Chapter 4! I'm really excited about next chapter, I've already started writing it.

Thanks again to everyone reading this. I hope you like it.

Morning came, bringing with it a very determined Lloyd.

"Alright, let's hurry up! We need to meet with the king." For the first time since they'd started this journey, Lloyd was awake, dressed, and ready to go before everyone else. He was pacing around the room, anxious.

"Lloyd, calm down," Raine chastised. She was pulling on her boots, while Genis sleepily shoved his supplies in his bag. "I understand you want to save Colette. We all do. But we can't just rush in and make hasty decisions. We need to have a plan."

"We have a plan," he grumbled. "Talk to the king, get help from him to save Colette. Save Colette."

"Lloyd…" Raine sighed and Kratos put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Rash decisions lead to bad ones," he said firmly. "If you want to save Colette, listen to your teacher's advice. Slow down."

Lloyd's face twisted, almost as if he were going to argue, then he sighed, his shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I know, I know. I'm sorry, guys."

"It's alright," Raine said briskly. "We understand why you're upset. Now, let's talk about what we'll do once we get to the king."

"You will need to convince him that saving the Chosen will benefit Tethe'alla," Kratos told them. "The king's duty is to first protect his country."

"Maybe if he hears that we're going to save both worlds, he'll help us," Genis suggested.

"I think that may be our only option." Raine stood up, boots on and prepared. "Colette, right now, is worth more to them dead. We need to convince them otherwise."

Genis stood next to Raine. "I'm ready to go!"

Lloyd grinned at them. "To the palace, then!"

"Oh, Chosen, do you have any plans today?"

Zelos grinned at the woman on his right. "Ah, just my typical Chosen duties. I'm headed for the palace now."

"What about afterward?" another woman butted in. "Maybe you'd like to come over to my house."

"Oh, but Zelos, you promised me last week you'd come visit!"

Zelos was about to respond, but he was distracted by a familiar face. Not one he was pleased to see, of course, but a familiar one all the same.

Kratos hadn't changed much from the last time Zelos had seen him, several years ago when he first met Yggdrasill. The old man was still glaring around at the world as if it had personally insulted his mother. One hand on his sword, the other at his side. Suspicious and untrusting, that was Kratos to a T.

The people he was with seemed like an eclectic group. There was a little kid with more hair than head, he thought. A blond girl with a strange blank look in her eyes. (That had to be the Chosen. Yikes.) A woman whose eyes kept glancing at Kratos. And finally, next to Kratos, was teenage boy dressed in red.

Ah. Zelos could see the resemblance. Not necessarily in looks, but more in mannerisms. Both of them walked with their shoulders oddly straight and their arms at their sides. When they stopped to look around, the two stood alike, favoring their left leg and resting their left hand on their swords. It was…kind of creepy, now that he thought about it. Like a little doppleganger of Kratos himself.

Zelos shook the thoughts out of his head. "What did you say, hunny?" he asked the woman who had just spoken.

She pursed her lips. "I said, you haven't had lunch with me in almost three weeks, Zelos."

"Ah, don't get mad at me!" He grinned at her. "Look, I've been very busy recently." The group came up the stairs and Kratos stopped short. Zelos gave him a knowing look and he glared even harder. As he got closer to the group, he listened in on their conversation.

"Wow, this place is even more incredible on the inside!" The kid was staring up, wide-eyed in wonder. "Just how big is it?"

"I wonder where the castle is?" This from the teenager, Kratos' son. "I mean, all these buildings are huge."

The blonde girl kept walking, not really paying attention to where she was going. She didn't say anything, just walked in a straight line. Zelos hesitated, then positioned himself directly in front of her. Just as he thought she would, she walked right into him, nearly knocking him to the ground.

Immediately, the women around him looked aghast. "Hey, watch it!"

"Now, now, my sweet hunnies, calm down." Zelos leaned in closer to the girl. "Hi, there, my cool beauty. Are you hurt?"

The girl gave him a blank stare and said nothing. When he looked closer, her eyes had an eerie red color to them. The ladies around him bristled.

"Well! Master Zelos himself deigns to speak to this girl, and look how she acts!"

Another woman snorted. "Look at her. It's not even festival time, and she's dressed up like an angel. Can you believe the nerve of this hag?"

The two boys ran up to them, flanking the angel. "What did you just say?" the younger one snapped.

"Genis, let it go." The older boy folded his arms. "She's obviously never looked in a mirror."

Kratos and the older woman both sighed warily. "Knock it off," Kratos said sharply.

Zelos leaned closer to the blond girl. Yep, she had a Cruxis Crystal on her chest. He smiled down at her.

"Now, now, are you upset, my little angel? I'll be you're as cute as a button when you smile!"

He reached to hook his arm into hers, but she grabbed him first. Before he knew it, he found himself lifted and tossed through the air like a rag doll. He landed, on his feet, ten feet away.

Oh yeah, that was definitely the Chosen.

Zelos found himself surrounded by the ladies, fussing over him and asking if he was okay. He craned his neck to see Kratos quickly ushering the group up the stairs toward the palace. He narrowed his eyes as he watched them go.

Coward.

"But we need to see who that guy was!" Lloyd tried to turn around, but Kratos gently pushed him forward. "He was acting so weird!"

"He was such an ass!" Genis snarled. "Grinning like an idiot the entire time…"

"He had an Exsphere." Raine turned sharply to Kratos. "Well? Do you know who he is?"

Kratos nodded. "That is the Chosen of Tethe'alla."

"The Chosen…!" Lloyd's jaw dropped. "That guy?"

"Then we're likely to see him again." Raine folded her arms. "Sheena said they do experiments on the Chosen's Cruxis Crystal."

"…Do you think he knew it was us?" Lloyd glanced at Colette. "He kept looking at Colette. Do you think he knows she's the Chosen?"

"I'm certain he does. He was certainly…interested in her." Raine glanced back at Kratos. "Tell me. Does the Chosen know of Sylvarant, and the two worlds?"

Kratos hesitated. "Yes…Cruxis has made an alliance with this Chosen."

Raine blinked thoughtfully. "Hmm…if I may ask…why? Surely, knowing the truth only serves to harm the organization."

"It's…complicated." When they all waited expectantly, he sighed again. "Very well, I wouldn't expect you to give up so easily. It was, essentially, an accident. Zelos—the Chosen—discovered the truth much like you did, through a combination of deduction and someone whispering in his ear. Eventually, he sought us out and struck up a deal with us. He agreed to help us politically, pushing the King's decisions toward what we wanted."

"What did he get out of it?" Lloyd interrupted. Kratos raised an eyebrow. "Well, he probably didn't do it for nothing. What did Cruxis give him?"

Kratos shrugged. "Who knows. I wasn't privy to that particular deal, so I never knew the details."

"…Hmm." Raine didn't say anything as they reached the palace, but the look she gave Kratos said that she didn't quite believe him.

"You want me to pray for the King's health?" The look on Zelos' face clearly showed his skepticism. "Are you serious?"

The Pope bristled. "You are the Chosen, the closest link we have to Martel. If anyone can help, you can."

"I mean, I can't hurt," Zelos told him. "But I think maybe doctors might be able to help him more."

"We have seen doctors." Hilda clasped her hands together. "Please, Chosen. The Church has been praying for weeks now, and nothing has happened. Surely, if you ask the Goddess directly, she will heal my father."

Hoo boy. He had to resist rolling his eyes on that one. Instead, he shrugged.

"Welp. I guess it can't hurt. After all, I can't let the beautiful princess down, now can I?" Hilda beamed under his blue-eyed gaze. "Take me to him. I'll pray for a bit."

"We have a ritual underway," an eager cardinal said. "A lumberjack will be bringing the wood to burn soon."

"Oh. A ritual. Good." Zelos actually did roll his eyes at that one, but everyone had turned away for the King's chambers. He grimaced and followed behind them. "Great."

It was Lloyd's idea to use the woodcutter to get into the palace.

Having been turned away at the door, the group headed to the Church and met a tiny, pink-haired girl dragging a log twice her size.

"Presea, right?" He grinned at her. "I'm Lloyd. This is Raine, and Colette, and Kratos, and..."

"Genis! I'm Genis!" The boy was blushing and stuttering. Raine ignored him and got right to the point.

"Please hear us out. We have a message to deliver the King. It's…it's important. It will help our friend."

The girl didn't even turn around, and Kratos felt a knot in his stomach. That silence…was not a natural silence.

"It would really help us out if we could go in with you," Lloyd pleaded. "We just need to see the king."

"…Understood."

She led them up towards the palace. Raine glanced uneasily at Kratos, but neither Lloyd nor Genis noticed anything off about Presea; or at least they didn't say anything about it.

"That girl has an Exsphere," she whispered to him. "Just how common are they in this world?"

"Exspheres are fairly uncommon on humans," he replied, keeping his voice just as low as hers. "Here, they are used mostly on machines. However…" He glanced at Presea, who was blankly walking past the guards. "…Tethe'alla does have experiments using the Exspheres. I believe that girl may be involved."

They made it inside the palace. It really hadn't changed much since the last time Kratos had been there, over a hundred years ago. Still huge and elegant, though the velvet carpet was new. He followed behind the group as they headed for the King's chambers, then turned to head for his own destination: the royal archives.

He needed information. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to get away that easily.

"Where are you going?" Raine hissed. Kratos sighed and turned back to her.

"I have something else I must do. I will be in the royal archives, down the hall." He quickly glanced at Lloyd, who hadn't noticed him trying to sneak off. "If anything happens, I will be near."

Raine didn't argue, but she did purse her lips and look annoyed. "Fine. We'll meet you outside the castle."

Kratos nodded. He went down the hall, hiding in the shadows and ducking past guards. He had snuck into the royal archives before, several times, to get information he wouldn't otherwise have. It wasn't terribly difficult. He managed to make it to the room without being seen.

Well, almost.

Zelos smirked at him from the balcony above. Time to make his move.

The royal archives held all books pertaining to the ancient war. There were hundreds of them, maybe even thousands. If Raine were here, she could pore over them for days on end and still never finish. Kratos ended up searching for almost an hour to find some elusive tome that held the answers. His eyes scanned over each book, until he found one that looked promising.

"'Mana in Spirits and Organic Beings.' Perfect." He pulled it off the shelves, flipping through its well-worn pages. He finally found a section on a Ring of Transference, which sounded like it might work. He scanned the page.

"The ring must be made of something which conducts mana in its purest form. This is so that the wearer can control the mana without having an inborn ability, as those with elven blood do."

Kratos turned the page, frustrated. This information, while true, was not new. The only substance that would work, he knew, was aionis. He shuddered at the memory of drinking the strange potion that gave him the ability to use magic. It had burned going down, and he'd been sick as a dog for days afterward.

He skipped ahead.

"The ring must be inscribed with runes of protection and strength. It must be carefully crafted, as any impurities in the ore will disrupt the flow of mana and cause instability. The ore must be melted down and reformed as a band."

So. He needed some way to melt aionis.

That was a problem.

Or…perhaps it wasn't.

Hadn't they just dragged in a huge log of sacred wood? It created the holiest of fires…and the hottest. Was it possible that it could be used to melt aionis?

Kratos inhaled deeply. There was too much information, too much to parse through right here, right now, in this musty room of books.

Aionis was only found on Derris-Kharlan, Mithos had made sure of that. Right now, he had no way of getting his hands on it. He would also need to find a Dwarf with the skills to make the ring. He would be hard-pressed to find one who didn't work with Cruxis.

As Lloyd would say, gah. This was giving him a headache.

"Well, well, if it isn't my least favorite fallen angel."

Kratos turned around to see a flash of vibrant red hair. Of course. Now his headache was worse.

"Chosen. I see word travels fast." Kratos' tone was less than enthusiastic.

"Faster than you, at least." Zelos was leaning casually again the doorframe, picking at his nails. "So, ran away like a scared bunny, huh? Can't say I blame you."

"…" Kratos ignored him, eyes still fixated on the spines of the books.

"Of course, the worst part is you couldn't have had that little change of heart before you decided to double cross those friends of yours." Zelos snickered. He pushed himself off the doorjamb and approached him. "They can't be too happy with you right now, huh?"

"Humph. Double cross. Hypocritical." Kratos picked up another book and started flipping through it. "You've been feeding Cruxis information about the Renegades since you were a teenager." He glanced up from his book, frowning. "And you never once mentioned Yuan's…side job."

"Hey, I had to keep something for myself. I can't go giving away all my secrets, can I?" He picked up one of the books and ran his fingers over the spine. "Hmm, doing a bit of light reading, are we? Any books I should recommend to Mithos?"

Kratos grabbed the book out of his hands. "Chosen, I really don't have time for this."

"That's cool, that's cool. I have somewhere to be, anyway. There's a pretty little blonde Chosen waiting for me to sweep her off her feet and rescue her. Oh, and it'll win me some brownie points with the rest of the group." His clear blue eyes narrowed at Kratos. "One of them looks an awful lot like you."

"Zelos." Kratos practically snarled his name. "What are you planning?"

Zelos shrugged. "Nothing…yet," he added. "I'm still weighing my options. I could join Cruxis, I could join the Renegades, I could stick with the band of misfits over there. Who knows? I'm a complicated guy."

Kratos narrowed his eyes. "Humph. You have clearly been spending a lot of time with Yuan."

"Oh, no. I've always been like this." With that, Zelos went to leave. He stopped suddenly. "Oh, and by the way," he added as an afterthought. "The guards won't be too pleased if they see you here. I'd get what you need and get out." He winked just before he shut the door.

"I'll be seeing you soon, angel."

The group was waiting outside the palace for him, not looking pleased to see them. Lloyd in particular looked cross.

"Where were you?" he demanded. "The Professor said you ditched us!"

Kratos shook his head. "I'll explain later. What happened with the king?"

"Well, we convinced them to help us." Lloyd folded his arms and sighed. "Although…we also said we wouldn't save Sylvarant."

"Lloyd, remember, we need to save Colette," Raine said. "We can worry about Sylvarant later. Right now—"

"I know, I know. I just…it doesn't feel right." He frowned at his shoes. "This feels all sorts of wrong."

"I agree," Genis said quietly. "The whole point of this journey was to save the world…and now it feels like we're abandoning it."

"You still plan to save both worlds, correct?" Kratos asked. The boys both nodded. "Then you aren't abandoning anything. Often, it is necessary to prioritize our plans. That sometimes means setting a less urgent need aside for the current situation."

Raine nodded. "Kratos is right. Now, there will be no more talk of it. We need to focus on Colette."

"I want to go home." Presea's odd, monotone voice spoke up. Genis immediately replied.

"Yeah! That's right! We need to get Presea home. Let's hurry up!"

"Wait." Raine turned to Kratos, who regarded her warily. "Don't worry, my lectures for you are over. For now. But we need to discuss something."

"What?"

"In order to save Colette, we agreed to be under surveillance. From the Chosen, Zelos." She nodded to the cathedral behind them. "He's waiting for us inside. Tell me, since you know him…does he know you?"

Kratos thought. On one hand, blowing Zelos' cover would certainly put a stop to whatever plans he had. On the other, though, revealing Zelos' alliances also ran the risk of Kratos' secret being found out. He glanced at Lloyd, who was watching him closely.

No, he couldn't let that happen.

"I don't believe so," he finally replied firmly. "Zelos and I have never met. I told you, I wasn't a party in his deal with Cruxis. Unless Yggdrasill has told him what I look like, he will not know who I am."

"Excellent." Raine nodded, pleased. "Then let's keep it that way. From here on out, you're going to be just another mercenary from Sylvarant. While we were inside the castle, you were buying supplies."

"Alright," he agreed. "Although, that means you can't interrogate me anymore."

"You don't give me many straight answers, anyway," Raine said dismissively. "Let's get going."

"Finally." Lloyd turned to the cathedral, his eyes shining with determination. "We're almost there, Colette. You'll be back with us soon."