Hey, guys! I haven't kept up my end of the deal, I realize. I thought once I got my pc back I would but then exams and work attacked. (Accursed school and work!) Well, I've had to kill one story already because I was detached from it – I promised myself I wouldn't kill both my stories. So, instead of this being the epic I thought it was going to be, it's now going to be the prelude to the epic I hope I'll have time to write. This way I can assure you a conclusion (in another chapter or so) since I have one more week until all hell breaks loose with six and seven year olds. Camp counsellor *sigh*. Well, enough about me, onward the fic!

Disclaimer: LOD is not mine

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Miranda inadvertently sat down as Dart relayed the recent happenings to her, the words of Meru's death affecting her like a hit to the stomach. Flaxen hair covered her face, obscuring the grimace that appeared on her face as she absorbed what had been said. She straightened and regained her composure,

"What are we going to do?"

"We need to get everyone together first – then we can go from there," Dart said.

"Rouge then? To Kongol and Haschel?" Miranda inquired.

"Our thoughts exactly," Albert remarked. "I have a ship waiting. Our stones seem to be of no use at the moment so we will have to do without them."

"What?" Miranda reached for her stone inside her tunic. It glowed softly in the presence of the other dragoons but she could feel that something was amiss. Though it seemed fine, it felt devoid of the power she knew lay within. The magic that coursed through her veins when she called upon the dragon spirit inside no longer reacted to her. Miranda's gaze hardened as the reality of the situation sunk in. "Let's get the others then."

Both Albert and Dart nodded in unison.

****************

Kongol awoke to the sounds of his friends' voices and Miranda's healing magic. He shakily got up, still blurry from the onslaught he had been apart of. Dart, Albert and Miranda stood around, holding back their anxiety with the thought of Kongol's wellbeing.

"Are you alright, my friend?" Albert asked.

The giganto shook his head in an affirmation but then his eyes went wide as the memory of the attack played back in his head.

"Master Haschel!" he yelled, spinning and looking desperately around. The others did the same. All spotted the body of the old man at the same time.

"He's quite dead." Lloyd commented from where he sat on top of the school's roof. None of the dragoons had noticed his presence until he had spoken, but had he been there in the first place?

Dart drew his sword at the sound of the familiar voice. "Are you apart of this?" he demanded.

"Reluctantly, much like yourself," the Wingly shrugged and jumped down from his spot.

"Alive?" Miranda mumbled to herself.

"Yes, indeed, I am." Lloyd dusted himself off while the shock of his appearance settled in.

"What do you want?" Dart continued.

Lloyd smirked, "You make it sound as if you have something to offer me."

"What the hell's going on?" Miranda stepped forward, and drew her weapon. The potent arrow head gleamed menacingly at the Wingly. "Tell us, or die."

"You tried that once already, it didn't seem to work out all that well as I recall." Lloyd brought out the Dragon Buster rather ceremoniously and showed it off to the four in front of him.

"He has stone too." Kongol stated.

"So this is your doing," Dart sneered. He instinctively curled inwards as his rage brought out his power, and then exploded it outwards as it embraced him and transformed him. The Divine Dragoon unleashed his wrath upon the Wingly.

The magic condensed and shot out towards Lloyd in a thick stream of silver light. Lloyd smiled knowingly, lightning flashed in his eyes and then he was gone. The blast of Divine power dissipated into nothing.

Once the Wingly had disappeared Dart recoiled from the force of the magic returning to the stone. He fell to his knees, clutching his chest where the stone lay in his armour. The other three dragoons gathered around him.

"Dart you did it, you called back your power," Miranda said encouragingly.

"It took all my will, and now I feel as if its drained me of something." He heaved out a heavy breath. "The insanity is growing stronger. It won't let us harness it. We have to find Lloyd, he knows more than what he's letting on."

"Isn't that always the case?" Albert commented as he helped his friend up.

Miranda looked over to where Haschel lay, "Unfortunately, it is."

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Death was like a chasm, the deeper you fell, the darker it got and the less you remembered about the light of day. Lloyd had hit the bottom and found himself out on the other end. In the safety of his saviour's home, he studied the night sky again. It wasn't nearly as endless as the void he had known but it would do. He needed to immerse himself in the all encompassing expanse of blackness. The glittering stars were his only reminder. He was alive, again.

The hearty voice of his saviour came from within calling to him that there was hot soup on the table. Magrin was his name, the Wingly who had plucked him from the waters of the Tree's hot wasteland and taken him in. Hospitality and charity being somewhat alien to Lloyd he was still wary of the old Wingly's motives but he stayed nonetheless.

'Did you plan this Keila?' Lloyd wondered. 'Is this your last way at getting back at me? You wouldn't let me escape you even through death – and you said I was the selfish one.'

"Lloyd, my boy, did you not hear me?"

Magrin knocked him out of his reverie. Slightly annoyed, he sneered, "What?"

"Supper! Broth and bread, just how my Kala used to make it – well, maybe not exactly, hers was perfect mind you-"

"Thank you, I heard you. I'll be there in a minute."

Magrin regarded Lloyd shaking his head.

"Now what?"

"What do you mean, what? Look at you, nice young man* like yourself and all you do is brood. You've got a chip on your shoulder like never I've seen before."

"Are you finished?"

"Sure, I'm finished, the question is: do you care? Do you care about anything? Look, I don't know how you ended up the way you did, where you did when I found ya and it's not my place to be asking questions but whatever happened, happened. It's in the past – there's nothing you can do about so there's no use in trying to change it."

Lloyd only smiled.

"I don't know about you, but you've got to stop living in the past." Magrin walked away, having given up on yet another attempt to lighten Lloyd's constant dark mood.

"Stop living in the past? You have no idea, old man, no idea."

*AN: For lack of a better word.

Thanks for reading, Allusia.