Solitude's End

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Feng had a worried look on his face, but smiled down at the dragon nonetheless.

"Don't worry. They'll be fixing you up. You'll be all better after."

They entered a room with a surgeon, then Feng was asked to leave. He did so reluctantly, and sat outside with all the other people. Shortly after, he got up and paced around impatiently, checking his phone regularly. He wasn't usually out at this time since there wasn't anyone to be out with, but since neither of his parents had contacted him so far, it was evident that they hadn't noticed yet, or just didn't care. Feng decided it didn't matter today. He was busy worrying about Tynebris.
 
At first it is loud in the room, Tynebris distrusting the surgeon. The dragon growls, not letting anyone near him. However, after a short time the room turned silent, they followed protocol: tranquilize aggressive animals. From that point on the surgeon had no problem at fixing the dragon up. Luckily Tynebris isn't too big yet, thus it took only an hour till they were done fixing him up.

The nurse exits the room with Tynebris on a stretcher. The dragon has been patched up, the wounds are cleaned and bandages are covering them. Tynebris is breathing calmly, he still is asleep. Nevertheless, he looks much better than before, well, if you ignore the bandages atleast. On his injured leg there is a bar, for easing the weight on his leg and thus helping it recover; the same counts for the dragon's wings.

Tynebris lies calm on the stretcher, curled up - placed that way by the nurse - and asleep. The first time asleep since Feng found him.
 
As soon as Tynebris was wheeled out of the room, Feng rushed to his side. It had been a torturous hour for him. He had had half a mind to just leave for home, having already played his part to help the dragon, but something in him just kept him there. He caught sight of the sleeping dragon, sighed and smiled. The nurse approached and asked, "Are you his owner?"

Feng shook his head. The nurse raised an eyebrow. "Then why did you bring him in?"

"I found him in the forest," Feng explained. "Injured and bleeding. I couldn't just leave him there."

The nurse nodded. "Well. For record purposes, I need all animals brought in to have a registered owner. Do you want to be his?"

Feng was flustered. He knew his parents would skin him alive if he went home with a dragon in his arms. At the same time, he knew owning a dragon would change his life forever. He would no longer be lonely. He would no longer be bullied. He might even be liked at school! He furrowed his brows, deep in thought, then finally replied, "I guess I'll ask Tynebris."

He leaned over Tynebris and put a hand on the dragon's unharmed scales, shaking him gently. "Tynebris? Do you want to be my dragon?" he whispered.
 
Tynebris slowly regains consciousness, woken up by the shaking. The dragon remains silent, starts breathing a bit heavier and keeps his eyes closed. Tynebris heard Feng's question, but he doesn't answer yet.

"Okay" the dragon whispers. "I got no place to return anymore." Tynebris adds mumbling. After a few seconds of the dragon being silent he interrupts it asking: "Why?", not have heard the conversation before he woke up. Tynebris feels that there is a rail attached to his right wing, he starts moving it and observes the railing.
 
Upon hearing the dragon's question, the boy started blabbering, flustered. "I... I mean, I don't want to force you or anything. I just, I mean, they just need a registered owner for you and, you know, I found you, so... Just if you want. I'm completely fine if you don't. Like, if you have somewhere else to be, you should just, you know, go ahead."

It was almost as though he was asking some girl out. Feng scratched his head, getting stressed by the moment, and started pacing around again. How would he bring Tynebris home?
 
Tynebris waits till Feng is finished and looks at him confused? "I got no other place to go, I got no home and the forest is quite lonely and dangerous for my age." the dragon replies, stretching and moving both of his wings, testing the difference made by the rail.

"So I don't mind." Tynebris adds, looking at Feng. "Is something the matter?" the dragon asks and tilts his head, not understanding why Feng is stuttering. Shortly after asking Tynebris tries to get up.
 
Feng extended a hand as the dragon tried to get up, wanting to help but trying to avoid being intrusive. He sighed, then shook his head in reply to the dragon.

"It's nothing." He put on a smile. "I'm glad you're mine." He was feeling really ecstatic, but coupled with his conflicted feelings about his parents' reactions and the fact that he didn't quite know how to show affection, he just stood there awkwardly, hand in front of the dragon. He turned to the nurse.

"Can we go back now?"

"Sure," she replied. "But you'll have to come back in two weeks for a check-up and to get the cast removed."

Feng thanked her and lifted Tynebris out of the stretcher and into the shopping cart again. The sky was dark and filled with stars as the boy and the dragon headed home, at a slow stroll this time. Feng, for the first time in a long time, had a genuine smile on his face.
 
Tynebris, still calm, becomes silent and looks at the hand. The dragon simply sniffs the hand, remembering Feng's scent. The dragon didn't resist as Feng lifted him into the shopping cart, on the contrary, Tynebris even remained calm. As they were outside the dragon curled up, looking at Feng and the dark sky.

"Isn't the sky beautiful?" the dragon asks, enjoying the silence at this time of the day. "The sky is beautiful." Tynebris actually answers his own question. The dragon's attention is grabbed by the sky, the stars amazing the dragon. "If I could fly someday high enough to touch those dots?" the dragon whispers, not expecting anyone to answer his question.
 
Feng followed the dragon's gaze. "It is. And you will. One day. And when it happens, I hope I'll be with you."

He drops by the supermarket to return the shopping cart, and carried Tynebris in his arms once again for the rest of the journey home. The street lamps lit the otherwise-dark streets, and there were few people around by then. It was already almost midnight. As Feng approached his home, he saw that the lights were on. He stopped dead in his tracks, realizing that his parents had reached home.
 
Tynebris was distracted by the stars, he didn't even notice that they arrived at the supermarket. Suddenly as the dragon was lifted he tried to resist as he immediately stopped. "Sorry, force of habit." Tynebris apologizes as he stretches his wings a bit, preparing for the worst case. After a short time the dragon looks at the ground, he is slowly getting tired and definitely is already exhausted.

As they arrived at home Tynebris also spotted the lights. "Are your parents at home?" the dragon asks as he tries to free himself so that he can approach them. "I want to get to know them." he adds, trying hard to get free and to get to know them.
 
"Don't," said Feng sharply and held the dragon a little tighter. He knew his parents would throw a fit if he brought Tynebris right through the front door. However, it wasn't like they cared much about him anyway. They were always busy with their own things.

"I'll explain later, but we can't just walk through the front door. Simply put, they're not the nicest of people when it comes to pets. Why don't I put you in the shed in the backyard for now, and I'll come and get you when they're asleep?"
 
"How long would I have to wait?" the dragon asks, not amused by Feng's suggestion, and looks at him. Shortly after asking he calms down, but it didn't take long till Tynebris tried to break free.

"I don't want to stay outside alone!" the dragon yells as he tries to break free. Even though he wants to go in badly he doesn't use any form of violence - unless you count trying to break free is violent - to free himself.
 
Feng held on to the thrashing dragon and knelt on the floor, sweat rolling down his forehead. Although dragon was small and weak from his injury, it still gave Feng a hard time as it struggled to break free.

"You have to trust me on this one, Tynebris!" he yelled back. "They're going to throw us both out if you come in with me!"

Feng got up on his feet again, holding the dragon's mouth shut with one hand and struggling with the rest of the dragon with the other. He trudged slowly to his backyard, weighed down by Tynebris, and then gently placed him on the ground. He pointed at the shed once he was done.

"There it is. It's roomy enough for you. You can stay in there for now, but if you make any noise, you won't be the only one with no home to go to," Feng growled, a little upset at the dragon's attempts to break free and at himself for not knowing what else he could do. It wasn't like he had many other options; if he could waltz right into his front door with Tynebris in his arms, he would. H Sighing, he turned away from the dragon, ready to head indoors through the back door.
 
"You better come back fast." Tynebris snorts, not happy with the result. The dragon slowly walks to the shed and looks back at Feng. Tynebris snorts again and then enters the shed, lying down and then looking at the door. "This place is roomy, but it's so lonely in here." the dragons says to Feng.

The dragon stretches his wings, yawns briefly and then curls up, showing his back to Feng. As he curled up he pulls in his wings and holds them tight to his body, trying to use as least space as possible and blending in with the darkness of the shade.
 
Feng turned his head around and grunted in reply, "I'll be back in an hour or so."

He took a few steps to the back door, glanced back at the dragon who had his back toward him, then took the remaining steps back. Before he could open the door, it swung inward and a silhouette shouted, "What was that?"

Feng, shocked, stood rooted there to the ground, staring at the face of his fuming mother. "What was... what?" he stammered.

"You know very well what I'm talking about, young man. Not only do you come home at a ridiculous time, you bring that filthy thing along with you?"

Feng gritted his teeth angrily at the insult. "It's not filthy!" he yelled. "And what do you care anyway? You don't even treat me like I exist when I come home on time! Don't think I don't know why you return home late every day. I know it's not work!" Years of pent-up resentment poured themselves into every syllable.

A deafening slap left Feng's ears ringing and a rapidly reddening mark appearing on his cheek. Tears started to well up in his eyes as he glared at the woman he refused to recognize as his mother.

"You'd better shut up, boy! It's none of your business what I do! If you want to throw your temper at someone, do it to your father! He was the one who cheated on me in the first place!"

The door slammed in Feng's face. He sat down on the ground, willing himself not to cry.
 
The yelling caught Tynebris' attention and the dragon immediately looked towards the door. The dragon gets up as he was insulted by her and heads towards the door, growling while his wings are stretched. However, Tynebris wasn't fast enough to reach Feng before the door was slammed close, but as he sat down the dragon rushed to Feng. Tynebris sniffed at the boy's cheeck. "Everything will be okay." the dragon says, the anger in his voice clear. "I'm sorry if it is my fault, I didn't know better." Tynebris apologizes, trying to not sound angry.

Tynebris looks at the door - "fire in his eyes". The dragon growls quietly and has his mouth open as were he ready to attack Feng's mother, luckily the door is closed blocks his way if Tynebris were to attack. The dragon just stares at the door angrily, waiting for Feng to open the door and approve that he may attack the boy's mother.
 
Feng just sat, head buried in his hands as the dragon comforted him.

"It's not your fault. She always does this," he whispered in reply. He sobbed for a while, then stood up and tried to open the door. It was locked. He headed over to the front door and tried again, but it was locked as well.

"The bitch," he muttered.

He went back to the backyard, to a small tree that was growing near the house. There were scuff marks visible on the bark of the tree. From the way Feng climbed it with ease, it was evident that he had done this many times before. His mother knew she wouldn't keep him out of the house just by locking the doors, but it did give her the satisfaction of slamming the door in his face and watching him pleading to get back in. Feng could have sworn she had become mentally unsound after she found out that his father had cheated on her, hating everything that had any association with him, particularly Feng.

He reached his window, which was always open for occasions like this, and crawled in. He turned around and peered out of the window at the dragon.

"You coming up?"
 
Tynebris tilts his head and looks at Feng's remark about his mother. "You don't like her much, I understand that. I wouldn't like my parents if they were so too." the dragon says trying to comfort the boy more.

As Feng got up and climbed the tree Tynebris looked at him confused. "Why are you climbing up a tree?" the dragon asks only the question to be answered shortly afterwards. "Oh" the dragon whispers to himself. Tynebris didn't wait long as Feng asked, the dragon rushed over to the tree and climbed it. However, Tynebris wasn't as fast as Feng, seeing that the dragon is doing this for the first time.

In a short moment Tynebris was in Feng's room too and he looked around. "Isn't this the room I was in, before the doctor?" the dragon asks, slowly remembering this room again.
 
Feng nodded. "Yeah. It's a good thing the tree sends me right to my window. It's almost like my mom put it there knowing I'd be climbing through my window very often."

He switched on the lights and looked around, then quickly went to lock his room door. Laying down on the floor, he stared up at the ceiling as he thought back about the day's happenings. This had probably been the most eventful day of his life so far. He turned and looked at Tynebris, admiring his beautiful black scales.

"Tynebris?" he asked, breaking the silence. "Will you be my friend forever?"
 
While Feng explained to Tynebris the advantage of the tree the dragon was walking around in the room, his curiousity back. However, the dragon didn't open any closets or drawers because he isn't familiar with that concept and thus doesn't know that they can be opened.

Tynebris stopped at Feng's question and immediately looked at him. The dragon walked over to Feng and curled up next to him, this time not showing his back. "Sure, you are the first person I can call a friend." Tynebris says happily and places one of his paws closer to Feng.
 
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