Insaneiac: Welcome to part two of the "Those who Fight." In this one, along with a much anticipated, very Lloyd-centric action feast, Kvar gets some love. And by love, I mean attention. And by attention, I mean we get some evil monologues going on folks. The kind that I revel in. If I dare say so, this is going to be a treat for you all.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything at all associated with Tales of Symphonia or NAMCO.


Chapter 9: Those Who Fight Further

"I…" Lloyd muttered as his head once more dropped, hanging off his shoulders. He coughed brutally into his ripped and effectively destroyed glove, splattering blood onto both his hand and the torn remnants of his glove. As he pulled his hand away, he became mildly disturbed at how his hand seemed to match his fallen apart glove in hue. Once more, Lloyd rolled his head backwards, shifting it to lock eyes with Kratos. For a moment, Lloyd was positive he had seen regret and concern within the man's eyes, but simply rolled it aside as being a figment of his own beaten mind. A tear rolled down Lloyd's face as he struggled with the idea of dying inside a Human Ranch as an enemy to the Chosen one, his friend Colette. A person he spent almost his entire life growing up with. They had laughed together, played together, cried together, and now he was going to die as her enemy.

"Lloyd please!" Genis screamed, cutting through the disturbed silence. "I know you're the kind of person who would never abandon your friends, but you can't throw your life away like this! PLEASE!" Genis screamed.

'Genis…' Lloyd moaned in his head as another tear rolled down his cheek. 'I…' "I…"

"Lloyd, allow me to put it this way. She is dying as we speak. The least I'll do is put her out of her misery. At this point, that is the best thing a friend could do for her." Kratos interrupted, his arm and sword never faltering from its place. "Are you willing to die for some one who is fated to die as is?"

"I…" Lloyd stuttered once more, wiping away the tears slowly before raising his swords up, and placing himself into the best battle stance he could manage. "…am. Kratos, Raine, Genis…Co…" Lloyd grimaced as the name felt foreign and unpronounceable to him. "…Chosen One…. I've made my choice." He closed his eyes briefly, horrified at what the looks could be upon the faces of his friends and, by all definitions of the word aside from blood relation, family. When he opened them again, the eyes of soft and gentle Lloyd had faded, replaced by the eyes of a man who willingly faced Death himself. "I refuse to let you kill Sheena."

"You know what this means then Lloyd. Right?" Raine asked with a voice that was eerily emotionless. Lloyd flinched as he felt her voice, stripped of any sense of caring or even depression.

"Yes. I do." Lloyd choked out weakly, pausing only to give a pained sigh. "I was lucky to know you all as long as I have. I'm sorry it has to end like this."

------Asgard Ranch Entrance, Earlier That Day ------

'Lloyd…you're mental. This is suicide. No wait, suicide is usually a fairly controlled quick release. This is blatant masochism. There could be thousands upon thousands of Desians in there, and you are going to try and waltz right in there.' Lloyd sighed deeply as he felt the voice that dwelled inside his head get to him. Lloyd called him his conscious most of the time, but right now he was absolutely sure that it was, along with that friendly little voice, Mr. Reason and Mr. Self Preservation. He remembered one of Raines golden seeds of advice, one of the rare things he actually remembered from Raine. It was just after Genis and himself had nearly been beaten to death by the store owner. He had been under the suspicion that Lloyd had stolen something from him, and the resulting confrontation turned into a rather heated argument and then into a pseudo-deathmatch

"Lloyd, how could you be that stupid? Believe it or not Lloyd, while it may have the louder voice, the heart is thick at best. Acting by your heart over your brain will more than often result in pain. Listen to your heart, but don't act by it alone."

Shaking his head, Lloyd glanced ahead at the large and, surprisingly enough, wide open gates that led into the front yard of the Human Ranch. To boot, there were a handful of Desian foot soldiers standing just beyond that gate, watching him from a distance. Lloyd had to wonder why they didn't go to attack him, or even, at the very best guide, him to Kvar. Eliciting a cautious sigh, Lloyd rested a hand on each hilt of his swords, and began to walk towards large gate. He was certain that all five of the Desian soldiers knew about him approaching, he could even see the middle one pointing and laughing at him as he approached. Lloyd was pretty sure that the Desian was laughing at how moronic he was. Come one, what kind of moron storms a Desian human ranch all by themselves, even if they were practically invited in by the Cardinal of the ranch?

"Well well. The fool showed up." The leader spoke as Lloyd reached the gates. Slowly, Lloyd drew out each sword, gripping each handle tightly as he gazed cautiously at each half-elf. "Well, at least you weren't stupid enough to come unarmed. Can't see what two swords are going to do for you though." Lloyd said nothing as Desians laughed at the quip. He already knew that this was not going to be a quiet and easy affair. What Lloyd knew is that, by going to the ranch to help Sheena, the only thing he could have possibly ensured was his own death. Kvar wanted Lloyd's exsphere, and Lloyd knew that the very moment Kvar had his hand on it, he would kill Lloyd. He'd probably try and kill Sheena too, but hopefully not before he could bide her some time to escape.

So what was to stop some of Kvar's underlings from roughen him up a bit? With this thought and expectation resting firmly on his mind, when Lloyd saw one of the five Desians grip a whip that rested on his belt, he struck. Since Desian armor was strongest around the torso and head, he aimed for the place in between. Before any of the others could say anything, Lloyd drew his sword out of the Desian's neck, not bothering to watch him drop to the ground. Instead, he had his eyes focused on the other four.

"I might be a moron by coming here…but if you think I'm coming in with my guard down, you're the real fools." Lloyd taunted, well aware that if the Desians had actually planned on not harming him, than that notion was scrapped because of him and his own actions. Then again, when could one ever trust a Desian? Within a few beats of a human heart, the other four had their weapons drawn and pointed at Lloyd.

"Lord Kvar wanted you to himself, but he never said you needed to be in one piece!" The leader of the unit, the one that had been in the middle of the five, growled before charging Lloyd. He swung his spear viciously in front of him, trying to intimidate Lloyd into taking a step back more than anything. When Lloyd did nothing of the sort, he jabbed at the swordsman. Lloyd spun to the side, dodging the thrust with ease. Grunting, he brought both swords down across the Desian's back, leaving two deep slices through both the Desian's weaker rear plate and flesh. Spinning around to face the next pair, already upon him, Lloyd went into a forward roll, dodging both swords as they came down at him. As Lloyd pushed up, he swung both swords behind him, slicing through the Achilles tendon on one of the Desian's left foot. Although he wasn't one for knowledge of specific blows, he knew that damaging that particular part of the body would stop a man from ever walking normally again.

Not to mention, and judging from the way the Desian was screaming in pain, it must have been hurting like hell itself was being poured on top of him. Pushing to his feet, Lloyd raised his swords to block the first slash from the still standing Desian, pushing him backwards before driving his blade into the warrior's right shoulder. He yelled in pain as he felt the steel blade twist while inside his shoulder, carving the inside of his shoulder and causing his hand to shoot open, his sword dropping from his hand. Lloyd withdrew the sword from the Desian, spinning around and bringing both swords across the unguarded ribs of the charging spearman, the only untouched Desian left of the five. The swords sliced through his exposed side with ease, the momentum of the slash whipping through his side and whipping a trail of blood across the yard. The attack left a mortal wound that Lloyd knew would claim the half-elf's life. Not before, however, the spearman impaled his still living companion through the neck. The two collapsed into a pile as blood began to pool around them. He was sure the Desian who had his side cleaved open was gurgling curses as he died, but could not hear it over the screams of the still living Desian. Walking over to the permanently crippled soldier, Lloyd couldn't help but pity him. However, if he was to get anywhere, he needed him to stop screaming. With a sigh, he drove the hilt of his sword against the back of his head, knocking the guard unconscious.

"Be happy. It's more than you deserve." Lloyd grunted. Turning back, he could see the gates had already shut, most likely during the skirmish. "No way to fall back…only one way to go then." Lloyd reaffirmed, turning towards the front entrance to the Ranch.

------ ? ------

A smirk crawled onto Kvar's face as he watched the camera footage of Lloyd defeating his men in battle. Normally, he would have been enraged that someone would have the nerve to attack his men, and even further enraged that his men could not take a single child. However, in this case, nothing pleased him more than to watch his prey tire himself out. He knew that when Lloyd reached him, he would be just as likely to fight him as he would to hand over his exsphere. In fact, Kvar expected it more so than the latter. If Lloyd was claimed by his men, than he was never worth his time. However, if Lloyd could make it to him, through the soldiers and sorcerers and all his wonderful pieces of cannon fodder, than Kvar could revel in taking what little life Lloyd had left from him.

It was what he did best. It was why he was known as Lord Kvar the Demon. Nothing made him feel quite as alive as slowly and cruelly killing an opponent, drawing the life from them slowly and painfully.

His ears twitched as he heard Sheena slowly come to behind him, bringing a devilish grin to his face. "I hope you've slept well my dear. I guarantee you my dear that it'll be the last good sleep you'll ever enjoy."

"Where…am I?" Sheena muttered weakly. She already knew the answer though. She knew the very moment she had heard his voice.

"The closest to hell you've ever been my dear." Kvar began, walking over to the just stirring ninja. She was hanging from the ceiling of the control room by a long set of wires, her arms firmly bound to prevent any real escape attempt. Of course, it also helped that, at any given time, he could run enough volts through the wires to roast her alive. If she decided to get unruly, he would simply allow her to experience the sanity destroying pain of lightning coursing through her body and the sensation of being baked from the inside out.

"Kvar!" Sheena growled, a little bit steadier than before. She was beginning to realize her current predicament left her with little in the way of escape methods. Not to mention, she hated being the helpless female. Nothing made her feel worse than having to wait for someone to save her.

"Yes my dear." Kvar taunted, grabbing her by the chin and lifting her head up. "Before long, I'll have you referring to me as Lord Kvar though."

"Where…where's Lloyd?" Sheena growled, wrenching her head away from his hand. She felt like driving her knee into his face when she heard him chuckle. It wasn't so much that he was laughing that got to her, but how he laughed. As she focused on the almost feral want to bash his face down his throat, she noticed that her legs were unbound, meaning that all she needed was the right moment.

"Why, your precious little hero is on his way here to help you." Kvar informed, retaking her chin in his hand, this time in a firm grip. "You'll be able to watch him die, just before I send you off to get processed."

"You're a bastard." Sheena retorted, spitting in Kvar's face. It only served to disturb her further when he laughed in return.

"And you are bait." Kvar retorted, releasing her chin and walking over to his staff. "You'll draw him into this room, where I'll force him to hand over his mother's only memento in exchange for your freedom. But I bet you already know I never intended to free you."

"If all you wanted is his exsphere, why didn't you just take it from him in Luin?" Sheena yelled. "Haven't you heard? The cocky ones always fall in the end."

"Cocky my dear?" Kvar muttered, turning back to his monitors for a moment. "Cocky is the fool who believes he can not lose in one on one battles. That is why I have stacked the deck in my favor. He'll come for you, and in exchange for your safety he'll give me his exsphere. He's the bleeding heart type, always the easiest to manipulate." He turned and stared at Sheena. "He'll be forced to live with the knowledge that he willingly handed over the only memento of his mother to me, just before I claim his life. There is no sweeter torture than that my dear."

Sheena stared at Kvar ruthlessly, glaring daggers at the half-elf. "You are pure evil."

"You're far too kind my dear." Kvar retorted as he walked up to Sheena and grabbed her by the chin once more. "And what is truly grand about this all is that you will have to watch it all and live with the knowledge that this was your fault. His death will be on your hands while you are forced to work endlessly, serving as nothing more than a food supply for an exsphere." Kvar said no more, watching the horror and hatred boil within Sheena's chocolate eyes intently. However, he never saw it coming, as Sheena drove her left knee into the unprotected manhood of Desian Grand Cardinal. With a yelp of pain, Kvar began to collapse to the ground, just before her right knee caught him square in the nose. Kvar was tossed backwards, his hands split between holding his abused manliness and his abused nose.

"How kind am I now?" Sheena retorted. She would regret it later as electricity began to rip through her viciously. She closed her eyes as tightly as possible as she felt the lightning tear her apart, ripping her mind and soul to shreds. Even in her current position, he body was twitching and tossing horribly as the unimaginable pain devoured her being whole, before it mercifully ended. Her entire body went from rigid to limp, her body twitching sporadically. She was panting heavily, choked sobs escaping her lips as the pain suddenly ended. Surprising enough, however, was the fact that she didn't scream out in pain. Whether it was a testament to her will, or because the lightning left her with the inability to cry in pain, all that mattered was that she didn't scream in pain.

"Enjoy your laughs and remarks while you can. I am sure seeing that fool die will take all the fight right out of you." Kvar growled, his voice a slight tone higher than usual. As he lifted his head, he could see Sheena grinning at him, and felt himself boil. "Believe me my dear. I will take great joy in tearing that smile from your pretty little face."

------ Ranch Interior ------

"There he is!" Another Desian screamed. With that, yet another large group of soldiers stormed towards Lloyd, charging the tiring swordsmen with weapons drawn. Spinning to face the new threat, Lloyd spun his blades around in his hand, holding them in the downward stab position.

"SHOCKWAVE!" Lloyd yelled, driving both blades into the ground. The impact created a burst of energy that encircled him and shot outwards, tossing the first handful of Desians backwards. Lloyd quickly withdrew his blades from the ground, and began to attack those still standing. Leaping forward, Lloyd drove his shoulder into the first of the four, tackling him into his friends. As they all stumbled towards the ground, Lloyd took a small leap backwards, planting his left foot into the ground and tossing himself into a forward barrel roll. "HUNTING BEAST!" Lloyd screamed, slamming both swords onto the ground just in front of the Desian pile. The mana eruption tossed the Desians across the room and into various monitors and equipment. A little slowly, Lloyd picked himself back to his feat, panting heavily. He was using far too much mana and he was beginning to feel the effects of the drain.

"NOW!" Lloyd heard. He spun around just in time to feel two arrows pierce his being. He collapsed to the ground as his right shoulder and left side were punctured by Desian arrows. Knowing that stalling here meant life or death, Lloyd sheathed one sword and tightly gripped the arrow in his right shoulder. Sucking in his breath, Lloyd wrenched the arrow out, screaming as he felt the barbed head of the arrow tear apart the muscle and flesh. Forcing to his feet, Lloyd deflected the next two arrows with his still drawn sword, charging towards the Desians. Before they could move, Lloyd unsheathed his other sword and cut into both of them, each sword impaled through the stomach of the Desian bowmen. With a brutal grunt, Lloyd withdrew the swords, falling backwards as the two in front of him crumpled to the ground.

Without wasting time, Lloyd tore his right sleeve off of his outfit, fashioning it into a tight bandage around his arrow wound. Tightening it enough so that is would restrict the loss of blood, but not cut off circulation to the rest of his arm. Even though a tourniquet was a much better thing to have in this case, especially with the wound at hand, Lloyd would need both arms if he wanted to survive. Lloyd turned his attention to the arrow that pierced his side. In this case, he was lucky. The arrow had gone through and created an exit wound, meaning he could very simply cut the arrow and pull the shaft of the weapon through the wound, minimizing further damage. Not only that, but the wound was nowhere near anything drastically vital. He was quick in removing the arrow, gnashing down his teeth as he waited for the initial pain to subside. He pulled out some heavy duty bandages from his pack, whispering a silent prayer to Dirk for making him the kit, and patched up the entrance and exit wounds of the arrow.

Taking in a heavy breath, Lloyd picked his swords back up off the ground and pushed to his feet. His body was screaming at him, begging him to stop, while his heart was demanding him to go own. Like usual, Lloyd listened to his heart and continued onto the next room. This area was a massive conveyor belt system that seemed to not move at all, offsetting him every so slightly. He began to dash along the path, hoping that he was going the right way and that there would be no more Desians along the way. When he turned the first corner, he felt hope number two, along with a rather large hammer, catch him right in the gut. Lloyd was tossed off the path and into the machine in the center of the room, his entire body going rigid with pain as he slumped onto the non-moving conveyor belt. Slowly, Lloyd raised his head to see a large Desian with a war hammer jumping onto the belt with him, bringing the hammer down towards Lloyd's head. Grunting, Lloyd tossed himself to the side, just narrowly escaping what would have been a life ending blow.

Pushing to his feet, he saw the hammer coming towards him, and tried to deflect it with his sword. The hammer shattered the blade like glass as it swung through his guard and caught him in the ribs. Lloyd was sent sprawling down the conveyor belt, already assured that one or more of his ribs where now nothing more than dust at best. Still, he knew that he could still move, and if he could move, he could keep going.

"Lord Kvar said you were tough…but you're just a pathetic weakling aren't you?" The Desian taunted, standing over Lloyd. Slowly, he pulled the hammer back, lifting it over his head as he prepared to bring it down onto Lloyd's spine. "Lord Kvar told me to make sure you got there alive, but he never said you had to be able to walk there." Before he could bring the hammer down, Lloyd rolled himself over and stabbed at the Desian's exposed stomach with both swords. A gurgled cry of pain escaped the half-elf's lips as Lloyd pushed them in deeper, twisting them for good measure. The Desian gave one wretch of pain, coughing up blood as the blades where twisted inside his stomach. With another heavy breath, Lloyd wrenched the blades free, watching as the large Desian fell backwards.

Lloyd's hand traced the impact area of the second hammer blow, wincing at the pain he could feel just from trailing his fingers over it. His attention turned from himself to his sword, a now ruined and nigh useless piece of equipment. It barely reached half the length it normally did, and a large crack ran down the center of the blade. Still, he had no other weapon to use in this instance and he had no time to purposely look for a replacement. Very slowly, Lloyd pushed back to his feet, breathing in deeply as he got back onto the main walkway of the room. With a final deep breath, Lloyd began to push on, unaware that he was being watched from a distance by a man with brown hair and a large red sword.

"Dammit…Lord Yuan, why are you making him go through this alone?"

------ The Ruins of Luin ------

"By the Goddess…what happened here." Raine muttered in a horrified tone. It didn't take much to notice that the destruction was fresh. Ashes where still steaming, there were pools blood that still had yet to cake, even some buildings were still on fire. "I had heard that Luin was a stunning city of beauty. This, however, is just stunningly horrible." Raine choked, waving a hand to the scene of ruination.

"Stay here. I will scout the area and see if I can determine just what did this." Kratos muttered in an authoritative manner. Not waiting for a sign of acknowledgement, Kratos marched off, going about the task of moving through the wreckage and searching for any sign of life or any clue as to the culprits of such an act of chaos.

Colette had been in shock the moment she laid eyes on the destruction. Everything was in pieces or falling to pieces. She could hear the crackling of tenacious flames the refused to snuff themselves out just yet. In some piles of rubble, she could see mangled and charred limbs sticking out. She could even see people that where unfortunate enough to be killed before hand, impaled into the ground by spears and swords. The stench of death filled the place like air, almost causing her to vomit. She had heard of towns being destroyed in battles, but this felt like a massacre rather than a battle. Genis watched Colette cautiously; afraid as to how she would take the destruction. When she turned to face Genis, she shook her head woefully. Even though he couldn't tell how she was feeling by her facial expression, her eyes said it all. It said it all for the both of them.

"Raine…what could have done this." Genis muttered, gazing about the destruction of the city. "This is…worse than Iselia ever was."

"I have no clue Genis." Raine spoke, before a feral roar filled the air. All of a sudden, the three glanced at each other before charging over to where the sound came from. When they got to the area, a large and broken fountain, they saw Kratos just finishing off a monster that had attempted to attack a survivor. Withdrawing his sword from the monster's crumpled corpse, Kratos whipped it out to the side, removing as much of the blood as possible before sheathing it away. He turned to face the group, sighing.

"It seems that this man had fled the city, then came back to see if he could find something. Before I could get anything else from him…we were rudely interrupted." Kratos opened, waving a hand to the dead monsters behind him. "If anyone would know what happened, I would suspect he could fill us in." Kratos muttered, deciding to skip the fact that they disregarded his instructions. Turning to the quivering man, Kratos extended a hand towards him. "Well?"

"The Desians…they did this." He muttered, his hand shaking. Kratos wasn't surprised at all, considering who ruled this part of the world, but his companions were all shocked. "I would have been killed too. And my daughters." The man paused for a moment before latching himself to Kratos, grabbing his uniform tightly. "You have to go help him! He can't do that all by himself." Now Kratos was a bit shocked. He had absolutely no clue at all what spurred the sudden action from the man, but it had been enough to jumble the mercenary's thoughts.

"Who?" Raine inquired, tilting her head curiously.

"The swordsman in red…Lloyd. He went after the Desians…to go help the captives and his friend." Everyone turned to the other, giving them worried and alarmed glances. Kratos sighed begrudgingly as he heard the name escape the man's mouth. When you mention the words Lloyd and Desian around Colette, it didn't matter if the world was ending, she would focus her attention on helping Lloyd in any matter. "The Desians took his girlfriend…this young woman in a dress with black hair. They were only trying to defend us from them. I would have been dead if they hadn't saved me. You have got to help him, please! You're strong. I can't help him, but you can. Please."

Kratos brought a hand to his forehead as he heard the man described the assassin that was after Colette's life. "And what if I were to say that those two were trying to endanger the life of the Chosen one?"

The man gave his head a heavy shake, locking eyes with Kratos. "The Chosen One didn't save my daughters. They did! You, you saved me. You can't let those two just die like that." His words stunned Kratos. Everyone was surprised by the fact that this man had literally put two people before the life of the Chosen, especially two that were made out to be assassins. Kratos himself, however, was doubly surprised.

'She is from Tethe'alla. Why would she help people she was dooming to death by trying to assassinate the Chosen One?' "You said this "Lloyd" went to the human ranch?" Kratos muttered, getting a nod from man. Kratos sighed again as he glanced over at Colette. "It's your choice Chosen One." Kratos muttered. He could hear the man sucking in his breath viciously as he heard Kratos address Colette. It suddenly dawned on him that the Chosen of Mana was standing not ten feet from him.

"Of course we'll help Lloyd. Then we can ask him why he's doing what he is doing." Colette replied as cheerfully as possible. Truth be told, the fact that Lloyd and her own assassin were in love, at least according to this man, was eating her alive. 'She must have brainwashed him! Lloyd's a victim of evil magic. That means Genis and I can go and save him from her! We'll show that witch!' "I promise you that we'll bring them back." Colette could see the tears well up in the man's eyes as he sprinted to her, hugging her tightly.

"Thank you Chosen One! Thank you so much!" And with that, the man fled from the ruined city, charging back to his children no doubt. Slowly exchanging glances, Kratos broke the brief silence with a sigh, planting a hand onto his forehead.

"I assume that means we are off to save the idiot then." Kratos muttered. With an exchange of nods, the group departed towards the Asgard Human Ranch under Kratos' lead.

------ Main Control Room ------

"Why do you hate Lloyd so much?" Sheena barked, watching Kvar like a hawk.

"Hate Lloyd? Aside from the fact that he is the offspring of that horrid waste of life woman and that inferior traitor of a father? I just don't like the fact that one pathetic child has held onto my exsphere for so long and has managed to elude my sight for so long."

"You keep bad mouthing his father…why?" Sheena muttered, tilting her head. If she was a prisoner, the least she could do was earn some information. When she saw Kvar turned to her, she breathed in deeply. "Did he kick your ass when you killed his wife?" Sheena mocked.

"Do you really want to know?" Kvar spoke, smirking at her evilly. "I'm sure that kind of knowledge would tear you to shreds every time you look into his eyes. Or at least, the last few times you can before I take his life from him." When Sheena hesitated to say anything, Kvar approached her slowly, stopping at staff's reach from her neck. "Well? I may be cruel, but even I am prone to some degree of kindness." He waited for Sheena to lock eyes with him; waited for Sheena to do what he knew all to would happen and nod. That's when a real smile crossed his face. "His father…the person that murdered his mother and ruined his precious little life. The man responsible for taking away the pride and joy of my Human Ranch…is the man that currently accompanies the Chosen of Mana." He paused to watch the horror in Sheena's eyes, laughing as he watched her body stiffen from shock. "Yes my dear. Kratos. That pathetic inferior being is Lloyd father." Hew pressed the staff against her throat, watching her longingly as she stared wide eyed into the wall.

"…no…" Sheena whispered, shaking her head. "…You…you're lying!" Sheena yelled. She wanted nothing more than to tear out Kvar's eyes when he began to laugh at her.

"No, I am quite honest, my dear Tethe'allan. Thanks to you, father and son stand against each other." Kvar continued to taunt, watching with glee as Sheena continued to get angry. "You make a mess of everything, don't you? Because of you, father and son are enemies. Because of you, that person you call friend is about to face a death far more painful than even the fires of the hell I'll send him to will be. Because of you, he is about to hand over his mother's very soul to me. While you might have failed at attempting to kill the Chosen one, you've done me a great handful of favors." Kvar laughed again as he watched tears begin to stream from her eyes. "Lord Yggdrasill wants me to kill you, but I'd much rather use you to your fullest capabilities. I mean, what fun is it to kill when I can break." Sheena winced as she felt Kvar roughly grab the side of her face and force her to look into his eyes. "Oh yes, we'll have so much fun."

"TAKE YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF HER!" A voice yelled, a voice that filled Sheena with both dread and joy. Both heads whipped to see a beaten, bloodied, and intense Lloyd standing at the portal, swords drawn and pointing at Kvar. Sheena couldn't help but blame herself for Lloyd's current condition, sucking in her breath as she saw Lloyd looking like he had been ambushed by an army. Yet she could not begin to believe that Lloyd had stormed the Human Ranch by himself, just for her. If it were possible, she was both smiling and crying at the same time as she laid eyes on Lloyd, filled with both overwhelming joy and brutal sorrow.

"Or I swear to Martel, I'll take your hands from you!"


A/N: There you go folks. The next chapter is going to have a very big pair of matches that will, in the end, mark a huge shift in the direction of the story. Now, I know there are a lot of theories on whether or not Kvar knew who Lloyd's father was, but I am going with the idea that he did. Anyways, the next chapter will mark the end of the Those Who Fight series. See ya then.