A/N Wow this fic has been up a matter of days and already suggestions are flying in, keep them coming guys!

Lloyd cursed as he watched the Rhieard speed off into the distant sky from the base. He decided it was best to remain in Triet for a while until he was sure he was not being followed by a Renegade, curious as to why Yuan had let him go so easily. The sound of engines from the nearby base alerted Lloyd to look up, and the Rhieard carrying a rider with notably blue hair dissappeared to the North. Lloyd knew exactly where Yuan was going.

Checking into the inn as 'Lloyd Aurion' (on the assumption that his friends would be searching for a 'Lloyd Irving'), Lloyd sat angrily on the bed, throwing his rucksack to the floor beside him.

'You are so dumb, Lloyd!' He scolded himself, knowing he now had to rethink his plans. Wait...plans? What plans? He didn't have any plans!! Taking a deep breath and trying to keep himself calm, the teenager reviewed what he had learnt.

Aonis can be found on Derris-Kharlan... he thought to himself ...and Aonis is what my Key Crest was made from. The next question that should be answered is whether the ore can be found anywhere else, so I don't have to set foot in the god-forsaken place.

Having calmed himself slightly, Lloyd gingerly pulled the glove off his left hand. His Exphere was protrounding from his hand precariously, looking like the forces of gravity would pull it from his skin at any second. The surrounding skin had gone a pale grey and had lost all feeling, confirmed by a tentative prod from the swordsman. Lloyd tried to flex his fingers, but struggled to control anything other than the extremities of them, every move causing a shooting pain to slice up his arm.

Disgusted with his condition, Lloyd scowled and slid the glove back over his hand. Now he realised what Collette must have been feeling when she was hiding the secret of her changing skin, the thought of looking at his hand like that made him feel physically sick. Shaking his head and completely stumped about his options, Lloyd took off his swords, placed them next to him on the bed, and fell asleep.

'Wait, wait, so let me get this straight...' Zelos said, waving his arms in front of him, 'Lloyd dissappears from the house in the night, turns up at your place,' he emphasised, with a quick nod to Yuan, 'and spouts some crap about finding some Aonis ore?'

'Yes, Zelos,' Kratos answered flatly, ignoring the exasperated reaction from the pink-clad swordsman. He turned his attention back to Yuan, 'Do you think he will try and use the teleporter at the Tower of Salvation?'

'I don't think he knows of any other way of getting to Derris-Kharlan...' Yuan answered.

'But...there aren't any, are there?' Genis piped up, 'the only way to get to there is through the Tower, it's the connection between the comet and this planet.'

'Ah, but Sheena made a pact with Origin, remember Genis?' Raine answered her brother's question and looked at Kratos for confirmation.

The Seraph nodded, 'With help from Origin, passage to Derris-Kharlan could become easier. However, without access to Origin, the only way for Lloyd to reach Derris Kharlan would be to use the teleporter.'

'Time to go then, I assume?' Yuan asked rhetorically, 'Alright, I'll help. However, we can't just all go flying for the Tower. Mithos will have the Welgaia side under enough guard and there is no being sure that Lloyd has actually headed for the comet.'

'Agreed.' Kratos replied, 'I'll head to the angel city-'

'You really think you could get away with that?' Yuan cut him off. The rest of the party stood silent as the two Seraphs debated their next move, 'He isn't stupid, Kratos. Mithos will have felt the breaking of the seal with Origin. You will be captured as soon as you enter the city. It'll be less likely that I get recognised, so I'll go.'

Kratos scowled at him.

'Maybe he is right, Kratos,' Regal added thoughtfully, 'Yuan certainly isn't in Yggdrasill's good-books, but will be more likely to slip by unnoticed than yourself.'

'Fine.' Kratos conceded, 'I'll go to the Tower and wait near the teleporter.'

'Collette, Genis and I will head to Palmacosta and speak to Neil. He may be able to aid us in our search. Afterwards we will search the common towns in Sylverant for anyone who may have seen Lloyd.' Raine said, recieving nods of approval from Genis and Collette.

'I'll take Sheena and go to Meltokio,' Zelos said, finally putting on a serious face, 'I have enough contacts to make a start on the search in Tethe'alla.' Sheena rolled her eyes at the obvious nature of Zelos's 'contacts'.

'Then Regal and myself will go to Altessa's House.' Presea said quietly.

'Indeed, if he is after Aonis, he may seek help from Altessa,' Regal concurred.

Yuan nodded at the party, and the groups left to prepare silently. Yuan shot an apologetic look at Kratos and turned to head towards the Rhieards. Kratos brushed his hand through his hair and turned to Dirk.

'I'll come back as soon as I hear anything, Dirk,' he told the dwarf, 'you will be the first to know.'

'Thank you, Kratos.' Dirk replied, 'He will come back to you when he is ready, you know.'

'I hope so...' the Seraph replied, struggling to find the words that he wished to say to the man who raised his only son. After a brief pause, Kratos decided the simplest option was the best to take. 'Dirk, I-'

'Having Lloyd around is a pleasure, Kratos, but he needs you more than me.'

'...'

Lloyd yelled out in frustration as he tried to complete the simple task of threading the string through the loop on the key crest. Every bone in his body wanted to finish the necklace for Collette's birthday - the necklace holding the key crest that would restore Collette to her former self.

However, it was a two-armed job, and no matter how hard Lloyd tried, he couldn't lift his left hand long enough to complete the loop because of the tingling, painful sensation circulating round the ends of his fingers and into his wrists. The key crest began to dissolve before him, losing the perfect shape he had slaved over to achieve. The more he tried to lift his arm, the more the key crest lost shape. Behind him, he heard a door open and Genis stepped in.

'Lloyd, it's too late, Collette has gone...' the half-elf said sadly.

'What!? No... It can't be true...'

'...COLLETTE!'

Lloyd jumped up in bed and his right hand went straight to the swords lying next to him. He was sweating profusely and breathing heavily, taking a second to come to terms with his nightmare. Shifting his legs around, he gingerly adjusted his left elbow so it was in a right-angled position, angled enough to stop the shooting pains to his shoulder. The desperation from his dream had not left him, and it reminded him of how he had felt when he thought Collette was gone forever.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Lloyd tested his injured arm once more. He was shocked to find he had lost control of all of his fingers, only now able to twitch his thumb slightly. Clutching his wrist with his right hand, Lloyd stared in disbelief at the speed of the problem and closed his eyes to settle himself. He needed to slow down the process to bide him enough time. Around his mind echoed the voice of his dad, Dirk, telling him as a child never to take his key crest off.

It makes you sick, Lloyd. Dirk had told him, so you must promise me, never take it off, no matter what.

What puzzled Lloyd was how quickly his body had reacted to losing the key crest; his mother had lived for a relatively long period of time without many problems, as far as Lloyd knew anyway. Yet it had been no longer than around 24 hours, and Lloyd was beginning to unexplainably lose his left arm.

'I need to slow the process down,' he said outloud to reassure himself, 'and the only way I can think of doing that is by using a key crest, any old one will do.'

His first thought was to go to Altessa's to request one from the dwarf, but his gut instinct told him that it wouldn't be wise, there was a high likelihood of him running into his friends at Altessa's.

No, he needed to be more clever than that.

The only other ally that Lloyd could think of who may have some access to a key crest was Kate, the pope's daughter. She should be able to smuggle one from the Sybak Academy for him, he was just praying that it would hold off the symptoms just a little while longer. She was likely to still be in Ozette, dangerously close to Altessa's house. Lloyd would have to be cautious.

'I'm sorry guys...' Lloyd said, feeling eternally guilty for leaving his friends out of it. He was sure that he would be able to handle it himself, and that any worrying by his friends would only make the situation worse, but his confidence in his decision was beginning to decrease.

Picking up his swords and flinging his rucksack over his shoulder, Lloyd checked out of his room in Triet, and set off to Tethe'alla.

A/N I HATE this chapter! It's very slow and dull, I know, but there is a lot of 'what are we going to do next?' involved when you have to cover so many characters (Party + Lloyd + Kratos + Yuan 10 people), and I guess it's not a hugely action orientated fic anyway. I promise that the pace should quicken slightly over the next few chapters! Please leave any suggestions!