The Pressure of a Dragon Princess

//Double update+Plot!! Yee >v< Thank you guys for the powerstone votes, but I'd much rather have a couple of comments now and then. It's getting lonely and silent, here.

Sonata sat just within the cusp of the entrance of the cave, where the smoke wouldn't accumulate but there was some shelter from the wind so her sister wouldn't be too cold peeking out from the cloak. Sonata had long managed to get the skin off, and she was getting a little better at it. It was neater now, and there was much less wasted flesh chopped off by her clumsy fingers.

She smoked bits and pieces of meat with her fire breath, feeding them one by one to Sophia as she picked them off the bone. It wasn't that hard with her sharp claws, and came more naturally to her than all the effort it took to try and cut the meat off neatly, which never ended in much more than debutchery.

Sonata fed herself a raw piece, savoring the strange flavor. She found she didn't mind the taste of blood. She still preferred the prepared meats of the palace, but if it came down to eating random rodents and eating them plain, she preferred the taste of their raw flesh to the fiery taste of her own breath, anytime.

Sophia chirped.

Sonata was awoken from her thinking, and quickly picked off a piece of the meat and blew on it until the familiar warmth bubbled up in her throat and flames danced out of her mouth.

"Chirp!" Sophia sounded again, swishing her tail beneath the cloak.

Sonata stopped what she was doing, leaving the meat half-charred. She raised an inquisitive brow. "Are you sure you don't want it cooked?"

Sophia jerked her head upwards in a confronting nod.

"I'm not questioning you, it's just.." Sonata hesitantly passed her the piece. Sophia took it contently, biting at it and swallowing it down like the normally did, and then stopped. Sonata could almost see realization strike her as she slowly resumed hesitatingly biting, scrunching up her nose and eating a lot more airily.

"Pfft—I tried to tell you you wouldn't like it." Sonata swung her feet back and forth from her perch on the large rock, watching as Sophia hastily swallowed down the meat and tried to get the taste out of her mouth. She chucked at the entertaining sight, but Sophia was still coughing a little. She pulled the cloth up to cover a little more of her tiny body. Sonata met her eyes, then stomped her tiny feet and gestured to the meat for more.

"Okay, okay, geez."

Sonata was forced to resume feeding them. She let the blood that occasionally dropped fall into her mouth, but most of it was already lost to their long walk back. And when she did, Sophia would tap her shoulder angrily, and Sonata would laugh playful-evilly even though she quickly lowered the meat back down and went back to serving them.

Finally, it was darkness again. Their meal was finished and the bones were set aside for desperate measures, the firewood was gathered and the flame was lit.

Sonata set her sister down with the cloaks she'd stripped off, peeling away her plain brown dress to leave herself in the golden-beige fabric of her underdress. This one was less worn out and stained than the outer dress, but it was the richer nature of its materials that made it twinkle more in the firelight. The fabric wasn't wool. It was thinner and the weaving was a lot smoother. It was matte except for a layer of multicolored shine like the wings of a beetle that barely but consistently twinkled about the whole thing. As she concentrated, it faded into her body as she morphed into a small dragon with light green scales, a row of blunt triangular horns going down her back and two sets of horns and a few stubbles framing the back corners of her head. She was about as tall as her human form's lower chest in height but a little bigger in size. Her normal, albeit unusually brightly colored eyes were larger to fit her much larger skull, the pupils splitted like those do a reptile.

Sonata carefully maneuvered herself over to where Sophia was, barely able to make her out in the darkness. Though the tiny pale yellow dragon peered at her sister's different form curiously, she didn't make any qualms as the dragoness settled herself to wrap around the tiny figure, pulling the blankets up with her teeth to cover her tiny body.

Sonata nuzzled the tiny dragon, who in turn settled down and found a place to curl up in, safe within her sister's warmth. Sonata curled up as well, sighing as her eyes dropped and she let the familiar wandering thoughs that incited her dreams take her. Or rather, her sleep, as Sonata didn't dream; she just relived bits and pieces of her memories. There were nights where she felt as thought she'd dreamt through her entire life, and others where she woke up not having even realized she'd ever fallen asleep. She didn't think other dragons were like that, maybe it was just her.

She liked it better this way, though. Experiencing delusions she had no control over sounded confusing anyways, and she didn't mind making use of her resting hours to revisit her own feelings about things. Sometimes she had full control. But sometimes she had dreams she had no control over, too. Sometimes she had vivid dreams that felt too real to detach herself from, nightmares she forgot weren't real and disoriented her when she woke up the next day.

This was one of those times.

"I told you I tried. I can't do it."

"What do you mean, you can't?" A much older male voice pressed her, "You were fine last week." His green eyes bore into her. He was dressed in green, the cuffs of his sleeve and the loops of his shirt decorated with threads of gold. He wore no crown, but his domineering presence and the tone of his voice was enough to establish his power.

Sonata squeezed her brows together, scrunching up her nose as she turned her gaze away from her father. "I forgot."

Sonata wrapped her small arms around one another, pressing them firmly against her chest. Her cheeks felt hot, not from exertion or the temperature outside, but because her eyelids felt hot, she could feel tears threatening to build up and obscure her vision, and she pushed down as she felt them to threaten to drip down her nostrils instead. Her long hair dropped down, partially obscuring her face, partially shielding her from the gaze of the three intimidating dragons standing about the large balcony.

"How do you forget? What is there to possibly forget! Are you not a dragon?" The words rolled across his tongue, and she could nearly hear his patience breaking. "Stop wasting my time and being disobedient. Do it."

"I-I..." she could barely make out, then went silent, pressing her lips firmly together in defiance. Her voice wasn't going to cooperate with her, anyways. Why should she try:

"Look at me when you're talking to me!"

Sonata jolted in response to the tone of voice, wincing a little as she forced her head upwards. Her body was struggling not to cry, but her expression held a hint of defiance. Her one shoulder was shivering. She was a small being, then. She didn't play much attention to how time passed before Sophia was born; she wasn't in the habit of looking in mirrors, and her parents didn't age in the short time she'd been alive. Still, the world in that memory was large, and everything seemed to tower over her.

"You're being too harsh." Another voice, calmer, answered for her. Her uncle was leaning against the doorway, his pine green eyes staring the riled up King down from behind, his dark, spiky looking hair being tousled by the wind this up high. Her mother the Queen was not too far away, arms crossed with her head turned away. Sonata regretted interrupting whatever serious discussion they'd been having. They were in a terrible mood. She should have just avoided them at all cost and figured things out on her own, like she usually did. When did she ever learn?

"This is none of your business." Her father coldly answered. His lighter green eyes, closer to the color of Sonata's, met his brother's with unwavering resolve. His hair was pale lime yellow, closer to the color Sophia's would be. But she didn't exist in this memory, quite yet.

Her uncle slightly cocked his head, his eyes pressing to half-moons. "I think it is."

This seemed to only ignite her father's fury even more. He turned to his brother completely, taking two threatening steps forward. "I think you're forgetting she isn't yours to bring up. Not that she'd stay alive for long enough for you to do that, with your track record."

Hestia's brows twitched, her eyes remained averted, some strands of her long, dark curly hair having fallen to shade the sides of her face.

Egetris's eyes flickered. She could sense the air change as his body tensed and he slowly brought himself up from the walkway he leaned against. "What did you just say to me, you scoundrel?" He boomed, his dragon voice seeping through into his human one.

Antonius's face contorted into a menacing grin, his eyes clouding over with rage. "Nothing you didn't deserve having pounded into that thick skull of yours, you good for nothing knave."

Egetris grabbed the collar of his younger brother's shirt. "Say that again to my face and just see what I do to you."

"Oh yeah?" Antonius chuckled, pulling back on his shirt with a force that almost tore it. "That's fresh, coming from a coward who frolics around in the woods for months on end while abandoning his duties. I can see what was going through father's head when he did what he did." He smirked just enough to irk Egetris even more. "Tell me, did you actually kill Cassandra yourself, or were you such a disappointment she up and murdered herself to save herself the trouble of living the rest of her life with you?"

Egetris seethed. He growled, "How dare you speak her name in my presence, you fiend!"

Hestia's fingers twitched and pressed harder against her arms. It seemed to take great effort for her to control her breath.

"At least I had the decency not to disrespect the name of someone I practically grew up alongside by having a wedding that same week!" Egetris continued.

Sonata backed a couple of steps away, only to realize none of the adults in the room were paying much attention to her anymore. She looked around for an escape. If she wanted to get out of this, it needed to be now. Her eyes fixated on a thin stretch of shadow just between her uncle and the edge of the doorway. She glanced again at her parents, sneaking slowly towards that small gap.

Antonius gripped his brother's collar right back. "It needed to be done and you ran away like the coward that you are." Antonius breathed. He tugged hard at his brother's shirt, barely bringing his head down to his level. "When are you going to man up and realize that they're dead? They're all dead! You couldn't even protect them. You killed them yourself by being such an aloof, incompetent, good for nothing coward! Don't even speak to me about raising my own child because you couldn't even keep yours alive without having her used as a tool against you. My child will be strong."

Egetris leaned further in, nearly spitting on Antonius's face. "A coward of a dragon is still better than an empty souled drake."

Hestia crosses her arms tighter around one another. "Stop it." Her voice finally sounded, her eyes still fixated away. "Just...stop it. Please. Now isn't the time."

The two feuding dragons reluctantly unhandled one another. Antonius turned his head away, while Egetris kept his eyes locked on his brother as he slowly backed away.

"Ah-!" Sonata suppressed a shriek as she was bumped into, right as she was slipping through the door. Her uncle flickered back, all the adults in the root turned at once to see the small being kid-sneak away, an expression of pure dread forming into her face.

"Sonata," it was her father's voice that coldly broke the silence. "What are you doing?" His voice tethered on threatening, sending chills down her small back. "I wasn't done speaking with you."

His voice was scary. His face was scary. They were all scary! She wanted to get away, but her feet didn't move. She didn't answer, inching towards the wall and away from him. The king began to approach her, but her uncle extended his arm protectively.

Antonius squinted at him. "I thought I told you to leave." Egetris hesitated, but dropped his arm, backing away.

Sonata began to halfheartedly flee the scene. Antonius grabbed her arm, keeping her there. "You're coming with me."

Sonata thrashed and pulled in the opposite direction, trying with all her tiny might to get free from his grasp. "No!" She resisted. "No! No! Let me go! Lemme go!" She pulled, kicking her feet that didn't actually take her anywhere.

The last thing she could see were the gazes of her mother and uncle as Antonius basically dragged her down the hall as Sonata threw a mild tantrum, yelling and screaming and tripping over her long silk dress and the cape that trailed from the back of it until she tired out and realized it wasn't doing her any good. At that point she just followed silently, dizzied by the many twist and turns they'd already taken, down one staircase and then down another. It wasn't until she was completely sure she didn't know where they were that she finally spoke out in a voice partially tired from crying, "Where are you taking me?"

He didn't answer as they kept walking down the long spiral staircase. It was colder here, and she didn't know how long they'd been walking for. There were no decorations on the walls except for a few torches Antonius lit as he went. They passed the occasional eerie looking small door after door on the inside of the spiral, and there were rails covering small compartments on the outside wall, some locked and some left open, some empty and some stacked with boxes, from what Sonata could make out in the darkness.

Suddenly, Antonius stopped, and Sonata nearly ran into him. She heard the clicking of keys. Sonata tried to peer over to see what he was looking at, but suddenly felt herself being wrenched one way faster than her legs could keep up, being tossed to the floor and making impact on it almost like a marionette.

"Mh-" Sonata pulled herself up, the arm that'd taken her impact sore from the fall. She was still half disoriented when she turned, and could just barely make out the form of her father staring down at her with a piercing gaze, the outline of the torch in his hand—outside—the heavy door was closing on her. She couldn't get up in time to stop it, the world around her still rocking like a boat, and she was left pounding at the door as she heard it lock shut, screaming at the top of her lungs into the small rectangular hole at the top.

"Sonata."

The princess froze. Antonius was peering down at her from the gap in the door, far above where her arms could reach, his head nearly pressed against the door.

"Do you have something to say to me?"

Sonata could barely contain her anger, let alone apologize in a way that wouldn't earn her more wrath right now.

"Fine." She heard the key leave the door, and it hasn't unlocked. "You will remain here until you decide to stop wasting my time with your games."

Sonata felt tears bubble up and accumulate in her eyes.

"But I really can't."

The king's eyes stared down at hers.

"Then you better find a way to break out of here yourself."

She felt tears spill out and overflow from her cheeks.

No, no. Don't leave me here. Please don't leave me here.

"Waagh!" She cried out as she slammed her tiny fists on the door, and then kept doing that over and over again as she heard footsteps calmly walk away. The unfamiliar world around her got darker and darker. She didn't like the dark. She didn't want to be left in the dark, she didn't even know what was in here.

She stared to cry.

How was she supposed to get out? This door was so hard. It wasn't like she could shapeshift to the size of a big even when she remembered how. She wasn't playing a game, she really wasn't. Why couldn't he see that? Why did he hate her so much?

...Hate her? Was she crying because he hated her? Sonata felt the hot crocodile tears continue to drop ceaselessly from her eyes as she felt realization strike her.

"I hate you!" She screamed through her sobs, her small fingers pressed flat against the door. She didn't even know if he could hear her anymore. "Papà, I hate you!"