Summary:
The sparring sessions begin between the two friends, then they will encounter something... rather random, and old friends all come together for a huge welcoming.
Chapter Two:
The Second Journey
The pain from blocking Sheena's downward strike stunned Lloyd momentarily. He leapt backward, readying himself for the next attack by his sword wielding friend. Lloyd noticed she had a wide smirk planted on her face, she moved quickly, swinging her right sword inward from the side, Lloyd parried the blow with his own right sword while thrusting his left one toward her gut.
Startled slightly, Sheena took the blow with a grunt, stepping back, Lloyd made no move to attack her any further and she nodded her approval. The Mizuho assassin took a couple of deep breaths, trying to empty her mind. She raised her two swords, trying to mimic Lloyd's fighting technique. Lloyd mirrored her move, raising his own, silvery, blades.
The blades themselves were made by Altessa the Dwarf as a thank you present for saving the world, while the blades cut deep into any sort of mammal or monster, they felt as light as a feather. Lloyd flicked his wrist, the sword obediently following his hand movements effortlessly. Lloyd Irving felt a smirk of his own carve itself on his expression.
Sheena charged unexpectedly. Lloyd, caught off-guard, barely managed the sidestep Sheena's downward attack with her left sword. Though Lloyd was indeed surprised when her right sword came crashing into his gut. Gripping it tightly; he stepped backward.
"Oh… oh Lloyd I-I'm so-" The eighteen year old boy laughed heartedly at this, still gripping his chest with his left hand which one sword still occupied.
"No need to apologize." He said with a couple of coughs thrown in. "This is what sparing is, isn't it?" Sheena opened and closed her mouth several times, looking quite shocked.
"Well… well yeah I suppose but-"
Lloyd cut her off. "So what's the matter?" She fumbled again with several words, trying to find what she was going to say.
"I'm your friend Lloyd!" She said sounding quite angry. Lloyd gaped at her, his shinning blades now in a forgotten position. "Don't you remember that? Or has fighting taken this feeling away from you!"
"S-Sheena… no…" The eighteen year old mumbled, looking at the soft dirt ground beneath them.
"Lloyd." The sudden softness in her tone made Lloyd's head rise up to make eye contact with her. "Don't ever forget about us, your friends. We're here for you, not just for battle purposes. We're… we're here just for you Lloyd."
Lloyd felt rather speechless at this; he felt his mouth open and close several times before anything eligible flowed outward from his throat. "Thanks…" he said, holding the last syllable for a longer duration than it would normally have.
"Hey… that's what friends are for right?" She smiled, bringing a replica of it onto Lloyd's face. "Is that it for sparring?" She asked; changing the topic. Lloyd nodded, sheathing his own twin blades at his waist line. Sheena mirrored him, though her sheaths were on her back, making a cross shape when someone gazed at her back. She started to whistle absently as she packed all of their belongings, for they were about the travel back to Iselia, where their journey had started.
"About two more days," she announced as she stringed the last bag to Noishe's side. She flicked away a loose thread of air that covered her left eye and smiled at Lloyd, who mimicked her.
"Two more days until we see everyone again right?" She nodded, hoisting herself on top of Noishe. "It's so odd…" he continued distantly.
"What is?" The Mizuho assassin inquired.
Lloyd continued to strap his possessions to Noishe's other side. He wined suddenly, opening his mouth wide, it seemed Noishe was indeed tired of walking these amazingly high distances between towns. "The fact that we haven't seen anyone else but each other for… what?"
"Two years." Supplied Sheena, with the same distant tone as Lloyd, "yeah, you're right."
"Everything else seemed so…" Lloyd left his sentence hanging, searching for the right term to finish it, while trying to start Noishe's animal engine, though it seemed to be out of fuel, for he wasn't moving a single step. He stayed on the spot, yawning constantly.
"Irrelevant." She supplied again. "I wonder what they've been up too." Lloyd laughed at this as he continued to prod Noishe forward; finally the stubborn animal gave in and started to walk slowly, Sheena going along with him. As Lloyd started to move his engine forward; he found that he did not need to jog to catch up with the animal.
"Irel… event?" Lloyd inquired though Sheena – instead of sighing which is the action most of the other members of their company performed – giggled. "What?"
Sheena giggled again as the three of them continued along the road into a shady looking forest. Sheena paid no mind to the change in environment when she continued to state her opinions on what their friends were doing at the moment. Lloyd found himself looking from side to side, his two hands resting on both of his swords. The space in between every tree could have been used by a bandit waiting for the perfect opportunity to ambush some unsuspecting travellers.
Lloyd Irving didn't want to give them this advantage, by looking for anything out of the ordinary, he was prepared to strike and assist the blissful Sheena. Indeed when a man leaped out from a bush in front of them he was not as startled as Sheena.
The alert boy leaped in front of Noishe, drawing his two unnamed blades as he jumped, the stranger seemed to be hostile looking, having a large, sharply curved, scythe drawn and in front of him. Noishe halted, straining to see what was the cause of Lloyd's sudden defensive stance.
"Who are you?" Lloyd yelled to the stranger, his two swords positioned correctly in order to easily block any attack made by this stranger. Truth be known Lloyd had never fought anything with a scythe curved as this one was.
"Who I am is not important." He said in a voice that sounded as if the user of the voice needed a couple of cough drops. Lloyd frowned, his knees trembling slightly at this hissing voice. "It is your death that is important Lloyd Irving."
The next second the scythe was above him, glinting slightly in the sunlight that flickered through the treetops.Luckily for Lloyd; Sheena entered the duel at that point, blocked the scythe's swing with her left blade while Lloyd ducked under and slashed at the bandit's side, tearing his flesh there.
He made no audible sound as he deflected Sheena's block, sending her left blade to the ground clanging against various prodding stones, Sheena paid no mind to the tossed weapon as she swung her remaining blade at his exposed abdomen, slicing the flesh there minimally. Yet again, he paid no mind to it as he prepared his next attack at Sheena.
In came Lloyd, striking at his unguarded back, Lloyd knew that Sheena was wincing quite profoundly at the sight of Lloyd's blade through the stranger's gut. When Lloyd withdrew it, he collapsed onto the ground, gasping slightly.
Truth be known; Lloyd was relatively surprised that he was still alive, but when a pair of leathery black wings sprouted from his back, making Lloyd leap backward slightly; he knew this was no ordinary man.
The angel humanoid rose into the canopy of the forest, the light illuminating the wings and his hooded face. Lloyd knew that he was an angel by the monotone expression on his face, a face with no emotion on it. He looked for any exsphere implanted on him but when the angel flew past the treetops and into the distant sky, he did not know if he indeed possessed one.
"What was that all about?" Lloyd looked over to see Sheena staring upward right where the intruder flew away. Lloyd shrugged, turning away from the canopy and walking over to Noishe to check his status.
"Maybe someone from Cruxis?" Lloyd said absently as he ran his left hand along Noishe's fur coat. He turned his face back to Sheena, who had finally turned away from the opening in the treetops in which the intruder had escaped via.
"Maybe…" she mumbled. "That doesn't seem right though… I mean…"
"All of Cruxis went with Derris-Karlan?" The eighteen year old boy inquired, she shrugged.
"I suppose some might've stayed for… I dunno… for fun maybe." Lloyd chuckled, clearing his throat.
"You inferior beings, I of Cruxis shall slay you all!" He said in his best Desian impersonation voice. Sheena laughed openly at this, a never-before-seen smile broadening on her expression.
"Yeah they were kinda lame." Lloyd snorted while Sheena hoisted herself onto Noishe's back.
Lloyd beckoned Noishe to start moving and this time he did it without any delay. Lloyd started to match his own walking speed to that of Noishe's as he replied to Sheena's statement. "Kinda is an understatement."
"True!" She exclaimed in response, the smile now wide.
They now moved in silence, only their feet brushing against the grass illuminated the eerie silence that surrounded them. Lloyd resumed his ready positioning, his feet somewhat apart and his eyes darting from side to side.
He couldn't help but feel a bit like Kratos. Indeed several times during their journey; Sheena pointed out that he sounded and acted like Kratos more often then once during several occasions. Every time Sheena pointed this out, the son of Kratos felt an odd sense of pride swell up from inside of him, was Kratos as legendary as most people thought him to be?
"He was a traitor." Lloyd frowned at this thought. True that he was a traitor, but Kratos continued to help him even though he had revealed himself to be part of the Cruxis organization.
Lloyd knew he would never betray his friends to anyone in this world and Kratos had done so fairly easily. With a snap of Yggdrasill's fingers, Kratos aligned himself against his own son and his friends. Why did Kratos even bother aligning himself with Ygg… Mithos.
"How am I supposed to know?" Lloyd jumped at this; he didn't even realize that he had just said that out loud.
"Uh…" he fumbled while Sheena peered at him with raised eyebrows. "I… I was just… you know…"
"Thinking out loud?" She said with amusement and Lloyd looked at the ground nodding slightly. She laughed openly. "You don't have to be so embarrassed you know."
Lloyd looked back up at her amused sidelong smile. "What're you talking about? You sound like that sometimes. 'oh.. oh I'm… I'm sorry Lloyd'." Sheena looked away from him, her face undoubtedly beet red.
"N-no… no I don't!" She mumbled and Lloyd took this opportunity to laugh just as Sheena did to him. She turned her head around so a glare stared right into Lloyd's face. His laugh and smile disappeared instantly and he mumbled an apology.
"Now we're even." She said sharply, turning away from him. Lloyd sighed, knowing he was defeated. He watched the various animals around them scurry around from tree to tree or from bush to bush and felt, somewhat, at peace.
Lloyd Irving knew that his journey was far from over. This sudden attack proved that flawlessly. Lloyd chuckled as he thought, for once, that Genis, his long time friend, was indeed right about something. Lloyd unsheathed his left sword with his right hand when a dark shape scampered across the path the two companions and their steed were travelling along.
The dark shape stopped, revealing itself to be a simple, dark brown coloured, rabbit. Its beady eyes peered up at Lloyd, seeing it's reflection in the gleaming silver sword Lloyd held out, soon sheathing it away. The clicking sound that resounded when he sheathed the sword seemed to startled the innocent animal, for it dashed into the nearby bush and out of sight.
"That was random." Sheena stated equally as random. Lloyd continued to walk on as if nothing happened while Sheena beckoned Noishe to continue just as Lloyd had done.
Soon the two friends reached their destination; the small village of Iselia, Lloyd noticed a couple of changes, not just to the town, but the surrounding area as well. It seemed Gnome gave a thank you present as well to the village for the forest the two of them had just exited from was indeed not there when Sheena and Lloyd left for their initial journey to rid the world of the vile exspheres.
The eighteen year old boy felt himself turn around to merely glance at the new forest and smiled, clearly pleased with this new addition to the, already, beautiful landscape.
"Hey," Sheena said, diverting Lloyd's attention away from the seemingly majestic mini-ecosystem. "You coming?" Lloyd smiled slightly and nodded, running forward to catch up to both Sheena and Noishe.
The welcoming to Iselia was beyond Lloyd's comprehension. As soon as they entered, a passing villager noticed them and alerted the entire town of the arrival under five seconds. It seems as though their arrival was anticipated, for every member of their company (minus Kratos) was present to welcome them. Lloyd gaped at the changes of every friend.
First came Presea, a short bright pink haired girl who, apparently, was left behind by time because of her exsphere's parasitism effect. During these two years, it seemed that she had grown a couple of inches, Lloyd smiled to her, bringing a hand up to wave to her.
"Lloyd! Sheena!" She exclaimed, dashing over without her usual axe weapon dragging behind her. "I heard the call, but I didn't think it was true!"
"What call?" Questioned Lloyd with a cock of his head.
Presea then cocked her head as well. "Kiran just called all of-"
"LLOYD!" The boy in question lifted his head, looking around for the source of the sudden outburst but was halted when two large arms grabbed him in a tight embrace. "YOU'RE BACK!"
"Ze-Zelos… ge-et off of me!" Lloyd stuttered pushing Tethe'alla's former Chosen away from him. Gasping slightly, the swordsman glared at the, now even, taller man.
Zelos still wore his hair the same, still as bright as it always was, like Presea, the only feature that seemed to change was his height.
"Sorry bud," he said in his usual casual tone, lifting a hand in a gesture that seemed to slightly indicate his apology. "So?"
"Uh?" Lloyd said blankly and the older man sighed deeply, choosing to ignore Lloyd's existence and went to greet Sheena, only to be momentarily hit by her.
"As childish as usual it seems." Lloyd turned to see his long time teacher, Raine Sage.
A grin appearing on his face, he opened his arms for a friendly embrace which she accepted openly. "How've you been Professor?" She released her grip and stepped back smiling widely now. Lloyd noticed her costume was different, getting away from the colour orange, she now dressed in a long starry night coloured robe which seemed to glitter slightly in the sunlight.
"Truthfully, not a lot has happened these… what? Two years?" Lloyd nodded. "How're you doing?"
Lloyd chucked at this. "I'm doing alright I suppose, Sheena and I finished the quest a lot earlier then we thought we would, but something odd happened on the way back…" Lloyd explained, to everyone present, the story of the angel attacker.
"Do you know if he's from Cruxis?" Presea asked in whispered voice.
"There's no way we could right?" Sheena answered rather quickly, as if trying to hide her hesitance.
Raine started to mutter something, using the same tone as one who was trying to solve a riddle would use. "That is rather unlikely isn't it?"
"What is Professor?" Lloyd questioned.
"If any angel from Cruxis was on either Sylvarant or Tethe'alla at the time of Derris-Karlan's drift, then surely they would have died out by now right?"
"Uh? Why?" Sheena and Lloyd both said in unison, neither blinking after the question was spoken.
"There was little mana left in both worlds at that time, Derris-Karlan, I presume, was soaking up all of the mana from both worlds for the purpose of Martel's revival. It seemed that Mithos did not care about anything at the time besides his own sister.
"Anyway, the angel's life depends on mana. Rather than oxygen, which humans and elves need to breathe; the angels of Cruxis breathed in mana to survive. I think the Cruxis Crystals they were imbedded with to gain their angelic abilities created this everlasting need for mana."
"Wha…what?" Lloyd said gaping while the rest of the company laughed heartedly.
"It's good to have you back Lloyd!" Zelos said cheerfully, clapping his hand against Lloyd's back.
Soon Lloyd was being dragged around the town by mainly Zelos, who was introducing him to plenty of strangers whom Lloyd forgot about entirely after Zelos introduced him to the next person. The eighteen year old warrior felt rather tired of smiling and elegantly bowing his greetings to various higher classed people than himself. Lloyd felt rather thankful when Colette appeared, her usually long blonde hair tied up and her white costume now replaced with a navy blue v-neck tunic.
Lloyd greeted his long time friend with a hug and a grin, while he asked her what was going on with her life, Genis Sage appeared out seemingly out of thin air, also saying his greetings with the usual excited twelve-year-old look on his face. As Lloyd talked with his old friends, blissful and relaxed, he knew his journey had come to an end.
Though when Sheena came running to him, slightly flushed, he knew his next one was about to start.