'As soon as the boys find out- Why didn't you try to talk to me through thought? Can't you do that?'

Snort.

'But... What happened to Salt? How did this happen to you?'

...Growl-Snort.

'Alright, touchy subject.'

It had been about an hour since Vik had found out that Lachlan wasn't dead, and was actually the dragon, and since then they'd just spent their time on the plateau trying to figure out what had actually happened. Very fun.

'Is there any way for you to talk to me apart from snorting, or burning the ground?'

He seemed to focus for a second, before letting out a dull snort and nudging Vik's arm. This either meant "no", "I'm sleepy", or both. Probably both, in this case, as the Brit could see his friend was growing tired 'Hey, if you need to rest then go ahead. We can get back to the guys tomorrow, and try and explain to them then.'

Lachlan nodded his draconic head, nudging Vik again as the human sat down before resting his head on the mocha-skinned boy's lap. Letting out a quiet sigh of content his eyes finally closed, and as he nuzzled the short male Vik found himself petting the smooth scales atop his head.

'Get some sleep, buddy, you've been through a lot...'

+++

Vik didn't remember falling asleep, but found himself waking in the middle of the night. The waxing moon was high in the sky, silvery light falling upon the mountains. A group of five birds flew silently above the two, and in a half-asleep state Vik slowly realized that his legs were pinned under Lachlan's large tail.

"Ugh, seriously dude?" Carefully shoving the dragon's limb away, the Brit stood and stretched before looking around. It was a clear night really, with the occasional cloud, but he could still see the stars.

With all of the light pollution from torches and lamps at home, he never truly got to appreciate the bright balls of gas that were dotted throughout the night's sky. Here, in the silent mountains, he could see all of the constellations he'd learned about in school.

'Wow...' His eyes shone with delight as he craned his neck back to see hundreds - no, thousands, millions even, of stars twinkling above.

It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Lachlan had been awoken after the loss of heat that Vik's departure had brought. Picking himself up from the ground, he quietly padded his way towards his friend 'Ahnok, los hi bek?'

Even if Vik had heard him, he wouldn't be able to understand. Somehow, his native tongue had converted to that of the Dracon. He settled for joining the Brit's side, taking note of how easy it would be for one of them to fall and tensing incase it did happen.

'Oh hey Lachy, did I wake you up?'

'Nid, Zu'u nunon ofaal krah.' Wincing at the almost pitiful look that he gave him, Lachlan shook his head and curled himself up into a ball. He hated not being able to talk - Well, not being able to talk without people understanding him, anyway.

'What's wrong?' Lachlan just snorted, lightning-blue orbs observing the skies around them as they fell to silence once more. After a few minutes Vik let out a quiet yawn, leaning against the dragon as he lifted a wing to provide shelter.

'We're going to... To find a way to fix this, I promise.' The dragon internally smiled, while externally just pulled Vik close with his wing to reduce the risk of falling. Once he heard that his friend's breath had evened out, and fell limp against his side, the hybrid carefully carried him back to the alcove-like area before settling back into their previous position.

"...Am I even classed as a hybrid anymore? I mean, I can't speak any language apart from this, and I can't change back to a human... All this stuff's seriously tiring, my Lords. I should probably stay awake, incase-"

Lachlan was out before he could finish his thought.

+++

'-hear you!'

'Well I'm sorry if I'm panicking, that thing could have - It just moved!'

'No dip, Sherlock, it's alive.'

'...Who the fudge is-'

'Shush, it doesn't matter. What we need to do is tell Marina that we found it, she'll know what to do.'

Growling softly as the annoyingly loud voices pierced his dream, the dragon cracked one eye open to see a group of four people peeking over the edge of a nearby ledge. Unable to recognise them in the bright sunlight, it picked it's head up off of the stone and tried to get a closer look and the possible threat.

'IT'S SEEN US OH GODS WE'RE-'

'Jerome, you're literally going to make it go deaf. You could scare it!'

'It could kill us!'

'Dude, shut up - PRESTON!' The weirdly orange one of the group appeared to slip, before managing to hold onto the ledge at the last second while the dragon padded over, curious of the newcomers.

'Preston, buddy do not move, I'm going to help you up in just a second, you just gotta hold on.'

The human side of Lachlan's mind clicked into control, and within seconds he knew who the people were - They were his friends, why would he even attempt to hurt them?

'It-It has Vik, oh my-'

'Calm down, it's fine, just curious.' He stood on his back legs, reaching up and taking the back of Preston's hoodie in his teeth and lowering back down to the floor. The remaining three held their breath to see what he would do next, thinking that it was the end for their friend; Rob couldn't bare to watch.

Safely setting the Texan onto the stone ground, he turned back to check on Vik who was starting to wake up very, very slowly.

Preston cautiously crept to the groggy Brit's side, shaking his shoulder to wake him up faster while keeping his eyes on the reptile watching them humorously 'Vik, you've got to get up like right now.'

'Ugh... Why?'

'The dragon's right there, you pleb - How are you still alive?!'

Bewildered, the teenager's half-asleep gaze kept switching between his lava-skinned friend, the dragon, and the trio (one of which had his face hidden in his hoodie). After a few seconds a wide grin made itself onto his face, and he began to laugh as he stood up and walked towards the reptile 'Did you scare them?'

'Vik - what the- You're literally going to die!' That just made him laugh even more, with Lachlan giving the dragon's equivalent of a giggle while the clueless four watched on.

'Has he gone mad?'

'The dragon doesn't seem to be hostile... Oh Rob, Preston's fine.'

'Vik, what are you doing with - With that thing?! It killed Lachlan!' Sensing the reptile figuratively deflate behind him, Vik turned and ran a hand along Lachlan's long neck while giving the others a disappointed look 'Lachlan has feelings too y'know, just because he's a dragon doesn't mean he doesn't have emotions.'

'Hold up - What.'

The British boy nodded slightly, keeping his hand on the dragon and watching the remaining three climb down before he continued. 'He might've tried to explain himself earlier but... You can't understand him. Neither can I, actually, care to demonstrate?'

'Dukaan nau hin, dukaan nau hin ragnavir ahrk dukaan nau hin boz.' He growled quietly, nudging Vik before laying down next to him with an unhappy sigh. The first to make an approach was Rob (after making numerous checks to see if Preston was alright) who walked forwards and cautiously knelt by his side.

'Hey bro, are you okay?' To tired to make any kind of response, he just blinked a few times before nudging Vik's hand once more.

'You literally woke up like ten minutes ago, how're you tired already?' Pulling his tail into his side, the dragon let out a loud yawn/roar before tucking his head under his wings. 'Oh come on, Lachlan, you absolute jag.'

'Is he alright?'

'I think he feels bad for scaring us yesterday, and since he can't talk to us I can't figure out what else is wrong... His Mum might know what's up.'

'Speak of the devil and she shall appear, apparently. Hey Mrs. Power!' Jerome called the woman over as her head appeared from the side of the alcove. Letting out a sigh of relief when she saw the group, she made her way over with her team in tow while making a beeline for the dragon.

She took one look at the reptilian creature and smiled softly, crouching down and caressing his head to get him to move 'Hey Lachy-Dachy, wake up honey.'

Apart from the low rumble, he made no acknowledgment that she was there. Pulling a face, she gestured for the boys to move away before grabbing ahold of his golden horns and literally dragging him out of the shelter of his wings. He growled at her, but made an attempt to stay awake while she inspected his eyes.

'Huh, that's weird. Lachlan, sweetie, can you tell us what's happened?'

'He can't talk. He can speak some weird language that Kenny or Harvey have probably heard of, but I haven't been able to understand him since we got here.' Vik explained dully, going to move forwards before Marina waved him away.

'Looks like some kind of forced shift, but... Unless the entirety of his DNA was altered, it shouldn't be- Vik, how long have you been here with him for?'

'All night, why?'

'That was very dangerous, Vikram. Due to the shift he could have lost control and attacked you in the night- That's most likely what happened to Salt.'

'But he's alright now! He's just stressed out because he can't talk to - Lachlan?' He attempted to push himself up but fell back into his previous position, letting out a quiet whine as the Brit rushed to his side 'Woah buddy, it's okay, I've got you.'

Something was telling him to pay attention to Lachlan's eyes, and he watched at swirls of crimson and gold attempted to take over the blue. He moved and kept his hands on the dragon's face, staring right into his eyes and running his thumbs over the curved horns atop his head 'It's alright buddy, it's okay, just focus on my voice.'

"Hurts."

"Lachlan?!"

"Vik?"

"I can hear you! I've been so worried oh my Lords, what's happening to you?"

"I-I don't know, it's - Something's telling me to hurt, me to hurt you but I can't, I just can't and it-" He let out a low whine, dipping his head while shuddering. "It's what made me hurt Salt."

'Guys, we have a problem. Whatever's hurting Lachlan - It's almost some kind of voice, like it's trying to control him.'

'I thought you couldn't communicate?' Mitch asked, seemingly over the shock that his friend was currently a full-blown dragon. Vik hesitated and looked back at the group, trying to figure out a better way to explain the situation.

Thankfully, Brandon managed to do it for him. Somehow.

'Because of the way Lachlan's DNA was altered, his brain's trying to figure out if he's full dragon or hybrid, possibly even a hundred percent human. That's why his eyes keep changing.' The slime announced as he joined the trio. 'Whatever - Possibly even whoever - did this, they knew exactly what this would do.'

'Is there a way to stop it, or change it?'

Flicking with his spellbook at an almost inhuman pace, Harvey narrowed his eyes at the blur of pages before slamming his hand down on one page 'I got it! If I'm correct, then this is reversed by another spell and not a potion. It's complex, but... Yeah. This should change him back, and if it doesn't it'll get rid of whatever's controlling him.'

'Is it safe?'

'Pretty safe. Marina, are you okay with me doing this?'

'If it stops whatever's hurting Lachy then do it.' The woman had backed away to watch as Vik and her son had their moment, quickly agreeing to this new plan - Anything to help her son. She was just like that.

'Alright, Vik? You're gonna have to stand back for this...'