The Onyx Empress - Chapter One

Author: Milady Dragon

Disclaimer: Not mine, darn it.

Author's Note: Here is the next story in the Future Adventures, and it takes place 117 years after "Vengeance". There are certain things mentioned in this that have happened in the meantime, so I suppose you could say they were spoilers for the Dragon-Verse, but I don't know if I'll ever write about them so...I guess technically they aren't spoilers. (One is. I have plans. I'm not saying which one, though)

Also, there's some dubious bits of Chinese history in this. I've done a lot of research with that and the language, but any mistakes are mine (And Google's).

This story is also considerably more fluffy than the last several stories, too. And shorter.

10 June 5310 (Earth Standard Date)

Ddraig Llyn

"Tad!" Dylan's voice shouted, interrupting Ianto as he was putting together the syllabus for the classes he was scheduled to head up next term at Merlin's Magic School, where he'd been invited to teach classes on Dragon History; he'd flat-out refused to go back to Luna University, after the way they'd treated Henry and Rowena during that mess with HYDRA, even though that regime had passed on now and he'd received assurances that such a thing could never happen again. It wasn't that he didn't trust them…but this was Merlin, and he was family. Besides, Merlin had asked first.

Ianto sighed, standing up from his desk in the office he and Jack shared. The twins were always into something, having inherited their Dad's trouble magnet gene, and he just knew this was the precursor of a problem he was going to have to unravel. "Coming," he called, wanting to stop his son from coming to find him, which Dylan would do if he hesitated too long.

The house was silent for the most part. Ianto made his way down the hallway toward the source of his son's current ruckus, which sounded as if he was loudly discussing something with his twin sister. The thing was, when Dylan and Dilys put their heads together, they could be a force to be reckoned with, despite only being seventeen years old. However, when they butted heads – which was what sounded like was going on now – the chaos just…happened. He couldn't recall Rowena and Cadi being quite so argumentative when they were this young.

It was at times like this he wished Jack hadn't talked him into carrying the next round of children.

No, he really didn't wish that. Also, it had been his turn.

Just as he was entering the lounge, he heard another voice join in…it was Gray, who seemed to be attempting to play peacekeeper between the twins. Ever since he'd come back into their lives fifteen years ago, healed of his psychosis by the Fae, Gray had done everything in his power to make up for his past actions, and had taken to being an uncle with a fearsome overprotectiveness that sometimes had Ianto shaking his head in amusement, and enjoying the various members of the family that Gray focussed on complain about being coddled.

The twins were standing near the entrance to the dining room, Gray between them. Dylan looked angry; Dilys smug, and the dragon knew immediately that some sort of practical joke had been involved. Of the two, Dilys was the prankster, and when she was in that sort of mood she would usually take it out on her brother, unless a better target was available.

Gray noticed Ianto first; he looked chagrined. "Sorry, Ianto. I was hoping to get these two calmed down before they dragged you away from your work."

"It's fine, Gray," he reassured his brother-by-mating. "I needed a break anyway." He crossed his arms, staring his wayward twins down. "And just what have you done now, Dilys?"

"Why is it always my fault?" Dilys pulled a pout that would have done her other father proud.

Dylan and Dilys weren't technically identical twins, not like their aunts were, but they looked so much alike they may as well have been. Jack kept saying that they more closely resembled Ianto than himself, and the dragon could certainly see it. For one, they lacked the distinctive dimple and jawline of their immortal Dad; for another, they had Ianto's nose. However, that didn't stop them from being able to pull off many of Jack's mannerisms, even down to their love of long, distinctive, coats.

Both twins had dark, curly hair, which they kept cut short in the exact same style. They were almost the same height; Dylan was taller by about two inches, but Dilys often wore heels that evened that out. In fact, they both tried very hard to play up their "twin-ness", even down to wearing the same style clothing. It was only the fact that they were different genders that people were able to tell them apart.

When they were little, though, it had only been their dragon forms that had given them away. They were like negatives, like Nathan and Nicole, only Dylan was gold and green, and Dilys was green and gold, and they had wings instead of the impressive antlers their twin cousins had.

Merlin was on the lookout for any sort of magical talent in both of them, but so far they were stubbornly blowing his theory out of the water about members of their family being magical if their dragons forms had gold in them anywhere. But then, Robyn had done the same thing herself, being completely gold and not having a whit of magical talent in her.

Besides, Ianto could imagine just how much more trouble the pair would get into if they did have magic, and he kept praying to the Great Dragons that they didn't develop any sort of powers at all.

Ianto didn't answer her question, because the last thing he wanted to do was to let his daughter in on the fact that she had certain tells that gave the game away. Instead, he simply raised an eyebrow at her, knowing that his slightly disapproving face would do the trick to get her to confess.

And yes, it did the same in this circumstance, as well, judging from the way Dilys' shoulders slumped.

"Put the Eyebrow away, Tad," she grumbled. "It's worse than Phillip's, and you know I can't handle his at all. I have absolutely no chance against yours."

"So, you want to explain to me why your brother is all up in arms?"

"Not really." Her face went mulish.

Ianto sighed, turning his eyes to Dylan. "Well? Do you want to tell me what your sister obviously won't?"

Dylan looked triumphant over the fact that he could get his sister into trouble, which was usually the way this sort of thing worked. "She changed out the sugar for salt, so when I put some in coffee it tasted awful."

A harmless prank, but Ianto had long ago taught all of children not to mess with coffee, so he gave Dilys a glare. "You know better than that, young lady."

"He shouldn't be drinking coffee anyway!" she exclaimed hotly. "You told us we couldn't have any until we turned eighteen, and that's not until August!"

"She does have a point, Dylan," Ianto commented calmly. He'd made it plain that any child of his couldn't have coffee until they turned eighteen, mainly because in his opinion they couldn't appreciate it while they were any younger, and used the excuse that it stunted their growth in order to get them to comply, although they all knew it wasn't true. Besides, he'd learned the hard way that a teenager wired up on caffeine was just asking for all sorts of trouble, and with these two it would mean the chances for that sort of thing going up exponentially.

"That…may have been my fault," Gray admitted quietly. "I was in the middle of writing the next chapter of my novel, and asked Dylan if he'd get me a coffee. I should have expected him to take a sip." His eyes narrowed at Dilys. "Although, this means the salt was meant for me."

Gray had come back from the Lost Lands, and had decided to write a book about his adventures there under the guise of young adult fiction. It had been a bestseller, and he was currently working on his sixth novel. Ianto hadn't been so sure it had been a good idea to expose the rest of the universe to the Fae, but Gray had pointed out that the majority of people who read it wouldn't believe it, anyway, especially if he made certain that everyone knew it was a work of fantasy. The dragon couldn't argue with the fact that writing seemed to settle Gray back into his life back in the real world, and so had been as encouraging as he could.

"I knew Dylan wouldn't be able to resist," Dilys spoke up for herself, "and that he'd take at least one sip, Uncle Gray. He'd be the one to find the salt, and not you."

"And," Ianto smirked, "if he didn't, he'd get blamed for it."

Dilys rolled his eyes, as close to an admission as she could get without saying a single word.

There were times when he wished his twins would just calm the fuck down…

The distinctive chime of the comm system interrupted the lecture Ianto was about to give his youngest daughter.

"Saved by the bell," Dylan teased.

"Not hardly," Ianto growled, as he made his way over to the vidscreen's controls. He had no idea who would be calling; it could have been any of their children or grandchildren, really, since he and Jack – along with Gray and the twins – were the only clan residents in Ddraig Llyn at the moment. Jack had volunteered over at the co-operative with the new shipment of goods that had come in that morning, since he'd finished up the reports last night he'd promised Phillip. Jack usually hated doing paperwork, and would try to put it off, but for some reason the immortal had decided to get it all out of the way immediately. Ianto would have to ask his son-by-mating just how he'd managed to convince Jack to get it finished this quickly, without being able to withhold either coffee or sex… or ask Ianto to do so on his behalf.

He activated the comm, and smiled as he saw Merlin on the screen. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise," he greeted his grandson-by-mating.

Merlin was on New Avalon, at the Magic School, where he, himself, was preparing for the new term. He had a lot more to do than Ianto had, and now that Rhys had passed away it was all back on Merlin once more to run the entire school. He'd hired someone to help, but despite their qualifications they didn't seem to understand the logistics of just how such a campus was organised, and Merlin was about to pull out his hair in frustration. Ianto knew that Merlin was sincerely hoping that Rhys would hurry up and reincarnate, because he really needed the help.

"You say that now," Merlin commented, sounding just a little breathless. "Just wait until I tell you what just happened."

Ianto cocked his head, curiosity getting the better of him. "Do tell."

"I just received a call from the Chinese Historical Restoration Office."

The dragon was aware of that particular office, although probably not as well as he could have been. Now that Earth had one government, there weren't any sort of country barriers any longer, but that didn't mean that all the original countries didn't have some sort of pride in their own heritage. China had just had a major surge in that sort of cultural and societal pride, and from what Ianto had heard from Henry – who kept up with that sort of thing – and in some of the newscasts he enjoyed watching, the regional Chinese Council had decided to restore several of their greatest historical monuments. They'd put together a new office for it, and had applied for funds from EarthGov…which had been gladly provided.

He was confused. "And why would they be calling you, Merlin?" Despite being one world now, the Chinese had always been a bit insular and tended to handle things that occurred in their own region without asking for aid.

His grandson-by-mating's eyes were sparkling in excitement. "One of their teams was doing some work along remnants of the Great Wall, specifically the area around Badaling, in the Yanshen Range. There'd been an earthquake in that region about six months ago, and they were concerned that that section of the Wall had been damaged."

That made sense. Ianto knew just how important the Great Wall was to Chinese culture, and there wasn't all that much left standing. They wouldn't want any more to disintegrate, if they could possibly help it.

Still, he did continue to wonder why they'd contacted Merlin, but he didn't ask. Merlin would get to it in his own time.

"When they went up to that section of the Wall, the team noticed a cave entrance that hadn't been there previously. Since they were afraid its presence under the Wall would destabilise the structure more than it already was, they decided to check it out. Apparently, they found an enormous cavern…but couldn't enter it, because it was protected by a magical barrier that repelled one of the survey team members away so hard he broke an arm when he landed."

From behind him, Ianto heard Gray whistle. "I can see why they called you, then." The dragon thought that showed good sense, since Merlin was the most powerful wizard in the universe; he would be the one to be able to take down a barrier like that. "But why are you calling me?"

Merlin grinned. "I was hoping you'd ask that, Grandtad. It's because of this." The wizard touched a control on the desk in front of him, and the screen split, revealing a photograph that was very clear for having been taken within a dark cavern.

Ianto felt as if his heart stopped, and then restarted with such a painful thump he gasped for breath.

"How…" he swallowed hard, "is this legitimate?"

"It is." Merlin was now practically bouncing in his chair, his excitement reminding the dragon of the wizard's father, the Doctor.

"It…it's impossible…"

It was a dragon.

Recognisably a Chinese dragon, it was curled up, eyes closed as if it were sleeping peacefully, snout resting on crossed forelegs. Its scales were a deep crimson, a shade darker than Arthur's, with a jet-black mane of long hair around its face and down its back and another, even longer, tuft at the end of its tail. The enormous rack of antlers was also black, but there was a flared ruff of golden scales edging up against the black hair; from the brightness along the chest Ianto thought there was gold along the red chest plates as well as along its talons.

If he had to judge just from the still photo, Ianto would have guessed it was only about three hundred years old…about Nathan and Nicole's age, in point of fact.

He could make out Dylan and Dilys beginning to chatter animatedly in the background, and a hand landed on Ianto's shoulder and he knew, without looking, that it was Gray. If someone would have told him that Jack's brother would have ever attempted to comfort him before the Fae had returned him, Ianto would have laughed in their faces. Now, though, he leaned into it a little, glad of the support.

"Do they know…is it some sort of sculpture?" Ianto had to ask, although he knew what he wished it to be.

"It's almost too detailed to be anything like that, according to the report I was given. No, Grandtad…this is very real. Now, whether it's alive and under some sort of spell, or is long dead and has just been really well preserved…I don't know that, and that could be why there's such powerful magic around the cavern entrance. I've been asked to come and see what I can do to unravel the spells, and I thought…well, I thought you'd want to come with me. You and Granddad Jack, since I'm thinking we could talk him into piloting the family shuttle down from Alpha Station, since there isn't a transmat near the site, and then I can just transmat to the orbital platform and meet you both there."

That was a good suggestion. It would actually be faster to come down from orbit than it would travelling there directly, and Jack would be perfectly capable of piloting the shuttle they kept up there for family use.

The thrill of excitement – and sheer hope – thrummed through Ianto's nerves as he looked at the image that was sharing the screen with his grandson. Yes, there was only a very slim chance that the dragon had somehow survived over the millennia, but he had to know. And, if it hadn't, then it deserved to be given a proper ceremony and mourned. To have died alone, under the Earth…it was sad, and Ianto wasn't about to give into that sadness, not yet.

No, he had to see just what it was in that cavern.

"I'll stay here with the trouble twins," Gray volunteered, without Ianto having to say a thing. Both children protested that, but there was no way they were being left to their own devices. There was a reason Gray had named them the way he had. "You need to go and see what's there, Ianto. You and Jack."

"Uncle Gray is right, Tad," Dylan chimed in. "If there's another dragon out there, even if it's not…alive, anymore…"

"You need to bring them home," Dilys finished.

"This wouldn't be their home, though," Ianto pointed out.

"But we're it, the clan," Gray added. "Even if that dragon was born in China, that doesn't negate the fact that we're their people."

There was a part of Ianto that was so very gratified that Gray had accepted his place within the clan, that he wanted to reach out and hug him, and so he did. He'd despaired of ever meeting the brother that Jack had spoken of, the one that had existed before the maniac that had attempted to kill them all back when they'd had their old team, so having Gray back like this was a minor miracle as far as the dragon was concerned.

He was so very glad that Samara had lived to see her younger son returned to them. Her gamble with trusting the Fae and their debt to himself and Jack had paid off.

One thing about Gray, he always enjoyed a good hug, and was more than willing to return it. "You go and bring them home, Ianto," his brother-by-mating encouraged softly. Then he pulled away. "I'm going to go and fetch Jack while you pack. Then you both need to transmat up to Alpha Station and meet Merlin…whom I'm quite sure hasn't bothered letting his mate know what's going on yet."

"Uncle Gray's right," Merlin admitted grudgingly. "I'll need time to pack a bag of my own, and to let Arthur know I'll be leaving. I've already started to make arrangements for my absence from the school, but I seriously doubt I'll miss any of the beginning of term."

"I take it clearance has been arranged for us to land near the site?" It wouldn't do for them to make anyone mad at their shuttle landing unexpectedly.

"I have. We're going to be met by the head of the Restoration team, a Doctor Shen Huiliang. He's the one who contacted me. I told him it would be a couple of hours before we could get there."

Ianto nodded. "That will give me plenty of time to pack things for Jack and myself. We'll meet you at the family shuttle bay in two hours."

"I'll be there." With that, Merlin disconnected the call.

Ianto sighed heavily, the excitement at what they might find making him want to fidget. He kept control of himself, addressing Gray, "Please, go and let Jack know."

"You got it." With a squeeze of Ianto's shoulder, Gray was gone, out the door and heading toward the co-op where Jack was working.

"And, you two…you need to stop with the shenanigans for a bit. Your uncle is doing you a favour by staying here, and the pair of you playing tricks on him isn't going to help matters."

To their credit, the twins both appeared contrite. They also looked extremely excited, and Ianto couldn't blame them for it. He felt the same way. "We'll take it easy on Uncle Gray," Dylan promised.

Dilys echoed the promise. "How long do you think you and Dad will be gone?" she asked.

"I have no idea. It depends on what we find. If we're gone too long, you can go and stay with Phillip and Clint on Hubworld if you want." He would need to call and let them know as well, but the dragon hesitated to spread the word around the entire family; his own hopes could be dashed, and the last thing he wanted to do was take the hopes of the clan down with them.

"I'm sure we'll be fine," his son assured him.

"You'll need to tell the Great Dragons," Dilys said. "And ask them why they didn't know there was another dragon out there."

"I'm fairly certain the magic that they called to consult Merlin about is the reason, but I do still need to let them know." The Great Dragons had gotten only more powerful as time went on, but they still were somewhat limited in where they could go.

Although, Ianto hoped that their plan would succeed, and they would all be moving to a new world soon…

However, that was in the future. In that moment, he had things to get ready.

There was a mystery to solve. Ianto was looking forward to it very much.