I am absolutely listless as I begin writing this chapter on election night. Stay safe everyone, and remember the lessons that touched your hearts from the things that you love.
Disjunct - a melody line that goes by leaps/skips rather than steps
No one could anticipate the effects Luke's absence would have on the party. As they traveled towards Thoda Island, no one could break the tension that hung over their heads. Kratos could tell Lloyd was beside himself. It was clear in the way he held himself in a near listless manner. He deeply wanted to comfort the boy, but he was just a hired hand, paid to ensure the Chosen's journey is successful. He could not allow himself to get attached just to be forced to leave his side. He had done it once long ago, and it was an experience he was too cowardly to ever repeat. The mood lightened when they finally witnessed their ride to Thoda Island.
"It's a... washtub?"
"Yep, it's a washtub..."
Lloyd stared at the offending vessel in disbelief. A low chuckle escaped from his throat and he was soon trying his best to stifle his laughter. The tension from Palma Costa finally broke as Genis, Colette, and Ion joined him. Even Kratos found himself caught up in amusement over their current situation.
"Washtubs, hmm..." He commented, unable to help himself. While the four kids made their arrangements, Kratos glanced at Raine. He was surprised to see her looking paler than normal, her normally calm facade shattered at the sight of the washtubs floating in the water.
"L-Looks like there's not enough boats for all of us!" She stuttered almost hysterically. "I'll wait here so you guys can go and fetch the Spiritua's Statue."
"Genis and I are light enough to share a washtub, Miss Sage." Ion offered. Genis rolled his eyes at the insinuation, but wisely kept his mouth shut. Aside from her ruin mania, it was rare to see his sister become so flustered.
"N-No, that's alright!" Raine quickly dismissed.
"Come on, Professor Sage!" Lloyd urged. "We need to stick together!"
Everyone was silent. It was strange how a normal phrase could take on new meaning. Raine inhaled deeply and slowly released her breath.
"O-Okay." She conceded. Her face remained pale as she stumbled towards the washtubs. Kratos watched her impassively. It was clear she had a phobia and was forcing herself to muster through it, all for Lloyd. He had to shake himself from that line of thought. They reached the Thoda Island Geyser without mishap, though Genis and Ion's washtub had begun to take in water. Not much had changed about the geyser since he was last there, despite how long it had been. While Genis explained what a geyser was, Kratos scanned it for the Spiritua Statue they were aiming to retrieve. He narrowed his eyes. Of course it would be in the most difficult spot to reach. Colette spotted the offending statue next, and the kids formulated a plan to reach it. It was risky but sound for a spur of the moment plan. Genis froze the geyser as Lloyd hopped across his icicles to reach the statue, and hop back. He slipped a few times, but managed to complete his task before the ice completely melted. Kratos placed a hand over his heart and frowned. It was racing much faster than he wanted to ever admit. With statue in hand, the party began to trek back to the dock when Lloyd seemed to spot something.
"Huh, that kind of looks like a whatchamacallit stone." He commented.
"Do you mean an oracle stone?" Kratos said wryly.
Everyone paused to stare at the offending fixture.
"I guess it makes sense for it to be here." Genis offered.
"This is perfect." Raine said. "We can release the Seal of Water since we're here. That might slow down any plans the Desians have at the moment."
Kratos watched Lloyd clench his fists. It was clear he didn't want to stay on this detour any longer, but an unspoken question hung over him.
What would Luke want him to do?
"Let's get this over with." Lloyd relented. Kratos studied him closely. He thought the boy would have been defeated in his tone, but there was a burning determination in his voice he had not expected. Something, no, someone important was at stake. It had been a long time since Kratos felt the same need to protect someone precious. It almost hurt to know how slim his chances were, and how far Lloyd could fall if he were to fail.
Luke wasn't sure what to feel in his imprisonment. He was regularly manhandled and poked at, but he wasn't whipped or beaten like the other humans in the ranch. He was certain the others resented him for it, but he would have preferred the beatings over Kvar's creepy attention. The half-elf would always stand in observation, never commenting and ever smiling.
"On your feet, L03-14." A Desian grunt growled, seizing Luke's arm in an attempt to wrench him up. Luke stayed defiantly on the ground.
"That's not my name." He spat in return. Any retort the grunt had for him was lost to Kvar's sudden chuckles.
"Oh but you see, that IS your name!" He laughed. "L03-14, you were born here in this very ranch." He approached Luke, placing a finger under his chin to lift his face and force eye contact. "I personally watched your birth."
Luke shuddered, trying to free his face from Kvar's hands to no avail. "How do you know it was me? You Desians see all humans as the same." That was apparently the wrong thing to ask as Kvar's grin only grew in size. He trailed his finger down Luke's throat almost reverently to the exsphere embedded in his chest. He felt a chill run down his spine and suppressed the urge to vomit as Kvar traced the unusually large sphere.
"That. Is a very special project, along with Angelus. But unlike Angelus, the L-series was a pet project, a curiosity I never put much expectations on. Nevertheless, there are experiments I want to finish with you, L03-14. You are strangely resilient. Perhaps you will succeed where your other predecessors failed. You have already exceeded my expectations by surviving and growing your exsphere to this magnificent size."
Kvar finally relinquished his hold on Luke, sneering as the boy crumpled further to the ground.
"You... You monster!" Luke gasped. He didn't like the implications of Kvar's words one bit. The Desians couldn't be so foul as to attach an exsphere directly to an infant's skin. Yet the overwhelming evidence was there. There was no other time for Luke to have received his. He had always had it, even in his earliest memories before Dirk and before Lloyd.
Lloyd... He had a special exsphere too. It was an unusual color and something that Desian back in Iselia recognized. If Luke had been an escaped experiment from a human ranch, was Lloyd one as well? He felt a stone sink in his stomach. He couldn't let Kvar know about Lloyd.
"Testing begins later today, L03-14." Kvar informed dismissively. "You'd best be prepared to cooperate. There will be consequences if you don't."
"I can handle anything you can dish out."
"Hm, hm, we'll see about that."
With that, the Desian guard shoved Luke roughly against the wall as Kvar turned to leave. The guard gave him one last sneer as he left as well. Once he was alone, the rest of Luke's strength gave out, allowing him to shudder. His head started pounding, much like the time Colette released the seal at Iselia and the Triet Ruins. Did she just release another? In his mind, he heard a sound, and then...
He remembered a song, and a woman with light brown hair and blue eyes. She smiled at him kindly in his memory, but there was deep sadness in her eyes. She spoke, but he could not hear her words, only a melody.
"...Ryuo Rei Kuroa Ryou Zue Rei Va Zue Rei..."
Suddenly the floor lit up. A massive blue circle formed around him, crawling up the walls. A Desian guard burst into the room, interrupting the spell.
"Hey you! No spell casting!" he roared, aiming a painful kick at Luke's ribs. Before a second one could connect, the teen heard the telltale sound of metal sweeping through the air and screaming.
"Well well well." The blood in his veins froze at the sound of Kvar's voice. "Looks like I'll have to bump up your testing time."
Another grunt pulled him to his feet, pulling him sharply. He saw another tending to the one who assaulted him earlier who was now sporting a large slash on his back. He was in disbelief. The Desians were cruel, that he knew well, but for one to harm another half-elf was unfathomable. Kvar smiled sinisterly at him as he passed. The bladed head of his staff was stained red with fresh blood. He was truly on a different plane of monstrosity. Luke struggled in his captor's grip. He felt something sharp poke between his shoulder blades, a jolt, then everything was black.
When Luke regained consciousness, he found himself in a tube. He banged a hand on the glass and instantly recoiled.
"What the?!" He hissed, shaking. He noticed he was covered with strange semi spheres. They were black in color, and unlike exspheres, they were just slapped on his skin rather than embedded in his flesh. He tried to scratch at one on his arm.
"I wouldn't take those off if I were you." Kvar called out from another part of the room. "Those electrodes will give you quite the shock for every act of disobedience."
"And if I take them all off at once?" Luke dared, glaring at the half-elf.
"You'll die of course. Judging by the company you kept, you're likely to do it in some misguided attempt at self-sacrifice. In that case, if you were to remove them and die, I'll just have to obtain a new test subject. It's a pain, so I would prefer it if you didn't."
Luke's grit his teeth, keeping his mouth shut. He couldn't let this monster hurt anyone else because of him. Kvar read his face well and smiled.
"Now that you're awake, let's begin."
Asgard had been interesting, to say the least. Kratos had seen a lot in his time, but watching a grown woman dropkick two grown men for trying to blow up some ruins was definitely a first. Not that he could blame either of them for their actions. The Asgard Ruins were vital for the regeneration of the world, and going to extremes to save a loved one was something he could understand. The love Linar and Harley had for Aisha brought back similar feelings deep inside the mercenary, but he buried them again. There was nothing he could do to change the past. Only the future could be changed, but even fate had a stranglehold on that. Still, the hope brought out by their efforts to save Aisha helped with the general mood around Lloyd and the others. But with one careless comment, the atmosphere turned sour again.
"Yeah, that Raine is a half-elf after all. You can count on her wisdom."
"N-No! You're wrong! Raine... Sis is an elf! Just like me!"
Kratos had seen his share of half-elves pretending to be pure-blooded elves, and the inevitable outing of their true heritage. He recognized the fear and desperation in Genis' voice as he tried to cover up his flimsy lie.
"What are you talking about? There's no way I'd mistake my own..."
"That's probably my fault."
Everyone looked at Ion, who had been quiet for the most part since they left Thoda Geyser.
"Eh?" Harley blurted.
"I'm quarter-elf, and that messes with sensing sometimes." Ion stated evenly. Kratos narrowed his eyes at him. He was a practiced bluffer. "It's a common to mistake."
Harley stared hard at Ion, then at Genis. His shoulders then sagged in defeat.
"You're right, I'm sorry." He conceded. "The Sages are pureblooded elves. I wasn't paying careful attention to everyone."
That was new.
"Really?" Colette asked. "You can make that kind of mistake?"
The boy averted his eyes. "...Yes. It's almost unheard of to have be a quarter-elf. Most think I'm lying and say I'm half."
Lloyd sighed and clasped a hand on Genis' shoulder. "Come on, let's get some rest, too. Just thinking about the research the Professor is doing right now is making me exhausted." Just like that, the mood lightened. Genis rolled his eyes at his friend and scoffed.
"Is that why you're always asleep during class?"
Colette followed the two down the steps, giggling at their antics. Harley gave Ion one last look before he departed without another word. The boy was about to follow when Kratos grasped his wrist.
"I don't know what other secrets you're carrying, but let me say one thing." He warned. "If any of them threaten the Chosen's journey, I will stop you."
Ion frowned at his words, but his face was frustratingly blank. "We all have our secrets. But don't worry, I have no intention of getting in Colette's way."
Kratos stared him down for another minute before relenting. His statement seemed genuine enough, no matter how questionable his presence with the group was. He was certain Lloyd would immediately jump to his defense, even if Luke had been the one who was ultimately closer to Ion. Starting a fight now would only be detrimental.
"I hope so." He said as he watched Ion disappear down the stairs.
In the morning, Raine and Linar had finished deciphering their findings and announced the location of the next oracle stone. Kratos had to usher them out of the city before Linar and Aisha could ask any more questions and stall them. Rumors of a unicorn citing helped keep the mood high, along with the promise to stop by Lake Umacy to investigate. They were heading for a mausoleum, so it was necessary to keep the children in good spirits. Anything to distract Lloyd from Luke's situation was a blessing, after all.
Luke wasn't sure how much more he could take. He had been beaten, electrocuted, and probed for the past few days. At least Kvar didn't seem too happy with the results.
"You're a special kind of failure, L03-14." He scoffed reading over the current readings. "If it weren't for previous research that mysteriously went missing the same time you did, I'd have you destroyed right now."
Kvar continued on with his rant, but Luke couldn't hear him anymore as he sat in his tube. A heavy feeling overtook him and left as soon as it came. Then, he saw that woman. She danced around the lab, but Kvar didn't seem to notice her. As she opened her mouth, Luke could hear a melody.
"...Va Rei Zue Toue Neu Toue Ryuo Toue Kuroa..."
Suddenly, purplish pink glyphs appeared on the floor, taking Kvar by surprise. The computers behind him started flashing as the readings fluctuated rapidly. Kvar scrambled to adjust settings to properly record data. Luke slumped against the glass numbly. Blood rushed through his ears as he watched the half-elf frantically at work. He tried to distract himself with the coolness of the glass, but he couldn't feel anything. Jolted from his reverie, he rubbed his arms. Nothing. Outside, Kvar was responding to some outside communication
"I don't care that the Chosen released another seal, I'm-"
He straightened himself out. "I'm busy with an experiment."
Cutting off his communications, he turned towards Luke and released him, only to give him a small electric shock.
"Not going to react anymore, L03-14? Or do you not feel it?"
Luke paled as Kvar grinned manically. Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, Kvar forced him back into the glass cell.
"I was wrong earlier. You may be a success yet."
Luke cried out in anger, slamming his fists against the glass to no avail. The only shock he felt from that was the loud reverberations in his ears. Kvar left the room soon after, leaving him alone momentarily. He looked at the monitors still displaying his readings, hoping to discover what had made Kvar so excited. To his dismay, everything was labeled in Elvish. The only thing he could decipher were the bars, which had previously been in the lower levels. He had to force himself to bite back his tears. He had no idea what was happening to him and it frightened him.
Kvar came back soon afterwards with a strange set of manacles and some Desian guards. The guards pulled Luke from the tube and held him in place as Kvar snapped the manacles over his wrists.
"We are going to Luin for a little field test, L03-14."
At Lake Umacy, conditions of the water were clear enough to see the rumored unicorn under the surface. As Colette and Lloyd marveled over the animal, Raine, Genis, and Ion suddenly jumped. A flash of light brightened up the sky.
"Wh-What was that feeling?" Ion gasped, struggling to breathe.
"A whole lot of mana just... just disappeared." Genis said.
"That flash of light came in the direction of Luin." Kratos observed.
"Then we need to leave, now."
There was no argument. The group immediately departed and headed towards Luin. It took most of the day to reach the city, and what greeted them was horrifying. Buildings were destroyed and smoke filled the air. The further they delved into the city, the worse it got. Blood stained the ground and from their vantage point, the lake Luin was so famous for was dry. When they reached the main fountains, they found Sheena, the assassin from earlier, badly injured. They stared at her for a moment before Lloyd broke the silence.
"What happened here?" He could only find the courage to ask.
Sheena averted her eyes. "...First it was the redhead, now it's you guys..."
Lloyd cut off whatever else she wanted to say by grabbing her firmly by the shoulders.
"You saw Luke?!"
"Lloyd, she's badly hurt!" Colette protested. "Professor! Please... Please heal her."
Raine studied the three's faces hard. She could see the desperation in her student's eyes, and the resignation in the assassin's. "Very well, but first I need you to tell us what happened here, and if you really did see Luke. I know you have companions, and if this is a trap to catch us off guard, we will be ready for it."
"Hehe... You sure have a devious mind." Sheena laughed. She sighed, slapping Lloyd's arms away and slumping against the fountain. She took a moment to collect herself, and Kratos could see she was replaying the events in her head.
"...The Desians invaded. They found out that the people of this city had been harboring people who escaped that human ranch just northeast of here. They forced everyone to go to the ranch and destroyed the city in retribution."
"So Luke was hiding here." Lloyd breathed. Sheena shook her head.
"...No." She refuted. "They brought him here and made him watch everything. Some even brutalized some citizens right in front of him and taunted him." She closed her eyes. "I hate that pervert, but even he didn't deserve that. Hewas screaming and then... He blew up the lake."
"...What?"
Before Lloyd could question her any further, a cry for help interrupted their session. A pastor stumbled by, pursued by a lumbering monster.
"Wait, that's Clara!" Raine exclaimed. Sheena was immediately on her feet in front of the mutated woman with her seals ready.
"Stay away from him, monster!" She cried, but was easily knocked aside.
"Clara, no!" Colette intervened, flying between Clara and Sheena with her wings flared out. "This isn't like you! Please, listen to my voice and calm down!" Clara raised an arm to attack, but paused midway and fled the scene. Genis and Lloyd immediately jumped to Colette's side while Ion and Kratos tended to Sheena.
"He..." She gasped.
"He?" Ion inquired. "The pastor is alright, thanks to you."
"No..." Her voice became low like a whisper. "Your pervert friend... He... He..."
Kratos frowned. "...She's losing too much blood."
"Professor! Please, you have to heal her!" Lloyd demanded.
"Please, Professor!"
Raine sighed in defeat. "...Fine. I swear, you're all too forgiving for your own good."
With a quick spell, she closed up Sheena's wounds and rejuvenated some of her energy. The assassin tried to stand, but was unsteady and Lloyd had to catch her.
"You... saved me?" She questioned. She furrowed her eyebrows at Lloyd, trying to parse out any ill intent.
"You saved that man." He simply replied. She nearly smiled at him, but caught herself.
"...Thanks..." She looked at the ground awkwardly before continuing. "Your... brother, was it? Luke..."
"Did they take him back to the ranch?"
Her eyes seemed to soften at how quickly he interrupted. "...Yeah. They did."
"I..." Lloyd took a deep breath and a moment to process. "I'm so relieved he's still alive."
Ion touched his back gently and offered to help Sheena stand while he collected himself.
"Oh, Lloyd..." Raine squeezed Genis' shoulder as they watched over Lloyd. They could understand how he felt, having their own sibling bond connecting them. They felt his grief and relief over the news.
"Umm..." Sheena said once Lloyd seemed to calm down. "I know this is kind of selfish and unreasonable but... I uh... kind of have a favor to ask of you."
They looked at her curiously, prompting her to continue.
"The people of this city fed and housed me here with open arms. I really owe them a lot for their kindness and hospitality, and I want to save them. So please. I want you to help me. If you do, I'll agree to a truce and ceasefire and help in any way I can."
Lloyd looked at her, really bore down into her soul.
"All right."
"All right? Lloyd, you can't be serious." Raine voiced her disbelief.
"I'm with Lloyd!" Colette chimed.
"It would be against Martel's teachings to leave someone in need." Ion said, much to Colette's delight.
"Kratos, what do you think?"
"Hmm... Her intentions seem true enough. I see no harm in calling a truce."
Raine turned her attention to her brother who fidgeted under her gaze. "Oh geez... I'm sorry Raine! I'm with Lloyd too!"
"Really now..." She sighed. "Fine. If this is really what you want. I guess the one good thing about this is getting to keep a closer eye on her."
Sheena tried to laugh, but groaned at the pain it brought her.
"...We should rest now." Kratos suggested. "The outskirts of the city should be sufficient campgrounds."
"If there are any survivors like that pastor, they should be able to find us easily enough." Raine said, shifting gears. She and Kratos left first to find a suitable spot. Genis immediately tailed them to preemptively block his sister from cooking. Colette and Lloyd followed shortly after, the two lost in conversation, leaving Ion and Sheena behind.
"...There was something else you were going to say about Luke, wasn't there." Ion asked once the two were out of earshot. Sheena looked at him in surprise.
"You guys are a weird bunch, you know that?" She rolled her eyes. "There was something I forgot to tell them just now."
"What is it?"
"Just before he blew up the lake, he had wings just like hers."
Oh boy four years. Life is hard and sucks, you know? If you're still subscribed and read through this, I'm glad. Please let me know. I've been pretty burned out of writing in general. Queue rotation was a bad idea. Much regret. (4/25/17)
