Okay well I finally got this updated. I'm sorry it took so long, I had writers block and restarted this chapter like a million times. Then when I finally got something down my usb broke and I lost it -_- sorry about that but I hope you enjoy it at least.

…God it's been so long since I updated this -_-

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

It was the kind of thing everyone wished for, when they were kids, right? Some sort of fantastical adventure in a totally different world, at least, that's how he had been. His father had always been …cynical to his liking to videogames and the like, but it was totally justifiable, he thought. Things like that were always some kind of window into another world, something new, foreign, exciting things to explode and discover. Books could be like that, he was sure, but he just got bored of them so quickly. He didn't like having things told to him, he didn't like the feeling that someone was simply telling him what some world or creature looked like, he'd much rather find and see it himself.

Still, he knew this wasn't going to be like that. He was smart enough to know that in reality, once you knew something was real the fantasy was gone. This world was a fantasy to him, but he knew better than that. There had been dead men, priests, littered around the temple. Death happened on any world, he guessed…as long as there were people, people would fight. He wasn't naïve enough to not know that…this wasn't a fantasy, real people had died real deaths. All logic told him that this was in fact, very dangerous…he didn't know this world, didn't know the weird writing on the signs, didn't know how things worked. If he had really been alone here, he would have been afraid. Still, while he knew that he would be afraid he knew still that he wouldn't be able to suppress the excitement bubbling within him.

Besides, his dad was here and he knew this world, so he was sure it'd all work out. Why not enjoy it while he was here then? Why not do something, be worth something? Heh…that sounded kinda pathetic, didn't it? It didn't matter much, he supposed. There was nothing he could do about it so he might as well just stick around and see what he could see.

Then why was he sitting outside waiting for his dad to finish talking?

The teen sighed deeply, rubbing his face and trying to ignore the stares he was getting from the villagers. He did stand out, he supposed, considering how he was dressed in what had to be a medieval-like era. Besides, he had other problems…namely the silver-haired kid that was eying him.

"….Look if you're going to say something to me, say it," he said, looking over at the boy.

"Where are you from?" Genis asked.

"Dad told you already-"

"Yeah, and I don't believe you, where are you really from?" Genis huffed, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Okay, well where do you think I'm from then?" Lloyd sighed. "Well? If you don't believe I'm from some far-off place where do you think I'm from?"

There was a moment of silence where Genis frowned, scanning him, but Lloyd remained calm. Yeah, that's what he had thought. The kid might have been skeptical of him but it's not like he had any other answer-

"Hey! You just thought of me as a 'little kid' didn't you?" Genis snapped.

Lloyd nearly jumped, staring down at the boy.

"W- what-?"

"Yeah you did, I can see it all over your face." The boy huffed, putting his hands on his hips. "Look, just because I'm young doesn't mean I'm any less intelligent than you, got it? Age doesn't make you mature."

Lloyd stared.

"…W-what? What are you looking at- "

"You're pretty insecure aren't you?"

Genis knocked him up the head with his kendama.

"Ow-! Wh-what the hell-?" Lloyd gasped, rubbing his head.

"You jerk you think you can say that kind of thing-? Who do you think you are, huh?" the boy snapped.

"Hey, I just call them as I see them!" Lloyd snapped back, glaring down at the boy. "Besides, if you react like that when someone tells you that it just makes them believe it's true! If you always react violently they just think they're right!"

Genis began to say something but then stopped, scanning Lloyd again as if seeing him in a new light. The half-elf looked wary, and Lloyd wondered if he had truly warranted such a reaction. After all, he was new to this world, maybe he had done something really wrong?

Lloyd frowned, scanning the boy back when something came to him. The kid's scrappy attitude, his quick-temper, the way he had jealously guarded his friend- …of course. It all made sense..

"You…and don't get mad at me I'm just asking…" Lloyd frowned. "You get…bullied, don't you?"

"No I don't!" Genis snapped, crossing his arms and looking away.

There was a moment of silence.

"…They ignore me," he said softly.

Lloyd flinched. That expression was one he was sure he had worn on his own face countless times, countless times of sitting alone, being snubbed, ignored… yes, he knew that face. He knew it too well.

"Hey…" Lloyd frowned, lowering his hand from his head. "Look- maybe we got off on the wrong foot, okay? I mean, I know it was really weird with how I uh- showed up here, and trust me I'd explain it if I knew what happened myself. I know I'm pretty weird and stuff but…I'd like to start over if you will."

Genis blinked, scanning him, but remained silent.

"I mean, I understand if you don't want to …be friends with me or something, trust me you wouldn't be the first person to-"

"Friends?" the half-elf cut him off, staring at him.

"Uh…yeah." He nodded, then frowned again. "Yeah, I know you probably wouldn't want to be friends with someone like me but-"

"You'd want to be my friend?" Genis asked again, a trace of bewilderment in his expression.

"Uh- ..well…yeah," Lloyd said. "I mean…everyone wants to have a friend, right?"

Genis continued to stare at him and Lloyd wondered again if he had done something wrong-

"But I'm an elf, you'd still want to be friends with me?"

"Sure," Lloyd said and then grinned sheepishly. "I mean, that'd be pretty cool anyway, you know? I've never met any elves before, that's pretty neat."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"…Well, I'm weird too, that's what everyone says anyway," Genis said with a little shrug. "So…I mean, I guess I can- …I don't mind you being weird."

"Well I can definitely understand why you'd be freaked out by me." The teen rubbed the back of his neck. "But trust me I really don't know how it happened…I'm pretty lost too. Dad knows but- …"

"Well I'm sure the truth will come out eventually, and you at least seem harmless enough," the boy said with a slight smirk. "I guess I can tolerate you no matter how enigmatic you are."

Lloyd was the one to stare this time.

"…What?'

"Wow, you really are smart!" he laughed. "You use really big words..I don't even know what that means!"

Genis regarded the older boy with a mixture of skepticism and an urge to shake his head in pity. However he was spared from having to decide how to react to that when he remembered something more important.

"Yeah well, I got someplace to go," he explained to Lloyd. "So…uhm, it was nice meeting you I guess."

"Can I come?" Lloyd asked, looking back to the door with a frown. "I don't think they're going to be done talking anytime soon and I…don't like the idea of sitting out here where everyone will start staring at me."

The half-elf considered a moment but couldn't ignore the nagging sense of apprehension.

"What's wrong?" Lloyd asked after a moment.

"N- Nothing, are you sure it's okay with your dad? I'm going to go outside the village- not too far but-"

"It's fine," Lloyd replied a little hastier than he meant to, his eyes narrowing a bit.

He wasn't quite concerned with his father's opinion at the moment, in all reality. The man had lied to him about everything, so he thought that he deserved a bit of freedom to piss him off. It was only fair, after all.

"So where are we going?" he asked Genis.

"Uh…well- …we have to go through the forest-..there's monsters in there-"

"More spiders?" Lloyd winced a bit at the thought. "Or blobby things?"

"..Blobby things?" Genis bilnked.

"Y'know, blobs, ..jellies, chu-chus, living boogers, I have no idea what they're called, okay? You know what I'm talking about though don't you? Those things we saw in the temple!"

"Oh, those." Genis shook his head. "No, none of those are in the woods. There are different kinds-"

"Let me guess, evil bunnies? Wolves? Boxing flowers? Dancing mushrooms?" Lloyd rolled his eyes, recalling the usual 'newbie monsters' from his gaming experience.

…Granted he didn't expect himself to be RIGHT…

"Seriously, seriously?" Lloyd scowled a few minutes later, flicking the blood off the blade he stole. "A mushroom. Great, next I'm going to be seeing some overweight plumber running through here. Wouldn't that be just great? As if this day wasn't weird enough…"

"Uh, Lloyd, they're called minicoids…" Genis said hesitantly.

"Whatever, seriously, a rabbit? Are they rabid? Geeze I might as well just turn around and-"

"Lloyd! Look out!"

He whipped around before he could think, spotting the giant bee zooming for his face with stinger at the ready. A single thought crossed his mind- well actually two. One, he never thought he'd see a beedrill in person, and two, he would definitely NOT like a stinger in the face.

The third 'thought' wasn't really a thought at all, more an action. Like in the temple, suddenly some strange energy filled him and his body acted, as did his voice.

"Sonic Thrust!"

The bee gave a strange shriek he would have figured belonged to a bird, the sword piercing through its body. Lloyd yanked the sword out, the bee writing on the ground before laying still.

"Wow- that was a close one." Genis chuckled weakly, rubbing the back of his head. "That was-"

"Okay, what the hell was that?" Lloyd groaned, rubbing his face.

"Huh? What was-"

"That." Lloyd gestured to the bee. "It was like- you know in the temple? When I did that..sword force, thingie?"

"Demon fang?"

"Yeah…" Lloyd frowned. "I have no idea how I did that, I just…did it. Didn't even think about it first, it just came to me- ..though I guess I know where the name came from."

Yeah that was probably just some part of his mind picking names from the Tales games. Whatever that sword force thingie was, it DID look an awful lot like 'Demon Fang' – and…'sonic thrust'…yeah, that was a move too.

That lead to another question of course. How the hell were there similarities like this place to a videogame? Apple gels, seriously? Then again there was no mention of 'fonons' or 'eres' yet..mana sure, but tons of fantasy things use the 'mana' thing. So really it was just the moves which he was doing and the gels that were- oh, and gald, that too. …Okay three things, that was enough to be weirded out he guessed. That was all right…he'd talk to his dear old dad about it later.

"Lloyd? You still there?"

"Wh- yeah," he shook off his thoughts. "Yeah just..been a long day."

"Well we're almost there, so…just hang in there."

"Okay…"

So today he had fought spiders, blobs, bunnies, goombas and beedrills. Great, wasn't that just how he had planned his day. This was starting to feel like a really weird kiddy dream.

That was until they made it to the ranch.

Aside from the attack earlier at the temple, Lloyd hadn't really seen anything in this world that seemed …that bad. He didn't see what it was that his father had tried to leave from, so badly that he'd go to an entirely different planet.

Then there was the ranch.

People in rags slaved away, whips stinging their back from their armored captors, the smell of burning waste and decay exuded from the place, along with blood, fresh and not. For a moment he wondered if it was some kind of prison, then realized that couldn't be the case. But then what…

"You…you don't know what this is do you?" Genis asked softly, eyeing him before his face fell. "It's a human ranch. Those guys that attacked us earlier? The Desians? This is one of their..bases."

Ranch. Human Ranch- what? That didn't-

"Ranch?" Lloyd said quietly, frowning deeply. "Ranch, like …cattle? Human cattle? What the hell…"

"One of the captives is my friend," Genis said quietly, shuffling his feet. "I-I want to tell her about the oracle, I think it would…lift her spirits."

The teen's brown eyes scanned the place and then settled on Genis, silence descending over the pair. That is, it would have been silent, aside from the sounds of whips, cries of pain and jeers of some tormentor delighting in his work.

"…Y- You don't have to go with me if you don't want to, I know it's scary-"

"No, I can't let you go alone," Lloyd said, looking forward again. "…You lead the way, I'll make sure no one spots us from behind."

Genis seemed a little wary of his friend's sudden shift in mood but nodded, continuing on. They managed to sneak about the ranch walls and Lloyd struggled to ignore the sounds. This- this was- sick. How could someone do something like this? There were children in there, elderly, young old, all sick and weak- this was-

This was a Holocaust.

That's what it was, that's exactly what it was. They were locking people up like this- that was it then. This had to be what his father had tried to escape from, what he'd tried to get him away from- but then, that guy with the blue hair- why did he bring them back? What could he have to gain from this?

Another cry met his ears and he slammed his eyes shut. Dammit he couldn't- he couldn't let this happen- but then what? What could he do? He couldn't just storm in there and save everyone, he was just one guy…

A feeling of helplessness settled over him, freezing into his gut. There was nothing he could do…he was useless, he couldn't do anything- wait.

…Maybe he could.

He heard them, he heard them say if Colette completed the journey, these- 'Desians' would disappear. Was that true? Could they really get rid of them, could they stop this? If it was..

"Marble!"

He looked up, noticing the old woman who had snuck to them on the far side of the fence. The old woman scanned him a moment, doubtless weirded out by his clothing, but her eyes settled on Genis with a weak smile.

Genis introduced the old woman as Marble, and he in turn introduced himself. The old woman was thin, sickly, it was hard not to grimace for her. Still, when she mentioned the journey his ears focused on her words instantly instead of her appearance.

"Will the Desians really disappear if the journey is completed?" he asked.

The woman stared at him and Lloyd had the feeling he had said something incredibly stupid.

"H- He's not from around here- and he hit his head," Genis pointed to his own. "So he's a little..weird right now."

"Ah…I see, poor child," Marble frowned. "Yes, Lloyd, if the Chosen completes her journey the Desians will be sealed away, and we will be at peace."

Well it sound like it was worth a shot-

Then he noticed it, the gem on her hand. His eyes widened a bit, scanning it and then the one that rested on his own. Exsphere, that's what his father had said it was , a gem that enhanced someone's fighting prowess. That was at least a bit that he hadn't tuned out when Kratos had attempted to explain to him, though…something was wrong with Marble's. It was gray, and …it looked like it had roots, burrowing into her skin. Oh wait, he said something about this too…that mount he had, that he couldn't remove that, that it'd be very bad if he removed the mount and left the exsphere on- wiat that was it! Marble didn't have a mount!

"That's…that's an exsphere isn't it?" he asked, scanning the woman's hand.

"Oh, is that what this is called?" the woman frowned, scanning it. "They placed it on me shortly after I came here."

"Yeah..my dad said that's what they are- …but-.."

He lifted his own hand again, scanning his exsphere and comparing it to hers.

"You don't have a mount," he said. "This thing, here? It needs to be on the exsphere or it'll- I'm not sure what exactly, but it's nothing good."

"Wh- what? Well- can't we just get her a mount though?" Genis asked, panicked.

"I- I don't know where to get them, but I can ask my dad and see if we can get one for her."

"You're very kind." Marble smiled gently. "But don't trouble yourselves-"

"Hey! What are you doing over there you old hag!"

Anger seized him suddenly, his fists clenched at his sides. Those bastards…damn Nazis, how could they-?

"Lloyd, we have to go! If they find us here they'll beat her, and they'll kill us!"

Lloyd flinched, glancing down at his new friend and the old woman, both of which pleaded that they run, quickly. The teen hesitated just a moment before he nodded.

"O- Okay, we'll be back Marble, okay?"

They rushed to a hiding place, though for some reason neither of them found the will to run, instead climbed up the cliff face, watching as they pulled the old woman away. Lloyd choked, eyes wide as he watched the Desians beat the old woman, flaying her and laughing all the while.

"Sh- She's going to die-" Genis choked.

Lloyd's fists clenched.

No. He couldn't just watch this, couldn't just watch someone- no. If he couldn't help them all, he'd at least help one.

"Genis, can you attack them from here with magic?"

The half elf stared at him.

"W- what-?"

"Can you attack them from here with magic? If you can, I can act as a decoy and lead them away while you run home."

"W- what? What about you though? You- and we can't! If they see us they'll attack the village-"

Damn, that hadn't occurred to him- oh…wait…

"Please, they won't think I'm from the village, I'm not after all." He smiled weakly back at him. "Everyone is weirded out by my clothes, they'll think I'm so weird crazy guy that lives in the woods. They'll chase me and you can get home, I'll lose them in the woods and then follow the trail back."

"But-"

"Genis, we don't have time, we need to do this now." Lloyd frowned, eyes sweeping to the crying woman.

Genis winced.

"I- okay."

A twisting feeling in his gut told him this probably wouldn't be the smartest thing he'd ever done; still what was he supposed to do?

"Okay….ready?" Lloyd asked, bracing himself for his dash.

"Yeah…" Genis nodded, looking a little pale.

"All right…go!"

Genis cast fireball, hitting one of the guards and dropping him , screaming onto the ground as his body lit up in flames. Lloyd stubbornly ignored the cries, racing across the gate top. It was then he realized how stupid his plan was, he couldn't jump down from here without hurting himself, and couldn't find time to climb down-

Luckily for him, he tripped, and discovered quite quickly that yes, in fact he COULD jump down from there. His eyes widened as he landed easily on the ground, but had little time to ponder his new reflexes as the Desians chased after him.

So he charged into the woods, hoping to circle back to the path, but then realized another great flaw in his plan. He didn't know these woods, and in his panic to escape his pursuers had gotten himself hopelessly lost. Not only that, but it was getting later, and the thick trees were blocking a lot of the afternoon sun. So it was he didn't realize the root his foot snagged on, sending him spiraling down a small hill and into a cold river.

So then it came to the THIRD big flaw in his hasty plan.

He was never really a swimmer.

This was a very, very trying day.

Yaaaaaayy update 8D and I actually have next chapter planned a bit too! Hooray! Now if you 'll excuse me I'm tired (plops onto computers and falls asleep)