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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“Oh just sit on it,” Hades said. “It’s got a barrier anyway. You can’t hurt it,” he said, waving a dragon arm with the sort of expressiveness expected when he was in a man’s body.

“Dragon shells are among the hardest shells found on this star,” Hythlodaeus added. “There often scavenged purely for their calcium content. His voice came easy and chipper. Hades found it to be a relief.

“I could always build an incubator,” Hades said, though he knew the idea would be shot down on sight.

"We're not building an incubator," Prometheus grumbled, finally settling his whole weight on the egg. It took a few more wriggles, adjustments, and a final fluffing up of his wings, but he managed to find an extremely comfy spot. Somehow, he became even rounder.

"There, okay, I think I got it," he said, sounding relieved. That egg was definitely going to be toasty warm now, Prometheus thought, resting his head on his puffed out chest, letting his soul's borders drop to mingle with Aza's. Hythlodaeus said before this was necessary to bond with the dragonet before it hatched... apparently imprinted on its parents whilst still in the shell...

"Comfy now?" Hythlodaeus asked in open amusement, to which Prometheus purred positively.

The weeks passed peaceably enough. Hades slept with increasing restlessness as the days pressed on. Whenever Prometheus slept he would just watch the egg, no, Azeyma’s soul. Nothing would calm his anxiety save for a healthy hatching. This also added a bit to his dramatics and insufferability.

The day did finally come, however. The rustling had begun mid-morning, and the creature within stirred until there was a break in the egg. Hades stood instantly, peering between his front legs to look at the wet crack there.

“Prom, Hyth, it’s happening! Come look, come!” Hades hopped out of the way, out of the nest to watch. He shed his dragon form... and his human costume, too. He realized that he wanted, above all else, to hold his child. He donned his black robe as he sat, hands on his knees to contain himself. He shouldn’t touch before it was finished— or should he?

“Does everything look normal, Hythlodaeus?”

Prometheus jerked out of the nap he'd been taking, almost dumping Hythlodaeus on the floor, who had been using him as a kind of pillow in the process. Groggily, the pair of them stumbled to the edge of the nest to peer inside - though, Prometheus did kind of double take at Hades's human form suddenly being a lot... bigger?

"Did you... grow...?" Prometheus said in bewilderment.

"Shhh, Prom!" Hythlodaeus said quickly, leaning in to watch as Azeyma slowly broke open its shell. To his sight, everything seemed fine with its soul, and after what felt both like an instant and eternity, the dragonet finally thrashed free of its egg. A slimy, golden creature tumbled out, shards of eggshell clinging to its wet scales (fur), as tiny wings weakly beat the air and a low, needy whine built up from its throat.

Instinct overrode everything then, Prometheus immediately moving in to lick the dragonet clean. It tasted kind of gross, and the crunch of egg shell wasn't fun, but in no time at all Azeyma was cleaned and...

Fluffy, was the first thing. Despite the fur being damp, it was clearly plush and thick, though its body was very dragon shaped, with a blunt snout that was a mix of draconic and cat. It had small, stubby horns, big, beautiful golden eyes (squinting dazedly up at them all), fluffy ears and looked 100% adorable.

"Uh, yes, he's normal," Hythlodaeus said slowly, a bit stunned by the dragonet's sheer adorableness, "Goodness, he's so... so cute."

Hades tried not to laugh as he watched Prom clean egg shell and yolk off the dragonet.

He was extremely cute. Hades look him up into his arms, gently manipulating the aether to dry him. He conjured a baby blanket to wrap the creature, no, his son— in. He held him close to his face, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “Welcome, little Azeyma,” he said.

In this shape, Hades was far more comparable in size. He also looked twenty mortal years younger. Hades’ eyes watered a bit as he looked down at his child. “Never seen a dragon like him, have you, Prometheus?”

Prometheus shelved Hades's sudden growth spurt and youth to question him on later in favour of sitting next to his partner and peering down at little Azeyma. He looked comical, swaddled up in the thick baby blanket Hades conjured, but Hythlodaeus was right: he was absolutely adorable. Those big, beautiful eyes, his pink nose, ah, he was even doing a blep, the tip of his tongue poking out.

Prometheus's heart promptly, and utterly, melted.

"Never," he murmured, gently reaching out with his soul to nudge Aza's. Before it had been asleep and passively accepted their touch, now it nudged back, pure and curious and brimming with warmth. Aza let out a happy chirping noise, wriggling enthusiastically in Hades's arms.

"Well, I can say with certainty you have a baby boy," Hythlodaeus said, "A healthy one too! Full of beans, isn't he?"

Likewise, all that Hades planned to say was pushed aside in favor of simply doting on this new life. He held the squirmy dragon close against his chest, but he eventually wiggled out to curl around his shoulders. Seems he didn’t naturally want to be held like a baby...

“Oh? He can already walk,” Hades said with some surprise. “Perhaps I should have done more research. What should he eat? Do you think he’s hungry yet?” Hades drove himself slightly mad with the possibilities. “I’ve never seen a newborn dragonet. Though he is also Amaurotine...”

But he had an avenue to ask, he realized. He was already connected by soul, so he prodded to see what he might learn.

Prometheus laughed at Aza treating Hades like a climbing frame, the dragonet clambering out of his baby blanket to curl around Hades's shoulders instead, snuffling at his hair. Out of the blanket, Prometheus got a better look at their new son, and was amused to find that his tail was about the same length as his body. Wonder who he inherited that from, as Prometheus's own tail was quite short for a dragon.

"I think he, er, eats meat?" Prometheus said, realising he didn't know, and glanced at Hythlodaeus. He got a discreet nod. Okay. Meat, then.

Aza, meanwhile, paused his curious snuffling of Hades's pale hair at the prod to his soul. He cocked his head, his golden eyes squinting into that half-closed, happy cat kind of way as he clumsily prodded back. He recognised the feel of that soul nudging his - it had warmed him these past few weeks, bathed him in love and affection - and he now knew the soul belonged to this person. One of his parents! He sent a load of happiness and affection back, his soul practically purring.

"Mmmmrr..." Aza tried, wrinkling his snout when the words didn't come out right, and pretty much slithered off the broad shoulder to try and curl up in those warm arms again, "Mrr... mmmnn... meh!"

"Meat... I'll find the finest meats available, then," Hades said. "...Should we cook it? I suppose we can find out what he prefers..."

As far as Aza's looks went, Hades thought to himself that his own genetic material was probably more like a randomizer. Aether was so malleable. And even a newborn had the instinct to create. Hmph. There was much to learn about all of this.

"Is he trying to talk?" Hades said as he watched his child crawl back into his arms. He rewrapped the blanket around him, his eyes tearing up as he felt the warm bump of his soul come back. "Oh, we... We've been switching between languages, haven't we? It must be confusing. We can teach him our language, but no one else speaks it..."

Hades gently pet the fuzzy dragonet, realizing that this was a little silly to do to a child... But he seemed to like it, and he was so soft to the touch. In fact, perhaps the softest substance he'd ever touched in his life.

Aza decided he quite liked being swaddled up in the blanket, even if it did restrict his legs a little - and his parent liked it too! So, Aza settled down, soaking up the love radiating from all around him, and the physical sensation of parent (dad? Yes, Dad) petting his fur. Mmm, now that felt... cosy...

"Hm, I don't see why we can't just use Amaurotine," Prometheus said, switching languages accordingly, watching Hades and Aza with open fondness. Hades really was a natural with babies, who knew? "He might understand a bit already. Dragons pick things up when in their eggs, um... Aza? Are you hungry?"

Aza blinked sleepily at Prometheus, "Mmrr?"

"Mm? Yes?"

"Mmm..." Aza huffed, then, "Mmmye... ye..."

Truly astounding. Watching his son start to say his first words bloomed joy in his heart and soul. Hades instantly Created a bit of soft, fatty meat between his fingers, lowering it towards little Aza’s jaws.

He watched him take it quickly, swallowing without chewing— did he even need to chew?

“We can teach him the other languages later, I suppose,” Hades said, smiling down at the bundle of fluff in his arms.

“What a smart boy you are,” Hades said, cooing as he conjured another piece of meat.

"Aren't they cute?" Hythlodaeus stage whispered to Prometheus.

"Very," Prometheus said, feeling perfectly content to spectate Hades spoiling their son. He did want to snuggle with Aza too but, well, he lacked the arms and the dexterity to do it like that, and he could wait his turn. He had a feeling Hades needed this more than him, anyways, considering how anxious he'd been over Aza being a healthy hybrid.

"Careful he doesn't snap your fingers off," Prometheus joked, watching Aza practically inhale the slivers of meat Hades was feeding him. God, the kid certainly was hungry, wasn't he? "And that he doesn't choke..."

"Mmmr..." Aza said past a mouthful of meat. Prometheus had no idea what he was trying to say, but his soul was radiating happiness so, probably 'the food is good'?

“I’m being careful,” Hades said with a bit of a pout. “And he wouldn’t bite my fingers! He’s a clever boy.”

“I wonder if he can...” And then Hades flipped his glyph on.

Prometheus realised where this was going the second he saw the glyph flicker to life. While for an ordinary Amaurotine child, a soul glyph was normal and seen almost every day, for a newborn dragon fresh out of their shell-!

"Uh, Hades, wait-!" Prometheus started, but it was too late.

Aza seemed to freeze, blinking at the sudden glare of crimson glaring down at him... looking bewildered and feeling totally confused. From his perspective, his father had vanished only to be replaced by a glowing, angry looking crimson skull, and he reacted as any confused child would.

He started crying.

Not with tears, since it seemed dragons lacked that capability, but he let out a distressed, unhappy yowl, squirming to escape Hades's arms and immediately reaching for the parent who hadn't replaced their face with a glowing red skull.

Hades dropped the glyph immediately, his breast filling with panic. “I’m sorry! Look, look, it’s all gone!” He tried to rebundle the squirming baby. He could let him just go to Prometheus, but the baser part of him just wanted to calm the rejection.

“I should have known better...” Hades said, eyes wet. Little Azeyma didn’t cease his squirming, so he set him down against Prometheus’s feet in the hay.

Hades looked beside himself with worry. He crouched down, his mind racing with ways to fix it. He debated whether turning into a dragon would make things worse.

Oh dear.

Prometheus wasn't quite sure what to do at Hades's panic and hurt at the rejection, quickly lying down when Aza scampered towards him. The dragonet quickly tumbled into the gap between Prometheus's forearms, curling up against his broad chest as he made quiet, uncertain noises. All his fur was fluffed up, making him look like a furball on legs. It should be cute, but...

Prometheus let out a low, soothing purr, deepening it until it was a rumbling bass that Aza would feel as a physical vibration, pressed as he was against his chest. It seemed to work, the dragonet calming down enough to peek up at Hades with wary uncertainty.

"I think that was a bit too fast for him," Prometheus said, feeling awkward. Hades really should've known better, but he felt like saying that probably wouldn't help Hades's dejection, "Also... your sigil's kinda scary looking..."

"It does have a skull on it," Hythlodaeus muttered sotto voce.

"But I'm sure he'll get over it!" Prometheus continued loudly, nudging at Aza gently to urge him back towards Hades, "Look, Aza, the scary mask's gone. It was just a mask. Hades- uh, wait, are you Father or you going with 'Dad'...?"

“It’s just how it is,” Hades muttered back. Hades cleared his throat. “What about Hythlodaeus? I can be Father...” He had been Father in the past, and it was comfortable enough to hear, especially in their mother tongue. And a dragons’ vocal chords were well suited to speak Amaurotine.

Hades stared at the child, getting on his knees and outstretching an arm. He turned his palm up, conjuring a small bowl of bone broth. He felt like he was appealing to a small animal...But being a father had made him feel that way before. They were all held prisoner by the mushy whims in their developing brains.

“Azeyma...” he said sweetly, trying to coax him over.

"Oh, I thought I was going to be 'Uncle'?" Hythlodaeus said with clear surprise, "I mean, I wasn't overly involved in the, ah, baby making process..."

Prometheus would've rolled his eyes if he had any, "You can be Uncle or Dad, it's up to you."

"And you?"

"Well, obviously, I'm Cool Dad."

"That's... weird, Prometheus."

While Hythlodaeus and Prometheus argued what constituted as an appropriate parental title, Aza was slowly coaxed over by the smell of bone broth. He stepped lightly, ready to dart back into the safety of his dragon parent's arms if the red skull came back... but it didn't. He reached the bowl, and two-legged parent's face stayed the same, so Aza chanced lapping the broth up.

Then when nothing happened, he got a little more comfortable, clambering half-onto Hades's arm to shove his snout right into the bowl, almost tipping it over.

“There are Amaurotine words for what you are,” Hades started, already feeling his sanity drizzle out one ear. “And Hythlodaeus, you cant be uncle, that... will imply something strange in mortal terms.”

Hades grasped the bowl just a little tighter, letting him drink in the broth. “My son,” he whispered, setting his other enormous hand gently over him to pet his fur. “I’m sorry I scared you. You will understand what it was in time.”

He looked up, locking eyes with Hythlodaeus for a moment. “When the little one has gone to sleep I have something to tell you,” Hades said quietly.

"Oh, yeah, 'Uncle' means you'd be a brother to one of us," Prometheus mused, vaguely recalling the layout of a mortal family.

Hythlodaeus wrinkled his nose, "...oh."

Prometheus chuckled, watching Aza make a mess all over himself practically bathing in the broth, rather than drinking. In no time at all, it was all gone, and Aza was full and happy, purring at Hades petting his fur. Looked like all was forgiven regarding the scare with Hades's sigil.

"Hm? Well, that sounds ominous," Prometheus said lightly, even if he felt a knot of unease tighten in his belly. It looked like Hades was going to bring up the elephant in the room all of them had been aggressively ignoring for the past few months. Prometheus wasn't sure if he felt dread or relief.

“It is, a bit,” he admitted. “My soul has become heavy with sins through the ages... But hear my vow that I will never allow harm to come to our son. You and Hythlodaeus, I cannot lose you again.”

He picked Aza back up, wiping the broth off his face, watching the fur stick together in points. He held the dragonet close to his chest closing his eyes and dropping his chin as he begun to softly sing a foreign lullaby.

Prometheus and Hythlodaeus exchanged a meaningful look as Hades lulled Aza to sleep with a song. Hythlodaeus's expression said 'you can't ignore it any longer', while Prometheus's was 'quick, feign an illness to put this off longer!'

Hythlodaeus's stare down won, and Prometheus looked away with a grunt.

At this point, Aza had fallen asleep, snuffling quietly as he unconsciously cuddled against Hades's chest. It was, quite frankly, absolutely adorable. Prometheus wished he could Create a camera for the moment.

"So..." Prometheus said after a moment of silence, where all of them just watched Aza snore, "Let's hear it then."

“Let’s start... not at the beginning. That’s far too much. But recently...oh, sixty years ago I became the patron, the founder of a people so disenfranchised and beaten down by their Eorzean neighbors. There is a race of people, the Garleans, who are entirely unable to wield aether. But they are tenacious and mighty... And I admit I became enamored with their struggling. My attention was captured by someone who looked just precisely like me, eerily so. His name was Solus from the noble Galvus, and like most men his age, he entered the military. Unfortunately for him, he subsequently died of exposure in the night as he worked in his lab. I found him after, and I saw what he was working on.”

Hades paused, taking a breath before resuming. “He had died entirely too young. The cold had preserved his body... and so... I assumed it. I reheated the flesh and reinvigorated the aether and stepped out to explore these people.”

Hades softly petted his child, lowering his voice and rocking him when he began to stir.

“I finished Solus’ project, and with it, I gave the Garleans the chance to survive their horrible predicament. And with our survival came flourishing. I married the woman who had been arranged for my host since he began to walk. And we had a son,” his voice quivered for the first time in his emotional monologue.

“And though he was tall and strong... He passed away just shy of 22 summers from an illness that I was not even aware of.”

Edited 2019-12-20 20:53 (UTC)

There was a moment of silence when Hades finished, and Hythlodaeus - who had already been aware of Hades's first child - chanced a glance at Prometheus.

He was, annoyingly, unreadable. His expression was difficult to parse, due to the fact that Hythlodaeus still wasn't very good at deciphering dragon expressions, and that Prometheus's soul had gone few soft and opaque. He was clearly mulling it over, but Hythlodaeus had no idea if he was going to react well or poorly to it.

"...well, that explains your egg anxiety," Prometheus finally said, his tone still damnably neutral, "And I was dead at the time, so I can't begrudge you marrying someone and having a child with them either."

There was a but, though, it was clear in Prometheus's tone. However, he didn't utter it, because... he was wary of prodding that. Questions like; 'Hades, you're not a naturally generous soul, so why would you live out a mortal's life to that extent unless you were getting something out of it?' and 'Twenty two years old is old enough for a mortal noble family to procreate before passing on, so are there any other grandchildren or great-grandchildren I should know about too, and if so, why haven't I seen hide or hair of them?' and 'I smell bullshit, there's more to this then you're telling me'.

But Prometheus didn't ask those questions.

Instead; "If you're worried about Aza suffering from the same fate... don't. Dragons are pretty robust creatures. Never heard of any getting sick, to be honest..."

“That I’m not afraid of, anymore,” he clarified, running a hand through his hair. He frowned. “His soul is as dense as mine. No physical malady will be able to kill him in any meaningful way.” Hades was suspicious of the fact that Prometheus wasn’t needling him about those other points. He’d left out a lot, but he’d also admitted to possessing a corpse and leading a military.

“I married for the appearances of it,” he said, then bit his lip. That was only slightly true.

“He’s not this flimsy sort of mortal who will die if the aether fluxes wrong,” he said, gently petting between Aza’s horns. He took a breath.

“I’m surprised that your combined curious minds have no questions about the story I’ve told you.”

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