Beast (Solo)

Come around, and I'll tell you a story. A story of a woman, and of a beast.

Twenty-three, almost twenty-four, years ago, a young couple in Canada had a baby daughter. They named her Kiva.

Kiva is an Irish name, meaning 'kind, gentle, and beautiful'...

Her fists struck out at the punching bag in front of her, ignoring the stares from the others in the gym. She knew she was pushing her luck with how long she'd been at it, but she officially didn't care. It was all she could do not to let herself just start clawing at the bag, as she'd long found out that that was a much more effective way of venting her frustrations. She reminded herself that this wasn't her property.

The bronze-scaled woman was wearing about as little as she could get away with to keep cool as she viciously attacked the punching bag, the wings open behind her whipping left and right in reaction to her dancing around the immobile 'opponent.'

Ten, almost eleven, years ago, Kiva was growing fast, taking her first steps toward becoming a young woman.

Instead, she became something else.

There were old, loose scales on the floor. Not many, but anyone who knew to look would see the bronze-coloured bits of skin that she'd shed with every impact. Her hands were starting to hurt, but she didn't stop. Pain rarely stopped her. Rarely even registered.

Ten, almost eleven, years ago, a beast was born in a moment of unimaginable pain.

That beast named itself Drake.

She wanted to wear herself out, wanted to break herself down, so that she could spend the rest of the day too exhausted to remember what today was. She could deal with physical pain. Physical pain was easy. It was the rest that she wanted to burn away.

She freaking hated Valentine's Day.

Because Drake means 'dragon.'

The whole concept was loathsome. If you needed a day to tell you get off your fat butt and do something considerate for someone you loved, you were missing the point. If you felt obligated to do something elaborate and expensive for fear of consequences, you were missing the point.

And if you made someone feel obligated to do something for you because the number on the calendar made you feel entitled to it, you could just go die as far as she cared.

Drake was a terrifying beast, massive and covered in scales that shone like bronze. It had black spikes on its face and sharp, black claws, along with scaly wings.

It would have been easy for everyone who had loved Kiva to run in fear of Drake.

Finally, she stopped, letting her arms drop to her sides as she gasped for breath. She needed water...

"Here." A water bottle in a distinctly human hand was extended, and she took it and drank it down without looking to see who had given it to her. Mostly because she already knew from his voice.

Half the bottle gone in a few gulps, and she wiped off her mouth with her wrist and looked up. "Thanks, Hawk."

The man standing there chuckled faintly. He was dressed in his usual attire of ripped-up jeans, dark T-shirt, leather jacket, and a single earring. She knew he was here to pick up his sister, who was off in the nearby boxing ring showing the woman she was sparring with a thing or two.

"Well, somebody's got to make sure you don't give yourself hyperthermia, Drake," he commented, "And I doubt Raven's going to notice while she's trying to win by knockout over there."

She snorted a little laugh and drained another quarter of the bottle before shooting a glance at the pale, dark-haired woman chasing her opponent around the ring. "Yeah, teeny bit competitive, that one..."

But they didn't. Gradually, they saw the Kiva in Drake, and they knew they were one and the same.

However...

Hawk chuckled too. "Maybe I better go let her know I'm here. At this rate she's probably forgotten our double date." He lightly patted her bare, scaled arm in a friendly manner as he passed. "See you at work tomorrow, Drake."

"Yeah...see ya." She watched his back for a moment as he made his way over to the ring, then looked back at the punching bag, and the hand not holding the water bottle suddenly whipped out and struck it.

Even when people weren't missing the point...she really freaking hated Valentine's Day.

...Even if Drake was Kiva, Kiva was still Drake.

And while one could love a beast, it was much, much harder to fall in love with a beast...