museboxofmuses | DRAGON AU

DRAGON AU

Prometheus hibernated a lot.

There wasn't much else to do, as a hermit-dragon. He couldn't venture out into the world in case some intrepid 'adventurer' wanted to slay him for bragging rights or his hide, he couldn't mingle with other dragons because he was one of Nidhogg's brood (a fact which was why he couldn't socialise with any Ishgardians because spears inevitably got involved in those conversations, he knew, he still had the scar on his hindquarters from his last naive attempt), and he knew absolutely no one else, knew nothing about the world or its new continents or civilisations, so hibernating it was.

But even then, sleeping got dull.

Prometheus sighed deeply, drawing his wings tighter about himself. Perhaps it was because he spent so much time sleeping, but his draconic body evolved to have furred wings - which was nice, it was very warm, even if they did shed some strange, fluffy black motes from time to time (he soon learned that these motes were highly toxic to mortals, probably from his subconscious desire to be left alone slipping into this body's maturing evolution). The downy undercoat of his wings was shed often and thickly enough that he even had a little nest, in a cave warmed by geothermic means, in the high mountains of Coethas. It was cosy, safe, and isolated.

It was also boring and devoid of anything. Prometheus came here... fuck, centuries? Or millennia? He couldn't remember. A long while, just after the war between Ishgard and the dragons kicked off in earnest. He flew here as a dragonnet, and slept and slept and slept, with miserable waking moments in between where he went to stretch his wings, eat a bear or something, and crawled back in his warm, soft cave to sleep some more.

He was avoiding reality, he knew. He didn't understand why he woke up in the form of a dragon - an alien species, not native to their star, how the hell did the reincarnation cycle mess up that badly!? - what happened to Amaurot, why the geography was completely different and... where Hades and Hythlodaeus were. He remembered, in the early days of his life, he would cry out through the Lifestream to hear nothing back, and was slowly accepting that, maybe, it was just him. Alone.

No Hades. No Hythlodaeus. Just him and his cave.

He exhaled heavily, flexing his claws as his body sluggishly roused from its latest bout of hibernation. His stomach was an empty pit of starvation, so he had to eat something calorie dense before dozing back off again. The only thing was, it took ages for his body to fully 'wake up'. Spending centuries practically in a coma made his limbs lock up, and it took a while for the aether flowing through his body to regain strength and feeling in them again. Not that he was in any rush...

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“I know what a human pregnancy is like, Hythlodaeus,” Hades said as he reluctantly popped the top of the bottle and drank the horrible liquid. He could have changed it, but part of him was fine with the masochism of it all.

“I’m going to start screaming,” Hades muttered, forcing himself to sit back. “This could be done with, you know, dearest,” Hades called over to Prometheus. “With literally a snap of my fingers!”

Which was the perfect time for Hades to notice Lahabrea and Elidibus watching from the top of the wall. Oh for fucks sake.

"That'll ruin the moment!" Prometheus barked back, not noticing Lahabrea and Elidibus watching because of the whole, oh, you know, giving birth thing, "We're not having you teleport the kid out!"

"Oh dear," Hythlodaeus muttered, leaning over to quickly snag the drink from Hades's hand when he, too, noticed their guests, "This might get nasty."

Because, as stated previously, he read up a lot on dragon reproductive cycles, just in case something did go wrong. He, alongside Hades, closesly monitored Prometheus and the egg, and everything was fine. However, Hythlodaeus's studies also told him that mother dragons got, ah, a bit ornery, if anyone not considered family or a mate hung about during and immediately after the egg laying process. While Prometheus's mental state was more aligned with Amaurotine, he did submit to draconic instincts more often than not.

Last thing they needed was Prometheus literally trying to bite Lahabrea and Elidibus's heads off for intruding on his nest.

"Just take deep breaths!" Hythlodaeus called over, trying to keep Prometheus's attention fixed on him and Hades, rather than potentially noticing their guests, "Think of it like constipation! Push, then relax, then push again!"

"That's- not- helping- Hyth!"

Hades stood, quietly trying to move out of Prometheus’ sight line before trying to wave away Elidibus and Lahabrea. Lahabrea folded his arms, Elidibus looked between the two, trying to understand what exactly was going on here.

Hades’ head snapped back over at the constipation comment. “Stop likening all of this to that,” Hades said dryly, realizing his mistake too late. Hopefully Prometheus wouldn’t look over his shoulder—

“Hythlodaeus, is that really you?” Lahabrea asked aloud. Even Elidibus seemed shocked by that.

Hythlodaeus peeked over the book he had lifted to surreptitiously hide his face, hiding a grimace. Oh dear...

"Uh, well," Hythlodaeus cast a glance at Prometheus, who had paused his irritated squatting to look very quietly in Lahabrea and Elidibus's direction. It was incredibly difficult to guess Prometheus's mood, but he had a suspicion he wasn't very pleased, considering how Prometheus's wings were very slowly starting to unfurl in a very obvious threat display shit-

Hythlodaeus rapidly hopped out of his seat and hustled over to Lahabrea and Elidibus, making dramatic shooing gestures while shooting Hades a 'quick play damage control with Prometheus' look (unsure if he caught it, though). "How about we talk about my miraculous resurrection outside, hmm? Give Prom some privacy?"

As if to emphasise Hythlodaeus's words, Prometheus started to growl.

“Get the hell out of my nursery,” Hades said, pointing at them. “I’ll explain later if I feel like it.”

Oh no, Hades was already a little intoxicated, wasn’t he?

Elidibus and Lahabrea weren’t cowed by the threat display, and unwisely came down from the high ledge to stand before them. “Your nursery, Emet-Selch?” Lahabrea asked with an accusing tone. “Were you planning on telling us at all, about any of this?”

Did Lahabrea and Elidibus lose the ability to read a room recently, Hythlodaeus wondered as the two Convocation members unwisely sauntered into the nest completely. Prometheus's growling racketed up a few more decibels, definitely becoming more threatening.

Also, they totally ignored him. Rude...

"Ah, everyone..." he tried again, "I'm not sure if you know, but dragons get extremely territorial when about to-"

Prometheus, losing patience with these intruders, finally lunged. It was sudden, alarmingly quick, and Lahabrea and Elidibus only just managed to quickly do a comical hop-skip back just in time to avoid getting body-checked by an incredibly muscular and irate dragon. A normal human would've definitely been killed on impact if that had connected (Lahabrea and Elidibus definitely would've needed to get new bodies).

"Get. Out. Of. My. Nest!" Prometheus snarled, plumes of smoke starting to wisp past his jaws, a subtle glow in the back of his throat, "I'm trying to fucking lay an egg-!"

PLOP!

Be it from Prometheus's attention being diverted and thus causing critical muscles to relax, or just the violence of the movement itself, whatever it was, it was the final, little push little Aza needed. As easy as anything, the sizeable egg was pushed out from one unconscious contraction, and landed on the soft, downy floor of the nest without much issue.

A very long, awkward silence stretched out.

The act of separation from the parent, the proverbial soul’s cutting of the umbilical cord, sent the lamp in Lahabrea’s pocket absolutely insane. Used normally only to identify their shattered brothers and sisters by picking up aetheric abnormalities or tints, burned brighter than an exploding light bulb.

“That’s an unshattered soul. That’s what it used to do whenever I got too close to it before I fixed it. That’s a new soul. Hades, Prometheus, what did you do?!” Lahabrea was in near hysterics between nearly not dodging certain host death and the utter mind bending fact laid before them.

“Turns out we’re compatible,” Hades said. Thinking, then adding, “Genetically, I mean. Did a bit of shapeshifting... Ah. That’s it. I forgot that I’d reversed my sterilization years ago. It was giving me a bit of a mental block.”

Hythlodaeus clapped. “Congratulations! You’re a father. And you’re... whichever you prefer, I suppose,” he said to Prometheus.

Prometheus didn't say anything for a moment, still in shock from accidentally laying an egg he'd been straining over for a good hour now. Typical. Moment he gets distracted... and done in such an embarrassing way too!

He eased up on the threat display, his irritation mollified by the twin expressions of utter shock on Lahabrea and Elidibus's face. It was kind of funny, to be honest. Prometheus thought he'd never see the day where those two stuffy assholes were so slackjawed!

"I guess... father will do for now," he said faintly, shifting back a few steps to he was standing directly above his egg. A few feathers were clinging to it, the surface of the egg still sticky from fluids. But Prometheus could so clearly sense Aza's soul inside, and he abruptly, fiercely, felt protective over it.

"Good thing the remaining Amaurotines are all males," Prometheus said wryly, even though he knew that could easily change with a snap of the fingers, "Imagine a female Amaurotine trying to carry a dragon baby, haha..."

“In this example I’d be the one carrying it?” Hades asked, looking at it with fondness in spite of its sliminess. Babies were slimy too, he supposed. “I would have just separated it from my body like I told you I could do over an hour ago. Also I wouldn’t be wearing this mortal costume.”

Oh, oops, he hadn’t told him about that, had he? That he was currently residing in something probably a third his regular size. Anyway-

“I wonder when it will hatch,” Hades said, pushing the topic along.

Prometheus frowned in confusion, and everyone seemed to exchange looks, some of the shock fading from Lahabrea and Elidibus's faces to be replaced with consternation.

"Mortal costume?" he asked slowly.

"Dragon eggs take only a few weeks to hatch," Hythlodaeus quickly interjected, ignoring the annoyed look Prometheus gave him, "Dragon children mature fast, despite their near immortal lives. Somewhat opposite to Amaurotine childhood development. Ha..."

"But," Hythlodaeus added sternly, "They need to be warmed constantly for those few weeks. Normally the paired dragons take egg warming shifts, so, er..."

“I have work to do, then,” Hades said as he shifted his form, rounding up next to Prometheus. “I’ll sit first if you’d like to hunt,” Hades said.

“So this is the only time Emet-Selch can be working whilst sleeping,” Lahabrea teased. Elidibus shot him a look. Hades looked similarly unamused, but his dragon face kind of just looked like that anyway.

“Perhaps fatherhood is simply a good fit for me,” he said as he tried to wriggle onto the egg.

Prometheus reluctantly moved off the egg to let Hades warm it. He didn't want to part from it so soon, but he was absolutely starving from all that hard work in crapping the damn thing out, so maybe he could quickly grab something to eat before spending the rest of the day curled up around his egg.

Also, it was kinda cute watching Hades attempting to brood. Lahabrea was right, it was the perfect job for someone as lazy as him...

"Don't squash it. I spent a good hour pushing that out of me," Prometheus mock-warned, before turning to their two guests, "Lahabrea, Elidibus, is your curiosity sated enough to leave us in peace now?"

They were honestly both still stunned. New plans would need to be made in consideration of this, of course. Lahabrea felt like a bit of a fool, of course.

“No, I have about a thousand more questions,” Lahabrea said. Hades’ presence multiplied, stifling the air. “...But my questions can wait.”

“I’m not going to squash it,” Hades said petulantly, finding the right angle. He cast a barrier around the egg though, just in case. He nestled around it protectively and controlled his temperature to optimal where he felt the egg’s aether truly balanced.

Prometheus sighed when he felt Hades cast the barrier, unfurling his wings and giving them several powerful beats, stirring up the downy floor of the nest.

"I think you guys can show yourselves out," Prometheus said sweetly, "Or I can toss you out physically, your choice."

Lahabrea and Elidibus seemed to communicate with each other by silent staring - or telepathy, honestly, Prometheus wouldn't be surprise if those two set up a mental channel to bitch about Hades in private. After a moment, they seemed to agree to play it safe, and Elidibus muttered a rather ominous; "We'll discuss this at length later."

With a warp of that weird, dark aether, the pair vanished.

"Well, at least no one got eaten," Hythlodaeus joked weakly, "That's... good."

"They wouldn't be worth the indigestion," Prometheus grumbled, looking over at Hades. He seemed to have made himself comfortable, "I'm gonna get food. You want anything specific?"

“I’m fine. The Oronir prepared a feast in Azeyma’s honor. I’ll eat cooked food once you get back,” he said. He flattened his body, really pooling as filling the nest. He looked like he could burrow just by shimmying his hips.

Hythlodaeus approached and sat on the edge of the nest to watch the soul inside the egg. He reached out to touch with his soul, finding Hades had already encircled it in his soul and aether. “Hey, budge over,” he said playfully.

“Careful...” Hades said testily, though all knew he trusted Hythlodaeus immensely.

Prometheus huffed fondly, but after checking that Hades really was comfortable (and so was the egg, with Hades's body practically pancaking himself like that), took wing. A few of the Yol peeled away from the upper floors of the aviary, trailing after Prometheus as was normal. They helped him carry food back.

Hythlodaeus watched them go, before shifting his focus back onto Hades. Despite his testy response, Hades had budged over... by a fraction, but Hythlodaeus let him be. The dragonet did bond with its parents through the egg aetherically, so perhaps it'd be best for Hythlodaeus not to confuse the poor thing by tossing his own thinned out soul in there just yet.

"You remind me of a brooding chicken," Hythlodaeus said idly, "Perhaps you should add some feathers to your form to really sell the image."

“They’re not so distantly related, you know. Anatomically speaking,” Hades said with a frown. Prometheus had feathers... maybe it would be more aesthetically pleasing f he did, too. He considered this seriously for a moment even if Hytholadeus was just being a bastard. Speaking of....

“You need a dragon form too, probably. We really don’t know what will hatch out of this egg. He could not peer through, unfortunately. The infant’s soul was unguarded and open, unfurled into the full shell of the egg.

“Hythlodaeus... how are you... adjusting?”

Hythlodaeus exhaled noisily, "I quite like my current form, thank you."

Dragons were intelligent, and he had no doubt Prometheus and Hades's child would be doubly so. Probably a menace too, but one able to reconcile Hythlodaeus's human form and bond with him. There were, after all, reports of dragons bonding with humans before all the... Ishgard stuff.

"I'm adjusting well enough. I'm alive, without knowing how but grateful for it all the same," he said carefully, remembering Prometheus's earlier warnings to 'not rock the boat'. He respected Prometheus's wishes, of course, but he had still picked at and investigated his own murky memories and pieced together slips of information Hades let out in unguarded moments. He kept those quiet, "My Creation magic is the hardest part... I can't make anything more complicated than a tea kettle, and even then it exhausts me. Making things the mortal way, it's... interesting but strange..."

“You don’t have the aether for it,” Hades said somewhat simply. “You can draw from my well, if you like,” Hades said. It was nigh endless, after all. “...I’m not sure how I did it either. I can draw things out of the lifestream, but...”

But this was different, wasn’t it?

“I’m so happy to see you, Hythlodaeus. It had been hard spending all this time without my friends.”

"I'll bet," Hythlodaeus said with morbid humour, "Stuck with only fussy Elidibus and humourless Lahabrea for company..."

He couldn't think of a worse fate. How did Hades not lose his mind and strangle the both of them...? Or stomp off to go into one of his century long sulk-naps? It beggared belief...

"But you have myself and Prom back now, don't you? And also a child!" Hythlodaeus smiled, and, despite his suspicions and misgivings, did feel genuine happiness for Hades, "I hope it takes after me. I can't deal with another you or Prom."

“I barely wanted the job as it is, and half the reason was those two incarnates of wet blankets,” Hades said with a sigh.

“I can’t deal with another you either. Smug bastard,” Hades said as he closed his eyes. “The child will be himself,” Hades said softly. “And I do. I do have you two back. I never thought it would be like this exactly... but I’m not going to complain.”

"...no, I suppose you wouldn't," Hythlodaeus sighed, leaning forwards to rest his elbows on his knees, his chin on an upturned palm as his gaze drifted downwards, to where the egg was completely hidden beneath Hades's brooding body.

"So, how does it feel?" he asked curiously, "Brooding? Is it comfortable to sit on an egg like that?"

"It's fine," Hades said with a shrug. "I've held babies for hours on end, so this is easier. I'm in no danger of crushing it, so I can mostly relax. Prometheus is smaller, so... I don't know if he'll feel the same way."

Hades considered the chicken for a moment. Maybe he did look a bit like one. Prometheus would look even more like one, buried up to his chin in the nest.

"Mostly, I'm anxious, I suppose. I know I can protect it, I just hope it hatches alright," he said lowly. Hades glanced at the skies. Prometheus wasn't back yet. "It's been... fifty, sixty years since I last had a child of my own. He died suddenly before he was even twenty-one. In retrospect, I think he had a malformed heart."

Yes, that was something Hythlodaeus had been wanting to bring up. But with Prometheus always within earshot, he never had a good opportunity to. Casting a quick glance to the sky above, Hythlodaeus decided to pounce on the chance now.

"I... vaguely remember, from the simulacrum's memories, about that," Hythlodaeus began carefully. The simulacrum had worked very hard to comfort Hades during those intense days of grief over his lost child, and those memories were uncomfortable stark yet murky at the same time, "You haven't told Prom about that, though, have you? Being a father before?"

“No. No... for the first time in quite a long time I haven’t felt the heartbreak so keenly,” he said. “If the child is born hale and hearty... then I might have the strength to tell him.” Hades purred, soothing the already tranquil soul resting beneath him. Hades sighed. “There is much I must tell you. But not all at once... You likely know all of it, or will remember it eventually.”

Hades curled tighter. “When that time comes, I can only hope that you two will still stand by me.”

Edited 2019-12-15 08:06 (UTC)

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