Chapter 25.

Another Temple Chapter, as much as I love these dungeons in-game, they're a pain to write…ah well, this is the last one for awhile, so I can at least be glad of that! Now, to business—I've heard a few people ask if this is the end of Kvar. Seeing as he's my main villain, no, he's not done with yet! We'll see plenty more of him, but he's got to play around behind-scenes for awhile.

Thanks for your reviews, they make a very eager author, and enjoy the chapter!

…

Luin was in shambles, its people had been injured and broken, and it was with painful, slow strides that Lloyd and the Chosen's Group pushed what was left of a once beautiful city down the continent. The Journey that had taken Lloyd and the others a matter of days took nearly a week. A few kind souls, the few left from Luin, helped push the party along as well. Asgard grudgingly took the refugees in, knowing how much they owed Raine for her heroics at the Dais several weeks beforehand.

They had filled the cheaper inns around the city with the injured and sick, and Raine worked tirelessly to restore their health. Lloyd wrote a letter to his father, begging the Dwarf to bring what he could to Asgard and make crests for the former prisoners. With Palmacosta destroyed, the mail would take at least two weeks to get all the way to Iselia, and Lloyd hoped to be gone from the city by then, but it would have been nice to see his adopted father again.

Lloyd was restless, after Raine had caught him falling asleep at Sheena's bedside; she had locked him out of the ninja's rooms. She was healing, but slowly. It was not until their third day in Asgard that she opened her wide, chocolate-brown eyes. She remembered nothing past Luin. She could recall being carried away by Desians, then her mind blanked and she woke up in Asgard. It was with choked words that Lloyd explained what had happened to her, and how it had been Kratos that had saved them both from Kvar.

"…sounds like I owe you a lot…" Sheena said at last, when Lloyd had finished explaining. "Why did you come after me like that? W-why…why would this Kvar guy think you'd come after me anyway? I've tried to kill you! I don't see why he would think taking me…"

"He must have heard wrong, but…well, you're kind of conspicuous, you know?" Lloyd was just talking, the lies coming easier the longer he practiced them. "Besides, he'd taken the rest of Luin as a backup plan, so at the very least the note told us exactly where to find you and everybody else."

The ninja leaned back against her pillows; the scars from the lacerations still lined her face, shiny and pink with enhanced healing. She had not yet seen her face, but Lloyd had a terrible feeling that the once-pretty ninja would not have been acting so relaxed if she knew the extent of her injuries. No, Lloyd corrected himself angrily, she was still pretty. Her raven hair still fell gracefully around wide, brown eyes set into a pretty face. There were just scars marring it now.

And it was his fault.

Sheena continued her musings, but Lloyd only nodded and made vague noises of interest. That was until she asked the question that Lloyd himself had been pondering. "So, what are you going to do now then?" She blinked at him, waiting for an answer that Lloyd wasn't sure of himself.

Lloyd sighed and ran a hand though his hair, a habit he had picked up from his father. "To be honest, I don't know. Colette's the Chosen, so she's the one who should really be making all the decisions. I want to…" Lloyd broke off. What did he want? Much of him wanted to return to the Ranch with his full power and wipe Kvar off the face of the planet. The logical part of him, however, realized how suicidal this move would be. He had only survived because of Kratos last time, and because Kvar wanted to keep their "game" going. And if there was one thing Lloyd was sure of, it was that Kvar would be gaining more power, enough that Lloyd would have to outdo himself training and preparing if he hoped to survive their next encounter.

"…to be honest, I don't know what I want to do. But…logically…" Lloyd swallowed, "we need to release the rest of the seals and regenerate the world. If we do that, the Desian bastards like Kvar will be wiped out and we can live in peace. But that also means you're going to be coming after us again, doesn't it?" He watched the struggle behind Sheena's eyes, trying to keep his real emotions off his face. Interest, he decided, and concern, and friendliness: those were the best emotions to focus on.

"…I'm in the same boat as you…" she said at last. "I owe you guys my life, and Sylvarant deserves to be saved, but… Can't you understand that, even if I can't tell you, I really do have a good reason for trying to stop the Regeneration? Please, believe me…"

Lloyd stood up, finally letting all the false emotions slide from his face and revealed the true exhaustion beneath. "…I wanna trust you Sheena, and I think you're a good person, but Colette's my friend too. All of us, Kratos, Raine, Genis, and I, we'll fight to the death to keep her alive. And if you got to know her, I think you'd feel the same."

…

In the following five days, two vital decisions were made. Colette had been prodded, influenced, and all but manipulated into continuing onto what they believed was the next seal. She had been determined to help the people of Luin rebuild, but Kratos, Lloyd, and Raine had all been very vocal in their disagreement. Finally, the Chosen had agreed that this was the safest course of action. The other decision was one that Kratos and Raine both apposed, but was carried out anyway.

Sheena would be joining the party.

She had given her word on several occasions not to kill Colette, had been threatened by Kratos, Raine, and Genis in turn about what they would do to her if she so much as looked at the Chosen wrong, and finally welcomed warmly by Colette. In fact, if Lloyd did not know any better, he would actually have believed that both Colette and Sheena enjoyed having a female around their age to talk with. Lloyd couldn't help but find the conversations that they had not only long and monotonous, but also strangely amusing to listen to. They spoke of everything from fashion to pets—Colette adored Corrine.

The ninja hadn't exactly been herself, however, since she had looked in the mirror the day before. Seeing the scars that ruined her visage had made her suddenly awkward and shy. She had developed a habit of not looking anyone in the face, always casting her eyes downward to draw attention away from her face. All of her things had been taken by Kvar, so the group had pooled money and gotten her new clothes and supplies, which she was embarrassingly grateful for.

The morning that they were planning on leaving, Lloyd woke and opened his door to find an old-fashioned key and a note. It made Lloyd's heart jump, remembering the last note he had gotten, was relieved to find it simply said:

Heard about your plans and assumed you would appreciate this.

-Y.

So, Yuan really was looking out for him. Despite his relief at finding the key, his heart skipped a few beats and his gut twisted guiltily. Clara should have dropped the key in Hima, as he recalled.But she was dead. Perhaps worse was the thought of Hima. Pietro, a Ranch escapee that had helped the Chosen's group on their second attempt to sneak into the Asgard Ranch, was nearly brain-dead and it had taken all of Raine's healing abilities to save him last time.

Lloyd had completely forgotten about them. The guilt was getting worse and worse. Lloyd forced himself to push it from his mind and joined the others downstairs for breakfast. He produced the key, only to have it snatched away by an excited Raine. When Kratos questioned him on where he had gotten it, Lloyd said it had been dropped off that morning by a child, saying he had spread the word that the Chosen's group was looking for the key to the Tower of Mana. The citizens had delivered, he claimed.

Kratos sighed and shook his head, but asked nothing more. Another of Lloyd's lies had passed.

Their trek up the continent was slow and dragging. Sheena lacked stamina after her brush with death, and had to stop and rest every few hours. They were all tired and frustrated by what had happened at the Ranch, leaving them short of words and temper. At the end of their sixth day in the wilderness, having avoided the remains of Luin, the group found themselves standing before the towering structure that was the Tower of Mana.

At sunset, the sun aligned with the Tower, making it look as though it was glowing with golden-red light. The Tower was made of a brick that Lloyd had never seen used in any other building. They were red, and seemed to absorb the light. The structure itself was massive, at least a hundred stories high; it left even Sheena in awe.

"…this is another amazing example of the ingenuity of the ancients. This building is pre-Kharlan War if I'm not mistaken," Raines words were hushed, even her ruin mania was subdued. "It is in almost perfect condition. Besides the Tower of Salvation, it is the tallest structure in the world. Some say it was built to give praise to the Tower, but it was closed centuries ago due to the appearance of monsters after the Regeneration failed. It has only one key…?" The Professor looked down at the ancient bronze key in her hands.

"…it would probably be wisest to rest the night before we brave the Tower," Kratos said reasonably. "However, as we are perhaps more hated by the Desians than ever, it may be in our best interests to risk sleeping inside the first chambers of the Tower, yes?"

Raine nodded and walked forward over the mosaic that was the floor; it was faded from time, but still held a whisper of its former splendor. With some effort, Raine was able to get the key into the lock and release the door. Kratos and Lloyd shoved the huge doors open and the young angel stared into the dark confines of the Tower of Mana.

Looking back, Lloyd realized that the amount of books that were held in the lowest floors of the Tower of Mana's library was utterly and completely beyond his comprehension. Layers of bookshelves spread out in every direction, each holding thousands of pages of knowledge and history in every language imaginable and many that had been dead for thousands of years.

"…I had heard rumors," Raine murmured, her eyes wide and shining, "but never that there were so many…"

Those words seemed to sum up each of their thoughts as they stepped into the largest library in three worlds. Surely not even Derris-Kharlan could hold so much information. As he reached out and pulled a book from its place on the shelf, dust billowing everywhere, a sudden moment of inspiration came to him. He could put at least some of his mistakes right if he played this properly. Pietro would need Raine's advanced healing techniques to heal him, and there was no way that Raine would pass up the chance to learn how to become a more proficient healer.

Casually, Lloyd made his way over to Raine, who was flipping through a thick volume, and began, "You know, I heard one of the doctors in Asgard saying something about some Bolzum's book or something… Said it was full of healing techniques."

"Boltzmann's book?" Raine glanced side-long at Lloyd, her blue eyes twinkling at the thought of finding the book for herself. "…that is the kind of power that could heal those afflicted by exspheres…"

"And Colette," Lloyd added, without thinking.

"…what?" Raine looked at him sharply, her eyes searching. "Is something wrong with Colette?"

Lloyd panicked. The last time they had been after the book, the group had known all about Colette's inability to eat and feel, but he and Kvar had changed everything that had happened at the Asgard Ranch and, thus, Lloyd had not told the group about what ailed Colette.

"I-I…" Lloyd gaped like a fish. "Shh…" he said at last. "I can't believe I said that…she didn't want you guys to know." His thoughts were too scattered to lie properly.

"Lloyd Irving," Raine growled, but to her credit, she did it quietly, "tell me everything."

As professor and student made their way farther from the group, searching for the book, Lloyd explained quietly about how Colette had been keeping her lack of humanity hidden from the rest of the group so as not to worry them. She had good intentions, but, as always, she was too selfless.

"Hmm…" Raine mused softly. "…as much as she won't like it, we need to tell the others. If she cannot eat, we should not make that more difficult. It isn't as if this Journey isn't difficult enough for her as it is. We don't need to tempt her and made avoiding food that much more complicated. And sleeping as well. And we'll need to be quieter to adjust for her hearing…"

"You knew something like this was happening," Lloyd said matter-of-factly. "All along, you suspected from the way she was acting that she was changing."

"After her wings appeared in the Temple of Fire and Remiel said she would receive more angelic "blessings", I suspected that they were perhaps not all so obvious as wings and haloes, as Genis seemed to think. And for her to have lost one to gain the other is not the least surprising." Lloyd felt himself relax, this was the Raine that he knew—the one that had guessed more than she had said. At the same time, however, he wondered how much she guessed about him. "I didn't want to make any of my guesses general knowledge, at least Genis would have overreacted and done something foolish. I'm wondering how you found these things out."

"…I guessed and confronted her about it. When she started eating all those green peppers that Kratos put in that soup he made. I asked her about it and…well, you know how badly she lies when you call her out." Or that was how it had happened last time, at least.

"Yes," Raine said coolly, "she was never as good a liar as you are."

"W-what?"

"I don't know what is going on, or how many lies you've said that I have believed, but something is going on that you haven't told us. Since…at the very least after we saved you from the Desians in Triet, perhaps before. You know Desians, you're acting more mature, and, don't deny it, you're stronger." It was exactly as Lloyd had feared, but how long Raine had waited to say anything about this worried him.

"R-Raine," he tried to begin, but the words didn't come. Still scattered, still tried, still worried over all of the mistakes he had made, he was only digging himself deeper into his hole. "Raine, you have to understand—"

"…you can't tell me," Raine said with a small sigh. "…I want to trust you. You are my pupil, and I've watched you grow up from a rash child to a more rash, but good, man. I will say nothing more, to you or any of the others, but I will be watching."

His teacher pulled ahead of him and continued to run a finger over the dusty spines of tomes thousands of years older than them, looking for the book of healing spells. Lloyd couldn't help it, he felt relief. Raine hadn't pushed the subject, as Lloyd knew that he wouldn't have been able to hold up a single lie and would most likely have broken down completely and told her everything.

And what a disaster that would have been—if she had even believed him in the first place.

Finding the book did not take long after Raine had set the rest of the group searching for it as well. An hour, perhaps less, was spent digging through bookshelves until Colette called that she had found something. It was an ancient, leather bound volume with swirling gold lettering covering the front and spine. As the Professor took the book from the Chosen and opened it to page through, Lloyd saw that it was written in very, very old-style Common, the tongue of the humans.

Raine made an excited noise in the back of her throat, "This is it!" she cried. "Boltzmann's book! His studies redefined the art of healing and I am holding his most famous works in my hands!" Raine's ruin-mode lasted well into the night, and Genis was the unlucky one who got to share watch with her. The young half-elf went grumbling all the way.

Lloyd was quite sure that he and Sheena were the only ones that slept that night: Kratos and Colette rarely slept, and Genis and Raine were on watch. All the same, the young angel couldn't help but nod off; the stress of the day, of the past weeks, was enough to tire any mind.

When they awoke the next day, Lloyd half-expected Raine to mention Colette and her discussions with Lloyd the day prior, but all she could speak of was her book, and the unicorn horn that was required to use most of the spells. She said nothing about it even as the group moved deeper into the Temple.

By the time they reached the Oracle Stone, Lloyd had all but put it out of his mind, knowing what was to come.

"The door didn't open!" Genis cried in anguish as, instead of the door at the far end of the small, inner chamber that the six had crowded into, three warp pads appeared. Lloyd glanced behind the group to where Sheena was watching quietly, trying desperately not to say something that would make her look like a fool to her new friends.

"…no, but perhaps it gave us something as good," Raine mused, all former excitement had vanished and been replaced with that cool demeanor that Lloyd admired. "Lloyd, Genis, stand on the glowing runes, please."

Lloyd paced over to the "glowing runes" with Genis, and Raine followed behind, stepping on the last of the warp pads and causing the door to open with the rumble and hiss of unused technology. Raine's eyes lit as she realized the trick, and stepped off, only to have the door reclose. "…it looks like three of us will have to stay behind. It's the trick of the Temple. Colette, you and two others will have to continue on toward the seal."

Put on the spot, Colette blinked and glanced between all of her friends. Lloyd was sure that every pair of eyes, including his own, was asking her to bring them with her. Being Colette, she couldn't say no to any of her friends. "I-…I want Lloyd to come with me…" she said at last. "…and he can choose who else to bring…"

Now all eyes were on him, and, struggling to remember what had passed last time in the Tower of Mana, while trying to look relaxed, Lloyd began to sweat from nerves. "…well…" He also needed reasoning. It would be Raine or Kratos that came, as no one would let Sheena go with Colette… And to bring Genis would be out of the question—the adults would never allow it… "Kratos, why don't you come with us?"

Raine and Genis both looked almost angry, and very betrayed.

"Raine, you need to keep an eye on Sheena, no offence," he added the last to Sheena, who had turned red under her scars. "And I can't bring you, Genis, 'cause it'd be really stupid to send a bunch of kids into the Temple. Raine, I know you wouldn't let Kratos watch Genis and Sheena, so this is really the best way. Besides, Kratos is the strongest, and he can heal."

Raine was all but glaring, "How…astute." Lloyd's stomach plummeted: he had the most unfortunate feeling that he had just angered the person who was keeping some of his darkest secrets. At least he had pleased his father, and made the decision for Colette. And, as he recalled, this was what had happened last time.

Lloyd, Kratos, and Colette disappeared through the door and up the stairs as Sheena took Lloyd's place standing on the runes. Between the nervous Colette and the ever-quiet Kratos, little conversation took place as they ascended the spiraling staircase toward the top of the Tower. Mysteriously, perhaps ominously, their path was without interruption; no monsters roamed the stairs, as Lloyd had thought there would be, and no puzzles blocked their way. Then again, the latter had not been present in his past experience either—the trick of the Tower of Mana was to split the group up and test their strength and skill in that way.

At the top of the first flight of stairs, there was another warp like those that Lloyd had left Raine, Genis, and Sheena with and, without consulting his comrades, Lloyd stepped on it. To the side, the image of Raine appeared and at the same moment that Lloyd spotted his teacher, Raine saw him. "L-Lloyd!" she blinked as if she was not sure he was really there. "You're—you must have found more of the runes, yes?"

"Yeah!"

"…Lloyd? Who are you talking to?" Colette asked from behind him. She couldn't see Raine as she was not on the pad herself. "The Professor's downstairs, remember?"

"Erm…" Lloyd glanced between the image of Raine and the Chosen beside him. "J-just a second, Raine…" Lloyd stepped off, and the Professor disappeared. "Stand on the warp, then you'll see her too…"

Colette did as she was told, and exclaimed in wonder as she, too, must have seen her teacher. "Hi Professor Sage!" she beamed at nothing. Colette paused, listening to something Raine was saying. "Sure! There's a couple buttons here…which one? …oh, okay, I'll ask him." The Chosen turned to Kratos, "Mr. Kratos, the Professor thinks if we push the right button the door will open for her, but I don't know which one, do you know?"

Kratos, who had been quietly listening to the conversation without emotion sighed softly and swept past Lloyd to examine the magitech buttons and levers. He spent a moment in contemplation, then reached out and activated one of the levers. "This should do it, I would imagine," he said quietly.

"Oh!" Colette cried, looking back at the invisible Raine. "That's great, Professor!" Turning back to her companions, Colette explained, "Another door opened, but when the others stepped off, the doors didn't close, so they're going to take the other door. The Professor thinks it's another way to reach the seal at the top. She says we should keep going as far as we can."

They did as Raine said, making their way up more twisting staircases until, finally, meeting the others. Sheena, Raine, and Genis looked as though they had met with only stairs during their ascension as well, and their stories proved as much. Reunited, the group made their way to the altar.

The wind was strong atop the Tower of Mana, and even Lloyd's hair was blown in every direction. Without being asked, Colette walked forward toward the altar; stumbling slightly over the rough stones that made the floor in her haste.

As it had happened at the other seals, there was a welling of mana and out of the altar came what, to Lloyd, looked like the legendary Pegasus. It looked much like the Unicorn that was hidden beneath Lake Umacy, but it was several times larger and striped with dark purple and deep gold. Its horn was sharp and coated in white quartz, as were its hooves. The Iubaris reared onto its hind legs and glared down at them with black, pitiless eyes.

"Back!" shouted Kratos. "It's going to charge us!" The angel grabbed Colette's arm and pulled her out of the way, leaving the rest to scatter to the sides on their own. The Iubaris charged at them, missing Sheena by inches at the ninja threw herself out of the way. Lloyd stumbled, then caught himself and swung 'round to pull out both swords and attack its hind flank. Unlike the other monsters they had fought to this point, the Iubaris had no armor to protect itself from his blades and it screamed in pain.

It bucked its hind legs and Lloyd caught both hooves in his chest and he was sent flying backwards, falling head over heels down the stairs and back toward the warp. He coughed and spat out blood, for a moment thinking that he had broken something, but he sat up groaning and gently poked his side. He was breathless, but, shockingly, only bruised.

He heard shouts from above and a moment later, Raine hurried down the stairs to Lloyd's side. "Are you alright?" she cried and knelt by his side, already trying to heal his bruises.

"Y-yeah. Gods that was stupid…" He forced himself to his feet and, keeping himself standing with his swords, tried to run back up the stairs and rejoin the battle. He heard Sheena cry out and Kratos shout something angrily.

"No," Raine barred his way with her staff. "Lloyd Irving, you are in no shape to go running off—"

"Baby me tonight, please? The others need my help!"

Raine's eyes were hard and determined until she heard her brother shout and a large crash from above. "…go."

"Thank you!" Lloyd called over his shoulder as he charged back up the stairs and found himself looking over a real battle field. Kratos was hoisting an unconscious Sheena out of the way while Colette fluttered in front of the Iubaris' nose, trying to distract it. Genis was crouching behind the altar, trying to charge his spells as fast as he could. As Lloyd watched, the air became frigid and ice erupted from beneath the monster's feet, the shards slicing at its unprotected flank.

It screamed in fury and charged out of the tornado of ice, straight for Lloyd. Its horn was down and ready to slice though him, but Lloyd ducked at the last minute and, avoiding the hooves, slashed at the beast's soft belly from beneath. Its scream was worse this time, as it began to fall to the side, leaving Lloyd crouched and covered in blood and other unsightly bits.

Lloyd jumped to his feet in preparation to finish the Iubaris off, but Kratos was already there, slashing through its legs and slamming his sword into its head, finally killing it.

"G-good job Lloyd…" Colette gasped, out of breath from her own attempts to take the monster down.

"Next time avoid being knocked half to your death, if you would be so kind," Kratos snapped from his place still standing over the corpse. "Chosen, the seal." Something seemed to have frustrated his father and the mercenary was harsher than usual.

"Of…course…" Colette turned toward the altar as the group followed a few paces behind, and she pulled out her wings and clasped her hands. "Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength…" Colette rose into the air…but nothing happened.

Then, the altar glowed golden and Luna's eyes opened. The Goddess was beautiful, her bright green hair falling over pale shoulders and framing innocently wide lavender eyes and a pretty round face. Her skin was covered in intricate green tattoos and her half-moon staff sat across her lap. Luna hovered in midair, perched on a silver-white crescent moon.

"Where is Aska?" Her lips parted and the sound echoed around them, but her lips didn't move in time. "I cannot form a pact without Aska…"

"W-who are you…?" gasped Colette, staring at the perfect creature.

"Oh…you do not want a pact…" Luna sighed and, as she did so, she dissolved in glittering golden light.

The Chosen's group stared at the space that Luna had occupied moments before, until, from the sky, Remiel descended.

"Chosen one," he intoned, his blue eyes glazed and seemingly distracted, "you have done extremely well in reaching this far. Rejoice, for this is the last seal, you may now make your way toward the Tower of Salvation and your ascension toward heaven."

"Thank you father…er…are you angry with me…?"

"No, Chosen. Pay no heed," all the same, Remiel had no explanation for why he was acting so strangely. "This is your final trial, be strong and accept the blessing of Cruxis. I will see you again at the Tower of Salvation." Without further ado, Remiel left, leaving Colette to drop back to the ground.

"Well…" she said softly, looking slightly hurt at Remiel's hurried departure. "…we should go, I'm sure we're all tired."

The walk down the Tower of Mana was quite, mostly due to with, as Colette said, the exhaustion that had overcome them. Despite the shortness of the battle, it had taken an extreme toll on them. They returned to the twisting halls of the library. As they were preparing their camp, just as was expected, Colette gasped and stumbled, falling forward.

Raine was at her side in a moment, helping her to sit down properly and asking her a dozen hurried questions. "Colette, where does it hurt? Honey, talk to me…"

"…" To the surprise of all but Lloyd and Kratos, Colette's voice was gone.

"I would imagine this is the result of the angel transformation," Kratos said coolly, not sounding at all concerned.

"She…lost her voice?" Genis blinked, "I don't understand…she never lost anything else during a trial, she just didn't feel good…"

"Colette," Raine murmured quietly, "I'm sorry. Everyone, there is something we need to explain…"

…

Thank you for waiting for this one, hopefully the longer-than-usual-chapter makes up for it!

R&R

~Yoshi