Dedication: To Kat D.(Lady Dragonnaine) and Kat H.(Lady Kilgorn). Because I love you guys and your names match. o-Oa

Small-Kat for letting me force you into DK, for drawing me that picture, and for actually getting an account. :impressed: I have this mental image of you literally kicking Pono's ass, and when I spun around and dropped you, so I'll just end this before saying anything too weird...

Dragon-Kat for dying your hair like Cesia; for rightfully claiming her as your signature character; and for many, many hilarious and sexy rps/ficletts/unfinished shit. Bierrez has made an appearance just for you. And Cesia. And the fact that he used to go to school with her. And date her. ...You get it. :sweatdrop: You're a great friend/person/sexy fox. Er, cat. As before, you get it. Mucho, mucho, mucho amo and voles. ...And Rath wants to know if Cesia's got another bag of candy/distractions with her.

Disclaimer:dancingdancingdancing: It's my birthday. Will someone please give me the ownership of Dragon Knights as a present?

Warnings: Minor swearing in dedications. XD Oddity, new characters.

A/N: Bierrez:glomples: He won't be in here long, but he -will- serve an important role:squeezes tighter:

:n:

As Rath regained his breath, he looked around the re-dimmed world. And noticed with a shock that his two companions had vanished.

No, he corrected himself as a drop of panic etched itself into the back of his throat, They hadn't vanished. They were standing in front of one of the nearer buildings, talking with a boy Rath hadn't seen before. As he strolled up to rejoin them, the newcomer glanced up at him with a pair of hauntingly sharp green eyes.

"Oh. Hey, Rath," Rune spoke up as his friend faltered, "This is Bierrez; He's part of the exchange program. The boy nodded shortly, and Rath glanced over his clothing searchingly. They were normal, however, a plain school uniform, deep blue and at odds with the other's bright orange hair.

A band of tarnished twisted silver was placed on his upper arm.

Rath inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment of the other's presence, a slow feeling of growing discomfort edging upon him. A faded knowledge, a vague guilt and remembrance and discomfort and...

He started as those vibrant green eyes met his own once again.

So faint it was almost nonexistent, a whispering hatred, beat upon on all sides by the other dredged up emotions.

Rath shook his head, jerking his gaze to the ground.

"That's the bell." Rune remarked, cheerfully turning to look at the largest of the gathered buildings. "Shall we head in?"

As Rath walked slowly, trying to fade back into the wavering mists, Bierrez fell into step alongside him. They seemed to be ignored by the other two, and the dark drew strong around both their forms.

Bierrez glanced at the other boy from the corner of his eye, then dropped his voice to a bare dry whisper.

"It's been a long time, Rath Illuser."

For some reason the speaking of his name kindled a burning anger within the black haired boy. He was stopped from retorting, however, by the equally shocking realization that his hands, previously held loose by his sides, were shaking.

He was afraid.

But that was stupid, he told himself furiously. What was the problem? Thats or Rune had probably told this demon his full name; it wasn't as though they knew why they shouldn't.

Wait...

Demon?

Bewilderment overcame anger and fright, and Rath glanced at the student walking beside him.

"...Who are you?"

Bierrez smirked.

"What? The last time we talked like this, you knew precisely who I was. In fact," his voice grew softer, "I was the one who didn't recognize you."

A flash of fury burned bright in Rath's mind.

No.

Not fury.

An almost uncontrollable urge, a need, a fear.

There was a clash of metal upon metal, of iron bars straining at their caging, of two swords locked in combat. And Rath suddenly clasped at the pendant around his neck.

...Rath...

Rath...

Rath.

The voice suddenly sounded in his heart, causing a skipped beat.

"Bierrez!"

He spun around, just in time to see a whirl of long black hair and a flash of white and blue material as Bierrez was tackled off to the side, a young girl hugging him soundly.

"Idiot! I was looking for you! You were missing yesterday, so they thought you'd gotten lost! Where were you?"

"I was in a different classroom. What does it matter to you, Cesia?" He grinned cockily, a complete 180 of his previous mood.

Cesia?

Rath took a second look at the girl.

Her hair was black and she was clad in a modern school uniform instead of her floating black dress, but her eyes were the same. They were still teasing, protecting, holding life and pushing back the fear. And a flash of clasping hands darted through his mind, of ragged breaths and stone cliffs and pain shooting through his body and a promise to...

To... It faded away as soon as it had appeared, and he blinked, bewildered.

Coming back to himself, he saw that she had gone and Bierrez was alone, looking at him in a self-satisfied way.

"Do you remember now?"

The boundaries of the world shook, shattering, merging. White mists swirled into an illusion of foundations and normality and a desperate soul-twisting solitude.

And Rath saw, clearer than ever before, his own hands, reaching out slowly around the other's neck. Felt the jagged breathing pulsing beneath his fingertips and the dulled, painfully resigned stare in the face before him.

Felt the crack of fragile bone snapping beneath his grasp.

But instead of the bloodthirst he had expected, there was something unidentifiable. Pity, perhaps. Mixed with something akin to admiration and jealousy and a blinding resignation of his own.

Then the memory faded, and he found his hand clenched tight in the material of his shirt, clasping tightly the stone under it's material.

Those damned green eyes stared knowingly down at him, and Bierrez softly laughed, the almost harsh seemingly magnified by the empty echoing hallways and endless gray mesh of shadows.

He spoke, a mere whisper, but it burned into Rath's mind.

"Lost in a memory."

:n:

:coughs: Actually, I've decided to blend together the two ideas of this experience just happening to Rath and this "merging" happening to everyone. Bierrez is in for one more chapter. He'll explain everything then. n-n;;;

Capella: I like the random remembering of lines. :loves lines: And.. :sweatdrop: I'm too lazy to actually write out the entire poem all at once... I just add a line every time I have to update. XD

Hououza: About as possible as for a girl to be described as slacker. And since I know a couple female slackers, counting myself... Very possible! non Dream... Dream, dream, dream... :decided she randomly likes that word: I assume you're talking about handwriting... :sweatdrop: I can read mine... But when I pass notes, people usually end up coming up to me later and ask me to decipher it. :mega sweatdrop:

Peophin-Chan: Yes! I got it right:uberhappy: Aw! Lion King! And you missed it:cries:

Charna: ...Oh. Good point... Hmm, okay... I just want it to be a bit cooler, then. It's so freaking hot. Well, not at the moment, but that's just because I'm indoors in the nice air conditioning. :luffs:

:n:

:coughs: It's my birthday. See that review button? You know you want to...