Chapter 8

Why is it that all of a sudden these aren't coming so easily? I blame school, I've got a full semester this time 'round and I had almost no summer so…blah. Anyway, here's chapter eight, for all the pain, I'm actually rather pleased with it, all things considered. Lots of character interaction and some plot at the end, next chapter I'll go into the Temple of Fire, but until then, enjoy this.

….

Lloyd would have sighed had he not known that it would earn him a very hard smack over the head. Besides, he had to learn to weather himself against lectures like this; it was one of many to come. His father was pacing to-and-fro in their inn room rambling on about how stupid he had been and how he should never let his guard down and blah, blah, blah. Lloyd knew that Kratos was probably just letting off steam about how worried he'd been about him, but did Lloyd really have to sit through it?

"Your actions were rash and stupid and could easily have gotten you killed!" snapped the mercenary, "You are taken to a Desian's Human Ranch, and not only do you break out of your cell but you run off into the inner sanctum of one of the most well-defended, well-armed organizations in the world! What the hell were you thinking?"

"Uh, something to the effect of, 'Shit! Oh, shit, Desians, run!' Maybe you forgot, but I don't exactly know my way around that place, and considering I was disoriented and badly hurt I'd say I did pretty well." Lloyd resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was bed-ridden at the moment, but only on the Professor's urging. He hadn't been injured in the battle with Botta that had ensued after the arrival of Kratos, Genis, Colette, and Professor Sage, but the huge burn mark on his back had put the half-elf on high-alert. She wouldn't let him out of bed even to work on her key crest, and Lloyd was quite sure she was rather bent on getting her hands on it so that she could study the effects of exspheres on their hosts first-hand.

Lloyd wasn't sure, upon looking back at the course of events that had taken place, what god was on their side, but Raine had not only found the exsphere attached to Botta's abandoned sword, but had just so happened to be carrying a key crest that Lloyd was capable of fixing. She would be able to use an exsphere—the exsphere that would save her life countless times.

Lloyd flopped back on his pillows, his father now reprimanding him for taking nothing seriously. He wasn't really listening until Kratos was in his face, "…would you like to repeat the last thing I said, Lloyd Irving?" he growled, enough venom in his voice to rival every snake in Triet Desert.

"I would imagine it was either something about respect, how sloppy my footwork is, or how I'm totally not listening to a thing you say." This snide remark earned Lloyd a smack over the head and Lloyd flinched, clutching the side of his head, "Oww! I'm already in bed for the next two days, don't make it three!" Lloyd should have known that he was not making any friends, but Kratos was not exactly being the kindest father at the moment, and Lloyd had had a lot to deal with in the past twenty-four hours. It didn't help that he was still stressing over the Yuan thing.

"Your blatant disrespect is not helping your case, boy. I'd do a better job of listening to your elders were I you."

"…" Lloyd was torn between a bitter and sarcastic reply and the reply that would actually make him some friends. He opted with the latter, seeing as how his father really was just trying to take care of him. "…sorry. I-I guess I'm…a little humiliated that I had to be rescued in the first place…"

Regret flashed through his father's eyes, but Kratos masked his emotions well and he sighed, sitting at the foot of Lloyd's bed, something, Lloyd speculated, that he would have found rather…awkward had he not fully understood the situation. Probably better than Kratos himself did. "…it is alright, Lloyd. I understand, but we were all risking ourselves by going to get you. The Chosen risked her life for you; you must be more careful."

"You're right D-Kratos," Lloyd mentally swore at his stutter, "I want to come on the Journey to protect Colette, not to put her in danger…or any of you for that matter, if you or Genis or…or Raine had died…I don't know what I would have done…"

Kratos nodded in satisfaction.

"Sorry…" Lloyd looked away.

"As long as you understand…and if anything, I am sure that the Chosen would have insisted on saving you anyway. Just be more careful. We will be staying in Triet for several more nights, use this time to rest and heal, then we leave for the first seal; we believe it is in the Triet Ruins several miles from here."

"Great…thanks Kratos." Lloyd tried not to let his concern over the idea of Colette releasing a Seal, and therefore becoming an angel, become noticeable in his voice. Of course, that didn't change the lack of excitement. A lack that Kratos noticed.

"Lloyd? Are you sure you are well? From what Ms. Sage and the Chosen had said, I would have assumed that you would be….more interested…" Kratos finished rather lamely.

"S-sorry!" Lloyd plastered what he hoped was a convincing smile on his face, "I'm just tired, I've been through a lot today…"

"Then rest…" It was a command, not a suggestion and Lloyd did as he was told, not that he gained even a wink of sleep because of it.

…

It was late some nights later, two to be exact, and Lloyd was up late working on Raine's key crest. It was early morning and, while Lloyd was supposed to be sharing the room with Kratos, but the mercenary had disappeared early in the evening and not come back. Lloyd didn't blame him; it had only been two nights but they had already spent more than a dozen hours together pretending for one another to be asleep. It was driving Lloyd insane. On the upside, Lloyd had been working hard on Raine's crest; the craftsmanship was something even his dad-Dirk would be proud of, and all the tinkering with tiny symbols and the work that he had put into it was making him exhausted: he might actually be capable of sleep that night.

The flickering candle light that Lloyd had to work by did not make his job any easier; the candle danced in the breeze of the open windows and cast eerie shadows around the room. This wasn't what concerned Lloyd, of course, but the shadows cast strange shapes in the metal that he was carving. He yawned and stretched, his arms held above his head and Lloyd looked back down at his work…only to find that it was complete!

Lloyd examined the golden metal, his skilled hands running over the metal as his numb fingers caught the grooves that he had made and checked for any mistakes. There were none and Lloyd grinned at the small piece of metal. "Wow, that was harder than I remember…" he groaned, all he wanted now was to give the crest to Raine and go to bed.

Lloyd stood; he was clad only in the black undershirt that he put under his jacket and gray pants. Not even his boots. Most of the inn was asleep so he had no qualms about walking around in less than his usual amount of clothing. He paused on his way to the door only to grab his boots. The warrior part of his brain made his eyes jump to his swords—a pair of metal blades that Kratos had bought him the day before.

His father hadn't said a word about the cost.

Lloyd knew that, logically, he should take his swords: what if he was attacked? But the realistic part of Lloyd knew that Raine would question the odd habit, as would anyone he might meet on the short walk down the hall to Raine and Genis' room. Besides, he rationalized, if someone did attack him—an unlikely event in its own right—Lloyd most likely wouldn't have trouble taking them down. He'd made it this far with wooden blades, after all.

Despite his misgivings, Lloyd's few seconds in the hall down to Raine's room were uneventful to say the least. There was no clerk downstairs, but a candle flickered on the desk, lighting the lobby down the stairs and much of the open hall that Lloyd stood on. From his vantage point, Lloyd could have seen any attacker, but, as there were none, he turned his back on the dark, empty room and knocked softly on the Sages' door.

Raine's call of "come in, it's open" came to his ears through the rough wooden door and Lloyd did has she commanded and entered. "Hey, Raine, I finished your crest…" he glanced from the beautiful silver-haired half-elf to her like-haired younger brother, asleep on one of the two beds in the room. He was covered in a thick quilt to keep out the cold desert night air.

"Oh, Lloyd! I can't believe you stayed up this late working on it." Raine's voice was somewhere between excited and disapproving. "Get back to your room and get some sleep, you look dead on your feet and we'll have a long day tomorrow…"

"I know, I know. Don't worry about me, besides, you're still up, so I figured I'd give you something new to think about. You should get some sleep too though." Lloyd smiled at her, enjoying the way the flickering candle shined on her silver hair, turning it gold. His teacher had also taken off her outer layers, and was only wearing her white shirt and pants. Without the coat she looked slim and rather…breakable.

"Lloyd…" Perhaps it was just the candlelight, but it looked as though Raine was…blushing. "Thank you very much, but you really should get to bed, you look half-asleep already."

Lloyd smiled again, "I don't doubt it… Hey, Raine? So, can Genis and I really come on the Journey?"

"…could I really deny you after everything that's happened? You can't go home…and you went through a lot to come find us… I haven't talked to Kratos about it yet, but I do not think even he can disagree."

"Thanks…Raine, really. You won't regret it, we'll do a good job, I swear!"

"Lloyd! Keep your voice down, Genis is trying to sleep…" Raine scolded lightly, "Honestly, you're so excitable!"

"S-sorry…" Lloyd grinned sheepishly, "Well…you want me to show you how to put on the crest?" Before she could answer, Lloyd moved forward, taking the gold crest from her hands and picking up the exsphere that lay on the desk before her. "You have to be really careful because exspheres without keycrests make you sick if you use them. They way you put it on," Lloyd caught her hand gently in one of his own and with the other he positioned the exsphere on top of the golden crest, "is by first placing the keycrest on your hand and then setting the exsphere in place."

Lloyd pressed the cool metal against the half-elf's hand and set the exsphere over it, he watched Raine's eyes light up as the power of the exsphere flowed through her. "If you'd put it on exsphere-first, the crest would still work, but you would have to have a dwarf remove it, like this you can take it on and off whenever you want, just be careful that nothing breaks, I'm not sure how much of it I can fix, mmkay?"

"O-of course Lloyd…" Raine was staring in wonder at her new exsphere, "Thank you very much!"

"Any time Raine." Lloyd backed away a step, his boots soft against the wooden floor. "Well, night!"

He turned to go and heard her murmur, "Goodnight Lloyd…" as the door closed.

When Lloyd exited the Sages' room, he found the lobby below to be occupied, unlike his last passing. A floor below, his father, clothed in shadow, walked near-silently across the tiled floor. He moved swiftly; anyone would presume it was simply because he did not want to run the risk of waking the rest of the inn, but Lloyd recognized a certain amount of nervousness in his father's gait as he exited the inn. Lloyd, curious as ever, even when he knew what was to come, chose not to go to bed, as sense would have dictated, but to follow his sire into the cool desert night.

Lloyd padded swiftly and soundlessly down the far stairs and landed in the lobby. An automatic surveillance of the room proved it shadowy, but devoid of life. He strolled across the room, the fine hairs on the back of his neck and arms prickling as if he was being watched—foolish, the room was empty, no mana, no extra shadows, no doors from which anyone could be watching. It was just the dark; Lloyd scolded himself for acting so childish.

He exited the building, approximately a minute or so behind his enigmatic father. Lloyd closed the inn door softly and started up the staircase that led to the square from the inn door, listening as he went. From above, he could hear the baritone murmurings of his father's voice and the soft whine of Noishe's response.

"…taken care of him," Kratos said softly, "and for that I thank you, old friend." Noishe whined softly in response, and Lloyd heard the sounds of the Seraph scratching the Protozoan's snout. "Humph, indeed…"

Lloyd chuckled soundlessly at the tone of his father's voice, somewhere between annoyed and amused, if not exasperated: Lloyd had no doubt they were discussing his rash actions of earlier in the week. He wandered silently up the stairs and onto the moonlit sand. Shards of what was once a stone mosaic added color, be it faded or otherwise, to the sea of silver that stretched around Lloyd's red boots. Across the way, Noishe and Kratos stood with their backs to him as they stared out at the sand and reminisced.

Lloyd approached then without making so much as a sound, meaning it must have been his breathing that tipped Kratos off to his position—or perhaps it was merely intuition—but when Lloyd was within two feet of the odd pair, he found his father spinning 'round, sword in hand and the tip ready to meet with his Adams apple. Of course, the second Kratos began to move, so, too, did Lloyd. He dropped to his hands and knees and rolled out of the way of Kratos' reaching blade. Lloyd hopped up several feet away, his hand automatically grasping at the air where his swords should have been.

Because he'd left them back in the inn room, like the idiot he was.

"…Lloyd, what are you doing still up?" Kratos asked as way of apology for nearly skewering him.

"I-I was just working on the Professor's keycrest…" Lloyd gasped slightly, his adrenaline still high from the near miss. "I saw you coming out here and wondered what you were doing! I didn't mean to freak you out!"

His father "humphed" and replaced his sword in its sheath looking annoyed. "You should have gone to sleep hours ago, you're—"

"Gonna have a long day tomorrow, I've heard this already, don't worry about me, I'll make sure I'm fine."

"Hmm…" Kratos eyed Lloyd for a long moment, his red eyes boring into Lloyd's own. Lloyd hoped desperately that he was keeping his cool as well as he thought he was. For a moment, he thought he detected a spark of something in his father's eyes, but as quickly as it had come, it was gone again, leaving no trace on the angel's face. "…see that you do, Lloyd."

This, though obviously a dismissal on the elder man's behalf, only made Lloyd smile slightly and sit on the dirt and sand beside Noishe's cage, the Protozoan reaching a paw through the gate to tap Lloyd's head teasingly. "What? S'too late to play, Noshy."

"Late enough that you should be in bed, I think is what your dog is trying to say." Kratos pointed out mildly.

"You're one to talk, you're gonna have just as long a day as I have."

"I am used to less sleep than you are," the mercenary replied, a bit of a hiss to his tone.

"…" Lloyd sighed, very close to picking a fight, but he—in what he considered an inhuman act of self-control—said peacefully, "give me a bit longer, kay? Then I'll go to bed."

His father sighed and reached out to pat Noishe's head, "…you are an insistent child."

"…yeah, I guess I am. You like animals?" Lloyd leaned back against the cage and motioned to Kratos' hand on Noishe's head. "Noishe really likes you, and usually he's so shy around strangers."

There are some things that, for no apparent reason, stick very well in one's memory. Sometimes they're images, sometimes they're conversations, this was one of those moments, the first real bonding moment with his father, that Lloyd would always remember.

"…I am not particularly fond of animals, no." His father shrugged off the conversation but Lloyd pressed on.

"Then it must just be Noishe, he adores you." Immediately, Lloyd regretted his word-choice. For Lloyd to be talking to his father was one thing, to be trying to make a new friend of the stoic mercenary, the term adores was pathetic.

Kratos eyed his son for a long moment, his probing eyes still searching for some hint of Lloyd's façade to break. Lloyd, after a moment of perfectly timed innocent blinking smiled at Kratos. "What, something on my face?"

"…no, I was…merely wondering at your word choice."

"Yeah…"

"Lloyd," Kratos halted after the first word and Lloyd felt his stomach flip awkwardly at his father's gaze. "…your swordsmanship is unrefined; you need to learn to control your blades…if you wish to live through this Journey." And his father turned to go, strolling away in the opposite direction of the inn.

"…then teach me." It was an open invitation; Lloyd hoped that it wouldn't be below him to accept. "You're the best swordsman I've ever met."

As Lloyd had anticipated, Kratos was caught off-guard by this statement and he actually turned back to look at Lloyd. "…I do not take apprentices."

"I'm not asking for anything full-time, you've got to take care of the others too, I get that. But every-so-often you can give me pointers and stuff." Lloyd pushed an earnest ring into his voice. "Please?"

"…" Kratos sighed and looked away. "…I suppose we shall see after we leave the city."

Lloyd was grateful that his father was not looking at him, as a regrettably real and open smile split his lips. "…thanks Da-Kratos. Thanks a lot…" Lloyd bit the inside of his lip, hard and swore mentally. He, however, did not earn an odd look from Kratos this time, for which he was grateful.

"…go to bed, Lloyd." Kratos murmured quietly before disappearing into the shadows.

Lloyd waited until he knew his father was out of earshot before looking up at Noishe and sighing, "…ya' know? It's harder the second time around I think. Feels like…I dunno, like I'm in a play or something. Like it's scripted. I don't want to stray from the script because that'll screw up the play, but I just want to smack him sometimes, make him see reason. He…only thinks of us as the Chosen's Group right now, but I know it'll change…I'm just impatient for it. Do you know what I mean?"

From the confused, rather blank look on the "dog's" face, Lloyd took the negative. Noishe whined softly, still catching Lloyd's brooding mood.

"…thanks Noshy," Lloyd stood up. "I guess I should to go bed before Raine sees that I'm still up and wakes the rest of the inn up yelling out her window. You sleep well too, kay?" He patted Noishe on the head. "Stay warm, what a weird thing to say in a desert…" He gave his oldest friend one last smile before turning back to the inn.

It was mere minutes later that Lloyd walked into the room that he was supposed to be sharing with Kratos—if only the mercenary would return for the night. He opened the door wooden door and stepped inside, only to freeze when he saw who was sitting on his bed: Yuan.

The half-elf had removed his traditional cape and had donned, much to Lloyd's growing horror, the Desian uniform. Thankfully, he had taken off the helmet; it sat next to him on the bed, his blue ponytail hanging behind his back. He sat calmly, arms crossed, as if he had been waiting impatiently for several minutes for Lloyd's return. In one hand, he held the letter that Lloyd had given him days earlier, now opened and with signs of several readings: the lines in the paper were creased and the edges bent with use.

"Y-Yuan, what the hell are you doing here?" Lloyd shut the door quickly so that their voices wouldn't carry so easily, but he wished he could hear better what was going on outside, he wouldn't put it past Yuan to set this up as a trap and have his men capturing Raine, Genis, and Colette while Kratos was out and Lloyd was distracted. And, perhaps worse, he couldn't hear if Kratos was returning. If his father returned to the inn room to find Lloyd arguing with Yuan, there would be a lot of explanations to give. Lies to sell.

Yuan didn't move but to hold the letter a bit higher, "Have you read this?"

"Uh, no. You gave…well will give me specific instructions to, and I quote, "keep your nose the hell out of this, boy." I did." Lloyd sighed and sat down on his bed, opposite from Yuan, suddenly wishing his swords weren't across the room. "Why?"

"Because this…seems to confirm your story, as much as a hand-written letter can."

"But wasn't it written by you?"

"Exactly why I don't believe it. I would remember writing something like this."

"…that's because you haven't written it yet. I got it from you in the future." Lloyd sighed; sometimes Yuan's logic eluded him.

"Why do you continue to stick to this ridiculous tale of yours? And, for that matter, why did you feel the need to tell me about it in the first place?"

"Kay, what the hell'd you put in that letter? I think we'd covered this already! I need your help to stop Kvar! And I stick to it because it's true! Why the hell else would I?"

Yuan sat back, still watching Lloyd and sighed softly, "Well, whether or not you are telling the truth, you are thorough. Or, rather, I am thorough. There is an entire outline of what I should be doing and manipulating while helping you."

"…wow." Lloyd groaned, "No wonder you didn't want me to see."

"So my question is this: you said the threat was Kvar, how the hell is that supposed to work?"

Lloyd looked at Yuan for a long moment; he was finally being given a change to explain, one that would probably be uninterrupted judging by the fact that Kratos wasn't in the mood for pretending to sleep tonight…

He took a deep breath and spoke, "…basically, what we know is this: we will kill Kvar, he attacks Luin in a couple months and we go in for revenge and to save the people he took, right? Dad and I absolutely murder him, then, for good measure, we blow up the Ranch." Lloyd shrugged, "He's dead, kaput, gone, poof, until, almost six years later, he shows up in the time stream. No warning, nothing, just an urgent message from Origin about how there is a hostility moving through time. We look into it a little further and we find out it's, wait for it, Kvar."

"And that's all you know?"

"We know that he's back from the dead and somewhere around here. We don't know if that means there's two of them running around—normal time Kvar and back-from-the-dead-Kvar—or if he hasn't landed yet or if there's just back-from-the-dead-Kvar running around."

"And if you are from the future, why aren't there two of you running around?"

"Origin. I replaced the old me, I've got all my new skills, memories, and powers. Very convenient, but controlled time travel is one of the perks of being the Eternal Swordsman."

Lloyd watched Yuan for a long moment, the half-elf still looked skeptical, his brow furrowed and his emerald eyes hard, but there was something about his stance, during Lloyd's explanations, he had leaned forward and tilted his head slightly. While no one could say that Yuan was a bad actor he was just interested enough that he allowed his guard to fall to the point that Lloyd could actually read him. This alone would have told Lloyd that Yuan was swaying, but the fact that the Renegade leader had let him say as much was as comforting a fact as any. He wouldn't have sat and listened to what he considered gibberish if he didn't believe it even slightly.

On the other hand, it could all be a trap.

Lloyd perked his angelic hearing to listen into Colette and the Sage's rooms, but no noise other than their sleeping breath met his hyper-sensitive ears. Lloyd, after a moment of listening, realized he was holding his own breath and quietly let it out, hoping that Yuan was too lost in his thoughts to notice Lloyd's worry. If he thought Lloyd was nervous there was no telling the interpretation that he could have. If he thought Lloyd was nervous because he was telling a lie, or because he was expecting a trap and didn't trust Yuan, there was no way the Seraph would believe or trust Lloyd. That was something he couldn't afford.

At long last, Yuan spoke, "…for some reason," he began slowly, "…I believe you."

Not immediately comprehending what Yuan has said, Lloyd opened his mouth to argue, then the meaning sunk in. "You-…you do?"

"Yes, what you've said coincides with the information that my men have gathered—that Kvar was in the Iselia area, with Forcystus nonetheless, and we know there were two large fluctuations in the mana over the past few weeks, these would most likely be the arrivals of yourself and Kvar. Furthermore, I have men stationed in the Asgard Ranch where, I'm sure you know, Kvar cultivates his experiments, and they've said that the Grand Cardinal has been acting oddly, I would assume this has something to do with it…?"

"Uh…yes."

"…I should go, yes? Lloyd, contact me if something arises, but only if the information if vital. I will not be alerting my men to the situation, nor allowing you to barge into my base unannounced. We may be working together, but you will not be taking advantage of this, understood?"

"Of course not." Lloyd nodded.

With that as his final warning, Yuan grabbed his helm, stood, and strolled over to the small window. Lloyd stood as well, unsure as to what exactly his uncle was doing, he walked up behind him and watched as the shorter man opened the window and climbed out onto the ledge beyond.

"…you do look so much like your father…" He shook his head and leapt off the ledge, landing silently in the sand below and disappearing into the night.

….

Okay, done with that, now I have to go work on my Lloyd cosplay…this should be good. I'm too short to be Lloyd, but whatever.

R&R

~Yoshi