I do not own Tales of Symphonia in any way shape or form

Chapter 1

The night was moonless and only the twinkling of stars now lit the ground, the elven city of Heimdall was at rest, with the only noise being the occasional soft bark from a dog or sounds of something moving in the surrounding Ymir Forest.

Lloyd Irving couldn't sleep he hadn't been able to in two days. Now he stood on the arched wooden bridge over the small river in Heimdall, listening to the sounds of the night and thinking too many things, for the second night in a row, just that day he had fought his father, won, and then had to watch as his father nearly killed himself to release the seal on the King of Summon Spirits. Kratos Aurion now rested in the village elder's home having survived with the help of Raine and Yuan who had appeared quite suddenly after Kratos released the seal, then after facing Origin, Sheena had made the pact and Lloyd had been told that now with only one thing left to do he would soon be able to wield the Eternal Sword. All of the sudden his mind wandered to something that caught him off guard as it seemed he had no control over it, Sheena the indigo clad ninja summoner since his night at Flanoir he and Sheena had become closer and last night she had surprised him during the night, as again he couldn't sleep, she had come to his room and they had walked next to the river and talked about his fight with Kratos and the future after that, and he had promised to take her along when he went to destroy the rest of the exspheres, but now he started thinking about something that he thought he never would 'did he love Sheena?' He shook his head quickly to try and clear his thoughts 'No I can't love Sheena, she's just a great friend, sure she's nice and she sure knows how to cheer someone up when they need it, and she's beautiful…' he stopped 'she is beautiful.'

Now he was confusing himself he was about to head back to his room when a voice stopped him "Hey are you up again? You know I didn't think you were supposed to still be nervous." He looked over to see the very person that was just working his brain, Sheena Fujibayashi, standing on the land next to the bridge leaning forward with her hands resting on the two railings of the bridge. He smiled, for once she wasn't wearing her indigo kimono or the dull pink ribbon he was so used to seeing her in, and she had let her dark violet hair down, where it rested just past her shoulders, she wore a dark forest green robe, no doubt borrowed from the elves, wrapped loosely around her, underneath she had a sky blue t-shirt and a pair of indigo shorts. She smiled back at him and walked up to stand next to him "So what's up?" she said quickly, looking up at him. He didn't look over at her but leaned forward and let out a long sigh. Sheena still looked at the side of his head waiting for him to face her "Sheesh Lloyd," she said "I thought I knew you pretty good, but that one has me confused."

Now he chuckled shortly and turned around leaning his back against the railing, turning to look at her "Don't worry Sheena, you still know me just as good as anyone but I don't know what one meant either. I wish someone could help me figure that out."

Sheena now leaned out over the bridge looking at the perfectly clear water which now nearly looked like a mirror "Well, you do have me."

Lloyd turned to join her in looking at the water for a few seconds, and then grinned "Yeah your right, I do, and everyone else too, the only thing is I do wish we could have the chance for a rest, it seems that we haven't had a chance to rest at all since we very first got to Tethe'alla."

Sheena nodded slowly "Yeah it has been pretty hectic, and anytime we have had a night to sleep not outside we've always had something or someone to worry about."

Lloyd nodded and let out another long sigh "Well maybe it will be over in the next couple days."

"We can only hope," Sheena replied then looked over again at him "well keeping ourselves up probably won't help on the day that we do face Mithos, you and I better get back to bed." She turned and waited for him, he slowly walked over to her and as they walked back she held onto his arm and rested her head on his shoulder. He felt like he was walking mechanically the whole way back and if not for his exhaustion he was sure his heart would've been able to break his ribs for how hard it would have been pounding.

They walked back to the small inn and he walked Sheena to the door of the girls room where she gave him a last smiled and walked into the room shutting the door quietly. Lloyd walked back to the room where the other men slept and after lying down in bed, stayed awake for almost an hour thinking only one thing 'do I love Sheena?'

The next morning he woke up to find the room empty except for Genis, who was bouncing his Kendama around leaning his head on a hand. Lloyd sat up and stretched and yawned widely, before looking over at Genis "Where's the rest of the group?"

Genis sighed and caught the Kendama ball as it came back "They're outside in front of the elder's house Raine made me wait, she always wants to be the one to listen and then explain to me after it's over."

Lloyd quickly got up and belted on his two swords and reached out a hand to pull Genis off the bed and walk out of the room "I got your back for this one Genis," Lloyd said as they walked out of the inn, they found the group quickly outside the elder's house, Raine, Collette and Sheena were having a quiet conversation, Presea was sitting on a log nearby with Regal right next to her both solemn as usual and Zelos was leaning up against the elder's house watching the three girls talking, Kratos was there as well standing off to one side, but Yuan had disappeared yet again.

As Lloyd and Genis walked up Raine frowned and looked like she would say something but Lloyd beat her to it "I'm vouching for him Professor, doesn't even look like there really is a conversation going on anyway," he said "Good morning Collette, good morning Sheena," he said walking past the two they both turned and said "good morning" quickly then went back to their conversation which was now whispers and giggles.

After Lloyd stopped the Professor, Genis walked up with a rather triumphant grin on his face, Raine smacked him on the back of the head but didn't say anything. A few minutes later Lloyd made himself heard to the group "Okay guys, yesterday went well where to now?"

The rest of the group gathered round and Raine spoke up "first off we need someone to change key crests so Lloyd can use the two special exspheres from Origin."

Lloyd nodded "Well Altessa lost his equipment in the attack awhile ago otherwise he could do it, it looks like we're back to Iselia again."

Now Sheena spoke up "after that we can go to Derris-Kharlan and finally finish this, Mithos doesn't know what he's gotten himself into," she said as her cards materialized in her hands.

Lloyd clenched a fist "Yeah, lets get to dad's fast, I'm starting to get excited."

Kratos stepped forward then "I'd like to ask if I could travel with you to Dirk's home, I will leave when we are done there but I do wish to accompany you there, not to mention you will need my help to create the special key crests."

The others looked over at Lloyd but he only shrugged "He is right, yeah you can come along, are you going to need to ride on one of the Rheiards?"

Kratos shook his head at this "No I'll be able to keep up with you just with my wings, but I'll need to be in contact with one of the Rheiards before you go into the gateway, or I'll get left behind."

Lloyd nodded "all fine with me, lets move out." The group began to walk towards the edge of the forest where the Rheiards had been hidden but before they even reached the bridge an earthquake of incredible magnitude cam from nowhere, throwing the entire group to the ground, the quake didn't lessen in strength and Lloyd braced himself against the ground and rose to a crouching position very slowly, Raine was clutching her staff staying upright, barely, Presea, Collette and Genis were all still on the ground and Regal, Sheena, and Kratos were slowly rising to their feet. "Kratos, what's going on? I thought the earthquakes would be over," Lloyd shouted over the noise.

Kratos raised his head and shouted back "Mithos must've found out we have gotten Origin, I have a feeling we'll be hearing from him very soon." Just as he spoke the quake slowed down a tiny fraction and the voice of Mithos echoed deafeningly out of nowhere "You think you have a chance to beat me? You have no chance, soon you won't even matter anymore!" he laughed maniacally and his voice faded and the earthquake returned with renewed fury, knocking everyone back to the ground, then all of the sudden it stopped. Lloyd looked around quickly from the ground seeing everyone still on the ground, he slowly rose to a kneeling position, and then to his feet, everyone else was standing now as well. Lloyd looked up into the sky and said "I know this sounds weird, but this can't be it, that earthquake was meant to do something," his confusion was gone in the next five seconds as a huge, crunching and breaking sound filled the area.

Collette was the first to see it "look everyone, the Tower of Salvation it's…" her mouth hung open, dumbstruck as she pointed towards the Tower, as the group watched enormous cracks ran down the length of the tower and soon they saw the chunks from the very top falling all the way down, Kratos was the first to recover he began to run towards the forest, the elves were already moving as well as the rest of the group came back to their senses they ran after Kratos who shouted before sprouting his wings and jumping into the air "Use the Rheiards anyway, try to avoid the large chunks this will be dangerous, but its better than the ground," Lloyd nodded and as they reached the four Rheiards they went into their groups of two, Lloyd and Genis, Raine and Sheena, Zelos and Collette, and Regal and Presea. The larger chunks had just begun to fall off as the Rheiards slowly lifted off the ground, the smaller ones were just starting to fall on the city as they made it away.

It took only a few seconds before the Rheiards began to swerve and dip avoiding the large pieces as they rained down, soon it felt like flying through a city, dodging constantly now very high in the air. Lloyd and Genis rode at the back of the group with the rest flying out in front, spread out to avoid bumping into each other. Genis had been watching behind him the whole time telling him when to dodge, suddenly Genis spoke up again, fear thick in his voice "Um…Lloyd?"

Lloyd turned his head slightly to look back "What is—holy crap," he had turned to see a piece of the tower the size of a large building fall off and was heading towards them "Genis right now you have to destroy that, if we just let if all it will kill the elves still in the forest, making it into smaller pieces gives them a better chance, I don't care what you use just blow it into as many pieces as you can."

Genis nodded quickly and grabbed his Kendama, moving his hands and muttering an incantation, and then he shouted as loud as he could pointing the Kendama at the huge piece of stone "EXPLOSION!"

There was a split second of silence then a fireball erupted from inside the stone blowing the stone upward and outward, Lloyd yelled to the others who had turned to see it "Get ready to move fast guys!" The Rheiards swerved, spun and moved in all different directions for the next thirty seconds as the smaller pieces rained down, it seemed they had made it out, but then one piece struck the edge of Raine and Sheena's Rheiard, it faltered and looked like it might go down as Raine struggled to keep it in the air, after one jerk Sheena lost her balance and fell from the Rheiard. It seemed to move in slow motion to Lloyd as she fell, but then everything was back to high speed as her feet left the surface of the Rheiard "Sheena!" he shouted quickly looking downward trying to see her, in the next five seconds Lloyd had flown next to Raine's Rheiard, quite literally thrown Genis by his shirt onto it, and turned around and dove down to where Sheena fell, as they were so high up she was still falling, he saw her quickly and put the Rheiard to its highest speed catching up quickly, as he got close he reached out a hand, not wanting to try and catch her on the Rheiard for fear that the sudden jolt would break it, she had little control but was able to get a firm grip on his hand after a couple seconds. Lloyd quickly slowed down the Rheiard and leveled off swinging Sheena onto the seat behind him. As he turned back towards the others he felt her arms wrap around him and her head rest against his back, after a few seconds he could tell she was crying silently, he took a last look at the tower to see it was almost completely gone and no more pieces were falling, he decided to not speed up, Sheena deserved some time.

It took the next hour to reach the small island with the Tethe'alla Renegade base on it. Everyone else was there already but didn't say anything when they saw the look on Lloyd's face. He didn't land but called down to the others "Are you guys ready? What the-" as he had said that the sky had flashed black for a second, then it did it again, finally it went all black for almost thirty seconds, slowly the blue came back, but not without changes. Dominating the sky was an enormous planet, easily taking up ten times the space that the moon did, it seemed purple and was glowing, everyone looked up in awe, Kratos bowed his head, Lloyd noticed "What is that Kratos?"

Kratos slowly raised his head "That is Derris-Kharlan, Mithos always kept it there, shrouded by a very powerful spell, the Tower was a sort of generator for the spell, and a magnet as well, in less than two weeks, it will be gone, the Tower was all that was keeping it here."

Raine didn't want to believe it "Impossible, how a planet of this size simply be there the whole time without anyone being able to tell it!"

Kratos continued speaking, "Mithos will be trying to get Collette desperately in the next few days, he wants to leave once he has her, we must hurry."

Lloyd nodded quickly "You heard him, lets go guys," the others jumped onto their Rheiards and Kratos grabbed hold of one of them then they each flew into the gateway atop the Base and disappeared.

A few seconds later they appeared in the northern corner of the Triet Desert, oddly in the sky looked normal, Kratos explained when Presea asked "Kharlan showed up in Tethe'alla because that is where the most mana is right now, and the Kharlan is acting as a sort of vacuum and once it leaves it will take all of the mana with it and the land will die."

The short ride to Dirk's home was uneventful, though Zelos joked constantly only getting laughs from Collette, after one particularly bad joke Lloyd called to Collette "You know you don't have to laugh Collette we won't mind and Zelos will live I'm sure."

Collette only smiled and called back "That's okay, I like Zelos' jokes." At this Zelos grinned from ear to ear and everyone else smacked their foreheads. They reached the house quickly and landed the Rheiards in an edge of the forest, Kratos called Lloyd to help him carry a few things he was pulling out of one of the Rheiards; the others went and sat down outside of Dirk's house while Lloyd and Kratos walked in.

"Hi Dad!" Lloyd said as he walked in.

Dirk was bent over his forge when he walked in but looked up quickly and smiled "Ah, Lloyd, it is good to see you my son, what can I do for you?"

"We need your skills one more time dad; we need to special key crests made." As he talked Kratos laid the materials out on the table, Dirk walked over to the table where Lloyd joined him. "Special ya say," Dirk said looking over the objects "I should hope so." Dirk picked up a large chunk of white, metallic rock.

Kratos spoke up "That's a special kind of inhibitor ore, I have to carve a special charm into it, while it is still red hot, I can do it, and it won't hurt."

Lloyd picked up a large bundle of wood looking it over "Is this sacred wood?"

Kratos nodded "From a corner of the Ymir Forest, that must fuel the fire." Dirk looked over the objects asked a few more questions and had Lloyd remove his key crest and exosphere to check one of the charms that was actually an instruction. Over the next few hours the forge was cleared out a new fire was build and they started working, the inhibitor ore melted incredibly fast and Dirk had to have Lloyd's help to avoid having the ore become impure. Lloyd helped where he could but Kratos simply had to stand by, as the crest was shaped and began to cool, as soon as it became solid Kratos picked it up with bare hands carved a very intricate charm on the inside of both of the crests then with his fingers touching both muttered a short incantation they glowed for a few seconds then faded, Kratos held out the crests to Lloyd who hesitated.

Kratos reassured him "You can hold them, the incantation cools them down." Lloyd shrugged and took them finding them not warm in the slightest he took off his gloves and put both of the key crests on his hands, replacing one of his gloves he removed the exospheres and placed them on both his hands and replaced both of his gloves, the exospheres out of the small holes in the gloves, then wrapped the white cloth about both of them.

Dirk patted Lloyd on the back "You've done good Lloyd, I have only one thing left to give you," he walked to a corner of the room and pulled out something wrapped in cloths. As he walked back he undid the cloth to reveal a beautiful square end sword, it was made of slightly phosphorescent blue metal, Dirk held it out to him hilt first, Lloyd hesitated then very carefully grasped the hilt, and Dirk stepped back. It felt perfect in his hand, he took a few swipes, it was light as air, Dirk smiled "that's the finest sword I ever created, Lloyd it's yours now." Dirk went back and took the sheath out of the corner Lloyd removed one of his other swords and attached the new one to his belt.

Then Kratos walked up "Lloyd you and I may be very different people but you are my last family and you do deserve better but I will give you what I have," Kratos drew out his flame style sword and held it out to him.

Lloyd stared at him for a few seconds "Are you sure Kratos?"

He nodded "I have no more use for it, Mithos no longer controls me, but I don't want it anyway." Lloyd shrugged then cautiously picked up the sword; he looked it over then got rid of his other sword and belted it on.

Lloyd looked at the two older men standing in front of him and smiled "Well both of you may have your own problems but thanks. I'm glad I have dads as good as both of you."

Dirk smiled and said "Sometimes Lloyd I do wish I could've done things better for you but this is what I have."

Lloyd smiled "You gave me what you could, I'm glad you did." Dirk grinned through his thick mustache.

Kratos said nothing for the next few seconds as Lloyd turned to look at him; he finally spoke up after about thirty seconds "Lloyd I am…I am honestly sorry things aren't different and I would change things if I knew then what I know now, but it was my mistake, and I think… I think I can finally forgive myself."

Lloyd nodded "I think I've forgiven you too."

Kratos smiled a rare smile "Thank you," he said. Then quickly he turned and walked out into the night.

Lloyd hesitated a minute then followed him; he caught up to him just as he had passed over the wooden bridge "Kratos!" Kratos turned but said nothing, indicating for Lloyd to speak. "This will be over in the next couple days do you… do you really have to leave again?"

Kratos slowly nodded his head "You are right Lloyd this will be over by the end of tomorrow but you must understand that if the Kharlan Tree returns then the Derris will no longer be needed, and will drift into space slowly, because of my power I will be able to return for a time but, I think before it drifts away completely that is where I will stay, the half-elves still need a ruler."

Lloyd nodded, but looked at the ground, speaking quietly "I wish other people could change the same way we have."

Kratos nodded "Me too Lloyd, I've wished that too many times to count, I'll keep in touch for as long as I can once you defeat Mithos." He then gave a short wave and walked a bit farther into the forest, then spread his wings and flew away, disappearing quickly.

Lloyd looked after him for a few seconds then walked slowly back to the house. Once he was up stairs and had sat down on the edge of his bed, he let out a long sigh, seeing this Collette stood up and walked over to him sitting on the bed next to him, he didn't acknowledge her presence.

After a few minutes she broke the silence "What's wrong Lloyd?" he told her. She looked at the floor for a few seconds then looked over and put her arms around him "We all make choices Lloyd, Kratos has made his, and I think I can understand why, but we can't his mind and… he does love you."

Lloyd let out another sigh, and then looked up "Thanks Collette," he said. She smiled and gave him another quick hug then went back to the small table where she and Raine were talking.

After that it seemed like the early days of the journey, and everyone relaxed for a few hours. Zelos, Lloyd and Genis talked for a time until Raine ordered Genis to bed, then just Zelos and Lloyd talked, Collette fell asleep while sitting in a chair and soon after Zelos woke her up and helped her to the sleeping area downstairs, where she quickly fell asleep again. Shortly after that Regal and Presea, who had been sitting to the side speaking softly, and rarely, both retired to the downstairs area as well.

Raine followed soon after, Zelos and Lloyd talked for awhile longer, then Zelos stood and stretched "Well this is all for me bud," Zelos yawned then said goodnight and walked down the stairs, a few seconds later his head reappeared "Psst! Lloyd!" he whispered. Lloyd turned his head slightly from the chair he was sitting on, Zelos had an all too familiar look on his face. "The only spot big enough for me down here is in between two of my hunnies hehehe!" he winked and slowly his head disappeared. Lloyd rolled his eyes and looked over at Sheena who had a smug look on her face she looked over at Lloyd and held up a power seal that had a small piece torn off of it, Lloyd grinned, Sheena grinned back then held up a hand sign there was a soft pop, a muffled yelp from Zelos, then a thud. Lloyd looked down the stairwell to see Zelos curled up at the bottom of the stairs rocking back and forth, clutching his rear end, Lloyd fought back a laugh, Zelos saw him "That's not funny."

Lloyd smiled "Actually Zelos I thought it was hilarious, besides I think you'll live," Zelos shut his eyes tight and whimpered.

Lloyd turned back to the room laughing softly, Sheena was giggling as well. They both stopped after a minute and were silent for a few more. Then Lloyd yawned and stood up "I need some air, care to join me? I'm just going out on the balcony," he said turning to Sheena she shrugged "Sure." They both walked out on the balcony Lloyd leaned on the railing and looked up at the stars.

Sheena stayed back for a minute then walked up next to him "What's on your mind?"

"Too much as usual, just wondering about Kratos and Mithos,"

"I think you should be more worried about Mithos, besides Kratos now is…understandable."

Lloyd rested his head on his arms as he leaned against the railing "Yeah you're right I was just thinking about the last conversation we had, I wish he could stay here."

"Well Lloyd he's had to make some pretty tough decisions over the past few days, I have a feeling his choice to leave Sylvarant and Tethe'alla was one of the harder ones."

Lloyd turned to look at her "Thanks Sheena," she blushed lightly and turned away slightly "No problem." They were silent for a minute, Sheena still standing back a little ways, after a minute she walked up right next to him. "Lloyd…" she started, he turned to look at her waiting for her to continue "I…just… thank you, thank you so much for saving me today."

His lips curved up in a small smile "It's what any of us would have done Sheena." Sheena looked away back out over the forest "Well still…thanks."

Lloyd smiled a bit wider "You're welcome, besides if I hadn't saved you I have a feeling Orochi would help you keep the promise about 1000 needles." She turned around quickly a nearly incredulous look on her face he had a large grin splitting his face, there was a short pause then they both dissolved into laughter, trying not to laugh too loudly and not being successful after a few minutes they stopped, breathing heavily. After they both caught their breath they walked back into the house Sheena took a quick look in the bottom room before slowly walking back up she hesitated before saying "Hey Lloyd?"

He turned "Huh?"

"Sorry but the sleeping area is pretty much full, can I just stay up here for the night? I'll just use the couch."

Lloyd nodded quickly "Sure Sheena, you want the bed instead? I can sleep on the couch."

Sheena shook her head "No you can have the bed; I doubt you've even slept in it once since you were banished." A sad look crossed Lloyd's face for a second and he nodded slowly "S-Sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up," Sheena stammered, looking rather ashamed.

Lloyd waved a hand "Don't worry about it, and yeah you are right, thanks again, and here," he handed her one of the blankets from off his bed "it rarely gets cold around here so I never need both of them." Sheena took the blanket and spread it out over the couch as best she could then looked at Lloyd through the corner of her eye and cleared her throat. He blushed lightly "Sorry," then turned his back, when she gave him the okay to turn around she was already under the blanket, he smiled to himself then got into his bed, and was about to blow out the candle which now provided the only light when he stopped and looked over at Sheena, he hesitated then slowly said "Hey Sheena I—

"Lloyd…go to sleep."

He laughed softly "Sorry," then he blew out the candle. He fell asleep quickly but in the middle of the night was woken when someone moved onto the bed with him, he cracked an eye, and looked down to see Sheena next to him, giving him an unreadable look

"Sorry," she whispered "Mizuho is a lot warmer than this." She then turned over and was quickly asleep again, he watched her for a minute before falling asleep again thinking a new thought 'I do love Sheena.'

The next morning things moved fast, everyone was up shortly after the sun peaked over the horizon, with the exception of Zelos who was quickly woken up when Raine smacked him. "So," Lloyd said as the whole group was gathering "should we got to the ruins of the tower in Sylvarant or go back to Tethe'alla?"

"Well," Raine said "the tower is actually just to the west and south of us, over the ocean a little ways."

"That would be the fastest," Genis said.

"Hang on a second everyone;" Collette interrupted "let me check something." She quickly grew her wings and rose up slowly above the trees and looked around, then moved back to the ground. "Looks like the Tower of Salvation is gone guys, it must've disappeared after the world split again. Sorry everyone."

"Ugh, Collette, don't say sorry, you don't have control of that," Lloyd said.

Collette smiled "I know, I'm sorry."

Lloyd shook his head "Well I guess we have to go back to Tethe'alla, it's not too long of a trip, we'll move fast, everybody read?" Everyone nodded and after Lloyd went to say good-bye to Dirk they were in the air. This time things were much more relaxed and even though they moved fast, everyone talked, they made it to the Sylvarant base in thirty minutes and in the next three were in Tethe'alla. Now things were more serious, they quickly moved toward the ruins of the tower, Lloyd was suspicious that lesser angels would attack and had Genis take over their Rheiard while he drew his swords, eyes canning the sky constantly, Presea and Zelos did likewise but no angels appeared. They reached the ruin and set the Rheiards on the edge then after navigating a small boulder field found the light staircase and made it inside which was slowly falling apart and the floor was tilted.

The enormous broad sword that was the Eternal Sword was still stuck in the floor, Raine did quick scan of the area with a spell then nodded at Lloyd "It's all safe you can pull it out pretty easily and for what I know about it, it can control itself so once you pull it out, it may do something, stay calm."

Lloyd nodded "Alright." He walked up and stood behind the sword placing both his hands on the hilt which was as long as his arm, he tugged hard expecting to have to struggle to free it, but it came out easily and even more surprising it had almost no weight. Shortly after he pulled it out it began floating upward and he had to let go, it moved unit the end of the hilt was a few inches above his head then the whole sword glowed, covered in sparkles as it sparkled, it faded and the sparkles funneled downward and into the hilts of his two swords. "Well I admit that's not what I expected," Lloyd said, to no one in particular.

Genis laughed and shrugged "Well Lloyd not much has been what we expected for a long time."

Now everyone laughed lightly as Lloyd walked back down, he had almost reached the group when yet another tremor, this one not as hard shook the ground, knocking everyone off balance "Ah! Now what?" Lloyd yelled in frustration, and then Mithos' voice broke through.

"Ahhhhh! Fine! If I cannot have the one that I wanted, I will take who there is!" Then Mithos appeared right in front of Sheena, his hands closing around her neck, she struggled but his grip was too strong, then he faded and it seemed like he was gone, Sheena slumped where she stood.

Lloyd slowly approached and leaned down trying to get a look at her face "Sheena?" he said slowly as she did not respond.

Her face slowly raised then he saw her eyes, the normally deep brown was now an odd mix of red and blue, then she spoke, not in her own voice "Sheena? No…Mithos!" Lloyd instantly had his swords in his hands. "Now now Lloyd, this is still her body, I wouldn't attack." Lloyd relaxed his stance just barely, lowering his swords "Come on Sheena," he said slowly "you're better than him fight back!"

Now he laughed "Please, Sheena is gone, she can't do anything now, and now I can leave, once Martel has her body, bye now." Before anything could be done, her body turned transparent, then disappeared completely.

Lloyd ran forward just as she disappeared shouting "No!" then as he realized she was gone he fell to his knees, beating the floor with his fists. "Dammit!" No one approached unit he raised back up then slowly stood, he turned to the group "We have two hours now we have to get to Derris-Kharlan, unfortunately I don't know how."

Raine stepped forward "Lloyd we may only need a few minutes, the sword holds an immense amount of power and in the eyes of some it is a sentient thing , use your two swords as a visual, command to be taken to the Derris."

Lloyd nodded quickly, as everyone gathered around, "Thanks Professor." Raine smiled and nodded. Lloyd held his two swords in front of his face and took a deep breath, closing his eyes while he did so, then when he opened his eyes he spoke in a loud voice "Eternal Sword, take us to Derris-Kharlan!" the two blades glowed for a few seconds, then seemed to fuse and disappear and the enormous broad sword took their place, then a strange voice of no recognizable gender emanated from it "Acknowledged." Then the blade glowed a brilliant white and the group faded then disappeared, on to Derris-Kharlan