"Judgement" by Luke's Dragon

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A/n

Was I the only one who actually cried the first time they played this game? God Nanami's death was so sad, as opposed to some games where you just don't feel anything when another annoying character dies. Apart from either being annoyed that she had my best armor on (Aeris) or just general relief that they won't force themselves into the party anymore (Gremio) But I was really sad when Nanami died. Especially because first time out I only got 106 stars thanks to Gilbert and Clive…Grrr

~~~

Chapter 7 Shattered Dreams

"I want to be remembered as the girl who always smiles, and the one who could always brighten up your day even if she couldn't brighten her own." N.H.

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people stay a while and leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same"

~~~

It had been over a month since the Dragon Army had defeated Necrolord and liberated the Tinto region; all the wounds that Hazel had sustained in the battles had healed now. Kasumi too had recovered from all the battles although she had a small scar across her left cheek from the adventures. Hazel thought it looked wonderful, although he was sure that perhaps he was a fairly biased observer. Kasumi had been down about the whole affair, in a way she blamed herself for not stopping Reo when he had left. Hazel had tried to persuade her there was nothing either of them could have done, save what they had but to little avail. She was amazingly stubborn when she got an idea into her head; still he had little room to talk in that department.

If Reo had actually left that day Hazel had every intention of taking leadership of the Dragon Army, he had wondered just how well Shu would have taken to that idea. Much as he admired the strategists intellect Hazel did not like the way he tended to treat people as tools, especially Reo and thought of him as little more than a poor Matihu clone. Shu would have found Hazel an all together tougher leader to deal with, but it didn't matter now, even though a part of him would have dearly loved the challenge.

Still Reo hadn't left, later he had told Hazel that the only reason he had run as far as he had done was because of Nanami. Reo was worried about her, a feeling Hazel was all too aware of, there had been in the Liberation Army people he had worried about, the thing about fighting was often it happened so quickly, one minute they were stood next to you, and the next… Hazel stopped himself, there had been people who were willing to give their lives to protect him and had paid the ultimate price gladly. He got that feeling looking at the way Nanami acted with Reo, like Gremio she wouldn't think twice about risking her own life for her 'little brother'.

Reo hated that, the way she tended to tag along wherever he went, he had complained to Hazel that he wad a true rune, he was the leader of the Dragon Army and she still insisted on tucking him in at night. After regaining his composure following a laughter fit Hazel had told Reo that in his opinion it was only because she cared.

On that same theme he was worried about Kasumi, not that she couldn't look after herself in a fight, more a case of troubling dreams and the way Soul Eater seemed make him feel an incredibly intense feeling of pain, no maybe not pain, more passion whenever she was around. It was an entirely new sensation, and maybe one not totally down to his rune either. But he was still concerned. The closer the two of them had become, the more extreme the dreams were becoming. Every night for the past week she had died in his dreams and Soul Eater had taken her, every night he had woken up screaming and couldn't get back to sleep no matter how hard he tried. That was one of the many prices his power came with, although in the scale of things it was one of the lesser evils.

The following morning the Dragon Army would march to the Matilda Region and attack Rockaxe castle, this was one mission Hazel didn't want to go on. He wasn't sure why, he hadn't had any bad dreams about it, they were all about Kasumi, and he didn't even have a feeling that his own life would be in danger, more a general foreboding that something would go wrong. Just like that time at the prison so long ago, he hadn't wanted to go, he certainly hadn't wanted Gremio to go, although that was more a case of him being annoyed with Gremio's constant fussing and then… Huh, strange how little traces of memory just hit you when you're least expecting it. Still he would have to go with them, otherwise if something happened to Reo or Kasumi he'd never forgive himself. besides at the Greenhill battle he had fought with Kasumi and the others from the Toran Republic, it had been quite a thrill to be leading a unit again, and for the first time in a long while he had felt at peace.

It worried him a little, he had met people who only lived to fight, the thrill of battle being the only thing that could quiet all the thoughts in their minds. Hazel did not want to end up like that, but with Soul Eater as with most true runes there seemed to be very little he could do apart from hang on and just deal with whatever happened. Was the rune evil in itself? Maybe not, Ted and his grandfather before him had given their own lives to protect it, but Hazel was still worried. Soul Eater was called the rune of life and death, but all Hazel had ever seen it do was kill, if there were any powers of life in the rune he could not fathom them out. Maybe it was him, maybe there was a darkness inside him that made the rune act the way it did. It was all too confusing, following the Liberation Army's victory he had traveled the world searching for an answer but no one seemed to understand true runes. Joshua of the dragon knights bore a rune but the powers of his own Dragon Rune were very different to Soul Eater and couldn't really help, and if Luc knew anything helpful he certainly wasn't forth coming with any answers.

A sound on the stairs disturbed him, ever since an attempt on Reo's life a week or so earlier everyone had been on a state of alert. Moving his hand slowly to his staff Hazel waited in silence for whomever it was to get close enough to be recognized or pummeled.

"Lord Hazel… Are you there?"

It was only Reo, Hazel relaxed his grip on his weapon. A lot of people commented on how much Reo and Hazel were alike, how they could almost be brothers. Hazel had just laughed at the idea, apart from dressing alike and the whole 'kid with rune leads army' thing there wasn't much in common. Hazel was convinced he hadn't been so much of a wuss when he had been a leader.

Maybe that was a little unfair but Reo seemed so much younger than Hazel remembered himself being. He had mentioned this to Flik and Viktor in the tavern one night, Flik had just laughed and said that a lot could change in three years. Viktor on the other hand had practically roared the place down with laughter and promptly regaled anyone who would listen with anecdotes about Hazel. some of which Hazel was sure only Gremio knew about, of course he wouldn't have put it past Viktor to have bribed Gremio whilst he was still alive for some of the more humiliating childhood stories. Still it had been fun in a way, Flik had tried defending him with a story about Viktor and a certain shop in Muse, which had prompted the obligatory retaliation about a date Flik had been forced into.

"Reo". It wasn't much of a response but Hazel wasn't really in the mood tonight.

"Can I talk to you for a while?" It didn't look like there was any getting out of it though.

"Sure" Hazel relaxed slightly but was still only in the mood for one word answers.

"I've been having lots of bad dreams lately"

"Yeah, about Jowy and Nanami, you said"

It came out far harsher than Hazel had intended.

"Yeah, I'm really worried"

"Worrying won't help, if you have to fight Jowy, then so be it"

"But… But he's my friend"

"He sent an assassin to kill you, he set up that trap at Muse, do I need to go on?"

"No… you're right I guess… it's just hard you know?"

"Yeah I know how you feel. I suppose you know about my father"

"I heard about it… Hazel, how did you do it?"

"I don't know, it just had to be done I suppose. It helped he killed one of my best friends though, I guess I focussed on that and the cause rather than who it was"

They sat in silence for a while, the stars were shinning and it was another wonderful night. The nights had been wonderful lately, in sharp contrast with the days which tended be painful, sharp and filled with violence. Hazel was grateful that he could relax in the evenings, apart from when people started bothering him and digging up the past. No it wasn't Reo's fault and the past would have still been there even without Reo bringing it up. Besides he could deal with it, it had all happened in the past and it was all over and done with. Then why did it feel so bad just thinking about it. Maybe because he couldn't help the feeling that history was about to repeat itself all over again.

"Are you listening Hazel?"

"Huh?"

"I guess not"

"Sorry, I was thinking"

"Can I ask something else?"

"Sure"

"It's about the runes. In Tinto I collapsed because of my rune, I'm a little scared"

"Yeah, power always comes with a price"

"I think I felt Jowy though, when I blacked out, it was like he was holding me again"

"I suppose your runes are linked, maybe that's it"

"Yeah I guess so. Thanks Hazel"

"Anytime"

Reo left Hazel to sit alone with his thoughts, the battle with his father had been one of the hardest things he had ever had to do. He had had so many doubts before going into the fight, everyone had done all they could to help him out. Then it had come to the battle, where they had been cut down by Teo's armored cavalry. They had to run, a full-scale retreat, Pahn had stayed behind to hold Teo off as long as he could, only to die at Teo's hand. Then they had got the fire spears, Odessa's final gift as Flik had termed them and they had won. The duel with Teo had been hard, not just because Teo was a master swordsman either. Hazel knew then what Reo would be going through he had heard that Jowy and Reo had been as close as friends could get. Even that day in Greenhill Reo had tried to reason with Jowy but to no avail. Hazel had totally failed to notice one of the things Reo had said that might have made the upcoming battles even harder.

***

The following morning the Dragon Army were scattered around the fields of Matilda, Jowy and the Highland Army were facing them head on, to the north Matlida knights had taken the high ground and more Highlanders led by Culgan had snuck up behind them. Reo and Viktor's units supported by Adya and Teressa's had headed to engage the knights and secure the northern area. Flik and Boris had gone to engage Culgan's group whilst the rest of the army were trying to hold the main forces. Shu had some sort of plan which involved holding them as long as possible.

Hazel was a little concerned that the most powerful units had been taken away from the main battle. It made little sense having the most powerful units dealing with the weaker flanking enemies, whilst in the middle they had very little in the way of manpower. He was baffled as to why Shu had allowed it; there had certainly been some sort of argument about it that morning before they had left. Hazel was fairly sure it was because he didn't want to have any of the most powerful units engaging with Jowy. This was worrying, if the whole strategy was going to be put into jeopardy by Reo's personal feelings. Still Shu did not seem the sort to let his plans be ruined, it probably didn't matter what Reo did, all they needed was to hold them. Great.

And then all hell broke loose, one of the regiments in front of them broke and fled, panicked men running for their lives, Hazel felt a ripple of fear pass through his own regiment, wondering what could have beaten the usually so calm Commander Gilbert. Looking up Hazel saw bearing down upon them the royal standard of Highland, the imperial guard lead by their king, Jowy Blight were charging straight for them. The power of such skilled troops charging them with lances would be far too much for his group to take, quickly Hazel ordered everyone to scatter and attack in a loose formation. Blocks of men looked all very nice on maps but in real life sometimes you just had to go every man for himself. Or woman he though looking over at Kasumi, or at least where she had been moments ago.

Pushing himself forward Hazel ran towards the head of the column, free to duck and weave he was just about quick enough to dodge the main thrust of the knight's charge. Taking a few warriors off their horses with a few good hits from his staff Hazel was feeling like they had a real chance to break the Highlanders here and now, when he felt a blade hit him square between the shoulders.

Tasting his own blood Hazel spun around to find himself face to face with the King of Highland. There was little time for introductions, spinning his staff Hazel launched a furious attack, only to have it parried, the sword Jowy carried just stopping the attack. Yelling a war cry Hazel launched a massive attack, summing all his strength the blow crashed through Jowy's guard knocking him to the floor. Hazel did not hear what Jowy said, he moved in to deliver the finishing blow as a blade of pure black energy formed around Jowy's right hand and launched itself at Hazel. There was nothing he could do, the power was too much for him to block and he couldn't get out of the way in time. Staring at the black light Hazel's own rune screamed into life launching its own devastating power to counter Jowy's technique. Either Hazel had more control over his rune, or Soul Eater was just more powerful, because Jowy's attack was blown to oblivion and Hazels carried on slamming into Jowy's defenseless body. Maybe it had lost some of its terrible power in stopping Jowy's attack because it didn't kill him. Jowy was grabbed by one of his guards and carried away from Hazel. Cursing to himself Hazel focused and joined the rest of his unit in wiping out the rest of the Highland guards, they had just finished off the last one in time to see a mass of Dragon banners appearing over the horizon. Hazel was as surprised by the re-enforcement's has the Highlanders, who had to flee to avoid being slaughtered by the now vastly superior Dragon Army.

***

Hazel turned to see how many men had been lost and was relieved to see that there were not too many from their side lying on the plains of Matilda, he felt a tap on his shoulder and spun around to see Kasumi smiling at him.

"Looks like we did it" Hazel took a moment to look her over, she was just as beautiful as ever, and didn't seem to be hurt.

"Yes, despite our leader"

"Huh?"

"Nothing, I was just concerned about our strategy, but I guess Shu knew what would happen"

"Don't be so hard on Reo, you should know what he's going through"

"Yeah but… Well… Umm…"

Kasumi kissed him lightly on the cheek and then laughed, the way her face always lit up when she did that made Hazel forget about the burning pain in his back as they marched onwards towards Rockaxe Castle.

Taking cover outside the castle Shu outlined his plan, a small group would sneak in and burn down the flag whilst the rest of the army held the Highlanders at bay long enough. Reo would lead the group along with Hazel who volunteered immediately, Kasumi also joined the group along with Ayda and Clive. They were about to sneak in when they were joined by Nanami who insisted on coming along, despite Reo's protests that it was too dangerous she would not listen and followed anyway. The party snuck through the deserted streets of Rockaxe to the secret basement entrance to the main castle.

Hazel had lost track of the amount of times he had been in places like this, dungeons and castles were something of a second home to him, there was just something about wandering around dark dangerous places that was just too much fun to give up. There were mercifully few knights, most being out doing battle with the Dragon Army at that very moment, the few that were on duty were cut down quickly and quietly, if anything it was all too easy. Like Sonere Prison the memory came flashing back to him, it was just like that time when they were all preparing to attack the prison, Viktor had told him not to go, he had told him it would be dangerous! But he didn't listen, he had wanted to protect Hazel. Damn why didn't Gremio listen to him it wasn't fair! And now he had the horrible feeling that the same thing was about to happen again. He was still in a rage when the next party of knights ran into them. The best anyone could say about them was that their deaths were brief.

The party moved through the castle, keeping well back from Hazel who unleashed the power of his rune on anything that crossed their path, moving upwards they arrived on the top floor of the castle. and that was when the price for using his power caught up with him, knocking all the air out of him lungs Hazel fell to the floor.

"Hazel!"

"I'm all right Kasumi…just… tired"

How he hated lying to her like that, but now was not the time to worry her about the rune. A shout from Clive stopped him worrying at least for a moment.

"Guys, there's a lot of them coming!"

It was true, a large group of heavily armored white knights were running towards them. Hazel took a look at their situation, this was a good defensive location only one way in, so if he stood in the doorway there was no way past.

"Reo, you and Nanami get the flag, we'll deal with these guys"

"Alright, good luck"

"You too… and take care, okay?"

With that Reo and Nanami went up the stairs to the top of the castle, the rest of them took up positions in the doorway, Hazel and Kasumi stood side by side weapons drawn ready to take the enemy head on. Ayda and Clive took aim ready to provide long range back up, feeling Soul Eater stir Hazel knew this was going to be tough.

How much easier the fight would have been if he could have used his rune, Hazel reflected but he'd used far too much power up already today. It took most of his strength to hold the power in at the best of times but after unleashing so much power as he had today Soul Eater was ready for more action. Gritting his teeth Hazel resisted the urge to used his rune and attacked with his staff instead. He was grateful for Clive's gun, Ayda's arrows and his staff were next to useless against the full plate armor that the knights wore. all he could do was hold them off while Kasumi attacked the weak spots on the Highlanders necks and Clive just blew them away, their armor no match for Storm.

And then it was all over, they had won against the odds again, no one was dead, although his back and shoulders hurt from earlier, and he had gotten through another tunic, this one was torn across the front from a wild slash he had failed to parry. Kasumi smiled and nodded towards the stairs, Hazel responded likewise and they ran onwards, hearts pounding with adrenaline and anticipation.

***

Hazel and Kasumi ran up to the main balcony, only to see Reo kneeling on the cold stone floor, holding Nanami's limp body in his arms, his head buried in her shoulder giving the occasional sob. Motioning to Kasumi to stay back he walked over to Reo, he tried to ask what had happened but received no response. Somehow he remembered the mission, he sent Kasumi to run back to the main gates to find a healer whilst Ayda and Clive were sent on to burn down the flag. Hazel looked around at the devastation for the first time noticing the dead knights and the leader of the knights, killed by a massive blast of energy. A massive blast of energy that he was sure the Bright Shield Rune couldn't do. It looked more like something Soul Eater would have done.

Talking of Soul Eater he could feel it now, glowing warmly under his glove, it wanted Nanami. It had been so long since the rune had taken someone that Hazel doubted he could control it this time. No he could not let it take her soul, apologizing as he ran out of the room, Hazel slammed the heavy oak door shut and dropped to his knees. He barely noticed as Shu and Huan came running up the stairs, all he saw was a red mist covering his vision as his rune screamed at him. It wanted Nanami and would try to force Hazel to go near enough to her so it could claim her, but he would not go. He stayed well clear of her all the way back to the castle, he would have waited for news of her alone if Kasumi had not told him she wanted him to wait with her outside Dr Huan's office.

It was all like a bad dream, just like he had feared the past was repeating itself all over again and there was not a damn thing he could do about it. He barely registered Kasumi holding tightly onto his right hand, he didn't even notice how Soul Eater was beating slower now, almost in time with his own heartbeat. He only just noticed when Huan came out of his office and with two simple words, I'm sorry he made Reo's world collapse.

Reo ran out of the hall, leaving the rest of the Dragon Army to stand around in shocked silence, Hazel noticed that there was one young man who looked almost as shattered as Reo by the news. It all brought back memories of three years ago; Gremio had died doing the same thing as Nanami, protecting someone dear. It wasn't fair, why? Why did it have to be like this? Nanami had so much still to live for and now she was gone, never to see her home again, never to smile again or to fall in love. There was the faintest trace of a tear in his eye as he pushed through the crowd, totally ignoring Kasumi's protests as he went to look for Reo.