LITTLE DRAGON

The red and gold inferno consumed everything in its wake, wild heat licking up stone walls and feasting upon wooden frames. To Echo's wide unblinking eyes, it looked as if the sun itself had crashed on Mary Geoise.

He needed to move, needed to get out of the mansion before the roaring fire condemned him to the pyre.

His bare feet tapped the empty hallways and curved staircases' cool tiles. The mansion was shed in shadows, the walls and ceiling cast in grayish tones safe for the orange glow that sneaked through wall-sized windows.

The property's eerie quiet enhanced the nervous flutter of his heartbeat; The lack of sounds, the lack of presences, a disturbing contrast to the outside chaos.

Why didn't he hear any voices or footsteps on his way down? He didn't even feel anyone. There was no confusion, no panic, no anger beyond the cacophony coming from the Domain of the Gods' bustling avenue. Nothing, until he reached the mansion's lobby.

A familiar man stepped out from behind one of the entry's tall marble pillars. His gaunt figure was coated in partial shadows that revealed no more than his emaciated face.

Blood-shot eyes racked over Echo's disheveled form, while a muzzled mouth stretched into a twisted smile.

Echo took an instinctive step back, the thin hairs on his nap rising at the feeling of pure murderous-intent flaring out from his father's personal servant. What was his name again? Lany?

'Leny.'

Echo's brain shriveled at the cool intrusion.

"Leny," he said in a wavering voice. "We-We need to go."

'You're right, little dragon,' Leny's soft voice echoed in his mind right as the slave stepped into the light.

Echo's lungs froze. He backed away in quick, jerky steps, his bulging eyes glued to the red liquid splattered across the man's clothes, and with an audible gulp, he asked, "A-Are you hurt?"

The madman's eyes trailed down, stained hands tugging on his sticky shirt before his smile, restrained by criss-crossed wires, grew impossibly wide. 'No… But daddy-dearest is.'

"Father?" Echo choked. "W-Where is he? What did you do to him?!"

'So many questions, yet none of them relevant.' Leny picked at his nails. 'You know, he's not the one you should worry about.'

Echo's heart hummed a tune akin to a cornered rabbit's.

'I heard you like tag,' that same chilling voice whispered in his spinning head. 'I'm more of a darts player myself, but since I just ended a full round with my dear master, I'm feeling generous. I'll even give you a ten seconds head start… Now run, little dragon.'

Blood trashed in his ears, the frenetic rush enough to dampen Leny's whispered countdown. Echo bolted through the entry's doors.

"HELP!" he called, despair clawing at his throat when his shaky plea disappeared under the evacuation's deafening racket. He was so close and yet so far, the property's gate mocking him from where it stood, wide-open, a mere hundred meters away.

He pushed his body to its limits, but the bar was low. His legs were those of a newborn fawn, clumsy in their attempt to sprint. When was the last time he'd run like this? It must have been years ago, at a time when he'd still blinked incomprehensibly when the neighborhood's kids refused to play with him. And now here he was, spurred on by an adrenaline rush that could only get him so far. And sure, Leny didn't look like much of an athlete himself, but Echo… Echo was skin on bones, an over-active brain stuck in an uncooperative body he'd given up on ages ago. And now, as he fled in this weak, neglected shell, he could only blame himself and his inability to keep other's emotions out when Leny's count-down reached zero long before he made it to the exit.

Echo veered toward the nearest tree and pressed his back against its smooth white bark. He clasped shaky hands against his mouth, warm puffs of air hitting his clammy palms, and prayed.

Worn boots crushed polished pebbles. 'Hiding is cheating, little dragon.'

Echo suppressed a shiver when an icy gust lapped his spine. Something was wrong. He knew it, could feel it, but couldn't tell—. The silence. The entire world had gone sil—

'But no matter. No one can escape my power.'

Echo's scream was killed off by the twin set of long fingers coiling around his neck. His blunt nails dug into pale hands, frenetic digits clawing in desperation right as his assailant slammed his thin frame into a bed of poppies.

"W… W… Why?"

'Why?' Laughter rang in his mind. 'This is the sweet revenge we low-life humans all dream of.'

An overwhelming desire to kill seeped through Echo's pores, Leny's maniacal need all Echo could feel aside from his own primal desire to survive.

He swept and clawed, Echo's blunt nails tearing up brittle skin and protruding veins across bony hands. And with his assailant's choking grip denying air to his lungs, his panicked brain oh so helpfully supplied that now would be a great time for his unknown devil fruit power to manifest. Unfortunately, his power either sucked or didn't activate, because aside from a loud pop in his ears and the return of the evacuation's alarming noises, nothing changed.

A dark veil obscured his sight… Was this what it felt like to die?

His hands, devoid of energy, tumbled down to his sides before a film of disjointed memories played through his waning mind.

// His uncle pointed at a giant bird perched on one of the aviary's tallest branches. The raptor sported a gradient of yellow features that bleached into immaculate white at the tip of its six wings and twin lion tails.

"That's a thunderbird."

"It's magni- magni- umm?"

"Magnificent?"

"Yes!" Echo said with a wide grin that abruptly faltered. "But why is it sad?"

"What do you mean?"

"I feel bad here," Echo said, rubbing at his chest.

"You must be hungry is all," Benjamin said with a hearty chuckle. "There's no reason for it to be sad. This is the world's greatest aviary!" \\

__

// During his daily scroll through the property's garden, Echo found an agitated bird trapped in a net.

"Can me keep it?" he asked excitedly.

His mother crouched down to his level, and with a sad smile, she said. "Life withers in captivity."

"Wi… Wi-er?"

"Wither… It means he won't be happy if he can't fly free."

Echo gave a solemn nod and opened his hands. "Birdy fly!" \\

__

// "What happened?" he asked in a shaky voice. "To Homing and his family…"

"They were hunted down, their kindness awarded with fire. Humans spent months persecuting them before a mob hung them over a pyre." His father tightened his suffocating hold. "They were tortured for hours, arrows and rocks thrown at their restrained bodies…" \\

__

// Glass pierced his wrist, the sharp edge ripping through skin like a knife through butter. \\

__

// Echo giggled when he'd finally caught one of his playmates. "Tag, you're it!"

"Ew, the half-breed touched Charloss."

"Don't touch me, you freak!" \\

__

// "It-It's done."

Echo examined his reflection. Shizo'd tied his hair in a lace braid ponytail as per her people's tradition.

"I know it's not much, but it's the only hairdo I remember."

"Are you kidding? I love it!" \\

__

// "Ready?" his father asked. "Alright, you can open your eyes."

Echo gasped, eyes sparkling with unconcealed joy at the sight of his very own tinkering station.

"Best present ever!" \\

__

// I am a devil, and devils shouldn't mingle with humans.

He tightened his grip.

BANG! \\

__

He couldn't help but feel like he'd lived a bleak and sheltered life. First, he'd been restrained to Marie Geoise. Then, after his peers' rejection, he'd found little reason to leave the Albrecht property, and as time went by, he'd convinced himself he was happy working on his projects in the confine of his bedroom.

A short existence wasted in a gilded cage…

...

…

Alright, what kind of shitty death was this? Wasn't he supposed to feel at peace? Because he wasn't. He was filled with regrets, his heart aching at all he'd wanted to see, but would never get the chance. And the saddest part was, not even the sight of his mother and Shizo haloed in light was enough to lessen the blow of his imminent end.

His mother's lips lifted into a warmsmile. "It's too soon, baby. There's so much left for you to live."

"I look forward to your adventures, Captain," Shizo said with a loop-sided grin. "I hope you'll find it!"

"Find what?" he asked, thoroughly confused by his asphyxia-induced hallucination.

Shizo's grin softened into an indulgent smile. "A place you belong."

… What?

Hot blood splattered across his face.

Echo's wide and unfocused eyes caught the tip of a bloody spear seconds before darkness blanketed his sight, the familiar emblem of Mary Geoise's guards the last thing he saw before his senses shut down.