Disclaimer: I do not own White Knight Chronicles just the words below

This is just a little filler showing what happened during the three day journey to Balandor set in Awakenings.

Enjoy

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Eldore cautiously made his way towards the small circle of ashes and charred logs that had been last night's campfire where his target currently sat cross legged on the ground with his all too familiar staff resting against one shoulder. There was no doubt in the Swordmage's mind that the fellow Spellcaster before him had barely moved from that position all night even after his shift was over.

'This is early, even for you, old timer' The Spellcaster said without even looking round.

Eldore was not surprised that he had been detected. He had left the tent knowing full well that Alastor was probably aware of him the moment he had risen from his cot.

The Spellcaster truly was unique amongst his magical brethren. Even without the staff that had once aided him through the battles against Faria, the blue haired man seemed to have a natural flare for all magicks having mastered both spirit and divine lore before leaving his teens according to what he had overheard from one of the Spellcaster's nightly talks with Yulie when he thought no one else was awake.

It was actually amusing to find that, despite his hard attitude and scowling features, he seemed to have a soft side that he tried to hide from everyone else. Even if it was true that he had no idea why he was with them, it was obvious to all who carefully observed him that he seemed to have some connection to the youths he was travelling with, particularly the purple haired archer whom he tended to bicker with now and again.

There was a downside however. His power, while knowing that he was nowhere near omnipotent, still made him feel almost invincible. At least, it did until yesterday when the Spellcaster pitted his highly honed skills of twenty some years against two forces that had battled and honed skills thrice that despite lying dormant for ten millennia.

~#~

'You want to what?' Alastor asked sure he was hearing things as the group reached a decent sized clearing during their first day of travelling the two day trip from Greede to Balandor.

'Getting deaf in your old age, Al?' Caesar teased. 'I asked if you felt like sparring'

'Oh, I heard you the first time. I'm just trying to figure out the why behind it all' Alastor said.

'Well, he only just received the Dragon Knight' Eldore noted as he joined the conversation. 'Perhaps it would be best if he were to gain a little experience before an upcoming battle with the enemy, lest he wants to repeat what Leonard did during his second battle'

'Don't remind me' Leonard moaned knowing full well how he nearly gotten himself killed by a simple troll of all creatures just because he had let his first victory using the Knight go to his head. 'And do we have to do this? Every day we waste, Cisna is getting farther away from us'

Yulie and Kara, who had so far kept out of the conversation, rolled their eyes at the boy-knight's single minded infatuation with the Princess. Both of them, curious as to how the youth could wield the Incorruptus so well as to defeat his enemies despite being distracted by a damsel who was, at several times, practically dangled in front of him as if to provoke a response.

'Well then you can join in with us' Caesar offered with a casual shrug as if not bothered whether it was just himself or a fellow Knight he was practicing with.

'Well… I am rather curious as to whether who's strongest out of me and Alastor' Leonard admitted scratching behind one ear.

'You seem to have forgotten that I have yet to agree with this little tumble' Alastor chipped in.

'Why don't the two of you just fight each other instead of Alastor?' Yulie suggested curious as to why it had to be against the Spellcaster instead of another Knight.

'Because Alastor can be more unpredictable' Caesar explained before a sly grin crept onto his face. 'Unless of course he believes his magic pales in comparison to our Knights'

If Caesar was hoping to get a rise out of the Spellcaster, then his mission was more than accomplished. Immediately, the grip around his staff tightened until the knuckles were almost white and the look in his eyes promised a world of hurt.

'Would you rather have your ass handed to you now or after we eat?' The Spellcaster asked coldly.

'I'm up for starting now. It'll make diner so much better after winning' Caesar replied coolly.

'The same' Leonard agreed eager to start battle against a living legend.

'Just a minute' Yulie started attempting to stop the three of them before finding herself being pulled away by Kara.

'Best not to get in between a pissing contest between men' Kara advised having experienced several bar brawls during her time in Albana.

No sooner had she dragged the archer away did the battle commence. Moving in quickly, Alastor jabbed out at Leonard with the end of his staff only for the youth to parry the blow as he drew his sword. Caught off-guard, the Spellcaster almost did not notice Caesar coming at him barely managing to ward off the attack and countering with a wide sweep of his staff.

'Now this is interesting' Eldore muttered as he watched the two youths press the attack on Alastor who had to cast Acceleration on himself just to keep up his defence.

'It's two against one. It would only be interesting if Alastor was beating them' Kara said nonplussed.

'True. But Caesar was not as skilled with the spear in the Underbelly as he is now'

Eldore had a point. During the skirmishes in the Underbelly and caverns, the young Lord would only use stabbing moves. Now he was stabbing and making directional cuts with great precision like a professional.

'It appears that Alastor may have bitten off more than he can chew this time' Eldore surmised.

He was not far off. Despite the battle only being within five minutes, Alastor was already breaking a sweat and he had yet to land a blow on either of the two youths. He was barely able to keep his defence up and was not able to counter before the next and it was starting to infuriate him. Having enough of this one sided nonsense, the Spellcaster cast a repulse bomb sending the three of them in different directions.

'What's wrong, Alastor? Giving up?' Leonard called out to him.

'We can always let you have a quick rest before continuing' Caesar added.

Despite being short of breath, Alastor pointed his staff in the two Pactmakers direction and brought out the big guns by casting a powerful fire spell that exploded at the ground between them. While the smoke and dust kicked up by the explosion covered them all, Alastor could easily hear the voices of the two as they chanted their little transformation spell followed by two flashes of light indicating they had transformed.

Almost immediately, Alastor rocketed into the air as a twenty foot long spear skewered the ground where he once stood only to find himself knocked out of the air by a huge shield. Barely managing to catch himself as he landed, Alastor rolled to his feet and made a ground to sky slashing motion with his staff creating a sea of ice and stone pinnacles to rise out of the ground at the Knights feet before taking to the air again himself.

Or would have had the Dragon Knight not caught him between the prongs of his spear and trapping him to the ground.

'Yield?' Leonard questioned pointing his sword at the Spellcaster's head the tip mere inches from his face.

Practically pinned to the ground and at the mercy of his opponents, Alastor had no choice but to accept defeat.

~#~

'I'm guessing you are still sore from yesterday' Eldore said quietly remembering what had happened afterwards.

After being released from the spear's grip, Alastor got up and walked away towards the far side of the clearing in a foul mood practically bowling passed the others as they approached him. He then ignored the rest of them as they set up camp for the night and even declined the meat Yulie had taken over for him swatting it straight out of the startled girl's hands. Both Eldore and Kara were expecting the girl to blow up on him, slap him even, only to look on in shock as she just let him be despite being clearly upset about the way he act towards her.

'What was your first clue' Alastor replied roughly.

'Well, your childish attitude towards someone who did nothing to you' Eldore began gaining eye contact with the Spellcaster. 'Swallow your pride, man, you're doing nothing to help yourself moping away as if you were robbed of an assured victory!'

Alastor glared at the Swordmage. While not of the level of his death glare, it was still intimidating to Eldore who managed to hold his ground regardless until Alastor broke contact to stare at the ground again this time seeming to deflate in defeat the way his shoulders sagged.

'It's not just the defeat that's getting to me, Eldore. Although that is a big part of my strop' The Spellcaster admitted unaware of the brief moment of shock that had crossed over Eldore's face when he said his name instead of "old timer". 'I'm upset that the fate of a kingdom rests in the hands of kids'

For a brief moment, Eldore thought the Spellcaster had meant that he did not want a child to be the one to save the Princess and the Kingdom, until he realised the true meaning of his words.

Both himself and Alastor had seen the fires of war. Both felt older beyond their years because of it explaining why Eldore did not complain when Alastor gave him the crude but fitting nickname. While Leonard and the others were of age and could make their own choices in life, to a war veteran, they were still toddlers who should not have to finish off what those before him started.

'Sometimes we have no choice but to pass on the torch and the weight it bears' Eldore said sagely.

'And if they get burned?' Alastor questioned.

'We can do naught but hope they learn how to avoid repeating the accident'

At that moment, Alastor's stomach decided to make its presence known rumbling loud enough to wake the dead. Making a motion with his hand, the hungry Spellcaster summoned the very chunk of meat Yulie had offered him last night.

'You're not going to eat that, surely?' Eldore asked looking disgusted.

'Humble pie ain't supposed to taste sweet' Alastor countered before sinking his teeth into the dirt meal with a ravenous zeal.

Pausing after swallowing a rather large and revolting piece of meat, the Spellcaster turned his attention towards the two tents evidently picking out the sounds of the other two males in the group starting to rise.

'What are you planning?' Eldore asked sensing a change in the man before him.

'Well, I might not have to carry the torch anymore' Alastor admitted as he stood up. 'But that doesn't mean I can't teach them how to avoid getting burned'

Eldore chuckled before standing up himself to get more firewood. He had a feeling that they were not moving from this clearing for at least a day.

Ten minutes later, Yulie and Kara shot out of their tent weapons at the ready when an explosion followed by the sound of two huge entities crashing to the ground startled them from their sleep only to see the two Knights start to revert back into a dazed looking Leonard and Caesar while an angry looking Alastor marched over to where they lay.

'I thought I told you to not expect things to go like they did yesterday! One simple victory doesn't mean you can beat me again just as easily!' He yelled at them. 'Think of your opponent as a hydra: each head you cut off, a smarter one takes his place'

'Did we miss something?' Kara asked curiously as she watched the scene unfold.

Yulie was unable to answer as she having an inner struggle over whether to be happy that Alastor was back to his usual, if not better, self and upset that she was not the one to snap him out of his funk.

'Why are we sparring again?' Leonard asked as he sat up still reeling from whatever Alastor struck him with. 'Cisna's getting further away from us'

'Maybe that's because you're currently sitting on your ass' Alastor provided for him. 'The more you sit there, the further away she gets'

That got Leonard to rise to his feet and summon his Ark in a flash. Unfortunately, the youth decided to use the full chant giving Alastor plenty of time to strike him underneath the chin and send him flat on his back again.

'Never waste time with something that can be avoided, otherwise-' The rest of Alastor's lecture was cut off when Caesar, as the Dragon Knight, struck him with a swipe of his spear sending him clear across the clearing.

Upon seeing the Spellcaster get struck, Yulie had immediately begun dashing over to where he landed only to slow to a stop when she saw him get up and walk back towards them despite looking a little unsteady at first.

'Magical armour spell' He explained seeing the girl was currently stunned as he passed her. 'You can be pretty amazed what you can live through providing you can keep it going long enough'

Yulie could only nod mutely in understanding apparently too shocked to even squeak before suddenly whirling round with her fist raised intent on slugging him one for scaring her yet again only to be once more surprised when her fist was caught by the Spellcaster in question.

'I don't think even your fists would break this spell' He whispered so only she could hear him. 'I've hurt you enough already as is'

'Aww, you're caring more about me than you crushed pride?' Yulie teased despite blushing slightly at the Spellcaster's veiled apology. It was probably the closest she would ever get to an actual apology out of him.

Alastor just smirked before pushing her lightly away as Caesar called out for more fighting and less flirting and charging towards the beckoning Knight. It was going to be an interesting day.

~#~#~#~

Okay, I'll admit that the ending was lame but truth of the matter is: I didn't know how to end it.

Review if possible & 'til next time

Watch this Space & peace out!