Chapter Eight
Lloyd walked over to the window of the room which they stayed in the past few days to recover themselves. He knew it was times like this he did miss the Professors healing arts, but she was not here with them. Her and Genis were back home continuing their own lives while Sheena and himself continued their own journey that did not look to end anytime soon.
Looking over his shoulder, he looked over to the sleeping form of Sheena and gave a small smile. He knew if it had not been for her, that he might have become disheartened after being on his personal crusade for so long. But she made it bearable and she pushed him forward, she gave him the strength he did not know he had.
"Valemeros." Lloyd whispered to himself as he looked back out to the night skies.
That man had a strength of his own as well, some elven noble that came from Meltokio. He wondered how the noble managed to keep himself hidden for so long. Half Elves were branded as slaves and still were to this day, a conflict between the two combined worlds that caused some tension and the full blooded elves kept to themselves. Yet this man became a noble and managed to hide his heritage pretty well, Lloyd figured it would take more then just hiding his ears behind his long purple hair to conceal himself and what he was.
After all, the guards figured out Raine and Genis were half blooded elves by scanning them with some form of device, he was sure Valemeros could not hide himself from such a device.
"What are you doing still up?"
Lloyd stirred a little and looked over his shoulder, seeing Sheena was up on her feet, standing behind him.
"Oh, Sheena. I was just...I'm fine." Lloyd thought to himself.
"Come on, Lloyd. I think I know you well enough by now to know that something is bothering you. It has been since we came here." Sheena replied.
"Heh...I guess I cannot hide anything from you, can I Sheena?"
"Nope, so you might as well always come clean." she said that with an added cheer to her tone, somehow it managed to bring a smile to Lloyd's face.
"Well..." Lloyd started, looking back to the window as he leaned against the window ledge. "It's Valemeros." Lloyd confessed.
"I figured that is what would be on your mind." Sheena gave a nod as she walked closer to Lloyd, closing the distance.
"It's just...why did he slaughter all those innocent lives? What was the point to it all?" Lloyd wondered, his jawbones tensing.
"Who knows?" Sheena added. "But that is an answer we can find out when we find that creep and while we are at it, avenge all those he had made suffer."
"You slaughtered the whole village. Why?"
"Why?...Why this was all...for you..."
Lloyd felt his jawbones tense even more as that memory came flooding back into his head, the man claimed he slaughtered the entire village for him. All those lives were lost just so the man could gain his attention.
Those people died cause of him.
Lloyd felt his head lower as he tried to let out a calming breath. His eyes shut tight, he could swear that he felt tears threaten the edges of his eyes. Tears of anger, his growing frustration and some of them were of impending sorrow for the lives lost.
"Lloyd?" Sheena wondered.
"Just thinking about Luin." Lloyd covered, he did not want to burden Sheena with what Valemeros had told him about the slaughter. It would be something he would confront on his own.
Lloyd felt slender fingers rest themselves on his shoulder blades as Sheena leaned forward and rested her cheek against his back, her fingers lightly scratching the surface of his jacket.
"There was nothing we could have done for them, Lloyd. But there is one thing we can do for them and do for the rest of the world. Bring an end to Valemeros and make sure what he did to Luin never happens to anyone else ever again." she whispered.
The red swordsman kept his eyes closed as he gave one silent nod.
Sheena's comforting gesture did not go unnoticed as Lloyd felt himself ease down, maybe if Sheena could stay there just for another moment, Lloyd could free himself from that memory that was now haunting him.
Those villagers died cause of him.
Wind whirled around on the outside of the window, hitting against the glass surface that caused a few light thumps, causing Lloyds eyes to open.
His brown eyes darted wide open as he felt every muscle tense in an instant.
"He's here!" Lloyd blared out, feeling Sheena's form against his back stir suddenly.
Lloyd stared down at the female mage below, the design spell caster. She gave the swordsman a small, almost cute wave and brought her fingertips to her lips and blew him a kiss before turning around to run off.
Turning on his heel, he ran to the side of the room to the chair where his swords leaned against. Not giving Sheena much time to get anything out, she was only given enough time to say one thing.
"Lloyd! Wait!" Sheena pleaded.
Lloyd grabbed his sword belt as he ran out the door, pushing it open with slamming force as he jumped over the railing of the house and landed on the dirt below, turning to look where the woman was. She stood at the bottom of the pathway leading up to the top of the village. When she knew that Lloyd noticed her there, she turned once more and ran up the pathway.
Sliding the swords into their respective spots at his sides he narrowed his eyes and felt his teeth grind together for a moment. He wanted more answers and once more he felt the burning blood of revenge that he desired.
He ran after the woman, hearing light pattering footsteps behind him as they gradually gained up on him, but he knew whose footsteps those belonged to. Sheena was not far behind him, she was quick and agile and he always knew that and that out running her was not an easy task.
They both ran up the pathway, until coming to the top and sure enough they met with the enemy there, standing in the middle of the opening. There was no hiding and seemed to be no deceptions, which means Valemeros and his two henchmen purposely came here to track them down and confront them both.
"Valemeros!" Lloyd yelled.
Wind picked up, blowing the nobles purple hair to the side, but still not exposing his elven ears to prove to them both that he was of elven blood. Not that that was in question, only those with elven blood had the ability to cast magic. The woman walked calmly to stand beside the man as she placed her staff against her shoulder, leaning closer towards the noble as the male leaned forward and rested his weight on the blades wide tip as it rested against the ground with both hands resting on the hilt, placing all his weight on the blade. Valemeros had his hands placed behind his back as he stared at the two of them with a sly smirk across his face. His noble and majestic robes rippled in the force of the wind, this time wearing black robes that had shimmering royal purple embroidery with golden stitched designs that traced along the surface of the black robe, almost runic in nature.
"Mr. Irving...What a pleasure it is to see you up and about." The man spoke in volume to overcome the howling wind. But somehow the man's raised voice seem to maintain his usual calm and controlled tone.
"You bastard." Lloyd heard Sheena hiss.
"Such a colorful tongue the lovely lady has. I can see that hanging around common rabble like yourself has tainted the beauty her words could produce." he mocked.
"The only one tainted here is you." Lloyd growled, pulling free both his katana like long swords, swiping gracefully in the air to point his right sword at the noble.
"Tsk tsk, and here I thought we could sit down and have a little chat, Mr. Irving." the noble smirked still.
"I have nothing I want to say to the likes of you." Lloyd stated firmly. "I do not care what you want of me, I won't listen to your words."
Valemeros gave a sudden laughter.
"What's so funny?" Sheena snapped, pulling out some seals from the inside of her purple ninja tunic.
"My my, Mr. Irving. What makes you think that it is you that I wish to have a discussion with, Mr. Irving?" Valemeros taunted.
"What? Then if not with me...then who..." Lloyd thought for a moment before looking over his shoulder to look to Sheena, then his head snapped back. "You will not get anywhere near her. Not before I cut you down." Lloyd barked with an actual cold and harshness to his tone.
"Have I hit a nerve, Mr. Irving?"
"Whatever it is you want from her, you'll have to go through me first." Lloyd replied.
"Hmhmhm, I counted on that." Valemeros said, his tone suddenly dark and cryptic.
Valemeros lifted his right hand from behind his back, spreading his fingers out wide as both Cecil and Monique seemed to take their respective stances. Cecil pushed himself off the blade and pulled the sword from the ground with his right hand to rest it against his shoulder, Monique slide the staff from her shoulder and held it with both hands in front of her, as if ready to block an attack. Valemeros then dropped his hand and the both of them charged forward.
Lloyd lowered his right sword and dashed towards Cecil, knowing Sheena would cover him and take on the woman known as Monique. The distance closed quickly between the sword fighters as the wind seemed to pick up to almost a booming howl.
Steel clashed against steel as Lloyd leaned into the weapon lock against Cecil. The steel scrapped roughly as Lloyd's eyes stared right into the steel visor of his Desian helmet. Lloyd lifted his left sword and swung down at the man despite their close range to each other in sword lock, Cecil gave up strength in his lock as he raised his forearm to hit into the hilt of the sword as he grunted at the blow, but being hit by the handle was certainly the lesser of the two evils of Lloyds attack.
Lloyd could feel the flow of mana start to sate the air as mana was being called upon to concentrate into a magic attack, it was not coming from the direction of the noble however. Monique was the one focusing a spell, Lloyd felt his senses become aware, instincts spiked at him that something was amiss.
Mana formulated into spheres of light that surrounded the two dueling swordsman, Lloyd gave a grunt of realization as he knew seconds were all he had left and Cecil seemed intent to keep him in lock, sacrificing himself to make sure the attack consumed Lloyd. Sliding the blade that Cecil blocked with his forearm, Lloyd snapped it free and scissored the Desian's sword before forcing the sword to the side, exposing both their bodies, but Lloyd had another thing in mind as he pushed off on foot, blue energy consuming Lloyd as his slammed hard into Cecil. The energy crackled and blazed out as the energy snapped the air, causing it to making a loud booming sound that resembled a mighty beast as the head of a lion blazed out. But the energy did not seem to hit as hard as his previous attacks as Cecil staggered back in a daze. Lloyd pushed himself off the ground and became airborne with an acrobatic flip before thrusting his down down to stab into the ground as the ground itself rippled and tore apart with enough force to send Cecil right to the dirt as he yelped. Hunting Beast as found its mark when Lloyd managed to get the man to expose himself and open him for an attack. The light spheres grew in size before they hurled through the air, closing the space that the energy surrounded as Lloyd narrowed his eyes, while in a kneel he jumped once more into the air in a back flip as he evaded the attack from Monique. Cecil pushed himself up to a kneel as he tried to recover quickly from the attack.
"Dammit!" Cecil cussed as he realized his predicament has turned on him and he could do nothing more then try and lift his sword up in a futile effort to block the magical barrage.
Lloyd turned his head to fact the mage. However Sheena had already closed the distance as Lloyd watched her figure become airborne as well as she kicked twice in session that hit the mages staff and knocked the woman off balance.
Lloyd would not allow himself to become fascinated by Sheena's agile movements right now, his attention was brought to his forefront as the wind quickly collected the dust to reveal Cecil on all fours on the ground.
"I cannot hesitate." Lloyd reminded himself, apart of him wanted the man to realize that he was defeated so maybe his life could be spared. But he knew that as long as Valemeros was standing there that the man would not give up. Lloyd forced himself to push the idea out of his mind that Cecil would surrender.
Lloyd dashed straight for Cecil as he placed one sword in front of himself and one behind him in preparation for a follow up attack on the weakened Desian.
Cecil pushed himself up to his feet, one foot staggered to regain its footing on the ground as he seemed to have difficulty keeping himself planted to the ground. His sword raised back in a defensive stance as he gritted his teeth and seemed to hold a misplaced determined to hold his ground against Lloyd that managed to already weaken his fighting resolve.
The steel of Lloyds blades started to give off a blue shimmer, as if the wind that the blades were cutting through while dashing was feeding an invisible fire that was on Lloyds blades and the energy only seemed to become stronger as Lloyd tensed his grip on both hilts. Lloyd raised both swords from their positions to the left side of his body, his right arm crossing over his chest as if preparing for a double slash.
"Psi Tempest!"
Lloyd's blades came to life in a blue glow as he let himself be taken over by instinct at that moment as his feet left the ground, both arms swinging before he even came close to Cecil to create the momentum he needed to spin in the air as he became nothing but a blur through the night skies, highlighted by the movement of the glowing swords as the ground tore from under the force.
The speed did not allow Cecil the comfort of dodging out of the way of the attack as he lifted his sword in a last ditch to defend himself as Lloyd's blades clashed against the Desian's weapon, the first hit knocking the blade to the ground as Cecil's eyes grew wide, feeling his right foot buckle as he tried to duck out of the way of the next spin. But all that did was stop the attack from slicing through his helmet as the blade slashed the mans shoulder and blood instantly spilled in the air as Cecil's mouth opened in attempt to scream, but no words came out as he felt the steel tear through his shoulder and send him to the ground as his other hand came up in attempt to hold the bleeding wound closed.
Cecil was only half of Lloyd's target as the Psi Tempest continued its pathway through the air and Lloyd's real target came into view as he hurled through the air towards the well dressed elven noble. Even as the attack came close, the elven man kept a calm and collected expression as a small smile curled up his lips and he lifted his arm into the air as energy collected into the air and in the blink of an eye, the nobles runic sword materialized as he put one leg in front of him and seemed to casually brace himself for the Psi Tempest.
Steel met steel in a deafening clash as Lloyd was sent into a state of shock as he felt all his momentum come to an instant stop, and it was as if time had now frozen for Lloyd as he looked down at Valemeros and he could see the smirk still present on his face as he made the block seem almost effortless.
'H-How?' Lloyd thought as his eyes stayed wide and his mouth gaped open.
Valemeros narrowed his eyes in a sinister way, keeping the arrogant expression on his face as the sword he held gave off a faint glow. Swinging the sword hard, Lloyds sword was pushed away as energy in the form of a crescent shot out as if the very air itself was transformed into energy from the motion of his swing and turned against him. The energy slammed into Lloyd's chest as he felt the cloth tear under the energy and Lloyd could swear to himself in that quick instant he could taste copper in the air, pain flushed his chest as he was sent to crash to the ground.
"Lloyd!" he heard a familiar scream as he groaned and pushed himself up to a crouch, keeping his grip on his swords as he pressed a balled up hand to his chest but kept his eyes on Valemeros as the elven lord looked down at Lloyd with that same smirk still.
Glancing down at his glove he confirmed his suspicion as the red substance stood out from the red of his gloves. Looking back to Valemeros he felt a determination burn up inside his chest.
He wasn't just fighting for himself in this battle, Valemeros wanted something with Sheena and Lloyd was not going to risk her to the likes of this man. He would not get his hands on Sheena, not as long as he was allowed to breath.
Lloyd pressed his teeth together hard as he pushed off the ground and charged at Valemeros. The noble stood there patiently as if welcoming the assault. Lloyd slashed down hard, hitting the blade and then swinging to the nobles side as Valemeros pushed the sword off to quickly block the other attack that threatened his other side. But Lloyd was not going to let that dishearten him as he lashed out with a flurry of slashes and stabs, being sure to jump to the side or even follow through with his swords momentum as to risk exposing himself to a counter attack from Valemeros. One stab from Lloyd was sidestepped as Lloyd went through with the stab and stepped forward, swinging his other sword while passing through as he heard steel meet steel, it was not so much an attack as forcing the noble to block so he could not take advantage of his exposed back, twisting on his heel to swing at head level with the sword he tried stabbing with. The block came as Valemeros pressed his own sword into the attack, Lloyd fought back as they entered a sword lock.
"Oooh...and where are you finding this strength, Mr. Irving?" Valemeros mocked as the swords scrapped together.
Lloyd did not comment as he only narrowed his eyes in focus, he could almost feel the wind hitting his body at a slow rate. Time was slowing down for him, or at least that is what it felt like. He knew what this was, he had this happen in desperate situations where it almost gave Lloyd a predictive edge and fast reflexes.
Lloyd stepped forward and pushed hard with the sword, sudden surprise filled the eyes of Valemeros as his sword was actually pushed to the side and Lloyd used this moment to stab at his exposed body.
Valemeros managed to step to the side as the blade sliced through the cloth of the nobles attire, but no blood filled the air. Lloyd was not going to let that detour him as he ducked back, reclaiming both his weapons. But it did allow Valemeros some recovery time as he gained control of his blade again as he brought his sword back down but seemed to actually take a more serious stance. Lloyd bent one knee as he jumped into the air, slashing upwards as if he were giving an uppercut with a sword, the blades clashed once more but this time Valemeros was actually sent up into the air with the amount of force that was put behind the Tiger Blade as the sword of Valemeros was sent above his head once more from impact and he knew he was prone in the air. Lloyd took advantage of that with a follow up slash down, Valemeros managed to gain control of the sword to block the attack once more. The force of the downward slash however with him prone in the air was too much as it sent the noble crashing to the ground on his back, a gasp ripped from his chest as he felt the air pushed out of his lungs. Lloyd landed to the ground, he did not know if he would ever get another opening like this again. Stabbing his swords into the ground as blue energy filled the blades and both swords shot the energy into the ground as they ripped through the ground towards the recovering noble. The Double Demon fang continued to tear through the dirt as it closed the distance to the noble.
Lloyd grunted once in shock as Valemeros somehow got to his feet quickly and his sword sliced through the gathered energy, causing it to fade back into mana.
"My my, she must really mean something to you, Mr. Irving." Valemeros remarked a smirk seemed to make its way back onto his face.
Lloyd glanced over to where Sheena was, Monique had managed to lure Sheena to the far end near the cliff side, energy shot from her staff but Sheena held her own as she dodged the attacks, throwing seals in counter. Lloyd's eyes met back with Valemeros as they narrowed in determination.
Taking to the charge, Lloyd advanced with rapid sessions of slashes. But they all seemed to bounce off the surface of the nobles sword as he swiftly blocked the oncoming attack. It seemed that Valemeros had had enough of holding back on Lloyd as well. But Lloyd's attacks were relentless as he pushed himself harder and harder, every time Lloyd's sword bounced off the surface of his, Lloyd was quick to follow up with another stab or slash from the sword in his other hand. Lloyd braced himself as Valemeros forced a weapon lock, to Lloyd's surprise the man pushed his sword away and pushed forward, the hilt of his sword slamming into Lloyd's shoulder as he felt a sudden sharp pain fill his body, like his nerves melted on impact. Valemeros knew of Lloyd's injury and it seemed he was ready to use it against him, Lloyd had to figure a way to protect his shoulder. His muscles threatened to betray him from that one sharp slam of hilt burying into the sensitive tissue. Lloyd stepped back as one eye closed, the smirk on the noble's face was all the proof he knew that he was like a shark, and blood was now detected in the water.
Lloyd could not help it, his body betrayed him as he shifted his shoulder as if that would ease the pain that was now forking through his body.
Valemeros was now the one to advance as he stepped in close but did not swing, it was Lloyd that swung in defense, Valemeros blocked the swipe while countering with surprisingly agility that the man never used previously as he spun around and kicked Lloyd in the shoulder, hard enough to push Lloyd to the side. His shoulder paralyzed for a moment once more as the muscles pushed together from the force and he felt the pain explode from his shoulder once more. His fingers grew numb as his arm tingled, his bodies last defense to try and stop the pain was shutting down and Lloyd could not let that happen.
Lloyd stepped back for a moment, one eye still closed as he focused to tighten his grip on his sword, the numbness in his fingers made him uncertain if he was still holding his sword.
"Lloyd!" Came the exclamation from behind Valemeros as Lloyd looked over his shoulder.
Sheena was running towards them both, a seal between her index and middle finger as she had her eyes locked right on Valemeros.
Monique was left with her back slumped against a boulder with her head lowered, she was not moving so Lloyd quickly assumed that Sheena was able to dispose of her.
Valemeros looked over his shoulder for a moment and Lloyd saw an opening right then and there as well as a spike of fear bury itself in his heart at the thought that Sheena was coming towards him and she was still holding wounds from the previous battle against the wolves. Instinct took over again as Lloyd ran forward to gain his attention, slashing with his left sword. Valemeros snapped his gaze back to Lloyd as he lifted his sword to clash once more against Lloyd's sword. Pushing his shoulder to it's limit, Lloyd grunted in pain as he forced himself to swing with what strength he could muster. Valemeros grabbed Lloyd by the forearm as they remained in close distance, steel scrapping together while Lloyd's muscles trembled under the grip from the elven noble. Valemeros tensed his fingers around Lloyd's forearm before pulled on his arm and actually making Lloyd turn, before he could collect himself, Valemeros had slammed the blunt side of his sword into Lloyd's wounded shoulder once more as Lloyd felt his knees buckle under the unbearable pain.
"Valemeros!" Lloyd heard Sheena yell.
Lloyd fell to his knees as the grip on his right sword finally gave, his eyes closed tight for a moment before forcing them open cause he knew Sheena was closing in on the noble and his worry for her managed to surpass the pain, but not enough to be able to recover enough to push himself to his feet. His head turned to see Valemeros turn around to meet with Sheena as she slammed her palm into the mans chest, the seal getting stuck to the robes surface.
What Lloyd was forced to see next left him in horrid silence as Valemeros pushed his own hand into Sheena's chest, but the only difference was Lloyd watched as Valemeros' hand impaled Sheena, as if pushing through to her heart. Sheena was left paralyzed as her body trembled in shock.
"Sh....Sheena!" Lloyd screamed in dismay.
Valemeros stepped to the side, stepping passed Sheena as his hand ripped through her body and he continued to walk on. Lloyd was filled with a new pain, a new agony as his eyes burned and he even forgot to get to his feet, crawling slowly towards Sheena with one hand extended towards her, his right arm limp at his side. Sheena fell to her knees, a look of horror still written on her face as she continued to tremble.
Lloyd closed the distance as he slide his left arm behind Sheena and she seemed to fall into him as she blinked herself back slowly, but her face had become gravely pale.
There was no blood on her chest, not even any entry wound from his hand impaling itself into her chest over her heart. But that did not still Lloyds racing heart as he held her to him.
"L-Lloyd?" Sheena trembled as she looked up into his brown eyes, Lloyd fought back tears of distress as he watched her. "Something....something doesn't feel...right..." her voice trembled.
"Shh, shh." Lloyd tried to calm her as he swallowed hard. "Everything is alright Sheena."
Lloyd's eyes narrowed in anger and rage as his head snapped up to look at Valemeros.
"What did you do!" he demanded.
Lloyd's eyes widened as he saw what Valemeros was holding, glowing orbs of what seemed to be concentrated mana and they were all of different colors the size of marbles. Lloyd knew instantly, he felt it in his heart and the aura the orbs gave off was too familiar to him.
Valemeros had just stolen Sheena's Summon Spirits.
The noble weaved his fingers along the floating orbs as if he were playing with strings, a sly smirk plastered on his face as his dark purple eyes went from the glowing orbs to the duo. Without so much as a word, Valemeros turned around and walked away, when walking passed the two fallen comrades of his, a faint glow seemed to cover their bodies as they both managed to push themselves back to their feet and they all made their exit.
"Lloyd...I feel cold..." Sheena whimpered.
That tone broke his heart into pieces, he had never heard Sheena whimper before and to hear her now made him feel like he was powerless to protect her, tears welled up in his eyes as he looked down to Sheena with a lump in his throat he forced out a reply.
"I'm here, Sheena..." he whispered barely.
Sheena curled up against him, shivering still as her skin remained pale as her frightened eyes locked onto Lloyds. Of course she was scared, cold and lost.
Valemeros had just stolen a piece of her.
"I won't leave you Sheena...ever." Lloyd whispered softly, tears falling from his eyes as he felt his body flinch, forcing his right hand to come up and stroke her cheek gently.
"Some...thing is wrong..." Sheena uttered, she did not realize yet what Valemeros had taken.
Lloyd could only close his eyes, leaning forward to place his forehead against hers as he pulled her up to him, as if trying to protect her from everything that had just happened to her. But in actuality he had accepted the fact of what he had done.
He failed her.
He failed Sheena.
He let the tears drop as he was left alone to wonder how he could ever forgive himself.
He stayed there as Sheena continued to tremble in his arms, against his body.
"Sheena....I'm sorry..."
