"Anna?" Yuan raised an eyebrow, looking at the blinking light on the console that indicated Anna was trying to call him. What confused him, however, was that Anna had been traveling with Sheena, Zelos, and Genis for the past week, and there was no way she'd been able to get away to call him. He hit the button. "Anna, are you there?"
No specific answer, just words that he had to strain himself to understand.
"You're gonna come with me and give me that little gem on your chest."
Yuan cursed, keeping Anna's signal up and calling Kratos. It took a minute, but the man answered, "Yes?"
"It's Kvar. He's got Anna. I'm locating her now, but she-"
"I'll be FINE. Run!"
He cursed again, "She needs help."
Yuan could hear Kratos running, and focused on locating Anna's signal. Soon enough, the orange light that signified her position was blinking on the map in front of him.
"Keep heading south. She's not far." Yuan said.
"Thanks."
Anna's scream filled the air, and Yuan cursed again, "I'm teleporting down now." he said, shutting off Anna and Kratos's communication lines and flying towards the exit.
XXXX
"Just tell me where it is, Anna, and I'll let you go. I won't even hurt your poor little son."
Anna cursed, backing up away from Kvar, who was advancing on her much quicker than she could get away. Her katar was lying in the snow, knocked far out of her reach when she was forced to drop it to keep from getting shocked by Kvar's stupid lightning. She still couldn't feel her right arm; it was hanging limp at her side. The front of her tunic was torn by the half-elf's sword, displaying a red, gleaming crystal and scars lining the skin around it.
"Where IS IT?" Kvar snapped at her, getting angry, "Where is the exsphere?"
"I tossed that thing at the first chance I got!" Anna shouted back at him, hoping he'd give up and leave but knowing that wouldn't happen.
"You're lying!" Kvar shouted, "How did you get it off? Where did you hide it?"
"I'm going to give you a suggestion." Another voice spoke up. Kvar cursed as Yuan came into view. The blue-haired half elf draped his cape over Anna's shoulders, and the very-grateful woman wrapped it around herself to cover herself. "You leave and promise to leave the Aurion family alone, and then I won't kill you."
"I don't think so." Kvar held his sword out, it sparking with lightning.
Yuan smirked, "Fine then. I'll enjoy this." he held his hand in the air, summoning his two-bladed weapon and sparking it with lightning as well, "I was a lightning mage long before you were born." He turned to Anna, "Kratos is on his way. Hold tight."
"Thank you." Anna said, feeling minutes off from collapsing. She was holding Yuan's cape shut around her with her left hand, and she still couldn't feel her right arm at all.
Yuan nodded, and held a hand out, sending a blast of lightning magic at Kvar. He didn't get a chance to do much more, however, as a fire blast came out of the snow and blasted Kvar in the back of the head, setting what little hair he had on fire. While he was distracted by trying to put his hair out, Kratos landed next to his wife.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Anna nodded, relieved that Yuan and Kratos had shown up so quickly, "I'm fine. But he knows I don't have the exsphere."
Kratos nodded, "It's alright. As long as you're okay, we can handle the rest. Can you fly?"
"Probably." Anna nodded.
"Go to Flanoir. Yuan and I will finish up here and catch up." Kratos said.
"But-"
"No buts." Kratos said, "I'll feel better once you're out of danger, Anna, and you need to see a healer."
"I can heal myself as soon as the feeling comes back in my arm." Anna insisted, "Let me stay here and help. What if something goes wrong?"
There wasn't any more time to argue, though, as Kvar's head was no longer on fire and he was pissed. "You STUPID inferior beings! I won't forget this!"
Kratos drew his sword, shouting at Anna to fly away one last time before he and Yuan converged on Kvar, but the man ran too fast for them and they quickly lost him in the snow. Backtracking to where they'd left Anna, Kratos quickly checked to make sure she didn't have any pressing injuries he didn't know about.
"I should head back." Yuan said, "You need any help getting to Flanoir?" he asked Kratos and Anna.
Anna shook her head, "We're fine. Thank you, Yuan." she handed the blue-haired man his cape back, holding her tunic shut with her hand.
"You can hold onto it." Yuan said.
"The others will just ask where I got it." Anna shook her head.
Yuan nodded, taking the cape and hooking it on, "Call when you've got things worked out." he told the both of them.
Kratos nodded and Yuan left. Kratos scooped his wife up bridal style, eliciting a quite surprised squeak from her mouth. "Kratos?"
"Just stay still." Kratos said, flying into the air.
"I'm perfectly capable of-"
Kratos rolled his eyes and ignored her, flying towards Flanoir with his wife safely in his arms.
XXXX
"Lloyd?" Sheena asked surprised as she spotted the brown haired boy standing by the Inn as she and Zelos ran into Flanoir. Genis was still on Zelos's back, but as soon as he saw Lloyd he squirmed his way out of the redhead's grip and ran over, practically pouncing on him.
"Genis!" Lloyd said, surprised, "You're okay!" he looked up at Sheena and Zelos, "Hey..."
"Lloyd, your mom!" Sheena shouted, "We ran into Kvar; she's back there fighting by herself!"
Lloyd's eyes widened- that was why his dad had taken off without a word so quickly. "Shit! We have to go help her!"
"We can't." Zelos said, "We need to get that doctor and get back to Raine."
"What?" Lloyd feigned ignorance, "What happened?"
Sheena, Zelos, and Genis quickly explained everything that had happened since Lloyd had left Sybak, in much more detail than his father had been able to.
"Sheena, Genis, you two head to the Inn." Zelos said, "I'll go talk to the doctor."
"I'll go with you." Lloyd said, still worried about his mother, but he knew that his father could take care of it. They'd show up any minute.
Zelos nodded. Lloyd turned to Sheena and Genis, handing them two of the keys he was holding. "Genis is in the room I'm in, and Sheena, you've got your own."
"What?" Sheena asked, surprised, "How did you know we were coming?"
"I didn't." Lloyd lied, "My dad said we'd probably need a couple extra rooms."
"Kratos is here too?" Sheena asked, "Where'd he go?"
"Hell if I know." Lloyd said, "He took off running all the sudden."
"Maybe he went after Anna?" Sheena asked, hopefully.
Lloyd nodded, "Maybe. Go get comfortable, we'll be back in a bit."
Sheena nodded, giving him a quick hug and then hurrying to the Inn with Genis. Lloyd turned to Zelos, tossing over the final key, "You've got your own room too."
"Sweet, thanks." Zelos nodded, "Let's go see that doctor."
Lloyd nodded.
Wheee, all finished. Never expect updates to come as fast as they just did. I was just as eager to write what happened next as you were to read it, so I put aside everything I was supposed to do today and sat down to write this. Don't get too used to it. XD
Anyway, drop me a review and lemme know what you thought. Some stuff will be explained next chapter, mostly about Anna and Kvar and all that.