'JUDGEMENT!'

A last laugh escaped Mithos as a circular beam of blinding white light engulfed the leader of Cruxis, creating a blast that blinded those who were watching. A deafening sound rang in their ears, a laugh, a scream, a crash...

Then the screeching sound of metal on marble as a blood red sword went skidding across the platform.

The smoke that was billowing around the Tower was beginning to lift, and the Raine opened her eyes cautiously, unsure as to quite what she would see.

Mithos's body had gone, all that remained was a small, red Exsphere and an inconspicuous metal tin. The 'cages' had been disintegrated and Raine slowly turned her attention to the other side of the room...

Lloyd was lying on his back, his head facing away from the half-elf. His arms were stretched out beside him, the blood red sword lying a few feet from his right hand. He wasn't moving.

Raine let go of Genis's collar in shock, sending the smaller half elf running towards his best friend. He skidded to a halt beside the body and placed his hands on Lloyd's temples.

'No...come on, Lloyd...'

A small amount of white light escaped Genis's hands and flowed into Lloyd's temples, causing the half-elf to sway, dissorientated.

'Genis!'

Raine ran over to her brother, pulling him away from Lloyd, 'Your mana is not going to help, Genis!' She shouted Genis struggled against her grip. Raine managed to turn him towards her.

'It...worked...for...Kratos!...' Genis yelled, flailing his arms wildly at his sister's grip between each word. A steady flow of tears was making streaks down his dirty face, his eyes squeezed shut in anger. Raine pulled him close and wrapped her arms around him. The rest of the party stood, silent.

'Shush...Genis, come on.' Raine placed her chin atop of Genis's shaking head, trying to sooth herself and her brother, 'Kratos's mana was being topped up. Lloyd's has gone, Genis, you must feel it.'

'I won't.'

Genis pushed his sister away and ran towards the entrance to the Tower, leaving Raine knelt on the floor alone.

'Genis...'

Presea followed the distraught boy out of the Tower. Regal took a look over towards Lloyd, shook his head, and followed Presea to help Genis.

'Hot-headed bastard...' Zelos muttered, as he guided a sobbing Sheena over to where Colette was stood on a higher platform. She was staring, ghost-like, at Lloyd, eyes shining with threatening tears. Zelos held out a hand, and helped Colette down from the platform.

'Come on, let's get out of here...'

Zelos put his arms around both of the girls, face solemn, and guided them out towards the entrance.

A silence filled the Tower, broken by the occassional sob from Raine. Yuan was still clinging to Kratos, his arms wrapped tightly round the taller man's chest. He had squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his face into the human's back. He could feel Kratos shaking violently, not needing to look up to realise what the result of the spell was. Slowly, Yuan let go of Kratos, stepping backwards to lean against one of the pillars behind him. Time could have stopped, for all Yuan knew. Raine was picking herself up from Lloyd's side. She pressed her fingers over her eyes, trying to stop the tears that were now flowing freely. She looked up, straight at Kratos.

From behind Kratos, Yuan could see her large blue eyes shining. Her face held a sympathetic look before she brought a hand to her eyes again. She shook her head and looked straight at the blue-haired Seraph. Their eyes met for a second, before Riane glanced back over to Kratos and then to the entrance. Yuan understood and nodded, waving a hand towards to door. The Professor took one last look at Lloyd and walked briskly towards the entrance to go after her brother, wiping her eyes again as she went.

Yuan put his head back on the pillar and stood, silent, for a few seconds, staring into the back of his best friend's head. Kratos hadn't moved, he was staring at his feet and shaking violently, hands crushed into fists beside him. Yuan felt a lump rise in his throat; Kratos didn't deserve this! The man had suffered too much in his life. Grim flashbacks to the day he lost Martel swam in Yuan's mind, voices echoing in his memory.

'No...Martel...'

'Yuan, pull yourself together, you must be strong. Strong for Martel.'

'Fuck off, Kratos!' Yuan swung at his best friend, 'You don't understand, your just a freaking human.'

Kratos hesitated and placed a hand on the half-elvf's shoulder, before turning and heading towards the crumpled heap that was a sobbing Mithos, curled into a ball on the floor beneath a large willow tree. The older man placed a hand on the young boys back, causing it to be swatted away by his student. Rubbing his eyes with one hand, the human pulled the small half elf towards him, strong arms enveloping him in a hug. Mithos pounded at Kratos's chest with a clenched fist, and Kratos just held him. Yuan placed his head back onto the tree he was stood by and closed his eyes.

'Kratos...'

Yuan took a deep breath and walked over to beside his friend. Kratos's eyes were wide, and fixed on the same spot on the marble floor. His eyes were dry, but large beads of sweat had formed over his face, sticking large chunks of his drooping hair to his forehead. Kratos didn't react to Yuan's presence, he just stared. Yuan placed a hand briefly on Kratos's arm, and walked over to where Mithos's Cruxis Crystal lay. He crouched and turned it over in his hands a couple of times, memories flooding back to him of the creation of the Angelic Exspheres. It was unknown territory, but Yuan shared Mithos's desire to ressurect Martel, and was enthusiastic to go along with the same plan.

'We can ressurect Martel...?'

'Yes!' Mithos's eyes were shining with enthusiasm, 'With our new Angelic abilities, we can control the Desians and begin to find a way to create a vessel for Martel!'

Yuan paced up and down the small room on Derris-Kharlan, pondering the idea. Something didn't seem quite right...but the thought of bringing Martel back was one that dominated his thoughts. Kratos was leaning against the opposite wall, eyes closed and arms folded. He had not yet expressed his opinion on Mithos's scheme.

'Well?' Mithos asked Yuan, clutching his hands together hopefully.

'And you say this can all be done by the development of a new breed of Exsphere, designed to give us Angelic abilities..?'

'Yeah! Pretty neat, isn't it? It would prolong our lives too, so we wouldn't stop until we ressurected Martel!'

'And...' Yuan was beginning to come round, 'we could keep an eye on this new world we have created, making sure no other humans have the chace to screw it up again!'

Kratos's eyes snapped open, 'How do you propose we do that?' He enquired.

'The Desians!' Mithos turned to his teacher, 'If the Desians kept the people in order, we could work on a way to curb descrimination. What do you think, sensei?'

Kratos hesitated, 'I admire your enthusiasm, Mithos, but I am concerned about this whole cheating death business. You know I, as a human, am not meant to live more than around 80 years. It would be disrupting the natural balance, something I can't say I'm too enthusiastic about.'

'But we can use Origin to create a new natural balance, one where the two worlds share the same mana supply that my sister gave her life for!' Mithos's face started to deepen in colour, 'That way, we can avoid the creation of new magitechnology and any new wars!'

'Well I think it's a good idea, Kratos,' Yuan smiled, placing a hand on Mithos's head and causing the younger half-elf to scowl.

'Hmm...we'll see.' Kratos closed his eyes again.

Yuan pocketed the Crystal, biting away at the inside of his lip. Mithos was really gone. Yuan had wanted this for some time now, but the realisation that the young boy he had known from when they lived in Heimdall, the brother of his fiance, and the hero of the Kharlan War was gone...well, it hit him hard. Yuan's eyes were drawn to the small metal tin, the only other thing that appeared to survive the blast. He pulled it towards him, a rattling sound from within echoing around the silent hall. Prying it open with his fingernails, Yuan was shocked to what he saw inside.

There was a key crest. It was similar to the ones Kratos and Yuan had for their Cruxis Crystals, but it was brand new. It was finely carved, the circular shape perfect and the light bounced of the Aionis-containing metal with ease. It was a crest even a dwarf would be proud of. Yuan raised his eyebrows. Why would there be a key crest in the tin? He assumed it was for Lloyd, but questioned its existance nonetheless.

Underneath the key crest was a small rectangular piece of paper. It was a photo, taken by one of the more advanced magitechnology cameras from all those years ago. Yuan smiled as he turned it over an gazed upon its picture.

Himself and his three companions. There was a grinning Mithos, with his elbow on a rather irritated-looking Yuan's shoulder. Behind Yuan was Martel, who had a hand to her mouth to stiffle her laughter, and her other hand on the blue-haired Seraph's arm. Stood behind Mithos was Kratos, arms folded. Yuan remembered faintly that Kratos never agreed to the young half-elf's shenanigans, particularly ones that involved his participation. However, a small smirk was evident on the human's face, as he watched his student tease his friend as he did so often.

Yuan shook his head and stuffed the picture in his pocket with the Cruxis Crystal. Those times were over. Mithos went crazy with grief, and Kratos and Yuan were too weak to stop him. Mithos was gone. Yuan had to accept he had lost Martel, the closest person to him, and support his only true friend over these 4000 years in the final chapter of the story.

He glanced back over to Kratos, whose gaze was now fixed on Yuan. Their eyes met for a few seconds, before Yuan turned to walk towards Lloyd. Kratos had relaxed slightly, and his eyes followed the half elf across the platform.

Lloyd had gone a deathly white. His arms were spread beside him and his face was blank, eyes closed. His mouth was gaping, as if he was to say something, but otherwise, Lloyd's face seemed relaxed and at peace. Yuan crouched beside the teenager and pulled the boy's hands onto his stomach. He pulled the key crest out of his pocket and fitted it to Lloyd's Exsphere.

'You got one in the end, Lloyd...' Yuan muttered, aware that Kratos had slowly walked over to join him.

Kratos crouched on the other side of the teenager, eyes blank and dry. He looked from Lloyd's face to his hands a couple of times, before reaching out and brushing the hair off Lloyd's forehead. Yuan watched as he did this, wary of Kratos's reaction. He couldn't even begin to envisage what was going through Kratos's head, but he had to commit himself to support his friend, whatever form his reaction takes.

Kratos left a hand on Lloyd's forehead for a split second, before placing his hands around the teenager's neck and unclasping the small golden locket that was tied there. He dropped it into one of his hands, letting the chain fold into a small pile on his palm, and placed it in Lloyd's open hands, closing the grip shut with his own.

Without saying a word, Kratos scooped Lloyd up into his arms and turned towards the door. Yuan let him go ahead for a second, before following silently, picking up the blood red sword as he went.

...

Neither Kratos nor Yuan noticed the small areas of white that appeared around the knuckles of the Exsphere-carrying left hand, as the precious locket was squeezed into a tighter grasp.