'Damn...'

The largest log of wood fell off the pile, leaving many of its smaller counterparts teetering dangerously over the edge. Kate kicked the log along the floor with her feet, unable to see as the pile of logs that she was carrying obscured her vision. Dumping them on the floor outside Presea's house, she sat on the steps by the door, wiping the sweat off her brow with her arm. The work in Ozette was going well, and Kate had managed to get help from some of the people of Mizuho to rebuild the village. After being rescued from Meltokio, she had taken it upon herself to restore the devestated town back to its former self, as a way of atoning for her research on Presea, among others.

'...Kate?'

The half elf was startled by the voice and glanced up at its source. She was taken aback to see the familiar figure of Lloyd Irving in a not-so-familiar black outfit. His hair was drooping over his right eye, its chestnut brown colour striking against the pale-grey, sweat-covered skin. His mouth formed a small smile when they finally made eye contact, although Kate could see that he sensed her shock.

'Lloyd? What are you-'

'I need your help with something...'

'Are you sure you are OK with doing this, Yuan?' Kratos asked as Yuan jumped onto the Rhieard near Iselia, 'You are wanted by Mithos, and will not be welcome in Welgaia.'

'I know, Kratos,' Yuan replied, 'I won't be long, and besides, those lifeless drones won't know Mithos has beef with me, they will let me past like they always do. I'll try and find out how we can get some Aionis without getting found out while I am there.'

'Alright, Yuan, although it is a little foolish for my liking.' Kratos conceded, 'We aren't even sure Lloyd can get around Welgaia unnoticed.'

'Which makes the search all the more simple. I go to Derris-Kharlan, check to see if he has been captured or not, try and grab some Aionis, and high-tail out of there. Easy.' Yuan smiled. Kratos, unphased, shook his head and climbed onto his Rhieard.

'There.'

Kate handed the key crest to Lloyd in the basement of the labs in Sybak. With a help of a couple of friends, it was easy enough for her to take one of the key crests on hold for the Pope's research. She watched him turn it over a few times in with the fingers of his right hand, staring blankly at the small piece of metal she had given him.

'Is it alright?' She asked tentatively.

'It's fine, thank you Kate.' Lloyd the key crest in his jacket pocket, nodded at the other half elves in the room and turned to leave.

'...Lloyd?' Kate called after him, totally confused by the young swordsman's behaviour. 'That's not like him at all...' she mumbled to herself.

Lloyd sat himself down on the bed in Altamira - the city he considered would be safest from him running into his friends. He rubbed his eyes with his good hand and shook his head.

What is wrong with me? He thought to himself, I didn't even thank Kate properly, I just took the key crest and walked out. I'm such an idiot.

Lloyd pulled the key crest out of his pocket and let it lie flat in his palm. It was a good standard, finely crafted and much neater than the makeshift key crests he had made for Raine and Collette.

'I sure hope this works,' He said to himself, 'then I can go back to my friends...'

Lloyd placed the key crest on the bed beside him and used his right arm to pull his left hand onto his lap. His arm had been hanging limply at his side, the symptoms had progressed quickly to his elbow, meaning that the ability to bend his arm had been lost entirely. Bracing himself, Lloyd pulled off the glove of his left hand. He scowled at the gemstone, noticing a deep purple colour beginning to form around it. Resting his arm on his knee once more, he took the key crest with his right hand and let it hover over the Exsphere. Closing his eyes, Lloyd brought his hand down and tried to force the key crest around his Exsphere. The pressure caused a sharp pain to exude from his arm into his shoulder, almost making him dizzy, but after a few seconds, the key crest fell neatly into place.

Lloyd gritted his teeth as the pain subsided slowly. Taking a deep breath, he looked down at his newly placed key crest. It seemed to be an OK size, although he suspected that some swelling around his Exsphere was what caused the pain when he attached it. He tried to lift his arm, and was surprised to see that his shoulder worked well enough to do so, despite his elbow still being currently out of use. He held his arm out in front of him, bicep struggling to slightly due to their weakness and glared at his fingers, willing them to move. After what a few seconds of concentration, Lloyd managed to twitch his thumb slightly, letting his arm drop back onto his lap after his success and breathing an internal sigh of relief.

'Right, that's a start,' Lloyd reassured himself, standing to go and pick up his rucksack at the far end of the room, he needed his change of clothes, 'hopefully I will get my hand back by tomorrow morning so I can head back to Iselia and-'

'Argh!'

Lloyd buckled as a spasm of pain was sent jolting up his back. He fell to his knees and screwed his eyes shut, waiting for the pain to subside. His left hand radiated with a sickening ache, which spread up to his elbow and shoulder. Throwing himself over so he was sat on the floor with his back to the wall, Lloyd grabbed his swords with his right hand and tried to do up the belt around his waist, his good arm shaking furiously.

After he was successfull, Lloyd grabbed his rucksack, pulled out his white vest top and replaced the black one he was wearing with it. His black top was dripping with sweat and he stuffed it into his rucksack, followed by his jacket. Laying his head back on the wall, Lloyd tried to take control of the situation, every inch of his body was aching, his head was swimming and he was feeling physically sick. A purple mist seemed to have descended in front of his eyes, the room swaying dangerously before him. Lloyd pulled himself to his feet, stumbled slightly and leant with his back to the wall.

There could be only one reason that he was feeling the way he was, so he reached out blindly with his right hand and felt for his left. Finding the gloveless hand, he braced himself as he placed his fingers round the extremities of the cool metal surrounding his Exsphere. Closing his eyes, Lloyd counted himself in.

'3...2...1...'

Pulling with all his might, he flung the key crest across the room, and sank back to a seated position beside the wall. He sat still and breathed heavily for a second, allowing his surroundings to swim back into focus before him.

'I need some freaking Aionis...'

'I won't be long, Kratos,' Yuan said, walking briskly through the trees, the red-haired Seraph following, 'Just stick here and keep an eye out for me, I'll just-'

'Can I ask you something, Yuan?' Kratos had stopped, leaving his blue-haired counterpart to stop a few metres further on, 'Why are you doing this?'

'I can't say I am 100 sure myself,' Yuan answered, not turning to face Kratos, 'but the fact of the matter is that we need Lloyd in the battle against Mithos...and I guess I owe you a favour after ditching Mithos and his city of robots, and I owe Lloyd for trying to get in his way to suit my own ends and for telling him the truth about you in a way that wasn't really fair.'

Kratos stood in silence, staring at his friend's back. After a brief pause, Yuan strode off into the trees towards the overpowering Tower of Salvation that hung ominously over them.

'...I'm glad you did.' Kratos mumbled to himself, running a hand through his hair and heading towards the small hill to the west just outside the mass of trees, in order to keep a look out for his lost son.

Landing his Rhieard on the East side of the Tower behind on top of a cliff face, Lloyd began to scale a narrow path leading further up the small mountain, overlooking the last thing he wanted to see, but the first thing he needed. That Tower...his ticket to Welgaia and some Aionis ore.

Lloyd struggled as he climbed up the steep path, his black boots slipping on unstable rocks and his good right hand clinging to every protrounding stone he could see. He hadn't felt right since he had removed the key crest he recieved from Kate; his eyes were swimming slightly before him and his head pounded with a sharp ache between his eyes.

Scrambling over the crest of the first section of the hill, Lloyd reached a small flat area overlooking the Tower. It was around a 15 metre drop to the ground, just outside of the entrance to the Tower, although to his right, Lloyd saw of a suitable path that, despite it being steep, should be possible to use in order to descend. It would leave him right outside the entrance of the Tower, and so give him the best chance of reaching the teleporter unnoticed.

Lloyd had only taken a few steps towards the path before his vision blurred and orange spots began to appear before his eyes. He lost his balance slightly and stumbled dangerously towards the edge, holding out only his right hand for balance. By throwing his weight to one side, Lloyd was able to redirect himself away from the edge and towards the path, but his feet slipped on a loose rock and sent him hurtling face first over the edge of the drop and carreering towards the floor.

...

From a small hill on the other side of the Tower, Kratos was startled to hear a cry of panic, and turned to see a person in a white tank top and black trousers fall face first from a large drop and strike the ground with a sickening thud.

A/N Woah got a lot into that chapter. Hope everyone liked it. I hope Kratos and Yuan weren't too OOC, I wanted to explore their friendship a little more, as I don't think they really get across 4000 years of friendship in the game...more of that to come I guess.

ARGH gotta do my UCAS personal statement tomorrow! Nooooooo :(