Okay, I think that it's probably time that I updated, don't you think? Anyway, here's the next chapter for everyone.

Chapter 7: Iselia

It was obvious that the last few days events were starting to take a toll on the entire group as they slowly made their way to Iselia. Most of the group still hadn't gotten over the tragedy that they saw at the Renegade Base. Yuan was taking it the hardest, he was still thinking that it was his fault that things turned out the way they did because he wasn't there. Kratos tried his best to talk his friend out of his depression, but he had a long way to go before he would make Yuan feel better. Storm was still going through her problems, she still felt responsible for the loss of Anna, so she couldn't offer up too much help for Yuan, although she did try.

Anna's loss really was getting to Zelos too, but he was forced to be the stronger one in the group. He couldn't break down about it in front of Storm, he knew if he did he'd make it worse for her. He really hoped that they could find Anna and stop Sutra. He also knew that no matter what the outcome of this was, there was no way things would ever be the same for any of them.

"Look, I think that's Iselia up ahead," Genis shouted as he pointed to what appeared to be a village. There wasn't much left of any of the buildings and they couldn't see many people. They did notice that someone was coming out from the forest nearby. The group wasn't sure who was coming, but they prepared themselves for the worst. What they didn't know was that the group that was coming at them couldn't tell who they were either and were trying to defend themselves against them.

"Genis?" one of the people called in the distance.

"Raine?" Genis questioned.

Genis began to run for the two people and soon realized that it was Colette and Raine, the others in the group decided to follow and were so relieved to see that their friends were okay. Raine almost squeezed the life out of her brother when she saw him and Colette was greeted by the others in the group.

"Thank Martel you're all okay. But...where are all of the children?" Raine asked.

Storm dropped her gaze at Raine's question, but Genis replied to his sister's question. "Merlin, Kagerou, and Martel are all with Regal in Altamira," Genis explained.

Where is Anna?" Colette wondered.

"She...she was kidnapped by Sutra," Lloyd explained sadly after realizing that Storm wasn't going to say anything.

"This is terrible," Raine said. She went over to Storm and hugged her, noticing that she needed something before she broke down completely. "We'll find her, together," she assured her.

"Who is this Sutra and what is going on?" Colette asked.

"Sutra is a half-elf who is determined to revive Mithos. She's already brought together a huge army of Desians and has moved to Derris-Kharlan to get a Cruxis Crystal for herself," Kratos attempted to explain.

"How is she going to revive Mithos? We destroyed his Cruxis Crystal sixteen years ago," Raine asked.

"Yeah, but I guess the crystal went off into Symphonia in pieces and she can revive him by bringing the shards together and harnessing enough mana to bring him back," Sheena told her.

"Well, I guess that means that we need to find the shards before she does. If she's even missing one then we can beat her," Raine said.

"That's why we came here, to find you guys. We need as much help as we can get," Lloyd told the two.

"I'll do my best," Colette chirped, she hadn't changed at all in all of these years.

The group was about to make their way out of the deserted area when suddenly Sheena stopped them all. "What's the matter Sheena?" Lloyd asked her.

"Well, I thought that we could visit Verius. He might be able to help us, besides I haven't seen him in years," Sheena told them, hoping that they would let her go to the temple.

"Sure, let's go to the Martel Temple and see if he can help us," Kratos agreed.

Sutra walked through Derris-Kharlan until she reached Welgaia, now the city of angels. All of the angels looked upon the stranger with suspicion. They had all gained back their souls from Storm and Kratos and they weren't happy that someone had barged into Derris-Kharlan.

"What are you doing here strangers?" one of the angels asked.

"We are the new rulers of this world," Sutra replied calmly.

"We only obey the queen, but she is not here," another angel replied.

"Yes, but I have the queen's daughter," Sutra told them as she showed them Anna. The angels looked over Anna as they tried to determine if she was truly Storm's daughter.

After a few moments they backed away and one of the angels finally replied. Anna was very confused and worried about what was going on. "She has a similar mana signature as Storm's, she truly is the Queen's daughter," the angel announced to the others.

Sutra smiled at what she had accomplished. She whispered something to Anna who nodded her head before she looked up at the angels. "Take us to the Cruxis Crystals and to where Mithos was killed," she announced.

The angels were happy to oblige to their princess. They led through hundreds of hallways in the enormous city. Anna was very overwhelmed by all of the buildings. The city was beautiful, but she really couldn't believe how many angels there were. What she couldn't figure was that if the angels lived here, did that mean that she was in heaven? She was so confused, but she assumed that she would figure out everything soon. She hoped that once her mother and father saw that she was ready to become an angel that they would explain everything to her.

Soon, they were led to a room that had been sealed off for quite some time. There was a part of a building and at the end of it was a small glowing crystal. It was floating in the air and was lighting up the back part of the room.

"Is this...?" Sutra began as her eyes widened at what she saw before her.

"This is where Mithos was killed and that is a small portion of his crystal that was found and it has stayed here ever since. We do not know where the rest of the crystal is or if it even exists," the angel explained to them.

Sutra carefully went to the small wall and touched the crystal which dropped to the ground the moment she touched it. Sutra flinched and took a step back at the crystal's reaction to her. She carefully bent over and grabbed the crystal and stared at it with hopeful eyes.

"Now I'm closer to bringing back Mithos and he can finally free the half-elves," Sutra said to herself.

"I will take you to the Cruxis Crystals that were not destroyed by Kratos and Storm," the angel told them, bringing Sutra out of her trance-like state.

"Yes, please take us there," Anna agreed.

Now I can finally be an angel, I'll show my mother that I can be as good of an angel as she can. She'll wish that she would have told me about all of this earlier. I can't believe that I spent my whole life chasing after pre-teen boys when I could have been the princess of this awesome place, Anna thought as she and Sutra followed the angel deeper into Derris-Kharlan.

Sorry if this chapter's short, but I think that it's a good place to stop. Next chapter is where they run into Verius and maybe Anna and Sutra will find the Cruxis Crystals. Storm and the rest of the party is going to have to move because Sutra's already got one of the shards and they definitely need to stop her before she can revive Mithos. Well, tell me what you thought and please review. Thanks for reading.