Beneath the seal, Origin stirred. Fate was changing.

While Sheena spent a few final moments saying goodbye to her grandfather, Raine attempted to keep some sort of order among the restless 'children'. Sighing, she found herself adding Zelos to the catagory as well. The Chosen had a bad tendency to play pranks on the younger boys, necessitating a referee to seperate them. Luckily, Regal was there to take up some of their attention. The self-proclaimed criminal looked uncomfortable at all the questions that hurled his way, but still managed to keep his cool.

Raine filed that observation away for future reference.

Regal looked relieved when Sheena finally appeared. The summoner looked quite disconcerted, leading the way out from the village without speaking. North of the village, they embarked in the Elemental Cargo for the island that housed Volt's shrine. The trip itself was uneventful, which was a plus in Raine's book. No storms, no wind, no terrifying waves...

Granted, Sheena's nervousness did much to distract the Professor from the terrors of the overwater journey. The poor girl stayed silent for the entire trip, cowering by herself belowdecks. When she ignored Zelos' attempts to draw her out, Raine decided to intervene and sent the Chosen packing up to the bridge. "Go make yourself useful and watch for the island or something."

Zelos took one look at his "Super-cool Beauty" and hastened away. Raine moved cautiously over to sit beside Sheena. No words were exchanged, but Sheena looked grateful for the reprieve.

It wasn't long until they heard Lloyd calling out that the island was just ahead. Both women sighed, though for entirely different reasons. Raine was happy that they'd finally reached their destination, while Sheena dreaded facing the place again.

After all, this was the place where she had lost so much...

"Grandfather."

---
Several hours later...
---

It had been a battle of epic proportions, one that had driven them to the extreme. Volt had been extremely violent as they first attempted to obtain the contract, and most of his ire had been focused on Sheena. Corrinne had fulfilled his promise to protect her, and lost his life in the process. Right now Sheena was standing alone staring at the last thing that bound her to her friend - his bell collar.

"Why do I have to lose something every time that I come here? First it was Grandfather and the villagers, then Corrinne! Why?"

The darkness didn't answer her, and no one else was around to hear the question. As the echoes faded away, Sheena lapsed back into silence, staring out across the water. In the morning they would return to the mainland and then move to retrieve the rheairds. That would allow them to move freely throughout Tethe'alla, and with Volt at her command...

Volt.

"Why? Why did you have to go crazy?"

As if at her command, Volt appeared. The brilliant ball of whirling electrons appeared quite humble indeed. He spoke, or Sheena assumed that's what he was doing. The fizzling and crackling sparks were indecipherable to her. How had Raine been able to translate back and forth?

Finally an idea came to her. "Undine, come forth!"

The summon spirit's graceful form materialized from the ocean in front of her. "What is it that you desire?"

Volt had fallen silent in the interim. Sheena turned to face him, gesturing helplessly. "I don't understand him when he speaks."

Undine glided forward to stand beside the stricked spirit. Volt started to spark and crackle once again, but this time to his fellow being. Undine listed silently for a time before nodding. She turned to the summoner.

"Volt wishes to offer his sincerest appologies for his actions while he was insane. To have taken away what was dearest to your heart, that is his shame. He also wishes to honor the little brother who died in your defense some night hence, if it would please you." Undine paused, seeming to consider what else might be added. "Your tolerance would be much appreciated, even if you cannot forgive him readily for his crimes."

Sheena sighed. Much as she desired to hold a grudge against the spirit, she couldn't after Raine had sat down and explained his plight to her. Her shoulders slumped and she nodded slowly. "Very well. You have my forgiveness, but I won't forget what happened here soon, if ever. This place is a place of failures, not the least of which are my own."

Sheena turned back around to face the ocean. The others would probably come looking for her if she didn't return soon. It was time to say one last farewell. Her voice was soft as she spoke. "Goodbye Corrinne. Thank you for saving me."

Behind her the two spirits took their leave.

Dawn found the party riding the Elemental Cargo back to the mainland. No one seemed to know what to say, so the trip back was strangely silent. Even Zelos seemed affected by Corrinne's passing, the Chosen stood by the rail and gazed back at the island with a gloomy expression. While Zelos brooded by himself, Colette chose to stand silently beside Sheena for the whole trip.

Genis and Regal sat beside Lloyd as he steered the ship towards the tiny dock that jutted out from the land. Aside from quiet comments on how to correct their course, and Genis telling Lloyd to slow up as he approached, there wasn't any conversation. Apparently even children could show self restraint every once in a while.

The surprisingly gentle bump of the EC against the dock brought Raine out of her huddled ball belowdecks. As the Professor fairly flew back to terra firma, she took note of the above facts. "Quite impressive Lloyd."

The boy beamed at her. "Yeah! I told you I could do it, Genis!"

His friend grumbled back at him, and the two boys got into an arguement over how well Lloyd had done. Raine simply shook her head and let the voices fade into the background. "I meant his self-control on the way back, not his skill at manuevering the EC..." She muttered.

"Even without logic, he does have to be right sometimes." Raine jumped as Regal spoke up from behind her. "And you must admit that his heart is full of good intentions."

The Professor turned and faced the criminal with a raised eyebrow. "Since we're on the subject, why is it that there are so many people with problems in our little group of saviors? Granted, Lloyd is sort of our leader, but he doesn't have the brains for the job."

Regal pondered the question. Why indeed? "Perhaps it is because all people have problems. It is what makes us human, the striving and the failure."

"Even elves and half-elves?"

Regal wasn't sure exactly why Raine had brought up the subject, so he merely shrugged. Seeing that she was waiting for an answer, he sighed. "You ask one of the most perplexing questions about 'life'. It is not something that I can answer for you. I don't have the breadth of experience, but I would say that for all their granduer and haughtiness, elves and half-elves are human too."

"They fail and rise up, fail and rise up. It is the way of life. When you stop getting back up again, you are dead."

Shaking his head, Regal stopped speaking. "Let's not continue this right now. Such things begin to give me a headache."

Raine snickered as he backed away carefully. "Thank you for your thoughts, Professor Regal."

His grimace was the only reply to her banter. Raine noted that his gaze had strayed to the south. Ah yes, Presea...

That train of thought was broken off by the realisation that the rest of the group was moving out. Calmly Raine moved to join them, Lloyd's voice leading the way with inane comments and questions.

"Hey Sheena, can you make Volt shoot lightning bolts now?"

(whap)

"OWWW!"

---

Thus did rivalry and human affection return to the party, along with the ever-present dose of stupidity that was commonly attributed to Lloyd's influence. Elsewhere, Mithos cackled madly as he made preparations to dispose of the nuisances to his plans. Seeing as he was in a child's form, the scene was slightly disturbing...

Many Days Later...

"So you won't do this for me?"

"Just so you don't have to do anything anymore?" A raised eyebrow went along with the comment. Now a shaking of the head. "I suppose there isn't any convincing you to do otherwise, but don't you think that you should talk to Lloyd first? After all, if something were to happen to you, he needs to know..."

"I intend to." He was cutting her off, almost angrily, he knew. "He deserves to know the truth, no matter what. I only wanted to know if you would kill me when the time comes. I know that he won't have the will to do so, once he finds out who I really am."

"Of course, since you won't help me, I'll have to find someone else who can."

He turned to leave, but the soft echo of laughter behind him made him stop. "Raine..."

She snickered. "I think I managed to surprise you, for once." Her voice turned serious again as she continued. "As long as you talk to Lloyd, I really don't care how you decide to go about this. I might suggest that you be careful about who you pick to annihilate you though, I think only Yggdrasil would be willing to do that, and not for the reasons that you want."

"Of course." His answer was grim. He paused once again at the door. "Goodbye, Raine. Your advice is noted."

The door opened and closed quietly behind the Seraphim as he stalked out into the hotel. So the vaunted protector of the children wouldn't help him. Perhaps SHE would. At least SHE would despise him for being a traitor, and that might be enough to convince her to help with his plan. His step faltered for a moment... He sighed.

"First things first."

'Lloyd...'

AN: If this seems hurried - sorry, it was. I had hoped to get it out before the end of last week, but alas, other people weren't cooperating. I didn't get much chance to use a computer. Anyways, as always, read and review. Love hearing from you all.

And yes, this really was just written to tie in the events of the past with the flash-forward that I wrote at Christmas. It was designed that way, really!