Chapter Twenty-One

Iracundia

Noishe did not like where his humans were going.

The Man, and The Boy… they were headed in a direction that Noishe knew was incredibly wrong. Noishe remembered lots of pain, lots of very not-happy things ahead of them. He hadn't stopped whining since their departure from what remained of Luin. And the orange-haired Almost-Woman had remained back there, for whatever reason. He kind of liked her, and didn't get why she wasn't with The Boy and The Man. Because they were supposed to be together… Noishe didn't know much, but he knew that much.

Noishe liked none of this. His ears pressed flat against his head and his tail hung low. Each of his steps were unsure and timid. He whined again and palmed The Boy's hand with his black, wet nose, desperate for reassurance.

Lloyd looked back at the creature with a fleeting half-smile. His gloved fingers briefly scratched behind those worried ears. "I'm okay. It's okay."

But it wasn't. Nothing was, and Noishe knew. So he kept whining, like he could alert them all to precisely how bad this direction felt.

No one listened. The Man felt electric, and full of shadows. And overwhelmingly tense, though he let none of it show. Noishe knew, though. So he nudged The Man's hand, too, in an offer of comfort but all he received was a grunt and a nod. Noishe shouldn't have expected more, after so long, although he always hoped.

They got closer to the awful place. Noishe slowed his steps and eventually stopped walking entirely, although everyone else continued forward without him. He whined again. Nothing happened. So he left into the shelter of the trees, where he always felt most at home. Their shade protected him, and he loved the feel of the soft, blooming ground beneath his chest and belly. He sighed, and curled into a content, furry ball amidst the smells of pine sap and pollen.

It was so much better than rotting flesh.

The walls were always black.

It hadn't been a stylistic oddity at Iselia, or Palmacosta. The Desians deliberately made the walls of their ranches black, and while Lloyd was not one to believe in superstition, the color had begun to become wary in his mind. He remembered the smell most of all, sour and musty - and for a moment, he vaguely recalled a lesson of the Professor's about how the sense of smell was most tied to memory. And he wished it weren't so. Seeing that sunken, decaying flesh was one thing. Hearing its squelch, too, but smelling it… he never wanted to be near that scent again.

He kept walking, though. Lloyd's steps didn't falter. His best friend was beside him, and Genis seemed equally as uncomfortable. Somehow this was calming. It was nice to know that Lloyd wasn't alone in his trepidation. Maintaining an emotionless facade was nearly impossible for him - and as much as Kratos trained him in maintaining a level head and hiding his feelings, Lloyd wasn't sure if the lessons would ever really take hold. The world was huge. His mind was huge, too, although apparently in all the wrong ways - and he didn't know how he'd ever properly reign it back.

Sheena hadn't lied. She knew exactly how to get to the ranch; it took less than an hour at their hurried pace. Lloyd felt like there were things he should've said to her, or smalltalk he should've made, but everytime he tried to speak, he noticed how completely content with silence she was. And he held his tongue. Because really, he didn't want to talk, either; he only found it necessary in the discomforting silence.

They saw the Desians through the trees. Dozens of them, their silver helmets and blue-brown uniforms poking out between thickets of brush and leaves. Sheena led them to a clearing just outside the surrounding forest; they hunched low, though there was probably no need. Mostly out of fear.

Genis gaped through the branches. "The security is intense. It's completely different from last time." Which was true; Magnius had been expecting them at the Palmacosta ranch, so he'd called off most of his forces. This place was most definitely not expecting them, however, and as such was swarming with patrols and vigilant eyes.

"Yeah," Lloyd began in a low voice. "Even if we get inside…"

Raine wore a similar mask of thoughtfulness. "Hmm, there is a way, though." Kratos, Sheena and Genis all looked back and forth between the other two with curious, raised eyebrows.

"Professor," Lloyd said with a smug smirk, "I bet you're thinking the same thing I'm thinking."

"What?" Colette was not following whatsoever. "What are we going to do?"

Lloyd tried to humph like Kratos, although it had nowhere near the same effect. The mercenary noticed and shot him a scolding frown, though Lloyd ignored this. "We'll disguise ourselves as Desians and sneak in."

The Professor scoffed a condescending laugh, much closer to that humph. "I see the gears in your head move quickly only at times like this."

Lloyd frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

But Colette grinned. "Oh, I see! If we look like Desians, we won't get caught!"

Sheena, who had remained by far the most hidden and silent up until now, finally breathed a fragmented word of disbelief and retort. She swallowed it quickly and kept her silent place behind a tree branch.

"I don't think this is the best plan either," Raine started, futilely attempting to hide her distaste, "but do we have any other choice?"

The Chosen suddenly tilted her chin towards the sky. Kratos did the same.

"The Desian patrol is here," he said quietly, and glanced at Lloyd. "What shall we do?"

The teen's eyes darted just over the older man's shoulder. "Okay, let's hide behind those trees and ambush them."

With the element of surprise, the battle was swift and easy. Lloyd kind of forgot the part about needing to use uniforms, and ended up leaving three of the four Desians in tatters, along with their clothes. The male ones, actually. The only uniform that remained usable was on a female soldier.

"Aw, damn," Lloyd grumbled. "I wanted to be the Desian…"

Kratos sighed. "...This is not a game."

Sheena was eyeing the unconscious guard curiously. "Hmm, looks a bit too tall for the Chosen here." She smiled cynically at Raine. "Looks like it's either me or you, Mrs. Magic."

Genis at once noticed the white hue to his sister's knuckles as she gripped her staff, and he backed up behind Lloyd to protect himself from the inevitable explosion. However, Raine chose to trim her anger into five thin, deadly words: "Never call me that again."

"Fine, yeah, whatever," Sheena said. "Now are you gonna wear this, or should I?"

"I don't trust you to not turn us in. I'll wear it."

Colette held one hand worriedly to her chin. "But what about the rest of us?"

"You'll be my prisoners," Raine stated factually. "Now, kindly leave me alone while I change."

If Sara could create fire, then surely she should be able to quench it, as well.

In her mind, the two were linked. At least she hoped this theory was correct. So far, she'd only ever practiced bringing flames to life and giving them heat and strength; but fire was fire. In any form, whether it was made by her mana and held in her hands, or made by Desians and meant to destroy, fire simply was. Outside forces merely acted on it, and it obeyed only the most skilled of commanders.

She tried to ignore the shouts and screams. Sara was only one human and as such, could only do one thing at a time. And that had to be enough. Not everyone from Luin had been taken captive or had managed to flee; many families remained behind, hiding from the Desians, unwilling to abandon their lives or any loved ones that couldn't follow.

"This way," a middle-aged brunette woman was saying, her frayed emerald skirt bunching and stretching with each frantic stride of her small feet. "Please, my girls, my husband - they're still inside!"

Sara followed instantly and without protest. The woman was pointing to a halfway-standing apartment complex not far ahead; her stride was short and plump and not nearly as fast as Sara's, who didn't wait. Once she was sure of her target, Sara took off at a sprint, her long legs eating up the ground, her bangs flitting wildly about determined earthen eyes.

Five floors, the bottom three of which were completely engulfed in flames. It reminded Sara of an hourglass; the middle had been eaten away and with each tiny breeze, the top floors teetered and swayed. A window was open on the topmost level. Churning, choking smoke poured from it and up into the sable sky; from its pillowy depths Sara spotted a frantic, waving arm.

The woman hadn't made it to her yet, but it didn't matter. Sara's dragonscale boots were already caked with ash and mud; she dug them into what remained of the earth. She held her hands out to her sides, palm up, onyx claws flexed and strained towards the sky.

She remembered a low, baritone voice that guided her breath. The smell of curry, and hot chocolate. She remembered the way her lungs felt when she first learned their power, their influence. Her heart thrummed and thumped beautifully, sending scalding blood through each of her veins. And Sara closed her eyes.

The air was awful and thick, and choked in her throat, but she inhaled it anyway. Those raging flames snapped out of existence and instead appeared in her palms. Dragons had this power, and had for thousands of years… how did they handle it? Commanding fire made her chest burn, made each of her muscles twitch, her jaw clench. She became painfully aware that she was only human, and that this power was not meant for her kind. She had to rise to its occasion, to meet it head on and without fear - fire only respected the brave.

Her forearms and hands sweltered, burned; her skin would've blistered and charred if not for Tarja and Ko'tenda's strength. She hissed a curse through gritted teeth. Pyres of flames, double her height, roared into the air between her fingers before flashing and extinguishing completely.

Sara fell to one knee. The ground was slick and cool, and she pressed her palms into it thankfully. Steam eased between her fingers and wafted upwards. She raised her head, her lips parted as she strained for breath. The building before her no longer burned, though it trailed smoke into the already dense air. That waving arm gradually became attached to a shoulder and a chest and a brunette head with crooked glasses. And behind it were two younger girls, their faces black with soot and their matching viridian eyes wide and petrified.

Sara couldn't move. Her back ached like it were supporting a thousand mountains. She could speak, though, and that was enough. Her voice was barely there and sounded like dry ashes, but she continued anyway:

"Adiuva me, Iona…"

That woman skidded to a panting halt just beside her. She kept gesturing frantically to the same window, tears carving tiny trails in the dirt caked to her cheeks:

"There they are! Please, help them!"

Sara waited. She bowed her head and planted her knuckles into the ground. The smoke flickered and swayed, and Iona landed before her, a shining beacon of untarnished royal purple and gold amidst a backdrop of grey and angry, ashen red.

Sara pointed to the window. Iona craned her horned head in the direction of Sara's trembling finger. The dragon's flaxen wings flared and she trotted forward, gingerly, towards the crumbling building. She paused just before it, and slowly, gently, rose up onto her hind legs. Crouched, Iona from paws to horns was nearly fifteen feet tall; using the length of her hind legs, this gave her an added six or seven feet, and just enough to reach the window.

The humans inside of it gave her wide, awed stares. She offered her nose and neck as a ladder, the bottom of her toothed jaw just barely brushing the windowsill. Iona curled the edges of her deadly mouth in a strange draconian smile. She waited patiently, an affectionate purr rumbling in her long throat, and her buttery eyes blinking slowly.

"Come on, Henry!" the woman shouted, waving them on. "Trisha, Ophelia, you too! Hurry, please!"

Her voice seemed to snap them back into reality. The girls looked like twins, with the same shining black hair; they went first, each one of them sliding forward and holding onto one of Iona's temporal horns. They were young enough to kind of enjoy this experience - it wasn't everyday that a dragon rescued you from a burning building. Henry, the husband, took longer and was more hesitant.

It was just long enough for the brittle, charred boards at the building's heart to rend and snap completely. The top of the apartments tilted and yawned to the left. The wife's breath caught. Her daughters screamed; Sara just watched, unable to do any more.

Iona darted her giant head forward. Her front teeth nipped at the back of the man's collar. His longsleeved shirt saved his life. He shouted the whole way as he was was lifed to safety through the window by six-inch incisors; his home collapsed to Iona's feet seconds later, just as she put them all safely on the ground. Both girls ran frantically for their mother. Henry peered in wonderment at the gaping holes in his shirt. Iona retreated to Sara's side and helped her stand, using her nose lift up Sara's hunched chest.

Henry finally ran to his family. He hugged them tightly; his wife was sobbing, and his kids were shouting his name. All of them fled to safety seconds later, through the western gate, without a second glance at their saviors.

The dragon was more perturbed than her handler. It was subtle, but the spines at her neck and shoulders pricked and straightened as a low snarl boiled in her throat. Her scales seemed to shiver, creating a strange, rattling noise. She snaked one huge wing around Sara, protectively drawing the exhausted human close to her chest amidst a curtain of soft, leathery skin.

"It's okay," Sara coughed, resting her forehead against the beast's muscular shoulder. She smiled. Not far, someone else was screaming, begging for help. Sara inhaled and straightened her back. It hurt, and made her queasy. But she kept smiling, grabbing hold Iona's offered horns for support.

"Sissy always did say, 'our greatest deeds will go unnoticed.' Let's go."

"Stop!"

The Desian guard threw out one hand towards Raine. She fit very well into the costume; it was just the right amount of protective and revealing, and clung to her oft-unseen curves naturally, as had its original wearer. Desians, not much to her surprise, had run a rather sexist organization; while the males enjoyed a host of functional armor, apparently the females did not receive such a courtesy, and instead were deigned to wear half the material with half the functionality and protection.

She wore it like a champion. Her voice rang out, no less staid and confident: "We've done it!"

The guard paused. Raine couldn't see his eyes but it was clear he was evaluating each member of her

supposed captives; Sheena and Lloyd both wore their shackles with a barely-disguised amount of distaste. Genis and Colette followed along, realizing this was necessary, while Kratos remained similarly neutral, although the handcuffs on his wrists seemed completely fragile and useless.

"Done what?" the guard asked, palming his sword.

Raine jerked on Lloyd's chains and brought him forward. He scowled at her; this was not the first time she'd ignored it. "I've found the wanted criminal, Lloyd Irving!"

"What?" The guard seemed completely overwhelmed. "Good work! And you've even caught him alive!"

"I want to turn him over to the Five Grand Cardinals immediately," Raine began. Because she didn't really know which one ran this ranch, only that he/she was probably a member of that fated Desian organization. "Let me through."

"Understood," the guard replied without question. "Go on in!" And Raine could hardly believe that she was stepping into the Asgard human ranch. Her 'captives' were in a similar state of disbelief, although they thankfully maintained an appropriate downtrodden demeanor despite their longshot victory.

Raine remembered most details of the ranch at Palmacosta. She recalled the general layout, and that there were several healing and changing rooms meant for the ranch's staff. She went there first; her 'captives' followed behind her quickly and thankfully unnoticed.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Sheena was mumbling as she slipped off her handcuffs. "Maybe these Desians aren't as bright as I thought."

"Intelligence is not their strong suit," Kratos offered, making short work of his own cuffs. "The Desians' strength resides in their numbers, not their skills."

"Clearly," Genis muttered. He'd used a well-placed fire spell to melt the shackles from his wrists. "Sis, are you gonna stay in that uniform?"

The Professor was already halfway into a closet before she shot her brother a condescending glare. "Of course not. Wait a moment, please." She disappeared, then returned a bit later as her usual self. Genis breathed a sigh of relief at the comforting sight of those sepia-orange robes.

The room they were currently in had three doors - the one they'd come in, and two more along the western wall. The floor here was just like the Palmacosta ranch, a slick, silvery mixture of ceramic and metal. So far, this place looked to have been built with the same mysterious technology as before; soft white lights glowed from the tall ceiling and along the walls, and beside one of the doors was a large screen similar to that projector they'd seen in Magnius' control room. It had a moving image of some sort of conveyor belt. Hexagonal storage pods were being passed along from one side to the other, only to disappear into a cavelike chamber. Robotic arms would touch each one as it slid by, for a reason that Lloyd could't quite figure out. He narrowed his eyes and stepped closer to the image, trying to see what, if anything was inside each one of those pods - and then something glinted. Something familiar that he'd seen a lot of by now.

Raine said exactly what he was thinking: "It looks like this is an Exsphere manufacturing plant."

"So it would seem," Kratos muttered. Lloyd glanced back at the mercenary; his voice had been strangely tense, and his shoulders and jaw seemed to be in a similar state. He looked uncomfortable. Lloyd didn't like it here, either; maybe the man was just being extra vigilant? He mentally shrugged and turned back to the screen.

"These are all Exspheres?" he asked, equal parts confused and awed. "Incredible."

"Shh," Colette cut in, her head tilted to one side. "I hear voices coming from the next room."

Genis quirked an eyebrow at her. "I don't hear anything."

"Be careful anyway," Lloyd insisted.

As if on cue, the northern door hissed open. Three men ran through it; they all looked to be in a hurry, as if they were being chased. The man in the lead, Lloyd instantly recognized due to his trademark winglike black hair and his strange grey robes and armor - Botta, the Desian he'd met back in the Triet Desert. That seemed like forever ago.

Botta came to a halt, as did the other two soldiers beside him. His eyes widened. "Hmm? You!"

"You're the same Desians we ran into before," Lloyd growled, "back near Triet!"

The soldier to Botta's right sneered and scoffed an amused laugh. "They still think we're Desians."

"Sir," the other began. "This is the perfect chance!"

Kratos stepped forward silently, one hand readying to draw his blade. "Are you looking for a fight?"

This seemed to jar Botta, who backed up and motioned for his soldiers to hold. "Wait. Kratos is with them. We'll retreat for now."

Lloyd glanced back and forth between the two men, eyebrows raised. "You two know each other?"

"I suppose," Kratos offered evenly and with a slight frown. "If you mean the fact that we ran into them at Iselia and Triet."

Botta frowned too. "I think it would be in both our interests for us not to fight here."

"Do what you will," Kratos said darkly. His hand remained poised on his sword's hilt, and his garnet eyes watched closely as Botta and his soldiers dashed past them and out the far exit.

As the door slid closed, Lloyd watched. Something made the back of his neck twitch. He felt at once heavy, laden with an embroiled wariness, like a wild animal suddenly sensing its predator. He saw Colette; the Chosen had her head tilted towards the same western door, though her eyes wouldn't meet his. She'd heard something there. He had too, though undoubtedly not as clearly - but enough.

Footsteps that clanked strangely, scraping, metallic. A thin, smug voice that issued forth condescending laughs as often as words. Lloyd turned and locked his eyes on the door.

A Desian entered- clearly, not just any Desian. This man was taller. Skinny, and full of lithe, condescending power. Glistening, pale-blonde hair was slicked back atop his angled head. His dusty white face was just slightly wrinkled, most pronounced at the corners of his eyes and the edges of his wicked lips. A pair of sharp golden shoulder-guards accented his militaristic blue and black outfit, and his eyes… they were the worst. Impossibly thin. Black, and treacherous, and dotted with pinpoint red pupils. He looked utterly alien, full of a disturbing, whimsical apathy, and entirely unfit to be walking the earth.

His serpentine mouth curled into a sneer. "Well, this is a surprise."

Raine palmed her staff and narrowed her slate-blue eyes. Genis readied one hand on his kendama. Colette stood on her tiptoes, ready to unleash her wings. The back of Lloyd's left hand burned and screamed; the gem there had begun glowing ferociously, to the point that Lloyd could've sworn it was vibrating. He ventured a glance at Kratos, and instantly regretted it.

The mercenary looked livid. Wrathful. Lloyd hoped he'd never see that dark fire in Kratos' eyes directed at him, because it was simply horrendous, and full of an uncontrolled bloodlust that Lloyd previously hadn't thought the man capable of.

Kratos glanced at Lloyd. And it was like pouring water on smoldering flames: that blistering glare eased into casual, familiar frigidity. Lloyd swore he heard the man deliberately breathe. He didn't look at Lloyd anymore; then again, Lloyd could no longer draw his attention away from this maleficent Desian, either. He kept speaking, and each word was like nails on a chalkboard, clawing and scraping at Lloyd's ears.

"When I heard we had some rats, I assumed it was only the the Renegades," the man continued, stepping forward with each of his gloved hands held behind his ramrod-straight back. "But instead, I find the wanted inferior beings."

Lloyd's breath shot up his throat and over his frantic, furious tongue: "Who are you?!"

The Desian stepped closer. His thin eyes narrowed even more, until they looked barely open at all, those unsettling fiery pupils flashing with challenge and interest. "You barge into my ranch, and then demand my name?"

Lloyd only stared back in silent combat. He squared his shoulders and instinctively tried to hide the incensed stone on his hand; he wasn't sure why, exactly, because it had been awhile since any Desian had spoken of its presence. The Exsphere almost had its own will, and it desired nothing more than to get away.

"Some of you know me," the Desian continued, with a patronizing smirk. "I'm sure of it."

"He's Kvar," Kratos said instantly, though the words seemed to disgust him. "One of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals."

This earned him a throaty cackle. "Ah, I see that I was correct." And here, every trace of that amusement and enjoyment shriveled up instantly, leaving behind a malicious husk. He threw one finger out and pointed straight at the hand Lloyd had tried ineffectually to conceal. "Now, onto pertinent matters: that Exsphere is without a doubt the product of my Angelus Project!"

"We have to go," Colette said suddenly, her airy voice tinged with certainty. "Right now. Please, Lloyd."

Lloyd didn't want to. He knew this creepy man had important things to say. He knew he needed to hear them, but he also knew that he trusted Colette. So he took her hand and tried to smile.

"Do you not know where you are?" Kvar hissed suddenly.

Lloyd paused. He took another look at that monitor, displaying the sorting and production of Exspheres from those pods. What was in those pods he didn't know, and he didn't ever want to, and all he wanted was to get out of here-

"This is where the Exspheres are removed from the host bodies," Kvar stated simply. Factually. And with blazing pride. "Where they truly become powerful."

Raine spoke through a bone-dry, hesitant throat: "Do you mean that Exspheres are made from human bodies?"

Oh, that was so cute. These inferior beings that had invaded his ranch apparently didn't have any idea why exactly they were here. Kvar felt it necessary to provide an explanation.

"Not exactly," he admitted. "Exspheres are dormant at first." He gestured one arm to the screen, which either by random chance or by his own twisted will, now displayed a long line of emaciated humans being fed along one of those same conveyor belts. "They extract nourishment from humans to grow and awaken." And here he delivered the final blow, watching their faces with a wide, crooked grin:

"Human ranches are Exsphere manufacturing plants. Why else would we spend our time raising and taking care of these inferior beings?"

"That's terrible," Genis spat. Marble smiled at him from his memory. He scowled harder.

"Terrible?" Kvar repeated, tilting his slender chin towards the tall ceiling as he breathed a laugh. "Terrible, is what you've done." He pointed one savage finger at Lloyd. "Stealing and using Exspheres that we've invested so much time and care in creating. You deserve to be punished."

Lloyd's heart caught fire. He stepped forward even as a dozen Desians surrounded them, backing them all into a corner with silver sword tips, glowing metallic staffs and pointed spears. If he were alone, Lloyd totally would've taken them all on without a second thought; but he had his friends to worry about too. And it stilled his vengeful steps. He grit his teeth. "Damn, we're surrounded…"

Kvar cut through his minions. He kept his hands clasped behind his thin back, jutting his armored chest forward. "Lloyd, your Exsphere was to be an offering to Lord Yggdrasill. It's time you gave it back."

"Yggdrasill," Raine echoed quietly. "I suppose that's the name of your leader."

Kvar ignored her. His obsidian eyes flashed impishly. "Now, for the sake of our great leader, and for the sake of my own success…I need that Exsphere!"

Lloyd shook his head indignantly. He looked for the thousandth time at the back of his left hand. "Again? What's so damn special about my Exsphere?"

Kvar looked offended at this, like Lloyd should've known better. "That is the result of years of time-consuming research." Offense curled into a grin. "I can finally reclaim what was stolen by that filthy female host body."

Lloyd heard Kratos' breath hitch. The others just stared ahead, mortified and curious.

"What are you talking about?" Lloyd's voice was airy, and distant. Clueless. But as he kept speaking, it hardened, like water freezing into ice. "The female host body? You're not talking about…"

My mother, he wanted to say. But he couldn't speak those holy words in the presence of such a demon.

Kvar held one hand pensively to his chin, using his thumb and forefinger to stroke along his jaw. "Hmm, you don't know anything, do you?"

Lloyd stared wide-eyed at the Desian, his fingers loosening their grip on his blades and eventually resting uselessly at his hips.

Kvar continued, impassive. "That Exsphere was cultured on host body A012, human name, Anna - your mother."

His words were spoken so casually, and with such disinterest. As if whoever was meant to hear them should've laughed, or found the story amusing. Lloyd did anything but.

Anna. His mother. His left hand, and that grave in his yard back home, and those ghostly touches, and soft-spoken nightmares, and memories from a time before time-

Reality simply stopped. Lloyd stared down at his feet like he had to remind himself that they still existed. He realized absently that he was breathing hard; oxygen and rage filled his head with a furious buzz. He looked up at Kvar. His whole chest hurt. He wanted to curse, to shout, to scream, but couldn't say anything.

"She took it," Kvar was still saying, "and escaped from the facility. Of course, she paid for her crime with her life."

"You…" Lloyd snarled. His eyebrows were drawn in tight against his brow. Beneath his gloves, his knuckles turned white as he grabbed onto his swords. The left one shook, creaking against its scabbard, because his whole hand couldn't sit still, and burned with prickling, ravenous energy. "You killed my-"

"Now, now," Kvar admonished, arching his back, grinning with all the charm of a scorpion. "Don't blame me. I'm not the one that killed Anna. Your father did."

"Liar!" Lloyd screamed, his blades scraping into existence before him.

Kvar laughed again. The sound was hollow, and heinous, and boiled Lloyd's blood. "When her Key Crest-less Exsphere was removed, Anna turned into a monster… and your father killed her. Pathetic, don't you think?"

Kratos rarely displayed anger. The worldly mercenary was usually last to fall for emotional tricks or goads, and excelled at reminding his companions to keep a clear head.

...This was not one of those times.

His right hand crunched into a fist. It hovered just beside his hip. He lowered his head, letting his bangs hide volcanic garnet eyes, and churned out in low voice: "...Do not speak ill of the dead."

Kvar threw his slick head back and laughed heartily. "Who cares? They were both just a couple of filthy humans - worthless maggots."

Lloyd stepped forward. The swarm of Desians surrounding him made little difference; his gaze was locked on their leader. He managed to speak, in a vicious, raw voice that didn't much resemble his own: "Don't you ever talk about my parents like that!" He stepped forward again. And once more…

Sheena didn't know any of these people very well yet. But she knew that this situation was not going to end well, and that Lloyd was not exactly rational right now. A dozen Desians wouldn't normally be a huge challenge for the five of them, but Kvar had them backed into a corner with no room to fight. Raine seemed too stunned to move or think, as did Genis and the Chosen, and Kratos had this enraged look on his normally stoic face that almost perfectly mirrored Lloyd's.

Yeah, this was up to her.

She swiftly palmed her seals. She looked down at the piece of inscribed paper in her hand with a soft smile.

"I'm gonna use the last one, Grandpa," she muttered quietly.

Sheena flung her arm in a small arc. The seal erupted in light and vanished completely. Smoke billowed from where it had been, along with a blinding flash - the Desians shouted their surprise and scrambled backwards. Above them, hovering in midair, her guardian appeared, all long, lanky arms and ruffling green feathers. It shrieked from its shining beak; the air whipped to life, throwing the Desians across the room like dolls, Kvar included.

"Let's go!" Sheena commanded, already sprinting towards the exit. The others quickly followed. The made a beeline for the front gates; the guardian had put the whole ranch on high alert, and whatever patrols that were typically outdoors had been called inside for reinforcements. Which meant no one, thankfully, saw them leave.

They came to a panting halt once they'd reached the shelter of the trees. Colette was grinning at Sheena, her cerulean eyes wide with awe and wonder. "Thank you, Sheena!"

"Don't mention it," she grumbled. And she looked at Lloyd, who kept staring intently at the back of his left hand. "What are you going to do now?"

"Let's return to Luin first," Raine suggested calmly, with an empathetic glance at Lloyd.

"Okay," Genis breathed.

Kratos nodded stiffly. "I concur."

Lloyd didn't speak.