For the past ten minutes, the journey had been a straight shot through the sewer. Yuan, Genis, Lloyd and Zelos trudged through the knee-deep water, each carrying a torch to light the way. Yuan, Genis and Lloyd concentrated on forging ahead, Zelos occasionally waved his torch side to side to make sure there were no rats following them. No one had said anything since they had begun the trek, each lost in his own thoughts. As the pipe bent around a corner, the group came to a fork: one tunnel heading left, the other to the right. "Which way do we go?" Zelos asked.
Without responding, Yuan knocked on the pipe wall to his right in a specific rhythm. It echoed down each of the shafts, the sound slowly dying as it got further and further away. Lloyd and Genis exchanged a confused look, but kept silent. A few moments of silenced passed, and they waited. Lloyd opened his mouth to ask what was going on but a faint sound reached their ears. From the depths of the left path, they heard the same rhythmic pattern echo off the walls and into their ears. "We brought the worlds together, but peace isn't forever." Yuan called out.
A voice responded: "Martel may be gone, but her legacy lives on." Yuan nodded and continued forwards down the left path, gesturing for the others to follow him.
"Interesting words," Zelos murmured. Yuan turned his head to glare at him and Zelos shrank back.
"Our mission. The exact wordage is only known to my operatives." Yuan said in a low voice, always aware of ears that may be listening. They continued through the pipe and saw a ball of fire some feet away, the light outlining the figure of a person. The angel stopped and turned to them before they walked to the end to meet their guide. "You are not to breathe a word of this to anyone."
"A word of what?" Lloyd said, confused.
"The identity of this operative. It is crucial you say nothing to compromise her to anyone." He demanded, abruptly turning around and walking straight towards the person.
"Jeez, he's touchy as ever." Zelos said, following the half elf.
Genis said nothing, contemplating Yuan's reaction. Why had he said that? It seemed obvious that they couldn't tell anyone about Yuan's agents. They're secret agents, duh. Why would he ever give one of them up? As he walked up next to Yuan and looked at the person, his mouth fell open in astonishment. "Presea?!"
Her eyes traveled from Yuan to Genis. The young woman smiled at him. "Hi Genis." He continued to gape at her, taking note of how different her appearance was from the girl he remembered a year ago. The blonde hair had certainly caught him off guard. It was now pulled into a ponytail that hung down to her waist. Her eyes were a different color as well: no longer the bright blue he remembered, but instead a deep brown. It was oddly off putting. As Genis studied her, he noticed that she too had had a bit of a growth spurt, a few inches taller than what she had been, but still a few inches shorter than Genis. And while her clothes were plain, they could not hide the curves that had grown in places where there had been none before. Blushing, Genis felt embarrassed to have noticed and met her eyes immediately. "It's been a long time." She said. The half elf nodded, still blushing, unable to say anything.
"Wow Presea, you look so different! Whatcha been up to?" Lloyd said, oblivious as usual.
"Ooh Presea! You look so cute with your hair like that! But we have to do something about those clothes. You deserve something nicer, not drab like that." Zelos said.
"This is my disguise, Zelos." She said matter-of-factly. "It is extremely useful for being undercover."
"Okay, enough. Presea, lead the way." Yuan said, breaking up the reunion.
"Wait, what?" Lloyd said, still confused.
"She's Yuan's operative," Genis explained as he walked after Presea, shaking his head.
"Wow, really? When did that happen?" Lloyd asked, genuinely curious. He and Presea had lost touch after the World Regeneration. The last he heard from her, she was in Ozette, helping with its rebuilding. He caught up with Genis and Presea, leaving Yuan and Zelos to follow from the back.
"Just six months after the World Regeneration I joined Yuan's group. The rebuilding of Ozette was just about complete. I wasn't really sure what I should do. Yuan came to me with an opportunity, and I accepted. Six months later, I got my undercover assignment, and now here we are." She said with little emotion. There was so much more to the story, but she had no interest in diving into the specifics: the confusion and heartache. It was true: the past year of undercover had been immensely lonely, and yet she had felt fulfilled. She had a purpose of continuing to protect the world she helped create.
"So that's why you disappeared." Genis said, carefully looking ahead of himself, not wanting to betray any emotion. The last note he'd gotten from Presea had said she was leaving and would be out of contact for a while. He'd sent a message asking how long she would be gone, but he never received a response. It had stung, but he had tried to understand. A lot had happened to Presea: her family was torn apart by the Cruxius organization and she had been used as a human experiment for growing Cruxius crystals, ultimately losing twelve years of her life although her body did not age. Both her sister and father had passed away during that time, and their family home burned to the ground in a fire. Genis wanted to be there for her, but he understood her need to figure things out on her own. At least, that's what he told himself.
Presea turned to look at the half elf, an expression of regret on her face. "I'm sorry, Genis. Presea had to disappear so I could be Karina. I didn't do it on purpose."
Genis shook his head, and half-smiled at her. "It's okay. I'm just glad you're okay."
"Who's Karina?" Lloyd asked.
"Oh man," Genis sighed and hung his head. Why was his best friend so dense?
"How far are we, Presea?" Yuan asked.
"I believe we are thirty minutes, sir." She responded.
"Then lead on. We don't have much time."