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


Haunted Fort

Cade remained silent through Lloyd's story. Diaz had taken him to Kadessa, told him that the reason for Wingly magic deteriorating is that the world has become stagnant, and that the one hundred eighth species can regenerate the world. He remained silent while Lloyd claimed the Moon Child would bring a blessing of regeneration to the world. And he remained silent as Rose told him it was a lie, only to go silent when Lloyd challenged her statement by asking about the Black Monster's motives. He even remained silent when Lloyd claimed the Black Monster feared being burned away by the holy light of the final species. Then, Lloyd said he'd leave the rest for Diaz to tell. Dart demanded to know why Shana was taken, and what her connection to the Moon Child was. Cade looked to Rose at that, seeing the same gears that had already turned in his head turning in hers. He could see the same terrible suspicion settling into her. Finally, Dart sat down, at Albert's urging, as did Lloyd. Then, it was Cade's turn to speak at last.

"I think it's about time I told you all," Cade said, everyone looking to him, Miranda closing her hand around her bow, though the others all remained calm. "There's a reason why I was being targeted by the monsters in Flanvel, and why they knew to ambush us at that teleporter after the fight. I'm sure you must have felt it, Lloyd."

"Felt it?" Lloyd asked. "I've never been very good at stuff like that. It's not that common a skill, even among Winglies."

"I see," Cade nodded. "Then I suppose I'm the only one who knows."

"Knows what?" Albert asked.

"Faust is alive," Cade said, everyone staring at him in shock. When I spaced out shortly after we arrived, it was because I was sensing him, and because he was sort of...sending me feedback in my senses to let me know he sensed me too. I'm not sure how he's alive, but I know he is."

"It makes sense," Rose said. "Even Melbu Frahma feared Faust's powers. So much so that he created an item, the Vanishing Stone, that could block Faust's most dangerous power, just in case Faust were to ever turn against him."

"What was his power?" Dart asked.

Rose was silent for a moment. "If I remember the legend correctly, Faust could create copies of himself, each one just as powerful and dangerous as the original. If he's alive, he needs to be dealt with. However, for that, we need to find the Vanishing Stone."

"Do we have time for that?" Dart asked. "How would we even find it? Can you sense it?"

"No," Cade said, shaking his head. "Maybe if I was holding it, but I can't use my senses to sniff it out like a bloodhound and a corpse."

"Then how?" Dart asked.

"I don't know," Rose said. "But you don't seem to understand the stakes of what this means. Winglies have decreased in power by generation. Which means that Faust is probably just as powerful as he was during the war. No, probably even more so. He was the one Wingly who valued magical power above all else, and he practiced his spells to strengthen his own until even the Wingly Leader who had unlimited magic power feared him. Faust would be well beyond the level of a Dragoon, even now."

"He also may know a way to block a Dragoon's power," Cade said. "He's had eleven thousand years to be bitter about the war."

Rose nodded. "If he wanted to restart the war, he could wipe out nations. Alone. And the other Winglies, all of them, would, without a doubt, rally behind him."

"And then we'd have to fight an army of Winglies along with Faust, all the while still not having the Vanishing Stone," Cade said.

Everyone was silent for a long while before nodding one by one.

"We'll deal with Emperor Diaz first," Dart decided. "We'll rescue Shana, and stop Emperor Diaz's plot. Then we'll deal with Faust."

Cade and Rose both nodded. They all fell silent, waiting for the blizzard outside to settle before leaving into the light snowfall that remained, Meru twirling excitedly. They continued through the area they were in, only to stop, staring at a clawed hand sticking out of a stone wall up ahead. Cade would guess it belonged to a dragon, but the hand was all that was visible, and it was made of stone, so he couldn't be sure. He sighed, looking to the left just as he sensed something below the cliff to the left. He felt a magic power stir slowly and walked toward the edge, stopping and looking down, able to just make out a ruin at the bottom.

"Cade, be careful," Miranda called out. "The snow can be unstable there."

"There's something down there," Cade said, looking back at them. "Some kind of ruin."

"We don't have time to deal with it," Dart said. "Let's go."

Cade sighed, then nodded. However, as he turned, he suddenly found his foot in the open air behind him. His eyes widened, as did the others', then hit the edge hard, bouncing backward and crashing down on his back, beginning to tumble and collect snow as he rolled. He lost sense of direction instantly, but he felt himself bounce at least three times before finally crashing down in a pile of snow, the snow clinging to him and beginning to form a snowball breaking apart. He groaned miserably, lying there for a moment, before pushing himself up just as Rose slid off of a cliff above him, landing lightly to his side and dusting herself off.

"Maybe you should take the ring back," Rose said. "Seems like you need it."

"Oh shush, you," Cade said, looking to a large circular stone spike off to the side, one which had a flat, glowing, green section facing them with several races' writing mixed across the face of it.

As he was inspecting the writing, the others all arrived, including Lloyd, looking around before Meru and Kongol joined him and Rose.

"These are..." Meru trailed off.

"Ancient Wingly characters," Cade nodded. "Wonder what they're doing here. There's human writing too."

"Gigantos too," Kongol added.

"Can you read it?" Dart asked. "I was bad at classics."

"I think so," Cade said. "Try to remember I'm not any older than you, but I do know some." He trailed his hands over the characters as he hummed thoughtfully. "The cursed land where the decline of the Winglies began. Nobody is allowed to touch-oops-oh, the door. That's alright then."

"Focus," Rose said. "It's signed by 'The judge Nomos of the court of Zenebatos."

"The Law City?" Cade asked.

"Law City?" Dart repeated.

"It was one of the most prosperous cities of the ancient Winglies," Rose said. "Supposedly, it's the city where all laws were created or changed."

"Is it over there?" Dart asked, gesturing at the ruin.

Rose shook her head. "No. If my memory is correct, over there should be Fort Magrad. But there's nothing important here. Let's head back up, quickly."

Cade gave her a concerned look, and she returned it with a pleading one. He nodded, taking her hand. "Come on. Let's go back. We need to head to Vellweb."

"I wanna see it!" Meru said, running toward Magrad.

"Meru!" Cade called then groaned. "I'll go get her."

"We'll all go," Dart said.

Cade glanced at Rose and she sighed, nodding. Cade nodded as well, taking her hand and they all walked after Meru. Just through the door, Dart was greeted by a snowball to the face and Meru began to cheer. Dart sighed , wiping his face off, and looked around at the ruins. They were on a long walkway ending in a set of stairs wrapping down and around to the ground below them to their left. Then there was a large gate leading into the fort.

"You said this was called Fort Magrad?" Dart asked. "Was this one of the Winglies' forts too?"

Rose was silent for a moment before shaking her head. "This belonged to the Humans. It is the land where Diaz declared war on the Winglies with tens of thousands of soldiers and seven Dragoon."

Dart gave her a strange look and she shrugged.

"I heard about it," Rose said.

"From me," Cade said. "My mother came here once and found a journal written during the time of the declaration."

Dart nodded, accepting his statement, then looked around.

"Let's keep going!" Meru called out, turning and running for the stairs.

"Meru!" Cade called back. "Wait!"

She hit the stairs running and, just as Cade had anticipated, instantly flipped backward as he foot shot forward off the steps. She bounced and rolled down the stairs, but just as she landed, the ground broke apart on both sides of her, skeletons standing wearing half-rotted armor and holding a sword and shield each.

"Meru!" Cade shouted, leaping from the edge instantly and blasting one of the skeletons with a sphere of explosive magic.

The other turned to him just in time to block his sword and leap backward. Cade stepped between the two skeletons, the first of which had also regained its feet, and Meru, standing profile to them with his sword held horizontally in front of his chest, the tip pointed at them. Just as the two skeletons charged, Rose reached Cade, deflecting one of the skeletons' swords as he deflected the other. The skeletons pivoted, slashing at the other and both blocked it the strikes, then shoved the blades upward and slashed back downward, splitting their own opponents down the middle. Cade frowned as the bones collapsed into a pair of piles.

"Something's not right here," Cade said, glancing at Rose, who knelt and lifted one of the swords.

"These swords belonged to Diaz's soldiers," Rose said quietly. "I helped pass them out just to pass the time."

Dart and the others reached them as Meru stirred and pushed herself up, staring at the skeletons.

"What happened?" Meru asked.

"When you fell, two skeletons came out of the ground to kill you," Cade said. "They were human soldiers, I think. It might be because you're a Wingly, or it might be because you're alive. What do you think, Rose? Should we press on?"

Rose nodded. "We should make sure no one else who stumbles across this place is hurt."

Everyone nodded and she stood, she and Cade taking the lead as they walked through the arch into Fort Magrad. After a couple of minutes of waling through the streets of the fort, they stopped as they reached a stone walkway overlooking a large open area in the heart of the fort. There was a raised, circular section of stone at the bottom of the winding path, likely where Emperor Diaz would have stood to make his speech to declare war. Rose stared at it with a distant gaze in her eyes, clearly seeing it from the last time she was there. He slipped his hand into hers and she held it tightly for several long seconds before slowly loosening her grip.

"Are you alright?" Cade asked. "We can leave."

"No," Rose said. "We...I have to do this."

Cade nodded and they turned, following the others down the pathway just as three more skeletons burst out of the ground. Since they were prepared this time, Miranda placed an arrow through one's skull instantly, killing it, and Dart and Albert both slashed the other two, Albert's falling off a cliff and into a chasm below the path. Then, they continued. No more skeletons burst out of the ground, at least not yet, and they made it to where Diaz would have been standing without trouble. However, as they arrived, Cade caught Dart by the shoulder to stop him walking forward any further, stepping out front.

"What is it?" Dart asked as Cade stared at a gold-hilted, red-bladed sword stabbed into a broken stone altar ahead of them.

The blade was formed into two diamonds extended end-to-end into a blade about as long as Dart's, and on the ground below the sword was half of a suit of purple plate mail armor consisting of a purple cuirass with a purple half-cape on the left side, a fully-armored sleeve on the right side with a gauntlet attached, broken chain mail attached to the bottom of the cuirass in front and back, hip protectors, gold highlights over the entire thing, and a purple helmet with no face protector, a short bill above the face's opening, and intricate gold highlights matching the cuirass's.

"I wonder whose armor that is," Meru said.

"It's haunted," Cade said, glancing at Rose, whose mind was a million miles away.

Rose walked forward, but when Cade caught her arm, she simply took his hand and brought him with her before kneeling before the stone, ignoring both the armor and the sword. Cade hesitated before also kneeling.

"When last I was here, I was speaking with Emperor Diaz about my plan to marry Zieg after the war," Rose said quietly enough that the others couldn't hear. "This stone used to be a tribute to the Dragoons."

"I'm sorry," Cade said. "I should have been more careful. We shouldn't have come here."

Rose shook her head. "It's alright. I'm glad we came, so that we can deal with the souls trapped here. And I'm alright being here as long as you're with me. I loved Zieg, but he's gone, and I have you now."

Cade nodded as he sensed the magic power in the sword and armor beginning to build. "Times up."

"Sometimes...I don't know if you're really the Rose I know," Dart spoke up.

"I am...just me," Rose said, standing with Cade, then taking her arm back in order to draw her sword. "It's time to settle things with the spirits trapped here."

They backed away from the armor as the sword floated to its hand. Then, it swung its arm out to the side, its magic energy pulsing toward them in waves. Instantly, the world around them began to grow dark and Cade swore, forming them all a barrier. Then, the sword tore through his left side, the barrier and his armor keeping it shallow. Then it hit his back. Then his left side again. Then his right leg. Finally, light began to return and he opened his eyes, looking around at the others, who all had much worse wounds, besides Lloyd, who was still standing about fifty feet behind them, his armor halfway regenerated already.

"Dart, watch Lloyd," Cade said, standing. "I'll take point on the armor."

"Right," Dart nodded, turning and returning to Lloyd.

As he did, Cade charged. The armor turned, hurling the sword at him and he blocked it, only for the sword to swing around, slashing again, then again. Cade blocked it over and over, the sword pressing him hard, since there was no wielder for him to counter against. Finally, he caught the hilt and spun, hurling it and sending it stabbing back into the armor. He chased it and it ripped the blade back out of its torso before moving to slash him. However, he deflected the blade and split the armor wide open across the side, stepping past it, then turning to look back at it in time to block the blade again and streak backward into the wall behind the broken monument. Rose's sword tore into armor's back several times before it turned, slashing at her, only for her to duck under it and turn away, stabbing backward into its chest on her left side. Then, she ripped the sword back out, spinning out of the way of a vertical slash and split the armor across the front again. A skull suddenly appeared in its helmet, cackling, and a dark blue light suddenly began to glow from Rose's arms and sword. She looked down at them, then leapt backward, the sword speeding after her, only for Cade to shoulder her out of the way and deflect the sword into the ground. The second he did, he slashed at it with both hands, meaning to snap the blade off, only for the sword to shoot into the air sparking across his armor's chest on the way, throwing him backward but not cutting through this time. He flipped, landing on his feet and swiped a hand through the air. Explosions of light began to go off around the armor rapidly and the sword shot toward him, only for Meru's hammer to smash it into the ground. Instantly, Kongol's axe crashed into it, only to halt.

"Impossible," Kongol said.

"Try this!" Haschel said, drilling a punch into the back of Kongol's axe.

The sword's blade shattered instantly and a massive cloud of thick purple smoke billowed out of the break on both halves, surging skyward but fading. Cade turned back toward the armor as the explosions of light faded. Just as it did, the skull appeared again, only for Miranda to put an arrow through it, the arrow passing into the skull harmlessly, but tacking the helmet to the stone monument behind it. The armor swung its arm outward and the sky above them suddenly began to shine gold, multi-colored rays of light flashing to the ground and beginning to sweep around. They all had a little more room to maneuver than when Lloyd used the spell, and it was also weaker, so they all dodged around the lights, everyone charging. The helmet broke free of the wall just in time for Albert to reach it, having bypassed the armor. He slashed upward, smashing the helmet into the air. Then, when it landed, he jumped, bringing his spear down into the helmet and smashing it. He leapt away from the dark smoke that billowed out and the others all tore into the armor. Kongol went first, taking off the armor's arm and a chunk of its lower right side. Next was Meru, who shattered the upper left side, the armor's half-cape falling to the ground. Then, Rose and Cade passed together, slashing it down across the torso in opposite directions, Cade passing on the right and Rose on the left, and split the armor in an "X" for Haschel to target. And when his fist hit it, the rest of the armor all but exploded.

Cade sighed, watching the smoke billow into the sky and fade, then looked around. He didn't see any skeletons rising to fight them, and the area around them seemed to lighten slightly, so he sheathed his sword, turning to Rose, who turned back to the monument. "What was that light around your arms and sword?"

"A curse," Rose said. "Whoever has it cast on them is unable to attack until it's broken, which Albert did by breaking the helmet."

Cade nodded.

"Why were the spirits here attacking us?" Albert asked. "Is it because we have Winglies? Or because we're alive?"

"Does it really matter?" Rose asked. "I cannot complain that people bear grudges against me."

"Well I can," Cade said. "You're too beautiful to bear a grudge against."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Not this again. I was enjoying not having to hear it."

Cade grinned. "That's a shame. I enjoy forcing you to. So you're out of luck."

"Come on," Albert said. "Let's keep going. We still have to reach Vellweb."

The others all nodded and they all headed back up to the top of the cliff Cade had fallen down, then continued on toward Vellweb.


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