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

The Throne Room

Obbligato and Rococo walked into the throne room. They saw Cadenza to the side, in a cell and Xyl in front of them. They continued to calmly walk, even though they were suppressing much anger.

"Polka!" "Allegretto!" shouted Obbligato and Cadenza at the same time.

"Hello! If it isn't my expected guests! Are you two up for some tea?" asked Xyl, as he sipped from his tea cup.

"No. All we want is Cadenza… and for you to die." said Obbligato.

"I don't see why you hate me so much. There really is no point in going through all of this. One way or another, I'm going to destroy that pesky continent; I want the best for my people." said Xyl.

"What are you talking about? You say you want peace and safety for your people. But you plan to do that by destroying an entire continent? Where's the logic in that?" asked Rococo.

"There's no need for logic at all. This world isn't even real."

"What're you talking about?" asked Obbligato.

"Never you mind that. You just worry about beating the big mean bad guy. How about it, Allegretto? Are you going to defeat mean ol' Waltz and save your precious Polka?"

Obbligato got a strong headache. He fell to his knees in pain. He began seeing images of people he's never seen before. A girl with long, blond hair… a boy wearing all purple and wearing a crown…

"But that doesn't mean that I'll make it easy on you… remember; I'm the bad guy."

The pain continued to rise. Rococo and Cadenza watched in horror as Obbligato lost his consciousness.

"Obbligato. Put an end to your friend over there."

Obbligato stood up. His face showed neither emotion or thought. He mindlessly turned toward Rococo, pulling out his sword.

"Do it." said Xyl.

Rococo went running, deciding that the current priority was to get Cadenza out of her cell. He positioned himself right in front of the cell lock. Obbligato leaped at Rococo, with the sword aiming at his head. Rococo quickly ducked out of the way and Obbligato's sword stabbed through the lock, breaking it instantly. Cadenza went running out, quickly grabbing Obbligato's wrist.

"He's your friend, Obbligato! Don't hurt him!"

Obbligato swung her off of him and went running after Rococo, who was running for his life.

"Cadenza! Do something!" shouted Rococo in desperation.

Cadenza looked around, trying to find some way to stop Obbligato. She noticed Xyl; it was clear that he was concentrating really hard on something. She came to the conclusion that Xyl must be controlling him. She ran up to Xyl and tackled him to the ground. This broke his concentration and Obbligato came back to.

"Rococo. What just happened?" asked Obbligato.

"You were under some kind of control set by Xyl and we broke you free." said Rococo.

"Oh, thank you Roco."

"Yep."

"No!" shouted Xyl.

Obbligato felt the pain coming back into his head. He ignored it and walked toward Xyl. The pain soon went away, though.

"I can't get through to you anymore, can I?" asked Xyl.

"No… it's over for you." said Obbligato.

"Go ahead and do it, then." said Xyl.

"Sir!"

Bass came running into the room. He was holding the Canon in his hand. He bowed to Xyl and handed it to him.

"But that means…" started Cadenza, but tears filled her eyes before she could finish.

"Thank you Bass. You have served your purpose. So you know what that means."

An evil glare came through Xyl's eyes. Bass's eyes filled with fear as Xyl walked toward him.

"Please, sir. I'll do anything!"

"No. It's time that you help me a step further."

Xyl placed his hand on Bass's forehead. The group watched as what appeared to be green energy came out of Bass's head into Xyl's arm, through out his body. Bass's screamed as this happened. Soon, Bass's screaming stopped. Xyl through his body to the side and went to the thrown. He placed the Canon on the chair. He turned his attention back to the group.

"What did you do to him?" asked Rococo.

"I drained his life force." stated Xyl.

"Care to explain?" asked Obbligato.

"Alright then. Your life force is your youth. The essence of your youth, really. It's what keeps you looking young. Bass didn't have much life force in him, but it doesn't matter. I'll get as much as I can. I need it at this point in my life… after all, your own life force can only last so long."

"What?"

"I have actually been alive for over two hundred years. I was born with the ability of magic. I decided as a kid that I didn't want to die. I wanted to live forever. Death is in fact, my biggest fear. So I began to study various forms of magic… dark magic, if you will. With it's power, I was able to develop my magic to the point where I could take someone else's life force. I'm constantly changing identity's so no one will realize that I live forever."

A realization came to Obbligato.

"That's why you have that village of people. You don't want them to leave, because you need some kind of source to support your life."

"Oh, very good, Obbligato! Very, very, good!"

"I have one more question; can't you just directly take the magic from Cadenza? Why have a machine?" asked Rococo.

"Because, her magic is of positive essence, mine is of negative. If you take a positive and a negative, the effect will be negative. This machine, the Ecossaise, will transfer any good energy, into the negative that I need… so in a way, I guess you could say I really am a bad guy… Oh well, that means that it's my job to destroy you all. You may not know it…"

Xyl began floating off of the ground.

"But this entire time, I've been holding back on you! You have no idea what my true power is! Hahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Come on now, let's see what you've got!"

Xyl charged at Obbligato.

"Phantom wave!" shouted Obbligato.

The Xyl he aimed at teleported right before the attack hit him. He got behind Obbligato and punched him in the face. Obbligato swung around, but he teleported again. Obbligato looked around, trying to figure out where he's at.

"Apocalypse Fall!"

Xyl came from the ceiling striking the ground, causing a quake as he hit it. The three jumped and avoided the attack and Rococo swiped his weapon at Xyl, who manage to avoid it. Xyl then came up behind Rococo, kicking him in the back.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! What a joyous feeling! I'll let you have a taste of it as well!"

Xyl charged out at Cadenza, who side stepped when he came. She quickly whacked him over the head with her umbrella and he fell to the ground. Obbligato went running at him, stabbing his weapon through Xyl's head. The body sat still… then it turned to darkness and faded away.

"Did we…win?" asked Rococo.

"Not exactly!"

They turned and Xyl was floating at the top of the ceiling.

"Did you enjoy fighting the clone I made? He had about one fifth of my true power!"

"O-one fifth?" shouted Rococo.

"Oh well. I'm done playing around it's time to end this. And don't worry. I'll be sure to forget all about you once you're dead."

Darkness expanded out from Xyl. It went to all the lights in the room, completely covering them. The group was shrouded in complete darkness. Obbligato tried to see. Closing his eyes and realizing that it looked exactly the same as when his eyes were opened. This was pure darkness. Obbligato couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. He heard Rococo scream. A few second later, Cadenza. He went running in the direction of the scream of Cadenza. He had to find her. To save her. The darkness cleared… Cadenza and Rococo were there… but their bodies were motionless.

"Wow! They had rather delicious life forces! I haven't had anything that good in a long time!"

Obbligato fell to his knees in desperation. His face at the ground… he began to cry.

"Poor child."

Obbligato felt his sword being forced out of his hand.

"Don't worry. I'll make this quick."

Obbligato was being forced on a wall. He felt Xyl's hand coming up on his head. He could feel it all being drained out of him. It was only in a matter of seconds until Obbligato also fell to the floor, dead.

Complete Shadows

Obbligato awaken in another dark room. He remembered everything that had happened. As soon as he lost that last thread of life, he appeared in this… place. It was different from the shadows produced by Xyl; he could still se himself. It was as if the room was painted black; not actually black itself. Obbligato had been her for a while, not knowing the time or how long he had been there. It's as if he was waiting for someone… Then it happened. As if a doorway of light appeared, a man came into the room. He shut the door behind him. Obbligato analyzed the man. He was only a little bit older then him. He was a white, button up shirt, blue pants, and brown shoes.

"I finally found you, Obbligato." said the man.

"Frederic." said Obbligato.

Obbligato was now confused. Where did that name come from.

"Tell me, am I dead?" asked Obbligato.

"Only those that actually exist can die." said Frederic.

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind… but I'll show you something."

Frederic walked over to where he came from and opened the door. It was complete light coming out of it.

"I can bring you back to life and your friends too. Just walk through this doorway, and you'll be with them. Hurry now."

Obbligato didn't object.

"Thank you." said Obbligato.

"Hurry." said Frederic.

Obbligato rushed through the door. When he stepped through, he began to float. He was slowly moving upward. He turned around, to the prison that held him for who knows how long, but the doorway was gone. He continued to float upward, his speed going faster and faster. It eventually got to the point where he couldn't even keep his eyes open. He felt his stomach drop and then… he opened his eyes. He looked around and soon realized that he was in Resonance Field. He the saw Cadenza, her back was turned toward him. He went running at her and full speed and touched her shoulder. As soon as she turned around, he kissed her. When their lips drew apart, Cadenza hugged Obbligato. She began to cry.

"It's ok. We're safe now." said Obbligato.

"Yeah!"

Rococo came up and joined into the group hug. Obbligato and Rococo were happy, but Cadenza continued to cry. They knew something was wrong.

"Tell us what happened, Cadenza." said Obbligato.

She pulled away from the group, walked into the field a bit, fell to her knees and continued to cry. Obbligato and Rococo rushed after her, but soon found out what had happened. They saw her kneeling next to the body of Sax. He hadn't come back.

"We're sorry, Cadenza." said Obbligato.

"Yeah, we didn't…"

Cadenza stood up, and wiped the tears from her eyes. She turned towards the two.

"From this day on, I will develop my magic. I will become stronger than Xyl and together, we will defeat him. No more crying. No more excuses. We will defeat him."

"Cadenza…"

"But before we do that… I say that we give Sax a proper burial." said Cadenza.

The two agreed with her, and they helped life Sax from the ground, carrying him away from the castle that stood.

1827, Warsaw Conservatory, Poland

"Wow, a lot happened in your dreams while I was gone." said Balthazar.

"Yes, it did." said Frederic.

"So, when they died in your dream, you were able to bring them back to life?"

"Well, it's not exactly like that. They never actually died. They think they did, because that's the only way it can be explained in their world. They don't know that they're in my dream. What actually happens is that they get stored away in my memories. If they lose their life in that dream, they go into this dark room and wait for me. I decide whether or not they should return to the dream. That's why in dreams people can die, but you will soon find them in your next dream. You subconsciously bring them back from your memory. The thing is that I was concentrating so hard on this dream, that I actually gained the ability to pick who will return."

"Why didn't you bring back Sax then?"

"It was strange, actually. I went into the place where Sax was supposed to be, but Lin was also with him. They found out that if you bring back one, you have to bring back both. Lin openly admitted that she would probably kill him again. So I decided that it was better for them to remain in there; they're actually quite happy together."

"I swear no one could understand your mind. You process everything in such a different way from everyone else. You're going to be a good musician."

"I don't think so, you expect too much out of me."

"Uh huh… oh, something else occurred to me."

"And what would that be?"

"Why didn't you bring back Claire?"

Balthazar's eyes focused on Frederic in complete concentration. Frederic smiled.

"I can not bring back those that never left." stated Frederic.

"So you're saying…"

"Yes. Claire never 'died' in that world."

"What do you think will happen now?"

"I'm not sure. I just no that this isn't over, yet."