Author notes: Fast update! Since I had a college exam I had to study and I couldn't focus on writing so I decided to give you a shorter chapter instead of having you without any update in a month.

Thanks for your support and reviews and special thanks to Draconic for the help in this chapter.

Anonymous reviews:

Sturm and Drang: I had Beatrice's character and back story planed since I made the first script of the fanfic. I thought that someone like her was needed to explore all the point of views. And the reason why they didn't go to the fire seal in second place was because the first one was the Tower of Mana and the Mausoleum was the nearer place with a seal. And yep, the Cruxis Crystal is affecting Alice's mind and after each seal it will only be worst.

EPISODE 2: THE JOURNEY OF DEGENERATION.

Chapter 21: Show time!

Triet.

Marta, Emil and Tenebrae were waiting for the rest of the group at a lonely table in the inn. They had decided to make Triet's inn their rendezvous point since it was the safest place within range of the abandoned Renegade's base where Colette was being held.

"Why is everyone staring at us?" Tenebrae asked curiously.

"I think they're all looking at you, not us." Emil replied.

"Why? Have I done something odd?" Tenebrae asked. Not waiting for an answer he continued, "You know, we centurions pride ourselves on our ability to interact with humanoid life forms just as well as the monsters which we command. I see nothing strange about myself. Nor should they. The fault lies, obviously, in human ignorance. Therefore, it is not my appearance that is to blame, but their sheer lack of manners toward things that are different. And besides, I don't believe that I am strange at all."

"Well, in their defense, you are a floating, talking dog with a big claw on the end of his tail. You really can't see how they might find that kind of…well, weird?" The blond asked.

"Not to mention he's kind of obnoxious," mentioned Marta with a grin.

"I don't know about obnoxious...maybe self-righteous though."

"Lord Emil, that is a false statement. I am not self righteous; rather, I speak my mind. I pride myself for my honesty, you know."

"Yeah, we know," groaned Emil, "I'm the one who always was left with the consequences of your 'honesty.'"

"The fact you never appreciated me for my social assistance continues to boggle me," Tenebrae said with a hint of glee, "I will never understand your kind."

"Come to think of it, Tenebrae, why did you ask why people were staring at you, if you could just make it so that they couldn't see you or something?" Marta asked.

Tenebrae gave her a look that she couldn't identify and remained silent.

Emil sighed, fixing his gaze on his drink.

He couldn't help but question why things had to be so hard. Would he ever be able to have a normal life? After they defeated Richter in the Ginnungagap, faced Ratatosk, and he had gotten sent back out into the world, he thought that he would finally be free from all the difficulties he'd been forced to live with. How wrong he had been. Alice had somehow survived their fight and now she was about to bring about a cataclysm on a global scale; and who had to stop her? They had to. It wasn't that he would rather stay at home and beg, but he knew he wasn't hero material. Wasn't there room for him to just take a break for a while?

At least he had Marta, but she wasn't as cheerful as she used to be.

Maybe he was the one to blame; he had been quite distant since their journey ended. Things were going too fast for him. Every time she tried to make a move on him, he couldn't explain why, but he became so nervous that he started stammering nonsense and pushing her away. And every time he thought about their relationship his hands grew sweaty and he started trembling. He loved her with all his heart. He really did! But for some reason he just didn't know how to handle it.

Marta sighed; she didn't want to harm anyone but she had to face the fact that Alice didn't change after the last fight they had in the Ginnungagap. In fact it seemed it only had helped to reaffirm her power-driven ideology. It was denial to think that Alice was going to change. She just couldn't understand it. If Alice loved Decus, why was she doing this? Why couldn't she just enjoy her life? What was going on in her mind?

Emil leaned his head over the table in defeat, things were only going from bad to worse, and it didn't look like the situation was going to improve any time soon.

"Augh…"

They turned to the door of the inn where they heard a familiar groan.

"You'd think this place was hell…except it's just so much hotter…" Zelos gasped as he entered the inn and fell on the floor melodramatically.

"Zelos!?" Emil and Marta exclaimed in unison.

The rest of the group entered surrounding the ex-chosen: Raine, Regal, Presea, Sheena, Genis (who was blushed and rubbing his clothes nervously) and Lloyd, who was disguised as a Mizuho ninja.

"Stand up Zelos…" Sheena sighed. "You're making yourself look like an idiot."

"You mean more than usual?" asked Genis, grinning, "Or has he actually been behaving himself?"

"Please, tell my hunnies that I kept my awesomeness until my very last breath…" Zelos panted with a faked suffocated breath.

They took a seat in the inn to discuss their attack plan to the Renegade's base when suddenly the innkeeper interrupted them.

"Uh, sir." He said tapping Lloyd on the shoulder. "I'm afraid that you and your friends will have to leave your weapons in the armory if you want to stay here, new rules of the house," he explained.

"What? Why? What happened?" the brunet asked.

"Since the attack of the Church of Martel led by the religious fanatic Lloyd Irving on our town, we decided that foreigners should not be allowed to carry weapons. So if you want to stay here leave your weapons on the armory." He explained. "Goddess… If it wasn't for the Vanguard, it would have been another Blood Purge like the one in Palmacosta." The innkeeper sighed in relief.

"What!?" Everybody yelled in unison (except for Zelos who seemed to be too tired to even open his mouth).

"I see, I guess you didn't hear about it." The man nodded and took a page of newspaper that was nailed on the bulletin board, "take a look" and threw it on the table.

Everyone stood and looked at the newspaper, it was from two months ago. The headlight read in big capitals letters: -VANGUARD SAVES TRIET-

"Are you kidding me?" Lloyd asked rhetorically aloud.

Presea took the newspaper and began to read aloud the header of the article.

"The Vanguard saves Triet from what could have been the second Blood Purge. Yesterday, troops of the Tethe'allan Church of Martel led by Lloyd Irving attacked the peaceful town of Triet. Luckily for it's inhabitants, a detachment of the Vanguard, led by head of combat unit, Alice, happened to be doing a routine patrol at the same time that the church attacked the small town and prevented another slaughter of innocents. "It is our duty as the Sylvaranti Liberation army to help the innocents from the Tethe'allans and the cruel fanatics like Lloyd Irving. As long as we are here, justice will prevail!" declared the leader of the combat unit, Alice. (To read the complete article turn to page 19.)"

"Dammit! What the hell!?" Lloyd shouted angrily. "How can that bitch to spread all those lies about m—"

Genis jumped from his seat and covered Lloyd's mouth with his hands before he could finish the sentence. The innkeeper and the rest of the people in the inn began to look at him suspiciously.

"He just remembered something that his ex-girlfriend did. He has been quite mad since she left him for a… candle salesman!" Genis explained smiling nervously. "R-Right?"

Lloyd nodded.

The innkeeper crossed his arms and looked at them suspiciously. "That better be true, because in this town we don't like people who don't respect Alice of the Vanguard."

It was clear that the news about the Vanguard hadn't reached Triet and if it did they had ignored them. At this point if something didn't change Lloyd would have to wear that uncomfortable ninja suit for the rest his life.

"How did this happen exactly? How did Alice save the town?" Regal asked the innkeeper, trying to ease the uncomfortable atmosphere.

"I can see it in my mind as if it had happened just yesterday."

Triet, two months ago

I was cleaning the inn's first floor windows when I saw Lloyd dragging Adria's son, Timmy, to the middle of the central square. The poor kid was crying in despair while the rest of the town watched horrified, already imagining what was going to happen next. The townsfolk might have tried to do something but the Papal Knights had formed a secure perimeter around the area and were much better armed and trained than the civilians.

Everyone just shut up when Lloyd began to speak. "This kid has been found guilty of blasphemy!" Lloyd shouted, putting the kid on his knees with a forceful push.

"Leave him! He's just a boy! He didn't mean it." The mother of the kid shouted but she was silenced by a punch in the stomach.

"As the Chosen of the great Goddess Martel and in the name of Meltokio, I will redeem this child." Lloyd said. He lifted his sword, and I was sure he was going to just cut the kid's head off. You know, I never really believed the rumours at first. The ones about how he slaughtered the people of Palmacosta. I'd met him before, and I was sure he'd never do something like this, but…well, then I saw him for myself.

Anyway, most of us just froze, staring at the scene while others closed their eyes, I looked away. I didn't want to see the brutality of our once beloved Hero of Regeneration.

Five seconds passed but nothing happened.

Lloyd cleared his voice. "I will kill this kid in the name of Martel!" He repeated.

Five seconds latter still nothing. I couldn't help myself but wonder what he was waiting for.

"May Martel have mercy of your soul because I won't. Die!" he shouted again.

Lloyd hesitated but finally swung but before the sword touched him a bolt lighting struck, sending it flying out of his reach. Everyone began to look around astonished. Who did it? Who saved the kid?

"Your journey of mass murder ends here!" A feminine voice said coming from the skies.

Everyone looked up and saw a girl dressed in pink and yellow doll like clothes riding a purple floating monster.

"Tethe'allans! Your abuse ends now!"

Lloyd released the kid, who ran to his mother's arms, and looked to the mysterious girl.

"How dare you challenge the holy power of the Church of Martel!" He shouted angrily. "Who are you!?"

The girl sighed and jumped from the floating beast, landing perfectly.

"I'm Alice of the Vanguard! And I will put an end to your cruelty, Lloyd Irving." She threatened with a bitter tone when she pronounced the name of the once known hero.

Lloyd laughed like a maniac and whistled. All the knights under his orders left their positions and began to surround Alice.

"And how do you plan to defeat me?" He chuckled. "For your insolence I will do to this town what I, Lloyd Irving, did to Palmacosta. All these people will pay for your insolence, sinner!"

The swordsman smiled sadistically and pointed his sword at Alice "Attack! Finish her! A thousand gald to the one who brings me her perfect and lovely head!"

The guards began to advance on the girl, but she didn't cower.

"You think I came here alone? I can defeat you and all your knights by myself but the Vanguard always fights together and...and…" Alice scratched her forehead as if she was trying to remember something. "What was that other shi—" she muttered inaudibly, "Oh yeah! And supporting each other!"

The blonde girl put two fingers in her mouth and gave a high whistle. Suddenly a bunch of hooded men began to come out from the crowd. One by one they took away their hoods revealing a mask that resembled the head of an owl. They were Vanguard troops.

"Damn it!" Lloyd grunted irate. "Finish them my soldiers! I will take care of the beautiful girl myself!"

All the soldiers, Vanguard and Church knights alike, gave Lloyd a doubtful gaze for a moment.

"I mean… I will take care of that bitc—of that bitc—" Lloyd got frustrated for a moment and stomped the ground various times. "Of that bitc— Damn, I can't say it!"

Alice laid her hands over her face and grunted something inaudible and commanded the Vanguard to attack while she went to take care of Lloyd herself.

All the soldiers fought in the middle of the square as the people ran away in panic, I tried to escape but I got caught in the middle of the brawl. Unable to escape I hid under a table and watched the fight prying to the Goddess to make it end fast. I looked around looking for an escape point when I saw the fight between Lloyd and Alice. I was the most intense and exciting fight that I had ever seen. They both were attacking each other furiously but Alice's skills were clearly superior. She was able to dodge all his blows with ease as if she could see them coming before they even happened. I'd never seen anything like it.

"You left an opening in your defense." Alice shouted aiming at Lloyd's chest with her crop. "A Season in Hell!"

A furious lighting bolt struck the swordsman's chest sending him flying backward.

"Have you had enough?" Alice asked to Lloyd. He didn't reply. Alice grumbled some inconsistencies and asked again, this time more angrily: "Have you had enough!?"

This time the only reply she got were a bunch of incomprehensible curses and pain moans. She had hit him hard. Instead of giving the finishing blow to the cruel murderer Alice decided that it was more important to take care of her soldiers. Quickly she looked around to see how her soldiers were dealing with the fight.

"Hawky come here!" The Vanguard leader commanded to one of her subordinates.

The Vanguard soldier got rid of his opponent with a single blow that sent him five feet back and went to his superior.

"Wha- what do you want ma'am?" He gulped.

"Can't you see you are wounded Hawky?" She said in a sweet caring voice. "Show me your leg."

"I'm fine ma'am." He replied extending the leg before her.

But Alice made him notice how wrong he was and stomped his knee various times to make him notice where he had been injured.

"There she goes again." A Vanguard soldier muttered near the table I was hiding.

"See. You-Have-Twisted-Your-Knee!" She shouted accompanying every word with a stomp.

Finally Hawk noticed the painful wound he had suffered and began to moan in pain.

"See? But don't worry, Alice is here to heal your wound." She explained cheerfully.

The Vanguard leader put her hands over his knee and began to cast a healing spell but Lloyd used a trick to redirect the heal to himself and once fully healed he stood up with a pirouette.

"Thank y—! I mean… I will finish you off Alice! Prepare yourself to taste the holy power of Martel! You stunned me with your beauty but it won't happen again!"

The wounded Vanguard soldier began to leave the fight scene but the pain on his leg didn't let him run away fast enough. Alice took care of him and pushed him away with a strong kick on the butt to put him in a safer place.

Lloyd charged furiously towards Alice but once again his attacks were dodged with ease. The fight lasted a few more minutes but in the end Lloyd had no other choice but to recognize her superior skills.

"We must retreat!" The swordsman commanded to the papal knights. "We can't defeat the Vanguard, their soldiers are more skilled and her leader is much more powerful than me! This town is safe from our attacks!"

With that Lloyd and the knights fled running in fear and everyone cheered for the Vanguard, especially their leader and our savior, Alice.

Everyone looked stunned with their mouths wide open at the story that the innkeeper had told them.

Genis was the first to recover from the shocking story. "Didn't any of you find that even abit suspicious?"

"What do you mean?"

"Lloyd's behavior, the incredible skill Alice must have had to dodge every single one of his attacks, or the fact that no soldier was wounded during the entire fight!" he shouted, lifting his hands in frustration.

"So what? It just means that Lloyd isn't nearly as tough as people think; Alice is incredibly agile and way smarter than Lloyd and the soldiers of both sides were equally skilled." The innkeeper enumerated with his fingers.

Lloyd tightened his fist under the table and began to breathe slowly to try to calm down. Decus and Alice had done a quite a good job spoiling his name. He, who had done so much for everyone on Aselia and who only wanted to help, was seen as a psychopathic fanatic of the Church of Martel and could barely go anywhere outside of his own town. And it was all because of those two.

"Come on, Lloyd," Genis whispered to him, "In his defense, Alice probably is smarter than you. No offence intended, she's nuts after all."

"I don't think that Lloyd Irving did that." Lloyd commented trying to hide his rage and sound casual. "In fact, I've heard that the Vanguard was entirely responsible for it."

"Oh yeah, I've heard that too," he chuckled, "but Governess Dorr must think we're all stupid if she thinks we're all going to believe that some random guy, who no one had ever heard of before, used an ancient magic device to disguise himself as Lloyd and commit all those murderers. Why would the Vanguard, who only cared about protecting us, do something like that? That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard."

"Calm down, calm down." The swordsman repeated to himself but the innkeeper wasn't making it easy.

"You might want to give her more credit. If Lloyd really did all that, would Clara Dorr, the governess of the town he supposedly destroyed, really stand up for him?" Regal asked

"Whatever," the innkeeper waved the possibility off as though Regal had just suggested that fictional rappigs came out every thursday and pranced around town while no one looked. "It was about time someone put that bastard in his place. Since he saved the world he has been nothing but an arrogant, ass-hole bastard who thinks he can impose his sense of justice on anyone."

Lloyd grunted through his mask, angrily stomped the floor and violently stood from his chair, nearly throwing it to the ground.

"Lloyd hates the people who use justice to justify their own selfish goals!" He shouted angrily. "And he would never harm innocents! And I'm tired of hearing stories like this almost everywhere I go! Alice, Decus and Richter were the real culprits but you still think they cared about you."

"How dare you badmouth Alice of the Vanguard! She saved our town!"

Lloyd took away his mask revealing his face.

"She doesn't give a shit about anyone but herself! As far as she cares this town could be burned to ashes, and the people cut to pieces! And she'd probably laugh while she did it! And the reason why I know that Lloyd didn't do all those things is because I'm Lloyd Irving!"

Everyone, including his companions, looked at him in utter shock. As the swordsman calmed down after his rant he noticed that a lot of people in the inn were looking at him with quite angry glares. They stood, taking objects with unfriendly intentions. Lloyd touched his face and noticed he was unmasked.

"Aww man… I probably shouldn't have done that…"

Zelos sauntered over to his chair, holding an iced tea reverently as though it were divine providence, and noticed everyone's odd gaze. "Did I miss something?"

"I think it's about time for us to leave; it is getting pretty late." Tenebrae announced politely.

The heroes casually began to stand up from their chairs, making no sudden movements that might light the spark that would ignite the thick tension permeating the room into a blazing riot.

"What are you talking about? We've only just got here! Let's at least rest a moment."

"I may not have phrased that properly. Ehem," Tenebrae coughed and clarified his inference, "Run!"

The group ran and pushed Zelos on their way out, nearly knocking him over and making him drop his drink.

The ex-chosen dropped to his knees defeated, and stared at the broken glass that had once held his beloved iced tea. He felt tears coming out but dried them away with his arm and pathetically tried to join the pieces of the glass with his trembling hands. There was nothing he could do. He couldn't fix it and even if he could the drink was all over the ground. Tears of sadness began to roll down his check and fell from his chin joining the spilled drink on the floor. He clenched his fist telling himself that he had to be strong but it was too much.

"No!" he sobbed hysterically.

Sheena reentered the inn, grabbed Zelos' arm and carried him with her.

"We have to leave Zelos!"

Zelos dried his tears and ran away with the ninja and the rest of his friends, leaving the drink behind as various men of Triet pursued them, carrying a variety of sharp pointy objects. Their next destination: The abandoned Renegade's base.

I hope you enjoyed it. I appreciate your reviews, they help more than what you think. Thank you all for the support and see you next time