Dragon's Child

chapter 3

zerconis was unsure if lucy would be ready for what was next. but he did made sure she was happy before she entered the castle. —

"little lu! little lu! what does little lu do?" zerconis sang as he bobbed his head back and forth.

"big z is a busy bee!" lucy added. she had a beautiful voice at such a young age. it would probably get even better as she got older.

zerconis was astonished. as they were about to enter the castle, he stopped. "hey," he said, causing her to stop as well. "listen to me, you are a wonderful little girl and you should know that."

lucy tilted her head a little. "thanks. you're pretty great too," she smiled at him.

zerconis opened one of the enormous castle doors. "ladies first."

before lucy could say anything, someone interrupted.

"what in the world were you thinking!?"

zerconis pulled lucy inside, shutting the door behind him, making known he was here. "we're here."

lucy was oh so confused. she strayed from zerconis and kept her mouth shut.

there stood two more dragons. one of them spoke, "i'm sorry you had to hear that, dear." it had a soft and soothing voice, making lucy feel somewhat at ease.

it had dark blue scales, and it had these yellows eyes that could probably light up the whole world. it looked so calm and peaceful.

the other one looked stern, it was glaring. and unlike the other dragons lucy had seen, he was not covered in scales. he seemed to be covered entirely in flames, appearing as a burning skeleton.

"i see you met zerconis," the dark blue one spoke. it was a girl, her voice showed it all. "this is the fire dragon, atlas flame. please don't mind him, he's a little upset right now. you understand?"

lucy shrugged and nodded.

"i'm celeste, the celestial dragon," she said. "did you have fun today?"

lucy nodded and smiled toward zerconis.

"come here."

she hesitated at first, but lucy knew from experience, if she didn't go, it'd be an even bigger punishment.

"lucy, my dear—"

"h-how do you know my name?"

"oh, i'm sorry. i knew your mother," she spoke gently.

"she's gone.." lucy looked up at the dragon, celeste. "how do you know her?"

"she was my friend. and she told me a lot about you. you have grown so much." celeste smiled at the little girl in front of her. "wow."

"what?" lucy plopped down onto the cold, hard floor.

"can you read?" celeste asked.

lucy slowly nodded, she could sort of read. spetto had taught her a few things but not enough to read a book.

"i'd like to give you something your mother gave me. is that okay?"

lucy stayed put.

celeste pushed a small envelope over to lucy. "if you need help reading, let me know."

lucy grabbed the letter and slowly opened it. it read;

dear lucy,
i'm so sorry. i hope you and your father will do well without me. i'll watch over you always and you can talk to me anytime, i will be listening. however old you are reading this, you can get through it. you are a strong girl and you will be fine.

lucy flipped the paper over.

oh my sweet lucy, i just want you know, it was not your fault. you're just a special girl and you were born with overwhelming power. i didn't see it at first, i was too blind in your fathers concerns. i should have known better.
at-least now you can learn more about yourself as well as myself, with celeste. she can teach you and i promise you my dear, you will be okay. i love you.

lucy folded the paper and put it back in the envelope. she had trouble reading it, but she got it. she knew how to get through it with syllables.

celeste watched as lucy just sat there, staring at the envelope.

"so did i kill her?" lucy did not look up from the envelope.

"no, lucy," she said in a soothing voice. this time it did not help lucy. "it wasn't your fault."

"but i killed her?"

"no."

"then what's not my fault?" lucy threw the envelope on the ground, stood up, and began to stomp on it.

"lucy, stop it. you did not kill her. do you want to know what happened?"

lucy stopped stomping on the envelope and let her arms rest at her sides. she said nothing as she awaited for celeste to continue.

"you were born with far too much magical power and everyone ignored it, sadly. so it continued to grow and grow, until one day when layla was holding you, you began to cry so much, you let out some of your magic, somehow. as a result, it killed your mother.—"

"so i killed her? why did everyone lie to me and tell me she died in a car accident!" lucy furrowed her brows in anger as hot tears began to flow from her eyes.

celeste continued to speak in her soothing voice, attempting to calm her down. "because no one knew exactly how she died, lucy. that was just a cover up. i'm so sorry.."

"and when did she write this letter, huh?" lucy picked up the letter from the ground and waved it around.

she was a smart kid. "your mother was a wizard, lucy. after she died, she was sent here and she wrote the letter and gave it to me.—"

"is she still here?!"

"no, sadly. it was only temporary. she told me to give it to you whenever you found your way to one of us dragons or, whenever we found our way to you.
there is so much you didn't know about your mother, dear."

"how am i suppose to know about her if i killed her?!"

atlas flame couldn't bare to watch anymore. celeste was not helping here. he made his way over to the little girl he had yet to meet.

he knew she needed the truth and he decided to be the one to tell her. "you did kill layla, but it was an accident, alright? accidents happen. it wasn't your fault, you didn't mean to do it."

lucy stared up at him for a moment. "did you know her?"

"yeah. she was a nice lady."

"how did you guys know her?" lucy fisted the hem of her dress. dragons knew her mother, but she didn't?

"she was the queen 'round here," he said.

lucy didn't even bother to ask why. because apparently she didn't know her mother, so what would it mean now; to know a dead person?
"what about the king? are you the king?"

atlas flame shook his head. "there was no king. there was no need for a king."

"then what about daddy?" lucy nearly shivered at the thought of him. "what's wrong with him?"

"that man is not your daddy, girl. you may be to young to understand, but he's not your daddy. your daddy died before you were born. jude, the one you call daddy, married your mother just before you were born."

lucy shook her head in disbelief. was this true? was her whole life a lie?
as much as she despised that man, she still thought he was her father.
did she kill everyone? was she bad luck?

lucy couldn't take it any longer. she fell to her knees, weeping ever so loudly.