I's a Tricky One.

Chris has made his decision and it is time to prevent his death. Will Jessica and the Dragon succeed in saving him? or is it already too late?

Chris's body had gone limp; his breathing was laboured as Jessica held his head between the palms of her hands, concentrating on simply maintaining his spirit within him. The huge black dragon had her left talon on his chest and seemed to be pulsing with energy. She worked feverishly trying to extract the poisons from him.

“He was left far too long! There is a lot of damage!” the dragon roared. “I told them we should have intervened and initiated stasis sooner but would anybody listen? NO of course not! They never do!”

The great black dragon began to glow, the energy within her pulsed and her talon that was placed upon his chest seemed to emit a light which penetrated him causing his entire body to illuminate.

Meanwhile, Chris had withdrawn into this own mind, all sensations of the outside word had faded, he was only vaguely aware of Jessica's presence within his mind. She felt more like a container than an actual person. Yes he did have an image of her that he had conjured up and was holding on to. The only thing that was left that felt real was the image was of her face with its warm smile, its dazzling blue eyes and chestnut hair. He held on to it literally for dear life!

Here was what he had always wanted and had dreamed about every night since he had first crossed paths with the young girl. He was about to get the chance to spend the rest of his life with her. Perhaps even the whole of eternity. He didn’t know. After all, his role had not been completely explained due to the constraints of the time available.

He was also aware of another energy. One that began at his chest and was slowly spreading throughout his entire body. He was only vaguely aware of it and was trying to concentrate a bit more on it just to see if it was real or not.

In his concentration he hadn't realised that his thoughts had been taken off of the image of Jessica he had been holding on to. To his horror the image was slowly beginning to fade away in his mind. He focused what little strength he had left in to bringing that image back again but he felt it slowly slipping away, becoming smaller and fainter with each moment replaced by not just blackness, but what he could only describe as nothingness. Slowly the image faded to nothing, and all that was left was a feeling of deep despair in his mind, sadness, loneliness and soon that faded away until there was nothing. No thought, no feeling, nothing,

Jessica felt as his thoughts and feelings stopped within his mind. There was still something inside there, some small spark of life but she couldn't help but feel the dread that she was going to lose him. Lose the one person she had ever met who she had truly loved, who had truly cared about her as a person despite her flaws, her at times childish behaviour. She had first met him when she had only been 15 years of age. Even then he had not viewed her as a child. Maybe it was the dragon soul within her, maybe it was just her own maturity but he had always treated her as an equal.

She had fought an inner conflict with herself over him on many occasions. Her human side had wondered if she was worthy of the care and affection he gave her, if her age versus his age was an issue or if it wasn’t. When her feelings of love had begun to develop within her she had been terrified and had almost run away from him never to be seen again and often wondered had it not been for the heart of the dragon beating inside of her if she actually would have. Of course her mission had to be completed and ultimately that had prevented her from running.

Eventually she had allowed those feelings into her heart. Allowed those sensations to fill her and strengthen her, to warm her even during the darkest of the trials that her human life had thrown her way. No man had ever treated her with as much love. As much understanding and compassion and had not asked anything in return other than that when the time was right that they be together.

Here she stood now, holding his head in her hands. The entire weight of it as his muscles provided no assistance, her fingers wrapped in his long brown hair. His eyes were closed and she had to really listen carefully for the sound of his breathing as it was so shallow. A tear was fighting to escape her eye as the thought penetrated her mind “I'm losing him!” Despair filled her heart and although she felt she was already giving every ounce of thought energy and power she had to hold him here, she fixed her concentration once more and re-doubled her efforts to hold on to him.

She could not bear the thought of losing him. Her chin began to crinkle up and the tears began to flow freely from her as she threw every ounce of herself into keeping that last minuscule spark alive within him feeding that spark with her own life essence. This was a most unusual practice as it was a danger to both parties. They may both perish as a result but Jessica didn’t care. If he died then she wanted to die with him.

“Silka.... Please! I can't lose him!” she sobbed.

“I am doing all I can my child,” the great dragon replied, “just hold on.”

A small tear fell from her eye and landed in the centre of his forehead. Through her teary haze Jessica saw this and leaned forward, placed her lip on his head and kissed it away. As she drew back she felt that last spark of his life force extinguish.

She wailed in anguish. Her strength left her and she dropped to her knees wailing as the emotional pain overtook her. Her tears flowed freely now as she curled into the foetal position and screamed “Nooooo…” repeatedly. Everything in her life was gone. She felt emptier than she had ever felt. She had failed, not just herself which she would live with, but the dragons, and most importantly in her eyes, she had failed Chris. She felt responsible, not only had she caused him to kill himself with the letter she had sent him, but she had failed to protect and sustain him during the process of saving him.

She sobbed uncontrollably, she was in mourning, in self-hate, in distress and heart-broken. Things could not possibly be any worse. She felt herself being picked up, almost effortlessly and carried. Her sobs did not subside though and she couldn't bear to lift her head to look back at his lifeless corpse in that chair. She found herself willing her own life to end. Wishing to join him, the only thing that stopped her was...

“It's OK baby-girl. I'm here.”

She raised her head and for the very first time the realization had sunk in that it wasn't the great black dragon carrying her. It was Chris. He was alive! And she was in the one place she truly wanted to be: safe in his arms.  

Author's Note

I'd like input on the dialogue and the general flow of the story so far.