Part two of the Kvar Conflict…or whatever I'm calling this.

Life's been a little hectic for me, otherwise I would have gotten this out a week ago. Unfortunately for my writing, however, my family decided to take a trip to South Dakota during the long weekend, so I lacked computer access for five days. Then my birthday came along (I'm old…) and I with it came a traumatic little experience where my cat, Pooh, decided she'd disappear overnight leaving my family panicked. She showed up the next day, but I was so stressed I didn't do a lot of writing. So, blame circumstance, but your patience is rewarded with EXPLANATION! Bet you're ready for a little of that, aren't you?

I'd also like to address one review that asked about my comment on the Remote Island Human Ranch and how it was more-or-less destroyed. I figure that the Renegades would have had to drain a large portion of it in order to properly control the mana cannon, and it would thus be at least standing enough that Lloyd could have entered it.

…

The room went from dark to light in too little time for Lloyd's pupils to keep up and he was blinded for too long. He felt a sudden, sharp pressure in the back of his knees and they gave out, sending him toppling to the ground. His head hit the floor, sending stars to his already burning eyes and he groaned. Moments before he had been the picture of alert, but in seconds, he had lost all sense of where he was—even his purpose had slipped his battered mind. Lloyd forced himself to sit up and slowly a shadowy image appeared before him.

Kvar was not a tall man, in fact, the top of his head came only to Lloyd's shoulder, yet his shadow stretched across the room, the darkness laying over Lloyd. The light was behind Kvar, and Lloyd could not see his enemy's face, but he had no doubt a devious and almost pleasant smile would have those pale, thin lips twisted upward.

His voice came smooth and degrading to Lloyd's ears, "Well, it seems we meet once again, Lloyd." He laughed, his voice like grease. "You and your friends certainly are wreaking havoc on my Ranch, and, as last time, you picked just the right moment to come in! The Renegades are running around as well—I'd forgotten how refreshingly annoying Botta was. I really have missed him. I was always disappointed that it was Rodyle and not myself who finally managed to get rid of him." Kvar sighed melodramatically, "Then again, Rodyle never was deserving of any of his self-given titles."

"He lasted longer than you did," Lloyd spat. His mind was reeling with questions, questions that he had been wanting answered since he had taken this trip back in time. How was Kvar alive when they had killed him last time? How had he managed time travel, something that Lloyd had trouble mastering despite his control of the Eternal Sword? These and many other questions occupied the forefront of Lloyd's mind.

Kvar laughed, "Oh Lloyd, I'd forgotten how charming your ignorance is. My dear boy, do you really think something as…mundane as a sword would be my undoing? As wrathful as your dear father is—and rightfully so, I may add—I really had planned on lasting a mite longer. No, no, I made it out of that disaster alive, but in a bit of a disgrace, I must admit."

He chuckled again, as if they were having a happy conversation over coffee. "I decided it would be best to think my plans over, but before I could enact my revenge, you saved the world from Master Yggdrasill. I have to say, I'm very impressed with that, who would have thought a rag-tag group of "heroes" would do as much as you did! And yet here we stand." He was answering Lloyd's questions as if he could read Lloyd's mind. The idea was completely horrifying.

"…how'd you manage to come back in time?" Lloyd asked at last, forcing himself to his feet and eyeing the Desian with a cross of curiosity and hatred. Something whispered to Lloyd that knowing was vitally important, though he was not sure to what ends this would help to reach.

"Oh my dear Lloyd, if I told you, it would take away the mystery, now wouldn't it?" Kvar was still just a dark shadow against the blinding white light around him. "This game is far too dull without a little extra mystery, don't you agree?"

"Game? You call this a game?" Lloyd cried, horrified, "You've destroyed three villages, murdered the entire population of Palmacosta, and you call this a game?"

"Hmm," he mused, "I suppose there is always that, and game does seem like a rather casual term for such a showdown, but I cannot think of a better term for it. Have you anything?"

"Unbelievable," Lloyd only just stopped himself from shouting, "you cause so much damage, and you just blow it off like nothing! If you change the timeline, do you know what it could do to the future!" Kvar was laughing again. This spoke clearer than any words could have. Ofcourse he knew the consequences, but he did not care! If millions died, if the words weren't reunited, if his plans went according to his wishes, Kvar would have his revenge, and spend the rest of his days swimming in the rivers of blood that he intended to make.

The thought made Lloyd gag.

"I suppose," Kvar changed the subject, "you'd like to see your dear friend Ms. Fujibiyashi? She's this way, if you are curious…" At last he stepped away from the light and Lloyd, by putting a hand to his forehead and squinting, could finally make out the pale, pasty features of Kvar's smiling face.

Yet the Grand Cardinal was moving, and he turned his back on Lloyd and made his way into the darker corners of the room. Lloyd, knowing that somewhere Sheena was out there, and having little alternate choice than to follow, fell in behind his enemy. "She was quite hesitant to come with us at first, the poor dear was bravely defending Luin from its attackers, but we soon convinced her that she was best coming with us."

"You didn't do anything to her, right?" Lloyd asked, trying to keep the bubbling panic down at the thought of what the Desian overlord could have done to his friend. "In your note you said she wouldn't be hurt…"

"No, no, Lloyd, I said that she was alive and well, if I remember my writing correctly. And, unfortunately for your sake, I find that a good, strong human can withstand a great deal." There was a table on the other side of the room, a cold, surgical table, and on it laid the pale, dark-haired Sheena. The ninja was covered in lacerations, most of them terrifyingly fresh; it was like some terrible, twisting tattoo, colored blood red that spun from dark slashes across her cheeks and forehead down her neck and over her arms and chest.

Someone, and Lloyd shuddered to think who, had changed her out of her usual clothing and into a white gown, the kind used for surgeries. It was stained with the blood of the victim below it. She was pale, and for a panicked moment, he was convinced she was dead and Kvar had been lying, but his angelic hearing caught the sound of her shallow breath, and with it, Lloyd released his own held breath.

As his eyes traveled over her mangled mess of body and he took note of her mana signature, he was thankful to see that at least Kvar had only tortured her and not began to grow an exsphere on her. That would have been far more dangerous—but it was only a small victory.

"…why the hell would you do this to her?" Lloyd asked softly, his voice coming out hoarsely. "She didn't do anything, none of the people you've done this to have!"

Kvar smiled indulgently. "Oh dear Lloyd, why do you save people, just because someone is innocent of one sin does not mean they are guiltless. You save them, they sin again. No, I—and I will shamelessly admit it—simply enjoy the pain of others. I doubt this comes as any surprise."

While Lloyd had always known that Kvar was cruel, this outright admission was not something he had expected. It threw him for a moment. "…sadistic bastard…" he muttered.

Suddenly a shadow ghosted across the Desian's face, darkening his already dark eyes and transforming his features grotesquely, but his voice was light when he spoke again. "I had assumed you already knew that from the very fact that I traversed time to gain my revenge on the world. Pain is…satisfying." And with those words, he slipped a knife into Lloyd's shoulder.

Lloyd felt his arm stiffen as the knife cut through tissue, muscle, and buried itself in bone. He made a face of pain more out of habit than real feeling. This was what his angelic form was made for—battles where the enemy was using man-made weapons. He tried to move his fingers and found them unwilling to respond, so he spun with his left, unhurt, arm and landed a heavy blow on the side of Kvar's face. As the Desian stumbled back, not having expected Lloyd to react so quickly, Lloyd tugged the knife out of his shoulder and threw it to the ground several yards away. It would be no help for the Desian now.

He pulled one of his swords from its sheath and began to advance on Kvar; Lloyd had no doubt that he looked as terrifying as Kvar had to him. "You bastard," Lloyd growled, "you put thousands of lives in danger, you put the future in danger, all because of your own selfish want for revenge! I won't let you destroy everything just because you think half-elves have been treated wrong. The world I worked for was a world for them too, and—"

"Foolish child," Kvar snapped, real anger showing through his voice now, but, much to Lloyd's increasing horror, amusement played a larger role, "you think this is about my want for half-elven rights? No, that quest died with Yggdrasill. I want something much simpler. I want the world to understand pain, and having to endure, as I did. Yggdrasill betrayed the half elves when he chose his sister over us, and the other Desians aren't blind; we know we are being used.

"It was easy to convince Rodyle and Magnius onto my side and with them came hundreds of soldiers. Imagine the kind of damage I can do with those men… I'd ask you to join us, you are after all, a half-breed, like us, but you're far too righteous and my revenge just wouldn't be complete without your end."

"You won't be able to do any damage if I kill you!" Lloyd shouted and lunged at him, but at the same moment, almost as if he had been expecting it, Kvar let loose a torrent of lightning that ripped through Lloyd's body and sent him staggering to his knees. His arms shook and his sword clattered to the ground beside, only to have it kicked away by Kvar.

"Silly boy," he scolded lightly, "you cannot honestly expect to win, can you?"

Lloyd gasped out several expletives detailing exactly what he thought of the Grand Cardinal, but this gained only quiet, amused laughter. He tried to lunge again, pulling out a knife that he kept hidden on his person and slashed at Kvar's leg, slicing his pants and creating a deep cut in his lower leg. Kvar hissed softly above him and kicked out at Lloyd with his uninjured leg, sending him tumbling several feet away. A bruise already felt like it was forming on Lloyd's chest, where the steel toe of Kvar's boot had met flesh.

Eyes darted around to find his lost sword, but it was far from him. He clumsily pulled his right-handed sword out of the left sheath, his movements awkward as the sword did not feel right in his hand. Lloyd forced himself to his feet, but this time waited for Kvar to make the first move, watching him with narrowed auburn eyes.

"Perhaps you do have a few cells in the gray matter you call a brain," Kvar almost seemed to be teasing him, "I had always assumed that, like your father, they had all died from being hit on the head so many times…" It was weak and almost childish, but Lloyd didn't let his guard down. He was slowly but surely catching onto the game Kvar was playing with him; one moment he would attack and the next he'd tease Lloyd and distract him long enough to land another blow. Kvar was strong where magic was involved, but Lloyd was younger and faster. He just had to know when to hit.

Kvar seemed to grow annoyed as the next moment he let off a series of minor electric explosions that Lloyd dodged without grace, but, for the first time, Kvar's hits did not land. As the last of the lightning was clearing up, Lloyd charged forward, trying to measure his movements, decide if Kvar would have enough time to counter his attack. Lloyd was lucky, he knew it, but his sword met Kvar's armored chest and he broke through the metal, splattering blood across the floor and sending the Desian stumbling into a wall.

"Clever boy," Kvar hissed, "but not paying attention!" More lightning rained down on him, sending Lloyd stumbling backward, trying to escape, but he couldn't seem to find an end to the pain. He moved blindly, feeling his skin sear with the heat of the mana around him. Falling to his knees, Lloyd felt the world give way and he slumped fully to the ground. He was failing. He couldn't lay a hand on Kvar, he was too strong…

Somewhere very deep in the back of Lloyd's mind, he heard the sounds of struggle before the pain cleared. His muscles continued to spasm from the after-effects of the lightning, but no more fell. Lloyd forced his eyes open a crack and managed to catch sight of Kvar's face, the Desian had fallen and was glaring hatefully up at whatever had caused the fall and prematurely ended his attack on Lloyd. Attempting to twist his head 'round to see who it was that had saved him, Lloyd met with resistance, the muscles in his neck protesting loudly. Lloyd flinched involuntarily, though he felt no pain.

Luckily, his unasked question was answered a moment later, when his savior spoke from behind. "Get away from the boy, Kvar." Kratos' voice dripped with fury; Lloyd could picture clearly the look that would be written across his face, the anger burning in his eyes and the horribly blank expression that would hide all other emotion.

"Kratos, how good of you to join us." All semblance of humor had left Kvar's face now, he glared hatefully up at the Seraph. "But you really are interrupting something." Cold laughter echoed around the room, making Lloyd's blood chill. Kratos was moving behind him, and for a laughable moment, Lloyd imagined the punishment his father would put him through if they made it out of the Ranch alive. The sound of Kratos' sword moving against his armor signified his position behind Lloyd and a moment later, he felt his father's hands hoisting him from the ground to stand shakily.

Kvar forced himself to his feet as well. He was, Lloyd was beginning to realize, very old and very magically powerful—especially when he considered that the only logical way that Kvar could have come to the past was if he had somehow managed to harness the power of time without the Eternal Sword—but he was also frail. His defense was offense. As long as he could stop Lloyd before he reached him, he could not be beaten. If Lloyd had gotten so much as one lucky hit, he might have been capable of winning…

Lloyd's mind was spinning; he had taken heavy damage and was forced to lean against his father. Kratos was talking again, "What you have done is unacceptable," Kratos hissed at the Desian, "and you will meet an end worthy of your sins."

These words sent Kvar howling with bitter laughter and he eyed Kratos coldly. "We all meet our ends, Master Aurion, but mine will not come today." These words must have been a signal, for warps, hidden unseen in the shadows of the room, lit and through them stormed dozens of Desians, all armed and strong, unlike Lloyd.

"Goodbye Kratos, goodbye Lloyd, I suppose we will have to finish our conversation on a different day. Until then…or perhaps not!"

"Da—Kratos," Lloyd choked on Kratos' name, "w-what'll we do…?" Grievously outnumbered, and with Sheena still lying unconscious on the other side of the room, Lloyd doubted even his father could get them all out of this.

Lloyd had failed. He had taken on Kvar alone and proven himself utterly useless against his opponent—his very reason for returning. Now he doubted he would even make it out alive. Thoughts of what would happen and what would never happen flew through his mind. Mithos, Colette, Raine, Zelos, his friends would never meet, the world would never be saved. And it was all because he had been stupid enough to chase after Kvar alone.

…

Sorry for a shorter chapter again, but next time we'll conclude Kvar.

R&R

~Yoshi