Disclaimer: I (still) do not own the characters of Tales of Symphonia, however much I wish to do so.

Warning: R (say it with a trill!) Prior warnings apply, but if you've read past the last chapter, it's likely you don't care or it's been okayed. It doesn't get worse than chapter 12. Actually, wait, this is an "M" now that they changed the system while I was gone... Dammit, another thing I'll have to go in and change in every chapter... :fumes:
Pairings: Sheelos, mainly.

Dedication: To each and every writer or fan of Sheelos, especially Rose-Wisteria who jump-started my idea. To the C2 Community, here's for letting my story in finally! To Dani, the only person at school who has bothered to read this. To the reviewers. Here's to us.

Hey, it's been awhile, huh! Crazy little thing called writers' block, and a stressful summer... But now I'm back, and I must say I feel so INCREDIBLY loved by you guys! One hundred and ten reviews! We did it! My thanks cannot extend far enough to you for reading and appreciating my arduous work. But it's not done yet. There are still two chapters to go, after this. So hang tight, and I assure you this will be done by—eventually! And now, reviewer appreciation! However, I have been FLOODED with so many lovely lovely reviews that I shall now just have to honourably mention you, because it's getting that the responses are longer than the chapter...

Rin, Niamh nic Raghnall, starr, Kat, AmaDono, Taiy-Chan, Tarauka-Sosuro, Pale-Blu, jellybeanz225, Rose-Wisteria, Megamage, physicalmanifestationofbeauty, Darknoodle890, Lee, FrzCherryBlossom, EvilEbil, Roy SweetSnow, Ryoko77san, sylenis, Sassyrecombinantpassions, Neko-Koorime, Ryu Isaac.

Other notes: Yes, Zelos was referring to his... erm... y'know... when he was naming the Summon Spirits. He's a dirty rat bastard, ain't he? And I love him. M'kay, now here goes.

--Trickssi

Chapter Thirteen: For What It's Worth

Of course, there was a half-chance he could have been streaming lies about sleeping with other women; this could be a venereal disease, couldn't it. Or maybe she was just paranoid. Sheena cursed the million misgivings fervently, but all the more so when the demeanor of Colette hovered in front by a few steps. The stark purity of the girl was displayed upon the starched white panels of her clothing right down to the gloves where dirt and particles of soot ought to have compiled from her arduous travels. Surely within Colette's mind there must have been ponderings of sin, surely this girl had slain a good ten score of monsters, surely something had to be her guilty pleasure. What, though, was the key to all of this? What push-broom swept up the misgivings and misfortune and remedied them for this wholesomeness? Ah, what she wouldn't give.

Or, what hadn't she given?

Think on it, Sheena.

There were a dozen things at least that had been pilfered from her irrevocably. She wouldn't again maintain virginity, her original mana strength had been reaped, and her first crush—crushed. Although these assets did not seem to warrant much in her favor when they had been there, they had still been taken away. And recently, her mind could grasp no concept but Zelos. Raine had been wholly correct in her warning; there was naught save for peril ahead if she could not control herself. It had been recklessness initially beginning the attachment to Zelos, and since, she had not learned a single inkling. Now came the time for intervention on—daresay, a fourth party's part.

Hastily Sheena reached out for the fabric of Colette's shirt-back. Even the touch was something nebulous like a cloud, she noted. She began in a quiet tone, "Colette?" The angel quickly turned her head and acknowledged her calling. "I wanna ask you something kind of personal, if you don't mind."

"Sure! What's on your mind?" she queried in response, punctuating it with a smile as Sheena caught up from behind. Joy came so easily over the girl it was almost shameful.

"Ah—I... need some advice," Sheena admitted. She had not intended the request to sound as needy as it did; nevertheless, Colette would oblige without further question.

"Oh, are you worried about today and having to get Origin's power?"

"Well... Yes, I'm worried about obtaining power. But there's just—how do you—?" Sheena eyed Regal, the three of them being at the rear, and considered he was wholly able to eavesdrop. The convict put his fingers to his ears politely to signify his consent to their privacy. "It's just that you've been so brave through all you've experienced. You've been so ambitious, you know? And even though you—care for Lloyd very much, you can still keep your goal in sight." The words had to be chosen carefully lest the girl comprehend the subtle screaming lies. Sidestep over Sheena, but correct the metaphor for Colette.

In turn, Colette blushed a little. "I guess I have been rather focused even with Lloyd here," she said.

"How do you keep from giving up?" A simple enough question, but its ill-placement was overbearing amid the dense and confusing forest that was Colette's thought process.

"Wh-what? I mean, what do you mean, Sheena?"

"What I asked. What keeps you from giving in to these evil influences?" she reiterated, becoming agitated despite her vast care for the girl.

"Influences? Sheena... If you think that you're giving up because you're weak, or I'm strong, then you have it all wrong!" Colette noted in a more mature tone. "I meant what I meant back in Iselia. I could never be as great a person as you are! Don't give up your cause just because you're worried you might not get—Origin to help us. Because if it turns out you can't, which it won't, then I have a feeling things will still be okay. It doesn't matter if you don't think you're strong enough because I think you are." The girl stopped Sheena's strolling alongside her to attempt to better convey the point which was, in all seriousness, the reason why Colette had survived up to that point. "Remember what you told me when I had Chronic Angellus Crystallus Inofficium?"

Sheena shook her head, disappointed in herself for not recalling the event. Here Colette stood, pouring out her heart in remembrance of one of the most significant events of her life, and Sheena could not seem to bring back the memory in her mind. Damn it.

"You said that—I think it was—'You can't let this disease take you over. It's the crystal that's making you think this way. If you let it crystallize completely, we won't have our bright little angel to keep us happy.' That's what you told me, so I'll say it right back to you. You can't let your sudden loss of confidence or whatever it is rule you. That is what's keeping you from feeling like you can't give up. And—if you let it take over like the crystal, then you won't be the same Sheena I wanted to be friends with ever since we met! Sure, things with Origin, and—maybe even things with the world will have to go differently because of your lack of will, but most importantly, if you fail now, we won't ever have the same Sheena back. And that would make me... so sad."

Surprised was the ninja that the angel had thought so intensely on the subject, but even more surprised was she that tears were forming in the girl's eyes from the mere notion of their bond being mangled. Indeed, before that moment Sheena had been relating in her mind that Colette knew nothing of its entire relevance to her relationship with Zelos; it transformed then into a moment to be reflective of only the two girls. Colette truly, in her naiveté, could sense that something was devouring Sheena's goodness like the Cruxis Crystal of only days ago. The ability to sense her danger and solve her problems through compelling words meant that she cared. This moment of sisterhood could not be blasphemed with themes of the man in Sheena's life. No, it meant so much more.

"And no matter what Raine yelled at you for this morning, you don't have to live up to her expectations," Colette continued. "Trust me. I've known her for most of my life. You just have to keep doing what's right for you, and believe in yourself. Believe, Sheena, and be like you know you are. Be you!"

Colette felt herself pulled into a tight embrace with her elder. The bitter sweetness was beyond her; though, it was nice to receive a hug from her heroine.

"Yeah, Colette, you're right," admitted the dry-eyed Sheena. "I need to find my inner peace. I guess that's your secret, huh? Keep everything right for me and be myself... I'm gonna make you proud."

"You'll make me proud no matter what!" exclaimed the blonde. She sniffled her tears away in the sanctity of Sheena's shoulder.

From ahead, Regal had slowed the group and gone back to retrieve the pair. "Sheena, Colette; I hate to interrupt, but we seem to have arrived a short way ahead," he informed them.

"Oh no!" Colette exclaimed worriedly. The situation with Lloyd versus his arch nemesis father drove her attention away from the revelation. "Lloyd..."

Colette then ran ahead, leaving a baseless grin on Sheena's face. She had been right all along, branching from her will to sacrifice herself for the good of the world. What had come of this naiveté was an abstract truth about being oneself at whatever cost. For Colette, who had prepared for her own destruction to set the world straight, Sheena would become her old self for the good of the group.

The syncopation of her footsteps hastened to match the tempo of Regal's as the clan neared the center of the Forest. The bluehead did not falter a moment at her approach. How calm, expecting, accepting; initially representing the jaded but presenting a wider wisdom of practicality, Regal was a just person. Though circumstances forced his being taken hostage in the beginning, he now remained the only one putting himself in bonds, cuffs to restrain a lethal power for his peace of mind. His sacrifice. However, the superfluous shackles represented a freedom once all was rectified. He had promised Alicia to remove them once this journey was completed, and he would wait, and fight for the sake of getting them off.

Yes, yes, he had made a promise to Alicia to quell his power until it was all over. Just until...

Sheena quickened past Genis.

And there strode he, anxious for Lloyd's self-approbation. He had relinquished a companion, too. Mithos would have abused the boy past reason; and knowing (or perhaps not knowing?) this, Genis held off their friendship. Damper a relationship lest he be brainwashed.

Past Raine, another would-be martyr. Apparently she had suffered a tumultuous relationship with some mystery male, but left him for her brother's well-being. Past Presea, who could have informed the young half-elf of her age, who could have long ago given up avenging twelve laborious years.

Past Zelos.

And past Zelos, Lloyd faced his birth father. He looked so different now, hardened by battles and trials. It was almost uncanny how much he actually resembled his father. How had she not seen it before? Or, had it appeared over time? That seemed the prescription. Indeed, he looked and behaved a more mature individual.

So everyone was different. So, everyone but she...

"If you want the pact with Origin, then you must defeat me," Kratos spoke.

"So... this is how it is with you," Lloyd said to himself, seemingly preparing against the confusion of battle.

"Everyone, leave this to me."

"You're going to fight alone?" Kratos questioned. More quietly, he annexed, "You'll never be able to kill me that way."

"I am," Lloyd replied. Nothing more, nothing less. He hadn't even acknowledged his father's remark. This was difference.

"Yeah—and you'd better prepare yourself!" Sheena shouted. He knit his brow. "Lloyd... he possesses more strength than you can imagine. He's not the same kid you knew back when you were with us. But you already know that, don't you? You see his potential and it scares you, doesn't it? He'll kill you... I have no doubt in that. He'll do it because it's what has to be done."

And he's not afraid. He's given his mother, his innocence, his pride, and a never-ending effort that have all been swallowed up by the hounds of heaven. That was the difference; that was his sacrifice.

"Get ready!" Lloyd warned in preparatory stance.

"I'm not going to hold back for you," Kratos said.

"I know. I won't either."

Swords clashed together in a dissonance of metal and brawn. Sheena had no need to watch; all of her confidences rested in Lloyd fully. Colette clung close to her, however, biting her lip.

"Do you think he'll win?" Genis asked from behind.

"He will. He has to," Presea calmed him.

"Not just because it has to be done. He's so strong. I believe in him," said Colette. She smiled. Ah, the affections of love were well-adorned on her. It was well that Sheena had allowed Colette to have Lloyd.

"He's a great person. His bravery is... something else," she admitted.

"Hey, what about me?" She turned her head to see Zelos staring at her indignantly.

"What about you?"

"Sheena, you... Do I really have nothing to do with this?"

"This isn't about you. This is about Lloyd and saving the worlds with Origin."

"So you're just gonna ignore me. I see how it is."

"Zelos—!" she tried to restrain herself, but could no longer hold back the frustration of miscommunication. She whirled around and faced him directly. "How the hell is it, then, Zelos? WQhy don't you tell me what I'm supposed to feel, and while you're at it, how I'm supposed to treat you, of all people, in this moment of respect for our cause!"

Several blinked. Kratos paused. Lloyd parried. Zelos was dumbfounded.

"Look, I don't understand what is with you," he began in a lowered voice, "but it was to my understanding that we had a certain trust between us. There's something wrong with you right now, I know it. You're afraid. You really shouldn't be. Whatever needs to happen will happen, okay? Qué será, será."

A pain again resurfaced in her womb to match the painful blinking away of tears. 'Stop talking to me, Zelos. I'm going to get confused again. I'm not allowed to love you, so don't way things like that to try to make it happen!' she thought. She tried to focus on what Lloyd was doing in battle, how he was faring.

Slash, parry, magic, parry, stab. It was over.

"And no matter what happens—"

"It's over," Lloyd punctuated.

"—we'll find a way."

"You've... grown strong," Kratos muttered. Of course he has, Kratos. Told you. Think of Origin, it's your time. "Aren't you going to finish me off? I thought I had earned the right to die."

From slightly behind her Sheena could feel Zelos's weight hitch upon the words, "right to die."

"No? Then I'll break the seal myself."

"No, Kratos! You're so stupid! Once you die, that's the end. What will you accomplish by that? Nothing! So, die on your own time!" Lloyd shouted hysterically. He knelt at the side of his wounded father and began to transfer half of his mana.

"That—" Zelos was slightly agape. "Could've been me..." He stepped back from Sheena a few pages and sighed audibly.

Meanwhile, the tomb-like seal was glowing and flashing; a figure materialized from its base. Vivid earthly colors and four arms reminded Sheena of a picture she had once seen at the Academy. This was Origin, most important and potent Summon Spirit in the known world.

"You who lack the right," addressed Origin. His voice echoed from seemingly oblivion and his lips were still. It was the highest display of command. "I have lost faith in all things. Have you come here to disappoint me again?"

"O-Origin, are you bound by a pact to Mithos?" she asked, now face-to-face with the demigod.

He shook his head. "My pact with Mithos was broken the moment I was freed. Never again shall anyone make use of my power."

"Even if I—if we—make a vow? We need the Eternal Sword direly!"

"It has to be used to reunite the worlds and revive the Giant Kharlan Tree! Unless we do something, the worlds will never stop vying for mana and nobody would be able to escape the suffering," Lloyd called from his father's side. Raine rushed over, sensing his dismay at immobility, and casted a quick healing spell upon the angel. Now, was it Sheena's imagination at play, or did Kratos enjoy the Professor's lap a little too much?

"That situation was born from the simple weakness of creatures who are unable to accept those that are different," Origin solemnly replied.

"We have to do everything we can," Colette refuted. "It isn't our fault, but we will try to compensate for the mistakes of others nevertheless!"

"Origin, ideals change," Kratos chimed. The Summon Spirit seemed to pay greater attention and respect to the angel, who was now pushing himself off of the ground. "You know this. You cannot think that society will adopt this pattern as before; you must have faith in the races of the current world. In order to change something you must initiate it yourself: something I learned from a very wise son."

Grudgingly, "You, who possess the right of the pact, make your vow. I accept the duty of creating this world as a means of a base for your ideal society of equality."

Sheena stepped forward. "I, Sheena Fujibayashi of Mizuho, have but one vow: to reclaim a world in which everyone can live without being threatened by discrimination, a world where everyone can live freely and in peace. That's all. I swear this upon my life and upon the honor of being a summoner."

"Then we shall create a pact upon that vow," Origin waged. "Now, fight!"

Sheena charged into battle headfirst with Lloyd, Zelos, and Raine following behind her. She struck out with the traditional pinions, but was hurled backwards into the air by a powerful spell. Catching her ground, she changed forward again and attempted to drain some of Origin; again she was tossed into the air. She lied on the ground for a moment, stunned. Raine casted a quick First Aid spell toward her.

"Thanks," Sheena replied, springing back up and into battle.

"Argh! He's too fast!" yelled Lloyd in anguish. He as well was recently pummeled backward into the air. Zelos thrusted his blade toward Origin, but it led him into thin air; he lost balance, and Origin appeared behind him and knocked forward his head. Zelos crumpled to his knees in the same flowing motion as his attack. The continuity was flawless to the point where it seemed rehearsed.

"EARTH BITE!" Lloyd and Zelos were now enveloped in a cluster of the earth's crust. It resembled a chrysanthemum, Sheena noticed. She promptly rose to her feet and started again at the Spirit.

"Demon Seal!" she announced. Origin was knocked backwards for a moment. "Lloyd, Zelos, GO!"

"Got it. Rising Falcon!"

"Victory Light Spear!"

"Photon!"

"Power Seal Pinion!"

"ABSOLUTE!"

All but Raine were scattered about helplessly, rag dolls in the elven mansion. Scrambling, Sheena pitched at Origin with her cards. "Haaa! Submit, Origin!"

"Your power is lacking. RAMEESH!"

"Aagh!" The ground rushed at her body with a vengeance, and the voltage pinned her down.

"Tempest Beast!"

"Um... Double Demon Fang!"

Origin was out for the count. Raine casted a final spell for Sheena's new wounds, but it would not heal the damage to her pride. "Damn... Damn it! I'm the one who's supposed to be showing the Spirits who's boss!"

"Pact-maker Sheena, I place my power in your hands." 'Not like I earned it, dammit. Zelos—that—argh! And with a simple Double Demon Fang, too! Insult to injury, and he knew it!' she protested in her head. "With that power, transform the Eternal Sword into a blade to save all life. However, the current Eternal Sword remains, as by Mithos's pact, unusable by those who lack the blood of elves. You must master the sword by your own power and forge a bond with it through the ring." Origin dissipated into the symbolic arc of power that Sheena was to possess. She, begrudged, accepted it and hoped that Lloyd or Kratos had been listening to that jazz about the Sword, because she sure as hell hadn't. Deeply, she sighed.

"Zelos... I can't believe you did that," Genis remarked. Sheena was just about to jump in with, "Yeah, I can't either, you sick bastard," but the boy continued: "And Lloyd, you finally—now we can complete the transaction—!"

Instantaneously, a globule broke free from Genis's grasp and levitated towards Lloyd. It attached itself to the clasp of the key crest as the half-elf emitted a gasp. A sickening peal of laughter came from Lloyd's throat in a foreign voice. Sheena swore she could place that grotesque chortle.

"There's no time... I'll take your body," he said; then, breaking free, Lloyd screamed, "N-N-NO!"

"It's Mithos!" Colette clarified.

"Genis!" Raine scolded, shocked.

A guilty red was painted on the boy's face as he assumed a defensive stance. "I didn't—I didn't know, okay! I took his Exsphere because I didn't want to believe... I never knew he could manifest himself in Lloyd's body!" he argued. Presea, almost inaudibly soothed him, "We know he was your friend. Even with Alicia's Exsphere you could not have known..."

Raine continued to chide: "Taking something like that is so reprehensibly dangerous! Do you have any idea what peril you could have...?"

"I just wanted him to be remembered—"

"It could have been different because he's with Cruxis—"

"—And if we don't do something immediately, Lloyd's body will be taken over!"

Colette stood with tears in her eyes, Zelos ambition in his; Sheena saw them both hesitate to run to the Mithos-bedeviled Lloyd. She knew Raine and Genis would not stop arguing. She knew Zelos was too torn to have himself possessed by his former master. She knew Colette was afraid to have anyone worry over her again. She knew it was her turn to make up for all of the Double Demon Fangs on the journey. This was what she had created the pact for; that upon which she had sworn her life: a world where everyone lives freely. How can freedom be achieved If their only hope for wielding the Eternal Sword was about to be captured and devoured by their nemesis? She swore to use her life to make things right. Mithos needed to be killed in a neutral vessel.

'There, Love, I'll teach you to live out your name.'

"Hold it, Mithos!" she shrieked at Lloyd. Quickly her feet brought her to the Crystal ; pushing Lloyd aside, she was seized by the embodiment of the half-elf. In the same voice, the intonation pressed, "Damn, you interfered! Fine, I'll just take this body."

The voice was hollow, abandoned. But the quality which halted the entire fracas was that it was not Sheena's. Lloyd snapped to attention and was the first bold enough to challenge the half-elf.

"Sheena! Stop! Let her go! We promised a world without hardship on her life. You can't take her! Let her go!" he pleaded frantically.

"Ahahaha! What do I care? I'm leaving this filthy world behind!"

Zelos lunged at her body but was cast away by an ephemeral barrier. "Damn it! Sheena!" he called.

She was gone. Mithos evaporated her to his fortress. The ground began to shake; above them the Tower of Salvation was buckling and crumbling.

"The—the Tower of Salvation ! It's falling!" Genis yelled in fear.

"It's Mithos, he's trying to seal us off from Derris-Kharlan," Kratos explained.

"How the hell are we supposed to get there, then?" Lloyd asked.

"Eternal Sword," said Presea.

"Not now," began Raine. "There are innocent people in this village and there are no signs of the wreckage slowing. Elves or not, we have to save them for our cause! Let's hurry and evacuate everyone, and then move to a secure location before figuring out our plans. Hurry!"

Following orders, the pack and Kratos dashed out of Torent Forest (now more easily exited for all of the burned and smashed trees). Most of the group headed for the entrance, sparing the lives of those who were on their way; but Zelos was haunted by a kind of bravery that drove him back to the last house in the outskirts. He searched anxiously, but rubble seemed to prevail over any life that might have dwelt there. He meant to have a moment of silence, but it was interrupted by a small cry to his left. Zelos valiantly moved away the stones covering up the voice.

Underneath a considerable amount of housing, an elven woman fought for her life. "Help! Oh, gods, please save me!"

"Hang in there, I've almost gotcha—" Zelos stopped suddenly when he saw the metal shard poking from her chest. Oh, Martel, she must not be able to feel it.

"Why aren't you moving things? Why did you stop?" she cried out, panicked.

"You—you're badly wounded, ma'am," he told her gently.

"Ah! Oh—gods..." She had seen her silver blood spilling around the shard. "Take it out. Take it out now and I will heal quickly enough!"

But the edges were sharp and menacing. "There's no safe way to do it—I'm sorry, ma'am—I can't—you'll bleed to death!"

"I will not, sir! Take—take—"

"You'll make it worse, don't move! Ah, uh, wait here. I'm out of magic and supplies, but I do have a friend, that's a healer, she's half-elf, but she can—"

"Half-elf?" the woman scoffed.

"Come on. You can't honestly say you won't take her help. That's ridiculous!"

"I refuse."

"Then there's nothing I can do!" Zelos admitted. It was obvious now that her breathing was shallow and she could not last long.

"You—despicable human!" she spat. "It's because of you that tragedies are born! You can create shadows of our kind—You're—filthy...!" Those were the last words she would utter in the mortal Tethe'alla.

"Lady! Aw, don't do this to me, lady," he begged. He closed her soulless eyes and sat back on a rock for a minute, still in front of the deceased elf. "Every time... Goddess damn every time... I didn't even know her. I was trying to be decent for once and save a life for its sake of being a life, but it's gone and backfired again, hasn't it? I was past all of that elf, half-elf, human crap. Guess I can't even have that now, huh, Mithos? What else are you going to take away from me, huh?" He stood and squinted up at a phosphorescent sky. Derris-Kharlan. "What the hell else? You can have my mom. You can have my dignity; you already took that without asking, too. You can have that false allegiance for so many years—You can even have her," he said, half-heartedly motioning to the woman. "But I've had enough of this bullshit, Mithos, if you know what I mean. You're not gonna take my drive, Yggdrasill. You can't seduce me into your darkness anymore, because I will get that ideal world. You will pay, you scrawny bastard. You take my one devotion as a trivial vessel and you die."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Luckily he was not the last one to flock back to Lloyd's side; he almost feared getting left behind for it would mean his chance to avenge Sheena was gone.

"That's all of them," called Kratos as he regrouped last.

"We need to make the Ring of the Pact, don't we?" Lloyd asked lowly.

"Altessa is not well enough. There is a zero percent chance he would be able to aid us," Presea noted.

"Yes, yes, but we can't just sit around here thinking about it. There's got to be someone; and if not, I'm sure Kratos is knowledgeable and Lloyd crafty enough to make it," Raine rationalized.

"Lloyd, I know someone!" Colette yelped.

"Who?"

"What about Dirk?"

"Dad!" The light bulb was set ablaze. "We'll get Dad to make it."

Kratos edged toward the exit of the village. "Then we need to get to Sylvarant as fast as possible."

"What the hell are you guys talking about? Sheena just got abducted! How are we going to solve that?" Zelos shouted at Lloyd. "We can use the Eternal Sword to save the world, why not her?"

"... Zelos is right," argued Raine.

"We... can use the Sword to take us to Derris-Kharlan so we can defeat Mithos at the same time, and then we'll regenerate the worlds," Lloyd suggested.

"Well, let's get on with that Ring, then. Can't use the Sword until it's made, right?" Zelos urged.

"Right."

"Sylvarant?"

"Sylvarant."

WHATPOSSIBLEVALUEDOESONEBURDENEDTOEXISTWITHCURSEDBLOODHAVE?

A body lying on the ground. Boy and two men and body.

"Oh no, Martel!" the boy sobbed. "You! How could you have done this to my sister?" Sheena understood where she was: a crevice of Mithos's past.

"Human! You will never be accepted among us, traitor!"

"It was what had to be done. And just how much are you willing to risk to get the mana?"

"Martel... Martel—Martel, wake up! I'll never trust any of you again!"

It was horrendous and wrenching to watch a young Mithos torn between family and friends, elves and humans, right and wrong. Was this the memory from which all of those cheap lifeless being concepts sprouted? She would not let it sway her, though provoking it was. "Get the hell out of me, Mithos."

"No! I don't have a body to go to!"

"You'll get out now! Don't force me! I am strong enough to—augh—!"

"Don't even bother, you Mizuho slut. I can see all of your thoughts, your memories—almost as tainted as mine. Except, oh, that's right: I didn't kill and entire village!"

It was then in the void that Sheena began to feel her physical body tense and form, originating from the sudden ache in her core. Not again. Not yet another attack at the center of her body, the emotion-house. "NO!" She struggled to shake her head, clench her fists; the pain ebbed.

"Urgh—! You'd surrender yourself to that insubordinate conniving Zelos, and yet you can't even submit your body to the man whose ideas will change the world for the better for a short distance? How pathetic are you?"

"Not at all!" Sheena lifted her left hand to her right and began clawing at the key crest in pulses of control.

"You fool! Even if you do manage to extricate me, I know everything about you; your weaknesses, your fears, your... loves. It would serve you ill to try and fight back when I get my body again. I'll go straight for what hurts you the most!" A final tug to her nerves and his Cruxis crystal clicked itself free and floated from grasp.

"A-ah!" Sheena howled. She gained her motor skills too quickly and could not catch herself. Grasping at the blank black air she was unable to find the crystal which had loosed itself from her hand. Suddenly the blackness did not have a foundation, and she was falling hard toward the bottom, toward some now nearly-visible ray of electric green. Upon reaching the symbol's clearer definition, Sheena felt light as a feather and rather hovered to her feet. The symbol was below her then.

'Where am I? This symbol seems familiar,' she thought. The circle morphed around her and shot her upwards in a streak of limelight. A transport: the one she had seen in the Tower of Salvation . Though, this one led to an unfamiliar location. Blue translucent paneling all around. She stepped to the edge of the raised platform upon which she was standing and attempted to scout out a possible landmark. Would Mithos really leave her there alone, perhaps for eternity?

The answer arrived in pink and white:

No.

Through the same symbol fell Zelos, and he landed on his knees close behind her. She whirled around to help him to his feet.

"Sheena!" he said incredulously. "No way! Awesome! I guess I just reached my goal ten times faster..."

"Where did you come from, and how did you get here, and why?"

Zelos said nothing at first, and instead pulled her into a grateful but swift embrace. "I'm... just glad he didn't, y'know, kill you, or rape you, or, y'know," he stammered, taking his distance.

"Heh, well, he sort of raped my memories, but it's nothing, really," she mentioned.

"Aw, that's no fun. It's better with consent!"

"Zelos, seriously. How did you—?" Her query again was cut short by a sudden occurrence in the atmosphere. A whirring sound accompanied by a vaporous black cloud.

"I don't know. I don't know where I am, actually," Zelos answered, continuing as though nothing had happened.

"Hang on—do you hear something?" she asked urgently.

"Hm, like a whooshy sort of sound?"

"Yeah, it's—" The black hole began to exert an irregular amount of pull on the pair. Hm, black hole black hole? How odd, indeed. "We're being sucked in!" Sheena cried to him as she began to pace away from it. It was to no avail.

"Shit, let's get out of here!"

"We can't! It's blocking our exit!" An edge of the darkness latched on to both of their legs and they were set running in place to try to escape it.

"Ow—jeez! What is this thing?" Zelos shouted to Sheena who was now forcibly turned away from him.

"I don't know," she replied, "but don't look down."

"How can you honestly expect me not to when you say something like that?" He glanced down past their feet and the sheer paneling; beneath the black void was an arachnid waiting, rather hungry-looking as well. "Aw, man, Sheena!"

"I told you not to look! See if you can outrun it!" she yelled toward him. When she turned her head back forward, she noticed a figure materializing from thin air.

"What's wrong, baby summoner? You'll be caught unless you hurry up and run," it mocked. The form then shaped into a ninja of red and hatred: Kuchinawa.

"Such a pathetic sight, Zelos," said another voice. This one chilled Sheena's marrow: Seles, rampant insane stalker. She must have been tormenting Zelos.

"Kuchinawa... Why are you...?"

"It's got to be an illusion. There's no way these two would be here," Zelos rationalized. But that thought seemed impossible to Sheena—they were there, right in front of them!

"You're so stupid, the both of you. You've shut your eyes to reality for so long that you can't even tell what's real anymore!" Seles chuckled.

"You grew up in Mizuho, yet you still can't tell if I'm real or an illusion? You really are a failure, Sheena."

Failure.

"It's so sad. How did someone so unworthy become the Chosen ? It's no wonder he betrayed his friends."

Quietly, Zelos reminded himself, "That has nothing to do with it."

"Neither of you should have been born. Everyone would have been so much happier had you not been born!" Kuchinawa blamed. He glared at Sheena with hurtful scythes of eyes. "You brought misfortune and shame upon the people of Mizuho!"

"I... I have not brought misfortune to—"

"Can you really say you haven't? You, the coward who trembled before Volt and killed your comrades."

Coward.

"One betrayed his friends and came back shamelessly, and the other murdered the people of her village and sought retribution in a suicide mission to Sylvarant. This shall be a fitting end!" Seles cackled loftily.

"If you think you can run, run! You'll be devoured by the darkness and die!"

The vortex's pull became all at once ten times stronger. It was too difficult to keep trudging along, keep fighting it.

"Dammit! We're gonna fall to that monster unless we do something!" Zelos shouted in frustration.

"You have got to be joking," Sheena replied.

"Aw, ickle Zelos. Would you like me to save you and your widdle precious girlfriend?" asked Seles, the false kindness sputtering out of her as though a fountain.

"Pledge loyalty to Cruxis."

"That monster below will bestow eternal suffering upon you. If it devours you, you will neither live nor die. You will be trapped in true darkness, tormented in isolation forever," a foreign voice added. It was airy and youthful.

"Forever..." As Sheena repeated it, she remembered what Zelos had mentioned of the time-and-space rupture in that pit of the Tower of Salvation . You'd keep falling forever until you drove your mad self to believe you were dead to end the pain of existing in that void. Neither living nor dead.

"I can save you. Join me and defeat Lloyd. Then it will all be over!" the voice encouraged.

"Lord Mithos has agreed to let the people of Mizuho keep their traditions," Kuchinawa said.

"And he'll remove the title and duties of the Chosen from you and transfer everything to me."

Zelos stared at Seles. "She'll gain the power of the Chosen ?"

"What I've wanted more than anything else in my life, the power of the Chosen ! You'll let me have it, won't you, Big Brother? Just imagine, you won't be tied to marrying the Princess; and your life might actually be able to mean something to you!"

"All you need to do is pledge your allegiance to me. As soon as you do that, I'll save you from your fate," the intangible Mithos offered.

It was a lot to take in, especially combined with sprinting and a looming existence of suffering present as well. Sheena could not think clearly; why did she want to side with Yggdrasill all of a sudden? He had information on her secrets, and was going to eliminate her culture, for starters. And on top of that, he'd offered Zelos a shot at normal life—

And by the way, since when was Zelos betrothed to the Princess?—

... which meant that if he surrendered the title he could marry whomever he pleased. Oh, that he had that freedom!

"Mizuho..."

"Seles will become the Chosen ..."

"Freedom of culture...?" she asked, entranced.

"Listen to me, both of you!" Voice. Voice from below. Lloyd's voice—but out of the spider? "I've come for you guys. I'm right down here below you!"

Sheena could see Zelos shake his head out of the corner of her eye. "Whoa, this can't be true. Not Lloyd, too! That's just the monster speaking," he said.

"Yes, it is, because that Lloyd is just an illusion," Mithos consoled. "The monster is mimicking his voice to lure you."

"I'm not an illusion! Don't listen to him. Do you think it's better for the people of Mizuho to become part of the Age of Lifeless Beings? Do you think it's okay for Seles to become the Chosen and have the possibility of sacrifice over her head?" the so-called Lloyd asked in earnest.

"I..."

"But..."

The spider's silhouette disappeared and left a nebulous emptiness in its wake. "Both of you have to decide for yourselves, but I have faith that you won't just keep running away even if it's difficult! Don't forget: your lives have value just by existing!"

"Just by existing... my life has value?" Sheena asked him. However the answer came not from Lloyd, but from the other insubstantial being.

"Of course not. No life has value simply for existing! A person can make himself valuable by the deeds he does in life; and killing your own town because of your personal weakness is so pathetically invaluable!"

"So it's about weakness? Whoa, I did not just risk my life back there to save an elf because I'm weak," Zelos snarled. "If anyone, it's you who is weak!"

"You threaten to reject my proposition?"

"You know what I long for, yet you still interfere!" Seles raged.

"Ah, the Chosen , always interfering with everyone's plans. You're such an obstacle. If only you hadn't—"

"I think it's worth it that I interfered! And I think that from this experience I mean enough to the people who do care about me that I trust there is no monster down there. It may be pathetic and all, but it'll have to do. I'm not going to run from my duty anymore," Zelos said decidedly before slowing his pace to nothing. "You hear me, Lloyd? I trust you!"

Sheena watched with worry as he slipped into the darkness, yet she ran. "You beat me to it..."

"Are you running away again, baby summoner?" Kuchinawa asked bitingly.

"I will raze the entire village of Mizuho if you do not submit!" Mithos said.

"I..."

"Sheena, listen to me! It's all right, come down! We're waiting for you, all of us," the voice of Zelos beckoned from below. "You don't have to run anymore."

"I'm not running," she replied. She then stared Kuchinawa squarely in the eye. "I am not running away anymore. There are people down there who are depending upon me to help reunite the world. If I were to fail them, I would fail Mizuho, myself, and all life forms. I can't betray that trust, or the feelings I have of hope. I won't deny my feelings or trust in anyone again, for that is the true cowardice of running away!" Her steps slowed as the darkness readily consumed her. 'Damnation or salvation... Guess there's only one way to find out.'

She fell, as expected, to the floor below where the "monster" had lurked; instead, Zelos's arms were there to catch her.

Salvation.

He pressed her close before helping her to the ground. "Welcome back," he greeted cheerfully.

Brushing the dust off of herself, Sheena smiled in return. "It's good to be back."

"I was worried," Colette chirped from a short distance. Behind her stood a beaten-looking Genis, wizened Presea, calm Regal, reticent Raine, and of course the ever-present Lloyd.

"I... have been running from my past for a long time," Sheena admitted. "But it's not like I can really change what's happened. What's done is done, and whatever will be, will be."

"Exactly," agreed Zelos. "And I guess now that we're back with our newfound pathetic value and such we can face our challenges with more confidence. Head on."

"Yes, running doesn't solve anything," Raine said. Zelos and Sheena exchanged brief looks and let go of the hands that they were unaware they were holding. How was it that after all this time she still cared for him? They had the climax of their mission yet ahead of them. It was no time to turn to adoration.

... But it was no time to scorn it.

SOMETIMESRUNNINGISTHEONLYWAYTOSAVEYOURSELF

"What's that?" Colette asked. A golden figurine floated downwards and split into two, the halves of which levitated into Zelos and Sheena's hands.

"It looks like... erm, half of a spider," Zelos said, overturning it.

"It's been broken," Sheena added. "It's kinda creepy."

Lloyd craned his neck to see the figurines and quirked his eyebrow. "Maybe it's an admonition not to run away."

"Heh, I guess that's one way to look at it. Either way, I'm gonna hold on to this thing as a reminder," Sheena said, stowing it inside her obi. "So, let's not run and get to Mithos's castle!"

HUMANSARE...SOARROGANT.

And through the halls, and through the portal, and past the dragon, and into Mithos's chamber; as she was fighting the devastated boy, she finally saw his eyes. Mithos's green eyes had opened in fear to display the deep affection for his sister which drove him. Also there was the spoiled love for Kratos, Yuan, a read-headed man who resembled Zelos, then Zelos himself, and lastly the gawky boy Genis. And then many, many different souls, all dead, all Desians. Broken trust of so many fledglings. Broken, shattered heart. Closed off to the entire world because he could not accept and use the love of another, because he could not follow through with what had to be done without his emotions becoming involved. Sheena was past that, now. She saw the weakness in it, and knew why he thought he had seen the weakness in her. The statement was reciprocal.

Between one graceful teleportation she was able to catch both of his forms and aim a fatal attack.

When Mithos's body perished and the red orb hung heavily in the air, he spoke to them; he spoke to her.

"You, who stand at the end of the path I chose not to follow... All I wanted was a world for my sister and me so we could be happy. That's all. So go on. Continue with your pitiful world where everyone is supposedly treated equally; you'll see. The world can never accept everyone unless people are all the same. Lifeless beings were the best and only way. If I were given the choice, I'd do things the same way again and again."

He disappeared through a shattered crystal, and Sheena thought to herself, 'If I were given the choice, I'd do things the same way, too.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

To be continued. Please don't let my 153 pages of written Running go to waste—take the time to review. It only takes about one minute out of your time and it makes my day. Thank you.

--Trickssi

PS—New goal set for reviews for this chapter. Let's see if you reach it... I might throw in a special surprise!

PPS--Shout out to Steven! Pssht! So glad I could convert you! Mwahaha...

PPPS-- Just so you know, it took me probably about 18 hours total to get this chapter working and uploaded... my computer was so messed up.