Sorry,it reposted.

(No worries xD)

"I've watched you for sixteen years," he murmured, "waiting for the day you would finally open your eyes and see us. Waiting for the day you would come to me. Your kin would have blinded you to this world forever. He is afraid of your power, afraid of your potential. So much potential." His gaze lingered on Ash, finally on his feet, and dismissed him just as quickly. "Mab realized your power, which is why she wants you so much. Which is why she sent her best to capture you. But even she cannot offer what I can."


Machina closed the last few steps between them and took her hand. His touch was cool, and she could feel power humming through him, like currents of electricity. "I want you to be my prince, Jason. I offer you my kingdom, my subjects, myself. I want you to rule at my side. The oldbloods are obsolete. Their time is done. It is time for a new order to rise up, stronger and better than the ancient ones. Only say yes, and you will live forever, Ruler of the Fey. Your brother can go home. I'll even let you keep your prince if you wish, though I fear he may not adapt well to our kingdom. Regardless, you belong here, at my side. Isn't that what you've always wanted? To belong?"

To rule with Machina, to become a ruler. No one would tease or mock him anymore, he would have scores of creatures ready to jump at his bidding, and she would finally be the one on top. He would finally be the most loved. But then the trees, twisted and metallic, and the terrible, barren wasteland in the wyldwood would only become worse. Machina would corrupt the entire Nevernever. All the plants would die, or become twisted versions of themselves. Ash, Grimalkin, Puck: they would fade away with the rest of the Nevernever, until only gremlins, bugs, and the iron fey remained.

Jason froze,not due to his glass condition but due to what the iron king said. Flasher was forcing his tired voice to yell to his younger brother ,yelling to him in a desperate way that was torn from the inside and his own pink eyes seemed to be turning glassy just as Jason's had when he had thought Ash was.... He looked at Ash,and remembered all who had helped him and the dragons and the little hatchlets that used to be the only ones other than his two remaining true brothers that had smiled at him. They had been the only ones that had eyes that glittered to him with wonder,trust,and love. He remembered Lila,and how his only human friend would be torn if she lost him. How everything would fall of the Nevernever. He noticed how his brother seemed to be smirking,and he knew that the horrid twin of his knew that this would leave the dragon realm to fall to the insane dragons cruel talons. He then,against how he longed for a place to belong, he shook his snout,pulling back his talon. "No....it's not what I've wanted,I've wanted so much more. I've wanted friends,someone to care for me. Not to fear me and obey me because I'm not afraid to get my talons bloodied. I've wanted friendship and love. And....I believe I've found it along the way in people..." As he paused he looked to Ash. " In fey. I've found it in them even if they've....not found it in me." He was in a way speaking to Ash,in a small way saying he'd found feelings for him during all this. After a moment he looked back to the king. "So I'll not take your offer. I'm sorry...."

Machina's expression didn't falter. "If you refuse, then your prince will die. And your brother will die. Or, perhaps, I will make him one of my playthings, half-human, half machine. The eradication of the oldbloods will begin with or without you. I am giving you the choice of leading it or being consumed by it. Is it really so terrible to rule, my love?" he asked. "Throughout millennia, both humans and fey have done it. Weeded out the weak to make room for the strong. The oldbloods and the iron fey cannot exist together, you know this. Oberon and Mab would destroy us if they knew about us. How is that any different? Come. One word, that is all you have to say. One word to send your brother home, to save your friends. Look." He waved a hand, and a great iron archway rose out of the ground. On the other side, he could see his home, shimmering through the portal before it faded from view. Machina smiled. "I will send him home now, if you only say yes. One word, and you will be a ruler, forever."


And Ash was there. How he could even stand, let alone move, was a mystery. But he shoved Jason aside, his face feral, as Machina's eyebrows rose in surprise. The cables flared, stabbing toward Ash as the prince lunged forward and slammed his blade into Machina's chest.


Machina staggered back, his face contorted with agony. Lightning crackled around the blade in his chest. His cables thrashed wildly, striking Ash and hurling him into a metal tree with a sickening crunch. Ash collapsed against the trunk as Machina straightened, giving him a look of white rage.

Jason was shocked and staggered a bit as Ash shoved him,he whiped his head around and saw Ash and heard the sickening sound. Cracks sped through his body,spreading through his torso and cracking up and around his wing bases as his wings flared. Suddenly,Shade backed away from his cracking brother,his red eyes wide as if knowing what type of viciousness was in him as he turned,snarling toward the Iron King. "I wouldn't rule with someone who cares not who he hurts." His body broke and suddenly he shifted to his half form,eyes flaring a bright purple and wings seeming to thrust with pure rage as he pulled the bow back and locked the arrow. "I wouldn't rule with someone who hurts who I love." His broken voice was a show of how shattered and battered his body was,and he was at the point where he was almost dead. Yet he aimed straight for the area Ash had stabbed the king,silver tears now running down into the cracks all along his jaw line and running down and through his body. His tail lashed and cracked frantically until he let the arrow fly. Straight and true.

"I am losing patience with you." One of his cables shot forward, coiling around Ash's throat and lifting him off his feet. Ash choked and struggled weakly as Machina dangled him several feet overhead. "Rule with me, or let them die. Make your choice." And then Machina's lips gaped in a soundless scream. He arched his head back, still screaming, and green shoots erupted from his mouth, spreading down his neck. A strange pulse of energy, like an electrical jolt, coursed through Ash's body, making his muscles spasm. The cable flung him away; he hit the ground and pain lanced up his spine. Clawing himself upright, he looked around, unsheathed his sword, and rushed to Flasher's cage. One stroke of the ice blade smashed the door open.

Ash leaned against the cage, holding his shoulder, dark blood streaming down his skin. Behind him, the door burst open, and dozens of knights poured inside. For a moment, they froze in shock, staring at their king in the center of the garden.


Machina still writhed in his prison, but weakly. Branches grew from his chest, his cables turning into vines that bloomed with tiny white flowers. As they watched, he split apart, as the trunk of a brand-new oak burst from his chest, rising into the air. The Bluetooth phone dropped from the branches and lay, winking, at the roots of the tree.

Jason would have dropped to the ground but he didn't,forcing what he had left of himself to move. He dragged himself,wings limp and tail stiff,toward Ash. He dropped the bow and began pulling glass scales off of himself,clearly going to try and fix him. He wouldn't live after it,and he knew it. He knew he was dying. And his two brothers knew too. Shade hissed something and whipped hims body around,three slashes to the air with flame and he thrust through a quick portal,the light winking out as quickly as he had leaped through. Flasher rushed out of the cage and tried to wrap his wings around Jason like the older brother he was but Jason growled and shoved him away,glass braking off of his arms at the motion. "Get....back....to the dragons....now." "Shadow-" "Now!" He suddenly spat more liquid,dark red liquid,glass to the ground as he turned and tried to reach forward with shaking limbs to Ash. "I'll....fix it..." He muttered. Cracks lined his cheeks,his freckle scales gone black,dead black.

The knights turned on them with a roar. They rushed forward, but suddenly, the ground trembled. Rumblings filled the air as the iron throne began to collapse, shedding jagged shrapnel like scales. A tremor shook the ground, causing everyone to stagger.


Then, a huge chunk of the garden cracked and fell away, taking several knights with it into oblivion. More cracks appeared as the courtyard began to come apart. The knights howled and scattered, and screams rose into the air.


"The whole towers coming down!" Ash yelled, dodging a falling beam. He grabbed Jason, basically carrying him. "We have to get out of here, now!"


"People," said a familiar voice, and Grimalkin appeared, twitching his tail. "This way. Hurry. This air is making me sick."

Jason,for once,didn't fight. "But....your...hurt...." He said,his voice soft. Flasher rushed over,offering to carry his younger brother. "I'll take him.I'll take him back,m-maybe...our healer c-can fix him....he-he's survived this...not this bad but still....still." The markings along him glowed in since with his words,the dragon alphabet saying in the blinking lights what he spoke. "No....please.....no...." Jason muttered over and over.

Ash was worried, and he didn't have time to respond. They had to get out of there before the place collapsed and killed them all. A deafening roar shook the ground, and the garden crumbled away altogether. As they dived through the trod, they could feel the tingle of magic as they passed through the barrier, and they were falling before everything went completely black.