The New Threat:

Part III: Romance

He opened his eyes and the pain shot through his head. Furion looked up and thought he was looking at a flat, white, surface. Then he realized, he really WAS looking at a flat, white, surface. It was a ceiling. He pushed himself up and looked around, he was in a small room, a dressing table stood in one corner, and the sun was shining through the window. His scythe leaned against the wall at the foot of his bed. Then he remembered the slash he'd gotten across the thigh and looked down to check it. There was nothing there; it was as if nothing had ever touched the flesh. No one was anywhere in sight, but there was a tray of food on the dressing table. Taking down the tray he began to eat, the food was good, better than any he had ever tasted, except his wife's. When he was halfway through the meal, a young man walked in, his eyes were a fiery reddish color, and he had short platinum hair. He was dressed all in black, and a long-sword hung on his back. The next man who walked in was about a head shorter, with long, spiky, blond hair; he carried an intricately made sword at his side, and wore battle-scarred red armor. After a long while, the blond haired man broke the silence.

"What's your name stranger?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same question." Furion snapped, if these people were bandits he'd make their lives miserable before he told them anything. A wry smile crossed the red warriors face, and his companion smirked.

"I am Dart Feld, the Dragoon of the Red Eyed Dragon." He motioned to the platinum haired man, "and this is Lloyd, the Dragoon of the Divine Dragon."

"Dragoons, as in the legendary heroes who defeated the Winglies?"

"We are the new generation, chosen to fight a new threat."

"Which would be?"

"It hasn't emerged yet." Dart shrugged.

"Then why am I here?" Lloyd gave a short laugh, and Dart nodded. Reaching into his vest, the Wingly brought out the Jade Dragoon Stone, which Dart had handed him the day before. He tossed it to Furion, who caught it in mid-air.

"The Dragoon Stone of the Jade Dragon." Lloyd said.

It pulsed in the man's hand and seemed to glow with a faint green light. Dart took out his Stone and Lloyd did the same. All three seemed to explode with light, emitting shining auras of their respective colors. Dart looked over at the man in green.

"King Albert, the former Wind Dragoon, has stepped down. The Dragoon Spirit has chosen you to be its' next bearer."

Far, far away, a blond haired man in the armor of a Serdian Knight stood gazing into a pool. Lavitz gazed at his friends, only he wasn't Lavitz. With a dark laugh, Zackwell, the lord of Mayfil cast off the guise he had used to trick the Wingly. With a wave of his hand he called up eight pods. Looking into each, he could see the souls of the eight dragons, Wind, Earth, Light, Darkness, Water, Fire, Thunder, and Void. Breaking open each pod, he caused the souls to meld together, to become one, all powerful, being. A huge mist sprang up blanketing the whole place in silence, and after a few moments a great hissing could be heard. Then the mist cleared, and there stood an apparition beyond Melbu Frahma's wildest imaginings. Two hundred feet high, and one hundred and fifty feet long, stood a horrendous creature. Seven wings sprang out of its' back, and seven eyes were set into its' ugly head. It seemed to be a dark gray, but when it moved its' colors changed, bewildering the eye. Two long, jagged tusks hung out of a mouth filled with row upon row, of razor sharp teeth. It let out an eardrum-shattering roar and launched itself into the air. Zackwell smiled. "I'll call you, the Elemental Dragon. You know what to do, don't you?" he asked the creature. It nodded its' huge head. And Zackwell laughed.

"Make daddy proud."

Kayla flopped down onto the bed. The past three weeks had been so tiring. She'd traveled up and down the south side of the mountains with her newfound friends, flushing out the bandits. Dart said no unnecessary killing, but the bandits always seemed to make it necessary. She smirked, all the better for her. These new people were great. But the one she had felt the closest to was Lloyd, he'd never said more than a dozen words to her since that first night, and he didn't treat her any different from the others, always with his cold demeanor, but she felt something about him. Something akin to what was inside her. She still remembered his touch, the time she'd been merrily skipping along through the wood with Meru, and her foot had snagged on a rock. She'd almost broken her nose when he'd grabbed her hand and steadied her. His touch, so gentle, yet so firm.

"Careful," he'd said with a smile, "wouldn't want to spoil that pretty face." She'd blushed at that; then shoved him away so that he couldn't see her embarrassment.

"Idiot." He grinned, patted her on the head and walked off. A warm smile crept over her face at the memory. Then she shook it from her mind. As enjoyable a trip down memory lane as that was; I better go do something useful.

"Oh I know!" she exclaimed out loud. "I'll go talk to Lloyd." With a renewed spring in her step she skipped off to find the Platinum Shadow.

Woken by her friend's exclamation Meru sat up.

"What was that all about?" She wondered, before dropping back onto her bed and falling asleep.

Lloyd stood on the castle balcony, gazing out over Bale. Two new dragoons, inexperienced Dragoons, he thought, are they going to be enough to defeat this, "new threat" the knight told me about? He looked to the west, towards the mountains, the same way Dart and Shana had looked, almost a year ago. He'd been the threat then. Shaking those thoughts from his head, he turned his mind towards the new battles that were undoubtedly moving closer. But suddenly he found himself thinking of Kayla. The subtle grace of her movements on the group's march through the forest, the sweet tinkle of her laugh, the midnight river of her hair flowing down her back, she was beautiful. Lloyd old boy, you're going soft on me. With a small smile he drew his sword, flashing it through the air in a few lightning movements. Maybe not. It was then he heard the soft rustle of movement behind him, whirling around, he dropped his sword to its' fighting position by his side. Kayla jumped back.

"Easy there, big boy," a smile flashed across her lips, "you might put someone's eye out with that." He snorted.

"Only a fool, could do that."

"There's a little bit of the fool in all of us." Came her reply.

"Yes, but I have the least of it."

"Are you always so cold, Lloyd?" The question caught him off guard. She placed a hand on his chest, to feel his heart. "You can't really be cold. Your heart's still beating."

"Compassion is for the weak. It's a fire that cannot be quenched. You play with fire, you get burned." She lowered her eyes.

"But it's better to get burned than to never see the fire's beauty, isn't it?" she spoke quietly. He hesitated, what did she want?

"I don't know," he said at last. She sighed.

"Neither do I."

"Kayla…" he said softly. She cocked her head.

"Yes, Lloyd?"

"I…um…was wondering…" she looked at him, her eyes sparkling. She truly was beautiful. "Would you…like to…"

"Yes?"

"That is…what I mean is…would you like to, train with me? Sometime?" She let out the breath she'd been holding.

"I'd like that." She smiled.

Coward. He cursed himself. You can go up against the Divine Dragon, but you can't talk to this girl without stuttering. Suddenly she placed both her hands on his chest,

"I'd like that a lot."

Shana paced in her room, she couldn't live like this. When would Dart come back. Would he come back? She'd never admitted it, not even to herself, but she loved him. Ever since that night he'd rescued her from Hellena. All she'd wanted was to be with him. Share his every moment. That's it, she told herself, I'm going to look for them. She strode up to the wall where she'd hung her bow. Strapping her quiver on her back, she pulled down her longbow. Ready to go, she span on her heel and walked right into a red wall. She looked up, hoping this wasn't an illusion. Dart looked down at her and smiled.

"Planning on going somewhere?"

"Dart…" she sighed as she clung to him. "I was so worried about you." Hesitantly, he reached up a hand and stroked her hair.

"Me too Shana." Taking her by her shoulders he sat her down on the bed and stared into her eyes. "You know, I've been thinking…well…we've kinda…um…" Just say it! He screamed in his mind. Just tell her how you feel! She put a finger to his lips, silencing him, before he could say another word. He furrowed his brow, wondering if he'd said something wrong. Then she said something that soothed all his fears.

"I love you too Dart."

Furion stared down at the Jade Stone in his hand. So I'm a Dragoon huh? Well it's better than being a lonely, wandering widower. He didn't know what it was about these people, but he felt like he knew them already. Closing his fingers around the stone, he felt the warm energy course through his body. He looked off into the distance, thinking of his dead wife. What would she think if she could see him now? A sad smile appeared on his face. A Dragon Knight, well at least now he couldn't complain about life being boring. His stomach growled, breaking his reverie, with a soft chuckle, he got up and decided to go look for a snack in the castle's kitchens. Just as he reached the top of the stairs however, the earth seemed to buck and try to throw him and then a huge explosion rocked the building. Furion struggled to his feet, coughing and sputtering as dust filled his nose and throat. Rubbing his knuckles into his eyes, he managed to get most of the dust out as his new friends came running from all over the castle. Lloyd was the first to speak.

"What the hell was that?" His clothes were covered in dust and grime.

"No idea," replied Dart, "Shana and I were talking when the room seemed to implode on us."

"Kongol head hurt. Big rock hit it." The Giganto said, as a he nursed a long cut on his forehead. Kayla screamed. She ran to Lloyd and buried her face in his shoulder. Stunned at the gesture he wrapped his left arm around her and drew his sword.

"Guys," he said looking to the east, "the dragons are all dead, right?"

"Course they are," Miranda snapped, "why'd you ask such a stupid question?" Lloyd shot her a withering stare and pointed off towards the east with his sword. The Elemental Dragon was winging its' way towards the castle, powering up another beam to shatter what was left of it.

"Cause I think you missed one!"

"Shit," Dart muttered, turning to Shana, he kissed her lightly on the lips. "Get away from the castle, use the tunnels anything. Take anyone you can find, just get out."

"I can fight." She stated. He gripped her by her shoulders, looked into her eyes and shook his head.

"I can't lose you. Go!" With a nod she sped off. "Let's kick this thing's ass." With a smirk Lloyd nodded and then he turned to Kayla.

"Can you fight?" She nodded slowly, trying in vain to stop from trembling. He smiled, squeezed her hand and jumped off the balcony.

"Divine Dragoon! Emerge!" An aura of energy appeared around him, and he transformed, the Dragon Buster appeared in his hand, and he flashed off towards the Elemental Dragon.

"The idiot's going to kill himself!" Furion shouted.

"Not on my watch! Dragoons, behind me!" Dart called as he transformed, as one the Dragon Knights changed and flew off to aid their comrade.

Lloyd reached the monster long before the others transformed. He had to kill it. If Kayla fought she'd get hurt. Why do you care? He asked himself, you're the cold, remote one, remember? Then another voice broke through, well, I got sick of it. And…she's special. He smiled to himself, amused that he could care for a human. Then the Dragon was upon him. It fired off a volley of blasts from its gaping mouth and swung at him with its' spiked tail. Dodging the blasts, he was caught off guard by the swinging tail and was sent hurtling into a tree. Dazed, he jumped back into the air, the others were nearly there, he had to finish this now. He wouldn't let her get hurt, he silently vowed. In one swift motion he flew straight for the monster and sliced off two of its' wings. Bellowing in pain it tried to knock him senseless with its claws, but he effortlessly dodged its most persistent attack. Then, with all the fury of a lightning bolt, the Wingly dropped out of the sky and rammed the Dragon Buster up to its' hilt into the monster's main eye. It screamed in pain, then a light started to glow behind its' eyes. Yes! Now die you filthy beast! To his horror, the Dragon didn't die, instead, he saw it re-grow the wings he had cut off, and before he could recover it blasted him into the cliff face with a powerful energy beam. As he fell his head smashed against a rock, and just before he passed out he thought, impossible. It'd have to be stronger than the Divine Dragon to…impossible…then he fell back into the blackness.

Kayla saw Lloyd's unconscious form hurtle down and slam against the bottom of the cliffs.

"Noooo!" The strangled cry escaped her lips. She saw the Divine Dragoon armor disappear; leaving only his broken body. Before anyone could stop her she dropped to the ground next to him, reverting to her normal form she cradled his head in her lap and whispered in his ear. "Lloyd, don't die. Don't leave me all alone. Lloyd, please don't die." The others hovered, forgetting the apparition that now flew away from Bale. Kayla didn't even see them; the tears were coursing down her cheeks as she held on to the Wingly. "You can't leave me, you can't…"

R-E-V-I-E-W, R-E-V-I-E-W, R-E-V-I-E-W,R-E-V-I-E-W Yay! Thanks!