A.N: Chapter 19, here for your enjoyment.

Escape

Trembling white fingers reached out to run along a plain of skin that was only a shade darker than the digits skimming down to a familiar, strong jaw-line. Blue eyes met garnet, locking and holding an equally stunned gaze.

"Kratos?"

A silent nod that caused auburn strands to quiver with the movement. He seemed to realise the position he was in with her a moment later, for he pulled away and stood, offering a hand to her. She took it gratefully, letting him help her to her feet.

"Are you ok?"

"…Yes…just…surprised. I didn't expect to see you again."

"Nor I. I'm relieved to see that you're well…considering the situation."

"You know, this beautiful reunion of two people who didn't realise they were in love with each other is very touching…but we don't really have time for it."

Kratos spun at the voice, recognising it instantly.

"Yuan?"

"Who else?"

Blue light spilt over Yuan's form, the bright light causing the weakened seraph to flinch away as Kratos approached him, eyebrows furrowed slightly and lips parted in dismay at his friend's condition.

"Well this would explain why the Renegades looked so flustered when I asked to see you."

A weak nod followed from Yuan in response.

"It would."

The auburn haired seraph knelt next to the other, eyes flicking to Raine briefly as she stepped into the halo of light from Kratos' mana.

"We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Obviously."

"But…" Garnet and emerald eyes turned to meet blue simultaneously. "Genis…and the other half-elves…"

"Lloyd is on the mid-level searching for Genis, Zelos and Sheena are on the top floor searching for anyone else and all the other captives have been freed. Regal and Presea are leading them out."

"Alone?! What about all the guards?"

"It's being taken care of. We have to go."

He turned his attention to Yuan. "Can you walk?"

"Do I look like I can?"

"No."

"Then I probably can't."

"A simple 'no' would have sufficed."

"Probably."

Rolling his eyes, Kratos dipped slightly, slipping an arm around Yuan's back, the other sliding under his knees to lift him from the ground.

"Wait!" Raine trotted over to them, kneeling on Yuan's other side "If you lift him now the cables will tear his wings off."

"…Your wings are present?"

Yuan nodded, a dry rustle drawing Kratos' attention and he found Yuan's wings all but completely stripped of feathers, the bare frame left behind. White mana cables lay on the floor having fallen off when the majority of his feathers had been lost.

"Put them away Yuan…what's left of them anyway, it may save you some energy."

Branch like appendages folded back inside a weak body, tucked neatly between shoulder blades in a raw mana form as Kratos lifted Yuan from the ground, his own wings still out to provide light.

Raine stood and headed for the door, Kratos in tow, pushing it open and stepping out into an eerily empty corridor.

"Left down the corridor then right," Kratos directed and Raine followed his directions without a moment's hesitation until they had eventually reached the tube like lift.

The scholar packed herself in, pressing against cold glass as Kratos and Yuan followed, the latter barely moving in his old friend's arms. Somewhere along the walk to the lift, he had slipped into unconsciousness.

"Will he…?"

"Survive? …possibly. It depends on how quickly we can…attend to the problem of this so called 'Leader'."

"I…don't think that will be a problem."

Raine turned slightly, staring into darkness as the lift rose.

"Why?"

"…He should be dead by now…"

Kratos raised an eyebrow, a silent gesture to elaborate.

"The Leader of the Saloth'sarians was a half-elf himself…he just didn't think of himself as one. Of course, when he ordered the Loras Project to be undertaken that left him in a predicament."

"It would kill him as well as every other half-elf."
"Exactly. So…he asked me to find a way to make him human."

"That's not possible."
"Which is what I told him…which, obviously, he didn't appreciate…so I told him I could save him from the bomb…"

"How?"

"By turning him into a pure-blood elf."
The seraph's brow furrowed as they past the first floor of the dungeon. "That's not possible either."

"Then what does Aionis do to the body, Kratos?"

"It adds a magical element to pure, human blood, as you know."
"Essentially turning them into a half-elf, yes?"

"…Not genetically but in principle it would."

"Which I'm aware of. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't…the information Yuan provided me with about the effects of Aionis on the human body proved to be very useful."

Raine could see realisation dawn on Kratos.

"Too much Aionis would prove to be fatal on any human blood present…" he turned to her "you poisoned him by overdosing him."

She nodded, looking up as the next floor up came into view. "He should already be dead."

Kratos shook his head, though whether it was in dismay or…any other emotion, Raine couldn't tell.

"You're a wonder sometimes, Raine."

Raine stared, taken aback and opened her mouth to reply when the door of the elevator slid open and Kratos stepped out into the main reception hall…and when she saw who was standing there, she laughed with relief and pleasure, rushing forwards to embrace her little brother.

They hugged fiercely, Raine holding Genis who now stood at least a full head over her against her, somehow managing to overpower his attempts to free himself.

"Raine," he choked "I'm glad to see you to but….it would be nice to be able to…breathe."

Glancing at the tight hold she had on him, Raine released Genis to look around to meet the gazes of Zelos and Sheena, all relieved to see her well.

Her eyes caught on the frayed ends of Zelos' severed hair.

"What…?"
"I don't wanna talk about it," he shifted his eyes away "Let's talk about you…what's new with..?"

A choking gasp interrupted him just as he had Raine and the party turned to see Kratos lowering a coughing Yuan to the floor, his arm still supporting his back. Lloyd was knelt at their sides, clearly wanting to help but not being able to.

"How…since when has Yuan been here?" Sheena asked, eyes trailing over the seraph's pale body.

"Since before any of you were brought in. Potentially 6 months or so…at the very least that was the last time I saw him and I was one of the last visitor's he had, according to the Renegades."

"6 months?! God it's only about a month and I'm already traumatised by this place." The ninja stated, shifting her weight to one leg.

Zelos lifted an eyebrow. "Traumatised?"

"Ok, maybe that's too strong a word but…"

"His mental state is not a concern at this point," Kratos stated "Mentally, Yuan has been through much more taxing situations. It is his physical health that is at stake."

"How did they manage to do that to him, though?...I mean, he's a seraph, you guys are like, indestructible."

"Not quite…as to how he's in this state it would be likely due to…"

"Mana deprivation," Raine cut in, "The tracking device that the Loras project used was based on Yuan's own mana, they were draining it from him and into the project."

"Which would leave anyone weakened and vulnerable. In the case of a seraph, it would reduce us to a state which is more…"

"Normal?" Lloyd suggested.

"I was going to say…human but…I suppose that 'normal' is a vaguely suitable term."

"So they reduce him to a human level and then pound the crap out of him?" Zelos asked, leaning forwards to look at Yuan.

"It was not so much 'pounding the crap out of him', as you put it, young man, so much as rough handling on the guards part."

Genis jumped at the voice, spinning towards the owner of the voice as everyone else turned at a more dignified pace, Raine backing away slightly, already aware of whom it was.

Standing in the doorway to the meeting room, was the Leader.

"Who the hell are you?" Lloyd asked, instantly jumping to his feet and taking a protective stance in front of his friends.

The Leader waved a pale, trembling hand. "That is of little concern to you, boy."

"Lloyd," Genis' hand curled around Lloyd's forearm "this is the Leader of the Saloth'sarians."

"How?..." Raine breathed. Kratos' asked flicked up to her face before travelling across to the drawn features of the leader.

"…Am I alive? After you tried to murder me…it seems I'm not as weak as you think, Raine." He took a staggered step forwards, dragging a heavy broadsword behind him.

"Are you sure about that?" Lloyd asked, an edge of cockiness creeping into his voice "You can hardly stand…much less use that sword."
"Lloyd. Don't antagonise an enemy who has nothing to lose, he's still dangerous despite his physical condition." Kratos warned, straightening his back.

"But…"

"Enough, get back here."

"Your friend has some intelligence, Raine, at least one of them does."

"What do you hope to achieve by doing this?"

"What else than your death?"

"You're not strong enough to lift that weapon."

"Are you willing to take that risk?"

Kratos watched silently as Raine took a few steps towards the man, hoping she knew what she was doing. Tensing, he quietly instructed Lloyd to watch over Yuan and stood, pushing Genis behind him, standing in front of Zelos and Sheena, shielding them.

For all the enthusiasm they had every one of them, with the exception of Lloyd, was not in a state to handle the situation.

Raine was speaking to the Leader, her tone clipped and harsh as an ancient dialect of the angelic language fell from her lips and Kratos listened cautiously, becoming more on edge as she spoke. The Leader's expression was darkening at her words and Kratos gripped the hilt of his sword firmly. She was treading dangerously.

Leaning back slightly, Kratos tapped Zelos' arm.

"Get everyone out of here."

"What about Raine?"

"I'll sort that out, you have to get the rest of them out of here."

"If you say so."

The red-head turned, whispering to the group, ushering them towards the door. Kratos watched out of the corner of his eye as Zelos and Sheena physically removed a struggling Genis from the corridor. The Leader was oblivious as Raine goaded him, but he suddenly realised when she glanced behind her at where they had been standing, that she had simply tried to create a diversion for the rest of them to get out of there.

He had underestimated her again. Apparently he didn't know her as well as he thought he did…and to his surprise, it didn't alarm him to discover that…it interested him.

Now, however, wasn't the appropriate time to be interested in that because the Leader was becoming more and more enraged at Raine's words. Kratos took a small step forwards, finding himself becoming almost nervous at the situation, weakened, the Leader may have been, but anger could make the mind master of the body when the physical side was all but spent. It was the same as a parent being able to perform amazing feats of strength to save their child and at the thought Kratos looked back towards the passage that Lloyd had just taken.

A roar somewhere between anger and pain was ripped suddenly from the Leader's throat as he dived for Raine, sword held high above his head.

Another break in concentration, and it was about to cost Kratos dearly. Again.

He was moving before he was even aware of it, and with a gasp of pain, he found himself standing between the leader and Raine, a sword embedded in his abdomen.

The seraph looked down, took a staggered step backwards, felt small, elegant hands at his shoulders, smelt his blood as it spilt from his body, heard Raine's voice shouting for him in panic and worry…

And he was damned if he was going to let this new wound stop him from protecting someone so precious to him…to life.

Planting a foot behind him as he took another staggered step back, Kratos steadied himself.

"How sweet, you have a knight in shining armour, Raine," the leader mocked, a hissing laugh escaping pale lips. "Too bad he's going to die now, hmm?"

Kratos tore the sword from his stomach without a second's thought, hurling it at the man, watching with a sick sense of satisfaction as the metal smashed through flesh and bone, cracking his ribcage and sliding through a feebly beating heart.

He turned, grabbing Raine by the arm, running before he had even seen the Leader hitting the floor, knowing that he was dead.

--

Raine ran alongside Kratos, working her arm free of his grip so that she might run better, her breath coming in harsh rasps by the time they had reached the end of the glass corridor. She stole a glance at Kratos, alarmed to see him struggling for breath just as she was, a hand clasped over the wound in his abdomen, now bleeding freely.

She would've commented on it, told him to stop running and let her attend to it…but then the sound of battle crashed over them as they crashed through the doors of the tower, staring out at the 'courtyard' of the base.

It was filled with moving figures, half-elves and humans fighting against one another. The half-elves dressed in white or grey rags were filing out of a thin passage way, a figure in red waving them out. In the middle of the crowd, two girls fighting back-to-back, one with a shock of violet hair, the other a shock of striking pink.

"Siofra!"

Kratos's head snapped towards Raine at the cry.

"What?"

"Those girls there, we have to get to them, they're barely holding off the soldiers."

"And you think we can?"

"Well we have to try."

Raine darted into the crowd, leaving a stunned Kratos' behind as he cursed and flung himself into the crowd, following her, sword ripping through enemies as he pushed his way through.

He caught up with her within minutes, hacking through a man as he aimed for the pink-haired girl Raine was shouting to.

"Kratos!"

He threw a guard out of the way, turning as he recognised the voice.

"Sequoia?"

Tackling another soldier out of the way, he broke into the circle Raine and the two other young women were holding in the mass of fighters.

"We have to get out of here, now. Most of the captives are almost out and we can't hold off the guards for much longer," Kratos stated to the women, turning and breaking a nearby soldier's neck with his hands. "Our troops are starting to fall, as long as we can outrun the enemy or get to a better fighting spot, we'll be free."

"How do you suppose we get out of here?" Raine shouted, picking up a spear someone had dropped and jabbing at a soldier with it.

"Fight and run."

--

They fought through a seemingly endless crowd of humans, grabbing and adding half-elves to their party as and when they found them, shouting orders of retreat as they desperately struggled through. They inched towards the exit, for every soldier they killed there seemed to be five more and they were weakening fast.

Coe turned, stabbing a man through the stomach as he aimed for Sequoia, the girl returning the gesture by killing someone who had ambushed him in the middle of the attack and Kratos would've nodded appreciatively at their team-work having found each other, had he not been on the brink of collapsing.

He raised his sword, slicing through the sword arm of someone on his right, his own left hand pushing Raine out of the path of another to see red gloved hands pulling her further out of the way.

"Lloyd!"

"Dad! Professor! Regal and everyone else are already out, we need to get to them."

"Are all of our forces out?"

"…All of the ones that have survived. I flew over a few minutes ago to check…"

"Alright. Sequoia, Coe and…"

"Siofra."

"Get out of here, now, follow the path up and out."

"There're people waiting on the other side for us, you need to get them away from here."
The half-elves nodded, sprinting up the path as Lloyd leapt in front of his father and teacher, fighting off the soldiers who remained.

"We can't kill them all," Raine stated, swinging her spear at one "and we can't outrun them."

"I'm well aware." Kratos replied, kicking one away.

"So how do we get away?"
"We've got that covered." Lloyd stated, "Just…get up the tunnel."

"We're not leaving you Lloyd."
"I'm not asking you to I'm coming with you. Now run."

They turned, sprinting up the rocky tunnel towards the surface.

"When we get to the top," Lloyd shouted "We need to fly out of the way of the entrance."

"Some of us can't!" Raine snapped.

"Then let me carry you for the appropriate period."

She turned her head, looking at Kratos as he sprinted behind her.

"There's no…"

"It isn't up for discussion!"

Wings released simultaneously as the daylight filtered into the tunnel and Kratos beat his wings experimentally.

"Dad, Professor, you go first…I need more space to unfold my wings." Lloyd added, seeing the older two starting to object.

Kratos nodded, watching the circle of light getting larger as they approached, the thunder of footsteps behind them spurring them on.

Raine gasped sharply as Kratos scooped her into his arms and sprang into the air as they reached the lip of the tunnel, her hands clutching at his arms as he circled in the air to watch Lloyd clear the entrance a few seconds later.

They waited with bated breath, expecting to see the soldiers come pouring out into the open air seconds later…but there was a figure in grey, standing on the steep cliff wall above the gates to the tunnel, a glowing, red magic circle surrounding him.

"That's Genis!"

Lloyd was already swooping down towards him even as the half-elf finished his incantation and cast his spell, just as the faces of Saloth'sarian guards began to appear at the tunnels entrance.

Huge cracks appeared in the earth, splitting it along the gates, molten lava beginning to spew up between spider webbing cracks as they tore down the tunnel.

Metal gates capsized, falling and twisting and crumbling as rocks were spewed from cracks in a torrent of fire, engulfing the area in a cataclysm of fire and rock, the roar of it almost deafening the airborne couple.

From the cliff alongside the firework display, a pair of young men sped away from scene, borne by a pair of iridescent eagle's wings as they made their way to safety.

Holding Raine securely in his arms, Kratos circled over the collapsing tunnel entrance before following the boys as lava poured down the tunnel, destroying all traces of the Saloth'sarian base.

Well I hope that didn't disappoint and was worth the wait. Only one or two chapters to go now.

Reviews are, as always, appreciated.