Job Sixteen: 
Original Sin

        Raphael watched the chimera fiddle with the tassels on her shirt. They had managed to get clothing that fit her, and in a short period of time she had managed to learn a great deal of English. She was now fluent enough to converse with them in almost perfect English, and it had only been two weeks.

    Raphael had also noticed his sudden growth sprit. He had not believed Ahura when he said "You're getting heavy you know," until he had seen himself in a mirror. He had found it easier to get around as well, since he had more length he could slither a bit better. He hoped though, that he would not be slithering for much longer.

    "Is there something wrong?" Athena asked the gazing dragon.

    He blinked, *Oh, no. I'm just wondering why it's taking Ahura so long to get here. He said there was going to be a meeting with Rave soon, after he talked to his other contacts.*

    "He should hurry along," Athena said absently.

    *Why--* The dragon was interrupted by the opening and shutting of a heavy door. It looked like Ahura was home.

    The green haired boy slipped in. His cloths were drenched in sweat and he looked as if someone had run over his clothes with a tractor trailer. The thief flumped down on a dining room chair.

    Raphael slithered over to his feet, *What did you find out?*

    "Nothing good," Ahura Mazda sighed as he took off his over coat. He blinked at Athena, who had decided to make herself scarce. The thief shrugged, if she did not like seeing a shirtless man, it was up to her. "It turns out there are more of them."

    *More chimera?*

    Ahura nodded, "It was a pretty big experiment, and it was done by the same organization as the experiments that took place to alter me."

    Raphael blinked, *You mean you were normal once?*

    "Yes. I was a normal little boy once, and then those bastards made me what I am today." There was something bitter in Ahura's voice that Raphael had never heard. Raphael did not like it one bit.

    *Do you even know why they did what they did?*

    "No," Ahura whispered.

    *We're going to find out, aren't we?*

    Ahura nodded slowly.

    *Good!* The little dragon said happily as he sprung up on to Ahura's lap. The thief blinked in surprise.

    "When did you like sitting in my lap?"

    *Rather recently,* The dragon practically purred, *Ahura?*

    "What?"

    *When I get older will you teach me how to protect myself?*

    "I've been teaching you since you hatched, but if you want to learn something specific, I'd be perfectly willing to teach you."

    *Good.* Raphael said quietly to himself. He would need to learn a lot more if he wanted to protect his bondmate from those strange people. Ahura had no idea how important he actually was. That was the wyrm's biggest worry yet.

***

    Anghiari was sitting to his left, Raphael to his right. Rave was on the floor in a pool of blood. Asuka was besides the body crying. Ahura felt a sharp pain in his chest. This was not really happening, right?

    The thief slowly turned around to see two people who looked similar to him. They were both crying, and they were both reaching out to him. One said something, Ahura could only see their lips move. Why was this happening?

    Tears streamed down Ahura's eyes in his fitful sleep. He had been having constant nightmares for a good week and a half. Raphael had suggest numerous times to go to the doctor, but of course the thief had refused. They had increasingly become worse over the week.

    Raphael jerked awake from his bondmate's mental stress. *Another nightmare?* The wyrm slithered off of his low lying bed and over to his bond's. He could stab him again, like a few nights ago. But Ahura's reaction to that was a lot worse than him having a nightmare.

    The green haired young man started to breathe heavily. The wyrm tilted his head curiously and leaned forward.

    The thief jolted.

    The wyrm tumbled backwards, and hit the floor with a meaty thunk. Thankfully he had hit it the ground stomach first. He twitched as he sat in an upright position. That was the first time Ahura had every done anything violent in his sleep. The young Raphael looked up at his bond curiously. It was odd. Could other bonds not see their bondmate's dreams? Was Raphael the only one left in the dark?

    He jerked again, and began to trash.

    *ANGHIARI!* Raphael yelled with all his might.

    The assassin rushed into the room in her night wear. She stumbled as she saw the young man trashing around in his bed. Frantically, she made her way over and pressed the boy down into the bad by his arms so he would not hurt himself.

    Uncomfortably she was forced to straddle him to prevent him from punching her or something worse. "Damn it! Ahura! Snap out of it!"

    The boy was drenched in sweat. His breathing was labored, and he was still deep in sleep. The assassin had half a mind to call a doctor, but what would a doctor be able to do for him? He was not even normal by human standards anymore.

    The little dragon made frantic noises. It was getting worse, his bondmate was not coming out of his fitful sleep. *Gi! Help him!*

    "I can't," She snarled, "Why don't you try something?"

    *I-I-I'm to afraid that I might hurt him!*

    "He's going to hurt himself at this rate!" The assassin was all too right.

    Both the dragon's and the human's eyes grew wide as they felt a sudden breeze. Air pressure had suddenly started building in the room as Ahura struggled under Anghiari's weight. She would have leapt off, but she had no time to react.

    Something shimmering and silvery sprouted from under Ahura Mazda's back. The wind rose drastically and Anghiari found herself on the floor besides the bewildered dragon.

    Any loose papers that were not under things, anything that happened to be lighter than a small dragon, flew around the room. The heavy things clattered and the walls shook.

    The shimmering things seemed to form into wings, though they were still see through and far from true wings. The seemed to flicker as the wind became stronger, and Ahura shot upright in his bed.

    For a few long moments everything seemed to stop.

    With a loud clatter everything fell to the floor. The wind had died down, and Ahura had finally woken up. He fell backwards in his bed as the wings dissipated in the air.

    Raphael watched his exhausted bondmate hit his pillow with tears spilling from his eyes. Ahura had used magic, something that Raphael was sure did not existed in this world.

    *Ahura....?* The wyrm whispered quietly.

    The man turned his head to his bondmate and could only think the response. 'What?'

    *Please tell me you're going to be okay?*

    ' I don't know if I can promise that.'