It was a normal day for Sammy. Feeding his cats, riding his motorbike, bitching with his mom...but what is this strang creature doing in front of his window?

Thanks to HavenLeeAngelus for the many help smoothing out the grammar :-)

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It was a bright late summer day. Sammy sat on his sofa, zapping mindlessly through the TV Channels. Nothing new in the news: The government was telling everybody that everything was fine, while everybody knew it wasn't.

Other unimportant news came on, apparently some twiggy blonde chick who obviously had a new fashion collection was more noteworthy; and this is what they called "important news"? Some hooker with a ho collection? Sammy shook his hand and switched the TV off, annoyed and bored out of his mind.

He opened his freezer and took out a small container of Lasagna and then placed it in the microwave. This had to be enough for today, he didn't want to cook an entire meal there was no point in it anyway. While he ate his dinner he read the newspaper he had gotten from his post box. He was becoming more and more annoyed and he didn't know why, it was like something was under his skin; but he was alone.

He looked out of the window and decided to go for a ride. It was mid spring, the first day of May and the weather was beautiful and warm although he didn't ride a long time because of the threat of a sudden downpour, since he despised to ride on a bike in the rain. He missed the carefree feeling he got while in motion, the wind and smells of nature and it's beauty all around him.

Sammy put on his leather clothes and helmet before he sped off and the ride did it's magic, like it always did. He left his strange annoyance and his problems behind and started to feel good again losing himself in the curves of the road and countryside which held so much beauty. When he decided to head back he knew that soon the night would come; and with it people driving carelessly so even more danger for him while on his bike. When he flipped the key to turn his bike off, he groaned softly seeing his mother was standing in front of his main entrance, tapping her foot impatiently at the floor.

"Where have you been? Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you?" He rolled his eyes and tried to shake off his irritation, it wasn't his fault she came without word or warning.

"If you would announce your arrival just once, chances are a lot higher that you wouldn't have had to wait." He answered, his earlier annoyance coming back full force but she wouldn't hear any of it, and he had known that before he spoke.

"I'm your mother; you owe me the respect I'm entitled too, I don't deserve this; your birth was very difficult. I was in labor for several days, in constant agony, every ounce of pain I went through, and just to just have you be such an ungrateful brat..." Sammy didn't bother to stop her rant and instead tuned her out he knew what was coming after all, he had heard it more than once so he busied himself with brewing some coffee. When he placed the mug in front of his mother he decided to stop her incessant ranting.

"Why are you here anyways?" He asked her bluntly, while sipping on his coffee, his mother stopped her tirade and looked at him, a little bewildered. Normally he would let her go on until she started repeating the real reason she was here signaling his return to the conversation, but not today; he was already at his limit with her.

"I need your signature here on these papers." He lifted an eyebrow suspiciously he knew this couldn't be good, maybe it was the deed to his soul.

"How come? What are you up to this time?" She snorted disdainfully; why did she always expect her ploys to go unnoticed, he never really let her get away with anything anymore.

"I want to make certain you're the one that will care for me should anything occur to leave me incapable of caring for myself. There's a new law that states we must choose someone, or someone will be chosen for us, you're my son and I it's your responsibility to care for me. After all I've done for you, all I've endured you owe me this and so much more." Sammy took a sip of his coffee as if mulling over the idea, when in all reality it hadn't taken him a micro second to decide.

"I don't think so." She visibly paled at his words, this wasn't going the way she had planned at all.

"I beg your pardon? After all I did for you? How could you say this to me, it's an outrage." Now rage was something Sammy was all too familiar with feeling himself, especially where his mother was concerned.

"You know, I don't need your signature anyway. I can easily put it on those papers by myself. I did it before. And nobody will notice the difference. And then you have to take care for me, because otherwise you are ruined by neglecting your duties. They make you pay for everything."

Sammy chuckled softly. For a situation like that he took his precautions. His mother would be surprised and not in a good way. "If you think you have to do that, feel free. I'm pretty sure you will love to spend your last days in a rubber cell, and that's where you will end up if you go ahead with this plan of yours." He took a deep breath. "That's it. Leave my house, leave my life, I never want to see you in my life ever again." Rage filled Sammy's heart, it rushed through his body like a wildfire raging free with the aid of a strong breeze.

"After all..? Ruining my reputation in school by telling my teachers to go easy on me because of my "clumsiness" to cover up the bruises you gave me? By telling my first boss that I was too dumb to do what he asked, you asked him if he could give me an easier job as if I was completely inadequate? My only saving grace was that his "mother" was the same kind of reckless, self centered, egoistical bitch that you are; otherwise I would have lost my job. After all you did for me? What have you ever done for me besides pushing me out and making my life utter hell because yours lacks the attention you desire?" His face was a bright red, his nose flared as his mother's mouth gaped open in outrage.

"How dare you?" She yelled and was about to start a new rant when suddenly she stopped and looked at him slyly; her lips curling into a twisted smile. Then slowly her face changed, her smile slipping away until all that remained was a thin straight line upon her lips.

"We will see who will have the last laugh." She turned on her heel and slammed the door as she left the apartment.

Sammy grinned broadly and felt oddly free, it was about time he had taken a stand against her and her madness. He fed his two cats, who nudged him gratefully before they started to dig in like starving animals. They nearly fooled him when they weren't so fat that they looked more like little sausages than cats.

When a shadow darkened the sun he walked out at his balcony and his eyes grew wide. An alligator with two wings fluttered in front of him. Sammy rubbed his eyes and blinked several times. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"What the heck...are you?" He asked shocked.

"What do you think dumbass? A flying alligator." Sammy swallowed hard.

"You've gotta be kidding me? Alligators can't fly. And they can't speak." The big Gator snorted.

"And what am I? Cheshire cat?" Sammy looked at the many many teeth carefully.

"Maybe a distant cousin?" he asked warily. The Alligator chuckled.

"My grandmother cheated on my grandfather with an Albatros. " he chirped happily.

"Well, everything was revealed when my mother was born. The first winged Alligator. And as I slipped out of my nest it was pretty clear that this inheritance went to the next generation." He grinned broadly. "That was the time, when my step-grandfather decided that grilled Albatros was his new favourite dish."

"Anyway. I love the wings. It's fun." Sammy shook his head, disbelieving. Had his mother managed to put some drugs in his coffee? He wouldn't put it past her. The Alligator clucked his tongue.

"You are not dreaming a drug induced dream. I'm real." he snapped in annoyance. And Sammy, considering those teeth, nodded in agreement.

"What are you doing at my balcony anyway?" he asked the Alligator.

"I'm here to pick you up. It's Beltane. There's a big party up at the Blocksberg. Oh, and I'm Jonah, by the way." Sammy looked at Jonah, completely lost.

"Beltane? Party?" Jonah visibly tried to gain his composure.

"Yeah. Beltane. Big Party. Dance." He wiggled his hips ridiculously, grinning broadly.

"Eating, fun. Loaaaaads of fun. You do know the meaning of the word '"fun"? Sammy rolled his eyes. He wasn't really able to deny those lovely teeth anything.

"Just climb on my back." Jonah landed on the concrete floor and Sammy jumped from his balcony. He climbed on the back of the Alligator and hold on his neck for dear life. Jonah chuckled softly.

"We are still at the floor, no need to choke me." Sammy didn't move, just cling closer to the huge beast. Jonah sighed.

"OK, here we go." Sammy suddenly remembered something.

"Wait, which bird your grandma did...?" Jonah looked closely left and right if the coast was clear and set himself right in the middle of the street. He grinned and said:

"Albatros. Hold on your balls, honey." And he started to run. Sammy shuddered in fear. Jonah ran off. He gained speed and fluttered with his wings frantically. His breathing became more and more labored.

"Are you sure you know how to fly?" Sammy asked Jonah incredulously. Jonah wheezed: "Oh shut up, human" and finally gained enough speed to lift off. As Jonah ascended slowly in the blue sky he complained:

"You are much heavier as I thought you would have been." Sammy just snorted.

Slowly they floated under the evening sky. The sunset today was breathtaking.

An explosion of colors from white over golden to the darkest night blue. No clouds were seen and Sammy thought by himself he never saw that beauty.During their flight to the Blocksberg they met a fleet of balloons. The Alligator floated easily beside of one of those balloons.

"Hey guys" he greeted the crew. Sammy did a double take before he trusts his sight. The obvious humans had cats eyes, glowing in the growing darkness and those with human eyes looked like big reptiles on two legs. The crew greeted Jonah happily. He talked to the balloonists, but Sammy didn't catch a word, the language was completely foreign to him.

Finally, the sun sent her last glows over the brim of the world, they reached the Blocksberg. Jonah descended to a huge clearing at the top of the mountain, but unfortunately he underestimated the speed he descended and both men crashed at the lush green grass and they pounced heavily at the floor. Sammy heard a silvery laughing as he checked carefully his limbs and a clear female voice said:

"Jonah, your landing skills are the best. Always entertaining." A fragile looking fairy was grinning broadly at the two. Jonah coughed a bit and his green skin became a deep shade of purple.

"Earthquake. The earth lifted suddenly and that's why I stumbled a bit." Sammy shook his head at the obvious lie while the fairy doubled over and almost fell to the floor while laughing so hard. Jonah lifted his nose and murmured something about changing. Sammy didn't care anyway at this moment. He looked around, fascinated. Several huge bonfires lightened the big clearing. Some other big torches, slammed in the concrete complemented the soft light.

The crowd was obviously happy. Pedlars sold little things like hair bands and some elderly women sold greasy donuts direct out of the kettle filled with molten lard. One stall sold oven warm berry pies, the juice dripping out of them. Sammy was getting hungry just seeing it.

In front of this stall a slightly bigger crowd gathered. The baker, a woman in her fifties, swung a rolling pin in fury. arguing with a strange man in front of her. He looked like an accountant. Brown suit with sleeve savers, white button down shirt, black tie, black leather shoes and the near bald head covered with the last remains of his hair, glued with hairspray so that the wind doesn't destroy this last proof of once full hair.

Sammy came to listen when that man cleared his throat and said: "Your analysis of your bakery today gave the result of 5 missing berry pies, you simply gave away. Since the introduction of the new give-away-tax you owe the king now 5 silver pennies. The baker swung her rolling pin threateningly close to the nose of the accountant, who was clearly not impressed.

"All I'm giving you is a piece of my mind. Who do you think are you? My berry pies are the best of the whole market and I gave the missing pies to the orphans. And now you want to make me pay for it?" she scolded. The crowd started to murmur, the tension rised and the people started to get angry. This guy really was a pain in the ass.

Sammy didn't think twice. He had no desire seeing the happy festival ending in a bloodshed, and the crowd really looked like they knew how to handle weapons. He weaved his way through the crowd until he was in front of the accountant.

"Dear Sir, your bold incompetence is only covered through your big ignorance. In Section 4 of the third paragraf of the new berrypie-tax there is an exception for giving away the pies to orphans. Those giveaways are now taxfree. Not to speak that you have to play a bagpipe while you have to carry a rubberduck on your head if you are collecting the tax."

One slight moment Sammy asked himself, if he exaggerated too much, but the taxman swallowed heavily and murmured softly: "It's always the same. Last minute changes and nobody is telling me anything. I can't work with that." he left the place in front of the stall and headed in the direction of the deep darkness where the light of the torches didn't reach.

Sammy tried to follow him, but a hand laid at his shoulder and stopped him. "I wouldn't go in there if I were you. In THAT darkness only politicians and taxmen went in, and even they didn't find a way out very often. In fact, I have no idea how this one managed it." Sammy took a closer look at the darkness and found it pathless. It wasn't only darkness, but more like a black wall who surrounded the happy and enlightened place like a prison wall. He shuddered. And then he looked closer to the man who held him back.

"Jonah?" he was stunned. In front of him there stood a, no clearly not a human, but a big humanoid with light green skin and slithered eyes,his wings folded neatly on his back. Tiny scales covering a smooth body, glittering slightly in the light of the torches. Jonah was wearing a leather pants, some combat boots and a black V-Neck-Shirt hugged his chest tightly.

He was a beautiful sight. Jonah grinned to Sammy. "If I want to I can walk on two legs, but it's pretty rare that there is a human who is worth the effort. But you are." Sammy grinned back and together they dived into the crowd.

Jonahs hand never left Sammy. Whether he hold his waist when they were talking to others, holding his hand and dragging him to the different places, excitement clearly in his face.

And his hands didn't left Sammys waist, when he finally dragged him to the dancefloor. Sammy didn't mind, in fact he started to crave the little touches and he refused to think what happens to him right now. He just enjoyed everything: The festival and so much more Jonahs gentleness.

They swayed to the sound of the music and Sammy felt the connection between them tighten. He didn't know why, he didn't know how, and he didn't even want to know the answer to all this, but he knew that the growing feelings toward Jonah indeed were close to love.

Suddenly the crowd disappeared to the side of the dance floor. Sammy didn't noticed it at first. Only when Jonah led him to the side he saw they were the last leaving the place. He felt his face heating up with the current and unwanted attention they received.

It was quiet, it was almost possible to hear a needle falling. Jonah led Sammy to the others, standing behind him.

A moment of absolute silence, lasting on Sammy like an eternity, and then: The expectation in the atmosphere flared to new heights it was almost touchable.

Sammy saw four swords, appearing out of nowhere and building a square in the middle of the place. He felt the warmth of Jonahs arms disappearing, leaving him in the chill of the night and the next he saw was his tall figure standing in the middle of the floor, looking intently at him.

The swords laid at the floor, tips pointing at the dancer, the cutting edge pointing upwards. Jonah put his arms at his hips and the deep slow beat of a huge drum set in.

The drum matched Jonahs steps perfectly, when he danced around the sharp edges of the sword, his loving gaze never leaving Sammy. And Sammy?

He stopped caring about logic hours ago. He didn't care that he knew Jonah only for a few time. That he was able to shift into a huge winged alligator. Right here and now he was drowning in the loving gaze of this beautiful man in front of him and he never want to let go.

The drum speed increases and so did Jonahs steps. He was gaining speed, dancing over the swords, with elegant yet firm steps. His hands now at his hips, he danced over the sword blades without a gaze.

The beat of the drum increases once more. Jonahs steps became faster and when he lifted his arms in a sudden, almost ordering move the swords flew up to the air and started to dance with Jonah for real.

Faster and faster the steps became. Faster and faster the swords danced. Deep somewhere in his stunned mind Sammy realized that the beat of the drum matched his heartbeat perfectly.

The speed became incredible. And for Sammy, he was panting hard, his heartbeats getting painful, where his poor human heart tried to match the insane speed of the blasted drum. He started to feel dizzy.

But still - his gaze was locked with the loving one from Jonah. The moves from the swords now were so fast his weak human eyes couldn't see it clear anymore. The swords wove a thick steel curtain between him and the dancing man in front of him. And Jonah danced, gracefully and without any effort, despite the incredibly speed.

With a last loud bang the drum came to a sudden halt and it was like time froze. Sammy didn't realized that he was standing right in the middle of a bright beam, exposing him to everybody and especially to the four swords who were pointing now directly to his heart.

He didn't realize what happened until the swords embedded themselves deep in his chest, cutting his heart in four parts without hesitation.

His last gaze was Jonah who suddenly held him tightly, a loving smile at his face. Sammy didn't understood what happened to him, but when his view went black, it doesn't matter anymore.

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Much later a little winged humanoid reptile stirred in his sleep, disturbing the sleep of the bigger one beside him.

Jonah cracked an eye, sleepily. He wrapped an arm around the slightly smaller man beside him and tucked him tightly at his chest. "Sleep love. The transformation took a toll on you."

Sammy curled closer to Jonah, snuggling deeper at the broad chest. "You should have said something." he scolded lightly. Jonah chuckled softly. "and you would have believed it?"

Sammy yawned. "Maybe'. As long as I don't ever have to go back." he grinned sleepily.

"Never." Jonah answered fervently.

Both men were silent again. Right on the edge of the sleep Jonah heard a soft: "Albatros, huh?" from Sammy. And with a happy laughter Jonah finally let go and fell free over the edge to his dreams and back to sleep.