Chapter Thirty-Six: The Deep Breath
Someone suddenly wrapped their arms around Will's chest, and he jumped nearly a foot in the air, terrified that it was a monster of some sort. He was reaching for his swords already by the time Ellie plopped her chin down in his shoulder, and out of the corner of his eye he saw her grinning at him.
Will shrugged out of her grip and turned around to face her. "Is something wrong?"
She smiled and shook her head, then came forward and leaned on him in an 'I just want to be with you' kind of way.
It was pretty sweet, until Will heard giggling in the background and turned his head irritably to see Genis watching them. Raine smacked the back of his head and rolled her eyes, and Sheena was grinning. The others sat around the camp fire, joined tonight by Quince and Noishe. By the time they returned to the boat, it was late evening and Quince advised them not to depart until the next morning, so they were spending another night on the island.
Ellie frowned, then pointed up. Will followed her finger with his eyes and said, "You want to go up?"
She nodded, and grabbed him again before launching into the air. They rose slowly, Ellie straining herself to stay in the air with him. It all happened so suddenly he didn't have time to react, but he started to grow nervous as the ground dropped way beneath them and he recalled nearly falling before the Asgard ranch.
"Ellie, are you sure you can do this?" he asked nervously. She didn't answer, but he thought he saw her bob her head.
A minute later they landed on the top of the island overlooking the geyser. Will gratefully put his feet on the ground, looking over the edge at the twinkling fire below. "Ask before you fly me around next time, ok?" he said.
Ellie scribbled a word on her notepad and held up, sorry, can't.
Will just sighed, "You know what I mean. Besides, don't you have angelic strength? Why is lifting me so hard?"
She shrugged. Her paper read, you're the one who knows physics. you tell me.
"Oh. Um..." he closed his eyes and thought for a few seconds, then said, "I suppose it's because your body is stronger, but not your wings. When you're flying, you don't have the ground to push against to lift heavy things, and gravity affects you as it normally does. Er, as normally as when you have your wings out."
She shrugged and wrote, if you say so, oh wise one.
Will walked over to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the geyser. Water was bubbling up, but otherwise the scene was clear and still. Peaceful. The night sky was clear, too. In fact, the sky was always clear in Sylvarant. At home, he lived practically in the foothills of some of the highest mountains in North America, and yet the pollution was so bad he could never see them. Sylvarant didn't have smog or traffic exhaust or factory fumes. It was so...clean. And simple. And everyone was so terrified of the Desians that they had no time to turn on each other. In many ways, Sylvarant really was a nicer place than Earth.
Ellie sighed heavily, and held up her paper. I want to go home.
Will nodded. Yeah. Sylvarant may be great... but he wanted to go home too. "Me too."
Ellie plopped herself down on the grass and started writing. Will took a seat next to her and leaned over her shoulder to see what she was trying to say. It's gonna be funny 'cause our friends will be like, whoa, when did you guys hook up? And I'll be like 'in Sylvarant'.
Will laughed. "Tyler will think that's hilarious," he said, thinking of his friend. Tyler had played Tales of Symphonia, but only once and hadn't paid attention to some key details. For instance, he was certain Kratos was really Colette's father. Thinking of his friends, he asked, "Do you think Morgan will ever get around to playing?"
Ellie just shrugged. she says she's too cheap to buy the game, but when we get back, she can have mine. I'm never playing again.
"No," Will said, shaking his head. "Me neither."
Ellie snorted and quickly scribbled, you hardly played to begin with. You suck at this game.
"I do not!"
You had to ask me to help you beat Yuan and Botta.
"Well...it was a hard battle!"
She stuck her tongue out at him. Will, ever the mature one, retaliated by playfully punching her shoulder. Ellie punched back, but of course with her angel strength, it actually rather hurt.
"Ow," he whined, and she gave him a mocking pout. "Alright, you're going down, angel-girl." He tackled her, grabbing her arms and throwing them both back into the grass. They rolled around for a little while, and Will almost let himself believe they were back home in Ellie's backyard, ten years old and not a care in the world.
Finally, he fell back in the grass, breathing heavily, Ellie pinning him to the ground with a smirk.
"No... fair," he panted. "You're an angel."
She just stuck her tongue out, and then gave him a sceptical look.
"Well... yeah, ok, you used to be able to pin me when we were little too." She nodded smugly. "But that was a long time ago! I can take you now if you didn't have that damn Cruxis Crystal."
She just laughed and shook her head.
"But you know, there is one way this is different from when we were kids."
Ellie cocked her head to the side.
"When we were seven it never ended like this." In a quick movement he pulled his arms out from under hers and grabbed her around her back, rolling over onto his side with his lips locked with hers.
He could hear Lloyd in the background quietly saying, 'ew', and it kind of spoiled the mood, but he tried to ignore it. The grass smelled sweet beneath him – much sweeter than Ellie who hadn't had a chance to bathe in days, but that didn't really bother him. It was Ellie, and he'd love her just as much if she was covered in dung.
He pulled his head back and looked in her eyes. "You know I'm going to protect you, right?" he said. She looked at him curiously and he continued, "At the Tower. I know you say you've gotten it taken care of, but I promise. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
Her paper was too far away, so she resorted to Colette's method of writing on hands to spell out a message. Will carefully felt her finger trace along his palm, spelling out what she wanted to say one letter at a time. I...trust...you...
"So..." Will said a few days later as they walked up the hill to Lake Umacy. "We're going to see a unicorn, huh?"
"Yes, Lloyd," Genis said.
"Everyone be careful," he said, "They've been known to steal people's kidneys when you're not looking."
Ellie rolled her eyes at him, while Genis said, "Um...that's nice to know, Lloyd..."
"I wish I could see the unicorn," he said then.
"Why can't you?" Genis asked.
Kratos offered, "It is said that unicorns can only be visited by pure maidens." They reached the top of the hill and started walking down to the sparkling lake.
"Which means," Raine said, "that only Colette and Sheena may approach it."
"Why can't you, Raine?" Genis asked. "Aren't you a maiden?"
Raine gave a nervous cough and said, "I'm an adult."
Kratos glanced at her but said nothing, while Will tried to stifle his snicker. He glanced knowingly at Ellie, but she didn't return his smile and just stared pensively at the ground.
As the others continued towards the lake, he stopped and put a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
She pushed his arm off and shook her head quickly.
"El, something's up. What's bothering you?"
She glared at him and continued down the hill after the others.
"Ellie..." he said softly. 'Argh! Women! Why don't they make any sense?'
He caught up with the others at the lake shore. Ellie stood by herself off to the side while Sheena said, "Alright, here it goes..." She closed her eyes and concentrated for a minute, then said, "Come, Undine!"
The lake rippled, and then the familiar shape of Undine shimmered into view, hovering above the water. "Yes, Summoner Sheena?"
"Um, please take Colette and me out into the lake to see the unicorn."
Ellie looked up and shook her head.
"Colette?" Raine said as everyone stared at her. "Is something wrong?"
She wrote something quickly and held it up. I don't want to see the unicorn.
Undine watched them patiently while Genis said, "Why not?"
She just closed her eyes and shook her head again.
Will stepped forward and grabbed her arm. "C'mon, Colette, it's not dangerous. Undine won't let you sink or anything."
He started pulling her towards the lake, but Ellie suddenly yanked her arm away and punched him hard in the chest with all her strength. Winded, Will stumbled backwards as Ellie turned and sprinted away from the group.
"Colette!" Genis called, shocked.
"Chosen!" Kratos shouted. "What is the meaning of this?"
She didn't turn her head and kept running before disappearing into the trees. Dammit, what was wrong with her? She was obviously upset about something, so why didn't she want to talk about it? Didn't girls like talking about their feelings? Will facepalmed and said, "Argh, I'm never going to get women."
"Lloyd," Raine said, glancing at him sharply, "go after her. There might be monsters in the area."
"Right," he said. "Sheena, why don't you go ahead and meet the unicorn? Colette apparently doesn't want to."
"R-Right," Sheena said, turning to Undine. Will didn't bother watching her as he ran off into the woods after Ellie.
"Colette!" he called, hoping she hadn't gone too far. "Dammit, Colette!" He supposed he was far enough away by now that the others couldn't hear him. "Ellie! Ellie, where are you?" Of course, she couldn't exactly shout to him her location, so he didn't know what he was trying to do.
"Ellie, where are – oh." He found her in a small clearing on the other side of the lake, sitting on the ground with her knees to her chest and her back to a tree. She looked up at him, her face telling him she'd be crying if she could. "Ellie," he said, walking over and kneeling next to her. "Why don't you want to see the unicorn?"
On her paper, she held up a single word, can't.
Will was silent for a second as he let this news sink in. If she couldn't see the unicorn...if she wasn't – wasn't 'pure'...why hadn't she told him? Ellie told him everything. "El, what...? When...?"
She sighed heavily and started writing. Will waited patiently for her to finish, and finally took her note half a minute later. I'm sorry. It was after winter formal. With Josh.
Will felt his anger spike. "Josh did this? If he hurt you, I swear I'll-"
She quickly shook her head and wrote, no, he talked me into it.
"Is that... is this why you broke up with him?" he asked, recalling their conversation on the Ossa Trail.
Ellie nodded. After, I told him I didn't want to do it again. So he broke up with me.
"Ellie," Will said, hugging her. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
She pulled back and wrote, I didn't want you to. I didn't want anyone to. please don't tell my parents.
"Of course not." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "But Ellie, you might have been able to visit the unicorn. I mean, Colette hasn't... y'know..."
Ellie shrugged. I don't know if the unicorn judges by the body or the mana sig. or whatever. But I was too scared to risk going out there and getting turned back.
"It's alright. I understand. Are you ready to go back yet?"
She nodded, standing up and passing him a paper. What are we gonna tell the others?
"Don't worry. I'll handle it." Ugh, what was he going to tell the others? 'Hey, folks, Colette's not a virgin. Really. I know she's been nothing but a good little priestess for her entire life, but at some point she found the opportunity to get away from the priests long enough to get some'. Yeah. This was going to go over real well.
The pair walked back towards the others, and the group looked at them silently when they approached. Sheena had apparently already gotten the Unicorn's horn, and they were just waiting to head out.
"Is everything alright?" Raine asked.
"Yes," Will said.
"Colette," Genis said, "Why didn't you want to see the unicorn?"
Ellie bit her lip and Will said, "Colette just got freaked out about talking to a horse, is all." He didn't think the others really bought that, but luckily no one said anything about it.
"In any case," Kratos said, "Now we can continue to heal Pietro and then proceed to the Tower of Salvation."
"Ok," Will said, feeling some trepidation at the mention of the Tower. When they'd started this journey, it had seemed impossibly far away. But now they were headed there. There was nothing between them and the Tower now, no more battles to fight, no more people to stop and save. They couldn't prolong the inevitable anymore. It was time to go to the Tower.
"I hate water," Will said a couple days later. The sky was dark and rain poured down in buckets, soaking them to the skin. There was no protection from the weather in the flat grassy fields, and the long grass they were walking through was sopping wet and brushing against his knees. He was drenched head to foot, his fingers were numb even with gloves on, and he could barely see ahead through the droves of rain.
"Stop complaining," Genis said. "At least you have a coat that fits you." Raine's orange robe was wrapped around his shoulders, and he was trying desperately to keep it out of the mud. When Raine had looked back and seen him shivering in his shorts and t-shirt, she had given him her coat to wear, though it was much too big and looked rather silly on him.
Ellie was grounded, forbidden to fly in case she got blown away by the wind or something. She still stubbornly wore her cape, but now it was just a heavy, cold, wet thing hanging around her neck. She walked at the back of the party with Kratos, whose hair was flat and plastered to his face. Noishe walked with him, the 'dog' looking very put out about having fur so drenched in water.
They'd left Quince behind that morning. He had to drop them off in Luin, as he couldn't afford to be away from his family any longer. They'd thanked him for his help, and regretfully made the rest of the journey on foot. Then around noon the sky had opened up and started dumping water on them, and Will was half certain Cruxis was doing this just to screw with them.
"Sheena," Genis said, "can't you call Undine and ask her to stop the rain?"
"No!" she shouted back over the sound of the rain. "I vowed to use her power to protect people, not to make things easier for us!"
While Genis and Sheena argued about that, Raine slowed her pace a bit to come in step next to Will. "Lloyd," she said, her voice barely audible over the rain, "can I have a word?"
"What is it, Professor?"
"Lloyd, why was Colette unable to visit the unicorn?"
"Um...I told you, she just-"
"Lloyd, I know Colette and I know that's not it."
Will said nothing and just stared at the ground, trying to think of what to say.
"The night before we left Thoda Island..." Raine said, and he looked up at her. "You and Colette wandered off together and returned hours later. Did you...?"
"W-What? No, Professor! Definitely not."
"Lloyd, the only possible reason why Colette wouldn't go to meet the unicorn is if she couldn't. The only person I can even feasibly see her losing her, ah, 'purity' to is you."
"Professor, I did not sleep with Colette."
"Well then, who?"
"I don't know! I don't know why she couldn't visit the unicorn."
"I'm not going to be mad at you," Raine said. "I know how you feel about her, and I know you two must be feeling desperate with the Tower of Salvation coming so close."
"No, Professor," he said firmly. "I didn't."
"Hm..." she said. "Very well." Will didn't think she believed him.
"If we all catch pneumonia," Genis was saying loudly to Sheena, "then we'll have failed everyone. So keeping us out of the rain is protecting people!"
"I support Genis!" Will called back, stopping to fall in step with them and escape Raine. "Get us out of this rain!"
"For the last time, I'm not summoning Undine!" Sheena shouted. "Besides, it takes up a lot of my Mana."
"Really?" Raine said, coming back to walk next to Sheena. "Interesting. How exactly does summoning work?"
While Sheena tried to explain the finer points of Summoning to Raine, Will found himself in the lead. They had an old muddy path to follow, so he wasn't too concerned about getting lost. Still, it was disconcerting being the leader.
'Hey, Will?'
'Yeah?'
'What exactly was Professor Sage accusing you of?'
'...Do you really not know?'
'Um... no?'
Will sighed heavily. 'Sex, Lloyd. Sex. Please, dear god, tell me you know what that is.'
'Oh!' Lloyd said. 'Uh... uh... you mean that... She thought you did that with Colette?'
'Good, you actually paid attention in sex ed.'
'Well, no, actually Professor Sage had Dad explain it to me when we were in Asgard last time...'
'Well... that's better than nothing, I guess...'
'I'm trying to figure out if the conversation would have been more or less awkward if I had known he was my dad at the time.'
'Can't tell you; I got it from my mom. Now that was awkward.'
Someone crashed into him, and he stumbled forward. He threw his arms out and tried to keep his balance, but his foot landed in a muddy puddle and slipped out beneath him, sending him face-first into the mud.
"Oh my goddess!" Genis said. "Oh my so sorry Lloyd!"
Will lifted his head and blinked, wiping mud from his mouth. "Ugh..."
The group stopped, and Will saw Sheena covering her mouth to hide her giggles, while Ellie didn't even both to hide the fact that she was laughing silently at him. "Genis!" Raine snapped. "What on earth were you doing?"
"Colette pushed me!" he said while Will pulled himself to his feet. The entire front of his outfit was covered in mud, though the rain was already washing it away.
Will glared at Ellie, who smiled innocently at him. "Children," Kratos said, "This is not the time for playing around. We are wet and cold and tired and I would like to get to Hima as soon as possible."
Genis put his hands on his hips and said, "Tell Colette to stop fooling around. It's her fault!"
She stuck her tongue out at them.
"Everyone," Raine said, "Arguing here is pointless. Let's move on."
Kratos walked past them and took the lead, followed by Raine and then Sheena. This left Will, Ellie and Genis standing over a puddle, glaring at each other. "Alright," Will said, "What exactly happened?"
"Sheena and I were arguing about Undine," Genis said, "and Colette wanted to join the argument but she can't write because the rain ruins her paper so she started waving her hands around and smacked me in the face, again, so I hit her back a bit and she shoved me and I crashed into you."
Will sighed and looked to Ellie, and she nodded, confirming Genis' story. "Both of you are acting like twelve-year-olds."
"I am twelve," Genis pointed out, while Ellie gave him a look telling him she was older than he was.
"Keep up!" Kratos shouted back at them.
"Ugh," Genis grumbled. "At least after we go to the Tower, Kratos will leave."
"Yeah," Will said as they started walking. "But I think I'll kind of miss him."
"Really?" Genis asked. "I'm still terrified we'll wake up one day and discover he's betrayed us to the Desians or something. Haven't you noticed how familiar he always seems at ranches?"
"Yes, all two we've been to," Will said. "One of which he admitted to having snuck into before."
"I just don't trust him; that's all."
"Hm..." Will said. Suddenly, he lunged forward and struck Genis between his shoulder blades, throwing the boy into the mud.
"Hey! Lloyd!" the smaller half-elf cried, trying to get up but slipping again. Will took off running to catch up with the others, careful not to slip again. Ellie was coming up behind him, but he trusted himself to be faster than Genis.
He had almost caught up with Sheena when he heard Genis shout, "Aqua Edge!" Will could tell Genis hadn't put much strength into it, but it still sent him flying with the bursts of water hit him in the back. Combined with his already forward moving momentum, he found himself flying forward. He twisted and reached for the nearest thing to slow his fall, which happened t be Ellie, and both of them landed with a loud splat in the mud.
Will was laughing as he lay on his back, rain pouring on his face. Ellie was next to him, her nice white outfit covered in muck, while a muddy Genis was running towards them with a triumphant grin.
"Would you three knock it off?" Raine said, stopping once again to look back at them.
"Sorry!" Genis and Will chorused while Ellie just gave an innocent grin. Ellie got to her feet and tried to wipe some of the muck off of herself, while Will reached into the puddle and wrapped his fingers around a huge glop of mud.
He stood up and looked at Genis' back, his nice white hair walking away from him. He pulled his arm back and threw, watching the mud sail through the air. Unfortunately, he had misaimed and misjudged Genis' height, so instead of hitting him the mud went right on going until it hit the back of Sheena's head.
"Hey!" she shouted, whirling around with one hand to the back of her head. "What do you guys think you're doing?"
She was already reaching down and getting her own handful of mud while the others laughed, and Will quickly knelt to reload. He didn't get far, though, because as he crouched down, he suddenly felt something cold and wet land directly on his head.
"Dammit, Colette!" Sheena let her handful rip, and it hit him in the side of the face, getting some in his open mouth. "You guys all suck!" Mud dripped down his hair and into his face, while Ellie chucked a handful of mud over his shoulder to hit a laughing Genis square in the chest.
Before he knew it, Will, Ellie, Genis and Sheena had stopped walking entirely in order to focus on matters much more important than World Regeneration: a mud fight. Will had given up trying to get the mud out of his hair, but luckily the rain helped wash the stuff away even as it landed on them. Really, it could have been worse. Even Noishe joined in, barking and jumping up on them with muddy paws.
Will was on his knees (smaller target size) and used both hands to pick up a large glob of mud. It dripped between his fingers and he was glad he at least was wearing gloves. With all his strength, he threw the mud towards Sheena, and she – using her ninja skills – ducked out of the way just in time. Instead, Kratos had turned around presumably to yell at them, only to receive a large helping of mud square in his face.
Everyone suddenly froze, all laughter breaking off as the mercenary stood there surprised, with wet dirt sliding down his face.
'You're dead,' Lloyd said.
'Oh my god. I just threw mud in Kratos' face.' Son or not, he was going down.
With what seemed like painful slowness, Kratos reached up and wiped the mud from his face. This only succeeded in making his expression more clear, and it was enough to make Will want very much to run screaming.
"Drop the mud," Kratos began with a dangerous edge to his voice, "Act your age and start walking. Or would you rather prolong salvation longer than necessary? Would you care to tell the families of those whose loved ones died in a ranch that salvation was late because the Chosen One was playing in the mud like a four-year-old?"
"S-Sorry, Kratos..." Will stammered while everyone's handfuls fell with a splat to the ground. Will slowly got to his feet and the four of them trudged forward, walking meekly past Kratos as he glared at them. Raine had a smack for both Will and Genis, and now that they weren't having fun Will was acutely aware of the squelch his feet made as mud that had slipped into his boots got stuck between his toes. He had a feeling complaining about it would get him smacked again.
They started walking again in silence, the rain washing away most of the mud. Suddenly, Will felt strong hands grab the back of his collar and pull him back, and the next thing he knew, something cold and wet was sliding down his back.
"What? Hey!"
Without a word, Kratos walked past him, rubbing mud off his hands.
When they arrived in Hima a few days later, they were tired, wet, and exhausted. It was only mid-afternoon, but the rain hadn't let up for the entire trip and absolutely everything was wet. Ellie was just glad she didn't feel cold, because that would be even more miserable.
As grateful as everyone was to arrive in Hima, Ellie couldn't help but feel unhappy that they were here. This was their last stop. Tomorrow they were going to the Tower. Oh god, the Tower of Salvation. If things didn't go as planned...if everything worked out the way Cruxis intended, this would be her last night alive.
They went into the inn and Sophia met them inside. "You actually came back!" she shouted, jumping up when they arrived.
"Of course," Raine said. "Where is Pietro?"
"Come this way," Sophia said.
They started to follow her, when a familiar dog ran up to Will and jumped up on him, licking his face. "Lucky!" he said. "Hey, girl!"
"She missed you," Sophia said.
"Ok, ok," Will said, pushed her off. "Get down." He rubbed her behind her ears and looked up at Sophia. "Did Petra go home with Den?"
Sophia nodded. "Yes. She's probably back in Luin by now."
"That's good," he said with a smile.
Upstairs, they went into Pietro's room. The man was still deadly pale and thin like a skeleton, and Ellie turned away, unable to look at his frail form. Sophia hovered by his side, clutching her fists over her chest as Raine stepped forward with her staff. Ellie didn't see the unicorn horn, so she assumed Raine had it in her bag and that was enough or something.
"Resurrection," Raine said, holding her staff over Pietro's body. There was a flash of light, and then Pietro's eyes flashed open and his skin seemed to change colour before their eyes. It was sort of like when Gandalf cured King Theodin in The Two Towers movie. She glanced at Will to see if he noticed the connection, but he was obviously paying more attention to the fact that Pietro was alive and well now.
The man sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes. "Where – where am I?"
"Pietro!" Sophia said. "Thank the goddess you woke up!" She fell on him, nearly strangling the poor man with her hugs.
"Sophia!" he said, pushing her off. "I reached Hima, then?"
She nodded. "Yes, yes you did. But you were sick, and the Chosen of Mana saved you!"
He went bug-eyed and looked at Ellie. "The Chosen? I am honoured!"
Ellie just shook her head and pointed at Raine.
Sheena explained, "Raine's the one who healed you. If you want to thank someone, thank her."
"If the Chosen is here," Pietro said, "Then I must give you the information I learned at the ranch. The Desians are trying to involve something called the Angelus Project."
Kratos spoke up, "The Angelus Project? The project that... Lloyd's mother was involved in?"
Pietro shrugged. "I don't know the details. I just overheard some Desians talking about a new test subject, but I don't think she's in the Asgard ranch."
"Do you have any idea where?" Genis asked. "If someone else is being subjected to this, we should help them!"
"I don't know," Pietro said. "I think I heard them say the subject was roaming freely in some place called Meltokio; is that another ranch?"
Sheena stifled a gasp and Raine glanced at her before saying, "We don't know. If we find this person, rest assured that we will do our best to save them."
"Good, that's good..." Pietro said. "I also heard something about the Mana Cannon."
"The Mana Cannon?" Kratos asked. "Do you mean Thor's Hammer, from the Ancient War?"
Pietro just shook his head and said, "I have no idea, but it can't be good if the Desians are excited about it. Please, Chosen, you must lock them away before they destroy us all!"
She nodded, and Sheena said, "Don't worry. Tomorrow we're heading to the Tower and then salvation will come."
Pietro smiled. "I'm so glad." He started to get up, saying, "But now I must return to Luin."
"No," Sophia said, pushing him back down by the shoulders. "You still need rest. You can leave tomorrow."
"But-"
"I agree with Sophia," Raine said. "Luin will still be there tomorrow morning."
He sighed. "Very well. Thank you again for saving me."
"It was our pleasure," Raine said.
Ellie felt a little bad. Pietro didn't know about Luin yet, so she supposed someone would have to tell him eventually. After all, how much of a shock would the poor guy get if he just showed up and found the whole thing in rubble? She imagined finally going back to her hometown and finding it razed to the ground. Yeah, that would suck.
Also, the expression 'razed to the ground' had always sounded silly to Ellie. Like it was implying raising up an underground city or something.
"Let's let him rest now," Sophia said, shepherding them out of the room. "As thanks for saving Pietro, you guys can spend the night for free. There are three rooms available."
"Wow, thanks!" Genis said.
Sophia showed them to their rooms, and everyone put their bags down. They were split up between Raine and Genis, Sheena and Ellie, and Will and Kratos.
"Hey, Colette?" Sheena said, sitting on her bed as Ellie stood by the window and looked out at the little village. She turned her head and looked back at Sheena with a questioning look.
"Tomorrow... are you going to ask Remiel about saving Tethe'alla too?"
Ellie nodded, walking over to sit on her bed across from Sheena. She wrote, I want both worlds to be safe, but Sylvarant is in the most immediate danger.
"Yeah, I know," Sheena said. "I want to save Sylvarant too. After seeing all the suffering this world is afflicted with, stopping their salvation seems so cruel. But it there's no way to save Tethe'alla..."
There is, she wrote, giving Sheena a determined expression. I know it.
Sheena sighed and fell back on her bed, lying spread-eagle and staring at the old wooden ceiling. "I guess I'm going home tomorrow. Once you regenerate Sylvarant, I'll have to go home and warn everyone that decline is coming. Then I'll come back and help you guys figure out how to save both worlds."
Ellie pulled her legs up and sat cross-legged on her bed, watching Sheena.
Sheena raised her head and said, "Colette, is your throat still sore? Do you think you should ask Raine to take a look at it."
Ellie sat frozen, staring at Sheena like a deer caught in the headlights. She had been putting off explaining to Sheena the angel thing, and now that she couldn't talk it would be hard to explain correctly. She bit her lip, and quickly wrote, it's fine. Don't worry about it.
"If you're sure..."
Desperate to change the subject, she wrote, What's Tethe'alla like?
"Huh? Oh. Well... it's a lot like Sylvarant geographically, I guess, but it's so... well, more advanced. I know it's not your fault," she said quickly, "because you've been in decline for so long. But our cities are huge and we have amazing technology. I wish you guys could see it someday."
Heh, just wait Sheena. If all went according to plan, they'd be in Tethe'alla tomorrow night. And if all went according to plan, Ellie'd be there to see it and not just be, like, drifting along like a zombie.
"Did I ever apologise for trying to assassinate you?" Sheena said.
Ellie snorted a bit, then grinned and shook her head. Don't worry about it, she wrote.
"I feel kind of bad about that."
Ellie rolled her rose and held up another paper. Please. Out of everyone who's tried to kill me during this journey, you were hardly the most worrisome.
Sheena frowned. "I'm not sure if that was an insult or a compliment."
Elli shrugged and hopped to her feet, heading for the door.
"Where are you going?" Sheena asked, sitting up.
Out. Don't worry.
"Well, alright. See you later."
Ellie left the room and arrived on the balcony overlooking the main room. All the rooms were off this walkway, with a single staircase leading downstairs. When she emerged from her room, though, she heard Raine saying, "...looks just like Lloyd."
Uh-oh. Who was she talking to? This had to be about Kratos. She ducked down and peeked through the railing, seeing Rain and Genis sitting at a table below, talking softly.
"But what do you think it means?" Genis was asking.
"I don't know..." Raine said, frowning. "But that, combined with the amount of attention and, dare I say it, affection Kratos shows to Lloyd..."
"You don't think they're related, do you?"
"It's possible, isn't it? Lloyd knows nothing about his family. Isn't it possible that Kratos could be, say, an older brother that got separated when Desians attacked their parents? And the animosity he showed to Kvar could be explained if Anna had been his mother."
Heh, Anna was Kratos' mother. That was a silly – if slightly disturbing – thought.
"Where is Kratos, anyway?" Genis asked.
"He went to find transportation to the Tower tomorrow. And I believe Lloyd is in his room."
There was silence for a little bit, and Ellie hoped they'd leave. She didn't feel comfortable walking down there while they were talking, but she didn't want to go back into her room with Sheena again. She sat on the ground, leaning against the railings, hoping nobody spotted her. This was easier because she'd finally taken her cape off, hanging it up in her room to dry.
"Hey, Raine?" Genis said finally. "Where are we going to go after this?"
Raine sighed. "I don't know. I thought Iselia could finally be our home, but now I don't know where we'll go."
"Well, I bet Lloyd will want to go back," Genis said. "We still don't know what happened to Dirk, so we should go back with him to find out."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Raine asked. "Lloyd may not like the answer."
"No," Genis said, "But I think he would like an answer, even if it isn't a good one. Of course, knowing Lloyd he'd try to launch another attack on the ranch if they have Dirk or something."
"I'm not sure," Raine said. "Haven't you noticed that Lloyd is maturing? I don't think he's like that anymore."
"No, I suppose not."
"In any case," Raine said, "The three of us must stick together. We're all we've got."
"Four of us," Genis reminded her. "Colette too."
"Genis..." Raine said, and Ellie could imagine the pained face she was making. "You know about what's going to happen at the Tower."
"No," Genis said firmly. "She said she had a plan. A plan to change things."
Ellie heard Raine moving, probably reached her arm out for Genis or something. "Genis, she may have said that just to comfort you. But I don't want you to build up a false hope. You must be prepared to lose her tomorrow."
"No!" Genis said. "We're not losing Colette. If she's going to die, then – then I won't let her go to the Tower!"
"Think, Genis! If she doesn't do this tomorrow, all of Sylvarant will die. I don't want to lose her either...but I gave up talking her out of it a long time ago."
"No..." Genis said. "She – she wouldn't lie to me about that. She's not going it die tomorrow... is she?"
'Genis...' Colette said. 'Oh no. This is why I didn't want to tell him or Lloyd. What are we going to do, Ellie?'
'I don't know. There's not much we can do.' She sighed. 'That's it. I can't just sit here and listen anymore. I'm going out.' She stood up and walked to the stairs, not caring anymore if the Sages saw her. When she walked down, both of them looked up at her. Genis' eyes were a little red but both were silent as she walked across the lobby.
When she reached the door, Raine said, "Colette, are you going out?"
She nodded.
"Don't wander away from Hima, ok?"
She nodded again and left the inn. Outside, a breeze hit her face and she took a deep breath of mountain air. Being in the mountains was great, she though as she walked to the edge of town and looked down the cliff. She used to go camping in the mountains with her family. It usually ended with her hiding in the tent and complaining about bug bites while Beth found it amusing to chuck pine cones at her, both parents nagging each other and everyone agreeing that spending that much time alone together wasn't healthy. Yet they still did it every year, and Ellie still found that she missed it.
'Camping sounds fun!' Colette said. 'Genis and Lloyd used to go camping sometimes, but the priests never let me go with them. I remember one time they both came back covered in bug bites. Professor Sage put so much calamine lotion on them they were more white than pink!'
'Ah, bug bites. Truly an immortal part of camping.'
"Hey, kid!" someone shouted, snapping Ellie out of her reverie as she looked over the edge. She looked up and saw a man shouting at her. "Get away from the edge before you fall!"
Ellie just nodded and stepped back, not feeling like explaining that she was the Chosen and had wings. She walked towards the huddled buildings of the quiet little mountain town, not quite sure where she was going.
'How could you stand this, Colette?' she asked. 'You knew you were going to die. How did you deal with your last night alive?'
'I didn't think about the fact that I was going to die. I just thought about how the next day Sylvarant would be saved.'
'Geeze, Colette, have you ever had a selfish thought cross your mind?'
'Yeah, I think so.'
'That was a rhetorical question.'
'Oh, sorry.'
Ellie just shook her head and walked along. She didn't feel like going back to the inn, but she didn't want to go anywhere else, either.
There were some kids playing a ball game that looked kind of like a pickle in baseball, with one kid running between two sweaters on the ground while two others guarding these bases tossed a ball over his head. She heard one kid shout in disappointment as he messed up and threw the ball wildly out of the way.
It flew towards Ellie and she threw her hands up in instinct, feeling the ball – a bit bigger than a softball – thud into her hands. She lowered her hands and looked down at the ball, certain her hands would be in pain right now if she could sense them.
"Hey, nice catch, lady!" the kid yelled. "Throw it back!"
Ellie looked up, and then down at the ball again. Instead of throwing it back, she walked over and pulled off the outer layer of her dress and set it on the ground. Then she held up three fingers, stood over her new 'base' and tossed the ball to one of the kids.
"Hey, yeah!" the kid said. "Three bases is even harder!"
Ellie just smiled as the kids ran around, throwing the ball to whatever base the boy in the middle was running to. It was nice to be able to just play a game that wasn't important, and it reminded her of when she played softball in elementary school. She missed those simple days, back when the teams accepted everyone and she'd been able to balance softball practice with drama rehearsal. Back when she wasn't worried about losing her soul the next day.
She wasn't keeping track of how long she played, but eventually the kids had to pack up and go home. They waved goodbye, and if they thought it strange that she hadn't said a word the whole time they didn't mention it. She smiled and waved, then picked up her smock and brushed dust and dirt off of it before slipping it back over her head.
She started walking again, not up to returning to the inn just yet. She passed a young man and a girl walking hand-in-hand, and she thought about Will.
'Hey, Colette, I don't think I ever asked you how you felt about, y'know, me and Will...'
'Oh, I don't mind!' Colette said.
'Are you sure?'
'No, of course not!' She gave a nervous giggle, 'I want you to do whatever makes you happy, ok?'
Ellie gradually found herself walking uphill towards the mountain top, and when she reached it she looked across at the Tower. She was at the top of the mountain, one of the highest places in Sylvarant, and still the Tower dwarfed her.
The mountain top was muddy from the rain, but she managed to find a dry rock and crawled up on it. She had no inclination to spend what was possibly her last night alive sitting around in a stuffy inn.
'I'm going to miss this world. As much as I want to go home, I've started feeling comfortable in Sylvarant. It's gonna be weird going to Tethe'alla after all this.'
'I know how you feel. But Tethe'alla is great! You're going to love it!'
'If you say so.'
'And you get to meet Zelos and Presea and Regal! They're really nice. You're going to love them.'
'Man, I love Zelos. He's awesome.'
'Yep!'
'And hot.'
'Um...'
'It would be funny to mention that to Will and then watch his face. Man, he's gonna get so jealous of Zelos' overt sexuality. And you know he's gonna hit on me.'
'Uh... yeah!'
'You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?'
'Not really.'
'Oh, never mind.'
'...Ok...So, what are you going to do now?'
'I don't know. I guess just sit up here all night. It's relaxing.'
'Yeah...'
'Hey, Colette?'
'Yeah?'
'Thank you.'
'For what?'
'For always being here with me even though I'm not nearly as good of a Chosen as you. Thanks for being my friend.'
'You don't have to thank me for that! I like you!'
'Yeah, but thanks anyways. I couldn't have done this without you.'
"Lloyd!" The door burst open and Genis ran in, slamming it behind him.
Will sat up from his comfortable position on the bed and said, "What's wrong?"
"I just talked to Raine," he said, coming over and sitting on the edge of Will's bed. "And she said that Colette might be lying to us about having a plan. That she plans to die anyway and it just trying to make us feel better."
Will frowned, thinking about this. Well, he could see where Genis was coming from. That certainly sounded like something Colette would do. But he knew Ellie, and she wasn't the type to lie about something like that. "Don't worry," he said. "Colette doesn't want to die any more than we want her to. I know she'll do whatever it takes to survive."
"Are you sure?" Genis said. "Because it seems to me that Colette would do whatever it takes to save Sylvarant."
"Don't worry. I have no intention of letting Remiel take Colette's soul."
"But Lloyd, what if that's the only way to salvation?"
"There's a better way," he said. "I just know it."
Genis sighed. "But what if there's not? I want to save Colette too, but what if there's no other of saving Sylvarant?"
Will stared down at the blankets of the bed. "I don't know. But... I think there's a way. It might be hard to find it, but if it saves everyone, then it's worth looking for."
"After the Tower..." Genis said, "we're going to look for it, aren't we? You, me, Raine, and Colette, too. Kratos will leave and Sheena will go home, so it will just be the four of us. We're going to look for a way to save both Colette and the world – worlds, actually, because I suppose I want to save Tethe'alla too. Our journey isn't over yet, is it?"
Will leaned back and rested his head against the headboard. "No. I have a feeling this is just the beginning." It was amazing how spot on Genis was. The only difference was that it would be Sheena leaving and Kratos going home, but close enough.
"Where will we go?" Genis asked. "We've already been all over the world."
"Well... I guess that if salvation doesn't work right tomorrow, there's still two ranches to take care of. We have to go to Iselia to see if any survivors are in the ranch."
"Raine thought you'd say that."
"Well, it makes sense."
"We should help rebuild Luin, too."
"Yeah. And we should check up on Palmacosta and see how they're handling the ranch."
"We should probably check out the library in the Tower of Mana, too, if we're looking for a way to save both Colette and the worlds."
"Yeah, and maybe we should revisit all the other ancient sites, like the Balacruf Mausoleum or the Triet Ruins..."
"It's going to be our journey all over again, isn't it?"
"Hm. Seems like it. Only this time we'll be saving Colette, not leading her to her death." Actually, he kind of wished they could do all this. It would certainly be easier than the trials ahead of them in Tethe'alla.
"Ugh, I hate this," Genis said. "I hate just sitting here and not being able to do anything about tomorrow."
"Yeah, I know how you feel."
"What if something goes wrong and we lose Colette tomorrow?"
"We won't."
"But everything is going to change tomorrow. I can tell. It's going to be...crazy. And yet here we are, just sitting here uselessly, just waiting and not able to do anything!"
Will sighed. "It's the deep breath before the plunge."
"I wish we could just go now," Genis muttered, and Will frowned, feeling quite the opposite. He'd rather never go at all.
"Where'd Colette go, anyway?" he asked Genis. "Is she still in her room?"
Genis shook his head. "No, she went out for a walk."
Will got to his feet and said, "I'm going to go find her. I need to talk to her about this stuff."
"Alright. See you later, Lloyd."
He put his shoes back on and left the room. Luckily his clothes had been washed of mud in a stream they'd come across yesterday, but there was still some dried dirt on the inside of his boots.
Outside, he looked around, wondering where he could find Ellie. Where would she go? He saw a man walking along and ran up to him. "Excuse me, have you seen a girl? Short, blonde hair, white outfit?"
"Oh, yeah," the man said. "Saw her staring off the cliff a little while ago. She walked off towards town."
"Great, thanks." He took off in a quick walk towards town. He had no idea what part of town she'd be in, though Hima wasn't terribly big. It was probably smaller than his high school, though admittedly he had a very large school.
He saw some kids playing and since they were the only people on the street he may as well ask. When he got closer, he saw that they appeared to be playing keep-away with some poor kid's hat. He walked up behind one kid and towered over him, yanking the hat out of his hand before he had a chance to throw it to his friend.
"Hey – oh," the kid said, turning around to see Will, a seventeen-year-old boy with two blood-stained swords around his waist.
Will walked past them to the kid in the middle and handed the hat back. "Leave the poor kid alone," he said to the other three as the bullied boy ran off.
"Y-yes sir!" a second boy said.
"What did he ever do to you, anyway?" Stupid bullies, picking on other kids just because they could. When he was little, he'd been best friends with Ellie, who pretty much scared any potential bullies away, but he'd had his share of problems on the occasions he was alone.
"He's from Palmacosta!" one of the kids said.
"So?"
"What do you mean, 'so'?" the kid said. "My dad says Palmacostians are greedy jerks and he wishes the Desians would return to that region!"
"What?" Will said, not sure he understood. Since when had there been animosity between Hima and Palmacosta?
"Yeah," another kid said. "Ever since they took over the ranch, they've had all sorts of cool technology, but they won't share any with us! They're just greedy jerks no better than the Desians!"
"Now that can't be right," Will said. "And besides, that kid had nothing to do with what might be happening in Palmacosta, so leave him alone, ok?"
"Yeah, yeah," they mumbled, staring at their feet.
Will sighed and ran his hand through his hair, wishing he could do more. "Anyways, I'm looking for my friend. A quiet girl with blonde hair and a white outfit?"
"Oh yeah!" a boy said. "She was playing with us earlier. I think she went up to the mountain top, though."
"Great, thanks." He started walking away, and then looked back over his shoulder and said, "And leave that kid alone!"
He went back passed the in and up the slope. He passed the adventurer's graveyard and continued on up the way.
'Hey, Lloyd? When you came here... were you as worried as I am?'
'Um...I don't think so. I was mostly just excited for regeneration. I didn't even think of worrying about what would happen at the Tower.'
'Must be nice to not be scared silly about tomorrow.'
'I'm scared now.'
'Are you?'
'Well yeah. Now I know what's going to happen...and I know you have to fight Dad, and Remiel, and Mithos. I'm just worried about whether everyone will happen like it did last time. And even if it does, we barely got out alive last time.'
'Ugh, you're really not helping, Lloyd.'
'Sorry. Look, just... just try not to worry too much about it, ok? Beat Remiel, but other than that you just need to survive against Dad long enough for Mithos to show up, and against Mithos long enough for the Renegades to show up. And I know Dad isn't really trying to kill you, so you should be fine.'
'I just want Ellie to be alright.'
'I'm sure she'll be fine.'
He reached the top of the mountain and found Ellie perched on a rock, writing something in her notebook. She looked up and smiled when she saw him, and he went over to sit on the rock next to her. "What's this?" he asked, looking at the paper.
She ripped it out of the notebook and handed it to him. It read, I owe you: 1 dinner at restaurant of your choosing, 2 tickets to see Dark Knight when it comes out, and that dorky book from the nerd store. Happy Birthday!
"It's not my birthday," he said, staring at the paper.
Ellie rolled her eyes and passed him another. It's July 10th. I figured we wouldn't have time tomorrow.
He went bug-eyed. "Tomorrow's my birthday?"
She nodded.
"Aw, geeze, we have to go into the Tower of Salvation on my seventeenth birthday?"
Ellie shrugged. Hey, you'll always remember it.
"Sure, as long as I don't die."
Stop complaining.
He looked at her serious face and said, "...I'm sorry." He supposed she had it worse than he did. Remiel didn't actively want to take his soul. "You said you had a plan, though, right? What exactly are we going to do?"
She started hurriedly writing, and then handed him a piece of paper. Here's the plan: we're gonna go there, Remiel will be like 'gimme your soul' and then I'll say 'fuck you' and then we go to Tethe'alla.
Will stared at the paper, and then looked up at her victorious grin. "This is it? This is your plan?"
She nodded.
"Ellie... what the hell comes between saying 'fuck you' and going to Tethe'alla?"
She shrugged.
"You don't know? Isn't that kind of the most important part?"
Ellie shrugged again and rolled her eyes.
"No! We're not going to 'just wing it'! Ellie... this isn't a plan; this is a goal! I thought you had a plan!" He got to his feet, and Ellie looked up at him with wide eyes.
"You always do this! You never plan, you just assume you'll be able to work it out when you get there! Ellie, this is serious! You could die tomorrow and your plan is to just wing it?"
Ellie stood up as well, and he was expecting her to start ranting silently at him. He braced himself for her to maybe even hit him, but instead all she did was fall on his chest.
"Uh... Ellie?"
She clung to him, burying her face in his shoulder and clinging her arms around his neck. Her shoulders shook and he hesitantly hugged her back, not sure what she was doing.
"Ellie, are you alright?"
She finally looked up, and though her eyes were dry, it was obvious she was trying to cry. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. I don't know.
He held her tightly and put his chin down on her shoulder. "It's alright. I'm not mad at you. Ellie, calm down."
Her shoulders heaved in silent, tearless sobs.
"I'll take care of it. You don't have to worry. I'll figure something out, ok?" Great. He'd been relying on a plan of Ellie's, but now it turned out she really didn't have one. He'd have to think of something tonight, before they went to the Tower. But he didn't even have a clue where to start so... this might be difficult.
Ellie pulled away and looked up at him.
"You're welcome," he said softly.
She glanced back at the path towards Hima and jerked her head.
"Yeah, let's go back to the inn. It's getting late."
As they started walking, he asked, "So, what book exactly were you talking about?"
She quickly wrote, Zombie Survival Guide.
Will chuckled a bit and said, "I definitely need that now. I hate zombies. But did you know that store is selling collector's edition copies of The Hobbit? It's incredibly awesome."
Ellie rolled her eyes and shook her head, giving him the look that said 'you are such a dork'.
"So where are you going to go after this?" Will asked Kratos as he sat on the steps of the inn.
"Probably Palmacosta," Kratos answered, leaning against the railing with his arms crossed. "It's a big city. Should be plenty of work there."
"I suppose after Colette regenerates the world and gets rid of the Desians there won't be much work for a mercenary anymore."
"People will always have a reason to want to hurt others," Kratos said. "There's always someone willing to pay me for my sword."
"Gee, your parents must be so proud of you," he muttered, staring up at the darkening sky.
"My parents are dead."
"Sorry. So are mine, so hey, we have that in common."
"Hmph."
"Do you ever regret it?"
"Regret what?"
"Your... chosen career." He looked over to Kratos, who was staring pensively at the sky.
"At times," Kratos finally said. "There are times when I wonder if what I'm doing is right. Selling my sword to the highest bidder regardless of the cause. But at this point in my life, it would be too difficult to get out of this business. The time to settle down and start a family is behind me."
"You're not that old," Will said. "You can still retire."
"Hmph. Too old to switch careers, too young to retire."
"You're not," Will said, getting to his feet. "It's never too late. If you want to quit, just do it! Go... get a job at a shop in Palmacosta or something."
Kratos raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "You think I should work as a shop clerk?"
Will couldn't help but grin at the image of Kratos in apron working behind a counter. 'Thank you, come again'. He'd probably have trouble with the whole 'smile!' thing.
"Well... maybe not. You could be, like, a town guard or something."
"Perhaps," Kratos said. Then, "It's getting late."
"I suppose we should head in," Will said, looking at the setting sun.
"If you would like, we can have one last training session."
"Really? Cool. I never got revenge on you for putting mud down my shirt."
Kratos drew his blade and walked to the open area to the side of the inn. Will pulled his swords out and followed Kratos.
"Alright, Lloyd," Kratos said. "This is your final lesson. It's time to show me that you've actually learned something during our time together."
Will just nodded and raised his swords, bracing himself. Kratos just stood there with his sword out, staring him down. It was pretty unnerving. After almost a minute of this, Will couldn't stand just waiting for Kratos to begin anymore and so charged forward, ready to stab at him and expecting Kratos to parry it perfectly.
Instead, Kratos side-stepped and with his spare hand grabbed his arm, sticking his foot out and knocking Will off his feet. He landed in a heap on the ground, chin stinging from where he'd scraped it on the hard dirt.
Kratos simply said, "Never make the first move."
"Ugh. I hate you," Will grumbled, getting back to his feet. "That was cheap."
"There is no 'cheap' in battle. Do whatever it takes to win and don't expect your enemy to show you any chivalry. Demon Fang!"
Will was once again knocked off his feet by the sudden attack, this time hitting his knees hard. "Dammit, I wasn't ready!"
"Your enemy will not wait for you to begin. Never let your guard down."
Will growled and got up, slashing his right sword at Kratos as he did so. The mercenary jumped backwards, saying, "Good."
When Kratos swung his sword at Will again, he planted his feet and brought his swords up into an X, remembering to keep his right foot just a bit forward. He gripped his swords tightly, and his arms shook with the impact when Kratos' sword collided with his defence.
"Very good. It seems you have, in fact, learned something."
Determined to show Kratos he wasn't pathetic, he broke his defence position and took a step forward, slashing with one sword and then thrusting with the other. Kratos blocked the first and dodged the second, but said, "Excellent; you've stopped hesitating so much."
Kratos thrust his sword at Will, and he jumped backwards to avoid it, nearly falling over in his haste to get out of the way.
"No, don't retreat," Kratos said. "Dodge to the side. That gives you an opportunity to strike me while I'm still vulnerable."
"Got it." He struck again, and this time when Kratos slashed back Will sidestepped and was about to hit Kratos' side when the mercenary spun around and punched him in the chest.
"Ouch!" Will said. "You said-"
"I gave you advice," Kratos said, "I didn't say I'd let you hit me."
Will tried not to think about the fact that they'd be fighting for real tomorrow when he kept getting his ass kicked during practice.
"Try again," Kratos said.
Will lunged forward, and Kratos easily blocked his attack, a loud clang ringing out through the night. Will struck again, and once again Kratos blocked.
"You're getting better at hiding your intent," Kratos said, calmly parrying his blows. He moved his feet slowly and confidently, while Will tried to keep up and not trip over his own feet. "However, now you need to work on stringing your attacks together." Clang. "You can't merely throw out a bunch of strong attacks and hope they work together." Clang. "Link them in combinations." Clang.
It irritated Will that Kratos was able to carry on a conversation like this while he was panting just to keep up.
'Don't worry about the combos,' Lloyd said. 'Even after Dad leaves, I can help you with that.'
'Thanks.'
"Like this?" He slashed, then thrust, then yelled, "Demon Fang!"
Kratos threw up Guardian to defend against the attack rather than dodge it. When the shield dissipated, he said, "Better, but not quite. Speaking of which, have you managed to use Guardian yet?"
"Er... not quite." He could sort of get it, but it only lasted a second or two and wasn't very useful.
"You should work on that," Kratos said. "I've known boys much younger than you to accomplish it with no great difficulty."
"Gee, that makes me feel so much better." His arms hung slack at his sides as he took deep breaths, thankful for this temporary reprieve.
"Fighting isn't about feeling good; it's about not getting killed."
"I know, but we're not fighting to the death or anything right now, so-"
"Are you saying you'd take this more seriously if you thought you might actually be in danger?"
Alarmed at what Kratos might be planning, Will quickly said, "No! No more seriously! I mean, I will! I will! Please don't kill me!"
Kratos disregarded him and struck lightning fast, Will desperately throwing his swords up to try and block. He stumbled backwards, uncertain how Kratos managed to be just as fast with one sword as Will was with two.
After five minutes of this, his arms ached from the effort of blocking Kratos' attacks. Steel rang through the air deafening his ears and flashing in the light of the newly risen moon. Kratos was ruthless, and slashed across his arm, ripping his shirt and drawing blood. Will couldn't stop to worry about it, though, as the mercenary was already making a move on his other side.
Was this what it would be like tomorrow? But tomorrow, Kratos wouldn't be 'training'. This wasn't even actual fighting. How could he possibly win?
He gasped in pain as the hilt of Kratos' sword collided with his gut. He took a deep breath and dropped his swords, falling to his knees. Blood dripped down his arm and he felt a bruise forming on his chest. His muscles ached and he shivered from the sweat drenching his face.
Kratos held the tip of his sword out to Will's neck, looking down on him sternly. Will looked up, not able to say anything as he gasped for breath. He just waited for Kratos to give him some mocking, disparaging comment.
"You've improved," Kratos said simply, sheathing his sword and instead holding out his hand.
Surprised, Will took it and let Kratos pull him to his feet. As an even better surprise, Kratos even cast First Aid, sealing up all his injuries. He wiped the back of his hand across his sweaty forehead and said, "Thank you."
Kratos just nodded in welcome.
"I mean, for everything. I guess I'm not going to be seeing again after tomorrow so... thanks."
"I am merely doing my job."
"No," Will said, shaking your head. "You were hired to protect the Chosen, You didn't have to be so, well, helpful to me. You've helped us more than I can say. So, thanks."
"Hmph." He walked back around to the front of the inn, and Will followed, collapsing on the steps. It was dark now, and he leaned against the railing, waiting to cool off a bit before heading in.
"Lloyd," Kratos said, "What do you intend to do after we visit the Tower of Salvation tomorrow?"
Will shrugged. "Head back to Iselia with Professor Sage and Genis, I guess."
"And... you're certain you'll be able to keep your head when the Chosen sacrifices her soul."
Will clenched his fist and bit his lip. "Yes," he said. He still needed to figure out how to get Ellie out of there safely...but he had no clue what to do.
He sighed heavily and got to his feet, stretching. "It's getting late," he said dully. "We should probably head in."
"You go on," Kratos said. "I will stay outside for a little while longer."
"Alright," Will said. He started walking up the steps. With his hand on the doorknob, he looked at Kratos, leaning against the railing of the front porch, staring up at the clear night sky dotted with stars.
He didn't expect an answer. He never got one, and Kratos didn't seem like he ever intended on giving one. Still, he paused just before going in to say, one last time, "Goodnight, Kratos."
He waited a second, a tiny flicker of hope that he'd say it this time. His last night with his son, expecting to maybe have to kill him in the morning.
Silence.
Will went back inside.
He went up the stairs to his room, and took of his jacket, boots and belts. His shirt was ripped in the sleeve, but it wasn't that big an issue. He lay down in his bed, thinking about the next day.
Tomorrow they were going to the Tower of Salvation.
No matter how many times he thought that, it never seemed quite real. He remembered his first scared and confused nights in Sylvarant, traveling south with Kratos, Raine, and Ellie. He'd been so confused, so worried, so scared... and, well, nothing had really changed since then. He was still lost, still terrified, still worried sick about what was going to happen. The only difference was that then, and all the days leading up to right now, the Tower had been a distant threat. Always looming on the horizon, but never feeling like they'd ever actually be there. Well, now they were. It was no longer a problem to be dealt with later, it was a problem now.
'I don't know what to do, Lloyd,' he admitted, staring at the ceiling.
'Just take a deep breath and repeat to yourself 'it's going to be ok'.'
'But it's not going to be ok. I can tell.'
'If you need help, I'm always here for you. I know you don't want to risk what happened with Kvar again, but... if it turns out you need me to take over, I'm here. Even just for mortal support if things all go to hell.'
'You mean 'moral'. But thanks. I feel kind of weird about going to Tethe'alla, though.'
'Me too. Though, I'm kind of excited. I like Tethe'alla. They have really good food there.'
'Well, that too. But I just feel like we aren't done in Sylvarant yet.'
'What do you mean?'
'Well, there's just...stuff. I feel bad about going to Tethe'alla when we don't know if Dirk is alive or not-'
'He is,' Lloyd said firmly.
'Ok, we don't know where he is. And then those kids were talking about problems in Palmacosta, and I almost want to go back and check it out to make sure everything's ok, but I know we can't. Clara is still there, locked up under Dorr's mansion, I think. At least, I hope Neil kept her safe down there. And then Ellie said the ghost Casper told her that some ghosts escaped and I'm worried that they might cause trouble in our absence...'
'You worry too much. We can't put off the Tower of Salvation any longer, and trust me, you'll have plenty of new problems when you get to Tethe'alla.'
'Always the best when it comes to encouraging people, eh, Lloyd?'
'Yup. Well, get some rest. You've got a lot of fights tomorrow.'
'Yeah. Goodnight.'
It was hard to get to sleep that night. He twisted under his covers, tossing and turning for what felt like hours. Kratos still hadn't come up, and he vaguely wondered what would happen if he didn't go out at some point. Would Yuan show up? Would he successfully assassinate Kratos? Geeze, that would screw up the game like nobody's business.
Eh, Kratos was competent enough not to need Will's help if someone snuck up on him. He'd seen himself at the Light Seal how fast Kratos' reactions to being snuck up on were. If he had actually been fighting against Kratos when that had happened, he had to imagine that Kratos would have run him through before realising 'aw, crap, I just killed my son'.
His head was barely on the pillow, his arm hung off the side of the bed, and the blanket lay in a twisted mess around his legs. It wasn't very comfortable, but at least he was finally drifting off to sleep. He wanted to pull the blanket up, but any movement on his part might wake us body up again and force him to start the whole falling asleep process all over again.
Then he heard footsteps, and the door to their room creak open. He didn't have to open his eyes to know it was Kratos, finally coming to bed. He breathed deep and tried to pretend he was already asleep so Kratos wouldn't nag him about staying up all night the night before their big day.
The footsteps grew closer, and then he finally did pry one eye open just enough to see Kratos standing over him, already dressed in his nightshirt and sweat pants. Then Kratos reached down and grabbed the blanket, and to Will's surprise he pulled it up, gently draping it over his supposedly sleeping form.
"Goodnight, Lloyd."