I'm back...
"So." Lloyd stared at Genis, his hand supporting his chin.
"... Yeah?"
"...."
"...." Genis looked at Lloyd with mild irritation, why was he...?
"How exactly did someone like you pick up girls?" He finally asked, his expression intensifying.
"U-uh, that's!" Genis cut himself off, embarrassed and trying to figure out how to answer that,
"I'm just saying, she looks like your type...." He shrugged.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Lloyd paused, "Well, nevermind. I have to pack. We're leaving tomorrow right?"
"Yeah." Genis glared. He was avoiding the question, what was it that Lloyd seen, anyway? He usually never sees anything like that.
xxxxx
It was starting to interest him how Aria had absolutely no concern for the fact that everything the others said was mostly true one way or another. Did she really believe him?
"Ah... you're so sweet, Aria." Zelos chuckled, as they approached the castle.
"...? Huh? What's with that, all of a sudden?" Aria stared at him through narrowed eyes and a sigh. "Just shut up and bring us to that one guy."
"Of course!" He beamed, as they stopped in front of two guards.
"O-oh! Captain Zelos." One of the guards saluted him. "Please, come right in."
"Of course." Zelos flashed a smile as he strode past.
"Wait." one of the guards held his ax out in front of Aria. The look she gave him was making Zelos nervous. Aria's eyes seemed to be glowing a bloody red color.
"U-ahm-she's with me!" Zelos said quickly, holding his hand out to stop her as she slowly reached for the ax in his hands.
Too late, Aria had gripped the ax and took the guard with it as she tossed it nonchalantly backward, over her shoulder and down the brick pathway by about twenty feet.
Eyes wide, Zelos stared down the path after the pained-looking guard.
"Ughhh." They could hear him groan.
"Wh-whoa! Stay where you are, girl!" The other guard stuttered, fear-struck as he shuffled backward away from her.
"..." Aria closed her eyes and shrugged, following after Zelos with a bored expression.
xxxxxxx
-drip-
"..."
-drip-drip-
"Sir, are you certain you wish to--"
"Of course. There is no need for your assistance, we simply wish to view one of your detainees."
"Of course." The man in chainmail uniform stood off to the side and bowed as Zelos and Aria past him with even strides through the dark, leaking corridors of damp, hard brick and stone. The yellowish red light blanketed their faces as they past the torch on the wall.
As they turned a corner and came to a heavy iron door, they pulled it open and passed through. Now moreso alone as they proceeded and closed it behind them.
"What primitive lighting." Zelos chuckled to himself glancing up and around. "I guess Lloyd would like that people aren't being sacrificed for the sake of exsph---" He stopped, remembering Aria wouldn't know what he's talking about.
"Hm? For what, now?" Aria quirked an eyebrow at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, no-nothing." Zelos waved away her question, "I was just thinking aloud."
"I see." Aria shrugged, pausing before a cell where they heard banging.
"...The next one up should be his."
"Hn." Aria didn't look like she cared.
They walked up to the next door, it was silent.
"Hey ape man!" Zelos beckoned, putting a hand to the side of his face as he called through the bars in a small hole in the door.
He didn't get a reply.
"Yo, Regal." Zelos called again. Aria looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. He sure used a strange term just now.
"...Zelos?" A deep voice could be heard from inside.
"Yes. Allow me." Aria stepped forward to speak. "I understand you are plagued with an illness but it seems that you have mild, intermittent immunity. So I assume you understand me."
"..." Regal breathed, "...yes."
"So listen. Your group has been struck with the obligation to leave this town. Because of someone by the name of Lloyd. But know that they have no choice in the matter considering the face that he has been exiled."
"Exiled?" Regal blinked. "Why?"
"A man named Cross Ward has caused him to be marked as an enemy in these parts. Now he has to leave. But assuming you are part of his group, you should know that we are headed out tomorrow."
"I... I see. Thank you." He nodded, out of sight from them.
"..." Zelos looked at Aria, and her eyes were downcast. She crossed her arms and turned from the cage.
"Let's go." She started walking.
"Damn." Zelos blinked, awed by her intellect-suggesting speech. She wasn't talking like a kid would.
xxxxx
"Move." A haughty-sounding voice alerted them to look behind them as they passed through the tall hallway.
"..." Aria's narrow eyes slowly shifted unto his, the passerby who actually stopped and gazed at her.
"Why hello, Cross." Zelos waved, forcing a light smile.
"...Hmph." Cross ignored Zelos, his eyes remaining on Aria. "You look familiar." He crossed his arms, squinting.
Aria turned her head. "You must be mistaken." She said, and Cross seemed to flinch at her voice.
"..." He looked uncomfortable, but shrugged it off. He adjusted his collar, tugging while a bead of sweat rolled down his temple. "Excuse me." he turned on heel and passed them without another word. Not another glance.
"..." She glared after him, but with a hint of something else in her eyes. She sighed, Zelos couldn't tell what her expression was at all. It was strange, as if she was...
"What are you waiting for?" Aria looked up at him, "Let's go." She started walking again.
xxxxx
sunset~
xxxxx
The sun was orange and plastering the back of her blond head with rays of vermilion. Colette lowered her head as she spoke, hands clasped, on her knees.
"Please may we find what we search for. May we find the sword. Dear Goddess Martel..."
"..." He stood, staring with his arms crossed leaning against a tree and gazing upon her under his long white wrap of headgear.
"...Huh?" Colette turned her head, but under the glaze of the sun over her eyes, the tall silhouette she couldn't make out.
"So you are." Kain spoke out.
"O-oh! Ah..." Colette laughed nervously, "I-I meant that um... Wait, what am I exactly?" She couldn't see his expression. Blocked by the sun.
"...Hm." he was silent.
"..." Her eyes narrowed, looking to the ground. "I... I'm sorry."
"I should have known, however." He approached her, stepping away from the shadow of the crimson trees. He walked into where she could see his face, parallel with the sun.
She swallowed, her shoulders twitching up as he moved, his hand outstretched to her.
"I believed, earlier." He spoke quietly, "that you were of a different faith." he admitted.
"Oh..." Colette realized who it was that sh had sensed last time.
"...Take this. I assume you are leaving. Are you not?"
"How did you?" Colette furrowed her eyebrows, reaching up with open hands to receive what it was that he was giving.
From his long fingers dropped a silver chain, glowing red in the light, followed by a heavier amulet of white. Also swirling with a crimson color due to the light.
"Thank you." She smiled. "What is this for?"
"You are a member of my guild. But no longer, for the purpose I am seeing in you. I cannot determine, but knowing that particular look." he squinted, looking more closely at her. "Yes." he confirmed again, "You definitely have that look to you. I can see the innocence in your soul, and that incredible willingness of self-sacrifice I've seen in others. It is there, but... different somehow."
"...Amazing how you can see so much. I'm sorry that I'm leaving, Master Kain." She smiled. Colette looked down again.
"...This will lead you." He promised, and with that, turned and left.
Colette watched with highlighted blue eyes as his silhouette became smaller with every step into the darkness he took. She glanced down at her new necklace again, and examined it's patterns. It was engraved with angels on the back, over the golden surface. As she turned it over with her thumb, the front just had a the clear gem that reflected light very well. Lettering on the inside was in a different language that she couldn't decipher.
xxxxx
Morning.
xxxxx
"Is everyone here?... Good." Raine looked over the group before her before she spoke. Noting the addition of Aria who stood next to Kratos with an absent gaze.
"..." She looked down, feeling strangely included.
"Alright. So, since we are new to this area and Aria is coming with us. Am I safe to lead it up to you to lead this expedition?"
"Huh?" Aria blinked. "Me? Why me?"
"Well, you seem to know your areas well, you're not from here I take it so you must have found this place somehow because of your knowledge."
"....Very well." Aria gave a small smile with her eyes closed. "... Any particular destination?"
"We are going to travel anywhere we can, we're looking for something."
"I see. Then why not... Dwarf Valley?"
"Whoa, what?!" Lloyd's mouth opened, "that sounds so cool!" he fisted his hands. "Let's go!" He started down one path.
"Lloyd, Wrong way." Aria said.
"Yeah I know." He quickly spun back around, a confident grin, "I remember now... Cross had brought us near there. So it's definitely this way." He pointed in the other direction from what he had been going.
"Cross?" Aria blinked. "Ah... Yeah, anyway. Follow me everyone." she turned and started walking down a path.
xxxxxxxxxxx
About an hour later
xxxxxxxxxxx
"It's just up ahead." Aria sighed, crossing her arms as an excited Lloyd grinned, his arms crossed behind his head.
"This is so exciting!' Colette chirped, "I wonder what they eat?"
"Um... Regular food, maybe?" Genis looked at Colette with a ridicule look.
"Huh? Oh!" Colette blinked, "Yeah I think you're right!"
"I wonder what I'm going to tell Dad when I get back that I went to an entire valley of Dwarves! They're so rare in Sylvar--"
"Lloyd." Raine cut him off, scowling him for speaking so much.
"Oh, right." He looked over at Aria who gave him a suspicious glance in return.
"What are you guys talking about?" she asked slowly.
"Nothing." Lloyd shrugged, "Just um... my dad thinks dwarfs are really cool." He nodded confidently as Genis held back a laugh.
"Uh huh." Aria raised an eyebrow, looking over her shoulder at Genis.
"It's true!" Genis smiled to shield his laughter.
Shaking her head and stopping before a cliff there they could walk down to the right but overlook the giant iron walls.
"That's so cool!" Lloyd heard the clashing of hammer against iron and white steam rising up in some areas. "Let's go!" He jumped down the cliff, simply put. Landed on his feet and ran right up to the front door.
"Oh Lloyd..." Raine sighed at her student's enthusiasm.
"He can barely contain himself." Kratos noted, as Lloyd jumped up and down as he waited for his friends to catch up, motioning for them to come.
"Well, we might as well catch up." Sheena jumped off the cliff after him, along with Aria and Colette who sprouted wings.
"Indeed..." Kratos was left at the top with Raine and Presea. They started down the path.
Once they reached the bottom, Lloyd was started to shout up to the top.
"Hey! Hello up there!" He called to a short figure. The dwarf turned around and looked at him.
"Who goes there?"
"Hey, can we come in!" he shouted.
"No."
Lloyd's mouth fell open, he looked hurt. "B-but... please?"
"No."
"Hey, who is it?" another scruffy voice sounded beside him. "Ah... remember that lad?"
The first dwarf squinted and took another look at him, "Ah, could it be the boy from before?"
They both looked at eachother. "Well, since we know ye, we might just allow it this once. Come on in." They moved off to the side as the big door slid upwards for them to enter.
"Cool, Lloyd! they know you?" Genis looked at his taller friend.
"Yeah! It's those dwarfs from before when we had been sent up to negotiate something.
Kratos took another look up at the top of the gates as the dwarfs as they were let in.
Inside was a wooden walkway that reached out far and lined the edge and held buildings where smoke came out of. they could hear mechanical noises of iron and metal banging together in the distance, carts rolling. And the buildings and shops were made out of strong iron and stone welded durably together.
As they gazed across the entire scene to what lies across, they could see caves in the wall of the mountainous area. Long bridges of blue-tinted metal lined in brown reached all the way from a lower level of the wooden walkway to the caves.
Peering down over the edge of the wooden walkway, they seen another level of wood flooring that lead around more iron houses.
"Wow. Do dwarfs live in all of those?" Genis thought aloud.
"Yes. they are all being used." An accented voice replied from around a corner. Lloyd looked up at the spot where the voice came from.
Locking eyes with the short, dwarf man who stepped around the corner to speak with him. "Have you come to our valley for a sword?" He looked down at the hilt at Lloyd's waist.
"Um... yeah, how did you know?"
"Nevermind that, but what kind of sword would you be looking for?"
"Well... it's not so much what you could forge for me, but something you might have found some time in the last month or so." Lloyd explained, starting to describe the exact appearance of the blade.
"It's actually very important to him, it was a keepsake of his father's." Colette piped in. And Lloyd glanced at Kratos, now remembering how important it was, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Yeah."
"If it's that important, I might tell you."
"Y-you know something?" Lloyd blinked.
"I might, come with me." The short man with a white beard motioned for him to follow him. he headed in one direction, further into the valley.
"Let's go, guys." Lloyd looked at his friends, and they agreed, following after the dwarf.
They passed a tall, enormous house of pure gold with gems engraved in it's front. It had a crown-resembling, castle-like roof that sparkled with bright, red gems.
"Whoa..." Colette looked up at it in awe.
"Here." the dwarf said, after walking all the way to the end and across a short bridge to a building that had another dwarf standing in front of it.
Lloyd grinned, amused by the sight of so many in one place. "..." He waited.
"Let us through."
"Alright, be quick." The guard dwarf stepped aside for them to pass through.
Upon opening the door and getting inside, the walls were stacked up to the ceiling in huge chunks of gold and ore and gems. Two wooden treasure chests stood at the very end amongst piles of shimmering gold.
"Whoa!' Genis jumped in amazement.
"This room is shiny!" Colette covered her eyes, "It's really bright!"
"Hm." Kratos was unresponsive along with Sheena and Presea.
The Dwarf led Lloyd to the back by one of the treasure chests. "It this..." He opened the treasure chest and revealed a mostly transparent two-handed sword of glowing blueish purple, the light pulsed from the handle to the tip.
"The eternal sword!" Lloyd was ecstatic, reaching forward at it. The dwarf quickly held it away from him.
"Not so fast. I didn't say you could have it." he looked up at him.
"B-but..." Lloyd cringed. "What do you want in exchange for it?"
"Fifty thousand gold pounds."
His mouth dropped open as he attempted counting that on one hand. "U-um... can I like... do something for you first?" he dropped his head in disbelief.
"Hm... I'll think of something. Come back later and maybe I'll let you have it. This is pretty rare material and dwarf valley is in a crisis. I don't just go around helping humans for the fun of it." he put the sword back into the treasure chest and closed it.
"Well, he has a good point I guess." Sheena crossed her arms. "let's just... do whatever he says, okay?" She put a hand on his shoulder.
Lloyd didn't hesitate to answer, "okay. I guess that means that we'll just have to wait around for a while." he nodded, fine with the idea.
"Hm... you're not going to try and take it by force?" the dwarf raised an eyebrow. "That's surprising of a human."
"Well I can't just attack you when you came in here unarmed. And just to get some sword." he sighed, "I'll just do as many favors for you as you want because we don't really have money." He laughed sheepishly.
"..." The dwarf grumbled something with a "Hmmm..." as he stroked his beard and stared up at Lloyd. "Very well. I'll give you something to do some time today. And then you can have your fancy blade." he nodded. "Agreed?"
"Yeah!" Lloyd pumped his fist in the air. "Yeah, sure thing! Whatever you want." he nodded.
"Alright. Come back in an hour."
"Sure."
With that, they separated and the group decided to explore the valley for a while.
xxxxxxx
"Oh, and over there is where you can leave to the outside." The dwarf motioned to an area where light shone around the corner. "But don't think about running."
"Ugh... hahh... ha..." Lloyd panted, collapsing forward onto his hands and knees as yet another load was piled on his back. "I-I think that this is enough!" He called back to the dwarf.
"Nonsense!" He replied, thumping yet another on top. "One more load and that will do for the seventh trip."
"How... how many more trips are there?"
"Just three more."
"Ugh... okay. I'll get going."
"Come right back after you drop this ore off."
"Al...right." Lloyd gasped stepping through the pathways with difficulty, crawling onto the platform that lead up to the next level.
xxxxxxx
"Lloyd, did you do it? you look exhausted." Sheena walked up to the red-clad swordsman and waved a hand in front of his dazed-looking face as he stumbled into the room of the inn.
"Yeah.. but he says it's still not enough... I'll meet him in another fifteenmints... ugh..." he slurred his words as he tripped on nothing in particular, forward into Sheena's arms.
Stiffening and blushing, Sheena tensed and tried to stabilize him. "Lloyd... snap out of it."
"Right. Y-yeah." he stood up, taking a breath and planting his feet firmly to the ground. "I'm going to just... go outside and breathe." he walked out the door.
Leaving the room and stretching his arms above his head, Lloyd stared forward into the valley.
...His vision was obstructed by someone who walked in, a man in a cape. Dynas.
The General, beside another, Cross Ward, they walked confidently past him.
What were they doing here? Lloyd's eyes were narrow with suspicion, and he walked forward, following them. Before he knew it, the party had realized what he was doing and were following Cross and Dynas with him, the two of them entered the large gold building.
"..." He looked at Sheena and they all nodded. They entered the building after them.
The room they walked into was empty.
"Do you have a reason for following them, Lloyd?"
"...Hold on." Lloyd looked at his father. "It's just that whenever that Cross guy's around, something bad always happens." he put his hands on his hips as they heard the shout of that very man.
They all look at at each-other again, then at Lloyd.
"I have to hear this." Lloyd walked up to the staircase after hearing the shout. "Be quiet."
"Gotcha." Genis nodded.
"Gonovitch. I will ask you one last time, will you accede to your demands?"
"We've already offered as much as we can. We cannot possibly give more to you. We barely have what we need to live."
"I see." Dynas trailed.
"Enough!" Cross cut him off, "I think it's time to show them that it won't be the humans who taste tragedy today."
"He's coming!" Lloyd whispered loudly to the others, and they all immediately turned around, acting like they weren't listening. Putting their attention immediately to something else trivial.
Cross stormed by them, he locked eyes with Lloyd as he walked, with a glare and a look of superiority. "A good place for someone like you, isn't it?" He scoffed at Lloyd, who blinked.
"Well, yeah."
"Haha." Cross sneered, continuing his stride.
Feeling irritation bubble, Lloyd stared after him. "...What's up with him?"
"It sounded like he wasn't pleased with getting an arm and a leg from everyone." Sheena sput. "How selfish."
They waited. They didn't hear anything else. But waiting longer, a few moments passed however, and they heard a crash, and the roars of a crowd, Lloyd flinched and ran outside.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Wow. I know. took me long enough, right? I'm sorry.
