Well, it's time for another instalment of Twisted Angel. Hope I didn't do too badly.

RoyalFanatic: -cough- Yeah. That. Um, well. I'm not sure about the plural thing. I'll deal with it. -- And as to the Kratos thing… hn. Sorry about that. I will say that there might be a very tenuous connection between them. I'll say this now: Chance is not related to any of the Four Seraphim. By blood.

Silvie-chan: Thanks for the long review, I'm working on everything. Sorry if I made you late for school. (-:

As before, TOS isn't mine. –sigh– Chance is, though, and I might have a word with her about beating Namco up with her Doomsday.

-Chance appears.- Ebony, you idiot. –Chance disappears-

What'd I do?

Chapter 3: Time

Sighing, I got up and shut the door. It's an obsessive thing, I guess. I contemplated just staying there, but I'd as much as told Colette I was going with her. So, on went the quiver and arm-guards; the bow went over my shoulder, and I went down the stairs.

Colette, Raine, Genis, and Kratos were waiting outside the house. "Why are you coming?" I asked Kratos.

He muttered something about 'protecting the Chosens.' Ah. His job technically started as soon as the negotiations were concluded, so... yeah.

Colette was already walking towards the gates, Raine and Genis behind her. With a little yelp, I raced to catch up. "Don't leave me!" I squeaked, slowing to a near-complete halt before actually matching their pace.

My sister gave me a strange look. "Relax, Chance," she said. "We're not leaving you."

"Oh good." I cast a dirty look over my shoulder at the close-mouthed mercenary, who was, Martel forbid, actually smiling. Well, I'm glad I can amuse some people.

"So, Genis, did Raine hurt you too badly?" I asked, just for something to talk about. He looked at me blankly, and I elaborated. "For not staying and studying."

He sighed. "Yes."

I shook my head in mock disapproval, and shifted my position so I could walk beside Raine. "Raine, you're so cruel to your little brother. How could you hurt him so?"

She gave me a 'you-stay-out-of-this' look, but when I didn't seem to get the hint, she said sweetly, "As I recollect, I told you to stay and study as well."

"Erk." I hadn't thought of that. "But Colette didn't stay and study, either! And the priests didn't come for her. Us. Whatever."

"Regardless..." She smiled at me. I was probably as white as a ghost.

"Uh, never mind, Raine. You know, I'm sure Genis totally deserves whatever you do to him, and it's really none of my business..." I trailed off as I noticed the dirty look I was getting from Genis. Can't please both of 'em, I guess.

At that point I just shut up. Things were getting out of hand.

I might have tried talking to Kratos, to see if I could make him angry, but by that time, we were just outside Lloyd's house. It's not that long a walk... if you don't make any detours.

There was a light lit on the first floor, but none on the second. I assumed Lloyd was talking with his adopted father, Dirk. Dirk is a dwarf, a skilled craftsman; as far as I'm aware, he's second to none. He found Lloyd's mother in the Iselia forest several years back, barely conscious. She told him about the infant, and their circumstances, and then died.

My thoughts of Lloyd's mother were accompanied by the usual eye-flick towards her grave. Dirk had buried the woman next to his house. Lloyd could often be found there, just thinking.

Inside the house, voices were raised. My attention snapped back to the house as Lloyd came shooting out of the front door. His angry gaze took us in, and I watched the anger drain out of him. "Oh... you heard that, huh?"

Nobody really wanted to say anything, so I helpfully supplied, "It was pretty hard to miss. But, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't hear any individual words."

"Thanks, Chance, I think," he said, uncertainly.

"I'm sorry," Genis said. I looked at him oddly; what was he apologizing for? "Because of me, you--"

Lloyd cut him off, rather hurriedly, it seemed to me. "It's okay, it's not your fault."

I shoved Colette forward, not ungently. "Lloyd, you need to go talk to Colette, 'kay? We'll wait here."

She turned to look at me, pink again. I just smiled and pushed her forward.

"Ah, sure, I guess." Lloyd agreed hesitantly. "Oh, yeah, Chance, if you have time, Dad wanted to look at that Key Crest."

"Okay!" I replied cheerfully, and walked into his house. He and Colette followed, but they went up the stairs to his room. I stayed downstairs.

Dirk was busy with something. I coughed slightly, and he turned, putting down whatever it was. "Ah, Chance."

"Hi, Dirk." I managed a little wave. "Lloyd said you wanted to look at my Key Crest?"

"Yes, that's right." Dirk came over. "He said it's cracked?"

"Yup." I found the crack again, kept my fingernail on it. "Right there."

The dwarf peered at the Key Crest, moving my finger out of the way. "This is very strange," he said finally. "Key Crests don't crack, as a rule. If they did, the people using them would sicken and die."

"Right, the Exspheres have a bad effect on humans," I agreed. "So I'm thinking, maybe it's because this one's a Cruxis Crystal?"

"It's a what?" Dirk was clearly startled.

I sighed again. Apparently Lloyd had forgotten to tell his father. "Something happened in the temple today. Apparently this is really a Cruxis Crystal, and I'm supposed to save the world with Colette."

"It's possible, I suppose," he said absently. "I know almost nothing about the Cruxis Crystal-- or, I should say, Crystals. It's very probable that the excessive power radiating from it caused the Key Crest to eventually crack."

"Should I be worried about this?" I inquired. "Mine seems to have had the same effect as an Exsphere so far... if the Key Crest breaks..."

"I honestly don't know whether to be worried about this or not," Dirk told me frankly. "But I say it's better to err on the side of caution. I could make an accessory of inhibitor ore with the necessary charms carved into it, I suppose, for you to hold on to in case the worst happens."

"But when?" was my concern. "We're leaving at ei-- noon tomorrow." Ah, this was going to be a problem, wasn't it? "Could you have it done by, say, six? In the morning?"

"I suppose..." Dirk scratched his head. "Why so early?"

"Ah-" I didn't have an excuse. "Ehm, ah, we're trying to leave Lloyd here," I said finally. "Colette doesn't want him getting hurt, and I have to say I agree with her. It's going to be a long and dangerous journey."

"Ah." He nodded. "Well, I can't say he won't follow you, but..."

"Thank you, Dirk." I fought a gigantic urge to hug him, and instead clasped my hands together in front of me. "There is a matter of your payment--"

He waved one hand at me. "None. 'Tis for a friend."

"You're sure about that?" At his nod, I bowed slightly. "Thank you again."

There was little more to say after that. Dirk returned to his work, and I just slipped out the door.

Raine passed me on the way out. "We need to go," she explained, at my questioning look.

"Oh, right then." I wondered what the journey itself would be like: just me, her, Colette, and Kratos, wandering all over the world to release all the seals and finally go to the Tower of Salvation.

It was going to be a long journey. For an instant, the overwhelming weight of the task Colette and I were undertaking threatened to crash down on me. The fate of the world was resting on the shoulders of two teenage girls.

Was I the only one slightly unnerved by that?

In the morning, the sunlight shining through the window awoke me from a blessedly dreamless sleep. I stood at the window for a few minutes, appreciating the warmth of the light, before getting dressed.

Into a small black satchel, I threw an extra two outfits, several extra bowstrings, what spare Gald I had, and a few Apple and Orange Gels. It was all I could fit, so I figured I might as well stuff it. If I left empty space, what was the point of having the empty space to begin with?

Once I was done chasing myself in circles with my strange logic, I eyed my arm-guards speculatively. A full day with the chafing of the straps was probably not going to be the most fun thing in the world. Still...

I did need them. Making a face at them, I strapped them onto my arms. I'd probably get used to wearing them eventually. Same with the quiver, though it was less of an annoyance than the guards.

Carrying my bow and the satchel, I went out of my room and down the stairs. No one else was up yet, surprisingly. I put my satchel by the front door, leaning my bow against the wall beside it, and went to make breakfast.

The delicious odor of bacon frying woke people. Soon enough, Kratos came down the stairs, looking exactly like he had yesterday. I'd forgotten that the mercenary was staying with us; I added some more bacon to the pan and left it at that.

Breakfast was... breakfast. There wasn't really much else to say about it. Some people make a huge deal out of breakfast, but to me it's just a meal. I don't really focus on it that much.

At least no one saw fit to comment on my cooking. It's mediocre: not as bad as Raine's, but not as good as Genis'. There, I've just described the cooking of just about everyone in Sylvarant. It's true, though; my cooking skills fall almost directly between the two of theirs.

And by the time we were done with breakfast, it was time to leave. There was much hugging and tearful farewells between Colette, Frank, Phaidra, and, yes, even me. Tears still glistened in the corners of my eyes as I slung satchel and bow over my shoulder and walked out the door, resolutely not looking back.

We met Raine by the schoolhouse. There was no huge congregation of people, gathered to wish us well; I glimpsed Genis' face disappearing from the schoolhouse window. He wasn't all too pleased about being left behind.

Seconds later, though, the short elf did come out of the school. This was a good thing; I'd have hated to leave without bidding him farewell. There were more hugs, and a "No crying, runt," from me, and we were on our way. No fanfare, no bands, no nothing. Four people setting out from a small town.

Nothing good ever comes from looking back, so, well, I didn't. Simple as that. I didn't glance back to see the town where I'd spent my life fading into the distance...

Shut up, Chance, I told myself fiercely. Stop focusing on it. That won't get you anywhere except some monster's belly.

Speaking of monsters...

I ducked as a gigantic bee flew over my head. In a flash, my bow was off my shoulder, and I had an arrow to it. I was tracking the movement of the bee, was about to loose when a long sword leapt out of nowhere and slashed it in half. The two pieces of the bee fluttered to the ground, and I glared at Kratos. I didn't try to hit him, which was what I was longing to do.

I did, however, drop the bee hovering just above his head. I allowed myself a small and smug smile as he eyed the second bee corpse lying at his feet.

Then, of course, Raine whacked the Minicoid between us -- that neither of us had noticed, I might add -- with her staff. It meeped feebly, but didn't die, instead producing a feeble spore cloud.

Both Kratos and I took exception to this. Minicoids make great pincushions for a sword and an arrow.

From the space where the monster had been, I took a small mushroom. "Hmm. Mushrooms for dinner tonight if we find any more of these." I tucked it into a pocket and promptly forgot about it. "Say, Kratos, was that you or me who killed the last one?"

"You're a bloodthirsty little thing, aren't you?" Kratos asked rhetorically, sheathing his sword and turning away.

Though I knew he wanted no answer, I gave him one anyway. "Not really. But getting rid of the little monsters – we're doing a service to travelers, and these things don't hurt us much anyway. The bigger monsters might be more fun."

"I hope you feel that way when we're attacked by Desians, and, possibly, human brigands," the mercenary retorted.

Ooh… was I getting on poor Kratos' nerves? But he had a point. Back at the temple, Lloyd and I had killed those two Desians, and it hadn't bothered me. Why, I couldn't say; thinking about it now, I felt more than a little strange about it. Horrified, almost, but that was a bit strong of a word. I wondered if that same impartiality would come back to help me if we had to fight again.

We kept moving. About ten minutes later, something occurred to me, and I felt like bashing my head into the wall. Since there was no wall to bash into, I settled for slapping my head with the palm of my hand.

Colette gave me a funny look. "Chance, what…?"

"Sorry," I said. "I was supposed to drop by Dirk's this morning, though, and I totally forgot. I can only imagine what he must be thinking…." I fell silent, thinking myself. The dwarf was a very good-natured kind of person. I had the sinking feeling that Lloyd was going to follow us, so maybe Dirk would send the Key Crest with him?

I shook my head firmly. 'You're grasping at shadows, Chance,' I told myself silently, scolding. 'Lord Remiel, an angel of judgment, has come down from heaven and given not only Colette, but you, as well, the chance to join him in heaven as angels, saving the dying world of Sylvarant, and all you can do is worry. It's a Cruxis Crystal you have on you, not an Exsphere. If the Key Crest does break, you won't get sick, and perhaps it will be for the best, allowing the Crystal to unleash its full power. The angels have everything planned for. You will succeed, and regenerate the world, and everything will be just fine.'

And with that, I put such thoughts behind me.

We were attacked several more times during the course of the day by 'small fry' monsters, nothing too serious. By the time we sighted the House of Salvation on the horizon, though, I was exhausted. Alone, the monsters were fine. Together, the strain added up, little by little. I wasn't used to traveling, either, and I was positive all the muscles in my legs were going to be cramped up come morning.

We came into the courtyard perhaps a few minutes before midnight. I was ready to collapse by then, and Colette, standing next to me while the adults talked with the priests who ran the House, was practically asleep on my shoulder. I had to drag her up the twisting stairs and set her down on one of the small beds. I wasn't long in falling into the one beside her.

Morning came. I was woken by Colette shaking me. I would have said something, but she placed a finger against her lips, then pointed to Kratos and Raine, who were both asleep still. A mischievous twinkle was evident in her blue eyes, and she motioned me to follow her. I threw off the blankets and did, wincing as I glanced down at myself. I'd slept in my clothes, not my favorite thing to do. But, as luck would have it, I'd forgotten a night-garment of any kind, and I wasn't about to sleep the way I normally do while traveling in such a close group. So, clothes it was. My weapons and bag were with everyone else's, in a small pile near the door; I let them lie.

My sister and I tiptoed down the stairs. I assessed myself as we did; I wasn't nearly as sore as I had expected to be. Maybe in a few days, I guessed.

The priests were already about their business, and we greeted them cheerfully and properly. I didn't think they knew we were the Chosens. Chosen. What is the plural of that word, anyhow? Chosen isn't generally a noun, and since there's never been more than one Chosen before… eck. I'd ask Raine. If I ever remembered.

There was a pretty brown dog by one of the fences outside the House of Salvation. Upon spotting him, Colette immediately dashed over. I did, too, albeit at a more leisurely pace. Colette had a thing about dogs. Since Phaidra was allergic to dogs, we'd never been able to have one, but she loved Noishe, that strange dog of Lloyd's, and fawned over every traveler's dog that came to Iselia.

While Colette petted the dog and told him how beautiful he was, I helped myself to a seat on the fence. It looked to be about two hours past sunrise, and I idly wondered when Kratos and Raine were going to wake up.

The earsplitting scream that echoed from the top of the House of Salvation answered my question. "Where are they!" Raine shrieked. I exchanged a startled glance with Colette, then flipped over the fence, attempting to derive some semblance of shelter from one of its narrow posts. Inside the House, I heard another, lower Raine scream, then several crashes and bangs, as of someone, or two someones, falling down a set of spiraling stairs. Colette's eyes went wide, and she joined me, peering out between the rough slats.

About three seconds later, a frantic, frazzled-looking Raine burst out the door, staff clutched tightly in her hand. She was looking panickedly around her, probably for us. I would have taken pity on the poor woman, but I would probably have gotten hit with the staff, so I decided to stay there.

Raine began to rush around the small courtyard, peering behind everything. "Chance, you think we ought to maybe…." Colette began.

I shook my head. "She'll whack us with something. Let's see if Kratos can calm her down."

Kratos wasn't long in following Raine out the door. He looked less frantic, but still had some degree of anxiety. I waved at him, and, scowling, he came over. "You—" he began, obviously intending a lecture.

"Save it, Kratos!" I said hurriedly. "Go stop Raine before she hurts somebody."

He glanced over at where the frenzied elf was interrogating a pilgrim and winced. "Yes, that would be advisable," he agreed, and walked quickly over to her. Colette and I slid back through the fence and watched as Raine tried to hit him over the head. He caught the staff, and muttered something at her in a low voice, pointing back toward us. At the sight of the two Brunel girls, Raine instantly relaxed.

She did, however, come over to us, yell, "What were you thinking!" and head back inside. Kratos had already gone in, apparently wanting to miss her yelling at us. Raine yells loud.

It took nearly another hour before we were all ready to depart. I was drumming my fingers on that same fence post for about the last fifteen minutes of that; I had never really been a patient person. Small periods of time, I could do. But this was ridiculous.

The grass lead to desert sand. By noon, all around us was dunes of sand, broken by the very occasional cactus. The first new monsters turned up, too, by dint of trying to throttle Raine. A Sidewinder, a kind of snake-monster-thing, had managed to drop out of the single cactus we'd passed onto her pack, and had wound itself around her throat. Me, I hated snakes. They were poisonous. And Kratos was busy looking the other way. So, it was up to Colette to take one of my daggers and slice the hideous reptile in half. She did it without complaint, discarding the two halves of Sidewinder in the sand.

And I was bored. We stopped for lunch, a few sandwiches that Colette made. I wasn't going to let Raine do any cooking, not if I could help it. I took a bite of my ham sandwich and looked up at the sky, a little to the right of the sun. Not for the first time that day, I doubted my wisdom in tending to wear black. "Raine, are you hot?" I asked, hoping to find a commiserator.

She shook her head. "I can't wait to get to Triet! There's said to be ancient ruins around there, from when Efreet destroyed the original city."

There would be no hope with Colette; she was wearing white, and happily munching on her food, not showing a care in the world. With great reluctance, I turned to Kratos.

Before I could ask him my question, he answered. "No. When one has been a mercenary as long as I have, one grows accustomed to all different kinds of environments."

I sighed, fanning myself with one hand in a wistful manner. Oh, please, let Triet be close by.

My plea wasn't answered. In fact, it took about six hours' worth of monsters, sun, heat, boredom, and annoying Kratos before we were finally within the walls of the oasis city. We had some time until sunset, so Mr. Mercenary-who-knows-it-all suggested we split up. That was fine with me, as he'd been getting on my case – and nerves – all the time we'd been within ten feet of each other.

"I'll get us rooms at the inn," he said, matter-of-factly. "Raine—"

"I'll ask people about the ruins!" she volunteered.

Before he could assign us some task, I looped my arm through Colette's and told him, "We'll go shopping. They have a very nice bazaar around here, I think. Weapons, armor, and so on. They might even have a customizer hanging around the place." Though I'd never actually met one, many of the mercenaries who passed through Iselia had spoken of the customizers scattered throughout various towns, who would improve weapons and armor for free. "We found a few things that might come in handy, so we'll just go do that now. Okay, see you!"

I didn't have to drag Colette; she went just as willingly as I did. Our first stop was the Traveler's Mate, where we bought a few Panacea Bottles. After a narrow brush with poisoning by a Sidewinder, I was very happy to have my hands on these.

The next store, I was delighted to find, was a customization shop! The kindly man running it gave us a brief rundown of his services and so on, and then offered to improve our weapons. I had managed to get my paws on a Beast Fang, at one time or another, and I gave it to Colette. She, in turn, gave that and her chakrams to the man, and got them back a few minutes later as Duel Rings, reinforced for stability. She tested the feel of them, then gave the man a brilliant smile.

I waved the man away when he offered to look at my bow. He didn't have any way to customize it – he'd already said so – and I was fine with it the way it was, for a while.

The next store down we just looked over, because the weapons there were almost perfect replicas of our own. I did note that the shopkeeper had a large bundle of arrows next to the 'Longbow'. They were even well-crafted.

We gave the armor store a miss, too. We already had what they had to offer. Sighing, I turned to go, then turned back. Colette wasn't coming. She was engaged in lively conversation with a young man beside one of the houses on the other side of the street. "Colette!" I called.

She started, stepped back, tripped over something, and fell through the wall.

For a moment I just stared at the Colette-shaped outline. Boy, that brought back memories, like spring cleaning at the school last year. The young man joined me in staring.

I moved first, though, dashing over and peering through. "Colette, you all right?" I asked, extending a hand down.

The clumsy Chosen took it, pulling herself to her feet. "I'm fine!" she said happily, stepping out. To the young man, she gave a little bow. "I'm very sorry about your house, sir."

He looked angry. "Sorry? You've put a hole in my wall! What am I supposed to do if a sandstorm comes, hey?"

She made a little squeaking sound. I knew she didn't want to pull rank, so that meant I was going to have to. Or, pull rank for her, since I wasn't particularly fond of the idea of broadcasting that I was a Chosen, too. "Sir, please forgive her," I put in. "We've come quite a ways, and the journey of regeneration is weighing heavily on her mind."

The young man blinked in surprise, his anger fading away. "Journey of— you mean—"

"Yes," I said gently. Colette blushed, a little. With another apology, she followed me as I left.

We'd barely gotten back to the inn and met up with Kratos when Raine dashed in excitedly. "We're in luck!" she said, as soon as she got close to the table where we were sitting, trying to eat dinner. "I met a nice woman, a fortune-teller by trade, who was able to tell me the location of the Triet Ruins!"

"That's… wonderful… Raine…." I managed to say, "but what about the Seal of Fire?"

She nodded happily. "I think it's at the Triet Ruins! The seals are thousands of years old, and what better place for the Seal of Fire in the old days but a grand city that lived under the influence of Efreet?"

"True," Kratos agreed. "So you think we should head there tomorrow?"

Raine gave him a 'is-the-sky-blue?' look. "Well, yes!"

I was still drinking my bowl of soup, but I raised one finger in an attempt to get across, 'Sounds good.' At the same time, Colette said, "We'll go there, then!" I pointed at her, dropped the hand, and went back to my soup.

After dinner, we got the room arrangements sorted out. Kratos had rented three out of the six rooms that the Mirage had to offer. For a minute I wondered about the three – couldn't he and Raine just have shared a room? – but Raine was probably against that, so I discarded the thought immediately. He was in one room, the one downstairs; Raine had the room next to the one I shared with Colette.

Like the day before, I was tired, but I forced myself to take a bath in the small tub full of steaming water that the inn's staff had brought up. Colette followed suit, and we climbed into bed. Me, being paranoid me, put a dagger on the bedside table and left my bow strung and in easy reach of both me and the quiver.

Sleep was long in coming.

Well. That was that. I'm actually almost done with chapter 4. -cough- I guess writing fragments does help out, from time to time. Anyway. As always, please tell me what you think. I'm getting Chance into lots of trouble next chapter, so that should be fun.

Estimated update time: Thursday? Friday? Somewhere in there. I think I need to spend more time on my homework. -shifty eyes- I don't have much this quarter, though, so that's good.

-EbonyShadows