*Is tired of staring at this chapter looking for errors she knows she should be able to find since she's a creative writing minor, but is unable to for some reason*

Chapter Nine: Friends? No Thanks

"Hey Lloyd, you coming in or what?" Hearing Genis' voice caused Lloyd to crack one of his eyes open. "Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were asleep."

He wasn't, he was just pretending. Weren't people supposed to leave you alone when you were pretending to sleep? "Don't worry about it." He told the younger half-elf. They were on a boat taking them from Izoold to Palmacosta, they only stayed for about a day and that was to argue with Raine about whether to follow Remiel's orders or go north on land to Luin. While the argument had been a waste of time, the results from it were pretty amusing, to him anyway. The half-elf teacher went into the cabin below and refused to even come up to look at the water, he got a chuckle out of seeing her blatantly obvious fear of water or boats. "You need something?"

"It's pretty cold out here, why not come inside." The half-elf suggested.

"I'm used to being out in the cold. It doesn't bother me." He told him, red eyes looking the boy over. The half-elf was already shaking because of the wind and water. "You on the other hand…"

"It's warm in Iselia because of the desert, it doesn't get this cool."

"Yeah, Colette told me." Lloyd frowned as the younger boy sat down next to him, "What are you doing?"

"If you aren't going in, I'm staying out here. Besides it's nice to have someone to talk to that's not my sister or Colette for one?"

"For once?"

"Oh, uh, nevermind." The small half-elf's face turned red. Lloyd had a feeling it was not from the cold, but because he was embarrassed by something. The first guess was being a half-elf, but because of the nearby ranch he doubted it was that. Against his better judgment, he told the boy to tell him what he was thinking. "I don't have a lot of friends in the village." Somehow he expected that and listened as Genis explained that people didn't really like him because of how smart he was, calling it ironic because he knew people liked associating with smart people, but if you were too smart you were ignored. "The only reason I'm friends with Colette is because we bumped into each other."

"Bumped in meaning she tripped and fell on top of you?" The mercenary asked getting a small laugh from the young half-elf.

"You know it's weird." The elf said calming down, making Lloyd look at him a little confused.

"What is?"

"You don't say a lot to us, but I always feel comfortable talking to you. I think we'd be pretty good friends."

If Lloyd was standing he probably would have fallen off the boat. "Whoa, why would you want to be friends with someone you barely know?"

"That's usually how making friends starts, besides I have this whole journey to get to know you." Lloyd let out a groan and looked at the wooden floor of the boat; this journey was going to take forever. If Raine being suspicious about him and Colette being, well, Colette, wasn't bad enough he now had someone who wanted to be his friend. He didn't need to make friends on this journey; the few people he knew, but rarely saw that were in Tethe'alla, were more than enough. Being nice to Genis back in Iselia was starting to turn out to have been a bad idea.


With Izoold being a small fishing village, Lloyd was actually surprised to find that Palmacosta was actually pretty large. Granted it wasn't as big as the cities in the flourishing world, but Sylvarant was called the declining world for a reason. They made their way out of the port area and started into town when Colette suddenly bumped into a woman making her drop a bottle of red liquid. Lloyd shook his head as he saw one of the woman's three friends begin yelling at her and the blonde Chosen begin apologizing; maybe he should just tie her to a chair and drag her around for the rest of the journey. He grabbed Colette's arm and started leading her in the opposite direction as she began to offer to replace the bottle, Genis and Raine following.

They stopped in the middle of the square. "Ow, Lloyd that hurts." At least now he was sure she still had her sense of feeling. He let go of her and she looked at him, her blue eyes showing she was both confused and a little hurt by his actions. "Why did you do that?"

"They aren't worth our time Chosen."

"But it's my fault that girl's drink got spilt."

"So? We can't spend all our time doing favors for people. We have something more important to take care of, like finding out where the next seal is."

"I have to admit, but Lloyd is right." Raine interjected, "We should focus on trying to find out where to find the next seal. I've heard that the church hear has records from Spiritua's journey; perhaps it can give us information on where it is."

"Spiritua? The first chosen or regeneration?"

"Yes," Colette answered Lloyd's question, "The priest should give us permission to look at the manuscript if we ask him." Raine told Genis and Lloyd to wait in front of the government building while they went to the church. The red and black clothed angel leaned against the wall and looked down at the half-elf that was looking at him with his arms crossed.

"You know that was pretty mean, what you said to Colette."

"She's too nice for her own good." Lloyd told him, voice making it clear that he really didn't care. That niceness was going to get her in a lot of trouble, he could just tell.

"True, but that's what I like about Colette, she always puts others before herself. She cares about others and is willing to do anything to help them." A fitting attitude for a human sacrifice. Lloyd didn't say anymore, he really didn't feel like arguing with the twelve year old half-elf and said twelve year old half-elf knew he wasn't going to get any response so he sat down and waited for his sister and friend to get back.

It didn't take long for them to come back with the news that Spiritua's book was supposed to be in the hands of the governor-general. Fortunately he was in the building so they could retrieve it from the government building. This was good, now they could find this next seal faster, but all the other ones too. Now if only they could avoid seeing Remiel then Lloyd would a very happy angel. Once inside and welcomed by governor general Dorr and his assistant director, a young man called Neil, Raine asked the governor-general Dorr for the scriptures with Genis explaining that they needed it for the regeneration journey; it suddenly became very quiet before Neil spoke up with a warning tone in his voice as he addressed Dorr.

"Governor…"

"I know." He told him before addressing the group with a tone as though he had been insulted, "The Chosen has already passed through here. How dare you defile that name! Guards seize them." Lloyd was already reaching for his sword to fight his way through the approaching guards when Colette stumbled backward startled, her wings coming out as she fell on the ground.

"Daddy, look, she has wings. She's like an angel." A cry from the governor's daughter game from behind the large table. Indeed the pink colored wings seemed to make everyone in the room stop in their tracks. The governor ordered his soldiers to return to their positions before readdressing the group.

"I apologize for my reaction; it seems you really are the chosen."

"Oh, it's alright." Colette said dusting off her long white dress-shirt. "Some people have said that I'm not very chosen like."

"Anyway," Lloyd started up before Colette could apologize for not seeming like a proper chosen, "You said a group claiming to be the Chosen's group already came here?"

"Yes, a group of four much like your own stopped by here minutes ago. We had heard rumors going around that the oracle had appeared in Iselia, so when a group came claiming to be the Chosen's group, naturally we believed them." Lloyd couldn't believe what he was hearing, apparently neither could Genis or Raine though the older half-elf looked more composed.

"Did you let these imposters see Spiritua's scriptures?"

The governor looked rather ashamed of himself as he tried to find an answer, "The imposter said that they wanted to have the book to assist them on their journey."

"So you just gave it to them?" Genis' outburst got the governor's attention and he confirmed what the smaller boy was asking. It didn't make him calm down, "Unbelievable, some people come by claiming to be the Chosen's group without any proof and you just give them what is probably the most important book out there. Do you use your eyes or are they just on your head for decoration?"

"I'm sorry…"

"I swear, you human's can be so-" WHACK! Lloyd and Colette shut their eyes as the professor smacked her little brother across the head, then brought her attention back to the governor as though the smaller boy's outburst had never happened.

"Are they any copies of Spiritua's manuscript?"

"No the church forbids the copying of the scripture in fear of one falling into the wrong hands." Lloyd had to keep himself from laughing at the irony of the situation.

"Well I suppose it doesn't matter now." Raine said, "We'll just need to go by the clues we get from our angel guide." She thanked the governor and the four left the building. Lloyd frowned as the group discussed there next course of action and Colette said that she wanted to find that woman they had bumped into earlier and repay her for the bottle she broke. The angel wanted to tell her it was a waste of time, but Raine told her they could since they needed to restock up on supplies anyway. They went to the nearest shop that had medical supplies. Lloyd looked at the sign and saw it was called 'Item Shop Marble', the name 'Marble' sounded familiar to him for some reason. He shook it off deciding that it wasn't anything for him to worry about, it was just a name after all.

When they got inside he was surprised to find one of the workers arguing with two customer. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if the costumers weren't Desian. Normally people feared the Desian's and did what they requested, or that's how it was supposed to be anyway. "Chocolat, that's enough, just give them what they want." Another, older woman told the younger. They both looked alike, long brown hair and brown eyes, so they were probably mother and daughter.

"But mom, these are the monsters that took grandma away. I'm not selling a single gel to these filthy Desian's until they bring her back."

One of the two Desian's didn't take that comment lightly and looked like he was going to strangle the girl only to be stopped by the other, more calm one. "Stop, we'll exceed our quota. We need permission from Lord Magnius to go over. Listen little lady, depending on Magnius' mood you may or may not keep that pretty head of yours."

"Just try me." The Desian's left the shop, ignoring the group and the girl, completely unfazed by the events that had just happened and the threat the Desian's gave her. The mother apologized to the group leaving them open to look around. Lloyd told them he'd be waiting outside for them to finish and left, going over to the nearby bridge to gaze out at the water as he mused at the girl's foolishness for speaking out. It would take those Desian's a few days to reach the ranch, but when they did, he was certain that Magnius would allow his underlings to execute that girl. He wouldn't be surprised if they even tried to burn down the city. He could hear some people nearby talking about how brave that Chocolat girl was for talking back to the Desian. That girl wasn't brave; she was an idiot that just gave the Desian's a free pass to cause destruction and chaos.

The other three left the store after what felt like a really long time, and at the professor's request started for the inn. She apparently wanted to spend the day plotting there course of action now that they didn't have Spiritua's scriptures to guide them. He looked at Colette and saw her holding a green container with some kind of red liquid in it. He rolled his eyes and shrugged as they started to the inn and saw the group they had run into just minutes ago arguing amongst themselves. Even as they spoke in hushed voices he could hear them arguing amongst themselves about where they should be going next. One of the girls wanted to leave the city as soon as they could. Another seemed to be interested in going to Asgard since they had gotten passes in exchange for a manuscript they got from the church.

A manuscript they got from the church. "Hey!" He called loudly to the four as he and the others approached them.

"You guys again, whatdoya want now?" One of the two guys, the taller of them, asked in a rude manner.

Colette was about to speak holding out the potion when Lloyd cut her off getting right to the point. "You guys said you sold a church manuscript, what was the script?"

"What are you talking about, we never-"

"Don't lie!" The angel demanded voice rising and very tempted to pull his sword on the boy trying his patients. "What was the script and who did you give it too?"

"Lloyd, you're causing a scene." Genis whispered, but he ignored the smaller boy and focused on the person in front him. While his friends seemed have gotten the hint to be afraid the one he was confronting was dense enough to miss it.

"Oh yeah, and what's a scrawny kid like you going to do if I don't?"

Lloyd glared at him then looked at the edge of the walkway; the pot city was nearly surrounded by water. He smirked and looked back at the man, "Can you swim?" He asked making the person confused, but he still hadn't seemed to get any hint.

"No, why?"

Lloyd grabbed the person and lifted him off the ground with little effort, "You have three seconds to learn."

End Chapter Nine

I think some of my hatred for those imposters leaked into Lloyd near the end there…

The only thing I hate about writing a Lloyd Cruxis story is that I feel like I'm putting more detail in than necessary for events that everyone should already know about. *shrug* Ah well. Finished this early thanks to Thanksgiving. Also finished DoTNW. Congrats Namco, you're the only company that's made a spin-off/sidestory to an RPG I liked that I willingly played through to the end. Time to get started on that other thing.

Also I've put an admittedly vague poll up for something Symphonia related. Please answer it. And review, don't forget to review :P I thank everyone who added my story to their favorites and alerts, but the reviews help me know how you guys feel about my story.