A Dragon's Love (Young Justice)

Tattoo and Dancing

'Dragon claws. Dragon teeth. Both are such dangerous weapons. Weapons that can scar even a beautiful girl like Esmeralda.' I think this to myself as I stare at the horrid scars slashed across her skin. Is this one of the reasons she had become so cold in the first place? Why she became so emotionless? I stare at the scar on her stomach. How had I not noticed she was injured at the time? I then look back at her outfit. It's breath-taking, although she's always been.

"Hey, Emma. I noticed something black on your back. It was poking out beneath your hair." Connor states, pointing towards her. "Oh, that." She says, turning around again. She moves her hair over her shoulder, showing her bare, upper back. There, is a black tattoo of a dragon.

"It a mark, or what I believe you all would call a tattoo. It's sort of a right of passage for us dragons." She says, turning back around. "Right of passage?" M'gann asks. I agree. What does that mean?

"When a dragon reaches the physical age of a teenager, or 13 for you guys, they receive a marking upon their skin. The elders of the kingdoms choose the mark and where it's to be placed, and they are the ones to put it on you. The mark is, in a way, proof that you have been welcomed and belong in the dragon family. That you are indeed one of the dragon clan." She then smiles. "One must never show their mark, unless it's to someone they trust completely."

At this, everyone smiles. I feel a great sense of pride well up in my chest. To know that she trusts us that much, means more to me than anything. She looks over at me and I feel my heart skip a beat. She giggles and comes over to me, placing a kiss on my cheek. We both blush when she pulls away, Wally and Robin, even Artemis sending wolf-whistles.

"Oh, hush, you three." She tells them, placing her hands on her hips. "Robin, I hear your heart racing every time you look at Zatanna." She says. Said boy turns a bright red. "Artemis, I know who you like. I've known since we were lost in Bialya." Artemis turns a pale white. "And Wally. You haven't told me who you like, but like Robin, I can hear your heart hammering away every time your near her. You can deny it all you want, but I know who it really is, despite you trying so hard to hide it." He and Artemis glance at each other, faces red as crimson.

"Did you... just black mail them?" I ask. She smirks. "At least they won't tease us." She then picks up two chain ropes, both with spheres on the end, and walks to the middle of the ring. "Now, like I said earlier. I'm going to be using fire, so everyone stay out of the ring." She instructs one final time, before lighting both of the spheres on the chains. It seems they're flammable, since they caught quickly. She then begins to move around, as though in that of a dance.

It's strange and intriguing at the same time. I've never seen anything like it. The way she moves. The way she seems to know exactly what she's doing. It's amazing. When she's done, everyone applauds her. She blushes, giving a bow before putting out the fire and coming over to us. "That was awesome, Emma." "You were great!" Wally and Artemis say.

"It's no big deal. A lot of my people can do better than me." She says. "Maybe so, but that was pretty amazing." Robin responds. "Well, I'm glad you all enjoyed it, then." She smiles, picking up all her things. She goes to rewrap her waist, but I stop her. She looks up into my eyes. "You should leave the bandages off. If you wear them everyday, then you should spend today letting them air out." I tell her. She smiles, nodding.

A spark of excitement enters her eyes, and she sets her things down once more. She pulls up the holo-computer, and turns on music. It's strange, but beautiful, like her. She turns back to us. "It's not exactly like the music back home, but it's close. It should suffice for today."

She comes back over to me, and pulls me over. "Come on everyone, let's dance. Please?" She asks. "Uh, is there any specific way we need to dance to this?" M'gann asks unsure. Esmeralda shakes her head, her snow-white hair moving through the air with each of her movements. "It doesn't matter how you dance. It's all for fun. I only wish to celebrate with my closest friends." She says, spinning around.

In the end, we all ended up dancing, some of us rather goofily. But we all had fun, and by the end of the day, we were all in on the couches, watching movies. Robin, Artemis and Wally are the ones that have been picking most of the movies. Esmeralda sat curled up to my side the entire time. It was only after the third movie that we'd discovered that she had fallen asleep.

By nightfall, nearly everyone had fallen asleep, except for me and Robin. He simply went off to his room after placing blankets on the others, and using a marker to give Wally a mustache. I simply pick Esmeralda up, being careful of her back, and begin walking to her room, her cloak covering her like a blanket. Even when unconscious, her arms wrap around my neck.

She wakes as I gently set her down on her bed. She leans up and rubs her eyes, looking around her room. She then smiles and looks up at me. "Go back to sleep, Esmeralda. You've tired yourself out quite a bit today with all that dancing." I tell her, kneeling down to place a small kiss on her lips. She hums. "Thank you, Kaldur, for being with me today. I didn't want to be alone in today's celebration." She tells me.

"What is the celebration about?" I ask. "We celebrate and give thanks to our Goddess of Health and Healing, A'Takíra. She's the one I had to pray to most when I was injured by the tiger." I wince when she mentions the tiger. I place one last kiss upon her cheek before standing up. "Sweet dreams, my dragon." I tell her. "Sweet dreams, my Atlantian." She replies as I walk out.

(So, more dragon customs and beliefs. What do you guys think? I even put in a little fluff.)