"Damn it!"

"Haley? What's goin' on?" The voice of her older brother's female friend asked her.

"They're chasing me," said the she-dragon as she ran down the New York street.

"Well, considering you just tossed the three of them into the Hudson via old fishing net, I'm not surprised." The tell-tale sound of the last of a soda being sucked through a straw came through the earpiece.

Haley made a mental note to enforce the 'No Eating While On-Duty Unless It's Absolutely Necessary' rule more when she saw Spud. Speaking of which… "They shouldn't have been breaking the rules!"

"Oh, come on – is stealing an apple all that bad?"

Both Haley and Trixie gave an eyeroll at the man's cluelessness. "When an apple is stolen from an elven clan - " Haley began.

"I can finish this one, hon'," Trixie said, "You just focus on getting' away from the trolls."

Haley didn't bother to answer and started beating her wings more frequently to increase speed.

"Elf tribes are especially protective when it comes to their plants because elves are actually quite close to birds and since birds live in trees, they have a soft spot for trees. While they cannot fly, elves are especially fast and light – they can leap cliffs and things like that. Stealing from their trees is like taking stuff from a human's house. Fruit is especially valuable, for obvious reasons." Trixie recited.

"Hey, you're getting pretty good at remembering things like that," Spud commented.

"No thanks to you," muttered Haley under her breath.

"There she is – split up!" A just-barely nasal voice called behind her. She was glad that her brother had told her about his experience with trolls, otherwise she would have tried her fire… That wouldn't have ended well.

Haley gasped and started beating her wings harder, her breath becoming more ragged and out of control. "When will they give up?" She asked, not bothering to keep pace with her flying anymore.

"There's still an hour 'till dawn – you've gotta keep going!" Spud's voice became more urgent, abandoning the laid-back tone he'd been using.

"Damn it!" Haley flew upwards, deciding to risk being seen, and began using her arms and legs to assist her, running up buildings and grabbing onto the unsteady bottoms of fire escapes. She got halfway over the ledge of the roof before she was grabbed by the throat and forcibly lifted away from the wall. The troll doing so grinned nastily; over his shoulder, she could see two more climbing up the opposite wall's fire escape. She struggled against the male's grip, trying to get enough air to hack a fireball at her captor; the pressure on her throat increased.

"Don't think you can wiggle your way out of this one, fireworm," he breathed, exhaling breath rancid enough to dizzy her.

Home. She just had to get home. Their townhouse had enough wards to keep out the entire group. Determined to throw off her captor, she clawed at him, but her dragon form wasn't as big as Jake's and she couldn't wrap her tail around his arm. Black spots were appearing in her vision.

She couldn't feel the troll's hands anymore.

She couldn't even feel her de-transformation.

[-M-]

Jake Long, American Dragon, inhaled deeply. He wasn't quite sure why, but the first place he'd ended up in was the Magus Bazaar.

All of the stalls had remained as they did in the day, as if all the people just up and left, though his new, improved Eye of the Dragon revealed enchantments weaved over the shops and stands to prevent thievery. It wasn't eerily quiet, however. Crickets chirped, the paper streamers and metal chimes made noise as the breezes stirred them and some conversation spilled out into the street from the apartment buildings that many shops were built out of.

His goal was one of these. Quietly, he made his way over to No. 18, checking the sky with immense paranoia, and, finding it sufficiently safe, knocked. After a few moments, the door opened. Jasmine, blissfully free of scales or glowing red eyes, smiled at him.

Throughout his travels, she'd been the only person he'd spoken to in New York, simply because she'd had the least contact with his family and friends while still being a part of the magical community – and he could trust her not to exploit his absence. She'd moved into the apartment of her family friends after they'd moved out and became available for keeping him in-the-know about NYC's magical community (and his family) since then.

He gave a nervous smile, eyes fixed on the stone around her neck – designed to surpress her transformation – and stepped inside, placing a kiss on her cheek and saying 'Hi' in return for one from her. She took his coat and sauntered into her kitchen, putting a kettle of tea (personally, he preferred energy drinks, but his grandfather had made him drink enough of the stuff to tolerate it) on and cranking up the heat.

As she moved around, taking out convenience-store cake and cheap mugs with XOXO and World's Best Sister written on them, he searched for what he'd brought her from Oklahoma – a small figurine that had been shaped to bring good dreams, a luxury he knew she didn't have often.

"How was your trip, Jake?" she smiled, eyes becoming softer, "Or, should I say 'how were your travels?'"

"It depends on what you want to mean," he replied, looking into his tea.

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly, "I mean, what did you find out? Do you think you're ready to come home yet?"

He cracked a smile, "Yeah, I think so. I went all over the Midwest this time. Brought you this," he gestured to the figurine, trying to pretend the dent in the brass woman's skirt was supposed to be there, and not the result of careless handling. "It'll make you sleep better."

She blinked a thank you, "Yeah. The pills help with the transformations, but not with the nightmares."

"I figured."

"Mm."

She took a gulp of her tea and he mirrored her, unable to help himself from making a face at the bitter flavor. She giggled and pushed his slice of German Chocolate cake at him, smile become more pronounced when he took and immense forkful and ate it by wrapping the Tongue of the Dragon around the entire thing and pulling the fork out of his hand and into his mouth with that alone.

The clock struck eleven-thirty. Jasmine gave him a significant look.

He raised an eyebrow. "Now? It's too early. Or too late."

"Well, you're not sleeping on my couch. Or in the park," she said, the tone showing itself. He didn't answer. She sighed, tracing the rim of her mug with a well-manicured finger, "I heard about some trolls causing trouble with an elf clan last night. The new American Dragon is probably dealing with them – " she froze, staring at the space Jake had occupied.

"That's not even funny," she said to the empty room.

[-M-]

"Are you alright?" a voice said to Haley, brushing her hair out of her face and shifting underneath her.

She quickly opened her eyes and sat up…only to find herself in the lap of one very attractive guy. He smiled at her, tucking the lock of hair he'd been playing with behind her ear.

"I saw you get mugged," he explained as she got off his lap, "Didn't think it was possible for a dragon to need help against trolls. But, hey if it's one this cute, anything's possible." He leaned in from his laid-back stance to place a peck at the corner of her mouth, causing Haley to draw back. He was almost too perfect. It was like she was falling into him…

"Get away from her!"

Both teens jumped apart, turning towards the source of the yell and finding the snarling, red maw of one very pissed male dragon. Taking that as his cue to leave, the boy slunk out of sight, his figure melting into his shadow, which then ran away. Haley watched the beast.

"Jake?" she asked.

Anger melting away, the creature nodded, completely off-guard when the slight girl flew at him, still looking human, and throwing punches like a Gatling gun. Together, they flew over the edge of the building, still struggling, even as the dragon wrapped his strong tail around the girl and lifted higher into the air.

"You bastard!" she screeched, kicking him and scratching at every part of her brother she could reach, even as the sharp scales cut into the skin exposed by her skirt and short sleeves, "You sick bastard!" Used to struggles in the air, Jake kept flying, even as she grappled for his wing and attempted to snap it with her (weak) force.

"Do you know how much time mom spent crying over you? Dad found out about the secret, of course, how could we not tell him when I started sneaking out and breaking into buildings and lying to everyone?!" Haley said, sobs now making the words completely unintelligible and erratic, "And to top it off, there's that shit with the Matutinus!" she finally collapsed against him fingers still scratching at his armor, though they were doing a better job of smearing blood all over him than anything else, what with the excellent defense his hide had.

Jake faltered in his flying, carefully setting them down on a quiet, nondescript street and taking her hands in his, taking her fingers and uttering a healing spell before giving the same treatment to the scrapes on her thigh and the bruising around her neck, though it only cleared it up a bit. The girl finally collapsed, burying her face into his shoulder, ignoring both the unfriendly feel of the leather against her face and the frenzied apologies he was stuttering.

"And you know the worst thing? If you'd just been there, even for a bit, you would've fixed it all. No problem. That's what you do," she said, finally turning her face away and returning his embrace, "Even now – I mean, I hate you, but this…" she squeezed tighter to make her point, "…this is just about the only good thing that's happened since you left. You coming back."

"I'm sorry," he said again, hand awkwardly moving over her hair and back – which was probably bruised, he guessed from her flinch, but she wasn't telling him to be gentler and he didn't think he could. She was his little sister and she was hurt and it was his job as her big brother to make everything better again. It was his job as the American Dragon to make sure no magical creature ended up like this. "I should've left behind some – some tips, or a note or something, but… I don't know… I just…didn't."

"You're an ass."

"Yeah."

"I'm glad you're home."

"…Yeah."

He gripped her tighter, pushing the questions about the trolls or the incubus from the building aside for now. He had to enjoy this moment. He knew it wouldn't last.

[-M-]

Susan had long-since learned to stop waiting up at night for the American Dragon to return, and Haley's new responsibilities had only caused a slight change in the regular sleeping schedule, Jonathan staying up late on occasion, but eventually getting used to his daughter out of the house at night. Jake leaving had disturbed more sleep than anything else, but his year-and-a-half long absence had given them more than enough time to get used to it. The loud crash that came from the front door, however, had everyone running downstairs quickly and staring it shock at the sheepish nineteen-year-old who was rubbing his neck nervously.

There wasn't really anything that could be said – instead, the energy was used to get over to Jake as soon as humanly possible and giving him tight hugs from both sides, Haley coming in and making sure her addition to the hug reached both her parents so they knew the family was together again.

As soon as the hug was over (and it wasn't over for a good while), Jonathan rushed to call Lao Shi and Fu, and Susan moved to make yet another pot of tea. Biting back a complaint, Jake settled down at the table and listened to what life had been like at Jonathan's job, asking questions about the few people whose names he remembered, both of them pretending to be lighthearted for the moment, though the conversation was too polite and unfamiliar.

The quiet talk was never interrupted, but came to an end upon Lao Shi's entrance nonetheless. The Ex-American Dragon was short, stopped, with silver hair and skin sagging and spotting with age. He had never looked more majestic.

With a fluid movement more graceful than anyone in the room had ever seen him do, Jake was on the floor, hands, knees and forehead on the ground in the traditional kòu tóu, to show exactly how much he was ashamed to have left, ashamed to have abandoned the time and training and family here for him.

"Honored grandfather," the words tumbled from his mouth in a mess, "Please forgive my dishonorable actions. I have shamed my family and for that there is no excu – "

The blow came quickly and hit him right in the left ear, a hairsbreadth away from a deadly strike, with enough force to make his entire self crash into Susan's cabinets and cause the doors to fall off or hang, kept in place by only one lousy joint. Jake tensed and closed his eyes, waiting for more, and not wanting to see the looks on his families faces. Unexpectedly, he was gathered into a hug by the old man.

The time passed hadn't decreased his strength in the slightest; the aging limbs still held the power and tranquility he'd known growing up. Awkwardly, he hugged back, unable to stop his breathing from becoming uneven in response to the sobs wracking his grandfather's body.

After an eternity, Lao Shi pulled back to look his grandson in the eye. "You have caused your family much pain, young one. You have caused the magical community much pain. Why have you done this?"

"I…" But he couldn't say it. There was nothing to say. He just left. There were things that needed to be done, places he needed to see, people he needed to meet. He'd learned things on his journey – he could cast magic with the rest of them now, fight anything and everything. San Francisco knew of the American Dragon, as did Chicago and some obscure town in Idaho. He could live on his own – could, for a very short time, fund an apartment with the money he'd made – and hold a job. A few romantic endeavors taught him a thing or two about girls and sex. He'd found his inner self, he'd grown into himself, and was ready to take on the world as a man, not as a teenager.

And it seemed Lao Shi could see that in him, because he relaxed and took a seat, everyone finally bustling once he'd done so. Fu received a hug as well, then took a mug and sat down to participate in the discussion about what had been going on at home.

New York City was changing.

A new cult had emerged, one that wasn't opposed to the magical community, but rather spreading throughout it. Like a cancer.

The trolls had already chosen sides, but they were the only ones anyone could be sure of. Anyone was an enemy.

But, despite the despondent topic and injuries on both teenagers present, there was an air of hope around that table.

The American Dragon had returned.

…

…

A/N: More writing for a fandom no-one reads. Pretty stupid if you're a review whore like me.