So here it is! My last oneshot for the Gundalian Invaders characters who lost their partner/loved one to the Gundalian-Neathian war. If you haven't already, I recommend reading the other oneshots I have for Fabia, Nurzak, Linus and Rubanoid. It's not required but I just recommend checking those ones out too. So the reason I wrote this and the other ones is because I felt that Lumagrowl needed some closure and a little quip to see how he's doing now.
The title is a reference to Lumagrowl himself. For those who have not been watching the Japanese version of Gundalian Invaders, Wolfang is Lumagrowl's original Japanese name.
I do not own Bakugan, only this oneshot. This oneshot is a work of pure fiction and is not associated with the Bakugan Battle Brawlers series.
Fully italicized passages are flashbacks.
Lumagrowl's POV
It was morning. I could tell because the sunlight was entering the cave I slept in and it struck me eyes. I groaned and stood up before walking around in a circle and settling down again, this time facing inside the cave. I tried to go back to sleep, but there was no point, I was wide-awake now.
I exited my cave and stretched and yawned as the day began. I decided to leave Gundalia after…well, there was just too many painful memories there, besides, there was nothing left there for me now. Everything I had on Gundalia died along with Mistress Kazarina.
She was my life long partner. I was loyal to no one but her. She gave me everything I needed to live…to survive: food, shelter, battle. And how had I repaid her? I ignored her in our last battle to follow my own order. I wiped out the reinforcements to finish Aranaut myself and she disappeared to fight Nurzak one on one…I disobeyed her.
…And it cost me her life.
"Mistress Kazarina!" I cried, seeing her limp body in Nurzak's arms as he set her down. She was alive just a few minutes ago…so what happened?
"I found her like this, unfortunately it was too late to help her," said Nurzak.
"But who would do this?" asked Fabia.
"I don't know for sure, but I do have my suspicions," replied Nurzak.
"It doesn't matter who it was! Mistress Kazarina is dead! And there's nothing I can do to bring her back!" I shouted into the sky. She was my battle partner, I was supposed to protect her! I hung my head down before turning to Aranaut. "It was her fate, just as it was my fate to lose to you."
"That is very noble of you to admit defeat, Lumagrowl. But I can't help but feel that it would have ended differently if you weren't distracted by what just happened," said Aranaut.
"That too was part of my fate…"
"So, what should we do with her?" asked Mason.
"Leave her to me. She's my partner after all." I stared long and hard at Kazarina's lifeless body, her long blonde hair spread out on the ground. I picked up her body and placed her securely on my back before walking away. "You win…I'm done…"
I had taken her body with me. I'm not sure why, but I guess I felt that it was my duty to properly lay her to rest. It was the least I could do for her. She had been through so much before and during this war, it was time that she just lay down and sleep, even though this wasn't how I pictured it.
One thing still on my mind was who was it that killed her? I know I said it didn't matter at the time, but I needed to know. Who killed Kazarina? Who ripped my partner from the plain of the living? Was it one of the Twelve Orders? Was it Nurzak and he was just covering his tracks? I had many suspects in my mind, but I fear I may never know the culprit…I just hope that he or she got what they deserved in the end.
I went back to Kazarina's home before I left Gundalia. There wasn't much left of her hold home when I got there. The last time we were here, Kazarina destroyed it the day after she was inducted into the Twelve Orders. She wanted no reminders of her old life…she was being given a chance that few others ever got and all she wanted to think about was where she was going, not where she had come from or been.
I thought it would only be fitting to bury her at the site of her destroyed home. It was the symbol of where she had come from…how she became the person she is now. She always spoke of how she never wanted to go back, but I knew that no matter how hatefully she spoke about it she still missed it. I suppose I should tell this part of her story, now that she was no long here to do it. Kazarina and I met when she was just a little girl. We didn't like each other at first, but she won my respect eventually. Since then, I was forever loyal to her.
Kazarina was born into a family that didn't appreciate what she was and what she was capable of. Her mother and father we uncaring and she was stuck living in the shadow of her older siblings. Nobody ever appreciated her. I tried to give her all the praise her family couldn't, but the attention of four individuals was hard for me to recreate. She grew cold and relentless. There wasn't a time where I wondered how different she could have turned out if she lived under different circumstances. As time went by, she grew more distant to her family and friends to the point where it was just the two of us. She went to school and was top of her class in the biological sciences. Her excelling grades grabbed the attention of Emperor Barodius, though at the time he was known as Prince Barodius, to the point where he invited her to join his circle of advisors, and later the Twelve Orders.
I can still remember the day Barodius ascended to the throne and Kazarina was appointed to his right hand. She went back to her old home, which had been long abandoned by her family, and set the building on fire. I could see the gleam in her eye as the wretched hole where she grew up in was consumed in the flames until nothing but ashes was left.
That was basically how Kazarina became who she was now. The story was pretty straightforward. It was the people around her that twisted and turned her into who she had become. If things had been different, she may have turned out to be a completely different person altogether...and she might still be alive today…
I didn't bother leaving a grave marker. I was perfectly aware of the hundreds of people who hated her guts and would be glad to see her dead. I didn't want to give them the chance or satisfaction of desecrating her grave. She deserved to rest in peace, even if some others didn't agree with me.
Fate wrote this outcome… I suppose I couldn't stay angry about Mistress Kazarina's death. Everything happened for a reason. We took down that Castle Knight Jin because we were stronger and he was our enemy; that was a reason. And Kazarina was killed and just didn't see it coming. It was simply her misfortune and arrogance.
So was it fate's ruling that I survive? What greater forces would take a Bakugan's battling partner and leave them with nothing? All my life I had spent with Kazarina and following her orders, going where she'd go, doing what she'd do, etc. But now that she was gone, what role was I to play?
Perhaps fate had another plan for me.
Funny thing about fate…you never know what it has in store for you…
How was that? I hope you like it. The flashback was from episode 37 when Kazarina dies. I'm sure some of you are thinking "She's the last person who deserves a oneshot!" But Lumagrowl fits the criteria I had for characters who lost someone so I had to do it. Plus, no matter how much I hate Kazarina, she's a great villain and I respect her for that.
Just a few things. Lumagrowl is not on Gundalia anymore. I don't know where I put him, but I'm just going to go with New Vestroia. And as for Kazarina's past, I just threw that in because she either seemed like she could be rotten from the start or become evil through a sucky childhood. And if you remember in episode 37, Lumagrowl actually does talk quite a bit about fate, so I found it would be fitting if he talked about it in the ending.
Review! ~ZP
