Ahh I've been having major writer's block all summer, I'm so sorry. Now that I'm in school again, although I have less time to work on this, my brain is functioning more properly so I will work on it whenever I have time. Stupid summer brain -.-

Anyways, thank you for patiently waiting (or impatiently, if that's the case). Here it is~!

"What is the meaning of this?"

I froze at the roar that erupted behind me. A cold rush of fear swept through me, especially once I heard Ella crying out for her father, and the situation was confirmed for me.

I turned around, every inch of my body trembling in fear. "Rodrick, I-"

Devin's father ignored me and shoved right past me. I clutched at my arm in pain.

"Devin!" he exclaimed. His voice was thick with tears. "My son!" He turned around. Fury and utter heartbreak were etched onto every feature of his face. "What have you done? You killed him!"

"Rodrick, please, you don't understand! I didn't kill him!"

"I saw you!" he roared. "I saw you do it!"

"Please, he wanted me to do it! He was poison-"

"Liar!" He gripped my shoulders and shook me. I cried out at the pain this sent coursing through my arm. "He would never! He wouldn't!"

"No," I said pleadingly. "It wasn't my-!"

"It was a Desian woman."

Kratos's calm voice was enough to silence Rodrick. He glared at the mercenary and said, "What do you mean?"

"A Desian woman by the name of Olivia came here looking for Aurelia," he continued to explain. "She attacked Aurelia with a sword containing a deadly poison. Devin tried to protect her and suffered a wound himself. He asked Aurelia to end his life to relieve him of the pain. Out of mercy. She was merely fulfilling his wishes."

Rodrick was speechless. He stared at Kratos in disbelief before finally turning back to me. His voice was hoarse when he spoke. "Is this true?"

I nodded numbly. "Yes. I'm so sorry..."

He stared at the ground for a moment before I felt his hands clench on my shoulders and he cursed loudly.

I flinched, startled.

"This wouldn't have happened," he said quietly. "If you hadn't returned here."

I blinked. My eyes drifted sadly to the ground. I couldn't say anything. He was right.

"You promised the Desians wouldn't bother this town anymore," he went on. "You broke that promise." He shoved me away from him. I stumbled back.

One glare towards Sheena and she reluctantly set Ella down on the ground. The child ran towards her father and clung to his side, wailing loudly. Rodrick held her to his side and stared down at his son's body.

"I think it would be best if you left Luin."

"Rodrick..." I was fighting to keep myself under control when inside it felt like cold fire, burning everything it could and yet coating my heart with ice at the same time. I hesitantly approached him. "Please believe that I'm terribly sorry. Believe me, this was never what I wanted to-"

"LEAVE!" He whipped his head around to yell it at me. Closeup like this, every angry feature was perfectly clear, and his resemblance to his son was so great that I backed away. At that point, I found myself unable to say anything at all. I simply nodded solemnly and took a few steps back, fixing my gaze at the now blood-soaked ground beneath me. I didn't feel my arm. I didn't feel any pain over losing Devin. I didn't feel much of anything really. My thoughts were cloaked in a thick haze.

"Right..." I heard Raine say. "Well, we'll just go gather our things."

Rodrick was past listening to what any of us had to say. He stood, his back turned to us all, and held his crying daughter at his side. His own shoulders were shaking. I couldn't watch. I turned and left before anyone else had the chance to.

"Alright, now explain what happened."

I stared down at my hands, which were folded and resting on my lap. We all now sat gathered around a camp fire outside of Luin. No one had understood why we were leaving. None of us could bear to explain what had just happened. We'd simply gathered our things and left.

And now here we were, and the others wanted much-needed answers.

"Aurelia?" Raine pressed when I didn't respond to her the first time.

Living through the incident had been enough. I didn't think I could handle having to relive it. In fact, I kind of wanted to just forget about it altogether, however I knew that wasn't going to happen, so I reluctantly began to speak.

"Colette came over and told me that she'd heard something. She seemed pretty worried, and Devin..." I felt a pain at saying his name but forced myself to keep going. "Devin and Ella hadn't returned yet, so we decided to go and check it out. That's when we came across this Olivia woman and a group of Desians who had them held captive. At first I thought they were looking for Colette, but when we showed ourselves it turned out she was actually looking for me. And Lloyd."

"Me?" Lloyd said in surprise.

I nodded. "I assume it has to do with that Exsphere of yours."

"But why would she be looking for you?" Genis wondered.

"I'm...not sure." It wasn't a lie, although I still felt somehow that I was withholding the truth from them. "She said there was things we needed to 'discuss' and then she'd return me to the group. Anyway, we got into a fight, but she was really strong, and she was able to...manipulate her blade somehow. She had spiked it with this poison that's now in my veins, and as she tried to deal another blow to incapacitate me..." I shrugged, starting to feel myself get choked up over what happened next. "Well, you know what happened."

Raine nodded sadly. "Yes. So it would appear that this woman is the Olivia that we heard of back in Asgard."

I nodded. "The same."

"But there's only five Grand Cardinals, right?" Sheena spoke up. "If she isn't one of them, what makes her so important?"

"That doesn't matter," said Kratos. "The fact of the matter is we have a powerful enemy that could very well be coming after us from now on. We must proceed with caution, if this poison she wields is as threatening as it appears."

I rubbed my arm absently at this. The poison was managing to stay in one place, thankfully, and periodically downing apple gels seemed to work to subdue the pain enough so that it was bearable.

"Getting the Unicorn Horn is now even more important," said Raine. "With you being injured, Aurelia, we've lost you as a fighter-"

"Wait, what?" I interrupted. My head shot up. "That's not true! I can still fight!"

"Aurelia you can barely even move your right arm without feeling pain," Sheena pointed out. "How do you expect to fight?"

"I'll use my left arm!" I said stubbornly, despite the fact that my spear was a two-handed weapon. "Or I'll cast spells! Something! I'm not going to just be useless on the sidelines and let you do all of the fighting."

Raine sighed. "We'll see," was all she said. I was fairly certain she was only saying it to appease me, but for now it was good enough.

My arm was in such pain that night that it was difficult for me to fall asleep. When I finally did, nightmares of Devin's death made me wake up crying. I ended up just laying awake for a while before finally abandoning sleep. I instead stayed awake with Lloyd, who reluctantly was taking watch at the time. He glanced over at me when I sat up.

"Hey, what are you doing still awake?" He rubbed at his eyes tiredly.

"I can't sleep," I told him. "My arm hurts, nightmares..."

He frowned sympathetically. "Oh, right...um, how are you doing anyway?"

I shrugged. "I thought I'd be worse. I thought I'd be some kind of non-functioning mess, but...I'm doing better than I'd hoped." I sniffed involuntarily and focused on a blurry point in the darkness to trap the tears inside my eyes.

His frown didn't leave. Clearly, he wasn't convinced. "Aurelia..."

I forced a smile. "Lloyd, you don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine." Whether this was a lie or not, I wasn't completely sure. "If you're going to worry about anyone, worry about Rodrick and Ella. They lost another member of their family to the Desians."

"That woman," Lloyd half-growled. I could slowly see the sleepiness in his eyes being replaced with pure rage. "I can't believe she did that! I mean, what could she want from you that's so important that she has to kill people to get it! Innocent people too! I mean, she had a little girl captive, at knife point!"

"Shh." I pressed a finger to my lips, motioning at the others sleeping. "You'll wake someone up."

"Sorry," he said, lowering his voice. "I just don't understand how the Desians can be so cruel! There's nothing good about any of them!"

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. The tears I'd held back before were threatening to spill again, this time for a completely different reason.

"Y-Yeah, they really are," I said rather hoarsely. "But remember Lloyd, that she was after you too. The Desians really want that Exsphere of yours."

He held up his hand to examine the blue gem. "Well I'll never let them have it! My mother died to keep this from them and protect me, and I don't plan on just handing it over to them." His fierce tone faded a bit. "Still, I wonder what it is about this Exsphere in particular that's so important to them."

"Kvar said something about an Angelus Project," I recalled. "Maybe they succeeded in making a stronger type of Exsphere."

"Well if that's the case, they're definitely not getting it!" His clenched his fist determinedly.

I smiled and reached for my bag and rummaged around for an apple gel. I screwed the top off the tiny jar and dumped the contents into my mouth. I realized that applying it directly would probably work better to ease the pain, but the pain it would cause applying it wasn't worth it, I decided.

"Don't worry, we'll fix that arm of yours!"

I had to laugh at that. "Are you always so...optimistic?"

He grinned. "Of course!"

The next day, we started on our way to Asgard. We considered stopping at Lake Umacy to see what Sheena thought of the unicorn, but we decided that we didn't really have much time for it so we instead continued the journey until we reached the House of Salvation. We stayed there for the night, then continued on to Asgard, and so on. Aside from Noishe finally rejoining us after all this time, the journey was very uneventful, so there isn't really much for me to report. Instead, I'll skip right to when we reached Thoda.

Like the last time we'd visited here, which seemed so long ago, I wasn't overly impressed with the so-called "tourist attraction". Not that it mattered. We were here for more serious matters anyway. Sheena had to complete the pact.

We spoke with the girl at the desk inside the building, who happened to be the same girl as before, Candy.

"I remember you!" she exclaimed as we approached. "You should have told me that you were the Chosen's group!"

Colette gasped in surprise.

"How did you find that out?" asked Genis.

She didn't respond. "Wow, who knew that one of the holy Seals of Regeneration was right here at the Thoda Geyser! Are you all returning to the geyser?"

Kratos didn't bother pursuing how she knew about Colette. "Yes, we will require use of the...boats."

"You mean washtubs," Lloyd muttered.

I heard Raine make a very audible gulp.

"Just go ahead and use them!" Candy said happily. "There's no way I could accept money from the Chosen! Feel free to visit the geyser whenever you want to, no charge~!"

From the look on Colette's face, I could tell that this was the reason she rarely told people she was the Chosen.

"Thank-you," Sheena said politely. We proceeded outside and headed for the dock. We all separated into the wash tubs, much to Raine's absolute horror. Since we had an extra person this time, Lloyd forced Noishe to stay behind so that there was room for Sheena. Noishe wasn't too happy about it, but there just wasn't room for him.

As we were boarding the washtubs, Sheena paused and turned to the group. "I feel like I should warn you all, there is probably going to be a battle once we reach the seal."

"A battle?" Lloyd repeated. "Sheena, you never told us anything about a battle!"

"I-I know, I'm sorry," she said uncomfortably. "I've been meaning to, but..." She trailed off, looking nervous suddenly. Corrine appeared on her shoulder.

"Sheena," he squeaked, "are you sure about this? You can still-"

"I'm sorry," Sheena interrupted. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know. The Summon Spirits always like to test the power of the summoner who's making the pact."

"That makes sense," said Raine. I couldn't help but notice she looked a little bit green.

"Wait," said Lloyd. He turned to me. "Aurelia, are you sure you want to come? If there's a fight you might get-"

"I'm going," I snapped. I didn't mean to be angry, but this arm and all the pain and inconvenience it was causing me was really starting to irk me. The haze that had previously cloaked my thoughts was still present, however it was gradually starting to be tinted with red.

With that being said, we piled into our washtubs and started across the ocean to the geyser. Since we knew how to better work the washtubs, the trip over was smoother and quicker than last time. I soon felt my feet touch wood as I climbed out of the washtub I had shared with Colette and onto the docks.

"I'll never get used to that," Raine mumbled as she practically crawled out of her washtub. Her sweat-coated face was a faint shade of green.

"Alright, let's go get that Summon Spirit!" Lloyd said cheerfully.

Sheena nodded silently.

Like the last time, we waited until the crowd dispersed before entering. It felt weird going through the seal and not having to solve any of its puzzles. There were still monsters to fight (Lloyd let out a visible shudder at the sight of the oversized, seemingly harmless starfish), but our time going through the seal was cut down considerably, considering that the path led straight to the teleporter.

Sheena hesitated before stepping onto the teleporter. We all waited expectantly behind her.

"You okay?" Lloyd asked her.

She jumped slightly and turned around. "Oh, r-right. Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go." She smiled sheepishly, but there was something troubling about her eyes.

We all gathered onto the teleporter and when the dizzying, falling sensation and blinding light cleared, we were in the seal room. It looked the exact same as it did before. I couldn't help but feel a sense of relief that one, Remiel would not be present during our visit here, and two, that I (hopefully) wasn't going to be dragged underwater by freakish mer-monsters. Hopefully neither of these things were going to happen.

"Alright, Sheena!" said Lloyd. He motioned towards the altar. "Please do the pact thing."

"Pact...hmm..." Kratos murmured thoughtfully. A puzzled frown passed over his face.

"O-Okay," Sheena agreed. She looked over at the altar, calm and still for the time being. "Although, I'm a little scared..."

"Don't be scared, Sheena," I said encouragingly. "I know you can do it." The smile I gave her felt weird and out of place.

Colette nodded and flashed her an encouraging smile in agreement.

This seemed to lift her spirits slightly. "Alright. I'll do it." She took a deep breath and approached the altar.

At first, nothing happened. Then, slowly, deep blue mana began to swirl into existence. It grew and grew until it became a dense, cerulean cloud that continued to swirl and form until it finally, without warning, let off a brilliant light that shook the room.

When the chaos cleared, a beautiful woman floated above the altar. Beautiful was an understatement, actually. Her beauty seemed was so...magical, as though it were something not meant for this world. Her hair flowed around her as if it was made of water, and her blue skin glowed softly. Her dress of deep blue and aqua tones almost seemed melded with her body, and her eyes, deeper and bluer than any possible ocean, gazed upon us curiously.

"You who possess the right of the pact." Her voice was haunting. Melodious. "I am one who is bound to Mithos. What is your name?"

Huh, like Mithos the Hero, I mused silently. What a funny coincidence that she'd be bound to someone named-

Wait a minute. She was already bound to someone? What did this mean for Sheena? Was she going to be able to make the pact? I glanced over at her to see a tiny frown form on her face. Although she appeared confused like I was, she at least seemed to be less nervous.

"'Mithos'?" Lloyd repeated, his eyes wide with disbelief. "The hero of the Kharlan War?"

"So not only was Mithos a swordsman," Genis began in awe, "but he had the ability to summon as well?"

"Mithos is a common boy's name," Raine said calmly. "It's not necessarily Mithos the Hero. In fact, I find it rather unlikely."

Sheena wiped the confusion from her face and took a confident stance. "I am Sheena! I seek a pact with Undine!"

"I see. However, as things stand now...I cannot."

Sheena's eyes grew wide with shock. Her face paled. "What! W-Why not?" I could see her panic quickly rising.

"I am already bound by a pact," Undine explained calmly. "I cannot form two pacts at the same time."

"You mean your pact with this Mithos guy?" Sheena gave a frustrated sigh and turned to face the rest of us. "What am I supposed to do now? They never said anything about this at the research institute!"

Lloyd thought about it a moment. "Umm...hmm...can't you just get her to cancel the old pact?"

"How?" she exclaimed. "We don't even have any idea where this Mithos person is!"

"A Summon Spirit pact requires a vow," Kratos spoke up. "As long as the pact-maker upholds that vow, the pact remains valid."

Well, let's add another item to the list of Things Kratos Has Inexplicable Knowledge About.

"That is correct," said Undine.

"I know about that," Sheena said, seeming almost annoyed As if reciting from a textbook, she said, "The Summon Spirit approves the pact-maker's vow and agrees to the pact."

"Exactly," said Kratos. "Therefore, all you need to do is follow Lloyd's advice-"

I almost had to choke back a laugh at hearing Kratos say that.

"-and request the annulment of the previous pact and form a new one. It's possible that the previous pact-maker has broken his vow. Or he may have already...passed away."

"You seem to know an awfully lot about it," I piped up.

"Is it really that simple?" Genis wondered.

Kratos ignored my comment, as I'd thought he would, and instead chose to answer Genis. "I suppose you could call it simple," he said after considering it, "but if the previous pact-maker is still alive and hasn't broken his vow, then there's nothing we can do about it."

Colette grabbed Lloyd's hand and began writing in it. "But...we...need...to...form...the...pact...so...we...can...save...Pietro...and...Clara." He looked up from his hand and nodded. "Colette is right. Can you try and annul the pact, Sheena?"

She shot a nervous glance back at Undine, who floated patiently behind us while we worked things out. "Okay. I'll give it a shot." She turned fully around and set a confident tone to her voice. "Undine! I am Sheena! I ask that thou annulst thy pact with Mithos, and establish a new pact..." She gulped. "With me."

Undine gazed at her contemplatively for a few long seconds before seeming to come to a conclusion. "Before I can allow the formation of a new pact, I must test your worthiness as a pact-maker. Draw your weapons."

"W-Wait, you mean you'll do it?" Sheena asked hopefully.

"Only if you prove that you are worthy of my power," she replied. "You mustn't hold back. I shall require your full power; therefore the girl and the swordsman will not be permitted to battle."

I felt all eyes fall on me at the mention of "girl". I didn't mean to speak out of turn in front of a Summon Spirit, as it felt...wrong, somehow, but I couldn't help it when I blurted, "What? Why can't I?"

"I can sense the poison that runs through your veins," she expressed. "It hinders the use of your arm, and therefore your weapon. There is no way your true strength could be accessed, and therefore you may not partake in this battle.

I bit down on my lip to keep myself from lashing out at her. It was extremely unfair! However, we needed this pact to save Pietro, and I had to admit that I could barely move my arm without feeling pain, so I kept quiet about my protests and reluctantly moved myself to the side of the room. I crossed my arms across my chest and waited for the battle to begin, however Undine continued to stare expectantly at Kratos.

It was then that we all clued in to the second part of Undine's statement, "the girl and the swordsman".

"Wait a sec!" Lloyd protested. "Kratos can't fight either? Why not?"

"I sense he will hold back," was all Undine had to offer in response. "Either he stands down as well or the battle shall not take place and the pact shall not be formed."

I tried to read Kratos's expression, to see if he had any idea as to why this was happening, but he looked as clueless as the rest of us.

"Very well," he said shortly. Without another word, he joined me off to the side.

"What's that all about?" I asked him curiously.

His jaw locked, the only sign that he was annoyed at the situation. "I couldn't tell you."

"Worry not. The attacks of battle shall not harm you," Undine told us. She turned to the others and held one arm out to the side. The water from the surrounding pool lifted into the air and swirled around her arm. It formed into the shape of a large sword, which she then pointed at the group. "Let it begin!"

Sheena, Lloyd, Genis, Raine and Colette all readied their weapons and got into formation.

Undine started right away by forming a blue spell circle beneath her. Genis, Raine and Colette began casting while Lloyd and Sheena charged at her to try and stop her from casting the spell.

Just as they reached her, she completed the spell. "Spread."

A huge pillar of water shot out of the ground, sending anyone who was caught underneath it flying into the air and slamming into the ground. I flinched as the resulting water rained down on Kratos and I.

When the water cleared and everyone could see again, Undine was no where to be seen. There was no sound in the chamber except for the dripping of water and the groans of the people in the group struggling to get up.

"Where did she go?" Lloyd coughed.

I suddenly heard a splash behind me. I jumped and whirled around to stare down into the water. It was still for a moment before a current formed, headed towards...

"Sheena, watch out!" I exclaimed.

Sheena whirled around just as the water rose up behind her. She dove out of the way, and the water crashed down on the spot where she previously stood. Undine rose up out of the water and slashed her with her sword. Before Sheena had time to counter, Undine turned to water once more. The room was once again silent.

"She can turn to water at will," Kratos murmured beside me. "This could prove to be a difficult battle."

I nodded, scanning the room and water for any signs of movement.

"There!" Lloyd cried, running in Raine's direction. Raine did a sort of twirl out of the way as Undine rose up behind her. Lloyd blocked the oncoming sword that had been meant for Raine with his own, then began slashing at the Summon Spirit as quickly as he could before she melted into water again. Surprisingly enough, however, she didn't melt right away. She fought off Lloyd with her own sword long enough for Colette and Genis to hit her with some spells.

She melted into water again, soon reforming in front of Genis to block his constant spell-casting. She kept at the three spell-casters until Sheena bombarded her with a series of attacks, ending in Pyre Seal. Undine was knocked back, melting into water as she hit the ground.

Colette threw her chakrams in a seemingly random direction. It turned out to be not so random after all as Undine rose up behind Lloyd, just in time to be sliced by the flying discs.

Seeing that Undine was caught off guard, Lloyd took the opportunity to unleash a combo of attacks on her, starting with Sonic Thrust and ending with Beast. Like before, Undine turned to water as she hit the ground.

Almost immediately after turning to water, she rose up again and instantly unleashed an Aqua Edge spell. The large water discs shot out and sliced at everyone's skin. Sheena took most of the attack, however. It was clear that while everyone (well, except for Kratos and I) was battling, Sheena was the one whose power Undine was most concerned with. After all, it was her who would be forming the pact.

While everyone was recovering from Undine's first spell, she began casting another, which turned out to be Spread. The huge pillar of water rose up underneath Sheena at alarming speed, slamming her into the ceiling of the room and back down to the floor when it instantly vanished.

She struggled with getting back up until Raine cast First Aid. With her renewed strength, she was able to leap to her feet and out of the way of an incoming sword attack. She then joined with Lloyd in assaulting the Summon Spirit with as many attacks as they could before she sent out an explosion of water, sending everyone around her flying back. The attack even managed to hit both Kratos and I, which shocked me. I had to hold onto Kratos's arm to keep from being knocked back into the pool behind us.

"That's not fair!" I protested, glaring at Undine as she momentarily melted into a sort of stream that quickly flowed behind Colette and unleashed a series of sword attacks on her when she rose again. "I thought we weren't allowed to battle!"

Kratos shrugged his arm out of my grip. "We aren't. That doesn't mean that we are completely immune to this battle's effects, however."

"Well that's cheap," I grumbled.

Water began rushing out of the surrounding pool, forming into humanoid shapes until there were ten identical forms of Undine surrounding the group, with no way of telling which one was the original. They closed in on the group.

"Which one is the real Undine?" Lloyd exclaimed, glancing around the group. He raised his swords to block an attack from one of them and a loud clang resounded through the chamber as sword struck sword. However, when Lloyd swung his own swords to counter, they passed right through Undine as though she was water.

"We'll just have to attack all of them!" Sheena shouted, lunging at one of them with her cards. She stumbled as she nearly passed right through the figure.

At the mention of this strategy, the many Undines scattered around the room and began shooting off Aqua Edge spells and attacking with their swords.

I scanned the group, searching desperately for any sign that would give away the real Undine. Then I saw it. One of them standing ever-so-slightly apart from the rest with a spell circle lit up beneath her.

"Try that one!" I shouted, pointing towards her.

Sheena nodded and ran towards her. A Spread spell erupted from the spot where she'd just stood. Sheena unleashed a fierce combo on Undine, knocking her off balance and causing all of the other figures to turn to water and splash to the ground.

When Undine regained her balance, she began lashing at Sheena with a rapid series of sword attacks. As Lloyd and attempted to rush to her rescue, Undine lifted one hand and a wall of water rose up, cutting her and Sheena off from the others.

"Dammit!" Lloyd attempted to pass through the wall, but soon found it impenetrable, despite the fact that it was only made from water. He pounded his fists and slashed at it with his swords, but nothing worked.

Meanwhile, with no one to back her up, Sheena found herself unable to block any of the attacks Undine was throwing at her. The Summon Spirit was relentless, and I was starting to worry that Sheena wasn't going to last.

"Corrine!" Sheena cried out between hits.

Corrine appeared in a puff of smoke and latched himself on to Undine's face. He dug his claws deep into her flesh, giving Sheena an opening to let loose a flurry of cards, seemingly endless.

Undine pried Corrine off of her face and tossed him aside. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke before hitting the ground. Even with free of the tiny Summon Spirit, Undine was still finding it difficult to dodge any of Sheena's attacks. Sheena just continued to bombard her with attacks until finally, Undine wasn't able to keep the wall of water up. It crashed to the ground, and Lloyd rushed in to help Sheena.

The two kept at Undine, and with all of the spells Colette and Genis were throwing her way, it was clear that her strength was draining.

Finally, Undine spoke, her voice echoing through the chamber. "Enough." Her body exploded in a burst of water and mana, pushing everyone back. She reappeared at the altar, and although her face was expressionless, I couldn't help but think she looked somewhat pleased.

"Splendid," she said. Her lips curved into the slightest of smiles. "Now, swear your vow. Upon what vow do you form our pact?"

Sheena glanced back at us, as if for reassurance, before fixing her gaze on Undine. "Right now, at this very moment, there are people who are suffering. I vow to save those people."

Undine nodded once. "Understood. I pledge my power to you, Sheena!" Her body began to evaporate into the very same mana we had seen floating above the altar before. It gathered together until it was merely a sparkle in the air and then shot towards Sheena.

Sheena unclenched her fist to reveal a glimmering aquamarine that almost seemed to radiate mana. Her shoulders dropped with a sort of relief that she'd done it. She'd made the pact with Undine.

Kratos and I rejoined the others, who were now all gathered around Sheena.

"Sheena, you did it!" Genis cheered.

Colette grabbed Sheena's hand and began writing with her finger on Sheena's palm. She smiled brightly when she was finished.

"Wow...congratulations," Sheena read. She smiled at her happily. "Thanks, Colette."

"Now we can finally meet the unicorn!" Lloyd said excitedly. "And maybe we can even get Colette healed, too!" He grinned at Colette, who returned the smile somewhat hesitantly.

"You really did great, Sheena," I told her. "I don't see why you were so nervous!"

"I wasn't nervous!" she said snappishly.

"Yeah you were..."

"No, I wasn't!"

"Ugh, it was a compliment, just accept it!"

"Children, please," Raine said with a sigh. "We should be on our way already. We don't have time for bickering."

"Sorry," we mumbled in unison.

"So I wonder whatever happened to this Mithos guy," said Lloyd, folding his hands behind his head as he walked. After spending the night at then House of Salvation-type building in Thoda, we continued back on our way to Lake Umacy. The long walk here was finally catching up with everyone, I think, because hardly anyone spoke that night. We were only just now getting to really talk in any detail about what had happened at the seal.

"Summoning has been gone for Sylvarant for a while, right?" I said. "He's probably dead by now."

"But what if he was an elf or half-elf?" Genis wondered aloud. "And he's still alive somewhere?"

I shrugged. "If that's the case, then he would have had to have broken his pact somehow."

"It is most likely that he's passed on," said Kratos.

Raine looked at him. Her eyes held a curiosity that I'd seen far too often already. The suspicious kind of curiosity that prompted her to poke at secrets.

"Kratos, you really knew a lot about how a pact works back at the seal," she said thoughtfully. "You have an impressive array of knowledge."

"I had an acquaintance who knew a bit about Summon Spirits," he said calmly, his voice without a single hitch. "That's all."

Her gaze didn't waver, and the suspicion in her eyes grew. However, all she responded with was, "...I see."

His tone was a bit short, I thought to myself. He ignored my comment about his knowledge of pacts when we were at the seal as well.

I found it odd, but quickly remembered our truce and that I wasn't supposed to be prying into his past, or secrets or whatever it was in this particular incident.

"I can't wait for you to summon Undine!" Lloyd said excitedly to Sheena. "It's gonna be awesome!"

"I'm so proud of you, Sheena!" Corrine piped up from her shoulder. "You did so well!"

She blushed slightly at all the praise she continued to receive. "Ah, thanks! Hopefully the unicorn will help us."

"Of course it will!" Lloyd exclaimed. "It'll owe us for saving its life!"

Raine almost looked uncomfortable at this comment, for some reason. Then again, I was in the habit of over-analyzing everyone's actions, so I could easily have been reading into it too much.

Anyway, Noishe rejoined with us not long after leaving Thoda, and came and went as we progressed towards Lake Umacy. The trip seemed somehow shorter this time around, and we soon arrived at the lake.

Lloyd ran towards the water once we got there. "Okay, go on Sheena! Ask Undine to take us over there!"

"Wait," Kratos spoke up. "That's...not going to work."

Everyone but Raine and Sheena looked puzzled.

"Why not?" asked Genis. "I thought all we needed to do was get Undine?"

Raine looked almost...awkward, as she answered his question. "The unicorn...can only be approached by a pure maiden."

...ah. Now I was informed.

"At the very least, Lloyd, Genis and I are out," said Kratos.

"'At the very least'?" Lloyd repeated with confusion. "But you said only girls can go, right? So that's Colette, Raine-"

"Ah...no, I'll have to remain behind as well," Raine interrupted hastily.

It took a moment for this statement to sink in, but when it did, I had to hold back a laugh.

"Why can't you go?" Lloyd pressed. "You're a female too!"

"Because Raine isn't a pure maiden anymore..."I muttered quietly. I shrunk back at the glare she shot me before looking at Lloyd again.

"I-I'm an adult," she said simply, colour flaring up in her cheeks. "I'm not a maiden anymore."

"But Raine-" Genis began.

"I'm staying here," she said sharply, ending the argument right there. Her cheeks had grown very red. "But I don't know what else we can do now. We can't simply send Colette on her own when she's like this..."

My head shot up. "Wait, what?" My mouth hung open in pure shock at what she was suggesting.

Sheena, too, looked indignant. "Hey! Are you saying that we're not qualified?"

Lloyd, Genis and Colette all looked confused at our outrage.

"Qualified...?" Lloyd and Genis said together.

"You don't have to both say it at once!" Sheena snapped at them.

"Raine, are you serious right now?" I said angrily. "I certainly am 'qualified' to go see the unicorn, thank-you very much!"

"Me too!" Sheena fumed.

"Oh...my apologies," she said awkwardly. "It's just, with that outfit Sheena, and Aurelia I thought surely with Devin that maybe-"

"No," said Sheena, her face pink with anger and no doubt embarrassment. I, meanwhile, was unsure whether to be angry, embarrassed, or hurt at the mention of Devin's name. It was an unpleasant combination of all three, I decided.

"We're going to the unicorn," I huffed.

"I'm confused," Lloyd groaned as he rubbed his forehead. Colette nodded in agreement.

"It would be best to just let it go," Kratos said shortly.

Sheena sighed impatiently. "A-Alright, I'm going to summon now!" She approached the water, aquamarine clasped tightly in her hand. She took a deep breath before reciting, "I call upon the Maiden of the Mist. I summon thee...come, Undine!"

The water began to burble and slosh around. It rose, twisting upwards in a spiral, until the spiral gained shape and formed to become Undine. She floated above the water patiently, awaiting Sheena's command.

"Please, Undine. Take us to the unicorn," Sheena requested.

Undine nodded her head once. "As you wish." She lifted her arm behind her.

The water began to ripple violently, crashing against the banks as if a fierce wind was blowing. It continued to do so until finally, I could see the cause. The water in the lake was parting, creating a perfectly dry path leading to the unicorn, which was still trapped in a cage of branches.

I heard Lloyd start shouting about how cool it was, however I blocked it out and followed Sheena and Colette down the bank of the lake and towards the unicorn.

Sheena pushed away the branches when she reached it, throwing them out of the way until the unicorn was finally free from its prison. It lifted its head as she cleared the final branch, and in a graceful motion, leaped to its feet.

Standing upright, it was absolutely beautiful. It was pure white, the setting sun casting an amber glow on it. Its horn was...I couldn't even quite describe it. It looked to be made of some sort of pearly crystal, catching the suns dim rays and reflecting them in a dazzling pattern on the still-parted water. It was just so...pure.

A voice echoing in my mind startled me out of my daze.

Martel?

The three of us jumped at the voice, and then proceeded to glance at each other in confusion. What was it talking about?

"Martel? You mean the Goddess Martel?" Sheena questioned.

Colette gazed at the unicorn, and it gazed back briefly for a moment before speaking again, only this time it seemed like it was answering a question.

No? You are Colette, and those who stand with you are called Sheena and Aurelia?

Sheena looked from Colette to the unicorn, and as she did, realization dawned on her face. "Wait a minute, you can hear Colette's voice?"

Yes...but you are not Martel? This presence, this mana...and this sickness...Even in my blindness it is clear. You are Martel.

Colette eyed it curiously. Cautiously.

I exist to save the awakened Martel from her sickness...To cure the sickness you have.

The unicorn could save Colette. Did that mean it could cure her of this Angel Toxicosis? Could it help her get back the things that made her human?

Sheena exchanged a hopeful glance with me. "Then please, save Colette! The horn of a unicorn has that kind of power, right?"

Colette started slightly, shaking her head. We both glanced quickly at her, but before either of us could say anything the unicorn was speaking again, clearly in response to whatever Colette had silently conveyed to him.

You are not for yourself, but to save a human with whom you have made a promise?

Colette nodded.

So that's it, you're the Chosen of Regeneration...take it.

Colette reached out and hesitantly pulled grasped the shining horn. It came off easily, almost as if it had never been attached in the first place. Without the luminescent horn, the unicorn just looked like a plain horse.

That is, until it began to fade from our sight.

"You're disappearing!" I exclaimed in alarm.

Our horns are our very lives, the unicorn explained. My destiny is now fulfilled.

Colette inhaled sharply, her face filled with sorrow. She shook her head rapidly.

"But you'll die!" Sheena protested. Her eyes shone with unshed tears.

My purpose is to aid those in need of healing. If I were to fail that task, I would not deserve to exist any longer. Therefore, I gladly offer my horn to you. Please, do not be troubled. A new life will be born from me. And when that new life ends, yet another will be born. In doing so, we live on...forever.

Colette's face lifted at this, at the hope that she wasn't completely killing the unicorn, not really. Sheena and I were both relieved as well, yet it was still saddening to see the unicorn fade completely from sight.

With Colette clutching the horn tightly to her chest, the three of us headed back to the shore. Sheena dismissed Undine as we climbed up the bank and I heard a great rush of water as the lake returned to its whole state once more. I flinched at the loud noise.

The air between the three of us was heavy, and the others were quick to notice. Lloyd took one look at our sorrow-filled faces and approached us with a look of concern on his own face.

"Hey, are you guys alright?" he asked worriedly.

I nodded silently. I didn't really know how to explain to him what had just happened. Sure, a new unicorn was going to be born, but that didn't erase the fact that this one had just...disappeared. It sacrificed itself just so it could help us. I couldn't stop thinking about the moment I'd first seen it standing, and I'd been captivated by its purity. And now it was just...gone. I couldn't wrap my head around it, and I couldn't understand just why it was affecting me as much as it was.

"Sheena, are you crying?" Genis asked, his eyes growing wide.

She sniffed and wiped quickly at her face. "The unicorn...gave us its horn," was all she could manage without bursting into tears.

"I see. So the unicorn is dead."

I whipped my head up to stare at Kratos in shock. As did everyone else, except for Raine.

"It's dead?" Lloyd's eyebrows shot up into his hairline.

"You knew?" Sheena exclaimed. She looked furious that he'd withheld this information from us.

Raine nodded. "It's a fact that when a unicorn loses its horn, it dies. By dying, a new unicorn is born. That is why the unicorn is the symbol of death and rebirth."

"So what the unicorn said was true," said Sheena, her voice significantly calmer than it had been before. "A unicorn will be reborn."

"Yes, I'm sure one has already been born," Raine assured her.

If I thought hard enough about that, it made me feel a little bit better.

"So the unicorn gave us this horn at the cost of its life," Lloyd said thoughtfully. He turned to Colette slightly. "We have to make sure we make good use of it."

"Yeah Colette!" Genis chimed in. "Now we might be able to get you back to normal!"

Colette looked uncomfortable. She didn't meet either of the boys' eyes as she shook her head.

"What? Colette, why?" Lloyd protested.

Still keeping her eyes to the ground, Colette grabbed Lloyd's hand and traced her finger in his palm.

"'I...still...haven't...finished...regenerating...the...world'," Lloyd read. "'So...please...use...this...for...Pietro...and...Clara'?" Lloyd looked up from his palm to Colette, his expression troubled. "But Colette-!"

Colette smiled slightly, her eyes reassuring him that she'd be okay.

He stared at her for a long moment before sighing in defeat. "Alright, Colette. If that's what you want."

She nodded happily before approaching Raine and holding out the crystalline horn.

Raine carefully took the horn, her eyes lighting up considerably. I see the beginnings of an intense Ruin Mode showing. She would no doubt spend the entire night pouring over Boltzmann's Book in addition to the Unicorn Horn.

"So beautiful..." she whispered lovingly.

"Looks like Raine's got a new toy," Genis sighed.

"Now all we have to do is heal Pietro," said Lloyd. "Then it's on to the Tower of Salvation..."

As always, this dulled the mood quite a bit. It's a good thing Hima was so far away, because no one was looking forward to reaching that Tower.

"We can't forget about Clara either," I reminded him quietly. "She's still out there somewhere as a monster."

"Where do you suppose we'll find this Clara person?" asked Sheena. All she knew about Clara's situation was what he had briefly explained to her back when we saved her in Luin.

"She could be anywhere," said Kratos. "We have little time to perform a thorough search for her. All we can do is hope we come across her."

"Wait just a little longer Colette," said Raine. She looked directly into her eyes and said, "I promise we'll fulfill your wish."

Colette didn't say anything for a long moment. Finally, she smiled slightly and mouthed, "Thank-you."

Like many interactions between Colette and Raine, this was one that seemed to have more meaning to it than what was on the surface.

I stared at the horizon, its view slightly broken by the trees surrounding the lake. The mana I'd felt the first time we arrived here was gone. It had been drained with the death of the unicorn. It was just a regular lake now.

Through the haze that still clouded my mind, I felt a brief but intense stab of pain. It broke through long enough to cause my breath to fail me before the haze took control and numbed the pain once more. In that brief moment though, I realized that clearly this haze was holding back a hell of a mess of emotions.

And I was pretty scared to see what would happen when those emotions wanted out.

Thanks for reading! A review to let me know how it's going would be much appreciated :)