Descendants

A silver dragon slowly lands in the middle of the village. 

The villagers are crowding the area around him, not because of the dragon. The reason they are so interested is the Prince of Yuuei who is paying them a visit. 

Their now fifteen year old Princess appears in the cave opening. As soon as Takeo hits the ground, she starts running towards him and almost tackles him to the ground. 

“Careful” He breathes as he hesitantly wraps his arms around her. 

“Six months!” She argues and holds him at an arm's length so she can glare up at him. “We haven’t seen each other in six months.”

Takeo nods slowly. “Yes, I missed your birthday.”

“You did!”

“I have a present for you though.”

Kazumi’s eyes widen at that, staring up at Takeo like he just pulled the sun out of the sky. 

A safe distance away, Raidon is sitting on top of the crater wall, his legs dangling over the edge as he watches the exchange with a frown. 

Takeo pulls out a small box and Kazumi wraps his arms around him once again, making the usually so collected boy blush and smile. 

It’s a necklace. A shiny, too expensive necklace with a red ruby in the middle. Takeo motions for Kazumi to turn around so he can help her put it on and Raidon rolls his eyes. 

“You don’t even like jewelry.” He mumbles. 

~ ~ ~

Kazumi is used to flying on the back of a dragon. 

She is not used to flying on the back of a dragon this huge. 

“Holy fuck! Rai!” She cries once they reach their traveling height. “How’d you get this huge!” She holds onto the spikes on his back, barely managing to reach around due to their size. 

Raidon just turns his head and blinks at her, his head twice her size. 

She pokes her tongue out at him and tries to lean over the side to check the view but quickly snaps back into her original position. 

Raidon huffs and looks forward again. 

“Don’t laugh at me!” She snaps and crosses her arms. She sits like that for about a minute before she notices that she isn’t holding on anymore. “Huh…”

Next to her, Raidon’s huge wings slowly move up and down, somehow creating a safe space where she’s sitting where there’s pretty much no wind at all. 

“Hey, Rai!” She calls and carefully pulls her legs up and close. “I have an idea!”

A low growl vibrates through his body as he raises his head to glance back at her. His eyes widen when he sees what she’s trying to do. 

Kazumi got up into a crouching position, her feet the only thing connected to the dragon’s back. 

Raidon huffs and shakes his head but she raises a palm and grins. “Don’t be a baby. Let me try.”

A whine leaves his throat and Kazumi finally looks up at him. 

“If I fall, you’ll catch me, right?”

He glances down and whines again but she’s already pushing herself up into a standing position, her arms carefully spread. 

Raidon raises his head some more to shield her from any wind coming right at her as he’s desperately trying to fly as calmly as possible. 

“I’m standing on a dragon’s back!” She gasps with a grin before raising her head and looking forward. Her hair and cape are blowing in the wind, her smile seemingly forcing the clouds to part so the sun can shine down on her. 

Or at least that’s how it looks to a lovestruck dragon. Raidon lowers his head with a huff and shakes the thoughts away. 

When there’s a weak squeak somewhere behind him he dares to look back again. 

Where Kazumi was standing a few seconds ago there is nothing. 

Raidon cries out in shock, a pathetic whimper to anyone who were to hear it before pulling his wings in to dive down and towards the ground. 

He spots her immediately, her red cape fluttering above her. She must’ve lost consciousness since her body is absolutely unmoving as the wind pulls at her from all sides. 

Raidon uses his wings to push himself down faster, the ground rushing closer and closer, a forest right underneath. 

He spreads his wings and pushes forward one last time, reaching out with one of his claws to carefully wrap around Kazumi before using his full wing span to stop in the air, his tail brushing the crown of a tree below. 

He lets out a deep breath and flaps his wings in place to stay put as he looks down at his best friend. 

She’s still out but as he hesitantly opens his claws to check on her, he quickly sees her chest rise and fall. 

A low groan escapes him. He closes his claws around her again, carefully as to not hurt her and looks around. 

Fortunately, the highest towers of Yuuei castle are already visible in the distance which means it will probably take him about ten more minutes to get there so he can check on Kazumi properly. 

He takes a minute or so to calm down before he pushes himself higher again and towards his destination. 

He just hopes Takeo won’t find out about their little stunt. 

~ ~ ~ 

Misaki is sitting in the middle of the castle’s backyard, her legs crossed underneath her and her hands folded in between as she’s deep in concentration. 

Her chest expands as she takes in a deep breath, holding it in for about ten seconds before opening her eyes and letting it out again. 

Cold air exits her mouth, ice particles glimmering in the sun. She smiles and her hands part and raise towards the icy mist. She rounds the particles with her hands before stopping in her movement suddenly. 

The air in front of her seems to shrink together as the blow of glimmering air grows thicker and thicker. She moves her hands through and over the structure until it forms a long stick, the ends spiky. 

Misaki’s smile widens as she jumps to her feet and grabs the newly formed weapon with both hands. “Yes!” She cheers quietly as she starts whirling it around. 

Her triumph is interrupted by a shadow suddenly covering her, getting bigger fast. 

Her smile disappears, replaced by a frown as she lifts her head. “Oh, shit” She mumbles before forcing her legs into motion to get out of the way. 

It all happens too quickly. Misaki jumps into the grass outside of the training ground built into the backyard just as Raidon pretty much crashes into the ground while desperately trying to keep his front claw raised up high. 

Dust whirls up around the huge creature and Misaki waves her hand through the air, coughing a few times as she approaches the scene. 

When the dust clears slowly, the huge dragon is gone, replaced by Raidon who is lying on his back in the middle of the training ground. On top of him is an unconscious Kazumi. 

Misaki’s eyes widen briefly and she holds the ice stick up into the air, forcing it to dissolve into sparkling air again before she blinks down at the two. “Hey, Rai.” She greets nonchalantly. 

Raidon glances up at her as he tries to catch his breath. One of his hands waves through the air weakly in greeting. “Hey, Misaki.”

Misaki looks down at Kazumi. “What is going on here?”

He shuts his eyes tightly for a moment and sends the sleeping Princess a last longing look before carefully pushing her off and rolling her over onto her back so he can sit up. “She thought it was a good idea to stand up while we were flying.”

Misaki’s eyes widen and she drops to her knees on Kazumi’s other side. “Oh my! Is she okay?”

Raidon shrugs. “I don’t know. She fell off. I caught her in time but she has been out ever since.” He looks up at Yuuei’s Princess and rubs his forehead with a sigh. “I’m sorry for the rough landing.”

Misaki immediately shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it.” She slowly reaches out to place a hand on Kazumi’s forehead. “She’s cold.”

“That’s bad, right?” Raidon asks, his voice breaking at the end. “Shit, I killed my Princess!”

“No, you didn’t. Her body probably just shut down once she started falling. She just needs to reboot.”

Raidon lets out a deep breath and nods a few times before falling back into the dirt. “Fuck!” He yells. “I’m chaining her to my back next time!”

Misaki looks up after pulling Kazumi’s head into her lap. A smirk appears on her face. “Kinky”

“Shut up” Raidon mumbles and runs a hand down his face as his heart slowly starts to calm down. “Where’s your idiot brother?”

Misaki shrugs and lowers her head again to watch Kazumi’s calm expression. “No idea.”

“You always know where he’s at.” Raidon says as he sits up again. 

“I do not. In fact, I’ve barely seen him lately.”

Raidon frowns and rubs the back of his head. “Because he’s busy planning his proposal?”

Misaki shrugs again. “Could be. I wouldn’t know.”

“You live in the same castle!”

“So?” She looks up at Raidon, her gaze serious. “He barely talks to me anymore. I have no idea what’s going on with him.”

“Huh…”

The subject is cut short when Kazumi’s face scrunches up into a frown, her head rolling to the side. Misaki’s hands fall to her sides as she watches Kazumi slowly blink her eyes open. 

“Rise and shine, Princess.” Misaki giggles and Kazumi frowns up at her for a few seconds before letting out a gasp and rolling out of her grasp. She jumps to her feet, still a bit shaky but standing nonetheless. 

“What the fuck is going on?” She slurs as she blinks up at the castle. “Huh?”

“You fell off my back after your little stunt.” Raidon explains. “But like you said, I caught you.” He slowly gets to his feet as Kazumi turns around to blink at him in confusion. “Kazu, I appreciate your trust, but please, don’t make me catch you again. It was scary, okay?”

She stares at him dumbly and slowly reaches up to scratch the back of her head. “I...I don’t remember falling?”

“You passed out, hun.” Misaki tells her with a soft smile. “Complete shut down.”

Kazumi looks around in thought before crossing her arms and shaking her head. “Bullshit. I probably hit my head or something. Why would I just pass out?”

Misaki turns her head to smile sheepishly at Raidon. “That must’ve been it.”

“Surely” Raidon says. “So, uh…” He steps over to Misaki to help her up. “Now that we’re here, what’s the plan?”

She takes his hand and jumps to her feet, mostly on her own. “Oh, I’ve got a lot in store for you guys.” She claps her hands together, staring up at them with sparkling eyes. “Tamaki designed such a sleek suit for you, Rai. And your dress was custom made by, wanna guess?” She asks, beaming up at Kazumi. 

The blonde frowns and shrugs. 

“By me! I made it!” Misaki tells her gleefully. 

“You designed my dress?”

“Yes! I mean, Sumi helped me, but…”

“Sumi?” Raidon steps in to ask. “You mean the witch?”

“Yes! Momo and Kyoka’s daughter. You know her, right?” Misaki asked. 

Raidon nods. “We’ve visited the witches a few times in the last few years.”

Kazumi turns her head to look at him in question. “You did?”

He nods and starts making his way over to the castle. “Yep. They are good friends of my parents. Gotta visit them every now and then.”

The girls follow after him quickly. “But...when did that happen?” Kazumi asks quickly. 

“When you were here.” He says without turning around to look at her. 

“You never told me.”

“You haven’t told me a lot of stuff.”

Misaki bites her bottom lip nervously. “Uh, guys. Please stop fighting?” She pleads as they enter the castle through the back door. 

Raidon turns to face her and Kazumi steps up to her, both of them sending Misaki a glare. 

“We are not fighting!” Both say at the same time. 

Misaki raises her hands in defeat and steps back. “Alright. Whatever you say.”

Kazumi raises her gaze to Raidon and rolls her eyes. “Fuck this. Where’s Takeo?” She steps past the other two and stomps along the hallway. 

“No idea” Misaki sighs. 

“You don’t know?” Kazumi asks as she stops in her tracks. 

“No, I don’t. Alternatively, why don’t we make sure your dress fits just right for tonight?”

Raidon looks from Misaki to Kazumi in anticipation. He knows, if there’s one thing Kazumi hates, it’s having to get dolled up. Another reason he questions why she would ever want to be with a Prince.

More than once, he had to listen to one of her hate speeches on having to wear a dress during her time in Yuuei. 

“Do I have to?” Kazumi asks with a sigh, her shoulders sagging in defeat. 

Misaki smiles apologetically. “I still need to make a few changes. If you want it to be finished tonight, we should get going.”

Kazumi rolls her eyes and pouts. Raidon swallows his pride and steps forward, placing his hands on her shoulders to find her gaze. “Kazu, go with her. Don’t you want to look your absolute best tonight?”

“I always look my absolute best, you idiot.” She mumbles and looks away. “But I guess you’re right.”

Raidon puts on a smile and pats her shoulder. “Blow him away, Princess.”

She grins and nods. 

“It’s that easy?” Misaki gasps next to them. “Is that a superpower?” She asks Raidon. 

He shrugs and steps back. “Maybe it is. Is Tamaki waiting for me?”

“Probably, yeah”

He nods. “Alright, then uh...see you later?”

Kazumi nods and holds her fist out. He raises his own and bumps it against hers.