Disclaimer: Don't own Tales of Symphonia. My friend 'borrowed' it and has lost it…He has angered the sad panda.
Author's Note: We're on the last stretch of school. Final semester and I cannot wait for summer vacation; even it is going to get impossibly hot down here. It already is, actually. Just read the new FMA manga…and I swear I am so annoyed at the cliffhanger!
There's more Colette in this chapter than before and, to be perfectly honest, I don't like Colette. At all. But she is, unfortunately, necessary to the story, so I shall try my hardest to not mutilate her character. And this chapter also contains my most hated dungeon. Or it might be second most hated…the Palmacosta Ranch definitely gives it a run for its money….
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The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you. ~Kendall Hailey, The Day I Became an Autodidact
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"Colette, don't go!" Lloyd's plea sounded uncharacteristically quiet on the mountaintop, though everyone knew that in truth it was much louder.
"A futile effort. Your words won't be able to reach a Chosen who has lost their soul." Pronyma told them, hovering several inches above the ground. Her eyes were drawn back to Colette's Cruxis Crystal. "Why is there such a crude Key Crest on it? It's pointless I suppose, but I shall remove this ugly thing at once."
As Pronyma reached for the Cruxis Crystal a voice, stuttering back into slight hoarseness protested. "N—no! This is a birthday present that Lloyd gave me."
From where she stood, Sheena could see the fierce, disbelieving joy that filled Lloyd's face, but Genis was the one that voiced all of their shock. "Colette spoke!"
The blonde turned back around, not something Sheena would have personally done if there was an enemy at her back, and seemed confused as she looked at them. Sheena's heart dropped a little closer to her stomach. Had Colette forgotten all of them except for Lloyd?
"What are you all doing inside that thing?"
Zelos pressed his lips together in vague embarrassment when Sheena looked automatically at him for having stepped into the trap in the first place.
"Impossible." Everyone's eyes, except for Lloyd's who were of course still on Colette, turned to the speaker. They'd forgotten entirely about the Renegade leader; Yuan, Pronyma had called him. "There's no way that that pitiful Key Crest could restrain something like the Cruxis Crystal."
It was only after Pronyma ordered Colette to go with her that the blonde seemed to remember that she was still behind her. Colette whirled around, chakrams unfolding from where she kept them in her sleeves before tripping, though whether it was over the device that worked the trap or her own two feet would be forever subjective.
"Oh no, I broke it."
The look on Colette's face had Zelos unable to fight the smile. Apparently Sheena's tales of Colette's clumsiness had not been exaggerated. "Nice one! I think I'm fallin' in love!"
Sheena tried to ignore him, knew that it was just how he spoke to girls. Well, most girls. He never seemed to talk that way very much with her…not that she cared whether he flirted with her or not. She winced theatrically. "That brought back some…painful…memories." Of weeks of not being able to sit right thanks to the bruises she'd gotten from falling in that mine shaft.
Genis broke out into real laughter for the first time since before he and Raine had been branded as half-elves. "Now that's our Colette."
Lloyd wasn't able to hug Colette close like he was aching to because of the sudden blast of dark magic aimed at them. None of them even thought about what to do next—simply closed in to make a semi-circle protecting Colette before returning the attacks. Genis and Raine stayed with Colette, who was still a little weak from not having proper nutrition. When you didn't have a soul, you apparently lost much of your appetite as well.
Having Colette back and safe seemed to give everyone a morale booster because they flipped and dodged and fought like they never had before. No one had to even speak to each other, moving instinctively to block and defend each other.
Raine was the one who finished Pronyma, a flare of brilliantly white gold light from her Proton spell shining all too brightly. When the light cleared, Lloyd was facing Yuan, head held high and swords steady.
"Yuan, I'm going to settle our score right now." Lloyd declared and swung at the man with a slash that Zelos nearly missed.
And they all missed the other sword that blocked it, knowing it was there only from the clang of steel meeting steel and the man who stood there.
"Kratos!" It was a word, a name, which seemed to echo from the various members of the party.
Zelos clenched his sword tighter. This man was the traitor? He would have loved to stab the bastard in the kneecap and let him walk back to wherever these guys had their base. One, it wasn't vital and he was fairly sure that Sheena might hate him a little for killing a former friend and two, it still satisfied the job because it would cause him extreme pain.
But he would remain calm. Things had been going well so far and he wasn't sure what he might do if he snapped the leash for his temper.
Yuan and Kratos' eyes met in a way that Zelos recognized. It was the way that people who had known each other for a long time seemed to be able to read the other person's thoughts just by looking at them. He and Sheena looked at each other like that sometimes and he'd caught it just now between Lloyd and Colette.
"What're you doing here, Kratos?" Yuan asked curtly. It was only now that Zelos noted the pale violet wings that seemed to shine more in the thinner air this high up the mountain.
"Lord Yggdrasill has summoned you. You should leave." It was Zelos' first time hearing the traitor speak and he could see how Kratos had fooled everyone. His voice was very neutral, with no trace of an accent to hint at where he started life.
"Are you taking the Chosen?"
"No. It's the toxicosis."
Something in Yuan's eyes tightened. "…I see." It was with one flap of the apparently powerful wings that Yuan was in the air as though he'd been born to it.
"Who the hell else is an angel?" Sheena demanded of no one, one hand on her hip.
"…What are you doing?" Seeing Lloyd's confusion, Kratos elaborated. "Why did you come to Tethe'alla?"
"To save Colette." Lloyd said it as though it were obvious.
"What good will that do? The relation of the two worlds' competing for mana won't change. The regeneration ritual simply reversed it." Kratos nodded out to the horizon. "The Tower of Salvation can still be seen in this world. That means that Tethe'alla still flourishes, but if the Chosen ever became Martel's vessel, Tethe'alla would begin to decline."
Lloyd kicked a rock in frustration. "Isn't there anything that can be done?" Lloyd asked and Zelos found it interesting that they would all still go to Kratos, the man who betrayed them, for answers and advice. "It was that Yggdrasill guy the one that made this twisted system!"
"He does not consider it twisted." Chill crept back into Kratos' voice. "Use your own head if you wish to do something about it." And then it softened again and Zelos knew that there was some history between Lloyd and Kratos. "I thought you weren't going to make anymore mistakes?"
"This stupid system…I swear I'll change it!" Zelos hadn't seen that kind of fire in Lloyd's eyes before. He wanted to know why and how Kratos could bring it out so easily.
The slight smirk was evident in the older man's voice. "Well…do your best."
It's as they're traveling back down the mountain, Kratos long gone with Pronyma's unconscious body, that Colette speaks up. "I think I'm hungry for the first time in a while. But I can still feel my wings."
Zelos offers a hand to help Sheena jump down a ledge. "I was right."
"About what?"
"Colette is much cuter when she smiles." Zelos pretends not to see the flash of momentary pain in the back of Sheena's eyes and Sheena pretends that it didn't happen.
"Oh, I forgot!" Lloyd's voice floated from the front. He spun around to look at Colette, a wide smile threatening to split his face in half. "Welcome back, Colette."
-/-/-/
"Are you serious? The sewers?" Genis said with an arched eyebrow.
"It's the only way." Zelos said. "We need to get Presea back to what's-her-bucket?—Kate!—back in Sybak so that she can get a Key Crest or what not and go home, since that's all she seems to want."
"And we're fugitives right now." Raine reminded them. "We won't be allowed back over the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge."
"How long will it take to find your contacts?" Lloyd asked Sheena as they entered the dimness of the sewers.
"Not very long." She assured. "They live at the Imperial Research Academy."
"Still, this is a pretty genius way of sneaking back into the city, Zelos." Lloyd said.
"The gate closes at night, so I had to use this to get back home a lot." Zelos explained. "Careful not to step on that…I don't know how long that's been there…"
"What's the reason why you don't go home before dark?" Colette suggested.
Zelos smirked back at her. "I'd be more than happy to show you if you're interested, Colette."
Sheena rolled her eyes, but wasn't quite sure why Zelos was lying. They'd both used this entrance back in the day so that, on the days when they went exploring almost all the way out to the House of Guidance by the coast, they could get back in. Then again, for all Sheena knew, he could have been using this entrance ever since she'd left to sneak back home after being out with hunnies.
Zelos had changed in the past month and a half, had become dependent on lies and huddled in them like he did his several layers of winter clothes. It worried her.
"Don't tell me you're jealous, Sheena." Zelos said when she matched his stride. He didn't know why he felt the urge to hurt someone, especially someone he cared about, but it seemed to be something deeply ingrained in his nature. Perhaps he had been jealous himself, but of who? Kratos? That he had Sheena's respect and (dare he say it) a certain level of trust even after Kratos had betrayed her?
"Don't kid yourself. Although," Sheena shook yet another giant rat off her leg. "I swear, I'm expecting some mutated ninja rat to attack us, there's so much crap down here. Seems like the nobles have been doing as well for themselves as ever. Maybe better."
"…There's been raids lately. It's made them richer than ever before since they get to loot."
"Raids?"
"Mm." Zelos fidgeted uncomfortably, hand slipping to his belt and releasing the clasp to let a small dagger drop into his hand. He rolled the dagger on his knuckles as he spoke. Roll, roll, flip. Roll, roll, roll. "You know, obviously, that there are some half-elves that can pass for human?"
The blood drained from Sheena's face. "Don't tell me…"
Zelos nodded. "Yup. Do you remember that coffee shop that we liked so much?"
How could she not? It had been where they'd first spent their day together, the place where they'd spent countless afternoons talking. It was where Zelos had taught Sheena how to play chess and where he learned, through trial and error, how to play one of Mizuho's card games called Palace.
Sheena remembered the owners, Matt and Sara with their little girl, Marianne. "What happened to them?"
The rolling of the dagger was faster now. Roll, roll, flip. Roll, roll, roll. "…The Pope convicted them of an illegal business ownership and fraud."
And the price a half-elf had to pay for any crime—no matter how small—was execution.
"Tell me something, Zelos." The rolling stopped, the dagger perfectly still as it balanced on his knuckles. He knew that tone and knew that Sheena was trying hard to keep her temper. "Could you have done anything to stop it?"
Zelos nearly dropped the dagger in shock. How could she even ask him that? Matt and Sara hadn't been particularly close friends, but they'd been friends. People he enjoyed being around and could laugh with as they played cards.
"No, no I couldn't. And it wasn't for lack of trying." Sheena nearly flinched at his tone. Icy as his eyes. But she had to make sure because many Tethe'allans, sometimes even Zelos, were prone to prejudice and racism.
No one saw the blur drop down on Zelos in the dimness. "No one moves or the Chosen dies."
Sheena focused on the voice—polite enough with the threat adding heat to the words—and she tried to sharpen his blurry outline.
"Hey—you think you can get away with doing something like this to the Chosen?"
"One who plots the destruction of the world can no longer be deemed the Chosen."
"Lloyd…"Zelos' voice floated through the darkness. "If you abandon me here, seriously, I'll come back and haunt you."
Lloyd shrugged casually. "I dunno…I just had this sudden violent urge to abandon you." He said lightly.
Presea swung her ax at the man with a speed she really shouldn't have had considering the ax was more than half her height. The man dodged it smoothly, but he was transfixed at the sight of the young girl. "You're…"
The dimness exploded into light with the fireballs rushing towards the man. All Sheena caught of him before he ran down another sewer passage was blue hair, but the shade was impossible to determine beneath the layers of dirt.
Zelos stretched, popping his back muscles. "That ogre could've killed me!"
Sheena had a powerful urge to say something sarcastic, but she picked up the dagger where it had been dropped and tossed it to Zelos, who caught it smoothly. She caught his arm as the rest continued, waiting until they were a little farther back. "Why the hell didn't you fight back?"
"Let's look at this objectively, shall we?" Zelos jerked his head in the direction of the passage the man had disappeared down. "Giant ogre versus scrawny ol' me. Not a match-up I'm dying to have again."
"Looks are deceiving."
"Not when it comes to that guy. He knew how to fight." Zelos had been able to tell from the evenly distributed weight, the firm planting of the stance.
"I wasn't talking about him." Sheena poked him in the chest. "I was talking about you. The Zelos I know wouldn't have gone down so easily."
His lips twisted into a smirk. "That so? Things change, hunny. Get used to it."
He didn't try to block the powerful smack that echoed. He did however, rub his cheek. She hadn't held back that time.
He hadn't expected her to.
"I feel gross." Zelos announced as they climbed out of a manhole.
Similar opinions were shared by the others. "And I don't think Eau de Sewage ever comes out of your clothes." Genis said, nose wrinkling.
"I propose that we drop by the Research Academy and then clean up at my house." Zelos suggested.
Nods and words of agreement followed.
-/-/-/
"It feels like forever since we last had a real bath." Lloyd said, grabbing a laundry basket from Sheena.
"Seriously. I think I forgot what hot water felt like." Sheena hefted her own basket, balancing it on her hip and brushing her wet hair from her face as they walked outside to Zelos' small yard where Colette and Raine had strung up a laundry line.
They hung up the clothes in relative quiet, save for the occasional comment. It was after Lloyd's stomach began growling that Sheena chuckled and said, "Looks like we forgot about food too."
Lloyd shook his head, a false frown on his lips. "I am so ashamed of ourselves, forgetting such a pleasure."
They laughed and Sheena said, "Well, if you don't mind taking care of the rest since there's so little of it, I'll see what we've got so we can regain our honor."
"We have a deal."
Zelos was already in the kitchen when Sheena came in. He was dressed like the rest of them—in comfortable sweatpants that they mostly used for sleep clothes and a tank top. His hair, lustrous shine restored from the week or so on the road, was tied back into a loose ponytail, as it always was when he was at home.
"What've we got for food?"
"I'm so glad that you've come back into your domain, my domestic goddess." Zelos said, smiling as he handed her a small stack of crackers and continued in his staring of the refrigerator. She pushed him playfully before he continued, "So far, what you've got in your hand is about it other than sandwiches."
Sheena pulled a face at the thought of sandwiches, which was what they had mostly been living on since they'd been on the road. "What about actual food? I've actually been craving curry for weeks."
"Do you know how to make curry?"
"No, but Sebastian does and we can make salad and rice." Sheena pulled out several heads of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers and potatoes and handed them back to him before she shut the fridge door and grabbed the several-pound-heavy bag of rice.
"Potato salad?"
"Why not? It's good."
Zelos had never much liked potatoes, but he was willing to try it and began skinning the vegetables. "What's the rest of the stuff for?"
"Well, I learned a new recipe for a tomato salad while I was in Luin and peppers always go good with lettuce." Sheena explained, pouring the rice into the pot.
"Fair enough. Hey, Sebastian!" Zelos called as the butler was walking by from hanging the towels up outside as well. "Could you be wonderful and make us some curry?"
Genis came in a half hour later when the food's scent began to waft through the rest of the house. He watched them move and it was something like a dance. Neither bumped into the other or tried to do each other's job. "You guys can cook? Something other than sandwiches?"
"Watch it, squirt." Sheena said, skirting him as she went for some olive oil and vinegar to add to the tomato salad.
Zelos handed Genis a ladle of steak and potato stew. "Taste that for me."
Genis swallowed it obediently. "Hmm…"He said, chewing thoughtfully, "Add some cheese to that and it's great."
"Thanks, brat."
"That looks fantastic!" Colette exclaimed as she saw them carrying out the food. They'd all decided on eating outside because this was too nice a night to waste it indoors. Besides which, they were all far too accustomed to eating beneath the stars and on prickly grass to eat anywhere else. "Can I help with something?"
Zelos smiled at her. "Just don't try and carry anything. Knowing your luck, we'd lose a plate of this fantastical food."
Colette blushed, but laughed along with the others. The food was passed around and scooped into plates, the bread sliced and handed out; there was a short fight over the butter knife that Raine won.
Sheena caught the look on Zelos' face as he handed her the plate of tomato salad. "What is it?"
"Nothing really. It's just…I wish Seles could be here."
Sheena had heard Zelos talk about his younger half-sister before, though she'd never met the girl personally. Seles had already been put into the Abbey by the time Sheena had run into Zelos. And, despite their…dysfunctional…relationship, she knew that Zelos would do anything for his little sister.
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"You look gorgeous." Sheena smirked at Zelos, who glared sleepily at her. Sheena was a natural early riser and had been up for nearly an hour where Zelos, who was also an early riser but was never awake until he'd had a shower and some coffee.
His hair was tangled and there were smudges beneath his eyes. Sheena knew that those were signs of nightmares and a bad night's sleep, but it wasn't as if she could do much here. Zelos usually got by with taking watches while they were on the road, but here at home, there was nothing any of them could do.
By the time Zelos was downstairs, hair combed and dressed, Sheena had already brewed a pot of coffee. "You are amazing, darling." He said as she handed him a mug.
She smiled, taking a sip of her own mug. "Like I needed you to tell me that."
One by one, the others were downstairs, some still half-asleep like Lloyd who was half leaning on Colette and others wide awake like Raine.
"We have to meet with Kuchinawa today, don't we? To get the Elemental whatsit." Lloyd said, smothering a yawn as he scooped some scrambled eggs onto his plate.
"Cargo. Elemental Cargo. And yeah." Sheena replied.
"So it's a converted land vehicle?"
"Yup. So a boat, in other words. It makes sense, since we can't go over the bridge."
"Anything is better than those washtubs." Raine muttered darkly and everyone chuckled warmly, except for Zelos, who blinked wide-eyed at them all.
"Are you serious? You guys crossed an ocean in washtubs?"
Sheena grinned big at him. "Yup. And Raine was terrified over there."
Raine glared defensively. "No, I wasn't!"
"If you say so, Raine."
-/-/-/
"I have no intention of fighting you inside Sybak."
Zelos noted the wording as he stood towards the back, arms folded across his chest. Inside Sybak. Outside of it, everything was fair game. Lloyd had been the only one who'd pulled a weapon; the others had merely tensed and moved so that they made a wall around Colette.
Kratos moved faster than they could see, sweeping Lloyd's leg while using his left hand to divert the instinctive swing from the blade. "You still lack the skills to beat me, Lloyd."
"What the hell makes you think you can insult me?"
"I'm simply saying the truth."
Zelos couldn't even disagree with Kratos there, though he'd never admit it out loud. Part of becoming a stronger warrior was knowing when to back off because your opponent was out of your league.
"I'm never taking it off." Colette said, fingering her Cruxis Crystal with its homemade Key Crest. "It was a gift from Lloyd."
Kratos shook his head. "Foolish sentiments."
They watched as he walked away and the first thing that came out of Zelos' mouth was, "That guy is an arrogant SOB. He talks like he knows everything."
Sheena shot him a look. "Since we're on the subject of ways of talking, do something about the vulgar language, why don't you?"
Zelos frowned in confusion as the others continued deeper into the city. He hadn't thought Sheena would, even indirectly, defend Kratos after what he'd done.
The basement of the Research Academy seemed to have only grown dimmer and more foreboding after being out in the strong sunlight for so long. Kate looked up when she heard the door opening from where she was kneeling to pick up a stack of papers.
"It's you all!"
"We promised we'd come back after we saved our friends." Lloyd said it as if there wasn't any other thing they could have done.
"Please, explain to me more about the research that Presea was involved in. Something about creating a Cruxis Crystal inside her body?" Raine asked.
"Yes, that's true. We call it the Angelus Project."
Lloyd started at the name. "What? That's the project my mother was a part of."
"The Exsphere is nothing special. It's the Key Crest placed on it. It delays the parasitic process, the length of which has been recorded of a few days or even decades. This delay can cause the Exspheres to mutate into Cruxis Crystals."
"This parasitic infection, is it the reason for Presea's subdued emotional reactions?"
At Kate's nod, Genis asked, "So she's just like Colette. What will happen to her in the end?"
"When the parasitic process is complete, she'll die."
Lloyd's face was pale, even in the dim light. "You have to save her! You promised you would!"
And Lloyd did so believe in people keeping their promises.
Kate nodded, crossing her arms across her stomach. "I will. A promise is a promise, after all. To save her, you'll need to speak to a dwarf named Altessa who lives deep in Gaorrachia Forest. He participated in this project with us on order of the Pope."
Zelos looked at Kate, considering. It was rare for any half-elf to speak the Pope's name without spitting, cursing or saying it as though they had a vile taste on their tongue. She was odd for a half-elf, or perhaps he was just seeing more into the entire race than any human had ever thought to.
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"I don't wish to fight you." The man said, holding up cuffed hands. "I simply wish to speak with that girl."
"You're the one from the sewers!" Genis exclaimed. Sheena had forgotten that he must have had a much better look at the man with his half-elven sight. "You must be joking if you want to talk with her? Or have you forgotten that you tried to kill us?"
"I certainly never intended to take your lives. My orders were to retrieve a girl named Colette. I swear, I will do none of you any harm. I just wish to speak with…Presea, did you say her name was?" At the sight of the Exsphere at the hollow of her collarbone, his eyes widened. "You're a victim as well?"
He bent closer to inspect, but she jerked away, body tense. At her clear panic, the others leapt in to fight. The prisoner was skilled in combat, not all movements flowing, but it was all one movement. Greaves protected his shins from their bladed blocks and he was graceful and flexible enough to keep up with Sheena's acrobatic movements. She barely managed to land a quick jab to his diaphragm and disable his breathing for a few precious moments so that Raine managed to knock him out with her staff.
They all stood, panting in the humidity of the forest. "We should take him with us." Raine suggested. "He sounds like he has reasons for what he's doing. He might be able to tell us more about any plans the Pope might have."
Colette cocked her head, her hearing as sharp as they'd been when she was undergoing the angel transformation. "There are heavy footsteps and they keep getting louder."
"The Papal Knights are waiting for us if we go back the way we came." Lloyd reminded them.
Sheena fidgeted with the hem of her shirt for a moment before deciding. "There's no choice. I'll take you to our village of Mizuho."
Zelos protested immediately. "Hold it, Sheena. Mizuho has always been a hidden village, kept secret from outsiders. They won't like it very much if you show up with a bunch of strangers."
"But we're trapped otherwise. We have to take shelter in Mizuho. Carry the big guy for us poor, weak women, won't you?"
Zelos wanted to both glare and laugh at the innocent smile on her lips. Zelos looked down at the man. "You're saying that you want me to carry this ogre, by myself? You've gotta be kidding, darling."
Colette moved forward to help him carry the man, but when she stood, she was holding the man's weight entirely by one hand. "He's much lighter than I thought. I can carry him by myself."
The males were left ogling her as she strode after Sheena. Zelos heard Raine's voice as she commented to the women, "Men are so useless these days, aren't they?"
-/-/-/
It had been a long time since Zelos had seen Orochi. He had grown into his height. The ninja would have stood a little taller than Zelos, but his shoulders were also broader compared to Zelos' lithe form.
Orochi's eyes widened at the sight of them, especially Sheena. He hadn't thought he would see her for a long while, though Kuchinawa had told him that she seemed to be doing fine. Better than fine if he read the set of her shoulders and the confidence in her stance correctly.
"Sheena! How could you bring the outsiders here, to the village?" She was already in enough trouble with everyone. She didn't need another reason for everyone to mistrust her. "You know it is forbidden!"
"I'm perfectly prepared to accept any punishment I may be given. Inform the Vice-Chief that I have brought the travelers from Sylvarant."
Orochi raked an eye over the travelers, recognizing the Chosen from his last visit. He had half-expected them to look entirely different from Tethe'allans. Perhaps they would be giants, with broad terrible arms or stork men with long arms and legs, all sharp angles and awkwardness. But they don't look anything like that. They look ordinary, just like any other citizens he might have found in Tethe'alla.
Perhaps Sheena had had the same epiphany when she looked at them for the first time. Perhaps that was why she had never been able to assassinate anyone, despite her skills. Because she saw them as people, not targets, not deaders. People.
Tiga looked at the Sylvaranti, curious about them. Their skin was a little browner than most Tethe'allans, but as they were from the declining world, surely they must have had to work harder for a living as well as all of the traveling. Their accent was odd; rolling and warm, occasionally slurring a syllable or two together.
To business. "Because Sheena failed to kill you, the people of Mizuho are now facing persecution from the Church and the Royal Family. But before I can decide what it is we will do about this, I must ask you all a question. What is it that you plan to do in Tethe'alla, the land of your enemies?"
The leader of the group, a young man with an unruly head of brown hair who wore two swords at his hips, looked him straight in the eyes. "Someone asked me something similar to that. They wanted to know what I'd come all the way here for, what it was that I wanted to do. I think I finally have an answer. I want a world where everyone can have a normal life. I'm tired people having to become sacrifices. I'm tired of discrimination. I'm tired of people becoming victims. I'm tired of it all."
Tiga knew that the young man spoke the truth. It was written in the lines of his face and the fire in his eyes. "You are an idealist. The worlds can only flourish by victimizing the other. As long as that fact remains, anything else that you say is mere sophistry."
"This world was made by that Yggdrasill guy, wasn't it? If some human or elf built this twisted system, than we should be able to change it!"
"You speak like the hero, Mithos. He was an incredible idealist. He insisted that there was a way to end the Ancient War by having the two warring countries coexist. Do you believe you can be the next Mithos?"
Lloyd shook his head. "I want to save the worlds my way, with the help of the people I care about."
"…I see. So you aren't concerned with following past methods." Sheena and Zelos both tensed at the wording. Mizuho was a village steeped in tradition. "We shall also search for a new path."
Sheena leaned forward a little on her knees, not quite believing what she was hearing. "Vice-chief, are you saying…"
"Yes, I am. You will have the aid of our information network. But in return, when peace and prosperity has been found for both worlds, we wish to move our people to Sylvarant." Tiga thinks that Mizuho would do better there. They were farmers at heart and, if he was reading the Sylvaranti correctly and from Sheena's report, there was rich farmland over there, where in Tethe'alla, much of the farmland was taken up by the Gaoracchia Forest. "We don't need you to decide it for everyone, simply to help us with the moving."
Lloyd turned, meeting everyone's eyes in turn. "Is this alright with everyone?"
There were murmurs and nods of agreement from the group.
Tiga glanced back at Sheena. How she had grown in the mere nearly two months she had been with the Sylvaranti. Her self-assurance was strong, her voice and gaze steady. Tiga wonders what happened to the girl that he, and the rest of the village, had helped to raise. "Then I hereby order Sheena to continue to accompany you. But not merely as an observer, but as a representation of Mizuho's people. Make us proud."
Sheena was trying hard not to let the smile split her face. "Yes, sir!"
"Tiga…are you absolutely sure that you want to turn the Church and the Royal Family against you like that?" Zelos asked. "It seems like a pretty risky move."
"I ask you the same question. Given the choice between a power that wishes to sacrifice one of the worlds and another that wishes to save both worlds, which would you choose?"
"The first answer that comes to my mind is 'the one that's likely to win', but I guess it would be the one that wants to save both."
Tiga nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Exactly. We are devoting all of our resources to finding the Rheairds. It shouldn't take long seeing as how Sheena attached a guardian to them."
Lloyd nodded. "Thank you for your time and help."
The prisoner was groggy, but hadn't gotten away thanks to Orochi's watchfulness. Lloyd knelt by the man's head. "What's your name?"
"Regal."
"I'm sorry about this, Regal, but we're going to have to keep you prisoner for a bit longer."
"Lloyd, we could let him fight with us. We know he's good."
"He could betray us." Zelos was glad that one member of the group was still thinking clearly, even if it was Genis.
"Not if he wants to talk to Presea he won't."
"I don't totally agree with this, but I'm not going to make a fuss." Sheena said, hands on her hips. "I started off as your enemy too."
"Will you fight with us, Regal?" Lloyd asked.
He nodded. "I swear by these shackles I wear that I won't betray you."
-/-/
Ozette was a tree town, built on the outskirts of the Gaoracchia Forest. The thick roots and trunks of trees were used as walkways and buildings. The inn was in a hollowed out trunk and the market needed to be reached by walking a giant branch the size of most roads. It was almost entirely shaded, with only the occasional breaks for sunlight. Everything smelled earthy and fresh. The blacksmith store was the only store built entirely on the ground for obvious reasons. The wood for hearth and home fires was brought in from outside the town limits for no one would cut down one of Ozette's precious trees.
Presea had disappeared down an incline not far from the blacksmith's. The soil here was hard-packed and solid. Nothing fell away from beneath their feet and the plants that grew so low to the ground and in such little sunlight were rare and tough.
There was only one cottage at the bottom of the incline, but it was lighter there than in the center of town. Zelos could see how it could once have been beautiful; like looking at an elderly woman and seeing how she must have been lovely in her youth. The walls might once have been smooth and painted, the banister of the porch not splintered and cracking, but white-washed and perhaps with flowers being cared for lovingly in the flowerbeds. How the window frames must have once had glass and glowed with a cheerily warm light from the cooking fire. Had laughter and friendly voices once floated from inside as the table was set and dinner prepared?
They entered the cottage after Presea and the inside was no better than the outside. Several thick layers of dust coated everything and shelves that might once have held books or spices were knocked to the ground. Cobwebs decorated corners and beneath tables and a family of mice scurried back into their hidey holes.
Everyone immediately covered their noses for the stench was disgusting. Zelos couldn't describe or name it, but some instinctive part of him knew that it wasn't anything that could be of the living world.
A shapeless lump was in a narrow bed by the corner, the other bed being wider and Zelos could see the faded designs on the worn blanket. The designs were of flowers and unicorns—the things of young girls. Sheena's hand found Zelos' and gripped it hard. He could feel her trembling, her eyes wide with horror at the ghost of a life.
Raine strode across the room to look beneath the blanket. She was a braver person than the rest of them, but Zelos both wanted and didn't even wish to imagine what was beneath that blanket that could make a person as cold as Raine recoil like that.
Raine swallowed, looking away from the bed towards the rest of them. "I…I believe that it is because of the parasitism that Presea has no idea…of what has become of the person in that bed."
Regal looked gently down at Presea. His voice reminded Sheena of Kratos' somewhat; deep and calm. A good father voice, she supposed. "Presea…are you not coming with us to Altessa's house?"
The child with the empty eyes looked up at him. "I must do my job."
"We should leave Presea here for now." Raine said and everyone looked at her, not quite believing it. How could they leave her here, in a skeleton of a home that reeked of death? "She'll only fight back if we force her. We should see Altessa by ourselves."
The rest of them nodded reluctantly and Sheena clutched tighter to Zelos' hand. Sheena's knowledge of how to take lives, whether by poison or by the knife, had never extended to this. She didn't wish to imagine what horrors might have happened to have this place so still that even the air stopped moving.
As the rest of them exited the cottage, Zelos tugged her close enough that he released her hand and gave her a tight, one-armed hug. He didn't bother with the usual reassurances of 'It's going to be alright' or 'Things will get better' because he knew that things didn't always get better and he hated lying to her.
-/-/
"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares. ~Henri Nouwen"