Okay, I admit it.

I'm not going to toss this one off to being to busy. Sure I went away a LOT, but the truth of the matter is that I didn't sit down and type this damn thing up when I had the chance to. (The actual chapter has been written for probably a week now. I just hadn't typed it.) For those of you who read and enjoy my writing, I sincerely apologize for making you wait a month between updates. I hope you forgive a lazy, undeserving author.

Standard disclaimers apply.


Two Worlds, One Soul

Chapter 11 – Reverse Psychology?


Colette screamed and fainted dead away. She hit the metal floor with a thud, the others to busy staring to catch her.

In the center of the room was a black metal chair, almost eerily reminiscent of one you might find in a dentist's office. Several steel bands strapped a familiar red-clothed form to it. A tangle of threatening-looking black wires crawled down Lloyd's arms and chest, embedding tiny silver needles into his skin. Every twenty seconds or so, purple sparks would shoot up the wires and disappear from sight behind Lloyd's head. A strange, clear faceplate was clamped over his, well, face with two black metal straps. Red characters that no one recognized flitted across the inner surface of it, and a glowing black sigil on the outer side pulsed ominously.

"Lloyd!" cried Genis.

Kratos advanced slowly, wary of the obvious trap. With Raine's assistance, ("Fascinating!") he carefully inspected the metal straps for some way to undo them. The rest of the group fanned out to inspect the rest of the surprisingly small chamber.

"No guards…" said Sheena "No alarms…this is really odd. I don't like the look of this at all."

"Not even cameras." Agreed Yuan, "This is really starting to worry me."

"It appears as though Orois wants us to rescue Lloyd." Said Presea.

"Kratos, I'd be extremely careful if I were you…" said Sam.

"Yeah, this whole situation is screaming 'TRAP!"' agreed Kyle, nodding.

"I am aware of the risks." Said Kratos. With the hiss of releasing gas, the bands holding Lloyd popped open. "Now…to release this mask. Raine?"

"Those four gems where the straps meet the plate. They might be release switches." She said, without looking up from the mass of black wires.

"What do you think those wires do?" asked Aaron.

"They appear to be embedded at key points in Lloyd's mana network," mused the Professor, as another wave of purple energy shot up the black threads.

"So the wires are draining his mana?" asked Genis.

"It would appear that the device is powering itself using Lloyd's mana." Said Regal.

"Hey! Come look at this!" Said Aaron. He was looking at the back of Lloyd's head. "These wires are attached to that mask-thing!"

"And your point is…?" said Zelos.

"So removing it will probably break some kind of circuit…"

"I've got it!" said Kratos, as he lifted the faceplate away. Instantly, it went dark, and Lloyd's eyes snapped open.

"No! It's a trap!" he cried.

The world went white, so intensely bright that Kratos dropped the faceplate to-


-throw his hands up to protect his eyes.

The blinding light faded, and Kratos lowered his arms. What he saw now was definitely not what he had left behind.

Gone was the cold metal room, gone was the strange device that held his son. His son had vanished, along with the rest of his friends and companions. In their place was a scene that he hadn't seen in nearly twenty years, a scene he had never thought he would see again.

He was standing in the middle of a forest, but he wasn't really standing. He was floating about a foot off the ground, and as he looked down, he realized he was translucent. He was like a shade floating through the woods. Suddenly, two figures and an animal burst from the undergrowth. One was himself, running swiftly beside a brown-haired woman he knew to be Anna, who was riding atop the white and green form of Noishe. She held a baby tightly to her breast, and red exsphere glinted in the dappled sunlight.

They scrambled almost madly along, vaulting rocks, jumping logs, and blasting straight through underbrush. They approached him rapidly, and passed through him as if he weren't there. Which he really wasn't, he reminded himself. What the hell is going on here?

Anna threw a glance over her shoulder, and their eyes seemed to meet. Kratos felt a twinge in his heart at the fear and the pain in her eyes.

Seemingly in response, several Desians burst from the foliage in pursuit. He and Anna increased their pace, and Kratos found himself pulled along behind them. Apparently, whoever was controlling this vision was going to force him to follow himself.

The Desians were closing on his past self. The trees opened up, and they found themselves on an expanse of grass before a cliff. Kratos saw himself stop and turn, his sword already halfway from its sheath as he yelled.

"Anna, I'll hold them off! Take Lloyd and run!" his past self cried, cutting into the first of the Desians. He fell back, but was replaced by three more. Kratos watched as he was surrounded, wanting desperately to help but was unable to.

"No! I won't leave you behind, Kratos!" she called back. She slid off of Noishe, and the giant dog immediately joined the fray, his massive muzzle going straight for the throat of the nearest Desian.

"GO!" Kratos yelled.

Reluctantly, she dashed off along the cliff edge, skirting the Desians who were focused on himself. Kratos saw that she had made it safely into a stand of trees farther down the ridge. He felt his astral body begin to follow her, and floated noiselessly after his wife.

Anna sat Lloyd down on a rock and perched herself on a stump. She rubbed her exsphere with her opposite hand. It was nearly time. She had an hour, or less, before she would change, at the most. A tear dripped down her face.

Kratos watched in silent torment. He longed to go to his wife, to comfort her. But he was only a spectator in this. He was forced to watch. And he knew what was going to happen, which only made it worse.

At that moment, Kratos and Noishe moved into the trees. They were both covered in blood, but it was hard to tell if it was theirs or others.

"Kratos! Are you all right?" asked Anna. She rose and embraced him.

"Yes. I'll live." Kratos watched himself say. "What about you?"

"I'm running out of time, Kratos." She said.

"How much is left? There's a dwarf right near here and I'm sure that he can-"

"There isn't enough time for that. I probably have less than an hour before it happens. Before I become…something other than human." She shuddered.

"Anna, I…What can I do?" The news had shaken Kratos. He had thought that there would be enough time to save her. The feeling was just as terrible the second time.

"You can promise me two things." Said Anna.

"Anything."

"I need you to take care of Lloyd for me when I'm gone. He'll need someone to look after him." She picked up Lloyd and placed him in Kratos' arms.

"Anna, I'm sure that we can find a way to-" Anna cut him off, putting two fingers on his lips.

"Kratos. I've run out of time here. This can only be stopped one way."

"No…"

"Yes. The second thing…I want you to…" her breath caught, but she continued. "To kill me."

"No, Anna…I couldn't, I just couldn't…"

"Kratos, please. If the transformation continues, I'll become a monster. I'll be a threat to you and to Lloyd, and you'll have to kill me then. Please, Kratos…I want to die human." Once again, a single tear ran down her face.

Kratos watched himself take Lloyd off to the side, behind some bushes. He watched as he drew his sword and faced his wife. He watched as he jammed the blade into the ground, and embraced his love for the final time.

"Oh, Kratos…thank you."

Kratos watched, some strange force forbidding him to even look away as he saw himself step back and pick up his sword.

"Anna, I'm sorry…" Kratos let out a strangled cry as he watched himself plunge his blade into the heart of his wife. Tears coursed down both their faces as the past Kratos caught Anna's body and held her as she died.

"Thank…you, Kratos…" murmured Anna. Her eyes closed, her breathing stopped, and two men let loose an anguished cry…

---FLASH---

Kratos found himself standing in the middle of a forest, floating like a shade of himself among the trees. Suddenly, two figures and an animal burst from the undergrowth. One was himself, running swiftly beside a brown-haired woman…


The remainder of the company found itself imprisoned in a very large jail cell, not unlike those in the Renegade Base, but much larger. One by one, they began to regain consciousness, slowly sitting up and massaging their heads. Involuntary teleportation was not a comfortable process.

"Ooh…my aching head…" moaned Zelos, leaning heavily upon the gleaming chrome wall.

"Could someone please tell me what the hell just happened?" asked Aaron irritably, as he massaged his temples with one hand.

"If I had a guess, it would be that the device's removal caused an automatic teleportation sequence that would deposit anyone who tried to free the one trapped in it to a containment cell. I believe the headaches we are experiencing are the backlash of the transit." Said Raine.

"So now I have some sort of teleportation hangover? Wonderful." Said Sheena dryly. As Raine began to examine the lock to the cell, Sheena glanced around, surveying the cell and its occupants. They were all battered and battle-weary, the Terrans most of all. Because of her upbringing, her training, and the Regeneration Journey, she had grown used to the fighting, the killing. It was clear that Aaron, Kyle and Sam were not, however. They all had a slightly haunted look in their eyes, and Aaron looked like he was ready to puke. She walked over to were the three sat, and slid down cross-legged in front of them.

You guys okay?" she asked.

She received a collective look that said; do you even need to ask?

"No, I suppose not." Sheena said. She let out a long sigh. "I know how you feel. I was the same way when I first began. I was terrified and felt terrible when I was forced to kill. I hated it. But sometimes…sometimes it's necessary. I know it feels wrong. It should. Taking a life is a horrible thing to do. But you have to remember what Orois is willing to do is he isn't stopped."

"Yes, I think we're all aware of that. But I… I wasn't prepared for this. None of us were." Said Aaron, waving his hand in a motion that encompassed himself, his friend, and his sister. "I feel so sick inside. The blood, the death around me…I'm not ready for this. I have a feeling I never will be. And I can't help but think back…those men I threw knives at…did they get back up? Did I kill them? The weight of that…it's unbearable." His eyes were downcast, and he looked like he was going to be sick.

"It anyone knows anything about the weight of deaths on your shoulders, it should be me." Said Sheena.

"What do you mean?" asked Aaron. Sheena's eyes closed for a moment, and suddenly, Volt appeared above her in a flash of purple sparks.

"Oh. I forgot all about that…I'm sorry. What you've gone through is so much more than this, and here I am going to pieces…" said Aaron, sounding slightly forlorn. Volt vanished as quickly as he had come.

"The thing is, Sheena, Most people in this world aren't prepared to face things like this. Most of us aren't able to handle fighting a true evil, someone like Orois. " Said Kyle.

"If it weren't for you guys, we wouldn't be here at all, Origin notwithstanding. We can talk tough all we want, but very rarely will a normal person put their money where their mouth is, at least in this regard." Agreed Sam.

Rather morbid today, aren't I? Anyhoo…

"But you guys will. That's what's different. Regardless of who's with you, the decision to take a stand and fight is made individually. You chose to stand. You made the choice to risk the danger for the sake of someone you don't even know. Well, sort of…" Sheena said shrugging. "But really. Even if you're not ready, even if you're carrying the weight of blood on your hands, you're still here. You haven't tried to run. You guys stuck with us, and that counts for more than anything." She laid her hand on Aaron's shoulder reassuringly. "And I promise you. You will get over the weight. As heavy as it is, it can still be shed. You are no less of a person because you fought for the life of another." She removed her hand and stood. "Now. Let's find a way out of this shiny silver hell!"

Enthused and reassured, they got up to help.


Meanwhile…

Genis and Presea were slumped together in the opposite corner, and both woke up to the sight of each other's faces uncomfortably close together.

"AAH!" Genis yelped, jumping back. Presea sat up quickly, both of them wearing embarrassed expressions.

"This is the third time we have awoken and found ourselves touching. The odds of this happening coincidentally are very slim, indeed." Said Presea.

"Yeah, that is really weird that it keeps happening." Said Genis, suddenly becoming keenly interested in the ceiling.

"Do you know why?" asked Presea.

"It could be that the author just has no skills whatsoever at subtle romantic development, but that's just a theory." Said Genis, still addressing the ceiling.

Presea cocked an eyebrow. "Genis…are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

"Huh…?" Genis grasped her meaning after a moment's thought, and slapped a hand over his mouth. "Y-you didn't hear anything!" he turned bright red and refused to say anything more.


And in the third corner…

Lloyd slowly opened his eyes to find himself staring straight into huge blue ones, inches from his face. The first thing he did was scream in terror. Colette scrambled backwards in surprise, but swiftly lost her balance (No surprise). She tumbled backwards, then sat up and flung herself back into his arms, hugging him so tightly that he had trouble breathing.

"Gah…Colette…lemmego…too tight...can't…breathe!" he said, gasping in relief as she released her hold.

"Oh Lloyd, I'm so glad you're awake…Are you hurt? You are OK, right?" Lloyd held up a hand.

"Easy, easy…I'm fine. Where the hell am I? What's going on?"

"We appear to be imprisoned in a large prison cell of some sort. Orois' machine that you were held captive on sent us here when Kratos triggered a trap." Said Yuan.

"And speaking of that machine, what exactly does it do? We could not discern its purpose." Said Regal.

"Well…it makes you see visions." Said Lloyd. A shadow crossed his face, but only briefly. "Visions…of your darkest hour."

"Iselia…" Murmured Colette.

"Yes. I saw, over and over again, how an act of kindness resulted in the death of many, the destruction of a city, and my banishment from my own home. I saw how naive I was, how my own ideals resulted in the death of others, and how even those you trust sometimes turn against you."

"But Lloyd…that was what steeled you to go out and fight the Desians. It was what gave you the motivation to defeat them, so it would never happen again. Because of what happened at Iselia, you fought so hard and prevented Palmacosta from being destroyed by Magnius, and every other town and city in Sylvarant."

"Yeah, I know. I think what he was trying to do was to demoralize me, to get me so distraught by what had happened in the past that I wouldn't be able to do anything in the present. But it didn't work. It's only made me even surer of my vows. I swore I would destroy the Desians, I swore I would never let cruelty go unpunished. I've completed the first. Now it's time for the second."

A hiss was heard, and the chromed door slid into the wall. "I've got it!" said Raine.

Lloyd stood, a determined look in his eyes and on his face like they had never seen before.Aaron imagined the coming fight between Lloyd and Orois...and felt sorry for Orois. "Come on guys, I've got a score to settle."


I do sincerely hope that this will be good enough to make up for the month-long wait. If it isn't, feel free to flame me, god knows I deserve worse than that.

Until next chapter (Which, might I add, is the finale)

May Dragons fly forever in your dreams.

- ZZ

p.s. - I'm probably going to finish this story before I update Heart, Soul and Sword again. I apologize to those of you who are annoyed by this, but part of the lapse was to completely overhaul the plotline of HSS, so I promise you, it'll be worth the wait.