“There, all done.” The doctor's voice stirred Vincent from his conversation with his other half. There was a gauze patch taped over each of the wounds that had been on his shoulder, no doubt covering the stitches to prevent infection. The area was still blissfully numb, but he had a feeling the pain would be back.

“Now,” the doctor stepped back into view, picking up his clipboard, “the anesthetic will wear off eventually, but I’m going to prescribe some painkillers so it doesn't get unbearable.”

Can you read minds? Vincent thought as he nodded. A more coherent version of himself would think that perhaps the doctor had simply planned to say that all along.

“I need to ask first, are you on any other medications?”

“Yes,” Vincent responded, “I am taking prozac twice a day.” The sentence was practiced, information he was familiar with giving.

“All right, thank you. I will prescribe something that doesn't interact with it.”

As the doctor turned to leave, a somewhat frazzled nurse hurried into the room, wheeling an IV hook behind her. “Oh! You've taken care of him already! Great!” she squeezed past the considerably taller man, who watched her with interest as he stepped to the side.

“I was actually supposed to put this in before the doctor arrived, but I was held up. So sorry!” Vincent felt a bit of sympathy for the poor girl; she must be fairly new, or perhaps just having a particularly difficult day.

She grabbed his arm unexpectedly and Vincent flinched, trying to pull away. She let him go, seeming a bit confused. “What’s the matter?”

The doctor stepped towards the bed and put a hand on the nurse's shoulder. “He’s a little anxious,” he explained, and Vincent silently thanked him.

“Oooh, okay. I'm sorry, dear. I didn't realize.” she said, smiling at the blonde-haired man.

“It's… alright,” Vincent smiled weakly back at her. Misty chose this opportunity to rub her head affectionately against her human's side.

“Is it alright if I take your arm?” the nurse asked first this time, and the sun dragon nodded.

“I need to go and get this preion set up,” the doctor announced, making his way to the door. “I'll be back.”

Ugh, more needles, Vincent thought tiredly as the nurse set the IV into his arm. The faint ache that stayed constant while the IV was stuck there was probably his least favourite part of visiting the hospital.

“Okay, you're good to go!” she exclaimed, patting him on his good shoulder. “I'll bring you a gown and a blanket in a minute.” And with that, Vincent was left alone once more. Well, as alone as he could be, given the cat beside him and the dragon in his head.

---

The blonde man was lying down when the hurried scuffle of footsteps and quiet voices approached his room. The doctor had given him a preion for some… stronger version of ibuprofen or something about twenty minutes ago, and he was just starting to doze off again when the familiar scent of a very specific fast food establishment drew him back to consciousness.

Vincent sat up a bit as they came in, mindful of the IV, and the cat in his lap. The sun dragon was surprised at just how many paper bags the two had carried between them. He flashed a grin as Ennie exclaimed her relief.

“It'll take more than a couple of bullets to do me in,” he quipped as the door was shut, reaching for a happy meal and a box of nuggets to share with Misty.

Splitting a nugget in two, he offered one half to his feline companion whilst popping the other into his mouth. Food was definitely a great idea after tonight's incident. He hadn't had McDonald's in a long time, but he couldn't deny that McNuggets tasted very good, especially when he was hungry. As he reached for another nugget, he paused to consider Ennie's question.

He really should have told her much sooner. “some people want to kill you” should be the first lesson in Dragon 101, but he just… couldn't spark that anxiety in his friend. He had been a fool to not realize that it would have been better to tell her sooner.

“I… appreciate that you aren't assuming I've done something,” Vincent chuckled, a little awkwardly, “but no, those men in the forest were not muggers, as I said. They… were part of a group of people that dedicate their lives to hunting down and… killing dragons. I know I should have told you about them sooner, but the both of us were in relative safety, and the last thing I wanted was to make you afraid to leave your own home.” He stuffed another nugget into his mouth and grabbed for a drink of unknown variety that sat on the table beside the bed. Swallowing the nugget, he took a sip and determined that it was iced tea.

“I’m… sorry, Ennie. I never wanted you to learn about the Hunters this way.”

---

The turbulent thoughts of the rainforest dragon compelled Helios to reach out, to help in some way. The distress of her other half came off of the girl in waves, instilling a pang of empathy in the sun dragon. He had been there.

Vincent had been seventeen when he'd come across the stone, resting amongst a pile of duller rocks and pebbles crumbling down the side of a mountain. He had transformed instantly just as the sun broke off of the horizon, taking flight and forcing his vessel into unconsciousness in his confusion. Thankfully, an older man whom his vessel had befriended had been a gale dragon, and was able to help ease his transition into being a supernatural entity, but the road had been rocky for centuries. Vincent outlived everyone he cared for; even the other dragon. He lived an isolated existence, despite often living amongst humans, refraining from making connections with people he would inevitably outlive.

The man was strong-- stronger than Helios would sometimes realize, and had struggled heavily as a child, suffering abuse at the hands of his guardian after his father's death. Helios was privy to those memories, even the ones Vincent's mind had deemed so traumatic that they must be locked away. The sun dragon did what he could to help, making himself a strong and comforting presence in Vincent’s mind, but there had been a time in which he believed he had made everything worse. Centuries of coexistence had remedied that feeling, for the most part, but even he had moments of doubt-- Vincent would not have been hurt so badly, been so terrified, tonight, if not for himself.

Helios wished for Astley to hear those thoughts; to know that even a dragon he perceived as confident and wise doubted himself. “тнιѕ ℓιƒє... ιт ιѕ ησт єαѕу, ƒσя υѕ, σя ƒσя συя νєѕѕєℓѕ,” he spoke, willing his voice to reach the younger dragon. “вυт ιт ιѕ ησт уσυя ƒαυℓт, ησя ιѕ ιт нєяѕ. тнєяє ιѕ ησ ωαу тσ ¢нσσѕє тнє нυмαη ωнσ ƒяєєѕ уσυ ƒяσм уσυя ѕтσηє. ιт ιѕ υρ тσ ƒαтє.” He knew his words may not be as comforting as he wanted them to; in truth, Helios had not spoken to another dragon since… since before the stone. The sun dragon was trying, truly.

---

Misty made a startled noise as the funny-smelling human suddenly shot towards her and fluffed her fur. Most other cats might bite or scratch in this scenario, but she simply endured it with a rather amusing look of shock on her face, making a faint noise of discomfort. Her human, just as startled by the sudden movement, nearly dropping the plastic toy he had idly pulled from the box beside him, spoke warily to the unpredictable man.

“Ah,” he said, focusing his gaze on the happy meal toy he had apparently grabbed, rather than on Ennie, whom he had literally just told there were people trying to kill her, or the eccentric moon dragon, “I was born in 1739, which makes me two-hundred and eighty years old. I’ve been with Helios for two-hundred and sixty-three.”

Vincent was stirred from his planning by Ennie’s question. “I have heard of it, yes. I remember many of my students playing the game a few years ago.” In truth, he had been tempted to give it a try but had never gotten around to it. He scooched a bit to the side to allow his friend some room to sit beside him, Misty re-situating herself over his legs when he settled.

Misty looked up at Ennie when she mentioned her, letting out a quiet chirp and staring with unblinking rounded pupils. Her ears swiveled, as though she could hear the conversation between human and dragon, but of course, she couldn’t.

The sun dragon's attention was trained on the phone, listening intently as Ennie explained the game. It seemed simple, but fun. He missed the meowth a couple of times before the pokeball made contact, rolling around a few times before giving a message that indicated the pokemon had been caught. Deciding that he very much liked this game, and would like to download it. Handing the phone back to his friend, he picked up his own and got the game himself.

In the background, Reito continued to argue to himself in a fashion that induced at least a little anxiety. How had no one picked up on the fact that he was a dragon? Perhaps he was just… detached from society? The man was somewhat of an enigma, and his unpredictability set Vincent on-edge.

A knock on the door got the attention of the room, and the doctor who had taken care of Vincent stepped in, clipboard in hand. “Hello?” The dark-haired man noticed the company (and copious amounts of McDonald’s) in the room, recognizing the rainforest dragon. “Oh, Ennie. It’s good to see you.” He then eyed Reito curiously, wondering if he had accidentally prevented the man from leaving.

“Police were called at 7:30 pm tonight to this suburban forested area after two gunshots were fired somewhere within.” The statement drew the doctor's attention towards the small TV mounted from the ceiling, which had been quietly playing some show. Apparently, it was late enough for the second news hour.

A tall, dark-skinned reporter gestured to the exact forest Vincent, Ennie and Reito had fled from. “The possible victim has not been found, but the authorities have stated that they have found the shooter. He is alive and has been taken into custody. They will not give more details at this time.”

Vincent wore an ex
pression of mild horror as he kept his attention focused on his phone, hoping the doctor wouldn't put the pieces together and figure out that he had been the aforementioned missing victim. The sun dragon made the mistake of looking up from his phone at the exact same time the doctor eyed him curiously, accidentally revealing his totally-not-suspicious ‘oh no’ face. The doctor, to his credit, simply cleared his throat and went back to business. Oh, thank god.

“I uh, just wanted to let you know that the preion you need has been faxed to the pharmacy in the lobby,” the doctor said, only slightly awkwardly.

“Oh, thank you,” Vincent gave him a grateful smile, noticing the ache in his shoulder steadily returning.

The doctor smiled and nodded, reassuring Vincent that he would heal quickly, and then took his leave. If anyone accused the sun dragon of hoping he would meet the man outside of the hospital sometime, he would deny it.

“Reito,” the blonde-haired man addressed their still-standing companion once the door had been closed, “of course you’re welcome to come with us. Once we have everything in order, we can leave the city for a while until it is safe to return. It will likely take a few days to prepare.”