A/N: Hmm, we can finally connect the Moments dots this chapter. Please, don't let me stop you. Enjoy this next chapter. Remember, take the two previous Moments and place them at the end of this chapter.

Moments: Patience is a Virtue

This brought back memories of survival training. It was mandatory for every knight to go through basic survival courses, in case of emergencies like this. So with one more heave, Sodia managed to drag Flynn's unconscious form against a large bolder, on the side opposite the wind and snow. It was a good shelter. The size was large enough to protect both of them from the cold wind, there was little snow on the ground just next to it, and it offered a good view of the Pollux's dome.

Sodia cupped her hands together and blew into them, savoring the moment of warmth that coursed through her fingers. She looked down to Flynn and frowned. "This is bad." She placed her hands on either side of his face, measuring his body heat.

"Ugh," Flynn shifted slightly, slowly coming around. When his cool eyes opened, the first thing he saw was Sodia smiling down slightly. "Sodia?" He slowly sat up a bit more, feeling the solid stone against his back, "Where are we?"

"I have no clue." Sodia sadly shook her head and sat down beside him. Without a second thought, she scooted as close to him as possible. Her intention was hardly romantic. It was basic, "huddle together when in a cold climate". She cupped her hands together again, blowing on them to keep her fingers from freezing. Her breath caught when another pair of hands covered hers, another mouth blowing hotly onto the joined fingers. "F-Flynn?"

"Cold," Flynn muttered and continued to breathe onto their hands. Occasionally, he'd rub over her hands, his hands growing warm as well. "We need to think of something quickly. We're vulnerable out here."

"R-Right," Sodia couldn't break her gaze on his lips. A mere hair's worth of space was between his lips and her hand. Her gloves were still on, but her hands still felt naked when so close to Flynn's mouth. Speaking of which, shouldn't her gloves be doing all this warming up business instead? She needed to speak with a few people about this matter.

Flynn paused his actions to look towards the black dome, "I think we should head to Aspio. If Yuri and the others aren't there, then we can form a search party and look for them." He flinched when Sodia started her hands over his now, returning the favor.

Sodia noticed him shift uncomfortably and her eyes traveled to his shoulder. "Did you injure yourself?" She stopped rubbing his hands and touched his shoulder.

"Ack, son of a-!" Flynn jolted away from her touch, gripping his shoulder in agony. "Agh, the fall must have done it. This shoulder's been taking a beating all day." He rubbed his shoulder gently and felt bones shift slightly. It wasn't broken, but any more strain might change that. A soothing warmth suddenly coursed through him when he noticed a hand gently touch his injured shoulder.

Sodia positioned herself above his legs, straddling his knees as she focused on his injury. Without a blastia, the process would take much longer, but whatever she could do would help. Silently, she focused on applying First Aid, using more mana than aer in the process. The strain of the still unfamiliar arte made her body heat up, solving her problem as well.

"Huh," Flynn relaxed and kept his eyes on Sodia's face. She was closer than usual, allowing him a chance to fully examine the details of her face. With her focus elsewhere, he could see her slightest change of expression. Her brow was wrinkled in concentration, and her tongue was just barely sticking out from between her now rosy lips. It was hard to resist viewing Sodia as more than a subordinate and friend in these situations, a true test of self restraint.

Much like his friend, Flynn is an observant man. He knew Sodia was attracted to him, perhaps even more than that. He also realized that he needed to complete this task before any personal issues. However, instead of sending her away, he kept her near. Perhaps he loved testing his patience, his self control. He didn't really know when he first set out with her. How did this all start? Was a simple request for a date disguised as something else?

"Sodia, have you let your hair grow out a little?"

Taken back by the question, Sodia continued to try and heal his shoulder, "Uh, I haven't really had a chance to cut it recently. We've been busy."

"Don't," Again he spotted a bit of shock, "let it grow out a little more."

"W-Why?"

"I'm just curious. I want to see what you'd look like with longer hair."

Sodia's eyes shifted uncomfortably, "Do you... like girls with long hair Commandant?"

Ignoring her pointed use of his rank, Flynn allowed a smirk. "No, I'm just curious is all." He couldn't say either way yet. He'd need to see her both ways before deciding. Besides, patience is a virtue.

Chapter 26: Massive Black

Knights of any order are proud by nature. From their first moments of training, they are taught to battle monsters and tackle problems without fear. Despite their flaws, the knights of Zaphias fulfilled this rule completely. However dimwitted, they produced some of the bravest men and women to ever grasp a sword. However crooked the heart, the Imperial Knights always instilled a sense of duty and passion to defend people and country. Unfortunately, this also leads to many deaths on their part.

The Commandant hadn't even given the order to charge before a wave of knights stormed forward. It was a mixture of fatigue, fear, and a passion to slay any and all who threaten the Empire. Admirable, but far from wise.

Their charge was a mixture of steel and magic. The few surviving mages cast basic spells towards the lone shadow, while the rest closed in for short-ranged battle. Yuri didn't even see the shadowed man flinch before blood erupted from the crowd of armor and weapons. When only the mages stood alive, he did see a bit of motion. The shadow had side-stepped their spells and charged forward. It looked like he had only taken a single step forward.

Ruthlessly, the heads of the mages rolled to the floor as their corpses followed. The black crystals seemed to absorb the blood that freely flowed around them, making the room even darker. It was an unsettling sight to behold.

"Not something to wake up to." Raven propped an arrow and readied his knife. He foresaw himself getting in close for this fight. However, he couldn't shake the familiar feeling he was getting along with the others. At first glance, the shadow looked far from human to begin with. Its thin frame was dressed in pitch-black armor and a white mask covered the face. Every so often, red lines would pulsate through the shadow, like veins. The creature looked like it was once human, but the name escaped him.

The shadow slowly turned its gaze to the remaining members of the intruding party. Its head twitched to the side quickly. A strange sound came from its mouth, distorted by Demigog's power and the white mask over its face. A second noise left its throat, this time a bit clearer.

Yuri placed his sword on his shoulder and turned sideways slightly, "I knew this wouldn't be easy."

Flynn smirked, "Hmph, when did you become a whiner Yuri?"

"Whatever." Yuri started forward, Flynn and Karol at his back. The two old friends struck as one, intending to pinch him in between their blades. The shadow weaved between the assault and sidestepped Karol's follow up swing. An arrow from afar managed to strike the shadow in the throat, freezing its quick movements.

Raven's eyes widened when the shadow seemed to vibrate before appearing right in front of him, arrow removed as if it had never struck him. "Wow," He leaped back, brandishing his dagger to fight back the speedy shadow.

"Heh... heh... heh." The shadow chuckled strangely before charging, both of its daggers poised to strike. However, just before he was within attacking range, he feigned to the right, dodging a barrage of Fireballs from Rita. Now focused on the recovering mage, the shadowed servant closed in on Rita. Again, before it could attack, Yuri and Flynn forced it to back off with a double Azure Edge.

Rita and Raven fell in behind the two swordsmen, "He's too fast." Rita glared at the strange shadow. It deeply disturbed her every time its head would twitch suddenly, like a broken wind-up toy.

"Yeah, but it's too familiar." Raven looked closer as another strange sound came from the shadow. This time, however, he could barely make out what it was saying. "There's no way," They watched in shock as the shadow crouched into a familiar position, poised to charge with blinding speed, "Zagi?"

Yuri's eyes widened suddenly, "What!?" He managed to bark before the shadowed Zagi charged him. He blocked the first blow, but the second forced him to stagger back. "You've," He paused to parry another dagger, "got to be," Again, he stopped to dodge an attack aimed for his head, "kidding me!" He weaved past a quick swipe and delivered a Cerberus Strike to stun Zagi.

When it recovered, Zagi cracked his neck slowly, "Y-Y-Yurrrriii... L-L-Low-well!" It finally managed to yell before its body convulsed suddenly. The very mention of the name made the shadow's body shake until it was a blur of inhuman movement. Whatever happened to Zagi, it stole whatever was left of his humanity. Suddenly, like a puppet that just had its strings tightened, Zagi stopped moving completely.

"Don't drop your guard!" The moment those words left Flynn's mouth, Zagi went berserk with a storm of blows towards Yuri. Quickly, the Commandant rushed over to assist, knowing Yuri could only block so many randomly placed attacks. However, both swordsmen were taken by surprise when Zagi suddenly dropped low to the ground and spun around, knocking them both to the ground.

Rita moved to help, but Raven grabbed her by the collar and threw her back. "You focus on that core, Karol and I will keep the creep busy!" He looked towards Karol, "Whenever you're ready kid."

"On it!" Karol rushed forward, Bravior held high. His attack range was longer than Zagi's, thankfully, so he was able to pull off a Dragon Upper before Zagi could attack. Raven supported the powerful attack with his arrows.

"A-annoy-annoying!" Zagi stuttered out before sidestepping Karol's second and third swings of his weapon. He intentionally ducked and spun around to keep Flynn and Yuri down before shooting forward to Karol. The intense amount of aer around his body dragged Karol along, cutting into his body as he was thrown to and fro by Zagi's charge. When the attack faded, Zagi kicked Karol across the circular platform, almost hitting Rita.

Oblivious, Rita couldn't break her concentration on the glowing sphere. She was looking straight at the formula and could hardly believe what she was seeing. It was more complex than the formula barring Estelle's powers, and she had spent days trying to think of it! "How is this even possible?" She attempted to decipher it, only to delve even deeper into the complex formula. It would take her weeks to even find a way to crack it, let alone destroy it. "Is it even possible that Demigog could develop this?" If her guess was true, then they were dealing with a being of far greater intelligence than she assumed.

"Woof!"

Rita felt her heart stop when a bark shattered her concentration. She whirled around, ready to yell at whatever it was until she saw what it was. The source of the bark was another one of those black dog monsters, backed by a whole pack of others. She counted ten of them roughly.

"Uh, help?" All eyes turned towards Yuri as Zagi slowly approached. His sword was on the other side of the chamber, near a barely conscious Flynn. Whatever happened while Rita was lost in thought, it wasn't good. Yuri scrambled backwards, his sword absent from his grasp. He was admittedly scared, but he was more worried about not having something to fight back with. "Any time guys!"

Karol, Raven, and Rita started towards Zagi, but a sudden rush of movement forced them to stop. Before they realized it, a swarm of Sword Dancers had surrounded them, scaling the walls of the chamber and preparing to pounce at once. In moments, their situation looked bleak.

"Really could use a save right about now." Yuri muttered as he watched Zagi tower over him, daggers raised to pin him to the ground. Normally, this is when someone's life flashed before their eyes, but Yuri felt something different, something familiar. His eyes traveled just beside Zagi's head, and a smirk formed on his lips. He watched as light was collected at the single spot before exploding in a flash.

"ACK!" Zagi's shadow yelped in pain as it was blown back by the attack. The sharp noise seemed like a signal for the Dancers to pounce. Like a tidal wave of steel and weapons, they came closer to overwhelming Flynn and the others. However, a beam of light dropped from above and blew the Dancer's back. Before they could recover, a canine dashed in to cut their legs out from underneath them.

"Hmm, I'm kind of disappointed in you Yuri." A sultry voice smoothly mocked the swordsman as she helped him stand. She smiled innocently at his smirk, "Happy to see us?"

"You have no idea." Yuri quickly found his sword and picked it up. It always calmed the nerves to have a weapon in his hand.

"Woof!" A familiar bark greeted the swordsman and the other members of his party. Repede twirled his pipe proudly, nose facing upwards. He was helping Judy in mocking how they had found Yuri in such a tight spot.

"Heh, even Repede's poking fun at you Yuri." Karol chuckled, glad to see the hound again. He looked off to his left, opposite the direction they had first taken to ascend the tower. He spotted a formation of black crystal that led to a whole new opening in the vast chamber. In the hole, he saw the last three missing members. Sodia was already well on her way to help, but Fen and Estelle were moving much slower.

Yuri followed Karol's gaze and immediately focused his attention on Estellise. She was moving slowly, but she looked no more than tired. She was alright, and that was enough to make him let out a breath of relief. Moments like these are few, especially on a quest like this. So when a chorus of howls suddenly filled the chamber like a maelstrom, Yuri felt his heart drop below his stomach.

"Get away from the core!" Fen suddenly rushed forward, practically flinging Estelle onto his shoulder. His sudden yell caused everyone in the chamber to freeze, shocked at the sudden turn of events.

Following the earlier pattern, the pack of shadowed beasts melted into the ground. Now puddles of shadow, they moved along the ground and walls, positioning themselves at key sections of the chamber itself.

Sword Dancers were ignored, Zagi was forgotten, and the core was the last thing on their minds. Everyone knew what was coming, and it could prove fatal due to the lack of space on their small platform. However, despite knowing the chaos to come, they could not escape the chamber in time.

"Well that could prove troublesome." Caleb calmly stated as he looked through a spyglass. He was standing at the very edge of Aspio. He had a clear view of the ruins of Tarquaron, and what he saw made him scowl. The unusual twist of his face did not go unnoticed, as Joseph stepped up beside him. Without a word, he handed Joseph the spyglass, "Look,"

Joseph extended the spyglass and looked into the distance. He spotted black, dog-like creatures scurrying all over the ruins before melting into puddles of shadows. His vision ascended to look past the ruins and towards the dome of darkness in the distance. It seemed to lurch slightly before he got an eye-full of black wisps suddenly shooting out of the ruins. Like the Kraken's vice, they gripped the whole tower and tightened, intending to crush it. "That is bad."

"I know, we can only hope Yuri and the others will escape in time." Caleb cast a concerned glance to the tower.

Joseph shook his head, "No, not that. I mean how this ties in with Pollux." He noticed Caleb give him a look of both outrage and confusion. "Those black wisps are most certainly Pollux's tails. If he can control them that precisely already, then we're in trouble."

"Aren't you the least bit concerned about your son and his friends?" Caleb calmly reminded his superior. Though patient, even a mild-tempered Krityan has a tolerance level.

Joseph shrugged, "That boy's a Lowell." He looked at the black dome in the distance once more, "We don't die that easily."

Fully aware of the truly dangerous situation, Yuri and the others scrambled for ideas as to what to do. The chaotic appearance of the black tails had not only shattered all bridges leading to an exit, but they also obliterated the shining core. Looking towards the shattered remains of their intended target, they saw the chamber absent of any of Demigog's servants. Zagi's shadow was gone, and the Sword Dancers were nowhere to be seen. They were the only ones left to be crushed under tons of stone and machinery.

"Yuri," Estelle held on to his arm to help her stand, and for a bit of comfort. She was trying to think of something they could do, but she had nothing.

Unfortunately, everyone else was having trouble as well. They had no time for a 'trial and error' period since the ceiling was already about to come down on top of them. Raven muttered a curse, frustrated at how they had come this far to be crushed in a bunch of ruins. "If it weren't for these stupid things!" He kicked one of the black tails and yelped when it twitched violently.

Everyone watched curiously when the tail suddenly retracted into the shadowy puddle and disappeared. "Luck seems to be a lady tonight." Yuri pressed his lips together, trying to piece this all together. It didn't take him long, "Everyone grab a buddy and hold on to one of those tails!" He instinctively wrapped an arm around Estelle and reached for the nearest black tail.

Estelle tried to look back to see who ended up together, but she didn't get the chance. A sudden rush of wind forced her tighter to Yuri's side, the tail shooting back into the darkness. When she could feel the frigid prick of shadows about her, she opened her eyes a little. Her emerald orbs grew wide, as did the eyes of her friends. What they saw for the briefest moment, amidst the shadows, was Pollux himself. A vast amount of tails whipped around his body, mixing with the blackness.

Then, almost as soon as they had identified his fierce face, he let out a feral roar. The power of such a cry blew them all in different directions, scattering them. There was more wind, more cold, the absence of his tail, and a sea of white. It wasn't long before Estelle tasted the cold snow that rested on the ground.

A/N: That'll end it for now. Sorry for being behind schedule, life is chaotic as I'm sure you can imagine and sympathize with. This chapter's Moments gave me an idea for a oneshot, so maybe you'll see that later on down the line. Remember, take the two previous Moments and place them at the end of this chapter. Next chapter will have more action and tie up this arc. Then we'll finally head into the final arc of the story. I project four more chapters, but that might change depending on how I feel (no shorter I assure you). Thanks for reading, please leave a review... or two!