Another chapter, whooo, we're entering the final stretch by now…
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Lloyd fidgeted, pacing back and forth across the campsite.
"Where is he? He said he'd meet us here."
"Of course he did. He says there's something he's gotta get and then he leaves for a while and tells us to wait by the tower. That doesn't sound the least bit suspicious at all."
"I'm sorry Lloyd, but I have to agree with Zelos." Raine frowned. "Perhaps it would be best if we infiltrated Cruxis' base now. There is the possibility he has gone to set up a trap for us, if that's the case we should hurry before that happens."
Lloyd flinched, staring at her.
"What-? No- he wouldn't-"
"He did ask me about the Sacred Wood," Presea said, her voice soft yet firm. "And when we headed to the abbey he did head toward Meltokio…"
"Well if that was so important to get, why didn't we just go together to get it?" Sheena crossed her arms over her chest. "Why splitup?"
"He said that way we wouldn't waste time getting my cure…" Colette said meekly.
"That's another point. Even if he really did leave to do what he said, we don't have time as a luxury. We should go without him."
"I-…yeah," Lloyd said quietly, slumping a bit in defeat. "Yeah, we have to cure Colette. We don't have time. I'm sure he's just running late, he'll understand…"
Kratos cursed himself, ducking into an alley to hide from his pursuers. He had been foolish to go off alone. It was not that he couldn't take care of himself, not at all, but the Renegades showing up in the middle of the city like this was not something he could so easily shake off. Yuan had to be truly desperate this time, to come out into the open like this and search for him. If his goal was to release the seal, he was being foolish if he thought his men could kill him on their own. However, if they were intending to capture him somehow…
The man swore under his breath; yes, that had to be it. That's why in the middle of the city, because if he didn't hold back he could easily destroy a good portion of it, along with a number of innocent lives. While Yuan never had any reservations about killing innocents if it would assist his goals, Kratos was never particularly fond of that unless absolutely necessary. Hypocritical, he knew, but his time with his son had made him see that a bit differently. This was causing too much of a delay, the Chosen's illness would be progressing and he knew Lloyd and his group would be pressured into infiltrating Welgaia without him…
He gritted his teeth. There was no time for this, he had to get away as soon as possible. He had considered warping outside of the city but he knew Yuan would likely have accounted for that. Even if he tried to warp further away, the time it took to gather the mana would make him a clear target, even alerting the half-elven organization to his location. Flying was out as well, that would draw far too much attention. His only real option was to sneak out of the city. Either he had to sneak out with a group leaving or get over the walls somehow… Wait, that was it. He could go through the slums, it would be easier to get up on a rooftop down there and hop over the less well-kept walls. He just had to make his way there without being detected.
It was a bit easier said than done, but he had a bit more experience than the average human in regards to that sort of thing. He managed to get into the slums and even spotted an appropriate roof from where he could make his escape. After a few minutes he managed to get up on the building, then with some effort managed to run up the wall and pole-vault over the edge-
And was hit with several different electric spells before he hit the ground.
"Ugh-!" he twitched, struggling to get off the ground.
"Lord Yuan wants him alive."
Kratos attempted to reach his sword when something blunt struck him with enough force to render him unconscious.
"I told you it was a trap."
"That doesn't mean he had anything to do with it." Lloyd snapped. "And if he did, we'll find out, and I'll deal with it how I have to."
The teen drew his attention to the bars of the cage, trying once again to pick the lock with no success.
"Damn it! It won't budge! Colette! Presea! Can either of you break it?!"
"No…" he heard Colette sigh.
"I am sorry I could not be of more help…" Presea's soft voice followed.
"Move."
To their shock, Regal stepped forward and with a quick motion of his hands completely obliterated the cell wall.
"Woah-! How did you-?!"
"Let us free the others first."
"R- right."
They quickly freed their friends in the other cell, making sure that the others were all uninjured before questioning the ex-convict.
"I originally specialized in fighting with my hands, not my feet, since exspheres amplify a user's abilities, this is to be expected."
"Why don't you just fight with your hands then?" Zelos asked.
"Because I swore I would never fight with these hands again."
"Oh, right…well, thanks for helping us, Regal." Lloyd smiled. "Now let's hurry up and get that mana fragment and get out of here."
"Yes, let's hurry before they realize we've escaped." Raine nodded.
They had a little difficulty getting into the city proper, but with a little assistance from Colette they managed, only to figure out that getting around the city would be very difficult without being caught. So, they posed as Colette's prisoners and traveled about the city in that fashion.
It wasn't exactly what Lloyd would think of as a city. There were people but they were all….they all weren't there. They were all soulless, like Colette had been after the tower. That was another matter all together. How had the tower in Tethe'Alla been the same as the one in Sylvarant? Even down to that pillar that he had broken…he'd ask Kratos, he had to know. Though he hadn't seen anything of the man since they had gone to see Zelos' sister… Lloyd wanted to trust him, had tried to, but he still felt he would be being stupid if he didn't consider that maybe he really was going to betray them again, or had already…
"Lord Kratos has still not returned-"
He flinched, looking around for the speaker, which was an angel that had been floating nearby, speaking to another heartless comrade.
"It is worrisome." The other angel spoke, though had no trace of worry or any other emotion in their tone. "If something has occurred to Lord Kratos, the seal on Origin may be released and Lord Yggdrasill will be in need of another."
A seal on Origin? The king of spirits, right? There was a seal on him? What did Kratos have to do with it? Did it have to do with that sword Kratos told him about? From the sounds of it, though, they didn't know where Kratos was…
"He has been absent for a long time. Lord Yggdrasill is most displeased."
"Surely Lord Yggdrasill will punish him for leaving this time."
Lloyd felt a twinge of relief. From the sounds of it, none of them knew what Kratos had been doing or knew what he was doing now. That meant he couldn't be working with Cruxis still, right? Well, for right now he had to focus on getting Colette that mana fragment.
That was easier said than done given that the angel at the storage facility didn't quite buy that Colette or the Sage siblings were Cruxians or Desians. Luckily, their timing was just right. Pronyma contacted the angel.
"We need a fragment of mana for the Chosen's Ritual, Lord Yggdrasill has sent a courier to retrieve it." The woman said, her nose upturned and her usual condescending tone evident in her voice.
"Very well, Lady Pronyma," the angel bowed his head as the illusion disappeared.
"Yeah, that's it- that's us," Lloyd said quickly.
"Indeed," Raine cut him off. "We are getting the fragment for the Chosen's ritual as well as the exsphere research. I suggest you hurry, unless you wish to anger Lord Yggdrasill and Lady Pronyma."
That seemed to convince the angel to hand over the fragment. It was a small, flat stone that gave off a blue glow, it almost seemed to pulse. Once they had it in their possession they quickly left the area and headed for an exit.
"I wonder if we should try to get any information while we're here, it's a rare opportunity. Perhaps we could find something useful…" Raine mused to herself, her blue eyes coldly surveying the area.
"Do we really have time for that?" Zelos asked. "I don't think we have much time before they figure out we got out of the cells."
"Frankly I'm surprised they have yet to discover us, I think it be best we leave as soon as we can." Regal added with a slight frown.
"All right everyone hush," Lloyd spoke up, eying the passing angels. "We don't want anyone paying attention to us. If we pass by something we could use we'll stop real quick and see what we can find out, but if we find a way back to the ground first, we'll leave as soon as we can."
"That seems reasonable," Presea stated.
Raine sighed a bit but nodded.
"Very well, I suppose any intel won't help us at all if we don't manage to get out."
It seemed that the worlds were on Raine's side, as before they located an exit they found what appeared to be a console. The half-elven woman wasted no time in hacking into the system, bringing up several pages of info.
"That sword Kratos mentioned is in here," she stated as her fingers flew over the keys. "It's like he said, it's what cleaved the planet and what Yggdrasill uses to keep control."
"I told you he was telling the truth," Lloyd said.
"There was no harm in checking it out, I'll see if there's any new information here that we can use."
Sheena rushed over from the side, where she had been watching for any trouble as their lookout.
"Guys we need to go, I think they've noticed we broke out of the cells."
"Crap!" Lloyd said, looking at Raine. "Professor we have to go!"
The half-elf woman swore under her breath but abandoned her work and fled with the group away from the area.
Luckily they located a back-up transporder in short order and escaped the city. Though instead of finding themselves back in the seal room they found themselves in a musty, suffocating place. It was dimly lit and seemed a lot like the inside of a machine like the ECs.
"Wait- where are we?" Lloyd looked around.
"I believe we're inside the Tower of Salvation," Raine said, scanning a nearby console.
"Woah- really?"
"Well it makes sense, it's not like the tower would just be empty." Genis shrugged. "It's huge, it's a wonder how it even stays up."
"Huh, I guess I never really thought about it." The dual swordsman mused.
"Yeah well, I'm getting sick of all this weird tech stuff, let's hurry up and find a way down." Zelos huffed.
They descended the stairs and spent the next few minutes trying to figure out how to access an elevator lift they located. It was locked by some machines that were eslewhere, by the looks of it. So began the arduous task of attempting to locate them in the maze of similar corridors. It was slow going fora while, but it did give them some moments to take in where they were when they were not being attacked by security mechs.
"Are you okay, Lloyd?"
Lloyd shook his head, glancing over at the concerned face of his childhood friend.
"Wh- I'm fine, Colette, what about you? How are you feeling? I know it must be tough but we're going to get you cured as soon as we get out of this place."
"I know, I'm not worried." She smiled, then glanced out the thick glass as they strolled down the cold corridors. "I never imagined the tower would be like this, on the inside…"
"Yeah…"
They had all been surprised to see how gritty and tech-heavy the interior of the tower was. It seemed cold and without character, purely functional with no hint of any theme or style. Even though it seemed similar to Yuan's bases, even the Renegade's had a sense of…signature, to them, some kind of feel. This place felt just as cold as Welgaia, it made the stars visible through the windows seem even more foreign.
"Usually looking at the stars makes me feel safe, but…" Colette said quietly, nervously fidgeting with her fingers. "Here it just feels…"
"Cold, yeah…that's what I was just thinking." Lloyd nodded, looking out. "But at the same time…I mean, we're in space. Right? We're higher than the clouds so we're up in the stars."
The teen smiled a bit, then looked at her.
"It's scary, sure, but it is kind of awesome, I think. I mean, how many people get to go into space? You can see the stars in such a weird way but it's cool, I mean, I used to want to go up to the stars when I was little-"
Lloyd cut off and his smile turned into a slight frown.
"Are you thinking about Kratos?" Colette asked.
"I'm that obvious huh?" Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah…I was just remembering how when I was little we'd look at the stars together. I wonder if he ever saw them from here. Though I'm pretty sure he never guessed I would see them like this."
"You're worried about him, huh? Because he didn't show up?"
He nodded and looked ahead as they walked, saying nothing. Colette was always good at reading how he felt, so it didn't surprise him when she dropped the subject. She was always good at knowing just how to handle things.
Luckily they all made it out of the tower all right, with little to no trouble from the mechanical security drones. The only time they stopped for long was when they finally made it to the seal room and turned their attention to the large purple sword pulsating from its spot before the altar.
"So is this the Eternal Sword?" Lloyd wondered, looking at it. "Yggdrasill hit me with it…is this what Kratos is trying to get for us?"
"I doubt that, who'd be dumb enough to leave something that important here?" Zelos snorted.
"Well if what Kratos said is true, no one can touch it except from the pactmaker." Raine crossed her arms and frowned at the blade. "If that's the case then it doesn't matter where it's left if no one can touch it."
"Should we try and see if we can?" Lloyd wondered.
"From the sounds of it, I don't think that would be a good idea," Raine shook her head. "For now let's just return to Altessa's and get Colette cured. We'll figure out what to do from there."
"Right. Let's hurry," Sheena said.
"Yeah." Lloyd nodded. "Besides, it'd be good to see Mithos again. We haven't even talked to him since we went back to Sylvarant to make the pact with Efreet and Sylph."
"I hope he hasn't been too lonely, I feel bad for not coming to visit," Genis said with a sigh.
"I'm sure he'll understand, we've been busy after all." Regal nodded.
Something didn't feel right to Lloyd, suddenly. Maybe it was because they had just managed to get away from that unnerving world that was Derris-Kharlan or-no he was probably just tired, a lot of stuff was going on. He'd rest a lot easier when they got Colette cured and then they could look for Kratos, if the man hadn't found them already by then. Once they were all healthy and together again, they could finally get a hold of that sword and stop Cruxis once and for all.
Sorry it's a bit on the short side and a bit choppy, I tried to work in some new things to keep it interesting but all of this kinda needed to be done before anything really fun happens. I promise I have some juicy bits in mind for the next one , bear with me (evil scheming)
Review please?