A/N: I'm on a roll!

Or, rather, I'm struggling with NaNoWriMo so I was unproductive and did this instead. Heh.

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"So, you finally realized, did you?"

Ghaleon started at the familiar, booming voice, and the whiteness that had permeated his thoughts and mind faded, allowing him to open his eyes to see Dyne as the man he'd once been before Dyne's own death—Laike.

Then again, Ghaleon wasn't entirely surprised the Dragonmaster chose to present himself as the man he'd become, rather than the man he'd been.

Laike stood for everything the Goddess herself had wanted, as the embodiment of his destiny, his role, and his love for Althena.

Ghaleon no longer hated the appearance of Laike, but he did want to know why Dyne, as Laike, was once more interfering with Ghaleon's fate.

"It has been awhile, Dyne." Ghaleon turned his eyes to their surroundings, only to see a vague, blurred landscape that bore no resemblance to the afterlife he'd previously been intimately acquainted with. "Where are we? It isn't the netherworld."

"Where is unimportant, Ghaleon." Dyne grinned and pulled Ghaleon into a thumping hug as Ghaleon coughed in surprise. "It's good to see you again, old friend."

Ghaleon staggered as Dyne abruptly released him. "Why are we here, Dyne?" He was too proud to let out a gasp of breath despite how roughly his friend had grabbed him . . . despite his newfound humility.

"That's a better question, I suppose." Dyne sobered somewhat, his grin becoming lopsided. "Althena always believed in you, did you know? Even when you lost what remained of your humanity, she believed in you and hoped you'd finally become the man we'd once known. Her time as Luna didn't change that; in fact, I think her newfound humanity only reinforced that belief. You're here because of that hope."

Ghaleon turned to stare back at his friend in surprise.

So, the little boy and his goddess had kept their hope in him, had they? But why?

"I should have known the girl was too lighthearted for her own good." He exhaled slowly as he ran a hand through his silver hair. "Why?"

"Tell me, Ghaleon, what did you learn after you died and Zophar brought you back?"

When Ghaleon didn't speak, Dyne smacked him roughly on the back as Ghaleon groaned in pain. He'd missed a lot of things, but Dyne's rough nature wasn't one of them.

"You've changed, Ghaleon. Your heart finally softened and realized the power of all that humans can accomplish together. It's a lesson even your own death hadn't fully provided you." Dyne gave him a small smile. "However, you aren't done with what you need to learn, and you still have things to do."

"Dyne, have the years gone to addle your brain?" Ghaleon raised a brow. "There is nothing to do once one has passed. That is, in fact, the very point."

"Bah! You've seen me drunk before—this is nothing compared to that! Though what I wouldn't give to enjoy a good barrel of ale again, eh?" Dyne heartily slapped Ghaleon's back again, nearly sending Ghaleon to his feet. "But I meant what I said. You made amends, but you still have things you must repair in order to earn a well-deserved rest. Including a certain grounded city."

Ghaleon's lips thinned as he absorbed Dyne's words, and he couldn't keep the sarcasm from his own voice. "And how shall I do that dead, Dyne? Or shall I be forced to be an ethereal spirit such as you are now?"

If what Dyne was hinting at was true . . . Althena was quite meddlesome, even after her death. Ghaleon, however, wasn't sure he was interested.

Dyne laughed. "Not at all, dear boy! Althena did not leave me with a tear of her power strong enough for that and I'm certainly not powerful enough to do so!"

Ghaleon glared at his friend. He highly doubted even a tear would be able to give a human—even one as powerful as Dyne had once been, as the Dragonmaster—enough power to catapult their spirits back to the living world with enough force to continue to manipulate it.

He'd suspected that Althena's final act before returning to the world as Luna had been to turn Dyne into Laike herself—and, at that time, he'd become the spirit of a Dragonmaster, rather than the Dragonmaster himself.

Ghaleon, however, was Vile Tribe, and though he was more powerful than an average human, and his magical abilities were strong, he still was no Dragonmaster. But if Ghaleon could not return to the world as a spirit through Althena's power, and Zophar, whose abilities would have allowed Ghaleon's return, would be soon vanquished, then why was Dyne bothering with this in the first place?

"Althena's power cannot restore life, Dyne, as you're well aware," Ghaleon said dryly as Dyne's words began to sink in. "It is an unnatural thing and it goes against everything Althena stood for."

Dyne nodded and squared his shoulders. "You're correct; Althena cannot. However, her power was forced to merge with Zophar's when he attempted to absorb Lucia. For Zophar, who destroys what was created and twists what is natural, returning a half-life is a tiny thing . . . for you were not truly alive as you once were. Combined, however briefly, with Althena's powers of creation and nature, and there is a small window that we will use to restore you to a true life. Thus, it would not be unnatural . . . merely . . . less so. It will, however, be a most painful rebirth, and you may well spend quite some time recuperating. You have not been alive for some time."

Without realizing it, Ghaleon gaped at his friend.

"You're going to use what remains of your powers to try and harness Zophar's? You clearly have gone mad, Dyne." Ghaleon glared at Dyne. He'd learned the hard way the folly of using powers not innately your own, and yet Dyne seemed to eschew the very lesson he'd wanted Ghaleon to learn.

Combining Althena's and Zophar's powers would be folly, even for a being as powerful as Dyne. Not even the girl, Lucia, could have attempted such a feat and lived. There was simply no way to combine such opposing forces without extreme consequences.

A broken man like Ghaleon would not be worth the cost, no matter what Dyne may have thought.

"I'll do nothing. The remnants of Althena's power already have harnessed Zophar's—I'm merely showing it the way. Besides," Dyne added, with a lost look in his eyes that Ghaleon had learned long ago signaled Dyne's own feelings towards the Goddess, "it was her will to do so, her hope, so her power won't need to be controlled. She wanted you to be reborn, but with her death that would have been impossible. There are no more reincarnations after Althena but . . . She felt that you needed the chance to undo what you have done and live the life you were originally meant to live. It was her only regret that she could not see it through herself."

So, then, why had the all-knowing Althena chosen to revive Ghaleon, and not Dyne? Surely Dyne deserved it a hundredfold, and he said as much.

"If you could do this all along, Dyne, why not do it sooner? Why not restore yourself to life as well?" Ghaleon's lips and jaw twitched—would Dyne always try to be so noble and self-sacrificing? "If there is a way to live again, why not bring yourself as well?"

"My place is here, Ghaleon. Nowhere and between, able to move everywhere but never once travel. I'm here because there is no other, because even Althena knew that if humanity hoped to survive without her, there should be a guardian in place to ensure that if something went wrong, someone was able to reach out and find the humans who could help. I cannot fulfill that role through any other medium. Alive, I would have no purpose."

And for Dyne, who'd lived his whole life for Althena, that would very well kill him.

"So, it was you who led the boy to the Princess of the Blue Star?" Ghaleon deduced slowly. "And now you are trying to lead my to my 'fate?'" He wanted to scoff. How could a man dead twice have any fate at all left?

"I don't make fate, Ghaleon. I merely remind some of theirs." Dyne laughed, deeply, and Ghaleon felt the nostalgia rise within him at the familiar sound. Dyne had laughed like this frequently a long time ago, before the Goddess had interfered, before he'd been chosen as Dragonmaster . . . before he'd given up his power to make her human permanently. "As I'm doing with you, Ghaleon," Dyne added, interrupting Ghaleon's reminiscing. "Do me a favor and don't get yourself killed again. Three times really is just too much for a human, even if he's Vile Tribe."

Ghaleon's lips quirked into a small, sardonic smile. "I make no such promises, Dyne."

Dyne chuckled, and Ghaleon laughed for a moment, before he caught himself. Once, he would have given anything to hear Dyne laugh again, to see Dyne live again, but now . . .

Dyne sighed dramatically. "You always were foolish with the gifts given you," he mourned, wiping at nonexistent tears in his eyes. "Ah well! No time like the present to send you right back. Well, more future-present. Can't have you going back yet before those kids realize they can and do defeat a god! Actually, they might already have; got a bit distracted with you here, but I'm sure they're fine! Anyway, off you go!"

Dyne reached out and touched Ghaleon's brow, and for all of Ghaleon's pride, he could not stop the scream of pain as Dyne used the remnants of Althena's and Zophar's power to catapult him back to life.

Every iota of his body and spirit protested the change, but Ghaleon felt Dyne's will flood from behind him, pushing Ghaleon forward even when he attempted to fall back.

It seemed Ghaleon had no choice but to rejoin the living yet again, despite how weary his spirit was.