Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Chronicle or Dark Cloud 2

Thanx to Pug Dragon and Oracle Master for reviewing and thanks to everyone else who reviewed.

Sorry that you had to see the sadistic side of Chaos but she's not all bad. No really, she shares many similar passions with Emperor Griffon.

Anyway on with the story

Chapter 7

The Day After and Shedding Some Light

It was late at night and Gaspard had invited the Dark Soldiers and their children to stay on the Death Arc for a few weeks. Although it was late at night, not many people were sleeping.

Gaspard was up in his bedroom enjoying a late night drink. He thought of how Chaos acted earlier that day and how proud he was of her, he knew she was growing up just the way he wanted her to.

He also thought of Remus and Atlan's Children as well, Lu naire, Remus's daughter, was simply beautiful, she was something to be proud at, she was strong as well especially with that blade. He hadn't seen her use it yet but he knew she was dangerous with it.

Then there was Kell, Atlan's son, he already proved he was brave, powerful, strong and daring. He had caused Sam, a painful wound and then wanted to finish Chaos's job. Gaspard could see that Kell could be a powerful ally or a powerful enemy and to be honest he would rather have him as an ally. Another enemy would just get in his way however if he tried to defeat Kell, he might oppose as a challenge.

Gaspard wondered whether his own daughter would make friends with Lu naire and Kell, he knew that she had noticed that she was different to them after all she was brought up and taught by Gabrielle, his darling Gabrielle. He hoped that he was taking care of Chaos how she would have wanted her to be brought up.

Gaspard put his now empty glass down and lay on his bed trying to get to sleep.

Chaos was in the next room, thinking about the things that had occurred that day. She thought of how she had acted and treated Sam and his sister, Libby. She could still hear their screams, pleas and cries for mercy as she coldly sliced them like they were Sunday specials. She could hear the cold jeers of Kell and the commands of her father. She held a White Rose in her hand; it reminded her of her mother, beautiful and delicate. Chaos thought of Lu naire, since everyone seemed to go straight to their bedrooms, she had never got a chance to talk with her but so far she seemed like someone to make friends with but Kell frightened her a little after all he was stronger, taller, older and more powerful. She'll have to be careful of him. She knew she had to get to sleep but something seemed to keep her up. She eventually managed to close her eyes and when she reopened them, she saw the sunlight streaming in and heard the sound of clashing metal and actually wondered what it was. Chaos made her way to the deck as the sound got stronger, when she reached the top, she saw a group of griffon soldiers crowding around something, Had a slave escaped? Then suddenly there was a burst that made the group jump back and retreat, which had seemed to be rewarded with a clapping sound that belonged to that of Lu naire, who had magically appeared just in front of her. The figure that had seemed to be in the middle of the commotion was none other than Kell, who was at the moment training against six griffon soldiers.

He had got rid of his armour, he probably knowing Kell thought the soldiers were no match for him, so he was only wearing a white open shirt that revealed his well-toned body and some tight black pants, at his side was his sword, Chaos noticed that Lu naire was dressed very similarly except she had a black shirt which closed with a gold sash and her hair was pulled back into a normal ponytail, her sword was still in it's sheath, she was obviously training with Kell.

Chaos was wearing something completely different to them. She wore an ancient hooded black robe that covered all her body, it had long length sleeves which covered her hand and concealed the rose. The hood had a small yellow orb attached to the tip. She would normally pull her down when she was in trouble, embarrassed and when she was lying. Her greyish white hair was tied up with a hair pin that had three roses one red, one white and one black. The white rose stood for birth and innocence, the red rose stood for marriage and love and the black rose stood for death. Her mother called it The Rose Life pin because each rose symbolised a part in life. The white rose in her pin matched the colour of the rose in her hand it symbolised that she was still in her innocent child stage. She was still sleepy and her abrupt awakening had put her in a bad mood, she wouldn't usually be up at this time and would get up later to have breakfast than study for the whole morning, have dinner, do more studying and do some potions, then she would have supper and do what she wanted until she went to bed.

On the other hand, Lu naire and Kell looked as if they were up ever since the sun came up. Chaos saw the fallen soldiers retreat to the other side of the deck. Kell stood proud, the six soldiers, who were defeated by him, bowed to Kell as he turned around and made his way to where Chaos and Lu naire were stood. He picked up bottle of water from the table, took a long drink and stood back.

Lu naire removed the sheath of her sword, revealing the tang and just near the hilt was an engraving, which was on the blade and it was a wolf like on the sheath and her tattoo. "My turn" she said to Kell. She signalled for three soldiers to join her where Kell had once been. The soldiers bowed to her and she nodded back. They then took up fighting stances as the soldiers drew their blades. Then quiet until the first strike from of the soldiers. Lu naire quickly defended and went on the offence.

In the Background, Kell decided it would be a good idea to have an earlier morning chat with Chaos.

"Did we wake you?" Kell decided to say, "I guess you don't usually get up this time of morning do you?"

Chaos answered back "Well actually I do" She smiled at him and picked up a piece of fruit that was in a basket on the table as Kell replaced the bottle of water.

"Why? I thought a Daddy's girl like you would have breakfast in bed!" he replied very coolly, he also picked up a piece of fruit.

"No, I get up early to study and mix some potions" she replied back, Chaos watched as Lu naire had sent one of her opponents flying.

"You mean to tell me that you don't train?" Kell asked sarcastically "And with your father being a Dark Soldiers as well" He watched as Lu naire had disarmed her second opponent and was ready for sending him off the side of the Death Ark. " Now that's impressive! Lu naire trains almost as long as I do"

"I do train after all my studying is done, I train alone in my room" she responded, Chaos was trying to quickly get away from the subject.

"Who do you train against? Because if you train against thin air, you're bound to win" Kell replied.

Chaos thought quickly but she was trapped she could think of no answer until Lu naire's third opponent had been threw across the deck interrupted their conversation. The three watched the soldiers retreat, battered and bruised. Lu naire made her way to Kell and Chaos and was handed the bottle of water by Kell. Lu naire took a drink then said "Talking about anything interesting?" she smiled at Kell and Chaos "Aww, come on fill me in, I need a break" No one answered. "Fine be that way"

Kell suddenly had an idea " Hey Chaos since you've seen both Lu naire and myself fight, how about you show us your skills" he signalled for three soldiers to get ready.

"Oh go on Chaos this should be easy for you after what you did yesterday" Lu naire remained positive and coaxed her on.

"Well it's a bit early in the morning for fighting really when I've had some breakfast and read a couple of books maybe" Chaos didn't really want to fight this early and she didn't want to get hurt.

Kell seemed to smile in triumph but calmly said "Ok then Chaos later perhaps" he signalled for five more soldiers to join the three making eight soldiers ready and waiting. Both Chaos and Lu naire knew he could probably beat them himself however he took his sword and said "Lu naire, care to join me, we'll go halves, four each."

Lu naire and Chaos looked each other before Lu naire answered "Why? You could beat them yourself easily"

Kell knew this as well but however he answered honestly "I wanted someone to train with that's all. Well besides the soldiers and you never know if you need to work as a team do you?" Suddenly Chaos was seeing a whole different side to Kell, he wasn't so cold after all well not to Lu naire anyway, Chaos seemed to stare at Kell in wonder until he snapped her back out of her thoughts "Staring is rude you know" The Kell she knew was back again as he made his way to the middle of the circle, where the soldiers were stood and beckoned for Lu naire to join him, She in turn took her own blade from it's black sheath and stood in the middle with her back to Kell. Both the children made the signal that they were ready and within seconds of the soldier's first strike, one had been sent flying for trying to attack Kell.

Chaos watched as the two seemed to participate in a deadly ballet, the metal of the blades sung in harmony, their hearts beat together to form a unsuspecting rhythm, their manoeuvres seemed so complicated yet so simple and their teamwork looked as if they had spent a lifetime waiting for this moment. Chaos seemed entranced until Dr. Jaming crept up behind her and startled her by saying "Ah, Chaos you're up already?" Chaos didn't look at him she kept watching the display in front of her as Lu naire threw her second opponent into Kell's currently retreating one. But Jaming continued "Well you can start on your studying can't you? And you can do some more potions because you're falling behind and…" Jaming was cut off by a combined attack of Kell and Lu naire sent three soldiers crashing into the railing which Jaming and Chaos was stood at. The Dr. looked at the pair with one soldier left; he seemed to just give up.

"I'm going to stay up here with Kell and Lu naire after all I am up early so there is no point in starting right away plus it will be rude to ignore guests" Chaos just didn't want to study at the moment.

Jaming had to agree with her "Fine, I'll call you in a while" then he walked off in a mood.

Kell and Lu naire returned and both reached for a bottle of water resting on the table, they both seemed to be exhausted and breathing heavily.

Gaspard suddenly seemed to fly up the stairs after the news he received from Jaming, he was followed by Remus and Atlan. "Chaos!" he shouted to get everyone's attention, Lu naire and Kell looked at each other as their own fathers made their way towards them. Lu naire put her sword back in its sheath and Kell put his sword on his side. Gaspard seemed upset with Chaos "Why are you refusing to obey Dr Jaming and study? I had to be pulled out of a meeting for this and what would your mother have said?"

That got Chaos her father referring to her as if she would have been angry with her. Chaos looked confused and hurt, she hadn't refused to study, she just wanted to wait a while until she started to study that's all. "I didn't, father I just wanted more time before I had to start, that's all"

Gaspard had realised that he got the wrong end of the stick and quick to apologise "Lets get some breakfast everyone!" He turned and walked away with Remus and Atlan following, Kell and Lu naire was about to leave when they noticed Chaos wasn't following so Lu naire called out to her "Hey Chaos" Chaos seemed to snap out of a trance and followed on.

It was a quiet walk until Lu naire asked "Hey Chaos, You're father mentioned your mother but I haven't seen her yet, Where is she?"

Chaos turned around to answer and tried to fight back tears as she said "She's dead" Chaos started pouring tears "She's dead, she fell off a cliff when the lightening stuck it about a month ago"

Kell and Lu naire looked stunned as she ran ahead of everyone to get something to eat and retreat to her room.

In Chaos's room, she had buried herself in books for hours to stop being disturbed because it looked like she was studying but what she was really doing was crying her eye's out as she clutched the fragile rose. She noticed a petal seemed to fall from the rose, she panicked and stopped clutching the rose and looked at the clock she had been in her room nearly all day, it would be sunset so she left and went above deck.

She expected to hear the sound of clashing metal from and training teen Kell but he was no where to be seen and neither was Lu naire. However she heard a strange melody being played from some kind of wind instrument. Chaos felt enchanted by it, so she followed it and it got stronger as she reached the source but it seemed that the person who was playing this instrument was sad. She could tell by the way it was being played.

Chaos approached the sound and there sat on the side was Lu naire dressed in a long white silk robe that covered her body with a white sash around her waist although you couldn't really see it, she also has a simple gold chain around her neck and her tattoo could no longer be seen. Her golden hair was loose and fell down her back, her sword was by her side but she was the source of the music, her melody was beautiful, slow but it seemed chilling, haunting and sad. She was playing a flute and played perfectly, her eyes were closed so she didn't notice Chaos standing behind her and listening to her play then Chaos became so involved in the music, she didn't realise that Kell had showed up and was listening to Lu naire play.

Kell himself was wearing a black silk shirt open of course and loose black silk pants tied at the waist with a gold sash and his sword yet again rested against his side. A gold pendant of a dragon rested against his chest and two gold bands glittered at his wrists. His short, black hair blew gently in the sunset breeze and he still had his two gold loops on his left ear. Kell listened to Lu naire's beautiful music as it seemed to pick up tempo slightly. His soft blue eyes gazed at her, capturing every fine detail about her, he never realised how beautiful she really was.

As her song started to come to an end and her crystal blue eyes opened and they seemed in shock as the owner realised that the older teen and the young kid were both sat listening to her play. "Did you enjoy that?" Lu naire seemed to whisper it; she seemed to be upset because she seemed to look at her feet when she spoke. "Chaos sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to upset you"

Chaos knew she didn't mean it in the first place since it was really a slip of the tongue and curiosity. "It's okay you don't need to apologise" Lu naire nodded. "But you're lucky you have a mother don't you?"

Lu naire looked at Chaos then Kell and then to the floor before speaking "Actually I don't. She was killed."

Chaos at that moment wanted to rewind time and start that conversation again however she asked a really stupid question "How was she killed? By an accident?"

Lu naire spoke rather bitterly "By my Father"

Kell in turn tried not to upset her but asked "Why?"

Lu naire played a couple of chilling notes before speaking "About a month before I was born, my father got a little protective of my mother and wouldn't let her do anything he thought would harm his unborn child. My mother started getting jealous of me before I was even born" She played a few more notes and carried on with her story. "When the night of my birth came, my mother apparently was obsessed with my father being attached to me then her. My father told me, he was worried for my health so as soon I was born he made sure that I was safely with him, he even ordered the midwife to get me away from my mother as soon as possible, my mother didn't see me when I was first born. You see when a baby is first born it's supposed to go to the mother so they can bond and all the stuff, that never happened with me. The next few days my mother did see me but my dad was still convinced that my mother was jealous so he took me everywhere he went and my mother seemed to start to calm down as my father seemed to get more exhausted looking after me" Lu naire stopped once more and played a few notes as Chaos and Kell came to grips with the story then she continued,

"So one day she proposed that she took care of me for a few days while he rested; now at this point I was a few weeks old and my hair was quite long. My mother took care of me during the day and took me to my father at night. But on the second day he noticed my hair was slightly shorter as if someone cut it. He noticed this as the days went on. So on the fifth day he was feeling more refreshed and went to look in on my mother and he saw an awful sight. My mother had cut all my hair off, it was near my scalp and she had the scissors in her hand held over me. Apparently I was laid on the floor, which was covered in my hair, screaming and she was about to kill me. My father got there just in time but to stop her, he threw a small dagger at her, instantly killing her" Lu naire became silent after that tale until she touched her arm where hew black wolf tattoo lay "On the hilt of the dagger that saved me, was a wolf, so the wolf became my guardian that's why it is a tattoo on my arm, engraved on the blade of my sword and the wolf on the sheath of my sword is made from the melted down hilt of that dagger"

After all this, Kell was the first to speak "Well at least it's something that we all have in common" He watched as Lu naire and Chaos turned to him "My mother died giving birth to me"

Chaos had thought wrong about that she was the only person to not have a mother. But considering her time with her mother and their time with mothers, she was pretty lucky. The moonlight streamed in through the room.

"It's getting pretty late I think we should get some shuteye" Chaos said with a small yawn after.

As Chaos left the deck, Kell and Lu naire remained, their pasts had partly had revealed, their futures were being determined by their fathers and their present was now.

They both knew the decision of the past and present would shape their future and they both knew that their fathers wanted them to grow strong and take over their place as one of Griffon's Dark Soldiers.

Remus wanted Lu naire to find a husband who was strong, powerful and would after her, Lu naire was 18 at this moment in time; she was beautiful, strong and deadly. Any man would be proud to have her on his arm, but being only 18 at the moment, Lu naire wasn't really wanting to be on anyone's arm, she knew she probably would be shown off as a trophy wife and an object, a possession. She didn't want that. She wanted someone who was strong, brave, handsome and powerful but someone who was kind and would show her affection to her and treat her equally and at the moment, the person who fit the description was Kell.

Atlan wanted Kell to be a mighty warrior, a strong Dark Soldier, a fierce leader and an unbeatable force to be reckoned with. Kell was 19 at this point and still only young, but his father had big plans for him. Like Remus, Atlan also wanted Kell to marry a beautiful young lady, delicate and someone who Kell could take care of. Atlan wanted a daughter-in-law to be proud of and someone who Kell could show off and be the envy of everyone. Kell did want a beautiful wife but she had to be strong and she had to know how to use a sword as well and she couldn't be afraid of breaking a nail. He already had seen the kind of lady he wanted to marry. She was Lu naire.

These two knew they liked the other, but would the other love them in return? This seemed a question for another day.

Chaos, Kell and Lu naire must have been talking for ages because now when Kell and Lu naire are still on deck, its night and it was sunset when they all came out.

Following Chaos's example, they bid each other good night and left to their assigned bedrooms for a goodnights sleep.

Chaos walked down the long corridor back to her room. She tiptoed past her father's room and then past Dr Jaming's bedroom, she didn't want to get caught. She came into her bedroom and went straight to her a large bottle of orange potion brewing. A large book was laid on the table next to the potion it read The Life Elixir Potion. She had been working on the elixir for also two years now; it was a special potion, one of these potions that took a very long time to make. She read the instructions carefully capturing every little detail. Chaos added some ingredients and the potion bubbled and turned violet, just like the book said it would. She looked at her rose closely, she loved flowers they made her feel happy and they gave her the courage, energy and strength to get through another day. Some of her favourite flowers were the Laficsia flower, the Moon flower and the Sunflower.

She lay on her bed and began waiting for that moment when she would drift off, but something always kept her up.

Meanwhile, Sam sat in the dungeon with the other slaves crying, the pain was too much for even him. But Libby was in a worse state. The blood had dried crusting in his hair and on his body. It had been hacked away by Chaos, Kell, Gaspard and the Dark Soldiers. All of them were cold and didn't have a heart. But for some reason he forgave Chaos, she wasn't all evil. He wished she would go back to that gentle girl in her bedroom, the one he talked to every night.

Suddenly a cloaked figure stood in the dark corner of the room holding a vial of potion. Someone had come to help.