A Side Character's Guide to Surviving an Otome Game

Why Me?

A/N: just a short fluffy chapter about raon and cale before i throw you all headfirst into the horrifying torture scene i have coming up.

i'm finished with university for the semester, and i'll be heading home soon for the summer. i have to say, i've missed canadian weather and i will be rejoicing in it as much as possible.

hope everybody's doing well, and hope you enjoy this short chapter!

Also: just a reminder, this fic IS NOT CANON COMPLIANT. the characters are NOT how they are in canon! for the people who are dming me on twitter and wattpad to complain about the way i'm portraying the characters, please stop. this is not your fic. if you want to write your own fic with your own portrayal of the characters, go ahead. just stop complaining about how i choose to write your favorite character, please. it's getting frustrating.

Ambrose was getting rather tired of the staring contest he was having with the dragon.

It was kind of strange gazing into the eyes of a dragon toddler who had been tortured his entire life and had died in the game. The knowledge of what could have happened to the tiny black dragon (and what did happen, in game) battled in Ambrose's mind with the reality that the dragon was just across the room from him, staring at him with extremely intelligent blue eyes.

Not to mention the fact that they'd only had one singular conversation the night after the rescue, when Venion's screams were still loud and echoing through the entire villa.

"Why did you save me?"

"That's a stupid question. Why wouldn't I?"

"... you are a strange human."

...

It was awkward, to say the least.

It didn't seem like the dragon hated him, though.

Far from it, in fact.

Ambrose would've even gone as far to say that the dragon was keeping watch on him, making sure he didn't stop breathing in the middle of the night.

His eyes were cautious and wary, yet determined and watchful. His head would always snap over to Ambrose whenever Ambrose felt a particularly painful flare in his leg. And Ambrose might've been crazy for this thought, but he could've sworn that the dragon was soothing the pain, as he barely felt the dead mana under his skin.

It wasn't until the fifth and final day of Ambrose's forced vacation that the dragon spoke to him again.

"How did you find me?" the dragon said, in a voice so childlike and sweet that it made Ambrose want to grab the pieces of Stick, escape bedrest, and stab the remains of his beloved cane into the flesh of that piece of filth Venion.

Ambrose was quiet for a moment before answering. Shit. How was he supposed to explain how he knew about the existence of this tiny dragon? "I was imprisoned there too."

The dragon stared at him, something in his eyes flickering.

"I was left alone pretty much the entirety of my kidnapping," Ambrose continued, mind racing. "But... I could hear someone screaming from my cell. It was the sound of someone being tortured."

He looked at the dragon, a solemn expression on his face. "I... couldn't just pretend I wasn't hearing it. I couldn't just leave someone down there to suffer."

The dragon was silent, staring out the window with a blank expression on his little face.

Ambrose licked his dry lips, thinking of what to say. "You know you're free now, right?" he ventured carefully. "You don't have to stay here. You can go off and see the world. You're a dragon, after all. You deserve that freedom."

The dragon's head snapped back around to look at Cale. "I know that, puny human," he squeaked out. "I am a great and mighty dragon who can do whatever he wants." The dragon hesitated. "And you... You are very weak."

Ambrose didn't feel offended by that. He was, in fact, extremely weak. It was a fact. However, he had a sinking suspicion that he knew what the dragon toddler was going to say, and he already felt a headache coming on.

"I will stay," the dragon declared, sitting tall and flashing his bright blue eyes. "I will stay and protect you as you are weak and cannot protect yourself."

Dammit.

It wasn't like Ambrose disliked the dragon. He found the dragon to be quite adorable, despite his tendency to stare into his soul and never look away . The problem was that Ambrose was pretty sure that having a dragon as an ally and guardian fell pretty close to Main Character-dom. After all, no self respecting story would just hand a crippled side character a baby dragon as a guardian.

Fuck.

He really didn't want to be the main character.

"You know, I think I'm fine," Ambrose rushed out, waving his hands frantically. "You can just go off and do dragon-y things, I'm perfectly safe here. I have enough people protecting me."

The dragon ignored him, flying over to Ambrose's bed and curling up on his lap. "I will protect the weak human!" he said proudly.

Ambrose sighed in reluctant acceptance.

He was now under the protection of a traumatized baby dragon.

There was absolutely no way that could possibly go wrong.

As the dragon settled on his lap and laid his head down, Ambrose looked up at the ceiling.

It was his last day on bedrest.

Tomorrow, Cale and Ron would finally let him join Beacrox in the Venion Torture chamber.

His eyes gleamed in anticipation.

Oh, how that slimy blond psychopath was going to regret ever crossing paths with him.

A/N: btw: major tw in next chapter for violence, gore, blood, and torture.

also: i have a tumblr now! one of you maybe kinda sorta stumbled upon it, and i decided why not just share it with y'all: https://unreliablewordsmith.tumblr.com

let's be honest my tumblr is nothing but totcf memes.

also also: since this is being posted on her birthday, HAPPY 18 BIRTHDAY TO LEAH AKA LIONHEART-FROM-THE-DISCORD!

join the discord! we'd love to have you! https://discord.gg/ctUZeXAJdQ