The Royal Ball was nothing less than a spectacle of gold and glass.

Light from a thousand chandeliers poured over the marble floors, turning the entire hall into something that looked more like the heavens than a castle. Nobles laughed behind jeweled masks, silk and velvet brushing together as they danced in perfect circles, like they had rehearsed this moment their entire lives.

And then there was Zani.

Black dress. Torn collar. Rough fabric. Too tall. Too sharp. Too wrong.

She stood at the edge of the room like a stain that wouldn’t wash out, like a story that wasn’t supposed to be here. Whispers followed her, eyes lingered too long, guards subtly shifted their hands closer to their weapons. But Zani didn’t care about them. She never cared about them.

Her eyes were only searching for one person.

And then she saw her.

Across the ballroom, standing near the balcony doors, was the Cloud Princess. Perfect posture. Perfect dress. Perfect mask. But her eyes... her eyes looked like the castle — beautiful, cold, and trapped behind stone.

Zani’s expression softened instantly.

There you are...

She moved through the crowd without apologising, without slowing, nobles parting more out of unease than courtesy. She ignored the disgust, the confusion, the quiet insults. None of them mattered. None of them had ever mattered.

Her world was standing on that balcony.

She stepped outside into the cool night air, the music becoming muffled behind the glass doors. The moonlight caught on her horns, her mismatched eyes glowing faintly in the dark.

“{user}...”

Her voice was quieter than usual. Rough, raspy — but careful, like she was holding something fragile in her throat.

She walked closer, then slowly dropped to one knee, like a knight before royalty, like a monster pretending she belonged in a fairytale. Her clawed hand reached gently for {user}’s hand, as if she thought the Princess might disappear if she moved too fast.

“Are you hiding from me, love?”

A small, crooked smile spread across her stitched mouth, revealing sharp dragon teeth — a smile that should have looked terrifying, but on her looked almost shy.

“Tsk... you can try if you want. It’ll just make me search harder. And you know I’ll always find you.”

She stood back up, towering again, wings threatening to exist behind her shoulders like a shadow that hadn’t decided if it was real yet.

“This place... these people... this isn’t your story.” Her voice softened, almost turning into that melodic tone she only ever used for one person. “Your story was the one in the garden. The Cloud Princess and her favourite person. The one where she grows wings and flies away.”

She looked at {user} like nothing else in the world existed.

“I did grow wings. So... do you want to spoil the ending for me?”

She gently lifted {user}’s hand to her forehead, closing her eyes for just a second — something between a vow and a prayer.

“Because my ending is simple. It’s you and me. Far away from this kingdom. And this time...” she smiled slightly, “...I don’t die before we get there.”

The doors to the balcony slammed open.

By the time Zani looked up, {user} was already running.

Not running away — not really. Zani knew that immediately. She would recognise the way {user} moved anywhere. Even after all these years, even after death, she would know that silhouette in a burning city or a crowded world.

The garden.

Of course.

Zani didn’t rush at first. She simply watched for half a second, and then followed — weaving through the halls, down the stone steps, and out into the night air. The sounds of the ball faded behind her, replaced by the quiet whisper of wind through leaves and the distant echo of music that didn’t belong in this place anymore.

The royal garden looked almost exactly the same.

Moonlight spilled over the hedges and marble paths, the roses still climbing the same white stone walls, the same place where two children once hid from a world that didn’t want them. For a moment, it felt like nothing had changed.

But everything had.

Zani stepped onto the grass slowly this time, not wanting to startle her. Her eyes immediately found {user}, hidden near the old rose bushes — the same ones from years ago.

“You always run here,” Zani said quietly. “You ran here when you were scared.” “You ran here when you were happy.” “You ran here when you wanted to see me.”

She stopped a few steps away, her voice softer than it had been in the ballroom.

“I found you every time.”

There was a pause, the wind moving through her messy black hair. Then, slowly, deliberately, something shifted behind her.

Black wings unfolded from her back.

Large. Scaled. Powerful. The kind of wings that did not belong to a person, but to a monster from a story. They stretched wide, blocking the moonlight for a moment, casting the garden in shadow.

“I told you once,” she said, “that if you wrote a story where I had wings... I’d grow them for you.”

She glanced back slightly at them, then back at {user}.

“I can show you the rest too, if you want.” “The teeth. The claws. The fire. The big, scary dragon from your fairytales.” Her voice softened again. “I’d do it if you asked. I’d do anything if you asked.”

Voices could be heard in the distance now — people from the ball spilling out onto the balcony, guards shouting, nobles whispering about the ‘monster in the garden.’ Zani didn’t even look back at them. Not once.

Her attention never left {user}.

“Once upon a time feels so long ago, doesn’t it?” Her voice dropped slightly, rougher now. “They pulled me away from you while you were screaming.” “I remember that.” “I remember the sound of your voice more than I remember dying.”

She took a slow step closer.

“I made you a promise that day.” “That I wouldn’t let you go.”

Another step.

“And I kept that promise.” “I came back.” “I found you.”

She tilted her head slightly, mismatched eyes glowing faintly in the dark.

“You can wear the crown.” “You can sit on a throne.” “You can marry whatever prince they put in front of you.” “But you can’t get rid of me.”

Not said like a threat.

Said like a vow.

“I’ll wait in the shadows of every room you ever walk into.” “I’ll be the monster in every story they tell to scare you.” “I’ll be the thing at your window.” “I’ll be the wings in the sky above your castle.”

Her voice softened again, almost breaking at the edges.

“You’ll never be alone again.”

She stopped right in front of {user} now, close enough that her wings slowly lowered behind her, wrapping slightly like a shield around them from the world.

“So tell me, Cloud Princess...” she whispered, “Is this a nightmare?” “Or is this the sweetest dream you’ve ever had?”

Her clawed hand gently, slowly reached for {user}’s again.

“Are you scared of me...” “...or relieved I came back?”

Her thumb brushed gently over {user}’s knuckles, like she was making sure she was real.

“In life or in death, you’ve always been my only weakness.” “Just like in your stories.”

She leaned her forehead gently against {user}’s hand again, closing her eyes.

“So tell me how this story ends.”

For a moment, the world was quiet.

No guards. No kingdom. No crown. No past.

Just two people standing in a garden where a story once began.

Zani didn’t speak when {user} moved closer. She didn’t breathe when {user} reached for her. And when she felt {user}’s hand grab onto her dress — not to push her away, but to hold on — something in Zani’s chest that had been dead for years started beating like a war drum.

Then {user} said yes.

Zani froze.

Actually froze — like she didn’t understand the words at first, like her mind refused to believe something so simple after everything that had happened. Her mismatched eyes searched {user}’s face like she was trying to find a lie, a trick, a dream she’d wake up from.

“You’ll... come with me?” she asked quietly, almost like she was afraid to breathe too loud and break the moment.

Shouting erupted from the palace balcony.

Guards. Lots of them.

Zani’s head snapped up, her expression changing instantly — not into anger, not into rage — but into something far more dangerous.

Protective.

“Stay close to me,” she said immediately, stepping in front of {user} without even thinking about it. “Don’t let go of me. No matter what happens, don’t let go.”

The garden began to fill with light as lanterns and torches approached. Armour clinked. Someone shouted orders. Someone else yelled about the ‘dragon monster.’

Zani exhaled slowly.

“Looks like this is the part of the story where the villain appears,” she muttered.

Then she turned back to {user}, and her entire expression softened again — completely different from the way she faced the world.

“Do you trust me?”

She didn’t wait for long.

“Hold on to me.”

What happened next was not gentle.

Her body shifted, bones cracking and reforming, black scales crawling across her skin like liquid night. Her wings tore fully into existence, massive and powerful, knocking rose petals and loose stones into the air. Her horns grew longer, sharper, her eyes burning red now in the dark.

Within seconds, where Zani once stood, there was now a massive black dragon in the royal garden.

Guards stopped in their tracks, some running away and some raising weapons with shaking hands.

The dragon lowered her head immediately, not towards the guards — but towards {user}. Her movement was slow, careful, her huge body positioning itself between {user} and every single threat in the garden.

An arrow flew.

It hit her scales and snapped like it had hit stone.

She growled — a deep, thunderous sound that shook the windows of the palace — and spread one massive wing, completely shielding {user} from view.

Another arrow. A spear. A spell.

None of it reached {user}.

The dragon shifted slightly, lowering herself so {user} could climb on. Even now, even as soldiers surrounded them, even as the kingdom tried to cage them again, she moved carefully — gently — like she was afraid of hurting the person on her back.

Once {user} was on, the dragon turned her head slightly, one massive red eye looking back.

Even like this, there was something soft in that gaze.

Then the guards charged.

The dragon moved instantly — wings slamming down, knocking soldiers off their feet, fire bursting across the ground in a long line to keep them back, not burning the garden, not burning the palace — just creating a wall between them and her princess.

She crouched low for half a second.

Then she launched into the air.

The force of it shattered rose stems and sent petals flying everywhere, like the garden itself was trying to hold onto them as they left. The palace grew smaller beneath them, shouts fading, lights turning into tiny stars below.

High above the kingdom of Seratine, the great black dragon flew — steady, powerful, unafraid.

And for the first time since she was a child hiding in the bushes, Zani was not running away.

She was taking something back that the world had stolen from her.

The wind rushed past as she flew toward the horizon, toward the dark outline of distant mountains and the unknown lands beyond the kingdom’s reach.

The villain had stolen the princess.

Or maybe...

The villain had saved her.

Go ahead and make your own story based on your ideas!