I do not own Legend of Dragoon or any of the characters.
False Identity
Fireworks exploded overhead as they all sprinted through Fletz. Lynn had gone home to Donau when they reached the fork in the path at the Barrens, but Meru had chosen to keep traveling with them all. However, they were out of time. The fireworks were announcing Emille's twentieth birthday. They had a matter of hours, if that, before the fake princess got the Moon Dagger.
They reached the base of the stairs leading into the castle and found it was unguarded. They hurried up them instantly, not slowing until they were inside. Just as they did, the guard who was supposed to be at the front walked up behind them from off to one side where he'd been being relieved by another guard, it seemed.
"Bad people, coming in without permission," the guard said, Cade gripping his sheath tightly. "Just kidding. I excuse you because today is such a happy day."
"When did it start?" Dart asked.
"Just a moment ago," the guard said. "But that doesn't mean you'll be able to get in. It's so packed you couldn't fit a penny in. Just look."
He gestured at the door to the throne room on the upper floor, but whatever he was seeing from Kongol's height, Cade wasn't seeing from a little more than half it. All he could see were the multiple guards guarding the entrance.
"She suddenly got a lot of hanger-ons as new guards," the guard said. "There are so many faces that I've never seen before, and according to rumor, they used to be bandits."
Cade looked around at the guards. They were dirty. Both their armor, spears, shields, and their skin. One was sitting down in a doorway, using his chipped fingernail to pick at his rotten teeth, another was leaning on a door frame and spat phlegm on the floor. Cade narrowed his eyes. The guards were bandits too.
"See, bad attitude, right?" the guard said. "They cannot call themselves knights, but nobody can say anything because it's Princess Emille."
"Oh!" The guard said suddenly. "Don't tell anybody about this, though, and in exchange, I'll let you in."
"Our lips are sealed," Cade said. "Where's Princess Lisa?"
"I'm not sure," the guard shrugged, then turned to stand in the main door of the castle.
Cade shook his head, and he and the others headed for the door to the throne room, stopping in front of the guard who was sitting down. "Move."
"Excuse me?" the guard asked, his lips pulling back in a sneer to expose his gap-toothed grin. "They're busy with an important ceremony. Don't even think of bothering them."
"Your disguise isn't very convincing," Cade said.
"Can't you see our armor!?" the guard asked, standing. "We are the authentic great Knights of Tiberoa!"
"Is Princess Emille in there?" Dart asked, stepping forward, the guard backing away just as another ran up beside him.
"Whoa!" the first guard said. "You can't go in there! It's not a place for commoners like you! 'Cuz it's the birthday of our princess!"
Dart gripped his sword and both backed away.
"Do you really think you can get away with making a scene like that!?" the second guard challenged, though both of their eyes were wide with panic.
"It's a special situation today," Dart said.
"Are you really gonna...make an enemy of all of Tiberoa!?" the first guard panicked.
"Can you send a message to Princess Lisa?" Shana asked as Dart released his sword as Albert whispered that he couldn't bluff his way through."
"She's not here!" the guard said, both slowly calming down. "And it's the birthday of her own sis! Seems she's keeping herself cooped up in her room!"
"I'll be back," Dart said. "Then I'm going to get past you."
They walked away from the guard and Cade took the lead.
"She's in the tower over here," Cade said.
They hurried to her tower, sneaking past several guards patrolling outside to avoid the hassle of dealing with them, then began to run up the staircase winding around and around the tower. At the top, they found an actual guard who allowed them into her room, saying he was standing guard against the bandits, who he doubted were legitimate guards. Once they were inside, Lisa turned to them instantly, looking at them halfway expectant, and halfway desperate.
"I have been waiting for you, everyone," Lisa said. "I am ready. Please tell me the truth."
"The Princess Emille attending the ceremony is a fake," Dart said. "A woman who is helping the bandits made the switch a half year ago."
"The star of Princess Lisa has shown the truth," Albert said.
"Oh thank God!" Lisa said, visibly relieved. "I knew it was impossible for my sister Emille to have such an attitude. Now, where is my true sister Emille!?"
"Here in the castle somewhere," Cade said, then extended his wings. "I'm guessing whatever magic I've been sensing is where she is. Just a moment."
"Oh my!" Lisa gasped. "What are you?"
"He's a Wingly," Rose said. "Or, at least, a half Wingly."
Cade closed his eyes, sensing the magic and using his own magic to trace its origin. It was difficult due to whatever the spell was being half a year old, but after several moments, he'd narrowed it down to Emille's room.
"She's somewhere in her room," Cade said. "She's being held and hidden by magic, so we'll need to go there to find her."
The others nodded and hurried back outside, beginning back down the stairs. As they reached a raised bridge-like section between the towers, a guard there suddenly spun toward them.
"Who are you!?" he demanded, running toward them as two more charged up the stairs in response to his shout, only for all three to suddenly gasp and back away when Lisa stepped out in front of the others. "Shit! Princess...Lisa!"
"Y-You're supposed to be sick, Princess Lisa!" one of the other guards stammered. "You must stay and rest in your room! Otherwise, we'll be yelled at by Princess Emille! Take them to their rooms!"
"Lay one hand on the princess, and I take that hand off," Cade warned, drawing his sword. "Princess Lisa hired us as extra protection because she didn't trust all of you. She's feeling much better, and Princess Emille asked her to retrieve something from her room. Get out of the way, or we'll find out how much Tiberoa misses three bandits."
All three guards backed away.
"Shit!" one of them said. "This must be that silver-haired guy we were warned to keep away!"
"It's too late!" another said. "Let's get out of here, before it's too late for us too!"
All three scattered instantly, and everyone looked to Cade in confusion.
"Whoever is posing as Princess Emille obviously recognized me as a threat," Cade said. "She may be a Wingly. Let's go."
They all hurried to Emille's tower and began up the stairs quickly. As they reached the top, they found a pair of bandits standing guard.
"If you wanna talk to Princess Emille, go to the Chamber of the Sun," one of them said, just as Lisa stepped forward. "Oh! Pr-Princess Lisa! How are you feeling!?"
"I feel much better," Lisa said. "I have to go into my sister's room. May I go in?"
The two bandits looked at each other, panic clear on their faces. As they did, Shana walked to the railing around the top of the tower and looked down.
"It's a long way to the bottom of the tower," Shana noted.
"Nobody will hear any screams up here," Rose said, pointing her sword at them. "Why don't we settle this here?"
"Wonderful idea," Cade said, drawing his sword.
"D...Damn it!" one of the guards shouted and both dropped their spear and shield and fled down the tower.
"Alright, let's hurry," Lisa said.
They walked into the extravagantly decorated room, the main color theme being red, including the drapes, the bedding, the carpet, and the portrait of Emille on the right side as they entered. However, the room had been ransacked. Cade stopped, staring at it, able to sense the magic flowing from it now that he was in the room.
"This is awful!" Lisa breathed.
"Someone looted the place," Dart said.
"That makes this room even more suspicious," Albert said. "We might find something in here to-"
"Here it is," Cade said. "She's trapped inside this painting."
"You're sure?" Lisa asked.
"Positive," Cade said. "And I was right. This is Wingly Magic. No doubt about it."
"Kongol go outside, watch," Kongol decided, since he was too big to be comfortable in the room, and had to duck sideways through the doorway.
"He's too big for this room," Meru said. "I feel bad for him, so I'm going to go wait with him."
"I'm going too," Haschel said. "There are too many people in this room."
"We won't be long," Cade said, resting a hand against the painting as they all left.
Suddenly, the painting shone around his hand, and everyone covered their face. Then, as the light faded, they were standing inside of what looked like a room with the walls painted onto a flat surface. They were on a small, round platform with a star, or maybe sun, design, and a second was standing in the distance with a moon design on it. below the two was a void of orange-tinted magic swirling around and around. There were spheres of light like representations of stars around them, some connected by streams of shining white magic, and and some pulsating slowly. behind them on their platform was a huge picture frame with a painting of the inside of Emille's room. Cade looked to the other platform and pointed. There, seated in a chair exactly as she had been in the portrait they were now inside of, was Princess Emille, her half-lidded eyes staring emptily straight ahead.
"Where are we?" Princess Emille asked.
"A magical space inside of the painting," Rose said. "It seems peculiar."
"Is this magic?" Dart asked.
"One type," Cade said. "There are as many spells as there are words in your language. This one is a rather powerful one, though."
"How do we get across?" Albert asked.
"Cade could fly over," Shana suggested.
"There might be another way," Cade said, looking around. "If she's a Wingly, flying the princess over there would be easy, but pointless. Why bother wasting the energy for that, when she could just make a bridge?"
"Dart!" Meru's voice shouted from the painting suddenly. "Where are you!?"
"We're inside the painting!" Dart called back.
"Haschel!" Meru shouted. "They must be talking about this!"
"Don't touch the painting!" Albert called out. "It seems to be linked to the world over here!"
"I got it!" Meru called back.
"The magic down there is linked with a different dimension," Rose said as Cade walked the edge of the platform, seeing which sphere of light, which all were resonating with a higher level of magic than the rest of the world around them, was closest. "Be careful not to fall."
"Found it," Cade said, pressing his hand to a sphere brighter than the rest.
A small sphere of red light shot into the air, then arced back down, stopping between the platforms before flashing and expanding into a bridge formed of interlocking seals. Lisa and Albert sprinted across it without hesitation, Dart and Shana following as Cade and Rose hung back, due to the limited space on the other side, as well as the bridge's controls being on their side.
"Princess Emille!" Albert called out to her.
"Sister!" Lisa said, shaking her shoulders. "Sister! Sister Emille! Please wake up!"
Nothing.
"I cannot wake her!" Lisa said.
"Albert, slap her," Cade said.
"What!?" Albert gasped. "For what!?"
"Not Lisa!" Cade said. "Emille!"
Albert hesitated, then nodding, kneeling down and again hesitating. After a moment, he slapped her, just hard enough to make a noise. Light began to shimmer over Emille instantly before she began to stir, blinking several times before looking around at them all, frowning and raising a hand to her cheek.
"Oh Emille!" Lisa cried out happily.
"Lisa..." Emille said softly, seeming still partially asleep, though recovering quickly. "Where...am I? And...did someone...slap me?"
"My apologies," Albert said. "We needed to wake you up! You've been in a trance for half a year! The Moon Dagger is about to be handed over to an imposter!"
Emille stood instantly. "What do you mean? Can you please explain?"
Dart explained the situation briefly and Emille nodded.
"It seems I troubled you a lot due to my absence," Emille said. "Let us go tot he Chamber of the Sun! We have to let people know the truth!"
They all nodded and hurried back over to Rose and Cade. Cade placed a hand against the portrait, transporting them all back, and they all left instantly, heading back down the stairs to the base of the tower. There was a distinct lack of guards now, after Cade's intervention before, but when they headed inside, they found that the group guarding the way to the Chamber of the Sun were still present. Not that it mattered. The moment they saw Emille, they bolted, fleeing from the castle. They all sprinted into the throne room, Emille proving herself to be a very fast runner and actually pulling ahead of everyone, despite wearing high heels.
"You've been filled with twenty years of experience since coming into this world," Zior was saying at the front of the crowd, which Dart, Cade, and Albert began to shove through instantly. "You have reached the age that deserves the succession of the Moon Dagger as an heir to the throne of Tiberoa. Never forget the blessing of the Sun, Moon, and Stars."
Cade began to clear the path faster, several people beginning to shout at them for interrupting and being rude, only to gasp as they saw Emille.
"Anybody, are there any objections?" Zior asked, just as Cade broke through the edge of the crowd and stepped out of Emille's way.
"I have an objection to the succession!" Emille said, striding forward, Cade at her side, sword drawn.
"Oh my God!" Zior gaped. "There are two Emilles!"
The fake lunged for the king instantly, snatching the moon dagger before leaping away toward the balcony. Cade jumped, slashing at her several times, but she used the dagger to deflect the strikes, flipping and landing on the balcony.
"The Moon Dagger!" Zior shouted. "What is going on!?"
"Stay back, your majesty!" Cade instructed. "She's an imposter who impersonated Emille to steal that dagger."
"It's true," Emille said. "These people rescued me from a spell that made me sleep for half a year."
"I guess you got me all figured out, huh?" the fake asked.
"Yes we do, Wingly," Cade said as the others drew their weapons and moved to surround the balcony. "You might as well lose the disguise."
The fake huffed. "I knew you were dangerous. You're a Wingly too, right?"
"Close enough," Cade nodded, extending his wings.
She nodded. "I knew it. Well, I suppose I might as well show ya my true self!"
She held a hand in front of herself and it shone blindingly before the light faded, leaving behind a silver-haired woman with a red bandanna over the top of her head, silver pauldrons over a black leather jacket with a large collar folded down and large cuffs, then a blue body suit that covered only her sides, barely covered her breasts, and then down along the outsides of her hips and legs to her high-heeled shoes. The body suit had two leather straps in front of her abdomen and across her lower back to hold the top of the body suit closed, two straps around each thigh and one around each calf, and a metal battle pantie set to cover herself.
"Surprised?" she asked. "This is the true self of Miss Lenus!"
"Emille, take Lisa and King Zior and get out of here," Cade said, holding his sword tightly at his side.
"I know that sword," Lenus said. "You took that from Lloyd, didn't you?"
"He didn't need it," Cade said.
"How do you know Lloyd!?" Dart demanded, raising his sword.
"Oops," Lenus said. "Wasn't supposed to let that one slip."
"Give us the Moon Dagger!" Albert ordered. "Your only chance is to give up!"
Lenus scoffed, shaking her head. "A girl in love doesn't know the meaning of the words 'give up.' I managed to get this for my love. I won't give it up so easily."
"I'm sorry, but you don't have time to be in love anymore, because you die here," Rose said, pointing her sword at Lenus.
"Interesting!" Lenus grinned. "Why don't you try it?"
She reached back, grabbing something behind herself, and pulled out a pair of silver, wing-themed weapons with a handle running parallel to the base of the weapon, making them extend strait away from her arms in what looked like a pair of short blades, except that Cade could see the back edges had an opening of some kind in them, as though something could be stuck into them, or come out of them. Almost as soon as she had them out, she slammed the small metal rods extending back past the grips together, the weapons joining seamlessly suddenly just as a pair of shining streams of magic particles identical to the wings coming from both her and Cade's backs burst from the weapons along the same path as the weapons' feathers. The magic blades were purple at base, then faded to a light blue by the tip. Together, the weapons formed a sort of chakram with a pair of magic blades. Cade swore instantly as he realized that's exactly what it was.
Lenus hurled her chakram and it flashed through the air out to her left, sweeping around toward Rose first. Cade shoved her behind himself, shoving the chakra into the air, only for the weapon to spin even faster and streak back down at him. He spun, slashing it out to the side again, only for Rose to knock it away. It spun in a tight circle, moving toward Meru, only for Meru's hammer to smash it into the air. This time, it spun back to Lenus, who was now standing at the foot of the steps leading to the thrones, and she caught it and separated the two weapons, both of which she attached to small hooks on her cuffs to attach them to her forearms.
"Not bad," Lenus said. "As I expected, you've got pretty good reaction time. Even from barely a few feet away, you were able to get your friend out of the way and deflect it. I wonder, is that specific to her, though?"
Cade clenched his teeth to keep from reacting as they all slowly spread out to cut off Lenus's escape. Lenus grinned, looking around at them, then raised her left hand to her forehead, a sphere of shining red magic appearing at the tip of her index and middle fingers, which she kept extended. She swung her down in a circle in front of her, then began to draw an intricate symbol in the air as she reached the top again, filling the circle. Her arm's movements left behind a glowing white seal in the air, and as she finished, the seal flashed and faded just before four spheres of darkness appeared in the air over them. Then, droplets of Darkness magic began to rain down on them, hissing and burning anywhere it hit them. Cade shouted in pain, arms snapping up and forming a barrier over the others, leaving himself exposed to the spell in exchange for strengthening the others' barriers. They were still hurt, but not as badly. Then, once the spell had ended, Lenus shot toward him, grinning wickedly. He snatched his sword up off the ground as she slashed one of her blades at him, the blade sparking against his sword's blade, as did the other a moment later. She spun, kicking him in the chest, but his armor absorbed the impact, though it still threw him. He flipped, landing on his feet, then flew forward at her. She deflected his blade rapidly as he slashed at her before flipping and kicking him away. A moment later, Rose reached her, already in her Dragoon form.
Lenus began to deflect Rose's blade rapidly, for a moment, but when she slashed back, Rose shot into the air, then dropped, slashing downward at her. Lenus blocked the blade with both of her own, but the impact erupted into a blast of darkness magic that hurled Lenus away. Lenus crashed to the ground hard and rolled backward to her feet, her right hand again shining as she drew another seal, faster than before.
Instantly, ice spikes began to form in the air around Rose, streaking toward her, only for Cade to reach her, he and four blue-tinted afterimages spreading around her, slashing the icicles out of the air before they could reach her. As soon as the spell ended, Lenus moved to charge, only for Kongol to hurl Meru, who smashed her hammer into Lenus, sending her crashing into the wall. Meru cheered, only for Lenus to connect and hurl her blades. Meru dove to the side, receiving a gash across the side, before the blades curved around toward Shana. Dart slashed them aside and they arced around before speeding toward Haschel. Kongol swung his massive axe downward, knocking the blades out of the air just as Haschel and Albert both transformed and shot forward. Lenus held her hands out and the blades streaked through the air back to her in time for her to deflect Albert's spear and slash him across the back, then kick Albert in the head before slashing him across the side.
Cade shot forward again, slashing at her but she formed one of the glowing blades as the other weapon deflected her slash before she spun, splitting him across the abdomen deeply. He shouted in pain, staggering past her before spinning and focusing magic into his left hand's index and middle fingers, swiping them down to the left, then back up to the right, the light flashing.
Lenus began to turn, only for massive spheres of pitch black darkness to begin to form around her and flash down, crashing into her and beginning to gather into a mass of darkness around her. She screamed in pain as it grew larger and larger, engulfing her and beginning to crush her at the same time as burning her the same way the black rain she'd used on them had burned them. Cade knew this spell well, both in its pure magic form, and in its weakened, crystalized form. It hurt. Red and purple lightning began to flash inside of the darkness, Lenus's scream having long-since died out. Then, finally, the mass of darkness burst and faded, leaving Lenus to collapse to her knees, choking and coughing as she finally managed to regain the ability to breath, burns covering her body and blood running down the left side of her face.
"Fuck you!" Lenus snarled as she shoved herself up, both hands beginning to form seals. "Just die!"
Albert began to use Rose Storm instantly as Cade focused, adding his own magic barrier to them all. Just as he finished, two separate spells began go off at once. One was sent water suddenly spewing from the floor in the center of their group, soaking them all, knocking them all to the ground, and covering the floor of the room. As it was, four violet lightning bolts crashed down around them, electricity beginning to scream across the surface of the water and over them instantly. Then, the geyser in the center, along with the rest of the water, froze, trapping them all in place just a second before a massive bolt of lightning exploded back upward from the four bolts converging under the frozen geyser, turning the ice into shrapnel and blasting them all, scattering them around the room.
"This is...really bad!" Meru said, struggling to stand, as were most of the others.
Cade groaned as he tried to stand, only to collapse again, head spinning from blood loss.
"Cade!" Rose said, struggling to stand, back in her human form now.
"Gates of Heaven!" Shana said, a pillar of light hitting in the center of the room.
"I don't think so!" Lenus shouted, streaking forward.
Before she could reach Shana to attack her, Dart shouted in effort, his wings erupting into flames as flames roared over his entire body from the tip of his sword, held out in front of him.
"Final Burst!" he shouted, exploding forward and slashing Lenus across the right side as he past, the flames pulsing as he did and burning her as well as superheating the floor.
A moment later, the floor exploded below Lenus, burning her further and hurling her backward. Then, Shana's spell spread its wings and shone, healing Cade and the others. Cade stood instantly just as Lenus raised her hand, a blue light flashing from it and healing her most of the way as she stood, once again using magic to pull the halves of her chakram to her. Cade shot forward instantly and she moved to meet him, their blades clashing rapidly before he flipped over her, kicking her in the back and hurling her at Haschel, who fired the magic blast he'd been charging at her. It exploded against her and she flew at Meru, who smashed her hammer into her, hurling her away. As soon as she landed, Cade swiped his hand through the air again, as he had before, and a pillar of flames roared to life from below her, rapidly growing larger and more violent as she shrieked in pain, thrashing about inside of it. Then, it exploded and she sailed backward into the railing on the balcony, cracking it.
"Why have you never used spells before?" Rose asked.
"Because I prefer blades," Cade said. "With a blade requires skill while using magic simply requires me to swipe a hand through the air. Using a sword is more rewarding. But against this bitch..." He raised his hand, only for Lenus to stand, holding out a hand.
"Wait!" Lenus said. "Hold on!"
"Too late to beg for mercy," Cade said. "Give us the Moon Dagger, or I'll just kill you and take it anyway."
"Jeez," you really are serious," Lenus said.
"Gehrich is already dead," Haschel said. "There's no point in trying to steal that anymore."
"Gehrich?" Lenus scoffed. "I didn't care about that man from the beginning."
"She's stealing it for Lloyd," Cade said. "Last chance, bitch. Give me that dagger!"
Lenus looked around at them before sighing. "I guess I have no choice."
"Don't even think about it!" Cade snarled, knowing she meant to try flying away.
"Ciao!" she said, turning and leaping off the balcony, forming her wings and taking off. Cade flew after her instantly, but she smirked, swiping her hand through the air rapidly. He swore as he sense the magic condensing around Rose and spun, streaking back in time to shove her backward out of the way. Then, icicles began to stab into him from every side. Everyone shouted in surprise and fear as he remained on the spot, unable to do anything beside be impaled over and over, blood flying from his mouth. Then, finally, the spell ended and he collapsed, just as Rose dropped to the ground beside him, staring at his wounds. There was nothing she could do.
"Oh no!" Shana gasped, covering her mouth.
"What do we do?" Meru asked.
"We can't do anything," Rose said, gritting her teeth. "He's finished."
Suddenly, the world around them began to warp, pure white magic energy filling it and seeming to drag them all into a sort of pocket dimension like what the portrait had had, except that this was just a white void of magic energy, other colors appearing in flashes around them. Then, suddenly, all of the light condensed into a single, massive sphere, leaving the rest of the void in darkness. The sphere began to shift, changing shape into a creature. It had a mostly flat, disk-shaped body, a short tail off the back ending in several spikes, a fin-like spike extending down from its bottom and curving backward, a pair of arms with round, flat forearms and hands with clawed fingers, a second pair of similar arms above it, curving forward, these two shiny and reflective on the inside, and a pair of long, spike-like tusks or horns sticking forward off of its face to either side of its eyes. Its upper arms rose, beginning to gather Light magic, which then condensed into rings around its tusks, racing forward along it before gathering into a sphere between their tips. Then, after a moment, the sphere exploded into a laser beam that raced away from them into the void toward a speck that they all realized was Lenus, nearly a mile out to sea. The laser tore a gash in the void below Lenus, which then erupted into a massive explosion of Light magic, completely swallowing Lenus instantly. Then, as the light from the explosion hit the dragon, it began to flash and shine, its upper arms once again gathering the light, this time transferring it to its underside's fin, which shone. A second beam of light shot from the fin directly down into Cade and he shone blindingly, excess Light Magic forming a massive inverted funnel around him. Then, as the light faded, they all stare at Cade, whose body was completely restored, but who was unconscious.
The dragon shimmered and faded, the void around them likewise fading, and Shana transformed back into her human form, collapsing, only for Dart to catch her. Rose felt Cade's neck for a pulse, eyes wide with surprise, but face otherwise impossible to read.
"Is he alive?" Albert asked.
"Yes," Rose said. "He's alive. She saved him."
"What was that?" Dart asked. "What happened to her?"
"She was desperate to save him, it seems," Rose said, gently lifting Cade into her arms. "So much so that she managed to summon the spirit of the White-Silver Dragon."
"That's possible?" Dart asked, glancing at her.
"It's a very high-level Dragoon Skill," Rose said. "However, it's also incredibly exhausting. Because she's not strong enough to use it properly, yet, the strain was too much, and she fell unconscious. She should be okay after she's rested, though. As should Cade."
"That's good," Dart said, visibly relaxing as Rose lifted Cade. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to take him to the room where we slept so he can rest," Rose said. "That woman is still alive, even though the Dragon managed to attack her. I'm not sure how, but she survived. We'll have to go after her. So for now, while preparations are made for that, we should take these two somewhere they can rest without being disturbed."
"Good idea," Dart said.
"I'll take Shana," Meru offered. "It's probably best to keep them together."
"Good idea," Albert said. "In the mean time, we should speak with King Zior."
Dart nodded in agreement and lifted Shana, passing her to Meru before she and Rose took their unconscious friends to rest.
Leave a review.
