Okay, sorry this took so long! enjoy!
Oh, and I know that Jack and the rest of his squad don't get this mission until like... later, but I'm going to have him, well... have the mission sooner. You'll find out which mission I'm talking about later in the chapter, okay? Good! read on, people!
xxxxxxx
"Hey!"
"...Zzzz..."
"Hey, wake up!"
"...Zzz...zht-znnnn..."
"Lloyd! Come on!"
"H-huh?" Lloyd blinked, opening his eyes.
...Silence.
"Oh, it's just you..." Lloyd sighed, staring up at Jack tiredly.
"Come on! Don't you ever wake up early?"
"Well yeah... actually, as a matter of fact, I--"
"We're going to be late! You're gonna slow me down."
"..."
"Come on!" Jack stomped, "Say something! First you take my glory and now you act like this? What kind of messed up person are you?!" Jack furrowed his brows with one raised, he leaned forward in an almost-fighting position.
"Uhh... sorry, sorry." Lloyd shook his head, swinging his legs over the side of the bed beside Jack's bed. "It's just... you seem really eager today."
"Well yeah! aren't YOU excited to be reporting to the job too?" Jack raised an eyebrow.
"...Yeah."
xxxxxxx
"Ah, you kids are here..." Thanos said as they approached. "You... Lloyd."
"Er... yeah?"
"You're going to be a squad leader because you managed to beat Gerald, from what I hear." He said.
"A...A what?"
"A sargeant... you're going to be leading missions."
"WHAT?!" Jack shouted, "HE gets to be a squad leader?! He's just as new at this as I am!"
"He's proven himself strong enough. You haven't yet." Thanos looked over to Jack with an irritated expression. "So, Lloyd, Head upstairs to the chief because she has a special mission for you."
"What kind of mission?" Lloyd asked, blinking.
"Well, you'll see. She hasn't given me the details but I'm sure that it would be no problem for someone like you."
"... I'll do it." Lloyd agreed.
"Good, now get going." he said grouchily, turning to Jack when Lloyd made a movement for the stairs. "Alright..."
XXXxxXx
"Ah, you're here." The woman in armor said, standing in front of her desk as Lloyd entered.
"So what's the mission, cheif?" Lloyd said.
"...You're going to be fighting alongside a man named Cross. He requested help from our guild to aaid him on one of his tougher missions. He didn't really believe that his men could handle it... If you're good enough, I'm sure that you'll be done by the end of the day." She explained.
"Cool!" Lloyd grinned, "If they think I can handle something that his 'men' can't then I must be pretty popular!"
"...Indeed." Elwen said, "It will be hard... but please do your best to serve the castle in any way you can."
"Okay!" He laughed, "count on me, sir-I-I mean Ma'am."
"That's more like it." she said in a smiling voice, "You meet Cross near Lupus gate. You should start heading over there now and meet him, tell him who you are and you'll proceed."
"...Got it." Lloyd agreed. "Soo... bye then."
"Wait, take this."
"Huh?"
"It's some armor that I picked up this morning. You should wear it and make yourself presentable."
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing...?" the red-clad swordsman trailed.
"You need to look like a warrior... you look more like you're a farmboy in that outfit."
"...Yeah, maybe." Lloyd mumbled, looking at what was in the Cheif's hands.
It was a metallic blue tunic under dark grey chest and shoulder plates. The shorts matched the top, and the leggings were chainmail. There were shoes to match the shoulderplates, a dark grey color.
"...Thanks."
"Don't mention it. Now change and get going."
"I'm on it."
XXXxxxx
"Lloyd." As the eternal swordsman exited the building, he heard a deep voice call his name behind him.
"Huh? Dad?"
"..." Kratos shifted, "You look like quite the knight in that armor. It fits you well."
"Yeah, that Elwen woman is really good at examining people because she knew exactly my size!" Lloyd made his big Idiot grin as he showed off his new clothing to his father. "But..." his face fell, "It is kind of hard to move in... but I guess I'll adjust."
"...Indeed." Kratos fell silent, looking as if his mind was trailing off somewhere.
"Huh? what's wrong?" Lloyd's face fell.
"... I was just coming here to tell you that I had fully memorized the pathways. So I won't be down there at all today until midnight. So steer clear of the sewers, and the void community. Am I clear?"
"...Whoa! you're done already??"
"...Yes."
"W-well... okay." Lloyd swallowed.
"Good. I'll see you then."
"Yeah."
XXXXXXX
"Ah, you're here." a man who's head was shaved except for a silver ponytail on the top of his head and a single lock of hair over his face watched as Lloyd approached the bridge. "We're doing a quick interrogation with a few people in the mountains." he said, then taking note of the blank look he was getting. "...You are Lloyd, correct?" the ends of his slim brows went up in an arch.
"Yeah." Lloyd said, shifting his weight onto one hip as Cross walked over to him. "We're... interrogating people? Why?"
His eyes briefly swept over the three other men in armor behind cross. Their faces were covered by their helmets. He quickly let his eyes move to their leader's.
"They're refusing to meet our demands. We're moving in again in a few days... but today we're just speaking with a few of their men elsewhere..."
"...Your demands?"
"Yes, they raised the prices of their weapons and it's quite too expensive... anything exported from that valley of theirs is too high-priced."
"Well..." the swordsman trailed, "maybe they have a reason for it."
"A reason?" The silver-haired man scoffed, "those savages who call themselves dwarves are selfishly asking for more and MORE from us. I refuse, as a high-ranking member of the castle, it's knights, refuse to allow this theivory."
"Dwarves?" Lloyd's voice trailed off and he fell silent.
"Ah, see? Now you know why. I know we've been allies of that damned valley, but they MUST be shown our power. You understand the urgency of acting, correct?"
The armored-swordsman hesitated, "Well, I'm kind of wondering why dwarves would... I mean..." his mind strayed elsewhere, 'There are DWARVES here? That's so cool! I wonder if they're as good as making weapons as my DAD! PSHYEAH RIGHT!' a smile tugged at Lloyd's lips as he pictured his other father who took him in as a child. 'I bet they're like Altessa or something though... but raising their prices to get more for themselves? that doesn't sound like Dad or Altessa at all...'
"Lloyd." Cross said sharply, snapping Lloyd out of his thoughts, "We'd best get moving."
"...Yeah." Lloyd said, following Cross and the other four armored men. "I'm just really excited, I mean!" he grinned widely, "I get to meet some Dwarves! Actual DWARVES!" he said, then thinking 'Well... I'm just wondering what dwarves from THIS world will be like anyway, this is so cool!"
XXXXXXX
"Miss Arnold!" the boy yelled.
"Help!" she squealed, being carried around a corner all the way down the street over a large, plump man's shoulder.
"It's the bandit guild! After them!!" Jarvis yelled, pointing.
XXXXXXX
"Are we there yet?" Lloyd groaned. slumping over. "I thought you said we'd be facing rigorous journeys through these mountains, this is sooo-"
"Boring?" One of the other men finished for him, "you've said that four times already." he said.
"...Err... right." Llyod scratched the back of his head.
"You sure get bored easily..." another piped in.
"Yeah, how could you be such a big hit so quickly?"
"I think he defeated the guild's 'Gerald' so... he must be pretty tough."
"Yeah, but still..."
"Um... you guys, I don't think that it's that big of a deal..." Lloyd laughed nervously.
"All of you, quit your squabbling." Cross ordered over his shoulder. "...We're here, those are the dwarves we're meeting with there." he pointed towards the upcoming hill on the right side of the pathway that started to narrow. "...We'll teach these savages a thing or two about Radiata..." he smirked. Waving for his men to follow.
There were two short men with incredibly long, red beards stepping out from behind the large hill, approaching them.
"What is this?" one snapped, "you're armed. I thought we agreed to come to this meeting without weapons." he said, he had an accent like his father, Dirk's.
"You're all armed. As to be expected of the humans..." The other red-bearded man sput gruffily.
Lloyd blinked, "Wait, I though you said we were just talking...?" he started. "what are you--"
"If that's what you came here to do..." the short man glared up at Lloyd with dark eyes, "then you humans are not very good with conversations..." he examined the two swords at Lloyd's waist.
"Lets get them." Cross ordered to the men.
"Step down, human!" The first dwarf demanded.
"No-one orders me!" Cross said, drawing his sword and pointing it at the short man.
"Whoa whoa!!" Lloyd yelled, stepping forward and glaring at Cross. "You're just going to ambush people like that without even saying anything first?!" he said disbelievingly, "Aren't you going to at least TRY to work things out?!" he growled.
"There's no need." Cross said, "our first task was specifically to make them listen. If they fight back, then they would be going against the Castle's knights wouldn't they?" He laughed.
"No!" Lloyd growled, getting the attention of the awaiting dwarves. "That's just wrong!" he faced him, "if you're going to tell someone that you're going to both come unarmed, then that means that there should be a peaceful meeting!" He stated.
"Don't tell me" Cross stepped forward but was cut off by one of the dwarves.
"You are a lying coward..." he sput, "that just proves to us more that we can't trust you humans... but..." he glanced at Lloyd, "you, boy... at least seem hopeful..." he trailed.
"No matter!" Cross smirked, he flipped back his one lock of hair and looked down his nose at the dwarves and at Lloyd, even though Lloyd was just about the same height. "Men! If this boy wishes to betray my will, then he is also the enemy of the king of Radiata!"
"W-wait." Lloyd turned to Cross, "what you're doing is just currupt... I was jsut saying that..." he glanced at the two dwarves, "that we should kindly explain to them that you can't afford what they want from you... they'll understand." Lloyd pressed.
The two dwarves stood behind Lloyd who awaited Cross's answer hopefully.
XXXXXXX
I should have done more with that, but the other half of this chapter isn't done and I have four minutes until I have to get off soooo...
I guess I'll cut off the rest and update while I can tonight. Please review, you guys! I'll probably update REALLY soon considering I've pretty much finished the next chapter allready so um...
heh, yeah!
