A Scale of Sapphire

Erica

Damn.

I didn’t know what I was expecting out of tonight, but this little pixie in her ratty t-shirt dress staring up at me, daring me to struggle against my leafy restraints was definitely not it. I was really hoping she was a friend, because if not, we were entirely at her mercy. 

We’d managed to sneak away through a different exit while Aoife had kept Cyrus’ main force occupied. After that, it was a simple matter to cross the river at a shallow point that Cass knew about and run over here. I hadn’t liked leaving Aoife alone, but she’d made a good point. She was the only one of us that Cyrus had a vested interest in taking alive for whatever reason, so she’d naturally have the best chance of escape. Even still, I was hoping to get some help from Willow, or whoever this fairy was, and get back to her as soon as possible. I did my best to put some confidence into my voice as I spoke.

“Hey lil’ fairy. We’re looking for someone named Willow, and this is supposed to be her house. Maybe you could let us down, and we can talk this out?”

That really got her attention. She was staring at me, inspecting me, trying to figure out if she knew me, at a guess. 

“I-”

“We’re A’s friends, by the way. Sh-they are in some serious trouble right now, so if this crazy plant stuff was all you, we could really use your help.”

I almost slipped up on the pronoun there. Aoife had told me what her name used to be, in case I needed to prove it, but I wanted to avoid using it if I could. I couldn’t even bring myself to use he to refer to her, it just felt wrong. Thankfully, Aoife had given me one more option to prove her identity without deadnaming her.

"If you are Willow, I'm supposed to let you know that A's gonna have to take a raincheck on the coffee you were planning. The roads are really shit right now."

Willow

A?

Not Aiden, but A??

With they/them pronouns????

I fucking called it.

A was alive, they were alive and experiencing gender in the apocalypse! Maybe not the best time to figure it out, but better late than never! They’d made friends too! I was so proud of them!

“Put them down, everyone! Great work!” I sighed happily, “Now then, tell me everything.”

The older woman gave me a gentle smile as she was slowly lowered to the ground.

“I don’t know if we have time for everything, but maybe some introductions are in order? My name is Cassandra, but you can just call me Cass, this here is Erica, and you are..?”

“Oh shit, right. Sorry. Erica was right, my name’s Willow. You uhh… You mentioned that A was in trouble, does it- does it have to do with the dragon?”

Erica snorted.

“Which one?”

Aoife

Cyrus’ presence was shattered in an instant as he reeled back in pain. Finally, I could think clearly again. Time seemed to slow down as I got my bearings. I was still in the village, but the dozens of people who’d been surrounding me when I first emerged from the lair had dispersed, so it was just me, Cyrus, Rob, and a half dozen guards. Now that I was more aware, I also realized that it had been at least a few hours since Cyrus had picked me up. It was barely past dusk when I came out, and now it was approaching midnight. In my emotional haze, I hadn’t even noticed. If I hadn’t shaken off that power when I did, I really might’ve stayed here forever.

…

Y’know, this really does feel like slow motion.

Cyrus had dropped me, and I was drifting towards the ground at a snail’s pace, Rob and the guards were slowly raising their weapons, and a golden glow was building around Cyrus as he began to fully transform. I needed to finish this fast, and for whatever reason, I was feeling really fast right now.

I twisted, mid air, landing in a crouch, beginning my own transformation. Wings exploded out from my back as my scales started to spread, but before either of us could even finish changing, I launched myself into the air, crying out at the strain on my leg. Before Cyrus had a chance to recover, my growing claws were ripping his wing apart as I tore through it, leaving an Aoife sized hole in my wake. As my scales fully encompassed me, time snapped back to its normal speed, and the surprised shouts of my captors started filtering into my ears. I’d shred his other wing, and then get the he-

Bang!

I saw stars as something pinged off my skull, sending me staggering backwards. Oh shit, I knew where this was going. One shot was followed by another, and another, until I was trapped within a hail of bullets. Even as they bounced off my scales, the impact of each shot had me hissing with pain.Then there was a rip, the crack of a rifle was followed by searing pain in my wing.

“Aim for the wings!”

Rob.

Oh gods.

My wings erupted in agony as their aim shifted, and I nearly blacked out. Scrabbling backwards on three legs and shrieking as my wings were torn to shreds, a sickening warmth began to wash over me as golden light flooded the village, gritting my teeth and glaring upwards, there he was. Towering over us all, standing taller than the houses themselves, his wounds already nearly healed, Cyrus took a deep breath in.

I’d lost. I’d caught him by surprise, and I’d still lost. I wasn’t fast enough, wasn’t strong enough, wasn’t smart enough. I couldn’t run now, either. I didn’t heal like he did, and if I ran for Willow’s place, he’d track me down and kill the people I cared about, the people I loved. All I could do was just lie down and wait for it to end. It was hopeless. I was hopeless.

Give up.

It was presence again. I knew that, but I couldn’t shake it. I couldn’t direct it somewhere productive. How do you redirect despair? I was going to die. I was going to die, and I would curl up and accept it, and when he was finished with me, Cyrus would track down Erica and Cass and kill them, and because I’d sent them to find Willow, if she was still alive, he’d take her out too.

Unless I won.

If I died here, if I gave up here, everyone I had left would die. Everything I cared for would be destroyed. Knowing that, the answer was simple, and the predator in the back of my mind scolded me for not realizing sooner. If losing means you lose everything, don’t lose. It’s that simple.

Silver and blue flashed together, and the world slowed to a crawl once again. I let the furious, territorial, hungry animal that dwelled within me off its leash and zeroed in on my first target. Before I even realized what I was doing, Rob was dead between my jaws, and I felt the crunch of metal and shattering of glass as vials and bottles and flasks spilled their contents down my throat. I was a blur, a living beam of moonlight rocketing between each of the remaining guards as I quickly reduced them all to a few frozen corpses and a fine red mist. I felt my body creaking and aching as it was pushed past its limits, but I couldn’t stop now. Don’t lose. I couldn’t lose. No matter what it took.

The potions I’d accidentally imbibed started taking effect, one after another as my senses sharpened ever further, my scales began to shift in color, blending in with the streets and the buildings around me, and slowly, my wounds began to heal. Cyrus had started to exhale, tendrils of golden plasma were twirling towards me at a crawl, and I darted around behind him. Something, some twinge in my head, told me this wouldn’t last much longer, even now, I could feel myself barely clinging to consciousness. I had to finish this while I still could, before time caught up to me again and my body finally gave out. I leapt upwards, landing on the back of the larger dragon, digging in my claws as I scrambled towards his flared wings. On instinct, I grabbed a hold of one of them with my front legs before my back legs started kicking and gouging like a cat. 

With his wing now thoroughly mangled, I hopped off him, letting out an ear piercing shriek as I did. Time to go. I had maybe thirty seconds (from my perspective) of slowed time left, and I needed to be long gone before I ran out.

Taking care not to place too much weight on my still healing leg, I turned tail and ran.

Erica

After Cass and I had explained the situation, Willow had shared her plans as well, and now the three of us were leading a sizable group of treants, massive flowers, and walking topiary towards the river. The suburbs around Willow’s house were a nightmare to navigate, so progress was slow. It had taken Cass and I over an hour to make the journey to Willow’s place to begin with, and that was with just the two of us, with our now much larger group, we were moving even slower. At least we didn’t have to worry about any plants getting in our way though, Willow just politely asked them to move aside and waved her hand over them, and they’d shrink back out of the road.

We’d traveled about two miles when I saw her. Down at the far end of the street, a sapphire blue dragon with silver accents was slowly limping towards us. Her scales were splattered with crimson, and one wing dangled awkwardly off to her side. It was riddled with holes. She took one step, then another, her shredded wings shrinking into her back as her body twisted upright.

“Aoife!”

I ran.

It didn’t matter that I was hurt too. It didn’t matter that less than 24 hours ago I’d been teetering on the edge of death. It didn’t matter that each step came with a wave of nausea that threatened to topple me.

I ran.

I ran to her because she was hurt, because she was crying, because every second I saw her like this was a second where I couldn’t breathe.

She fell, and my heart leapt into my throat.

I reached her right as she hit the ground, and fell to my knees, holding her limp body tightly to my chest. She stirred slightly.

“Mmf… soft…”

I couldn’t tell if I was crying or laughing as I stroked her hair, nuzzling in close.

“I’m so sorry, Aoife. I should’ve come with you, I should’ve been there, I shouldn’t have been caught to begin with…”

Definitely crying now.

“S’okay… ‘mhealing…”

I just sat there, holding her, weeping, until Cass and Willow caught up. At the sound of their approach, Aoife’s head lolled backwards as she tried to get a look at them.

“Cass… hi… and hi, preddy fairy.” She shook her head for a second, and her eyes were clear for just a moment. “We need t’go. He’ll be comin’ soon.”

And then her eyes closed, and I watched helplessly as my little dragon passed out in my arms.