Chapter Forty-one

You've Picked a Dangerous Game, Faerie, But How Are You Going To Play When Most of Your Pieces Are Broken?

Why was it so quiet? Like a voice worth a thousand souls had been silenced, ripped from this planet in the blink of an eye? Like a torrent of emotions had just...disappeared without a trace, leaving a body pumping with adrenaline trembling in its wake with no rhyme or reason for its distress at all?

Why did Nina feel so...

Alone?

Firelight danced over Merybel's wet cheeks. Pink glowing hands shook on Nina's back. The asshole wearing her master's skin faced her, stolen features stony. She bit her lip hard. "What am I supposed to tell her when she wakes up? She's not going to take news of your arrival very well."

"You will follow what I say is what you will do," said the dragon with a much more baritone voice than Ryu in that sharp tongued language he was somehow making her understand. "She's not going to remember much."

"Sealing memories is dangerous," murmured the faerie.

"Her not being able to control her emotions is more so."

Merybel scowled at him. "You've taken everything from her. What did you expect?"

Ladon sighed, sagging back into the dusty chair he was sitting in. "How can I get through to you that it wasn't anything that should have ever warranted such feelings? This shouldn't be a difficult concept. It. wasn't. Supposed. To. Exist."

Anger pounded inside the faerie's head at his words. IT?! "He was a person you godsdamn dummy!" she seethed.

The dragon god's eyes gave off a dull glow in the room's gloominess, where the only other light source was a small sconce in the back corner. "I remember all he has done as if I'd done it myself. Most of the decisions he'd made in life were for nothing but survival instinct-"

"How do you explain his relationship with Nina then? A-and me?"

"You are a healer, that much is obvious. It was beneficial for him to get close to the wyndian girl since she harbors the other half of him. Protecting her meant protecting himself."

Merybel swallowed. "While I do believe Ryu thought about most things in that manner, he'd changed over these years from the weapon you'd fated him to be. He learned to care, to love. You can't tell me those emotions for us aren't there, in his soul." Ladon mirrored her hatred at the mention of such a thing.

Nina groaned underneath the faerie's hands. Heart pounding, Merybel's look morphed into fear. Ladon crossed his arms over his bare chest. Slowly, the wyndian's eyes fluttered open, settled on the tanned pink haired faerie looking so concerned at her. "Wh-ere...am I?" she asked groggily with a furrowed brow, trying to sit up. "...a...faerie?"

Mery aided her, ignoring Ladon's icy stare. "Do you feel alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Nina held onto her head gingerly. "I...my head's a little tender and I...I just don't remember...-ahh!" she shrieked suddenly jerking back. The faerie grasped her arm. "Oh dear goddess, trying to remember anything is splitting my brain apart!"

"Then don't force yourself," cooed Ladon smoothly in common, coming over and taking a seat by her on the bed. "What matters the most is the present."

Electricity pulsated through Nina's cerebrum. She clenched her teeth hard. "B-But I..."

He put both of his hands on her shoulders. She flinched, met his stunning eyes. "You just need to relax..."

Nina didn't understand how this man looked both like a complete stranger and like someone she had known for eons. Her face burned at his closeness. The pickaxe digging through her skull dulled to a poke. It was difficult to pull her eyes away from his. Reluctantly she glanced up at the stone ceiling, over at cobwebbed bookshelves spilling information onto the floor, out the window at the many stars dotting the clear sky. "Where...am I?" she repeated timidly. "and who...are you?"

To the wyndian, Ladon's smile was warm, but to the faerie it was anything but. "We are on an important mission right now to see your Goddess. Isn't that right Merybel, my friend?"

Mery could do nothing but nod in agreement. Confused, Nina turned to her doe-eyed. "What in the world would possess my Goddess to want to talk to me? The..." a sharp pain vaulted across the top of her head and she winced. "...last thing I remember was talking to Chasta and then falling underneath the castle courtyard... Have I...been out since then?" Amber turned to see the color of her wings for the first time.

Ladon jumped to stop her volcano of anxiety from erupting into chaos. "No, no, no, do not fret! Shh, Princess listen. The Black Wings are a good thing! Your face is saying 'that can't be true'! But I assure you, it is. This is our key to an audience with your Goddess."

She hiccupped with wide watering eyes, clutched her blanket against her chest to stop her heart from pounding through it. "S-so...I'm not to be e-executed? But the Prophecy specifically, adamantly states..."

"No. No one is going to execute you."

"...M-my sister...has this made things worse for her?"

"Isabella is in the safest place she could be right now."

Nina's couldn't stop her body from shaking. She felt so run down, like she'd been bounding from one extremely stressful moment to the next with no end in sight, yet she couldn't remember a lick of most of it. "Th-that's g-good..."

He awkwardly mussed her hair. "We can talk tomorrow. For now, you need to rest." the wyndian briskly agreed, trying to ignore heat steaming from her ears.

Merybel closed the door behind him when he left and hovered before Nina. Geez, he'd made her forget entirely about Ryu. "'Princess'...? Are you still wanting to be addressed by that?"

Nina took a deep, ragged breath. "I-I'm not sure... I mean is it even accurate anymore? Was I ever made Queen of Ludia? I know I was supposed to marry Vahn..." She froze, gripped the blanket covering her harder. "Do I...still have to marry him?"

"No," the faerie assured her, looking away at the wall. "You'll never have to worry about that dummy Vahn again."

Another deep, therapeutic sigh. "Thank all the gods in heaven. He was so godsdamn creepy."

She had no idea.

Merybel sat down beside her, trying not to look as if there were a knot in her stomach torturing her. "We're in an abandoned city on the other side of the world to answer your question from earlier. The name doesn't matter, just know that we are safe while we are here."

"Why? Are we not safe when we're not here?"

Mery chewed on her fingernail, searched for a reply. Damnit she was going to have to be so careful now. "Not all are fond of the Black Wings." It was the truth.

"That...makes sense." Nina felt her heart finally start to slow down. Somehow she knew if anything were to attack them, that shirtless prettyboy would be able handle it all, that he had been doing so this entire time. "When did I meet you? Ever since I was a little girl I've always wanted to meet a faerie. I apologize for rudely forgetting it."

"Ah we met... well I've always been tagging along with Ladon I suppose."

Ladon. That was his name. "and him?" Nina thought back to the handsome fanged smile shockingly rivaling Ethan's. How Chasta would laugh at her, she thought stupidly, boy crazy even after being told she was on such a journey.

Mery side eyed the girl's growing smile. She probably couldn't help finding Ladon attractive, it was the skin of her lover in another life after all. Gods, this whole charade was going to end badly. Nina's obvious regression would surely take away her ability to defend herself; if she'd never met Ryu she'd never been trained. The warrior was gone and she was once again a naïve little brat that'd never seen the outside of a castle wall. In order to manipulate her, Ladon was trying to cover up too much; something was going to have to give at some point and Mery really hoped it wouldn't be Nina's sanity. "He's your guardian now."

Nina tentatively stroked a wing. She wondered why Ethan wasn't traveling with her, because wasn't he supposed to be her guardian? Disappointing. "How did this happen to me? Do you know? I'd thought for so long the Black Wings would be my sister's burden."

Damn that dragon twit of a god for leaving her to make up this girl's entire backstory. "It is a curse," she said simply, "Your Goddess has the cure."

"Why does it feel so familiar now when I look at it? I was startled earlier but looking at it again..." the face she made tugged at Mery's heartstrings. "Why does it make me feel so empty?"

"I-I think you need to rest, Nina...ah, can I call you that?"

The wyndian's eyes lit up slightly. "Yes! My friends call me Nina. We're friends, right?"

"Yeah. We are." Nina looked relieved. "Okay Nina, I'm going to be in the other room. We have another little party member, but it's best to meet them when you have the energy to deal with what comes along with it. Don't worry, you'll understand what I mean by that soon enough." Trails of pink made patterns in the air and from the ground, a tiny plant burst out of a seed she'd tossed down. Nina watched in wonder it twist and curl up into the air. Mery ripped the ends off and handed them to the wyndian. "Dreamroot. It will help you sleep."

"Thank you," she said chewing it. Mery helped her lie back down and pulled the blanket up to her chin. "How long does it take to work?"

"Not long."

"O...Oh. Oh wow I already feel it," said the princess blinking. "Ah, Mery?"

"Yes?"

Concern colored delicate features remembering how regal they once were. "The prophecy...also speaks of a beast accompanying the black winged one..." Her lids were heavy, she struggled to keep them under control. "Is Ladon...? A-are we really...the good guys...?"

"We are the good guys."

"Oh...that's...nice..."

Mery hovered by the doorway watching the wyndian close her eyes and immediately start snoring softly. So he'd sealed all her memories of Ryu, the faerie thought crossing her arms, scowling at the ground. There was only so much she could do from the outside. Part of his soul was inside Nina, hidden, but still there. She'd need his help to snap her out of it and maybe then they could work on getting their Ryu back -if it was even possible- but how was she supposed to make any progress when the simplest trigger might break her? What would even happen if that did occur? The Kaiser? Mery shivered, made her way out into the hallway where she heard glass clinking together in the distance.

Castle Drogen was enormous and besides needing a good dusting, in miraculously good shape. They resided in the servant's quarters now; Merybel figured Ladon wanted to keep them in places Ryu might not remember very well. She hovered down into a communal living area at the end of the hallway. Four gray cloth couches with barely any marks on them made a square around a large table filled with empty dusty wine bottles. Ladon rustled behind a bar lining the other side of the room. With her arms crossed and a haughty frown held high, the faerie took a seat on one of the cushy barstools at it. Drogen seemed to have treated their servants very well. "Was ruining his mind not enough that you need to poison his body as well?"

The dragon god used one of his long, pointy black claws to pull the cork out of an oddly shaped purple bottle. Sparkling fizz poured over his hand and onto the floor. "I am mortal at this moment am I not? Shouldn't I be able to indulge in any of its pleasures?"

"Alcohol better be the only one you're curious about," warned the faerie.

Ladon laughed sharply. "Do not worry, my friend, I'm not too partial to winged ones these days."

Good. Merybel put her nose into the air. Gods she hated looking at his face. "So when Ryu does come back, what'll happen to you?" demanded the faerie tartly.

Thick dark brows knitted despite the smile he still wore. "Excuse me?"

"Will you get sealed back inside of the temple? Or will you just poof like you tried to do to Master Ryu? I personally hope you poof."

Smile becoming stale, Ladon leaned onto the bar taking a long swig of whatever was in that bottle. Scents of champagne and pomegranate danced in the air. "You are such a sassy little spriteling. Tell me, from where does your courage stem?" rumbled the beast darkly.

"You need me with that mortal body of yours," said the faerie bluntly with her jaw squared. On her leg her tiny hand trembled. This Ryu was scary.

Another swig. He shivered as it went down, never taking his unnerving eyes from her. "So I do."

The faerie tried to swallow her fear. "What is your purpose here, dragon god? Absorb Ryu, fight the Goddess and win? Then what?"

This time his sip finished off the bottle. It fell out of his open hand and clanged to the floor, miraculously not breaking. "Then everything will be mine," he said matter-of-factly, running his forearm across his mouth.

"I listened to your story, you told Ryu you wanted revenge and that gods shouldn't be manipulating their subjects so directly-"

"She wasn't fit to lead, I on the other hand..."

"Oh I see, that's how you think."

"Dragons deserve their proper place in this planet's hierarchy."

"And once that happens, one like you who's had a taste of being god, will eventually tire of playing the 'leader' part in humanity."

Pop! Went the cork of a dark blue long necked bottle with a painting of a chimera-like monster on it. "Gods are as strong as the ones who believe in them. In time my children will grant my wishes for redemption."

"Then what will you, our mighty god once again, do?"

He gulped down strong smelling bourbon. "I created this place with Tyr. I'd love to never think of it again," he finished flatly.

Merybel's heart skipped. "Will this place rot without any guidance?" asked the faerie tentatively.

Gulp "Who the hell knows?"

"You would sentence everyone including your children to death if you do indeed manage to destroy your enemy."

Ladon settled back against the counter behind him. Firelight from a sconce above danced over his thin, muscular frame, sparkled on the bottle he turned up again. "Faerie. Your friend 'Ryu' slept for the duration of his imprisonment. Five hundred years to him was the blink of an eye and some sore limbs. Me? I felt every second of it, experienced every minute of mind-numbing rage that I couldn't leave the temple. For years I barely had the capacity to speak to anyone." His eyes glassed over with his next gulp. "Imagine not being able to converse with another being for over a century, how incredibly lonely it all was... I want as far away from this hellhole as I can get, bide my time...maybe start over as an extra god to a world with a less dramatic population..."

No, no she did not want to feel sorry for him! "I won't feel sorry for you," voiced Mery out loud to make sure she didn't. "Ryu was my brother and I loved him dearly. If there is a way to get him back I will find it and I don't care what happens to you in the process. Maybe we'll just have to get rid of you and Tyr both and let the planet decide on its own how to live. Maybe we'd do a hell of a lot better without you dummies!"

Ladon laughed softly, dark shaggy bangs dangling in front of his amused face as he looked down at her scowl. "You've picked a dangerous game, faerie," he growled. A black smoke-like aura flowed out of him and over the bar, over the scared stiff faerie still trying to look tough. "but how are you going to play when most of your pieces are broken?"

Merybel blinked. She was back in Nina's room.

Shaking out tingling limbs, she hovered over to the window and took a seat on its cool stone ledge with a long drawn-out sigh. Moonlight splashed over her pulling jelly-like legs up to hug them close to her chest. By nature, faeries were neither leaders nor loners, this whole ordeal was becoming increasingly too overwhelming for the spriteling to handle. Soft winds had strands of pink sticking to her soaked face. In the background the wyndian's snores fell back in line from a momentary break in cadence. The little faerie's sparkling wings quivered.

Ryu'd been immortal until it was convenient for him not to be. It'd created a false sense of security in the faerie. Ryu, die? Hell no, maybe you'd see him hit the ground but you'd bet your damnedest he'd be back up before you could cry out his name! Tears flowed down her face, there was no reason to try and hold back her sobs.

Tonight she would cry. Tomorrow, she would think.

"Gods Nina it's such a beautiful day!"

The wyndian groaned in response. Morning already?

"Come on sleepy head, stop being lazy and come look at this with me!"

Nina turned over in a larger much softer bed than she remembered going to sleep in, got herself tangled in covers, lost in fluffy pillows.

"Nina what are you doing? Hurry, you're going to miss this sunrise!"

Seconds of realization had the wyndian's whole body aflame; she was naked under these blankets! Scrambling to cover herself, her head whipped over to see Ladon embarrassingly in the buff as well, standing at the doorway of a balcony in a completely different room than she retired in last night.

He laughed in a lighter, more carefree brogue than she recalled him having. "I didn't wear you out that much last night, did I?" he asked with a tinge of a mocking tone, a playful grin spreading from ear to ear. "Or do you miss my touch that badly you need me to carry you out here your highness?" he asked heading over to her.

Nina could barely comprehend the thoughts racing through her mind. Why were they both naked? Was it actually Ladon? It...well it looked like him, but at the same time...didn't somehow. His skin was more bronzed, his hair shorter and his eyes... Dear gods he was here now and it was right in her face-!

She tensed when he scooped her out of the blankets into his arms. "Don't be angry with me Sha'lei, it's gorgeous enough to want to share with you," he murmured, nuzzling into her neck.

It didn't make sense the feelings his scent flooded into her. In this moment she was madly in love with a man she knew nothing about, had seen only once before and wanted nothing more than for him to turn around and take her back to that bed and remind her why the blankets were in the messy state they were in.

They were kissing and he was laughing again against her lips. "No, no not that right now, we'll have plenty of time for it later but this...this...you must see it," he said pulling himself away from her pout and turning so she could join him in witnessing the ball of fire careening from a hellfire sky down into the city, exploding it with all it's might-

Nina bolted upright in the bed she remembered, sweat plastering her hair and clothes to her skin. Mery was by her side in less than a second. It was a dream, a thought pushed its way up. So it was, she thought back, clutching her arms. There was no reason to doubt the thought.

Merybel's heart was pounding. She'd said Ryu in her sleep.

"I'd like to stay awake now," quipped the wyndian shakily, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. She glanced out the window at the sun peeking over the mountains. "You said we had another party member? How about I meet them now. Yes. Meeting someone new would be nice."

Merybel opened her mouth to speak but Arson had the ears of a dog. "She finally want to meet me?! How fun to meet master again!" cried the little nut mage scuttling excitedly into the room. Nina watched with wide eyes Arson climb up into her bed and perch on one of her knees. "Hihi! Clan call me Ztt'rttzetssztttttectzzzt'tzaaz but you call me 'Arson' because I love pretty fire! You wanna see?" It asked sparking a fireball in front of her before hearing an answer. Nina instinctively grabbed it out of the air with a scale covered hand. "Wow! Master you fast!" Wide amber watched crimson scales sink back into her skin.

Light broke through Merybel's clouds of gloom. There his soul was, hard at work. Of course he would be, Ryu was a warrior before anything else and a damn strong one at that. The faerie flew to Arson with her hands on her hips, trying to stay angry through her elation. "What did I tell you about casting spells in here?! The castle is stone but there's still so much dust and books everywhere it's dangerous you walnut brain!"

She'd had a talk with the nut beforehand about Nina's condition, and surprisingly wasn't met with the wall she'd expected. "Oh, memory seal magic bad news, me know. Old Master talk lot about it. Say make him crazyman."

Nina stared at her hand. Arson turned to the faerie. "YOU NO YELL AT ME YOU SAY YOU ONLY YELL IF I TALK ABOUT RUDE DRAGON I NO TALK ABOUT HIM I ONLY TALK ABOUT ME AND PRETTY!"

Electricity spidered down Nina's crown when she murmured, "D-dragon?"

Merybel smacked the back of the nut mage's head so hard her hat fell off. "Ladon is a dragon," explained the faerie quickly, hoping it was the right thing to do. She'd have to know about them eventually...they were heading to Drakken after all. This seemed to pacify the wyndian's pain; she wasn't clenching her jaw anymore. "I mean only a dragon could guard a force like the Black Wings, you know."

That made sense. Arson looked to Nina. "You tell her to leave me alone, okay Master?"

"Ah, How did I become this one's Master?"

"It's...very fond of you."

"You make hat better!" the nut mage cried, shoving it toward the wyndian. "Rude dragon never do nothing great as this so you favorite forever and always!"

"Do you use your pretty fire in battle?" Nina asked it, taking a look over a mediocre sewing job that did look like her own handiwork, "You're awfully cute to be a fighter."

Arson beamed with as much pride a static face like its could anyway. "I fight with pretty all for you! No one else! I help! You just give me pocket to be in and I promise I no cast fire in pocket, rude dragon already yell at me about it-"

"As I did," said Ladon himself leaning on the inside of her doorway. A light beige sleeveless shirt barely kissed his skin in a cooling breeze circulating the room. "Are you feeling better, Princess? We should be setting off soon if we want to make good time."

Memories forced their way into her psyche from her dream at the sight of him. His smell, his feel, his taste... she couldn't look at him anymore with what she knew was a face like a tomato. Arson poked at her burning cheeks with the pointy part of her staff. "A-alright. Um...yeah, I'm fine." Something in the back of her mind told her with great urgency it wasn't memories of this particular man...but why then did the guy in her dreams look so godsdamn similar?

"I'll help her get ready to leave," cut in the faerie butting in-between them, ignoring Ladon's glare. "Come on Nina, let's eat some breakfast before we pack." a whine from the wyndian's stomach solidified her response. "I've got this Ladon, us girls don't need you hanging around."

They held eachother's gaze for what felt like an eternity before the dragon backed out with a polite bow to his 'princess'. Merybel helped the wyndian get out of bed and shakily to her feet. "Why do my legs feel so weak?" asked Nina, stumbling in place.

"Maybe you should use your wings for awhile? You've...been through a lot recently."

"It's strange, it's like I'm so used to not having my wings, that the thought didn't cross my mind."

"Say Nina, did you have a dream last night?"

The wyndian choked on her saliva, whipped a wide eyed stare at her little friend. "W-wh-what? A dream? Why? Why would you ask about a dream? Was I talking in my sleep last night? What did I say? I mean, wh-why? Why do you ask? Yes? I think so? Maybe? I-I don't know! Why are you asking!?"

Merybel shrugged. "Don't friends ask each other stuff like that? You know, like 'where did you get your hair done?' 'that dress is really cute who made it?' 'what kind of dream did you have last night?' It's the same pretty much."

"Well I don't want to talk about it!" cried Nina quickly, crimson cheeked. "I-I'm going to get breakfast and you...don't follow me okay, because I'm done talking!"

"Can I come, Master?" asked Arson jumping up and down on the bed waving her arms.

"Yes you can," said Nina holding her arm out for the nut to climb up it onto her shoulder. She gave one last look to Merybel before hovering out into the hallway.

So yes, she did dream about Ryu. Merybel smiled to herself, thank the gods this might end up being easier than she thought it would be. "Okay!" she said following her anyway.

Dark. It was so. damn. dark.

His mind yielded nothing but fragmented pieces of feelings floating about maddeningly refusing to come together to form any sort of coherent thought.

Gods he was so tired.

Give up.

Darkness everywhere. Vast and suffocating, shadows born from it gripping him from all sides.

So tired and afraid.

Mistakes like you should just die already.

Nina traversed through the forests of Drogen in a state of wonder, marveling at the white leaves brittle as snow floating lazily by as if the air here were heavier than it naturally should've been. Squirming inside a pocket she had hurriedly sewed onto the front of a dark green cloak she'd found back in the servant's quarters, Arson talked a mile a minute about how she could make this place even prettier! Nina bit the inside of her cheek. This place felt used, empty.

Angry.

Mery floated at her side, wary of the fact Ladon didn't care if the girl was showing those cursed wings to everyone in the world or not. "When will we arrive in Drakken?"

"A few days. Unless they meet us sooner."

"Who's they?" asked Nina innocently, looking away when he looked back at her. While a sight to see, this forest was much too quiet. Nina never realized how strange it was to not have the sounds of wildlife until they were gone.

Ladon put his arms behind his head. "Dragons." In front of him, white puffs of trees spread for miles. Arson reached out and snatched up some leaves as they passed by. Merybel knocked them out of their hands before it could do anything with them. "In the beginning dragons and wyndians worked together as a team. As time went on the relationship sadly faded, but fear not! We're here to bring the symbol of our truce, the Black Wings."

Nina's face scrunched up in naïve confusion. "I...studied a lot back in the castle, I had to. I honestly didn't retain much, but I know I would have remembered any dragon/wyndian relations. A-and If the wings are a reminder of a truce, how come the prophecy screams for their destruction? By my own people nonetheless?"

Mery watched the dragon god's smile grow weary without changing at all. "Who's to know the whims of gods, yes? Perhaps their reasons are far too complicated for us mortals to comprehend."

"Ah...That makes sense."

Merybel rolled her eyes. They'd been walking for a few hours now and Nina hadn't shown much difference except she couldn't hold eye contact with Ladon for more than a few seconds before she looked like she'd just slapped her own cheeks a dozen times as hard as she could. The faerie was at a loss; there wasn't much she could do with his attention constantly glued to her telling her every nonsense story popping into his head to fill time. Come on, Ryu, you've got to do more from the inside! she thought desperately, narrowing her eyes like that would make her wishes penetrate the wyndian's thoughts.

"So who are we not safe from?" Merybel's stomach tightened at Nina's next question.

Ladon looked to the faerie and then back at Nina who made sure to keep her eyes below his neck. "What do you mean?"

"Mery...said we were safe back in the city. Now that we're out...should I be on guard?"

He laughed loudly and it startled her. "You have nothing to worry about traveling with me Fai'en."

'Fai'en'

Something small snapped in the back of her mind. She knew that word, it meant "winged one" in draconian, but how could she understand it? How could she understand any draconian at all? Why did it make her feel so godsdamn depressed to hear it? "That's...good," she said hurriedly wiping rogue tears from her eyes.

"I wonder why Merybel would say things like that?"

Merybel shot a glare over at him. "Because there are ones after the Black Wings, you can't tell her there aren't!"

"I only said she needn't worry with me-"

He stopped, snatched a suited Highlander out of the air by its throat and slammed it hard into the ground. Nina shrieked; he'd been inches from the back of her head with a knife the width of her fist! Ladon growled showing all of his teeth. Show yourselves. Came a voice freezing everyone that heard its blood solid. Yelling out to their friend in their language, two other just as armed monkeys dropped clumsily from the treetops. The one on the ground started strangling Ladon with its impossibly long arms. Their friend's bravery was contagious. Sounding out a war cry the other two sprinted towards them, one pulling a sword from behind their back and the other an axe. Nina took to the air, Merybel right at her tail.

At first it seemed like a great idea attacking the girl with the Black Wings. The entire Highlander military had been on high alert since a few nights ago when two wyndians wearing dark dragon armor took out an entire squadron of their troops. Wyndia had tripled their bounty on the cursed girl and said that no matter what, they'd give a third to Highfort as an apology for this unfortunate tragedy that had nothing to do with politics even though one of them was identified as their former royal guardian. Gil saw zenny and fame when he looked at those cursed feathers. Now he saw his death in the form of Ladon's blade separating the bottom half of his body from his thoughts.

"Bastard!" yelled one of the other two, skirting past the blood spraying from his friend behind Ladon and with great effort swinging around his gigantic double sided axe. Ladon rolled to dodge, used the top half of his victims body to block the sword swinging at him from the other side. Axe used the momentum from the first swing to go into a second. Ladon used the weight of the body to pull sword who was stuck in it down into its path. Nina covered her mouth with a gasp as the Axe cut through his buddies arms like they were butter. Crimson splattered over piles of white on the ground. Ladon kicked his armless assaulter back into a tree and took to stealth.

The monkey with the axe froze in place staring at his two mangled friends. In the background the armless one screamed in agony. She had one guy with her, he thought angrily, breathing hard through his teeth out of fear. Orange darted left to right. One guy, a faerie and a nut mage. He'd suggested they'd wait for backup, but no Gil said it'd be easy. He could hear the wyndian flying above him, hear the faerie and the nut speaking excitedly to her in common. Where was that godsdamn guy?!

Nina could see Ladon in his hazy purple world of stealth just crouching there watching the highlander sweat. Back bent unnaturally and his arms nothing more than red fountains at his sides, Axe's friend stared at the clouds through the tops of the tree, his howls becoming hoarse. She wondered why she wasn't disturbed more by this and the sight of the other one strewn across the now more red than white ground. Axe cursed in his language, dug his feet hard into the dirt. He took a deep breath, gripped his axe tighter, eyes continuously glancing at the contraption on his arm. No one had told him this one guy was going to be a fucking cheating dark dragon! Why wasn't it picking him up?!

Ladon moved like water, smooth and strong, gliding in stealth until he was behind the monkey's back. Finally his contraption beeped. Roaring, he swung back, felt the weight of the dragon land on the flat of his blade. It went into the ground in pieces. He didn't have time to react, Ladon appeared mid twirl and took his head off in one swipe of an arm blade. With a sour stomach Nina watched him land and walk over to the guy suffering against the tree. He wasn't able to make much noise anymore. Instead of fountains his arms were two pinched hoses. Moaning, he lifted his head to look at the dragon with what seemed like the rest of his strength. Ladon didn't waste any time ending him.

Beside her, Mery coughed. Arson shook in her pocket. He was her guardian and that smile was handsome as hell, but Nina couldn't bring herself to take the bloody hand he now reached out to her.

Something wasn't right.

"Let me get this straight. You were that close to the Angel of Death and did nothing at all? The same city, man... She was here."

Fat strips of light cascaded uniformly down two forms in an elevator making its way up to the top floor of Casino de Coursair. Ironsides made a face, dug his claws inside the pockets of ill fitted gray cargo pants. "'e been protectin' mah brood, bro."

"Von Buren too. Traitor to his country then dead after making a scene killing a bunch of highlanders, what the hell is goin' on wit' this world, huh?"

Ironsides made a face. Finding out Von Buren was dead wasn't as shocking -he was just as hot blooded as he claimed to never be- as how it happened. Dark dragon suits? How could he have been so risky, so stupid? "Ta be fair, 'e did attempt ta apprehend 'er a few times." Though he was pretty sure Ethan wasn't planning on capturing her for anyone but himself.

Teal gazed out over the city lights growing smaller below them, the pinkish hue the setting sun gave the distant skyline. "Her bounty's soaring godsdamn sky high right now, Ironsides probably quadrupling as we speak."

Ding. The elevator screeched to a stop at its destination. Jaxx pulled a cigar out of a pocket on the front of his collared white shirt, motioned with it for the big cat to follow him out onto the rooftop the doors opened up to. Almost the entire season of summer was a festival in Coursair. It had to be, it was too hot, the people needed something other than the temperature to occupy themselves. Deis made it rain quite often, but the inevitable humidity following usually made it even more unbearable, so she deemed every building no matter how small, no matter how poor to be blessed with a central air conditioning system. Ironsides, forever having this damn uncomfortable coat attached to his skin, wished for that sweet luxury now. Jaxx and his damn smoking.

"So she's a saint, is that your problem?" asked the dark haired, middle aged man lighting his vice with an ornate silver lighter. "Hit ya soft spot, family man? Gods its so irritating for you to have empathy."

The battle harded woren shrugged off his words. "If'n anythin' she be tha savior of us, if'n mah daughta ain't lyin', which I kno' she ain't. She's a tigress damned angel. Tha girlie ain't evil. She can't even 'help what's goin' on, man."

Steam wafted from puddles near Jaxx's expensive boots. He leaned on the edge of rooftop, peering down at crowds of people happily being drenched by scantily clad women of different races were dancing with spraying hoses. "I hear what you're sayin' Ironsides, but my roster says something different." He took a long drag, puffed out smoke smelling heavily of spice. "Von Buren is dead, Ivory's dead, Alabaster done, Darkmeadows done, Lucas dead, Dexter dead, Adelaide dead, Phoebe refuses to participate and you..."

"I suppose ya need ta make a new group then."

"Wyndia is giving up everything for us to bring her back. Ludia can't get her head fast enough, they think she killed their Prince. Y'all was supposed to be my elite group. What the hell, man?!" he slammed his fist on the building.

Ironsides sighed, a much appreciated breeze bounced his whiskers. "Ya's right, I do have morals. I ain't about ta kill no lil' girl who don't even want tha burden she got. She's on her way ta get rid o' it as we speak, prob'ly'll end up dyin' in tha process. It's gon take care o' itself."

"If it gets taken care of like that then no one gets paid an' while I'm not hurtin' for zenny it's a lot."

"Jaxx they goin' to fuckin' Drakken. Ain't no one gonna fuck around anywhere near that place an' tha shadow guys. You know that."

"Drakken?"

"Like I said one way or anotha it's gon take care o' itself."

Jaxx puffed out more smoke. Hoses went into the air, the girls fanned their streams to create a screen for a lights shows of some sort, he was too far away to make out the details. "Dark Dragons... Maybe I do have time to wake up some legends."

Nina was strong. Kittah told Ironsides everything about her. The Kaiser, the hybrid dragon following her. When the Kaiser came out, this girl became a god. "She ain't evil Jaxx, but she ain't weak eitha. It was stupid as hell for Von Buren ta be wearin' one o' those suits but damn man you 'member how strong that boy was. She done a lot of damage tryin' ta defend 'erself that wasn't necessary. I know it be a lot o' money but I'm tellin' ya, it ain't worth it!"

Ironsides watched, defeated, the leader of his guild flick his still lit cigar down into the crowd below without a care where it would land. "...I'd throw lives away for much, much less."

Darkness pulsed maddeningly in his ears.

I've got you Ryu. There's no need for you to ever worry about anything, my love.

I've got you.

Pale hands covered his ears. Ryu leaned back into a warm, inviting embrace. "What happened to us...?" asked the dragon's soul softly, making a purring-like noise when Nina's soul ran her fingers through his hair and replaced that awful noise with her sweet voice.

The three of us are sealed here.

Three?

Three.

Yellow eyes shot open to see the Kaiser crouching in front of him with his almost transparently pale skin and his nose an inch from his. Ryu tried to move back, Nina held him in place.

He has a favor he wants to ask of you.

"Are you crazy, Sha'lei this is the Kaiser! I'm not about to listen to anything he has to say to me!"

Eyes red as the blood in his veins narrowed, became slits of light behind wild hair. If you want to survive then you will. he rumbled gravelly, reaching up and gripping Ryu's chin in his claw. Nina spoke soothingly in his ear. Gods if only he could believe the things she was promising they'd be protected from... Air circulated around them, whipping hair and strange scents about.

"What could you possibly offer that I wouldn't be a fool to take?" asked the wide eyed dragon, with his head leaning back against the wyndian soul's chest.

The entity in front of him deformed for a moment like a holographic image losing connection. Its movements became slow, staticky. Alone we cannot break this prison Ladon has cursed us to. he said in that awful voice Ryu loathed. Together with the Keeper, we are strong.

Ryu's soul glanced at nothingness swirling around them. "I thought memory magic was dangerous...that forcing the victim to remember breaks them-"

Ha! The Keeper is resilient because of us. I believe in her.

Ryu stared at the thing that scared him the most in this life for the first time not feeling like his skeleton was going to vibrate outside of his body. "I believe in her too."

The deity covered in black smoke with the posture of a goblin smirked back with a feral version of his face. Touch my back. Reluctantly, Ryu laid his hand on his demon twin's bent, boney back. Nina kept her arms wrapped around the dragon's soul, her soft pink lips still whispering sweet nothings to him. We must work quickly for she has been asleep almost the whole night. I need you to help me pull a memory for her.

"What sort of memory?"

Recall one of you two being close, almost close enough to be one person. I need her to remember what it felt like to have you inside of her.

Ryu knew he meant she needed to remember his soul was inside of her, but the way he phrased it had his mind wandering before he could stop it.

Nina gasped loudly underneath Ryu, grasping onto dark, sweaty forearms, raising her hips to meet his thrusting into her. Disheveled navy brushed against her neck. Breathy moans matching hers by her ear set her loins on fire even more than they already were. "By the gods you truly are beautiful," Ryu confessed, leaning back so she could see the truth painted on his heavy-lidded expression. Calloused fingers dug into her hips, pulled her into him harder like he knew she wanted from their connection. Brow furrowing, he bit his lip. "...you're soaked, Sha'lei...," whimpered the dragon softly, flushing. Nina wrapped her legs around him, he held her upright with one hand grasping the base of her wings. The wyndian arched her back, let his rhythmic pumping feed that familiar blissful buildup of heat in her abdomen he seemed to be able to make happen often.

"I-I'm gonna...Ry-!" Nina cried out, raking her nails down his tensing legs as he too lost control.

Body jerking, Nina sat up in her tent, chest heaving and other parts annoyingly throbbing. She knew now one hundred percent there was something wrong with reality and until she figured out exactly what, the voice she couldn't not believe in the back of her mind made very very clear it was imperative she played it cool.

The man of her dreams, Ryu, was not the man that kneeled before her now even though they shared the same face. She bit her lip to keep herself focused. "Another bad dream?" he asked, giving her head a demeaning little pet, like she was a godsdamn cat. "I hope getting attacked yesterday didn't frighten you too much."

Deal with it, he can't know you're partially free. Speaking of that voice...why was it so special again? What did it mean by partially?

"Yeah...but I-I think it'll be okay now," she said pulling away from Ladon. His smell was driving her mad.

"I'm going to start packing up. Let me know if you need me, okay?" he offered sickeningly sweetly before walking away in that tone that wasn't his.

Nina grasped her head, took a few deep breaths. Gods she couldn't stop her face from burning, that wasn't a dream that was a memory, and she couldn't stop running through her mind everything about that night.

He was/is your lover, your life-partner.

"Yeah, somehow I knew that," she said absently, trying to get over the fact a few moments ago she knew nothing about sex and now suddenly she knew more than she'd ever admit to anyone except maybe Chasta. Pains shot through to the back of her forehead at her mind's mention of that name. What was wrong with Chasta? Why did it hurt so bad now to think about her?

Parts of your memories have been sealed off. If something hurts to think about, I suggest you ponder it another time.

Nina squeezed her eyes closed, Merybel peeked out of the tent to see Ladon toiling over breakfast. "Be careful, Nina," she said, "If it hurts to think about, then-"

"-I probably shouldn't," finished the wyndian wearily, rubbing two fingers on the space between her eyes. "This is...going to sound really odd, Mery, but there is a voice...in the back of my head telling me the same thing. I...gods I don't know what I'm thinking anymore..."

The faerie grinned, holding the tent door shut and motioning for the wyndian to get dressed. Master Ryu was coming through for them after all! "You are thinking straight is what you are doing," whispered the faerie excitedly, "That voice is very, very important, and you should always give anything it says a thorough think through."

How would this faerie know about anything going on in her head?

She is a dear friend of mine. And a very dear one of yours.

Oh. Okay.

Nina swallowed, reached over to a neatly folded pile of clothes near her with a slightly shaking hand. "Look, I'm not sure what, but I know something going on around me is wrong, and that for some reason it's okay to talk to you about it."

Mery nodded. "Yes, but it is not alright-"

"-to talk to Ladon." mumbled Nina donning the same clothes she'd been wearing the past few days. Hopefully the place they were going to had a running shower and her Goddess wouldn't mind if she used it before seeing her. After all, wouldn't it be rude not to be clean? She combed her hands through her hair oddly, startled by ends she expected to be longer. "I cut my hair? When did I cut my hair?" she asked, wondering why she didn't notice it before. "I can't imagine I would do so willingly, I loved my long hair!"

"You didn't. It was necessary to hide you in plain sight."

"But the wings are in plain sight now!"

"They haven't always been. Those studs in your ears? If I channel myself inside of them, I can make your burden disappear to the naked eye."

Nina wrapped her cloak around her shoulders, popped her wings through holes Ladon had made for her. "Merybel, if Ladon is supposed to be my guardian, why am I to be so secretive? I-, augh yes I know you keep telling me that but I have the right to question things!" she hissed with her eyes unfocused.

"If he's telling you your memories are sealed, he's correct. That's why you feel like things are so wrong. I...can't help you much more than that because of the nature of the spell, but I suspect it won't be long until you're back to your old self. Just listen to us and we'll get you through it."

"So I must follow you both blindly on this journey I have no choice to make and stay quiet, is that right, faerie?"

Merybel's look softened. She let go of the tent doorflap and hovered over to the wyndian staring at the floor with those horrendous dark bags under her eyes, that white, gaunt skin. She looked like she'd aged five years in the past week. "I'm actually happy you don't remember much. I've...seen things happen to you that I would never want to repeat."

As am I.

Nina wiped tears away with her cloak. So many emotions stewing inside her at the same time. The voice in her head made her indescribably happy to hear. "Where is Ryu? My..." she couldn't bring herself to say lover, it was too embarrassing. "Why is it Ladon who's here and not him? Are they brothers? They smell the same, have the same face but...they look different."

The faerie wasn't sure what she should say. She decided being vague was the best answer. "For now, focus only on the fact that Ladon is here and Ryu is not and Ladon is not someone we can confide in. Do not tell him about the voice."

Nina didn't look convinced. "I understand I shouldn't trust him -I'm being forced that thought from the inside and out- but if he's supposedly my guardian he would have been appointed by my father. Am I really not to rely on someone my father would? Is he really taking me to see the Goddess?" Fear flashed across her face. "Is he ultimately what I'm not safe from?"

Merybel sighed. "Don't fret too much, you can trust him enough to not attack you. He is indeed taking you to see your Goddess, just like we were before it happened."

"It?"

Your father lost our respect awhile ago too, though he was not the one who attached this demon 'guardian' to us.

"Speaking of guardians and my father, why isn't Ethan here instead of-augh!" she fell to her knees grasping her head.

There was tremendous tightness in her chest, forcing her limbs to draw inwards into reclusion like a dying spider. Merybel's stomach sank. "N-Nina are you alright?"

Any color she had in her face before was long gone. "W-why do I keep getting this feeling of hopelessness every time I think of them?" asked the wyndian in almost a whisper. "Chasta. Ethan. I can't..." she swallowed a lump in her throat, failed to steady her trembling form. "I-I think I never wish to unseal whatever this is."

Tiny arms wrapped around her from the back. Somehow she felt the presence of the voice embracing her as well. "We're going to get through this," said the faerie to her gently. Scents of sizzling meat made their way into the tent. Ladon's shadow stood presumably to come tell them breakfast was ready. Mery didn't have much time. She made the wyndian look her in her eyes. "I'm going to have to ask you to be strong for us, Nina. I know it's hard, and it's going to get harder before it gets easier, but we really are on an important journey and I want to make damn sure every single one of us dummies makes it to the finish! You want to see Ryu again right?"

Nina nodded slowly and sniffed, knew she needed to do everything she could to bottle away the undertow of misery eating away at her having neither a beginning nor an end she could understand. She just had to be strong.

For Ryu.

For Everyone.

The voice's embrace was the strongest, filling Nina with the kind of feelings she'd always thought she'd have for Ethan, but realized now nothing with him could ever compare. It's love cut deep, intertwined her with a sense of belonging and safety that made it for a moment unbearable Ryu wasn't there to share it with her.

Wait.

Merybel watched the wyndian smile with more emotion than she'd seen in awhile. "A bit of a shock to the system, that dream you made me have you dummy." she said, wrapping her arms around herself. "Gods...I didn't know how lonely it would be without you. We're going to have to figure out how to deal with that. Yes. Yes. I remember you now, my stupid love."

It took everything Mery had to hold back her elation. Ladon popped his head into the tent. "Come, have a bite to eat," he said failing to meet Nina's eyes when she slinked past him.

Avert your eyes from him. Earlier it was embarrassing for you to hold his gaze, keep that up.

Nina sat down on a log near Ladon's cooking fire and helped herself to some meat. The dragon took some for himself and sat down beside her. "Make sure to eat your fill. We're going to push our limits today, just in case we get...distracted...again."

Thinking about him fighting yesterday suddenly made it hard for the wyndian to swallow her food. She remembered the voice in her head was Ryu; she remembered vividly the day she found him underground wyndia and being possessed. She remembered their unconditional love, that he would do anything and everything in his power to keep her safe. What she didn't remember, however was any mention of the Kaiser, no inkling of any combat that she'd ever faced, no foe she'd ever killed. Blood was still turning her innocent stomach. It tortured Ryu to know she was eventually going to have to face all those feelings again.

"You said before we would get to Drakken faster if we met up with dragons," said the wyndian struggling to keep all this sustenance down. "Why don't we just surrender ourselves rather than keep traversing this cursed place." She didn't want to see anymore biological fountains and she couldn't get over the feeling something in the forest was telling them to get the hell out, that they were trespassing and every bit of blood spilled on this land was disrespect.

Ladon's face went wooden. "Do you feel the anger of nature here as well? I suppose you would. Wyndian's are magical creatures after all."

She caught herself looking at him. Gods he resembled Ryu so much it made her heart feel like it was shattering. Why did she keep getting this feeling her dragon was actually in really grave danger and his soul being coherent in her mind wasn't going to do a godsdamn thing but prolong her ignorance of what it was that Merybel was talking about-

"Nina? Nina!"

Nina!

Amber focused, she couldn't yet speak.

Dark brows knitted. "You seem to be very deep in thought. Tell me, is something trying to speak to you? It's okay, you can trust me, I won't find it odd if you tell me there is."

The wyndian took a deep breath, filled her vision with ground and her feet. "No," she said mustering a smile and glancing up after a moments pow wow with herself. "A voice talking to me? That's silly...Y-you know, I-I was wrong earlier, I-I'm still shook up over yesterday's battle, I'm really sorry, Ladon. I don't like the sight of blood... I keep zoning out and thinking...well forgive me if I don't wish to talk about it any longer." It was the truth.

His presence beside her bore down on her mentally like the heaviest gravity magic, pushing her soul deep into the ground, squeezing it until she felt it would crush her in real life. Her lungs burned with her not being able to catch her breath. Shadows formed by thick black hatred emanating from him covered everything in sight. Glowing emerald peered at her through a forest of wild hair. Cold hands held her arms, this...feeling...his aura awakened clawed her uneasiness away into pure terror.

What the HELL was sealed away inside of her?!

Please try not to remember it.

Everything's going to be okay.

Everything's going to be okay.

Nina blinked. She was back. Ladon looked relieved instead of like a demon. "I'm...I"m alright." she said shakily standing up. "This whole journey is just tiring. I-I'm a princess after all, Ladon. I'm not used to all of this traveling."

"Of course," he said, moving to gather more of their things. "Put out the fire for me will you? Once I grab your tent we'll leave."

Merybel hovered to her staring at the fire crackling before her. Little bits of leftover meat smoked as they slowly became charcoal. "Everything's going to be okay." whispered the faerie softly to her. Maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as she thought.

Ryu was the only thing holding Nina's sanity together right now.

She really hoped everything was going to be okay.

A/N: Hey look I finally ended something on a somewhat happy note for you guys lol. It was also pretty fun having Merybel be the main character for a bit. I feel like a broken record when I say this, but I'm still continuously in awe of how people have been following this for so many years. I hope it's still of the same quality, I don't have a beta reader atm.
Stay cool and safe this summer everyone. I might have a little bit more free time coming up soon so hopefully I can keep writing. It really does put me in a "happy place" to work on this fic so thank you again for all the motivation!

Also I got bored and doodled an Ethan and Ryu, it's posted on my Twitter bayneapril1 if you wanna take a look.