A/N: Okay, okay! I broke down and wrote another chapter. There will be three chapters, I think. This WAS intended as a one-shot but I've been racking my brain for ways to continue it, and I THINK this works. Many apologies if it's not as good as the first... I tried. ;)


Lloyd threw himself down on the bed, burying his face in his pillow. He was grateful that the others had gone to sleep. He was tired, his stomach hurt. He wanted to be alone.

Kratos and Colette. Both left him at the same time, at the Tower of Salvation. In the most horrid ways possible. Colette had forgotten him, after lying to him the whole journey, telling him she'd be fine, letting him believe that she would come back from Heaven once her work was done.

She lied to him. Several times. She lied. Just like Kratos did-

-but he couldn't really accuse the Angel of Cruxis of lying. Not a single untrue word passed his lips. He was a mercenary; he had accepted money to protect Colette. It was, after all, merely a job for him, an assignment given to him by Yggdrasill.

Lloyd rolled over onto his back, staring at the ceiling. He understood Colette's reason for lying. That dork always insisted that the weight of the world should be on her shoulders, that she was the Chosen, she needed to accept her fate without complaint. She knew he would try to stop it if he knew, and he did try.

He closed his eyes as he realized that he couldn't say that Kratos had tried to kill them, either. They had attacked the Angel. He merely defended himself. Perhaps that was why he was holding back in that fight; his intention was to ensure Colette became the next body for Martel, not to hurt them. And he was holding back. The four of them- Professor Sage, Sheena, Genis and himself- shouldn't have been a threat to the Angel. Kratos should have been able to make quick work of them. He hadn't wanted to, for some reason. He let them win.

It didn't make any sense! Even in Tethe'alla, Kratos protected him, and Colette, from being captured at Fooji mountains. Kratos tried to warn them of Colette's illness. Kratos tried to stop them from forming pacts with all of the Summon Spirits. And when they'd done it, and that... monstrosity sprung up from the Great Seed, Kratos ignored Yggdrasill's orders and helped them restrain it.

Why?

And now... now they were leaving him again. Colette's body was crystallizing. They had to trust that Altessa would help her, because Dad couldn't. And Kratos... He was returning to Cruxis. The truce they had formed had been momentary; once the Angel had what he wanted, he turned his back on them once more.

Lloyd opened his eyes again. Did Kratos really turn his back? His words haunted Lloyd: Remember the words of the Unicorn at Lake Umacy. Kratos knew something they didn't. Damn him and his cryptic words. Why not just come out and say it? After all the time they'd travelled together, all the trust Lloyd and his group had put in him, was it that hard for Kratos to trust them?

It was then that Lloyd realized that the stone in the pit of his stomach that had pained him wasn't dinner. He wanted Kratos to stay. It hurt.

Why?

It always came back to that one-word question. Only Kratos could answer it, and he'd made it clear that he wasn't going to. Perhaps... the simplest explanation was the most true. They were being manipulated for whatever Kratos's intentions were, and it had nothing to do with their wellbeing. He wanted something, and Lloyd and his group were a convenient vehicle to get it.

It hurt.

His ears picked up the sound of footsteps on the stairs; Lloyd turned his head in time to see his foster father step into the room. "Hi, Dad."

The Dwarf, never one to mince unnecessary words, smiled at the greeting but didn't offer one in return, merely speaking his mind. "You're upset about something."

Lloyd sat up, stunned at Dad's statement of the obvious. Usually it was Lloyd himself that did that... "Well duh. I mean, Colette is-"

Dad shook his head. "I don't mean that, Lloyd. I know you're very concerned for your friend. It's natural." Lloyd tilted his head to the side, wondering where Dad was going with this. "It distressed you when Kratos left, didn't it?"

Lloyd looked at his hands in his lap. "No. He's a traitor. I didn't want him around anyway."

"Dwarven Vow number two: Lying is the first step on the path to thievery!" Dad came into the room and hoisted himself up on the edge of Lloyd's bed. "I saw the look on your face when he declined my invitation and I saw the look on your face when you came back inside."

Lloyd scowled at the Dwarf. "Colette's more important right now than trying to figure that... jerk out."

"Yet here you are, lying in bed, trying to figure him out-"

"I am not!" Lloyd snapped, and immediately regretted it, a deep flush spreading on his cheeks and his hands tightly clasped together. Dad looked shocked, but once the initial shock faded, his expression reverted back to the same concerned one he wore before. Lloyd suddenly took an intense interest in his fingernails as he spoke. "It's just that... he used us. He used us and I'm positive, I'm totally sure, that he's using us again." Lloyd looked up at his foster father once again. "He told me to research the ancient war, and to remember what the Unicorn told us, if we wanted to cure Colette. But it's not to help us, it's to help himself!" Lloyd's hands balled into fists. "He doesn't care about us or Colette at all! We're just tools!"

"That's not true."

Lloyd's eyebrows shot up. Dad spoke those three words with such conviction that it was Lloyd's turn to be shocked. "Wh... how can you say that? How do you know that? After everything he's done-"

Dad looked like a deer confronted by a hunter, very momentarily. He stuttered before patting Lloyd's hands comfortingly. Lloyd released his fists at the touch. "I just have a feeling. Dwarves are good judges of character, and I've got a hunch that Kratos is trying to help you in his own way. You may never know why, what his reasons are. But you'll eventually know that he's on your side."

The teenage swordsman gaped at Dad. "How can you defend him like this!"

Dad sighed and slid off the bed. "Get some sleep. You've got another long journey ahead of you."

"You know something I don't, don't you!" Dad gave him a sad, affectionate look, and Lloyd took it as an affirmative. "Damnit! Tell me! What's going on?"

Dad shook his head. "It is as I say it is. A mere gut feeling. Now sleep, my son."

Lloyd watched Dad leave the room. There was an expression of guilt etched on the Dwarf's face and regret laced in his voice. "Dwarven Vow number two, Dad..." Lloyd's voice trailed off. Then, knowing that his foster father was right in his need for sleep, Lloyd laid down and fought off the why's and what if's racing through his mind.


A/N: Phew. Okay, that's done. Lemme know what you think. :) I'm also going to do something I swore I wasn't when I joined I'm plugging my other story. Please go read and review Kharlan! I will love you forever if you do.