Yay! It's chapter 11!

Zelos: Remember your promise?

Me: What promise?

Sheena: Remember what you said last time?

Me: I have no idea. Backs away slowly.

Kratos: You said that those questions that were left last time.

Me: Oh right, my ramen never boiled.

Zelos: And what about the others?

Me: Oh, that I lied about.

Sheena: Sigh, Me won't tell us.

Me: Ready…? BEGIN!


Chapter 11: The Reunion


"Come on Noishe!" Lloyd encouraged the large dog down the trail of the Fooji Mountains. Only coming when Lloyd made the steady hand movements, Noishe placed one paw foreword to check to see if the ground was steady. Realizing that he wouldn't fall through, the large dog moved foreword again. Lloyd let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully he could meet up with the chosen in Meltokio. Meltokio. Wasn't that where Zelos was? Well, he may have been forced on the journey of regeneration already. But, if he knew the truth, then most likely, he wouldn't go without a fight. And maybe he wouldn't release the seals either. But still, Lloyd worried for his friend.


Meanwhile, in the renegade base, Sheena was awakening. One glance around showed her that her companions were still asleep. Pulling her legs up to her chest, she remembered the previous events.

After getting off the dragons, they had entered the tower of salvation. After the warp pad, they had seen Colette praying on that platform. Remial, the angel that had claimed to be Colette's father had tried to take her to Martel to be transformed into a vessel for the person who they had thought to be a goddess. But if she was transformed into a vessel, Colette would die. Sheena, Raine, and Genis had fought Remial and had defeated him, however they soon found out that Kratos had been betraying them from the start of their journey.

Kratos' wounds had healed in amazing ways since the human ranch. But during that fight, he had fought in ways too powerful for someone who had just revived from almost deadly wounds. But after all, he was both and angel and a Seraphim; he would be powerful.

Then, as Kratos was about to strike the final blow, another angel had appeared. This angel had introduced himself as Yggdrasil, the leader of both Cruxis and the Desians. Wait a minute. Leader of both Cruxis and the Desians? Sheena froze. She had thought that the Desians and Cruxis were enemies. But did this mean that they were the same group? And those people who had saved them, they looked like Desians. How many secrets did Sheena not know about?


Stop staring damn it. Lloyd knew that Noishe stood out in Meltokio, but he couldn't just leave the dog outside. After all, this was Tethe'alla, not Sylvarant. The dog could get lost and be unable to find Lloyd again. But he was beginning to despise the stares from the nobles around. Just look away, he reminded himself. Eventually, they'll stop being so surprised and just go about daily life. But if anything, the civilians of Meltokio stared even more. Okay then, he thought. Maybe both of you stand out a lot. But if you don't do anything wrong, then they have nothing to complain.

Noishe seemed timid of the people as well. He flinched away whenever a brave child so much as ventured near him or Lloyd. Lloyd was surprised at the number of people nearing them. Both he and Noishe looked fairly scary for a child. But maybe people in Tethe'alla had gotten braver since he had been here.

Suddenly, Lloyd turned about very quickly. People nearby stared at the sudden movement but Lloyd didn't care. He had the strange sensation that they were being followed. Noishe seemed to sense it as well. He let out a quiet whine of fear and his fur bristled slightly. But all Lloyd saw was the moving crowd going about their business. Slowly he turned around, one hand on Noishe and the other hand gripping the hilt of one of his swords.

But no sooner did he do that then did he turn around abruptly again. The crowd stared again, astonished at his strange behavior. Lloyd's eyes widened. There was no doubt about it; someone was following them. He felt his grip on his sword hilts grow wet with sweat.

But instead of a strange stalker, he heard several giggling girls and one mans voice. Must be some sort of man with quite a few prostitutes, he thought, turning about holding onto Noishe's side. But he froze when he heard the voice.

"Aw, come on ladies, there's only one of me, you have to share."

What the hell? Thought Lloyd. Is that him?

Sure enough, the next voice he heard gave it away. "But master Zelos, it's so hard!"

Master Zelos? Thought Lloyd, his grip on Noishe's fur tightening. The dog let out a few whines of discomfort but Lloyd was still lost in thought. So it is him.

"I know, I know," said the male's voice as he came into view. A young man of about 22 with red hair and a pink coat was talking to several ladies. If it hadn't been for his voice, you may have thought him to be a very pretty girl. He had deep eyes that appeared to be both blue and green at the same time. "It's hard but you must…" he started to say, but froze at the sight of Lloyd who was also frozen. The women who he was talking to turned towards this man who had distracted Zelos.

So after all these years, thought Lloyd. He's still his happy self. But, why pink?

"Lloyd!" shouted the man running over, the female stalkers following him in pursuit. "Hey how many years have it been? You haven't been turned evil by Yuan have you? Cool, you grew your hair long. Hehe, only tough men grow their hair long."

"Um, well," said Lloyd trying to take everything in. "I think it's been about 8 years. And from what I know, I'm not some demented villain. And yeah, my hair was shoulder length when we last spoke."

"Hehe," said Zelos, grabbing Lloyd by his hair and completely oblivious to the pain that he was causing Lloyd. "He may seem a little depressed at first, but you'll see. A lot of me rubbed off on him."

"Ah, he's your friend master Zelos?" asked one of the girls.

"Yes, my best bud!" said Zelos fairly loudly and yanking on Lloyd's hair slightly more forcefully than he had to. "Well, we met about 10 years ago. Hehe, I was only 12 and he was only seven. Well, you can see how similar we are, can't you?"

"Um," said one of the nobles. She could obviously see that they weren't very similar at all. But she also didn't want to offend Zelos either. "Yeah. I see some similarities."

"Come on Lloyd," said Zelos in the same energetic way he had 10 years ago. "You can hang out with my hunnies and I!" Grabbing the back of Lloyd's head, he dragged Lloyd along, the girls and Noishe following behind.


"Ah, master Yuan, you're here." A lifeless angel approached Yuan in a slight bow pose. "Kratos is right this way." He turned and started flying foreword.

Damn I hate it here, thought Yuan. The smell of death, I don't know how Mithos handles it. Damn, I have to get out of here soon. Kratos isn't stupid; he has to know about Lloyd. But, then he may know about the renegades and my connection to them. If that happens, then I may have to completely activate Lloyd's exsphere and have him use their powers to change that. But, I shouldn't get ahead of myself. After all, Kratos owes me for that event several years ago.

"Lord Aurion!" said the angel, taking a very deep bow. "Lord Yuan is here!"

Yuan looked coolly across the room. Kratos was in his judgment uniform. Yuan hardly wore his Cruxis uniform; after all, he was hardly ever on Derris Kharlan. Kratos raised his left arm and swished it to the side, telling the angel to leave. The angel, eager to obey orders, left the room quickly. Yuan didn't like any of the angels; they were little suck ups that obeyed all orders in hope of getting a better job amongst the other angels. And all they would get absolutely nothing. But his thoughts went back to what he would say to Kratos when he realized that they were alone.

Kratos also looked like he was thinking of where to start as well. Knowing Kratos, he would try to keep his cool at first, but Yuan remembered how he had acted when it came to Kvar. If Yuan did turn out to be the leader of the renegades, then Kratos would probably try to harm him in some way. But Yuan was a Seraphim as well; he wouldn't go down without a fight.

Kratos finally started speaking as he walked foreword. "If what I think is right, then you know why you're here."

"And if I'm not?" asked Yuan. Let's toy with his mind for a bit.

"Then this is a complete waste of time," said Kratos coolly.

"So then, why would you call me here if you didn't know exactly the truth?" asked Yuan in a fairly taunting way.

"Because I have some evidence," said Kratos, folding his arms. "I just need a confession."

Damn it, thought Yuan. "And if I have no confession to give, then that evidence is useless, is it not?"

"Not necessarily," said Kratos, giving a slight shake of the head. "But we are not here to discuss what can and cannot happen without a confession. I called you here to discuss the renegades."

"Ah, yes, the renegades," said Yuan, almost sounding bored.

"All members of Cruxis know about them," said Kratos, who seemed to think he was almost getting somewhere. "They attempt to kill the chosen while they are on the journey. And recently, they have discouraged Tethe'alla's chosen from starting his journey. And they disguise themselves as Desians. We know several of their names such as Botta, however, we don't know the name of their leader."

"Why must I be here?" asked Yuan, sounding annoyed. "All you are doing is reviewing the facts of the renegades, which you could do with Mithos, who is already here and would not object to hearing these facts again."

Suddenly, Yuan heard a loud, smashing noise. Turning around, he saw that the bars had fallen across the door, making it impossible to get out. Turning again, he saw Kratos, his sword unsheathed. "Because I have reason to believe that the leader of the renegades is in this very room," he said coolly. "And he is standing right in front of me."


Me: Muhahaha! Cliffhangers are my ultimate weapon.

Presea: So I come next chapter?

Me: Yes! The warrior in pigtails will make her entrance next chapter!

Presea: Warrior in pigtails?

Me: Hey! That should be a title! (Pulls out title box)

Presea earned the title of "Warrior in Pigtails".

Me: Hehe, please review and don't stick your finger in an electrical outlet good little children!