#snkminibang2016

Since Eren had fallen on that lone dragon, the latter hadn’t stopped following him and had insisted to sleep with him last night. The young man had been so tired at that time that he hadn’t even put a fight, something that he was beginning to regret.

“Hush,” Eren muttered to make the black dragon shut up.

He was getting a headache and Afelah’s disturbed rumble wasn’t helping. Her golden antlers were digging uncomfortably on his neck and Eren didn’t dare push her away from her hiding spot. Not when she’d finally seemed to get along with the lone dragon.

Last night had been weird, between falling and touching that strange dragon that had been following him since last year, talking with a weird old man and, finally, getting to meet that weird old man’s wife and being almost forced to stay the night in their daughter’s room.

And here he was, surrounded by unicorns, pinkness and glitter.

Eren thinned his lips and stretched under the heavy comforter, trying his best to ignore the black dragon’s contented purrs at his feet and Afelah’s answering croons.

A small knock at the glittery bedroom door pierced through the contentment and Eren immediately tensed, Afelah jumping on his shoulder and hissing threateningly while the black dragon skedaddled under the bed. However, the door stayed closed, something that made the brunet sigh in relief while a warm and welcoming voice began to talk to him.

“Young man? Are you awake? I need to go fetch Dot at the pub, that old fool probably fell asleep on the toilet again… You’re free to leave whenever you want. Though I am sure that Dot would want to talk more with you. Also, feel free to take some clothes from the wardrobe, nobody uses them anymore.”

Eren glanced at Afelah, his dragon blinking slowly while she shook her head. They stayed put, their ears following attentively the sound of the lady puttering around the house until she left, the door staying unlocked behind her. The dark dragon’s head popped from under the bed and glanced at the duo, confusion shining bright among the grey eyes.

“I know,” Eren sighed and put his feet on the fluffy pink carpet. “That was really weird.”

The black dragon blinked and then sneezed. It looked quite startled at the sudden sound and went back to his seemingly new favorite spot, meaning Eren’s feet. Meanwhile, the owner of said feet just blinked wearily at the fluffy pink carpet and readied himself of another day full of walking down the streets while avoiding a dreadful ending by a very terrifying someone.

Afelah grumbled and snapped her maw at him, making the young man realize that he’d spent way too much time thinking over his day and yet not moving to do it.

Eren gave his dragon a grateful smile and then glanced around him. Since the weird old couple wasn’t around, he doubted that they’d mind if he took some clothes from their wardrobes. After all, the lady had said so.

However, just from seeing the pinkness and fluffiness of the bedroom, Eren kind of feared what he’d end finding in that wardrobe. He looked at said wardrobe and gulped. Was it some trick of the lights or was that wardrobe actually looming over him?

The black dragon squeaked annoyingly and softly nipped at Eren’s uncovered feet. Grimacing, the young man jumped away from the bed and made the two steps needed to get to the wardrobe. It was covered with posters of some forgotten rock band and more glitter.

Afelah skittered to his side, her claws digging painfully on his bare torso while she climbed until she got to her favorite spot on her neck. Eren sighed and scratched her scales under her mouth.

“I know,” he muttered grumpily. “We can’t complain.”

His dragon blinked slowly in approval and began purring softly.

Like every other time Levi worked in the early morning shift, he’d ended up cuffed and sitting in the backseat of a police car. And like every other time this happened, the man couldn’t even be bothered to explain that he was innocent.

It wasn’t like the policemen would care. After all, A-Drake people weren’t even considered citizen.

“There’s a car in the driveway,” Eyebrows commented as Fringe began to slow the car. “I’ll go talk to the widow. Stay in the car.”

The ‘And don’t let the A-Drake escape’ went unsaid but Levi snorted and rolled his eyes.

It wasn’t like he wanted to get out. The weather had turned colder and foggier during their ride and if there was something Levi hated more than being unfairly inculpated, it was walking in the fog.

It reminded him too much of the day he’d lost his dragon.

Fringe grunted something that Levi didn’t hear (nor did he want to) and leaned back against his seat. Meanwhile, Eyebrows walked to the Pixis’ door and pushed on the doorbell. Nobody answered the call and Levi rolled his eyes again. Seems like this was going to take some time. And Fringe seemed to think the same because the policeman’s dragon snorted loudly and curled around his master’s forearm.

Levi looked away, his throat tightening as he remembered better days when his dragon had insisted on always having a claw on him. He coughed softly and slowly leaned against the car window. The fog rolled around, turning into wispy fingers that brushed against the metal and Levi closed briefly his eyes. Sometimes, that lost feeling he always had in the fog even made him think that his dragon was actually still alive. And that he was waiting for him to rescue him from whatever evil thing had taken him away.

The sudden sound of Fringe unbuckling his seatbelt startled Levi away from his dark thoughts and he looked up at the policeman. His dragon was slowly kneading the damp ground under its tiny paws and the dirty blond man’s face didn’t let any of his nervousness appear on his face.

“Don’t even think of running away,” he told Levi with a threatening finger.

The latter merely rolled his eyes and went back to looking through the window. It was way more interesting than watching two policemen interrogate a recently widowed woman.

The stridently sharp sound of the doorbell startled Eren and he almost made Afelah fall from her perch on his shoulders. He silently apologized to his fuming dragon, got out of the shower and walked to the window, hiding against the wall to see who was at the door while he quickly secured a towel around his hips.

The familiar sight of a police uniform made his heart stop and he began to panic. He was unclothed, his backpack was in the pink bedroom while all of his clothes were drying in the bathroom, and Afelah was already chittering in a panicked fashion.

The sharp bite of the black dragon’s beak on his toes made Eren break through his panic. He took the first bunch of clothes he could find in the wardrobe and put them on before he ran to the bathroom. The dark and tattered wings fluttered as the dragon crawled behind him, a distressed croon echoing in his inflating throat. The young man didn’t even blink as he turned around and took the second dragon in his arms, Afelah grunting in an annoyed tone before she curled her tail around the black dragon’s neck. It hung there like a blue necklace and the two dragons seemed to get into a silent agreement of not contesting Afelah’s total power on the other reptile.

In the meantime, Eren had rushed into the bathroom and had thrown all his wet clothes into the backpack, taking some soap too because it never hurt to have some. The two dragons hung in the bath, their globous eyes never leaving the young man’s lithe body as he moved around.

But, just as suddenly as the doorbell had rung, the two dragons began to rumble threateningly and skittered close to the brunet.

Eren gulped loudly and tightened his grip on his backpack. He knew what those rumbles meant.

“Quick!” he screeched, forgetting all about being discreet while the ‘fight or flight’ instinct began to war in him.

Afelah decided for himself because she stopped rumbling and jumped inside his backpack. The black dragon’s rumble continued on as he jumped out of the bath and used his tattered wings to give himself a boost to climb on Eren’s right shoulder. The young man didn’t even blink and just put his backpack on his back before he considered his options.

The front door was a clear no, since there were policemen hanging there. And they had surely heard his screech, Eren gritted his teeth and shook his head. He didn’t have time to panic, that man was coming.

So, since the front door was impossible to go through, that left him the back door. Or any window close to the ground.

The brunet glanced at the bathroom window and grimaced. It was way too small to let him go through. However, the window in the glittery bedroom he’d used would be perfect. Even if it was just above the police car patrol parked near the weird old couple’s house, Eren was ready to bet Afelah’s beloved golden antlers that he’d be able to get away safely.

Nodding to himself, Eren stalked into the bedroom and ripped the pink and fluffy bedsheets. The black dragon flew awkwardly to the window and clawed it open before he let out a proud croon. The young man thanked him with a grateful smile and checked if the bedsheets were correctly tied. Then, feeling like he’d done everything he could do in this kind of situation, Eren tied the bedsheets to the heavy wardrobe and jumped through the window.

Levi blinked sleepily, his forehead stuck against the cold window and narrowed his eyes. He was pretty sure he’d heard a familiar croon. But that was stupid. The only dragon he’d recently heard crooning was Hanji’s terrifying spawn of the devil and it didn’t sound at all like his.

The fog rolled around, his heart quickened as he heard someone approaching the car and he narrowed his eyes. The mist seemed to clear around just enough to make him able to see the black dragon totting after an undiscernible silhouette. His heart stopped.

“Ma-,“ Levi’s lips moved on their own and he tried to open the door, his cuffed hands scratching uselessly against it.

Rage began to pour in him, mixing with the irresistible hope that had surged forth when he’d seen it. He needed to get out, to find him. He needed to GET OUT.

Levi gritted his teeth and kicked with all his strength the window. The glass shattered and the dark haired man jumped through it, uncaring of the sharp edges of the window digging through his uniform and slashing his face. He needed to follow that person.

He hit the floor with his shoulder and didn’t let the pain faze him. It was almost as if he was in a daze since he’d seen that dragon. And Levi was pretty sure that nobody or nothing would stop him in this chase. His feet finally hit the floor and he immediately ran after the silhouette. The latter seemed to be avoiding the policemen and Levi huffed angrily. It was probably Pixis’ murderer. And some kind of dragon stealer.

They ran through the empty and foggy streets, their feet and claws hitting regularly the macadam in an almost hypnotic sound.

Levi shook his head and quickened his steps, injuring silently whoever had the black dragon with them.

Finally, after what seemed to have been hours and probably had only been minutes, the silhouette stopped in a children playground and vanished into the fog. Levi swore loudly and jumped into the mist, an angry snarl on his lips.

“GET OUT!” the scream that came out of his panting mouth had been anything but threatening. It was a prayer, a begging prayer that Levi had made in his mind for days and finally escaped.

Something skittered around him and an empty can got kicked toward him. Levi fell to his knees and shook his head. The skittering something approached him but Levi didn’t look up. He wouldn’t be able to live if it was once again an illusion.

“Who are you?”

The voice surprised him. Levi was more accustomed to hearing a dragon’s contented croon or annoyed rumble in those kind of hallucinations. But this voice, soft and yet with a firm undertone, was a new addition.

The dark haired man blinked and finally looked up.

Through the heavy fog two familiar grey eyes glinted with recognition before the mist parted around the silhouette Levi had stalked for hours. It was a young man, with a heavy mop of chestnut colored hair and shining distrustful green eyes. His pale lips were dehydrated and thinned in a distrustful fashion but Levi was sure that, were the young man correctly fed, those lips would have been a siren call for kisses.

But the perfect antidote for those lips were, no doubts at all, those clothes.

“Who are you,” asked once again the man wearing a flowery crop-top with yoga pants that showed the whole world that he didn’t wear any underwear.

Eren had had weird mornings before. But this one?

It was by far the weirdest.

First he woke up in that pink bedroom, then he’d to follow Afelah’s extremely strict rules to get some clean clothes (that dragon was way too peculiar about what kind of textiles he could use), he’d had to jump through a window to escape some nosy policemen, run away from an angry garbage man and now this.

“So you know him?” Eren asked while he stretched his hand towards the black scaled dragon.

The latter was happily stretched on the bench they were all sitting. His two legs were twitching happily on the not so angry anymore garbage man while his head with the eyes closed and fluttering nostrils was laying all over Eren’s lap.

Not So Angry Anymore Garbage Man (or NSAAGM) nodded sternly, his grey eyes never leaving the dragon.

“I do,” he said with a weirdly strangled voice, almost as if he were overwhelmed by the sight of a dragon abandoning all sense of proper decorum.

Eren could understand. The man wore the distinct bracelet all Drakeless people had. If he ever lost Afelah (and wasn’t that a disturbing thought when he thought about the man he’d been hiding from for months now), Eren was pretty sure that he would cherish the moment some dragon decided to use his legs as a pillow.

Afelah stirred in her hiding spot and one of her sharp claws pierced through the thin fabric of the backpack, prickling softly Eren’s right arm. It eased his breathing and the young man smiled softly toward the quivering muzzle peaking from a corner of the backpack. Like always, Afelah had his back and had made sure that he’d keep his calm.

Nothing would ever feel like having his own dragon around.

This realization made him pity the NSAAGM whose A-Drake brace was badly hidden by his uniform.

“His name is Ma’or,” NSAAGM added with a stronger voice.

The strangely muffled voice had quickly transformed into a no-nonsense tone that reminded Eren a bit of one of his best friends.

“Ma’or?” Eren repeated with a small frown. It sounded familiar, like something he’d have heard before.

“Yeah,” the stranger nodded and his grey eyes glinted with a nostalgic light. “I was going for “Major Pain in the Ass” but I bit my tongue. So Ma’or it was.”

Eren slowly blinked.

“W-wait, he’s your dragon?!” he screeched nervously seconds before he jumped to his feet and put some distance between the NSAAGM and himself.

How could this man, who wore the evident mark of being a person without a dragon in the eye of the society, be the master of that black and gentle dragon? And how could both of them have survived living separated from each other for a whole year?

They were one soul, for Drake’s Sake!

Ma’or’s human nodded slowly.

[But before that, Flash Info, my dear listeners! The former detective and powerful Dragonide, Dot Pixis was found dead this morning in the Red District. Call the Police if you were partying there last night and saw our man! Here’s the number…]

The neon jacket flew away as the bundle under it jumped straight into the sleeper’s chest. Sharp claws dug into the soft comforter and a strangled yelp pierced through the peaceful bedroom.

“For Fuck sake! Hanji! Your monster has attacked me again!”

“It isn’t a monster, Levi,” a voice answered the indignant screech with a distracted tone. It came from outside the bedroom and the now awake sleeper reluctantly left his soft haven.

A pale hand came out of the comforting bundle of comforter and slowly pushed it away until an equally pale face with bloodshot eyes glared at the bright light. Pinprick pupils rotated until they ended up on the little terror that had almost killed the sleeper. Like it had tried to do every morning since Levi Ackerman, the poor sleeper in question, had moved in with Hanji Zoë, owner of said little terror.

The latter was a calf-sized dragon, with nightmarish white eyes, equally white skeletal wings and four legs ending with sharp talons. While its body was as white as snow freshly fallen, its stomach was peppered with black scales and some horns that allowed the dragon to protect its own vulnerable flesh while it was flying.

It was, as Levi frequently said, a fucking monster. Or, as Hanji just as frequently retorted, a fucking dragon and looked like all dragons do.

Levi huffed as he tried to ignore said dragon grinning at him, sharp teeth gleaming in the bright light of his bedroom. The spirit animal was slowly burrowing itself in the abandoned comforter and smirking smugly at the annoyed man. The latter rolled his eyes and decided to just go away since he had, once again, lost against an incorporeal being.

“Someday,” Levi swore under his breath as he glared at the dragon. “Someday I’ll win!”

The reptile snorted and closed its eyes, huffing contently at the fact he got to sleep in the recently abandoned warm haven. Levi growled under his breath and angrily stalked out of his room, eyes glaring at the disheveled woman leaning against the wall in front of his bedroom door.

“Well, well, well,” the woman drawled with the same smugness as the dragon. “Look at that happy face!”

“Fuck off, Hanji,” Levi groaned while he raked his fingers through his sleep-tossed hair. “I’ve had the worst night. And your little monster didn’t help it at all!”

Hanji rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling while sighing theatrically. Then, once the young woman accepted the fact that her roommate would forever be a sourpuss no matter how much she tried to make him look at the bright side of the things, she glanced at her wristwatch and hissed softly through her teeth while her dragon did the same in Levi’s bedroom.

“You better buckle up, buttercup,” she said with a thin smile as her roommate narrowed his eyes and quickly walked to their tiny kitchen.

Levi arched an eyebrow and buttered his toasts (which Hanji had lovingly burned that morning and decided to leave them to her roommate) while he waited for her to explain.

“The time,” Hanji announced quite slowly. “It’s already five past four.”

Levi’s eyes widened in horror and he quickly swallowed his mouthful of burned toast before he ran to the door. His roommate watched him go with her smile still in place, her dragon slowly making its way to her side before it chittered in confusion.

“I don’t know, Mothra,” the woman frowned and looked at the front door that had just been closed violently when Levi had left their home. “I feel like he won’t need you to cover for him today…”

Meanwhile, Levi ran and made sure that his neon jacket was correctly snapped shut. He stopped at the municipal office where he was supposed to be in and clocked in. The young male took out his pass and sighed heavily when he noticed in his locker that his boss had left him yet another bunch of paper. Levi narrowed his eyes and reluctantly took them, quickly perusing the notes and groaning internally at the fact that he would have to take care of the Red District yet another time.

“Fucking Hans can’t even do his job well,” the man muttered under his breath as he shoved the paper back into his locker. Then, making sure that nobody was watching him, Levi took out a thin metallic case from inside the locker and opened it. Inside lied a chromed medical band with his name, surname, age and, above everything else, his day-to-day affliction.

[Levi Ackerman. 25, A-Drake]

Levi sighed heavily and deftly put the bracelet around his right wrist. The band snapped shut with the same feeling one could get with handcuffs and the young man glared at the chromed wristband. Ever since he had left the hospital, he’d been forced to wear that metallic horror and Levi couldn’t help but dream of some ways of destroying it and finally getting to live his life without ever having to see that metallic glint on his wrist.

Levi sighed heavily and just focused on something else. Like the fact that he’d have to change clothes and get to the Red District before the morning goers began walking around and disrupting him.

The uniform was quick to put on and Levi was swift to take his bin and bunch of brooms. Then, seeing the annoying face of his superior talking with some other workers he didn’t really know, the young man began to walk.

Since he had been diagnosed as an A-Drake, driving a car had been forbidden, same as riding in the public transports. Getting a job was even harder and Levi had had to face the harsh reality and become a street cleaner. Now, he got to work every day at the crack ass of the morning, cleaning all the shit that the people he couldn’t even imagine be like had done.

So, if Levi wanted to get to the Red District before five am, he would need to walk. And fast.

Special Detective Smith glanced at body lying on the cold and humid concrete, blue eyes slowly checking and memorizing every detail on the corpse.

“Victim is Dot Pixis, 68 years old, he was out celebrating his youngest girl’s college graduation,” Mike Zacharius, his trusty colleague muttered without even glancing to the frowning blond man. “Eye witnesses all concur to say that he stepped out at eleven pm to go back home. However, while the witnesses say that he walked out by the front door and we found a bunch of scale cells that are only his by that streetlight to confirm this, his body was found out by an early jogger in the Red District, at fifty feet away from the bar he had left hours before.”

Erwin’s frown vanished as he finished analyzing the stiff body. Pixis’ horrified expression forever graved in his mind, the blond detective shook his head and looked at his colleague.

“Your opinion of the scale cells?” he asked with a wry smile.

While the police department was supposed to trust indubitably the science and forensics, Erwin knew of Mike’s almost preternatural nose and acute smelling. In short, the man was even able to discern between different ethereal scales left by the suspects or victims’ dragons. And, in the case that they were to confront an unsolved murder, Mike’s nose would be able to put some light on the case.

“They are confusing,” Mike told him with a heavy frown. The man simply hated confusing smells since he assured that they gave him headaches. “Around the bar, in which Pixis partied last night, they are clearly his but the ones left around that streetlamp are just… indistinct. It’s almost like Pixis didn’t want us to find out who was with him.”

“Guess we will have to talk with his widow and ask her if he had any troubles lately,” Smith sighed while Avalon, his royal blue dragon crooned softly.

The Special Detective glanced around, his eyes checking all the early passerby and the street cleaners brushing away the trash left by the partygoers from the other night. In fact, they focused on a particular street cleaner, their neon jacket tightly closed even with the heavy and humid morning fog. Smith narrowed his eyes when a peculiar something glinted on the street cleaner’s wrist as the latter emptied a bin in their wheeler bin. Avalon’s croon changed into a threatening rumble and Mike’s dragon, a tiny scaly thing that looked more like a walking snout than a mighty dragon, began to wiggle around and squeaked nervously.

“What is it,” Mike muttered while shuffling slightly and palming discreetly his holster.

“That man,” Smith whispered without never losing track of the street cleaner. “He’s wearing an A-Drake brace.”

“For Drake’s sake, Erwin,” his colleague grunted. “Not again! You can’t always suspect drakeless people!”

Avalon spread his wings threateningly and Mike’s dragon snarled at him, its big snout revealing a ginormous mouth full of sharp and dangerous fangs.

“You know what the boss said,” Erwin retorted with a bright smile. “Drakeless suspects are 99.9 percent of the time the culprits. And you know that the murderer always returns to the crime scene…”

Mike rolled his eyes under his heavy fringe and reluctantly nodded, his dragon grunted angrily and quickly retreated behind the policeman’s feet. Meanwhile, Avalon rumbled smugly and curled his tail around Erwin. The dragon was so big that his tail was enough to hide the Special Detective from his partner’s eyes. It also helped Smith think over his following actions.

The fact that Dot Pixis, formerly known as the brightest Dragonide alive, had left scale cells around the streetlight could mean that he had felt threatened there and his dragon had decided to fight, leaving some ethereal scales around as it puffed threateningly. However, and Mike’s nose had confirmed it, only Pixis’ scales cells had been found and they had been confusing, like he’d tried to hide someone.

If Erwin followed the logical thinking the police academy had taught him, the total absence of scale cells from the murderer could mean that the latter was a drakeless, one of those empty beings that didn’t have a dragon and just walked around with their emotions hidden.

However, if the Special Detective followed his gut instinct, and Avalon curled a claw around his hips in sign of approbation, Pixis had tried to hide someone with all the scales he’d left behind. Maybe there’d been someone there, by that streetlight. Maybe it was the murderer.

Or maybe, and Erwin snorted while Avalon’s pupils thinned, there’d been a third party that night. Someone who had been talking with the victim and had escaped.

“Anyway,” Smith muttered to his dragon. “We need to talk to the widow.”

Avalon nodded slowly, his massive head slowly turning to look at the cloudy sky before he crooned sadly.

“And that cleaning guy could be an interesting witness,” Erwin added pensively as his dragon grunted and slowly uncoiled his tail.

“Sir, please step away from the bin.”

Levi frowned and slowly turned around, his head hanging low while he observed carefully the two officers standing in front of him. They both were blond, one with a longer fringe that covered his eyes, than the other and both were visibly palming their holster. Longer fringe’s dragon was an indistinct mass of shadows snarling threateningly but it was the other man’s dragon that made Levi widen his eyes. The whole air and sky around the officer was dark and the street cleaner could only distinct two threateningly orbs that gleamed like red embers.

“I don’t know what I’m accused of,” Levi began as he slowly raised his hands and let his broom fall on the humid ground without flinching at the noise it made. “But I’m innocent.”

“Sir, refrain from talking,” Longer Fringe barked as the cat-sized mass of swirling shadows snorted around his feet.

The other blond simply kept observing Levi, his blue eyes coldly analyzing the A-drake brace hanging around the right wrist that glinted in the foggy streetlight and the distinctive lack of dragon. The shadow around the officer darkened and the sky rumbled threateningly.

Levi opened his eyes wide when he realized that it hadn’t been the sky but the blond man’s dragon.

“Sir,” Longer Fringe added in a calmer voice. “As the law 4.R45 says, we need to take you to the nearest police station. Please refrain from doing any move while my colleague handcuffs you.”

Levi rolled his eyes and refrained from holding his breath when he saw the threatening officer approach him. That would teach Hans to give him the Red District to clean. He always ended up handcuffed and shoved into a patrol car.

All in all, it was a perfectly normal day for someone who had been diagnosed as an A-Drake since last year when he’d lost his dragon.

And his Dragonide best friend as well.

Eren chuckled in soft amusement, knowing that Afelah’s state of apparent relaxation was nothing but a feint as well as he knew that the teal colored dragon was a manifestation of his own soul. He stretched his right arm toward the leftover fries, already cold and soggy with grease, and ate some absentmindedly, his eyes quickly flickering to the familiar shadow tightly coiled on the ceiling above the neighboring table.

Two girls were seating there. They wore the same school uniform and were probably enjoying a nice meal while talking about something that amused them greatly. Eren didn’t know them at all and as such couldn’t have known about it if their dragons hadn’t been hissing excitedly at each other, straining from their human’s necks to meet each other. They completed each other quite nicely, Eren noted with a small smile, the dark haired girl’s dragon with his sable colored scales and the blonde’s with the onyx scales splattered with gold similar to the brunette’s freckles.

The shadow hissed angrily and Eren almost fell from his seat, his relaxed state all but gone while Alefah hissed and spit angrily at the shadowy form from her perch on the young man’s shoulders. The two girls looked at the youth with curiosity and he fell an ashamed and angry blush rise from his neck to his cheeks. He quickly ate the last fries left and left the establishment, his sleeping bag on his back while Alefah glared balefully at the shadow. Eren ignored his dragon’s prickly claws going through his thin shirt and quickened his steps, if he was fast enough, he’d find a nice place to sleep in tonight and avoid the torrential rains from this particularly humid month of June.

The fast-food doors opened with little ceremony and Eren got immediately drenched once he stepped a foot outside. Afelah squeaked pitifully and quickly went to hide in his sleeping bag, her tail being the only thing left visible as it was around the young man’s neck like a living and dangerous necklace. Eren chuckled once he heard his dragon’s satisfied purrs from inside the bag and began to run in the rain, his eyes almost closed from the unending droplets of water falling in them.

The poor and drenched youth was so busy trying to run and escape from the water that he forgot the reason behind his actual running and homelessness.

Eren ran through the empty and flooded streets, his way too thin for the weather sneakers squelching on the slippery cobblestones, and began to carefully plan the rest of his day. From what he’d heard in that overheated fast-food court, the weather would be as cold and rainy for the following week and as such, the brown haired young man wouldn’t be able to sleep under the stars anymore.

He quickly straightened the straps of his sleeping bag on his shoulders, Afelah’s disrupted squeak almost inaudible in the pouring rain, and made his mind just as he ran in the leisure district. The habitual hostess with their confident dragons hanging all over their delicate necks weren’t standing at the doors of the brightly lighted establishments thanks to the pouring rain and Eren narrowed his eyes. He really needed to find someone, anyone, to work his “magic” on.

The rain intensified just as the boy decided to enter one of those colorful (and way too loud for his taste) bars, heavy raindrops running all over his hood and drenching him to his bones. Afelah cried weakly at the despicable feeling of ice cold water running over his neck and Eren gritted his teeth. He softly shook his head, tried to get over the feeling of being drowned in the middle of this pouring rain and carefully took his sleeping bag so he could place it under his hoodie. His dragon’s cries didn’t stop and instead increased when his back immediately got drenched.

The sound of joyful laughter and teasing banter floated through the heavy rain and Eren readied himself. He was ready and Afelah was back to being silent, the dragon becoming a ball of pure energy as the young man stood under the rain, his green eyes never looking away from the passerby saying his goodbyes to three hostesses.

It was a man in his fifties, with a bald head shiny from the pouring rain and heavy set wrinkles. Freckles peppered his face the same way rusty colored scales covered his dragon’s spine. The passerby joyfully bid his goodbye and began walking toward Eren, his dragon walking next to him while his vivid red scales shimmered brightly in the scarcely lightened street. The heavy claws clicked softly on the slippery cobblestones while the man happily bounced on the ball of his feet once they came near the brown haired youth.

“You doing okay, son?” the stranger asked, his golden brown eyes flickering between the drenched boy and the shadow hanging on the nearest streetlamp.

“What?” Eren answered flabbergasted while he tried to understand why that passerby had decided to suddenly talk to an obviously homeless person. It simplified his mission but anything that went out of the habitual routine worried him. Danger always wore a nice face those days.

The older man tilted his head, his chin pointing briefly at the streetlamp while his dragon huffed with exasperation. It had a dog-like muzzle, two short horns coming from its eyebrows and, strangely enough, was wagging its spiky tail like an overexcited mutt.

“Well,” the passerby mused before he cupped his chin and glanced back at the shadow on the streetlamp. “Maybe I did drink too much liquor back there with those lovely ladies but…” he let out a hissing breath through his gritted teeth and shrugged. “What can I say, that dragon surely doesn’t look good to me.”

Eren furrowed his brows and looked up at the shimmering shadow, the same from the fast-food, which was hanging as best as it could on the streetlamp. It hissed angrily and Afelah’s head peeked from the collar of the boy’s hoodie to screech at it.

“Aaah, there it is!” the old man exclaimed happily. “You got me worried for a moment here, son. I was beginning to think that this poor excuse of a dragon was yours!”

The shadow fell from its spot on the streetlamp and landed awkwardly on the dirty and humid ground, shocking Eren so much that he forgot about his primary need of finding a shelter for the night.

“You can see it?” he asked with wide eyes. The boy stretched a hand toward the crumpled dark form on the cobblestones. “You can actually see it?”

The dragon was a poor sight for the eyes, with its dark and tattered wings hanging weakly on the ground and its back paws scratching the stones as it tried to get up from its awkward pose. Its gaping maw snapped angrily at the old man’s dragon who had tried to get closer and then its chin began to grumble angrily before inflating progressively.

The stranger clucked his tongue and shook his head.

“Of course I can see it,” he answered absentmindedly, his golden brown eyes darkening as he focused all his attention on the angry and foreign dragon. “I wouldn’t be able to call myself a Dragonide if I wasn’t, wouldn’t I, son?”

Eren blinked, taken aback by the sudden revelation. Afelah’s angry hissing stopped short and his dragon’s bulging golden eyes blinked slowly, their focus sharply fixated on the stranger.

“A Dragonide, of course,” the young man muttered himself while Afelah’s golden antlers disrupted some of his brown tresses. “Of all the people in that bar, it had to be a Dragonide…”

“What were the odds, indeed,” the older man chuckled as his dragon gave an amused bark at them before turning all his attention to the angry dark dragon which was still hissing angrily with its engorged throat.

The rain was still pouring on them, making the stranger’s bald head shine quite mysteriously in the streetlight’s feeble lighting. And therefore; the dripping water cascading over the older man’s features enhanced his frown when the fellow stopped chuckling and turned serious.

“Since when does that dragon follow you?” he asked grimly, his eyes darkening as the black dragon gave another hiss and skittered over the damp cobblestones to hid in an overflowing gutter.

Eren shrugged, trying his best to ignore the coals of anger burning among the rainwater overflowing from the gutter.

“I don’t know,” he answered tersely. “A year, maybe two…”

The stranger frowned, his heavy set eyes never leaving the hiding shadow of a dragon as he did so.

“Stray dragons tend to follow us from time to time,” he muttered. “But it never ends well for us.”

The creaking of an opening door soon followed by the bountiful sounds of laughter and banter cut through the heavy atmosphere that had overcome them. The old man glanced back at the bright lights coming from the open door of the bar and smiled faintly. He shrugged, all pretense of seriousness leaving like water sled over a duck’s feathers and gave Eren another grin.

“I’ve said too much, kid, and I’ve drunk as much,” he chuckled grandfatherly before looking down at his dragon and giving him a wink. The manifestation of his soul rolled his eyes and began to pant happily. Eren observed their interactions in silence, his lips faintly stretching into an amused smile at the light banter and happiness that came from the strange Dragonide.

“Well,” the old man drawled as he patted softly the pockets of his drenched over coat. He tilted his head toward the bar and smiled wanly. “My friends seem to be calling me. Could you tell the missus that I will get home way later than planned?”

The stranger took out of his pocket a key along with a thin wallet.

“I’d hate if my friends took it once I get back to being thoroughly hammered,” the man explained with a careless shrug. He took a bunch of cash and then stretched his hand toward Eren, key and wallet offered to him. “Could you give it to the missus? I feel like you’d do a better job than any of my friends.”

Eren frowned heavily, trying his best to ignore the dark dragon’s warning hiss as well as the weirdly familiar dark head that had popped from the open door of the nearest bar. He was still quite hidden from the light of the streetlight so nobody could see his features except for the Dragonide. And the latter seemed strangely trusting toward him, ready to offer him his wallet as well as the key to his house. The brown haired man narrowed his eyes, glancing back at the stranger’s dragon and carefully observed its behavior. The dragon was still panting happily, scaly tail wagging and dark eyes glinting in a joyful light. There were no apparent cunning nor dishonest thoughts from it.

“The address is in the wallet, right?” Eren asked while he took the proffered wallet and key.

“Indeed,” the older man nodded and his eyes glinted in satisfaction. “Our daughter just left us to go to college so we might have clothes to spare. Just ask the missus and she’ll make sure to give you something better than this,” he made a brief gesture of his hand to point at Eren’s drenched clothes.

The younger man nodded silently and took a step back, his dirtied sneakers slipping over the cobblestones and making loose his balance. He tried to stay up but gravity and the heavy rain got to him and he fell head first toward the gutter, eyes widening in horror as the shadowy dragon gave a garbled squeak during his fall.

“Well,” Eren faintly heard once he touched harshly the ground and got over the brief pain. “That can’t be good…”

The brown haired boy blinked, his attention going from the worried Dragonide to the dazed dark dragon under him. The latter had stopped hissing and being overly aggressive, its beady eyes half closed while its engorged chin was back to a smaller size.

“You should go, son,” the stranger said lightly in contract to his dark and worried face. “Nothing good will come out of this if you stay around here longer. And don’t forget! The missus needs to be averted.”

Eren nodded and quickly got up to his feet, wincing slightly as his head throbbed during that move. Afelah, who had been strangely quiet during the whole exchange with the Dragonide, gave a pitiful rumble and rubbed her corned head over the boy’s chest before quietly settling down on his shoulders. Meanwhile, the dark dragon silently crawled over the cobblestones and stayed near his feet, spiky tail almost coiling around them.

“Go, kid,” the Dragonide insisted once the strange dragon seemed to make its mind and almost plastered itself against the brown haired man. “I feel a storm coming.”

Eren nodded again and quickly began to run, trying his best to ignore the pressure of ozone around him as well as the now distinctly familiar claws following him close. His heart began to beat faster just as his harried mind finally connected the dots and he remembered when he’d seen that dark haired head from the entrance to that pub.

The young man tightened his hold on the key and wallet and ran away, Afelah tightly coiled around his neck while the strange dark dragon followed them on the ground.

A killer was on the loose and Eren needed to put as much distance as possible.