//------------------------------// // Chp. 0 - Consequence // Story: Dragonhearted // by Slendy //------------------------------// "Hello, my name is Akira, you'd probably recognize me from my trilling battle with a Jade Barroth. Well, uh, here's how that went..." "Are you kidding me!? A Brute Wyvern and subspecies no less!" To say Akira felt the fear of God that day would be an understatement. A very, very big understatement. "Do you have even the slightest thought as to how we felt, well!?" "I-I did..." Akira murmured, shrinking down into her chair, fiddling with her right-wing between her hooves. "I made sure I was extra prepared, and-and I informed the villagers, n-not to mention my bones are kinda the equivalent of steel so-" A single, lilac eye fused her lips shut. "I wasn't asking about your preparations, I'm asking you why you thought going off on a quest that you have neither the qualification nor our knowledge was a good idea?" Yui growled between her teeth, pointing her only wing at her daughter. "I've seen and felt what a normal Barroth can do you a person, even without steel-like bones, you could've died! You nearly did!" By now, Akira's emotions were starting to overwrite her commonsense, her ears flat against her head. "...you guys never needed permission..." Her words hidden by her breath had Yui stop pacing to stare at Akira with a calm look over her once furious glare. "What?" Yui asked before Akira's muzzle twisted back into a frown. "You fought a freakin' Elder Dragon - hell, Four of them around my age! I don't remember you ever saying anything about 'permission' this and 'qualification' that! So what makes me different!?" Akira yelled back, jumping off the chair to turn and stomp through the house toward the stairs. "I know I'm not exactly normal, but I'm not made of glass!" "That's not what I-" Yui was cut short again. "I'm sorry, alright! But I'm not going to sit around as some... assholes brush off a poor village's plea for aid! If anything, they don't deserve to be Hunters at all!" The young bat pony screamed. "Akira-" "I'll be in my room, since I can't leave my own house, right!?" Akira grunted, face boiling red as a few seconds passed and a door slammed shut. When the house became deathly quiet, Yui rubbed her forehead with her wing, falling back onto the sofa with a heavy breath. "I really suck at this," "Yeah... I can't lie to you, that went about as I expected... well, less property damage," Zen, who had been standing off to the side in the corner didn't sugarcoat the issue, hearing his partner groan into her hooves. "Plus, she has a point, no one took up that request but her, even if against the rules." "So, you think it was fine for her to go in alone too?" Yui glowered before her face fell into a worried state, Zen hopping over the sofa to sit next to her. "No, not really, actually, that's pretty dumb," Zen replied simply. Yui leaned back into his side, staring up at the ceiling with one eye visible, her aura was bouncing around with various emotions, none of which could stabilize as Zen put his arm around her back, hand to her stomach. "Did I ever mention how great you are at giving supportive advice?" Sarcasm was definitely among the pool. The Lucario gave a breathy laugh, "Oh, definitely; you both are right and wrong, and it would take me forever to explain why so I'll keep it brief," He rested his head atop hers, enjoying the warmth of her body. "She's still learning, like us, but our situation was different back then. I had to learn as fast as I could against odds that nearly killed me time and again, but I had people to rely on when I stumbled, Akira doesn't have that... yet," "We can teach her but what's right and wrong can only come naturally with experience, she'll make mistakes, she'll fail, and she needs to understand that," Zen explained calmly to the bat pony in his arms. "That's why I followed her so that her mistakes don't result in being her last, so now, we teach her, and when she charges headfirst into hell..." "She'll be okay," Yui finished with a tiny smile, nuzzling his chin. "She probably won't look at me for days now..." "Let her mull it over," He replied, kissing the top of her head. "She won't end up like you were, I promise." In saying that, Yui's breath came out shakily, sinking further into his embrace to quell her worries. Unbeknownst to them, Akira had carefully shut her window, now sitting against her bedroom door with her wings around her body, wiping the tears from her eyes. Her turmoil left her feeling ill, sad, guilty, and many other things she couldn't exactly process. Picking herself up, she just dragged her still sore body toward her bed, throwing the covers over her body, staring off at the darkness surrounding her. Slowly, her eyes grew heavy, but a faint smile had pulled back her frown. She'd apologize tomorrow. To Be Continued...