The Queen and her Dragon (WORM: Post-GM, Khepri!Taylor/Lung)

[dhazellouise]

Summary: After killing Scion, Taylor Hebert or Khepri escapes into another earth. However, she also ends up bringing another person with her due to the Queen Administrator's insistence. For some unknown reason, it seems her shard has completely latch unto a certain Villain with the intent of using him to help Taylor recover. Lung, of course, has no other choice but to follow along. (Khepri!Taylor/Lung)​

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She watches him in silence. Her eyes never leaving his broad back as the man does what he usually does in the morning. Taylor's gaze is completely intent on his tall figure, where she finally notices the purple apron he wears over his half-naked torso. A purple apron that says, 'I'm a badass cook' in the front, which is printed in bold and black letters.

He looks absolutely ridiculous in it, but admittedly he looks quite captivating as well, especially when her sight lands on his corded muscles and the large dragon tattoos on his muscular body. Of course, she isn't about to admit it to herself that she is currently ogling the previous ABB leader like she wants him for breakfast. Perhaps deep down Taylor acknowledges that Lung is one hot sonofabitch, but she isn't going to do anything about her undeniable attraction to the ex-villain, most certainly when she is still trying to recover.

Even until now, after months in Lung's company and living on an alternate earth, Taylor is still mildly confuse about the Queen Administrator's explanation regarding Lung's necessary presence in her life, except for the one fact where it seems Lung's shard had latched into her and become compatible with hers. A phenomenon that allows her to siphon a bit of Lung's regenerative power and slowly heals herself.

At best, she doesn't completely understand how it works or how their shards become compatible with each other to begin with. It was explained to her by her passenger of course, but she couldn't quite grasp the entire concept of imprinting - or as Taylor simply called it – the first conflict triggered shard-sharing.

The Queen Administrator has stated that it must be from Taylor's first encounter with Lung on the night of her debut as a cape that left quite an impression on Taylor and the overall function of her administrative shard. The Queen Administrator simply called the special event the imprinting process. It is some kind of rare occurrence – a one in a million occurrence - that can only happen during the first escalating conflict between capes.

The result of the imprinting process allows certain people during a first conflict or fight to latch unintentionally to the other's shard, where the shards become compatible somehow as the adverse reaction of the conflict. A reverse biological response of some kind where powers are acting weird and out of the wielders volition. Also, if the shards are compatible, then it means that the people who have this unusual match can share some of their powers with each other, but only when there is a right administrator to properly direct and manage the whole shard-sharing function between the compatible capes. Like what the Queen Administrator is doing with Lung's shard.

Now, Taylor is slowly recovering due to her passenger's superior administrative ability and involvement in taking advantage of Lung's healing factor, which prevents the mental deterioration of the twenty-year old Entity-killer.

Other than using Lung to help Taylor with her recovery and keep her company for an undetermined amount of time, Contessa and the majority of the people who have watch Taylor's mental deterioration, have also told her that Lung is also the best choice to prevent her from completely turning into Khepri again. Since Lung can literally lend his regenerative ability to her and can also turn into an enormous raging Dragon to stop her if she goes insane again, Taylor feels slightly better for her decision to bring the ex-Villain with her. In fact, in a roundabout and silly way, she feels like a princess with her unusual situation – no, a Queen who is being guarded by a veritable fire-breathing Dragon.

Hence, Taylor has no other choice but to follow most of the people's wish to keep her sane and out of trouble. So she simply allows the ABB leader to come with her right after she escape the catastrophe which followed Scion's demise. However, she doesn't have control over Lung, who joins in her exile after being threaten by a bunch of capes and mainly because of the millions of donation they receive from people for just simply staying out of their previous earth, and for Taylor's action in taking down Scion.

Even after what she had done to defeat Scion, there are still good people out there who understands Taylor's plight, wherein some organizations from different earths are willing to pour out all their resources to help Khepri with her recovery. Of course, this won't happen at all without the aid of some friendly capes who reach out to these organizations and appeal to their better judgement in providing Taylor with some monetary allowance to help her heal and live a normal life again. Currently, Taylor and Lung are mostly living in luxury from this generous allowance, which Lung seems to prefer than take his previous occupation as a Villain.

Now, Taylor is tied with the Dragon of Kyushuu for the unforeseeable future. For this reason alone, they have made a lot of contingency plans for their whole situation. One of which involves with the two of them pretending to be husband and wife. Since the pretense is necessary, they have even bought themselves wedding rings to make it appear like they are truly married, which inevitably prevent people from questioning their real relationship.

And after months of living with the ex-Villain, Lung now treats Taylor…differently. He begins to warm up to her despite their dark past. So much so that Taylor begins to feel comfortable around him to the point that she allows Lung to act rather familiar towards her. By familiar, she means she lets Lung act like he is truly her husband, such as letting him wrap his arms around her or kiss her on the cheek, even though they don't have any nosy neighbors looking over their shoulders.

Yet despite the pretense, Taylor has to admit that Lung isn't a terrible husband at all. Fake or even otherwise. Because for a previous Villain who had nefarious dealings with most of the unsavory things in Brockton Bay, Lung – or Kenta as she calls him now - can be quite tender and thoughtful every time he pays attention to her.

Like last night, he has even gone so far as to give Taylor a foot massage just to make her feel better. However, she also suspects the other reason Lung did it since she begins to notice his increasing desire to initiate intimate contact with her. Taylor, of course, doesn't know how to behave around him, especially when in regards to his interest for intimacy. Fortunately, nothing happened yet, even after nearly five months of their fake marital bliss.

She certainly hopes that the situation will not change any time soon.

Taylor's thoughts are interrupted when a plate full of pancakes are place right in front of her. At once, her mouth begins to water at the sight of the delicious breakfast that Lung has made for her.

"You seem preoccupied this morning Taylor." Lung remarks while he sits down on the chair directly to her right. She notices that he seems to have filled his plate with some bacon, eggs and rice. Taylor knows him well by now and she understands that Lung always have the need to eat rice – jasmine rice specifically - or he won't survive the day without having any.

"I am…" comes her mumbled words after his comment. She still has trouble speaking, but with Lung's assistance, Taylor is able to regain the ability to talk gradually. It is mainly because Lung's constant encouragement and insistence that she talks to him every chance she gets, where she slowly improves her speech pattern even just after two months. It still surprises her that Lung can be incredibly patient if he wants to.

"What are you thinking about?" He asks as he scoots his chair closer to hers.

Taylor doesn't even hesitate at all before she answers him.

"You…" is her soft response while she meets his light brown eyes. She immediately notes that the ridiculous purple apron he was wearing earlier is gone and Taylor is currently being subjected to the sight of her fake husband wearing only his red pajama bottoms.

Five months ago, Taylor would have acted skittish around a half-naked Lung, who often have the tendency to invade her personal space and completely fluster her. Now, however, she doesn't shy away from him, not even when he places an arm around the back of her chair while he gives her a winning smile that simply turns his foreign, but handsome features into something breathtaking.

The other benefit of being around Lung's mere presence is that Taylor doesn't misinterpret his gestures or behavior as something even close to hostile, like she has done with her friends and acquaintances during her time as Khepri. It's also because of this that she doesn't end up attacking him for exhibiting such familiarity towards her.

"Were you really?" Lung says in a teasing manner. His gaze intent while his grin becomes absolutely rakish.

Meanwhile, Taylor tries very hard to control the sudden and erratic beats of her heart at the sight of Lung's disarming smile. She already knows that she has developed some kind of infatuation after five months of living with Lung, but it is just borderline agonizing to realize that she can't do anything about her feelings at all, not when she is absolutely afraid of being rejected by Lung.

"Yes," Taylor replies while she pretends that his smile hasn't affected her at all.

Lung, of course, takes this opportunity to lean close to her and place his mouth next to her ear.

"Let me guess," He whispers and Taylor can't help but shiver as his breath brushes against the shell of her ear. "You were thinking about what I did to you last night…"

Unable to stop herself, a scarlet blush immediately rises up her cheeks at Lung's implication. She knows that nothing really happened last night - other than a foot massage - but at the way Lung says it, he makes it appear like something really sordid occurred.

"Kenta…" She begins to say in reprimanding tone but the man simply lets out a chuckle before he unexpectedly drops a kiss on her temple. Immediately, a tingle erupts across her skin, where his lips made contact and the blush on her face only intensifies after Lung's inadvertent action.

"I know you like my foot massage, Taylor. So don't deny it. If you want, I can do it again tonight." He offers while he winks at her.

In response, Taylor simply chooses to shrug her shoulders and says to him, "If you say so, Kenta…"

"I will pay extra attention to your cute, little toes this time. I promise." Lung vows, still grinning roguishly and clearly enjoying himself at her expense.

After being her constant companion for months, Taylor also discovers that Lung loves to tease her a lot with the sole purpose of seeing her blush, like in that moment.

At his absurd comment, she lets out a snort of exasperation and then manages to say to him without stammering, "Kenta, I'll shove my foot down your throat – cute toes and all - if you don't stop teasing me."

Lung probably knows that she is not being serious because he suddenly let's out a laugh. A warm laugh which makes her stomach flip like it usually does when he laughs.

"Dearest wife, I always love it when you threaten me." Her pretend husband says to her a moment later, who now has an amused smile plastered on his perfect face. "But I will do as you say and stop teasing you right this minute. In fact, perhaps we better eat our breakfast before it grows cold."

"Hmn," is Taylor's only response while her eyes return to the pancakes that Lung had made for her.

Lung is right of course. Their food will only get cold if they don't eat it soon.

So after staring at her perfectly cook breakfast, she then turns her attention to the man who made it. Obviously, Lung is waiting for her to start eating her food because he meets her gaze as soon as she looks at him. But Taylor is not ready to eat yet. Not without saying something to him first since every time Lung cooks for her - which is quite often - Taylor always expresses her appreciation for his delicious and sometimes lavish meals, and this morning is no exception.

To be frank, the pancakes that the ex-Villain perfectly made for her deserves more than a simple 'Thank you'. Hence, Taylor decides to do something more to express her gratitude.

"Thank you Kenta for the pancakes…" She says, leaning forward to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Lung seems surprise at her action, but he soon recovers to give her another one of his charming smile.

"You're welcome Taylor," He says to her.

"The pancakes look perfect." She adds, grinning at him in return.

"Of course, they are." Lung responds, almost puffing with pride. "Everything I make is perfect, especially for you…since I'm the badass cook here."

His boast just makes her smile in amusement despite how arrogant he sounded. Well, Lung's statement is not truly wrong. Lung might be an ex-villain, but he sure as hell can cook, and perhaps Taylor would be tempted to truly marry him if Lung had used his culinary skills to successfully woe her if given the chance.

"You are truly insufferable," is her only comment while she rolls her eyes at him good-naturedly.

"And you are so adorable, dear Taylor with your eye-rolls," comes Lung's sarcastic response.

"Oh, shut up and let's eat Kenta." She tells him as she reaches out for her spoon and fork with every intention to savor the pancakes.

"You are so bossy," She hears Lung's soft mutter right before he jokingly says, "But perhaps that's the main reason I married you after all."

"Among other things," is her exact retort.

"Well, I'm glad I married you." He says to her, his brown eyes glittering with obvious mirth while he continues to jest. "Because I know I won't marry anyone who can't handle a Dragon."

At his half-ass compliment, Taylor snorts and says to him, "Kenta, you may turn into a Dragon, but I am the Queen. I'm perfectly qualified to handle someone like you."

"True, but I also wish that you can say that to me while in bed too," comes Lung's unfiltered comment.

"KENTA!" Taylor exclaims while a furious blush rose in her cheeks.

But like before, Lung simply lets out a deep chuckle and Taylor partially forgets what to say to him afterward.

She might have killed Scion in her insane and Queenly rampage, but when it comes to her pretend husband, apparently Taylor Hebert is completely and utterly hopeless.

Lung, or Kenta as she now likes to call him, makes her feel completely out of her debt. She feels these new kinds of emotional upheaval when she is around him. But most of all, Taylor suspects that she might be falling in love with him too. She knows it is not a good thing at all, but she can't help herself. There is something about Kenta that she is irrevocably drawn to. And if she continues to live with him for months, or even years, Taylor knows that there is no stopping her from completely falling in love with him.

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[dhazellouise]

Author's Notes: Since Taylor and Lung are currently in an alternate earth. I've decided to include some TV shows and movies that they might like to watch while they are in that world. So spoilers abound for the final season of Game of Thrones in this chapter.
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"Perhaps we should get a pet," is what Kenta says one night while the two watch the new episode of Game of Thrones, which is apparently Kenta's favorite TV show just because it has Dragons in it and because Kenta likes to bitch on Jon Snow.

"I think we should not," Taylor responds absent-mindedly. Her attention on the television, where she sees Queen Daenerys Targaryen, starts roasting people alive and burning down an entire city with Drogon's help.

Well, looks like the Dragon Queen has gone insane. Taylor thinks, watching the catastrophe happen before her eyes. In fact, the Queen's mad rampage kinda reminds Taylor of her days as Khepri, when her mental state was still in tatters and she was still unable to determine from friend to foe.

Thankfully, that was all in the past.

"Why don't you want a pet? I thought for sure that you would want a cat, or even a dog…" Kenta says, turning to look at her curiously.

"I don't want a pet because I already have one. And one is enough," She replies while she tries very hard to keep a straight face when she sees Kenta's sudden confused stare.

Taylor, of course, is referring to him as her pet.

"No, you don't have a pet. If you have one, I would have seen it already." He states with a scowl on his face.

"Kenta, the one I'm talking about is you...You are my pet dragon," Taylor says to him jokingly, "You are the Drogon to my Daenerys. The Toothless to my Hiccup. The Dragon Lung to my Queen Khepri. A perfect combination made in hell. So what do you think of that one, Kenta-kun?"

"Did you just compare me to that toothless dragon from the kid's animated movie 'How to Train Your Dragon'?" Kenta asks, sounding thoroughly offended.

"Yes, I did…What of it?" Taylor states, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Nothing, except for the fact that your dragon-kink is showing, Taylor Hebert." He says while he smirks at her.

"The Drogon to your Daenerys, huh? Does it also mean that you want to ride me often, my Queen? If so, I wouldn't mind at all." Kenta remarks, wagging his eyebrows suggestively at her.

Instantly, a blush floods Taylor's cheeks at his words. A second later, she ends up reaching out for the nearest cushion and starts hitting Kenta repeatedly with it. And Taylor isn't even being gentle about it because she knows that Kenta can handle whatever she ditches at him.

"Jesus-fucking-Christ, Kenta! Why do you often ruin my perfectly good joke by saying something so obscene in return?!" She complains loudly while slamming the cushion across Kenta's face and shoulders over and over again.

"Don't blame me! You just walk right into that!" comes Kenta's defensive response as he tries to shield himself from her. "And you started it with your pet dragon comment! So can you please stop attacking me with a cushion, woman?!"

"You are completely unbelievable!" She exclaims the second Kenta finally tears the cushion from her hands and throws it away from her reach, where it lands on the floor next to the television. "I wish your balls will simply rot off again!"

"Well, too bad your insects are currently unavailable to help you with that, Taylor!" Kenta snaps right back, glaring at her. "Not when I thoroughly used the insecticide all over the house!"

"That's it! You are sleeping in the guest room tonight!" She tells him furiously. "Or better yet. I'm going to let you sleep on the fucking couch in the basement!"

"If you do that, I'm not even going to cook anything for you anymore or even give you foot massages!" Kenta threatens. "You will have to survive without both for the rest of this month!"

Taylor falls silent after hearing that.

"Are you seriously threatening me right now, Kenta?" She asks as she looks at him with a disbelieving expression.

"I am actually, Taylor. So you better stop harping at me or I will make good with my threats!" is Kenta's angry retort.

"Fine! I'll stop arguing with you then!" She exclaims after a moment's consideration. "You win this round Kenta!"

"That's good because I don't like arguing with you at all, Taylor. It's pointless and tiresome." He says while locking gazes with her. "Now, why don't we finish watching the show? I believe it's getting to the good part."

Afterward, Taylor simply slumps on the sofa and sulks in her corner. A complete silence followed while the two watch the infamous episode of 'The Bells', where they see Daenerys Targaryen continue to turn King's Landing into a funeral pyre while the rest of the characters just simply try to survive the fiery onslaught, like Arya Stark is doing.

"I hope you're not angry with me anymore," Kenta softly comments a few minutes later while he glances in her direction. "After nearly half a year of living with me, I think you should know by now that my mouth doesn't have a filter when it comes to delivering lewd jokes and double entendres."

"I know that you have trouble controlling what you say to me Kenta," Taylor states as she meets his gaze. "But I rather prefer that you keep your bawdy jokes to yourself because it usually makes me uncomfortable."

"I'm sorry, Taylor." comes Kenta's instant response. He looks absolutely apologetic. "If that's how you feel, then I will try my very best to keep my salacious comments to a bare minimum."

"I hope you do Kenta because I won't forgive you easily no matter how much you plead or set your puppy-dog eyes at me if you go back on your words." She tells him.

"I understand...and I don't have a puppy-dog eyes!" Kenta protests while a scowl mars his handsome face. "I'm a Dragon! Not a puppy!"

Taylor simply rolls her eyes at his passionate exclamation.

"Speaking of puppies…" She begins while she turns her full attention on him, "You mentioned about us getting a pet earlier."

"Yes, I did." is Kenta's brief answer. "So do you want one?"

"Yes, I want one." Taylor responds. "Perhaps we should get a golden retriever or maybe a Siberian Husky?"

"Why not an Akita dog? Like that dog from the Hachiko movie we watch the other night?" Kenta suggests.

"You mean Hachiko, the movie about a japanese dog that nearly brought you in tears?" She remarks in delight, already expecting for Kenta's powerful outburst.

As predicted, Kenta becomes incredibly defensive at once.

"I wasn't in tears! I told you that I had an allergic reaction with the dust when I was watching the end of the movie!"

Taylor burst out laughing at Kenta's absurd answer.

"If you say so, Kenta…" She states, covering her mouth to stifle her uncontrollable laughter.

Kenta lets out a growl of irritation at her amused comment.

"Perhaps a cat is a better addition to our home than a dog." Taylor says, deciding to change the subject before Kenta can start arguing with her again. "Any breed will do actually."

"Cats are boring, Taylor. But now that I think about it, dogs and cats are a common household pets. So why don't we get something far more different than those two?" Kenta proposes the idea.

"So you mean you want to get us some kind of exotic pet?" She inquires, quirking a brow at him.

"Maybe…" comes Kenta's thoughtful response.

"And what exactly do you recommend?"

"I was thinking about getting us a lion since I'm sure you can probably train it with your Master power."

"You're joking right, Kenta?" Taylor asks, sounding both skeptical and amused.

"No, I'm not," is Kenta's serious answer while he looks at her straight in the eye.

"We are talking about a live lion here. Not some kind of overly large cat." She reminds him. "Plus our backyard is not big enough to support an animal like that."

"Fine. Maybe not a lion then," comes Kenta's reply. "How about a hippopotamus?"

"Seriously? A hippopotamus? And where do you propose we put the hippo?"

"In our swimming pool."

"Now, I know you are simply pulling my leg Kenta." Taylor snorts in amusement.

In reply, Kenta simply lets out a brief chuckle before he abruptly says, "You know what?"

"What?"

There is a brief pause as Kenta looks at her contemplatively.

"I think I have a better idea…" Kenta begins while a smirk slowly appears on his lips. "Instead of watching the show and talking about getting pets, why don't we talk about our plans for the future?"

"Like what do you want to talk about?" comes her curious query.

"Let's discuss something interesting. Like Children for example?" Kenta says while his smirk becomes a full-grown grin. "I've always wondered what you think about them."

Taylor nearly chokes on her spit at Kenta's words. At this turn of conversation, she can't help but feel the wild flutter in her heart when she notices the warm and interested gaze Kenta directs at her.

"Why do you want to know?" comes her careful question while she senses the familiar heat rising up her cheeks.

Because this conversation is just too unreal.

Who would have thought that she was going to have this kind of conversation with Lung right now when she had been hellbent in mutilating his genitals all those years ago?

Are we seriously discussing about children right now? Is he trying to suggest something to me? Or is he teasing me again like he always does? She silently wonders.

"I'm just wondering," The ex-villain remarks slowly. "Because I'm always curious about you, Taylor. So if you want to have children, how many do you want?"

At his question, Taylor can't help but lick her suddenly dry lips and she instantly notices when Kenta's eyes seems to sharpen at her action.

"I think I want to have two." Taylor whispers softly, glancing at him from the corners of her eyes while a bout of shyness overcomes her.

"Only two?" is Kenta's next inquiry, raising a brow at her.

"Yes," comes her only answer.

"Boy or girl?"

"One boy and one girl," comes Taylor's immediate reply. "But what about you Kenta? How many do you want?"

"I want a dozen children," is Kenta's blunt answer and this time Taylor can no longer stop herself from breaking into a coughing fit after hearing Kenta's shocking response.

Seeing her hilarious reaction, Kenta suddenly explodes with laughter.

That's when Taylor realizes that the insufferable bastard was simply teasing her again.

Damn you to bits, Kenta! She curses inwardly while she watches the man laughs out loud at her expense. I fucking hate your guts right now!