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“Wriothesley!” Sigewinne’s voice is shrill and afraid, the warden is on his feet in an instant.
“What? What’s happening?” He growls as she races up and collides with his legs.
“It’s Neuvillette,” She gasps, her hands clutching at his shirt, “He’s-” She struggles to breathe through her tears for a moment, “He’s confronting someone! On the shore outside the fortress!”
Wriothesley’s eyes widen and he picks the girl up, racing out of his office and down the hall while tucking her against his chest.
The two guards at the entrance are dozing when he passes and he rolls his eyes, ignoring them in favor of pushing into the water, swimming to the surface and then trying to spot the hydro dragon he’s come to love dearly.
On the shore close by, he spots two figures facing off, and he squints as the pair of them swim closer.
“Shit,” He curses under his breath, recognizing Neuvillette’s sharp face as they reach the shore and then scooping Sigewinne up onto his back, “NEUVILLETTE!” He shouts.
The white haired male turns, surprised, his body having changed drastically since this morning when they awoke beside one another.
The blue streaks in his hair are gone, replaced by a set of horns atop his head, and a blue tail sprouts from beneath his coat. His gloves are also gone and the revealed skin beneath is blue and scaly, claws on the tips of his fingers. A pair of blue wings, idle at his back, undoubtedly mark him as what he is – a dragon.
“Wriothesley,” He murmurs, reaching for him, “You shouldn’t have-”
“Ah, the prison warden,” The other man speaks, an imposing frown on his face, “We haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet, my name is Zhongli,”
Wriothesley can sense immense power and rage coming from the man, his appearance mirroring but also remixing that of Neuvillette, with golden horns and a brown tail, his exposed hands and arms black and his wings brown with claws on the tips.
“Wriothesley, the pleasure is all mine, now what the hell are you doing here?” He growls, “You’re on Fontaine land and you’re scaring my daughter,”
Zhongli’s eyes wander to the girl on Wriothesley's back, her arms securely around his neck, his frown softening just barely as he crosses his arms, “I am here to protect the honor of my mate, which was violated by the both of you during his time in Fontaine,”
Neuvillette sidesteps so he’s stood between Wriothesley and Zhongli, “Your battle is with me, stay your anger and we will organise a duel,”
“My mate’s honor is my honor, it must be defended, and I must act against all who wronged him, this you know well I’m sure,” Zhongli gestures with a hand to Wriothesley, which ruffles his feathers a little.
“Sometimes I feel I know it better than you do, Rex Lapis,” Neuvillette growls, the sound rumbling through Wriothesley’s body in a way that both pleases him and makes him feel defensive.
The warden scoffs, rolling his eyes, “Oh please, you walk into Fontaine looking like that expecting to defend your mate’s honor? You’re just making a fool of yourself,”
Wriothesley knows who this man is, he has spoken to Childe often since the incident, he knows this is the same man who lied to Childe, and he refuses to be pushed around.
Zhongli’s eyes widen and he clenches his fists, squaring his shoulders as his dark brown wings spread slightly.
A pathetic attempt to intimidate, really, “You dare call me a fool? I would have your head if there was no child with you,” His words carry truth and menace, and Wriothesley cannot deny he is somewhat afraid, but he knows Neuvillette will protect him if things go south.
“Or…” The dragon smirks, his eyes flashing dangerously, “Perhaps I should just take her instead, sufficient payment, don’t you think?” He nods towards Sigewinne.
“Do not threaten my child,” Neuvillette growls before Wriothesley can reply, his eyes glowing and his hands clenched as the sky darkens above them, “You may walk in here claiming honor, and you may challenge my mate and I, but you cannot threaten the life of my child and expect to walk out of here alive,”
Wriothesley’s eyes widen and he almost forgets about the imminent threat to the girl on his back, “Mate?” He murmurs to himself with a soft smile.
The two dragons face off, ripples of power radiating out from the pair of them that Wriothesley can feel, and the warden steps back to protect Sigewinne.
“If you allow me to engage in a duel with him, I will not kill your mate,” The geo dragon bargains, “You know I always keep my promises,”
“I also know you do not know how to control yourself when it comes to matters concerning your mate, you’re much too rash, Rex Lapis,” Neuvillette crosses his arms, “It is not a matter to be discussed in front of a child, if you wish to duel someone, it will be me and only me,”
“Nobody is dueling anybody!” Wriothesley snaps, his brow furrowed, “If you two would stop having your pissing contest for one fu-” He stops, taking a deep breath as the pair look at him, both sets of glowing eyes intense and dangerous.
“For one second,” Wriothesley finished his sentence, bar the expletive he was about to shout two inches from his daughter’s ears, “Then maybe we could have a civil conversation,”
He meets the blue eyes of the man he loves, “Mate to mate,” He murmurs, “Like gentlemen,” He says louder.
Neuvillette snaps out of whatever rage he felt, looking away for a moment with a flush dusting his cheeks and the tips of his pointed ears, “I… I’m sorry, it was presumptuous of me,” He murmurs.
“Why are you apologising? It’s nice,” Wriothesley cocks his head with a wolfish grin, “We’ll talk more about that later though, right now-”
“What the hell is going on here?!” An indignant voice shrieks from behind Zhongli and the dragon visibly flinches, shrinking into himself slightly.
“Who said you could leave me at home alone on my day off?!” Childe comes into view, his anger directed at the golden dragon, “You bastard,”
“Oh, hey Childe,” Wriothesley smirks, raising a hand in greeting as Sigewinne shifts a little, her heartbeat fast against his back.
“Hey Sly,” He smirks back as his favourite nickname for the warden rolls off his tongue, folding his arms, “I can both sense and see you’ve properly sorted things with the Chief Justice,” He nods down at Wriothesley’s chest and the warden looks down, noticing a blue glow beneath his vest.
He reaches his free hand up and unbuttons it awkwardly until a softly glowing hydro symbol is revealed over his heart, “What the…? Is this what you mean by mate?”
He turns to Neuvillette who nods awkwardly, “It’s a dragon mark, my… claim, on you,”
“We match!” Childe laughs, pulling the bottom of his shirt up and revealing a softly glowing geo symbol on his stomach just below his belly button.
“Why are you so friendly with them?” Zhongli hisses, “I’m here to defend your honor!”
“Oh please Xiansheng, do you have any idea how much I talk about you behind your back to this guy?” He pops a hip as he talks, pointing at Wriothesley whose vest and shirt now hang open precariously as he cranes his neck to look at the hydro symbol, “We write letters every week and talk about you guys to each other,”
The geo dragon growls softly, his eyes flashing with confusion, “You… do what?”
Childe shrugs gleefully, “Neuvillette lied to him, you lied to me, we formed a tentative alliance to complain about the things you guys do,”
Wriothesley looks up again, “Yeah he’s not wrong, you guys can be dense sometimes,”
Neuvillette approaches him, placing his hand over the symbol, “I’m sorry, I placed the mark in a moment of weakness,” He murmurs, “Forgive me for doing it without your consent,”
The warden shrugs, awkwardly because of the girl on his back, “It’s okay, I like it,” He cracks a half-smile, meeting the Chief Justice’s insecure gaze.
“You know what I am like, Childe, I must protect your honor,” Zhongli almost whines, making Wriothesley snort.
“Honor schmonor! Let’s go home for archons sake, it’s my day off and these two lovely gentleman have a daughter to attend to,” Childe scolds his mate before grabbing his hand and dragging him away like an angry housewife.
Neuvillette pays them no mind, cupping Wriothesley’s cheeks with his scaled hands, “You do not think I am repulsive in this form?” He murmurs.
“Why would I? You’re still my Neuvi,” Wriothesley says, the smile not leaving his face, “Whatever form you come in is the form I love the most,”
“I am sorry I could not protect you,” The dragon looks down, ashamed, “I failed my duty as your mate,”
The warden rolls his eyes, “You’re joking, right? Protect me from that guy? He wasn’t going to hurt me,”
“You would be wise not to underestimate Zhongli, you are lucky to be on good terms with his mate considering the treatment he received in Fontaine,”
“Which was totally deserved! He was turning into a monster and almost hurt a bunch of innocent people!”
Neuvillette’s hand on his heart curls slightly, the claws poking Wriothesley’s skin, “Wriothesley,” He murmurs softly, the vulnerability in his eyes is painfully hard to ignore.
“You’re mine to protect,” He continues, “As is Sigewinne, I… I want you to be mine to protect, I want to feel like I can protect you,”
Wriothesley tilts his head slightly, “I want that for you too,” He murmurs, “But the thought of there being something you cannot protect me from hurts me too much to let you do it on your own,”
“You’re not alone,” Sigewinne murmurs, reaching her little hand forwards and grabbing one of his horns, yanking him closer as he squeaks in surprise.
Neuvillette lets the girl tilt his head and touch his horns, a small flush on his cheeks as Wriothesley watches, their faces barely an inch apart, “You look so beautiful like this,” He murmurs.
His flush spreads to his delicately pointed ears as he meets the wardens eyes, “Thank you…” He mumbles, “I... would you like to see my dragon form?” He asks softly.
“Can we?!” Sigewinne squeals, her grip on his horn tightening for a second before she lets go and claps her hands, “Please oh please!”
“No more secrets,” The warden nods, a half-smile on his lips, “Show me everything you are, and you can have everything that I am forevermore,”
He steps back with a soft sigh and a breath in, then Neuvillette’s form shimmers and changes before their eyes, his limbs elongating and his skin morphing, spines and scales sprouting from his skin.
He grows to more than a hundred feet in length, just one of his newly-scaled hands enough to dwarf Wriothesley completely as he goes slack-jawed, his neck craning just to look up at the dragon’s face.
The ground rumbles with his every breath, he tilts his head down and lays on the ground like a dog, looking up through long eyelashes into Wriothesley’s eyes.
“You…” The warden’s words fail him as Sigewinne wriggles down from his back, racing up to Neuvillette and placing her hands just below one of his eyes, “You’re so big…”
The dragon huffs gently, the air disturbing Sigewinne’s hair and she giggles, “Can we go flying?!” She asks enthusiastically.
Neuvillette’s eyes widen and he sits up, shaking his head, “Much too dangerous,” His voice is rough and gravelly in this form, nothing compared to the usual smoothness his voice holds.
“Maybe when you’re older,” Wriothesley comforts her, not taking his eyes off the dragon before him before reaching a hand up.
The Chief Justice dips his head down in response, nudging his nose against Wriothesley’s palm, “Be not afraid,” He murmurs.
“Are you kidding? This is the coolest moment of my life!” The warden laughs, running his hands down the blue scales, the smooth feeling soothing his heart.
The girl’s face is awestruck, her hands clenching and unclenching as she ponders where to touch him.
Neuvillette stays completely still as she reaches up, placing her hands on one of his large fingers and feeling the smoothness for herself, “You’re so pretty papa!”
His eyes widen and he looks to Wriothesley, “Papa?” He murmurs, “Yes, Papa,”
She rests her head down and runs her small fingers over the grooves and bumps, “Papa and Dad,” She smiles cheekily, “And no take backsies!”
“You little rascal,” Wriothesley grins, racing up to her and then lifting her into the air, throwing her up and then catching her as she falls into fits of giggles, wriggling around to get away from his tickling fingers.
With a small rumble, Neuvillette’s body morphs back into the form he finds the most comfortable, his human form, “Careful,” He advises as Wriothesley spins the girl in a circle.
“Don’t worry, careful is my middle name,” He winks, tucking the girl under his arm like a sack of potatoes and petting her head for a moment.
Neuvillette reaches for the girl and the warden protests wordlessly, whining as the chief justice lifts the girl and sits her on his hip, meeting her gaze.
She places her hands on his cheeks, “I love you Papa,” She smiles, “You’re the best,”
A shaky smile and the sky opens up with torrential rain, forcing the trio to make a mad dash for the water, the warden’s joyous laugh ringing out over the rough surface.