mindcracklove | Fanfic

Apparently I made one with this title already. OH WELL.

Based on a prompt I saw on tumblr of dragon!Rob and archer!Pause.

Rob groaned internally, willing himself to wake up. Waking up was always slightly disorienting, he never knew if he was going to wake up as a human or as a dragon. Blinking slowly, he grinned, sending out a plume of smoke. Dragon form, excellent. He yawned, sending out tiny rivulets of smoke and embers, stretching in a way reminiscent of cats.

There was no hunting trips planned for today by the King, so he wouldn't have to put in his token appearance with the court. He could spend the entire day in dragon form, and no one would care. Grinning, he trundled out of the small cave, launching himself into the sky. He couldn't go around disturbing the villagers though, he was sure they'd send a much more...thorough search party to find the dragon that was disturbing the peace if he did that too often. Maybe some time next month when everyone had forgotten the last time he had gotten a bit too fire happy.

Yawning, he continued his lazy trip over the skies, idling scanning the forest below.

It was his quick eyesight that caught glimpse of the arrow before it hit him, forcing him to make a sudden spiral in the air. More arrows started whizzing past him as he ducked and weaved.

Unfortunately, the archer seemed to catch his pattern far faster then he could change it, and an arrow found its way into his belly, burying deeply through the thin scales. Howling, he spiralled out of control and into the forest, breath coming out in short bursts, lighting the tops of the trees on fire.

Panicking, he shifted into human form, tearing the arrow out as he shifted, clasping a hand over the wound. Whoever was hunting him would be searching for him soon, he had to flee. He could possibly hide in his human form. There was no way he could hide in his dragon form.

“I wouldn't move if I were you, I have a bow and know how to use it,” he heard a voice behind him saying. Hissing, he stood upright slowly, not turning around. A warning arrow whizzing past his head, forcing him to stand still.

“You are threatening a royal knight,” Rob said, trying to sound imperious through the pain.

“I'm threatening a shapeshifter,” the voice said with a laugh, drawing closer.

“Do you have evidence to support such a terrible claim? You are accusing a royal knight of being a shapeshifter, if you are wrong, and you totally are, you would be hung for treason,” Rob said coldly, making sure to not turn towards the voice. He felt the tip of an arrow graze the back of his neck.

“Well, let's see. There was a dragon in the sky, now there isn't. Now there is a bloodied guy on the ground in the spot a dragon should be,” he said, practically whispering in Rob's ear.

“I could have been hunting the dragon myself. I am a knight,” he said, eyes squeezed shut, biting his lip. He hissed as he felt a hand touch his hand that was clenched to his side, stemming the flow of blood. The voice chuckled softly, amused at his suggestion.

His eyes went wide as he realized he couldn't have the arrow nocked and drawn. Spinning around he morphed, wings bursting out as glared down at his now small attacker, throat rumbling as he prepared to breath fire.

He had already drawn his bow back, readying it.

“You do realize you will be dead before you can ever let that arrow loose, right?” Rob said, amused. His side still hurt and was bleeding the dark red ichor that passed as dragons blood, but he knew it was also healing far faster then his human form was. Staring at the person, his eyes swept over him, taking him in.

He hadn't met him before, so he wasn't a knight or a member of the royal court. He seemed to be possibly of elven descent. Smirking, he remembered why he seemed so familiar. He was a half breed elven archer, face on posters in both kingdoms for poaching animals.

“I know you, poacher. No one will miss you if I eat you,” Rob said slowly, amused. Pause narrowed his eyes.

“Disgusting dude. You were just a human, that's cannibalism,” Pause said, nose wrinkling. “Also, I can totally kill you before you kill me. Fastest shot in the kingdom.”

“Which kingdom? You were thrown out of both and have a standing arrest warrant in at least this one,” Rob said laconically, sitting back on his haunches. Pause frowned, making a vexed noise.

“Just because I was thrown out doesn't mean I'm still not the best archer ever. And you're trying to be distracting. I need to kill you,” Pause said, eyes narrowed. Rob sighed, rolling his eyes, tail thumping against the ground.

“You don't need to do anything. You don't need to kill me. Hell. You could come live with me in my cave, and no one will do jack shit, because either they have to deal with a royal knight and get killed by the kingdom, or deal with a giant fucking dragon of death,” Rob said smugly. Pause rolled his eyes in response.

“Oh yes, live with a giant fire breathing dragon in a dank cave. Brilliant. WHY WOULD I DO THAT?” Pause said, shaking his head vehemently.

“Because if you don't, I call in the other knights, and we have a nice day trip out of “hunt the silly poacher down and kill him for the good of the kingdom” day. And trust me, if you try and do the whole, tell them I'm a dragon, no one is going to believe you. I'm a knight, you're a poacher,” Rob said, yawning lazily.

“Fine, asshole. Better question. How do you know I won't just kill you in the middle of the night?” Pause said, releasing tension on the bow slightly.

“Because you'd have the kingdom after your blood when I went missing. We do have trackers. You might be half elven and good at hiding, but we would bring out the big guns to find my murderer. Also, dragons are very very good at not dying in their sleep. Also, you'd make a cute captured princess,” Rob said before suddenly swiping the bow out of Pause's hands, bow clattering to the ground. Pause made a strangled shout as Rob scooped him up before launching into the sky.

“You are a colossal dick!” Pause shouted over the wind, struggling in Rob's grasp.

“Most dragons are,” Rob said, amused.