Yay… more peeps. So! lets get this party started.

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"Just eat quickly." Yuan sighed, he slid into the booth, across the table from her and watched Raine take the long spoon delicately in her hand.

"I'll get brain freeze." She argued simply, closing her eyes as she started using her lecturing tone. "And this was the only thing I could afford at the moment."

"I see." his eyes narrowed as he watched her. He rested his chin on his folded hands, propped up on the table by his elbows.

"This is the first thing I've eaten today." Raine told him sternly, "So don't ruin this." and with that dipped the spoon into the round, soft white mass in the hourglass-shaped cup.

"… And I'm expected to just sit here and watch you… ah…" he trailed, he couldn't find his voice, sighting the spoonful of ice-cream enter between her soft-looking lips. Yuan found himself staring, suddenly enraptured by the slow motion of her tongue over the wet, smooth, and hard surface of the utensil.

"…" His lips parted as he stared, glancing down from her mesmerizing eyes, to the second scoop of white that entered her mouth.

He blinked at himself, wondering why he was so… he found himself absently reaching forward and taking her chin in his hand, Raine stopped to look at Yuan questioningly.

He said nothing, wiping away a streak of stray white from her bottom lip.

"... I ah..." Yuan was finding himself in a rather uncomfortable position now, he glanced down at himself and coughed. "I'll just ...stand watch outside." he said quickly, standing and walking passes Raine, retreating from the shop with a slight reddish tint to his face.

Bright-eyed, Raine watched Yuan leave. "What an interestingly sudden change of thought." she said quietly, and turned to her ice-cream again, feeling slightly abandoned, alone there.

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After Raine finished eating, she had walked alongside Yuan to the research lab. She kept giving the former seraph curious looks, he seemed to be having some sort of difficulty with something, his arms were crossed and he seemed to be trying to act as though Raine wasn't there, like he was refusing to acknowledge something about her.

"Hm..." the professor furrowed her eyebrows and leaned forward slightly to catch sight of his features. Unreadable She thought, she let her gaze fall, feeling disappointed. "Do you mind me asking what's wrong?" she finally asked, her arms folded behind her back.

"I'm fine." his lips were pressed together in a fine line.

Wow he's hard to crack. Raine thought, quirking an eyebrow at him and sighing.

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"What?" Yuan hissed, burning holes in their fear-struck faces. "You only had prepared one regardless of the fact that I clearly specified at least three to be ready at all times?" his eyes were like daggers, stabbing repeatedly at the standby renegades that were there at the lab underground.

"B-but sir!" the first man tried to explain.

"No, it's useless now, get out of my sight, we'll have to make due with this." he growled irritably. Raine laughed a little nervously behind him.

"Is that really necessary?" she muttered, a bead of sweat casually at her temple.

"You two." Yuan shot cold, hard looks at two other female renegades, "Bring this outside, I'm sure that there's enough fuel to bring us to Sylverant and or back, correct?"

"Yes sir!" The woman held an unfolded hand to the side of her forehead at an angle stiffly. The other girl did the same.

"W-we made sure!"

"It's your job, at least you do it right." he brushed off their efforts to impress him and turned back to Raine who flinched ever so slightly, she seemed amused, though, a small smile at her lips. "...Leave. Now." he demanded, pointing them out of the room, they took the backup reihard that they had stashed here earlier and brought it upstairs.

"I apologize for my men," Yuan said.

"Of course." Raine smiled, "Now, We're going to be able to pass through the gate, right?"

"Yes, it has a regenerative system so whatever damage done to it should have been repaired by now."

"I see... Shall we go?" Raine motioned to the stairs.

"Indeed." His gaze was unmoving, concrete, he examined her, still. "...Let's get going."

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~Dirk's House~

"Professor!" A cheerful voice greeted the woman as she entered the room. "How nice to see you-- Oh!" Colette's eyes widened, "Yuan! How are you! What are you guys doing together-- hey professor I thought that you were studying a really old library-- oh wait Yuan has one, oh!" Colette giggled, "Oh, I should have known that!" she grinned.

"Colette? Who's---Oh! Professor!" Lloyd stepped down from the stairs that lead to his room.

"Raine!" With Genis following after, Genis ran to her side and hugged her.

"I'm glad to see you too, Genis." she patted his head with a small smile. "...Lloyd, I've actually come to inform you of something." she said, Genis pulled away and went to Lloyd's side to listen to the conversation.

"Well, what is it, Professor?" He asked.

"We have a problem.

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After about three minutes of Raine explaining...

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"WHAT?!" Genis's mouth hung open in disbelief, "How could one person do that?!" his eye twitched.

"I'm uncertain, the letter seemed to be from a single person, who indicated that he was the only one in the base at the time... but that's not exactly determined yet, we're having suspicions of these people that we're starting to see around." she said. "sort of like... a cult."

"Exactly, that's why we need us all to stay in a group so no-one is taken for ransom or killed in their sleep." Yuan said, with an obvious streak of spite in his tone.

"Well, we still have our reihards, and I think we can give your reihard some fuel somewhere, professor." Lloyd said. "And we're going to have to get everyone else." he started thinking, planning carefully. "... They should, actually, be in Mizuho right now." he said with a sweatdrop. "But they might be in Luin..." he grinned sheepishly.

"So we're splitting up then." Genis put a hand on his chin, "I'm with Lloyd."

"I'm with Genis!" Colette chirped, bouncing on her heels.

"I suppose that means that you three are going off without adult supervision..." Raine crossed her arms and gave them a stern look. "Be careful. Especially you, Genis. Those people had said Sage, and being my sibling that could put you at risk." she said. "And also, if they're not in Mizuho I want you all to stay in the area, am I clear?"

"Yes Raine." Genis agreed. "I-I will."

"But be careful."

"Well, let's hurry up and leave then." Lloyd nodded, running at the front door hastily. The other two followed him.

"We should get moving too." Yuan said to Raine, "It's amazing how we just got through being in a group before we decide to part ways, don't you think?"

"We have to find them as quickly as possible." she said, glaring at him. "....You should know by now, Lloyd is strong. I wouldn't be very surprised if he ended up catching one of the men."

"True." Yuan sighed, before following the platinum blond out. Yuan nodded in actual agreement, admitting to his previous defeat. He mentally shivered a bit at the thought, He was like a hurricane.... I'm not surprised he defeated Mithos... Yuan thought. He walked slowly behind her.

"Mph! Yu-" Raine found herself muffled again, suddenly pulled back by him.

"I see him there." Yuan whispered to Raine behind the door "He's about to present himself I imagine. Are you ready?"

".... Where?"

"Among those trees afar there."

"....I understand, I believe I'm capable of fending for myself, thank-you for your concern." her smile seemed genuine but it had a hint of musing for his efforts.

"Let's go, now." Yuan released her arm and lead the way, forward towards the enemy.

Raine walked calmly behind him.

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The footsteps they took seemed to be so slow, it took forever to reach the boundary of trees before the forest at which the man stood.

"You've come." a soft, light-hearted sounding voice came from him. "At long last I can meet you." he stepped forward at them with an outstretched hand. He stared forward with a red-tinted gaze, lit softly by the forest. His hair was in orderly streaks of blond just above his eyes, over his eyebrows. His hood of black remained in place.

"I..." Raine hesitated, glancing at Yuan.

The man's gaze suddenly hardened, shooting Yuan a look of spite.

"I thought I told you that I would kill you, swine."

"Oh really?" Yuan raised an eyebrow, seeming amused, "I would love to see you try that, then."

Softening eyes turned to Raine, "Please step aside, love." he demanded simply.

Feeling a trickle of desire to obey him run through her, she quickly shook her head. "N-no!"

Yuan gave Raine a look, intrigued by her sudden unsure tone of voice. "Raine?" His solid voice snapped her out of it.

"Ah..." Raine held her head, "Oh, I'm sorry I don't know what came over me."

"I won't fight you, darling." The man tried to explain calmly.

"You fight us both, you're not going to target anyone one at a time." she stood against his words.

"... Very well." he whispered, but somehow his voice reached their ears from his distance.

Yuan had his two-sided blade-axe in hand. He twisted and twirled it forward in one swing and started chanting.

"RAY!" Raine held her staff forward at him, from it burst an explosion of light that shot straight up, which in turn split into millions of shards that bulleted back down at him, leaving brightly lit trails behind them.

"Indignation!" Yuan stepped forward with force, holding his blade just above eye level and a giant dome of pulsing violet light opened around the man, what looked like blue electrical currents surged through it, bouncing off of the boundaries. The man looked up with a slowly spreading smile.

"Ah! So this is it!" he laughed with supposed pleasure, as the blue waves sparked at him, dancing on his bare chest.

The ray of light suddenly exploded into white light, pulsing outwards with a loud before shimmering into the air, it dissapeared as Raine charged forward and made a blunt but precise and swift swing of her staff. The man jumped back and smiled charmingly, he dissapeared and reappeared behind her.

Upside-down through the air now, he seemed to be floating, Yuan held his weapon above him before coming down roughly into the ground, piercing it's surface with a shaking wave of purple light in a focused circle over him. "Thunder explosion!!" he shouted, and giant arms of thunder streaked up towards the sky around him as he penetrated an area of the man's skin at that moment.

"Ahh...!" The man held his abdomen where he had been stabbed and electricuted, "Ki-i-ill y-ah-ou" he breathed, as the blade was driven deeper, Yuan shoved it further, before being blown back by a wave of heat.

Yuan held his ground, staying firmly upright with his sword in the ground before him. "I thought it might have been you who had scorched my walls." he glared, as a spiral of fire was flared forward from the man's arms.

His hood stayed in place, nearly covering his eyes as he made an swooping motion, stepping forward, spinning with another step behind his heel and sending a cannon of flame forward at Yuan, who blocked it quickly and sent it back.

The man twitched his shoulder back and took the blow, "Get ready now..." he crossed his arms and shot them back to his sides in quick, stiff motions, leaving jagged-looking flames.

Raine blinked, stepping back, she was actually watching, the battle seemed to be more oriented on the two of them.

"Fire Plume!" The rocks around the two of them were set aflame, and a wall of fire started rising around them. It was thin and swirling. It curved into a dome and standing there, the dome started to fill with a reddish liquid, Yuan looked down at his boots, then back up to the man with a glare.

"Constrict..." he kneeled and put a hand on the ground, and at contact billows of magma arose from it and thrashed amongst the cage of glowing crimson.

"Ugh!" Yuan grunted, being tossed violently by the hot volcanic substance. Burning at him, stabbing him, his eyes could still open, he watched the man walk through it slowly. The magma descended back into the ground and the cage sunk down after it. With the rocks melted and tinted a vermilion orange, the man's footsteps left trails of liquid rock that stuck to the bottom of his shoes in strings.

He stepped in front of Yuan who continued bracing himself, he readied his hand where a ball of fire swirled. He held it close to Yuan's face so that he could see the fire, in attempt to scare him. from the ball flickered little flames that licked at his face.

"Nh..." he clenched his teeth and tried moving, but his boots were slightly stuck to the melted--- and now, cooling rocks.

"Taste this..." he held his hand to the side where the fire ball fell and landed on the ground, it moved.

Yuan looked at it, almost curious, but more pissed off than anything. He broke free from the binding of the rocks and did numerous back handsets. He was ready now, to charge back at him, but the ball of fire caught his eye, it was growing. It seemed to be sucking the moisture out of the air quickly. It shook and drew up melted rocks, it was starting to form a being of some sort.

"Am I supposed to be threatened?" Yuan narrowed his eyes.

"Probably not." The man smiled gently, looking over to Raine suddenly, who jumped at his attention towards her. "Fenrir, take her." he ordered softly. And the mass of magma formed a dog-like animal of some soft.

Raine readied herself, preparing to fight it.

"Now... I'll rip you open." he whispered with a hint of utter giddiness, smiling and charging forward at Yuan, who gave a cold, rock hard stare. The man drew back his arm high above his head and his hand and forearm merged into a kind of blade-like thorn, he thrust it forward at Yuan's abdomen and it pinned right through. A moment later, however, he found himself collapsed on his knees.

"Y...you bastard!" The man yelled up at Yuan, who had stabbed directly through his ribcage and into his heart.

Raine had destroyed the monster, who growled viciously at her before. It had attempted to take her by the back of the collar but she had just evaded it and made a focused swing light with her staff. It dissipated and it's particles fell back into place with the ground below her. She gave her attention to the two men over to her right, Yuan stood, but barely. He wavered over slightly, stepping again to keep his ground. Raine felt something run through her...

Fear?

Concern...?

As the man drew back his thorned blade again and prepared for another sting. She rushed forward and brought the sharp end of her staff upon the back of his neck.

He gasped something in a husky voice that was much deeper, as if he had become another person. "The name's Lance, love. We'll meet again." his face had turned to a blackened coal, as if he had just come from a fire pit, he was burned everywhere. His compressed ashes under the cloak had started being scraped at by the wind.

Raine watched as he blew away, piece by piece. The ashes were scattered in the air around them and dissapeared, leaving nothing except for what he had worn.

Yuan's vision was pulsing in and out of black, he stepped forward to catch himself but he kept leaning, his head was so heavy, it pulled him, pushed him down. He couldn't feel himself except for the aching pain that throbbed from where he had been stabbed.

"Damn it..." he cussed to himself quietly, holding the wound and dropping his weapon, it clattered on the ground beside them. It must have been extremely heavy, Raine thought, having heard the incredibly loud boom of it's collision with the hardened new rock that had formed. A sudden clash to the soft forest floor that surrounded their epicly large ring. Fire danced on some of the rocks, not even dying down yet.

"Yuan...." Raine looked from the clothes that had sunken into the rock and dissapeared without a trace to the light blue eyes that stared at her, trying to register her safety, trying, closing, opening, struggling.

Yuan collapsed forward all at once and fell onto the warm floor beside her.

She stared down at the man who had saved her just now. She stared in awe at his ability to hold against that man.

"Just... leave my weapon here." he told her, a little muffled by the ground.

A smile slowly spread across her lips, looking down at him in the quiet air except for the flapping sound of fire against wind in the distance.

"Okay." she helped him to his feet and started guiding him across the field of smooth rock.

It must be at least thirty feet from the center... Raine thought to herself in irritation with every step she made. Though accompanied by her exsphere, she was finding his muscular weight a slight problem.

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What? don't people usually end the chapter after the battle thing? xD You can um.... review on this chapter if you want.