You all know they're supposed to search for the parts of the passwords to get to the hanger, right? Well…let's divert our attention to something else, shall we?
Disclaimer: The Tales series owns Symphonia and Vesperia. And I don't; so there.
(By the way, I put in the cover for this story – I made the cover; and I changed the summary (again) to show that it's semi-AU. For obvious reasons if you hadn't figured it out yet.)
"Are we there yet?"
"For the last time, Zelos, no! !" Sheena shouted at the red haired Chosen, irritated beyond belief.
It seems everyone else is getting annoyed by him. "Zelos, you have been asking that for the past few minutes," the Rosebud said, sounding tired.
"And besides, its Lloyd's job to ask that," the Brat said.
"Hey!" Bud let out in indignation.
"Oh, come on!" The red haired man complained, "It's been two days already! And after the eight day trip to the mines and back, I'm sick of the ocean!"
"Well complaining about it won't make the ship go any faster!" Miss Irritable growled, and he felt her glare at the back of his head. "I swear, you're as annoying as Karol and the Old Man at times!"
"You kept mentioning this 'Old Man'," Rosebud said to Miss Irritable, "Is that really his name?"
"Not really," the red clad mage admitted, "But most of us call him that because he's the oldest in our group."
"...Okay…?" The Brat could only let out.
After that, the conversation is over, and the red haired Chosen let out a tired sigh as he leaned back against his seat. He hates to admit it, but it's kinda boring since Yuri isn't around. The man somehow makes a conversation interesting. Not only that, but Zelos couldn't help but be worried about the man. Ever since he collapsed back at the Temple of Lightning a couple of days ago…it's actually a bit unnerving to see him go down like that, all weak and stuff.
During the time, he tried to lighten the mood by being his 'jolly' self, especially since a lot of them are saddened by the loss of Corrine and them worrying about Yuri at the same time. All that did was making everyone mad at him, thinking that he's 'too heartless to care about Sheena's feelings'. He DOES care about her – the only reason he's like that is because if all of them remained sad, it'll only make Sheena feel worse. He didn't want that. But he doubt any of them would listen – labeling him as 'the heartless jerk' if they hadn't already.
Sometimes it isn't fun to be the Chosen – especially if there are a lot of people that hated your guts.
After a few minutes of silence, when Zelos was about to ask if they're at the base yet (again), until he heard Sheena say, "We're here."
'Ugh, finally,' he mentally groaned. After everyone got out of the EC, he quickly put it back into the Wingpack – hopefully it'll be the last time they'll ever use that thing. After everyone stretched out their sore muscles, they made their way to the entrance to the base. Zelos couldn't help but look around for a moment as they did so.
It really is a large outcropping of rock and they quickly spotted Orochi conversing with…a Renegade? No wait, he said that the people of Mizuho had infiltrated the base; it's most likely that most of them are disguised as the Renegades. They were talking to each other off to the side, out of sight of the main doors. The group merely stood to the side as well, waiting for the two to finish their discussion…but why did Orochi looked…agitated for a moment?
When they were finally done talking to each other, Orochi sighed and turned to them. "I have some grave news."
"What? What is it?" Bud asked, immediately worried.
"We weren't sure how, but…" Orochi glanced over to the disguised Mizuhoan, who nodded gravely, and looked back at them. "Somehow, two days ago, the Renegades captured your friend."
"Our friend?" Sheena repeated and they all gave each other a confused look. …Though Zelos had a funny feeling in his gut that he knew who it was.
They all looked back at the blue clad man. "Who did they capture? Is Colette with them? ?" Zelos nearly gave Bud a pitied look for the hopeful tone in his voice.
Orochi shook his head. "No, it's your ill friend: Yuri."
…Sometimes, Zelos really hated it when he's right. "What? ?" The red clad boy let out in shock, as the rest of them looked shocked as well. "But, how did they manage to do that? Wasn't Yuri with some of your men?"
"That's just it, we have no idea how," the disguised Mizuhoan said. "It was around the afternoon when the leader brought him into the base and placed him into a room. We've tried getting him out, but it seems that he placed in a pass code of sorts. He also ordered some of his men to 'take care of him'."
"Take care of him?" Regal repeated, "What meaning is he using when he said those words?"
The fake Renegade shook his head. "We're not sure," he admitted, "But they have been going in and out of that room a few times for the past couple of days. So we should assume they didn't do any harm to him."
Miss Irritable let out an aggravated sigh. "I swear – it's as if he's making our lives difficult on purpose…"
"Is he?" …Zelos had to give a weird look at the female lumberjack when she asked that question – she looked as if she honestly believed the girl.
"…I don't believe its Yuri's fault for the amount of bad luck that had been around him," Regal said to the young pinkette.
"Yeah, and I don't think he's doing that on purpose," Sheena added.
"Oh."
Orochi then gestured for them to follow him. "We should make haste, though," he told them, "The security cameras have been disabled. We need to make this quick."
…Guess he had to hold off on telling Yuan that they're here for the Rheairds, Zelos mentally mused as they all followed the ninja into the base (the other is on guard duty after all). The man led them down a side corridor and into an empty room.
Most of them took a moment to look around in the high tech room before they looked back at Orochi, just as he said:
"All right, it won't be long before we're noticed. Now, all of you must listen carefully, because I only have time to explain this once. The Rheaird hanger is in the deepest part of this facility, and there's only one passage leading to it."
"Sounds pretty easy," Zelos couldn't help but say.
"…There's a catch to it, isn't it?" …Okay, Zelos couldn't help but be scared by how quickly Lloyd figured that out.
Orochi nodded. "Yes. Even if you get to the hanger, the door will be locked. It can only be opened with the use of a pass code."
"And I suppose you weren't able to acquire it, like the pass code to where Yuri is contained?" …He had to give it to the Professor – she's quick on these things.
"Yes," Orochi admitted. "We did our best, but you're correct. However, we were able to find out that there are three pass codes, each of them in the possession of a different Renegade."
"Ah," the brunette boy snapped his fingers. "So we need to catch those three and get them to tell us the pass codes, right?"
The ninja nodded again. "They're of a higher rank than the typical foot soldier," he explained, "so you should be able to tell them apart by the armor they wear and the color of their uniform. Once you have the pass codes, you should head for the hanger immediately and escape using the Rheairds."
Zelos rubbed his chin on this. Knowing Lloyd, he didn't want to leave Yuri behind in this place. The Rheairds also take priority…but Yuri is their friend as well. And there's also the fact that they're a pretty large group. They'll be noticed immediately if they don't split up-
Split up…
Zelos snapped his fingers, an idea hitting him. "I've got an idea," he said, as they all looked over at him. "I think we should split up to cover more ground. You know what I'm saying?"
"That is true," Orochi said, nodding, "You are a large group; you will be easily noticed."
"In that case, we need to set up a place where we can meet up before we get the Rheairds," the Professor rubbed her chin.
"There's a room just before the passage to the hanger," Orochi suggested. "I'll take you there now, so please start considering what your groups should be."
As they followed Orochi towards the said room, the group talked among themselves about the groups that'll be used to locate what.
"Okay," Lloyd said as they walked, "so we should be in three groups, right?"
"It's logical," Rosebud said, "There are nine of us, so we should be evened out."
"But the question is: who will go after Yuri?" Regal questioned.
…He had thought of that. "I could go look for Yuri," Zelos offered.
The group gave him a skeptical look. "…You're actually offering to do something?" The Brat asked, raising his brow.
"Hey, even the Great Zelos needed to go and save his buddies," he defended himself.
"But Yuri never considered himself your friend," the Brat pointed out.
…He made a mental note to beat the crap out of the kid as soon as the Professor (or anyone else) isn't looking. Or maybe sabotage him somehow. Yeah, that'll work. "…I'm going to let that comment slide," for now he mentally added. "So, anyways, anyone wants come with me?"
A moment of silence went by before Rita gave him a suspicious look. "I don't know what you're planning," she said, "So I'm not going to take my eyes off of you." The one eyed dog woofed, as if adding his two cents.
Presea looked over at the dog. "It seems Repede also wants to go with you two."
Oh great, now he has a very violent girl and a pooch in his group. What the hell did he do to deserve this-?
Oh wait; never mind.
"Well, that's one group," Lloyd spoke up, "What about the rest?"
They quickly decided on the last two groups: Lloyd, the Brat and Regal would be one group; while the Professor, Sheena and Rosebud will be the other group.
"Now, here's the plan," Raine spoke up after their groups are picked, "The three groups will search for the men who has a pass code; in the meantime, Zelos' group will try to locate Yuri and free him. Are there any questions?" When no one responded, she nodded. "Good."
It seems like it was just in time. They had just entered a more open area; there were corridors to their left, right, and direction in front of them. Orochi gestured to the one they were facing.
"This hallway leads to the entrance to the hanger," he told them. "Don't head down there until you have all the passcodes; it would be all too easy to get cornered otherwise."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Orochi spent the next minute or two repeating a few important points and stressing that they had to utilize as much stealth as they could, since there was a possibility that the Renegades could more securely lock down the hanger if they were to figure out who they were and why they were here.
Finally, the ninja offered a few parting words before he vanished into another part of the base; it's too risky to stay with them. Once he was gone, they nodded and they took off (with Bud's group to the left door, the Professor's group going back the way they came, and his group to the right door) to find not only the passcodes, but Yuri as well.
…He had a feeling Yuan is going to kill him since he didn't tell a Renegade what they were doing. Oh well, he can't change it.
A few minutes went by while the three of them wondering through the halls, trying to locate one of the men that have one of the three pass codes to the hanger's lock. They practically looked in every room they come across, searching for the guy with the part of the pass code or any traces of Yuri at all. And perhaps it's a good thing the pooch is tagging along with them; able to hear people coming towards their general direction and they would quickly hide.
Of course, things nearly gone to hell when they wondered into a room (a break room at that)…filled with a few Renegades. The three of them stared at the Renegades (him and Rita looking shocked) as the Renegades looked back at them in surprise…
…And he couldn't help but be mortified when the red clad mage somehow managed to knock them all out…with Fireballs. There's no way in hell he could do something like that! Sure he could use magic (with him ingesting that rock – what's it called again? Aionis? He thinks so – that gave him the ability to do so; even if he does have a bit of elven blood within him) but the only things he practically mastered is First Aid (not as strong as the Professor's), Lightning (for some reason, it's stronger than even the Brat's or Rita's), and Wind Blade. Fire Ball isn't as powerful…and his Stone Blast spell is, well, decent, but it isn't strong.
…Now that he noticed it, the Brat's Ice elemental spells are a lot stronger than the other spells he has, and Rita's Darkness elemental spells are also stronger too.
He shook his head. He'll think about that later.
The man looked over at the red clad mage as soon as the guards are down. "…Do you seriously have to do that to them?" He couldn't help but ask.
The girl just glared at him. "What, and alert the rest of the base about us?" She scoffed, "Get real."
"Well, yeah, I know that," he deadpanned, "But noise like that would also attract the Renegades to us, wouldn't it?" Especially if there are some nearby-
The doors next to him opened and he looked over to see another Renegade, taking off his extravagant looking helmet (with his uniform colored purple), and scratching the top of his head as he put it under his arm-
He blinked in surprise at the sight he saw…and the pooch quickly pounced on the man, who yelped. "Nice one, Repede," Rita complimented the dog as she strode up to the downed man.
When Zelos did the same, he saw that the dog effectively kept the man submissive, baring his teeth near the poor man's (incredibly frightened) face. The red haired man squatted down near the Renegade's head. Yup, this guy might be one of the three people they needed to find. At the thought, he nodded. "Okay, buddy," he began, and the man's eyes shifted over to him, "if you don't want your face bitten off by the dog, may I kindly suggest that you give us a pass code that leads to the hanger?"
The downed Renegade shifted his gaze to the dog pinning him and back to Zelos. "W-What made you think I have one of the pass codes?"
"Your uniform," Rita stated bluntly.
"Hey, just because I'm of a higher rank-" The dog snarled as he got near the man's face, cutting him off.
"Listen, there's a friend we've gotta save," Zelos told the downed man, "And it's real important that we gotta have them in order to save her."
"Are you referring to the Sylvaranti Chosen?" The red haired Chosen tried not to bite his lip at this. Damn, they knew about her getting kidnapped. "She's a danger to us alive."
"What are you talking about?" Rita demanded, and her shadow indicated that she leaned closer to glare down at the Renegade.
"The role of the Renegades is to insure that Cruxis doesn't succeed in resurrecting Martel," the downed man explained, "If that happens then both worlds will perish."
The two of them gave a confused look at each other at this. They looked back down at the man. "What exactly do you mean?" Zelos asked, suspicious.
"I'm afraid that's classified information," the Renegade immediately said, "Especially to the people who are the reason Cruxis is so close to achieving their goal."
"What the hell is wrong with you guys?!" Rita demanded, "You think it's okay to kill off an innocent sixteen-year-old girl who has no control over what she has to do? ?"
"It's a sacrifice for a greater good," the Renegade answered.
"…Well gee, that's the same rationale Cruxis uses for the Regeneration Ritual," Zelos shot back, raising his brow at the man. "For a group fighting against Cruxis, you sounded like them right there." The man looked jerked like he had just been slapped.
"Tch…" The man grunted. He then glared over at the red haired Chosen. "Zelos Wilder, Chosen of Tethe'alla…you risked forsaking your own world by being with the people that had been with the Sylvaranti Chosen. Do you really want to do this?"
Zelos narrowed his eyes at the man. All of the Renegades knew of Zelos' involvement with them…but if he doesn't want to risk blowing his cover…he has to give them an honest answer.
"Well…I wasn't cool with it at first," Zelos said, "but killing Colette off is just the only way of stalling. It's not really putting an end to the Chosen System, now would it? So…I guess I'm all for finding a way to save everyone without sacrificing a fellow Chosen, you know?"
The Renegade narrowed his eyes a little at the red haired Chosen. They stared at each other for a few moments…before the Renegade man sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you part of the code," he said. "It's 'the foundation of the world'."
Zelos nodded and stood up. "Thank you my man," he said- then his head perked up a little, remembering something. "Oh, right, we have a friend here in the base that your leader may have captured. You know where he is?"
The Renegade blinked then perked his head. "Him? What's your relation to the quarter-ling?"
"Quarter-ling?" Rita repeated, confused, "What the hell does that mean? That asshole Rodyle called Yuri that as well before he kidnapped Colette."
The man looked over at her. "It's what we half-elves call those with quarter elven blood or quarter human blood."
…Huh?
"What are you talking? Yuri isn't a quarter-elf or a quarter-human," Rita said.
The Renegade – a half-elf (go figure) – rolled his eyes. "Right," he said, sarcastically, "Of course humans can't tell. Only half-elves and elves could."
…O-kay, a weird piece of info that they didn't need. "Look, just tell us where he is and the pass code to the room he's in and we'll leave you alone," Zelos told him.
The Renegade shook his head. "I don't know anything about that man," he told them, "Most of us aren't informed of why Lord Yuan brought him in, and of the orders he gave to a select few, along with Lord Botta."
"What orders?" Rita demanded.
"That's just it, we don't know," the Renegade did his best to shrug while lying on the floor. "All most of us know is that the pass code is the name of our leader's second love."
"Second?" Zelos blinked.
"Again, I don't know," the Renegade insisted. "The room is located further down the hall, few doors down from our Lord's office."
The two of them gave each other a look before back at him. "All right, you're free to go," Zelos said, "But first…"
As soon as Repede got off of the man, the red haired man pulled the Renegade up into a sitting position, and Rita – getting the hint – used her book to knock out the poor man. "Sorry to do that," Zelos quietly apologized to the poor man, "but we can't let anyone know we're here."
It took them a few minutes to round up the other downed Renegades and stuff them into a closet – how cliché – and made sure to lock it so that they wouldn't get out. After dusting their hands, they began the second part of their mission: locating Yuri.
There's only one problem.
"…Where would we find Yuan's room?" Zelos asked himself as he scratched his head.
He let out a yelp when Rita hit him.
~o~
The three of them spent a few minutes searching for either Yuan's room or the room Yuri might be in. It's a pain in the ass trying to find them. That Renegade guy said that the room is further down the hall they were heading – thanks to Repede's nose that showed them the direction they hadn't went yet.
What's frustrating is that they don't even have a label on the doors to show what they are. It's as if these guys are annoying them on purpose.
As soon as Rita learns a really powerful spell – she doesn't know what it'll be – she'll blow up this base if it's the last thing she'll do.
…Actually, she thinks she will kick Yuri's ass for being a dumb ass and getting himself caught in the first place. THEN she'll destroy this base. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. After that, she will go and kill the bastard that took Colette and maybe everyone else in Cruxis for getting them into this mess! They already had enough on their plate as it is. What, with the Hermes Blastia, the Entelexia, the mess with Alexei and trying to save Estelle…and now this crap.
Seriously, it's as if there's someone out there that's pissed off at them for doing…something (maybe just by existing) or…what, she doesn't know. She's so tired of all of the misfortunes that kept happening to them throughout their journey so far. Sure, bad things happened to people all the time, but…what she went through while with Yuri is just ridiculous. Sometimes, she regretted tagging along with the others after she was cleared of suspicions… But the thoughts she had back when she was with Richter and Aster before uniting with Yuri came back to mind. She knew she couldn't think like that, but…sometimes, she wanted to blame on some of the things that happened to them on…something. She knows it's stupid to blame it on Yuri, because most of the crap (okay, maybe half of it) isn't his fault.
…Okay, all she's been doing is fighting. At the next opportunity, she is taking a break for a day – scratch that, make that two days. She wanted to some rest, dammit!
The two entered another door next to them-
The red haired Chosen suddenly put his hand over her mouth. She let out a muffled scream and is about to punch the living daylights out of the man until he put a finger to his lips, making a silent 'shush' and pointed at something, his eyes really wide. The room is highly refurbished, with a globe of the world to the side, a large oak desk on one end of the room, a few potted plants and several bookcases. But those are the second things she noticed. The first thing she noticed…is the man seemingly asleep at his desk. She had only seen him once, but she could never forget a face let his.
…Although, she honestly didn't expect to find this guy here of all places. Isn't he one of the Four Seraphim of Cruxis?
But that means that they're getting somewhere. The Renegade they got the information out of said that the room Yuri is in is a few doors down from their Lord's room. Rita nodded and began to walk out of the room-
The idiot Chosen grabbed her by the back of her tunic. "Hold it," he whispered, "Let's see if we can find some clues to the pass code to Yuri's room first."
…Right. She knew that.
With a silent sigh, the two of them wondered (quietly) around the room, trying to find some sort of clue to the pass code to Yuri's room, as Repede took watch. Rita carefully rummaged through one of the drawers near a plant and looked through it. It's filled with a few pieces of paper (some of which looked so…old) but none of them looked important and small books, filled with hastily written scrawl. Shaking her head, she closed the drawer and started over to a bookcase (noting that Zelos is slowly inching over to the desk, trying not to awaken the slumbering man). She looked over the books – some of them are novels, pieces of paper wedge between them, some…really old books (like the spell books that Rita couldn't help but take) and…
She blinked, before slowly pulling it out. Why does the guy carry around a photo album?
…And who the hell is 'Sophia'? She asked herself, looking over the title. Whoever that is, it sounds like a woman's name. She was about to open the album book-
The brunette froze when she heard the man moan a little. All was silent for a few seconds…and she slowly put the book away. It's not important to risk her neck over.
"Zelos…!" She hissed out through her teeth, slowly turning her head to look at the red haired man (who was placing the photo on the desk back down, picture down for some reason). "Let's get the hell out of here…!"
The man doesn't seem to trust himself to talk – since he is close to Yuan after all – and just nodded before they slowly walked out of the room. Once they were in the safety of the hallways, they both sighed in relief. "That took some years off my life…" the red haired man said.
Rita wanted to hit him, but she didn't have the strength to (yet). She was too busy calming her heart down.
"So…you got anything to open Yuri's door?" The Chosen asked her, seemingly recovering faster than her.
"…Maybe," she finally said, straightening up herself. "I'm not sure yet. But there's only one way to find out."
"Right-o!" Zelos said with a grin. "And after we rescue my hommie, then we can go and get the Rheairds and save Cute Angel-!"
She didn't have to look where she punched him, and just left him on the floor as she and Repede go down the hall where Yuri's room might be.
…For some reason, she couldn't help but feel that they made a mistake back there. It…shouldn't hurt them later, will it? She hopes not.
It wasn't long until they found a door with a small computer next to it on the wall. Zelos had just caught up to them, grumbling (about crazy mages and their deadly hands) as he rubbed his stomach; while Rita rubbed her chin in thought.
Second love…who could have been that guy's second love…?
…Well, you can't prove your hypothesis correct until you find out, right?
She nodded, and put in the code. "S. O. P. H. I. A," Rita spelled out as she does so. "Sophia." She pressed enter and they waited for a few seconds for the computer to process what she had put down.
It beeped for a few times…then beeped twice and the door opened besides them.
"Well, what do you know?" Zelos let out, "That actually worked."
"Well, duh," Rita said, crossing her arms. "It's a logical outcome of this theory."
"What theory?" She made a blank look when the red haired man asked that. "C'mon Rita, you and I both know that it's a guess."
…She's too tired to even hit him again. She just wanted to get this over with.
Palming her face, she muttered, "Let's just get Yuri and get out of here."
"Okay, okay," the man said, and the three went into the room.
…It isn't what she expected. She half expected the room where Yuri is to be a…prison-like room or something. Not a room where a noble back home would kill to have some of the things in here.
Next to her, Zelos whistled, impressed. "Damn, where in the hell did they get this stuff?" The man asked, looking around as he stepped forward into the rather luxurious room. "I know a few nobles back home that would like a few of the things in here."
"…Fascinating," the red clad mage said flatly, not interested. She doesn't care about most of the pricks she had saw during her adventure back home on Terca Lumireis – a certain few she would name but wouldn't – and the only exceptions are the royal candidates to the Imperial throne, Estelle and Ioder-
She heard Repede whine and looked over to the dog, seeing the dog having his paws onto the bed near them. She didn't pay attention to the basin and a glass on the table with them as she went over to the dog's side.
Rita sighed as she shook her head, putting her hands on her hips as she looked down at the dark haired male sleeping peacefully on the lavish bed. At times when he just slept in, they would usually find the man sprawled out on the bed, his limbs spread out like an eagle. But now, the man's limps are still, with one arm over his torso – and they didn't bother to take off his boots. But if he's sleeping like this, then that means he's all right. "Hard to believe he can look peaceful in his sleep when he's not causing trouble," she mused, tilting her head a little at the slumbering man.
A sudden thought went into her mind, making her arms go slack. If Yuri was here the whole time, how come he didn't escape earlier and save them the headache?
"Hey, pooch," Zelos' voice got the girl to look over her shoulder to look at the red haired man as he held out the glass (filled with water) to the dog. "Sniff this, will ya?"
Repede let out a sigh – as if exasperated by the demand – but nonetheless complied, sniffing the water tentatively. The canine did a take and made a growl, drawing his ears back. Rita blinked – is it something in the water-?
Ah, now she gets it.
And it seemed the man understood as well, making a frown at the glass and dumped it into the basin. "The Renegades must have drugged him to make sure he stayed here," the man said, setting the glass down. Yeah, that would make sense – she isn't sure if she could believe that Yuri had nearly took down an entire guild during a bar fight with his bare fists, but she has seen that the man can be dangerous; with or without a blade. She remembered that – when they were going through the abandoned temple of Baction to first get Estelle – Yuri punched a Royal Guard member so hard, it knocked the man out; and that was when he's pissed off after the revelation of Alexei's betrayal.
The girl looked over at the dark haired man to see if there are any puncture wounds of some kind – there are a couple of white marks in his left palm, but they don't look anything like other wounds she may have seen. Other than the marks on his hand, the rest of him seemed fine. She also checked the man's temperature. His fever is nearly gone. That's good.
The girl looked over at the red head next to her. "Zelos carry him will you?"
"Wait, you want me to carry him?" The red head asked, looking over at her in shock.
She merely gave the man a bored look. "Do I look like I'm capable of lifting him?" She asked, pointing at the man in bed.
"Uh…"
She let out an annoyed growl. "Just do it."
"Okay, okay," Zelos sighed. "But could you at least help me get him on my back?"
"Fine," she sighed.
They spent a couple of minutes putting the dark haired man onto the red haired Chosen's back. After a few moments, they managed to get Yuri onto Zelos' back. "Huh, what do you know," the red haired man said, trying to look at the man on his back with a surprised look. "He really isn't that heavy, like Pops said."
…She isn't sure if that really is the case. But she ignored it for now, gesturing to the door. "We better go and meet up with the others now," Rita suggested.
"All right then," the red head just nodded. "Lead on Miss Genius Mage!"
Rita gave a look over at the man – she isn't sure if he was trying to an ass or not – before she shook her head and the three (with an unconscious Yuri on Zelos' back) left the room to get back to their meeting place in the hall where the Rheairds are at.
~o~
Being in this base had put them on edge for a long while. Sure, most of the people in the base are filled with half-elves (and some that are humans), but Genis isn't willing to fight against these people.
True their actions are…questionable – they tried to kill Colette and wanted Lloyd for something – but they didn't do anything else besides those. Yes, they are an organization that opposes Cruxis, but, again, their motives are questionable. They can't be sure if the Renegades can be trusted or not.
And it's not because they are kin, in a way, but they didn't want to let the Renegade know about their presence in the base. They wanted to get the Rheairds, get out of here and save Colette. That's all that mattered. So it's somewhat surprising that Lloyd didn't jump any Renegade they had seen so far – and any Renegade that came across them so far, Lloyd just punched them; so hard, they're knocked out flat.
…Now that he thought about it, he remembered seeing Yuri doing that with a Papal Knight when they were about to be executed – when the man's helmet was taken off – managing to knock out the man with just a punch. Either Lloyd is picking up a few habits from Yuri, or maybe it's one of his infamous 'Dwarf Punch' – said to be able to knock out a person with just a single punch alone. If Lloyd did pick that up from Yuri, then the dark haired man is starting to become an influence on his friend…like Kratos.
The young half-elf hopes that Yuri wouldn't do something to betray Lloyd's trust, like the damn Seraph did back at the tower. He didn't see a reason why Yuri would deceive them – Kratos and Pronyma didn't know about Yuri until the day Colette regained her soul back – but, like Raine, he had a feeling that the man isn't telling them everything, like what they were doing back on their world before Yggdrasill came along. Perhaps they have a pretty good reason not to tell them – like they also did before all of this.
But still…there are a lot of things that didn't make sense. From what Yuri and Rita managed to tell them so far, there aren't any elves over at their world. So why-?
He felt something nudge his arm, and he blinked – from being brought out of his thoughts – before looking to the source. Lloyd was looking down at him in concern. "I've been calling your name a couple of times, but you didn't answer," he said, looking over at the silver haired boy with his russet eyes – like Kratos'. "Is something wrong?"
Oh. Well, it's understandable for humans to worry about some things (even the little ones). But Lloyd had asked him a question, so he better answer. "Ah, I was thinking of how being in this place puts me on edge, is all," the boy answered.
The red clad male nodded. "Yeah, I hope the others get back here," he said. "I don't want to leave everyone behind; not Colette, and not Yuri as well."
At that, the boy gave his friend a worried look. "…You know, you've been spending a lot of time with Yuri lately after we got back to Meltokio," the boy said, and his friend looked over at him. "You know…a couple of days after Colette got her soul back."
The brunette blinked, glanced over at Regal, who seemed to be on the lookout for anyone – either their companions or the Renegade – and back at him, asking, "Why do you say that?"
Genis bit his lip, not sure how to verbalize the feeling he has within him. Is he…jealous of Yuri for spending time with Lloyd? No, that couldn't be right – the man interacted with the boy as well, sometimes on a few recipes that needed a bit of improvement or with their own touch (with great results at times). But that doesn't explain why they spent a lot of time with each other – and besides sword training it looked that they interacted a lot for some reason. And Genis couldn't figure out why that is.
"I…well, what if something happened and Yuri decided to pull something on us?" The boy finally asked/answered. It's not that he trusts Yuri, but, again, you can't be too careful with who you trust these days. What if Yuri betrays them in the future and made Lloyd endure hurt again, like what Kratos did? The betrayal hurts, and he didn't want to go through that again.
Lloyd stared down at him for a few moments, as if absorbing his friend's word and trying to come up with an answer for that. It took a few moments before the twin swordsman answered. "Somehow, I don't Yuri will do anything like that."
The boy blinked at the answer. "What do you mean?"
"Well," the red haired male scratched his head at time, as if not sure to answer, "Yuri doesn't seem like the type to use people's trust for his own ends. Remember what he said back in Mizuho, to the Vice-Chief?" When Genis nodded, Lloyd continued, "Would a person who takes advantage of people really say that? And he even told Kate to think about what she wanted to do."
"So, I don't think Yuri is really a bad person," Lloyd crossed his arms and nodded. "And even if he and Rita are keeping a lot of stuff from us, I can understand that. A lot of people have skeletons in their closets. If they feel that they can trust us enough – like Regal – I'm sure that they'll tell us the full story. Trust is earned and forged; you can't force it on people or force them to trust you. It has to develop, like friendship, you know."
Genis stared at his friend, as if he had grown a second head. "That's…actually philosophic, coming from you."
The male brunette blushed. "Shut up."
But, yeah; Lloyd does bring a good point. Yuri…doesn't seem like a bad person. He helped the others rescue himself and his sister after all. And, after hearing Regal's further explanation of Link Artes, he trusted Rita (a bit) to the point where they forged two Link Artes together. Repede…well, he still isn't sure about the dog, but he's pretty tough and seemed trustworthy.
For a brief moment, Genis wondered what their other friends are like. He heard brief mentions of 'Flynn' and 'Estelle'…he can't really judge people after hearing about them from other people. He has to meet with them to see what they're like with his own eyes. The boy only hopes that they'll accept him and Raine for being half-elves-
The doors to their right open and the three of them tensed, thinking that it might be the Renegades-
It was only his sister and her group returning. The three relaxed, and Regal asked the silver haired woman, "Have you found a part of the pass code?"
Fortunately for them, Raine nodded. "Have you?" She asked them.
"Yeah," Lloyd was the one who answered, "It was…um…" The male crossed his arms, trying to remember the part of the pass code.
"It's 'Mana is'," Regal gently reminded the red clad male.
"Oh, really?" The brunette blinked, making Genis and Raine shake their heads. Some things never change…
Regal looked back at the elder half-elf. "And what about you? What's the part of the pass code that you've obtained?" He asked.
Instead of Raine or Sheena, it was Presea who answered. "The pass code we've obtained is 'The life of'."
Lloyd then nodded. "Okay, so I think the pass codes we have so far is: 'The life of' and 'Mana is'…" He said.
"Do you think they make a sentence?" Genis asked, looking over at the two elders in their group.
"Perhaps," Raine admitted, "but we won't know for sure until Zelos' group comes back."
"I wonder how long that'll be," Lloyd let out-
And the doors to the right side of the hall they're in (or left since they're in front of the chamber where the Rheairds might be) opened, and out walked Zelos' group…with a familiar, unconscious man on the red haired Chosen's back.
"Hey! You found him!" Lloyd exclaimed and he hurried over to Zelos' side to look over at Yuri. "How is he? Is he okay? ?"
"Whoa! Calm down, Bud!" The red head let out, "He'll be fine. Asleep, but he's fine."
"How the hell can he remain asleep?" Sheena wondered, as she went over to examine the unconscious man herself. "If he was here the whole time, then how come he didn't escape and let our spies help him?"
"I wondered that as well, but it turns out that the Renegades have drugged him," Rita explained, crossing her arms.
…That actually makes sense. But there's another thing that confuses the half-elven boy. "But why would they go through all the trouble to do that?" He asked.
"Most likely to use him as a leverage to get to Lloyd," Regal guessed, rubbing his chin. "If I recall, you once explained that Yuan is after Lloyd for some reason or another, correct?"
"Actually," Rita spoke up and all eyes turned to her as she explained, "the rest of the Renegade have no idea why their leader brought him here as well. The only ones that do are a select few and some guy named 'Botta'."
"…Hey, isn't Botta the one that lead the attack on the Martel Temple back in Sylvarant?" Lloyd asked his friend, looking down at him.
The boy blinked and rubbed his chin. "Huh, now that you mentioned it…yeah, he is. That was on the day Colette received her Cruxis Crystal." Thinking about it now, it amazed him that it felt like a long time ago…
"We also encountered him at the Sylvarant Base once when we were rescuing Lloyd," Raine added, "and again at the Asgard Ranch."
"So then…this 'Botta' character is Yuan's right hand man or something?" Zelos asked.
"Possibly," Raine answered, before she turned to them. "Do you guys have the part of the pass code we need?"
"Yeah," Rita nodded. "It's 'the foundation of the world'."
Raine rubbed her chin in thought once they heard it. The young half-elf looked over at her. "Raine…?"
After a few moments, she nodded and straightened up. "I have an idea what the password is," she said, "Let's go to the Rheaird hanger now."
They all nodded and they walked through the doors that will lead to the room that has the flying machines.
They didn't expect the room to be a lot…larger, with small elevators around them, large metal boxes and other things around the room. They all looked up, seeing that the room is a few stories high.
"The possibility that the Rheairds are on the top floor of this room is one hundred percent," Presea reported.
"…Then it sounds reasonable that we have to reach the top floor," Raine said.
No one gave any objections (other than Zelos offering Yuri to be carried by someone else, in which Regal carried the man for the second time) as they made their way to the top. There are some gaps that needed to be filled, so they had to use the blocks scattered about to make small bridges. Lloyd also had to hot-wire some computers to get them to work (since they seemed to run on Lightning Mana, which they had in a way, but Volt would just make them explode – and they aren't sure their Lightning magic will work) – where and when the twin swordsman learned to do that is a mystery – so they could carry some of the blocks up with them to form some bridges.
Finally, they managed to reach the top of the room and Raine made her way over to the computer next to the doors and typed in some things for a few moments. "All right, I'm going to put in the pass code in this order," she said, not looking up at them as she worked. "Here we go… 'The life…of Mana is the…foundation of the world'."
After she put them in, they waited for the computer to analyze the pass codes she put in. After a few moments, the computer beeped three times and the doors opened. "All right!" Lloyd exclaimed. "It worked!"
Then a thought hit the half-elven boy. "Hey, doesn't it seem strange that they put in the pass code for the Rheaird hanger?" He asked, scratching his head.
"They probably did that just so their Rheairds doesn't get stolen again," Rita guessed, though she didn't sound sure.
Sheena turned to the girl and boy mages. "Actually…we heard from a couple of Renegades sometime earlier that they started to do that when a rather dangerous prisoner injured a few of them and managed to escape with a Rheaird."
"Really?" Lloyd asked, blinking. "How dangerous?"
"We're not sure," Sheena admitted, "Just that…they somehow managed to make it look like something blew up in the base when this person suddenly freaked out."
Silence went by them, as if they were in shock by the information they heard. "…How can a person do that?" Genis finally asked, feeling the need to get rid of the tension in the air.
Presea shook her head. "We aren't sure," she admitted. "We just wish that we wouldn't encounter the person who did that."
The boy had to agree; he had no idea what they would do if they ever encountered that person. "W-Well, let's just go and get the Rheairds," he suggested. "Colette's counting on us."
"Huh-? Uh, yeah," Genis looked over his friend in concern, seeing Lloyd scratching at the back of his head with a grin – but…why did the grin seem…forced, somehow?
He had to store it into his mind for later when the others began to move into the hanger, and the boy quickly followed them.
~o~
The room they had entered is spacious. For those that have seen the hanger room back in Sylvarant, the room greatly resembles it…except that it's a little brighter for some reason. It has the hatch further in the back, a computer terminal to their right, and a large circular metal on the floor in the middle of the room.
Those that haven't seen the room looked around a bit in awe, as those that had looked around cautiously for danger. "Doesn't seem like there's any danger here," Lloyd noted…though he couldn't help but feel that there's…something here. He just couldn't tell what it is though.
Raine looked around for a moment before she spotted the terminal and made her way over to it. "Regardless, we'll have to work quickly to get the Rheairds and-" She was cut off, gasping when a very familiar weapon was held out, the flat side towards her, blocking her way to the terminal.
The half-elven woman's gasp got everyone else's attention, and they saw the cobalt haired man holding his weapon out, with his green eyes narrowed at them. "Sorry, but I can't let you steal my Rheairds again after you nearly trashed the last ones," Yuan said, as Raine slowly backed up from the man.
"Yuan! But, how-?" Lloyd barely managed to let out, noticing that they are surrounded by the Renegades.
The man merely let out a grunt, smirking wiry at them. "I thought I heard a couple of rats in my office earlier," he said, "One of which saying to get the Rheairds to save someone."
Rita and Zelos jerked. In hindsight, they could've kept quiet about their plans…outside of the Renegade leader's office. "Dammit…" The red clad mage muttered. Great, because of their stupid mistake, the stealth part is moot at this point.
"As of now, the Sylvaranti Chosen is useless to both Cruxis and Rodyle," the cobalt haired man said, grabbing his cape and tossed it aside, revealing his armor once more. "You should give up on rescuing her."
Those seven words struck a cord within the brunette. Like a wolf making the fur on its shoulders stand, when it felt threatened, Lloyd may as well be one, nearly clenching his hands so hard that he might as well puncture a wound and narrowing his eyes at the man in front of him. "What…?" Lloyd growled out, soon gritting his teeth to control his anger.
The cobalt haired half-elf made a blasé look – for some reason, it looked familiar to Lloyd – as he said: "You're foolish to have sentimental feelings with the girl. If it hadn't been for you, she would've been dead by now…but, on the other hand, you also had a hand on leading her on to the fate of all Chosens."
Something in the boy snapped. He was unable to take in his anger anymore. Letting out a growl like a feral wolf, the brunette drew his blades and charged at Yuan, who merely blocks the attack.
And all hell breaks loose. Apparently the attack was a signal for the rest of the Renegades to attack.
As Lloyd goes into battle with the Renegade/Cruxis leader, the others are doing everything they can to fend off the other Renegades, as Zelos rushed in to engage the dark brunette haired half-elf (with his hair spiked upwards and a goatee) in a white and dark colored robe with blue armor under the front, and using a blue, lance-like sword. The group was outnumbered, sure, but they did their best to stick together during the chaos, Regal having to gently set Yuri down, making him lean against the terminal before heading into the fight.
Yuan merely deflected the blows the boy was swinging wildly at him, his face impassive even as Lloyd has anger in his eyes. But while the twin swordsman is good, the half-elf has experience. The boy attempted a Tiger Rage but the man elegantly moved his body out of the way, the same time the dark haired half-elf jumped back from Zelos. The two Renegades were side by side, and the cobalt haired half-elf said to the man next to him, his voice low enough that it wouldn't be heard by anyone:
"Make sure that nothing comes to harm him."
The dark haired half-elf nodded. "Understood," he said, and they resumed their battle with their opponents.
The battle against the Renegades was arduous. The group fought with everything they had against the Renegades – but it seemed that the Renegades had the advantage in numbers. No matter how many they beat back, more kept coming – a fact that a couple of people in the group are beginning to realize.
'At this rate, our exhaustion will be the end of us,' Raine thought, casting Field Barrier and Resist on a few of their companions. They don't have time to take down ALL of the Renegades; and after fighting against Kratos (barely surviving the battle with him) Yuan might also have the same strengths as the red haired Seraphim – the cobalt half-elf will no doubt kill all of them…except maybe Lloyd, because the man is after the boy for some reason.
There has to be something that they could do to get the Rheairds and get out of here. Something to maybe hit them all-
She suddenly remembered a spell within Boltzman's book, where, in the passage, you can 'mark' your allies so that they wouldn't get hurt from the spells from others – 'friendly fire' and all of that. And if Genis or Rita learned an area damaging spell like Tidal Wave…
"Genis! Rita!" The silver haired woman called over to the two mages – as the boy used Eruption and the girl used Negative Gate – and managing to get their attention. She waved them over and they quickly raced over to her as they hide behind a machine.
As the woman told the two mages of her plan, Lloyd is unleashing his anger onto the Renegade leader. How dare the man say such things like letting Colette die?! It made him so angry, and-! The newfound anger in his chest gave him a boost and he managed to keep up to most of the cobalt haired man's attacks.
Time lost meaning to the boy, and after what felt like forever (when it was only a minute) the two combatants jumped back. Lloyd panted (feeling himself losing a bit of his energy) while Yuan merely looked over at him.
"…I see, so emotions really determine how strong they'll become," the boy blinked at the words the cobalt haired half-elf said to himself.
"What?" The male brunette let out, confused, "What are you talking about?"
"It's nothing important," the man said. "Now, let's see how you'll fare!" As he shouted, the half-elf unleashed a burst of power that knocked Lloyd back.
The boy barely had any time to recover when the man leap into the air and slammed one of the ends of his weapon to the ground, shouting, "Thunder Explosion!" A purple glyph appeared under the boy and Lloyd had to grit his teeth to prevent himself from screaming in pain as Lightning Mana went through his body. But Yuan wasn't done yet as his body glowed purple and held his hand out. "Thunder Blade!"
If it hadn't been for Repede saving him before the lightning sword let out its power, Lloyd was pretty sure he would probably pass out from one too many shocks in his body. The boy is getting sick of lightning. "Thanks," he muttered (he's tired) to the dog, who merely grunted. The boy looked over at the cobalt haired man. "What the hell was that about? The hell is that anyway?"
The man tilted his head and let out a small chuckle as he palmed his temple. "Didn't Kratos teach you anything? There's more than one way to activate your Overlimit."
That was an Overlimit?
…Well, that explained what Yuri did when he was distracting Volt back at the Temple of Lightning. And Lloyd mentally told himself that, if he ever sees Kratos again, he's going to kick that bastard's ass…even if it seems impossible; for not telling them of these things. Lloyd braced himself for another round with Yuan (despite being tired)-
"Hmm?" He let out when he noticed a weird…mark on his right shoulder.
He wasn't the only one who noticed, as the others also noticed the marks suddenly appearing on parts of their bodies (even on the unresponsive dark clad man).
"Now!" Raine shouted and the two mages (both glowing blue, but not from the link) rushed out from where they were hiding.
"Take this!" The two shouted before they thrust their arms (Rita with her palm out and Genis pointing at the Renegades). "Tidal Wave!" Two great waves came out of nowhere and they rushed at the people fighting. The group braced themselves to the spell they would no doubt feel-
But blinked when the water harmlessly passed through their bodies and they (literally) washed the Renegades away. Yuan and the dark haired half-elf threw up their barriers in time to avoid the brunt of it, but they were still completely drenched in the process as they were washed away with the others.
"Sheena, close the doors, quick!" Raine ordered the ninja.
The purple clad woman quickly got the message and rushed over to the terminal near the doors and slammed her hand over the button, forcing the doors to close. She also threw a few of her cards at the door, and they glowed for a moment once they were attached. She turned back to them. "They won't hold long, we have to be quick!"
Raine was already heading over to the terminal (looking over Yuri to make sure that he isn't hurt for a moment) and immediately got to work.
The group was allowed a moment to relax (and to regain their breath) as they regrouped. "What the heck just happened?" Lloyd questioned, looking over at the mages. "The spell just went through us! Literally."
"It was Raine's idea, really," Rita said, crossing her arms with a smirk. "She read a part in that book that allowed friendly fire."
"That way, we would be able to use Tidal Wave to get the Renegades out of here," Genis finished, then put his hands on his hips, looking rather pleased with himself.
Lloyd looked at the two of them, at the somewhat drenched room, and grinned. "Sweet!"
They heard what seemed to be something banging against the doors and they couldn't help but jerk to the source. Well, most of them. "Estimated time for the Renegades to burst through the doors is approximately five minutes," Presea stated. The upper parts of the door begin to bulge out, followed by a part on the lower right corner. "…Make that two minutes."
Lloyd whipped his head (nearly giving him a head rush) to the silver haired woman, still typing away. "Professor, hurry!" He pleaded to the woman.
"Almost…" The woman muttered, typing for a few more moments then exclaimed: "There!"
As if on command, the panels in the floor began to slide away, and they bring up the Rheairds (eight of them in total) from the room below. The entrance to the runway opened up, revealing a light in the distance – the exit.
"C'mon let's go!" Lloyd exclaimed, running to one of them as the others quickly scrambled to get on their own (Regal had to take a moment to get Yuri). They had just gotten on them when the doors finally burst down.
"Stop-!" Yuan (completely wet with his bang plastered to his forehead) barely managed to get out-
All of a sudden, the room (no, the entire island) began to shake and Yuan nearly lost his balance as he ran in.
The occurrence was unexpected but it provided an excellent time for the group to escape. "Twist the handle!" Sheena exclaimed, "The one on the right!"
Everyone immediately did so (for those who hadn't) and the Rheairds quickly blasted off. One by one, the Rheairds flew out of the opening at the top of the base, fazing through the faint ball of light hovering over the base and the base began to shrink in the distance behind them.
"All right! We did it!" Lloyd whooped, having been the one to lead the way.
"Rita! Pull up! Pull up!" Sheena shouted at the red clad girl, the said mage having trouble driving her Rheaird. The girl gritted her teeth and pulled the handle bars up as hard as she could. Soon, she was at the same level as the others.
"Dammit!" The girl exclaimed, a bit of sweat going down her face. "How the hell did you guys drive this thing the first time?!" Plus, the little ship could only hold two people – when she looked over at Regal holding onto Yuri against him and Repede riding with Presea – and the girl was pretty much used to flying with Ba'ul in their makeshift air carrier. At least the Fiertia has rails; that prevents people from falling from the sky and making a big, bloody splat on the ground.
Lloyd just shrugged helplessly. "We were in a hurry to get out of there and Sheena gave us a quick tutorial on how to work them."
"Figures…" Rita rolled her eyes.
"Lloyd," Regal called out to the boy, having a little bit of trouble holding onto Yuri while flying his Rheaird at the same time, "we need to land somewhere near. We have to figure out what to do with Yuri and rest up a little before going after Colette."
The boy looked over the blue haired man (holding the dark haired man over his shoulder) for a few moments before nodding. "Okay."
"I think I know where we can rest up at," Zelos piped up. "C'mon!" Then he blasted off ahead of the others.
"Hey! Zelos!" Sheena exclaimed, then made her Rheaird go faster to catch up to the Tethe'allan Chosen.
Most of them sighed before they made their Rheairds go faster to catch up to the two.
Back at the base, the Renegade underlings were picking themselves up, and healing any wounds they may have gotten from fighting the group. The Renegade leader stared out at the light at the end of the runway, parts of him still dripping. The dark haired half-elf walked over to the cobalt haired man. "Sir, that earthquake… Could a Mana link have been broken?" In all his years, this had never occurred before.
The leader looked over at his second in command. "Possibly," he said. "Investigate the cause of this earthquake as soon as the others have recovered Botta."
"Yes sir," the dark haired man nodded.
A Renegade approached the leader. "Sir, what should we do about the Rheairds?"
Yuan merely shook his head. "Let them go for now. And besides…" he looked over at the runway. "Our little friend can tell us anytime."
Botta looked over at the cobalt haired half-elf. "And what about…him, sir?"
Yuan blinked then frowned. The man knew who his second in command is talking about. After a few moments, he just answered in a silent voice:
"I don't know..."
Ugh…FINALLY! I managed to finish this chapter when I'm in my grandparents' house in Florida. Not bad, all things considered.
Yeah, this is the beginning of my week long vacation in Florida. I probably won't work on the next chapter much, but who knows?
I changed the part in which Zelos didn't tell Yuan about them being here, more concerned with Yuri instead. And all of the other things I put on here.
Leave a review everyone! (You can obviously tell I wanted to put this chapter up quickly)