Sorry for being a bit late. I didn't really want to use Christmas to write my story and there were also some family events.

Oh well.

Enyoy:


Setting Off

Sheena couldn't sleep. The words that she had read were repeating over and over again inside her head. It was true that there were some parts where she couldn't read, but she understood the some bits of the letter. She pulled the blanket over her face and sighed.

'Lloyd obviously had to find out the location of the village for some reason for some special day and event and he was going to regret about something that he was going to do forever...' Sheena thought. 'But what could be the thing that he's going to regret? What is this thing about 't's not the time yet'? I don't understand...'

Sheena was confused. 'Could it be that it was Lloyd who had attacked the village? Was he the one who had wielded the two swords, trying to destroy the village? Was this the thing that he was going to regret forever? Was this the reason why he was acting so closely to Sheena? To drag out some information from me?' Sheena was getting anxious, but she cooled her head. There was no evidence that it was Lloyd.

'But who could the other swordsman be? Only swordsman that I know that specializes in single sword combat is Kratos... oh and Zelos too... but Zelos is nowhere near as strong as the description of the swordsman so...' Sheena sighed.

"There's no point in this... I'll find out everything once I find Lloyd," Sheena muttered softly. She popped her head out of the blanket and tried to get sleep.


"So are we ready to leave?" Sheena asked everyone who were sitting around the sofa in the livingroom.

"We're all packed to go," Zelos answered.

"Good. Regal, Raine, have you decided on our destination?" Sheena asked.

"Well... yea. Most of these places are where Regal had sent Lloyd previously to do him favors," Raine answered.

"It is quite likely that he may be visiting those places again if none of us are able to find him. So we'll start with those," Regal suggested.

"Yay! Let's go!" Colette shouted joyfully. Zelos opened the front door and everyone walked out. Regal however, was still sitting on the sofa. Zelos looked back at him.

"You have something to do... don't you?" Zelos asked. He looked at Regal coldly.

"..." Regal sighed.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of this," Zelos smiled. "Good luck," Zelos closed the door behind him, leaving Regal all lone inside the house. In front of the house, everyone was waiting.

"Where's Regal?" Sheena asked.

"Oh him? He needed to attend an urgent meeting. A message came last night about disaster control or something and he was needed immediately," Zelos answered.

"Oh..." She muttered.

"But he said that he'll provide every help necessary if we needed anything," Zelos smiled.

"Okay... I guess we should go then," Raine sighed. The 6 members walked down the main staircase and out of the city.


Regal sighed. He stood up from the sofa and walked out of the mansion. He took out a small case from his pocket, and from the inside, came out a Rehierd. With that, he quickly took off to Altamira.


"Sir, I've been expecting you," George greeted him.

"How is he doing?" Regal asked.

"He is doing well. He was here and hour ago but he left saying that he was busy, leaving this message," George answered. He reached into his pocket and took out a small piece of paper. Regal took it and read it through.

"I hope he does well in his next mission as well," Regal sighed.

"I believe that everything will be fine sir. He is, after all, the strongest swordsman you know," George Assured.

"I guess..." Regal answered.


The sun was setting. They have been walking for the entire day and were now setting up a camp. There were barely any sunlight and the only source of light that they had was their campfire. This was the Garoccia Forest, the place where Lloyd had appeared in front of Sheena and saved her life. Sheena sighed as she thought back to that incident.

"Dinner's ready," Genis announced. He poured the porridge to everyone, including himself, and started to eat. The forest was quiet. There were meek sounds of insects, but there weren't any noises of animals.

"Sheena dear, you should go to sleep," Raine suggested. Sheena sighed and looked back toward Raine.

"No... I'm fine... not sleepy at all. Actually, I'll be the watch for tonight," Sheena smiled.

"Well... if you say so... but please don't overdo it," Raine sighed. "Wake me up in 3 hours, I'll switch with you," Raine entered the tent and disappeared out of sight. Soon, everyone followed and Sheena was the only one left.

"You can come out now," Sheena looked up the tree. "They are not dangerous of anything so you don't have to be so cautious,"

From the top of the tree, jumped down a ninja. "I'm sorry chief," he answered.

"So why are you here?" Sheena asked.

"I came to report you that the village is 90 repaired," The ninja muttered.

"Oh... I'm sorry I couldn't help..." Sheena muttered.

"No problem sir. I'll be going now," The ninja turned around.

"Wait!" Sheena shouted. She remembered. They had no clear evidence or had any clue about the appearance of the swordsman. Only thing they knew was that he was a twin-blader and was really strong.

"At that time when the village was attacked. Did you see the battle?" Sheena asked.

"Yes I did chief. It was monstrous. I couldn't believe my eyes," the ninja answered.

"Can you give me some descriptions about them?" Sheena asked.

"Yes chief. But none of us remember too clearly about their appearance. The attack was too sudden and we were paying more attention at their skills, not their appearances," the ninja reported. "But there is one thing that I remember,"

"What is it?" Sheena asked.

"One of the swordsman was wearing red from top to bottom," Ninja answered.

"..." Sheena couldn't breathe.


Yay! and the suspense continues! Oh well... please R&R