Anbufang23: Thank you, I'll fully take that into consideration and make it better. :)

Berserk1: Yay cake:D

LordSymphonia: Thanks! Sheena is awesome indeed. ;)

A/N: I fixed a minor error on chapter 3 that came out like this: "/", instead of this: "/././"(I have to use the periods because Document Manager doesn't preserve 3 slashes in a row). I also fixed a minor error at the end of chapter 4 in the mini-script that came out like this: runs, instead of this: 'runs'.
Besides that, there are probably some other things that were not persevered in the transfer from MWord to the document manager because of me not proofreading, but hopefully they're all forgiveable. Anyway, on with the story!

Chapter 7: Triet

It was a sunny out, and Lloyd, Sheena and Noishe were almost at Triet when they saw five figures standing out in the desert.

A man turned around and saw the two humans and an animal, "STOP!" He bellowed, running towards them.

Lloyd and Sheena looked puzzled, "W-who are you?" Lloyd asked.

The man stood there and stared at them for a while, then pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket.

"Lloyd, I don't like the looks of this…" Sheena whispered to Lloyd.

"Yeah… me neither, be prepared to attack." Lloyd responded.

The man looked back up at them, "Hahahaha, so you are the one that has been causing us trouble, well prepare to die! I am Lord Yfir!" He shouted.

Lloyd and Sheena drew their weapons, Noishe ran away like usual, and the man and his minions charged them.

"DEMONIC CHAOS!" Lloyd shouted, aiming at one of the henchmen.

He dodged the first two fangs but was hit by the last, "AGH!" He yelled, continuing towards Lloyd.

"Whoa, these guys are tough." Lloyd said, dodging an arrow.

"Lloyd! I'll get the archers!" Sheena shouted to Lloyd.

Upon hearing this, the archers started aiming at Sheena, dodging her Cyclone Seals.

After a couple of missed cyclone seals, she hit an archer. The archer she was aiming at got caught in it and was thrown up in the air, "Agh! What… what's happening! AHH!" He screamed as he imploded.

The other archer looked at his partner, "NO! WYER!" He shouted, and then turned to Sheena, "DIE!"

He shot off an arrow, and it whizzed by Sheena's ear.

"Ah, that was close." Sheena thought, running up to the archer, "POWER SEAL PINION!"

The archer dodged it, "I don't think so." He launched an arrow, grazing Sheena's left shoulder.

"AH!" Sheena shouted, holding her left shoulder.

"SHEENA!" Lloyd shouted, dodging a thrust, "DEMON FANG!"

The archer looked to his side, widening his eyes; the demon fang hit him. "AGH!" He shouted, kneeling down.

Sheena ran up to him, "MIRAGE SEAL!" then ran around him, "POWER SEAL ABSOLUTE! DEMON SEAL!"

The archer's body began to darken, "Ugh… what's… happen…ing to… me…" and soon, he fell down, lifeless.

Meanwhile, Lloyd was fighting Yfir and two other of his henchmen.

Lloyd jumped up, "PSI TEMPEST!"

Yfir and one of the henchmen dodged it, but the other was not as fortunate. One of the spins sliced off his fighting arm, "AH! MY ARM!" Blood was gushing out, and the henchmen saw his arm and sword on the ground.

Lloyd turned around mid-way through the air, "RISING FALCON!"

The henchmen who had dodged Lloyd's previous attack was now dead, with blood oozing out from his chest.

Lloyd now faced a weaponless henchmen and Yfir.

Yfir looked over at his archers, then at his dead swordsman. His eyes lit up with anger, "METEOR STORM!"

Lloyd and Sheena started to dodge the meteors, but the armless henchmen was hit by one, and was killed that second. Lloyd and Sheena and started to close in on Yfir, but as they came within a three-metre radius, a meteor headed towards Sheena.

Sheena looked up at the meteor, she knew she would not be able to dodge it. "GUARDIAN SEAL!"

The meteor hit her, and she was sent back over eight metres.

"AH!" She screamed in pain, she was not bleeding, but she was in an immense amount of pain.

"SHEENA!" Lloyd shouted glancing back at Sheena. His eyes turned cold and a black aura surrounded him, he glared at Yfir, "YOU BASTARD!"

As Yfir finished his spell, Lloyd ran up to him and swung his sword down on him.

"YOU'LL PAY!" Lloyd shouted, pressing his blade against Yfir's.

"HAHAHA! INFERIOR BEING, I WILL NEVER LOSE TO THE LIKES OF YOU!" Yfir yelled.

They're blades were pressed against each other's, Lloyd was winning, but then a black aura surrounded Yfir as well, "DIE HUMAN!"

Yfir started pressing his blades even harder against Lloyd's, but Lloyd jumped back, "DEMONIC CHAOS!" He cried out.

Yfir smirked, dodging them, "Is that the best you can do?"

While Yfir and Lloyd continued to fight, Sheena recovered slowly. She was hurt seriously, but she was not about to have Lloyd get hurt too. Breathing heavily, she began to chant. "I call upon the heavenly messengers. I summon thee, come, Sylph!"

Yfir turned around, a figure with wings attempted an upper cut on him, and blaze of arrows came towards him at high speeds, but he dodged them. Suddenly, he saw a shield appear in front of him, and it came crashing down on him, then disappeared.

"AGH!" Yfir yelled out in pain.

Lloyd saw his chance, Yfir's chest was wide open; he ran up to him, "Hunting Beast!" Lloyd shouted, bringing Yfir to the ground with a punctured heart and rib cage.

"Lord Lefance will destroy you…" Yfir struggled to say as he died.

Lloyd was panting hard, he ran up to Sheena. "Thank you Sheena." He said, helping her up.

Sheena smiled at Lloyd, "I'm glad you're okay."

Lloyd noticed the gash on her left shoulder and bruise marks all over her body, "Sheena! You're hurt!" He exclaimed, "Hold on."

"NOISHE! NOISHE WHERE ARE YOU?" Lloyd shouted.

'Whine' Noishe came running up to Lloyd. He grabbed the medical wing pack from Noishe, pulled out a Miracle Gel, and fed it to Sheena.

"There Sheena… you feeling better?" Lloyd asked concerned.

Sheena could feel her wound getting better, "Yeah… thanks Lloyd."

Lloyd blushed, "Ah it was nothing… I should be thanking you for summoning Sylph to distract him."

Sheena smiled at him, Lloyd was barely hurt from that fight, and she was glad. She would never forgive herself if Lloyd were hurt, whether she was helpless or not.

"Damn those Desians… this is going to be harder than we thought." Lloyd said softly.

"Well the best we can do is just fight them off slowly, right Lloyd?" Sheena asked.

"Yeah, but I can't wait 'til Yuan finds them, I'm going to march up to their door and kill them all!" Lloyd said, with anger burning in his eyes.

"Calm down Lloyd, there's nothing much we can do right now." Sheena told him.

Lloyd sulked, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Sheena hugged him, "It's alright, now let's get going to Triet. We shouldn't stay in one place for too long."

Lloyd nodded in agreement, as he placed the wing pack back on Noishe. With that, they headed off for Triet.

Meanwhile…

"! They killed Yfir and his men? Oh I'm going to get in so much shit…" A scout thought as he jumped on his rheiard and headed back to a secret underground base.

Several hours later in the evening.

"Ah, we're finally here..." Lloyd sighed, tired from the heat and the previous fight.

"Yeah… and I'm pretty parched." Sheena panted.

They entered Triet, and Lloyd directed Noishe to the pen.

"You wanna get a room?" Lloyd asked Sheena.

"Yeah, sure." Sheena replied.

"Alright." Lloyd said.

They walked into the Triet inn and the innkeeper looked at them, "What may I help you with?" She asked.

"One room for the night please." Lloyd requested.

"Okay, that'll be 200 gald." The innkeeper stated.

Lloyd handed the innkeeper the gald, and she gave them the room number and key.

"Thanks." Lloyd said, receiving the key.

The innkeeper nodded and smiled.

"Alright, do you need to rest Sheena?" Lloyd asked.

"No I'm fine, what about you?" Sheena responded.

"Me neither… Anyway, I'm going to go talk with the katz." Lloyd said.

"Okay, I'm coming too." Sheena nodded.

"They sell exspheres, and I cannot allow that…" Lloyd said under his breath.

Sheena heard what he had just said, "Don't do anything too drastic, okay Lloyd?"

Lloyd nodded, "I know."

They walked over to the Katz stand, and talked with the Katz selling the exspheres.

"Meow Meow! What can I interest you in?" The katz asked delightedly.

"Exspheres, I want them destroyed." Lloyd said sternly.

"Meow? Why?" The katz inquired.

Sheena leaned over to Lloyd, "I think it would be better if I took over."

Lloyd turned his head to her, "Alright."

"Exspheres contain the souls of lifeless human beings, and the longer the exsphere remains intact, the longer the soul suffers, so we're trying to help these people and destroy all the exspheres in the world." Sheena said.

She went on about what exspheres really were, and their origin.

The katz looked at Sheena puzzled, "Meow? I did not know about this, I'm just doing my job. I will talk this over with our supervisor, meow."

"Alright." Sheena nodded, as the katz walked away.

"…" Lloyd stared at the katz.

"What's wrong?" Sheena asked caringly.

"Don't you think they say 'meow' too often?" Lloyd inquired.

"Maybe… but why does it matter?" Sheena questioned.

"It just gets annoying sometimes…" Lloyd sighed.

Sheena laughed, "Oh Lloyd…"

They waited for the katz to return, and after a few minutes of discussing the matter with her supervisor, she returned.

"My supervisor will be coming to talk to you guys soon, meow." The katz said.

Within a minute, the supervisor katz was there, "Meow, we're going to send one of us back to Katz Village to talk to our elder. If he agrees to get rid of the exspheres then we will, but at the moment, we cannot do anything. Heartfelt apologies, meow." The katz said.

"…Alright." Lloyd sighed.

"Check back in a while at one of the Katz outposts, Meow." He replied.

The sky was starting to darken even more.

"It's getting dark out. Wanna go back to the inn Lloyd?" Sheena asked.

"Sure." Lloyd responded.

Together, they walked back to the inn and went up to their room.

In the room

"I'm going to go take a bath okay Lloyd?" Sheena said.

"Alright, but don't take too long." Lloyd replied laying down on the bed, taking off his blades, headband and armour.

After twenty minutes had passed, Sheena came back into the room with her bath towel on.

She looked at Lloyd and found him asleep, so she decided to change on the spot.

"Lloyd…" A voice said.

"Mom…?"

"Lloyd… wake up." Sheena said.

Lloyd woke up in a daze, laying still in his bed, "Sheena?"

"…What's wrong Lloyd?" Sheena asked.

"I thought mom was trying to speak to me again…" Lloyd replied.

"Oh… I woke you up… ah I'm so sorry!" Sheena exclaimed.

"Oh no it's okay, you didn't know." Lloyd shrugged.

"Mmm… sorry…" Sheena said as she hugged Lloyd, "…I'll go cook some food while you're in the shower." Sheena said.

"Awesome, I was a bit hungry." Lloyd smiled as he entered the bathroom.

After a quick shower, and a relatively quiet dinner that revolved around Sheena apologizing again for disturbing Lloyd in his sleep and Lloyd continuously forgiving her, Sheena invited Lloyd to go out on a walk with her.

Outside

"It's nice and peaceful out tonight." Lloyd said happily as he held Sheena's hand.

"Sure is…" Sheena agreed.

"I wish it could always be like this…" Lloyd murmured.

"Yeah… it'll be nice to settle down after all this is over." Sheena said.

"Sure will be." Lloyd agreed, "But right now, we have to focus on our journey ahead."

"Definitely." Sheena said, "…Hey Lloyd, remember that time in Flanoir…"

"Hmmm? Oh. Yeah. That was a night to remember." Lloyd said.

"Hehe… well remember when you said we could be great friends?" Sheena asked.

"Yeah…?" Lloyd responded.

"Now do you know why I called you an idiot?" Sheena asked as she playfully shoved Lloyd with her shoulder.

Lloyd laughed weakly, "I'm a bit stupid sometimes…"

Just then, they heard shouts and cries of pain.

"Stay away from them!" Someone shouted, "Cyclone!"

The shout was followed by screams.

"Genis?" Lloyd asked himself aloud as he and Sheena ran towards the noise.

"Could be." Sheena replied.

"Ray!" Another shout was heard.

They were getting closer to the noise.

"Thunder arrow!" A familiar voice yelled out again.

"Genis! FIRST AID!" Another shout went out.

"It's Genis and Raine!" Lloyd and Sheena said to each other.

Turning the corner, Lloyd and Sheena saw eight desians closing in on Genis and Raine.

"Ahhh! This is it Raine…!" Genis cried as the desians came up with their swords.

"Genis! Don't be scared!" Raine yelled worriedly.

Just as the desians came within a metre of them, a continuous number of yells of pain were heard.

Two desians were left, and they were shocked at the sight of their bloody, fallen comrades.

"Lloyd! Sheena!" Genis and Raine shouted in delight.

"Hi guys!" Sheena shouted back quickly.

Lloyd and Sheena closed in on them, "Who sent you, and why?" Lloyd questioned fiercely.

"Hahaha! We will never tell you, you inferior being." One desian laughed.

The other desian was quiet and looked at them in fear. She put her hands on her head and kneeled down.

"What! You coward! How could you surrender to humans! DIE!" The other desian shouted as he began to swing his sword toward the woman.

Right then, he felt a quick pain at his neck and fell. The other desian looked in horror as she saw the dead desian's wrung neck.

"AHHHHH!" She screamed, "Please, please don't hurt me, I'll tell you everything I know."

"Who sent you and why?" Lloyd asked again, sternly.

"We-we're a… a scout team. We were… se-sent b-by L-Lord Le-Le-Le-" The woman stuttered as she was cut off.

"Oh come out with it already. We're not going to hurt you… yet." Raine stated coldly as she dusted herself off.

"Raine…" Sheena mumbled as she turned to the female desian, "Look, we aren't going to hurt you, just calm down and tell us everything." She said softly.

Still in shock, the woman continued, " L-lord Lefance… He s-sent us to l-look for a-a male swordsman i-in red, a-and a fe-female ninja, a-and learn their names." She replied very timidly.

Lloyd's eyes softened, "I see…"

Lloyd and Sheena turned to Genis and Raine.

"Are you two alright?" Lloyd asked.

"Yes, we're fine… thanks to you two." Raine said softly as she noticed the disappointed look in Sheena's face.

"Yeah… thanks, we thought we were goners…" Genis added.

Lloyd smiled, "Glad to know that."

They four turned to look at the desian, who had taken off her helmet to reveal blonde, silky hair, and a beautiful face which matched perfectly with her gorgeous figure.

"Who are you, and what's your background?" Lloyd asked sympathetically, thinking that he should be a bit lenient to an unarmed female, even though she was a desian.

"M-me?" She inquired nervously.

"Yeah." Lloyd responded.

"W-well m-my, my name… i-is Cha-Charlotte. I-"

"Hey, you don't have to be scared, just as Sheena and Raine said, we won't you hurt you." Lloyd smiled as he looked at the others nodding his head.

The rest nodded and smiled at Charlotte, though she still felt very uneasy.

In the background

"Sheena… I… I didn't mean to be so mean back there… it's… a bad habit… I-I was just being too precautionary again… and… I'm sorry." Raine apologized softly as she gently grabbed Sheena's fingers.

"…You… you don't have to apologize…" Sheena said warmly as she turned her hand to hold Raine's hand.

Charlotte looked at Lloyd and the others in fear. Hesitating for a bit, she continued in her sweet voice, staring at the ground, "W-well… I was born into the desian race… I never really met my parents, but my guardian told me that Lord Lefance killed them for refusing to kill a human. I… I was never taught anything but to fight. The desians forced me to fight… I… I wanted to just live like any other normal person… but they told me that it was impossible and that humans were our enemies… so I trained along side many other desians… I-I was always alone… I never had any friends, and everyone said I was too soft, and that I was a dishonour to the name 'desian'. It's been continuing for sixteen years; I was six when I was taught everything…"

Lloyd, Sheena, Genis and Raine were all listening, and they could not help but feel sorry for her.

"You look hurt… here, let me help you." Raine said affectionately, healing Charlotte with her staff and noticing Sheena smile.

Charlotte managed a weak smile, "Th-thank you…" She went back to staring at the ground. "Just one year ago, my regiment was shifted out of the Iselia Human Ranch. I really couldn't stand that place… and I was happy to leave. I… I hate people dying…" Our regiment went into hiding near the Toize Valley Mine in Tethe'alla, and has stayed there ever since."

"Bah, there's discrimination everywhere, the desians even discriminate amongst themselves…" Lloyd sighed irritated.

"…" Charlotte stared at Lloyd, not knowing what to do.

"Half-elves… they're really no better than humans…" Genis said to himself.

"Charlotte, you're welcome to come along with us, or be free. You did not deserve to be treated like that." Sheena said.

"Yeah." Lloyd smiled.

"Mhmm!" Genis exclaimed cheerfully.

Raine nodded.

Charlotte looked at all of them, "R-really?" She asked, not believing how kindly she was being treated.

"Of course." Raine beamed.

"…Thank you all…" Charlotte murmured.

Lloyd turned to Raine, "So what happened here?"

"Well, we saw some desians shouting and threatening to attack two humans, demanding if they knew anyone in red who carried twin swords, and a female ninja." Raine replied.

"I see… So you and Genis just arrived here or something?" Lloyd asked.

"Yep." Genis said, turning his head to Lloyd.

"How'd you guys get here so fast?" Lloyd asked.

"We used our rheairds…?" Genis replied questioningly.

"But I thought Yuan took them back…" Sheena said.

"Huh? We haven't seen him for a while." Raine replied.

"…"

"…"

"Why are you two so surprised?" Genis asked.

"Well… Yuan took our rheairds back… he said he wanted to improve the design." Lloyd said stupidly.

Genis laughed, "Well hopefully you get them back soon."

"Yeah…" Sheena sighed, "So are you two staying here tomorrow too?" She asked, looking at Genis and Raine.

"Yeah, we're going talk to the person who runs Triet and hopefully get them to cooperate with us." Raine answered, "What about you two?"

"Well Sheena and I were about to head off for Izoold tomorrow, but it seems like you two might be taking the same path as us, and the fact that there's still some sort of threat looming in this world, I think that we should travel together. We could stop by the renegade base to try to get some rheairds. It'll be just like old times." Lloyd responded maturely.

"Wow, Lloyd's getting smarter by the minute!" Genis teased as Raine and Sheena laughed.

"Oh shut it Genis." Lloyd laughed.

"Well it sounds like a plan!" Raine said, "You in Sheena?"

"Of course Raine!" Sheena exclaimed happily, "Let's see those desians try to take us down now!"

"How about you?" Raine asked, looking at Charlotte, who was already looking back at them peculiarly.

"Aren't you two half-elves?" Charlotte asked timidly.

"Genis and I?" Raine asked, pointing to Genis and herself.

"Y-yeah." Charlotte responded.

"Yes, we're half-elves." Raine nodded.

Charlotte stared at them, "Human and half-elves… together…?" She asked herself.

Lloyd walked up to her, "Charlotte, humans and half-elves are the same, they are both living beings, and have every right the other has. They are both equal." Lloyd said as everyone nodded their heads.

Charlotte smiled weakly, "…thanks…"

"So do you want to come along with us Charlotte?" Lloyd asked.

"But I'd only get in the way…" She replied softly.

"I'm sure you're strong enough to defend yourself, or heck, you could even be the same as Noishe!" Lloyd laughed.

"N-Noishe…?" Charlotte asked perplexed.

"Uh… oh that's right, you don't know him… well he's my pet dog-or protozoan- or Air… something. Whatever he was called, and he always runs away when we gets into fights, but comes back whenever we're done." Lloyd said dumbly.

"Oh…" Charlotte murmured, half-understanding what Lloyd had just said, "Well… sure… I guess… I'll come along."

"That's good to hear!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"Welcome to the group!" Everyone else said cheerfully.

"Thanks everyone… I'll do my best to help." Charlotte said sheepishly.

"One thing though, get some confidence." Raine smiled.

"…Yeah… I'll try." Charlotte mumbled.

"Anyway, we should head back for the inn, it's getting really dark." Raine announced.

"You guys have a room already?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah, and I take it that you two have one as well?" Raine responded.

"Yup!" Sheena said cheerfully.

"That's good." Raine smiled, "Charlotte, Genis and I have a room. You're welcome to stay with us for the night."

"Really? …Thanks you two!" Charlotte exclaimed, letting her voice out for the first time.

Everyone smiled, "Oh yeah, for clothes, you can wear some of mine, I packed quite a bit, and we have the same figure." Raine added.

"Thanks Raine…" Charlotte said as her eyes sparkled in gratitude.

With that, everyone headed back to the inn as Lloyd explained the new Desian threat. When they reached the inn, everyone exchanged good-nights and retired to their rooms.

Next Morning

Knock knock

"Who is it?" Sheena questioned.

"Raine." Raine replied through the door.

Sheena opened the door, "Good Morning." She said happily.

"Lloyd's still asleep I see, we should wake him up." Raine laughed.

"Raine…" Sheena mumbled.

"Yeah?" Raine asked.

"Thanks for being so nice and welcoming to Charlotte." Sheena smiled.

"You still remember the first time we met…" Raine said weakly, "I'm sorry about then… but I've changed."

"It's okay Raine… I forgave you a long time ago. It's just… it makes me really happy to see you like this." Sheena said warmly.

Raine blushed, "Thank you Sheena… I'll… I'll keep it up." She murmured as they hugged each other affectionately.

'CRASH'

"OW!" Lloyd yelped in pain as he fell of the bed.

"Lloyd? Hey you're awake!" Sheena exclaimed.

Raine laughed, "Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Thanks." Lloyd said stupidly.

"Well now that you're awake, I came to tell you two that Genis and I are going to head out for the mayor's office, and we were wondering if you could look after Charlotte while we were gone." Raine stated.

"Sure, we'd be happy too." Sheena responded, "Do you know when you guys will be done?"

"Who knows… but hopefully it won't take the whole day." Raine answered with a boring shrug.

Sheena laughed, "Okay Raine, we'll be waiting for you."

"Bye Sheena, bye Lloyd." Raine waved as she exited the room.

"Over here Charlotte!"

"Hey Mister and Misses Irving." Charlotte said shyly as she walked into the room.

"Hey Charlotte!" Sheena and Lloyd both exclaimed, when they realized what Charlotte had just said.

"…"

"…"

'blush'

"…"

"Let me guess, Genis told you we were married?" Lloyd sighed.

"Oh… um… well Genis told me to call you two that… uh…" Charlotte mumbled.

Lloyd sighed with a laugh, "Stupid Genis."

"Sheena Irving… Lloyd Fujibayashi… Lloyd Aurion… Sheena Aurion…" Sheena was muttering to herself quietly, still blushing, in her own world.

"Uh… Sheena…?" Lloyd blushed, hearing what she was muttering.

Sheena smiled at Lloyd, "Yes?"

"…Nothing…" Lloyd laughed.

"I'm sorry… am I interrupting something?" Charlotte asked as she started to step out.

Lloyd gave a sheepish smile as he looked worriedly at Sheena, "Of course not!"

Afterwards, Lloyd and Sheena fully introduced themselves to Charlotte, telling her that they were not married (yet), and all about their journey. All of a sudden, it was noon.

Knock knock

"Hey guys! We're all done!" Genis shouted through the door.

"Hey! How'd it go?" Lloyd asked as he opened the door.

"It went… well. It was a bit tough, but long story short, we got the mayor to help diminish the prejudice against half-elves throughout Triet." Raine stated.

"That's great to hear Raine!" Sheena exclaimed.

"Way to go you two!" Lloyd said cheerfully.

"Congratulations!" Charlotte muttered happily.

"Thanks." Raine and Genis replied.

"So should we get going?" Raine asked.

"Sure. Are we all ready?" Lloyd asked.

Everyone nodded, got their belongings, picked Noishe up, and headed to the renegade base and Izoold.

End chapter.

Me: I… I don't know why I'm adding in some RaineXSheena… It's probably nothing significant. They're just close friends who care for each other, a lot.
Raine: Unless you want to see more. ;)
Sheena: 'purr' Then just tell us. ;)
Me: Wtf.
Readers (probably): Wtf.
Kratos and Lloyd: Wtf… 'cry'
ANYWAY… this started off as a LloydXSheena fic, and so far it's been enjoyable. Does it end that way though? Let's hope so. Next time, TO IZOOLD!
Zelos: YES! MY DREAM I-'gets shot'
x.x