#2 - Legacy "Sally, do we GOTTA stay here? This place is giving me the creeps!" complained Dulcy, shifting her weight back and forth nervously from one massive foot to the other. Bunnie glanced around at the vista of stone pillars, walkways, and crumbling buildings, and reached over to give the dragon a reassuring pat with her still normal hand. "What's got y'all so jumpy today, sugar? You do'nt make a peep about that rusty metal llabyrinth Robo lives in, an' this place is a lot prettier'n that." Dulcy clasped her arms around her chest and shuddered, staring into the open mouth of a small, collapsed structure that looked something like a pyramid, and murmered, "At least there the buildings don't look like they're going to jump out and bite you. And all that writing on the coloums! I bet every one's a curse against intruders or something." Sally sighed, brushing her hair away from her face and glancing up from Nicole's readout. "Actually, Dulcy, it's all poetry. I can't translate more than a word or two yet, but I can see just from the lay-out that there's a meter and rhyme scheme. AND, from the pictures decorating the sides, I'd say they're all about good harvests and stuff like that. Honestly, Dulcy, what's so scary about grapes and tree-lizards?" "Well, maybe they're vampire tree-lizards or something," muttered the dragoness sulkily. She knew how ridiculous she was being, but she couldn't help it! Why couldn't Sally and Bunnie FEEL the malignancy in this place the way she could? Every time she turned her head she could swear she saw out of the corner of her eye the buildings move a little, and the columns shift just a little closer. And all the while Sally blithely studied everything they came across, and Bunnie actually seemed to enjoy the scenery! Just the thought made her shudder all over again. Finally Sally nodded, apparently having come to some sort of decision, and gestured towards a particularly large building. Like the others it was made of thick blocks of white stone, tough enough to have survived the wear of who knew how many centures of the Grassland's winds. It was big, though; even Dulcy, at nearly ten feet, could fit easily through the square doorway and would find the inside to be quite pleasantly spacious. Spacious, at least. Looking at that door, it reminded her of some kind of waiting maw. Maybe they'd walk in and the ceiling would collapse on them? She wouldn't put it past this place. The whole city was probably one big trap. The princess led the way, followed by Bunnie, and finally Dulcy crept reluctantly up to the door and peered inside. It - wasn't nearly as bad as she'd been expecting. There was a row of windows up near the roof, channeling sunlight down into the center of the room, and giving the place a surprisingly light and open feel to it which almost - almost - was enough to let Dulcy forget about the threatening rock walls hovering on all sides of her. Sally was already at the other end of the room, studying some kind of altar or pedestal or something, and murmering quietly with Nicole. Bunnie seemed interested in it too, and was hovering over her shoulder, so Dulcy figured that there was safety in numbers and slipped quietly up behind them. As she did, though, she became unpleasantly aware of the disturbing beaked faces leering at her from the walls, and the huge sections of meaningless bas-relief and vaguely obscene writing. Still, with Sally and Bunnie so close, and the cheerful lighting, it was just bearable. Sally's fingers probed carefully at the symbols inscribed in the sides of the altar. According to the rather sketchy translation she'd formed, there ought to be a release... there! On both sides of the altar something gave under her fingertips, and there was an audible click. Excitedl, she grabbed the stone surface and began to twist. It wouldn't budge, but she could definitely feel it wobbling. Perhaps if it were lifted? "Bunnie, could you pull that up for me?" she asked her friend. "No sooner said than done, yo' Highness," replied the partly mechanical rabbit cheerfully. Bunnie seemed to be in a remarkably good humor today, which was fine, since Sally hated asking her to use the enormous strength the rabbit girl had been granted by her disfigurement. Bunnie's grin never faltered, though, as the robotic hand fastened around the lid, prying it up close to her body so that all of the strain would be born by her cybernetic limbs. And as the slab rose... "Flip it over," ordered Sally firmly. Bunnie complied, setting it down so gently that there was barely a thump as stone hit stone. Reversed, the altar top revealed an odd statue that had been fastened to its underside. It looked felinoid, from the body and tail, but with hind legs so digitigrade it had to be mostly quadrupedal. It had feathers over its head, though, and sharp raptorial beak like all of those mounted on the walls, and a pair of large, feathery wings tucked into its sides. The whole thing seemed to be crawling with writing. There were symbols in every feather, hooked together in little groups, with tiny illustrations accompanying some of the larger paragraphs. It was an odd way to keep any sort of record, though. Whatever information it held had to be very specialized, and possibly secret. She unhooked Nicoled from her boot and flipped the AI open, ordering curiously, "Nicole, see if you-" A harsh, anger-filled bellow echoed through the room, loud enough to send Sally staggering to one side, which got her far enough out of the way that she was only bumped off her feet instead of being flung aside as something huge and blue surged past her. Sally's hands went out, cushioning the impact as she landed on her backside ont he hard stone floor, and she glanced up at the source of the scream in time to see Dulcy, shrieking with rage, rip the head right off of the statue and fling it into a wall across the room. "Bunnie!" the princess gasped. "Way ahead of you, Sally girl," assured her companion as an oversized metallic paw closed around Dulcy's neck. With a quick jerk Bunnie tore the dragoness free from the statue, swinging her down and pinning her head to the lfoor. How Bunnie got the leverage to manhandle someone a dozen times her size Sally didn't know, but Sally was grateful for her friend's skill. Nobody else could possibly have shifted an enraged dragoness like that. "Hey!" protested Dulcy, "Whadja do that for?" "I might ask the same thing of you, Dulcy," responded the princess, regaining her feet and dusting herself off. Dulcy scowled, her muscles tensing under her thick blue hide and her wings rising automatically as she retorted, "Whaddaya mean? Of COURSE I shredded that thing. It was - was -" she paused for a moment, and then whispered hoarsely, "I don't know." Shivering anxiously, she drew her wings and arms in close to her body, cuddilng herself in them as she stared mutely up at the princess. "Maybe we oughta get you outside before we discuss this, sugar," put in Bunnie, helping Dulcy to her feet and laying a comforting hand on the dragon girl's haunch as the two of them headed for the door. Sally glanced around, assessing the destruction. The head of the statue had been shattered - she might be able to fit the fragments together again, but it'd take a great deal of time and effort. Of course, archaeology was like that, but she hated to waste her efforts and she wasn't sure it had anything to do with her reason for coming here. Of course, there was always Dulcy's reaction. On a hunch, she bent over to pick Nicole up, and ordered quietly, "Nicole, scanning mode." For a few moments the little device hummed as graphs and charts flew across the monitor too fast to be read, and finally the AI beeped. "Low level magical energies do appear to have been bound within the statue, Sally. Flow interruption estimated as far below physical damage levels," responded Nicole calmly. Sally grinned in triumph. Probably not what she came looking for, but another piece of the puzzle, certainly. "Are you reading any similar energy patterns from Dulcy?" "Negative, Sally. Only normal protector power channels detected." Sally frowned in annoyanec. With some of the more subtle magics it could be hard to tell, but she knew how sensetive Nicole's readings were. Whatever the statue was doing, it didn't seem to be messing with Dulcy's mind. At least, not directly. Keeping Nicole in hand, and casting one more appraising glance at the shattered and torn-off bits of stone to get at least a preliminary feel for how much work it would take to get it put back together, she strolled briskly out the doorway towards her friends. Bunnie looked up from her seat on an old, weathered rock to spot Sally heading down the path from the ruins. Beside her Dulcy was explaining, "It was so weird, Bunnie! It was like - I dunno, I just took one look at it, and I hated it. I hated it more than I've ever hated anything - just one look at that smug, sneering beak...," her muzzle twisted in disgust, and she continued hurriedly, "See? You just have no idea what it felt like to hate something that much!" An image of a bald human head and a spiteful grin as a single gloved finger pressed The Button flashed through Bunnie's mind, and she answered almost in a whipser, "Oh, ah think ah might have some idea, sugar - but y'all might wanna start over for Sally girl." Dulcy's bulk rose up beside her, and the dragoness's tone dropped to an embarassed mumble. "Um... yeah, I'm - I'm really sorry about that, Sally. I just don't know what came over me!" Sally waved Dulcy's explanation aside, and smiled gently, answering, "It's okay, Dulcy. I think I may have some idea of what happened back there, actually. Would you mind if I ran a little test on you to find out?" "Oh, no!" protested Dulcy hurriedly, "Go right ahead!" Bunnie smiled at that. A nice, rational explanation might be just the thing to let Dulcy get past this incident, and anyway the poor little dragon girl was almost desperately grateful for any sort of opportunity to make up for it. Sally nodded, and instructed Dulcy gently, "Now, I'm going to have Nicole show you a series of pictures, and all I want you to do is look at them, okay? You don't have to do anything else." Dulcy returned her nod with a bewildered look that Bunnie suspected she echoed. It sounded like Sally had something up her figurative sleeve again, but what it was Bunnie couldn't guess. "Nicole, run test program, please," instructed Sally. Taking a cue from the princess, Bunnie spared half an eye for the holograms, and concentrated most of her attention on Dulcy's face. The first image was a pre-coup hologram of some farmers out in the fields that stirred vague memories of home in the provinces for the rabbit girl. The second was some kind of giant with one eye rampaging through a village. The third - Bunnie barely got a glimpse of some lizard-like thing carrying a baby dragon in its jaws before her attention was wrenched away by Dulcy's reaction. The dragoness reared up swiftly onto her hind legs, wings unfurling and gasping in shock at the image. Promptly, though, it changed, to show what had to be the largest dragon Bunnie had ever even imagined crushing what looked like a human in power armor in its claws. At this Dulcy's tense posture relaxed, but the dragon girl's muzzle twisted into a satisfied smirk. With a sudden giggle, as if realizing how odd that expressin looked, Dulcy whispered sort of apologetically in Bunnie's direction, "Those are a couple of my favorite bedtime stories." "Nicole, end program. I definitely think we've seen enough," ordered Sally, folding up the AI as the holograms faded and tucking it neatly into its strap on her boot. Almost as an aftertought, she asked, Dulcy, have you ever heard of the Griffins?" Bunnie looked back over at the dragoness to see Dulcy's muscles bunched up around her shoulders, and her wings straight at her sides. "I'll say," muttered Dulcy in response, "they feature in like half the stories my Mom told me when I was a kid! Some kind of race of evil sorcerers or something. I think there was a war, a long time ago - I don't remember exactly." "That sounds about right," answered Sally calmly. "I've been researching their civilization. Apparently they were wiped out around a millenia ago by the Great Wyrms, and I've found references to them eating dragon babies." Beside Bunnie, Dulcy snorted steam at the thought, which was a cute trick Bunnie couldn't remember her ever pulling before. "So what does that have to do with me?" Dulcy demanded impatiently. "What ah think Sally girl's gettin' to, honeybunch," broke in Bunnie, mind racing as she tried to think of the nicest way to phrase what was coming, "Is that that there statue was a griffin, an' since y'all're a protector, y'all took an instant dislike to it." Dulcy paused, and Bunnie winced at the bitter tone in the dragon's voice as she demanded, "You mean just because my ancestors fought a war, I have to go into a frenzy at the sight of some stupid piece of art left by a race that died out a thousand years ago?" "Well, you are a protector," replied Sally, "and the protector instincts are supposed to be quite powerful." "And I have no choice in the matter, is that it? I don't have enough enemies, without gettings tuck hating people who were dead long before I was even born?" Bunnie reached a comforting hand over to lay it on the dragon's flank, and sighed, "Unfortunately, darlin', some things are decided for us." Dulcy jerked away from the touch, grumbling a little, and Bunnie sighed again, to herself this time. She'd seen that same expression on Tails a few times. This kind of argument was an inevitable part of growing up, but she still hated to see the poor little girl strong out like this. "Tell you what, sugar," she proposed, "Why don't y'all fly back t' Knothole by yo'self, an' we'll catch a hedgehog later? Ah 'speck you'll feel a l'il bettuh away from this place." And, she added mentally, it'd give Dulcy a good excuse to go off and be alone for a while, which the dragon girl probably needed. "How 'bout it, Sally? Y'all think you can send a message t' have Sonic pick us up?" Sally nodded, her expression distracted. Inwardly, Bunnie sighed yet again. If the princess had a flaw, it was that her thirst for knowledge was strong enough to override common sense. Bunnie just hoped that Sally was thinking about whatever puzzle she was trying to solve with the ruins, and not planning on poking further into protector instincts later. Dulcy, at least, seemed to be welcoming the opportunity to let the matter drop, and without another word swiveled around, leaped forward a few steps to build up spead, and then took off into the air. Bunnie watched the dragoness's figure, much more serpentine and elegant on the wing, retreat into the distance. The anger implied by Dulcy's lack of a farewell shook her a little, but she knew it didn't mean anything. When Dulcy had worked things out in her head it would be as if this argument had never even happened. For now, though, the only thing to do was for Bunnie to put it out of her mind and go back to helping Sally with her research. In the middle of the third round of knocking Rotor finally made it to the door, jerking it open and declaring irritably, "What is it? I was working on - oh, hi Dulcy. Um - is something wrong?" It wasn't a hard guess. There was a certain slump to the dragoness's posture, and even shadowed in the doorway her pensive expression was obvious. "Yeah," sighed Dulcy, lowering her head to creep into the main room of the hut as Rotor made room for her. She barely even glanced in his direction, heading straight over to a pipe he'd installed up near the ceiling long ago, and neatly looping her tail around it. Even as she hoisted her body off the ground, hanging upside-down by her tail, she continued to avoid looking into Rotor's face and instead just stared blankly at the wall a little distance from him. With his usual fastidious quietness, he grabbed a rag and began toweling the grease off of his hands in preparation for fishing a brownie out of the old chipped vase he used to store treats to give to visitors. After a while, Dulcy went on. "Have - you ever wondered just who you are, Rotor?" Rotor thought about this carefully for a moment, but was finally forced to admit, "I'm sorry, Dulcy, I don't think I understand your question." The dragon girl's face screwed up, the effort she was putting into finding the right words making it clear to Rotor just how important this was to her. Not that he wasn't going to give her his full attention anyway. Rotor liked to think he of everybody in Knothole really listened to her. Finally, she tried again. "I mean - you know, how you can be conditioned and stuff? Like brainwashing kinda, or what Robobutt does t' people, only just a little and everyday, you know? Have you ever thought about how much of you is really you, and how much of you is that?" Rotor continued wringing his hands in his washrag, even though by now one was no cleaner than the other, and answered slowly, "No, Dulcy, I - don't think I have." He wondered why the question disturbed him so much. It was kind of interesting from a scientific standpoint, but for some reason he just didn't like contemplating it. "Well, I have. It kinda scares me. I mean, how do I know what's really me, and what isn't? How can I ever be me, if I don't know? IS there a me underneath, or is it all stuff I've been taught, or stuff I was born with? I've been fighting all my life not to be turned into a robot - but maybe there isn't any difference!" She was angry now. Rotor could see her tail tightening around the pipe that held her up, and the slight sheen of frost beginning to collect on her nose-ring as her anger weakened her control over her protector abilities. If she were a mammal, he supposed, there'd be tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. Disturbed, Rotor apologized gently, "I wish I knew the answers to all that, Dulcy, but I don't. Even if I did - well, how could you ever be sure?" Dulcy digested that for a minute, her jaw working sulkily while Rotor finally pulled the cookie jar off his shelf and removed the badly chipped lid to rummage inside for a brownie. There weren't many left. Maybe he could convince Sally to let him try out that camoflauged greenhouse idea, so they could grow their own cocoa beans. Just as he was about to offer the largest brownie left in the jar to Dulcy, though, she uncoiled herself from her perch and dropped heavily to the floor, stomping towards the door. "Where are you going?" asked Rotor worriedly, trying to work out if it would be best to take the jar with him or put it back, and whether or not Dulcy would be in any mood to accept if he gave the brownie to her anyway. The delay, brief as it was, gave Dulcy time to duck through the door, growl back over her shoulder, "To talk to Mom!" and launch herself into the air. Standing there helplessly in her wake, Rotor nibbled on the brownie and tried to figure out what she had meant. Dulcy's mother was dead, wasn't she? Soaring alone on the air currents above the Great Unknown, Dulcy found her anxiety and frustration slipping away from her. More than anywhere else on Mobius, this was the real ancestral homeland of her people, and she felt it in the way the warm currents rising off the sun-baked sands lifted her, making her journey easier, and in the beauty of the multiple bands of bright colors swirling through the rocks below, making patterns that could only be seen from the air. She supposed this wasn't really her either, just some dragon instinct making her love her home, but it was hard to resent it. She felt somehow that even if she didn't have them, flying here would still be a joy. Down below her, the landscape had changed from ragged scrub to bare sands to ragged rock formations, some of them carved into odd shapes, perhaps by the wind or perhaps by some ancient Mobian whose name was long since forgotten. She was approaching the mountains now, in the dryest and least hospitable part of the Great Unknown. In a few more moments her keen eyesight picked out the first of the Graves. Passing over it, Dulcy looked down at the gleaming white bones stretched out on top of the outcropping of rock. Whose were they? Some protector's certainly - the other dragons were all buried in caves below. What was her name, and why had she been put so far out? There wasn't another Grave for several hills over yet. Maybe it had been an honor, the greatest her family could give to a protector who had been braver even than the rest, so they left her here to guard the Graveyard after death, her skeleton the first to greet any visitors. Did Dulcy want to end up like that? Maybe all she'd been taught by her mother had been false, and the spirits of the ancestral protectors didn't linger here, guarding their kin as they had in life. Maybe they were just dead, and those were just bones, long-abandoned and picked clean by scavengers. Maybe this was a shamed protector, which was why she was put so far away from the others. How could Dulcy really know? And yet, all the other dragons, passing by on their way to the Graveyard to visit their ancestors, had to have had the same thoughts she did, and felt that same flutter of respect for an honor that can only be guessed at. It was a pleasant thought to be remembered that way, even if no-one ever knew your name. Dulcy banked, swooping lower and to the left to pass close by a particularly large pile of stones. It had to be large, because perched on top was the skeleton of one of the Great Wyrms. The body was enormous - four times her own length, Dulcy thought, with especially powerful limbs and incredible wings. She could land on one of those rib-bones and use it as a perch. As she always did when she came through here, she tried to imagine what the owner of this skeleton would be like. So large - could she really fly? Sally had told her once that the dragons shouldn't be able to, but they had some funny tricks - magic and science and stuff like that. Would it be enough to allow anything that big into the air? The Wyrm wasn't a thing, though, that was the scary part. She was a person - a protector, just like Dulcy. Maybe Dulcy would even grow that large herself. She'd gained another few inches in the last couple of months, and even though there hadn't been a Wyrm in a long time there was no reason why there might not be another any time now. She thought of herself like that, of size lending her power and beauty enough to become a legend among dragonkind like the other Wyrms. If she were that big, she could take down anything Robotnik might send against the Freedom Fighters, and perhaps be strong enough to tear down Robotnik's fortress and gobble him down like Kaliah the Huge was said to have slain the awful techno-knight, George. The wind pulled her onwards, leaving the gigantic skeleton behind as she flew on, until in the distance she spotted an outcropping that to anyone else would have looked no different from those that surrounded it on all sides, another Grave and another skeleton amongst many. Gliding downwards, she angled towards the projection at its front, and at the last moment reared back to present as much of her body to the wind as possible. It was a technique that had been working pretty well for her, but she underestimated the drop that would result from her attempted stall, and ended up hitting the edge of the miniature cliff stomache-first. Wincing a little, she pulled herself up onto the rock shelf, took a step towards the array of yellowish dragon bones in front of her, and bowed her head respectfully. "Hello, mom." For a minute more she stood silently, fidgeting a little. Now that she was here, she wasn't exactly sure what she had meant to say. Then anger bubbled up in her suddenly, and she bared her teeth and demanded, "Why?" of the bare skull sitting placidly on the rock by her feet, "Why me? Why do I have to be the protector? Maybe I don't want to spend my life looking after other people! Why couldn't it have been somebody else? Somebody who knew what they were doing? I can't save the dragons! I don't even know where they are!" Even as she spoke, though, she knew the answer to that. All she had to do was look around. This strange, bare canyon with its morbid inhabitants called to her somehow. Being placed here was an honor, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think of it as anything else, not really. And she WANTED to save the dragons. Her wings quivered at the thought of little dragonlings running around the nesting site, of a sky full of darting winged forms. Dulcy gritted her teeth, returning her attention to the skeleton and shouting furiously, "It's not me! It's you! It's all of you, making me want what you want. What makes you think that I'd want it too? Don't I get a choice? Why does my life have to be decided for me?" A little wisp of flame curled out to caress her mother's skull, leaving a black streak behind, and Dulcy quickly curbed her tirade. Now that she'd said it, though, her anger seemed to just drain away from her. Maybe she didn't want to be what she'd been born to be, but - well, she did want it, didn't she? Even if it was only because she'd been born to it, it was still what she wanted. If she looked down inside herself, she knew that consciously or unconsciously, she'd never be able to deny another dragon in need, especially a child, and if she ever found a way to free her race from slavery under Robotnik's mechanical fist she'd give her life for it. If all that was true, why was she arguing? Smiling weakly, Dulcy took another step forward, and wrapped her arms around the rib bones jutting up from the ground, holding them gently as she sighed, "Thank you, Mom. I'm sorry I yelled. I feel a lot better now." She closed her eyes, remembering what it was like to hug her mother when she was alive. It wasn't too different. Maybe it was just what had been programmed into her by her birth, but somehow she could feel her mother here, comforting her, while around them ringed the hundreds of other protectors that had been buried here over the centuries. Even if it wasn't real she could feel it, and that was all that mattered.