Chapter Fourteen. The Other Chosen.

Once they were at the gates of the lively city of Meltokio, Sheena stopped them.

"This is where we part ways," She said.

"Huh? Why?" Lloyd asked.

"I must return to my village and report my failure to kill the chosen," She replied and took out a letter. "Give this to the king. It will explain all that happened."

Lloyd took the letter. "Okay. But I won't say goodbye. We'll see you around."

"Yeah," Sheena smiled. "See ya."

She walked back out of the gates and the group returned to walking to the palace.

They walked up the set of stairs and into the town square. Genis and Lloyd stopped to look around, while the still soul-less Colette kept going and proceeded to bump into another person.

"Ow!" The person cried dramatically. The person was a teenaged aristocratic girl, with a large silk dress, blonde hair and tons of make-up. She was followed by two other high-class girls. "Watch where you're going!" She scolded.

Colette stared blankly.

"This girl has no manners towards her superiors!" The second girl said.

"And just look at the dumb outfit! Filthy commoners!" The third said.

Genis was enraged. "What did you say?"

"It's alright, Genis. It's obvious they never looked into a mirror."

"What did you say?" The blonde one said.

Another person, with long curly red hair, stepped between the two groups.
"Now now, my beautiful Hunnys, don't fight," He said.
"But master Zelos!" The blonde girl whined.

Zelos put a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture. The girls quieted down, and he turned to Colette. "Hey there, cutie. You aren't hurt, are you?"

No answer.
"You know, I bet you're really much prettier, when you smile …" he said, laying an arm around Colette.
Instinctively, Colette grabbed his arm and threw him away.
"Kyaah! Master Zelos!!" The girls cried.

Zelos turned his body in mid-air and landed lightly on the ground.
"Whoa! You certainly are strong, cutie you really startled me," Zelos said with a grin.

Genis watched him with a raised eyebrow. "Who is this guy?"

Zelos walked past them and said fleetingly," Sorry I'm not interested in talking to guys." Then the redhead spotted Crystal. "And how are you, Gorgeous?" He said smoothly.

"Not interested," Crystal said, without a glance.

He ignored the snigger from Genis and Lloyd and turned to Raine. "Oooh!" he cheered, looking happy again. "Who are you my Cool Beauty?"

Raine turned to him. "Give me your name, and I shall give you mine."

"Hey, you stole that from Lloyd!" Genis said.

"Hmmm…now that I've heard someone else say it, it sounds really arrogant."

"Oh my, you don't know me?" Zelos asked, obviously surprised. "Well, it seems like I have a way to go."

"Master Zelos, let's go!" The blonde girl whined, annoyed at being ignored.

"Oh, right. Well then…goodbye, Cutie, Gorgeous, Cool beauty," He said nodding to Colette, Crystal, and Raine in turn, before glancing at the boys and adding as an afterthought: "Later you…others"
He left, with the four girls twittering behind him.
"What an ass!" Genis exclaimed. "He was grinning the whole time! what an idiot."
"He had an exsphere," Raine said.

The two boys looked at her. "Really?"

"Yes."
"That explains the fast reaction…but who is he?" Lloyd asked.

"We should keep moving," Crystal said monotonously.

They went up the second set of stairs and walked to the majestic gates of the palace when they were halted.

"No one's allowed in," One of the guards said.
"But we need to talk to the king," Lloyd said.
"No one's allowed in." the guard repeated. "He has fallen ill and the pope, as well as the Chosen one is praying to the goddess Martel to cure him. If you have any questions, you should go to the church and pray that the king will recover."

They walked inside the church and Raine went up to the priest. "Excuse me; we need to see the King."

"Well I'm afraid no one is allowed at the moment," The priest said apologetically.

Raine opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted by the sound of footsteps followed by a dragging, rumbling sound.
The priest regarded the person behind them. "Ah, Presea. Please take the Sacred Wood to the king's chambers."
The group turned to see the girl. She was young, about twelve or thirteen years old, with pink hair up in two ponytails. Her eyes green eyes were oddly empty. The rumbling sound was caused by her cargo, a long log of wood about the size of half a tree.
"Understood," She said her voice unemotional. She turned around and left the church.
"Sacred Wood?" Lloyd asked.

"How cute …" Genis mumbled.
"Oh yes, Sacred Wood, from Ozette. It will be burned in a ritual, to soften the goddess, so she will cure the king."
"Is the ritual going to be held in the King's chamber?" Lloyd asked.
"Yes."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Lloyd asked Raine, who nodded.

They ran out of the church and saw Presea, making her way to the castle.

Genis called out to her. "Hey!…um…Presea!"

Presea stopped and Lloyd walked towards her. "Hi. I'm Lloyd. This is Professor Sage, Colette, Crystal and--"
"I-I'm Genis!" He stuttered.
"Huh? Genis, Why are you all r-"
"Will you let us help you carry the Sacred Wood?" Genis interrupted Lloyd.

Presea started to walk away.

"Wait!" Lloyd called and she stopped again. "It's really important. We need to see the king but we aren't allowed inside, and our friend's life is in danger."

She didn't answer.

"So, uh…will you help us?" Lloyd asked uncertainly.

Presea dropped the wood and walked a step forward. "Understood."

"Huh?"

"Please, carry that," Presea said.

Lloyd got her meaning and ran towards the log. "Oh, okay!"

He started to lift and Genis took the other side, but both of them together couldn't make it budge. "Ugh…! This is…heavy…"

Crystal walked forward and picked up one end, while Presea picked up the other, and they silently carried it up the stairs.

"I have lost all confidence as a man…" Lloyd said.

Genis nodded sadly.

After getting inside the castle, and knocking out the guard for the king's chambers, they were in the King's presence.

The pope turned towards them. "Who are you?!"

Lloyd noticed a familiar face in the room. One with long red hair.

"Oh, it's you guys?" Zelos said.

"Chosen, do you know them?" The pope asked.

"Well…I guess you could say that."

"You're the Chosen?" Lloyd said, disbelievingly.

The King sat up. "What do you want?"

Raine stepped forward. "We received a letter from Sheena, addressed to you, Your Majesty."

"What relationship do you have with Sheena?" Zelos asked.

"Never mind that," The pope said, taking the letter and handing it to the king. "Please wait in the guest room while we evaluate the situation."

"What's taking so long?" Lloyd asked.
"Plotting our deaths." Raine said.
"What about Presea? She doesn't have anything to do with this," Genis said, glancing over at the girl.

The door opened and the pope, followed by Zelos and some guards walked in and filled out the room.
"Let me get this straight…" Zelos began. "You want to use Tetha'alla's technology to get the Chosen of Sylverant's soul back."

"Yes," Raine nodded.

The pope thought for a moment. "Well…we needed to kill the Chosen. This is the perfect chance! Seize her!"
Two guards tried to grab Colette, but she whipped her chakrams out. In an instant, both guards fell to the floor, blood flowing out of the slashes Colette inflicted.
"W-wait!" the pope stopped the other guards. "She's a killing machine. If we try to take her by force, she will only cause more death."
"How about a deal then?" Raine asked.

"Like what?" The pope asked.

"Right now, we have no way of getting back to Sylverant. If the Chosen of Mana is over here, there is no way to complete the regeneration. Furthermore, If Colette gets her soul back; she will never become a true angel."

"I see…" Zelos said. "But in other words, you're abandoning Sylverant."

"Yes."

"Professor!" Lloyd said questioningly.
"Colette's soul has the highest priority now. Isn't that why you came all the way to Tetha'alla?"

Lloyd looked at Colette, and then at Raine. "Yes, you're right."

"Well then, as long as you people stay on this side," The pope said, and turned to Zelos. "Chosen, will you accompany them to make sure they don't travel back to Sylverant?"

"Sure thing."

"When will we leave?" Genis asked. He had a look on his face that said he didn't like Zelos much.
"I still need to get some things…meet me in the church, willya?" Zelos said.

Lloyd nodded, and left with the others. They walked to the church but Zelos was already there. "Yo, Lloyd! Finally!"

"Uh…Zelos right?" Lloyd asked, taken aback slightly by Zelos' familiarly.

The redhead flipped his hair. "Yep, yep. I'm the great, Zelos Wilder! But you can just call me, Zelos. Anyway, I arranged for us to go to the imperial research academy without any trouble."

"Not bad, Zelos," Lloyd remarked.

"Since you're going to be watching our every move, I certainly expect that much," Genis said, a trace of scorn in his voice.

"Quiet you little twerp…" Zelos said with his eyes narrowed. Then his expression softened as he turned to the others. "Well, other than the two guys…this cutie is Colette, right? And this cool beauty is, Raine…and who is this little one?"

"That's Presea," Genis said. "She helped us get into the castle."

"She's not from Sylverant?"

"Ozette," Presea answered mechanically.

"Ozette!? That place out in the boondock--I mean…out in the forest?" Zelos asked. "Oh, that is so sad…your being dragged around by these barbarians."

Lloyd started. "Hey, who are you calling bar--!"

"Hello," Zelos interrupted, spotting Crystal. "What's your name, Gorgeous?"

She narrowed her eyes and watched him warily. "Crystal."

"Wonderful!" He said moving put an arm around her. "What's say we be friends?"

Crystal simply brushed his arm away and walked towards the exit of the church.

"Is she always like that?" Zelos asked Lloyd quietly.

"Well…I guess…"

Zelos shrugged, and then grinned. "Well, then it's a good thing I like a challenge!"

The redhead skipped after her, and Genis glanced at his sister. "It's going to be a long journey, huh?"

Raine sighed and slumped over slightly. "Yes, it will be."