Dahroth wrapped his arms around me to comfort me but I shrugged away from his touch. At a loss for words, I looked back and forth between both of our ceramic pods, baffled and bemused.

"I asked you a question," I said, my voice eerily calm as I barely contained the growing fire within. "What ... the fuck ... is this?"

He sighed. "It's a long story."

"I bet it is," I said with a scoff. "How long have both of us been locked up like rats in a cage? This time, I want the whole truth."

"You were in danger, Helena," he said, his voice half-frantic, half-angry. "The Gatál King wanted to use you ... to use both of us. Fire and ice. He could have subjugated the planet for eternity!"

"Why do I have your name?"

"Why do you think, you stupid girl?" he roared back as he clenched his fists. "You really aren't as clever as your draconic self, and it's not just youthful ignorance!"

"How ... long ... have I been here?"

"The Khatanese are coming," he shouted. "We don't have time for your human temper tantrums."

"If you keep stalling, we'll never return!"

"Why in Hades did you want to be thrown into this world as a Gatál child?" Dahlroth asked as he clenched his fists. "Your ignorance, your naivete, and your human stubbornness kill me."

"I can't answer that question because I don't know."

"Every day I have to stare at you and not ... touch you!"

He threw some device against the wall, and it smashed. I jumped away from him and put my hands on my hips.

"No one knows you're really here except me, your father, and your mother," he growled with impatience. "No one should have been able to open that door. I don't know how you did it."

"How long?"

Dahlroth sighed. "Ten years, like me."

"Ten years?" I exclaimed. "Prove it."

"What did you do for your twelfth birthday?" he asked. "How did you learn the Dragonborn dialect? When did you first meet Lena? How did you learn about your father's experiments?"

With a gasp, I realized I couldn't answer a single one of his rapid-fire questions.

Running back to the capsule, I stared at my true self. My beautiful reddish-black draconic skin was stretched over a slender and lithe frame. Angular and other, I was resting in perfect repose.

"You have the most beautiful yellow-green draconic eyes," Dahlroth murmured as he wrapped his arm around me. "I miss you ... your laugh, your mind, your touch. I never broke my draconic oath to you. No one ever touched me, not friend or foe, until you returned to me."

"I'm your mate," I breathed. "How long have we been together?"

"Eons," he whispered in my ear. "After the age of eighteen, dragons don't age--neither in their humanoid forms nor their draconic forms. We live forever unless someone rips out our hearts."

I turned to face him. "Eons?"

"I was desperate to save you, Khrysakh." He cupped my cheek in his palm. "Andreas and Moravia worked together to save us all. You can't hate us for trying to keep you from that mad king!"

My heart clenched at his words.

"Lord Darius serves the King so that I can protect you," he hissed, "One day Darius will kill him. My avatar guards you and Aurora night and day until it is safe to live as dragons once more."

"My mother is alive?" I exclaimed. "That's her?" I raced over to the pod--she looked nothing like Aurora de Grazia. "I watched her die."

"Did you, indeed?"

I thought back to my mother's passing--it wasn't like my father's. She turned into a hawk and vanished with a death cry. My father sank to the ground as his head fell with that sickening thud.

"Her avatar no longer functions," he continued, "but her true form is safe. I can reconfigure her--bring her back from death, as it were."

I walked over to my mother and saw her red draconic skin stretch over an inhumanly long, angular face covered in reptilian scales. She slept peacefully, and my heart gave a wistful twist.

"Mama?" I whispered. "You're my real mother, and you're alive."

Dahlroth turned me towards him, and his pupils dilated as he stared at me.

"If you leave now, you and your friends will fight the Khatanese hordes, and the wraith will exact his revenge. But we will all be safe."

He took my hand in his. "If you wake me ... if you dare to wake yourself, we can stop them, but I can no longer protect you. If we fall on that battlefield, we will truly die."

"I--"

"There's more," he whispered. "If we succeed in our true forms, we have to run. We run as far as we can from here. We'll never be safe. People will constantly hunt us for our power."

"Do the other trainees have avatars too?" I asked. "Will they wake up again if they fall?"

"No, Helena," he whispered. "Only the people in this room here have avatars."

"You're asking me to let them die," I hissed. "How could you?"

"To protect you? Me? Your mother?" He tucked a wayward strand behind my ear. "Yes, I would."

Unshed tears burned in my eyes. "How can you make me choose?"

"Because I have no choice," Dahlroth said, his voice filled with passion. "I made a draconic oath to you to keep us safe. The trainees' deaths would pain me, but my bond with you is stronger."

"What would you have me do?"

"Delete my Shadow avatar--that's the only way you can kill Lord Darius--and let your friends fight the hordes. Trust them and their training, and then live out your life in peace."

"But what about you?" I insisted. "If I delete Lord Darius, how can I be with you?"

Dahlroth closed both of his eyelids slowly. "You can't," he said in a husky voice. "I have to stay in the secret garden and protect us. That is the sacrifice we have to make."

"No!" I shouted as I grabbed his arm. "I won't put my friends at risk and lose you, too. You ask too much of me."

"You didn't even know I existed until now."

My heart clenched. "Yes, but my soul knew. Our souls found each other from the moment I could access my magic--your true soul showed me the way. I know that now."

"Khrysakh," he said in a gentle voice as he stroked my hair. "Don't do this--your real form wouldn't want that. You know you should go back and let me keep our true selves safe."

"There's another way," I breathed.

He pulled back and narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"Come with me and fight them off," I whispered. "Then you can return here. I have the key. If I can open the door, I can close it again. Your avatars will return like nothing ever happened."

"You can't know that for sure!"

"But it's worth a try, isn't it?"

"Khrysakh, please ..."

"Let me try, Dahlroth! You said it was my choice, and I have the key, so let me decide."

"What if I forget everything?" he asked, gripping my shoulders.

"That won't happen. I've talked to your soul much too often for that to happen."

Walking over to the console, I lifted the medallion. My heart twisted, and I exhaled a deep breath.

Am I doing the right thing?

"Honor and devotion, Khrysakh!" Dahlroth said to me as he clenched his fist over his heart and bowed his head to me.

"Honor and devotion, Dahlroth," I said as I returned the gesture.

Ramrod straight, he stood as he waited to disintegrate. With a tentative touch, I pressed the medallion to the pad, and a resounding beep echoed in the dark chamber.

"Goodbye, Helena," Dahlroth whispered as his avatar faded before me.

I looked up at the console, and both avatars turned red. The ceramic pod clicked open, and a whirring noise slowed to a standstill. Reaching into the capsule, I removed all of the attached cables, and Dahlroth flinched in his sleep.

"Shh," I whispered to him. "You're okay."

"Wkhakh bakh ekh?" he groaned as he opened his eyes.

"I can't understand," I whispered. "Can you speak the Common tongue?"

His reptilian pupils dilated when he saw me. "Khe-le-nakh?"

The guttural pronunciation of my human name made me smile. "Dahlroth?"

"Helena!" he exclaimed as he stumbled out of the pod. His knees wobbled, and I caught him in my arms. "Give me a moment, Khrysakh. I feel beside myself."

I supported his weight until he rested against the wall and sank to the ground with a groan. I took his hand, and pins and needles tingled on my skin at the bite of his frost.

"You did it, Khrysakh," he muttered as he rested his head against my shoulder. "You did the right thing by waking me."

"The others are gone?" I asked with a hint of trepidation.

He tapped his temple. "I can sense them up here. Lord Darius and Dahlroth the Protector ... they are both parts of me, the dark and the light."

"Will you come with me and help us? Are you strong enough?" I asked, furrowing my brow as I watched perspiration bead on his forehead.

"Do you have the emergency kit Axa packed for you? She can give me a shot to revive me."

"How do you--"

"There's no time--can't you hear her? Help me up!" he commanded as he struggled to his feet.

"Hear what?"

Just as I asked the question, Axa's disembodied shout echoed in the chamber.

Damn it to Hades, Helena, wake up! They're coming!

___

A/N: Thank you for reading. Let's give Dahlroth and Helena a vote--poor souls have been through so much! Oh, my gosh, what was that?! Read on to find out what happens! :D

Bear with this extremely raw draft--I jotted all my ideas down in a flurry of fingers across keys, and I'm well aware that this needs substantial editing. :D I plan to do that over the next few days.

If you see something that's off or even a really dumb mistake, please feel free to point it out as it will be quite useful in the upcoming editing phase. :D