Chapter Twenty-One: She's No William Wallace
"I still hate this plan," Will said as Dorr snapped handcuffs around his wrists, thankfully keeping them loose so he'd be able to pull them off himself.
"Shut up, Lloyd," Genis grumbled as his wrists received similar treatment. "This is our best hope of getting in."
"Yeah, yeah, I guess." He looked over his shoulder at the trees, knowing Ellie and the rest of the army were waiting. They would launch their attack at three, so Will, Genis, and Kratos had to get inside by then. Genis said they probably had about fifteen minutes to go. They were a bit late, because one of the dragons pulling the wagon had thrown a hissy fit half way through and refused to walk any further until Dorr tossed it a steak. Now Will tapped his foot, eager to get inside, certain the attack would launch just as the Desians came to greet them.
"Let's go," Dorr said, and the three now-handcuffed assassins followed him towards the back entrance of the ranch. Wearing handcuffs was no fun at all. How did Regal put up with them all the time? They were heavy on his wrists and he felt incredibly vulnerable, even with them in front and not behind his back.
"Halt!" said a Desian standing by the entrance. "What are you filthy inferior beings doing here?" He raised his crossbow, and Will was suddenly afraid they'd be shot before even getting into the ranch.
"I am Governor-General Dorr," he said. "These are the three prisoners charged with murdering a pair of Desians a week ago."
"Hmph," the Desian guard said, lowering his crossbow and looking a bit upset that he wouldn't get a chance to shoot anybody. His partner was lounging on the other side of the door, and now got to his feet with a groan.
"Alright," he said. "Let's take them to the prison block. Lord Magnius can deal with them later. If they really are the murderers, he'd probably want to torture them first."
"Wait," the first one said. "We need to fill out the papers first."
"Aw, papers?"
"We can't just take them in without any paperwork! There'd be no documentation!"
"You and your fancy papers," the second groaned. "I swear, Ridai, you take ranch protocol way too seriously. Lord Magnius doesn't care about no stinking paperwork!"
"But what about when that really scary woman with the green hair comes around inspecting? If we're slacking on our paperwork, she'll kill us!"
Will glanced over his shoulder again, wishing they'd get on with it. They were running out of time!
"Ok, ok," the guard said. "We'll do your stupid paperwork."
"Yay!" Ridai said, opening the door, and stepping inside. He spent over a minute shuffling around in there, probably looking for this mysterious paperwork. He finally returned with a pen and a clipboard, while Will just worried about the time. He wasn't even paying attention to the guards, and was taken aback when Ridai was suddenly in his face and said, "Human name?"
Will froze. He couldn't tell them his name, then they'd know he was wanted criminal 0074 and probably take him right to Magnius. Shit, they hadn't thought of pseudonyms!
"Hey!" the Desian punched him in the face, causing his head to twist back. "I'm talking to you, inferior being!"
"W-Will," he stammered, spitting out the first name he could think up. Ugh, he'd bit his cheek so hard it was bleeding a bit and he'd probably have a black eye soon. Ouch, dammit, he was lucky his nose wasn't broken. "William Lawley!"
That seemed to satisfy the Desian as he scribbled it down on the paper. "Age?"
"Sixteen," he said quickly, not wanting to get punched again. Wait, Lloyd was seventeen. Dammit, well, it was part of his disguise. They hadn't thought they'd need to come up with cover stories. Damn responsible Desians. Dorr was looking alarmed, and like Will he kept glancing back in the direction of the army. This was taking too long.
The other Desian obviously thought so as well. "Come on, Ridai… let's just take them in. Don't bother with all that stuff. They're probably not going to be made into hosts anyway."
"It's ranch protocol!" Great, they were arguing again. How much longer was this going to take? Surely their fifteen minutes were almost up...
He sighed in frustration, looking over his shoulder again. "Hey!" Ridai yelled. "You impatient or something, slime? Eager to get to your prison cell?" The Desian followed this with punching him again, this time right in the chest and sending him sprawling.
As he fell, his arms flew out on instinct, ripping the loose handcuffs off as he fell to the dirt. Everyone stared at him, his companions in horror, the Desians in surprise. "H-hey! His handcuffs!" the second Desian said, while Ridai quickly grabbed Genis.
He yanked on the half-elf's hands before anyone could do anything, and the cuffs fell off easily. "He's not cuffed either! It's a trap! Sound the alarm!"
The unnamed Desian had already grabbed Will and pulled him to his feet while he was still dizzy from the punch. In seconds he felt cuffs on his hands again, but this time they were real, locked securely and impossible to break.
"Dorr!" Ridai yelled, as Kratos ripped off his cuffs and drew his sword. "You traitor!"
"Stop!" the Desian holding Will yelled, pulling out his own sword. "Drop your weapon, inferior being, or this one dies!" The sword was placed across his chest, the point digging into his neck even as he craned his neck to get away.
Kratos hesitated, eyes glancing furiously between Will and Ridai struggling with Genis. Dorr, meanwhile, had started backing up, his expression terrified as his plan blew up in their faces.
A sudden explosion was heard in the distance beyond the trees, and all heads turned to see smoked drifting up. They heard shouts, and the pounding of footsteps. The battle had begun.
"Attack!" a new Desian shouted as he ran down the corridor and came outside. "We're under attack!" He arrived on the scene, and saw them at a stalemate. Kratos refused to put his sword down, but the Desian still held his own weapon at Will, while Ridai had successfully handcuffed Genis.
"Kaid!" Ridai shouted. "Arrest these inferior beings!"
Kaid draw his sword and approached Kratos. The mercenary just smirked, "You want to fight me?"
Kaid smirked back, eyes hidden by the helmet. "Certainly." Ouch, Will thought. He was about to die.
Instead of attacking Kratos though, he lunged towards the mercenary, who raised his sword to block the attach. Kaid, however, feinted to the right and sunk his sword into Dorr's chest.
The clearing froze as Dorr gasped, then fell to his knees. Kaid pulled his sword out, slick with red, as Dorr coughed and choked on blood. Will's eyes were wide with horror as he watched, remembered the Wonder Chef's words. The game didn't like it when people who were supposed to die lived.
With a snarl, Kratos turned and slashed at an unsuspecting Kaid, adding another corpse to the clearing. "Stop!" the Desian holding Will said. "One more move, human, and the boy dies!" The sword sunk into his neck a little, and he felt a bead of blood tricklw down his throat.
Kratos froze, eyes darting around the scene as he tried to figure a way out. Will was feeling incredibly guilty as he desperately hoped Kratos would give up. It would ruin their plans to defeat Magnius, but, dammit, he didn't want to die!
'Don't worry,' Lloyd said, though he sounded pretty worried. 'Dad won't let you die. I know it.'
After several agonising seconds, Kratos lowered his sword and glared at the Desians with the single most frightening look Will had ever seen. "Drop your sword," Ridai said, holding Genis firmly. Kratos looked like he was about to start kicking their asses anyway, but the Desian holding Will pushed his sword against his throat a bit harder. Will winced as the blade dug into his neck, and Kratos reluctantly tossed his blade to the ground. He hung his head, eyes closed and fists clenched at his sides.
There was the sound of footsteps, and a group of four Desians ran past the door. "Hey!" Ridai shouted. "You guys! Come help us!"
The group turned and came back, looking at the scene curiously. "What's going on here?' the captain said.
"These inferior beings tried to trick us. They're the ones who murdered Mal and Trenic the other week! Help us bring them in. Be careful," he gestured to Kratos, "this one's violent."
"Do you feel something funny?" one of them asked.
"Yeah, the mana feels weird."
"Who cares!" Ridai shouted. "Just take that guy in before he decides to attack again! He's already killed Kaid!"
"Kaid?" the captain looked around and saw the Desian's body on the ground next to Dorr. "Oh shit! Kaid!" He looked at Kratos, "You bastard!"
Kratos didn't look up, and he appeared to be mumbling something under his breath.
"Hey you! Inferior human! I'm talking to you!"
Kratos finally rose his head, and stared at the Desian captain with a stony glare. He said simply, "Eruption."
"Wha-" the Desian had time to say, before the ground beneath their feet suddenly churched, glowing red and orange. The Desian holding Will dropped him, and Will looked around in horror as the spell went off around him, in disbelief that Kratos had just used it with him in the middle of it.
He heard Desians scream and the world was a rush of noise from grinding and exploding rocks, but he couldn't feel any heat on his face, and didn't feel himself thrown through the air by the force of the spell. Huh?
"Follow me," Kratos said, grabbing his arm and running for the door. Genis, also with a stunned look on his face as the bodies of the Desians – he couldn't tell if they were dead or just knocked out – lay around them, burned and bloodied.
"Kratos!" Will Shouted, trying to run with his hands still cuffed. "Wait! What was that? How did you cast without the glowing on the ground? How come it didn't affect me or Genis?"
"We don't have time to talk now," Kratos said. "Just follow me."
Still frustrated with him, Will reluctantly started running down the corridor, hoping that wherever they were going, it would lead to the keys to these goddamn handcuffs. Regal was insane.
The battle was in twenty minutes. Will and the others should be heading inside within a few minutes, and then they'd launch their attack here. Ellie flitted around the tent, too nervous to sit still. She felt much better, the poison almost completely purged from her system and her injuries healed. She was still glad she wasn't actually going in, though.
"Chosen," Neil said, pushing back the tent flap and walking in.
"Yeah?" she said, still hovering near the roof.
"Ah. I was just thinking, we're going into battle soon. With Governor-General Dorr not here, I was wondering if you'd mind speaking to the troops beforehand?"
"Say what?" she lowered herself to the ground, pulling in her wings and crossing her arms. She was wearing her usual white outfit again, having picked up a spare from the chapel. It was lucky all the churches they went to had these priestess outfits.
"Just a quick speech to encourage them," Neil said. "Anything the Chosen says will be enough."
She sighed. "Well… alright. I can't promise you it'll be good, but I'll give it a shot."
Neil smiled. "Excellent. The troops are gathering in the woods; if you'd just follow me…"
They walked through the camp, hidden in the forest near the ranch. Abandoned cooking fires dotted the walkways between tents, and somewhere Raine was with the nurses preparing for wounded soldiers.
Oh crap, though. She had to make a speech to an army. It wasn't that she had stage fright (after all, she was in drama) but she had no clue what to say. "Go get 'em, rah, rah, rah!"? Or "Don't worry everyone, you'll be fine!"? Well, no, she didn't want to lie to them.
'Just tell them to fight their very best,' Colette advised. 'And that they're fighting to save their city and loved ones.'
'Yeah, I guess so. I'll just talk about how important this is.'
Hm, ok, what were successful pre-battle speeches she knew of? She'd seen enough movies to get an idea of what the speech should entail.
'I'm sure you'll do just fine!'
'Thanks, Colette.'
A few minutes later, they arrived at the front lines, where nervous soldiers stood around clutching makeshift weapons. They didn't have uniforms or armour, and some had no weapons beyond pitchforks or hatchets. Some of the soldiers looked no older than fourteen, while others looked like they'd been hauled out of the crypt. Dorr said they had close to five thousand soldiers after volunteers joined the militia before the battle, but she wondered how many were actually decently aged and armed.
"Um, hi," she said, taking flight and looking down at the assembled men (and a few women, too, she noticed). "As you probably know, I'm the Chosen of Mana. And um.. I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny! You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are!" Ok, so she'd seen the movie Braveheart. "I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends, and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day! We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! Today, we celebrate our Independence Day! For this day we fight! And they may take our lives, but they can never take our freedom!" Ok, so she'd seen Independence Day and Return of the King, too.
Regardless of where she'd filched the speech from, the army seemed to find it encouraging enough. They broke into cheers, stomping and shouting as Neil ran up beneath her and attempted to restore order.
She landed on the grass and smiled. Well, that hadn't gone too poorly.
'Good job! I thought it was great!'
'Well, you've never seen the movies I've ripped them from.'
'…Oh. Well, I'm sure you still did good!'
'Right…'
"Chosen," Neil said, running over to her as she walked back towards the tents. "We're going to launch the attack in five minutes."
She nodded. "Ok, good. I wish I knew if Lloyd and the others got in alright, though."
"I'm sure they're fine. Though Governor-General Dorr should have returned by now…"
"Can we start the battle without him?"
Neil quickly nodded. "Dorr wouldn't want all our plans thrown off because of him." He took a deep breath. "I think it's time. Are you ready?"
Ellie frowned, then shook her head. "Nope. But I don't think I ever will be, so… Hobey-ho, let's go."
Neil walked off to direct the troops , leaving Ellie alone. She wasn't sure where she was supposed to go, so she pulled out her wings and lightly hopped up into the trees, where she sat down on the branch to watch troops march past. They all looked so scared, trembling as they clutched their makeshift weapons, eyes wide and inexperienced. For many this must be their first real battle, and for many this would be their last one as well. They had a right to be terrified.
The first wave charged. The Desians noticed them coming as soon as they broke out of the trees, and within minutes Desians began swarming out of the gates to meet them. Ellie perched in her tree, watching the fight with horrified fascination. She couldn't pull her eyes off the battle, her overly-perceptive senses picking up every scream of pain, every splatter of blood, every thud as a body hit the ground.
"Colette!" It was Raine. She stood under the tree and looked up at her. "Come down and help me. Wounded soldiers will start being brought in soon."
She nodded and floated down, landing next to Raine with a thud. "Come on," Raine said, taking her hand and leading her back to the tents.
Ellie looked over her shoulder, at the seemingly endless supply of Desians swarming out of the ranch. "Do you suppose they got in ok?"
Raine glanced back as well, then said, "Yes. I'm sure they're just fine."
Will panted as he collapsed on an overturned bucket. The lights in the supply room were off, and he leaned against the wall as his heart rate slowed down.
Kratos locked the door and turned around, looking down at Will and Genis collapsed on the floor. Both of them were trying to catch their breath, but Kratos didn't even look tired.
Of course, maybe it was because they hadn't gotten their handcuffs off yet. It was extremely awkward trying to sprint with his hand shackled together in front of him. Or, more likely, Kratos was just that good. After running into the ranch, they'd dashed after Kratos, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the Desians as possible.
"Lloyd," Kratos said, "Hold out your hands."
He did so, hoping this meant Kratos was going to take the cuffs off. They were really annoying him. Kratos looked around on the shelves of the cramped supply room, finally finding a thick bit of wire. This he stuck into the lock and fiddled it around, until the handcuffs clicked and fell off.
"Whoa," Will said, marvelling his free wrists as Kratos moved on to help Genis. "Where'd you learn to do that?"
'Dad is a man of many skills,' Lloyd said sagely.
"Someone showed me a long time ago," he responded as Genis' cuffs clinked to the floor. Then he returned to Will and held his hand over Will's eye, which was sore and felt a bit puffy. "First Aid," he muttered, and Will felt the swelling die down. "Are you both alright?"
They nodded. "Yeah," Will said. "But Dorr…"
"Dorr is dead and gone," Kratos said. "There's nothing we can do now, and it does not do to dwell on the past."
Kratos put his hand to the door to let themselves out, but Genis said, "Wait, Kratos!" The mercenary looked questioningly back at him, and Genis continued, "How did you do that earlier? I didn't see any spell on the ground and the attack didn't affect Lloyd or me!"
"It's a skill I've picked up over the years. The light on the ground when you cast is a manifestation of the mana you're gathering leaking out beforehand to provide more space to build it up, though it is still under your control. With focused control, it is possible to keep that light from appearing, though the resulting spell is subsequently weaker."
"Oh…" Genis said. Kratos started unlocking the door when Genis said, "Could you teach me?"
Kratos paused, then sighed a bit. "If we have time."
He opened the closet door and cautiously peaked out. "The hall appears to be empty; we have our friends in the militia to thank for that. But follow me quickly and quietly."
Kratos left, but before they could follow, Will turned to Genis and said, "Genis, buddy, there's something I need to tell you."
"What is it, Lloyd?"
"I think it's time for us to come out of the closet."
"Huh?"
"I love you." He stared into Genis' confused eyes. "And I don't want to hide it from the rest of the world anymore."
"…Oooookaaaaay. I'm going to follow Kratos now…" He scurried out the room and into the hall, Will following with a grin on his face.
"Wait, Genis! Come back! I'm in love with you!" His feet echoed as he thudded along the hall to catch up with Kratos.
When he slowed to a fast walk with the other too, Kratos glared at him. "What did I say about quietly?"
"Er, sorry."
'Hey, just what exactly were you implying about my relationship with Genis?'
'Just that you loooooove him.'
'Well, yeah, he's my best friend.'
Will rolled his eyes. 'No, Lloyd, not like that.'
'Then what -'
'Oh, Lloyd. You are so mercifully free from the ravages of intelligence.'
'Uh… yes! Yes I am!'
'...'
They walked down the hall silently for several minutes. Will decided he really didn't like human ranches. It was so shiny and clean; such a huge contrast from the dirty wooden walls he'd grown accustomed to in Sylvarant. Their footsteps echoed on the polished floor, and he couldn't help but think carpeting would make a huge improvement. Wait a minute…was he really analysing the ranch's interior design? Jesus H. Christ, he really had come out of the closet!
They turned down another hallway, and Will could only assume Kratos knew where he was going. He also prayed he didn't get separated, because all of the corridors looked exactly the same and he'd certainly get lost down here if left to his own devices.
Like Kratos had said, the hallways were empty. Every Desian in the ranch must be out fighting the Palmacosta army, and although it was good for them, he pitied the army facing so many troops. He still hated this plan. Too many troops were being killed right now just to act as a diversion. He didn't even want to kill Magnius anyway! It would be so much better if they could try and make peace, negotiate a treaty, something before busting in, swords raised.
"So, Kratos," Will finally said after about ten minutes of silence. "Who was it you learned lock picking from?"
Kratos glanced at him, eyebrows raised. "Why?"
"I'm just curious. And kind of wanting conversation."
Kratos sighed. "My uncle."
"Oh, really? Cool. So how old were you?"
"Seven, if I recall correctly."
"You know, you're not very good at conversations."
"Am I not?"
"No. In conversations you're supposed to have both parties sharing equal information. Whenever I talk with you I feel like I'm have a frickin' interview."
"Maybe you should stop trying to talk to me."
"Awww… now you're just being mean."
"Lloyd, be quiet."
"All I'm trying to do is talk to you, geeze."
"Lloyd! Enemies are approaching!"
"What? Shit!"
Three Desians had spotted them and were running down the hall towards the group. Genis started casting while Will and Kratos drew their swords. Will gritted his teeth, determined not to hesitate this time. Kratos said he thought too much, so here he was, going into battle, and he tried to clear his mind. He'd just fight, kill these faceless Desians, and move on. If he didn't let his mind dwell on the kills, they wouldn't haunt him so much afterwards. It was too hard to keep caring about every single death, and he knew with grim certainty they wouldn't get out of the ranch without racking up a death count.
"Super Sonic Thrust!" he shouted as soon as a Desian got close enough. Meanwhile, Genis threw an icicle at another one, and Will couldn't help but wince when the blade of ice shot up and hit the poor guy between his legs. That had got to hurt. Even if he lived through this, he was definitely never having children.
"Fierce Demon Fang!" he then shouted, slamming his swords down on the Desian. He tried to not even think about the tech, and just used the first one that came to his mind. Stop thinking about the battle. Just flow with it.
He followed up with a normal slash, finishing the Desian off a few seconds after Kratos dealt his a killing blow. Will then jumped over the body to finish off the one Genis had wounded, who was currently lying on the floor in a heap, his… lower regions covered in blood and face scrunched up in pain. Will stabbed him through the neck, then followed Kratos' example and wiped his blades off on the corpse's shirt.
"You've improved," Kratos said.
"…Yeah…" He'd followed all of Kratos' advice. He'd kept his mind from thinking about the killing, he'd let his arms follow through with attacks by instinct. But he still felt like vomiting as he looked at the blood all over the floor and the thought that he was the one who spilt it. Huh. Maybe this was why they didn't put in carpeting.
"Let's go," Kratos said, continuing down the hall, not giving the bodies a second glance. Will was unable to do so, staring at the mangled corpses for a couple seconds before finally following. He had to kill, he reminded himself. They were Desians. They were evil. They were the bad guys. They would kill him without a second thought. He couldn't keep feeling like this over every single death, because during the course of the game he would probably have to kill dozens more.
And so they walked on. Kratos didn't even mention or even appear to be affected by the kills. But of course he didn't; he'd had four thousand years to grow accustomed to murder. Genis was silent as they walked along, kendama held tightly in his hands.
As they walked, his mind drifted. Hm, in the game, Lloyd had friendship values for everyone. Plot stuff depended on those values, so they were probably important. What were his then?
Let's see… number one, Ellie of course. He'd known her for over a decade, so she had quite the head start on the 'best-friends-forever' scale. Of course, it occurred to him that at Origin's Seal, Mithos possessed the person closest to Lloyd, which would mean Ellie. So, if she was closest to him, he was putting her in danger. He should try and piss Ellie off enough that she dropped to at least second. But… how the hell could he purposely try to ruin his relationship with his best friend? Even if afterwards he tried to patch it up saying 'it was to protect you' she'd still probably slap him for being an idiot. Besides which, it may be incredibly selfish, but he needed Ellie. He needed her to be his stable connection to home and he needed her for support when she was the only person who could really understand what he was going through. He couldn't risk losing that, even if it might keep her safe at some distant point down the road.
Number two, he wasn't quite sure on. It might be Kratos, because Kratos was the one who always helped him when he felt depressed (besides Ellie). Kratos was sort of like a father-figure, which was probably because as far as Kratos knew, he was Will's father. Still, Kratos was kind of an asshole and quite often pissed him off. Then there was the whole training thing, in which it almost felt like Kratos enjoyed beating the shit out of him. Kratos always yelled at him, always ignored him when he tried to talk, and in general just wasn't that friendly. He wouldn't even say goodnight, for some inane and probably petty reason. So, he'd be number two if it was a scale of how good he was at calming him down after sinking into depression, but if it was just friendship, Kratos was at the bottom.
Third (or maybe second, he still wasn't sure) was Genis. He still felt like cheating, though. Genis was infallibly loyal and would die for him, but that was because he was Lloyd. Genis was his friend because he'd always been Lloyd's friend, and he wondered if Genis would even give a damn about him if he wasn't in Lloyd's body.
Last came Raine. Poor Raine. It wasn't that he didn't like her, he just didn't really talk to her very much. Especially after her accusing him outside Palmacosta, he felt really awkward around her. If anyone were to figure out that he was an outsider in Lloyd' body, it would be Raine. Plus, whenever she did talk it was usually something educational and, while sort of interesting, talking about the obscure history of some ancient dynasty wasn't exactly good-friends bonding material.
'Hey! You forgot about me!'
'Oh yeah. Not having a corporeal body, you're easy not to notice sometimes.'
'Carp… real? Huh?'
Sigh. 'Physical. A body that I can see and touch. Not floating around in my head.'
'Oh, ok. I think I got it. But you forgot about me.'
'Er, well, that's kind of awkward. You know, saying to your face where you rank.'
'Come on, telllll meeeee. I won't get mad; I promise.'
'Fine. Below Ellie but above Raine. Happy?'
'Below Ellie, above Raine. Ok, that puts me… let's see, Ellie's number one, so I'm below her, and then the Professor was number four so… hey! Hey, that's just telling me I'm not first and not last!'
'Ah, so he can be taught.'
"Hey, Lloyd," Genis suddenly said, distracting him from his conversation with the voice in his head. Ok, that came out weird.
"Yeah?"
"I keep thinking about Dorr."
"Oh..." He didn't really want to think about Dorr. He had been able to convince himself that the man had to die, and that nothing they could have done could change that. He'd even convinced himself that by delaying his death they'd enabled him to die with a clear conscience as he made up for his crimes.
"Doesn't it feel kind of pointless?" Genis asked. "After everything we did to help Dorr, he just… he just died. Just like that. It kind of makes you wonder if it was really worth it."
Will frowned. "I don't know… I think saving someone's life is always worth it. You might as well say that since everyone is going to die eventually, what's the point of saving anyone?"
"Dorr had lost his wife and his only child," Kratos said. "Now he's gone to join her in the afterlife. There are those who might consider him lucky."
Kratos' response was met by silence. He had a way of killing conversations.
"Kratos," Genis said after a while. "You never explained how come your Eruption didn't hurt me and Lloyd. My spells always have friendly fire."
"I've learned how to control who it hits."
"How?"
"Practice."
"How did you practice?" Will asked. "Did you, like, get a bunch of your friends and try to blow some of them up but not others? They must have been really loyal friends." He had a sudden mental image of Kratos telling Yuan to stand next to Mithos and casting Eruption on them. Hm, maybe that would have solved the world's problems, though Martel would probably be a bit ticked if her Eruption'd her brother.
Kratos glared at him. "No," he said simply, and didn't elaborate.
A few minutes later, they heard footsteps again. Crap, more Desians. "There they are!" came a shout. "You! Humans! Stop!"
Kratos already had his sword out as he spun around, and Will saw that it was the two Desians from earlier, Ridai and his friend. They had their sword out as they ran towards them, and Genis started casting. Will prayed he wasn't going with Icicle again, because that had been really cruel.
Ok, don't think. Don't think. Just go.
"Beast!" The blue lion erupted from his sword and crashed into Ridai, knocking him backwards with a shout. As he stumbled to get to his feet again, Will heard a horrible scream and a sickening squelch as Kratos impaled the other one, stabbing him again after he fell to the floor.
"Air Thrust!" Ridai was battered by the winds and he fell to the floor again, Kratos walking towards him to finish him off. Will was closer, though, and raised his sword to bring it down and end the fight.
Ridai got to his knees, and started getting up before collapsing onto his hands and knees, head hanging towards the floor as he panted. "D-Donab," he said. "You k-killed him. And you killed Kaid, too."
Kratos said nothing and kept walking forward, but Will froze.
"H-how could you…?" Ridai said weakly. "He was my best friend… you humans are all the same!"
Even Genis had stopped now, the light around his feet disappearing as he stared at their enemy saying the same thing he always did. No, Will thought as he held his sword up to finish him. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. The Desians weren't supposed to have names. They weren't supposed to have friends. They weren't supposed to have thoughts and feelings; they were just supposed to be faceless goons. This was all wrong! How could he kill someone in cold blood like this?
"Enemies deserve no mercy." Kratos' sword came down, killing Ridai. Then he wiped the blood on the blade off on the corpse's shirt, sheathed his sword, and continued walking down the hall.
"K-Kratos!" Will shouted, running to follow him. "How could you-"
"Lloyd," Kratos said, looking down at him. "They were Desians. They only difference was that we knew their names. That doesn't change the fact that they were our enemies and would kill us given the chance."
"But maybe we could have-"
"You said you wanted me to train you."
"I do!"
"Consider this your training. Lesson one: in a fight, people are killed. Lesson two: sometimes, you have to be the one to enforce lesson one. And lesson three: if you can't deal with lessons one and two, you aren't cut out for this journey."
Will opened his mouth to reply, but found he had nothing to say. So he just scowled and walked on, hating Kratos for being so logical. Well, dammit, this was a matter of life and death, and death wasn't logical.
He just didn't know what to do. How could he keep killing Desians when every time he fought one he'd think about how they had lives, hope and fears, friends and loved ones? They may be wearing masks, but they certainly weren't faceless.
But how could he keep hesitating, knowing that these same Desians were killing people he cared about? He wanted to make peace with Magnius and not kill anyone, but that just didn't seem feasible. I hate this game.
He had to stop thinking about this. It wasn't healthy. "Hey, Genis," he said, and the half-elf looked up at him.
"What?"
Will put his hand on his shoulder and said, "You're it." He took off, running down the hall as Genis sputtered and ran after him. He grinned as he sprinted, hearing Genis' footsteps echo through the corridor.
"Children!" Kratos shouted angrily. "Stop this horseplay immediately before you get us killed!"
Will paid Kratos no heed (he was an asshole, he didn't deserve heed) but glanced over his shoulder as Genis and he rounded a corner. Then he looked forward again…
…and found himself face to face with a rather large troop of very surprised Desians. Oh. Shit.
He froze, heart stopped as they faced each other, both equally surprised at the other's appearance. Will came to his senses first, and fled. Back down the hall, grabbing Genis' arm as he passed, running to Kratos who was looking very pissed off at him.
Behind, he heard shouts of, "Intruder! Humans!"
Kratos swore, and prepared to fight, sword at the ready. Will drew his swords as well, standing a bit behind Kratos as Desians swarmed towards them. There were so many…
"Genis, cast something big," he said, but Genis was already casting.
Kratos glanced at Will to say, "Don't hesitate."
"I – I know." There were too many Desians to hesitate. There were too many to care about killing each one. There were too many to pay attention to exactly how many he ended up killing.
"Demon Fang! Demon Fang! Demon Fang!" He sent bolts of energy into the crowd, hoping to take down as many as he could before they overwhelmed them. One Demon Fang wasn't enough to take them down, however, so he only succeeded in slowing down a couple.
"Lloyd," Kratos said. "Stay back."
"I can help."
"No, you'll get killed. Stay back and defend Genis." With that, Kratos charged, blade flashing through the air faster than Will's eyes could follow. With a few seconds, two Desians were already dead, Will standing by and watching with his eyes wide and mouth agape.
A couple Desians started toward him and Genis, so he jumped into action. With one sword he blocked a Desian's blow, slashing at him with the other blade. The Desian fell back, giving Will time to stab him in the stomach. He winced as the Desian cried out, but forced himself to follow through with a slash at the throat.
"Air Thrust!" The other Desian had been closing in on Genis, who finished casting just in time. While the green blades of wind buffeted him from all sides, Will came up behind him and stabbed him in the back, watching the Desian fall lifelessly to the floor once the Air Thrust wore down.
He glanced over his shoulder to see five more Desians coming towards them, with about six dead at Kratos' feet as he furiously cut through their ranks. Will paled, though, at the sight of five of them, hoping he'd be able to protect Genis and save his own neck at the same time.
They got closer. He couldn't fight five at once. No way. He wasn't skilled enough. He was going to die.
"Spread!"
That… hadn't been Genis' voice, and Genis would never use an attack that would hurt him as well. Still, watered appeared out of nowhere at his feet, as all combatants in the hallway paused to look down in surprise (except Kratos, who continued ploughing through like some blood-crazed robot). Then the water surged upwards, and Will closed his eyes as he waited to feel the effects of the attack. Once again, though, the spell washed over him with no effect whatsoever, and he didn't even feel wet even as the Desians around him screamed and were blasted into the air.
Finally the spell faded, leaving countless soaking wet Desians lying injured on the floor, trying to get up. "Follow me!" said a vaguely familiar voice, and Will turned to see the apparent caster of the spell standing a few yards away.
He was clearly a half-elf, with pointed ears and blue hair, and with a jolt Will realised that this was the same man he'd seen threatening Dorr in Palmacosta. He wasn't dressed in the standard Desian uniform, but what else could a half-elf in a human ranch be?
"Who are you?" Kratos asked, walking over. Will looked away in disgust when he saw that Kratos was covered in blood from head to toe, only some of it his own.
"It doesn't really matter," the half-elf said. "But my name's Halsey and the point is I saved your human asses from those Desians, but they'll be coming around soon so my suggestions is we get the hell out of here as soon as possible."
"Why should we trust you?" Kratos said. "How do we know you're not a Desian as well?"
Halsey rolled his eyes. "Well of course I'm a Desian. I would hardly be wandering around freely if I wasn't. But if I wanted to kill you I would have let those other blokes do it and not get my hands dirty."
'Lloyd! Do we trust him?'
'I don't know. I've never seen him before. But, he did save you guys from the Desians so I think we should give him a chance.'
"He's got a point," Will said aloud. "And we should probably be moving in the opposite direction of those Desians regardless."
"Hmph, very well."
"Ok!" Halsey said. "One sec." He walked over to one of the dead Desians and pulled off his helmet, tucking it under his arm before saying, "Follow me!"
They ran down the hallway after him, taking shortcuts through side doors and passages Will hadn't even noticed. Hm, seemed like having a Desian guide was useful. They stopped in front of a door, and Halsey glanced at them, then at the door, and sighed.
"Ok, guys, you're not going to like this part."
"What is it now?" Kratos asked.
"Well, this room is like a staff lounge or something, and is probably filled with Desians. However, the warp to the next floor is through here. Otherwise we'd have to go all the way around and it would forever."
"So what's your plan?" Will asked.
"Eh heh, heh…" He pulled out two pairs of handcuffs. "You guys can be my prisoners?"
"Oh, hell no," Will protested. "Not again!" Kratos too looked displeased as he eyed the cuffs.
"Look," Halsey said. "You don't have to actually lock them or anything and it's either this or we take an hour out of our way to take the long way."
Kratos sighed. "It appears this is our best choice."
"But-" Will started.
"Lloyd, this is no time to be petty," Kratos said. "We can't spare an hour out of our way."
"Fine," he grumbled.
"Ok," Halsey said. "But I only have two pairs of handcuffs, so…" he tossed his Desian helmet to Genis, "you get to be a Desian."
"What?" Genis said, looking down at the hated helmet in his hands. "No way! Why me? They're never going to believe a little kid is a Desian! It should be Kratos!"
"Yeah," Halsey said, "But you're a half-elf."
"N-no I'm not!" Genis shouted with a panicked expression. "I'm an elf!"
Halsey raised an eyebrow, but just shrugged. "Ok then. You're an elf. But I'm a half-elf – and proud of my heritage too," he glared at Genis, "and the others are half-elves as well and will notice that Kratos is human. Being an elf, they'll just notice the elfy bits and assume you're a particularly elfy half-elf."
Genis frowned, but finally consented, slipping the helmet over his head. It was too big for him, but his unusually pokey hair seemed to fill it up.
"Ok, you two," Halsey said, turning to Will and Kratos. "You guys put these on. Or, y'know, look like they're on."
Will sighed and reluctantly slipped them over his wrists, careful not to actually lock them.
"Ok, now give me your weapons," Halsey said. At the glare Kratos gave him, he said, "Er, uh, give your weapons to the kid. Look, prisoners don't carry swords!"
Genis took their three swords, carrying them in his arms as Halsey glanced at them one more time, "Ok, remember to look like prisoners. Head down, look, I dunno, depressed. Don't meet anyone's eye. Will nodded and followed directions, not eager to re-enact the fiasco earlier.
Halsey opened the door and they went in, Will glancing up with just his eyes to see the room crowded with Desians. He felt incredibly vulnerable without his swords.
"Halsey!" a Desian said, jumping upright. "Sir, what are you-"
"I'm just escorting these inferior beings to see Lord Magnius. Out of my way."
The Desian obliged, stepping out of the way as they passed. Will stared at the ground, certain they'd be found out any second now.
"Who's the kid?" someone asked, pointing at Genis.
Halsey glanced back and shrugged. "New recruit. His family was killed by humans so he came here with nowhere else to go. Cute, isn't he?"
Genis scowled but didn't say anything.
"I don't think we have uniforms that size."
"No, probably not. But we'll figure something out."
"Ew," another Desian said, wrinkling his nose and pointing at Kratos. "This one's all bloody. I think you should clean him up before taking him to Lord Magnius."
"That blood is the blood of our comrades!" Halsey said dramatically. "It is evidence of his heinous crimes and our lord should see it!"
It was kind of irritating being talked about as if he was a dog or something. Of course, Desians saw humans as being on par with dogs, so there was kind of a reason for that.
"Now, if you'll excuse us," Halsey said, "We really must be going."
"Sir," a Desian said. "If you wish, I can escort these humans and you can join our troops at the battle where your abilities would be far more useful."
Halsey scowled at the man. "Are you questioning how I spend my time?"
The Desian paled and took a step back. "No! O-of course not, sir! I was just offering…"
"Out of my way," Halsey snapped. "We need to go."
A Desian opened the door for them and they made their way out of the room and into a corridor identical to the ones before it. Halsey seemed to know where he was going, and led them down two doors and then into a small room on the right. In the middle of the room was a glowing warp pad, and connected to it by some cables was a pedestal with some sort of computer.
He shut the door behind them and turned around with a grin. "That worked beautifully, I'd say," Halsey laughed as Will and Kratos removed the handcuffs and Genis tore off his helmet.
"Who are you?" Kratos asked. "I believe we have time for you to answer questions now."
"Aw, is it really that important?"
"You are clearly a high-ranking Desian," Kratos said, taking his sword from Genis but not sheathing it. "What motivation do you have for helping us? I refuse to travel any further with you until you give me a reason to trust you."
Halsey frowned, then leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "Yeah, I'm a high-ranking Desian. It's not like I asked for it, though. I could go off on a whole sob-story about growing up in a ranch with equally high-ranking parents and the human slaves who did most of my actual parenting, but the fact is, it's really not that interesting." He sighed. "I'm a Desian because I was born into it, not because I believe in their cause. You guys are here to take down the ranch and kill Magnius, aye?"
They nodded. "Basically," Will said. "In a nutshell, yeah."
"Ok, great. I hate Magnius. I've been in this ranch my entire life, and I'm ready for a little revolution or something. So let's go kick Magnius' ass."
"Very well," Kratos said with a sigh. He gestured at the warp, "You go first."
"Right. Hang on, though, I need to enter the codes to activate the warp." Halsey stepped forward and began entering keystrokes into the computer. It had no mouse, but he navigated around the screen with various keys. He quickly brought up a screen and typed in a password, and Will leaned over to try and see what it was in case he had to activate it himself to get out fast.
"It's 'Hell Hownd'. Yes, spelled with a W. It's apparently Magnius' favourite tech, but he never learned how to spell it."
Will stared at him, then said, "Magnius…"
"…is not a man of intellect." He clicked what was probably the rough approximation of the 'enter' button, and the warp jumped to life. "See you on the other side," he said and stepped onto the warp, disappearing within a few seconds. Kratos followed him, then Genis, and then Will.
They came out in an identical room, and stepped out into an identical corridor. The second floor of the ranch appeared to be just like the first, and Will sighed as they set off for the next warp, ready for a very long day of traversing floor after floor of unremarkable corridors.