Hello! I am so sad about there only being 14 fics devoted to Drakengard, possibly one of the best -and most insane- games ever made. It makes me cry inside. So, in order to try and help remedy that and to get my Caim fix, I will write fan fiction. Hooray.

Disclaimer for all eternity: I own nothing because Square Enix owns all of this. Though it would make me so happy that I could die to own this wonderful game, alas, I do not. So stop rubbing it in my face.

Shadow of a Soldier

Chapter One

Meeting

Caim was a little more than dismayed as he surveyed his troops for the upcoming battle with the Empire. His scouts had just reported the Empire troops coming into his territory, and were a few hundred yards from the bridge. The scouts had said the enemy numbered to about 3000. Caim had a meager 500 footsoldiers or so to fend them from his castle, and more importantly, his sister, Furiae.

His sword nestled comfortably in his palm, he paced before the front line of his troops. Though they were all well-trained and full of fighting spirit, the fact that they were ridiculously outnumbered did not help the situation, especially since most of said soldiers were now scared out of their wits. They didn't have the cold thirst for revenge like he had. Caim sighed and turned away from his troops out towards the battlefield. There was no going back now. He could hear the enemy's snares in the distance, as if mocking him.

He turned back to the faces of his troops and raised his sword in the air. "This is our homeland," he began steadily. "The Empire is here to throw it into chaos. We must never surrender it to them at any cost! Never! We have to keep the goddess safe, along with everyone else who rises up against the Empire! They have killed countless numbers of people in their wrath! We must stop them here!" He then pointed with his sword towards the now visible enemy line. "Now go! Kill them all!"

His troops resounded with a deafening cry, and then charged past him towards the Empire, their fear transformed into rage and confidence. After the last line of his Union troops had ran for the battle, Caim took a lingering glance at the third story window where his sister was waiting. His face set, he charged with his fellow comrades into the bloody miasma of war.

……………….

"Damn humans!" Angelus shouted as she tried to avoid the cannon balls and arrows. "I'll burn you all to ash!"

The crimson dragon let loose fireball after fireball into the blimp-like ships that were shooting at her. She had been caught up in a war of human against human by mistake and she wanted no part of it. But for some insipid reason or another, the humans had suddenly focused their aerial missiles at her. Her scarlet wings were being punctured with arrow after arrow, and though she was a strong dragon, her fragile wings couldn't take much more of it. She sped to her right, avoiding a cannon ball, and ripped a ship in two with her talons.

She had originally wished to watch the battle between the two forces of human armies because she was bored, and it was a form of entertainment. It only proved how ludicrously inane humans really were, and that afterwards, she could eat the horses' corpses after the battle was over. She growled as another cannon ball grazed her leg. But she had gotten too close…

She flapped against the wind to shoot at another ship that was firing at her. Her fireball destroyed it, but as she took a look around her, the enemy had completely surrounded her. She had no way out.

Pain seared through her wings as chained steel arrows punctured the meat of her arm and dragged her down into the castle bailey below. The scarlet dragon struggled with all of her might, but another chained arrow drove its way into her other wing and destroyed all hopes of escaping. She fell from the dingy gray sky and crashed into the stone under her. Humans wasted no time in securing her to the ground by stretching out her aching wings and tying them to steel posts that surrounded her. She struggled in vain against her bonds as ironclad humans began to poke and prod at her open wounds. Her eyes closed in painful realization.

She was trapped.

………………

Caim plunged his sword into yet another Empire soldier; the steel slipping easily through the weak point in the armor next to the arm. He loved it. He kicked the newly-made corpse to free his blade and searched for his next victim. His dark blue eyes landed on a lanky man rushing towards him with bloodied sword brandished against the muted sun. Caim grinned and ran to meet the Empire soldier and plunged his sword into the man's middle.

The Empire drone glared up at Caim with disdain. "It doesn't matter what your pathetic little Union does today, the Empire will kill you all…"

Caim snarled and was about to reply when a sharp pain through his upper back drew his attention back to the battle. He turned to the soldier and cut through the man's neck as quickly as he could, but the damage was already done. His back now wounded, throbbing and bleeding, Caim staggered a couple of steps backwards. The pain made white spots appear in his vision.

As he was about to return to the battle, his eye caught a disturbing occurrence: the enemy had just set his castle's blue Union flag aflame. His heart quickened and his breath caught in his throat. "Furiae…" he whispered to himself as anxiety welled up in his gut. Had they already captured her? Was she even alive? How far had the Empire drilled into his castle's defenses? Dismissing the struggle between his rapidly diminishing troops and the Empire, he bolted for the castle to save the last remnant of his family.

The closer he got to his castle, the thicker the air was with blood. Corpses of both his men and the Empire's were strewn about the stained ground carelessly. He darted past formation after formation, when an armored hand grabbed his shoulder. Startled, Caim was about to behead the soldier when he saw that it was one of his own. The boy -for he was only eighteen- was shaking uncontrollably. "The Empire is too strong…" the boy stuttered as his lower jaw quivered in trepidation. "We'll never make it out alive…"

Caim pushed the boy's hand off of him with irritation. He figured the younger ones would have trouble with the blood and gore of battle, but right now, he didn't have time to play therapist to a scared eighteen year-old. Furiae was in danger. He left the boy behind and raced over the stone bridge after killing a few enemy commanders along the way. In order to break the dense line of enemy troops blocking the bridge, he joined a small pack of his troops, a little group of five, and began to slaughter soldiers with them. "Show no mercy!" he cried out. "Attack!"

As soon as he reached the other side of the river, one of his own came running up to him, out of breath and bloody. "Sire…"

Caim grabbed the messenger's shoulder. "How is Furiae? Have they…"

"Your sister -I mean- the goddess, Furiae, is in the castle. Lord Inuart is with her…" The soldier swallowed deeply and saluted. Caim didn't return it; he had to get to the castle. Inuart… Furiae may be safe with Inuart for a little while, but his old friend wasn't as battle-worn or experienced as he was. Inuart would be killed if Caim didn't hurry.

There were soon only two large, heavily armored soldiers blocking Caim's way before the main gate. He readied his sword and thrust it into the giant's belly, but the man's giant arm swung his ax straight into Caim's side. The Union general was cast fifteen feet away, and landed heavily on his already wounded back. For a quick moment, his vision failed him. However, he rolled and hopped back onto his feet just in time to block a would-be devastating blow to the head.

"Empire rats!" Caim hissed. "You shall feed the ravens!" With a parry and a swipe to the side, the giant was beheaded. Caim looked to the other, and, with rage and fury aiding him, summoned fireballs from the magic within his sword. They bombarded the human tank and roasted him within his armor.

Panting, he crouched down on the ground to give himself a little rest. A comrade knelt down beside him and said shakily, "Sir, the Empire soldiers have caught a dragon in the castle bailey…"

Caim glanced at the soldier. A dragon? "Is it dead?"

"We don't really know…" the soldier replied slowly.

Caim gritted his teeth. Yet another reason to hurry into the castle. To be able to kill something of the same race that murdered his parents would better his mood. Still… Using his sword like a crutch temporarily, he stood and headed for the bailey to rescue his sister and to kill a dragon.

……………

He dashed into the bailey, out of breath and strength. However, when his deep blue eyes landed on the sight of the shackled and fettered crimson dragon before him, hate and disdain swelled up within him. Around the dragon, the blood-written words "Resisters shall land in Hell" surrounded the beast in a semi-circle. Shackles chained the dragon down to the ground; its head lolled to one side. It looked dead. Taking in a shaky breath, he whispered to himself, "A dragon…"

As he made his way towards the dragon, painful step after painful step, flashes of that horrible night from his and his sister's childhood bombarded his internal eye. In uncontrollable rage, he bared his teeth and snarled. His mother… his father… their blood everywhere and stained onto the dragon's black scales… it was all because of that damn dragon! He raised his sword to stab the wretched beast in the brain when a voice began to whisper in his head.

"Kill me if you desire…" the dragon stated softly as she lifted her bloodied head. "…but you can never dirty my soul, wretched human."

Her voice had caught Caim off guard, but his sword was still in the air, ready to plunge. Then, an idea struck Caim: something that would make him strong enough to destroy the rats that invaded his kingdom. A part of him dismissed the idea as insanity, or a possible result of major blood loss, but it was all he had. He would surely die if he tried to secure the castle in his present state…

"Tell me, do you still want to live, dragon?" he found himself asking.

"What?" the dragon asked, completely taken off guard by his question.

"A pact!" Caim cried. "There's no other way!"

The scarlet dragon began to let her head fall back to the stone. She had thought it hard to believe a human was simply going to let her go. "Hmph," she scoffed. As if she was going to be bound to a filthy, incompetent human with an unnatural amount of bloodlust for the rest of her life. "What makes you worthy of a pact with me?"

"Worthy or not, I wish to live…" Caim replied with a strained voice. His vision was starting to go again. He had to make this quick! He caught a swift loss of balance with a small step and continued, "Despise me if you will, but I shall not die! Your answer! A pact… or death!"

The dragon scoffed again and turned her head as far as she could behind her. It seems we have company. I shall consider a pact… if you survive the swarm of humans coming for you…"

Alarmed, Caim looked towards the entrance of the castle where, as the dragon had said, were Empire jackals flooding out of the entryway. Caim gritted his teeth in frustration and rushed out to meet them. "You interrupt us!" he cried as he slew five people with one fell swipe. "Go back to hell, hyenas!"

Time blurred as he killed man after man with the Empire's crest branded on their chests. His movements became sluggish and his mind fuzzy. He had to kill these mongrels soon… "Come!" he panted as he saw two leviathans come into view. "Taste the steel of my sword!" He drove his blade into one's head and killed the other with a blow to the waist.

As the two bodies crumpled to the ground, the dragon's voice wormed into his head. "Still alive? You are blessed with the devil's luck… A pact with you…"

Caim turned back to the dragon, his mind finally coming to grasp with what he asked of the scarlet creature. A pact? his mind's voice asked in fear. With that which killed my parents?

Angelus let her hate and fury for the man radiate from her, so that even he, with his limited telepathical abilities, could know how she felt about him. Though she did like the fact that he had just killed all of the pitiful humans that had shackled her like a caged bird to the ground, he was still asking her for her dignity, something that all dragons cherished. She despised what he was: a mindless, murdering drone that killed his own brethren over inane material items and intangible concepts. What a waste. "You kill for the mere sake of killing. Like all of your race…"

Caim gripped his sword, making his leather gloves groan. He hated the fact that he would have to surrender life to the damn beast, but… what else was there to do? I have to do this! his mind cried. To save Furiae… and myself… I have to do this! I have to live! His mind set, he staggered towards the red dragon again, whilst using his bloodied sword like a steel, bladed crutch. His breath came in heavy pants, and his back and heart throbbed against his head.

After catching his breath for a bit, he stared into the amber eyes of the dragon. "Now…" he began in between pants, "…your answer…"

The dragon lifted her head thoughtfully. She couldn't believe what she was going to do… A proud and dignified dragon such as herself defiling her name and species by forming a pact with a human such as this? But… what else was there to do…? "A pact… or death…? We… are united by our need to live…"

Caim half-snarled. He didn't want to hear her dribble; he wanted a damn answer! "Well?"

The dragon, though resentful of his impunity, complied. "Yes… A pact…"

Caim had heard how to form a pact… Extracting a soul and then joining the two souls of both man and beast together… He wasn't sure how to extract his own soul, but he could sure as hell try…He put his hand to his nicked and bloodied chest plate and summoned his soul. He saw a light, and then, excruciating pain flooded through him. Yet, he kept pulling his soul out, and through his own screams, he could hear the dragon moaning in pain as well.

After what seemed an eternity, the pain relented and faded away. He could now see the strange ball of light in his hand, and saw something akin to his in the dragon's mouth. Caim, with an unsteady arm, held out his soul and touched it with the dragon's. Suddenly, he felt light and free; his wounds didn't hurt at all. He opened his eyes and saw even the bloodstains on his armor washed away with the formation of the pact, and looked to the dragon, who freed herself of her chains with renewed vigor.

The dragon took in a deep breath of relief or dismay -Caim couldn't tell- and looked to the Union general. "Well?" the dragon asked. "Aren't you going to get on? We must kill the insects that swarm the skies."

Caim was surprised by her willingness to participate in the war, especially since it really didn't concern her at all, but he mounted her nonetheless. With a few moments of uneasy shifting on her shoulders, Caim situated himself comfortably on the leathery scales of the dragon. The dragon seemed amused by his restlessness on her shoulders. I wonder how he'll take to flying… she wondered to herself, bemused.

With a mighty heave of her crimson wings, she hurled herself into the sky mottled with leagues of enemy ships. She didn't expect that she would have a passenger, but maybe he would fall off and lighten her load. Her dragon lips quirked at the thought. What a sight that would be…

She shook her head to clear her mind of such thoughts. Whether she liked it or not, the man on her shoulders was now her pact-partner, and should he die, she would as well. How unfortunate. She glanced behind her the glimpse the human -who was staring at the ever-fading ground wide-eyed- and glared. What would this human, who was obviously bent on revenge, put her through? What would he pit her against? She let out a draconian sigh and pushed onward. Now was not the time to think of the future; now was the time to incinerate the bastards that pinned her down like a damn dog!

…………………

Soo… whatcha think? I think it could have been better… but oh wells.

I wish there were more Drakengard fanfics… I really do… More ways for me to get my Caim fix.

Please review!

Ja!