To love you as you wane.

"Is it possible to love something that is merely a memory?"

"My darling dearest, you already do."

⚔

Once upon a midnight song, a beast learned to love as a man. The fairytales painted him as he was: a greedy dragon, hoarding anything that shines bright enough to catch his eye. But the dragon found himself wondering one day, as he stared at the moon above him in the sky. It had no luster, and it was dressed in a glow far poorer than silver, so why did it catch his eye so much? He watched it for several days from his throne room amidst a sea of gleaming gold. And yet, even as he drowned in the rare riches of his castle, he found himself unable to close his eyes in the presence of the moon.

He discovered that it could dance and gracefully so. Some called it waning, but he preferred to refer to it as though it was a twirling figure in the ballroom. He found himself smiling. That's what the humans called it, right?

One night, however, he found that the moon was no longer in the sky. It had disappeared amongst the clouds, like a mere wisp in a thousand, humming breezes. He felt wronged for such an atrocity. Who would dare to steal from the infamous dragon himself? He told himself it was merely his pride that was hurt, that only his reputation bore the scratches. But it wasn't, gods, it wasn't.

In his haze of heartbreak and confusion, the dragon raced up to the heavens, carried by his mighty wings that spurned the clouds like mere rolls of silken thread. He pushed past the sparking beams of the stars that tempted his sights, but he had only one goal: to find the moon.

Soon, at last, the dragon had found it. Or, he had found 'him' if one wishes to be accurate. He was a prince, the beautiful kind. Lying between cushions of feathers and clouds, a dim halo over his head that flickered as he slept. The prince was deep in his slumber, peaceful, content, and blissful. Things the dragon had never felt.

The dragon had never been so gentle, but it felt as though a thousand heroes were guiding his hands as he roused the sleeping prince awake. "Dear Prince, open your eyes. The world below awaits your dance, and we worry for your absence." The prince opened his eyes dreamily, his head rearing with a dreary manner. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "I am not able to dance for you now, dear dragon. I have been dancing every night with the cheering stars, and I have grown tired. Allow me this rest, and I shall dance better when I awake."

The dragon would have demanded, but it felt like a crime to even think about raising his voice. Not getting what he wanted, for once, felt fair and sweet. How utterly strange, indeed. Instead of leaving, the dragon chose to guard the prince as he slept. Nothing in the gloom dared to challenge his mighty heart, and none stepped forward to try for a battle. The prince awoke, and the dragon watches him dance every night without fail. When the storms became reckless, the dragon shielded the prince with his wings. When the north winds blew too hard, he buried his feet in the clouds and held the prince under his arms. When the robins began to sing their songs in autumn, both of them knew that they had fallen in love.

Though they knew not of his name, they only knew of what it felt.

The sun, however, was not pleased with their union. "You are a danger to my brother. He is gentle. He is elegant. You are merely a beast that can not do the same." The prince of daylight was stern and stoic, his temper as fiery as the blazing forgeries of the blacksmiths. With arrows that carried golden sails, the white-armed prince shot the dragon down, sending him straight into the raging seas. The dragon's wings were skewered and burned, the woven, webbed flesh smothered by smoke. As he fell, he cried with a promise, one he would not but cherish nonetheless.

"I will love you even as you wane for me. You carved something out of a beast, and one day, I shall return the favor."

And he fell. He forgot how to breathe and forgot how silver shines under a light. He forgot the face of his darling prince and everything about him. But he never forgot how to be human, for he never forgot how to love.

The seas are often cruel. She is an unforgiving mistress who devours even storms. But she was kind when the dragon fell. She even reshaped his ashes. His wings were turned to fins, his hardened scales into shinier, thinner ones, like a fish. She made it so that he ed how to breathe and how silver gleams, but she could not make him the face of his lover forlorn.

Even now, the dragon still loves the moon. He waits along shores and riverbanks, staring unblinkingly at the sky. His heart would beat, and he would love, and he would rejoice when the moon dances across beams of frozen stars. He did not know why, but he loved the moon as it appeared, but he loved it more as it waned.

⚔ AUTHOR NOTES:

Finally, it is finished! I based the dragon off of the Bakunawa, a filipino mythical creature that aims to devour the moon. It was originally a story about greed, but what if it was also spun into love? What if the dragon from the fairytales learned how to love as human? What if it was the prince who wept in the end, and not the dragon who was slain? I also based Reef (the dragon) off of crocodiles because.. well, they're cool. Also, additional fun fact, Reef likes hiding in rivers because they're smaller, and it makes him feel safe. He hides under his tail, which makes him look like a big banana leaf. :3 #mermaymerslay

⚔ PROOF: