Help From Haze ♤

》Note: These next chapters are non-canon, this means that they are not part of the actual story. I originally planned to have these chapters in the story, but then I realized I had to change a few things, and since I didn't want them to go to waste, I decided to rewrite them, and publish them as non-canon. You can enjoy these bonus chapters and then continue with the main story (there will be an option to return to the canon chapters), but if you think these chapters are going to break the immersion then feel free to go back to the previous chapter, and choose the normal option.

As Finn sat down next to Haze, right at the edge of the lake, he was ready to have a deep conversation, where they could talk about all aspects of his life, identify his biggest problems, and worries, to then analyze them, and hopefully solve them, or finally understand them. And since Finn had all day to do that, as he didn't have any more tasks, he grabbed some fruits, that he brought to the lake a few days ago, and listened closely to Haze, who started explaining him everything he needed to know, or at least that’s what he thought she was going to do.

“Well, Finn... First, you need to know that this mission will be the most important accomplishment of your life... nothing will compare to that, and it is a lot of responsibility, but don't worry just yet… I don’t know if I could explain all of this to you, it’s way too complicated for such a young boy to comprehend… It’s better for you not to know, just trust me…” - Haze started speaking, slowly, calmly, and with an oddly compassionate voice. She was showing a bit more emotion in her response, to the point it could be considered slightly friendly. But as surprising as that was to see for Finn, he was more shocked to hear that she didn’t want to explain his mission to him. He really thought the dragon girl was going to answer all of his questions, but now that she was trying to forget about it, he didn’t know what to think of the situation, which led to a bit of an explosive reaction from him.

“What?? No, I need to know!!... How can’t I worry about that when you just told me it’s going to be the most important accomplishment of my life?? I have to know what I’m getting into before I leave my home to fight for all of you… No offense, but I don’t think I can fully trust you yet… I’m just not sure if this is the best for me, and I think you could really help me answer some of my doubts… So, can you please explain the mission to me?” - Finn asked, with a mix of emotions, mainly getting slightly frustrated at Haze’s response, only to then realize she was very scary, and he didn’t want to get her mad. Since he was afraid that she could do something to him, Finn tried to be as polite as possible, even when he was frustrated. And because he was able to keep his composure, Haze decided to give him a more elaborated response, which was just as unexpected as the previous one.

“I already told you, it’s too complicated to explain… I’m sure I could spend hours describing all of the steps you have to follow to become a warrior and all of that, but I don’t think there is no need to do all of that boring stuff… I trust in you, Finn, I really do…” - Haze replied, with an oddly playful tone, which was more than off putting for Finn. He was stunned for a second, as he thought he just witnessed the dragon girl being nice with him, and even talking sweet to him. But as he was speechless, and unable to even move, Haze continued to give him rare compliments, and turned her attitude into a friendly one, which only made Finn more confused (as this was probably the first time she did that).

“I believe you are going to become a great hero regardless of the method you use to train… I know that you will always find the way to obtain your own answers, no matter what… So even if I could provide you with the answers you need, I think it’s better for you if you discovered it on your own… and I think you know that too…” - Haze continued saying, as she tried encouraging Finn, and sounding very inspirational. But as she took a friendly approach, and even tried to make some eye contact with Finn, it only served to get him uncomfortable. He quickly looked away awkwardly, and after trying to understand what was going on, he chose to focus more on the specifics of his mission. As curious as he was to learn the reason for Haze’s sudden change in behavior, he really didn’t want her to act friendly like that again, as it was more embarrassing than nice for him.

“Uhh, thanks, I guess… But how am I supposed to learn about my biggest accomplishment in life if I don’t even know where I have to go?? What do I have to do?? How hard will it be??” - Finn asked again, after awkwardly changing the topic, and trying to look at the dragon girl again. He couldn’t help but feel shy, as he noticed how Haze began to smile, and it was only weirder for him, because he was sitting close to her. And even though he wanted to back away from her a bit, Finn couldn’t move, in fear of coming across as rude, and hoped Haze would give him some answers this time, which he was unfortunate with.

“As I said, you’ll find out on your own… With some given time I’m sure you will figure everything out, so there is no need to worry, Finn” - Haze replied, with the same lively smile she from a second ago, which only turned bigger, as the dragon girl was showing a lot of enthusiasm, friendliness, and even affection for the first time. And even though it was nice to hear Haze being so passionate, and supportive about his mission, Finn just couldn’t look at her smile, not because it wasn’t pretty, just because it was so weird to see. He was so confused by her attitude, that he spent a while thinking of a way to demand for answers, but without being too rude. He didn’t want to threaten the dragon girl, since she could clearly kill him right there, but he also didn’t want to make her feel bad about her own smile, if that was even possible.

“I don’t know why you are acting like this… Why can’t you just answer my questions?? I thought you were here to help me?? Why are you leaving me with my doubts???” - Finn asked, with a bit of fear in his voice, from not only panicking to see Haze so friendly, but because he suspected she was planning something, or was trying to mess with him. If it was a prank, it was definitely not funny for him, in fact, Finn was getting a bit frustrated, as well as uncomfortable. But as he tried to be more assertive, Finn was hesitating to make any more questions, just so he wouldn’t trigger the dragon girl. But after she listened to his doubts, she surprisingly smiled even more, and even chuckled a bit. And while the dragon girl was taking this lightly, Finn thought this was seriously scary, and he believed Haze was planning to eat him, or something like that (which could also mean something sexual, but that wasn’t too likely for him).

“It’s because I know that if I tell you everything you want to know you won’t like it… I don’t want to scare you from achieving your greatest goal in life, that’s all… If you knew everything you have to do then you would probably want to stay here in your comfy home and never think about the catastrophic problems of the real world…” - Haze replied, once again, very lively, and even laughed cheerfully in the middle of her response. She was for some reason caring a lot about Finn all of a sudden, and he really couldn’t find the reason why. He didn’t know how to react to Haze’s jokes, and her general lighthearted behavior. But after being confused by the dragon girl’s friendliness for far more than he should have, Finn was ready to take this seriously. So even though he didn’t want to argue with Haze, and ruin her playful mood, Finn decided to make a decision, solely based on how the dragon girl was reacting in these past few moments.

“Well, now that you say that… I don’t think I want to become a warrior then… If you are not going to tell me what I have to do then I won’t do it… and from the sound of it, I think that’s the right choice for me…” - Finn said, trying to be playful, but clearly showing his intentions of not accepting his mission. In reality, he just wanted to see if Haze would care about his response, or just act like it doesn’t matter. Finn really just needed answers, and he thought Haze would be the most mature to talk about his mission. He expected to get a lot of answers from her, and get to learn a few things from her wisdom. But now that he seemingly made a decision, Finn was surprised to see Haze act the same, and continuing to smile lively, although she was going to be even more friendly than before.

“I know it might be scary, but trust me, it isn’t… It doesn’t have to be, Finn... You are a young, strong, determined, and talented man… You will overcome every single threat that you come across… I know there might be a lot of those threats, and it may not be worth it to take such risks, but I’m sure that you can not only become a powerful warrior, but maybe even one of the most praised heroes of this world!... I know you can do that, Finn, so don’t even question it any longer…” - Haze replied, with the kindest of smiles, and the most uplifting voice Finn has seen, and heard. He was once again stunned to see the dragon girl showing a lot of support for him, and being unnecessarily enthusiastic about it, but he was getting used to it. So as he tried to ignore her friendly demeanor, Finn continued to indirectly argue with Haze, to try to get some answers out of her, or entice her to be serious for once.

“Yea, that doesn’t really convince me… I mean, thanks for having so much faith in me and all, but I don’t believe that… It just sounds like a lot of work for not that much pay off… I would like to be praised, but I prefer to stay at home with my loved ones, and maybe even have a family here… I think you know that I have too much to lose here, so I’m sorry, it’s a pass for me…” - Finn replied, trying to sound casual, and act nonchalantly, like he didn’t care about his mission anymore. He actually started to think his mission didn’t matter, because that’s how Haze made it seem, and he started to believe he wasn’t going to get anything from becoming a warrior. But as he was genuinely rejecting all the praises he could get, Finn was eagerly waiting for a reaction from the dragon girl, who continued to act friendly, even when it seemed like her job on this island was at risk. This was very suspicious for an already skeptical Finn, but instead of questioning it, he tried to listen to what Haze had to say, before he could make any assumptions (which there were a lot of at this point).

“I understand, you don’t want to accept your mission because you think you already have everything here… I must admit, you do have a promising future here… But do you want to find out what you can achieve in your journey to become a warrior?” - Haze replied, and asked back, not even turning serious, just giving a more meaningful response, or at least one that catched Finn’s interest. He was glad the dragon girl finally was going to give him some information about his mission, so he didn’t waste any time to respond, and even tried to forget about why Haze was acting so weird now.

“Yes, I’m interested to hear… I’ve literally asked you to explain it to me, why did it take you so long to understand that I already wanted to become a warrior but I wasn’t sure??” - Finn replied, with an eager smile, and trying to joke around a little, as he thought he could match Haze’s playfulness, and this could lead her to give him some answers. They both laughed a bit, and then Finn suddenly kept quiet, and started paying close attention to Haze, who spent some time thinking about what to say. She seemed distracted, but she kept smiling, but as odd, and uncomfortable as that was for Finn, he thought Haze would finally give him some useful information, but that wasn’t the case once again.

“I’m sorry, I guess I was just distracted with you…” - Haze replied, with a slightly flirtatious tone, as she smiled directly at Finn’s eyes, making him a bit shy. He wasn’t just frustrated to hear that the dragon girl wasn’t going to explain his mission to him, he also lost hope for ever becoming a warrior, since it was clear Haze didn’t care. But apparently, this was Haze’s plan, as her intense, kind staring made Finn speechless, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of hers, so she had his full attention. So as Haze had Finn closely listening to her, she took her chance to finally explain what she needed to tell him.

“You see, becoming a warrior, or even better a hero, comes with a lot of perks… You not only become popular, get to explore the world, receive praises and gifts from royal families and even gods, but you also get to experience something I think you will like a lot…” - Haze continued saying, with the same playful tone, which Finn was so used to hearing now, that he just considered it normal by now. He did get curious to know more about the perks of being a warrior, since Haze mentioning gifts from possibly gods interested him a lot. But as Finn was too focused on thinking about meeting gods, he couldn’t notice how Haze was slowly getting closer to him, as she could easily move her body with her giant dragon tail, without him noticing.

“I already like the idea of the gifts and exploring the world… Am I actually going to meet gods??” - Finn asked eagerly, and innocently, as he already imagined how it would be like to meet Light, or the great Odin, or whoever those other big gods are. But as he stopped paying attention at Haze for a second, to look at the sky, and see if he could find any gods flying around or something, Finn was startled to see the dragon girl right next to him, getting closer than expected. And while he already thought her behavior was weird, he thought this closeness between them was just predatory, and he could fear for his life, even when Haze still seemed playful, friendly, and kind.

“Yes, and plenty of them?? But you know what you are also going to meet a lot of?” - Haze asked Finn, with a very enthusiastic, enticing, and even flirtatious smile, which completely shook Finn, to the point he couldn’t even react to what the dragon girl was saying. He couldn’t move, speak, or even tell if Haze was showing any bad intentions in her voice, or gestures, it was like he was completely under her control. But after Haze realized this, she giggled maliciously, and got even closer to Finn, who just started to pick up on some hints, and was terrified to find out if his suspicions were true. He just now noticed how Haze seemed a bit irrational, and was probably acting kind, and playful for a reason, which could lead to things turning a bit explicit. But as he was genuinely afraid of seeing that happen, he didn’t even move, and just waited for Haze to say, or do something (which was probably a bad idea, he should have just ran at that moment, but it’s too late now).