A/N: Everything is coming around so suddenly, isn't it? The most ironic part of this is perhaps that, despite the world being seemingly under the effects of Niflheim, the heroes are finally getting their first good amount of rest in quite some time. Why is this though? If Niflheim is truly manifest upon the world, why is it that Iselia remains so peaceful? And why IS Sheena glowing? Is it from her wounds? Maybe it's from Verius? Or maybe… maybe it's something else. This chapter is going to go in-depth on the state of the world, what the heroes plan on doing about it, and I'll also reveal what's wrong with Sheena. On with the story!

Oh, and thanks Lloyd (Irving) Aurion for the info on Falcon's Crest. Once I get a working controller, I'm gonna try it out.

-

Chapter 12: Sheena's Secret

Lloyd emerged from his room, still sore in several spots of his body but relatively fine otherwise. The puncture wounds he had suffered in his side were healing very nicely and only hurt slightly when someone touched them. The past few days of rest had already done wonders for him. With a few more days rest, he'd be ready to fight once again. He heard very light steps coming from the direction of the stairs and figured it was Sheena. He walked towards the stairs to greet her but was quite surprised by what he saw. It was Sheena alright, but her face was very pale and she seemed to have greatly difficulty with descending the stairs.

He took a few steps upward and offered her his hand. "Sheena, are you okay? You look sick. REALLY sick."

She leaned against the banister and took a few deep breaths. "I-I'm fine Lloyd. I think I… I think I caught a cold or something. If I take it easy, I should be ok. Thanks for worrying about me." She let him take her hand and began making her way downward once again.

When Lloyd took hold of her hand, his entire body shivered. Her hands felt like they were made of pure ice. Even during his worst of fevers, he could never remember his hands ever feeling this cold. "Sheena, are you sure you're ok? Your hands are like ice."

She turned away before she replied. "Ah, I uh… I left the window open last night. Must've gotten cold outside while I was asleep."

Something didn't seem right. He didn't want to call Sheena a liar, but there seemed to be something that she wasn't telling him. After helping her down the last few stairs, he asked, "Sheena, if there was something really wrong with you, you'd tell me, right?"

Sheena said nothing and was extremely relieved when she saw Kratos come through the front door. "H-hello Kratos," she said. "How's your wound?"

He pointed to a bandage that wrapped around his torso and covered the wound near his heart. "Stings a little, but it's otherwise fine. And you two?"

Lloyd rotated his right shoulder as if he was turning a crank. "Side's still a little sore, but I can fight if I have to. Sheena doesn't look too well though."

Sheena turned away as Kratos walked towards her. "Sheena, your face has lost much of its color. Are you ill?"

She turned back to him and nodded. "Yeah. I'm sure it's nothing."

Kratos nodded back. "Perhaps. It may be… nothing more than the lingering effects of that terrible blow you took to your stomach. Speaking of which, does the bruise still remain?"

She shook her head with a small smile. "It seems to be gone now. These past few days of rest have been good for me."

The three of them stared at one another for a moment while saying nothing. After what they had been through a few days ago, it was a wonder that they were all still alive and in seemingly good physical shape. It was now time for Lloyd and Sheena to ask the inevitable question.

"Dad?" asked Lloyd. "What happened to us back there? At the temple, I mean. I thought we were dead for sure and… when I saw the sky turn red I thought… gah!" He shook his head. "What's going on? The sky looks fine outside right now, but I know what I saw outside of the temple on that day."

"Easy Lloyd." Kratos put his strong hand on Lloyd's left shoulder. "I shall explain everything to you and Sheena. Let's sit at the table, if you don't mind."

He motioned toward the large table in the middle of the room and sat at the head of the table. Lloyd and Sheena both sat on his left-hand side, with Sheena resting her head on Lloyd's shoulder the entire while. He locked hands with her and turned back to his father.

"Alright dad," he started. "Please tell us what you know."

The angel folded his hands, laid them on the table, and began. "We all know what happened inside of the temple, so I will skip those details. I will start with our escape from the temple. Once we were outside, we all noticed a large explosion coming from the direction of Sybak."

"That's when you thought Nebilim had gotten the book," Lloyd said, matter-of-factly.

His father nodded. "Correct. After that, we saw the sky turn into a bloody-hue of red and we heard a number of strange sounds coming from all around us. It was after this all happened when we finally succumbed to the wounds we suffered from the Devil Arms and blacked out."

Sheena raised her head a little. "Colette told me that one of the priests of the Martel Temple found us at Verius' altar and he brought us back to Iselia to get us healed."

He nodded again. "That's the same story that Raine gave me. No one is sure how we got there, but I have a theory."

"Verius," said Lloyd without a hint of doubt in his voice.

"That's the only way we can explain our miraculous survival," said Kratos.

Sheena smiled weakly and laid her head back down on Lloyd's shoulder. "Thank you, Verius," she whispered.

Lloyd took his free hand and waved it around. "What about the sky and Niflheim and all that?"

Kratos took a deep breath and sighed. "I don't know. Several of the villagers have reported walking beyond a certain point of the village's outskirts and seeing the sky immediately turning red around them. A few have even seen demons running about the land. Once they stepped back, everything seemed to return to normal."

Lloyd scratched his head, obviously puzzled. "Eh? What the heck is that all about?"

The angel stood up and walked to the window. "I honestly have no clue. The priests have recently found a hidden underground library in the Martel Temple and have found hundreds of volumes of books of lore. We think that perhaps we may find some of the answers we seek down there. The only problem is that every book is written in the Angelic tongue. Because of the mystic nature of the runes within the books, only angels can read them."

Sheena suddenly gasped lightly and coughed a few times. She raised her head up and laid it down on the table. She waved her right hand at the two men and said, "I'm okay, I'm okay. Man I hate being sick."

The angels said nothing for a moment before continuing on. "Well," Lloyd started, "have you guys found anything interesting yet?"

Kratos turned to his son and nodded. "Yes, actually. Yesterday, I found a book that explained, in detail, some of the demons of the ancient world. Zelos and Colette are currently explaining the most important parts to Raine in hopes that she might be able to understand some of this. All we have to do now is wa-"

A knock came at the door. "Kratos?" asked Raine softly from the other side of the door. "Are Lloyd and Sheena up yet? We finally have some answers."

Kratos nearly ran to the door and immediately opened it, letting Raine in. "So we have the right book?"

She nodded to him and noticed that Lloyd and Sheena were sitting at the table. "Oh, you're awake! I'm glad to see that you're o-… Sheena, are you okay? You look deathly pale."

Lloyd spoke in her place. "She's just sick. Kratos thinks it's the lingering effects of the wound she suffered from the Devil Arms."

She walked over to Sheena and kneeled down next to her chair. "Sheena, are you ok enough to attend a meeting with us?"

Sheena looked up at her and nodded slowly. "Y-yeah. I want to know what's going on around here. I can always rest later."

"Well said," said Kratos. He turned to Raine and asked, "Where are we having the meeting?"

"The schoolhouse," she replied. "I have a chalkboard there we can use in case we need it. Lloyd, could you help Sheena over there?"

He nodded and helped her to her feet. Her right arm slung around his shoulders, the two young lovers slowly limped out of the house.

Kratos prepared to follow them as he asked, "The schoolhouse? Why would we need a chalk board?"

Raine smiled and walked out the door. "If I remember correctly, Lloyd, Colette, and Sheena are slow to catch on."

Kratos grinned. "Ah," he said as he walked outside.

-

Lloyd and Sheena sat just behind Regal and Presea, who, they found out after having a brief conversation with them, had escaped the scourge of Niflheim when they fled from Altamira aboard their Rheiards with the visiting Genis and Raine in tow. Regal had told them that the other inhabitants of Altamira had escaped via a large number of water vessels in the direction of the Temple of Lightning. It was surrounded by a large dome of light and seemed to be as safe a place as any.

To their left sat Colette and Zelos and to their right was Genis. Kratos came in not long afterward and took a seat in the front-most row of chairs. Finally, Raine came here with a very ancient looking book in her hands. She set it down on her desk and wrote a single name on the board.

"Nebilim," she said without emotion. "This is the fiend which has plunged Symphonia into its current age of darkness." She wrote another word on the board. "Niflheim: this is the name given to the world of darkness created by Nebilim. We've all seen what Niflheim looks like, so I won't get into any details.

Several hushed whispers erupted from the small group as Raine continued. "As told to me by Kratos, Nebilim is the product of the Devil Arms and the Necronomicon, the ancient book of the dead. The powers of these weapons and this book were brought out by a powerful warrior named Abyssion, who was defeated by Kratos, Lloyd and Sheena."

Everyone looked over at Lloyd and Sheena and whispered a few words of praise. "However," she continued, "this battle gave the Devil Arms enough time to gather enough energy to "resurrect" Nebilim and thus bring him back to this world. Once back, he eluded further battle and immediately sought out an ancient book which housed Niflheim. After he broke the seal on the book, Niflheim became manifest upon the world."

"What does this mean exactly?" asked Regal. "What of our apparent sanctuary in Iselia?"

Raine held up a single finger. "I was about to get to that. Also, ours isn't the only safe haven." Raine picked up the chalk once more and drew (what looked like) a building with a dome over it. "According to the legends within this book…" She tapped on the book. "…when this happened several thousand years ago, the Summon Spirits of Symphonia created great domes of light which gave all those within the domes complete protection from the forces of Niflheim and Nebilim himself. In this today's case, there happens to be ten "safe havens". These domes seem to have about a one-mile radius, which is just wide enough to cover the entire village of Iselia if the starting point is the center of the Martel Temple."

"But sis," Genis started, "aren't there eleven spirit temples?"

Raine shook her head. "All though there are eleven temples, only ten of these offer protection from Niflheim. The exception is Shadow's Temple which is used as a base of sorts for Nebilim. Shadow's influence only protects the altar room of his temple and nothing more. However, all those years ago, Nebilim projected his own barrier around the temple in an attempt to keep out anyone without a dark heart. Nothing can pass through it, except…"

Presea stood up. "Except what, Professor Raine?"

Raine wrote two words on the board: "Angel Arms".

Several louder whispers erupted throughout the small classroom. "Angel Arms?" asked Lloyd. "What are those?" As he asked this, Sheena coughed a few more times. Lloyd locked hands with her and awaited Raine's answer.

She turned back around and looked directly at Lloyd. "Basically, they were the light's answer to the Devil Arms. Legend explains that nine angels wielded weapons of such incredible power that they were able to pass through the barrier with no problem what-so-ever and defeat Nebilim and thus seal his soul into the Necronomicon."

Sheena coughed again. "H-how do we get our hands on these weapons?"

Raine sat down in her own chair and sighed. "Apparently, each Angel Arm is specially made for each individual through a process that can only be carried out in the ancient city of the angels."

"Welgaia," said Kratos. "Correct?"

She nodded. "Correct. Since the weapons no longer exist, we would have to go to Welgaia and make the weapons ourselves."

Kratos lowered his head and whispered to himself, "So that's what the room is for…"

Lloyd clenched his free hand into a fist. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go to Welgaia and make those weapons!"

Raine shook her head sadly. "Besides the fact that we can no longer get to Welgaia from here, there's still a catch to forging the angel arms."

Lloyd tilted his head as he eased up his clenched hand and used it instead to cradle Sheena's head. "Eh? What's that?"

She sighed again and laid her head down on the desk. "Only angels can use them."

More whispers came amidst a number assorted sounds of disappointment. Kratos said nothing as he stood up and walked up to the chalkboard. He took the piece of chalk from Raine's hand and turned to the group of heroes.

"As it stands now, there are only four of us who are able to wield an angel arm, assuming we can find a way to get to Welgaia." Turning to the chalkboard, he wrote four names on the board: Lloyd, Kratos, Zelos, and Colette. He turned back to the party and said, "The way I see it, of these four, only two of us should go."

He first looked at Zelos. "Zelos, I mean no offense of any sort, but, given your current condition, there's no way that you can handle this. I-"

Zelos waved his good hand in front of him. "No Kratos, it's ok. You're absolutely right. I'm sorry that I couldn't be of help to you in the end." He lowered his head and Colette immediately held his good hand with both of her own.

Kratos closed his eyes for a moment. "It can't be helped. There's no need to apologize, Zelos." He opened his eyes and next looked at Colette. "Again, I mean no offense, but when you left our group prematurely, you missed quite possibly the best opportunity for you to gain more battle training. Also, your lack of recent fighting I believe has caused you to "lose your edge." I'm sorry."

Colette turned to Kratos and smiled. "I'm sorry Kratos. I really thought that, after Mithos was defeated by you guys, we could live in a peaceful world and that there was no need for me to fight anymore."

Unable to resist, he smiled back at the kindly angel and turned back to the board. He crossed out Zelos' and Colette's names and turned back to the party. "Obviously, this leaves only Lloyd and myself to carry this out."

Raine looked up from her desk and shook her head fiercely. "Absolutely not! It took nine angels thousands of years ago to defeat Nebilim. How can you hope to do the same with only two!"

Sheena looked down as she heard this. Suddenly, she felt enormous amounts of pain shooting throughout her entire body. She said nothing, but Lloyd could see the pain she was in as clear as day. "Sheena?" he whispered.

Kratos looked out of the window close to the east wall of the building. "We have to try. Would you rather live in a world like this? Look at the sky, Raine. It's not the sky we once knew. It may look the same, but it's not. What about the other people of the world? We're lucky that Iselia is so close to one of the temples. Think of towns like Triet that had to travel some distance to reach their temple. They more than likely have meager supplies of food and water and other such things. Although our protection may last forever and we could pretend that Nebilim and Niflheim don't exist, think of all of those who are suffering because of our inactivity."

Raine stared blankly at Kratos, unsure of what to say. "Kratos, I… I'm sorry. I'm just worried about the two of you."

Sheena sat up slowly, doing her best to remain upright. "T-the three of us, professor. I'm going with them."

Hearing this, everyone in the room turned towards her, instantly making her the center of attention.

Genis shook his head. "Sheena, just how sick are you? Raine just got done telling us that only angels can do this."

Lloyd nodded. "That's right. I wish you could come with us Sheena, but-"

"Augh!" screamed Sheena as she fell from her chair and rolled on the floor. Everyone immediately emerged from their seats and crowded around her.

Lloyd immediately hit the ground and cradled Sheena in his arms. "Sheena! What's wrong? You have to tell us or we can't help you?"

In the corner of the room, the only person that hadn't budged, Kratos, had said nothing as the whole ordeal was taking place. He had been thinking of Sheena's strange illness all morning and thought that he may have figured out what was wrong with Sheena. "I can only hope that I'm right," he said, whispering to himself.

Sheena took a few very deep breaths and slowly sat up. "Everyone, t-there's something I have to tell you." With a little help from Lloyd, she managed to stand up and, despite protests from her lover, managed to walk to the front of the classroom with no assistance form anyone. She closed her eyes and took a few more deep breaths. "No turning back now," she told herself. "I have to tell them now."

Everyone watched her as she stood in front of the room. She opened her eyes and a very soft, purple glow began to surround her body. "Everyone, I don't know quite how to put this, so I'm just going to show you. I… I'm not sure how this happened, but…" A few tears streaked down her soft cheek as she did her best to stop herself from crying. "I hope none of you think any differently of me after this."

Lloyd, ignoring the glow, asked, "Sheena, what are you tal-"

Sheena spread her arms outward a bright flash filled the entire room. Once the light dimmed back down to normal levels, everyone opened their once blinded eyes to see Sheena with purple, spectral wings flapping very slowly behind her back. She lowered her head seemingly in shame as everyone in the room gasped with surprise, save for Kratos.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Zelos.

"Sheena, you're… an angel?" asked Lloyd.

Colette smiled warmly. "Your wings are so beautiful!"

Sheena wiped the tears from her eyes and turned her back to them, the color in her face slowly returning as she did so. "Please don't stare at me! I didn't ask to be like this!"

Lloyd immediately ran to her front side and held her hands gently. "Sheena, why does it matter if you're an angel or not? It doesn't change anything. I… I still love you, and I'm sure no one thinks less of you."

Sheena looked up at Lloyd with those kind eyes of hers and sniffled. "I-I'm sorry Lloyd. I mean no offense to any of our angelic friends, but… when I see these wings, I think of all the terrible things Cruxis did. It makes me wonder: if I'm an angel, does that mean that maybe one of my parents was a member of Cruxis? I-I just don't know! I'm sorry!" She then threw her arms around Lloyd and sobbed uncontrollably. Her purple wings still flapped slightly as Lloyd brought out his own wings and wrapped his arms around his lover's waist.

Another hand touched Sheena's shoulder: Kratos'. Feeling this, she turned around to look at him. "Fear not Sheena, for I may know why this has happened to you."

She sniffled again as he continued. "There's two parts, the first of which is biological."

"So it's possible that my parents were angels?" she asked as she sobbed.

He shook his head. "I don't think so. I believe this came about as a result of the blood transfusion you received from Lloyd. His blood mixing with yours was perhaps enough to fulfill the biological half of this equation."

Several whispers came about once again. Lloyd rubbed the spot on his arm from which the blood had been drawn and Sheena rubbed the part of her side that had suffered that terrible wound caused by Abyssion.

"I made her an angel?" asked Lloyd, obviously surprised with what he just heard.

"Huh…" started Zelos. "Y'know Lloyd, that's kinda romantic if you think about it." Shortly afterward, Colette elbowed him in the side playfully.

"Partially," replied Kratos. "As I said, this is but one-half. As with all other angels, angelic biologies are not enough to cause the transformation. A significant personally spiritual event has to take place in order to trigger the transformation. In my case, it was when I became the seal for Origin. In Lloyd's case, it was when he became one with the Eternal Sword. Finally, in this case, my guess is that Sheena's pact-forming with Verius triggered her transformation."

Sheena wiped away her tears once again. "D-do you really think that's it?"

Kratos nodded. "I have good reason to believe so. The pieces seem to fit well enough."

Lloyd scratched his head. "I don't get it dad. You don't seem to be very surprised by any of this. How come?"

Kratos folded his arms. "I know Angelic Toxicosis when I see it. I witnessed many of the members of Cruxis suffer from the same effects."

Sheena smiled and her wings flapped slightly more quickly now. "Thank you Kratos. D-does this mean I can come with you two?"

He nodded. "Of course. We would be honored by your presence."

Regal raised a hand. "I do not mean to interrupt, but even if they can make a few of these Angel Arms now, how will they be able to get to Welgaia from here?"

Sheena turned to Regal and smiled proudly at him. "I think I've got that covered. Origin is the Summon Spirit of time and space, so maybe we can somehow get him to modify our Rheiards so that we can teleport between Symphonia and Welgaia."

Presea stepped toward Sheena. "But Sheena, will that work? If Origin is currently protecting the Ymir and Torrent Forests, will you even be able to summon him?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure, but it's worth a sho-ugh!" She grabbed her stomach again and Lloyd swooped down, ready to catch her in case she fell.

"Sheena! Take it easy! You're probably still sick from the Toxicosis," said Lloyd. "You need to rest."

"I concur," added Kratos. "Lloyd is still recovering from his wounds as well, so we could stand to stay here for at least another night."

Raine turned to them and nodded. "Yes Sheena. You should go ahead and get back in bed. Same for Lloyd. I'll be over to check up on you two in about an hour. I'm going to discuss a few other things with our friends here. Understood?"

The two lovers sighed. "Yes professor Raine," they said in unison, in a fashion similar to that of disappointed school-children.

"Professor?" asked Lloyd. "I'm not feeling as bad as her. I'm going to watch over her until you get back, ah, if that's ok."

Before she could answer, Kratos said, "Of course Lloyd. Try to make something warm for her to drink. Got it?"

His son nodded. "Got it. C'mon Sheena!" As the two slowly walked out of the schoolhouse, with Lloyd supporting Sheena, everyone could not help but smile at the beautiful couple.

-

My longest ToS chapter yet (4,000 words+)! Sure, it wasn't action packed like some of the others, but I hope I gave an adequate explanation for everything that is happening now. And how about Sheena being an angel? Ever since I did the blood transfusion bit way back in chapter 7, I had this planned out, heh. Hope my theory on angel transformations isn't too bad (if nothing else, consider it slightly A/U). We all know how Colette became one and, to a lesser extent, Lloyd. However, the process for everyone else was never explained, so… I thought I'd try this. Anyway, I think I'm gonna do some Lloyd and Sheena fluff in the next chapter. As always, thank you in advance for any and all reviews!