Ray sighed to himself from where he sat at the back of the school's auditorium. It was just after school, all of the lights in the auditorium except for the ones on stage were off. It was better for the dragon though. When the auditorium was dark like this there was less of a chance for people on stage to notice him sitting back in the back near the door where he always sat.

Ray watched as the WINGS busied themselves on stage with their instruments. It was definantly better if they couldn't see him. Dealing with one or two WINGS at a time was bad enough. Ray would hate to have to deal with all eight of them at once in the auditorium. The risk of him being caught by just being there often made Ray wonder why he'd always come to watch the WINGS as they practice after school, but Ray always felt that the reason for his being there out weighed the risk of him being spotted. After all, it was the only time he ever got to see her. The dragon's eyes fixed on Lucy who had just stepped out of the sound booth and was walking over to speak to Janet.

They had never talked much, Ray and Lucy. They never smiled to each other when they passed in the halls, or sat next to each other when they shared the same class. Lucy probably didn't even know that Ray was always showing up to watch her at their practices. But that didn't matter to the dragon. He just wanted to see her again. He often wished he could know whether or not she wanted to see him again too.


Ray and Lucy had met a long time ago. Long before Lucy was ever named Lucy Conwing, and before Ray had moved to Windia to live with Kristeen. They had met, long ago, in the Windian Palace Garden, back when Ray and Lucy were only seven years old. Back then, in the garden, Ray had met Nina Windia, and she had become one of the best friends he had ever had before or since. They saw each other daily, and every day they'd spent their time together running around Windia and having fun in all of the possible ways little kids ever knew to have to fun.

When Ray had first met Nina, he could remember her telling him stories about how she would one day meet a dragon named Ryu, and they'd go out on a great adventure and fall in love and live happily. Ray had never known what to think of Nina's fantasy. He always found the idea of going out on large adventures to be really neat. After a while, Nina had asked Ray if he would promise to be her Ryu, and to take her out on fun and exciting adventures. Ray promised he would. Then Nina asked him to promise that if he was going to be her Ryu, that one day they'd fall in love and live happily, and Ray agreed, not thinking much about it at the time. Little kids always promise the strangest things.

Then one day Ray had gone to see Nina, but she didn't show up. He continued to go back to the garden, day after day, and day after day Nina didn't appear. Soon Ray's time was taken up by training from his father, and Ray stopped visiting Windia. It was when he had turned fifteen that Ray had been sent to Windia to live with Kristeen. Ray began attending Windian High, and that was when he met Lucy.

He didn't know how, but somehow Ray had just known it was her. She looked like Nina, but she didn't act like Nina. Nina had been out going, a dreamer, and happy. Lucy was quiet, realistic, solemn. Somehow, though, Ray had known that Lucy Conwing was the same Nina Windia that he used to know. Lucy must have recognized him too when she first saw him. The dragon could still remember the wide-eyed look on her face when she first spotted him at school.

Of course, that's when all of the trouble had started. Ray hadn't known about the WINGS until his first encounter with Janet. After that, he couldn't remember a day when one of the WINGS weren't bothering him, Jason especially. There wasn't a thing Ray could do about it. His father had warned him about windian feelings towards dragons before Ray had ever moved to Windia. The dragon had expected he'd have some troubles, he just hadn't known what kind of troubles. Jason's constant beatings were enough to give Ray an idea of how bad it could get. But Ray could deal with the WINGS if it meant he could see Lucy every so often, even if she didn't know he was there watching her. Ray wondered if she had ever noticed him around. He wondered if she ever thought about long ago when they had first met, if she remembered the promises Ray had made to her. All too often he wondered if she ever missed him as much as he missed her. Ray wondered if he'd ever know.