This chapter ended up way longer than I originally thought it would. Still, that's good news as I, unfortunately, will have to pause in my writing for about two weeks. Until the school year's out. I've just got too many finals and too much work to try to write and study. And yes, contrary to popular belief, I do write in these in-between weeks. Still, you're used to waiting awhile for new chapters, so hopefully I'll pick it back up over the summer and write far more than I have been lately.

As for this chapter in particular…well, I got a lot of bored reactions, so I figured I'd better pick up the pace, especially since we've still got to get through the Mausoleum. I ended up liking it a lot. Oh, and we've made it past twenty!

…

Blood.

Fire.

Lloyd wanted to run, but it was as if he had weights on his feet. He was moving slowly, looking ahead, his eyes watering as smoke blew at him and made his throat burn. Flaming buildings, many already down to bare skeletons, surrounded him. A man ran across his path, his hair smoldering, his clothes blazing, his skin red as it burned away. Another, a woman, fell at his feet. She was dying before his eyes, the white bone of her skull showing through underneath the flames that engulfed her body.

Lloyd stepped over the body, despite the fact that every part of him screamed to turn back and help. Even though there was nothing he could have done, and he knew it, but he still wanted to try to comfort her as she died…

As he moved deeper in, Desians began to swarm. They were in the middle of the city now, setting fire to things, laughing. One Desian turned and sliced in half the head of a man who had moved to try and stop the advance. A woman screamed and Lloyd was able to turn his head far enough to see the man's wife and children watching in terrified shock. The Desian was turning on them, and Lloyd's fingers tingled to reach for his swords, but his hands wouldn't move.

Against his will, Lloyd turned away, something in him, something painfully hypocritical, told him that there were far more important things awaiting him. The screams of dying children echoed behind.

"I won't let you bastards get away with this!" Sheena stood glaring defiantly as a half-dozen Desians surrounded her. "You're murdering all these people!" Her hair had fallen from its ponytail and blood dripped down the side of her face. Her lower lip was slightly swollen and her leggings and skirt were ripped, but she was still standing, Corrine was even by her feet, growling angrily.

"Heh, look at this little bitch," one of the Desians said loudly to his neighbor, "Thinks she's pretty high and mighty, doesn't she?"

"Boys, I've got a few ideas of what we could do with this pretty little thing," another laughed. "Anyone with me?" There was a chorus of laughed agreement and Sheena seemed to pale slightly under the blood.

"Y-you're not gonna have the chance to lay a finger on me!" she cried, almost as if she was trying to convince them of it as much as herself.

"For once, Ms. Fujibiyashi, you are correct." The crowd was pushed aside by Kvar…

…

Lloyd jerked awake. He was panting, sweating despite the fact that he had been sleeping in only his pants and undershirt and the Asgard plains were practically frosted over. He was panting; his chest heaved. He sat up and ran a hand through his hair; it was messier than usual. He wondered if he'd been twisting in his sleep.

The morning seemed to stretch on for Lloyd, though this was mostly due to his inability to think of anything but the dream. There was plenty to distract him. They were once again on the road; the Balacruf Mausoleum was their heading, and the group was making good time. There were even monsters about, but Lloyd could not drag his thoughts from Sheena facing down Kvar in a burning Luin. It took very little to realize that that was where the dream had taken place, but did that mean it had already happened? Was it a premonition of the future? Or perhaps he had simply been stressing too much.

Each option seemed less likely than the one before to Lloyd. He dragged himself across the plains, trying to listen to Raine, Genis, and Colette's lessons or lose himself in conversation with Kratos, but more often than not, he stopped listening halfway through. They had only been traveling a day, but already the rest of the group was worrying about him. He could hear their whispers from where he walked with Noishe at the back of the proceedings.

"Tonight," he muttered to Noishe, "I'll chill out, I swear." The reproachful look that the Protozoan gave him in return for that statement made Lloyd realize just how bad he was. Perhaps it was lucky, then, that but an hour later the Mausoleum appeared in the distance. It was much larger than Lloyd remembered; even across the land bridge they could see it through the trees.

The group stopped, all looking up at the marble columns and towers that created what they could see over the trees. "…it's enormous," Genis muttered, "unbelievable! How far do you think we are from it, Raine?" Everyone, even Genis, was impressed by the sight, with, Lloyd noted privately, the exception of his father. Then again, he was probably as old as the Mausoleum—Lloyd had never asked—and had seen it a thousand times. All the same, Lloyd felt as though it should stir something.

"We're at least still three miles…" Raine replied, her voice hushed. "My Goddess, I've never seen such perfect architecture! Think of how it's withstood years of wear and yet retained its secrets! From my understanding, almost none of the past Chosen have even made it this far! We are perhaps the first to be exploring it since the original builders!" Ruin Mode had been entered and Lloyd exchanged a dubious look with Genis who sighed and turned to keep walking, his own enthusiasm fading and embarrassment replacing it.

Kratos snorted from behind them, Lloyd supposed it was due to Raine's Ruin Mode-ing, and said, "I suppose the only way is to continue on, yes?" He, like Genis, began walking again and Colette, Lloyd, and Noishe followed. After another moment of staring, Raine picked up her pace as well, but the never-ending onslaught of information was begun, just as it had at the last two Temples.

"All of the stone for its creation was mined from an ancient quarry north of Hakonesia and carried to the island by boat! It is said that it is the final resting place for Cleo III, though his remains have never been found. Several centuries ago, some explorers forced their way in—oh the disregard for thousands of years of history!—and mapped out several floors, but they believed that there were hundreds of other passages and levels unexplored as of yet!" Lloyd was in wonder as to how his teacher never seemed to run out of breath, and she continued for the next hour as they traversed the last three miles to the building.

It was high noon when they arrived at the base of the hill the Mausoleum sat atop; stone retaining walls built up large chunks of the grassy hill, showing, as Raine put it, "the ingenuity of the Balacruf peoples!" They were surrounded by rich green grass, large rocks and pillars that had toppled and broken were scattered up the hill. It was strangely beautiful, even if there were hundreds of dead bodies inside.

"Split up," Kratos commanded, "look for an entrance that we can use the stone to open." The stone Kratos spoke of was an old stone tablet that Raine had found after the Windmaster had attacked, she had translated it and it had pointed them to the Mausoleum, and they had left the next day. Lloyd wandered off with Noishe, up a flight of stairs surrounded by stone walls and to the next level. He turned another corner and could no longer hear his friends, even Raine's incessant ramblings.

The air was crisp and fresh, but smelled more of the sea here than it had on the mainland. He brushed his hand along the next stone retaining wall as he made his way to the third open expanse of grass and stared around in wonder. Already he was several hundred feet up from where he could still see Raine and Colette talking below them. Kratos and Genis had both vanished from view, but there were many other walls, they could easily be out of his sight.

Lloyd and Noishe ran through the grass; the Protozoan panted and smiled doggishy at his friend's side. Soon they were several levels up and nearing the structure itself. It was massive, even larger up close that it had been miles before. Many of the pillars had crumbled here as well, but Lloyd didn't mind the slightly increased danger and slipped between them as Noishe hung back, looking wary. It was like an entrance, Lloyd realized: the pillars around him held up a majestic curving ceiling and at the center was an altar with a slit in the top roughly the size of the tablet.

"This is the place." Yes, it was just as he remembered. Turning away from the altar, he came out by Noishe and called down to his friends, "Guys! I think I found it!" He sat around for only a few minutes before Raine, Genis, Kratos, and Colette caught up with him. Raine raced ahead, but once again Noishe fell behind. He would stay out, just as he had last time. This was indeed it, as Raine demonstrated by placing the tablet in its place without being told; the small altar began to glow and Colette's crystal did the same.

The wall in front of them slid away, as if the building were yawning, and a blast of musty, cold air was exhaled upon them. Looking between the bright blue sky outside and the darkness that awaited them, Lloyd suddenly wished he could remain with Noishe. Raine's mania had even died down at the sight of what lay before them, and Colette had a small frown written across her normally jovial features. Without any sort of signal, they entered the Balacruf Mausoleum.

…

The first corpses had been shocking for all: soldiers grinning madly, servants still grasping golden trays in their skinless, boney hands. Then, later, the tombs began. By this time they had all grown numb from the sights and smells of death, and the first marble coffins were a welcome sight. Decorated and carved, most were, so Raine told them, the last remains of distant family of Cleo III as well as his court and those who assisted him in ruling the Balacruf kingdom.

The first were enormous, as long as Lloyd was tall and elevated to the height of his hip, but by the third room, these had become as unimpressive as the bodies that lay out to greet guests. Soon the coffins morphed into massive marble boxes carved with the life stories of its occupants or carefully and perfectly carved likenesses of the inhabitants laying in sleep, clutching flowers. Lloyd even spotted one, bafflingly, made completely of glass. Next to the marble, it seemed almost gaudy and Lloyd didn't let himself study it long enough to see what remained of the man or woman inside.

Unfortunately, they had much more pressing worries than examining the tenants of the Mausoleum. They had learned early on that Cleo III, or perhaps one of his relatives, had been greatly concerned with the idea of someone breaking in and stealing their remains, though why Lloyd had no idea. Every other step they took sent spikes jerking from the stone beneath their feet or the walls around them, pits opening up under them, or, in the case of a clumsy misstep by Colette, a boulder chasing them down several halls until Kratos had the good sense to turn and cast fireball at it.

It must have been late night by the time they reached the upper floors. He reasoned this from the way Colette, Raine, and Genis were all yawning and slowing. They weren't talking, even the Professor had settled down. Kratos and Lloyd seemed to be having a very different reaction; it wasn't something he had noticed in the other Temples—they had been much smaller than the Mausoleum and only taken them a handful of hours to traverse. They, Lloyd guessed, had been at this for at least six hours and the rest of the group had no idea that they were any closer to the seal. Lloyd and Kratos did not only know they were closer, but even six hours of walking hadn't worn them out physically.

"Perhaps," Kratos suggested quietly, "we should rest for a few hours." Despite his soft voice, Kratos' words echoed around the chamber. It was one of the smaller rooms, only one coffin lay in the middle of the room; there was no fuel to make a fire, so they set out blankets and Genis dug out jerky and the last of the fruit that they had brought from Asgard. It was quiet and a sense of dark misery hung over Lloyd's friends' heads. Lloyd wanted to say something, but he didn't know how cheer up the others.

Before Lloyd could come up with anything clever to say, though, his friends had dropped off to sleep. Kratos had volunteered, silently, to stay up on guard, and he and Lloyd were the only ones left awake. "…this place is depressing," Lloyd sighed. "I don't think it's good for the guys…" he motioned around to the rest of the group.

Kratos grunted his agreement, his eyes drifting around the chamber. They were lucky that they had found a place with only two entrances; part of the labyrinth-like structure of the Mausoleum was that every room lead in several different directions, often one could wander in circles for hours before realizing they had passed through the same room coming from a different door several times.

Lloyd yawned and slumped against the wall, the dullness of his companions and the near-dark gloom of the tomb was lulling him to sleep…

…

Flames leapt around him, screams erupted in his ears, Lloyd stumbled through the rubble. There was something important he had to do, or perhaps someone he had to find, but he couldn't remember. Every time he thought he could remember, the horror around him made the thought slip from his mind.

There was a scream and Lloyd tried to speed up, but, again, his feet would move for him.

Sheena! He tried to move, he remembered Kvar and Sheena and he had to save her!

…

Lloyd's eyes opened, Kratos was shaking him awake, he could hear the sounds of the others behind, getting breakfast and packing up their beds. "Up," Kratos commanded, "it is time to leave." Lloyd rose stiffly to his feet, he could feel his muscles resisting but there was no pain. They ate a cold, hurried breakfast, then set off again into the cold, dark Mausoleum. They were as quiet as they had been the latter part of the day before.

Kratos had taken point, leading the way through the labyrinth-like passages, but as they wandered, words in a language that Lloyd actually recognized began to appear. It was, however, too dark to read and Lloyd had never been able to tell letters by their feel—despite the fact that they were engraved—his fingers were too numb to really feel the grooves anyway.

There was a tug on Lloyd's memory, and he realized that last time they had relied on these to lead them through. Lloyd pulled out the Sorcerer's Ring and his fingers grouped until he found the wooden stand the held up a torch. Carefully he aimed and set the torch alight, the flames leapt and Lloyd could read the vague clues.

"Lloyd!" Raine cried, racing back toward him down the passage, "What are you doing!"

"There was a torch!" Lloyd cried when his teacher seemed ready to smack him. "Look! Clue!"

Raine's eyes widened and she raced over to the wall and began to examine it. Ten minutes later Raine had replaced Kratos as head of the party and they were not so much wandering as racing through the passages in what Lloyd remembered to be the direction toward the seal. They reached the final floor, around them windmills sat stationary and Raine held out her hand to Lloyd, as if waiting for something. He blinked at her. "Erm…yes?"

"Give me the Ring." Oh. The Sorcerer's Ring, he pulled it off his finger and handed it to the Professor who walked over to a pedestal and began fiddling with it. "Aha!" she murmured and Lloyd felt wind mana well, she then walked over to one of the windmills and aimed the Ring. Not fire, but a blast of wind erupted from it and the fan began to spin.

She moved around the chamber, starting the fans in a seemingly random order. A minute later, she had finished and an innocent patch of wall on the far side of the chamber opened and Lloyd and the others filed out into blinding sunlight.

The seal was a large altar, like the others, and it sat at the far end of the wide, flat plane. The wind was stronger up here than even on the dais, and the sky was cloudless and bright and the sun was directly overhead. Lloyd had been several hours off his estimation of the time. While he had been standing, staring at the scenery, his friends had started off toward the altar. Lloyd hurried to catch up with them.

Without being told, the others stopped several feet behind Colette while the Chosen had stepped up to the altar. Her crystal glowed and the wind blew harder; from nowhere a great monster appeared, howling and roaring. It was some sort of bird, great and vibrantly blue; its feathers were every shade of the rainbow, reds, yellows, greens, purples, all bright. Its beak was wide and cold and as sharp enough to crack skulls and its claws were as long as Lloyd's arm.

"My Goddess, an Iapyx!" Raine gasped, "It's an ancient beast; said to live a thousand years or more!"

"Which means it's skilled," Kratos growled. "Wait for it to attack, try the same strategy from Asgard. Sages to the back, Colette between the two, Lloyd, back me on the front." Kratos had only just managed to finish his orders when the monster attacked. Mana gathered at its wings and as the Iapyx flapped them, Lloyd braced himself in time to face blades of air that slammed into him. He stumbled back a few steps, but at the same time, Kratos raced forward and tried to slash at it.

With a squawk that sounded much like laughter, the Iapyx dodged out of the way, but Kratos sliced the ends of its feathers. It screamed and flapped the wing harder, trying to stay airborne. It caught its balance and both Lloyd and Kratos lunged for it with swords raised, but found themselves nearly running into each other as the Iapyx took to the air, flapping awkwardly at the loss of its feathers, but still stable.

Kratos swore and spun on Genis, "Earth spells, dammit!" he hissed. Lloyd understood his father's frustrations: they could easily have flown up and followed it, taking the battle to the air, but with Raine, Genis, and Colette…no, Lloyd corrected himself, Colette was aware of what they were. Kratos, however, was not. One way or another, he was not about to take to the air. Genis sent several heavy balls of earth flying at the monster, but it dodged with another bought of mocking bird-sounds.

Lloyd growled and glared up at it, how where they possibly going to get it down? A moment later, Lloyd discovered that standing under a monster with large, sharp talons was a very, very idiotic move, as he was forced to dodge out of the path of the monster's wicked claws, his arms being gorged in the process. He was lucky that it was not his face. He stumbled backward, staring at the mass of torn muscle and blood that was now his left arm. Kratos was shouting at him, but Lloyd did not hear his father's terrified anger or the shouts of his friends, he just saw red.

His heart pounded in his chest, but it felt as if the organ had transplanted itself in his Adam's apple; part of him felt sick at the sight of his arm, but his mind had gone into overdrive, just as it had a the Temple of Water. He knew it, he knew that what he was about to do was dangerous and stupid and would probably set the rest of the group on his trail, but logic did not stop his legs from moving him forward. He leapt into the air, raising both his swords, "Raining Tiger Blade!" He screamed, his blades striking the left shoulder of the beast and sending it spiraling to the ground.

He came down atop it, his swords slashing against the monster's snapping beak as it tried to bite his leg. Lloyd was not lucky, and he caught one of his blades in the monster's mouth, snap! The sword split in two, Lloyd was let holding the handle of a jaggedly-cut knife. In his moment of shock, he was thrown off the bird-monster's chest and wings and sent flying to the ground. His head hit the smooth, weathered rock of the roof and felt the air leave his lungs. He gasped but air did not come; Lloyd felt as if he wanted to be sick. Around him he thought he might have heard his friends screaming, but his could not see, let alone gather enough of his mind together to hear.

The Iapyx did not give him time to recover, it was over him in a second, long, sharp beak snapping at his face, he felt his cheek tear and his flesh come away in its beak. The pain wasn't there, only numb anger, the feel of his body giving out and he felt himself slip away…

…

"Who the hell are you!" Sheena shouted at the grinning half-elf. "You're in charge of these bastards? Well, take them and get the hell out of Luin!" Her hands clenched, crumpling the paper seals grasped between her fingers. At her side, Corrine growled, a sound that was far too small and soft to be of any real threat. Kvar only laughed.

"I have no intension of removing my forces from his village until after I have what I've come for." Lloyd couldn't see Kvar, he was turned away, as if standing beside the Desian. Whatever the half-elf's expression was, though, it terrified Sheena. Under her tough exterior, even covered in the blood of other Desians, as well as her own, Lloyd could see the fear that Kvar was inspiring.

"What do you want? Take it and get out of here!" Her talk was plainly harsher than anything she could do when Kvar had a half-dozen soldiers around him, and he laughed.

"You, child, are my goal."

…

"Lloyd!" Colette cried, jerking Lloyd from his dreams and the angel's eyes jerked open. He gasped and rolled onto his side, heaving up the small amount of breakfast he had eaten.

"Colette," Raine's voice commanded, "dear, give him room. He still hasn't recovered his breath." Lloyd felt thankful to her for her consideration. He opened his mouth to say so, but found himself dry-heaving and coughing violently. He stared down into the pool of sick and moaned.

"W-what…?" he managed to choke as he rolled back onto his back. He was staring up at a clear, cloudless blue sky; they were still on the roof of the Mausoleum, but Lloyd's memories were cloudy. All he could recall was Luin, Sheena, and Kvar, and those were things that he would have been more than happy for forget.

"You were attacked by the Iapyx," Kratos growled, "Lucky to be alive. If Genis and I had not managed to kill it, you would be dead." He was clearly not happy with Lloyd's rash decision to throw himself at the monster with one of his arms completely destroyed. He raised his arm high enough to catch a glimpse of bloody, mangled red sleeve, but he found his own tanned skin, healed, but with deep, shiny scars all across it.

"My…arm…" he panted and slumped back against the stone.

"I healed it, mostly, Kratos also assisted and we've used our entire gel supply on you. That was an extremely dangerous maneuver, Lloyd Irving! It's a miracle you're alive!"

"With a move like that you don't deserve to have survived," Kratos added snidely.

Wanting to turn the conversation away from his own stupidity, Lloyd took a moment to catch his breath, then coughed, "Did you…r-release the Seal?"

"Yup!" Genis said, interrupting the obviously angry comments that would have come from Raine and Kratos, "We're supposed to find a place that gazes upon the Tower of Salvation. Colette didn't get a halo or anything though…" Lloyd struggled not to make a face at Genis' comment and glanced at Colette. She looked pale and with a jolt, something Raine had said sunk in. They had used all their gels on him! Colette was going to come down with a fever and more angel toxicosis in only a couple of hours, how were they going to take care of her then?

He wanted to voice his realization, but sitting up seemed to take all the energy from his voice. "Rest," Kratos said and gently pushed him back down, "If you hurt yourself further, neither Ms. Sage nor myself have enough mana left to heal you. We'll spend another hour here, then start down to the exit."

That was precisely what they did. Lloyd could easily have sprinted the length of the Mausoleum roof after thirty minutes, thanks to his angelic blood, but Kratos and Raine kept him laying. An hour, then two passed and it was only Lloyd, the only one not completely obsessed with his own state, began to see Colette turning pale, but the Chosen hid herself well. Finally, Professor Sage claimed Lloyd was well enough to walk and the group started back down through the hundreds of rooms of the Balacruf Mausoleum.

Leaving was, shockingly, faster than coming. Retracing their steps, Lloyd realized that they had been wandering in circles through most of day before, and with Raine interpreting the cryptic messages left on the walls, it took but several hours of walking to find the sunlight again. But, as Lloyd quickly recalled, with the sunlight came a price. Sheena was sitting before the entrance, staring into the gloom that was the Mausoleum waiting for them. When she saw them coming, by this time both Lloyd and Colette had fallen to the back of the entourage, she leapt to her feet, pulling out one of her seals.

"You're not going any farther!" she claimed, but Lloyd found he was shockingly happy to see the assassin trying to kill them. If she was here, there was no way that she could have been taken by Kvar. He had not missed the razing of Luin. It was only a dream.

Kratos growled angrily in the back of his throat, "You really wish to challenge us, girl?" The Seraph was angry and losing any semblance of patience he might have had left. His hand clenched the hilt of his sword and Lloyd saw his fingers turn white under the pressure of the grip.

"Of course! You're not gonna complete your Journey! I have to kill you—well, I'd only have to kill her if you'd just hand her over…" She motioned toward Colette, whose eyes were wide and she shook her head vigorously.

"Friends don't kill friends!" she cried, looking so completely sincere that even Kratos was thrown slightly. "Can't we just sit down and talk about this?"

"I-I…we're not friends!" Sheena stared. "Gods! Can't you get that through your head!"

Colette opened her mouth to reply, but Kratos cut her off furiously, "Enough, Chosen. This woman is trying to kill you, whatever her motives are, she is our enemy. Ms. Sage, keep the children back." Lloyd's eyes widened as he realized what his father was about to do.

"D—Kratos, don't kill her!" Lloyd called, but Kratos ignored him and pulled his sword from its place at his side. He stood waiting, the blade lose in his grip as he eyed his Mizuhoian opponent.

"Er…" Sheena was more than slightly put off by her sparring partner, but the ninja was never one to deny an opponent. "Alright old man, let's see what you've got…" Light on her feet, Sheena raced forward, but Kratos was faster and he stepped away from her charge and brought his sword around to cut into her back. She shouted with pain and caught herself, rounding on him angrily.

Sheena pulled out a seal and made a fast hand motion, activating it and sending it flying at Kratos; a moment before it reached the mercenary, it exploded, sending smoke billowing around the cramped entrance of the Mausoleum, but it was an ill-thought move. The fresh air outside sucked and pulled at the smoke, clearing it quickly. All the same, Sheena charged into the cloud and they heard Kratos grunt and a moment later he stumbled out of the smoke, a deep gorge dug into his forearm.

The ninja leapt out at him, but Kratos was fast and he brought his sword up to defend himself, first blocking a series of seals, slicing them with the blade, and then taking the offensive. His sword cut through the air, and Sheena was only just able to jump away to avoid being hit in the shoulder with a blow that would have struck her down in seconds. Instead he hit her right arm; the girl cried out in pain and stumbled back several more steps. The mercenary advanced and Lloyd saw Sheena's eyes widen as she realized how quickly she was going to be taken down.

She fell backwards, landing klutzily on her backside, but in a moment of inspiration, she laid back and caught Kratos' oncoming sword between her ankles and tried to pull it from his hands. Not having seen this coming, Kratos lost control of his sword and it clattered to the ground some feet away. Sheena launched herself to her feet, despite the fact that one of her arms was beginning to bleed rather heavily, and moved to attack again.

Kratos blocked each oncoming blow that the ninja tried to land. Her hand flew at him, some with seals, some just wickedly skillful fingers. The skilled angel was only defensive for a few seconds, for a moment later he caught her wrist and tugged her off the ground, sending her across the small room to slam her head against the stones of the far wall. She tried to recover, lurching herself back to her feet, but she stumbled and slumped back against the stones, groaning. A trickle of blood slid down the side of her cheek.

Kratos stormed across the room and retrieved his sword, turning on the dazed girl; Lloyd saw murder written in his eyes. Lloyd lurched forward, "Alright, alright, you won. C'mon, let's go." He glanced at Colette and saw, much to both his horror and inspiration, that she was paler than she had been a moment ago. "Colette looks ready to tip over and I could use a little sleep too. Just leave her, Kratos."

The mercenary turned to Lloyd, angry. "This may be our only chance to get rid of her. If we leave her, we put ourselves in danger later. We put the Chosen in danger."

"You just proved taking her down's not a problem. You don't need to kill her to get your point across."Lloyd tried to put as much authority into his voice as he could when it was his father he was reprimanding.

Kratos opened his mouth to protest, but Colette, her voice weak but calm, cut him off, "Mr. Kratos, Lloyd's right. Let's…c-can we just go?" With Colette swaying and Raine suddenly realizing just how ill she was, Kratos could see his battle was already lost.

"…" he sighed, "I am going to tie her up," he said at last. "You two won't last another mile, we'll tie her up outside and camp a ways away. If she comes after us in the night, I won't take mercy."

…

With Sheena tied up almost a mile from where they finally made camp, Lloyd found himself drifting easily. They had eaten—Genis had made stew from their remaining supplies—and Lloyd found himself full, tired, and recovering. It took him no time whatsoever to slip off. Unfortunately, with sleep, again came the dream.

…

"What the hell do you want with me!" Sheena's hands were still clenched, but her fingers itched toward her seals.

"You will make good bait, I think. Lloyd will come when he discovers I've taken his little friend…" Kvar was completely confident, and he made a small motion with his left hand. A moment later, a dozen Desians were upon Sheena, pulling her to the ground. "Yes," Kvar chuckled, "I will be seeing master Lloyd very soon…"

…

Lloyd gasped, fully sitting up as he awoke. Dull pain shot up his neck from his arm and shoulder and he groaned, rubbing his eyes with his good arm and carefully stretching the scarred arm. His heart was still thudding in his chest like a drum, and he looked around their small camp to find Kratos, the same guard they had left up last night, watching him with a raised eyebrow.

Lloyd attempted a rueful smile, "Just a bad dream…"

Kratos nodded and turned his attention back to the misty morning. Lloyd rose and grabbed his jacket, feeling his body begin to shiver in the cold that he could not feel. As he carefully fixed the top few buttons, the only ones he ever bothered to undo, he pondered over the dream. At first, he had been convinced that it was simply panic and nerves that had been causing it; they were, after all, getting close to the time when Luin would be destroyed and he would see Kvar again, but now… Now it felt like there was something behind it.

His fingers slipped on the cold button and he caught it again. He knew what he could do to have his questions answered, but he dreaded the idea of admitting that he needed help. Yuan was one thing, but this… Yet time was short, they could be to Luin in a week at most, and if what his dreams were telling him was true, it would be too late to ask for help…

If, however, he was wrong, he would look like a complete fool. But, Lloyd considered, if one already was an idiot, fool was a step up. It was an optimistic morning, as he saw. Do it now, while he could catch a few minutes alone. With a quick excuse to Kratos as to why he was wondering off on his own, Lloyd hurried away from the group and out into the morning. When he was quite far from hearing distance, he called out, "Origin…?" When there was no immediate reaction, he called several more times, each time a bit louder.

Finally, from behind him, someone growled, "What do you want, boy?"

Lloyd jumped and spun around, finding himself facing a grimacing Origin. The Summon Spirit had been the most against his trip through time; he had gone on and on about what dangers it presented, about how more often than not one was driven mad… Yet Lloyd had insisted, and now he had to return to Origin with his tail between his legs and ask for advice. "Nice to see you too…" he grumbled in return to the Spirit's chilly greeting. Origin only glared, his human face pinched into lines of annoyance. Lloyd sighed, "Look, I've got a question, okay? I keep having this dream…" He described the dream, the perspective, the way Luin burned, how Sheena was kidnapped.

Origin did not look happy. "This," he growled, "is one of the many reasons I gave as to why this was a terrible idea."

"So, what? I'm going insane?" Lloyd would never have admitted it, but the very idea was rather…frightening.

"Hardly," Origin snapped. "It is a type of premonition. Because you've moved through the time steam into a time that you have already experienced, and now have found yourself worrying about specific events—ones that are most likely going to change because you are not alone in changing time—you mind has opened up enough to catch a glimpse of the future. Or, rather, one version of the future."

"…did you just say I can see the future now?" Lloyd put more enthusiasm into his voice than he really felt, just to annoy the God. "Cool!"

Origin snorted, "It is far from cool, it is dangerous. One can lose themselves in searching the future. And you can only see it when your mind it weakest. Stress, physical and mental, combined with sleep weaken you enough to see what is to come."

"So…Kvar'll try to take Sheena back to the Ranch with him to bait me?"

"Most likely, yes."

"And…I'll have these dreams until we get past that point?"

"It would seem so."

"Can I change it? The future?" Lloyd was having a difficult time wrapping his mind around any of this nonsense.

"…I wouldn't. You are already a threat, and if you are having premonitions, most likely your enemy is as well. Or at the very least I would not underestimate him. Continue with what time dictates."

"…" Angry words were on the tip of Lloyd's tongue. Was he to let Kvar take Sheena and destroy Luin? But he knew better. Yes, that was exactly what he was supposed to do. Just has he had with Iselia and Palmacosta, he was going to have to watch another village die. Finally, the question that split his lips was, "…will there be more? When I get through Luin, will I see other stuff?"

"Only if your mind is very weak," Origin frowned. "Do no push yourself as you have been doing. You will regret it."

…

Wow…that turned out longer than I meant. Well, see you in a few weeks!

R&R

~Yoshi