Awareness flooded Rhia's system, and her eyes flew open. There was something covering her eyes, allowing only a few specks of light in. Something cold and heavy was wrapped around her wrists and she pulled sharply. A loud clanging rang across the room she was in and she could hear someone gasp. "That didn't take long."

She knew that voice. She would know that voice anywhere. "Price?" It came out as hoarse shout.

She tried to pull her knees up, but they were chained down as well. Panic rose and she thought of her fire. That was how that worked, right? Think of fire, fire comes? A wave of heat washing over her, and a shout of fear was confirmation enough for her.

"Leave it, just leave it!" Price snapped. "Get out, we'll send one of the other ones in to cut her loose."

A moment later, all she could hear was her heart pounding in her ears and the rush of fire swirling around her. Then more shouting, snarling, cursing... and then the sound of an impossibly heavy door slamming shut. "Oh my god," came a female voice. "Rhia..."

"Juniper?" she groaned. "Is that you?"

"It's me, honey. Can you take a breath and calm down? It's just us in here now, I'll get you out of those chains."

She took several shuddering breaths to try and relax as best she could. Juniper hissed curses under her breath before she threw a sheet over Rhia's body and lifting the blindfold off her face. Her bright violet eyes and wild curly hair was the only comforting sight. The room they were in was enormous, empty, and made entirely of metal except for a wide black window about halfway up.

"Where are we?" she whimpered.

"I don't know." Juniper's voice shook as much as her hands as she worked at the cuffs. "I woke up in a glass box with a bunch of eggheads in lab coats leering at me. I couldn't link, or shift, or use any magic. It feels like I can in here, but I can't feel Keoni. It's like we've been completely cut off from our dragons."

The cuffs fell away from her wrists and Rhia sat up. Quickly realizing she was naked, she clutched at the blanket as Juniper moved to her ankles. She stared around the room and felt fear settle deep into her soul. "Not again," she gasped. "I can't... I can't be here again."

She knew... she knew she had been here before. This must be where they did the heritage tests, and all the other tests. Her eyes landed on a metal bowl filled with bloodied strips of metal and screws. Her hand went to her side and came away slick with blood. The openings were already closed, but her skin was tender, and it hurt to breathe. All the evidence she needed was right there in front of her.

The ankle restraints fell away and Rhia rolled off the table. "Woah, easy," Juniper caught her around the waist and helped her to her feet. "Do you remember what happened? I just remember finding you outside the party before it all goes blank."

"Fucking dark elf." She snarled, looking up to the window. She could feel him behind that glass, even if she couldn't see him. "I'm going to burn that bastard alive!"

"Rhia," Juniper grabbed her face and dragged her eyes to hers. "We've got more important things to worry about right now."

"Like wha-"

Suddenly a new wave of sensations rippled through her. She doubled over, crying out in pain. "Like that," Juniper crouched in front of her, rubbing her shoulder. "You're about to shift."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Not now, damnit! How can I-"

Her scream cut off the last of the question. She fell to her knees. It felt like every bone in her body was breaking, every joint dislocating, every nerve firing at once. The pain was worst in he back, a painful pressure building in the space between her shoulders and neck, and another pressure at the base of her spine.

"Shifting for the first time is kind of like having a baby, honey." The worry in Juniper's voice did nothing to calm her. "There is nothing you can do to fight it. It's better to just let it happen."

"It hurts!" Rhia gasped and sobbed as the pain only intensified in her back.

"I know. Look at me, honey. Look at me and open your mind. We'll shift together. It'll be easier." Rhia forced her eyes open and met Juniper's eyes. She tried to relax and felt the link. It was like a gentle pinprick compared to the pain of the pressure in her back. Juniper sucked in a gasp and some of the pain eased. "Breathe with me, honey."

Despite everything, a laugh squeezed out of her lungs. "You should be a fucking birthing coach." She managed to say.

A smirk played on Juniper's lips. "Laying eggs is going to be a breeze for us both after this."

Their banter was cut off as pain rushed through them. Rhia's neck arched painfully. Her skin felt tight as muscles began to grow and shrink in different places. Her head was pounding, and she slammed her eyes closed. Hands and feet became talons. Her skin darkened and something started to sprout from it. The pressure in her back released in an explosion of indescribable pain before it all faded away almost as quickly as it started.

Rhia lay on the cold hard ground panting. She couldn't describe how her body felt. Like the magic, it wasn't wrong... but it was very different. There was also the weird sensation of having three extra limbs in the form of wings and a tail. A tail. As she thought about it, the thing moved to curl around her. It was bizarre.

"Please tell me it doesn't hurt this much every time." She groaned. Her joints felt stiff and heavy, and every muscle felt different, longer, and entirely new muscles were needed for her to stretch out her new body.

Juniper didn't answer. Rhia opened her eyes and lifted her head to look up. It felt weird for her neck to be able to move so freely away from her shoulders. Juniper stood over her in her wyvern skin. Her scales her plastered flat against her skin, making her look thin and small. Her eyes were wide and staring down at Rhia, her jaws opened slightly in what was a very human expression of shock.

"That's... impossible..." Juniper said in a mixture of awe and pure disbelief.

"What's wrong?" She looked down at herself. "Did I fuck it up?"

She couldn't see anything wrong, but what would she know anyway. Her scales... well... it didn't really feel right calling them scales. They were soft and kind of fluffy... like feathers. They were dark, as black as anything she'd seen before, and a dim, poisonous green light rose and fell with her steadying breaths.

Stretching her neck to look over her back, she couldn't really tell how long she was now. She didn't feel any bigger, but the tail made it hard to tell. And her wings! Those were definitely feathers. Smaller and stiffer at the joint and ridge before turning into longer, broader ones at the end. She swallowed hard. Shit. She'd been secretly hoping she would have been a drake or one of the other types of kin that couldn't fly.

Rhia finally looked back to Juniper to ask something, but the question died as she saw Juniper moving. She braced her weight on the knuckles of her wings and lowered her body to just hover over the floor. She bowed her head, keeping her eyes lowered.

"What are you doing?" She would have raised an eyebrow, but the familiar act felt strange on her new face. She opted for tilting her head to convey her question instead.

"It is an honour to witness the first shift of a dragon." Juniper said in a quiet, almost submissive tone.

"Oh, come on," She was relieved to find that rolling her eyes felt just as normal as it always did. "I'm sure you've seen lots of kin go through their first shift, there's no need to bow to me."

"Not dragonkin. Dragon. As in kings and queens of the kin. I don't know how... but you..."

"Dragon...?" she blinked and looked at herself again. "Like... Quin?"

"I think... I think more like Nekros. I think he might be... your father."

Rhia felt like she was weightless. Her body shuddered and it was hard to breathe. Her mind was racing, putting all the pieces together, filling in the questions she always had about her birth family. She hadn't been abandoned at all... she had a father... a real father. And her mother... Phoenix? Was that why Quin had called her that? And... and where did that leave Madeline? And Maddox?

"Please stop bowing."

She looked down at her claws. Or talons. Or... paws? She didn't know what to call them other than her feet... even though the used to be her hands. Christ, she had spent ages studying humanoid anatomy, she had no idea how to define her own body parts anymore.

She pressed her weight into her new set of legs and managed to lift herself shakily. Juniper sat back on her haunches and tilted her head, watching Rhia curiously. "This is so strange." She muttered.

Too focused to answer, Rhia grit her teeth and tried taking a step forward. It was like she was trying to retrain both mind and body just to learn to walk again. She stumbled and collapsed. There were just too many limbs to coordinate all at once. She tried to swear, but it came out as a yowl and she tried to swear again.

"How did we not know?"

"Quin knew. He fucking knew."

"But... why wouldn't he..."

"The last time I voiced my opinion about the dragons using the bond to fuck with your head, you were ready to claw my eyes out." Rhia snapped. "My opinion on the bond has not changed. Stop asking questions if you don't like the answers!"

Juniper blinked and looked up at the black window. Rhia managed to stand again, taking another tentative step. One foot. Then the next. Then the third and forth. She felt clumsy and slow and couldn't get her head around the rhythm. "You're thinking too hard." Juniper said coolly.

Seriously? Was she that upset by pointing out that the bond was fucked up?

"Says the kin who still only has two legs." she growled.

If Juniper was going to say something in response, Rhia didn't hear it. A high-pitched buzzing cut through the room. It was annoying, but Juniper cried out in pain. She fell forward, back arching, and a loud cracking filled the empty space. She was shrinking back into her humanoid form, forcefully and painfully. Forgetting her clumsiness, Rhia rushed to her side. She tried to link to her again, but Juniper only screamed louder. In a matter of seconds, Juniper was back in her human skin, clutching her head and whimpering in pain.

After a few minutes she was still shaking but wasn't screaming anymore. "I can't link." She said, panic flooding her voice. "I can't shift, I can't use my magic." She looked up at Rhia and blinked. "But... you... you're immune? Or you're stuck?"

Rhia tried to link again but stopped as it seemed to cause Juniper pain. So, she tilted her head and looked at her as questioningly as possible, trying to communicate that she had no idea what the fuck being stuck meant. She didn't seem to get it and looked around to the big door. Loud clunking sounds were coming from that side of the room. It slowly opened and a wave of heavily armed and armored soldiers flooded into the room and aimed every weapon at the two of them.

Without thinking, Rhia stepped between them and Juniper. "I can't fight them like this." Juniper hissed. "You're just a hatchling, you don't stand a chance. Stand down, survive to fight at a better time."

Fuck. That. She didn't know what these bastards were going to do. She had no idea how much it was going to hurt. She would rather die than face that pain again. No more fucking needles. Not this time.

A snarl echoed against the metallic walls, making her sound louder and bigger than she was. She needed to figure out how to use her fire in this form and fast. The dragonkin in movies and television could breathe fire. Maybe she could do that? Just... how?

She wasn't given the chance to find out. Several of the soldiers carrying big, heavy chains, but handling them like they were strands of twine. They rushed her with inhuman speed. Not knowing how to use her new abilities, she couldn't react before they had the chains around her neck and were standing a safe distance away. As easily as handling a newborn puppy, they dragged her away from Juniper. "It's okay, Rhia," Juniper stood slowly, raising her hands defensively. "We are going to get out of this. We are strong. We are-"

There was a dull hiss and Juniper stumbled back to look down at her abdomen. She pulled what looked like a tranquilizer dart and hissed. Rhia screamed and pulled even harder at the chains, trying to get back to her. Every weapon turned on her and two more stepped out of the line to grip Juniper's arms and drag her out the door.

Rage flooded her system, and she lunged for the soldiers. Simultaneously they began firing, but the darts bounced off her uselessly. The two holding her lost their grip and she barreled into the chest of a soldier knocking him down. Her jaws went for his throat, but he was able to get his arm up in time. He shrieked in pain as she bit through his arm protection and crushed his bones. Remembering how Dáithí had attacked the vampire, she jerked her head back and forth, earning more screams and the taste of blood in her mouth.

The chains drew tight again, and she was pulled back with the strength of the two men as well as half a dozen others on each side. She turned to one side of them and screeched again. A bright green something projected from her mouth and sprayed over the chains and the soldiers. A hissing sound rose from their burning skin and their screams bounced off the walls of the cage.

She was about to lunge at the other half when a glowing white spear hit her in the side hard enough to propel her into the back wall. Another spear struck her, then another until she couldn't move a muscle except to turn her head to see none other than Zenith Shadowblade standing at the massive door. Every feather on her body lay flat against her body, creating an impenetrable shield to defend herself from the elf.

He snapped his fingers at the uninjured men. "Bind her, you idiots." He snapped and looked to the group holding the slack chain. "Don't just stand there, get one of the damn cages."

A speaker cracked overhead. "That's not necessary, Zenith."

Rhia swallowed and looked up at the window. She knew that voice. Better than she knew her own.

"I warned you, Richard." Zenith barked, not looking away from her. "This vault was designed for a dragon the size and strength of Nekros. She is too small and too powerful to remain here with no additional security. Get the fucking cage."

Movement beside her made her jerk her head around as best she could, making the soldiers flinch. She didn't have the range to be able to avoid the strap of thick leather lowered over her head and pulled tight, locking her jaws shut. They started moving faster with more efficiency, wrapping chains around her muzzle to reinforce the strap. Zenith crossed the room lazily and knelt in front of her. He gripped the chains to test them and dragged her eyes to meet his. "Revel in this rare compliment, little dragon." He hissed. "Under normal circumstances, I am all for a challenge. But in this case, I do think I preferred you when you were the size of a football."

Saliva dripped from the corners of her mouth as she growled at the elf. Green mist hissed up from the droplets and curled around her head and the soldiers moving around her. A soldier called out an order as Zenith pulled a hard-shell mask off his belt and strapped it around his face. A knife followed the mask, and he gently ran the tip of it across the ridge of one eye. She flinched slightly and he chuckled. "Not quite as brave as your father, little dragon." His voice was muffled behind the mask. "Perhaps there is still some fun to be had."

He stepped back and shouted to the soldiers now dragging in a massive glass box. She tried to struggle. More leather straps and chains were wrapped around her body, binding her wings and tail to her body, and her legs were chained so she could only take a half step at a time. But still she struggled. She would not make this easy on them!

The rest of the soldiers backed away as the box drew closer. The glowing spears turned into cuffs around her body and chains appeared in the hands of the soldiers, phasing through the glass as if it weren't even there. With one strong pull, she was forced into the box and the door slid into place. She was held there until metal panels were drilled into the corners, sealing her in.

"Do we put it with the others?" one of the soldiers asked.

Zenith glared down at Rhia, her eyes flaring with the same intense hatred her father had once shown him. "She stays here." he hissed. "Everything you need to do with her gets done here. She doesn't leave this vault."

~