Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 45: Calm Before the Storm [Part 1]

-As the title implies, this multi-part chapter will lack some action while foreshadowing a lot of stuff down the line, and many are things you wouldn't expect! In fact, there are hints in the first fourth of Night Fury's Venom that seemed innocent back then but take on a new light soon. We're picking up speed toward the next big event and a long-awaited surprise...

Enjoy!

-NFD

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"Ow! Come on," Myrkr whimpered pathetically. "I-I-I'm sorry, okay?! Just stop pulling, please!" I let go, but only because we had arrived, earning a relieved moan from Myrkr as he tenderly pawed at his ear. "W-What did I do...?"

After a cursory check that Splinter wasn't in sight, I nodded at the hole leading into our home, surrounded by overgrown moss. "Get inside." He stopped tending to his ear and blinked at me in confusion. I narrowed my eyes. "Get inside," I repeated, just barely restraining the building pressure in my chest. The constricting cold didn't help matters either. He gulped and slowly obeyed, glancing at me a couple of times as he did like a hatchling afraid of punishment. I followed closely behind him, shamelessly taking a deep breath of his scent, which rapidly began turning my careful facade to dust.

Once inside, he gave me room to enter and hesitantly turned to face me in the dim light emanating from the root chamber nearby. His amber eyes flicked from the ground to me a few times as I approached him, unsurprisingly nervous. "L-Look, whatever I did, I'm really-" 

I all but threw myself at him, sending us both on our sides, but I hardly cared. I whimpered and buried my head into his chest as tears finally welled up in my eyes. When I left our den in search of him, my confliction took a sharp turn as soon as we were alone. I had struggled to bury how I really felt under an indifferent facade, which was why I hadn't bothered to explain much and pulled him back home by his ear. I didn't want anyone else to see me so vulnerable. Now that we were in the comfort of our den, though, I fell to pieces. 

Our egg wreaked havoc on my mental state, as I knew all too well by now. My stress remained at an all-time high. I was sore and uncomfortable all the time. I was forced to eat food that made me sick to my stomach. And Splinter was nowhere near as understanding as Myrkr, so I found no comfort in her. I couldn't take it anymore. I needed my mate. I needed Myrkr. I wanted him to stay.

"Aurora?" He warbled, sounding beyond confused and worried, tentatively holding me in his paws. "Why are you crying? Is this a mood swing?" Yes, this was definitely a severe mood swing, but that wasn't the half of it. I proceeded to blubber about the things that plagued me for the past two weeks, but that rapidly turned into nonsensical gibberish even to my own ears. I was so stressed that I couldn't even voice what stressed me so much, as stupid as that sounded. Fortunately, Myrkr was perceptive, so a coherent explanation was unnecessary.

"What... What is in your nest? Why is your moss dirty and dry?" He asked slowly. "Why do I smell vomit? And..." His paws ran over bare patches in my hide. "A-Are your scales falling out?" A paw transferred to my jaw and gently lifted my head from his chest to look worriedly into my teary eyes. "What's happening to you?" Without prompting, our bond sparked to life, sharing my inner turmoil in an instant, far better than I could hope to describe. His eyes widened to their fullest, looking around at everything that contributed to my deteriorating state. 

Dragon pregnancy was extremely taxing not only physically but mentally as well. The female had particular needs that made them the most comfortable to offset any crazy hormones having an egg caused. Depending on the female, if something changed, it caused big problems. In my case, a lot of things changed, and that destabilized everything. Luckily, I had told him all about that when he wanted to learn about females.