Long Overdue Disclaimer: I don't own it…as if you didn't know. . .

Chapter Six:

Time Changes All

Lloyd awoke to find himself effectively contained within the confines of a small cell. Rubbing his head weakly he had half a mind to cast First-Aid on himself as he took stock of his new surroundings.—which included a bed…and walls. What a place. Climbing shakily to his feet the brunette teen stumbled over to the entrance of the cell, only to be greeted with a pacing guard and thick, steel bars. Clearly they did not know who they were dealing with. Sure, his weapons were gone, but who needed those when one had Angelic Mana?

As much as he wished he could just blow the whole building up Lloyd was sufficiently intelligent to realize that such an action would fall under the 'bad idea' category. Instead the young half-angel gathered a sliver of mana and proceeded to fry the guard to a crisp. Who needed Renegades anyway? Following up on this action Lloyd melted the lock off of his cell and made his way out into the hallway—which contained…cells. How original. Strutting down the cell-filled hallway like he owned the place Lloyd finally caught sight of his equipment being held in one of the other cells. Just how stupid did one have to be? Seriously, it was a real wonder as to how the Renegades had survived for even half as long as they had.

Stepping into the completely unsecured cell the half-angel collected his equipment and proceeded to make his way out of the cell-encrusted hallway. After all, it was high time he returned to his duties of guarding the Chosen.

Colette was not sleeping well, tossing and turning fitfully the blonde Chosen rose and slipped out of the room she shared with Raine. Padding silently down the hallway the young teen knocked quietly upon the door of the room the housed Genis and Lloyd.

"L-Lloyd? Genis? May I come in?" She whispered quietly, so as not to wake them should the two boys be asleep.

Despite its low volume Genis heard the knock as he lay in bed, trying to fall back to sleep. Rising tiredly he dragged himself over to the door, unlocking it.

"W-what is it, Colette?" He asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly in an attempt to restore vision.

"Oh…I was just wondering if you and Lloyd were still awake, that's all!" She chirped out, not fully certain why she had come to their room herself.

"Hm? Oh, well I guess I am, but Lloyd seems to be sleeping like a log," Genis muttered, making his way over to the other boy's bed. Starting violently at the sight that greeted his blue eyes Genis turned to Colette. "He…he's not here!"

Joining her friend Colette, too, gazed at the empty mattress. "Well, maybe he just went to the bathroom," she pointed out.

Shaking his head Genis looked over at her. "I doubt it, I think I would've heard…unless he went before I woke up, which was a while ago." Crossing his arms Genis frowned slightly, "it's odd…Lloyd…he almost seems like he doesn't sleep—but that's impossible! But…where is he, now?"

"Well, let's go look for him!"

"Uh…but what about my sis? Shouldn't we tell her?"

Pondering this for a moment Colette shook her head in disagreement. "No, because if we find Lloyd he might get in trouble. If things seem bad we can always get her after."

Genis agreed to this hastily. "Okay, then let's go."

Slipping silently outside the two friends quickly noted the spot in the dry sand were the Renegades had been and where Lloyd had fallen to the ground.

"Oh gosh no…" Colette mumbled weakly.

Genis shook his head in shock. "Desians…let's get my sister."

Lloyd stomped irritably on one of the hundreds of guard-machines infesting the Renegade strong-hold. He was not getting anywhere by simply wandering around and slaughtering Renegades and their toys. Twirling one of his blades around absentmindedly the brunette teen made his way through yet another door, only to find himself in an interesting room. The centre of the area was occupied by a rather odd-looking, large, cube-like structure. Straight ahead of him, towards the left wall of the room there were three large pillars that fizzed with electric currents.

Wandering back and forth between the two landmarks of the room Lloyd felt his impatience growing with each step he took. Clearly this was not going to solve itself, and he really had no desire to spend all night trying to figure it out.

Stepping up to the middle pillar Lloyd allowed a decently powerful burst of fire to explode alongside it. Blinking the teen let out a distressed sigh as the pillar fizzed and crackled for a moment before losing all of its power and dieing. Clearly, that was wrong.

Growing all the more frustrated by the moment Lloyd finally made his way to the door to the top of the room. Gathering a huge burst of mana he simply blew the door up. One had to get out somehow.

Blinking with unrequited shock Lloyd shook his head as he entered the new room.

"U-uncle Yuan?"

Raine glanced about the Desian base hatefully. Thankfully the one villager who saw fit to still be up at such an hour knew of the base's location and was able to tell them how to get there.

As the older half-elf made her way through the darkened hallway she felt herself jump slightly as a loud explosion rent the silence in the cool, night air. Glancing back to her brother and the Colette Raine motioned for them to stay close as they crept about in the now-reinitiated silence.

As they made their way throughout the large, blue building—who painted a building blue, bright blue, anyway?—Genis could not help but notice the large numbers of slain Renegades and destroyed machinery that consumed the hallways of the place. What on earth had happened? Could it possibly have been…Lloyd? Shaking of this thought Genis forced himself to focus on the task that lay at hand—finding aforementioned person.

"Genis…what happened?" Colette whispered, fearing to raise her voice in the dead silence of the building.

Seeing the blonde-haired Chosen indicate the destruction around them Genis simply shrugged before replying in an equally quiet whisper. "I don't know. It seems someone helped us out though."

Waving her hand for silence Raine lead the duo through yet another of the base's fancy sliding doors and into yet another room.

All three blinked as they gazed upon the large cube-like structure and three pillars that were the room's only occupants.

Casting a skeptical eye over the pillars Genis turned to his sister.

"Um…sis, why's that one like that?" He asked, indicating the destroyed pillar that looked heavily out of place between the two functioning ones.

"I don't know, Genis, it would appear that someone broke it," Raine replied, exasperation laden upon her voice.

Colette was shocked to hear her professor speak in such a way, always before Raine was tolerant of questions—yet tonight seemed different.

"Um…Professor? Is something bothering you?"

Without bothering to answer Raine indicated that destroyed doorway, beyond which Lloyd seemed to be engaged in a staring contest with a blue-haired half-elf.

Lloyd was shocked beyond belief to see Yuan on the other side of the door—or what once was a door anyway. Why…why was his uncle here? Okay, maybe not blood uncle, but that was, in his opinion, nothing more than a minor detail.

Stepping forward cautiously the young teen allowed the words to flow from his lips once again. "U-uncle Yuan? What…are you doing here? Why are you here?!" He challenged confusion and a slight hint of betrayal clouding his features.

"I…have my reasons, Lloyd," the blue-haired half-elf responded, fingering the end of his ponytail as he did so.

Shaking his head violently Lloyd felt his voice tremble as he glared at the older man. "Tell me! Why are you here?! Why is a Seraphim here, with Renegades?!"

Keeping his voice low Yuan sighed, "never mind, Lloyd, it's no concern of yours."

Dropping his voice low to match Yuan's already incredibly low volume Lloyd intensified his glare, if that were at all possible.

"Yes, I think it is a concern of mine. You're like family to me…and yet here you are…with Renegades?" He hissed, the last part coming out as more of a question than a statement.

Glaring impassively off behind Lloyd Yuan felt a wave of relief wash over him as the Chosen's group suddenly appeared in the newly-enlarged doorway. Clearly, he and Lloyd had been so caught up in their little 'argument' that neither had heard the trio enter the premises.

Following Yuan's eyes off behind him Lloyd flinched slightly then allowed a relieved grin to cross his face.

"Chosen! Raine! Genis! Thank goodness you're here, I thought I was a goner," he lied, playing along with what they probably wanted to here.

As this was going on Yuan heard yet another new entrant make themselves known. Turning to the newcomer, Botta Yuan shot him an impassive look as he made a hasty retreat.

"Kill the others, but leave the brunette, Lloyd, alone. I don't want him harmed," Yuan ordered, low enough for Botta's ears only. That said and done Yuan escaped out the door, not wishing to see Lloyd's glare any longer.

Readying his weapon Botta glared at the group. "I think you have more important things to worry about," he grunted out. So what if he was outnumbered by four-to-one, minor detail, what worried him most was the brunette boy, what about him interested Lord Yuan so?

He had more important things to worry about now, however. Like staying alive. Thankfully the brown-haired half-elf was able to block a swipe from 'Lloyd's' duel swords just in time to prevent them from doing him serious harm. Bracing his oddly shaped sword in front of him Botta immediately began casting a spell—no time like the present to fight back.

Lloyd was angry, confused and upset. Why was Yuan here? Why? And letting this guy attack him no less! In his rage Lloyd forgot all common sense. Dashing in towards his opponent the young angel narrowed his eyes into slits and began trouncing on the half-elf.

"Raining Tiger-Blade!" He cried out, moving his blades quickly, following it through with a double jump at the end.

Botta gasped as he stepped back, concentration broken completely. What…was with this kid? He was…certainly better than anyone Botta had faced in the past.

Botta was not the only confused one in the room as Lloyd's three companions stood back, watching him unleash sword-tech after sword-tech, some of them missing the mark entirely in the boy's rage.

Glancing up at his sister Genis gave her a slightly frightened look.

"Um…sis…what's going on?" He asked, as cries of: Twin Tiger-Blade and Rising Falcon echoed throughout the room.

Raine shook her head slowly, unsure herself.

"I…don't know, Genis. It would seem that Lloyd is well versed in Sword Techs…"

Lloyd let out a triumphant smirk as his opponent turned tail and scurried away. Finally, the idiotic half-elf had realized how 'inferior' this human was! Well, technically he was a half-angel, but still.

Turning to his companions Lloyd gave them another triumphant smirk.

"Well, that's settled then," he breathed out, still excited.

"Um…Lloyd? What was that?" Colette asked, feeling as unsettled as the two half-elves.

Oh. Crap.

Had he ever screwed up this time. Blushing slightly Lloyd turned to his three companions, a huge grin plastered to his face…this was going to take some covering.

"Oh…you know, just a few things I picked up on my travels, that's all!" He explained sheepishly, trying to appear somewhat embarrassed over the situation. Hopefully they would accept modesty as a good enough reason for his not using those types of techniques before.

This seemed to satisfy the two younger members, yet Raine was not convinced.

"Well then, Lloyd, why did you never demonstrate these skills before?" She challenged, feeling slightly wary. Something was out of place, Lloyd was hiding something.

Still smiling Lloyd brushed off his other two companions to address Raine.

"Well…I guess I just didn't see the need…" He covered, hoping she would bite. "After all, we've only been fighting weak monsters, but he was on a whole other level! So here I felt it was okay to, you know, waste some of my energy, but at other times…it wasn't really necessary…"

Raine nodded as she pretended to buy the story. It was clear that he was trying to cover something up, after all, he had managed to practically escape her on his own, and not only that! For all of his talk about this guy being on a whole other level, Lloyd had taken him out single-handedly. Also, for all of Lloyd's talk of wasting energy…he did not seem tired in the slightest.

Yet questioning him here would get her nowhere. Accepting this explanation for the moment the silver-haired woman turned to the three teens.

"Okay, let's just get back to Triet, it'll be dawn soon and we need to collect our belongings in time to depart for the Ruins."

Ruins! Oh how she loved that word! Questioning Lloyd would simply have to wait.

This chapter was fun to write, no lies. Because no matter who raised him Lloyd is still Lloyd at heart. I hope you all enjoyed it, and please review! XD