A/N: This was supposed to come out before New Year, but better late than never.

"A dragon's elemental aptitude is not constrained by his or her limits, but merely the lack of will to continue."

–Syrantis of Empyrea.

Chapter 8: Regret

A yellow dragoness passed by the dojo, she heard a rather loud commotion that emanated from within. She assumed someone was training. She paid the room little mind as she continued towards her original destination while lost in thought. It wasn't long before she stopped along her dorm room's door. Aurea opened the door and went inside. Everything about the room was tidy, save for her desk. She walked to her desk, which was cluttered with books and various papers, scrolls, etc... It wasn't organized neatly either, quite the opposite in fact. She moved away some of the junk to clear some space. The dragoness' thoughts drifted to her life before the war briefly. After a moment she sighed and pushed the memories out and instead tried to focus on what she was here for. She took out a small box and held it tightly as she sniffed. A small tear ran down her cheek. Aurea opened the box, revealing a deep gold necklace, the center piece was a topaz gem.

It was the memento of her mother, she didn't wear it however. Mainly because of the absence of the special circumstance that was specified by her mother. "I had almost forgotten about this... Mother, I don't think I'll ever forget you, even as time goes on..." She said quietly before she trailed off and stayed silent. Her eyes glued to the necklace. After what seemed like eternity she closed the box and gently placed it back in its safe spot.

A sudden knock on the door caught her attention. She walked up to the door and opened it slowly. Upon seeing the visitor's face she threw the door wide open. "Uncle..." The electrical guardian stepped inside, his gaze set upon his niece. He noticed her dejected demeanor right off the bat and was instantaneously at a conclusion as to why.

"So the incubuses have resurfaced?" A slight nod answered his question. Volteer frowned, troubled by this. "It appears they have a tedious tendency to waltz in then."

"I don't think they'll ever go away uncle..." The dragoness said solemnly, she looked rather fearful. Volteer already knew why.

"Oh dear... Would you like to talk about it then?"

The dragoness gave him a fragile smile, "That might help..." The two withdrew further into her room. Volteer let the dragoness lie down on her bed as they began to converse. "It's just like the old ones. I'm always there... and I always see them perish... Their last words... It's always been the same, it hasn't changed radically at all," she closed her eyes and let out a pained sigh. Volteer looked at her with unease; he despised seeing her like this. He wished he knew how to combat her problem and eradicate it completely.

"Everything is the same? Precisely and unerringly the same? Not even a single detail has been recreated?"

"Yes... I wish I had an explanation to this... I don't understand why it happens..." She trailed off.

Volteer hesitated to speak as he began to draw evidence. "I'd suggest you let time heal the trauma and cope..."

"That's exactly what I did last time!" She practically yelled, her voice raised to the point where anyone next door could hear. Fortunately, there was no one close enough. It was highly unusual for her to raise her voice, much less get upset so intensely. "I let time do its work only for this to happen again! I'm not at peace with their passing! I'm not..." She lowered her and started to let her emotions come free, tears began to run down her face as she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks she tried to hid her face.

Volteer gave her a stoic look, but his eyes only showed empathy towards the dragoness. "We've all lost dear people in the war..." He gave the dragoness a worried glance as he got up and turned to leave. "Don't hesitate to call for me dear," he didn't get a response from the dragoness who now had begun curling herself into a tighter position. The door closed gently as he left. The night had already begun to claim the day as trails of soft moonlight–almost symbolic–pierced Aurea's room. Everything was still, save for the dragoness' steady breathing as she tried to calm down. She couldn't however. The thoughts of sleep plagued her mind, but she didn't want to obey it. The nightmares that haunted her when she was fairly young would manifest over the night.

One attacked. A dodge. A retaliation. Repeating the process, the dojo floor was soon littered with the parts of training dummies. Glint stood in the middle of the area, breathing heavily. "Impressive. It's an honor to see a Z'kil fight, especially one with hardly any training."

Glint looked at him quizzically. "How do you know?"

Lykos simply chuckled. "I can tell. You fight with improvisation, I may not be familiar with your kind's fighting style; but it is easy to spot improvisation once you've seen it enough times. I reckon it is because you haven't been trained to do this and that," he said vaguely, perhaps because of his ignorance of how dragons generally fought. "It's a good and bad thing my friend. A wild card," he finished grimly, almost as if he were warning the light dragon of an omen to come.

"It's dark," the white dragon said in response to the moon's soft light breaching the ceiling glass. He slightly titled his head upwards and felt a cold breeze pass by his scales. The wolf nodded and took a step back. "But thank you for the information Lykos."

"It was a pleasure Z'kil. I'll be taking my leave for now. I'll see you around."

The white dragon watched as he left the room, he did the same shortly after. Ending up in the hallways now, the dragon wasn't sure what he was going to do next. He thought for a brief moment before remembering that he'd like to talk to Aurea about that night. So he marked his destination and began his way towards it, he certainly felt eager to talk the dragoness.

Aurea heard a sudden, but subtle knock on her door. There was small pause before another knock.

She didn't feel like answering, she wanted to be left alone and so, stayed stationary. However, her gaze remained firmly set on the door. There was a small sigh elicited from the person outside as there was no answer. The sounds of someone walking away followed shortly after. The dragoness listened to the soft beats of her heart, ruffling away at a steady beat–softly and quietly it ached–it persisted, unending as she thought of her family. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. It was in vain as a tap was heard on her window, at first she thought it was just her imagination. But there it was again, the tap. She glanced at her window, she had noticed her curtains prevented anyone from seeing within as they were pulled down. There was a sudden but subtle click as the lock for the window was unlocked. The window opened, a dragon's head poked through. Aurea became tense as she prepared to channel her element. She stopped when she heard him speak, his gaze landing on her figure. "I thought you were in here..."

Glint.

Out of all the times he decided to make his entrance, it was now? "May I come in?" He asked politely. 'No, you may not.' She thought, but dragoness nodded anyways after a moment of hesitation, she was glad it was dark in this room. Otherwise he'd noticed her tears that she had been fostering from earlier. The dragoness tried to refrain from talking, as her voice would give her away. Glint walked in, he closed the window with his tail and even locked it. A silence enveloped the two, neither didn't know what to say or do. Glint was the first to break the silence. "Listen, I wanted to talk about that night..." He noted her silence and began to walk closer. "Are you okay? Did I come in at the wrong time?" 'Stupid question, of course I did.' He thought.

"No. Nothing is okay!" The dragoness unexpectedly shouted, the volume of her voice made him flinch in surprise, he noted her pitch of distress. The dragoness simply turned her head, now refusing to look at him. His mind went into deep thought as he tried to think of a way to placate the dragoness.

"Aurea... I don't understand, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry… I can't... I don't... I don't want to say..." She said in a small whisper, barely even audible.

Glint stared at her. Expecting something unusual to emerge from her. An explanation. Or something. He noticed how she was, how she feeling right now. It had a deep mark of sadness written all over it, smeared, ugly, and indecipherable. It was written over her expression, on the face she tried so hard to hide. He walked closer to her. "Aurea... I'm here to help... How can I help if I don't know your problem?"

Aurea lifted her head, her eyes, filled with an ever growing melancholy pierced his eyes. In a slow and dejected manner she spoke. "Do you really want to know?"

He nodded solemnly. "I can't do anything without knowing." There was good amount of silence before the dragoness responded, presumably collecting her thoughts.

"I'm having these nightmares..." she paused and looked at him. He nodded for her to continue. "I dream about the day I lost my parents. It left such a scar on me... I wasn't ready. I didn't want to accept it. It was so sudden." Her voice weakened, straining for strength to continue. She failed and simply stopped in silence. "I'm sorry... I can't... I-I can't continue."

Glint closed his eyes and nodded empathetically. "It's alright." Aurea lifted herself off her bed and climbed down tenderly. She then, suddenly embraced the white dragon. His reaction was one of surprise. He simply accepted her embrace and returned it, enveloping her with his wings. As if he was shielding her from everything in the world. He didn't think much of her action there and was only trying to give her comfort. Glint just had a sudden thought, and gently spoke, "remember what you taught me about the dragon kingdoms before the war?" The dragoness was suddenly thrust into curiosity as what he was trying say. "Specifically Antaria?" He continued, "Where in the desolate, ruined, kingdom there were simply dragons, civilians trying to live in a place they used to fondly call 'home'? Just think about that, I know it's a grim topic on another, but what I'm trying to get at is that they continued on, trying to live normally as if the kingdom itself didn't fall. You should try to do the same… Don't let yourself get dragged down by something you'd consider terrible. Just push forward and persevere Aurea," the dragon went silent, finished as he was trying to gauge how the dragoness was reacting now.

"Thank you… for bringing in a great example from our lessons, and thank you again for being a dear friend," the dragoness said softly. Although truly, she wished it was something more. Her heart was beating rapidly, she hadn't felt so... It was indescribable really... She listened to Glint's own heart, which itself was beating normally. It calmed her, warmed her even. The white dragon let his thoughts drift as they remained still. They were both still in the same positions as they've started in. Aurea then released him, in response, he too, did the same almost simultaneously.

The dragoness retreated back to her bed awkwardly, standing beside it. Glint looked towards the window. "I'll leave you be. Call me if you need me okay?" The dragoness nodded. He opened the window and pushed the curtains aside before walking through them. The dragon took one last glance at Aurea. She walked up to him, wondering whether he was going to say something or do something. Her unspoken question as answered as Glint touched her cheek gently and did something he didn't expect himself. He nuzzled the dragoness. The dragon then spread his wings and jumped off the balcony. Aurea raised her claws after he disappeared, placing them on her chest, where her heart would be. It fluttered briefly and waves of emotions poured through her. The dragoness couldn't believe it. But she was harboring stronger feelings for the light dragon... She smiled and closed her eyes. Maybe. Maybe she could ask him...

Glint tumbled on the ground clumsily, he was getting tired, as evidenced by this little mishap. And he now had to walk all the way back to his room. This task seemed almost impossible as he yawned, his energy spent. He made his way there groggily, but it took an incomprehensible amount of time for him to reach his room. He noted the stillness of the night and its charming effects. He heard a lone howl from a wolf, one that was long and jubilant. It was one he recognized. He smiled as he opened the door of his room and went inside. His thoughts were occupied about Glint looked out his window for a brief moment, he saw the moon. Clear and bright as ever will ever be. One thought of his dominated all others however, it was why he did what he did with Aurea this night. What did it mean to him? What was going on? What was he thinking back there? But most importantly, what did the scholarly dragoness mean to him? He had a feeling those thoughts would plague his mind at some point.

A/N: I hope stuff wasn't too... er, cheesy... I suppose.