Disclaimer: I do not own Eternal Sonata in any way, shape, or form. That is owned by Tri-Crescendo.

Resonance Castle, The Foyer

"Which way do we go?" asked Rococo.

"Follow us." said Claire, as she and Sax ran up the staircase.

The group new this was it… the time has come for them to save Cadenza. Obbligato soon found himself in front of everyone, leaping into the room at the top of the staircase, drawing his sword, ready to take on anything thrown at them. But when he looked inside, it was simply an empty room. The group continued walking through, but it was still just a normal room. It had marble flooring and purple walls.

"Why make the walls purple?" asked Obbligato.

"Purple represents royalty; something that Xyl sees as a birth right for himself." Claire.

"Now, we just need to go up that spiraling staircase, there will be another room just like this, and after that, go up a staircase and we'll be at the throne room. It's almost guaranteed that Cadenza will be there." stated Sax.

The group began to walk towards the staircase when Lin came walking down. She looked at the group and they drew their weapons.

"Please," said Lin. "my orders are to kill Sax. You all can go up the staircase for all I care."

"Go." said Sax.

The others looked back at him, confused.

"It's better that I distract her while you save Cadenza; let's not waste time. It's of the essence. Now go!"

The group asked no more questions and headed up the staircase, leaving Sax to fight Lin. The continued going up the stairs and when they got to the next room, they found a man in there. He was rather fat and short.

"Hello, Bass." said Claire.

"Claire! What a surprise! How about we go a round?" asked Bass, pulling out his weapon.

It was a large stick, but contained a spike ball at the end of it. Obbligato and Rococo headed toward the staircase, only for the way to be blocked by Bass's weapon.

"Let us through!" shouted Obbligato.

"No. I'm under orders to ensure none of y-"

Claire quickly kicked Bass in the face, knocking him to the ground. Obbligato and Rococo took this chance to head up the staircase. They reached a long hallway with nice looking double doors at the end of it. The two quickly headed down the hallway and reached the door. They took this time to catch their breath.

"This is it." said Rococo.

"Yeah…" responded Obbligato.

The two continued to stand there for a bit.

"Well, open the door!" said Rococo.

"I'll get to it, you spaz!"

The two laughed a little bit. They quickly became serious and turned their attention to the door. Obbligato reached for the handle, pulled the door open with a bit of force, and walked into the room.

Two Floors Below

Sax had his weapon drawn. His massive blade glimmering with a strange light. Lin was ready with her rapier like weapon.

"Does it really have to end this way?" asked Sax.

"Xyl said it was either me or you… so I have to make it you." said Lin.

"Too bad I won't allow that to happen." said Sax.

Sax held his weapon tighter. He was ready to fight her and get revenge for what she had done to him; she not only hurt him physically, but she hurt him emotionally, betraying his love for her. This fight was personal. He ran toward her at full speed. She got ready for his attack, but he quickly ran past her and began running up the spiraling staircase. She stood confused, and after a few seconds began to walk towards the staircase. Had he given up that easily? Was he crazy? But then she began to here a strange noise… like metal rubbing against metal. What was going on? The noise grew louder and louder… until she saw a flash coming at her at a fast speed. She jumped out of the way, barely missing the blur of light as it passed her. She felt a burning pain on her felt shoulder. She looked to her left to see a streak of fire next to her. A bit of flame came up and burned her, but it didn't light her on fire. She turned to see Sax standing on his sword at the end of the streak.

"I see now," stated Lin. "you used your weapon like a board, slid on it down the rail, and the friction created fire. Quite creative of you."

Sax just looked at her. He picked his weapon back up and went running at her.

"Magma Pillar!" shouted Sax as he stabbed his weapon in the ground.

Lin jumped up, dodged the attack, placed her feet on the wall, jumped off it, and thrust her rapier at Sax. He barely dodged the attack. He tried to trip her with a leg sweep, but she jumped up and avoided the attack once again.

"I see that you're going easy on me." said Sax.

"That's because I won't need full power to defeat you. I know you can't kill me. You still love me." she said.

"Not true…"

Sax jumped again, this time swinging his weapon at full force. Lin jumped, landed on top of his blade, and ran towards him. Sax quickly went under his weapon, holding it under him and Lin jumped off. While she was in the air, Sax aimed another attack at her. Lin realized what a situation she was in. She knew that there was no time for her to move. Sax was aiming the weapon right at her neck… but at the last moment, he curved it and missed. He turned his back to Lin.

"What? You're unable to kill me? What happened to it being 'Not true?'" asked Lin.

Sax continued to walk away from her. Lin smiled. She held her hands close to each other, a dark energy beginning to form in it. Began to turn back toward her, but as soon as he looked back, a dark energy over came him. He felt a pain in his chest and was brought to his knees. Lin fell to the ground on her knees the same instant that Sax did. Sax opened his eyes, to find a metal chain, incased in dark energy, in his chest. He followed the chain with his eyes, and saw that the other end connected into Lin. Lin was smiling.

"I completed the spell." said Lin.

"Would you care to explain?"

"Xyl gave me a bit of his dark energy. A small little bit. Over time, I was able to develop it further and further… until I had enough for this one attack. Now, I've connected us. Our souls have become one. If one of us dies, so does the other. If one of use moves, so does the other. We are forever connected by body and soul. I promised Xyl that I would kill you at the cost of anything. Now, it's almost guaranteed."

Sax stood up, so did Lin. He began walking toward Lin, and she began walking toward him. Soon, they were face to face. Lin and Sax both had their weapons in their right hand. They both quickly threw them aside. The two also reached behind, Sax was grabbing nothing, but Lin was reaching into her pouch on her back. She pulled out a knife.

"This time I won't mess up." she said.

"Why are you throwing away your life like this?" asked Sax.

"Because… my purpose in life was to always serve Xyl. I will do anything for him at any cost… even throw away my life. He always talked about how I'm no use to him and get in the way… maybe if I do this, I'll make him double as happy."

"You shouldn't live life for someone else's happiness; you have to live it for your own." said Sax.

"Well, it's a little bit late for that now." said Lin.

"You're a sick, twisted, evil person."

"Tell me something I don't know."

Sax then pulled her in close, giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

"…But I still love you. I don't know why, but I do." said Sax.

Lin smirked.

"Maybe in the next life, we can be together."

Sax then felt a strong pain in his chest. He and Lin fell to the ground at the same time. The pain continued for a few more seconds, but soon, everything went dark.

One Floor Above

Claire was beginning to pant heavily. Bass was a harder fight then she thought he would be. He opened his hand and shot fire and Claire. She quickly dodged it and jumped in, kicking him in the face in the process. Claire landed on her feet. Bass simply wiped his face, and went back to fighting. He thrust his weapon toward her, only for her to jump on the long, wooden part and to start running at him. He threw his weapon up at the ceiling, along with her. She grabbed the chandelier at the top. Bass's weapon fell back down. He picked it up, chucked it at her, and she jumped off the chandelier. Bass's weapon hit the chandelier, completely destroying it, sending glass everywhere. Claire landed on the floor, turning back towards her opponent.

"It seems your fighting style hasn't changed at all." said Bass.

"Neither has yours. You're to predictable." said Claire.

"Well, you know, I'm getting old. It's kind of hard for me to still fight."

"It's my job to beat you, though. After I beat you, Sax and I will be going up there to put an end to all of your plans."

"I don't think your friend will be able to make it."

Bass smirked in an odd fashion. Claire was going to ask him what he meant, when Sax came running up the stairs. Before she could say anything to him, he placed his sword on his feet and started sliding down the railing of the stairway. Claire smiled at Bass.

"You don't think he's going to make it, huh?"

"Just you wait. It won't be long until he's in Lin's grasp."

Claire leaped at Bass again. She unleashed her Snow Claw on him. Hitting him multiple times, and then ending it with a blast of ice hitting him.

"You're too full of yourself. I'll bring you down! Gigantic Slam!"

Bass jumped into the air, slamming his weapon on the ground, causing a mini earthquake. Claire jumped as soon as he did this and got another kick directly in his face. He stood back up. They then heard a strange noise going about. Everything turned dark and then returned to normal in a split second. Claire felt something was wrong; very wrong. She ignored Bass and went running down the stairs. She came into the room and saw a terrible sight; Sax's body lying motionless. She ran up to him, tears filling her eyes. She saw the chain connecting Sax and Lin, who was also lying still. She held his head in her arms and cried.

"I told you… but you didn't listen."

Anger filled Claire as she turned toward Bass.

"I knew she was going to do that. You know how Lin is; she'll do anything to finish a job. Even give her own life."

Claire clenched her fist and went running at Bass with complete rage. She jumped into the air, aiming another kick. He focused this time, grabbing her leg and slamming her into the ground. He then picked her up by the neck and forced her against the wall. He opened his jacket revealing a small device in it.

"This is an invention that was made… Xyl concentrated a lot of power into here. It will blow up the second I flick the switch on it. It's time for us to meet up with your friend."

"You're not that much different from Lin, are you?" asked Claire.

"Actually, I am." he said.

He began searching Claire and soon found a small, brown bag… He reached inside and found the Canon.

"No…" mumbled Claire, who was still a bit dazed from being slammed on the ground.

Bass simply smiled, throwing Claire to the side. He went to the staircase, pulled out the device he had, flipped the switch, threw it at Claire and ran up those stairs as fast as possible.