A/N: Oh my crap I think this is the fastest update yet. It helps that it's only half the length of the last chapter. Also, my corners are officially cut.

My excuse for this year is that when this semester is over, I will hopefully be graduating with a degree in Communication Design! However, I am optimistic that I should be able to update again within the year. (That actually sounds pretty sad. Oh well.) This depends on how much of a pain Palmacosta wants to be. Urgh.

So after that, we ended up traveling all through the night with all the prisoners from the ranch. A lot of them were sick or injured and couldn't go as fast as we were (since there was MUCH HASTE to move Colette's unconscious self to Asgard) so we had the stronger people help the weaker ones along until we hit a House of Salvation. I don't know why the heck we didn't just rest there for the night, but I guess it suddenly became crowded there with forty-something people and everyone from our group is far too noble to take up the beds from them, so we left them there with the priest (who promised to send a letter to Dirk about keycrests) and continued our tromping along to Asgard.

We did encounter bandits at one point (musta thought they were being smart) and uh... I think it's better if you don't know what happened to those poor bastards. Let's just say everyone's blood pressure was running a little high by that point. Did you know Kratos could kill people with his arms full of unconscious Chosen? I sure didn't know that.

Eventually we arrived back here in Asgard. Raine and Kratos bullied us into the best room in the second-best inn, and that's where we've been holed up since. It's been a day now and Colette is still unconscious, so Raine went out to find a proper doctor to look at her. In the meantime, Kratos all but threw Lloyd out the door because his teenage angst was beginning to get on his nerves. I have no idea where the hell he is now, which is a little worrying but Kratos doesn't seem to give a damn so I'm sure he's just blowing off steam somewhere. Sheena and Genis left to tour the 'fascinating' cave ruins, and I left to go shopping because I promised I'd get myself a notebook way back in freaking HIMA and then I forgot about it. That situation has now been rectified and yaaaaay I has a journal to chronicle all this crap in. I better hope Kratos doesn't read it though, or else I'm gonna have to burn every page after I write it. Maybe I can write all my notes in Spanish... But that would seem suspicious, wouldn't it? Also Raine might want to dissect my brain for a translation of the pages.

Meh. I'm starting to think I'm screwed either way 'round here. Can't even wait until the shit hits the fan at the Tower. If they don't kill me then, they'll want to immediately afterwards.

...you know what, this is all Kratos' fault. FUCK YOU KRATOS. ...ah crap he's gonna appear and kill me now, isn't he.

I promptly snapped the little brown book shut and proceeded to look around for the aforesaid mercenary in case he somehow happened to be reading over my shoulder from fifty paces. Given that I was sitting on the end of the wide stone aquifer that jutted out over the deep, giant crack running through Asgard, I had nowhere to go in case he suddenly did appear. On the other hand, it would be easy for him to make my murder look like an accident.

Man, ever since Lloyd had had to open his big fat mouth in the Asgard ranch I had Kratos murdering me in my mind all the time. It was getting to the point where I couldn't look at either of them without twitching. That just wasn't right.

Shaking my head, I reassured myself that I was alone on the edge here and that nobody was sneaking up to kill me. That was the entire purpose of my sitting up here, anyway. It was private, quiet enough that I would probably hear boots crunching on the stone before anyone got within twenty feet, and the view was spectacular. I pretty much had a three-sixty view of all of Asgard, barring what was right below me anyway. I tried not to look down into the giant crack too much because I had this thing about heights; being that as long as my rump was firmly secure on something solid, I could handle it. The minute my rump was not secure was when I started to get shaky and nauseous.

One would think the wind out here would be strong enough to blow me off, but it actually wasn't. Down in the main part of Asgard was where the wind ran strong enough to rumple hair and ruffle clothing. They said that at the top of the valley, the wind was supposed to scream through the mountain peaks that cradled the town... but down here on my perch, the wind was just a gentle breeze. It sometimes carried snippets of conversation from across the gorge to me, which was cool. I had never really known that was actually possible before. It had distracted me sometimes when I had been writing, but now it just felt like the town was talking to me.

Tucking the notebook into my hip pouch, I carefully plugged the stopper back into my little bottle of ink and wiped the pen on a rag before arranging them all in with the book. Writing with an inkpen had been a little awkward at first, but it wasn't like I'd never handled one of the things before. I was an artist by trade back home, and drawing was my hobby. If it could fit in your hand and made marks, I'd probably attempted to doodle a picture with it by now. The only problem was that the ink tended to smear all over the side of my hand, because I wrote left-handed. That was more what I had the rag for in the first place. I had been sitting on the end of this aquifer for over an hour now writing down everything that had happened to me since I had first plopped down on Sylvaranti soil. Still not sure why I was doing it - having all this information lying around was, as previously discussed, very risky for me. But I felt like I had to do it. Seeing the words written on the page made everything seem... real.

This journey wasn't a dream. These scars arcing over my body really were the results of life-threatening battles that I had won. There really was a strange little pulsating black rock stuck into my chest that somehow amplified my abilities. I was in a video game.

But the longer I spend here, the less it feels like a game... How long do I have until that line between game and reality blurs out of my control?

The Tower of Salvation. Somehow, I just knew that that would be the turning point for me. Everything until then was predictable... and once Kratos betrayed us, that was it. The others would be massively confused, outraged, desperate, and searching for answers. I would be the only one left with a sane brain who could possibly tell them what had just happened to their quiescent little lives. Could I weave another layer of lies to protect their sanity and convince them this was out of my control? Would I want to? There were things that happened throughout the story that I'd always hated and wanted the power to change... but I was always afraid at the same time. One ripple in the pond always creates another. I didn't want to start a domino effect if I couldn't see where it was going.

"Angsting on this aquifer all day isn't going to get anything done," I told the Asgard gorge as I very carefully stood up and stepped back from the edge before brushing off the seat of my pants. The wind took my words away, and I let it ruffle my ponytail for a moment before slowly turning and pacing my way back down the smooth grey stone to the end. It was time for me to head back to the inn and see if I could beg food from the cook for lunch... then see if somebody was available to teach me the proper way to patch a shirt. I was currently wearing one of Raine's spares, which was a bit too large for me but still quite comfortable. At least it fit under my vest without looking terribly unfashionable.

(In case you happened to forget, my previous shirt was quite mutilated and burned from my experiences in the Asgard ranch. Don't ask me how my vest managed to survive with only bloodstains and a mild fraying of the hems.)

As I stepped back onto the solid dirt road on the upper rim of Asgard, I spied a blur of color against all the grey stone from the corner of my eye and turned my head in time to see Sheena and Genis exiting the upper cavern of ruins. "Hey! Hey, Sheena! Genis!" I hollered to get their attention as I began to trot towards them, happy for some company and possibly suckering one of them into mending my shirt for me. Of our entire group, Genis was easily the most domestic one and I had a feeling that Sheena was good with sewing. Or... good with needles, at least.

The two of them stopped and looked up from whatever they were discussing about the cave paintings as I approached. "What are you doing all the way up here?" Genis asked as I drew level with them and we began to amble our way back towards the gravelly slope that led into the bowels of the city.

"Got bored, desired silence," I shrugged, waving my hand briefly in the direction of the aquifer. "Also being stuck in a room with Kratos glaring at you is awkward."

Genis and Sheena grimaced for a moment before the ninja started to chortle. "That sounds like such fun. Genis was just telling me about the history of the Sylph in this city," she explained with a small gleam in her eyes. I glanced down towards Genis, who wore a self-satisfied little smirk on his face. Sounded like his sister taught him well indeed. At least it was a good topic to bring up with a summoner and not have her bored to tears for an hour.

"So now what are you guys gonna do?" I asked, fiddling with the hem of my borrowed shirt behind my back. "I dunno if the doctor is still there examining Colette or not... " My two companions looked extremely contemplative for a moment. "And I still have no idea where Lloyd is."

Genis' frown creased a line between his eyes. "Knowing Lloyd, I bet he's doing something stupid."

"You know, I don't think I would blame him in this case." Sheena hm'd thoughtfully before she snapped her fingers and a card appeared out of freakin' nowhere. I must have jumped back a foot before I realized that she wasn't going to try and kill me with it. Darn reflexes. The ninja gave me an odd look and waggled the card in my direction. "I could send Corrine out to find him, if you guys want."

I shrugged, having no idea whether or not Lloyd would appreciate the intrusion on his privacy. Genis fiddled with his kendama a moment before he shrugged too. "It can't hurt, right? We're just making sure he's safe and all."

"Yeah. Corrine!" The fox spirit appeared in a poof of smoke in front of his summoner, poofy blue-striped tails wiggling in the air. "Hey, can you find Lloyd for us? We just want to know what he's up to," Sheena explained to the fox.

Corrine tilted his head to the side for a moment, one ear flicking. "Okay, Sheena. I'll be back!" He chirped, turning tail and scampering off into the city with a faint ringing of his bell. I watched the little fox spirit go and wondered to myself just how the hell he managed to pull off all the sneaky things he did while being colored like a handful of Jolly Ranchers and wearing a bell around his neck. At least Sheena had complete faith in his abilities, because she started walking again after a moment. Genis and I caught up with her once we finished boggling at Corrine's vanishing backside, and together we all resumed our trip back to the inn.

"So guys, either of you know how to sew?" I asked after a minute of silent walking. Genis sputtered and Sheena just looked at me.

"You don't know how to sew?" The ninja asked.

I opened my mouth and thought a moment. "Do either of you know how to sew well?" I amended my statement. "I know how to sew, I've just... never had to patch something before."

"I think the question you want to ask here is 'Will one of you please fix my shirt?'" Genis replied dryly. Sheena laughed as I gave the little mage my biggest, most pleading pair of puppy eyes ever.

"Oh Geniiiiiis please fix my shirt please please pleeeease,"

"Wha- Augh! Fine! Get away from me!" Genis yelped, taking cover behind the other side of Sheena before his brain caught up to his mouth and he facepalmed. "You are so annoying sometimes, you know that?"

I grinned widely. "I like to think it's part of my charm."

"You have no charm," the mage muttered. "You're just evil."

Caught between the two of us, Sheena just smiled and chuckled a little as I pestered Genis all the way back to the inn.

[x]

The first thing I noticed when we stepped back into the lobby of the inn was that Kratos was all scrunched up in a corner reading a book and generally trying to be not-noticed. He had red hair and was wearing purple spandex, so I thought he was failing at that spectacularly. As if sensing my thoughts, the mercenary raised his head marginally enough to give me a blood-curdling glare with his garnet eyes. Clearly that was how he was keeping the rabble away from him. Even Chuck Norris wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole.

I scrunched around behind Sheena to get further away from the aura of malevolence emanating from the corner. The ninja was much more unfazed, glancing over to the door of our room before looking back to Kratos. "Did the doctor leave yet?"

A grunt was all we got from him. That could have meant anything from "Yes, he did" all the way to "No, I killed him and dumped his body out back". Genis and I looked warily at each other for a moment until the door to our room suddenly clicked open and the Professor stepped out.

"Raine!" Genis launched himself at his sister because she was presumably not about to split his head open with a book. "Did the doctor leave? How's Colette?"

"Yes, he left," Raine sighed, placing a hand on Genis' head to make him stop with the bouncing like a two-year-old. "And Colette is fine. She's no worse, at least."

"But that don't mean she's better, right?" I asked from around Sheena.

"Doesn't," Raine corrected with a teacherly scold. "And I don't know that. Colette will recover at her own pace, and in the meantime we are just going to have to wait." This last part she seemed to direct particularly at Kratos in the corner, who scowled and hunched down further behind his book. I suddenly began to realize why he was even out here in the first place instead of hovering over Colette's bedside like a rabid dog. That was probably one altercation I wouldn't have minded missing. "Does anyone know where Lloyd is?" Raine went on after a moment of looking over our little group and realizing we were minus one swordsman.

Sheena, Genis, and I collectively looked at each other and shrugged. "We've got Corrine on it," Sheena told the Professor. That was perhaps a bad thing to mention, given the way Raine's eyes suddenly lit up with interest.

"By the way Sheena, I've been meaning to ask about your Summon Spirit," she started with a remarkably smooth, controlled tone as she slipped an arm around Sheena's shoulders and steered her towards the direction of the kitchen. "Why don't we get some lunch and you can tell me more about Corrine?"

"Uh - " And then Sheena was abducted without being able to resist. I winced at how smoothly that all went off.

"Genis, your sister is lethal."

"She's a goner," the mage agreed before he turned and headed off towards our room. "Now c'mon and find me this shirt I'm supposed to be fixing."

".. oh, right. Shirt!" I scrambled after Genis into the room and quietly meandered my way over towards my pack in the dim light. Raine had left all the shades drawn so Colette could get some peaceful sleep or rest or what the hell ever it was that angels got, which was good for her but made finding stuff in here kinda sucky. I managed to locate my pack after some fumbling around and started digging into it to find the remains of my shirt. Meanwhile, Genis lit a candle in the background and located the little sewing kit he had in his own pack.

"Where did you get that?" I asked curiously as my fingers ran over something shredded and burnt. That would be my shirt, then; which I pulled out and shook off a little to get the wrinkles out. It didn't help much, and charred flakes of something suspicious floated off the sleeves onto the ground.

Genis shrugged as he reached to take the garment from me. "Raine. It was a present." Running the poor abused cloth through his fingers a few times, the mage squinted at it in the candlelight before a deep frown creased his features. "Are you sure this can even be fixed? Look at this!" He scrubbed his fingers over one of the charred sleeves and I swear about half the cloth disintegrated right there in his hand to drift down to the floor as little dusty flakes.

"Dude, hey, don't go destroying it more than it already is!" I squawked.

Genis snorted. "Are you kidding me? These are thoroughly ruined." He shook bits of ash residue off his fingers as more of the sleeves crumbled into dust. "That rip on the shoulder I could fix, sure; but this burn on the front and these sleeves are all way out of my skill range." Shaking his head, the mage thrust the remains of the garment back at me and dusted his clothes off. "Face it, you need a new shirt."

I looked mournfully down at the tattered shirt in my hands and mentally cursed myself for not waiting to spend my gald until I was certain that I wouldn't need it for other, more important things than that little book. This thing hadn't even lasted that long, either, and I'd first gotten it here... in Asgard. With Kratos. Who had a good memory. My brain pinged just a little before I dashed to the door all of a sudden. Genis probably thought the loss of my shirt had driven me insane.

I leaned around the edge of the door to yell into the lobby. "Hey Kratos!"

All I got was cold, sudden-death silence.

"We got my shirt from that lady up the road, right? Didn't she swear all her stuff was supposed to last at least half a year?"

More cold, I-hate-you-go-away silence.

"Because I'm gonna swear it has not been half a year and this thing is pretty damn ruined!" I waved the tattered remains of my shirt around like a flag, letting ash particles drift through the air.

Then I nearly got brained in the face by a tiny sack of gald. Luckily I ducked; and it soared overhead to splat somewhere near Genis, who almost fell off his stool with a girly squeak. "Thanks Kratos!" I yelled back, and then retreated back into the relative safety of the room. "Okay, where'd it land?"

"What in the Goddess' name was that?" Genis squeaked. I was already down on my hands and knees and groping the floorboards to find that little cloth sack of wonderful jingly stuff. The candlelight provided just enough illumination for me to eventually find it under the edge of one of the beds.

"That was Kratos paying me to shut up!" I chirped cheerfully, sitting up and snuggling the little money bag to my face. "I didn't even know I could do that safely."

"Probably because the innkeeper would be witness to your murder," Genis input dryly as he mended a little rip in one of his spare undershirts. "I wouldn't try and pull that off twice if I were you."

"Hmm. Good point." Tying the pouch onto my belt, I stood up and brushed dirt from the floor off my pants. "Well, I guess I'm gonna go shirt-shopping now and see if I can't get that lady to give me a really good price reduction. Y'wanna come?" I asked, looking over at Genis. The mage didn't answer right away, taking a moment to tie off the stitch he was working on and then biting off the remaining thread.

"Nah. I think I'll stay here and keep an eye on Colette." Genis looked sadly over at the bed in the darkest corner of the room, where Colette really wasn't much more than a lump under the covers. The whole scene kind of reminded me of Sleeping Beauty in the tower, in a way. "I've still got work to do, and I don't like leaving her alone with Kratos."

I mentally bit my tongue to keep myself from saying something abhorrent to the plot. "Alright. I don't think I'll be gone too long... who knows, maybe I'll run into Lloyd."

Genis snorted as he pulled out the next item on his mending list and arranged it neatly across his lap. I couldn't help but notice that it looked like a pair of boxer shorts. "If you do, tell him he's an idiot."

"'From Genis, with love.' Got it," I replied with a snicker, and then fled the room before the mage could hurl some pins at me.

[x]

The shopkeeper up the road did not believe my tales of shirt-destruction-woe until I brandished the remains of it in her face and shook them vigorously. Luckily it still had a tag stuck in the back, which bore the mark of her shop; which proved I didn't just set some random shirt on fire in order to get a good deal. After taking the tattered remains into her hands and clucking her tongue over them, the shopkeeper directed me towards what was apparently the 'exchange rack' at the back. "Whatever y'want, quarter-price. I still stand by my work," she said firmly as she reached under the counter and pulled out a sewing kit. "I'll even mend the hem of your vest while you're here, free of charge."

I stood there for a moment and looked curiously down at my vest before I remembered that oh right, I bought this here too. Whups! "That'd be great," I said, shrugging off the garment and handing it over to the shopkeeper. She immediately spread it neatly out on the counter in front of her and began threading a needle. Leaving her to her work, I turned and dove into the exchange rack to find myself a new shirt with the proper fit. As I sorted through the different colors, I kept in mind what clothes I already had (brown vest, dark blue pants) and the kind of terrain we were going to do a lot of crossing through before splatting in Tethe'alla (grasslands and forest, mostly). I came to the conclusion that I wanted a green shirt for best camouflage, and... lo and behold, there was one smushed at the far end of the rack. I pulled it out and smoothed out the wrinkles, looking it over thoughtfully. It was a nice, grass-green sort of shade with a button-up front. Figuring what the hell, I ducked behind a nearby screen to change.

So that was how I ended up with a nice, cheap new shirt and an expertly-mended vest. I felt much better after that as I handed over a few gald coins to the lady when a thought struck me. "Hey, you don't happen to sell gloves, do you? Or a kind of... uh, undershirt protection?" That probably wasn't the best phrasing, but I didn't know how else to say it.

The shopkeeper tilted her head to the side in confusion for a moment, pursing her lips before she realized what I probably meant. "Y'mean like armor? Nah. Y'want the armory up the gorge for that."

"Oh, huh. Okay. Thanks!" Trotting out of the shop, I looked up towards the upper rim of Asgard while lightly jingling the gald purse in my hand, weighing the contents. I had quite a bit left, and I had decided that I really wanted some form of extra protection from now on. I knew that the others all wore some form of tough leather underneath their clothes, but I didn't have that. I also wanted a good pair of gloves for the next time I had to punch someone in the face, because I didn't want to have to worry about more bone splinters in my hands. Deciding I probably had enough gald left to at least get some gloves, I tucked it back away inside my vest and set my course for the upper rim.

It took me maybe ten minutes to hike all the way up there, mostly because the Asgard roads are very steep and made of gravel. I'd also already meandered up this way once today, and I hadn't even been in a hurry back then. I wasn't really in a hurry now, but I really wanted to check the armory out and that was making my pace a little faster than usual. At least the only things I really had to duck around were tourists out on a pilgrimage and wanting to see the caves. Come to think of it, I'd never even stuck my head in there yet... But I wasn't about to do that now, either. What was I going to learn from them that I didn't already know? It was kind of pointless.

I paused once I reached the top of the gorge, looking in the direction of my friend the stone aquifer and the giant chasm beyond before striding off towards the hanging sign I could see with a shield depicted on it. That always meant an armory in my book.

And my book was apparently written by a very good author. A little bell dinged when I stuck my head in the door, taking in the smells of oil and leather before I cautiously stepped all the way inside and strolled up to the counter. The well-muscled man behind it was polishing some sort of shield and didn't even look at me right away. Casting my glance around the walls to the different kinds of armor hanging there, I waited for him to get done and notice me. Yes, I'm pretty terrible at talking to intimidating-looking strangers. Eventually satisfied with his work, the man behind the counter laid the shield down on the wood and finally seemed to realize I was there. I mentally swallowed irritation as he looked me up and down, then picked up another shield. "'s no place for kids," he said, clearly having already written me off.

I could sort of see where he was coming from: I was a skinny girl just over five feet in height in patched and slightly-bloody clothes with a little dagger strapped on my hip. Still, I was a customer and he should be paying attention to me because I was gonna be supplying money to his business, dammit. "Hey you," I snapped, my temper rising to the surface. "I just helped attack and blow up a human ranch less than twenty-four hours ago. I got shot, I was stabbed, and I had a fuckin' robot blow up in my face; now sell me some fuckin' armor."

I'm not sure if it was the fact that I was actually yelling or that I was beginning to swear heavily that got his attention. Probably the latter, since I had yet to hear a girl on Sylvarant that could lay it out like me.

The man slowly looked up from the new shield he was polishing, once more looking me over like he was trying to decide whether or not I was lying. I really didn't want to be looked at like a piece of meat a second time, though. "What, you want proof? I've got scars all over my arms from almost being killed by a giant bird guardian! Lookit 'em!" I hollered, wrenching up one of my sleeves to display the crisscross of scars lancing across my arm. "I've got scars on my face from being slapped across your damn dais by that demon! I've got a huge scar on my side from being impaled by a sword! I have electrical burns all across my chest from Raybits! I am turning into a mass of scar tissue here and I do not want another single fucking one."

The shopkeeper was still just blankly looking at me as I flew further into my homicidal rage. Growling now, I reached for the gald purse and pulled it out. "I have lots of money and none of it is going to you if I don't start getting some good service around here."

The man set down his work. "Welcome to the Chains of Wind. How can I help you?"

I walked out of there half an hour later and feeling considerably less pissy. Set snugly on my arms was a brand new pair of elbow-length brown leather gloves. Running up the middle of both of them from knuckles to elbow was a span of thicker, harder leather roughly three inches wide. It was supposed to dull impacts if I had to guard myself with my arms, and hopefully deflect blades if I managed to make them glance off at an angle. There was also a thin, rectangular metal plate about two inches long and an inch wide set over the backs of my hands, starting at the knuckles. That was my protection for whenever I had to punch someone again. At least the metal would be easier to clean blood off of than my skin.

The last bonus was underneath my shirt: a lightweight leather vest reinforced with small sections of metal. It wasn't exactly a traditional suit of armor and it only covered my torso, but I wasn't complaining. As long as it protected my vitals, I could probably spare an arm... or leg... or hopefully Raine would be able to save me in that kind of circumstance. My new pieces of equipment added an extra ten pounds or so to my weight, and as I walked back down the slope towards the inn I was mostly trying to get adjusted to the sudden difference. I was really hoping I would run into Lloyd skulking around somewhere so I could convince him to return to the others, although I had a feeling he was still greatly irritated at me. I couldn't really blame him for that, though. I know that I would be positively raging if one of my friends knew and was letting my best friend willingly screw themself over. It wasn't like I had a choice in keeping that information private, though. Being murdered by Kratos was something I was trying to avoid at all costs.

As I passed by the barred stairwell leading up towards the Asgard dais, the ever-present wind chose that moment to bring a rasping of metal to my ears. Halting, I moved towards the side of the road to avoid being in anyone's way and quirked my head up into the stair passage. The wind whistled strongly down this natural corridor and when I tilted my head just right, the sound of a blade sang into my brain. Curious now, I glanced around to make sure no passing tourists had noticed me poking around a restricted area before I ducked into the passage and trotted up the dozen feet or so to the gate. It was locked, of course; probably so no one could disturb the ruin when a tour wasn't in progress. However, if the wind wasn't lying to me, then there was a trespasser lurking up there.

I eyed the lock speculatively. I had no idea as to the extent of Lloyd's skill with these things, but according to the game he was a damn wizard at getting into whatever he wanted to be getting into. For now I was assuming that it might be Lloyd up there, since by entering a locked area he had effectively isolated himself from everyone and everything he didn't want to deal with. It sounded like a good explanation for why the hell nobody'd been able to find him since breakfast. Carefully poking at the lock a few times with my hand, I decided that I wasn't going to be able to get in that way. My eyes then proceeded to roam over the rest of the gate; deciding that the bars were too close together to slip through and way too high for me to jump or climb without help. The next thing my gaze naturally rested on were the two rock walls encasing the stairwell up to the dais. They weren't exactly smooth, and there were crags jutting out of them. I wonder, I mused, mentally tracing a path from crag to crag as my eyes traveled up to the wall. Can I jump my way up using those?

It didn't seem like an impossible task, for some reason. After all, I had once jumped up onto a tree branch ten feet off the ground without realizing it while spar-running from Kratos. Lloyd could jump up and down ridiculous cliffs with his exsphere... and I had my own substitute, which was working plenty properly. The Demon's heart thudded affirmation of this on my chest, sending a tickle running through my body. Even though I hated heights -

Don't think about the height. You're just climbing a giant fence and it won't take any time at all. Let's go!

Suddenly, I was moving. It came so naturally, the way I crouched and sprang towards the first crag. My head turned, the mental path fixed in my mind as my boots thudded and kicked off the rocky surface to propel me to the next ledge. I barely even felt the recoil of it as I hit my second ledge and bounded towards the third. My body felt like one of Colette's feathers: light and energized; as I tapped onto the third crag and promptly jumped off again. My body arced in the air as I soared over the fence, automatically doing a backflip to ensure I would land feet first as I descended to the ground. My boots hit the dirt and suddenly I was a slave to the laws of gravity again, especially when the new weight of my armored vest caught up to me and slammed directly down into my shins. I yelped, stumbled, and fell over backwards to land hard on my back.

Time either stopped, or suddenly began to flow again. I wasn't sure which as I stared up at the cloudy sky and tried to figure out what had just happened. Like the time I'd jumped into the tree, my reaction was automatic and almost didn't feel entirely like my own. It was like I was a slave to the black stone on my chest, even though it was supposed to be a slave to me. The Demon's heart was thumping slower now, in a more relaxed manner than before I was psyching myself up to jump up the rock wall. Slowly sitting up and shaking some dirt out of my hair, I pondered that observation for a moment. Perhaps the heart reacted more strongly in the presence of what Lloyd and Kratos would call 'battle spirit' - or when my adrenaline was rushing like a river. It would explain some of my more incredible feats as of late, like the sudden spurts of gymnastics at the Asgard ranch and Beasting that one guard in the face. Speaking of Beast...

"Okay self, still gotta find Lloyd," I muttered, reaching for the wall and using it as a crutch when I tried to stand. My body definitely felt all the extra weight I was carrying, as well as my poor shellshocked and shaking shins. My legs both ached and trembled hard when I was finally upright, and I looked towards all those long, steep Asgard stairs. "...seriously, what is it with all the architecture around here and stairs?"

Needless to say, the climb sucked. A lot. I was sweating something disgusting and inwardly swearing by the time I staggered my way up to the top and emerged onto flat, grassy ground. The wind up here slapped me in the face and dried all that sweat in half a second, leaving a massive cold chill to sweep through my body before I adjusted. I was so going to need another bath after this. "Alrighty, where's the boy in obnoxious red," I muttered, looking up at the stone dais for a moment and not seeing Lloyd dancing across the top of it or whatever. At least he had the better sense to not be training on the ruin, because Raine would cremate him if she found out. After looking to my immediate left and right, I figured that Lloyd must be somewhere behind the dais and proceeded to trudge off around the grey stone block. The Asgard ruin was set near the beginning of a small valley cupped by the mountains, and there was an expanse of grass that unfolded behind it. Plenty of room for someone angsting to go wild.

As I walked around the side of the ruin, a faint jingling caught my attention and made me look up. There on the top of one of the four stone spires sat Corrine. The fox spirit was looking down into the valley, and it didn't seem like he'd noticed me yet. I followed his gaze down into the grass, and finally located Lloyd. He was a furiously slashing blur of red, his blades ringing off of the occasional rock he was using for target practice. I winced slightly; Kratos would flay him alive if he knew how Lloyd was abusing his swords. "Corrine," I called softly to the fox summon. His ears pricked and swiveled before he looked down and saw me, his striped tails giving a faint swish. "Can you go tell Sheena I found Lloyd, and that he's okay? I'll bring him back, somehow."

"Okay," Corrine agreed, leaping from his perch to the dais and then dashing out of sight. I listened to his bell jingling until I couldn't hear it anymore, and then I swallowed the lump in my throat before heading down into the valley towards Lloyd.

He didn't seem to notice me approaching at all. Granted, I was taking care to step softly through the grass, because I didn't want him catching sight of me and then taking off like a scared rabbit. I managed to get within a few feet of him in this manner, and then just waited patiently until he seemed to take a break from maiming a boulder. "Lloyd," I said. I don't know why I didn't expect him to whip around and point his swords at me like he did. I would've done the same thing.

His garnet eyes, so like Kratos', glinted coldly for a moment before he seemed to relax his posture and lower his swords. "Oh. It's just you," Lloyd grumbled, turning away and kicking at his rock target with a foot. "What do you want?"

"Kratos will kill you if he finds out what you've been doing to your swords," I pointed out, trying to get past the hostility and shift the topic to more neutral ground. Lloyd snorted, tilting the edge of one blade so I could actually see it. The metal was completely unmarred, save a little scuffing.

"I've been using the flats, not the blades."

"...oh." Well chalk one up to Lloyd actually being smart, then. "When are you going to come back? Everybody's worrying about you."

The brunette sighed and rolled his shoulders, choosing to crack a joint or two in lieu of a response. I found myself growing steadily irritated again at having something held over my head that I had virtually no control over. In response to my rising tension, my Demon's heart began to thump like crazy. I decided that perhaps in this instance, there was nothing wrong with being a little drastic to get a point across.

"Lloyd Irving!" WHUD. The urge to say 'Aurion' instead was there as I slammed the flat of my palm into his back, releasing a pile of pent-up frustration along with it. Lloyd was caught completely unaware and sent sprawling face-first into his previous rock target. I waited as he got his wits back together and flipped himself over, reaching for one of the swords he'd dropped along the way.

"What the hell was that for?" Lloyd snapped as he pushed himself upright. I didn't wait for him to get his center of balance back and rushed him again, slamming my palm dead-center into his ribcage and releasing another blast of tension. The brunette actually squeaked as the blow knocked him clear over the rock and left him tumbling on the grass a ways. Climbing to stand on top of the rock, I watched Lloyd cough and massage his chest as he pushed himself upright and looked around for his swords again. One was lying near the base of the rock, and the other was somewhere in the grass. "Seriously, what the hell are you doing?" Lloyd wheezed, picking up his closest sword before ambling warily towards the rock to retrieve the other one, keeping his eyes fixed on me just in case I attempted to smack him somewhere again.

"What am I doing?" I asked icily as Lloyd picked up his other sword and hefted both cautiously. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm mad, Lloyd. So very, very mad. And instead of taking out my anger on some poor innocent rocks, I'm going for the source of my problems instead - you!" He barely managed to get his blades up in a guarding position over his head before I drew my dagger and jumped, striking down with another energy blast. Lloyd grunted and locked his knees to avoid buckling as my hydra dagger rang against his swords with an almost bell-like note. Pushing off the point of contact, I backflipped forward and landed on the grass much less gracefully than normal; my legs trembling a little as the weight of my vest caught up to me. Maybe choosing to fight Lloyd while wearing new equipment wasn't the best idea I'd ever had. At least I was getting some combat practice in with it, and I knew Lloyd wasn't going to kill me. On purpose, anyway.

WHAM. "And why are you mad at me?" Lloyd hollered as he slammed his shoulder into my back. I couldn't answer while tumbling through the field and trying not to eat grass along the way. At least I hadn't dropped my hydra dagger in the process. I ended up on my back, and having a great upside-down view of the twin swordsman rushing me.

"Because you're making my life a lot harder than it needs to be!" My legs whipped up and caught Lloyd in the gut, not hard enough to stagger him but enough to give him pause so I could roll over and get out of the way as his swords descended. Barely been wearing this shirt an hour and it already looks like a train wreck, I reflected dryly as I lunged up from the ground and slammed the hilt of my dagger forward towards Lloyd's ribs. Either I was getting tired or he was getting faster; because he slid sideways out of the way, grabbed my arm, and used my momentum to hurl me forwards across the grass again. I squeaked and landed less-than-gracefully in a roll across the ground, losing my dagger somewhere along the way in favor of covering my head with my arms. It wasn't like Raine was out there to heal my brain trauma if I happened to bash against a rock.

Instead of getting up, I opted to lay there on the ground in a curled-up ball and listened to Lloyd's boots shuffling through the grass towards my direction. Eventually a shadow cast itself over the side of my face, and a boot poked me in the ribs. "You're still alive, right?" Lloyd asked.

"Why yes, thank you for caring," I mumbled as I slowly uncovered my head and rolled over onto my back to look up. Lloyd warily raised his swords to block his midsection, like I was about to swing my legs up and kick him again. "Relax, Lloyd. I'm totally drained now." I really was, too. My legs throbbed, along with my back and my chest. It was nice to know I was such a wuss that I couldn't even manage an extra ten pounds of weight. "I'm still pissed at you though."

"Me too," Lloyd grumbled, sheathing his swords before sitting down on the grass next to me and offering up my hydra dagger, hilt-first. "You dropped this."

"I know." I took it and made sure there wasn't any grass or dirt sticking on the blade before I stuck it back on my belt and smothered a groan. I was going to have so much cleaning up to do later.

We stayed like that for a few minutes in pretty much total silence, aside from the wind whistling over the grass. I was staring up at the clouds and wondering what the cook was making for dinner when Lloyd finally spoke up. "What did you mean, 'making your life harder'?"

I made a face. "Exactly what it sounds like. You opened your big fat mouth, and now everyone secretly hates me. Why can't you just trust that I know what I'm doing and let it go?" Especially since I actually had very little idea what I was doing. I wasn't going to tell him that, though.

"You mean it's okay to let Colette suffer like that? You're crazy! I can't believe you think that's actually the right thing to do." Lloyd pounded his fist against his knee. "There has to be some way we can help her. I don't believe Kratos when he says all we have to do is ask Remiel for a solution." I perked up eversoslightly at the mention of Kratos and Remiel. No wonder Kratos kicked Lloyd out of the inn. Lloyd turned his head sideways and gave me the most intense look I had ever seen. "Do you know a way to help Colette? Don't lie to me."

Well sure Lloyd. Steal a Rheaird and hop on over to Tethe'alla, they'll fix you right up. I swallowed a bit. Here came the plot, marching over my dead body.

"I... know of a way to help Colette." It was amazing how much Lloyd brightened up at that. Too bad I was about to temporarily crush his hopes and dreams. "Unfortunately, it's not possible right now."

"What do you mean, it's not possible?"

I pushed myself up onto my elbows and gave him my best stern look. "I mean it's not possible right now, Lloyd. A cure for Colette requires materials that... well, they can't be obtained on this earth."

You could practically see Lloyd's brain come crashing back down to reality as his face fell into a look of disbelief. "Are you serious?"

Balancing as best I could on one elbow, I reached up with my other hand to flick Lloyd in the nose. "Hey, I promised not to lie and you asked; so I told you. A cure can't be done right now. Please quit whining at me because there's nothing I can do."

The swordsman rubbed his nose and grumbled for a minute as I flopped back down onto the ground because my arms were getting tired. "...wait a minute. You said 'right now'," Lloyd realized after a minute. I mentally thwacked myself in the head. "Does that mean we'll be able to help her in the future?"

...okay, how much of the plot do I want to spoil for Mister Brilliant here? Sighing, I shoved myself into an upright sitting position and scooted around to face Lloyd. "Okay buster, look. You have to understand that right now, I can't tell you anything unless it deals with the immediate future. However," I added as Lloyd's mouth opened in protest. "I'll make you a promise."

Lloyd blinked. "...a promise?"

"Yes." I stuck my right hand up into the air, attempting my best recollection of the Boy Scout symbol. "I'm not gonna lie: horrible things are going to happen. You will wonder, more than once, what exactly we are trying to accomplish here. But, I promise you, everything will turn out for the best in the end. You just have to believe," I added as the brunette made a very disbelieving sort of face. "It'll be okay."

Lloyd stared at me like he was trying to decide how much of my babble he really wanted to believe. I kept his gaze, trying to look confident in the things I was saying because it was true, technically. We would be able to cure Colette, we'd be able to fix the eventual world problems, and everybody would be as happy as they wanted to be. I unfortunately couldn't tell him that we'd be betrayed several times along the way, become enemies of pretty much half the world, have heaven itself put out a warrant for us, and generally go through lots of horrible scenarios that might or might not involve blood. I tried not to flinch at that thought because my brain had automatically jumped to the two battles with Kratos in the Tower of Salvation. Noooo brain, don't think about that. If you do you'll never be able to sleep at night ever again.

"... I don't know if I can believe you right now."

I should have expected that, but damn it still hurt. Arrow right to my freaking heart, Lloyd. I tried to hide how obviously crushed I was at the moment, sighing a little instead and shrugging my shoulders. "Well, that's your choice. Whether or not you believe me right now, that's still my promise and I'm holding to it." Pushing myself up off the grass, I brushed off my pants and the back of my vest before shaking some greenery out of my ponytail. "And now, you've officially been absent from town for six hours. Please come back to the inn with me, Lloyd? The doctor came and saw Colette, and she's... well, she's not worse at least. I'm sure she'd feel better if she knew you were nearby."

The brunette huffed and fidgeted on the grass a little before he looked to the sky, seemingly using some method unknown to me to tell time with the clouds. "Well, alright. It's almost dinnertime," he mumbled, ignoring my offered hand in favor of pushing himself up from the ground on his own and shaking out his ribbons. "Raine isn't cooking, right?"

"No. The inn has a hired cook for that." I fell quietly in step behind Lloyd as the swordsman led the way back up the hill towards the stone dais. I didn't get another word out of him until we were going back to descending the wretched five million stairs, which definitely was not doing my shins any favors. I hadn't been expecting Lloyd to stop at the gate for some reason, so of course I walked right into his back and stumbled backwards. "What're you doin', man?" I whined, wondering what the holdup was.

Lloyd turned a little and looked at me, enough that I could see his arms poking through the bars in the gate and he was wiggling a little metal stick into the lock there. Oh right. The gate was locked. I don't know why I thought he was going to jump it like I did.

"How did you get through this gate? I locked it," the brunette asked quietly. As if to punctuate his point, the lock on the gate gave a little 'click!' and snapped open. I cautiously stepped through after Lloyd and looked up at the rock walls while he reset the lock behind us.

"Um. I jumped over it," I admitted, gesturing a little to the crags around the gate. "I was kind of a little desperate to get in."

"You... jumped it." Lloyd followed my gaze, letting his eyes roam around the rock ledges before they came back down to settle on my chest and the dark stone there. "Hunh."

I unconsciously covered my chest with my hand, even though the swordsman had already turned away and was stalking down the street back in the direction of the inn. For some reason, I felt... odd. Was I afraid of him? Was I mad at him? What was so weird about jumping over a thirty-foot fence? I mean, my Demon's heart was technically my exsphere, it was meant to make me do stuff like that. I was allowed to do cool things in a video game too, damn it. Dropping my hand, I balled my fists and tromped back to the inn after Lloyd. I had been feeling better after my outburst, but now I was feeling irritated again. Something told me this was going to be a constant problem.

[x]

Pretty much nobody noticed me when we got back to the inn. Everybody immediately mobbed Lloyd, hugging him and scolding him for staying out so long and asking where he'd been and why he was mysteriously covered with grass stains...

I thought I'd managed to slip back into our room unseen. Halfway to where my bag was located, I became aware of evil eyes on my person and promptly reached for my dagger while squinting around in the dim light for the source. Said source became evident when he popped a small fireball into existence in the palm of his hand, the firelight making his red eyes glint. I swallowed a little, wondering if I was about to get shanked. "Kratos. What do you - oh. Here, there's some left." I pulled the little gald purse he'd given me out of my vest and tossed it in his general direction. The mercenary easily caught it with his other hand and stowed it away. I cautiously leaned against the edge of a bed, wondering when he was going to put that darn fireball out and just light a candle instead like a normal person.

"What did you tell Lloyd?"

Ahaha, like I'm going to tell you. "About what? Colette?" I asked, looking in the direction of the unconscious angel. I wasn't sure how much her brain could still process while she was in that state. Probably not enough, if Kratos wanted to talk about her right next to her. Judging from the look Kratos was giving me, I could stop playing dumb any time now. "That there's nothing we can do for her. Also, if he could kindly stop moping around."

The mercenary's eyes narrowed slightly. "Is that the truth?"

I found myself taken aback. What? Why is he asking me this? Doesn't he know? Is he asking me if there's a way to save Colette? "I... don't understand what you're asking, Kratos."

Kratos grunted and closed his fist, effectively snuffing the flame in his palm. I gulped and stood there in a cold sweat, clutching the edge of the bed until I saw the door open and a shadow passed through it before it closed. And Kratos has left the room. Great. It took some effort to make my shaking fingers unclench from the wood before I slowly slid down to the floor, resting my back against the bed and putting my arms around my sore legs.

I didn't understand today. It was just weird. And Lloyd hated me still and Kratos was creeping me the hell out. The only thing that could make today better would be if Colette actually managed to wake up.

...wait a second I think Colette is waking up. The tiny noises I was hearing was enough to make me struggle to my feet and limp over to Colette's bed. "Colette?" I couldn't see a damn thing in here because it was dark, so I almost went through the ceiling when I felt weak fingers grasp my sleeve. Oh my shit she's awake. I AM MADE OF MAGIC. "Colette!" I hissed gleefully, carefully reaching down towards her hand and almost recoiling with a yelp when I felt her bone-cold fingers on mine. Good gravy but her skin was freezing. "Are, um... y'know, you okay?"

"I am... better, yes." The angel's voice was barely above a whisper, but it seemed much louder in the silence of the room. "Where is... everyone? Why is it... so dark?"

"They're down eating dinner," I mumbled, thinking that I should be down there eating too but I didn't want to spoil the happy atmosphere Lloyd's arrival had provided. "And it's dark 'cuz Raine pulled all the shades to make sure you could rest okay. Hey, should I get you a gel or something to eat while I get the Professor? You still sound pretty weak."

"No, I'm okay." Colette's cold fingers squeezed my hand. "You sound sad. How are you doing? Are... are they all mad at you?"

"Only the one that matters," I grumbled, thinking of my day that had started okay and spiraled down into lousy. "I'll deal with it. Don't worry about me, Colette." Before the angel could either apologize or try and make me discuss further issues, I gently shook my hand free of hers and stumbled backwards until I banged my legs into another bed. "Look, I'm gonna go get the Professor and all that because everyone's been waiting all day to see how you are. I'll be right back, okay?" Without waiting for her response I flailed out of the room and into the lobby, leaving the door open behind me before taking a sharp turn into another hallway and running for the dining room.

"Guys! GUYS! COLETTE'S UP!"

[x]

Clearly Colette's awakening was the Sylvaranti equivalent of the Second Coming. I have never seen people drop their forks so fast and motor back to check on her. I took that opportunity to actually get some food, since I more or less knew the conversation they were going to have up in there. It basically amounted to 'where do we go next'.

I didn't know I was actually needed for that until Sheena came down to drag me back up there with my face stuffed full of chuck roast. Embarrassing? A TINY BIT. To make a long story short, we're going to Palmacosta. And we're walking a long, long way to Palmacosta. The reason for that, as I had to explain, is that there's a perverted old coot charging a literal small fortune for a road pass over Hakonesia Peak that could make our trip so much faster. Kratos, Sheena, Lloyd, and I were all for just sneaking up there and assassinating him. Colette and Raine managed to talk us out of it.

Our trip is going to take us across pretty much an ENTIRE CONTINENT. We're passing from Asgard to Lake Umacy, Luin's ruins, Hima, and finally a long, bare stretch of continent to reach Izoold on the other side. I swear, if there wasn't even that tiny little bridge there we would be pretty much fucked. But then again, that means the Symphonia 'hard path' wouldn't even exist in the first place. At least we get to take Sheena with us to Palmacosta. That's going to be fun, hahahnot. Once we get to Palmacosta, I'm going to have to figure out a way to keep us from doing that stupid statue-book-pervert sidequest, because that seriously has no point now that I'm here. We just need to hit up Thoda for the water seal, and Lloyd won't have to worry about almost being scalded to death. I will consider this a win-win scenario for all involved as long as no one tells Raine that mister pervert up at Hakonesia has a rare book that SHE SIMPLY MUST READ BECAUSE IT'S DAMN OLD. She's not even done with Boltzman's book yet.

Speaking of that... welp, I don't want to fight Undine. It'll save us time with back to back fights, but still. Ew. I don't think we even have to really heal the dude, but we should because the unicorn thing is somewhat important I think. I don't even remember anymore. I think that may be a bad thing.

Kratos thinks that, provided we don't run into too many obstacles, our trip should conservatively take around a week of constant walking. I was tempted to make some sort of a joke about Noishe pulling a sled so he could drag us while we sleep, but I didn't because I think Kratos might actually go through with that; Noishe's discomfort or no. That's one fight I both do and don't want to see. It'd be funny as hell, but... still. Lloyd would be mad. I'm not sure that's a fight I want to see.

Well, gotta finish packing and get ready to move out the minute Kratos thinks he spies sunlight tomorrow. Why do I have the feeling this march is going to suck a lot?

[x]

"Lloyd tells me you jumped over the entrance gate to the Asgard ruin today."

"...what the hell is so wrong with that, seriously? I'm wearing a frigging exsphere-THING, I'm allowed to do stuff like that!"

"The Chosen has mentioned to me in passing that you were shot in the chest by a Raybit at the Asgard ranch."

"What's your problem with that; I failed at dodging and therefore I suck?"

"The Raybits Kvar used were powered by and attack with blasts of pure lightning mana."

"... Kratos, I really think you lost me before you had me. Is this some roundabout way of telling me I need more training?"

"... you need to be more careful in the future."

"So you're telling me that I suck. I KNEW IT."