I dropped my hand as I looked back at the Star Dragon. Two lights burned within him. One a sickly yellow, and another that felt like home.
“You have done us a great service, Sam of Dragons. You have sacrificed much. Your heart is as wild as it was the day Morgan of Shadows found you in the alley. And for that, we will bestow upon you one wish. Choose wisely, child, because once done, it can never be undone.”
I didn’t hesitate. “I wish—”
I GASPED as I opened my eyes.
The sky above was clear, the storm past. The stars shone brightly, David’s Dragon the brightest of all.
I sat up, groaning at the stiffness in my back. I looked to my left, where Ryan was grunting, blinking rapidly. “Did that really just happen?”
“I… think so? I mean, I feel like I’ve had the shit beaten out of me, so I—”
Myrin.
I looked toward where I’d seen him last in the alley.
He was gone.
I sighed in relief. “Fuck. Dude, I think we won.”
Ryan pushed himself up, his armor dented and scuffed. He picked up his sword and frowned at it. “I just stood in the presence of a god.”
“Yeah. Made a good impression too.”
“Shut up.”
“It was, like, my fourth or fifth time, so that’s why I was so smooth.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know if I’d call you smooth.”
“Bullshit. I’m awesome. I just totally saved the day and stuff.”
He snorted. “And stuff. Maybe you need to be reminded that it was me that stopped you from going all psycho villain.”
I grinned at him. “Because of your love for me. You saved me with the power of your love.”
“So dumb,” he muttered, but he was blushing, so I knew he was full of shit. “I don’t… what happened? In the end. I didn’t hear what you wished for.”
Oh fuck. “We gotta get to the castle!”
He blinked. “What? Why? What’s going—”
I stood up quickly, looking skyward. “Kevin!” I bellowed as my magic burst.
I heard the answering roar of a dragon.
“Huh,” I said. “I didn’t think that’d work. Neat. Why are you just standing there? We have to go!”
“I just helped you face down the biggest Dark wizard of all time. I think I’m allowed to stand still for a little bit—and what in the fucking fuck is that!”
I glared at him. “Look, just because you love me so much that you pulled me from the brink does not mean you get to—what in the fucking fuck is that!”
Sometimes in life, you see something so ridiculous that it immediately defies all logic and causes all the synapses in your brain to misfire at the same time. These moments are extraordinarily rare, and once seen, can never be unseen.
This was one of those moments.
Because above us, running on a bridge made of rainbows shooting from his horn, was Gary.
With Randall riding on his back.
And Tiggy.
Riding on Kevin.
“This might be the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” I breathed fervently.
The rainbow bridge began to spiral downward toward us, Gary running along it. There was a possibility that he was singing. Randall looked ill and annoyed. Kevin was spouting something undoubtedly overtly sexual toward his husband, and Tiggy was just screaming, “GWAAAAHHH.”
“I love them so hard,” I told Ryan.
“I don’t know why stuff like this still surprises me,” he said with a sigh.
The rainbow slammed into the ground moments before Gary’s hooves hit the stone of the alleyway. “Did you see that shit?” he demanded.
“Well,” I said faintly. “I do have eyes.”
“You’re damn right you have eyes. Not that you are going to have them for very much longer because I am going to stab them out of your face, you little bitch. How dare you have a secret plan behind my back to make me think you’d actually turned evil and then killed Ryan, only to bring him back to life in a plot so ridiculous, your brain should be studied long after you’re dead to figure out why it’s so deranged.” His eyes filled with tears as Randall slid from his back, muttering that he wanted no part of this.
“Oh no,” I said.
“Oh yes!” he wailed. “Do you know how much you’ve aged me in the last four hours? Do you know what wrinkles look like on a unicorn, Sam? Do you? Because if you did, then you would realize the extent of your betrayal.”
“We crying?” Tiggy asked, bottom lip wobbling as he jumped down from Kevin’s back.
“No,” I said, voice breaking. “Okay, maybe.”
And then I burst into tears, because if you can’t have a good cry with your best friends after saving the world, then when can you?
Tiggy wrapped Gary and me up in his arms, holding us close as we blubbered all over each other.
“Ow,” I sobbed at Gary. “Your horn just poked me in the cheek.”
“You deserve it,” he cried. “You know what? I’m going to make a secret plan of my own about something and only tell Tiggy!”
“I’ll tell you,” Tiggy told me, great tears dripping down his cheeks. “I’ll tell you, Sam.”
“What’s going on?” Kevin asked from somewhere behind us. “Why are they crying?”
“You should know by now that it’s better not to ask,” Randall said. “Besides, if we ignore it, it’ll be over quicker.”
“I’m sorry!” I wailed. “I just thought if you knew, you’d never let me go through with it.”
“You’re damn right we wouldn’t have,” Gary snapped, eyes suddenly dry. “Because it was stupid, just like you! What the hell were you thinking?”
“Hey! It worked!”
He blinked. “It did? Oh. Well, then.” He pulled away from Tiggy’s arms. “That’s good. Now that that’s over with, can we please talk about me? Did you see me running on a rainbow?”
“I did,” I assured him, patting Tiggy on the arm as I stepped away. “You’re the most preposterous thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Gary preened, puffing his chest out. “Right? I can’t wait to see what else I can do with this rainbow.”
“Like what, my love?” Kevin asked, keenly interested.
“I’m so glad you asked,” Gary said, prancing over to him. “Have you ever been to a bakery that had rainbow sprinkles on their pastries?”
“Ooh,” Kevin growled. “And what pastries would the sprinkles be on?”
“All of them,” Gary purred.
“Gods,” I said, trying hard not to gag. “It didn’t take long for him to ruin his horn for me forever.”
“I blame you for most of this,” Ryan said, looking green.
“Stop! All of you!”
We turned just in time to see a Dark wizard pop out from behind Kevin at the entrance to the alley. He looked a little worse for wear, what with the fact that his eyebrows appeared to have been singed off.
“Huh,” I said. “One must have escaped. That sucks.”
“Aha!” he cried. “I have bested Sam of Dragons! I will be the supreme Dark wizard. If only my father could see me now. You see, he never respected—”
And that’s when Gary stabbed him in the chest with his horn, pinning him against the wall. “You just bought a one-way ticket to Gore City, bitch,” he snarled.
Everyone clapped except for me. “My catchphrases are so much better,” I muttered. “That was just stupid.”
“Sam.”
As Gary began to bitch and moan about Dark wizard gunk on his horn, I turned to Randall. He looked tense and wary. “I….”
“Is it done?”
I didn’t know quite what to say. “He’s… the Star Dragon. He—consumed him. Myrin was….”
Randall nodded tightly. “And you’re all right?”
“I’m fine.”
And then Randall hugged me.
I was so surprised, I didn’t know quite what to do. My arms were at my sides and I couldn’t even think, much less reciprocate.
“Are you going to make this even more awkward?” he muttered against my shoulder.
“Uh. No. No, I’m not.”
And I brought my arms up and hugged him back.
It was good.
The best, really.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “For doing what you had to. For doing what I could not.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry. For not being able—I couldn’t—”
“I know,” he said. “But it was never about that. He made his choices. I’m just happy that you’re all right. Did he say anything else?”
“The Star Dragon?”
“Yes.”