Title: Last Dance of Chances

By: Aina Song

Fandom(s): Radiata Stories

Genre: Yaoi

Rating: NC-17 (Um… eventually…)

Warning(s): Tonight, on the Warning Channel - Language; Death; Depression; Direct Quotes; Altered Scenes… Slight chance of OOC, major OOC to follow. Back to you, Bill.

Pairing(s): Flau + Jack + Ridley; Jack/Gil

Reviews: Yes, please.

Author's Note: Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. The game had its rules and specific plot points, but just so you know… I intend to break a whole mess of them with this one!

Teaser: What might've happened, had Ridley not survived that blood orc's attack? The Golden dragon will demand a vessel, regardless. Meanwhile, Jack is haunted by dreams of another life, a darker path…

Epilogue - The Golden Dragon

A few months later, it became clear that a new age was dawning. The war had ended, the peace was growing ever stronger, and the infamous tower of knowledge had crumbled into the abyss.

Jack slowly followed Gil along the last rope bridge into the center of Wind Valley. The light elf had convinced him to venture into this forbidden territory, despite that it felt like trespassing into the home of a deceased family member, and one he had not even truly met.

The cliffs were exactly as he had envisioned in his dreams, surrounded by a thin layer of fog which blanketed the green valley far below. The largest cliff of all was domed by swirling clouds, and the skies beyond were a soft blend of blue and dusk-violet. Jack stood on the very center, watching the clouds slowly spin around him, and his heart echoed a sense of the guilt he had felt in his dreams. "I'm sorry, Gil…"

A pair of arms curled around his stomach from behind, and the light elf rested his chin atop Jack's shoulder. "Why?" Gil whispered near his ear. "You did not do this."

"I know…"

"Remember and have faith in Lord Parsec's words. 'When the end comes, the four dragons will reawaken and live again'." Gil paused, lifting his head away to cast his gaze toward the whirling clouds. "Here we stand, and as one era ends, another begins. In another century or two, we may yet see dragons again."

"But they won't all return, will they?"

"What do you mean?"

Sighing, Jack stepped out of the circle of Gil's arms and stared up toward the heavens. "The dwarves have died out, Gil. Their race is ended. Someday, the humans will forget what they'd done; they'll swarm that valley and make it their own. Why should the Earth dragon return, when all that he once protected is lost forever…?"

A brief silence greeted his words. Then Jack felt a familiar touch grasp his wrist, and Gil turned him around to meet his startlingly blue gaze. "Is that what you believe? Oh, maerol, for all the wisdom and power you have been granted, you can still be mind-bogglingly human." He lifted his other hand, tunneling his fingers in Jack's white-blond hair and clutching the back of Jack's head, tugging him forth. "Quasar is reborn in you. So long as you live - and you will live for quite some time - the dragons will have reason to return."

Jack tipped his forehead against Gil's, sharing his breath in a way that was both intimate and comforting. "Gil," he suddenly remembered. "Am I truly the same as before? Am I… me?"

"You are who you have always been," the light elf fervently assured. "Your power is your own. Quasar only manifested the strength of your heart into physical form."

"So… I'm still your maerol," Jack wondered. "Still yours?"

With a low growl Gil laid claim to Jack's mouth. He was not gentle, but hungry and insistent, his tongue invading the caverns of that mouth in heated reminder of how savagely he had taken Jack on that first night. Then he sucked at Jack's tongue, inviting it out to play, and he twisted it around his own in a dance of mutual seduction.

Gil finally released Jack with another, more frustrated growl. "Do you not see?" He rasped, his bluer-than-blue eyes clouded and intense. "Your sweet taste is still potent… still intoxicating as ever. You are mine, maerol. Quasar himself has not the power to slake my thirst for you."

Jack's ale-golden eyes suddenly flashed with mischief, and he swiftly backed himself several paces away. Gil blinked, momentarily bewildered, and then his eyes widened as golden light erupted from behind Jack's back and molded into glitteringly luminescent wings. And Jack's mouth curled in a slow smirk. "Come and get me, then," he challenged.

Half a breath's time passed before the heat in Gil's veins overrode his shock, and he gave a half-smile in anticipation. When Jack suddenly leapt into the air, Gil readily gave chase. And all at once the light elf recalled a moment of rest, and a wistful promise.

"Tomorrow, we may yet see you spread your wings, and I would at last show you the poetic majesty of true flight."

"They're only scars, Gil."

"But you would fly with me, maerol?"

"Yeah…"

A soft chuckle escaped his throat as Jack disappeared beyond the dome of clouds, and Gil shot off to the left, successfully cutting into the other's path. They collided, both laughing aloud as they tumbled in the air. Gil quickly stole a kiss. "Have I caught you yet, maerol?"

"Not even close," Jack laughed, and with a pulse of magic freed himself again from the circle of Gil's arms.

The light elf watched his maerol, his sweetling, in obvious enjoyment of the newfound freedom that had at last been bestowed upon him. Gil knew all too well that it had been long overdue. At last, Jack Russell was no longer beaten down by grief nor guilt; at last he need not fight another's battle. He had found peace within himself and could finally become the confident and carefree soul he was destined to be.

Yes, as vessel of the Golden dragon he would often need to respond to the world's call for balance and protection. Yet he would no longer feel cornered by fate, but empowered by it. And now, due to one human's daring wish, Gil would be allowed forever to witness it. It was the role Quasar himself had bestowed upon him when the light elf's soul and body had been restored - to eternally stand at Jack's side, and forever claim that right as the new Golden dragon's soul mate.

"What's the matter, Gil," Jack suddenly called across the distance. "Too fast for you?"

Shaking his head with a low chuckle, Gil fed more speed into his flight and took up the chase once more.

Hail, the Golden dragon…