{"sf1_id":2252458,"sf2_id":"rnaMVa9n","title":"Chapter 1: Phantom","author":"CaptainMemes","words":10925,"posted_at":"2025-05-14T23:58:27.000Z","tags":["Dragon","Fear","Feral","Friendship","Ghost","Heterosexual","Human","Interspecies","M/F","Mature","Modern","Non-Anthro","Realistic","Romance","SFW","Scales","Slice of Life","Story","Straight","anxiety","slow","starvation"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2252458-chapter-1-phantom","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/rnaMVa9n","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/c9/91/c9910f0d-08be-420d-836d-23e9ff9a5489","description":"The year is 2004.  \n  \nOnly four years since the new millennium and since the dragons appeared.  \n  \nHowever, they were not bloodthirsty beasts, but people, like them.  \n  \nOf course, their introduction was not completely smooth sailing, as the joining of Humanity and Dragonkind was still in its infancy.  \n  \nShelby Grant knew this, and yet, she didn't know what to say about it all.  \n  \nWas it exciting? Scary even? She didn't know.  \n  \nHowever, a little ghost in the hall would change her life forever...","content":"It was dark outside.\n\nThe stars that enveloped the world made themselves known, carried by the great counterpart to the grand Sun, the silvery Moon, which was a crescent as it was held up in the blackened sky.\n\nThe trees blew in the wind when the currents willed them to. Other than the swift sweeping of leaves that still hung on and the branches clacking against one another, only the random crickets and peepers made any noise at all.\n\nIn the middle of a great field of unkept grass, far off from any main asphalt road that had the occasional night driver and forest was a two-story home of little to no note.\n\nMuch like its sole inhabitant.\n\nThe house was incredibly modest despite its quality and maintenance being up to snuff to one of a mid to higher class citizen of the United States, but it didn't matter. It served its purpose.\n\nWith dark blue shingles and paint with a white base, it seemed like it was built for the night, as most of the darker colors made it blend in, with only the whites and the reflections off the glass windows showcasing any evidence of its existence when all the brightness left the world behind to only come back later. These traits were shared by a small shed that was the garage, with the metal door on front the same shade of white and the roof dark navy blue.\n\nPerhaps a darker color was the black concrete that came from the garage and onto the worn-down grey of the dying road that connected the home to the outside world.\n\nThe house, with no sign of life due to the lights being off, belonged to one person, a\u0026nbsp;human, a\u0026nbsp;woman\u0026nbsp;to be exact.\n\nShelby Grant was nobody's girl, or at least that's what the few people that knew her thought. She was a very respectable, yet quiet adult who was known to always get the job done but didn't stick around for anything else. And in a way, it made total sense. One would have to set limits to who they talked to or what they focused their mind on to find a way in this world full of uncertainty. She was also known to be assertive, acting when it was required of her, to set everything straight and back on schedule.\n\nAfterall, nothing was normal ever since\u0026nbsp;they\u0026nbsp;came.\n\nThe\u0026nbsp;dragons.\n\nThe year was _2004_. Only on the fourth calendar after _2000_ and the world drastically changed in so many ways.\n\nWhat was meant to be the start of the new millennia was kicked off with their arrival from the shadows and into the light.\n\nA species thought to be nothing more than fantasy, as just myth, as mere fiction came out to come out in droves to walk along the only other intelligent species to occupy the planet.\n\nOn one hand, they were no longer the only ones in this whole wide universe to have sapience. Granted, it was on the same world, Earth, but it was something that everybody, even\u0026nbsp;she\u0026nbsp;felt a draw towards. Who wouldn't? It was dragons for God's sake! A creature everybody had dreams about!\n\nWell, unicorns would have been more beautiful and divine, but dragons, at least in this timeline, would suffice.\n\nAnd by God, could they talk, and fly, and do…well…whatever! It didn't matter! There were humans and dragons living together!\n\nH-Humans and…a-and\u0026nbsp;dragons…\n\nThat was the thing about it.\n\nDragons were written in fairy tales and stories as big hulking beasts who would eat and burn down anything they saw without question, acting as if they were nothing more than\u0026nbsp;mindless beasts.\n\nWell, only\u0026nbsp;fire\u0026nbsp;dragons would burn down things, b-but…\n\nNo, it didn't change some of the unease and mistrust, as dragons could very well become what they were drawn as in days of old, but they were people.\n\nActual\u0026nbsp;people!\n\nThey acted like they did, minus their own values, traditions, and thought processes, so it was no surprise that the country embraced them with open arms.\n\nThat's not to say it's like that elsewhere, but it was a start.\n\nWe've got to start somewhere, don't we?\n\nOf course, the integration was slow and arduous. It was inevitable, but it would work, and the two races were already making great progress changing the rules and foundations of society to fit them.\n\nIt was an experiment, but you will never get results without trying, right?\n\nThat wasn't to say that everything worked or that all parts of the integration effort were finished or finalized.\n\nAfter all, with dragons coming into a predominantly human society, there was bound to be culture\u0026nbsp;clash\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;shock.\n\nFirst of all, humans always painted Dragonkind as animalistic monsters who breathed fire on the innocent, or at the very least portrayed them in antagonistic roles.\n\nBefore they walked onto the world stage, before the start of the new millennium, before\u0026nbsp;2000, there was a surprisingly large amount of media that depicted them as the most horrifying and powerful beings who were never seen as actual characters, but instead as dumb yet deadly obstacles to,\u0026nbsp;who else,\u0026nbsp;human\u0026nbsp;characters.\n\nMovies, television, cartoons, comics, cards, video games, you name it.\n\nIt was as if it was a\u0026nbsp;smear campaign\u0026nbsp;before people ever realized it existed.\n\nThat wasn't to say there weren't positive representations of the dragon race.\n\nLike…Spyro! That's right! The lovable and brave, yet\u0026nbsp;dorky\u0026nbsp;purple dragon from the 90s! Always doing what's right in the face of danger…\n\nOof…\n\nShe remembered those old PlayStation commercial serials that got every kid begging their parents for the new gaming machine and the game trilogy with the namesake dragon on the cover.\n\nAnd, well, something like the\u0026nbsp;Neverending Story\u0026nbsp;did have a cute and mystical dragon in it, even if the rest of the film terrified the life out of some children…\n\nHowever, a few good depictions weren't enough to prevent the problem from becoming a serious concern.\n\nOnce the dragons came forth into society, one of the first policies enacted by the people in D.C. was simple.\n\nA complete ban or extreme censoring of dragon-related media before 2000.\n\nPossession was allowed, but it prevented the continued sales of literally anything that had a dragon in it that didn't make them out to be actual people like them.\n\nCompanies scrambled to get their franchises and properties in order. For starters, they didn't want to have the government breathing down their neck and stop business when sales could still be going on. And besides, it was a\u0026nbsp;win-win\u0026nbsp;situation, since now that they had a completely new market in another sapient and intelligent species occupying Earth, it only made sense that they would pull back all negativity surrounding the Dragonkind in order to make more profit and improve their stock prices with a new audience.\n\nThat, and think of all of the children! They were too young to know otherwise! And so, of course the education system had to be changed for inclusivity for hatchlings as well.\n\nThat didn't mean that there wasn't tension, as since dragons considered Bahamut as their creator, even the entire religious system had to be changed to also include the god of dragons in their doctrine.\n\nEven though there wasn't any scripture or sort of formal worship for Him.\n\nThere weren't hymns or something like the Bible, so they just had to include him, as if he was the same of God.\n\nAnd the\u0026nbsp;confusion…dear\u0026nbsp;Lord…\n\nThat and dragons being known as destructive before they stepped on originally human grounds, even if it was a\u0026nbsp;stereotype, stuck for some.\n\nAfterall, if a person had trauma from some injury or experience from an animal from hunting, like a bear, would they be wrong for feeling like that?\n\nDespite the U.S. government giving dragons the same rights as a human, the issue persisted.\n\nIt was like\u0026nbsp;racism, except it only made more sense doing it to a potentially powerful and dangerous species despite the fact that humans have bickered amongst themselves for all of time.\n\nAs such, it was slow to get dragons in newly made occupations that needed their skills, their powers invaluable to numerous industries, including high offices.\n\nIt was sluggish, but progress was\u0026nbsp;progress.\n\nSome dragons, however, didn't want any part of it, hiding away in their closed off communities, not wanting to be changed by human ideals.\n\nIt was only fair as, well, human society was, in some ways,\u0026nbsp;abhorrent.\n\nIt made sense that they wouldn't want to be ruined by corruption, greed, and, worst of all,\u0026nbsp;war.\n\nGood for them. At least they had a choice and made the better one that they saw.\n\nAnd so, here they were, a time where you could just walk out of your door in the morning, only to grab the newspaper, get the mail, view the newly christened Sun, greet your human and dragon neighbors.\n\nIt was so…surreal…\n\nGranted, Shelby lived alone away from others.\n\nWhile it would limit her social interactions, it in turn gave her the utmost\u0026nbsp;privacy.\n\nShe could do anything, whenever she wanted, well, outside of work, but the freedom was astronomical!\n\nBut, well…\n\nShe was alone…in her\u0026nbsp;home…\n\nThe shelter had two stories and a rather low-roofed attic on top, meant for a family, but she didn't have one of her own yet.\n\nShe's met several men, some who showed off their good, handsome looks and strong muscles or a bright and kind personality.\n\nEven when she was younger after obtaining womanhood at twenty-one, she laid with one or two of them, with contraceptives first obviously.\n\nShe was the type of 'children after marriage' type of lady, despite the fact that premarital sex was surprisingly a common thing in the country.\n\nBut none of them stuck. It was like firing a shotgun aimed at a wall. Some pellets would hit their mark, but not for long, and the others barely got\u0026nbsp;close. She realized that her personality just didn't mix with theirs. When she discovered this, even finding out that the couple of men were only looking for something short term, to her anyways, she left them, saying that it wasn't working. She was polite, the most she could be anyways.\n\nWhelp, so much for keeping herself for that special someone.\n\nWell, nobody was perfect. You live and learn. That's just how the game was played.\n\nShelby slept in the middle of her queen-sized bed, the pillows piled in the center against the headboard despite the fluffy mounds supposed to be placed to the sides, the mattress oversized for just one person.\n\nHer dirty blonde hair was long, covering the upper part of the stack of cushions like a waterfall. She was currently in a dark blue night robe and pants with some white socks to keep her body warm, the top clothing obscuring a white bra connected by a strap on her back.\n\nShe was currently sleeping up some sweet dreams alone in her bedroom, enjoying either a very messed up story only her head could come up with, or just emptiness.\n\nEither some entertainment or some peace of mind.\n\nIt was all fine and dandy, until…\n\n* * *\n\nHer kitchen was rather clean and well organized, as any person would have to be to survive in these parts, isolated from any serious connections.\n\nThere was a nice sweet sandy granite island in the middle. From quite a ways from the bedroom door, it was vertical like a bar, with the refrigerator itself on the wall to the right, silvery with black protrusions as buttons on it for either water, which Shelby never used in favor of the sink, and ice. There was also a dark luminescent green digital clock on it, slowly ticking off, slightly off and early compared to her other ones. On the sides of it, more so the right than the left, was more of the same-shaded and crafted countertops that fed into the wall the long icebox was against.\n\nAcross the refrigerator and in the island was a metallic sink, the faucet in a double elbow before pointing down into the drain, curved fixtures, a switch to change the nozzle from a thick spray to a shower, and a soap bottle with a smooth yellow and abrasive green sponge on the sides. When Shelby was done eating a home-cooked meal, she would clean any pots and pans she used by hand and leave them out to dry on the soft dish towel on the left of the sink and place the porcelain dishes with the platters in the old-fashioned white, silver-buttoned dishwasher and run it on some detergent when it was full.\n\nAfterall, even old dishwashers seemed to last\u0026nbsp;longer\u0026nbsp;and function\u0026nbsp;better\u0026nbsp;than the ones\u0026nbsp;today, not that she uses it often since she was alone.\n\nHowever, that wasn't the problem.\n\nBecause something happened\u0026nbsp;here, on this\u0026nbsp;night…\n\nThe\u0026nbsp;impossible…\n\nSomething happened that could not be explained by, well, just about everyone.\n\nAs…suddenly…\n\nThe fridge opened on its own, the right door letting out cold and condensed air upon meeting with the warm atmosphere outside it.\n\nHow could such a thing happen?\n\nThen…out of\u0026nbsp;nowhere…\n\nOn the lower shelf, one where the house's sole occupant could just extend her hand and slide it off, was a packaged\u0026nbsp;rotisserie chicken.\n\nIt was complete, bones, skin, meat and all. Shelby bought it at the local supermarket to eat as a dinner or two, the cooked poultry fresh off the press. It was covered in clear yet cloudy plastic for one to see the contents within, with a blacker one making up the bottom half of the container, the foggy translucent connected to it to hold the whole thing shut and preserved.\n\nThen, all of a sudden…\n\nIt…\n\nIt was…lifted\u0026nbsp;off,\u0026nbsp;up\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;away.\n\nThere was the faintest sound of plastic leaving the confines of the refrigerator as it was carried out and into the warmer atmosphere of the kitchen.\n\nIt was as if a ghostly and invisible force willed it to move on its own.\n\nThe packaged chicken floated out with a clear trajectory, lowering from a thin arc onto the kitchen countertop to the right of the sink.\n\nThen, the\u0026nbsp;unexpected\u0026nbsp;happened.\n\nAs the darkened part of the container touched down on the smooth and polished granite, only but a moment passed before there was…\n\nScratching.\n\nThere was\u0026nbsp;scratching\u0026nbsp;on the clear portion of the prison that held the previously cooked and seasoned bird. However, there was pressure also being applied to it, bending the polymer at an awkward angle on its left side to the point that it was deep inside the manufactured shell.\n\nWhatever this force was, it was clear what it wanted.\n\nAfter creating a bunch of white scars that tore tiny little strings off both the translucent and black parts of it, it suddenly popped a side open.\n\nA little tab on the right side towards the fridge, or, well, towards a person if they were looking at its front.\n\nIt was created on every identical holder for the meat in the store to allow, well, just about everybody to grab on it and lift it open to feast on its content.\n\nThe force halted its scratching for only a second once it realized that a passageway to the insides of the cage was finally revealed. Afterwards, it quickly\u0026nbsp;yanked\u0026nbsp;off the top onto the left side, discarded, letting out a light clattering of factory-made plastic on the stoney countertop.\n\nThen…\n\nThe chicken, now exposed to the outside world, had a large chunk\u0026nbsp;torn off. It floated up in the air a bit before it…\n\nDisappeared.\n\nIt got smaller and appeared like it was being shoved down into a funnel that went into nothingness, the opening angled down towards the island, and there was…\n\nChewing?\n\nAnd there was…\n\nGrowling.\n\nClear droplets fell endlessly.\n\nWater.\n\nThe force…\n\nIt was…eating\u0026nbsp;it.\n\nIt went down for another bout of stuffing it into that little space where it was promptly broken down into little pieces with who knows what.\n\nIt was as if a dead beast came back from the dead to devour such a meal.\n\nAnd apparently, it was\u0026nbsp;delicious.\n\nDespite it being incredibly cold, the apparition consumed the poultry greedily, nearly\u0026nbsp;inhaling\u0026nbsp;it.\n\nIt was just so…so…\n\nSo…good.\n\nIt hadn't eaten anything for a while, almost feeling like it was starving, but now it could care less. It had food.\n\nYes…food…\n\nHowever, as if fed on the rotisserie, drool dropping from the air and plopping onto the floor below, it failed to recognize something in its pursuit of sustenance.\n\nIt left the refrigerator open.\n\nAnd when the refrigerator was open for a while…\n\nIt beeped.\n\nThe phantom cared not, for it was so enraptured by its catch, that it just didn't hear the sound, focusing only on the food that filled its invisible belly.\n\nDid it have a belly?\n\nHmmmm…\n\nHowever, the sound was loud enough to get the attention of the house's sole occupant.\n\nShelby Grant.\n\n* * *\n\nShelby was letting out a few light snores.\n\nLike her dreams every now and then, her head was\u0026nbsp;empty.\n\nShe saw only darkness, going unconscious, not realizing so until she woke up in many mornings before. On nights such as these, the concept of dreams was inconsequential since, well, you thought up pretty much nothing in your sleep.\n\nThis was no exception.\n\nHowever, it was not her digital or mental alarm clock that woke her up from her slumber.\n\nIt was an electronic sound.\n\nA\u0026nbsp;beep.\n\nThen, suddenly, her eyes saw less darkness, signifying her to stop trying to return to her nap. She let out a groan before simply tossing and turning a little bit before she ended up on her right side.\n\n…Until another beep came.\n\nShe let out another grunt, this time of annoyance that her precious hours of rest were being interrupted. She then slowly opened her eyelids, now removed from the illusion of slumber as she started to prop herself on her arms held up by her hands.\n\nHer hair was a\u0026nbsp;mess, some strands unstraightened and going every which way. She closed her eyes a bit as she leaned on an elbow as she scrunched up her opposite hand to rub some sleep from her chocolate brown eyes.\n\nAfterwards, she furrowed her brows at why she was removed from her body relaxing in the bed before the reason rang out.\n\nAnother bit of the sound.\n\nThat woke her up a bit now that she was taken out of her rest. She turned herself to the right at a dark wooden end table. On top of it was a pitch-black rectangular prism akin to a\u0026nbsp;brick\u0026nbsp;with glowing red characters on its front.\n\nHer\u0026nbsp;alarm clock.\n\nIt was slightly facing the bed, the numbers portraying a digital format of the time.\n\nShelby squinted as her eyes adjusted to the light of the device, her sight blurry until her pupils expanded to let her see it normally without the sensitivity.\n\nIt said…\n\n11:58 P.M.\n\nIt was nearly midnight.\n\nThen, like an itch you just couldn't satisfy no matter how much you scratched it, the beep rang out again.\n\nOh God-damnit…\n\nWhat in\u0026nbsp;God's\u0026nbsp;name was the beeping from? What…\n\nOh.\n\nThe sound rattled around in her memories as the…\n\nThe\u0026nbsp;refrigerator.\n\nShit.\n\nShe must've left it open by accident last night, wasting power since it only lit up when open while letting a bunch of frigid air out, freezing the kitchen while ruining the freshness of her food.\n\nUgh…\n\nThe fault was her own. Even though she almost always shut it due to the annoying synthetic sound, it must've slipped her mind this time.\n\nWell, there's nothing she could do but get up and close it herself.\n\nShe just hoped that her food wasn't too spoiled to lead to a hole in her wallet.\n\nShe took her right hand and slipped it under the cover and held the edge, feeling the fluffiness underneath with her thumb and the smoothness over with her other fingers. With a sluggish whip, it folded over itself towards her left as she lifted and held it away, leaving her night pants-clothed legs free.\n\nWith that, she slid her limbs off the sheets and onto the cookies n' creme-colored carpet of her bedroom, her feet sensing all of those little fuzzy tendrils that gave her grip as she bent her legs over the side of the bed.\n\nShe then stood up.\n\nShe let out a monstrous yawn as her half-lidded eyes struggled to remain open with her night hours soothing herself with that soft mattress waning away each second.\n\nShe mindlessly turned to the left, Shelby taking her right hand to move some stray strands out of her field of view and scratching her scalp what with the uneven hairs giving a bit of an itch.\n\nHer feet noiselessly drifted across the carpet, over to that wooden door close to the middle of the wall bordering the rest of her home.\n\nAfter brushing her hair with her fingernails the best she could while feeling her throat parched, she held the silver elbow knob on the door's left with her right hand, feeling the chill of misuse this night, before pushing down, unlocking the mechanism that was her entranceway for her cot, and pull it towards herself.\n\nThe floor transitioned into a bright polished brown, the brighter and darker lines of the inner tree reflected with a laminar finish.\n\nWhile one could easily slip and slide with socks on, on bare feet, it was still rather freezing to her nerves.\n\nBut she didn't care. She just wanted to get rid of that infernal noise like a little bug that you could just never swat.\n\nWith another involuntary opening of her jaws to signal her tiredness, she walked mindlessly through her halls and towards her kitchen, passing through branches into other rooms, turning and twisting her body around corners, and nearly walked by the dark brown oak stairs that led to the second floor.\n\nHowever, she made it.\n\nShe was at the entrance of her kitchen, darkened and only lit by her open and frigid refrigerator, wide open, the island with its inner sink to the right and the icebox to the left on the wall.\n\nShit. It must've opened itself up more.\n\nWhat a horrible mistake. She would have to think about that next time and maybe even double check before goes to bed for the next week…or\u0026nbsp;two.\n\nHowever, as floor went from organic vegetation to lifeless grey tile, she heard…\n\nNoises?\n\nIt was the faintest sound of chewing and even…slurping?\n\nWhat in God's name…\n\nShe lifted her drained head up straight and opened her eyes more due to the confusing disturbance as she drifted her right palm to the back wall and felt for the light switch.\n\nHer mind may be a bit groggy, but she still knew this house like the back of her hand.\n\nShe patted mindlessly backwards on the kitchen wall but felt the two light switches. Her brain still not fully awake, she felt the smooth and irregularly shaped protrusions on a screwed surface with her flat hand as opposed to her fingers, but it didn't matter.\n\nShe pushed up, and…\n\nShe opened her eyes wide open.\n\nThe room, now fully illuminated, despite her eyes still a bit sensitive…\n\nHer rotisserie chicken she bought was on the counter and open, its smell wafting everywhere, muddled droplets of supposedly grease all around with some clear ones as well, and…\n\nNo. That wasn't what shocked her the most.\n\nIn the middle of the air, over the granite, aimed to the left, was one of chicken's legs, meat still covering it.\n\nIt wasn't eaten yet.\n\nWith the light now covering its surroundings, the invisible force froze up in an instant.\n\nIt\u0026nbsp;gasped.\n\nIt let go of the drumstick, letting it bounce on the once clean countertop, and started to rev up in an instant to flee.\n\nShelby didn't spend even a few seconds to realize what was happening.\n\nA\u0026nbsp;phantom, no, not a phantom, a being, a\u0026nbsp;dragon, was in her house, eating her food.\n\nIt was invisible, probably a psychic dragon making themselves invisible. Er, well, it was likely a\u0026nbsp;drake\u0026nbsp;given that the gasp was masculine.\n\nWhile anybody would've been angry given that whoever was there was devouring foodstuffs bought with hard-earned money, it simply made no sense.\n\nWas this a dragon on the run? No, that couldn't be right, she hasn't heard anything in the news about it yet.\n\nThat led to a conclusion.\n\nThis was a drake just scrapping by for some nourishment and got desperate, breaking in to eat something pitifully small by their standards, but enough to live another day.\n\nWhile yes, it was a loss of precious dollars and cents, she was left…neutral.\n\nHowever, they were clearly scared now that it's been discovered.\n\nAnd even though she should just leave it be, she\u0026nbsp;didn't.\n\nWhy?\n\nShe didn't know.\n\nAs the camouflaged dragon was making stomps on the tiles and…running towards the\u0026nbsp;wall…for some reason, the woman called out to them.\n\n“W-Wait! It's okay,\u0026nbsp;it's okay!\"\n\nHowever, they didn't smash into the plaster like she expected.\n\nThey just…disappeared. Gone into the wall.\n\nA childhood picture of herself swayed back and forth from the nail it was attached to and a creamy dark blue vase on a stand to the left of their escape was twisting and struggling to stand on its rather thick platform.\n\nNo, not\u0026nbsp;Molly, her black lab that passed away from old age.\n\nPoor thing. She had to have the vet put her down to put her out of her misery from all the pain.\n\nHowever, her ashes inside managed to stabilize the container and it went still on its flat bottom.\n\nPhew…\n\nHowever, the concern at hand was the dragon, whose noise just halted all of a sudden.\n\nIt was…\n\nNo…\n\nCould it…?\n\nNo, it could be…\n\n…R-Right?\n\nIt was as if they just…phased\u0026nbsp;into the wall.\n\nW-What…?\n\n“Hey, hey! It's okay,\u0026nbsp;it's okay…\", Shelby said at a much softer and friendlier tone as she slowly walked towards the wall where…whoever, likely a drake, dashed right through.\n\nThe island was on her spine as she waited and waited.\n\nWhat…\n\nWas…\n\nWas her mind going off the deep end? Was she\u0026nbsp;crazy?\n\nWell,\u0026nbsp;anything\u0026nbsp;during these times could make one crazy.\n\nHowever, she might as well not have thought about going mad, because the most\u0026nbsp;improbable\u0026nbsp;thing happened that night.\n\nIt was silent, quiet even.\n\nThe spirit-like being stopped.\n\nWait…\n\nWas…\n\nWas the human…friendly?\n\nNo, she couldn't be!\n\nThey've all been terrible!\n\nWell, to be fair, he ate out of their cold boxes, but it was only a little bit! Really! Honest!\n\nThey would all try to chase him out with those flashy and loud\u0026nbsp;boom sticks. They scared his soul out with those ear-piercing sounds and bright lights burning into his eyes.\n\nHorrible.\n\nBut…\n\nThis\u0026nbsp;human…wait, it was a\u0026nbsp;female. What were they called?\u0026nbsp;Wom…en? Yes,\u0026nbsp;women.\n\nHe knew from her voice, the long hair, the different frame, and those covered protrusions on her chest.\n\nThis…woman…\n\nShe…wasn't…bad?\n\nWhy wouldn't she? Didn't he just break into her cave?\n\nBahamut, this just didn't make any sense.\n\nNow, it wasn't like she was inviting him, but…\n\nWas…\n\nWas this…different?\n\nCould this…she\u0026nbsp;be different?\n\nHe had courage. He had to have some to survive on so little for so long.\n\nOne half of his mind told him to run, get away as fast as possible with hopes that she wouldn't hurt him with a boom stick.\n\nBahamut knows they hurt like being bitten by a tooth that traveled throughout your whole body…\n\nThe other half said to ask questions, be a true dragon and face fear of retribution.\n\nBut…\n\nShould he?\n\nWouldn't she be angry?\n\nWell, she didn't sound like that…\n\nShe sounded…\n\nConcerned? Maybe even\u0026nbsp;confused?\n\nWell, maybe she\u0026nbsp;seemed\u0026nbsp;to be used to invisible creatures what with psychic and light dragons existing.\n\nNo, she could be lulling you into a trap! All humans and even dragons do that to his kind!\n\nBut…\n\nThis was away from those built human caves elsewhere.\n\nNo, enough is\u0026nbsp;enough!\n\nYes, he's caused trouble eating that nice, scrumptious,\u0026nbsp;juicy\u0026nbsp;chicken, but at the very least he must\u0026nbsp;apologize.\n\nHe had to be honest despite his species.\n\nThe running away had to end at some point.\n\nAnd so, he did the\u0026nbsp;unthinkable.\n\nShelby, after waiting but a minute or two, almost to the point of assuming that they had left, the most unbelievable and astonishing thing happened.\n\nShe didn't know whether to jump out of her own skin or stand in…awe\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;shock.\n\nLike crawling out of a hole, two limbs came out of the wall, the right first and the left second.\n\nThey were\u0026nbsp;forelegs, ghostly white and ethereal, partially translucent. They each ended in the characteristic three-clawed paws of Dragonkind.\n\nIt was a\u0026nbsp;dragon\u0026nbsp;alright…\n\nThey had each forepaw pushing against the wall, and…\n\nIn came the head and neck, along with a part of the upper body.\n\nHead being lift up a bit, it phased through the kitchen wall as if it was nothing more than\u0026nbsp;thin air. The scales were every bit as white as their legs.\n\nThey slowly brought their head up to hers.\n\nEyes contacted her brown ones.\n\nBright, shining\u0026nbsp;sapphire\u0026nbsp;eyes.\n\nThey had…\n\nConfliction?\n\nWhat was even happening?\n\nIt was a dragon. Scales as white as sheet. Partially in the wall, partially visible. Eyes brighter than any mere stone or even star.\n\nTheir horns were also unusual, as instead of twisting, curving, or curling at all, they went straight back. They were perfect cones that had the shade of light grey that pointed towards the back of their skull.\n\nIt was like some middle-schooler glued two of the three-dimensional model shapes from geometry class on the rear of their head.\n\nTheir chest plates, in contrast to the scales, were a darker grey, nearly ash-colored, barely, but just enough to stand out from the snowy shade.\n\nShe gasped as her hands moved to close in on her mouth in surprise, but she stopped midway through.\n\nWhat…\n\nWhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat…\n\nWhat…\n\nW-W-Wha…\n\nW-What was this?\n\nA\u0026nbsp;dragon?\n\nIn her\u0026nbsp; **wall**!?\n\nAnd the scales! No dragon had white scales! What was this?\n\nWas…\n\nDid she go insane?\n\nWas some psychic dragon playing tricks on her mind to rob her or something?\n\nGod, this didn't make sense!\n\nJust…what the hell was going on!?\n\nAnd it was…\n\nA…ghost?\n\nWere they…dead?\n\nA spirit haunting her?\n\nWas she\u0026nbsp;dying?\n\nOr…\n\nOr did she get drunk and got a hangover?\n\nNo. She might have actually gone mad…\n\nHow was…any\u0026nbsp;of this happening!?\n\nOh…\n\nOh no…\n\nHe…\n\nHe scared her!\n\nBut…\n\nShe didn't…run away?\n\nWhy?\n\nDid…\n\nDid she not know that he was a drake?\n\nAnd her eyes…\n\nThey were a plain brown, like of the outer tree bark, but he knew that those orbs spoke of the soul.\n\nShe had fear, but also mixed with…\n\nOh Bahamut, what was it?\n\n…Curiosity?\n\nChildlike wonder?\n\nThis was…\n\nNo, it didn't have logic to it, it just couldn't!\n\nHumans have always ran, screamed, and got out those boom sticks at the first sight of him.\n\nBut her? She didn't.\n\nHe could've pondered this for a while, but his brain brought him back up to reality.\n\nThe woman was…scared.\n\nWell, not\u0026nbsp;mortified\u0026nbsp;scared, but scared nevertheless.\n\nNo, he needed to apologize. It wasn't his place to defend himself.\n\nAfterall, stealing was never something he was happy with doing, even to just live another day.\n\nHe opened his semi-visible jaws up, furrowing his scaled brows in shame and guilt, while starting stared, but sweeping his head to the right to not catch her gaze.\n\n“I-I'm so sorry, I-I…\"\n\nNo, why was he apologizing at all?\n\nIt wasn't like she was going to forgive him anyways.\n\nOh.\n\nThe voice…\n\nA\u0026nbsp;drake…\n\nHe sounded…\n\nRemorseful?\n\nWhat…\n\nWait, for eating her chicken?\n\nWell, she did spend some good money on it, but…\n\nShe saw his chest plates.\n\nThey were…\n\nOh.\n\nOh God.\n\nHe was\u0026nbsp;thin.\n\nIt wasn't like the healthy dragons she's seen in town.\n\nShe could see the outline of his ribs, not exactly on the verge of caving in, but with just enough muscles to keep on living.\n\nThat was, if he\u0026nbsp;was\u0026nbsp;even alive.\n\nHe looked famished.\n\nIt suddenly made sense.\n\nThey didn't want to steal, but they were close to dying and scared, and when he was caught out, he didn't speed off like some skittish cat, but returned to say sorry.\n\nPoor thing.\n\nWhile her sleep and funds were now less than before, it didn't matter. This drake needed the comfort that it was fine, that it wasn't his fault.\n\nShe bucked up and spoke as he was about to turn and literally leave\u0026nbsp;through\u0026nbsp;her house.\n\n“N-No, i-it's okay. R-Really, it is. J-Just…what…\"\n\nGod, she\u0026nbsp;was\u0026nbsp;losing it.\n\nWhat?\n\nHe perked up once her voice reached his ear holes.\n\nShe was…fine\u0026nbsp;with it?\n\nWhat…\n\nBahamut, please…speak\u0026nbsp;to him! He needed guidance.\n\nAnd her question…\n\nWait…\n\nWas…\n\nWas she asking…what he\u0026nbsp;was?\n\nAfterall, his kind didn't go off to showoff themselves to the world around, not since…\n\nNo! No. It simply made sense why. She's never seen his species up close before and in a calm setting without hostility.\n\nNo, she at least deserved it. Then, after that, he should leave. He knew he caused enough harm already.\n\nHe faced forward again but regained that nervous and sheepish look again like he broke something by accident.\n\n“I-I'm really sorry…I…\"\n\nAgain with the apology.\n\nBahamut, he was horrible.\n\n“I-I'm…\", he started with more confidence.\n\nNo, you have to try. You can't be this terrible at conversation!\n\nIt wasn't like he talked to, well, really\u0026nbsp;anybody\u0026nbsp;for a long time.\n\n“W-What am I? I-I'm…\"\n\nThe moment of truth.\n\nShelby paid the utmost attention.\n\n“I'm…I-I-I'm.\"\n\n“I-I'm a…g-ghost\u0026nbsp;dragon.\"\n\nShe struggled to stop opening her mouth or move her hands and arms around like a maniac.\n\nA…A…\n\nA-A\u0026nbsp;g-ghost dragon!?\n\nShelby couldn't believe it.\n\nThis was…\n\nThis was a new species! In the world of dragons and humans!\n\nShe found a new dragon race!\n\nYes, God, it all made sense!\n\nHe could make himself invisible and walk through…well…possibly anything, l-like a\u0026nbsp;ghost!\n\nOh Lord, she couldn't believe it!\n\nShe was the first human to come into peaceful contact with the…ghost dragons…\n\nWait…\n\nWaaaaaaiiitwaitwaitwait…\n\nWait a hot minute.\n\nIf these dragons existed, then…\n\nThen why didn't they become a part of human society?\n\nEverybody knows all dragon species under the Sun became integral to society.\n\nAnd so, that begs the question.\n\nWhy didn't ghost dragons…y'know…reveal\u0026nbsp;themselves?\n\nWere they solitary? Or…\n\nWait…\n\nThe drake was\u0026nbsp;starving.\n\nWhy would he be starving?\n\nIf he were hungry, why wouldn't they hunt or even stay behind in the isolated dragon world? At least then they wouldn't need to be constantly reminded of everything wrong with human nature.\n\nIt simply made no sense.\n\nThe drake bent his brows in concern and resentment once more.\n\nThe reveal likely came as a shock to her.\n\nNo, you can't tell her too much! Or else they will know more about you, know how to\u0026nbsp;hurt\u0026nbsp;you, a-and…\n\nNo. She was kind and…surprisingly\u0026nbsp;calm. She didn't run away like some grazed wild animal.\n\nNo, Bahamut, that just made him feel worse!\n\nHe ate her food, and here he was, trying to convince himself that he didn't want to, that he had no choice.\n\nSuch a life as a ghost drake…\n\nIt was wrong, and he knew it. Yes, he revealed to her his secret, but now that it's out in the world, he just felt more and more\u0026nbsp;guilty.\n\nIs this what his kind has become?\n\nWhy…why…\n\nHe started turning to the right, turning his neck around, while twisting his head to make contact with her.\n\nThose brown, hazel eyes…\n\n“I-I'm sorry. I-I should leave, I…\"\n\nShelby broke out of her stupor.\n\nHe's…sorry?\n\nSorry for what?\n\nHe seemed to be on the end of his rope. A little of food wouldn't…\n\nWait.\n\nH-He's…\n\nH-He's leaving!?\n\nHe was just about to phase his left foreleg and his throat through her wall when she spoke to the mysterious and apologetic drake once more.\n\n“N-No, i-it's okay, b-but…\"\n\nNo, Bahamut, it wasn't okay! He wasn't okay!\n\nHe shouldn't be here, just…\n\n“…w-were you\u0026nbsp;hungry?\"\n\nHe froze at that.\n\nIt was a simple question.\n\nWere you hungry?\n\nRegardless of everything he did to this woman.\n\nBreaking into her shelter, her cold box, her\u0026nbsp;tasty\u0026nbsp;meat inside.\n\nYes, regardless of everything, she was asking if he was hungry?\n\nWhat…\n\nNo. Bahamut no.\n\nShe…\n\nShe couldn't be fine with him eating the chicken…right?\n\nNo, it was selfish of him to think of such a thing.\n\nB-But then…\n\nWhy would she ask otherwise?\n\nIt seemed…honest.\n\nWhat?\n\nA\u0026nbsp;human\u0026nbsp;was honest?\n\nNo, even dragons weren't honest! It just wasn't possible!\n\nBut still, the drake halted.\n\nNo, at the very least she deserved an explanation.\n\nAfterall, he was invading on her home in the middle of the night. The drake knew that humans and most dragons everywhere preferred the Sun of the day rather than the Moon of the night.\n\nNo, the drake understood.\n\nIt was only fair. She was true in every word she said.\n\nHe could feel it, no, see it in her eyes and mind.\n\nHe looked away to the right, averting from her gaze to avoid judgement.\n\nIt was shameful to admit, but being truthful is better than being a liar.\n\n“Y-Yes…\"\n\nThere.\n\nHe said it.\n\nOh Bahamut, please don't make her angry and get a boom stick out to kill him…\n\nHe faced fearful faces and angry roars and shouts. He just didn't want them to appear in the one time he did the right thing.\n\nPlease…Bahamut please…\n\nShe had to suppress a gasp.\n\nHer theories were right.\n\nHe was hunting down foodstuffs due to struggling to find any nourishment, and the clearly visible rib cage meant that he was on his last legs.\n\nHe…she…\n\nNo.\n\nShe wasn't selfish. It was only right.\n\nNo,\u0026nbsp;he\u0026nbsp;deserved it, not her.\n\nHe was about to glide into the other room like the night sky as she asked him again.\n\nOh God.\n\nWas she really doing this?\n\nInviting a previously unknown dragon species? Into her home?\n\nUgh…\n\nShe just hoped that the sleep deprivation didn't make her forget this.\n\nThat was, if she was even awake and not dreaming…\n\n“H-Hey. Y-You can have some more if you want, I-I mean…\"\n\nNo, he knew it. She was mad at him and-\n\n**Bahamut what!?**\n\nHis eyes widened.\n\nWhat!?\n\nWhatwhatwhatwhatwhat…\n\nShe…\n\nS-She…\n\nShe was…inviting\u0026nbsp;him for more?\n\nNo, it had to be a trap, it had to be!\n\nB-But…\n\nNo…it couldn't be…\n\nHe saw it in her warm woody gaze.\n\nIt was…genuine.\n\nIt was…pure kindness…\n\nWhat…\n\nH-How was this possible? It shouldn't be!\n\nB-But…\n\nI-It was…\n\nHe felt…\n\n…Warmness?\n\nNo, he usually hated warmth! All ghost dragons did! B-But…\n\nWhy was he feeling this way?\n\nWas it…\n\nBahamut.\n\nShe was honest. There were no falsehoods.\n\nShe was inviting him to eat.\n\nWhat?\n\nTo eat despite trespassing on her territory?\n\nNo, it was supposed to be wrong.\n\nNo, it didn't matter if she was generous! It was\u0026nbsp;wrong! He shouldn't be here! No, she shouldn't have to feel obligated to this! To\u0026nbsp;him!\n\nOh Bahamut, he was horrible!\n\n“N-No, I-I shouldn't, I-I…\"\n\nOh.\n\nOh God.\n\nHe was…guilty?\n\nOhhhhh…\n\nNow she felt awful.\n\nHe was feeling guilt-ridden, which meant that he didn't want to trouble her. He felt that he caused her grief by encroaching on her house.\n\nYes, in reality, it was\u0026nbsp;wrong.\n\nBut look at him! He looked like he hadn't eaten in days if not a week!\n\nAnd besides, dragons were people like them. They've been through enough.\n\nIt was only\u0026nbsp;right.\n\n“N-No, I-I insist.\"\n\nW-What…\n\nWhat…\n\nMaybe…\n\nJust\u0026nbsp;maybe…\n\nJust…maybe this human was different.\n\nMaybe…\n\n* * *\n\nEverything calmed down, well, for the moment anyways.\n\nShelby's house was without contained chaos or complete, and yet, no utter stillness, like the world has always, with silence to boot.\n\nWell, silent except for the chewing of poultry in draconic teeth.\n\nThe drake was next to the sink once more, standing on his rear legs while his forepaws pushed down his dinner to rip chunks out when necessary, engulfing bits and pieces of the meat with his powerful jaw as he went on to feast on it while Shelby just sat down on the chair on the end of the island, her back facing the wall where he came out of.\n\nThe dragon, however, was no longer an apparition-like presence.\n\nThe drake, one with the powers of a phantom, was a more, well,\u0026nbsp;solid\u0026nbsp;form.\n\nInstead of being partially see-through, he was now an actual physical matter and not phasing though anything, although that was one of his specialties.\n\nIt really showcased his bone-pale scales and his darker grey chest plates more than when he walked through her wall, and his\u0026nbsp;piercing\u0026nbsp;icy-blue eyes stood out the most on him.\n\nWell, she tried her best to pay attention to his figure as opposed to his actual eating because, well, to be blunt, he had the table manners of a\u0026nbsp;toddler.\n\nThe ghost dragon utterly\u0026nbsp;demolished\u0026nbsp;the chicken. The drake growled and growled as he wolfed down the seasoned bird, stretching the skin and ripping and tearing the white and dark meat within. Sometimes while he razed the once-well preserved avian with his Bahamut-given, he shredded the poor supper to bits, coating them in the slippery grease from the supermarket. \u0026nbsp;Whenever he encountered a bone, he just simply smashed down his jaws, breaking them into fragments from a whole, the powdery brown marrow being swallowed with the cartilage and tendons. \u0026nbsp;The smacking of his sharpened knife-like teeth sounded out in the room the whole time as he tore through one of the first meals in a while for him before he swallowed the delicious food down his gullet, coating his mouth and throat in the juices. His mouth even watered a bunch, plopping onto the countertop as he mindlessly ate the gracious donation from the woman.\n\nWhile anybody would've been…well,\u0026nbsp;appalled\u0026nbsp;at such a sight, this was a dragon we were talking about, one that was so,\u0026nbsp;so\u0026nbsp;famished at that.\n\nWell, yes, Shelby winced and cringed a bit upon the drake chowing down on the precooked bird like some ravenous wolf, but it made sense.\n\nEverything in this world had some rhyme or reason to it.\n\nThis was no exception.\n\nWhile she would admit that the lack of manners would offend anybody, she was willing to let it slide for the benefit of another.\n\nThe benefit of this\u0026nbsp;drake.\n\nTo be fair, she was doing all she could to keep her mind off the drake slurping the darker meat of the chicken, but still, her mind was just simply swimming around in all the information bombarding her brain.\n\nLike…a\u0026nbsp;ghost dragon!\n\nA species that hasn't been discovered yet!\n\nGod, just…think of the possibilities!\n\nThe world ought to know about such a dragon race existing!\n\nAfterall, Dragonkind was still blending in, but surely Humanity would be ecstatic to find another type of dragon to add to the list of people to improve everyday life and make it seem…brighter.\n\nBut then, that begged the question.\n\nWhy was he being so…well,\u0026nbsp;sheepish?\n\nUsually dragons were rather…prideful, always so brave in the face of danger.\n\nThe thing about was that any other dragon would've knocked her out, or even worse, murder her for food if they could just sneak into her house and slit her throat and claw out her organs in her sleep, but…\n\nH-He didn't?\n\nIt just didn't make sense.\n\nOr, well, it didn't make sense from an\u0026nbsp;outsider's\u0026nbsp;perspective.\n\nAny other dragon probably would've scoffed at the drake being so anxious despite the fact that he gulped down the foodstuff in front of her, not paying any attention to her despite their talk before he, well, just walked through her\u0026nbsp;damn\u0026nbsp;wall.\n\nNo, they just had interests like humans did, and they were willing to do pretty much anything to reach out and grab it, like the golden ticket to paradise.\n\nThe only difference was that their differences allowed dragons to take it and hold on to it for the short term due to their powers, but never beyond that, while humans had to work harder for such things, but once they achieved it, their accomplishments and privileges with it were all set in stone.\n\nGranted, the biggest bit of logic to why this drake was acting this way was evidenced by his\u0026nbsp;body.\n\nIt wasn't too obvious if you were to just scan over his frame, but almost anybody with even\u0026nbsp;some\u0026nbsp;thought would notice it.\n\nHis\u0026nbsp;chest.\n\nLike a spider grabbing onto prey, his rib cage was clearly visible, er, well, when he was like this what with his unexpected ability to become translucent.\n\nOkay. He undoubtedly hasn't eaten anything in, well, a\u0026nbsp;while.\n\nBut…\n\nWhy?\n\nSurely a dragon with their natural gifts of teeth, claws, strength, speed, senses, instincts, and whatever Earth-defying power would have nothing but a\u0026nbsp;breeze\u0026nbsp;of a time to just fly over to a nearby set of forests to snatch up at least a doe or a two-point.\n\n…R-Right?\n\nNo,\u0026nbsp;no. Think about it.\n\nClearly this drake has all that, sharpened fangs and all.\n\nSo…\n\nWhy was this drake this way?\n\nWas it…competition?\n\nNo, that couldn't be. With his ability to go through solid matter, it should be\u0026nbsp;mindlessly\u0026nbsp;simple to just divebomb and rip and tear at prey without any chance of interference. He should be\u0026nbsp;ahead\u0026nbsp;of all the competition, not be held up by it!\n\nB-But…\n\nH-He was\u0026nbsp;starving! Er, well, not\u0026nbsp;anymore, but still!\n\nA dragon shouldn't have this problem, even with the revised laws to let dragons hunt down as much game as they want while giving some room to let the critters repopulate and give the humans a chance.\n\nSo…\n\nWhat was the problem?\n\nWas it…\n\nWas it a\u0026nbsp;skill\u0026nbsp;issue?\n\nNo, Shelby, are even listening to yourself?\n\nDragons were naturals when it comes to the hunt. It's in their blood.\n\nGod.\n\nHumans only get as much as they do thanks to their new-fangled technology in\u0026nbsp;addition\u0026nbsp;to learning skills instead of having such privileges when they were out of the womb.\n\nSo…what was the\u0026nbsp;issue?\n\nWas there something here that she just couldn't see?\n\nNo. It didn't make enough sense to make dollars.\n\nUnless…\n\nUnless…\n\nHe…\n\nNo.\n\nNo, that couldn't be! Shelby, what were you thinking?\n\nThere was no way he could be…\n\nThe drake was just finishing up, his mind occupied solely with finally getting the last bits of food in his belly. His stomach was a bit full despite a dragon usually having much more capacity in their body, but after such a lack of sustenance and the fat of his body being eaten up inside him, it felt like so much. And while even he would admit that it didn't seem super healthy given the excessive grease going down his throat as a byproduct of smacking his jaws on literally the\u0026nbsp;entire\u0026nbsp;chicken, it would do.\n\nNow, all that was left was a few miscellaneous scraps that fell from in between his icy teeth.\n\nWell, except a small chunk next to its left leg from his view, or, um, well, the leg that\u0026nbsp;was\u0026nbsp;there before he inevitably gnawed it to pieces. It had an ample amount of skin on it with some darkened meat left over.\n\nThen, out of everything that happened, another one of the more bizarre occurred.\n\nThe drake, with uncaring eyes and mind, somehow…\n\nHe…\n\nH-H-He…\n\nH-He…just…\n\nHe just…floated\u0026nbsp;it up.\n\nLike\u0026nbsp;magic.\n\nTo his waiting forepaws.\n\nShelby, with widened eyes, suddenly opened her mouth up a bit as he did that whilst he sat on his rump.\n\nW-What…\n\nWhat…\n\nWhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat…\n\nDear God.\n\nYep.\n\nShelby, you have now officially gone\u0026nbsp;crazy.\n\nHowever, while Shelby shut her mouth into deep contemplation, about what else this drake could do, the ghost dragon noticed it with his peripheral vision and halted when the last morsel was about to be torn in his draconic dagger-like teeth.\n\nOh.\n\nOh\u0026nbsp;Bahamut.\n\nHe lost himself to possibly his last meal on this planet for a long time, ruining the cooked yet cool meat that this woman owned, with little care for formalities.\n\nBahamut, he was like some\u0026nbsp;coyote\u0026nbsp;that fed on the weak and the unprotected in those wide fields, like cattle in the night while their defenses were basically gone.\n\nIt didn't matter if it was\u0026nbsp;easier, it was\u0026nbsp;wrong.\n\nAnd yet, the drake felt that he\u0026nbsp;disrespected\u0026nbsp;her in that regard.\n\nOh Bahamut. He probably gave off a terrible first impression.\n\nIf there was one thing he knew about humans, it was that they were incredibly\u0026nbsp;judgmental.\n\nIt made complete sense if one were to really think about it. Afterall, while they had those boom sticks and rather effective shelters, their bodies were so fragile.\n\nIt wasn't like a prey would be too keen on keeping a predator around.\n\nBahamut.\n\nHe was\u0026nbsp;horrible.\n\nHe looked down at the countertop, his paws, and some of his neck.\n\nTheir were not only a few tiny shreds of the scraps of chicken, but also the sheen of oily grease.\n\nAnd she opened her mouth.\n\nWait, why?\n\nWhat…\n\nOh.\n\nOh Bahamut.\n\nHe was so,\u0026nbsp;so\u0026nbsp;awful…\n\nHe floated up the last chunk with his powers and it shocked her.\n\nOf course, she didn't say anything as she looked down on herself.\n\nNo!\u0026nbsp;Bahamut, look what you've done! What kind of dragon are you!? You're a\u0026nbsp;terrible\u0026nbsp;guest! You ruined\u0026nbsp;everything! Bahamut, what is the\u0026nbsp;matter\u0026nbsp;with you?\n\nHe suddenly drew more into himself, his nervousness getting the better of him as he looked downcast, ashamed.\n\nWhat…\n\nW-What could he do?\n\nThis human, this woman, gave him the utmost kindness and generosity despite his species, giving him something he needed to live another day, and he made a complete mockery of her hospitality.\n\nBahamut have mercy on him.\n\nHe had to think up something, anything to make it up to her.\n\nAnything…\n\nWhat could a disgraceful drake like him possibly do?\n\nWhat?\n\nOh.\n\nWell…\n\nIt…wasn't an\u0026nbsp;excuse…\n\nOr…was\u0026nbsp;it?\n\nWas it just a\u0026nbsp;reason? A\u0026nbsp;justification?\n\nHe thought about it a bit more before he came up with, well…something.\n\nHe lowered his forepaws holding the skinned flesh of a once-living creature as he opened his maw a bit.\n\n“Uhhh…\"\n\nOh Bahamut.\n\nLook what…\n\nHe wanted to claw himself for being so stupid and squander this chance to do something.\n\nHowever, it caught Shelby's attention, her mind still racking over such impossibilities.\n\nH-How could…\n\nOnce he spoke again and looked to the right anxiously and his scaled brows bending in stress, as if he broke some precious porcelain, she looked over to him.\n\nOh.\n\nOh God.\n\nHe likely noticed that he was acting like a ravenous cougar, what with the clawing and chomping.\n\nAgain, it made sense, but…\n\nShe wanted to sigh.\n\nHowever, he spoke once more, eyes still rolled and staring away from her, as if ashamed to meet her glance to spare him some punishment.\n\n“Sorry for making the mess. I haven't had any food as of late.\"\n\nYeah, no\u0026nbsp;shit.\n\nBut again, why?\n\nAs such, Shelby faced him with her hazel eyes and popped the question, confused and her mind trying to distract her from the physic-defying act of his ability to pull things on an invisible string like purple-scaled psychic dragons.\n\n“U-Ummm, w-why do you have trouble finding a doe or something? I-I mean, there are forests everywhere, I mean…\"\n\nW-What?\n\nOh.\n\nO-Oh….\n\nShe was asking about his…condition.\n\nIf one were to fill out the boxes, this one wouldn't compute and be shaded in.\n\nIt made no sense.\n\nShe noticed it too. She knew that he was a dragon, and as such, didn't understand why he would be having difficulties obtaining sustenance from game.\n\nIt wasn't a question criticizing him, it was one of…confusion, of…curiosity.\n\nIt was\u0026nbsp;innocent.\u0026nbsp;She\u0026nbsp;was innocent. She just wanted to know, not because she found his presence offensive, but because logic was absent.\n\nThe drake thought about it.\n\nNo, think about it.\n\nIt wasn't much. He wasn't much at this point. Bahamut knows. However, it was worth a shot.\n\nAgain, she deserved it for her troubles that\u0026nbsp;he\u0026nbsp;caused.\n\nBahamut.\n\nWhy does this keep happening to him?\n\nAlways messing up over and over…\n\n“W-Why? U-Um…w-well…I-I've had trouble finding some deer around these parts.\"\n\nOkay.\n\nBut…\n\nB-But why?\n\nDo dragons…a-always have this problem? B-But it made no sense! Nothing did!\n\nBut the next thing that he said put a stop to all of those thoughts in her head.\n\n\u0026nbsp;“Yes, uhh, many of us have been struggling as of late.\"\n\nOh.\n\nOh.\n\nOh.\n\nO-Oh…\n\nO-Oh God.\n\nT-They've…\n\nT-Them…\n\nT-The ghost dragons…\n\nT-They've been…struggling?\n\nB-But…\n\nThey c-can go through things! They can float things up to their maw! God, they could make themselves invisible for Christ's sakes! They could kill anything in their sleep!\n\nWhat…\n\nWait.\n\nShe thought about it from another angle.\n\nOn one hand, they would be feared beyond belief if they were known about. Even the greatest of walls couldn't contain them and they would be one of the greatest threats in the whole world.\n\nBut on the other…\n\nIf knowledge about their existence were in the history books and in Dragonkind's conscience, then…\n\nT-Then…\n\nThey would not just be feared.\n\nT-They…\n\nC-Could they be…?\n\nOh.\n\nOh God.\n\nShe gained a face of great concern with a sprinkling of shock and horror.\n\nThe drake instantly noticed this, darting his icy blue ices to the woman.\n\nNo!\n\nWhat have you done!?\n\nThere's no denying it.\n\nYou are one of the worst dragons to exist! Everyone was right! Why couldn't he listen?\n\n“Uh, I-I'm sorry, n-no, I-I shouldn't drag you into my troubles.\u0026nbsp;S-Sorry, I-I…\", the white-scaled drake said, shaking his head a bit.\n\nHe…\n\nW-What?\n\nHe…\n\nH-He was\u0026nbsp;apologizing?\n\nFor what?\n\nOh…\n\nOh God…\n\nShe just realized.\n\nHe was very\u0026nbsp;timid, and, at least to her, above all,\u0026nbsp;selfless.\n\nHe thought that talking about this, no,\u0026nbsp;all\u0026nbsp;of this, him going through her walls close to midnight and everything, was his fault.\n\nHe was desperate, and yet, he blamed nobody except\u0026nbsp;himself. He took full responsibility, and yet, he didn't want to make her worry, to make her feel like that he deserved such a thing.\n\nThe\u0026nbsp;shittiest\u0026nbsp;people always felt\u0026nbsp;entitled\u0026nbsp;and the best ones put others above\u0026nbsp;themselves.\n\nAnd entitled, he was\u0026nbsp;not.\n\nHe was a nervous mess, like a young boy who struggled to admit he made a mistake not because he cared about himself, but because of the disappointment that would follow.\n\nThe fear of\u0026nbsp;failure.\n\nNo. None of this was his fault. He was doing it just to live! It wasn't anything wrong with him, it was just a terrible situation.\n\nNo, she had to reassure him, that it was alright, that he had nothing to be afraid of.\n\nWell, um, she herself was…uneasy\u0026nbsp;about it all.\n\nThis was a new species, one that did God knows what, and what she just witnessed was slowly convincing her that it was just a\u0026nbsp;dream.\n\nNo, that didn't matter. This was a person, a person who was meant to be cherished, to be cared for.\n\nYes, even Shelby would admit that she had…a few…mixed\u0026nbsp;feelings about the dragon race inhabiting their world, but this…this\u0026nbsp;drake\u0026nbsp;was just like them.\n\nConfused, scared, always believing that even the slightest mistake will admit them to a trip to an early grave.\n\nIt wasn't anybody's fault. It was simply how\u0026nbsp;change\u0026nbsp;happened.\n\nThey were\u0026nbsp;people. Like them.\n\n“N-No, t-there's nothing to be sorry for.\"\n\nThe drake, looking at the woman's eyes saw…\n\nH-He saw…\n\nTruth.\n\nWith some…\n\nOh Bahamut, what was it?\n\nKindness?\u0026nbsp;Genorosity?\n\nPeace?\u0026nbsp;Tranquility?\n\nWhat was that feeling of…acceptance? Of\u0026nbsp;reassurance?\n\nThe feeling that he wasn't alone, or even one to blame?\n\nNo, listen to yourself…\n\nThis was your fault!\n\nBut…\n\nWas it?\n\nHe broke contact with the human's hazel orbs and stared down at the last remnants of his supper, now in deep thought.\n\nAnd just like that, silence consumed the both of them.\n\nThe drake slowly but surely bending his neck down to take a bite out of the now slightly warm and definitely moist breast of the chicken with the last hanging piece of skin on it.\n\nFor the white-scaled drake looking a bit forward and down at the same time with furrowed brows, the process was mindless, almost automatic as he just went through the motions again and again, just bending down taking some meat in his teeth, chewing, swallowing, taking some air in, repeat.\n\nOver and\u0026nbsp;over…\n\nAnd…\n\nHow…\n\nH-How long was he here? No, how long were\u0026nbsp;they\u0026nbsp;were here? In the middle of this shelter? In the dead of night?\n\nDragons didn't know the concept of time except for the light dragons and the elusive members of their species of the shadow variety, with only the day's Sun and the nights Moon and stars to tell them.\n\nWell, that and many didn't even know what in Bahamut's name a\u0026nbsp;clock\u0026nbsp;was.\n\nBut to Shelby, it became\u0026nbsp;too much.\n\nIt's all too much.\n\nSo much information and possibilities. Should she do this or that? Should she think this or that? Was this even real life?\n\nHow could all of this happen?\n\nDear Lord…\n\nWas it…\n\nW-Was it a\u0026nbsp;sign\u0026nbsp;of some sort?\n\nNo, this was no\u0026nbsp;coincidence.\n\nAnd the thing was, it was better that\u0026nbsp;she\u0026nbsp;was possibly the first to have peaceful contact with the ghost dragon race.\n\nWho knows what would've happened if someone less…accepting\u0026nbsp;of his situation would have reacted.\n\nChrist…\n\nProbably by putting a cap in his skull and hanging him up on the wall like an ornament despite a likely arrest by the law.\n\nBut…\n\nWait.\n\nHow...\n\nHow long…\n\nShe gazed at the green digital clock on the refrigerator as the drake kept to himself, only making the sounds of meticulously, or even intentionally slow chewing to likely contemplate everything as well.\n\nIt was…\n\n1:42 A.M.\n\nShit.\n\nAlmost two hours went by and it was almost two in the morning…\n\nNo, time shouldn't matter, not now.\n\nHowever, as if some divine intervention was taking place, the drake\u0026nbsp;finished.\n\nHe popped the last bit inside of his cage of teeth and chomped on it before swallowing it.\n\nIt lost flavor at some point, but it didn't matter.\n\nHe was\u0026nbsp;alive, and would\u0026nbsp;continue\u0026nbsp;to be alive.\n\nAll thanks to this\u0026nbsp;woman.\n\nHe…\n\nHe didn't think this night would turn out like this.\n\nAnd, in some ways, it was his\u0026nbsp;fault.\n\nOr…ughhh! He didn't know what it was!\n\nHe didn't know what was even happening anymore.\n\nBut facts were facts, and facts were\u0026nbsp;reality.\n\nHe ate something that this woman owned. It didn't matter if she insisted. He ate it, something that she most certainly had to put in some effort, work, and energy to get.\n\nAnd he ate it all.\n\nWas he horrible? Most likely. But was he? He didn't know.\n\nBahamut, just give me a sign…\n\nAnd the sign was his empty forepaws now on the hard grey and squared kitchen floor.\n\nHe must've returned them to the ground despite the slick grease on their pads and claws.\n\nWhelp, he ruined her\u0026nbsp;floors\u0026nbsp;too.\n\nNo, his presence wasn't needed, or, well,\u0026nbsp;wanted\u0026nbsp;for that matter.\n\nHe caused this woman enough grief already.\n\nHe didn't\u0026nbsp;belong.\n\nHe didn't belong\u0026nbsp;anywhere.\n\nHe took a sharp breath.\n\nAnd started\u0026nbsp;walking.\n\nHe turned to his left and went into a slow, but intentioned stride on the side of the counter and sick and towards where he originally came out of.\n\nShelby noticed right away when he finished and began padding along for the first time in what felt like forever.\n\nShe didn't want him to feel bad.\n\nShe wasn't on bad graces or even feel offended, but she felt…conflicted.\n\nIt was like rush hour. Too much to focus on and feeling it's impossible to put any thought to all of it.\n\nHowever, what made her get off the chair and towards him despite his speed outdoing her hop off the seat was his voice.\n\nHe spoke.\n\n“I-I'm\u0026nbsp;sorry, I-I shouldn't be here. I-I'm sorry, I-I…\"\n\nSorry?\n\nAgain?\n\nNo, it was fine! It was always fine!\n\nWhat…\n\nOof…\n\nThey were both a\u0026nbsp;mess.\n\nHe was closing on the wall right next to her vase filled with her dog's ashes.\n\nShe held out her the palm of her right hand as she got off her chair with a worried look, as if to stop him.\n\nNo, while yes, they both had separate lives, he shouldn't leave ashamed!\n\n“W-Wait! I-It's okay, there's nothing to be sorry for, I-I…\"\n\nIt was as if her reassurance fell on deaf ears, as he was about to contact the wall, as if it was nothing more than thin air to him.\n\nNo, he wasn't wanted.\n\nNot\u0026nbsp;here, not\u0026nbsp;elsewhere.\n\nThey\u0026nbsp;never\u0026nbsp;were.\n\nHe was about to become partially translucent once again to become intangible, when the woman halted behind him upon knowing that chasing him would figuratively and literally be the equivalent of\u0026nbsp;crashing into a wall.\n\nBut she asked a question.\n\nA question that would change\u0026nbsp;everything.\n\nChange them.\n\nSomething to change their lives\u0026nbsp;forever.\n\n“W-Will you come back?\"\n\nWait…\n\nW-What?\n\nW-Why did she ask that?\n\nTo Shelby, it was a last ditch effort for…something.\n\nShe didn't say their first meeting was smooth sailing, but it was…so…fascinating.\n\nDragons\u0026nbsp;were fascinating. They always were.\n\nAnd besides, who wouldn't want a drake that doubled as a ghost?\n\nGod, she must be going mad…\n\n“Y-You can come back…\"\n\nFor the drake, he flinched and stopped for a few seconds in surprise.\n\nWhat…\n\nWait…\n\nShe…\n\nS-She asked if her was going to…\n\nT-To\u0026nbsp;return!?\n\nB-But…\n\n…\n\n…\n\n…\n\n…W-Why?\n\nWhat…\n\nNo, his presence should be\u0026nbsp;revolting! He was a\u0026nbsp;ghost dragon, what…\n\nBahamut, this didn't make any sense.\n\nAnd at the same time, he didn't think he was ever\u0026nbsp;meant\u0026nbsp;to.\n\nAfterall, humans were such complex creatures, probably even more than\u0026nbsp;them.\n\nBut why?\n\nHmmmm…\n\nNo, he shouldn't rack his brain over this right now. He needed to give this human some rest from him, at least right now.\n\nHe would consider it.\n\nHe\u0026nbsp;was\u0026nbsp;indebted to her after this night after all…\n\nHe gave no response. With his back turned to her, he just became partially invisible and strolled on through the wall, the physical matter nothing more than water to him, he tip of his tail tailing behind him vanishing as well.\n\nWhat…\n\nH-He just\u0026nbsp;left?\n\nWait, no!\n\nShe…\n\nShe had to know his name, know something of certainty about him.\n\nKnow that he was\u0026nbsp;real\u0026nbsp;not just\u0026nbsp;fantasy.\n\nNo, he…\n\nWait…\n\nWhat…\n\nW-Why would she…\n\nNo, she didn't…\n\nS-She didn't know.\n\nIt just…\n\nI-It just…happened.\n\n“W-What's your name?\"\n\nThe drake, once he crossed the barrier, held still.\n\nW-What?\n\nBahamut, what…\n\nHe heard her as clearly as the day he actually\u0026nbsp;disliked.\n\nA-A…\n\nH-His name?\n\nA\u0026nbsp;name.\n\nThe thing that separated you from the animals, an identity, and idea that 'this was you', that you weren't a\u0026nbsp;nobody, but a\u0026nbsp;somebody.\n\nA\u0026nbsp;name.\n\nSuch a powerful thing.\n\nB-But…\n\nS-Should he give her his name?\n\nWhat…\n\nNo, she deserved so much already, what with her boundless generosity he would vow to never forsake and being obligated to her upon possibly saving him from starvation.\n\nIt was something he could give her right now that she earned, to give everybody some peace of mind, to try to make everybody…happy.\n\nAfter holding still for some moments, the drake slowly turned around counterclockwise about one-hundred-eighty degrees on the spot.\n\nShelby then suddenly felt bad.\n\nHe probably left because he likely felt like she didn't want him here despite the fact that it was so,\u0026nbsp;so\u0026nbsp;late at night and that they both, maybe him and\u0026nbsp;especially\u0026nbsp;her, were tired out.\n\nGod…\n\nNow she felt guilty.\n\nShe nearly gave up, until…\n\nThe drake popped out of the wall, his semi-clear form like before coming out, his neck up and head and all, with his forepaws bending and somehow holding on the wall to his sides.\n\nShe met them.\n\nThose eyes of the sky, no, of star shining on ice, of the brightest stone of blue, met hers, the browns of commonality, but that held so much more, with a certain…homeyness to them.\n\nThe drake opened his maw.\n\n“M-My\u0026nbsp;name?\"\n\nBahamut.\n\nEven when he asked it as if he didn't know if he fully understood the weight of it, or if he felt like he was giving a piece of himself away, out into the universe to either embrace or spit him back out as a bloodied pulp.\n\nEverything stopped, including Shelby's current thought process that she was partially to blame besides nature calling them to sleep within their own lives to capture back some energy for the coming day.\n\nOr, well,\u0026nbsp;night…\n\nShe nodded, almost enthusiastically.\n\nHis name. The name of this drake that was…\n\nGod, she couldn't put her finger on it…\n\nSpecial? Different?\n\nOr perhaps…\n\nA friend?\n\nOr was she in fantasyland, where the Sandman was whispering dreams in her ears to lull her to rest?\n\nShe didn't know anymore.\n\nThe drake looked a little down at an angle towards the right, his eyes rolling to that side as well in deep thought.\n\nS-She accepted his offer.\n\nB-But…\n\nNo, this human earned it for possibly\u0026nbsp;saving\u0026nbsp;him.\n\nIt was nothing to take lightly, but this human, this woman, was worthy.\n\nHe just knew it.\n\nOh Lord Bahamut, give me strength…\n\n“S-Sybus.\"\n\nSybus…\n\nThat was his name.\n\nSybus…\n\nThe first ever ghost dragon, probably in all of existence, to have peaceful contact with Humanity just revealed his name.\n\nSybus…\n\nNow, there was only one thing left to make this first contact the best it could.\n\nAn\u0026nbsp;introduction.\n\n“I-I'm\u0026nbsp;Shelby.\", the woman said, placing her right palm on her chest over her heart for a second for emphasis before returning her hand to her side.\n\nShelby…\n\nThe woman who gave him hospitality even though he never deserved it…\n\nYes, this Shelby was different from the other humans.\n\nYes, she was…\n\nSybus nodded a bit in understanding before speaking once more.\n\n“B-Bye Shelby.\"\n\nAnd with that, he curved his neck to the right as he turned around and went on along into the dry wall to disappear into the great unknown, paws, horns, wings, tail, and all.\n\nThen, the woman was left on her own, her house now jarringly and oddly quiet.\n\nAt probably too late of a time to actually think at all.\n\nHowever, one question stood above all the rest, the one that even the greatest minds of her time couldn't even solve, let alone answer.\n\nWas this a dream?\n\nWas she asleep? In her bed?\n\nWas she even alive?\n\nOr…perhaps…\n\nDid she see…a-a\u0026nbsp;ghost?\n\nA friend?\n\nOr…perhaps…\n\nA friendly\u0026nbsp;phantom?","series":{"name":"A Ghost in the Hall (Old)","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/2256366-chapter-2-don-t-scream.json"}}