Chapter 38: The Last Anguish of the Souls
After being carried safely through the atmosphere of the planet by Origin's power, the group is taken directly into the hazy skies of Derris-Kharlan, and eventually they are dropped off on a violet seal in the middle of a series of stone arrows pointed at it. As they land, they immediately look towards the sky and see a hazy purple sky mixed with the black depths of space. It was of course thanks to the breathable air that the group isn't killed right away by the pressure of space.
"So this is Derris-Kharlan…It feels so empty…" Colette mentions in a melancholy tone of voice. Yuan folds his arms against his chest and comments "The planet used to be more colorful than this, but Mithos' overuse of mana for his goals have ruined it for the most part…The city of Welgaia is still kept in a good condition, but you've already visited that place once before, I assume?"
"Yeah, that was where Kratos took us to after he captured us in the Tower of Salvation." Lloyd points out to Yuan, and Kratos in turn says "Knowing Mithos, he's taken the Great Seed past Welgaia and into his castle in Vinheim. From here, it shouldn't be too long of a trip to reach him…" Lloyd nods his head in an appreciative manner and says "Alright everyone, let's go to Vinheim!"
The group eagerly starts to advance through the stone paths along the atmosphere of Derris-Kharlan, but Yuan and Kratos linger behind slightly as Yuan quietly comments "Kratos…Have you forgotten about the trap Mithos set to prevent intruders from reaching him?" Kratos shakes his head and replies with "No, I haven't…But there's no way around the trap unless you wield the Eternal Sword. It will be up to Lloyd to break us free from whatever the trap plans to do to us all…"
"Hmmm, I suppose that could be considered a minor problem compared to what he has dealt with before. We can only hope that Mithos hasn't gained control of the Elemental Overlord's body yet…" Yuan's concerns are met with a blunt "Have a little more faith in the circumstances at hand, Yuan" from Kratos. Yuan got a rather humored laugh out of that comment.
After a few minutes of traveling through Derris-Kharlan, everyone crosses a grey stone seal that hadn't appeared on any of the platforms beforehand. Immediately, all but Lloyd are captured by a hazy light-blue barrier and paralyzed in place. Lloyd turns around and swings his arms back while saying "Wh…What the?" Colette looks saddened as her body slowly fades away from view, leaving behind a remark of "Lloyd, I'm sorry…It look like I'm going to trouble you again…"
She then left entirely, followed by everyone disappearing one after the other before they could reassure Lloyd that they'd be alright. Kratos quickly comments to Lloyd "Lloyd, find the Derris Emblem, you need it to stop Mi-" but he disappears before his comment goes through all the way. Yuan says in a blunt tone of voice "Lloyd, if you show any signs of giving up, I will not forgive you, understand?"
With everyone now gone from sight, Lloyd panicked for a moment and looked away for any signs of his friends while stating "Damn! What the hell is going on?! What happened to everyone?" The only one who could speak to him was Origin, who calmly states "Everything is all right. I can feel the presence of your companions. They are somewhere in Welgaia…" Letting out a sigh of relief, Lloyd turns around at the path ahead of him and runs forward to try and seek out his friends.
Being forced to fight off the remaining angels on the planet with the power of the Eternal Sword in his two blades, Lloyd finds himself taking quite a while before he finally nears the end of this long floating road, and who else would he find standing near a triangular blue seal leading into Welgaia but Riku, who was standing motionless with Mithos' angered spirit floating in front of him.
"Why? Why can't I take over your mind?!" Mithos exclaims bitterly, with Riku once more pointing out in a coherent tone of voice "I told you, I have experience with people trying to take over my mind…You aren't exactly special in that regard, Mithos." "Riku!" Lloyd comments as he runs forward and gets closer to them, and Riku turns to face him and says "Lloyd, you've arrived! Just like I knew you would! Now hurry up, strike me down to finish Mithos off as well!"
Lloyd did not listen to Riku, and instead scowled at Mithos and exclaimed "Mithos! Let him go, now!" Mithos glared angrily at Lloyd and exclaimed to him "How dare you, human! You…son of Kratos! …How dare you give me orders!" Lloyd immediately took action by leaping at Riku's body, which had the Cruxis Crystal sticking out in front of his chest, and he went to grab it to try and remove Mithos' influence by force.
However, when he touched down on the Cruxis Crystal, Lloyd is immediately thrown into another place, a sepia tone environment where he surprisingly finds himself standing before Kratos, Yuan, Mithos…And the fallen body of Martel herself. He also appeared to be somewhere in Tethe'alla, though the environment looked much more archaic than the present day. Puzzled, Lloyd drew his hand back and said "Wh…What's going on?"
Mithos, who was brought to tears before Lloyd, lifted his head up and exclaimed "H-How could you?! Martel did nothing to you!" Yuan draws his hand out and summons forth a lightning ball in the palm while stating "Human! Your kind must not be allowed to live!" And even Kratos drew his sword and stated "…How far are you willing to go to take control of the mana?" His words showing a sharp but cold contempt towards his own kind.
As Lloyd starts to back away in fear, Mithos exclaims in a rage "I'll never forgive you…You humans are all the same!" His voice echoed through this bizarre realm before Lloyd tries to get everyone back to reality by calling out their names "Mithos…Yuan…Dad!" The last one was spoke rather poignantly, considering all that Lloyd has done to avoid saying that to Kratos so far, but as it turns out the world he was in was but an illusion as Riku calls out to him with "Lloyd! Snap out of it, this is just Mithos' memory!"
Before Yuan and Kratos can attack Lloyd, the memories of the past break away, leaving the spirit of Mithos fatigued in turn. The half-elf places one hand on his chest and angrily snaps at Lloyd with "Why do you interfere?! We both want the same thing! I just wanted to save the world and my sister! To have a world where no one will be persecuted!" Mithos sounded particularly broken in his tone as he retreated back into the Cruxis Crystal, as though he truly, truly didn't understand why Lloyd and Riku could disagree with what he had done…
Once Mithos was out of the way, Riku had a bit of a guilty look on his face for but a brief moment before he turned to Lloyd and said to him "Lloyd…Why didn't you try and-" Before he finished his sentence, Lloyd turned to him and quickly punched him right across the face, forcing Riku's head to the side a few inches as the teenage Overlord widened his eyes in shock. After Riku pulls back and rubs the sore spot on his cheek where Lloyd struck, he comments "W-What was that all about?"
Lloyd swings his hands out and exclaims "What the hell is wrong with you?! Why were you trying to get yourself killed again?! Didn't you hear what I said to Kratos? Don't you have anything you want to live for?!" The teenage Overlord had nothing more than a shocked look in his eyes as Lloyd berated him for his actions, but in turn Riku then hung his head slightly and pointed out to him "Lloyd…Me being the Elemental Overlord has been nothing but problematic for many worlds…"
"Are you kidding?! Are you still hung up on that conversation in Heimdall? I told you, I understood why you did that Riku." Lloyd's empathy is heard, but Riku looks at Lloyd and exclaims "It's not just that Lloyd! I led a world to destruction, almost had my body taken over by someone else, led to someone getting revived, nearly failed to stop a world destroyer, and now nearly led to you dying at Mithos' hands…"
"And yet you're still alive despite all that! It's obvious you keep fixing your mistakes no matter how many times you make them…Minus the first one, but still! You are not a failure, Riku!" Lloyd tries once more to remove Riku's doubts, but the teenage Overlord exclaims with all of his might "I am LUCKY to be here Lloyd! I could have died easily at any time and doomed many worlds! These powers of mine are too dangerous, not just for myself, but for everyone else to deal with as well! An emotionally unstable human who isn't even two years old should not have been given the power of a god!"
Lloyd has to take pause for a moment upon hearing that last part, his eyes widening blankly as he murmured out "W-Wait a minute…What did you say your age is?" Riku hangs his head for a moment as a couple tears trickle down his eyes after his outburst, and then admits to Lloyd "…That's right, I may have the body of a teenager, but the truth is that I wasn't even born into this world until almost two years ago. Elemental Overlords have the ability to clone themselves, and my brother back on Earth created me for the sole purpose of having another Elemental Overlord that can travel the universe and help other worlds while he defended our home planet…"
"…" Lloyd had heard and seen many things, but it was this bits of news that left him completely silent. Riku smirks for a moment and says "Heh…And he wanted me to have my own identity so I can learn things on my own, even though he imparted me with these accursed memories of other worlds…I wish he had just made me into a perfect copy of himself…Then perhaps I wouldn't have ended up risking the destruction of countless worlds with my incompetence."
"…Riku, even considering all that, I can't help but say the same thing I always have…Sacrificing your life for the sake of others isn't the way to go about things. I honestly don't know why you thought I'd be willing to go through with taking your life, even if it would stop Mithos for good…" Lloyd's last sentence earns a swift response from Riku in the form of "Because Lloyd…You have to realize that it's not always going to be possible to solve everything without sometimes sacrificing something or someone…What if Mithos had taken over my body? What would you have done then?"
"…I would have saved you. I'd do that for any of my friends. I won't stop until I have found a solution, that's what I have always done." Lloyd's response was blunt and idealistic, and Riku quickly rubbed the front of his forehead and groaned while saying "You know Lloyd, I guess I shouldn't have expected a different response from you. You have your own ideals, and you have stuck to them even after everything that has happened…"
"Yep. But I have all of my friends to thank for that…They've been by my side through thick and thin, and if something were to happen to any one of them…Then I'd probably end up exactly like Mithos." Lloyd says in a somewhat serious tone of voice, to which Riku shakes his head for a moment and replies "Not in a million years Lloyd…Anyways, I'm wasting your time now. Your friends were taken by a trap, right?"
"Yeah. Origin said they reside in Welgaia right now…" Lloyd replies, and Riku turns around while saying "Then let's not waste anymore time. This teleportation seal will lead us to the city…" As the teenage Overlord began to head there, Lloyd called out to him by asking "So does this mean you're not going to try anything else crazy?"
"…What it means, Lloyd, is that I don't want to hold you up anymore. Your friends need to be rescued, and Mithos needs to be stopped…That's all there is to it." Riku then steps onto the seal to go into the next area, with Lloyd following close behind. Both end up in Welgaia, which had a rather ghastly atmosphere to it despite looking exactly the same. Lloyd immediately comments "The place has been deserted…Could this be Mithos' doing?"
"Naturally…He's preparing to move Derris-Kharlan, so he put the angels in suspended animation for later…" Riku replies, and Lloyd comments "Then at least it'll be easy to find the others…Let's split up though, we can cover more ground that way."
The teenage Overlord turns to Lloyd and says "Yeah, Mithos should stay dormant enough for us to do that. And even if he doesn't…" Lloyd gives Riku an annoyed glare, and he turns back around while commenting "…You know what, I give up trying to go down that line of thought…Clearly someone wants me to keep on living, and the universe isn't going to give me peace until I find out who and why."
"…Just be careful out there, Riku." Lloyd comments with a little concern in his voice before he runs on ahead into the deeper parts of Welgaia. The teenage Overlord lets out a melancholy sigh and then takes flight, heading to another part of the abandoned city of angels to seek out the trapped members of the group.
First things first, Riku flew all the way to the area where the group teleported out of Welgaia and back into the Tower of Salvation and head down to the area with a few mirrors standing about. Upon doing so, he finds Colette, Genis and Raine trapped within the reflection of the rightmost mirror and lands in front of it to trigger the trap involved there. His body temporarily vanishes from sight, and the three are brought out in front of the mirror where three people different from themselves meet them face-to-face in the reflection.
One was the mayor of Iselia, the other was an angel-winged man with blonde hair and holy green clothes, and the other was a woman who looked a lot like Raine but wore drab looking clothes. Genis immediately asked "Why is the mayor here?" And Colette, being perceptive for once, glared at the man before her and said "Be careful…It's an illusion."
Raine, on the other hand, stared at the woman in front of her in disbelief and murmured out "M-Mother?" The mayor says in a dull tone of voice "Illusions? Pah, of course a pathetic Chosen and her half-elf fools would assume that." The angelic man folds his arms together and shakes his head pitifully while stating "Colette, you are such a fool…No wonder you are so despised amongst your alleged peers…"
"Remiel!" The realistic way the man named Remiel spoke caused Colette's doubts about the illusion to fade away, trapping her within the illusion's grasp as the woman before Raine stated "Why did my blood have to become a part of you…Such a pitiful child you are…Raine." Raine was left agape with shock in her eyes upon hearing this.
"None of you deserved to be born in this world." Remiel states in cruel tone, with the mayor following up with "How can you ever be accepted? Your blood was tainted from the moment you were born, scum!" Colette begins to hang her head low alongside Genis, and she says in a melancholy tone of voice "But…None of us chose to be born this way…How can you just hate us like this…?"
"It cannot be helped. That was your cursed fate from the start, and will be a stain upon your soul forevermore. Only death can liberate you and your filthy 'friends'…I will be willing to oblige such a request, but only if you accept it…" Remiel states, extending his hand out to allow Colette and the others a chance at liberation from their 'cursed blood'. Raine's mother and the mayor do the same, chanting in a quiet echo "Die…Die…Die!" Repeatedly.
And for a moment, the three actually considered giving into the illusion and accepting their demise within the confines of the mirror…That is, until Riku exclaimed "Enough with these lies!" His body then appeared in the reflection alongside the three others, with Mithos then showing up on the opposite side of them a few seconds later. Unusually, Mithos was calm as he stated "No…They aren't lying. Half-elves are despised and discriminated against for merely being alive. Our existence is a crime…"
"That's not the half-elves' fault! It's because people let their perception of those different from them consume them that discrimination is born!" Riku's fierce comment is strong enough to shatter the mirror, and he physically walks out of it beside Colette and the others. They are surprised by his presence here, but the teenage Overlord merely grins and states "Sorry to keep you waiting…"
Raine glances at Riku for a moment and murmurs "Riku…" The teenage Overlord gestures at the three to depart, but then Remiel's crack reflection shakes his head and states "How futile…The Chosen is forever doomed to isolation because of her upbringing."
Colette then glances at the reflection and states "You're wrong! Lloyd's my friend! He didn't care that I was the Chosen, he considered me to be just like everyone else! …I was always so weak…Unable to approach anyone because I thought that it wouldn't matter once I died…But then Lloyd…I have so much to thank Lloyd for, and I don't regret becoming the Chosen now because of the lengths he went to save my life! I will continue to live…And save this world!"
Remiel's reflection scowls and then disappears from sight, followed by Mithos' spirit asking "Genis, do you feel the same? Are you happy that you were born a half-elf?" The mayor states "That's ridiculous. There's no world for half-elves." Raine's mother then follows-up on that with "So long as your kind exists, your life will always be filled with death and betrayal…"
Raine closes her eyelids for a moment, and then turns away from the reflection of her mother and admits bluntly to her "Be that as it may…It is because of others' views that we are hunted…Returning that hatred with hatred of my own won't solve anything…Sorry, 'mother'…But I will not curse my blood, not while there are people out there who accept me for who I am." Raine glances at Riku when her sentence comes to an end and smiles slightly, and the illusion of her mother fades away.
"Well Genis? What about you?" Mithos' spirit asks, and after a few more seconds of thought the young half-elf replies "I…I definitely hate humans, because they've done nothing but hate us…" Colette and Raine were surprised by that response, with Raine commenting angrily "Genis!"
Genis then turns to glare at the mayor and Mithos' reflections, stating to them firmly "But that doesn't mean I hate all humans! Lloyd and Colette…And everyone I traveled with have accepted me, and I'm positive that's why I don't hate them despite every other human being like that!" The mayor's illusion begins to fade while stating "You're an idiot. You're deluding yourself!"
All that was left was Mithos' spirit, who hung his head low and stated "…You all think it's wrong to be weak hearted? Not everyone's strong. Not everyone can stand being despised." Before his spirit faded back into the Cruxis Crystal, Riku glanced at him and commented "Be that as it may, Raine is right…Fighting back against hatred with more of it will never solve anything. That's why, so long as they aren't doing anything evil, I accept any species…Human, half-elf, aliens…Hell, add pink puffballs and hedgehogs to that list too. It's never a sin to be born different, what is sinful though is using discrimination against you to justify your revenge."
With that final remark, Mithos' spirit disappears, and a glowing fragment representing a shattered mirror appears above the four. With a relieved look on his face, the teenage Overlord comments "Hey you guys, glad you're back to reality now." Genis turns to Riku and says "I'm surprised to see you here! I thought Mithos…Mithos had…"
After considering things for a moment, Genis asks in a melancholy tone of voice "…Wait…Where's Lloyd?" Riku replies swiftly "Don't worry about him, he went off to find the others. I just happened to run into you three while helping him out." This allows Genis to let out a relieved sigh, with Raine then mentioning "…I see you still have Mithos' Cruxis Crystal on you. Are you going to be ok, Riku?"
Riku nods his head and assures them gently "The Crystal won't get in our way. By the way, we should probably grab that broken mirror that just appeared, wouldn't you say?" Colette looks up at the broken mirror and comments "Oh? Could this be the symbol of the weakness of our hearts?"
The teenage Overlord shook his head and commented "I'd say it's actually proof that you beat that illusion. So long as you hold onto that, you have no reason to be ashamed of your weakness again." With that in mind, Colette leaped up at the broken mirror and picked it up, and Raine comments "Let's go try and find the others…Or at the very least, meet back up with Lloyd." With no other reason to be in this part of Welgaia, the four proceed to go through with Raine's idea.
Meanwhile, Lloyd was exploring the main hub of the city for any signs of the others. He ended up on a lone glass platform and ran for a seal at the center of the platform. But as he did so, he suddenly found himself being surround by darkness, with the central seal opening up a hole of darkness that sends out three tendrils straight along the ground to grab Lloyd by his shadow. Being paralyzed, Lloyd is dragged into the hole against his will, being dropped down below without anything else happening to him.
After this happens, Lloyd groans in pain for a moment while looking up towards the platform, where all of a sudden Zelos, Sheena and Kratos appear atop smalls light-blue seals surrounding the large seal he was just sucked through. Zelos turns his head around and comments "Where the heck is this funky place?" Sheena cautiously extends her right hand out and states "Wait…Do you hear that?"
Kratos wisely advises the two "Be careful…I have no idea what kind of trap Mithos has set up for us." Suddenly, the same portal of darkness that sucked Lloyd in appears again, summoning forth more tendrils that latch onto the three's shadows and slowly drag them towards the hole. Unlike Lloyd, however, the three of them are able to turn around and work against the pressure of the tendrils. But even with the Exspheres at their disposal, the group could only slow down the tendrils, not stop them entirely.
"Hmm…This is troublesome." Kratos comments in a rather relaxed manner, while Zelos glances down below and notices a gargantuan six-legged spider with demonic red skin and glowing blue eyes. "Whoa whoa whoa, what the hell is that?!" He panics for a moment, but is then overcome with a feeling of surprise alongside Sheena as Seles suddenly appears in front of him while Kuchinawa appears before Sheena.
Neither say a word as Kuchinawa taunts Sheena arrogantly with "What's the matter? You'll be caught unless you hurry up and run…Just like you always do." Seles then mentions "Dear brother…You look so pathetic…" Causing Zelos to comment "W-Wait a minute, this isn't Seles…This has to be some sort of trick!"
Kratos nodded his head in agreement as he tried to come up with a way to escape this trap, but then something caught his eye that left him completely at a loss for words. Standing in front of him was Anna Irving, his long-dead wife…"A-Anna?" Kratos broke his composure in disbelief, especially once she commented with an unfitting smile on her face "Well my beloved…To think that you would end up being killed by a monster…You deserve it for what you did to me."
"Hehe…Come on Zelos, how can I be an illusion if I'm standing right here?" Seles says, before she proceeds to kneel down and touch the side of Zelos' head, which causes a cold chill to creep through his spine, making him cast away any suspicions that this was an illusion for the time being. His eyes widened, and his voice went silent. Meanwhile, Kuchinawa berated Sheena by saying "None of you should have been born. Your existence have caused nothing but suffering for those around you!"
"H-How can you say that after-" Sheena is dumbfounded by Kuchinawa's words while Seles says to follow-up on them "A girl who damned her village to destruction twice over…A boy who wished to run away from responsibility with death and betrayal…" Finally, Anna glances down at Kratos and says to him "And a traitor who killed the only person he ever loved…"
As doubts being to cloud all three of their hearts, the darkness drags them further towards death, and Zelos pounds one fist against the ground and proclaims "Damn it! We're gonna be eaten unless we do something!" Seles, Kuchinawa and Anna hold their hands out and state in unison "The only way to survive…Is to pledge yourselves to Cruxis."
With this comment made, Mithos' spirit appears behind Anna's body, his arms hovering out as he transforms into Yggdrasill, whose eyes were devoid of pupils. "I can save you all…Join us and defeat Lloyd…Then you can be free…" Kratos lowers his eyebrows upon seeing Mithos' spirit, but then Anna kneels down and extends her hand out while giving him a realistic smile and saying "Lord Yggdrasill will forgive you Kratos…He'll even bring me back to life…Then you can never suffer again…"
"Never…suffer again…?" In the face of his former wife's words, even Kratos couldn't help but feel inclined to listen despite everything else telling him that this was still an illusion. "Mizuho will be allowed to live…" "And he'll remove the title and duties of the Chosen from you and give them to me…" Kuchinawa and Seles say. "Just pledge allegiance to Cruxis…" They all mutter in a deathly echo, and for a brief moment the three were about to extend their hands and accept the offer when Lloyd finally has enough and calls out to them.
"Listen to me, all of you! It's all a trap! I'm right here below you!" Lloyd's voice snaps Sheena back to reality for a moment, and she looks down at the spider whole commenting "Oh my god! Lloyd, don't tell me you were eaten by that monster!" As she panicked, Yggdrasill dully held his hand out and said "That voice is but an illusion…The monster is trying to trick you into believing him…"
Lloyd exclaims with all of his might "Like hell it is! Sheena, do you seriously think the people of Mizuho would be ok with becoming Lifeless Beings?! And Zelos, didn't you say you wanted to put an end to this Chosen system permanently?! And Kratos, that isn't mom, she would never say anything like that, especially not to you!" The way the voice spoke to them made the three take pause and start to break through the illusion.
"That…That definitely sounds like the real Lloyd…" Zelos murmurs out, and as they look down the spider visage starts to fade and Lloyd begins to appear within their line of sight. However, Kratos had a difficult time seeing him still as he commented "…Lloyd, of course Anna would speak like this to me…How could she not? I took her life away from her…"
Lloyd swings his right arm out and exclaims "That's not true! She told me that she would always forgive you for everything you did! She loved you with every fiber of her being! So don't give up, now while your life still has value! That goes for Sheena and Zelos too! All of you have a reason to live, so don't give up…Please, Dad!"
The last part of Lloyd's speech triggers a reaction within Kratos' mind, and with a stutter he says "A-Anna…Said that to Lloyd?" Suddenly, his eyes widened fiercely as he glares past Anna's illusionary state and exclaimed towards Yggdrasill "Begone, you blasphemous illusion! My son needs the help of his father to save this broken world, just like Anna would have wanted us to do!" Throwing all of his trust into Lloyd's words, Kratos lets the tendrils drag him towards the darkness, and he safely falls in front of his son without any hesitation.
Zelos and Sheena were surprised by Kratos' swiftness, and with a smirk Zelos commented "You know what…If Lloyd finds value in a traitor like me, then it'd be a real spit in the face to join your crazy plan again!" He then followed Kratos through the hole of darkness as Seles' illusion disappears. Sheena then fiercely proclaims to Yggdrasill "We've worked hard to protect this world! To prevent anymore destruction like what happened to Mizuho and Ozette! So you can just take your offer and shove off!"
After that, Sheena just had to let go of the ground and drop down to join the other three, and both Kuchinawa and the darkness surrounding the area faded into nothingness. Lloyd looked at all three of his allies and smiled, saying to them "Welcome back…" Zelos quickly wraps his right arm over Lloyd's shoulders and grins while saying "Come on Lloyd, you knew I wouldn't let you down, right?"
"Of course not Zelos…I knew none of you would. You're much stronger than anything Mithos can toss at you." Up above, Mithos' spirit says "Hmph…Value in all things? That's stupid…What possible value could we of cursed blood have? You are so arrogant to think that everyone can just stand strong against their problems…You and all humans…" His spirit then vanished, allowing Sheena a chance to swipe some sweat from her forehead and say "…Glad that's over with…" In a relieved tone of voice.
In the place of the trap is a golden spider that was broken in half, and Sheena picks it up while commenting "Huh? Is this meant to symbolize something?" Kratos steps in and points out "It's a reminder to all of us to no longer run away…Treasure that well, Sheena." With a nod of her head, Sheena puts the spider away for safe-keeping.
Kratos then turns towards Lloyd and asks of him "…So…How did Anna tell you that, Lloyd?" Lloyd looks at Kratos and explains to him in a rather serious tone of voice "…Back in the Tower of Salvation, Mithos killed me in an attempt to force Riku's hand…My consciousness was slowly being absorbed into the Exsphere, but before Riku brought me back I…I got to speak with my mom for a bit."
The man's eyes widened in shock for a moment, but then he smiles and comments "Anna…Thank you, for everything…" His tone was appreciative and reflective of times' past, and for a moment a glimmer from a single tear drop passes down the side of his face. Lloyd notices this, but doesn't say anything besides a simple uttering of the man's name. Kratos then lifts his head back up and points out "So, I am going to assume that you have not found the others yet?"
"Ummm…I found Riku, and he managed to subdue Mithos' for the time being…I don't know where he went off to, but he's helping me find the others." Lloyd explains, and Zelos promptly comments "Then what are we standing around here for? My poor, poor Colette is probably suffering without me around to help her." Lloyd groans at Zelos' remark alongside Sheena, but the four of them proceed to leave this area be so they can go find the others.
Finally, over at the jail cells the group were stuck in a couple days ago, we find Regal, Presea and Yuan in there with the door locked on them. Yuan folded his arms against his chest and patiently commented "Hmm…What could Mithos possibly have planned for the three of us?" The moment he says this, the door opens up, which causes him to raise his eyebrow while Presea points out "Apparently…Freedom?"
Regal raises his arms up in a slight defense stance and says "Or he is luring us into another trap…Do not let your guard down." Yuan says sharply in turn "I do not need a reminder of that…Let me go on ahead first." He then reaches towards the right side of his clothes in case he needs to draw his sword and exits the jail cell, but the very moment he steps forth reality distorts around him without his notice and a voice suddenly calls to him from the right "Yuan! I can't believe I found you!"
Yuan's expression suddenly unhinges. There was only one voice in the entire universe that could make him freeze up, and he turned to the right he found Martel standing before him…With Alicia Combatir being led on the right side of her body. The younger girl's presence caused Presea's eyes to widen, and she ran out of the jail cell while stating "A-Alicia…Is that you?!" Alicia smiled and extended her arms out while stating "Sis…I'm so glad you're safe!"
As Regal slowly advances out of the cell, he comments suspiciously "…This is impossible. There is no reason for either of you to be alive." Martel says to Regal in turn "No it's not…My brother is in control of the Elemental Overlord's body, remember? With it, he finally brought me back to life, and Presea's sister as well…"
Regal's heart skips a beat alongside Presea's, with Presea in particular looking saddened as she asks "But…You didn't have your body anymore Alicia…" Alicia explains to ease Presea's concerns "Nothing is impossible with his powers, Presea…After all, Martel didn't have her body anymore too…"
"…And will you bother to explain how you managed to get all the way down here?" Yuan asks while trying his hardest to remain calm, and Martel explains "Mithos wanted to take me for himself…But the Elemental Overlord took control of his body long enough to allow us to escape…We fled for the safest place we could think of."
Presea didn't bother to listen to the words of Martel. Instead, she chose to walk forward and try wrapping her arms around Alicia's body. As she did so, she felt a warmth unlike anything that she had experienced before, and her heart melted in turn. Alicia smiled and patted Presea on the back, saying to her as the girl began to cry "It's ok now Presea…Your younger sister is finally back with you…That murderous man will never separate us again."
It was with that sentence that Regal's mind ended up not succumbing to the illusion, and he immediately lifted his right leg up while declaring "Presea, out of the way! That is not Alicia!" As Regal takes up a threatening stance, Alicia lets out a frightened scream, and Presea turns around and draws her axe while exclaiming "Y-You're wrong! This is my sister…I can feel it!"
"Presea…You can't allow yourself to be fooled! Think about what you were told…Alicia could not be brought back to life!" Regal tries to explain, and Presea in turn states "Riku lied to us before, why should I believe what he said now?!" Swinging her axe against the ground in anger, Presea glares at Regal and tells him "If you try and harm Alicia again…I'll kill you." Her voice was cold and firm.
Regal knew he had to attack Alicia to break what illusion was grasping Yuan and Presea, but how could he do so when Presea was standing in his way? As he held his ground and debated on what to do, Yuan continues to look at Martel, who in turn said to him "Yuan…It has been so long since we last saw each other. I see you still wear my ring…I'm glad you never forgot me."
Yuan said nothing as he closed his eyelids and tapped one finger against his folded arm. Martel tilted her head in a puzzled manner and asked "What's wrong dear? You look troubled…Perhaps if you hugged me, you'd feel better?" Upon hearing this, Yuan lifted his head up and admitted "…Yes, perhaps that would help me out…" He then walked forward, surprising Regal as he murmured "No…Even Yuan is falling for this trap…"
Yuan stepped in front of Martel, choosing to position himself between her and Alicia while saying to her beloved "I can't believe this is happening…" Martel smiles at him and asks "Love transcends even death…Yuan Ka-Fei…" Yuan closes his eyelids as Martel raises her arms up to embrace him, saying in a calm tone of voice as he extends his left hand out "…I wish I could believe that…Phantom of my beloved…"
With swiftness, Yuan summons forth his double-bladed sword, and both blades cleave Martel and Alicia's heads right off due to the way he positioned them. Presea turns around just as this happened and exclaimed in disbelief "No! Alicia!" But before she could attack Yuan for what he had done, Presea notices that no blood is emerging from either person's neck. This makes Presea recognize that this was all an illusion in the end, and she subsides her aggression before she did something she would regret.
Yuan opens his eyelids, watching as the illusion of Martel falls back, and feeling guilty that he performed this task even if it wasn't on the real Martel. The moment the two illusions have fallen, Mithos' spirit appears behind Mithos, floating in the air with a bitter look in his eyes as he proclaimed "This can't be! How could you kill Martel?! She loved you, and you betrayed her like the humans did!"
Turning around, Yuan brandished one blade of his sword at Mithos' spirit and stated calmly "After you besmirched her name with that illusion, you dare try to take the higher moral ground here, Mithos?" "…Of course…Even you are a traitor…To your own kind nonetheless…You should have just accepted death there Yuan…If you truly cared for Martel, you would have done that…But now you will live the rest of your life knowing you damned her with your sins!"
Yuan pulls his sword back and dispels it, commenting in a blunt tone "You think that is supposed to make me flinch? I loved Martel more than anyone else on this planet besides you…And that is why I didn't hesitate to kill the phantom that took on her appearance, even if that will add yet another sin to my conscience. But if you think a thousand sins will be enough for me consider death, then you are sorely mistaken. I'm not a coward, and I never will run away from what I have done…"
"You're pathetic Yuan…You were never worthy of being Martel's lover! I hate you with every fiber of my being for taking her away from me!" Mithos' spirit was bitter towards his fellow half-elf, but Yuan merely folded his arms together and said "Hatred…That's what continues this conflict time and time again…He may be an idealistic fool, but I-I still see some merit in what Lloyd Irving has said…Rot in hell along with your hatred, my foolish step-brother, but do not expect us to be conquered by that emotion like you have!"
Presea lowers her axe against the ground and says "We must learn to forgive, otherwise the cycle will always repeat…And we will learn nothing…" Regal then adds on to that with "It's thanks to Lloyd that we were able to learn that…If you have nothing of merit to say now, spirit, then begone!" In anger, Mithos' spirit departs afterwards, and a few seconds later Lloyd and Riku's group end up in the jail cell area at around the same time.
"Presea, Regal, Yuan! Are you ok?" Lloyd exclaims in a concerned tone of voice as he runs ahead of the others. Yuan continues to fold his arms while bluntly stating "Hmph, finally decided to show up, did you now? We have dealt with the trap here, no thanks to your lack of assistance…" Lloyd lowers his eyelids and states "Glad to see you're still the same as always…" In a sarcastic tone of voice.
As he does so, a jeweled knife with nicks on it appears in front of Regal and Presea. Regal takes it without a second thought, mentioning to the group "This represents our past…As I take this, let us both vow to never fight amongst ourselves again…Presea…" Presea, while putting her axe away, nods her head in agreement before saying "Yes Regal…That is what Alicia truly would want from us…"
As Regal puts the knife away, Lloyd turns around to look at everyone and says "Alright, we're all back together now!" With his enthusiastic remark out of the way, Kratos points out "We still need to find the Derris Emblem, otherwise another trap will spring on us before we can approach Vinheim."
"It's fine…We'll run into the emblem along the way there. Let's head back to that device we took to enter Welgaia and head north." Riku says, and with little in the way of things of say the group left the jail cells and headed back to the designated area. Upon going north from there, Lloyd looks down and sees a seal in the ground similar to the one that trapped his friends.
The moment he steps on it, the seal rises up and recognizes Lloyd as the owner of the Eternal Sword, and immediately splits itself up amongst the rest of the group. Lloyd blinks a few times after this happens and says "T-That's all we needed to do? Huh…Kind of anti-climatic." Yuan points out "Are you really saying that now? Of course it'd be easy after enduring those traps, Mithos never would suspect that anyone would get past them."
"I suppose you're right…Then there's nothing else stopping us from reaching the Great Seed?" Lloyd's question is answered by Kratos, who says to him "Correct. Vinheim is our final destination…" "Then no more distractions! Let's end this once and for all everyone!" Lloyd's triumphant voice led to a full agreement from the group, and without hesitation they headed towards the device that would send them straight to Vinheim…The last battleground of this arduous journey.
Next Time: The Broken Child