Fancy Rained Like Grace; Chapter Nine
Title: Fancy Rained Like Grace; Chapter Nine
Pairings: Jensen/Jared, Drew Nelson/Sandy McCoy, Misha Collins/Rachel Miner
Word Count: 2420
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: see masterpost for complete list thus far
Author’s Note: A fill for this prompt on spn_hardcore
Summary: Orphaned as a child and heatless, therefore mateless, at twenty-seven, Jared has spent most of his life feeling unloved and unwanted. Jensen is the Dominus of the Ramiel Flight, strong, courageous and everything anyone could want in a mate, everything that Jared was sure he’d never have or deserve. Jensen is hell-bent on proving him wrong. But nothing is ever easy when love is involved.
Masterpost
Chapter Eight
Misha always knew that he would be one of the Ramiel’s wing. His father had been part of the wing, as had her father and his father.
No one had forced him to be a soldier. Far from it. But he couldn’t help but enjoy the extra attention lavished on him by the does growing up or admire the respect his father commanded from the other, lesser dragons of her flight. When she walked into the room, eyes ticked toward her, and when she spoke, people listened.
The dragons of the wing were the protectors of the flight. They were entrusted to put the safety of the flight above their own personal well being, swore to do just that. They lived their lives with a certain regal air about them, as if somehow, the oath they took upon their initiation into the wing, to cherish and protect, had somehow made them more: more than Ramiel, more than dragon, even -- something that made them distinctly other.
The other dragons looked to the wing for strength, for safety.
Being a member of the wing was an honor, one that Misha had wanted for as long as he could remember. He’d tailed after his father as much as he was allowed, accompanying her on patrols around the Ramiel grounds.
She would tell him of the other great warriors before her, William the Fearless, who single-handedly protected the does and young of his flight from enemy attack for four days before the other sole drake to survive the raid returned with reinforcements. Matilda the Stubborn, who led her flight to safety during a plague when their Dominus fell ill herself. James the Ancient, who stood at his Dominus’s side faithfully even on their day of execution by the humans.
Misha was sure that he knew the stories of the legends more thoroughly than even the Elders. To this day, Misha recounted the tales to the juveniles around the bonfires, watching their faces as he animatedly told the history of their people. Most of them appeared fascinated, but Misha could almost perfectly predict which of the juveniles would go on to be soldiers when they came of age. They were the ones who never interrupted, who looked up at him with fire in their eyes and determination even on their small faces.
Misha knew that expression too well himself, knew he’d worn it every moment of his childhood when his father recounted the stories to him.
He hadn’t miscalled a potential soldier yet, even in Alona, the first doe in the Ramiel to request admittance into the wing. Misha had known from the moment she sat in front of him and listened with rapt attention that one day, he would be training her.
She would be a good addition to the wing when her training was done. She was loyal and dedicated. Alona wasn’t as physically strong as the drakes in the wing but she was clever, quick on her feet and in her mind, and she was more than a match for any of the other trainees in a spar -- and even a couple of the drakes she’d been training with.
More importantly, she knew herself, knew who she was and what she wanted and she was one of the most determined candidates for the wing Misha had seen in years -- maybe since he’d trained beside Jensen.
Jensen had been something else altogether during his training. Where the other trainees had been overly competitive with one another, each eager to make a name for themselves within the wing, Jensen had remained relatively friendly with everyone, if a bit solitary and detached.
From the beginning, it was evident that Jensen stood apart from his fellow trainees.
Misha could remember one instance in particular that made Jensen, when a week of heavy rains had downed a large tree, cutting off the river that ran through their mountains. The Dominus had ordered the wing to unblock it and because the trainees were the ones who automatically got stuck with grunt work, their superiors sent the five of them to do the job.
Misha, Cory, Aldis and Katie had all started in on the fallen tree immediately. It was a huge oak, so wide and tall that it had nearly cut off the river completely, redirecting the water to flood the wooded area surrounding it. The individual branches alone were thick as small trees, bigger around and heavier than they were in their flesh forms.
Even in their scaled bodies, with all their strength and razor sharp teeth and claws, hacking through the tree was nearly impossible, especially with the river gushing as it was, bloated with new water.
Jensen had sat back and watched from the shallows as his companions each tore into individual branches.
It was irritating, to say the least. Each of the drakes had wanted to do more than the others, still eager to prove themselves but they didn’t want to do someone else’s entire portion, either. No one said anything though, not wanting to appear weak in the eyes of their comrades.
A handful of hours later, the four of them were soaked, cold, panting and miserable, and finally, tempers were short enough for Cory turned on Jensen.
“We’re never going to get this done if you just keep sitting on your ass. They sent five of us out here, not four,” he snapped.
Jensen raised his head to look at Cory.
“We’re not getting it done because none of you care about getting it done,” Jensen replied plainly. “There’s no difference between what I’m doing and what you’re doing, except that I’m not exhausted.”
“We’ve been doing this for hours,” Katie growled. “How can you say we don’t care?”
“You care. Just not about getting it done.” He tilted his chin up. “You care about showing off to the wing, so you’re all trying to do this by yourselves. But that tree is wedged between the sides of the river. It has nothing to do with those branches you’re each chewing off, and there’s no way you’re going to claw through the trunk itself without drowning.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Aldis asked, his expression dark with anger, jaw set.
“It’s easier to work with something than against it. That goes for both the group and the river.” Jensen shrugged. “I suggest we all start cutting through the middle of the tree, where the full force of the river will be pushing. That way, all we have to do is weaken it enough for the river to snap it.”
An hour later, the five drakes were hovering above the water as the tree’s trunk gave a final, resounding crack collapsing in on itself and being carried down the river.
Misha had felt humbled by the experience. He’d learned the most important lesson of the wing and, ultimately, the flight that day.
The point of being a team is to make the work easier on everyone, not to make yourself look better than your teammates.
Jensen’s understanding of that was what led him to become the Dominus’s second, then the Dominus himself. None of the flight had questioned the Elders when they chose him to succeed the position and Jensen had yet to let the Elders, the wing or the flight down as their leader.
That only made the news that Katie had brought him, informing him that the Dominus had been spotted crossing the borders of their territory only a few moments ago, upset Misha as badly as it did.
If anyone deserved the mate they desired, it was Jensen. He was a great dragon, understanding and fiercely loyal. And he’d been waiting for Jared for so long. Having Jensen come back to the flight after only a day sort of felt like a personal affront to Misha.
There was no way Jensen had lost a fight for Jared's claim. He was too good a fighter and had been waiting too long for Jared's heat to arrive to be bested by some belly-crawling drake that swooped in and tried to take Jared as his doe before Jensen had even had the chance to fight.
There was always the chance that Jared had denied Jensen's claim. After so many years of pining, Misha knew that would devastate their Dominus.
It wasn't long after Katie's announcement that Jensen's form appeared on the horizon, a smaller, brighter form trailing behind him. Misha watched from the edge of the main house's rock as Jensen brought Jared into his nest.
Misha couldn't help the relief he felt at that, though the new pair's early arrival still brought up some new questions, namely about why the hell they weren't back at the breeding grounds in a mating frenzy.
Jensen lit next to Misha only a few minutes later.
"Dominus," he greeted, unable to suppress his knowing smile.
Katie came up to them and bumped her head against Jensen's shoulder companionably. Of all the drakes in the wing, the four that trained with Jensen were the most likely to treat him as their equal. None of them were ever disrespectful about it but their time together in training had formed a bond between them that Jensen's ascension hadn't seemed to break. Misha tried to remember to conduct himself as Jensen's subordinate, simply because he was Jensen's second and should be an example of how to treat their Dominus, but even he often acted as a companion to Jensen rather than a follower.
"How was your trip, Dominus?" Katie asked, flicking her tail. A quiet little snicker ran through the other dragons as they approached Jensen.
"The Elders are doing well," Jensen responded with a little smirk at the corner of his mouth.
Katie snorted.
"You know good and well that wasn't the trip I was asking about," she said.
"But it's the only trip you're going to learn anything about, Katie."
"Spoilsport," Katie huffed, her tail thumping against the ground.
Misha breathed a little laugh.
"I think you'll survive without all the little details, Katie. Go find Gen if you're that desperate."
Katie shot him a look.
"You're the one who sent her on patrol half an hour ago. And stationed me here."
"Well, if you'd quit making eyes at each other instead of manning your stations like good little drakes, I wouldn't have to separate you."
Katie opened her mouth to retort, but Jensen raised his paw, and she promptly snapped it shut again. For all their comraderie, Jensen was still Dominus, not their companion but their leader, to be respected.
"Misha," Jensen turned toward his second, "how's the flight been?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary has been reported," Misha told him, shrugging a little. "Alona changed her mind about riding out Beltane in the house with the other does. She and a couple of the others decided to stretch their wings for a few hours. I asked if she felt like she needed a wing member with her, but she said she would be fine guarding the others on her own. They haven't returned yet, but it's only been a few hours. Aside from that, nothing new."
Jensen nodded. "And the humans?"
"Aldis is out watching their activity now."
"Dominus," Josh, an older drake, padded closer, separating from the others. "I was on last watch. From what I could tell, the most the humans did was take pictures of me any time I flew close enough. They never crossed the boundary lines onto our territory."
"Thank you, Josh. Misha, I want a second soldier out watching the humans, and I want the pair switched out every four hours."
Misha frowned, brow pinched. "Dominus, did something happen with the humans?"
"Something about the humans seems to have caught the Elders' attention."
Tension immediately settled amonst the wing, tangible and heavy.
The fact that the Elders had brought this to Jensen's attention was almost an insult. It held an implication that Jensen wasn't aware of what was going on in and around his flight's territory, possibly even that the Elders were concerned that Jensen didn't have the ability to deal with the situation.
"But, Dominus..." Josh began, but a look from Jensen stopped him short.
Jensen already knew the significance of the Elders' questioning his leadership. He did not need any of the wing to spell it out for him.
"That's why we need to remain vigilant in watching these humans. I never want them left unattended." Jensen's words were firm, law to the wing.
Misha bowed his head respectively.
"Aldis should be finishing up his watch very soon now," he told Jensen. "I'll send Katie and Matt out to retrieve him and begin the first four hour shift."
Jensen nodded, seemingly satisfied with this.
"I'll go with you," he told Katie, taking a step toward her.
"Dominus, you've just returned home from the breeding grounds. Surely you're exhausted," Katie protested, surprise evident in her voice.
Though her own mate was a drake, Katie was no stranger to the effect that Beltane could have on the drakes caught in the does' pheromone haze. Something about the hormones prompted by the pheromones and the hormones produced during sex combined for an explosive effect. The drakes and does at the breeding grounds often came back starving because they'd been unable to pull away from each other long enough to bother with eating.
For the drakes left behind at the Ramiel’s grounds, even those with drake mates, Beltane was often a sexless week, if only so they could remain useful rather than caught in a pheromone and sex induced thrall.
It was surprising that Jensen had been coherent enough to come back. Surely he was tired from the journey back to the Ramiel, if not from having spent the entirety of the night before mating.
"I'm fine, Katie. I'll sleep when our shift is over. But for now, I want to scout out the humans myself, assess what we're dealing with." Jensen jerked his head up and unfolded his wings. "Come on. Let's go relieve Aldis."
Katie didn't look too happy about it, but she threw open her own wings, as did Matt, and they followed behind their Dominus as he struck out in the direction of the humans' camping grounds.
Misha watched them leave, until they were nothing but specks in the sunset red sky.
Though stubborn, Jensen was a good drake. Misha hoped that Jared would make Jensen as happy as Jensen would surely make his doe.
Chapter Ten
Pairings: Jensen/Jared, Drew Nelson/Sandy McCoy, Misha Collins/Rachel Miner
Word Count: 2420
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: see masterpost for complete list thus far
Author’s Note: A fill for this prompt on spn_hardcore
Summary: Orphaned as a child and heatless, therefore mateless, at twenty-seven, Jared has spent most of his life feeling unloved and unwanted. Jensen is the Dominus of the Ramiel Flight, strong, courageous and everything anyone could want in a mate, everything that Jared was sure he’d never have or deserve. Jensen is hell-bent on proving him wrong. But nothing is ever easy when love is involved.
Masterpost
Chapter Eight
Misha always knew that he would be one of the Ramiel’s wing. His father had been part of the wing, as had her father and his father.
No one had forced him to be a soldier. Far from it. But he couldn’t help but enjoy the extra attention lavished on him by the does growing up or admire the respect his father commanded from the other, lesser dragons of her flight. When she walked into the room, eyes ticked toward her, and when she spoke, people listened.
The dragons of the wing were the protectors of the flight. They were entrusted to put the safety of the flight above their own personal well being, swore to do just that. They lived their lives with a certain regal air about them, as if somehow, the oath they took upon their initiation into the wing, to cherish and protect, had somehow made them more: more than Ramiel, more than dragon, even -- something that made them distinctly other.
The other dragons looked to the wing for strength, for safety.
Being a member of the wing was an honor, one that Misha had wanted for as long as he could remember. He’d tailed after his father as much as he was allowed, accompanying her on patrols around the Ramiel grounds.
She would tell him of the other great warriors before her, William the Fearless, who single-handedly protected the does and young of his flight from enemy attack for four days before the other sole drake to survive the raid returned with reinforcements. Matilda the Stubborn, who led her flight to safety during a plague when their Dominus fell ill herself. James the Ancient, who stood at his Dominus’s side faithfully even on their day of execution by the humans.
Misha was sure that he knew the stories of the legends more thoroughly than even the Elders. To this day, Misha recounted the tales to the juveniles around the bonfires, watching their faces as he animatedly told the history of their people. Most of them appeared fascinated, but Misha could almost perfectly predict which of the juveniles would go on to be soldiers when they came of age. They were the ones who never interrupted, who looked up at him with fire in their eyes and determination even on their small faces.
Misha knew that expression too well himself, knew he’d worn it every moment of his childhood when his father recounted the stories to him.
He hadn’t miscalled a potential soldier yet, even in Alona, the first doe in the Ramiel to request admittance into the wing. Misha had known from the moment she sat in front of him and listened with rapt attention that one day, he would be training her.
She would be a good addition to the wing when her training was done. She was loyal and dedicated. Alona wasn’t as physically strong as the drakes in the wing but she was clever, quick on her feet and in her mind, and she was more than a match for any of the other trainees in a spar -- and even a couple of the drakes she’d been training with.
More importantly, she knew herself, knew who she was and what she wanted and she was one of the most determined candidates for the wing Misha had seen in years -- maybe since he’d trained beside Jensen.
Jensen had been something else altogether during his training. Where the other trainees had been overly competitive with one another, each eager to make a name for themselves within the wing, Jensen had remained relatively friendly with everyone, if a bit solitary and detached.
From the beginning, it was evident that Jensen stood apart from his fellow trainees.
Misha could remember one instance in particular that made Jensen, when a week of heavy rains had downed a large tree, cutting off the river that ran through their mountains. The Dominus had ordered the wing to unblock it and because the trainees were the ones who automatically got stuck with grunt work, their superiors sent the five of them to do the job.
Misha, Cory, Aldis and Katie had all started in on the fallen tree immediately. It was a huge oak, so wide and tall that it had nearly cut off the river completely, redirecting the water to flood the wooded area surrounding it. The individual branches alone were thick as small trees, bigger around and heavier than they were in their flesh forms.
Even in their scaled bodies, with all their strength and razor sharp teeth and claws, hacking through the tree was nearly impossible, especially with the river gushing as it was, bloated with new water.
Jensen had sat back and watched from the shallows as his companions each tore into individual branches.
It was irritating, to say the least. Each of the drakes had wanted to do more than the others, still eager to prove themselves but they didn’t want to do someone else’s entire portion, either. No one said anything though, not wanting to appear weak in the eyes of their comrades.
A handful of hours later, the four of them were soaked, cold, panting and miserable, and finally, tempers were short enough for Cory turned on Jensen.
“We’re never going to get this done if you just keep sitting on your ass. They sent five of us out here, not four,” he snapped.
Jensen raised his head to look at Cory.
“We’re not getting it done because none of you care about getting it done,” Jensen replied plainly. “There’s no difference between what I’m doing and what you’re doing, except that I’m not exhausted.”
“We’ve been doing this for hours,” Katie growled. “How can you say we don’t care?”
“You care. Just not about getting it done.” He tilted his chin up. “You care about showing off to the wing, so you’re all trying to do this by yourselves. But that tree is wedged between the sides of the river. It has nothing to do with those branches you’re each chewing off, and there’s no way you’re going to claw through the trunk itself without drowning.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Aldis asked, his expression dark with anger, jaw set.
“It’s easier to work with something than against it. That goes for both the group and the river.” Jensen shrugged. “I suggest we all start cutting through the middle of the tree, where the full force of the river will be pushing. That way, all we have to do is weaken it enough for the river to snap it.”
An hour later, the five drakes were hovering above the water as the tree’s trunk gave a final, resounding crack collapsing in on itself and being carried down the river.
Misha had felt humbled by the experience. He’d learned the most important lesson of the wing and, ultimately, the flight that day.
The point of being a team is to make the work easier on everyone, not to make yourself look better than your teammates.
Jensen’s understanding of that was what led him to become the Dominus’s second, then the Dominus himself. None of the flight had questioned the Elders when they chose him to succeed the position and Jensen had yet to let the Elders, the wing or the flight down as their leader.
That only made the news that Katie had brought him, informing him that the Dominus had been spotted crossing the borders of their territory only a few moments ago, upset Misha as badly as it did.
If anyone deserved the mate they desired, it was Jensen. He was a great dragon, understanding and fiercely loyal. And he’d been waiting for Jared for so long. Having Jensen come back to the flight after only a day sort of felt like a personal affront to Misha.
There was no way Jensen had lost a fight for Jared's claim. He was too good a fighter and had been waiting too long for Jared's heat to arrive to be bested by some belly-crawling drake that swooped in and tried to take Jared as his doe before Jensen had even had the chance to fight.
There was always the chance that Jared had denied Jensen's claim. After so many years of pining, Misha knew that would devastate their Dominus.
It wasn't long after Katie's announcement that Jensen's form appeared on the horizon, a smaller, brighter form trailing behind him. Misha watched from the edge of the main house's rock as Jensen brought Jared into his nest.
Misha couldn't help the relief he felt at that, though the new pair's early arrival still brought up some new questions, namely about why the hell they weren't back at the breeding grounds in a mating frenzy.
Jensen lit next to Misha only a few minutes later.
"Dominus," he greeted, unable to suppress his knowing smile.
Katie came up to them and bumped her head against Jensen's shoulder companionably. Of all the drakes in the wing, the four that trained with Jensen were the most likely to treat him as their equal. None of them were ever disrespectful about it but their time together in training had formed a bond between them that Jensen's ascension hadn't seemed to break. Misha tried to remember to conduct himself as Jensen's subordinate, simply because he was Jensen's second and should be an example of how to treat their Dominus, but even he often acted as a companion to Jensen rather than a follower.
"How was your trip, Dominus?" Katie asked, flicking her tail. A quiet little snicker ran through the other dragons as they approached Jensen.
"The Elders are doing well," Jensen responded with a little smirk at the corner of his mouth.
Katie snorted.
"You know good and well that wasn't the trip I was asking about," she said.
"But it's the only trip you're going to learn anything about, Katie."
"Spoilsport," Katie huffed, her tail thumping against the ground.
Misha breathed a little laugh.
"I think you'll survive without all the little details, Katie. Go find Gen if you're that desperate."
Katie shot him a look.
"You're the one who sent her on patrol half an hour ago. And stationed me here."
"Well, if you'd quit making eyes at each other instead of manning your stations like good little drakes, I wouldn't have to separate you."
Katie opened her mouth to retort, but Jensen raised his paw, and she promptly snapped it shut again. For all their comraderie, Jensen was still Dominus, not their companion but their leader, to be respected.
"Misha," Jensen turned toward his second, "how's the flight been?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary has been reported," Misha told him, shrugging a little. "Alona changed her mind about riding out Beltane in the house with the other does. She and a couple of the others decided to stretch their wings for a few hours. I asked if she felt like she needed a wing member with her, but she said she would be fine guarding the others on her own. They haven't returned yet, but it's only been a few hours. Aside from that, nothing new."
Jensen nodded. "And the humans?"
"Aldis is out watching their activity now."
"Dominus," Josh, an older drake, padded closer, separating from the others. "I was on last watch. From what I could tell, the most the humans did was take pictures of me any time I flew close enough. They never crossed the boundary lines onto our territory."
"Thank you, Josh. Misha, I want a second soldier out watching the humans, and I want the pair switched out every four hours."
Misha frowned, brow pinched. "Dominus, did something happen with the humans?"
"Something about the humans seems to have caught the Elders' attention."
Tension immediately settled amonst the wing, tangible and heavy.
The fact that the Elders had brought this to Jensen's attention was almost an insult. It held an implication that Jensen wasn't aware of what was going on in and around his flight's territory, possibly even that the Elders were concerned that Jensen didn't have the ability to deal with the situation.
"But, Dominus..." Josh began, but a look from Jensen stopped him short.
Jensen already knew the significance of the Elders' questioning his leadership. He did not need any of the wing to spell it out for him.
"That's why we need to remain vigilant in watching these humans. I never want them left unattended." Jensen's words were firm, law to the wing.
Misha bowed his head respectively.
"Aldis should be finishing up his watch very soon now," he told Jensen. "I'll send Katie and Matt out to retrieve him and begin the first four hour shift."
Jensen nodded, seemingly satisfied with this.
"I'll go with you," he told Katie, taking a step toward her.
"Dominus, you've just returned home from the breeding grounds. Surely you're exhausted," Katie protested, surprise evident in her voice.
Though her own mate was a drake, Katie was no stranger to the effect that Beltane could have on the drakes caught in the does' pheromone haze. Something about the hormones prompted by the pheromones and the hormones produced during sex combined for an explosive effect. The drakes and does at the breeding grounds often came back starving because they'd been unable to pull away from each other long enough to bother with eating.
For the drakes left behind at the Ramiel’s grounds, even those with drake mates, Beltane was often a sexless week, if only so they could remain useful rather than caught in a pheromone and sex induced thrall.
It was surprising that Jensen had been coherent enough to come back. Surely he was tired from the journey back to the Ramiel, if not from having spent the entirety of the night before mating.
"I'm fine, Katie. I'll sleep when our shift is over. But for now, I want to scout out the humans myself, assess what we're dealing with." Jensen jerked his head up and unfolded his wings. "Come on. Let's go relieve Aldis."
Katie didn't look too happy about it, but she threw open her own wings, as did Matt, and they followed behind their Dominus as he struck out in the direction of the humans' camping grounds.
Misha watched them leave, until they were nothing but specks in the sunset red sky.
Though stubborn, Jensen was a good drake. Misha hoped that Jared would make Jensen as happy as Jensen would surely make his doe.
Chapter Ten