#grishly

The thing about stories is that the ending is always somewhat arbitrary. Every ending is just a beginning of disguise. No matter how old you are, there’s always a new start just around the corner.

Ashley was still young, and she had her whole life ahead of her. As a witch that was especially true. Her mother was far older than any mundane human could ever hope to be, and she would likely follow in her footsteps. With the life she was going to lead - and to an extent already had - she knew it would be a life full of beginnings. There would be a first time for things she couldn’t even dream of, even considering all the things she’d already seen.

Indeed, her life lately had been chock full of firsts. The world was changing, and her life was changing with it. Not all of them had been good - she’d fought in her first war, witnessed her first nuclear explosion, killed her first human, all at the young age of 19 going on 20. Those were first times she’d never wanted to have, but they were experiences that would stay with her the rest of her life, whether she wanted them or not.

But not all of those firsts had been bad. She’d seen her first sky full of dragons, great, wonderful creatures that filled the world with color, and she’d seen them spread their wings for all to see for the first time. She’d seen her first true interspecies coalition, witnessed the first true breakthrough in magical species acceptance she’d ever seen. She’d met a hybrid for the first time, a creature of such power that they were rarely ever allowed to live, but one who had turned out to be as sweet and pretty as any other girl she’d met.

The best and biggest first of all, though, was curled around her, cocooning her in a mass of soft, warm feathers, filling her life with gold.

This wasn’t her first relationship. She’d been on a few casual dates, and a couple had even led to something more. It wasn’t her first relationship with a nonhuman species. She once had a fling with a cute werewolf girl that regularly came to the Key before having to move across the country. None of them had been serious, however, and she knew that now. She’d never felt the way she did now, in the perpetual embrace of her girlfriend.

She could feel the dragon’s warmth pressing into her from all sides, the feathers softer and lovelier than the smoothest silk. Her great heart beat within her chest, sending small vibrations through Ashley’s body, a soothing tempo that filled her with a feeling of calm serenity. Her breath rumbled through her long neck, in and out as she inhaled and exhaled in her sleep. Even in her sleep, even in the dark, she was so beautiful. Every feather seemed more precious than any of the shimmer they slept on.

The two hadn’t yet figured out a living situation for the two of them, and to be honest, Ashley wasn’t sure she was ready for that. She was willing, but… it was a huge commitment. One of them, probably both, would have to relocate. Their needs were very different, and it would be a challenge to adapt. It was a problem she was willing to solve, but it wasn’t one either of them had the energy to tackle right now. As a result, they both spent a lot of time traveling and staying with each other, and while they weren’t always together, that made the times they were all the more special.

Right now, they were staying in Grith’s den, on top of her pile of shimmer. She thought back to the first time she had been here. Things had been so different then. In hindsight, she believed that even then she had started developing feelings for her. Grith was so special. She had met dragons before, but none that had spent much time in dragon form. Pret had fit in with humans fairly well, and so she had never really thought of them as being particularly different from humans. Grith showed her just how wrong she really was - and yet, she also made her realize that the similarities were still greater than their differences. Yes, humans and dragons were different. But they were both alive and intelligent creatures, capable of feeling, of thinking, of loving. Grith had shown her all that, and she had shown her just how beautiful a being could be.

The human had thought that sleeping on top of metal would be uncomfortable, and indeed, in a vacuum she would choose her soft bed over a pile of coins any day. It was different when she was with Grith, though. The dragoness was like the softest, warmest bed she’d ever slept on. Maybe not quite as comfy, but far, far more lovely to be with.

She nestled closer into the soft down of Grith’s underbelly, and the dragon shifted lightly in her sleep. Ashley wondered if she had woken her, and felt mixed feelings. She would feel guilty for waking the dragon, but she also wanted nothing more than to look into her eyes. It was the one thing that was missing. She softly turned herself over, laying out on her stomach, easing herself up onto Grith’s forelegs. The gold dragon let out a snort and gave a flick of her ear. Her tail flicked, sending a handful of coins tumbling down the pile. She didn’t seem to wake, though. Her eyes were closed, but her face was tucked between her paws, less than a foot from Ashley’s.

The thought that she would one day be dating a dragon had never crossed her mind. It hadn’t exactly escaped her notice that her mother liked to spend a lot of time alone with her dragon friend, Ivy, whenever it was around, and she had wondered what they might be up to in secret, but the idea also seemed so taboo on a societal level that she just assumed she’d end up with someone far more humanoid, most likely another witch. Of course, she didn’t know the future, she wasn’t Pret. Maybe she and Grith wouldn’t work out. But this is where she was now, and now that she was here, she didn’t think anything could convince her to give it up.

She leaned forward to the dragon and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. A huff of breath escaped her nostrils, and one of her paws seemed to flex, but she otherwise didn’t seem to notice.

Was she dreaming about her? Ashley wondered. Or was she dreaming of something else. Her parents? Hunting? That was the one thing she didn’t think she’d ever truly understand about dragons - the thrill they got from a hunt, the sheer pleasure they took in killing and consuming their prey. Ashley wasn’t exactly a pacifist, but she tried to avoid killing if she could help it. At the same time, she didn’t begrudge dragons for following their instincts. If Grith found joy in the hunt, than that was enough for her.

As long as she came back to her afterwards, full and happy.

She closed her eyes and rested her head on the dragon’s neck, nustling into her feathers, a smile on her face.

A smile for Grith - her first true love.

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For much of her life, Grith had struggled with change. Her parents disappeared, and her life had changed. She started to work at Vertex, and her life had changed. She accidentally revealed magic to the world, and her life had changed. None of these changes had been good - at least, not at first. But they had happened; were still happening, every single day.

She still found the concept of change frightening sometimes - when she was at her most vulnerable, most alone, when the memories of the battles and the deaths and the pain came back, when she saw the face of her mother and father and grandfather flashing before her, all of them dead, all she wanted was to turn back time and go back. For all of her expertise in time magic, that she couldn’t do something so simple as turn back the clocks seemed a curse.

But many of the changes had been for the better. Dragons no longer had to live in hiding. GMI and the vicious mundane president they had backed were no longer trying to drive them to extinction. She no longer had to live under the weight of human superiority, no longer had to deny her true self in order to survive, no longer had to live a sad, lonely lie to uphold an unsustainable status quo. She was free now, and for the first time in her life, she wasn’t alone.

The best and biggest change of all was in between her arms. When they were apart, she often forgot how small Ashley was. She fit neatly into the curve of her underbelly, snuggled up against her soft down as they curled up on the makeshift couch in the back of the new Key. The human’s heart was so much smaller, so much quieter than hers, and yet every beat of it she could hear between her paws was like the sweetest song her mother had ever sung.

Was this what it was to find a mate? Was this what it was to join your fate with another’s? Was this what it was to truly love?

She remembered that day when they had first shared their kiss. She had promised to always protect Ashley, and she had meant it. Dragons were guardians and protectors, and with something so precious to protect, she felt that her life had meaning in a way it never had before. But even now, the reality of it boggled her mind. The way she could give her heart, her greatest treasure, away so freely to a human would have been unthinkable to her only a few months prior. She had always found the very idea of mating with a human to be uncomfortable and wrong.

And yet… she did not regret it for a single moment. She had “fallen head over heels” as the humans said. The very thought of something befalling Ashley put her at risk of flying into such a rage that it might immediately prove the likes of Chris right were it not born out of love and not malice. She wanted to give everything to Ashley, and she would challenge even the most powerful human militaries all by herself if it meant protecting her. It was her that had shown her that humans and dragons could live in peace, it was her that had given her meaning after all she’d been through, it was her that had been there by her side through the darkest days. How could she ever even begin to balance such a debt?

She gazed down at the sleeping human, her black hair splayed in between her feathers, her soft face still and vulnerable in the midst of her sleep. She was such a small thing, yet capable beyond her form’s limitations. Perhaps she didn’t need the amount of protection Grith wanted to give her, and perhaps she was more than capable of holding her own. Grith didn’t care. She would be there for her anyway.

She knelt down her neck, sticking her snout into the humans hair, tasting her scent on her tongue. That scent that had once smelled to her like prey and now smelled to her like joy.

The dragoness gave her a soft lick over the cheek, her forked tongue sliding across the smooth human skin. There was a time when such a gesture might be perceived - or even meant - as threatening. It was no longer. It was a gesture of affection, of protectiveness, of love.

Love for her dearest Ashley.

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In the dark of the night, the dragon and the human both awoke to each others’ presence. Their eyes met, and they nearly became lost, until one or the other - neither could remember which - leaned forward. Human and dragon met in a kiss, and their fates were forever entwined in each others’ embrace.

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