The yellow dragon

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/45812503.

Rating: Not Rated

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Other
Fandom: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Characters: Zeno (Akatsuki no Yona), Shin-Ah (Akatsuki no Yona), Hakuryuu |
White Dragon Deity (Akatsuki no Yona), Ryokuryuu | Green Dragon
Deity (Akatsuki no Yona), Kija (Akatsuki no Yona), Jae-Ha (Akatsuki no
Yona), Tetora (Akatsuki no Yona), Yona (Akatsuki no Yona), others -
Character
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2023-03-17 Words: 2,825 Chapters: 1/1
 The yellow dragon
by LiedxJazzy (orphan_account)

Summary

Yona and the gang are posing as a bandit group in the Fire Tribe, Zeno is captured by Fire
Tribe soldiers. Taken to Hiryuu Castle for questioning, he winds up kept under castle arrest,
as it seems Soo-won has some use of him. How will he escape to reunite with the rest of the
Hungry Bunch, especially when fighting memories of his King every time he looks Soo-won
in the eyes?
Chapter 1:Captured

Crash!

Zeno definitely felt the collision as he fell face-first to the ground. In fact, he’d probably be
feeling it tomorrow, too. He glared down the tree root he’d tripped over as he got up, getting
a look around. He’d ran away a good ways, but he could still hear the soldiers chasing after
him. Well, if nothing else, he’d helped the others get away as a diversion.

It wouldn’t matter if he was caught, anyway. Still, the farther away he could get the better, so
he kept running. He wanted to make sure that the others would be a long ways away by the
time he was caught, if he couldn’t find a place to hide.

He heard the soldiers thundering forward, amazed they’d been able to catch up to him so
easily. He felt a hand on his wrist -- and not comfortably either. He let out a yelp as he was
pulled backwards with so much force he’d nearly fallen again.

“Ah, be gentle with Zeno, sir! He’s not dangerous, promise!”

There was no response except the tightening of a soldier’s grip, before restraints were slapped
on him. Well, at least to the childrens’ credit -- they weren’t falling for his childish act so
easily. His eyes locked onto the Fire Tribe soldiers that had caught him, though they seemed
to be ignoring him for the most part, more worried about talking amongst themselves.

“What about his friends? The witnesses from the village said the full group was there. This
kid definitely matches the description of one of them, but there should be six others.”

“Maybe he was a diversion or something? Should we check the outlying area?”

Well, they could try. Between Hakuryuu’s strength and Rokuryuu’s flight, though, they
probably managed to carry everyone a safe enough distance away by now. There was no
catching up with them, since the soldiers took their time catching him instead.

“What should we do with this one?” The soldier that said that one gave Zeno a rather hard
nudge that was really more of a kick. Well, he was glad he healed quickly or he’d be feeling
that one for a while.
He’s just a bandit, and we’ve already got him restrained. Just kill him.”

Uh-oh. Uh-oh, Uh-oh, Uh-oh.

Were they even allowed to do this? Well, maybe. He wasn’t sure how things worked these
days. He had a hard time keeping track of changes in the law and such. Though, he was pretty
sure this was the soldiers taking the law into their own hands. Well, he guessed right now, this
was actually the best case scenario. It would give him an opportunity to break free of the
restraints, if nothing else.
“I don’t know… He seems like a normal kid. Sure we got the right one?”

“He matches the description we managed to get from the villagers. We’re not running any
risks here, kill him.”

Zeno braced himself. These soldiers were about to let loose a monster. The blade was drawn,
and the soldier lifted it over his head. It would never come down, however, Before it could, a
familiar voice interrupted the action.

“Men! I told you I need help ” It was the young lord Zeno knew well. He’d been coming into
the village they’d been inhabiting for the past couple nights or so, apparently in attempts to
“capture the bandits plaguing the fire tribe”. He’d changed his tune quick though, when he
learned the true nature of the bandits -- and grew a little.

Though, if these men were under his control, then…

“Lord Tae-jun, this is a member of the Hungry Bunch! He matches the description given by
the villagers. We heard they’d been camping nearby, and managed to catch one of them
before he could escape. We were going to kill him to make an example...”
Er, that… That won’t be necessary.”

The group of soldiers looked at the boy, their leader, completely dumbstruck. Even Zeno had
to admit, with the look on Tae-jun’s face, it seemed that he was making all this up as he went
along. Zeno couldn’t help but wonder what was going to come out of the kid’s mouth next.

“Well...” There was a pause, and Zeno couldn’t help thinking ‘if you’re going to lie your way
through this, at least make it convincing’. “He might have information! If you only caught
one, then he might know where the others were. We should take him in for questioning.”

Well… Okay, that one was pretty good. Though, Zeno was still in a rather tough situation. He
made eye contact with the kid for a quick moment before turning away. He was a bit
embarrassed, if he had to say. Though, he was technically the weakest member of the group,
so perhaps it wasn’t too strange for him to get caught.

“That’s well and good, lord Tae-jun,” commented the shorter soldier that Zeno took to be the
young lord’s personal bodyguard or something of that sort, “but have you forgotten you’re
banned from Saika until we catch these criminals? We can’t just bring in one.”
“All the more important then,” commented Tae-jun, seeming to get a hang of this ‘lying’
thing, “We have to round up the others before we even think of killing him. I don’t want a
corpse with us until we catch the others.”

The soldiers all seemed to be nodding in agreement at that. Well, at this rate Zeno wouldn’t
have to worry about using his powers against soldiers of his own kingdom, at least.
Though… Now he was captured, and wasn’t exactly sure what to do from here.

“Well, we can’t go to Saika,” it was the same soldier, who seemed to be on good terms with
this young lord, “Your lord father and brother have forbade it. So how are we going to get the
information from him?”
We’ll take him to Hiryuu Castle, then. I hate to bother the king with it, but we have an actual
member. They can’t ignore it. At the worst, questioning him will be delayed a little while.”

The soldiers argued plans back and forth, Tae-jun meanwhile trying his best to come up with
lies and ways to avoid any plans that involved the killing or elongated detainment of the
currently captured dragon. Meanwhile, Zeno watched all this, taken with the child’s
ingenuity.

In the end, they decided on the young lord’s plan and saddled up, Tae-jun sending a
messenger ahead of them to alert the castle they had a fugitive they’d be bringing with them
for detainment, and keeping a few others around to search the area for the others, probably
praying just as Zeno was that they’d managed to get away.

“You must have the gods on your side,” Tae-jun whispered as he got situated with Zeno on
one of the horses, something which had taken some real arguing from the young lord to
convince his soldiers to let him do.

“Ah, well… You really saved Zeno back there, mister,” he whispered in response, knowing
full-well that it probably would have been easier for him if they had tried to kill him.

“Yes, well… It’s only going to be worse for you from here, you know. You got lucky, kid, but
not that lucky. At best you’ll be detained for information, at worst you might still be killed.”

“Well, Zeno’s prepared for that,” he commented quietly in response, trying to make it seem
like they weren’t making conversation as much as possible, “After all, he’s not going to be
telling anyone about the miss and the others.”

“Well, that’s a mature outlook for a kid, but I’ll try as best I can to cover for you. Yona would
be sad if you died, after all...”

“You really care about the miss!” Zeno couldn’t help giving a small laugh as quietly as
possible, noticing that the young man riding in front of him was trying to hide his scarlet
face.

“Quiet, you...” The boy grumbled, and afterwards seemed to come to a realization. “How did
you get caught, anyway? Sure you’re just a normal kid, but you’ve got those monsters
looking after you right?”

“You see… That’s the thing...”

~*~* A few hours earlier *~*~

“We… Might want to get out of here. Like… Now.”

Rokuryuu landed in the middle of the camp after his recon. They’d only just left the latest
village and were taking a break for lunch, so everyone was surprised when he suddenly said
that.

“We just unpacked the things for lunch, Jae-ha!” came Yun’s usual mothering, “It’d take a
while to pack everything away, even with the seven of us going as fast as we can.”
“Well, we might want to try,” the Rokuryuu quipped, “Soldiers are heading this way, and it
looks like they might know we’re here, or at least in the area.”

“Eh!?”

It was a general response from everyone. The group quickly hurried into a fuss, getting
everything gathered up. It was a real mess, and by the time they’d packed up, they were
already hearing the soldiers marching towards them.

“They’re already here!?” Yona exclaimed, completely taken aback.

“Why did you think I said we need to get out now?” Jae-ha quipped back, “That being said,
let’s go?”

The soldiers were in vision now, and the group was quickly trying to pick up their bags and
get out. Shouts of “There they are!”, “Catch them!”, and other such things intermingled with
the Hungry Bunch’s own distressed conversation.

“We can fend off these soldiers no problem!” Hakuryuu commented, holding up his dragon
arm, “Let me hold up the rear and deal with them!”

“Those are Tae-juns soldiers!” Yona commented, denying Hakuryuu’s request, “They still
think they’re looking for bandits right now, we can’t just fight them. They’re doing so much
good right now.”

“They’re probably acting behind Tae-jun’s back...” Yun seemed to contemplate, “They
probably don’t know he’s actually friendly with the Hungry Bunch, and want to go back to
Saika, right?”

“Hide!”

Zeno interrupted the group’s conversation to push them past a set of bushes, to a place that
would be out of view of the soldiers. Before he could dive in himself, though…

“I see one of them!”

“Wellp, that’s no good,” he commented shakily, “Looks like Zeno has to run!”

“Eh!? But Zeno, you don’t have any powers!” Hakuryuu commented, with Seiryuu nodding
along, both seeming worried about him.

“Are you going to be okay, Zeno-kun?” This time it was Rokuryuu.

Zeno smiled, waving their comments off. He was glad they were worrying about them, and
understood their reasoning. After all, they didn’t know much about his power as Ouryuu.

“It’s fine.”

“You’re going to get caught,” Hak quipped back to him.

“Zeno will be fine, trust him,” he commented, making sure the others were hidden and
getting ready to run, “It’s best that the miss and everyone are safe. Besides, they’ve already
seen Zeno, so there’s no point in trying to hide. Trust Zeno -- everything will be okay, even if
Zeno is caught. Right now it’s more important for everyone else to stay hidden.”

With that, he dashed off in the first direction he could think to go, occasionally glancing
backwards to make sure none of the Hungry Bunch came out of hiding. The soldiers were
right on his tail -- if he was able to run far enough, they could get away before the soldiers
could find them again, even if they caught him. With an intake of breath and steeled
determination, he kept running as far as he could. Until….

Crash!

~*~* Present *~*~

“That’s pretty much what happened.”

Zeno had tried to tell the story as quickly as possible, while at the same time trying to not to
alert the soldiers to the fact that he and the young lord he was riding with were friendly.

“You… really? How can one child be so lucky and unlucky at the same time?” The boy
commented, completely dumbfounded.

Honestly… Zeno wondered the same thing, himself, sometimes.

“That’s a question for the gods, mister. Zeno thinks they like playing games with him, at this
point.” In more ways than one.

“Well, either way… This whole situation is amazing,” the young lord commented with a sigh,
“After figuring out the truth behind the Hungry Bunch… I didn’t think I’d actually be
bringing one of you in.”

“The heavens work in funny ways, mister!~”

“You’re awfully optimistic for someone who may very well be dead soon..”

“Well, Zeno’s only redeeming quality is his optimism after all!” He gave a lighthearted
laughs in attempts to add some levity to the situation, but the lord simply went quietly.
Perhaps it was for the best, so they didn’t give away the fact they were talking.

They rode for a while. It felt like days, but Zeno never was good with time so it was hard to
say. At least one night, probably more, passed before they finally reached the castle. It was
almost completely silent. There may have been some occasional banter between himself and
the young lord, where they could sneak it in, but nowhere near as much as the first day of
their little trek.

When the finally did reach the castle though, Zeno swore his heart skipped several beats at
the sight of it. Hiryuu Castle, a place he hadn’t returned to for at least two thousand years.
His heart tightened only at the thought, and just the sight of the gate brought memories of his
departure, as well as the goodbyes of his dragon brothers. Would he be able to handle this?
“I’ve brought a bandit in for questioning!” Tae-jun went into authority-mode the moment
they reached the gates. “We think he might have information on more bandit groups, namely
one causing trouble in the Fire Tribe we suspect him to be a part of.”

The soldier at the gate gave a salute in greeting. “Lord Tae-jun! The king and Sky General
are out for business at Chi’shin. We got your messenger, though, and sent him to inform
them. Things have been busy, and no one with the authority for questioning is in right now.”

“Hm… Do you know how long it will take?”

“Well, that depends on how long it takes them to get here. For now, just keep him in the
dungeons.” The soldier had the gates open as he spoke, and Tae-jun gave a small nod in
acceptance, as he and his company strode through.

“Of course, we’ll await his return here, then -- if that’s alright.”

“That should be fine, sir.”

The group quickly moved through the gates. Tae-jun tried to convince his soldiers to allow
him to take Zeno down to the dungeons, but of course they refused, and a group of soldiers
decided to take him. Tae-jun had little choice but to listen -- as they were just looking out for
his well being. As he pulled Zeno off the horse though, they had one last conversation.

“I hope things turn out favorable. I don’t want Yona to wind up upset with word that you’d
been killed after being captured.”

“Zeno will be fine, Zeno thinks. Either way, things can only go as the gods will it at this
point.” He flashed a small smile, and the young lord wasn’t able to say anything in response,
as the soldiers instantly took Zeno by his restraints, pulling him off towards the dungeons.

Honestly, he preferred the thought of staying in the dungeons. It was a part of the castle he
hadn’t seen much, and probably wouldn’t hold too many memories for him. He was kind of
happy to be alone to sort out his thoughts and gather himself. Once the king and general came
back, he’d be questioned, and he had to be ready for that. He absolutely couldn’t give
anything away about the miss.
The soldiers practically threw him into the cell he’d be staying in for who knew how long.
They were a good bit rougher than they probably needed to be -- he’d prefer they’d allowed
the young lord Tae-jun to bring him here.

“We’ll be keeping an eye on you, so no funny business.”

“What kind of funny business are you expecting? Zeno’s weak, he knows better than to try to
fight his way out.”

“Well, whatever.”

Ah, these kids weren’t too eloquent when it came to dealing with criminals, were they? Zeno
sighed, leaning back onto the wall of the cell he was being kept in, and looking down at the
restraints he was being placed in in. Well, there was definitely no breaking these for him.
The soldiers soon finished making sure he was adequately restrained, leaving and closing the
door to the cell, a few of them staying to keep guard as the others left, probably to report.

He was in for a long wait, he knew that much.

End of chapter 1

Hope you like it.

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