Dreams of Dragons

Chapter Thirteen - Memories in Mind

Chapter Thirteen - Memories in Mind

"She crooned in his head. 'Honey, I'm so proud of you for not killing anybody.' His gaze flashed to hers, and that flat, assessing expression vanished as he laughed. Squeezing her fingers, he told her, 'Week's not over yet'."

― Thea Harrison, Dragos Goes to Washington

*****

"Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" the voice shouted as the teen ran down the hill with a piece of parchment in his hand. "I got it I got it I got it!"

"Calm down, Acno," the small blonde told him from the blanket she was sitting on. "You're going to scare Tsukino."

"It was one time!" Tsukino groaned, rolling over on the blanket, white hair gleaming in the sunlight. "It's not my fault he can appear out of nowhere."

Connor snickered from where he sat beside them. His smaller twin was draped over him, staring at the blades of grass a few inches from her face.

"What's up with Dior?" Acnologia said, slowing to a halt as he approached the picnic.

"Dior? What's wrong you?" Connor asked, snorting.

Acno was dressed nicely, in a frilly shirt and nice pants. His hair was combed to the side and cut shorter than normal, down to his chin rather than his shoulders.

"You look like you're going to a function with Anna," Tsukino pointed out. "You clean up nicely, Acno."

Acnologia scowled. The Fernandez clan was the closest to nature (with the exception of the Rigbys, because they were nuts) and as such he usually wore clothes comfortable for him to sleep and hunt in. He didn't care for any sort of poofy ruffled clothes.

"It looks horrible," Connor said. "You look nothing like yourself. I don't like it."

"Acno, you're going to ruin these nice pants," Anna pointed out. "And why are you dressed up so nicely, anyway?"

Acnologia grinned. "Matori said I had to look 'presentable' for the dragon function. Because, you know, it's not like dragons live in the woods or anything."

With the exception of Anna, all of them snorted, even Dior, who was preoccupied with her grass.

Anna was too ladylike to snort, as she was nobility, but Acno saw her hiding a smile just the same, and felt a rush of victory for breaking her composure.

"Anyway, they approved me!" Acno continued excitedly. "I'm going to be a dragon slayer!"

The four others turned to him, completely focused.

"Aren't you worried?" Dior asked quietly, rolling off of Connor and towards Acno. Connor grunted as she hit a few things she shouldn't have. "I've heard that there can be some bad consequences if you become a slayer after maturity. And if it does work...it means you're going to war."

Dior being quiet wasn't good. One of the twins is loud, the other is quiet. There's a sort of rule in the balance of nature about it. Normally, Dior was the loud one and Connor was the quiet one. If Dior was being quiet, she was thinking.

And Dior thinking wasn't...the best thing.

"So I'll go to war," Acnologia answered, staring at them. Tsukino was nine, the twins were twelve, and Anna was fourteen. He himself was only now approaching a seventeenth year. "As the oldest of our generation, it is my duty to protect you all."