A/N: NOTE: I'm taking some creative license with the design and look at the ranch 'cause I felt like it. Don't be weirded out if I describe some things a bit differently then it is in-game. Also FYI, I have been throwing in some imagery.

Named after a song by Ihsahn.

Undercurrent

The mid-morning air was crisp against Anna's skin as she walked along the carved out path on the mountainside and she breathed it in, feeling the coolness fill her lungs. She knew that others that were in front of her were talking but right now she wanted none of that and instead fixed her eyes to the ground in front of her. It was practical, the ground was quite uneven not to mention all the stones scattered about. All she wanted was to keep her mind calm to what had happened before and what she knew was going to happen sooner then she would be able to prepare herself for. It may have been a semi-cloudy day, but somehow she felt very calm despite everything that had happened and was going to happen. Funny, shouldn't she feel nervous? She shook her head, and brought her gaze up and saw the small wooden inn that was surprisingly close to them.

"Hima hasn't really changed much from what I remember," Anna said quietly as she felt the familiar strain of her leg muscles as the walk uphill steepened.

"It is a small place just meant for hikers or those in the area to have refuge," Kratos said and Anna felt a slight shock at the realization that he was beside her. She cursed inwardly at letting herself so easily get lost in her thoughts, what happened before with Kvar was no excuse whatsoever. She frowned. Isn't he supposed to be mad at me?

"I guess you're right," she finally began slowly, "but wouldn't you think it would've changed at least a little in all those years?" Anna asked caught a glimpse of Kratos from the corner of her eye and he shrugged his shoulders. She felt that the ground levelled and her legs thanked her for it. "I dunno, a new coat of paint or something. It looks like they didn't even repair some things. Like that," Anna pointed above to the few missing shingles, and some that looked so loose that one small gust of wind would send it flying.

"Hmm," he said noncommittally, as she saw the kids that were slightly ahead of them walk inside the inn's wooden arches, one by one. "I suppose they thought it didn't matter if these things were replaced," his voice was pretty flat and monotonous, not exactly the tone she was used to him taking with her. "I'm sure that the inn is still fully functional."

Yep, definitely mad, she thought as she opted not to respond to what he said- how exactly was she supposed to respond to that?- and she heard her footsteps change from that of dirt to that of the old, creaky wood of the porch that led to the open door of the inn. It's not like it mattered, there was no way she was changing her mind. He didn't have to like it. She walked through the old doorframe and opened her mouth to ask him about it but didn't have the chance to voice anything.

"Sheena!" a woman said very loudly as though she were very surprised, and Anna whipped her head towards her as she entered the inn and walked slowly towards the kids that were surrounding felt her eyes adjust to the relative darkness of the indoors.

"How's Pietro?" Sheena asked softly and the woman didn't respond. Sheena stepped forwards, and grasped the woman's arm. "C'mon, Sophia, it's okay. You can tell me."

"I, that is…" Sophia trailed off and averted her gaze from Sheena's and kept it to the ground, and Anna could tell that she was shifting her feet beneath her dark green skirts what with them swaying in a non-existent wind. She frowned. Why would she be nervous? "…He passed away," Sophia said so quietly that Anna had to strain to hear.

Oh. That would be why. Her stomach plummeted and her movements stopped dead in their tracks as she stared through wide eyes at the woman. So that was why she was acting so strangely. Now it all made sense. She caught Kratos in the corner of her eye whose gaze seemed to be more on herself then anything and she frowned. Didn't he care at all about the man? Recent memories flashed through her mind and she bit her bottom lip. No, of course he cared, he just acted like he didn't since that's who he was. Even so, it was a man from the same ranch she had been in died, and for some reason she felt somewhat responsible. There must have been something she could have done in Luin, something to stop it all from happening so he could be happy now and-

"Did he say anything?" Genis asked as he sent her from her thoughts and broke the shocked silence that had settled upon them. "Maybe something about the human ranch?" Genis added who was leaning against the desk. It was strange that he was the one to speak first.

"I-I don't know…" Sophia said, leaning her head to the right as she still shifted from foot to foot sending her skirts back and forth and fidgeted with her hands. "I don't even know if he really escaped from there."

"What about his belongings?" Raine asked, getting straight and down to the point. Just like her to do that.

"He didn't have any," Sophia said quickly.

"Where is his grave?" Raine asked.

"At the back of the adventurers' graveyard," Sophia said as she kept her gaze firmly fixed on the very worn softwood floors. Anna knew exactly the place she was talking about. They really didn't like change here, did they? "Please don't think about digging up his grave."

"Of course not, that'd be a terrible thing to do," Anna said offering a sympathetic gaze at the poor woman, unsure that she could see. It was hard losing someone, she of all people should know. "We shouldn't disrespect anyone's grave."

Anna turned about and walked quickly along the floors that creaked and saw the door that closed and she brought a hand to the cool metal of the knob and turned it open, walking ahead of them all in long strides not wanting any to be near her then. She cleared her mind of everything that had happened and didn't even mind how her muscles seemed to at the steep walk uphill on the uneven ground and before she knew it, she was where the ground evened out and saw past the cliff to the sky beyond that roiled with more and more clouds. She looked earthwards and saw that the graves were marked with old, broken pieces of wood that were stuck in the ground, with long poles with torn red cloth hanging from them. Must have some kind of meaning some, she gathered as she felt the sporadic wind against her skin and send the red cloth flying. She heard the footsteps of the others behind her yet they were devoid of any of the banter she was used to. She frowned, although she knew why. It wasn't exactly the best of news they were to have.

"I suppose digging up the grave is out of the question…" Raine muttered as she walked to the corner of Anna's eye and she looked to her.

"Of course it is," Anna said feeling a slight disgust at the very thought of it. "We shouldn't desecrate a grave."

"I know that, I wasn't saying that we should. It's simply that he may have something of value to aid us in reaching the ranch. I thought that was what you wanted."

"It is, but Sophia said that he had nothing on him. It'd be far too disrespectful."

"I said nothing of actually digging the grave up. It-"

"Uh, I think that we should pray for him," Colette's voice was not raised or angry, rather calm.

"Good idea," Anna said and gave her a smile at stopping the inconsequential argument. She shook her head, no matter how she tried to calm her mind she just didn't seem in her right state of mind at all times whenever she talked. Raine was just being practical and she didn't even suggest to actually dig the grave up, Anna was just being picky, she knew that. She sighed and bent her head down and closed her eyes, clearing her head of nothing save thoughts of the man that had died so tragically. He would be alright where he was now and-

"Hmm?" Colette's confused words made her open her eyes and look to Colette, who had already turned about. Right! She had angelic hearing now and she didn't have the option to get rid of it like Anna did. Her stomach dropped at that realization. How was it that she could let that slip her mind at times? Colette's eyes were wide and filled with confusion and Anna turned about, hearing the dirt crunch beneath her and her own eyes widened. There was a man whose pallor of his skin looked as though he had not seen sunlight in sometime and the shape his eyes took when as he caught sight of Colette looked very…distraught? Was that the right word?

"Chosen…mana…d…die…" came his raspy, low voice that sent shivers down Anna's spine. His dark brown hair was unkempt and long surrounding his gaunt face and had a beard that looked as though it had been growing for weeks, with clothing wrinkled and baggy, curving to the contours of his body.

"Wh-what's he saying?" Genis asked before he looked about to everyone with his eyes wide in shock.

"Pietro! I heard you were dead…" Sheena said through that same shock that Genis held, although it seemed far more subdued.

"Here you are," came Sophia's voice and Anna's brow furrowed in confusion. Just what was going on?

"Chosen…die…angel…die…" Pietro rasped and he took more slow steps forwards to Colette and Lloyd moved in front of Colette with a hand to the hilt of a sword. Good. "Human…ranch…underground…"

"You mustn't come out here," Sophia said, as she brought a hand slowly to his arm but he ignored it. She instead leaned up and brought an arm about his shoulders and his baggy clothing and the man instantly leaned on her. "Let's go."

Wh-what the hell is this? Anna thought as she looked from Sophia to the man that were now backing away from them as she felt confusion at the situation before sudden understanding surrounded her brain and that shock was replaced by a low anger.

"You lied to us," Raine said with her voice laced in vehemence that broke the silence and Anna turned to her. Her features held a selective anger that Anna hadn't really seen her hold. Not like I can blame her. "He's the one that escaped from the ranch!"

"Really?" Lloyd said, sounding as surprised as Anna felt. He turned from Raine to the man, Pietro, she supposed. "Please tell me, how did you get away from the human ranch?"

"Boulder…big…underground…" Pietro said and Anna had to strain to hear him correctly, but when he did she felt confusion at it. His eyes then turned to her, that were full of none of the intelligence any other would have and were so unnaturally wide and red stringed that made Anna shudder. "…jewel…boulder…move…Chosen…"

"What are you saying?" Genis asked. It was true, the man was speaking in riddles that had always annoyed her half to deaf.

"Got me," Anna said as she shrugged her shoulders. Never did she imagine it would actually be a useful skill she'd actually need.

"Is that…" Kratos muttered before he paused and she could tell that he was attempting to decipher the words and piece together it's meaning. Of course he'd be good at it, he was the one that tried to play a game of riddles with her years ago she ended up not only making easily guessable ones, to Kratos at least, she got so frustrated that she became so turned off of the whole thing and always declined any later offers until he stopped them altogether. "The escape route?"

"Should've known you'd figure it out," Anna muttered under her breath as she kept her gaze firmly fixed on Pietro and not on Kratos to whatever response may have laid on his face.

"Please, let him be!" came the voice of Sophia who had finally acknowledged them, and looked at them through pleading brown eyes.

"Now listen," Sheena began sounding incredibly angry. "You may be happy just protecting Pietro, but because of this guy Anna was captured and now Luin's destroyed and the people are scattered! Try helping us out at least a little."

"I'm sure Pietro has many things he wants to say, as well, but because

of the curse, he's been turned into this…" Sophia looked away from them and up to Pietro that leaned against her with worried eyes that softened and she brought a hand to his face to wipe drool away from his thin lips. Anna frowned.

"Isn't that selfish to only care about him and no one else? He's not the only one that's suffering now," Anna said and Sophia's eyes snapped to hers. Anna before shot a glance to Kratos before it came back to the woman. "What about the people that are still in the ranch? I'm sure that they hate being in there just like Pietro hated it when he was there."

"We want to go to the ranch," Colette said through a calm voice tinged with a slight pleading note, as though an attempt to double their efforts. "If it's possible to get out, it's possible to get back in, right? Please."

Sophia didn't respond, instead looking back to Pietro, with her full lips pursed in concentration. "I'm willing to help you. But in exchange, lift his curse," Sophia said finally, and Pietro stumbled forwards but she brought another arm to his chest to steady him. Anna's anger at the woman was split to pity. People were difficult to hate. "The healing technique left behind by Boltzman is in the Tower of Mana. That may be able to cure his curse."

"All right," Raine said through that same calm voice she used in situations like these that sent the kids over the edge. Plenty of time to recollect herself, of course. "But infiltrating the ranch comes first. That I won't relinquish."

Anna's eyebrow quirked. She hadn't mentioned anything about actually being in possession of Boltzman's book and that she was reading it. A cool breeze shifted the loose dirt on the ground and sent dried leaves flying. Raine had seemed pretty excited about being able to expand her healing abilities from what she had gathered from their conversation about it. It had-

"When he escaped from the ranch," Sophia finally said, after sorting out her thoughts or so Anna thought. "He said he came out through the front yard and he blocked the exit with a boulder. His things are in the grave. Take them with you."

"Thank you," Colette said. "We'll come back when we've acquired the healing technique."

"Come…let's go." Sophia said to Pietro as she slowly eased him around and slowly moved back down the dirt path and presumably back to the inn's room to whatever fate laid him there. She couldn't help but feel pity for the man, despite what he had done. No, it wasn't his fault. That was the Desians fault.

"Was there a boulder there?" Genis asked.

"I do recall something that seemed unnatural." Kratos said.

"Yes," Colette said. "Let's go check it out."

"Sounds good to me," Anna said before she pushed back her thoughts to the events that had unfurled to the back of her mind. There would be time for that later. "Before we do that, I think we should stock up on supplies before we get back there. We've been running pretty low lately 'cause of everything that's happened. It wouldn't do not to have any apple gels, or Panacea bottles or even food."

"And you could get proper clothes," Kratos added with a crooked smile and Anna self-consciously fixed the sleeves of Raine's spare clothes that she had rolled up to fit her.

"That'd be great, if they even have any, it is pretty small, after all," Anna said with a small smile, slightly confused at the change of tone. "You all can dig up the fake grave without me, I know you won't disturb anyone's actual grave," Anna said

"Of course we won't!" Colette said and sounded quite appalled at the very idea. "You can count on me."

"That I can," Anna said with a smile at the girl, who returned it. "I'll go get the supplies from that small then we can meet up in front of the inn. It'll be quicker that way."

"Yeah, okay mom," Lloyd said flashing her a small smile before Anna turned about from the group and began to walk to the rock that jutted from the sides of the carved path, that was uneven and held multitudes of footprints both faded and fresh. She breathed in the mountain air, at least that would help to calm her at least a little. There was the sound of heavier footsteps that added to her own that came from behind her and she frowned.

"Yes?" she asked as she kept her eyes fixed forwards, and to the ground so she wouldn't lose her footing. She saw him come to her peripheral vision by her side where he was keeping time with her by her side. "Is there something you need me to get?"

"I…" he sounded as though there was much he did want to say, but chose not to voice it. "No, not particularly. I want to accompany you."

"Oh?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

He sighed. "Not what you're thinking, I assure you."

"And what are you assuring me of, exactly?"

"I was just-"

"Paranoid?" she finished his sentence but referred to something entirely different then shopping.

"No," he said simply through a voice that she knew was annoyed, and the steep downhill levelled, and they turned about the inn and walked towards the small shop. "Not unless you count caring about your safety 'paranoia'. I simply want to help you find an adequate weapon."

"I think I can do that fine by myself," Anna said, ever mindful of what had happened days before that kept him on edge. It would be fairly awkward being with him, it had been ever since their conversation in Luin. "I doubt that there's much of a selection here, anyway."

"Even so, I'm still joining you," he said with a tone of finality and she sighed inwardly. "Unless you wish to tie me to a chair and gag me," she looked to him at that and saw his lips quirked in a smile.

"Ha ha," Anna said with an unintentional smile but she didn't care. This was kind of typical of Kratos, he always seemed to The stall of goods was near and her movements stilled, and she turned towards it before what must be going through his mind quickly came to hers. "You must think that I'm pretty crazy, huh?"

"I've known that for years," he said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

She gave a short laugh. "And you're one to talk?" She heard his own laugh in return as he brought a short sword to his hand, testing the weight of it against his arm. She looked at the array of goods that lay in front of her sprawled on cloth and wooden tables and mentally prepped her list of what was needed before she would pick and choose. Maybe this wouldn't be so awkward after all.

"This is it," Lloyd said, ignoring what Anna had said about their conversation about the right way to cook tofu curry so it didn't end up burning. She made a note to mention it later, she didn't really care to eat anything burnt again. She looked ahead of her to the boulder where Lloyd had quickened his pace to reach. It did look unusual, it was a large boulder but besides that there were some rather obvious drag marks through the dirt and foliage of the ground, and even some plants had been squashed underneath it. Lloyd had reached it and brought a hand to it for some unknown reason.

"This is the one Pietro was talking about."

"So it would seem," Raine said. "Let's try moving it."

Lloyd brought both of his hands to the boulder and he pushed it, with the muscles in his arms becoming and taunt and his heel dug further and further into the ground. I hope he doesn't hurt himself, Anna thought before she heard a loud grunt before he moved back his arms and rubbed them.

"It's no good. It won't budge."

"Then let's try using the Desian Orb we received from Pietro," Raine said as she rummaged in what must have been a pouch by her side to find this orb. She found it quickly enough since she grasped it in her hands before she walked towards the boulder and placed it there before quickly moving back. For reasons she did not care to know the boulder moved on it's own out of the way that Lloyd had failed at and revealed a very unusual, very dark passage which had to lead to the ranch. Now that's not something she saw every day.

"But when I pushed it, it didn't even budge…" Lloyd said as he sounded rather put out.

"Don't worry sweetie," Anna said with an encouraging smile and she walked towards him and brought her hand to his to squeeze it in comfort. It wouldn't do for Lloyd to worry over such a silly thing. "It was probably put there so no one could move it. It's not your fault it wouldn't move for you."

"Oh yeah? You think so?"

"I know so."

"That explains a lot," Lloyd said with a grin and she smiled back.

"She's your mom, of course she'd say that," Genis said as he looked up at Lloyd. "She wouldn't say why you actually couldn't do it."

"Shut it, Genis. That is not true."

Raine sighed. "That's enough, boys, you can bicker later. Let's go."

"Yeah, no use waiting like this so I can get insulted again," Lloyd said and he shot Genis a dirty look before he walked first into the dark tunnel. Anna felt pricks of apprehension in her stomach as more of their group followed Lloyd into the darkness, which turned she took a deep breath trying to calm them. Yeah, now was a great time at her nerves getting to her. Where were they before? Were they in hiding until she actually came up to it where they all deciding to gang up on her all at once? She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth slowly in attempts to calm the pounding of her heart. There was nothing to be worried about, nothing at all, she was just going inside where she could-oh, hell, that wasn't true. There was plenty to be worried about.

"It's not too late to turn back," that familiar voice drew her from her frantic thoughts, and she blinked. No one else was entering the dark passage that was surrounded by the greenery of the forest, they were the only ones left. She turned and saw Kratos standing by her looking at her through concerned eyes. He was worried. Of course he was.

Anna shook her head slowly and became acutely aware of the necklace about her neck. "No, this is something that I need to do. No turning back now."

"Very well," he said as he sounded as though he were facing something that he had no desire to hear. Did he really expect her to say no after all of this? He sighed and ran a hand through his auburn hair that gleamed in the dapples of sunlight. "You'll be in your-"

"Of course I will," Anna said. She knew exactly what he was talking about, and at the mention of it she did just as he asked, feeling it ease a bit of her anxieties. At least it was good for something. The obvious question that he asked came from the concern that she could see echoed in his features and she knew she was being unfair. "I told you before, this isn't going to be like last time, we have the advantage here," he didn't respond right away and she knew she had to say something. "We've got to pull out all the tricks in the books to beat him, right?"

He gave her an uneasy smile. "I suppose so," he said as he walked towards the dark passage. Anna came towards it, and began to walk inside the darkened tunnel before him. "Do be careful."

Anna turned her head to him behind her. "I will, I promise. Do the same, you hear?"

He nodded and she turned towards the darkness and took her first steps in. She gulped, feeling the unwelcome nerves set up their home in her belly but she knew that she was not alone. This was going to be on her terms, not Kvar's, and she knew that she would not lose. She would not let him win.

The tunnel was dark and dank and Anna felt a new unease rise in her but she ignored it, that was just her mind playing tricks on her. The tunnel had already had Lloyd and the others through it and the footing was even, unlike that in Hima, so it's not as if there was some sneak attack it'd be very difficult for it to end. Anna quickened her pace so she could catch up to the ones that had a head start on them, it wouldn't do for them to wait for her or Kratos. They needed to move quickly, after all, she should at least be able to make them out.

The sound of steel clashing steel sent her stomach leaping and she ran as quickly as he legs would carry her, through all of the darkness towards the light that kept on growing larger and larger until it overcame her, but when the bright light and stark white room overtook her it didn't blind her in the least. Least this stupid angel form is good for something, she thought as she took in the scene, and saw a Desian that was unbeknownst to the others in the midst of casting a spell with his staff in front of him and his eyes in concentration.

Her eyes narrowed and honed instincts kicked in as she ran. Her hand flew to the hilt of her sword and she unsheathed it and brought the sword careening across his side. Blood gush from the side and she did not flinch. She brought it up again, to the arm that held the staff that had raised towards her, and again against the legs until the Desian fell to the ground, with red blood strewn about the body. She looked up to see the other Desians had fallen to the group whom Raine was healing and she shook her head and looked to the sword in her hand, that had dents of wear from it's previous owner. It may have a different weight to what she was used to but it still served her well. She sheathed it and walked towards the group.

"Is everyone alright," Anna asked and saw that the others who were easy to pick out from the stark background that she had no desire to take note of.

"Yes, everyone seems to be fine. We caught them by surprise," Raine said as she finished healing a wound of Genis' arm, then walked towards a wall with varying buttons and amidst the pale gray metal with a steady hum that Anna never could stand. "Let's bring up the ranch-wide map."

The beeping of buttons joined the low hum of the computers and more quickly then Anna expected a map of the ranch appeared before them, floating in the midst of the room. She winced but quickly hid it, all of this technology reminded her exactly of how it was before on Derris-Kharlan and she despised it.

"Professor, you're fantastic!" Lloyd said, that Raine acknowledged with the flick of her wrist as more low beeps and clicking came from the buttons.

"Hmm, so there are people on this side who can operate machines, too…" Sheena whispered. Anna's ears perked at that and she glanced quickly to Kratos who did the same.

"On this side?" Genis asked with curiosity that Anna felt. "What do you mean?"

"Ah, um, nothing," Sheena said and Anna's eyebrows raised, knowing exactly what she meant. A multitude of questions arose to that but she couldn't ask now and she didn't even know if that was wise. "Just talking to myself."

"This is where we are now," Raine said as she ignored whatever distractions the awkward conversation must have served to her. A large rectangle of the map blinked in recognition. "And this is where Kvar should be," Raine said, and a different section of the map blinked. Anna stared at it and let the map burn into her memory. This was something she was not going to forget. "It appears that in order to get to the floor that Kvar is on, we'll have to deactivate the guard system."

"Guard…system?" Colette asked, as if she were trying to speak a foreign language.

"Here," Raine said, and brought up yet another part of the map forwards, that consisted of a few rectangles for emphasis that blinked a few times.

"If we don't deactivate this guard system, we can't get to Kvar."

"What are we supposed to do, then?" Lloyd asked with a rising panic in his voice.

"It's alright, sweetie, there has to be a way," Anna said with a reassuring smile that did not mirror the unease and nerves that decided to shoot back up inside her.

"Yes, that's right. There should be a switch somewhere to deactivate the system," Raine said through the same tone that seemed as though she were working her way through a riddle. "Here it is," and two different areas of the map lit up and blinked. "See the two switches at the ends of this left-right passageway? Those are the deactivation switches."

"Okay, then, let's go deactivate it," Lloyd said.

"Wait a minute. I'll bring up the route leading to Kvar's room," Raine said and paused, leaving no sound in the room save the low hum from the computers. "It looks like the conveyor belt prevents passage through there. In order to stop that, we'll need to stop the conveyor belt control mechanism, but…" Raine trailed off, and Anna couldn't help but feel grateful at just how much effort she was putting into these efforts. That's right, she couldn't afford second thoughts, there was more then just her on the line here. "It seems it's constructed in such a way that you can't get close to the control mechanism while containers are on the conveyor. Let's see, in order to adjust the container dispatch control system. "

A blaring siren flew through whatever else was on Anna's mind.

"Damn it," Raine said. "They've detected my access of the main computer."

"Lloyd, what do we do?" Genis exclaimed through thinly veiled panic. "The Desians will be here any minute!"

"Damn it…" Lloyd muttered under his breath.

"It looks like we don't have any choice," Raine said as she turned towards the rest of the them with a decisive edge to her voice. "Let's split into two teams to deactivate the system and to infiltrate Kvar's room."

"What?" came Genis' shocked voice. "We're going to split up?"

"There seems to be no other way," Kratos said sounding eerily calm, and Anna turned to him. There was that mask again. He was hiding whatever was on his mind, or at least he was trying to. She could read him. "I would like to be in the group that goes after Kvar."

"Same here," Anna said, but didn't quite know if she meant it anymore. No, she did. No amount of unease was going to stop this.

"Me, too!" Genis said.

"And me," Sheena said.

"Colette, please choose for us," Raine said through an authoritative tone.

"Ah, um, well, then…" Colette's eyes looked from each of them with uncertainty reflected in her blue eyes. Poor girl, it's too much responsibility for her. She's probably used to having others make decisions for her. "I'll leave it to Lloyd."

"What?" Lloyd said through surprise. "Me?"

"I know you'll do a good job of splitting us up."

"Dunno about that, he lives only by intuition and instinct," Genis said with his thin lips turned in a slight smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lloyd said as he rolled his eyes. Anna smiled, it was odd how those two boys could tease each other at a time like this. "Anyway, I'm the one that's gonna pick? I'm going to Kvar."

"So am I," Anna said firmly, swallowing the fears that overtook her mind. This had to be done.

"Anna," Kratos said and Anna turned to him feeling a fleeting annoyance mixed with some odd sense of gratitude. She pushed that gratitude to the back of her mind, she did not come here to take the coward's way and let the one's she loved take care of something that concerned her and her alone. He was not going to stop her. Kratos took a breath, as if preparing himself for what he knew would be an argument. "I don't think that-"

"Yeah, well I do. Didn't we go through this already?" she said and she crossed her arms across her chest and tapped a foot against the metallic floor that thumped in time. "There is absolutely no negotiation about this. I am going, there's no way you're going to talk me out of it."

"What do you hope to gain from this?"

"Revenge. I want to see him dead," she said and saw a fleeting look of shock cross his face before it disappeared and his lips thinned. Why would he look so surprised? Didn't they go over this before? She thought better then to cover territory "Isn't that what you want too?"

"Yes but I-"

"We're wasting time," she said and he gave her an annoyed glance as though he knew it were true.

"Well it seems that we have our infiltration team already," Raine said and broke into their conversation with relative ease and that same calm voice and Anna gave her a grateful smile that she returned. At least someone didn't think she was being completely insane for this, although she wouldn't blame her if she actually thought that. "It seems you didn't have to choose, Lloyd," she added.

"Yeah, I guess not…" Lloyd trailed off and shifted from foot to foot before he turned to Anna with a concerned gaze that Anna couldn't dismiss as easily as Kratos'. "You sure about this, mom?"

Anna gave him a smile at his concern. "Yes, I'm sure. Thanks for worrying, but there's no use now," she took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself for what needed to be done, for something that she had wanted for a long time. "Now let's get going."

A/N: Originally meant to be longer but I split it into more manageable chunks for one to be released a week after the last, plus it turned out being pretty long anyway so whateves. I'm writing this for myself now anyway and since I'm cool with it, it all works out fine. My muse wants me to focus more on a super long original thing so who am I to argue?

You all have an awesome, warm summery week even if you don't wear dresses, heels or wedges. =3