BlackLynx17: So I completed two Mendy stories before I disappeared from fanfictions, but never posted up. One was catch me if you can, which was based off of fast and furious, and the other was this one. Human Heart. Can you imagine what this story is going to be about? Wendy eating human hearts because she is a dragon and that being the only way to make her human... just kidding! Hahahahaha! That sounds like a good story though, huh? This... I can't remember where I got the idea for this from, maybe from another story I read? Who knows, but anyway I hope you enjoy!

Fun Facts. This story was labeled Born Human, Raised Dragon. I thought that was stupid and renamed it Human Heart... like that isn't more stupid.

Human Heart.

Chapter 1.

"This is getting out of hand, we need to solve this dragon problem now!"

"We've been trying to solve this problem for years; do you think if we could that we wouldn't have already done it?! They're dragons! We're humans! If it's one dragon against an army of us then we don't have a problem, but with the way they've been multiplying lately we're struggling!"

"Draft more men then! Children if you have to! These dragons need to be extinct! I'm tired of them pillaging our land, stealing our live stock, burning down our homes, kidnapping our children! Soon they'll be picking off the rest of us next, mark my words!"

I see my father pinching the bridge between is eyes, sighing out loudly under his breath as his room of trusted advisers, generals, and executives argued. I don't understand why he was sighing; it's always the same arguments every time there's a meeting. He should be expecting this by now, or maybe he was sighing out because he was tired of this conversation? I know I was. I was not looking forward to dealing with this problem the day I am crowned.

"That's enough everyone."

He said it in a quiet voice, a voice that shouldn't have been heard in the room where voices boomed and echoed as everyone yelled at each other about problems and solutions. Everyone somehow had heard him though and the room got dead quiet as all eyes fell towards him. A king's words were absolute after all.

"Do we have any other problems in our kingdom? Other than dragons?" He asked in a boring tone, tapping his finger against the table we were all sitting around as he leaned against his other hand.

I had to resist the urge to laugh out loud; I instead covered it by rubbing my chin and looking up at the ceiling. I felt prickles against my hand; did I forget to shave this morning? I couldn't remember if I did, although since I felt hair that obviously meant I didn't. I'm going to have to shave after this meeting is over... hopefully I'll remember to do just that... I highly doubt we're getting out of here anytime soon though.

"Sir, dragons are our-"

"Any other discussions? At all? Seriously people, I don't care how little. Just change the subject... someone... anyone."

The brave person to talk first was a lowly executive I couldn't remember the name of. He raised his hand in the air and my father snapped and jumped at him, "you, go on."

"The dragons-"

"Ah! What did I just say?!"

"No sire! No! It's just, they've burned down the bridges connecting Magnolia and Hargeon together. The villagers from both towns are currently trying to rebuild it by themselves with little supplies."

"Oh, that is different; good. Send a dozen or so solders and whatever supplies they need to help with the reconstruction, I want the bridge rebuilt by the end of the week and have it built with stone or metal, whatever is cheaper that won't burn down. Magnolia and Hargeon rely on each other for trade to survive, I can't imagine how much this will set them back. We don't want their only way to each other burning down again. Anything else? Come on people, I don't care how little."

"Calceum town got pretty burnt down at the last attack; at least half the village. All their live stock was taken and the fields burned as soldiers tried protecting the farm; they've got nothing."

"Same order, no more than thirty soldiers though. Send in supplies and food too, new live stock and seeds to plant bigger greenery also. I want the budget for this to be under 30,000 jewels. Any casualties?"

"We were lucky this time, we only found thirteen bodies; twenty-one people were listed missing though. They must have taken some bodies with them. They weren't soldier though, but the local farmers trying to protect their cattle."

"New rule and I want it in full effect immediately all over our kingdom; live stock farms and fields are to be grown/taken care of on different farms. The livestock farms will be at the edge of the towns to prevent losing villages main food source. We can survive without eating meat everyday; hopefully this will prevent this from happening again and maybe even stop homes from burning as well."

Amazing. He answered them without hesitation, without a second's delay. My answer for all of these problems would be to just send soldiers to help, but father also gave orders that would help prevent these things from happening again. That is what a king truly was; that is the king I inspired to be. If only I could live up to his footsteps, no, I was going to. I wasn't going to let my people nor kingdom down; I was going to rule with as much wisdom as my father.

"Wise work King Gryder; this is sure to help our people and calm them in this time of struggles."

I smiled, proud to be his son. All these people loved and respected my father, I'm pretty sure I was the one who did the most though.

"Yeah, great work, just until the next dragon attack. And then what?"

My eyes turned to glare at Oga, my father's most trusted adviser for some reason. This guy was a creep though and was always second guessing my father's, his king's, orders. If it was up to me Oga would have been dead a long time ago, either dead or banished from this kingdom. For some reason he stayed though, a reason that I wasn't going to care about once I was king. My first order would be kicking him straight out of my kingdom.

"Oga, what's wrong now?"

"It's ridiculous, what you're doing. You're trying to hide the fact that we can't protect our people by throwing out gifts and offering help. It's been working, but our people aren't idiots King Gryder. The attacks have been increasing lately, growing more bold and dangerous. Soon people are going to be wondering why this keeps happening to them and your distractions won't work any more. They're going to be demanding answers from you sire, demanding why you aren't doing anything to secure their safety."

I started gripping my seat's armrest, grinding my teeth together. Kill him father, kill him right now.

"You make valid points Oga, very valid points. Hopefully these distractions will buy us a little bit more time until we come up with something."

"We need to strike the dragons at the heart! We need more army power!" Oga yelled slamming his hand on the table, "our offensives are a joke! The only reason we haven't gotten taken over yet is because we're on such good terms with the neighboring kingdoms!"

"Fiore has always been a free kingdom; always has, always will. I will not start drafting people into the army against their own will; I won't allow it."

"You're sounding more like a fool Gryder than a king! We don't have enough men to protect our kingdom, that's exactly why we're in the dragon's claws! If you aren't going to start drafting our people then at least call on the neighboring kingdoms for soldiers! It's unfair that we're the main kingdom getting hit with these attacks! Ask for soldiers so we can finally start fighting back and winning!"

"I will consider your suggestion Oga, but no actions will be done today. We're done right now, you're all dismissed."

I held my tongue as I rose and followed my father out of the room, waiting until we were out of their hearing to address him.

"Let me challenge him Father, just let me challenge that cocky bastard. How dare he think he can talk to you that way!"

"Be careful son, that's your God-father you're talking about. I know you don't understand why I keep him, but he's the only one who doesn't care if I'm king or not and actually tells me the truth. He doesn't sugar coat it like the others do Doranbolt, and that's something we need in order to help our kingdom."

I took a deep breath and calmed down, "yes father... I still say I should fight him."

"Son."

"Come on, I'll only chop off an arm."

He started laughing.

"A leg? His ear? Come on, give me something."

"Doranbolt, my boy, there is much more you must learn if you want ever want to be as good of a king as I am. When I was 18 though I was just like you, trying to prove myself every second left and right to my father. It was only after I got married did I start to settle down... hmmm."

"Father please, not this conversation again." I grimaced.

"You're of age son, it's time to start thinking about these things. I was 18 when I met your mother, 19 when I married her, 20 when you were born. Your betrothed would be delighted to get a visit for you, and if not her I'm sure there are dozens of other princesses out there."

"No offense Father, but I could care less about getting married and reproducing. I'll start worrying about that when we have our dragon problem handled."

"Now that's not fair son, at that rate I'll never have grandchildren." Father took a deep breath and sighed, turning his head to look at the walls. I stared at them too, at the pictures of our ancestors and previous rulers before us.

"We were always such a peaceful country, always thriving and successful. We were envied by others, our economy never sank, our people were happy. All of a sudden though that all changed, so quickly too. I remember that day 12 years ago when the first one showed up; none of us had any idea what it was. It kept showing up at the same place to hunt and finally we were able to kill it. My father had a sinking feeling that it wasn't the only one though... and he was right. More came flocking in, all across our land, all across the country. I remember the first time I saw one up close; so big, so ferocious. I never wanted to face such a creature again. My parents sacrificed themselves to rescue me, just like your mother sacrificed herself to rescue us."

I turned away from the family painting of my mother and I, glaring at the ground as I suppressed those unwanted memories. Father expressed those memories on the other hand, welcomed them as he stopped walking and just stood at her picture.

"We aren't winning this war; I know we aren't. The real sad part of this whole thing though is that those dragons are still playing with us, teasing us. We have yet to see their full destruction... I don't think our kingdom would survive a real attack from them. The amount of people they've killed is ten times the amount we've killed of them. Maybe Oga is right, maybe it is time to call for help."

"You can't father! If the other kingdoms hears our cries for help they're going to take advantage over us! Our family has worked too hard to let it come to that; we can't just throw away years of independence like that! We aren't that desperate yet-"

"Like I said before, you aren't ready to be king yet. You can't see the bigger picture than our status in the world, can you Doranbolt? We may not be that desperate, but tell me son. Are you willing to wait until we are? Until our people start dying by the hundreds instead of the dozens? And then thousands? We've been lucky so far, despite what everyone else thinks. These dragons rather crave animal flesh than human, but once they get a craving for ours we'll be easy picking."

He got me; he had proven me a child with my childish ideals.

"A king is only a man with a crown on his head without his subjects Doranbolt."

"So that's it? Be beg on our hands and knees for help?"

"I wouldn't go so far; we aren't the only ones suffering from this war, simply the more frequent ones. I'm sure we all desire peace from these flying creatures. I think it's about time that I start taking a trip to visit my old friends; it's been a while since I've left the kingdom. I wonder how they've been?"

Father started walking off again, talking to himself about his plans and people I did not know or recognize the names off. There wasn't a better solution other than to give up and let the dragons eat whatever they want, but then we'd be losing. Hopefully the neighboring kingdoms will be in as bad shape as we are, hopefully my father will be able to play it off as doing them a favor and scratching their backs first so they wouldn't think much about returning it.

"How long will you be gone, father?" I asked following after him again.

"A month probably, but no more than three. I trust you'll be able to handle yourself? And don't worry about Oga, I remember the last time I left him here with you. I'll be sure to take him with me this time so we don't repeat that mistake."

I nodded my head, "thanks Father... is there no other way? If we found their nest maybe, if we only knew where they hid at. We could attack them all there, a surprise attack, and get rid of the whole lot."

"We've tried searching, our horses haven't been able to keep up with the dragons though and we always lose them."

"I know, I know..."

"Son, don't stress yourself too much about this matter or else you'll end up with gray hairs like me. Don't worry, your father will take care of this. Why don't you go take a rest? Or go horseback riding? Or on a date? Or something? Stop being a prince and start being a man; you're 18 and not once have you tried escaping the palace to visit the kingdom. You're boring."

I frowned, "that's a rude thing to say to your son."

"It's the truth though; I sneaked out every chance I got from this old, ragged place. It's where I found my first few ladies before getting engaged to your mother-"

"Father, I don't want to hear about the women before my Mother-"

"Alright, alright, but the point I'm trying to make here Doranbolt is that you're boring and I want you to start enjoying yourself. So today take some of the knights and go have some fun; I'll be leaving first thing in the morning tomorrow. Just in case we don't see each other, because I'm hoping you'll have a major hangover. Try not to burn down the kingdom alright?"

He started laughing and ruffled my hair, "see you later boy."

I sulked and glared at my father's back as he walked away. I am not boring! I'm not! I live a very full and adventurous life!... I'm not. I huffed and started stomping back to my room, tearing open my closets and finding the least inconspicuous outfit I owned to go blending in the with peasants tonight. If father wanted me to start being more wild, then fine. Tonight I was about to drink and party hard, maybe even get with a few ladies and make him proud.

"Era watch out, your crowned Prince is coming into town."