Archive of Our Own ^beta

John carefully took a leak from where he was hiding behind the huge boulder. He had heard a growl, a deep angry growl from the mysterious gray dragon he had shot down yesterday during the fight. No one had believed it of course, because John was well, John. He was not at all suited for fighting dragons like his dad or other kids his age, Jade, Rose and Dave. They were strong, had it in them, but not him.

That’s why he had wanted to price himself, he needed to show that he too could be a dragon hunter, he wanted to walk around proudly with a skin cape from a dragon he had ended himself, just like all young teens did when they had made their first kill.

And this kill would be special, it was not a blind tealslasher, a rusty ghost or even an olive catdragon beast.

This was a gray screaming fury, the most vicious and rare of them all. This was an opportunity like no other, and he was going to take it. He should prove his worth once and for all.

He carefully emerged, walking closer to the dragon who growled as it desperately tried to break free, some red blood dripping from where the trap and impaled its wings. He had never seen a dragon with red blood before, not this kind of candy red atleast. Like the one of humans.

He took his knife out of his pocket, and saw the wounded dragon up close. It had a sleek figure, body all gray. Two tiny horns on his head, and yellow eyes lined with red. Dragons always had blood colored irises.

This was the most vicious kind of all, that’s what he had been taught. But as he saw that dragon there, growling like it was screaming as it tried to get out, he felt a bit sorry for it, even if it was a bit annoying.

Something in his heart sank.

He couldn’t kill it.

He couldn’t kill him.

So instead of doing the only reasonable he held his knife up high before quickly beginning to free the gray beast, and so he did. The moment he was free he was on top of John, roaring and showing him all of his pointy teeth. His breath stank of raw fish and blood.

He closed his eyes and waited for the end, a slash or a bite of a kind, but it never came. Instead he felt the pressure on his stomach loosen and as he opened his eyes, he saw the dragon sit down with a grumpy expression on his face while holding a leg up. His front paw had sharp claws, and he had all of them bent down except for the one in the middle.

“Are you…”, John began as he raised an eyebrow. “Trying to flip me of?”.

He got a loud growl in response, followed by a roar and then a few clicking sounds, and then he sped away, leaving the human behind.

The gray dragon was gone, and all John could think about was that he had survived it, and those clicking sounds.

Kkrktt

Okay.

If he ever saw Karkat again he would try to study him a bit closer, because he had been the most fascinating dragon to ever walk on Earth.