Hey, sorry for the late update. I had coursework for basically all my subjects, and then my exams started. Well anyway they're all done now and I can start on this story again. After this chapter I'm probably going to concentrate on the sequel to "Defenders of Luin", how long it'll take I don't know. Anyway hope you enjoy.
Sheena stared into the white abyss of her new surroundings. She had no idea where she was, nor how she got there. All she knew was she felt safe somehow.
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Sheena." Came a voice from behind. She turned to see a tall, slender woman, with long, brown hair, and dressed completely in white. It was the same woman that kept appearing in her dreams; the woman who seemed so familiar to her somehow, but she couldn't place how.
"Who…who are you?" she asked, backing away slightly.
The woman smiled gently, "I assure you, you need not worry. I am someone who has been watching over their son ever since circumstances led to their death. Who recently was set the duty of looking after the one person whom they care for most."
Sheena's eyes widened in shock, "You mean…you're…" She paused, surely she couldn't be. "You're Lloyd's mom? Anna?"
She smiled again, and instantly she saw why she was so familiar; she had the same smile that Lloyd always gave. "Yes, I am Lloyd's mother." She giggled at the look of surprise on her face. "I must say I am very pleased to meet you at last, Sheena. It is a shame that it must be under such circumstances." She sighed, and the smile on her face vanished for the first time, and was replaced by a much sadder one. "However, this must be so in order for you to save Lloyd."
Sheena's face also saddened drastically, "I want to help him, but…" she clenched her fists in anger, as tears began rolling down her cheeks, "I'm too weak…I'm a coward."
"I understand the recent hardships you have been put through, but you must overcome these if you have any possibility on saving him." She walked over to her and embraced her in a hug. "You are currently facing an internal battle between your desire to help, and your fear of loss." And suddenly their surroundings changed. They were on a small island next to a tall temple, a much larger Mizuho visible in the distance. A thunderstorm was brewing, with a purple spherical spirit in the centre of the vast clouds.
"No!" said Sheena, pushing herself away from Anna, "Why are you making me see this?" Tears were flowing from her eyes as she saw large strikes of lightning obliterating the village. She looked down only to see her grandfather lying unconscious on the floor. "Why?"
"It is not me, Sheena." She replied sadly, "This is your mind; you are simply remembering your first encounter with Volt. You are in control of what happens in this place." Another flash of lightning struck the village.
"Please, make it stop!"
"Think of a happy time, Sheena!" she urged, "Remember your times spent with your friends! With Lloyd!"
The image around them changed to a scene once more on the small island, with a red clothed teenager embracing a purple clad ninja as she cried. But then she remembered why she was in need of comfort, and the scene changed to inside the temple, watching as Volt killed Corrine, her first real friend. "NO!" she yelled, falling to her knees.
The scene changed again, and she saw herself in the Mana Cannon, fighting against Yggdrasil. Watching as he merely toyed with her, mocking her, as even her summon spirits failed to hurt him.
And then she watched as Lloyd charged at Yggdrasil, and was sent flying with a mere wave of his arm. "NO!" she slammed her fist on the floor.
And then, Anna knelt down in front of her, "Remember the strength you draw from Lloyd, the strength that allowed you to face Volt, the strength that kept you fighting, after Corrine was struck down. You must draw from this strength once more." She placed one of her hands over her eyes, and instantly, all the memories of her failures, all the images forced into her head, were gone. Instead, she could only see the times in which she was with Lloyd.
There surroundings changed once more, and she watched as she and Lloyd were talking, laughing, fighting together, watched as Lloyd comforted her only days earlier, and heard as he whispered, "No matter what anyone else says, you'll always be important to me."
Her eyes widened, "I thought I dreamt that." She said.
Anna smiled, "No, Sheena; he really cares for you. He draws more strength from you than he does from his exsphere. That is why Yggdrasil kidnapped you in the first place. He knew that Lloyd loved you so much that he would give anything for your safety."
"He…loves me?" her heart began warming the rest of her body. "He really does?" and a light blush was present on her cheeks
"Yes, he has done for some time now." She chuckled slightly, "And may I add that I am happy of his choice, and I know that his father is too."
Her blush increased, "Thank you, for everything." She said, and she hugged Anna.
"Do not worry, my dear." She replied simply, "Now go and help save my son from Yggdrasil! I'm sure his father has already created a plan, he's so efficient at these times."
Sheena gasped, "You mean, his father's still alive? Where is he? Who is he?"
"Why, he is another person who has watched over him ever since his journey began, giving him training tips in which he found such a bother."
"You mean, Kratos!?" she asked, Anna smiled in response.
"Do not worry, my child. He is indeed loyal to those in his heart, in which you, I might add, have been able to enter as well."
0000000
"Oh my God!" shouted Zelos, "How hard can it be to find one stupid book!?" The three had quickly arrived in Meltokio after leaving the forest, being safely able to use their Rehairds away from Mizuho's boundaries. They had managed to gain access to the royal library, though it was not without hardships, for the King was still untrustworthy to anyone after the Pope's treason. It was only when Princess Hilda had reminded him that the Chosen was the one who foiled the Pope's plan, that he relented.
"There are many books in this library, Zelos." stated Presea, "And there are few of us. It is therefore logical that this task would be time consuming."
"She's right, Zelos." Added Raine, "I know we need to hurry but we must be patient. If we rush, we may miss the book we're looking for, or worse, find an inadequate book that worsens Colette's condition."
"Man, if only my little angel were here now, she'd probably trip over something by now and we'd find something as usual." An idea came to him. "Whoops, I accidentally tripped." And he fell flat on his face, making the nearby stack of books wobble from the impact.
"Zelos, did you really expect that to…" and then an ancient book fell from the shelf, and landed on the table, label 'The Illness of the Goddess".
"Wow!" exclaimed Zelos, "That actually worked. You know, maybe Colette actually knows what she's doing when she falls over half the time."
Raine could not help but laugh at this, especially when she remembered when her clumsiness had led to her safety from their first encounter with Sheena. Even Presea produced a smile.
Eventually, Raine opened the book, to find it written completely in angelic words. "Ugh," she sighed, "Zelos, we're low on time, translate for us."
"Yes, ma'am!" he replied, and he removed himself from the floor, and over to the desk next to Raine.
0000000
Mithos stared wide-eyed at Sheena, 'How is she able to be moving? The amount of emotional torment I placed on her should have made it so she couldn't even move out of fright. Yet here she is in the training grounds.' His eyes moved down to her hand, where her exsphere was still radiating with mana, 'And Kvar's exsphere, how is it activating now? Lloyd used it for years without it being this powerful.' He started moving towards Sheena, 'I better deal with this now.'
"Hey, Mithos." Started Genis, "What are you doing? You'd better be careful; we don't know what's happening here." But Mithos did not listen as he slowly made his way towards the stationary ninja.
"Stop!" came a voice, they all turned to see Yuan charging towards Mithos, his weapon drawn ready to attack.
"Yuan, what are you doing?" shrieked Colette. Yuan ignored her as he slashed at Mithos. He jumped back, but not before Yuan's blade slashed across his arm, leaving a cut that started to bleed. The look on both faces showed nothing but deepest loathing and disgust.
"Yuan, why are you…?" but Genis was cut off.
"What's happening?" Sheena had awoken from her trance, and stared with a very confused expression at both Yuan and Mithos. "Be warned, Sheena!" came the voice of Anna, "That is none other than the one who seeks the destruction of both worlds; Yggdrasil!"
"Sheena! You're back!"
"Damn you, Yuan!" exclaimed Mithos, "How dare you pick now to show yourself as the traitor you are!" This statement confused both Colette and Genis further. What was going on?
Before Yuan was able to reply, "YGGDRASIL!" shouted Sheena, she drew her cards and charged with a speed far beyond what she is usually capable of. She swung her arm out and placed a card on Mithos' chest. She then kicked him in the face to push herself away from him, and the card exploded.
Mithos was blown backwards a few feet before being able to stop. He stared at his attacker, with utmost fury in his eyes, "How dare you lay a hand on me, you inferior being." He growled, whilst thinking, 'How was she able to do that so fast?' He transformed into his adult form, and Yggdrasil emerged with his wings out.
"Yggdrasil!" exclaimed both Colette and Genis, both completely surprised at this sudden outcome.
"Sheena." Said Yuan, as he brought out his own wings.
She raised a card, and chanted for a brief second, before placing it on Yuan's blade, infusing it with Volt's power, "Ready!" And instantly they both charged once more at Yggdrasil. Yuan attempted a horizontal slash, which Yggdrasil parried with his mere hand, but before he could counter Sheena was bringing down another card upon him. He blocked with his arm, and swung her away, only to have her flip in mid-air and threw several more cards towards him. He jumped backwards to avoid them, as they all exploded on the floor, causing smoke to block the view of all fighters. Suddenly, Yuan was charging through the smoke and slashed once more. It hit its mark.
Yggdrasil growled as he held his side, feeling the pain of both the wound on his side, and the electricity that had entered his body as well. "Damn you!" he yelled, looking up to see a large red figure charging him. Sheena used this time to summon Efreet, who charged Yggdrasil, and grabbed him with his large hand. Yggdrasil actually laughed, "We tried this before didn't we, my friend?" he tried to break free, only to find the spirit's grip to strong, "What!? You are not this powerful!"
"We spirits gain our strength from our pact-maker, as you should remember." Snarled Efreet, anger in his eyes. His hand exploded, causing Yggdrasil to yell in pain, as he was then slammed into the ground before the spirit disappeared.
'How is he still standing?' thought Sheena, as she watched as Yggdrasil forced himself up.
"Damn you!" snarled Yggdrasil, as his hands started to glow with energy, "Damn you all!" but before he was able to launch his attack, a powerful blow to his head sent him flying to the side.
Regal had heard the commotion and entered the fight, giving Yggdrasil a sharp kick to the side of his head before he could attack Sheena. "I'm glad to see you up, Sheena." He said simply, before turning to the youngest two of the group, "Genis, make sure Colette is safe whilst giving us magic support."
"R-right." Replied Genis, he was still shocked from realising one of his good friends was in fact the person he was fighting against, the person who is holding his best friend against his will.
Yggdrasil glared at the group of fighters before him, all waiting it seemed, for him to move first. 'Damn them!' he thought angrily, 'I let my guard down one too many times. I doubt I could handle this assault very well in my current state.' He forced a laugh, making it seem like he was in control. "Well as fun as it is toying with you all, I have little time for this." He clicked his fingers, and several warrior angels appeared before him, "I'll let these take my place." And instantly, he vanished in a flash of light.
0000000
"So, young Lloyd." Started Pronyma, as she continued to watch Lloyd train, "How are you finding your new powers?"
Lloyd did not answer, he was having trouble enough trying to master his light spells without her constant taunts. He attempted creating a beam of light to fire at an old piece of angel armour he had found, but merely formed a beam so feeble it barely creating a ting as it hit.
"Oh dear, not having much luck are we?" she was enjoying this greatly, watching as he failed over and over again, taunting him constantly, "Maybe you should stick to something more simple. Why don't you try spitting at it instead." In a flash, one of Lloyd's blades was at her throat.
"You talk much too often for your well-being, Pronyma." He growled.
She merely chuckled evilly, "You know you can't harm me. The moment you do Lord Yggdrasil will kill that little whelp you so foolishly fell for."
It was Lloyd's turn to laugh, "Do you believe that he will do that much for you, after he spent so much effort into 'recruiting' me?"
But before she could reply, a flash of light revealed a very injured angel, "My Lord!" shrieked Pronyma, and Lloyd had to hold a smile a the site of his Lord's pain.
"LLOYD!" he shouted, anger evident in his voice, "I want you to go down there and kill that traitorous Yuan!"
And there you go. Hope you enjoyed and please review.