"Presea…"

"Presssssseeaaa…"

She woke with a start, looking around as if she had no idea where she was. She paused.

"My room…" Presea whispered. She relaxed slightly, but continued sitting up in her bed. It was that dream again. In fact it couldn't really be called a dream, and in a way it felt too real to be one anyway. Her sleep was simply invaded by a vision of a green orb, glowing brightly in a sea of darkness. And that voice… It called to her, inviting her, but she had no idea who or what it was. Where it was for that matter…

Beads of perspiration ran slowly down her face. "What does it mean? And why am I sweating? It is not even hot." she asked herself, a subtle note of frustration in her voice. How long had it been now since the dream started? A month? Maybe only a week or two. She found it hard to keep track of time even now that she was growing again. Aging was a better word perhaps, since she had hardly grown at all since her travels with Lloyd and the others. The others...

"Regal." She said, and just as she had expected he was asleep on the floor of her room, or maybe just pretending to be asleep. She had to admit it was… Nice… To have him around, after all her height and her apparent age made certain things a bit difficult, however she felt like he was simply trying to replace her sister. It made sense logically, she was probably the girl most similar to her sister technically, but she didn't love him. Presea didn't think she loved anyone really, and decided to make a point of asking Sheena or Collette how exactly you knew you were in love next time she saw them. There must be some kind of obvious sign, surely?

She thought about telling Regal about this... Vision. He may be able to tell her what it means, or at least suggest some way of stopping it. No... On second thought perhaps she should try to figure out what it was trying to tell her before telling anyone else. So far it was simply a glowing ball and a voice and she would rather not trouble anyone over something so trivial.

Well there would be no point in trying to get back to sleep now. If her past experiences were anything to go by she only had a fourteen percent chance of actually managing to fall asleep within the next hour, and so she simply lay back mechanically, trying to discover the secret of this 'love', and wondering if she had heard that voice before.

Sheena had woken up earlier than Lloyd, so by the time he was awake she was packed and ready to go, her Rheiard already humming softly as it hovered just above the ground outside.

"Come on Lloyd!" she nagged, nudging him with her foot.

"Eeeeaaauuh… Five more minutes". He pulled the blanket entirely over his head.

"You're so lazy!"

"I am not!" cried Lloyd, suddenly on his feet.

"Knew that'd work" she grinned

"Heeey!"

"Well you're up now, we might as well get going"

"Yeah I suppose" he gave in, yawning and stretching his arms above his head. He smiled to himself, thinking that any of the other girls would take hours longer to get ready… Sheena really was unique.

Sheena decided not to say goodbye to the chief in the end. She didn't think she could stand anymore of those suggestive grins without punching him in the face, and that wouldn't be very polite now would it? After a few minutes Lloyd was up and on his Rheiard, ready to fly, when suddenly he noticed Sheena's body go completely still. She turned her head as if trying desperately to hear something.

"Sheena? What-"

"Shush!" she whispered.

After a while Lloyd could hear it too, incredibly faintly. There was a low rumbling coming from far away. Sheena hopped off her Rheiard, stumbling slightly as she landed and noticing that the ground was also shaking now. "What the hell... Lloyd we'd better check this out" she said, shrinking her Rheiard and walking towards to village entrance.

"Man... It never ends" he sighed

As they walked out of Mizuho the sound started getting steadily louder. It seemed to be coming from the Gaoracchia forest and... It almost sounded like thousands of people running towards them. The ground was shaking enough to send small pebbles dancing across its surface now, and it was getting difficult to stand up straight.

"Should we go and investigate?" Sheena asked

"Well it sounds like it's getting closer... I- Wait... Is that- Holy s-"

"Song?" Sheena joked, before realising what it was that Lloyd was staring at in disbelief. The horizon was filled with every monster imaginable, each and every one cascading towards them like an enormous tidal wave. She slowly drew her cards from her pocket. Not that it would help.

"HOW?" Lloyd cried "There was nothing there yesterday! The forest was empty!"

"Those things spread like wild fire, but still... Not even Gaoracchia should have that many monsters in it!"

"Well I'm not going down without a fight!" The horde was rapidly getting closer "You with me?"

"I don't see how I have a choice" Sheena sighed "Why does this stuff always happen to me?"

Lloyd drew his Kusanagi blades, and readied himself. We're so screwed...

Sheena placed her hands together, her eyes closed, mumbling incantations. A glowing brown circle of arcane symbols surrounded her, the swirling magical winds blowing her kimono around playfully. As the swarm drew closer she opened her eyes shouting "I call upon the servant of mother earth!"

"Yeah! Bring it-" Lloyd stopped suddenly, as the enormous sea of creatures quickly parted, running right around them, Mantises, living trees, pumpkins and spectres all rushing as fast as possible away from Gaoracchia forest. A Wolf leapt for Sheena, she quickly raised her cards and shouted "Guardian Seal!" before realising the wolf had jumped clean over her. A rabbit ran head first into Lloyd's leg, squeaking and darting in between them to join the horde of frightened creatures.

They stood there for a few seconds as the monsters cleared away, completely puzzled expressions on their faces.

"On?" Lloyd finished, looking embarrassed. "What the hell?"

"Looked like they were running from something..."

"Maybe we should go and take a look…"

"Are you MAD?" Sheena cried

"Yes" he replied, smiling.

"Ah... Alright then" she sighed. At least he's brave… Or maybe just stupid.

As they made their way towards the forest an almost overwhelming sense of dread surrounded them, plaguing their thoughts and seeming to drag them down into depression. Gaoracchia always felt foreboding but it was usually just a small niggling in the back of the mind. The feeling that you shouldn't be here. This was something completely new, completely encompassing that threatened to send the burliest of men running home crying. Thankfully Sheena is a woman, and Lloyd is oblivious to everything…

It seemed darker than usual too, especially since it was still early in the morning, and even when Sheena called on Luna to help light the way it seemed as if the light around them was somehow being absorbed by the forest, drawn into and devoured by the darkness. They proceeded slowly and carefully, making as little sound as possible. They would rather not be snuck up on by whatever it was that scared all those monsters away, and this new feeling didn't help things.

After they had gone quite some way into the forest Sheena began to notice a strange glow. It seemed to be coming from straight ahead of them, the direction that she now realised they were being drawn to, as it was getting steadily brighter as they moved on, and yet it didn't appear to be casting any shadows behind the trees. It illuminated them completely as if coming from within the trees themselves. Or as if it was surrounding them.

Lloyd held his arm up in front of his eyes, the glow now quite bright, especially compared to the usual gloom of the forest. "Man what the hell is going on today? It's just one thing after another…"

"Shush! What… What is that?" Sheena whispered, pointing to a large gap in the trees. In the centre was what looked like a person, standing in front of the source of the green glow, blocking their view.

"Let's try and get close. Don't make a sound" Lloyd said quietly. They both crept forward using the trees as cover, and splitting up to surprise whoever it was if they needed to.

Suddenly the now dazzling glow was extinguished completely, sucked into the hands of the small figure. Lloyd stumbled as his hands flashed towards his sword.

Crack

There was complete silence as Lloyd lifted his foot from the twig. Damnit! The figure stiffened as it realised there was someone there. All three of them were perfectly still for what seemed like a life-time, both sides thinking they were about to be attacked by some bandits. Or worse…

The person slowly bent down, appearing to be feeling along the ground for something. Small fragile hands lingered there for a moment, before the body suddenly spun round, Lloyd and Sheena both drawing their weapons as an axe was heaved up from the ground, and pink hair twirled about a young girl's face.

"… Presea?"

"Lloyd?"