My mind was too jumbled for sleep.

I sat on my mat in the dark, listening to the rain, thinking about our parents of all things. I wondered what they were doing. My aunt and uncle would be asleep. They probably wouldn't worry at all. I often came out to our clearing after school, or spent the night at Hazel's, besides, my aunt and uncle didn't really care enough to notice, unless I was out longer than two nights. Hazel's grandparents wouldn't worry either, they knew about Dragons and what Hazel and I were and of course, this had happened before where my Dragon fever lasted longer than normal, so Hazel and I spent the night there and went home in the morning. It got too dangerous with the guards patrolling at night to risk going back into Pira right away. Hazel's grandparents would cover for us and say that after I got 'sick', Hazel took me to her house and I spent the night there. Simple. What Nick's parents might be doing or thinking, I didn't know. Would they have called the guards? The Zorg? Were there search parties looking for us right now?

I tried for about the four hundredth time to remember what happened. Only one memory had come to me. I'd  had the wind in my wings and I was soaring high, the sky was mine to dominate, but then, another Dragon swooped up from behind me with scales of dark blue and aquamarine, the new Dragon. Her name was Nicholina....

I then remembered unbearable pain and then darkness for quite a while. I assumed Nick flew me back to the hut, because that was where I woke up, staring at the ceiling and feeling horribly nauseous, shaky, and cold, like I always was after a Dragon fever. I sighed as the memory faded back.

Nick! A Dragon? How could some random kid from our school just happen to be a Dragon and get tangled up with us? We would have to talk about all of this in the morning. But wait, we can't. I realized, not if Gen is still here... she isn't a dragon as far as I know.

Another memory sliced through my mind. Well, not really a memory, more of a feeling. Pure exhilaration mixed with triumph and something violent.

"Hey," said a voice in the dark, making me start and nearly scream aloud. I managed to stifle the scream to a small squeak.

I tried to look past the glowing embers left of the fire to find the owner of the voice.

"Cant sleep?" Hazel said, propping herself up on her elbow and rubbing her eyes. She was the owner of the voice.

I shook my head slightly, "How could I?"

Hazel got to her feet, "You want to come outside? It's raining a bit, but-"

"Yes," I said and tried to get up. My legs didn't want to listen to me though and only Hazel stopped me from falling backward on top of Gen and Nick.

"Whoah, steady," Hazel said and pulled me to my feet.

I put an arm around her shoulders and she helped me to the door. We went outside and I collapsed against the outside wall.

Hazel was right, it was drizzling a little bit and soon my clothes were damp but I didn't really care.

"Are you alright?" I asked Hazel.

She snorted, "Me? Remi, this is not about me."

"Are you kidding?" I protested, "You were left alone here with a random human after I turned into a Dragon and left with Nick who at the time neither of us knew was a Dragon. You must have been out of your mind not knowing what to do."

"I-" Hazel stuttered. She always forgot that I knew her way too well. "Yeah I was pretty terrified, and I'm still a little shaken, but It's kind of over now, and Nick is alive, we know she's a Dragon too, crazy as that is, and I have you back, so I think I'll be ok. Anyways, enough about me. What do you remember?" Hazel said gently and crouched next to me.

This made me feel better, this line never changed, every time I came back from Dragon form Hazel always said that. What do you remember? It had been that way since the day Hazel followed me into the woods. We kept no secrets from each other.

"Nick." I said, "She-"

"I know," Hazel said, "She told me when we talked earlier. Do you remember anything else?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. You didn't tell Nick about your Dragon did you?"

She shook her head. "Didn't seem like the right time to bring that up."

We sat in silence for a moment before I said, "Hazel?"

"Hm?"

"I didn't hurt anyone did I?"

"Well," she said, her voice suddenly sounding choked, "You kinda-"

"No-" I said, my heart dropping into my stomach, "Hazel, what did I do?"

"Gen," Hazel said and her eyes filled with tears, making me want to cry too, "You scratched Gen's shoulder with your tail. I've done all I can but I don't have a cure for your venom."

I put my head on my knees, letting my hair fall around me. I hated this feeling, It made me want to vomit, but I knew no matter how much I did, I wouldn't be able to make the feeling go away. Instead I cried, tears falling like rain. Tears falling like they never had before. I felt Hazel's hand on my shoulder as she came and crouched next to me.

"Hey," Hazel said softly, "It's going to be ok, you know that, right? We can figure this out in the morning, we can fix it, I promise."

I took a deep breath and didn't answer her. I shivered in my hoodie, the rain must have been getting to me.

"Look at me," Hazel said.

I did reluctantly, my face was tear stained and my eyes red and water dripped from my hood onto my face.

"You are strong, Remi," Hazel said, and took my face in her hands. She used her thumbs to swipe the tears off my face. "You are so, so strong, and we are going to get through this together."

Hazel wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight. I could hear her whispering "It's going to be ok," over and over, like a mantra. She wasn't just trying to convince me.

Finally we stood and pushed through the door flap into the dry interior of the hut. I squeezed Hazel's hand and then flopped onto my mat, too tired to function anymore.

Hazel glanced at me with a worried look on her face as she laid down. I stared at the corner of my mat, determined not to burst into tears again.

***

When I woke up, I kept my eyes closed.

I didn't want to go to school. I just wanted to stay in bed and sleep. A memory stirred in the back of my mind but I shoved it away.

I heard voices that must have belonged to my aunt and uncle, "Do you think she will want breakfast?"

"I don't know, we should probably let her sleep, she needs it."

That was odd, my aunt and uncle didn't make breakfast. Definitely not for me.

I opened my eyes and saw sunlight streaming through a door flap and the smell of food cooking. I heard a sizzle and then footsteps coming my way. Before I could close my eyes again, Hazel's worried face appeared over me.

"Oh good," she said with a slight grin, "Sleeping beauty is awake. How do you feel?"

"Fine, since when am I sleeping beauty?" I grumbled and sat up slowly, ignoring my aching body. Nicholina sat next to the fire eating an egg off of a plate that Hazel's grandparents let her take. Hazel offered another egg to me.

"Because you were sleeping, and you're gorgeous, obviously," Hazel said with a smile and an eye roll, "do you need a prince to come kiss you and wake you up?"

I took the plate from her although I wasn't hungry. "Ick, princes. I'd rather kiss a Zorg. Where'd you get the eggs?"

"I took Nick to our pond and we found them in a duck nest," Hazel said.

"I'm going to go climb a tree and keep a lookout," Nick said, "Also, I haven't climbed a tree in a while and that's a problem."

Hazel laughed, "Just don't get lost and watch out for those briar patches over by the pond that I showed you."

"Relax," Nick said from the doorway, "I won't go far."

I ate the egg, put the plate away, then sat in the doorway and watched Nick scramble up an oak tree on the far side of the clearing. She sure was fast. I almost immediately heard footsteps behind me.

"Hey," I said as Hazel sat next to me.

"I'm sorry," she said without looking at me.

I glanced at her, "What for?" I asked,"You have nothing to be sorry about."

"Just sorry for everything that's happened," Hazel answered, "Remi, are you sure you're ok?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

"No I'm serious," she insisted and took my hand, "I don't know if anything is going to get easier from here. We may have to take Gen to the healers and lie or something, but we could easily be caught."

I nodded, "I know, I just, I don't know what I'm going to do about what I did to Gen. I need to try and figure out some sort of cure."

"Remi," Hazel said with an exasperated noise, "You?! Remi you're not on your own! Why would you ever think that!"

I shrugged and stood. "I caused this mess so I'm going to fix it."

Hazel stood as well, her ice-blue eyes burning.

"You, me, and Nicholina if she chooses to be with us, it's fully her choice, are in this together Remi Agave Steir," she said. Quiet, yet her voice made me shrink slightly. "Whether you like it or not."

"I just don't want to be responsible for getting you guys killed," I said, looking away.

"You won't," Hazel promised.

"I'll be counting on that," I said with a very slight grin, "Not getting my friends killed, top of the to-do list."

"Oh shut up," Hazel said but she gave me a fierce hug.

"Umm," Nick called from the tree, "Are you guys fighting?"

I shook my head no, not even sure if she could see me, and then turned back into the hut. I happened to glance at Gen, lying as though dead. That's my fault, I thought. I tore my eyes away.

I sat on my mat, not quite sure what to do. I wished I had my backpack. Even though there probably wouldn't be anything useful in it, I missed the familiarity.

Suddenly there was a gasp from outside. I got to my feet and went to the door flap, but was immediately run over by Hazel scrambling inside.

"Oof, what-"

"Quick, we have to leave!" Hazel's voice was sharp, urgent.

Without protesting, I grabbed my backpack and zipped it up. Nick burst in after Hazel, breathing hard.

"Quick-" she gasped, "they're coming, we have to move fast."

"Who?" I said frantically, helping Hazel grab some things from her cupboard. "Who's coming?"

"Guards," Hazel said, zipping her backpack, "Nick saw them."

"It's probably a search party for us," Nick said, "they were yelling really loud though, they can't expect to find anyone like that."

"Gen," Hazel said, stopping suddenly, "theres no way we can take her with us can we?"

"Oh stars, you're right," Nick cursed, "we don't have time to carry her. Let's leave her here and we can distract the guards away from this clearing. They won't find her."

"Thats probably our only option," I agreed.

The three of us managed to get outside supporting Gen, and sure enough, I could hear yelling and laughing coming from the forest on our left. We slowly hobbled behind the hut.

"Shit, we aren't going to make it," I grunted, supporting Gen's head as it lolled.

"We have to at least hide Gen," Hazel panted, "if we can get her somewhere where they won't see her, we can get away and come back for her."

Then came the yell.

"People! Over on the other edge!"

They had seen us.

We stumbled into the trees, sinking slightly in mud.

"Here," Hazel said, helping us guide Gen into some bushes, "the mud, could it cover her?"

I grabbed a handful of mud and spread it across one of Gen's pale arms. The people and footsteps were nearing. The mud covered the color of her skin and helped camouflage her. Hazel and Nick did the same, until unless you looked closely or rummaged through the bushes, you wouldn't be able to see or find Gen.

We got away from Gen right as the soldiers confronted us.

"Well well," said the guard in front. There were only 5 guards. I guessed they had probably sent a small pack of guards in every direction, "we're looking for a bunch of kids. Three of them, and here you are."

"We can't be the kids you're looking for," I improvised, "we're out camping, and as you can see, my wife and I aren't kids." I pulled Hazel toward me and took her hand. I could see her face turn bright as a tomato but I kept mine neutral as I could. "Our daughter here," I gestured to Nick, "wanted to go for her birthday, so we took her on a trip to lake Oke."

Nick nodded helpfully. "It was fun! We saw fish!"

The guard raised one bushy eyebrow at us. "She sure doesn't look like your daughter," he said, "also, you three look the same age. Maybe sixteen or seventeen. I'm not buying it."

"Sir," Hazel said, her embarrassed forgotten, "I'm telling you, we are going to the village and are coming back from lake Oke."

"Sure, you can tell that to the king," the guard said. He advanced toward me and pulled a rope from his pocket. "Turn around and put your hands together."

I gave Hazel's hand a squeeze and reluctantly did as he said. He came up behind me and wrapped the rope around my hands. Before he could do anything else, I jabbed my foot backwards and kicked the man in the groin. He squealed and fell to the ground.

Many things happened at once. All the guards charged us, one going for me and the other three going for my friends. The one coming for me was about as tall as me, but bulkier. I was clearly faster, but he was stronger, and he pulled out a knife.

I dodged his first slash, barely getting away. I had to find away to get rid of his weapon or he would hurt me. I lashed out with a kick toward his knife hand. I actually struck home, to my surprise. He immediately dropped the knife and clutched his hand. I shoved him onto the ground, and then, keeping a foot on his chest, whirled around to see my friends.

I was met with a knife point inches in front of my face. Hazel had a knife to her throat and had froze, barely breathing in fear of being cut. Nick was struggling in a choke hold, trying to bite her captor.

"On your knees," the guard in front of me said.

I took my foot off the guards chest and slowly sank to my knees. The guards knife point followed me all the way down. He then sank to his knee in front of me and pulled out another rope. He began tying my hands so tightly, I could barely move them.

The man I kicked in the groin was just getting to his feet I was surrounded by three guards and the other two had Hazel and Nick.

"Remi."

The whisper just barely caught my attention. I met Hazel's eyes. Her eyes were filled with tears. "Remi I'm gonna-"

"Hazel no," I said, "please, focus. Hold on. We'll be ok."

Her tears slid down her face. "I'm sorry," she said, "I can't-"

Her body began to shift.

I screamed, my mind going blank with desperation. I head-butted the guard tying my wrists, paying no mind to the pain, and rushed to my feet. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in my jaw and I tasted blood.

I felt grass beneath my fingers, the world was tilting and jerking, but I managed to raise my head. Hazel roared, teeth gleaming.

"Hazel-" I spat blood and the world lurched again. All the guards were focused on the blue-white Dragon, but one. She heard me say Hazel's name and glared.

"Stay down." She pressed my face into the dirt.

"Can't," I muttered, weakly struggling against her. She held me down and slowly the world went black and I slipped down into my mind.

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Written by justasnarky_sandwing on WATTPAD