"Daddy? Daddy, where are you?" A little girl's voice came from a distance. "He's never coming back, is he?"
"Remember, I'll always be with you," Triyast said as he picked up little four year old Trinity and gave her a tight hug.
"Promise?"
"Promi...."
"Daddy?"
Emptiness, nothing was there. The beautiful garden had instantly turned to ruble. A huge black dragon flew above her, spraying fire around the seventeen year old, but before it got close enough, she was sitting under her mango tree by the lake near her house.
Sitting beside her was Dragonia, in her majestic glowing orange form. Looking down, she saw herself still wearing the same blue dress from her ball and her eyes filled with tears as she remembered everything Tyrone had told her, her father being dead.
"He's never coming back," She whispered, looking at her inner soul.
"He will truly die with you," Dragonia replied, only confusing the girl more.
"What do you mean?"
"Everytime someone calls out your name, they will call you by your father's name first; he lives on with you. His name lives on with you."
"I want him here, with me, holding my hands... hugging me..." Tears flowed freely from the teens eyes. "Why'd he leave me?"
"Everything, and everyone must come to an end one day. I know you didn't get to spend time with him, but you must live on while making his name shine as bright as possible. You now have a mate, and one day, you will have a family of your own. Do not forget, your mate has also lost everything."
"It's because of his mother that I lost my dad..."
"Don't say that... Sabrina was an oracle dragon, meaning she must have seen the future as soon as she touched her son. Tyrone could have taken his mother and flew away while Triyast would be protecting you, but instead of choosing to live, Sabrina chose to die so that you and Tyrone could still live."
"What do you mean?"
"Trinity, it was destined for your father to die, so to keep the balance. Had he not died, the knights would still be tracking him, and you might probably be in danger, too. As I said, he lives in you, your heart. he will live through your children." Dragonia tried her best to comfort her human.
There was silence for a few minutes as the girl processed everything her dragon had said. "You're right. I was so deep in my own grieving that I didn't think about Tyrone. He had also lost his mother. I didn't even get to ask her about the recipe of those cookies," Trinity said, smiling.
Dragonia smiled, too, knowing Trinity is now fine.
"You have to go now," she told her.
Trinity nodded as she lay herself down and, thinking of her new family and friends, closed her eyes.
***
She felt a hand on hers as Trinity gained her consciousness.
"Please, child, come back to us," she heard a familiar voice.
"Martha, you should eat something. You haven't eaten in days." Another voice said.
"Stacey, it's all my fault. Had I not forced Elise to discharge her, none of this would have happened." Trinity felt drops of water on the back of her hand and the sound of Martha sobbing.
"How is she?" A young man's voice asked. That voice. It has to be Tyrone. Trinity tried hard to open her eyes.
"You? You know you're not welcome here," Martha said in a hushed growl as she slowly made her way towards the boy.
Trinity moved her fingers and opened her eyes slowly. She wanted Martha to stop, stop scolding him, for he had lost everything too, but how?
The scene was now a little blurry, but Trinity could make out that her mate was wearing the same suit he was wearing at the ball.
"Martha, please.....". "Get out before I call the...". Before she could finish her sentence, the heart monitor began to beep, which diverted everyone's attention to Trinity.
"She's waking up," cried Stacey, racing to the bed.
Tyrone went out to call the doctor, as Martha also ran to see Trinity.
"Make way," Doctor Elise called out as she ran up to Trinity's bed. She started checking for her vitals, and turning to the others said, "Good news, she's gaining consciousness, bad news, she's very weak. She will have to stay in hospital until her full recovery. And Martha, Tyrone, If I see you fight in my hospital again, I'll have to tell you to leave," she added, looking at the two of them. "But...". "If you two have any unsettled business, take it out of the patients room."
There was silence as the doctor made her way out, followed by Tyrone, who gave Martha some space as he didn't want another confrontation.
"Hey, how are you?" Martha asked the girl who was clearly not replying. No matter how hard Trinity tried, she couldn't say anything. Her entire body was numb, as if she were paralyzed. She was able to see everyone and hear them speak, but she couldn't respond. She felt so helpless.
After a few weeks, she was finally able to move around and speak. She learned that after Tyrone had told her everything, he turned around to see that Trinity had begun falling down, clutching her chest. He instantly held her in his arms and called the doctor, who immediately took her to the hospital. Trinity also learned that Doctor Elise had told Martha off about getting her discharged and said it would be Martha's fault if anything happened to her.
"Stacey, how is Tyrone? I haven't seen him in days," Trinity asked her friend.
"Martha made a deal with him; he can only meet you outside of the hospital. If he even dares to come in... she'd have him arrested," Stacey replied sadly.
"What?.... Why?...". "Trinity, Martha thinks it's because of Tyrone you're in this state. She thinks he shouldn't have told you about your....." her voice trailed off.
"I have to meet him. It's not his fault. I persuaded him to tell me," Trinity said, but as she was making her way out, Martha walked in, along with doctor Elise.
"Martha, I have to see him. I'm going outside," Trinity told the older lady but was stopped by her companion.
"Not on my watch, you won't," Dr. Elise told her, standing in her path.
"Doc, please. I need to see him."
"Trinity, I want you to fully recover before I allow you to set foot outside... I let you go without recovering once, not again."
"Then call him in," Trinity suggested as she was taken towards her bed.
"Call him in? There's no was in hell, am I..." Martha began but was cut short by the doctor, "Ok."
"Elise, what are...". "If she wants to see him, then I don't have a problem with it." She turned to face her patient before saying, "Tell him to come in through your mindlink."
Trinity nodded as she tried, 'Tyrone, Dr. Elise says you can come in. I wanna talk to you'.
Sure enough, within seconds, in walked Tyrone, while the others stepped outside, giving them space.
"How are you?" Tyrone asked her, his eyes filled with guilt.
"I'm feeling much better," Trinity replied awkwardly. "How are you?"
"I'm much better now since you're ok. I was worried."
There was a long silence as neither of them knew what to say. For the girl, this was all happening so fast, and she wasn't used to dating, let alone with someone whom she had just met. For the guy, he didn't know if Trinity would accept him into her life, or even if she also felt their mate bond as strongly as he did. Being a hybrid, his mate might not feel their bond or understand the importance of it, but for a dragon, it meant life and death.
Tyrone didn't want to sound desperate or impatient, but he knew that if they didn't mark each other soon, they would have to be separated and most likely killed.
"So you wanted to talk," Tyrone broke the silence.
"Um... Yeah...I just... You know... wanted to know how you were..." Trinity clearly didn't know what to say. She wanted to know more about the mate bond thing, but she didn't really know how she felt about this guy. Should she ask him or ask Stacey? What if asking him gave him the wrong impression and makes him think that she was really into him?
"There's something else. I can sense it... You can ask me anything. I won't judge you, promise," Tyrone said as his dragon felt a tension in his mate's head.
There was something about the amber eyed guy in front of her that Trinity found herself attracted to. She knew she could trust him. "I wanted to know more about the mate bond thing... You know... Like, what does it actually mean? " she finally blurted out.
Trinity sat on her bed while Tyrone sat on a chair next to her. "Well, it's basically my dragon falling in love with your dragon," he began. "My dragon, Drake, caught the scent of your dragon, and since this dance is organized during the blooming of the aphrodisiac flowers, felt an instant attraction. He had never felt this way for any other female dragons before, so he knew you were the one."
"But I never felt anything..." Trinity looked at him in confusion.
"Your bond with your dragon isn't as strong, that's why. As you get more 'at one' with her, you'll feel this bond," Tyrone explained really calmly, as if he knew what she would be saying.
"You're not disappointed?"
Tyrone laughed, "Disappointed? No. I understand that you need some space to process everything. I remember when I had my first change. It came as a surprise because though my mom was a dragon, she never really told me about us, and it took me some time to process the fact that I'm a dragon who can breath out water. It almost caused a tsunami."
They both laughed, "Well, I burnt down an entire house," Trinity added as the laugher turned to sadness at the thought of whether her mom was able to remake the house.
"Shit happens. Whatever you do, don't lose hope."
"You're not as bad as I thought you were," Trinity said, remembering the first time they met.
"So you thought I was bad?" Tyrone asked in amusement.
"Oh... um.. Not really..." Trinity was at a loss of words here, and her mate smiled, thinking the same thing.
After hours of talking, they both realized that they had so much in common. They both liked slow music, romantic songs, and athletics. Both grew up in a house with their mom's, but never really knew what their mother's love was.
After staying in hospital for a few more days, Trinity was finally declared healthy enough and discharged by Dr. Elise. "Your warrior training must start now," she was informed by Tyrone.