[AU] Not in Kansas — Alternate Ending [Mouldy Jam]

[Boulder The Blabbermouth]

Canon Thread Origin :: Not in Kansas
Notes :: Starts from somewhere near the end of the canon thread. Going off a possible idea that while fun, would have been really stretching it in terms of keeping in-character. Anyways, let the AU begin, starting with a recap.

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'Ow... what? My head...' While the force he ran at the tree wasn't enough to knock him out for more than a few seconds, it was enough to make him forget what he was doing — at least for a time. He was lying on his back, on what felt like a mixture of dirt, stone and grass. He heard a clattering of metal nearby, but what caused it? All he knew was that he was in pain, but at least there was a warm breeze now — although it stunk terribly. It didn't smell like he was on a farm though.

Before he could think anymore he felt a warm wet sensation on his head which also smeared some of his forehead. This lifted his head enough for it to fall back with a soft thud. His eyes snapped open at this and found himself face to face with the face of a dragon. Slowly his brain pieced together the information.

'Yeah, I was gonna kill this beast...'

'... and then it tried to eat me...'

'...so I ran but then...'

'...'

'...'

'Wait a minute.'

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[ooc] AU Begins Here

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Gasping in shock he rolled out from under the head, towards the fallen weapon. As he reached to pick it up he froze. 'I should be dead.' He looked back at the beast, eyes wide in fear... and yet... "Why didn't you kill me?" He said this more to himself, the dragon wouldn't be able to understand him.

This was wrong. He should be dead. So... why? Maybe it was the adrenaline coursing through his veins, but he stood his ground. His eyes were searching the beast, for what he didn't know. An answer perhaps? Searching for it's true intent? Then he noticed something he didn't earlier.

"A... saddle?" Dragons didn't wear saddles. They couldn't, it was impossible. Yet there it was, plain as day on the dragon's back. Clearly he'd gone completely mad. Nothing made sense anymore. Here he was standing in front of a two headed dragon wearing a saddle of all things!

He wanted a better look but this was still a dragon, instead of moving closer he stepped to the side to get more of the saddle into his vision.

[Mouldy Jam]

Watching the boy roll away, Jam pulled his lips into a snarl. He was heading for his weapon again. He raised his head high and his jaws began to snap as sparks flew from between his teeth. Mouldy was still confused by the event, and actually picked up the boys speech. Blinking slowly he gurgled faintly and tilted his head to the side. Had the boy not noticed before? Then again sometimes even the Zippleback forgot about it, much to Bearhands distress when they came home with branches wedged under the straps and mud plastered all over it.

As the boy began to move, Jam wanted to follow and rotate as well. But something kept him firmly in place. Or perhaps, someone. Mouldy turned his head instead to keep the boy in sight. «He stopped.» Mouldy mentioned idly as his large eyes focused on the boy. Shuffling their wings a bit, to settle better against the straps Mouldy had already figured out what the boy was up to. Jam was still on the offensive however. «We shouldn't just stand here, what if he takes this as a chance to attack?! I can only bend my neck so far!» Each stop was punctuated by sparks spitting from him as the dragon desperately tried to get his other head to understand.

But Mouldy did understand. He understood the other side of the situation, the side Jam was missing. This wasn't some heartless murderer but a small curious boy trying to prove himself. And Mouldy couldn't bring himself to hate that. «Mouldy, come on, seriously.» Jam now sounded more urgent, and stressed. «I don't like this.» «Just, wait okay?» Mouldy kept his eyes focused on the child, pupils large and following his every move. The only movement from the dragon was Jam's constant weaving and bobbing, and the occasional shuffling of feet. Otherwise they remained still. Mouldy had a good feeling about this kid, Hysterian or not.

[Boulder The Blabbermouth]

The rest of the forest was eerily quiet as the young boy and dragon were locking eyes with each other, neither wanting to let their guard down. It was as if everything in the vicinity had decided to stop everything just to watch the scene unfold.

As he slowly circled around the dragon, he made sure to keep out of range of both heads. It also turned out that he wasn’t just seeing things. The saddle was still on the back of the dragon, no matter what angle he was staring from. As the wings moved once more, the dragon appeared to be easing up, except that one of the heads continued to spark.

For whatever reason the dragon wasn’t moving from it’s spot, even when he got directly behind it. "The heads can’t reach me from here…" He cautiously took a few steps forward, as if to make sure the saddle wouldn’t suddenly vanish. "…right?” Although he was currently out of range of the heads, the tails were another story. Not that he noticed.

He gulped. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. He began walking backwards to make his retreat, but nothing would have prepared him for what was next.