--Written by Naki
"Whoa," Claira remarked as they entered Lohan.
Looking up and down the deserted streets, Albert added, "It's like a ghost town."
Dart felt uncomfortable, and Haschel spoke what Dart was thinking.
"This town is normally all a bustle. Where is everybody?"
"They're in hiding."
A dark-haired woman jumped down from a roof of a nearby building. "This city is under martial law. No one but my people are allowed on the streets."
Lavitz flashed a questioning glance at Dart, and Albert jsut about exploded.
"What?" Albert yelled. "Who gave you the authority to command this city under martial law?"
The woman only glanced at him in indifference. "Charle Frahma and Queen Emille. There, I've answered your question, now leave this city before you're arrested."
"Why should I?" Albert countered coolly. "I wish not to sound degrading, but if I must, I will. I will only say this once; I will not be commanded or arrested in my country."
The woman tucked an offending strand of hair behind her ear. "So, you're King Albert. Queen Emille has spoken highly of you. I apologize for my earlier actions."
She turned to leave without anything further.
"How rude of her!" Meru said in a low voice to Claira.
"She's always been blunt like that," Claira said, watching her go.
"What do you mean?" Meru asked.
"She's only a little older..." Claira muttered. She suddenly pushed past Dart, and called out. "Wait!"
The woman stopped and turned around, crossing her arms. "Yes?"
Claira recognized the impatient tone and smiled. That was characteristic of her.
"Well, what do you want?" The woman nearly barked.
"Your name's Claire Feld, right?" Claira asked.
The woman froze. "Yes. How...did you know?"
"I have my ways..." Claira said. "Mom."
Claire's eyes widened as she covered her mouth with a gloved hand. "Claira..."
Claira ran up and embraced her mother.
Watching the reunion, Meru tugged on Dart's arm.
"Dart, isn't that your mom, too?" She asked. "I remember you saying something about your mom's name being Claire."
Dart couldn't believe his eyes. He wasn't an orphan. He never was. Not even when his father died two years ago.
He walked over to the pair, waiting to be noticed. Claire finally looked over to him, and her eyes widened again.
"Dart?" She asked tentatively. Dart nodded and embraced her.
Claire pulled away and looked up into his face with a look of disbelief. "I thought you were dead."
"And I thought you were dead," Dart countered. Claire smiled.
"I guess we fooled ourselves," she said.
"Claire?"
Claire turned to acknowledge the voice. It belonged to a young woman about Dart's age.
"Hi Lily," Claire said, wiping her eyes.
Lily had dark brown hair that cascaded down her back and she had blue eyes. Her hair was bound loosely in the middle. She looked wide-eyed at Dart.
"Who is that?" She blurted out like a small child. "He looks exactly like Zieg!"
"Yeah!" Claira exclaimed. "Momma, where's Zieg?"
"Um, he should be with Guaraha," Claire replied.
"Guaraha!" Meru said.
Claire looked over at Meru with a curious look on her face. Meru ran up to her.
"Where is Guaraha?" Meru asked, getting into Claire's face.
"Who are you?" Claire asked, feeling uncomfortable around the hyper Meru.
"I'm Meru!" She smiled. "Where's Guaraha?"
"Momma, take us to Zieg please," Claira said, taking hold of Dart's arm.
"Who's Zieg?" Dart asked, feeling hopelessly lost.
"Our brother," Claira answered.
Claire looked from Dart to Claira. "You don't remember your brother, do you Dart?"
Dart shook his head.
"Then you're in for the surprise of your life!" Claira smiled.
Claire led them through a series of doors and passages before coming to a large room. Many people filled this room. Most of them were Winglies.
"Who are they?" Claira asked her mother.
"They are loyal to Lady Charle. This is about a third of her Winglies, though. The other two-thirds are in Bale, protecting the capital from any other attacks."
The blue-eyed brunette from earlier moved next to Dart.
"What's your name again?" Dart asked.
"Lily," she answered. She looked over at Claira. "You've sure grown, Claira."
Claira smiled at her. "It's been a long time, Lily. Have you and Zieg tied the knot yet?"
Lily shook her head. "No. Not yet."
"Oh! Why is he waiting?" Claira said, her voice toned with aggravation.
Lily shrugged. "We've talked about it plenty of times."
Haschel tapped Dart on the shoulder. "We're missing one."
"Uh, yeah, Kongol said he would wait outside," Dart answered.
"No. I know that. We're still missing one," Haschel said.
Dart took count; he closed his eyes and groaned softly in exasperation. "Meru..."
Suddenly, over the commotion of the occupants of the room, came...
"OH MY GOD!!"
Everything stopped. You could hear a pin drop.
Without thinking, Dart immediately rubbed his eyes and said again, "Meru..."
Meru was accompanied by Guaraha, and a young Human man with blonde hair. She stood stock still, staring at the blonde man.
"She's embarrassing..." Dart muttered.
Lily looked up at him. "No. I understand why she said that."
"Why?" Dart asked.
Lily nodded to the blonde man. "That's Zieg."
Meru had Zieg by the wrist and practically dragged him over to their group.
"Mr. Zieg Feld Jr., meet Mr. Dart Feld," Meru said dramatically.
The room fell silent again.
The two men stared at each other. Dart was speechless.
However, Zieg wasn't. "Mom said I had a brother, but she said he was dead."
"I had no idea I had any family," Dart said, finding his voice. Zieg reached out and gripped Dart's hand in his own, shaking it firmly.
"Isn't this weird?" Meru blurted out. "Dart's got a twin!"
Claira smiled at her. "That's what I thought when I first saw Dart."
Zieg released Dart's hand and turned to Claira. "Little sis?"
Claira nodded. Zieg enveloped her in a hug. After pulling away from her brother, she felt a hand descend on her head.
"Small Lady?"
"Guaraha!" Claira said, turning around.
"I guess I can't call you that anymore," Guaraha smirked. "You're not so small anymore."
"Zieg," Lily said, walking up. "How's Shana?"
"She's fine," Zieg answered. "The contractions have gone away for now."
That caught Dart's attention.
"Shana?" He asked.
Zieg looked at him. "Yeah. She was staying in Bale, but she decided to come here to see the doctor before having her baby."
"Where is she?" Dart asked.
A young Wingly female walked up and handed Zieg a piece of paper. He scanned it, and looked at his brother.
"Who is she to you?"
"My wife."
"Well," Zieg said, tapping the paper, "Queen Emille said to guard her with our lives. I'm not quite sure she mentioned who her husband was..."
"Zieg, did she have a small animal with her?" Claira asked.
"You mean Phoenix?"
Claira nodded. "He's mine."
The young Wingly girl tugged lightly on Zieg's arm. "Mr. Zieg, you're needed."
"Uh...Lily, could you take him to her?" He motioned to the girl next to him. "I gotta take care of somethin'."
"Sure."
Lily led Dart out of the room, and down a semi-dark passageway.
"I'm glad to see Claira is safe," she said.
"At first I thought she was going to be cocky and hyper..." Dart said. "But, that was long before I found out she was my sister."
"How'd that happen?" Lily asked.
"She was kidnapped by Winlies and taken to Death City Mayfil. She met our dad there..." Dart trailed off. "It sort of shocked me to hear that, considering I saw dad die."
"Zieg doesn't remember his father," Lily said. "And I'm an orphan. Claire practically raised me."
She stopped at a door and opened it, sticking her head in.
"Shana? You have a visitor."
Dart immediately recognized the voice from within.
"Okay. I feel fine right now."
Lily moved out of the way and Dart stuck his head in.
"Hey," he said, smiling.
Her face lit up immediately. She recognized his short, messy blonde hair and red body armor that denoted her husband, and not his brother. "Dart!"
He came in, shut the door behind him and shed his armor. He hurried over to the bed on which she sat up in, and gently embraced her.
He sat down on the edge of the bed as Shana rearranged the pillows that propped her up.
Dart placed a hand on Shana's swollen stomach.
"You've grown," he remarked. Shana took his hand in her hands.
"I heard you started having contractions," Dart said seriously.
Shana nodded. "Yeah. They started yesterday, but they come and go."
"Do they hurt?"
She nodded. "They were unbearable sometimes."
Dart gently squeezed her hand. "Don't worry...I'm here now."
Shana's face scrunched up and she squeezed Dart's hand hard. She cried out in pain.
This scared Dart. Shana normally had a high tolerance for pain.
Shana's grip on Dart's hand lessened, and she slumped back against the pillows.
"Are you okay?" Dart asked.
"It was just...a contraction," Shana said.
"That was a pretty ban one," Dart commented, still concerned.
"I can deal with it," Shana said defiantly.
"Shana, I'm not trying to treat you like a child," Dart caressed her cheek with his hand. "You don't have to act so strong."
Shana nodded. "I wanna lie down."
Dart helped her rearrange her pillows and eased her down on her back.
A scratching at the window caught their attention. Phoenix wanted inside.
Dart leaned over and unlatched the window. Phoenix pushed the window open, allowing a cool breeze inside.
Shana softly patted Phoenix's head, causing a small meow from him.
Dart stared out of the window, the wind playing with his long bangs. He saw something in the corner of his eye that caught his attention. He leaned over Shana's legs to get a closer look outside.
He observed two Winglies as they landed on a rooftop a building away from the one Dart and Shana occupied. The one thing that alarmed Dart was what the Winglies wore. Their attire matched the uniforms the Winglies at Snowdrift Abbey wore.
Dart stood, slammed the window closed, and shut the curtains. This plunged the room into darkness.
"Dart, what...?" Shana said, staring into the pitch black of the room. "Dart, where are you?"
A hand closed over hers. "I'm here. Can you walk? We need to leave this room. Come on, get Phoenix, and let's go."
As they left the room, Shana was carrying a confused Phoenix and a small book.
"The doctor said I should stay in bed," Shana informed him. "Why are we doing this? What did you see outside?"
"We were followed," Dart muttered crossly.
"Huh?" Shana asked.
"When we were in Mille Seseau, we stayed a couple of nights at Snowdrift Abbey. While we were there, the abbey was attacked by Winglies who wore gray uniforms. I just saw two of them outside wearing the exact same thing."
There was a sudden explosion and the door to the room they just left blew off its hinges and smacked into the wall clear across the corridor.
"I think they saw us!" Dart exclaimed, whirling around to look behind them. He looked at Shana; she couldn't run. He swept her up in his arms and tore down the hall until he found the large room from before.
Dart kicked the door and it burst inward with such a force it slammed into the wall and left a deep depression in it. He set Shana down on her feet and slammed the door closed again, leaning his back up against it.
"Oh, boy. I hope they didn't see where we went," Dart muttered, noticing the many pairs of eyes on them.
"Dart, it's almost next to impossible not to see you," Shana said. She tapped his chest plate. "With all this red armor on, you're a walking target."
"What was that explosion?" Zieg demanded, still weary of the man who was his newfound brother.
"It was the bad g--" Just as Dart said that, something very large or very powerful slammed into the door from the outside. He was thrown a bit forward with the door, however, the door remained shut. "Shana! Get back!"
She hurried out of the way, retreating back to Claire as Dart moved away from the door and drew his sword.
"If they want a fight, I'll give it to them," Dart muttered. Zieg came up, also armed with a sword.
Zieg exchanged a glance with his brother and smirked. "Great minds think alike, huh?"
Dart smirked back. "Yeah. I guess."
The doorway burst open, sending the doors flying. Screams rent the air.
Squinting through the dust, Dart caught sight of a gray uniform.
"Get ready," he said to Zieg.
As the dust settled, a round number of about ten Winglies stood in a line formation of two rows.
"What is this?" Dart heard Guaraha mutter from behind him.
"We were sent to destroy this facility," one Wingly in gray said. "And to pick up the one called the Moon Child."
Zieg narrowed his eyes. "Then you have to get through us first."
"That should be easy," the Wingly in gray said.
"Wanna bet?" Dart said, feeling an old familiar energy rise in him. A red light at his chest began to resonate and a moment later, there stood the Red-Eye Dragoon.
Without waiting, Dart kicked off and practically flew into the crowd of uniformed Winglies. They retreated out into the corridor and out a window. Dart followed. The next thing Dart saw was, unbelievably, Matthias. He intercepted the fleeing Winglies, reared his fist back, and punched the lead Wingly nearly through the head. As the dead Wingly fell to the ground, almost decapitated, Matthias looked at his hand and forearm, which was covered in blood and other unmentionable stuff.
"Ugh...!" Matthias shook his arm once, flinging the gross matter off.
Dart gave chase to the others, who suddenly turned and began attacking the lone Dragoon.
"I don't think so," Dart heard Matthias say. Dart saw Matthias zoom past him and continue fighting with the Winglies, his lance still strapped to his back.
A flash of green whizzed past Dart's left side and Lavitz hovered in front of him. He turned and gave Dart a thumbs up, holding his spear in the other hand.
Dart smirked. "Thanks for joining us, Green-Tusked Dragoon."
"Anytime," Lavitz answered. He turned and lashed out with a magic spell.
As Dart landed on the wide window sill of the window he had exited on just minutes before, the effects of the Dragoon Spirit wore off and he returned to his normal state. Lavitz joined him, and then Matthias, who was busy wiping the gore off his arms and clothes. Lavitz made a rather sickly face at him, which only procured a laugh from Matthias.
"Too gross for you, Lavitz?" Matthias laughed. Lavitz ignored him.
They turned around to see Albert tear from the large room. He ran towards them, his face a picture of urgency.
"Dart!" He said after catching his breath. "Something happened while you two were gone..."
"What?" Dart asked.
"Shana's gone into labor," Albert said. "You'd better hurry. She needs you."
Lavitz suddenly wished he could've gotten a picture of Dart's face at that moment. If it weren't so serious a situation, it would've been funny. Dart tore down the hall, skidding to a stop so he could turn through the doorway.
"I guess men do crazy things when their wives go into labor," Lavitz commented.
Albert chuckled. "That reminds me of what happened when Emille went into labor."
Lavitz looked at him. "Do tell. I'm in the mood for a good laugh."
Albert smiled as he recalled the tale. "It was in the middle of the night. Emille nudged me awake and said, 'Albert, my water broke. I'm having the baby.' I look over my shoulder and give her a sleepy 'Huh?' She lays a hand on my shoulder and shakes me a bit, saying again, only this time louder, 'I'm having the baby!' I'm awake immidiately, come to my senses and practically yell, 'Oh shit!'"
Lavitz fell out. Matthias chuckled.
"I don't think I've ever heard you cuss before," Lavitz said.
"That's what I thought about Emille before she went into labor," Albert said, nodding. "She said some words I thought I would only hear out of the mouth of a hoodlum."
Lavitz stared at Albert. "Seriously...?"
"Not only that," Albert continued. "She called me some pretty nasty things too."
"She cussed you out," Lavitz said with a tone of disbelief in his voice. Albert nodded.
"I've heard worse," Matthias piped up.
Lavitz and Albert looked at him.
"You two shoulda been there when Rose's sister had her kid," Matthias said. "If her husband was alive, he woulda died then and there, I can guarantee that. After that incident, I looked at Zieg and wished him luck."
"Rose had a sister?" Albert asked.
Matthias nodded. "Twin sister."
Albert and Lavitz exchanged simultaneous glances.
A group of people had congragated outside the room Shana occupied. Meru paced back and forth, irritating Haschel.
"Would you please, for the tenth time, stop doing that?" Haschel almost barked.
"Don't be harsh on her," Albert said, nearly quoting him.
Haschel glared at him.
"I'm sorry, I just can't wait to see if it's a boy or a girl!" Meru said.
"Meru, you're gonna hafta wait just like the rest of us," Claira said. "I'm gonna be an aunt."
"And I a grandmother," Claire said. She looked down at her other son and his significant other, who sat side-by-side on the floor, up against the wall. "I thought I'd never be one, just because Lily and Zieg won't get married."
"Mom, we'll get married," Zieg started.
"Eventually," Lily finished.
A shout came from the room, followed by the sound of other voices.
"I wonder what's going on," Meru said.
"Believe me Meru," Claire said. "Child birth is extremely painful."
Meru made a face when the next shout came. "I can wait to have kids."
The next shout was almost a scream, followed by Shana yelling, "It hurts!" This was accompanied by a loud stream of profanities from her. Meru's jaw dropped.
"I never knew Shana knew words like that," she said.
Lavitz chuckled at the thought of Albert's story.
"What?" Meru asked. "What's so funny?"
"Ask King Albert," Lavitz said with a smile.
"What?" Albert asked. "About when Emille had my son?"
Lavitz nodded.
Albert smiled. "Now that I look back on it, it's funny. It wasn't so funny at the time."
Loud voices saying indecipherable words emanated from the room. A moment later, a baby's cry sounded.