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


Trials

Cade looked up from the floor as Rose and Dart stepped out of the portal to his right.

"Dart!" Meru cheered, drawing Kongol, Haschel, and Miranda's attwntion. "Rose!"

"I'm glad you are all alright," Dart said. "Where's Albert?"

"Dealing with his past," Cade said, hlancing at the Pseudo Dragon as it jumped down from Miranda's shoulder and trotted over ro Rose, allowing her to pet him.

"I'm glad you two are alright," Albert said, reaching the top of the stairs just as Rose straightened up.

"Let's go," Cade said. "We're running out of time."

The others all nodded in agreement, and they all headed back to the next layer, to the space with them walking on the sky. Wirhout Michael attacking them, they crossed the same metal bridge as before easily, and continued along their invisible path. However, when the path became a walkway over the clouds, Cade instantly recognized Wingly archotecture, seeing the same recognition in Meru's eyes. Finally, they stopped at a Magic Energy bridge, staring at the floating city in the distance.

"What is that?" Dart asked.

"Kadessa," Cade, Meru, and Rose all said.

"That's the Palace of the Winglies when it was first but," Meru said, walking onto the bridge. "Let's go!"

"Meru," Cade said lowly. "It's your turn."

Meru's eyes widened before she shook her head. "Our turn."

Cade hesitated before nodding, stepping onto the bridge, only for it to vanish. Both caught themselves with their wings, and Cade put his Magic Sword away before green light suddenly began to shine from him and Meru both. Then, it flashed, and Cade found himself hovering in a chamber deep, he assumed, inside of the Palace of the Winglies, Meru landing on her butt beside him. Before them, floating on her six, feathery, white wings, was Archangel. Her six arms held a book, a long, curved sword, a black flower, a staff, a shield, and a horn. Her brown hair fell behind her in waves, and her brown robe was immaculate.

"Archangel," Cade said, Meru staring at her in syrprise.

"What are you doing here?" Meru gasped.

"I am here to cleanse our sublime species of that stain beside you," Archangel said in her melodic voice.

"I'm not dying quietly," Cade said. "I'll fight for my survival. But why did you bring Meru here if you only intend to kill me?"

"Meru will be punished for her actions as well," Archangel said, turning her gaze on Meru. "I know everything, Meru. You threw the pride of the subline Winglies away, and you've been with barbaric Humans, haven't you?"

"Archangel, Humans are not barbaric!" Meru snapped. "They have many good things which we don't have! And Cade is not a stain on our race! He's a good man!"

"He is a parasite," Archangel said. "Fine, Meru. I will make you remember the sublime spirit of a Wingly."

Cade acted first, exploding forward and slashing, only for Archangel to deflect hi blade with her shield, then slash him with her sword, sending him sailing across thr room. Meru leapt forward, and Archangel turned, knocking her mallet aside with the sword before batting her aside with the staff.

"Wake up, Meru," Archangel said. "You have already seen the reality of arrogant and ignoble Humans."

"Humans could never be ignoble creatures!" Meru snapped. "They help each other when they are in trouble, even if they don't know each other! And above all, they have dreams and hopes!"

"Foolish! Humans are more simple monded than you would think." Archangel spun, blocking Cade's sword with her own, only for Meru's mallet to crash into her side, hurling her away. She stood, undeterred. "We have to rule them or eventually they will cease to exist."

"All lives in this world are equal!" Cade snapped as his blade begsn to clash with Archangel's rapidly. "No race should rule another or be ruled by them!"

"That's right!" Meru shouted, swiping at Archangel, only for her to telwport behind Cade and stab him before flinging him away. "Cade!"

"Silence, you half-breed filth!" Archangel snarled, then blew her horn as Cade pushed himself up unsteadily.

Above them, thw ceiling was swallowed by darkness before clouds filled the sky higb above them. Light parted the clouds a moment later before a legion of Winglies began to descend, all of them armed with glowing swords and dressed in thick lesther armor. A three-headed creature with grey skin, stumpy legs, and three enormous heads with floppy ears, two huge, curled tusks, and long trunk noses descended along with the Winglies, bearing a large saddle and gold adornments. Archangel sat on the huge creature's back as the Winglies formed up behind her in the air. Cade teleported in front of Meru just as Archangel pointed her sword at her. The Winglies were off in a second, speeding in to strike from every side, only for Cade and four glowing, blue silhouettes of him to encircle Meru, deflecting the majority of the strikes, though the sheer number of Winglies made it impossible to block them all, leavinf Cade covered in wounds, both shallow and deep, and dripping blood as Archangle's mount charged, blowing out a loud, trumpeting bellow through its trunks. Cade's afterimages faded and Cade shoved his hand forward, a large, shining, crimson barrier formed, halting the thing before repelling it, and it faded as the room returned to its original shape.

"Have you forgotten what we accomplished?" Archangel asked, floating down from where she'd left her mount and stopped herself from falling. "We stabikized a chaotic world, and saved species that would otherwise be extinct."

"Really?" Meru asked skeptically.

"Once there were one hundred seven species," Archangel said. "Half of those no longer exist. Our rule prevents the subversion of the world."

"Many of those species were hunted to extinction during Wingly rule, by Winglies!" Cade accused, struggling unsuccessfully to heal his wounds.

"They were meant to be extinct from the beginning," Archangel said offhandedly.

"Hyppocrite!" Meru shouted. "Liar! You destroyed them because they rebelled against the Winglies!"

"Meru, a heretic like you disturbs our ordered world," Archangel said. "And a thing like Cade doesn't deserve to exist."

"Shut up!" Meru shouted, then swung her hammer just as Archangel apoeared, catching her in the side of the head and launching her backward. "You're not real! You're just an invented god so they can justify themselves!"

"That's not true," Archangel said, standing. "I am a reflection of your mind. The disdain for Humans in your mind created me."

"That's not true!" Meru snapped. "I don't believe you!"

"Meru, don't lie to yourself," Archangel said, casting its black flower at Cade. "You think you can continue to decieve yourself playing a fool like that?"

The flower hit Cade's chest and burst into green light, healing him fully. Cade stood just as Archangel blew his horn again. This time, however, as the Winglies charged, so, too, did Cade, wielding both swords. The Winglies moved to meet him, but with his two swords ans his wounds healed, he slaughtered them rapidly before his Magic Sword split Archangel's mount's heads from one side to the other.

"You are truly an abomination," Archangel mused as she floated to the ground.

"I love Humans!" Meru snapped. "I adore Dart, Shana, and the others! Including Cade! This is real!"

"Meru-"

"Get out of my sight!" Meru snapped. "I love humans!"

Archangel stared at her for a long while before shining and fading, leaving a pillar of light behind.

"Why did she heal you?" Meru asked.

"Because it wasn't my trial, and because you refused to lose daith in me," Cade said. "In the end, she really was only meant as a test."

Meru nodded just as the others all ran in.

"Meru, Cade!" Dart said. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine," Cade said. "How'd you get in here?"

"The bridge reformed," Albert said.

Cade nodded, looking to the shaft of light. "We're close."

The others all nodded and stepped into the light, being pulled upward. As they left the shaft it pulled them into, it was to the most bizarre scene Cade had ever whitnessed. The space they were in was formed entirely from rectangular prisms of all sizes and dimension, forming a ground far below, walls, a ceiling, and a path leading to a brightly-lit horizon of blocks. Some of the blocks belkw were showing silver and grey, and sometimes off-colored, spots flashing across their faces so fast that they sort of reminded him of snow in a blizzard, though on worse than any he'd ever seen.

"Oddly, not the wierdest thing we've seen today," Cade said.

"True," Dart nodded. "Let's hurry."

They all ran along the path, their footsteps echoing loudly on the tiles. Below them, the screen with the odd, black-and white pattern suddenly became an image of the Moon That Never Sets hanging in the sky. As they progressed along the path, passing through what Cade would loosely call structures or caves, more images appeared, though Cade couldn't place any of the scenes as significant. A feast here, a sunset there, a bridge there. Then, finally, he stopped, staring at an image he did know. It was his home, the one he once shared with his mother, in spring. It was tucked away in the woods, but sat on the edge of a huge field of knee-high grass. The sky above was a clear, cloudless day, and there were what looked like four silhouettes barely visible in the field, two taller and two shorter.

"What is it?" Dart asked.

"My trial," Cade said, resting a hand on the image, which rippled like water. "Stay out here. And if the image disappears, or I'm not back in fifteen minutes, continue on without me."

The others all hesitated before nodding, and Cade stepped forward, into the scene. He walked away from the oddly-shaped wall of blocks behind him where he could see the others, instead, walking to the now moving silhouettes, hesring two children laughing. He stopped as they noticed him, close enough for their faces to all be clear.

"Daddy, who's that?" the daughter, at most five years old, asked.

"Why does he look like you, Dad?" the son, seven or eight years old, quesrioned.

"What's going on?" The wife asked, her black hair falling behind her still, and her beauty untouched by the years that had obviously passed, but her dark armor replaced by a simple, dark blue dress.

"Rose, take the children inside," the husband said, his face slightly more aged than the one he was staring back into, his own armor replaced by a patxhed shirt and faded pants.

Rose ushered the children away quickly as Cade held out his magic sword's hilt. The older Cade shook his head.

"You know this trial," the older Cade said. "If I fight, it's easier for you. You've got to accept that what is set in stone can't be changed. So do it."

Cade lowered the Magic Sword's hilt, clenching his teeth, then stepped forward, stabbing his older self through the heart, tears running down both incarnations of his face. "I'm sorry!"

His voice was choked, but the older Cade merely smiled resignedly and nodded. As the Older Cade faded, Cade's gaze turned on the cabin, his home. He knew what he had to do, but he didn't have the strength. And yet, he had to. A strangled sob escaped him before he walked to the cabin. The daughter, mistaking him for his father, reached him first, hugging him, and he hugged her back, sobbing as he did. As she pulled back, his hands moved to her chin and the back of her head. There was a loud CRACK! and Rose screamed. The son sat paralyzed, and stared Cade in the eyes up until Cade's sword descended. Rose grabbed a knife, but before she could do more than turn, his blade slipped into her heart. She collapsed into his arms, and he fell to his knees, weeping.

"Why?" Rose choked out. "How could...you...give up...on...us?"

Cade could only sob, clutching her lifeless body tightly until it faded as the rest of them had. He pressed his head to the floor, sobbing until it felt like his throat had torn open, and his eyes were on fire. Finally, his tears slowed to a stop and he was able to give his sacrificed dream its answer.

"I don't have a choice," Cade rasped. "I have to let you go, so that I can stay and do what I must."

He reached up, drying his puffy, red eyes, then walked numbly through the rotted forest, away from the collapsed, dilapidated cabin, across the dry, dead field, and back through the wall to whwre the others were waiting. Instsntly, they all jumped to their feet.

"Cade!" Meru gasped. "What hapoened!?"

"I faced my trial," Cade croaked. "And I threw away anything that will get in the way of stopping Melbu Frahma."

Rose's eyes widened before she stared at the image behins him, one that now matched the changed world he'd walked through. One by one, the silhouettes she'd pointed out had faded before the entirety of the image had shifted from a scene of life and joy to one of death and hopelessness. She stsred at Cade as he squared his shoulders and began to follow the path again, realizing for the first time that she'd forced him into a decision that she never realized he would make. She swallowed hard, and followed after the others, left hand gripping her scabbard to stop her hand from trembling. She wouldn't let it come to that.


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