That night, as everyone was asleep, the old slayer laid awake, his heart and mind unsettled for unknowable reasons.

#threadfic #longc0tfic

Everyone shared a confused look, as the old hunter sets the dragon down gently in his cage and locks it again. The dragon prince, fast unconscious from being overwhelmed and exhausted, barely put up a fight.

The rest of the hunters watched on as their leader, picked up the dragon in one fell swoop, cradling it in his arms; his face wearing an inexplicable expression.

"I'll take care of things, you all rest up for the night. We depart at dawn." Their leader commanded sternly.

Something strangely human that he can't look away from. The flushed cheeks against sapphire scales, the tears, the humiliation in his draconic eyes, the unyielding bite of desperation that reveals a jaw of sharp fangs losing to meager human craftsmanship, – it's all so incredibly alluring...

But none of them ever quite managed to pull off human emotions that well, and those attempts would often fall flat, before they went back to their animalistic outbursts.

This time, though, there's something different about this little dragon's sudden shift in behavior.

The sight took the hunter aback for a moment. He's no stranger to capturing intelligent beasts. Often, he would see them pleading for their lives, as a desperate attempt to tug on his heartstring for some semblance of sympathy.

Clear droplets were dripping from crystalline ruby red eyes. The prince's face is flushed pink and anguished from humiliation. His jaws still clenched and pitiful sobs are escaping from his mouth.

He shot his companions a quick cursory glance, before gesturing for them to back off, and they reluctantly do.

The old hunter's ears perked up at quiet little sniffles from below. He grabbed the prince's face to face him and takes off the blindfolds.