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The three dragonets plunged through the canopy of the forest on the other side of the wall. Auron felt branches whack at his body, face, and wings as he instinctively flared his wings to try to slow his landing. He only managed to get a wing full of brances, though. He continued tumbling through the thick canopy until he felt the air open up. A second later, he landed on his chest with a thud. Not long after, Magnus fell through the branches and landed on Auron's back, knocking the breath out of him.

"Ow," Magnus groaned, trying to pick himself up. "That could've gone better." He looked down and noticed who he had just landed on. "Oh shit, sorry Auron!" He scrambled off of him and offered a paw to him. Auron coughed and wheezed as he tried to regain his breath and allowed Magnus to help him up.

"Don't worry about it," Auron said after regaining his breath. He looked around as he noticed Lacrima wasn't with them. "Where's Lacrima?"

"Up here."

The two looked up to see Lacrima hanging from the branches above. She gave a small whimper before the branch broke off and she meeped as she fell. Magnus ran over to her as she landed.

"Are you okay, sis?" he asked, helping her back onto her feet.

"Yeah," she said, giving a slow nod.

Auron saw the city gates open and soon guards with torches began running out of the gates and into the surrounding forests.

"Quickly!" Auron hissed, beckoning the two to follow him. "We need to find a place to hide before they find us."

Magnus nodded and the twins followed Auron as he began moving through the woods. He made sure to not go too far ahead so that the twins wouldn't lose sight of him. He could hear the soldiers shouting orders to each other as they spread out through the woods.

"Do not stop until you find them!"

"Search every inch of this forest!"

"Don't let them get away!"

Soon the forest seemed to be teeming with torch-carrying guards as the entire group spread out. The three tried to stay as far away from each source of light as they could, constantly watching their surroundings in case any guards came close to them. Auron spotted one of them getting dangerously close and shoved the twins into a nearby bush. He dove in after them as the guard approached. The guard came mere inches from them and began looking around. Auron glanced over to Lacrima and saw that she already had her crossbow loaded up again, holding it close to her chest.

The guard grunted and went off, leaving the three in darkness again. Magnus let out a sigh of relief and the three pulled themselves out of the bush.

"Do you think we might be able to find any sort of shelter?" Magnus asked.

"At this rate, probably not," Auron said. "It's very likely we may have to continue on without rest until we reach the next city."

Magnus gave a whine and collapsed to the ground. "That's going to take forever! I can't go on that long without sleep."

"It's not that far," Lacrima said. "We can get there by tomorrow night."

"That's still a long time," Magnus whined.

Auron had to admit, he wasn't exactly accustomed to going so long without sleep either, but it was the only option he could see.

"We continue on," Auron said. "When we get there, then we can sleep. If we make it a certain distance into the forest, the guards should stop looking for us."

Magnus groaned and pulled himself back up onto his feet. "Alright, let's just get there as quickly as we can."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three continued on through the woods without rest until they could see the sun rising through the canopy. The city guards had stopped looking for them altogether, either because they went for such a long time without finding them or because the three were too far away to notice any more of them. Auron felt his eyes begin to burn with sleepiness and he had to force himself to remain awake. He had to admit, the thought of plopping down and sleeping was tempting for him.

We can't do that yet, he thought. We need to make sure we're completely safe from the guards first.

The forest soon opened up to a wide field with rolling green hills dotting the landscape. Very few landmarks were in sight, though a road could be seen not too far away.

"Take that road," Lacrima said. "It'll take us to the next city."

Auron nodded and the three proceeded towards the road, walking along its path to a destination that has yet to become visible to them. "So, if you don't mind me asking," Magnus said, "how did you learn to use that sword so well?"

"I know someone who is skilled in all sorts of weaponry," Auron answered. "She taught me how to use this over the course of a few years."

"Jeez," Magnus said, looking with a look akin to awe. "No wonder you handle it so well."

"Even so, I'm not sure if it's enough," he said, raising his jian in front of him. "I know how to defend myself and kill another person, but I have very little experience actually doing so." He sighed and lowered his jian. "It doesn't matter right now, though. I plan to kill Asmodeus all the same."

Magnus' ears perked up as the name made him remember something. "You said there were three others you're going after once Asmodeus is dead," he said. "Who are they?"

Auron turned an eye to him, feeling some hesitation to give out that sort of information. After briefly thinking it over, though, he decided that they were only names and wouldn't cause much harm in giving out.

"After Asmodeus, I'm going after someone named Beelzebub," he said. "Then after him, Mammon. And finally, I'll be going after Lucifer."

"Lucifer?!" Magnus jolted and nearly backed up into Lacrima. She meeped as she stepped out of his way. "He's the head of the Reformation, though, isn't he?" he asked.

Auron lifted his head up. "How does a pair of homeless twins know about that?"

"Lacrima, really," Magnus said, nodding over to her while she looked down nervously. "She picks up on rumors all the time." He looked back at Auron with a serious look on his face. "He's supposedly the best fighter in the entire country, killing entire squadrons with barely a scratch on him."

"I'm very well aware of this," Auron said. "I know I may be a fool to try to challenge him, but I will become stronger, and whether it takes a few months or my entire life, I will eventually kill him."

"You're talking about killing the head of an entire movement," Magnus said, starting to feel himself grow suspicious of Auron. "That's a pretty large-scale thing to do, you know."

"Yes, I know," Auron said. "I'm not asking you two to come with me; I'm only helping us all out until we get to safety. After that, you two are free to leave."

Magnus narrowed his eyes at Auron as they continued walking, thinking to himself. On the one claw, he was not comfortable with the idea of helping Auron out with his plan to kill someone as high in power as Lucifer. On the other claw, though, he wasn't sure exactly what Auron's reasons were or what exactly he'd be capable of doing.

He did mention revenge to Asmodeus yesterday, he thought. Is that all there is to it?

He wasn't able to ponder his question for long as Lacrima cried out and tackled him aside. A moment later, they all heard the sound of hard wingbeats and a pair of claws grabbed at the spot where Magnus once stood. The three looked up to see a Catalan Skywing flying above them with a squadron of four other dragons flying by his side. The Skywing hovered down in front of them and focused on them like an animal who had just spotted its prey.

"Halt, criminals!" the Skywing bellowed. "You are all charged with escaping from a city prison after charges made and punishment ensured. Come quietly and no one gets hurt."

These must be the city's soldiers, then, Auron thought. Good thing we didn't stop to rest.

"Come on and try to take us!" Magnus shouted before Auron could say anything, waving his halberd up at them. "You think you can beat us?!"

Well, that's one way to challenge them.

The Skywing chuckled and flared his arms out. "Guards! Seize them!"

The other guards angled their wings and dive bombed towards the trio. The three darted away as they all touched down where they once were. Auron turned back and quickly parried a swing from a dao aimed at his head. The Animan who attacked him continued to swing at him, and with drowsiness beginning to cloud his mind, Auron found it difficult to keep up with her movements. For that, he got a good kick to the chest and a cut on his arm. As she came in to swing at him again, he flicked his jian under her dao and cut her along the wrist, forcing her to drop her weapon. He then cut her along the legs, forcing her to fall over, and slit her throat as she fell. Once she fell limp to the ground, he looked up and saw Magnus and Lacrima being overtaken by the other three guards.

Trying to push back his sleepiness, he gripped his jian and ran over towards the two. The Skywing commander dove at him from his blind side and managed to rake his back with his claws. Auron hissed in pain and stumbled over. Blood poured from several gashes down his back and onto the stone road. He looked over to where the Skywing commander had gone and saw him already turning around in an attempt to attack him again. Pushing back pain and fatigue, he quickly pulled himself back onto his feet and readied his jian in front of him, preparing himself for the next attack. The commander dove at him again, his claws stretched out and ready to rake him again. Auron waited until the last second before rolling to the side, swinging his jian up as the commander passed by him. He managed to cut him along his flank, making him fumble in the sky. The wound wasn't deep, but it would be enough to distract him for a brief moment.

Auron turned back to see one of the guards had already fallen, an arrow in his chest and a cut in his head. It didn't take much for him to figure that he was killed by both Magnus and Lacrima.

Well, I guess they're not completely inept, then, he thought.

He saw Magnus fighting off one of the remaining guards while the other was nearly on Lacrima. He ran over to Lacrima and thrust his blade through the guard's skull while he was distracted with her. He saw the commander circle around for another attack and quickly pulled her back up onto her feet and pushed her towards Magnus.

"Go help your brother," he said. "I'll deal with the commander."

Lacrima nodded and went over to help her brother. Auron turned back to the commander and readied his jian, determined to end the fight as quickly as possible.

All I want right now is to just get this over with and go someplace where I can get some damn sleep,_he thought. _Is that too much to ask?

The commander dived at him, again preparing to claw him. Auron counted on him to expect him to sidestep again and knew doing it again wouldn't work. Just as the Skywing was about to collide into him, Auron flared his wings and leaped into the air, grabbing onto his chest. The commander squawked and tried to pull him off with his claws, but Auron managed to keep his grip on him. He loosened his grip just enough to pull his jian back to stab him, but that was all the Skywing needed. Quickly pulling himself into a hover, he curled his tail up and wrapped it around Auron's waist, yanking him off. Auron yelped as he was pulled free from his chest, nearly dropping his jian.

Meanwhile on the ground, Magnus and Lacrima both managed to finish off the last guard. They both looked up to see the Skywing holding Auron in his tail, dangling him in midair. The Skywing looked down at Auron as he thrashed around, trying to cut his tail with his jian.

"I was ordered to kill you if I couldn't take you back alive, Darkwing," he said.

And with that, the Skywing coiled his tail back and flung Auron towards the ground. Auron instinctively flared his wings out to try to stop his fall, but they were not yet strong enough to support his weight and would not be enough to keep his fall from being fatal.

"Auron!" Magnus cried as he ran towards him.

The twins both ran towards where Auron's descent was taking him, but it would not be fast enough; he'd hit the ground before they could ever get close. The Skywing chuckled and dove towards him, determined to finish him off once he hit the ground. Auron looked beneath him and saw the ground approaching rapidly, a sudden sense of dread overtaking him. He continued to flap his wings, trying to slow his descent, but nothing he did worked. His heart hammered in his ears as he felt almost certain he was going to die here with his journey barely started.

He shook his head furiously. No, I'm not going to let myself die here!

A burst of purple light came from Auron's eyes. Just as his body was about to hit the ground, he suddenly stopped and his body righted itself until he was standing perfectly on his feet. He looked up at the Skywing diving towards him, eyes glowing furiously, and readied his jian again for one last strike. The Skywing did a double-take as he saw Auron's little trick, fumbling his guard just as he was about to strike. That was enough for Auron; just as the Skywing was about to strike, Auron leapt at him again, this time flying higher and faster than any dragon his age normally could. As their bodies were about to collide, Auron swung his jian and cut clean through the Skywing's body.

Auron sailed past the Skywing's body and eventually met the ground once again, tumbling as he crash landed and dropping his jian along the way. He came to a stop a few feet away and groaned in pain, his head throbbing as the glow from his eyes faded away. Magnus and Lacrima ran over to him as fast as they could. Auron tried to stand to greet them and immediately fell over, his limbs turning to jelly as he felt all strength leave his body. His vision nearly went black as he came dangerously close to passing out, heaving as his body attempted to puke up the nonexistent food in his stomach. He collapsed to the ground, gasping and panting for air, his breath ragged as though he were sick and dying.

"Auron!" he heard Magnus cry, and a few seconds later, the twins were kneeling down by his side. "Auron, are you okay? How'd you do that back there? What's wrong with you right now?"

He asked the questions so quickly Auron had a difficult time processing them in his mind. He croaked as he tried to form an answer. "I used some of my dark power."

"Dark power?" Magnus asked.

Auron gave a weak nod. "I read that it'd be tiring to use, but I didn't think it'd be this-" He stopped as he heaved again, pain wracking his abdomen as his stomach constricted painfully.

"Don't talk, Auron," Magnus said once he was done. He knelt down and picked Auron up, supporting him on his shoulders. "Come on, let's keep moving."

Auron gave another weak nod and slumped against Magnus's shoulders, allowing him to carry him for now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day eventually turned to evening as the trio continued on, Magnus still supporting Auron. Auron couldn't tell whether he had passed out a few times or not. His entire body had felt like jelly for a few hours after they had continued on, but now he was starting to feel like he could actually walk on his own.

"I think I'm better now," Auron said. "You can put me down."

Magnus nodded and allowed Auron to try standing on his own. He wobbled on his feet at first, but after a few seconds of stumbling around, he managed to keep himself righted. Once he knew he could support himself, the three continued on down the road.

"So, Auron," Magnus said, "what was it you said you did back there?"

"I used some of my dark power," he said.

"Right..." Magnus said, glaring skeptically at him. "And what does that actually mean?"

"Darkwings like me have very special powers," he explained. "Using them relies very heavily on stress, from what I've read. The more stress I'm put under, the easier it is to use them.."

"Well, falling from that height certainly did the trick."

"Indeed," Auron agreed. "The effects were much worse than I thought they'd be, though."

"Doesn't sound very helpful to me," Magnus said. "I mean, what use is that power if you can't even use it without getting sick?"

"I don't know," Auron admitted, beginning to think to himself. "I've not looked into what the reasons for this fatigue would be or how to prevent it. All I know is that it's possible for this dark power to overload my mind if I were to ever succumb to too much stress."

"Overload your mind?" Magnus asked, tilting his head. "I can't say for sure, but that sounds like it means it becomes too great for you to control."

"Something like that. It's only ever happened to me once before, and it was as if my own mind retreated into darkness while something completely feral and murderous took over."

"So basically I should stay away from you while you're in weird-super-Darkwing-mode, right?"

"Basically," Auron said, nodding. He turned back to Lacrima, who seemed oblivious to her surroundings. "Your sister has a similar thing."

"Lacrima does?" Magnus asked, looking back to her as well. "Because she's a Lightwing?"

"Yes, though Lightwing powers are activated through calmness and serenity rather than stress like mine. So for her, it'd be a much more trance-like state."

Much like how she is now, Auron thought.

But Lacrima didn't show any signs of being in her light trance. With everything calm now, she simply appeared to be oblivious, lost in her own mind. The fact that she was so quiet that he often forgot she was there was unsettling to him. He remembered the time back at the tavern when she seemed to know that guards were coming for them despite having nothing to go off of.

_ She must've used some of her power then,_ he thought. I remember reading one of the various light powers a Lightwing had was foresight. But if she used that, how could she have gone through a trance in such a situation and then come back out of it immediately after?

He couldn't help but wonder what was going on with her mind, or how attached to reality she really was.

"Finally here!" Magnus suddenly said. Auron and Lacrima looked up to see the city not too far away. "And just in time, too; I'm starting to feel like my legs'll fall off."

The evening was verging on the edge of night with barely a glimmer of sunlight left on the horizon. The town itself was surrounded by a stone wall to keep out anything unwanted, much like the previous city. Massive wooden doors barred access into town. Even though the three were still a good distance away, they could make out the figures of two guards standing beside the gates.

"Uh-oh," Magnus said. "I don't think this may be good."

"Just keep calm," Auron said. "I doubt they have a bounty out for us yet, and it should be difficult for them to recognize us anyway."

The three approached the gates, resisting the urge to tense up as the guards eyed them. Lamps built into the walls on either side illuminated the gates. The guards soon nodded and opened the gates, allowing them inside.

"Be careful," one said. "Find a place to stay as soon as you can; these streets are no place for dragonets come nighttime."

The three passed inside and the gates closed behind them. Lanterns were being lit as the night began to progress and the land grew darker. Everyone rushed to get inside, and those few remaining outside glanced nervously at the trio before scurrying indoors. Auron looked around the place, confused by their behavior.

"Odd," Auron said. "It's like everyone's scared of the night."

"Yeah, could we just find some place to sleep?" Magnus asked. "Only five seconds here and already I'm spooked."

The three made their way to the town's center and saw an inn not too far away.

"There," Auron said. "We can stay there for the night."

The three began to make their way over to the inn. But before they could get very close, they found their path suddenly blocked by an older drakeling.

"Well, look at this," the drakeling said, forcing the three back as he advanced on them. "Some newcomers, it looks like."

Auron saw two more drakelings, a male and a female, come to the leader's side, and the three began to circle around the trio like a pack of wolves cornering its prey.

Great, Auron thought, just another thing to keep me from being able to sleep.

"Who the hell are you?" Auron asked. The twins kept their backs to him, watching the others as they circled around them.

"The question here is who are you?" the leader asked.

"Don't you know that we rule the streets at night?" the female said. "That means that you are now under our law."

Delinquents, Auron thought. I don't have time to deal with them.

"Our apologies," Auron said in mock sincerity. "We're simply dumb kids who lost track of the time."

"Well, it sucks to be you, then!" the third said.

"Uhh, Auron?" Magnus said, trying to comfort his trembling sister. "If you have a plan, do it now."

"Don't rush me," Auron whispered back to him. He turned back towards them, bringing back his mocking tone of voice. "Again, we apologize, but we're just on our way to find-"

"Ooh, what do we have there?" the male interrupted, making Auron groan in frustration. "It looks like you brought a pretty little female for us," he said, nosing at Lacrima.

Lacrima meeped and hid herself behind Magnus, who raised his halberd and tried to push the drakeling away with it. "Don't you even dare!" he growled, flaring his wings in aggression.

His attempt at appearing threatening didn't work, however, for the leader and the female soon joined the male's side.

"You're right," the leader said with a smirk, the three beginning to advance on them. "She is quite the pretty one."

Magnus again tried to push them away with his halberd, but the three remained unfazed. "Get back!" he roared. Lacrima remained hiding behind him, whimpering fearfully.

Auron growled in frustration and turned around to shout at them. "Hello?! I'm trying to talk to you guys!"

The three ignored him and continued their advance. "Well, these two should give us a bit of fun," the female said.

Alright, I'm not playing this game any more.

Just as the male reached a claw out to grab them, Auron pulled the twins away and swung his jian at his claw. He heard a satisfying scream as the male fell back, gripping his bleeding paw. Bloody stumps replaced his fingers. When Auron looked down, he could see the remains of the male's fingers lying on th ground. The other two remained frozen, almost unsure as to what just happened.

"HE CUT MY DAMN FINGERS OFF!" the dragon screamed, howling in pain.

Auron saw the female charge at him and quickly side stepped. He cut at her wrists as she passed, forcing her to collapse onto her face. The female squawked and gripped her bleeding wrists, unable to get back up. Auron turned to the leader, who remained frozen in shock, and pointed his jian at his throat, his rage-filled eyes showing hints of glowing again.

"You want to try me, too?!" he roared, advancing on the leader.

The leader looked cross-eyed at his jian as the blade came closer to his throat, beginning to back up in an attempt to get away from it. "Y-you attacked them..."

"Does it look like I care right now?!" Auron roared. "The three of us have been imprisoned, had to break out of jail, sneak out through the woods as a legion of guards came after us, had to fend off a Skywing commander, and have been looking for this place for almost a day and a half without any sort of food or rest." The leader was backed up to the wall now and was trying to scramble away as the blade drew closer. Auron stopped his approach just as the tip barely touched his exposed flesh. "We're hungry, tired, thirsty, and VERY bitter right now, and if you want to get in the way of us getting some peace and quiet, I WILL run this blade through your neck RIGHT NOW if I have to." To emphasize his point, he pushed the tip a little harder into the drakeling's throat--not enough to draw blood, but enough for him to feel it digging into his flesh. "Have I made myself clear?"

The drakeling gulped and nodded fearfully. Auron gave another low growl and pulled his blade away, making it appear as though he were about to head away. The drakeling began rubbing his now sore throat.

"You know," he said when he thought Auron would walk away, "you're pretty messed up for a dragonet."

Faster than he could react, Auron turned and swung his blade down on him, cutting him down his face. The drakeling yelped and cowered back, gripping the cut on his face; it was a very shallow cut, but it was enough to let him know that Auron was serious about his threat.

"Go ahead and tell me that next time you try to take advantage of a young dragonet," Auron growled. He walked back over to the twins, who had remained frozen in place, while ignoring the writhing bodies of the other drakelings. "Let's go," he said.

The two nodded and followed him over to the inn. "Remind me to never get on your bad side," Magnus said, chuckling nervously.

"Yeah, well, this is what happens when you go on for so long without sleep," Auron said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"By the spirits!" Magnus cried as he gulped down a giant cup of water. "This is the best tasting water I've had in my LIFE!" He swung out the arm holding his cup, nearly whacking Auron in the face.

I should probably check if that's actually water he's drinking.

The tavern was jam packed with customers tonight; despite the state that the town seemed to be in, they all appeared to be at ease with themselves. A few customers gave the occasional glance towards the trio, but none gave them any trouble. Then again, Auron's still blood-soaked sword probably helped with that. A small group of dragons played music on a stage, using traditional instruments that Auron had seen many times before.

"The music's nice, isn't it?" Lacrima sheepishly said, trying to start conversation.

Auron listened in to what was playing and gave a shrug. "I don't really think too much about music."

Lacrima nodded nervously, dipping her head down.

"So, I've gotta ask, Auron," Magnus said, finally putting his mug down. "What exactly did you plan on doing after taking out those soldiers?"

"I didn't plan on anything, really," he said.

"Wait, what?" Magnus cried. "You mean you don't have a plan at all?"

"Do I look like someone who enjoys planning?" Auron asked. "I can never bring myself to plan things out; I much prefer to cross bridges as I get there."

Magnus shook his head. "You're an odd one, Auron."

The music stopped for a long moment before the band began to play a new song, and Magnus nearly jumped out of his seat.

"Oh, I love this song!" he cried. He reached a claw towards Lacrima. "Want to dance?"

"Oh, uhh..." she said, looking like she would fall over. Then she gave a shy smile. "Why not?" She took his claw and the two headed for the dance floor.

"You coming, Auron?" Magnus asked.

"No thanks," he said. "I'll watch over our stuff."

Magnus sighed. "Suit yourself."

The twins went down to the dance floor and began to dance in time with the music. Auron watched and noted their happy expressions for a few moments before turning his eyes back to his drink. He began to look around at the people inside the tavern, paying attention to their faces and what they were doing. A group of them were playing a card game not too far down. Many others were dancing where the twins were. What surprised him, though, was the presence of elves; small, scaleless bipedal creatures with pointed ears and hair on their heads that reminded him of an Earthwing's mane. Normally elves didn't bother with dragons, but it appeared that there were quite a few here tonight.

A burst of laughter drew his attention to the dance floor. Lacrima was dancing enthusiastically with her brother, smiling brightly and laughing like the happiest dragonet in the world. They stayed together as the band moved on to the next song, the two continuing their energetic dance together. Her behavior now was in such stark contrast to her usual behavior that Auron had a hard time recognizing that it was still her.

"Hey kid!" someone said next to him. Auron looked up to see two dragons standing over him, both glaring down at him. Neither of them were guards, thankfully. "You're a Darkwing, aren't you?"

Auron glared back up at the two. He didn't go for his sword, but he kept his claw steady just in case he needed to. "So what if I am?" he asked.

One of the dragons flipped over the table, creating a loud racket that sent the people in the tavern into confusion. Auron quickly grabbed his jian and backed away, keeping the blade at his side in case he needed to strike out.

"Get out of here, cursed filth!" the dragon shouted. "We don't want your kind here!"

Magnus and Lacrima both saw what was going on and quickly ran for their weapons. Once they recovered them from the remains of the table, they put themselves between Auron and the two dragons.

"Leave him alone!" Magnus roared.

The dragons stepped back and glared at the twins. "You would side with him?" the second dragon roared back.

He swung at Magnus, but Magnus ducked under his claw and cracked the end of his halberd on his side, sending him tumbling back. Before either side could move again, a group of guards burst onto the scene and separated the two sides. They held the two dragons back while grabbing Auron and pulling him towards the exit despite his protests of clawing and hissing.

"I'm sorry," the guard said, "but we can't have your kind causing any trouble here."

With that, the guard opened the door and flung Auron outside. He landed face-first onto the stone ground before he heard the door shut behind him. After he felt the pain of sliding across stone faded, he pulled himself back up with half-hearted movements, looking back at the door with a furious expression.

There goes my warm bed, he thought.

The twins soon came out and joined him outside; Magnus appeared both outraged and confused while Lacrima appeared only confused. "What just happened?" Magnus asked. "Why'd they throw you out and not them?"

"Because I'm a Darkwing," Auron growled. His response only seemed to confuse Magnus even more. "Go back inside. Find a way to rent a room."

"Go back inside?" Magnus asked. "You can't just-"

Auron roared and drew his blade, pointing the tip at Magnus' throat. "I SAID GET THE HELL BACK INSIDE!" He practically screamed his words. Magnus froze with his claws in the air, looking at Auron in stunned fright while Lacrima looked worriedly at her brother. A long, silent pause drew on, only the sound of their breathing audible in the night.

"Please," Auron finally said, his voice quivering as he tried to keep it level. "I will not ask you a third time."

Magnus looked deep into Auron's eyes and opened his mouth as if to protest, but sighed in defeat instead and lowered his arms. "If that's what you want," he said. He turned back to the door, patting Lacrima on the shoulder. "Come on, sis."

Lacrima nodded slowly and followed him, glancing warily back at Auron. Auron watched them until he saw the door close again as they went back inside. Then, he he got on all fours and ran. He didn't care where he would end up--all he knew was that he had to run somewhere. He turned down street corners and alleyways, navigating through the maze of the city without giving any sort of thought to which direction he was running. He continued on until he was completely out of breath and collapsed onto the ground, dropping his jian on the ground beside him. He looked around and could tell that he had stopped in a secluded alleyway.

His entire body shook furiously as his emotions became overwhelming. He threw his jian to the side and pounded his fists into the ground, screaming into the dirt. His tail thrashed around behind him, knocking over anything unfortunate enough to be behind him. He pounded the ground again and suddenly collapsed. He folded his wings over his head and began sobbing uncontrollably. Seeing his jian not too far off, he quickly grabbed it and curled around the blade, uncaring if it cut him or not. He wrapped his wings around himself and continued crying, letting his tears fall from his eyes. He wasn't aware of how long he'd been sobbing, but soon his body ran out of energy and he fell dead asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It was your fault, you know."

Auron jumped at the sound of the voice. He looked all around him; it was dark, not a single thing in sight, and only blackness greeted him when he tried to look.

Strange. Even in the dark, I should still be able to see just fine.

"Getting caught in a fight," the voice continued, "getting kicked out; it's all your fault."

Auron calmly tried to look for the source of the voice; though he tried to keep his cool, his pounding heart betrayed his feelings. Who was the source of that voice? He couldn't recognize it at all.

"It's all your fault," the voice continued. "Everything that's ever happened to you has been your fault."

The sky suddenly burst, turning a dark red color. The sun just touched the horizon ahead of him, glaring hotly across the dry fields towards him. Small trees began to rise up, rotting away, their branches reaching up like the decaying hands of the undead rising from the ground. Auron looked around in confusion, trying to find any sources of life.

What is this place?

"It's all your fault."

He began to walk forward, urged on by some unseen force. Every step he took, he could feel something wet beneath his feet. He ignored it for a while, believing it was just his imagination, until his curiosity got the better of him and he looked down.

It was blood.

Auron jerked back with a startled cry, looking up to see the entire field now covered in blood. Something grabbed his leg and he jumped away. It was a dragon's claw. His father's claw.

"This is your fault," his garbled voice said, blood leaking from his mouth and a deep gash in his belly from which strands of intestines hung out. "It's your fault this happened to us."

No, it isn't...

Auron backed away and tripped over something, landing in the pools of blood. He looked over and saw the body of his mother, wings dislocated and jaw torn off. She looked over at him with piercing eyes, watching him scramble away as she tried to speak. As he stood back up, he noticed the trees again, except they weren't trees: they were disfigured hands, reaching up towards the sky, their owners letting out blood-curtling screeches of pain. Auron stared wide-eyed, surprised his heart hadn't stopped beating yet.

I need to get out of here!

And he ran. Crouching on all fours, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, dashing by the corpses of strangers and the people he knew before. Up ahead, a circular shadow began to creep over the sun, slowly blocking out its glow.

"You did this to me!" Iris cried.

"You're the reason I died!" Caveras screamed.

"You should've never existed!" other voices called.

He could see a lone figure up ahead. An elvish figure, shadowing his view of the sun. Instinctively, Auron ran towards him, wanting to know who he was.

"All of this is because of you," he said as he got closer.

Auron immediately recognized the voice and tried to stop himself.

But not fast enough.

Before he knew it, a narrow blade plunged into his chest. Auron gasped in pain, coughing out blood as the blade pierced his heart, quickly killing him off. He looked up and glared at the elvish figure in front of him, teeth clenching as he recognized his face.

"But don't worry," Lucifer said. "Soon no one will have to worry about your existence anymore."

As soon as he finished, the shadow completely covered the sun. A massive thunderclap sounded as a flash of light emanated from the union, and soon he could see a giant shockwave racing towards them. It hit within a matter of seconds, shredding his body to pieces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Auron jerked awake, his heart pounding in his ears. Sweat soaked his body, making him feel unusually chilly. He looked up and saw that it was already late morning. He took a few minutes to try and calm himself, taking in deep, slow breaths as he tried to quiet his racing mind. Looking around him, he was thankful that the alleyway was abandoned given his outburst last night.

That wasn't exactly something I'd be proud of having anyone else see, he thought.

He gently tossed his jian aside and stretched out, letting out a satisfied groan. Once he was all stretched out, he grabbed his jian and made his way out towards the streets, only to realize that, as he looked around, he could now see that he had no idea where he was. He was in a part of the city that was unfamiliar to him and he had no idea as to how he got there.

Well, this is just great, he thought. Now I have no idea how to get back to Magnus or Lacrima.

He did a double take when he thought about that, wondering if he really should go back to them. As far as he was concerned, the two were practically safe now and there was little reason for them to stay with him. Also he felt Magnus would probably not want to be around him after the way he acted last night.

He looked down the other side of the street and ducked back into the alley as he saw two soldiers talking with one of the townsfolk. Leaning just slightly out of the alley, he perked his ears and tried to pick up on what they were saying.

"...black dragonet," one of them said. "Darkwing. You seen him?"

The dragon shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, I haven't."

"Alright, thank you for your time," the other said. The two soldiers continued down the road away from Auron.

Auron felt his blood run cold as he hid back in the alley. They were Asmodeus's soldiers, and they were looking for him.