First Demonic Dragon

“…rudd….Thrudd!”

Thrudd felt someone faraway grab her by the arm.

When her vision returned to her, she could tell that she had been standing in the same spot for quite some time now.

Gabbrielle tugged on her sister’s arm when she began staring off into space. From her glance alone, it was clear just how worried she was.

“What’s gotten into you? You left to get those disgusting drinks like five minutes ago.” Gabbrielle asked with worry.

Thrudd stirred to life like a princess coming out of a deep sleep.

She looked first at her sister, then at the barkeep who had thrown her into this state of disarray in the first place.

He looked… entirely different from her memory.

Large, yes, but he possessed no red beard or sky-blue eyes. He was as bald as the day was wide, and wore an eyepatch over one eye. His only visible iris was a verdant green color.

He looked nothing like him.

The barkeep had naturally noticed Thrudd staring at him for the longest time now.

He wrongly took her lingering gaze for flirtation and smiled as he slicked back his nonexistent hair.

Thrudd grimaced and hurriedly returned to her seat with her sister in tow.

Gabbrielle’s scrutinizing gaze was firmly affixed onto her sister’s back. Thrudd was terrible at hiding whenever she was shaken up.

“Sister… are you well?” Gabbrielle asked with no small hint of worry in her voice.

Thrudd turned towards her sister and smiled wryly. “I look that bad or something…?”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

If you asked Thrudd, she would always say that this was the scariest thing about her sister. Her perception.

Even words she said offhandedly were somehow always tied too close to the truth.

All of her life, Thrudd had known something about her was a little different.

With their family’s access to the multiverse, she of course knew that the life she and her mother were living was a vastly different existence than their other counterparts.

She had a different father. Her mother had a different husband.

And though she knew what he looked like, she had never once wanted to pick another life over the one she had now.

Even if she sometimes felt a little like the odd man out, her family had wondrously loved her the very best way they knew how.

And now, as that realization hit Thrudd like a truck, she realized how foolish she must’ve been.

What was the point in her hiding how she was feeling from her family? Why did she so desperately need to hide the things that she was going through when these people had never done anything but treat her lovingly?

“…Sister?” Thrudd called in a low voice.

Gabbrielle turned around just in time for Thrudd to barrel into her for a giant-sized hug.

Thrudd was a big hugger. Gabbrielle was not. Especially not in places that reeked of vomit and urine.

“…Why don’t we step outside for a minute?” Gabbrielle suggested as she rubbed her back.

*Sniff* “Okay…”

–

The girls moved outside to the roof of the tavern.

Gabbrielle and Fiona took their time listening to Thrudd’s woes as she cried into a bottle.

After hearing everything that was going on with her, Gabbrielle was completely at a loss for words.

“I… I never thought that…”

Thrudd sniffled as she wiped her face. “I know. I just felt super insecure because I-“

“You had me sit and stew within this den of filth and squalor… all because you didn’t know how to cope with feeling like the ‘odd man out’..?”

For some reason, Thrudd was becoming slightly afraid of her sister’s growing intensity. ” I… ye-“

Gabbrielle slapped her sister across the breasts.

“H-Hey!”

Gabbrielle slapped her again.

Fiona had to physically separate the two sisters before Thrudd was ever spared from her assault.

Even then, the young redhead trembled as she curled herself into a ball to protect herself from further harm.

“W-W-What was that for, you bitch…?!” Thrudd had tears in her eyes.

Gabbrielle’s nostrils flared as a heat rose through her abdomen.

“I can’t believe you would make us do this for such a shallow reason! We could have just talked this out at home and saved ourselves from a potential staff infection!”

“T-The live music was kind of nice…” Fiona said to herself.

“”SHUT UP!”” Both sisters yelled.

Fiona shut up.

Gabbrielle continued her tirade against Thrudd, even going so far as to grab her by the shirt collar.

“W-Why are you getting so mad?!” Thrudd shrank back.

“Because I must have told you dozens of times how I used to think there was something wrong with me when we were younger.

You were the one to tell me that having my own way of life was what made me special! Were those just words to you??”

“Did I slap you when you said it too, or are you just being colorful?” Thrudd fired back.

Gabbrielle paused with her hands still clenched.

She slowly relaxed her hands and sat back down, pressing her knees into her chest.

As she brooded, she shrank into a familiar child-like body.

“…Perhaps my methods were a touch too cruel. The upsetting nature of your foolishness brought something out of me.”

This was probably the most insulted Thrudd had ever felt in her life. But she honestly wondered if she didn’t deserve it.

“I was just embarrassed, okay? I didn’t want to be-“

Gabbrielle yawned as she began tossing rocks off the roof.

“The only one with a failed relationship, yes, I know. But you haven’t even necessarily failed at anything yet.

It isn’t as if it’s impossible to make someone develop emotions or something like that. I mean, our brother did it once.”

That off-handed remark hit Thrudd like a ton of bricks.

“I’m sorry… What..?”

Gabbrielle turned to face her sister with an equally incredulous look on her face.

“…You cannot honestly be this fucking stupid.”

–

From afar, two cloaked figures were watching the girls while they talked on a roof.

Their faces were obscured underneath a veil of shadow, but judging by the shape of their bodies, they were female and humanoid.

“That was risky, sister..” One said. “If those two had noticed the illusion, you would have risked exposing us.”

“But they didn’t, and we weren’t.” The other responded. “And now we can move forward knowing that we have a potential crack to exploit.”

“Do we though? They seem closer than ever now…”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. So shortsighted. It may be true that they’re feeling good now, but how will that change when the young one realizes exactly how she came to be ingrained into the family… Or at least our rendition.”

The taller sister stared at her sibling carefully. Through the darkness of her good, twin-colored eyes could be seen glowing like jewels.

“And you are certain this will work?”

“Certainly-certain.” The sister nodded with no small hint of amusement in her voice.

“What do you think would make our owner happier? Destroying his enemy, or watching his family implode first?”

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