(A/N) Some more Yuan and Kratos in this chapter... Enjoy!

Disclaimer: ... yea, well, you get it.

Chapter 4: Renegades

Yuan narrowed his eyes as Kratos left. The man couldn't take a hint, or rather wouldn't take one. It pained Yuan to see his old friend so depressed all the time, well it might've been depressed. With Kratos you never really can tell, he was even like that before the angelic transformation. Forcing himself to accept that Kratos didn't want to be included on his new project, Yuan left Kratos' quarters and headed for the warp pad. Since Mithos was still oblivious to his coming and going, he'd take advantage of it while he could. This chosen ritual had gone on long enough. He should know just as well as Mithos that there was no bringing Martel back. She would never have supported the methods the 'new' Mithos uses to achieve his goals. Hell, if Yuan could get over it, Mithos should be able to. There was not a person among the divided worlds, or Derris Kharlan for that matter, that could call Yuan stupid, and he knew that confronting Mithos directly would be suicide. It was clear from the beginning that Mithos disliked him for his relationship with his sister, and he never really got over that. Yuan was actually thankful for this fact, it meant that Mithos wouldn't call upon him as often as he did Kratos, and down time is exactly what he needed to put his affairs into place. To be quite honest with himself, he had given Mithos a chance, but maybe he just wasn't as attached to the old Mithos as Kratos was. Somehow, he was okay with giving up on the kid, he had ruined one world too many with his juvenile rituals.

The suffering of the declining world was going to come to an end if Yuan had anything to say about it. In fact, he had already begun putting his plans into action. He had just reached the warp pad, a round crystalline structure powered by magi-technology. Finally, the ugly city-scape of Welgaia began to blur into a deep gray memory, and was replaced by the lively vegetation of Tethe'alla and the chirping of birds.

Yuan reveled in the contrast between the two places. How could anyone in their right mind want to live on Derris Kharlan? He understood why the elves left, his ancestors must have been just as sickened by the dreariness. Despite that, he started in a brisk walk towards his new base of operations near the Temple of Lightning. The warp pad always brought him down in the location that the Tower of Salvation would appear, as soon as the next Chosen was born. It was hard for the people of Tethe'alla, the last few Chosen had met horrific deaths early on in their journeys.

Now that he thought of it, it might be best for him to search for followers in Mizuho. He usually only admitted half-elves, but the people of Mizuho were strong and independent, and the only town secretly committed to opposing the Desians. And they were on the way to the Temple of Lightning. The village was hidden in a large clearing of the Gaoracchia forest, and Cruxis largely ignored them, as a minor threat if that. Yuan was short on half-elves that wanted to help, so perhaps a few ninja might join his new organization. Still playing with names, he was partial towards the title 'Renegades', but that wasn't the important thing. The important thing was taking down Cruxis, from the inside if necessary. That was why he wanted to give Kratos some warning, or at least a choice. He was his best friend from the beginning, but if he sided with Cruxis, they would have to part ways, because in Yuan's eyes, some things were more important than friendship. He wasn't sure if Kratos even still considered them friends any more, anyway.

He was coming up on the clearing where he knew Mizuho was, but when he reached it, it simply wasn't. The clearing, once clustered with small wooden houses, was barren, the places where houses might've been were bare patches of dirt. Otherwise, there wasn't a trace of human habitation, not a doll, or a pathway, or even a human footprint. Yuan looked around in some surprise. It was clear that it wasn't the Desians who did this, but of the peoples' own will. No Desian group would be this thorough, this exact with their orders. For some reason or another the people of Mizuho thought it necessary to relocate, and recently. Yuan was fairly certain that their location had remained secret, except for him of course. He made it his business to know everyone else's. They must've been scared enough to uproot their village and move to a different secluded location. Their only enemies were the Desians, so Yuan could only conclude that some very recent event had resulted in a particularly high level of Desian attention in this region. Whatever the reason, he could no longer find followers here to join his ranks. He would locate Mizuho another day, but for now they remained incognito to all.

Nariko sat at the diner, contemplating her next actions. The people here were nice and quiet, and didn't make any attempts at small talk. It was good for thinking. Sitting at one of the solid wooden tables, nursing a drink, she wasn't sure where to go next. She was itching for a challenge, it all seemed like a complicated game. Whatever was going on, and something most definitely was, she needed to figure out exactly what that was. Her best shot was probably the Tower of Salvation. It was rarely visited by members of the Church of Martel, only a final destination for the Chosen's Journey. It was actually recommended that people steer clear of the region, so as not to disrupt the mana flow. That in itself seemed fishy. If there was something up, that was an optimum location for her to start with, and why would the Church expect her to go anywhere Church-related? She prized herself on being unpredictable. Standing up from her table, she left a few Gald for the drink and pushed in her chair. She was the only customer in the small restaurant, but as she walked towards the exit of the establishment, the old door swung open and rang the bell loudly.

A tall man with spiky auburn hair walked in with confident strides. He wore a mostly white outfit, crisscrossed with dark belts, and his right hand rested on a single sheathed sword. Nothing about him screamed 'Church' to her, but appearances could be deceiving. He looked to be the mercenary-type, Nariko figured. If she wanted to keep a low profile, she'd best avoid anyone who travels too much that could give away her location. Letting her short black locks fall in front of her face, she made her way to the door, and passed by the traveler on the way out. He glanced up at her, inquisitively, and somehow she felt unsettled, as if he could recognize her, though she was positive she'd never met him. So what if he could, she mused silently, she had never been bested by a single opponent anyway, and she'd be long gone by the time he called for the Church guards if it came to that. Pushing the door open solidly, the bell rang a second time, and she didn't rush to leave. It would only look suspicious if she ran out.

As soon as the door was shut, though, she broke off running. Something about that man gave her the feeling that pursuers wouldn't be that far behind. She hoped it was just a hunch.

Kratos decided to rest a day at Hima, after procuring the information from the rather flustered priests about the thief. It was amusing to see the ways in which they would throw each other under the bus in order to get into his good graces. Apparently, a young girl in the Church's training program had 'found' the Cruxis Crystal. It seemed as if she was seeing the Church for the scam it really was, and all Kratos got was a description and name. Her name was Nariko, she was about sixteen, average height, short black hair, and she was their best fighter yet. Unfortunately, she had escaped their perimeter at Luin and could be just about anywhere. Kratos hated to go on wild goose chases, but chasing after a child was possibly the most ridiculous job he'd had yet. He'd find her eventually, but wasn't in any particular rush to do it. Sylvarant was beautiful when it was flourishing. Even the areas that were sparsely populated, like the mountainous regions of Hima had splendid views.

The walk hadn't taken longer than a day from the Tower of Salvation, where the priests had met him to divulge their information. Despite his relatively quick pace, he wasn't actually that tired. So stopping at the inn and diner was more to keep up appearances of needing to sleep and eat, than real necessity. News of a traveler that never checked into the one hotel was bound to raise a few eyebrows, and Kratos preferred to be ignored. He could always skip out on hotels in the larger cities, like Asgard and Palmacosta, but never in Hima. He liked the town nevertheless. Something about the quiet. He was glad that he checked in though, coincidentally, a girl matching the exact description of Nariko was just leaving. He expected a look of a deer caught in the headlights, someone skittish and ready to bolt at the sign of another armed person. She met his gaze evenly enough, and calmly walked out the door. His job would be done quickly enough, though that was a bit depressing. Returning to Welgaia was not at the top of his to-do list. He couldn't simply ignore the fact that the Cruxis Crystal just walked out of the diner though. Maybe things would get interesting, but nothing was ever interesting anymore. He'd pretty much seen it all in the past thousand years. It occurred to him to check the inn's check-in on the off-chance of confirming that it was the girl he was supposed to be tracking down. Anyone with any intelligence would never sign their own name, so it was a small probability if that. Walking to the back of the room, a woman in her thirties was washing dishes.

"Excuse me, but may I see your log of people who checked in recently?" He asked dryly. The woman looked surprised, but dried her hands on a towel. Leaning down behind the counter she pulled out a thick ledger and dropped it on the counter unceremoniously.

"Sure," she said pleasantly enough, and flipped the book open about half-way. Kratos leaned to look over the last few names.

Smith, Hitusi, Okiran were the three most recent. Kratos sighed on the last name, but checked it once more over. It was Nariko backwards.

Cocky brat.

(A/N) Wrote this chapter while listening to 'Renegade' by Manafest, don't know how that would matter, but please Review! XD