Arzo flew straight up into the air, flying higher and higher into the bright blue sky.
“This is amazing!” She laughed, her heart having never felt so damned free in her life. “Ahhh!” She screamed and laughed again and again. Lugo took her hands as though urging her to hold on tight.
“See you around.” Lugo whispered. Tsugi turned to look at him bewilderedly. With another big flap of its wings, Lugo lets go and falls off Arzo, plummeting straight toward earth.
“LUGO!” She panicked. “NO!” She tried to tug on the horn to steer the dragon. “Go get him!” She screamed – begged even, but the giant creature neither budged nor made an attempt even if it understood her.
Then as though it had finally heard her plea, Arzo stopped flapping its wings and they floated temporarily in the sky as though gravity never existed before free falling back down to earth. Arzo turned around and dove nose first, zooming soundly fast through the air. Tsugi could feel her cheeks wave with the wind against her face, her eyes going dry as she couldn’t keep her eyelids shut.
The ground was getting closer and closer, but she still couldn’t see Lugo anywhere in sight. Then – there he was, still free falling, his arms out to his side like he was flying.
“Faster!” Tsugi panicked, unsure if they would make it on time. “Please, please, please.” She begged and she could feel a tear fly away from her eye.
Arzo swooped in, just a few meters from the ground, its feet scraped the desert floor, kicking up a cloud of sand, making a huge indent as they picked up Lugo and returned into the air.
“Have you lost your mind?!” Tsugi screamed, turning around to hit him. “You could’ve died! Don’t you ever do that again! Do you know how scared I was?! I don’t want to see you die!” She hit him again and again, her heart leaping into her throat as those nightmares came rushing in with a vengeance.
He laughed thunderously. “I already told you, I won’t die for a long time yet.”
“How would you like it if I did that?!” She threatened, her eyes flaring with anger.
“Do it! It’s fun!” He laughed, calling her bluff. She pouted, and was at a loss for words. “Seriously. It’s fun. It’s like flying.”
She glared at him, but she was hesitant. It really did look like fun, and she really wanted to try it.
He leans in, his breath so very close to her ear as he mutters, “trust me?”
She sucked in a breath and as they got higher and higher into the sky, she stood to her feet, working her way behind him. She sat back down and held onto his waist. “Okay.” She breathed.
“Kinow’gath.” Lugo muttered.
Arzo flew straight up into the sky, as vertical as vertical can be. Just as they reached the clouds, she took a deep breath, inhaling Lugo’s scent and let go.
She was falling, but she felt no fear. The wind flapped loudly by her ears and her hair flew behind her, dancing beautifully. She opened her eyes, and she felt like she was flying above the world, away from everything, but away from what? – she couldn’t remember anymore.
A grin ran across her face, then that grin turned into a chuckle – and that chuckle turned into laughter. It was the greatest laughter and elation that could ever cross her life, and there was nothing in the world that could take it away from her right now.
She felt so god damned free and if she were to die right this second, she felt happy enough to do so. Tears of joy welled in her eyes, but just as quick as they came, they flew away with the wind just as fast.
She twisted and turned through the sky. She was laughing so loudly Lugo could hear her from way above her. She squealed and screamed, surprising herself with all the weird noises she never knew she could make.
Finding it hilarious, she laughed and laughed till her abs were sore and her cheeks stung, but she just laughed some more still.
“Ahhh! I love this!” She giggled like the lost teenage girl she never got the chance to meet. The details of the ground were coming into view and she was getting close, but still – no fear ever arrived. She closed her eyes and put all her faith in Lugo.
At the last second, he swooped down with Arzo and scooped her up into his arms. She giggled loudly at the tickling feeling in her belly as Arzo returned to the sky. She couldn’t stop laughing and smiling even if she tried.
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Lugo placed her down in front of him. “You want to do that again?” He smiled.
“Yes! Yes please!” She panted.
“Well, since you said please.” He smirked. “Kinow’gath.” Lugo smiled as they flew higher and higher again. This time, they both let go and drifted through the sky, flipping and twisting, doing aerobatics in the sky.
Lugo even took this opportunity to pose his awkwardly weird poses that caused her to laugh even harder as tears trickled off the corners of her eyes.
Their laughter rang through earth and across the sea, to where the gods and surely even death could hear.
“Ajanaeth nyeme.” Lugo whispered. He smiled along with her, joining her in her elation of glee and howling.
“What?!” She screamed, having no idea what he just said, but he just shook his head in response.
As they neared the ground, Arzo scooped them back up into the air, and Tsugi giggled again and again as they continued their flips and twirls through the air, up to the floating island and back down to earth, soaring through the beautiful blue sky.
Tsugi sat up close to the horn. Letting go of her grip, she held her arms out to her sides and closed her eyes. Swaying side to side with Arzo’s turning movements, she imagined herself flying, feeling the wind and sun on her face, breathing in the fresh cold air and feeling it reach deep down to her alveoli where the oxygen was exchanged for carbon dioxide.
She could live in the sky forever if she could, there was nothing but peace up there, up where she was so very far away from reality and the pain that it was – for now, a distant and forgotten memory.
“You’re going to fall weirdo!” Lugo laughed as Arzo made a sharp turn. He reached over and held onto her waist, with the other hand he was firmly grasping onto Arzo.
“It’s okay!” Tsugi smiled. “I know you won’t let me fall.” She turned around to gaze at him and grinned the biggest stupidest grin she could manage.
He chuckled at that and shook his head.
Arzo went into a spin and Lugo had to wrap his arm around her, pinning her to his front to ground her to him, so they wouldn’t fall. Tsugi just kept giggling away like a teenage girl, her hair floating and dancing around her.
Arzo dove into the clouds making Tsugi giggle at the clouds that ticked her as they wrapped around her like a gentle blanket. They moved in and out of the clouds like a dolphin leaping out of water.
“I could stay up here forever!” She screamed.
The clouds cleared the sky leaving nothing but a bright blue sky above them. Arzo made a big loop in the sky and right as they were upside down, Tsugi let go, falling and twisting through the air, and landed right on Arzo’s back again as it completed the loop. Tsugi’s laugh was intoxicating and entrancing.
Getting onto her feet she started to walk along the spine to the waving tail. A raindrop falls on her nose, prompting her to look up into the cloudless sky that was full of wonders. A shooting star shot across the blue sky and down came another drop of rain, and then another.
“What are you doing?” Lugo yelled.
Tsugi only smiled and turned to walk backwards, balancing on the tip of Arzo’s tail as it waved side to side. She gave a big courteous bow like he was some king and she – a subject.
She leaped off the tail and tumbled through the sky screaming in jubilation to her heart's content.
Lugo steered Arzo and they dove after her. Moving at the same speed, Tsugi glanced over and caught a grin on Lugo’s face, before he swooped underneath her and sped back up into the sky.
If she could, she would do that all day. She giggled and laughed so much, if she didn’t already have defined abs, she would’ve gotten them.
The rain continued to pour even with the sun beaming down on them, but they laughed with exhilaration and soared through the sky. As quick as the rushing rain came, it left like a mirage in the desert. The speed of the flight threw the water off them and dried them in no time at all.
Arzo arched its head back and blew a big dark purple flame in front of them. With one big flap of its wing, it dove into a spin right through the flame that whirled around them like the galaxy of stars in the night sky. Tsugi kept her eyes open and watched, feeling like she was flying through the milky way.
They flew into the setting sun and back up to the island in the sky.
Arzo landed on the wide lush green plain, huffing and puffing loudly. Tsugi was still laughing her head off, still high on the ecstasy from the flight. Lugo chuckled and stood up, holding a hand to her.
“I’m fine. I can walk.” She laughed.
“You can try, but seeing as how loopy you are right now, you might find it a little difficult.” He smirked. She attempted to stand on her feet, but they were unsteady and collapsed under her weight. Lugo quickly caught her and held her up, chuckling. “I told you.” He began to lead her down the wing and onto the floor. “The high from your first flight and the gravitational force, will make your legs feel like paper for a while.”
“Why did we stop here?” Tsugi mumbled as she gazed around the hundreds of dragons roaming around.
“It’s safer up here, and once you get your footing back, we can head back down.”
“What about Ruzo?”
“Don’t worry, once we get inside, I’ll bring him up.”
“How?”
Lugo chuckled. “I put a tracker on him. Basically a door, so I know where he is at all times.” Across the lush green flowery field was a giant cave with an enormous tree inside of it and a door at the base of the tree.
A little old man came bounding out of the door. He was short and stocky, with a long white beard that was braided to his belly button. He had big pointy ears and big eyes. The top of his head was bald, but he had a lot of curly white hair around the side of his head.
“Lugo!” The old man waddled toward them.
“Darwin!” Lugo grinned. With one arm firmly around Tsugi’s shoulders to support her, he held the other out to his side. Reaching down, they grasped each other’s forearms.
“Nice to see you back!”
“Nice to be back!”