The Heart of the Dragon
Chapter 35

The following morning around 8 am, Angie woke up to the sound of dragons coming from outside as she felt her groggy eyes start to open. But when she managed to open her eyes, she realized that she wasn’t in her hut, she was in Hayden’s treehouse and laying on his homemade bed with the hybrid laying next to her with her snuggled against him and her hand on his bare chest. He too started to wake up as his eyes began to slowly open as Angie quickly sat up on the bed just as he opened his eyes and spotted her.

“Hey” he greeted with a sleepy smile.

“Hi” she returned with a small smile as he sat up next to her. “I never expected this to happen.”

“Well, it’s not like we were doing anything naughty.”

“True.”

Angie let out a sigh as she laid her head on Hayden’s shoulder.

“I wished I didn’t have to go today” she mumbled.

“Same” he sighed as well “But you have to. Your family’s waiting for you.”

“I know.”

As he put his arm around her, she snuggled against him while placing her hand on his body.

“I’m gonna miss this place” she sniffed as her eyes began to water.

“You can try to visit. As I said last night, you can try to replace the right coordinates.”

“Right, I gotta do that before we go.”

“I recommend you do it now, help will be here soon.”

“You’re right. But until I do that, I wanna lay here for a moment.”

“Go ahead.”

As they snuggled against each other, neither of them wanted this moment to end. But they knew they would have to say goodbye to each other soon, especially if there was a little chance of seeing each other again. But as soon as they were ready, they met up with everyone else as they tried to search up the coordinates of the island using Jackson’s coordinate GPS.

“It’s kinda foggy,” he remarked while checking the screen “I don’t think it can give us the exact coordinates, but perhaps an accurate one.”

“That’s good enough” Angie declared “I’m sure with those empty planes on the beach, we can replace this island.”

“Yeah, what are you guys gonna do with those planes?” Tammy asked the hybrids.

“Well,” Candace began to think “Since some of them managed to flee the other day, I’m gonna say we’re gonna keep them on the beach, maybe turn them into new homes or something like that.”

“Not to mention that we have some cool stuff now” Jayce put in.

“Okay...” Jackson said while checking the screen “I think I got a coordinate.”

He showed everyone the screen.

“That looks about right” Angie noted, “Write it down.”

“So when’s help gonna get here?” Eli asked.

“I think they said they would be here around 12” Candace answered, “So we’ve got time until they get here.”

“In that case, do you guys mind if we can get some photos? We won’t show them to anyone, it’s just for us.”

The hybrids didn’t say anything as they took glances at each other.

“Ajax?” Candace asked their leader.

“Oh, what the hell?” he shrugged “It’s been a while since I’ve got my picture taken.”

For the remaining hours, everyone hung out together while taking photos, mostly with Tammy’s Polaroid camera that allowed the photo to instantly come out of her camera that she used to give to the hybrids. And just as they thought, they began to hear the sound of a helicopter approaching the beach a little after 12 as they all hurried to the shore to see a new helicopter descending onto the sand as everyone stood back to give it space as it landed right there.

As soon as the blades started to die down, Angie noticed that none of the hybrids and dragons were hiding from the middle-aged pilot who had stepped out from the helicopter. Wondering why they weren’t hiding, she then noticed that the hybrids appeared to be familiar with the pilot who gave them a smile.

“Well,” he breathed out loud “I never thought I would be able to replace this place again.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Angie remarked surprised “What do you mean by again?”

“Ah, Leo!” Ajax suddenly greeted the pilot with a smile as he went up to him and shook his hand “It’s so great to see you again after all these years!”

“I told you I would see you again” the pilot, Leo grinned “No matter how long it took.”

“I- I don’t understand” Angie commented confused “Ajax, who is this? And how come you and the hybrids aren’t hiding from him?”

“This is Leo Mauney” Ajax introduced to the humans “He’s an old friend of mine. After I crashed onto his island years again and began a hybrid, he searched all around for me for about 2 years. And when he finally found me on this island, more hybrids have been made. Now as much as I missed my old home, I told Leo I couldn’t join him because of what I am now. But he did promise me that he would try to come back to see how we were doing.”

“And here I am now” Leo grinned while patted Ajax on the back “Boy do you still look good.”

As the two friends shared a laugh, Angie turned to the hybrids who smiled at the reunion.

“Have you guys met him before?” she asked them.

“Oh, no” Hayden shook his head “But we have seen photos of him, and Ajax does love to talk about him.”

“And now that I’m here,” Leo put in while turning to Angie and her friends “I’m here to take you guys home.”

“Oh,” Angie remarked a bit surprised “So you’re gonna fly us all the way back to America in that helicopter?”

“Oh, no. I’m gonna take you guys to a nearby island that has a jet and from there the jet will take you home.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Well,” Ajax breathed while walking up to them “It was a pleasure to meet all of you. You all have made our lives interesting these past few days.”

“You’re welcome” Tammy smiled “Except for the whole ambush thing, but you knew that wasn’t our fault.”

“I know. But once again, it was nice meeting all of you. And I wish you all the best of luck in your lives.”

“Thank you” Angie smiled as they turned to the hybrids.

From there, everyone embraced their new friends with teary goodbye hugs. They even said goodbye to the dragons as Angie gave the dragon, Uther, a rub on his snout as he nuzzled against her.

“I’m gonna miss you too, Uther” she smiled while turning to face Hayden.

And at that moment, both of them felt their hearts cracking all over again, knowing that this was the moment to say goodbye.

“Don’t leave without this” he held up her dragon heartstone necklace.

“Oh my God” she gasped while taking it “I was wondering where this went. I thought it was gone forever.”

“Looks like it’s not ready to become lost” he stated with a small smile.

She returned the smile while placing the necklace around her neck.

“I hope you do well in college” he added, “I know you can do it.”

“Thanks” she responded as she felt her eyes tearing up “I’ll try to visit. I don’t know when but I’ll try when I can.”

“And if you can’t” he mumbled while pointing to the heartstone “At least you’ll have that to remember me.”

She clutched the heartstone as she allowed her tears to flow while feeling her heart beating. But when she took a glance at her wrist to spot her compass she bracelet, she soon got an idea as she took her bracelet off and handed it to Hayden.

“Here.”

“What?”

“I want you to have this.”

“What?” he gasped “No, I can’t accept this. This was a gift to you from your parents.”

“I know, but I still want you to have it. You already gave me a new good luck charm, and now I want you to have one.”

Hayden didn’t know what to say as he stared the bracelet in front of him.

“Hey,” she spoke with a calm smile “It’s okay, take it. You can add it to your collection of found objects, only this time, you’ll know who this one used to belong to.”

After a moment of thinking, Hayden accepted the gift as he stared at it for a moment before slipping it onto his wrist.

“It looks good” she smiled as he gave a small chuckle.

“I’ll treasure it.”

“Hey uh, sorry to cut in” Leo suddenly spoke, “But we gotta get going, we’ve got quite a flight ahead of us.”

“One more moment,” Angie told him as she turned back to Hayden and sigh “Well, I guess this is it.”

“Yeah,” he huffed sadly.

“I’m gonna miss you so much” she sniffed.

“As will I.”

And with that, the two went into a big hug as they both allowed their tears to flow. And as they held each other tightly, everyone else couldn’t take their eyes off the lovely scene as Hayden and Angie gazed into each other’s eyes. And just like that, they leaned in and into a kiss that made their hearts burst with love and joy and heartbreak. And with Angie’s hands on the sides of Hayden’s face, Hayden took hold of one of her hands and pressed it against his face until they pulled away.

When they did, they stared into each other’s teary eyes as Hayden placed Angie’s hand against his chest so she could feel his heart beating. And because of his haft-dragon heart, Angie felt like she was feeling the vibration of a loud drum, and it felt amazing as they pressed their heads together. They didn’t know how long they were in this position, but they finally managed to pull away as Angie slowly began to walk back towards the helicopter. She didn’t take her eyes off of Hayden as she felt her hand slowly slip away from Hayden’s.

“Goodbye,” she sniffed.

“I don’t like goodbyes” he mumbled with tears in his eyes “How about... see you again?”

“I like that better.”

As Angie and her friends climbed into the helicopter with their things, Leo started the engine as the blades began to turn. And as they all turned to the hybrids, they waved goodbye as their friends waved back. And as they began to rise, Angie never took her eyes off of Hayden who didn’t take his eyes off of her. Because he had to rest his wings, he couldn’t fly up to see her, not to mention he couldn’t get anywhere near the blades.

Everyone kept waving at each other as the hybrids watched as the helicopter flew away from their island. And at that moment, all Hayden wanted to do was fly towards them to give Angie one last embrace, but it was too late, she was heading home and he had to rest his wings. But as he allowed his tears to flow, he looked down at Angie’s bracelet on his wrist, already feeling like she was still here with him.

“You’ll see her again” Candace comforted while her arm around him “I know it.”

He forced a small smile on his face as he held the bracelet to his chest, reminding himself of the beautiful human girl who had won his heart.

As the island disappeared from view, Angie could stop looking outside, hoping to see Hayden flying nearby. But she knew there was no point in doing so, she knew he had to take a break from flying.

“Hey,” Tammy took her hand “You’ll see him again.”

“You think?” Angie sniffed.

“We know you will” Eli smiled.

She then turned to Jackson, her former crush who gave her a promising smile from the front seat. After returning the smile, Angie took hold of her heartstone necklace and held it tightly against her chest. No matter how long it will take, she knew she would see Hayden again. Because she has won herself the heart of a dragon.