The Darkness in My Soul

By: Nixie

Disclaimer: If I owned Dragon Knights, everyone would be gay and the girls would only appear for comic relief. Everyone would also suffer from Angst attacks, likely sever in nature.

A/N: Hello. Is anyone out there still interested in this story? Well, for those who are, sorry it took so long to update. My mind's been on a lot lately. Funny how you never have any answers to the questions that sound so obvious. OH well. This chapter has a couple of plot twist in it. It was also one of my favorite ones, but then, most of them are in some way or another.

Warning: No warnings really. Hints of Yaoi

Chapter 7

Lykouleon sighed as he looked at Alfeegi's office door. He was bored and wanted someone to talk to. The knights were gone, Gil and Biereeze were training, Tetheus and Kai-stern were gone with the knights, and Ruwalk was covering for him in a meeting he really didn't want to attend. That left him with the temperamental White Dragon Officer. It wasn't that Alfeegi was bad company; just that it was too easy to make the younger male angry and Lykouleon didn't feel like being yelled at today; that was why he had ditched the meeting and asked Ruwalk to cover for him.

Sighing again at his choices, he turned the doorknob and walked into the room. He had been in the White Officer's office a couple of times before, though truth be told he like to avoid it. It had always been spotlessly clean. Cleaner even than the rooms in the infirmary. Alfeegi was so picky about the cleanliness of the room, that he wouldn't even let the maid clean the room because 'they couldn't do a proper job to save their lives'. As a result, Alfeegi himself cleaned it daily. Today, however, it was covered with towering stacks of papers and old, dusty boxes. Half-folded maps laid on top of boxes and ancient documents that looked ready to turn to dust if it was improperly handled were haphazardly scattered all over the room.

Alfeegi was in the center of all the chaos, going through one of the dusty boxes and cursing at the dust that puffed out every time he moved something around.

"Uh … Alfeegi?" called the Dragon Lord hesitantly

"Yes, My Lord?" Alfeegi was clearly more interested in the documents that he was his king.

"Alfeegi, what are you doing?"

"Research."

"I see that, but what are you researching." Lykouleon was half-hiding behind a stack of boxes and books a foot shorter than he was, just in case his question caused Alfeegi to blow his stack.

"History."

Lykouleon lost interest in hiding as an ancient map with old kingdom boundaries on it grabbed his attention. "Why am I not surprised? You and researching history go together like butter and toast. What history?"

"Elven. Be careful with that map, please. It's very old."

"It used to hang in the throne room when I was a toddler." Lykouleon looked tat the map, momentarily lost in memory.

"Lykouleon," called Alfeegi suddenly, "What do you know about the Elven Court?"

"Tee hee. You didn't say 'lord' –"

"Forgive me, Your Excellency. I was distracted."

"Relax, Alfeegi, I was just playing with you. Normally, you yell at anyone who doesn't call me by my title." Lykouleon thought about the question for a moment, and then he responded. "I don't really know much about them; I never really got a chance to interact with them much. That was because the Royal Family was killed when I was a toddler. … In fact, it was the very next day that this map was taken off the walls."

"Yes," came Ruwalk's voice from the door, "but not everyone in the Royal Family died. Just the one's in the main castle."

"Not true," said Alfeegi, finally looking up from the box. "The demon sent by Kyrone - the demon Nadil overthrew – to kill the Royal Family never finished the job: He left the Prince of Elves alive."

"I just barely remember playing with him. I was told he died." Lykouleon tilted his head in confusion.

"He did," said Ruwalk, "but not then. He was –"

"Taken in by his Mother's sister. She raised him like her own son," interrupted Alfeegi.

"What was his name again?" questioned Lykouleon.

Ruwalk smiled at the question and the curious expression on his lord's face. "Rejiki. His name was Rejiki."

Alfeegi nodded then answered Lykouleon's next question before the Dragon Lord had a chance to ask it. "Prince Rejiki died when his cousin, Laitan, turned demon and betrayed the family. He led a demon army against the elves and was killed for his treasonous acts."

Ruwalk picked up the story when Alfeegi stopped to take a breath. "Rejiki is the one who killed Laitan. According to the stories, it was a terrible battle that claimed both their lives." Ruwalk only knew so much about the topic because he had been helping his crush research for a week now.

"Mm-hm," confirmed Alfeegi, "Rejiki, Prince of the Elven race, had died. The courts were in an uproar about who would inherit the throne. They thought everyone with blood-ties to the throne had died."

"That's when Rune showed up!" Lykouleon was excited and pleased to donate the little bit of info he knew. "They discovered that Rune was Rejiki's long, lost, little brother. Apparently, Rune had wandered into a human village and they took him in when they heard of the destruction of the Great Elven Castle. When he was found, the Elder took him in a kept him safe. But why is any of this important?"

"Alfeegi thinks a Black Elf may have destroyed Yuba," said Ruwalk.

"A Black Elf?" thought Lykouleon out loud. "I'm almost embarrassed to admit that the term is … unfamiliar."

"I wouldn't have known it if 'Feegi hadn't explained it to me," chuckled Ruwalk.

"There hasn't been one cited since Laitan's betrayal. Black Elf is what an elf is called when it turns demon. Most elves are blonde with blue, green, yellow, or gold eyes. Some elves have orange, gold, or red hair, but most are blonde. A Black Elf is one who embraces the deadly potential of the elven powers. Any plant touched turns black; any animal either dies or turns violent and weather is an easily manipulated force."

"Black Elves," picked up Ruwalk, "are shunned by elves – pure and drow alike. Humans think they turn demon but it's not really true. They have access to both drow and elven powers."

"Laitan was the last cited Black Elf, right and he died." Pointed out Lykouleon.

Ruwalk shook his head, "last cited doesn't mean last period." He looked to Alfeegi and smiled when the White Officer took the hint.

"I think there's another one and I think it destroyed Yuba. Think of it; black plants? And Black Elves are known to kill humans, elves, demons, anything they view as opposition, a threat, or just to kill time."

"But Rune was safe," remarked the Dragon Lord.

"I wouldn't be surprised to find out the Black Elf was protecting Rune. They are outcasts who long for acceptance and violence when they don't get the former. Rune is the Prince of Elves. What better way to get accepted than to save the life of royalty."

"D'you think Rune knows?" asked Ruwalk

"He said he was rendered unconscious but it is possible he sensed the Black Elf. Still, I doubt he'd understand what he felt."

"And I've sent him back to Yuba." Lykouleon was obviously disheartened by that fact.

"Could be a good thing," Ruwalk hugged his friend as he spoke. "Look, if the Black Elf helped Rune earlier, it'll help him again and then we'll know what happened.

Lykouleon sighed, "I hope you're right, Ruwalk."

A/N: Heh heh heh heh. I'm laughing because I really love this chapter. I like the next one more though. Everything starts coming together and … well … I'm not gonna spoil it for you. You'll just have to review so I know you want the next chapter. Till next time. Good-bye.