It took them three days to reach Hima. They barely rested, intent on getting there as soon as possible.

When they finally arrived, they went to the inn. Ignoring the man at the counter asking if they wanted a room, they hurried upstairs to where Sophia was with Pietro.

They burst into the room, and Sophia looked up from where she was tending Pietro.

"Oh, hello. Did you get the healing technique?" she asked.

"Not yet, sorry. But we need to know; do you know how Pietro escaped? Did he have any thing on him? Did he tell you how he escaped?" Genis asked quickly.

Sophia looked confused. "I don't understand..."

"Genis, calm down," Clara murmured, laying a hand on his shoulder then stepping forward. "Our friend was captured by the Desians at the Ranch he escaped from. We need a way to get back in, to help the people of Luin escape, and we wondered if you knew how he escaped."

Sophia gazed at them uncertainly, then nodded.

"I know...When he escaped, he said he came out from the yard of the Ranch and blocked the exit with a boulder. That's all he said before he collapsed..."

"Was there a boulder when we went?" asked Genis, confused.

The group considered, then Kratos nodded slowly.

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

Sophia brought her hands together. "Also...he had this..." she murmured, crossing over to Lloyd. She handed him an orb, which he looked at it in confusion. "He was hiding this from the Desians."

"It probably has something to do with the Ranch then," Sheena said.

"Do you mind if we borrow it?" asked Clara.

Sophia glanced around at them, then nodded slowly. "...Alright. Please take it with you."

"Thank you," Clara sighed relief, smiling. The group left the room, heading outside.

"Alright, so now we just need to get back to the Ranch," Genis said.

"I guess your hunch was correct, Lloyd, Chosen," Kratos murmured, shooting a glance at Sheena. She blushed, looking away.

"I'm...sorry," she apologised, and Colette smiled brightly.

"It's okay! Now let's go rescue Raine!"

The young boy stood in the street, watching the children playing together. He frowned, pouting.

"No fair..I wanna play..." he muttered.

One of the children who was closer to him heard and looked up, smiling at him.

"Come on, come join in!" she offered, reaching out and grabbing his wrist before pulling him into the group.

He blinked before grinning, relaxing into the game. Soon he was happily throwing the ball around with the others; he felt like a normal kid again.

"What are you doing!?"

The children paused, looking up as several parents came hurrying over, grabbing their child.

"Don't go near him!"

"He's a half-elf!"

"You shouldn't play with dirty children like him!"

He watched in dismay as the children were all led away, tears coming to his large blue eyes.

"Genis."

He glanced up at his sister, who smiled sadly. She opened her arms, inviting him into their warmth, and he threw himself against her.

"I-I don't understand, Raine...why...why do they act like that..?" he sobbed, clutching her shirt.

His sister sighed, gently feathering his hair.

"I don't know, Genis. But I promise, I will always be there for you," she murmured, kissing his forehead before they headed out of the village.

They made it back to the Ranch in four days, having to travel an extra bit from when they had camped outside Luin before. When they approached the Ranch, Noishe with them this time so that they could get away easily, they made sure to hide carefully.

"Can you see anything like what Sophia was on about?" asked Clara, scanning the area.

"No..." murmured Genis, sounding disheartened.

"I found a weird looking boulder, but that's it," said Colette thoughtfully.

"What? Where?" asked Lloyd, looking around.

"There, see?" Colette pointed to the extremely obvious boulder, and everyone stared. Finally Clara sighed.

"Let's go," she murmured, and they crept towards it as quietly as possible.

They reached it, looking it over carefully.

"It looks like the one Pietro was on about..." Lloyd murmured.

"Seems that way. Try pushing it," Genis said. Lloyd shrugged and leant against the boulder, but it wouldn't budge.

"And this is where the orb comes in," Clara said. Lloyd glanced at her then nodded, grabbing it from the smaller pack at his waist and lifting it up to the rock.

The orb glowed slightly, and then the stone moved as if it had it's own will. The others watched in surprise.

"Wow..that's weird. I mean, it didn't even move when Lloyd tried to push it," Genis said.

"It may be that magic was imbued into the rock so that it would only react to the orb, or there is a mechanism which we are unaware of. Either way, it has done the job. Let's proceed," Kratos said, walking forward. The others followed him, entering the Ranch.

As the group crawled out of the duct, they spotted a couple of Desians standing at the end.

"Huh? What are you doing here!" snapped one of them, noticing them first.

"Quick! Sound the ala-" The second was cut off as Kratos' sword plunged into his body, killing him instantly. Before the first could react, he threw the body off and killed him as well.

"Aww, you didn't save any for us," Clara pouted as the rest of them joined him.

"I felt it would be better for us if we didn't cause a huge commotion as soon as we entered," Kratos replied, sheathing his sword.

Clara rolled her eyes then walked up to the computer. She gazed at it uncertainly. "Lloyd, how good are you with computers?" she asked, turning to him.

Lloyd hesitated. "I'm okay...I'm better with mechanics than I am technology, but I could probably give it a go," he replied finally. Clara stepped aside, allowing him to look it over. Slowly he pressed a few buttons, and a map came up on the screen.

"Wow! What is that?" Colette asked, fascinated. She tried to touch it and blinked as her hand went through it instead.

"Hmm...So there are people on this side who can operate machines too?" Sheena murmured.

"This side?" asked Genis, overhearing.

"Oh, um, nothing. I was just talking to myself," Sheena quickly replied, pretending to be engrossed in the screen.

Lloyd ignored the conversation. "This looks like it's a map of the facility," he said, frowning.

"Yes...We are here at the moment," Kratos said, pointing to a small block. Then he motioned to a different block. "And that is where Kvar should be. The prisoners are in the other block."

"Then we'll go get Kvar, and then rescue the prisoners," Lloyd suggested.

"No, it's not that simple," Sheena said suddenly.

"How so?" asked Clara, frowning.

"There's a guard system protecting Kvar. You can't get to him until you take it down. However..." She pointed to two points on the other block. "The switches are over there. It should be easy enough to rescue the prisoners and activate the switches at the same time."

"So, really, we should split up into two groups..." Clara murmured.

"I would prefer to be in the group which goes after Kvar," Kratos said.

"As would I.." Sheena added, at the same time as Lloyd and Clara.

"We can't have four people in the same group," Genis pointed out.

"Right. Colette, could you choose for us?" asked Clara.

Colette hesitated. "Um..well...Mr Kratos and Lloyd have a good reason for going after Kvar...And obviously Genis and I want to go rescue Professor..." She considered, then looked at Sheena. "Miss Sheena, I think it would be better if you helped us rescue everyone. You said the reason you came with us was to rescue them, wasn't it?"

Sheena hesitated, then inclined her head. "That is true," she agreed.

Colette smiled. "Then, Miss Clara can go with Mr Kratos and Lloyd, and Genis, Miss Sheena and I will go rescue everyone!" she said happily.

The all nodded, Clara smiling at the blonde Chosen. "Good job, Colette," she murmured quietly, and Colette's smile widened.

"Alright, let's get going before they realise we're here," Genis said. The two groups quickly split up, heading in opposite directions.

A/N: Let operation 'rescue' begin!

So, this split up kinda made the most sense...the scene I want to have with Kvar needs these three, and Sheena only came to rescue people so...*shrug*

Review?