Disclaimer: I do NOT, I repeat NOT own the rights to any parts of LoD. Only the OCs in this story are mine. I hate this dsclaimer. :P
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The New Threat:
Part V: Resurrection
"We're going with you!" shouted five voices in unison.
"No way." Came the reply. "I got her into this mess; I'll get her out of it." Dart walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You're not alone anymore, we want to help you. We're you're friends." Lloyd glared at the five Dragoons. They stood resolutely about him in a half circle, refusing to let him move.
"Move, or I'll make you." An icy flame leapt up behind his eyes. To illustrate the remark he gathered the energy in the air into a glowing energy orb in his palm. "No matter what you people say, I'm going alone."
"Let him go," cut in Haschel's voice, "if he wants to kill himself over some girl let him." Lloyd had had enough, snuffing out the energy orb; he grabbed the older man by the scruff of his robes and slammed him up against the wall.
"This is not just 'some girl', old man." He growled. "Now, I'm leaving. Don't follow me." In the blink of an eye, he was gone.
"Stupid man, kill himself." Said Kongol.
"Yeah, tell me about it." Mumbled Meru.
It was so dark; she'd never been in darkness like this before. Then, slowly, the darkness dissipated, and she was standing in what looked to be a ruined city. Light blue columns, reached their spiral fingers towards the sky, and dark blue energy flowed in all directions. What is this place? Kayla thought to herself.
"Welcome, to the Death City, Mayfil." Said a voice from behind her.
"Miranda?" she asked as she turned. The blond haired girl nodded. "What're you doing here?" she asked.
"I'm dead, Kayla. As are you."
"No. Oh gods, please no." the young girl dropped to her knees as Miranda wrapped her arms around her in a hug.
"Don't worry," she said in a surprisingly tender voice. "Lloyd is coming to get you out of here."
"Can…can he do that?" the Sacred Sister nodded again. "Then, you're coming with me. Right? He'll bring you back too?" a sad smile appeared on Miranda's face, and she shook her head. "Why? Lloyd will bring both of us back! He will! I know it!"
"He cannot," that sad smile again, "he loves you. Only the love one person bears towards another can bring back the dead."
"Oh, well someone will come to bring you back, right?" Miranda shook her head again.
"Get ready," she said suddenly, "here comes Zackwell."
"Who?"
"The Lord of Mayfil."
And come he did. With a flourish, he dropped between the two girls, a wide grin plastered on his hideous face.
"Well, well, well. What have we here?" he cackled. "Two little Dragoons. I'm afraid one of you won't be staying long enough to experience my wonderful hospitality. But you know, 'less men, more shares,' and all that jazz." Miranda spat at him. And he laughed harder,
"Really you should try to be decent to your host for the rest of eternity."
"Whatever." Miranda said over her shoulder as she led Kayla away.
The Elemental Dragon sat, perched on the mountaintop. Those humans had proved quite a match for his power, but it wouldn't happen again. He'd raze their pathetic cities to the ground one by one, then he'd come to finish off those Dragoons. Those annoying insects would pay. Satisfied that his revenge would soon be complete, it winged off towards Tiberoa, Fletz would be an excellent first target.
Not far away, the five Dragoons left in the castle were gathered in Dart's room. Albert was far away, in Tiberoa, where the wedding ceremony between him and Emille was taking place. Now the Dragon Knights were discussing their next plan of action.
"I think we should follow Lloyd." Shana stated.
"Yeah, but he was all mean and pigheaded about it. And he said he didn't want us to follow him." Meru piped up.
"Never stopped any of us before." Dart said. "As I recall, you ran away from the Wingly Forest when you were told not to, Meru." The Wingly blushed and hid her face behind Kongol's back.
"Make up your mind so I can go take my nap." Haschel cut in again. "Us old people need out beauty sleep you know?"
"Alright then. We're going." Dart said simply. "But we're leaving right now." Haschel moaned. The small group filed out of the room, starting on their new quest, to help a man they had once called an enemy.
Miles, upon miles away, a lone Wingly flew across the arid wastelands of the Death Frontier. Finally, after what seemed like years, he dropped onto a walkway that would have been invisible to anyone but a Wingly, or someone who had a special key. He looked around Ulara; little had changed in the thousand or so years since he'd last been here. Walking slowly up to the highest room in the town, he knocked softly on the door; almost immediately, it was flung open by a short, fat, cheery looking female Wingly.
"Lloyd! Darling, it's been ages!" she cried as she hugged him.
"I'm not staying Charle." She saw the serious look on his face, and the stubborn set to his jaw, and sighed.
"Off on another adventure to 'bring Utopia'?"
"No, I'm going to save the girl I love."
"Oh, Lloyd, honey! That's perfectly wonderful!" He smiled slightly.
"I need you to send me to Mayfil."
"Humph, boring, smelly old place."
"Charle, please."
"Fine! Go stand on the teleporter. I'll get Charon."
Not long later, Lloyd stood in the middle of the teleporter, while a large groups of Winglies gathered around, siphoning their magical power into it.
"Thank you Charle," said Lloyd before he disappeared in a green blur.
"Thank me," she said softly, "by coming back alive."
Moments later, the Platinum-haired man, blinked into the teleporter room of Mayfil. Strange, he thought to himself, no guards, I'd have expected better from Zackwell. Before his thought was finished, however, a giant ray of energy slammed into him, flinging him fifty feet into a waiting pillar. The column broke in half and crashed to the ground, sending up a huge cloud of dust. Far above the cloud a young, female Wingly hovered, laughing to herself. Then, in the blink of an eye, a ball of orange energy flew out of the dust cloud, and smashed her into another pillar.
"Really, Lenus," said Lloyd, as he walked calmly out of the settling dust, "a surprise attack? You disappoint me."
"Yeah, yeah, hang it in your ear ya idiot! I loved you, and you shunned me! And I died for your stupid 'Utopia' or whatever. Now I'll kill you, then you'll have to stay here with me forever!"
With a mad laugh, she jumped back into the air and generated two razor sharp discs of magic, sending them hurtling towards the other Wingly. In one swift motion, Lloyd drew his sword, the golden hilt flashing in what little light there was, and knocked the discs aside with ease. Before another word had passed between them, he too was airborne with the Dragon Buster gripped tightly in his right hand, and his normal blade in his left. With a sound like a thunderclap, his two blades met the metal of her gauntlets and bounced off. Then, with one swift spin, he lashed out with the Buster and slashed her across the collarbone.
"Give up?" he asked, a smirk spreading across his face.
"You first." She replied, breathing heavily.
"Alright then."
Moving so fast his body was little more than a blur in the air; he sliced six columns in half. Before she knew what was happening, Lenus had been slammed over the back of the head by a piece of falling debris, and both her legs were crushed under another pillar. Blood spurted from her mouth, dying her teeth a hideous shade of crimson as she flashed him a maniacal smile.
"Can't…say I didn't…try." She managed, between great coughs of blood. He just walked away, never turning back to look at her crushed form. Kayla was all that mattered.
Dart furiously kicked at a rock on the ground sending it skittering away over the edge of the platform. He'd led the Dragoons back to the Wingly Forest, thinking the Elder could send them to Mayfil. But, the Winglies' power had greatly diminished and he could only send them as far as Zenebatos. Dart had conceded, thinking he could catch the teleporter from there. Yet here he stood, where only a few months ago the teleporter had been. And there was nothing here, just a dusty circle on the ground.
"Hey Dart! Whatcha lookin' at?" came an overly cheerful voice from somewhere to his left.
"I'm looking at what used to be the teleporter that could have taken us to Mayfil, Meru." He replied, the exasperation clear in his voice. Shana walked up and took his arm in her own.
"Maybe there's another way, Love?" she said. He looked down at her and smiled, she had a soothing power over him, a power that could quench the fire that raged within him. Was it the magic of her healing, White-Silver Dragoon? Or was it merely her radiant personality? He didn't know. But as long as she was with him, he knew, he could do anything.
"There has to be." Then he turned to Haschel, who was sitting cross-legged on a nearby rock. "Can you get us to Ulara?" he asked the Thunder Dragoon. The old man merely grunted. Then with a small nod of his head, he transformed into the Dragoon of the Violet Dragon. Reaching out his hand towards his team-mates, he surrounded them with a ball of lightning. Then, reaching his other towards the sky, he changed himself into a bolt of lightning and flashed across the sky towards Ulara, pulling his friends behind him.
In seconds, the Dragon Knights were dropping onto the main square of Ulara. And Charle was running up to them, "dear"-ing and "honey"-ing for all she was worth. When she heard what they wanted her lips went thin, and she put her hands on her hips. Wiping an imaginary smudge off Dart's face, much to his discomfort, she said,
"You silly people and your dumb old quests, why don't you just settle down and enjoy the simple life?"
"We are the Dragoons, Charle." Dart said. "If we 'settled down', the world as you know it could cease to exist, and there wouldn't be such a thing as a 'simple life'!"
With a sigh the old Wingly shook her head, and hurried off to gather the Winglies for the second time that day. Soon, the legendary heroes stood on the teleporter and waved and shouted their thanks to the assembled Winglies. Then, in a blur, identical to the one Lloyd had disappeared in only a few hours later, the Dragoons, too, disappeared.
Sword in hand, the Dragon Buster, returned to wherever it was it went when he made it disappear, Lloyd walked slowly through the Death City. Searching each pod he came across for any sign of Kayla, he moved at a slow, arduous pace. Then, as if fate had decided to ram its' sense of irony into overdrive, there she was, right in front of him. But something seemed strange about her. He shrugged it off as his imagination and took a step forward.
"Kay…" He never got the name out as she suddenly pressed her lips to his, hard. His eyes went wide. And he slowly pushed her away and held her at arms length. She gave him a coquettish grin.
"What's the matter big boy? Am I too hot for you to handle?" he knew something was wrong; this wasn't the Kayla he knew. The Kayla he loved.
"You feeling alright Kay?" he asked. She replied by forcing her mouth over his again. What the hell! The thought burst through his mind as her tongue found its' way into his mouth. He shoved her back and stared hard at her. There was something seriously wrong. Suddenly, anger flared in her eyes, and she drew her daggers. Lunging at him. Parrying the wildly slashing blades, he took large steps back. Trying to push down his instinct to fight back. Then she got in a lucky slash to his forearm. With a hard shove he threw her to the ground. She grinned evilly.
"After I kill you, I'll kill those people you call your friends. No one rejects me!" Again she lunged at the horrified Wingly before her. I don't believe this. Only one thing left to do. Send her soul where it can never come back. Kill her again.
Taking a step back, he swung his sword in a blurred, silver, arc at the girl he loved. A crimson flood, flowed, from a deep wound in her throat. She smiled weakly as he dropped his sword and tried to wipe the blood away.
"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry. I had to do it." She let out a dark laugh and then morphed into Zackwell.
"Mmm-hmm. I'm sure you did."
"Zackwell, you bastard! Where's Kayla! Tell me now or I swear I'll gut you as sure as you stand there with that stupid look on your face." He flung his hand out to his side, calling his sword to his hand.
"Oh, such emotion. Now, now, lets not be hasty." With a slight nod, the Lord of Mayfil caused a large, glass, cage to rise out of the floor; sitting in the centre of it was Kayla. Lloyd's features went hard.
"What do you want?"
"Simple! Prove your love for her! Kill these people." He waved his hand, and the rest of the Dragoons appeared in the middle of the floor. Blinking in the sudden light. "And I will restore her to you. Safe and sound, exactly as she was." Lloyd turned to the Dragon Knights, fury filling every cell of his face.
"What the hell are you doing here!" he exploded.
"We came to save your sorry ass boy! Show some gratitude!" Haschel screamed right back.
"Both of you; shut up." Dart said. "Zackwell just said something." The demon smiled again, and repeated his last statement.
"Kill your friends, and I'll give you back the girl you love." Lloyd's eyes widened.
He looked over at the people he had come to call his friends, then over at Kayla in her glass cage. She was crying, and shaking her head furiously at him. He looked back at the Dragoons. It was then that Shana stepped forward.
"Lloyd, if you love her, and you want her back this badly, go ahead. Kill us, we won't stop you."
Kongol and Meru moved to protest, but Dart silenced them with a hard glare. Then he turned to Lloyd, threw down his sword and spread his arms wide. The others followed suit, throwing down their weapons. The Wingly stared at them, then, slowly, he raised his sword. Kayla screamed in her sound-proof enclosure. Then with one sudden move, he swung his sword behind him and sliced Zackwell cleanly in two.
"No, she doesn't want to be alive if that's the cost. I won't do it." Zackwell gave a harsh laugh as he joined himself back together.
"I didn't think you had it in you, 'big boy'. I guess you passed my test." He nodded his head again, and the glass cage disintegrated. "But I keep the other one." And with that he flew off.
Kayla stood rooted to the spot as the cage disappeared. A few feet away from her Lloyd stood; confusion, and relief written all over his face at once. She took one unsteady step towards him, then, started to fall. Before she hit the floor, he was there, his strong arms around her supporting her. She collapsed against him, the tears coming again. Suddenly tender, he sheathed his sword and stroked her hair.
"Lloyd…you…you came…" she said slowly.
"Course I did. Did you think I wouldn't?"
"I…I…"
"Shh." He stopped her. "I know." She raised her tear-streaked face to look at him, and he smiled. She smiled back and slid her arms around his neck, pulling his head down until their lips were mere inches apart.
"What reward can I give my hero?"
"Oh, I could think of a few things." He said; a mischievous gleam in his eye. She pulled him down and kissed him slowly, for a long moment, it was just the two of them in that room. Nothing else mattered. Breathless, she broke the kiss.
"Will that suffice?" she asked with a wicked grin.
"Yeah, I think that'll do for now." He replied with a wide smile.
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Please review. I think this was the worst chapter so far. Would like to hear what you think though! Thanks.