A/N's: Here's the next chapter! YAYNESS!

Genis: Did anyone notice that Mikel didn't show up at Ymir forest like she said she would?

Kratos: …Which is why she cannot be trusted. She's up to something.

Lloyd: Hang on a minute. Ana, did you kill everyone last chapter?

Me: Why do you think the chapter title was 'Sacrifices'?

Colette: But why? What was the point of it all?

Me: (sighs) You'll find out what happened to them eventually.

Yuan: Thank you for not putting me there.

Me: Sure. Anyway, moving on I guess?

Genis: Lloyd-forever doesn't own TOS or any of its characters.

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Chapter 13: To Learn Victory and Defeat

The air rushed past him as he slowly awoke. He gasped in pain as he tried to sit up and realized that it was too much. He noticed that he was on something green. It had hard rock scales that shone like emeralds. He saw large wings flapping slowly as the landed drifted past from beneath him and the being. They were pretty high up.

"Treeforte…?" Lloyd asked quietly.

"Be silent, boy. You're injured. Rest for now, we're almost at Exire," the dragon replied.

"Where is everyone?"

"I said rest. You must focus on defeating Nephrateetie. You aren't allowed to summon the others in this battle and so you need all of your strength. Nephrateetie never holds back in battle. She's kind but ruthless." A small snore was Lloyd's response. Treeforte couldn't help but smirk.

He landed on Exire practically giving the half-elves there a heart attack as the floating land shifted slightly but quickly returned back to its normal level.

"Treeforte!" a little girl cried as she ran up to him and smiled. Treeforte stared down at the child in wonder and amazement.

"What is your name child?" he asked her softly with a strange kindness in his voice.

"My name's Abbigale! You knew my very great grandmother right? Mama said that you had past away!" Treeforte looked down at the little girl and lowered his head to meet her eyes.

"Abbigale… you look exactly my Abbigale for those thousands of years ago. Tell me, what is your mother's name?" The two exchanged words for hours as Lloyd, who Treeforte did not realize was awake, listened with amazement at the dragon's true kindness. Eventually Lloyd tried sitting up again only to fall back against the dragons' back in severe pain. Treeforte looked back at the boy and frowned.

"So your leg hasn't gotten any better then, has it?" Lloyd weakly shook his head as Treeforte sighed causing the little girl to wonder what was wrong. The child climbed up Treeforte's back and gasped when she saw the boy lying atop the emerald green scales of the dragons. He was quite pale and his breathing was irregular. She walked up to him and placed her hands over his heart.

"Oh mana, please save this wounded soul from the sufferings of pain," she chanted sweetly as a green light washed over Lloyd. His eyes flickered open.

"Ah, so you do know the first aid spell I taught to, my Abbi then," Treeforte said as the little girl nodded.

"Yup, its sacred chant passed down through my family. Are you alright?" she asked turning to Lloyd who was now sitting up.

"Ya, I'm fine. Thanks!" he replied and smiled to the girl as she smiled back. Treeforte looked away uncomfortably. Abbigale looked towards him and frowned.

"Treeforte, you know much better healing spells than anyone I know! Why didn't you heal him?" she asked sadly as the dragon tensed but said nothing.

"Ah, don't worry about it, uh Abbigale was it? Can you show me where Nephrateetie is supposed to be, if you don't mind?" Lloyd asked trying to turn the girl's attention from the dragon. She looked for awhile longer before turning and nodding to Lloyd.

"Not many know of the dragons but I do! I know all about them! Do you have the scales of fire, water and earth?" she asked as Lloyd nodded. She smiled and grabbed his hand. "Then I'll show you where she is! Come on, come on, she said that she's been waiting for you for a long while!" She dragged Lloyd behind a house. Treeforte watched in shame and lowered his head. He didn't heal the boy, because he simply couldn't get over his hatred for angels.

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Abbigale dragged him all the way to Maxwell's stone. A dragon, even smaller than Lorgirdian, lay there sleeping. The little child ran up to the grey dragon and patted her on the nose. The dragon slowly opened her eyes. She looked at the girl and slowly let her image work its way to her mind. Then she let out a yawn and stood up.

She was about Noishe's height, only slightly bigger. She resembled the great protozoan more than anything. Her claws seemed to have tuffs of grey fur over them as well her tail. She arched her neck which made her seem as if she bowing to you. Her grey scales also weren't that as shiny as Lorgirdian's or any of the other dragons.

Her eyes flickered to Lloyd and widened a little. She took a pew steps forward. Then she jogged up to him and looked him in the eyes.

"Lloyd is that…really you?" she asked slowly, her eyes seemed a little glassy. Abbigale looked at Lloyd and gasped.

"Is your name really Lloyd?" the girl asked in wonder as Lloyd nodded. Nephrateetie then shook her head.

"I apologize. I was lost in my old memories again. I thought you were our Lloyd. But dearest child, you look so much like him." The small dragon sighed as Abbigale ran up to him.

"Your name is Lloyd? Wow, you have the same name as my very great grandmother's boyfriend!" the little girl shouted happily as Lloyd blushed.

"B-boyfriend?" he stuttered.

"Ya, but… he died trying to save the dragons. He sacrificed his life for all of them. From what I've been told he was really kind."

"He was…now Lloyd Irving Aurion, our battle awaits," Nephrateetie said as Lloyd nodded and unsheathed his blades. The grey dragon looked over at Abbigale and the girl turned and left with a worried look on her face.

"Don't die Lloydie-kins!" she called back as she ran towards the huts of Exire. Lloyd shook his head.

"Lloydie-kins? What kind of name is that?" Lloyd faced the dragon in attack position. For awhile, neither of them moved. After much silence between the two, Nephrateetie turned to her back and pulled off a scale. She placed it in between the two of them and moved back to her spot.

"In order to gain my scale you must learn of yourself and know yourself completely."

"What?" Nephrateetie roared into the sky without responding. Lloyd gasped as the world suddenly went black but he felt no pain. The scale stood before him shimmering but he couldn't move. He tried to move his legs or his head or his arms but to no avail. Everything flashed white as he felt himself sheath his blades.

He saw images from the regeneration. Images of when Colette released each seal, of when Kratos had trained him, of when they rode the dragons to the Tower of Salvation and learned of Kratos' betrayal. He felt as though he was reliving it again. He felt the guilt of letting Colette become a sacrifice to the world, felt the joy of training with his father even though he didn't know it at the time, and the pain of betrayal.

He saw Zelos before him, appearing dead, Regal facing off against the angels alone, Sheena falling to her doom after destroying what to be the last bits of the tree, Raine standing by herself ready to be killed by falling debris, Presea stuck in the room while being held by her ankle by more leftovers of the tree, Genis ready to accept death as force fields closed in around him and him ready to take on Yggdrasill alone.

The images faded as he shook his head.

"What does this all mean? Stop!" he shouted at the darkness surrounding him. A large beast appeared before him. It was ugly and resembled a Giant. It carried a large bat with spikes on it. The beast struck him down with the bat and let out a gurgled laugh. Lloyd shouted out in pain as he suddenly saw new images. He saw Regal, Zelos and Presea, defeated by Solez, Sheena lying down burnt and bruised and hurt from Lorgirdian's flames, Raine and Genis bleeding and dying, out of mana to heal themselves, Colette drowning in the water because she had no strength left to swim and his father, Kratos, trying to hold his against Solez and Lorgirdian at the same time. He couldn't die here and give up on them. He couldn't let their sacrifice be in vain. Why? Because that was who he was, someone who did his best to come through for his friends and family.

The beast brought down the bat once more, ready to kill its prey when Lloyd stood and jumped back ignoring the pain. His exsphere glowed as his wings erupted from his back. He began gathering his mana unintentionally and held his swords in front of him.

"Oh mana, cast thy purifying light upon these corrupted souls. Take this, sinners! Judgment!" he chanted as beams of light fell from above, terminating the beast for good as he heard a roar of pain. But it didn't come from the beast.

Nephrateetie roared again as she lay on the ground panting. Lloyd looked around to notice that he was finally back to where he was before. He looked down into his hand to see a shining grey scale. Abbigale ran up to them.

"Nephrateetie, are you alright?" the girl asked as she placed both of her hands over the dragon. After a few moments the old dragon was able to stand though she was weary.

"That was excellent, Lloyd Irv-"

"Please, call me Lloyd. It's just annoying to hear my full name said over and over again," the boy sighed, exasperated. The grey one nodded.

"Understood, that was an excellent job, Lloyd. I didn't think you'd be able to win that fast."

"Uh thanks?" he replied unsure of how to respond.

"It's alright. I apologize that I can't fly you there myself since Treeforte still has issues, but you need to go to the one place you felt safest when you were a child."

"The one place?"

"The only one place… you must remember and follow your heart. Trust in your friends Lloyd, they'll help you. Now, go. Find Olympian. You have the information on his whereabouts now go find him. He should be awakened now…" Nephrateetie then rested her head on her front claws and drifted into sleep. Lloyd sighed and thought for a moment.

"Why don't you just go home?" Lloyd looked towards Abbigale who was standing behind him.

"Go home? Why there?"

"Well, home is always where I feel safest so maybe your safe place is somewhere near your home," the girl responded as Lloyd nodded.

"That's a good idea. Yeah, I'll go home and see what I can find there." Abbigale waved as Lloyd walked towards Treeforte. The dragon watched him walked forward and spread his wings. Lloyd boarded him.

"Where to?" he asked as Lloyd pointed east.

"To Iselia… I'm going to find Olympian."

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Lloyd had been searching the Iselia forest for hours and had still found nothing. He remembered wandering into the forest once when he was little and falling into some cave and falling asleep there, then waking up at home. Dirk had said that he had found him near the house as something really big had been wandering the forest every time he had gone wandering and didn't come home right away.

Lloyd was moving a bush out of his way when he tripped over a rock and began to roll down a hill that he hadn't seen there before. He rolled over twigs and branches and knocked into trees but he continued rolling down the hill nonetheless. He eventually rolled onto a rocky surface. He pulled himself up as he senselessly ventured into the cave he had rolled into.

"So you've rolled in again, even after so many years. I thought that you'd finally learned that this forest isn't very safe," a deep voice said as Lloyd looked around, surprised. He heard large footsteps coming closer to him. Eventually a dragon came into view. He was the largest so far with a mix of green, blue and red scales. Mostly gold scales covered his head and neck though. "And you even have one of my scales. So, Lloyd, how are you?" he asked as he decided to lie down in front of him as Lloyd looked on, shocked.

"Uh what?" Lloyd stuttered. Olympian laughed a bit.

"I guess you just don't remember me then don-" he stopped halfway in his sentence as he suddenly stood up and stared at the entrance to the cave. Lloyd looked back to see a shadow holding a sword. "Who are you?" he asked. The shadow did not acknowledge him and instead charged at Lloyd with the sword ready to pierce through his heart in a moment's notice.

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Me: Sorry it took so long to update…

Lloyd: Why is it taking you so long!

Me: Because I'm working on what to post next!

Kratos: so then I'm guessing that you have decided what to post next?

Me: Yup! It's called Visions. If you like Mithos, read it!

Genis: Mithos is in it?

Me: Yeah…even though Lloyd is the main character, Mithos is …well pretty much the other main character.

Colette: When will you post it?

Me: As soon as this is finished on my computer. When it is… I'll post it on the site one chapter every day.

Yuan: so then this is almost over?

Me: Yup Please review!