Hiya guys, what's up? Thanks for all your reviews! (LoD fans rock!) But enough PR, the next chapter should probably conclude this little intro epic – hope you guys like this chapter. It's very ominous and foreboding (all the great fics are, right?). Anyways, read on and enjoy!

Disclaimer: not mine, not mine!

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The expressions of the four dragoons were grim as they all watched the last embers of Haschel's funeral pyre burn out. The night was so late it was early but rest was far from their minds. They turned away in unison.

Albert was the first to speak, "I think I should return to Bale. Emille is probably worried out of her mind." He turned to Dart, "We can check on Shana as well, if you all come that is."

"What do you mean 'if'?" Miranda commented, with her hands on her hips. "We decided to stick together, remember? And you have an obligation to your people just as you do to us – we all understand that."

"Right," Albert chuckled in spite of himself.

"Need to find Lloyd," Kongol added.

"True. We can stop at Fletz on our way to Serdio. Your sister-in-law maybe able to help us with locating Lloyd," Dart suggested.

"So, we figure out where the scum is hiding, then what? With his new disappearing act, how are we going to get anything out of him?" Miranda remarked.

"Let's just find him first," Albert said, attempting to halt Miranda's train of thought before they all found themselves at a deadend. "Hopefully the stars will have something for us, eh Dart? . . . Dart?" Miranda, Kongol and Albert shared the same confusion as they looked around finding no sign of the Divine dragoon.

"Where'd the hell he go?" Miranda queried.

"There," Kongol pointed to an obscure shadow in the distance. The three approached the cliff's edge with caution. As they neared the lower plateau, Dart's silhouette, outlined by the moon's soft rays, became clear. He was preparing to make his way down the cliff face.

"Dart, what are you doing?" Albert inquired.

"Something down there, I wanna go check it out. Here," he tossed a shoulder full of rope to the king and disappeared. Albert nearly followed him as Dart's weight snagged and drew the rope taut. Kongol, fortunately, caught him in time and grabbed hold of the rope.

Dart slid down the rope as slowly as possible as much for Kongol's sake as his hands. A small outcropping lay just below, between him and the raging sea. Something, glistening in the night, lay on the outcropping. Gently, he dropped down, being careful not to disturb whatever it was.

"What is it?" Miranda hollered from the top of the cliff.

Dart knelt down to examine the thing, he grimaced as he realized: 'I don't know.' It was a heap of leathery scales . . .

"Get me a lantern!" Dart yelled up to his friends.

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Lloyd fiddled with the purple stone, tossing it in the air casually and catching it again as he waited outside the tavern in Bale. Leaning against the wall, he seemed as listless as any of the other comers and goers of the small bar. In truth he had chosen the spot specifically as a vantage point and was as poised and alert as he could be. The person he was meeting was a dangerous, powerful being that he did not want to underestimate.

A man clad in light armour and a dark green cloak approached him. His gait seemed easy and his expression was aloof but Lloyd noted how his hand fell to the hilt of his sword in proximity to him and how he had flipped the one side of his cloak over his shoulder.

"I was hoping you'd stay dead," the man greeted, eyeing Lloyd.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

"Well you've got gall, being out here and throwing that thing around, then again you always were so damned cocky."

"As flattering as this conversation is, I didn't call you here to reminisce," Lloyd remarked.

"I figured as much," the man replied. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. You're still dead to the world as far as anyone else is concerned."

"Good, keep it that way," Lloyd motioned to enter the tavern. When the man would not, he did so instead. "Don't be so skeptical, Ellis. I'm not here to kill you."

Ellis snorted and followed him in. The two found a seat and shared some thick silence before either one spoke again.

"I don't know why you're back and I don't care, Lloyd. Just whatever you want, get it over with so I can be on my way."

Lloyd smiled coyly, "You don't know why I'm here? Better get back to the books, Ellis." He put away the Thunder Dragoon Spirit. "Have you got the Dragon Block Staff back yet?" he asked in a whisper.

Ellis' eyes went wide at the mention of the sacred item. He took a moment to compose himself before answering, "Not yet. No." He paused, skepticism filling his eyes, "Why are you so interested in it all of a sudden? You've got nothing to do with it."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not about to take on any more dragons if that's what you're thinking. I just need it for a little bit." He leaned in, "Look, you get the Staff for me and I can send Regole's Spirit your way."

Ellis crossed his arms, "Yeah, making a deal with you is like making a deal with Frahma himself. I don't know where it is and when I do get it, I'm not giving it over to you for any reason. You're not apart of this anymore."

"Don't act like it's some kind of secret club, Ellis. The players are pre-chosen and we both know it, else I wouldn't have this," he padded his pocket. "I've killed the thunder wraith – it already got the previous owner of the stone and the water wraith got its mark."

"So? You make it sound like I should care; it's just to bad Fate played out this way. I would have preferred fighting alongside that geezer instead of you anyday." Ellis got up to leave but Lloyd put his hand up to stop him. He froze where he was, half-sitting and half-standing, allowing the Wingly a final word out of courtesy.

"Has Ceres got her stone yet?"

"No, none of us have had the privilege of being sucked into the whirlpool yet."

Lloyd smiled, "I almost forgot we used to call it that." He nodded more to himself than Ellis, "Remember, I'm still dead."

"If only that were the truth," Ellis laughed as he walked off.

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Thanks for reading, Allusia!!