"Why do you serve Drakonis?"

"Well… that's kind of a broad question-"

"You must know why Drakonis is trying to kill the dragons!"

"I'm not that blind, puppy, but-"

"What!? So you went around slaying dragons… with full knowledge of his plan!? You… you disgust me!"

"Will you let me-"

"For the honor of Jajara, I shall slay you myself!"

"Woah!"

A pair of knives clattered against the floor of the Bone Fortress, the razor-sharp metal gleaming in the eerie light of the nearby lanterns, and the owner of the blades soon followed, the dog's eyes widening as the young, red-vested man countered with a solid kick to her stomach. Sierra found herself winded for what felt like the hundredth time, and she tumbled backwards at a dizzying speed, bumped hard into the double-doors and crumpled into a heap.

Her arms and legs felt like jelly and her lungs practically screamed for a rest, and in a split-second of hesitation she almost gave in to her exhaustion; she forced the thought out of her head as she struggled to get to her feet. After managing to push herself onto her knees, she felt her adrenaline fade away, leaving her at the mercy of her opponent. Sierra stared at the floor below her palms, unwilling to give Akravator's murderer the honor of eye contact.

"By… the gods…" The dog managed to sputter out after a few moments, brushing her matted purple hair out of her face before running trembling fingers down her arm and body, feeling the dark bruises underneath her fur. She'd managed to get a few cuts and slices on the man, but he hadn't been fazed in the slightest by the minor wounds. "Your powers are too strong…"

"Thanks for the compliment," The man replied with a dry chuckle, and Sierra heard his footsteps draw close. Her muscles tensed one second, then throbbed in pain the next, keeping her from any chance to catch him off-guard, and shame and indignation began to fill her heart as the weight of the situation truly sunk in: she had lost. She had fought against her brother's newfound partner, making sure to keep his pet stuck in the elevator, and lost. The thought forced her to reach into the absolute last vestiges of strength she could muster, to cast a teleportation spell and escape with her life.

Then the man spoke again, raising his voice above a shuffling sound. "Are you okay? I was trying to not break anything, but you were attacking so aggressively that my accuracy might have been a bit off."

Sierra furrowed her brow, pausing at the sudden notes of concern slipping into the man's voice. Why did he care? He had admitted knowing of Drakonis' plan as casually as one would admit to going for a walk in the forest, or making a pot of tea. The dog had almost started to seriously entertain the notion that her enemy lacked any kind of morals at all. "Someday… someday, I will stop you…"

"Oh for the spirits' sake, eat this," The man said, and she felt him tap the horn on her helmet. Taking a couple deep breaths, she raised her head just enough to let her peer across the room. She blinked when she found that her view was blocked by a half-opened bar of chocolate, held out to her by an unarmed hand. On each side of it, she could see the lantern lights wavering against the walls. "It's not much, but it'll help you get at least a little of your strength back."

Her jaw dropped open in a combination of surprise, suspicion, and satisfaction, her mind starting to race as she tried to reconcile the two impressions of the young man that she was abruptly having to deal with. A part of her conscience in the back of her head wagged a figurative finger at her for making assumptions about the man, with only the two minute meeting at the base of the Norn Peaks to go on. Another part told her to smack the dragon murderer's hands away from her, and escape while he foolishly gave her the chance.

The rest of her body reminded her that she hadn't felt this kind of soreness or pain in what seemed like forever, and with that notion overriding her typically-dominant determination, she forced herself to stare into her enemy's face. As she did so, he tilted his head and grinned mischievously. "If you're allergic to chocolate, I've also got some gumdrops."

Sierra shook her head with as little energy as she could, her brow still furrowed and her confusion still going strong. The man's bright blue eyes held no trace of anger or malicious intent, and he didn't look away as he took off his floppy red hat to wipe at his forehead, adjusting the strap of his backpack afterwards.

With no small amount of trepidation, she reached out and pinched a corner of the chocolate bar, breaking it off and sniffing it. She couldn't pick up any scent of poison, much less any kind of enchantment… slowly, she popped the chunk into her mouth, chewing and swallowing. The candy's sweet taste sent a pleasant tingling down her spine, and the dog almost impulsively took another piece of the chocolate bar from the sensation. Time passed agonizingly slow as she held her breath, waiting for the inevitable fall into unconsciousness. She waited… and waited…

"…thank you," Sierra exhaled, taking the rest of the chocolate from the young man, and he continued to watch her as she ungracefully devoured the entire treat. She gave herself a proper once-over when she had finished – it had done nothing to help the soreness and bruises, of course, but the combination of food, breathing and rest helped her get some of her strength back. She didn't feel numb anymore, if nothing else. "But… why are you…?"

The man brushed his bangs behind his ears and laughed good-naturedly, letting his hands drop into his lap as he sat down across from her. "Well, if I can get more than half-a-sentence in without you interrupting me, swinging knives at me or teleporting out of sight, I'd be glad to tell you, puppy."

The slight poke at their previous encounter, as well as their conversation just before their battle, caused Sierra's mouth to droop into a frown. If he hadn't been trying to help her, she'd have mistaken his easygoing attitude for arrogance, and that realization helped bring her back to her senses, suspicion once again taking the forefront. "Then explain yourself."

"You're a dragoon too, right?" When she recoiled at the question, he waved dismissively at her, his soft smile starting to waver. "That's what I thought. You weren't exactly doing your best to hide it anyway. That probably means you work for whoever the third dragon is, right?"

"Yes…" Sierra answered with an inhale and exhale, shifting her weight to try and stand up; the man noticed her movements, standing up and dusting himself off before taking a few steps away. Two scrapes of metal later and the dog found herself presented with the handles of her weapons, which she let drop into the scabbards at her hips. "And I will defend my liege with my life if necessary."

"Well I thought that was kind of a given, but okay," The man replied, returning his red hat to the top of his head.

"If you wish to explain yourself, then don't avoid my questions," Sierra shot back, her frown deepening as the red-garbed warrior let out a heavy sigh of unhappiness, throwing his hands into the air. "If you know that you will face me in the future, why did you not kill me? Why do you serve Drakonis' whims, if you know of his plans!?"

For a while, her enemy kept silent, the expression on his face growing pained as he tightly gripped his folded arms. Sierra kept her eyes trained on him as her patience began to drain; she still didn't feel anywhere near safe yet around-

"…I'd rather not 'poof' out of existence." She heard him whisper, and she was unable to suppress a gasp. Had he been turned into a half-spirit, and cursed to fade away? Her conscience nagged her again to remember that he could be lying, but the underhanded blackmailing tactic wasn't farfetched in the slightest. "And there's no chance that I'm going to tell Bud and Lisa that I have to do all this, to say nothing of my friends in Domina, and Polpota, and… and in Gato."

Sierra nodded curtly, keeping her inner musings to herself as she continued to give the man a serious, unflinching look. The names were unfamiliar, but by the way he spoke of them, they must have been family of some sort. There was the slightest pang of sympathy in her heart as Larc appeared in her mind's eye. "I see… but I cannot forgive the sins you've committed."

"Trust me, I've already beaten myself up about it plenty more than you probably could," Her enemy admitted smoothly, once again surprising her. She had little time to consider it, however, as he continued to speak. "But don't even think that I don't plan on fixing the mess I'm having to make. I'm not going to go home until this is finished… all I've done since this entire thing started was send a letter. I can't worry the people that rely or care about me any more than I have to, and I don't want to kill any more innocents than I have to."

"And Drakonis' plan?" Sierra asked sharply, her tail wagging once. "You speak boldly, but do you really know what he wishes to do?"

The floppy red hat bobbed around as the man barked out a few brief chuckles, his mood lightening up somewhat at her question, and he grinned at her in amusement. "I don't know any details, but I've read too many books in my study at home to not know better, and he didn't try to hide it anyway. He wants to come back from the dead and take over the world like any good dead villain wants to, right?"

Sierra's mouth twitched in brief amusement at comparing the situation to nothing more than a book – which was an entirely fair point, to his credit – and she let slide his casual attitude about Drakonis' power. He clearly understood the seriousness of what was happening, despite his smiles and acts of kindness; perhaps he was keeping his thoughts to himself, just as she was.

There was a sudden clacking nearby, and her hands went to her knives, ready to draw them at a moment's notice. This only prompted her previous opponent to laugh harder, and he gently gestured at her to move out of the way. She did so, still staying ready for battle, and he walked forward, opening the elevato- ahh… that's right, she had forgotten about his pet.

"Sorry for the hold-up, Peeko," The man continued to chuckle as the chocobo pounded into the room, chirping and squawking and affectionately poking at its owner's hair. Sierra stood up straighter, but kept her guard up despite the scene playing out in front of her. "I had a little talk with the puppy here."

Said puppy frowned again. "My name is Sierra."

"Oh no, I know that already. Larc mumbled it when you left at the Norn Peaks." The man turned to her and nodded, shooting her a cheerful smile. "It just goes well with calling him 'poochie'."

She inwardly stifled a laugh, and a sudden gust of wind blew through a window near the elevator door, prompting both warriors (and bird) to peer over at the opening in the wall. The lights flickered a bit from the gale, but the magic of the lanterns held fast. Sierra let out a quiet sigh, hunching down as she drew upon her magic, letting it course through her bones. "I was no match for you at my full strength, and I cannot possibly defeat you now… so I will retreat. Take this."

She handed her opponent the key to Larc's prison, and he gave one more pat on the head to his chocobo before reaching into his backpack and pulling out another chocolate bar. He tossed it to her, and she deftly caught it in midair. "Take that. For the trip back."

With his last act of kindness out of the way, the dog waved and felt the air whoosh and whistle around her twitching ears. One flash of green light later, she found herself standing atop the roof of the gargantuan structure, watching the last vestiges of light creep into the sky as the edge of the sun fell behind the small campsite of the children from Geo. The wind blew cool against her fur, and she ran a hand through her hair, staring uncertainly towards the towering trees that grew south of the skeleton.

"Larc… but what is it that you are trying to do?" She wondered aloud. His partner, if she decided to put stock in his words, was simply an outsider that was unceremoniously pulled into his work, and seemed remorseful enough for what Drakonis was making him do. But Larc… the idea that her heroic younger brother had turned to darker deeds was unthinkable in her mind. But in her brief meetings with him since the hunting of the dragons and their dragoons had started, his determination rivaled that of her own. "If you attempt to kill Vadise… I will have to kill you…"

Her conscience bugged her again with an abrupt thought: she had given the young man her name, but then had forgotten to learn what his was. She bowed her head, letting her eyes rest on the gifted candy in her other hand. With gentle movements, she unwrapped the treat, sniffed again, then took a nibble. She allowed a small smile to grace her features as another shiver ran through her. "Thank you…"

With another flash of light, the top of the Bone Fortress was silent, save for the people below.

I poked at Larc's form with the toe of my boot, grinning wildly as the wolf turned over in his sleep, punctuating his movement with a loud, obnoxious snore. Peeko scrunched his eyes shut at the noise, and I chuckled, tickling the bottom of his beak. "Hey, poochie. Wakey wakey, we've got things to do and places to be."

"Mmm…" The dark-furred wolf tossed and turned back and forth on his sides, his armor clanking as he fidgeted. "My sister…"

"Sister? Why, the puppy's your sister? I never, ever would have guessed!" I drawled the words out with a modicum of blatantly-fake shock and awe, squatting down to shake the drowsy dragoon awake. He grumbled a few more times as he blinked his eyes open, yawning briefly before realizing exactly where he was. He rolled backwards and bounded onto his feet, checking that he still had his axe (he did) before turning to look at me.

"I'm sorry. I can't believe I would fall for such a trap," Larc apologized hastily, folding his arms and tapping his foot against the floor of his cell, and Peeko playfully nicked at one of his ears. He grumbled in embarrassment, and I laughed again. "We should continue on to Jajara's lair."

"Alright." I thumbed upwards confidently, re-equipped silver claws shining in the light, and I thought back to my conversation with Sierra; whatever happened here, hopefully she'd tell her dragon what we'd chatted about. If I didn't have to kill any more dragons or dragoons after this, not counting Drakonis, then I'd feel far less guilty about all of this. The sooner I'd be able to go home again… "This, and one more, and then I'm not a half-spirit anymore… right?"

"That's right. Let's go!" Larc answered, pushing past me, and Peeko and I spun on our heels to follow after our dragon-hunting companion, footsteps echoing around the halls, the bones of the fortress rattling in their wake.

A/N: I rather like the Dragon Arc, even if it's definitely the simplest of the three. Larc and Sierra are good characters, but they don't get as much screentime as I'd like; they end up being a bit one-note because of that, which is a shame. But at least there's always imagination, eh?