Chapter 9

"Lloyd! Lloyd! Did you hear that?" His eyes widened with worry.

The young swordsman stopped in his tracks and gently set his friend down. "Yes." He nodded gravely. "L-let's go back. Please."

Lloyd frowned, "But the Professor..."

"No! We have to go back! No matter what!" He slowly started to trot away, but immediately fell down.

"Ow..." He groaned.

Colette walked up to Lloyd and gently took his hands in hers, "Please, let's just go back. For both their sake."

Lloyd sighed, "Alright."

Colette walked up to Genis and helped him up. Then the three of them sprinted towards Iselia.

"It... looks even worse than before..." Colette ran forward calling out, "Professor! Where are you?"

Genis ran to a pile of rocks and began to cry. Lloyd walked up to him and looked down. There, in a pile of rubble lay half of Raine's staff.

Tears rolled down the child's face. "This is just like with Presea," he sobbed, "I'm loosing everyone that's important to me!"

Colette walked up to the two and tried to give a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Genis," she began softly, "You still have us..." She trailed off when she saw that it was having now affect.

Suddenly, Genis fell to the floor yelping in pain. He held his side, blood dripping all over his hand.

"Oh no!" Lloyd gasped, "You put too much strain on yourself! Don't move and just rest"

"Lloyd..." Genis was loosing strength by the second.

"Genis, stop! If you keep pushing yourself... you'll... Never mind." He shook his head, not wanted to think about loosing another friend. "We'll rush you to a hospital, then we'll get our revenge on Mithos! We won't let him get away with this! Just don't worry about it!"

"No..." The half-elf interrupted. "You can't fight hate with more hate..." He was starting to close his eyes. "You have to fight it with... with..." And with that, he closed his eyes forever.

"No...!" Colette choked sadly. She held her hands to her chest, as if to push away the pain. Lloyd sat on one knee, covering his face with his hands.
They had lost a friend they had known for years.

The sat there for countless minutes. The minutes turned to hours, and hours turned to days. In their hearts, the time turned to years; but in reality, they had only been there for a few minutes.

Then suddenly, past the thick unsettling dust, came a figure. His muscular figure was becoming more visible by the second, his spiky maroon hair becoming more vibrant.

Lloyd looked up. At first, he didn't recognize the figure. Then it became clear to him. "It's..."

Kratos.