OKay... pumped up! exams are over so I can update! (Schools out too... which helps)

XXXXX

"Lloyd, what's wrong with you?!" as he slammed the door shut behind himself, Jack turned to Lloyd and Colette in obvious irritation.

"What do you mean?" Lloyd glared, "That jerk clearly started a fight with me and was totally out of control."

"Yeah, Lloyd didn't even do anything." Colette crossed her arms as she backed up Lloyd.

"Well, because of you guys, I could have gotten in trouble, that was supposed to be a nice party that we could have seen Ridley at." he huffed and turned from them and stalked towards the door. "You know, I don't even care. I'm just going out." he rubbed his forehead.

"But..." Colette put her bottom lip out slightly, feeling saddened by Jack's mood.

"Oh, Monkey brain." Another voice went through their ears, and Lloyd and Colette looked towards the door instinctively, to see, behind Jack, a somewhat short man with squinty eyes and looking well-dressed.

"What is it?"he snapped.

The man reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out another letter, "Here, it's an invitation to the castle." He paused and looked beyond Jack at Lloyd, "You!" he got into battle-ready stance and pointed at Lloyd. "You're the one who assaulted Sir Cross!" he seemed to be quite angry.

"No, you've got it all wrong!" Colette objected.

"Yeah." Lloyd lifted his hands in making his point, "that jerk assaulted me out of completely nowhere."

"... I believe it, actually." He got into his normal pose and scratched the back of his head, "I'm just a bit surprised to see that you're still... well... you know, maybe I should just give you this." he reached into his pocket again and pulled out another letter.

"Huh?" Lloyd reached up to grab the letter from him as Colette approached him from behind. Jack hesitated, looking down at his invitation before waiting to hear what Lloyd had to say.

"What's it say, Lloyd?"

"..." Jack narrowed his eyes, he didn't even want to hear what they had to say. He didn't get to see Ridley and it was all because of Cross and Lloyd's little incident. His grip momentarily tightening as his irritation grew.

Lloyd always acted like he was this big figure who just got out of a war or something, like he was better than or stronger than everyone else and as if he had already defeated the strongest person he could possibly defeat. And... all the people who showed up with him all at the same time, who knew him, acted like...

They looked at him with such admiration, like he was the strongest in the world. It was infuriating. They seemed to have complete confidence in him, and Lloyd accepted it, like an attention-hungry, big-headded...

It-It's so shallow! Jack thought, they only like him because he knocked out a few guys, and he accepts their... their worshipping of him! like they're actual friends or something!

Grumbling, Jack pushed past Leonard and stormed up towards the set of stairs.

The most frustrating thing about it was... he couldn't beat Lloyd. He was... invincible somehow. But, Jack stopped at the top at the stairs and bit his lip in attempt to ignore the gasp from Colette's lips, he would figure it out. When he gets back from that meeting in the castle, he would definitely try again.

x

"B-but Lloyd, how can this happen?"

"Great," Lloyd laughed sheepishly, "guess it was... ah... unavoidable."

"..." Colette fell silent, and Leonard's eyes went blank as they fell unto the ground.

"I'm sorry." He muttered. "Orders straight from Larks himself, after a conversation between him and Cross Ward."

This time he actually looked, he turned his head to the side and watched, but just because he was looking to where it came from last time, it came from the other, but no matter what, it still somehow landed in his hands.

"..." he sweatdropped and just opened it.

'letter from castle aquired' It read.

Lloyd blinked. "I... I know."

"Whoa!" Colette gasped as it dissapeared in his hands.

"Why does this ALWAYS happen?" Lloyd sighed and put the letter in his pocket while Colette pressed the tips of her fingers together.

"I... guess it's just fate!" she grinned, "I think it's okay, if we go see the others and explain the new situation to them, they'll understand."

Lloyd gave another sigh, thinking for a moment with his arms crossed. One arm bent up for his hand to make an L over his chin.

"They're not saying anything..." Muttered Jack, who finally just turned around upon not getting in on the info to walk. He immediately stiffened and stepped to the side as a tall man with dark, reddish, auburn hair strode past him. Every step was calculated and steady.

As he floated past Jack, their eyes met. And that one look sent shivers down his spine and stuck him to the spot. As he seen him descending the stairs, the only thing he could bring himself to do was stumble off in another direction, confused like he just got blinded by an epic blast of sun.

And held upsidedown by the ankles.

And spun around in circles.

x

"So, you've been banished again." Kratos approached the three of them and the group immediately got silent.

"Ha...ha, yeah, well uh." Lloyd rubbed the back of his head.

"That's good to hear, We needed to leave soon anyway. After gathering enough information around town, I found that no-one's seen a sword. But There are dwarves who are good with them, and might have picked one up. So, what do you plan on doing now?"

"W-well, I, I was going to tell everyone and they would decide on whether or not they're going to come with us or not."

"What?" Colette's expression grew stern with concern for his state of mind.

"This far in, Lloyd and you still would have to ask that?" Kratos quirked an eyebrow, one hand on his hip as he leaned over to the side, ready for a conversation.

"I'm just going to..." Leonard trailed, more intimidated by Kratos that he was curious for what they would be talking about. He turned from them and his walked turned to a jog as he rounded the corner and left.

"Your friends are with you no matter what!" Colette bounced on the balm of her foot, leaning in towards Lloyd convincingly.

"Exactly."

"Oh, Y-yeah." Lloyd chuckled, "I guess so... Well, let's get going. I don't want to wait around too much for them to just kick me out."

xxxxx

"Haahhh!" Breathing heavily and collapsing forward onto his knees, the silver-haired masked man panted as the other masked person stopped and appeared back by his side.

"Really, Eon?" Sheena pulled her mask down from her face. "We've only done a couple dozen so far and you're already--"

"It's been fifteen minutes!" he screamed in a hushed voice, followed by a cough. "What are you?"

Closing her eyes and shaking her head, Sheena put her hands on her hips. "You've asked that before. I'm a human like you are." she leaned in with an outstretched hand to help him up. "I'm just surprised, everyone said that you were fast."

"Faster than the normal really fast runners."

"..." Sheena pulled him to his feet when he took her hand. "Sorry." she apologized half-heartedly. Something inside of her seemed to sense that something was up.

"I think we can stop now." Eon shook his head, trying to shake the sweat from his face.

"But I'm making a lot of money d--"

"You are." Eon grumbled, "They like you better now so they're paying you more." He snapped.

"Oh, ah... ha... haha..." she scratched her cheek with one finger as she thought of how to counter that remark, regardless of how true it was.

His eyes were cold slits or black over orange under the moonlight. It was abnormal, she knew, but had seen a lot stranger... He seemed to like her for the solumn reason that she wasn't scared of him or tried to avoid him. Or maybe he was excited by her being able to keep up. He was fascinated with her, happy she shared a taste for animals.

"I'll split it?" Sheena grinned.

"Deal." Eon had caught his breath and stood up straight, they turned and faced the house of the next target.

xxxxx

Yay, I have more time to update more now. Thank you, planet rotation for summer and school limitations for summer break.