2685 words

~~~~~

Ruby grabbed Ember and pulled him closer to her.

"Ember, if you die, I swear I will resurrect you and kill you again."

He laughed and pulled her into his wings. "If I die, you have my permission to make my afterlife as miserable as you want."

She pulled away. "I'm serious. Do. Not. Die."

"I'll be fine," he said as he started to leave.

"Watch your wing!" she called.

"GOODBYE!" he yelled pointedly.

~~~~~

That night, Ruby paced around in his room, waiting for him.

What if he's hurt? What if he was bringing home a hurt soldier and they both got killed by enemy forces? What if-

Ember entered the room. Ruby let out a sigh of relief and tackled him with a hug.

"Oof!" he gasped as she embraced him and then searched him for any wounds.

"Easy! Ow! I've got a bruise there."

"And you didn't go to the infirmary first?"

"No. I had things to do."

"Like what?"

He twined his tail around hers. "Like seeing my secret girlfriend."

"And your secret girlfriend has things to do too. I'll go find Crim."

"Crim can wait."

"It's not about her. It's about a bruise that you have after fighting in a battle."

"It's just a bruise."

"If you were bruised, I'm pretty sure you have other wounds too."

He managed to look guilty. "Just a scratch." He showed her the place behind his wing.

"How did I not see this earlier?"

"I can fold my wing back and it's practically invisible."

"I'll be back with Crim," she decided, running out of the room."

"Love you too!" he called after her.

Ruby flew down to the infirmary and found Crim.

"Crim, Ember has a cut on his wing and instead of coming here, he came to report to me first. Please fix him."

"I can try. But I've been trying to do that since we were dragonets. Not a single attempt worked."

Ruby chuckled.

Together, they flew back to Ember's room.

"I thought you said he came to see you to report."

"Huh? Oh yeah. He did."

"Then why are we going to his room?"

"Uh... it's because... I actually sent him back to his room once I saw the blood."

"Okay."

Once they reached Ember's room, Crim barged in and started yelling at her brother.

"Ember, you idiot! Why didn't you get your wing fixed up before telling the general about your battle?"

"Hello Crim. Yes, I love you too and I missed you terribly as I went out and killed some dragons and tried not to die. Especially the not dying part. Special request from... uh... a dragon," he finished awkwardly.

That perked Crim's interest. "A dragon? Ooh! Who is it?"

"No one," he mumbled.

At this point, Ruby wished she could fade into the shadows. She willed herself not to look at Ember and tried to stand unassumingly by the door.

"Oh come on, Ember. If the dragon really didn't matter, you would tell me who it is. But you didn't say anything! This is a special dragon!"

"No, she's no one."

"She! Ooh! My brother has a girlfriend. And if she's a secret, then she's obviously someone of consequence! What do you think, General?"

"Ruby," she corrected automatically.

"What do you think, Ruby?" Crim amended.

"Um, I don't know. Maybe the daughter of a nobleman or something. Or maybe her parents don't approve of Ember. Or something."

"Hmm... you're probably right. But you can't even tell me, Ember?"

"No," he replied immediately. "I don't think she would like that."

Ruby shot him a grateful look.

"You should tell him that he needs to at least tell you about his secret girlfriend so that she'll know if anything happens to him during battle," Crim told Ruby.

"He'll be fine. His girlfriend will be fine. They'll both be fine."

"You don't know that," Ember said. "My girlfriend is the most important dragon in my world."

Ruby fell silent. She knew he was in love with her but he didn't think she was that important to him.

But... wasn't it the same for her? She felt exactly the same about him as he did about her. She felt like she was missing a part of herself when he wasn't with her and now, she felt whole. If Ember died or left her, she wasn't sure that she would be able to stand it. She needed him just as much as she needed to breathe.

Besides, he was the only dragon apart from Tourmaline who actually cared about her. She liked this feeling of belonging.

But deep in her heart, she always knew that their love wouldn't last.

However, she could enjoy it and be happy while it did.

~~~~~

It did not last long.

Ruby had the best two months of her life when she was with Ember. They were always careful to cover their tracks when they met with each other and gave other dragons believable excuses when they asked. They met early in the morning and late at night, when everyone else was asleep and they could talk without any fear of being caught.

This illusion of security faded, however, the day Scarlet found her sneaking out.

"Ruby."

Ruby was so startled that she nearly jumped out of her own scales.

"Mother?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just... going out."

"Why?"

"To... to hunt. I sometimes like to hunt instead of eating the food from the kitchen."

"Hmm," came her mother's noncommittal tone of voice. "Carry on."

Ruby looked at her weirdly. Scarlet never gave up issues concerning Ruby that quickly. Something was up.

Ruby flew out about a mile into the mountains and hid behind a hill. Sure enough, there was someone following her.

Vermilion! He was the dragon following her? What was wrong with him?

Ruby always thought that because they were both children of Scarlet, that they should stick together. When she was younger, she had fantasies about her perfect family. She told herself that Vermilion just sided with her mother on everything because he wanted to protect her from Scarlet's fury.

Of course, those fantasies faded the more she realized that Vermilion was a cowardly little goat and had no real backbone. He wouldn't stand up to Scarlet any more than Ruby could. At least Ruby had traitorous thoughts. She hated the way Scarlet ran the kingdom. Ruby would be a much better queen. And she wouldn't kill off her heirs.

Her mother was stuck. She only had one heir. She couldn't risk Ruby, but she could make her life miserable. And she did.

Ruby was always isolated from other dragons her age. Her friends were taken from her as soon as her mother learned about them.

Her only family either hated her or was indifferent to her. The only people who cared about her weren't even related to her. The only way anyone related to her would care about her now was if she had dragonets and they didn't hate her.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. This much hesitation and distraction was dangerous. She was a general- she knew that.

Vermilion would be gone by now, right? Just to be safe, she quickly caught a mountain goat and headed back in the direction of the castle. Then she took a detour to the place she should have met Ember a long time ago.

"Hey!" he called. "What happened? Why so late?"

She didn't answer for a few minutes as she caught her breath.

"Mother sent Vermilion to spy on me. It took me a long time to lose him."

"Oh," he said. His eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Are you okay? Did he see you?"

"No, I think we'll be fine." She thrust the goat into his talons. "Here. I caught this while trying to shake Vermilion off my tail."

He ripped the goat in half and gave her one of the pieces. Then he sat down and patted the spot next to him by the tree.

She sat down and leaned into him.

"Ember, it's getting harder to sneak out and keep us a secret. Mother is already suspicious enough to send Vermilion after me. What will we do when she finds us together?"

He took her face in his talons. "Sweetheart, we can face anything as long we're together. You. And I. Will. Always. Be. Together."

"I love you," she proclaimed, kissing him. "But I'm still worried. You know we'll be caught soon. What will we do?"

He laughed. "Stop worrying, darling. We can figure it out as it happens."

"That only works when don't expect a problem or you don't have enough time to create a plan."

"We'll run away and get married. And after we elope, we'll have a nice, peaceful life until your mother dies. And if you want, you'll be queen or you can pass the crown along to our daughter who we'll name Cliff."

She laughed. "I am not naming my daughter 'Cliff.' It's too strong of a name to be my daughter."

"But you are strong."

"Really? How?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, first of all, you are willing to put up with me."

"I concede. But that's literally it."

"You're strong enough to survive your mother," he continued. "Anyone else would have run away crying or thrown themselves at Peril. And you're in the army. You have the mental strength to fight in a war and not go crazy."

"But you do that too. You don't go crazy."

"It's only because of-" he stopped. "Because of what?"

"Nothing?"

"Come on. You were about to say something."

"It's... just a tiny bit of treason."

"WHAT?" she exclaimed.

"It's... kind of a long story."

He went on to tell her about how he wrote letters to the families of the soldiers he killed on the battlefield. Sometimes people wrote back and sometimes they didn't. And some dragons were thankful and some dragons were extremely upset.

"Which," he continued, "I totally understand, since I killed their husband or wife or parents or siblings or whatever."

"Wow," Ruby breathed. "That's... amazing. You really write letters to EVERYONE?"

"Yes. I can't stop thinking about it otherwise."

They were quiet for a few minutes. "Do you have any of the letters?"

"What?"

"The letters. Do you have copies of the letters you sent or the letters that you got back?"

"Yes. I save them all."

"Can I see a few?"

"Um," he hesitated. "Sure."

They flew back to the palace and to his room. Ember opened a drawer overflowing with scrolls and parchment. Ruby took the top scroll and unfurled it.

It was addressed to an IceWing named Sleet and it was dated the same day as their first battle.

Her gaze flicked to Ember's wing, where the scar from the IceWing was now nearly invisible. Was this the wife of that IceWing?

"Yes," he replied, as if he was reading her mind.

She picked up another letter. But as she started to open this one, the door burst open.

Startled, she and Ember swirled around to the door.

Standing there, with a smug grin on her face, was Queen Scarlet. And behind her, Vermilion staring at Ruby in horror.

Ruby almost rolled her eyes. It's not like having a secret boyfriend was unheard of. And it's not like she was consorting with a criminal. At least... not yet.

But seeing as her mother was here, it's extremely likely that he would be branded a criminal soon.

She took a step towards Ember and twined her tail with his, while staring defiantly into her mother's yellow eyes. When Vermilion started to speak, she silenced him with a glare.

In that moment, she felt like she could fly for days and never stop. Even if it was the tiniest bit of defiance ever, she felt so empowered and strong.

"Hello, Mother. What are you doing here?"

"The better question is, daughter," Scarlet said in the same tone, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, didn't you know? I'm meeting with my boyfriend."

"You don't have a boyfriend."

Ruby gestured to their entwined tails sardonically. "Then what is this?"

"Dead," Scarlet answered. Immediately her brother pounced on Ember and tried to inflict damage wherever he could. Luckily, Vermilion was even more of a mouse than Ruby, and his claws bounced harmlessly off Ember's scales.

"You're right. Ember looks SO VERY DEAD right now. Do it again."

She heard one of the guards snicker and try to cover it up with a cough. Luckily for him, her mother was so focused on the scene in front of her that she didn't even care.

"Vermilion! Are you really my son? Why can you NOT fight? Even Ruby fights!"

"Even Ruby?" she asked incredulously.

Scarlet ignored her and lunged at Ember herself.

"No!" Ruby shrieked.

Thankfully, Ember had good reflexes and he dove out of the way just in time to avoid being ripped apart by Scarlet's claws. He took off out the window and hesitated.

Ruby saw this and immediately started yelling at him. "Do NOT stop. I'll be fine! Get out of here, Ember!"

She left out a sigh of relief when he finally left.

"Guards! Follow him!"

Ruby saw the guards hesitate and pounced on this opportunity.

"Stop," she said as calmly as possible. "You will not follow him. You will stay here. This is a fight between my mother and me. You will not interfere."

To her eternal relief, they stopped.

"Mother, I have put up with your torture for so long. I can't do that anymore. Let him go. Let us live together peacefully."

"Your chance for a peaceful life was lost the day you hatched out of my egg."

"Let. Him. Go." she repeated.

"Never," she snarled. "As long as he's with you, he will not live."

"I won't let you kill him."

"You think you can stop me? Try it."

Ruby tried to attack the queen, but for some reason, it didn't work. She could not get herself to move.

When she looked up at Scarlet, what she saw scared her. Her mother's smile was cruel and calculating. With a jolt, she realized that Scarlet knew that Ruby was unable to attack.

"I knew you couldn't attack me. The second Ruby was born, your minuscule ability to challenge me disappeared."

That was a weird way to phrase it. "The second Ruby was born? As if I am an entirely different dragon."

Scarlet just smiled, as if that explained everything, and then she left.

Ruby waited for about five minutes and then she left to find Ember.

~~~~~

"Ruby," said Ember's voice.

She turned around and he was there. She let out a cry and dove into his wings. He held her for a few moments before he finally spoke.

"She's right, you know. I don't belong with you."

"What? No!"

"I'm a former servant. You shouldn't have fallen in love with me. I shouldn't have fallen in love with you."

"Stop that!"

"Ruby, I was a servant in the kitchen. Even I wouldn't want you to marry me." A pause. "I should go. It'll be safer for both of us."

She pulled his face in front of hers. "Ember, I don't care who you were before me. I just know that I can't love without you now. Promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"I-I'll try."

"Promise me!"

"Ruby, I won't do anything stupid."

She left him reluctantly that night.

And next morning, he was gone.

Ruby,
I can't endanger you or myself any longer. She'll murder us both if I stay. You told me not to do anything stupid, but this is the only safe and logical choice.
Take care.
I love you.
-Ember

An anguished noise escaped her lips and she cried for a long time.

And then, she stopped crying. She would go on for both of them. No- she would go on for all three of them. Because now, she had a new responsibility. Her dragonet would survive in this world. She would make sure of that.