Guess what guys? I'm releasing the third chapter of Glitter in the Air in celebration of my trip to SakuraCon on the 22nd-24th of April! I'm going to be busy preparing with friends, so enjoy the fic while I'm gone~!

Not much of a theme for this chapter, but a few key songs were "The Fantasy" by 30 Minutes to Midnight and "Better Than Me" by Hinder. Title's "The Fantasy" too… Also a note: the word 'jerkass' isn't a typo or my creation. See TV Tropes online for details on it, but I'm using it because it is one of the characterizations that Walter is listed under.

Chapter 3 - The Fantasy

Late at night, near four in the morning, Walter's eyes shot open. He blinked quickly, breaths slowing and growing more regular as he faded back into reality. He murmured an inaudible curse and covered his eyes with a hand, wishing for images running through his head to stop. After a few more moments, he uncovered his face and peered over at the window, noticing the lack of any light or chirping birds. It was still night…

Sitting up on the bed, he noticed to his displeasure he hadn't even so much as taken off his shoes last night, and now his cloak was wrinkled too… Note to self, buy some more clothes so he could at least wash these ones without an audience staring. That was an interesting thought… Him standing at a Laundromat, half naked, with men and women alike staring as he washed his clothes. He let out a quiet chuckle at Beatty's horrified expression, then stopped… Odd what thoughts came to you in the middle of the night.

He thought about the lack of money in his pockets, and decided to get dressed anyway. May as well find some fighting monsters outside the city. Walter was willing to bet his fighting skills were a bit on the rusty side anyway. He began to get out of bed, but noticed a simple blanket covered him too; which even in his sleepy state he didn't bother throwing one on himself. He fingered the fabric quietly and looked over at the younger teenager in the other bed, breaths making her hair flutter in her face. He gazed at her for a moment too long, and finally got out of bed. He scribbled another note and left it where the previous one had been, made himself look somewhat presentable and left to go after some fiends.

x x x

Norma's eyes opened, hissing at the bright sunlight shining right into her pupils and inched back under the blankets like a vampire. After a few moments of trying to go back to her wonderful sexy dream, she gave up and threw the blankets off of her and kicked them away in a frustrated yell. She lay there, body beginning to get used to the chilly air, and looked over at the other bed. Empty. Her head craned the other way towards the window seat. A single scrap of paper again, akin to what looked like a sticky note.

Pulling herself out of bed, she walked over and picked it up, her eyes scanning the brief contents.

Fighting monsters. Back by tonight.

This note was even shorter than the last one! Norma thought, stuffing it into another pocket looking outside. Well, she was a bit hungry, and she did say she'd say hi to Chloe at the hospital. Maybe she could talk her into breakfast for both her and Elsa. With that, Norma got dressed and left the room, hopefully to fill her rumbling stomach.

x x x

A final kick powered by violet eres smashed into an eggbear, who promptly fell to the ground and refused to get back up. Walter landed on his feet, breathing slow and slightly uneven as his blue eyes watched a retreating salamander creature turn tail and flee into the woods, slithering green tail disappearing into the brush. The Ferines straightened his back and looked at the surroundings. So far, his eres were still in order, though for some odd reason the monsters around the Legacy seemed more powerful than usual, at least how he remembered them from two months ago.

Walking to a nearby oak, he emptied a bag of the spoils he had gained throughout the morning. Around three thousand gald, a few gels, the odd piece of chicken and shrimp (why would an egg bear drop that…?) and a climax bottle. Feeling satisfied, and stomach growling, he began to walk back towards Werites Beacon.

His ears pricked at a sound, and his feet stopped moving. His head craned around to gaze at his surroundings as a cold wind whipped around the leaves of the trees, rustling them and filling the air with the noise of their crinkling. Walter's blond hair blew around his face as his body became tense and alert. What was that? It wasn't any sort of creature that was common around this area, so what…?

A rumbling shook the trees behind him, near the forest. Birds shrieked as they flew away from the area, the trees no longer a safe perch. The ground rumbled again, trees creaking and branches snapping in the distance. The sound came again, closer this time. Walter's eyes focused on the brush under the trees, watching a form coming closer from the trees; a dark shape that reflected light when it cleared aside wood and branch. When it had only a few trees between it and the Ferines, his eyes widened in what most would call surprise, and what others called fear.

A hulking form emerged from the trees, long neck and a frilled head bursting through the branches, sending sticks and leaves flying. Emotionless, glowing eyes of emerald glared down at the lone figure in front of it, open mouth full of razors breathing hot hair and green mist. Dark scales with glowing circles along its flank thudded from out of the woods, a spine-covered tail and huge wings trailing along.

The figure below it stared on in disbelief and shock. "Impossible… What is a dragon doing so close to Werites Beacon, let alone on this side of the mountains?" He nearly took a step back before a mask fell back into place. "There's no way I'll beat this one on my own unless I still had Nerifes' Blessing, and with the monsters being so powerful…" His eyes darted towards a faintly visible hole in the brush, a perfect exit. His gaze shot back when the dragon roared, inhaling a deep breathe of air and leaning its head back.

Walter dove off to the side just as the hulking creature brought its head back down, expelling a huge cloud of green fire mixes with a toxic gas that torched the ground and killed the grass surrounding it. He rolled to his feet, covering his mouth with the black cloth that covered his wrists. The dragon took another stomping step and lashed out with its tail, the sweeping motion that nearly took the Ferines' feet out from underneath him as he leapt above the tail. His eyes widened when a huge scaled wrist equipped with sharp talons came at him from in front. He barely had enough time to cross his arms in front of his chest before the blow sent him hurtling into the trees, handing in a soft evergreen shrub twenty feet away.

Walter's eyebrows furrowed with pain as he felt blood seep into the black cloth of his arms. Jumping back onto his feet, he gave his arm a brief glance: two bloody slashes tinted with green were cut into his clothing. Glaring at the creature in front of him, he dashed towards the dragon without a second thought. As the dragon's claws rose to swipe him aside again, he leaned one leg on the ground and pushed himself sideways, around the dragon and through the hole in the brush.

He felt sticks and leaves scratch and snag his clothing, but who cared about those miniscule things when there was a fifteen foot fire-breathing flying lizard following you? The trees and brush zoomed by as the adrenaline rushed through his veins, helped by the heavy thudding footsteps following close behind. He cleared the woods and saw a nearby path burst into view, only to gape in shock at his horrible luck at being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, at least concerning other people.

Moses Sandor along with Geit, Csaba and a few of his bandits had finished checking up on their old hideout and were currently walking down a road that led from Port-on-Rage whistling to himself. A lot of the monsters around were getting pretty powerful too, so he and the boys had a bit of fun practicing some of their skills. Camping out in the park of Werites Beacon wasn't the most ideal place for keeping one's skills honed, so they had fun. Now though, he was happy to be going back. Yepper, everything had been going swell at that point…

As he passed by the woods near the path, he saw a figure burst out of the trees like a demon had been after him. He wore black and reddish-orange clothing, and his platinum-blond hair and face was enough to make him stop in his tracks and stare. He was so familiar looking… Blond hair, sharp expression and piercing blue eyes… But it was impossible, that Ferines jerkass was dead; they had killed him! His lips parted in confusion, "What the-" He began, but didn't finish when a rumbling roar came from the trees.

The ghost turned just as a huge green and black dragon burst from the trees, fire burning the air from between his teeth. The figure took one last glance at the bandit, then took off in a sprint towards the city. Moses got over his shock quickly as the dragon let out another roar. The chief grinned, and took out one of his javelins for an awesome battle. "Take a look, boys! Best of the best; let's take 'em down!" The group roared in approval, and charged.

x x x

Sometime later that day, under the shadow of a large vine-covered trellis, Norma was seated at one of the little tables near the bakery enjoying a strawberry crepe when she hear a passerby speak in rushed excited tones to another citizen. "Come on Ralph; those bandits finally did some good for a change!"

The older man snorted, "What in the world could they have done to do this city a favor?"

The young man practically blurted the next part, "They killed a dragon! Right next to the city on the road!"

The old one's eyes widened, "What!"

"Come on, we need to check this out!" He quickly pulled the other along down the street where she could hear a great commotion. Red and the bandits killed a dragon? They don't even come around this side of the mountains, let alone right next to the city. But… This was something she just had to see for herself. She stuffed the rest of the crepe in her mouth and ran out from under the trellis onto the street. Feet pattering down the street, she saw the other bandits with a huge cart behind them, showing off their kill.

Her face showed her shock, but then she closed her open mouth and walked through the small crowd to the cheering bandit. He was injured; most everyone was, but him only slightly. A long gash covered his right bicep, and looked like he had suffered a blow to the forehead, causing a small river of blood to run down his forehead. He also had the biggest shit-eating grin you would ever see on his face. "Red!" She yelled over the crowd, looking at him in an expression of disbelief and angered confusion.

He turned his gaze over to him and laughed, "Hey Bubbles! Look what me and mah boys picked up in the woods!"

"I don't care where you and your boys got it, what the hell was a dragon doing near the city!" She yelled over to him, but the bandit chief simply waved her off.

"Tell ya later tonight at Will's place. We're celebrating right now!" He yelled back, and the procession of laughing bandits and shocked/cheering townsfolk continued along the road towards the park. Norma's expression remained that of annoyance and confused, she walked over to the fountain, thoughts in her head about the strange circumstance.

She walked into the area, the people full of excited gossip, and sat down near the fountain where cool white water trickled down from Lumen Spring. It was ridiculous, she decided then on. "Why the heck was a dragon near the town anyway?" They don't appear anywhere on this side of where Raging Bay; now the empty plain surrounding the Bridge, used to be. Her eyes closed in confusion and she let her head knock back against the coral-red stone. Her eyes opened again, and saw the wide blue sky above her, filled with puffy clouds.

Norma decided to distract herself by going to visit (see: pester) C and Elsa. Senny and Shirl were there too, and they chatted about nothing in particular when JJ arrived, repeating that Will wanted to speak to them all. Something to do with Moses' recent discovery about the dragon. When they all had arrived, Harriett was feuding with her father again, and ended up storming off to Granny Musette's house.

It was then that Will started the conversation, "Alright Moses, we're all here. What was it that needed our full attention?" He crossed his arms and waited for an explanation, but patiently and not in an accusing way.

Moses puffed his chest out as he lounged back on the couch, "I'm willing at bet ya'll heard about that big beastie I brought in with my boys?"

Senel nodded, "You beat a dragon?"

The bandit nodded, "Yepper, pretty thing, isn't she? Hard to beat too."

Norma glowered, "Did you just bring us all here to gloat, Red, or was there something actually important to talk about?"

Chloe nodded, "I'm curious too… How did you drag a body of a dragon all the way back to Werites Beacon today?"

Moses' expression became serious and he looked at them all, "Dat's the thing though… I didn't drag him back from the other side of the island or anything like 'dat. Me and my boys were just walking back from our old camp when it just came a-runnin' out of the woods roaring. It wasn't even that far from town either; only half a mile out of the woods was where we found it."

Shirley looked at Senel with a worried look in her eyes, "That's really close to the city."

Senel nodded, "We've only really seen dragons in the mountains and the Quiet Lands; why are they suddenly popping up around populated areas?"

"Oh my… That isn't a good thing." Grune commented breezily, while Norma sighed. "You make it seem not like such a big deal, G-Girl."

"If dragons are starting to roam where citizens are, then the problem about the monsters on the Legacy getting more powerful just got worse." Jay commented, a grim expression on his face.

Will uncrossed his arms, "I need to relay this to Her Excellency immediately, especially if dragons are involved."

Moses was silent for a moment, then Chloe spoke up again, eyebrows furrowed in thoughtfulness. "The dragon wasn't the only thing you saw, was it?"

The bandit was silent, then spoke up again, visible eye narrowed in thought. "I saw something else, or… more like someone else."

Norma felt a shiver go down her spine for some reason, and felt that she had a secret that was about to be uncovered… "Who was it? It wasn't someone from Gadoria or Crusand, was it?"

Moses shook his head and looked over at all of the others, then said his piece. "Right before 'dat dragon came out of the woods, a person came out before it, so the dragon musta been chasing him." He shook his head, "But… I swear I was hallu… haluce…"

"Hallucinating." Jay offered, a dull stare on his face as if the bandit had said he couldn't spell the word 'dumb'.

"Hallucinating… But it couldn't have been him, he was dead!" Moses continued on, and Norma felt a stone fall into her stomach. Sure he couldn't have seen…!

"Who was it?" Shirley asked, curious.

Moses was quiet for a moment, and if even he was in silence about it then Norma knew who he was talking about even before he opened his mouth to answer. "…it was Walter."

Most everyone reacted, and Norma put on face to answer first, "Wally! But he's…"

Senel looked pained, "He died in the Wings of Light… He couldn't still be alive." Shirley was silent beside him: a painful reminder of who was lost when she had been the Merines trying to destroy the world, along with everyone before that.

Chloe shook her head as Jay stared him down, "This isn't a prank, right?"

"How could it be? He was there, wearing those clothes when we were in the Waterways! I carried him on Geit; I should know better than anyone what he looked like!"

Will brought a hand to his chin, "No one can just come back to life… Are you sure it wasn't another Ferines who just had the same clothing?" The bandit nodded.

Grune brought a hand to her cheek and thought to herself, "Hmm… He could have just gotten better…"

"I doubt it… He wasn't… he didn't look like he was breathing when we left. He couldn't have just gotten better… Otherwise Maurits would have known about it. Even if he did and kept it a secret, we would have seen him a lot sooner than now." Senel explained, snipping that theory in the bud.

Jay thought hard about this. "Well, even if what Moses said was true, we have bigger problems right now. Dragons are seemingly coming out of the wilderness, and it's going to put innocent people in danger if we don't do anything about it." The others nodded.

Will started in again, "I'll go inform Her Excellency."

Senel and Shirley stepped up, "We'll come with you." He nodded and the three then left, Chloe following after them.

Jay stepped forward then, "I'm going back to the Oresoren village to get more information…" In his mind, he slipped the issue about Walter into another category… he thought that man at the fountain had seemed familiar, but couldn't place his finger on it. It seemed rather obvious now, but that was another issue to deal with.

Grune smiled and left with the other two, leaving Norma to lag behind, her mind racing at the meeting. Dragons weren't the only problem on her list. If the others knew about Walter, what would happen to him? Especially when she didn't even know what was going on with him. Obviously, something about what he hadn't told her was bothering him in the form of sudden cases of exhaustion and nearly passing out each night.

She walked down the road, noticing the dark settling pretty quickly, and set her pace for a faster one. She entered the upstairs of the inn, and climbed the stairs to her room, taking out a key to unlock it. She opened the door halfway when she heard a muttered curse inside. Surprised, she opened it fully and closed it when her eyes locked onto a figure half in, half out of the bathroom.

Walter was leaning against the doorframe facing away from her, with the light of the bathroom showing her his bare back and him pressing a wet towel against his arm. When she closed the door, the sound made him look up at her. "How'd you get in?" The first question on her mind she asked, noticing the door was still locked when she entered.

He looked back to his arm and winced when the towel rubbed at the edges of the gash, making it bleed more. "I came through the window. Odd how you leave it unlocked…"

Norma set down her small bag and put her hands on her hips, "Well, I usually don't expect flying people invading my room and not using the door like normal people!" She noticed how the sink in the bathrooms had a roll or two of white bandages on the counter. Her arms fell back to her sides. "How'd you get hurt?" Not even Why were you seen by Red in the first place? but, How were you hurt?

He didn't answer for a moment, pressing the sodden towel against his arm instead. "I'm willing to bet that bandit friend of yours told you about the dragon he slew, correct? That's the cause."

Norma's eyes widened, "You tried to take on a friggin' dragon alone!"

"No, I didn't. I was finding a way out of a hopeless situation and it landed a hit on me…" His head leaned back and hit the frame of the door, allowing her to see his pale face. Damn those stupid dragons and their poisons… And that one he had faced was a particular nasty one; its specific attacks were poisonous. And damn him for not having a panacea bottle on him when he went into the wilderness.

Norma walked over and held out an arm, "Show me your arm." Easy to manipulate as she could be in some circumstances, she was afraid by the look of the dragon Moses had brought in. That green color usually wasn't a healthy sign in nature concerning poisons…

Walter turned his gaze slowly to her and stared her down. For a few moments, the two stayed like that, and finally the Ferines let up. He took his hand off of the towel and let her take the towel off to look. She brushed it up against the skin a little roughly, and caused him to wince back a bit, but he was not going to show weakness again so soon after his dizzy spell last night. His pride wouldn't stand for it.

She peeled the towel back and saw two long slashes in his forearm, blood slowly leaking out of them and an inflamed color surrounding parts of the wound. "Didn't you drink a gel or something?" She asked, lowering it and taking out a straw from her bag on the floor.

"I did. A few of them in fact… Poison probably made it so that it wouldn't heal." He responded in the familiar clipped manner she was used to before the Wings of Light.

Her hands recovered the silvery straw and using the mana-imbued weapon, a green light surrounded Walter's arm and began to heal it. "Why didn't you use a panacea then?" She retorted right back, a bit annoyed he could have prevented the incident.

"I'm poor and have no money, remember? I went out to fight monsters to get some, and was on my way back when that creature attacked me."

Ah… She had forgotten about that. Norma's brows furrowed as an unpleasant frown slipped onto her face, which in turn caused the Ferines to smirk at her. And it was also hard to concentrate when, she just realized, Walter was still as cute as he was with his shirt on than it was off. A slight pink flush on her cheeks would have betrayed her, but Walter took it more as a sign of annoyed frustration and a sign of defeat than anything else.

As the edges of skin began to knit back together again, he felt the burn-like symptoms of the wound fade into a comforting tingly numbness. He had forgotten how nice a first-aid spell was, and the times he experienced it was rare, as he couldn't cast a healing spell to save his life. Literally. Had he known one at the Mirage Palace, he probably would have either won the fight or at least lived from their fight at the Wings of Light. …And now, he realized how foolhardy his goal of defeating them was at that point.

The change in mood around him was noticeable by the brunette who was currently healing him. Pausing for a moment but green light still healing, he noticed how depressed Wally was sometimes, sometimes not even noticing he was showing it. This was one of those times, where his eyes were far away with memories and his shoulders slumped uncharacteristically. Where was the arrogant jerkass she used to know, compared to the now slightly depressed individual in front of her. …not that she missed the jerkass persona, in any case, but an explanation for the change would be nice.

The light slowly faded away, and the arm that used to be covered in scratches was now good as new, save for a few pale marks that would heal in time. "Done. Feel better?" She asked cheerfully, spinning the straw in her fingertips as he snapped out of his thoughts, absentmindedly running a hand over the unblemished skin. He looked towards her and gave a nod.

Norma grinned widely, then settled for a large smile as she leaned her weight on one of her legs and asked, "So, I'm curious… What'd ya find monster-hunting?"

He blinked, then pointed towards a leather-brown bag that would be strapped to ones hip on a table near the window. Her eyes lit up in greed and mischief as she nearly tiptoed over to the table with a madman's cackle nearly spilling from her lips. She emptied it and looked over the contents. "…Chicken and shrimp?" Where would he get these things?

"An eggbear. Don't ask me why it had those things…"

She saw a sparse amount of gald, and wondered aloud where it had all gone. Surely he had found more, other than just being rewarded with odd pieces of food and a few now-useless apple gels. "Is this all you got?"

"I had more, but ended up spending it on panacea bottles, which didn't nearly as well as I would have hoped." He sighed at how fast the money had gone. Back when he was the Merines' bodyguard, or even still a Ferines spy, he still got paid decently. Enough to let him have health items when he needed them. Now, he was grasping for coins in needing a panacea. …Sure he could have gone to the hospital, but he noticed the swordswomen from Senel's group staying in a vacant room there, so that was out of the question.

She looked over at his ragged attire and the torn black armguards. "…Probably not enough now to replace your outfit or that stupid towel at any rate…" She felt his glare and a cold shiver inched its way up her back. She turned back to him and yelled her complaints, "Seriously though! Most of us except G-Girl and maybe JJ have seen you in that clothing, and the turban was stupid-looking, incognito or not!"

His glare lessened somewhat as he ran a finger across the cloth of his cloak on the chair. "…For Orerines wear, this wasn't so bad…"

"The turban?"

"You were right about the turban, it was stupid. The outfit wasn't awful…" He was never going to admit it, but he liked the black and red clothing. Turban aside, the outfit looked good and intimidating… But the stupid towel was ridiculous!

Norma left off at a crucial moment, thinking over that incident at the meeting. "…So… Red saw you before he took out the dragon… And…"

Walter heaved a sign and walked over to the bed he occupied, flicking off the light switch to the bathroom as he did so. The room fell into a darkness aside from the warm golden light the lamp near Norma's bed was emitting. "I'm guessing he blabbed to you all."

She shrugged, "Well, they're as confused as I was when I first saw you… But generally believe you are still around, because of who knows what."

He sat down and ran his fingers through his hair, back bending over so his hands propped up his forehead. "So now I'm found out… This is great. And may ruin everything…" He mumbled quietly to himself, berating himself for the stupid bandit being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Though, he did stop the dragon from following him into town, so that was a plus for taking it out. Still, his pride didn't want to blame it on himself; he was far too arrogant for that.

Norma's frown returned, and sensed the subject he was talking about was the thing he was hiding from her. "May ruin what, Wally?" His weary gaze turned to her, eyes unreadable and stormy as her thread began to unravel. "What's so important that it may ruin whatever-your-not-telling-me-about? I'm practically your only friend here right now… And you're not the cold and arrogant jerkass you used to be. Hell, the original Wally would have tried to kill me back at Lumen Spring when I challenged you, let alone telling me why you were back in the first place! What happened to you? Is there so big a secret you'll change your entire outlook on life and even get along with an enemy rather than try and solve it on your own!"

Norma ranted, and even though the Ferines knew where she was coming from, he honestly hadn't changed that much. He'd much rather solve the puzzle on his own because he was too arrogant to ask for help; asking to bunk with Beatty was only a necessity. He was still cruel, only enough so she wouldn't kick him out, and maintaining his distance when it came to Senel's group. Though… Anyone other than him reading his thoughts would see it as complete denial.

Walter was nearing his breaking point of snapping when suddenly and without any warning, the door burst open and Moses strolled in ranting, not seeing Walter at first, "Ok Bubbles, I can't take it anymore! Everyone thinks I'm crazy but I'm not and I'm not seein' things and I don't want to see a Si-Kal-A-Gist or whateva' the hell that is! And I know you're probably the only one that'll listen to me and know that I'm… Not… …Crazy…" The bandit's rantings slowed and sputtered to a stop when he saw the shocked (see: horrified) expression on Norma's face and the shocked and irritated expression on the ghostly memory sitting in front of him, on a bed, and without a shirt. And in the same room as Norma.

He opened his mouth to sputter out something, but both figures leapt and tackled him, Norma running over and slamming the door shut then holding a mouth to Moses' mouth to prevent him from yelling that there was a "goddamn ghost touching him, oh god get it off, get it off, get it off". Norma and Walter traded glances and the two for the first, but not the last time shared a thought at the exact same moment in time.

"Oh crap."

x x x

I'm going on a whim here, and guessing that when one has been poisoned and has been running around, the blood flow would pump the poison around the victim's body faster and, ergo, make a panacea bottle not as reliable as when it would be administered quickly.

Also, as you can plainly see, Walter is completely and irrevocably OOC in this fic… or at least in denial that he is. But this is, as you can see, a fanfic. Fanfics are made of OOC, as different events happen and in doing so change the character. That's my excuse for making him nicer and I'm sticking to it!

-Reviewer Corner-

Shirogane Naoto - Midnight is nothing; you should see writers (like myself) who read up until four, five, six in the morning... I'm a bad example of a person who maintains a proper sleeping pattern though. ^^;

Shiroi Iyasu - Be careful about sleeping at the computer; sometimes keyboards have a way of imprinting marks on your face... At any rate, I assure you the romance won't be too obvious, if it even appears. However, I consider your skepticism a challenge~ :)