Lloyd stepped off the lift onto the rooftop. Eerie wooden statues lined the pathway from the lift. He slowly walked through them, finding he recognized them all. Botta. Alicia, that's Presea's sister. Mithos is here too. And there's Abyssion. Then something dawned on him.

"All of them are dead!" He accidentally shouted. He cringed, as his voice seemed to echo within the fog that was even denser on the garden rooftop. He walked into the open area in front of the garden. Standing before him were two large statues. Their bodies were carved out to the smallest detail, but their faces were blank. No face had been carved into them yet. But they didn't need to be. Lloyd recognized the two. Colette! Professor Sage! What did it mean that their faces were missing? Were they not dead yet like the others? Lloyd fiercely prayed that was the case.

He turned around slowly, looking for whoever might be behind it all. All he saw were more statues. And all of them were of dead people. Dead eyes stared down at him, judging him, accusing him. Lloyd felt uneasy under their gaze, and tried to shake it off, but the feeling stayed. Finally, Lloyd turned his own gaze into the garden. It was completely shrouded with fog, making it impossible to see what was in it. As he stared into it, a sense of great dread came over him. Something large was just above him, and he didn't want to find out what it was, but he had to look.

Standing on the arch leading to the garden was another statue, this one much bigger than the others. Lloyd recognized it almost immediately. And the face was carved into this one. No! Presea! The statue of the girl he had met on their journey brought it all home. Someone had kidnapped his friends, and even killed one. Now they were likely to kill Colette and the Professor. He had to stop whoever it was. A stray thought floated through his mind, reminding him of the exspheres he had left in the lift. He shook his head, it wasn't important right now. Blindly, Lloyd ran into the secluded garden, not knowing what he would find.

Lloyd stumbled into a clear area, almost as if the fog were merely a wall, and not enveloping the entire area. Recovering quickly, Lloyd looked up and found a horrifying scene. Colette and Professor Raine were chained to a large wooden slab. An enormous axe hung above them, about to sever their heads from their bodies. The person who wielded the weapon had pink hair and was almost as tall as Genis was now.

"Presea!" Lloyd cried out as the young girl began to swing down with the axe. Thinking quickly, Lloyd leapt toward them and blocked the axe with a sword. He drove his arm upward, pushing the weapon away from the two women. With his sword still on the blade of the axe, Lloyd was too focused on keeping it up that he had failed to notice what the weapon was. Suddenly, he felt the sword break in half. Confused, he let his guard down for just a moment. It was enough for the young girl to elbow him in the gut and knock him away. He fell down hard on the cobblestone floor.

"Lloyd, I thought you'd come. You'd never let down your friends, would you?" Lloyd looked at his broken sword; hardly believing it had been broken. He looked at the weapon Presea held, and he knew why. It hadn't been broken, it had been bitten in half. The pink haired girl held Diablos, the cursed weapon of Nebilim. It had a cruel mouth that must have taken a chunk of his own weapon.

"Presea, what's going on?" The ax woman shook her head.

"You never were the quick one, were you?" Lloyd rose to his feet, holding the remaining blade of his Kusanagi pair. The other he had thrown out of the garden. His face clearly expressed his confusion.

"Fine, I'll tell you. My life was taken from me. My time. Everyone I loved was taken from me. I wanted it back."

"But, Presea…"

"Have you any idea the pain that I endure everyday? Knowing that I can't go back? I cannot go back, and if I can't have my life, neither can anyone else."

"Presea, we didn't do this to you. Why are you taking it out on us? We're your friends."

"Friends only get in the way of my final goal. I will eliminate you all to make sure I can exact my revenge." Lloyd gripped his sword tighter. "And had you not gotten in the way, Colette and Raine would have been next." Lloyd just glared at her. How could she do this?

"Would you like to know what was pathetic? It was so easy to capture everyone. Only Regal and Sheena gave me any trouble, and even they were easy. Colette simply gave up. She couldn't believe that I would do such a thing. Neither could Genis or Zelos. They simply couldn't believe that I would have the heart to trap and torture them."

"Shut up! Don't talk about them like that." Lloyd shouted.

"And Raine was never a fighter in the first place. She was easy to hold down. Regal easily would have given me the most trouble, so I tricked him and cut off his limbs before he could fight back."

"Gah!" Lloyd covered his ears, trying to block out Presea's taunts. But nothing could stop them.

"Sheena was the most pathetic. Do you know what she did? She begged me not to hurt you. I merely laughed as I chained her to that device. I'm sure you saw her."

"Be quiet! Lloyd yelled and charged at her, forgetting for a moment that he only had one of his swords. Presea easily blocked his attack and knocked him back. He fell to the ground several feet away, and Presea laughed cruelly.

"Are you really going to be that weak? I know you have more than that. I was actually looking for a fight." Lloyd picked himself up to his knees, supporting himself with one hand and shaking his head. "Actually Lloyd, I'm glad you're here. I knew you had recently acquired the last exsphere, and would bring them here if I asked you here. And I plan to use them." Lloyd turned his head and looked at her. She began to advance toward him, slowly taking small steps.

"You see, when Abyssion was defeated, and the evil spirit tried to take over my body, all of you believed you had ridden me of it. That is not what happened though. The power remained inside of me, sleeping, dormant. And now I am more powerful than ever." She was almost on top of him now, and she kept talking as she got closer. "I'm sure you saw the statues out there. They are of the dead, and with this new power inside of me, I can resurrect them to serve me. And that's where you come in Lloyd. You brought me the exspheres, which I will equip to my undead army. And with that army, I will control and take my revenge on the world."

Presea was now standing over him, and Lloyd watched as she raised her axe.

"And now, Lloyd, it is time for you to die. Thank you for bringing me the exspheres." The axe began to fall, and Lloyd brought up his remaining sword to protect himself, even though he knew it wouldn't be enough. As he watched it, the axe seemed to slow and stop inches from him. Lloyd looked up. Presea seemed to be frozen as well, held in place. He hastily pulled himself out from under the hideous blade. He got to his feet and was about to inspect the smaller woman, when a voice behind him made him jump.

"Lloyd," He turned to find Verius behind him. "Lloyd, you must defeat her. She cannot be allowed to live."

"But, I can't just kill one of my friends."

"So you'll give up, just like Colette did? Lloyd, she must be stopped, and there's only one thing that can stop her."

"What is it? If I must do this, then I will. Please tell me." The vixen spirit walked closer to him and sat down.

"It is love. The love you and Sheena share. Presea's soul has been empty since her exsphere was put on her. Thus the darkness has taken her over. Only pure love like yours can drive out pure darkness like that in her heart." Lloyd nodded, and then began turning back to return to the fight. Then he remembered, he only had one sword.

"Um, I can't fight well with only one weapon. I'll lose for sure." Before the Summon Spirit of the Heart could answer, something began heating up his pocket. He fished the item out and found it was the card that Sheena had given him earlier. It had begun to glow in his hand. Lloyd realized the single Kusanagi blade in his other hand had started glowing as well. He watched as they changed shape and size. The sword shortened, and the width of the blade stretched out to almost two times its original size. Where the curve of the blade met the hilt, it continued and created a small hook on the bottom of the flat edge of the blade. The card in his right hand stretched to match the new sword he held.

"That weapon has not been seen for centuries," said Verius suddenly. "It is imbued with the powers of the heart, and the stronger the heart that wields them, the stronger they become." Lloyd stared at the two new weapons in his hands. He couldn't believe it.

"These are incredible, did you create these?" he asked Verius.

"I did not. They were made by your heart, and your will to save those you love. Use them to defeat Presea. Perhaps the pure power of love will save her soul before the end." Lloyd nodded at the Summon Spirit and turned to face his opponent. Time unfroze, and the axe slammed into the ground where Lloyd had once been. Taken aback by Lloyd sudden movement from his death position, Presea growled.

"I don't know how you got out of the way, but believe me, it will have done you no good." Then she noticed the swords in his hands. "So, you have new weapons. Even they will do you no good. Prepare yourself, Lloyd Irving." She charged him, swinging Diablos wildly. Lloyd dodged these wild swings deftly. Knowing it was merely a bluff to throw him off guard, Lloyd countered the blow that would have knocked him almost off the roof. Lloyd guarded as the axe fell toward him again, the move that had split his sword earlier. And again, the axe bit down on his weapon, but instantly released and flew back, as if it were on fire.

As it was, it certainly seemed like the weapon had been hurt. Steam trails floated off from its teeth. The power of Love, Lloyd thought, smiling to himself. Now he pressed the attack, driving Presea back toward the garden. He unleashed technique after technique, hoping to break through her defense. This proved hard to do, as Presea was such a small target. She was also fast, and almost caught Lloyd under his guard in many instances. Only lucky twists had saved him. At one point the teeth on her weapon had caught his shirt and ripped it. An inch closer and it would have been gnawing on his flesh.

Finally, he had her pinned against a wall, and he prepared himself to strike her down. But she ducked under his attack and butted him in the gut, knocking him back and again into the defensive position. The battle was become intense, and they both moved faster, trying harder than ever to land a hit. They danced all over the building's rooftop, exchanging blows and parries. Lloyd was having trouble concentrating. All the eyes of the dead seemed to focus on him, creating feelings of guilt in his stomach. They seemed to crowd in on him, making his moves confined and sluggish. Presea saw this and pressed her advantage.

Swinging in a circle, she hit him with the dull part of her axe, knocking him back against the statue of Alicia. He rubbed his head, and looked up just in time to duck under Presea's swing. The axe lodged itself into the statue, and Presea couldn't pull it free. Lloyd rolled out from under it and slashed downward toward the girl. She released her grip on the axe and crossed her arms in front of her to block the blow with her gauntlets. Seeing her move into it, Lloyd changed the direction of his swords so they thrust into the ground, flipping him over her. Before she could react, he pulled back and thrust forward into a Sonic Thrust.

The move pierced her armor, and he felt it puncture her skin. He cringed as his blade slowed as it slid into her soft body. Lloyd felt her body relax and go limp. He pulled the sword out and caught her as she fell back. With a slight gasp, she settled back into his arms. She stared up into the fog around them, mouth open a small bit.

"Lloyd…" Presea called to him softly, a barely audible whisper. "Lloyd, I'm…sorry." He shook his head, wanting to say something to ease her passing, but there was nothing. He held her until she stopped breathing and then gently lay her down on the ground. He rose to his feet and sheathed his swords. He looked down at the sad girl who had been their companion and friend for so long. He wished he hadn't had to do it, but there was no other way. He jumped back as something appeared in the air above Presea's body.

He calmed down when he saw that it was Presea. Just like everyone else he had defeated, she was trapped within her Cruxis Crystal. Lloyd was not surprised when she spoke to him.

"Lloyd, I'm sorry for my actions. Thank you for stopping me. I only have one last request. Please destroy my exsphere along with the others. And if you can find a way, please destroy the Devil's Arms. They must not be allowed to continue in their cursed existence."

"Presea…I," The shadowy figure shook her head.

"Lloyd, thank you. You freed me from my guilt and anger. If I were still alive, I would owe you my life." Then she turned to look back toward the garden terrace. "And I know this is a selfish request, but if possible, could I be buried next to my sister?" Lloyd nodded, and Presea gave him a small smile. She thanked him once again for freeing her soul from its tormented state and then disappeared.