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Awakenings

Part Three

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by anonymous

Although David could not have known where he had been physically taken, having no contact with the outside world nor a window to look through (just the fake one with a peeling photo of the beach blown up to take its place behind the curtains), Sabrina did not need further directions to find the holding facility on the edge of the mountains. Their city was not far from the mountains, the ground where they lived and studies undulating smoothly, though there was not all that much elevation down there. The mountains, however, were better known for holding military operations where national parks had not been declared and put into place – and it was there that the news reports, every one that she checked on the way, said that David had been taken.

Sabrina didn't bother trying to find clothes that fit her, even though that would have been possible, her bare breasts on show, tipped with small nipples. She was not to hide away any part of herself any longer, being her true self and acting as such, even as her wings beat the air, pumping her through to the military facility set into the lower slopes of the mountain. Half of it was underground, to her understanding, but that was no problem to her. For no longer did Sabrina have any doubt in her abilities.

They saw her coming, troopers lining the defensible ground before the fortress, yet the true extent of Sabrina's powers were still to be seen. The slopes were bare, little vegetation clinging on where the land had been cleared for the military and government operation, leaving nowhere for her to hide, though she had nothing left to hide, only more to discover. Yes, she had super strength and the ability to fly, but there was so much more at play there, all to be seen as the automated defence turrets let rip, peppering her with a spray of metal.

She roared, powering on, sweeping through the ranks of troopers, lightning lancing from some, lasers jolting out from others, her body dipping and sweeping, though she could not stop herself from being struck. Pain jostled her, yet even a blow to her chest was nothing more than an annoyance, a stinging bite like that of an insect on a summer's day, the dragoness' jaw clenching, brow furrowing.

Did they think they could stop her? A Titan – and a powerful one at that – in full force, seeking out her love? She might not have had a deep relationship with David before, not when it came to romance, but she saw him well and truly as hers, bellowing out a roar that reminded her, in a way, of her father as she ploughed through lines of soldiers, striking with teeth, claws, anything that took her fancy. Her wings doubled as weapons too, slicing and cutting, though she was less adept at using those than she was with other parts of her body. Claws and teeth came more naturally to her, piercing through the heart of the defence as she scattered them like bowling pins.

To her, they were not people, twisting and turning in mid-air, blood marking her muzzle, staining her front. She didn't care for them, only that they were in her way, even as a tank rolled out, trundling and groaning on its tread. She knew that one: something that fired anti-Titan rounds, but she had no fear of it. Maybe when one had been faced with fear every day of their lives, it simply slipped away.

The boom of the tank firing ricocheted through her, a reverberation trembling through her chest, though the piercing slice of metal cutting into her stomach was not particularly severe. It did not spill any of her blood, though it was only then that Sabrina noticed, with a touch of out of place fascination, yet another of her abilities: regeneration. For her body was working away at knitting itself together again even as she flew and fought, laughing aloud.

“You think you can take me down?" She mocked them, flying high, wings spread and her body on full show. “I dare you to try me!"

But it was no use, not even as Kinetics lined up, bodies scattering, the dragoness roaring and ploughing straight through them. She clawed and ripped, flesh rending before her, punching others aside, leaning heavily into her super-strength as one of the abilities that, intrinsically, she understood the most. Her battle was not to be fought outside, after all, as she slammed straight through the half-open security doors even as they tried to close to keep her out, leaving them bent and broken in her wake, the control panel smoking.

Anyone that got in her way, lights flashing, bolts of fire exploding off her from Kinetics, was hurled aside like nothing more than damp tissue paper: weak and not worth her attention. A crushed tank or two lay outside, any that were alive gawping at it, though an out of control Titan was not quite what all of them had signed up for. Her battle style might have been basic, but finesse would come in time as she snarled and hurled herself, in full flight, down the corridors, zigzagging, not knowing where she was going, only that she had to go deeper, had to find David.

Her nostrils puckered and flared, scenting the air, the metallic twang of blood, sweat, fear. Oh, their fear. Even the Titans that came for her, some human and others more humanoid or anthro like her – the phoenix exploded rather prettily in a burst of red and yellow feathers when she hurled him into a Kinetic's lightning bolt – were no match for her strength. Going head to head with them, she laughed and bared her teeth, grasping their raised hands only to hurl them back, slamming them through walls, knocking every last one down.

Yet no one stopped her or even gave her pause – not until she came up against Maverick. A tall Titan at nine feet tall, he was well-known on the news and beyond for the feats of strength he had performed, something of a traditional “superhero", always putting himself in the spotlight, though there was a lot to be said about just why he did that. He did not come with wings, not like her, though one could have argued that that made him less agile as he twisted and bellowed out a ripping snarl, spittle flying, in the body of an anthro wolf that was more were-like and hunkering in his presentation. His muzzle was huge and blocky, lined with scars, muscle easily showing through even his thick fur, ripped as if he was a bodybuilder.

She scoffed, though Maverick punched through a wall, evading her, the dragoness giving chase. She'd have him, despite her inexperience, for her strength had already been shown. Where she had never been able to trust herself, it was time to dig deep, using her wings to power straight after him, following him through a gaping hole in the white-painted wall, rubble scattered.

And then Maverick was there, crushing her from the side, using his greater experience against her, though she had no idea how he had come at her from that angle so quickly. Snarling and snapping, she lunged back at him even as he connected with her.

“Give in, weakling!" He roared, slamming a foot into her stomach, sending her spiralling into the wall with a sickening crack. “This is not your fight! Though they are looking for more test subjects…"

The slam barely fazed Sabrina, growling, leaping up, striking off after him into what seemed to be a canteen of some kind in the facility. She didn't care for it, not as she lifted a long dining table and hurled it at the other Titan, one table after the other, though they were each easily twenty feet in length. Screams filled the air, but she was hardly about to pause to see what collateral damage was being caused. They were all incidental in her pursuit of David, the rescue she intended to make of him.

Once she got rid of Maverick the Titan, that was. The wolf did not look natural hovering there in mid-air, but she had wings and could match him pace by pace. The Titan wolf-beast snarled and pounded a fist on his chest, antagonising her, though he was, at least, wearing clothing to cover his crotch. Where she was naked, that moment of distraction in the flick of his eyes down over her was all she needed to take his hesitation in hand.

As he turned, surely leading her on a chase to someone where she could be caught and contained, she took a chance, powering up, straight through the ceiling into another hallway, lights flickering and sparks flying. Yet it paid off as he followed her, some distance ahead, yet closer than he had been. Her eyes narrowed, hissing through her teeth, head snaking back and forth. She'd not let Maverick get his hands on her a single time more – not ever, not in his life.

His eyes widened as Sabrina came for him, the look of one that knew that their time had come, even if Maverick could not have anticipated that, not as she lunged for him. Her roar shook the walls, her body whole and healthy with her regeneration, her hands on him, closing around his throat.

With a spray of blood and crunch of bone, she tore his head clean from his body, the power leaving the Superhuman's body, dropping to the ground like the dead weight he was. She laughed and smirked, tossing him aside, forgetting him instantly. Those that fell before her were not worth her time, digging deeper into the facility, surely, by then, driving down into the belly of the mountain.

She tossed aside security guards and those that had no name in the fight that she had brought to them, ignoring their screams, their cries, their begging for mercy. Sabrina had not come to be kind, not as she passed what looked to be a cell: a door with a window that had bars in it.

“David?"

Even her voice did not sound like it had before, warmer and sultrier, as if it was dripping with blood and honey, both at the same time. Yet the finding of one prisoner, cowering at the back of his cell, emboldened her and she rushed on to check every one in the corridor, an explosion sounding off somewhere else in the facility, lights flickering, the floor juddering and leaping under her.

“David? David, can you hear me?"

“Yeah…"

That was him! It had to be him! Her heart surged and she lunged at the cell, her heart pounding harder than it felt like it ever had before, wrenching at his door, trying to free him and drink in every tiny nuance of his appearance, his face, at the same time.

David backed off from the dragon, eyes wide, wanting to reach for his power – yet what was there for him to do when he didn't have any technology in there to break down and use for himself? They'd made sure there was nothing electrical in there for him and he was not drawn to rebuilding wooden things, the natural, wood theme of his bedroom, frankly rather ludicrous. Yet a cell was not meant to be luxurious as the door was wrenched off its hinges, the thick steel bent in two, bars folded, the window smashed…but there was something there.

“David? David, you don't recognise me, but it's me, Sabrina… I've come to get you out of here."

Her words were difficult to soften, as much as she tried to slow the pace of them, wanting nothing more than to take him into her arms, to hold him tightly, so tightly, and to never let him go again. He backed off from her as she said her name again, bolder than she had been and yet still left feeling ever so slightly foolish. Just how could she expect David to simply recognise her when even her body shape, let alone her overall form, was different to how it had been? She didn't even recognise herself anymore.

“Sab…" He grappled with it, holding up his hands, rubbing his temples, shaking his head. “Sabrina… That's really…you? You're…"

Oh, there were many things he could have said to that. “You're a dragon", perhaps? “You're naked", maybe? Or even, “you're covered in blood"? Any would have done, quite honestly, as he gaped at her, chest tight, though he didn't quite want his eyes to keep going to where they were naturally drawn. But they were just so big! He couldn't help it, not even as he sighed and shook his head in a failed attempt to clear it.

“Sabrina… You have no idea how glad I am to see you. But what are you? A Titan? You can fly and…wow…"

He swallowed hard, rubbing the back of his neck, running his fingers back through his hair, his body doing absolutely everything it could to stall while his mind raced. Yet no matter how much his mind yearned to catch up with all that was going on, that would have to come in time and talking as she grabbed him by the shoulders.

“David! There's no time to wait. We have to get out of here! They're coming for me – and now you too, though you were already in here, so…there's that. But I'm not the person you remember and I'll tell you all about that. What's important is that I want to be with you and only you, no more than that, and I'll do anything to keep you safe. They'll try to take me down too now that they know I'm with you, but, frankly, they haven't gotten very far."

Sabrina snickered and took a breath, steadying herself, her eyes locked onto his. The truth was out. Time to get out.

“What can you do? I can carry you or…"

David grinned, holding up his hand.

“I have a lot to tell you. Let's get the hell out of here!"

Together, hand in hand, though the dragoness was now taller than him, they fled to the corridor, though they had to ignore the cries and pleas of other prisoners there to be set free. They didn't know any of them nor what they could do, though David could only assume that anyone down there was as innocent as he had been. Whether or not he was innocent, considering what it was that his robots had done, was another question entirely.

Sabrina spread her wings, but he had to take a moment, in a side room, something that seemed to be a control panel of sorts of part of the facility, though it didn't, sadly, seem to hook them up to any security systems. But there was enough in there for David to, very easily, put his abilities as a Savant to work, taking apart everything he could get his hands on, seeing in his mind's eye what he had to make, how he would get there.

A fan's blade.

A generator.

A metal cabinet door.

Wires.

Connectors.

That was the basics of it, but what was more impressive entirely was what he put together with barely even a few minutes in which to do it. He had to work quickly, or else he could have constructed something even more elaborate, but the flying machine that would propel him and allow him to direct his motion with the “handles" on either side of his body, wearing it like a jet pack. Well, he'd seen jet packs before, but nothing like what he had put together, Sabrina, for the first time since their reunion, struck dumb.

“You…" She gaped. “David… What… What are you?"

For there were revelations to be had on both sides as he shook his head and jerked his head down the corridor.

“No time to explain – let's go!"

Sabrina led the way, though they did not need to follow any normal manner of a way out. With her strength, she could blast her way through pretty much anything and she was set to put that to the test as she snarled out her fury, the anger of so many years under her parents' rule, powering straight up through ceiling after ceiling, David zooming along behind her.

Every boundary that they slammed through brought them closer and closer to the surface, David keeping close on her tail even as it whipped back and forth, avoiding the rubble strewn down with a low curse. Up and out, screams and wails echoing forth, though neither of them could pause as they powered all the way up into open air, Sabrina barking a laugh that would never have come from her lips in the before times. Before she'd awakened her powers, that was.

But that time could never be gone back to and David was not sure that that would have been good for anyone as Sabrina led the way, deeper into the mountains, though the landscape was increasingly barren, if that was even possible. Where the vegetation had been cleared on the lower slopes, the actual mountains themselves were rugged and jagged, piercing the sky, the air thinner the higher they flew, though David could construct a device to allow him to breathe more easily, if only he had the materials.

He laughed recklessly, heart lighter than it had been in days. Had it been weeks down there? He had no idea how long it had been, time losing all meaning down in prison. And now he was out – with Sabrina too! His friend was different and, even though those blood spots and smears were disturbing, he thought he understood just what she'd gone through to get to him. Also, there had been something about her wanting to be with him? That was very much something that would have to be discussed, later, as they made good their escape through the mountains, David, thankfully, keeping level with her as they flew at a good pace.

And beyond the mountains, even cutting into a good part of the mountain range, were the Rogue States, where, well… Civilisation, to say the least, had taken a different direction there. Never had David thought that he might have been seeking refuge there, though many Superhumans had had to flee there too, he knew, even if it was kept quieter by the news and the government. The way that they liked to phrase anyone leaving for the Rogue States was: “exile". Whether or not their exile had come simply because the government was unable to either capture or kill them, well… David now understood that a little more.

“We'll have to set down for the night somewhere," he said, breaking the quiet between them, though it wasn't the companionable kind. “Somewhere safe… Somewhere they won't find us."

Sabrina laughed and shot him a look, eyes a little more manic than he was used to, though they were the same eyes.

“They'll be picking themselves out of that mess for years! I wouldn't be surprised if the whole mountain comes down on top of them after battering our way out like that. And it's not like my parents are going to be able to send anyone after me, not with all that behind…"

He blinked, confused.

“What do you mean? What happened with your parents? I mean, I get that they weren't okay with all this."

The dragoness grinned a little too ferociously for comfort.

“They won't be a problem anymore… I didn't know it was possible to kill someone that quickly, but with him screaming in my face, well… I couldn't handle it anymore. I don't think anyone else could have managed all that they did to me for as long as they did. I tossed my mother into the wall and my father… I stopped the heart that he never had."

David grimaced, stomach churning a little uncomfortably. That was not something that he wanted to go into too much detail on. Yet the day grew old as they put all their energy into flying, David only pausing to acquire another fuel source for his jet pack, though he was fortunate in the fact that the mountains were at the very least rich in natural resources, minerals that he could use. He'd never have thought of creating a fuel source like that before, but it thankfully seemed to tie in with his affinity for technology, though he longed to get somewhere where he could really dig into his abilities.

For the cause of good, of course… But simply using them to be safe and get by in the world too would be much appreciated after everything.

With the sun dipping below the horizon, they finally set down in a cave low down in a V-shaped valley that had perhaps been carved out by a retreating glacier at some point in history, judging by how it flattened out further up. They resided, at least for the night, where the natural course of weather and the river had worn away the landscape, even if there was little cover to be had but the cave and a natural outcrop of rock. It was enough for them, Sabrina lighting a fire with a skill that David had not known she possessed, sitting cross-legged before it as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

He seated himself, cautiously, opposite her, though not too far away. It was an odd reminder of how they had positioned themselves in their younger days, sitting under the trees at the back of her garden, hidden from sight and yet finding something new to do each day without any new toys to entertain them. Somehow, with each other, they had made their own entertainment, as kids, even back then.

But things were different. Very different, in fact, with her naked body before him. His eyes could not help but drift and, to be entirely fair to him, it was perfectly normal for him to look, as much as David ground his teeth together. A line of strain formed down his jaw and he did his best not to appear as if he was leering, even if he was looking at her more than he would have before. Not that he hadn't been looking at Sabrina before her transformation and awakening, but it was more simply that she was so different to how she used to be.

It was hard not to, with the firelight glancing off and flickering over her scales, which reflected the light, but turned it more to her shades of ruby and glistening amber, as if her scales had been brushed with an artist's paintbrush. There must have been lines of pain in her body, he thought, after such an extreme fight and interlude, but there was little shown in how comfortably she sat cross-legged, up straight as if it was the most natural position in the world to her.

“You know…" He began, pausing to try to figure out what it was that he wanted to say. “You're different now…really different. Are you okay, Sabrina? After what happened at home, it's… You…"

He almost did not want to ask, but the smile that she gave him in return had his heart jumping in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways. He blinked and missed what happened in the in-between but the next thing the man knew was that the naked dragoness was on top of him, in his lap, her lips crushed to his.

“Mmph!"

He pressed his hands to her shoulders, trying to push her off, teeth bumping, her tongue delighting in slipping inside his mouth, controlling, boldly and aggressively taking control.

“Sabrina!"

He gasped, lips parting, though she crushed her lips to his in a kiss all over again, grinding into his lap, following the heated nuances of her body. All she knew was lust, the overwhelming, aching, pounding force of her love for him, what had been held back for so many years, even as her feelings for him had developed. Truly, when they fit together so well, learning and growing and bonding, it would have been difficult for Sabrina to not fall for David, bit by bit.

But he could not help himself from putting his arms around her, from kissing her back, the dragoness insistent, ripping at his T-shirt, even though he protested that he could do it himself. It allowed him a moment of breathing room from a dragoness who had only the one thing on her mind, predatory and looking quite as if she was about to pounce, on all fours, her tail swinging and curling back and forth.

“Sabrina," he tried again, while he still had his senses about him. “Are you sure you want to do this? Is this really… So much has happened."

Yet how she tenderly took his face between her hands and kissed him like there was no one else in the world for her chased all doubt from his mind, heart pounding, his loins aching for her.

“Yes, David." Her breath tickled his lips, barely drawing back enough to speak. “I've wanted this, I've wanted you… All for a very, very long time. And I don't want to wait another moment more, not when I have you here."

Her eyes glittered, helping him drag his T-shirt off, snarling and clawing at his trousers next, though David could only struggle and fight to get them off too, soon as naked as she was, chest heaving, heat spreading through his skin in hot patches. He didn't know what to do, not even as she grasped his cock, acting as if she knew far more than she did, a moan springing, unbidden, to his lips.

“Oh, fuck… Sabrina, you don't have to…. Ohhhhh!"

Her maw enveloped his cock, taking him neatly between her teeth, though he did worry that her sharper teeth would catch him, even as his head swam deliriously with pleasure. Never would he have thought that his first time having sex would have been out in the wilderness, much less with her giving him the best and only head that he'd had so far in his life.

“Ah – oh! Careful!"

He could not sway her from lashing his cock with her tongue, hissing, trembling vibrations from her lips travelling into his cock. He ached for it, for more, always more, losing himself with her, the crackling of the fire snapping up twigs and eating away at the larger logs a fitting backdrop for the moment that they had found themselves in. Her tongue wound around and around his cock, his first time having sex not even with someone in a human body, though she would always be Sabrina to him, despite all that had changed in their world, the lives they led.

Maybe it was for the better, for change could not honestly happen without a catalyst to spark it off, moaning, whimpering, lusting for it. Each of her growls rolled into his cock as Sabrina exulted in her own boldness, tasting him for the first time. The dribbling gleam of pre-cum at the tip of his cock was not enough for her as she hungrily lapped it up, wanting more, though his body was not over-productive, not like those of fantasy books and the like that she'd read. Those had been snuck into the bottom of her mattress and secreted away – thrown away when she was done with them, because she could not have risked her parents finding them. Yet she'd read and, oh, how she'd learned, even if the things in there were not always like reality.

She would find all of that out for herself though as his hardness throbbed over her tongue, her lust rising. It felt as if her sex was burning up, heat spreading through her that had to be satisfied to be sated, to simmer down, for there was nothing else at all that her body would otherwise allow.

The dragon growled around him, David moaning, whimpering, lost under her spell as he begged her, through his grunts and moans, not to stop, never to stop.

He grabbed her as she pulled back, reaching for her horns, yet he was not quick enough for the sexually promiscuous dragoness, not in the slightest. She already knew what she wanted as she kissed him fiercely, not caring that the taste of his shaft was on her lips, rolling, twisting, her wings and tail crumpling under her, though any discomfort would not stop her from getting what she wanted.

“Now…" She hissed, eyes alight, David on top of her, her legs spread for him. “Now you can finally fuck me!"

He'd never heard the word before from her lips, blushing heavily, his cock in hand, trying to do what she wanted, his dick so achingly turgid that he could not help himself. It was the order of the day, his body throbbing with need, wanting to spill his load even as some part of him too delighted in the fact that, well, things had finally kicked off between them. Under him, Sabrina growled, tail lashing back and forth, wrapping it around his ankle as if she was afraid he would get away from her.

“Unff… Here…"

He didn't want to push her too far, but how she rocked up against him more than told him that she was demanding it. There was no option, when the two of them wanted it so much, other than for him to slip into her, his cock wet and slippery with her saliva, the scent of her need, somehow, managing to fill the crisp night air even out there.

And when his shaft slipped into her, they both knew and understood, finally, how much they had needed it, how it had always been the thing that had been missing between them. Not sex, per se, but that intimacy, how the heat between their bodies blistered and rose, Sabrina snarling and clinging to him, claws biting in shamelessly.

“Yes… Yes! Fuck me! Oh, your cock feels so good inside me!"

How she had learned phrases like that he didn't know, but he could not stop thrusting, not as she wrapped her legs around him too, digging her heels into his buttocks, forcing him to thrust when he was already doing so. So much had changed between them and, of course, Sabrina had rather escalated the bloodshed back in the government facility, yet the manner of her desperate need forced all of that to the back of his mind, something to be held there for later perusal. All that mattered as she moaned like a whore in a porno and begged for his dick was that he was giving her what she wanted, all while his own body warmed through with devious sexual glee.

“Yes… Oh, fuck, that feels…" Her head rolled back against the ground, tongue hanging out, licking her lips. “Oof, my fingers never went…that deep… Oh, fuck, fuck me harder!"

He could only obey, though a surprised chuckle did burst from his lips as he held her to him as firmly as he could, pressing down over her as their chests brushed, teasing together. The hard peaks of her nipples encouraged him on and David only lamented that he was not able to tweak and tease them, to roll them between his fingers and to show her a little more pleasure and sensation. It was one of the only useful things, to be fair, that he had picked up from watching the odd porno, but everything he wanted to do was all in the name of pleasure.

Of course, it was their first time, but perhaps it had never been meant to be serene and sweet, soft and light. The twisting of the world had left it rough and harsh, David fucking her harder and harder as the dragoness screamed and roared for more, filthier and filthier language spilling from her. He pressed her down to the ground with a breast in his hand (it was way more than a handful, however) as she twisted into orgasm, lost for a moment as her pussy drenched him, practically squirting. He'd never expected that and his own climax rushed upon him, premature and far before he was ready for it.

But he had to let it come, somehow, building and building as her claws dug in hard enough for a trickle of blood, though Sabrina lovingly held back her strength for him. She had not said that she loved him yet, but it was more important for her to show him as David couldn't hold it back for a moment more, releasing his seed into her snatch.

“Yes… Fill me… Fill my cunt with your cream, you stud!"

It was too much and he laughed softly, breathlessly, turning her muzzle to his and kissing her deeply, sealing away further filthy cries. Maybe there would be time, later, to work out what turned them both on when it came to dirty talk. But a little too much could be just as unsexy as, perhaps, none at all.

Where her fury and sexual lust raged, he tamed her softly, sweetly, coming down to a level that they both could enjoy, the aching need of his cock throbbing until every drop was spent. In the aftermath, they laid together, the loss of their virginities a more startling event than could have been expected, yet it had happened exactly as it was supposed to happen, even if David wished that everything leading up to it could have been a shade less dramatic.

He slipped on his trousers, leaving his chest bare, stoking the fire for her while the dragoness lay stretched out on her side, tail flicking contentedly back and forth. A dribble of his seed oozed from her pussy, though she made no move to wipe it away.

“Um… Sabrina?"

She murmured, half-rolling back towards him, though she was loathe to move from the slightly softer patch of dirt that she had found. If she had had more foresight than simply finding her lover and partner, she would have brought other clothes, maybe even a blanket. Understandably, it was more than merely difficult to plan when one was on the run, however.

“Mmm?"

“I think we need a plan."

She chuckled.

“Yeah… We're fugitives now. Damn, I would never have thought that things would have ended up like this just one week ago. I wish you'd told me about being a Savant though… I could have helped you. Maybe things would have been a little different then."

Privately, David wished that she had not exploded and killed her parents, to say the least of it, but it was not his battle to fight. In a way, he understood why she had done what she'd done, but there was still the difference in her, even if it may well have been a personality and way of being that had been locked down and away from the world for so long. Maybe it had always been there. But there was no going back when they were part of the changing world, charging forward into the fray.

“The Rogue States are our only option though," he said instead, Sabrina lifting her head, nodding.

“Yes, yes… I get it. I've heard of them, other students at the university told me more, some even visited years ago. I thought that if I could get you and me there, with our powers – well, I didn't know you were a Savant then – we could find something of a life for ourselves there. Even if it wouldn't be the kind of life that either of us thought we'd lead."

She grinned dangerously, showing her teeth.

“At least this one is together."

Although he knew that it was their only option, David's heart still tightened in trepidation at the thought of moving on into the Rogue States. There was no other choice, yet they were not the “mostly normal" civilisation that either of them were used to and he doubted that Sabrina understood the extent of what travelling and living in them would entail. Made up of shifting groups of Superhuman Warlords, the lands were a law unto themselves, the cities created by Superhumans, whether literally or moved into by those that required them, they were formidable locations. He didn't honestly know the truth of how one would behave there, what went on, though he'd heard that there were few rules and any that were in place were always shifting and changing – like the power dynamics of control there.

Crime? Well, there was not much of that when villainy was more the order of the day in the Rogue States… In his mind's eye, he combed back through his history textbooks for the bland, factual details, glad for the little he knew and wishing that he knew more at the same time. What he did know was that the first Rogue States and subsequent pockets of civilisation had sprung up to shockingly steep power after the Anarchy of the Second Savant's attack, as it was known, keeping the civilised world, what he was used to, mostly out of their business. For the course of his everyday life, most people did not consider them existing all that much, as they were such dangerous places to go.

Yet there had been some notes and recollections in journals that he'd dug up about parts of the Rogue States being as nice and as normal as the world he was used to, the democratic world, but he wasn't so sure how much of that he believed. If he'd seen anything where he lived and in how he'd grown up, nice things only hid the darkness beneath, even if they were prosperous. To say the least of it, slavery was permitted there and the human organ trade was surely one that had fed back into “his" world from time to time. It wasn't anyone else's problem if a person was grabbed and slaughtered for the spoils of their body – and the victim was already dead to complain about it.

He sighed, the dragoness' eyes flicking up to him again where he sat, a little closer to the fire, not yet tired of the day.

“What's on your mind, David?"

Her voice was gentler, more soothing. David smiled faintly, hoping that the flickering, dancing shadows cast by the fire hid it on his face. She was still in there…but the new Sabrina was still going to take a lot of getting used to. But he was keen to find out what more there was yet for him to uncover.

“It will be hard to live there, I'm thinking…" He mused, collecting his thoughts. “But we can't live where we were. We're too recognisable. We've done too much. If we go to the Rogue States, at least we'll be safe from the first enemy."

Sighing softly, he lay beside her, Sabrina yawning, arms going around him, tucking her head down against his chest as if it was the most natural position and thing for her to do. Only a moment went by before he relaxed too. The warmth of her body through her scales was simply too inviting, the feel of her bare breasts against his bare chest.

“From the first…" She murmured sleepily, eyelids heavier and heavier. “And I shall protect you from the second and the third and all the ones to come after."

She slept more soundly than David, for his thoughts were on those enemies, the ones that were thought to be coming. Where she was confident in her future, seeing no reason not to be, he was plagued by doubts, reconsidering everything.

Still, he came to the same conclusion by dawn and they continued together, seeking out food and water along the way. At least they did not have to worry about water impurities so high in the mountains and they could boil anything that they wanted to be extra careful about, Sabrina proving more adept at hunting than he could have anticipated when some small prey, mountain goats most often, presented themselves to them. Fillets and strips of meat were awkwardly cut and cooked with her claws, but they were often too hungry to care as they roasted the flesh of the creatures over a fire and ate what little berries and roots they could find in more fruitful, green valleys, dipping between the peaks of the mountains.

They had to make do, even as the mountains dropped away to something like scrubland, something that appeared even more desolate than the towering peaks they had flown between prior. Once, they happened upon a group of deceased travellers (David did not want to think what had come of them, only bones remaining and their supplies) and he had managed to make improvements to his flying device, increasing the acceleration so that they could cover even more ground together.

As they moved into the scrubbier land with short grass and a warmer feel to the air, pines lining slopes, there was more prey to catch too. The knives and other supplies taken from the travellers helped a little, though David still didn't feel right about the red coat he had taken. For one thing, it made him stand out more than he would have liked, but it had belonged to a dead man. Clearly, the man had no use for it any longer, though he still did not like to feel it over his shoulders, keeping it bundled away in a pack whenever he did not need it.

To his surprise, as he learned more about her, Sabrina shunned any clothing from the deceased travellers. After spending so long clothed up to her neck, or practically her eyeballs, so it felt, she could not stand the feel of any cloth on her body. She was more than warm enough as they flew, keeping low to avoid detection, though the wilderness was most likely the safest place for them to be. She had even been able to scare off a cougar and a bear, on different days, without much trouble at all. That was not something that she could have imagined doing before her awakening and Sabrina adored every scale on her transformed body, every opportunity that her new life offered to her.

It was no more a cage, to her, than her old one had been, but she now got to make her own choices and sleep with her tail curled around David's ankle every night. She experimented with him, tasting all the fruits of sex that she had never gotten the chance to before, whether it was taking his shaft into her mouth, learning how to use her tongue, or riding him, cramming her pussy down over his cock so that she could enjoy and relish every inch of him. They were still learning about one another and any clumsiness in that regard between them would fade in time, coming to one another as they had always been meant to. Sabrina only wished that she had known that part of David earlier.

The border, finally, fifteen days since she had ripped him from the government facility, lay before them, an obvious line cut into the rougher terrain. The air was warmer, a dry heat, desolation stretching out beforehand as if there had been a fight there before, a disused fuel station for cars sitting forlorn, the windows smashed in. A truck with no wheels and rust covering every inch lay in the forecourt, a testament and forgot memory to all that had gone by.

They took a breath, hand in hand, Sabrina's muzzle pointing over it – and continued by. The torn-up earth defining the border was left behind, her wings flapping harder than ever, David struggling to keep pace with her. He laughed, yet her words were whipped away by the wind as they kept going, the area that they flew over halfway to becoming a desert, though it was still, presently, the sort of scrubland where smaller animals flourished, though he had heard that tribes of lions had moved in there. With the changing climates and microclimates in the world, it was sometimes hard to keep track of what lay where, though those travelling under such circumstances could only do their best. It had likely arisen into scrubland, anyway, due to human activity and overuse, even if nature would reclaim it and dry it out, all in time.

“Ahead."

Sabrina drew his attention, his breath catching, though he had to quiet himself, not to allow his pulse to race, steadying his breath. The dragoness did not appear fearful, but a group of Superhumans under any circumstances would have been cause for concern. They moved in and out of one another in flight, not allowing them to see how many of them there were, David's eyes narrowing.

They'd been spotted; there was no point in trying to avoid them. Sabrina's large wings cupped and scooped the air, however, as they hovered, awaiting whatever fate it was that was to meet them, though they would have found a more powerful Titan on their hands than reckoned if they chose to attack. For once, despite his trepidation, David was not particularly concerned for their safety.

The gang paused, a mix of flying Titans and Kinetics – nothing unusual there. Their eyes flickered to Sabrina repeatedly and he had to hold himself back from moving forward, to block their view. To aggravate someone that he did not even know, yet, whether they were friend or foe, would have been irresponsible at best. Drawing as little attention to themselves as possible was the best way to go, considering what he knew of the Rogue States.

“Hello!" One shouted, hands cupped to his face: a Kinetic standing on a floating disk of ice, who they could only assume was their leader. “I presume you've not been here before… Are you tourists? Come down here to see the sights? Or is it that you're immigrants, wanting to keep your head down and lie low, hm?"

Someone behind him snickered, leaving David no more the wiser as to whether tourism to the Rogue States was a thing or not.

“Uh… No. No… Not tourists, definitely not. The last two though?"

He shook his head. Best to go for the truth – or a version of the truth. Sabrina growled, eyes locked onto the largest Titan of the group, a dragon like her but one that surely would not be able to match up to her strength if they did go head to head. Quieting her softly, he squeezed her hand.

“We need to escape," David confessed, half-shrugging. “Things went bad, she had a bad awakening… We need somewhere to lie low. Is that something we can get here?"

The apparent leader of their small band smiled tightly, though the warmth of the smile did not reach his eyes.

“Yeah, I get that. We get about two of you a week here."

The Kinetic rocked back on his heels, the floating ice disc somehow not melting despite the apparent warmth around them, a radio pressed to his face. He spoke rapidly into it, David and Sabrina not able to catch his words, though they didn't need to.

“Alright," he said, addressing them once again, his voice taking on a dull, bored edge as if it was all so much that he had said time after time before. “Head on through. If you cause too much trouble, the bosses will have you killed, your family or next of kin will not be notified."

He spun, the ice disk turning him back the way the group had come.

“Head that way, about twenty miles. It'll be nothing flying. The closest city is that way. And I do hope you enjoy your stay with us!"

His band laughed, the Kinetic smirking as if he had said something particularly funny.

“Chavis, you are a hoot!"

But all David and Sabrina could do was, to the best of their ability and with many curious eyes still on Sabrina's body, nod and continue. He kept an eye behind while Sabrina guided them, though they were not followed, even if they were watched.

Their journey was set to continue, though the first city they would inhabit in the Rogue States lay not far away. After all that had taken place so far, David didn't want to think of what came next.

But they had to go anyway.