. She hoped she didn't accidentally trip by accident or make a miscalculated movement and tumble down the stairs to possibly crack her skull open. Bahamut, that would truly be terrible. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw her child make it safely down from the upper floor and onto the floor on the side of the table and sit on the floor to the left of Brian and to the right of her mother, her head still looking down in clear tiredness. She probably wasn't used to such a lack of hours of shut eye.
She let out a large yawn for a young one for her size, showing her growing jaw of shining teeth and the inside of her mouth before closing with a nearly silent clack of her bones. She then shifted her tongue a bit to at least get some stimulation to wake up a little bit.
The yellow-scaled dragon looked at her hatchling on the floor and on the verge of snoring to her. She opened her mouth to her, Brian still looking forward like nothing was happening.
“N-Nim?", she whispered, her voice still quiet from not letting her vocal cords move ever since last night.
The little one moved her face to the one who gave birth to her egg and tiredly let out a mumbling sound in response.
“Hhhhmmmm…?"
More clicking in her young jaws.
Oh dear.
Did she stay up later than she was supposed to?
Only Bahamut knows.
Well, she certainly looked like her mind had yet to slap itself awake.
“O-Oh...good morning…uuummmm…"
Another involuntary yawn opened her mouth wide.
Still, the human imitated a statue.
The sitting hatchling looked to her left with very tired eyes. She rubbed her eye lids with the sides of her paws, careful not to poke her eye out as she removed particles of sleep from them.
She then opened her mouth upon seeing the figure of the human she wanted to talk to last night.
“Good morning Mister Human…", she said with some volume to her voice.
Brian, surprisingly to the adult dragoness, actually responded, his three fingers besides his pointer finger on his right hand spread as he held the spoon, still looking forward at the receptionist, who looked at him as her child spoke to him. It was incredibly brief as he promptly returned to fulling holding his whole hand on the tool and eating the nearly flavorless meal.
The dragoness saw some life in him. Something.
She looked at her daughter. She needed to get her some food to wake her up and get her mind running.
As such, she got off her rump, sliding her soft paws on the sand-colored stony floor as she went into the door behind her and into the main part of the Inn. With a pull of the overly simple looped handle, she slid behind the equally sandy-shaded door.
Brian simply looked at her as she went away, looking forward into nothingness as he slowly ate his oatmeal, the child still on his right trying to get herself up.
After what felt like five or so minutes, she pushed the door with her head as she held a smaller and white-colored bowl in her front teeth. Careful not to spill the oatmeal inside, she slowly and meticulously walked with her four legs towards her daughter. With her head lowering, she let go of the hardened clay next to her daughter.
If only she could reach up to the table. If she had a cushion to spare, she would use it, but not only were the pillows in the lobby off-limits to everyone except guests, but the human took all of the ones in the private room anyways. That and she was too tired to get up the stairs to get another one with the human here.
It wasn't like her daughter minded anyways.
Brian put his spoon absentmindedly into the bowl, only to hear a clink with no weight in his spoon. He looked down.
It was almost gone.
Wow.
It just happened as he silently and almost instinctually processed what was happening in this overly spacious room, or lack thereof.
He slowly slipped his spoon out of the bowl, licking it to make sure no excess liquid was on it. He didn't want a stain on his good clothes.
Well.
There was no other reason to stay here.
He may have had a lot of time on his hands, but one thing he hated above all else was to have his time wasted.
It may have been wrong to leave the hatching without a story, but he no longer wanted to be here more than he needed to. Brian also may have felt like it was for the best. Such a young, energetic, and hungry mind didn't deserve to see such horrors of the world she was on her way to inhabit.
As for the mother, well, he knew she wouldn't stop him.
Nobody could.
“Well, thank you for the breakfast. I'll get out of your scales now."
As he said that, he got off the cushions and started to walk around the table on his left side, slipping past the dragoness, who was looking at him as he walked to the door with widening eyes.
He…
H-He was just leaving?
He just left the bowl where it stood before.
It was…
It was…
It was just happening so fast. She gained a worried look as she faced the human's back as he made clops with his boots towards the door that went into the lobby and main room to the Inn. Her daughter, her body waking itself up, looked with slowly blinking eyes as she got her brain working like it was awakened, gazing at him as well as he walked towards the way to the other room meant for dragon guests staying a variable amount of time.
Did she do something wrong? What about her daughter?
No.
Of course not.
He couldn't get attached to anything.
Such was life.
He had to let this place go from his mind.
It was meant to be like every passing second, minute, hour, day, week, month, and year.
Let go without any evidence or insignificant memory that it existed.
She wanted to speak to him. She was so cowardly like the others to not say a word to him to understand him. Any part of him.
“W-Wait! H-Human..."
Her call fell on deaf ears as he pulled the knob with his right hand and slipped his body to the crack on the left, out of their view he slowly let the door close itself by drifting to its previous position.
Her face had a mixture of surprise, regret, and extreme worry.
What…
Why didn't she stop him?
She…
S-She…
She was weak to truth. To the facts.
She slowly moved her face to her daughter's, who also moved her gaze from the door and to her mother's face, also with an incredibly worried look.
It broke her heart.
Her daughter would never know why he left or if she'd ever see him again.
She wouldn't either.
She never even got his name.
Who was he?
Her daughter was too young to get such a saddened look. She looked genuinely confused with sorrow towards something she didn't and couldn't understand.
Why would she?
She wasn't even supposed to.
No.
They were forced upon a singular fact, one out of hundreds that they all failed to understand.
He wasn't meant to be there.
The double doors turned on their hinges and went inside the entrance to the Inn, more so the right left door from the dark blue, and an orange color slowly brightening outside.
With next to no sound, Brian emerged from one door, slightly pushing the other in the process. The human had his head peeking out. He moved his face to both of his sides outside, gazing at the street with calculative eyes.
He saw nobody.
Thank God.
He really didn't want to interact with anyone and would rather not see eyes and talking behind his back in gossip, anger, confusion, respect, the whole lot. He already gets enough of that at the Union.
As to why the place seemed like a ghost town, either the draconic inhabitants were still asleep in their shelters due to the current time wanting them to remain drowsy in their nests, or they were afraid to walk out until the human that simply walked into their slice of life here on Earth went away, like constant reminders of their dead or the ones suffering an arguably worse fate than being killed.
Brian didn't mind. He just wanted to leave this place behind.
Seeing that the coast was clear, Brian slipped his left boot out onto the low stairs, making a soft clop with it, before moving out of the door and onto the steps, letting the door slowly close itself to the entrance with its twin.
Brian noticed.
The drakes weren't here.
He personally thought this was perfectly fine. He was more than capable of defending himself. The human also didn't want to disturb the two's sleep or waste their time.
All in all, there wasn't a reason to bring them here, so Brian accepted it.
Brian made his way to the bottom of the tiny set of stairs and onto the road, looking to the left.
He saw his way out of here.
Turning his body, he started walking with hands on his hips towards the exit, not caring if there were dragons silently looking at him from the shadows or not.
The only sound was the light breeze blowing his scarf a little bit behind him.
It felt…nice.
Just...quiet.
About ten or so minutes later, Brian came to the arched entrance or exit.
With no reason to stay or be here, he simply walked out, right into the open.
As he walked into the grassy field before him and on his way back home, the only one he'd ever known in his young adult life, he noticed two blue ice drakes looking at him as he made his way out of here.
As he didn't mind or care about them as if they weren't even there, the two stared at him as he removed himself from their home and place of defense, maws slightly open.
H-He just…left?
He didn't have the red drakes on his sides. As night guards, they were meant to cycle with them or other dragons, but seeing as it was very early, they likely assumed he would stay longer until they would pick him up and escort him, but they thought wrong.
They were surprised that a human would be up this early and wanting to leave first and foremost.
They slowly moved their faces to one another, looking into each other's eyes in surprise and confusion.
Why…
Why did he want to leave so early?
Did…
Did he not like his treatment? Their hospitality?
Bahamut.
Did they…
Did they make him feel unwelcome?
Brian walked away from that place and was stuck with his own thoughts once more with nothing to distract them.
He liked that.
Putting worries on the backburner and letting his life take the forefront.
While he was rather bored as usual, he was less so.
It all came to the green dragoness named Elara.
Elara…
Would she actually want to see him?
In some ways, he doubted it.
She seemed so hurt before, he didn't know if his presence from out of nowhere would disturb her or make her uncomfortable.
Still, she seemed…how should he say, wanting his company?
When he said it to himself, even the thought didn't make much logical sense to him.
Why would she?
Granted, he didn't know what went inside the dragon's head.
Regardless, he had some tiny, slowly growing, and controlling thought take over.
She was interesting and a way to not suffer a severe case of boredom.
He was also adamant and somewhat committed to figuring her out.
If she was actually as innocent, if battered and scarred, as she appeared to be from the outside, he could discover why she feels this way. Why did she feel mortified as if she saw the Grim Reaper himself when they first saw one another? What made her stay nearly two decades in that forest? Why did it feel like she was hiding something from him? Although, that made sense if he really thought about it.
And the scars. Dear God, the scars.
W-Where did she get those? Why did she get those? How did she get those?
The only thing Brian could chalk it up to was humans, but even he had to acknowledge the fact that he had almost nothing concrete to go off of.
He still didn't understand why these ideas were swimming in the highly complicated mind of his, but the best he could do was try.
That was the best they all could do.
Him or Elara.
He saw it once again.
The forest.
It was already late morning, with he Sun flashing in a somewhat clouded sky with a slowly brightening blue atmosphere above to paint the day.
Brian hesitated.
A red flag in his mind told him that this was a mistake, that he shouldn't be doing such a thing as this.
Nobody would want him to do this, but he was one of courage.
If things didn't go as planned, he could always make a beeline out of these woods and forget this place or dragon ever existed in the first place.
He had a deep breath that was like a sigh.
He decided.
“What the hell."
He walked into the woods, with confidence, determination, and a small pang of uncertainty.
There it was!
After going around a couple of trees and stalks of wild plants, he saw it.
The cottage.
It was still here.
Did he think otherwise?
Was it…
Did he think that it was dream?
What?
His heartbeat sped up a little, feeling the pulse in the vessels in his throat.
He took a deep breath.
He could leave right now while he could. The pestering thoughts bouncing in his skull were trying to deter him from walking to that unassuming structure. Thoughts of an unforeseeable danger, that this was wrong in every way.
He exhaled.
He was a man of honesty. He would stride through.
Like with everything else.
He walked his way through the litter and fertile soil toward that grey cottage to see….
Wait….
Was….
Was she even there?
Brian didn't know.
Was she even up?
Still, blank.
Well.
There was only one way to find out.
He made his way to that humble abode and shelter of Elara.
Then, he made contact.
He felt the smooth and well kept, if somewhat worn stones of the outer wall with the chimney.
He felt it with his right hand. Then, Brian leaned on it, pondering his life's choices.
W-Why was he this way? It was just a random dragon he met in the woods. What was he afraid of?
Nothing made sense.
With a deep breath of contemplation on whether he should continue, he did just that.
He made his way to the door he entered and exited yesterday. M-Maybe he could open it to see if it was occupied?
Well, he had only one choice to really choose from.
He rounded the corner, and…
He saw her.
She saw him.
The moment she saw what was imagined as a ghost possibly coming to haunt her again, she let out a cry of surprise.
“_ Ahh! _"
She dropped the now-empty basket with her powers as she nearly fell from seeing the human she thought she only dreamed existed. Brian nearly fell on his rump like yesterday, but his right hand grasped the stone on the wall on his side, keeping his legs bent a little while preventing the littered ground touching the bottom of his pants.
Again.
It happened again.
They surprised each other on the same corner.
What are the odds?
Brian let out an audible exhale that reached the dragoness's ear holes.
“Shit. You spooked me.", she heard the human curse as he slowly got himself standing on his legs and revealing himself.
She heard human cussing words before, but she didn't fully understand them or their meanings, well, except when she heard them…e-except…
No! Elara! Stop yourself!
She slowly got herself up, while looking at the human, shakily lifting herself and shuffling her bandaged paws on the forest floor to get herself standing again.
Her heart was beating. She thought that another human might have come for her to drag her back into her deep, dark hole she prayed to Bahamut every single day would just leave her be, but instead she saw the yellow-colored person she felt was a specter she saw yesterday.
So, he was real after all.
“O-Oh. I-It's you.", Elara said while looking away to the left to avoid his gaze, sliding her right paw on the side of her face and onto behind her neck.
Brian saw her shakily get her body up and onto her four legs, also seeing her pupils dilate once she knew she wasn't in danger, at least for now.
Shit. He must've surprised her too.
He opened his mouth to speak.
“Uhh, y-yeah, I was just coming through since, well…"
He nervously turned his face to the right while still facing her with his piercing bright blue eyes, timidly brushing his overly long golden hair behind his neck with his left hand.
Elara saw his apparent uneasiness as well. He must have not expected to come back here either.
“W-Well, I was coming back home, and the quickest way was through here again, so…", Brian finished, yet trailed off, twiddling with his fingers while leaning against the corner with his left shoulder.
Elara silently gulped some saliva. They both didn't know what to say, but given that they were confused about and straight up tried to deny their existences, along with trying to understand the other like a hard and mind-bending puzzle, it was mostly justified.
It was silent for a little bit, like a minute, with Elara slipping and grinding her left paw on the soft, brown, and green ground while gazing down that leg towards the littered dirt.
“S-So..."
She slowly drifted her face to the human's the second she processed him starting some sort of conversation, or some semblance of conversation.
Her dark blue eyes gazed at his face, which was slightly downwards to the left towards the ground.
“U-Um, what were you doing? I-I mean, this early?"
This early?
She usually does…
Ah! Yes…
She was going to get some plants for many things, as she needed them to create conveniences and objects to make her life easier. She was a survivor after all in more ways than one…
“Oh! W-Well…"
She felt the human's eyesight move to her's, showing his void-like bright blue eyes. As an instinctual response, she moved her eyes away as she got a little unnerved by those eyes…
“I-I was wanting to get some plants for, well…stuff."
That piqued his interest a bit.
Stuff?
As a detail-oriented person, he needed more than that.
Or…was she not wanting to tell him?
Still, he didn't want to say something wrong by asking her directly.
“I-I was about to leave, b-but, then you came…and..."
Brian perked up. He disturbed her?
Shit. What was the matter with him?
He grounded the tip of his right boot into the soil as he played with his fingers a bit before finally folding them, opening his mouth to speak.
“Am I, u-um, am I bothering you? I-I could just leave and-"
“N-No, it's fine. I-I thought that I was stopping you from, w-well…"
Oh.
The dragoness thought that she was disturbing him.
Fuck.
They were both nervous wrecks.
Again, silence.
They didn't know what to do, how to react to the other. It was just…
It was so unpredictable. Why did they feel this way? He was a human, a race that caused extreme suffering and darkness to Elara, and she was a dragon, part of a species that was a reason why the world was ruined and driven to shit to the point that it became the accepted reality of countless people, dragon or human. It was the facts.
She got the basket in her powers, floating it beside her on her left.
She was going to ask him to-
Wait?
Elara, Bahamut, what are you doing?!
This was a horrible mistake in many ways. She didn't trust him. He's a human, he's….
Bahamut, what was the matter with her?
It didn't matter, she let the words slip from her tongue regardless, blindly and absentmindedly letting them go.
“U-Um, you know, you c-could come if..."
She shut herself up the instant she said that, her pupils shrinking in fear of what she spouted out.
No, no, no, _ no!_
W-What if he found that to be something bad if he said no? She was wasting his time. Why couldn't she stop herself? Bahamut have mercy on her soul for making such a horrible mistake.
Brian crossed his arms and looked away in silent contemplation.
Oh.
She wanted him to come with her? Maybe?
The way she held her tongue likely suggested that she didn't mean to say it. However, it didn't matter. It was already in the wind now.
Was she even telling the truth to herself when she said that?
Only God knows.
After about a minute of a pregnant silence, he spoke up in response to her opening her maw in the poorly thought-out offer.
“I-I mean, i-if you want to. I-I don't mind."
It was true. He didn't mind for a few reasons.
Trust has to start somewhere, and if Brian was to get to the bottom of this in the middle of the cesspool of bloodshed on this planet, he would have to start small.
Well, that and he had a lot of time now that the remainder of his mission was to come back to the Union in one piece.
Her eyes widened.
He…h-he…
B-Brian actually wanted to come?
No! Elara! Listen to yourself!
He's a human. A human! Bahamut's sakes, can't you see? He's trying to use you, lead to your death! Don't you not want to die? Are you asking for him to take your life away to that horrible, horrible place of your nightmares? To suffer to the point of believing that Bahamut himself has forsaken you? What are you thinking?
B-But wait….
I-If he wanted to kill her, then…t-then….
W-Wouldn't he have done so already?
He does have that sword on his hip attached to something for combat. She expected him to use something like that on her to take her to the afterlife yesterday, b-but…
B-But he didn't.
Why?
There was no logic in this.
Her mind went back to his response.
She realized that he was standing waiting for an answer.
His eyes moved around to catch something interesting in these woods, then….
They looked right into hers, his body still leaning on the corner.
Those eyes…
Bahamut…
“U-Um…", she stuttered. She had her vocal cords in a bunch.
Bahamut give me strength…
“U-Um…y-yes…"
She peered into those eyes with the greatest courage she felt in years.
“T-That would be nice."
They were off.
Elara, with the basket in between her jaw, walked throughout the forest with her bandaged forepaws and uncovered rear ones, making small pats on the leaves on floor of these woods.
Right behind her, about a yard of distance between the two, was Brian, who felt the tree bark of the towering plants as he made his way around them.
He didn't know exactly where she was going, but one thing is for certain. She at the very least had direction. Brian deduced that this was due to her extensive earth-based abilities, whose limits are currently unknown outside of moving plants or soft and rocky matter from the planet itself.
Elara was moving in the forest she made her home for nearly twenty years. She felt a selection of plants in the ground that would be useful for now in terms of her current needs and wants.
Hence, her direction. It was the reason she was snaking herself in between the plants and trees that resided in her path. She heard the soft steps of the human's boots on the insect and dirt covered ground.
It was just that.
Nature's sound consisting of twittering birds, the gentle wind blowing, and the random and occasional bug. Well, that and their steps.
It was a little uncomfortable. Elara, without any thoughts at all, invited him to come with her, which she struggled to understand, and Brian somehow accepted? What world were they currently living in?
Brian still had his reservations. While she could be leading her into a deathtrap of some sort, his mind told him he was worrying too much in some ways.
Well, there didn't seem to be any intelligent creature besides them.
Elara took a peek at Brian as he moved around one of the seemingly endless amounts of trees in this place.
She let out some air though her nostrils, as she was currently holding the basket in her mouth.
She sought to ask him a question that she held onto since yesterday. It may have been a little intrusive, at least to her anyways, but since they were alone, she sought to get an interaction with him despite cautious thoughts wanting her to do something else instead.
The dragoness opened her mouth and floated the basket to her right side as she wanted to speak, Brian looking at this new action of hers.
“W-Well, um…", she started but failed to finish. Bahamut. Get a hold of yourself.
Brian just looked as he continued on with her.
“U-Um, h-how did you find me yesterday? I-I mean how did you know that I was…um…here?", she asked while getting a peek of his gaze, seeing his piercing eyes look into the part of her left one.
Brian would have shrugged if he wasn't moving.
Why was she asking this? Was she just curious?
God.
Even he didn't know.
Still, he opened his mouth to give an answer.
“Uhhh, well, to start, it's a forest."
Bahamut.
He must've fought and killed earth dragons. Of course he would know that such a thing would be possible territory to the green-scaled dragons.
She lightly nodded as she understood, thoughts rolling around in her brain.
“And, well, that and the piss on the trees."
What?
Another one of those human cuss words she didn't understand.
Was it a swear word at all?
She turned her body to its side to have the right one face Brian, her face tilted on its side in confusion. She stopped, with the human stopping too.
“W-What?", she asked in a confused tone while making the simple transition.
Brian couldn't believe it.
She didn't know what it meant?
How could she not know what it meant?
Well, to be fair, she was a dragon who was likely captured when she was younger, so it was a possible explanation.
Still, it seemed like such an unbelievable question from a lack of knowledge.
Brian moved his face from hers as he let out a short-lived sigh.
Elara looked at him.
Oh no.
Did she upset him?
Was…
Was it something she was supposed to know?
Brian faced her again as he decided to give her a better, more reachable answer.
“Urine? Y'know, urine? On the trees?"
She immediately looked forward in Brian's direction, but not meaning to peer at him at all.
Oh. So that's what it meant.
She looked away with a pink blush on her face. She felt a little embarrassed at the ridiculous thought that she didn't know such a word, even when….
“O-Oh.", she responded.
She looked into hose eyes of his again.
"U-Um, I-I can't really go anywhere else. I-I'm sorry if-"
“N-No, it's fine. It just makes the place smell a little awful is all."
Well.
It was a consolation prize of understanding at the very least.
She turned her body around to continue walking towards a possible destination if her powers weren't goofing up. Brian walked with her.
“S-So, uhh, what do you do all day?"
Dear God.
What a horrible question.
It was the equivalent of table scraps in terms of something to start a conversation.
How could he have asked her that?
Elara perked up, slightly lifting her head.
“W-Well, I do this with most of my time, picking flowers and plants for me to use at the cottage, um, hunting when I need to, and, um, drinking tea? M-Maybe?"
Bahamut.
She probably sounded like a hatchling trying to come up with an excuse for why she broke a pot or something to avoid getting in trouble. That selection of answers was terrible.
He wouldn't be interested at all, would he?
She needed to say something quickly to get his attention to not think she was awkward or going crazy.
She turned her body the same as before, her side and face in Brian's line of sight, her eyes going to him.
He thought that her answers were rather basic, then again, she had lived off the natural resources of this green and brown domain.
“U-U-Uhhhh, w-what do you like to do?"
It was a quick and poorly thought out question, but what else was she supposed to conjure up in so little time for a person with an unknown amount of patience?
Wait….
W-What were those?
For a few seconds, her gaze went to what was around his neck.
A gold-bordered and dark blue cross, as object she's seen humans wear around their throats, and a silver chained dragon with a sapphire in its breast and diamonds for eyes.
W-Was that Bahamut?
Why would he have the two on him? If he had something relating to possibly the deity of the humans and Bahamut himself, would that mean…he wouldn't…unless…
Brian saw that she stammered and seemed to struggle with her words. Did she think she was boring him? Honestly, it was anything but that, as it was something at least somewhat interesting given his constantly running mind. He had tried to put up a confident face for her before responding, interrupting her from her thoughts.
“Oh, who, me? Well, I like to..."
Brain suddenly lost all of that aforementioned confidence in an instant, as his eyes went away for some time away from hers as she felt confused as to why he stopped talking.
Dear Lord.
What…
What did he do in his free time?
Brian had to actually think really hard on this question.
What did he do for fun?
His brain tried to scrounge up something, anything.
How ironic.
Despite the fact that Brian hated mindlessness and boredom, avoiding it like a plague, he honestly had so little to do in terms of hobbies or his free time.
He knew for a fact that he couldn't possibly consider going out in the field as a pastime. That would not only be morbid, but it also wasn't something he went out of his way to do to begin with. It was a necessary evil to try and put a dent in the War's existence.
Brian had an extremely awkward and nervous face as he struggled with his head to find something.
Ah…well…he guessed he enjoyed that.
“U-Um, I-I like to play cards?"
It was somewhat of a question since he genuinely didn't know if it was even a good answer to begin with. He was essentially clutching at straws at this point.
Elara was confused.
Cards? What did that mean?
She raised her scaly right eyebrow and tilted her head a tad in that direction, not understanding him as if he had grown a second head on his shoulder.
Brian looked away in incredible uneasiness.
Brian, you dumbass.
Of course she didn't know what card games were, let alone the cards themselves. She was a dragon who lived in a dragon society before…well…something. Cards were a Union, or, er, mostly human thing. Why would she know something like that?
His eyes darted around as a bead of sweat formed on his forehead.
“U-Uh...", he stammered.
Dammit Brian, think of something else!
Ummmm, would that be okay?
“I-I like to read."
Well, he couldn't tell if he enjoyed it as much as a drunkard likes to inhale alcohol, but it was the best thing he could think of for the life of him. Dear God, she probably is imagining him as some socially immature wreak.
Her brow lowered.
Reading?
Well, she couldn't read human language due to living with Earth Dragonkind earlier in her life, but she assumed it was at least a rather decent way to pass time. Not that she would, you know, understand what books actually could have in them.
“U-Um, that sounds…interesting?"
Bahamut have mercy on her.
Brian simply nodded his head with a very nerve-wracked voice with their stuttering.
Elara's eyes rolled away for him and to the right.
Then, wanting to end her bout of voice cracking, she returned to her position and resumed the act of walking forward to where a plant possibly was to bring back to her cottage.
Brian, feeling that she knew he was very much a child socially in some ways, decided to shut his trap.
Who knew that such a talk like this would have him crumble in embarrassment when he literally kills dragons and humans for a living.
About five minutes of very uncomfortable silence besides the sound of their environment around them until-.
“Ah-ha!", Elara called out in satisfaction as she started a faster four-legged trot.
She found them.
Brian jogged a bit to catch up to her.
Slowing down, she stopped by a plant in the ground, lowering her body a bit towards the earth with the faster human steps behind her.
Brian, stopping on the dragoness's right side, lowered his body to the ground as well, getting his left leg bent and on the dirty forest floor, with the right one still standing. He peered at what Elara was looking at.
It was a small stalk-like plant with several tiny extrusions akin to flowers covering its entire end.
They were all purple.
Elara let in a huge whiff of the plant, feeling the particles enter her snout for her to process, letting a huff of satisfaction.
Brian was confused. What…what was this?
“Uhhh, what is it?", Brian asked a bit fast, his anti-social awkwardness from the previous conversation melting away.
Elara, looking at the beautiful specimen with its bundled stalks, scents, and simple wagging with the wind, responded.
D-Did he not know what it was?
“It's lavender.", she said gladly with confidence as she inhaled more of its smell with a light smile on her maw. She was at least confident when talking about this specifically.
Shit.
That was lavender?
He only bought things that were related to lavender, but he never knew what it looked like. In fact, the only thing he associated the object with was the color purple.
Why would you need to wonder or ask about where something came from when it was used to create infinitely more useful objects?
“U-Uh, why do you need lavender?", Brian curiously asked the dragoness, facing her.
The green-scaled dragon faced him as well after he spoke his question.
She answered like it was something always on the front of her mind.
“Well, I use them sometimes for incense and soap when I run out."
His eyes widened with his mouth a little open in surprise.
Pffffff, WHAT?!
Soap?
She uses soap?
“Y-You use soap? B-But how?"
The earth dragon noticed that it was an energetic question. She probably assumed that he thought she wouldn't need such a thing, but she needed to maintain cleanliness in a rather dirty forest.
She sought to respond to his shock, seeing that he was engrossed in this subject.
“Uh, yes, I use something sweet smelling like lavender and mold it into melted animal fats which I get from…you know…"
She never liked killing things, but it was a necessary thing to do in a place where you needed to do anything in order to survive.
Brian was baffled.
She knew how to make soaps?
He couldn't believe it.
She has survived so long in these woods to the point of creating natural soaps.
Even he couldn't do such a thing. It simply wasn't a necessity when others did such a thing and left it out to be bought by a customer.
Well.
Perhaps this trip deeper in this place with the dragoness wasn't a terrible idea after all.
Maybe he could learn a thing or two from her.
The door went to the left side into the cottage.
Inward came Elara, a basket of various plants, whether fully green or colored, clamped down with her jaws and teeth. Behind her came Brian, the human that came with her.
It was currently midday, the Sun out and shining of the noon.
With the steps of the dragoness's paws and the human's boots on the wood floors, they came in, Elara dropping the basket on the table like yesterday. It slipped through the sides of her maw and onto the simple structure.
Brian looked at the earth dragon as she did this and his eyes caught on….
Wait, what?
Brian saw that the wooden chair from the day before was still there.
Did…
Did she know that he was coming back here? Did she forget to remove it once he left yesterday?
Or was it simply for a bizarre memory that made no sense?
He didn't know.
Brian, feeling limber and somewhat tired in his feet, stretched his whole body, standing as straight as he could with his hands and arms locked behind his head. He felt bones cracking and joints popping as he did so.
“Uuuuugh...", Brian let out as he stood taller than before.
Whelp, this large amount of moving today will probably bite him in the ass later today, but he didn't mind. Exercise was exercise.
The dragoness looked at him, turning her head around to the right to face him do this.
She moved her head forwards again, a slight blush on her face.
She hasn't seen anybody else do something as simple as stretching in years.
Wait, was he...tired?
Of course, Elara. He has been walking everywhere with you today! Why wouldn't he be?
Well, was he actually?
She opened her mouth as she made her way to the cupboards on the other side of the cottage, aiming to get everything for tea.
“So, um, are you tired?", she asked with a curious voice after seeing the human crunch his bone matter a bit with the sliding of joints.
Brian's spinal column resumed its previous position, his body, muscles, and skeleton relaxed. He let out a deep breath before responding, lifting out his legs and bending them in several ways to loosen them.
“Yeah, I haven't walked like this in quite some time, well, that and my sleeping patterns are f-messed up.", Brian answered, holding himself from swearing around her.
Elara heard him as she came over with the floating wooden teacups, saucers, and a kettle with its platter.
Oh, this again.
Even though he had her tea only yesterday, he felt like he wanted more of it. It really calmed the nerves and mind after great uneasiness from their first meeting. Well, that and it genuinely tasted good.
She placed everything on the table, moving to the fireplace to start some flames, floating her flint and stone with some kindling and wood. Brian slipped his rump onto the chair from before. It still didn't feel very comfortable, but given that she never expected a human to come here, it sufficed.
Brian crossed his legs, his right leg over his left, as the earth dragon sparked the wood and started a fire. A few blows of air later, and embers and crackling came out with the licks of the orange flames.
Elara did the same routine as yesterday, getting a jar of the green and yellow plant matter with the teapot as she floated it over with the corked glass containers in her mouth, walking with her four legs to the counter once again to get the water.
They were silent other than the clattering and sounds of water running. They were more relaxed and reserved compared to yesterday, but there was still a bit of an air of nervousness.
Thank God and Bahamut that the two no longer felt extremely unnerved by the other.
With the prepared tea, she brought everything over, placing the bottles back and floating the wooden-handled kettle onto the grate in the fireplace.
She sat across from Brian on her rump once more with her legs and tail in a sitting position, facing the human and wall they came in.
Ah. This again. The struggle to begin the art of talking.
While they fiddled with their fingers and claws for about a couple minutes like before, they started with Elara letting loose her voice.
“Um, Brian…", she started but never got close to finishing, her face looking to the right in a bout of classic nervousness.
Bahamut, what was she doing? She barely knew this person, a human of all creatures, and she was already at the point of feeling more comfortable.
There was a cautious sound in the back of her head.
Elara, you can't leave yourself vulnerable like this! You just watch! He will make you crack like…l-like…
No! She…she…
She felt…off.
Where did this courage come from?
W-Was it from being so alone with herself and her incredibly dark, horrifying, and sorrowful nightmares for nearly two decades?
Bahamut help her.
She slowly moved her gaze up to the visitor once again, seeing his eyes hooking onto her's from is facing going to his right.
She started to continue.
“I-I just wanted to say t-thank you, for coming with me."
Bahamut.
Why was she thanking him?
Wasn't she wasting his time?
Why, oh why?
The answers elude her.
Brian moved his face directly in her direction, seeing her darker blue pupils.
What?
She was thanking him?
No, she could not possibly be putting a bit of trust into him…right?
No, there must be something up. He knew that she wasn't fully out of her shell yet, but it had to start small to get a big result.
Still, she was…glad that he came and just, walked and talked with her? Albeit the words were very awkward and shaky at best.
God have mercy on him.
Regardless, he would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy himself a little. It was something that broke from the monotony in his everyday life when he wasn't ending the lives of dragons or humans.
It was something…different. For Brian, different was always better than something he knew, regardless of if the break from repetitiveness was awful or not. It was like the roll of a dice to him, a puzzle he enjoyed toying with until it was finished and that he had to return back to that familiar mindset.
“Oh, it's alright, and you know what? This day has been very interesting Elara."
What?
He actually...enjoyed it?
Bahamut, what world were they living in?
She had the thoughts spinning in her brain in surprise. She couldn't believe that he liked it!
She slightly nodded her head with a very sheepish smile on her face.
Wait…
S-Should…
Should she ask him about this Union he spoke of?
To be fair, she had that in a pawful of questions to ask the human after he spoke of the alliance of Dragonkind and Humanity.
No Elara! Don't! R-Remember…
She saw them.
His eyes.
Those bright blue eyes of an endless ocean, now filled with confidence and strength with a lot of compassion and understanding.
Bahamut.
She began to realize she wanted to ask him.
It may have been wrong, but…
She opened her maw, then…
A loud whizzing sound came from the fireplace.
The tea was done.
Bahamut, again?
They faced the whistling teapot on the grate. Elara, looking at the kettle, brought it over and placed it on the wooden platter to stop it from ruining her table and to let it cool for a little bit.
After a minute of just taking a gander at, well, anything, Elara floated the container of the tea and poured it into the teacups, the familiar liquid coming out.
After she was done, Brian took the saucer with his left hand and the handled cup in his left.
With a little steam coming off of it, Brian let out a light blow before taking it to his lips. With a sip, he drank some of the nice and refreshing tea.
Boy, he could get used to this.
“So, um, what is it like living in the…um…Union?", she asked, moving her wooden cup to her maw with her earth abilities.
The Union?
Brian knew that she didn't fully believe that the place existed. She did live here for eighteen years and lived those previous years elsewhere than someplace relating to the Union after all.
While he had reservations that this could be a collection of information meant for others, he felt like this was a low risk type of question.
Plus, he was a man of honesty.
He continued the conversation with a blunt response, shrugging his shoulders a little.
“The Union? Honestly, I think it's a little boring."
It wasn't that he despised the Union, well, other than dealing with rumors, rejections, and other tiresome shit, he just thought that it was repetitive.
Brian hated repetitiveness.
Why? Repetitiveness led to boredom, which led to headaches and him wanting to drink paint.
Still, it was his slice of life on this planet they call Earth. It was home, and he at least had Voltson to be by his side through thick and thin.
Elara was somewhat shocked.
He was bored by the place?
D-Did he not like it?
“Y-You don't like it?"
Brian looked away as he gave her his thoughts in the form of words.
“Well, it's not like I hate it, it's just…"
A sigh came from him.
“It's that the same thing happens over and over most of the time, at least for me. And besides, home is home, and I have…well…one friend. That and it comes with the luxuries of a human and dragon society."
It was the truth. With the Union's existence, such wonders and creations were conceived to make the lives of all better, and Voltson was what kept his hopes up for a better world every day.
Elara thought it over.
Ah, that's right.
If dragons worked with humans, there was no doubt that they would create so many things to increase the quality of life.
Still, it seemed like a dream that was too good to be true in a ruined world like the one they stood on.
Elara gave an honest answer with such possibilities roaming around in her skull.
She would never leave her sanctuary of ultimate safety, but this was truly intriguing.
“W-Well, that sounds alright. At least it is with your family and everyone."
Brian froze for a split second before drinking the tea while looking slightly to his left, masking his reaction to Elara.
Family?
Brian had no such thing as family.
The only people Brian could consider his family would be his friends, and they only consisted of Voltson and possibly this dragoness, but that was all he had. Timbermuth was close to a father figure in some ways, but his profession meant he would always act cold for the sake of the Union. It was his duty and sacrifice, and Brian respected that regardless. Even he knew that it was selfishness that wanted more people to call friends. It was just something he accepted as reality a long time ago.
He then started to ask her a question, one that was so poorly thought out due to being in the moment and distracted by his own thoughts, that he wished he could reverse time to stop himself from saying it.
“So, uh, how's your family?"
Elara stopped.
Her pupils started...sharpen.
Her jaw was slightly open.
What?
W-What did she hear?
She placed her tea and wood on the table.
Her mind tried to process it.
It was like her brain was rejecting what came from the human's mouth.
She didn't like this feeling. It was one that gripped her shoulders like a freezing ghost reminding her of…o-of...
Her mind needed to do a double take.
Shakily, she started talking in a voice that Brian immediately noticed.
“W-W-What did you say?", she said in a horrified tone, her mind drifting to a dark shadow wanting to ensnare and….and….
Her mind was trying to convince itself it didn't hear anything at all.
She wished it stayed away, t-the….
He caught what he said, but he just didn't know what could cause such a thing to suddenly rumble the dragoness. Still, he strived through. He needed an answer, some answer. He hoped to God that it wasn't what he thought she was about to say.
“U-Uh, your family? Like, are they okay? Are they…"
Family?
F-F-Family?
Elara's eyes began to shrink the smallest they could.
Her body became still.
Her mouth was slightly open.
She was looking slightly downwards.
Suddenly, a shadowy and deathly silence permeated throughout the cottage and seemingly the whole world.
The good mood that was already there had fled long ago like some scared song bird at the sounds of a larger and more dangerous creature.
Brian looked at her with a now incredibly worried expression on his face filled with concern.
She froze up.
It was like she was encased in ice in the cold and barren wastes to the far North and South.
She was a statue, with the only signature of life at all being the very slow and mindless moving of her tongue in her slightly open maw.
Dear God.
What happened?
What caused her to become like this?
It was like she was in a trance of some sort.
All he asked was…
Oh.
Oh.
Oh God.
Oh dear God.
He asked about her family.
T-That meant…
Oh no.
No, he needed to snap her out of this.
“E-Elara? A-Are you okay?"
Nothing.
Still stuck as if she was caught in a spider web of Death's design and simply accepted it as her fate.
“E-Elara?"
No.
She didn't…
She didn't…
God.
S-She…
She was in a trance.
He probably brought up something so horrifying and traumatizing from her past that her body locked up as if her soul left her body.
Brian, you stupid idiot.
You stupid fucking idiot.
What has he done?
Why did he not think about what he was saying?
No, no, no, _ no! _
How could he do such a thing?
God have mercy on his soul.
Elara felt…nothing.
Just…nothing.
Her body felt so, so cold, like she fell into a frozen lake.
She felt...empty, like she ceased to exist.
Her consciousness was blank. She felt like another was occupying her body as she felt like her soul had become a passenger to a dead cell.
D-Dead.
She remembered some of what her mind decided to reopen upon that singular being spoken by someone else, like a demon reminding her that they wanted to drag her down with them in the Underworld.
What was happening?
Was she even alive?
She heard them.
The screams.
The prayers, never to be answered.
The roars of agony like Bahamut smiting them for simply existing.
The countless tears and cries for mercy, for some sense of life.
Nothing.
It was all for nothing.
She felt it.
Her universe burning.
Her life burning.
Others burning.
Others freezing into nothingness.
Eternal suffering.
The hole wanted her back, grabbing her tail and wanting her to suffer with them all.
She cried. She didn't want to go back.
B-Bahamut...n-no...p-please n-no…
B-Bahamut h-have m-m-mercy on m-my soul…
She was descending into darkness, like a shadowy vortex of death.
Falling...
Falling...
Drowning...
Then, one of the worst ones came back, crawling like Death's claws on her shoulders and coming upon her with their whispers into her ears and into the empty husk that was her body.
Her…
H-Her...
Her…f…f-f…f-fa…
No.
Brian made a horrible mistake.
He should never have done any of this.
This was horrible.
He was horrible.
Dear God, what has he done?
How could…
The questions plague his mind.
F-Fuck me…
He had to leave.
He shouldn't be here.
He regretted ever saying those words.
He was so stupid, so selfish...
He's done enough.
He didn't want to cause any more suffering.
Now he knows more, but at what cost?
He couldn't believe what he'd done.
He found out that she is not only ruined physically, but also emotionally.
That's it.
He was filled with the truest guilt ever placed on him as he sought to leave her and stop forcing her to remember more of God knows what, something he wishes to never know.
“O-Okay, I think I've been here long enough.", he said very quickly, placing the cup and saucer on the table before slipping off his chair, in a bit of a hurry to stop dragging his sins with him and onto another.
It may have been an accident in some ways…b-but...
Elara snapped out of it at the sounds and Brian's voice. Her eyes blinked as her pupils started to widen once again as she regained her perceptions of the world around her.
She was incredibly confused.
W-What just happened?
She saw him approaching the door.
He was aiming to leave.
With a worried look of extreme confusion as she got off her rump and tried to stop him.
W-Was it what just happened?
Did he want to leave because of what just transpired? This hole in her mind?
“W-Wait! D-Did I do something wrong? I-I…", she said quickly in a desperate tone.
Did she do something that made him want to leave like he was escaping Death?
Brian turned around, seeing those darker blue eyes full of innocence, filled with concern and worry like she didn't know what horrible thing he had done and that she received the brunt of.
He was somewhat glad she returned to her senses, but…
No.
He caused enough damage already.
He didn't want to hurt anyone. He never did. But it seemed to always be a part of him.
It was like he was a person of death.
“I-I'm sorry, I've stayed here for too long. I need to leave."
He didn't know if she knew why exactly he needed to leave as he pulled the handled door inwards with his right.
Elara felt like a hatchling. She was so lost and didn't have the words to describe it.
She couldn't stop him nor ask what had just occurred and why she felt so scatterbrained.
She looked...
…Sad?
Bahamut help her.
There was only one thing she could do.
It was the only thing.
“W-Will I see you again?"
Brian gave one last glance at her.
She looked so…heartbroken. The dragoness appeared as a child dropped in a desert with no explanation. No answers. Just…
Lord above.
She was lost.
He may have been terrible to leave her like this, but he did something to her, something horrible beyond belief, something akin to the unspeakable.
He gave an answer in a softened tone in a poor attempt to calm down their emotions.
“Y-Yes. M-Maybe. Maybe."
He kept his gaze on her eyes as he slowly shut the door with him on its outer side.
“G-Goodbye Elara."
Then, it shut.
Elara was now alone.
Bahamut.
She was lightheaded from what happened, or what she failed to remember, feeling almost on the cusp of tears.
It all came back to the singular, unsolvable question that the human that just left her cottage likely had too.
One so impossible, even the most intelligent minds wouldn't be able to understand the full answer.
What happened?