The Dragon's Vessel

Kimi paced around the quiet kitchen contemplating all that had happened over the past few days. The next morning had not brought any ease and Kimi's worry continued to fester while she waited for Ryujin to wake up from his fainting spell from last night. The toast popped up from the toaster and she turned to butter the pieces, placing them onto the already prepared tray before heading for Ryujin's room. Once there she juggled the tray into one hand and knocked but didn’t bother waiting for an answer, opening the door and moving to place the tray on his nightstand.

“What’s the point of knocking if you’re not going to wait for a reply?” Ryujin grumbled, turning his head to watch Kimi with tired eyes, not daring to sit himself up just yet.

“I didn’t think you’d be up just yet but it’d feel weird just barging in without knocking,” Kimi explained, placing the tray down and looking at Ryujin from the corner of her eyes, assessing the state of him. Sunken eyes with dark, baggy circles, pale, sweaty complexion. How hadn’t she seen how weak he was getting. Kimi gritted her teeth before fully turning to Ryujin. “I’m not going to pretend last night didn’t happen, and I won’t let you sweep this under the rug either," Kimi said sternly, not even trying to hide her frustration.

"You're right, you deserve an apology… you all do," Ryujin slowly attempted to sit up, "We shouldn’t have kept our past from you guys. Our history was a long time ago, a past that I have tried very hard to forget.” Kimi’s face dropped as she gazed at Ryujin struggling to explain himself. “My goal in life as a dragon is to protect my vessel.." he took his time to find the right words, "I can not speak for Laxus but you have my word... no more secrets between us," he grabbed Kimi’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Kimi squeezed back, trying to calm her anxiety by moving to her next worry, "so what are we going to do about Laxus? Do you think he really won't come home?" Kimi asked, trying to hide the fact that her heart felt like it was breaking apart.

"Laxus will come back, I’m sure of it. Don't tell him this but I think of him kind of like a cat. He'll leave for a few days but will always return home to his family," Ryujin tried to soothe her worries with a warm smile and a joke.

Kimi clicked her tongue, not in the mood to joke but after a moment she let out a sigh and her shoulders sagged slightly, but enough for Ryujin to notice, “I don’t want our family to fall apart.” She whispered as Ryujin tugged her down and into a tight hug.

“Nothing is going to happen to our Weyr, I promise,” Ryujin vowed, feeling Kimi pull away and watching her wipe her eyes.

"And what about this state you're in?" Kimi motioned to Jin's weakness, changing the subject for what felt like the billionth time.

The question threw Ryujin off for a moment and he shifted uncomfortably, “you’re not going to drop this are you?” He mulled over as Kimi narrowed her eyes, giving a rare cross look at him and folding her arms to show she wasn’t going to let this go.

"How are you meant to protect anyone when you're like this?" Kimi poked his shoulder and watched him wince. “You’re our leader, we look to you for guidance especially when things get tough and right now you’re so weak you're fainting.” Kimi could feel herself getting angry and clenched her fists as a distraction.

"Random bursts of energy?" Ryujin tried to be funny again to hide how he really felt. Seeing that not work his face saddened, "look feeding for me isn't exactly as easy as the others. I have a moral compass to uphold to this weyr and to Mira," Ryujin honestly felt bad about all of this.

Kimi chewed the inside of her cheek in thought before turning and leaving only to return with her laptop. She sat on the edge of Ryujin's bed for a moment, scrolling before turning the laptop around for him to take. "Read the passage aloud," Kimi instructed, taking Ryujin's hand and matching her palm to his.

Ryujin squinted at the screen for a moment and read the following passage, "from this day forward you shall not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter and my arms will be your home." As he spoke Kimi's eyes glowed purple and she watched her energy course through her arm and pass through her palm, swirling into Ryujin's glowing blue energy and absorbing into his body through his own palm. Kimi smiled, watching Ryujin’s eyes turn to slits, the eyes of a dragon. She was happy her idea had worked and pulled away to let Ryujin get up and stretch with newfound energy.

Kimi's eyes fluttered shut and she flopped backwards onto the bed before recovering and getting up. "I googled wedding vows, I guess we’re technically cheating your augment but it’s much nicer than how you’ve had to feed previously" Kimi stuck her tongue out, grabbing her laptop and darting out of Jin's room.

Ryujin couldn’t help but smile as he watched Kimi take off, "that sneaky woman." He muttered, chuckling to himself. Kimi’s words rang true though, he used to get into physical altercations with the other dragons to show possessiveness, he even used to go as far as to hold Kimi down. He’d scream that she was only his and the other dragons would come to help, which would only make it easier to feed from Kimi. Ryujin growled at the memories, he detested that side of him. When he started having feelings for Mira he realized he couldn’t feed from Kimi anymore. When he used his augment that way, it was disgusting. He was disgusting and it put a large strain on his and Laxus’ friendship.

Ryujin snapped out of his thoughts as he turned to the tray full of food and heard his tummy rumble. He took the tray to his desk and sat down to eat the food Kimi had brought up for him. He was re-energized now which meant he could now focus on sorting out this whole betrayal ordeal and getting Laxus back home.