"Life and Death are the cycles of the ages. But after a time, all that I could see was death. So much death..."

The wind was picking up. Kratos noted the change absently as he stood before the stone that marked Origin's resting place. The breeze sent the trees into a light swaying motion, and brought to the angel the scent of life, the smell of leaves, wind, and water. With the sunbeams that filtered their way to the forest floor, it seemed a wonderful day. He nodded absently to the stone. "A good omen. They'll be here soon."

Turning, Kratos walked over to a nearby tree and sat down on a large rock at it's base. Drawing forth his sword, he set the tip of the blade in the dirt and clasped his hands around the hilt. Closing his eyes, he set himself the task of remembering...

Despite his resolve to remove himself from the conflict until it was time for a final confrontation, he found that it was impossible to stay away. So it was that he was present for end of the confrontation. Zelos lay bleeding on the platform after the others left for the back door to the city of angels. Kratos walked up to the fallen man, his arms crossed.

"So, the last one decided to show up and bid me farewell." Zelos chuckled without any mirth. His eyes closed and he lay back against the floor again. "I knew it was stupid to fight them, but hell, Mithos is gonna get a surprise for sure. Luckily I won't have to deal with it anymore."

"Idiot." Kneeling beside the Chosen, Kratos probed the major wounds with his hands. Finding no debris, he called on the magic innate to his blood and cast a healing spell. Under his fingers the flesh began to regenerate and Zelos roused himself.

"What are you doing? I wanted to go out like this!" A glare from Kratos stopped the red-headed Chosen from saying anything else. The silence dragged out while the angel cast another healing spell to accelerate the process. Finally satisfied with his work, he stood and wiped his hands absently on Zelos' discarded cloak.

"You should think before pulling a stunt like that on your friends. They didn't want to have to kill you, you know, even though you pull a convincing act." Kratos turned towards the teleporter, walking away from the wounded man. "You don't have to be the Chosen if you don't want to, not if they end this."

Zelos chuckled again, albeit this time with more feeling. "Guess you care then." Kratos said nothing, disappearing as the teleporter activated in a smattering of glowing motes of light. Zelos was left staring at the emptiness.

"Maybe."

Falling.

Ever falling.

Farther, faster, deeper.

One time in her young life where she'd had the chance to be rescued, instead of being the one doing the rescuing and she had to be tough. The plant had reacted to her attempt to cross the barrier. Weakened as she'd been from duplicating the Mana blast that had silenced the unbalanced Mana Tree, it was all that she could do to just grab a protruding vine and halt her downward progress. Looking upward, she saw the anguish in Lloyd's face. 'Colette needed him... but Sheena was in trouble.'

Sensing that he was on the verge of returning, Sheena spoke up quickly. "Go on, you've got a job to do. Someone needs to get to Colette; I'll catch up to you once I deal with this creep. Remember how I climbed out of that hole in the mountain and took you on?" She put as much confidence as she could into her words, willing the boy to believe. "Just make sure to leave me some for me. I'll make it, for sure."

She was relieved as he turned and ran into the tunnel beyond. "Whew, why couldn't I just be the helpless maiden and let him rescue me? Ah, guess that wouldn't be my style." She smiled once more as she felt her grip slipping down. "Sorry."

Her hand released its hold on the protruding vine and she fell into the darkness.

'You know, this is really going to hurt when I get to the bottom.'

Sheena closed her eyes.

He surged forward, the wind created by his passing blowing his hair back away from his face. If he was correct, the traps would whittle down the group bit by bit, provided they sacrificed for the common goal. The convict, Regal had already demonstrated that fact by standing alone to confront the angelic guardians that were stored above the route. Only his rear-guard action had allowed the others to escape the battle with time still on their side.

The man was looking a bit ragged by the time Kratos arrived, but still managed to hold his own. After clearing the room, the Seraphim opened a hidden passage and shooed Regal into it. "Hurry, they'll need you. This will take you directly to the chambers that you seek."

Regal had nodded once without speaking. Kratos hadn't stayed any longer at that point. With all the possible hazards and traps along the way, time was of the essence. Even then he might not be able to save them all. Regardless, he had to try. It wouldn't end if Mithos still held the reigns of power.

Relentlessly he pushed forward, flying unerringly to the place of the next pitfall. As he came upon the scene, he noted that the bridge leading across had fallen through, and a portion of the tree with it. His ears picked up a scraping noise from inside the pit, and instantly he flew to the center and looked down. In the darkness below he could just make out the slender form that was falling away from him.

"No!"

He couldn't be too late! The Seraphim disappeared like lightning, his course straight downward.

---

Her descent halted abruptly and painfully, her whole body dangling from the arm that had just been caught by a hand above her. Sheena's eyes flew open, and her stomach did strange flip-flops as her body tried to adjust to the sudden halt. She gulped once, trying to calm herself, and then looked up to see who had rescued her. It was too dark for her to discern any features, but as the hands pulled her upwards and an arm encircled her waist, she knew.

"Kratos?"

He said nothing, just holding her to him as he flew up and out of the pit. As they neared the top, Sheena felt warm drop hit her face. Was he crying?

"Come, we must hurry."

Those were the only words that he spoke as he hid his face from her. But in that moment, the reflection of the light betrayed the worry. A single teartrack, running down his cheek. His eyes were hard now, but it was enough. Sheena hurried along behind him as they set off on the trail of the others.

They'd just have to excuse him if he did take a little bit longer to get there. Sheena wasn't going to be leaving his sight until the battle ended...

Lloyd faced Mithos as the child turned around. The cynical sneer on his face didn't befit the radiant half-elf that had wanted to be friends with them a few days ago. Granted, the adult body didn't exactly fit the profile either. Lloyd gulped quietly and reminded himself of the one reason that he was here, the same reason that his friends had sacrificed themselves for; Colette's return. "I'm here to take Colette back!"

"Oh yes, the hero Lloyd. Well, I'm afraid that you're too late - I've already revived Martel in that pathetic Chosen's body." With that statement, Mithos turned his attention back to the slowly opening capsule that lay before the Mana Seed.

"Martel!"

Colette's body sat up from the center of the capsule, but something was all wrong. For one thing, she didn't stumble as she climbed down, something that Colette would have invariable done. There was also the sense of another presence, something that didn't belong. Still, her expression was troubled as she turned towards the gloating half-elf.

"My sister! Ah, but I see that you do not recognize me. Hold." With a flash of light, the famed Yggdrasil had reverted to his childlike form again. The child Mithos stood in between Lloyd and the now resurrected Martel. "It is good to have you with me again, sister!"

"Mithos."

Her voice sounded disembodied, as though she were speaking from outside the body that was the current container for her soul. "This isn't what I wanted, Mithos."

"Of course, Martel. We'll just have to change it to how you want it be. It will be easy, now that we're together again." The childish innocence almost overode the insanity that seemed to be stock in trade for the Master of Cruxis. "Everything will be wonderful again."

Martel shook her head, willing her brother to understand. "No Mithos. I didn't want you to do this. The way that you've changed the world, torn it apart, it isn't what I wanted."

"No!" The tortured scream that burst forth from Mithos' throat startled everyone present. "You can't be saying this! Martel would never say anything like this. It must be that conniving little bitch, she's making Martel reject this world that I made for her. I'll make her stop!"

"Mithos, listen to me!" Martel was pleading with her brother now, trying to make him understand. "It's time for you to let me go. Please, put things back how they are supposed to be; I couldn't live in a world like this anyway."

"No! Martel would love everything that I've done for her!"

Shaking her head sadly, Martel turned to look at the Mana Seed. "No, Mithos. It isn't what I asked of you. I'll be leaving now, this girl has a life of her own."

She turned one last gaze upon the now insanely laughing child. "Goodbye Mithos."

Colette slumped down to the floor as Martel returned to the Mana Seed. Abruptly, Mithos stopped laughing. His expression was one of cold disdain as he turned towards the fallen Chosen. "You worthless little girl! And you!" His eyes turned to Lloyd, still standing in the doorway. "You were the one who interrupted and made her hate this body. For that, you shall die."

"I'll stop you!"

The words seemed hollow, even to Lloyd. Mithos just laughed. "What can you do? You all alone now."

The words were barely out of his mouth before a shout rang out behind him. "He's not alone! Fireball!"

Mithos jumped backwards to dodge the blast, giving Lloyd the chance to view the source of the shout. "Genis! You're alright!"

Genis smirked at Lloyd, then winced as he dropped over the balcony to land on the ground. "Yeah, of course. I couldn't leave you alone, right? You'd just get into trouble."

Others appeared on the balcony and Lloyd's eyes widened. "You guys!"

"Heh," Sheena laughed at his expression, "didn't I tell you that I'd make it?" She jumped down and landed lightly on the floor beside Genis.

"And I want to live in the new world that we're going to create." Raine was a bit slower, taking time to calculate the jump first.

Regal took a flying leap over the railing, hitting the floor in a crouch and standing back up. "I had to keep my word. I didn't want you to have to go through the pain that I felt when I lost someone I cared about."

Presea just looked at Lloyd and nodded. Lloyd blinked back tears at seeing all of his friends back together again. "But how did you get out of those traps?"

Sheena grinned and looked back towards the balcony. "Well, we did have a little help."

Lloyd's jaw dropped open when he saw the person standing there. "Kratos?"

"Yep! He released all of us from the traps that we were caught in." In the background, Raine snickered at the quietadulation in Sheena's tone of voice.

"Fools!" The whole group turned as one to regard Mithos as he returned to his adult form, power pulsing from himlike a minature quasar. Beside the incensed being, Pronyma turned to regard her ruler. "It was my error that allowed them to arrive here, my lord. Allow me to correct it for you."

Eyeing his subordinate, Mithos agreed. "Fine. Just be swift about it."

Stepping forward, Pronyma had a sudden chill. Something about this was wrong, very wrong. Nevertheless, she summoned her orbs of darkness to battle, determined to serve Lord Yggdrasil to the very best of her abilities.

As the group flowed into battle against her, she realized that it was now impossible to win. They had been fighting together for too long to be distracted and disorganized by her floating weapons. As they dissembled first one and then another, while the chained warrior kept her occupied, she began to realize the full weight of Kratos' scheme.

'Time. Always giving them more time.'

As the last of her defenders fell into nothingness, Pronyma cast a quick glance about her. The warrior closing from the front again, while the other melee fighters moved to enclose her between them. Lord Yggdrasil still stood beside the capsule, his eyes cold, unmoving. And against the wall, the Seraphim stood. His eyes showed pity, as though he knew the outcome of the battle.

It was too late for anything else, as they came at her. On her own, she managed to put up a good fight, knocking Sheena away with a dark blast as the summoner came too close. Regal she ducked away from, then used her short range teleport to set up next to Genis. The youth was easy to send flying, but Raine wasn't so easily dealt with; she might have been slow with her staff, but the blows were enough to keep Pronyma occupied and away from the Professor's brother. Lloyd came flying back at the woman as Raine's defense failed, derailing her plan of attack yet again.

She teleported. They came at her again, varying who was attacking just enough to give themselves time to recover during the battle. If she managed one spell, they hit her with several. Pronyma, one of the most powerful of the Desian Cardinals, couldn't keep up with the strain. Slowly the fight pushed her back towards her master. Slowly her defenses failed.

It took only one blow to bring her to her knees, but it wasn't until she fell full length on the ground that they finally left her be. Choking up blood, Pronyma found that she was afraid. Lifting her head, she found the face of her master.

"Lord Yggdrasil, Mithos, help me!" Her hand, bloodied, stretched out to the angel in silent entreaty.

Time seemed to stop as everyone turned to regard Yggdrasil. The angel turned to the fallen woman, his eyes filled suddenly with a cold fury. "No one can call me that but her." His hand filled with brilliant light as he bound the magic tightly and turned it in her direction. For an instant, Pronyma saw the truth in his face, the madness that he'd hidden inside himself. Then she screamed, as he released the magic against her.

Sheena covered her eyes as the magic hit the ground where Pronyma lay. When she opened them again, no trace of the Grand Cardinal of the Desians remained.

AN: Okay, this was a lot longer than I thought it would be, but hey, it's here. This will be continued in the next chapter, don't worry! I just started writing, and then realized that I was going to be skipping a major part of the storyline, so if the starting scene threw you for a loop, I appologise. Anyway, read and review. Little more mushy stuff this time. Go me.
Outakes

Take 1

Raine awaits rescue atop the central pillar, the only remaining piece of the floor still standing after she hacked into the system and released the door locks for Lloyd and Genis. Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting...

Just then the floor gives way and she falls. Yuan swoops down and grabs her right in the nick of time. Glaring, Raine looks up at the angel. "What happened to Kratos, did he forget the script?"

Yuan looks helplessly over at Zelos, who shrugs. "I don't know, he went in the right door..."

-

Down in the bottom of the dark pit...

"Oh Kratos! Yes!"

(The camera pans downward to show an ecstatic Sheena hugging a blushing Kratos. A glint of light flashes off of the open jewelry box in his hand...)

------
Take 2

Sheena is hanging by a single root, waiting for the cue to let go. Suddenly a burst of magical energy hits the root, snapping it. There's a sudden scream as the summoner falls into the depths below.

Zelos walks up to Yuan, who is standing triumphant at the top of the pit. "Did you remember to cut the net at the bottom?"

Yuan looks smug. "Yep. Got it all taken care of. Now Kratos won't get delayed again and we can get this over with." He pauses momentarily, listening. "Hm, it's silent. I wonder if she hit the bottom yet?"

He peers over the edge, only to come face to face with an angry Seraphim. An angry Seraphim with a summoner clinging tightly to him.

"Uh-oh."

(Yuan falls down a long way...)

(Zelos follows...)
---
Hope you all enjoyed! Hint: the opening sentence should help with some AU revisions that I've decided to throw into the storyline at the last moment.