...well hello!
First of all, yes I am completely aware that I am totally awful for leaving this unupdated for such a long time. I honestly rewrote this chapter so many times because no matter what I just was not happy with it! Anyway, I ended up just scrapping the fight with Volt all together and that seemed to help a bit. Putting a new perspective on things is a good motivator, I suppose!
I meant to have this up a few weeks ago, but I just haven't really found the time. University and work keeping me busy played a BIG part in such a huge update gap, but I'm promising right now not to let it happen again, especially since I'm starting to get close to some parts I'm really excited to write about.
Soooo yeah. Very extremely sorry for being such a sucky updater. I'm going to try to do better! I promise! In fact, if any of you want to come verbally harass me to get my ass into gear on tumblr, my url is golmorejungle. Come say hi...or yell at me and tell me to stop being so lazy!
Finally, to answer olirving's review that you left forever ago and I couldn't reply to (and I've seriously been itching to answer this omg), I really am a fan of Lloyd/Sheena and Lloyd/Colette! I consider Lloyd/Colette a bit more canon to the story, so I'll probably lean more towards that pairing if I touch on it at all (not saying I won't, cuz who knows!) but I'll definitely sneak some Lloyd/Sheena parts in there as well, because they're just so adorable! How can I not? (And if I'm being completely honest, Zelos/Colette is actually my Symphonia OTP shhhh)
Anyway, that's enough babbling out of me. Thank you all so much for being patient with me, and just no that I have no intentions of abandoning this story, and if that awful day ever comes, I will be sure to let you know. But for now, I love this story as much as I always have and I'm sincerely going to try to do better because you're all so wonderful and patient!
Enjoy!
Sheena hit the ground with a painful thud. Lloyd quickly rushed in to block her from harm while she regained her bearings, much like he'd been doing through the whole fight, but Volt was quick to knock him aside and was back to attacking Sheena seconds after she was on her feet. It was hard for her to dodge the attack – the fight was a tough one, and we were all beginning to feel worn, especially considering we'd all been electrocuted moments before it had started.
Genis sounded off a Stalagmite spell, staggering Volt for a few brief moments. This short window we were given after Zelos or Genis cast a spell was our best opportunity to attack Volt, and we'd been using it as a strategy the whole fight. Sheena pushed through her fatigue and sent a flurry of cards flying. Lloyd readied himself for his own attack, but as he ran at Volt and prepared to strike, the crackling ball of lightning suddenly vanished.
He stumbled, barely catching his balance in time not to fall. "Huh? Where did he go?"
That was when that same harsh buzzing filled the air. Volt had returned to his altar, and now hung patiently in wait for us.
"Volt says...'Make your vow'."
Sheena glanced at Raine in surprise before turning her awed stare up at Volt. That was all she could do for a moment...just stare at him in complete shock. She'd finally done it.
"Go on Sheena," said Lloyd, giving her a tired smile. "You've done it."
She slowly returned the smile before heading up to the altar. Despite having finally defeated him, she still looked nervous, but it held a sort of determination that hadn't been there before.
"Just like I said, for the sake of everyone that risked their lives to protect me..." She trailed off, her eyes focusing on an empty space on the floor. "And for Corrine's sake as well, I want to save both worlds."
There was silence. Then, Volt spoke.
"'The vow has been made'," Raine translated. "'I entrust my power to the pact-maker, Sheena'!"
The same thing happened as before. Volt's form dissolved into mana, until it solidified and shot towards Sheena. When she opened her hand, a glittering onyx glinted back at us. Her whole body seemed to slump with immense relief.
"It's over..." she breathed. I could hear a laugh bubbling up in her voice.
However, Volt had barely been gone an instant when there was a bright flash of light.
"What's happening?" asked Lloyd, glancing around cautiously.
Blue sparkling mana began swirling in the air, and when it cleared, Undine floated above us, just as impossibly beautiful as ever.
"A link between the two worlds has been severed," she informed us in that haunting voice of hers.
Volt appeared next, but his voice was still nothing more than static.
"Wait, I'll translate," said Raine, her forehead creased in concern. "The two opposing forces of mana were...severed just now?"
"What does it mean for the mana flow to be severed?" asked Regal, looking up at Undine.
"Mana flows from the world in which the summon spirits sleep to the world in which the summon spirits are awake," she replied. "This is the first time the summon spirits have awakened in both worlds at the same time. Because of this, the mana connecting the two worlds has been eliminated."
Everyone was silent as this information sunk in. Eliminated? But then...wouldn't that mean...?
Lloyd voiced my thoughts. "Does that mean that Sylvarant and Tethe'alla have stopped competing for each other's mana?"
"'I do not know'," Raine said in Volt's place. "'The only thing certain is that the flow of mana between the worlds has been severed'."
"Yes," said Undine. "Eventually, the worlds shall separate."
Genis' face lit up. "You mean the worlds will split apart?!"
"Hey, that's perfect!" said Zelos. He turned to the rest of us with a grin on his face. "Then they'll stop competing for each other's mana!"
"There are five seals in Sylvarant," Raine began, but it was the type of tone that suggested she was thinking out loud. "And since there wasn't a summon spirit at the fifth seal, we should be able to sever all of the mana if we awaken the summon spirits that correspond to the other four seals...maybe."
Lloyd thought this over, and when he spoke again, his tone was eager. "So if we awaken Tethe'alla's summon spirits, we'll save Sylvarant without having Tethe'alla go into decline, right?"
"At the least, the mana connecting the worlds will disappear and the two worlds will separate," said Undine. "Do with this information what you will, but I implore you to be cautious." With that, the two summon spirits faded away once again, leaving us all buzzing with this new information.
"I see," said Regal thoughtfully. "So the seals serve as a link between the two worlds."
"This could be great news!" I said happily. I turned to the rest of the group to see that everyone had similar hopeful looks on their faces. "I mean, this could be the kind of solution we were looking for, right?"
"We owe it all you, Sheena," Presea said softly. "You...and Corrine, as well."
Sheena finally turned to face us. She had a bewildered expression, as though she still couldn't believe what had just happened. At the mention of Corrine, her eyes welled up.
"Because the two of you risked your lives to form the pact with Volt, we now know what the seals do," Presea clarified, and there was a rare, genuine smile on her face.
"That's right," said Lloyd. He instantly sobered. "It's thanks to both of you."
She stared down at something she'd been clutching tightly in her hand. At first, I'd thought it was Volt's onyx, but now I could see that it was the tiny bell collar that Corrine had worn around his neck.
"Corrine..." she whispered, dropping her face to hide it from view. "Thank you..."
We walked back through the temple in silence. It should have been a happy moment, the moment that Sheena was finally able to vanquish her demons, especially considering we now had a lead on how to save the two worlds. However, Corrine's death was hanging heavily in the air, and no one really wanted to feel happy when Sheena was obviously hurting so badly.
"Well I think that went pretty well," said Zelos. His voice echoed harshly through the silence, and no one answered him. Of course he would be the one to stay upbeat in a situation like this.
I sent him a warning glare.
He recoiled a bit. "Jeez, princess, what's up with the death stare? Don't you agree?"
I glanced up at Sheena. She walked at the front of the group with her head held down. She was probably looking at Corrine's bell. Luckily, we were near the back of the group, so there was a chance that she hadn't heard.
A chance, but not a very big one.
"Just...maybe try to tone it down for a while," I told him. "It didn't work out perfectly, you know."
Much to my annoyance, he just responded with an irritated sigh. He looked like he was about to say something, but we'd reached the temple entrance, and Orochi was standing there, waiting patiently for us.
Sheena barely noticed until she'd almost bumped into him. She glanced up in surprise, and he offered her a proud smile.
"I guess you succeeded in forming the pact with Volt. Congratulations, Sheena." He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, and even from where I stood I could see his fingers give it a gentle squeeze.
"Orochi..." Her voice wavered. "Thank you."
He let his hand linger a moment longer before dropping it. "Now, the whereabouts of the rheairds. Take a look at this map." He took the paper out of his pocket and handed it to Sheena. He waited until she'd opened it and we'd all gathered around before continuing. "The signal from Sheena's guardian was detected under the sea, southeast of here. A fjord-like area covered in ice is located there. That must be the entrance to the Renegade base."
"If it's underwater, does that mean we'll have to dive into the sea?" asked Raine.
"Don't worry about that," he replied. "I'll go on ahead and make preparations. You guys join me later on." With that, and a final concerned look towards Sheena, he left.
Lloyd turned to face the rest of the group, a look of determination on his face.
"Okay, guys. Let's get going!"
"Yes," said Presea, and even now the smile she wore caught me off guard. "To rescue Colette as well."
Sheena was already on her way out of the temple, so we followed behind her to prepare to set sail. As we were met by the welcome sight of bright sunlight, I felt a heavy feeling in my stomach. Despite the base not being that far away, something still told me it was going to be a long trip.
The closer we got to the base, the more I understood why Yuan would choose to set up camp where he did. Triet was a blistering hot desert that no one would want to go exploring in, and here in Tethe'alla, well...
"I'm c-cold," I said aloud, pulling myself into a tight ball. Orochi had sort of failed to mention we were sailing to borderline arctic waters, or make an effort to provide us with jackets so we wouldn't freeze on the way up here.
"Don't say that too loudly with Zelos around," Genis muttered from beside me, but he was in even worse shape than I was – at least my arms and legs were covered.
Speaking of Zelos, he was still being annoyingly cheerful. Sheena had placed herself near the front of the EC, simply staring off at the horizon. She was clearly depressed, and so none of us made much effort to form conversation.
None of us except for Zelos, that is. He sat just a little ways away, with Lloyd in between the two of us. He was currently chatting the young swordsman up, and I was doing my best to ignore it.
"Does anyone know how close we are?" I piped up.
"I see a formation of rocks in the distance," said Regal. "It looks vaguely like the spot on the map we were shown. We should arrive there in roughly half an hour."
"Alright!" Zelos said happily, and the loudness of his voice compared to the solemn silence over the rest of the group caused me to cringe yet again. "It's finally time to pay a visit to the rheairds!"
"Don't you have any decency at all?" asked Genis, glaring across Lloyd and I towards Zelos. "At a time like this, when Sheena's depressed..."
"What are you talking about?" he countered, rolling his eyes. "There's no point in worrying about stuff that's already over."
I felt Lloyd tense beside me, but he didn't say anything. He did, however, exchange a shocked look with me, and it was a look that everyone in the group currently shared, except for Sheena. She made no indication that she'd heard what he'd said, but the deck was only so big. I imagined she had.
"How can you...talk like that...?" said Presea in absolute disbelief.
Even Regal looked visibly upset. "Sheena's sadness is deep and painful..."
"Please, Zelos, just be quiet for a while!" Genis snapped.
Surprisingly, he took their advice. He took one long look around at the group before turning his back to stare out at the ocean. Everyone fell quiet after that, but I could practically feel Genis's anger radiating off of him in a heat wave. At least the poor kid was probably warm now.
The half hour passed, and the mood hadn't improved. Sheena was depressed, Genis was angry, Zelos was annoyed, and Lloyd and I were left in the middle of it all, feeling awkward. The EC was directed towards our clear destination – a rock with a small chunk of land and an elaborate door cut into the side of it. Zelos was the first off, wing pack ready while he waited for everyone else to disembark.
Lloyd paused as he passed by Zelos, looking like he wanted to say something but thinking better of it and continuing on. I paused and went through the same dilemma, frowning and finally saying, "Zelos, I–"
"Idiots," he muttered. "If everyone around her is walking on eggshells like that, she's just going to get more depressed."
I closed my mouth, unsure of how to respond. He hadn't really been saying it to me, but more to himself. Did he have a point? Out of all of us, he did seem to have known Sheena the longest. Was he really just trying to cheer her up in his own weird way?
"This way!" Orochi waited for us by the door, and a Renegade soldier in a green uniform stood beside him.
Lloyd immediately tensed when he caught site of him. "Hey, isn't he a Renegade?"
"Relax," Orochi assured. "He's one of our people who've infiltrated the Renegades. It's the easiest way to investigate the declining world of Sylvarant.
"Wow!" Lloyd looked impressed. "So you guys even keep tabs of Sylvarant!"
"I'm on guard duty at the moment," he replied, glancing around. I wasn't sure what he expected to find. The arctic air hung heavy and still around us, and the stone landing we stood on held no room for anyone to be hiding in the shadows. Still, that didn't mean that the Renegades wouldn't have some sort of surveillance system set up.
The guard opened the door, still throwing cautious glances around, and gestured for us to hurry inside.
"Well then, it's time for us to get in there and get those rheairds!"
I jumped at the loud voice. Sure enough, it was Zelos, that fake cheer plastered all over his face once more. He was the first to head inside, quickly vanishing from sight.
"Zelos, wait!" Lloyd called out, hurrying after him.
"Both of you, be quiet," Raine hissed, but her voice fell on deaf ears. She sighed and, along with the rest of us, followed them into the base.
Orochi led us down a short, sloping hall that opened up into an entryway. Lloyd stood in the middle, his breathing slightly heavy as he stared around the room.
"I have no idea where he went," he said. "He's gone."
"He couldn't have gotten that far," I said, feeling my gut start to churn. Had that idiot gone and gotten himself captured already?
That was when a hand clapped down on my shoulder, and I jumped about a foot in the air, choking back a scream when I heard the voice it belonged to.
"Ah, hey, sorry to keep you waiting, my cute hunnies~!" He pulled me under his arm, and though I refused to look at him, I could see his shameless grin out of the corner of my eye. "Were you lonely?"
"What were you doing?" Regal asked, his expression disapproving. "Everyone was worried."
"I was just taking a quick look around the area," he replied with a shrug. He stepped away from me and into the centre of the group. "We wouldn't want to walk into a trap, now, would we?"
"If we had, it would have been your fault for taking off so recklessly," Raine scolded him.
He waved his hand. "There's no time to worry about that! It's time to start the adventure of the Great Zelos and his cute hunnies!"
"I'll explain the infiltration procedure," Orochi said stiffly, while everyone else in the group let out a collective groan of annoyance. He led us over to a nearby computer, from which he booted up a projected image of the base's map. He glanced around before continuing. "There's not much time, so I'm going to make this quick. The rheaird hangar is in the deepest part of this facility." He zoomed in on one portion of the map, trailing his finger along the path that led to the hangar. "There's only one passage to the hangar, and it is likely to be heavily guarded."
"Sounds like a piece of cake," Zelos commented.
"I'm not done," Orochi went on, using a sharp tone that was quite out of place coming from him. "Even if you manage to get to the hangar, the door will be shut, locked electronically by a passcode."
"Judging by your tone, you don't know that passcode, do you?" asked Lloyd.
"I'm sorry. We did our best, but we weren't able to get the passcode. But, we did find out that there are three portions of the code, each one being in the possession of a different Renegade. We've also managed to get their names: Meredith, Ike, and Ruben."
"So we need to catch those three and get them to tell us the passcodes?" Lloyd clarified.
Orochi nodded. "Yes. However, moving in a large group is going to attract attention that we cannot afford. I suggest splitting into three groups in order to complete this job more quickly." He zoomed out to a full-sized view of the base, indicating three different paths. "After obtaining the passcodes, each group should make their way to the hangar, by heading here, here, and here."
Although the base looked quite large, it didn't seem like it was going to be a problem getting to the hangar. The paths all looked quite straightforward, and even looking around our current location, I was able to see metal plates on the walls giving directions down each hall.
"Sheena and I already know our way around the place," Orochi went on. "So she and I should be on separate teams to make things easier. As for the third group..."
"Leave it to me!" Zelos spoke up. He puffed out his chest. "I'm an expert navigator."
I expected Raine to object, but at this point I imagined she was too fed up with his nonsense to argue, and so it was decided that she and Genis would go with Sheena, while Presea and Regal went with Orochi and Lloyd and I went with Zelos.
And so that was how the three of us found ourselves several minutes later, walking quickly and quietly through the halls of the base, ducking into alcoves and around corners whenever anyone got too close.
"How are we supposed to know which one has the code?" Lloyd wondered aloud.
"We could always just beat the crap out of each one we meet," Zelos replied, and from his tone I couldn't tell if he was kidding or not.
I rolled my eyes. "Well, they're wearing name tags, right? At least, the ones we've seen were. All we have to do is watch for a Meredith, an Ike or a Ruben."
"I still like my plan better."
"Well, how do we get the code after that?" Lloyd went on. He wore a slight frown on his face. "Beat it out of them?"
"I guess we'll have to," I said, blowing a piece of hair out of my face. I had to admit, I wasn't overly thrilled at the idea. Although I didn't have the highest of opinions of the Renegades after my encounter with them in Triet, the fact remained that they weren't Desians like we'd originally thought. Even though they'd tried to kill us and capture Lloyd after doing it, they'd also saved us from Lord Yggdrasill. They weren't necessarily bad people, and I definitely didn't hold the same anger and bitterness towards them that I did towards the Desians.
And, of course, there was the whole Botta issue to deal with. But I was still trying my best to avoid thinking about that.
"Not necessarily," said Zelos. He stretched his arms out and folded his hands behind his head. "If we meet the woman, Meredith, I'm sure I can convince her to give us the code."
Lloyd stopped in his tracks, raising his eyebrows. "Really? How are you going to do that? Do you know her or something?"
I slapped my forehead, stifling a laugh. "Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea how. That's not to say it's actually going to work."
Zelos had just opened his mouth for a retort when the sound of footsteps could be heard around the corner, quickly getting louder and accompanied by a couple of male voices.
"Shit," I hissed, and then I was being shoved through the nearest door by Lloyd and Zelos, nearly falling face-first as they threw themselves in behind me.
When I straightened out my balance, I looked around to see we were in some kind of break room – a row of lockers lined one wall, with a group of sofas and armchairs surrounding a worn coffee table in the other corner. There was a small kitchen unit as well.
"That was close," Lloyd said with a heavy sigh.
"We're not out of hot water yet," said Zelos. He'd been standing with his ear pressed against the door, and was now jerking his head towards the lockers. "Find an unlocked one and jump in."
My eyes widened. "W-What?!"
"Hurry up, they're coming in!"
I quickly ran over to the lockers and threw myself into the first one I found, making sure to quietly shut the door. I had barely closed the door of mine when it was wrenched open and Zelos squished himself into the tight space beside me.
"What do you think you're doing?!" I whispered angrily. "There's not enough room!"
"There is," he insisted, smirking shamelessly. "Besides, all of the other ones are locked. It was either you or Lloyd."
I didn't get another chance to protest, because the door to the room opened and the two Renegades walked in. I tensed, doing my best to keep my breathing steady and quiet.
"Break time at last," one of them sighed, and I could hear a light thump and the folding of leather as he sank down into one of the sofas. The other could be heard opening the refrigerator and rummaging through its contents.
Great, how long was I supposed to stay cramped into this locker like this? I glanced up at Zelos. Straight slits of light shone against his face, and I realized that he was able to see what was going on outside through the slits on the locker door. I cast my eyes downward after that, because with my luck, he would catch me looking at him in such an enclosed space and try to pull a move on me or something.
"It's about time," the other agreed. "I swear, work has gotten about 10 times harder ever since the Chosen's group showed up in Tethe'alla. Between Lord Yuan worrying about that kid with the Exsphere and Lord Botta worrying about Yggdrasill's pet, there isn't much room for satisfaction from either of them."
"The Exsphere kid I can understand," the one from the couch said. "But what's the big deal with finding that girl, if not to just piss Yggdrasill off?"
At this point, Zelos began to notice how tense I was, especially when I absently closed my hand into a fist against his arm. He glanced down at me, and while he couldn't exactly say anything, his fingers found my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Oh what, you haven't heard, then?" The one standing in the kitchen closed the refrigerator door.
"Heard what?"
"Apparently, that girl is his daughter."
The one from the couch let out a low whistle, barely audible from where we stood. "Is that right? I mean, I'd heard that from Ferris, but you know how Ferris likes to pull stuff out of his ass."
"Kind of like you, Midel?"
"Shut up. Anyway, yeah, he told me something about how the kid's mother sold her out to Cruxis? Or is that him actually talking out of his ass?"
"Actually, that's also true. Had to do with some kind of experiment with one of the Grand Cardinals?" He paused, no doubt to shrug his shoulders. "Anyway, she sided with Cruxis, and Lord Botta's been trying to get the kid back ever since."
I began to drown their words out. The only sound I could hear was that of my own heart, pounding angrily in my ears. There was no way that anything they were saying was true. My mother hadn't "sided" with Cruxis – she'd only been using Kvar to help with her research. To help the Renegades. She'd lost her life because of it. Botta knew that, and yet these bastards had the nerve to say such awful things about her?
"You need to calm down." Zelos's voice was barely a whisper, and yet it was enough to cut through the muffled noise in my head.
"They're lying," I hissed back, suddenly aware of the fact that I had been digging my nails into Zelos's arm. "That's not true, none of it."
"Aurelia–"
"They don't even know her–"
"And neither do you," he said firmly, and it was like a swift punch to the gut. All of the anger rushed out of me, like air from a balloon.
"Sorry," I murmured, feeling dejected. "You're right."
"Ike," said Midel, his voice suddenly tense. "Did you hear something?"
I stifled a gasp, for more than one reason. Not only were we probably about to discovered, but it was by one of the Renegades we were supposed to be looking for. I couldn't really decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing, so I just started internally panicking all the same.
Ike, the one who had been standing in the kitchen, starting walking towards the lockers. "I did," he said loudly. "It would seem we have some spies in here."
From a couple of lockers down, I could hear the door open with a loud creak, and Lloyd stepped out of it. I heard the faint sound of scraping metal as he drew one of his swords.
"That's our cue, I guess," said Zelos, and threw open the door of the locker. The two of us stumbled out, and I immediately grasped for my spear so I wouldn't be left defenseless.
"Ike, is it?" said Lloyd. "You have something that we need."
"The passcode, is it?" asked Ike, looking unbothered at his current situation, at Lloyd's sword pointed at his chest. He looked to be in his early thirties, with short, light brown hair and a calm, smooth face.
Midel was considerably younger. His wild black curls were barely out of his eyes, and he had round cheeks that were covered in various scrapes and cuts.
"They must be the Chosen's group!" he said, suddenly looking fearful. "We have to alert the boss!"
"Go ahead," said Zelos, a confident smirk on his face. "In fact, I'll go tell him myself if that's what would make you happy. But first, we'll be needing that passcode."
"Then that puts us in an awkward situation, doesn't it?" Ike pulled his own sword from his belt, letting it hang at his side. "Because you're not going to let us leave, and I'm not going to give you the passcode."
"We could always just beat it out of you," I said under my breath, wandering over towards the door. I allowed it to slide open a crack, enough for me to stick my head out into the hallway. It was currently deserted, but that didn't mean it was going to stay that way. I kept my grip tightened around my spear.
Ike nodded his head in my direction. "Tough girl, huh?"
Lloyd shrugged. "Mostly just when she's angry. We're all kind of like that, so why don't you just give us the passcodes and make this easy?"
"Not going to happen."
A heavy silence fell over the room. I sighed and peered back out into the hallway. In the distance, but quickly approaching, I heard heavy footsteps, accompanied by the low murmur of an all-too familiar voice.
"Shit," I hissed, quickly ducking back into the room. "Uh, guys – we have a problem."
Lloyd tensed. "What, Yuan?"
"Or Daddy Dearest?" said Zelos, his tone only half-teasing.
"The second one," I said shortly. My stomach twisted into a knot. I knew exactly what I was going to have to do, but the thought of it terrified me. It was probably a stupid, stupid idea, and I knew that as soon as I told them they would try to stop me, but it didn't matter. We couldn't afford to be caught here. Not with Colette's life on the line.
Midel's eyes widened. "Wait a sec – you're Lord Botta's daughter?!"
"What's the plan?" asked Zelos, his eyes flitting from me to Lloyd.
"You guys get the passcode," I blurted. There. I'd said it. "I'm going to go distract him."
The outcry at the ridiculous idea was instant.
"Not happening," Lloyd said firmly.
"Are you nuts?" Zelos exclaimed. There was a half-grin on his face, because he probably thought I was joking for whatever insane reason. "He's not going to let you leave!"
I shook my head quickly. "That doesn't matter. I'll try to buy as much time as I can. I'll try to get back to the hangar too, but if I'm not there in time then don't wait for me."
The grin dropped completely from Zelos's face. "You idiot. You're being serious?"
"Saving Colette comes first," I said, trying to sound a lot braver than I actually felt. "Besides, I'm the only one that these jerks don't want to kill, remember?"
"What a little hero you have here," Ike commented, still wearing a content expression.
"Aurelia..." Lloyd exchanged a long look with me, and it was almost enough to make me chicken out. However, I simply gave him a nod and tore my eyes away, running out the door and trying to ignore them calling after me.
I sprinted down the hallway and tried to slow down when I rounded the corner. However, I still managed to slam right into Botta's chest as usual. It seemed it was a habit of mine.
He let out a surprised grunt and instantly reached for the large sword strapped to his back, ready to attack. However, he thankfully paused for a moment to look at the face of his "assailant".
"Aurelia...?" His eyes widened when he realized who he was looking at, and the initially stiff posture relaxed, if only a little. The Renegade he'd been speaking to remained hostile and ready to attack, however.
"Um, hi," I said breathlessly, nodding my head at him. "I was hoping to run into you."
"What in the world are you doing here?" he asked, peering over my shoulder. "Are Lloyd and the others with you?"
"N-No!" I said, perhaps a little too quickly. I mentally kicked myself and tried to calm down. "I, uh, I came alone. I wanted to talk to you about something."
"What is it?"
I paused. I knew perfectly well what I wanted to talk to him about, but the very thought of actually doing it filled me with fear. Still, I knew I had to do this to keep him preoccupied – to give the others time to get to the hangar. Even if I ended up being trapped here, I couldn't afford to care. Saving Colette was what was important right now. I had to do it.
I cleared my throat, awkwardly side-eying the Renegade behind him. "Um, I'm sorry, is there somewhere private we can go? It's a bit of a hard subject for me to talk about still."
Botta realized what I was saying and nodded. He motioned for the Renegade to leave.
"B-But, Lord Botta..."
"That will be all," he said calmly, and the Renegade got the hint. He shot me a final, cautious look before giving a short salute and continuing on down the hallway.
"I never knew I looked so intimidating," I remarked.
"I wouldn't let it go to your head," Botta replied, actually sounding vaguely amused. I barely had time to be surprised at the sound of it before he smoothed his face back into its usual hard mask. "What is this all about, anyway?"
I glanced over my shoulder towards the room where Lloyd and Zelos were before turning back to him. "Can we walk and talk?"
I didn't wait for him to finish. I turned the corner and started heading away, hoping he'd decide to follow. Several long seconds passed, and then I heard his heavy footsteps shuffle against the floor as he caught up to me.
"Why have you left the others?" Botta finally asked, after we'd been walking in silence for a while. "And how did you get here?"
"I came from Mizuho," I replied, and then paused. Renegade soldiers passed us by, and I took a moment to watch how they sent us curious looks, hands hovering near their belts. Walking with Botta like this, I was reminded of first meeting him in Triet, and how much things had drastically changed since then. As hard as it was for me to think about something like that, I pushed through the pain and held onto it for as long as I could, both trying to think of an acceptable cover story and also stall for time.
"I spoke with Vice-Chief Tiga."
"I see."
"That's it?" I slowed my steps, giving him an incredulous look. "That's all you have to say?"
"What would you have me say?" He kept his eyes focused on our surroundings, seeming to pick specific halls with a sense of purpose. "I know the story you are about to tell. The story of how your mother fearlessly slayed an enormous dragon and saved the village. It all sounds very nice, doesn't it?"
"You told me she was a coward," I said hotly. All too quickly, that same anger I'd experienced in the locker was coming back with full force. "You made her out to be some sort of...of villain. Tiga told me that she risked her life to help you all, and that Kvar killed her for it!"
"Is that so?" He had the nerve to chuckle. "Well, in that case, you have quite the nobel mother, don't you? Dying for her research, for her comrades. I must say, I am not familiar with that particular story."
"Why do you keep talking like that?" I asked, frustration burning in my gut. "What happened between the two of you to make you so bitter towards her? Tiga told me that you loved each other, so what the hell–?"
"You truly believe you have everything figured out just because Tiga told you his side of a story he has nothing to do with?" He was remaining infuriatingly calm compared to me, but I could sense a quiet anger brewing beneath the surface. He came to the end of the hallway we'd been walking down and he paused to swipe a keycard to open the door.
"Well what Tiga told me is a hell of a lot more than you ever have," I said, reluctantly following him into what looked like his office. A large window took up one wall, giving a fantastic view of the deep, blue arctic waters that submerged the room. "All you seem to want to do is give me cryptic remarks and expect me to automatically take your side, when in reality you haven't told me anything!"
He sighed, sitting down in the chair behind his desk. With one hand, he began shuffling papers around, and with the other, he motioned for me to sit down in one of the chairs on the other side of his desk. I warily gave it a long look before deciding against it and crossing the room to look out the window.
"How exactly did Tiga's story end, might I ask? With Yuuki suddenly cutting ties with the Academy and Mizuho?"
"Yes," I said quietly, tracing my finger along the glass in the shape of distant shapes in the water.
"Did he tell you she cut her ties with us as well?"
I stopped tracing the glass, becoming very still. I glanced over my shoulder at him, but he was still pretending to be absorbed by his papers.
"No. He told me he assumed she'd been caught, and that Kvar killed her for double-crossing him." I tried to swallow past the large lump forming in my throat. "Is that not what happened?"
"He wasn't too far off the mark," said Botta, still maintaining what I was now distinguishing as a fake calmness. "Your mother was caught by Kvar, but it did not result in her death."
Like a tiny spark flickering to life, I felt hope stir in my chest. "But...you told me she died. Why would Kvar keep her alive after she betrayed him?"
"Perhaps because she was more use to him alive than dead," he replied. "Perhaps because her knowledge of the technology they were developing together was necessary to him."
"So he just didn't care?" At this point, I left the window and quickly came to stand in front of his desk. My anger with him was gone and replaced with a desperate urgency, an overwhelming feeling of hope because the way this story was headed, I was starting to believe he hadn't been entirely truthful to begin with. "Even knowing she was a spy, he kept working with her? How did he get her to stop? Why did she cut ties with you? Why–?"
"Aurelia." His tone was firm, and was successful in immediately shutting me up. However, when he finally raised his head from his papers, there were the faintest traces of pain in his eyes. "I understand what you're probably feeling, but I have to say – this story does not have the happy ending you think it does. You may very well be better off believing that it ends with Kvar taking her life, and her dying a hero. I...do not wish to cause you pain."
"It's a little late for that," I said coldly, quickly regretting it. I did my best to regain my composure and continued. "Botta...please. I...I understand that you mean well. I do. It's just really hard for me to trust you when we're on opposite sides. Telling me the truth...well, it's a step in the right direction." As hard as it was for me to say those words, I realized that there was a bit of truth to them. "Please."
He stared at me for a long time without saying anything. Finally, he let out a heavy breath and ran a hand down his face. He looked tired.
"Your mother, as I said to you in Sybak, is the reason you ended up under the 'care' of Yggdrasill and Cruxis," he said, his voice heavy and slow. "She gave you up to Kvar, in an act of cowardice."
"What?" I felt breathless. Midel and Ike's conversation echoed in my brain once again. "But...but why would she do that? What was the point?"
"He said he would kill the two of you otherwise," he replied. "He gave her an option – give up her daughter to Cruxis for the sake of his experiments, and abandon the Renegades in the process, or die. She was so afraid of Kvar that she chose the former."
I finally took Botta's invitation and sunk into the chair behind me, feeling stunned. "That...that can't be right at all."
"I warned you, Aurelia. The story is not a pleasant one." He said this, and yet his tone was far from the typical "I told you so". He genuinely seemed regretful, and that was what was making me feel even worse. The two characters that had been built up in my head of my mother were beginning to clash, the borders between them growing blurry. I believed everything Tiga had told me, but did that mean Botta was lying?
"Why would she do that?" I whispered, suddenly feeling very sick. "If she was so brave then how could she turn out to be such a coward?"
"I ask myself that question everyday," he murmured, so quietly I almost didn't hear him.
Then, the full reality of what he was saying dawned on me. I whipped my head up to stare at him in shock, the nausea beginning to rock my stomach with full force.
"Wait a second, what kind of experiments?"
Before Botta could even open his mouth to respond, a knock sounded at the door. More specifically, it came from the door frame, and whoever it was entered through the already open door anyway.
"I apologize for breaking up this touching moment of family bonding," said Yuan, coming to stand beside Botta's desk. I felt my blood run cold. Wait a minute, what was Yuan doing here? And why didn't he look as surprised to see me as Botta had?
"Lord Yuan," Botta quickly rose, bowing in a short salute.
Yuan nodded at him, and then turned to me, looking positively smug. "Aurelia. It's quite nice of you to decide to pay us a visit. Had I known in advance, I would have had refreshments prepared."
"What's going on?" I asked sharply. I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. His tone was all wrong. Something had happened, and I had an awful, sinking feeling that I already knew what it was.
"According to our little friend, all of the passcodes have been 'collected'," Yuan said to Botta instead of answering me. "The others should be headed towards the rheaird hangar soon. We should hurry."
That was when the sickening realization hit me. I leapt from my chair, pointing an accusing glare in Botta's direction.
"You...you..." In my absolute fury, I couldn't even think of an appropriate insult, one that was strong enough to get my feelings across. "You knew this whole time didn't you? You knew I came here with the others!"
"I do not want you involved in what is about to happen," he told me, that same regretful look in his eyes.
"You better not lay a finger on my friends," I said angrily, quickly grabbing for my spear. I held it towards him, switching between him and Yuan. "I'll kill both of you before I let you hurt them."
"Is that supposed to pass for a joke?" Yuan scoffed. "Your threats don't scare me, little girl."
"I truly am sorry, Aurelia," said Botta, slowly moving out from behind his desk. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to force you to wait here while we take care of the situation in the hangar."
I gritted my teeth together. I had to do something, even if it was just stalling for time until the others could escape with the rheairds. I could...block the door, and then try to fight them off...? I couldn't just sit here and let them leave, anyway, and while I wasn't too sure about Yuan, I knew Botta wouldn't hurt me.
I acted without thinking. I bolted towards the door, hellbent on heading towards the hangar. However, my plans were stopped short in their tracks as a figure stepped into the doorway, and I wasn't able to react quickly enough. He wrapped an arm across my shoulders, holding me in place with surprising strength.
"Lord Yuan told me you'd try to make a break for it," a familiar voice said in my ear. The voice was calm, collected.
"Ike," I said between my still-gritted teeth. He certainly hadn't wasted any time after Lloyd and Zelos left, had he?
Ike's hold on me tightened as I began to thrash against him. He was surprisingly strong, as I'd mentioned, and while adrenaline was filling my body with energy, it was about the only thing keeping me going, and I wasn't able to break free.
"Make yourself comfortable," said Yuan, as he and Botta approached the door. "I promise, this will not take long."
Botta said nothing. At this point, I was pretty sure he'd gotten the message that any attempts to try and reconcile with me were doomed to fail. Realizing I wasn't going to escape, I fell still, eyes locked onto the floor as the walked past me.
As soon as they were gone and the door closed behind them, Ike released me with a rough shove, and I almost collapsed onto the floor.
"Not so tough now, hm?" he said, and I wanted to rip that infuriatingly calm voice right out of his mouth.
"Go to hell," I spat. My body shook. This was all too much to handle. I'd known there was the possibility of me being caught, but now that it had actually happened, I was furious. It didn't help that Botta had known the whole time I was trying to help the others. This whole thing had been totally pointless and all it had accomplished was leading the others into a trap, getting me captured and filling my head with awful, horrible thoughts that, thanks to Yuan, were not getting resolved anytime soon.
"I don't see why you're so hateful towards Lord Botta," he said, leaning against the door. "From my perspective, it really looks like he just wants to help you."
"I really couldn't care less about your perspective," I snapped, sinking into the nearby chair once more. "From my perspective, he's tried to kill one of my best friends and take the other one hostage, so I think I'll pass on his 'help'." Despite the shaking in my legs, I jumped up again to stomp over to him and jab a finger into his chest. "From my perspective he hasn't been there my whole life and chooses the moment that I stumble blindly into Sylvarant to swoop in and try to be the 'perfect father'. So, I think my perspective is a little more relevant to the situation than yours."
If he was at all bothered by the short girl practically screaming in his face, he certainly didn't show it. He simply placed his hands on my shoulders and lightly shoved me away from him.
"Sit down," he said, gesturing towards the chair. "You're exhausted, and I'm not going to let you leave this room, so you might as well save your energy."
I thought about staying standing up, just to spite him, but he was right, unfortunately. I was exhausted, and my legs welcomed the relief as I sank into the chair. I tried to push all of the unpleasant thoughts out of my brain. All I wanted to care about was the others safely escaping with the rheairds. Rescuing Colette.
But all I could think of was that awful word that had crossed Botta's lips. "Experiments". Had Kvar seriously experimented on me when I was little? Was that why I didn't remember much from my early childhood? Was...was there something wrong with me now? What had he done to me? I remembered the fight in the ranch, his cruel face as his hand closed around my throat and he slammed me into the computer, intent on choking the life out of me. The thought of him running experiments on me like I was some kind of lab rat...
"Are you okay?" Ike asked suddenly. To my surprise, his calm mask had shifted into one of mild concern. "You look like you're about to be sick."
"I think I am," I said, searching around the room for a wastebasket of some sort. After a moment of searching, I decided against it. If Botta was going to keep me here against my will, then I had no issue with puking all over his fancy, plush carpet.
Time passed by, however, and I didn't get sick. I listened to the quiet tick of a clock hidden somewhere in the room – or at least, placed somewhere that I was too lazy to move my head towards. I did my best to count them, trying to judge how much time was passing. Ike didn't say a word, and I almost wished that he would. Being alone with the thoughts I had right now was far less than appealing. I was forced to try and shut them out, focusing only on the clock's tick. Tick...tick...tick...
It was after what I judged to be a half hour when the shaking began.
Ta daaa!
I'm taking Aurelia's story in a bit of a different direction for a while. I mean, I'm guessing you've all played the game, so keeping her around for major plot points isn't totally necessary, and I'm trying to keep things interesting!
Again, thanks so much for being lovely and patient. Leave a review (if you think I still deserve it, hehe) and have an awesome day! Love you all!