Found by Cruxis

"Fireball!"

"Sonic Thrust!"

"Ray Thrust!"

The enraged trio sent their attacks flying towards Botta in unison, hitting him left right and centre, making him crumple to the ground in agony as his knees gave out beneath him.

Kratos charged forwards and encircled the man as he struggled in a vain attempt to stand and fight again, all the while being questioned about Yuan and his motives by the growing ball of anger which was the mercenary. Still, he did not give in and Kratos' questions were left unanswered, drifting in the tense atmosphere that surrounded the group.

"Genis! Now!" Kratos signalled as Genis released a spell that he had been charging up.

"Aqua edge!"

"Demon Fang!"

There was a resonating thud as the renegade fell to the crimson stained floor, thoroughly soaked and defeated for the time being.

"Lloyd!" As this was going on, Anna and Raine had immediately rushed over to the unconscious teen, treating his wounds as best they could. Both women felt that their attention was needed more here than in battle.

The sound of Colette's light footfalls approached the two as Kratos and Genis were heard calling out their attacks. The Chosen knelt down beside her dear friend, tears forming in her eyes once again as she looked down upon Lloyd. The magic user and mercenary then strode steadily towards the huddle, worry clear on their faces. Well on one of their faces, anyway. Kratos' ever calm facade masked the turmoil going on inside of him.

"Lloyd! How is he?" The half elf boy's eyes scrunched at the side in pain upon seein his best friend in the state that he was.

His sister shook her head in response, not daring to voice a solid answer yet. "We must get him out of here before we run into anymore inteference." Kratos said, glancing at the man on the floor. "Quickly."

The group nodded and swiftly exited the Renegade base, Lloyd being carried gently by Kratos, who was probably the only one strong enough for the task.

They made their way outside, luckily encountering no soldiers on the way. Once outside, they were greeted by an over excited Noishe, who ran up to Anna, whining and glancing at Lloyd.

"Kratos, why don't you let Noishe take him?" Anna said to her husband somberly. Auburn hair moved with the desert winds as he nodded, placing the injured teen carefully on his old friend's back.

"We should hurry on to Triet. We can treat him further there and can all rest properly for the night. But right now we should proceed with haste. Night will fall soon." The professor told the group exactly what to do and they got going, through the sea of sand and soon enough reached the desert oasis town if Triet.

"Thank you Noishe. We will take care of him from here." Kratos spoke to the protozoan as he gently lifted the boy off of his soft fur seat.

"C'mon, let's get him inside quickly." Anna had been unusually quiet since being at the renegade base, only ocasionally voicing a thought to Kratos or one of the others. She grabbed his hand and lead him into the Inn where the rest of the group stood waiting.

"We have a slight problem, they have only three rooms left. I have acquired them for us, but who will share with who?" The silver haired woman looked around at her companions questioningly.

"I'll share with you sis, Colette can have her own room 'cause she's the Chosen and all, and Kratos and Anna can have the last room... but Lloyd?" Genis trailed off, not knowing who Lloyd should share with.

"He can share with us. Don't worry, we'll take care of him." The brunette woman managed a small smile before continuing. "But can we please finish treating him now? I'm quite worried, he looks paler than he was..." Indeed, most of the colour had drained from the teens face. Only the minor wounds had been treated earlier.

"Let's take him into your room then." Raine said to Anna and Kratos as she headed up the wooden steps to the next floor of the Inn. The group traipsed after Raine, filing in through the door on the far right of the small landing.

Kratos laid Lloyd gently down on one of the two beds within the room and moved to stand at the side of the bed, Anna moving with him and lightly grasping his hand. Genis and Colette looked on at the wounded boy from the bottom of the bed.

The professor approached Lloyd and did a quick analysis. "We'll have to get his shirt off to assess the damage correctly. I have no idea how bad the wound is..." She said worriedly. "Kratos, could you? I don't think I'd feel comfortable taking my student's clothes off." She said seriously. There was a collective silence from the observers before Kratos complied and sliped Lloyd's shirt and red jacket off.

"Oh-!" Each of them gasped. Even Kratos was startled, his eyes, usually devoid of much emotion, showed grief.

Taking Lloyd's shirt off had revealed a rather large, bloody gaping hole through his stomach, though thankfully did not go all the way through. The blood was beginning to crust around the edges of the hole due to Raine's quick first aid earlier, but that did not really make the situation any better.

Tears were welling up in three of the groups eyes, Kratos and Raine the only ones having control over their emotions.

"Kratos, could you please give him some apple gels while I administer first aid?" Kratos nodded in agreement and went to retrieve the gels from a backpack that was placed on the floor. He quickly found them and put them in Lloyd's open mouth one at a time, coaxing the unconscious boy to swallow them.

As he finished, a warm green light radiated over the teen. The worried trio of Anna, Genis and Colette watched on, hoping their friend would feel better.

"Look!" The wound had gotten slightly smaller, but had not disappeared.

"...Anna, Genis, Colette? This is going to take a while. Go downstairs and get something to eat in the meantime. You're all looking weary."

"Okay, but please heal him!" Colette and Genis ran from the room. Anna lingered, too worried about her son to leave but too scared to stay and watch.

Kratos walked up to her and embraced her shaking figure. "He will be okay after a while. I will cast a stronger healing spell when Raine is busy or out of the room, don't worry." He whispered in her ear, making her shiver slightly. She pulled away and saw in his eyes that he was still worried about the boy, but was confident he would pull through.

She turned to leave when Kratos squeezed her shoulder in comfort, trying to reassure her again. She whisked around and kissed him lightly, her face warm and wet because of her crying. She parted from him and quickly left the room, Kratos returning immediately to his place by his son.

Anna closed the door behind her, heading down the stairs and into a small room. In the room there was a long wooden table with food placed on it for their dinner. Colette and Genis were sat at the table already, nibbling at the food.

Anna sat down next to Colette, infront of the warm fireplace, letting her back be heated by the flames.

"Hey guys." She said sadly. Colette turned to her and gave a small smile. "Hi Mrs Anna. You should eat something, you must be hungry!" The small Chosen was trying her best not to let her worry for her friend consume her.

"Yeah, I guess..." Anna reached out and picked up a piece of bread, slowly pulling off little pieces.

"Anna, are you okay? You've been really quiet since earlier, what's wrong?" Genis questioned from across the table, resting his hand on his head.

"Huh? Oh, I'm just worried about Lloyd, sorry guys."

"Why are you so worried though? You hardly even know him!" Genis exclaimed.

"I...he's just special to me, guys. I can't tell you why exactly now, but you'll find out eventually." Anna sighed as she let her head fall on her hands that were crossed on the table.

Colette and Genis glanced at each other, confused. "Okay then."

The next hour went slowly, Colette and Genis sat and chatted at the table while Anna dozed off, tired from the days stressful events. She awoke to Genis shaking her shoulder while Colette was trying to call her.

"Mrs Annaaaa?"

"Hmm? Uhh...what happened?" She rubbed her eyes wearily.

"Lloyd's up!" Genis shouted in her ear. "C'mon!" Anna scrambled to her feet as if she had been shocked. She followed the two up the stairs and into her and Kratos' room to find Lloyd sitting up in his bed, Kratos standing by the door and Raine still by his side.

"Lloyd!" The teen flinched as he was jumped at by the trio who flung themselves at him.

"Lloyd!"

"You're okay!"

"We were so worried!" They let go of him and stood back, looking at him happily.

"Hey guys. Sorry for worrying you." Lloyd smiled sheepishly, holding the back of his head with one arm.

"Right, it's late. If we want to even think about getting to the seal tomorrow everyone had best get to bed. Sleep now, chat tomorrow."

Genis and Colette followed the professor out of the room after saying their good nights to Lloyd, Kratos and Anna.

"How are you feeling?" Anna asked, sitting on the bottom of Lloyd's bed. Kratos drifted to the other side of the room, staring out of the window at the night sky.

"Ah, definitely better. Still aches though." Lloyd tentatively touched his stomach where bandages were wrapped around the remains of the wound.

"I'm not surprised. You're lucky though, but I'm...we're all so glad you're safe." Anna was uncharacteristially serious, troubled by her sons near death experience.

"Yeah, but I'll be fine!" Lloyd's cheeky grin made Anna smile. His strength was admirable.

Kratos walked over to the pair. "What did they want with you?" Kratos sat on his bed facing the two.

"My exsphere, he said he needed my exsphere..." Kratos and Anna exchanged a quick glance. "Dammnit! He didn't tell me about my parents!" Lloyd threw his fist angrily into the bed.

"What?" The couple asked together.

"He said that he was friends with my mom and dad, and that they're okay! Damn..."

There was a short silence. "...Get some sleep Lloyd. Don't worry, they won't touch you again." Anna ruffled his hair and got into her and Kratos' bed, her husband following suit.

"G'night guys."

"...Night Lloyd."

"-oyd. Lloyd?"

"Ughhh..." Lloyd grumbled, rolling over onto his stomach, hiding his head beneath the pillow.

"Lloyd c'mon!" His best friend pulled the pillow off of his head. "You feeling any better?"

"Hm? Yeah , much better!" He grinned his usual grin.

"That's great! Then get up, we gotta go! C'mon!"

"Aww, where's the sympathy?" Lloyd whined as he was dragged out of the room by the small half elf.

The rest of the group were standing outside impatiently when the two emerged from the Inn.

"It's about time. Honestly Lloyd." Raine said.

"Oh c'mon! Hello, nearly died yesterday! Does nobody care?" Cue Lloyd curling up in a ball pretending to cry.

One the ...'s were over with, the group walked out of Triet, Lloyd getting up quickly to follow after them.

"Nice guys, some friends you are." Lloyd grumbled once he caught up to the group.

Ignoring him, Genis asked, "Lloyd? How come they captured you then, what did they want?"

He turned to his best friend. "They were after my exsphere." The teen said angrily. "But he knows my parents. I have to get him to tell me about them." At this, Kratos and Anna stopped their conversation and started listening instead to Lloyd and Genis.

"What? Why would he know your parents?" Genis asked, startled.

"I don't know. But I'm gonna find out. He said they were alive...and closer than I thought? What the heck does that mean? Argh!" Lloyd shook his head in frustration.

"...Huh." Genis, being too clever for his own good glanced suspiciously at the couple walking infront of them, quietly forming his own theories in his mind. "So, If they are okay then why haven't they come to find you?"

Lloyd stopped in his tracks surprised. He hadn't thought of that. "Maybe...maybe they don't want me...maybe they faked their death so they could abandon me and no one would ask questions...maybe they really don't care..." Lloyd sunk into his thoughts, depressed that his parents were alive but did not want to know him.

At Lloyd's words, Anna and Kratos' hearts clenched in pain at hearing their son's thoughts.

"Lloyd...I'm sure thats not true..." Genis said sadly. Lloyd didn't respond, just shook his head.

The couple infront of them looked at each other sadly. "Oh, Lloyd... how wrong you are...my son."

Okay, so that's chapter 11! Hope you enjoyed, and thanks to everyone that reviewed, favourited and pressed the little story alert button last time, much appreciated :) Chapter 12 should be up soon XD

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