I don't own anything except the Takahari family, their Dragoon Spirits, Kenji Okamura, and Cassius

***

When Rose and I arrived at the entrance to the temple, Yuna and her guardians were already there. "Nice to see you up and around," Tidus said. "You weren't in too good shape when we got you here."

"Thank you for your help back there," Yuna said. "It would have been much more difficult if you hadn't been there."

I shrugged. "On the behalf of my group, you're welcome. But I didn't have much to do with it. That bloody bastard Cassius always did have a rotten sense of timing. So what did happen, anyway? I know Sin showed up and its spawn went wild, but I didn't see anything after that."

"When Sin appeared," Yuna began, "the Crusaders and Chocobo Knights began the attack. They held their own at first, but-"

"Sin killed 'em," Wakka finished. "Except for a few lucky ones, they just vanished."

"Incinerated," Ryan confirmed as he joined us. "It was like some kind of heat wave. One chocobo, three of the knights, and a handful of Crusaders escaped it. That was when the Al Bhed finally got their big ray gun working. At first it looked like it was going to get through to Sin, and then-"

"Sin retaliated," Lulu said, picking up the tale. "A part of the same barrier that killed the Crusaders cut through the base of the tower. There were no survivors."

"And none of Yevon's followers died," Auron cut in abruptly. "Kinoc has what he wanted: the infidels died in a massacre, while the faithful live on. He knew what would happen if Sin was fought in such a manner." He fell silent, having said his piece.

"I see." That Kinoc had deliberately sacrificed the Crusaders and Al Bhed as a propaganda tool didn't surprise me; from what I could see, none of the maesters were to be trusted. What did surprise me was Auron saying it in the first place. He'd been the guardian of Yuna's father, Braska, so I'd assumed he'd be a true-believer himself, if not on Wakka's level. "Well, anyway, what's our next stop?"

"Now we travel to the Moonflow, on the way to Guadosalam," Lulu answered. "From there, we will travel through the Thunder Plains, to Macalania."

"I'm ready when you are. Ryan?"

"Ready to walk and stalk," Ryan replied. "Killing optional, unless ordered."

"Cut the comedy." I turned to Karen. "You ready?"

"Just point me in the right direction and I'll be there first!" She was quite liable to do it, too. The only person I'd ever met with more enthusiasm for the world in general was Meru, and even the Blue-Sea Dragoon wasn't very fond of long walking trips.

"Hold on for a minute, Karen. At least wait for the rest of us to start moving." I looked at the final member of my group. "Ready, Rose?"

Rose smiled. "Do you really need to ask?"

"I guess not."

Kimahri was silent, as usual, and Yuna seemed to take this as assent. "Then let's go."

***

I hid a resigned sigh when, shortly after we left Djose, Wakka fell in next to me. "See, it's just like I told you. Machina are bad news. The only way to get rid of Sin is through repentance, yah?"

I shook my head. "I suppose I'll never convince you otherwise. I imagine you had something else to say, besides gloating?"

"Yeah. I don't think you should be traveling with us." Typical, blunt Wakka. Big surprise. "What would've happened if that vampire hadn't gone right for you? What if he'd attacked us?"

"Then you'd all be vampires yourselves now," I replied evenly. "That's generally the result of a vampire attack, unless they choose to make you into a snack, instead."

"Like I said, you're just making Yuna's pilgrimage more dangerous! You guys might be helpin' protect her, but you're bringing more problems than you're solving! You're just a bunch of troublemakers who-"

I turned abruptly, drawing Raiden-Ken in a flash and placing it against his throat, cutting off his rant. "One thing you need to learn, Wakka," I said, in an ice-cold voice. "And that thing is this: My patience is not without limit. If you try one more time to pin the blame for your world's troubles on myself, my siblings, or, especially, Rose, I will kill you. Is that clear!?"

Wakka gave a jerky nod, careful not to cut open his own throat on the razor-sharp katana that lay against it. I held it there a moment longer, then snapped it away and dropped it in its scabbard. "Now get out of my sight."

As Wakka staggered away, Rose chuckled at my side. "I was wondering when you'd do that. You don't normally tolerate that kind of rant for that long. I expected it days ago."

I laughed. "True, but I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, since he seems bright enough in other matters. Guess it was hopeless, though." I pulled Rose close and kissed her. "At least now he won't be bugging us so much, love."

She leaned against me. "There is that."

It was then that my Dragoon Spirit flared and I felt the surge of power. "Everybody, down!"

The world around me seemed to slow then. I'd long known that my reflexes were matched by very few people, even Winglies; it wasn't until I did some research on the subject that I'd discovered why: a combination of chemicals created within the body was responsible for the seeming slowdown people felt under certain circumstances such as sudden shock or fear. In reality, the chemical reaction causes your neural activity to speed up enormously. The slowdown is simply your perception of it. Normally, you didn't retain enough fine motor control to make use of it, and the effect tended to be brief.

But a few people in a generation could combine speed and control to produce blinding reflexes unmatched by any but another of their kind. And I was one of them.

It was because of this alone that I was able to hurl myself out of the path of the beam that came out of the sky like a divine spear. By the time I landed in a crouch, my Ingram machine pistol was already in my hand, pointed skyward at the Dragoon who was diving straight at me.

It was Cassius, of course. He had finally discovered the true nature of what he held, helped, no doubt, by my transformation on the beach. "Well, hello, Takahari. I've been expecting you."

I glared at him, rolling out of the way as he slammed into the ground. "Cassius," I growled. "I don't suppose this is a social call?"

He smiled. "No, I'm afraid not. Care for a rematch?" He held his gladius in one hand, while a cannon replaced his left. "Thank you for showing me how to use this little trinket, by the way. I might never have realized its true purpose had you not used one yourself."

"You're not welcome." With another display of speed, I holstered my gun and swept out Raiden-Ken. "This time there'll be no convenient cliff, buddy. And you've given me the breathing space I need for this!" I drew on the power of my own Dragoon Spirit, summoning the black flare of energy that left me with the Dragon Armor of a Dragon Knight.

The journey to know today begins.

A moment later, a second Dragoon hovered next to me. Rose, in the armor of the Black-Burst Dragoon. "You don't need to fight him alone this time, Ian."

"Thanks." I assumed a modified combat stance, focusing entirely on the attack. Defense was not an issue for me; the important thing was to kill him and kill him quickly. Then, taking a deep breath, I launched myself toward Cassius, drawing an intricate kuji pattern in the air with my free hand. "Divine Assault!"

"Die! Demon's Dance!" Rose's deadliest attack, modified for use midair, and in combination with my own maneuver, knocked the vampire back several feet.

"This," an unexpected voice cut in, "is for the fallen!" Auron leapt into the fight, with an overhead chop fit to cleave giants in half.

With Cassius in Dragoon form, it didn't kill him, but it did put a sizable crack in his armor, even causing a piece to break off entirely. "What!? How dare you!?" Cassius hit the ground hard, rolling with the impact. When he stood, it was clear his nose was broken. "So you've got help this time, eh, Takahari?" He gave a weak chuckle. "But it won't be enough to save you. Not from me."

The world wasn't through surprising me yet that day; the next voice was considerably more surprising than Auron's. "Perhaps this will change your mind, vampire." The cultured voice belonged to man wearing what at first appeared to be anachronistic clothing, a style that looked like it belonged to an age centuries past.

But I knew this particular gentleman, and couldn't imagine seeing him in anything else. "Alucard! What are you doing here!?"

"Doing my part to save you from this vermin, it would appear." He carried a broadsword, and wasn't afraid to use it. He faced Cassius unflinchingly. "Still alive, are you? We'll just have to change that."

If Cassius had been surprised before, when Auron walloped him, he was in shock now, a shock mixed with fury. "You! Half-breed bastard!" He was now literally shaking with anger and hatred. "Why Dracula never killed you himself, I'll never..."

Alucard shrugged. "A good question; I've tried to kill him before. But perhaps blood truly is thicker than water, and my father could never quite muster the strength to defeat his son in battle. But that's irrelevant, now. Ian," he said, turning, "do you have the Vampire Killer with you?"

I shook my head. "I'm afraid not; I left it behind when I came here, since I didn't expect to be dealing with a vampire as powerful as Cassius. Besides which, my students and Kenji still have vampires to kill in Endiness. We'll have to get rid of him the old fashioned way."

Rose was staring at me in surprise, and Ryan was staring at her. I allowed myself a smile of amusement; Ryan had long thought that everything I knew, Rose knew, but more than twenty years of training are hard to overcome, and so I still kept secrets. Alucard was one of them.

Alucard himself appeared amused at their reactions. "So you never even told them about me, Ian? You haven't changed in the eight years since I last saw you."

"Neither have you. And what did you expect? Until six years ago, they weren't ready for the knowledge that vampires existed at all, and it simply never became necessary to mention you since." I readied my katana once more. "But perhaps we can save the chat until we've beaten off this monster?"

"Indeed." Alucard raised his own, heavier weapon. "Prepare to die, vampire."

But Cassius was already moving, retreating as fast as he could in his injured state. "Not this time, traitor! But I promise you, we'll meet again!" With a pump of his Dragoon wings, he lifted off and shortly disappeared from sight.

***

With Cassius gone, things settled down enough for the others to start peppering me with questions. "Who is this guy?" Tidus demanded.

"Yeah, and why didn't you mention him before, Ian?" Ryan added.

I raised a hand. "All right, all right, one at a time, okay? Thank you. Anyway, this is Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes."

Alucard bowed in his courtly fashion. "Call me Alucard. The other name has little meaning to me."

"Yeah. What he said." I paused, sheathing my blade to gain time to organize my thoughts. "As you no doubt gathered from what Cassius said, Alucard is the half-vampire son of Dracula. His mother was human."

Ryan frowned. "Wait a minute. If you're really the son of Mathias Cronqvist, why have you helped others destroy him?"

"Because I realized centuries ago that what my father was spreading was evil," Alucard replied. "I've joined forces with the Belmont clan to stop him before. And you must remember that I'm not all vampire. It gives me a different perspective from my father's."

It was my turn to frown. "That reminds me. Alucard, back in '01 you told me you were going back into hibernation. What brought you out?"

He turned to me. "The shift in the balance of power. Ian, when Cassius awoke from the deep sleep he'd fallen into when you dropped a castle on him, he came after you. And when he got close to you, the infection that resides within you began to grow stronger. When he obtained the Dragoon Spirit, it became stronger still. It's spreading further into your system even as we speak, Ian."

The blood drained from my face. "No..."

Alucard nodded grimly. "I'm afraid so. Even your serum won't help you." He paused, taking a deep breath. "You have two weeks, a month at the outside, to kill Cassius, or it will be too late."

***

Author's note: Guess I didn't get to the Moonflow with this chapter after all. But I felt it was important to further develop the Cassius Crisis. I apologize if Alucard seems at all out of character; the only Castlevania game I've actually played is Lament of Innocence, so I don't know what he was like in the games.

In response to Seriyu-the-ice-dragon, I'd actually forgotten about the whip, and had to find a way to explain its absence here. I hope it seems plausible. To answer Ye Say Ye Fool, I believe I pointed out in an earlier chapter, either in this or in the first story, that, except under certain circumstances, the ring only reacts during death or near-death situations. In answer to dark dragon24, since I'm starting to get feedback on the subject, I am considering adding new Dragoon Spirits. As to Tidus' disappearance, I am aware of it. I haven't beaten the game yet, as I'm essentially using the time until story progress forces me to continue by building up my characters. In any case, I have every intention of changing that plot element. I don't know what Square was thinking with that idea, but I believe it was a mistake.

That should about cover things this time. Thanks for the reviews, and please keep them coming. ~Solid Shark