FINALLY!!
Sorry it took so long. I'm not gonna bother with excuses...you all probably hate me enough as it is for making you wait...
I'm gonna shut up now...
Chapter 24: Accusations
Anna woke the next morning to raised voices. Quietly slipping out of bed, she made her way to the main area of the inn. Keeping herself quite hidden, she listened.
"….could you even think that?" Zelos asked incredulously.
"Everything points to it, Zelos!" Lloyd's angry voice countered.
"Oh. I see. So, I hit on your mom one time, am concerned for her safety, and happen to have a fairly decent understanding of women, and everyone assumes I'm the one that knocked her up?"
"It does seem likely," Genis ventured.
"Stay out of this, brat!" Zelos iced. "Look, Lloyd. I know you don't like me at all….but when would I have been able to? Huh?"
"It wasn't Zelos….." Anna said quietly, stepping into view. "It was….someone else…."
"See? I told you it wasn't me!" Zelos crowed. "Besides, didn't the doc say she was about a month and half along? I haven't been here that long…." Anna's eyes widened at Zelos's words.
"When did the doctor say that?" she asked, one hand drifting to settle over her stomach.
"This morning, when Lloyd asked," Sheena supplied. Anna felt a lump rising in her throat. That meant it couldn't have happened in Hima….it had to have been Izoold, or Palmacosta, at least. "We need to find Yuan," Sheena said suddenly, breaking Anna's thoughts. She looked around, but saw no sign of the Renegade. Leaving the inn, the black-dressed woman gazed around the city square.
"He's not outside," she reported, re-entering the building. "Maybe he's left the city?"
"Without telling anyone?" Raine asked, walking out. "That's slightly suspicious."
"Only slightly?" Lloyd asked, fastening his swords around his waist. "Where could he have gone?"
"He went in the direction of the Fooji Mountains….." came a soft voice from the corner of the lounge room. Every eye was pinned on Presea. "Perhaps if we went there, we would be able to locate him?"
--
"Kratos, we don't have a choice!" Yuan argued. He'd thought of a practically fool-proof plan the night before, and had commed Kratos to meet him at the Fooji Mountains to tell him about it. Unfortunatly, Kratos did not seem very perceptive.
"There has to be another way, Yuan. I will not put him in danger like that!" Kratos closed his eyes as he spoke, not looking up from where he was leaning against a rock.
"He won't be in danger!" Yuan countered. "You won't even be in danger! I'll be there when the time comes, and I'll make sure nothing happens to either of you."
Kratos sighed heavily, finally looking up at Yuan. Brown met blue as the white-robed Seraph spoke. "He can't know, remember? Not yet. And if he finds out….who's to say that he won't find out as well? You have to remember Yuan…..Yggdrasill is ruthless. If he finds out what you're planning to do, I'm not sure any of could get out alive."
"Yuan!!" a voice called from just behind the clearing. A teenage boy clad in red followed. "We've been looking everywhere for you!"
"Lloyd? What are you doing here?" Kratos asked. Lloyd opened his mouth to answer. But the voice that spoke was not his.
"Good work, Kratos," a woman's voice said. "You've found her."
Cliffhanger!! Sorry it's short, ran out of muse...