Bijin: HOLY CRAP ON A STICK! The story is completely written. I just finished chapter 28 today, so all that is left to write is the epilogue. I still might fiddle with the ending a little. A lot of stuff had to happen and things needed to all come together and while I knew how that was going to happen in my mind, putting it on paper and having a bunch of people understand it was completely different, so I'm not gonna post it all at once. XD

Anyway, here's chapter 26, I hope you enjoy it, so review responses!

Lady-Jana-Sparrow: Thanks. I kind of pondered changing that to saying she was just sleeping next to him, but then I was like... nah. It's cuter this way.

Catwarrior: Indeed. Sorry, but I can't answer those questions, you'll have to wait and find out!

Maxmagnus20019: Thanks. The ColetteLloyd sequence seemed to be pretty popular.

Blaze knight 342: "Even if Colette isn't comfortable hugging him like that". The comment wasn't really meant to say weather she liked him or not, it was mainly because Sheena recognizes that Colette isn't someone as bold as that. She wouldn't normally hold Lloyd like she did simply because she'd be too flustered. But she's saying that at this point, the embrace was her way of saying she was sorry.

Water-smurf: Well, there are many different ways to look at this issue, which is what you'll see displayed in the next chapter. There are far more reasons and opinions to jsut say wether it was right or wrong.

George Lennon: No need to apologize, you haven't done anything wrong. XD

Chapter 26: The Final Pieces

Zelos ran ahead of the group, dashing in between civilians and around buildings, quickly making his way through the main part of Sybak. Raine sighed. "What's with him? He's a little hyped."

"You know Zelos... likes to show off his skill in a certain area whenever he's in a place he's familiar with," Kratos chuckled quietly, shifting Lloyd's position on his back.

Sheena growled, stomping her foot as she rounded a building and saw the redhead in his usual posture. One arm against a building, bearing down on a young university girl, typical smile on his face. "Baka miko!" She called down toward him. Zelos blushed, backing away just slightly, and the poor girl was gone in an instant. Zelos glanced back; looking very much like a puppy whose toy had just been yanked from its teeth.

"Sheenaaaaa!" he whined. "You are such a party-pooper!"

"We're not here for a party." Regal shrugged. "We're just here to pick up the mana tracker."

"Come on! We're in Sybak! This place is awesome!" He sighed. "So many intellectual types."

Kratos gave a chuckle at Sheena's scowl, but one of his own came over his face as his eye caught a brown-haired familiar floating about the crowd, vanishing just as soon as he had come. Colette's waving hand was suddenly in his face. "Hello...? Kratos...?" she called. He shook his head and glanced down at her. "They're gonna leave without us! Come on!" She chuckled at his air-headedness, and took off. Kratos sighed and headed after her. The foreboding feeling in the back of his mind growing stronger as he walked.

They know where we are at all times, he muttered to himself.

Something on your mind, Kratos...? Origin called, speaking up for the first time that day.

Kratos paused as he caught up with Colette and turned down the stone drive for the Sybak University. "Nothing... don't worry." He shook his head and Origin chuckled.

Kratos... I was your companion for 4000 years. Don't insult me by assuming I can't tell when you're lying.

Kratos shrugged. "I won't. But don't worry about it. Seriously."

Colette quirked an eyebrow at him. "What are you talking about?" Colette inquired, only having heard Kratos' half of the conversation. After all, Origin had the freedom to choose whom his voice reached. Which certainly was useful during late-night chats with Kratos. Otherwise the poor angel would most likely have had his hands full with bleary-eyed and rather disgruntled companions.

Kratos shook his head. "Nothing. Let's go," he insisted as they headed in.

You know, you must seem really schizophrenic when you talk to me at night. The others can't hear a word I'm saying.

Kratos ignored him for the moment as Zelos stepped up to the counter; facing the very same man they had met the first time they were there. "I'm back, Gavan!" he called happily.

The addressed raised an eyebrow. "I see... back so soon? What can I do for you?"

"Here to pick up a mana tracker I ordered," he announced. Gavan nodded and quickly vanished into a smaller back room where the shuffling of several papers and boxes could be heard. Zelos turned to the group. "So where to after this?"

Kratos hummed. "Well... I'd say to Mt. Jira. It would give us a starting place at least."

"What do you mean?" Colette requested.

Kratos shrugged Lloyd higher onto his back. "Well, if you'll remember, The Phoenix stopped there yesterday. We'll get a fresh trail."

"True. We won't get anywhere by blindly waving the tracker around, hoping to catch wind of a Phoenix's trail," Regal agreed. "So Mt. Jira is a good starting point since we know a Phoenix was there recently." He looked to Zelos. "How exactly does the tracker work?"

"Well, there's a small opening at the front, which will absorb and analyze a certain type of mana. You just have to absorb a small amount of mana for it to be able to recognize it. After that, once you come near a mana current with that same mana signature, the tracker will let out a tone. It will analyze a large area surrounding it and give you an estimate of where the mana current leads and give you a general direction. That is when it kind of locks on. After that, you can follow the signature and the device will give off that tone again if you get off course. It will keep letting out that tone until it detects the direction again. After that you just plot your course and head after it again." He shrugged. "And that's pretty much it."

Raine smiled. "Wow... fascinating little device. Quite useful, too."

Zelos shrugged. "Yeah, it does all that, but that's about all it does. It can't retain information so once you turn it off, it loses the memory of that mana signature." He turned as Gavan returned, a package in his hand.

"Here you go, Mr. Wilder." He smiled. "Is that all?"

Zelos scooped up the package and nodded. "Thanks Gavan! See you later!" With that, Zelos headed back out the door, the others attempting to keep pace. They quickly made their way out of the city and back to where the rheairds were parked, sitting down around the package. Roughly the size of a shoebox, Zelos pulled it out of the white packaging and held it up. "Nice. The more advanced ones are smaller. But they take more time to make. So I ordered an older model. Faster." He shrugged and held it up. "So... who wants to use it?"

Raine immediately hopped up. "I do!" She cried, snatching it from Zelos' hands and slinging the attached strap over her shoulder. "Wow... so this is the long-awaited mana tracker..." she whispered excitedly. Flipping a switch, she jumped at the tone that was instantly set out. A manic ruin-worthy smile came over her face as she pulled it up a little to look at the display that ran across the full front of the device. "It says... there's a signature heading northwest of our position..." She clapped her hands and looked up, turning northwest and pausing at whom she faced.

Kratos blinked at her. "Hi..."

Raine looked down at the device and sighed. "I suppose it doesn't specify between mana signatures."

Zelos shrugged. "I told you it was an older model."

"Wait... it won't pick up my signature will it?" Raine muttered, her eyes betraying she was worried the pleasure of using it might be taken.

Zelos shook his head. "It wasn't designed to pick up half-elves. Half-elves and elves are different in that matter from angels and other mythical creatures." He looked to Kratos.

"Mythical?" he inquired flatly.

"See... angels have a much higher mana output than half-elves or elves do. For the most part, half-elves and elves are able to keep their mana confined to their bodies. But angels can't do that."

Kratos nodded. "Our bodies aren't able to handle the amount of mana they generate and so it spills outward, creating a mana trail." He raised an eyebrow at him. "And how is it you know so much about us?"

Zelos chuckled. "Have you forgotten that for however short a time, I had angelic power as well? Meaning that for a short time, my body created that same enormous amount of mana that yours does naturally. Same with Colette." Colette blinked. "But half-elves and elves do leave a mana trail as Kratos was able to show when we were tracking Lloyd. But the spillage of mana from their body is very slight. This mana tracker wouldn't be able to pick it up. A more powerful one might be able to, or one designed specifically to track half-elves and elves, but this one won't."

Kratos shrugged. "Anyway... I suppose it's safe to say that Lloyd and I won't be joining you up the mountain. Otherwise our mana signatures will interfere with the Phoenix's."

A silence ensued and Raine glanced down. "Now that is a problem. We can't leave Kratos and Lloyd alone. They're the primary targets for Warren."

"We'll have to split up." Genis muttered. "It'll only be for a little while, so hopefully we'll be alright."

"How about Zelos, Raine and I go up like we did in Meltokio when we visited the Elemental Research laboratory?" Regal suggested. "It worked then."

Raine shook her head. "No good. When it was there, there were tons of people around. Not to mention it was Meltokio. Warren wasn't going to cause a commotion in the city that provides his funding as an angel-hunter. Meaning he possibly won't have any qualms about attacking us in a less populated place."

"But then again, Warren might lay low for a while after what happened at Mt. Volley. Remember, he was suspected in the explosion as well as the kidnapping of Dr. Russel," Kratos reminded them. "He might not want to show his face again for a little while."

"Knowing Warren, he wouldn't risk letting a chance at Lloyd go just for the sake of protecting his reputation." Zelos waved his hand. Kratos sighed and set Lloyd on the ground, then plopping down himself. "However, it is likely he won't attack us at the volcano. The government is his source of funds and if he makes the government his enemy, he'll likely lose his funding. So they won't want to put the government on his trail any more than they are."

"Then again, Warren isn't known for being predictable. We shouldn't move until we know what we're going to do. We need to try and decide which team Warren is going to go after," Kratos muttered.

Regal sat as well, Presea only a few feet from him. "Well... is there a chance he could split his own team up? He did last time."

Raine shook her head. "Highly unlikely. Last time, despite the fact that Warren hid from us at first, he was obviously still nearby. It wasn't as if he was watching two different teams. Letto and Farith may be good, but I doubt they'd risk taking on four of us at once without Warren to guide them. That's a little too daring."

"Well, they seem to be spooked easily enough. We've never beaten them, we keep just driving them off with one surprise or another," Genis muttered. "Is there anything like that we could keep in our back pocket in case they show up?"

"I doubt it. The things that have driven them away were mostly unexpected things. If we are expecting it to happen, I'm pretty sure they will be also." Raine put a finger to her chin. "They seem to be able to predict our moves pretty well, also. So like I said, we'll just have to come up with a strategy to hold them off."

"Hey Kratos, how are your wings?" Genis inquired quietly. "I have an idea."

Kratos blinked at him, the blue appendages flaring to life behind him. "Fine. Why?"

"Well, what if you hovered while we went up the mountain? You could be in the air nearby while we check the Phoenix trail," Genis suggested.

"That's a good idea, but what about Lloyd?" Raine muttered.

Kratos nodded. "True. I can't carry him while I'm flying. I can hang him below me by holding onto his wrists, but I don't know if I want to rely on my grip to save us."

"Could one of us stay nearby in a rheaird and carry Lloyd on the back?" Presea suggested.

Regal nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. But we'll still have to split up, though. After all, leaving only two people to protect Warren's main target would be foolish. Letto has long-range weapons, meaning he could shoot down the rheaird or Kratos himself. We need to have a few people on the lower portion of the volcano to keep an eye out for Warren."

"Although maybe we just shouldn't worry about the teams thing," Kratos grumbled, standing. "After all... we make it so much easier for Warren to predict our movements when we allow him to eavesdrop on us." Silver Fang was pulled from its sheathe and aimed at the nearby trees, a glare on his face. "So quit the spy act and get your asses down here."

"Aww, did you sense us?" Warren inquired, dropping from the branches. "Our poor element of surprise."

"No, I didn't sense you. And your element of surprise was gone the minute I saw Farith in Sybak," Kratos growled, the others leaping to their feet as well.

"Looks like your sneaking skills need work, Farith." Warren chuckled as the small man dropped from a nearby tree and was at Warren's side in an instant.

"Forgive me, Warren," Farith muttered.

"Oh cut the small talk," Letto spat, running over to join them. "This is boring! Let's just kill them already!"

"Sounds good to me." Warren chuckled, pulling his sword out. Farith was in front of Sheena in an instant, lashing his leg at her head. It was all Sheena could manage to duck below the hit and catch the other leg as he shifted weight to strike again. Raine's staff was held up and she began casting immediately, Genis doing the same nearby.

Letto's small stout form rushed at the two white-haired magic-users, an open hand out to fire, though he was met halfway by Regal's foot, casting them both off to the side where Regal worked himself to his feet first. "Still attempting that, are we?" Regal chuckled. "You're easier to read than I thought." Letto shrugged.

"What can I say? I'm a simple guy." He fiddled with the device on his hand for a moment before he dashed foreword, Regal kicking off the ground to meet him in the middle, leg winding up to kick. Said strike was thoroughly interrupted as something hot pressed heavily against his exposed belly. Regal gasped, at a loss for air as the device got hotter and hotter, and Regal found himself unable to move. "You know... mana is required for life. This is a special absorber which can pull mana out of dense places or places where mana wouldn't usually release." Regal growled. "You do the math."

Regal suddenly felt himself released, a scream coming from the reeling Letto. Presea offered a hand to Regal, pulling him off his knees. "You alright?"

"A little disoriented, but I'll be fine." Regal looked up, seeing the result of the blunt side of Presea's axe coming down upon the hand which held the device. Blood covered his hand, and it hung limply at the end of his wrist, fingers caught in a rather unpleasant-looking position.

"Damnit, you..." Letto growled.

Warren smirked as Colette took awkward hold of Lloyd's torso and began moving him away from the battlefield "Trying that trick again, eh?" His body launched toward hers, but was stopped halfway. After a large form shot past his vision, he found himself blade to blade with Zelos, a smirk on his handsome face.

"Indeed. Just because you know about it doesn't mean we can't use it." Fire suddenly shot from the sword and Warren jumped back. "You're not laying a finger on Lloyd. I promised I'd lecture him and I'm not letting anything hurt him until I get to do that!"

"You say some weird stuff, right hand man," Warren chuckled.

"Well, I don't expect some oaf like you to understand this kind of stuff." Zelos laughed.

Off to the side, the blur Warren had seen dash across his vision made hard contact with Farith, his body rolling over his, the blue-winged angel on top. "My only complaint is that I'm the only one with the speed to deal with you or I'd kill that Warren guy for touching Lloyd!" Kratos growled. Farith struggled beneath his weight, but managed to wedge his foot between his own body and Kratos' chest enough to kick him off. Kratos landed easily, and the two vanished from plain sight, only seeing the shimmer of Silver Fang every once in a while as Kratos took a few swings at him.

Behind the battle, Colette sat, her chakrams ready, beside the sleeping Lloyd, her eyes battle-ready and her mind calculating what she would do were each one of the enemies get close. In any case, we don't have time for this. We're all getting worn down from all this... physically and emotionally. We have to get out of here. We don't know if we can pull another surprise out to drive them off. She glanced to the side, her eyes widening at seeing the elder half-elf they had been wondering about recently. "Dr. Surah..." she muttered faintly. She quickly gathered Lloyd's torso awkwardly into her arms and began to drag him along, making her way over to where the doctor was bound. He sat limply against the trunk of a tree, hands tied behind his back and his ankles bound. "Dr. Surah...?" she called quietly. The doctor sat up straighter suddenly and glanced to the side.

"Oh... it's you, Miss. What are you... you shouldn't be over here. You should be getting that boy away from here."

"I can't carry him very well. I wouldn't get very far..." Colette sighed. "But I promised I would protect him, so that's what I'll do."

Surah shook his head before looking up at the battle. "We need to get you all out of here and fast."

Colette blinked. "But why do you want to help us? It seems to me all we've done is get you into trouble."

Surah chuckled. "No, Miss. I owe the two half elves more than simply running away." Colette shrugged.

"But what do we do?" she inquired, slicing through the ropes with her chakrams. "Like you said, we need to get out of here."

Dr. Surah sighed, rubbing his wrists for a moment before he stood, scooping Lloyd's lithe body into his arms. "Come on. The very least we can do is get this guy ready for take-off. I'll see if I can't help the others afterwards."

Colette nodded, her blue eyes wandering to the battle as they made their way back toward where the rheairds were parked. Her eyes landed on the invisible battle between Farith and Kratos. Raine grumbled as she cast a Ray spell, though nothing seemed to happen. They were simply moving too fast to aim. She looked to Genis. "It's no good," she called. "My Ray spell isn't going to work when they're moving like that. I don't know where to even aim. I'm worried about Kratos."

Genis nodded, his hand dropping to his side. "I am as well. I have no control over where the meteors land. I'm worried about hitting him."

Sheena waved at them. "I have an idea. Both of you... start casting right after I do. We need to time this correctly." She pulled a card from her belt and stuck it to the air, allowing it to float in front of her. "Good thing Kratos has his wings out. I hope he gets the idea..." A circle flared to life beneath her feet and her energy was pressed into the card, her voice beginning to form the incantation, "I call upon the disciple of everlasting ice..."

Genis sighed, beginning his cast as her circle appeared. He glanced to Raine before his kendama was flipped to life, waving the small ball up and down, energy circulating within it. Nearby, Raine began casting as well, watching the semi-visible battle continue.

Kratos' sword took a swing at Farith, though the swing was easily dodged. A foot came at his side and he merely grabbed the ankle, dropping Silver Fang for a moment, and redirected the momentum, launching him toward a nearby tree. Farith flipped in the air, pressing his feet against the tree trunk, and launched himself back toward the angel. Kratos growled, arms crossing in front of his upper body as the metal-plated forearms of Farith came smashing into them. Kratos yelped, bruises instantly forming, but brought his knee up in an effort to knee him in the gut. Farith's legs acted immediately, his feet pressing against Kratos' knee and jutting him upward, over Kratos' body to stand behind him. "And here we are again," Farith chuckled, taking off to the side. Kratos dashed into motion as well, running along side him and attempting to come up with another move. Basic martial arts weren't enough on this guy. He was fast, agile, and knowledgeable of common tactics.

"I summon thee, come! Celsius!"

Kratos felt his feet become suddenly slack, the bottoms of his boots no long gripping the iced-over ground. His wings carried him up, doing a flip to lose the momentum, then shot down after the downed Farith, whose slip on the ice had brought him a trip and a hard fall to the ground. He was on his feet in an instant, dodging the millions of ice spears that leapt from the ground, though he did notice his movements slowed substantially.

"Meteor Storm!"

Huge balls of red mana were hurled from the sky and Farith once again found himself desperately attempting to dodge the attacks with slowed speed. Kratos watched intently, floating several yards above the battlefield. Finally, one last attack was launched on the half-ready Farith.

"Holy Lance!"

A large square glowed beneath Farith's body and he dashed to the side, attempting to remove himself from the strike range. His success was not as complete as he had hoped as a sword of light came across his temple, carving a large gash and sending him to the ground once more. He leapt to his feet, though was only able to remain thus for a few seconds as Kratos halted his flight and simply dropped, using gravity and a single flap of his wings to bring a powerful kick down across Farith's injured temple. Farith dropped to the ground and did not move.

Kratos wasted no time with celebrating, dashing over to the side, watching the battle between the other redhead and the leader of the group for a moment before rushing into action.

Zelos charged back at Warren, sword raised to strike. Though the blades clashed, the small Zelos' strength was easily outweighed, and Warren simply pushed the sword back long enough to land a powerful punch to Zelos' face. The redhead fell backward, sword coming up horizontally across his chest as Warren came down upon him, Zelos having to support Warren's weight for the moment. Both legs came up and kicked Warren off, leaping to his feet and preparing for a second charge. Though Warren did not seem so eager. Zelos smirked at Warren's frozen body, glancing over to Letto, Regal, and Presea.

Regal dashed to the side, a large orb of mana rumbling past him and toward Presea. Presea merely sliced her axe down the middle of it, interrupting its current, before dashing through and toward Letto again. Letto rolled out of the way of Regal's Eagle Dive, and found himself face to face with the pink-haired axe wielder, already winding up for a Beast attack. As the axe swung, Letto charged his body to the side, rolling away from the animal-shaped mana, hand outstretched and coming to a stop directly before Presea's face. She yelped as a small shot of mana was fired, grazing her temple in her efforts to dodge. She dropped to the ground, Regal sliding in to take her place.

"Hey!"

Letto and Regal halted their progress, glancing up to Kratos, and Letto stood still. Silver Fang's tip had been pressed against the back of Warren's neck, the front of his neck threatened also by a precariously placed Excalibur, Zelos holding Warren's sword as well. Kratos continued, "Step back, Letto," Kratos called. "Get away from Regal now." Letto stood in indecision for a moment, Kratos' eyes narrowing. After all, the shorter man was the most disloyal to the group of three, hating Warren and Farith as much as the next magic-user. Though his goal to destroy angels seemed to still require Warren's help as he slowly backed away, seeing Sheena appear nearby, Farith's limp form slung over her shoulders. "Regal!" Kratos called. "Get Presea and go to the rheairds." Regal nodded, removing his cuffs and scooping Presea into his arms before heading down to join Colette, Lloyd, and Dr. Surah at the rheairds. Regal paused at seeing the half-elf doctor, but more questions could be asked later. For now, they just needed to get away.

The group made their way over to the rheairds, forsaking Warren and carrying Farith with them for now. Sheena boarded her rheaird and the group took off, Dr. Surah boarding Presea's unused rheaird as the unconscious girl was riding Regal's at the moment. As they flew overhead Warren and Letto, Sheena cautiously dropped Farith's form from her rheaird and they took off.

Warren grumbled, catching Farith's small body and placing him on the ground, putting two fingers to his neck. "He's fine. Just cleared his sinuses a little." Letto growled, looking to the sky.

"Should we go after them?" he demanded angrily.

Warren waved his hand. "No. Don't worry about it. We know where they're going to end up now that they can track the Phoenix." He waved a hand at him. "Make some flight arrangements. We need to get there by tomorrow morning or they'll beat us there." Letto grumbled and pulled out his small communicator, pressing a few buttons.

Despite his irritation at Warren's attitude, even Letto understood...

The chase wouldn't last much longer.

To be continued...

Bijin: So close! We're almost there! I'll hopefully have the next chapter up in the next few days or so. Review and stuff!

Next Chapter: Confessions