Fawn and Lux walked through the cavern in silence. Hurricane moving behind them creating a steady foot fall beat that echoed around the cavern. Fawn didn't want to ask Lux why Raxia wanted to see her so urgently, it was always bad news or frustratingly cryptic.
Raxia had visions whenever some big change was about to occur, and whenever she saw them, she always told Fawn about them in the most vague way possible.
Fawn swore that if this was another one of those times, she was gonna smash her head through the wall.

The Gray Jedi eyebrows knitted together when a thought suddenly occurred to her. She subtly glanced at Lux. The man was slightly rigid, eyes laser focused on what was in front of him. His walk was almost march like, hands clenched at his sides.
In short, he was tense as hell.

Something was wrong.

"Lux?"

"Mhm?"

Fawn her eyes turned to state directly Lux's brown ones. "How is she? Honestly?"

Lux turned his gaze back to the stone corridor in front of him. "Some of her injuries are inflamed, her vision is a little flawed at the moment, and her wings-"

"Lux."

The man exhaled through his nose, stopping in his tracks. "Yes?"

Fawn stopped too, facing Lux fully. "You know that isn't what I meant."

Lux did, and he hated every word that came out of his mouth next. "She's lucid most of the time, but her memory keeps...altering. Some days she knows everyone in the room, other days she is as clueless as a hatchling. It's...sad."

Lux placed a hand on Fawn's shoulder, "the healers we have here have been doing all they can Fawn, but the severity of the wounds are draining her life force. If this keeps up, Raxia might-"

"Don't." Fawn cut him off sharply. "Please, don't say it."

Lux squeezed her shoulder gently. "We can't ignore that fact that she might...pass on Fawn. I know you hate the idea but we can't just shove it into a box and never look inside. She's millennia older than either of us, she's older than every dragon on this planet."

"...I know."

"Then you must realise that she deserves a rest, no dragon can live forever, Fawn, not even Ritchempreas."

Fawn let out a slow breath, fingers uncurling from their tight fists. "She's not dead yet, I'm not gonna let that happen to her, she's still needed here." She walked ahead of Lux, arms wrapped around herself.

Lux sighed, running a hand through his hair. Hurricane rumbled at his side, lowering himself to the exasperated man's level.

"Their connection runs deeper than we'll ever realise Lux, you know how much Fawn looks up to Raxia."

Lux nodded. "Yeah, which is why I fear for the day when Raxia really does die."

The pair reached the end where the tunnel lead into a massive open space. Fawn stood at the edge of the deep crater in the cavern, shoulders hunched as she gazed at the occupant. Nestled in the ferns of the crater, was Raxia. The giant dragon breaths were heavy and laboured, her eyes pinched in obvious discomfort.

Lux reached Fawn's side, watching her carefully in his peripheral.

Her expression was difficult to read. Her face was almost neutral but her clenched eyebrows and eyes betrayed the mask. Her sapphire blue eyes were filled with fear, worry and sadness.

"She looks worse than when I left" Fawn murmured, hands clenching at her sides.

Hurricane crooned worridely, his turquoise eyes softening at the sight of Raxia.

Lux looked at Fawn but didn't touch her this time, not sure what kind of state she was in. "Go on, she needs you."

Fawn nodded, moving to Hurricane who dipped himself down for her. Once mounted, Fawn nudged Hurricane to move and he leapt off the edge, gliding down to the green floor.

The second Hurricane's paws hit the ground, Raxia's eyes opened, her golden pupils dropping to the duos location.

"Fawn" she rumbled lowly, trying to sit up to look proper in the human's presence but could barely move without wincing.

"Easy Raxia, it's alright" Fawn soothed, raising her hands placatingly, relieved the dragon recognised her. "I'm here to help."

The great Ritchemprea groaned, her head falling onto the ground. She gazed at the Gray Jedi under half lidded eyes, her golden iris's enimating pain.

"Alright, hang on" Fawn quickly dismounted, moving to Raxia. "Do you mind if I...?"

Raxia nodded once and Fawn force jumped up to Raxia. Rising from the crouch she'd landed in just between Raxia's eyes, she placed her hands against the bridge of Raxia's nose, resting her forehead against hers. Using the Force, she studied Raxia carefully, locating her most prominent injuries.

"Fawn?"

Fawn's eyebrows flexed to show she was listening.

"I do hope you understand that I am not immortal?"

Fawn's concentration flickered at that but she regained control and nodded in response.

"Then why are you so desperate to keep me alive? You know I'm almost as old as Kabera itself."

Fawn opened one eye to look at the massive one watching her. "Cause I need you, and could you please just rest until I'm done?"

Raxia exhaled a slow breath, but relented, her eyes becoming concealed behind their eyelids.

Fawn shook her head to remove her thoughts, putting more pressure behind her hands. The Force moved through her body and into Raxia, beginning to sooth the aches and stings of the lingering battle wounds.

Fawn didn't miss the relieved breath Raxia released.

~~~~~~

"Rise of Titans? Beat Lightsaber? Dragon Crossing?" Logan asked, staring at Ezra desperately.

Ezra shook his head. "Nope, haven't played any of them. Only video game I have is the one we have on the holo table."

"Oh my gods, how have you survived this long without dying of boredom?"

"Fighting the Empire passes the time."

"No, no, no, nope, one hundred percent no" Logan looked half way to a panic attack. "Right, you aren't leaving this damn planet until you play at least one video game."

Ezra shared a glance with Chaser and Whiplash who just looked amused with the whole situation.

"Logan gets very enthusiastic when it comes to video games, Ezra" Chaser rolled his eyes fondly.

"Ezra hasn't played any Chaser!"

"Trust me Lo, when you're part of the rebellion you really don't have the time to goof off" Whiplash said.

"But not even one!"

Ezra had to laugh. Logan looked personally offended. "Okay, Logan, I will play a game but I can't guarantee I'll be any good."

Logan took a breath, pressing his hands against his forehead. "Okay, because you haven't played any...we'll go with an easy one to understand."

He went to the tall shelves lining his room and selected a case. After taking out the contents, he passed it to Ezra to look at.

"Mario Kart?" Ezra read aloud curiously.

"Classic" Whiplash grinned, turning to Logan. "I remember when Fawn and you used to play, Hurricane always invited me to watch the show."

"Fawn had the roadrage, not me" Logan said flatly.

"Oh I'm sorry, but I seem to remember a time when you told one of the NPC's to go druk itself because it hit you with a blue shell."

Logan turned away with a slight flush in his cheeks. "I was younger back then."

"That was four months ago Logan."

"Anyway!" Logan said loudly. "It's easy enough to learn, you keen?"

Ezra considered it. "Well Fawn did say she was gonna be awhile, I'll play."

"Awesome" Logan crouched by the gaming console he owned, slotting in the data drive for the game.

He tossed Ezra a blue controller before grabbing his green one, sitting back on his couch next to Ezra as the system booted up.

Logan had practically dragged Ezra to his room, badgering him about video games when Ezra admitted that he hadn't played. In his frustrated exasperation, he then kicked in the door to his room.

Logan's room was huge.

When stepping through the door, Ezra had noted the tall bookshelves filled with game cases, data pads and old books. A long L couch sat in the centre in front of a fairly large screen. A small stairwell led up to a landing that had a double bed and walk in closet.

The first thing Ezra had said was "damn" and the next was "can I move in?"

The room itself was probably a little smaller than the Ghost, painted blue with white pillars at the corners of the walls. A pair of double doors led out to a railed balcony overlooking Kabera.

Needless to say, Ezra was a little envious.

The two were set up on the couch, Whiplash and Chaser lying on the back of it.

The screen lit up with the games title, bouncy music coming from the speaker system.

"Okay, essentially this is a racing game" Logan explained pressing the buttons on his controller to select the different options. "You pick a character, and then lead them through the race course, you can pick up tons of items that can help you win and take out your opponents."

Ezra looked at Logan. "Take out your opponents?"

"Yeah, you can throw stuff at other racers to slow them down."

Ezra looked down at his controller to hide his smirk. "Like a blue shell?"

"Yeah..." Logan gave Whiplash a look who merely shrugged innocently.

The screen was set on a loading spiral as the game started up.

"That controls your movement, you can throw items with that one, and that one is a brake" Logan pointed to Ezra's controller buttons though his explanations. "Again, it's pretty straight forward."

"Okay, so what is this?" Ezra gestured to the screen that now had a list of avatars.

"Those are the characters," Logan replied, "pick anyone you want then pick a kart, add your preferred extras then hit the blue button to confirm it."

Ezra studied the character list carefully, eyes flicking over each one. He turned to Whiplash.
"Any suggestions?"

"Yeah, don't go for Toad, don't like him" Whiplash replied, looking dryly at the character.

Ezra hummed in acknowledgement, then his eyes fell onto a particularly interesting character. He clicked on it and it popped up.

"Oh gods, Ezra's chosen Bowser" Chaser's nose scrunched at the sight of the multi coloured avatar.

"Not a bad choice Ez" Logan nodded at the screen.

Ezra glanced at Chaser curiously. "What's up with Bowser?" 

"He's one of the fastest characters, Chaser doesn't really like him though" Logan shrugged, selecting an avatar with a thick mustache, green overalls and a matching hat.

"How come? If he's the fastest wouldn't that he a good thing?"

Whiplash snickered. "Whenever Bowser is a NPC, he always goes for Chaser's character without fail, and when Chaser uses Bowser he glitches horribly."

A wide, disbelieving grin pulled at Ezra's mouth as he turned to the pouting dragon. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, Bowser's an absoloute cun-"

"Okay!" Logan locked a hand around Chaser's jaw and snout to prevent him from slipping the foul curse word. If Fawn heard Ezra say that one, Logan and his bad mouthed dragon were dead.

"You ready to play?" He asked, sending Chaser a pointed look.

"Yeah, I'm ready" Ezra nodded, bringing his feet up to cross his legs.

"Then lets do this" Logan hit the blue button to play.

~~~~~~

Fawn sat in front of Raxia, legs crossed and hands resting on her knees. The dragon lay with her paws underneath her body, head bowed. The two of them had their eyes closed, meditating quietly.

Raxia opened an eye every so often to look at Fawn, taking in her tight face and pinched eyebrows.

Fawn eventually sighed, turning her chin up to catch the Ritcemphrea's gaze. "What is it Raxia?"

Raxia released a breath, lowering her head closer to Fawn. "Fawn" she rumbled, "I think I understand why you're so desperate to keep me around."

Fawn opened her mouth but Raxia wouldn't allow the interruption.

"The moment I die" she cut in, the word making Fawn wince, "you then have full rein of Kabera, you are then solely in charge of everything thay happens. You will be in charge of Kabera's future, as their queen. And for some reason I cannot fathom, you don't want the previlage of ruling this world."

Fawn glared at Raxia. "Honestly thought that would be the most obvious."

Raxia sat back, raising an eyeridge in question.

"Raxia, Kabera is a planet full of dragons, and for centuries, it's been a queen dragon calling the shots as their protector. This place is perfect because of that system. If a human was to take control of it all, it would all go to crap. I make a mess of most things, take a look at what happened when I left. I'm not fit to rule this place."

Raxia regarded her for a moment before closing her eyes with a slow exhale. "Fawn, for gods sake, this planet isn't thriving because of my decsions. The only good choice I ever made was the one to accept you into our home. You built the system you claim you can't take control over. When you left, the planet was back in my care. The Empire attacked and I was stupid in my strategies.
You came back and upgraded our defenses to the point where the closest a battle ship has gotten to is twenty yards from the planet. You say you can't rule, when really, you're a far better protector to this planet than I am."

Fawn lips parted as she took in Raxia's words.

"Fawn, the only reason why I've fought to stick around is because there are a few things worth seeing. One being seeing you officially crowned."

Fawn barked a short laugh, shaking her head. "You're making me sound like a princess or something."

"You are my heir" Raxia told her, "unless of course, you choose someone else to uptake this mantle."

Fawn blinked twice. "Wait wait wait, hold the phone, I can do that?"

Raxia blew air out her nostrils, head tilting. "Do what?"

"Choose someone else, I can get someone else to be in command?"

Raxia sighed, closing her eyes again. "If that is what you wish...then yes, you may choose a new heir."

Fawn felt weight drop off her shoulders. "Good, that's great" she sighed.

"However" Raxia cut in, "the heir must be of high ranking heritage, of age, and fulfill all requirements expected of a leader."

"Yes, I would assume something like that, anything else?"

"It can be a person or dragon, I trust your judgment in both, but Fawn?"

Raxia sighed, eyes filled with sympathy and hope. "Please, just...consider it. You would make an excellent queen."

Fawn pursed her lips but gave a short, curt nod in answer. Queen wasn't really her style, so she'd have to find someone who'd fit the bill.

~~~~~~

"DRUK! NO! NO! OH MY GOD!" Logan threw down his controller onto the couch.

He swung round, grabbing Ezra's forearms, yanking the boy close to him.

"No one picks up a game that fast" he growled, eyes narrowed at Ezra. "How are you so good at this!?"

Ezra giggled nervously, innocently shrugging. "I-I don't know, I'm a fast learner Logan-"

"You bloody turd!" Logan yelled, throwing his arms up in exasperation. "I went easy on you because I thought you'd struggle!"

A wave of cockiness overtook Ezra and he dropped his eyelids to halfway, a smirk on his face. "You sure you aren't just saying that cause you were beaten by a newbie?"

The flustered and offened noises Logan made Ezra laugh. Not as hard as the dragons though who'd fallen off the couch awhile ago in hysterics at Logan's rage.

"I don't get it! You've never played before and you're kicking my ass like a goddamn champion!"

"L-Logan, Logan my man," Whiplash wheezed, starting to pick himself up off the floor. "Calm down bud, it's just a game."

"NOT IN MY EYES LIGHTNING ROD!"

Whiplash was down again, starting to get hiccups from his constant laughing.

Logan pinched the skin between his eyes, breathing heavily. "Again Bridger, you and me, again, and I'm making the course more difficult."

"Sure" Ezra pretended to look at his fingernails, "if you think that'll help your chances?"

Logan jumped back onto the couch, controller back in hand. "Druk you, and game on."

Logan's reactions are based off my own when playing Mario Kart with a friend of mine.
It can turn quite competitive 😂

Anyways, hopefully a new update soon!

- Star-Wars-Dragons 🐉💙