The dragon reared back,

bloodstained, hurt.

I glared,

it didn’t.

Victory, terror, fear.

Hiding.

It was odd how they became friends. He was the no nonsense type, always the studious one with low tolerance levels. She was the girl who let her imagination run wild, the one who believed in nargles and unicorns. Yet he seemed to tolerate her, and she seemed to look past his rough exterior to find a gentler inside when the two of them were together.

They laid out in the midday sun, soft green grass surrounding them. She was dressed in a little white dress, covered in a beautiful lace pattern that she admired dearly. Much like her aunt with her fashion choices, her parents had always said. Her feet were bare - shoes were too restricting on a day like this - and her toenails were painted in a shade of bright yellow. A ribbon was tied at the end of her imperfectly braided hair, pale pink in color, her favorite color. He was in something much simpler and more plain, a sweater and a pair of khaki colored slacks - boring in Suddon's mind, perfect in Stephen's. Of course he wore his usual black socks and penny loafers, as he wore everyday, inside or out, rain or shine. It was a very businesslike attire, he had said when she'd inquired the reason why.

It wasn't long before the once sunny skies became cluttered with clouds and it began to rain down on them. Suddon giggled, jumping up from where she'd been lying, while Stephen just sat up with a disgusted look on his face. "We need to go inside, we're going to get wet and catch colds."

"Just come have fun, Stephen! Dance with me." Suddon grabbed his hand and forced him up (she was much, much stronger than she appeared after years of wrestling with Lucas), grinning as widely as she possibly could. "Do you ever smile?"

"No." He still looked very unamused as she began to twirl around in the rain, her white dress fanning out around her as she spun. She looked so innocent, so cute, so.. Suddon-like.

The rain let up after only a few minutes; typical summer rain. She was disappointed that he never danced with her, but instead of pouting she gasped and pointed into the sky.

"Do you see it?" She whispered into his ear, turning to look at him.

"See what?" "The rainbow." "No." "You have to believe, Stephen. You'll see a rainbow if you believe there's a rainbow." "No, I'll see a rainbow if the light reflects-" "No no, I don't want to hear your silly scientific explanations. Just look."