Kirdan sat down on his bed, his hand masking his face. Nobody, absolutely nobody, could see his face. He had concealed it for years already, why stop now? He suddenly began violently shivering. The mask had pulled him over the edge today, ratting out the only friend he had ever had. He could've tried to stop it, too. But he hadn't, and he had lost Krystal as a friend forever. The mask...what secrets lay idle in the small device? What dark secrets and demons did it hold? Some of its powers had revealed themselves today, turning him into a macabre creature; a creature that had never revealed itself before. Kirdan sighed again. Hopefully, someday, he would make up with Krystal. For now, he needed to find a new mask...


The day dawned sunny in the Iselia forest, bits of sunlight peeking through the cracks from the treetops. Lloyd opened his eyes slowly, but instantly closed them again to block out the strong sunlight. As he waited for his eyes to adjust to the light, his thoughts drifted to Sheena. She needed to wake up soon. It would calm a lot of nerves, his especially. His body had felt empty, almost incomplete when he had heard the news that Sheena had gone missing. And after they had found her, after he had rescued her, he felt whole again. Was this what being in love felt like? Besides having a small crush on the Professor a few years back, Lloyd had never really dealt with emotions like this before.

Lloyd rose from the mat on the ground and climbed down the ladder into the kitchen. Everyone was awake, except for a body lying motionless in the corner bed: Sheena. Lloyd sighed, and sat down at the table, heaping bacon and eggs prepared by Regal onto a plate.

"Good morning, Lloyd," Raine said.

"Morning," he replied, and began to eat. The rest of the day passed quickly. The girls went shopping, while the boys and Presea stayed back to train. Lloyd, agrivated that Sheena hadn't awakened yet, swung his swords with more vigor than he normally used. Zelos noticed of course, when he received a large bump on his arm from Lloyd's sword hilt.

"Owwwwwwww!" squealed Zelos as his skin turned red. "Lloyd, you hurt me! Now what will the ladies think?"

"Quit complaining, Zelos," Regal said, adjusting his grieves. "You recieved much worse injuries during the Journey of Regeneration."

"Yeah well...be quiet Regal." As Regal and Presea started up their battle again, Zelos drew his sword and began to battle with Lloyd. Lloyd clutched both of his swords with his hands and got into an athletic position, his eyes alert, watching (and hoping) for Zelos to make the first move.

They remained like this for ten minutes, until Zelos broke the silence.

"Why are we training? It seems so..." Then Lloyd pounced, jumping forward. The two blades met, and Lloyd twirled around backwards, swiping at Zelos once again. The blades met again and again, always meeting metal instead of the flesh it craved. The dance continued around the yard, the sound of metal on metal filling Lloyd and Zelos's ears. Finally, Lloyd pulled his sword away from Zelos's and swung quickly. Zelos had no time to block, and the blade slashed into his left arm.

Drops of red blood began falling from the wound, and Zelos let out a loud cry.

"Llooooooooooooooyd! You weren't supposed to hit me!" he screamed as his right were soaked in blood as he covered the wound.

"I'm sorry!" Lloyd said. "Quick, let's go inside and we'll get you fixed up." Lloyd and Zelos ran back into Dirk's house and put Zelos down into a chair. He whined loudly about his injury, but Lloyd paid no notice. He was too busy concentraiting about fixing it. He applied lemon gel to the bleeding, and Zelos yelped like a small dog. "Live with the pain, Zelos." Lloyd said. "I'm sick of hearing you whine like that! I'll fix it up, okay?" Zelos nodded, gritting his teeth. Soon, the bleeding stopped and Lloyd wrapped a clean bandage around the wound.

When Zelos was satisfied they sat at the table and waited for Regal and Presea to finish. They didn't wait long, as a few minutes later Regal burst through the door with Raine trailing not far behind him.

"Is Zelos alright?" Raine asked.

"He's fine. I gave him a lemon gel." Lloyd answered.

"Oh, okay." said Raine. Soon after, the rest of the group arrived and Regal began making lunch. Lloyd sunk into silence sitting next to Sheena, and barely touched his food.

"Lloyd, why do you make yourself so depressed?" Presea asked, sitting next to him. "It does no good you know."

"I know," Lloyd muttered. "She's just all I can think about." Suddenly, there came a sound from next to him. It wasn't from Presea, rather from the bed...Lloyd instantly looked down to see movement under the covers, and Sheena's eyes opened up. She was still for a moment, getting her bearings.

"L-l-lloyd?" she said, her voice weak and fragile. "Where am I?"

"You're in Iselia Forest," he said. "We rescued you from the Dessar base." Sheena sat upright in bed a little too quickly.

"That place!" she said.

"What do you know about it?" inquired Raine.

"Let her be," Regal said calmly. "She has just woken up."

"They thought I was some kind of...chosen..." Sheena said. The room fell into a silence. Raine gave a slight nod. "But soon, they thought that I wasn't..." she trailed off into her own thoughts. Had Sheena gone crazy? What had they done to her? Lloyd's hands balled into fists at the thought.

"Sheena, are you all right?" Lloyd asked gently, placing a hand on her cheek. It was warm. "I think she's sick. Professor, can you look?"

"Let her rest, Lloyd." Raine said. "She has a small fever. She'll be better by tomorrow." Sheena's eyes closed, andshe drifted back to sleep. Lloyd let out a frustrated sigh.

"What did those damn people want with her?" he said. "What did they do to her?"

"Calm down, Lloyd. She'll be okay," Zelos said, placing a comforting hand on Lloyd's shoulder. Lloyd sighed again and nodded.


Kirdan was startled as the door opened and the Dessam entered his room.

"Need a new mask?" said the Dessam. Kirdan didn't reply, bringing a smile to the Dessam's face. Kirdan noticed that the Dessam's hair wasn't tied into its regular ponytail. His blueish-silver hair fell down to about his shoulders, giving the middle aged man a different appearance. "I gurantee you that I had nothing to do with the previous mask, Dan."

"I have no doubt you didn't, Dessam." Kirdan replied. "But I don't trust what you've done to the new one."

"Now, now don't be like that! Trust me on this one, as your boss." On the table the Dessam laid a new mask, identical to the other one. Dan eyed it through his spread fingers. It looked almost like the Dessam had repaired the other one. For all Dan knew, he could have very easily.

Hesitantly, Dan reached out and took the mask in his free hand. He turned away from his master and placed it over his face. Instantly, a sharp pain filled him and he gasped.

"What the fuck is this thing doing to me!?" he yelled. The Dessam smiled.

"It's simply getting used to you, Kirdan." the Dessam explained. The mask continuously shot bolts of pain through Kirdan's entire body, and he began to scream louder. A vision formed in his eyes, of a creature standing about his height with black hair and even blacker eyes. Black symbols filled almost every inch of skin on his face and hands. The creature roared, showing fanged teeth stained red. Clutched in his black hand was a sword with a chained blade, and a motionless body lay in front of him. As the vision faded, a white noise filled Dan's ears. He realized it was his own screaming. The Dessam remained unphased, still standing next to the doorway.

"What the fuck is this thing?" Dan asked again.

"It is simply your mask from before, Kirdan. I had nothing to do with what it did to you just now. Whoever gave you that mask was skilled in some very dark magic. I may be able to help you, but I need the mask first." Dan lifted his fingers up to the mask and tried to pull it off. It didn't move.

"It won't budge," Dan said.

"I was afraid of that." the Dessam said. "I'll be back in a few hours to see what I can do about it." The Dessam turned around and left the room swiftly. Kirdan let out a frustrated sigh.

All because of that fucking man...


Two days later, Sheena's fever had completely supsided. There was an awkward silence at the breakfast table as everyone, including Sheena, was silent. Finally, Lloyd broke the silence.

"Sheena, what did they do to you there?" There was silence for a few minutes. Sheena sighed.

"They tried to see if I was some kind of..." she trailed off, the memories obviously not very pleasant.

"Sheena," Raine said gently. We need to know this. This could change a lot of things."

"They were convinced I was some kind of...chosen, I don't know."

"Like Colette?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah," Sheena said. "Only, I don't think they want me to resurrect Martel. They want something else. They thought since I was a summoner I was that chosen I guess...but they were wrong. They did all sorts of tests on me to see if I was it, and everything I failed, they got madder." She moved one of her torn sleeves to show them a nasty looking cut that hadn't fully healed. Lloyd was positive that it would become a scar as soon as it healed. Sheena sighed again.

"When did they take you?" Lloyd asked.

"A few months after you left," she said. "I was in Mizuho and all of the sudden we were raided by these mysterious people...but the thing is, they took the entire town."

"Yeah, we've seen that happen," Lloyd said. "They burned down Meltokio and killed Genis."

"They killed Genis?" Sheena asked, aghast. Raine shifted unconfortably in her seat. "I'm sorry to hear that," Sheena added.

"It's in the past," Raine said darkly. "Just another reason to have us destroy Dessara, and quickly."


P.C... Thought the Dessam.

A memory from the past began to form in his mind, one that he had forgotten.

"You say you want revenge then, sir? Then let me tell you of an old prophecy, one that was written thousands of years ago. But only now, in this current day and age, has it been set in motion...This prophecy is the Prophecy of the Last Chosen. It tells of a Chosen that can serve as a hero to save the world from his or herself, or a villian that could destroy our worlds as we know them when markings are placed on them with this knife." The man held up a knife, with a black scabbard and a silver handle. "Are you interested in finding this Chosen one, my friend?"

"Yes," spoke the Dessam. He was beginning to see things a different way, a way that a companion of his had lived by. He was also willing to do anything to seek revenge for murder...This was certainly was much easier than being a traitor. "Show me the markings." The man pulled out a piece of paper and inked strange markings onto it. After a few minutes, he passed it over to the Dessam for him to see. There were multiple intwined circles, and lines that snaked around like vines. "These are to go on the Chosen's arms. Return here when you have the Chosen and I shall give you the knife. Beware though, that this won't be happening for awhile. But now that you are incorperated with this, you'll feel the feeling in your body. The feeling of a new beginning...Oh, and watch for PC...part of the prophecy was lost, and the only part left were the letters P and C. I'm guessing this is signficant in some way to it..."

The memory faded, and the Dessam stared down at the knife. It looked oddly familiar...black scabbard, silver handle...The only difference now was that the letters P and C had been engraved into the scabbard.

"Scaros," the Dessam said, motioning for his assistant to come. "Run a search through the computers for anyone in Symphonia with the initials of P and C."

"As you request, Dessam."

A few hours later, the search had been completed and the Dessam had a list of two people that had the initials that needed to be captured that hadn't been captured yet. Fifty soldiers had volunteered for the job, the Dessam noticed, as he walked into the Rheiard hangar. He also noticed that Kirdan, the mysterious masked man

"All right, Dessarans!" yelled the Dessam. "Tonight, we find our Chosen!" The Dessam mounted his Rheiard and headed for Iselia Forest, where one of his candidates awaited.


A few hours later, as the sun was about to set, Lloyd approached Sheena for the first time since breakfast.

"Hey Sheena...you wanna take a walk?"

"Sure," she said. Lloyd lead the ninja out of the house and into the forest.

"I'm glad you're back, Sheena," Lloyd said, feeling his face flush red.

"I owe you one for rescuing me," Sheena said with a small laugh.

"There's been something I've been meaning to tell you Sheena, for a long time now."

"Oh?" Sheena said coolly.

"Yeah..." They were going deeper and deeper into the forest, the trees becoming denser. Lloyd took a deep breath..."Sheena...I..."

There was a rush of about ten black-clad figures beside them. An arm wrapped itself tightly around Sheena's neck, pulling her off her feet as the figure continued to run.

"LLOYD!" Sheena shrieked.

"Sheena!" He drew his sword and took off after the running man. As he was running, he was tackled and pinned to the ground. "Get...the...hell...OFF ME!" Lloyd screamed, raising his hand with the sword up and plunging it down into his attackers back. Lloyd flipped the motionless body off of him and picked himself up, starting to run again. He had lost valuable time.

Sheena's kidnapper was out of sight, but Lloyd was guessing that he was headed for Dirk's house. Lloyd plunged into the clearing, revealing about fifty men standing in a circle around the wooden house. Sheena's kidnapper was out of sight. Each member of the party was held by the neck by a black-clad member of Dessara.

"Leave Sheena alone!" screamed Lloyd. "She's not your stupid Chosen or whatever! You did the tests on her, and you know that! So why take her again?"

"We're not here for Sheena this time," spoke a familiar voice Lloyd couldn't quite place. From the shadows spoke a man who walked with an elegance that screamed he was the leader. A hood from a black traveling cloak covered his head that Lloyd didn't think would be coming off very soon. Underneath the traveling cloak, which also doubled as a cape that whipped to the west with the wind, was black and silver armor, exactly like the armor the Renegade Yuan had wore, only a different color. So much for originality. "We're here for the little one, Presea."

"You-" began Presea, but she was cut off by the guard placing a hand on her mouth. Even though he only had one arm, he was still stronger than her by a long shot.

"Let's go," said the leader of the Dessarans. "We have what we want now." The Dessarans mounted Rheiards, and Lloyd stood watching as Presea, Krystal and Colette were taken away. Sheena was still nowhere in sight.

"Regal!" cried Krystal as the Rheiard, which Lloyd noticed was being controlled by the man named Kirdan, lifted off the ground. Lloyd, Regal and Zelos stood helpless, watching their friends fly away into the night.

"Toodleoo, gentlemen," said the master of the Dessarans cheerfully with a little wave as his Rheiard lifted off the ground.

"Fuck you!" Zelos yelled, and gave him the bird. The man chuckled.


Krystal awoke on a white bedsheet. She didn't remember when she had fallen asleep. All she really remembered was being captured by Kirdan and flying away...

"You're awake," said a voice that Krys had hoped to never hear again...He had the same blue-silver hair, only it was longer now. He still looked the same age as he had before, which was strange. It had been more than 10 years since she had seen him last. His voice was the same too. It was Matharisis.

"So you're the leader of this shit," Krys spat. "I'm guessing that this is what you were talking about to your friend all those years ago?" The Dessam didn't answer for a moment. Then apparently the memory returned to him.

"No, that wasn't it. What I was talking about there was about the journey of Regeneration. It wasn't about you, or any of this. This is the result of something I found out after that journey. This is for my own revenge."

"You're doing all of this just for a bit of revenge? What the hell is wrong with you!? People have died from this, Matharisis, died!"

"It began as revenge, yes," Matharisis said. "But it grew into more. An obession, you could say. Nowadays, I have grown out of my quest for revenge. I have moved on, to better things. And this happens to be one of them."

"Bastard," Krys spat. "And what did you do to Kirdan?" A memory flashed through her mind. His teeth were fangs, and his eyes behind the mask cold...

"Go to sleep, Krystal, go to sleep,"

"No. I don't trust what you would do." He began to sing, a melody like none she had ever heard before. It was seductive. It was chilling. A cold shiver ran through her spine as he sang in whispers, a smile forming on his lips and his fangs.

"Bastard...quit...singing..."

"I will not quit singing, Krystal." Slowly, she fell into a deep sleep. And every second of it she felt pain...

"I did nothing," Matharisis said, breaking her from the daze. "It's that blasted mask of his. He needs to destroy it. I don't give a damn about his past, he's not very cooperative anymore." There was a strange feeling in Krystal's chest as the only fatherly-figure she had ever had in her life walked away. Not because he was leaving, but because of Kirdan. What could be so terrible that happened to him that he would have to wear a mask? A mask that took control of him at that. Krystal definetly had to hear his story...and destroy his mask.


As midnight struck, the tests on the Chosen candidates concluded. Dessara had found their Chosen one...

"I've found her, Dessam." spoke a Dessaran named Nikolos.

"Excellent," the Dessam said. "Give me the name."

"Presea Combatir, sir."

A/N: I'm back from my looooong hiatus. And it feels geeeeewd to be back Very good. I hope this chapter was a good enough update after all the waiting 'n stuff. Yeah, I'm gonna be back in full swing. Hopefully I'll finish this puppy. Annnnnnnnnnnd yeah. 4 more days WOOOO. Later.