To Slay A Dragon by ashtraythief for stellamira

[springflingmod.livejournal.com]

Title: To Slay A Dragon
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Rating: R
Any warnings: minor violence


“Are you sure you want to do this?” Felicia’s looking at Jared worriedly.

“I’m ready,” Jared says determinedly. He has to do this.

“Jared, you don’t have to do this,” she says insistently, as if she can read his mind. “It won’t bring Jensen back.”

“You don't know that.” Furiously, Jared turns to her. “He could still be alive.”

There’s so much compassion in Felicia’s eyes; it’s painful just to look at her. “The dragon took him over a year ago,” she says softly. “You know that people don’t come back from that.”

“I don’t care. He’s not dead.” Jared turns back to his horse, checks the saddle. “I’d know if he was.”

“Look, Jared, I know you were close, I know how much you loved him, but—”

“No.” Jared resolutely shakes his dead. “He’s not dead. He’s just — no. I’ll find that fucking dragon, I’ll kill it and free Jensen and then everything will be alright.”

Sadly, Felicia shakes her head. “Oh, Jay.”

“Look, give me your blessing or don’t,” Jared says, and swings himself into the saddle, “but I’m going.”

She sighs. “Of course I’m giving you my blessing. But you’re my friend too and I don’t want you to die.”

Jared grins with more confidence than he feels. “Don’t worry about me. I didn’t train with Sir Jeffrey for nothing. I can handle one little dragon.”

Felicia snorts, despite the tears shimmering in her eyes. “Just, be careful.”

Jared nods. It’s time to go dragon hunting.

There have always been dragons in their world. They are rare, reclusive creatures living in the mountains. They don’t bother humans too much. Sometimes they take cattle but there are always knights around willing to hunt them down. Jared had never even seen a dragon until over a year ago, when a brown-scaled beast had flown over their village.

They had been outside — Jensen, Felicia, and a few other people from the village had built the big fires to celebrate the summer solstice. When a shadow passed over them, Jared thought it was a cloud, but when he looked up the great winged monster was already diving straight for them.

Opening its jaw wide, it roared. They scattered, Jared and Jensen running for the shed where the weapons were kept. But they were too slow. Jared threw himself to the ground, reaching for Jensen’s hand and for one moment, he felt Jensen grip his fingers, then the dragon rushed past and Jensen was gone, ripped from Jared’s grip.

Jensen screamed and fought in the dragon's claws but the dragon never let him go. By the time Jared had managed to grab a weapon, the sky was clear.

The next day, Jared left the village. He traveled to the Brotherhood of the Sword, knights famous for slaying dragons. Jared trained with them every day, ran grueling drills, wielded swords until his arms felt so heavy he thought he’d never lift them again.

Finally, Sir Jeffrey told him he was ready to go out into the world for his initiation, slay a dragon, and join the brotherhood as a knight. Jared didn’t care about the title. He just cared about finding Jensen.

It takes him over a month to find the dragon. It lives deep in the mountains, and only occasionally comes to areas inhabited by humans to take sheep and cows. Once, it took a peddler’s wagon. The peddler tells Jared he found it a few miles later on the side of the road, cracked open and a case of books missing.

Jared’s heart soars. Jensen always loved to read. If the dragon had taken books, it must mean that Jensen’s still alive. With new confidence, Jared rides on.

When Jared finally finds the dragon’s mountain, marked by long claw marks scratched into the rocks, he leaves his horse behind. As quietly as he can, he climbs the mountain. There’s a little outcropping before a gaping hole in the rock marking the entrance of the dragon’s cave.

Jared listens carefully, but there’s no sound. Quietly, he goes inside.

A roomy first cave narrows into a tunnel big enough for a dragon to crawl through. The passage opens into another cave, where shiny stones in the wall reflect weak rays of light into a diffused light. To the left, there’s a nest of coals, to the right, water trickles down the wall into a small lake.

Jared looks around for the cell where Jensen has to be, but there is nothing. Something dark and constricting rises in Jared’s chest. He walks along the walls, looking for another tunnel, another niche. Frantically, he searches the walls of the cave for any hidden passages, but there’s nothing there but solid rock.

He finds the books in a corner far away from the coals but there is no other sign of anything human.

Jensen isn’t here.

It hits him, like the giant swinging tree stumps he evaded during training. Jensen isn’t here. Helplessly, Jared turns in a circle, looking again, but the walls of the cave remain unforgiving and bleak.

He’s never allowed himself to believe that Jensen is gone, truly dead.

Slowly, he walks back to the entrance of the cave. Jensen has been his best friend all his life — they grew up together, never apart longer than the week trips Jared sometimes took with his father to the market. They have done everything together from going to school to learning to swim in the river. They had their first beer together, and their first hangover.

They even had their first kiss together, mostly to see what kissing was like. After kissing Jensen, Jared knew he never wanted to kiss anyone else again.

He waited for Jensen to kiss him again but he never did. But that didn't matter to Jared. Jensen was still his best friend, his better half. And now, he is truly gone.

A shadow darkens the entrance of the cave. Without looking up, Jared draws his sword. If he can’t get Jensen back, then at least he’ll get revenge.

The dragon lands with a thud, his wings blocking the light before he folds them against his body. His body is leaner than Jared remembers and his brown scales are lighter. Back then, Jared had only seen the scary beast. Now he sees the monster that took his best friend.

The dragon stands motionless at the entrance of the cave, staring at Jared unblinkingly with huge yellow eyes capped with brow-like ridges.

Jared raises his sword. “I’ve waited a long time for this day,” he says and grins. He’s never in his life wanted to hurt anyone. Now, he wants to rip this beast to shreds with his bare hands if he has to.

The dragon huffs and takes one step towards Jared. Jared raises his sword and charges.

The dragon is a worthy opponent; quick on its feet, dancing outside of Jared’s reach and blocking Jared’s sword with the horned tip of its tail. It growls at Jared, again and again, snapping its jaws, just barely missing Jared’s head. Jared doesn’t know how long they fight — it’s a rush of duck and jump, attack and retreat.

Jared finally manages to stab the dragon in its shoulder, but instead of retreating, the dragon pushes forward, ripping Jared’s sword out of his hand. With its long tail it hits Jared across his chest, throwing him to the ground. The dragon comes after him and pins him with a giant claw.

Panting, Jared lies on the ground, looking into the dragon’s face. He’s not scared; there’s no room for fear because he’s filled with anger. This creature took Jensen, and now Jared won’t even get to kill it.

The dragon leans down, its jaws open and Jared prepares for the pain. But it never comes. The dragon just hisses in his face, then draws back. Its stare, almost inquisitive, is unnerving.

“What are you waiting for?” Jared wheezes out. “You like to play with your food?”

The dragon draws back and the pressure of its claw lessens. Jared coughs at the sudden rush of air filling his lungs.

“Fucking sadistic monster.”

The dragon looks at its still bleeding shoulder, then at Jared. Its spiked eyebrows rise, looking at him pointedly.

“Are you kidding me?” Jared asks incredulously. “You’re a dragon. Of course someone’s going to come to kill you!”

The dragon snorts, a deep rumbling sound, and tilts its head.

“Why? You’re a fucking dragon! You kill people!”

At that, the dragon actually looks indignant.

Jared can’t take it. “You took my friend!” he yells up at the dragon. “You took my best friend and you fucking killed him!”

The dragon's snout opens and a rolling, grumbling sound comes out. Angrily, it shakes its head and draws back, claws moving away from Jared.

Quickly, Jared sits up but the dragon just watches him wearily.

“What, you have a conscience now?” Jared asks, trying to surreptitiously look for his sword. The dragon’s eyes follow his look and with a flick of the dragon’s tail, the sword skitters over the edge of the mountain. Shit.

The dragon’s wings rustle, almost agitatedly, and then it starts pacing. Jared can’t watch it in silence, waiting for it to do something.

“Why did you take him?” he asks desperately. “All the sheep and cows in the world for you to take, and you take him?”

The dragon lets out an angry growl.

“What was it, huh?” Jared asks, stalking towards the dragon. He’s going to die anyway; at least he can get answers first.

“Why did you take him?” He swallows, finally voicing the question that has torn him apart for the last year. “Why didn’t you take me instead?”

The dragon’s head whips around, looking at Jared with wide eyes.

“You could have taken me!” Jared yells. “Why him? What, did you have to take the most beautiful human in the world?”

The dragon actually coughs, smoke puffing out of its nostrils.

“Why?” Jared shouts into the dragon’s face. “Just tell me why!”

The dragon roars, flames shooting out of its maw. Jared ducks, narrowly avoids getting fried. Then the dragon turns away from him. Its tail hits Jared, but slowly, almost pushing him towards the cave entrance. The dragon is letting him go.

“Don’t you walk away from me!” Jared yells at its retreating back because he can’t leave. He’s obviously gone insane, but he can’t leave. “Don’t you fucking walk away from me, you fucking murderous monster!”

The dragon doesn’t stop. It disappears into the corridor. Jared can’t let it walk away. He can’t leave here, without Jensen, can’t go back to a world without hope.

He runs after the dragon and throws himself at it, punching its scaly face, neck, and shoulders. Pain shoots through his fists and he welcomes it. “You killed him!”

The dragon doesn’t defend himself, doesn’t stop Jared. Jared punches and punches until his arms are heavy and his hands bleed.

“You killed him.” He pushes the words out past the pain, repeats them like a mantra. “I loved him and you killed him.”

The dragon’s whole body jerks and it rears back, looks at Jared.

Jared looks into its yellow eyes through tears he didn’t know were building. “I loved him,” he repeats. “And I never told him.”

Exhausted, he sinks down, against the dragon. He raises his heavy hand, slams it against the dragon’s chest. “I loved him.”

The tears spill and Jared’s engulfed by warmth. The dragon’s wings wrap around him like a cocoon and Jared doesn’t understand, feels like he’s transported to another world. And for the first time since the dragon took Jensen, Jared cries for him.

Jared loses track of time, isn’t aware of anything but the despair filling his heart when the wings around him start to tremble. He looks up and the dragon’s face is distorted in pain. Its whole body trembles, then starts to glow and Jared stumbles backwards. The dragon wraps itself into its wings, whining pitifully until the wings crumble in on themselves and then disappear in a cloud of dust, leaving a naked man lying on the floor.

Jared stares. With a groan, the man starts to push himself up. “Oh gods.” His voice is raspy, unused, but Jared would recognize it anywhere.

“Jensen?”

Jensen raises his head, gives Jared a faint smile. “Took you long enough.”

“You looked kinda different,” Jared automatically shoots back, then it kicks in. Jensen is here. Alive.

He rushes forward and pulls Jensen into a tight hug, forcing himself to ignore that Jensen is naked. Jensen groans but his arms come around Jared’s neck.

“I thought you were dead,” Jared mumbles into Jensen’s hair, and buries his face in the crook of Jensen’s neck. He might never let him go again.

“It felt like I was,” Jensen says and his voice is hollow. “I was alone, in these fucking mountains and I—”

His voice breaks.

Reluctantly, Jared draws back but he needs to know, needs to understand. He searches Jensen’s face but he still looks exactly like Jared remembers. Big, green eyes, an almost delicate nose, a sharp jawline.

“How?” Is all Jared manages to get out past the chaos in his head.

Jensen huffs. “It’s a fucking curse. I don’t know, it’s been passed on for generations. You get turned into a dragon, live like one for a hundred years, and if you can find someone to take on the curse, you turn back into a human. I wasn’t aware there was a way to break the curse, but apparently, there is.” Jensen softly touches the tips of his fingers to Jared’s wet cheek.

Shit. Jared freezes, overwhelmed by the small touch. He needs to concentrate because there’s a question burning on his tongue. “But why did you do it?”

“Because he threatened to kill you,” Jensen says calmly. “He couldn’t speak but he made it very clear he’d kill the boy who held my hand.”

Jared shakes his head.

Suddenly, a smile blooms on Jensen's face. “So, you love me.”

Shit. Jared opens his mouth and tries to think of something to say. In the end, there’s nothing but one word.

“Yeah.”

Jensen’s eyes never leave Jared’s as he reaches for him and takes Jared’s face between his hands carefully. “Good.”

Finally, Jensen kisses him again. It’s just as amazing as the first time.