And here I am with yet another one-shot. Well this one will most likely have many little events than one large one. Or it might not, depends on how well it goes. Anyway it starts at the Ossa Trail. Enjoy.
It had been a day since they released the first seal, and now that Colette's Angel Toxicosis was completely cleared they were headed for the Ossa Trail, in order to get to Izlood Port.
"Man, I can't wait to get to cross the sea," said Lloyd, excitedly, "It should be great!"
"Yes..." replied Raine, though it sounded like she wasn't overly enthusiastic bout it.
"Gee, Lloyd." Sneered Genis, "How long do you reckon that enthusiasm's gonna last!"
"Hey, shut it, Genis!" yelled Lloyd, as Colette laughed and Kratos, well did nothing like always.
They were just about to approach the foot of the mountain, when a voice yelled, "STOP!" Everyone looked up. A woman wearing a strange purple garment, had jumped down the mountain, and blocked their way. She had long, black hair, held up in a ponytail with a pink ribbon, with a much larger ribbon around her waist. She couldn't have been more than a couple years older than Lloyd, nineteen, twenty tops.
"Is she a friend of yours, Lloyd?" asked Colette. But he wasn't listening. He was immersed in her eyes, her deep, brown eyes. Though her face seemed determined, they gave away how much regret she was feeling, as if she did not want to do what she was here to do.
"Is the Chosen of Mana, among you?" her voice was a surprise as well. It was more husky, and less feminine that he thought.
"Oh, that's me!" answered Colette quickly.
The strange woman's eye's leered at her. "Prepare to die!" And she charged at her. Taken aback by this, Colette tripped, and fell onto a switch. A trap door immediately flung open, and the woman, began to fall.
Out of pure instinct, Lloyd had dived, not really sure what he was doing, as he grabbed the woman's hand, stopping her fall.
"LLOYD! What are you doing?" shouted Kratos. Everyone was surprised at what Lloyd was doing, even the woman was shocked.
"Ugh! We can't just let her fall!" he yelled back, trying to keep a firm grip on both the woman's hand, and the ground.
"Lloyd, she is trying to kill Colette!" reasoned Raine, though it was clear she was angry.
"But..." Before he could answer, however, the ground beneath him gave way, just enough for Lloyd to lose his grip, and fall into the hole, along with the woman.
"LLOYD!" was the last thing he heard before plunging into the darkness.
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The woman awoke first, as she strained her memory to realise what had happened. She fell into a trap hole, and then that kid in red caught hold of her, Lloyd they called him. He must of let go. But then she realised that she was lieing on something soft, well softer than ground should be anyway.
She looked down, to see that she was lieing on top of the kid in red. He must of fallen with her and made sure he landed first in order for her to have a soft landing. Upon registering this, she restrained the urge to slap him.
She stared at him for a while, 'Why did he do that?' she thought, 'Why did he risk his life to save mine?' She then realised a small trickle of blood flowing onto the rocky floor. "Oh no!" she exclaimed. She quickly got off the boy and began rummaging through her rucksack. She quickly found a couple of Apple Gels, but there were no bandages. "Damn!" she said aloud.
She rushed back over to him, and lifted his head up so she could see the source of the bleeding. Thankfully it was only a small cut, though it was still deep enough to allow a decent amount of blood flow from it. She quickly rubbed in the gels, which, at least for a while, stopped the bleeding. She needed a way, however, to patch it up again before it started to bleed again.
Carefully laying him down, she returned to he bag, and pulled out a very fine silk blanket. She tore off a piece of the end and returned to his side. Very gently, she wrapped it around his head, 'This isn't gonna hold.' She thought. Then instantly, she untied the ribbon that was keeping her hair up and tied it round the makeshift bandage to keep it together. This had let her hair down, which she usually did not like, but for this case, she'd make an exception. She then placed the rest of the blanket over his body.
After stopping for a while to admire her handy work, she stood up and looked around, 'If I'm quick I should be able to catch up with the Chosen's group.' She thought, but at looking back at the kid, 'But I can't leave him on his own, if a monster comes he's done for.' She then drew a card from the back of her ribbon, and was about to begin a chant, when a small puff of smoke, and a fairly high pitched voice stopped her.
"No, Sheena!" a small, many tailed, fox-like creature appeared out of nowhere. "You can't waste a Guardian on him, you'll need all the help you'll need to defeat the Chosen!"
"But, Corrine, I can't just leave him here to be attacked by a monster." As if the sudden appearance of this creature was an often occurrence. A thought then came to her, "Alright Corrine, you stay and keep an eye on him."
"WHAT! Sheena, what's the point? He's with the Chosen! Our enemy!"
"That didn't stop him from trying to keep me from falling down here. And besides, even if you refuse, it'll be either me, or a Guardian staying with him!" her voice was firm, and decisive.
At this, the little fox gave in, "Ok, Sheena you win. I'll stay with him, though I'm a summon spirit, the Guardians are stronger than me. You'll need their help more than mine."
"Thanks, Corrine." As she stroked his head like a cat's.
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Lloyd was beginning to come to. Where was he? He sat up, and felt a blanket slip off him. Where had that come from? Feeling his head, he felt a layer of silk going around his head, as well as a very sore area. Someone had bandaged him up, and quite well, but who could have...? And then it clicked.
'That woman.' He thought, she must have fixed him up. This seemed to prove his belief. Whoever she was, she was a kind person, and didn't really want to kill anyone. If she did, he wouldn't be around to contemplate it.
Looking around, he saw both his swords lieing together just to the left of him. He tried to stand, but clenched in pain and lied back down. 'That worked.' He thought sarcastically. Now what could he do?
Believing it to be the only way, he tried rolling towards his swords. He succeeded, but ended up in more pain, as he rolled over fairly jagged rocks on the cave floor. "Well, that hurt." He said aloud, "But at least I got my swords!"
A couple minutes later, he was limping along the passage ways, using both his swords (still in their scabbards) as crutches, "And Genis said I'd never think of something smart in my life!" he chuckled.
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Sheena was in the midst of fighting the Chosen's group, and she was fairing very badly. She was too exhausted from the fall still to fight at top form, and the eldest of the group, and who also seemed to be the most experienced of the group, seemed to tell this. Basically as soon as the battle began, he had yelled to the rest of the group to go after her Guardian. Strong as her Guardians may be, she would be surprised if any of the three she had on her could take on three people at once, even if only one had any melee fighting skills. 'Man, I should've gotten more rest before taking these guys on.' She thought desperately. I loud screech told her, that her Guarding had been defeated. 'I'm gonna have to retreat. I don't want to, but if I want to save my world, I'm gonna have to.' How she was gonna buy the time to do this, she had no idea.
"Lloyd!" the blonde Chosen suddenly yelled. Everyone looked around, including Sheena. There, at the opening of the cave Sheena charged out of, stood a boy in unusual type of red garment on, with her purple ribbon around his head, who appeared to be using his swords to support his weight.
"Lloyd!" Also yelled Genis, "You're alive!" He had thought that when the assassin had exited the cave alone, she had killed Lloyd in the process.
"Dammit, she's gone!" Came the annoyed voice of Kratos. They all turned. The purple clad assassin had indeed escaped.
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A few weeks had passed, and the Chosen's group had yet to have another run in with the strange assassin. Ever since their first encounter with her, however, Kratos was criticising Lloyd constantly, not just about how he tried to save her, but how he had let her escape, by simply walking out of the cave alive, or as he put it; distracting the group from the battle at hand.
The others, however, seemed not to mind overly much about it. They believed Lloyd was just being his overly kind, trusting self, and now he knew that she was trying to kill Colette, he'd regret it and help fight against her.
Lloyd, however, was very confused. He did not know what to do or believe. He knew that the girl was trying to kill Colette, so shouldn't he be fully intent on stopping her? He just couldn't believe it was true. He saw the kindness in her eyes when he first saw her, so why would she want to kill Colette without a good reason. If she just wanted to kill, she wouldn't have saved him from the fall. For though he didn't know for sure if it was her, he believed it must have been her. No-one else could have bandaged him up, or cover him with a fine blanket.
They had just unleashed the seal of wind in the Balacruf Mausoleum, and were reaching the entrance. All of a sudden, a familiar voice came from behind them. "STOP!" They turned to see the purple clad assassin approaching slowly, a set of cards in her hand.
"It's you!" yelled Genis in horror.
Lloyd was thinking the same. He wasn't ready yet, he didn't want to have to fight her.
"I'm not going to let you get away this time." She said defiantly. 'Damn, am I sure I can fight that red kid?' Without hesitating, however, she through down a card, and a large guardian appeared by her side, and they both charged.
The battle was long and hard, but neither Lloyd nor Sheena actually fought each other directly. Lloyd was tackling her guardian, whilst Sheena was busy fighting both Colette and Kratos. They also, despite the fact they were technically enemies, kept looking over at each other, as if making sure the other was alright. Lloyd actually had to restrain himself from yelling "Look out" or going into help her when Kratos had an open blow at her. He did notice, however, that she had many chances to make a killing blow on Colette, but she took none of them.
The guardian made a deafening scream, as Lloyd striked it down with a vertical assault. He cursed slightly, this meant he'd have to try and fight her too, but when he turned around, he saw her running directly at him.
"Lloyd, don't let her escape!" yelled Kratos. He took a quick glance around him, he was indeed the only thing blocking her from the exit. This was his chance to stop her now.
Instead of raising his swords in to an offensive stance, however, he lowered them and stood aside. The female assassin turned her head to stare at him as she ran passed, and for the briefest of seconds, they looked into each others' eyes. As he stared deep into them, he saw the regret, sadness, fear and confusion in them, but they also seemed to share a valid point; they were even.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING, LLOYD!" shouted Kratos at the top of his voice, "You had a chance to stop her attempts to kill the Chosen and not only did you not take it, you let her escape!"
"I'm sure," he started to argue back, "that if you're as skilled as you say you are, that you would have noticed she had many attempts to end Colette's life too. Why would she not take them if she wanted her dead?"
Kratos snarled. "That's not the point! She's the enemy here Lloyd. Are you saying you're just going to let her kill Colette?"
"That's NOT..." but before he could continue his argument, a loud groan of pain came from Colette, as she crouched on the ground in pain. "Colette!" he yelled, as he ran over towards her.
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The Chosen's group were approaching Luin now, Kratos and Lloyd both avoiding each other entirely, since their last run in with the assassin. It wasn't just Kratos who was annoyed with him, both Raine and Genis, after Colette had recovered from the Angel Toxicosis, had criticised him for what he had done. No matter what he said, he could not seem to make the rest of the group aware that it had to be the assassin who had saved him.
As they entered the considerably large city, Kratos had announced, "We should split up for a while, just to have a quick rest before we head out for the next seal." He moved slightly closer to Colette, "I'll remain with the Chosen." He added.
"Wanna come and have a look around the shops, Lloyd?" Colette asked, cheerfully.
"Sorry, Colette." He replied, "I think I'm gonna go walk around for a bit, clear my head." And without saying goodbye, he headed off towards the other end of the town.
After about five minutes of walking, he approached a very fine looking fountain, but what had caught his eyes was a small group of children crowded around a purple clad woman, with her hair tied into a ponytail.
"Ok, ok, fine." She said, "I'll be it this time." And she chuckled as the kids cheered and ran off to hide. She turned around, still smiling, and gasped.
Again, they found themselves staring into each other's eyes, "Um...Hey." Lloyd said stupidly. And without response, she ran to the direction of the nearest exit. "Hey! Wait!" as he ran after her.
Though he ran as fast as he could, the woman was still faster, but he could still see her in the distance. He would not let her get away. He needed to talk to her. He continued to run, even when he saw her enter a very thick forest...and that is where he lost her.
He looked everywhere around him, but could not see any trace of her. He had stopped running, realising it was too late to catch her, but maybe she had hid in the trees. This was the only reason he had to remain here, beside the fact he would soon have to return to the angry stare of Kratos.
Suddenly, without warning, something landed on top of him, and he found himself pinned down to the ground, face down, unable to move.
"Do you really think you could follow me so easily?" a feminine voice sounded, "Did you really think you could take me out?"
"Listen," he started, knowing who it was, "I just followed you so I could talk to you."
"And why should I believe you?"
"Because..." and with all his might, he pushed himself upward, forcing her to step back.
Instinctively, she drew her cards, as Lloyd drew his swords. However, Lloyd did not raise them, in fact, he held them blades facing down, and forced them into the ground, and stood back.
"There," he said as she looked on in confusion. "I'm unarmed, and I bet you could kill me before I can even reach them."
"What do you want?" she repeated, not lowering her cards, however.
"I told you, all I want is to talk. And to ask for your name."
"Why should I give you my name?"
Lloyd chuckled, "I guess I walked into that. My name's Lloyd Irving." And he sat down cross legged, as if trying to convince her that he indeed had no intention of fighting.
"My name's Sheena." She said simply.
"That's a nice name." He said cheerfully, which unwillingly caused her to blush ever so slightly. "Oh, do you think you can talk a bit more relaxed, I mean, we've saved each other's lives without saying a word before."
"How exactly have you saved my life?" she asked, finally lowering her cards, though she didn't loosen her grip. She was lieing, but didn't want to admit it.
"Well I tried to stop you from falling down that pit."
"Yeah, that really worked." She said sarcastically.
"Well I did make sure I took most of the force, and give you a softer landing."
"And that's where I saved your life." She gasped, she didn't mean to say that.
"I KNEW IT!" he laughed, "I thought it was you, and now I know!"
"Yeah, well...what difference does that make?"
"I'm very grateful for it." And he stood back up, and bowed low, "Thank you, Sheena."
"That's ok, I guess I did owe...WAIT! Why am I even discussing this? We're enemies remember?"
"I don't think so." And Sheena gasped in amazement, "I mean, when you saved my life, you knew I was with Colette. You could've left me there or even finished me off."
"I owed you one, that's all!"
"Your eyes tell me different." This caused her to blush slightly again, "I can see it in your eyes, you are not a killer. You don't want to harm me or Colette." He then reached into his bag, and pulled out the blanket and ribbon. "Here, I washed out all the dirt and blood, and I fixed your blanket up as much I could." There indeed were a few stitches along the line wear she had torn it off.
Slowly, she took a few steps towards him, and took them from him. "Thank you." She said quietly, she was doing her best to avoid his eyes. "Though you do realise this changes nothing. I'm still going to kill the Chosen."
"But why?" egged on Lloyd, "It's obvious you don't want to, so why?"
"Because..." she shook her head, "That's none of your business!"
"Well she is my friend."
"So we are enemies, and if you stay in my way I will kill you too!"
"Then kill me now." He said simply raising his arms outwards, making sure he was completely defenceless. "If you remember I'm unarmed, so why don't you kill me now?" She flinched slightly, but didn't raise her cards. Lloyd laughed, "See, I knew it! You won't kill me 'cus you don't want to!"
The next thing he knew he was flat on his back. Sheena had punched him very hard. "Don't get me wrong! There is no honour in killing an unarmed opponent." She started to walk away, "And if I ever catch you following me again I will make you regret it." She then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
'Damn!' thought Lloyd, 'I guess I acted too quickly.' Realising defeat, he pushed himself off the ground, pulled his swords out of the ground, and began to walk back out of the forest, in the direction of Luin.
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Sheena was lieing on her bed, with Corrine sitting on the desk next to her. "What's wrong Sheena?" he asked, curiously, "Don't tell me that kid in red got you to think twice about killing the Chosen?"
"I...don't know what to do?" she replied, "He saved my life more than once, and his companions seem to care for others very much. Perhaps that red head and the female elf are a bit less so. They only want to help people, especially the Chosen, and Lloyd." She paused after saying his name, which gave Corrine a very sly smile. "And the people of this city too, they have given me free food and a place to stay. I'm not sure if I can stand to let this world continue to suffer and die."
"You've grown fond of him haven't you?" he said, knowingly, yet he felt a bit awkward by what she said last.
She blushed, "It's weird, those few moments when we were talking as if we were great friends. It felt nice, he could see me for what I am..." She sighed, "I doubt I'd be able to fight him next time I see him."
"But you warned him that you would kill him if he.."
"So I lied!" she interrupted, "I realised I was too close to telling him why I have to kill the Chosen, so I had to leave. I don't want him to find out."
"You know Sheena, those guys are pretty smart, I bet if you explain why you are trying to do it, they may be able to find a way to help both our worlds."
She laughed, "Yeah, or they'll kill me on the spot, assuming they won't do that before I can even explain."
"You said it before, all they want to do is help those in need. Besides, I doubt that Lloyd kid would let them kill you straight away."
"Yeah, I know. But..." A loud explosion and scream stopped her continuing however. "Corrine, lets go!"
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Sheena was sat away from the group. Even though they had made a truce in order to save the people of Luin from the Desian Ranch, she still felt distant from them. She knew the elven woman didn't approve of saving her, and the elder swordsman seemed concerned about the aspect of their union. It probably didn't help when she joked about decapitating them in their sleep.
"Hey!" came a voice behind her. She turned to see Lloyd, the only person who really wanted to help her out in Luin.
"Hey, Lloyd." She replied.
"Mind if I sit with you?"
"I you want." She replied, trying to conceal her happiness of having him around.
"Thanks. Oh, I hope this doesn't count as following you." He joked as he sat down.
Sheena couldn't help herself from laughing. "Sorry 'bout that."
"Don't worry, I've had worse threats from the Professor and Kratos, especially during the times I tried to help you." She laughed again. "You know," he started after a couple minutes of fairly awkward silence, "you don't have to be here on your own."
"Don't worry, I'm fine. Besides, I don't think the others would want me to join them. I don't think they trust me." She sounded a bit gloomy at this, but she didn't know why. She had this problem all the time in her own village, so why should she feel upset by this when it was from the people she was trying to kill the other day.
"Well, they're not gonna start trusting you if you keep to yourself. It's quite hard to trust someone who doesn't trust you." He said as he put his hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, I know." She replied, "Hey, Lloyd?"
"Yeah?"
"Well...you see..." she looked into his eyes. "It's nothing."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, don't worry." 'I can't tell him now, not now he trusts me.' "Thanks for trusting me Lloyd."
Wow! Nine pages long. I'm not overly sure if I liked how this went or not, but after spending so much time on it, I thought what the hell. Tell me whether you like it or not. Oh and I'll update my mid-game story as soon as I can. See ya!