Chapter 7: Conquering the Past
After taking care of business in the Toize Valley Mine, the group takes the EC back to the other continent, which allows them to then make a quick trip back to Ozette to help Presea. But as they approach the house from the southern part of the village they find a citizen and three Papal Knights looming around.
The man turns around as he hears the group's footsteps and exclaims "That's them! The wanted criminals!" Riku draws out his sword immediately and says quietly "Well, so much for expecting more from the people of Ozette…"
Zelos suavely states in disbelief "Ah crap, not the Papal Knights again!" Sheena groans and says afterwards "Why do they always show up where we're going?!"
The leader of the knights wearing red armor steps forward and says to the Chosen of Tethe'alla kindly "Well, well, if it isn't Master Zelos. I trust you are well."
As Lloyd brings out his swords, he comments in a rather annoyed tone "Why are you so persistent?!" The knight's leader replies "Because we require your Chosen, denizen of the declining world! Capture her alive my men!"
The knights take their pikes and run at the group, but Riku steps ahead and swings his sword upward while coating in a swirl of air. Three gusts of wind rise up beneath the feet of the Papal Knights and launch them straight into the air. Their cries of surprise fade away quickly as they fly straight up into the main part of the village and fall entirely unconscious. The man who squealed on the knights quickly runs off to save his own life.
Riku dispels his sword and rubs the back of his head while saying in a tone of embarrassment towards their defeated foes "I'm honestly shocked that word hasn't spread about the other knights' lack of success."
"The Pope is probably covering up his failures to save face." Zelos explains. Colette then says to the group in an apologetic tone "It's my fault again. I'm so sorry, everyone."
Zelos rolls his eyes and then faces Colette, explaining to her in a gentleman-like tone "Don't be silly. They're after my life, too. The Professor and Genis are wanted because they're half-elves. Sheena is from Mizuho, now considered a village of traitors. And Regal is considered a traitor as well. Lloyd, Riku and sweet little Presea are the only ones not on the Pope's hit list, but they can handle themselves just fine."
"…Thanks." Colette says in a chipper tone. Lloyd feels the need to at least remind Colette "Stop thinking everything's your fault."
The girl turns to Lloyd and says in a somewhat weaker tone of voice "I-I'm sorry Lloyd." Lloyd notices that something's odd with her voice but says anyways "You don't need to apologize for it…" The very moment he finishes his sentence, Lloyd watches as Colette suddenly falls onto her knees and closes her eyelids while grimacing painfully. Her arms hang limp beside her body while everyone stares down at her in shock.
"C-Colette?!" Lloyd is the only one to verbally express concern, which he then follows up by looking at Raine and saying "Professor, Collete's…!" The half-elf takes swift action and walks up to the girl, holding the back of her right hand against her head and commenting "She's running a fever. But what could be causing this much pain?"
A familiar voice calls out to the group from behind "…Move…Please leave this…to me…" Sounding more robotic than usual was Presea, who walked between a surprised Genis and a concerned Lloyd and stopped herself to the left of Raine. The half-elf puzzlingly comments "Presea? A…All right…" Raine is willing to put all of her faith into the girl's help and immediately stands aside.
Presea stands in front of Colette and is motionless for a few seconds as the Chosen lifts her head up and stares into Presea's blank eyes. What happens next occurs too swiftly for everyone to recognize in time, as Presea suddenly draws out her axe and swerves her body around, swinging the sharpest part of her weapon against the ground to cleave it apart and force most of the group to leap back before they take the full brunt of her attack.
Genis, whose reaction was a little more delayed than the others, says in a stunned voice towards the girl "P-P-Presea…?" The girl had no response for the half-elf boy as she turns around and hits the wide-eyed Colette with a gentle swing of the blunt part of her axe. The Chosen is knocked unconscious, and after recovering from the attack Lloyd boldly exclaims to try and reason with the little girl "Presea, what do you think you're doing?!"
"Why, she is merely giving me exactly what I wanted her to retrieve." An arrogant, grainy and familiar voice beckons to the group from behind, and as Presea grabs Colette by the hair and drags her along the ground most of the group turns their heads to see the mysterious purple-haired man they saw at Presea's house earlier has reappeared.
Once Presea stands before the man, he takes his right hand out and rubs the top of her head as though she was his pet while complimenting her slowly "Good work, Presea…"
"You…" Lloyd growls at the man in anger, but the man turns towards the small hill off to the right of him while part his cape. Looking up towards the sky, one could see two blue and green scaled dragons with long, violet wings descending down upon Ozette. With one flap of their wings upon landing, they let loose a gale strong enough to keep Lloyd and most of the group in place while the man and Presea walk towards the dragons.
One dragon rises up and flies towards Colette while Sheena braces herself against the wind and exclaims "Damn it! Corrine, stop Presea!" Beckoning to the call, the little fox appears in a puff of smoke and runs against the dying gale after the pink-haired girl. With a mighty leap, Corrine uses all the might it could muster to hit Presea in the back and knock her out against the ground.
Regal runs up to Presea as Corrine disappears to check on her condition, and as the man gets onto the other dragon and takes off Regal glares up at him in anger. The man glares down upon the group in a condescending manner and introduces himself in the most nonchalant manner possible "I am Rodyle! The most cunning of the Desian Grand Cardinals! I hope you don't mind me taking the Chosen One. Hehehehe!"
As he wastes time laughing arrogantly, Riku pulls his right hand back and charges a fireball in the palm, yelling up towards Rodyle to grab his attention "I hope YOU don't mind if I disagree!" The Desian glances down at the boy as he thrusts his arm forward and launches a fireball so large that it bathes the area in a bright red glow. The fireball crashes against only the dragon Rodyle is riding, ensuring that Colette would be unharmed by the ensuing explosion.
However, since Lloyd doesn't know about this second part, he exclaims angrily at Riku "Are you trying to get Colette killed?!" But Lloyd's concerns and Riku's efforts are both wasted as the smoke quickly faded away with a flap of the dragon's wings, revealing that Rodyle was completely unharmed. A glimmering barrier around the dragon disappears out of sight, leading Riku to think to himself in shock "No way…He couldn't have…"
"Hmmm, so you DO have a lot of power at your disposal. Unfortunately, not even your power can deal with the cunning that I possess. Perhaps another time I will have a chance to dissect you and your powers, Elemental Overlord. Until then, I bid you farewell." Rodyle taunts Riku with the utmost precision in his words, and before Lloyd can run at him and leap in for the attack the Desian turned his dragons around and flew off towards the sky with Colette in his grasp.
Lloyd exclaims loudly towards the sky "COLETTE!" But when the dragons have become nothing more than a speck in the blue sky, the boy falls onto his knees and slams his right fist against the ground in flustered anger. Everyone can do nothing but stand around quietly and linger on the events that just occurred in front of them. Lloyd's eyes water as he appears to be on the verge of tears due to Colette's disappearance, but before he can even begin to cry Regal and Presea approach him from behind.
Regal picks his words wisely as he quietly mentions to Lloyd "…This probably isn't the best time Lloyd…But will you help Presea?" This reminder was enough to put Lloyd back on the straight and narrow, and he lifts his head up and slowly rises gets back onto his feet while saying to Regal "…Yeah. I've carved the charm. With this, she should return to her real self."
Lloyd takes out the charm he made and walks over to the motionless Presea. Using the utmost delicacy as he places the charm around her imperfect Key Crest, Lloyd then proceeds to back off and wait to see his work take effect. The first thing that changes on Presea's demeanor is that her pupils begin to reform on her eyes, and with it her body becomes a lot less stiff in an instant. Lloyd backs off, allowing Presea to let out a confused gasp of air and get a grasp on her surroundings.
Genis notices what Lloyd has done and enthusiastically runs up to check on the girl, asking her gently "P-Presea? Are you okay?" Presea frantically swerves her body around in confusion, taking a glance at everyone surrounding her before she asks "…What? What am I doing?" Her voice was filled with emotion befitting a girl her age, and she was frightened of what was going on.
After taking one last glance around the area, Presea asks a question that brings shivers and goosebumps to everyone involved "Where's my daddy?" Nobody says a word. How could anybody tell her the awful truth about what happened to her father? When ten seconds pass without an answer, Presea breaks away from the group and makes a mad dash towards her house. Everyone follows her shortly afterwards.
Inside the house, the group finds Presea standing beside the bed where her father's corpse has been. Her body is shivering, for she has no way to comprehend just why this corpse lied here in this rotten state. Her eyes welled up with tears as Regal slowly approached her from behind to be there for comfort, but with a mixture of sadness and confusion plaguing her mind Presea can only stutter out "I…what have I been doing?"
And then, it all sets in simultaneously. The reality of what she had been doing under the influence of the Exsphere proves to be too much for Presea to bear, and with the last image of her well and healthy father sinking into her eyes the girl collapses onto her knees and rears her head back, the tears coming out full force as she lets out a pale, hellish shriek from her agape mouth. Though the sound was loud, Regal stood by Presea and did not flinch, bearing the brunt of her shriek in his ears even though it pained his heart to do so.
When Presea was done, nobody said a word. Not even Zelos tried to lighten the mood with a joke. How could he when faced with something like this? The silence between everyone lasted for thirty seconds, and it was then that Presea weakly rose to her feet and said with a trembling lip "I…I have to give my d-d-daddy a p-p-proper resting place…" She pulled back the sheet covering the corpse slowly and reached for the rotting body, but with her sadness having drained the strength from her body she couldn't make it budge an inch.
Regal takes the helm at that point, as he puts his shackled arms underneath the corpse and lifts it up despite how the rotting juices continuously leaked down onto his skin. He gives a nod towards Presea to show that he will do everything he can to help, and the girl takes the lead to ensure that things were done right for her father. Regal follows Presea out of the house, the group standing aside to let them pass before joining them outdoors.
Presea points to a patch of ground a fair distance away from the house, and Regal nods his head in understanding. He agrees to hold onto the corpse until the grave was properly prepared. From that point onward, nobody said another word while they worked to bury Presea's father properly. Genis, Raine and Zelos help bring out a stone slab for Presea, who carves a message into the front of it with a dagger in her front pocket.
Lloyd uses a shovel to dig a hole into the ground big enough for the corpse, while Riku uses his sword to cut up a rectangular divot large enough to hold the slab perfectly, and Sheena performs a blessing ritual with a couple seals on the land surrounding the grave. When the hole is fully dug, Regal carefully puts the corpses inside, allowing Lloyd to cover it up with a mound of dirt. Zelos then brings the carved slab into the divot while Presea wanders back into her house to grab a couple more items. During that time, Riku uses his powers to create a lotus that he places at the very top of the slab.
She comes out with a long-handled axe and a pole of wood. It was easy to tell that the axe was her father's, and it had been amazingly preserved after all these years. Presea sticks the wood into the center of the dirt mound and then props the axe up diagonally in front of it. Presea then turns around and walks away from the grave, turning back to face it and staring at it with disbelief still prominent in her eyes.
She didn't have anymore tears to shed at this point, and any words she wished to say had already been carved into the slab below her feet. For the next two minutes, Presea just stares at the grave, and no one says anything until she's done. The girl then turns around and looks at everyone, saying in a subdued and appreciative tone of voice "…Thank you for assisting me with my daddy's burial."
Raine asks gently "Have you calmed down a little?" Presea nods her head and then looks at the group, saying to them slowly "I've…been a great burden on you all." Lloyd is surprised to hear this from her and asks "You remember?"
Presea is saddened to admit "Yes…mostly…" She hangs her head a little in shame, but brings it back up as Genis inquires "Why did you have an Exsphere like that on you anyways?"
Presea answers "I received it from a person named Vharley" Which immediately grabs Regal's attention and makes him state in a sickened tone "I knew it…Vharley!"
"I wanted to save my sick daddy. I wanted to learn how to wield an axe, so I could work in my daddy's place. So Vharley introduced me to Rodyle, and I was taken to the Research Academy in Sybak." Presea's explanation pieces together most of the information gathered so far in Zelos' head, which leads to him saying "The experiments on you were carried out by order of the Pope, right?"
In turn, Lloyd proclaims "So that Desian IS in league with Pope!" While this was a matter that would need to be addressed eventually, Regal took initiative and asked Presea "Perchance, do you happen to have an older sister?" Presea shakes her head in response, which puzzles the man in shackles.
Raine asks afterwards "Do you have any other family?" Presea recalls in a quiet tone "I have a younger sister. She left to go into service for a noble and that was the last I saw of her. And my mommy died when I was a child."
Zelos lightly reminds Presea "When you were a child? Hehe, you're still a child now." This reminder makes Presea feel awkward, because in spite of how long it had been since she had free will her body had not aged a day. "Oh…yes, of course…that's right…" She solemnly stares at the ground as she whispers that out.
"At any rate, we can't just leave you here in this village by yourself if you have no one to turn to." Sheena points out. Raine adds on to that by stating "Yes, the people of this village seem to avoid her."
Presea perks her head up and says in a nervous tone to the group "I…uh…I'd like to go with all of you if that would be all right." Lloyd asks in a puzzled tone "Huh? Why?"
"…It's my fault that Colette was taken away. So please, let me help in her rescue." Presea explains. While Lloyd takes her words into consideration, Regal says to him "Please allow me to come along as well. It seems that my fate is linked to your enemy."
Lloyd knew he couldn't make such an important decision on his own and turned towards his friends, asking them "Is this okay with everyone else?"
Sheena enthusiastically states "Hey, we've come all this way together. Do you even need to ask at this point?" "Exactly." Zelos adds on.
"I want to help Presea get revenge on the man who ruined her life. No objections from me Lloyd." Genis says. Raine pauses for a bit on the reckless idea, but says nonetheless "…Truthfully, I'd like to oppose this, but I already knew it would end up like this."
Riku gestures at Lloyd and says to him "You already know the vow I made Lloyd. I'll go along with any crazy plan you come up with. My blade is yours."
Lloyd then glances back at Presea and Regal and says to them "Then it's settled. You're welcome to help us out."
Presea enthusiastically proclaims "I will!" While Regal comments "Thank you. I'm in your debt. I shall not betray your trust." Raine then glances off to the side at Lloyd and says "Now let's hurry and find Colette."
Lloyd nods his head in agreement, and after looking up at the sky and thinking about how everything unfolded just minutes ago he points up and says "All right, they headed east."
"…Hmm, so you've lost the Chosen." A familiar voice calls out to the group from behind, causing them all to turn around and see Kratos standing just a few feet away in his usual stance. Lloyd's expression goes from stoic to angered as he runs to the front of the group, with Kratos stepping forward a bit to meet the boy's furious glance.
"You again! What have you done with Colette?!" Lloyd accuses bitterly. But Kratos remains calm and explains to Lloyd "Rodyle is ignoring our orders and acting on his own. I know nothing of it."
Considering the views the group has had on the Desians and Cruxis, Raine is swift to point out to Kratos "Internal strife? How pathetic." Her words were cold and sharp, but Kratos was barely fazed by them as he said "Say what you will. Either way, Rodyle will have no choice but to abandon the Chosen."
"What do you mean?!" Lloyd demandingly asks. "The Chosen is useless as she is now. You can let her be." Kratos' words come off as insulting to Lloyd, and the boy begins to reach for the handle of one of his swords while firmly stating to the man standing before him "You've got to be kidding me! We're going to rescue Colette no matter what! And if you get in our way…"
Lloyd runs at Kratos and draws out his right-handed sword to take a slash at the man. Kratos notices a change in Lloyd's speed and pulls out his sword faster to counteract it, and after parrying the blow aside with minimal effort Kratos keeps up his momentum and turns his body all the way around so his back now faces the unsheathed Lloyd. But Kratos did not come looking for a fight, and he quickly sheathes his sword and folds his arms against his chest while suggesting to Lloyd "…Then, I suggest you seek out the Rheairds and head for the eastern skies. I'm sure the people of Mizuho have located them by now."
Kratos then walks off, his words of advice deeply puzzling Lloyd as he stands there staring blankly at the departing warrior before stating "…What's that guy trying to do?"
Zelos butts in on Lloyd's mental predicament and says bluntly "Ah well, who cares? If he's useful, make use of him." As much as it pained her to admit it, Sheena said "I agree. Anyways, let's head back to Mizuho for now."
But before they departed, Genis glanced at Presea and smiled, saying happily to her as she stared at him in a befuddled manner "Just to make it official, welcome to the group, Presea!" Presea nods her head and says in an appreciative manner "Thank you."
Zelos says to the girl in a suave yet cutesy voice "My cute little Presea, I'll protect you, okay?" Presea says to the man "Thank you, Zelos."
Zelos' bold vow flusters poor Genis, who's blushed expression combined with his relative awkwardness leaves him at a loss of words "Oh! Oh! I'll…I'll…" Before he can finish his sentence, Lloyd exclaims to the group "Come on, let's go!"
Most of the group takes note of Lloyd's desire to depart and begin to leave, while Genis glances at Presea and lets out a light whisper of "I'll protect you too…" Realizing that his words weren't heard, the half-elf boy curses out angrily "GRRR! Stupid, STUPID Lloyd!"
After Genis catches up with everyone else, they begin to head off to Mizuho. Along the way, Presea walks up beside Riku and asks him quietly "Ummm…Riku's your name, correct?" The boy glances down at the girl and replies with "Huh? What's up Presea?"
"That flower you put on my father's grave…What was it?" Presea's question leads to Riku answering quickly "It's a lotus, a flower native to my world."
Presea tilts her head and asks again "But why did you put it on my father's grave?" Riku explained to Presea in a rather simple manner "Well, it was the nicest flower I could think of putting there…Sorry if it offends you, but I'm not really familiar with the foliage around here."
"O-Oh no, I liked it. Thank you, really…But I have to ask, why?" When Presea asks the question again upon gently thanking him for the gift, Riku says to the girl "Oh, you want that type of answer. Ummm, truth be told, I can kind of relate to not having a family…"
"You lost your family as well?" Presea says in a subdued tone of surprise. "Well, I do have a brother back on my home world, but I never had a mother or a father…It's kind of complicated."
"…I see." Presea quietly states. "I can only imagine how painful it would be to lose the people who raised you for most of your life, even if I didn't have parents myself, I can understand that much." Riku explains himself to the girl, and she turns to look up at him to ask "I'm sorry, you're not making much sense…"
"Hehe…Yeah, I didn't exactly prepare to answer this type of question." Riku awkwardly admits before going on to say "Ok, how about this for a simpler answer? I put the lotus on your father's grave because I felt that was the right thing to do."
"That sounds better, thank you." Presea happily states, but then she looks forward and seems to have an inflective look in her eyes. Riku pays attention to her demeanor and thinks to himself "Hmmm…Now that I've mentioned it, I kind of wonder how Mew is holding up, especially considering who's infesting his mind…"
The group takes a straight path of Mizuho this time around, since the Papal Knights have already marked the village as a target. Once back in the village, Lloyd, Sheena, Genis and Presea enter the Chief's house to find out about the Rheairds while everyone else stands outside just in case the knights decided to show up at some point.
Lloyd approaches the kneeled Vice-Chief Tiga, who says in a gentle tone of surprise "Oh, Lloyd, good timing." Lloyd and his friends stand still as he asks "What is it?"
"We've located the Rheairds." Tiga's answer surprised the group, since as Genis points out "It's just like Kratos said."
Lloyd notes in a rather peeved tone "Why does he do things like that to help if he's our enemy?" Presea reassures Lloyd by stating "It doesn't matter…now we can save Colette."
Tiga swerves slightly to look at Sheena and mentions to her "Sheena, before you recover the Rheairds, I must give you a test." "Huh? A test, Vice-Chief?" Sheena asks respectfully.
Tiga nods his head and explains "Yes. Even if we recover the Rheairds, if Volt's mana runs out, they will crash again. Thus, before recovering the Rheairds, you are going to form a pact with Volt." Those last five words make Sheena's body freeze up in fright, and Tiga recognizes the stress on her body and reassures her "I know it's hard, but it is a test I know you can overcome."
Slowly backing away as her friends watch on, Sheena stutters out timidly "I…I…I can't!" In her fright, Sheena bolts right out of the house much to her friend's shock. Tiga groans out a sigh and closes his eyelids as he explains to the puzzled group "Sheena failed to form a pact with Volt once before."
Tiga gestures towards to the left, where the group turns and sees a man lying unconscious behind see-through olive curtains. "…The Chief was put into a coma because of those events…" Tiga says with the utmost respect for him. Knowing more about Sheena's past makes Lloyd say in empathetic quietness "Sheena…"
Lloyd, Genis and Presea exit the house, with Lloyd immediately wandering off to find where Sheena had gone off to. Before he gets too far though, Zelos stops him with a pat on the shoulder and says in a rather serious tone "It's a pretty famous incident. A quarter of Mizuho's population died. She puts on a strong face, but you've seen how alone she is in this village…Go cheer her up, man. You seem to be pretty good at that."
"Thanks Zelos…" Lloyd actually gained a little more respect for the Chosen of Tethe'alla after hearing that from him, and he walked off to find Sheena without any further disturbance from the others.
"To think that Sheena had a reason for hesitating with pacts in Sylvarant…" Genis comments in a saddened tone of voice. Riku sighs to himself afterwards, and while everyone was standing around dealing with their own business while they had a moment to rest the teenage Overlord walks after Lloyd to help comfort Sheena.
Riku finds Lloyd and Sheena near a few stone-headed statues in a secluded part of the village. Corrine was currently trying to comfort Sheena confidently "Don't worry! If it comes down to it, I'll save you! Just like you saved me a long time ago."
Sheena hangs her head low and says "I can't…" And when she hears Lloyd's footsteps the girl turns around and insists to him "I can't do it. You heard, didn't you? So many people died because I failed to make a pact with Volt."
"We heard. What about it?" Lloyd firmly states. Sheena expresses her concern towards him in a rather subdued manner "…So I may wind up killing you, too."
Lloyd shakes his head and confidently says to Sheena "We won't die." "….Why?" Sheena asks. Lloyd shows his absolute faith in the ninja's capabilities by saying then and there "Because you're going to succeed."
"How do you know that? I already failed once…" Sheena states, to which Lloyd reminds her quickly "And you've succeeded three other times. Sheena, remember Efreet, Undine and Sylph? You made pacts with them easily. You are not a bad summoner, you can handle Volt, I guarantee it."
Corrine adds on to Lloyd's confidence by proclaiming "Yeah Sheena! I'll help too!" Sheena's mood is lifted slightly, but she still feels the need to look Lloyd straight in the eyes and ask of him "Volt is different, he's a monster compared to all the other summons we faced so far…What are you going to do if he goes berserk again?"
Lloyd draws out one of his sword and performs one swift slash, saying firmly to Sheena "I'll cut him down myself. And that will be the end of that. Okay?"
"But that won't be necessary." Riku chimes in at that point and steps forward, looking at Sheena with a smile on his face as he mentions "So long as any of us stand by your side to give you support, you can be assured that Volt will be tamed by your hand."
"Corrine…Lloyd…Riku…" Sheena is warmed by the support her friends gave her, and with a little confident nod the ninja replies to their faith in her abilities by saying "…Alright. I'll try it."
Sheena, Lloyd and Riku walk back to the rest of the group, where Orochi has now shown up to deliver one last bit of info from the Vice-Chief. "Tiga has instructed me to meet you at the Temple of Lightning with the location of the Rheairds once you are done. Head north to find the temple, and I wish you all the best of luck."
With their job at Mizuho done, the group departs for the coast once more, where they use the EC to sail north, and with Sheena's guidance it doesn't take them very long to reach the deck in front of a large, moss covered stone spire that looks fittingly similar to an electric rod. Sheena looks up at the top of the tower and nervously swallows, but as she walks beside the rest of the group she tries to maintain a confident demeanor as she prepared to tackle her greatest fear…
Next Time: The Hammer of Godly Lightning