Yay! It's time for me to update. Okay, here's the next chapter. Now, it's time to find out more about Mithos' plans. Hope you like this chapter. Thanks and enjoy!

Chapter 13: Second Thoughts

"Good work Anna, now we'll finally be able to get the Eternal Sword," Mithos said to the young girl. The two children were off in another room catching up on the sleep that they had missed. They were both very trusting towards Mithos and immediately mistook him as a friend. "Now, where's Storm?" he asked impatiently. Anna shrugged her shoulders at the seraph who seemed to be getting very upset with the tardiness of the angel.

"Well, we'll have to get ready for tomorrow. If Storm couldn't kill the Summoner or her husband then we'll have to find some other way to get Origin to cancel their pact. Now, there must be some way we can convince him that they haven't upheld their end of the deal. Then we find out if one of these kids inherited their mother's pact-making skills. Of course, if Storm did manage to kill one off then we don't even have to worry about the first part," Mithos explained as Storm flew in at the last part of the conversation.

"So Storm, did you manage to kill one of them?" he asked her. "You know, if one died the other would be easier to kill off," he added as he looked at her, already upset with how late she was.

"No, the rest of the group showed up and stopped me before I could do anything to him. I have a hard enough time fighting one of them, but I can't take on that many people. I'm sorry," she told him.

"Sorry isn't good enough this time Storm. You just had to make all of this more difficult. How do I know that you just backed out when your rage was overpowered by your other emotions. I suppose I better raise it up again," he told her as he came at her, attacking her with his Rejection attack then kicking her to the ground. He stepped on her, placing his foot on her chest as she looked up at him, her rage growing once again.

Anna watched as her mother was pinned by Mithos. She couldn't believe what went on inside of Cruxis. She definitely began to rethink her decision to join the group. She didn't want that to happen to her. She thought that her mother deserved everything she got, but what if Mithos turned some of his frustration against her. She didn't want any pain in her life. She decided then that the first chance that she got, she'd leave Mithos and her mother in Cruxis and head back to the rest of her family, at least for the time being.

"I suppose I can figure out how to get Origin to cancel the pact, but it would have been so much simpler the other way. Now, I need some ideas to show him that they haven't done their part in the pact," Mithos ordered the two angels as he let Storm up off of the ground.

"Well, there is still discrimination in the world, and pointless suffering because of it. They haven't done anything about that," Anna said as she looked over at her mother. She remembered all of this from what she had heard from Sutra before. She also knew that her mother was always talking about helping the half-elves, along with her aunt and uncle, but none of them actually got out there and did anything. They were all either too busy or too lazy to do it, or at least that's what she figured.

"Very true...I'm impressed," Mithos said as he looked to the teenager. "You will definitely be very handy around here yet," he added. Anna looked at him, knowing full well that she was soon going to be abandoning this organization.

Mithos looked over at Storm who was still getting over her attack from earlier. "You...," he began, "I have something else in mind for you," he finished with a smirk on his face. He snapped out of this when he remembered what was next on his agenda.

"Go and get the children Anna, they seem to like you the best. We're going to Heimdall to speak with Origin," he ordered her. Anna went to retrieve the kids and prepare them to meet the Summon Spirit. Mithos hoped that one of them would be able to summon him, and he hoped that their group could defeat him. He would be bringing along some extra angels just in case. Of course, their real problem would be making it into Heimdall at all. Storm wasn't welcome anymore, and the elves had put up a powerful barrier since Sutra's attacks.

"Where are our children Regal?" Sheena asked frantically as she saw Regal coming out of his hiding with only Merlin with him. Genis and Presea immediately ran to their son, happy to see that he was still safe. Sheena and Lloyd; however, were not so lucky.

"I don't know what happened. Anna came here like Storm and Zelos told her, and then they all just disappeared. I have no idea where they went. I'm sorry," Regal replied.

"Anna was here?" Zelos asked worriedly. "Did you see Storm?"

"No, it was just Anna, but why do you seem so worried about that? Why isn't Storm with you?" he asked.

"Storm was taken by Cruxis, and Anna joined them willingly," Kratos explained the situation.

"Yeah, and Mithos has been revived and he wants our kids for some reason," Lloyd added.

"Well, it seems as if he has them now," Yuan stated. Everyone looked to him, realizing that he was right. Mithos had the children and they had no idea why he wanted them or where he took them.

"Why wouldn't he be in Derris Kharlan?" Genis asked the obvious question that was on most everyone's minds.

"While we were traveling I saw that my base was deserted, not even guarded. Why wouldn't he put guards there if he was hiding the children there? Believe me, the kids aren't in Derris Kharlan," Yuan told them all.

"I believe that Sutra may have some idea about Mithos' plans and perhaps his whereabouts," Kratos said suddenly, turning towards the archer. Sutra looked around nervously as all eyes turned towards her searching desperately for answers.

"I...I don't know," Sutra replied nervously. Everyone continued to stare at her, trying to get something out of her that could be helpful.

"He said that he wanted the Eternal Sword, that's all he ever told me," she confessed.

"That helps more than you know. It also explains why they were all trying to kill Lloyd and Sheena. With them alive Mithos can't get a pact with Origin," Kratos said.

"So, that means that they're going to go to Heimdall to make a pact?" Genis asked.

"Well, it's not like any of them are really welcome there anymore," Yuan answered.

"But why does he want Kagerou and Martel?" Sheena cried, getting tired of avoiding the subject.

"I'm sure that he wants them to form a pact. Origin would never allow Mithos to make a pact with him anymore," Kratos told her.

"Well, I guess that means we have to get to Heimdall and stop them before they can form a pact," Lloyd said determinedly while trying to comfort his wife. "And we're going to stop him once and for all."

Well, that's the end of this chapter. I really hope that you like it. Sorry if this one was kind of short, but I'll try to make up for it in the next one. Maybe...hopefully... Anyway, thanks for the reviews and I hope you liked this chapter as much as you liked the last one...or more... Thanks for reading, please review!