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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He couldn't imagine how fast that must be... But then again, it was aether, and dragons made children in a manner very close to Creation.

"There's an entire world. Why don't we just explore," Hades said, knowing exactly where he did and didn't want to take him. Yeesh, he'd really fucked the whole place up, hadn't he? They'd have to avoid Garlemald... The southern continenets, Eorzea for sure...

The Steppe. He would love the Steppe.

"From here... We can just fly North-Northeast. The weather is still warm, dragons are well received, and the aether is bountiful," Hades said, slowly standing himself. He took on his dragon form that he'd been tweaking for the last week in that familiar spouting of fog and aether, like a bubbling over pot. He stretched his wings and padded slowly around Prometheus.

"What do you say?"

Prometheus immediately perked up, jumping to his feet in clear excitement as he unfurled his wings and let his wing claws sink into the sand next to his forelegs. When Hades donned his dragon form, he couldn't help but intercept him when he circled near his head, affectionately bumping his snout just behind Hades's jaw, nuzzling him.

"That sounds perfect," he purred, "I haven't flown far in a long time. It'll be nice to get these wings some exercise."

Though, his dragon form wasn't built for long distance flights. His wings were powerful, certainly, but the wingspan was short compared to his body, and he was more for quick, violent take offs and short, rapid flights that ended in sharp, steep dives, like a hawk. While he could fly for a while if need be, it tended to exhaust him.

But, hey, he could manage it with Hades next to him!

Hades made a soft rumbling in turn. Even if he wasn't a dragon, truly, there was the instinct to connect and be understood, fully. Even by the man who knew his soul better than most anyone else. Which... Also made his heart sank. Was he really going to be able to justify the rejoining to Prometheus? To someone who had so much empathy for those lower beings that emerged when they paid the price to fix the world? They were unworthy of him, he wished he could make him know that.

And didn't he already, in a way, suspect it? The Ishgardians were cruel and small-minded. They destroyed the peace and then pretended that it was all the doing of the evil dragons. What shit. Hades found that he barely had to try to manipulate them to kill and destroy one another.

"How long? I hope I won't need to carry you," even if he was perfectly capable of doing so. He could easily make himself a dragon three times his current size and just ferry him. But at that point, they may as well teleport...

But the point was to amuse Prometheus...

Hades remembered something. He turned to the simulacrum, unthinkingly too used to treating it like the emotional blow up doll that it was. "You'll be fine, Hythlodaeus?"

"Of course!" he chirped. "I can always entertain myself. I haven't even read everything you've brought me."

Prometheus huffed, puffing his chest out and ruffling his wings like an offended water fowl, "You won't need to carry me. I can make it... if it's, um, less than a two hour flight. A-Anyway, we can rest on the way. I'm sure there's an island or two we can use as a pit stop."

When Hades turned to Hythlodaeus, Prometheus watched curiously. The past week, Prometheus found himself falling into the pitfall of treating the well developed simulacrum like the genuine article, and feeling strange from it. This wasn't Hythlodaeus, and he didn't know if it was right or not, to pretend it was to soothe their own feelings. Hythlodaeus existed out there, sundered, yes, but, still... he existed elsewhere...

But those were delving into dangerous waters, ones Prometheus didn't want to confront just yet, so he buried the weird squirming in his belly and let out a quiet whine.

"Hyth will be fiiiiiiine, Hades! He knows how to entertain himself. Now, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon! You've got me all excited for this adventure!"

"Hmm... I'm not sure how long of a flight it is... But really? Only two hours?" Hades teased before trotting around to orient himself. And then he unfurled his huge wings and wound back on those powerful thighs... and launched himself into the sky.

"Alright, alright! But if you can't keep up I'll carry you like a dragonet."

After they were both airborne, Hythlodaeus walked out to a bare, sandy patch to wave them both off.

"Hey, don't laugh! I'm a sprinter- Hades!"

Prometheus yelped when Hades shot up into the sky with a powerful leap, and hurried after him, his own powerful hindquarters, combined with his bulky wings, launching him up rapidly enough to catch up to Hades after a few beats of his wings.

Unlike Hades, who seemed to effortlessly glide after catching the thermal currents, Prometheus had to maintain a consistent, heavy pace with his wing beats, his body weight too heavy, and his wingspan too blunt and short, for his wings to carry him even on the shortest of glides. It was why he tended to keep his flights quite short, just long enough for him to scope out a meal and haul it back to his old cave...

Plus, admittedly, he was kinda out of shape. All that gorging and hibernating and gorging again, plus his lazing about on Hades's island after his heat ended... yeah, he wasn't the fittest of dragons at the moment, a fact that he hoped Hades wouldn't notice.

So, after thirty minutes in, Prometheus's breathing started to get visibly... heavy.

It had probably been ten minutes since his last wing beat, but he noticed that Prometheus had to flap his wings like a hummingbird. Though was considerably heavier than a hummingbird. And hummingbirds didn't try to fly 300 malms in one go.

Hades was enjoying himself, but he was concerned that Prometheus would burn out well before their journey was finished. He didn't want to insult him... But he was prepared to carry him the rest of the way. I would be easy.

"We can rest," he said through the sound of the wind whipping past them. He definitely just projected that into Prometheus' mind for the convenience of it... Though unthinkingly spoke in Amaurotine. It should be fine. "Or I can ferry you easily..."

"I-I'm fine," Prometheus panted, ignoring how he could feel his core start to heat up. Dragons, he found, had a unique way of venting excess heat, where they pooled it into their 'core' to be safely discharged as a bolt of plasma. Prometheus had no idea how they did it, it was pure instinct even with him, but he had a feeling that by the end of this flight he'd have to breathe out a lot of plasma just so he didn't dangerously overheat.

Yet, a few more wingbeats, and he could feel a cramp start to creep up his shoulder muscles. Argh, damn it. He hadn't exercised in so long, his poor body just couldn't keep up. He grunted in frustration.

"Okay, I'm not fine," he admitted breathlessly, "My wings're tired."

Hades chuckled. They were so, so far in the sky, over the vast ocean. What harm could this do?Smoke began to emanate from his mouth, he turned inky black as his form expanded until he became an enormous mass of tentacles, his large secondary hands, and his mask. He slowly floated beneath Prometheus, and spoke as quietly as he could with his several sets of vocal chords.

“Rest, sleep, and I will bring you there,” he said in a whisper. “Think of the baby.”

It sort of defeated the purpose of flying to their adventure, but Prometheus couldn't deny that he'd start to lose altitude in a few miles, and probably risk dropping into the ocean. He could swim, and float very well, but... probably best not to chance it.

So, with a grunt, he gently landed on Hades's back, flopping on his belly and opening his jaws to let a few steamy plumes escape - a slower way of venting heat, but it was better than spitting out a plasma several thousand feet in the sky. He might hit a flock of migrating birds by accident if it traveled far.

"Ugh, sorry," he mumbled guiltily, "I'm so unfit..."

Hades was warm and soft to the the touch; his shape encapsulating his love for Prometheus.

“Just open your wings and let the air flow through them,” Hades reached out with his soul to soothe Prometheus and check on him.

“Would you like me to cycle your aether?” He asked, gently squeezing his poor mass of broken shards.

Hades was honestly happy as a clam to just fret and dote. His duties were so... terrible, honestly. Consorting with small-minded, violent little bastards day in and day out... when he considered it, dragons were a people that might do what they did: forfeit a huge amount of their people for the good of all.

Prometheus couldn't help but let out an amused huff at Hades's fretting, letting his wings stretch out and drape over Hades's back as he eased into a relaxed pose. It felt nice, Hades's soul curling around his soul, and he grunted out another plume of superheated air, his core starting to cool.

"Mm... yeah, please," he murmured, letting himself drowse off a little. He couldn't help it. He was so sleepy recently, probably because of the baby in retrospect, but, still.

Hades dutifully cycled his aether, cooling him. He had really gotten awfully warm in this short stint, hadn’t he? Hades checked in on the little soul dwelling within, breathing a sigh of relief to find it unharmed. He felt Prometheus’ breaths slow and deepen, his posture slacking as he dozed off.

Hades wondered idly if he’d gone insane or perhaps just stumbled upon the best idea he’d ever had... he was remiss to bring it in front of Elidibus and Lahabrea, though... a kingdom of dragons and ascians united. That is, if this little soul was properly born.

Hades sat with his thoughts for a while before he noticed the islands becoming wide grassy expanses.

“Prometheus, look.”

Prometheus stirred, mumbling drowsily as he lifted his head. It took him a moment to remember where he was, his feelers flicking upright to sharpen his sight. Below them, the choppy ocean with tiny islands had turned into wide, grassy plains, tall mountain ranges reaching up in the distance.

"Oh," Prometheus sat up, his soul brightening with joy and awe, "It goes on forever! It's like a sea of grass!"

“Welcome to the steppe,” Hades said, grinning internally— since he couldn’t really in his current shape. He glided down into the mountains to change shape. He assumed his usual form and began to finger comb his hair. “The locals... look something like this-“

And with a snap of his fingers, he affixed a glamour to himself: black horns, tail, and scales adorned him. His features shifted ever so slightly to fit in with more of the norm.

“And for clothes... I should be careful to not broadcast something untrue...” he placed his hands on his hips for a moment, snapped his fingers, and ended up in that very revealing little wrestling outfit dyed black.

“I could glamour you into a horse, but I don’t think anyone will be too bothered by you here.”

Prometheus landed heavily when Hades shifted to a human form, stretching his stocky legs out to get the blood flowing again. He was feeling peckish now, and he sniffed the air as Hades played around with his glamour into... a dragon-hyur hybrid?

"Eh? Eh? There are people who look like this?" he asked excitedly, pushing his snout close to Hades to get a better look. Scaled hide - but with human skin? A tail, horns - oh, instead of ears! Interesting! Rare to see that trait in bipedal creatures. Huh, he wondered, if they had such lizard traits, did they have two dicks?

Hmmm.

"Hrmph, I'm not being a horse," Aza grumbled, lifting his nose up with a snort, "That'd mean I wouldn't be allowed to talk when we meet some locals. Unless talking horses are a thing around here..."

“Yes. They’re called the Au Ra. On the steppe they’re the Xaela. Too bad they dwindle their own numbers in ceaseless combat.”

A talking horse... would be a really funny thing to spring on the natives. They’d probably try to buy him. That’s a trick he would save for later, with Prometheus’ consent. “Not normally, no...” Hades said, crossing his arms. “It shouldn’t hurt anything just to use a glamour...”

It wasn’t creation magic, and it wasn’t truly augmenting anything... Just a trick of the light, really. He snapped his fingers again, gently squishing that dragon form into the body of an Auri man.

Prometheus made a startled noise when he felt the glamour settle - it felt odd, because it was conforming his body to a form without actually taking that form. It made his scales itch oddly, and he made a face, giving himself a bit of a wriggle.

"Mmnnnngh this feels weird," he muttered, "I feel like I'm wearing a latex bodysuit."

“That is essentially it,” Hades said, pressing his hands on Prometheus’ shoulders.

“How’s it feel?” Hades was close like this, nearly nose to nose. “Speaking of horses, do you know how to ride?”

Before Prometheus could even answer, he Created them a single horse, huge and powerful looking. It would be surprising if others didn’t attempt to buy it everywhere they went.

Prometheus almost went cross-eyed when Hades leaned in so close, and he leant back with an amused giggle.

"Oh, wow," he said, eyeing up the horse. Was it weird that his first thought was how tasty it looked? "I think I do? I mean, I did some riding when I was a lot younger but, I think I've probably forgotten most of it."

Hades gave him a peck on the lips, letting his hands slide down to his waist. “Let’s go on an adventure, then,” Hades said with a smile. He felt himself blush a little. It had been so long since he’d had Prometheus and so few days he had with him so far. It almost felt like dating. It wasn’t quite like picking up where they’d left off for several reasons... but for for, this was enough.

Hades mounted with practiced ease and held a hand out to help Prometheus mount the horse.

“Just hold onto me and you’ll be fine,” he said. “Let’s see if we can reach a tribe by nightfall.” Hades had some cursory understanding of the Auri way of life, but he hadn’t spent a real chunk of time in this area in a few hundred years.

Prometheus's mounting was a little less graceful than Hades's, but he managed to sit in the saddle behind his partner well enough. He scooted close, ignoring the bump of Hades's... tail (heh) pressing against his hip bone as he wrapped his arms around his waist.

"So, these people are still in the nomadic stage of their society development?" Prometheus asked curiously when the horse began a very gentle, careful trot, "That's interesting..."

“It’s more of a choice than a stage, for them. They have a battle every year to see who will live in the single permanent domicile,” Hades said as they trotted down the mountain path. “Ah look, there it is,” he said as the rock wall cleared on one side, gesturing to the enormous structure.

“Though thousands of years ago... this was a much different place,” oh the things they did as allagans... what a time. “But that is everywhere here, really.”

The sun cast down through the misty haze of the day. It was warm with a gentle breeze rolling through the grass. Though this was a place he’d been before, it felt different with Prometheus at his back, holding him. His heart skipped a beat as if he were newly in love.

Prometheus made a soft noise of awe when the Dawn Throne came into view, a massive structure looming in the faint haze of late morning. The Azim Steppe truly was beautiful, Prometheus thought, giving Hades's waist a small squeeze. He had hoped for days like this, back in Amaurot, where he could drag Hades out on his adventures and explore the world with him... but, of course, Emet-Selch had been busy managing his office, and hadn't been interested in such things...

But it was different now, by horrible, permanent circumstances. Prometheus pushed the gloomy thought aside - enough of that! He was here to enjoy his time with Hades!

"They fight over that every year? But... a year's barely any time to make yourself at home!" Prometheus said, his sense of time skewed by his own longevity. A year was hardly any time at all! "They're always in such a rush, these humans..."

“They are,” Hades said. “But the point is only to throw up their little tents to rest. Their days are consumed by hunting, training, and herding. They make crafts with what little time leftover. Some do even less; there’s a tribe here that sleeps in their saddles,” Hades showed himself to be quite the adept rider, even if he was riding a horse he materialized.

“This is the perfect place to hunt. The animals are mostly untouched, and they are powerful and ferocious. Only the strong can survive here, but often they do not. If you speak to them about their customs, they reveal only pride.”

He pressed the horse into quicker pace, the inhabitants of the grasslands coming into view.

“So really, I have no idea who we might run into, but they may try to kill us.”

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