Chapter One

A/N: For those of you wondering what the point of this fic is, it's a simple "What-if" scenario. What if Rose had died early in the game? What if they'd had to replace the Dark Dragoon and not the Jade Dragoon?

Aren't these "what-if" scenarios what fanfiction is supposed to be all about?

And now, your scheduled fic.

"You still don't know what you think of me/You still don't know what I think of me."--Dumb, by Garbage

"So, our first course of action is to end the war," Albert said.

"What about Rose's Dragoon spirit?" Lavitz asked. He wouldn't admit it, but he felt responsible for Rose's death. If I hadn't been so stupid...If I had controlled myself...

"It'll turn up," Shana said quietly, "It has to."

"That's not important now," Albert interjected, "We need to deal with Doel."

Dart nodded. "Rose would want us to keep our priorities straight, and right now, our first priority is to figure out what Lloyd and Doel are up to."

Lavitz sighed. "You're right."

The next few days went by in a blur. Looking back, Lavitz recalled only that Doel had been killed, that he had been a Dragoon, that Haschel had inherited Doel's Dragoon Spirit...that the war was over.

He had been too caught up in his guilt to pay much attention to anything else that was going on..

Now he sat, motionless in the tent he shared with Dart and Albert, bound for Fletz, the capital city of Tiberoa.

Things could get better now. Maybe Rose's Dragoon Spirit was there. Maybe he could find it and by doing so, redeem himself.

"Hey, Lavitz? Are you in there?"

"Come in."

Dart slowly walked into the tent.

"You haven't been yourself lately," he remarked, seeing Lavitz sitting, motionless on his part of the tent. Lavitz shrugged. Dart tried again. "We missed you at dinner."

"I wasn't hungry."

"You haven't been hungry lately, either." Dart took a seat on his side of the tent. "You gotta eat, Lavitz. You can't protect Albert if you're weak because you haven't been eating!"

"Albert shouldn't be with us," Lavitz mumbled.

"Why not? He wanted to..."

"Because he needs to be back at Bale. Because I don't want to be responsible if he gets killed, too."

"Ah...this is about what happened to Rose?" Dart asked, in a soft, gentle voice.

"It was my fault," Lavitz muttered, "If I could have controlled myself, if I had been a little faster..."

"Then Lloyd would've killed you," Dart pointed out, "And Lloyd probably would've killed one of us anyway."

Lavitz remained silent. If only I could change that incident so that no one died.

"You can't keep blaming yourself like this, Lavitz. We, the Dragoons who lived, need you, okay? Please don't give up on us!"

Dart was smiling. Lavitz managed a weak smile, and shook his head. "Did you come just to try to cheer me up?"

"Actually, no. Albert checked his maps today...and we should reach Fletz by tomorrow."

Lavitz nodded. "Thank you, Dart..."

Dart stood up, pausing to brush some of his blonde hair out of his eyes, and headed for the exit.

"Oh, and Lavitz...?" Dart said on his way out, "Try to cheer up, or at the very least, pretend to. Albert's pretty worried about you."

Then he left. Lavitz crossed his arms. So we'll reach Fletz by tomorrow? It would be wonderful if Rose's Dragoon Spirit was there...

Upon reaching Fletz, the first thing that caught Lavitz's attention was the size of the city. If Lloyd was here...they were going to have a hell of a time finding him. He didn't want to think about finding the Dragoon Spirit just yet. What if whoever found it pawned it off? What if...it isn't even here?

The sooner we find it, the better.