Master of Dragons Exploration

Although the castle was large it didn’t take Jiro very long to find Ermes. She’d been lingering near where their master was to make sure that everything between them went all right this time. Which was why she knew ahead of time that they were going to be having the talk.

“So,” Ermes said with a smile regardless.

“So…” Jiro replied. There was that awkward moment where Jiro tried to think of how to start. “You don’t look nearly as nervous as I feel.”

“We’ve had these sort of talks before,” Ermes said. “And I’ve shot down all of your concerns every time. If we have to do this again then let’s do this again.”

“There are different concerns this time,” Jiro said. But Ermes had a point. She always found a way to make things work when he couldn’t. But he didn’t think that could happen this time.

“Because of your memory loss? You’ll remember us eventually, won’t you?” Ermes asked. She was not happy about that part at all. But what could she do? She’d told him to listen to his heart and do what he felt he needed to do and if this was it, then this was it. He must have Seen something to have caused him to take such a path.

“I will. My memory will come back in trickles so as not to overwhelm my mind,” Jiro said. “But it won’t be right away. And the age I’ll be at…” He took a breath. “I don’t want to hurt you. And I don’t want to hurt anyone else. And without knowing that my heart belongs to you, I could fall for another, and have them fall for me in turn, only to remember that I can’t give it away. And then you’ll be hurt and so will they.”

“No one enjoys love triangles,” Ermes said. After what they had been through she would hope that their love would win over any new thing that blossomed in the time that he forgot but would that be fair to put on someone else? And what if she didn’t win?

“I can’t ask for you to wait for me and hope that such a thing doesn’t happen,” Jiro said.

“You know I don’t mind waiting.”

“I know. But I still won’t ask you to. And you’ll find someone else.”

“You don’t know that,” Ermes said with a frown.

“I do know that.”

“You’re not supposed to See stuff like that.” She was angry with him now. Torn but angry.

“I had to look. I had to know that if I left you wouldn’t end up with some undeserving losers,” Jiro said. “I couldn’t take that. I can’t stand the idea of you with anyone else at all but if I have to let you go, I have to let you go to someone I won’t want to murder later for how they treat you.”

“If I were with a loser I’d know it and eat them,” Ermes said. “It’s not an issue. You can’t make those decisions for me.”

“I’m not,” Jiro said. “That’s on you. But I’ve Seen it and they can give you the things that I can’t.”

“Children? You know I don’t need children to be happy. I only needed you. We decided that in the beginning and I never changed my mind.”

“I know. But it’s still something you want and I won’t hold you back from having the happy family you deserve. Especially when I can’t promise that I’ll return to you with a heart that belongs only to you.”

Ryuu could hear it, but he didn't comment. He was somewhat unsurprised by what Jiro was saying. Though, he didn't feel like full honesty had been reached yet either. Close to, but not quite. He looked up at the sky and just took in what he saw.

Not much, clouds and some birds. They looked beautiful, really, they looked.... Free.

"You're just going to let me walk away happily with someone else? You're really okay with that?" Ermes asked because she didn't believe it for a second.

"No," Jiro said. "No, I want to rip out the throat of anyone that would put their hands on you. I want to rage and just...."

"Drop them in a volcano before we can meet?" Ermes asked, knowing Jiro well enough to know his thoughts would go there with that.

"Yeah..." Jiro said. "Yeah I do. I don't think there's anyone else out there for me but you. I just don't. But for you...even if I hadn't seen it, I don't know that I could say the same. I think there's a lot of people out there that don't deserve to even speak to you. But I don't think so high of myself to think that I'm the best that you can ever reach. Because I'm not. So while I really want to hold onto you and never let you go and make you wait for me to return...It wouldn't be fair."

"Don't I get a choice in that?" Ermes asked. "Should I be the one to decide what is fair to me and what I deserve? Not everything you see comes true. And if someone starts making moves on you, not like I can't roast them either."

"Uh..."

Ermes stared him down. She was not going to make this easy for him. "You know, I told myself that when you made your decision that I would respect it and accept it. That if you wanted me to wait then I would wait and if you wanted us to end then I would accept your decision. But I'm having a hard time with it now that it's actually happening."

"I'm sorry..."

"No, I believe you are but there's something else. You're giving me very sweet and thoughtful reasons for why you think I'd be better off without you but there's something far more base bothering you. You're not attracted to women, are you?" Ermes asked.

"Uh...What?" Jiro was thrown off by that.

"You're not. I have never, not once, seen you check out a woman without it being to see if she's a threat or not. Not even before we were together. You're genuinely not into them. And while I might be both genders, I am more naturally a woman and you can't handle that."

Free. Ryuu thought with a little smile. How that was a novel concept for most people. The ability to just fly away and never come back. Or come back, if you wanted too.

"So what you're saying is that you can't stand the idea of me with another man but you're going to let it happen, yet you can't see yourself with anyone else but me, when you're not attracted to me as a woman, we can't have children, and we can't even be intimate with each other in our real forms?" Ermes asked.

"Uh...yes?" Jiro said, realizing now how stupid that all sounded. "Maybe?"

Ermes rolled her eyes. "Okay. That's enough talking for today. You go spend time with Master. He's missed you." She didn't give him time to respond. She turned around and walked away to her room.

Jiro rubbed the back of his head knowing that he'd kind of messed that one up and not feeling as sure of where they stood as he'd hope he would. Then he joined Ryuu outside again. By the time he got out there, the beautiful day had changed to a cloudy one with rain just starting to drizzle. Why? Because he'd just upset a dragon that had an affect on the weather.

"When I said honesty, I didn't mean pretty truths either." Ryuu said and shook his head as he pulled Jiro down to sit with him. "You're terrible. We dont need to hear those things to make it better, dumbass. You are who you are. Why did you pursue her knowing her gender and that you're not interested in breasts?" He was genuinely curious, as he snaked his arm around Jiro's shoulders and pulled him close.

"Because I'm stupid. I thought if I cared enough that it wouldn't matter and we'd find a way. But all I did was let her down." Jiro had known that it wouldn't work back the. So had she. So had his father. He'd pushed and tried anyway.

"Stupidity is the definition of love." Ryuu said with the smallest of smiles. Saddest of smiles, too. "Lesson learned, but maybe when you talk to her next time, reassure her that you do love her, but that it's not enough to change who you are, that it isn't on her but you." He ruffled Jiro's hair affectionately.

"Sound advice," Jiro said with a little smile for his master. "I will do that just that. But I'll give her little time first. I don't want her to light me on fire."

"To be fair, I think you deserve it after that display of idiocy. I'm so amused while being torn between you both," Ryuu said, because he wanted to be there for them both. "If you don't see a future with her any more, don't give her a reason to talk you out of it either, she has done so this hundred years or more. She will do so again."

"She's very good at talking," Jiro said as he looked at Ryuu. "She says something and just makes sense and I just go with it because..." He shrugged. "You're right though. I can't let her talk me out of this. It's the right thing and for very good and real reasons. We just weren't meant to work but..." He looked at Ryuu. Because he knew.

"You didn't care, you had to try." Ryuu said, because he did know. He had gone to the ends of the earth to be with megumi, and then some on top of that, part of him wasn't sure it was worth it any more. "No regrets, right?"

"No I have one," Jiro said. "I feel like now I've kept her from someone that could have been making her happy this whole time and given her what she wants. And if I had seen it at the time I wouldn't have stood in the way."

"She was happy with you," Ryuu disagreed, but he didn't really know fully what Jiro meant. He wasn't that clever. "I don't think she would be happy to know you have a regret. You had a good run, better than I did."

"Yeah, that's because we're immortal," Jiro said with a chuckle. "That kind of makes a difference. You'd long be dead by now if it had worked out for you and Megumi. No offense. And your new life will have a chance with hers and even then they won't have as much time as we're able to have." He looked at Ryuu. "So. New look. New house. New outlook? Where are you going from here, Master?"

"No where." Ryuu admitted, he had no plans. A quiet comfortable life was all he required. "I'll still help them be together. But I don't feel like the same man I once was, does that make sense? I'm not Ryuu, Master of Dragons, the man of legend. I am just Ryuu, a man without a soul, trudging along..."

"Is that all you want, Master? You don't have to be the man of legends. You are a legend in your own right whether you feel it anymore or not. But you should want more from life than just watch quietly on the sidelines. I feel like you were cheated. You should have had a life and you didn't get to really have one. So what's stopping you from having one now? No one knows you're Ryuu, man of legend."

"I don't need more than I have, I'm happy with you and Ermes." Ryuu smiled, and squished Jiro tightly. "I will miss you, perhaps as much as the legend missed Megumi. But I will handle it better this time. I'll be glad to have you back, one day. But I understand. I was never really your master please, don't argue. You're my best friend. I do not wish to own you any more. It shouldn't be like that. You shall call me Ryuu," he said with a decisive nod.

Jiro's eyes widened. "Ryuu. My best friend. I like that." He was happy that they could still have so easy a relationship even after Jiro had said that he would be going to Drake. "I'm going to miss you," he said. "And this. But I will come back. I don't think I could stay away."

"I'll forgive you if you do." Ryuu said, he smiled at Jiro and then kissed his forehead. He was really happy that their conversation had gone so well.

It was time. Ryuu's soul had been taken from the Hall of Souls and placed within a tiny babe just now born. The cries could be heard echoing in the halls to announce a new life had been brought into the world.

And in the darkness people watched, unknown to the healers and parents. Jiro looked at the tiny babe. It was so small. Strange to think that it was Ryuu. Strange to think that it was his master there.

"I'm not sure that I am ready," Ryuu said in a breath, he didn't know that it was time to pass the burden of Master of dragons yet. Not to this tiny, innocent baby. Even if it was him, his soul, reborn. Why would be put him through that? "Jiro, I know I promised Dialga but..."

"What?" Jiro asked, looking curiously at his friend. "Are you having second thoughts upon seeing him now like this?" That was just a babe. A sweet, innocent babe. But he wouldn't stay that way. He just wouldn't. His life would be hard and unhappy and nothing was going to change that, sadly.

"You said it yourself, I deserve a chance to live. This is my chance and I'm ruining it for me, for him." Ryuu said, he felt so incredibly horrible for that. He had signed this innocent child up for things he wouldn't be prepared for. "What sort of a monster am I?"

"Ryuu, please. You are anything but a monster. This babe will not always be a child. He will be a man. A man you have met and seen the potential of yourself. You did not decide on what his life will be like. You merely gave him a chance to be and live." Jiro did not get it. Not at all.