Chapter 14

Ruin

Sunrays shining through the stain glass windows, woke Raine up. Rubbing some sleep from her eyes, she was surprised to see Colette wide awake, starting the campfire back up again to go make some tea or coffee.

"Morning, professor. Did you sleep well?" The girl chimed happily, looking over to her.

"Uh, yes. Why are you up, Colette? You should be the one resting. Lloyd is the watch." Raine looked over, finding the teen fast asleep. To her utter surprise, he was even snoring. Even louder then Genis did.

"I am feeling fine, professor. He needed rest after all he did for us, don't you think?"

"Well yes. I can't deny he received some hard hits. But I thought..." Raine shook her head, letting go of the rest of the sentence. She wanted to remark she'd heard the teen was never seen sleeping. Just standing, in the middle of the road going out of Iselia. That was just stupid. Every person needed sleep, after all. That was just human nature.

"Want some tea?"

"Huh? Oh yes, thank you." Raine let go of her train of thoughts as well, as she took the steaming mug Colette offered to her. She looked the girl over.

"Are you sure, you are alright? You don't have to keep anything from me." Since she already knew, what was going to come.

"I really feel fine, pro... Raine." The girl showed her a smile, a real one.

"Alright. If something is the matter, or on your mind, please let me know."

Colette nodded to her teacher and mother figure. "I will."

"You wake up the boys, I will get started on breakfast."

"Sure thing." The girl wouldn't tell her no. She knew Raine loved to experiment with food.

First, she gently shook Genis awake, who looked sleepy still, letting out a long yawn. He was roughly woken up before after all. Because of that, he had some trouble getting back to sleep again. Colette then walked over to Lloyd and did the same.

It took a few more shakes; the teen seemed to be in a very deep sleep. Lloyd set straight up, looking lost for a moment or two. Then his eyes dulled down, getting that void look back again. Colette bit her lip, squeezing his hand for a moment.

"Everything alright, Lloyd?"

Just a look, just a nod. She tried to find that light she swore she'd seen before. The short, worried looks, any of that. Lloyd just moved on, however. He walked over to Raine, who was holding up a plate with a sandwich for him to have.

"We are still going back to Luin, right?" Genis informed. He made a face while having his own taste of the sandwich. What did his sister put in it? It tasted very strange.

"Of course, we have to bring back the key."

"Where do we go from there? The hint Remiel gave us was as vague as ever."

"A place that desires death. Hm." Raine cupped her chin in thought.

"Sounds creepy." Colette said, sipping her tea.

Genis nodded in agreement to that, he didn't like the sound of it in the slightest. "What's to the south-east of here?"

"Well, there is Asgard. I know for a fact an ancient ruin is there." Raine's eyes started to sparkle at the thought of it.

"Oh boy." The boy sighed. "At the very least we should check it out, I suppose."

Chuckling, Colette nodded in agreement. After the somewhat questionable breakfast, they cleaned up their camp as much as possible. Packing up, they moved out of the tower, making sure to lock it behind them.

It was still early in the morning; the sun was starting to rise above the mountains, lighting their way back towards Luin. The road was quiet because of it being so early. However, the peace didn't last for very long.

Colette let out a shocked gasp, as she stopped all of the sudden and covered her mouth. Her eyes were wide as she stared ahead.

"Colette, what's the matter? Is it your sickness? Do you need to sit down?" Genis was quick to ask.

"N-no. The city... Luin is burning!"

"What are you-" Before he could even say more, the girl started to run on ahead.

The others had no choice but to follow. For them, the city wasn't even visible yet. They did not understand what Colette was talking about. But finally, after running for a bit, they saw it. Thick plumes of dark smoke rose from the settlement as it came into view.

Getting closer, signs of destruction became clearer. The bridge leading into the settlement, was broken up, holes showing the lake below. They were careful to cross it, and had another surprise; the female assassin was there, in front of the fountain which was also destroyed.

She looked very roughed up, however. Her clothing was cut up in several places, and her face had blood running over it. She was on her knees, panting, seemingly exhausted. Colette wanted to approach, but Raine was quick to pull her back, shaking her head.

The assassin looked up. "Great, it's you guys. Go on, finish me off." She panted. "I got no more strength left to fight."

At this, Lloyd stepped up, drawing one of his swords. She closed her eyes in wait for the ending blow as Colette called out in protest. A swoop and a clang, the blow was dealt. But she didn't feel anything. Opening her eyes, she had to look over her shoulder to spot the teen. A monster dropped at the deadly stab and disappeared right after. He...protected her?

"Professor, please! We should help her. Heal her, please." Colette pleaded after a sigh of relief.

Raine took a moment, not to sure why the teen did what he did. Not too long ago he would have just killed her. "I will, but first tell us what happened here. This could be a trap."

"Heh, you are as devious as you look." The assassin's dark eyes rested on Raine.

"Call me whatever you like. You are in no position to argue." Raine remarked, looking down on her.

She huffed. "Take a look at this city. Everything's in ruin. The Desians invaded."

"That's horrible. Why?" Genis wanted to know.

"Do you know about the human ranch northeast of here? The people of this city had been hiding some folks who escaped from the ranch. The Desians found out about it, and not only was the entire population forced to go to the ranch, but the city was destroyed."

"So, how were you injured?" Colette was curious to know.

"I tried to defend them. But I couldn't do much on my own."

"Humf!" a small voice piped up. The small, yellow fox showed up next to her and looked at her in anger.

"Sorry, Corrine. That's not what I meant. You helped." The young woman managed a small smile, even with her wounds.

"Professor." Big, begging blue eyes were set on Raine. "She clearly has a good heart. She tried to protect the people here. Please, heal her."

Raine let out a deep sigh. "You have big a heart, Colette. Too big for your own good. But fine."

She didn't want to go against the girl's wishes, so she used her healing magic on the assassin. Colette went to stand next to her and even offered the young woman a hand.

"Why... are you so nice? I tried to kill you."

"I'm sure you have your reasons." Colette just showed her sweet smile. "What's your name?"

"Uh, Sheena. Sheena Fujibayashi. Listen, I know it's a selfish, unreasonable thing to say at this point, but um…I have a favor to ask of you."

"You can't be serious." Raine looked at her with a strict expression, crossing her arms.

"I owe the people of this city for food and lodging. Please. Help me save these people. If you agree, I'll declare a truce with you and help in any way I can."

"I do not think so."

"Professor!" Colette looked at her upset.

"We are on a very important journey, in case you forgot, Colette." Raine shot back.

"How can we be on a journey to save the world if we don't even save the people right in front of us? That just isn't right!"

It was rare for Colette to raise her voice, but this time she did. It was clear where her priorities were. Genis looked around. He did not spot any people, the settlement seemed to be completely emptied out. What was even worse, he realized; "The children are gone too."

Sheena's eyes widened at this remark. She looked around too. Lloyd had leaned down to pick something up at the same time. They all looked at it; it was a teddy bear, with a ripped off arm and missing an eye.


Not long after this, they were all heading towards the north, going straight for the ranch. They agreed that the people needed to be saved and Sheena happened to know a sneaky way in. She explained she was already planning on infiltrating before, to free some of the people.

Raine still wasn't contend with this outcome. It was understandable; the young women seemed intent on killing not too long ago. But she was overruled by Genis and Colette. Even Lloyd did not protest in any way. This was frustrating and surprising, but she just had to go along with it, deciding keeping a close eye on the assassin. And just hope she'd be true to her word.

On the outskirts of the Desian Human Ranch, there turned out to be a large vent. They could make use of this to get in. "I'll have Corrine go in and scout ahead. If we do this carefully, we can maybe get the people out without even getting noticed." Sheena explained her plan.

The little fox creature appeared, gave her a nod and headed on into the vent. Raine had a curious look on her face. "Just what is that little creature?"

"You don't wanna answer that, trust me. She'll just want to examine him." Genis remarked with a sigh.

Not too long after, the small creature came back. "There seems to be some commotion; its distracting a lot of the guards."

"That is just perfect. Let's take advantage of that and head on in."

The others nodded to Sheena's words. They let her go in first, followed by Raine, Genis, Colette and last was Lloyd. The vent wasn't all too tight or a long crawl, thankfully. They ended up in a room with some machinery. A window giving view of a much larger room beyond.

All the while, the alarm was going off. This was even before they reached the inside of the building. "I wonder was is going on." Genis said. "And if this really is in our favor."

"I think so. While the alert is on something else, we can just go under their radar and set the people free." His sister remarked.

Right then, three people came running into the room from the other side. Two were in the very known Desian get-up, while the one in the middle was looking very familiar.

"Hey, that's the guy from the temple!" Genis recognised the man who had been addressed to as Botta.

"The Chosen, here of all places. Now this is amusing." His dark eyes moved from the blond girl to Lloyd. "I believe it would be in both our interests not to fight here."

Raine raised her brow. "You seem to be the ones causing the alert, yet you are Desians. Why?"

"Sir, we need to go." One of the men opted.

Botta looked mostly at Raine, because she was blocking their way. "You are here for the people of Luin, are you not? Just getting them out will not be enough. They will just come back again and again. You will need to make a bigger impact."

The professor's frown only deepened at this remark. Was he really suggesting what she thinks he was? Before she could ask however, she was shoved out of the way as the three ran for the exit. How very rude!

"I think we need to hurry, make use of the distraction while we still can," opted Sheena.

"Yes, but he did make a good point. Just saving the people isn't enough." Raine remarked.

"Then what do you wanna do, sis?"

"Make a bigger impact, meaning, destroying the ranch."

"T-that's crazy!" Sheena called out in shock.

"Is it? As that man said, they will just keep coming. If we really want to make a difference," Raine looked at Colette, "we have to go all the way."

The blond girl folder her hands together in front of her chest, and nodded. "We have to do our very best, to save as many people as we can."

"Yeah!" Genis called out. Lloyd gave a firm nod.

"You all are crazy... But I know you are also right, so I wont make a fuss. How are going to do this?" Sheena informed.

"I think we should split up. Some of us need to get the people out, so they will not get hurt. I want to take a closer look at the system setup. Maybe I can make it self-destruct."

"I would like to free the people." Colette said straight away.

"Yeah, me too." Genis chimed in. "Oh, but we don't really know the way."

This was true; it would be very useful to know where they were going. Raine did spot a terminal in the room, so she approached it. Her hand moved quick and she seemed to find the 3D map almost effortlessly. When this showed up, Sheena and Genis shared a look of sheer surprise.

"How did you do that? I thought only the Desians over here know how to work that kind of tech." Sheena couldn't help but wonder.

"Huh, what do you mean, 'over here'?" Genis looked at her with a deep frown.

"Uh, never mind that! Let's quickly get that map in our mind so we know where to go. Shall I join the rescue team?" The assassin quickly changed subject.

The professor was not too sure on letting Colette and Genis just go in their own. And her choices were an assassin and well, Lloyd. Sure, the teen had proven himself to be strong, so she did not doubt him as much anymore. But she really was not comfortable with letting Sheena go either with her little brother and Colette, nor herself.

Seeing the look on Raine's face, the young woman let out a sigh. "I know this is hard, but you just have to trust me. I promise not to do anything to Colette, alright?"

"Sis, please. Time isn't on our side."

"Very well." The professor bit her lip. "You go with Genis and Colette. Lloyd, you come with me."

The teen nodded to her and so, they separated into two groups, agreeing that they would meet back up in the plains just south of the ranch when all was done.

There was still chaos, the alarm was blaring over their head. Still, it seemed to Raine that there were not that many Desians running around as one would expect in a ranch. Did most of them leave after the assault on Luin? Why, for what reason?

She mulled this over, as they entered the big room the window was giving view off. There were big conveyor belts going around, carrying large containers to an unknown location. People seemed to be on another one, high above their heads. She was curious of course, but this was hardly the right time to go in research mode.

With the map clear in her mind (it actually was pretty straight forward), they went along side these belts. Some Desians did spot them, even outnumbering more with one more person. But Lloyd showed his unbelievable strength once again. He almost took them all done in no more than two hits; one for each of his swords.

This boy never seizes to amaze me, Raine thought to herself. Thanks to the Exsphere, she was finally able to use a light-based spell she could sling at opponents, but it wasn't even necessary. Lloyd was too quick and really all she could do was give support. No one ever come close to hitting him!

The questions just piled up for Raine, and most frustrating off all, she knew the teen would not answer them. The scholar in her was screaming in need of knowledge. She had no choice but to set it aside, for the time being. Maybe Colette is right and it just needs time, before the boy really opens up.

The main command centre was open. This was odd, but maybe this happened because of whatever was going on. Raine looked over the many buttons and screens. One would think it would be overwhelming. But not for her; she went to work right away, tackling the machines with an amazing expertise.

Because the room had only one door, it was easy to guard. Lloyd just kept his bright red eyes on that while he let the elven woman work. After just a couple of inputs, six Desians ran in.

"Stop what you are doing! You are outnumbered, step away from that!" One of the men demanded, aiming his crossbow at Raine.

She staggered; they were clearly in a bad spot. This was an actual dead end, they had nowhere to run. Raine wanted to do as she was told, cooperate so that maybe they would be spared. But then, there was a bright glow, that seemed to be coming straight from Lloyd's Exsphere.

He held up his swords against each other, a blue aura seemingly omitting from him. A large circle appeared on the floor, rich with powerful mana. While it lit up, individual orbs of light in different coloured swirled around the teen. Lloyd jumped up while he swung his swords towards his opponents. As he came down, the tips of his swords were a ball of light. And with the downward slash came an explosion of energy, making an 'X' from within the circle; Falcon Crest.

This incredible attack, brought all the Desians down, falling to the ground and lying motionless. Raine's mouth was agape as she stared at the teen. The lights and the glow in his Exsphere had faded, as he just stood there, head slightly down as if checking if the men were really out. Then he moved his head to look at Raine, who couldn't help stepping back a little after that show of absolute sheer, intimidating power.

Impossible. There was no way, a young man, a teenage boy could hold such power! That just didn't make sense. How, why? Who was he really?

"Professor." Lloyd said it typically slow, while he eyes went on to set on the terminal behind her.

"O-oh. Right." Trying to shake off the shock, Raine turned back to it. Some more inputs, and she was able to set it up. "Ten minutes, counting down now. Let's hurry and go."

He nodded and the two of them started running. It seemed to be even more of a chaos; probably because their rescue team had broken out the prisoners. The Desians were further scattered around, so they only encountered a couple and again were easy to deal with.

Raine had to trust her little brother and the others did succeed and got out. This proved to be the case not much later, as they were leaving the ranch. People were standing outside, all in the typical clothing (or rather cloth) ranches would give their prisoners. They all still had shackles around their wrists and looked scared.

"Genis!" She spotted her little brother, talking to a little girl. Sheena and Colette were there too and they all turned towards the two.

"Sis, we did our part. It was easy, hehe!" Genis had a proud smile. "How about you?"

"Yes... I was able to set up for the ranch to self-destruct. We should move farther away."

"Right, of course. Come this way, everyone! We need to clear this area now!" Colette called out.

The people of Luin did not really question this and just did what they were asked. A quick count of all the head, Raine came to about eighty people; around about the normal count for bigger settlements. This was a good sign.

They went to the field. The ranch ended up blowing up not much later. Luckily all they felt was the tremors and some wind from the force of the blast. The professor now took the time to look over the people.

"Are there any wounded?"

"N-no. We are fine. Just shaken." One of the people answered.

Completely understandable, of course. Still, Raine wondered; "How many Desians come to Luin? Can you make a rough estimate?"

"Hm. Maybe about a hundred?" Another one of the people guessed. "Thank you for saving us. And even taking down the ranch. We really are in your debt."

"No, no. We wanted to help, it was our pleasure." Colette said with a smile.

How odd, Raine thought to herself. I am fairly sure not that many of them were in the ranch. Was it as she thought? Did they just come to take the people of Luin and then moved on again?

Sheena looked at the professor. "I know what you are thinking, because I'm thinking the same. It's odd they just leave the ranch to so few Desians to run."

"Huh?" Genis looked to the two women. "Oh, I suppose we barely ran into them while going through the place. But I think we should just be thankful for that."

"Maybe. It does mean a large number of Desians is still around, and there is a possibility we run in to them while on our journey." His big sister remarked.

At that, his smile quickly faded. That really didn't sound good. Meanwhile, a small girl approached Sheena and pulled softly at the hem of her Kimono like attire.

"Sheena?" she asked with a small voice.

Sheena turned to her and knelled down, to be at the same eye-level. "Hey little Rose. Are you okay, are you hurt?"

"N-no. Not hurt. I'm...I lost something." Rose said with tears running down her cheeks.

"Don't cry. What have you lost? Maybe we can go and find it."

"It, it was my-my-my teddy." She said between sniffs.

Sheena tilted her head, not really catching what the little girl was saying. Her tears only became more intense.

"Teddy! He-he was my-my little f-friend."

Unexpected, Lloyd came closer. In his hand, he held the roughed-up teddy bear, which he reached out to the little girl. Little Rose looked at him first, still a bit scared. But when she saw what he was holding, that was gone an instant.

"Teddy!" She wiped away her tears and took the bear to hug it closely. "I missed you! I was all alone."

With a curious look, Sheena eyed the brown-haired teen standing next to her. His eyes were still disconcerting red and void. Not even a smile, just a stoic face. Just what was up with this guy?

"Rose, what do you say?"

"Thank you, mister! Thank you, thank you."

Little Rose went on to hug the teen's leg. Sheena found it pretty cute, standing back up straight again. That was when she spotted something different about the teen.

Deep, deep inside dark depths of nothingness, another crack was made.

There was emotion in those blood red eyes. Unexpected on its own, it was also one that you would not expect to see; sadness. It just lasted for a moment, after which the void returned as if nothing had happened. No other reaction, Lloyd just was not moving.

"We should get going. All of you need to go back to Luin." Raine said then.

"Luin? But it has been destroyed." One of the people said sadly.

"I understand, but we have to move on and go to Asgard. It is too dangerous for you all to join us all that way. We will inform the people there once we arrive. They will surely send help and materials to fix your settlement back to its former glory."

They really had anything to fight this logic, so most of the people just nodded. And then they started walking, the main party taking the lead. That was except for Lloyd, because the professor had asked him to walk behind, to watch their backs.

"So, you don't mind me coming along, right? As I said before we went into this, I am going to help out in any way I can." Sheena opted, looking at both the professor and Colette.

"Of course, we'd be happy to have you. Welcome to the party!" The blond girl said with a wide smile.

Raine let out a sigh, but she really was in no place to argue. "If you swear not to try to harm Colette ever again. Or any of us for that matter."

"Yes, of course. I swear on my honor as a ninja."

Good enough, she supposed. Looking at Colette and her little brother, she inquired: "Did you run into any trouble back there?"

"No, not really. The few Desians we encountered we easily took care off because we were with three people. Sheena fights amazing, you really should see her!" Colette answered enthusiastic.

"Ah you're just saying that." The young woman disregarded seemingly shy.

"No, no. Not at all. What about you, professor? Did you two run into trouble?"

"Well, in a way." Raine looked ahead as she thought back to the moment they seemed to be cornered. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn't have believed it.

"Sis?" Genis looked up at her worried. "You weren't hurt, were you?"

"No. Nothing like that. What matters that we did what we had set out to do. Now, you do agree we should move on to the next seal, right Colette?"

"Uh, yes. Of course, professor." There was little room to argue.

"So, we guide the people back to Luin and move on to Asgard, right? We will have our rest there?" Sheena informed.

"Are you still up for that? You were the one who fought Desians in Luin already." Colette asked, a worried look to the young woman.

"Ah, hehe. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"We will see then. If there is a need for it, we can stop along the way to have a short rest." The professor concluded.

"Hey, it is getting close to lunch time. I think we should at least make a stop for that." Genis argued.

He did make a good point, so his older sister nodded in agreement. "We will then, once we have guided the people back home."

A broken home, but this could not be helped. A sad and worried expression was on all four of their faces at that thought. Sheena's shifted to curiosity soon after.

"So, I've been wondering, how do you all know each other? I mean, obviously you two are siblings." She looked between Genis and Raine.

"Jup. I was born and raised in Iselia. Professor Raine was the teacher there, and Genis was with me in the same class." Colette said with a happy smile.

"I see. And what about Lloyd?"

"He appeared about a month before the oracle came. He helped out around the town, doing some heavy work. I figure he just needed to make money."

"Huh? So, he just randomly showed up one day?"

"Yeah, honestly I found it weird too. And he even didn't talk, so we didn't know his name at first." Genis remarked, folding his hands behind his head.

"Genis, I do believe now that Colette is right. He just needs time to open up. We need to give him that opportunity. He has been an unmissable asset to our party."

The boy looked up at her, clearly surprised. He did not expect his sister of all people would come to someone's defense. She would always keep some suspicion or reservations on people.

"That's pretty surprising. But I gotta admit he is pretty strong. In this kind of journey, you are gonna need that."

"Speaking of which, why were you attempting assassination on Colette?" Raine aimed her glaring eyes at Sheena.

"Uh, I-I... I really can't say right now!" Eek, this woman was scary for sure!

"Professor, please don't push it. I'm sure Sheena had good reasons. Let's give her the time she needs. She'll explain when it's the right time. Right?"

The sweet smile of confidence that was aimed at her, did catch Sheena off guard. After all she had done, did she really deserve such kind treatment? Well, she was already deep in trouble for not forfilling her mission. But she just didn't have the heart. Just look at this girl! She has such a great, sweet heart. And the people here are clearly suffering.

Sheena shook her head at these thoughts; she did not know what to do. But she did know that what she was doing, was wrong. That was something her own heart was telling her.

"Before I forget, while you were on your way to the cells, did you spot anything odd in the ranch?" Raine asked then.

"Huh, odd? What do you mean?" her little brother looked at her confused.

"When we moved on, we came to a very strange room. I do not know how it all was connected. But I did see people, and also containers, being taking along a conveyer belt."

"Odd. And that wasn't all that was strange. Those people running, seemingly the source of the chaos, but they were still also Desians." Genis remarked, his brows frowned in thought.

"Confusing indeed." Raine nodded to this, trying to make sense of it all. She had the feeling they were missing out on a bigger picture here. And it was frustrating not knowing what was really going on.

She took the rest of the way to Luin to wrack her brain about this. Others were talking casually, mostly just getting to know Sheena. There was indeed still a long journey ahead of them, so it would be best to understand to people you are traveling with.