Final real chapter, last author's note; better make it good.

First, as every good author should, I'm going to give the biggest thank you in the world to my readers! There is no way in hell that this would have been finished had you not been here to read and encourage and you have no idea how truly thankful I am that you took time from your schedules to read my work. Ever word you've said has inspired so much, so thank you. Thank you from the bottom of the black hole that is my heart.

A second thank you to Zelda—perhaps the least supportive beta in the world, but I suppose that's what I get for having interesting side-projects as well. Thanks for reading through all of my nonsense and putting up with my inability to spell or understand the most basic of grammatical structures. Love you!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Here's your last chapter!

…

Lloyd lost his mind. He lost control. He lost coherent thought. All that he knew was that that man—that bastard—had signed his own death warrant. He was a dead man, and it would be by Lloyd's hand and no one, not Mithos, not Origin, not even Colette, could stop him.

He saw red; his sword swung madly, as if it had its own mind and his arm just provided momentum for where the blade wanted to move. Now there were two, both swinging in perfect harmony; if one struck out, the other guarded. If one was blocked, the other was following. Lloyd no longer really cared if he was hurt.

Or at least he thought he didn't. The pain that blossomed in his side as Kvar's staff collided with it almost brought him back, almost reminded him of Mithos' warnings. They were lost as Lloyd's blades swung again and Kvar screamed.

"Oh, foolish, foolish child. Do you think you can stop me? Of course you can't. I've had decades to plan this, and I will not allow you to spoil it!"

Kvar's words were lost on mad ears, and Lloyd continued his attack. Right swing—blocked, the left followed, jumping from its place of protection to the offensive. He managed to land a hit, but Kvar threw himself out of the way and Lloyd only grazed his shoulder. He raced several steps forward, following Kvar's every movement, his eyes almost as fast as his sword.

Around them, the other battles seemed to cease, and if Lloyd had still been listening, he would have heard them pull apart to watch Kvar and Lloyd. Somewhere, Lloyd still registered the faces of his friends, though. He could still see Colette's wide blue eyes, tears beginning to leak from them even in the second he devoted to her. Zelos jerked a man off his sword; Presea finished a swing of her ax that cleaved two men into halves. Raine was crouched over the unmoving form of Regal. Genis was laying in a puddle of blood, Noishe trying to help him sit up.

Finally, Mithos. He was shouting; his blue eyes for once filled with expression. Lloyd would have wished he could hear his friend's words. All he could hear was the roaring in his ears. All it took was a second of listening and Mithos' words broke though.

"Don't kill him!"

Don't? How could he not? For Dad, for his friends. To protect them all. How could he not?

"Use the paradox!"

Right. Paradox. Yet, was it even conceivable that he could let himself lose? Was there any force on the planet that could make Lloyd drop his guard?

The sword in his left hand flew through the air and clattered to the ground several meters away. There was a massive intake of breath from the onlookers and Kvar crowed triumphantly. Lloyd tripled his offensive. Mana gathered around him like a cloud of angry, almost sizzling dust.

Somehow, Kvar was blocking almost as rapidly as Lloyd was attacking. He wasn't sure how. As quickly as he moved back and forth and left and right and up and down, dodging and slashing; twisting and ducking, Kvar was there with him. This was no intricate dance, it was nature. Another hit, another burst of pain, and Lloyd would keep spinning and fighting. He would land a hit, Kvar would scream, and then lightning would fight its way up Lloyd's sword and eat away at his fingers. Lloyd howled and drove his sword down, the lightning shocking the Desian as well.

He flung himself out of the way just as the heavy metal end of Kvar's staff, buzzing with lightning, was swung at his head, and using the moment, tried to trip Kvar. He managed to knock the Desian to the ground. The man, old, decrepit, dying, landed heavily on his hip and roared in pain. Lloyd's sword found itself at the Desian's throat.

The world seemed to rush back to him, and for the first time, he heard the shouts from Mithos. He could see the Desians that had sided with Kvar trying to slip away. He could see his friends' hopeful faces, hear their cheers. There were a thousand calls for Kvar's death.

Kratos was dead. Kvar deserved to die.

Yet as Lloyd's initial response tried to kick in, something stopped his arm. It was Noishe's eyes—those massive, dog-like, forest green eyes begging Lloyd not to do the stupid thing—that made his muscles tense and refuse to move.

For a moment, Kvar's eyes were wide, shocked that he had lost, terrified for what was to come. Then, it slowly seemed to dawn on him what Lloyd's hesitation meant. "I knew it!" sneered the Desian, his lips twisting grotesquely. "You could never kill me! You come all this way to lose to your own weakness at the last moment!"

Mithos had stopped yelling now—Lloyd wondered if it was to stop Kvar from hearing his plan—and the boy was watching Lloyd with wide, worried eyes. He had no idea what Lloyd would do. It was fair; Lloyd had no idea what he was going to do. His sword was still pressed to Kvar's throat. He could have drawn blood with just a bit more pressure. Yet he wasn't. He didn't want to.

Lloyd glanced at his father; the man's body was still splayed on the marble floor. His eyes were closed and the shock of death almost seemed to have disappeared. Kratos had seen so much of life; Lloyd couldn't help but wonder if death was a long-awaited rest after so many years. He wondered if his mother had been there to greet her Seraph. He wondered if they would both be there when he died. The anger was slipping away, the energy it had created whipped away in the attack.

And then, very simply, Lloyd knew what he had to do. He couldn't leave Kratos and maybe Genis and Regal dead. He couldn't see Yggdrasill or Yuan; he couldn't quite bear to think of what had happened to them. He couldn't just carry on with this life. He couldn't. Kratos may have been ready to die, but Lloyd wasn't ready to see him go. Sheena may have been pleased with her death, but Lloyd wasn't. The people of Palmacosta and Mizuho had died for nothing, and if Lloyd could change that, he would.

Pure selfishness made Lloyd drop his sword away from Kvar.

"You're right. I can't do it."

Lloyd didn't look at Kvar as he said it, but stared over his head, at Mithos. The Leader of Cruxis had been holding his breath, and it had rushed out of his lungs when Lloyd had finally spoken.

Around him, Lloyd's friends were shouting. The Renegades didn't seem to know what to do. Noishe grabbed Zelos as he tried to attack Kvar himself. Lloyd purposefully turned his back on Kvar, not listening to the Desian's insults. Instead, he met Raine's eyes, watched her blink in slow horror as she tried to comprehend what he was doing.

"You may be too weak, but I am not! You've come all this way for me, but I'll send you somewhere where you can't find me!" Kvar pulled a knife from somewhere, Lloyd had no idea where, and it found its mark in his back, between his ribs. Kvar had once been a master surgeon. He knew every one of the body's weakest points, he knew the place that would kill Lloyd slowly and that which would draw out the pain.

He had decided on a quick death for Lloyd.

It hadn't been articulated, Mithos hadn't had to say it. Lloyd had known that the paradox would only be completed if Kvar killed him. His death would be the catalyst. Without Lloyd reuniting the world and supposedly killing Kvar, the man wouldn't find his way through time. Black enveloped him, screams rang in his ears, and Lloyd died.

…

Alright, Epilogue next Friday. Talk to you then, guys!

With massive amounts of love,

~Yoshi