Wisdom and Courage, a tales of symphonia fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Author's Note: Proud to say that I passed my brown belt test! Still haven't found a new job, but, what can you do?

So, I thought I was satisfied with Fight or Flight as far as this Wing!AU goes, but...apparently not. This is also my first time writing Genis for any extended period of time, as well as my first time really devoting more than a hundred words to this ship, so, by all means, let me know if something doesn't seem right.

This piece is inspired largely by Hollow and Honeycomb by antistar_e (kaikamahine) on AO3, a Captain America piece that's really pretty spectacular.

Wisdom is learning to let go when you want to hang on. Courage is learning to hang on when you want to let go.
—Anonymous

The only pair of wings Genis ever sees growing up is that of his sister. They're large and lovely, with soft black primaries, the coverts a cloudy gray. He grows up learning to help her preen them and bind them carefully, so as not to do any damage and still be difficult to see beneath the thick orange coat that she'd found.

Lloyd and Colette find out about the Sage siblings' wings because they are too kind for their own good. Genis' back has been itching something fierce all day and it just won't stop. It's at that impossible to reach place on his back and at one point, Raine catches Genis trying to twist himself into a pretzel to scratch it.

Raine sends Genis home early that day. Raine almost never sends kids home early, not unless they're really sick. So naturally, well after school lets out and the setting sun is beginning to paint the sky several shades of orange, Lloyd and Colette come to their door.

Raine doesn't have time to re-bind her wings, but she tries to throw her coat on. Genis is laid out on his bed, shirtless and there are raw, flaky patches on his back. She throws a blanket over him quickly and tells him to hold still. "And don't scratch," she warns. "It doesn't help."

(Raine had gone through this on her own, while trying to raise Genis at the same time. She'd figured out how to bind her own wings and she'd taken Genis on walks out into the fields past Iselia, well out of sight of the town and the ranch, where she taught herself to fly)

The coat doesn't do much to hide her wings, not with their size. Lloyd misses them the first time, more concerned with Genis, but Colette's eyes catch them immediately. Raine freezes under that scrutiny—Colette is gentle and kind and sweet, but prejudice changes people—and when Lloyd turns around from Genis, he just goes, "Whoa, Professor! You never told us you have wings!"

Genis and Raine both shush him because Lloyd sometimes has a problem with his volume and it isn't like the walls are soundproof. But Lloyd is unfazed by the fact that they aren't human; he is, in fact, fascinated and asks if Raine would show him her wings properly. Raine agrees, and after double-checking that the curtains are all drawn, she removes her coat and turns her back, spreading her wings out. They span more than half the room, nine feet long, tip to tip. They aren't built for sustained flight, but they are really good for gliding and soaring, as several experiments had led Raine to learn.

Lloyd and Colette both make sounds of awe. It's the best reaction Raine could have hoped for. No one other than Genis has ever seen her wings. (She had memories of her mother's wings—similar to hers. Remembers people chasing them, remembers taunts and jeers and rocks thrown)

"So…you're growing your wings?" Colette asks Genis.

"Looks like." He'd been so excited for it to happen too, but right now, it's just really irritating.

Lloyd grins at him. "I bet yours are gonna look really cool, Genis!"

Raine doesn't let them stay long; Genis needs his rest, apparently. So she waves them out the door and tells Lloyd to be careful on the way home. Afterwards, she sits on the bed by Genis' hip and kisses his hair, lingering a little. (They're lucky, she thought. So lucky. Most people would have outed them, would have tried to burn them or cut their wings off because winged people were freaks and unnatural. But Lloyd and Colette were so kind and they were still children, in many ways. It helped…)

The true statistics of it are like this, according to Raine's research: winged people make up around one in every hundred people born. No one in Sylvarant can isolate the wing gene, but there is solid evidence that Mithos the Hero had wings, which means that they'd been around for more than a few millennia.

Of course, if you ask the Church of Martel, they'll tell you that Mithos the Hero did not have wings. Only angels are divine enough to have wings and Mithos the Hero, while powerful and important, was not divine and therefore, had no wings.( One day, on a journey across the world, Raine would ask Colette about that. Colette just shook her head. "They're lying. I've seen the original texts: he had wings. There's no mistake.") But it's that teaching of the Church—that only the divine are allowed wings—that have given rise to the hatred of winged kind. They're false gods, people believe. Heretics and witches; charlatans and imposters.

The human ranches, spread out across the continents, breed monsters. The winged people that run those ranches—Desians—are experimenting on ordinary people, trying to give them wings, trying to turn them into what humans believed are abominations. Or, so the rumors go. It isn't like anyone actually makes it out of a ranch alive to share the stories and Marble has never liked to talk about it.

When Colette goes through her first Trial and she curls into herself, a breathless scream in place as wings—fully grown—erupt from her back which had been shifting and sliding as new joints were formed is the first time that Genis is ever repulsed by the idea of wings.

(It's hurting one of his best friends and he felt the little feathers at his shoulders—still fluffy—stir and shiver at the thought)

Once Colette can catch her breath—it takes long, horrible minutes—she flexes her wings carefully. They're pretty, Genis thinks. The color of cinnamon at the shoulders, with pale gray primaries, and speckled bright pink, like cotton candy.

Once they're sure she's not in pain, everyone is in awe of her. Genis has never heard of people gaining wings. It's a genetic thing; you had to have it in your family and it comes at the onset of puberty. Colette is smiling now, flapping her wings as much as she could. She doesn't know how to use those muscles yet.

Genis runs a careful finger down the feathers; they are still a bit damp and could use with a preening. Damp with blood, he realizes a moment later. Not all of it, but there's blood at the base where they'd come through the skin. Was it worth all that pain?

Colette looks over her shoulder at him. "What is it, Genis?"

He hooks on a smile for her. "Just wondering what my wings will look like when they're all grown in."

Asgard…feels right. It isn't something easy for Genis to explain, but the air here is different and he relaxes a bit into the wind. And at the top of the mountain, where the ruin is, Genis inhales deeply and he flexes his wing joints beneath his shirt. They still aren't large enough to really require hiding.

And apparently, coming up here is trespassing. They should really have a sign, Genis thinks as he tried not to trip going back down the stairs. He can hear Lloyd and Raine behind him and Raine is in her defensive mode. She stalks away, grabbing Lloyd's wrist to drag him along.

Genis glances helplessly at Colette and Kratos, who simply shrug, and they follow.

"Is this a manhunt?" Genis asks aloud as Raine bangs on doors, eyes sharp as they look for whoever it is.

"Yes," Raine snaps as the next person answers the door. "I'm looking for a boy named Linar."

The woman blinks at her. "He lives on the next level up, second house on the right. Why—"

But Raine doesn't stop to explain, just thanks the woman and whirls away. Lloyd scrambles after her, afraid of her temper and Genis wonders what the hell had happened on the other side of the ruin.

A woman answers the door, younger than the last, with hair so black it looks blue, and a backless dress that, when she turns to allow them inside, lets Genis glimpse old, white scars, right where wings would be. "I can guess why you're here," she says dryly.

A red-headed man rises from the table as they walk in. His wings are speckled black over brown, the shoulders darker than the rest of them.

"You're those tourists from earlier!"

"I am a scholar," Raine retorts.

"Whatever—get out!"

"Hey, Harley, stop it," the woman says sharply. "This is my house." She folds her arms over her stomach. "I understand that you were the ones who stopped Harley and Linar. Thank you for that."

"I'm not sure 'stopped' is the best word for it," Kratos interjects.

"They got in our way," Harley says, glancing behind him. Genis only now notices the bespectacled man standing by the stairs.

"It doesn't matter what you call it. The point is that it's the people of this city that would suffer if you'd destroyed it."

"But as things are now, you're going to be sacrificed!"

(That word thumped in Genis' heart. Sacrificed. Like Colette would be, for the world)

"It's a ritual to honor the Summon Spirit of the Wind," Linar explains. His hair is just like hers and they have the same nose. "Aisha was chosen for it. Originally, the ritual just meant dancing on the stone platform, but—"

"This idiot," Harley shoots Linar a look. "Started messing with the dais and opened up the seal. Thanks to that, the Summon Spirit's awake and is demanding sacrifices. She's going to be sacrificed tonight, now get out!"

They listen this time and Genis doesn't like the look on Raine's face as they walk down the stairs. "Sis—"

"I still need to examine the dais a little more closely."

There are people guarding the stairs up to the dais now. "The only person allowed up here is the sacrificial dancer," one of them explains.

"Then I'll become the dancer. Then it'll be alright for me to be up there, yes?"

"Only a Winger can be the sacrifice."

They all blink at each other, confused, except for Kratos. "Excuse me?" Raine says.

"I assume it means people with wings," Kratos answers. The guard nods in agreement.

"Well then." Raine strips off her outer orange coat and undoes the pins that held her wing binders in place beneath her shirt. Her wings unfurl and she flaps them once to shake off the pins and needle feeling before folding them back up. "I assume I meet the requirements?"

"Yes. But I won't be held responsible for your life."

As they head back to Aisha's house to explain the plan, Lloyd asks if the Professor is really sure about this.

"Yes, I am, Lloyd." It's strange to see Raine with her wings out. Genis has only ever seen it around the house, or at night on their journey. Sometimes, if they would be well away from people for a few days, she doesn't wear the binder, but still, it's rare. Now, she has her shoulders back proudly, wings on full display. "That dais matches the description for the next seal. And the requirement for the winged sacrifice? It might even be searching for the Chosen of Mana."

"That makes sense," Colette says. She never bothers to bind her wings. After all, wings are 'divine'.

As Raine explains the plan to Aisha, Linar looks sadly at his sister. "I thought it would keep her safe," he says. "Cutting off her wings."

"From the humans?" Genis asks. He's heard of people doing that.

"It's more from being chosen as the sacrifice. Humans…we've managed a weird symbiosis here with them. Wingers were here first, after all. In this town, anyway."

"I've never heard us being called that."

Linar glances behind him, likely to see if his wings have grown out. Genis knows that he looks really young for it, and he is. Most boys don't start growing their wings until they're about fourteen. "I know a lot of people don't really use it too much, but I grew up with it. Perhaps it's a regional thing."

"Maybe. I like the sound of it though." Winger. It makes him feel like he's a part of something, a community. It's definitely a less isolated feeling.

"Molting kind of sucks, huh?" Lloyd says as he carefully picks out loose feathers from Genis' wings.

"A bit. It's mostly just annoying. At least they're growing," Genis glances over his shoulder at them. They're each about a foot long, and they were developing a brown color now.

"Yeah. I wonder how big they'll get."

Genis pictures himself with enormous wings, like an owl, and says, "I think I'd topple over if they got too big."

That makes Lloyd laugh. "You're right. Hopefully you grow taller so that doesn't happen!"

There are days that are agony to even move, when they have to stop travelling for a day just to give him a break because bones hollowing out hurt. Genis buries his head in Raine's lap, groaning. She rubs in between his wing joints; there's nothing she can do about this pain, not that she knows of.

Kratos and Lloyd are training out behind the House of Salvation; Genis can hear their swords ringing. Kratos is a good teacher. He'd even helped Genis out with his spellwork. (Only Wingers could use magic. Maybe Kratos had the wing gene or maybe he's a Wingless, where he had his wings cut off early on so he could blend in)

"What're you thinking about?" Raine asks, going for a book in her bag.

"Kratos. Think he's a Wingless?"

"It's a possibility. Don't ask him; it's not polite."

"I know." Genis sinks further into the blankets and Raine's lap as she begins reading, her voice a balm.

Sheena could have been a Winger, Genis thinks. She moves light enough to be one, like she had hollow bones. But he'd seen her back when Raine healed her and there aren't any scars, so maybe she is just that graceful. (In battle anyway. Outside of fighting, Sheena either had a clumsy streak or a bad luck streak. It's hard to tell)

"They're coming in nicely," Sheena compliments, running a finger along one of his primaries.

"Thanks. Just wish they'd grow faster."

She laughs. It's a nice sound, one that Genis doesn't hear too often. He can tell she still blames herself for Luin, just like he and Lloyd still blame themselves for Iselia. "It'll happen. Just be patient."

That makes Genis ask, "Do you know a lot of Wingers?"

"Some. There aren't many of them, back in my home village."

"But you have to have the wing gene or you couldn't use magic, right?"

"Theoretically, yeah." Genis likes talking to Sheena because she doesn't patronize him, doesn't talk down to him because of his age. "I never knew my parents, so…I guess they must have been Wingers."

Genis' eyes drops. "I never knew my parents either."

Sheena smiles. "I bet Raine's a good substitute."

"Oh, yeah, of course." Genis glances over at where Raine is helping Lloyd with homework she'd assigned him. "But I think it stresses her out too much, trying to be a sister and a mom. I wish it wasn't so hard on her."

"Hey," Sheena's hand settles in his hair. "I don't think she regrets choosing to take care of you for a second."

He smiles at her. "Thanks for that, Sheena."

"We will take the Chosen as the new body for Martel." Genis is still breathing hard from the fight against Remiel, but there is something…off…about Kratos' voice.

"Kratos, what are you saying? Answer me!" Lloyd demands.

Remiel struggles to push himself up on his forearms. "Lord Kratos, have pity on me. Lend me your aid."

Lord Kratos? What was all that about?

Kratos looks down at Remiel and Genis shivers at the look in his eyes. It's cold, dispassionate. "Have you forgotten, Remiel?" His voice is almost gentle, but there is an edge there. "I was once of the inferior race…a human. Does the ultimate being seek help from that which he despises the most?"

It's hard to see Kratos properly from this angle, but there is something different about him, physically. Genis just can't get a good look at what it is.

"Kratos, who are you?" Lloyd asks.

The man takes a step forward and there's a rustle as—oh. Genis stares at the spread wings coming from Kratos' back. They're broad and powerful, a hunter's wings, with dark brown bands going across paler brown feathers. The backs are that same darker brown mixed with gray. There's slight ruffling from being bound tight and hidden, and Genis can't believe that Kratos had managed to hide them all these months.

"I am of Cruxis, the organization that guides this world. I am one of the four seraphim, sent forth to keep watch over the Chosen."

Genis has never seen a Winger fight like this, with such ferocity and power, and Kratos uses his wings to every advantage, circling and diving and even using them to shove them away a few steps if they manage to get too close.

He leaves them all broken and bloody. There's a hole through one of Raine's wings, Genis notes dimly. It's hard to breathe and he wonders if Kratos had broken his ribs.

Genis can only stare as Kratos stands before Lloyd, sword raised in a threat, wings spread for balance. He's some kind of avenging angel from the holy books, Genis thinks. An angel of death.

In a halo of light, a man glides down. He's long and lean and he's winged too. His blonde hair trails behind him, wings beating at a slow, steady pace to keep himself aloft. They're huge; they must be ten feet long, at least. They are a wash of grays and blacks with brilliant white undersides, like some of the seabirds that Genis had seen when they were in Palmacosta.

The part that gets Genis is the way that Kratos immediately kneels before him. "Lord Yggdrasill," he murmured.

"I suppose not even you could bring yourself to fight against such an opponent." The Winger tilts his head thoughtfully at Lloyd. (His eyes were colder than Kratos' and that thought was terrifying) "Are you Lloyd?"

"Give me your name and I'll give you mine!" Where Lloyd gets his courage, Genis doesn't know. He wishes he did. Wishes he could stand up right now, beside his best friend.

"I am Yggdrasill, leader of Cruxis and the Desians."

It's scary to look at Colette; she doesn't seem to be asleep, but she hasn't responded to anything. Raine had tried talking to her, asking her questions. She'd even dared to touch her a little, just a brush against the shoulder, careful to project her movements. Still nothing. Her eyes aren't their usual bright blue, but a dull red, like old blood.

Raine's wing is healed. Whoever had saved them, they'd healed all of them. Genis sees her flexing and stretching her wings carefully, gauging if there was any lingering pain. She winces a little, but when she catches him watching, she says, "It's not bad. It feels like a bruise. It'll probably go away in a few days."

(Raine had never lied to him, so Genis believed her, but he wondered if she's downplaying it for his sake)

They're taken to another room to speak with the Renegades' leader. Of the two men, one has very dark hair and a goatee; that one they had fought before, when they came to rescue Lloyd. His wings are long and lean, mostly white except for the gray and black primaries, like a seagull. They show no signs of ever being bound and his shoulders are set proudly.

The other man is a strange one. Clearly, the Renegades on this base have no qualms about exposing their wings. Even the one who had come to take them to the leader had had his exposed. But this man—probably their leader—wears a black cloak over his wings. It takes a moment for Genis to realize what he's looking at—his feathers are the same sleek black as his cloak—but his wings are large enough to not be fully covered.

The cloaked man turn as they entered. "Ah, you're awake."

"So…you're the Renegades?" Lloyd asks.

"Correct. We're an underground resistance dedicated to fighting the Desians. Or rather, the Cruxis."

They explain themselves and their purpose, but Genis isn't completely convinced. Sheena seems to trust them though, had said that they were how she'd gotten to Sylvarant in the first place.

"Those who call themselves angels are simply Wingers who have enhanced abilities beyond even that of an Exsphere, using the Cruxis Crystals. They aren't gods, or anything of the sort, despite what the Church would have you believe."

They used the word 'Winger'? Genis thought that the word didn't really exist outside of the Asgard area. He supposed that some of the Renegades could have come from Asgard, but…these guys were using it so casually, like Linar had, like the word is the most obvious and natural thing in the world.

"So, wait, what is Cruxis trying to do?" Lloyd asks. "Are they doing all this just to rule the world?"

"Do you intend to have us explain everything? Why not use your own head a little?"

"Do they wish to revive the Goddess Martel?" Raine says finally. "They control the bloodlines and send false oracles to the Chosen in order to create a perfect vessel. It seems meaninglessly drawn out and complicated."

The cloaked man's eyes glint in approval, but it's the other one who speaks. "Well. I am impressed."

"There's another world beyond Sylvarant that competes for mana called Tethe'alla. And the one who created this twisted world was Cruxis' leader, Yggdrasill."

"That's ridiculous!" Genis exclaims. He can't even wrap his mind around it. "No one can do that."

"If that's what you believe, then our conversation ends here."

"Wait," Lloyd calls. "If Yggdrasill really did create the two worlds, what can you hope to do against someone like that? And that's not all. You tried to kill Colette and me. You're certainly not on our side, yet for some reason, you saved us. Why?"

"You're not as stupid as you seem."

Lloyd bristles. "Excuse me?"

The bearded man steps forward. "Our goal is to stop Martel's revival. Therefore, the Chosen, who would become her vessel, was an obstacle."

"Unfortunately, the Chosen completed the angel transformation. The Chosen is now a lethal weapon whose only goal is self-preservation. We wouldn't dare lay a hand on her. But we no longer need the Chosen." The cloaked man turns, wings flaring out a little instinctively for balance. Perhaps at some wordless command, the doors opens on all sides and soldiers flood in, wings spread and weapons out. "What we need is you, Lloyd Irving."

Lloyd lashes out as the man draws nearer and the man flinches away, gasping for breath.

"Lord Yuan!" one of the soldiers cries out.

The second-in-command waves them back. "It's his wound from Hima. It's not yet healed."

Sheena shoves him sideways. "We need to run. Let's go!"

"You should hide your wings," Sheena tells them. Not that Raine doesn't already keep her wings bound beneath her coat most of the time, but Genis' are getting too large to not wear a binder. "Tethe'allans...they don't like Wingers. It's worse than it is in Sylvarant."

Genis glances behind his back. "I guess I need to bind them, huh."

Her eyes go sad. "Yeah. I'm sorry. It shouldn't happen—it's horrible, actually—but it's better than the alternative."

"The alternative?" (Sylvarant wasn't exactly kind to Wingers, but he'd never seen that look on her face before, that kind of fear)

Sheena shakes her head. "Never mind. You can keep them out for now, but once Meltokio's in sight, you're going to have to bind them."

Genis understood why Sheena told them that. Meltokio was imposing, full of tall buildings and stone roads. The roofs were tiled and everything was brightly colored, and there wasn't a single Winger in sight. Except for Colette. There was no way they could risk binding her wings when she was like this.

The stairs leading up to the castle are large—Genis can lay down on one of them and there's still space leftover. He keeps glancing back from looking around to make sure Colette is still staying with them. She seems to be on a one-way track, not moving out of the way for anyone. Not even the man surrounded by women.

"Master Zelos has deigned to speak to this girl and yet, look how she acts!" The woman's voice is grating and high-pitched. It makes Genis grit his teeth.

"Just look at her, with her wings out like that. It's not festival time; how stupid can she be?" one of the other women says.

"Can you believe the nerve of this hag?"

"What did you say?" Genis asks, stalking forward.

"Genis, let it go." He's about to whirl around and ask Lloyd why he should when he recognizes that tone. It goes with a smirk that doesn't really look right on Lloyd's face. "She's obviously never looked in a mirror."

He can hear Raine rolling her eyes. "You're all acting like children."

"Now, now, let's settle down." The man's voice is easy, careless, but it works on the women near him. His red hair is long enough to settle past his waist, kept out of his face only by a headband. He's good-looking, Genis thinks, but arrogantly so. The man—Master Zelos, the women had called him—leans forward a little, a strange smile playing at the edges of his lips. "Are you upset, my little angel? You know," Zelos takes a few steps towards Colette. "I bet you're as cute as a button when you smile."

Genis holds back a snort of laughter as Zelos gets too close and Colette hurls him away from her with the strength that Cruxis had given her. But Zelos almost seems to float in the air, flipping himself so he lands safely. He shouldn't have flown that high, Genis calculates. In this state, Colette uses the necessary force and nothing more. The push should have been enough to send Zelos sprawling, but not flying like that. (He might have those hollow bird bones, might be way lighter than the average population, but Genis couldn't tell for sure)

"Whoa!" Zelos laughs breathlessly as he stands upright. "That—was a surprise. You sure are strong, my little angel. You definitely took me by surprise."

"Wh—who are you?" Lloyd had noticed the oddness of the throw too.

Zelos strides forward, confident and smooth. "No offense," he says, looking at Lloyd and Genis like they're particularly annoying bugs on his floor. "But I'm not interested in talking to guys."

"I hate this guy already," Genis mutters to Lloyd, who makes a sound of agreement.

The feeling only increased when Zelos takes another few steps towards Raine. "And what's your name, beautiful?"

Genis had no need to worry, recognizing the look on his sister's face. Amused and utterly unimpressed. "Give me your name and I'll give you mine."

Zelos looks surprised that anyone doesn't know him. The ego on this guy… "Well…I guess I still have a ways to go."

The women are calling for him and he allows himself to be pulled away. Genis' lip curls in disgust. "What an ass. He was grinning like an idiot the entire time!"

"He had an Exsphere," Raine tells him.

"So that's how he reacted so fast." Lloyd is right, but Genis doesn't think that an Exsphere would explain why he got thrown so far. "Whoever that guy was, we still have to get Sheena's letter to the King."

(Later, Sheena will laugh when Genis and Lloyd tell her about how they met Zelos. "That sounds like him alright," she said. "And he is kind of an ass, but he's not that bad.")

"Criminals undergo biological testing before they're arrested," Zelos explains. "Some winged persons don't look any different than humans."

Genis is very careful not to look at Raine, even as the soldiers approach him with the weird device. "Sir! We found a match!"

Zelos look at them like they'd betrayed him. "You have the wing gene? Is that true?"

"Yes. It's true," Raine says.

"Raine!"

"There's no point in trying to hide it now."

"These winged persons are guilty of caste deception," a soldier says, clamping heavy manacles around their wrists.

"Who cares if they're Wingers?!" Lloyd had started using the word too. It sounded much stronger coming from him. "The Professor and Genis are way better people than you are!" Genis stares at Lloyd. He'd defended them before, but…the world was against him. Literally. It would make his life easier just to accept it.

"I don't know what it's like over in your world," Zelos says slowly, "But here, winged people are at the bottom of the caste system. Any winged persons guilty of a crime are executed without exception."

(Better than the alternative, Sheena had said. Execution. They're going to kill him, and his sister, without a trial, without anything. Just because they're Wingers…)

They come back for them. All of them. And Sheena's there too, grinning as she catches her breath. Genis feels a swell of affection for Lloyd when he looks at them like rescuing them had been the only option, like he wouldn't have thought of doing anything else. (And he wouldn't have, knowing Lloyd. He's so kind, and so strong to not give in to the things that Zelos and the soldiers had said about Wingers)

"What about the Tethe'alla half of our group?" Raine asks. "Do you mind if we join up with you?"

Sheena just smiles. "Please, Raine. After all this? Of course I don't mind. It's not like I'm completely human either. We're not that different."

"To tell you the truth, I can't say I'm really kosher with this." At least Zelos is honest about it. "Then again…people have always treated me different, saying I'm a 'descendent of angels'. So…in a way…we're a lot alike."

Presea just wants to go home. Genis can understand; he aches not just for Sylvarant, but for Iselia, for his and Raine's little house with their beds and the familiar soft sheets, with the familiar places that creak when he takes a step and for the annoyingly stubborn stove that he'd fought with a dozen times while making dinner. He wonders where home is, for Presea.

"So," Genis says as they started walking. Back to the Fooji mountains. Man, if his wings were grown, he could fly the whole way up instead of walking. "You're keeping tabs on us."

"Yeah. Mizuho figured that I'm the best one since you guys already trust me."

"I'm glad they chose you to do it. Things went crazy while you were gone."

"So I see," Sheena laughs. "I can't leave you guys alone for five minutes before you find yourselves in trouble."

"You consider me trouble?" Zelos calls, placing a hand over his heart as he turns around to face them, walking backwards. "That hurts, Sheena."

She rolls her eyes. "I'm sure you'll get over it. Now turn back around before you walk into a tree or something."

"You know him?" Genis asks.

"Yup. For a couple of years now. He can act stupid, but he's smarter than he looks."

"I've noticed." Genis' nose wrinkles. "Why does he put up with those really annoying girls though?"

"Ha! Sorry." Sheena tries to wipe away her grin. "I've always thought they were really annoying too. And I dunno. I think he just likes the attention personally."

"Sounds about right to me."

They unbind their wings when they stopped to rest for the night.

"It's not like there's a whole lot of point anyway," Sheena says, helping unwrap Raine's binder behind some trees. "You're in the system now and they know your face. Even if you hide them, they'll still arrest you."

Genis breathes deep for the first time in two days. The binder isn't really all that restricting usually, but after wearing it too long, it gets irritating. He spreads his little wings as much as he could, relishing in the freedom.

Zelos is staring at Raine when she steps back out after buttoning up her shirt, but not for perverted reasons. At least, it doesn't look that way to Genis. He's staring more at her wings and Genis wonders if he's ever actually seen an unbound Winger.

Lloyd gestures for Genis to sit down; Genis obeys and relaxes even further as Lloyd carefully straightens out feathers that had been ruffled and bent from the binder.

"It really doesn't bother you, does it?" Zelos asks.

"I actually think it's really cool," Lloyd says. "I mean, being able to fly? That would be awesome." Lloyd squints a little in the darkness. "Looks like you're starting to molt again, Genis." Genis groans a little, mentally bracing himself for the irritation that molting would bring. Lloyd strokes a wing sympathetically. "Just think about how great your wings are gonna look."

"What color do you think they'll be?" Genis asks his best friend.

Lloyd hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe…I think red would be cool."

"Of course you do."

"What? Like a robin!" At Genis' laughter, Lloyd pushes him a little. "Well, what'd you think they'll be like?"

"I don't care much as long as they don't end up super bright, like a parrot." Lloyd laughs along with him at the thought. "I think I'd give myself a seizure every morning."

"Or a peacock," Lloyd adds. "I think Zelos would have peacock wings if he were a Winger."

"Oh, that's perfect, Lloyd!" Sheena says as she was starting dinner.

"Sounds about right to me," Raine agrees.

"You all are too kind," Zelos says dryly, which just set them all of in peals of laughter.

They make as big a feast as they could manage to celebrate Colette's return from her soulless state. Colette digs in happily now that she has her appetite back. Genis had made steak and potatoes—they really needed to go food shopping—and they talk about Meltokio, about how they're going to get in.

"Seriously, I know the city like the back of my hand," Zelos insists. "There's a back way in."

"When would you ever need the back way?" Sheena asks dubiously. "You're always welcome with open arms in Meltokio."

"Well, the gates close at eleven PM and you know how it goes…"

Sheena holds up a hand. "I'm good. I don't want details."

"Are they always like this?" Colette asks Genis quietly. He knows her memory from when she'd been soulless isn't quite complete.

"Pretty much," he replies. "They know each other from before she came to Sylvarant."

She smiles into her canteen before she took a sip. Thankfully, the streams of the Fooji mountains had plenty of water for them to fill up before they headed back across the continent. "They seem like good friends to me."

"You think so?"

"Well," Colette says. "Think about how often you and Lloyd argue."

Genis chuckles. "I guess that makes sense when you put it that way."

Raine and Colette go flying some mornings, depending on the terrain. In an area as mountainous as the Fooji continent, it's easy to find a cliff or something to jump from. Colette is hesitant about that part, but Raine isn't. She throws herself easily into the air and Genis would sit on the edge of the cliff watching longingly.

Colette is still something of an awkward flier, nothing of Raine's natural ease despite the fact that Raine hadn't flown very much while they were growing up. Presea is often one of the first ones awake and she would come watch with Genis.

"Did you have Wingers back home?" Genis asks her once.

"No." Presea doesn't talk much, and isn't particularly expressive when she does, but Genis had learned to like it. Silences with Presea are awkward only because he isn't actually used to talking to people his age, especially not pretty ones. It's nice to just have someone to sit and enjoy the day with.

Genis wants it on record somewhere that the Meltokio sewers are, predictably, disgusting. Slime gets on his and Raine's wings and they ended up binding them again just so they don't have to worry about getting things on their feathers.

Perhaps it's a Winger thing, but he also isn't comfortable underground. It makes something inside him itch, like he needs to move. He sees Raine tapping her feet sometimes if they stand still long enough. Colette seems fine with it, but then again, she isn't a natural-born Winger.

Ozette smells sweet when it burns. It's a horrible thought, but it's all Genis can think as he races out of there on Colette's heels, Lloyd and Presea behind him. They scramble down the rocky hillside that leads to Presea's home; the fires haven't spread there yet and the sweet-smelling smoke won't be there. Heat rises, after all.

Genis is coughing a little by the time they get down there, and when he turns, Lloyd is setting down the person they'd found in the town square. It's hard to tell if they're a boy or a girl, honestly—shoulder-length blonde hair, and pretty features, and their wings are half-grown at the very least, from the size because soot has covered their plumage.

The person hacks up half a lung from the sound of it, turning over as they get to their knees. They're gasping as they look around, wings tucking close to their body.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lloyd asks.

The person scrambles to their feet. "Yeah, I'm—I'm fine." They're a boy, from his voice.

"What the hell happened here?"

"…I don't really know. Suddenly lightning fell from the sky and winged people attacked the village."

"Wingers?" Raine repeats.

"Well, yeah," he says, pushing his hair out of his face. "They were using magic. Really big spells too."

"Dammit! It must have been Cruxis!" Lloyd's hands clench on the hilts of his swords, kicking a rock in frustration.

"I'm impressed that you survived," Zelos says. "Are you the only survivor? What's your name?"

"My name is Mithos. I lived by myself on the outskirts of the village, so…"

"You have the same name as Mithos, the hero!" Lloyd exclaims, grinning.

"Wait, is that why you were on the outskirts? Because you're a Winger?"

Mithos' wings snap closed, folding behind him like they haven't seen them. "What? I—no."

"Relax," Raine tells him. They'd come from Flanoir and she'd kept her wings loosely bound beneath her shirt to help keep warm and to keep her feathers from freezing off. "We have the same gene as you do."

Mithos' eyes look them over, slowing down as he takes in the folds of their clothes at their backs. "Wait—you have wings too? But you're with humans."

"It's okay," Colette says and she steps forward a little, friendly as always, but Mithos flinches, just a bit, and she steps back. "We're all friends."

"Wingers and humans as friends?" Mithos scoffs. "You're lying."

"No, it's true," Genis insists and he moves to stand right in front of Mithos. Mithos doesn't shrink back this time. "My sister and I are part of this group. And so is Colette."

"Your reaction is understandable." Regal has a good voice for calming people down, deep and slow. "I've heard that the village of Ozette is particularly known for its contempt for Wingers. If you lived an isolated life in this village, you must have suffered."

They don't hear the footsteps. "What happened here?"

Genis turns along with everyone to see Altessa and the girl—Tabatha, he'd called her. "What're you doing here?" Lloyd asks.

"I saw the lightning of judgment rain fall towards the village. But what in the world…?"

"It was the work of Cruxis angels," Presea says. It's hard to hear her—her hoarse voice doesn't carry very well—but it doesn't look like Altessa had needed to hear the words anyway.

"Presea? You've regained your true self? Is this punishment for failing the experiment?"

Altessa turns and stalks away before they can even try to make sense of his words. Lloyd is already going after him, but Tabatha moves in front of him, arms spread wide. (It made Mithos stare. Tabatha looked like Martel—physically—because that was what she'd been created for. But her body language, in that moment, was like Martel too. He remembered her standing like that over him more than once, voice defiant and wings spread protectively) "The master believes it was his fault that Ozette was destroyed. Excuse me. I am worried about the master."

Presea takes a few steps forward. "I'm going to follow him."

"Yeah." Lloyd looks over at Mithos. "Mithos, you should come with us."

"But—I'm a Winger—"

"That doesn't matter! Besides, what're you going to do if you stay here and the angels come back?"

Genis grins at Lloyd because despite not being particularly book-smart, he always knows the right thing to say. "Lloyd's right." His grin softens into a smile and he holds out a hand to Mithos. "Let's all go together."

Mithos stares at him like he doesn't know what to do, like no one's ever offered him a friendly hand before. After a few moments, Mithos tentatively puts his hand in Genis'.

It's a little more than half a day's walk to Altessa's house. Genis is glad when he can't smell the sweet-smelling smoke anymore. (He would hate that smell forever. It was pretty specific, but sometimes, Sheena's incense was close enough that it bothered him. She eventually learned which one it was and stopped using it when he came over)

"Hey, Mithos, you lived by yourself, right?" Genis asks him after a little while. He's been quiet this whole time, and Genis doesn't think it's just because he's that kind of person.

Sometimes, Mithos seems surprised that they talk to him at all, that anyone notices him. "That's right."

"Where are your mother and father?"

Mithos looks away, hand playing with the bracelets on his left wrist. "…They're both dead."

"Just like mine." Genis finds it hard to be sad about it, though. He's more sad about the idea of having them at all. He doesn't remember them; not a face, not a scent—like Colette says about her mom with lilies—or a sound. Nothing.

"Really?" Mithos tends to hide behind his hair, Genis notices. "…We're kind of alike, aren't we?"

(He'd been so lucky, Genis thought, growing up with Raine, and Lloyd and Colette. He had a family, had never had to live on his own in a village that despised him, hadn't had to grow his wings alone) "Yeah, we are. I think we can be good friends."

If he'd been surprised by being noticed, Mithos is downright stunned at Genis' words. "…Friends? Really?"

Genis smiles warmly at him. "Yeah, let's be friends."

They stay the night at Altessa's. While Tabatha goes to make dinner—Colette offers to help her, but everyone assures Tabatha and Colette that it's really not necessary, not unless they have plates they want to break—Genis finally unbinds his wings, stretching them out as far as they'll go.

They're not grown yet. Still a fledgling's, brown and too small for flight. They're a little rumpled from being bound up, but Genis can fix that later. He can feel eyes on him, so Genis turns to find Mithos watching him.

"What is it?" Genis asks.

"No—um—it's hard to tell that you have wings, even under your clothes. I could tell with Raine once she said something, but…"

Oh. "You thought I was a Wingless?" Aisha, back in Asgard, is the only Wingless that Genis has ever seen—or rather, that he knows he's seen. The scars aren't something that people show off, and it's really the only physical difference, minus being much lighter than the average person.

"Yeah. It's good that you're not. I'm happy about it."

Genis eyes Mithos' sooty wings. "Want some help getting all that off?"

Mithos turns his head, following Genis' gaze. Had he really not noticed it? "Oh. Would you?"

"What are friends for? We just need some soap and water." Genis brings a bowl full of water and a washcloth from the kitchen back to find Mithos perched on the bed. Genis sits behind him and as soon as the bed dips beneath his weight, he can see Mithos tensing a little. "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."

"I know." It's an effort for Mithos to relax though, Genis can tell. So he starts at the shoulders of his wings, gently beginning to wash the soot away.

Mithos' wings, Genis finds out, are dirty from beyond just the fire damage. There's dust and dirt there and his feathers are going every which-a-way, twisted in what must be uncomfortable positions. He's never seen anyone's wings this bad. "When was the last time you groomed them?" Genis asks, appalled. He knows it's not easy to groom wings by yourself, but still…

"A long time ago," Mithos confesses.

"You're way overdue." It takes a long time to get them clean, between the dirt, the soot and the oil buildup. By the end of it, Genis can see that Mithos' wings are nearly grown, a juvenile's. His flight feathers are a bit stubby, and they're still a bit fluffy near the base, but they should be able to fly for a few minutes, at least. They're not very long, either, but they're mostly brown, going a bit dark gray at the tips of his feathers and speckled about, but overall they seem rather plain. That's normal for juvenile feathers and Genis can't really complain. His feathers still have fluffy bits everywhere they're not gray.

Mithos moves to get up once Genis sets the bowl of water down on the ground, but Genis tugs him back down by the back of his shirt. "Not yet. Your feathers are all crooked."

Genis finds it peaceful to groom and straighten other people's wings—doing it himself means twisting and stretching and it's really quite annoying. Mithos relaxes into it after a moment too, his shoulders slumping.

"There," Genis says finally, patting the spot between Mithos' wing joints. "All done."

Mithos has to twist a bit to see the finished product properly, even with his wings stretched out, but he smiles at him. "Thanks, Genis. Do—do you want me to groom yours? They need it too, don't they?"

Genis opens his mouth to reply, but that's when Raine calls them for dinner. "How about after dinner, okay?"

Genis wakes to Sheena shaking him awake. "Hey, did Raine say anything to you before bed?" she whispers.

"No." He rubs his eye, holding back a yawn. "Why, what's going on?"

"I can't find her. I couldn't sleep, so I went wandering around, but I noticed she's not in her bed, not anywhere."

Genis is on his feet before he consciously makes the decision. "I'll help wake the others."

(It was difficult to concentrate. Raine was gone? Without saying anything to him? No note? She'd never do that, never abandon him, even if he was in a safe place…)

"Um…will you take me with you?" Mithos asks as the others start moving to pull out the Rheairds.

"What are you talking about? It's dangerous!" Genis tells him.

"I know that, but I'm worried about her. There are monsters all over Tethe'alla right now. This is the first time I've met another Winger beside me, so…I want her to be okay."

"Yeah, you can come," Lloyd says. "Genis, he can ride with you on your Rheaird."

"Everyone…why are you here?"

"Why do you think we're here?" Genis snaps. "We were worried about you."

She's safe, he thinks. There's no injuries on her anywhere, no monsters to be seen on this rocky, little island.

"It's dangerous to come here alone," Mithos says. His voice is quiet, but it carries really well somehow.

"Why did you come to this place?" Colette asks.

It's as the two guys in the Lezareno Company described. Huge rocks gathered around in a semi-circle, runes carved deep and thick into them. Raine doesn't answer right away, turning around. "…This is where Genis and I were abandoned."

"What're you talking about? You two are from Sylvarant," Lloyd says and Genis is with him on the confusion.

Raine shakes her head. "…No. I happened to catch sight of this place when we rescued Colette and it's been on my mind ever since. Then when I heard the story about the two poles that connect the two worlds, I became certain. The images in my memory…the ruin that I've been searching for all this time, is this place."

"So, wait, you two were born in Tethe'alla?" Sheena asks.

"It can't be!" Genis exclaimed. "All of my memories are from Iselia. I don't know this place at all." (And he tried. He scoured his memory, glancing around the area to see if anything, anything at all, looked familiar)

"…We were born and raised in Heimdall from which we were eventually ostracized." Genis can hear Mithos shaking, his wings rustling. When he glances over, he sees Mithos' fists clenched, his jaw set. "We were abandoned here because this place was said to be the pathway to the legendary Sylvarant."

Mithos manages to get words out. "Heimdall? It's off-limits to anyone that's not a pureblooded Winger."

Raine nods and her wings tuck close to her body, like she's cold, or defensive. "Yes. I don't know the details of what happened, but I'm positive that I was left here with Genis when he was just a newborn. And we eventually ended up in Sylvarant."

Genis can't concentrate on what Kuchinawa says, on what Sheena's doing. He's shaking now too, but not like Mithos had been. Mithos had seemed angry about it, but he's just…overwhelmed. His parents hadn't wanted them? An entire village hadn't wanted them? Raine has told him that their father hadn't had wings, but this…Heimdall…everyone in that village had run them out just for that?

The runes glow with the moonlight and the high-pitched humming of the gate hurts Genis' ears. Mithos is the one who grabs his hand, tugging him towards the whirling magic gate.

Mithos is still hanging onto him as they fall, juvenile wings flapping hard to slow their descent. Wingers aren't meant to carry people why they fly; they aren't built for it and it does little, but Genis' wings are instinctively flapping even though they can't even keep him in the air for more than a few seconds on his own. Raine takes Genis, her long heron wings taking his weight as they descend, even as Colette grabs Mithos. Colette has her angelic strength, so she can actually hold Mithos up, touching down on the ground gently, where Raine and Genis still fall a bit—it just doesn't hurt as much as it would from the height they'd been at. The others fall rather ungracefully, but they don't have the hollow bird bones that'll shatter upon hitting the ground.

"Where are we?" Regal asks; he'd landed on his feet somehow. He has an excellent control over his center of gravity. Genis wonders if it's natural or learned, from his martial arts.

Raine stretches her wings, making sure she hadn't strained anything trying to carry her younger brother. "I didn't get a very good look from up there, but probably on the outskirts of Palmacosta." She gestures to Genis and he goes to her obediently as she checks over his wings, pressing gently on the muscles of his back and his joints. He winces when she presses too hard. "Looks like you strained a few muscles. Try flapping them for me?"

He can, but only very slowly because otherwise, his muscles burn.

"They need a good soak and some rest, but you'll be alright." Raine straightens and looks over at Mithos. "What about you?"

"I—I'm okay. Just a little sore." But Mithos doesn't step towards her and Raine doesn't push. (Not yet anyway. Mithos was cagey, tensing at odd moments and she knew that that was likely just a result of living in Ozette—a village full of enemies—for his entire life. So she would give him some lenience on this, but if there were any signs of that soreness getting worse, Raine would take care of it)

Zelos groans and they can hear his spine cracking and popping as he arches it. "I never thought I'd wind up coming to this size like that."

Sheena whirls him around to face her, expression murderous. "Zelos, why did you butt in?!"

Zelos folds his arms, looking down at her. As much as he might cower playfully from her temper, right now, he's not backing down. "Excuse me? Don't tell me you actually wanted to die back there? Besides, those guys would have come after us regardless of whether or not you died. Pope's orders and all."

That makes her blink. "Are you saying that Kuchinawa is working for the Pope?"

"It's likely. Those assassins he had with him were the Pope's men," Raine answered.

"Sheena," Colette begins, "Please don't do something like that again. Don't make the same mistakes I did. Nothing good will come of you sacrificing your life."

"She's absolutely right, Sheena," Lloyd says. "You should be thanking Zelos."

It takes some effort, Genis can see. Sheena has to work through that concept a bit on her own, but she finally does get the words of thanks out. Zelos just smiles at her. "C'mon. Would it hurt you to give me a kiss or two?"

(The others couldn't see it, but Zelos knew that flirting from him was something familiar, something not to be taken very seriously, so it would lighten her up, draw her out from the bad spiral thoughts she would be headed towards)

"What're we going to do now?" Mithos asks.

Lloyd suggests finding out what the Desians are doing now, and that's all well and good, but, "What about Mithos?" Genis asks. "We can't just drag him into this."

They toss about the idea of leaving him in Palmacosta, with Neil. Neil's a good, trustworthy man. He doesn't seem to mind Wingers.

"But I want to fight too!" Mithos argues.

"What are you saying? This journey is dangerous even if you had an Exsphere," Genis tells him.

Mithos looks like he's going to keep arguing, but Raine butts in. "He's right, Mithos. We do appreciate your sentiment though."

He deflates at her words (He heard Martel in them, all those millennia ago. She hadn't wanted him to take part in the fighting, but in those times, there was no way to not get involved. And they couldn't see him as a threat, not at all) "I suppose you're right."

Genis runs his hands over the panpipes that Mithos had given him. They're old, the wood soft and the rope worn. There's runes—or letters, perhaps. They're very small and he can't tell—etched into the sides. A memento of his sister, who died. Mithos has literally been left with no one else in the world, until they all came along.

"What's up, Genis?" Lloyd asks, yawning a little. They're all a bit short on sleep since they'd only gotten a few hours' worth before Sheena had alerted them to Raine's disappearance. And now, they're heading back to the Palmacosta Ranch.

"Just—I think we're the closest thing that Mithos has to a family. I mean, he told me his parents are dead, and now his sister…It sounds really lonely."

"Yeah, it does. But at least he doesn't have to worry about being lonely now. He's got you, and me, and all of us as friends."

Rodyle's ranch gives him the same horrible feeling that the mines had, and Gnome's Temple; it feels like it's hard to breathe, no space to spread his wings, or fly—even if Genis can't fly, he knows, perhaps instinctively, how to judge the space. This entire ranch is a giant cage, under the ground and the ocean and Genis hates it.

Rodyle is just as off-putting as his ranch is. He's a Winger, but his wings are like nothing Genis has ever seen. They're…mutilated, scarred things, membranous rather than feathered. More like a bat or…or a dragon than a bird. The Cruxis Crystal doesn't help; he looks more monstrous than even Clara or Marble had when their Exspheres had gone out of control and Genis isn't sorry to see him go. (Did that make him a bad person? They killed him, his blood was all over the ground and some of the controls, but Genis wasn't sorry about this one. Rodyle had hurt people—a lot of people. He'd hurt Presea, and her sister, and Regal…He deserved it, didn't he?)

"We'll take over from here." How Botta can seem so unaffected by being here is beyond Genis. "The rest of you, escape through that hatch over there."

"Botta, you're okay!"

"Now's not the time for chit-chat. Leave now; you'll only get in our way."

Genis hadn't known how much he missed the sky. In the room outside the hatch, it's covered by a dome, but hey, there's sky out there and Genis can breathe a little easier.

When he looks back to Botta, the seawater is rising, coming up past their toes, their ankles… He races to the hatch with Lloyd, trying to open it. But it's either stuck, or locked. Genis and Lloyd scramble out of the way when all they hear is "Move!" and Regal charges past them, slamming his powerful legs into the window.

"Botta did this on purpose," Raine says, horrified. "They knew the water was coming and locked it from the inside." Genis stares into the control room, equally horrified. They're trapped in there. They chose to be trapped in there. "If the hatch opens, the water is going to flood in here as well. There's no place for the water to escape."

Botta's voice comes over the intercom. He sounds so tired… "We've stopped the self-destruct system."

"Botta! Open this door!" Lloyd shouts, hands balled into fists. "If we destroy the dome overhead…"

All three Renegades step up onto the higher level of the control room so they can see them properly. Their clothes are soaked to their knees, Genis notes grimly. "Our goal was to modify each ranch's mana reactor in order to fire mana at the Great Seed. Now that we've finished reprogramming this control room, our mission is complete. We need you to get the message to Yuan that we have succeeded."

"Tell him yourself! Open the door, now!"

Genis can only stare as Lloyd slices and bangs away at the thick glass. The water is still rising; it's flooded the control room's lower level.

"We pray for your success in regenerating the world. Please see to it that Martel is finally allowed her eternal sleep, for Yuan's sake as well."

A metal door comes down over the window. (They're dying in there. It was the only thought running through Genis' mind. They were dying, trapped. In a cage with no view of the sky. A cage that they'd chosen to die in, for the sake of their mission, for the worlds. And they hadn't looked afraid, they hadn't cried…They had to have families, people who would miss them…They were brave, so incredibly brave…)

There are dragons in this dome, their cages opening at the signal from the self-destruct system. Dragons are tough. Genis wants that on record. Their scales are magic-resistant—not proof. Magic still hurts them, most of the time, but the spells need to be strong—and they're smart things, learning strategies and these transport dragons are good at working in a group.

They're breathing hard, even after taking down a lot of them. "If we die here, we'll never be able to pass on Botta's message," Colette says and it's a rallying thought, it really is, but Genis is almost out of mana and he's exhausted. His ribs are aching and something's pressing into them, hard, and he really hopes they're not broken. When he puts his hand against his side to check, he touches the soft wood of the pipes.

"Mithos!"

It's a desperate move, but really, what other choice do they have? Mithos had told him to play it if he needed help.

Genis has never taken a music lesson. He is not a musically inclined kid—he can barely whistle—so what he plays isn't a tune, really. The sound comes out sweet and light, but there's no harmony to it.

Light rains down from the sky and they have to turn away to avoid the falling shards of glass from the broken dome. When Genis looks up again, all he can see is something flying overhead, dropping those balls of light with a terrifying accuracy on the dragons. The dragons drop, instantly, and whatever magic is causing that light has to be pretty powerful for that.

"Was that a Summon Spirit?" Genis wonders aloud.

"Genis! Raine! Everybody!" Mithos' voice sounds strange echoing down into the dome. "Please, get on these Rheairds!"

Genis gulps down air when the Rheaird hits the cloud layer. He can breathe again. "It's really you!" he says when he gets his breathing back to normal. He had wondered if maybe he had been imagining Mithos' voice. "But what was that attack just now? And how did you get a Rheaird?"

Mithos ducks his head a little, like he wants to hide behind his hair again, but that doesn't work when he's flying. "I'm sorry. I was worried about all of you and I just couldn't stay behind. So I asked the Renegades to let me borrow a Rheaird."

"But what was that powerful attack?" Colette asks from somewhere below them.

"That was—" Mithos begins. "Actually, I don't know. When I heard the flute, I tried my best to get inside, so I just started blasting the dome with fireballs. Then all of a sudden, a golden, sparkling bird appeared and helped me."

"Could it be Aska?" There's a burn on Sheena's left forearm, but she hasn't complained yet. Raine will rip into her later for not caring for it properly sooner.

"Do you think Genis called Aska when he played the flute?" Lloyd asks.

There's talk of investigating the flute, but Mithos is the voice of reason. "You guys should rest. You haven't gotten a break since we left for the Otherworldly Gate. We should head back to Palmacosta. I must apologize to Neil…I left without telling him."

"I didn't know how amazing you are, Mithos!" Genis exclaims, grinning wide at him. "You saved our lives!"

He doesn't seem to know how to take that. "Oh, uh—it's nothing."

"I really am sorry, y'know," Genis tells Mithos that night in Palmacosta's inn. They're going to take him back to Tethe'alla in the morning. It's hard to see his friend in the next bed; he can't tell if Mithos is angry with him about breaking it. "About your flute…I know how important it must be to you."

(He really couldn't have known, couldn't have imagined the truth. Martel's flute, Martel who had been Mithos' sun and moon and stars…Mithos had been planning on giving it to her when she was resurrected, had been planning on seeing her bright smile at the sight of it. Their father had taught her to play, back in Heimdall, so Mithos stole this set of pipes for her sixteenth birthday…)

"I told you it was okay," Mithos says softly. His voice really isn't very loud, and it has a strange accent sometimes, but Genis likes the sound of it.

Genis doesn't believe him, but he doesn't want to upset him by continuing to talk about it. "…what was your sister like?"

Mithos curls up into himself a bit, face half-hidden against the pillow. "…she was my sister."

It's the best answer he could have given Genis, who loves Raine so much, who has been both sister and mother, who taught him to read and tie his shoes, who would tie pieces of cardboard to his arms so he could pretend to fly around their little house.

"Sisters are amazing, huh?"

The smile on Mithos' lips is half-bitter. "Yeah…"

Colette giggles when they chase each other around and she'll fly out of his reach for just a moment until she comes down again. It's friendly and teasing and fun; sometimes, Lloyd will jump in too. Even though he's not a Winger, he jumps high and can keep pace with Colette when she flies. It's the Exsphere at work, Genis knows; it's the reason why they're all still alive at all.

Sometimes, if they're on a high mountainside or something, Genis will stand so that his toes are off the very edge, like he's ready to dive, and he thinks, I could jump.

Mithos has a fair hand with a needle, Genis learns on one of their visits in between making pacts with the other Summon Spirits. He is always happy to see them, and they usually find him outside the house. It's not such a strange thing. Most dwarves preferred to live underground—Dirk is an exception—and Wingers are decidedly not meant to live without open air.

They go back injured sometimes, and Tabatha will help them bandage the wounds that Raine either can't or won't heal. If the body becomes too used to healing mana, it will stop taking care of itself, she explains, so she doesn't heal the little things.

Lloyd had gotten new swords, when they'd stopped in Meltokio before going to Shadow's Temple. He hadn't fought with them against Shadow—to do so is to invite trouble, using swords that he isn't used to—but when they rest at Altessa's, he's training outside with them, getting accustomed to their weight and how they shift, when one slips a bit, slicing open his arm.

Raine is in Sybak, with Regal and Colette, to pick up some supplies. Mithos doesn't even panic at the sight of Lloyd's arm covered in blood when he comes to wash it off in the sink; just sits him down and fetches a sewing kit, some rubbing alcohol and a wash cloth from a cabinet.

Mithos ties his hair back quickly, a short, messy motion before sitting at Lloyd's side. "Hold still," he warns him. "This is going to sting a bit."

He dabs the alcohol and Lloyd hisses at the pain, tensing. With one hand, Mithos keeps a firm grip on Lloyd's bicep so he doesn't pull away, and keeps dabbing with the other. Mithos inspects the injury before threading the needle and disinfecting it. As he begins to stich—with a warning look at Lloyd to not move—he starts humming.

It's nothing that Genis recognizes; just a sweet, simple tune. But it helps Lloyd relax and the stitches are done in no time.

They're well done too, Genis notes. With a Healer for a sister, he has a good eye for medical practices and these stitches are neat and clean. Mithos goes to grab some bandages, still humming and when he comes back, wraps Lloyd's arm.

"Try to avoid using it too much," Mithos tells him. "You're right-handed, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Lloyd grimaces, already understanding how much annoyance this is going to cost him.

"Where did you learn medicine?" Genis asks as he watches Mithos pack everything away.

"…My sister taught me. She was learning to be a doctor before she died, and we always had to take care of each other, so…"

"Oh." Genis doesn't know what to say to that. (His sister had been a doctor in training…just like Raine was a Healer. They were so alike and yet, different in all the broken places)

"You don't have to apologize," Mithos says, stopping short of the cabinet that he pulled the supplies from.

"Huh?"

"You were thinking about it, right? Saying 'I'm sorry', even though it's in no way your fault?"

"Yeah. I-I must be picking up some bad habits from Colette."

Mithos snorts as he crouches and puts the supplies away. "She's contagious like that."

(This was a different Mithos, or just a different side of him. He was a little more bitter, a little more sad, but the way he'd taken care of Lloyd had been efficient, no-nonsense, like he'd done the same thing a hundred times, but he had still been kind about it, had been careful not to hurt Lloyd more. Genis kind of liked that side of him too, just as much as he liked the sweeter one he was used to)

The others find out about Mithos' humming pretty soon too. He does it while he helps Tabatha clean, or so she tells them, and he does it when he helps preen their wings. He's still uneasy about letting everyone near his, so Genis or Raine are usually the only ones he lets anywhere near them.

He collects the loose feathers, they notice. Sheena asks him why, once.

"We can make things out of 'em. Jewelry or to stuff pillows…" Mithos glances around at them, lingering longer at Colette, Raine and Genis. "You guys have never done that?"

They shook their heads. "It's a really nice idea though," Colette says. "Can you teach me how?"

Mithos does, showing them how to clean the feathers and hook little pieces of wire through them. Lloyd joins in on that too, and Sheena, and soon they've got a few pairs of earrings and Lloyd manages to make a hair pin. Genis laughs as Lloyd and Colette struggle to hold her hair up with it.

(He didn't notice it then, didn't think anything of the odd smile on Mithos' face as he watched them, but when Genis would look back, he would recognize the expression as not entirely Mithos. Some part of it was Yggdrasill, detached and amused at the inferior beings going about their lives)

"Maybe they're some kind of songbird," Genis says one night as they're doing the dishes. "Your wings, I mean." He jumps when Mithos drops a plate back in the sink. "Did I say something wrong?"

("Hey, Songbirds!" some former patients would call when they saw him and Martel on the street. Yuan used to call them that too, sometimes. "C'mon, Songbirds, let's go." Most of the military had called them that, honestly, since you didn't go to war and not end up in Martel's infirmary at least once)

"N-No. Sorry." Mithos hooks a false smile on his face. "I just spaced out. What were you saying?"

"Your wings. Maybe when they're fully grown, they'll be kind of songbird."

"Well…" Mithos starts slowly, fishing the dropped plate out from underneath the suds. "My sister used to say that I'd probably be like a canary."

Genis considers the mental image and laughs. "I don't think yellow is your color."

"Ha, that's what I told her."

Genis likes to watch Mithos fly a little. He can't fly far, not without his wings being fully grown, but he flaps from ledge to ledge, leaping off of cliffsides fearlessly. He glides really well too, when he can get high enough, floating along in the air and even diving smoothly.

"You're really good at this," Genis says from his perch on one of the ledges. It had been a climb for him to get up here, but the rocks are warm and he feels like he can just sink into them.

"I didn't really have a whole lot else to do in Ozette," Mithos says. "So I practiced a lot." He flops down beside Genis, spreading his wings out to take in the sun. He rests his head in his arms. "What about you? What's Iselia like?"

"It's really quiet," Genis tells him, copying his position and lying so that they're face to face. His wings haven't grown much more, but he feels lighter, and he knows his flight muscles have been getting stronger. Raine says that it means he probably has a growth spurt coming on. "It's a farming town, and they have these orchards that smell so nice at the end of summer. Everybody knows each other there."

"But they didn't know, did they? About your wings?"

Genis shakes his head. "No. Sylvarant is…it's better, in general, to Wingers, but it's still not safe for us. There are some little places that are. There's a community of them in Asgard, and Hima is this town out in the mountains where no one really goes too often except travelers, so it's pretty much run by Wingers."

"Wow, a whole town of Wingers? That sounds like a dream," Mithos laughs.

"It's not a big town. One schoolhouse, an inn, maybe ten houses in all. It's a waystation, mostly."

"It could grow. What about that other town I've heard you mention? Luin?"

"That town was beautiful. I wish you could have seen it before the Desians destroyed it."

Mithos hums. "Describe it to me?"

"It was built on this big lake and there were bridges connecting all the different areas of the town. The people were all friendly and there were a lot of kids there too. Sheena lived there for a little while and she played with them."

"Were there Wingers there?"

"Yeah. I don't know what the attitude of the town was, but I saw some older parents there, keeping an eye on the kids."

"That sounds a bit like paradise. Humans and Wingers living together like that."

"I thought you said it was impossible for us to even be friends." Genis still remembers Mithos' words that day, when they found him.

"I dunno anymore. I mean, you and Lloyd are best friends."

"Well yeah."

"I don't think that all humans are like though." Mithos' eyes—such a bright, clear blue, like the summer sky—go dark. "I don't think that there's a way for us all to live together in harmony. They're always going to hate us."

"I think it's possible. I mean," Genis rolls over onto his back, careful not to squish his wings. "People just need to see it. They need to see that we're not that different. We can help each other."

He hears Mithos move before he sees him, face above his, the ends of his hair tickling Genis' forehead. His smile is beautiful, soft-edged and fond. "You're so hopeful, Genis. And so strong, to not lose that hope in all this."

Genis glances away; it's hard to keep eye contact with Mithos sometimes. He's got a presence you simply can't ignore. (Strong? No one had ever called him that before. He was never the strong one; that was Lloyd or Kratos or Regal. Colette was too, in a different way, and so was Raine. All of them were, but him?) "I'm not strong."

"You are to me."

There's a moment of hesitation and the next thing Genis knows, Mithos is close enough that he can count his eyelashes. They're darker than his hair, but Genis doesn't know if they're soot-darkened yellow or gold-dusted black and the next moment, he isn't thinking anything because Mithos' lips are on his.

They're gone the next second. Genis just blinks up at him, stunned. "What was that?"

Mithos' cheeks pink a little. "Aren't you supposed to be a genius or something? It's called a kiss."

Genis sits up so that they're eye to eye. "I know that, but…"

Mithos isn't meeting his gaze. "I told you I liked you, Genis. I just—never figured out how much 'til just now."

"You like me," Genis repeats. His brain is stuck; it doesn't want to process the information.

"It's—it's okay if you don't like me back." Mithos is scooting away now, towards the edge of their ledge. "We can just pretend this didn't happen."

Mithos' movement triggers something inside Genis' brain. He knows somehow that if he lets Mithos go now, when he'll certainly fly back down to Altessa's and do just as he said, pretend that this never happened, he'll lose him forever, lose this new best friend—or something more—just as quickly as he found him.

Scrambling to his feet, Genis grabs Mithos' wrist and tugs him back. "No, I do. I do like you, Mithos. I just—didn't expect this."

Those big blue eyes are staring at him warily, like Mithos expects this to be some kind of trick. "Really?"

"Yes, really." To prove his point, Genis goes on his toes to kiss him. It's sloppy and their noses knock into each other, but Mithos is really warm, and he can feel him smiling. He pulls back, cheeks pink and yup, there's the smile, warm and fond and lovely.

Iselia looks so small now, Genis thinks. It had been his whole world once. He hadn't been able to imagine a life outside of it, but now? Now he's seen vast deserts and tundras, has soared above the ocean, has seen enormous cities carved in stone, and cities built on beach sands.

(Not to say that he didn't miss it. The orchards are in bloom now—it had been the beginning of autumn when they left, with the harvests on the way—and they so sweet. Not the kind of sweet that Ozette had burned, but a softer kind. Many of the houses that had burned were rebuilt, some were being worked on when they walked through the gates and…Genis had felt something in him shrink when he saw the villagers' eyes on them, on their exposed wings. He should be proud of them, shouldn't he? But it was hard to be when he was looked at like that)

"This is an outrage! Those who were banished returning without permission…the Chosen failed atrociously…it's the end of the world!"

"Well, he certainly hasn't changed," Genis mutters to Lloyd, making sure it's loud enough to be heard.

The Mayor whirls on him. "And on top of that, people we thought were human are actually…winged?" He spits the word out, like it's dirty. It makes Genis bristle. "I bet you were the ones who led the Desians here to attack this village!"

"What did you say?!" The notion is ridiculous and Genis is glad that some other people think so, speaking up on his behalf.

"He's only a child, Mayor!"

"I don't care if he's only a child! He's winged!"

Lloyd moves a little in between them, temper sparked. (He'd grown, Genis realized from this angle. He'd known that Lloyd was growing still, obviously. Time didn't just stop on their journey, but he could see it. His shoulders were a little broader, and he'd begun to fill out with all the muscle he'd been building) "I've heard enough out of you! Now listen. It's true that the Professor and Genis have wings, but so what?! There are good Wingers just like there are bad humans!"

"What does a kid know? You were raised by a dwarf." The mayor says that like it's a dirty word too. "It's no wonder you caused the Chosen to fail her journey! And you even brought a bunch of dirty prisoners back here! It's intolerable how much pain you've caused the good humans of this village."

"That's enough, you're just complaining about everything!" Genis stares as Chocolat moves up through the crowd, standing near Lloyd, arms folded and eyes fiery. "Does any part of you besides your mouth even work?"

"Yeah, you tell him!" Genis whirls around to look at Zelos, shocked that he would even say anything. Hasn't he always had a thing against Wingers? But one hand is on the hilt of his sword, not threatening, but more like a substitute for clenching his fist. "I've had all I can handle from this chump."

Presea's voice rises a little to be heard. "You criticize and attack people for their birth and upbringing—things they cannot change. It is you who are not human."

"What? We have an arrangement with the Desians!" the Mayor argued. "I have a duty to protect this village. Isn't that right?" There is a distinct lack of noise now; the people have stopped snapping at each other, and are all staring at him. "Say something!"

"Genis is the smartest person in this village." Genis looks down, recognizing one of Raine's students. He can't be more than seven or eight years old, but he's standing up to the mayor… "He even knows factorizations that you don't know."

"The Professor is scary when she's angry," a woman that he recognizes as Delia, who had always been sure to bake an extra cake for him and Raine on their birthdays from her bakery, says. "But when I know the answer, she's happy too."

"Lloyd isn't the smartest, but he is the strongest in the village. He saved me when I was attacked by monsters," another kid says.

"Colette is always falling down and stuff…but she never cries. She doesn't cry even when it hurts. She's really grown up." That's Marc, who's family grows a lot of flowers, and Colette likes to help him and his parents, who runs the flower shop, out, even if she's no good at it.

Raine makes a strangled sound in her throat before running, wings bumping into people. Genis stares after her; she's crying, he thinks. Raine doesn't cry very easily, and she's too proud to let people see her when she does.

"Shut up!" the Mayor shouts. "You children go away!" And they are children, to someone who is as old as the Mayor.

"Those children understand the truth much better than you!" Chocolat snaps. "Who do you think you are? And it's not just you! Everyone shoved all the responsibility on the Chosen, and Lloyd, and the others! What have you done? You haven't done anything!"

"We are powerless…" the Mayor tells her.

"…Yes, we are," the innkeeper's wife says slowly. "But even powerless, we can still aid the Chosen and her companions when they return home exhausted to this village. We will take the Chosen and her companions and the people from the ranch in. And Mayor, we're not going to let you say a word about it."

"Forcystus is dead," Chocolate says. "There are no more restrictions upon this village."

"Everyone…" Lloyd looks out at them all. "Are you sure?"

"I'm—I'm a Winger, remember?" Genis spreads his small wings out, makes sure they see them.

"Yes, you are." Anthony is a guard that had waved to Genis and Raine every morning on their way to school. "But you were also raised in this village. And Lloyd is like a member of this village too."

(Genis remembered Ozette, remembered Kate in Sybak, as well as Harley, Aisha, and Linar in Asgard, remembered how much people had done against Wingers. He remembered the heavy chains around his and Raine's wrists, heavy enough to make it difficult for even a grown Winger to fly away with them. He remembered Mithos, and how he didn't really believe that there was a way for Wingers and humans to live in harmony. He thought of Mithos living by himself in that village that hated him…)

"Th-thanks everyone."

Their house hadn't been rebuilt. Genis can't blame them, really; they'd been travelling, so they hadn't been a priority. But Raine is staring at the remains of their home, and yes, her eyes are a little red, but she looks like she's pretty much recovered.

"Professor, are you okay?" Lloyd asks.

"I-I'm fine." She pushes some of her hair back and out of her face. "Just—maybe this village has some hope left for it after all."

Genis forgets, sometimes, because he has no memories of living anywhere except Iselia, that Raine remembers. She remembers being exiled from Heimdall and being abandoned because of their genes. To have her neighbors stand up for them and accept them…it's an even bigger deal to her.

"Man," Zelos groans. "And I was really looking forward to seeing you chew out the Mayor."

That makes Raine smile a little, recognizing Zelos' effort to cheer her up. "I'm not stupid enough to waste my time lecturing pigs."

As they start walking back to Colette's house, Genis hangs back a little to slam into Raine with a hug. She returns the embrace tightly and he can feel her shaking a little until she settles, wings coming around him too. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he says into her shirt. They'd all washed up at Colette's house, but he can still smell the road on her, as well as the scent of old books that never seems to go away. "Just…the Mayor…"

"There's always stubborn people like that," she tells him. "All we can do is just work to change those around us little by little."

"So this is our first little step?"

She runs her hands through his hair, scratching a little at his scalp affectionately. "I would call it a great leap forward, actually."

Genis thinks back on everything and he burrows a little more into her shirt. "…I would call it that too."

Dirk's house is always a peaceful place. Genis has always liked it, with the scent of fresh soil and herbs, and the forest isn't oppressive like Gaoracchia had been. Lloyd had asked if he could tell Dirk about his wings when he began growing them; Raine had okayed it, but Genis had expected Dirk to treat him differently after he found out. He never has. Dirk always just smiles and welcomes him, asks him if he wants something to eat.

They decide that while they're here, they should rest properly and not simply keep walking. They're all gross with sweat, and blood, and worse from the road, so they take the opportunity to wash up. Genis is already on the second load, hanging the clothes up on the line.

"Hey," Lloyd greets. "How you doing, after all that back in the village?"

If there's anyone that he can tell about this, it's Lloyd. "…I feel like I'm starting to hate humans more and more," Genis confesses.

He half-expects Lloyd to be a little upset by that, but he just quirks his lips into a version of an understanding smile. "…I'm sorry, Genis."

"You don't have to apologize. I like you, as well as the people of Iselia. It's just that when I think about how there are lots of people who think just like the Mayor…" Genis trails off, not sure how he had been going to end that sentence. He goes for clothespins to hang up one of Sheena's shirts.

Lloyd grabs a wet shirt and some clothespins himself. "…Y'know…I remember a lesson where the Professor said that words exist for people to understand one another."

"Yeah, but what do you do about people who don't want to understand?" Genis flinches a little at the look on Lloyd's face. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to take it out on you. Just—don't worry about it."

Lloyd doesn't seem so sure, even as he starts walking away. Genis lets him go, still feeling like he needs to rant a bit, but he knows that Lloyd—however understanding he might be—isn't the person for this kind of rant. Mithos would understand, he thinks. Mithos would get it.

Colette helps him fold the clothes that night before bed. She's quiet, even more than usual.

"Are you okay, Colette?" Genis asks.

"It's—don't you think I'm disgusting?"

None of them had ever seen anything like the greenish scales that cover her left shoulder and even all the way over towards her collarbone. Why would she keep that a secret from them? "What? No way." Genis leans forward so she has to meet his eyes. "Please. It's weird, yeah, but it's not gross or disgusting, and we're going to find a way to fix it."

"You think so?"

Genis snorts, setting aside the pants he'd just finished and grabbing another piece of laundry from the stack. "Yeah. Lloyd made you a promise, didn't he? And he doesn't break his promises. And it's not like we're just gonna leave you behind—you're our friend!"

She smiles a little, and it's wobbly, not quite as sunny as it used to be, but it's a start. "Thank you, Genis."

"Besides, remember right when my wings first started growing? How my back was all flaky and stuff?" His nose wrinkles at the mere memory. "That was gross."

Her laughter rings out, bright and clear, like a surprise. "It was, a little bit."

His laughter joins hers and at one point, he thinks they sound a little too high-pitched, a little on the hysterical side because this is so much stress and worry and they shouldn't have to be worrying about this, but this—being here, in a safe place, with friends—helps.

It's difficult to tell, but there are yellowing bruises on Mithos' arms and shoulders, and one of his wings isn't quite right, bent a little out of shape. To be honest, after hearing that Mithos had saved Tabatha from the falling rocks, Genis had expected there to be more damage.

"You should get Raine to take a look at this," Genis tells him, brushing a hand along the base of his right wing. "It could be serious."

Mithos shakes his head. "No, I don't think so. My wing's just a little sore. It's okay."

"But—"

"Really, Genis, I'm okay." Mithos turns sideways so he can look at him. "It's been getting better. In a few more days, I'll probably be right back to normal." It's hard to not believe him when he smiles like that. Mithos takes one of Genis' hands, thumb running over the back. "What about you? You guys didn't get hurt with that tree rampaging?"

Genis shakes his head. "No, not really. The hard part was infiltrating the ranch." Genis grips Mithos' hand. "Oh! You should have seen it though. The people of Iselia—they stood up for us against the mayor."

Mithos' eyes go wide. "What?"

"Yeah! They defended us even though we're Wingers!"

"Wow. That's—that's unbelievable. I'm happy for you, Genis. You can go home again."

There's something about the way that Mithos is looking at him that makes Genis ask, "…you could live there too. After…all this. You could live with us." After all, Mithos doesn't have a home anymore and it's not like they can ask Altessa to take care of him forever.

"…You'd really want that?"

"Of course!" Genis laughs, though it's cut short by Mithos kissing him, hard. He softens up though, before breaking apart.

"That would be nice," Mithos says softly and he's close enough that Genis can feel every warm puff of breath.

"It's settled then," Genis tells him. "You're coming home with us."

The Ymir forest is muggy, and humid, and by the end of it, Genis just really wants a bath.

They're stopped at the gate though, and there are two Winger guards. They have a little machine that takes a bit of blood from each person's fingertip. As the two guards look through the results, one of them says, "Half-breeds aren't allowed in the village. This is a defensive measure against those who brought catastrophe to our village."

Even Colette isn't allowed in. Her blood still registers as human, but her wings are undeniable. Genis tells the others to go on without them; they need that cure for Colette.

Colette flutters about a bit; apparently, angels can take off from a standing position, even though she's not all that great at it. Genis finds himself a stump and sits on it, letting his legs rest. Raine sits across from him, fanning her wings out to release heat.

"So," Genis begins. "This is where we lived?"

"Yes."

Genis looks out at what he can see of the Winger village. Wooden homes, all with ladders allowing easy access to rooftops and he can spot a zip line running from a balcony to somewhere outside of his line of sight. Probably to help people gain liftoff, Genis thinks. What a nice looking place, a place where Wingers don't have to grow up isolated, like he and Raine, and Mithos, had. The full-blooded ones anyway.

"What were they like?" he asks finally. "Mom and dad?"

He's never asked. Or, maybe he had, when he'd been little, but he doesn't remember ever asking. Raine plucks a few flowers from the ground, braiding them absentmindedly. (She looked almost…girlish, then. Genis didn't remember ever not seeing Raine as an adult, someone to respect and look up to, but seeing her like that, with those flowers, he could kind of imagine Raine as a kid, growing up in this village with other Wingers and friends who she didn't have to hide from…)

"…Our father was a teacher at the schoolhouse here. He taught the older teenagers mostly, the ones almost done with school." Had that been why she'd chosen to be a teacher, Genis wonders. Because she had remembered their father, had wanted to follow his example? "I helped him grade his papers until dinner was ready, and after dinner, we used to read together in front of the fire."

Genis notices Colette settling on a branch higher up; she can still hear it all, he knows. Angelic senses are incredible, but this is an illusion of privacy at least. "And mom?"

Raine's fists clench around the flowers, crushing them, and she stays silent. Genis doesn't ask again.

The Latheon Gorge is hell on all of them, but Genis catches Raine peering out curiously at the powerful winds that blow throughout the gorge.

"What is it?"

"…This was a test, back in Heimdall. A dare, really. I remember seeing the older children sneaking out to try it. Flying through this gorge is difficult with the winds constantly changing and in all the different directions. A lot of them ended up in the infirmary because of it. I'm sure they've stopped the practice by now; it's quite dangerous."

Genis grins sideways at his sister. "But you still kinda wanna try it, don't you?"

He laughs at the look she levels him and follows the others up the hill.

The Storyteller's hut is very near the top of this gorge and it's chilly up here. It's a small place, but nice, and the Storyteller is very polite to all of them. He invites them to sit and have some tea while they talk. "It will warm your bones," he tells them.

His wings are a bit scraggly and ruffled, and they're beginning to thin out, a sign of age. They must have been majestic things once because they're pretty big and there are still flashes of copper if the Storyteller stands in the right light.

"Have you lived here long?" Raine asks, taking a seat. She doesn't have to turn the chair, like she has gotten used to over the years. These chairs, like the ones in the Renegade base, are very low-backed, accommodating for wings.

"Yes. I am the one who passes on the lore of the elven village to the next generation," the Storyteller replies as the kettle whistles. "Here, I weave various stories into the mana leaf cloth."

"What kinds of stories?" Presea asks.

"Legends of our kind descending from the sky, the birth of humans….the rise and fall of the Balacruf Dynasty. The arrival of angels, the Giant Kharlan Tree, the Kharlan War, and the story of the hero, Mithos."

"I thought the story of Mithos was taboo in Heimdall," Zelos says before thanking him as he poured the steaming cups of tea.

"This is not Heimdall. I live here to pass on the legends without being bound by the customs of Heimdall."

There's strength in the old Winger, and stubbornness too. The kind that Genis has seen in Harley, and the people in the lower quarters of Meltokio. In Mithos, too. A refusal to bend to people's will.

The Storyteller places a plate of biscuits on the table as well before taking a seat. "Just who was the hero, Mithos?" Lloyd asks. "We hear his name everywhere we go, from the Summon Spirit pacts and even curing Colette."

The Storyteller takes a long breath. "Mithos was…born in Heimdall. He was an outsider, who was cast out of the village when the Kharlan War began. He ended the Kharlan War with his three companions, so that he could return to the village."

"An outsider? Does that mean he was a half-breed?" Raine asks.

"I would not use that word, but yes. I prefer the term half-blood." The Storyteller smiles a little at her. "Not such a negative connotation, is it? But yes, he was a half-blood. Except for one of his companions—who was human—they were all half-bloods. They were treated as outcasts, but overcame that, and put an end to the war."

"Then why would his name be taboo?" Regal asks.

"It is because the hero, Mithos—beloved by Origin—is also a fallen hero."

"What do you mean, a fallen hero?" Lloyd asks, taking a bite of a biscuit.

"The ones who betrayed Origin and used the power of the magic sword given by Origin to split the world into two were none other than Mithos and his companions. Mithos Yggdrasill, his older sister Martel, and their two companions, Yuan and Kratos. The four angels changed the nature of the world and that is why their names are taboo in Heimdall."

Lloyd's cup shatters on the ground. "Yggdrasill of Cruxis is…the hero, Mithos?! And his companions were Martel, Yuan and Kratos? That's impossible!"

"Kratos is the friend of a hero from four thousand years ago?" Regal repeats. "No one can live that long."

"Angels can use special combat abilities developed during the Kharlan War. One ability use's the body's mana to alter its metabolism and stop its internal clock. This stops them from aging."

"We can't lose sight of the true goal," Raine says, setting her empty cup down. "We still need to save the two worlds and now we know that Origin's power is key."

"Thank you for telling us the story," Colette says, bowing her head. "We should be going."

They all thank him before leaving. It's an easier climb down than it had been going up. No one talks much, still absorbing the information they'd heard. Genis can't imagine not aging, can't imagine living for four thousand years. And from what they've seen of Kratos and Yuan, it doesn't even seem like they're friends anymore. Four thousand years alone…that sounds horribly lonely.

The Eternal Sword is a beautiful thing, shifting shades of purple, edged with white. The handle shimmers like diamonds and there are red gems imbedded into it. Lloyd wants to take it and make sure it's the Eternal Sword by taking it to the Elder in Heimdall.

"There's no way that they would leave something that important in a place like this," Zelos scoffs.

"What, in the Tower that only the Chosen has the key to?" Genis retorts. "Oh, and angels who are all soulless."

Zelos levels him with a glare; he just smirks back. Lloyd reaches for the sword, but the instant he steps into the pale blue glass circle surrounding it, a voice echoes out and Lloyd is thrown backwards.

"You have not the right." They all look towards the source; Yggdrasill is gliding towards them, long wings whispering through the air. He perches at the edge above the Sword's dais. "A waste of effort. The Eternal Sword cannot be touched by those who lack the right."

"The right?" Lloyd asks, getting to his feet cautiously.

"He must be talking about the pact with Origin!" Sheena realizes aloud. "That's the Sword that Yggdrasill tricked Origin into giving him!"

Yggdrasill's laughter is a soft, cold thing, much like his voice. "You really are a pathetic bunch. Still, it matters not. Origin is under Kratos' seal. Either way, it is impossible for you to wield that sword. And without the power of the Eternal Sword, you cannot reunite the worlds. Your journey is futile."

"Futile?!" Lloyd repeats, outraged. "You're the one who's making futile attempts to bring back the dead! Besides, what does splitting the world in two even have to do with that?"

"The worlds still exist only because they were separated into two." Yggdrasill reminds Genis of a tiger or a panther—a predator that seems lazy and at ease, but who can kill in a mere second.

"No. It's because of being split in two that there's not enough mana and countless people are suffering." Where does Lloyd get that kind of courage, Genis wonders. The kind that allows him to stand up and argue back to someone like Yggdrasill.

"Think for a moment. Why is there a shortage of mana? Well?" Genis' heart stops for a moment out of fear when Yggdrasill's eyes—a cold, empty blue, like winter skies—focus on him. "What do you think, my fellow kinsman?"

"Um…" Genis half-expects the question to be rhetorical, but it seems like the angel is legitimately waiting for an answer. "Because the development of magictechnology resulted in a large consumption of mana?"

"Yes…and that magitechnology led to a great war. War consumes an abhorrent amount of mana."

"Don't change the subject!" Lloyd snaps. "There's a mana shortage because you won't let the Great Seed germinate!"

"I am not changing the subject! Even if the Giant Tree were to be revived, another war would make it wither and die. Wars are caused by two opposing forces. That is why I split the world into two: to isolate the two powers that caused that foolish Kharlan War."

"By alternating by prosperity and dearth, the development of magitechnology is subdued," Raine says. "Right?"

"Very astute." Yggdrasill reminds Genis of Yuan, that day after Colette first got her soul taken away. A bit proud and impressed at Raine's intelligence. "Although, at the moment, Tethe'alla has prospered perhaps a little too long."

"You're lying," Lloyd accuses, taking a step forward. "You're sacrificing the Great Seed just to save Martel."

"That's right." Yggdrasill tilts his head in a decidedly bird-like manner. "Just as you abandoned the declining world of Sylvarant in order to save Colette." It's a cruel, precise jab at a sore spot that Lloyd hasn't quite gotten over. "What you're doing is exactly the same."

"No, it's not!" Genis doesn't know when he had made the decision to speak up—if he'd made it at all—but the words are tumbling out of his mouth faster than he can think. "Lloyd is looking for a way to save both Colette and the world. You're a coward who gave up!"

Yggdrasill seems unaffected by the accusation. "It is the same thing. I am trying to create a world without discrimination. That is the way to save the world. People fear and hate what is not normal." His wings spread a little, almost in demonstration. "They are scared of those who are different. Then the solution is for everyone to become the same. By using Exspheres to eliminate the different genes that separate Wingers and humans, everyone on this earth will become the same lifeless beings. Discrimination will vanish. That is the great age that I strive for."

"Everyone…would be the same?" Genis repeats. He thinks of Colette, of how much she enjoys her wings. He thinks of not having to be afraid of walking through the streets, of not having people hide their children and lock their doors when he and Raine buy groceries. Of not having to hide their wings.

Yggdrasill's face looks oddly gentle when he answers. "Yes. The Desians and Cruxis both exist for this purpose. The conflicts born from discrimination between the races will disappear, Genis."

"…People would stop treating us differently?"

"Genis, don't fall for it!" Lloyd's hand on his shoulder is warm affirming weight. "Think about how the Exspheres are made. They're made at the cost of people's lives. Like Marble. Don't you see what's wrong with that?"

"With revolution comes sacrifice. If you cannot understand that," Yggdrasill's eyes narrow at Lloyd. "Then you deserve to die with the others." He moves fast, too fast for someone of his size. Genis and Lloyd both backpedal at Yggdrasill's sudden proximity. "But first, you'll hand over the Chosen."

Yggdrasill fights like Kratos, Genis notes with dim horror. But he's not faster than him and his wings aren't built for that kind of maneuverability. His magic is incredible, though, brilliantly bright and painful. Genis has to keep himself constantly on the move, trying to avoid Holy Lances and Rays. They're more damaging than Raine's have ever been; Zelos takes one to his sword arm and Genis has to stop and stare because it nearly takes his arm off. He can actually see bone before Raine patches him up.

They don't notice at first, when Colette collapses. It's when Lloyd makes an opening for her and she's not there that he whirls around and sees her slumped on the floor. "Colette!"

It distracts Yggdrasill—his precious vessel for Martel potentially injured—long enough for Genis to shoot a quick fireball at him. He doesn't expect it to work as well as it does—he really has been getting stronger—and Yggdrasill clutches at his injured side.

In all the commotion, Genis doesn't notice Pronyma flying down. "Lord Yggdrasill!" she exclaims upon seeing him injured. Her eyes focus on Genis and he can feel the rage coming off her in waves. "You little vermin! You may be one of us, but you will pay for your treachery!"

His legs are stuck. They don't want to move, even though Genis can feel the mana welling up inside Pronyma's magic circle.

The next thing he knows, he's being shoved out of the way and there are enormous wings spread, catching any ricochets from the dark spell. When Genis gets his bearings, he stares at Yggdrasill, slumped over and his wings…there are burnt feathers and one of them isn't extending right.

"W-why?" Genis stutters out.

His question isn't answered. Yggdrasill just sucks down a breath and stands upright. From this angle, Genis can see the damage his fire had done all along the left ribcage and there are splashes of darker, deeper burns from Pronyma's spell on the sides of his shoulders where his wings hadn't caught it. "Pronyma. Why are you here?"

"Sir, ah, new activity to that certain matter has…"

"Understood." Yggdrasill looks past Genis to where Lloyd is still crouched by Colette. "Not always is there a way to save everyone. Remember that. Lloyd, the path you seek is nothing but an illusion."

Both Yggdrasill and Pronyma teleport away. It takes them all a moment for the adrenaline to fade and to understand that they're no longer in danger. Genis picks himself up off the floor, still not quite believing what had just happened.

"Why'd he let us go?" Lloyd wonders.

Genis starts walking towards him when his foot hits something. He crouches down to take a look and, at first, his eyes don't quite know what they're seeing. It's not until he picks it up that he recognizes the soft, old wood that's now cracked. "It can't be." But he knows this flute, knows its broken edges and the runes along its surface. He knows the sound it makes when it's played.

"What's wrong, Genis?" Presea asks, coming closer.

He doesn't know why his first instinct is to hide it, but he does, slipping it into his pocket as he stand back up. He smiles falsely at her. "N-nothing."

Mithos helps Zelos cook dinner as they wait on Tabatha and Altessa to cure Colette. Genis keeps an eye on Mithos, watching how he moves, the way he talks.

(And he could see it…could see how, sometimes, Mithos did that same bird-like head tilt, or how he kept his hair out of his eyes. And he was moving a bit gingerly sometimes, though everyone was too focused on Colette to notice and Genis knew that he'd been healed from the falling boulders a while ago)

He and Mithos share a bed in Altessa's house. There's simply not enough room for nine extra people in this house, and, before now, it hadn't been something that Genis minded. But that night, after Colette had been pronounced cured and they all nodded off, he feels a sense of unease for the first time around Mithos.

Mithos notices, of course. He's always been observant. "Something wrong, Genis?"

He doesn't even know how to start, doesn't know how he can even talk about the subject without bringing potential death from a sociopathic angel upon them. So he says, "Nothing. Just tired. It was a long day."

"I'll bet." Mithos curls up facing him. His wings are fine though, Genis notes. No sign of burns. "It would be really scary, going up the Tower of Salvation like that. And angels are terrifying, the way you describe them."

"They are." But not as terrifying as finding out there's a genocidal angel sharing your bed. "I was so scared…I couldn't move sometimes today. I thought I was going to stay stuck up there like a statue."

"No way." And Mithos smiles at him, beautiful and encouraging and it would be so easy to forget all that he's found out today. "You're strong, remember, Genis?" One hand comes up, infinitely gentle as he strokes loose hairs away from Genis' face.

"…If you say so."

"I do." Mithos curls a bit closer, and one of his wings drapes over Genis protectively, like it always has. (There had to be something wrong with the food that night. Otherwise, Genis would never have managed to sleep, not with a monster in his bed)

It's the middle of the night when Genis feels the shift of the mattress. He's still woozy enough to not question it much; maybe Mithos is just going to the bathroom. It takes a few minutes to convince himself not to go back to sleep—his instincts are buzzing at the base of his skull, and when he shifts, he feels the press of the flute against him and that's what makes him get up from the bed.

He hears it before he goes outside.

"That was a pretty amusing scheme you had going on." It's Mithos' voice, but it's harder, colder. Genis almost doesn't recognize it. "Hard to believe those filthy Renegades that were always getting in my way…were actually led by you. If it weren't for my sister's wishes to spare your life, I'd kill you right now."

Genis is still frozen there, but Raine, Presea, Altessa and Tabatha are running towards the commotion and that makes him move. He flinches at the snap of hollow bones and at the unnatural angle of Yuan's left wing.

"Mithos…so it's true…"

"What's true? That you shouldn't have trusted me? Good guess, Genis!" Mithos is something otherworldy under the moonlight, something sharper and crueler, his eyes icy. "Because I didn't trust you either!"

The spell doesn't hit Genis, but it's very close; he can feel the heat of it brushing along his arm. Who's…he hears Presea's gasp and Altessa's groan of pain, and, when he looks, Altessa's in worse shape than even Zelos had been earlier.

And then there's Tabatha's robotic voice. "Mithos…saved me." Another spell, but this one is hotter, a little wilder and Genis hears Tabatha hit the ground. "Mithos…save me…Mithos…"

(Mithos couldn't stare at his sister's face—looking younger than she'd been when she was killed—and have her saying that. He hadn't saved Martel. She'd died in their arms because they'd all been too slow, too weak…)

"How could you do that?" Raine asks. "You even risked your life to save her!"

"Mithos, why are you doing this?" Genis pleads. He needs an answer, any answer. "How could you hurt Tabatha and Altessa? You got along so well with them…"

"Tabatha," Mithos scoffs. "That doll looks so disturbingly like my sister. I never could stand her! She's a failed vessel who couldn't accept my sister's soul. Just looking at her makes me sick!"

"You little bastard!" Lloyd shouts. "How dare you betray my best friend!"

Genis doesn't make it before the Demon Fang hits Mithos, but he moves in between them because he knows Lloyd will go on a rampage right now if he lets him. "Lloyd, stop! Please, you're both my friends." He doesn't even know why he's saying that about Mithos. Mithos has lied to them every step of the way.

Pronyma appears in the glow of a teleportation circle, temporarily lighting up the night. "Lord Yggdrasill," It's odd to hear little Mithos be addressed with that title. "Your wounds are not yet healed. Please, leave this to the angels."

Mithos glows silver and, the next moment, Yggdrasill stands in his place, with his long wings still bearing the marks of his injuries. "All right." His voice is still Mithos' and that sends shivers through Genis because that voice is the one that had murmured in his ear, had played with him. It doesn't belong to that terrifyingly cold face.

The angels distract them from Mithos, Pronyma and Kratos' disappearance. They're all still a bit sluggish from the drug, but Genis is feeling rather vindictive right about now, so his spells slice stronger, burn hotter, even if his aim is not as great as it can be. It feels good to hit something right now.

It's as the angels' bodies slump that Mithos' voice echoes across the cliffs. "No life should be born for the sole purpose of dying?" There's a cruel curl to it now. "What do you think those Exspheres are that you're using?"

Genis can't stop staring at Tabatha, splayed out on the ground. She's still trying to speak, but her words don't make any sense. That doll looks so disturbingly like my sister… Genis has never seen a photo or anything really, of Martel Yggdrasill, but in Tabatha's face, for the first time, he can see a resemblance to Mithos. Perhaps it's his imagination, but he sees it in the delicate lines, the pert nose. He wonders, if Tabatha had been capable of smiling, if she would have that same beatific smile that Mithos has.

Altessa, though. Genis goes to kneel by his sister, a silent offer of assistance. He can't do healing magic, not even a First Aid, but he can get bandages, can fetch water. Anything to take his mind off of Mithos.

Altessa is in really bad shape. Light magic doesn't burn like fire magic does. It burns like a laser and Genis stares because this damage is worse than anything he's ever seen. Altessa had caught it full-frontal and his chest is a mottled mess of organs and muscle and skin, cauterized and easy to infect. But Raine is struggling to even seal the surface of the wounds and Genis knows that he can't do anything to really help.

When he turns and sees Yuan, struggling to stand and taking his cape off before binding his wing in a quick, efficient movement (They'd been soldiers, Genis remembered. They had been on front lines, had killed people and watched their own comrades be killed. And this was just another type of battlefield) he asks aloud, "…Why would Mithos do this?" It seems so deliberately cruel, to go through the trouble to have them put their faith in him only to turn around and betray them.

No one answers him, but he hadn't really been expecting anyone to. Genis just needs to hear his own voice to make sure he's still here.

Yuan doesn't bother talking to them for long. Lloyd goes to make sure he's okay, but Yuan doesn't even seem to be entirely here right now. He must be in an enormous amount of pain; Genis had heard Mithos hurting Yuan before he'd come out, and had seen the breaking of his wing. How can he still be so focused, so put together?

"You…didn't approve of Mithos' Age of Flight?" Lloyd asks quietly.

"That is just a result of a twisted perception of Martel's last wish." The words come out a bit harsher than they had probably been intended. "It's not what she truly desired."

"What was Martel's last wish?"

Yuan looks away, face shuttering closed. "She said she wanted to see a world free from discrimination."

(How much of it had been a lie? Genis ran Mithos' words all through his mind and he was finding it hard to find a single outright lie in it all. He'd carefully worded it so it was the truth, but really, they were only lies of omission. Genis remembered how Mithos had spoken of his sister, how much love and pain had been there. Wouldn't he be the same though? If Raine died, was killed because of humans? Because of hatred? Wouldn't he want to bring her back?)

Genis doesn't sleep that night. None of them do. Raine is exhausted by the end of the night. Healing artes don't work very well on people who don't use Exspheres. He and Raine ride on the same Rheaird to Flanoir to find the doctor that Sheena knows; they'll likely do a better job than any of them can anyway.

Genis settles back into Raine, taking advantage of her warmth against him. "Mithos…really was Yggdrasill."

"Genis…" she begins quietly. "You knew…didn't you? Why didn't you say anything?"

She doesn't sound upset, just curious and a bit disappointed. "Because I didn't want to believe it. He was my friend…he was so nice…" Genis hasn't told anyone about the actual nature of the relationship that he and Mithos had shared. It had been nice, to have something private, something his own. When you travel with seven other people for so long, it's almost impossible to have that. And Mithos had depended on him, had thought he was worth looking up to. No one else had ever thought that of him.

"Genis, don't let him trouble you," Raine murmurs, kissing his hair. Her arm around his waist tightens. "Don't let him lead you astray. Do you understand?"

"I know, I know…but…the tears just won't stop." Every time he thinks he's okay, that he's cried enough, thoughts of Mithos invade his mind and they start all over again. His head is throbbing from so much crying and his nose has been runny all night.

He's happy to be in Flanoir, to feel the cold. He tucks his wings in tight to help keep warm as they march through the snow, following Sheena through the city. Sheena, Presea, Regal and Raine offer to escort the doctor to Altessa's house. Genis curls under the blankets on his bed at the inn, the fire blazing. The snow is really pretty out, but he doesn't feel up to leaving.

There's no way that Genis is getting to sleep, but he has kind of reached a dozing, meditative state when the knock comes. A moment later, and he hears the door open.

"Genis?" Lloyd calls quietly.

"Hey, Lloyd," Genis greets, but he doesn't move.

It takes a moment before he feels the bed sink behind him. It's a comforting feeling; he's never slept in a room by himself. Even back in Iselia, he and Raine shared the space. He can't fall asleep without someone else's breathing, or Regal's quiet snores.

"I just—I wanted to make sure you were doing okay," Lloyd says, voice low. "I know that Mithos was your friend and…"

"I'll be okay." He doesn't know why he says it. Genis doesn't even really believe it. You're strong, Genis. Maybe Mithos had been right; maybe he is stronger than he believes. "It just—it hurts."

"I know." Lloyd's hand along his wing is warm, gently stroking the feathers and absently plucking out any wayward ones. "But…it seemed like we were making sure everyone else was okay. I didn't want to ignore you."

Genis rolls over a bit so he can look at Lloyd properly. His cheeks are pink—it can't be from embarrassment, so perhaps he'd been outside for a bit, enjoying the snow—and his eyes look too old for his face. (Like Mithos' were, like Yuan and Kratos' were, and for the first time, Genis could kind of see the resemblance. It wasn't just in the eyes. Kratos was in the line of Lloyd's jaw, in strong line of his nose, even the way he stood, sometimes)

"Thank you, Lloyd, for remembering me."

Lloyd smiles and the resemblance to Kratos is almost entirely gone. Genis wonders what Anna had looked like. She must have been pretty, he thinks, and probably had Lloyd's smartass-ness. It's hard to imagine Kratos falling in love with someone like that. Hard to imagine Kratos falling in love with anyone, actually. "I could never forget you, Genis. But you look like you need some rest." Lloyd slides off the bed and ruffles Genis' hair affectionately. "Get some sleep, okay? I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah. G'night, Lloyd."

Genis backpedals when roots come striking down from above, bumping into Presea. "What the—"

"It won't let us through!" Lloyd hisses. There's a bloody scratch along one of his cheeks where the roots had caught him.

"Hey—this looks like leftovers from earlier." Sheena moves past them, studying the strange plant clinging to the edges of the spiral staircase. "Yep. No doubt about. This is from the Giant Tree. Guys, just stand back and leave this to me."

Sheena's mana swells when she summons her Spirits; Genis has never been near her when she summons more than one and the sheer amount of power is almost suffocating.

"What are you doing?" Genis asks.

She tosses a grin over her shoulder; she's come a long way from the awkward assassin they had first met in Sylvarant. "It's my impression of the Mana Cannon. Well, it won't be nearly as powerful, but it should be enough to get rid of this thing. When I give the signal, run underneath it."

They scramble across the bridge at Sheena's signal. Genis feels it before it happens; the remnants of the Tree collapsing and bringing some of the structural support with it. They all look back to find Sheena getting to her feet, brushing dust and dirt off.

"That was amazing!" Lloyd laughs. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Sheena sounds exhilarated, her voice coming breathless, but she's smiling. "Just…don't ask me to do it again, okay? That drained all my mana. I'm just gonna rest over here for a bit—"

Genis jumps when Sheena screams and he pushes past Lloyd to see Sheena clinging to the edge and there's a root wrapped around her ankle, trying to pull her down into it. "Hang on, Sheena!"

"What do you—think I'm doing?"

Raine takes a running start to fly across, but she has to backwing out because there's more than just the one root. If she gets near Sheena, she'll get dragged down too. Genis and Presea grab Raine as she lands back on their side, helping her regain her balance.

"Don't risk it!" Sheena calls. "Just—keep going!" None of them want to move, but then they hear Sheena's laughter, bubbling up until it's loud, even if a bit strained.

"Wh—what's wrong with you?" Lloyd asks, bewildered. "Why are you laughing?"

"I was just remembering the time when we first met. It looks like I have a strong affinity for falling into holes!"

"Just—hang on, we're coming around."

"Don't you worry about me. I'll be—"

"This is not the time to be acting tough!" Lloyd snaps.

"Who says I'm acting? It'll be just like last time, when I climbed out of the bottom of that stupid pit and I still took you on. And this time—I won't miss the main event. You better leave me a piece of the action, you hear me, Lloyd?!"

"…okay. We'll be waiting for you, okay?"

Raine is working on the console in the middle of the room, blue eyes glowing from the light of the screens. Lloyd is building up some manic energy; Genis can feel him practically vibrating with it and he can't blame him. Zelos has betrayed them, taking Colette. They had been forced to leave Regal and Sheena behind, and Genis isn't as hopeful as Lloyd is. He doesn't think they're ever going to see them again and the knowledge is hollow in his chest.

The first door opens and Raine cries out in pain as floor tiles tumble beneath her. Genis sees her flapping to safety, but—there's something off about the rhythm.

"Professor Sage! Are you alright?" Genis holds one of Lloyd's wrists because he can tell that Lloyd needs the comfort—they're still here, they're not all gone—and he needs the anchor, needs Lloyd's strength because he can guess what's coming and he doesn't want this to happen. (But if he didn't let it happen, Colette would become Martel and Mithos' Age of Lifeless Beings will be a reality. But his sister would be alive to see it happen. Genis would have more time with her…)

"I'm fine!" Genis hears the lie for what it is, but he can't say anything. They need to press forward. "I just made a minor input error. I'm opening the next door."

There are mutated looking plants behind the doors and they're taken care of soundly. Lloyd is starting to figure it out, but Genis is waiting for him to try and rescue Raine, is ready to grab him and drag him by force if he has to. When Genis glances at Presea, he knows she's ready to do the same.

"Professor Sage, we reached the other side! Hurry!"

The three of them stare in horror as the room shakes. Raine catches Genis' eye and he sees her raise her wings in explanation. One of them doesn't go up all the way; there's blood splashed on her feathers and something is pinning her to the spot. (Mithos set up these traps. He knew how terribly fragile Wingers could be and he harpooned his sister…Genis' fists shook and for the first time, he wanted to punch Mithos, wanted to hurt him because this was Raine…that was a line he didn't think Mithos would ever cross)

But Raine is standing as tall as she can, and Genis holds back the tears because he can't cry. Not now, when she's being so brave. "Lloyd, this room will soon collapse. Hurry up and go."

"No! I'm not leaving you behind! I don't want to sacrifice anyone anymore!"

"Sacrifice? When did anyone become a sacrifice?" Her smile is an odd kind of serene. "I believe in your ideals. A world that would accept those of our kind. I believe in your vision of the world. It has become my hope. I came all the way here to realize that dream. I've no regrets."

"Saving the world won't mean anything if we lose you." (Lloyd never knew his mom. He only knew her in whatever imaginings he'd had while at her grave. Raine was the closest thing he had and he didn't want to lose her…)

"My soul will live on in the world you create. But if your ideals die, then my hope dies as well. Living on without hope is worse than death, don't you think?"

"I—I don't understand that!"

"If you don't understand, then make use of your remaining life to think about what it means for a person to live. That's my final lesson to you as your teacher. Now go. Do as your teacher says."

Lloyd's clenched up; he doesn't want to go, but Genis tugs at him. "We have to go." And his voice cracks, and he hates it when that happens, but the shaking is getting worse and he knows that Raine doesn't want any of them to see her break.

They run and Genis has never felt weaker.

Genis runs back to the intersection of the corridors, nearly running into Lloyd. There are barriers, blue and humming low and Genis doesn't want to imagine what happens when they touch them.

"We'll just have to attack it at the same time and smash our way through!"

"Is that gonna work?" Genis asks skeptically, but his claustrophobia is kicking in hard right now. No windows, no sign of the sky for ages and now they're boxed in. (Most Wingers had some kind of claustrophobia. It was in their blood. Literally. They weren't met for tiny enclosed spaces with no room to spread their wings)

"Dwarven Vow number sixteen: You can do anything if you try! We're dead anyway if we fail. Give it all you've got!"

Genis sees the problem with the plan—even if by some miracle, it works—but he knows Lloyd won't. He wants to bring it up, wants to tell him. Genis doesn't want to die alone. He doesn't want to die at all, but especially not alone. Not here, cooped up and afraid.

He doesn't want to die seeing Lloyd's face when he figures it out.

Lloyd makes it through the hole in the barrier. He's fast. Genis never has been. "See, look, it worked!" Lloyd says, breathless with relief. But he hasn't turned around yet.

Genis forces his voice out, forces it not to shake. You're strong, remember, Genis? "It was pretty good for one of your plans, Lloyd. The only flaw was that you didn't take into account my lack of physical reflexes."

And there it is, Lloyd's face of dawning realization and horror. "You…did that to get me out? You…you knew it would end up like this. Why did you do it?"

"If you'd been in my place, you'd have done the same thing," Genis retorts. "You always jump in without thinking to save someone in trouble. But it was that Lloyd that I looked up to. I-I wanted to be like you." Strong. Brave. Just once, he had wanted to be something more than he's always been. "Now hurry up, before it's too late."

"No way! I can't leave you behind!"

The barriers are closing in, inching ever closer. Genis glances around, and he feels the fear infect him, feels it closing off his lungs, his heart. He can't keep his voice steady. He's managed it all this time, but now… "I said, go! I'm…not like you. I'm a coward. When it comes down to it, my body starts shaking…" Just like Raine's trap had, before they'd run. He can hear his wings rustling now; they sound like autumn leaves in the wind. "I don't want you to see me looking pathetic in the end. I said, go!"

Genis' legs don't hold him up anymore. He watches Lloyd disappear into the teleporter and the barriers are coming closer. Genis crunches up, fingernails scraping along the ground. He's alone. He's going to die alone, in this horrible, featureless, crumbling corridor and he won't see the sky ever again. He won't see the ocean, or ever get to fly on his own.

Sobs wrack his body; dying is never a pretty thing, he thinks. The books and poems all make it seem that way, but it never is.

It takes him long minutes to realize that the humming has stopped. He isn't breathing right. He knows it distantly, like it's happening to someone else. His breathing is too fast; he's not actually getting any oxygen.

"—is. Genis."

He knows that voice. He flinches away from it, but it's something to focus on.

Zelos is very pale, and his eyes are still that pale pale blue, but he isn't the acerbic, bitter person that he'd last seen in the Tower of Salvation. His wings—yeah, he's a Winger. He'd gone through the angel transformation just like Colette had, but he's kept his wings tightly bound all these months. He's awkward with them, doesn't know how to balance with them unbound, but his fighting had already been half in flight anyway, so he'd adjusted quickly to that—are a sooty black in most areas, except for the shoulders. There, they're a brilliantly bright sunset orange, like an oriole.

"What are you doing here?" Sound comes out, but Genis doesn't know if the words actually make any sense.

Maybe they do. Or maybe Zelos is actually very good at knowing how people think, at measuring reactions. "I had to play a part," he says quietly. "I needed to do it so this whole plan of Lloyd's works. But…I couldn't trust that you guys could react right, could make it believable."

His words are measured, even and it helps bring Genis back. "So you made us believe it," he gasps out.

"Yeah. The others are all safe." The others. Raine. Genis chokes on the thought and he wants to cry all over again, but this time, just from sheer relief. (She was okay. His sister was alive...) "They're on their way to meet up with Lloyd now. Think you're up for it?"

You're strong, remember, Genis?

Strong enough to die alone.

Strong enough to get up and keep walking.

Strong enough to live.

Genis manages a shaky grin. "Yeah. Let's go. Don't wanna be late."

Genis is distracted for a moment by the translucent flower hovering above the machine. It can only be the Great Seed. And tucked into the petals is a woman. Her hair is long and pale green, her skin paler still—like it hasn't seen sunlight for a long time—but Genis' first thought is that she looks like Tabatha. Or rather, Tabatha looks like her.

Martel Yggdrasill.

Mithos had been right. Tabatha does look disturbingly like her, like a healthy, younger version. And she has wings too, full grown; dirt brown at the shoulders and ashy gray along the flight feathers. Seemingly ordinary, but if time has proven anything, Martel is anything but ordinary.

Genis is tugged back when he sees Yggdrasill's long wings flap towards Lloyd. Lloyd who has fought off a dozen and a half monsters today. Genis raises his kendama, making the decision before he thinks about it.

He is strong, he is fierce. "We won't let you lay a finger on him!" His voice is loud, clear, no sign of shaking or breaking. The others are at his back; Raine's wing is mostly healed, as much as she'd been able to manage when Zelos had gotten her out.

"Guys! You—you're okay?! But how?"

Sheena is still dusty and dirty, but her grin is triumphant and defiant. "I told you I wouldn't miss the main event."

"I can still fight," Presea says and there is steel in her words and her eyes. "As long as I can fight, I'll stay by your side."

Lloyd beams. "Let's take him on together!"

"I've succeeded! Martel is awake!" It's a child's joy in Yggdrasill's voice and it doesn't belong.

Pronyma is a heap of feathers and broken bones. They had all still been riding the high that they're alive, so their attacks had been a bit more fierce, a bit more devastating. But Pronyma is dragging herself forward and Genis thinks that it's no wonder that a woman like her had gotten to her position. She just does not give up. "Lord Yggdrasill…Mithos…please…"

The joy is gone as quick as it came and Yggdrasill whips around. "Only my former companions can call me by that name." The light magic burns in his hands, as natural as witchlight comes to most Wingers, and they watch, horrified, as it literally rips her apart until there's nothing left of her.

(Genis knew that this was not the most horrible thing that Yggdrasill—that Mithos—had ever done. There were millennia of horrors from ranches to experiments to cities reduced to ash that no one could account for. Anyone that could was dead or not talking. But Genis had never seen it. Not up close, not this stark, simple action)

But Yggdrasill ignores them all, turning back to the machine that's got Colette hooked up to it. And Martel isn't in the flower anymore. She's disappeared. When the pod opens and Colette steps out, she's not walking like herself. It's too graceful, too decisive.

"Dear sister…you've finally come back to me!"

The voice that comes out of Colette isn't hers either. It's gently accented, and at a lower pitch. "Mithos…what have you done?"

"Martel? Oh, you mean my body. I hastened my growth to befit the appearance of the leader of Cruxis." (That was a lie. Genis had seen Mithos' wings—he knew them almost better than Raine's—and even with another growth spurt left, those wings couldn't be an albatross') "Wait just a moment. I'll switch back to my old form."

Colette's expressions are even different. There's a sorrowful tug to her lips and a pained clench in her jaw at the sight of Mithos with his juvenile wings. "No, Mithos…not that. I've been watching all this time. Unable to move, unable to do anything. I watched all those foolish things you've done. Have you forgotten everything? We stopped the War because we dreamed of a world where humans and Wingers could live in harmony."

"What are you saying? This after all the trouble I went through to prepare a new body for you?" Genis' instincts are buzzing at the base of his skull again. There is something wrong with Mithos, something churning beneath the surface. "But, I see…you don't like that one, do you?"

"Mithos, please, listen to me. What you have done is wrong. It is not what we strived for."

"Wrong? Are you rejecting me?"

Colette shakes her head. "No, I want you to remember." There is a quiet desperation in her eyes, one that doesn't belong to Colette. "Please stop this and become your old self again…"

"Martel, even you reject me?" Mithos sounds small. Small like he hadn't sounded since they first met him in the wreckage of Ozette. It doesn't even seem like he's hearing her anymore, like his mind is stuck in a loop. "No…Martel would never say something like that."

The laughter starts then. Not the bright, sweet laughter that Genis loves. It's a horrible, broken sound, off-pace and harsh, like there are shards of glass in his throat. "I won't allow that, do you hear me?!"

Mana is leaking off Mithos, and it sparks and shoots off, brilliantly white photons like fireworks. The room trembles around them, and Genis thinks of Raine, thinks of her pinned to the ground, unable to fly, and he thinks that Mithos is the exact opposite. That Mithos is falling falling falling and he doesn't know which way is up.

But then there's a flash of sunset orange and Zelos is skidding to a stop in front of Colette because flying is still not his thing and gliding can actually be harder.

"What are you doing? I thought you wanted me to set you free of your fate as a Chosen." Mithos' words are coming too fast. They're running into each other and blending together.

"Oh, you know what?" Zelos' mouth has a cruel, angry tilt. "I changed my mind. That won't matter after we beat the snot out of you anyway."

Lloyd smiles wide. "Zelos! I knew you'd come back to us!"

"Sorry about all that. It was the only way I could get my hands on this." He tosses something at Lloyd, who catches it on reflex. "Refine that with dwarven arts and it'll let even a human use the Eternal Sword."

"You—are you saying you did all that just to get this?"

"That's right," Sheena tells him. "This stupid Chosen released us from those traps back there."

"But it is true that I deceived you," Zelos confesses. "I held you guys back for a long time. I figured I'd at least have to do something like that to make up for it."

"Damn you! Give me back my sister!" Mithos looks somehow younger than ever, snarling with his fists clenched.

"Goodbye, Mithos." His eyes go wide at Martel's words. "This is my final wish. Please return this twisted world back to its original form. If things were going to end up like this, perhaps our kind should never have left Derris-Kharlan. If they hadn't…none of this would have happened."

Colette collapses in a glow of mana that tastes like citrus on Genis' tongue, mana that seems to be absorbed into the Seed.

"So…so that was it…" Mithos laughs again, that broken sound, and he hasn't looked from where Colette had been standing. "Martel, you just wanted to leave this filthy world…and return to Derris-Kharlan…Yes, of course. That world is the homeland of the wing gene…" It's scaring Genis, the way Mithos is talking. Like he doesn't even realize that any of them are standing there. He calls Mithos' name tentatively; if anyone would get a reaction, it's him, but Mithos doesn't respond. "Yes, dearest sister…let's forget these filthy creatures and return home together. To Derris-Kharlan…"

Genis feels Mithos' mana—what used to a warm light, but is now twisted, and shattered into pieces—swell and push up towards the Seed.

Colette pushes herself up on her elbows. "We have to stop him!" Her voice is her own again. "Martel is calling to me! She wants us to stop him!"

Mithos' head snaps to her at the sound of Martel's name. "Shut up! Martel would never say something like that!"

"She did say it! She was crying! She said 'please don't make everyone suffer any longer'."

But Mithos' mana is still pushing, and the Great Seed is going ever higher. Everyone is getting a better grip on their weapons, shifting forward into readiness and that's when Mithos turns. "I won't let you interfere."

Yggdrasill fights as quick and powerful as he had before, but now, there's something wilder about his movements. They're not as calculated and it's easier to get an edge on him now, easier to distract his eye.

But the fight is still terrible. The ground is melted beneath his feet in some places from the sheer power of his attacks, and they don't always get away. (The worst of it somehow managed to avoid Genis. Not that he wasn't aimed at, not that he didn't get hit, but it would never be a killing blow…)

"I'm going home…" Yggdrasill murmurs at the end, coughing as he's slumped over. Zelos had caught him through the chest and the bloodstain is spreading. "I'm going home with my sister…"

He vanishes in one of his firework bursts and his mana is gone from the room. There is a slight ting as something hits the ground and when Genis looks, it's an Exsphere. Mithos' Exsphere. He can't not pick it up. He needs that piece of him and he pockets the Exsphere.

He doesn't think he has the strength to get back up right now. The stress of the day is finally getting to him. But there is no danger, so Genis stays where he is, kneeling on the floor. He turns along with the rest of them at the sound of Kratos' voice, at his bluntness about the fact that this isn't over—not yet—and Genis wonders when the fighting will ever stop.

(Was this what it meant to go through a war? To see no end in sight?)

"I wanted to ask you something," Lloyd says and somehow, he's still standing upright. "What was it that you saw in Mithos? Why did you help him seal Origin?"

For a second, Genis thinks that Kratos isn't going to answer him. "…Mithos was…my apprentice, and a valuable friend. Isn't that enough?"

"Do you forgive anything someone does, no matter how horrible, just because he's your friend?" Lloyd retorts.

Kratos doesn't explain himself further, and while Genis can't understand that, he can understand that Kratos is very different from his son, despite their many similarities. He lets them know that he will be waiting by the seal before striding out.

Sheena holds out a hand to Genis; Yggdrasill had gone after her quite a bit. It makes sense. She is one of the biggest threats to him because of the power that Shadow grants her. Genis takes the hand gratefully.

"You doing okay?" she asks.

"Yeah, just…long day."

Sheena barks a laugh. "That's…an understatement."

"What about you?" Genis asks, looking her over. "You okay? I mean, the Tree—"

She shifts her weight and grimaces. "Yeah, I'm gonna have a nasty set of bruises there tomorrow, but—I should be fine. Doesn't feel too bad." There are burns along the outsides of her thighs and shoulders where she hadn't quite managed to avoid the spells. They don't look in need of immediate attention—not like some that Regal and Presea are sporting—but she's pretty bad off.

"C'mon," Lloyd says tiredly. "Let's get back to the ground. We need the rest."

Genis smiles at him as one of Lloyd's arms lands on his shoulders, squeezing a little. "That's the best plan you've had all day."

They share one room at the inn in Sybak that night. None of them want to sleep without any of the others; they'd nearly all been lost today. It's reassuring to hear each other's breathing and snuffling, to feel the shifts of the mattress and the sheets. They're alive noises. Wonderful noises.

Genis shares a bed with Raine that night, like he used to when he'd been little. Her wings tuck protectively around him (Like Mithos' had, his mind whispered, though he shoved those thoughts down) and the sounds of her plus her scent of old books—mixed with the remnants of the day that not even the long showers they'd all taken can entirely get out—lull him to sleep easily.

The next morning is a chorus of groans and pained noises as they get out of bed. Raine and Zelos had taken care of what injuries they'd been able to last night—the worst of them, mostly. Some had been bandaged up, like Sheena's and some of Lloyd's. Others, like a lot of the burns, had needed immediate attention—but there are always bruises and strained muscles that come the next day.

Regal nearly collapses from a hyperextended muscle; he'd been running on adrenaline, boosted by his Exsphere, yesterday, so it hurts even more now. Lloyd holds him up while he stretches the leg gingerly, testing its limits. They decide that he should stay in bed for as much as possible today.

Raine's wing is still tender, and while Zelos had cast some First Aid to seal it, he's not familiar enough with the anatomy of wings to have healed it properly. Raine heals what she can on her own, and Genis helps her with running down hot washcloths along the tender muscles.

Sheena had been right. Her leg is a mottled mass of bruises between ankle and knee on her right foot where the Tree had grabbed her. She steps, and has to grit her teeth in pain with every other step, but she can walk at least. She tells them about medicinal salts that they use in Mizuho for things like this; Lloyd and Genis are sent out into the city to find them.

It becomes more difficult than it should have been to find the medicinal salts because of the heavy damage done to the area from the earthquakes. There's an entire district still underwater from the breaking of one of the sea walls. Genis glimpses dozens of Wingers in the poorer districts hunched together; some of their wings are emaciated looking things, like they haven't managed to stretch or use them in years. Like Kate's had been. They'd been trapped in the basements and cellars, Genis realizes. All these Wingers had been shut away from skies, crammed together and forced to work.

There are others too, that Genis sees briefly. Hollow-eyed and sometimes, so lost looking. There are one or two that don't feel ashamed, that display the gouged scars on their backs with pride. (Those were the really strong people, Genis thought. Strong enough to survive, to stay fighting even after they'd been hurt so badly)

When they return to the inn, Regal is sleeping while Presea is reading one of Raine's books. Raine is half-asleep, dozing against the headrest where she had apparently been trying to get some reading done as well. Sheena thanks them with a smile.

"I'll gonna take a bath," she says. "I've gotta soak my leg."

Zelos is avoiding them. Genis can't blame him; he still doesn't know if he can forgive Zelos for what he'd done. Had the ends justified the means? But apparently he hadn't had lunch, so Genis glances around—Lloyd is still preoccupied with thoughts of Kratos on top of being as exhausted as the rest of them, and Sheena, well. She had the most complex relationship with Zelos out of all of them. Being betrayed certainly couldn't have helped—so Genis grabs the leftovers, and goes hunting.

Zelos hadn't gone far. He's actually out back and Colette is with him, gently preening his wings. They're beautiful, if Genis is being perfectly honest. The contrast of orange to black is incredible, particularly with Zelos' hair as a complement. But there are still so many feathers twisted out of place, still feathers from a molting caught up in there. Colette will fix that though.

(Zelos still didn't like Wingers. He was more accepting of them after…all this…but there will always be a part of him that hated them. He'd always been glad that he wouldn't have to go through the regeneration ritual; Zelos never wanted to become an angel)

"…Hey, guys." Genis isn't exactly 'friends' with Zelos. They argue more often than not, and usually not in the friendly, teasing way. "I heard you might be hungry, Zelos."

Zelos eyes the food and thanks him. He's subdued, and Genis is grateful that he's not trying to pretend right now. Neither of them have the energy for it. Genis just sits across from him and studies the wings on his back, watches Colette's careful hands picking through them.

Colette smiles at him and just starts to talk. It's nothing terribly important, just observations she's made, little gossips—the gossip tends to be years old. Iselia is a town where everyone knows each other, and therefore everyone's business, and they've been on the move too much to really get any gossip from anywhere else. Genis just likes the cadence of her voice, lilting and gentle, but Zelos eats as soon as she starts talking, and he stops when she does. So Genis sits and listens—sometimes offering counter-gossip. Raine had been told a lot, just from parents—until Zelos has picked away everything on his plate.

It will take another hour to successfully finish preening Zelos' wings, they're so bad off. Genis leaves before then and only comes back when Colette calls.

He smiles at Zelos. "They look good."

(They would never be best friends—hell, Genis didn't even know if he could forgive Zelos for his sins or not—but Genis didn't want anyone to ever be ashamed or afraid of their wings. That should never be allowed to happen…)

The wings flex a bit, though whether it's intentional or not is up for debate. Zelos doesn't have the fine control of his flight muscles yet, considering his wings are still fairly new and they'd been under wraps the entire journey. Zelos manages a watered-down version of his usual confident smirk. "Of course they do. They're on me aren't they?"

That makes Genis roll his eyes, but he laughs along with Colette. It hadn't even been that funny, but after the day—week, year—they'd all had, they need to laugh.

From Sybak, Heimdall is only about a half a day's flight by Rheaird. Genis isn't surprised when Colette, Zelos, Raine, and him aren't allowed into the village. Zelos shuffles a little, his wing joints clicking and shifting, clearly uncomfortable with the treatment.

Lloyd, as always, is the one to step up. "Elder, please let these four into the village. They're my close friends and it's only for now. I want them with me when I face off against Kratos!"

The guards seem outraged by the very suggestion. "Unthinkable. No half-breed may enter our village."

"That kind of attitude is what gave rise to Cruxis," Lloyd snaps.

"Stop." The Elder doesn't raise his voice. He has a commanding presence like that. His eyes glance over the Wingers of their group. "The chasm that separates us from the half-bree—bloods—is deep and dark. Nevertheless, there is reason in what you say. Thus, from now until Origin is released, I will grant these four entrance into the village. However," Genis tenses at the suggestion of a caveat. "They may not use any of our facilities."

Raine grits her teeth a little, but finally says, "That's fine. Thank you."

To see the village up close is strange, to Genis. To be able to see people flinging themselves into the air halfway down the zip line—for the younger Wingers, there are friends cheering them on, some still with juvenile feathers. To see students, teenagers and adults, stretched out on the grass, wings flung out, as they study and quiz each other. There are children playing with what look like wooden wings strapped to their arms, flapping them and chasing each other. Mages practice their spells, and there are women knitting entire blankets from loose feathers.

Some people wear feathers in their hair, Genis notices. Feathers braided in with gold or silver thread. Many people—men and women—have jewelry at their ears and throat. Hanging from many of the buildings are hoops with what Genis can recognize as Origin's symbol woven into them with colored thread, feathers dangling from the bottom.

But there are no adults without wings. Even people with the wing gene are not necessarily guaranteed to get them, but in this village, no adult is without.

To see Wingers interacting like that…it reminds Genis of Mithos. Of Mithos when he taught them how to make the jewelry from the loose feathers. Mithos had been born in this village; how much time had he had here before he and Martel had been ostracized? How much tradition had managed to sink in? He can picture Mithos here, happy and shy and sweet. Can picture him taking off from the zip line, trusting the wind and sky to catch him, just like all Wingers do.

Genis pulls Mithos' Cruxis Crystal from his pocket. It's warm when he rolls it across his palm. "I don't know if you remember this place," Genis says quietly. He doesn't know why he's talking to it; Mithos is dead. He can't hear him. But Genis misses the Mithos he loved, still needs to talk to him, to share his thoughts with him because no one else would get it. "I don't know how different it is from four thousand years ago. Not very, I think. It feels kinda timeless, y'know? But I wish it was different. I wish they were more accepting of us after all that time. Maybe you could've seen reason then."

Genis jumps when Lloyd comes to stand beside him. "Is that—"

"Yeah," Genis confesses. "I picked it up in the Tower of Salvation, but I just couldn't bring myself to destroy it. I thought I'd at least show him the regenerated world."

"…I see." Lloyd's mouth curls downwards a bit. "Genis, I'm sorry. He was your friend and—"

"You don't need to apologize for that." They'd done the right thing, had done it to help the world. Genis can't be upset about that. The part that he's upset about is that he'd lost Mithos in the process. And Lloyd has to kill his father for the world. Even if Lloyd had never known Kratos as his father, he'd known him as a mentor, as a comrade, and friend, it would still hurt. "Lloyd…don't do anything you'll regret."

Genis doesn't have better advice. He wishes he did, but he doesn't. If he had better advice, he'd follow it himself.

Genis runs up to clap Lloyd on the back, the words of congratulations on his lips. After all, he'd defeated Kratos on his own and then proceeded to help fight Origin. He stumbles as something yanks his pocket.

"Whoa, wh—"

It's the Cruxis Crystal, hovering forward towards Lloyd and glowing brightly. Genis' breath leaves him when he sees a ghostly apparition of Mithos appear. "There's no time. I'll take your body."

He'd survived. Genis hadn't considered that Mithos could have survived in the Crystal, like Alicia had. Colette ran forward, shoving Lloyd back and stealing the Crystal. "Damn, you interfered," Mithos snarls. "Fine. I'll just take this body instead."

He teleports away before they can try and take the Crystal back.

The earth breaks after that. Or at least, that's what it feels like. They all look in horror at the explosions that go off the entire length of the Tower of Salvation. The broken pieces are falling from the sky, meteor-like from the top.

"It's Mithos," Yuan says. "He's sealing off the route to Derris Kharlan."

"We have to evacuate everyone," Lloyd says. "The entire village is going to be destroyed at this rate!"

Dozens of Wingers are in the air, but many of them are being crushed by the falling pieces. There are kids trapped in a schoolhouse that Genis has to knock the wall down with a spell to get them out. He can see the others helping people run, and Raine is telling them to not fly. It's too dangerous with the skies the way they are now.

There's no saving most of the ones who have a building fall on them. If they'd been human, they'd have a chance, but with those hollow bird bones, there's a ninety-nine point nine percent chance that they're crushed. Genis winces at the thought of them, but he makes himself keep moving. (You're strong, remember, Genis?)

It's as they're making a break for the village gates—and beyond that, the Ymir. Hopefully, that will be far enough—that Presea yanks at Genis' hand, making him turn around.

"What the—?"

The sky has gone purple. A riotous, writhing purple, tinged with blue. And Genis can feel it. Can feel a press of whatever that is in the atmosphere, like a drop in humidity. The others have noticed too.

"What is that?" Lloyd asks.

"That is Derris-Kharlan," Kratos answers.

"That's impossible!" Raine exclaims. She's staring at the sky, just like they all are, but Genis can see the tension in her shoulders, like she's bracing for impact. She can feel Derris-Kharlan too. "How could a planet exist so close?"

"It is the Eternal Sword that makes the impossible possible." Yuan's voice is slightly scratchy from all the dust in the air. "It was hidden by the protective barrier made by the Tower of Salvation. But it has always existed there for four thousand years."

"Yes." They all whirl around because that's Tabatha's voice, but it's no longer robotic. "And now Mithos, with the Great Seed in hand, is trying to leave this land and take Derris-Kharlan with him."

"Wait a minute—Derris-Kharlan is a mass of mana. And the Great Seed is the seed of the Giant Tree, right? If he takes both of them, what's gonna happen to this world?" It's a good question.

"It will wither and die from mana deprivation," Raine says.

Genis had been afraid of that answer, even though he'd known it himself. "This is a much bigger problem than reuniting the worlds!"

"We're going after Mithos," Lloyd declares.

"The Tower of Salvation is gone," Regal points out. "How are we going to get up there?"

"If you use the Eternal Sword, with its power over time and space—"

Yuan interrupts Kratos. "Altessa is not yet well enough to move. Who is going to craft the Ring of the Pact?"

"Dad can," Lloyd says. He means Dirk; Genis doesn't think that Lloyd can call Kratos 'dad'. Not yet. Maybe not ever. "He's our only hope. We'll go to Sylvarant."

The entire trip—there and back—to Dirk's house, Genis tries to apologize to Lloyd. It's his fault that Colette got taken, his fault that Mithos is still alive, if that's the word for it. He hadn't been strong enough to let go, hadn't been ready. (Mithos wasn't always insane, wasn't always so broken and cruel. It seemed like Genis was the only one to remember him the way he used to be)

The apology never comes—not because Genis isn't sorry, but because the words get stuck in his throat every time.

Genis feels the others pressed against his back and the teleportation circle beneath them hums. The mana is cold inside him and he gasps with it, going to his knees. When he looks up, Raine is there. She's panting a little—that teleportation magic had been very different from the others. It's not a pleasant effect—but she doesn't look hurt.

She helps him to his feet and they look around. It's…mechanical and cold and…there's another person here. Genis has to squint a little to see him better before they get closer.

"Why is the Mayor…?" That's impossible, isn't it? Why would the Mayor of Iselia be up in Derris-Kharlan?

"Be careful," Raine warns him. "It's an illusion."

"You think I'm an illusion?" The Mayor's voice is outraged and hoarse; after the ashes and smoke from Iselia's burning, his voice has never been the same. "This is exactly why everyone says winged people are fools."

"Raine…my pitiful child." Genis doesn't know that voice, but Raine does. He knows because every single muscle in her body tenses. "A tainted child…"

"M—mother?" Raine sounds small. Genis has never heard Raine sound small and it's wrong.

(When Genis looked in front of her, there was a woman there and, oh, she had to be their mother. She looked so much like Raine. Even their wings were similar, though their mother's wings were shorter, but still that black-touched gray. And—Genis had her eyes…But there was something wrong with her. She didn't look all there, her eyes only half-seeing the world in front of her and she was cradling a little doll…)

"Winged abominations have no place in this world," the Mayor growls.

"That's not true!" Genis protests.

"It's because of you that I was chased from Heimdall. You and your thin blood," their mother sneers.

"Then why bother giving birth to us?" Raine asks her, long wings tucked close.

It's the Mayor that answers, oddly enough. "There probably wasn't a choice. That's why you were thrown away after you were born!"

(Genis remembered the Otherworldly Gate, how remote it was. Raine had said he was just a newborn when it happened and he'd been born in January…how cold that little outcropping would have been. And the Gate only opened on the full moon; how long had Raine and him huddled in the cold? No way their mother could have expected the gate to work. It was just a legend. She really had left them there to die…)

Genis glances between them. A face he'd grown up with, that had smiled at him growing up when he had helped with festival decorations, and a face that he'd never known, but that he recognizes, a face he should have known. "Wingers and humans…neither of them want us…"

"Of course no one wants you. Who would? You're monsters. Abominations and freaks."

"I didn't choose to be born like this!" Raine cries.

"It can't be helped," their mother says. "You should have been better, should have been pureblooded. We would have been happy…"

"No, you're wrong!"

Genis wants to smile at Lloyd, is so happy to see a familiar face, but—what if he's not real? (He could see it now, in his mother. She wasn't quite sane. She'd broken, somewhere along the line. Had she broken because of them? Because of her children? Or because she'd been run from her home village? Genis knew how much that hurt. He had the same weakness in him, the same potential. How did he knew that Lloyd was real at all?)

"No, they are not wrong." It's Mithos' voice, hard and angry, but there is no hint of the madness that tainted it when they last had seen him. Is this the boy warrior, the hero that stood up to two armies and found them peace? Mithos appears in front of them, and Genis thinks, maybe he's not seeing things. "Wingers are despised and discriminated against just for being alive. And heaven help us if we're not purebloods. Our very existence is a crime."

"No!" Lloyd protests. "It's not the Wingers' faults. People who can't accept those who are different are the ones to blame! It's because of their weak hearts!" The world shatters, and suddenly, Lloyd is beside them. His hand is resting on Genis' shoulder, a warm, solid weight. He's real. "Hey, I came to getcha."

Their mother's voice sneaks in through the cracks in the glass. It's a mirror now, Genis can see. "It's hopeless, Raine. You'll just be abandoned again. As long as you have wings, the world will continue to hate you."

"Lloyd…came for us. Even though he could have left us behind to face Mithos. You may be right, but then again, you may be wrong." Raine looks at the shattered visage of their mother. "It's not because of our blood that you abandoned us. It's because of the people who hate our blood and our wings, and a mother who was too weak to stand up against it. I—I'm going to stop hating that weakness. My hatred never changed anything. In order to change the world, I must first…change myself." She squares her shoulders, tossing her wings wide. "I'm glad I was born a Winger."

Mithos' voice sounds incredibly close, like he's standing right next to him. "Genis, do you feel the same?" There's wariness there, and anticipation like he's waiting for a blow to come. "Are you glad that you were born a Winger?"

Genis glances up at Lloyd, and his fingers move like they're searching for Mithos' hand, but he clenches his fist to stop the motion. "…Because humans hate us, I hate humans. But…I like you, Lloyd," he reassures him. Lloyd still looks a bit unsure. "And I like everyone we travelled with. Because I think they all like me. I'm the same as they are…Just like the people that hate Wingers, I get mad at humans and the purebloods just for being who they are. That's just going to make them hate me more. My heart was weak too…"

"Is it a sin to be weak-hearted?" Genis looks over his shoulder like he expects Mithos to be there, but his image is still in the glass. He looks small, like the child he is, like the child he had been when he'd been shoved into a war. "Not everyone's strong. Not everyone can stand being despised…"

He disappears, and Lloyd is yanking Genis into a hug, and holding out his other arm to Raine, who embraces the both of them tightly. "Hey, you guys," Lloyd murmurs, and Genis feels his hand gently stroking against his feathers, and he buries his nose a little into Lloyd's shirt.

As they're stepping back, broken shards of glass go skittering across the floor. Genis crouches, carefully picking up a shard. (Is it his imagination or did he see Mithos there? Did he see a familiar summer-sky blue eye, or a flash of the familiar, sad smile?) "Maybe it's a symbol," Genis thinks aloud, turning the shard in his hands. "Of the weakness of our hearts."

"Maybe you guys should hang onto it," Lloyd says gently. "It's proof that you guys beat that weird mirror."

Proof that it had all been real, that they're okay. "That sounds like a good idea."

A throne room. It might have been awe-inspiring, once, but it's incomplete, like it had been yanked from whatever castle had been there. Statues, twice as tall as a full grown man, stand on either side off the throne. The statues are of elegant, robed women, their wings delicate and lovely, staffs in their hands. There is something powerful in their visage, even though they aren't depicted as warriors, Something divine.

Yggdrasill's body is slumped in the throne, wings limp. He looks almost like he could be sleeping, if it isn't for the fact that he's talking. "Home…I'm going home…"

Genis steps forward. He still has the glass shard in his pocket—perhaps not the safest place, but he'd worn the edges down so it isn't as sharp anymore—and it feels like a hot weight. "Mithos, listen to me! We don't have to fight. Please, return the Great Seed to us so we can reunite the worlds."

"Home…I'm going home…"

"Something's wrong," Lloyd mutters. "He sounds like a puppet." Like Tabatha had after Mithos attacked her. The same words, on a loop.

Colette gasps behind them and Genis nearly gets brained by a floating Cruxis Crystal. The Crystal moves to the Crest that still hangs around Yggdrasill's neck. Yggdrasill's eyes snap open, cold and predatory. "I need to thank you for going through all the trouble to bring me back here. I'm finally myself again."

"Mithos…" Genis knows that what he's going to say can't be taken well. He braces himself for an explosion of temper. "Martel is already dead."

The explosion never comes. "That's not true. Martel is alive. Just as I lived on in the Cruxis Crystal."

"That's not living," Lloyd says. "That's just existing as a lifeless being."

"What's wrong with that? After all, our bodies contain the wing gene that makes people despise us. We're better off casting aside such filth and becoming lifeless beings." (There was so much pain, and grief. They'd all wished for numbness, wished for the pain to go away, but they didn't know much pain a body had to go through before it couldn't feel it anymore…This was better, so much better, than feeling all of that) "Everyone should become lifeless beings. I told you before: the only way to eliminate discrimination is for everyone to become the same race."

"What you hope for is nothing, but a dream, Mithos. Discrimination comes from the heart."

Genis steps up beside Lloyd. "He's right, Mithos. It's the weakness of people's hearts that causes discrimination. Looking down upon others while placing themselves too high."

He feels Sheena behind him, feels her hand gently brush against his wings. It makes him feel stronger. "You do the same thing," she accuses. "You look down on humans and purebloods, treating them worse than cattle. That's the weakness of your heart."

"Even if people become lifeless beings, nothing will change," Regal says. "Discrimination will continue."

"Then where should the Wingers go?" Mithos asks. "We aren't accepted anywhere. We opened our hearts, but no one took us in. Where should we go?"

"You can live anywhere you like," Lloyd tells him, like it's the easiest answer in the world.

"Don't make me laugh." It's not even a sneer. The sentence is almost…tired. Like Mithos doesn't have the energy for this argument.

"I'm serious! Anywhere is fine. If you aren't doing anything wrong, you should just live proudly, in the open."

"We couldn't do that! That's why I…that we wanted a place of our own."

"Don't even try to act like you're the only victim here," Zelos says icily. "That doesn't even come close to justifying the things you've done."

"Do you think I'm going to beg for forgiveness? Ridiculous! There is no Goddess. So I will continue to pursue my ideals. If there is no place where I can live, and if I've been denied my Age of Lifeless Beings, then the only thing left for me is to build a new world on Derris-Kharlan. A world just for my sister and me."

They have never fought Mithos as himself; there are some movements just like Kratos, using his juvenile wings more than he should have been able to, thanks to the Cruxis Crystal. He dives and dips, teleporting in the middle of spells. His magic is easy, instinctive, the spells terrifyingly powerful. But Genis has powerful magic too, and he meets him spell for spell.

At one point, Lloyd actually manages to pin him, with Zelos' help. "You would really trade an entire world just for your sister?"

Mithos bares his teeth. "It's nothing any of you would understand." Mithos burns then, brighter than a sun, mana leaking off him until Lloyd and Zelos have to back away.

Mithos moves well physically too, ducking and weaving, able to keep up with Sheena's acrobatics, and Regal's flowing power. He uses his wings as weapons and shields in turn, just like Yuan and Kratos had. They're the only Wingers that Genis has ever seen do that. Most Wingers only use their wings to fly during a battle, too protective of them to use them like that.

But Mithos starts to tire, stumbling when Genis' spells burn and eat away at his wings, Gravity Wells dragging him back to the ground. He fights back, a wolf in a corner, and Genis sees Presea and Zelos get swept away in a Ground Dasher, feels Raine's mana across the battlefield.

Lloyd is the one that gets the killing blow, his sword through Mithos' heart. Mithos' body slumps, but the Cruxis Crystal hovers, an apparition appearing behind it.

"It's just like Alicia," Presea says between breaths. "His soul will continue to live on as long as the Cruxis Crystal exists."

"And eventually, I will be taken over by the Crystal," Mithos finishes. He sounds completely exhausted and horribly sane. "I'm tired of playing your game of good and evil. Hurry up and destroy the Crystal. If you don't, Derris-Kharlan will continue to drift away."

"Mithos—" Lloyd begins, trying to protest.

"Do it now! Before I, too, am no longer myself."

(Genis imagined him trapped in the Crystal, imagined him unable to speak, or move. Trapped in a cage for all of eternity. There could be no greater punishment for a Winger…) "Lloyd, please…help him! Let him die while he's still himself!"

"…All right."

Mithos' eyes are almost gentle as they watch Lloyd come towards him. "Farewell, my shadow. You who stand at the end of the path I chose not to follow. I wanted my own world, so I don't regret my choice. I would make the same choice all over again." His wings—broken and bloody, on the corpse that lies on the floor, but in the apparition, they are healthy—spread as he squares his shoulders, tilting his chin proudly. "I will continue to choose this path."

Mithos' Crystal breaks with the high, clear ringing of a bell.

Colette gasps, covering her mouth as she stares up at the Great Seed floating higher and higher. "The Great Seed is…already dead."

Lloyd groans, and Genis can hear something clicking, like a loose joint. It isn't until Lloyd falls to his knees that Genis notices the light coming from his Exsphere. "Lloyd, what hurts?" Raine asks, kneeling beside him.

"My back—it's killing me…"

When both siblings look, they recognize the joints that are clicking. Wing joints. But…Lloyd isn't a Winger. He's seventeen; if he had been going to grow wings, it would have happened long before this. Colette gives Lloyd her hand to hold when he screams and they stare as wings erupt from Lloyd's back, damp, but fully grown.

They're enormous—easily twelve feet long, longer than even Yggdrasill's. Genis carefully wipes away some of the blood. The primary feathers are dark brown, almost black, and a lighter brown everywhere else, speckled with black and dipped in white.

"Lloyd, look at me," Raine is telling him, one of her hands running over the wing joints and the delicate bones of his wings. "You're alright."

"We need to get the Great Seed," Lloyd gasps as he pushes himself to his feet.

"You're in no condition to get anything!"

Lloyd flexes his back, trying out the new muscles and shaking off the blood. Genis shoots him a look, wiping droplets from his face. "There's no time, Professor Sage."

He takes off at a running start. The fact that he manages to get off the ground is impressive. He tumbles a little, not steady yet with his new appendages, but Genis feels a rush of mana behind him, a mana he recognizes instantly as Sheena's, and the Sylph are flying beside Lloyd, keeping him steady.

Colette takes off after him. Zelos looks like he wants to follow them, but he hesitates. (He didn't have a right to this, to this moment, to these wings. He'd betrayed them, hadn't earned his wings nobly like Colette had, or by birth…) Genis looks at Raine, who looks torn between the ground and sky, like she wants to follow too, but she stays beside him, taking his hand.

(Genis wanted to fly. He wanted so badly to be up there with them, but his wings…they were too weak, yet. They wouldn't be full grown for years…)

They all look around, startled, when a Rheaird hits the ground, and Kratos dismounts. He still doesn't look completely healed from his battle against Lloyd, but he's walking without limping, so that's a start. "Where is—?"

"He's up there," Genis tells him. "He grew wings."

Kratos looks surprised to hear that. "…His Exsphere evolved then."

The winds whip around them as the Great Seed plummets. Genis is on his feet because does that mean that they succeeded? "C'mon. We have to find them."

They all—Kratos included—set off across the rubble left from the Tower of Salvation, hopping and climbing. Anyone who can fly goes ahead, spreading out to search the area. Sheena is unsteady after using so much mana, and Genis helps her up, as Regal finds stable debris for them to step over.

No one could have guessed what they find. Kratos calls to them that he found them, and they scramble over, Presea helping Genis get over one of the walls.

Lloyd and Colette are standing before a woman. The woman is lovely, all pale skin, high cheekbones and lean angles. Her hair is pale green, like Tabatha's, falling loosely down her back. When she takes a step forward, her eyes shimmer a hundred different shades of green, and blades of grass and flowers bloom where she had been standing. She also has a wing, white as clouds, and short. A dove's wing, but why does she only have one? (Genis was too busy staring to notice how Kratos' breath seemed to have left him at the sight of her, how it took him a minute to start breathing again because she looked so very much like Martel…)

"Who is this?" Sheena asks.

"This is Martel," Lloyd says.

Genis' first thought is—"Mithos' sister?" But it can't be. He'd seen Martel, up in that machine that Yggdrasill had built to transfer her soul to Colette's body. This woman is close, but…he can't see Mithos in her like he had with the real Martel.

"No. She's the new Spirit of the Tree."

"Wow, that's—that's amazing."

Sheena peers around her. "Is that the Tree?"

It's a tiny seedling, but Colette looks so proud, beaming like she is. "Yup. We have to always show it love so it'll grow."

Genis wants to tell her that that's not quite how plants work, but looking at the Tree, and the new Martel, he thinks that maybe this one does.

Genis goes with Raine, After, to check on Altessa. She declares him fit to walk, and that if he just takes it easy for a few weeks, he should be back to normal. He makes tea for them; dwarven tea is not bitter so much as earthy, and it's very thick. Genis doesn't prefer it, but he sits, still feeling the weight of the last few days—the last year—in his bird-fragile bones.

"What are you going to do?" Altessa asks them. "Will you return to Iselia?"

Raine shakes her head, stirring her tea. "No. We're going to go around the world to try to make it easier for Wingers to be accepted."

"That's not an easy task."

You're strong, remember, Genis? "…No. It's not. But we don't want any Wingers to have grown up like us, without anyone else to help them through the changes. There are dozens of Wingers displaced all over Tethe'alla and Sylvarant. We can help them find places to live, and ways to work with the humans. The Lezareno Company is rewriting its policies regarding Wingers and that's already going to make huge opportunities for them." Regal's company had never been anti-Winger, exactly, but it had been a bit neutral. Now, Regal—and Presea, beside him—are going to look into ways to embrace the skills that Wingers can bring to the world.

"And we can always go back to Iselia when we're tired," Raine says. "We're always going to have a home there."

(Mithos should have seen all this. He deserved to. Genis took a long sip of the tea, remembering how Mithos had dreamed of a peaceful world. That hadn't been a lie, Genis thought)

When he gets a chance, Genis likes to visit the Tree, and Martel. Yuan is there most of the time too, but he's not always in the mood for company.

It takes a long time to clear away the debris from the Tower of Salvation, and Colette has the idea that they can help build a forest around the Tree, so it isn't as lonely. It's been almost a year since the worlds have been reunited and Genis grabs a trowel from the box they use so often and goes to take care of some of the weeds that have been springing up among their 'garden', if that's the right word for it.

"Hello, Genis," Martel greets, kneeling beside him in the dirt.

"Hey, Martel. How's everything?"

"Going very well." It had taken them a while to get her used to more casual ways of speaking. "Is there something specific that brings you here?"

"No…just wanted to visit." Genis likes spending time with Martel; her presence is really calming. (Yuan might not agree with him, but then, Yuan had a different view of Martel herself)

"Coming all this way just to visit me?" Her lips curve into a casually radiant smile. "I'm flattered."

There are times, like these, that Genis feels like it's not just the Spirit Martel that's talking, and when he looks up at her, her eyes look older, even familiar. (He'd seen them only once, up in planet that was no longer in this world's orbit, but he couldn't forget those eyes) "You should be. My time is precious now, you know."

That makes her laugh, the sound silvery and unashamed.

He likes those times, when someone else looks out of the Spirit's eyes. She's made up of the people sacrificed to the Giant Tree, so there are probably thousands of people inside her, but Genis likes to think that he can recognize Martel Yggdrasill inside her, even if he never properly met her.

(He wondered if Yuan ever saw her. The idea of Yuan never talking to his wife again, the woman he'd helped rip a world apart for, was too sad to think about.)

Once, when he's sharing lunch with her, she calls him babybird.

"Babybird?" Genis repeats.

Her smile is a familiar one, infinitely gentle, and equally sad. (Mithos had a smile like that…) "You remind me of my little brother, sometimes. I used to call him that—well, we all did. Just to tease him. He was the youngest out of all of us—hadn't even finished growing his wings yet."

Genis looks down at his bowl. "…What were his wings like?"

"They weren't far along enough to tell, really. All different kinds of brown. Mine were kinda like that too, now that I think about it." She laughs softly. "I used to tell him he'd make a great canary. He always hated the color yellow."

"A songbird, huh?"

"That's what they used to call us." Genis looks up, remembering the crash of a dish against a sink and Mithos' body frozen in shock. "Songbirds."

"Why—why would they call you that?"

But she's faded. Her eyes don't have that ancient look anymore. "Call me what?" Martel the Spirit asks.

"N-nothing."

When Genis Sage is sixteen, he molts the last of his juvenile feathers. He shows the others when they're in Altamira, visiting Presea and Regal. Lloyd grins and tells him how awesome his adult wings look, and Raine never fails to look proud at the sight of them. Sheena whistles, winking at him, and Colette tugs him outside so he can see his wings in the reflection of a shop window.

They're not large, his wings. About as small as Colette's, six feet across. His feathers are a royal blue—even indigo, in some lights—with a thick band of white along the bottom, with the underfeathers slate gray.

They race each other, that day, all along the surf of Altamira's ocean, chasing and tackling each other into the spray. Zelos laughs from the balcony; he's become more comfortable with his wings, but not entirely. Lloyd is the one that yanks him down off of there, and instinct has his orange and black wings snapping open to catch him. They're not the only ones; there are other Wingers out there, enjoying the sun, who jump in to play too.

The day after that, Genis takes his Rheaird—his wings are definitely not meant for long distance—out to the cliffs above Altessa's house. There's a ledge up there where, once, four years ago, two Winger boys had talked, and laughed, and kissed.

"I wish you could see it." Genis sits in the sparse grass, raking a hand through his hair. It's getting long again, creeping past his nape. Maybe he'll grow it out a bit. "This new world. It's not perfect; there are still loads of places that Wingers get a lot of trouble, but they're more confident, now. They know they have support behind them. And it's pretty incredible, the reforms that Zelos has managed to help push through with the Tethe'allan government." Genis spreads his wings out to their full extent, showing them off. "They finally grew in. What d'you think? I like them. Blue's my favorite color, y'know. Always has been."

There is no marker, on this ledge. No indication of who Genis is talking to, but here, of all places, is where he feels Mithos the most.

It takes a long time for Genis to work up the courage to do it. He's almost nineteen when he flies to the site of the New Tree—which is a strong sapling, now. He's long since graduated from the Palmacosta Academy, and he's still working with Raine to develop their support system for Wingers.

Yuan is where he expects him to be, up in a tree, his striking wings spread lazily so they hang beneath the branch, his nose in a book. Genis flaps up to an adjacent branch and sits, swinging his legs. It's a childish motion, but Genis is not sure he'll ever entirely be able to outgrow everything.

Yuan looks up from his book. "Can I help you?"

They're not on great terms, but they've gotten friendly enough over the years. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask away."

"You—you probably won't like the question," Genis warns. Yuan's eyes narrow at him, but he marks his page, and closes the book with an expectant look. "How…no, what was Mithos like? Before?"

The older Winger studies him carefully, and he seems to find something because he asks, "…Did you love him?"

Genis clenches his fists a bit. It's possible that Yuan means 'love' in a perfectly platonic sort of way, but Genis can tell he doesn't. No one else has ever known about the full extent of his and Mithos' relationship. "…Yes."

Yuan hums in understanding. (The Yggdrasills were heartbreakers, he thought, rubbing at the ring that Lloyd had returned to him) "What do you want to know?"

"What—um…I heard that people used to call him and Martel songbirds. Why?"

"Where did you hear that?"

"Martel told me, once."

For a terrible second, Genis thinks that Yuan isn't going to answer his question, that he's offended him somehow. "…Mithos would help Martel in her infirmary; they both hummed while they worked, and when the soldiers had bad nights—" Genis needs no explanation of what constitutes a bad night. He's had more than his fair share, after the journey. "They would sing to them."

They talk into the afternoon, that day. Yuan tells him a dozen things about what Mithos had been like, before Martel's death. Stories and anecdotes that make Genis wonder if Yuan has ever spoken about those times, to anyone. Had Botta even heard any of these?

The picture that Yuan paints is one that Genis recognizes: a sweet, clever boy with a taste for mischief and a tongue for arguing. A happy boy, as much as he could have been at the time.

That is the boy that Genis had fallen in love with, the boy that they had found that day, in Ozette. It hadn't been a lie so much as a time out of time. Genis had been born too late, he thought, or Mithos too soon. In another time, they would have been friends, yes. Friends and more, and perhaps Mithos wouldn't have broken so far if Genis had been there. But that makes Genis sound like he'd had a lot more influence over Mithos than he actually had.

You're strong, remember, Genis?

Strong enough to live.

Strong enough to make change.

Strong enough to fly.