Disclaimer : Do you think I would be writing here if I owned Ragnarok or it's characters?

Update 27/4/2014: I can't believe I forgot about this story. Well, I've always hated when something doesn't get finished so once again, I'll continue. I changed the first chapter a little. Made a few edits here and there.

Author : Starcalista

Rating : K+

Genre : Action/Adventure/Mystery

Possible Pairings and Age :

Roan (18) + Yuufa (18)

Iruga (24) + Judia (23)

Maaya (15)

Takius (20)

Keough (24 - 25)

Shiero (13) + Tiara (13)
(The Swordsman and Acolyte that joins the group at the end of the series)

Summary :
According to popular belief, Keough, Iruga and Takius died in the battle at Ghast Heim, but fortunately or maybe unfortunately that was not true. Just before Ghast Heim exploded, a monster and a human saved Takius, Keough and Iruga. For nearly a year they were under the care of them, hovering between life and death. But unknown to any of the wandering group of Roan, Yuufa, Judia, Maaya and the three new additions, that was the start of a new threat, rising from the ashes of Dark Lord, threatening Rune Midgard once more. Will our heroes once again be able to protect all they know and love, or will darkness prevail?

Chapter 1 – Baphomet and a Mysterious Woman

The sky was dark, darker than the normal night sky, but then again, Ghast Heim had always been unnaturally dark, because light never did touch it. 24/7 the land was shrouded in darkness. Though long ago, before it was reduced to ruins and long before any monsters inhabited it, Ghast Heim was once a beautiful city and like it still does in many of the cities of Rune Midgard, the sun had shined brightly over it. But after the historical event about half a millennium ago, this beautiful city became the state it's in today. And it was only due to the effort of the five legendary warriors ~ Chaos, Iris Irine, Fenris Fenrir, Loki and Lidia ~ that the whole world of Rune Midgard wasn't reduced to ashes as well. And now after the battle between Roan and his friends with Dark Lord and his minions, Ghast Heim was even more in ruins. There were even a few places still in fire caused by a few of the battles. Now, neither human nor monsters appeared to still be in the vicinity of Ghast Heim, since there were no movements that could be seen.

Suddenly, Baphomet emerged from the crumbling castle, having done the last task needed to be done to prevent Dark Lord from ever coming back once and for all. As he took his time walking through Ghast Heim to reach the exit, he suddenly spotted the body of a young woman wearing a ruined sage's costume among the rubbles of fallen bricks and rocks, though her rod was nowhere to be found. It took a moment for Baphomet to recognize her. She was the magician that had been with the others that had surprisingly rescued his son and just minutes ago fought with Dark Lord and his minions. She had been one of the unlucky ones since she had to fight her own teacher, one of the few people Dark Lord had used for his own gains among so many. Baphomet could see the body of said teacher no more than a few feet away. Dead, crushed under a huge piece of boulder. On the other hand, the young sage was lucky enough to have all the huge rocks miss her. But she wasn't as lucky as to not have scratches all over her body, and one of her legs was bent in a weird angle. Her dark green hair was also matted with blood which means she also has a head injury. With her eyes closed and her face devoid of emotion besides peacefulness, she looked to be the epitome of death. But as he looked closer, Baphomet could see that she was still breathing, even though the indication was so miniscule that if you were a mere human being, you would have missed it. At that very moment, Baphomet found himself doing something normally people would never think nor catch him do. He picked the magician's broken body carefully, mindful of her injuries, afraid of further breaking her, knowing very well how fragile humans really are. He decided then that he will bring her to someone who could take care of her, someone he knew he could trust on healing her. Besides, he knew that it's been a long time since this 'someone' had come in contact with one of his kinds beside his own sibling. He was sure that they would welcome the change.

But as Baphomet exited Ghast Heim, he had no idea that he had left something undone. That what he had done to prevent Dark Lord from ever coming back into the world was the catalyst of the breaking of a seal that was done by the five legendary warriors more than 500 hundred years ago. A seal that hid something much more terrifying and much crueler than Dark Lord could ever be that it was a page in history, which was a safely guarded secret, incidentally no one but one in the present time knows what it hid much less the seals existence. So how could Baphomet know? He couldn't, for not even the only one who knows of the seals existence know where it is located, much less how to break it. And it was hidden so deep within the castle that not even Dark Lord or his followers knew about it.

~Darkness of Time~

In a another part of Ghast Heim, a few yards from the main entrance, the entrance where Roan and his friends had entered through, two bodies lay side by side. These are the two bodies of two fair-haired young men who were once, long ago the best of friends. A friendship so tight that they were more like brothers, and had thought nothing could ever break them apart. They were proven wrong though when the incident a few years ago occurred, when one of them was thought to be dead and had been brainwashed by Dark Lord.

At that moment, a figure of a young woman suddenly appeared from the darkness surrounding them since this area was devoid of any flames. This young woman ~ who was wearing a typical wizard's costume, with waist-length dark purple-almost black hair with maroon streaks framing her face and sharp sapphire eyes with specks of silver in them ~ knelt down next to the two men and reached her right hand out to each of their wrists, checking for their pulses, while her left hand gripped her staff tightly. Seemingly satisfied, the wizard backed away and held out her free hand over the young men who appeared to be dead and their bodies floated up into the air, stopping once they were just the same height as her stomach. The mysterious young woman brought them towards the exit of Ghast Heim, making sure not to bump them into anything.

Stopping just outside the gate of Ghast Heim, the young woman looked back, staring at the dark castle that appeared to be on the brink of totally collapsing, towering over her figure. Looking at it like that, it is hard to imagine that this castle had once housed one of the wealthiest and prosperous royal families of Rune Midgard and that this now haunted land had once been very beautiful, filled with green grass and gorgeous flowers. Then her gaze swept over the two young men hovering in front of her and a soft voice came out of her lips.

"I really hope Lady's premonition is wrong…though I guess that's not very likely," she smiled sadly, for what, no one could know but herself. "Please, Chaos-sama, Fenris-sama, please protect us all…" And with that, she left Ghast Heim, bringing the broken bodies of the two friends-turned-enemies-by-circumstances. Whether they are dead or alive, only time can tell.

~Darkness of Time~

As they left Ghast Heim with the wounded that they were bringing, both Baphomet and the young wizard never noticed a shadow rising out from the crumbling castle. The shadow slowly formed an object in the dark sky, somewhat like a thunderbolt surrounded by a circle of ancient runes, a language that has long since been dead. And as the shadow was swept away by the wind, in the deepest darkest corners of the castle, where neither monsters nor humans ever dared to venture, something with an aura of pure evil emerges; wakening from his long slumber, signaling that this new threat is only the beginning.

Minutes later, Ghast Heim's castle completely crumbled, igniting an explosion from deep within, which soon engulfed the entire forgotten city. And for the first time ever since a century ago, light once again touched Ghast Heim.

~Darkness of Time~

A week later…

Yuufa let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding as she kneeled before the graves of Keough-nii-san, Iruga-nii-san and Takius-san, three bouquets of flowers held tightly to her lap. Each bouquet had a bunch of pink carnations, white heathers and blue forget-me-not, which were arranged beautifully. The three gravestones before her were unremarkable and from a distance, they couldn't be distinct from the other graves in that cemetery. The only differences were the inscriptions and the fact that there were no marks of digging up body-sized holes even though they were newly marked. This was because they were empty graves. Yes, no bodies were underneath the gravestone.

After the destruction of Ghast Heim, after the aftermath of their final battle with Dark Lord, she, Roan, Maya-chan and Judia-san had searched high and low throughout Ghast Heim, or what's left of it. Yet they had no luck in finding their bodies even though they found the crushed body of Takius-san's sensei. The only thing they had of Takius-san was her rod and they had found nothing at all of Iruga-nii-san nor Keough-nii-san, it was like they had just got up and left or disappeared from the face of Rune Midgard. Yuufa had hoped that they were actually alive someplace somewhere, but she knew it was quite impossible. Keough-niisan himself had said goodbye to her and wished her a happy life with Roan, even though it was just a dream. Yet, it was the same kind of dream when Keough-nii-san had been calling for her, so she knew that it was somewhat real, as real as dreams could go that is. Besides, if they had really survived, they would have come and find her and the others. Especially since Judia-san is carrying Iruga-niisan's child.

"Oniisan…" Yuufa whispered as she touched her brother's gravestone, lingering on his name, "You have always kept me safe and always tried to make me happy, so now, I hope that wherever you are, you're happy with Iruga-nii-san and Takius-san…"

As she whispered this, tears started to fall from Yuufa's eyes, yet she made no move to wipe them away or cover them, letting her sadness show for once for the entire world to see. Ever since her beloved Keough-nii-san was thought to be dead three years ago, she had tried to keep her sadness at bay, showing for everyone to see a spoilt happy and cheerful girl. Though truthfully, she was very sad and very lonely, but she couldn't trust anyone to confide in. Not even her childhood friend, Roan. And it was made even worse when Iruga-niisan suddenly up and left them. She had felt betrayed. But now she regrets not telling anyone, since all those feelings she had hidden inside had ultimately led her to betray all her dear friends. If only she had told Roan then she might have not felt betrayed by him. But then again it is sort of her nature to never say whats important.

She places a bouquet in front of her brother's gravestone, then silently turns towards the other two remaining stones and places one in front of each. Suddenly, she felt a hand rest on her shoulder, breaking her from her thoughts, and as her eyes followed the length of the arm, she found familiar warm brown eyes staring back at her; sadness, concern, companionship and other unidentifiable emotions swimming in their depths. Roan. A sad smile was adorning his handsome face as he knelt down next to her, his hand never letting go of her shoulder, showing Yuufa that he'll always be there to comfort her.

"Yuufa…" Roan says softly, almost whispering as if he spoke any louder, he'll wake up beings better left alone. His eyes turns to look at the gravestones for a minute, then meets her eyes once again, "It's time to go. Judia-san and Maya-chan are waiting for us at the gate."

Yuufa nodded, staring back at his expressive eyes. For a moment, time seemed to stop for them. Roan. He had always been there for her. He had always helped her, did every selfish request she had ever asked. She had always seen the devotion he had for her and she was ashamed to say that she had taken that for granted and had always used him in the past. Because at that time, all of that had not been enough. Not until he disappeared and came back a changed person, did she realize how much she missed him and how lonely she was without him. How much he meant to her.

Snapping from her trance, she suddenly realized where she was and that there were others waiting for them. As she turned back towards the gravestones, she could feel Roan's hand slip from her shoulder and felt him stand up straight once more. But his calming presence stayed with her.

"Onii-san, Iruga-nii-san, Takius-san, we have to go. We'll make sure to stop by again soon, okay?" Yuufa smiled sadly, and then she wiped her eyes, stood up and turned back to Roan, smiling brightly.

"Let's go!"

TBC

A/N : I had been brewing this story up since I finished watching Ragnarok the Animation with a little help from my brother, but I only got to posting it now. So, do you guys like it? Hate it? Should I continue it? Well I hope you'll send me your reviews and tell me what you think. I really appreciate constructive criticism, even flames is just fine. I'll just use it to roast my marshmallows ;D

Oh, and one more thing, sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes. English is just not my first langguage.

Star