Legend Of Dragoon Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend of Dragoon II ❯ Rashe'm Sleeps ( Chapter 29 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
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Chapter 29) Rashe'm Sleeps

While Al sat out on the deck of the ship telling Orrin his story, Rashe'm remained in the room with Derreck. Liza was still out looking for the ship's doctor. If it had been up to Rashe'm, they wouldn't even have taken the ship. He wasn't particularly fond of being out on the water himself. Despite how manic Derreck was being, Rashe'm sympathized with him there. He would have rather been laying in his bed in the other room, but Liza had asked him for the favor of watching her brother until she returned, and he had accepted.

"You'd better hurry up, Liza... I'm getting sleepy" Rashe'm thought to himself. It was unusually warm in the room, and the warmth, the rocking of the ship, and the tedious task made perfect conditions to do so, but Rashe'm couldn't understand why the room was so warm. He tried to keep his mind focused on something so that he wouldn't nod off just yet, but as soon as he looked at Derreck, sleep hit him like a brick.

~~~~~

When Rashe'm's head fell forward to his chest, Derreck knew his spell worked. He got out from beneath his sheets and took the wet cloth and threw it against the wall, forcefully. He made sure the stone was still in his pocket, and after reassurance, he walked towards Rashe'm. "Sweet dreams, fool! I guess you'd have to be here to tell me darling sister that you failed, but you'll still be asleep. Now... to take a little souveneir..." Derreck reached for Rashe'm's pocket, where he would be sure to find the Red-Eye Dragoon Spirit. As his hand neared the pocket, the blue stone in his own pocket began to respond, and it began radiating energy. Rashe'm's stone followed suit to the blue stone, and Rashe'm began stirring. Derreck immediately retreated, and Rashe'm's pocket stopped glowing as soon as it had started.

"I'd better be careful," thought Derreck, "If the stone wakes him up, my plans are through." After a few moments of consideration, "I'll just have to leave this fool his Dragoon Spirit. I can't take it without waking him... Oh well, once I find the kid, he won't be able to stop me." Derreck turned and left the room, leaving Rashe'm asleep. Now all he had to do was find Orrin and take the other two stones.

~~~~~

Rashe'm drifted into the deepest sleep of his life. A deep blackness enveloped him, and he seemed to float in an unreal stillness. He had forgotten that he had ever been watching Derreck, even the fact that Derreck existed. Almost everything he had experienced on the journey vanished. The drifting upon nothingness remained for what seemed forever, but then Rashe'm began to fall.

The falling was ever eternal, making a single minute take a lifetime. But then the falling slowed, and soon Rashe'm felt that he was on his feet. It was still dark, but now he could feel that it was hot and dry, wherever he was. He discovered where he was instantly. The desert. His raiding ground. In fact, he was on his way to the house he had picked out to hit next, robbing it clean and taking profits from everything to pay off the loanshark.

The plan ran over in his head, again and again. He slunk in every shadow, stalking along the quiet desert streets towards the house. He hadn't felt this alive since.... since.... he couldn't remember when. Something had happened to make him lose the alive feeling he felt now, but he couldn't recall exactly what. The only thing he could concentrate on was the house which now sat in front of him.

Rashe'm looked left and right, making sure no one could see him, then put his sights back on the house. There were no movements from inside. There shouldn't have been anyway, the couple was gone. That's why he picked out the house in the first place. Everything was going according to plan, and he continued towards the house. He got to the door and took out a small knife, one that could easily fit into locks. As he began to undo the lock, an odd thought occurred to him, "I've done this before, haven't I?"

He stopped immediately. Of course he hadn't... this is the first time he's tried to break into this house... but the feeling of opening the lock felt so familiar... too ethereal. Slowly, he continued on the door, trying to block out the thought of deja vu. With a click, the door unlocked. He grabbed the doorknob with a gloved hand, and as he turned, the thought came back, "I HAVE done this before... this is..."

~~~~~

Liza entered the room, the doctor following behind her. She noticed that there was a certain strangeness about the room, yet she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She called out "Derreck, I have brought the doct..." Her eyes went to the empty bed, and she stopped dead in her tracks. Her mind began to race, "Why wasn't Derreck in the bed? How could her brother be gone? Where would he be?" She snapped out of her minor trance, and the next priority her mind went to was Rashe'm. How could Rashe'm let Derreck wander off? She found him sleeping in a chair next to the wall, and she marched with haste to inquire why Derreck was gone. She had gone into such a frenzy, she completely forgot about the ship's physician, who had gone to sit on the bed groggily.

She put her hands on Rashe'm's shoulders to try and shake him awake. But he didn't even stir. The only movement was from his eyelids. They were darting rapidly. As Liza's eyes widened with shock, she realized what was wrong with the room. Someone had cast a spell. Not just any spell, a very high level one. Confused, Liza turned back around to look at the bed, and she saw that the doctor had fallen asleep on it. She was convinced it had been a spell, there could be no other explaination. As she approached the bed, the faint traces of magic became more potent. "Oh no... Derreck cast it?" Liza said to herself. She couldn't figure out a counter-action spell, as she didn't know what exactly Derreck had cast.

Frustrated, she left the room and sat against the wall in the hallway, to get away from the spell-cast room. She had to figure out a way to wake Rashe'm, to see if he knew what happened. She couldn't think of anything that would be strong enough to break the room's spell. Eventually, she became lost in thought, drifting through various memories. More and more memories came in and out of her mind, from her childhood to the current journey. Her thoughts stopped as they reached the picture of the statue of Miranda she had seen not too long ago. "What was so special about that statue? What does it mean?" Liza inquired to herself.

She then remembered a discussion Al had with them while they were still in the forest. Liza noted, "He was telling us about what happened in Deningrad, was he not?" Her mind ran through the story, until she found what she was looking for. The hand of the statue of Miranda had shattered to reveal the Silver-white Dragoon Spirit, which had healed Rashe'm completely. That was it! The Silver-White Dragoon Spirit! Recalling that Orrin held onto the extra stones they possessed, she snapped out of her trance and ran off for the deck to find Orrin.