Standard disclaimer: I don't own the series.

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AN: Hiya peoples. Yup, yet another chapter. This chapter was a pain to write due to the minor fact that I am having a lovely case of writer's block. Well, it’s not so much as writer's block, its more like I am unsure as to how to set up this part of the story. I know what I want to write and stuff... its just the part of getting started I guess. Anyway, here's my shot at it. Hope I don't screw it up, right? ^_^;;

Here are the reviews:

Meeerf: Hiya! Hee! Don’t worry. I will send you the list and the connections will be revealed soon :) Manna is not a face of Deis. Neither have avatars. Don’t worry though, the connections will be revealed. Hee glad you liked the pairing. Ah, Ladon’s inactivity will be revealed soon. Hee :) Well, here’s the next chapter, so I hope it answers a little bit.

Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy :)

“All of them… dead…” Hawk muttered darkly as he and Yui made their way back to Navare.

Yui gave Hawk a sympathetic smile and turned her head and looked at him. “There was nothing you could have done. That bitch uses water magic that’s been augmented by a demon that’s trying to set himself up as a god. We’re just lucky that she decided to flee the scene when she did.”

Hawk stopped walking. He gave Yui a hard look and then sighed and continued walking. “Well, at least we still have the Dark Key,” Hawk said. “So, we have some time to kill before we get back to Navare… how to you know Karn?”

Yui smiled. “Well, my parents were members of the guild, but were killed during a raid to one of the neighboring towns. I was raised by the guild after that.”

Hawk grinned slightly. “So, what made to decide to leave if you grew up in the guild?”

Yui smiled and blushed slightly. “Oh, really?” she looked up at the bright blue sky and placed her hands behind her back. “I think its pretty obvious Hawkie.”

Hawk’s eye twitched slightly. “Hawkie?” Hawk asked.

Yui grinned. “I fell in love with a man during a raid. I was attacked and wounded and he came to my rescue. Sadly, he couldn’t hold his own against a rival guild and someone came along and saved the both of us. I took him back to Navare and well…”

Hawk waved his hand in the air dismissively. “Eh, I get’cha. So, you got your groove on with that guy, eh?” Hawk grinned slightly. “So, I take it you’re still with this guy?”

Yui smiled. “Oh, yes. We’ve been married for a long time now. We have a four year old daughter.”

“Ah,” Hawk said. “So, I take it the sex is good then?”

Without missing a beat, Yui flashed Hawk a mischievous grin. “Ah yes. The force is strong with that one.”

Hawk rolled his eyes. Both stopped when they came up to a massive rock cliff. Hawk walked over and touched the rough rock face. A narrow passage opened and Hawk and Yui squeezed into the opening.

The inside of Navare was a series of narrow and dark passage ways. If one did not know where they were going, they could get lost. If one did not know where they were stepping, one could find themselves in the middle of a large, unseen trap.

It had been a long time since Yui had been home. Most would think that being part of a thieving guild was not the best life there was, but it was her life. She truly did miss being able to be free to roam the night.

She had given that up when she married Jin, though. She knew that he would follow her to the ends of the earth just to be with her. He had said as much. He was truly a man of his word. She knew, however, that Jin had a mission, a destiny that had to be carried out. It killed her to know that he was going to have to put his life in danger, but she knew the risks from the very beginning.

Jin, Miyuki, and even Momo had a job to do in order to ensure the future of their world. They were Destined after all. They were there to aid Ryu in his time of need. But, if she understood everything correctly, the Cycle was starting to go off course. Jin had told Yui of the girl, Mary that kept appearing before them and helping them with their fight against Legence.

Jin had said that there was something strange about that girl. Other than the fact she was a ghost, that is. Jin had a theory that Mary was just a piece of the actual person she was supposed to be. He had meant that Mary was not whole. She was something entirely different altogether. He had an idea as to her real identity, but there was no way of proving it.

To think, that if Mary was actually some part of Myria, the Mother Goddess… that changed everything.

Jin also had a theory about Nina’s Eternal Session, but at that point in the conversation, Yui was tired, irritated, and in much need of a stress reliever. Needless to say, it was only after a few rounds of much needed sex, did Jin get to continue with his point.

Jin pointed out that Nina might… MIGHT have some part of Myria’s powers inside of her, just like Ryu had Ladon’s power inside of him. He didn’t know how that happened, but then again, it was just a theory.

Yui knew that Jin wasn’t sure what it was that was supposed to happen. He was just as clueless as everyone else was. She just hated to part ways with him once more.

Yui was pulled out of her musings when she noticed that Hawk had stopped walking. Standing before them were several armed guards dressed in black and wielding short swords. Hawk frowned and approached the guards.

“Hey guys?” Hawk said with a wave. “What’s with all the security?”

Two of the guards stepped forward and drew their swords. Hawk frowned and stood his ground, his fingers dancing over the hilts of his daggers. Yui walked over and stood beside Hawk and reached into her pockets and laced her fingers around a kunai that was hidden there.

The two guards stopped right in front of Hawk and Yui and raised their swords high in the air. Hawk and Yui merely stood their ground as the swords came a few inches from their faces. The guards laughed as they withdrew the swords.

“Sorry ‘bout that Hawk,” One of the guards said with a smile. “We had to make sure that you were the real deal.”

“Yeah,” the second guard said. “Some of the others went crazy and started attacking everyone. We… had to stop them…”

Hawk frowned as he caught the meaning of his friend’s words. Hawk merely nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we know. Most of my men went crazy and started to attack me. Listen. There’s this woman that is controlling everyone…”

“Her name’s Iris Dante, and she’s working for Gideon Laurante,” Yui said.

One of the other guards smiled and walked over and embraced Yui. Yui smiled and hugged them back. “Yui! It’s been a long time! How have you been?”

“Just fine,” Yui said with a smile. The guard let go of Yui as Yui took a step back. “But right now, we need to speak with Karn. It’s urgent.”

“Of course,” another guard said. “Please, come with us.”

What they had failed to notice was that one of the guards hung back for a few moments. The brown haired man frowned and watched Hawk closely. He looked down at Hawk’s pants and noticed the massive energy radiating from the pocket.

He was right. The desert brat was able to get the Key after all. Transell smiled as he followed after the others.

Infiltrating Navare had been a job and a half. Transell liked to believe he was sneaky, but even for him it was hard to go unnoticed by a bunch of people that made their lively hood off of stealing from other people.

With his powers to control people, it was easy to get in and get the guards to do what he wanted them to do. The only minor problem seemed to be when Yui told them about the woman that was taking control of other guild members.

He didn’t think that Iris had the guts to try something like that. Something bothered him, though. Iris was usually more discrete about her jobs. Why was she not trying to hide herself like he was? Was she TRYING to get caught?

And another thing. Why did Gideon send Iris when he told Transell to go? Did the king think he would not be able to handle getting the Key and finishing off the guild once and for all? It did not seem like Gideon to change his orders in the middle of things. It also bothered him as to how Iris was going about her attack. According to what Yui and Hawk were saying, she was also absorbing the fallen guildsmen life force while she was at it.

Just what was Iris Dante planning?

He knew that he had to get to the bottom of it before it was too late. He had never been too fond of Iris, or even Legence for that matter. It bothered him to see either of them act out like this. Was Iris actually on Legence’s orders, instead of their king’s?

That would be high treason if that were the case. Just what was going on here?

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Ryu smiled slightly to himself as the group of wannabe heroes stood outside of the Navare stronghold. It had been a bit since he had last been there. He recalled all the fond memories of learning how to sneak around at night. All the beautiful women that were there trying to seduce him.

One in particular was a young vixen that went by the name of Remi. It was oddly enough Remi that had made a man out of him. There had been a full moon that night and the dress that Remi was wearing was showing off just enough skin and…

Manna whacked Ryu upside of the head with the palm of her hand. Ryu growled and nursed his head as he glared at Manna. Manna merely smirked and shook her head in amusement.

“Better keep those thoughts clean, dragon boy, or that little bird over there might do more than shit on your head,” Manna said. Nina didn’t even notice the jab in her direction. She was too busy trying to talk her way out of an embarrassing conversation with Sari.

Ryu frowned. “Uh, what are you talking about…? Oh, PLEASE don’t tell me you can read minds?”

Troy and Jin stood a few feet away from Ryu and snickered. Troy smiled brightly and walked right up to Ryu and clasped his hand down on Ryu’s shoulder.

“Oh yes,” Troy said with a smirk. “She can read minds, all right. I mean, there was this one time that Jin…”

Jin coughed and glared at Troy. “Now, there’s no need to bring up things that happened in the past.”

Ryu grinned slightly and turned his attention to Troy. “Oh, what happened?”

Troy laughed. “Well, there was this one time that…”

Manna grabbed Troy by his arm and dragged him off to the entrance of the stronghold. “We really, REALLY don’t need to know about that…”

“The force is strong with that one!” Troy laughed as he yelled over his shoulder. Jin glowered at Troy and crossed his arms. Nina and Sari snapped out of their musings and took off after Manna and Troy.

Ryu and Jin merely stared at each other for a few moments before Jin sighed and followed after everyone else. Ryu was left alone with his thoughts. He would have to ask Troy about what happened later and why he shouted such an odd phrase.

After everyone had entered the stronghold, they were met with several armed guards. The guards quickly reacted and prepared to attack them. Sari and Nina were about to pull out their weapons, but stopped when Jin and Ryu signaled them to stop.

Apparently, it was just a ruse. The guards remembered Jin and knew about Siegfreid, aka Ryu. Apparently, another guildsman will not attack another member. The guards explained that there was a woman that was controlling their people and causing them to attack each other.

They just had to make sure that Ryu and his group was not under that woman’s control.

The group mainly walked in silence, but there was the quick helloes for Ryu and Jin. Most people waved at the others, but steered clear of Manna. Apparently a while back, several drunk members tried to hit on Manna, and the archmage merely sent them flying against the nearest wall.

Apparently, Troy was more well received by the various members of the guild. Troy merely laughed and waved at the people, a wide grin was on his face. Ryu noticed that some of the men were staring at Nina and Sari. Sari merely gave them cool gazes. Nina inched closer to Ryu, a nervous look etched on her face. Ryu smiled and took Nina’s hand with his and drew her closer.

After that, the men stopped staring. They realized that Nina already belonged to Ryu, and one did not steal from another member.

The whole place was just like Ryu’s remembered. Who knew that what appeared to be a fortress carved out of the rock walls were hiding such a wondrous building inside of it? The interior of Navare looked as if it was a giant palace with elegant rooms inside.

They finally came up to a room that probably was used as an audience hall. Standing at the far end of the room, was a tall, older man that looked to be in his mid forties, dark skin and dark brown hair, dressed in tan colored clothes. Several other people, deep in conversation surrounded the man.

Before the first words came out of Ryu’s mouth, the dark skinned man turned around and gave the assembled party a large smile.

“Jin Uzuki, Manna Sphere, Troy,” the man said as he addressed each of them. He looked at Ryu and grinned slightly. “Siegfreid Griffith. Its been a very long time, hasn’t it?” the man looked at the other two women. “Who are your friends?”

Sari placed her hands behind her back. “I am Saria la Crosse.”

Nina flinched slightly under the man’s look. For some reason, he looked so familiar. She knew she knew him, somehow, she just couldn’t place him.

The man merely walked over to Nina and before Nina had even realized it, the man was right in front of her, towering over her small frame. Nina looked up and almost shrunk back from the man. He had to be a good few inches taller than Ryu, at least as tall as Jin or Troy. Jin stood at six foot and Troy at ‘6”1.

The man smiled at Nina. “So, who are you?”

Nina wasn’t sure how to respond to the man. From the reactions of the others, he didn’t seem like a bad guy… but there was something ancient and powerful about the man’s stance, the way he held himself.

“I…” Nina opened her mouth. “I am Nina…” the others that were talking with the man shortly before were looking at her. “Strife. Nina Strife.”

When in doubt, use a fake name. Nina’s half brother taught her well.

The man smiled slightly as he eyed Nina. “Nina Strife, eh? Well Nina, I’m Karn Danc. It’s nice to see you again.”

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It was like a waking nightmare. Leon and Salla quickly ran through the governor’s mansion as they shouted out evacuation orders to all personnel. What they were afraid of was the sole fact that they were too late in getting anyone out safely.

The mansion shook under the massive dragon’s weight as the winged beast slammed into the side of the building once more. Leon yelled in anger when he saw several people in front of him being sliced into pieces by the flying debris. He yelled once more as a large chunk of debris flew into his back and sent him flying to the ground.

Salla was trying to help out a couple of maids when she heard Leon’s howl of pain. She jerked around and saw the massive hole in the side of the building. She told the maids to run and she bolted to her feet as she quickly ran over to the place where Leon laid, underneath a slab of concrete. Leon was sprawled out on his stomach, his normally vivid green eyes dull and hollow and wide. He was covered in his blood, the red liquid starting to slowly ooze out of his mouth.

Salla screamed as she struggled to lift the slab of concrete off of Leon. With one mighty yell, she managed to get the piece off of Leon. She quickly turned Leon over and checked for a pulse. Leon coughed and sprayed more blood from his mouth. His eyes tried to focus as Salla tried to help him to his feet.

Leon moaned as he clutched his side. He looked over at the dead bodies of the victims that hadn’t been so lucky to avoid the first wave of what appeared to be an attack. Salla and Leon looked out of the hole and noted that the entire city was engulfed in flames.

What had caused Valerie to do that? How and why was she even alive? Leon moaned again as he struggled to stand on his own. This was his fault! If he hadn’t… Leon knew that there was nothing that he could do anymore to change the past. He felt like dying right then and there.

But he made a promise to Yuki to live. He was not a man that went back on his promises.

“Leon! Look out!” Salla screamed as she jumped in front of Leon and pushed him out of the way of a spray of flames, courtesy of Valerie.

Leon screamed as he watched helplessly as Salla took the full brunt of the blast, all in order to protect her former prince. She screamed even after the flame-thrower stopped. Leon screamed as he watched Salla start to fall to the ground. With what little strength he had, he dashed forward and caught the heavily burnt Salla.

“Salla…?” Leon choked as he cradled Salla’s body.

“L…Leon…” Salla smiled slightly. “Demus… you have to stop her… you have to protect your… brother and sister… please…”

Leon blinked as Salla raised her hand and cradled his check with it. “I have sworn an oath to protect you and your family. My time has come… and is now over… your time is now… live… fight for what you believe in…”

Leon’s eyes widened in horror as Salla’s hand went limp and her eyes closed. Leon realized the horrible truth: Salla… and the rest of Shevat… was dead. Leon slowly placed Salla’s body on the ground and grunted as he stood up.

He watched at the dragon continued to spray fire all over the island. He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists. This had to stop… right here, right now!

Leon took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Even through the haze of pain, he could hear his heartbeat grow louder, his breathing become faster. He screamed as he was engulfed in a massive light.

The light burst through the broken building and from it emerged a massive, red and gold scaled dragon. The silver scaled dragon noticed the new comer and lunged at the red dragon. Leon roared and headed straight for Valerie with the intention of taking her down.

He knew he would die, but it was the least he could do… after all he had done. He had to make this right.

 

To be continued…