A Dragon's Love (Young Justice)

Better Than I Would Have Done...

"I surrender. Stop the clock." I hear above me. The water rises again, so that it's just now touching my feet. "No!" I scream, seeing it rising above Wally and Superboy. It's one thing if it touches me, but it's another if I lose my friends to it.

Suddenly, the water starts going down, and Kid and Superboy are able to breathe again. "Kaldur, how's M'gann?" Superboy asks. "She breathes. I believe she will recover. What of Robin?" I hear Kaldur calling back. "He-he's breathing, too." Artemis calls out. Hearing that everyone's alright, I take a deep breath, as best as I can, and pull my arms to my chest, breaking out of my metal cuffs, and falling to the ground.

"Dude, you couldn't have done that earlier?" Wally yells in annoyance. I glance at him, but I don't say a word. Instead, I walk up the stairs as quick as I can and move over to Kaldur and M'gann. I felt her forehead first, then Kaldur's. Kaldur gives me a strange look, as though he is confused, before grabbing my chin weakly, and pulling me to look at him. He takes my mask off, and stares into my tear stained eyes, moving my soaking wet hair out of my face. I flinch, pulling out of his hold, and pick up M'gann, laying her head on my shoulder, then pulling up Kaldur to lean on my shoulders as I take them both down the stairs.

I set them down in the middle of the floor, both facing Kid and Superboy. I kneel in front of M'gann, pointing two fingers out. Carefully, I light them up on fire, and kiss the flames, turning them white. I start to bring them closer to M'gann's forehead, but Kaldur's grip on my wrist stops me, the flame disappearing. "After what happened today, it might be a good idea to go without fire for a little while." He advises.

I frown, taking my hand from his grasp and repeating the process. "You said that she would recover, now she will recover faster. When a dragon's flame is white, it is to heal, not harm." I whisper, touching M'gann's forehead. The flame disappears, and is absorbed through her skin, going down to her eyes, and then to her heart. "If a dragon chooses to heal you, you should consider yourself blessed. Not many of our kind believe that life is a precious thing, and that it should be preserved as much as possible. Those dragons usually only ever heal themselves when needed, or those that are important to them..." I trail off as I turn to Kaldur, turning the fire at my fingertips white once again, and placing it upon his head. His eyes close, and you can see the white flames flowing underneath his skin as it goes to his eyes, then to his heart as well.

"However," I start again, as his eyes open once more to look into mine, "Dragons of the fire and air kingdom must always be careful. Our fire isn't capable of healing everything." I look away from him. "I'm afraid there are just some things... that can't be saved." I state, taking my mask and placing it back on my face. Standing up, I turn to where the other four are standing in a circle, talking.

"Figured my only shot was to surrender, pretend to drown before I actually did. Blacked out, though." Robin stated. "Better than I would've done." I say, stopping beside Artemis. "Yeah, no kidding. Were you having some sort of mental breakdown over there or something? You were crying like a baby." Kid comments. I glare at him for only a second, before turning away, crossing my arms. "Not my fault I can't swim." I state. "Nor is it my fault why I refuse to learn."

At that, I see Kaldur and M'gann walk over, Kaldur giving me a look of confusion. "Oh, really? Little miss dragon acts all tough and mighty, but can't save herself from some measly water?" Kid mocked. I clench my fists to my sides. "You try facing your worst fear in one day, Wally. Besides, I'd rather not see my friends die!" I growl.

"M'gann." Superboy turns to her. She grabs his hand. "I'll be fine. Especially thanks to Emma's healing abilities." I nod over to her in acknowledgement. "Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?" Wally asks Artemis, annoyed.

"It's not working, genius. EMP shuts down all machines, remember?" She comebacks. "All machines present at the time." A mechanical voice states, coming closer. Thinking it was one of the two androids, I turn around, claws at the ready. Instead, it's only Red Tornado. He lands to the left of Wally and Superboy.

"What has occurred?" "Had a little visit from your family." "Your extremely nasty family." Robin and Artemis explain. "I was not aware I had relations." He says, turning adn walking over to them.

"Where have you been?" Conner asks. "Monitor duty on the watch tower. When it became clear cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate. But your zeta tubes were also nonfunctional. I transported to Providence and proceeded here." He kneels down next to the hostile androids. Then, Sphere comes down from the wall, and the machine Artemis has comes on. "The pulse has worn off." Robin and Kid say simultaneously.

Suddenly, I get one of those feelings again. I turn to look at Red Tornado. "Tornado? Whatever you do, don't touch either of those androids." I warn. Too late. There's a spark between his fingers and that of the female android and he stands up, looking at us. He raises his arms, tornadoes shooting out at us. I gasp, hands at my throat. I can't breathe. Before I know it, I collapse onto my hands and knees next to Kaldur, blacking out once again.

'Dracona.' I hear somewhere above me. 'Dracona, wake up. Can you hear me?' Slowly, my eyes open to see Black Canary leaning over me. Not knowing that to think, and going purely off instinct, I flip off of my back. "Hya'motu! Teyan t'es Dr. Fate?" I say, hands turning into fists. (Get away! Where is Dr. Fate?) Everyone's eyes turn to me. I snap out of it. "Sorry. Survival instincts kicked in. I'm fine!" I call out, raising my hand up at them. I walk over to Kaldur, feeling a lot safer the closer I am to him. He glances at me, but continues talkig with Aquaman. I look over to Aquaman to see him giving me a curious glance as well. I inch closer to Kaldur, not trusting that look. Not quite trusting him yet.

"What happened here?" I hear Superman ask. "What happened? The Reds happened. Tornado and his- Wait, where are they?" Artemis asks, turning around. "Gone. All three of them." Robin answers. "Gone."