Author's Notes:

Hey guys! I'm feeling a little better, so I might manage to get two chapters out this week. Sorry for the delays. By the way, this story 'arc' is going to end soon, so if you have any suggestions for the future, please send me a pm and let me know. Thanks in advance! Enjoy chapter 38!

Chapter 38: Hide and Seek

One week after the allied leaders met to discuss Germania's proposed surrender, Saito and Louise were in the woods playing hide and seek with each other. Because their meeting with Germania would be in three weeks, they had a lot of free time during the cease-fire to relax and enjoy themselves.

At the moment, it was Louise hiding away from Saito. As he was searching, he regretted not setting rules about how far she could go. He wasn't, of course, allowed to use his powers. After searching for a few minutes, he was about to give up. As he walked through the forest, he saw a dark cave. The optimal place to hide for someone playing hide and seek.

As he walked closer to it, he thought that it might be dangerous to just go into a cave without having any information about it. Still, he did not want to cheat at his game of hide and seek, so he decided to rely on his basic senses.

As soon as he entered the cave, his ears twitched slightly. He heard the sound of breathing, so he immediately assumed that somewhere in the cave, Louise was trying her best to stay silent. However, he noticed that the breathing sounded extremely heavy and rather inhuman. Now driven more by curiosity than his desire to find Louise, he ventured deeper into the cave.

With his excellent eye sight, he was soon able to see clearly. He noticed that what he thought was a single cave was actually a system of several tunnels and caverns. Following his ears, he followed the sound of breathing throughout the cave system.

Eventually, he reached a large opening. Beneath him was a drop of several dozens of feet, at the bottom of which was complete darkness. However, he was absolutely sure that the sound was coming from down there.

Using his tail as a torch, he slowly climbed down to the bottom of the chasm. When his feet touched the ground, he felt that it was unusually warm for such a dark place. He could also hear that the breathing was directly in front of him.

Lifting his tail to illuminate his path, he saw several white tails with very fine fur laying on the ground before him. Paralyzed with fear from the knowledge that several unknown creatures were in front of him. Completely forgetting about his game of hide and seek, he turned on the power of his eyes to get a better look of what was in front of him.

He nearly fell over in shock at what he saw. Instead of the multitude of horrendous abominations he expected to see, he saw a single, sleeping dragon. It was wingless and was covered with short, black hair. On its head were four white horns, with the front two being shorter than the back two. Its legs were hairless, with black scales instead of hair.

It had six tails on its body and was about ten feet long without them. It was also quite tall, with its shoulders being much higher than Saito's head. It's body, although slender, was quite muscular. If Saito was not extremely afraid, he would have thought it looked quite cool. As he slowly backed away in an attempt to leave, its eyes shot open. At this point, Saito was about 40 feet away from it from his attempt to retreat.

Its irises were a bold pink while its sclera were bright orange. The pupils in the eyes were very big at the moment because of how dark it was. They brilliantly glowed in the dark, making it seem as if a pair of eyes were floating in the air.

Frightened, Saito stayed completely still. It slowly got up and stared directly into his eye. As Saito was locked in place by its glare, he slowly reached for Derf, who hung from his back. However, as soon as his hand made contact with Derf, the dragon seemed to instantly appear in front of him. Even Saito's eyes were incapable of seeing how it got so close to him so quickly.

It's face and Saito's were now inches apart. It didn't move, but continued to stare at him, making him feel extremely uncomfortable. After about a minute, it laid down in front of him and closed its eyes, seemingly falling asleep. Confused, Saito attempted to climb out of the cavern, but as soon as he did, the beast opened its eyes again, staring directly at him.

"Hey Gandalfr." Saito said in his mind. "What the hell is this?"

"What do you mean?" Gandalfr asked.

"This dragon. Why's it keeping me here?" Saito said.

"Perhaps it likes you." Gandalfr said, mocking Saito.

"What kind of dragon is it?" Saito asked.

Before Gandalfr could reply, the beast got up and began to poke Saito's head with its snout. Every so often, it would look into his eyes again, then begin poking him once more. Eventually, it seemed to give up and laid back down.

"What the hell was that about?" Saito said.

"Perhaps…" Gandalfr began. "Could it be that it hears me?"

"It's a dragon, not a psychic." Saito said.

"It's worth attempting to find out, isn't it?" Gandalfr replied.

Again, just as Saito was going to respond, the dragon began to tap his head again. Through this entire time, it didn't make a single sound, only repeating the same actions over and over again. Once again, it seemed to give up and lay back on the ground again.

"So you're saying this thing can see inside my head?" Saito asked.

"Give it a shot, you never know." Gandalfr replied.

Saito sighed, hating how stupid his current situation was. Realizing that there was no way for the dragon to know Japanese or Halkeginian, he closed his eyes and began to imagine images instead. Because he was quite hungry, he thought about putting meat in his mouth. This wasn't what he wanted to think, but it was all he could think about.

After a few seconds, he opened his eyes. The dragon was nowhere to be seem. Saito hadn't even heard it leave, so he began to think something in the cave's air may be making him crazy. He closed his eyes and laid on the ground, rubbing his head.

To his surprise, when he got up, the dragon was back dragging a dead deer in its jaws. It paid no attention to him and dragged the deer into a darker part of the cave. For several minutes, Saito could hear meat being torn apart, but because he had subconsciously returned his eyes back to normal, he couldn't see anything.

After a while, the dragon came back and dropped a large amount of raw meat in front of him. Much to his surprise, instead of trying to get him to eat it, which he had expected it to do, it began to burn it with a soft blue flame which it breathed from within itself.

Very quickly, the meat was cooked. The dragon then sat down in front of him, looking like it expected him to eat, which he did almost immediately. Tears nearly flowed out of his eyes as the great taste of perfectly cooked meet met his tongue.

"I guess this means it can see inside my head, huh?" Saito said.

"I was right." Gandalfr said.

Realizing that it would be rude (if it's possible to be rude to a dragon) to eat the meat alone, so he offered some to the beast. It looked like it desperately wanted to eat, but it turned away rather sadly. Saito was confused, but kept eating anyway. When he was done, he stretched his arms and legs, then turned to look at the dragon.

"Thank you." He said.

He reached out to rub it's head, which it had no problem with, as it remained completely motionless. However, as soon as Saito finger made contact with its fur, his head was flooded with numerous images. It was extremely overwhelming, so he was relieved when it was finally over.

"You okay, Partner?" Derf said. "I was asleep. Where the hell are we?"

Saito didn't respond. He needed time to process all of the images that went through his head. Derf turned his attention to the floating pair of eyes that stared directly at him.

"Saito, what the hell is that?" He said.

"O-Oh. It's a dragon and…I think it wants help." Saito said.

He lifted its tail up to the dragon's neck, where he saw a large scar.

"What happened to you, Saito?" Derf asked.

"When I touched it, I think I saw its memories." Saito said. "I didn't see all of them, it was just too much."

"I'm not sure I understand, but okay." Derf said.

Saito touched the scar on its neck. He closed his eyes and fed magic into its body. He could 'see' the damage that was inflicted to it. Its vocal chords were completely destroyed and its esophagus was scarred, still slightly bleeding from its injuries.

Slowly, he began to heal its wounds. It was, however, extremely difficult to do because the wound was infused with a strange magic. Every time Saito healed a part of the wound, it seemed to revert back to its injured state. He had to use more and more power to heal it until the magic within the wound ran out. It was quite painful for the dragon, but it seemed to understand that Saito was helping it. After several minutes, he moved his hand away and wiped away the sweat that built up on his forehead.

He looked at the dragon, waiting for a response. Suddenly, it jumped up onto its feet. It took in a deep breath, then let out an extremely loud roar, which nearly scared Saito into running away. After the sound subsided, it began to happily jump around the room, letting out high pitched, dog-like, yelps of happiness, in complete contrast to the frightening roar it let out moments before.

It then walked back up to Saito and put its snout on his chest as a 'hug'. He rubbed its furry head, feeling elated that it wasn't in pain anymore. He had never particularly liked animals, but this time, he somehow felt different about the animal that was so grateful to him. In fact, his whole body felt different. He couldn't quite explain it, but something was off.

As the thought crossed his mind, the runes on his arm began to glow brightly. For a few seconds, they were blindingly bright, then stopped glowing altogether. He was very confused and fearful, but the dragon cuddling with him momentarily took away those thoughts.

"I'd love to stay here with you for a little longer, buddy, but I have to go find Louise." He said. "I'll make sure to visit you, okay?"

He got up and jumped out of the chasm, quickly making his way to the cave's entrance. Thinking he left the dragon behind, he started walking through the woods, looking for Louise. However, as he walked, he thought he was hearing more footsteps than normal.

When he turned around, thinking he was being followed, there was nothing there. Imagining he was hearing things, he kept walking. Soon, though, he heard more footsteps. This time, however, he didn't turn around.

"Hey Derf." He said quietly. "Is there someone behind me? If there is, are they an enemy or an ally?"

"Well, there's no one behind you." Derf said. "But there is definitely something behind you."

"Stop with the cryptic nonsense." Saito said.

As fast as he could, he turned around, but yet again, there was nothing there.

"Damn it, Derf!" Saito exclaimed. "Stop messing with me!"

"I'm not." Derf said. "That dragon from the cave is behind you. It's fast though."

Saito remained completely still. Sure enough, he could hear the same breathing that he had heard in the cave.

"Alright, buddy. I know you're there." He said.

Sure enough, the dragon seemed to appear in front of Saito out of thin air.

"Looks like you've made a friend." Derf said. "Maybe you should keep him."

"I have no idea how to take care of a dragon." Saito said. "I've never even encountered a dragon like this."

"All the more reason to keep him." Derf replied. "Besides, every hero needs an epic mount by his side."

"Don't tease me, Derf." Saito said. "I guess having a companion like him isn't a bad thing."

He smiled at the beast, rubbing the soft fur on its head. Out of nowhere, it grabbed his shirt with its mouth and threw him onto its back.

"I guess you like me too, huh?" He said.

As he smiled at the fact that he now had such a fine companion, his thoughts turned back to finding Louise. She was, to Saito's knowledge, extremely competitive, so she would keep hiding until she was found. Thinking about how he could find her, he felt his companion preparing to start running.

He closed his eyes, expecting an extreme amount of wind to burn his eyes momentarily. Much to his surprise, however, there was no such feeling. In fact, it felt as if the dragon simply leaped from one point to another.

Thinking it was a false alarm and the dragon was just stretching, he opened his eyes. To his great surprise, when he looked down, there was Louise, hiding inside a large tree. She hadn't even noticed that he was there. In fact, it was quite a while before her ears picked up the sound of someone else's presence in the area.

When she looked to her left, there was Saito atop a massive, black, furred dragon. Her heart skipped several beat as the fear of the beast crept into her.

"Don't worry." Saito said. "He's friendly."

Her face showed that she wasn't convinced. Saito jumped to the ground and rubbed her hair to calm her down.

"W-What is that?" She said.

"It's a dragon I met in a cave not far from here." Saito replied. "At first, I thought he was a normal ground dragon."

"Ground dragons only have one tail and they certainly do not have fur!" Louise exclaimed.

"I know. He's not normal." Saito replied.

He held her hand and rather forced her to rub the dragon's head. Unlike Saito, she did not experience the same rush of images when she touched it, but she did at least see that the dragon was quite friendly.

"I'm going to keep him." Saito said. "He asked for my help and I feel like we have a bond."

"What do you mean he asked for your help?" She asked.

"I'll explain later." Saito said. "Either way, looks like I won!"

"You cheated!" She said, as her competitive spirit came back to her.

"You never said I couldn't use a dragon to find you." He replied as he got back on it's back. "Speaking of which, we should give him a name."

"You found him, so you name him." Louise said, still irritated.

When the dragon heard of them thinking of a name, it became quite agitated. It began to claw at a tree, creating the same pattern over and over again.

"What is that?" Saito asked.

"Maybe that's the name someone gave it?" Louise said. "I memorized the symbol, so we can ask someone if they know what language it's from. It doesn't look like Halkeginian."

"I feel like I've seen it somewhere before…" Saito said. "Oh well, we should probably go back to base. It's getting dark. Get on his back."

"But we're faster than any dragons out there except maybe Sylphid." Louise said. "Wouldn't it be faster to run?"

"Trust me, just get on." Saito said.

Hesitantly, she climbed onto the dragon's back. She wrapped her arm around Saito's waist, prepared for the dragon to start running. She felt the dragon tense up and closed her eyes. After the feeling that the dragon had jumped a very short distance, she opened her eyes. She was shocked to see that they had arrived at the camp.

"H-Hey Saito! H-How?" She said.

However, Saito was also in a state of shock. It was the first time his eyes remained open while the dragon travelled, and what he saw was quite strange. Instead of seeing it jump through the forest and seeing the trees fly past him, it looked as if the space between the camp and themselves folded together so that they were only a few feet away.

In a moment, he combed through all of the information in his head regarding what had just happened, but came up short. Eventually, Louise managed to get through to him.

"Oh sorry, I spaced out for a second there." Saito said. "What's wrong?"

"How did we get here so quickly?" She asked.

"Um…I don't know." Saito said. "I had my eyes closed."

As they rode on their dragon through the camp, many soldiers looked terrified, while many of them also thought it was cool. Eventually, they reached their tent, which was quite large, and walked inside with him.

"Until we figure out what that symbol means, let's call him…Hayai." Saito said.

"What does that mean?" Louise asked.

"It means 'fast' in Japanese." Saito said.

"Oh. It's a nice name." Louise said.

"Take care of him, Louise." Saito said. "I'm going to find Colbert. Maybe he can figure out something about this symbol."

"Got it." Louise said.

He left the tent and looked around the Tristainia, which was now being rebuilt by the allied nations. He saw Colbert holding blueprints for a new royal palace. He ran up to him happily, having not seen him in months.

"Master Colbert!" He said.

"Ah, Saito! It's been too long!" He said.

Colbert's eyes widened when he saw Saito closer.

"What happened? You look…different." He said.

"Oh, Gandalfr stuff. I need you to do something for me." Saito said.

"Of course. Anything for a hero like you." Colbert replied.

"I need you to see if you can find out anything about this symbol." Saito said, handing him a paper which he drew the strange symbol on.

"Sure thing. I'll see what I can find." He said.

"Thank you!" Saito replied. "By the way, where is Osmond?"

"Oh, he's in Albion at the moment helping to organize the ranks of the allied mages." He said.

"Oh. Tell him I said hi." Saito replied.

"Sure thing!" Colbert said, as he waved bye to Saito.

Saito quickly arrived back at his tent. When he walked inside, he saw Louise happily rubbing Hayai's belly. They both looked at Saito when he walked into the room. He was happy to see that they were getting along.

"Did you find out anything?" She asked.

"I gave Colbert the symbol, but he seemed very busy, so it could be a while before he finds anything." Saito said. "It looks like you two are getting along."

"He's so cute!" Louise said, rubbing her face on its soft belly.

He rubbed Hayai's belly, much to the dragon's delight.

"Yeah, I guess we don't need to know what he is just yet." Saito said.

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! I decided that I wanted to give you one chapter per day until Christmas day as a sort of present to you. I hope you liked this chapter. It was a little bit more relaxed, which is what I wanted it to be because I thought things were somewhat stressed. Please send in a review or a PM about your thoughts on this chapter, past ones, future ones, or just the story in general. Thanks again, guys! I'll see you next time!