About halfway through the afternoon we arrived at the outskirts of the Asgard Ranch. Noishe was nowhere to be found, due to the abundant Desian population, so I was still forced to walk. My legs felt like month-old jelly.
"There's the ranch." Lloyd stated suddenly, and sure enough there it was through a gap in the trees. I shoved down an urge to run up and spraypaint graffiti all over the front gate (impossible to accomplish because of the guards and a lack of paint), and stated the all-important question instead.
"So, how do we get in?" I was awarded with more stares for my effort. "Why are you all looking at me?"
"You mean you don't know?" Genis asked, amazed. "And here I was thinking that you were smarter than Raine!" She promptly whacked him in the head with a tree branch. "Ow!"
"What?" In the game Raine was the one who came up with the plan, but since everybody was staring at me... "Oh, fine. Why don't we just...have someone dress up like a Desian and the rest of us pretend to be prisoners?" I pretended to have that come off the top of my head, spur-of-the-moment.
"Dress up like Desians..." Raine bowed her head, clearly considering the plan. That took a moment of my life, during which I got eaten by mosquitoes and nearly sat in a patch of poison ivy (thankfully, the members of my family are immune to it). "You know, that's not a bad idea." Raine stated finally, peeking out of the bush at the road to watch the gate. "We'll wait until a Desian patrol comes by, and then ambush them to steal their uniforms, alright?"
"Gotcha." Lloyd grinned evilly, excitement mounting. "Man, I can't wait..."
"I can." I muttered under my breath. "I don't particularly want to kill someone..."
"It comes with the territory." Kratos replied quietly and without remorse. "These things cannot be helped... Besides, I thought you were looking forward to killing Kvar?" He asked suddenly, changing track so fast I nearly lost him.
"Kvar...is different." I answered carefully. "After seeing what he's done, I don't know if I can call him anything but a monster. And we all know I have no problem killing monsters..."
"Humph. Look at it however you see fit." Kratos muttered, before perking up and looking down the road, hand on his sword. "Shh. A patrol is coming."
"What do you mean? I can't hear anything." Genis mumbled, looking around in confusion.
"Quiet, Genis. I hear them too." Colette whispered, reaching for her chakrams and putting on a brave face. I guessed she wasn't exactly enthralled at the idea of having to kill people either.
By now, the patrol had come into view on the road, and we were all tense. "Somebody distract them from the front," I hissed. "Then we can get them from the back before they can blink. Spellcaster and healer stay in bushes please, you'll be safer."
"Alright. Be careful." Raine murmured, tightening her grip on her staff. Beside her, Genis had his kendama out and already looked like he was charging up a spell. Good ol' Short Stuff.
"I'll distract them." Lloyd said, and hopped out into the road with swords drawn. "Double Demon Fang!" The double shockwave caught the patrol of three off guard, and that's when Kratos moved in. Swift as a shadow, he sliced one of the lesser party's backs open before I could blink.
That meant it was my turn now. As the two remaining patrol members went after Kratos and Lloyd, I stuck my foot out of the bushes. Lo and behold, someone else fell over it and I jumped out on top of them. It turned out to be a female Desian, and I automatically knew that I couldn't get this uniform dirty, since Raine would be wearing it later.
Looking up for a moment, I noted Lloyd and Colette closing on the last remaining Desian as Kratos cleaned his sword on a patch of grass. As my captive squirmed under me, I set my jaw and tried to figure out a quick way to kill her. A slash through the spinal cord at the back of the neck should do it... Reaching for my Hydra Dagger, I pulled it out, the blue crystal blade flashing in the sunlight. Setting it right against the side of the Desian's neck, I shut my eyes and yanked my dagger through. The sharp blade cut so easily I thought for a moment that I'd missed, but when I opened my eyes there was a deep slash in the corpse's neck, and blood was flowing everywhere.
...ewww. So this is what it's like to kill somebody, I thought, gingerly cleaning my dagger on a clean section of the path. I now have someone else's blood on my hands... But at least it was painless for them, right?
You've turned into a total nutcase if you can find something positive about murder, I scolded myself, turning away from my victim and sheathing the Hydra Dagger. I now wanted this mission over with so that we could leave. Behind me, Raine was busy salvaging the uniforms (the ones that were clean enough to use, anyway).
"Okay," she announced after thirty more minutes of us hiding in the woods, "Let's get this over with. I'll be the Desian."
"Aww... I wanted to be the Desian!" Lloyd whined, crestfallen. Raine gave him a withering glare.
"That would be impossible unless you had a sudden gender change. This uniform is for females, and it's the only serviceable one," she stated, gathering up the outfit and stepping behind a tree. "Now don't look unless you want to be permanently blind."
"No problems there." I muttered, instantly turning my back. Once you've been nearsighted, you'll never want to be that way again. Trust me. Genis and Lloyd followed suit, while Kratos watched the road for more Desian patrols and Colette looked at the sky.
"I'm done." Raine said, stepping out from the tree after a few minutes. "How do I look?"
"Not bad, Professor." I grinned. "Now all you have to do is stick that look on your face you get every time Lloyd and Genis do something dumb, and we'll be all set to go." Raine rearranged her features accordingly into an angry scowl, then gathered up the spear that came with the uniform and herded us all out onto the path towards the front gate of the Asgard Human Ranch.
"Try to look more prisoner-like," she hissed at us as we shuffled along. "You know, broken and defeated?"
"I hate this." Lloyd muttered, hanging his head and trying to look like he'd been through the mill a few times. I shrugged and let my shoulders slump, arms hanging limply at my sides. Genis had his hands over his head like Raine was going to hit him and looked terrified (so well I couldn't tell if he was faking or not), Colette tried to look like she was going to cry, and Kratos hid all expression behind his hair.
"Halt!" One of the Desians at the gate announced. "State your business!"
"I've captured the wanted criminal, Lloyd Irving, and his companions!" Raine announced in what was supposed to be an evil voice. It sounded remarkably familiar to what we referred to as 'Ruin-Mode'. "I wish to take them to Lord Kvar immediately."
"Congratulations," The Desian guard at the gate smirked. "You may proceed." Raine pretended to whack those of us in the back of the line with her spear, and we all shuffled in through the main gate.
Once safely inside the compound Raine removed her helmet and fluffed her silver hair vigorously. "Whew, I am never putting that on again," she said, booting the helmet off into a corner somewhere. "Now, time to see where we are and what needs to be done..." I looked around the area. It seemed we were in the main control room, which was handy. But wait, this was our first visit to the stupid ranch. Unwelcome visitors would soon be upon us.
"Shh," Colette whispered suddenly, going stiff. "I hear voices coming from the next room."
"Hunh? I don't hear anything." Genis stated, perking his little slightly-pointed ears to listen. Shaking my head at his ignorance, I focused my eyes on the room in question.
"Still, let's be careful Genis..." I muttered, my hand straying to my hip for my Hydra Dagger.
The door suddenly slid open, and Botta rushed into the room with two of his flunkies. I made a face, Gamecube graphics really didn't do his profile justice.
Botta stopped short, looking around at us with surprise and- fear? I couldn't tell, but maybe it was because he saw Kratos. "Damn," he hissed, "I didn't think we'd see you here!"
"I do not think it would be in our best interests to fight here." Kratos stated quietly, motioning for Botta and his Renegades to move on. Looking uncertainly at the members of our group, Botta finally looked over his shoulder and ran off with minions in tow. I quickly drew my dagger, two mages were standing in the doorway and they didn't look friendly.
"Intruders!" One gasped, and started to charge up a spell with his companion following suit. They released a volley of fireballs at Colette, Kratos, and I, namely because we were closest.
"Guardian!" Kratos shielded himself, and I mirrored him, though not quite as well. My mana shield needed a little work, but it withstood the three fireballs that smattered against it. Colette managed to duck two, but the third hit her in the chest and she fell over backwards with jacket singed. In light of this, Lloyd gasped and hurried over to help her.
Meanwhile, the rest of us had gone rigid because a certain weasel-faced Grand Cardinal had stepped in behind his soldiers and was leering at us. As Kvar chuckled evilly, I snuck a cautious glance over at Kratos. His entire body was tense, and I could tell he was fighting down a serious urge to smite the weasel slime with the most powerful Judgment spell he could muster. But then again, that wouldn't do much for his cover if he went around smiting people as an angel in front of us.
"Well now," Kvar grinned, "When I heard we had some rats I thought it would be those annoying Renegades, but I never did expect to encounter you lot in my ranch. Do you like it?" Lloyd looked up from Colette and muttered something that sounded remotely similar to "bastard". During that little phase his exsphere happened to glint as it caught the light, and Kvar saw it, his expression changing instantly. "That exsphere..."
I felt my anger build, and knew we needed to get out of here. If only I could perform that attack... There's no better time to try than now! Focus! Remember Kratos' lessons! My mana spiraled down into the dagger. "Go to hell, Kvar," I growled, swiping the Hydra Dagger outwards in a crescent shape and releasing the mana towards him. "Demon Fang!"
The attack caught him off guard and hit Kvar in the side, causing him to double over. I moved then, but Kratos was faster, slicing through a mage and dragging Colette behind him through the door into a hallway beyond. Maiming my own opponent with Lloyd's help, we ran after the others with Raine and Genis in tow, out the door to safety.
Our party emerged on a landing at the top of a stairway. Lloyd and Genis rooted through some nearby chests for loot while the rest of us caught our breath, then we all descended the stairs. At the bottom we ran into a small patrol of foot soldiers, which were quickly dispatched and left to writhe in puddles of their own blood. We walked away from that encounter with a few cuts and scrapes- nothing an apple gel couldn't fix, and definitely nothing to write home about. After that it was down the walkway, up some stairs, cross a landing and go down more stairs, and then we hit the end of the line.
I stood on the small end platform and stared up at a giant window above us with the rest of the gang. There were horrible screams and cries coming from behind that window, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. Exspheres were being extracted from their host bodies, and the prisoners were dying. Lloyd's face bore a look of undeniable realization as he stared from his exsphere to the window above, along with Genis and Raine. Kratos didn't bother to look at his, he was too busy bristling like a live wire. The poor guy, having to see all of this again. I gingerly stepped up and laid a hand on his arm.
Kratos flinched at the sudden contact, then looked down at me. His eyes were suddenly uncharacteristically soft, a thousand nightmares replaying behind those red orbs. "Don't worry, Kratos." I whispered. "We'll get him."
"I know." He replied quietly, turning away and hiding his expression behind his hair once more. I had the feeling he'd be like that for the rest of the duration of time that we were here.
"So, there you all are." I bit back the growl forming in my throat as we slowly turned around to face Weasel Man. He grinned smugly. "Do you like my exsphere production? It's quite revolutionary."
"But those are people in there!" Lloyd suddenly exploded, and blanched just as quickly. "You're not saying that... Exspheres are made from human lives...!"
"Oh, indeed I am." Kvar replied with a smirk. "Now then, that exsphere... That is undoubtedly the product of my Angelus Project!"
"An.. Angelus Project?" Lloyd asked, confused. His exsphere seemed to glint in the light, mocking Kvar in it's own little way. The bastard Cardinal smirked again, and I was reeeeally starting to get tired of that...
"I was trying to cultivate a more advanced form of exsphere on a human host body," Kvar explained. "The host body chosen was prisoner A012- human name, Anna. Your mother."
I gulped as I watched all remaining color drain from Lloyd's face.
"Now then, I don't suppose you'd mind giving that exsphere back to me..."
"Never!" Lloyd snapped. "I'm not going to give it back to the murdering bastard that killed my mom!"
"Now now," Kvar said, "Let's not go throwing the blame where it doesn't belong. I didn't kill her... Your father did."
There was a collective moment of stunned silence for the whole group. Lloyd had gone whiter than I'd ever thought possible for a human (think bleached milk) with shock. "Th-there's no way..."
"It's quite true, I assure you." Kvar said with false cheeriness, looking quite amused. "If only that filthy female host body hadn't run off with him and stolen my Angelus Project, that might never have happened."
"Don't talk about my parents that way!" Lloyd snarled, hatred rising in his eyes. Kratos had gone stiff again.
"Do not speak ill of the dead." He growled, glaring at Kvar from under his bangs. The Grand Cardinal gave him an indifferent look, before his hungry eyes settled on Lloyd's exsphere.
"I'm tired of this nonsense. Get them!" Kvar ordered, when there was a poof of smoke and Sheena appeared in front of us, looking a bit beat up but none the worse for the wear.
"I'm sorry Grandpa...looks like I'm gonna have to use the last one." She muttered, before mumbling something under her breath. Seconds later another guardian demon appeared and attacked the oncoming Desians with a screech. During that little interval, Sheena spirited us all away.
----------
We sat around our old campfire back in Luin that night, tired, sore, and utterly shocked. Even I was a little horrified, and I'd seen that sight two times, as well as having prior warning. However, I guess that just went to prove that you have to see some things up close to get the full picture.
"This...thing!" Lloyd burst out suddenly, ripping his exsphere off his hand and holding it above the fire, ready to throw it in. There were collective gasps from all around, and I saw Kratos go stiff again. Instinctively, I knew if Lloyd chucked that exsphere Kratos would retrieve it from the fire. A noble act, but not good for his cover.
"Lloyd, don't! That exsphere has your mother's life in it!" Colette cried, motioning for him to put it down. "Don't just throw your mom away!"
"Besides, Lloyd, if we got rid of our exspheres we wouldn't be able to fight the Desians and help Colette regenerate the world." Yay for rationable lil' Short Stuff. Genis was also staring at his exsphere, absently stroking it.
"Yeah, I know." Something in Lloyd seemed to sag for a moment. "But...just knowing what these things are made of...what it did to my mother...!"
"I know how you feel, Lloyd," Genis said, holding up his hand so that the exsphere flashed in the light. "This is Marble's life..."
"I know my opinion doesn't matter too much, because I don't use an exsphere," ...Ignoramus. What do you think is attached to your chest? "But if I ended up like that, I wouldn't want to be thrown away. I'd want to help someone, to be useful!"
Lloyd gave Colette a long look, then his exsphere. "Well Lloyd? Do you still feel the same way about exspheres?" Raine asked after a moment.
"No!" Lloyd's unusual outbursts were quite surprising. The people nearest to him took a cautious step back, and those farther away just stared at him. That would be Kratos and myself, for I was sitting on the remains of a burned-up couch and Kratty was...well, being Kratty.
Lloyd sighed, seeming a bit crestfallen again. "I'm sorry to snap Professor, guys. Just...give me some time to think about it, okay?"
"Have all the time you need," I said, getting up and dusting off my butt before heading through a hole in the wall out towards the lake. "I'm going stargazing. 'Night Lloyd."
The sky was clear and glittered with the Sylvarantian stars I'd slowly become familiar with. I still couldn't find any constellations- even though there was that one cluster that reminded me of the Pleiades- but that never stopped me from looking anyway. Sitting down on a bench near the fountain, there was a whine from behind me and Noishe came trotting down the path. Large ears bobbing, he plopped down on the ground next to my bench with a sigh and laid his head on crossed paws, staring at the water.
"You did well with killing that Desian today."
I nearly fell off the bench with fright as Kratos materialized out of the darkness, wearing his signature smirk. Flipping back some of my hair, I shot him a frosty look. "It's not something I'm proud of, y'know."
"Do you want to talk about it?" This time, I really did fall off the bench. Kratos, meanwhile, sat down at the other end and watched me brush myself off before sitting gingerly back down on the bench. "What was that about?"
"It's just... Kratos... You're acting so...un-Kratos-y!" I blinked, amazed. "You sound like my psychologist! Since when do you care about how I feel?"
Kratos hrmphed. "A teacher has to take care of his students." I quickly smacked myself in the face.
"Seriously, stop before I faint. Whaddya mean 'teacher-and-student?'"
"I'm teaching you swordplay, aren't I?" Kratos said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Both you and Lloyd. That would make you my students."
"If that's so, and I suddenly decide to apply your philosophy, why aren't you over there talking to Lloyd?" I asked, pointing over to where the campfire was faintly glowing from among the ruined houses. Kratos smirked again.
"I already did, and you were next on my list, so here I am," he replied calmly. "Your Demon Fang was also nice. I must admit, I was a little surprised you'd master it there of all places..."
My head swam. Dear Martel, I was getting praised by the king of hotness himself, who was now apparently my self-appointed teacher. Despite the tragedies from earlier, could this night get any better?
Apparently so...
"Tomorrow we'll start trying to learn the Double Demon Fang. Since Kvar knows we infiltrated his ranch once already, the security will have been stepped up and we won't be able to get back in there for a bit. It's the perfect time to step up your training..."
I take that back. I'd rather face Kvar than have Kratos pound on me from dawn till dusk. Kratos huffed a bit of a disappointed sigh, so I guess my face was giving me away again.
"So..um...back to that Desian-killing thing," I said, trying to steer his mind away from future training sessions. "How can you stand to kill people like that? Doesn't it kind of...eat away at your brain after a while?"
Kratos shrugged indifferently. "I've long become used to killing. Occasionally yes, it does disturb me, but like I said back at the ranch: It's something that comes with the territory. There will be situations where you must kill if you want to live, so it's best to get used to it right now."
I sat quietly for a moment, absorbing Kratos' other and decidedly cold philosophy. Best to get used to it right now... After a moment I looked up to ask another question, but Kratos was gone.
"Thanks for the advice, I guess," I sighed as I leaned over to rub Noishe behind the ears, "my new teacher."