Chapter 35

Kratos's next destination was Ozette, the home of the sacred wood. In order to get some for the forging, he needed to come in contact with the lumberjack in charge of the task, and, according to Cruxis' files, he lived at the bottom of the quiet town resting atop a giant tree.

Luck was not on his side at all. When he got close to the entrance of Gaoracchia Forest, an uncommon screeching got his attention. He looked up to find two dragons flying away towards the east. In one of the dragon's claws… was the unconscious Chosen.

He didn't need to look to the other dragon to know who was responsible for this. Only one unpleasant person in their ranks had been raising dragons lately.

Kratos found the wandering to not be so pointless.

The journey wasn't an easy one. The making of the Ring of the Pact had to remain as discreet as possible, else he risked Mithos becoming suspicious of his actions once more. Kratos couldn't risk angering his ex-pupil at this point; he would not be forgiven a second time.

Yet, he had to go and tell Genis what he knew. It was all needless remorse. Kratos hadn't thought at the time, instead letting sentimentality overtake logic, as if that would absolve him from the horrible things he had done.

That action put a target on his back.

Mithos was one thing. When it came to his followers, it wasn't as easy to fool them.

After leaving Sybak with the adamantite, Kratos felt someone following his steps. The eyes of a snake. It wasn't as eye-opening as it sounded, Pronyma had a history of despising him since she first joined. She wasn't subtle when spitting her poison, offended that a "weak" human was so high-ranked and close to her dear Lord Yggdrasill. What a childish grudge, but he gave praise where it was deserved. After all, the boy leading the group against Cruxis was Kratos's son.

Unfortunately, with Pronyma keeping tabs on his actions, Kratos was forced to wander aimlessly for a while until he could get rid of her. Pronyma had to have grown so conceited to be this obvious; it wasn't her best effort. That, or maybe that was the point, her blatant stalking being a message that she would catch him red-handed and rid Yggdrasill of his traitorous self.

I'll let her childish conduct be… for now.

Kratos wandered.

The unnecessary detour was a bother, yet Kratos made the best of it. Tethe'alla was still the land of his birth, the one he abandoned millennia ago to follow a dead-end plan and the shadows of the people he used to love and respect. He couldn't recall the last time he visited somewhere besides Meltokio. There hadn't been a point to do much at the time that wasn't following Mithos' orders.

Kratos wandered.

He entered any town he found. Kratos quickly noticed Pronyma never followed him inside, giving him a breather. He used the time to approach the locals, inquiring if anyone had seen a young woman with silver hair, clear eyes, and orange clothes. Like in Sybak, no luck. Even the royal research locations in some of these places held no clues.

For reasons unknown, Raine Sage had disappeared off the face of Tethe'alla. No crashed Rheaird to be found or records of her being sent to the half-elves' prisons. With the state of events, he couldn't even go back to Sylvarant to make sure she stayed behind. For all he knew, she could be a prisoner of the Renegades.

Raine was gone.

Kratos should have stopped. There was no point in getting involved. Yet, whenever he thought of what transpired in the Tower of Salvation, the looks of pain and terror in the kids' faces, but not Raine. She was injured, on the point of collapse, but her eyes told a different story. No one would take her loved ones from her. He didn't owe Raine anything, but… after a long journey and sharing some parts of themselves amongst all the lies, Kratos had nothing but deep respect for the woman.

Those feelings compelled him to ask around while he followed his own agenda. If Kratos ended up finding her… what to do next would come after.

Kratos wandered.

Back in Mt. Fooji when he noticed Raine wasn't present, he panicked. It meant Lloyd was now traveling without adult supervision, especially one who knew how to keep him and his friends in line. When he got back to Welgaia, Kratos quickly gathered Cruxis didn't get their clutches on her; Mithos would be jumping in sardonic joy if that had been the case. So, there would be no danger of the professor being used as blackmail against Lloyd.

That information didn't mean much. It still left a bunch of headstrong children navigating an unknown world alone. Even the two oldest of them, Sheena Fujibayashi, and the Chosen of Tethe'alla who joined later, were the worst candidates to be considered leaders.

Sheena was strong and resilient, but also quick to anger and reckless. She resembled the children more than the adults, Raine unknowingly becoming a restraint on Sheena's more explosive qualities.

And then… the clingy man-child that needed a babysitter. After being forced to train him years earlier, Kratos was unfortunate enough to be familiar with how terrible Zelos Wilder was when it came to taking care of others.

More importantly, he was Cruxis's mole.

There was also that little girl following them from Meltokio. Based on what he saw, she was in the same state as the Chosen of Sylvarant and would not make much of a difference to that party running around like headless chickens.

Kratos wanted to do something, but his presence would cause a confrontation with Lloyd, one he didn't want, and it would give Pronyma more ammunition against him. Even his accidental attempt had ended up with the infuriating snake on his back.

Kratos wandered.

When he felt Pronyma wasn't tailing him anymore, he picked up the pace. Then, he saw the dragons flying away with the Chosen.

He hasn't given up on the Mana Cannon then.

Kratos hurried onwards to Ozette.

In front of a dilapidated house, there stood the group. They surrounded a grave which he didn't bother to read. The young girl with pink hair was reciting a prayer in front of the memorial, but what actually got his attention was that they acquired another member… Kratos swore he'd seen that man before, but his memory didn't supply him a clear image of the man's identity.

Curiosity aside, he could have ignored them, but sentimentality won over logic once more… the relief at seeing his son uninjured was too much.

"So you've lost the Chosen."

When the group recognized his presence, Lloyd was, once again, the quickest to approach him. Unlike Sybak, he didn't pull his sword out and kept some distance. Good, you're learning. On the back of the group, he caught Genis's eyes widening… Kratos did his best to not acknowledge him.

"You again! What have you done with Colette?!"

Kratos wanted to let out an uninterested sigh at the mention of that. "Rodyle is ignoring our orders and acting on his own. I know nothing of it." Unlike the last time, there was no point in hiding information. Nobody cared about Rodyle. If Mithos didn't act to get rid of him first, Lloyd's group would do it to recover the Chosen if necessary.

The Chosen of Tethe'alla cackled. "Wow, how pathetic of the high and mighty Cruxis. Can't even keep your underlings down." Kratos glared at him but ignored it, familiar with Zelos's provoking remarks.

Such insults were quite childish.

"Say what you will." The state of Cruxis's ranks had stopped being a matter of concern to Kratos a long time ago. That wasn't the issue, though. What concerned him was what Rodyle would do to the Chosen of Sylvarant after he learned of her impending doom. "Either way, he'll have no choice but to abandon the Chosen."

Lloyd's expression became distraught. "What do you mean?"

Kratos remained impassive, but Lloyd's distress bothered him inside. Forgive me Lloyd. This group needed such words, because the Chosen was once again hiding things, including a condition that could potentially kill her. How very Martel of her.

"The Chosen is useless as she is now. You can let her be."

Lloyd glared at him. "You've got to be kidding me! We're going to rescue Colette no matter what!" Lloyd reached for his sword. "And if you get in our way—"

I spoke too fast. It was less than a second but more than enough for Kratos. Lloyd lunged at him, sword out, and slashed. He took his longsword out and deflected the attack. Lloyd was pushed back. Kratos turned away from him and sheathed the sword; it was pointless to escalate this petty argument.

He hoped Lloyd would learn his lesson this time. Yet, Lloyd was clearly grumbling behind him… he could be as vindictive as his mother sometimes.

"Then, I suggest you seek the Rheairds and head for the eastern skies. I'm sure the people of Mizuho have located them by now."

Enough was enough. Kratos shook his head and walked away from that landmine; the least he wanted was to hurt Lloyd by accident when he was only deflecting attacks. He had done what he could, give them a goal and forget about the traitor that clearly wasn't interested in them.

He didn't give more than ten steps when a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Kratos!"

He slightly turned back and saw Genis running towards him.

"My sister… Raine!" Sheena hurried to grab him, whispering at him to not act recklessly, while Lloyd moved to stand in between. "Have you seen Raine?!" Genis's voice cracked.

"Genis, that's enough! We shouldn't trust him." Sheena glared at Kratos.

This was another reason he didn't want to meet them.

"Please, anything!" Genis was fighting against Sheena's iron grip on his shoulders. "Tell me if she's safe!"

Kratos recognized Genis was trembling while fighting back tears of despair. Genis had probably grown desperate if he was trying to get information from the man that almost killed him and his friends in the past.

However… Kratos had nothing to offer, and he didn't want to lie. He had been clear at Sybak; one favor and that was it. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Out of respect, he really hoped Raine was hiding somewhere, because her little brother deserved to find something better than a corpse.

Kratos turned back to his original destination, ignoring the pleads and screams of a young boy asking him the same thing over and over again.

Everyone went quiet.

At the first sight of Akzeriuth, every instinct within Raine's body howled about the threats up ahead, but there was nothing in her being that would allow her to turn back.

The party had crested a trail that sloped along the mountainside towards a valley wearing a hazy purple mantle. Even through the haze, Raine saw the massive pit in the valley's center. It looked out of place among the beauty of the mountain range full of its patchy trees and grassy plains. Of course as a mining town, even without the miasma, it would look out of place, like a scar in the earth that wouldn't heal.

"That's not where Akzeriuth is…" Raine muttered, though she knew it was. How could anyone survive in that? Of course, that was the point, people weren't surviving. And not just people. She had noticed a sharp decline in the ambient animal noises, especially the birds, the closer they got to Akzeriuth, but now seeing the pit boiling over with purple somehow made the problem seem much worse than it initially sounded.

"Unfortunately, it is," Jade said from her right. His usual delight in the face of someone's misery became undetectable. Apparently the man had a heart after all. Guy and Luke came up behind him with Anise, Ion, Mieu, and Natalia. Tear took up post at Raine's left. They all stood, staring down at the base of the mountain into the pit, and it seemed no one knew what to say.

The sight offered an ominous glimpse into what they would find there.

Tear shook her head as she stared. She finally broke the silence. "The miasma's spread this much already?"

"This is worse than I imagined." Raine heard the heavy concern in Guy's voice. Not that she expected anything different, she felt the same way, but there was something about hearing him say those words in that tone of voice that she didn't want to hear. It stung her. Instead she turned down the trail and continued walking.

She heard the others coming along behind her. The reality and seriousness of the situation seemed to hit them all as they jogged downhill, ushered along by the sense of urgency, now that they'd seen it. Before long, Raine was overtaken and for once, Luke wasn't in the lead.

Natalia was.

The trail led directly to the massive pit and the town that didn't really look like a town until they were close enough to see through the fog. She could vaguely see them, could almost hear their moaning over the coughing. Humans suffered there. The sting in her heart intensified as she thought about what it must be like and she found her footsteps came to a stop. Although not exactly the same, she remembered sucking up ocean water as she fought for real air and thinking that must be the end of her. These people could still breathe, but the wheezing told her their experience wasn't dissimilar from her own. After being pulled back onto the ship's deck, she had knelt in front of her father, spitting up water and gasping for every pocket of air she could get. Their coughing was nearly as violent as hers had been.

No, now wasn't the time to remember that. Everyone else had passed her up and she hurried to catch up to them.

Finally, through the haze, she could almost tell this place was supposed to be a mining settlement, with rails lining the paths along the mountainside and wooden scaffolding along the walls. Several buildings had been built into walls, with racks of picks and shovels, some put away and others leaning nearby or on the ground. She noticed how few of the tools were missing and yet how many needed repair. How come no one bothered to fix them up? Raine followed the others down the sloped path into the crater, heard everyone's footsteps slow as they all took in the scene, with each step drawing an uncomfortable breath, not so much from the miasma as much from the sheer horror of what they saw.

Among the racks, humans sat up as best they could or lay at the feet of mining carts, depleted like the tools themselves. Their heads down or lolling to the side against their own shoulders, people leaning on carts or each other to hold themselves fairly upright, many of them failing to. On those faces she could see more clearly, their eyes rolled back as they struggled against waning consciousness. Many of them were crying and obviously hurt.

It was just like the human ranches. Except these people weren't dying at the hands of Desians.

Raine saw one man who looked like he was sleeping beneath a window. His distinct lack of respiratory distress told Raine all she needed to know. She would find the man a blanket later and ensure she found a final resting place for him. But for now, Raine needed to focus on those who were still alive.

"This is awful," Natalia said. The party stopped in the center of a large junction that branched off in several directions. For a moment, it seemed no one knew what to do as they stood, looking around. Raine didn't know how the others felt, but she felt a bit overwhelmed. How could they rescue this many people? At least when they saved the people at the human ranches, the prisoners were able to move on their own. Moving this many people who couldn't walk would mean they'd have to rely on wagons or carts, but she couldn't see any animals to move them. That wasn't all that was missing, though.

"This is weird," Jade said mostly to himself as he surveyed what they could see of the town. "Where are Dorian General Grants and the vanguard? They should've arrived before us."

They should've. And now that Raine thought about it, the situation seemed even more deadly. Everyone they could see was a villager native to Akzeriuth. There were no soldiers at all. Meaning, the only people who could help them was the ambassador's small group. "Shouldn't they be helping to evacuate the people?" she asked.

"Yes, they should."

You should leave. The thought flickered across Raine's mind. Something was wrong here, something beyond the miasma. Why were there no soldiers? But she couldn't abandon these people. She gripped her staff tighter and walked. Guy and Anise hurried to help the first person they could see.

Raine about followed them when a little boy cried for his mother who slanted, looking faint like she would topple over as she sat outside one of the houses. Natalia ran to her aid immediately while Raine knelt next to the little boy and cuddled him.

"H-hey, Natalia, they're dirty. Get away from them." Luke hollered after them. "You'll catch whatever she has." Raine tightened her hug on the little boy, but Natalia's body froze as she leaned over the woman. The princess answered Luke in a low voice.

"What's dirty? What am I going to catch?" There was a ladylike venomous tone to her that Raine hadn't heard before. Natalia's face whipped around as she yelled at him, "Don't say such stupid things!" She set to work healing the woman as best she could while the boy snuggled against Raine's chest, scared.

"Everything's going to be okay," Raine gently told the boy. He looked up at her and sniffed with tears streaming down his face. "We'll get both you and Mommy out of here, okay?" He nodded. Natalia cast healing artes on the woman and brought some life back into her, but Raine could tell the woman needed more urgent care than this. Without removing her from Akzeriuth's poison, she would never get better.

"We should help, too," Tear said to no one in particular, though Luke and Jade were the only ones who hadn't jumped in to help. Even Ion and Mieu had offered their consolation to a nearby miner. He coughed and pointed at a lump covered in a blanket nearby.

"Whatever." Luke folded his arms across his chest. "Just keep me out of it."

"That's not what an ambassador does," Natalia muttered angrily.

"Come on, Luke," Guy said as he helped a miner sit up, "this is what we're here for."

Luke shook his head. "No way, I'm not touching them." Then he noticed Raine's glare and he recoiled. For all that talk about not taking a life, the value that she thought he had in saving lives, he sure acted spoiled now. What was his problem? Raine shook her head and turned away. Smacking him now would rob someone else of her time.

"Are you all right now?" Natalia asked the woman.

"Yes, thank you." Her voice sounded as weak as the woman looked, but it was more than she had a moment ago.

"You're welcome," Natalia said. She turned to Raine. "We should see who else needs help." Raine passed the boy back to his mother who reached up and patted his shoulder.

"Please do."

"Don't worry," Raine replied. "We'll help everyone we can."

Satisfied that the two were okay, Raine stood up and Natalia moved on to the next person. Natalia was right. There were far more important things to do than worry about Luke's childish ignorance. Tear was already sitting with another couple, casting healing artes to help them. Guy checked on someone whose chin rested on his chest. Raine felt relieved to see the man stir and Guy offered him some water. Mieu cuddled up to a child wrapped in a blanket as Ion helped the little girl stand. The delight on her face as she hugged Mieu and petted him brought a spark of hope to Raine's heart. The little girl likely hadn't smiled like that in days.

That's right…. Virginia had told her that before, how hope always started with something small. Even if they couldn't save everyone, every life they did save was worth it. Getting caught up in how horrible this situation looked wouldn't help them.

"Hey!"

At the sound of someone's cry, Raine turned and saw a miner running towards Luke and Jade. The miner wore a sleeveless gray shirt that could've been white originally. The yellow hat on his head still retained its color at least, even if it did look more scuffed and scratched than anything else he had on.

"Did you all come from the Kimlascan side?" The miner spoke with a voice as scratched as his helmet. Whether it was from mining or the miasma, she couldn't tell.

Luke clearly didn't know what to say and struggled to answer him, so Natalia joined him and answered instead. "Yes, that's correct. I am Natalia, Princess of Kimlasca. We've come to offer aid at the behest of his majesty Emperor Peony."

"Ah! Dorian General Grants told us you'd be coming." The miner held out his hand but upon seeing how much cleaner Natalia looked than he was, he brushed his hands on his clothes first before shaking her hand. Not that it helped. Natalia's glove had been stained black and Raine took it as a sign of how seriously the princess took her mission that she didn't respond to it. "My name's Pyrope. I'm the local supervisor for the mine here. The mayor fell ill so I'm handling things in his place."

"And where is the Dorian General?" Jade asked as Raine approached them, too. She saw a small boy watching them from a ways away. As soon as he registered who they were, he started running their direction.

"He's inside the mine." Pyrope pointed off to where Anise had brought Tokunaga to full size and was picking up several of the fallen people at once. Behind her, Raine could see a crude wooden elevator that looked more like something she'd see in Sylvarant rather than any place here. Beyond that and farther below in the mountainside, she saw more miasma seeping out from a tunnel entrance. It looked thicker than anywhere else. "He's attempting to rescue our companions who collapsed there." The further down into the pit Raine tried to see, the less visibility there was. The mines themselves must be so dense.

"That seems to be the source of the miasma." Tear must have noticed the thickness, too.

"What should we do?" Natalia asked, more looking to Jade for some guidance.

"We should go down there as well," Jade said as if this would be nothing at all. But Raine felt it.

The hairs on her neck and arms felt like needles prickling her skin. What half-elf in her right mind would willingly walk into a mining tunnel leaking poisonous gas from the ground? But how could she turn her back on them? They must be critical if they were in worse condition than those on the surface.

"Daddy!" Oh, that's right! Raine had seen that child coming.

Pyrope heard the child, too, and reached out his arms him. He was Pyrope's son, then? "Hey, John! I thought I told you to stay out of the way." He shook his head in jest as he picked up the child. "See how well he listens?" But he wore a smile on his face.

"Daddy, can you come play with me?"

"I'd love to, but there's so much to do."

John's face fell in disappointment. Apparently he'd heard that a lot. Raine stared at John as his father set him back on the ground. He looked nothing like Genis or Raine herself, but as Pyrope stood straight, she saw a little of her own father in him. As rough as Pyrope himself looked, his tender affection was clear. John knew better than to ask again, but he clung to his father's leg out of sheer stubbornness. Pyrope didn't seem to mind, though. He absentmindedly played with the hair on his son's head.

"He lives here with you?" Raine asked.

"Yeah, well, originally I left my family in Engeve to come work here, but the miasma just had to appear on the day he came to visit." Pyrope removed his hat to smooth his hair before putting it back on. Raine caught a glimpse of sweat-dampened hair. Pyrope had been working hard…. "I haven't had much time to play with him. All I can think about now is getting him home safely."

"I can imagine."

John hid his face in Pyrope's pants as Raine bent to be at his eye level. "Your daddy says you're visiting from Engeve," she said. John nodded, peeking over at her. "I'm visiting from much farther away. From Kimlasca."

At that, his face lit up and he pulled away. "You're from Kimlasca? You're the ones coming to help us. You're going to save us, right?"

"Yes," Raine said. "We'll get everyone out of here and you can go home with daddy. Home to Engeve."

"Yay!" John jumped up and down. "Then hurry up and take us there!" He took her by the hand and started tugging her back towards the trail into the mountains. "Daddy and I can go first!"

Raine laughed as she struggled along to keep up with his pace. With his shorter posture, she had to bend over quite a bit. "Okay, but I think he might insist on us getting everyone else out, too. He'll want to make sure those struggling to stand can go with us." John quit tugging and hung his head. "What's wrong?"

"How come all of this is happening? I just wanted to play with daddy and now he doesn't have time for me." Emergencies were like that. Raine remembered interrupting a few of Genis's play times because it was time to run. When he was too small to understand, she made up a game to make him think they were still playing. Of course, it wasn't always possible to keep him happily in the dark about what was really going on, but in his earliest years, it was actually pretty easy.

"There's always some kind of game you can play while he's busy." She led him back towards the others.

"But I want to play with Daddy."

Raine laughed. "Yes, I know, and you can." She saw the puzzled look on Pyrope's face.

"What do you mean?" John asked. She bent down to eye-level again and offered a coy smile.

"Now, don't be making promises you can't keep," Pyrope said.

"Of course not." Raine glanced over at him. "There's something around here he can do to help, right?" Raine looked around for a quick assessment. Anise took several people to a shack with Natalia and a woman who led them there, and Guy helped another miner carry a barrel. She got an idea. "Like gathering supplies or something?"

"Well, it would be helpful to gather supplies, I suppose." He gestured towards a shelter with the cart underneath it. Guy and the miner dropped their barrel next to it. "We can pile some of there, I think the plan was."

"Why not make a competition out of it, then?" Raine turned back to John. "You can see how many things you can gather and help him keep track of those who have fallen ill. Is there an infirmary nearby?"

John nodded and pointed to the nearby shack where Anise and Natalia had taken their patients. "That used to be a storehouse, but now they're putting people in there who aren't doing well. But Daddy told me to stay away from there."

"He's absolutely right," Raine agreed. "Not everyone who needs to go there can make it on their own." John nodded. "So, some of the things we'll need are food, blankets, healing items, and things like that. You can see if you can gather more things than your father can." John grew more excited with every word. He started fidgeting. "Are you ready for the rules of the game?"

"Yeah!"

"You can leave the items you gather over there like your daddy says," she pointed over to Guy and the miner who now rested at the cart. "Make sure you tell your daddy how many things you've found so he can keep track of who's winning. Every time you see someone who is in serious trouble, you run and let daddy know so he can get them some help. But, you must stay out of the mines and pay attention to others around you. Don't get in their way, okay? Do you think you can do that?"

"Yup! I got it."

"There's a good boy. Now run along before your daddy finds more supplies than you do." John's eyes grew wide, he glanced up at Pyrope, and he took off.

"Huh…" Pyrope watched his son hurry to fetch something and run up to Guy to hand it off. Confused, Guy took it from him and set it on the cart. "You really know how to handle kids, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Raine said as she stood up straight again. "I'm a schoolteacher." Redirection and playing games worked really well with the younger kids like John. She just wished it would work on older kids like Lloyd. Genis had outgrown those strategies, too.

Pyrope chuckled. "Thank you. It's really helpful."

"It's my pleasure."

"Daddy, there's a man here that doesn't look well!" John pointed to a miner leaning over a steaming barrel; his posture reminded Raine of Guy leaning over the rail on the ship. She knew the man was in serious trouble, so Raine hurried to him and cast her healing arte for all the good it would do. He raised his head and offered a hopeless expression.

"We're here to help," Raine said when she saw the despair in his eyes.

"Save your energy for someone who still has some time left."

"Don't worry," Raine replied. She pulled her canteen from her bag. "I already am." She offered him the water and he stared at it before hesitantly taking it from her. "As long as you're breathing and alive, you still have time."

The miner chuckled once, then coughed as he choked down some of the water. Some semblance of life came back to him as he handed the canteen back. "Sure, but I still don't think it's right to waste the resources on me. Once your body begins shutting down, there's nothing more that can be done."

Was that true? Raine wondered. Her regular healing artes likely wouldn't help, but what if she used the unicorn horn? With the horn's restorative properties, then maybe. After all, it saved Pietro back in Hima, why not this man? "What if something could be done?" Raine put away the canteen and fished for the unicorn horn. Puzzled, her watched her with his hands on the barrel, returning his weight to its support. This time, when Raine gathered the fonons, she concentrated them through the horn before directing them to the man's body. Maybe all she needed was to remove the miasma and then heal his body from there. After all, she knew what the miasma felt like and fonons were so much easier to use.

The result was instantaneous. He stood up straight and breathed much more easily.

After a moment of shock, he turned to her and with a note of gratitude, he said, "I suppose so…."

Raine smiled at him. "See? Maybe it's a little too soon to give up." He nodded, thanked her, and excused himself. As he walked away, she saw the hope in his posture and he walked straighter. She scanned the town for anyone else in dire need and her attention caught on a man standing next to a ledge. He peered into the crack in the earth where more miasma gushed.

Ion walked up to Raine with Mieu on his shoulder. "Raine, it sounds like we're ready to head into the mine." Sure enough, when Raine looked back at Pyrope, the others had gathered together. Raine, Ion, and Mieu joined them.

"We should probably head for the mine now," Jade said. "Van will need help with those miners trapped further in." Raine peered back over her shoulder at the thick miasma and that feeling of dread returned.

"Yes, we should help them first."

At the bottom of the wooden elevator, the party approached the tunnel. It had a sign with symbols on it that Raine recognized from her books but couldn't quite read yet. She wanted to pull out her journal and write the symbols down, but perhaps now wasn't the time. Miasma flowed from the tunnel in thicker clouds, making visibility through it a little harder.

"So this is the tunnel…" Tear said.

Raine heard the armor before she saw the knight walking up to them. He headed straight for Tear and saluted her in greeting. "Locrian Sergeant Grants. I've been awaiting you. Please, may I have a moment?" Tear nodded and followed him out of the party's earshot.

"Hey! We're finally here. Don't go wandering off!"

"Luke…" It wasn't often that Guy frowned at his master, but Raine had seen it a lot more lately. She agreed whole-heartedly.

Tear turned back to the party with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry… I have to go with him."

"A mission from the Order?" Jade asked.

When Tear didn't answer but for turning away, Ion said, "That seems to be it. I don't know the details either, but…"

"Oh well, it can't be helped." Then louder, Jade said, "we'll go on without you."

As Tear walked away, Luke reached for her. "Where are you going?"

"She said she had something else to do," Guy replied. "Come on, let's go. People still need us."

"That's the point!" Luke yelled back. "She's leaving. You're telling me there's something more important to do other than saving Akzeriuth?"

Then why aren't you doing more to help them directly? Raine would've scolded him outright, but there was a note of truth in his words that shook her and she couldn't speak. This again was the power of the Score. Mohs had something so important for Tear that he would pull her away from this mission that he had sent them all on. The bad feeling in Raine's stomach gnawed at her. What would they do to her if they found out she wasn't in the Score? For all of Guy's comfort that he tried to offer, she just couldn't shake off the feeling that she was in severe danger if anyone knew the truth about her.

Raine was the last to move as everyone entered the tunnel. The unease persisted with each step, and she realized it wasn't Mohs and the Score she feared right now. Without Tear and the vanguard, they only had this small group to help the miners that fell deep in this tunnel. Something about this whole thing just felt wrong. Why wasn't more help available?

They followed the tunnel through several bends and caves where Raine could see bats hanging from the ceiling. As long as they stayed there, she wouldn't worry too much about them. They walked for quite a while. How far in were these miners? The further she walked through the mines, the more she noticed a strange frequency of fonons, an element she hadn't felt anyone use specifically, but she knew was there. Akzeriuth had been settled over a planetary fon slot.

"Compared to the surface, the miasma's thicker down here," Ion noted.

"Will we be okay though?" Luke asked. "This place is filled with that miasma stuff, isn't it? Why wouldn't it affect us?"

"We should be okay if we don't inhale a large amount over a long period of time," Jade said. "You do have a point, though, since the miasma seems to be getting worse further down the tunnel. We should be careful."

Raine nodded, exploring every aspect of the tunnels with her eyes as she walked. Normally, she would be excited to see how the miners have done their work, but her heart beat so much faster than usual that she found it hard to enjoy this place. The miasma certainly didn't help create a positive atmosphere here. For once, she wanted to get in and get out and forget all about this place's story. Maybe she'd feel differently once they evacuated everyone. The further they walked, the more she could hear echoes of people coughing, and it sounded much worse than what she heard when they first arrived in Akzeriuth. How could they possibly still be alive?

Then the tunnel opened up into a large cavern where dying people lay scattered all over. Raine had thought the people outside sounded awful with their coughing. These people sounded on the verge of death.

"This is horrible," Ion whispered.

"As I thought, the inner part of the mine seems to be the source," Jade said.

"Should we continue further down?" Anise asked.

"No, we should tend to these people first." Natalia said. She had already begun gathering some seventh fonons to heal multiple people. Raine felt the mass collection and closed her eyes to help.

"Yes, that would be for the best…." Jade said. "The miasma's particularly thick here. They'll be in danger if we do nothing to help them."

Raine helped another man back out of the mine and brought him outside to the clearing in the center of Akzeriuth's crater. She stood, looking around. Something didn't feel right, but she still couldn't quite place what. Natalia remained in the cavern to heal the miners there, and some had managed to walk out on their own as a result. Somewhere in the mine, she knew Guy and Jade had likely found more people. Anise did a really good job gathering people and bringing them outside with Tokunaga. They made good progress and could go deeper into the mine to find others.

She returned to the mine center where a few miners remained and Luke, who had been standing around moments ago, was no longer found. Guy half-carried, half-dragged another man down the mine shaft out, and when Raine bent to help yet another miner, she realized Ion wasn't there either. That thought did nothing to ease the tightening web in her chest. Not that they would best serve the people by sticking together so closely, it unnerved her that everyone lost track of everyone else, especially with Tear still gone.

She never did come back from her mission for the Order.

"Please, Miss," the man reached up for Raine's hand. "Please help me." She took it.

"Don't worry, I will." She released him and raised her staff to heal him. She felt the seventh fonons gathering, passed them through the unicorn horn, and watched strength return to the man's body. "That should help." She pulled him to his feet.

"Thank you. I didn't know you were a Seventh Fonist... Your power is phenomenal." He started walking. He looked well enough to keep going by himself, but Raine wanted to know for sure.

"Did you want me to go with you?"

"No, help them." He gestured down yet another tunnel, deeper into the mine. "With a power like yours, you can probably save them."

"Okay, I will." But she still watched him until he disappeared around a bend. Raine turned back to the next leg of the tunnel. Was that the one Jade had gone down? Where else would he have gone? Raine walked further down the mineshaft, her anxiety amplifying. The miasma thickened.

She knelt to check for tracks and saw some shoeprints and a few faint prints in the dirt from a staff. Ion went this way. Why? Was he following Luke? Apparently Luke had gone this way as well. Raine stood up and followed a little further. Listening with every pore of her body, she kept sight and ears both front and behind.

Something just felt wrong. The soldiers weren't here, Van wasn't here, Tear left with a knight, and the party broke up and even lost sight of each other. Everything about this situation just seemed wrong. What did it all mean? Was she just overworking herself because she was afraid?

Raine wandered down the tunnel. The quiet, unnerving.

And then shattered.

From above, she could hear metal beating against metal, people shouting, and chaos that she couldn't fathom the origin of. Was it her party? Should she turn back? Should she keep going?

With as much ruckus as she could hear, going up sounded like suicide….

Then she heard echoing footsteps. Someone ran as fast as they could through the mineshaft. She stepped back against the wall, looking both left and right.

Which way were they coming from? Behind her where the entrance was?

Asch appeared around the bend, carrying his sword in his right hand.

"Don't just stand there!" Asch yelled. "We have to stop him, hurry up!" Raine watched him pass, take the right fork, and disappear around the next bend. What did he mean? Stop whom? Puzzled, she stood indecisive until one by one, the rest of her party came into view from the same direction Asch had appeared. Tear and Jade led the pack with Natalia and Anise behind them. Guy took up the rear with Mieu clinging to his shoulder. Only he stopped long enough to say, "Come on!"

"What's going on?" Raine's heart beat faster than she could run. She kept pace with him as best she could, but Guy really was fast.

"Van's lured us into a trap. He's going to destroy Akzeriuth."

Something clicked in Raine's mind. No soldiers. Tear was led away. Luke is a replica of Asch. It all connected somehow and although she didn't understand the whole picture yet, she knew the very center of it. It explained all that she knew.

Van was up to something.

Damn. I knew I had a bad feeling...

The Horrible State of the Mines

Akzeriuth was full of miasma, with people lying on the ground everywhere... What a dirty place. Everyone started talking about how to save them-they weren't even worried about catching whatever those people had. I just want to find Master Van-he'll know what I need to do.

Apparently Master Van headed into the mine with the vanguard. I'd better hurry after him.

When we were about to enter the mine, an Oracle Knight came up and called Tear back because he said they found the Seventh Fonstone. I keep getting confused because there are good Oracle Knights and bad ones... All I know is that Mohs and the Six God-Generals are enemies, while Ion and Master Van are allies.

It seems like Tear's real purpose was to look for the Seventh Fonstone, so Ion agreed and she left. What a relief not to have to deal with that unsociable girl. Anyway, after Master Van!

When we went deeper into the mine, we found a bunch of people collapsed- it looked really bad. And I still couldn't find Master Van anywhere. And then I heard Asch's voice in my head, and he told me not to go any farther. Why should I listen to a God-General, huh?!

Becoming a Hero

We split up to check out the area, and I finally found Master Van at the far end of the mine.

There was one of those weird-looking doors behind him like we saw in the Zao Ruins (a Daathic seal, was it?). When I approached him, he told Ion to open the door. Apparently there's something called a "passage ring" in there, and if I use my hyperresonance on it, the miasma will disappear. Master Van and I made Ion open the seal, and we headed inside.

Genis's sobs persisted in his ears as he got to the inn. Kratos wasn't a fan of the acute hearing that came with the angel transformation, but it had its advantages. After confirming the party was returning to Mizuho, he concentrated to block the distant sounds. It was uncomfortable to hear crying you weren't able to calm down.

Not like I could have helped.

Kratos's honesty would have hurt the young half-elf more. The conclusion to his wandering was a simple one; it was absolutely impossible Raine Sage was anywhere in Tethe'alla. There were two options at that point that could explain why he hadn't found her yet.

The best-case scenario was she managed to land in Exire, a place Kratos didn't exactly have the means to reach on his own at the moment. Besides the whole hidden island in the sky, its protector, Maxwell, would not be pleased if he felt the presence of one who betrayed him.

The worst-case scenario? Raine died when her Rheaird crashed and that's why nobody had seen her, her body already food to the wild monsters.

Kratos brushed those thoughts aside when he reached the inn. He couldn't waste any more time in this wild goose chase. His mission, Lloyd, came first.

When he entered the room he rented, Kratos sighed. This whole charade was unnecessary since he didn't need to sleep, but to the normal humans, him wandering around in the streets even at night would raise suspicions. The latest events with Lloyd's group surely left the villagers tense over any strangers entering, so it was better to be in their good graces. Moreover, his body may be okay, but his mind still needed a break. Walking around for many days while dealing with Pronyma had taken a toll, so remaining in Ozette for a few days would give him enough time to hide from prying eyes, recuperate and think of his next move.

So, he sat in the bed, like he used to when he shared a room with Lloyd back in Sylvarant, sword in hand, and stayed on guard while observing the only window in the room. The little light that was left started to go down as day turned to night, leaving him alone in the dark, his light breathing the only sound he heard.

However, the dark thoughts in his head were much louder than he wanted them to be.

A dead family who disowned and erased him from history. His actions during the war. Mithos, the broken pupil. Yuan, a friend who dared not look him in the eye anymore. Martel, who left this world too soon. All the humans who suffered under their new world order. The Chosen Ones, some of them children no older than 10, offered as pointless sacrifices. His sins as he watched all the people being tortured and experimented on inside the Human Ranches.

Anna, who chose to love him and died for it.

Lloyd, who remained unaware of the truth and hated him.

The group of friends who rightfully despised him. Zelos, who wished for his death after being used and abandoned. Colette, who would die a painful death the longer she refused to follow her supposed fate. Sheena, who only wanted to save her people and new best friend from him. Genis, who was willing to trust him if it meant finding his lost sister.

Raine… who probably was another pointless death on his hands.

His lack of action and defiance. His worthless life, one he would willingly give up for the sake of Lloyd's success. And then… he would finally find rest in the hands of cold death, one eager to get him after millennia of escaping it.

A/N: YAY! 35 is done! I can't express how excited both Raven and I are about finally getting this one finished. We know you waited so patiently for the last hundred years while we worked on this. (Whut? It seemed that long. It must've been, right?) Well, once again, you can blame Kat for taking so long because that's how we roll.

Anyway, Raven has a few things she wanted me to pass on to ya'll:

The first part where Kratos wanders until he leaves the party in Ozette was written to the tune of "Magna's Heart" by Coeur de Pirate, specifically inspiring Kratos's directionless wandering while reasoning everything that has happened. This song really helped her feel the lonliness that Kratos felt.

The second part, which is mostly Kratos's musings in the inn, was concocted thanks to "Haru wa Yuku" by Aimer. The song's lyrics reminded her so much of his and Anna's relationship because it's exactly what happened to them.

Also, a shoutout to AngelAdept because she's been looking forward to Kratos's PoV for so long. Merry Christmas, AngelAdept! You were heard!

Now go reach chapter 36 because it's up too. :)

~~Kat and Raven (totally just realized we're both using animal names... LOL)