===M===

  I didn’t get knocked out. Just...everything is blurry. A slurry of lights, sounds, and confusing images cause my field of vision to fade in and out. Dizzy, Racket(?), No, no, Dizzy(!) carried me through the halls. I looked around, my neck now longer and stranger than before. I see Min with a cut on her face as she looks at me. She’s tired, hurt. I killed who hurt her.

  I shiver at that thought. I killed someone. Me. My hands feel wet. Very wet, with a heavy liquid. Almost painful and awful. Weights, surrounding my...claws? Claws. I look at my claws through blurry eyes.

  Oh. Pretty. The claws are an unusual color. Aquamarine? It compliments the color of my scales. The ones not covered by blood, anyway. Seeing the blood sinks it in. I still took lives. Maybe they deserved it? I don’t know, its heavy. So heavy.

  I hear a door open through the grogginess and see the inside of the room, expanded and contracted at the same time. Soon enough I am enveloped in the blankets of bed, safe from harm. I then let the final drugs…

  No. They seem to have run their course. The world becomes sharper. Brighter, like life was returning to it. Something must’ve caused my body to expel it at a faster rate. I blink a few times, and my vision returns to normal. Then it becomes much sharper. I can see minute details that I couldn’t before.

  I feel the bed gain another weight as Minfilia flops herself against the bed against me. I crane my neck out of my fort of blankets that I suddenly have and feel the need to rest my head on her lap. I give in and…

  A deep rumble emits from my body. A purr of sorts, causing Min to giggle. Oh, I like that. I continue to rumble to help her, and in return I feel her hand touch the top of my head. It’s different. Shaped sharply and with small nubs, from what Min traces along. It helps with the scales too, letting them breath with fresh cells.

  I unfurl more out of my blanket fort, somehow now being quadrapedal. Questions for later, as I curl around Min. Actually, I have an extra set, on my back. Heavy and very much unusable, but does it matter? I am with one of my mates. She continues to pet me, and I purr. That’s what it’s like? Dizzy had kept this secret long enough from me.

  “Damn, somehow becoming a dragon has made you as much a cat as I am.” Dizzy retorted through pained breathes. I open the eye near her and she’s smiling. Her ears tell me she’s kinda happy right now, despite the pain.

  “I mean, I guess I am-” I pause. The voice that came out was...girly. [][]c[]. No, it’s []i[][]. Something about how the voice came out was bumping against the chain that was preventing me from realizing the why. Go away chain.

  Jackie, Eloise, and Dizzy were staring, and I assume Min was as well. I open both and lift my head from the caress of Min’s lap and look around. “What?” Tignly. Nice. Need more.

  “You can attack the lock right? []er being this happy is like...a clue that she needs it broken fast.” Dizzy asked Eloise. Eloise lowered her glasses and pinched her brow.“The curse is incomplete, shoddy, and done by a member of my extended family.” She replied. “Going in might risk it, though she’s going to unravel it really fast. A dragon is a big egg cracker moment for many men, women, and enbies.”

  Then Jackie transformed into a Ruby colored dragon and moved next to me. She synced her purring to mine. Which caused…

  Oh. That was...attraction. How? How does this translate and why the fuck am I open to it ohhelsohhelsthisissohotbeingcuddledbytwogirls. I purr involuntarily, as if I responded with attraction of my own.

  “Oh shit sorry. Fuck. Oh. Uhm.” Jackie responded flustered as all hell. “Okay, okay, wanna share M[][][][][][], Minfilia?” My brain catches fire at that and I dive into the blanket fort out of embarrassment after probably accidentally maybe something strange and also that word was chained oh fffuck.

  “I’m sharing both of you. Dragons are hot, okay, and I wanna cuddle both.” Oh hels this is hot my head is steam and my body purrs and wow wow wow wow. Being shared by women is making my head head spin in like a good way.

  Yet feeling like the only guy in the triangle seems off putting. Strange. Ungainly. I mean I never liked how I looked, no matter how much Min complimented me. Like…

  Like…

  Uhm…

  I need the restroom. I unfurl out of my cozy compartment and dash into the room’s bathroom. Bougie train for college guests. I try to finagle how to use the toilet as a quadruped when I glanced at the mirror.

  Huh. I am...kinda pretty as a dragon. I move my head, taking every angle. It’s pretty. I’m that. I open my mouth to show the interior, letting the tongue roll out. It rhythmically moves with my breathe. Up and down. Side to side.

  Wow. I prefer this to...being a nomad. This is amazing. A wave of something cascades from my head to my claws and- TAIL!

  I have a tail! It’s big, might be able to grip something, and it has a tuft of fur on the end that feels soft. I notice small tufts of something along the back of my spine as I check myself out. Do I have fur or feathers? Is that what’s coming in?

  And then I look at my wings and...I wince. They look torn and chained. Heavy, with the weight of something crushing them. I try to move them, and...pain takes hold. Okay, can’t send anything up them.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I realize I still need to relieve myself and it might be best to take my nomad form for that. I try to figure the mechanics for shifting…

  I feel the scales and tufts retreat as my bones rearrange themselves. Soon enough, I return to a normal. Or as normal as I can get when my body is covered in this blank void when I look in the mirror. Even my face is gone.

  Then it just...begins to morph back to my normal, boring, ugly face. There’s a deep, rumbling, painful echo of losing something. Like it was ripped away with the only knowledge there being the open wound. Being a dragon didn’t have this tied to it. Being a nomad did.

  It hurt. It hurt so much, my chest tightens. My body is heavy with hate. Hate for myself. I dare not look down as I sit for my shit.

  I finish my trip to the restroom. Then I look at myself. I...can’t be looking like this. I will myself to be the dragon again just to get away from the problem of my face, then slink back into the room while three others were talking about eggs. Jackie was conveniently missing. “Where’s the other dragon?”

  “Said something about a problem coming up and hid in your blanket fort.” I nod and curl into Min. Happy purr. “You are so much happier like this.”

  “Yesh. Don’t have to look at that mug in the mirror.” That caused a giggle from Min, which...she looks so much prettier. The cut doesn’t matter, her face, her eyes, her laugh. It’s all better. Brighter. Happier. Her presence, wow, is more amazing! Dizzy looks great too. I caught a glimpse and had to look away. Not into me, she’s a lesbian, she’s only into girls.

  I’m...not a girl. Why does the truth hurt? Why does it feel like a lie that was forcefully chained to me? What the hell? My chest hurts as it rumbles. I was born a guy, but yet everyday it feels worse and worse to say that. There isn’t another choice.

  Yet...the warmth here is...amazing. The lap of Min is so much better, softer than any pillow I’ve ever had in my life. Is this being a dragon? Fucking hell I’d be a dragon twenty four seven if I could. Even the air is nicer.

  Wait. Question question question. “Do I molt?” I asked concernedly.

  “I think it was every so often you stay in dragon form. Most dragons don’t have big molts, just a large amount of shed scales. Due to safety concerns of all of that shed useless skin as well as the hunters from the Callowein empire, it’s usually discarded and buried in the forest. It’s basically just like an alligator, if that works. Perfectly worthless too.” Ah. Eloise did answer, with an unassured tenor.

  “Wouldn’t the scales still have magic?” I asked, at least kinda calmed that I might have to molt. I wonder what it feels like. “Like scales are traded on the market and stuff.”

  “Nope. It’s dead skin. Seriously, the shit shed dragon scales attracts is actively harmful to humans, including the dragons. Active biohazard if left alone.” Eloise sighs, then motions strangely. “Circle the top of her head like this.” Her? Her?

  [Chain Integrity at &*((%]

  I blink twice. Then I felt a gentle circle on my head and hooolllllllyyyyyy shiit. I feel something loose coming off. Like I needed to get out of a molt. That same wave I felt in the bathroom crashed through a barrier I didn’t know was there and oh ffffffffuck! I think something broke inside of me and that’s making this so muuuuuuch better.

  Oh, I’m molting. I mean I guess it makes sense. I did ask about it, so speak of the nameless. “Miin~” Did I moan that out? Holy shit. “Help me moooolllllltttt.”

  “Oh goodness. That was a sound.” Min giggled again, helping me shed. She slowly peeled back an old scale that was on my head, letting a new fresh one breath the fucking amazing air and heat. “Oh, it looks better. I’d help with this any time if I could have one scale for my tech.”

  “That shit attracts black mold. It goes in the bio-hazard bin, not your tech.” Eloise was firm on that, grabbing the scale and dumping it in the receptacle. Minfilia huffed a response, pouting.

  “Is pretty though.” Dizzy chimed, her limping over to me and sitting next to Min. She gave a rub with her claw and that oooh my fuck I let out a loooooong moan over that. It was guttural and perfect and neat and feminine and me-

  Feminine, me. Uh.

  Brain. You going to do the chain thing?

  Brain?

  Chain? Is the-

  I blink once. Then again. Looking up at Minfilia and Dizzy, I turn over and show my belly. I’d rather be vulnerable to them when I tell them. “Min, Diz...I think I’m-”

  “A girl?” Both said in unison. That wasn’t what I was going to say...but maybe...that would be nice. Nice. I gurgle a bit, my brain trying to catch up with what I was going to actually say as I am suddenly blindsided by that thought line.

  “No. Pin for later.” I looked at them serious. Min made a motion for me to continue, so...I exhaled. “I love being a dragon. I know you don’t mind, but I feel like I have to reiterate it...I guess for myself.”

  Then I felt them hug me. Both of them. My feelings are warm. Happy. The fur of Dizzy is soft and silky against my scales and the bronzed skin of Min is so warm and comforting and I am happy. Happy happy happy.

  Also, asking if I was a girl…

  I...okay. I can see that. This dragon form seems girly. Actually, feeling further, definitely girl. Except for the organ down there. Maybe while I am a dragon, I can be a girl too. Unlike my nomad form. That works that way, right? Or something. There’s still a hole I am trying to dig through, but my thoughts come unbidden.

  “Okay, unpin, I’d like to try it…maybe at least while I’m a dragon.” I hesitantly said...before being rudely thrown off the bed by a whirlwind of onyx scales. A dragon the same size as me and Jackie runs out of the room, with Eloise suddenly looking very surprised.

  Fuck, I chased after the dragon. What happened? Who was that dragon? The only other was Jackie, and her scales were Ruby.

  Katarsis came to my mind. He said he was a dragon. Right, yeah makes sense that it’d be Katarsis. I chased the other dragon to a car and…

  My blood froze. My scales alight with anxiety and fear. I knew the face of the man before me. Tunisis. The monster my pop saved me from. He stood there, confident, with a chain around the neck of Katarsis. The other was broken, languishing on the floor. A man impeccably dressed stood right next to him, scowling.

  “You defaulted on payment once. You said a dragon. Well, three years late, but now you bring two.” He brushed off his clothes. “Master Gauthier would be pleased with this. Don’t default again.”

  “Planned to murder you for it, but I guess this would do.” Tunisis smiled and whipped the broken chain at me. I saw a choice here. Right and I lose one half. Left and I lose the other. Dragon or nomad.

  So I chose to keep my dragon form. The dodge had caught a wispy form of my body, pulled and locked in a vice. I could see the sneer.

  “I lost six men and two recruits to get these dragons, least you can do is make up the difference.” Tunisis sneered, choking Katarsis with his chain as my nomad half is left in his grasp, wispy and vague. “Seems I only have half. And the human half of all things.”

  “A butler lives to serve, and this is a political venture he endorses.” The butler takes the chain that held Katarsis. “I will see this payment delivered post haste. You acquire this one, and the loan will be considered paid in full with the interest.”

  Tunisis smiled as he let Katarsis be dragged off. I can hear the whimpering of him. Then I saw the ruby scales shift.

  Katarsis and Jackie...were the same? I am not letting Jackie disappear again. I roar at Tunisis to try and intimidate him out of the way. “Go away, bastard! We aren’t being separated again!”

  He just laughs...and enters a fighting stance.