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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...okay, out of all the reactions Prometheus had expected, Hades bursting into tears hadn't even remotely made it onto the list.

"H-Hades?" Prometheus stammered, too surprised to do anything at first before he lifted his wind enough to curiously nudge at Hades with his snout. He cautiously reached out with his soul, tentatively trying to soothe all the bubbling guiltdespairguiltgrief just flowing from Hades like water spilling through a cracked jug.

Had Prometheus accidentally triggered some bad memories of Amaurot's Fall? In fact, Prometheus never asked how Metis had... passed. He, shit, he was a moron-

"Hey, hey, shh, Hades, c'mon," he crooned, "I'm supposed to be the crybaby, not you."

Hades wrapped his arms around Prometheus' head, crying, trying to still the quivering in his face. He found that he couldn't, but letting it outpour was relieving. He dropped his soul's barriers again to allow Prometheus' soul to try to mend and comfort his. And in this undistracted atmosphere, he allowed Prometheus to sift through his feelings.

He allowed Prometheus, for the first time unguarded, all of his sadness, anger, grief, guilt. Things that he could share with no one else. But at the end of it there was hope, levity, and joy for the first time in so long that he could barely recognize it. His weeping eventually tapered off and he rubbed his eyes to clear them. His voice came quietly, pinched, and hesitant.

"I have... Much to tell you. Soon. But not right now," Hades said as he released one more shuddering breath.

He went silent for several seconds, his soul propping itself up in the puffed-up showman that he always was at his core. "I think we could name the child Hythlodaeus."

Prometheus reluctantly allowed the topic change. It was clear pushing Hades to explain what the fuck that had been about would just be detrimental to him. Still, he filed it away for something to ask him about later... even if it made a quiver of anxiety go through him. He didn't want to rock the boat...

"... you really wanna fuck with Hyth using our child?" Prometheus huffed, but the idea was pretty funny, "Ugh, I'm actually kinda tempted, to be honest..."

Hades knew he would have to own up to all of this sooner than later. How cruel would it be to drag Prometheus along all of this, forever, unknowing? After all, the truth invariably always came out.

"It would be an honor for him, to have a child with his namesake," Hades said with a grin. He conjured a handkerchief to wipe his eyes and nose before tightening his hold on Prometheus. He shivered slightly and pulled his wing closer.

"I suppose we'll ask him what he thinks of it all when he comes back," Hades replied. "Although I'm nearly sure we could get him to call the baby Hythlodaeus and force him to go by a nickname."

"You just don't wanna remember an extra name," Prometheus said teasingly, resting his head on Hades's lap again. Looked like the worst of Hades's tears had passed, "Though, maybe... why don't we try a more... native name? What's this place called, Azim, right? Maybe... hmm..."

"I already remember so many names," Hades said. "I don't think I get enough credit."

Hades thought grimly for a moment that it might not last forever. Or. Might it? Ugh, this was difficult.

"Native, hm?" That was relative, wasn't it? Native for this area would be something like Batu, Yeke or Erdeni. Hades was already posing as Azim himself and tooling around with their religion for fun. "Azim is the God of Dawn here, but just a little ways across the ocean, and that person would be Azeyma. Curious, isn't it?"

"Azeyma..."

The moment it was said, Prometheus just Knew. That was it. That was the name. It was rare for him to get these flashes of insight sometimes, but this time it was practically beating him about the head yelling this is the right choice-

"Azeyma," he repeated, firmly, "We're calling them Azeyma."

"Hm, the Goddess of the sun from the God of the Underworld and the Titan of fire, is it? How dramatic," he said, as if he weren't. "It's a lovely name," he said, rubbing circles into Prometheus' scales with his thumbs.

"An Amaurotine Dragon named for neither. Yggdrasil might have been more appropriate," he said. "I'm not saying you can't call the child Azeyma," he clarified.

"Good, cuz it's what I'm naming them," Prometheus said simply, then let out a wry laugh, "Well, it's a bit of a mouthful to say all the time, so I'd probably call them... let's see... Aza? Yeah, that sounds like a nice, short nickname."

The more he thought about it, the more it... yeah, it was a good feeling he was getting. He nodded slowly.

“As if Prometheus and Hythlodaeus aren’t mouthfuls,” Hades said with a bark of a laugh. “And I’ve been saying both names forever.”

If Prometheus was in control of the culture, he likely wouldn’t have opted for such long names. “Are you tired?” Hades asked as he felt himself lull. Now it had been a truly tiring day. As he settled, he felt Hytholadeus’ thin soul reach out to check on the two of them.

"Yeah. A lot of my aether's going to Aza," Prometheus said, feeling a strange kind of thrill saying that. He couldn't help but let his soul flutter happily, especially when he felt Hyth reach out, "Greedy lil' shit already."

Snout wrinkling in amusement, he playfully headbutted Hades's thigh, muttering; "Taking after you."

“Greedy am I? I simply know how to get what I need. And so does the child,” Hades said, petting Prometheus’ head. God that outburst earlier was so embarrassing. At least Prometheus took it well. Hades breathed out slowly as he examined the two’s aether. He started a channel to flow into Prometheus from himself, concerned that Prometheus in his shattered state might not be able to keep up.

“I hope he takes after me. The world only needs one of you,” Hades said as he shifted to get more comfortable.

"Stars, this world does not need two of you either," Prometheus scoffed, knowing that the pair of them were terribly melodramatic fools majority of the time. Poor Hyth would be run ragged if he had to deal with another one...

Hm.

"I hope they're like Hythlodaeus," he said simply, "He'll pretty much be like, the third Dad anyways, so."

Yeah, sounded better.

"So, looks like the Yol are done," he said, lifting his head reluctantly from Hades's lap and tilting it towards the nest, "Let's have a look and see if this nest is good, eh?"

“Mmm... however they’re like, I’ll love them,” Hades said. “But I could really use a good assistant. Good help had been hard to find for thousands of years, you know. Everyone lives 60, maybe a hundred years tops... it’s barely enough time to properly explain anything.”

Hades looked over at the nest. They had really done their level best, hadn’t they? It was fit for a yol... Queen? They probably did not have those.

“Well, try it out, hm?”

Prometheus nodded and heaved himself to his feet. Well, best to inspect it to make sure it's suitable for purpose...

Which, luckily, it was.

Of course, Prometheus didn't really get to put it to the test until several weeks later, almost a month, in fact. The egg developed a little slowly, for a dragon at least, and as the days went by Prometheus felt more sluggish, hungrier and heavier. He didn't show like most creatures did, but he certainly felt like he did with how aware he was of the egg's weight. It was almost discomforting, but Prometheus supposed compared to how an Amaurotine's pregnancy would've gone before they, ah, streamlined it... a dragon's was very smooth.

Still, when it came to actually laying it...

With unfertilised eggs, they were rather small, and after several years of it, Prometheus had perfected the correct angle of his squat to pretty much squeeze them out with minimal effort and thought. As this egg was considerably larger and heavier, Prometheus found that when the cramping pressure first hit him, his usual 'egg squat', as he called it, hadn't... felt comfortable at all.

Which led to his current predicament: anxious pacing of his nest, enduring the discomforting spasms of, well, contractions, really, with Hades and Hythlodaeus in attendance while he tried to figure out the best position to do this. As the midwife, Hythlodaeus was very calm... enough so that he had simply pulled up a chair and was reading a book, seemingly unconcerned about everything. Of course, he had devoured any and all literature on a dragon's reproductive cycle, so no doubt Hythlodaeus felt this was all very normal.

"Of course this couldn't be easy," Prometheus grumbled, pausing again to squat, his tail lifting high as he leant his weight forwards. Urgh, no, didn't feel right. He straightened up and paced a few times, the movement helping to ease the cramps somewhat.

Hades was seated as well, but on the edge, one hand on his knee, the other up to his mouth where he was trying and failing to stop chewing his knuckles.

“Just... lay it already,” Hades mumbled, trying desperately not to add stress to the situation. And failing, clearly. “I can just remove it, you know,” Hades called out, voice tinged with desperation. “Or I could lift you?”

Hades was suffering.

Hythlodaeus handed him a bottle of... something that distracted him enough to look at it. “I’m not going to drink airag, Hythlodaeus.”

Prometheus grunted irritably, pausing his pacing to scrape his hindclaws against the ground, like a cat kicking sand over its faeces. Once he'd dug out a shallow hole, he squatted again over it, this time leaning his weight more further back. This time felt a bit better, and he lingered there for a moment, letting out a few loud, heavy exhales.

"It'll calm you down if you drink it, Hades. Besides, this is going quite smoothly compared to human pregnancies," Hythlodaeus said to the clearly fretting Hades, while Prometheus tried cooperating with his unpredictable contractions, "There's less screaming, for one."

"I'm gonna start screaming in frustration in a minute," Prometheus growled, leaning a bit more forward again, breathing heavier as his muscles visibly contracted, a low grunt catching in his throat.

“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..."

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