A/N: Here we go again! Hope you guys don't hate me too much for being gone so long :(

Chapter Thirty-Five

What's the Use Blanketing Anything For Someone You Love and Share Souls With?

Sheets of silent twinkling enveloped the land. Amber orbs peered through stringy hanging vines dotted with strange, tiny, glowing blue flowers at an iridescent lake snuggled within the dark firefly filled forest Nina had come to find herself in.

Ripples traveled lazily across its surface from the pale, slender foot of a woman resting on its opposite bank. Nina couldn't see her face -she'd the hood of her black cloak drawn forward- only thick locks of navy tumbling out when she turned sharply at a noise behind her startling the Wyndian as well.

The woman saw nothing. Nina did.

A dark dragon crouched behind her in the shadow realm brandishing a blade from his left arm. Nina took a deep breath to scream at her to run, but a second look at his suit told her this wasn't something she could do anything about. It was different, inefficient; the softly radiating greenish yellow tubes pumping skill into him were larger than the ones she'd seen before and weren't embedded into the actual armor like Axel and Rowan's. That meant this was a memory of Ryu's-

"You refused to reveal yourself last night, as well as the night before and the one before that." said the woman pulling her feet back onto the white sand she sat upon. "I'm starting to think you are afraid of me," her soft voice finished with a gentle laugh turning into a gasp when the dark dragon appeared towering over her. She pulled herself backwards out of his shadow.

"No, that's not quite it," he retracted his blade and crossed his arms, wearing a scowl very familiar to Nina. Fireflies danced around his bronzed face. So that's who he was. The woman's hood was back now, but her vivid, wild hair still continued her face's mysterious reputation. "What business would you have to be consistently trespassing into this territory?" Fyrion growled down at her. "I struggle to understand your desperation for a death wish, pale one."

She hesitated before answering, glancing to where his suit had swallowed his weapon. "Tell me, are you the one who grants such a wish?" She pushed her thick, wavy mane back with a surprisingly steady hand.

"What if I am?" answered the dark dragon just as balanced without skipping a beat.

"Then I'd say you're a pretty useless assassin, considering."

Fyrion grit his teeth. His anger was forced. "You've got a lot of gall, speaking such things outside of Myrmidon to me."

"Sometimes I sense others with you, but never for long. What do you do with them?"

There was blood on his right shoulder, a big dark splash creating gaps in the eerie glow of the tubing running over it. "You attracted a lot of attention today."

"Did I?"

Fyrion's fists clenched at his sides. His pale eyes were sharp, "You dress for concealment yet," he shook his head. It looked impossible for him to hide the worry in them like he obviously wished he could. "I watched you disturb everything you could by the main guard tower. There's nearly an entire army contained in there eagerly poised for any attack. Do you understand how difficult that was to deal with?"

Her emeralds were almost empty. "I suppose I've become lonely these days."

"Really now, Queen Seirena Braxton of Drogen?"

Nina looked over Ryu's mother, sitting there staring blankly up at his father. She was a much fairer, green eyed, fuller lipped Deis. "Perhaps I prefer the company of demons."

"So you wish demons over that Tristram bastard, do you not?"

Her brow furrowed. "...my fiance and I have never traveled together outside of the castle...," she paused, indifference came over her again. "I wasn't going insane. I knew I sensed you following me inside of Drogen. Why this game? If you know who I am, then you know how much I'm worth. Go ahead, get it over with."

Faster than even Nina could catch, Fyrion pulled her to her feet and jerked open her cloak. "You never even bother with a healer," he gripped her forearms, his yellow orbs glued to blackened splotches splashed upon her bare collarbone. "You don't stand up for yourself anytime he ever does this."

"Why make me your business?" she snapped, pushing him away and covering up. He reluctantly complied.

"Because maybe I don't like seeing someone like you going through this."

"'Someone like me?' What are you on about? What kind of assassin are you?"

"One royal blooded Light dragon at a time houses Ladon's memories deep inside their psyche, along with the memories of their predecessors." Nina felt arms wrap around her from behind. Ryu's soul rested his chin on her shoulder. "Being half dark dragon, my body does not yet have access to any of these thoughts, but it seems now that I am here within you, if I search hard enough, I can view a few of them."

The Wyndian's heart pounded in her ears at his presence. "Your mother is beautiful, Ryu. You wish to show me more of your parents?"

Ryu chuckled, "I figured my body wouldn't mind. He's already shown you enough as is."

Tiny slivers of moonlight pierced through the tops of the trees. It must have been cloudy that day. "I am called Fyrion Boneshatter," stated Fyrion coolly.

Realization dawned on Seirena's face. She looked to him incredulously. "By Ladon, what's the godsdamn prince of Drakken doing stalking me?"

One corner of his mouth went up. He reached up and scratched behind his ear, averting his eyes from her into the sparkling forest. "You are correct, any light one is worth something to my father and his council and inhuming someone like you would please them to no end. ...I'd possibly be a hero even..."

She seemed puzzled by him suddenly dropping his grizzly act. "Yet you do not wish for this hero status?"

He looked back at her almost sheepishly with his hand still resting on his ear. "Would you believe I'm a godsdamn idiot and fell in love with what would make me achieve it?"

She blinked at him. Wind pushing gently through the grass around them was the only sound for many moments. "I...you what? Why?" she blurted all at once.

His cheeks colored, "Ahh well, because you're probably the most beautiful creature I've ever seen?"

Her face mimicked his, "...But you're..." she lost whatever stability she'd had before.

He swallowed. "I've been wanting to take you away from this place for a long time. Everything. The dragons all together. There are...things...I know in the coming years will happen that I do not wish for you to be any part of."

"Things?"

"Do you know what my people call yours? Of course you don't, our kind don't speak with one another, that's preposterous! The fact that you are actually hearing enough of my voice to pick out my accent rather than the sound of my blades slicing you apart is something rare in itself.

You are dubbed 'Snowflakes' or more preferably, the leaves of the trees of the forests our thirst for power leaves in it's wake. Thin, beautiful flaky cold things devoid of all feelings. But not you." His eyes locked back with hers. "I've seen you use even Myrmidon to fight for what you believe is right. I respect you. Never before have I found any reason to do so with your kind."

Seirena clutched her robe with pale, shaking hands. "The prince of Drakken...infatuated with me, a royal Light dragon?" she laughed nervously, shaking her head. "You can't be serious."

"I'm very serious."

Another anxious chuckle and a beat or two of listening to the wind. "Surely you know how greatly forbidden it is to feel such a way?"

Fyrion spit on the ground. "To hell with Laden! He turned his back on my kindred long ago, I could care less of his rules."

"But you're a prince! You wish to cloud your bloodline so?"

"Says the queen, wishing to cut hers drastically short. I choose to believe mine is the better outcome." He approached Seirena, taking hold of her shoulders gently. When she didn't resist, he leaned down. "Please...allow me to make your life something worth living," whispered the dark dragon, running his hands lovingly through her hair.

Nina suddenly turned away from the scene to a surprised Ryu, cheeks pulsing. "I-It's not that I'm not happy you're showing me this, Ryu, but I feel...like I'm intruding on something really intimate. Is it alright if we let this memory be?" she explained quickly. Ryu's soul nodded, and with a snap of his fingers, the images of his mother and father vanished.

He stepped away from her out onto white sands. Fireflies parted. "They were able to escape for three weeks before Tristram found them," he said stopping at the water's edge.

Nina followed him. Blinking lights landed on her shoulders, wings and hair. "Tell me more about Tristram."

The soul's expression was stone. "Tristram was the mongrel my mother's family chose for her to marry." The stone broke as soon as it had been built with a sigh, "It's infuriating for me to admit, but he wasn't necessarily a 'mongrel'. He'd been bred to breed with my mother; his Myrmidon was one of the strongest of any Light dragon in existence. It was his demeanor along with his actions that made me hate him so.

"If my mother was heated enough, she could be stronger than him. He didn't like that at all," he clenched his fists, Nina laid her hand on his arm. "It's one thing getting angry someone is stronger, but to beat them down everyday until they were unable to-" Ryu turned and smiled down at her. "Do not fret. It pains me but I wish to answer you. He found my mother and captured my father. My mother forced my father to escape and she was beaten within an inch of her life for it. Yet b/c she was the one who held Ladon's memories, they couldn't kill her, they forced her to marry Tristram. When she became with child, of course they were a bit suspicious, but the elders were so happy I was a male it became a distant thought, until of course I ruined it with my childish stealth antics."

"That memory of yours with him you allowed me to witness was horrible, Ryu," said Nina softly.

"He always knew. My skin, my eyes? I'm lucky I wasn't born blonde. That would have been the end for sure, regardless of what my gender was."

"The world was tough no matter what time period, huh?"

"Very."

The ground shook, Nina gripped the soul tighter for support. "Am I waking up?" she asked glancing around at the fireflies around her flickering out one by one. He stole a liplock before she faded away with them.

"Until next time, Sha'lei."

"Arson did you...those were mine and Isabella's pictures!"

"Why you always yell at pretty?!"

"By the horns of the most almighty Myrmidon why the hell would I want to not yell at senseless destruction?! Please, if you're going to make something 'pretty', do it to your own belongings!"

"But then belongings go away, why I want that when it easy to do to yours?"

Nina reached the top of the stairs in time to see Ryu holding a struggling Arson by the hood of her cloak inches away from his other hand crumpling her hat into a ball within it.

"NO YOU NOT DO THAT TO HAT! YOU NO TOUCH HAT! STOP TOUCHING HAT STOP!"

"This is what it felt like to me when you made my stuff 'pretty' do you understand?" growled Ryu.

"I NO CARE HOW YOU FEEL I ONLY CARE ABOUT HAT!" she swung her little fists about, the momentum twisting her around and around. "WHERE STAFF? I WANT TO HIT WITH STAFF!"

"You ruined Isabella's pictures, Arson?" asked Nina, lifting her sister's charred sketchpad from the ground.

"NO I MAKE PRETTY YOU KNOW I LIKE TO MAKE PRETTY! YOU TELL HIM TO GIVE ME BACK HAT!"

"I won't tell him anything, my sister was really proud of these!" Arson shrieked when Ryu poked his pinky through the top of her hat. Nina waved her hands to calm her down. "Listen, listen Arson, stop this, I'll fix your hat if you promise to never make anything of Isabella's 'pretty' again."

"HE MESS UP HAT!" Nina was surprised to see trails of water pumping out of the acorn's 'eyes'. "WHY HE DO THAT I ONLY WANT TO MAKE PRETTY FOR EVERYONE!"

Ryu rolled his, Nina nudged him gently. "I promise I'll fix it, in fact, I'll make it even better if you want."

"How you do that?" asked the nut calming down with a sniffle. How did it sniffle without a nose, Nina could only guess.

"I know how to sew a little bit, find me a patch of fabric that you like and I'll stitch it up for you, but only if you promise me now that you won't mess with any more of my sister's things, and even if she agrees or asks you to, never, ever make anything 'pretty' or 'shiny' for her, okay?"

The nut sniffled again at Nina. "...okay, master."

Ryu tossed the nut onto a nearby chair arm and gave the hat to Nina. When they turned back, Arson was already gone fabric exploring. "She really does care a lot about this hat and her staff," laughed Nina. The dragon move behind her and she became acutely aware of how alone they were.

The night before, after Isabella had fallen asleep, they both had a long talk after a bout of passion cut frustratingly short by the fear it would go to far. Ryu was still incredibly wary to breed. They both had accepted begrudgingly that holding out for now at least was the best answer. Merybel heard them lamenting on the way to get herself a glass of water and told the embarrassed pair they were both dummies, this was a hotel of the Shade Queen. Couldn't Nina feel it, the magic on the walls and ceiling? Contraceptive magic, something very commonly used in places like this. After getting her drink, she'd lost track of them for the rest of the night.

"Did you sleep well, Sha'lei?" he purred, pressing his lips against her cheek. She nodded, returning the peck to his lips. The sun behind him and the balcony looked like it had only been up for a few hours. Ryu's bedhead was also an indicator of the time. Nina reached back to play with it. He'd slept on the couch out in the entertainment area while she with Isabella in the bedroom. "Kittah came a little while ago to pick up Isabella. They didn't want to wake you. She said they won't be back until early this evening," his voice was getting deeper, more mischievous. Arms encircled her, pulled her close to his warm, bare chest.

"So what are you suggesting?" she asked, swallowing, knowing.

She could hear the smile in his voice. "What would you like me to suggest?"

Even such simple teasing could fire her up so when Ryu was the orchestrator. "Would you mind if I take a shower first?" she asked, twirling a piece of his hair around a finger.

"Would you mind if I joined?"

Her face was going to melt off at the mere thought of him in there with her, water cascading down his tight, bronzed muscles along with his hands traveling...

Without another word, she pulled him with her towards the bathroom.

"Ay, ya's awake? Can ye hear me, idiot bird?"

Ethan slowly opened his eyes to a ceiling criss-crossed with long hanging lights. Beeps sing songed beside him from a large box spewing medical information across a screen.

"Lesley healed ya. Ya can dance a jig if'n ya wanna."

The red head lifted his hands in front of him. Unscathed fingers wriggled before a frown. "Lesley did this?" asked Ethan hoarsely. Good, his toes could move as well.

"He done healed every damned one o' us, he's a godsdamn saint I tell ya!" Ironsides roared angrily from the chair he sat in across the room. "Me daughta be some kind o' supa Weretiga, An' ya's tha biggest idiot I eva did see fightin' tha damn Angel o' Death. What tha hell is ya doin' anyways? What tha hell be goin' on n' dis godsdamn world nohow?"

Last thing the Wyndian remembered was a monster snarling at him as he lay on the ground in soggy pants. He knew it was Nina, but the way she had looked screamed nothing other than that. What was he doing? He didn't know anymore. Now he was just humiliated. She'd defeated him because of a childish flash bomb. He should have known she could use sprites to help her, why would she had not learned how, she had already wanted to long ago. The light one? Her easiest one. Why did he not think of that! Stupid, stupid mistake. "I don't know," he grunted truthfully. Without some sort of fail safe he had no idea how to deal with her. Goddess did he really still want to deal with her? His gaze went out the window at a clear blue sky.

"Dat gal ain't gonna heed none yo' words. Neitha tha dragon. Give up. Go...huh, ya can't go home can ya? Idiot kidnappa."

"That little girl is in a better place now," Ethan snapped.

"Mebbe so but ya's wanted now. I could turn yo' hide in fo' a good bit o' dough if'n I wanted ta."

"Not unless I leave this town, no one will do a thing to me, old man," Ethan glared at the lanky cat sneering back at him.

"Iv'ry turned ya inta a real twat ya kno'," Ironsides growled, "I ain't got no sympathy fo' ya no mo'. I be done. Dun expect no help from no AG no mo'. Soon a' they learn 'bout ya, 'cause ya kno' Jaxx'll be recruitin' like lightnin' soon, they gon turn they's back on ya inna second. Ain't it some dung?"

Ethan swung his feet off the bed, disconnected himself from the beeping box and grabbed his swords and armor from the sandy pile they made in the corner. "Screw off, Ironsides," Ethan spat, taking them into the bathroom in his room and slamming the door behind him.

The old woren sighed and stood. When he stomped past Phoebe in the hall, he told her it was futile. When she reached his room in time to see the red head leap from his window dressed with weapons in hand, she knew it was as well.

"So he told you my parents' story?"

Ryu sat on the shower's black tiled bench-like extension with his elbows on his knees. Water poured in streams down his arms, off of his bangs. Bubbles of sweet smelling shampoo frothed at his feet. Nina stood in front of him lathering her hair. Soap was still sliding down the wall behind her where he'd had her a few blissful moments ago. "It seems he can access Ladon's memories if he tries hard enough because he's fused with me, an outsider."

"I'm not sure how I would feel seeing my mother again," said the dragon, yellow eyes peering through the dark river that was his hair up at her. It was getting long again fast. "There finally came a time I had to confront Tristram, he'd figured me to be Fyrion's son and I had no choice."

Suds traveled down Nina's body as she rinsed her mane. She remembered.

"I fought him hard. He came at me with godsdamn Myrmidon right off. It was the first time I'd experienced real battle, with a seasoned soldier no less. My mother joined in fighting alongside me. Then your ancestor came and rid the world of them both along with half of the lights." Nina got on her knees in front of him and held his forehead against hers. He cupped her face in one of his hands. "I do not mind speaking to you of myself any longer so do not worry," he said, brushing wet lips against hers. "It was also the first time I'd evoked the Kaiser. She immediately saw the weapon I could be and stopped me in my whelpling tracks easily, as she'd had me completely raving mad at that point. She took my sister and I to Wyndia and used me as just that while my sibling rotted and was ravaged in a cell. In the end, as you know, nothing I did mattered."

"Your soul showed me the beginning of your fight with Tristam, you were so scared running away from him...and your sister..."

"Yes, I was. He was a real son of a bitch, but an infuriatingly skilled one at that. And as for Ana, I've come to terms with it and I know my mission now is to exact revenge on that bitch so that I can reside with you in peace. I am no longer plagued by the desire to displace any blame or anger onto you, Sha'lei."

This new side of Ryu was exhilarating. One so open and true with his feelings? She couldn't have asked for anything more!

He smiled, reading her expression. "You're wondering why I'm talking so? You know most of these things first hand anyhow. What's the use blanketing anything for someone you love and share souls with?"

Nina hopped into his lap. Warm water poured down her wings, down between their chests pressing together. "Spar with me soon," she said between kisses, her hands sliding across his slick shoulders. His grasped at her wings. "I'm afraid of what's going to happen next, I don't want to ever lose you, Ryu."

"You won't," he said huskily, reaching down. Nina arched her back, his lips trailed up over her ribcage, over her-

"Master, I went out and found food from a really nice restaurant I think you'll like and—oh my!" Merybel shrieked looking wide eyed through the glass from the bathroom entrance, dropping everything she had in her tiny hands.

Nina pushed her food around on her plate with her fork trying not to look Merybel in the eye. The faerie continued to gripe.

"All I tried to do was bring you both some food and this is what I get. You're lucky it didn't get too messed up."

Ryu was also playing the avoid game, wolfing his food down regardless. Beads of water still dripped from his shaggy mop. "What do you expect with me being stuck in here for days and with what you told us," mumbled the dragon, "You need to learn to make your presence known from now on."

"Oh so this will be a common thing," spat Merybel, cheeks red, "I know you two dummies are something now but you need to get it through your head that your party is three not two! Have some respect! I figured you would take my information like the adults you're supposed to be!"

Ryu made a face. Nina sighed, "So we'll ask for privacy next time, alright?"

"Thank you! Now eat your food. I've got some snacks for Isabella as well. Don't touch them."

"Speaking of Nina's sister, can you go to the hotel's gift shop and get her a new sketchpad? Arson decided to 'play' with hers earlier," Ryu said pointing at it's blackened remains.

"You just want to be alone again, dummy!"

"You're right," said Ryu, "but we also need to replace it before the little girl gets back. She'll be devastated when she finds out it's fate otherwise."

"Maybe not so much when she meets Arson. Cute little nut mage is bound to get a positive reaction out of her," said Nina.

Ryu nudged her with his foot. "No, she really needs a new one."

Nina's body was set aflame at her dragon's playful smirk in her direction. This side of him was also quite the rush.

"In all honesty we do need to spar," he said looking back to their faerie friend. "I know we can't do much in here, but every second counts with what could be after us."

Merybel crossed her arms. "Fine," she snapped with her lip jutting out, "I'll go to the gift shop, just because I don't want Izzie to be sad. You two have fun sparring. Stupid dummies." She slammed the door behind her.

Nina finished the rest of her wine. Ryu packed up the leftovers. "Sparring, huh?" asked the Wyndian when he came back to her at the table.

"Sure," he said scooping her up from her seat into his arms, "We'll see who ends up on top." He wasn't joking, it was a challenge as well as a flirt.

Nina mimicked his impish grin, heart racing. Definitely a rush. "You're on!"

Deis felt a bit shady watching over the dragon and his winged lover but wasn't that what she was accustomed to?

Maybe she just needed to see them both being happy; the path they were choosing to travel sure as hell wasn't going to allow them many chances to do so. Tyr would be relentless with this boy and why? Because he looked so much like the one that never gave any care to her at all?

"All you ever think about is yourself, you selfish bitch," growled the deity into the darkness around her.

She shivered at the fear she suddenly felt from her sister's rage at her remark.

A/N: I'm truly sorry for such a long wait. There are many days when I sit down and I just can't write. I'm not sure why. I wish it came to me easily because I really love to do it. Thank you so much for all who have continued to be patient with me. I told you all even if it takes forever I want to finish this, it's still my baby. Thank you Phaze btw for inspiring me again with your LoZ story :) It will take you so very long to get to this point in this story I know, but hopefully one day you will!