Chapter Twelve:

Convergence

Zelos strode confidently over the grass, despite having no idea where he was, or where he was going. He had left the Tower of Salvation behind some time ago, having had to fly over some water late at night. Yet now he was in the free and clear, or so he hoped. The last real landmark he had seen was a bunch of mountains crossing the width of a thin stretch of land, clearly a guarded pass to his keen eyes. Yet now he stood partway up the side of a mountain, looking down on a building that had caught his eye. Unlike the rest of this world, it was brimming with mana, enough to possibly rival Tethe'alla. It had tweaked his curiosity that the declining world would have such technology, and that just smelt of reason to go and look into it.

Renewing his descent down the gently sloping mountain, he kept to the trees as much as possible for cover. This was not too difficult as the undergrowth was thick, full of a midsummer sun's blessing.

Upon reaching the bottom, Zelos wove through the plentiful trees and undergrowth until he came to a well-guarded gate. Ducking down further into the brush, he carefully observed the tramping and movements of the troops before him. Were those half-elves guarding this place? Sure he had heard the rumours, but to actually see half-elves with such authority shocked him to no end.

Intent as he was with focusing on the patrols before him, Zelos failed to notice a small group of three guards come up behind him, his hearing also fumbled due to the sheer amount of noise around him. Nodding to one another, one of the party stepped forward and smashed her spear down on the back of the human's head.

Lloyd let out a sigh as they walked, his boredom already returning in full swing. As they had travelled, he had been filled in on the visit that the rest of the group had taken Governor Dorr. The visit had only proven to set them back more than before. Now they would have to search for a useless book; useless because Lloyd knew the location of every seal. His companions just could not know that. So now they were stuck chasing a feeble lead given to them by some random townsperson. Apparently there was a collector, Koton, stationed up on Hakonesia Peak. So they were currently headed there thanks to the villager, and Lloyd's eavesdropping the other night.

It was now the second day since they had left Palmacosta and the mountain pass was well in their sights. As they walked the ground began to slope upwards gently, pulling them onto the very foot of the mountain. Several minutes of slowly climbing later brought them to a gate that signified the start of the rest stop that was Hakonesia Peak.

The eyes of the party immediately wandered to the solitary, small hut that was nestled off to one side. On an unspoken consensus, the group moved off towards it, it could only be the collector's.

Steeling themselves, the group entered the small building, blinking as eyes adjusted to the sudden drop in lighting. Not enough to be called dark, but still in stark contrast to the brilliant sunlight of the outdoors.

"Can I help you?"

As one, the four travellers looked over to where the hut's lone occupant stood, looking at them with a bored, somewhat annoyed, expression.

Realizing that it might be awhile before they got anything coherent out of Raine—surrounded as she was by artifacts—Lloyd took the initiative in stepping forward.

"Um…I think you can, actually. You see, Colette here is the Chose—"

"—of Mana's devote follower!" Raine cut in smoothly, shooting Lloyd a warning glare. "We heard that you might be in possession of some very rare artifacts from the day of Spiritua; specifically the book of seals. Is that so?"

"Maybe…but it'll cost ya."

"Cost us? It's not like it's going to hurt you to let her look at it!" shrilled Genis, frowning.

Smacking her brother over the head, Raine quickly cut back in, before Genis could do anymore harm. "I'm sorry sir…?"

"Koton."

"Yes, Koton. You see…Colette here has always dreamed of reading about Spiritua's journey. We were hoping to let her read the book soon because…she might not have long to live," Raine muttered sadly.

Following along with the other three, magically looking remorseful, Lloyd chuckled on the inside. Way to twist her words, since it technically was true.

"No pain, no gain," came the arrogant reply. "I was sold this book by the Chosen herself! You think I'm going to go and let some untamed ruffians, from goodness knows where, come and taint it? I don't think so! Prove to me you understand artifacts, and maybe I'll consider letting her read it."

Sucking in a deep breath, Raine dared to ask, "and how do we do that?"

"Bring me the Spiritua Statue that's currently in the Thoda Geyser. Some hack-job of a priest dropped it in there, so its free game!" Koton smirked as he spoke, gosh were these people easy!

Looking over her rather dejected-looking companions, Raine nodded slowly. "Very well, we'll do our best to get you the statue if you promise to let us read the book afterwards."

"Deal."

With that, a rather displeased group of four that exited the hut, frustration clear on all of their faces.

"That…that ma—ugh!" shrilled Genis, stomping his foot in anger. "Why is he…? What does it hurt him to let us look?—ugh! What an ass!"

"Genis!" Raine scolded him sharply, turning on him. "I know that Koton is being rather…ridiculous, but that is no excuse for language!"

"I agree with Genis."

"Lloyd!"

"Professor! Lloyd! Don't fight, please. Genis, you too. Please let's just all work this out, fighting isn't going to get us anywhere," Colette chimed in, doing her best to act as mediator amongst her arguing friends. This disaster had all been caused by the selfish collector who was refusing to let them even look at the book without an exchange. The encounter had succeeded in two things. The first, getting all of their tempers up; the second, sending them on a pointless quest to get a statue to trade for rights to look at a book. The young blonde just did not understand, why were people so selfish?

"Colette's right, arguing will get us nowhere. For now we just need to go get that statue," agreed Raine.

"And to do that we need to get to Thoda Geyser," Lloyd filled in as they made their way back to the House of Salvation that they had stayed at the previous night.

"Yes, Thoda Geyser…" Raine muttered reluctantly. "Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now we just need to figure out how to get there."

"I'd imagine by boat."

"Lloyd…let's find it first, shall we?"

Blinking in confusion, Lloyd shrugged in consent. He knew where it was, and that boat was the only way to get there, excluding wings, but he was argued out for the time being. Argued out and worried.

Where was Kratos?

Darkness was lying thick about the group as the quartette arrived back at the House of Salvation. Stifling a yawn behind his hand, Genis made straight for the door, eyelids drooping.

"Ch-chosen!"

As one, the group halted, and whirled to face the Palmacosta guard who had spoken.

"Yes?"

"Oh, thank goodness I've found you! I was so worried you would be gone by now! Especially after how we disrespected you a—"

"Oh, just get on with it already!" Genis cut in, an annoyed look on his face.

"Genis, that's not very nice," Colette scolded gently.

Genis scowled. He was hot, sweaty, sunburnt, and felt like 'fireball-ing'—no make that 'icicle-ing'—the next person to speak to death. And now the Palmacostan government was sending an idiotic, talkative guard after them? Death was in the air.

Or it would have been, if not for Colette, who was busy appeasing the indignant soldier and getting his story out of him.

"…and that's what happened. So you see, Chosen One, we need your help to rescue Chocolat!"

"Of course we'll rescue her! We can't let her suffer anymore! The poor girl, her mother was murdered by the Desians!"

Lloyd's groan was dangerously close to audible. Unfortunately for him, the Chosen was trapped, hook, line, and sinker.

"Oh that's terrible! We have to help her! Lloyd, Genis, Professor!"

"Yeah Sis, we can't let her get killed like Marble!"

Apparently, Genis was caught too.

Raine sighed; it seemed this was not going to go in favour of a continued journey; at least not at the moment.

"Very well. Although I believe we should continue with the Journey of Regeneration, we cannot simply allow that poor girl to suffer, either."

With those words, the matter was settled. After gathering more details from the guard, the group set off to the Palmacosta Human Ranch, Lloyd complaining mentally the whole way.

'Stupid girl! It was her own damn fault she was taken and her mother was killed! If she had just kept her trap shut we wouldn't be on yet another bloody side trip!'

And so the trip passed, with Colette and Genis fretting over Chocolat's condition, Raine pondering how long they would be set back, and Lloyd mentally complaining about everything and anything he could think of.

Other than a few monster encounters, the journey was relatively uneventful—unfortunately giving Lloyd more time to stew in his resentment—and they made good time.

Entering the Ranch's perimeter through the forest, the group crept in quietly, doing their best not to be spotted by the Desians patrolling the area.

As they ducked behind a bush to get a better bearing on the landscape, a hushed voice reached the ears of Colette and Lloyd.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what, Colette?" asked Lloyd, feigning ignorance.

Moving in the direction of the voice, the blonde motioned for her friends to follow. The group quickly emerged in a small clearing amongst the trees, not ten feet from where they had been standing, and were greeted by Neil, assistant to Governor Dorr.

"Chosen One, you've come!"

'No duh, genius,' Lloyd all but groaned mentally. Another idiot fond of stating the obvious, talking, and holding them up!

"Yes, we heard that Chocolat needs help!"

"Listen to me, you must run! I'll take care of Chocolat; you just focus on the Regeneration Journey and staying safe."

Okay, Lloyd had to admit it; maybe the guy was not such an idiot after all. Regeneration and leaving both sounded good.

"No! We promised we would help save her!" Colette yelled, determination bright in her blue eyes.

"You must run, Chosen! Listen, Dorr is plotting with the Desians to take you out. If you go in there your life is in danger."

This brought a confused frown to Lloyd's face, why would Magnius be trying to kill Colette? If Yggdrasill knew…

"Maybe he's right, maybe we should leave this to people who know what they're doing…" Genis muttered, uncertainty starting to show in his eyes.

"But Genis…"

"He's right, Colette, we can't have yo—" she was cut off by a yell, coupled with the resounding thunk of flesh hitting wood.

"No!"

Colette looked over in gratitude at the brunet, whose fist still rested against the tree he had struck.

"No! We can't…we can't just let her suffer! If we have the power to do something, then we need to do it! How can we pretend we're really Regenerating the world if we can't even help one girl?! Where would that leave us?!" Lloyd glared about at the others at the end of his tirade. He really was not sure where he got of spouting all of that, or where it had come from, but what he did know was that this incident was going to require some investigation. Investigation that was going to require going inside.

Seeing the look of determination painting the faces of the two teens, Raine sighed in defeat. "Well then, let's go in."

Despite his earlier misgivings, Neil immediately added his thoughts. "Then I'm coming too."

"No, it's far too dangerous."

"I can take care of myself."

"Please let him come Professor, we're likely going to need all the help we can get."

Lloyd groaned inwardly. The 'more the merrier' indeed! Of course the Chosen would want to include everyone. It was not in her nature to say no to anyone.

"Oh very well. Just stay out of the fighting."

Neil nodded his understanding as the group prepared to infiltrate the ranch.

"So how are we going to get in?" Genis asked as he checked his kendama.

Lloyd raised an eyebrow. "How else? We storm it," he stated calmly. The only way they were going to get in would be via surprise attack. Desian Ranches were far too well protected to get in, without the passwords, any other way.

"How did I know it would come to this?" Genis sighed out wearily.

They now stood before Magnius, Chocolat replacing Neil in the group. They had managed to rescue the other prisoners, whom Neil was now escorting to safety. Or had been. It was sickening how easily the redheaded half-elf put the lives of all of the prisoners on the line. All it had taken was the touch of a button, and now Neil and all of the prisoners were trapped in a room that was slowly filling with water. Needless to say, this was doing very little to sooth the riled nerves of the group.

"You're going down, Magnius!" Genis roared, his eyes alight with fury. He hated seeing people suffer, people like Marble and Chocolat. Nobody had the right to treat another person like the Desians did humans. Nobody.

Lloyd, however, was hanging back uncertainly. He knew he should support Genis and Colette, yet how could he justify knowingly standing up to one of the Grand Cardinals in a fight? Sure he could yell at them, yet fighting them to the death was another thing entirely. Yggdrasill would have his head!

"Oh, is that what you think my precious little boy?" goaded the Desian leader. "Because I somehow fail to see how I'm going to be overthrown by the likes of you! And what about you, Chocolat? What do you have to say to this? Don't you think you should be revolted by this scene?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"What do I mean? Didn't you know? This brat's the kid who killed Marble!"

"What? N-no! You can't be serious! You're lying! You're lying!"

Magnius responded to the brunette's frantic denial with a long string of hard laughter. "Lying? Lying you say? And what makes you think I'm lying?"

"Because you are! Genis...he wouldn't kill Grandmother!"

"She was your grandmother?" Genis asked, guilt thick in his eyes.

"Genis? Wait...don't tell me you real—" Genis' hanging head was enough of an answer. With a sharp wail, the brunette turned and dashed away from her would-be rescuers. "Get away from me! I'm not going to be rescued by Grandma's killer!"

"Chocolat wait! Lloyd ordered, stepping forward at last. "I'm as much to blame as Genis, so don't just blame him! And you!" the brunet roared, whirling on Magnius, "why would you go and say that?! Why'd you go and just blame Genis?"

Magnius smirked evilly. "I couldn't very well blame you, now could I?"

"Lloyd?" Colette asked, confusion painting her features, "what does he mean by that?"

Before he could answer, the gathering was interrupted by a group of four Desians, dragging with them a redheaded prisoner.

"Lord Magnius, we've brought the prisoner like you requested."

Moving surprisingly swiftly for one of his size, Magnius thrust his axe tip under the captive human's chin, at the base of his throat.

"Look, Lloyd, I have a little surprise for you."

Lloyd let out a strangled whimper at the sight that met his eyes. The prisoner was a mass of slashes and welts, probably from several harsh beatings with a whip or ten. The long wounds were all red, and several looked to be infected and pus filled. One even let a thin trail of blood trickle down the young man's face. The rest was worse. His clothing had been shredded from many beatings, and blood stained what did remain of the articles. The marks that could be seen on his body looked no better than those on his face, many of them worse.

"Zelos!" Lloyd screamed, once he found his voice. What had happened? What the hell had happened to hurt Zelos like this? It had to be...

Magnius.

Leaping forward, Lloyd let out a terrifying, wild roar, twin blades clearing their sheathes in one swift motion. The boy's face was a picture of raw fury, his red-tinted eyes glowing with unsuppressed rage. "You bastard!"

Magnius hurried out of Lloyd's path, dragging Zelos with him. Once he was in the clear, the Desian Grand Cardinal pressed his axe blade against the Tethe'allan's throat, hard enough to draw a trickle of blood. "Now now my dear boy, you wouldn't want anything...bad to happen to him, now would you?"

Growling with rage, Lloyd backed off, lowering his blades. If he could not attack to save Zelos, then what could he do? He certainly could not let Zelos stay there, screw Yggdrasill's Cardinals! He was going to murder Magnius in the most painful way possible. It was not like the head of Cruxis would mind, anyway. Zelos—not to mention Lloyd himself—was far more valuable than the Desian.

If it came down to it, Lloyd decided, he was going to turn to his spells. He would see how long Magnius could threaten Zelos with an Indignation to the head.

Until that time, however, it seemed they were in a standoff.

A man made his way silently through the Ranch, his feet padding softly off of the floor, not to be heard by mortal ears. Rounding a bend, he trotted confidently to the next transporter, effortlessly dispatching two more Desian guards as he did so. This progressed for several floors until he had reached what he knew to be the final teleporter, the one that led to Magnius' room.

Stepping confidently onto it, the man arrived to an interesting scene. A group of four mismatched travellers seemed to be engaged in a starring competition with Magnius, who was clutching a badly-beaten prisoner. It also seemed that, in all of the tension, his presence was currently going unnoticed.

Smirking to himself, the man placed hand to hilt. Time to stir up the fun.

Realizing that this stalemate was getting him nowhere, Magnius applied a faint amount of pressure to Zelos' neck, enough to encourage him to intake a sharp, rasping breath as his body did its best to stay alive. That was all it took, Lloyd flinched. In that split second of time, Magnius shed himself of his prisoner and leaped forward, pressing his axe to Lloyd's throat.

"Gotcha now, brat," he hissed, pressing hard enough to choke the brunet.

"Lloyd!" Genis and Colette both yelled out in unison, attempting to rush to their friend's rescue.

"Stop! One more move and he di—"

In a brilliant blur of violet, the man rushed in, sword sweeping in a huge arch, knocking the axe out of Magnius' grip. In a blur of motion, the teen was plucked from the Desian's grasp, Magnius falling back under the force of the impact.

"You!" Magnius yelled out, once he managed to find his voice, eyes fixated on the spiky-haired man, whose auburn locks fell over his eyes. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing," the man's voice was cool, collected, as he carefully set Lloyd back down on the ground.

"Damn you, Kratos!"

Shaking his head to clear it, Lloyd kept his eyes on the floor, hoping this action would keep the others from seeing the huge grin plastered on his face. His father was finally, finally here! And in the nick of time no less! That was his dad, always there to save the day.

Kratos chuckled lightly at Magnius' words, pretending to pay attention, while really keeping one eye fixed on Lloyd. He was glad to see that his son seemed none the worse for wear, yet one could never be too careful. On the plus side, however, at least the boy had refrained from screaming 'dad', or something.

Satisfied that his son was fine, Kratos returned his full attention to the fuming Magnius. "Damn me? No, I'm pretty sure it's 'damn you,' Magnius," he hissed out, danger thick in his voice. With those words, the Seraph plunged himself toward the Desian, sword raised.

Magnius had only just enough time to fling himself frantically out of the way, thankfully over to his axe. Retrieving the weapon, the half-elf stood, ready to parry Kratos' next attack. Sparks flew as the metal of the two weapons collided, the force of the blow sending jolts down the arms of both men.

Kratos, unlike Magnius, recovered swiftly. Stepping back a few feet, he dipped his sword to the ground, unleashing a flow of mana with practiced ease.

"Demon Fang!"

Magnius was not prepared for the assault, and took the full brunt of it, hissing with pain as it sliced into his calf. He recovered quickly, however, rushing forward, axe slicing downwards.

"Beast!"

"Guardian!" Kratos yelled out, a protective bubble of mana encasing him and taking the majority of the damage.

Without wasting another second, Magnius switched tactics, hoping to get an attack in before the man could do another Guardian spell.

"Flame Lance!"

Jumping back, Kratos narrowly avoided the exploding flames. Adapting quickly to the change in tactics, Kratos responded likewise.

"Lightning!"

Easily evading the bolt, Magnius smirked at Kratos, daring him to try it again, only to be struck on the other leg by another Demon Fang.

Glancing off to the side, Magnius glared demonically at Lloyd, who stood at the ready, swords still glowing from the mana. The remainder of the Chosen's group also stood at the ready, deciding it was high time they assist the stranger in their fight.

"Five on one? Is that what it takes?" he sneered out, knowing full well he was in way over his head now.

"Guess we'll find out. Tempest!" yelled Lloyd, launching into the attack with glee. Using the momentum to carry him over Magnius' head and get in behind the half elf, Lloyd nodded his head to his father.

Both males raised their weapons, swirls of mana rippling over the lengths of their blades.

"Cross Thrust!"

Genis whistled softly, impressed by the improvised attack.

"Watch this! Eruption!" Magnius countered swiftly, aiming for Raine, who was busy with a First Aid spell for Kratos.

"No, Sis!" Genis cried, readying his own spell. "Drown! Spread!" he continued, summoning up the massive torrent of water to rocket Magnius skyward.

As the outnumbered half-elf plummeted landward, Colette added her two cents. "Holy wings, I beg of thee to reveal thy glory! Angel Feathers!"

This time, Magnius regained his feet at a visibly slower rate, his breath coming in harsh gasps. "I'll get you brats! Hell Hound!" The attack was weak though, he was fast losing strength.

"Don't overdo it. First Aid!"

The group looked over in shock as the green light of healing engulfed Raine, compliments of Kratos.

"He can heal too?!" shrilled Genis, shocked.

"Genis!" Lloyd called, distracting the younger boy, "let's finish this!"

Genis nodded back, preparing his spell.

"Lightning Tiger Blade!"

Magnius grunted, coughing up blood, as the attack struck him head on. Stumbling forward, he hissed in pain, his voice weak and rasping. "I can't believe I lost to a bunch of kids..."

"Looks like that'll be the end of it," Raine stated as she watched the haggard Magnius collapse to the floor, clutching a grievous wound to his side.

Kratos shook his head slowly. "You fool. Challenging the accepted Chosen One is inexcusable."

"Wh-? What? Then I was...deceived." With those final words, the half-elf collapsed to the ground, never to rise again.

Rushing to the computer situated off to the side of the room, Raine immediately began fiddling with it, intent on stopping the water flow into the room where Neil and the prisoners were trapped.

Pressing a few buttons, the elder Sage let out a relieved sigh and sagged a bit. "That should do it. Come on, I'm going to set this place to self-destruct. We can meet Neil outside." Turning to Kratos, she nodded to the door. "You'd better come with us."

Rushing over to where Zelos lay, Lloyd immediately scooped his friend up, carrying him easily despite the size-difference.

With that, the group moved off quickly, wanting to be well clear of the Ranch before it blew up. The swift journey passed in silence as they all focused on retreating quickly. Once they were clear, Raine motioned to Neil and the former-prisoners to follow them further away. As they safely entered the trees, a massive explosion could be heard, resounding through the trees as Magnius' Ranch ended its days of terror.

Situated safely away from the wreckage, the group of seven, now including Neil, an unconscious Zelos, and Kratos, settled in to talk as they cautiously made their way to Palmacosta, hundreds of terrified humans following them nervously.

Looking over to Kratos, Raine nodded her head. "I believe we owe you our thanks. You really pulled us out of the fire back there."

"I had heard the Chosen was in the area. I simply chose to come investigate, least she need any help," Kratos stated easily, answering Raine's unasked question.

"Well regardless, I believe you really helped us out back there. My name is Raine, this is my younger brother Genis, the Chosen, whom you seem to recognize, Lloyd, and Lloyd's friend...whom I'm not acquainted with myself."

"Yes well, you could get to know him better if he was conscious..." Lloyd hissed out from several feet back, where he was busy struggling with the awkward form of Zelos.

Cutting off her conversation with Kratos, Raine hurried back to assist Lloyd, apologising for forgetting the redhead in her haste to be away.

Holding her staff vertically before her, Raine began her spell. "Ready? First Aid!"

Not a second behind her was Kratos with his own spell. "Take this! First Aid!"

As the two spells hit him, Zelos' sky blue eyes opened, focusing awkwardly on the new surroundings.

"Whoa...where am I?"

"Zelos!" Lloyd spewed happily as his friend sat up groggily. Rushing forward, he threw his arms around his friend, laughing. "You idiot!" he exclaimed, "how did you manage to get yourself thrown into a Human Ranch?" This, of course, implied a far more important question: why was Zelos in Sylvarant?

"Oh, you know...wasn't watching where I was going and all that," Zelos replied offhandedly, eyeing Raine and Colette as he did so. "But more importantly Lloyd, where'd you pick up all of these beautiful hunnies?"

Releasing his friend with a roll of the eyes, Lloyd sighed. Yup, Zelos was totally back to normal.

With a sharp clearing of the throat, Kratos motioned off toward Palmacosta. "If you two are quite finished, we really should be on our way..." As the resumed their journey, Raine moved back in to talk to Kratos, although not without noting the jealous glares Lloyd was sending her way.

"So I don't believe..."

"Kratos. My name is Kratos, and I am a travelling mercenary."

"Kratos, huh. Now I suppose you'll be wanting payment for earlier?"

Kratos shook his head in response to the cynical comment. "No, the Regeneration of the World is enough for me."

"I suppose you're planning on leaving once we get to Palmacosta anyway...?"

Lloyd took this as his cue to jump in, quickly leaving his conversation with an over-hyped Zelos, which had included introductions to everyone save Kratos.

"Professor Sage, I think Kratos should come with us!" Lloyd said in excitement, eyes shining.

Raine sighed, "And next I suppose you're going to be begging for your friend to come too?"

Raising an eyebrow, Lloyd jokingly shook his head. "No, he can totally go."

"Hey, Hun, that's not very nice!" Zelos whined from the back of the group.

Groaning inwardly at Zelos' nickname for him, Lloyd pretended he had not heard his friend. "But seriously, I think Kratos would be a great asset! Well...if he wants to come, that is."

"It is your choice," was the mercenary's simple reply. He trusted his son to get him in.

Stepping forward, Colette looked around the group. "I think Zelos and Kratos would both be a great help on my journey, Professor."

With a defeated sigh, Raine nodded her consent.

No sooner was the matter settled then Neil stepped forward, worry in his eyes. Motioning back to where the rescued prisoners were walking along behind them, Neil spoke, worry present in his voice. "We need to do something to help them...those Exspheres...we need to remove them."

"We can't!" Lloyd yelped.

"Why not?" Neil demanded.

As all eyes settled on him, Lloyd shifted uncomfortably. "I...I just mean...you remember Marble. Don't forget what happened when hers was removed.

"Lloyd has a point," Genis chimed in, guilt heavy in his voice.

"A dwarf could do it."

All eyes now settled on Kratos as he continued walking calmly along.

"Are you certain? This isn't fun and games...their lives are on the line," Genis challenged, backed up by both Colette and Raine.

"Yes."

"Then where do you purpose we find a dwarf?"

"Hima."

"Hima?"

"Yes, I hear one moved there years ago. I'm sure he could do the job."

Nodding her agreement, Raine motioned Neil over. "Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, I'll organize a party to head there with these poor people tomorrow, but for now I think we should stop for the night. It's getting quite dark."

Kratos nodded, "I agree, these flatlands can be dangerous in the dark, especially with people who are unable to defend themselves."

That settled the matter. Choosing a spot not too far off the main road, the large group settled in for the night, cooking up what meagre rations they had for the escapees. As everyone began to bed down for the night, Kratos spoke up.

"I'll take first watch. Lloyd, why don't you help me?"

Recognizing his chance to talk to his father, Lloyd immediately agreed.

As the rest of their group lay sleeping, the two Aurions patrolled the camp, conversing quietly as they kept a close eye out for monsters or stray Desians. Or Renegades.

"So...where were you at Palmacosta? You said you'd be there...I was worried."

"I apologize, Lloyd, I did not mean to worry you. I was merely delayed."

"Delayed by what?" Lloyd challenged, glancing over to the fire's dwindling embers. When his father remained silent, Lloyd decided to change the topic. "So...you really arrived in time to save my butt today."

Kratos shook his head humourlessly. "I do wish you would be more careful. I cannot always be there to rescue you."

Lloyd hung his head, eyes downcast. "I'm sorry...it's just...Zelos."

Kratos smiled softly at this, although Lloyd did not see it. Reaching out, the Seraph placed a gentle hand on his son's shoulder. "It's okay, Lloyd. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

Halting in his tracks, Lloyd reached over and hugged his father. "I'm just glad you're safe, Dad."

Returning the hug, Kratos chuckled softly. "Yes, I'm fine."

Breaking off the quick hug, the two resumed their patrol, talking of many things long into the night.

It was some hours later that Kratos insisted his son get to bed, while he himself went ahead and woke the relief.

Making his way to his bedding, Lloyd noticed that Zelos was wide awake and watching him. Lying down next to his friend, Lloyd waited for him to speak.

"So, Hun, it seems we're back together at long last."

Rolling onto his back, the brunet rested his head on his arms. "So we are...but why are you here, Zelos? Isn't it a tad...far to come?"

"Not when it's my best bud we're talking about!"

With an exasperated sigh, Lloyd rolled his eyes. "Seriously, why are you here?"

"Why? Can't tell you that. Top secret and all."

With a groan, Lloyd rolled over, placing his back to Zelos. "Then just go to sleep if you don't want to talk!"

"Lloyd..."

Lloyd let out a deep breath. "I know...I know.

"Hey Zelos, do you remember back when we first met?" he asked, changing the topic completely.

"Do I ever! If I recall correctly, it seems to me you were following me around."

Blushing slightly, Lloyd shook his head. "N-no! Not really. Dad just had to meet with somebody in Meltokio, and I was bored..."

"Dude, that somebody was me! You were totally following me!"

Lloyd huffed softly at this. "Yeah? Well it was only because my Dad warned me about you! I was just being cautious!"

Zelos laughed softly, "sure Lloyd, sure."

And so they bickered playfully into the wee hours of the morning.

Hey! So I finally got up the chapter everyone was waiting for! It only took what, a year? (No really…a year tomorrow.) And in commemoration of this story's one year anniversary, you get an extra long chapter! (That is in no way related to my guilt for taking so long to update…-sweat-) But yeah, Kratos is here now, as is Zelos:D Happy, happy, joy, joy! Ne And I assure you, I should never again take this long to update…after all, one cannot break two computers a month every month, now can they? Didn't think so.

…hope not.

On more story related grounds, where do you guys want to see this headed now, in terms of following the plot? To be honest, I'm getting quite bored with writing the game's dungeons and whatnot, I'd really like to deviate a lot. Which I plan to. However, what I want to know is how much deviation you'd like to see. I'm always open to opinions! The other issue which has yet to be addressed to any great degree is that of pairings. Once again, I'm open to suggestions. And for those of you who may be interested...yes, Zelos really does use the same term to refer to Lloyd as he does his 'hunnies' in the Japanese version.

I apologize for there being no flashback this chapter, unfortunately I just found the chapter to be running too long. Next chapter though, I promise! Look forward to the meeting of Zelos and Lloyd, which I hinted at at the end here! It will be cute...I hope. :)

Well that covers most of what I wanted to say I think…so now I'm just going to close with the usual. For starters, lots of love and a great big thank you to my lovely beta! Without her I'd still be crawling around in the mud. Well….more than I do now, anyway. It is her wonderful proofreading skills that make this work possible. Or would that be legible? At any rate, thank you!

And a big thank you to all of you lovely readers—especially those of you who take the time to comment and criticize!—without you guys there would also be no story here today, one year after this little muse of mine began to take fruit. So thank you all, and I hope you'll stick with me through many more chapters to come! (Or even all of them…-heart-)

As always, comments are welcomed and loved. Until next time!

Hannah