Chapter Forty-Nine: The End of a Nightmare

"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Will asked as he and Sheena walked through the temple.

"Yes!" she snapped indignantly. They were walking along a corridor of purplish stone, and no matter where they went in the temple Will could hear lightning cracking in the distance. Also, why was the stone purple? Did it make any sense at all? Not really, but he'd given up on expecting things to be logical.

"Are you sure? Because I think we've come this way before."

"All the hallways look the same, Lloyd," she said. "You can't possibly tell."

"So...how do you know where we're going?"

She was quiet for a second, and Will had the briefest moment of victory as she stumbled for an answer. Of course, that meant they were lost, which was kinda of took away the joy of being right.

"We'll figure it out, ok?"

He sighed. "Getting back as soon as possible is very important to me."

"Oh, Lloyd, you should know that it doesn't matter which coat you get. It's not going to make you any more masculine."

Will frowned. "That was low, Sheena. You hurt my heart."

They had left the room with the pool of water half an hour ago, but unlike in the game, the pedestals weren't nicely situated in the middle and requiring a puzzle. They were just hidden somewhere in this damn temple.

"Ok," Will said. "If you were designing a temple and trying to hide something so that only the worthy may find it or whatever the hell they were thinking, where would you put it? Keep in mind that so far all temple designers have been total assholes."

Sheena shrugged. "In the most hard-to-reach place as possible, I guess."

"So to find it, we should always go the way that will be most challenging to us."

"Ugh, you're probably right. There's a staircase up ahead; let's try that. Going up is more challenging than going straight, right?"

"Now you're thinking like a bastard architect."

They turned and walked up the stairs. Will wished the dungeons would be more consistent with their game versions, but he supposed this was all supposed to be more 'realistic'. ...Which was why they'd entered the temple on a walkway apparently floating through purple clouds. Argh, nothing made sense anymore! The mere fact that the temple made sense now just made the whole thing make even less sense!

'I'm going insane,' he said to Lloyd. 'Your crazy Dr. Seuss world is going to drive me insane.'

'Who's Dr. Seuss?'

'Somebody who doesn't make sense!'

'Ooooo-kay.'

They reached the top of the stars and were met by a door. They stood in front of it for a couple seconds, neither of them speaking.

"It might be dangerous," Will said. "There could be, like, horrifying monsters on the other side waiting to pounce on us."

"True," Sheena said. She bit her lip in thought, then said, "Stand aside." Will complied and back up a few steps then stood against the wall. Sheena reached for the door knob and then stepped back against the wall as the door swung outward. Will waited to see if anything would come screaming through the door, but they were thankfully met by silence.

Will peeked around to see if there was anything, and all he saw was blackness. "It's...really dark."

Sheena looked as well. She stepped around the door to stand before the room. Light from the lamps lining their passage filtered in, but didn't penetrate too far. They could see a path leading in, but other than that it was pitch black. "Do you suppose we should try to navigate the path?"

"Looks fairly difficult," Will said.

"This path it is, then." They went through the door, and even though they left it open, the light from the hall didn't do much to alleviate the darkness. Will reached a hand out to test his theory, and sure enough there were no walls.

"Be careful," he said. "There's no railing so if you fall, it would be a long drop." He had a feeling it wouldn't safely spit them out back in the atrium.

"You don't have to tell me to not fall off," she said. "You're the one with a history of falling off cliffs."

"Twice," he said. "Twice is hardly a 'history'."

"More than me."

"Oh, shut up."

Sheena opened her mouth to reply, just as a blinding flash of light cut through the darkness, accompanied by an ear-splitting crack of thunder. Will froze, the lightning disappearing just as suddenly as it had appeared. He could see the faint outline of the path emblazoned on his retinas, fuzzy green shapes floating in the darkness.

"Whoa!" Sheena shouted, but Will's ears were still ringing so she sounded rather far away.

"Dangerous enough, I think! This must be the right way!" he shouted back.

By now the ringing in his ears was fading away and he could hear Sheena say normally, "I think I saw that the path ends suddenly a few feet ahead and veers to the right."

Will crouched and got down on his knees, then slowly crawled forward, reaching out with his hands to feel for the floor. Sure enough, the path cut off abruptly only a few feet ahead of them. Will shuddered, realising that if not for the lightning they would never have seen that and gone right off the edge. "I think we should crawl," he said. "Unless you have a cane of some sort that we could use to feel for the floor?"

"No, sorry." She knelt next to him and they turned around the corner. It was slower going, but Will felt safer able to reach out and feel the floor ahead of them. He couldn't see Sheena, either, so the only way he could tell she was even still there was by the sound of her breathing.

"I sure hope we don't run into anything ugly," Sheena said. "It would be hard to fight if we can't even tell when we're about to fall off the edge."

"Knock on wood," Will muttered. They crawled along in silence for another minute, and the Will's fingers curled around the edge of the path. "Ok, we're at the end. Feel around for which way it turns." Will carefully followed the edge to the right, using the other hand to feel for a corner.

"I found steps," Sheena said. "Going up."

"Great. There's nothing over here, so we'll go that way."

"Actually, dropping off into a bottomless pit of darkness seems pretty dangerous. Think we should jump?"

"That sounds like an excellent plan," he answered as they crawled up the stairs. "Only when we've splattered on the bottom will Volt appear before us."

"I thought this was bottomless," Sheena said.

"Bottomless is impossible."

'I thought nothing made sense in our world?'

'Oh, you're right. So in that case, yeah, sure, the world suddenly stopped existing below us, but only in this one room. The sad thing is, I wouldn't put it passed this crazy mixed-up world.'

They reached the top of the stairs just as lightning struck again, filling the room with bright light and booming sound. Will quickly tried to get a look around, but it was much too bright and he was effectively blinded. When the light faded, he had a fuzzy idea of the layout just from what had been branded on his vision, but all he knew was that there was a path over their heads and lots of confusing staircases and walkways. This was going to take forever.

They kept going. Sheena took the lead, though this was less about leadership and more about who crawled faster, seeing as neither of them had a clue where they were going. "Watch, out, the path narrows here," she said.

Will followed, and sure enough it narrowed to the point that if he reached his hand out either direction he'd only hit emptiness. It was better crawling than if he were walking, though, because at least this way he could feel exactly where the ground was with his hands. But still, it was pitch black and they were crawling across a bridge that was narrower than his desk at school.

"There's an intersection here," Sheena said, suddenly coming to a stop.

Unfortunately for her – or rather, more unfortunate for Will probably – it was pitch black and he had not been able to tell that she had stopped. Thus Will kept going and bumped into Sheena's behind.

"Lloyd!" she yelled angrily as he hastily backed up. His face was bright red, though luckily masked by the darkness.

"I'm sorry! That was an accident! I can't see!"

"Yeah, sure. I've had just about enough 'accidents' from Zelos, so don't you start too!"

"I..." he sighed. This was no use. "Never mind."

"Anyway, we're at a crossroads. Which way do you think we should go?"

"Is any direction more dangerous than the other?"

"Not that I can tell."

"...Turn right."

"Why?"

"When in doubt, always go right. Simpler."

"Ok," she said, making the turn.

"Oh, but if we get killed going this way, it's not my fault. Do don't you dare blame me, got it?"

"Sure, Lloyd."

They kept going, and thankfully the path narrowed and Will was no longer in the precarious position of being right behind Sheena. Then there was another flash of light, and Will saw a staircase up ahead. If this was like the dark room in the game, then going up meant progress.

They went up the stairs, and Sheena said, "I see light ahead!"

Will rounded the top of the steps and sure enough saw the glow of a doorway at the far end of the path. "Thank god," he said, and they quickened their pace to reach the light. The path up here was at its widest yet, but Will didn't risk getting up to walk the last little bit in case the path took a sudden swerve at the last minute. He wouldn't put it past the whackos who designed this place.

The path did not curve, though, so when they finally reached the purplish stone that the light from under the door touched, they stood up with relief. "Thank Martel we're getting out of here," Sheena said.

Will was about to open the door, and Sheena said, "Do you think we should be worried about monsters on the other side?"

He shrugged. "Can't hurt to be careful, I guess." He stood back and grabbed the door knob, stepping to the side as he pushed it open. Before he got a chance to walk through, two people collapsed through the door and nearly went careening off the edge.

"Ugh!" Sheena screamed as Zelos grabbed her, tripping and falling face-first into her chest. 'Accidently' of course. Will was awed by how quickly Zelos had noticed Sheena standing there and made the move to 'trip' over her and land like that.

Regal grabbed the door knob and yanked it shut, but continued to hold on. "What's going on?" Will asked, his question punctuated by a piercing slap from Sheena.

"Owwww," Zelos whined as Sheena pushed him away. It was hard to see in the darkness with just the light from under the door, but Will could tell Regal was worried.

"We encountered a lamia in the hallway," Regal explained.

"She electrocuted me!" Zelos said.

"Ouch," Will said. "I feel your pain."

"We can't go back," Sheena said. "This room is dangerous enough as it is, and Lloyd and I have been following a general guide of take the most dangerous route because that's more likely to lead to the pedestal."

"Hey, Zelos," Will said in an undertone. "Sheena slapping you. Was it worth it?"

Zelos smiled, and not his "I-have-a-cunning-plan" smile that scared Will, but a genuine look of extreme pleasure. "It was definitely worth it. I just got a face-ful of pure heaven."

"Nice."

"We have to face the lamia," Will said. "We won't be able to get to Volt if we run from every monster."

"Ah, Lloyd, you haven't seen her," Zelos said. "Frightening. She looks like a beautiful woman in a beautiful bikini, but then she has a slithery snake tail instead of legs. I know, sounds kinky, right? But no, because she can electrocute you. And while I suppose that can still be considered kinky by certain minority fetishists, I find it painful."

"Thanks for the input," Will said. "I'll be sure to remember that."

"Zelos, start casting something. Then Regal will open the door and we'll blast it."

"Got it," he said. He started casting and a circle of red appeared around his feet. The light from his casting lit up the darkness, casting everything in a reddish light. Zelos looked kind of scary, lit from below like that.

"Make sure we move out into the other corridor," Will said. "We don't want to get in a fight in the dark here."

"Ready?" Sheena asked, glancing at Zelos, who gave her a slight nod. "Ok, Regal, open the door!"

Will pulled his swords out and waited expectantly as Regal pushed the door open and got out of the way as fast as he could. Will had time to glance at the lamia behind the door, but then Zelos was saying, "Burn, baby! Eruption!"

The lamia shrieked as fiery rocks burst up underneath it, and Will and Regal charged forward. Just as the spell was dying down, Regal said, "Triple Kick!" and leapt into the air. While Regal was busy beating the woman to death with his feet, Will ran in and shouted, 'Heavy Tiger Blade!"

The lamia shrieked again, her voice very inhuman despite her appearance. Regal had landed by now and was moving in for another kicking attack, but the lamia darted out of the way and whipped her tail at Will, hitting him in the gut and throwing him against the wall.

Zelos came in with his sword and tried to slice her, but she was fast and all he got was her arm. Will got back on his feet again, but she reached her hand towards him and then curled her fingers. Will stared at her hand in confusion for about a second, until a blue sphere appeared around him. He grunted as Spark Wave hit him, shocking him from all sides.

Regal kicked her again as Sheena blasted the lamia with a Pyre Seal. Will was very eager to stab her in return for the Spark Wave. He was just about to use Sword Raine when Zelos hopped over her tail and yelled, "Super Sonic Thrust!" as his blade went through her back.

Will fell back as the lamia screamed, blood everywhere once Zelos pulled his sword out. It was disturbing how human she looked from the waist up. She crumpled to the floor, the party taking a few steps back from the horrid sight. Thankfully she didn't take too long to die, but then her very human face was just staring blankly at the ceiling. Will could tell by the disgusted look son the others' faces that they were thinking the same thing.

Then Zelos forced a laugh and a grin that wasn't quite real and said, "What a pity. She was hot."

Sheena slapped him, though without as much heart as usual. "What are you guys doing here, anyway?"

"Us?" Zelos said. "We were just making our way through the temple and randomly ran into you. I understand, though. My sheer masculinity acted as a magnet and drew my voluptuous hunny to me." He leaned over to wrap his arm around Sheena's shoulders, but she quickly ducked, grabbed his arm, and twisted it around behind his back.

"Ow! Sheenaaaaa!"

"Where are you guys going to go now?" Will asked Regal, ignoring Zelos' plight.

"If you two came form that way, it is probably not wise to continue in the direction we were going. We should travel together and split up at the next available intersection."

"Ok. Sheena, let Zelos go so we can get going."

She released his arm and Zelos took a few staggering steps forward. "Alright."

They started walking again, back in the direction Regal and Zelos had come from.

"So have you guys encountered any difficulty, besides the snake woman?" Will asked.

"Not really," Zelos said. "This temple is just really confusing."

"Well, it could be worse," Will said. "The fire temple was straight out a maze and the wind temple was full of giant spiders."

"And the Tower of Mana," Sheena said. "That one was just a really long staircase. Exhausting."

"The water temple was alright," Will said. "It just had really crazy enemies. Like, killer starfish and masses of jelly."

"Well, this is my first temple," Zelos said, "and I can't say I'm loving it. Very confusing place."

The path they were following reached a crossroads, and Zelos said, "Alas, Sheena, this is where we must part."

"Just go with Regal, you stupid Chosen."

She shoved his shoulder towards Regal and the right path, and Regal just said, "We will meet up again at the altar. Good luck."

"You too," Will said. "Be safe."

Regal and Zelos walked away, and Will followed Sheena in the opposite direction. The floor was, of course, the same greyish-purple, which got Will thinking. "Have you ever wondered why lighting is purple?"

"What?" Sheena asked, looking at him strangely.

"It's purple. When someone casts lightning magic, the circle is purple. Why? Seems to me it should be white or blue or something."

"Blue and white are already taken," Sheena said, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

"What, so all the summon spirits got together and started taking turns picking colours? And poor Volt got drew the shortest stick and stuck with purple? Poor guy."

Sheena's expression turned dark and said, "I don't pity Volt."

"Well...um, yeah," he said, feeling bad about saying that. He really should have known better. "I was just saying..."

"Volt is a powerful Summon Spirit. He does whatever the hell he wants and doesn't give a damn about humanity." Her fists were clenches at her sides and she stared straight ahead.

"...Are you alright?" Will asked.

"I – I'm fine," she snapped.

"You've been in a funk ever since we got here. Are you sure? Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

Will said nothing. He'd expected as much. "I'm just trying to help," he sighed.

Sheena glanced at him, then said, "Look, you may not be with Cruxis, but there's just something about you...I don't know."

"Maybe I'm just a mysterious guy?"

"I don't know!"

"Ok, ok. Let's just walk in silence then."

"Right," she mumbled.

It had gotten to the point that he was starting to want to tell Sheena the truth just to get her off his back, but now Genis knew, too. Genis had only just found the truth, and then if Sheena found out he could only imagine it would snowball from there. He was too afraid of everything unravelling to tell her.

And so they walked in silence. It was times like these that Will really missed Ellie, knowing that if she was here things would be a lot more interesting. But Ellie was with Rodyle now, and he had to admit he felt a bit bad about that. He remembered how awful it was when he was in Kvar's hands, and Ellie must feel even worse with Rodyle. She'd already been there for almost three weeks. But this was the way the game went, so there was nothing to worry about. They'd have Ellie back in no time.

Silence, silence, silence - 'I'm bored,' Lloyd said. 'Talk to Sheena about something interesting.'

'Sheena hates me,' Will reminded him.

'I know, and that really pisses me off. You need to do something to get her to trust you. It's Sheena! She's one of my best friends!'

'I'm working on it, ok? Just give me more time.'

It was Sheena who broke the silence several minutes later, though unfortunately it was not with good news. "Something's coming," she said. "Sounds like multiple somethings."

"Yeah, I hear them." It sounded like the flapping of wings and the crackle of electricity, and he drew his swords in preparation. From around a corner ahead, two birds appeared. They were blue, with jolts of electricity coursing along their wings.

Ok, problem. How was he supposed to strike electrified birds with metal swords without hurting himself? He wished he had a ranged weapon, like a bow and arrow or...or a bazooka. But no, he had two lightning rods in his hands.

"Hunting Beast!" he shouted as the birds got closer, Sheena was getting her cards ready to do something, and Will's attack threw one of the birds to the ground. Sheena whipped out one of her cards and threw it at the bird with a shout of "Pyre Seal!" There was a small explosion and the bird squawked but got back in the air again. The other bird, meanwhile, dive-bombed towards Will.

He didn't know how to attack it without hurting himself, so just threw up Guardian and tried to formulate a plan. The bird crashed into it with a loud crack! What did he have? He'd have thrown his bouncy ball at it, but unfortunately Vharley had that now. Did he have anything else in his pocket? Just the Sorcerer's Ring...the Sorcerer's Ring that spat fire.

He whipped out the ring and Guardian disappeared. The lightning bird came at him again, but this time he held up the ring and released a burst of flame. He felt the heat on his face as fire spewed at the bird in a constant stream, the bird screeching in pain. Fire mixed with lightning in a blinding flash of light, until the bird fell to the ground with blackened feathers. Another Pyre Seal took care of the other one, and Will and Sheena exchanged contented glances.

"Hell yeah," Will said with a grin. "I have a flamethrower."

"Be careful with that," Sheena said.

Will pointed it away from her and let the fire burst out again with a happy smile on his face. "Flamethrower. Yes. Could this be any more awesome? I can't believe I never realised it could be used like this before."

'I'd be careful with that,' Lloyd said. 'The Sorcerer's Ring runs on your body's mana, so if you overuse it you'll run out of energy and not be able to use techs.'

'Oh...right...,' his grin fell. Of course. Always a loophole.

But still! He had a goddamn flamethrower! He wished he could take it back to Earth. Worked better than matches.

"Come on," Sheena said. "The birds came from that staircase up ahead. We should go that way."

"As good a plan as any."

They went up the stairs and into yet another corridor. Will was getting really tired of hallways. He had sheathed his swords, but kept the Sorcerer's Ring out. Maybe he should discard sword fighting altogether and just use a flamethrower from now on. After all, flamethrowers were inherently badass. They were invented by the man who said "I want to set that on fire, but it's too far away."

The hall twisted and turned, and they had to make a decision on a crossroad several more times. Luckily they didn't run into any more monsters, though the downside of that was that Will didn't get a chance to try out the Sorcerer's Flamethrower again.

They turned a corner and were confronted with another staircase with a doorway at the top. This they went up, and when they went through the opening they emerged on a small balcony overlooking the pool of water far below.

"Sooo...now what?" Sheena asked, looking around.

Will looked as well. It was certainly a nice view, the room impossibly huge. The water looked very far below, and the walls were lined with similar balconies. He looked down, at the platforms ringing the walls beneath him. And there, several balconies below, was a pedestal.

"There it is!" he said, walking quickly to the side and pointing down. Sheena followed his finger and her face brightened. "Great! So, how do we get to it?"

Will glanced back at the doorway and said, "I suppose we could go back in and try to find the path that leads to it."

"Ugh, that'll take forever," Sheena said.

"Or we hop down the balconies." Each platform was about ten feet below the other, and he thought they could make it if they jumped. Certainly they couldn't go up this way, but hopping down should work.

"Alright," Sheena said. "This might be dangerous, though."

Will glanced at the water and said, "If we fall, can you summon Undine to catch us?"

She frowned, "Hm...probably. I just hope I'll be fast enough."

"With any luck, it won't even be a problem."

"Ok, I'll go first," she said, putting one leg up on the railing.

Will eyed the balcony beneath them. He had seen Sheena jump much farther than this back on the Ossa Trail, so it oughtn't be a problem. Still, as she prepared to jump he said, "Good luck."

She pushed off and leapt to the balcony below. Will tensed as she dropped, terrified she wasn't going to make it. But she landed safely and gracefully as a cat, then turned back to him and said, "It's safe! Come on!"

Oh, how he wished Ellie were here. Ellie and her wonderful wings." But Sheena had done it, and it had been his suggestion in the first place, so he couldn't wimp out now. He got up on the railing, heart hammering as he prepared to jump. It looked a lot further from the railing.

"Come on!" Sheena said.

"I know! I'm coming!"

'You'll be fine,' Lloyd said.

There was no going back now. He closed his eyes and leapt. Wind rushed past him as he hurtled down to the next balcony, but the jump was over before he knew it. He crashed onto the platform and fall on his face, but was otherwise unscathed.

"Ok, only one more to go," Sheena said." Will got to his feet and followed her to the other side of this balcony. Really, after falling down a cliff on two separate occasions, he'd had much worse than this.

Will followed Sheena to the railing and watched her jump, then quickly followed her. It was still quite scary the second time, but just like last time, it was over before he knew it. He stood up and looked around, spotting the pedestal a few feet away.

He looked down at the ring and said, "Goodbye, flamethrower," before setting it on the pedestal. There was a flash of light, and then he took it back. He pointed it out of the railing and tested it, and a short burst of golden lightning shot out. This was still pretty cool, albeit not quite a flamethrower.

"So how are we going to get down?" Will asked.

"I say we keep jumping," Sheena said. "If we go back in and try to work our way down we may end up lost forever."

"And I am in rather a rush," Will said. "We have to get back before Zelos."

He walked to the edge of the balcony and looked down. They probably had about six or seven more jumps to go, and Will just hoped is luck would hold and he wouldn't plummet to his death. That would tend to be very bad.

Sheena went first, with Will following shortly behind. He landed safely, then moved on to the next one. He quickly forced himself into a rhythm: climb railing, jump, walk across platform, repeat. By the time they reached the bottom, his knees were jarred but otherwise they were both fine.

They paused at the bottom to catch their breath, when Will looked across the pool and saw Regal and Zelos emerge. He and Zelos froze and locked their eyes on each other. They were about the same distance from the altar, and it seemed Zelos had gotten his lightning as well. There could be no dawdling, now.

Will bolted, and didn't even have to look up to know that Zelos was running too. His feet pounded on the floor as fast and as hard as he could, running as if Volt had already appeared and was right behind him. He didn't look up to see how far Zelos was and just focused on running as fast as possible. His masculinity hung in the balance.

He burst through the door and into the main atrium, heading for the stairs. Zelos came through right behind him and went for the stairs on the other side of the room. Will raced up the stairs, nearly stumbling on the steps but forcing himself onwards. He saw Raine standing in front of the altar and giving him a funny look, but all he was focusing on was running faster and the red blur of Zelos quickly approaching from the other side.

With a last burst of speed, Will careened around the corner and ran straight for Raine, crashing into her and knocking her down.

"Lloyd!" she shouted in fury as he panted and slowly got up. She whacked him upside the head and then got to her feet, but all Will cared about was the fact that Zelos had arrived about five seconds after him.

"I...won..." Will panted, leaning on his knees.

"I'll fight...you for...it..." Zelos said, similarly winded as he leaned on the railing.

Will shook his head. "I won it fair and square."

"Boys, don't fight," Raine said. "We have to make the pact with Volt. Is everybody ready?"

Zelos and Genis both nodded, and Sheena, after looking fearfully at the altar, said, "Guys, I...I don't know if we should do this."

"What?" Genis said, looking at her in alarm. "Why not?"

"Because – because Volt is really dangerous. And I don't want you guys getting hurt."

"We've gone up against dangerous people before," Genis said. "And we have to do this if we're gonna save Colette!" Genis glanced at Will as if checking for confirmation and Will nodded slightly. They did indeed need the Rheairds to save Ellie.

"You guys don't understand!" Sheena said. "Volt is... he..."

"Sheena," Raine said, crossing the short distance in front of the altar to stand right in front of her. "What happened the last time you came here?"

"I..." She hung her head. "I was trying to make a pact when I was little. I came here with my grandfather and a bunch of other members of the village. They cleared the Temple and got everything ready for me, so all I had to do was make the pact. But then when Volt showed up I – I don't know – I didn't know what to do. I screwed up and he went into a rage. He – he killed everyone. Only my grandfather and I survived, and my grandfather ended up in a coma."

She raised her head then, and Will could tell she was trying not to cry. "If we try to form a pact with Volt, then you guys might get killed this time! I can't do this again. I'm sorry. I just can't go through this again."

"Sheena," Raine said, taking another step closer and wrapping her arms around her. "You should have told us this before."

"I know. I'm sorry," she said, her voice muffled against Raine's shoulder.

"But Sheena, you've already got one pact," Genis said. "If you could get Undine, then you'll be able to get Volt for sure!"

Raine pulled away, but kept her hands on Sheena's shoulders. "We can't force you to go through with this. However, I think that all seven of us have proven through a great deal of trials that we are capable. You don't have to worry about us not being able to fight Volt."

"Sheena," Regal said, "how old were you when you first attempted to make the pact?"

Sheena looked over at him. "S-Seven."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Seven is very young. I won't begin to wonder what your village was thinking, sending such a small child to do such a great task. But now you are nineteen – more than twice that age. You have acquired so many more experiences and accomplishments since then that there's no reason to think you'll still have the same weaknesses."

"I have faith in you Sheena," Presea said with her normal serious expression. "You can and must do this so that we can rescue Colette."

"Sheena," Will said, standing right next to her, "I know you probably don't want to hear from me, but I know how you feel."

She snapped her head to him and said, "No you-"

He held his hand up and tried to finish before she spoke again. "I know how it feels to make a mistake that causes others to die. And I also know what it feels like to be in control when events beyond your influence cause others to die. And I know how hard it is to tell the difference between the two when you're experiencing them. You were just a little kid, and what happened with Volt wasn't your fault."

"Thanks for all the support, guys," she said softly. "But I don't know if I can..."

"We have to try," Zelos said. "We came all this way – it seems a shame to give up now without even trying."

"Yeah," Genis said. "We have to save Colette! We believe in you, Sheena!"

She gave him a small smile and said, "Well...al-alright. I'll try. Thanks, guys."

"Are you ready?" Raine asked.

Sheena hesitated, then turned to the altar. "As ready as I'll ever be. Ok guys, destroy the blocks."

Zelos went first, and shouted, "Lightning!" Instead of the usual bluish bolt, the lightning that cracked down on the top block was vibrant red and shattered the cube. Will then stepped up and pointed the Sorcerer's ex-Flamethrower at the next block, and the golden electricity cracked thick block as well. Then Genis casted Lightning as well, which actually didn't look much different from his normal blue lightning.

The blocks had been cleared and Sheena stepped up to the altar. There was a small puff of smoke and Corrine appeared on her shoulder and said something softly in her ear. Will watched Sheena turned and smile at him, and briefly wondered if he could get away with saving Corrine.

'You should,' Lloyd said.

'Trying to save a life never works. Remember what happened with Dorr? I wish I could, but...'

'So you're just going to give up without trying?

'The Wonder Chef warned me against trying to save people who are supposed to die.'

'How can you just stand there and let Corrine die? He's about to be killed, and all you care about is following what happened last time!'

'I'm sorry, Lloyd. I know you want to help, but this is how it's meant to be.'

''Meant to be?' No. It's never ok to let someone die. You always have to try to save them! I won't accept that some deaths are ok as long as they fall in the grand scheme of things.'

Before Will could respond, there was a flash of light and above their heads a flickering ball of light appeared. Will took an involuntary step back so his back was against the railing and he craned his neck to watch as Volt slowly descended on them.

'Please, Will. Corrine deserves to live just as much as anyone else. You can't just let him die.'

Will stared at Corrine, at the way Sheena was visibly calmer with him on her shoulder. He didn't want Corrine to die, either, but what could he do? He sighed. 'I'll try.'

Volt was now hovering just above eye level, and Sheena was clearly shaking as she stood before him. She didn't get a chance to speak before Volt let out a series of thunderous noises that Will had to assume was speaking. It was loud and high-pitched and sounded like Volt was torturing kittens or something.

"Ugh!" Sheena said as the rest of the group clapped their hands over their ears. "I – I don't know what he's saying! This is what happened last time!"

Volt 'spoke' again, and Raine said, "Sheena, calm down. I recognise this language."

"That's a language?" Zelos asked, his face pained as he held his hands over his ears.

Raine ignored him and just said, "It's a form of Angelic. I've studied it."

"W-What's he saying?" Sheena asked, looking back at Raine in a panic.

Volt spoke again, and this time Will could tell he was just repeating the same thing he had said the first few times, though his angry red eyes had narrowed. He looked angry... or frustrated. Will wondered why it was that Volt was the only summon spirit unable to speak.

"I am one who is bound to Mithos," Raine said. "Who are you?"

Sheena looked slightly calmed that someone could finally tell her what Volt was saying, and even Volt looked pleased, expressing all the emotion he could when his face consisted of giant red eyes.

"I – I am Sheena!" she said, looking back up at Volt. "I ask that thou annulst thy pact with Mithos and establish a new pact...with – with me."

The screeching sound of dying kittens in a lightning storm sounded again, and Raine translated, "He says that even though his pact with Mithos has been broken, he does not desire a new pact. He wants nothing more to do with humans."

"No!" Sheena spat, glaring at Volt. "We need your help! We came all this way..." She pulled her cards out and stood in her fighting stance, then shouted, "I'm not turning back now!"

Volt's eyes narrowed again and the ball of lightning shook a little with fury. He clearly did not like being denied. Will got the feeling Volt had a very short fuse. The fuse then reached its limit as Volt erupted, sending out a shockwave at the gathered group that was shortly followed by blasts of lightning.

Will found himself once again electrically shocked as the whole group was thrown through the air by the force of the attack. The next thing he knew, he was falling, falling, falling to the ground. Just before he hit, he quickly called up all his strength and shouted, "Guardian!"

The green shell bounced on the stone steps below and rolled down to the ground, carrying Will like a hamster in a ball. It fizzled away and left him winded on the floor, but luckily nothing was broken. He sat up and looked around, and it appeared the rest of the party was in similarly good condition, though no one was on their feet yet.

"No!" Sheena shouted, jumping up. "E-Everyone! It's just like before!"

"Sheena, calm down!" Raine said, rubbing her head. "We're fine!"

Volt soared over the room, and the rest of the group scrambled to their feet to get out of the way. Volt unleashed a blast of lightning that Presea barely avoided, leaving a charred mark on a pillar.

"Volt!" Sheena shouted, and drew the raging summon spirit's attention. Volt flew towards her, a powerful blast of lightning building up within.

"Sheena, watch out!" Corrine's squeaky voice said, but she was frozen in her tracts, staring up at Volt and probably reliving some pretty shitty childhood memories.

The blast was about to come and Will knew Corrine was about to throw himself in front of it. If ever there was a time to save Corrine, this was it.

He bolted across the floor towards her, shouting, "Sheena, move!"

She looked over at him and he crashed into her just before Volt shot at her. The lightning scorched the floor but both Sheena and Corrine were unharmed.

'You did it!' Lloyd cheered. 'See, that wasn't so hard!'

Will smiled a bit, and Sheena looked up at him in surprise as she started to get to her feet. "Th-thanks, Lloyd."

"Guys, look out!" Genis shouted, starting to power up a spell as Volt did so as well.

Sheena grabbed Will's arm and pulled him out of the way just as another blast came down. "This isn't good," she said.

"Brilliant deduction," Will snapped back as they ran up the steps of the stage. "You have to make the pact."

She nodded, then turned to face Volt. When she spoke this time, her voice lacked the hesitation she'd had scene they reached the altar. "Volt!" she shouted. "For the sake of everyone who lost their lives to help me, I demand that you form a pact with me!"

Volt let out another screeching phrase, and Raine shouted, "He says that in order to fight him for a pact, only four of us may face him or it would void the pact."

The group gathered on the stage as Volt hovered, and Raine said, "Hurry and choose who will fight, Sheena. He's not very patient and we should feel lucky he's agreeing to this."

Sheena bit her lip and looked around at the assembled group. "Ok, well...he's a ball of lightning. We'll have to attack him with magic, because running up and hitting him will probably hurt you more. So, Regal, Presea, and Lloyd, you guys sit this one out."

Will opened his mouth to protest, but Raine silenced him before he could begin. "She's right, Lloyd. You three won't be able to hurt him without injuring yourselves."

"I understand," Regal said. "Lloyd, Presea, come. We'll wait out the battle on the balcony."

"Alright," Will reluctantly agreed. He turned to the other four and said, "Good luck."

Genis gave him a tense look, and said, "We'll do our best."

Regal guided him and Presea up the stairs to where the altar was, while the others took their stances against Volt down below. Will leaned over the railing to watch, hoping for the best while Genis started casting.

Volt sent a blast of lightning at Sheena, who dodged out of the way as fast as she could. Volt swivelled around in the air to follow her, as Zelos jumped into the air behind him with a shout of, "Hell Pyre!" As he dropped back to the ground, a huge burst of fire erupted from his sword and shot towards Volt.

Zelos landed lightly on his feet and smirked at Volt as the fireball exploded on contact with his metallic casing. Genis and Raine were both still casting, and Will clenched the railing as he watched. "Come on..." he muttered. "Cast already!"

As if Genis was listening to him, he shouted "Raging Mist!" and held his kendama high. Swirls of fire engulfed Volt, battering the summon spirit. Genis glanced at Raine, and waved his hands at Sheena and Zelos to signal the other two to get out of the way.

Then, just as the Raging Mist faded away, Raine snapped her eyes open and unleashed, "Ray!" Volt was once against struck by magic, and Will noticed that his lightning seemed to be crackling faster now. This probably was good because it meant they were hurting him, but then he was also probably mad, too.

Genis and Raine immediately returned to casting while Sheena ran up and stood directly under Volt as she whipped out another card and threw it at his underbelly. There was a small explosion and Volt shot up in the air about with an undignified screech, and while Will wouldn't go so far as to claim to be fluent in Volt's language, he assumed it was something the lines of "aw, shit!"

Volt retaliated by crashing back down on Sheena before she could get out of the way, literally body-slamming her. Sheena cried out and fell to the ground as Volt hovered back up in the air. Will winced and wore a pained expression as Sheena lay on the ground, not moving.

"Come on...get up..." he said under his breath. Her arms moved and she pushed herself up a bit, arms shaking with the effort. "Sheena, please..."

Zelos was running to her side to heal her due to Raine being busy releasing another Ray, just as Genis shouted, "Ice Tornado!"

Will was paying more attention to Sheena, though, wishing he could help.

"It's difficult to be an observer," Regal said, appearing next to him.

Presea stood on Regal's other side, having dragged over a large chunk of rocky debris from the altar to stand on so she could see over the railing. Will smirked, though she probably didn't realise how adorable that was. "I want to help," Presea said. "I've spent too long as an observer...I hate not being able to affect the battle."

"I know," Will said, punctuated by a crash of lightning that interrupted Genis' casting as he rolled out of the way at the last second. "God, I can't stand this!"

His hands were already reaching for his swords instinctively when Regal said, "Wait. If we interfere, we could void the whole pact."

Will kept his eyes trained on the battle going on below and groaned a bit. "I know, I know. It's just so frustrating."

Sheena had been healed by now, luckily, and she and Zelos were busy keeping Volt distracted while Raine and Genis battered him with magic. Volt was getting faster now, and as Zelos leapt up to use Hell Pyre again, a giant, shimmering purple circle appeared on the stage beneath all of their feet.

"Oh no," Will said as they looked down in surprise. "Guys! Get out of there!"

They started to run, but it was too late. All four of them were blasted by countless bolts of lightning, and Will was forced to look away from the blinding light and thunderous crash.

When he looked back, they laid on the ground, Volt hovering above triumphantly. Genis was the first one to get back to his shaky feet, and started swinging his kendama and charging something up immediately. With no one else distracting him, though, Volt easily sent another blast at Genis and knocked him to his feet again.

It was awful standing on the balcony, watching his friends get hurt and being unable to do anything about it. He wanted so bad to run down there and help, but he didn't know if he should risk blowing the pact.

By now the others were getting up too, but Volt, in a spectacular display of non-sportsmanship, once again circled the stage with purple light and blasted them with lightning. They couldn't keep going like this. Volt circled around the room at Will's level, in a way maddeningly similar to a victory lap.

"We have to help," Presea said, climbing up to balance on the railing.

"Presea, what are you doing?" Regal said as the small girl hefted her axe.

"I will not stand by as the people who saved me are destroyed."

"If we interfere with the pact, we may never be able to rescue Colette," Regal said.

Will stepped around him and stood next to Presea's rock. "I agree with Presea. Right now, I'm more concerned with getting us all out of here alive, pact or no."

Regal was quiet for a second, then bowed his head. "Very well. I hope both of you are prepared to live with the consequences of your actions."

Presea nodded firmly, then turned to Volt as he looped towards them again. Will, though, was silent. What if this was another mistake? He'd made so many... and this one might cost them their chance of rescuing Ellie... but if they didn't act, Genis and Zelos and the others might die right now.

As Zelos tried to get up and was subsequently zapped, Will decided one thing. Screwing up their chance of making a pact might be a mistake, but standing by and doing nothing while his friends were killed was an unforgivable crime.

Volt neared them, and Presea shouted, "Beast!"

The force of the attack sent Volt of course and he wobbled through the air, just as Will got up on the railing after Presea and shouted "Hunting Beast!" Volt was once again jounced in the air, and Presea yelled, "Leave the others alone!"

"Yeah!" Will shouted. "Pick on someone your own...er...pick on us instead!"

Volt's eyes narrowed and he started towards them. Presea said to him, "Lloyd, I believe it's working."

"Oh crap."

Down below, Raine raised her staff without sitting up, and white light glowed from the end as she casted Nurse.

Volt sent a bolt of lightning towards them, and Will raised his arms around his face on instinct. The attack, though, didn't hit them – it hit the balcony railing they were balancing on. The edge of the balcony rumbled, and before he or Presea could get off, it went tumbling to the ground.

The pair landed in a heap on the floor, rocks falling all around. Presea laid nearby, her face scrunched in pain as a fallen rock pinned her leg to the floor. Will immediately started crawling over to help her, his swords lying apart within the rubble of the balcony. Regal stood above them, having luckily avoided falling off when Volt struck.

Will reached Presea and wrapped his fingers around the large rock on her right leg. She was breathing heavily and her Cruxis Crystal was glowing, presumably using up power to keep the pain of her leg being crushed at bay.

He had just started to lift it when a bolt of lightning hit him in the back. He dropped the rock the couple centimetres he'd already lifted it and fall backward in pain while Presea also grunted softly as the rock came down hard on her leg.

Will panted as Volt screeched something at them, and he didn't need Raine to tell them that Volt was yelling at them for interfering. Volt had really let him have it, so Will was still lying on the ground and trying to get the energy to move when he saw Volt hover over to him and Presea.

"Lloyd," Presea said softly, her eyes on the angry Summon Spirit. "I'm sorry. I should not have tried to interfere."

Volt started charging up again, and Will looked to his swords lying a few feet away. He reached for them, wishing he was a Jedi.

"No!" Sheena ran across the stage as fast as she could, and skidded to a halt in front of him and Presea. She collapsed to one knee, blood running down from her temple. "I won't...let you...hurt my companions...again..." she panted. "Not again." She started fumbling for her cards, but Will didn't know how much she could hope to accomplish.

To his great surprise, though, Volt's blast of electricity faded away before firing. Volt's angry expression disappeared and he lowered himself to be closer to Sheena's level. He spoke again, and didn't sound furious this time. His voice was still grating on Will's ears, but it was softer now.

Raine, who had healed Genis and Zelos and was holding her brother's arm to help him walk over, translated. "He says... he says that the selflessness and courage all three of you have shown has made him realise that some humans are indeed worthy of a pact."

Will's heart lightened, and Sheena' arms dropped from their defensive stance in disbelief. Volt said something else, and Raine said, "Sheena, he is impressed with your combat abilities and your courage, and would be honoured to form a pact with you. But he also warns that if you should ever betray his trust, he will not hesitate to destroy you."

"I understand," Sheena said breathlessly, clearly in shock over finally overcoming her childhood nightmare.

"State your vow," Raine said after Volt spoke again.

By this point Raine had reached them, and as Sheena stepped forward to make the vow, Raine knelt next to Presea. "Lloyd, help me move this rock."

"Right." He forced himself to his knees and moved back towards Presea, while Sheena was making her vow.

"For the sake of everyone who risked everything to protect me," she glance around at the assembled party, "and for everyone who's suffered during our journey...I want to save both worlds."

Volt spoke again, but Raine was too busy dealing with Presea to translate. Sheena glanced back at them nervously, but seemed to understand that Volt had accepted her vow.

Will moved the rock out of the way, grimacing at Presea's bloody and crushed leg. "You can heal her, right, Professor?"

Zelos and Genis joined them, and Raine nodded and held her staff out. "Yes, I believe so." She spent a few seconds casting, then said, "Healing Circle."

Blue light expanded in a radius around Presea, everything within glowing slightly. Will felt his owns pains fading away, even as Presea's leg was healed. The rest of the group received a similar pick-me-up, and Raine helped Presea to her feet. Her leg was still weak, so she leaned on Raine.

Will looked back to see that Volt had disappeared. Sheena had a look of shock on her face as she said, "It...it's done. Guys, I...I did it. I formed a pact with Volt."

Raine smiled at her. "We all had faith in you."

There was a puff of smoke, and Corrine appeared on her shoulder. "You did it, Sheena! I knew you could!"

She smiled warmly at him. "Thanks, Corrine."

Will was happy to see her with Corrine, happy to have saved her from the burden of her old friend dying. He just hoped he hadn't made another mistake. He didn't know how many more he could afford.

"Huh?" Genis said, and everyone looked back at where Volt had been. Two shining lights were glowing, hovering over the stage. Will had a feeling he knew what this was, and waited patiently as Volt reappeared, this time accompanied by Undine in all her topless glory.

"Undine?" Sheena said. "What are you doing here?"

"A link between the two worlds has been severed," Undine answered, though clearly that wasn't much of an explanation for the rest of the group, so she went on to say, "Two opposing forced of mana were severed."

Regal, who had by now climbed down from the balcony to stand with the group, asked, "What does it mean for the mana to be severed?"

Volt said something in his screechy voice, and Will really wished he would just stop killing their eardrums and leave this to Undine. Raine said, "Mana flows from the world in which the Summon Spirits are asleep to the world in which they are awake. So what has been the case for so long, from Sylvarant to Tethe'alla."

"Yes," Undine said. "But this is the first time the Summon Spirits have been awakened in both worlds at the same time. Because of this, mana connecting the two worlds together has been eliminated."

"The worlds are separated now?" Zelos asked, eyes wide.

"No," Undine said. "The worlds are still together, but the flow of mana between them has ceased."

Volt spoke, and Raine said, "Eventually, the two worlds will drift apart."

"That's just what we needed!" Genis said. "The two worlds will stop competing for each other's mana!"

"If we wake up all the seals in Tethe'alla," Will said, "that would sever the mana flow completely, right?"

Regal nodded. "That sounds like a good theory. Sylvarant could be saved without Tethe'alla falling into decline."

Undine said, "We do not know the exact details. This occurrence has never happened before. We do know, however, that if the mana connecting the worlds disappeared, they will separate."

There was another flash of light, and both she and Volt faded away into nothing. The group stood there in silence for a couple seconds, and then Zelos spoke. "Well...looks to me like we've got a plan."

"Indeed," Regal said. "If Sheena forms pacts with the rest of the Summon Spirits, the two worlds will stop vying for each other's mana. That is," he glanced at Sheena, "if you're willing to go through with more pacts."

Sheena immediately nodded. "Yes. Ever since I was little, my failure with Volt has haunted me. Now that I've formed a pact with him, I'm sure I can get the others as well."

"But," Will said, "making the pacts has to come second to rescuing Colette."

"Of course," Raine said. "Now that we've got Volt, we'll head to the Renegade base in Flanoir."

"We should leave tomorrow," Will said. "It's already pretty late. Let's camp here and set out in the morning."

The others agreed and they headed outside. It was already almost sundown, and they pulled their blankets out as Genis started gathering dry grass to start a fire. As Will rolled out his blanket on the grass, he suddenly felt something small and hard hit the back of his head.

He put his hand to his head in surprise and turned around, but didn't see anything. It seemed to have come from the direction of the temple, but what could it have been? A stray volt of electricity striking him for the lulz?

He ignored it and sat cross-legged on the blanket, watching Genis pull pots and pans out of the wing pack as he got dinner ready. As Will sat there, he felt it again, and this time when he turned around he noticed a small rock on his blanket. Something in the temple was throwing rocks at him.

It seemed to be more trying to get his attention than trying to hurt him, so he stood up and said, "I wanted to check something in the temple. I'll be right back."

"Be careful," Raine said. "Don't wander in too far."

"I know."

He headed back through the doorway and into the weird room of purple clouds and floating walkways. "Hello?" he called, looking around. His hands we ready to reach for his swords at any moment.

'Be careful, this might be a trap.'

'Yeah, I know. I'm being careful.'

"Hi!"

Will jumped in surprise as a puff of smoke appeared right in front of him and the Wonder Chef popped out, grinning like a jack-in-the-box. "Miss me?"

"Er..."

"Yeah, I knew you would. I'm very miss-able."

"Yes, I can tell."

"Anyways! To business!" Before Will could ask exactly what kind of business the Wonder Chef was talking about, the crazed cook swung his fork around and bashed Will in the head.

"Ow!" Will said, throwing his hand up to his throbbing skull. "What the hell was that for?"

"You shouldn't have let Corrine live," the Wonder Chef said in one of his few serious expressions. "He was supposed to die."

"I know, but I couldn't just stand there and let him die." He let his hand drop from his still-sore head. "It's not right."

"It doesn't matter if it's right! I thought you would have learned by now that people who are supposed to die have a tendency to become dead no matter what you do!"

"I couldn't let him die. I just couldn't."

The Wonder Chef hit him again, harder this time.

"Ow! Stop hitting me!" He clutched his aching head with both hands this time. "I know I'm not supposed to change things! Trust me, I know it's a bad idea. But I can't help it if I'm incapable of letting someone die! If you're capable of saving someone's life and choose not to, it's the same thing as killing them yourself."

"Willllll," the Wonder Chef whined. "That's all fine and dandy, but the universe is not going to let him live. Corrine is going to die; now it's just a question of when and where. You've created a ticking time bomb!"

"I'm sorry, alright?" Will said, still rubbing his head with one hand. "I just did what I thought was right."

"At least you had the sense to let Ellie get kidnapped."

"That's different," Will said. "I know she's going to be alright."

"Hmmm," the Wonder Chef said. "If I were you, I would hurry up and get those Rheairds. I mean, I don't want to give stuff away, but..."

"What? What do you mean? Is Ellie in danger?" His arm dropped as a bit of panic started to rise.

"Sorry, can't say any more. I must make my extravagant exit, like Batman! Only not, because Batman is stealthy like a ninja whereas I am flashy and awesome."

"Wait! Tell me what's wrong with Ellie!"

The Wonder Chef spun in a circle and pulled his cape around up to his face like Dracula, and in another puff of smoke, he was gone.

"Dammit!"

There was nothing else to do here. He turned around and headed back for the camp, wondering about Ellie. Was she really in trouble? But Colette was fine in the game... They were already doing everything they could to get the Rheairds, though.

Outside, he started walking back to the campfire when he saw someone climbing over the rocky hillside of the temple. He caught a flash of red hair and a pink cloak, and stopped walking. 'What's Zelos doing, creeping off by himself?'

'Hm...I don't know. You should follow him.'

'I was just thinking that.'

As stealthily as he could, Will crept over the rocks after Zelos. The tower had a wide base, and it looked just like a normal rocky hilly until it suddenly jutted up into a tower. Will dodged behind boulders as he tailed the Chosen.

Finally they reached the other side of the island, and Will ducked behind a large rock as Zelos hopped down off another one a few feet away. Will peeked around the edge of the rock, and was surprised to see Zelos strolling up to meet someone on the grassy strip between the temple and the sea.

"You're late," the man said, crossing his arms and scowling at Zelos.

"Sorry, did you want me to bring the rest of them to meet you too, Yuan?"

"Hmph," Yuan said, and Will wondered if he'd picked that up from Kratos over the years. Or had it been vice-versa? "Enough chit-chat. Do you want to explain to me that stunt you pulled at the Fooji Mountains?"

"Ah," Zelos said, absent-mindedly fiddling with a strand of his hair. "Figured that was what you wanted to talk about."

"What the hell was that all about, Chosen?" Yuan growled. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"Aw, geeze, Yuan. I thought you would be the type to understand the need for long-term plans." Yuan gave Zelos an irritated look, and Zelos continued. "By saving poor little Lloyd at the Fooji Mountains, I have successfully gained his – and the others' – trust. Think about it. If I had just stood there and let you take him, the others would hardly let me stick around."

Will listened in disbelief as Zelos talked. 'Poor little Lloyd'? What the hell was that? And gaining his trust? These past few weeks, when they'd actually been getting along, joking, being something almost like friends...was Zelos just faking it to earn his trust? But then, maybe Zelos was lying to Yuan now, and he was just trying to cover his ass. Dammit, whose side was Zelos on?

While Will furiously muddled this over, Yuan asked, "And once I have Lloyd, what makes you think I still need you to be with the others?"

"Just in case," Zelos said, lowering his arm and crossing them just like Yuan. "What if something goes wrong? What if Lloyd escaped? From what I've heard, he's already escaped from your base twice."

Yuan scowled at the memory and Will felt a bit smug about himself.

"Don't you think it would be useful to keep someone with Lloyd's group as a back up? And now that I've 'saved' him from you once, they won't doubt me if I 'accidently' lead him right to you another time."

"Hm," Yuan said. "Very well. In the future, though, I'd like you to clear your plans with me first before implementing them."

"Right, right, will do. Sorry about the confusion."

"Do you have any information for me?"

Will waited with bated breath. He didn't want to believe that Zelos was really betraying them, but he needed to know.

"We're on our way to the Flanoir Base."

Dammit.

"Our intention is to sneak in and steal the Rheairds. We set out tomorrow, so we'll probably be there in a few days."

Yuan nodded. "Thank you, Chosen. I'll prepare accordingly."

He turned around and stretched out his pink wings before taking wing and leaving the island. Zelos stood there and watched him go for a couple seconds, then turned and headed back camp.

Rather disheartened, Will followed suit.


'I'm going to die.'

'Don't worry, Ellie. I'm sure we'll think of something. You got so close to escaping last time; I'm sure you can do it.'

Ellie hung limply on the wall. She was exhausted and didn't have the energy to stay on her feet, so she put up with the strain on her wrists and just hung slack. She hadn't eaten in days or slept in almost as long. She couldn't get a good look to know for sure, but she was pretty certain the CACI had spread to take up most of her shoulder by now, too. She was tired, in pain, and starving and to top it off, Rodyle had gleefully informed her this morning that the Mana Cannon would be completed today. In less than an hour, he would try to use her to power it and when he realised it wasn't working, he was going to kill her.

'It's my stupid fault,' she thought numbly. 'If I hadn't pissed him off, he wouldn't be so eager to kill me.'

'I'm sorry,' Colette said.

'It's not your fault.' She was too exhausted to even be annoyed at her.

'I'm sorry that I can't help.'

Ellie just sighed. She wondered if Rodyle would be nice enough to give her a last meal, though she doubted it. A delicious cake would be heaven right now. One thing she really wanted more than cake, though, was to see Will one last time. She needed to talk to him. She needed to tell him that didn't hate him, that she loved him and was just pissed off.

It was Will's fault that she was here, but now, here at the end, she found she didn't care. She knew Will had had no idea that it would turn out this bad and he was just trying to do the right thing. After all, every other time he changed something bad stuff happened, so she could see where he was coming from. She still didn't agree that letting her get kidnapped was a good thing, but Will wasn't trying to hurt her.

Being so close to death put everything into perspective. It didn't matter that Will was made mistakes and freaked out over everything, because he was Will and she just wanted to see him again and have him hold her and tell her everything would be alright. She couldn't stand dying with Will thinking she hated him.

The door swung open, and Ellie forced her head up from her chest. Rodyle was grinning as he walked across the room and rubbed his hands together. Ellie felt fear thudding in her chest; Rodyle being happy could not be a good thing.

"Guess what, Chosen?" he said as he neared her. "I believe my Mana Cannon is complete! It's time for your single use in life."

He stood right in front of her now, and though Rodyle hadn't bothered gagging her she found she couldn't form any words to insult him. What did it matter? Her mouth was what got her in this trouble in the first place. Telling Rodyle he was a jackass wasn't going to get him to spare her life and she wouldn't allow herself to resort to begging.

"What's that?" Rodyle said. "No comments?"

The best she could do was keep a steady gaze with him, but she was afraid she looked more pathetic than threatening. At least she wasn't crying, though that may be because she hadn't had anything to drink in days and was very dehydrated. She hated this feeling of being weak. There was nothing worse than being helpless.

Rodyle smirked. "Such a shame you finally learned to hold your tongue on the day you're going to die."

The lab door flew open once again, and Rodyle angrily turned around to see who it was. A Desian stood in the doorway and shouted, "Sir! You have a visitor!"

"A what?" Rodyle snapped. "I haven't approved any visitations to my ranch!"

The visitor in question strolled through the door and shoved the Desian aside. Ellie stared at the floor, and didn't even realise who it was until he spoke. "Is that how you respect your lord, Rodyle?"

Ellie's head snapped up and she stared at Yggdrasill, walking casually across the lab towards Rodyle. The Cardinal immediately fell to his knees only a few feet away from Ellie and said, "I meant no disrespect, my lord. I – I didn't realise-"

"Oh, shut up," Yggdrasill said as he reached the kneeling man.

"My lord, how may I be of service?" Rodyle kept his eyes trained on Yggdrasill's feet, While Ellie found herself staring dumbly at his face. Yggdrasill didn't seem to even notice her, though.

"You pathetic fool," Yggdrasill said, and raised his hand. He flicked his fingers and released a blast Ellie remembered seeing him use on Will at the Tower. Rodyle flew backwards several feet and landed hard on the floor. He looked up with terror on his face at Yggdrasill looming over him.

"Did you really think you could deceive me?" Yggdrasill asked.

"I – I don't know what you're talking about, my lord."

"You really thought you could hide a Mana Cannon from me? Please, Rodyle, don't insult my intelligence. They're rather large and hard to miss. Furthermore," at this point Yggdrasill turned to her, and caught her staring right at him. She quickly diverted her eyes and stared at the floor. "The Chosen herself is right there. You know I need her for Martel's vessel, so would you care to explain why, if you are still loyal to me, you've allowed her to reach this condition? I will not bring Martel back only for her to die due to negligence towards her host."

Rodyle opened and closed his mouth with a flustered look on his face. Ellie found herself cheering Yggdrasill on, but quickly told herself to stop. In the Tower, she'd seen him hurt Will really bad; there was no way she could root for him. Still, it was very nice to see that bastard Rodyle get his comeuppance.

" My – my lord!" Rodyle stammered. "I didn't mean-"

"What's that? You didn't mean to betray me? I'm disappointed in you, Rodyle. Disappointed that you actually thought you could get away with this without my finding out."

"My lord..." Rodyle said.

"You worthless failure," Yggdrasill said. Light started to glow around his feet, shimmering back in the reflection on Rodyle's glasses. "Be thankful I am sparing your life, you miserable dreck. Holy Lance!"

Rodyle screamed as bright light engulfed him and Ellie watched in awe as Yggdrasill casually raised his hand and the Eternal Sword faded into existence. Before Holy Lance had fully died down, Yggdrasill slashed his sword at Rodyle. Ellie averted her eyes as the sword sliced across Rodyle's face, causing blood to poor down the side of his face. Yggdrasill stared down at the Cardinal with an apathetic face and said, "Maybe next time you'll think twice before trying to betray Lord Yggdrasill."

Ellie only realised she was gaping at the scene when Yggdrasill turned his full attention to her. She immediately snapped her mouth closed and tried to keep herself from shaking. Yggdrasill had just attacked Rodyle and he needed her alive for Martel, so he wouldn't hurt her, right? Right?

He raised his hands to her wrists, and she glanced up to see what he was doing. Her chest was pounding with him so close, and she was very aware that he could kill her effortlessly right now if he wanted to.

There was a flash of light and a snap, and the cuffs on her wrists flew apart. She dropped, her legs feeling wobbly and not up for supporting her, but Yggdrasill easily caught her under the arms and lowered her to her knees. Then he unlocked her ankles and said, "Follow me, Chosen."

He turned around and stalked across the lab, leaving Ellie on her knees. She glanced over at Rodyle, who was bleeding profusely and panting for breath. When he caught her looking, he gave her a deadly glare, telling her quite clearly that he wished to murder her right then and there.

Yggdrasill was already halfway across the room, though, and despite the fact that she was scared senseless of him, it was either go with the guy who needed her to survive or stay here with the guy who wanted to kill her slowly and painfully.

Using the wall for support, she forced herself to her feet. Her head spun and she felt rather faint, but she took a stumbling step forward anyways. The room seemed to be spinning and it was all she could do to not collapse right there. She heard Rodyle force a laugh, and if she had the strength she'd have marched over there and smacked him for laughing at her weakness.

She was just so tired...she hadn't had more than a couple hours' sleep here and there in weeks and when she took another step the world twisted out from under her and the next thing she knew she was on her butt.

Yggdrasill had noticed that she was having trouble following and returned to help her. He effortlessly picked her up, carrying her with one arm under her knees and the other on her back. She was being carried like a doll by Yggdrasill, once again weak and pathetic and helpless. God, why was she so useless?

They went back out to the hallway and Desians immediately froze when they saw them, snapping to attention. Yggdrasill ignored them, and Ellie, though she was trying to stay awake and hopefully get enough strength back to walk herself, inexplicably found her head resting on Yggdrasill's chest and her eyes flickering closed.

No, she had to stay awake! At least when she was awake she was aware of the situation and could impart some semblance of influence, but if she fell asleep she would be totally incapable of doing anything useful!

'Don't fight it, Ellie,' Colette said. 'You really need sleep and your body's trying to tell you that.'

'But...but Yggdrasill! I can't...'

'Don't worry, I don't think he'll hurt you. He needs you for Martel, right?'

She was struggling to stay conscious, and by now her eyes refused to open. She didn't want to fall asleep in Yggdrasill's arms – how twisted was that? – but for the life of her she couldn't stay awake. A minute later, she had given up completely and fell asleep.


When Ellie awoke, the first thing she saw was the flickering of a fire. She could hear the wood crackling as it burned and felt a soft blanket of some sort on her neck. None of this changed the fact that her whole body ached all over, but it did help.

At first she was confused. Wasn't she in Rodyle's ranch? Shouldn't she be waking up to find herself hanging from the wall in a garishly-bright lab? Instead, she was wrapped in a blanket at a campsite of some sort.

Then everything came rushing back. She had escaped! She was free! Well...not escaped so much as been 'rescued' by her nemesis like a wimpy damsel in distress, and not free so much as in the custody of Lord Yggdrasill...but it was in improvement.

Oh god, how bad had she felt at the ranch that being with Yggdrasill was an improvement?

She wanted to see where they were exactly, and didn't like the thought that there could be swarms of angels surrounding her at this very minute without her knowing.

'There aren't.'

'Ok, thanks Colette. Nice to know.'

Still she pushed off the blanket and sat up, arching her back a bit to stretch. All of her muscles were sore and she still had a cut on her arm from the window that had just scabbed over because Rodyle refused to heal it. Her clothes were a filthy mess too, but that was less important to her right now than how generally crappy she felt.

She spotted Yggdrasill easily enough. He sat on the other side of the fire, arms on his knees, staring up at the night sky. He noticed her move, and turned his head to look at her but didn't say anything.

"Ugh..." she moaned, rubbing her eyes. "Where are we?"

"North of Palmacosta."

Now that she knew, she sort of recognised the area. They hadn't been here in months, though. "Why?" she asked. "Where are you taking me?" Her hands weren't bound or anything, so was Yggdrasill not treating her as a prisoner? Or maybe he was just confident enough in his abilities to prevent her from escaping?

"To the Tower of Salvation," he said simply. "We lack a Rheaird, so the only way to get you back to Tethe'alla is to take you to Welgaia and then go back out through the Tower in that world."

"You're taking me back?" she asked, blinking in surprise.

Without answering, Yggdrasill stood up, grabbed something, and walked around the fire. "Here," he said, setting down a cup of water and a loaf of bread. "Drink something before you pass out again." He returned to his seat on the other side of the fire and stared into the flickering flames.

"Th-thanks," she said, gulping down the entire cup of water in one drink. It felt so good running down her parched throat. "Um, do you have any more?"

Yggdrasill glanced up, rolled his eyes, and then tossed over a wineskin full of water. Ellie greedily gulped this down as well, interspersed with taking huge bites of bread. It was so good, but having dinner with Yggdrasill was probably the weirdest experience of her life.

She swallowed and downed it with more water, then said, "Do you know where my chakrams are?"

Yggdrasill shook his head. "Somewhere back in the ranch. And before you ask, no, under no circumstances will I be returning to get them for you."

She closed her mouth before he finished speaking, then immediately opened it again. "Will you go to Palmacosta and get me new ones?" She didn't even care that the chakrams Rodyle had confiscated were Devil's Arms. She didn't care about those specific chakrams, she just needed a weapon. She'd been helpless for five weeks; she couldn't stand being defenceless any longer.

"No," Yggdrasill said dryly. "You will have to make do without a weapon until you reunite with your team and they can take care of you."

"So...you're taking me back to Tethe'alla?" She changed topics to address her next major concern, but the aching need for a weapon (something! Anything! She just wanted to be able to protect herself on her own) remained on a very large back burner in her mind.

"Yes."

"Um, not that I'm complaining... but why? I mean, aren't you trying to use me for Martel or something?"

"You are currently suffering from Chronic Angelus Crystallization Inofficium. I wouldn't bring Martel back in a body that's going to die soon, and there's no point in me wasting my time healing you when I know your friends will take care of that anyway."

"Oh," she said between bites. "So...um...why'd you rescue me?"

"The idiot was going to kill you," Yggdrasill said. "That would ruin everything."

"For what? Martel? She rejected you last time; what makes you think she'll be happy with your plan this time around?"

Yggdrasill scowled at her, and for a second Ellie was afraid she'd gone too far. Her and her stupid mouth, always getting into trouble.

"And why should I explain my plan to you?"

She shrugged. "Fair enough. But...thank you."

"Hm."

She finished the bread and set the empty wineskin down on the grass. "Hey, you don't have any healing magic, do you?"

He shook his head. "No. It was my sister who focused on healing."

Yggdrasill was still staring at the fire, but the look on his face had turned very pensive and sorrowful. "You really love your sister, don't you?"

"Yes," he said quietly, and Ellie felt a bit bad about bringing up what was clearly a touchy subject. But hey, this was the guy who orchestrated the genocide of humanity. He didn't deserve tact. "She was everything to me."

"Geeze, I wish my younger sibling treated me with that much respect. Mine just sits around the house, complaining about me and listening to the Jonas Brothers. Obnoxious, little, ungrateful brat."

"Stop complaining; of course Beth loves you. She just doesn't show it very often."

"Sure, right," Ellie said, rolling her eyes. "Just because you loved your big sister doesn't mean...wait." Her mind ran back to what Yggdrasill had just said. Beyond the utter weirdness that was Yggdrasill talking to her about her sister, there was something else, too. Her expression turned deadly serious as she asked coolly, "How do you know Beth's name?"

Yggdrasill finally looked up from the fire. "You said it earlier," he replied.

"No, I didn't."

"Clearly you did, or else how would I know her name?"

"That's what I want to know!" She stared at Yggdrasill, trying to figure him out. His face was impassive, as unconcerned as if she'd accused him of taking the last doughnut. "What else do you know about me?" she demanded. If he knew Beth's name...did he know where she lived? Did he know who her parents were?

"I don't know anything, Chosen," Yggdrasill said. "Stop jumping to conclusions."

"What am I supposed to think? I don't think I even said my sibling was a sister! You know who I am. You know who my family is. All this time I thought I was here because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but you – you planned this! You were watching me! You picked me!"

"Don't be daft," Yggdrasill said, his face still betraying no emotion.

"Why did you pick me?"

"Settle down. You're going to hurt yourself."

"Why did you pick me?"

"Chosen!" he yelled, finally allowing emotion in his voice. Ellie immediately snapped her mouth closed, in awe at how frightening Yggdrasill could be when he was angry. "Just because you don't recall mentioning your sister's name doesn't mean your inclusion in this journey is a grand conspiracy. You are weak and you are injured, and if you don't settle down you're going to pass out again so calm down and shut up."

Ellie said nothing, just stared at him for a bit without even realising her mouth was open slightly.

'You should listen to him,' Colette said. 'You don't want to get him mad.'

'Yeah, I...I think I've learned that.'

"So..." she said, looking down at the grass. "What's the plan?"

"Do you feel fit to travel?"

"I guess."

"Good. The flight to the Tower of Salvation will probably take a few days. There's no point in delaying any longer, so get up and get ready to go."