The next chapter is here and I'm keeping to my once a week update. Thanks again for everyone who has read this story.

Now, onward to the chapter.

Chapter 40: Pietro

Sheena lay awake as she heard Kratos and Lloyd walked back to camp. It would seem that Kratos was able to get through to Lloyd. At least that was one less thing to worry about.

"So, what do we do now, Sheena?" Corrine whispered as he lay next to Sheena, taking in his master's warmth. "Are we going to help them?"

Sheena gave a loud sighed. "I was sent to kill the Chosen. Before now…I was willing to end her life and this world to save Tethe'alla and regain my honor. But now...how can I kill the Chosen and condemn everyone here to further suffering by being turned into exspheres?" She looked down at her hand where her own exsphere laid. To think she was looking at another person's life sent shivers down her spine. "To think that this evil even exists in our world."

"But if the Chosen lives, wouldn't the people of Tethe'alla also be subjected to the same thing?" Corrine asked. "Regardless, people will be turned into exspheres and used as tools by the Desians."

Sheena slammed her fist into the ground as she sat up. "There must be another way. I just can't sit here and watch people suffer anymore. I may have been sent here on a mission, but if I go through with this and kill the Chosen knowing everything I know now…..then I won't be any different from the Desians."

"Sheena..." Corrine whispered.

"I've made up my mind," Sheena said as she stared at the Chosen's group who was sleeping in the distance. "Tomorrow, we shall join the Chosen."

The rest of the night passed peacefully and by first light, the group was up and having breakfast. Sheena was with them, but she ate separate from the group.

"Lloyd, are you okay now?" Colette asked once he had finished his plate.

Lloyd nodded. "I'm still upset about what I've learned, but I won't let it hold me back anymore. To prevent creating more victims like Marble and my mom, I'm going to fight the Desians." He touched his exsphere tenderly. "I will fight for both myself and my mom who lives on within me."

Yeah," Genis said as he also touched his exsphere. "I'm going to fight on Marble's behalf as well. It's what she would had wanted, I'm sure." He may have been unable to save her life, but he was going to make sure that her death meant something other than just another victim.

Colette smiled and nodded. "I'm going to regenerate the world as quickly as I can."

Lloyd cringed at her statement, but chose to say nothing.

"I think you've made a wise decision, Lloyd," Raine said, proud of Lloyd's maturity.

Sheena slowly put down her plate and stared at the group. There was no point in waiting any longer. "Will you take me along with you?"

The questioned took almost everyone off guard. Kratos heard her talking last night about her decision, so the announcement did not shock him. Regardless, he still did not trust her and her knowledge made her dangerous. At the same time, having another powerful hand was always welcomed.

"Now that I know, I…I can't pretend like nothing happened. This is too cruel," Sheena said as she tightened her grip. "I want to help saved those people...and this world."

Kratos looked towards Colette. "Well, what do you want to do?" He already knew the answer, however.

Colette clapped her hands together happily. "Of course you're welcome to join us!"

Raine gave a deep sighed. This was a foregone conclusion the minute Sheena asked her question.

Lloyd turned towards Sheena and smiled. "Yeah, you saved us and all."

Genis pumped his fist into the air. "Let's fight the Desians together!"

Sheena looked towards Raine, waiting for her answer. Kratos may follow the Chosen, but she knew Raine was a different matter.

"Do as you wish," Raine stated coldly as she stood up. "I'll trust you for now."

Her voice promised that she would make Sheena pay if she dared betrayed their trust. Sheena couldn't help but to admire Raine for that.

"Thank you all," Sheena said gratefully as she bowed her head. Although she was betraying her mission, her village, and her very world, she felt she was doing the right thing. She just hoped her grandpa and Tiga could forgive her.

"Now that's settled, what are we going to do about Luin?" Lloyd asked.

"Kvar will undoubtedly increase the security now. We won't be able to get in easily," Kratos informed calmly. He did not want to go near Kvar again, but knew it was pointless to talk sense to the Chosen or Lloyd.

Raine put her hand on her chin in thought. "From what Sheena told us, the Desians attacked Luin because they hid escapees from the Ranch. The question is, how did those prisoners escape to begin with?"

Sheena frowned. "If one of those escapees were still here, we could ask them."

"Maybe they still are," Lloyd said. "Didn't that priest said that several people were hiding inside the church when the Desians attacked?"

"Yeah, but he also said that there were mostly children," Genis said.

"Regardless, it's a place to start," Lloyd said.

Rained nodded. "Lloyd's right. We should at least ask."

With their minds made up, the group made their way to the small church on the other side of the city. The area was crowded with people, mostly women and children.

"Sheena!" one of the kids yelled.

Sheena immediately recognized the boy. "Bobby!"

Bobby ran to hug her. "You're okay. I thought they took you along with mom."

Sheena's eyes softened. "They took your mom?"

Bobby nodded as tears began to fall from his eyes. "Yeah...but I'm sure she's okay. She has dad after all."

Lloyd turned his head away as his fists shook in anger.

"Bobby, are there any escapees from the Ranch still here?" Sheena asked gently. The sooner they found a way back into Kvar's Ranch, the sooner they could save Bobby's family along with everyone else.

"There're a few," Bobby answered.

"Can you take me to them?" Sheena asked.

Bobby nodded. "Follow me."

Bobby led the group through several people until they reached a person who was much thinner and paler than the other people in the area.

"Excuse me, but are you one of the people who escaped from the Ranch?" Lloyd asked.

The man looked up at Lloyd with blanked eyes. "Who wants to know?"

Lloyd was a little taken back by the man's tone. "Well...we would like to know how you were able to escape."

"If you're thinking about going to the Ranch, forget it. Those people are a lost cause," the man said harshly.

"How can you say that?" Genis asked in disbelief. "You better than anyone knows the suffering those people are going through."

"Naive child, look around," the man replied coldly. "This town was destroyed because me and others dared to escape. If you challenged Kvar, he may very well burn down the entire area."

Kratos knew that such an act of cruelty was within Kvar's scope.

"But we can't just leave those people to suffer," Lloyd said as he balled one of his hands. "We plan to end Kvar once and for all."

The man laughed humorlessly. "You kill Kvar? Who do you think you are?"

"That does not matter," Raine said before Genis could say anything. They should not raise people's hope by telling them that Colette was the Chosen. "Regardless, this city will die if the people are not returned. I'm certain that you wouldn't want that on your conscience."

The man glared at Raine. "That's a low blow."

"Please, help us," Colette pleaded.

The man turned his eyes away from Colette. "Look, I honestly don't know how we escape. The person who saved us was Pietro."

"Pietro?" Lloyd repeated.

The man nodded. "I don't know how, but he found a shortcut out of the Ranch. He's the only one that can help you."

"Is Pietro here?" Colette asked.

The man shook his head. "He and some others left to return home a little over a week after we escaped."

"Those people were able to move despite their condition?" Kratos asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, it was crazy, but they really wanted to get home," the man said. "I think it was because they were all sick."

"Sick?" Lloyd questioned.

"Some of us were in better conditions than others," the man explained in a forlorn voice. "Although Pietro was the one who led us to freedom, he was one of the sickly ones in the group. I think it was because he and some of the others were at the Ranch longer. I know Pietro has been at the Ranch for at least three seasons."

Kratos had a suspicion of what had made them sick. "Sir, do you still have an exsphere on you?"

"Exsphere?" the man questioned.

"Yeah, it's a red stone that the Desians place on everyone who get taken to the Ranch," Lloyd said in disgust as he remembered all the people they saved from the Palmacosta Ranch. He hoped his dad was able to help those people.

The man held out his hand. "You mean this?"

The exsphere was still a light red, showing that he had it for only a short period.

"As soon as you're able, you need to see a dwarf and get that removed," Kratos advised. "Otherwise, you will become very sick yourself."

The man's eyes widen in horror. "I….I didn't know that."

"My dad can help you," Lloyd said. "He's a dwarf that lives near Iselia."

The man smiled gratefully. "Thank you so much for telling me."

"I guess there's nothing left to do except to find this Pietro," Genis said. He turned back towards the man "Where did he go to?"

"I think his hometown is Hima," the man said.

"Hima, that is at least a day's journey from here," Kratos said.

Lloyd gave a loud sigh. "I guess we better get moving then."

Kratos led the group out of the city and they began their journey.

"I haven't really heard of Hima," Genis said as they walked out of the ruined city. "I wondered what it's like?"

"Hima is a very small town," Raine said. "There isn't much there except for an orphanage run by the Church of Martel."

"I thought the only orphanage was in Palmacosta," Genis said.

"The orphanage in Hima keeps mostly older and trouble kids," Kratos said. "For the lack of better words, the orphanage in Hima is for kids that can never be adopted."

"That's a terrible thing to do," Colette said sadly. "All kids deserve a loving home to grow up in."

"Sometimes, that simply is not the reality," Raine said.

Lloyd briefly thought about how he could have been at one of those orphanages if Dirk hadn't taken him in. He probably wouldn't have been adapted since he was a 'troubled' kid in the past with all the nightmares.

"Besides the orphanage, Hima tends to get a lot of adventurers," Raine informed.

"Why would adventurers go there?" Lloyd asked.

"Hima has a lot of high peaks that makes it an ideal mountain climbing spot. Not to mention that some of the stronger monsters in the world lives near those mountains," Raine said.

"Sounds cool," Lloyd said excitedly.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. You're nowhere near strong enough to fight the monsters in that area," Kratos said harshly.

"Actually, I am slightly wrong," Raine suddenly said. "Hima, if I recall, has a magnificent view of the Tower of Salvation."

"Really, we have to see it!" Colette exclaimed.

The rest of the walk was somewhat uneventful. There were attacked from time to time by some monsters, but they were treated more as a practice from Lloyd, Genis, and Sheena than actual threats. Kratos did not even fight and hung back when they fought against the group of monsters.

"Hey Sheena, I've been meaning to ask how you are able to fight with cards?" Lloyd asked after nearly a day of traveling.

"Oh, these aren't cards, but paper that has been enchanted with seals," Sheena explained.

"Seals, you mean like charms?" Lloyd questioned.

"Well, it's similar to the charms dwarves uses, but there're not quite the same," Sheena explained. "I can't really explain it myself, but seals enhance the paper to give it special properties. For example, the seals on my paper make it as hard as a steal blade."

Lloyd's eyes widen in shock. "That strong!"

"Yeah, and I can use my mana through the seals to give me special attacks like taking other people mana or sealing their spells," Sheena stated.

"Wow, that all sounds so cool," Lloyd said in awe. "No wonder you're so tough."

Sheena blushed at the compliment.

"I think I've heard of such seals, but the art has been lost for centuries," Raine suddenly spoke up. "It seems kind of odd that you somehow know such a lost art."

Sheena turned her head away from the elf, but said nothing. What could she say without revealing herself?

"Can you put seals like that on my swords?" Lloyd asked, paying no attention to the current tension.

"I do not how to actually make the seals," Sheena admitted. "Someone from my village does it."

"Oh, where is your village?" Lloyd asked.

Sheena coughed nervously. "I can't tell you that."

Lloyd blinked in confusion. "Why not?"

"It's a secret village, hidden away from everyone. I can't tell you where it is," Sheena said. That was mostly true.

"Seals, secret village, everything about you Sheena is so cool," Lloyd said in delight. "I'm glad we're not enemies anymore."

Sheena couldn't help but laughed in agreement. She was starting to like this boy.

It was around mid-afternoon of the next day when Hima came into sight. The town was indeed small with only a few houses. The only two major buildings were the inn and the orphanage on the far side of the town.

"Well, there's definitely not much to see here," Genis observed dryly.

"I wonder if we get to see one of those powerful monster around here," Lloyd said as he looked around.

"Remember why we are here," Kratos said firmly, trying to get Lloyd to focused.

"Do we search the town? This place isn't that big," Genis suggested.

"It would be far easier if we just asked," Kratos said as he heading towards the inn. That would be the most likely place to learn any information.

When they walked in they saw a young lady standing at the front desk.

Kratos was half-expecting to see the old couple that took care of Anna and him when they were here. That was, however, over fourteen years ago and the woman who ran the inn was badly injured in that Desian attack.

"Hello, my name is Sophia," the girl said kindly. "How may I help you today?"

Sheena walked up to the desk. "We're looking for a man named Pietro. We were told he came here."

A panic expression crossed Sophia's face before she attempted to regain her composer. "Pietro?"

"Yeah, he's an escapee from the Ranch," Lloyd explained. "We really need to talk to him."

Sophia put her head down. "I'm sorry...he passed away."

Everyone, saved Kratos, was shocked to hear this.

"He died?" Sheena asked in disbelief.

Sophia nodded. "Yeah, he was very sick when he came here and he just died a couple days ago."

Kratos stared at the woman. She didn't sound truthful to him. In fact, he was certain that she was lying.

"Damn, now what?" Lloyd asked in frustration.

"Did he say anything? Something about the Human Ranch perhaps?" Genis asked desperately.

Sophia quickly shook her head. "I…I don't know…I don't even know if he really escaped from there."

"What about his belongings?" Raine asked.

"He didn't have any," Sophia answered without looking Raine in the eye.

"Where is his grave?" Raine asked dispassionately.

Lloyd glanced at his teacher. She wasn't thinking of grave robbing, wasn't she?

Sophia obviously didn't like the question. "At the back of the adventurers' graveyard. Ah, don't think about digging up his grave, please," she quickly added.

Raine didn't answer as she walked out of the inn and straight for the gravesite. The others quickly followed her until they reached the area where several graves stood. It was a small graveyard, sectioned away and newly formed. None of the graves had names on them.

"This much be where all the people from the Ranch are buried," Genis surmised dejectedly. "I guess they didn't want to put their names down in fear that the Desians would figure out who these people were."

"Or, they didn't know their names to begin with," Sheena added somberly.

"I suppose digging up the grave is out of the question," Raine mused mostly to herself.

Despite her cold demeanor, not even she would dishonor the dead in such a way.

Colette put her hands together. "We should pray for their spirits."

"Chosen…mana…d…die," a strange voice said from behind the group.

They all turned around to see a man slowly approached them. He was terribly skinny to the point that they could see his bones and far too pale. He walked more liked a zombie than an actual person. His eyes were also glassy and salvia poured unheeded from his partly opened mouth.

"Who's that!?" Genis asked in fear of the strange man. He looked like a walking corpse.

"He undoubtedly an escapee of the Ranch," Kratos said. "Look at his hand."

They all looked to see an exsphere embedded into his hand. The exsphere was red and the area around the skin was black and swollen. It looked like the exsphere was growing out of his hand.

"Chosen…die…angel…die… Human…Ranch…underground…" the man continued to moaned.

"What he's saying?" Genis asked.

Sheena approached the man. "Tell me, are you Pietro?

The man just moaned in respond.

"Here you are!" Sophia yelled as she ran towards the man. She firmly gripped his arm. "You mustn't come out here."

"Chosen…mana…d…die," the man repeated, not hearing a world Sophia said.

Sheena glared at Sophia. "That man is Pietro, isn't he?"

Sophia turned her eyes away from her.

"You've lied to us," Raine stated coldly.

"That..." Sophia started, but Lloyd quickly approached Pietro.

"Please tell me, how did you get away from the Human Ranch?" Lloyd asked.

Pietro stared at Lloyd for a moment. It was like he was attempting to focus his thoughts. "Boulder…big…underground…jewel…boulder…move…Chosen…"

"What are you saying?" Genis asked in frustration. Pietro's broken and slur speech made him nearly impossible to understand.

"Please, let him be," Sophia demanded as she held Pietro defensively. "He has been through enough already."

Sheena glared at the woman. "You may be happy just protecting Pietro, but because of this guy and the other escapees, countless people from Luin are dead! How about helping us just a little!"

"Sheena!" Colette exclaimed.

Sophia quickly returned Sheena's glare. "I'm sure Pietro has many things he wants to say, as well, but because of the curse, he's been turned into this."

Lloyd inwardly shivered as he looked over Pietro. Was this yet another effect of having a crestless key crest? His dad wasn't kidding when he said exspheres could make you very sick. Nonetheless, they needed Pietro's help regardless of his condition.

"But he's still alive. The dead can't even tell us that they were scared," Lloyd said firmly as he looked back towards Pietro. "Please, help us."

Pietro was so far gone that Lloyd wasn't even sure he heard his plea.

"We want to go to the Ranch," Colette told Sophia. "If it's possible to get out, it's possible to get back in, right? Please."

Sophia lowered her head for a moment. "I'm willing to help you, but in exchange, lift his curse. The healing technique left behind by Boltzman is in the Tower of Mana. That may be able to cure his curse."

"Couldn't we just have Dirk remove the exsphere?" Genis asked.

"Even if the exsphere is removed, it is already too late," Kratos informed. "The exsphere has poisoned his blood and is slowly shutting down his body. Given his current condition, he will be dead in a matter of weeks." He turned around to glance at the graves. "I am certain that it was this disease that killed the others that returned with him."

"Kratos is right," Lloyd stated sadly. "It is an illness dad told me about. It happens when an exsphere has remained too long without a key crest and it corrupts the mana in a person. It doesn't happen often, but this illness is always fatal. He also said that a cure for it has all but been lost."

"Which is why you need a special healing technique," Sophia said. "I'm certain that can lift the curse those Desians put on him."

Raine nodded in understanding. "Alright, but infiltrating the Ranch comes first. That I won't relinquish."

Sophia gave a long sigh. "When he escaped from the Ranch, he said he came out through the front yard and he blocked the exit with a boulder. His things are in the grave. Take them with you."

Colette smiled gratefully. "Thank you. We'll come back when we've acquired the healing technique, I promise."

Sophia nodded as she turned her attention back towards Pietro. "Come, let's go," she urged gently as she led Pietro back into the inn. The broken man could barely walk and was being supported by Sophia.

"That poor man," Colette whispered. "We have to help him."

"We first have to save the people in Luin," Sheena said as she began to dig up the fake grave.

"Even when people escape, the Desians' poison still remains," Lloyd growled. "Damn them."

"Even with this new way to enter the Ranch, we cannot lower our guard," Kratos said. "Kvar is far too clever."

"Clever or not, I'm going to make that bastard pay for everything," Lloyd growled. "I will avenge my mom and the people of Luin."

"Just don't let your anger blind you to the danger," Kratos warned.

"I found something," Sheena said as she pulled out a red orb. "This must be it."

"Great, let's go," Lloyd said.

"No, we should rest here," Kratos said sternly. "It will be days before we reach the Ranch again. There is no point over extending ourselves."

Raine nodded. "Kratos' right. We also need to resupply."

Lloyd's shoulder slumped. "I know you're right...but..."

"Kvar will be taken care of," Sheena said as she put the orb away. "You have my word on that."

Shorter chapter than usual, but Sheena finally officially joins the party. This will be fun going forward since Sheena is such an interesting character and she's joins so late in this section of the story, making her feel like a sixth ranger.

Hope to see you all next week.