Hikaru: Disclaimer . . .oh, who shall perform it this time?
Lloyd: Er . . . what about Yuan?
Yuan: I will not submit myself to such humiliation!
Hikaru: Well, it makes sense, since this chapter mainly focuses on you and the Renegades. Kind of, but not really.
Yuan: Grr . . .fine. Hikaru doesn't own ToS. It belongs to NAMCO. Can I go now?
Hikaru: No. You have to stay and watch how this plot turns out.
Yuan: In other words, you're keeping me prisoner.
Hikaru: Yes.
Kratos paced the hallways of the Renegade base, feeling anxious. Yuan and some other Renegades were tending to Raine's wounds, whereas everyone else was busily interrogating Zelos regarding when and how Raphael managed to take over his body. Well, almost everyone else. Lloyd and Sheena were elsewhere, doing Goddess knows what. The Seraphim pushed a hand through his burgundy hair, a soft sigh escaping his lips. One of his worst confirmations had come true. Raphael probably wished to do away with their only sufficient healer so that the others were faced with almost certain death the next time they met. The turquoise metallic tiled floor echoed the sound of his mellifluous footsteps as the angel traversed the base, his thoughts scattered and incoherent. The ceiling lights flashed weakly, casting eerie shadows of Kratos' figure on the smooth walls. What was Raphael hoping to gain from killing them? Revenge? Most likely. Well, everyone had to die sooner or later . . .that was the point of staying alive. To put off the inevitable. However, life was so precious, so abundant, so fragile, and so beautiful . . .no one can just let it go. There are so many things to do before dying. Besides, no one wants to be murdered, much less die at such a young age. Aside from that, nobody wants to be murdered without at least knowing why they were being murdered. Kratos stopped walking. He didn't understand why everyone was alive in the first place. It was rather sickening, to think that a single animal species was killing its own kind. But then again, there wasn't just one race—there were at least four. Humans, elves, half-elves, and dwarfs. Kratos sighed again. There was no point in going to a philosophical discussion about the meaning of life with himself. The ascendant task at hand was to save themselves from Raphael. He began to walk again, and then stopped short. Where it came from, he didn't know, but Kratos remembered a time a few centuries ago when an angel body was found on the outskirts of the Ymir Forest. He recalled what the body looked like when he, along with a selected few subordinate angels, discovered it after a mission in Heimdall. The body was absolutely disfigured. Every possible bone was broken in some brutal way, the limbs were either severed or bent in unnatural positions, the feathered wings were both sliced off and removed without a trait of their whereabouts, the flesh was cruelly incised in every area possible, and there was also unintelligible words carved into the carrion. One of the words appeared to be a name, although no one could verify it. Kratos shook his head. Just thinking of that angel's blemished body made him feel ill. The Seraphim jumped slightly when a dark blue door slid open to his right. Lloyd and Sheena stood before him, vaguely surprised to see the burgundy-haired man in front of them. Kratos' eyes traveled to the gold bloodstained pendant his son was clutching in his hand. His heart skipped a few beats.
"Lloyd! That necklace you're holding . . ."
Lloyd held up the article in question, a puzzled look spread about his face.
"What, this? I found it after we attacked Raphael."
"Please, Lloyd, allow me to inspect that jewelry." Kratos said barely above a whisper.
Lloyd passed the necklace to his father, still quite baffled at its sudden significance. Kratos held the pendant up by the chain, scrutinizing the golden angel that shone in the slightly dim light. Yep, there was no mistaking it.
"This pendant . . .I've seen it before." Kratos said, surprised.
"Really? Where?" Sheena asked.
"On the outskirts of the Ymir Forest, I discovered a mutilated body that belonged to a dead angel. Someone probably murdered him. Anyhow, this same pendant was strung about that angel's neck when I found his decaying carcass." Kratos answered quite casually, which resulted in a few gasps emitting from Lloyd and Sheena's mouths.
"Wait a minute. This dead angel . . .what was his name?" Lloyd inquired.
Kratos thought hard for a brief moment or two before finally deciding on who the dead angel was.
"I believe he resembled the Raphael from Cruxis."
Lloyd's wings flapped convulsively at that statement. Then that must mean . . .
"Raphael murdered him. The one that keeps on attacking us is the one that killed the Cruxis Raphael. How long ago was that?" Sheena pressed.
"As I recall, I'd say nearly two or three centuries ago." Kratos replied.
"What? But isn't Raphael a human?" Lloyd asked, confused.
"We cannot just go on jumping to conclusions. There's a lot we don't know about Raphael. Let's just face that principal." The Seraphim replied calmly.
Lloyd growled in evident frustration. Just who the hell was this Raphael guy?
Yuan's hands flashed over the keyboard, barely a blur to his eyes. Of course, he was too preoccupied looking at the computer monitor than to marvel at the intense speed of his fingers working the keypads. He was doing background research of this Raphael person. And to do that, he needed to look up the angel Raphael's background biography. Raphael was not a common name among the people of Symphonia, so he theorized that there was a small chance that this homicidal fanatic was at least connected to the angel of healing. He accessed the angel databases left over from the days when Cruxis thrived. The half-elf was partly amused to see his and Kratos' names on the list of biographies. Ignoring his sentimentalism, Yuan focused on locating Raphael's profile. He clicked on the link with the cursor.
Name: Raphael.
Full name: Unknown.
Age: Approximately 3667 years of age.
Hometown: The village Andire in the Heimdall region, now destroyed.
Status: Deceased.
Cause of Death: Possible homicide.
Family: Wife and son.
Status of Family: Wife, Angeline Leonazium, deceased. Son, Raphael Jr., unknown. Possibly deceased.
Bio: Raphael was drafted for Cruxis work when he participated in varying experiments involving numerous fellow half-elves . . .
Yuan stopped there. This was it. The link he was searching for. Raphael Leonazium, the one attacking Lloyd and them, was the Cruxis' Raphael's son. If Raphael wanted to kill all the angels, then it's more than likely that he killed his own father. That was utterly grotesque, the way he dismantled the angel's body, so very long ago . . .Yuan shook his head. What could make someone want to kill their own father? He was brutally reminded of when Lloyd was forced to fight Kratos at Origin's seal, but he blocked it out. He raised a shaking hand to another keypad on the wall next to the computer's large monitor, inputting a code. The screens built into the walls all flashed red, while showing varying parts of the Renegade Base. Yuan's breathing quickened as he hastily punched in another code to run the surveillance cameras planted all around the base run checks on their specified areas. A minute or two passed. A screen blipped a bit. Then the cameras began feeding visuals to the innumerable monitors placed on the walls of the control room, showing the visual statuses of the base. Yuan checked every single screen, his heart rates skyrocketing.
"Where are you hiding . . .?" he breathed, deathly quiet.
Yuan abandoned the task of checking the computers when a penknife was pressed sidelong against the base of his neck from behind. In one swift movement, a pair of arms engulfed the blue-haired angel, knocking him to the floor. Yuan yelled out when his head made painful contact with the tiled floor.
"Miss me, Yuan?"
Yuan glanced up at the attacker hovering above him, penknife still pressed against his throat. He narrowed his eyes dangerously.
"Raphael . . .I suppose you've detected my access of the Cruxis angel's profiles? I suppose you think you're clever for planting that probe in the database."
Raphael smirked.
"Yes, the last time I visited Derris-Kharlan, I planted a probe in the database concerning Cruxis' angels . . .namely, my father's biography. I knew that someone would check it sooner or later . . ."
Yuan made a disgusted noise.
"Always two steps ahead of your enemy. The criminal ways of thinking. A trait both you and your father share." He said icily.
Raphael pressed the knife harder against Yuan's throat. But Yuan wasn't going to stop there.
"How did you get in here, anyway? As I recall, breaking magitechnology securities was your father's specialty job . . ." His voice ran dry as the flat of the small blade slightly cut his skin.
"If it helps your pride any, Yuan, I'd say that breaking in here was a pretty difficult task. However, in the end, all of your defenses proved obsolete. Those angels are as good as mine." Raphael replied with an edge to his voice.
All was silent for a brief moment, save the humming of the computer screens. Yuan dared to press a button on a handheld minicomputer clipped to his belt, and the intercoms clicked to life.
". . .We cannot just jump to conclusions. There's a lot we don't know about Raphael. Let's just face that principal." Came the calm voice of Kratos.
Yuan snagged his chance. The computers here were voice-activated by Yuan's vocal patterns.
"Computer! Administer absolute and complete lockdown of both Renegade Bases! Lloyd! Kratos, everyone, take Raine and get the hell out of here!"
Raphael cursed under his breath as red alarms went off. He glimpsed Kratos, Lloyd, and Sheena's perplexed expressions on the computer's main monitor as the alarms sounded and when Yuan administered his final piece of advice he would live to give them.
Hikaru: Weee! Yay! The eleventh chappy is here! So now, all of you that threatened my cat can stop! Has the plot thickened by much? Please RR!