A/N: Sorry I havn't updated in a while... I didn't start this chapter for a while and I had a lot of interruptions. It's here now though, and almost 6000 words so I guess it's not too bad...

They had been walking for hours. Or at least it felt like hours, but it was hard to tell when there was nothing to focus on, no point that you could see getting closer and closer as you approached it. There weren't even any twists or turns or bumps or crevices. Just a huge black expanse that seemed to stretch on in front of them forever.

But then suddenly Lloyd stopped at the front of the group.

"Can someone give me some light?"

Raine stepped forward and help her staff above her. "Make it quick. I don't want to use up too much energy," she said softly, as radiant light erupted from the tip of her staff. The hallway had opened up into an almost round room. Lloyd was standing at one end, his hand on a sharp corner where the corridor now split into two.

"Brilliant... Anyone got any ideas?" he sighed.

"Well clearly we have to go left," Raine replied immediately.

"Err... Mind explaining why?" asked Zelos, looking slightly perplexed.

"Can't you see it?" she asked, sounding slightly impatient. She bent down to the ground and picked up a small rock, a tiny grin appearing on her face for just a moment before she stood up and faced towards the corridor on the right.

"Oh! I see it now!" Collette cried as Raine threw the rock into the passage and her powerful angelic eyes picked out the mechanism running along the wall. The second the rock hit the floor an enormous chunk of solid stone fell from the ceiling crashing into the ground and completely crushing the small rock. After a few seconds it began to slowly rise up, ready to mash anything else that passed underneath.

"Left it is!" called Zelos, shoving his fist into the air.

Again they walked on into the darkness, but this time was different. Before long a soft red light began to illuminate the walls around them, and they all soon noticed that it was far hotter than it had been before. Small beads of perspiration rolled down their noses and cheeks, dripping onto the floor with a minute splash that only Collette could hear.

The heat increased rapidly as they continued down the corridor, the walls getting ever redder, seeming to bend and sway in the haze. Soon enough they could see a corner in this distance, the walls around it glowing brightly, and as soon as they rounded it their worst fears were confirmed.

The corridor lead out onto a small ledge that overlooked a large square room, with a low ceiling. Four walls, the floor and the ceiling were all raging with tempestuous fire, glowing brightly and more intensely than even those in the Fire temple or those conjured by Efreet. (Though of course he would never admit it) The flames raging upon the low ceiling licked at their heads as if with a fervent hunger, and they were forced to duck down low to avoid their heads being completely burnt. Lloyd could see the ends of his boots turning black just from being close to them.

"Great! Just what we need! A swirling sea of fire!" cried Sheena enthusiastically.

"I think this may be more of a hindrance to our progress Sheena," Presea replied, looking more than slightly confused.

"Presea when we get back you have to look up 'sarcasm' in a dictionary…"

"Sarcasm? 'A sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark'… But wha-… Oh… Oh I think I understand now… That was very funny Sheena."

"Yeah… Right… It kinda makes it less funny if you over-analyse it like that…"

"Guys? I think there are slightly more important things at hand than teaching Presea how to take a joke," cried Zelos, whimpering as the dancing flames singed part of his long red hair.

"Right… Can anyone see a way to turn these things off?" asked Lloyd.

There was a resounding mumble of a no, and a groan at what that meant.

"Don't even think about suggesting we're gonna just walk or jump across or something, because even someone as optimistic as you or Collette couldn't possibly think that possible," Zelos groaned. "… Possibly…"

"Of course not… But… Maybe Collette could fly us over or something?"

"Don't be stupid. What if there was some other trap? Or if she fell? She'd be burnt to a crisp in seconds!" Raine shouted.

"Hey! … I'm… Smarter than I used to be… A bit… Well fine then what do you suggest?"

"Well… Sheena? Could you try summoning Undine? And Genis you can also try to douse the flames with some water. Surely if both of you try at once we should be able to put them out at least long enough for us to get across."

"I guess it's worth a try," Sheena mumbled.

"I'll give it a shot."

They stood side by side on the edge of the platform and begun murmuring their incantations as steam swirled round them from the quickly evaporating water mana leaking from them.

"You ready?"

"Yep."

"I call upon the maiden of the mist! Come, Undine!"

"Tidal Wave!"

Their words rang out across the room as an enormous geyser of water burst forth from the centre of the room, and at the same time a huge torrent of water gushed forth from behind Genis, completely soaking him from head to toe.

But it didn't have quite the effect they were looking for. As the water shot out of the ground and up towards the ceiling it was evaporated almost instantly as it touched the flames. Genis' wave of water was turned into an enormous cloud before it could even touch the floor, which rose up towards the ceiling and simply left the room feeling slightly more humid.

When all the water had cleared the only sign that anything had happened was a small circle of bare ground in the centre of the room where Undine's geyser had sprouted from, and the flames soon crawled over it, engulfing it once again and burning away any remaining water.

"Well that didn't work…" sighed Lloyd.

"Hmm... Maybe we're approaching this the wrong way. Perhaps we could get Gnome to make us a bridge across rather than get rid of the flames?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea... How do we know the flames won't just spread onto the bridge? How about using ice? I'll try summoning Celsius. Hopefully it'll stay solid long enough for us to get across..."

"Are you sure it'll be cold enough?"

"Of course it will! I'm the Queen of cold!" replied Celsius, who was suddenly standing behind Sheena.

"Err... But- I didn't summon you yet!" Sheena cried.

"Yeah well... I was bored. Come on do the incantation!"

"Err..." She looked around nervously.

"Hurry up. It's hot in here."

"Right. Sorry... Err. I call upon the disciple of everlasting ice! Come, Celsius!"

The cold silvery skin of the summon spirit began to glow a radiant blue. She hovered in the air for a moment and then there was a sudden flash of light as the blue glow exploded outwards, filling the room and condensing into a frozen see-through mass. The flames could still be seen raging intensely below the ice.

"… Aren't you gonna run across it?"

"Oh… Err… Yeah… Come on! Hurry!"

"Psh… Humans…"said the summon spirit, disappearing in a flash of blue light.

Sheena hopped down from the ledge, the rest following her immediately. They made their way across the ice as fast as possible, most of them giving up trying to run after the first few steps and instead sliding their feet along the smooth slippery surface.

Just as Lloyd had reached the centre of the room, bright glowing tendrils shot out from the walls, curling around his arms and legs and stopping him in his tracks. Zelos pulled out his sword as he slid past, stabbing it into the ice to stop himself from moving. He turned to the rest of them.

"Go!" he shouted, waving a hand at them and turning back towards Lloyd. He pulled his sword from the ice and began trying to cut at the cord wrapped tightly around his left arm.

The others stopped for only a moment, looked at each other, then carried on moving. Collette however, being unhindered by the ice thanks to her wings, turned around and flew back, taking out a chakram and hacking at one of the cords around Lloyd's leg.

"I thought I said to go?" Zelos sighed, still sawing away at his glowing rope. The one Collette was working on snapped as if in answer to him. "Man… You make me just seem useless."

She smiled at him. "I'm sorry."

"Aren't you gonna tell us to go? Save ourselves? Huh Lloyd?"

"Like you would…" he sighed, hanging pathetically from the curling tendrils.

"Heh. Good point." Another one snapped and Collette stood up to cut the one attached to his other arm.

"Err… Guys… You might wanna speed it up a bit!" Sheena called. Steam was rising from the floor and walls as the flames began to poke through the melted ice. Zelos felt a sharp pain on his leg and realised as he jumped back that stabbing his sword into the ice probably wasn't a good idea.

"Shit." He pulled his arm back and swung violently at the cord, finally breaking through it. The last one snapped a second later and Lloyd dropped onto the ice, landing on one knee.

"Thanks… But…" They turned around. The ice was rapidly collapsing onto the flames, which would soon surround them.

"Nice knowing you guys," laughed Zelos. "Wha-" Collette had grabbed his arm, and done the same to Lloyd. She jerked her arms back heavily, almost knocking them over, then threw them both as hard as she could to the other side of the room. Regal stuck his leg out behind him to brace himself, and managed to catch Lloyd, while Zelos ended up in a heap on top of Sheena.

Collette dove towards them, her wings bursting from her back and she cut through the air, rushing towards them. The fire was faster however and as the ice gave in to it's burning embrace the flames leapt upward to wrap around her. She flew into the hallway seemingly unharmed, but as she touched down to the ground she fell to her knees. Her sleeves were almost completely burnt away and her arms and legs were both a deep shade of red.

"Collette!" Zelos cried, jumping off of Sheena (Much to her surprise) and rushing over to help her.

"Oww…"

"What were you thinking?"

"I-… I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Stop apologising!" cried both Zelos and Lloyd.

"I'm… I mean…"

"Just relax… Raine? Can you heal her or something?"

"I can heal up any major damage it may have done but… I can't get rid of the burn… It'll still hurt," she replied as she walked over to them.

"It's O.k professor… Besides… I don't really need to use my legs anyway," she smiled.

"Trust you to look on the bright side." She held her staff over Collette's body and closed her eyes. "Heal!"

The revitalising energy flowed into her body, winding it's way around her battered skin and returning it almost to it's original colour.

"Thanks."

"Oh," she reached into one of her inside pockets. "And drink this. It'll help," she added, handing Collette a small bottle of green-ish liquid. She took the bottle and drank it all immediately, her expression changing to one of absolute disgust for only an instant, before returning to it's usual cheery self.

"Can you move?" asked Lloyd. "I don't mean to be insensitive but, you know... We have to keep going..."

"It's Okay! I'm... Okay," She said, extending her wings and hovering just above the ground. "See? I can fly fine."

Zelos frowned. He knew she wouldn't let them fuss over her if she was hurt though, so he simply smiled and added "Okay, just make sure you tell us if you're tired or anything. We can afford to rest for a while." She smiled and nodded enthusiastically, but he knew she was lying... At least she didn't look too hurt.

"Let's keep moving," said Raine in a commanding tone, rising up from her knees and pointing her staff down the dark corridor. "We're not out of here yet..."

"Aaaaah man... I was sure one of them was gonna die in that room... I like watching them burn."

"I know you do."

"I am kind of glad the red one didn't die but... Eh... I'm bored now."

"Shall I take care of them?"

"Oh no... Just show them the way. I'll deal with them myself." He said calmly, his mouth curling into a wicked smile.

After leaving the room full of fire they had been lead down more curves and twists and turns, each one seeming to make them almost go back the way they just came. Thankfully there hadn't been any more branching corridors but Lloyd had a horrible feeling that their good luck wouldn't last, and the curves were almost as bad anyway.

They hadn't been walking for long before they turned a particularly large, round corner and were faced with an incredibly bright light. It was almost blinding and they all found themselves moving their hands in front of their eyes to try and shield themselves from the light.

"Great. What now?" Lloyd sighed. "Wait- Is that?" As they neared the source of the light he noticed that there was something in between it and them. It had a human figure, cast as a black silhouette by the intense glow, and was deadly still. At first he had assumed it was some kind of statue, but after a few moment large feathery wings stretched out from it's back, setting the ghostly outline of an angel into the light.

He took a few more steps forward, cautiously, and drew a sword from it's sheath. As he moved closer he could begin to see vague features of the figure's body. His arms were crossed in front of his bare, ivory chest and- He stopped suddenly, moving back a step.

"It's... It's that angel from before!" he shouted, turning round to face the rest of the group.

The silhouette turned slowly to the right and began to walk straight ahead, his movements appearing mechanical, and nothing but his legs moving.

"Hey! Wait!" Lloyd drew his other sword and ran after him.

"Lloyd, no!" Sheena called, and followed after him, holding one arm in front to shield her eyes. He stopped next to the light, which appeared to be some kind of enormous gemstone, and looked down the corridor the angel had walked down but saw nothing. Once again there were 4 passages leading off, one on each side of the crystal making a square.

"Damnit!" he cried and punched the nearest wall.

"What do you mean? Don't you remember what happened last ti- ... You..." she trailed off, turning her head away from him at the memory of seeing the blade run through his shoulder.

His expression changed as he recalled his last encounter, and he quickly put a hand to his shoulder. "Oh... Yeah... What- Exactly happened there anyway?" he asked looking slightly puzzled, and as he took his hand away she understood why. There was no hole, no blood, and in fact his clothes were not even torn from where the blade had been. He pulled an arm out of his shirt and pulled it down to reveal his bare shoulder. Sheena quickly looked away, hoping that he hadn't seen her face instantly turn scarlet, but as she turned her head back hesitantly all she could see was a tiny scar where there should have been a gaping hole.

"I... Did I imagine it?" she asked, looking up into her head as if trying to recall the memory again.

"You mean me getting a sword plunged into me? Unless we imagined the same thing I'm pretty sure it happened..."

"But- I mean- Who could have fixed it?"

"Raine you didn't happen to heal me before we got put into those cells did you?" he said, looking around for her. "Raine?"

"Mmm? Just... Hold on a minute... This-" She ran her hand over the smooth gleaming surface of the enormous white jewel. "This is amazing... How did they find one this big?"

"Oh no," Genis sighed, putting a hand to his head. "She's so embarrassing when she's like this..."

"Is the actual crystal emitting the light?" She ran her fingers round it's base presumably trying to find some form of wire. "Hmm... I wonder if..." She tried to lift it out of the ground, but couldn't get a grip on it. She then took out a notepad from one of her pockets and started scribbling a few symbols and equations onto it.

Zelos walked over to the huge glowing gem. He tilted his head to the side for a moment, then drew his sword.

"What are yo-"

He swung at it, cutting off a large chunk which lay on the ground shining brightly.

"ARE YOU MAD? Do you know how valuable this is?" Raine screamed.

"Nope... Not at all."

"You!- Uaagh! ... Wait... It's still glowing!" She scribbled some more notes down.

"Yeah I thought it might... We can use it as a torch."

"Wow... Zelos did something sensible?" Sheena laughed.

"If you call mutilating a precious artefact sensible... Actually... Zelos can you do it again, I want some samples," Raine added.

"Why yes of course your majesty! I'd be happy to serve you!"

"Good."

He raised a finger and opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't think of a decent response, and cut off another chunk of the stone.

"Can we hurry up please? I don't want to lose that guy!" Lloyd said impatiently

"You don't even know where we're going!" cried Raine.

"Well I know which way I'm going..." he replied, his tone absolutely resolute.

"Did you ever think that maybe he's leading us into a trap?"

"... Yyyeeeeeeaaah..."

"You didn't did you?"

"... No..." he sighed. "But even so... It's not like we have any other options. At least if we go this way we know one of the things we're going to find."

"True... Plus their traps so far have been pretty basic. We shouldn't run into anything too troublesome."

"Okay then... Let's get going."

"Aaaw... But-" She sighed. "Alright, fine." She stood up again and followed them into the hallway, as Lloyd took off at what was almost a slow jog.

Man... What is it with guys and revenge? Thought Sheena.

"Oh..."

As they came to their first inevitable corner they met something they hadn't expected. Another room. The floor was damp, and had puddles in places and there was a large thick pillar in the centre of the room.

"Well... At least we don't have to walk for ages." Lloyd laughed. "I don't like the look of that pillar though. Stick to the walls."

They walked in through the entrance slowly and cautiously. The ceiling in this room was even lower than in the hallway, Regal's head almost touching the ceiling as he entered. As Lloyd walked across the room he turned so that he was always facing the column in the middle, just in case it... Did something... He wasn't sure what. Suddenly they heard the sound of rock grating against rock and they drew their weapons, realising too late that it was the sound of doors closing off the entrance and the exit to the room. Lloyd ran towards the doorway, diving at it in an attempt to stick his sword under it, but he was too late.

"Damnit again!"

They heard the sound again, rock on rock...

"Oh what now?"

The pillar in the centre of the room began to rise up until it was completely un-visible in the ceiling. There were a few seconds of silence...

"Wait... What's that sound? Asked Raine, tilting her head towards the centre of the room.

"Water!" cried Collette. "There's a hole in the middle of the floor!"

"Great! I kinda need a shower," replied Zelos.

"Quick find something to plug it up!" called Sheena, ignoring Zelos.

"There's nothing here to use!" cried Lloyd.

Water began to gush out of the hole, rapidly filling the room.

"I call upon the disciple of everlasting ice! Come, Celsius!" Sheena called frantically.

There was a blue flash and the summon spirit was before them once again. "You people are pretty useless without me aren't you?" she said, grinning at Sheena.

"Celsius! Just- Do the thing! Freeze it! Hurry!"

"You people are always in such a hurry..." sighed Celsius, pointing a hand towards the hole in the floor. "I'm a Summon Spirit you know? You're supposed to treat me with respect." There was a blue flash and the hole was now surrounded by a circle of ice, blocking the flow of water.

"Thank you."

"Now that's more like it." She disappeared in another blue flash and they were left with a new problem.

"Now what?"

"We've gotta break down this door!" said Lloyd. He attempted to get a run-up, but failed miserably with the knee-high water slowing him down, before jumping and kicking the door. Surprisingly absolutely nothing happened other than Lloyd getting completely soaked. "Err... Damn..."

Sheena waded up to the door and pressed her cards against it, shouting "Pyre Seal!" The door gave slightly, but even then only very slightly.

Regal tried next, walking over and kicking the door several times, but to no avail. "It's no good... The rock is too thick..."

"Look around for a switch or... Or something!" Raine called.

They all set to work looking and feeling around for anything on the walls that was out of place. They tried pressing in any jutting rocks that they felt but nothing moved, nothing happened.

Soon enough they heard a cracking sound. The ice was breaking under the pressure of the water beneath it.

"Err... Sheena can you do something about that?"

"Not so soon after the last time I summoned her!"

That instant the ice shattered, sending a huge spray of water upwards and into the room and only dying down when the water level was now up to their chests. It was still rising fast though... They would be completely under water in no time at all...

They gave up searching the walls, they couldn't see anything now anyway. As the water level rose Presea and Genis had to lift their feet off the ground to keep their heads above water and the rest of them seemed as if they were moving in slow motion.

"Well... This time it really has been nice knowing you guys," laughed Zelos.

"How can you still be such an idiot in the face of death!" cried Sheena angrily.

"Years of practice and one helluva lot of skill."

They were now all pressed up against the ceiling, and were turning their heads to the side so that they could breath. Suddenly Genis noticed Presea's expression change to one of what looked like realisation. She took a deep breath and sunk to the floor of the room.

"Presea!" Genis shouted. He stuck his head under the water and watched her walk slowly over to the door.

She took hold of her axe and held her arm back behind her. Her eyes closed and she simply stood there for a while, tiny bubbles rising from her mouth. "Bebblllsslllt!" she shouted abruptly and swung the axe at the door. A large gash was cut into the rock and the door caved in slightly as the entire room shook with the force of her swing. She brought her arm back behind her again.

Genis pulled his head up from the water, and hit it on the ceiling. "Shit- ... Ack-" He coughed up some water.

"What was that?"

"Err... You might want to sort of... Brace yourselves," he laughed. The others looked at him strangely.

The room shook again, and they were all rapidly sucked out as the water flowed down the corridor, carrying them with it. When the wave had finally subsided they were left drenched in heaps on the floor, all apart from Presea who was somehow still standing.

"Is everyone alright?" she asked, picking up her axe from where the water had carried it.

"Presea you saved us!" cried Genis, jumping up and running towards Presea to hug her, but getting gradually more embarrassed as he got closer. He ended up stopping a few feet from her and extending a hand.

Presea merely looked at it for a few seconds and then returned her gaze to Genis' face, causing him to blush again. "It was- Nothing..."

"Yeah it is! You broke down the door! Even Regal couldn't do it!"

"It is likely that he had weakened the structure of the rock. I simply provided the extra force..."

"Well... Err... It was still pretty cool..."

"I- Thank you."

"Alright you two love-birds, let's get moving," called Zelos, standing up and squeezing the water from his long, red hair.

"What is a 'love-bird'? I have never heard of it..." asked Presea.

"It's... Oh never mind."

"Good job Presea," said Lloyd, walking over and planting a hand on her shoulder. "You really saved our necks."

"I did save myself as well..." she murmured, now beginning to look slightly embarrassed.

"Well... I guess that's true... Anyway, we don't have any time to waste. Let's keep moving."

Again they pressed onwards, though this time they noticed that the corridor they were in was actually well lit. Braziers burned brightly on the walls, getting ever more frequent the further they travelled. They were even beginning to think that they might soon be out of this hell hole.

But as you might guess their optimism wasn't rewarded. A loud crash came from behind them and they half expected the ceiling to cave in completely. Upon turning around they saw that a door had closed behind them, presumably coming down from the ceiling again.

"Hmm... Why would they-" Lloyd started, but he was cut off.

Suddenly another one crashed down from above, this time about a metre closer to them, and they realised what was happening.

"Oh... Crap..."

The instant the next door touched the ground they ran as fast as they could, not even looking back to check how close the next one was. As they were running they could see several doors set into slots in the ceiling, each about a metre apart from the last. They could hear the doors starting to close faster now, much faster, and they were catching up.

They rounded a sharp corner to the right and were met with another, then two more to the left, making an 'S' shape. As they came out of the bend they didn't have to look back to know the doors were closing not far behind, as an even louder crash from behind confirmed and stones flew past their heads. However they could now see the exit to this tunnel, far ahead of them and brightly lit like something from a dream.

They quickened their pace, Raine and Genis almost struggling to keep up since they weren't exactly the most athletic of the group. Lloyd fell back slightly until he was almost in line with them, intent not to leave them if something went wrong.

As they approached the exit the doors behind were gaining on them, but as Lloyd looked behind he could see they were still far enough ahead to make it through the last one. However as he brought his head back round to look ahead he saw that the final door had already started closing. They were running too fast to stop in time now.

He put an arm each around Raine and Genis and tugged them towards the floor, rolling underneath the door just as it closed, and ending up sprawled on the floor, face first in the earth.

They stood up and brushed themselves clean of dirt in silence. Lloyd smiled nervously at Raine, and flinched as she brought a hand up to run through her hair.

"... Thanks..." she sighed and returned his uneasy smile, her face turning slightly pink.

Someone started clapping. It was loud, slow and sounded completely mocking.

"Well, well. Quite impressive."

Lloyd closed his eyes and sighed. He eventually turned towards the voice and his gaze met with a man, grinning wryly and half lying across a great silvery throne, which was raised on a podium of sorts. His hair was long and a vivid green, and he was encased in a cloak of the same colour. He turned to sit properly in the seat and cast his eyes over the rest of them.

"Oh hi," called Lloyd. "We're kinda lost here. Do you know where there's a way out?"

"Hmm... I know of a few," he grinned. "But you wouldn't want to be leaving now."

"Oh wouldn't I?" He drew his sword and smiled at the man.

"Ha ha ha! Put that thing away boy, don't be silly."

Lloyd looked incredibly insulted, then frowned and pointed his sword at the man. "Excuse me! Who the hell are you anyway?"

"Oh I love this part!" he leaped up from his seat and spun around, his cape flowing behind him in a circle. "I," he boomed proudly "Am Grendel."

A stifled snort of a laugh came from Zelos, and he turned away, trying not to laugh.

"What?"

"Sorry it's just... It's a funny name," he laughed.

Grendel smirked and pointed a hand towards him, palm-out. "Shut up."

Melted rock rose up from the ground, wrapping around Zelos' hands and feet and solidifying. He was dragged down to the ground by his hands and hit his head on the floor, hard.

"OWW! You bastard! What was that for?"

"I thought I said shut up?" More stone surfaced this time twisting around his head and solidifying over his mouth. Sheena thought about making a joke of thanking Grendel, but decided against it.

"MMMMFF! Mmmuuummmfrrmrmr!"

"That's better. Now... Where was I? Oh yes! I am Grendel. This is my right hand or sorts, Garm," he said and pointed to his left where a familiar looking angel now stood.

"You!" cried Lloyd.

"Yes, him. I had him bring you here for a bit of fun. I'll admit I'm quite impressed that none of you were killed by my traps. I was hoping to make a little game of it, but it's boring when no-one dies... And you! What's her name again? Raine! My traps are not basic! How dare you? I was quite proud of them..."

"You seem to be quite proud of your own voice to me," Raine called back, a slight grin appearing on her face.

"Well yes, that too. Infact I was actually looking forward to this part the most. I get to tell you all my diabolical plans! It's quite exciting really!"

"You're a bit eccentric aren't you?" asked Sheena.

"Oh no little girl, I'm not eccentric. I'm insane. Completely mad."

She flinched at what he had called her, and once again found herself trying with all her might not to strangle someone.

"Now where to begin... I suppose the beginning would be best. Now I've been around a pretty long time. I came to this planet... Oooh let's see... Must be more than two, maybe three thousand years ago now."

"Y- Are you a half-elf?" Raine cried.

"Hey hey hey! You don't get to but in! I'm in the middle of a story here! But to answer your question... I suppose I could be considered a half elf. The other half isn't human though. Far closer to the species you have here called Dwarves or something. Anyway-"

"Look! We really don't care about your life story or whatever!" shouted Lloyd. "If you're not gonna let us go then we'll just have to kill you."

"Ha ha! Aaaah Lloyd you're great. So funny. But alright... If you really don't want to hear it the exit is that way," he pointed to a corridor opposite from the one they had used to enter the room.

"Thank you." He turned to leave, but the moment Grendel was out of his sight a blade was pressed against his neck.

"You didn't let me finish. The one condition is that you have to die of course," he whispered into Lloyd's ear, laughing manically.

"I think... Maybe we could stay for a while." said Lloyd.

"Good." In an instant the blade was gone, and when Lloyd turned back to the throne Grendel was already sitting comfortably in it. "Right. Now as I was saying before, back then Mithos was pretty much in charge of this planet. I suppose to make a long story short, we weren't on the best of terms for obvious reasons and well... He almost killed me. He even managed to put some kind of seal on my power which has finally almost worn off. But as you can see he didn't kill me. You see mind-control is one of my specialties and I found that the decayed state of his soul, and all his angels under him, made him incredibly easy to control. So from that day onwards he was my puppet, and a useful puppet he was too. His plan to rid everyone on this planet of their souls was of course my plan to control all of their minds. I'm surprised Kratos and that other one didn't realise actually... Anyway then you lot came along and spoilt everything... But... It's okay now. I forgive you, because I've found a new method. Sorry... Am I boring you?"

"No of course not... This pointless story is incredibly interesting," called Sheena.

"Oh okay, good. These Exspheres you have on this planet... They seem to magnify your own powers greatly. With a few modifications you can make one magnify them without even having it with you. Which of course brings me to my next point. Presea?"

Before Lloyd could even move the blade of her axe was at his neck. Damnit! I need to pay attention to there. It's such a sensitive area... He turned his head slowly, raising his arms to show he wasn't attempting anything. Her eyes were glowing a vivid green and suddenly the distinctly green Exsphere they had found made sense.

"Presea! What are you doing?" Genis cried.

"Ha ha ha! The expression on your face was priceless! I've been waiting so long for that! Don't worry kid she hasn't turned against you or anything, she's just under my control. But it doesn't even stop there. Look who's back!" he screamed, his voice growing more frenzied with every moment. Kratos now stepped out from behind the throne, grinning madly and Lloyd was once again hit with realisation. It had been Grendel who made his father try to kill him. It really wasn't him all along, just as he'd thought… But then this certainly didn't make him feel any better…

"As you may have guessed these green Exspheres are now devices that can amplify my mind control. Your friends are now my puppets, and soon everyone will be under my control!" He cackled madly. "Man this is going to be fun," he added with a wicked grin.

A/N: Sorry the chapter ends a bit abruptly... I couldn't seem to get it right. I'll try not to take so long with the next one for anyone who actually reads this...

Thanks again to all who have reviewed!