A Dragon's Mirror

“… why do I keep striking out?” Inigo asked Gigan. He was laying on the ground, his finished lunch wrapper laying beside him, his hands interlocked behind his head. Inigo turned his head to look at his dragon, who lounged on the ground next to him. “There has to be a reason right?”

Gigan stared at Inigo.

“Oh who asked you?” Inigo stood up in a huff and gazed over the skyline of Kyoto. He was on Shiketsu’s roof for his lunch break. The roof was unusually quiet today. Shiketsu’s other various trouble makers and ne’er do wells apparently had better things to do today than hang out on the roof.

Inigo walked to the fence surrounding the roof. He put his fingers through the chain lattice and lost himself deep in thought. “Hifumi’s more-or-less got Hailey at this point right? If he can do it so can I. Which means if he got Hailey, I could get her too! I got it! I should try Hailey again!”

Inigo looked over his shoulder back at Gigan a wide smile spreading across his face, he’d name their first child Hitomi. Hitomi would be a wonderful baby girl with eyes like her mother’s. He’d have to beat the boys off with a stick. Until one day a man managed to win him over through some wonderful act of heroism and Inigo was forced to reluctantly hand over his daughter--. Gigan flew in front of Inigo’s face and crossed his arms in front of his chest in an obvious ‘no’ signal.

Inigo’s grandkids faded into nothingness. He sighed. “Yeah, probably wouldn’t be cool, stealing my friend’s girl like that.”

Gigan nodded ecstatically.

“But maybe if I get them to break up first…”

Gigan face-clawed. “She’d be so heartbroken, and I would be right there for her!”

Gigan began to fly away, shoulder’s sagged, defeated.

“No.” Inigo whispered. “Shouldn’t do that.”

Gigan’s ears perked up. He looked back at the back of his master. Could it be? Had Inigo finally grown an unaided conscious?! Tears welled in Gigan’s eyes. He ecstatically flew back to Inigo’s side, arms outstretched ready to embrace him!

“She’d just go to her clique, I wouldn’t have an opening.”

Gigan crashed to the ground with a solid thud. Inigo whirled around. “Gigan what the Hell? Are you okay?”

Gigan cried bitter tears now, its face buried into unsympathetic. It pounded its little claw against the ground. ‘The dragon hates it!’ It screeched in its native tongue. Inigo just heard a high pitched whine.

Worried, Inigo approached his little companion. He picked up the dragon in his arms then stood, stroking the still weeping little thing. “Yeah, I get it Gigan.”

Gigan’s ears perked up.

“It’s always frustrating running into walls.”

Gigan’s ears slumped.

“But we can’t despair!” Inigo held a fist at the sky. “For the sake of my children yet born! I can’t let myself fail here! I promise you Gigan!”

Inigo held the despondent dragon towards the sky. The dragon couldn’t even look his lecherous master in the eye right now. The door to the school creaked open.

“I promise that I’ll find the one! I’ll find me a WIFE!”

The door fell shut. Inigo’s head whirled towards the roof’s entrance. There, standing in the doorway was Christopher.

Christopher wore the expression of someone that had just walked in on someone furiously abusing himself. His expression walked a fine line between awkward apology and outright pity.

Inigo’s eyes widened as he realized Christopher had just overheard him giving his dragon a chunnibyo pep talk. “I--”

Christopher turned for the door. Inigo lunged forward. Christopher tried the door handle. Inigo grabbed him by the shoulders. Christopher furiously pulled at the door. But Inigo was stronger. He yanked Christopher away from the door and pinned him against the wall. Inigo began to hurriedly explain himself.

“This isn’t what it looks like! I--” Inigo stopped dead. What did this look like?

Christopher tried his best to sink into the wall behind him. Of all the times not to have Hifumi’s quirk.

“I was just… repeating a line from one of my favorite shows?”

“Whatever you say man.” Christopher agreed.

“No, really! I wasn’t giving my dragon a pep talk or anything like that.”

Gigan floated above Inigo’s head, wearing the thousand yard stare of someone who recently accepted that their life goal is a hopeless endeavor.

“I genuinely don’t care.” Christopher confirmed. Inigo had picked him up slightly so the boy hovered a few inches off the ground. His feet barely scrapped the concrete beneath him. There was no escape without copying Inigo’s quirk and he really didn’t like what THAT quirk did to him. “Can you put me down so I can forget this already?”

“No, really I--” Inigo’s eyebrow rose. “What do you mean so you CAN forget?”

Christopher paused. Looked down. Cursed. Then averted his eyes. “Nothing.”

“Doesn’t look like nothing…” Inigo began. He tightened his grip, maybe he could get Christopher to tell him. Gigan bristled at the action, but he didn’t have time to make his disapproval known.

Christopher looked at Inigo and suddenly there was a black dragon on Christopher’s shoulder.

“Shit!” Inigo let go of Christopher and leapt backwards. Inigo landed on a newly form spring and was launched into the air.

“Gigan!” Inigo shouted as he began to plummet back down towards the concrete roof. A mattress formed out of thin air and broke Inigo’s fall. Inigo struggled out of the soft mattress and climbed to his feet. As soon as he stood, the mattress dissolved and formed into a suit of armor around him.

“All right Chris, you want to go! Let’s--”

Christopher was slumped against the wall, tears running down his face.

“go?”

“Why are you picking on me?!” Christopher shouted between sobs.

“I—” The armor dissolved around Inigo resuming the familiar form of Gigan. Inigo looked at Gigan, bewildered. Gigan shrugged.

“I wasn’t gonna tell anybody! And now I’ve got your stupid quirk!” Christopher sobbed. A black dragon formed on Christopher’s shoulder, it looked nobly off into the distance, as if it bore burdens too great for any mortal to understand. Christopher slid to the ground.

“It makes me so fucking sad and weepy and I just want to crawl in a corner and die!” The suddenly emotional copycat declared. “How can you live like this?!”

Inigo approached Christopher. Christopher’s dragon began to form into a spear but Inigo held his hands up. Gigan tried to make Inigo a better person. Maybe Christopher’s dragon worked to make him a more emotional person? “Hey, sorry, listen I didn’t mean to pick on you.”

“Liar.” Christopher accused.

“No, seriously, you just caught me in an embarassing moment and I overreacted.” Inigo was a little surprised by how reasonable HE sounded. “If you’re okay putting this behind you, I’ll do the same. Deal?”

“Promise?” Christopher asked.

“Promise.”

The spear dissolved back into that depressed looking black dragon. The dragon perched on Christopher’s shoulder. Christopher got up and made for the door. He struggled to hold back tears with every step. Suddenly horror dawned on Inigo.

Christopher was known to be brash and loud, but he wasn’t necessarily disliked by the girls. Mostly because he was short and non-threatening enough that they didn’t have the need to put him down. Some of the girls actually liked Christopher. Those girls might be upset if they saw him crying. And if he was crying after coming from the same area Inigo could be found…. THEY MIGHT NOT DATE HIM!

Inigo started towards Christopher again intent on restraining him, but that black dragon bristled as he began to close. Inigo stopped dead. If he attacked Chris right now there was no guarantee Gigan would help. And Chris’s dragon would definitely fight him. So, Inigo changed tactics.

“Chris! Come on man, you don’t want anybody else to see you like that!”

“I don’t care!” Christopher shouted, but his feet stopped moving. He deeply cared right now.

“Fucking dragon!” Christopher shouted as he wiped away his tears. The black dragon shed a single crimson tear at its master’s outburst. It placed a single dignified claw upon Chris’s head, as if to accept an ungiven apology. Christopher smacked away the dragon’s claw. The dragon trembled as it pulled its claw away from Christopher’s hair. It seemed about to reach out again before putting his claw down on Christopher’s shoulder. Then it looked to the sky, its lips quivering. It tried to hold back its tears, but despite its best efforts another dignified crimson tear to fall from the dragon’s proud face.

Christopher slumped to the ground. He closed his eyes trying to seize back control of himself. “I-- I gotta wait until the bell, then I could maybe sneak in without being spotted.”

Inigo approached cautiously, until he was able to sit next to Christopher. The black dragon ignored him, apparently deciding he didn’t have any ill-intent, or too busy pondering the fleeting nature of life to care what happened at the moment.

“If it’s my quirk that’s causing this, why don’t you drop it?” Inigo asked.

“I can’t yet.” Christopher mourned. “I have to…” Christopher choked back his sobs and looked away. “I have to find another quirk.”

“Ohhhhhh…” Inigo nodded, he hadn’t known that about Christopher’s quirk. Might be something to hold onto for the future. “I could convince Hifumi to blink to the roof then? He wouldn’t see you.”

Christopher shook his head, still not able to bring himself to look at Inigo. “I already have Hifumi’s quirk.”

“That sucks.” Inigo agreed. They lapsed into silence for a moment while Gigan seized his chance to introduce himself to the newly born dragon.

Gigan excitedly flew in front of Christopher and waved at the black dragon. Gigan was completely ignored. The black dragon was apparently too moved by the wonderful azure sky to pay attention to the petty going’s on around him. Another crimson tear fell.

Gigan decided this dragon was a weirdo and perched himself on Inigo’s shoulder. Studiously avoiding having to look at the dramatic dragon. The black dragon only seemed to notice Gigan when he was being ignored. The black dragon closed his eyes holding back tears. His chin quivered with the effort. How poignant to be rejected by one’s own kind! How tragic! Gigan sidled further away.

Inigo, ignored his dragon’s discomfort and broke the silence. “I’m sorry my quirk does this to you.”

Christopher shook his head. He wasn’t blubbering anymore, but Inigo could tell it was taking some effort to keep from breaking down again. “I knew it would. But you were being a bully and I didn’t see another way out.”

‘A bully,’ Inigo frowned, it was an unfortunately fair assessment. “Anything I could do to make it up to you?”

“Don’t ask Chihiro out again.” Christopher answered without hesitation.

Inigo turned towards Christopher shocked. He had a crush?! Inigo smiled broadly, “my man if you want me to back off, I’m more than happy to--”

“What?” Christopher raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, you like her right?”

“No!” Christopher shouted. The American’s shout left Inigo’s ears ringing, but Christopher continued his explanation, heedless to the fact that he no longer had an attentive audience. “She asked Ashleigh what you were asking her to do. Ashleigh tried to pawn the question off on me. It was horrible!”

Inigo having only heard one of every three words of that tirade, stuck a finger in his ear to clear out the cobwebs. “Wait, she’s with Ashleigh?”

Christopher looked like he was about to clarify again, shut his mouth, looked at the door. Sighed. And said, “sure.”

Inigo put a comforting hand on Christopher’s shoulder. “I know how you feel Chris! I know what it’s like for your friend--”

“Acquaintance.” Christopher corrected.

“Acquaintance to steal your woman! But you can’t let that hold you back!”

“Fro--?”

Before Christopher could finish his question, Inigo stood to his full height. He stretched a fist towards the sky. “You have to push forward! Just as I have to push forward! For the sake of the children yet born!”

Silence reigned in the place of that deafening speech. Christopher, even in his emotional state was completely stonefaced as Inigo finished. Gigan was studiously looking away. The black dragon was moved! It applauded enthusiastically as Inigo finished declaring his desire to fight for the children yet born! Streams of crimson tears fell down its onyx cheeks. So poignant, so inspiring! It flew to Inigo’s side continuing to applaud. Inigo basked in the praise. One hand raised over his face, he struggled to hold back tears of his own at the overwhelming beauty of his thought.

Gigan flew off Inigo’s shoulder. He landed next to Christopher. The human and the dragon looked at each other. Nodded. And rose to leave together.

They left the weirdos behind as the bell finally rang.

Edit Report
Pub: 21 Apr 2023 03:23 UTC
Edit: 21 Apr 2023 03:24 UTC
Views: 321