Cat: Ok, obviously, nobody can deal with Raine's japanese name.
So, yeah, I changed it.
God, I'm pissed off. Comes from giving Collet so many lines in Whackphonia Chapter 4.
And the whole Sylvarant part may look so bam-bam-fast because I want to get it over with.
It's the most boring part in the story.
Btw, I changed the Refill into Raine by now.
And I know, I completely forgot Noishe .. he's staying on Derris Quaran.
They hastily crossed the Ossa Trail, Raine and Lloyd keeping an eye out for the woman,
who had attacked Collet.
But they didn't encounter her anymore until they were safely taking a break in the Fishercity Izoold.
Collet sighed.
"I hope that woman is alright .."
"Collet, you don't need to worry about her." Raine said cooly. "She was out for your blood after all."
"But still .. She had such nice eyes .."
Collet remained sad about the woman for the rest of the day.
Lloyd, lying in his bed with his arms behind his head, was staring at the wooden roof.
He could sense that Collet was awake, pretending to sleep, just like he was.
He would've liked to inform his father about it at that very moment - but he couldn't.
Collet would know he would be awake and would wonder where he was going to.
While the others were eating breakfast in the morning, Lloyd hid behind the Inn,
the earring once more turned into the communication device.
"Father?" he asked,
but there was no answer.
There was slight static, but otherwise it remained silent.
He put the chain back into the earring.
Perhaps he was in the middle of a crowd and couldn't answer.
The bridge leading to the northern continent was long and not very stable,
so they had to be extra careful, crossing it taking more time than it usually would.
About halfway to Haima, Lloyd frowned slightly and walked slower.
"Something wrong, Lloyd?" Collet asked worried.
"No, just .. nothing .." he muttered to himself.
He was probably imagining it, the scent was hardly noticable.
They quickened their pace, trying to get to the next city before night fell.
"I was wondering, Lloyd .. why are you so intent on getting to Luin soon?" Raine asked.
"The Church of Martel in Luin is responsible for the Tower of Mana, they had it locked
several years ago." he explained and she nodded.
Several yards away from Luin, they stopped in shock.
The silhouette of the city was burned black and a bit of smoke was still rising up to the sky.
"That's true. Alright, I will remain in Luin for now."
Lloyd trembled slightly, finally biting his lips and ran off.
".. Father!"
"Lloyd, wait!" Raine called after him,
but he was already out of hearing range.
Quickly catching up with him, they looked horrified at the destroyed fountain,
water running onto the muddy ground from the basin, the houses halfway
burned down or destroyed by force looking very unstable.
Lloyd was frantically turning his head this way and another, his breath in short takes.
"Father ..!" he kept calling, turning this way and another when he saw no one but corpses.
A steady crunching sound was heard and they stopped at a little side off the destroyed city.
A man with auburn hair and darkblue clothing was digging graves.
"Fa .. Father!" Lloyd called and the man turned around.
The boy ran into the man's arms, who let the shovel drop to the ground.
"Lloyd .." he said in a deep voice and embraced his son with visible relief.
The others kept their respective distance, until the two men broke apart and the older one looked at them.
"Who are you?" he asked in a polite, yet curious voice.
"Father, this is the Chosen of Mana." Lloyd introduced them.
"My name is Collet Brunel. It's nice to meet you, Mr .." Collet smiled widely.
"Kratos. I'm Kratos Aurion, Lloyd's father." he introduced himself, smiling slightly.
Collet bowed slightly to greet him.
Genius nodded his head. "I'm Genius Sage, a childhood friend of hers."
Raine stepped forward and shook hands with Kratos.
"Raine Sage, their teacher and Genius' sister." she said. "I hope I am not sounding rude, but you look too young to be his father."
"I hear that a lot." Kratos said. "But I am really 39 years old."
"So, you were engaged to protect the Chosen .." Kratos said, having heard of them what happened up to now.
"And you're engaged as well, if you come with us." Lloyd told him and he nodded.
Kratos agreed to come with them,
but first he'd finish burying all the people in Luin.
"We'll help you!" Collet said and they started to dig graves for the Dead,
laying them inside and speaking prayers for them.
Lloyd was moving board after board from destroyed houses where the roofs collapsed.
Searching for more Dead or, if he was lucky, finding a survivor.
"Lloyd, don't push yourself." Raine warned him, knowing that he had done all this with great speed.
"I don't want mountains of corpses to be my only memory again!" he snapped at her and continued to move the roof boards.
Raine stepped back a bit, surprised of his outburst,
but also of what he said.
The last board moved, a hole in the ground was revealed, where the floor
of the ground level had been destroyed and gave a good view into the cellar.
Someone was lying down there.
Lloyd jumped in and kneeled beside the person.
He recognized her as the woman who had tried to kill Collet at the Ossa Trail.
Checking for a pulse, he found a strong one at her throat and he sighed in relief.
"Lloyd .. where is he?" Collet's voice said and looked down the hole. "There you are!"
"Chosen, could you ask my father to come here?" he asked her and she nodded, disappearing for a second again.
Lloyd carefully lifted the woman over his shoulder and looked around.
There was no real help to get outside of the cellar, the stairs buried under some gravel as well.
"Lloyd?" his father's voice asked.
Lloyd finally tightened his grip around the woman's waist and jumped off the wall,
clinging a hand to the edge of the hole.
"Take her." he said and Kratos and Raine carefully took her off him and laid her on the ground,
Lloyd lifting the rest of himself out of the hole.
Raine healed the serious wounds, the others would heal over time by themselves
and now they had to wait for answers until she woke up.
It didn't take long for her to open her eyes again and she looked at them.
"You .." she muttered. "Kill me, I don't have .. the strength to fight .."
"You were hurt badly." Collet said in a worried voice, ignoring the comment.
"Those were nothing!" she snapped and sighed, leaning against the wall. "Why did you save me, anyway?"
"Ask them." Raine nodded over to Collet and Genius.
"W-we couldn't just leave you there!" Collet finally stuttered. "Um, would you give us your name?"
She looked at her in a surprised matter.
Why should she give her name to the person she wanted to kill?
".. Shihna .." she finally muttered.
"Well, I'm glad to see that you're feeling better, Shihna." Collet smiled.
Lloyd stepped closer and looked down at her, one hand on a hip.
"Could you tell us what happened?"
With a little strain and help from Lloyd, Shihna stood up, though still leaning heavy on the wall.
"The Desians. The Desians from the eastern Ranch attacked." she said. "They found out that
some people from Luin had given some escapees from the ranch refuge."
"And that's why they destroyed the whole city?" Genius asked indignated.
Shihna nodded.
"The 'lucky' ones died, most of the survivors were taken to the Ranch."
"So, Asgard's Ranchleader, Kvar, attacked the city," Kratos said, stepping next to his son and put the hand on his shoulder.
"murdered everyone or took them to the Ranch .. why?"
"I don't know!" she glared at him. "Why should I know how the Desians think?"
Lloyd went towards the back again, his fingers and hands twitching.
He bit his lip until he tasted blood and grabbed one arm with the other to stop the trembling.
"Lloyd, are you okay?" Collet asked him quietly, while the others continued to talk.
"It's nothing." he said and took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
Kratos, listening to what Shihna said, side-glanced at his son and frowned.
Meanwhile, Lloyd's trembling seemed to get worse and he hunched over slightly.
"Lloyd?" Collet asked again.
She gasped when she saw a little trickle of blood running down from his mouth to his chin.
But before she could say anything, he had ran off.
"Where is he going?" Shihna asked surprised, everybody staring after the boy.
Kratos gasped. "He's going to the ranch!" he said and tried to catch up with his son,
the others running after him.
"Are you saying, Lloyd wants to destroy the ranch?" Genius gasped for breath while running.
"Probably. I'm more worried about his mental health." the father answered.
They looked at him, wondering what he meant, but decided to get to their destination first,
then ask questions.
They stared in horrid at the scene in front of him.
Desian corpses were lying around everywhere, mingled with blood, some of them almost
completely severed from other parts of their bodies.
"Was .. that .. Lloyd?" Genius gasped, looking very sick.
Raine put a hand over her mouth and looked at Kratos, who was already continuing onwards,
looking for his son.
"Kratos, what did you mean when you were worrying about his mental health?" she asked.
"He shouldn't lose control of himself." was all he said.
They continued to search for Lloyd,
mostly following a brutal, bloody and destructive path.
"How can he kill so many people in such a short time?" Shihna asked, having run after them
by instinct.
"He's probably full of surprises."
Kratos opened the next door and finally found Lloyd.
In a horrible situation.
Floating stones were surrounding him and currently electrocuting him.
"You're too weak." a man with geled back hair, Kvar, said.
The stones stopped sending electricity through Lloyd's body and he lay limb on the floor.
"Weren't you going to kill me?"
Lloyd got up slowly and swayingly, his muscles still twitching from the electricity.
Gripping his sword tighter, he charged at Kvar,
who just parried his hit with a staff and the stones went after Lloyd again.
"Barrier!" Raine casted the spell around Lloyd before the stones got him.
Kvar looked over and smirked, showing off some pointy teeth.
"If it isn't Kratos .."
Kratos glared at him and grabbed the hilt of his sword.
"Here to kill me, too?" Kvar asked and laughed in a mocking way.
Lloyd stabilized himself on his legs again and slowly and quietly as possible,
he made a detour to get behind Kvar.
"Finally strong enough to get revenge for A012?" Kvar sneered. "Or are you just going to
glare at me?"
Kratos barely moved his lips, until finally a strong breeze flew towards Kvar and slashed his
arms and legs and his face.
"Magic won't work against me that well, Kratos, you should know!" Kvar laughed. "You're
just as dumb as that filthy Host!"
Lloyd, about halfway behind Kvar by now, flinched.
"His eyes .. they're positively red!" Raine mumbled surprised.
Lloyd charged at Kvar, his left arm using his sword to slash and stab Kvar several times,
his dagger in his right hand,
even after Kvar keeled over.
"Lloyd, stop it!" Collet finally called out in horror.
Lloyd finally stopped, his sword in Kvar's back.
He was breathing heavy and after a moment of shock, the others slowly went towards him.
Kratos grabbed his son by the shoulders.
"Lloyd, pull yourself together!" he urged him.
Lloyd, his eyes wide open as well as his mouth, breathing heavily, didn't seem to hear him
at all.
His fingers were tightly clamped around the hilt of his sword.
His clothes and his face covered in Kvar's blood.
A mutter was barely audible and something glinted from the ceiling.
Lloyd flinched, having seen it.
"Chosen!" he yelled and grabbed her wrist, pulling her behind him, her falling to the ground
and a sword made of electricity bored itself through his stomach out of his back.
".. LLOYD!!"
The sword stuck and wouldn't move, Raine told them that she couldn't heal him
as long as the sword stayed there.
Lloyd, clenching his hand, turned his head to his father and sneered, fresh blood trickling from his mouth.
".. You .. finish him .." he hissed from between his teeth.
Kratos, already looking indignated at what Kvar had done to his son,
went to Kvar and used his foot to kick him face upwards.
He took his sword and stabbed it right into Kvar's heart.
The latter gasped once more, coughed up blood and lay still.
The sword in Lloyd disappeared, since the caster died, and Raine quickly used her best healing skills to
heal him.
Kratos kneeled down to his son.
Lloyd took deep breaths and finally got up, a bit wobbly on his knees.
They needed a place to rest and since Luin was completely destroyed, they went to Asgard,
although it was further away.
"Sorry for pushing you to the floor, Chosen." Lloyd had said at the first oppoturnity.
"It's okay. And you did it to save me."
Close to Asgard, Lloyd flinched and grabbed his shoulder.
"Is your shoulder hurt?" Raine asked, wondering if she had missed an injury.
"No, i-it's nothing. It'll be over soon." he said quickly.
But every now and then he kept flinching, sometimes more severe than the other time.
They quickly checked into an Inn, so they could rest.
Most of them were sitting around the table, talking.
Lloyd was in the corner, washing the blood off his face with a towel.
Raine looked at Kratos.
"Now, Kratos, I would like to know how it can be dangerous for Lloyd, if he loses control of himself?"
Kratos remained quiet for a bit.
"When Lloyd loses control of himself, the mana inside of him goes wild. He loses all sense
and runs amok, he won't even recognize anyone."
"And he has an aftereffect of those .. 'attacks'."
"Yes. When he calms down, the aftereffect kicks in." he explained the best he could.
"He experiences 'stabs' where the mana is refreshing and flowing normally through again."
Lloyd sat down next to his father at the table.
He had also taken his jacket off, soaking it in warm water to clean it.
"Pain while he is 'regenerating' from running amok .." Raine muttered. "That's very rare,
but it's been heard of. Since he has this 'illness', his mana must've been tampered with."
A cold silent filled the room while no one talked.
A nerve twitched around Lloyd's right eye, but not from regenerating, but from anger.
Kratos remained levelheaded and merely nodded.
The conversation about Lloyd's status ceased and they finally went to bed.
In the middle of the night, Lloyd was lying in bed and sighed.
He should've stayed calm. Of course now the aftereffect was wearing down, but still present.
But .. when he heard Kvar's name, he couldn't control himself.
Especially when that bastard had insulted her ..!
He flinched when he felt the stabbing sensation in his leg.
He sat up and looked around.
Everyone was lying quietly in bed asleep, except for Kratos who was pretending.
Shihna was the only one trashing from one side to another, in a more frequent way than before.
".. No!!" she screamed when she bolted up in bed, her hand reaching out to something.
Lloyd looked over to her, Kratos turning in his bed, but otherwise it was quiet again.
"Shihna?" he asked carefully.
She turned to look at him and sighed.
"Nothing .. just a nightmare .."
Lloyd nodded and flinched, grabbing his forehead.
He clenched his teeth until the pain became bareable and he moved his hands.
"What's that?" Shihna asked and Lloyd looked surprised for a second. "On your right side."
Lloyd's hand automatically went to it and finally pushed his hair aside.
A grazed scar was hidden behind it and parted his eyebrow.
"I got that from my mother."
"What?!" Shihna gasped and quickly covered her mouth again.
Lloyd smirked slightly.
"No, you see .. my mother used to be in a Humanranch."
"The Asgard One?" she asked and he nodded.
"My father busted her out of there, along with other people. She hired him as a protector,
although she had no money, but he protected her. .. Finally, they fell in love and married, having me." he told her
and smiled at the memories he all had gotten by asking his father. "The Desians though were looking for her,
rather .. they were looking for her Exsphere."
"Why?" Shihna asked, completely engulfed in the story.
"I don't know. It must've been special somehow .." Lloyd's hand touched the stone on his left hand. "So,
they had to flee and couldn't stay long at any place. Finally, when I was about three or four years old,
they got us. Her Exsphere was removed .."
"What happens when that is done?"
".. The mana in the body gets out of control and turns the human into a bloodthirsty monster." he explained.
"My father had to fight her, since she went after us. He tried everything to turn her to normal, but .. once your
Exsphere is taken off - and you never received a keycrest, it's your death sentence."
".. So you got the scar when your mother attacked you?" Shihna dared to ask, hoping to not step too close to him.
"Ah .. I got it just before my father killed her." he heard Shihna gasp. "He had no other choice. Killing her was
the only way to save her. Otherwise she would've roamed over the world and killed other innocent people."
"I see .. so, he had to kill the person he most loved." she muttered. ".. it's horrible to be responsible for someone's death."
Lloyd looked over to her.
"What do you mean?"
".. It's my fault that my village people were attacked." she said with hesitation. "If I had been able to do my duty,
they would still be alive."
Lloyd knew what she was talking about, but it might seem weird if he knew too much.
"Perhaps it wasn't your fault, after all?"
"Everybody says that!" she snapped at him. "Everybody says it's not my fault! But I know what they're talking behind my back!
And I know it's my fault."
They remained silent, Lloyd not knowing what he could say to convince her otherwise,
Shihna remembering that part of her past.
"Sorry to have bothered you." she quickly said and lay back down. "I think I'll be able to sleep now."
".. Night." he said and lay down, too, after a 'Good Night' from her.
"Seeing as how Luin has been destroyed, how are we going to get the Tower Key?" Genius asked.
Shihna asked what key they meant.
Upon finding out that they meant the key to the Tower of Mana, she pulled it out of a pocket.
"I was in Luin to ask the Priests for it." she explained then about a man she had wanted to help
with a healing book inside the Tower.
Lloyd was sitting in a corner, looking tired but better, since the aftereffect had worn off
and he wasn't flinching or twitching anymore.
When Raine, who had just come out of her room, saw him she made a beeline for him and
held his chin to look him in the eye.
".. Raine?" he asked cooly.
"Your eyes looked red yesterday." she explained her behaviour. "But it must've been a trick of the light.
They really are brown."
She let go of his chin and joined the others.
There was a slight discussion about Shihna, who had asked to join them.
They agreed, but she had to give up her plans on killing Collet.
While they were on their way to the Tower of Mana, Lloyd nudged Kratos in the side
and they both lagged behind a bit.
"What?" Kratos asked.
"Why didn't your communicator work?" Lloyd asked first. "I tried contacting you before we left Izoold."
Kratos put a hand to his left ear where a similiar earring was, just in a blackish blue color.
Apparently, everything was alright with it.
"Something else is troubling you." his father noticed.
".. The Priestess of Fire."
"What about her?"
"She recognized me."
Kratos stood still in his tracks and looked slightly horrified.
He quickly caught himself again.
"It doesn't matter. We will not have to go close to Ifrit's Temple anymore."
Cat: Yeah, I'll stop here.
I was ages stuck on the part to where they get to Luin. Thankfully, I listened to
Phenomenon. Thousand Foot Krutch if you want to know.
And, sadly, I didn't get Lloyd "insane/amok" enough as I wanted to.