A/N: 3300 words long. Not much else to say, I'll stop talking now and let you read the story.

"What the hell," Genis repeated, "Are you doing. To my sister."

Sheena scooted away from Raine who, strangely enough, was fast asleep. She tried to smile at Genis. "Um, I think I'm sleeping with her."

Wait, that didn'tcome outright.

Genis lost it. "Get out of that bed right now!"

"Genis! Calm down!" Sheena said, but hopped off of the mattress anyway, remembering that Genis was a good foot taller than her and capable of extremely destructive fire magic. "We weren't doing anything bad, Genis. You're overreacti- gah! Put me down!" Sheena's fingers twitched towards the enchanted cards in her pockets as Genis unceremoniously tossed her over his shoulder and marched out of the room to where a very amused Yuan was waiting. He kicked the door shut behind him. Sheena couldn't believe that Raine had just pretended to go to sleep after her crazy brother just carted her off like a sack of potatoes.

"Is your entire family dysfunctional?" Yuan asked.

"You shut up."

"Put me down right this instant, Genis! You need to cool it!"

"Cool it! I just saw someone I thought was my friend taking advantage of my sister!"

"I said: Put me down! Pyre Seal!" Fwoom! Sheena aimed the attack to right behind Genis, not close enough to burn him but close enough to let him know she meant business. Genis dropped her and she quickly bounced to her feet, bristling at the indignity he had just put her through. She jabbed him in the chest with one finger, her eyes aflame with anger. "Now you need to calm down and just listen, OK?"

Genis crossed his arms, matching her glare with icy cold sapphire eyes. "I want to know how long you two have been together. Since when?"

Yuan perked up at this, his wet hair dripping steadily onto the carpet. He hadn't been in the room with Genis, so he hadn't seen exactly what the fuss was about. "Oh," he said softly. "It seems something else might run in the family."

"Goddess Martel, can't you see I'm trying to explain?" Sheena said, ignoring Yuan. "And first of all, she kissed me."

"That's because she was drugged!" Genis exploded, completely losing his short temper and smashing his fist against the hallway wall.

Sheena felt her anger slosh down the drain, replaced with cold horror. "What?"

Genis slapped a hand to his face, taking deep, deep breaths. "She hasn't been sleeping," he said, "Like, at all. So I gave her something to help her sleep, and she was supposed to not wake up until tomorrow cause if she did, she would be completely out of her senses!"

Yuan snickered as Sheena put her fingers to her lips, not flushing but instead growing steadily paler. "Oh."

"Oh is damn right!" Genis snorted once in anger, before finally calming down. He shook his head, turning away from Sheena. "Oh..." He banged his head against the wall in the hallway, his face slowly turning red. "I can't believe this. Can not. Listen, if you have a yen for my sister, that's fine, but please try to remember the fact that this is my room too and... and.."

Sheena, perhaps for the first time, realized that there were two beds in the room for a reason.

He whirled around. "Since when?" he demanded again.

"Uhm.. about fifteen minutes ago, but I think I kinda suspected it for about a week now..."

"So after I left, then..." Genis absently wrung his hands, looking down at the red stain on his skin. Trying to forget about the day before yesterday was hard when all he had to do was look down to be reminded. Somewhere out there his brother had a matching mark. Genis decided that he definitely needed to buy some new gloves, something that would match his coat.

"As interesting as this all is," Yuan said, "I think you're forgetting that there was something urgent that we needed to do?"

Genis paused for a moment, before starting up again with a jolt. "Oh. Oh right! I'm a moron," he said, going back into his room as silently as he could so he wouldn't disturb Raine and then coming out with a rolled up map. Brushing past Sheena, he lightly pattered down the stairs to one of the tables in the lobby area, where Zelos and Lloyd were nowhere to be found. Pity, Sheena thought, because I want to kill him for setting me up like he did. Unrolling the map across the surface, he traced his finger along the ink until he came to a seemingly empty island in the ocean near Flanoir. But of course, the Flanoir Base never came out on any maps. "Here," he said. "If what Kratos said is true-"

"Kratos came back?" Sheena interrupted.

Genis slowly looked up at her. "Yes," he said. "He was looking for you" Sheena wondered at how easy it was to suddenly get Genis spitting out her name with such outright hostility- "But he found something else."

"What?"

"Kloitz. Pandora's information was right; Some local authorities went after him for stealing from the doctor here in Flanoir. It didn't end well."

"Kuchinawa is more than capable of taking down a couple of yokels without his master's help," Yuan added, smirking bitterly.

"Damn that Kuchinawa!" Sheena said, glaring at the map. "So where is he? Not in the Tethe'alla- I mean Flanoir Base?"

Yuan sighed. "I abandoned it after the worlds united, since I spend all my time in the Triet Base anyway. Somehow Kloitz not only managed to break through the defenses that are supposed to keep curious visitors away, but he also reprogrammed it entirely to attack and kill any living creature that got too close. Which is why we're going in through..." Yuan tapped at a nearby island. "Here. Right here. There's another entrance that I'm almost sure he doesn't know about."

"'Almost' being the key word in that sentence."

"Can it, Sage." Yuan rolled up the map, whacking it against Genis's head. "So let's get going. Kratos went straight back and should be waiting there."

"Not without us, you're not!" Lloyd, Colette, Zelos and a stranger walked down the stairs to their little table.

"Zelos told us all about what happened in Triet and we're not letting you guys go into danger alone!" Colette added. "And Pandora's coming, too."

Sheena looked up in surprise at the stranger, who was in fact not a stranger at all. Pandora was unrecognizable from the demure Meltokian noblewoman. Wearing laced leather pants and an oversized man's shirt that slid down on one shoulder, she looked years younger and much less imposing. A pleased smile half-formed on her face and she quickly tied her hair back in a ponytail, drawing her sword and tapping it against the metal tip of her boot. "If your mouth hangs open too long flies can get into it," she advised Sheena.

"Somebody has to stay with Raine, and I'm not letting Miss Princess here get in our way," Yuan said, looking her up and down with obvious disdain.

"I've been trained since I could stand how to defend myself and others," Pandora said, the half-smile still present on her face. "Maybe you don't know who my father is?"

"I don't know," Yuan admitted, the obvious left unspoken. And I don't care.

"Miss Princess here can hold her own, trust me," Zelos grinned.

Sheena shared a confused look with Genis, before he realized what he was doing and glared at her. "Well, I'm sorry Pandora but we all know what each other are capable of. Even Yuan, since we've fought with him so much. You're an unknown factor here and it'd be best if you just stayed here with Raine."

Pandora turned her level gaze to Sheena, her face impassive. "I am not playing babysitter while a law-breaker is on the loose, Miss Fujibayashi."

"But someone's got to..." Sheena made a sound of frustration. "Look, forget it! Pandora can take my place. She walks with a fighter's grace, I can tell, and she doesn't seem to ever lose her cool. You can use magic, right?" Pandora nodded. "Then it's settled. I'll stay with Raine."

Genis's attention shifted to Sheena with a snap. "The hell you are!"

"Genis, will you grow up for a second? Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe I care about her just as much as you do? Or do you think I'm just trying to seduce-"

Oh. That was the wrong thing to say. The room was quiet for a moment before Lloyd, bless his clueless soul, stepped in. "I'll do it," he offered. "So stop wasting time, you guys. There's a dangerous criminal on the loose, so move out!" From someone else it might have sounded corny, and maybe it was, but Lloyd had deeply engrained himself into their hearts and souls. Pandora got her first taste of Lloyd-ism, the following of Lloyd's teachings. There was no question of not following his orders, it was simply done. Sheena hugged him briefly before running out the door, the rest of the team hot on her heels as they took their Wing Packs and hopped onto their Rheiards, flying off towards Kloitz.

Tnk, tnk, tnk. Someone slowly walked down the staircase, yawning. Ken rubbed his eyes sleepily, wondering aloud, "Hnuh? Where did everybody go?"

"...Um...Ken right?"

"Yeah.."

"Aren't you supposed to be with Kratos?"

Ken yawned again. "Yeah, but I came back early to take a nap. What's going on?"

"..Um.." Lloyd scratched his head. "Well, to put it simply... wegot left behind, buddy."

"...Oh."

"The entrance should be over by that cluster of rocks," Yuan said, pointing at said cluster. The group slowly hovered down like an abnormal flock of birds, shrinking their Rheiards and making their way to the opening. From the ground, they could see where an iron door had been placed into the solid rock, invisible to anyone looking from above. It was Pandora who spotted the carcass first, though it almost took her too long to realize what it meant.

"Well, come on," Sheena said, stepping forward, oblivious to the snow-white body of the hare against the white background. Colette was close at her heels following the ninja as they stepped towards the danger.

"Look out!"

Sheena felt hands roughly grab at the back of her shirt, choking her as Pandora yanked her back. Bzzrrt! A perfectly circular hole, one inch in diameter, was burned into the snow where Sheena had been standing. Smoke drifted up lazily as the snow fell on, eventually covering any indication that there had ever been a hole.

Sheena's heart eventually stopped beating so fast and she tried not to imagine what her brains would have looked like splattered all over the ground and Colette's snow-white overcoat. To her eternal shame, she found that Pandora was fussing over her again and quickly pulled out of the loose embrace, trying to look like she was busy wiping off snow from her outfit.

"Well, Yuan, it was a good plan."

"Just tell him he blew it, Colette."

Yuan's eyebrow twitched. "I don't see you sprouting any ideas, Sage."

They stood, collectively shivering and staring at the body of a roasted Flanoir snow hare. The poor creature had been blasted by the security system around the Flanoir Base. Not only had Kloitz figured out about the alternate entrance, but he had hacked into the main computer to set up a defense around it as well. Sheena could practically see him sitting in Yuan's office, gloating at their pictures on some monitor.

Pandora took a small step forward, inching the toe of her boot up to the dead snow hare. Bzzrrt! She leapt back, gritting her teeth to keep from shrieking like a little girl when a laser shot from nowhere. No, from somewhere, she was just too slow to catch it.

Yuan and Genis continued to bicker.

"Maybe if you hadn't wasted time yelling about your sister's little indiscretion, we would have had time before he found out how to use the damn computer."

"How is this my fault? You're the one who forgot to lock up your own base!"

"Are you forgetting if it weren't for you, Kloitz wouldn't have been able to unlock the abilities of his Crystal on his own?"

"That was an accident!"

"Guys!" Sheena yelled. "How about we try to formulate a plan of action, huh?"

"Who died and made you Lloyd?" Yuan muttered, grabbing the side of his cape and holding onto it, trying not to let his teeth chatter from the cold.

"Nobody, but you're all being a bunch of babies. Especially you, Genis." Sheena shot him a look, "If you can't forget about personal issues when there's a bigger threat at hand, you're a pretty sorry excuse for a hero."

"Fuck you."

Sheena stopped for a moment. Trying not to let the shock and hurt show on her face, she quickly retaliated. "I think Raine's got that covered," she said, aiming for where it would hurt him most. Before he could think of a response, she whipped out her cards and closed her eyes, the arcane symbols floating before her eyes.

"I call upon the Hammer of Godly Thunder..." she said, opening eyes that shone with the violet magic light of the Summon Spirit of Lightning. "I summon thee, come Volt!" She smiled up at the crackling ball of electricity, once an object of fear for her. She found she could understand him better now, though sometimes things got lost in translation.

Buzzes and electric clicks came from the Summon Spirit.

"There's an electric thingy near that door that's designed to shoot anyone who gets too close," Sheena said, ignoring when Kratos echoed her with disbelief. ("Thingy...?"). "Can you short circuit it?"

All except Sheena heard nothing but the annoying sound of static, roaring in their ears. Then there was a crackle from the door, and Volt faded back into a small ball of light, disappearing into Sheena's body. "I think it's safe now..." She said, but didn't move any closer to the danger zone.

Kratos voice everyone's concerns. "How do we know for certain?"

"We could always toss somebody over," Zelos suggested.

"I know!" Colette grinned, bending down and scooping up a handful of snow. Patting it into a rough circular shape, she tossed the snowball as hard as she could. The snowball splattered against the dark iron door; Sheena and Colette gave a small cheer. Yuan led the way, entering the pass code for the door and walking into the Flanoir Base, which was downright cozy compared to the way things were outside. Kratos and Colette took up the rear, silently closing the door behind them as they entered.

"Which way now, Yuan?" Sheena asked, cracking her knuckles nervously. Yuan sharply nodded his head to the end of the narrow corridor they were walking along, to where it split into two roads. It was just big enough for two people to walk abreast, and they did so. Yuan and Sheena were up front, with Genis and Pandora awkwardly trying not to bump into each other. Colette shivered once, but that was all Zelos needed to see; being the playboy he was, he took the opportunity to link arms with the tiny blond next to him, smiling down reassuringly at her. Kratos, just like the old days, kept their back guarded.

"Something just occurred to me..." Kratos stopped, frowning. "Yuan, you don't have any other security devices that Kloitz might take advantage of, do you?"

Yuan didn't turn, so none of them could see the look of guilt that flashed over his face. "The Raybits were all dismantled, and I never had any guns installed. There are cameras, of course..." He glanced up at a small black glass dome in the ceiling. Genis looked to where Yuan was paying attention to and realized that must be one of the security cameras. He deftly gave it the bird, hoping that Kloitz could see. They all kept on moving, though at a slower pace because Yuan started to lag back.

Pandora caught on quickly. "Are there any other traps, Mr. ahh... I don't think I caught your last name?"

Yuan tugged at the part of his cape closest to his neck, uncomfortable. "Yggdrasial," he said. "Yuan Yggdrasial."

Colette gasped. "You mean you took Martel's last name instead of the other way around?" she asked, flabbergasted.

"Of course not. We were cousins..." Yuan sighed, walking slower now and fingering the ring he always wore, one that had always been a bit too big for him. "But that was a long time ago, Chosen One, and we have more pressing matters to attend to."

Pandora stopped in her tracks, one hand on her sword. Her eyes narrowed slightly, "Like why you're avoiding telling us what the other traps are."

"He's only been here for a day," Yuan said. "He can't have figured out how to operate the trap doors."

Everyone stopped in their tracks.

Yuan pressed his lips together, irritated. "They don't lead anywhere dangerous now that the beasts were all freed."

Colette nervously drew her wings, fluttering a bit above the floor.

Surprising them all, Yuan actually flushed. "This is all highly sophisticated Renegade technology I designed myself. Maybe your Professor managed to blow up all of the Desian bases, but I assure you, no punk is going to get through my firewah- ah- ahhh!" Yuan unfurled his wings as he fell down the pit that had opened under him. Farther down, he heard Sheena's frightened half-noises of terror and raced blindly down, catching the ninja in his arms. Seeing that the square box of light still shone above him, he zoomed back up with all his speed, barely managing to stop himself when he saw that he was too late and the opening had slid shut again. He raised one hand, banging against the metal and shouting, hoping that not everyone had been caught.

On the other side, Kratos, Colette, and Zelos were all hovering over the still-open floors. Kratos took control of the situation at once.

"Zelos, Colette!" He snapped, "Go after Genis and Pandora, they went through the middle hole! Quickly, before it closes! I'll take care of Yuan."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Zelos hollered, dive-bombing down the hole with Colette following closely behind. He heard her shout just before the opening slid close.

"Be careful, Dad!"

Clank!

Then they were gone.

A/N: There are only two chapters left, people! Are you feeling ready for the stunning conclusion of Runaway? One that you will never, ever guess? One that might not make sense? One that will leave you pining... for a sequel?

Yeah, I thought so. And Genis is still an ass.

And check out my doodle of Kloitz and Kuchinawa! Keep in mind it is a DOODLE and not very good. The first one is a doodle, and the second one is an UNFINISHED drawing of Kloitz. Those are the weird blade-gloves he had in Shadow-Triet, and he's casting a Fireball to boot. And yes, his hair is like that for a reason. He isn't naturally silver-haired. Most of his hair is black, and tufts of it are silver. Betcha didn't know that..Just PM me if you want to see them, cause I can't for the life of me figure out how to put links onto chapters. Till The Next Update!