AN: Ah, hello there those who remain. I bring you chapter 12. This story will be finished, that I swear. It just might take some time. I'm still a few chapters ahead, and I'm trying to keep it that way - just to make sure I don't fall behind and give up. Anyways, there's some fluff that I'm quite happy with in this one, so, hope y'all enjoy. The bit about Odin's spear was just something I tossed in for extras.

Disclaimer: Despite my best efforts, I was unable to steal the copyright to this series. Thus - I don't own it.


Lloyd breathed a sigh of relief as they entered the mausoleum. The constant sunlight beating down upon his heavy black coat had nearly caused him to overheat. But now the cool wind that seemed to endlessly flow through the crypt relieved some of his suffering. He couldn't even bring himself to complain about how badly it was messing up his hair. His wings twitched inside his coat, and he vaguely wondered if they were healed enough to attempt to fly. The feathers had mostly grown back - only a few inches of the lower wing were missing now.

"This is some wind!" Genis commented as they walked.

Raine nodded, a hand on her chin, "Yes..it would appear as though there are certain devices within the walls that cause the wind to flow constantly. Truly fascinating..." She murmured the last part more to herself, eyeing the walls around them for the source of the wind. Her eyes focused on a door up ahead of them with two unlit torches sitting out front. With a grin on her face, she turned to Colette, "Colette! Fire the Sorcerer's Ring on those torches!"

The group watched as the torches lit and the door slid open.

Not much later they were moving up the stairs and towards the altar. Lloyd couldn't help but gasp at the view that lay before them. It was like he could see the entirety of their world from up here, and a feeling of elation rose within him. This was what he was fighting to protect. This was the what they were going to regenerate.

"Lloyd! Pay attention!" Kratos called as mana welled up around them.

Lloyd whirled around and immediately unleashed a wave of energy towards the beast that had appeared. And so the fight began. Lloyd swung outwards towards the beast, giving it his all as he had noticed that it was a stronger enemy. It swung a claw-tipped feathered arm towards him and he was forced to push himself away in order to dodge.

The battle continued on for a few more minutes, but eventually they managed to bring the being down.

As Colette prayed at the altar, Raine moved around to heal everyone. It had been a difficult fight.

Once the healing was done, and Remiel had faded away to wherever he went when he wasn't giving them vague advice, the group made their way out of the temple. As they walked, Lloyd had thought he'd felt someone watching them, but every time he turned to see who - or what - it was, there was nothing. A frown on his face, he followed the others out of the temple and into the darkness of night.

He was there to catch Colette this time when she fell, thankfully. She thanked him as he gently set her down as the others brought over blankets and Raine began checking the girls vitals. Lloyd moved away, eyes still scanning the area suspiciously. He was sure he'd felt someone else in the temple with them, but now it was as if there were no one there at all. Maybe he'd been imagining it.

"Everything alright?" Kratos asked, stepping closer to the teen. After receiving a nod, the mercenary gestured towards their gear, "We should set up the camp, then."

Later that night, Lloyd sat at the edge of the clearing, peering out in the darkness with a frown. His thoughts were still focused on what he'd felt earlier but also on his encounter with Kratos the other day. There had to be some good reason as to why Kratos was unwilling to recognize Lloyd as his child. He found it hard to not believe that maybe Kratos just didn't want him. Hell, the man hadn't shown up in Lloyd's life until years after the events on the cliff-side - and that was merely by chance.

A voice broke him out of his musings and he looked up to see Colette as she sat down next to him.

"Lloyd, can I talk to you?"

The brunette nodded, smiling faintly, "Of course, Colette. What's up?"

There was a beat of silence, as if the Chosen were trying to make up her mind. Her face was a mix of emotions, but Lloyd could pick out mostly anxiety and fear. After what seemed like minutes later, the blonde finally spoke up.

"About what you asked earlier, if I was feeling differently, what did you mean?" Colette asked, not meeting his gaze, "That is - were you talking about the fact that neither of us can sleep? Or eat?"

Lloyd's eyes widened, surprised that she had been the one to bring this up. He was hoping that he would've gotten another chance to ask at some point in the future, but now that this had happened he was feeling slightly relieved. With a wry grin, he nodded, "Yeah, so I'm not the only one, huh?" Colette finally looked up to meet his gaze, tears in her eyes.

"Except it's worse now." She stated, raising her hand to show a cut that was still bleeding freely, "I can't feel anything now either."

He gasped and immediately reached into his pocket to throw an apple gel on the wound, effectively stanching the bleeding, "You too?" He asked, as he treated the injury, "Ever since this seal I've been unable to feel. Not even the wind on my face." As he spoke a slight breeze picked up, but neither of the two occupants could feel it. Lloyd let go of Colette's hand and turned his gaze towards the sky.

A silence fell over them as the two pondered the newest development. Finally, Colette spoke up.

"I don't think we should tell the others." She started, "They might worry."

Lloyd cocked his head to the side, considering his options, but eventually deemed that she was probably right. If the others found out they might start not letting the two of them fight for fear of either of them getting injured seriously. At that point they probably wouldn't be strong enough to handle the trials that lay ahead of them, "You're probably right. Let's keep this between us for now."

Colette smiled at this, and then stood up, brushing herself off, "Well, I'm gonna go at least lay down. Goodnight, Lloyd."

"'Night, Colette."


The next day found them backtracking and heading past Asgard and towards what Kratos had called Luin. Lloyd remembered reading about the city in books in class and felt excited to see a city built almost completely on a lake. Raine had told stories of how the city was built with bridges spanning across the lakes surface, and how it had a giant fountain that was fed from the lakes waters.

His excitement stayed with him until the got within sight of the town. That was when the dread set in.

With his enhanced eyesight he could see smoke billowing up from destroyed houses. He could almost smell it from here. With the scent of fire came the smell of burning flesh and he had to resist the urge to gag aloud lest he alert the others of his discovery. Though he got the feeling Colette and Kratos could see what he saw.

"We must hurry." Kratos murmured.

With a newfound energy, the group made for Luin.

The closer they got the worse the damage seemed to get. Houses were completely destroyed, others were still burning. Corpses scattered the grounds - some of them had large scorch marks which explained what Lloyd had smelt earlier. The bridges that led across were mostly destroyed, save for a few boards that connected. They moved through the town as though they were survivors of the apocalypse, just now getting their first glimpse at the damage the world had been dealt.

"Who would do something like this...?" Lloyd questioned shakily as they neared the destroyed fountain. Water spilled over the cracked stone, forming a large puddle near the front.

"The Desians did this." A familiar voice spoke up. The group turned to see Sheena leaning heavily against one of the few remaining fence posts that served as a railing by the grounds edge, "Turns out the people of Luin were hiding refugees and the Desians weren't too happy about that. Took most of 'em and those that resisted - well, you've seen the bodies haven't you?" She watched as the auburn haired man - Kratos maybe? - stepped in front of the Chosen and she chuckled dryly, "Don't worry, I haven't got the strength left to fight."

"Professor, please heal her!" Colette cried, watching as the ninja sagged under the weight of her own body. Blood coated her already stained clothing.

Raine nodded, arms crossed, "I will. First explain to us how you were injured."

Sheena shook her head, falling to a knee, "It's nothing. I was just clumsy."

Heaving a sigh, and realizing that this woman was just as stubborn as Lloyd, Raine stepped forwards and knelt, bringing out her staff to heal her. After a moment, and deeming that Sheena would no longer die from her injuries, Raine stood and turned around - arms crossing once more. They were all too softhearted for their own goods; then again it appeared as though they were rubbing off on her.

"Th-thank you." Sheena stuttered, getting to her feet shakily, "I have a favor to ask of you. It may be selfish, and unreasonable considering what I've done and the things you have done for me already, but please hear me out." Without waiting for a response, she straightened herself and tried to look as dignified as possible despite the fact that she was practically begging, "I owe the people of this city for food and lodging. I would like to help you rescue them. If you agree, I'll form a truce and help you in any way that I can."

"What makes you think we were going to go after them in the first place?" Raine asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sheena smiled faintly, "As if the Chosen would stand idly by while others were in danger. Also with your history with ranches, I'd say there's a good chance you were already planning on a rescue."

Lloyd grinned, "You got us there. The Chosen's duty is to protect people, right?" He turned to Colette, who was nodding happily.

"Yes! And I would love if you helped us, Sheena. We can be friends!" The blonde said whilst clasping her hands in front of her.

Kratos and Raine met each others gaze, both knowing they had not won this one. Heaving a sigh in unison, they both looked back towards the group, the remaining three already holding an excited conversation with their newest addition. It looked like there was no arguing on this matter.

"We'd better rest up here for the night, then." Raine commented.

In an explosion of motion, the group got started setting up the camp.

Some time later, Lloyd sat on his sleeping bag, one hand resting on a knee that was bent towards him. His gaze was on the stars, slowing going over the ones that Kratos had taught him when he was little. There was a shuffling of cloth and Lloyd turned to see the object of his thoughts approaching him. Smiling faintly, Lloyd moved to make room for the mercenary.

"Reminiscing some more?" Kratos questioned as he sat down.

Lloyd nodded, "Yeah, a bit. Dad used to show me the constellations." He reached up a finger and pointed towards a string of stars that ended in a point, "Like that one for instance. It's supposed to be Odin's spear, Gungnir." He gestured towards a couple more, naming them with practiced ease and not catching the way Kratos' eyes seemed to glimmer with pride.

"You remember quite a bit, for having been so young." The man stated, turning his gaze away from Lloyd as the boy moved to look at him. He couldn't risk giving away anything, "You truly are as smart as Raine said you were."

The twin swordsman's eyes widened at this, "Raine thinks I'm smart?" This elicited a soft chuckle from Kratos, and Lloyd was shocked to hear that coming from the man. Maybe the mercenary wasn't so hardhearted as he pretended to be after all, "Hey!" He lamented, grinning, "Don't laugh at me. I know I'm smart thank you very much. Dirk used to take pride in how well I remembered the Dwarven Vows."

Kratos stood after this, smiling faintly towards the night sky, "You'd better get some rest, Lloyd. Who knows what will happen tomorrow." After all, it was Kvar's ranch. A frown settled onto his face and the man turned and walked away, only to pause when he heard Lloyd call his name softly. He turned, raising an eyebrow, "Yes?"

"Do you think we could do this again sometime?" Lloyd started, feeling his heart flutter a bit, "I mean that is, if you want to."

The mercenary, though Lloyd could not see it in the darkness, smiled at this and nodded, "If that is what you wish."

And with that Kratos walked away, taking his position at the edge of camp.

TBC