I do not own Legend of Dragoon or any of the characters.


Furni

Cade smiled as he wrapped his arms around Rose, feeling her lean back into him, one of her hands resting over the top of his. He was glad she didn't want to try and keep any displays of affection hidden from the others. He would if she asked, but he liked being able to hold her when he liked. Though Albert had apparently seen them on the bridge and had made the mistake of trying to tease them, resulting in Rose nearly ripping his ear off his head at the same time as humiliating him over his infatuation with Emille. Neither was mean spirited, just getting the point across that he shouldn't try it again.

"Everybody ready?" Commodore Puler asked, walking onto the ship.

Everyone from their group nodded, and Puler's second mate, a young girl named Kayla, informed him that they were ready to sail for Mille Seseau whenever he gave the order. He told her to have the crew take them out of port and she scurried away to pass along the order. Everyone scattered, as usual, and Cade and Rose headed up to the Crow's Nest, Cade once again enjoying his freedom to hold Rose, who wrapped her arms around him as well this time, resting her head on his chest as he leaned back in one of the corners. And that was how they stayed for most of their short voyage. It wasn't a long trip. Only about two days of sailing, but Cade and Rose spent almost the entire trip in the Crow's Nest together, only coming down to relieve themselves or to eat. During the trip, Rose told Cade what it was like to live under Wingly rule, as well as some of the less painful stories from the Dragon Campaign and before it. It was strange hearing about an eleven thousand year old war from first-hand experience, but he was glad she was willing to talk about her past with him now. He was also impressed by one particular story involving her and her Vassal Dragon, which was born from the same Dragon she'd taken her Dragoon Spirit from, fighting a group of eight Virage, two Super Virage, and a dozen Winglies all on their own. The part that impressed him most was that while her Dragon was dealing with the Virage and one Super Virage, Rose had taken out the other Super Virage and all of the Winglies herself, a feat made all the more incredible given that, by Rose's own account, the Winglies during the Dragon Campaign had had more than double the magic power Cade had.

"I'm a bit jealous of how powerful they were," Cade said. "How'd you beat them?"

"You don't have to be jealous, you're better with a sword than any Wingly I ever fought," Rose said. "As for how I won, when I tap into my Dragoon Form's full power, I get cloaked in Darkness magic and am almost twice as powerful as now, but at the cost of being left comatose for weeks. The Black Monster was my moniker twice. First by the Winglies during the Dragon Campaign, and second by the humans because of what I have to do every century."

Cade nodded, resting his head against hers. "Well, you don't have to do it alone, anymore."

"You're really not going to ask what it is?" Rose asked.

"It doesn't matter why," Cade said. "Even if you told me it was for fun, I'd still help you with it."

Rose pressed a light kiss into the side of his neck. "It's not for fun. It's-"

The Queen Fury's horn cut her off, announcing their arrival at Furni. Rose lifted her head, looking ahead of them, Cade raising his head to do the same before smiling.

"Looks like time's up," Cade smiled. He looked back to Rose, and when she turned her head toward him, he gave her a quick kiss. "We'll continue our conversation later."

Rose nodded, kissing him again, remaining there for a long few minutes before pulling away and allowing him to fly her to the deck of the ship, rather than leaving his arms long enough to climb down.

"Nice of you to join us," Meru said from off to one side, smirking, only for both to ignore her.

A few minutes later, they all walked off of the ship looking around. Cade frowned as he sensed bloodlust in the air.

"There is the smell of blood around this place, but..." Rose looked around, smiling. "It's not bad at all."

"Allow me to welcome you to the Water City, Furni," Cade said. "Have you ever been here?"

Rose frowned thoughtfully before shaking her head. "I don't think so."

Cade nodded as the others joined them, Meru commenting that it'd been a long time since she'd been there, then quickly covering her slip-up by saying it was only because she was popular when Haschel asked her about it.

"I wonder why Lloyd told us his destination," Albert wondered aloud.

"It was a challenge," Cade said. "As well as an attempt to manipulate him. He thinks that we can't stop him, and that if we try, we'll draw out whoever holds the third Divine Moon Object. It's the Moon Mirror, if I recall correctly."

Rose nodded. "That's right."

"Whatever he wants, this will be the end of it," Dart said, dropping off the clawed gangway they'd used to attach to a random platform in Furni.

"I agree," Shana said. "For the sake of the victims so far. But it's not only that. In order to prevent there being new victims, we have to stop Lloyd."

"Agreed," Cade nodded, looking around. "Now, as I recall, we need to get a boat permit and to rent a boat to move around the city. Which should be...this way."

He took the lead and everyone followed, only to stop as they reached the rent-a-boat building and found a massive group of armed and armored men standing outside a building just before it. He drew his sword as he recognized the ones from the competition in Lohan and saw a couple of them looking over at them all with wide grins. He held his sword behind himself just as the one with the hook hand and axe who Dart fought first, and who poisoned Dart, turned to him, grinning widely.

"What a ragtag bunch of losers," he said, his eyes stopping on Rose. "Hey there, sexy. Why don't you ditch these losers and come with me instead?"

"I'd rather make love to a bear," Rose said flatly.

"I remember you," Cade said, the man's eyes shifting to him as they adopted a disinterested glare. "You were in the competition in Lohan, right? Gorgaga, was it?"

Gorgaga grinned. "My reputation precedes me."

"It most certainly does," Cade nodded. "You're a coward who knows he's not weak enough to back up his big talk, so he cheats at the first opportunity to do so, even as he belittles his opponents for being too weak to defeat him."

Fury filled Gorgaga's face and he drew himself up, pulling his sword back, only for Atlow, the archer that had nearly beaten Dart, to catch his axe just below the head.

"What he said is true," Atlow said. "Besides the fact, that you clearly don't pay attention. He had an empty scabbard at his side, so he clearly is holding his sword behind himself and waiting for you to try and strike so he can make you look like a fool."

Cade smirked and moved his sword out from behind himself. "At least someone is worth being called a warrior."

"I recognize that blade," Atlow said. "It was wielded by the winner of that competition, Lloyd. Did you defeat him?"

"No," Cade said. "I stole this sword when he used a more deadly one to murder my friend."

"I see," Atlow nodded. "My condolences."

Cade nodded just as a knight of Mille Seseau stepped out of the building they were standing outside of, looking around. Cade sheathed his sword and everyone turned to the knight.

"This seems to be all of us!" the knight said loudly enough for everyone to hear. "Now, I'll explain the strategy! We have to overcome the white wolf called Kamuy that lives in the Evergreen Forest between this village and Deningrad!"

"Did you call us just for that?" Atlow asked.

"Not just that, no," the knight said. "A boy from the village, Teo, disappeared in the Evergreen Forest! The strategy is simple! All of us will beat the bushes all over the Evergreen Forest!" he looked around, seeing the disinterested stares. "I promise a five times bigger reward for the one of you who defeats Kamuy! I promise the same for the one who saves Teo."

All of the mercenaries were suddenly hanging off his every word.

"It's gonna be me!" a bald martial artist in a grey shirt and pants, if Cade was judging his lack of a weapon properly, said as Gorgaga slammed his axe into the ground excitedly. "I'm itching to do it!"

Another man who looked almost identical to Gorgaga walked over, grinning down at them. "You look like you've got a chance, but I'm getting the prize! Don't get in my way!"

Cade and the others all stared at him, unimpressed.

Th man chuckled. "Are you scared out of your wits and can't speak?"

"Shaking in my boots," Cade said, voice oozing dry sarcasm, the man narrowing his eyes instantly.

"Cut it out!" the knight snapped. "All of us have to cooperate or we cannot overcome Kamuy!"

"Bulgus, quiet down!" Gorgaga snapped. "It doesn't matter if they get in the way or not! We'll just crush them too."

Bulgus huffed, walking back over to Gorgaga, who Cade assumed was his brother.

"I'll let you know when we're going to start!" the knight announced. "Until then, you have some free time! Dismissed!"

The mercenaries all dispersed, so Cade led the others into the rent-a-boat building. The Mayor had ordered them to give any warriors that came through a permit and boat for free, on account of the warriors possibly being there to help with the hunt for Kamuy. Once they were in their boat and Cade was steering them through the city, he hummed thoughtfully to himself.

"What's up?" Dart asked.

"Whit wolves aren't usually a big enough threat to warrant such a huge number of warriors, even if it is in the Evergreen Forest," Cade said. "I could understand if they'd known before about Teo being taken, but even then this is excessive."

"You think it's something else?" Shana asked.

"There are a lot of monsters in the forest," Cade said. "Of course, there are also a lot of angry spirits that possess people or creatures from time to time and turn them into much larger and more dangerous versions of themselves, too, so it's possible that happened to Kamuy."

"We won't know unless we find it," Rose said. "Are we going to go looking for it?"

"I don't want to leave a child in danger," Shana said.

"Same," Meru agreed.

"We'll help out," Dart decided. "We're here anyway, so we might as well."

They all agreed just as Cade took the boat into an item shop. They restocked on healing potions, Cade telling them that the ones in Mille Seseau were far stronger than the ones in Tiberoa or Serdio, then Cade backed the boat out of the shop and they set off again. After a few more minutes, they reached the Mayor's house, finding him pacing.

"Oh, I couldn't sit still!" the mayor said. "I was just pacing around waiting for you! The story of your heroic deeds in Tiberoa has reached us here in Furni! It is wonderful, what you did! And now, I would like you to listen to my story!"

"P-Please wait!" Dart said. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"I would like to talk briefly about the sad situation in this village," the mayor explained. "Would you please listen to me?"

The mayor introduced her daughter, Fa. He told them that she'd been attacked by Kamuy and hadn't spoken a word since. He explained that Kamuy, along with monsters from the forest, had been attacking people passing through it. Then, finally, he asked them to help them find and stop the wolf.

"We had already agreed to help," Dart said.

"Oh thank you!" the mayor smiled. "Please, as repayment, feel free to spend the night here!"

"Well..." Dart trailed off, looking back at the others, only for Fa to suddenly hug Shana around the legs. "Do you like Shana?"

Fa nodded.

"Just for tonight," Dart decided. "Thank you."

"Of course," the mayor nodded. "I'll begin making dinner with Fa."

Dart nodded and the mayor and Fa headed to the small counter off to the side, beginning to cook. Cade and the others all spread out to decide where to sleep. However, a little while after dinner, Dart suddenly ran into the house from the roof, carrying Shana, who was unconscious. He explained she'd suddenly said her head hurt as they were talking about the Moon That Never Sets, then collapsed. they lay her on the couch to rest, and Dart sat with her all night. Then, in the morning, she woke up, seeming just fine. As though nothing had happened.

"I feel fine now," Shana tried to reassure Dart. "I can leave anytime."

Dart wasn't convinced, but eventually relented. So, they all left the mayor's house to head to the edge of the village and join the hunt for Kamuy.


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