He scowled as he walked for the chirpy little boy, (the so-called "partner" of his), continued to talk away despite being ordered to shut up. Ignoring the brat didn't cease the flow of the one-way conversation either; the kid would go on and answer his own questions with his own speculations and opinions when the other did not respond.

And to add to his demise, it was an awfully bright, sunny day with no single cloud in the sky, seemingly making his brat-of-a-partner more joyful than ever. Not only that, the sunlight limited his dark powers to a level that was close to being useless; weakening him to the point where he had to rely on his own physical strength to fight. (As well, he hated to admit, he had to rely on the brat to support him whenever the battles became too tedious. Fortunately though, they were in an area occupied by weak monsters.)

He sighed when they finally found what they were searching for in the Foreground of the former Margrave Rymer's Hunting Mansion.

"This is it!" Aaron exclaimed in excitement as he plucked one of the weed-like plants that grew no where else in the Foreground. To their inconvenience, it had to be growing just in front of the mansion's entrance which meant they had a long way to trek back to Acuna. Twirling the small herb between his fingers, Aaron looked at it closely. "Well… I think this is it. I really have no clue what the medicine we're looking for looks like. But it does look out of the ordinary, doesn't it?" He held out the plant for the other to see.

Lucian, groaning internally at the ridiculous task he was forced to agree to do, grabbed it and looked it over. Before he could conclude anything from it, the herb quickly browned and withered in his hands. "Hmph. This is it all right," he muttered, tossing the dying weed to the ground.

Aaron perked up from the statement and began picking the herbs.

"Hey, it's no use just picking them like that," the swordsman told the ignorant boy in a more-or-less sullen tone.

"Hmm?" The gunslinger perked a questionable eyebrow at him before noticing the quickly dying herbs he held. "Oh… well, how are we supposed to carry them back?" he asked with a frown.

Lucian reached into his item satchel and took out a blue handkerchief he had pilfered from that rabbit-eared Sunflower girl some time ago. "Simple," he began, waving at the boy to move aside. He carefully dug into the soft dirt to uproot the entire plant, (the whole clod of dirt and all), and placed a few onto the piece of cloth. "We're gonna have to make a run for it," he finished as he poured a little water over the dirt clods to keep the roots moist. Then he wrapped it all up in a bundle. Not wanting to soil his items with the muddy thing, he tossed the herbs to the spiky-haired boy.

The younger boy grinned after catching the bundle. "All right! A race to Acuna, then?" he challenged.

A glare was the other's reply.

"What? Come on! I'll race you!"

"Why?" the dark swordsman inquired; rather annoyed by the brat's eagerness to play a stupid game.

"To… make this quest more fun?"

The older boy could only sigh. It was then that the sunflower Light Terrennial chuckled right by Aaron's side. "Might I remind you both that those herbs will wilt if you two don't hurry!" it said, almost sounding amused.

With an aggravated growl, Lucian reclaimed the herbs and bolted away from the much-too-happy pair; hearing a cry of "Wait for me!" coming from right behind him.

Dashing down the cobblestone path, Lucian did not slow down once; even when he had to peer at his map display to scope out the shortest route to the Foreground's exit. Monsters were no problem either. The swordsman simply ran past them, leaving the brat to hopefully deal with them. (The monsters in the vicinity were very weak so the kid wouldn't even have to put any effort into defeating them.)

To his surprise, he did not hear the boy stop to fight but instead could sense the kid right on his tail. Lucian smirked at the gunslinger's tendency to follow his lead without being told. The brat was young but not stupid, fortunately.

They ran non-stop with some monsters giving chase while some others not wanting to bother tiring themselves out. When they passed through the second-last steel gate, Lucian paused in his tracks when he heard the sound of the gate noisily closing just when Aaron entered the area. Just then, the ground before the pair began to come alive with bony hands reaching for the sky.

Panting, Lucian mumbled a curse at the stupid trap the monsters had set up. "I don't have time for this," he snarled at the seven rising Skeletons. Not wanting to waste any time, he drew his sword and turned to the boy who had already brought out his Solar Gun. "You deactivate the trapdoors. I'll handle them," he told the gunslinger as he lunged at the approaching fiends.

He only heard the boy yell out a confirmed answer before seeing him run past the group of Skeletons. Some of the fiends attempted to follow the brat but Lucian gained all their attention by whistling at them. "Over here, you ugly bastards," he taunted; sneering as he attacked first. Vanargand cut cleanly through the bones of the closest monster; instantly felling it. The swordsman followed through with another swing, striking down two more foes while the last swing cleaved three. That left only one Skeleton left.

Where did it go? He had lost sight of it. Then he sensed it: Sharply, he turned around and slashed at the back-attacking enemy before it could get him.

The clattering of shattered bones brought a triumphant smirk to fall upon the young man's lips. Lucian returned his sword to its hold and walked away.

"Look out! Below you!" Nero warned. Without question, the dark swordsman leapt away from where he once stood, seeing a pair of bony hands reaching out of the ground.

"More?!" he hissed in annoyance. Two more Skeletons rose out of the ground – no, five more. They had him surrounded.

Throwing a curse to the side, he glowered at the pests, hefting his weapon in his hands once again. He was about to charge but a sudden flash of golden light striking one of the monsters down had stopped him.

"Lucian! It's open! Come on!"

Silently grateful at the brat's growing quickness to deactivate the traps, the older boy ran through the opening and followed the gunslinger out of the monster infested area.


Aaron was happy to see the shopkeeper pleased by their successful mission. Their reward for handing the wet, muddy bundle of unbelievably-still-fresh herbs was a strange, green dried-up-looking fruit thing. The clerk informed him that it was called a "Cure Bulb" and it would revitalize the body when eaten. It was disgusting to look at and the thought of eating it made the boy ill to his stomach. However, to his surprise, it had a sweet edible fragrance to it making him think second of it.

He pocketed the reward after thanking the shopkeeper. (Truthfully, he had expected a money reward so that was why he accepted the old clerk's request and pleaded with Lucian to help.)

After exiting the store, he told the waiting swordsman of the reward and received Lucian's trademark scowl. "All that for a lousy piece of fruit?" the older boy asked in a low growl.

Aaron smiled nervously. "Yeah…" he said, sheepishly. "But hey! It's nice to help people in need. And besides," he continued, cutting in front of the other's reply, "the Cure Bulb will help us when we get tired in battle."

The swordsman only deepened his scowl, forcing the gunslinger to let out an apologetic laugh.

"Well…" the younger boy murmured, reaching into his satchel to show Lucian the reward. "It doesn't look like it'll rot anytime soon like these Earth Fruits – Oh, look: This one rotted already." He tossed one of the said fruits, now a sickly brown colour, into a nearby trash barrel then examined the other edibles he carried. To his dismay, he found all his Solar Fruits, that he bought a day earlier, had all spoiled from the hot, dry temperature. Groaning in disappointment, he dumped the bad fruit in the trash as well.

"What we need is more Soll," the older boy grumbled, crossing his arms. "Upgrading our weapons ain't cheap and your knack for eating as much as two full-grown men a day sickens me."

The gunslinger pouted at the remark. "I do not eat that much!" he huffed, feeling offended. "All our money's going to all our supplies which they so happen become useless after a day…" He mumbled the last part under his breath.

"Hmph. Buy potions instead, idiot," Lucian scoffed, walking away.

"But they don't taste as good," Aaron replied truthfully, glowering from the insult as he followed the older boy. His anger quickly subsided. "Anyway, you want your handkerchief back?"

"Throw it away."

The spiky-haired boy hesitated. "Are you sure?"

When no answer came from the other, Aaron shrugged and reluctantly threw the dirty cloth into the trash then ran to catch up.


Professor Sheridan was over-ecstatic as always when the two arrived at his mansion in the evening. "Would you boys like to stay for something to eat?" the kooky old man asked them. "Carmilla hasn't prepared dinner yet and it'll take a while until your weapons are complete."

"No…", "I'd love to!" both Lucian and Aaron answered at the same time respectively.

The swordsman glared at the gunslinger who grinned nervously from the look. "I'm… I'm hungry," Aaron told the older boy in a timid manner. "And we pretty much can't do anything without our weapons so there's no hurry…"

"Whatever, you can stay for all I care," Lucian muttered, turning to leave.

"Where're you going?"

There was a brief pause before the dark swordsman answered with a "Nowhere" and closed the door behind him.

"Hmm, I guess it's just you and me," the professor said with a chuckle. Aaron angrily frowned at the older boy's stubborn attitude but soon smiled at the alchemist's light-hearted laughter.

However, he couldn't help but worry about Lucian. He had never seen the swordsman eat anything ever since joining up with him. Whenever they were staying at an inn, only Aaron would order food while Lucian would only consume drinks. Even when they jumped the train to save Ernest… The gunslinger was surprised that the swordsman would refuse to eat the deliciously prepared meals that sat on the tables after a full day of monster fighting.

Doesn't that cocky jerk ever get hungry? Aaron pondered.

The only exception he could remember was when they tried to storm through New Culiacan after opening the Gate of Binding. It was broad daylight during that time and the pair didn't expect the monsters that roamed within to be overwhelmingly strong…

Man, were they wrong. Even with the sun out, the demons they encountered did not seem fazed by the light. Their strength was immeasurable… and he had thought the vampires were tough…

Aaron hardly made any of the monsters flinch when he blasted them with his Solar Guns. With Bea's Witch, Sol missiles to the face did almost nothing against a Skeleton Fencer. Just merely scorched it as well as angered it. He had to run away from the fiend since the gunslinger was no good fighting in close combat.

Then there were the archers. Lucian had barked a specific order for the young Guild member to rid of them but Aaron could not obey. That one Skeleton Fencer he angered was furiously trying to kill him. He could not ask the swordsman to help him because his partner was busy battling against two of his own.

The archers… there were three of them. Aaron had tried to stop them from firing their arrows when he saw them ready their bows. They were aiming at the older boy who was too occupied to notice. The gunslinger attempted to take down one but that cursed Skeleton Fencer threw his aim off, causing him to miss.

A warning was shouted towards the unwary swordsman as three arrows flew through the air. To Aaron's amazement, Lucian was quick to bring out his shield to block all three projectiles. However, that distraction was enough for one of the close-ranged monsters to attack the boy's side. Its sword, a well-worn blade, was stained red after cutting through flesh.

Lucian nearly collapsed from the inflicted injury but his overpowering anger allowed him to retaliate with his sword. The fiend that wounded him had its sword-arm cleaved off before its head was severed from the neck.

"Lucian! Retreat!" Aaron heard the cat Terrenial, Nero, command the boy at the same time Toasty shouted a warning to the other.

It was then the gunslinger had regained his attention to the Skeleton Fencer right beside him. The boy leapt away to avoid losing his left arm but still felt the tip of the monster's sword cut into it. He suppressed a pained cry and countered with a blind-shot with Knight.

Of course, one energy bullet, charged with the sun's power, did nothing to the powerful fiend. (It was annoyingly impossible for the dark creature to withstand the light!)

The gunslinger quickly brought out his shield to deflect the Skeleton's sword swipes. Unable to move, Aaron guarded against the onslaught but his arm was quickly tiring. Before he exhaustingly dropped his guard, a black blade was thrust into the monster's skull; shattering through bone and killing the demon.

"Damn it, brat! What's holding you?!" Lucian hissed, giving the gunslinger a deep, furious glare. He bared his teeth at the younger boy, truly angry at him.

Before Aaron could muster a reply, the swordsman had already turned around to shield against a volley of arrows. It was noticeable to the gunslinger when the boy's form faltered from the effort before quickly regaining his composure.

Just then, more Skeleton Fencers rose from the ground, replacing the ones Lucian had killed.

"You're too hurt to fight! Retreat now, Lucian!" Nero demanded, hovering over the swordsman.

The vampire hunter growled a "No" which resulted in a very angry cat swiping its claws across his ear to change his mind.

"Listen to me! You are not ready to come here! Pull back before you get yourself killed!"

Aaron was quick to agree, "Lucian, he's right! These guys are too much!" The boy had to keep his shield up to guard against the constant rain of arrows. Dread began to sink in when he saw that the group of Skeleton Fencers were almost upon them.

Lucian cursed out loud at no one in particular, realizing the truth in their situation. With an angry roar, he turned abruptly around and headed for the Gate of Binding. Aaron followed suit, running at a slower pace than the wounded swordsman's hindered stride to stay protectively behind. The gunslinger shielded against fired arrows continuously until the pair managed to pass through the stone gate that surrounded New Culiacan. Once they both stepped foot on the other side, the monsters ceased their chase and returned to the ground.

Breathing a deep sigh of relief, Aaron wiped the sweat off his brow, feeling a sting on his arm from performing the action. He frowned at the blood trickling down his forearm, staining his already red glove a deeper shade.

Ignoring it, he ran over to his wounded partner's side, seeing the swordsman fall against the gate wall. Breathing heavily, Lucian leaned along the stone barricade and muttered a curse when he saw the blood that stained his own hands. Nero appeared just as concerned as Aaron when the Terrenial saw the crimson liquid.

The cat flew close to the swordsman, placing a paw upon his shoulder. "Drink a potion, quickly," the Dark Terrenial urged him.

Lucian did not move but instead closed his one visible red eye and formed a little smirk. "Heh… I would… If I had some," he said breathlessly.

Aaron frowned heavily while the Dark Terrenial narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits. "Fool! How could you rush in unprepared?!" Nero demanded, his fangs bared and his claws visible; sinking right into the vampire hunter's shoulder.

The swordsman did not flinch nor say a word but remained silent.

"Hey, Lucian," Aaron began, his voice low and quavering. He gave the older boy an apologetic look but, of course, it went unnoticed. "I-I… I'm sorry. I really am! You got hurt because of me… I… I wasn't strong enough to help you and…" The boy trailed off, feeling a strong sense of guilt to fall upon him. There was not much he could say to make up for what he lacked. "I'm… sorry."

Nero returned to his usual calm self and glanced between the two boys, waiting.

When Lucian did not respond, the gunslinger reached into his item bag and pulled out one of his Earth Fruits. "Here, you should eat this," he said, offering the green fruit with an outstretched hand.

The dark swordsman stared at it briefly before forming a look of disgust. Nero was first to speak; "You should listen to him and eat the fruit. It's still a while till nightfall and you should keep your strength up until then."

"Hmph!" was Lucian's only reply and oddly enough, he abided to the Terrenial's words and grabbed the offered fruit in a reluctant manner.

Aaron weakly smiled, having to witness the stubborn fool listen intently to the black, winged cat. The two must be very close friends…

Seeing that Lucian no longer needed to be pestered into being taken care of, the gunslinger joined the other against the gate wall and took out his last Earth Fruit. They ate in silence with all the Terrenials speaking amongst themselves in a circle a few feet away. Aaron could not hear a word they said, but he didn't mind.

He was first to consume the entire fruit first so he decided to rest on the ground. When the other finished, an awkward silence lingered between the two.

"Hey."

Aaron suddenly perked up from the sound of the swordsman's voice, addressing him. Blue eyes stared up at the other, grateful that the silence was broken.

"In order for us to defeat the Duke, we'll need to get stronger… much stronger!" Lucian continued, his tone reflecting a bitter hatred. He lowered his gaze at the younger boy. "You better not chicken out from the training we'll have to do."

Aaron blinked in surprise from Lucian's use of "us" and "we" instead of "I" like he normally would. Then did that mean…?

The young gunslinger formed a wide, confident grin to have the Legendary Dark Swordsman, Lucian, finally acknowledge him as his partner.

"Heh, are you kidding me?" Aaron teased, rising to his feet. "I'm going to train so hard that I'll be the best gunslinger in the Guild! And before you'll even know it, the Duke will be begging before my feet before you even get a chance to fight him!"

Lucian snorted, highly amused at the boy's spirit. "Best gunslinger, huh?" he mused with a tiny smirk. "Very unlikely."

Pouting, Aaron crossed his arms. "Just watch! I'll even surpass my father!"

That made the swordsman's smirk widen to a sneer. "Heh, you truly think so?" he said, his tone sounding almost sarcastic. "I'd like to see that, boy."

Aaron's grin returned despite the harsh demeanor of the other. Having fought alongside the arrogant purple-haired boy for some time now, the young gunslinger had quickly learned all of Lucian's limited emotions. "Happiness" was unfortunately not one of them. (The gunslinger had never seen the dark swordsman with a genuine smile. But to see something like that would seem very unnatural…) Aaron had gotten used to Lucian's aggressive way of treating him. Although, hurtful at times, the younger boy would quickly shrug the pain away, knowing that it couldn't be helped.

Whatever happened in Lucian's past had made him who he was now… Aaron really couldn't imagine what could have happened between the dark swordsman and the Duke. Whatever it was, had changed the young man dramatically.

Aaron could remember the words of the Poes before their defeat, claiming that Lucian was neither human nor vampire… And when they met the Duke at the train station…

The boy shook those troubling thoughts away.

Three days had passed since the incident in New Culiacan, and the two have yet to start their needed training. One day was spent healing their wounds, while during the other days they had been seeking for materials to enhance their weapons.

Enhancing each of Aaron's solar guns required a huge amount of junk parts which were conveniently sold in the general store in Acuna. But, of course, buying so much required a lot of Soll… They bought what they could get and so they now had to wait for Professor Sheridan to finish.

As Aaron waited in the supposed "guest room" of the professor's mansion, he counted the remaining Soll he had. The amount he carried was laughable. Perhaps he could ask the Guild to lend him some money… He would have to try tomorrow.


He ordered his usual drink and sat at his usual table at The Golden Pumpkin. The mysterious Info Broker that he often ran into was filling him in on the current situation at New Culiacan. It was strange though, the girl gave off the same vibe as Sunflower girl. (Much less annoying than the actual Sunflower girl but just as perky.) Nevertheless, she was rather informative, making him doubt that those ears were truly fake…

"Security's gotten pretty tight ever since you and your little partner opened the Gate of Binding," she said, adjusting her dark glasses. "They'll be expecting you from here on out and I wouldn't be surprised if they have a couple traps lying around."

"Hmph. Nothing I can't handle," Lucian retorted, receiving a smirk from the rabbit-girl.

"Oh, really? Last I heard you almost got yourself killed by the first batch of enemies."

A low growl escaped the young man's throat as he narrowed his eyes at her. "And where'd you hear that?"

Her smile became mischievous. "Oh, around. But don't worry about it. Even the Legendary Dark Swordsman can have trouble fighting an army of enhanced monsters," she teased in an annoying manner.

He was quick to overlook her tone. "Enhanced?" he questioned.

"The Terrenials…" she began, crossing her arms over the table, "the power the vampires had harnessed from them whilst in their possession are being used to create monsters imbued with one of the elements. Then there are other monsters, ones I'm sure you've dealt with before, that are much stronger inside New Culiacan." She leaned back against her chair and raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you know why, right? New Culiacan isn't just there for anyone to enter. Those monsters in there are unaffected by the sun's light due to some unseen barrier. And I'm sure going in there at night is plain suicide. That's really too bad for you, huh?"

Lucian snorted at her last remark. He had already dealt with different elemental foes so there was no surprise to that. Unless, those monsters dwelling within New Culiacan were of a higher rank than what he had fought; possessing power he had never seen… And with numerous demons roaming freely in daylight, unhindered by the scorching sun… that was going to be a major problem.

He formed a deep scowl as the information sank in. Nero had been right; he was not ready to face the Duke yet. He, himself, did not have enough strength to battle a few Skeleton Fencers without tiring and that damn brat hardly even left a mark on them with his solar guns, let alone, couldn't even handle one of the cursed fiends.

They needed to get stronger.

"Hey, want to hear something interesting?" the Info Broker asked, breaking his thoughts. She didn't wait for an answer. "There's a rumour going around about a legendary weapon. See that group of Vulpids behind me?"

Lucian peered over her shoulders, noticing three of the furred aliens drinking at one table at the far side of the bustling bar. (It was once a nearly abandoned pub but with the spreading news of Lucian's vampire killing spree, people were beginning to show their faces in town.) He simply nodded.

"They're the ones that claim that there is a hidden treasure somewhere in Rymer's Mansion. Can you believe that they went inside the creepy place? Anyway, they said they found an old map containing the location of that treasure… that legendary weapon. They tried to search for it, but monsters got the better of them and they ran."

The swordsman stared at her, intrigued by her knack of knowing things so easily. He then became suspicious. "You just heard them talk about it, didn't you?" he asked, watching her reaction carefully.

She visibly flinched and waved her hand frantically. "What? No! It's way too noisy in here. I just heard them the other day–"

"Heh, so those ears are real," he interjected, sneering at the rabbit-girl who was now protesting against his claim. Ignoring her, he rose out of his seat. "I thought Sunflower girl was the only one," he said to her before leaving the table to cross the bar, hoping to see if the map leading to the legendary weapon was true.


A/N: I hope I didn't disappoint any Lunar Knight's fans. That New Culiacan incident is based on a true story! (Well, except you do not encounter any Skeleton Fencers at the beginning of the place.) I was nearly slaughtered when I ran in there in haste, hoping to complete the game. But, after many failed attempts to kill one single fire dog, I knew I had to leave to level up both characters… Aha.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it! Please leave any comments, any suggestions or advice you may have, because I really wish to know how well I did in grasping your attention to this story.