Anonymous
“You can’t even ride a horse properly. Why would I trust you to take me in the air on that?” Regina was standing to the side, as Blaze’s wings beat in anticipation blowing back her hair. Emma’s dragon had grown very quickly. After a few months of training, Emma now claimed that he was ready for his first official flight.
“We’ve been training hard for this, Regina. You know Blaze will keep us safe. We want to show you his tricks,” Emma extended her hand from her position sitting on his back, trying to convince Regina to climb on up.
Blaze had just moved to his cave recently. Regina had ended up letting him sleep at the foot of their bed far longer than he should of. They finally had to move him to his cave out of necessity. He was taking up the whole bed, and Emma had often been pushed off onto the floor when Blaze swished his tail in the night.
Luckily, Blaze’s transition to the cave was a smooth one. Regina, wanting to surprise Emma, had Blaze’s cave decorated with a Trogdor The Burninator theme, and furnished with a cozy plush bed. She had painted his name on the wall in old school Nintendo font to make sure he felt at home. Henry was actually jealous and asked if he could stay out there with the dragon.
Regina inhaled deeply, knowing full well she was about to give in and get on the monster. She liked how hopeful and excited Emma got when she agreed to things like this, and the payoff was even better if she made her wait a bit.
Finally, Regina took Emma’s hand and awkwardly mounted Blaze. She sat behind Emma. There were no reins or anything to hold onto except for his large scales. As soon as she was on, Blaze blew out a huge plume of fire and smoke for show, and started into the sky. The take off was abrupt and Regina let out an undignified squeak that made Emma grin and snicker.For all Regina’s bravado she was just as nervous as Emma was. Truthfully, Emma wasn’t sure how well Blaze was trained, they usually cut their flying sessions short to spend extra time playing ‘capture the princess’ or ‘slay the knight.’ Emma wanted him to be prepared in case some idiot prince from a neighboring realm tried to kill him. This sort of thing happened all the time around these parts.
Regina instantly wrapped her arms around Emma’s waist, hanging on for dear life, as Blaze climbed higher and higher in the sky. It was a wonder in itself that his disproportionately small wings could even support flight, let alone allow for him to control his path with any sort of precision.
Emma leaned back into Regina taking comfort in the fact that if anything happened Regina could evaporate them both into magic smoke and have them both re-materialize safely on the ground. Regina placed her head on Emma’s shoulder so she could speak into her ear over the sound of the wind resistance.
“Hey Regina…”
“What?”
“I can show you the world…shining, shimmering, splendid…tell me Princess now when did you last let your heart decide?” Emma started singing over the din of the wind, sensing Regina’s annoyance, and feeling quite pleased with herself.
“Hey, this is life, not a musical…Your hair is flying in my face, I can’t see,” Regina smoothed Emma’s wild hair down as best she could and Emma leaned back, more satisfied then she had ever been, lifting her arms into the air, like she was on a roller-coaster, until Blaze shook a little.
“We’re flying really fast. Are you sure that he’s mature enough for this?” Regina grabbed onto her tighter, her breath hitching as they took a stomach flipping drop.
“Of course. He knows tricks too. Wanna see?” Emma replied mischievously. Her favorite hobby was attempting to get a rise out of Regina and she knew just what to do to scare her.
Emma pulled twice on Blaze’s long whiskers, causing him to take them even higher. He evened out as they whizzed through the clouds, and Emma told Regina to hold on, as she dipped to the side and pulled them both off of the dragon and into free fall.
Regina screamed, her mouth open and eyes wide, clinging so tightly to Emma that neither of them could breathe while they skydived. As they approached the ground at a rapid pace, Blaze circled around, flying under them and catching them on his back effortlessly. It took a moment to untangle themselves, but when they went up for a second time, they were both laughing in joy from the intense thrill.
“I can’t believe he did that!” Regina said truly amazed and giddy.
“Blaze, take us over the Enchanted Forrest,” Emma yelled and Blaze dove a bit lower so they could get a nice view.
“I love when you show me places from your homeland, and what a better way to sight see than this!” Emma turned a bit, to steal a kiss from Regina as they crossed out to the far reaches of the land and flew over the vast expanse of the border waters.
“Magnificent, dear!” Regina snuggled into Emma, feeling truly blessed for the experience. They saw all the landmarks from fairytales and Regina delighted in pointing them out: Rapunzel’s tower, Granny’s cottage, Cinderella’s castle, and Ariel’s sunning rock.
When the sun began to set and the wind turned cold, Blaze turned around and took them back home. They landed with only a small amount of turbulence, but it just served to give Regina an excuse to cuddle with Emma for a bit longer.
“I can’t believe you sang to me,” Regina said gruffly as soon as they were on the ground.
“You loved it. Better than a helicopter ride over Vegas, right?” Emma patted Blaze, and helped Regina down, following behind her.
“I suppose it was fun,” Regina conceded, smirking.
“Your damned right, it was fun,” Emma pulled her close, admittedly grateful to be back on solid ground, and kissed her sweetly.
Blaze let out a fiery roar of agreement, and then nudged Emma for attention. He wanted his treat.
