Chapter nine, peoples! And I used plural on purpose because I felt like it! XP
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"Woah…" Lloyd let out, as he looked around the city. It looked just as big as Palmacosta! Though…Palmacosta is the only city in Sylvarant since the other places they've been to are towns or villages.
Though, they DID arrive pretty late; night had fallen by the time they got here after crossing that bridge-
The bridge…
…yeah, it was…grand alright, but…for it to be powered by over three thousand Exspheres… Over three thousand human lives…
It was like the combination of the Palmacosta Ranch, the Asgard Ranch, and some others they hadn't explored.
It really wasn't easy telling the truth about the Exspheres to Zelos and Yuri – Presea, he didn't know, since she's…he couldn't finish the thought – and while he was pissed that Zelos just shrugged it off…he wasn't even sure what Yuri was feeling. The dark haired man just went silent during the entire time they were crossing the bridge. It's hard to see what he was thinking – much like Kratos in a way (but Yuri isn't like Kratos who…who betrayed them) – with what the Professor had called a 'poker face'. Almost as if the man didn't want anyone to know what he was thinking.
Lloyd shook his head and the group started towards the square-
"Hey wait guys!" Genis exclamation got everyone to look at the silver haired elf; the said boy was looking at Presea…who just stopped. "Wh-What's wrong Presea?"
She didn't say anything – the brunette couldn't tell what made the girl stop, since there isn't any emotion on her face. Presea just…stood still, staring straight ahead at the buildings before them.
Then, after what felt like a life time, she spoke. "I hate this place… I want to go home."
The brunette blinked at her words. And he was pretty sure that the others were the same way. Zelos went up to her and bended over to see her eye-to-eye. "Just wait a little longer, little one," he said, "We'll be out of here in a jiffy, and then it's off to Ozette. Right, Lloyd?" He added, looking over his shoulder to him.
"Oh, uh…yeah," he replied – after jumping in surprise a little – and then hung his head, guilty. "Sorry about this…"
They all headed deeper into the city – yet Presea's little remark floated around in the brunette's head. Why would Presea say something like that? Did…Did she have some sort of history with this city? He didn't know why but…that remark had an ominous quality to it.
Lloyd shoved the thoughts out of his head when Zelos groaned out-loud; the brunette looked back at him to see the red head vigorously rubbing his head. "How the hell can you guys stand to be silent this long? ?" He exclaimed, irritated beyond belief.
"How the hell do you expect us to talk after we explained to you guys?" Genis growled at the man.
"I don't see YOU flipping out on Yuri here, brat!" The red head growled back.
Lloyd looked over at the said dark haired male to see him frown. "Just because I'm silent doesn't mean that I could just easily brush off a person's life, you know."
"Aw, c'mon! Why are you guys treating me like a bad guy?" The red head complained.
Yuri rolled his eyes. "You remind me of a certain old man I knew. He complains lot like you."
"Well, duh," the male Chosen shrugged – somewhat similar to Yuri's shrugs, "old people are old. They all complain."
"Yeah, but this guy isn't exactly old old," Yuri said, "He's, let's see…" He trailed off as he rubbed his chin a little, then nodded after a moment, "Older than me by fourteen years."
Lloyd blinked. "That didn't sound old at all."
Yuri just made a small shrug. "Not by my standards."
"Your standards?" Genis raised his eye brow at that.
The Professor cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "Should we find the inn?" She asked, "I feel that most of the facilities – especially the Academy – are closed at this time"
"Okay! No need to worry my hunnies and buds!" Zelos exclaimed, making a carefree grin. "The Great Zelos here will give you the grand tour of Sybak!"
Lloyd groaned. "I told you! My name's not Bud!"
But the red haired Chosen had already walked off, the siblings, Colette and Presea not too far behind. And left him and Yuri alone at the opening. The dark haired male sighed. "I think he's one of the types who 'calls 'em as he sees them'."
"Then how come he didn't give YOU a nickname?" The brunette asked, giving the dark clad male a suspicious look.
That made Yuri pause a little. Then he rubbed his chin a little. "That's…a good question," he muttered. "But isn't it just as strange that he called you 'Bud' instead of something else? Like, I dunno, 'Hey You' or 'Red One'; I was honestly expecting him to call you either of those."
The boy, again, groaned as he palmed his forehead. "I don't get why he called me that – my name's not Bud!"
"He seems pretty adamant about it," Yuri said as he began to walk. "So tough luck trying to get him out of that habit," he added as the red clad boy jogged to catch up to him.
As the two of them caught up to the others (Lloyd could see Zelos pointing at different buildings with the Professor nodding every once in a while – even slapping Zelos' prying hands away without looking) Yuri asked:
"Any particular reason yours is special?"
Lloyd stopped and looked over at the man-
His eyes were narrowed and his arms are crossed as he stared down at the boy. "Huh-?"
"Your Exsphere."
"…" Lloyd's eyes went wide and he had to turn away from him. The boy delicately placed his hand over his Exsphere, staring at the ground.
"That Exsphere was the fruit of my long research…" Kvar had said, when…when he found out the truth, "But one day, a treacherous woman, who was an experimentation subject, decided to take it with her when she escaped. Naturally, she paid for the crime with her life…"
The brunette's eyes narrowed and the hand with the Exsphere on it clenched.
"…Was it someone special to you?" Yuri's voice was soft and Lloyd barely heard it. Barely.
Lloyd couldn't trust his own voice to speak. But…
"Y-Yeah," he nodded – slightly, "It…It was made from my mother's life."
"…I see…"
'I see'? How could he see? ? He couldn't understand how much it hurts to find out that this…thing took his mom's life? !
"Even I'm not cruel enough to brush away a life," Lloyd jerked when Yuri said that. Oh cra- He said that out loud? ! "After you guys explained about the…stones, I kinda put two and two together; though I wish that I wasn't right…"
The red clad boy slowly turned to the other man, to see him look away-
Huh? Hey…is that… Is that 'hurt' in his eyes? He…felt hurt? But why-?
The things Yuri had said back in the red room came back at him. And Lloyd realized: Yuri…he may seem cold, but…he actually cares about lives – more than anyone could realize – and…he couldn't stand it if someone else is playing with another person's life.
And hadn't he felt the same after they escaped from the Asgard Ranch? But…That didn't explain why Yuri felt hurt by this. Was…was it because of…
"…Is it…just as bad over at your world?" He asked, turning to the dark haired male fully.
After a moment of saying nothing…Yuri just sighed. "…You could say that." He glanced over at him, and added, "The most dominant race over at my world are humans. And…" he glanced away again, "Humans…kill other humans. Some do it for stupid reasons…and others do it with a sort of purpose – both good AND bad."
For some reason, there's…something in that sentence that made Lloyd tilt his head questionably. But the boy couldn't figure out what it is though. Lloyd opened his mouth to ask-
"Hey guys!" Genis' exclamation made the two of them jump a little and they both looked back to the said silver haired boy waving at them as the others headed off to a building. "The inn's this way! C'mon!" The young elf then quickly hurried to catch up to the others.
Yuri heaved out a sigh. "I guess we can continue this conversation for another time."
"Y-Yeah…" Lloyd nodded as Yuri walked past him. The boy stared at his back for a little while before he slowly followed him.
Later that night, Lloyd was awakened by the sound of the door opening and closing. The brunette pushed himself up on the bed and looked around the slightly dark room. Zelos seemed to be dead asleep (or, as Yuri calls it 'dead to the world' or something) but…when he looked at Yuri's bed, it was empty.
Lloyd blinked and looked at the door then back at the empty bed. 'What's Yuri doing going out so late?' he thought. Curiosity getting the best of him, Lloyd pulled on his boots (leaving his jacket, gloves, belts and swords) and quietly made his way towards the door.
As soon as Lloyd got outside, he found Yuri leaning against a lamp post near the inn, his back facing the door (and the boy noticed that Yuri wasn't wearing his vest and belt). The dark haired male also had his arms crossed, and was looking up at the sky. Lloyd slowly approached the other male, to not startle him. When he got close, Yuri slightly turned his head to the male brunette said, "Hey."
"Yuri, what are you doing out here?" The brunette asked.
The dark haired male sighed, and looked back up at the sky. "Couldn't sleep," he answered, "I've got too much on my mind."
Lloyd had a feeling what it was. "…Oh," he said, and sat down on a bench near the other male and looked up at the sky along with him.
After a moment of silence, Yuri spoke up with:
"Hey Lloyd?"
Lloyd looked over at the dark haired male in shock. That-That was the first time he had heard him call him by his name!
"…What's with the look?" Lloyd snapped out of his shocked state and quickly recovered with:
"Uh...n-nothing. Anyways, what is it Yuri?"
The dark haired male looked back up at the sky. "Have you ever…killed anyone? If the reason is just to make sure that they won't hurt anyone else again? Or rather…were you forced to kill someone even if it meant to save a person's life?"
Lloyd did a take at that. Then he looked at the ground. Yeah…he had killed people before – during the Journey of World Regeneration back in Sylvarant; all he had done is kill Desians. But…just because they're half-elves doesn't mean that the others are evil – and…although he didn't know that it was Marble at the time, but he HAD to-to kill her when she became a monster…like his own father was forced to and his mom ended up like Marble…
"…Yeah," he muttered after a moment. "But…just because I did, it…it doesn't mean that its right; there's…probably a lot of humans who are just as bad as the Desians. And the people who you think is good, turns out to be bad." Like Cruxis – of how they had manipulated everyone to do…this.
Yuri grunted, to indicate that he got it. "Even if the worlds don't have half-elves, it really won't make a difference," he said. "And half-elves are just half-humans; the Desians became what most humans are – monsters. For me, that, is a lot worse than anything else in the world."
"Some of the people I know – or don't know – would often use their status to hurt other people," he continued. "Because, to them, 'commoners' are just pieces of trash… When they are trash themselves just thinking like that, and just shrugging off a life – any life for that matter. Just remember this Lloyd," he turned his gaze over at the brunette-
Huh?
"Don't ever fall to the same level as the people you may have killed," the dark haired male said softly. "The worse thing about it, is that you might end up becoming a monster they once were." Yuri pushed himself off of the lamp post and walked towards the inn.
Lloyd remained where he sat, even when the dark haired male had returned inside the building. The things Yuri had said buzzed around in his head…
But Lloyd didn't think he could get the image of the man's eyes…becoming a shade of green instead of gray out of his head…
~o~
Yuri let out a rather long yawn, his mouth completely wide for a moment. Then he smacked his lips a little after it passed.
And Lloyd yawned afterwards. Huh, yawns are contagious… he idly noted, rubbing his eye a little.
"Man…it felt like I've slept worth crap last night…" He muttered rubbing his other eye.
"Well gee, Yuri," Zelos spoke up with a smirk, "You weren't doing anything secretive last night, did ya?"
"Not that I know of," he answered, too tired to be sarcastic towards the Chosen, "I don't drink alcohol unless I wanted to." Yeah, he may have an unreal tolerance towards illnesses…he doesn't have a tolerance towards wine and such. That and they tend to give him weird dreams – not the ones with the presences – like he had a dream that Estelle is drunk and wanted his hair after drinking a little bit of ale back in Dahngrest…
"And I'm not that low to hook up with a girl I barely knew – like you," he added, giving Zelos a rather suspicious look (even though the red haired male just gave a shameless grin).
"Uh…"
"Don't ask Lloyd," Raine said, letting out a sigh.
"…So, how long is it until this guy gets here?" He asked, and Yuri glanced over at the male Chosen.
They've been waiting for a while now, waiting for the knight to come and get the man that might help them with figuring out Colette's condition. They had gotten up earlier that day to head over to the academy – and the place is huge up close – so they had waited for a while for the knight to return while other people go in and out of the building.
Zelos just looked over at Lloyd with a grin. "Don't worry," he told him, "He'll get here when he gets here."
At that moment, the door to the Academy opened up to see a man – he felt like soup broth like Lloyd, Zelos and Presea – in a white lab coat looking at them. "Ah, Chosen One!" He said with a smile. "We've been waiting for you. Please, come this way."
'About time,' Yuri thought as they all followed the researcher into the building. Yuri had a brief moment to be amazed by a large dragon skeleton that was on display near them but he quickly shook it off to follow the others (though he could've sworn he saw a familiar brown haired female in red talking to a man with red hair and wearing a dark purple outfit and a male with blonde hair wearing the same lab coat as the others near the skeleton). During the whole walk, Yuri noticed that Lloyd kept giving him a particular look every once in a while, then looked back…before repeating the process after a couple of seconds. The dark haired male couldn't help but blink at that – what's up with him?
They soon came upon a door and were ushered into a moderately sized office. …And he thought Rita was bad by the insane amount of books piled, well, almost everywhere. There was also a rather large desk in the center of the room, and the researcher took his place at the front of it and tapped something onto – what he had now noticed – was a large machine there.
"So, what's the deal?" Zelos asked, after a few moments.
After that a holographic diagram appeared (and he raised his brows along with Lloyd and Gene letting out awed 'Ooh' at that) and the researcher spoke as he typed some more things onto it:
"When we received the report of Colette's symptoms, we turned most of our attention towards the research data regarding the Chosen's Cruxis Crystal."
"Well, now! So my crystal was useful," Zelos exclaimed, then looked over at the unresponsive blonde with a grin, "When Colette returns to normal, I'll have to make sure she thanks me generously."
"Not on your life," Yuri muttered to him, taking note of the others giving him a death glare.
"So what sort of information did you find?" Raine spoke up, wanting to forget Zelos' perversion for the time being. "Is this condition of hers something we can cure?"
The man looked at her. "In order to determine that, we had to look at the problem's source: the crystal itself. From what we've collected from the data, it seems that Cruxis Crystals are simply evolved forms of Exspheres. And both Exspheres and Cruxis Crystals are lifeless beings."
"Lifeless beings?!" Raine's eyes went wide as Yuri flinched at what the man had said.
"Huh?" Lloyd let out in confusion.
"What…does that mean sis?" Gene asked.
Yuri's eyes shifted over to the silver haired woman, who shook her head at first. Then she opened her mouth-
-"Lifeless beings are beings that are capable of emotions and thoughts which are either created by someone or dependent on waking and feeding on a living thing's emotions."-
He blinked. Wha-?
He noticed that everyone is staring at him. "…What?"
"Err…Yes," the researcher nodded, "Exactly as you said, sir."
Huh? He said that out loud?
"…I don't get it," Lloyd said, sounding just as confused as Yuri felt.
Gene sighed. "Basically, what he meant is that Exspheres are…somewhat like parasites," he explained, "So in order to get 'power' or energy, they had to be attached to a person."
Lloyd did a take at that. "Right…they feed off of the body's Mana."
"And since a crystal fuses with an individual, the Mana in the body loses balance and goes out of control," the researcher continued. "This can only be prevented with a Key Crest."
There was a brief moment of silence before Gene spoke with: "And that's why Exspheres without Key Crests turn people into monsters…"
Yuri sharply turned his head to look at the boy, just as the researcher continued with:
"That's correct. And as Cruxis Crystals possess many of the same qualities as Exspheres, we believe it's possible that Colette is suffering from a parasitical infection by the Cruxis Crystal."
"I see," he heard Raine said, but he was busy looking at the young boy, as he seemed…depressed by something (he had seen that on Karol after the death of Don Whitehorse). "In which case, the ritual of releasing the seals may be promoting the fusion with the Cruxis Crystal."
Yuri looked up at her. "And…from what you guys said, the role of the Desians is to insinuate fear into everyone – even the Chosen – to make the process faster, right?"
"I believe so," the woman trailed off.
"So, if she got herself a Key Crest, she'd return to normal, right?" Zelos input his own guess.
"Yes," the man confirmed. "Cruxis Crystals seem to function the same way as Exspheres. Therefore, Colette would be able to freely control her crystal if she had a Key Crest."
"A Key Crest, huh?" Yuri turned his gaze on Lloyd, to see the boy practically shaking with excitement.
Yuri looked back at the man, and nodded. "Thanks for the info," he said, "Is that everything?"
The researcher nodded back. After a few more words between him and Zelos, he left the room.
"I wonder if we can get one somewhere…" He heard Lloyd said to himself once they were alone again.
Yuri made a single shrug. "We won't know until we look, right?" He said.
"I think I saw a couple of stalls outside," Gene piped in. "Maybe we could try to look around there."
"I guess it's the only thing we can do…" Lloyd muttered.
Yuri just nodded.
And so, they spent nearly the whole afternoon looking through the local bazaar looking for something that resembled a Key Crest. Yuri didn't see the familiar person he thought he saw a while back – but Yuri didn't worry about it. Yet. The dark haired male was more concerned about helping these people cure their friend-
…Right.
Exspheres and Cruxis Crystals…they're the same. Nothing more than simple parasites – only that they feed off of Mana instead of blood. And…since Exspheres needed the life of a living person, they take in human lives-
Wait a second. He didn't know about that – and he still couldn't understand the concept of 'lifeless beings'. Apatheia is a crystalized core of an Entelexia – those are alive. He even heard a voice of an Entelexia when he turned the Apatheia back into Aer with Dein Nomos back in the Heracles – the damn thing was made with the purpose of taking down Entelexia; and putting the world in danger doing so.
Exspheres, however, are a very different matter. They were never alive to begin with. So why-?
"Yuri." The dark haired male looked at the source, seeing Raine giving him a look.
He blinked. "What?"
She didn't say anything – merely staring at him while crossing her arms and her eyes narrowed – at first. Then: "That was surprisingly knowledgeable of you to know something like that," she said, "Where exactly did you hear it?"
At that, Yuri had to pause. "I…I don't know," he said, sounding and feeling confused at the same time; as he looked away, feeling unsure, "It…just popped into my head." He rubbed the back of his head, trying to think.
In a way, it did just pop into his head out of nowhere. But Yuri was sure that he hadn't heard of that before…did he?
Yet as he recounted the times where those…images had popped in suddenly, he isn't sure what he knew anymore… They didn't occur until he landed here in Tethe'alla…
Is it possible that-
"Hey, I think I found something!" Gene suddenly called, breaking him out of his thoughts.
Both of them turned to the source, seeing Lloyd rushing over and scanned the object the boy had collected. The teen picked it up – as the others walked over to them – and scanned it intently before he made a smile.
"Yeah, I think this will do," he said, before he looked back at the person who ran this stall. "How much?"
After a few minutes of bargaining with the man (who wanted ten thousand Gald for it – almost making Yuri punch him in the face for taking advantage of people in need) until Zelos dropped in and managed to get it for free. Afterwards, they once more played the waiting game as Lloyd worked on the Key Crest in the arts and craft room.
…Seriously, it felt that all this group did here is wait – sure there are times where he and his group had to wait as well (and waiting for the reinforcements to arrive back when he was in the knights) – yet, Yuri couldn't help but shake the feeling that something is wrong. He wasn't sure what it is, but…this whole town felt nothing but wrong. He felt one milky feeling out among the people…yet he felt a lot of them under their feet. As if- As if there are others down in the basement. And not once did any of them move where they were – as in move up with them. And…he couldn't help but feel that…they were being watched. He knew that Zelos is keeping tabs on them, but…there are a few unfamiliar soup broths keeping a distance – as if watching them from far away.
And that…was admittedly more unnerving than going through the ruins that had literally become a living monster and tried to kill them back when he was in the knights. And it was pretty much a pain in the ass…not to mention that it brought back bad memories-
The door to the room opened and all eyes turned to Lloyd who had just walked out. "All done?" Yuri asked.
He nodded and held up a…necklace? Yeah, a necklace. Why-?
"Oh, you changed the Key Crest into a necklace," Gene said. And, as if to Yuri's questioning look, he looked up to the dark haired male and answered, "Sometimes, Key Crests can be made into accessories, sometimes as a disguise. At least, that's what Lloyd told me," he added with a shrug.
Yuri slowly nodded. "Okay…I think I got it…"
The group crowed around Colette as Lloyd slowly approached her, the necklace in his hand. He looked over it for a moment, then heaved a great sigh – as if he was mentally preparing himself for this. He looked back up at the blonde, and said:
"I didn't think I'd be giving you your birthday present like this." He sighed again. "I've…attached a Key Crest to your necklace. It's late, I know, but…it's my present for you…" He trailed off, reaching out to pull the necklace's chain around her neck, clasping it in the back. It hung loosely, the red jewel on the pale golden yellow embedded in the center of the pendant contrasting with the white/blue colors of her clothing.
Nothing happened. There was no flash of light, no indication that anything had happened at all. Though, Yuri wasn't sure if something was supposed to happen. But…for a while, there wasn't a change.
"…Colette? Can you hear me?" Lloyd tired, to see if it had worked at all.
…Yet there still isn't a change. Her unnatural red eyes are still there…and she's still unresponsive; she seemed to stare straight through Lloyd. Then, after an uncomfortable moment of silence, Gene slumped a little.
"It didn't work…" He said quietly.
"Huh? What's wrong with it?" Zelos let out as he leaned in, staring at the necklace and looking perplexed.
"I…I don't know," Lloyd answered, shaking his head. "Maybe…maybe I didn't do it right. That Key Crest was kinda beat up. We might need to find a different one. Maybe too much of the Inhibitor Ore was worn away."
"…Or maybe it's taking a while for it kick in?" Yuri put in, looking over her.
"…Perhaps we should try to find a dwarf…" The silver haired woman muttered.
"Sorry, but I don't know any dwarves," Zelos half-scoffed.
"Well, maybe Dirk can help," Gene spoke up.
'Dirk'? Oh, right; Lloyd told him that he was his adopted father. He looked over at the silver haired boy. "But isn't he back in Sylvarant?" He asked, pointing out the flaw in the plan.
"Yeah… Dirk's all the way back in Sylvarant," the boy sighed. "How the hell are we supposed to get back there since the Rheairds are out of fuel; and even if they aren't, they're probably too broken to work."
"Whoa, wait a minute!" Zelos exclaimed, "I'm supposed to keep tabs on you, remember? I can't exactly let you go back to Sylvarant."
"C'mon Zelos!" Lloyd said, sounding desperate, "We HAVE to save Colette! I-I can't-!"
Yuri spotted something at the corner of his eye and immediately shushed everyone. He ignored whoever asked what was wrong, staring what he thought he saw. Was it his imagination, or-?
Something green.
"…I think we were being spied on," he said softly to them.
"Wha-?"
At that moment, things went to hell.
What Yuri had saw turned out to be knights – looking similar to the ones that were with the Pope – when they suddenly found themselves surrounded.
"Chosen One, we found you guilty for treason on betraying Tethe'alla!" One of them exclaimed.
"What the hell? !" Zelos exclaimed, "I wasn't about to let them return to Sylvarant or anything! We made an agreement, didn't we?"
"Silence, Chosen One, the same knight sneered a bit.
Zelos narrowed his ice blue eyes. "So that's it then," he muttered, "You're the Pope's men, aren't you?"
"The Pope-?" Lloyd was barely able to get out.
"So that's it then…" Yuri let out, his own eyes narrowed, "I had a feeling he's not going to let us go that easily."
"Wait, so you mean-?" Genis let out, before the Professor hissed out:
"I hardly see how you can take us in…"
"Be silent!" The leader exclaimed, "Arrest them and take a sample, but don't touch the angel!"
The knights surrounding them roughly grabbed most of them – besides Zelos – and-
"Ow-! What the hell-? !" Yuri let out, biting back a curse, glaring at the bastard that held his hand out.
But seriously, what the fuck? What the hell did that guard prick him with? ?
"What was that for? !" Lloyd snapped. He shifted his gaze over at the brunette, who had his right glove taken off for the same treatment (much like the others when he looked over the rest).
"It's because of the caste system here," Zelos explained, "Some half-elves here look identical to humans; so it's necessary to detect them."
"Necessary? !" Yuri snapped, "Does fucking cutting people have to be necessary-?"
A sharp gasp drew his attention to the guard holding him. "S-Sir-!" Then the knight shook him by the shoulders. "This one! His reading! It's…! It's strange, sir!"
Huh? The hell is he talking about? Is it because that…thing couldn't tell he's from neither Tethe'alla nor Sylvarant-?
"This one too!"
"Me? !"
"Lloyd-? !" The other gaped as Yuri stared at him in shock. What?
"What? Let me see!"
The one in charge looked at the device that had taken his blood, then at the one that had taken Lloyd's. But Yuri is just as confused as the rest of them – what the hell? First him, and now Lloyd; what's going on-?
"Sir! Matches! The two silver haired ones are half-elves!"
Everyone sharply turned to the sole silver haired people in the group – and Yuri never thought that he'd see Raine's face go completely pale as Gene's face looked terrified.
Raine tried to breathe through her clenched teeth (as if she's trying to not show fear) with her eyes closed…then she swallowed and looked up, looking defeated. "…Yes. That's right."
"R-Raine-! !" Gene stammered.
But, Yuri wasn't able to hear what they were saying. The…image he had saw back in the Crimson Chamber came back at him. Every part of him became frozen – his blood, heart, everything!
No…
"-to be executed immediately!"
"W-What? !" Lloyd exclaimed, "You can't-! !"
"You bastards…" He spoke softly, it was nearly unheard. "You can't judge them for what they are! You aren't any better than the rest!"
"Yu-"
"You let them go this instant!" He nearly snarled as he jerked his arm out of the guard's grasp, and kicked down the other and tried to run to the two-
"Restrain the man-!"
And Yuri felt someone kick him on the back and pinned him to the floor. "Hey-!"
"Yuri-!" He heard Lloyd exclaimed-
Before everything suddenly went black…
…
"…ri? Yuri?" He barely heard as he slowly came to.
He let out a groan, and his body twitched-
Damn! Did those freakin' knights hit him at the back of his head? ! He slowly pushed himself up and rubbed the back of his head, nearly hissing when he touched the tender spot. He groaned a little afterwards.
"Yuri? Are you okay?"
"Huh?" He let out when he looked over towards the source, seeing Lloyd looking down at him.
He took the offered hand and was pulled to his feet, and Yuri nearly swayed a little but caught himself, palming his forehead. "Ugh… Damn, what the hell happened?"
"You just flipped out when the Papal Knights took the Professor and the Brat away," he looked over at Zelos, who had his arms crossed – and he didn't look too happy about something. "One of them knocked you out, then they dragged all of us down here and ordered these half-elves here," he jerked his head to a couple of half-elves looking at them from where they stood, "to look over the blood samples from both you and Bud."
Wha-? Samples? What did he-?
Oh CRAP!
Yuri's mind went back into focus and he quickly looked around, to see where they're at. They seemed to be in a dimly lit lab. He muttered a curse under his breath – at least he isn't thrown in prison like back home…
"Presea?"
Yuri blinked and (barely noticing the pink haired girl moving away) turned to the source, seeing a teal-haired woman in a lab coat and had thick glasses-
He did a take and looked over at a couple of others in the room, barely aware of the woman staring at Presea in shock. …They all felt like milk-
Wait. Zelos said that these are half-elves…and Raine and Gene felt like milk, along with a bunch of the people back at the base…
Half-elves…felt like milk?
"-I don't care what race they are!" Lloyd's exclamation got him out of his thoughts and he looked over at the brunette in shock. "Executing them when they didn't do anything wrong…that's crazy!"
Zelos sighed. "Sorry, but…that's how it is over here. Just ask one of these guys." He gestured to the teal haired woman and a few others in the room.
The woman, who was standing closest to them, straightened her glasses and looked away – as if she felt…powerless.
"Anyway," the red head said, "speaking of half-elf treatment. The half-elves who work at the Imperial Research Academy never leave their labs…ever." Yuri winced at that, painfully reminded of the image he had seen. "How is it that you know Presea, then?"
After a moment, the woman let out a sigh. "…This child…she's my team's research sample."
Sample? What-?
"Research?" Lloyd had asked, looking alarmed. "What kind of research?"
The dark haired male noticed that the other half-elves in the lab looking uncomfortable. "…?" He let out, slightly confused (and apprehensive) of why they were like this.
The woman's voice was flat, emotionless, as she replied, "Research to manufacture Cruxis Crystals inside the human body."
Yuri flinched. "What?" His voice was sharp – much like her's.
He didn't notice a reaction from Lloyd, but he heard the boy ask, "…You can do that?" But the dark haired male noted that there was no curiosity in his tone.
"Yes," the woman said, "Theoretically, they are no different from Exspheres. By allowing them to slowly feed on a human body-"
"Stop," the dark haired male's eyes jerked to the brunette, who suddenly snapped, staring at the floor. "I've heard enough!"
"What…?" She muttered, and Yuri could hear the frown as he stared at the boy.
"That's the same way Desians make Exspheres! It's…its inhumane! How can you treat people that way? !" He demanded angrily.
Yuri looked back at the woman, who seemed to recoil, but then stared at Lloyd with quiet indignation. "…I could ask you the same thing. You humans don't treat us any differently."
Lloyd seemed to flinch at that, then gazed down. And Yuri couldn't help but feel worried – did what she said got to him-?
"That maybe so," he softly muttered, "And…there are humans who are just as cruel as Desians… But," he raised his head to look at the woman, his brown-red eyes filled with determination, "I treat half-elves the same as everyone else! Just because Desians are half-elves, or you guys or the Professor and Genis are half-elves… Genis and Professor are my friends! They, and everyone else – humans, elves, dwarfs, anyone – they all deserve to live! We're all alive! We're all the same!"
Yuri couldn't help but stare at Lloyd in awe. Whoa…that…kinda sounded like Flynn for a moment-
Wait. Is…Is that why it felt so easy to talk to him? Because Lloyd somehow reminded of him Flynn?
…No…it's something else. But what-?
"You're…not human, are you?" Yuri was kicked out of his thoughts again when he looked at the woman…who was looking at Lloyd?
"Huh? What makes you say that?" He asked, looking a bit weirded out.
"A human couldn't possibly be friends with half-elves…" she said.
"But Kate, what about Aster?" Another half-elf asked, "He's friends with Richter – and Richter is a half-elf."
Ah, so her name's Kate. Rather average…but, again, when did he care about names?
Yuri decided to take the moment to try to talk to them. "Hey, Kate right?" He said, getting her attention, "You have to let us go – a couple of our friends are going to be executed if we don't catch up to them."
Kate looked wary…then narrowed her eyes. "Why should I trust you?"
Yuri narrowed her eyes back at her, and said with firm conviction – much like when Duke had asked them on why they were saving Estelle:
"Because they're one of us."
After his statement, everyone in the room had gone silent. Kate looked over at him in shock – and he could feel the eyes of the others on his back as they stared at him.
"You should listen to him, because they're both not from Tethe'alla."
A familiar voice spoke up and, suddenly he heard a couple of small explosion sounds near him. The source was the woman in purple robes, who suddenly appeared in a burst of smoke. "They're both strange, I'll admit, even though I barely knew Yuri," she said, "But as for Lloyd, he was raised in Sylvarant with half-elves and a dwarf."
"Sheena!" Lloyd let out in surprise – and Yuri was briefly surprised to see metal cuffs on the floor, the creepy pet looking up at Zelos (who seemed to make a disdained look at it). "What are you-?"
"I'll explain later," the woman – Sheena; her name is Sheena – cut off, "But right now, Genis and Raine are being taken to Meltokio. If we move fast, we might be able to catch up to them."
Lloyd nodded. "Let's go then!"
"Are you planning on running away?" Kate's question made them pause to look at her.
Yuri shook his head. "Haven't you been listening to us?" He asked, "We're going to save them because they're one of us. Would you really deprive your fellow kinsmen of their lives?"
"I…" She hesitated, taking a step back in response. "I won't let you trick me. There's no way…"
"Kate…" another one inched forward tentatively. "I did hear that two half-elves were arrested in the building."
The woman looked at him then stared at the floor, in silent contemplation. Yuri sighed, and shook his head.
"Look, you guys may have crappy lives – and I'm kinda in the same boat, since I grew up in the lower quarter from where I'm from. And commoners are treated like crap by a couple of knights and a lot of nobles – but you guys still have your own lives," he said, "And you guys have the freedom of making your own choice." He narrowed his eyes. "So make up your mind. What is that you wanted to do?"
The woman flinched, the averted her gaze a little. Yuri couldn't swear he heard her mutter, '…no one has ever said that to me…'
Then she looked up at him. "Very well," she nodded, "If you promise me you'll come back here once you've saved your friends, then I'll let you go," she said. "If you prove that you've been telling the truth…I'll release Presea from her experiment.
"You promise?" Lloyd asked.
"I swear upon the name of the Goddess Martel."
Yuri nodded. "Alright," he said, "You have our word, too."
Kate nodded and walked over to a bookcase and pulled back a book. The case shook before it slid open. "This is a hidden passage you could use," she told them, "Just…" she hesitated and looked back at them, "Just come back here when you've got them."
"We well. Thank you," Lloyd exclaimed and they quickly hurried into the secret passage.
Yuri was barely aware of getting out into the evening, not caring about what was happening around him. They all rushed passed everyone to quickly get to the two half-elves. The dark haired male was barely aware of running past three people (once more seeing a familiar figure in red) and out into the field. They don't have a lot of time – if those bastards get to Meltokio before they managed to catch up to them-
He forced the thoughts out of his head when they had run into monsters. "Dammit!" Lloyd swore and pulled out his swords. "We don't have time for this!"
Lloyd had made a point – always, ALWAYS when they're in a rush, these freakin' monsters got in their way! It was, essentially, one of the times that Yuri didn't want to fight monsters; or knights; or guildsmen. But, most of the time, Yuri was excluded in the fights since the Professor didn't trust him – and she's the one who had his katana. So… he was basically screwed.
"Lloyd! Let me borrow one of your swords!" He exclaimed, punching away a wolf-like monster.
"Uh, okay!" Lloyd tossed him a sword and Yuri immediately took it in his hand-
And slashed a monster in front of him diagonally, a ribbon of blood flowing out of it from the deadly slice. Then he flipped it to his right hand and did a flip, taking down another, then stabbed another to the ground (his entire body in the air. Years of practice and training led up to this) and stabbed the next one as he came down. All in one motion. Running on adrenaline, he and Lloyd worked together to take down the monsters that tried to get close to Zelos as he casted his magic to help out. The battle was a blur to him – he was barely aware of Sheena cutting down things and blasting them away with cards(?) as Presea viciously took them down with her axe…and Colette cut down any monster that came near her with a flick of her wrist, a pair of Chakrams in her hands. All of them are nearly gone-
"Yuri!"
He barely heard the warning when he swiftly turned to see a monster leaping at him-
"FIREBALL!"
That voice.
The monster screeched as a rather large fireball nailed into it and seemingly screaming as it was burned alive…before the screams ceased and it stopped moving before becoming nothing but ash.
"Woah…" He heard Lloyd let out. But he was mostly focused on a person who had walked up to them.
"Sheesh, I've left you alone for a few days, and you wind up in trouble again," she said, crossing her arms and tapping her foot irritably.
Yuri just smirked and placed a hand on his hip. "Hey, you know, it's probably my curse biting me in the ass again."
She looked unimpressed. "Seriously, though, your pathological need to make my life difficult is getting on my nerves."
He just shrugged helplessly – even though he knew the others were looking at him in confusion. "Though, I never thought I'd say this, but am I glad to see you…"
Yuri smiled at the familiar girl in red, the famed genius mage from Aspio…and also his friend/comrade (though her Bohdi Blastia has a blue gem instead of red).
"Rita."
THE CHAPTA! IT IS FINISHED! *falls over* Ugh...doing the Sybak part is a bitch…
But yay! Yuri found Rita! Now just *paused a moment to count off the other members that were sent to Sylvarant/Tethe'alla* eight more to go!
Rita: "What a minute, Estelle is stranded in one of the worlds somewhere? !"
Hey! Calm down! Even I'M not cruel enough to drop her off in an unforgiving place. But yeah, you're not alone as you thought Yuri.
Yuri: "Well that's great."
…Gee, don't sound TOO excited. Anyways, I'm sure that you guys had a lot of questions (even though some of you had your own hypothesis and whatnot) like, who did Yuri acquire something he shouldn't know about? What was so strange about his blood; along with Lloyd's? And will the group save Genis and Raine in time, with Rita tagging along? …If you've played the game, Tales of Symphonia, you should've known the answer to the last question by now…
*immediately knocked out by a chalk thrown by said Professor*
Raine: *tossing her chalk up and down, catching it* "The authoress is now unavailable to continue this note. But she wishes that you've at least enjoyed this chapter."
Yuri: *stared at the half-elf, his brow raised* "How the hell did you get here?"
Raine: "I have my ways."
Rita: *raised a brow as well* "Okay… anyways, leave a review if you want. The flames will be used as fuel to burn Zelos and the Old man."
Zelos and Raven: "Say what-?" *ran away screaming like little girls as Rita chased them, firing Flame Dragon along the way*