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TITAN’S QUEST

Part 1

Darkness… Nothingness… Numbingly overwhelming boredom… A brief flash

informed him that it was coming to an end… again…

***

It was another boring day. Another day in the city of „Who-the-fuck-cares number 41”.

Peter didn’t bother eating nor cleaning his face in the morning, instead choosing to lay in bed

for as long as he could, trying to convince the universe that it was not workday already.

Regretfully, the world was not easily persuaded. He put on clothes and slogged out of his tiny

flat at the last possible moment. He’d again do absolutely jack for the entire shift.

Well, not completely nothing – he had to kick one machine in a specific spot exactly at

12:37 each and every day thanks to a peculiar software glitch that would make it rotate and

weld the missile’s hull forever, instead of passing it along. The machine and its code were so

ancient that only one retired engineer knew how to program, let alone debug it… And the guy

sure as hell wouldn’t be coming over for that headache.

No, kicking it once a day was perfectly fine. Peter had automated and optimised the

entire production line to the point that his presence was basically redundant… Or at least

would have been, had he left any schematics or instructions. This state of affairs pleased him

– the looming threat of the entire line breaking down into oblivion without him kept his bank

account filled with more money than he knew how to realistically spend.

The intended, but unfortunate effect of it was free time for him and his coworker Paul.

Time they’ve tried to fill with things that certainly were not good for their mental health –

today for example, Paul insisted on showing Peter some isekai, all the while claiming it was a

gift from God.

It was not. It was dogshit and Peter voiced his opinion several times during the first

episode while quietly wondering what was he doing with his life. He took out another cookie

and once again violated the company policy by compromising the production line’s sterility.

By the time the third episode was on, he had completely dozed off, designing an automatic

‘thing-kicker’ in his mind. It would free him from doing the very last thing he was contracted

to do, repairs excluded. The upside of the ‘kicker’ was not having to make an entirely new

machine…

The sirens howled, their wails pulling him out of the garbage induced coma. He

glanced at his coworker’s face.

“We should get moving,” Paul said with slight concern.

“Nothing’s gonna happen. As usual. The thing will be dead long before it ever reaches

us.” Peter shrugged.

“Probably. But you know as well as me that they won’t let us stay here regardless.”

Peter sighed with defeat, beginning the long trek towards the fire exit. “It’s just all

more trouble than it’s worth. We won’t even make it to the bunkers before we have to return,”

he mumbled with a hint of annoyance.

“Well, it’s not like WE were actually doing something important anyway, right?” Paul

countered.

“Yeah, only watching your garbage.”

Paul glared at him, visibly mad. “Excuse me for not having the exact same tastes as

you. Me and my wife love it,” he declared with offense.

“Really? Or maybe only SHE loves it, and you are trying to convince yourself that you

do as well? Silent treatment much?” Peter responded while making mocking puppy eyes at

him.

Paul sent him a death stare. „Fuck off.”

Peter snickered, reveling in the tiny, and completely pointless victory.

They’ve made their way outside, where they were met with view of company buses

getting crowded with wage slaves, less commonly referred to as ‘workers and engineers’.

Deciding that he really, REALLY did not have enough strength to wait for OSHA-approved

transport, he disregarded the rules and made for his car. He sat inside and…

The ground quaked. Not slightly – his car jiggled on the dampers as if he was driving

200 an hour on a dirt road ravaged by tractors. A few car alarms made themselves known.

“What the…”

Before being able to properly voice his outrage, the earth shattered and his car leapt

straight up half a meter, before landing and beginning the jiggling process all over again. All

alarms in the parking lot went off.

Screaming. He looked at the crowd of people and saw them running away in all

directions in sheer terror. Well, all directions, except right towards him.

He caught a glimpse of something massive beyond comprehension in his rearview

mirror. A single, brownish, digitigrade foot the size of two trucks was where cars stood just a

few seconds before.

He floored the gas pedal, trying to get as far away as possible. The monster’s form was

hidden by the roof of his car, but he didn’t really care to get a good look. Especially since a

second foot came crashing down on a few wailing cars, flattening them in an instant and

silencing their alarms for good.

Right when he started to believe he’d make it to the exit, the world around him broke.

With overwhelming rumble, something bigger than he could imagine landed exactly in front

of him. His car jumped for the last time, airbags going off, before slumping to an abrupt stop,

crashing into an enormous, brown toe. The seatbelt pulled him backwards, forcing the air out

of his lungs.

Regaining his senses took him a few seconds. Two titanic paws right in front of him,

their orientation suggesting the monster was looking directly at his car. Frantically

unfastening the seatbelt, he tried to open the door… Which proved jammed. The door got bent

from the outside... Somehow. Leaping to the other side to try the passenger’s door, he felt a

sudden acceleration. Straight upwards. He looked out of the window and in horror realised

that the monster had picked up his car.

The metal above him shrieked when titanic fingers casually peeled off the roof… and

then went after him. The monster plucked the screaming man out of his car, lifting him even

higher, while discarding his car to the ground.

Dragon. A titanic dragon with scales of bright gold was holding him and, while its

enormous, dark orange eyes studied him with flat, merciless intensity of someone judging if

this particular pebble had anything distinct about itself. He tried to struggle, desperate to push

the titan’s fingers away from him, but it was no use. Wouldn’t budge.

“If I let go now, you will just fall to the ground and die, you know.” He heard a

booming, feminine voice.

Freezing, he looked at the monster, completely dumbfounded. Did it just… talk?!

Two nearly identical dragons began flanking the one holding him. His body could not

decide if it wanted to faint or have a heart attack right now and that inner struggle was the

only thing preventing either, even if barely.

“C-can we keep him?” asked the smaller monster on the left.

It was also gold, but the exact tint was much darker, almost bronze-like. Its voice was

also distinctly feminine and oddly… shy?

SHY?!

“It’s all stupid. Like hell it will actually do anything,” said the monster on the right.

Its voice – while also feminine – was much deeper and sounded quite annoyed. The

monster on the right seemed the biggest of the three, while its scale colour was the exact

middle point between the other two.

“Silence. Both of you,” said the monster holding him, focusing its attention on him

again. “We wish to know your… capabilities, human.”

He looked at the monster, dumbfounded. It was all so bizarre… So unbelievable, that

his brain was quite literally shattering from stress and confusion.

“See? You broke it already. It’s even more useless than it would normally be,” said the

monster on the right.

The monster holding him turned its head. “Ni, do you understand the concept of

‘silence’?”

Ni… So, they not only speak, but they also have… names?

“What?” he finally blurted out.

The monster holding him turned to him again and wriggled the fingers of its other

hand, as if trying to calm itself down. “I understand that you are terrified. Hard to think in

your state. So, I will ask again. What are your capabilities?”

It took him a few seconds in his state to comprehend the question. “I… I… Ughhh…

What do you want to know?”

“F-favourite color!” blurted out the monster on the left.

“Your taste mostly,” said Ni with an evil, predatory grin.

The monster holding him sighed. “Your name. Age. Any skills you may have. That

sort of thing,” it specified.

He blinked several times, looking at all three golden dragons before him. “W…

Well… I am… Peter Smith. I am 27. My favourite colour is blue. I am an industrial engineer

and… and I am quite sure all humans taste terribly, so why would I be any different?”

Three golden dragons looked at each other for a split second, before returning their

attention to him.

“An engineer, aye?” asked the dragon holding him, moving him ever so slightly closer

to its face, prompting another round of struggles.

“You might b-be useful for us!” the one on the left chirped.

“I still want to eat him,” Ni shrugged, apparently unconvinced by… whatever

convinced the other two.

The one holding him gave Ni an annoyed look, then returned its gaze to him. Or more

precisely, directly to his eyes. “Yes… You really could…” his captor replied a bit absentmindedly.

He did not like that look…

“He’s so cute…” said dragon on the left.

“Yes dear…” sighed the one holding him, before massaging its own forehead.

“I mean… thank you?” he whispered, even more confused than before.

Dragon on the left tapped his head with a finger… To be honest, to him her finger was

more like an entire ceiling, but… “You are w-welcome, little one.”

Ni puffed and rolled her eyes.

The dragon holding him finally decided to stop having a headache and looked at him

again. “Regardless… I take it you are intelligent?”

Fully expecting to wake up at this point, he scratched his head, considering his

options. He had no idea about their intentions, so trying to lie was equally as likely to set him

free as telling the truth. Or get him killed. Ultimately, he decided to roll with the truth, at least

mostly. It was easier to remain consistent this way. “Well, it depends…”

His captor raised an eyebrow. “Depends? On what?”

“On who you ask? Like… I’m pretty good at making stuff and figuring things out…

But not exactly at reading other people and… You get it,” he answered, anxiously glancing

between all three.

“Oh. We weren’t looking for that anyways,” commented the dragon holding him and

thought about something for a split second. “Pray tell little one, you can figure difficult things

out, right? Calculate them and all.”

He looked at the dragon incredulously. What was that?! A surprise job interview? “We

rarely calculate things ourselves. Machines do that for us.”

The dragon blinked, visibly bewildered by his statement. “Machines do…” The dragon

shook its head. “But you CAN do it, right?”

He didn’t know if it was just his imagination or not, but the pressure on his waist

seemingly increased…

“Y-yes…” he responded, shaking from fear of… what could have happened if he

denied it.

The dragon stopped and began considering his words. Ni rolled her eyes again, while

the last dragon simply looked at him with interest.

“What about your creativity skills?” it finally asked. “I mean, making things and

solving problems never seen before.”

“I am… used to solving problems. There are many things that can break or decide to

stop working correctly in a factory.”

“That’s not exactly what I asked. I mean… you've had to come up with creative

solutions quickly while under pressure. Correct?”

He almost laughed out loud about how insane asking him about ‘pressure’ was at the

moment. Getting a hold of himself was tough, but he did manage it. “Yes… A lot of things

I’ve made were never seen before…”

The dragon holding him nodded. And Ni became… suddenly interested in what he had

to say.

“So, you think… outside the box if necessary, correct?” asked the dragon holding him,

its eyes getting even more inquisitive.

“I mean… Yes? As long as safety allows it that is…”

That was probably the biggest lie he had ever told anyone. Lack of safety had never

stopped him from optimising before and it sure as hell wouldn’t change, no matter how much

inspectors whined about it.

The dragon holding him thought about his words, nodded… and smiled at him

slightly. Or maybe, at itself. “Good to hear. And what about… what was that term again?” his

captor turned to Ni.

“What term?” she asked with annoyance.

“When you have a thing that is… expensive… and another that is cheap. But the first

is more effective than the second, so you compare them and…” his captor stumbled over its

words.

“Oh that… Shit, what was that word.” Ni scratched her chin. “The one that the shipmidget said, right?”

The motion revealed Ni’s chest for the first time, and he realised that what he took for

a pattern on her chest was in fact a set of discoloured scars. Four enormous claw-marks ran

through her chest, ending just up of her abdomen.

“Yes, the ship-midget,” his captor huffed, its nerves seemingly getting to it. “Do you

remember it.”

Despite his eyes anxiously jumping between the two, he caught a glimpse of the third

monster… slowly shrinking into itself as it observed the other two.

“Hey, get off me!” Ni growled. “You don’t remember it too, so maybe…”

“C-cost-benefit…?” mumbled the third dragon.

The words shut them up and his captor’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Yes, that! Thank you

dear.” It turned to him again. “You can make cost-benefit analysis, correct?”

As weird as it sounded, fear began leaving his body. Not because he was not terrified,

no. He only had so much space for various emotions, and right now, confusion was violently

pushing out everything else.

“To the best of my…” He shook his head. “What are these questions? What are you

getting at?!” he almost yelled, the frustration going against the horrific fear.

The slightest hint of amusement appeared on the dragon’s face. “We're simply

assessing your skills and capabilities, human. And you could be very useful to us.”

Ni began grumbling angrily, the look of frustration on her face. Did she really want to

him THAT badly?

The dragon holding him turned to Ni. “Shut up. Just please, shut up for a moment. You

know we don’t have much time left.”

Ni obliged but now looked even more livid because of that.

The dragon on the left smiled warmly towards him. He reciprocated with an extremely

nervous smile of his own. In response, the dragon gently touched his head with a giant finger,

its expression kind and sweet. Ni huffed with annoyance again.

“Regardless…” The dragon holding him took a deep breath. “You are coming with

us,” it announced and began walking west… Towards the ocean…

Into the exclusion zone.

“WAIT! WAIT!” he yelled as the buildings began rapidly shrinking behind her

“What… What do you need me for?”

The dragon gave him a stern look. “I will tell you when the time is right,” it answered

and slightly loosened it grip, making him start sliding deeper into its palm.

“WAIT! WAIT!” he yelled, grabbing onto the titanic thumb. “Will you… let me go,

once you are finished with… whatever it is?”

The dragon holding him began considering the question, while the one on the left just

showed… concern on its face. “If you prove yourself useful, and you cooperate, we might let

you go. There's no need to kill you.”

Ni made another grumpy puff.

“But that depends on your cooperation and usefulness.” His captor gave him a heavy,

meaningful look. “If you try to escape or prove to be useless… then we might change our

mind regarding your fate.” The corner of its mouth almost imperceptibly twitched.

It then ever so slightly moved so he could get a better look at what was behind. Ni sent

him a mocking kiss, licked her lips, and gave him the toothiest grin he had ever seen – the

nightmarish, monstrous maw filled with nothing but fangs longer than his entire body… The

dragon on the left looked at Ni creeped out.

All of his panic suddenly returned. “Please, don’t give me to her!”

His captor glanced at Ni before returning its gaze to him. “Like I said… Cooperate.

Don’t be useless. And it will be fine. Aye?”

“Fine! Fine! Anything! Just don’t give me to her!”

His captor smirked with satisfaction and hid him from Ni. But even then, he couldn’t

get the sight of her eyes filled with nothing but pure hunger out of his mind. He spent a few

minutes hanging onto the thumb, as his captor seemingly didn’t care if he was outside or

not… And to be fair, didn’t need to care. His arms – not used to straining themselves for so

long – were beginning to give way. Only a matter of time until he fell into the tight spot in the

palm below…

No, he shouldn’t think about it. He needed something else to focus on… Something…

He looked down and got a… more than mild case of acrophobia. The sudden hit made him

lose grip and fall into his designated prison for good.

“No… Please…” he whimpered and tried to claw himself out.

He felt the gargantuan hand moved around him slightly as his fingers tickled its palm,

which scared him with the prospect of getting crushed by an errant twitch.

“I-Ichi…” he heard a quiet voice of the third dragon.

“Yes dear?” his captor responded in an… extremely different tone than before...

Ichi… So that was its… her name. Sounded like nothing he had ever heard, but…

Truth be told, it would have been more surprising if it was something familiar.

“You… you s-shouldn’t treat him like t-this… It’s… wrong…”

He caught a glimpse of a yellow eye from far above. Then, the eye rolled.

“You want to carry him?” Ichi asked.

“I… I m-mean yes… I would want to hold the tiny…” it said barely audibly, despite

its size.

“Try not to break him too much, okay?” Ichi advised, extending her arm.

“Thank you, sis!” it said with unmistakable joy as she plucked him from her hand.

He found himself cradled in monstrously big, white palms, with the only exit showing

a huge, golden head entirely focused on his tiny form. Visibly shaking form, which it finally

realised.

It lowered her head towards him, which caused him to panic and try and move back.

“H-hey… don’t worry, little one. I will… keep you safe. I p-promise.”

He felt her hands slightly twitching under and around him. It most likely did not even

realise it, but for him it resembled sitting in one of those massaging armchairs.

“I… thank, you, uhmmm… m-miss,” he mumbled after a few seconds of staring down

the titan point blank, gambling that it was also a female.

She smiled at him warmly, confirming that he guessed correctly and began gently

petting his head with one of her titanic fingers. That tiny bit of kindness… of comfort… It

calmed him down. In Ichi’s hands he felt like a plaything… Here he felt… well, not that much

better, but still. Well enough for his body to finally convince itself that he was not in

immediate danger.

“It’s v-very nice to m-meet you… l-little one…” she whispered. “I-I’m Kendall.”

He stared at her blankly. Of course she was. The only thing capable of fucking with

him at this point… happened. Of course she, for some godforsaken reason, had a name that

was familiar…

Something exploded right next to Ichi’s right leg. She jumped away on instinct,

causing the ground to tremble.

“Damn midgets gonna blow us up!” Ni growled, her voice tinted with panic.

“They’ll leave us alone if we leave their territory,” Ichi shouted and ran.

Two other dragons also ran. For the first few steps, he was violently flailing inside

Kendall’s hands, until she closed them a bit tighter, securing him in place. Something

exploded again and he heard Ni howl. “MY ASS!”

He spent around a quarter of an hour tightly squeezed between Kendall’s hands before

the dragons stopped to take a breath.

“Let me take a look…” Ichi said, kneeling behind Ni.

“Stupid fucking midgets shooting at…” Ni angrily mumbled.

Kendall suddenly remembered about him and loosened her grip, causing him to fall to

the bottom of her palms again. When he looked up, she had a guilty look on her face. As he

watched one dragon inspecting another, he realised that they both had brownish patterns on

their tails, backs, and thighs. They resembled… thick spikes or triangles, buckling around

their forms. On a double take, they also had similar patterns on their forearms, albeit much

smaller.

“You’re lucky your butt is so plump, sister,” Ichi poked with the slightest hint of

amusement, pulling out a tiny bit of shrapnel from Ni’s scales.

“Shut up!” Ni scoffed angrily.

Or at least, the shrapnel was tiny to them – it was probably around the size of his

entire leg. He sighed heavily, realising that his last hope of rescue was gone. The military was

unlikely to waste any more missiles just to rescue one person…

“Are you all right, little one?” Kendall asked, visibly concerned.

And then, something happened. His last two braincells collided, producing an idea. A

horrible idea, but at this point all ideas were horrible. It all hinged on how naïve the monster

was…

“Yes… I am fine, miss Kendall…” he stuttered and looked up. “C-can I call you that?”

Kendall smiled at him warmly and nodded.

“Get going. I don’t want to tempt them again,” Ichi nagged, beginning their march

again.

He heard Ni grumbling, sulking, and seething. Kendall seemed very determined to

both keep up with Ichi’s fast pace and not to crush or drop him… And from her facial…

snoutal… expression he gathered that in her case, this passed for quite intense multitasking.

“Stop acting like a child, Ni. It’s barely a scratch,” Ichi said.

„On my ass,” Ni grumbled. “I’m gonna fucking destroy them, you hear me?”

„Come on, it’s not that bad. Will be gone in a few days tops,” Ichi patted Ni’s

shoulder. “Get a hold of yourself and focus.”

Reluctantly, Ni obliged.

In the meantime, he was going through the entire conversation in his head, trying to

get something to latch onto. Something he could realistically use… Exploit to start a

conversation without it sounding TOO forced… And he actually found something.

“Miss Kendall… you’ve said that I am cute before… That was very nice of you,” he

said, giving her a fake flustered look.

Kendall smiled and blushed, which almost threw him off enough to instantly ruin his

plan. How a scaly monster was capable of blushing was just…

“You… y-you are very cute, little one. S-Sorry if I’m… being weird or something. I jjust think you look lovely… that’s… t-that’s all…” Kendall mumbled, trying and failing not

to smile.

“You too look… very pretty, miss,” he forced through his teeth, desperately trying not

to focus on the fangs.

Kendall somehow turned red and tried to hide her flustered expression, though she

clearly did enjoy the compliment. “I- I’m glad… t-thank you… I hope that… my words don’t

s-seem too… w-weird to you.”

“Trust me, from all of this, this is the least weird thing right now,” he replied with a

hint of forced amusement.

Kendall giggled. “Y-yes… I guess it… it is…”

Ni looked over her shoulder, hearing giggling and quiet conversation, her expression

as annoyed as ever. “You are just flirting with him now, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Is she ever not flirting? It’s her natural state,” Ichi snarked from the front.

Kendall blushed again and looked at her feet in embarrassment. “H-hey… I don’t…

always flirt. I-I can be serious too… s-sometimes…”

Ichi shook her head, her lips curled with slight amusement. “No, you can’t. You were

flirting with a rock you drew eyes on just last week, dear.”

Ni scoffed and put her foot down a little harder as if trying to make a point. “Yeah, it's

super sickening actually. Good for nothing moron…”

“NI!” Ichi yelled with a threatening tone, turning her head around.

“What? You know it’s…”

Ni suddenly stopped when Ichi locked eyes with her. They promised murder if she

dared to continue. Ni couldn’t withstand the gaze and nervously looked away, which

prompted Ichi to nod and focus on walking away. Kendall glanced at Ni with a mixture of

guilt, sadness, and anger… No, more pent-up frustration and helplessness.

As the silence after the face-off was getting uncomfortable, he looked up at Kendall

and gestured to her to lower her head. She seemed a bit confused at first but did oblige. “Wwhat is it?”

“You can flirt with me as much as you want miss. I do not mind, really,” he whispered.

Kendall’s eyes widened. She blushed heavily, clearly surprised by his words and how

casual they were. Truth be told, he was equally as shocked by how smoothly he was

bullshitting her. She took a few moments to get over her flustered state. “Y-you... you d-don't

mind it?”

He smiled warmly and shook his head. “I really appreciate how kind and gentle you

are to me, considering how... huge you are.”

Kendall giggled, getting eerily similar to a schoolgirl. “O- oh wow... I um...” she went

silent for a few moments, trying to collect herself „T-thank you for saying t-that. I-I was

worried I w-was scaring y-you…”

“Right now… I’m scared of your sister Ni… You won’t let her eat me, right?” he

asked with concern.

Her eyes widened, a panicked expression appearing on her face. She looked upset at

the very thought. “No no no, of course I w-won’t. A-as long as you're with me, she w-won't

touch you, I p-promise!”

He nodded, satisfied with her reaction. It seemed that he had one monster on his side

already…

She gently pulled him a bit closer, securing him against her chest as well and let out a

happy hum, trying to focus on walking, yet unable to stop herself from glancing at him every

few seconds and smiling each time.

Ni noticed it and huffed disapprovingly.

“Ni, stop it, really,” Ichi admonished with a tone suggesting an infinite well of

patience. “You’re acting childish.”

“I'm not! She is! Fawning over the stupid thing like it’s...”

“Ni...” Ichi turned around, the look in her eyes betraying just how much she disliked

Ni’s constant attempt to reach the well’s bottom. “We need him. Put your jealousy aside for a

moment.”

“I am NOT jealous!” she yelled. “I just don’t see the point of pampering it like that!”

“And yet you're pouting like a small child every time she pays him any attention. If

you feel this strongly about it, you could volunteer to carry the human yourself.”

“Pfft, yeah, right. Why would I want to carry it?”

“That's what I figured.” Ichi let out an annoyed sigh. “You're making a fuss just to be

difficult...”

“I…” she hesitated and her expression suddenly hardened. “Even if I do, so what? She

gets to do what she wants all the time, but I can’t?”

Ichi suddenly stopped, straightened herself and took a deep breath. And then turned

around, radiating something… beyond ominous. “Kendall, come here dear,” she asked

politely, but with a very noticeable aura of command.

Kendall shrank under her gaze and instantly came over. Ichi hugged her, caressed her

cheek…And then, she took him from her hands, walked over to Ni, and forced him into her

hand instead. “Here, sister. Now you have nothing to complain about,” she announced with a

satisfaction betraying years of pent-up frustration.

Ni looked at him, almost as surprised as he was. When their eyes met, his body got

instantly paralysed with immense dread. “The fuck? I didn’t ask for this!” Ni scoffed, closing

her hand around him.

“Incredible. I could have sworn that you were just complaining about Ken having a bit

of fun with the human,” she eyed the bigger dragoness. “Now she doesn’t have him. Problem

solved, right? Play with him all you want.”

He tried to scream from horror, but his lungs were too compressed to produce any

sound beyond a silent, choky whimper of a man whose life was about to end.

“But know this, Ni…” Ichi huffed. “If you break him… You will go get a new one.

Alone. Understood?” She poked her chest with a finger.

Ni scoffed and grumbled, her hand absent mindedly fiddling with him, threatening to

break his ribs at any moment.

“UNDERSTOOD?” Ichi repeated more forcefully.

“Yes… understood…” Ni mumbled.

Ichi nodded, turned around, and returned to walking. He could feel Ni moving a

second later, quietly cursing under her breath with the attitude of a hurt hellhound pup. The

worst part was… she seemingly forgot about him. He got repeatedly accelerated forwards and

backwards along with her hand, along for the harshest ride of his life. As his consciousness

began slipping away from lack of oxygen and a severe case of motion sickness, he felt

adrenaline flood his system and… prompt him to bite her finger.

His teeth had no chance to pierce her skin, but it was enough to grant him the sliver of

her attention.

“What?!” she snapped, bringing him to her eye level.

He didn’t respond, for he could not. He simply looked at her, feeling his body going

limp. And surprisingly, she finally realised what was happening. The hand opened, leaving

him lying on her palm, heaving, and desperately gasping for air.

“Fucking midget…” Ni rolled her eyes. “Almost dead from just holding you…”

He tried to push himself up but stopped halfway as a coughing fit caught him. Her

finger turned him around like a beetle so that he was facing upwards and looked at him with a

mixture of annoyance, contempt and… was that concern?

“And she expects you to help?” she mumbled and shook her head. “We’re gonna

fucking die…” She looked into the distance.

His reprieve didn’t last long as she began absent-mindedly bouncing him up and down

like one would do with a pebble… which to be fair, in her mind, he probably was. The only

reason why he didn’t get hurt was because her palms were just barely soft enough to cushion

his falls.

“Ni, please…” whimpered Kendall, visibly distressed.

The look in her eyes suggested that she was fully expecting Ni to break her toy for the

fun of it. Again.

Ni’s head suddenly snapped to her sister, and she stopped juggling him. “Or what?”

“You know what,” Ichi said matter-of-factly.

Ni sighed through gritted teeth.

“P-please Ni… Be c-careful…” Kendall begged.

“Relax. I’m not gonna break him…” she glanced at him and grimaced. “Not on

purpose at least…Ey midget. You good?” she asked, forcefully poking his belly.

“Oughhhhh…” he moaned.

“See? He’s fine.” Ni responded, failing to convince even herself.

And with that, their exchange ended, leaving them to just march in silence, at least if

one discounted their thundering footsteps. Meanwhile he found himself under constant watch.

A constant watch of two furiously red eyes pulled straight from a nightmare. He whimpered

again, curling into a ball.

“Oh, come ON! I didn’t even squish you that hard!” Ni huffed, forcefully rolling him

onto his back again.

“Just… stop…” he heaved and surprisingly, she stayed her hand. “Oh fuck I’m gonna

puke…”

“Oh no no no!” she waved her titanic finger. “You puke on my hand and I WILL wipe

it off along with the rest you. Capiche?”

He slowly blinked and… laughed. Weakly, but laughed. The threat was original; he

could give her that. Slowly, yet methodically, he worked his arms higher and higher and after

just a few short minutes he was sitting again, with head almost between his knees.

“Oh, fuck me…” he huffed.

“Not sure how that would work.” She shrugged.

He snorted, not believing that he really did find the dumbest pun in history funny... On

second though, he could have had a concussion, so…

His mind focused on his plan again. Sure, he suffered… more than a major setback,

but he didn’t die yet. The first monster was easy. Literally had training wheels with how dumb

and… touch starved it was. Was that the right term for it? He sure as hell couldn’t think of a

better one at least. Eh, no matter. It wasn’t a time for bickering over definitions with oneself –

it was a time for bullshitting dragons.

“So… miss Ni…” He somehow managed to look up again. “I take it you won’t be

eating me after all?”

“I don’t know, APPARENTLY?” she puffed. “Unless Ichi changes her mind at least.”

She glanced at her. “But lucky for you, that bitch’s stubborn on the best of days.”

“I’ve heard that,” Ichi commented without turning.

“Go-od,” Ni mocked, trying to replicate the rhythm of Ichi’s sentence.

He glanced at Ichi and almost unconsciously noticed that her feminine features were

much more pronounced than Ni’s, whose muscles were smoothening out all kinds of curves.

“Huh? What are ye looking at?” Ni asked when his gaze lingered a bit too long on her

hips.

“Nothing, it’s just…” he hesitated and decided that mentioning his observations very

well might have been his death sentence, instead opting for curling into a ball and trying to

calm himself. Which was way easier said than done. Still, as much as he would want, the plan

wouldn’t accomplish itself.

“Why… why do you want to eat me… miss Ni? There are far tastier and filling things

to eat,” he asked, shocking even himself with how bold it sounded.

She glanced at Ichi and then focused on him again. Her eyes blinked. “True… But you

do look quite tasty. I just want to try you,” she answered and gave him an evil grin.

His guts contracted, while his heart tried to explode and stop at the same time, which

forced it into a perfect equilibrium that prevented either from happening. It allowed him to

notice one important thing in her blood-red eyes. Uncertainty. Or maybe hesitation.

Vague memories from years ago began flooding his mind and he thanked himself for

taking that stupid psychology course in college and he… noticed a pattern. Or at least, he

thought he did. Who could have thought that non-STEM trash actually had practical

applications?

“Miss Ni I…”

“Call me ‘miss’ again and I swear I’m gonna throw you,” she cut him off.

He hesitated and almost dropped the attempt. “Right… Ni?”

She blinked, as if hearing him address her like that was bewildering. “What do you

want, midget?”

“Why…” he took a deep breath. “Why are you so jealous of Kendall?”

She recoiled as if hit by a sledgehammer. Suddenly her fingers curled, and he was no

longer sitting on her palm – now she was holding onto him, with just his upper body sticking

out of her hand.

“The fuck was that?” she growled, bringing him closer towards one of her eyes.

As many times before, he instantly regretted his choices. But at this point it was too

late to back down – he had to push deeper into bullshit. “Why are you so jealous of her…

being happy?”

Ni glared at him, clearly not pleased by the question. “Jealous? Me? Of what exactly?

Her dumbass fawning over you? You stupid or something?”

He pushed against her index finger, and she surprisingly loosened her grip a tad bit,

letting him breathe without straining himself. “That's not what I asked. You are clearly not

mad about WHY she is happy, just that she IS happy.”

Ni sneered and grumbled. “Just that she is happy…” she repeated mockingly. “Fuck

off midget. You don’t know shit about me.”

“That is not an answer,” he blurted out before his common sense could stop him.

Her eyes narrowed. “I'm not jealous! I just think… she's too soft. It's ridiculous!”

“And because she’s soft, she doesn’t deserve to be happy?”

Ni sent him a death stare. “That’s not what I…” she paused… and then let out a

frustrated hiss capable of giving instant heart attacks.

As he reeled and trembled from what he had created, he heard… laughter. His head

slowly turned, revealing Ichi who was trying and failing to contain herself while constantly

giving them amused side-eyes.

“Stupid idiot…” Ni scoffed, though he couldn’t tell if it was directed at him or her

sister.

She took a few deep breaths and… deflated herself. “Look midget…” she sighed,

massaging the bridge of her nose… snout. “I just had the worst couple of days in my life…

Not exactly high on spirits.”

And so, his feeling was vindicated. She really was making others miserable as a

coping mechanism. A wave of satisfaction and self-importance flooded him – he felt like the

smartest man in the universe and was almost surprised that his brain wasn’t overspilling

through his ears just yet. But there was no time for glazing himself.

He nodded. He got exactly what he wanted, but now it was time for the make-or-break

moment, and what it involved was making him extremely nervous. He reached out and, taking

advantage of her sulking, placed his hands on the tip of her snout. She stopped massaging her

forehead and looked at him, half-bewildered, half-curious. And if he was seeing correctly…

there was also a bit of fear in her eyes.

He caressed her muzzle in large, circular motions as her nostrils contracted and

expanded in regular intervals, pushing torrents of air in and out. She loosened her grip and let

him stand on her palm, which he used to get closer and push his forehead against the snout as

well.

“Stupid midget…” she scoffed quietly, but without anger or malice this time. “You’re

weird…”

“I know,” he replied bluntly, which got a slight chuckle out of her.

„You know… I don’t think I’ve ever held a human… at least like this before.”

„There is a first time for everything,” he responded with a somewhat forced smile.

She smirked a little and brought him down towards her chest and slightly pressed him

against it. „… You know, I kind of want to squish you…” she commented absent-mindedly.

He tensed, trying to ignore the all too visceral vision her words brought him. “It’s nice,

so… maybe later?” he forced out of his stiff jaw.

She snickered again and slightly petted him. “Yeah, I guess we can delay the squishing

part a little longer.”

Her expression has softened up significantly and she was looking… almost pleased

right now.

“We can do it as long as you want... or at least until Kendall grows too Jealous,” he

added jokingly.

Ni smirked with amusement and put her other hand to support him as well. “Sounds

good to me. Wanna bet how long till she gets all red-faced?”

“Now that’s just mean,” he mockingly berated her.

“Yeah, I’m a mean bitch. Shocking, I know.”

He burst out laughing, surprising himself with how honest it was. And he felt her…

relaxing. He also saw that she was really enjoying having someone helpless to protect. She

radiated… purpose.

“I like you Ni.” he said, snuggling into her chest.

She glanced at him as if he had just declared that he was an alien. “That’s a hell of a

declaration after I wanted to eat you.”

He quickly pushed away the thought of her ripping out his arms and legs, then

swallowing them one by one for fun.

She forced him against her chest a bit harder, but still not with enough force to cause

him any distress. Honestly, she looked a bit sheepish, clearly unaccustomed to all this

kindness she was subjected to after her behaviour. She couldn’t help but grin each time she

looked at him, even though she tried to keep a straight face.

Ichi glanced at them, the look in her eyes betraying curiosity. She then made sure

Kendall was also still there, apparently out of habit. Her sister looking at Kendall reminded Ni

of her existence – Ni glanced at her again, smirking at the sight of Kendall’s tormented

expression.

“Really?” he berated her.

“Oh, come on! Tell me it’s not funny.”

He tried to peek over her hand and look at Kendall. Ni saw it and pushed him up.

Kendall followed behind Ni’s, slightly to her right, walking in complete silence and bearing

an expression so anxious that it bordered on comic book overreaction. She glanced at Ni again

and got startled when encountering his gaze. She rapidly looked away. Not quickly enough for

Ni not to notice, as he felt her body vibrate with a silent chuckle.

„Yeah... It is kind of fun,” he admitted, amused by the dragon’s reaction.

“Oh, this pesky human…” Ni commented obnoxiously loud. “No wonder you liked

him so much… I’m gonna keep him if you don’t mind.” She looked at her sister again,

expecting a reaction. „Look at her. She's completely red-faced!” she laughed.

It was a lie when she said that, but her words really did turn Kendall’s face into one

big tomato. He tried his hardest not to laugh. „Yeah... I honestly had no idea that dragons

could even get red-faced... You know, the scales and all…”

“Really? Never seemed weird to me.” She shrugged. “Anyways, got more idea how to

mess with her?”

He hesitated, seeing that she was way into this. On one hand he was glad to not be a

center of her attention for a change, but on the other… He glanced at Kendall who seemed to

be on the verge of crying. “Don’t overdo it. You don’t want her to cry, do you?”

Ni’s expression suddenly changed as the concept registered in her mind. She was

rapidly snapping between her playful malice and the regret of someone who had made her

little sibling cry too many times and always regretted it. He knew that feeling way too well.

“I guess… I've teased her enough for now,” she sighed.

So, she had self restraint… Even if it required something from the outside to remind

her of that. He could work with that… Probably… Potentially?

“Give me back to her. It will make her feel that you care about her,” he said before he

spiraled into paralysing uncertainty.

She hesitated for a moment, not happy about the prospect of letting him go, but his

expectant look somehow broke the remnants of her resistance. She slowly raised him to her

eye level.

„Pfff, fine. But I hope you know that I don't usually give things up this easily. And

after this I better be your favourite,” she said, only half-jokingly.

He nervously smiled. “Uhhh… Yeah, sure… You are the…” he quickly cycled through

the appropriate vocabulary. “The most… badass dragon I’ve seen.”

She smirked as if getting called that was some sort of high for her. “You know, I feel

like an idiot,” she suddenly admitted.

“What?” he asked, genuinely confused.

“I got wooed by a tiny midget in like what? An hour?”

Suddenly he felt way less smart and full of himself. Nevertheless, the show had to go

on. “Uhhh… I don’t think I was exactly trying to woo you… It was mostly just… s-small

talk?”

“Uhuh, sure,” she mocked. “Damn ‘small talk’. I never had a chance, huh?”

“Well, you had... You could have eaten me the second Ichi handed me to you.”

She laughed again. But this time, it was weirdly heartwarming. “Yeah, I guess I got

punished for not trusting my instincts there, huh? Damnit, you’re a smartass. I kinda like it…

But I’m also starting to hate it. Weird.”

“I feel you; I can get annoying in larger doses.” He nodded, remembering all his

ruined friendships.

“I can imagine.”

Ni looked at him again and turned away to her sister. She extended her arm and

presented him to Kendall.

Kendall stopped walking and looked at her sister in disbelief. She gently plucked him

from Ni and cradled him in her palms again, shocked to see him still alive and well, let alone

in her hands. It really looked like she did not know what to think, never mind how to react.

“Hello. I am back, miss Kendall.” He waved at her.

Her eyes widened at the sound of his voice, as if it was what finally convinced her that

he was not just a hallucination. She reeled, before finding her voice again.

“H-hi, there. I... uhhh... I s-see you survived y-your... little adventure w-with Ni. Heh,”

she commented sheepishly.

He nodded. “We had a little talk… And I think we will all like each other.”

Kendall got even more flustered and awkward, hearing that. He wondered why she

was still red as a tomato and the only explanation he could come up with was that she was

simply so surprised that even her body forgot about the blush.

“O-oh... y-yeah, I s-see... a ‘little t-talk’. R-really? Ni had a ‘littl-tle talk’… Her…

with y-you? H-how... how was it?”

“Ask her.” He gestured towards her sister.

Kendall turned towards her sister, reluctant to actually ask her. “So uhhh... Ni... h-how

was your little... t-talk?”

Ni raised an eyebrow, enjoying her sister’s awkward state. “Oh, it was... pretty damn

good, actually. You have no idea.”

Kendall’s expression changed from absolute shock and confusion to one suggesting

that her brain had completely broken down and was about to explode. “It... it was? Rereally...?”

Ni just couldn’t help herself and smirked even more. “Yeah, dumbass. It was actually...

pretty damn good. I might just put up with the midget after all.”

Kendall was trying and failing to process her sister saying something even remotely

positive to her. And when she finally managed that… she radiated the purest joy he had ever

seen. ‘Wh-what? Really? You... uhhh... you t-tolerate her… him? I-I’m… I’m s-so happy to hhear it…”

Ni was taken aback by her sister’s reaction, clearly expecting even more awkwardness

and not… genuine happiness. She couldn’t help herself but soften a bit. “Yeah, right. Don’t

get too damn happy yet. I only said that I could tolerate him, I wasn’t singing any praises,”

she responded in her typical manner but completely failed to uphold the tone.

Kendall ran up to Ni and hugged her with all her strength, some of which was

unfortunately transferred into his tiny form still stuck in her hand. He lost his breath, trying to

wriggle a bit to not get completely flattened against Ni’s back.

On her part, Ni was as surprised as Kendall was a moment before. She took a few

seconds to recover and then slowly reciprocated the hug, humming softly.

As he struggled for air, he caught a glimpse of Ichi between Kendall’s titanic fingers.

She stared at her sisters dumbfounded.

Two titans finally ended the hug when Ni slightly pushed Kendall away, letting him

breathe again. “Heh, what are you being so cheerful about? You’re acting like I just declared

that we’re best friends now,” Ni scoffed patronisingly.

Kendall was still smiling like crazy. “I… I am just so happy… sis…”

***