Disclaimer: I don't own it. Not making any money either.

Rating: PG-13 (just to be safe?)

Summary: From Angel Tower to the Dauna mine- ten years time. Garr seeks the last of the Brood. All Ryu wants is to be left alone.

Author's Notes: Hello all! When I wrote the abysmal Garr vs. Ryu fic, it was more or less a set-up fic so I could write this. I'm deeply ashamed now of that first fic, but hey- at least I can compare that fic to this and know I'm a better writer than I used to be.

Ah, last but not least an extremely belated thank-you to the three people who reviewed that... well- it wasn't bad for a drabble, I suppose, but it doesn't rate fic status in my opinion.

Lord Cirenmas- Thanks. If you're still around, I hope you enjoy this.

Brad1- Thank you.

SomePsycho- Sure it was more detailed. My dialogue was longer and in the game, Garr does nothing but stand there and look threatening. As for what happens during the fight... hmm. Well I can't refute what you've said- I don't have a saved file that close to the tournament to prove or disprove your claim. (But the drabble is more dramatic if Ryu never puts a mark on Garr, thus my choice in writing that bit.) Thank you for your opinions. They gave me a few things to consider.

A Healer's Soul

Garr bowed his head, defeated, and waited for the killing stroke to fall. It never did.

The Guardian raised his head to look at the boy. Ryu had already put his blade away, and was looking at him sadly- Just like the Brood of so many years ago. Long ago those dragons had waited, even as Garr waited now- for death by their enemy's blade. Garr had obliged those dragons. Ryu would not do the same for him.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked the boy. "I have killed your kind-"

"You saved me at the tournament... me and the others."

"Only that I might kill you here," Garr admitted- his voice soft, consoling.

"Can't... can't you just promise not to do it ever again?" Ryu murmured, his eyes pleading.

Garr nearly chuckled. If only things were that simple. "It is my sworn duty," he answered gently, as if it were he who still had all his energy, and Ryu who was at the point of death. "So you must kill me... or I once I regain my strength, I will try again."

Ryu's breath hitched. He looked as if he would weep.

"Please, Ryu. I have no wish to hurt you." Never mind that he already had.

"Then don't," the boy cried out.

"My duty will end only with one of our deaths. I would rather it be my own, and you are the only one powerful enough to kill me!"

Ryu was crying now, head bowed and eyes clenched. "No."

"Ryu-"

"No!"

His scream echoed through the vast chamber, rushing past the monument to Garr and his brethren, spinning out over the old bones of long-murdered dragons.

The bones screamed back, so low that it was beyond the range of hearing- it shook the foundation of the tower. The silent outrage of the long dead raised the hair on the back of Ryu's neck, and a spirit from the ground.

He felt it coming, gasped- but there was nothing he could do. The young dragon tensed, and the power dove into him. Garr stared at the boy, who began to scream, and rose from the ground slowly, raised as if by invisible hands. Ryu disappeared, and an enormous dragon took his place.

Garr's jaw slowly dropped. "Kaiser..."

The dragon roared.

Between his very real exhaustion, and the emotional trauma of the moment, Garr reached the limit of his endurance, and fainted.

There was darkness.

Ryu couldn't see the ground beneath his feet, and he couldn't see any light source in this place- still... he could see around him, and his shadow was like a small puddle of midnight around his feet.

"You understand now, don't you Ryu?"

He turned around and saw the purple-haired warrior from his other dreams. He recoiled from the man's anger and blind arrogance.

"We're different from other people. We can never belong in their world- all we can do is fight and kill, or be killed. Is that what you want?"

"Not everyone is like that," the boy whispered. "Nina was nice to me... she didn't mind that I was a dragon."

"She was using you! You rescued her from those horses," he spat the last word. "She enjoyed having a bit of muscle around to ensure her safety."

"That's not true!" he protested.

"The scientist would experiment on you as soon as travel with you- the plant was as much a freak as you are-"

"Stop it!"

"-and let's not forget what kind of friend Garr was."

Ryu turned and ran from the hateful voice, the tears in his eyes shaking loose and trailing down his cheeks. The violet-haired warrior was shouting, calling his name. Ryu kept running. He ran until his child legs were spent, shaking and unable to carry him. He turned into a dragon and ran until those legs were tired too. Then he walked. Walked until he could no longer move. Until he laid down and fell into unconsciousness.

The dragon woke, and found himself in Dauna mine- where his journey had begun. He had come full circle. It seemed right. Here he was safe- among his ancestors, the darkness, and the chrysm ore. The little dragon had come a long way from his beginning, when the miners felled him with a blow from their crane. He destroyed the machines, so they couldn't be used against him. Kept the miners away with his breath attack, chasing them away, and killing them when they wouldn't back down. Eventually, they left him alone and sent warriors to battle him. None succeeded, but they continued to try. Ryu became adept at intimidation, and disheartened by the warriors who came to murder him, as he had to defend himself again, and again. Bitterness crept into his heart. The only solace he found was in dreams of long ago- his life with Teepo and Rei, where he had laughed, and even in the coldest days of the winter, he had felt warmth.

This was his life, for ten years.

The miners finally resorted to hiring a full-fledged dragon slayer, and if the being looked half-dragon himself; what better way to kill a monster than with another?

Garr sensed that was the feeling among the miners, and derived little, if any, amusement from it. Still, he accepted the contract and ventured into the mine. The diggers had warned him of monsters without truly worrying about him. Garr looked like he could take care of himself, and he had certainly proved that such was true. The monsters were hardly worth his notice, although they were stronger than the miners had said. This was understandable, however, as the miners themselves had not come deep into the mine for years. Monsters which had been too timid to venture out while men were present had grown bold, and were defending their territory. Still, Garr killed them with negligent swings of his halberd and kept watch for the dragon.

In the deepest floor of the mine, Garr found him.

The Guardian might have passed right by the little beast. The dragonet was green- and blended easily with the chrysm ore clinging to one of the dragon skeletons high on the wall. Garr paused, glancing around. He stopped as he saw a tiny movement at the top of the skeleton's spine. Aiming his lantern in that direction, he saw a tiny back rise and fall with the rhythm of breathing. The creature flinched at the brightness, and opened eyes that glinted red with the light of Garr's lamp. The little dragon hissed and slipped away down the far side of the skeleton.

Garr ran up, searching for it. A threatening hiss from his left spun him around, and the light caught the tiny dragon again. Garr's heart leapt- he knew that dragon- had seen it before. The Guardian opened his mouth, and wrenched out of the way as a gust of dragon's breath shot towards him. He pulled his heavy body far enough that it didn't take the brunt of the attack- but his lantern was not so lucky.

"Ryu!" he called. Garr didn't know if he should have spoken- he had simply done it. But it seemed the dragon recognized him. It stopped mid-breath and fixed him with wide eyes. It recognized him- Ryu recognized him. The dragon turned and fled.

Garr gave chase as best he could, but the little dragon was easily faster. He followed it through the mine, cornered it at the scaffolding around a large outcropping of ore. Ryu had stopped, and was waiting for him, tail waiving angrily. The little dragon hissed, warding him away, but Garr continued to advance, keeping his halberd out in a defensive posture. Ryu attacked again, but Garr was ready, and held his ground just out of range of the dragon's lethal breath.

Garr moved his weapon a bit to look at him. Ryu hissed again and turned his back on the Guardian.

"Hmph," the Tapan grunted. Well, two could play at this game. Instead of following Ryu this time, Garr took the opposite route, and when the little dragon wasn't watching, moved behind an outcropping of stone. He waited.

Eventually Ryu relaxed, thinking Garr had given up. Believing he was alone in the mines once more, Ryu meandered out of the turnaround, and never saw the halberd that connected with his head. The little dragon shrieked in pain and outrage, and fell to all fours.

Confused and in pain, the little dragon stayed there. Garr stretched a taloned hand over Ryu's back, murmuring a spell that would force Ryu into his human form. The incantation was old, and too familiar for Garr's comfort. It had been used many times to make the Brood less fearsome, easier to kill. Garr suppressed a shudder as he finished it, and the little dragon moaned as its skin brightened, and the outline of its shape changed.

The arms lengthened, the hands grew longer and gained more fingers. The head rounded and became larger, and the body stretched as the tail disappeared into his spine. Garr pulled a camp blanket from one of the bags at his side and snapped it out over the glowing body. The clothing Ryu had worn when last Garr saw him would not have survived for ten years, even had it fit the much taller young man before him.

He moved around to the front of the boy and looked down, leaning on his staff.

The dragon was gone. In its place was a pale young man with a shock of blue hair and a strong, muscled body. Ryu laid his forehead on his arm, which he braced on the ground. The other hand was spread flat on the dark stone. He lay still for a moment, panting. Garr was about to ask Ryu if something ailed him- when he remembered his first change.

The Goddess had cast him from human form into what he now was centuries ago. Still, he could remember the feel of the new muscles- the wings upon his back- the strange eyes which had taken time to become accustomed to. Ryu probably had not worn his human form for ten years. He needed a moment to remember how these arms worked- how to balance himself without a tail. The youth shivered, and pushed himself up from the ground slowly, pulling the blanket about himself for warmth.

"Hello, Ryu," Garr said, a quiet joy in his voice that couldn't be masked by his gruff tone.

Ryu flinched, drawing his long limbs inward. "What do you want, Garr?"

The Guardian started. Nostalgia had been expecting to hear the small, piping voice of the boy in his memory, but more startling than the disused tenor he heard was the bitterness in Ryu's voice.

"I've been looking for you for a long time," Garr continued. "Ever since the-"

"What do you want?" Ryu pressed angrily, lifting his head just enough to glare at the Tapan.

Garr nearly flinched at the sight. The rage of the child had been amusing, even endearing. The rage of the man was something to be feared. He kept his voice bland. "I promised you once, Ryu, that I would reveal to you what had happened to your kind. I did so... but I was never able to explain why it happened. I did not then, and I do not know, know why my God demanded the lives of your people. I wish to find out, and I believe that you have the right to know as well."

Ryu attempted to rise, but his legs trembled. The young man braced a hand on the wall next to him and pulled himself into a standing position. "How nice," he said, tired, but with great derision. "Do give my regards when you speak with your God. Thank it for causing me to grow up an orphan."

"I am returning to Angel Tower to commune with my God," Garr continued as if Ryu had not spoken. He saw the Brood flinch at those words. "You must come with me."

Ryu's body tensed. He wouldn't look at the Guardian. "'I must come with you', or?"

It took a moment for Garr to understand what he meant, but Ryu continued before he could clarify.

"You told me once that your duty would not end until one of us was dead," Ryu said, his voice soft and frantic. "If you still plan to kill me, do it now. I will not go back to Angel Tower so you can make me a sacrifice to your God."

Garr raised his eye ridges in shock- Ryu thought that was his purpose in coming here? "Ryu-"

The young man flinched back from Garr's hand, expecting a blow, and not the light touch the Guardian would have given him. He remained still as Ryu pulled away, backing up against the cavern wall, his pale eyes fixed on Garr's halberd. The Guardian raised his empty hand in a calming manner and set his weapon on the floor, the bladed side pointed towards him. He lowered the camping supplies and battle items as well, divesting himself of anything that could be viewed as a threat before straightening and backing away from the lot. He kept his hands up, and spoke in a neutral tone.

"You've grown, Ryu."

The youth gave him wild, frightened eyes, and gave a bark of laughter that bordered on hysteria. "You haven't aged a day, Guardian."

"I will not harm you, Ryu. I would not have then- I will not now."

"You're lying."

"No. No, had I wished to kill you then, I could have taken you quickly- unawares; taken your head with a single stroke. I did not."

"Because you wanted a final battle-"

"No!" he checked himself, softened his voice. "No. I knew what you were capable of in battle. I wanted you to be victorious. I pushed you to grow strong so that you could kill me in the tower. You did not. You gave me another chance- an opportunity to atone for the wrongs I had done... to find the truth."

"Then leave me and go on your search."

"I cannot." Garr winced at the pain in the young man's gaze and attempted to explain. "I have no understanding of why... but everything that connects me to my God is saying that you must come. You must travel with me. Do you not wish to know? To understand why the Brood were killed- is that not worth something to you?"

Garr saw the need in Ryu's eyes before the youth could mask it. "No," the Brood whispered, shivering. "I do not care. It's better here- better to stay where it's safe."

"Safe?" Garr echoed. "The miners are becoming increasingly determined to remove you from the mines. Their drive for chrysm is great. It may take a long time, but some day one of them will strike a lucky blow- and-"

The youth was shaking his head. "Better that than the dreams," Ryu whispered.

"Dreams?" Garr murmured. "What dreams?"

Ryu flinched, glancing at Garr briefly before drawing his focus inward once more. "It doesn't matter. I'm not going with you."

Garr put his hands on his belt, cracked his neck and fixed Ryu with a determined look. "Yes. Actually, you are."

Ryu looked at him. Fear warred with anger and lost. The young man glared fiercely and spoke. "I thought you said that you would not hurt me."

Garr plucked his halberd from the ground and stepped briskly up to Ryu, thrusting the butt of the weapon towards the young man. He looked at Garr for a moment, then slowly took the spear into both hands. Garr stepped back, and dropped to his knees.

"I will leave only if you come with me," he said calmly. "Thus, you may join me of your own volition, or strike me dead here and now. Because I will leave, and if I do, you will come along."

"Garr," Ryu sighed, "I don't-"

"If it is worth the lives of all those other warriors to remain here, it is certainly worth mine."

Ryu flinched. "That's not fair, Garr."

"No. No it is not. But if you wish to stay, you must kill me."

Anger tightened the youth's face. Ryu widened his grip on the halberd and raised it slowly. He stepped back, shifting his feet into the stance he had favored as a child- but with none of the child's uncertainty. He pulled the halberd behind his head, gathering momentum. Garr watched emotionlessly, and wondered if Ryu would truly kill him- if his journey would finally, finally end.

The halberd swung gracefully towards his neck- and stopped, poised at the base of Garr's throat. Ryu had not drawn blood- was barely touching skin. He simply held it there, staring into the Guardian's face.

Ryu stood as a statue, holding the wicked blade perfectly still, staring at the place where it and Garr's leathery yellow flesh met. Garr also held perfectly still- gazing calmly into the Brood's angry face.

The young man's hands began to shake. His knuckles tightened on the shaft of the halberd. Blue eyes focused on Garr's neck, imagined it sliced open- gushing dark blood- Ryu imagined the life fleeing from Garr's hawk-like eyes.

The young man staggered away, dropping the spear next to Garr. Ryu fell to his hands and knees, fighting not to retch at the images in his mind; Garr, bloody and lifeless. The hired warriors; burnt into ash and fluttering through the air. The miners from long ago, skinless and bloody, writhing on the ground.

A hand, dry and smooth, eclipsed his shoulder. "D-damn you, G-Garr," he choked. "D-damn you for m-making me-"

"You did nothing," the Guardian murmured.

"But I could have-"

"No," Garr interrupted. "You could not kill one who meant you no harm, Ryu. You have a healer's soul."

Phew! I'm glad to have finally gotten that out of my system. Hope you enjoyed.