Well, I suppose I should update this story, right? Well, I can definitely do that. This has been another chapter that has been plaguing me. Writer's block hasn't been quite what I've been going through, more like inability to decide what I want to do to make this best for the readers. Well, I hope that you like the decision I came to, and enjoy this chapter. Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one as well. Thanks!

Chapter 16: Bring out the Light

Lloyd had Martel cradled in his lap. He couldn't believe that someone would kill such an innocent and defenseless young child just to take revenge on him. Not only that, but they had also killed his son and his wife which made it so much worse. He couldn't stop the tears from falling, and he really didn't want to make them stop.

"Lloyd...you have to wake up...,"

Lloyd heard a familiar voice, the voice of his mother. She was calling to him, but he had no idea what she was talking about. He was awake, wasn't he?

"What are talking about?" he asked as he began to look around him. Suddenly, his mother stepped into the clearing. She was so beautiful. She fairly tall and slender, but she was a bit shorter than his father was. She had chestnut brown hair like he did, and hazel eyes like Storm. She was wearing a simple white dress held up by two thin straps. She wasn't wearing any shoes, and Lloyd could tell as he looked at her why his father had fallen in love with her. He couldn't exactly remember why he knew that it was his mother, but he felt in his heart that she was. She looked at him with her loving eyes as she walked easily by Sheena and Kagerou's dead bodies. She didn't even spare them a passing glance as she walked towards her son.

"This isn't real Lloyd. You have to remember that you were fighting Spiritua in the realm of lost spirits. She's using her dark powers to cause everyone to believe that their worst fears are coming true," Anna told him as she looked at her son with pleading eyes.

"It seems pretty real to me," Lloyd said as he held onto Martel a little tighter, not wanting to give up the illusion in front of him.

"Lloyd, you have to trust me. You have to let go of her. You have to finish the fight before everyone's killed," Anna yelled at him, trying her hardest to snap him out of it.

"I can't...can't leave them," Lloyd cried out.

"Lloyd! You have to do this!" Anna yelled at him. Lloyd looked up at her, trying to read her face. He wasn't quite sure if this was his real mother and not just some illusion of her. His heart told him she was real, but his mind still wasn't convinced. He saw the look in her eyes and realized that she was someone he could trust. He laid Martel on the ground as he got to his feet. Anna smiled at him as she watched him come closer to her.

"Okay, I believe you...I think I can remember a little bit," Lloyd told her.

"Help them all Lloyd," Anna told him before she began to glow a bright white light that soon engulfed Lloyd as well.

Raine tried to get away before the man could come over to her, but she wasn't able to move. She watched in horror as the man crept ever closer to her. She couldn't even hear most of what the crowd was screaming anymore. She couldn't let it all end like this, not after what they did to her brother. She wouldn't let them. Of course, at this point, it didn't look like she was going to get anywhere in time.

"Raine...just relax...there is no threat here. The real threat is somewhere else...,"

Raine knew that voice belonged to Martel. How she knew that, she had no idea, but she just could tell. She looked around before finding the source of the voice in the crowd. Martel was standing in the middle of the crowd staring at her intensely. Raine looked back at her before Martel responded.

"You were fighting Spiritua in the realm of lost souls. Your worst fears are going to consume you if you don't wake up now," she yelled at her.

Raine couldn't believe it. Martel was standing in the middle of a mob of humans screaming things to her, and no one in the crowd acted as if she was even there. Maybe she could believe her. At this point, she really didn't have any other option. Raine nodded her head silently as the man behind her kicked her trap door causing her to fall.

Martel was surrounded by a bright light that quickly engulfed Raine just before she hit the end of the rope.

Kratos didn't want to believe it. His only family had been killed by the man that had ruined his life once. He was going to find Kvar and rip him apart piece by piece. His daughter had been brutally murdered from the looks of her injuries, and Lloyd had died trying to protect her. Kratos collapsed to his knees as he dug his nails into the dirt, too overcome by his rage and sorrow to keep moving. His whole world had fallen apart in only a few seconds.

"Kratos...relax...it's not real...,"

Kratos would know that voice anywhere, but why was Anna coming to him at a time like this?

"Have you come here to tell me how disappointed you are in me for letting Kvar murder our children?" Kratos asked her harshly.

"Kratos, this is just an illusion by Spiritua. You were fighting her and now she is using your worst fears to kill you. You have to calm down and wake up from this," Anna told him as she appeared before him and bending down next to him. She was so close and she felt so real, he could feel her breath on his cheek.

"How can I be sure that you aren't the illusion? I mean...if this truly was an illusion then why do Lloyd and Storm feel so real?" he asked her. "You feel real as well, but you've already passed on, this doesn't make any sense," Kratos told her.

"Kratos...only you can decide what to do, but I hope that you choose to believe your wife," she told him as she got back up and began to slowly walk away. Kratos sat in thought for a few moments before rising to his feet and walking quickly towards Anna. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around to look at him.

"I believe you, please tell me that none of this has happened," Kratos told her convincingly.

"It won't happen yet if you can prevent it," she assured him before she enveloped herself and Kratos in a bright light.

Zelos couldn't believe it. He had trusted Yuan so much, and then he went and stole Storm away from him, then killed her in front of him.

"How could you do that? After everything she's done for you. I thought that you cared about her," Zelos asked Yuan looking between him and Storm's lifeless body as Yuan began to walk up to him.

"S he was untrustworthy. She was the most likely candidate to become the next leader of Cruxis," Yuan informed him as he pulled his dagger out. "Now...you won't be telling Kratos or the others of what I've done here," he said as he came at him with the small dagger.

Zelos managed to get out of the way, and seeing how he had no weapon ran off to find some sort of help. He managed to outrun him a little bit before he found himself in a dead end. He tried to look for another way out, but found that Yuan came around to where he was, blocking his only exit.

"Zelos...there's not much time. You have to believe in me and know that this is not real, but the fear that you have can still kill you. Do you believe in me enough to want to wake up and face your enemy once again," Zelos' mother's voice rang out to him. Zelos knew who it was and was eager to reply as he watched Yuan approach.

"At this point I'm willing to try just about anything, although, I have no idea what you're talking about," Zelos agreed as he disappeared in a flash of light just before Yuan reached him.

Storm couldn't believe that she was alone once again. Although, with everything that she'd done in the past she figured she deserved to be put through what she was about to get. At this point it was all meaningless to her anyway. The pain inflicted on her would only affect Pronyma, Storm was had already given up.

"Don't give up Storm...they're still alive...they need your help,"

Her mother was speaking to her. Her friends and family were still alive, perhaps Pronyma had been lying to her. Maybe there was still hope. After everything her and her mother had been through she was ready to trust her.

"Do you believe me Storm?" Anna asked her.

Storm nodded her head before she was thrown against a wall in one of the hallways of Derris-Kharlan by Pronyma who had been dragging her around. Before Pronyma could put her through anymore pain she was suddenly engulfed in a bright light.

Lloyd woke up where he remembered being before. He was a little groggy, but otherwise he was all right. He looked over and saw Sheena slowly snapping out of her own trance as well. Everyone else was beginning to wake up from the hold that the darkness had had on them. They had been saved by their trust in the people who cared about them once again. But the battle was still not over. As Lloyd looked over, the dragon that Spiritua had transformed herself into was staring at them with anger and disbelief. Lloyd looked over at the now awake Storm who looked back at him.

"If we work together with the spirits we can defeat her. I know how," Storm told him confidently as she pulled out her blue wings.

Well, that's it for this chapter. Out of one bad situation and back into another one. Minor detour there for them, but they were able to make it through. I don't think anyone would like the ending I was thinking of doing so hopefully you like this one. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews from last time once again. Please review this chapter as well and tell me what you think. Thanks!