//------------------------------//
// Overdue 
// Story: Hecate's Orphanage 
// by BlackRoseRaven 
//------------------------------//

Overdue
~BlackRoseRaven

The dragon sat miserably back in his cheap, collapsed stall in Town, surrounded by the rotting debris of all his ugly toys, his once-perfect white suit tattered, ripped, and stained gray. His rings were as lackluster and rusted as his faded egghsell scales, and once proud amber eyes stared emptily at the ground.
He heard people coming and going, but they ignored him, here, chained in his stall. The only prisoner in Town. The only prisoner in all of the Void! 
He laughed bitterly.
That was just his luck. That was the way it had always been. Even Loki had gotten a hero's welcome. And what had he done?
Well, the dragon supposed he had filled the Void with souls, and gotten rid of the chaff and the grain. That was something, he supposed.
He supposed.
He sighed, then didn't look up as hooves calmly approached the collapsed front of his stall. He didn't bother looking up: it wasn't Thesis.
Thesis was gone.
He pretended that it didn't hurt. That it was just annoyance. Stupid idiot Thesis, refusing to return to the Void, dying...
dying...
The hooves stopped in front of the broken board that was all that was left of the front counter, and he said, without looking up: “We're closed.”
“Hello, Valthrudnir.” said a voice, and his head snapped up before he could stop himself, eyes going wide as he stared at her. A beautiful ivory mare with a radiant, glowing mane smiled at him, and they studied each other for a few moments before the dragon scrambled to his feet.
He towered over her, glaring down at her as he crossed his arms, then grimaced and recrossed then in a vain attempt to hide the tattered sleeve of his suit, snapping: “Well, if it isn't Hecate! You certainly made a mess of things, didn't you? All that power and you still lost to-”
“Shut up.” the mare interrupted, and then she stepped forward and grabbed his collar, jerking his head down as she met his eyes, before she said simply: “I love you.”
Valthrudnir's jaw dropped as his shoulders slumped, one hand quavering in the air as if he was trying to come up with some excuse or reason or idiotic smart thing to say, and then the mare leaned up on the tips of her hooves and chastely kissed his lips. 
He shook, and the mare released him before she calmly strode over to his bonds: with ease, she picked the chain up and snapped it, and then she said quietly: “It's time for us to go.”
Valthrudnir mouthed wordlessly, his hands twitching at the air, his head shaking before he blurted out: “Where?”
“Wherever. Somewhere. Not here.” answered the mare with a shrug, before she paused and turned around, eyeing him critically before she gestured at him distastefully. “That suit jacket is a mess. You should get rid of it. I've never liked it on you anyway.”
Valthrudnir grabbed at himself, glaring at her, but she only glared back at him. He began to open his mouth to argue, but as his hand grasped at the front of his jacket, several buttons fell off, and he looked dumbly down at this before scowling as he dug his claws against the ugly, itchy, too-hot material... Oh, why not? I've lost everything else.
He shrugged the jacket off, then grouchily held it out to her. She made no move to take it, so he rolled his eyes and dropped it. She continued to only look at him, and Valthrudnir shifted uneasily on his feet before he almost blurted out: “Well?”
He awkwardly half-raised his arms, shifting nervously on his feet, suddenly feeling... vulnerable, almost naked, in spite of the silk shirt and dress pants still covering his body. The mare studied him critically for a few more moments, and then she smiled despite herself before she beckoned at him to lean down.
He did so, nervously, and she reached up, sliding a hoof along his breast before she gently flicked one, then two buttons loose on his shirt. Valthrudnir blushed and straightened quickly, grasping at the loose buttons, but the mare shook her head and said softly: “No. You look better like this.”
“I...” Valthrudnir looked at her, and then he simply nodded to her. He shifted silently, and there he was, she thought: there was the person she had loved. There was the boyish charm and that secret want for reassurance and that... sweetness, she thought. That weird innocence.
She smiled faintly at him, then she gestured at him to follow, and the dragon nodded, biting his lip as he ducked out from under his stall, stepping – for perhaps the first time – into the streets of Town. He looked back and forth almost fearfully, half-guarding himself with his arms, but the mare only reached up and touched his side reassuringly.
He looked at her, and then he asked: “Where are we going?”
She looked back, and smiled as she answered: “Anywhere. Everywhere. Nowhere. It doesn't matter, as long as we're together, Valthrudnir.”
“Alright... Celestia.” Valthrudnir murmured, and then he bit his lip before he whispered: “I missed you. I... I'm sorry.”
Celestia smiled radiantly up at him, and then she chuckled quietly and only shrugged before she led the way down the sole road of Town, headed towards the gates and the vast Nothingness beyond. Valthrudnir silently reached a hand down to grip into her as  they walked, taking comfort from her and letting her lead as they strode into the endlessness of the Void.
But neither of them were afraid, as they walked away from their pasts, from who they had been.
Now, they looked ahead, as they walked side-by-side, together.



THE END