Chapter 189 - 2.66 First Flight
Scarlet flapped her little wings as hard as she could, slowly rising from Pride's shoulder. She concentrated her hardest and started moving awkwardly towards Ignis. Leila switched back to her dragonness form, inside of Ignis' flames so no one could see her.
"There is a nursing blouse in my back pocket for you my love."
"Thank you Iggy. I love you very much." She said while pulling it out and throwing it over her bare body.
Leila stepped out of the fire and Pride looked shocked. She turned away and focused her attention at her little girl flying for the first time.
"Come on baby! You can do it." She cheered, no longer focusing on her anger, but on her beautiful silly, struggling baby trying her hardest to fly to her and Ignis.
Scarlet started to lose a little bit of her vertical height but flapped her wings harder and continued moving clumsily toward her parents.
"Should I give her some fire, she looks tired and she's only half way?"
"Yes, that would probably be a good idea, I can shoot her a fireball actually."
Pride saw the little dragon struggling and extended a long metallic rod toward her for her to perch on for a moment.
"Fire!" Scarlet said.
"Woah, I think she understands the telepathic vs regular speech thing already." Kory said.
"Mythological beasts are just on a different playing field than us Koda."
"Agreed. She already understands and knows when to think to talk and when to belt out her little roar." He laughed.
Leila shot several small fireballs out of her mouth toward Scarlet, who ate each one. She burped and smoke flew out of her nose.
"Alright little one. Get over to mom and dad, I'm going to let your little perch go."
Scarlet flapped her wings determinedly and when the metallic rod left, she started flying a little more quickly and less awkwardly toward her parents. When she finally landed in Ignis' arms, she sat happily in the flames.
"Great job baby! That was an amazing first flight! You're only a day old and you can already fly, who's a good girl?" Leila said while kissing her baby repeatedly.
"Mama! Dada! Fly!" Scarlet said while absorbing the heat from Ignis' body. She was snacking on his fire.
"She really just flew about 50 feet at a day old. That's incredible!" Jax cheered.
"Great job Scarlet!" Xander said while clapping.
"Thank you for Pride, that was helpful." Leila said in a mildly angry tone.
"Just helping the little one catch her breath. Flying cannot be easy." He said calmly, before turning to walk away.
"I don't forgive you, but I will treat you with the respect I treat everyone in this party," Leila added.
"That is perfectly acceptable to me. Thank you." He said while walking inside.
Ignis and Leila teleported with Scarlet to their room, where they cuddled in bed as she snacked on her father's fire.
"She's going to grow up so fast, Leila! She did so well today. How are you feeling? I'm sure that wasn't easy seeing him.
"I'm upset I hurt Brie's feelings. She was right, the entire time but I was blinded by rage."
"I'm sure she'll get over it." Ignis laughed. "It was nice seeing your fierce side… It was kind of sexy."
They looked down and noticed Scarlet was peacefully sleeping, cuddled between the two. Leila picked her up gently and spooned with Ignis and allowed his flames to engulf both of them. Scarlet adjusted herself on a pillow, wiggled her little tail and laid her head back down, exhaling deeply, smoke flying out of her little nostrils. Before long, the three were sleeping peacefully.
*****
Levi and Sasha were enjoying their honeymoon on the boat adventure and were currently scuba diving in the middle of the giant lake off the shore where their wedding was. They were admiring different tropical colored fish and noticed some seahorses floating quickly away from a large octopus that was in the area. The octopus laid lazily, hiding from other predators and was no threat to the school, which made Levi and Sasha smile.
They continued their dive for another hour before finally returning to the surface, swimming toward their boat.
"Well, looks like Pride is a member of the party and Scarlet had her first flight! That's pretty exciting stuff." Levi boasted.
"Yes, it is, but I'm glad I'm out here in the middle of nowhere with you." Sasha said as she removed her goggles from her eyes and placed them on top of her wetsuit.
"This has been amazing. We've done so many fun, romantic things! I've never gone diving like this before. Does your family always do this and how many boats do they have?"
"Yes, we did it growing up, well, while I grew up I should say. Lionel was already 99 when I was born. It was kind of weird if I'm being honest that our birthdays were so close and he was exactly 100 years older than me."
Sasha laughed. "Well, I was literally dying in a hospital bed when Soren showed up and convinced my mom and dad to let me become a vampire. I was 18, so I could have decided for myself, but he was so insistent that he had their blessing. I miss them sometimes."
"What were they like? Your birth parents I mean."
"They were great parents and I was an only child so they treated me like I was their entire world. My dad took a second job when I got sick so my mom could stay with me and watch over me. I was sick for two years and it really got bad after I turned 18."
"I can't even imagine. It looks like the gods looked over you and put the exact people in your life, when you needed them most. Funny how fate works in that way."
"Do you really believe that? I just thought of it as vampires were always noble creatures who never hunted humans and had this super noble, virtual aura about them. They were something larger than life, a being I would never become."
"Of course I believe in fate, why do you think you, Brie and Sora showed up to Hell's gate that night. I never told you, but that was going to be my last night before I tried to clear the dungeon myself. I'm glad you showed up or I would have been a dead Uthra!"
"But the gods and goddesses can't interfere with the races of any Universe, so how can fate exist?"
"That is an amazing question that I wish I knew the answer to, it's something I believe in. Let's get out of this water and take a shower. Do you want to stay on the boat tonight or stay at that house Celeste built us?"
"The house please. It's so comfortable and cozy. Do you think we could live there some day?"
"I would love nothing more." Levi said while kissing Sasha.