"Why do keep tossing Lloyd?"
"I'm still hot, alright?"
"You've been wearing a heavy jacket in the middle of a desert, Lloyd." Genis muttered as Lloyd kept tossing in the bed that they had to share, "Why are you so surprised about the heat?"
"I've never been in the desert, alright Genis?"
"Neither have I..." Genis admitted, "Just get some sleep."
"I'm going to get some air first."
"First Kratos...now you..." Genis laughed as Lloyd got out of the bed, "Wonder if it's a human thing..."
"Probably," Lloyd admitted with a smirk, "See ya in the morning."
"See ya." Genis muttered as Lloyd closed the door of the inn room behind him and walked out onto the second floor balcony.
Looking up at the clear night sky and seeing the moon shine down, Lloyd thought back to the reason why he was here.
And realized that he didn't have a clue.
Even after knowing the truth about the Journey and what would happen to Colette, he still couldn't figure out a plan to liberate Colette and Sylvarant from this system of control.
What would be the alternative? That was the most frustrating part, as if fate itself was conspiring to keep him locked in this damned maze.
"I'm not going to be some damned caged rat...AND NEITHER WILL COLETTE!" Lloyd cried as she slashed out with his sword, making a long scratch along the outer wall as he sensed someone nearby, "I know you're there! Show yourself!"
"But do you know where I am?" Lloyd spun around to have his blades blocked by the armored wrist of Yuan.
"Just knock next time, alright? Lloyd asked as he sheathed his swords and brushed the sweat from his forehead.
"You seem awfully trusting of a man you've only met once."
"Trustworthy or not, we're both after the same thing."
"In a way, we are and we aren't." Yuan stated, "For instance, I actually have a plan."
"Which involves me?"
"Yes, but it has been in motion for longer than you've been born." Yuan said with a smirk, "So what have you been doing in the mean time?"
"I've been thinking."
"A dangerous pastime."
"I know." Lloyd admitted with a smile, "The cruxis crystal that Colette was given is actually an exsphere."
"What?" Lloyd had a bad feeling when he saw Yuan's surprise, "How did you figure that out?"
"After your visit, I'd been thinking." Lloyd went on, "Ever since Colette received that crystal, she's been more endurant and reflexive during battle. Something I'd noticed had completely gone up since before the trip to the Martel Temple."
"So you put the pieces together." Yuan mused with a smirk, "That explains the necklace that she wears."
"Knew it. You are spying on us."
"My men only do their job." Yuan explained as Lloyd reached for the handle of his sheathed blades, "They're part of a separate organization that I use to oppose Cruxis in secret while retaining public figure to Lord Yggdrassial.
"Alright..." Lloyd decided to accept Yuan's explanation and continued, "If a cruxis crystal is just an advanced exsphere then how come no other Chosen has ever used it to rise up against Mithos?"
"Apart from the obvious?" Lloyd tipped his head to the side and raised an eyebrow, "First off, relay what you know about exspheres."
"Let's see." Lloyd thought, "They allow you to use special abilities with innate mana...you heal faster...you're more resistant to pain and disease...and without a key crest...you turn into a monster when you remove it."
"Because..."
"The exsphere is directly linked to the user's body!" Lloyd said with a louder volume, "And it warps that person..."
"Bravo Lloyd." Yuan said as he clapped, "Now you see why giving Colette that exsphere was a good move."
"Wow...good thing that I did."
"You didn't know..."
"I just didn't think about it at the time." Lloyd admitted, "Not too much..."
"Serves you well either way." Yuan stated, "While more powerful, cruxis crystals show the same qualities as a normal exsphere. At each seal, mana flows into the cruxis crystal, awakening it more and granting it's bearer angelic abilities."
"At the cost of their humanity." Lloyd grumbled, remembering the system that the crystal was apart of, "So the Cruxis Crystal is actually harming them as the chosen becomes more angelic?"
"Exactly." Yuan stated, "I'm not really sure what will happen now that Colette has a key crest...a rune crest from the look of it too."
"Dad made it." Lloyd explained, painfully remembering when he had quickly lied to Colette the day before they're departure, "It was...actually supposed to be her birthday present...but I got sloppy and forgot about it until well...all of this."
"Not surprising."
"Hey!" Lloyd shouted in outrage before he calmed down, "Anyway, dad finished it for me and made it into a Rune crest, but I don't know where he got the material for a rune crest."
"Especially since one of those ingredients shouldn't be accessible to anyone." Yuan noted, "Regardless of the means, you'll now have an edge. But if you continue on this Journey, you won't be able to keep your companions in the dark forever."
"You mean Kratos?"
"So you've noticed?"
"I don't think he'll do anything," Lloyd said as he watched Yuan's glance sharpen, "But he does seem to ask me a lot of questions when I speak up."
"Maybe you should be more quiet about your intentions."
"Why should I?" Lloyd asked, feeling rage at this quiet manipulation that was about to claim Colette's humanity and life, "Colette's not going to die because of Cruxis' selfish goals and I'm going to make sure that nothing happens to Colette."
"Nothing?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Something has happened to the girl." Yuan stated solemnly, "You haven't noticed the changes in the girl's demeanor? Her stance? You've already changed her, you've exposed a lie that substantiated and held up her entire life. She's likely in the middle of a depression brought on by all of this."
"She's seemed fine to..." On a thought, Lloyd realized that she was doing what she always did, "Damn it...why isn't she telling me?"
"Why don't you go ask her?" Yuan asked as he signed, "You've placed her into no man's land, Lloyd. If you continue on the journey as is, Remial will discover that Cruxis' Chosen has gone astray. This has never happened before on a Regeneration Journey, who knows what could happen."
"That's why I'm here-"
"It can't just be you." Yuan interrupted, "Even with the Angelus Crystal, you're still one person, you need to ensure that Colette will stay strong mentally and spiritually through this ordeal. Otherwise, anything you do to help her will only stagnate and doom her."
"You might be right." Lloyd admitted as another thought came to his mind, "Hey, how is the mana channeled between this world and the other world?"
"You're finally asking about that?" Lloyd grumbled for the half-elf to get to the point, "Why are there four seals in the journey? What do they correlate to?"
"They're just seals..." Lloyd thought out loud and he started remembering all of those lessons from the Professor about the summon spirits and how at each seal... "The summon spirits...that's it! The seals awaken the mana around the summon spirits! Which means that there are four seals in the other world that turn off when the chosen of this world completes their journey."
"Bravo." Yuan complemented, "So what do you plan to do?"
"I guess form a pact with them...that way, we'll be able to control the mana's flow..." Lloyd figured, "But I don't know how to do that..."
"Continue on your journey to the Trient Ruins, Lloyd. I'm sure something will...turn up..."
"Like you did? That may be-" When Lloyd turned back, Yuan was already gone. "Presuming too much..."
"Hi Lloyd..." Lloyd nearly fell off the rail when he noticed Colette, "Were you talking to someone?"
"Just someone that I ran into," Lloyd answered and blushed when he saw that Colette was wearing a night dress and looked troubled, "What is it Colette?"
"Can...I talk to you about something?"
"Sure, I'm all ears anytime."
"He's been practicing...not bad." Yuan said as he walked away from Trient's entrance. He was actually standing where that scratch had been made in the inn's wall. Not only was the boy's power growing, but his senses were becoming more attuned.
"When given something that he can use, he does rather well."
"I figured it wouldn't be long for you to see my hand in this."
"You hid your presence well back in Iselia." Kratos stated from behind Yuan, "But you've dropped your guard this time."
"No matter what you do, everything is already in motion." Yuan declared as he flourished his double-bladed weapon, "Not that you will do anything, correct?"
"You know that this will change nothing." Kratos reminded his fellow seraphim as he drew out his sword and shield, "As long as Mithos controls the Origin Sword, the worlds will remain divided."
"Maybe I don't care about the worlds, Kratos." Though Yuan admitted that the chance to kill Kratos here was tempting, "Dividing them was a good idea, I just don't like Mithos' obsessive selfishness or the millions of young lives that he's condemned to die."
"You wait until now?"
"I didn't have Lloyd before." Yuan said as he calmed down and sheathed his weapon when Kratos did likewise, "Now he'll spur himself on to destroy Mithos' plans. Oblivion or heaven, as long as Martel's true will is fulfilled and she herself freed from the Seed, I will be content."
"Even if it damns one of the worlds? Maybe even both?"
"We already have the blood of millions on our hands," Yuan said, himself remembering that this was why he placed the keys in Lloyd's hands and not his, "Entire generations stretching back four thousand years...it would be a mercy for future generations not to suffer what they're forefathers did."
"Is that Martel would have wanted?"
"Thanks to your silence, we will never know." Yuan bitterly reminded his former friend, "In any case, everything depends on Lloyd now."
"And the ninja from Mizuho?"
"A beneficial asset for Lloyd to use as he sees fit."
"That was a lot...harder...than I thought it would be..." A black-haired ninja said in exhaustion after she pulled herself out of the burning wreckage of the Rheihard that she'd stolen. It's damage upon take off and then damage that she took once she got over to this world...she was surprised that she made it this far, "Thankfully, I can now...play the...waiting game..."
"Waiting game? Who are you waiting for?" She watched a knife fly into her face and tilted her body back in time to avoid the projectile and throw a card at the attacker. The card slit the desian's throat as she shifted into a combat stance.
"Shit!" Sheena spat when she saw other desians enter the scene to investigate the burning wreckage, "What the hell are you guys doing here?"
"Took the words right out of our mouths woman." A desian soldier said as he and his cohorts surrounded the ninja from Mizuho, "Make sure she's alive enough for questioning."
"And fun?"
"HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU!" The desian captain bashed the soldier's head against a nearby boulder and then pulled him to his feet, "She's a filthy human!"
"Sir..." As the captain beat up his soldier and the others watched, Sheena took advantage of their distraction and leapt over them and dashed for the ruins.
"What?" Sheena heard the captain asked after beating up his cohort, "Where did she go?"
"She jumped over us while you were arguing."
"USELESS ASS MAGGOTS!" The Captain screamed as Sheena leapt into a nearby hole next to a wall and crouched down in a lightly flooded corridor. "Don't let her find the seal! Kill the bitch if you have to!"
"Sir!" A Sheena listened through the air, she heard the soldiers survey the surface. Fortunately, they hadn't caught on to her trick just yet.
"It must be one of those days." The ninja said to herself as she waded through the corridor and followed Corrine through a small shaft. With the high security, it wouldn't be long before the desians found her, "I guess I can tithe myself over."
"There are alternatives to fighting."
"Who said that?"
"Can't I'm afraid...I sense earth mana that doesn't originate from you..."
"How does he know about Gnome?" Sheena asked herself, especially since she had only recently gotten possession of the ground spirit, "What do you want?"
"If you would be quiet and not get yourself killed...we can come to a beneficial agreement."
"Like what?"
"The best time to kill the Chosen."
"I'm not after the Chosen...not the one from this world..."
Author's Notes:
What's this? Sheena doesn't want to kill Colette? Then what hell is she doing in Sylvarant?
That makes no sense!
Can Lloyd confide his plan with Colette and comfort her invisible fears? Stay tuned and find out.
To figure out what Colette may be going through, look up these two things: The Four Stages of Grief/Loss and Disillusionment, that's about the most that I can say.