Chapter Twenty-Nine: Into the Ranch

"W-What do we do now?" Petra sniffed, holding her bunny tightly under her chin.

"We find the others," Will said, eyes still glued to the burning remains of Luin. "And then we're going to get everyone back." He looked down at Petra and said, "Don't worry. I promise I'm gonna bring your mommy and daddy home, ok?"

"O-Ok," she said, rubbing tears from her red eyes.

"Hey, you," Sheena said, looking at him. "Oh yeah, and you never told me your name..."

"It's Lloyd," he said. "Lloyd Irving."

She nodded and shook his hand. "Sheena Fujibayashi," she said. Then she frowned and looked down to the grass. "And I know this is gonna sound like a weird request after everything I've done to you guys so far, but... can I join you?" She quickly added, "Just for the ranch. I want to help rescue everyone. I owe them for food and lodging, and I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do something. If you help me, I'll declare a truce with you and help in any way I can. Please?"

"Sure," Will said. It was easy agreeing to absurd requests like teaming up with an assassin when you already knew how the game was going to end.

She smiled. "Thank you so much."

"Of course, it might take a while to convince Professor Raine..."

"Let's try it, though," she said. "Where are they, anyway?"

He shrugged. "I was supposed to meet them somewhere around here. Let's walk around the lake and see if we meet up with them."

Sheena nodded. "Petra, come with us, ok?"

She nodded as well, coughing a bit. This reminded Will of his own sore, scratchy throat, and the headache that was piercing his forehead right between his eyes. Dammit, too much smoke.

As they started to walk, Will noticed that Petra was barefoot and wearing nothing more than a thin blue nightdress. He bent down and picked her up, and she clung to his neck as they walked through the cold damp grass.

He felt very vulnerable without his swords. For over two months he'd had his blades around his waist at all times when walking around, ready for any dangerous situation. Now they were gone, lying orphaned by the Church of Martel, and he had no way to defend himself. He just hoped Sheena was good enough with her cards to protect them all if they ran into any trouble.

"There!" Sheena suddenly cried, pointing ahead. Will looked and saw three figures sitting by the lake, and he smiled, so relieved to see the others were ok. There was a fourth figure down there as well, lying in the grass and thumping her tail. Thank god, Lucky was ok!

They took off, walking much quicker in their rush to get there. "Lloyd!" Genis shouted, seeing them coming. Raine and Colette looked up as well, but Raine and Genis stared at Sheena in shock as they approached.

"Her?" Genis shouted. "Lloyd, what's she doing here?"

"Calm down," he said, laying Petra down on the grass. "This is Sheena. She's going to help us rescue the people of Luin from the ranch and establish a truce with us."

"Lloyd," Raine said darkly, glaring at Sheena. "How could you just trust her like that?"

"I know we can trust her," he said firmly. "Colette, back me up."

Ellie looked up from where she was sitting and said, "I trust her. Let's let her come with us."

"But..." Genis said.

Sheena spoke up, "If I was your enemy I would have attacked by now wouldn't I?"

"Well, that's true," Raine said, frowning.

"Come on, Professor," Will said. "We need her help."

Raine sighed. "Fine. But you're all a bunch of fools, you know?"

He coughed, and said, "Yeah, yeah, I know."

"Lloyd, how much smoke did you inhale?" Raine asked suddenly.

"Um, a bit. We were in a burning house."

She picked up her staff (which Will noticed was new. She probably grabbed one from an abandoned item shop or something) and started casting. He was expecting First Aid, but instead she went all out and said, "Nurse!"

Sadly, the cute little nurses didn't run around and heal them like in the game. All that happened was that a more powerful version of First Aid swept over him, Sheena, and Petra, and he immediately felt less nauseous and his throat stopped itching.

"Thanks," Sheena said, sitting down next to Petra. Will sat between Ellie and Lucky, stroking the dog behind the ears. He was glad she was ok, though he supposed he had Halsey to thank for that.

Halsey... So he was a Renegade, then. Well, that explained where he got all those Key Crests to give them back after the ranch. Will was mostly just amazed that he had actually let him go. Halsey had said that Yuan would be furious with him, but he'd let Will go to save Raine. That was... pretty amazing. Though he had to wonder about what Halsey had said about Magnius killing his best friend. Halsey had said he was born and raised a Desian, so his friend had probably been a Desian as well. Why would Magnius kill one of his own men? It didn't make any sense.

"So who's the kid?" Ellie asked, looking over at Petra snuggling up with Sheena.

Will shrugged. "Just a kid. I think I met her father earlier today, though. Her mom got taken to the ranch, but I don't know about her dad."

Ellie frowned. "It's so... sad."

"That's a bit of an understatement." He looked at her in concern though, as her voice sounded hoarse.

Seeing his look, she said with a slight smile, "I was up in the air for most of it. Too much smoke up there. Scorched my lungs and throat and stuff." His eyes widened in worry, and she quickly said, "Don't worry, I didn't even feel it. Raine healed me up, but I guess I'm still a bit hoarse."

"What do we do now?" Genis asked.

"We need to get some rest," Raine said. "Tomorrow we're heading to the ranch, so we need all the sleep we can get."

"Is it safe to sleep this close to Luin?" Sheena asked, one arm around Petra's shoulders. "What if Desians come back?"

"I'll keep watch," Ellie offered.

"Me too," Genis said.

"No," Ellie said. "I'll... um... switch off with the Professor and Lloyd, ok?"

"What about me?" Genis asked.

"You're too young," Raine said firmly.

"I can help, too," Sheena said. "I'm as old as Lloyd or Colette."

"Yes," Raine said. "But twice now you've tried to assassinate us, so forgive me for not trusting you."

"Oh. Right."

"So how many supplies do we have left?" Will asked, Lucky licking his hand.

"Not much," Raine said. "Most of our stuff burned down in the inn. Genis and Colette still have their weapons, I have a new rod, but you appear to be missing your swords. We have no food or blankets so it's going to be rough for the next few days. Perhaps in the morning we can try and salvage things from Luin."

"Great," Will said.

"On the plus side," Ellie said, "We did get the key to the Tower of Mana, which we think is the next Seal. So we can go there after we get everyone from the ranch."

Will nodded. Good, he'd been wondering about that. In the game they got it from Clara, but she was still locked up in Palmacosta, wasn't she? Well he supposed that would make finding her and healing her after getting Resurrection easier.

"Everyone get some rest," Raine said. "Tomorrow's going to be a long day."

"Oh, Lloyd," Genis said, grabbing a familiar brown package. "I saw Noishe earlier and he gave this to me. What was Noishe doing here?"

Will just shrugged and took the package. He'd give it to Ellie tomorrow. "Maybe Kratos was in town."

"I don't know…. Man, I miss Noishe," Genis said sadly. "I can't believe he ran off with Kratos."

"I'm sure we'll see him again," Will said.

"Everyone," Raine said. "Sleep. Now."

They all reluctantly agreed, and Will leaned back in the grass next to Lucky. The grass tickled the back of his neck and he shivered, wishing they still had blankets (actually, he wanted his wonderful bed back on Earth, but a blanket would be nice, too). He inched closer to Ellie to steal her body heat as she sat there, leaning back on her hands and staring up at the sky.


Will woke up the next morning to see Ellie busy making a chain out of dandelions. Currently the chain was probably long enough to use as a lasso. "Hey," he said with a smile, stretching his arms up.

She dropped the chain of flowers and said, "Hey, you're up!"

"Any idea what time it is?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Shortly after dawn. You're the first up, except for the dog."

He looked over at Lucky, currently in the middle of licking her butt. Realising he was looking at her, the dog glanced up at him with a look that said 'yes I'm licking my ass; your point?'.

"I got this for you," Will said, grabbing the brown wrapped package. As he passed it to her, he thought briefly of Mithos. Dammit, that was probably his fault too.

'Stop it, you dork,' Lloyd said. 'I'm starting to get really pissed-off with how you blame everything on yourself.'

'But-'

'Hey, I said stop! You're trying your best, and that's all that matters, ok?'

He sighed. 'Alright. Thanks, Lloyd.'

"Uh, Will?" Ellie said, kneeling in front of him.

"Huh?" He looked up and realised he'd been staring at the package for a minute.

"Did you space or something?"

"Sorry. Lloyd." He passed it to her and mumbled, "Um, this is for you."

"Oh?" She undid the string and ripped open the cape, then pulled out the bright yellow cape with a gasp. "Oh, Will, wow! Thank you so much!" She stood up and fastened it around her neck, twirling around and letting it flare around her. "This is so cool! Now I don't have to tackle Kratos and steal his!"

He smiled. "I thought you'd like it."

"I'm never taking it off," she said, returning his smile.

He blushed a bit, and said, "Uh, let's wake the others up. We need to plan and... and stuff."

She nodded, bouncing off to shake awake the Sages while Will shook Sheena's shoulder. Petra was curled up next to her, and the little girl's face looked so sweet and calm while she was asleep.

"Huh...?" Sheena mumbled, slowly waking up. "Where am - oh! Lloyd!" She sat up quickly, rubbing her eyes. Her sudden movement awoke Petra, who yawned and looked up at them.

Raine and Genis were already on their feet, and Raine said, "We should return to Luin."

"What?" Will asked. "Why? I thought we were going to the ranch?" He didn't really want to go back to Luin in the daylight and see all the damage wonderfully lit up by the sun. He didn't want to see the bodies in the street no longer hidden by the darkness of night.

"Lloyd, we have no supplies," Raine pointed out. "We need to search Luin and see if we can find food and other provisions. Plus, you are currently weapon-less and raiding a ranch unarmed seems like an incredibly foolish thing to do."

"Oh. Well... yeah, I guess you're right."

"Let's go," Raine said. "Let's get this over with."

They walked down the hill towards the lake, silent as they stared at the still smouldering wreckage. Petra sniffled a bit as she looked at the ruins of her home, and she clung to Sheena's hand, and even Lucky seemed to understand the solemnity of the situation as she sat regally by Will's side.

When they reached the bridge leading to town, Raine said, "We should split up to look for supplies and survivors." She looked down at the little girl and said, "Petra, I'd like you to come with me, ok?"

She nodded and stepped over to her and took Raine's hand, and the professor said, "Genis, you go with Colette. And then Lloyd with Sheena."

They all nodded, though Will noticed Ellie glaring at Sheena. What was that all about? Regardless, they entered town and headed their separate ways.

Will waved goodbye to Ellie, while he and Sheena took off down a separate path, Lucky trotting after them. They walked in awkward silence for a while. Every now and then he'd glance over to Sheena and hope she'd say something to start up a conversation. This went on for several minutes, until they were walking past a ruined house and he happened to glance over and... his eyes slipped.

He tried to look forward again, tried to at least look up at her face, really, really, tried to do anything to pry his eyes away from the view, but he discovered that Sheena's chest had this amazing magnetic power. Something about the flesh bulging out of her bra attracted his attention like moths to a flame, and now that his eyes were settled on the lovely view, Yggdrasill himself couldn't show up and tear him away.

'What are you doing?' Lloyd asked blankly.

Will nearly face-palmed, and would have if that wouldn't have destroyed his vision. 'Lloyd, you're pathetic, you know that, right?'

'What? I'm just asking...'

'You're not gay, are you?'

'Huh? No! I just... I dunno, other guys in Iselia were always talking about girls but I always preferred playing with Genis...'

He chuckled a bit. 'You're such a little kid.'

"Lloyd?" Sheena said after about a minute of this. By the tone in her voice, he realised that were things out there more terrifying than Yggdrasill. Namely, women catching you ogling their boobs. "What are you looking at?"

"Um... uh..." His face burn as his eyes shot up to her face, eyes narrowed in suspicions. His mind was blank as he tried to think up an excuse, grasping at straws to forgive his behaviour.

Not fast enough as she raised her hand to smack him. "You're just like that idiot!"

"I'm sorry!" he shouted, hands up as she staggered away. "I – I didn't mean to! I couldn't help it! I'm sorry!"

She punched his shoulder, hard, and sighed. "Why are men such morons?" she demanded.

"Uh..."

"Are they really that fascinating?"

"No, it's not that I just... um... Hey, look, a distraction!" He quickly pointed over her shoulder and Sheena spun around to see what he was looking at. While she was distracted, he darted away, running down the streets. It didn't take more than a second or so for Sheena to realise what he'd done, and she took off after him. Lucky barked as she ran with him, clearly enjoying this 'game' as she snapped at his streaming ribbons.

"Get back here, Lloyd!" she shouted as he ran along the street. He crossed a bridge and heard Sheena's pounding footsteps right behind him. Geeze, she was fast!

He arrived at the fountain, and forced himself to slow down before he crashed into it. Sheena showed up right behind him and was about to tackle him when she froze next to him. The water in the fountain had turned red, an arrow-peppered body floating on its back and staring sightlessly up at the sun.

"Trent..." Will said, looking at the man's pale face, flies buzzing around the water. The fountain wasn't cracked open like in the game, but that just meant that his blood was trapped in the pool. Just yesterday Will was sitting on a boat with this man, and now... now...

He felt bile rising in his throat and his jaw twanged with the effort to hold it down. It was too much, though, and he staggered away to the corner where the fountain met the rock wall in the back. Luckily he hadn't eaten since last night, so there wasn't much in his stomach as he vomited. He squeezed his eyes shut and spat, trying to get the awful taste out of his mouth.

He felt Sheena's hand come to rest between his shoulder blades, hesitant. He wished she'd go away. He didn't really want to be seen like this. She didn't say anything for a while and he just crouched there, eyes closed, taking deep breaths and hoping he wouldn't throw up again.

Lucky came over and stood silently next to him, gently licking his hand. He couldn't help but smile a bit. Dogs had a way of always knowing when you needed comfort, and having Lucky was almost as good as being home with Molly again.

'Hey...it's ok,' Lloyd said. 'Are you alright?'

'Y-yeah...'

'It's gonna be ok, alright?'

'Yeah.'

Will stood up and wiped his face with his glove. He still had a foul taste in his mouth, but there was nothing to drink so he'd live with it. He turned away from the vomit on the ground and Sheena met his eye.

"Hey..." she said. "Sorry for flipping out at you."

"No, I'm sorry. It was my mistake..." Annnnd his eyes were drifting downwards again. No! Stop! He wanted her to respect him, not think he was as bad as Zelos!

Sheena just sighed and rolled her eyes. "Up here!" she shouted, pointing to her face.

He turned away and said, "Let's head for the church. I think my swords are there."

"Ok."

As they walked along, Sheena asked, "So... um, how's your journey going so far?

"Fine," he responded dully. "Just one seal to go, and then... it's over." Over. No, not over, this wasn't even close to being over. He just hoped it wouldn't be over for Ellie, too.

"Oh. Um... Good job..."

"Yeah."

The trouble was that as they got deeper into town they found more and more bodies. These were a few Desians, but more townsfolk. He saw a few dogs, too, and he could just thank the powers that be that Lucky got out alive. The whole town stank of death, and even if he averted his eyes and stared ahead, the overpowering odour of decaying bodies didn't let him forget where he was.

Lucky stopped to sniff the body of a dead dog, and Will wondered if she knew it. Then she whimpered a bit and scampered up to walk next to him, so close he could feel her against his leg.

He was trying so hard not to see where he was going that he ended up tripping over a corpse. He stumbled, flailing his arms, and falling over to come face to face with a dead man. He yelped and scrambled backwards on his butt, feeling vomit swelling up all over again. This wasn't right. How could Desians do this to a whole town? They were just as much human as they were elf; slaughtering an entire town just wasn't right.

Sheena gave him her hand and helped him to his feet. "Let's get going," she said. "There's an item shop across the bridge here, maybe we can salvage some stuff..."

He nodded and they started across a nearly burned down bridge. He could see light glint on something by the steps of the church, and he quickened his pace to find his swords still lying there. They were stained in blood, but he was sure he could wash that off. The body of the Desian he'd killed last night was still lying there, but otherwise this area was clear of corpses. He sheathed his swords and followed Sheena over to the item shop. He helped her lift the beam that had fallen in front of the door, and she ducked in, Will following shortly after, but Lucky waited outside.

Inside, the room was filled with an overpowering scent that masked out the smell of bodies. Panacea bottles and life bottles and holy bottles had all been smashed open, spilling their intoxicating liquids across the floor. The stairs to the second storey had collapsed in a charred rubble, and the barrel of apple gels had tipped over, smearing the gels across the floor and adding an apple scent to the room.

"Doesn't look like there's anything salvageable here," Sheena said. "Everything's ruined."

"Yeah," Will said. "But at least I got my swords back."

"Maybe we can get stuff from peoples' houses," Sheena suggested as they ducked under the fallen beam to get out again.

"What?" Will asked. "Robbery?"

"I think they'd forgive us if we rescue them," she said simply.

"Well... I guess you're right."

"Come on, I think this area of town over here got off with minimal damage. They probably have some stuff."

They crossed another bridge and entered the residential area of town. Some of the houses the past at first seemed to have taken a lot of damage, but farther in they came to house that looked merely abandoned and not entirely destroyed.

They scrounged the house for food, pulling out loaves of bread and dried meat and fruits and vegetables that they could carry. Sheena went to rooms in the back and returned with armfuls of blankets, and they found some backpacks in a closet to stuff everything in. Their mission successful, they headed back to the entrance of town to meet the others.

"So, Sheena," Will said as they walked, arms laden with supplies. "What brought you to Luin?"

She shrugged. "After I left the mausoleum, I came here to rest and train myself a bit until I could track you down again. There was this guy, Pietro-"

"Yeah, I know about him."

She nodded. "Pietro... he was such a caring man. But he was very ill. He left for Hima the day before yesterday. I hope he got there alright."

"I'm sure he did," Will said with confidence.

They reached the bridge that led to mainland and sat down to wait for the others. "I can't wait to get out of here," Will said, looking back at the town.

"Seriously," Sheena said. "It just makes me so angry, you know? Ugh, I can't stand Desians. I'm so glad we don't have them in... uh, well, they're not everywhere, you know? Like, there's no ranch near Izoold or something like that."

He just nodded. He wasn't that cruel to pester her about what she meant to say. She would probably trust him a lot less if he forced her to reveal Tethe'alla before she was ready. Really, after seeing all the horrors of the Desians, he could really see where she was coming from. It was a case of killing one random girl to prevent this kind of devastation happening on Earth... well, he'd probably take it.

'How can you say that?' Lloyd shouted, outraged. 'You can't just sacrifice someone! That one person you kill probably has family and friends who love her and-'

'Yeah, but... I don't know, one person or thousands of people? Can you really justify unleashing hell on an entire world just to save one person? People die all the time. People die every second.'

'That doesn't make it right. There's always another way. Look at Colette! Everyone said there was no way to save her, but she's alive now and the worlds are better off!'

'I'm not saying it's 'right'. Just that is makes sense. I don't think there is a 'right' answer when it comes down to choosing between lives. I mean... you didn't know that would happen when you chose to save Colette. You took a huge risk. Think about how horrible you felt when you thought you lost Colette. If sacrificing her is what it takes to save thousands of others from feeling like that because of the Desians...isn't that worth it? Isn't saving her kind of selfish?'

'No,' Lloyd said adamantly. 'There's always a third way. There has to be a way to save everyone, even if it's harder to reach that path. I refuse to believe that sacrifices are necessary!'

"Lloyd?"

"Huh?" He looked up suddenly to see Sheena staring at him.

"What's up? You look like you're really focusing on something."

He smiled a bit. "Just talking to myself."


They met up with the others about fifteen minutes later. Nobody had much luck finding anything, and there were definitely no survivors. Raine and Petra took the longest to go back, and when they did, the little girl clung to her hand and stared at the ground silently, one hand holding tight to the bunny.

Raine told them in an undertone that they had gone back to Petra's house. The child had apparently been under the assumption that if she went back she'd find her mom and dad waiting for her. When all they found were charred remains of her old life, she had broken down into sobs, trying to understand what happened. Will desperately hoped they'd rescue her parents unharmed from the ranch.

"What do we do now?" Genis asked.

"We head for the ranch," Raine said firmly. "It should take us a couple days to reach the ranch. We'll be there by tomorrow evening."

"Walk. Fun," Ellie said.

No one felt the need to respond, and they set off. As they walked, Will, Ellie, and Genis took to filling Sheena in on their adventures so far. While Will provided a basic overview of the action from the drama at Iselia and the action in Triet, Genis poked in with details every now and then. Ellie seemed to feel that this explanation needed sound effects and hand motions, and when she took her turn to talk about the Wind Seal she said, "So then there was, like, this huuuuge spider!" She threw her arms out as wide as they would go to demonstrate just how huge. "And it was all 'Rargh! I will eat you all!' but then it killed the bird thing-a-bobber so I have to like it sorta kinda maybe. But then I attacked it and it threw me to the ground," she waved her arm around to indicative the 'throwing to the ground' movement, and accidently smacked Genis in the face.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Watch where you throw your hands!"

"Well geeze, sorry your face is at arm height. How tall are you, anyway?"

The little half-elf scowled and crossed his arms, muttering, "Four feet, eight and one quarter inches..."

"Ha!" Ellie said triumphantly. "Shrimp."

"Well gee, Colette, I'm twelve. I still have yet to hit my growth spurt. You on the other hand, are already fully grown."

"Well..." she faltered. "Yeah, well, your face is stupid."

He raised his eyebrows at her and Will just sighed.

Sheena, meanwhile, said, "Well, actually I grew about a quarter inch in between sixteen and seventeen."

"Still not going to make much of a difference," Genis muttered. Then he said, "How old are you anyway, Sheena?"

"Me? Uh, I'm eighteen now but I'll be nineteen in a couple weeks."

"Oh, your birthday's coming up?" Ellie asked. "I should get you something!"

"What?" Sheena held her hands up and shook her head. "N-no, you don't have to do that. I mean, I tried to kill you!"

Ellie shrugged. "Yeah, but you're on our team now so I'd feel bad if I didn't get you something."

Sheena just smiled a bit. "Heh. Thanks, Colette. When's your birthday?"

"Oh, it was back at the beginning of the journey," she said. Then she paused, probably waiting for Colette to fill her in on the exact date. "March 25th."

"Mine's August 6th," Genis put in. "Then I'll be thirteen."

Sheena smiled at him. "Really? Cool. So when's yours, Lloyd?"

Will paused, about to answer 'July 11th' like he was accustomed to, only for Lloyd to remind him, 'September 19th.' Will answered as such, and from a bit ahead of them Petra spun around, still holding Raine's hand so dragging her along as well.

"Mine's July 3rd!" she said with a smile. "And I'm gonna be six!"

"Wow, that's so old!" Sheena said.

"Yeah," Ellie said with a big grin. "You're going to be so big."

"When's yours, Raine?" Petra asked, looking up at the older half-elf.

She smiled a bit and said, "February 13th." Then she turned around again so they could continue walking.

"I wonder when Lucky's birthday is," Ellie said, looking down at the dog. She barked at the attention, and Ellie laughed, "The world may never know."

As they went, Will said, 'Hey, Lloyd, do you know Kratos' birthday?'

'Hm. No, he never said. Ask him for me, will you?'

'Alright. Hey, um, have I told you yet how sorry I am to be taking your place?'

'You've complained about it a lot, yeah.'

'No, I mean... when I leave, you'll be you again. Just like before this whole thing. But everyone will only know me as Lloyd, except Colette, Raine, and Genis. The real you will be like a stranger to Sheena, Regal, Presea, and Zelos. And Kratos will leave the planet before even getting to meet his real son...'

'Y-Yeah...' Lloyd said, quieting down. Ellie and Sheena were chatting about something, while Will stared off into space. 'But, that's ok, I guess. I mean, it's not your fault. And I'm sure the others will accept the real me once I 'meet' them. They did last time...'

'I'm sorry; this is depressing you, isn't it?'

'Don't apologise, dork. You're right, I just... hm, I guess I just don't like thinking about that. Nothing we can do about it, right?'

'Heh. Why is everyone in this game so optimistic?'

'We're just happy people! Except Regal. Dad, too. And most of the Desians and Cruxis people, too.'

"Lloyd!" Genis suddenly shouted. "Attack!"

"What?" He looked up to see three large grasshoppers coming towards him, and he groaned. Not again. Stupid random encounters.

"Petra, stay behind me!" Raine said, stepping in front of the girl and barring her staff.

Will glanced over at the child clutching Raine's orange coat with wide, terrified eyes while he readied his swords. Dammit, he'd forgotten to clean them. Oh well, that could be done later, when he wasn't trying to kill giant insects.

Lucky was barking and darting around, and Raine quickly grabbed the piece of rope around her neck that served as a collar and dragged her away from the enemy. Lucky wasn't trained as an attack dog and would probably just get hurt out there. Still, even with Raine holding firmly onto her, she growled and barked at the attackers, snarling and trying to scare them off.

One grasshopper leapt towards him, and he deftly jumped to the side and swiped his sword at it, slicing off one of its legs. Ugly greenish blood flowed out, and he wrinkled his nose on disgust. Meanwhile, Ellie had flown into the air and chucked a chakram at a bug before it could tackle Genis. With that extra time, he unleashed Stalagmite and skewered it through the middle. The grasshopper screeched, and Will winced from the pain in his ears.

"Sharpness!" Will felt a surge of energy in his arms as Raine's spell powered him up, and with a shout of, "Super Sonic Thrust!" he impaled the grasshopper, killing it once and for all.

"Look out!" Ellie suddenly shouted.

Will spun around, just in time to see the third and final 'hopper jumping towards him.

Before he could raise his swords to defend himself from the looming insect, Sheena leapt in front and shouted, "Power Seal!" Her card thrust forward and a small explosion blew the grasshopper back. Ellie threw a couple hammers at it and Raine whacked it with her staff for good measure.

"Whoa," Will said taking a deep breath. "Thanks, Sheena."

She tucked her cards away and said, "No problem."

"I'm glad we asked you to join us."

She blushed a bit. "It was nothing."

"You guys are amazing!" Petra cried, peeking out from behind Raine.

"That we are!" Ellie said, hands on her hips.

"Gee, Colette," Genis said. "Your humility astounds me."

As they started walking, Will said, "Petra, why don't you walk with Sheena for a bit?"

"Huh? O-Ok." The little girl scurried back to the ninja and the dog, while Will stepped forward to talk to Raine.

"Professor, what are we going to do with Lucky and Petra when we get to the ranch?"

Raine frowned. "I'm not sure. Obviously we can't take them in with us, but perhaps one of us should stay behind..." She glanced over her shoulder at the laughing youngsters and said, "I wouldn't mind keeping Genis or Colette out of another ranch."

"But there's no way they'd let us leave them behind," Will said.

"That's true... We'll figure something out."

"I hope so."


"No way!" Genis said loudly, then as everyone immediately shushed him, he said more quietly, "No way. I'm going in with you."

"Genis," Raine said, "Someone has to stay outside with Petra. We can't leave her alone out here."

"But why me?" he said, crossing his arms and glaring the others down. They sat around the morning campfire about half an hour's walk from the ranch, hidden from the sunlight by the woods around the ranch. With the way ranches were always hidden back in the trees, Will had to wonder if the Desians were trying to hide or something. Did they seriously think no one was going to notice? Wouldn't it make it harder for prisoners to escape if they were out in the open? Sorta like that prison camp in The Great Escape; the Germans purposefully cut down all the trees around it so they couldn't tunnel out as easily. Or maybe the Desians were trying to evoke a creep 'evil witch hidden in the woods' feel.

Hell, maybe they just liked trees. They were part elf after all.

"Because," Will said simply, "We trust you the most to wait here with her."

"Yeah," Ellie said. "I mean, Lloyd's just a kid himself, and Professor Raine can't let us go in by ourselves..."

"And you know how Colette is," Raine said.

Will was vaguely offended by the way he and Ellie were disqualified from being the mature ones, but he supposed the real Lloyd and Colette really were kinda like that. Besides, it played to their advantage so he wouldn't push it.

"But..." Genis said, looking around at them all. "What about Sheena?"

The ninja paused mid-yawn and glanced up at them.

Raine's mouth narrowed to a frown. "I'd rather keep her where I can see her."

Sheena rolled her eyes. "Well, aren't you just a bundle of sunshine."

"I'll be ok by myself..." Petra said, looking with worried eyes around the group. "I don't want to cause trouble." She stroked Lucky's head, and the dog set her chin between her paws as she dozed in the early morning.

"Nonsense," Raine said. "We can't leave a five-year-old out here by herself."

"Genis is only twelve," Sheena pointed out.

Raine sighed. "That's true, but Genis is very responsible." The younger Sage sat up a bit straighter at this praise from his sister.

"So we're settled?" Will asked. "Colette, the Professor, Sheena, and I will break in, while Genis waits here with Petra and Lucky?"

Raine nodded. "That appears to be the plan." She stood up and brushed leaves and dirt off her bottom. "Are we all ready to go?"

Will and the other two nodded and got up as well. In truth, he wasn't ready. He would give anything to be the one sitting under a tree with Petra and Lucky, because breaking into the ranch seemed like nothing short of suicide. And he'd have to face Kvar, too. Oh great. Kvar was friggin' scary.

'Don't worry,' Lloyd said. 'We survived fine last time, and if anything happens, I'll protect you.'

'Ok. But... man, I'm still terrified. I'm going to have to fight Kvar! He's... he's... he's Kvar!'

'If you don't think you can do it, then... let me take over. I can kill Kvar for you, and I promise to do it fast so that you don't slip back or anything.'

Will hesitated, thinking it over. It was a risky move, but... well, he really didn't want to fight Kvar... But if they messed up and took even a few seconds too long, he'd be out for the count and collapse at the mercy (or lack-of) of Kvar. 'I don't know. I'm going to have to think about this.'

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Ellie was still wearing her bright yellow cape, and it caught in the twigs poking out sometimes, but she refused to take it off. Sheena had pulled a card out and as they walked she twirled it around between her fingers, eyes straight ahead. Raine merely gripped her staff as she led the way, while Will wished he was curled up under his covers again.

About half an hour later, they ducked behind a final, very large bush and – like ninjas – peeked over the top and at the imposing front gates of the ranch. About ten armed Desians guarded the front entrance, the gates towering up above them.

"How do we get in?" Ellie asked.

"Why don't we get disguises?" Sheena asked. "Some of us can pretend to be prisoners or some-"

"No," Will said firmly. "We tried that last time. Dorr was killed and Genis, Kratos and I nearly got caught."

Sheena stuck her tongue out at him and said, "Geeze, fine. What's your suggestion?"

He thought for a minute, looking around. The front gate looked impenetrable, but his eyes wandered across the scene. Just like at the Iselia ranch, the solid cement front gates gave way to Jurassic Park-style wire fencing at the sides. He wondered if they were electrocuted, and though it didn't seem feasible, Kvar did have a lightning fetish so you never knew what he'd electrify next.

"What about over there?" he said, pointing to a building that came close to the fence. "If we cut through one of the wires we can squeeze through and sneak in through the window. From there we can make it to the computer room."

"Why the computer room?" Sheena asked. "I thought we were going to the prisons?"

Oh, yeah. These guys didn't know this was just their first run-in and that they were going to meet Kvar and run the hell away. "Um, yeah, but the computer room is probably easier to find and there might be a map in there or even the codes for unlocking the prisons."

"Oh, good idea," Sheena said. "Computer room it is."

Wait a minute. Had he just given them an excuse so that they'd be in the room to meet Kvar? Um, what? He did not want to meet Kvar! That eyeless bastard could stay as far away as possible and Will would be happy. He just had been trying to make the game go right, but there was surely something suicidal about purposefully running into Kvar.

Actually, they were breaking into a frickin' ranch. That itself was suicidal.

They slunk through the bushes towards the window and the fence, and Will couldn't help but note that Ellie's cape was reverse-camouflage. Seriously, who tried to ninja in a bright yellow cape? She was going to get them killed.

When they reached the fence and the window about three yards away, Ellie asked, "So how do we cut the wire?"

"Swords?" Will asked, pulling out his blade. He took a deep breath, and then sliced at the cord as hard as he could. He was pretty sure a tiny sliver of wire twisted away, but this was going to take forever.

"Let me help," Ellie said, pushing him aside. She set the blade of her chakram in the little nick he made and started sawing back and forth rapidly, her angelic strength and speed cutting through the thick wire in just over a minute.

"Show-off," Will muttered with a grin. She just smirked at him as Raine stepped forward to go first.

The professor looked all around the area to make sure no Desians were in view, and then quickly slunk through the opening in the wires. She darted across the short distance to the window and smashed it open with her staff before climbing in. Cool, Raine was a ninja too.

"I'll go next," Sheena said, ducking under the wire. As she went and Will was about to follow, Ellie grabbed his arm. He looked at her questioningly, and she hung her head a bit.

"I'm... I'm scared," she mumbled. "I've never been in a ranch like you have... And, and I still haven't killed a person yet. And I might have to today. And that really scares me."

Will faltered, but then pulled her into a tight hug. "Don't be scared," he whispered in her ear as he held her against his chest. He could feel her heart beating rapidly with tension, and with her amazing senses he didn't doubt that she could feel his as well. "I'm going to do my best to protect you, and Raine and Sheena will, too. And... killing people really hurts but... I've realised that sometimes it has to be done. I hate it and wish I didn't have to kill people, but it has to be done. Don't think of it as taking their lives, think of it as saving others'."

She pulled back from his hug and looked at him with a sad smile. "Thanks," she whispered.

"Lloyd? Colette?" Sheena hissed, poking her head out the window. "You guys coming?"

"Sorry," Will said, then looked to Ellie. "You go."

She nodded once, and followed after Sheena and Raine. Will went after her, feeling very exposed as he crossed the short distance to the building. At the window, he carefully avoided the jagged edges as he climbed in after the girls.

They found themselves in a long hallway very similar to the ones in the Palmacosta ranch. Long, boring, unremarkable. Luckily this hall was empty, so they walked down without having to go murderous on any guards.

As they went, Raine leading the way, Ellie walked close to Will. He could feel her shaking a bit next to him as she gripped her chakrams. His eyes were darting around like he was on a sugar high as he expected a Desian to jump out of nowhere. Being in a ranch was just naturally tense, and he couldn't wait to get out of here. Sure he'd reassured Ellie, but that was just him trying to comfort her. In truth, he was petrified of being in here. Having gone into the previous ranch didn't make this easier; if anything he was even more panicked. He remembered the fear and bloodshed and betrayal from last time, and certainly didn't look forward to replicating it.

"So where's the computer room?" Sheena asked.

"This way, I assume," Raine said. "A main room like that will most likely be in the front of the building where it's easy to accesses and not hidden in some corner somewhere."

"And how are we going to know it when he see the door?" Sheena asked. "Shouldn't we be trying every door?"

"The doors are labelled, dear," Raine said, pointing at the little plaques by each door telling what it led to. Most of the ones they were passing were storage rooms.

"Oh..." Sheena said, flushing.

"You know," Ellie said, giving Will that scary grin that told him she had just had an idea. "I bet Kvar isn't a very good villain. I mean, he labels all his room. I bet the computer room is labelled 'Main Control Room'."

"Probably," Will agreed, wondering where she was going with this.

"Well, if it were me," she said, "I would have a room labelled 'Main Control Room' that actually leads to the execution chamber, with the actual main control room labelled 'sewage treatment center'. Then when pesky heroes like us break in, we wouldn't be able to find it so easily."

Face-palm. She'd been reading the Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord too much.

"I think Kvar's too arrogant it think that any 'pesky heroes' would ever actually get in," Will said.

She just shrugged, giving him a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, what an asstard, right?"

"We're here," Raine said, pointing to the door labelled 'Main Computer Room'.

"Ha, I was right," Ellie said as Raine opened the door. Will followed tentatively, knowing Kvar was going to show up soon. Oh god Kvar. With his creepy eyes and his stupid hair and his snide voice (If he remembered correctly, Kvar was voiced by the same guy who did both Magnius and Yuan. How could Kvar's voice be the same as the one that went 'Vermin!'? If he was brave enough, he'd ask Kvar to say it. Of course, he'd probably be too busy peeing his pants to request a line).

Inside, the room was very similar to the game. There was a raised stage at the far side, with a large grey device that was the computer, and the weird green-topped cube-thingy on the floor near them was a refresher and a store if he remembered correctly. There was also a large window, and through it he could see the conveyer belts full of Exspheres slide past.

As they went in, Raine started to get that excited flicker in her eyes as she looked around at all the technology. "It looks like this is in Exsphere manufacturing plant," she said, longingly gazing out the window at all the machinery beyond. "Fascinating!"

"Sure is," Will said mildly, glancing out the window. Every box that went past represented a death. Fascinating? More like revolting.

"Sh," Ellie suddenly said. "I hear something coming."

Everyone was suddenly tense, raising their weapons and looking to the door. The door that opened, though, was the one up by the stage instead of the one leading to the machinery. Just as expected, Botta and his two henchmen burst into the room, suddenly halting upon seeing them.

"You!" Botta said, a stunned look on his face.

"Who's this guy?" Sheena asked, cards out just in case.

"We ran into him in the Triet Desert," Raine said.

"And the Martel Temple," Ellie pointed out.

"Chosen, your life is ours!" one of the Renegades behind Botta said.

"Wait," Botta said, raising his hand. "We have no time to fight now. It would be in both of our best interests not to fight. Retreat for now!" The trio darted past them, running back out the door and into the hallway.

"What was that all about?" Sheena asked, lowering her cards.

Raine frowned. "It's almost as if they were running away from something..."

Suddenly the door slid open again and three Desian sorcerers appeared, about to shoot a Fireball. Will darted to grab Ellie and pull her out of the way as she was closest, just as the fire erupted, speeding towards them.

"Damage Guard!" The fireballs bounced off her protective shell as Will stared at them with wide eyes, his arms still wrapped around her.

"You really need to learn Guardian," she whispered.

They backed up to stand next to Raine and Sheena, as the door to the machinery room slid open, revealing none other than Kvar. Will's heart rate increased just seeing him standing there, very tall, very confidant, and smirking knowingly.

"Well, well, well," he said, an irritating smile at the edge of his lips. "This is a surprise. I expected to find that Renegade Botta but instead we get the wanted inferior beings."

"Who are you?" Sheena demanded, holding her cards up threateningly. No offense, Sheena, but they weren't really very intimidating.

"You break into my ranch and demand my name? You humans are so arrogant."

Will's swords were shaking in his hands as he stood in front of Ellie, though the three sorcerers to the side still had perfect shot at them. He chose to be more concerned about the suave bastard in front of him, though. Oh god, Kvar was staring at him. Kvar wanted him, him and his Exsphere. He really, really wished Kratos were here. Kratos was at least a reassuring presence, and he didn't like the way the others looked to him now as the main fighter guy.

"Lloyd Irving," Kvar said, smirking growing bigger. No, no, no, he wasn't Lloyd! This wasn't fair! He was just some random high schooler!

'It's alright. Kvar's not going to kill you now.'

'Now?'

'Er, at all. But just calm down and concentrate.'

Kvar continued, "It's just as Forcystus said. That Exsphere is without a doubt my Angelus project. I think it's time you gave it back."

Will wanted to give him a witty retort, but he was too busy making sure he didn't run away screaming in terror. All he managed was a half-assed, "N-No..."

Kvar chuckled and started moving towards him, walking slowly but surely. Will took an involuntary step backwards, bumping into Raine. She put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly, but it didn't really help.

Ellie raised her chakram, and it was a little more threatening than Sheena's cards. "Don't touch him," she spat, glaring evilly at the Cardinal as he sauntered towards them.

This just made Kvar laugh again. "Brave little Chosen, hm?" Ellie said nothing, but Will could feel her hand shaking by his side. The three sorcerers were coming closer too, and they were probably getting ready to blast them again.

"Lloyd," Kvar said, now standing only a yard or so away. "That Exsphere is the result of years worth of research and it rightfully belongs to me. Hand it over and you and your little group won't be killed on the spot."

Raine's grip on his shoulder tightened and he was glancing around furiously to find some way out of this. He was already considering just handing the gem over if there was no way out, but...

'Don't even think about it,' Lloyd said firmly. 'He'll probably kill you anyway if you give in to his demands, and then you won't even have the Exsphere to help you fight back. Besides, you can't complete the journey without me.'

'Yeah... I know.'

"Sir!" Another Desian suddenly burst into the room, startling everybody. "We've found three intruders in hallway 1B!"

While Kvar looked away, Ellie took her chance and chucked her chakram at him. His momentary distraction was enough that he barely dodged it, the bladed ring slicing his cheek as it flew past. With Kvar darting out of the way of the door, the group took action and ran forward, through the door and into the machinery room before Kvar could stop them. Raine pressed the button to close it behind them and locked the door as a few more fireballs suddenly flew towards them.

"What now?" Sheena asked, as they looked out at the conveyor belts sliding along.

"We must hurry," Raine said. "No doubt the lock on that door won't hold them off for long."

They took off running, Will glancing over his shoulder to see the door opening already. Sheena led the way, mostly because she was the fastest, shortly followed by Ellie. As they ran along next to the conveyor belts, he spotted a very surprised looking Desian standing in shock at the group racing towards him. He had just started to raise his sword when Sheena slammed a card onto his chest and shouted, "Pyre Seal!", blasting him backwards. He fell over onto his butt, and as they ran along past him, Raine paused to bash him in the head with her staff, knocking him out.

They turned a corner and he heard Kvar shouting orders to his band of Desians that had just shown up. "After them," Kvar said loudly and Will couldn't help looking back to see a large group of Desians swarming out in pursuit. "I don't care about the others, but I want the Irving boy alive."

His heart skipped a beat as he tried to decide whether being wanted alive was a good thing or not. On one hand, they weren't going to shoot him on the spot. On the other hand, captured alive, Kvar would probably torture him to death eventually anyway. Best not to get caught at all.

They ran up some stairs and were now across from Kvar and the others. Lightning flew pass, and he pulled Sheena back as it flew past, blasting a charred mark on the wall behind them. "Go, go!" he said and they ran forward. However, they quickly realised that there was nowhere left to run, as the walkway ended with a drop-off. And across from them, was the large window with humans sliding past.

The entire group froze as they saw the window. Why was there even a window, anyway? Was Kvar really that sick that he liked to come here and watch them going to their deaths? Will felt hatred bubble up inside him, more furious than he had ever been in his entire life.

To ensure the humans didn't just run off, their ankles were shackled to the belt as it moved them past the window. Most of them were franticly tugging at the bonds, eyes darting up to the end of the line where the window cut off. Will didn't know if they could see what was happening ahead, but they seemed to know anyway. Some of them were reaching for each other, stretching as far as they could from their places to hold hands with loved ones as they were fed into the machine.

Even from behind the glass he could hear them crying, only for the screams to be abruptly cut-off as another box exited. The screams were then replaced by someone farther up the line, in an endless cycle of fear and death.

As the party stood there, faces slack in shock at what they were seeing, the prisoners looked back at them. Will saw them reach out and pound on the glass, saw their mouths move and heard their muted pleas for help.

He saw a boy go past no older than him, and met his eye. The boy looked at him solemnly, mouth in a firm line, only his shaking hands betraying his fear. Will felt like he should say something, shout some words of encouragement... but what? Anything reassuring would be a lie, and the boy knew it. His opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to form words. The boy just nodded in understanding, then glanced to the side at the oncoming end of the window. He flashed Will a grim smile that didn't reach his eyes and raised a hand in farewell, then disappeared into the machine. A few seconds later, another box was spat out.

"Dual Ray Thrust!" Ellie's chakrams spun forwards, crashing into the window before flying back to her. They didn't succeed in cracking it, but that didn't stop her from trying again. She threw her chakrams again and again, finally succeeding in making a tiny scratch in the window. The prisoners going by watched her with a gleam of hope in their eyes, which gave way to despair the instant they realised there was no way she'd shatter the window before they were fed to the machine.

Will had always considered himself an easy-going guy. He tended not to get too annoyed with people, only rarely lost his temper. Now? He felt such immense hatred for Kvar burning inside him it hurt. It actually hurt how much his heart was racing with his hatred and revulsion. Like the doomed prisoners, he was shaking too. He, however, wasn't shaking with fear for Kvar any longer, but with an enormous amount of pent-up rage.

He'd seen the seemingly endless graves after the Palmacosta battle, he'd seen the remains of Luin and experienced the attack, but now, standing here so helplessly as innocent person after innocent person was slaughtered in the name of Exspheres... This was beyond horrible. This was... barbaric, disgusting, traumatising... there wasn't really a word to describe the sheer horror of what was happening.

He'd always enjoyed the fact that Tales of Symphonia had such a fleshed-out villain, and you could really empathise with his goals and he'd even thought about how Yggdrasill was just struggling to do his best to make the world a better place. But Yggdrasill was the one who came up with and authorised this. There could be no forgiving him now.

His fury was probably being egged on by Lloyd's own in his head. Lloyd was dead silent, but Will could feel his emotions crashing over him, so strong they actually could be felt by Will. He wondered how Lloyd must feel seeing all this again. After everything he did to stop this nightmare last time, here he was, watching these people die all over again like all his hard work had been for nothing.

Someone behind him chuckled and his blood ran cold. He slowly turned to face Kvar, not sure if he was more frightened or angry. "You..." he hissed, clenching his swords tightly at his sides. He wanted to kill Kvar so much right now. His vision was practically blurry with the anger coursing through him.

"W...What is this?" Sheena asked, a horrified look on her face.

Kvar smirked at him and said, "This is where the Exspheres are removed from the host bodies." He was backed up by a handful of Desians, cornering them at the end of the walkway.

Raine gaped at him. "Do you mean that Exspheres... are made from human lives?"

"Not exactly," Kvar said, inspecting his fingertips like this was just some casual meeting. "Exspheres are dormant at first, and extract nourishment from the host bodies."

Host bodies. No, dammit, they weren't 'host bodies'! They were people! Human lives! You couldn't just... how could he just...

Kvar looked up and said, "Human ranches are Exsphere manufacturing plants. Why else would we take our time raising and taking care of these inferior beings?"

"That... that's barbaric!" Sheena said. "How could you do that?"

"Barbaric?" Kvar said. "And what about yourselves, hm? From what I can see, three out of four of you are using Exspheres, illegitimately taken from our ranches. After we put so much time and care into creating them... You deserve to be punished."

"'Care'?" Will said, breathing deeply to control his anger. "You call this-" he jabbed his finger back at the window with the conveyor belt, "-'Care'?"

Kvar laughed, his giant, heavy shoulder plates shaking. "Humans should be thankful we take them in and use their miserable little lives to fashion such powerful tools. What life do they have out there? Killing each other over petty differences, scraping a living off rocks... humans are so pathetic."

"They're scraping a living off rocks because of you!" Will shouted. "You Desians pillage their villages and destroy the land, using up mana with your magitechnology in the ranches!"

"I don't have time to argue with an inferior being like yourself," Kvar said. "Lloyd, it's time you handed over your Exsphere so I can finally reclaim what was stolen from me by that filthy female host body."

'How dare he!' Lloyd shouted. 'I mean, I've even heard him say it before but... Argh! How dare he talk about my mother like that!'

"Shut up!" he shouted. "Don't talk about my mom like that!"

'Thanks for getting that out for me.'

'No problem. I'm plenty pissed myself.'

The other three looked at him in surprise, and he supposed he shouldn't have apparently jumped to conclusions like that about Kvar referring to his mom, but no one said anything at the moment.

"Are you saying," Raine said, looking in horror at Will's hand, "That Lloyd's mother..."

Kvar gave them a superior smirk (which only made Will want to kick him in the balls even more) and said, "Yes. That Exsphere was cultivated on host body A012, human name: Anna. His mother. It was to be an offering to Lord Yggdrasill, but she took it and escaped from the facility. Of course, she paid for that crime with her life."

'Kill him,' Lloyd hissed.

'W-What? Now? Are you crazy?'

'I don't care what the consequences are! This is the guy who killed my mom! I want to kill him!'

Will could feel Lloyd's presence growing stronger, and he was pushing forwards a bit, just like in Palmacosta. Will remembered the horrible feeling of disorientation when Lloyd took control, and the complete weakness he had left when he came back, and did not relish trying that again. 'Lloyd! Lloyd, stop. You promised you wouldn't try to take over again!'

The pushing stopped, and Lloyd faded away a bit. '...I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I just... just got so mad...'

He was paying just enough attention to hear Sheena say, "You killed his mother? You monster!"

The Desians around Kvar were pushing forward, all of them leering ahead with whips and knives, sick smiles on their faces. Kvar just chuckled (speaking of which, Kvar's laugh was getting really creepy. Just the way he found all their pain and frustration amusing sent shivers down Will's spine).

"Not exactly," Kvar said, stepping forward. This movement made Will take a step back automatically, trying to keep a distance between himself and the Cardinal. "When Anna's Key Crest-less Exsphere was removed, she turned into a monster... and then your father killed her. Pathetic, don't you think? They were both a couple of filthy, worthless maggots."

The rocks came out of nowhere. One moment they were standing defenceless against Kvar and a group of Desians, the next spears of rock were shooting up from the ground as a resounding voice shouted, "Grave!"

Kvar was knocked off his feet and a few Desians were impaled by the rocks, while others were thrown off the edge. When all the commotion finally died down, Kvar shakily got to his feet and Will looked past him.

Standing at the top of the stairs was Kratos, sword in hand, the expression on his face more terrifying than anything Will had ever seen. Standing behind him, trying to look tough, was Genis, with a little Petra cowering behind him.

When Kratos spoke, his voice carried more hatred than Will had thought physically possible. "Do not speak ill of the dead."

"Kratos," Kvar spat. "I was wondering if you would show up."

"Kvar," he said simply.

This, however, sparked a reaction from Petra. "K-Kvar?" She peeked out from behind Genis and all eyes went to her. "I know you! Daddy talked about you! Y-You're the one who killed my cousin Becky! You're the one who took Mommy and Daddy away!" The small girl darted out from behind Genis and stormed towards Kvar before any of them could make a move. "I hate you!" she screamed, reaching his leg and pounding her little fists against him. "Give Mommy and Daddy back! Where are they? Give them back!"

Kvar looked down at her like something particularly nasty stuck under his shoe. The two remaining Desians started forward to attack her while Will and the others looked on in horror, not sure what to do.

Kvar raised his hand to halt his guards, then easily reached down and pried the girl off. He grabbed her by the neck and held her in the air with one hand, Petra's feet kicking as she grabbed at his wrists and tried to break free.

"Back where we started, Lloyd," Kvar said. "How's this? I'll give you this filthy inferior being in exchange for you Exsphere."

Will's breath caught in his throat at as he looked at Petra squirming. She was so little... his hand was already reaching for his Exsphere when he caught himself. No. He couldn't. There had to be another way... if he gave up his Exsphere, he probably wouldn't live to get out of this game.

"Lloyd..." Ellie whimpered, eyes on the struggling child.

"I know," he whispered, trying to figure out what to do. Kvar's grip around her throat tightened and she gave out a pained whimper. "Let her go, Kvar!" he shouted, not expecting that to actually do anything.

"That's Lord Kvar to you, inferior worm," he said, looking away from Petra and staring right at Will. He tightened his grip again, saying, "Make your choice before the girl runs out of air."

Will clenched his fingers around his sword hilts so hard it almost hurt. Petra was dying in front of him... and meanwhile, helpless captives were still dying behind him.

"Double Demon Fang!" Kratos sent two blasts of energy at Kvar, tripping him up and causing him to drop Petra. The girl darted away and ran back towards Genis while Kratos ran forward and used Light Spear. Kvar fell over and Kratos easily slaughtered the two remaining Desians, splattering blood all over the scene.

When he finished, before the bloody and injured Kvar had gotten to his feet, Kratos looked up at the others and said, "Don't just stand there! Run!"

They needed no further urging, so Will sheathed his swords and took off, casting one last apologetic glance at the people still caught on the conveyor belt. I'm sorry I can't save you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I'm not strong enough to stop Kvar now.

Kratos sheathed his sword led the way back through the room. They ran back the way they had come, circling around the conveyor belts. They passed fallen corpses of Desians; clearly Kratos had ploughed his way through here. As they ran, Petra quickly fell behind, her short legs not able to keep up. Will stopped to pick her up and carry her, but Kratos slowed down and let the others run by. When Will reached him, Kratos took the girl from his arms and easily held her against his chest.

"I could carry her," Will said, a bit frustrated that Kratos apparently thought he wasn't strong enough to carry a small child.

"We have no time for delays." Then he took off again, and Will rolled his eyes and followed.

They went through the main computer room and Raine paused long enough to close it behind them. The locks were on this side, so hopefully Kvar wouldn't be able to follow quite as quickly. Then she grabbed Genis' hand to make sure he didn't fall behind, and they took off down the corridor.

The amount of dead Desians they passed was startling, but after seeing the conveyor belt and the things Desians did to humans, Will was having trouble feeling sorry for them.

They reached the window they had snuck in through, and Will followed the others out. By the time he dropped from the windowsill to the grass, alarms were ringing out through the ranch. He followed Kratos through the broken wire, and ran into the woods after the others.

Even though they were clear of the ranch, they had to keep running. Kvar would probably send soldiers out after them, so they had to keep going at least until Kratos said they were far enough away. Outside, Lucky and Noishe ran up to greet them and then ran along next to them. Kratos put Petra down on Noishe's back, while Lucky raced the protozoan up ahead. They passed the spot where they'd left their stuff, and everyone grabbed a bag and kept running.

After ten minutes of running, Will was feeling tired. The Exsphere gave him enhanced strength, but keeping up with Kratos while running through thick woods was hard. However, the thought of hordes of Desians running after them was enough encouragement to keep him running.

Finally, they slowed down after half an hour. Kratos, of course, was still running forward with all his strength, but the rest of the party was tired and exhausted, so he regretfully slowed his pace to a walk. "We're probably far enough away by now," he said, sighing.

"Thank Martel," Genis groaned, collapsing to the ground.

"How far away are we?" Sheena asked, holding her side and leaning against a tree.

"Couple miles," Kratos answered shortly.

"And you!" Raine shouted, rounding on Genis. "What were you doing in the ranch? I explicitly told you to stay outside! And you took Petra with you! You two could have been killed!"

Genis put his hands over his head as Raine's fists came down. Petra gaped at the siblings after climbing down from Noishe's back, while Kratos sighed and looked away.

"I'm sorry!" Genis said. "I'm sorry! Ow! Raine!"

"What were you thinking?"

"I just wanted to help! And then Petra followed me, but I told her to wait with Lucky! Then the Desians cornered us, but Kratos showed up and saved us..."

Raine finally slowed her barrage and turned to Kratos. She scowled, but said, "Kratos. It appears I owe you my gratitude for saving my brother."

Kratos nodded, and pulled out his sword to wipe it clean on the grass.

"Thanks, Aurion," Ellie said, the only one besides Kratos not panting and out of breath. "Looks like you're useful after all."

"Hmph."

"What do we do now?" Genis asked, rubbing his bruised arm.

"Let's return to Luin," Raine said. "We still need to get as far away from here as possible."

They all nodded in consent, and Ellie stepped forward and looked between Kratos and Raine. "Um, Professor? Aurion?" They both looked at her. "Look, I know you guys don't really get along, but... I would really like Kratos to join us again."

Kratos looked away, crossing his arms, while Raine's mouth hardened into a thin line. Genis eyed Kratos suspiciously, while Sheena looked between them in confusion. Will just hoped Raine would agree.

"Colette..." Raine started, but Ellie put his foot down, both metaphorically and literally.

"Professor, since Kratos left we had all that hell in Asgard, we came close to kicking the bucket at the Wind Seal, and Kvar would have killed us back there if Kratos hadn't shown up. I know you don't like him – and believe me when I can honestly say I think he's an insufferable ass as well-"

Kratos raised his eyebrows and glared at her.

"-but like it or not, we need him. So, please, Professor. Rehire him."

Will's eyes flickered between the pair of them, waiting for Raine's response.

Finally, after almost a minute of tense silence, Raine sighed and put her hand on her forehead, looking down. "Alright."

"Yes!" Ellie said, punching the air.

Raine continued, "Kratos, if you are willing, I will rehire you to guard the Chosen."

Kratos nodded. "I accept."

Will breathed a sigh of relief he hadn't realised he'd been holding. Lloyd, meanwhile, said, 'Alright! Dad's back!'

"Let's walk on to Luin," Raine said. "We can't rest here for long."

Will, Genis, and Sheena all groaned as they reluctantly followed the other three out of the clearing. Will was exhausted and it was only midday. They'd probably be walking until sunset, so this was not a good day, Petra was lucky and got to ride on Noishe, and he only wished Lucky was big enough to carry him. Lloyd, meanwhile, was still talking.

'By the way, you mentioned a while ago that you found it confusing that I call both Dirk and Kratos 'Dad'. So, I've decided that Dirk is 'Dirkdad' and Kratos is 'Kradad'.'

'Crawdad? So... Kratos is a crustacean now?'

'Um...what?'

Will rolled his eyes. 'Crawdad. It's a lobster type thing that lives in rivers.'

'Uh, I – I knew that. So, um, ok, Kradad doesn't work. How about... 'Tosdad?'

Facepalm.