Shaun stopped and raised his head to try and locate the creature, before slowly lifting his wings and moving his tail to cover his brother's body, as if to hold him in place without crushing him. He didn't stand a chance if he stayed on the ground like this... Shaun had to take a chance in getting his brother home safely, and slowly took to the clouds, making sure his brother was securely on his back. That's when he saw the creature that had sounded the roar. It was searching for its prey... Was that the shifter? The other dragon had spotted him, and he knew it.
With how fast the other dragon had flew over to him, the only thing he could was land, if he wanted to keep Michael safe. Seeing the other dragon up-close secretly terrified Shaun. This thing was an Ancient dragon, made himself look like nothing! He was in deep-shit if he couldn't get away from it, somehow. He used his wings to shield his brother when the Ancient tried lunging at his back, and instincts said to fight. He used his tail like a whip and smacked the Ancient in the side of its large jaw, then grabbed the back of its neck and bit down, causing the Ancient to screech and struggle against the Earth dragon. The Ancient dragon voiced a force Thu'um, practically pushing him back, away from the other dragon. He held his wings over his brother's body and watched the Ancient circle around, getting another Thu'um ready for an attack.
Ice began to surround Shaun in a large parameter. Pillars of ice shot up through the ground around the hindered dragon. He felt like a dinosaur as he side-stepped some of the pillars as he continued to watch the Ancient swoop down to release its Thu'um in a frost breath. Shaun lost track of the Ancient as it used the frost-fog as cover, and swiftly attacked the Earth dragon, managing to knock him over and pinned his neck with his claws, digging into his thick skin. Shaun continued to shield his brother with his wings, protecting him from the impact of him falling over and being pinned, but the back-sided wing had been damaged enough to hinder him if he were to try and move it. He was hurt pretty bad, but his objective was to protect his defenseless brother. He would be at his limit if this kept up, then they'd both be in trouble...
This ice had him even more concerned. It was obvious that the Ancient dragon hadn't caused them- was it Michael's berserk? Shaun tried using his tail as a whip again, but he was helpless in this state. He picked up his tail and added it to the shield his wings had created, when the Ancient dragon held ice breath in its mouth. A beam of light shot up through Shaun's wings and the force threw the dragon off of the Earth dragon, before Shaun was forced to revert back to an injured human.
"Shit!" Shaun cursed, shielding his eyes from the light. As the light began to dim, more ice shot up through the ground and formed a dome over the oldest of the siblings, as well as spike barriers around the dome. Shaun could see the smudged blue hues of the wyvern form his brother had taken, through the ice dome.
He watched the wyvern zip towards the downed dragon and just started tearing it to shreds in a furry of attacks, flapping its wings as it stayed up in the air. He knew what it meant if Michael had taken that form while on the brink of death... The younger boy wasn't even conscious! This was the will of his rage. Whatever damage was done by the Ancient dragon, would surely kill his brother when he reverted back. God no... Shaun prayed as the skies darkened, all caused by the power of the wyvern. The Ancient dragon tried to fend him off with ice breath, but the wyvern was only absorbing it, since it was being attacked by the very element it commanded.
"Michael!" Shaun called, slowly making his way to the entrance of the icy dome. It was clear that by now, the other dragon had lost and he watched as the wyvern made the killing blow with little effort. The wyvern was hungry for more...
"Wake up!" Shaun called, gaining the attention of the blood-thirsty wyvern.
"It's over, Michael!" He called again, staring down the wyvern with absolutely no fear in his eyes, only determination. The wyvern made its way to the ice path it had created, and landed, stalking towards Shaun for a moment before the wyvern was enveloped in a dim light. That's when Shaun rushed towards it as it reverted to the form of his kid brother. Shaun sank to his knees and held his limp body.
Oh God...
"Michael!" Shaun called, having to force himself not to shake as fear crept through the back of his mind.
"Michael- please God..." He muttered under his breath as he looked over his battered brother, searching for any sign of life.
"I'm supposed to protect you-" He murmured in a low broken whisper, holding his brother close to him. Sierra popped up out of the water in her penguin form, reverting back as soon as she saw her brothers surrounded by ice. She got up and ran towards them, a sinking feeling settling.
"Shaun, Michael!" She called, stopping dead in her tracks at the sight of all the blood in the area, and the dead Ancient dragon. Sierra pushed forward and fell to her knees as if her legs had given out from under her when she reached her brother's side. She swallowed hard and slowly reached a hand to feel for a pulse from Michael's neck, her hand shaking as she touched him. She relaxed a little when she could feel a pulse, indicating that their kid brother was still alive..
"Shaun- he's alive..." Sierra said in a soft voice.
"Our parents are coming, they'll take us home and take care of you two." She said to him, her eyes widen when she noticed the tears dripping from her brother face, and onto the ice. Was he.. crying? Shaun never shed a tear! Not even at funerals!
"Shaun-?" Sierra asked softly, slowly reaching to attempt to comfort her brother.
Shaun jerked away, causing Sierra to lower her hand.
"It's my job to protect my family... Things are gonna change- I will not ever leave you in the face of danger again... I'll be damned if I'm going to let either of you risk your lives for me, when I can't even act like a brother!" Shaun spoke in a quiet, broken voice, his dark hair covering his eyes. Sierra gazed at him with softened eyes.
"Shaun- you might act like a hard-ass.. but you're always there when we need you in the end..." She said to him gingerly. Shaun grit his teeth and held his brother.
"Not this time, I let him fight on his own... That vile man- why did it have to be an Ancient shifter?" He spoke in a low voice. Sierra just sat there, silent, as they waited for their parents to arrive to take them all home.
One thing was for sure... Shaun would never be the same after this tragic day.