Disclaimer: I don't own ToS
Yeah…I'm sorry, but mostly to you , SoS. You've followed this story, and I quite missed out little conversations, so…
Sorry?
Anyways, You all can chew me out for being late, I don't blame you. Hell, I did!
Tricks
Lloyd sighed as he was flanked by the two renegades, who branded their blades against him. He took a quick glance, and noticed that Virgil held Botta at a deadlock, before turning his attention back onto the two weaker beings on his sides.
Look bored, he asked the one on his left, "Well, are you going to come at me, or not?" he asked, attempting to goad them into attacking.
And by the looks of it, it worked.
The one on the left ran at Lloyd, which in turn, sparked the other one to charge at him as well.
Lloyd didn't move until they were almost on top of him. When they were, he back stepped, before grabbing the right one's wrist and shoving further ahead, impaling the left one..
He fell, letting his sword fall to the ground as he clutched his wound, while Lloyd puled out his blades, Ico and Sano, Wound and Heal.
"Raging Beast!" Lloyd shouted, spinning, before adding a counter spin, releasing the blue entity, effectively blowing the two renegades to pieces.
He briefly looked towards the door Yuan walked through, before he rushed to help Virgil, who had some point lost his scimitar and resorted to using his fists.
"Honestly Virgil…" mumbled Lloyd as he ducked under a swing from Botta. He had tossed Ico over to the man, so he would at least have a weapon against the earth using half elf.
Lloyd blocked against Botta's weapon, then sidestepped, letting Botta, who was still trying to over power Lloyd during their little dead lock, smashed the ground, leaving him open for attack.
"Virgil!"
"Right!"
The two lined, blades poised to thrust, when they both shouted, "Cross Thrust!"
Blood erupted from Botta like an overflowing fountain, when Lloyd followed up the attack with Sword Rain, giving the half elf a number of stabs.
Botta grimaced as a wave of pain washed over him as he looked at the two.
He'd have to cut his losses and escape, he wouldn't survive if he kept on going…
Throwing his weapon to the ground, Botta ran, ignoring his injuries, Virgil and Lloyd not bothering to follow after him.
"Here's you sword…" Virgil mumbled, tossing Ico over to it's owner who sheathed it with style. "What are your orders? Should we give chase?"
"…No, let him go. We've effectively driven the renegades out of here. Order the men to ransack the place then back to the ranch. When we arrive, I have something to discuss with you all…"
Tricks
Noro sighed lazily as he deflected another three fireballs that were sent flying his way, before he grabbed the Chosen's chakrams and threw them back at her.
Man, he was bored…when he saw Lloyd carried in on a stretcher, he had expected these guys to be tough but…
This was just pitiful!
He had already taken down the healer and mercenary, leaving only the Chosen and her little half-elf friend. He dodged a thrown chakram, after which he then thrusted at the magic caster with his trident, only to have it knocked off course by the use of a rock blast spell.
"I'm getting tired of this. You guys are weaker than I thought you'd be. Why don't you just give up and surrender yourselves? Make your lives a whole lot easier…" Noro said, tiredness clearly evident in his voice.
Genis saw the truth in his words. Without the other two, they stood practically no chance against this guy! He looked worriedly at Collette, when he made his decision.
He ran over to the body of Kratos, hefted the man onto his shoulder, who he found to be lighter than he thought, and yelled at the blonde to get Raine, they were bailing out of there.
Noro widened his eyes at the two, casting a spell to try and cut them off from their escape. When enough mana had be gathered, he shouted at the two, pointing his trident at them, "Atlas!"
But alas, the group of four escaped, leaving Noro cursing their very existence.
Tricks
Virgil and Lloyd sat around the camp's fire as the rest of the desians that had survived the raid on the renegade base began heading to their tents to get some sleep for the next half of the trek back to the ranch.
Virgil stared into the fire, as Lloyd watched the stars and moon, both looking as if they were trying to find some answer that eluded them.
"Virgil…" Lloyd started, eyes flickering from one star to another. "I have to find a way into the Chosen's group…" he stated, standing up now, strapping Ico and Sano to his waist.
Virgil only asked, "And how do you plan to do that?" he knew WHY he had to, he was too noble to bring anyone else into things that were issued to him, so he'd attempt to bring the Chosen's group alone.
"That's what I'm going to need help with…there are a multitude of ways…but a number of them end up with my head not on my shoulders…" he said, running his fingers through his hair.
The two tossed around ideas for a while, until Virgil stated another one that gained Lloyd's attention.
"Well…some cursed items have been known to mess with the wearer's mind, and alter their way of thinking. That's common knowledge. And, it only takes any spell caster worth their spit to know how to detect one." He stated, finally moving his eyes away from the fire to stare at his commander.
"So you're saying we curse one of my possessions, making it alter the mind of the person who wears to have my mind state?"
"Excactly." Lloyd mimicked his smirk.
"Ah, but there's one thing…it'd have to be something they'd expect me to have, not knowing it was cursed. And something they've seen on my person before, Virgil. Even then, they didn't see much."
Gesturing towards the teen's red and black boots, Virgil questioned, "What about your knife?"
A look of musing came across Lloyd's face, before he shrugged, pulling out the small pocket knife and tossing it to the blue haired man.
"This may take some time. Cursing is kinda hard…It's mostly done by spirits and such, but I can manage it. You remember that info on those Devil's Arm thingies? Well, it'd sorta end up like one of them…"
"Get on with it…"
When dawn approached, but had not quite peaked over the horizon, Virgil handed Lloyd the knife, an apathetic look on his face.
Lloyd looked at the knife, before slipping it into his boot, then took one look at his friend, knowing this would be the last time thy saw each other for a while.
"Lloyd…watch yourself, alright? By not stopping you, I'm showing you I trust your decision."
Lloyd looked up at the man, a somewhat shocked look on his face. Virgil never listened to him before…but that didn't matter. He gave the man he saw as a brother a hug, before he gave his orders. "Virgil, you, Noro, and Loretta are to run the ranch in my leave. Do things as you would if I were there." he stated, before walking out into the desert…
Tricks
Lloyd could see Triet's walls in front of him, before he initiated the next part of his plan. Pulling out a pill that was designed for infiltration and deception missions, he popped it in his mouth, and it's effects immediately took effect.
His hair now clung to his body, and his breaths came out labored, as false wounds opened up and blood began seeping out of them. His body began shaking and his gaze became unfocused, before he promptly fell to the sand covered ground outside Triet, waiting, as he began slipping into the darkness around him…
Tricks
"WHAT IN THE SEVEN BLOODY HELLS DO YOU MEAN HE'S MISSING?!" shouted Forcystus at one of his underlings after they told him about Lloyd's disappearance from the Triet ranch.
"H-he led an attack o-on the renegade b-base and didn't return to the ranch the next day! He left his three commanders in charge!" stammered the panicked desian kneeling before the Grand Cardinal.
Growling, Forcystus shot the man, before staring worriedly outside the window, mumbling, "Where are you Lloyd…?"
Tricks
Kratos stepped out of the Triet inn, just after dawn had breached the sky. He knew that he was a bit nocturnal, so he had a little bit of trouble sleeping during the night.
He looked aver at the animals in the stable, before he began his rounds around the city, or rather, around the inn, when something, or someone, caught his eye…
It was a person, lying face down just outside the city walls.
Kratos approached the man carefully, remembering his little encounter with the man called 'Noro'.
When he looked at the person, he did a double take.
It was Lloyd Irving, bleeding up a flood.
The purple clad mercenary stood there statically as he looked at the corpse. He supposed he could just say he never saw him, since the boy was his enemy…
But, letting his own son bleed to death? He wasn't that heartless…
But, Forcystus was the father figure in Lloyd's life, and was raised to kill the one he had to made sure lived…
Turning away from the teen, he came face-to-face with Raine, who was glaring at him.
"Kratos, honestly…I thought you knew better…" she said, disgusted, before running over to help the stirring teen, who started moaning painfully, while Raine looked him over. "He may be the enemy, but he's just a teen!"
He was messed up to be plain and simple.
Deep wounds scattered his body and no doubt some were infected. His body was hot, running a fever and he was suffering from a multitude of diseases. His body also had bruises and scars that had begun reopening, much to her disgusted amusement.
Then, she felt something tingling on the edge of her senses, and she began loving her hands to find the source.
He came to his bott, reaching in and pulling out an innocent looking knife.
But it had a mind-altering curse on it.
"Kratos…please tell me I'm not going crazy and that you feel this too…" she said, eyes looking at the knife.
Taking a look at it, and by hat he meant picking it up, then immediately dropped it to the ground he felt his mind becoming heavy…
Wait…that meant it had been cursed and he carried it around on his person…
Looking at Lloyd, he realized…
"That boy's mind has been locked in its own body for years…"
Tricks
Lloyd groaned when he came back to the world of the conscious, rubbing his head to get rid of the feeling after using that damn pill.
Take a bad hangover and multiply by 80.
Taking in his surroundings, he realized that he was in the Triet inn, and his equipment, or at least, everything but his weapons, laid on a seat near the bed. Putting them on, he stumbled out of the room, and into the doorway of the lobby, where he saw the half-elf boy playing with that thing he called a weapon, the Chosen attempting to do so too, while the mercenary, the good fight in a couple miles, was looking at his 'trick' knife, while Raine was hunched over a book, writing down notes here and there on a sheet of paper.
Coughing to get there attention, he asked, "Where are my weapons?"
He received no answer, only a question in return from Raine.
"How long have you had this knife?"
Smirking, but hiding it before anyone could notice, Lloyd said, "Had it since I was a kid."
The two adults in the room shared a glance with each other, before the half-elf woman stood, and walked over to Lloyd, giving the room a tense silence.
Then she hugged him, saying how he was a poor thing, his own mind being suppressed under a curse.
"But" she began whispering in his ear. "Kratos and I will be watching you if you try anything funny…"
The day mostly progressed with questioning him, until night fell and He smirked.
He had successfully snuck his way into the Chosen's acquaintance.
Tricks
A/N: Yeah, I know a lot of you are going to be like, wtf just happened here and act as if I ruined a good story, but there is a plot in this!
It was a bit below my personal standards, but I'm hoping it'll pass your judgment.
If you have any questions, ask and I'll try to answer them the best I can.