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da3dm · 1 year

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The Fool and the Dragon 1.2

PERSPECTIVE SWITCH YEAH

People who wanted tagged: @justarandomsloth, @brick-a-doodle-do, @beckyu

TW: intentional harm, trying to drown someone, calling someone ‘it’, mentions of death, intentional fearplay, mention of violence

Personal warning: This switched to someone else’s view and he is extremely violent and doesn’t care about anyone. So take care if you don’t like someone being very cruel...

Word Count: 5k

Chapter 2: The Villain

Well…today couldn't possibly get any worse for him. Today he’d had to fight so many more heroes than seemed right. He was only trying to return the artifact he destroyed…it made his blood boil that they went through so much effort to protect something so useless. It was a waste of his time…so he wasted their time and sent people to the hospital. Perfect. Now they would stay the hell out of his way for a while. That was better than having to see their ridiculous faces so many times in one month. He could feel his scales nearly bristling at the idea of them showing up any more often than they already do.

Smoothly, he used his shadows to transfer himself back home, aiming for in front of the door just in case. He wasn’t entirely certain what he was being cautious of, but…he did have blood on him and there were too many students. It would suck if his roommate happened to be in the apartment and found him showing up somewhere in the house when he was previously not there. The last thing he needed was to hide another body on top of everything else. That was merely more stress than he cared for. Sure, he could probably erase the memory of it, but…where was the fun in that?

Still though, he took a moment to breathe deeply and scan the room, gathering the scents and sounds in the apartment. This made him pause as a momentary flash of annoyance passed through his eyes. It was that scent again. He could never place what exactly it was, but he knew there was something rather small going around and messing with his things. It was borderlining what he’d keep ignoring, but it almost seemed like it wanted him to react. So he wouldn't. He held it in, feeling like tormenting it in return and refusing to allow what it wanted from him.

So…where was it coming from? He stepped forward, glancing about as he looked for something different. It wasn't until he went to sit that the scent hit him full force and he immediately looked at the source. Well now. It had never been that strong before. Was it still there? He could swear he heard a heart racing from the fruit bowl, making him narrow his eyes in thought. Interesting. He turned on the TV to add a background noise to maybe distract the thing, but the smell of fear instantly smacked him and he had to pause. He always despised how some scents affected him.

With a soft, breathless mutter, he reached for the bowl, using a single finger to drag it somewhat closer. That generated a spike in that fear and made him flinch, the emotion way too powerful and trying to grip at him as well. With a sigh, he stopped pulling it closer and instead chose to scan the fruit in an effort to possibly see it. Nothing. He could probably just dump the bowl out and it would be right there…no, that would put an end to it all. It was hard to know why he tried so hard to avoid bringing it into the open, but…what would happen once he found it? Will it just be some random mouse? That would…really suck.

Taking it to the next level, that thought fueled him using his mana sight. Rather quickly, he was able to see something curled up underneath the fruit. The green mana moved and pulsed with their intense fear and had him staring at first. No matter how many times he reminded himself that animals didn’t have such clear mana, it was hard to believe any person would actually be hanging around him. Maybe, if it was a person, he was actually a victim of attempted bullying for what he was? No…that was unlikely. There would have been many different things happening if that was the case.

Since he’d confirmed this, however, he finally just grabbed the fruit on top in an effort to figure out what it was trying to do this time. That's when he was immediately struck with a faint smell of spices and the sight of what was clearly intentionally a smiley face. It was so shocking he found himself freezing up and barely fought down the smile that threatened to come. Why would he smile at something so stupid? Marking it like this could've made the fruit spoil. There. He managed a frown instead, glancing at the bowl again but still not seeing anything. With a slight shrug, he went ahead and took a bite out. Oh.

Oh. He could feel his eyes trying to water as a burning sensation lit up throughout his mouth and tore through his sinuses. Well that was rude. He wheezed slightly, a hand going to his mouth as he found himself unable to smell anything now. It wasn't hard to tell that not much had been put on, but for him, it was plenty enough to ruin his senses for a while. His chest heaved with the following coughs and he set the fruit down, putting his face in his hands and sighing very heavily. “...ow.” He didn’t say much else, but he did glance at the bowl and feel rather irritated by this. Did it know he avoided spice?

A mix of anger and partial amusement had him pausing, but in the end he grabbed the bowl and the pear he’d taken a bite out of. Not hesitating anymore, he casually carried the entire thing away from the living room while fully aware the creature was still inside the bowl. Not too long after, he was in the kitchen and scanning for whatever sort of revenge he could give. In the end he eyes locked onto the sink and he stared, wondering if using it would give away that he knew or not. Maybe not? He’ll just say its to get rid of whatever else might be spicy. Actually…that was a good idea. It might have done this to more.

Grumbling under his breath, he strode to the sink and held it out before he grabbed the spray nozzle and turned it on. The water was cold as he sprayed the fruit, his eyes narrowed unhappily and cruelly as he kept going. What made him stop was realizing he could hear something struggling to breathe. At first he fought with himself, but in the end knew he needed to stop. That was far enough for something that was just a prank. He might have overdone, actually…but he hated spice. It hurt him, but it was hard to tell if the creature knew it was that horrible to him or if they simply wanted to mess with him.

With a sigh that sounded like he wanted to keep going, he turned off the water. Then he took and tipped the bowl just enough to let the water pour out of the holes on the sides. He let a small amount stay pooled in the bottom so he didn't accidentally dump everything out of the bowl, but set it on the counter a tad roughly. Angrily, he muttered, “Putting pepper on fruit…” He chose to leave it at that and walked away, wanting to wash all this blood off. Well, he didn’t really smell it anymore, not with the spice ravaging his senses, but he knew it was still there and would bother him tomorrow if he didn’t.

Like usual, he didn’t bother with his clothes and simply stepped into the shower before it had even warmed up yet, holding his hand out under it as it washed over him. He stared at his hand, remembering what he’d just done with an air of guilt. He shook his head at the thought, scowling as he dropped his hand and started getting himself clean. Why should he feel guilt over retaliating when attacked? That was idiocy! Even in the middle of fights with heroes, he never spared a second glance for those who messed with him. His roommate was an exception…people would notice him missing.

His gaze dropped down, focusing in on the blood flowing past his feet numbly. Except…nothing that tiny being had done had any malice behind it. In a way, this felt like dealing with a child, not an enemy. That made him pause. What if it was a child of some kind? No, he doubted it. Some of the tricks were too thought out to be from a child. He thought it over for a long moment as he considered what all this actually was. Simply pranks? What if it could be a spy of some kind, and it was trying to catch him slipping up? But…then why would the thing put pepper on a pear?

None of it made any sense to him. It felt like someone was sent to specifically torment him even when he was asleep. He swore he could smell that creature in his room every time he woke up. That could be happening for several reasons…none of which were particularly comforting. All he could see was it watching him while he’s asleep, wanting to kill him, trying to know when he’s awake…not a single one felt good in any way. No matter how he spun it…the existence of this thing alone was strange. Could it just be a fairy? It would have to be a wingless one though, but it could be after freedom.

When thinking didn’t bring him any closer to an answer as it did any other time, he huffed in annoyance and turned off the shower. Stepping out, he used his shadows to switch his clothing, leaving the wet set to just hang dry. The new clothes were his usual black t-shirt and pants. It sent a shiver through him at the sudden chill. He never liked that all too much…the cold was much more unpleasant compared to even extreme levels of heat. He paused to glance in the mirror, checking how well his makeup was hiding his scales and not entirely pleased to notice his contacts needed switched out. New ones always hurt.

Eventually he left the bathroom, heading back out and sparing a glance at the kitchen for a moment. He debated it, but found his feet moving against his will to carry him forward. Gazing inside it was to see the fruit bowl still sitting there to dry and…a trail of water from the bowl to the wall. Thinking, he wandered closer and studied the path. Did it just phase through things? As his eyes landed on the wall, he discovered something new. There was a hole in the wall. Well, a carved out opening that shut nearly seamlessly, otherwise unnoticeable. Oh…that was interesting. Were there more?

He was tempted to search, but…that sounded bothersome. More effort than he wanted to even try using. Why do so much for something he wasn't even that interested in? He’s just wasting his time…so with a sigh he grabbed the bowl and went back to the couch to watch the news, wondering if they were showing the feed from his earlier fight yet or not. He wanted to know who exactly interfered in that fight. They had managed to tick him off only to completely vanish into absolutely nothing. That was simply unfair and set him off to no end, like a bad version of his apparently tiny tormentor.

The news was playing through the day’s events, but so far none of it caught his attention. His gaze wandered to the pear he’d taken a bite of, staring at it for a long moment as his lip twitched before he grabbed it. With a slight shrug after studying the smiley face, he went ahead and started to finish eating it. There was still a faint pepper taste, but it was much better than earlier. He wasn't even sure why he was eating it again, but in the end…he did hate wasting food. It’s not always so easy to have food. Yeah that must be it. There couldn't possibly be any other reason.

His tail twitched mindlessly as he returned to watching the screen. That happened to be the same time they switched to ‘breaking news’. Yeah right…it all happened an hour ago, they were just being lazy. But it played out the feed of the fight while he thoroughly scanned the background. Except…as it was shown, he began to notice certain things the heroes had said, being cut out entirely. The scenes were skipped and everything about it made him the one at fault. He growled in annoyance, this action not necessarily new. Then it showed a brief glimpse at the part where he’d been ambushed.

It showed the person for a split second, only to skip to him being injured. Immediately, he gave a shout of anger that really had no solid wording, before he stood up and stormed off. His tail whipped towards the remote, shutting the machine off as he made his way to his room instead. He yanked the door open, stepping inside quickly only to slam it shut hard enough that dust rained down on him. He gave a rather inhuman growl, then sucked in a breath while running a hand through his hair while tipping it up some. He shut his eyes to breathe through his nose, hoping for the calming scent of his room.

That's when an entirely different, but somewhat familiar scent came to him. A wet animal, mixed with that same mint-fruitiness of that creature. So he was still being stalked. At least unlike the human, who smelled of alcohol and, dare he call it a scent, stupidity, this wasn’t too bad. More like an air freshener that kept changing all the time. The same animal with explosiveness was always surrounded by a different plant smell every time he came across it…did it keep going outside or something? Honestly, there were a few times he believed it smelled like a cat of all things.

His eyes reopened to slowly rake through the room, but still couldn't quite place the origin of it. He was used to this being in his room, but it was particularly irritating to never know where it was coming from. Grumbling under his breath, he wandered over to his desk and pulled some papers out like he usually did when it was getting later. It was rather immediate for him to be met with magic language, tensing and internally raging as he worked on it. He was supposedly a powerful villain, but he still had to do his homework. Somehow he was doing this willingly? If it wasn't for learning about magic, he wouldn't be here at all.

It took him a while, honestly, to finish the analysis and interpretations of his many magic based classes…not all of them were on that, though. In some he just needed to read, solve a problem, or write a short essay. Still tiring and was quite simply more than necessary. There was no way they had a real reason for you to write an essay about how wonderful and honorary the language of magic was. Exaggerated, useless assignments that taught him nothing. That’s what it was. But he was already a villain, so he occasionally found a way to make an AI do it for him sometimes.

Around an hour later, feeling like he was being watched the entire time, he finally finished it. With a sigh, he let his head fall into his hands, his shoulders slumping as everything came crashing down on him now that he wasn’t distracted. The artifact he’d tried so hard for today…did help her at all. Like usual, there was no helpful response from his comatose mom laying on that hospital bed. If he didn’t need the life support machines to give her what she needed that healing couldn’t, he would've already brought her home. She’d just be stuck in his bed instead, but it was better than that place.

He ran his hands down his face with a groan, looking up at the wall. His tired eyes scanned the scratches he’d left on the wall when he first came here. He’d calmed down a lot more since then, but…sometimes he wondered if that was only from being so tired of it all. Although, when looking straight ahead of him, he could've sworn he heard something scramble, but…that didn’t make much sense. He hummed softly before he tore his eyes away from the wall and to the pile of completed homework. In all honesty, he completed his work really fast compared to others. Still, it annoyed him.

Leaning back with a stretch, the chair teetering with the threat to fall, he shook out his limbs. Then he took and turned off the light as he stood up, glancing at the now dark room to decide what he was doing next. Really…there was nothing left. Nothing about new artifacts being anywhere nearby, no healing scheduled for his mom, and no homework. So all he could really do, with it being so late, was simply go to sleep. It was that or deal with the even worse people that come out at night…he’s already beaten during the day, he wasn’t interested in the sketchier nighttime folks.

He wandered over to his bed and lay down how he was, only checking if he’d taken off his shoes and socks yet before climbing under the very thin blanket. The half dragon really didn’t need a blanket, he was warm enough as is, but the weight of the fabric was always very comforting to him. Settling into a comfortable position, he stared at the wall again, then glanced at the window. He always had the curtains closed…the light was never the most comfortable for him. That could probably be attributed to his shadow element, but alas…not much else he could really do about it, so why worry over it?

As he was finally letting his eyes drift shut, a distorted, echoing voice entered his mind just in time to be annoying. “”Are you just going to sleep?”” He grumbled in complaint and tightened his closed eyes, trying to ignore it. Underneath him, his shadow wavered, only to somewhat form into a small spot of living shadow…this wasn't the true form, but it was enough to recognize. “”You can't just sleep!”” The shadow moved like it was mad, a hand reaching out just as inky dark as the shadow to push at him. “”Get up!”” This resulted in making him open his eyes just so he could glare at his own shadow.

He didn’t bother speaking. This thing could read his mind and he knew it. Rather, they could hear each other and he already knew what this guy was complaining about. It wasn't his fault that the unknown creature had been in the fruit bowl and messing with his food. For all he knew, it might've been trying to poison him. And it wasn't like he killed the thing. He stopped. He even let it go back home…wherever that was for it. His train of thought remained negative towards the creature, continuously justifying what he’d done one way or another. As a result, all he could hear was an angry buzzing.

Not too long after, that hand came back and grabbed his arm angrily as a person made of shadows came halfway out of the shadow in front of him. “”You know you did wrong! Go apologize! Or at least do something to make up for it!”” Wow. His own shadow was judging him so aggressively…he just wanted to sleep. This was so unfair. With a bit of a groan, he sat up and glared at the shadow, narrowing his eyes unhappily. This was not how he wanted to be spending his time. This was the sort of thing that made him wish he actually could hit this shadow being.

There was absolutely no reason for him to be staying awake for something that might just be an animal. Why apologize to what could be a rat? The smile on the fruit flashed through his mind and he waved the shadow off. He scowled a bit and shook his head before turning to put his feet on the floor. He began to mutter to himself…well, it would look that way to anyone else at least. “No, I’m aware it was that shape. That doesn’t mean anything.” He growled when his shadow tried to shove him onto the floor, whirling around to fix it with a nasty glare. “Keep going, see what happens.”

The shadow wavered for just a moment only to start sending every single hint that it wasn't an animal…but wasn’t trying to push him out anymore. Still though, despite not caring about the images, he rolled his eyes and stood up with a languid stretch, glancing over his shoulder at the shadow. The shadow now fully came out and looked like a perfect replica of himself, simply…made of shadows. He put a hand on his hip and tilted his head while considering the dark form, who crossed their arms at him. Why did his shadow care so much? Not bothered by murder, but irritated over being mean?

He narrowed his eyes quite a bit before just shrugging and stepping across the room, eyeing how his door had been jammed quite haphazardly into the doorframe. He looked at his shadow. “Was there a reason you didn’t catch the door this time? Usually, you do.” The look he got was plenty enough answer and he didn’t miss a beat to sneer, “Right, mister goody-two-shoes.” His tail lashed to the side in irritation as he gripped the handle, working on getting it tugged back open. He needed to be more careful…he’d nearly broken the entire door and frame with that fit.

It wasn’t exactly something he could help. He just felt like he needed to lash out sometimes. In some ways, it was similar to the building frustration over trying and failing to pull the door open. His sharp teeth were bared angrily by the time he gave a way too silent stomp of annoyance and forcefully yanked on it again. It didn’t open, but he got it out of the jam…so annoying. He pulled the door open as the living shadow disappeared where it belonged, leaving him mostly alone. How was he even supposed to try to do this? An animal wouldn't know something is an apology in the first place.

He grumbled to himself, but then heard something creaking from the kitchen. There was silence as he went still. Fine. He turned, walking through the living room to find the kitchen, his steps, as usual, giving no warning. The fact he was even considering doing what his annoying shadow said verged on the edge of ticking him off more, but…it was hard to say he didn't feel any guilt. Or that he wasn't at all curious. Even if he did find the culprit, what was he supposed to do? Say sorry and be friends? Yeah no. At most, he might manage a word of apology before just leaving or trapping it. Depends on what it is.

When stepping close enough to see over the bar, he didn't really…see anything there. This edged on triggering him again but he took a deep breath to settle back down before he went to the doorway instead to study and wait. From what he could tell, most of the sound was coming from inside a cupboard…interesting. Was it a rodent digging through his food? He could swear he saw a furry tail appear at one point for a split second. Was he supposed to apologize to a rat? Or maybe a mouse? No way that’s happening. It left him torn between just going to bed or chasing after it this time.

He took his time deciding what to do, fully aware he could catch it in an instant if he wished to. This also happened to give the little bandit plenty of time to finish whatever it was doing, and his attention was stolen again. The motion of the open door suddenly closing, slowly, deliberately, made him tense. He knew those doors didn’t open and close on their own…and now, looking again, he could see something like a string glinting in the faint light. What…exactly was in this kitchen? If it was that smart and not an animal, why in the world would it mess with him of all people?

There was no way it saw him and decided he’d be friendly enough to prank all the time. He felt a twinge of irritation, but had his thought stolen away when he caught movement. Something was moving around now that the door had stopped at a point it was nearly fully shut, and seemed to plan on exiting the cupboard. He watched. Not a second passed without him closely studying every last sign of life. That familiar scent finally wafted towards him, making his tail flick almost eagerly. He had to admit, it somewhat felt like he might have an instinct to hunt smaller creatures sometimes…but that was ridiculous.

Letting instincts control him would only make his dragon bloodline be branded as even worse than it already was. Alright, why was this creature taking so long to do anything? For several reasons, it was digging at him. His mind was drifting too much. He was getting impatient, something he knew he had a problem with. The worst part of that was the fact he was earning a rather cold scowl, which was not useful for trying to ‘make nice’ like his shadow was just so insistent upon. Yeah. He, in no way, enjoyed having such an insubordinate shadow. It was cool at first, but now it's only irritating.

After so much time passed, he had half a mind to march right over there and just grab it already, when it finally moved. He leaned forward just a tad only to watch something tiny rocket out of the cupboard. Then it jolted to a rather rough stop, seeming to squirm while something else dropped to the counter. Was that…one of the other guy’s granola bars? He watched it fall before returning his gaze to the small creature just in time to watch it plummet. His whole body jolted forward for a moment, but he stilled himself. It bounced off one of the wooden empty shelves and onto the counter.

He tilted his head, trying to understand what it was. That was, until the shelf tipped over while it was scrambling so pitifully that he cringed. Oh…he certainly hated such obviously weak displays. His tail curled when the shelf slammed on top of the small thing, but he simply sighed and shrugged. Well. Guess he didn't need to apologize after all. No use apologizing to a corpse. Couldn't he just go to sleep now? His shadow, of course, protested, and so did a part of him. Leaving something dead out all night would be a horrible smell through the whole apartment…his nose was already sensitive enough, he didn’t need that.

Then he felt a fluttering sensation, a shiver that made his spikes stand up running down his spine. It…was as if something small was moving around inside of a very dark space, where his shadows would easily feel the movement. He paused. Did it survive? He didn’t go closer, but he did narrow his eyes, studying the shelf closely. Maybe it ended up in one of the open spaces? That was a very unusual stroke of luck if he’d ever seen one. So then. Could it get out? He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, his tail merely flicking idly while he let his spikes settle back down.

There. He saw something squirming out of one of the sides, finding himself tempted to go closer to get a better view. Still, after some patience, he started to see a bit more of it…only for a quickly cut off scream to echo through the small space. He went stiff. A scream? That was…a very human scream. Why would there be something like that over there? It wasn’t an animal? Even though it was struggling, he wouldn't go closer. He was stunned. His denials were being thrown in his face right now…unless it was just a human sounding animal? That was far-fetched and stupid, but possible.

He wanted to believe that, but it kept making human noises. He thought about it, but felt a vague sense of frustration. He shuffled slightly to be standing up straight, putting a hand on the doorframe. That’s when it noticed him. Immediately, it went still. Deathly silent. It wasn't long before the scent of fear, way too heavy for its own good. His shadow was assaulting his mind with reminders of every hint and scent that had told him this wasn't an animal, and he tried to push it away every time. He wasn’t even aware of how cold his expression was or what it was doing…he was too in thought.

It had always played childish pranks on him, things that could only be intentional and not caused by an animal. It smelled like different plants and cats, but no cat was that tiny. He always felt like something was watching him for the past few weeks. Not to mention, it had drawn on that fruit. Sure, it didn’t count as a joke to him, but it still was. His shadow was berating him, so intent on being kind as if it knew something he didn't. And it probably did. Everything told him this wasn’t an animal…this thing was more like a human. So it had emotions. A spike of irritation. Damnit. This meant he needed to apologize.

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Chapter 1

Chapter 3 (unwritten)

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