Chapter 4

The Pope will pay for this! If anything happens to Genis or Raine, I swear it'll be the last thing he does! How will I get out of here? It's pure concrete and they have my weapons! thought Lloyd. Lloyd had been imprisoned and was thrown into a deep pit. There was no way out. All that Lloyd could do was sit and wait. He had to hope that Genis and Raine would be ok by themselves inside the arena.

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The people inside the Coliseum were growing impatient to see if the half-elves would be persecuted or not. They began to chant, "Kill the half-elves! Show us some blood! Entertain us!" Their patience was growing thin. One man in the audience wasn't too happy about the day's source of entertainment. There was nothing good about killing others, even if they were of a different race. The man watched on as the wind caught his long, red locks. He gripped the handle of his sword.

Genis looked at his big sister, "What do we do?"

"I don't know," replied Raine as she looked at the arena's entrance, where the dragon waited to be unleashed.

Then the command was given and the dragon was set free. The two half-elves didn't know what to do. They ran from the dragon the best that they could. They had no weapons to fight back with. Just then, the man with the red hair jumped down into the arena.

"Zelos!" exclaimed Genis.

"Hey brat! Thought the beautiful Raine would need some rescuing."

Raine rolled her eyes, "You haven't changed a bit, have you?"

"Of course I have! I'm manlier then I was 5 years ago and have become quite the knight in shinning armor. Here, I thought you might need these," Zelos tossed Raine her staff and Genis his kahdama. "Now let's do this thing!" He shouted excitedly. Genis ran back from the dragon and began to twirl his kahdama. Genis finished calling up the spell and raised his kahdama in the air. Then a glowing sword came down from the sky and struck the dragon. It cried in pain. Zelos ran up to the dragon and attacked it full force. During his attacking, he was struck in mid-air by a scorching breath of fire. He fell to the ground injured.

"First aid!" cried Raine. Zelos was back on his feet, fully healed and attacking the dragon once more.

"Team attack!" bellowed Zelos. The three gathered around the dragon and struck simultaneously. The dragon let out a final whelp of pain before succumbing to his injuries. The crowd's hunger for entertainment had been fed they were all on their feet, applauding and cheering.

"I have a feeling that this fanfare won't last long. How do we escape the guards?" asked Genis. The guards were beginning to enter the arena, swords drawn. The three were clearly outnumbered. The guards all surrounded the three victims. Suddenly, darkness covered the entire arena. There was mass chaos and no one could see anything. The only things being heard were the sounds of panic. The darkness lifted as quickly as it had come. Everyone looked to the center of the arena, but there was no one there. The two half-elves and the redhead were gone. The guards all looked at each other in bewilderment.

Outside the Coliseum, in a nearby bush, four people were now standing. Genis, Raine and Zelos had been rescued by a girl. She was wearing a purple kimono and a pink sash. Her dark hair shown streaks of purple. Her fists were clenched and she had a stern, angry look on her face.

"Zelos, I told you to take my hand! But of course, you had to grab for other areas, didn't you! I guess 5 years hasn't made you grow up at all, has it!"

"Woo, Shenna, as a fiery and hot-headed as ever! Relax, it's not that big of a deal," replied Zelos, "I knew those summon spirit's were good for something," he said under his breath.

"What was that!" demanded Shenna. More enraged now then before.

"Nothing, nothing! I heard Lloyd is being kept in the basement of the castle. We need to rescue him. Maybe you can use your summon spirit of darkness again," Zelos said as he nudged Shenna with his elbow.

"You're unbelievable!" exclaimed Shenna as she walked away. She started walking towards the castle and soon everyone else followed. They didn't have a plan but knew that the palace would be heavily guarded. The roads of the city were completely empty because everyone was busy at the Coliseum.

"Shenna, wait up! We don't have a plan yet! Let's go back to Zelos' and get this all sorted out. Then we can rescue Lloyd," suggested Raine. Sheena stopped and turned around. She looked at Zelos and gave him a dirty look. Then she began to storm off in the direction of Zelos' house.

"You know," Zelos called after her, "most girls would've taken that as a compliment." Zelos ran to catch up with her. Sheena didn't look at him. She kept her eyes on the pathway ahead.

"Well, I'm not one of your honeys! I haven't been around you for the past 5 years and aren't use to guys gawking at me."

"Well, you do have a nice as…assets. Like I always say, if you got it, flaunt it! But seriously, I have matured a little over the past years and will try to respect you." Shenna looked at him. He was serious. She could see it in his eyes.

They all walked to Zelos' mansion and went in to start their plan on rescuing Lloyd.

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Lloyd paced back and forth in his cell. There were only walls and no doors. He was stuck in a deep pit. The walls were as smooth as a pebble on the beach, smoothed by the sand and sea. There was no way he could climb out. Lloyd stopped and sat against the wall. He brought his knees up to this chest and rested his forehead on them. He was thinking about Raine and Genis. He wondered if they were ok. It had been nearly a day since he found out that they were to be executed in the Coliseum. Then, something hit him on his head. He picked his head up and found a rope dangling in front of his face. Lloyd stood up and saw a head peaking over the side. It was Genis!

"Gen…" Lloyd began.

"Shhhhhh!" commanded Genis, "You don't want to wake the guards up!" Lloyd shut his mouth and grabbed hold of the rope. He began to climb up. Upon reaching the top, a hand reached out for his. Lloyd took it and looked at whose hand he was holding. It was Zelos! Looking around, Lloyd could see that Raine and Shenna were there too!

"How did you get in here?" Lloyd exclaimed in a whispered voice.

"The same way we're getting out," replied Shenna, "Come on, we need to get out of here before the guards wake-up!" The group snuck towards a secret corridor. They entered it and made their way through its long, winding tunnels. They came out of a whole in the castle's wall.

"Those blue prints sure do come in handy!" exclaimed Zelos, "Now let's go back to my place. I'm sure you're all hungry and tired. It's our first night together in 5 years! Let's feast!" Lloyd smiled. Nothing had changed. Four of his friends were still the same. Now he just needed to find the other 3 and his dad. But, there was something going on in this not so perfect world. He needed to share what he knew with his friends and see what would happen. Somehow, this perfect world wasn't too perfect after all.