Control

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Rin stood in the middle of the street with scales crumbling off her face and body. Her eyes were wide and she was shaking, but it looked almost like a shiver. A breeze blew through the areaー no. It was the heavy breathing of the dragon standing tall before her. Rin's scales had all fallen off by now as she stared up at it, yet she paid no mind to him.

    What was that?

    The sound of small wings flapping suddenly reached her ears and her head shot up towards the sky. She found Leese flying directly at her at an extremely high pace.

    "Leese?!" This time around, the Exceed avoided the dragon and headed straight for her partner.

    "Rin!" The taupe cat stretched her arms out to the girls and crashed right into her chest, knocking her onto her butt.

    "Oh god, Leese-! You're okay!" Rin's eyes watered as she squeezed the life out of her partner in a hug.

    "Did you see it too?" Rin's heart shattered at the tone of the Exceed's voice. It trembled in terror. Rin didn't want her to feel that way, but in all honesty, she felt exactly the same. The brunette nodded in response. "I don't wanna die!" Leese sobbed onto her best friend and clutched her shirt tightly.

    "Don't worry; I'll protect you." Rin released the cat and stood from the ground with a deadly glare for the dragon. "You made my best friend cry and that's unforgivable. It doesn't matter who you are, but I will protect her with my life, Shinpi."

    "How do you know my name, kid?" Leese looked back and forth between the two, trying to piece the puzzle together. However, there was a piece that she was missing, or perhaps that she had forgotten from the other night.

    "I know a lot. You just haven't lived that part yet, I guess. But, we're not here to talk." Rin reactivated her Dragon Arms and punched her fist into her open palm. "With the magic passed on to me, I will take you down."

    "I'd like to see you try-" Rin immediately captured the buildings around them with her magic and lifted them from their foundations. It was a strain on her body, but nothing close to the one in the vision. She held them up and dropped them onto Shinpi, crushing his wings and arms in the process. He crashed to the ground with a loud thud which startled every mage group in the area. Sting stopped momentarily but refocused himself. Rin's okay. She can handle herself.

    The brunette let her hands fall and dropped on one knee. She panted slightly as sweat began to bead up on her pale forehead. "H-How do you know this magic?" Shinpi didn't make an attempt to struggle from underneath the rubble so the brunette took that as a signal to step closer.

    "Rin-!" Leese went to warn her, but the girl sent her a reassuring smile that washed every worry away.

    "We go back a bit... You and I. You just haven't gotten to that part in your world yet."

    "Stop reciting poetry and talk," he demanded. Rin had the audacity to chuckle which only irritated him. "Don't mock me!"

    "I would never." Rin glared into the dragon's dark, beady eyes. When his breath evened out and he didn't argue, she decided to talk. "I was an orphan as a kid but I was taken in by a dragon named Masumi-"

    "Blasphemy!" Rin glared harder.

    "Don't interrupt me when I'm talking!" Shinpi huffed and silenced once more. "Masumi: The Ethereal Queen, second only to Igneel. She raised me as her own and taught me her magic. To be more precise, I possess Telekinetic Dragon Slaying Magic.

    "I know you because I've met you. You'd come around and visit with us every once and awhile. I think of Masumi as my mother since I've never had one, and you were a dear friend to both her and I. Then, you all suddenly disappeared..." Rin's violet eyes began to water again as she reminisced about her memories of them. "And now here you are in front of me, except you're an enemy... It's heartbreaking..."