Turtledude's fanfic

Might change name later. Here's a fanfiction I might actually finish! Woah!

## Chapter One

Shadowhunter was, all in all, pretty bored with life. He was an animus: all powerful. He could get anything he wanted, at any time. He didn't want to be found out though, even if he *could* technically fix any problems that arose. His parents were really nice, and he didn't want them to be scared of him, or worse, try to capture him and deliver him to the queen, like they were supposed to. Shadowhunter didn't want to have to hurt them. So, that was why he had moved out yesterday. He had just become old enough, at least to his parents' standards. Now, he was on his own.

He knew that animi were especially feared, and for good reason, with their power. So it made sense the queen had put out all this propaganda about losing your soul or whatever. But he didn't feel anything bad when he used his powers, so he figured it was just propaganda. He was pretty good, moral-wise, he thought. He only used his powers for good, and he hadn't ever warped any dragons' free will or anything like that.

Shadowhunter arrived in a village. He was a bit hungry.. but he decided, hey, why not? He would try living like a normal dragon. He saw a market and went over to find some fruit, instead of just creating some of the perfect quality.

There was a small, female NightWing dragonet around his age, though way smaller. Granted, Shadowhunter was pretty bulky, so a lot of dragons his age would be considered smaller than him, but this NightWing in particular was pretty short, with a seemingly agile body.

She had tears in her eyes, being yelled at by a fierce-looking adult NightWing.

"But.. but.. I don't have any more!" she stuttered pathetically.

"THEN YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!!" the NightWing boomed angrily. "If you're not going to pay, GET OUT!!!"

This NightWing was named, of all things, Horace. Not Horacestriker, or NightHorace, but just Horace. His parents were.. interesting dragons, as some would put it.

"But.. last week it cost less! I should have enough..!"

Yeah. The queen had raised taxes. AGAIN. Horace already had to provide for his wife and kid, and was barely making enough. With the new taxes, he had to raise his prices so that he would still get enough income. Too bad for this dragonet, but he was not going to risk starving his family just for every little dragon that plays the pity card. She may have problems, but she would have to deal with those on her own.

"Again. Pay. Or GET OUT!!" he growled, glaring at the tiny dragonet.

The "tiny dragonet" was named Andromeda, and she was currently withering under Horace's gaze. She had lost her father when she was young, and now it was just her and her sick mother. She needed this fruit desperately. She was smaller due to lack of proper nutrition, not getting enough to eat for a dragonet her age.

She saw that this dragon was unswayable. W*hat's wrong with this guy?!* she thought to herself. *Just ONE FRUIT.* She resisted the urge to cry, and started picking up her stuff and walking away. *There are always jerks in the world.. this must be one of them.*

"HEY!!!" a voice yelled. Andromeda whipped around to the shout, and saw a fellow NightWing about her age. He was glaring at the shopkeeper with a determined look in his eyes.

Horace looked blankly at Shadowhunter, the one who had yelled.

Shadowhunter marched up next to Andromeda and Horace. He looked Horace in the eye. Horace looked back, a bit confused as to what was happening.

*I enchant my talon to have been holding coins this as soon as I walked in here, and for no other being besides myself to have noticed until right now. The coins are equal to double what that NightWing wants for the fruit,* Shadowhunter thought quickly. Then he held out the coins that had been in his talon since he had walked in here, which no other being besides himself had noticed until that moment.

"Here. I'll pay for it," he said. "Keep the change."

Horace looked at the coins in disbelief. This was twice as much as he was asking for, but.. he did need it. He shrugged, took the coins, and gave the fruit to Shadowhunter. "Thanks, kid," he said in a raspy voice, smiling.

Andromeda looked at Shadowhunter blankly as he took the fruit and now held it out to her with a grin.

She took it. "...Thanks," she said, still not sure why he would even do this. *He must also be rich, giving away that much money...or richer than me. Which isn't a very high standard to go over...hmm.* She smiled back at him as a way of saying thanks. He smiled back, and gestured for her to come with him before waving goodbye to Horace. Andromeda scowled at the big NightWing, and looked curiously back at Shadowhunter.

"Why bother giving him extra money? Or waving goodbye to him like that? He's a bad dragon!" she protested. He had refused to give her the darn fruit, when she had enough for it! At least by last week's price! He would have left her and her mother to *die*, just because of his greed, wanting more and more money for the same thing all the time!

Shadowhunter looked at the small NightWing walking beside him, grumbling about that shopkeeper guy. "A *bad* dragon, you say?" he asked, in clarification.

"Yeah!" she confirmed, wrenching her gaze away from Horace, who she had been glaring at.

Shadowhunter thought for a bit, and then answered, "I don't believe there are...bad, or good, dragons."

Andromeda cocked her head. "What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

He saw that she had likely given herself this idea that she was a good dragon, and that anyone who got in her way was "bad". Shadowhunter, though around the same age, was wiser and had seen more in his lifetime than her, and so recognized this as not the definite truth. Good and bad were subjective things.

”Don’t worry about it,” Shadow said with a smile. “My name’s Shadow,” he said, introducing himself. “What’s yours?”