“Oiiiiii!!! Yueeeee!!!!! Over here!!!” Kai called me over to where he was perched on top of a giant rock. We were currently scouring the forest behind the village, trying to find something valuable to sell at the market. The two of us, along with some our caravan members, were older orphans that were picked up along the troupe’s journey.

What troupe am I talking about? Well, the troupe that picked us up is known to be one of the best dragon hunters out there.  We hunt down dragons that terrorize villages, travelling from village to village while selling dragon ware in-between street performances. However, I’ve never ever hunted down a dragon before. I don’t think I have it in me to….

I quickly climbed my way up towards Kai, grabbing his outstretched hand as he helped me up beside him. “What is it?” I asked him.

“There’s something huge and dark over there,” he quietly said, pointing behind some bushes that were near the tree line. “See? It’s moving again! I think we might find somethi—YAH!! What are you doing?!! Yue!!” I heard Kai harshly yell after me before he followed me, jumping and running down the rocky outing we were on, down into the small clearing and into the forest towards the lump.

Panting, I bent over to catch my breath before stealthily making my way towards the moving lump, still hearing Kai’s harsh whisper from somewhere behind me, telling me to slow down for him. I carefully moved some foliage away and quickly shut my mouth from the sharp intake of breathe that I knew was coming. Before me laid an injured dragon; it was a dark slate gray almost midnight black in the shadow with huge wings. It was so beautiful that I stupidly reached out to touch it. When my fingers skimmed a part of its skin—finding it strangely warm--, the dragon’s eye snapped open, revealing the most beautiful and mesmerizing emerald green I’ve ever seen. I froze on the spot, eyes locking with his, neither one of us moving. That is, until Kai came bumbling in. …Pabo.

“Yue!!” He hissed, but as he realized that I was having a stare down with a dragon, he froze on the spot for a few seconds before he reached an arm towards his sword, drawing it as he moved carefully towards us. “Yue…don’t worry. Just stay still and wait for my command, ok? Nothing bad is going to happen….” He trailed off again, matching glares with the dragon that was no longer watching me.

Then, so quickly, almost as if he teleported, Kai had me pinned to his side, away from the dragon as he continued his locked eye contact, sword raised. “Kai…I don’t think it means any harm. If it did, I think it would’ve bitten me already….” I gave Kai a pleading look, remembering the sickly warmth of the dragon’s scale. “Please?” I asked once more.

“….Yue. It’s a dragon. It’s going to hurt you and I can’t let that happen. Leader would skin me alive if anything happened to you.” He looked down at me quickly before going back to the staring match.

“….” Knowing how stubborn Kai was, I quickly jabbed him in the side with my hand, braking out of his hold, running towards the still dragon.

“Yue!” Kai hissed but didn’t move from his spot since the dragon’s attention was still on him. “What are you doing?!”

I didn’t bother answering him as I checked the dragon over without touching him. As I continue studying over his form, I got more worried. Up close, I could see all his cuts and wounds; some that still had blood sluggishly flowing from them. I turned to address the dragon, only to realize that it was also studying me from its spot.  Reaching a hand out to him, I ask, “Hey, its ok. I’m not going to do anything bad. I just want to help you.” Slowly, I continue reaching out towards its head until I actually touched it. I paused, checking and waiting for its’ reaction—noticing none—before lightly and patting its’ head.

“Yue!!” I twitched when Kai ran over to me, roughing grabbing onto my waist trying to pull me away from the dragon. Only, his action made the dragon’s eye narrow, a growl building up in its chest.

“It’s ok. It’s not going to hurt me, right?” I started off with Kai but finished off looking the dragon in the eye. As if to answer me, it huffed. “See? It’s perfectly fine~” I continued patting its head while I turned to look at Kai. “Please, can we not tell leader about this?” I asked.

“….Yue, you know the leader has to know….” He trailed off.

“Please, just until he gets better? It would be wouldn’t be fair if we hunted the poor thing when it’s this injured. Please Kai?” I asked again.

“….Fine. But only until it gets better, then we’re telling Leader. BUT! If it hurts you in anyway before that, I get to hunt it.” He huffed before plopping down onto the ground. “Well, we might as well come up with a plan.” He huffed.

Smiling, I sat down too and we started talking.

“First off, you’re going to need to find out just how injured this dragon is, a place where we can hide it—and don’t say here cause it’s so easy to find--, and then we’re going to have to find time and supplies to heal this beast.” Kai listed off what we needed to do, the dragon snorting at the beast comment.

“…I think we should come up with a name for the dragon first. It’s kind of awkward always calling him ‘it’ or ‘dragon’….Ooo!! How about Doodle?” I asked, only to have both Kai and dragon look at me with ‘you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me looks. “Ok….not Doodle then. Yesh. How about Dobby?” I asked seriously.

“….You know what? You at naming things. What kind of name is Dobby?” Kai scoffed and dragon huffed in agreement.

Pouting just a bit I told him to think up of a name.

“Hmm, how about Zero? Yeah, Zero is a cool name.” Kai said smugly, looking at dragon who didn’t seem to be against it. “Zero it is.”

“Wait. Is dragon even a boy? What if ‘he’ is actually a ‘she’?” I asked.

“…Do dragons even have pen—“ I cut Kai off.

“KAI!!” I yelled, mollified.

“What?!” Kai asked, shocked.

“Shut up! Don’t finish that sentence!!” I covered my ears with my hands.

“….Only one way to find out~” Kai shrugged before he started prodding dragon to move. “Yah! Just a peek! Jeez! No need to get snappy!! …..GOD DANG!!!!” Kai grumbled after he finished checking dragon. “Oh, he’s a he alright. Dang….”

Not wanting to know, I quickly examine the area we were in. “Hey, I think there’s a cave a little south from here. Do you think you can make it? It’s near the waterfall.” I pointed in the direction of the water fall.

Slowly, we got Zero moving. He was limping heavily and hissing quite a lot. He was also leaving a lot of blood behind. About ten minutes later, we were in the cave behind the waterfall.

“Wait here, I’ll go get some bedding for you!” I ran back out, going into the forest to collect grass, leaves, and moss to make a giant makeshift bed for Zero.

“…..Just so you know,” Kai stated as he and Zero watched me run off to gather material, “if you bring any harm to her, I will not show you mercy like last time, whether she’s attached to you or not. Our leader and troupe especially will help hunt you down too.”

Zero grunted in response.

“Well, since the troupe and leader aren’t expecting us back for another week, I guess I’ll go hunt for some food.” Kai stretched before running out to hunt.

xXx Two Hours Later xXx

“Zero, can you stand up for a bit? Kai, come help me spread the bedding!” I called him over, handing him a giant bundle.

We worked efficiently, laying down Zero’s bedding before moving on to making our own makeshift sleeping area. While I was working on that, Kai went and started preparing the food and building the fire.

“Ya, Zero. Make yourself useful and light it up.” Kai said, pointing to his little fire pit where four rabbits were ready to be cooked. While Zero brought the fire to life, Kai walked out the cave and came in, dragging four stags with him. “I don’t know what you dragons eat but here. It’ll have to do.” He placed the stags in front Zero before going back to cook the hares.

I hummed a random tune while finishing up with the bedding before hopping back up and walking towards Zero. “Zero, I’m going to start cleaning wounds now, it might sting a little but please hold still ok?” I smiled at him, patting his arm as I gathered up the supplies I collected from the forest. Placing them down beside him, I quickly gathered water in a giant leaf that I found, creating a bowl with it and finished setting up my little area.

“Remember what I told you Zero, remember.” Kai said from his spot at the fire pit.

I took a clean cloth and dipped it into the water that I had placed cleaning, medicinal herbs in and started tending to Zero’s wounds. He flinched and hissed but otherwise he didn’t complain much although he did scrape his claws into the cave’s floor.

After thoroughly cleaning out his cuts, I began slathering a healing salve onto the cuts that would cool down the burn but also kill bacteria to let the injuries heal faster. Since I didn’t know what to use as bandages for something as big as a dragon, I placed a giant clean leaf over those areas. “Ok…there! All done! Now don’t move too much Zero. I don’t want those bandages to fall off or have you hurting yourself again.” I beamed at him before my stomach growled, wanting attention and demanding food. I turned scarlet when Kai made a joke: “Ya, was that your stomach or was Zero just happy to see you?”

Huffing, I was about to go throw something at Kai but was stopped by Zero nudging one of his stags over to me. I tilted my head at him, wondering what he meant until he looked at me, then to the stag near me, before to his own, taking a bite out of it. ….Ok….that was slightly disturbing. Understanding what he meant, I thanked him but told him that I wouldn’t be able to finish something that big and that I would just take Kai’s. Zero blinked before going back to his food.

That night, we all finished our food, filling our stomachs before we were all lulled to sleep by the crickets’ melody; the waterfall hiding us from harm.

Days past serenely; everyday much like the first as we settled in for another night in the cave.

However, that night, Kai and I were awoken by growling.

Being a light sleeper, I bolted from my spot, only to be greeted by fangs snapping, whimpering, and growling. Just as I was about to wake Kai up, searing pain spread through my leg. “AAAAAhhhhhhh!!!” a blood curdling scream slipped from my lips, jolting Kai awake just as I was harshly dragged away from him.

I scrambled and clung onto anything that I could. I was losing too much blood from my leg that it was starting to go numb. I tried kicking the beast, a wild wolf, in the muzzle but my attempts were feeble. The wolf turned a corner sharply, causing me to hit my head harshly against a stalagmite. I heard Kai yelling and fighting in the background, his voice becoming incredibly far off and static, almost as if he was speaking through a filter. Just as the wolf pulled me half way out from under the waterfall, a deafening roar bellowed. The strength of it tearing the wolf’s grip away from my leg before a large, powerful being zoomed by; it’s wings creating such strong currents that if I hadn’t been safely dumped behind the pile of thick stalagmite, I would’ve been blown away with the wolf. Before I succumbed to the welcoming darkness, a blinding light flashed before revealing a lone man standing where Zero use to be. Just as he turned around, I gave into the oncoming darkness. Letting it envelope me.

xXx In the Void  xXx

I was feeling oddly calm. Nothing but darkness and silence greeted me, embracing me as if it was a blanket, shielding me from the cold.

I stayed floating freely on my back, thinking of nothing, drifting in a dazed stupor.

I closed my eyes, relaxing even more as I felt something warm card through my hair.

What is this feeling? I savoured the warmth, love, and safe feeling this strange entity was giving off.

I felt whole as if a missing piece was back where it belonged.

And with that, I drifted back to sleep; the feeling of someone watching over me chasing back the dark….

xXx Inside the Cave during Yue’s time in the Void xXx

“…..So, who are you?” Kai asked the devilishly handsome man sitting across from him, Yue’s head resting atop the stranger’s lap.

“….*ehem* Kris.” Was all that the stranger said before going back to carding a hand lovingly through Yue’s hair.

“Ya, that’s not going to cut it. Who are you, where did you come from, why are you touching Yue like that, what happened to Zero? “Kai bombarded Kris with questions causing said stranger to sigh.

“You might not believe me even if I told you.” Kris huffed, shuffling so that Yue would be more comfortable.

“Try me. I can’t just let anyone hold Yue like that.” Kai pointed to Kris who had recently picked Yue up and was letting her rest against his broad, toned chest.

“Fine; I was the dragon you called ‘Zero’.” Kris stated.

“…..Pfft, ya right. Stop pulling my leg and tell me who you really are.” Kai scoffed and glared at Kris.

Thinking of a way to prove himself to Kai, Kris unleased his dragon wings from his back. They stirred the air in the cave around before settling down. Kai’s eyes widened his mouth agape as he shakily pointed to Kris’s wings.

“Y-y-y-you’re” he stuttered.

“…..Told you.” Kris nonchalantly, stretching his wings a little.

“B-but, HOW?!” Kai appeared up close to Kris, much to the giant dislikes.

“You’ve heard of the missing dragon prince right?” Kris asked, bending to kiss the top of Yue’s head.

Kai nodded, urging Kris to continue.                                                                                          

“Well, I’m the missing dragon prince. I was injured before I could get back to my kingdom in the sky. And then you guys found me in the forest where I collapsed.” Kris explained.

“Ahhhh, that makes more sense now.” Kai nodded, his sentence punctuated by a huge yawn. “We should go to sleep now. How is Yue’s leg?”

Kris gently inspected her leg, making sure that the bindings and salve he placed on it earlier was working. “She should be fine within a week or two. However, I would like to set out before sunrise.”

“Where are we going?” Kai asked, not minding the fact that he’d be leaving the troupe behind with Yue to go with a dragon. If only their Leader could see them now.

“To my palace in the sky.” Was all that Kris said to which Kai shrugged to.

And with that, they both went to sleep; Yue in Kris’s arms and Kai, sprawled out like no tomorrow.

xXx  Three Days Later xXx

“Mmmm….” I woke up, feeling refreshed as I stretched in the softest bed and blanket ever. …..Wait a minute. Bed? Blanket? I shot up, only to wince when I moved my injured leg. Looking around, I was left in a dazed awe. Everything was white with a little hint of gold or silver. It was absolutely stunning to look at. I was currently sitting on a gigantic four poster bed, cloud like fairy nets draped as curtains around the posts. The white room was extremely spacious, it’s wall of floor to ceiling windows bathing the whole room in a warm light. I got out of bed and made my way towards one of the windows. The view was breathtaking. For as far as I could see were clouds. Birds were flying everywhere; there were ever flying fishes and whales (O_O), as well as ships (like boats) in the air. It was truly a beautiful sight with the sun setting, twilight approaching as just a hint of stars came out to play.

A knock at the door took my attention away from the beautiful scene. “Come in,” I said quietly, wondering who it would be. The door opened to reveal a surreal handsome man who was dressed from head to toe in white, silvery ash blonde hair swept up in a messy yet effortless up do.

Clearing his throat, the man made his way into the room, walking towards me until he stopped a few feet away. “…..” He just stood there, assessing me from head to toe with his eyes, making me feel self-conscious and nervous. “….美麗…,” escaped as a whisper from his lips as he reached up a hand and caressed my face.

“…Z-z-zero?” I asked, unsure but mesmerized by the same dark emerald eyes that belonged to Zero.

Smiling, he nodded his before taking my hand and guiding me back to the window, sitting the both of us down on the floor that was littered with giant pillows. “That is the name you gave me.” He said, before looking out the window; twilight bathing his figure strikingly. “Though the people in this kingdom of mine know be by Kris, the dragon prince.” His emerald eyes flickered back towards me, regarding me.

“…..So, this is where you live?” I asked, also turning to look at the magnificent scene.

“Yes….and it’s where I’d like you to live to. With me,” I turned to look at him, a warm, happy feeling bubbling up in my chest, “Forever if you’d like to.”

“…..I would love to.” I beamed at him before launching myself into his arms, feeling them wrap around me. The both of us stayed like that until the final hours of twilight disappeared, the stars fully out to play with the moon watching over them.

I looked up at Kris when he shuffled a bit, only to find that he was staring at me. “美得令人屏息…” he said once more before he bent down and captured my lips.

xXx The End xXx

-美麗 means Beautiful

-美得令人屏息means breathtakingly beautiful