Sapphyra [Adult Superhero Progression]

Guy

I’m on the cold hard ground, thick orange mist swirling all around me. Trying to get up feels like bench-pressing an elephant. And I’m not super strong anymore. A cough nearby lets me know I’m not alone.

“Need some help?” I know that voice. The voice that’s been haunting my day dreams as of late. Wyatt.

“Definitely.” I hold out my hand. He helps me up but I end up stumbling a bit, nearly toppling over on him.

“And here I thought you were light on your feet.” Wyatt murmured, chuckling. I snorted and shook my head.

“Are you making jokes now? I must be in hell or purgatory—wherever people go in the afterlife.” I straighten my back out and gain my balance back. Drinking in our surroundings, the dark forest with orange skies felt like home…but not.

“Not the afterlife. I’m fairly certain we’re in your head.” Wyatt rubbed his chin, walking around us. I could feel a sort of warm connection to him. A familiarity that wasn’t there before.

“You’re cataloguing…why do I know that?” I scratch my head, stepping towards the mist.

“Because we’re sharing a brain at the moment. I have to say, I love the extra space here.” Another joke. Such an asshole, even if he was smart and hot. If I wasn’t so focused on figuring out what the hell was going on, I’d stomp him for that.

“This is nice.” I spoke after the silence hit us for way too long.

“What is? Being trapped in here with you?” No contempt but I could feel it, a soft coldness coming from him. He didn’t want to be here but it wasn’t personal.

“Yep. We can finally talk about it. The thing you’ve been avoiding for a while.”

He stopped walking, shoulders slumped but his back was still turned to me.

“No.” He knew exactly what I was talking about. Of course he did. Wyatt Hart, the man with a million plans. He planned for everything…except me.

“Okay fine. I’ll talk, you listen.”

“Also no.”

I smirked, moving close enough to invade his personal space.

“Stop me then.” I waited. An annoyed glare but he didn’t move to stop me. He wasn’t a violent man, not unless he was backed into a corner.

“That’s what I thought. Wyatt, I’m just gonna come out and ask it: why do you hate me?”

He laughed. Eyes closed, hands on his belly, bent at the waist. I squinted at him, clicking my tongue.

“You’re asking me that? Really? That’s hilarious, truly.” He wiped a tear and calmed down, adjusting his glasses. “It’s not that I hate you, Guy. I pity you. You’re an inconvenience trapped by the rules of a culture Sapphyra and I don’t adhere to.”

I gritted my teeth, willing myself to stay calm.

“It’s her fucking culture too.”

All pleasantries gone, he narrows his eyes at me. Something flashes in his amber eyes. Hate? Anger? I couldn’t place it but it was definitely negative. It rolled off of him in ice cold waves, blasting me in the heart.

“No. It’s not.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Sapph is a dragon. She’s the dragon! She’s the fucking dragon qu—” I was suddenly on my ass. I didn’t even see him move, didn’t feel the kick on my chest that sent me flying back. I placed my hand on my chest, feeling the sting of his kick as he lowered his leg back down.He shouldn’t have been able to do that. I was going to fight back.

But the look in his eyes? It trapped me. Filled me with something worse than fear.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked, mouth parched.

“Don’t call her that name. No one should ever call her that name.” He wouldn’t be disputed on this. I didn’t want to, not really.

“Can you tell me why?”

“No.”

“Please. Because if it means this much to you and to her, I should know why…shouldn’t I?”

He sighed. Wyatt closes his eyes a moment and sits down on a nearby fallen log, crossing his legs.

“Come here.” He patted the space next to him. I wasn’t sure if I should be excited or afraid for my life. Turns out I was both but I sat anyway.

“I take it there's a story there?”

He crosses his arms, nodding. “A long one but I’ll try to keep it short.” He takes a deep breath before going on.

“Sapph and I weren’t always together. In fact, there was a time when she nearly married someone else. A dragon but not like you or the people who raised you. One like her. He’d come from her home dimension, seeking a mate and…”

He stopped, uncrossing his arms. His hands clenched and fidgeted like they wanted to wrap around something and squeeze.

I took his hand in mine and lightly squeezed it. He froze like a deer in headlights, body turning rigid at my touch. Was he…oh god, he was blushing!

“No one touches me like this but her.” He whispered breathlessly.

“I get that. You look like you needed it though.” He huffs and removes his hand like he’s throwing out garbage. Not gonna lie, that fucking stung. I hid it well though—at least I thought I did.

“Anyway.” Wyatt cleared his throat. “She married him without knowing he would cut off her connection to her family—to earth. I was getting married to a colleague—-”

“Hold up, pause.” I held up a hand. “I cannot imagine you spending your life with anyone else.”

He wrinkled his nose, I bet he hated me interrupting him.

“I wasn’t marrying her out of love, just out of convenience, nothing more. She was intelligent and instrumental in the tech I and Beacon used to defend the city. If marrying her made her happy and cemented her to Beacon then—at the time—I thought it a good idea to do so.”

My eyes widened. Part of me saw him for the first time.

“You are one callous motherfucker.”

“And the sky is orange. Do you want me to continue or not?”

I grunted an affirmative.

“No more interruptions. Now, as I was saying.” He started again, adjusting his glasses.”At the time of her kidnapping, I was at my own wedding. Sapphyra's mother informed me what was happening and I left my bride to be at the altar. One incredibly violent trip later and she was back home, with me. We’ve been tied together at the hip—as they say—ever since.”

“I feel like you’re skipping a lot of stuff.”

“I am, however we move on.” He looked up towards the sky, contemplating how to move on. “No sun but it’s still bright. I need to study the environment's meteorological patterns…” Wyatt shook his head.

Was he stalling?

“Sorry. I’m going on a tangent. Anyway, the reason she hates being called that is twofold. One: biologically, she is the next in line for the throne however this leads me to number Two: the trauma she experienced while being in Drakkir—thats their home dimension—broke any love she had for her kin so deeply that mentioning anything about it threatens to trigger her PTSD.”

“I see.” Frowning, it made sense. Being kidnapped by someone she thought understood best. I can’t imagine what that felt like.

“Guy. She won’t tell you this but…they hurt her, over there. Not out of spite or hate, simply because of her DNA. They intended to turn her into a breeding factory, ensuring the royal line would continue whether she liked it or not.”

I nearly choked on my own vomit. My stomach twisted like a fucking pretzel.

“Holy shit. But wait, that statue…what is it, her wedding dress?”

“No. Worse.”

What could be worse? I can hardly breathe now. I want to tear those fuckers apart. I’m ashamed to even share any DNA with them.

“Sapphyra…my love. She didn’t process it all. She tried to push it back and get back to hero work like nothing happened. But her body wouldn’t let her forget.”

“What do you mean?” I lean forward in my seat.

“That outfit from the old statue? It was her body morphing itself into a person who couldn’t be hurt. It made armor. Armor that could handle that trauma and then dish it back out. A cold, cruel and beautiful armor that morphed Sapphyra’s mental state.”

It was hard to get a read on him this time. He described her like he loved that version of her but it also sounded flat, clinical, practiced.

“That…that makes sense.” It wouldn’t be the first time trauma changed people for the worse. “But you helped pull her back?”

“I did. Not just me. Every team Sapph helped build, every person she ever inspired—we all came together and uh…well, we knocked some sense into her.” He chuckled. Not because he enjoyed it because it was so simple a solution.

“Damn. Add wifebeating to the list of your crimes eh?” He glared at me, sending death my way. “I’m kidding, damn!” I chuckled too, happy there was a happy ending for them.

Wyatt and I held our gaze. We were still sitting side by side. It was so natural to just lean in and—

“Well that’s enough time wasted.” He abruptly stood up, leaving me to fall over. Yeah, not surprised there.

“Way to kill the mood.” I mumbled. “I guess we should get out of here. Have you tried walking through the mist yet?”

“I have. It just brought me back here in a circle, no matter the direction I took. It leads me to believe something rather concerning.”

“Do share it with the class, Einstein.” He smirked. Smug bastard probably took it as a compliment.

His face turned grim once more, his eyes trained on the misty treeline before us.

“What if something or someone is keeping us here on purpose?”

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