If Forcystus is ooc, I'm sorry. It's been awhile and there really isn't much to go by.
Chapter Five: Mother
Iselia Ranch
He made sure to just knock out the first two whip masters, but as more came he found himself slipping and killed a few of them. Finally, after stabbing probably his fifth victim in the stomach, he heard them being called off by the Desian Leader himself.
"Well Lloyd, it's certainly been awhile." It was Grand Cardinal Forcystus, the only Cardinal that Lloyd could stand and also possibly the strongest of them all. He could easily usurp Pronyma's power if he wanted to, though he seemed content with his position. Lloyd relaxed slightly, he had a hunch Forcystus wouldn't fight him; the half- elf knew he was no match for the angel anyway. Not only that but he seemed more interested in the teenagers 'work.' "Did you really have to kill them; it's very hard to get replacements to the Iselia Ranch."
"Couldn't help myself." Lloyd kept a smirk on his face as he watched Forcystus tapped one of the bodies with his foot.
"Well now that the treaty has been 'broken', I suppose I'd better plan retaliation. I trust you have no objections."
Lloyd shrugged nonchalant, "Do what you want." He paused before getting an idea, "Actually do you think you could wait until after we leave? Oh and can I get an exsphere for one of the Chosen's guards for the Regeneration Journey? I want this done as quickly as possible."
"Already missing your magic?" He sounded like he was teasing him and Lloyd gave a glare that told him that he didn't like it. "Very well, I will acknowledge you're requests and you'll have an exshpere in the morning. I assume anyone will do?"
"Actually, how about that old woman we were talking to." They seemed very close meaning that exsphere would be most effective on Genis than just an ordinary one. He'd never have to know it was her either.
"Anything else you need?"
"That'll do." He chuckled, "You know, with all this help you're giving me I should put in a good word for Lord Yggdrasil, maybe he'll make you leader of the Five Grand Cardinals."
"As amusing as it would be to see the look on Pronyma's face if that happened, I'm comfortable with my position here."
"Alright then." Lloyd sheathed his swords and started walking off, "Remember I'll be back in the morning."
It was easy for him to catch up with Genis; the boy was waiting for him near a log made bridge by a river. He looked relieved to see him. "Lloyd you're okay."
"Yeah, the Desian's weren't much trouble."
"Wow Lloyd, you're amazing."
"Yeah, yeah." He shrugged it off, "So lead the way."
"Right."
Dirk's House
It surprised him a little when he saw a two floor wooden house in the middle of the woods. The land looked like it had been cleared away before the house was constructed because of the tree stumps around the area, one of which worked as a makeshift bridge under a thin river. However the more he thought about it, the more understandable it was. Most Dwarfs were employed by Cruxis, those who weren't had to go into hiding and because they all lived underground, living on the surface in a wooden house were probably the last place anyone would look and therefore, the safest.
He followed Genis toward the house, the smaller boy running ahead of him, when his eyes got something further away. It looked like a rock of some kind. He walked over to it and noticed it wasn't a rock, but instead a grave stone. The grave stone didn't have any name on it, but it had some simple decorations carved on it and fresh flowers were resting beside the stone. He frowned slightly; dwarves did bury their dead, but if he remembered correctly they didn't have grave stones. Either this Dirk had developed human customs, or maybe…
"Daddy?" The five year old boy tugged on one of the tails of his father's uniform. Over the two years the boy had adjusted pretty well to life in Welgaia, but Kratos was beginning to worry that the isolation would be harmful to his mental growth.
"What is it Lloyd?" He looked down at the small boy from his desk, his eyes soft and a small smile on his face as he watched the child. The boy started to open his mouth then shut it to look at the door; he guessed he was checking to make sure no one was coming in. "No one is coming Lloyd, now what's on your mind?"
The small boy looked at him with large brown eyes that could make almost any person melt, "Uh, I've been thinking about mommy." Kratos smile faded and he looked sad, "I miss her."
Lloyd felt his father's hand come down onto his head and gently move through his hair. "I miss her too Lloyd."
"But you can still visit her, Mr. Yg-Yug…Mr. Leader won't let me go see her. Why?"
"…"
"Daddy?"
"Lord Yggdrasil just wants to protect you." His father said after a silence that felt painfully long for the small boy. He gentle touched the exsphere on the boys hand; one day it would become a Cruxis Crystal and Lloyd to would begin his angel transformation.
"Kvar wants mommy's gem right?" Lloyd asked, Kratos nodded, "That's why he…he."
"Paying yer respects to the dead are we?" Lloyd was rudely awakened from his daydream by the sound of an older man. He looked behind him to see Genis with a Dwarf, who he guessed was Dirk. "It's good to see some young ones like yerself still show respect for those who've passed on."
Lloyd wasn't really sure how to respond to the statement instead bringing his eyes back to the grave stone, "If you don't mind me asking, whose grave is this?"
"This grave is the resting place of a swordsman's wife." He started, "The poor girl was killed by the Desian's while they were on the run with their kid. Said her name was Anna."
'Mom' unless it was a very ironic coincidence, than this had to be her resting place, he'd have to ask later on if anyone visited. He really didn't have much time to think about it as Dirk invited him and Genis inside the wooden house and asked what they needed. Lloyd came up with an explanation saying they needed a keycrest for Raine, saying that she found an exsphere outside the village which was probably dropped by the 'Desians' when they attacked the village. Dirk had a look of surprise hearing that news and agreed to make one. The two waited outside while he worked so they wouldn't disturb him.
"I hope it doesn't take too long to make that crest." Genis told him.
"Dad told me that it can take a few hours just for one crest," Lloyd told him; he was leaning lazily against the outside wall of the house. "The crest needs to be carved properly and apparently in a precise order, and that's if he doesn't need to process the inhibitor ore first."
"Then how long will it take then?"
"I don't know." He shrugged, "Maybe a day?" He saw the boy let out a groan and mutter something about needing to be home before it got dark and that it took a half hour to get through the woods. "Hey you can go on home and I can stay here. There isn't anything we can do but wait anyway."
The boy looked happy to hear that, "Thanks Lloyd, you won't forget to give it to Marble right?"
"I won't." He said looking back over to the gravestone at the back of the house. Genis saw the distracted look on his face.
"Lloyd, you've looked a little off since you saw that grave, what's wrong?" The older teenager didn't give an answer.
"It nothing, don't worry about it." He looked at Genis who had a look on his face that told him he knew he was lying.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
"Okay, okay, yeesh you don't have to yell." Genis seemed more offended than scared, it was obvious that he was just trying to make conversation and he didn't expect such a negative reaction. Lloyd shifted his weight slightly and looked down at the ground.
"It's just a delicate subject." He told him, if there was anything that he had said that day that was the truth, that was it. He and his father rarely talked about what happened to his mother and how he came to be raised by Cruxis after he got passed a certain age. Partially it was because the questions Lloyd had, wandered into the back of his mind as the isolated life became routine. He also learned that emotional subjects and situations became harder to handle when you reached the point in the Angel transformation where you could no longer cry. "My mom was killed by the Desians."
He wasn't sure what caused him to say that, but he saw Genis' face changed from anger to sympathetic. "Oh, I'm sorry Lloyd."
"Don't be, it was a long time ago." He explained, "To be honest I don't even remember what she was like, and the only picture I have of her my dad has on him."
"W-where's your dad now?"
He guessed the stutter was from being worried he might be pushing too far into the 'mercenary's' personal life. "Not really sure, I haven't seen him in weeks." He lied. "We rarely work on the same jobs and I've been allowed to travel on my own for a year now."
"You ever miss him?"
"Of course." He looked up and noticed that the sun was setting, "You should probably be getting home, I'll stick around and meet you back at the village later."
"Oh right, see you tomorrow then."
Iselia
Genis arrived back at the village just as the sun was disappearing under the trees and went straight to his house. Raine was home and packing for the trip, "Ah Genis there you are, the guards told me you and that Lloyd figure left for the woods."
"Yeah we went to see Dirk." He told her, "I guess I should get started on dinner then." He made his way to the small stove and started heating some water. He decided to make Pasta because it was quick and easy to put together.
"The mayor told me that Lloyd had chosen for you to come along."
"Yeah, he said that I would get better at my magic through traveling."
"I see…" Raine zipped up her bag and put it by the door before taking some paper and writing down some stuff that Genis guessed was notes on the design of the Martel Temple. They two siblings were silent for awhile with the exception of the sound of boiling water before Raine spoke up again. "Genis."
"Yeah?"
"I want you to be cautious around Lloyd."
"What?" He wasn't very surprised to hear her say that because she was naturally a bit skeptical, though he still wanted a reason, "Why?"
"There's something about him that's a little off. Have you sensed it?"
"Well yeah, his mana is different from the other humans here in Iselia, but he also has an exsphere on him. Wouldn't that slightly alter his mana flow?"
"It's hard to say, but promise me you'll be careful around him. We don't know him very well and he seems rather guarded, the regeneration journey will probably be just business for him."
The silver haired half-elf nodded and started making the pasta. All he could do was hope Lloyd kept his promise to give Marble her key crest, and of course that he'd show up on time the next day. He seemed nice enough, what could go wrong?
End Chapter Five
What could possibly go wrong? He's just a mysterious mercenary you don't know anything about after all. Who knows, he could be friendly.
I wanted to add more to this chapter, but anything I came up with felt like it was just tacked on for no reason, plus I'm in College now (class begins this Monday) so I don't have much time anymore, which may also explain any errors I have in this chapter. I'll try to keep updating weekly, but bi-weekly might be more likely. Next up, we hit the Triet Desert!
Also I never figured this out…what was Rodyle hoping to accomplish by destroying the Tower of Salvation? In all my eight playthroughs I've yet to figure it out.