Okay, it's time for an update. This is going to be a short chapter that leads into the next chapter, which is also the last chapter of this story. I hope you've all really enjoyed this story, thanks to everyone who reviewed. Now, enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 19: All Hope Lost

As the group made their way through Symphonia they were all unusually silent. They were still getting over the fact that Storm had betrayed them. Storm had betrayed them once before, but they thought that she was over that part of her life. They just couldn't figure out what her motives were exactly.

"Why would Storm want to steal the shards anyway?" Lloyd asked.

"Maybe she was trying to rescue Anna," Yuan offered.

"It seems likely with Storm," Kratos answered.

"Yes, but is that the only reason why she would steal them. Maybe there's more to it," Raine told them.

"What do you mean Professor?" Colette asked innocently.

"I mean, what if she's still loyal to Mithos after all these years, and now there's a way to revive him so why not help Sutra, especially since she also has her daughter," Raine explained.

"I can't believe that you don't trust Storm. I thought that you would have by now," Lloyd almost yelled at her, trying to defend Storm.

"I can't see her wanting to go back with him though," Zelos told the others.

"Why's that?" Raine asked, wanting to see if he could actually come up with something that would prove her theory wrong. She kind of doubted that he could though.

"Well, she never really wanted me to tell anyone, but she's completely terrified of him. She's always been afraid. She's woken up with nightmares about him, about her past and I can't see her wanting to go back to that," Zelos explained sadly.

"Well then, I say that she wouldn't go back with Cruxis. What if Sutra kidnaped her and stole the shards," Yuan offered.

"How would you kidnap Storm?" Raine asked challengingly.

"Well, she really hasn't been herself lately and has been kind of distracted when it comes to battling and I think that she's out of energy. If she was attacked with no one to help defend her, she could be easily defeated," he told them.

"Well, it seems logical, and I understand what Zelos is saying so I doubt that she would be working for Cruxis again," Kratos agreed. And with his statement the case was closed for the time being with Storm's reputation still in good shape.

They were making their way towards the Renegade Base to see if they could get to Derris-Kharlan before something terrible happened, when they passed by Meltokio, or what was left of it. Raine noticed a small group of people moving into the city and she decided that it might be a good idea if they all checked it out.

"Why do we need to see who's going in? Maybe people are starting to move back into the cities," Genis asked sadly.

"Because, it might be Sutra and her Desians with Storm, and we should check it out," Raine answered, her voice growing more and more agitated by her brother's constant whining.

As they moved towards the destroyed city, Zelos grew more and more nervous. He hadn't been back to the city since he and Storm left with the others and it brought back a lot of bad memories. When the city was being attacked he was so worried about the safety of his family, and now he was worried all over again. If something happened to Storm as well, he'd be all alone and he didn't know if he could handle that kind of guilt. They slowly walked into the city, keeping their guard up in case someone wasn't too thrilled to see them there.

Suddenly, Presea noticed the small group of people moving around a corner, behind a pile of rubble. She pointed in the direction they went as the group moved silently across the city towards the strangers. As they rounded the corner, Lloyd's group ran right into the other group. Both teams raised their weapons defensively, each waiting for the other to launch some sort of attack. Both were disappointed however as each group recognized the other and their weapons were lowered.

"You're elves from Heimdall. What are you doing here?" Raine asked them inquisitively.

"We should be asking you the same thing. Aren't you the Chosen's group?" one of the elves replied.

"Yes, we are. We're in here though, because we saw you all head in this way. We wanted to see what you were up to," Sheena told them, trying to get them to answer the question.

"You don't happen to know where Storm Wilder is, do you?" one of the elves asked. "We've been looking all over for her, despite our elder's wishes," he added.

"Why are you looking for Storm?" Zelos asked, beginning to grow worried.

"Well, she stole something very precious to us even after the elder told her not to. She ran off with it and we've been trying to hunt her down," one of the elves explained.

"What did she steal from you exactly?" Sheena asked nervously, afraid of the answer.

"She stole one of Mithos Yggdrasil's Cruxis Crystal shards," an elf told them.

"I told you that she was still working for them. If she wasn't then why would she do something like that?" Raine yelled at the others, trying desperately to get them to see her way. It became painfully apparent that Raine had never really fully trusted Storm after all these years and everyone was amazed at the way she was acting.

"I can't believe it," Zelos said as he began to feel his hopes crushed by the awful reality of what Storm had done.

"So, you don't know where she is either?" one of the elves asked.

"No, we're sorry," Genis replied.

"Well, we'll be on our way, she doesn't appear to be here," they answered as they walked out of the city to continue their search.

Zelos was still shocked by what he had just heard. He saw what was left of his house in the distance. He walked over to its remains as he sat down on a pile of rubble and buried his head in his hands and sighed loudly. Kratos saw him and walked over towards the man and sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"I really don't know what to say, I can't believe that she'd do it either," Kratos told him.

"I don't think she'd do it because she wanted Mithos back, but I don't know what else there is," Zelos commented as he looked up, but soon noticed something sparkling out of the corner of his eye.

"What is it?" Kratos asked as he saw Zelos looking at something and going over towards another area of the broken building.

Zelos bent down and picked up a book from the ground. He looked at it and couldn't believe what he saw.

"It's the book you gave Storm to read to Anna. She was here and she must have found it," Zelos told Kratos as he showed him the book.

Kratos took the book and held it in his hands, remembering when he'd given Storm the book, wanting to bring back those times so badly. It all seemed so far away now, even though it was merely thirteen years ago, a length of time that seemed to usually pass by in a mere second in Kratos' long life. He opened the cover of the book and saw something that made him almost break down into tears, but he managed to keep his composure. Inside was Storm's necklace that he had given her. He took it out and held it so it could sparkle in the sunlight. Part of the necklace had been hanging out of the top of the book, causing it to actually catch Zelos' eye in the first place. It had been placed there almost as if she had wanted them to find it.

"What does it mean?" Zelos asked Kratos.

"I think it means that we're too late," Kratos replied sadly.

Well, that's it for this chapter, it was a little longer than I thought it would be. Don't forget the next chapter is the last one of this story, but there's another one after it so don't freak out. Anyway, tell me what you thought and review. Thanks for reading.