A/N: Dun, dun dun! Here's chapter seven! As promised "Til' the end of Time" will be deleted. Thank your liking this story!

Now, to chapter seven!

I think I forgot to mention this, but I don't own the story and its characters. Only Lillian and some OCs and some added storyline in this. I really don't.

If I did then we'd get some sort of prequel story to Mithos and the gang. As well as what the hell happened between the ending of Symphonia and the beginning of Phantasia, I mean, c'mon, what happened to everyone?

Is Mint the descendant of Colette and Lloyd? Is Cless the descendant of Emil and Marta(Or Richter)? Is Arche a descendant of Presea and Genis? IS CHESTER RELATED TO REGAL?! Clearly Suzu is the descendant of Sheena (and Zelos huehue headcanon that he married into Sheena's family).

Enough of my ramblings, onto chapter seven!

-x-

Chapter Seven: Lloyd Irving and Ratatosk

-x-

Emil ran through the cavern, towards the door that led to the exit. As soon as he entered, Aqua was floating there with a large frown on her face. She noticed him from the corner of her eye and turned to him angrily, "Oh, it's you." She said bitterly, glaring at him with spite.

"Aqua! You have to come with me!" His eyes darted back to where Aurum was protecting Richter, if Aqua was here then it won't be too late for Richter. He needed to recover fast at the same time he can't waste time here and catch up with Tenebrae and Lillian.

She scoffed bitterly, "Do you expect me to just go with you after what happened, huh?" She snapped, glaring at Emil.

"That doesn't matter right now!" Emil shook his head urgently and turned his head for a second, gesturing behind him frantically. "Richter's been hurt badly! Lloyd attacked him and we—"

Her head snapped up, eyes wide with shock. "What did you say?! That Lloyd again?!"

"I think he'll live, but I'm still worried. Hurry and help him!"

Aqua was silent before she studied him carefully, "You…You came back to tell me that?" She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, giving him the same look Lillian would have sometimes. "…Hmm…You're kinda cool!" She giggled and grinned, "But nowhere as cool as Master Richter, though!"

Emil sighed out loudly, "An-Anways! Just come!"

"All right, take me to Master Richter. Quickly!"

He nodded his head and ran back to the unconscious Aurum with Aqua on the tow. It surprised him on how fast she would react for Richter. But then again, he would do the same thing too. Richter helped him throughout this and he was the one who rescued him from those bullies. He was a nice person and he didn't deserve this.

He saw Aurum still hovering over Richter carefully, looking around for any sign of danger then inspecting Richter again. When the imp noticed Aqua behind him, he automatically reacted and took out his sword and started yelling in some monster gibberish.

"Aurum, Aurum!" He held out his hands, blocking the seething imp who looked ready to take down Aqua with his glare. "It's okay, she's going to help Richter."

The imp stared at Aqua, observing her then scoffed loudly and turned around rather haughtily. Aqua's eyes narrowed at that.

Emil laughed nervously, "S-S-Sorry about him, he's…well…"

She rolled her eyes, "Just like that spiteful Tenebrae," She scoffed, but then her eyes landed on the unconscious Richter. Her eyes widened and she flew over to him, pushing the imp away who just scowled in response. "Master Richter!" She shouted, leaning over him.

Emil turned to him worriedly, kneeling down as well. "…Aqua, how is he?"

"He'll be fine." She said, observing him carefully. "He took a sword to the back, but that's not the reason he collapsed. It's the wound from two years ago…" She murmured to herself, holding her hand over to his body as a faint light glowed around him.

"A wound from two years ago…?"

Aqua looked over to him, and crossed her arms. "If you weren't my enemy, I'd tell you. Anyways, leave Master Richter to me." She said firmly, turning back to Richter.

He nodded his head, "All right, time to catch up with Lillian and find Marta." He said and turned towards the direction Lillian and Tenebrae had left, the imp perked up upon hearing Lillian's name and flew towards him without a second thought. "Lloyd's after her. I better hurry…"

"Hey, you!"

Emil turned around when Aqua called him, he tilted his head curiously. "…Yes?"

She stared at him deeply, like she was trying to think on what to say. "About that…" She caught herself, pressing her lips close before she shook her head. "No, never mind. Just go already." She turned back to Richter. Holding out her hand, she summoned the minions she made pacts with and took Richter away.

Emil wondered what was she was going to say but he shook his head and turned back to the stairs and headed up. The imp looked at Emil for a moment before he scowled and looked away with a huff, Emil just looked at him with a sigh. "Um…excuse me for asking." He said when they stood at the top of the steps. "Why…do you dislike me?"

Aurum just looked at him again before he turned around, scoffing again. He sighed, "So much for asking…" He muttered out then turned back to the door, he raised a hand towards it and it automatically sensed his mana presence and opened up.

With Aurum beside him, he ran inside the room with the door slamming close behind him.

…

Only to see swords clashing with one another.

His eyes widened when he thought he saw sparks fly but it was only metal hitting metal with the light reflecting from the blades. He looked to see a man with brown hair and wearing a red outfit squaring off with Marta…and Lillian. Marta whirled, holding up her spinner to deflect the attack and tried to slash him but he dodged easily. He attacked her but she managed to avoid it for a second.

"Marta!" Lillian shouted and thrust her sword forward but he blocked it with ease. She gritted her teeth when she tried to push him off balance but he just stood firm, she was suddenly kicked in the stomach hard, her breath was knocked out as she came crashing to the floor with her sword knocked out of her hold.

Marta's eyes widened as she ran to try to protect Lillian, she held her spinner defensively while Lloyd's eyes were trained on her and Lillian who held her stomach and coughed for breath.

"Lloyd." Emil muttered out in disbelief until he suddenly turned into complete anger, he snarled and stepped forward angrily. "Lloyd Irving!" He muttered darkly,

Lloyd turned to him, his eyes hard. "Who's there?!"

Emil's hands were curled into tight fists, "…Why did you kill them?"

"Emil?" Marta muttered, watching Emil bewilderedly.

Lillian grabbed her sword and stood up while wincing. He kicked her pretty hard, it's not surprising if she broke something or has a bruise. She looked over to Emil, who was staring hard at the ground.

"My mother and my father, and all those people in Palmacosta…why did you have to kill them?!" He snapped, looking at her with a glare. His whole body shook with anger, his hands twitched for his sword. Marta blinked rapidly, hesitantly turning to Lloyd for a moment.

Lillian felt her body grow cold for some reason, she stared at Emil in shock. "…Palmacosta…? You…"

Lloyd watched him carefully then closed his eyes, looking pained for some reason. "Again…with Palmacosta…" He trailed away, his grip on his swords loosened.

Emil looked furious, "What do you mean again?!" He demanded angrily, drawing his sword with a twirl. His eyes turned bloody red, "That…I'll never forgive you for that!" He roared, pointing his sword towards Lloyd. Marta changed her stance, getting ready for an attack while Lillian came to the middle.

With a roar, Emil charged forth with his sword aimed for his head. Lloyd deflected the attack easily, his brown eyes locked in Emil's raged red ones. With a dangerous look, he used his other sword and slashed at him, Emil barely escaped but the sword grazed his arm slightly. Lloyd wasted no time and swept his feet under him, knocking him down.

"O healing power…" Came the chant from Marta, Lloyd turned to her.

"Double demon fang!" He shouted, a shockwave came towards Marta which stopped her from casting while the other came towards Lillian which she managed to dodge the powerful attack. Lillian dodged to the side and charged after him.

Once again, their swords clashed. Lillian's eyes narrowed, "…I won't let you hurt them," She muttered darkly,

Lloyd made a noise in the back of his throat before he quickly attacked her again, Lillian tried to block it but the attacks were too fast for her to even move. Lloyd moved, using his pommel to hit her neck followed by kicking her across the ground. The impact immediately knocked her out, rendering her unconscious as she practically flew across the ground before coming to a stop, her sword clattered to the ground.

"Lillian!" Emil shouted and turned to Lloyd, "Damn you, Lloyd!" He roared but then he saw Marta flying towards him, landing next to him unconscious as well. Lloyd came up to Emil out of nowhere, startling Emil but then his breath was suddenly knocked out of him, a blunt pain in his stomach. He keeled over, coughing for breath.

His sword clattered to the ground, falling to his knees. Then something smacked hard against his neck, spots danced in his vision as he felt his consciousness suddenly slip away.

No…I can't…not now…

He fell to the ground, his eyes unfocused. Everything started to fade into black but the last thing he saw was Lloyd walking up the altar, towards the floating jewel in the middle.

-x-

Emil stirred for a moment, feeling extremely heavy for some reason. His bed felt rather hard and grainy, his home wasn't supposed to feel this cold—then everything came back to him. He quickly shot up, touching his entire body for any injuries. "I…I'm alive…" He muttered, realizing that he wasn't in the limbo and was actually standing here.

Beside him, Marta was watching him carefully. "I guess he decided not to kill us." She said carefully, watching his expression.

"Lady Marta!" Came a deep voice from the altar, they turned to see Tenebrae standing next to altar. "Centurion Lumen's core is…"

Marta gasped, running towards the altar in a hurry. "Gone!" She cursed under her breath, staring at the glowing altar with anger in her eyes.

"…Centurion Lumen's core? You mean that white jewel?" Emil came up to them, tilting his head to the side curiously. He looked at the empty glowing altar he saw earlier. "I saw Lloyd taking a white jewel with him."

She whirled to him, her eyes wide. "He took it with him?! Are you sure?!" She moved forward, pressing him further.

Emil flinched at her tone and took a step back, "Y-Yeah, was it important?"

"Yes." Everyone turned to Tenebrae, "Centurion Lumen's core is essential to our journey. Lady Marta, let's hurry."

She nodded her head, "Okay, but before that…" She turned to Emil, beaming brightly that it made Emil feel all strange inside. "Thank you, Emil. I'm so happy you saved me again."

Emil immediately turned red, he avoided her eye contact and looked away. "N-No…I didn't do anything. I mean, I was pretty much useless. L-Lillian was there to help you…" He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Don't say that! You became a knight, a Knight of Ratatosk to save me, right?" She beamed brightly, her cute little fang showing. "I always thought that you would make a wonderful Knight! It's true! That's what I thought when we first met…" She looked down embarrassingly, playing with her fingers.

Emil paused, "…Huh?"

Marta shyly looked down, blushing red. "It's okay!" She said, a bit high-pitched, "It guess that it just wasn't as memorable for you. But honestly, I'm very grateful to you for saving me. What would I have done without you?"

"U-Um…" He tried to say but the words died in his throat,

Tenebrae seemed to sigh, "Lady Marta, we need to go." He urged, watching them with an exasperated look.

Marta blinked and realized what she had done, she nodded her head. "A-ah, yes, you're right." She turned to Emil, "Emil, would you help us? Just until we make it out of this place?"

Emil was silent, watching her carefully before hesitantly nodding his head, "S-Sure…" He watched her carefully, she was kinda strange…he thought. But she wasn't as eccentric and strange like Lillian, Marta was more…tolerable than Lillian constant remarks and teases.

Then it suddenly hit him, "Lillian!" He shouted, suddenly occurred to him that Lillian was not teasing him during his conversation with Marta or even cursing out after being defeated.

He whirled around, his eyes scanning the floor only to see Lillian still on the ground except she was resting on the ground instead of sprawled like before. Hovering over her was Aurum who shook her frantically, the imp wasn't around during the fight…maybe Tenebrae pulled it into the darkness so it wouldn't get hurt.

He quickly jumped down the steps and ran towards the honey-brown haired girl, "H-Hey, Lillian! Are you okay? Lillian!" He shook her but she didn't stir, her chest moved up and down showing that she was breathing.

Marta was beside him, observing her. "I healed her right up, she had a couple of bruises but nothing serious. Lloyd knocked her out with his sword, she'll wake up sooner or later. Right now, its better if she rested—she almost cracked a rib during our fight before you came here." She said, her hand glowing and hovered over her body. She began chanting another healing spell for her.

Emil bit his lip, he promised that mayor she wouldn't get hurt…and now she was out cold. He nodded his head, "We need to get out of this place." He said to himself, gently lifting her up and carried her on his back. She was pretty light which made it easier for him to carry her. "Up we go." He positioned her so it'll be easier to carry her.

She observed Emil and Lillian for a moment, her eyes seemed to narrowed for a moment but she shook her head. "Let's go." She said rather irritatedly.

Aurum flew past Marta and towards Lillian, giving a sad coo and patted Lillian's cheek.

Emil smiled, "She'll be okay, Aurum."

Aurum huffed, looking embarrassed and looked away haughtily.

When Emil took a step forward but something gold glinted on the ground, he looked to see an ugly mask on the floor with a red covering on the eyes. He turned to Marta, "…What's that?"

She wrinkled her nose on the mask, "It was the mask that Lloyd was wearing earlier."

"It's tacky." Emil cringed,

"Yeah, super tacky." Marta wrinkled her nose even more,

"Very tacky, indeed." Came in Tenebrae, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Lillian actually laughed for five minutes when she saw that mask—tears and all, I was amazed that Lloyd actually didn't kill her during then." Marta commented, her eyes lowering in disgust on the mask. Emil sighed out loudly at that.

"…I expected that."

Marta picked up the mask, "Well, better not leave it. The tackiness might probably lighten our mood if something turned out horrible." She fiddled with the mask before tucking it into her pouch. She looked around then pointed at the door where Emil came out from before, "There, that's the exit."

They both walked towards the door, careful to not disturb Lillian. It took all of Emil's willpower to not laugh when her hair tickled his neck. They stood in front of the door, waiting for it to respond to them until Tenebrae raised an eyebrow up.

"How odd, it appears the door has been sealed from the other side." Tenebrae looked up to the two teenagers.

Marta cursed loudly, scowling. "Seriously?! This must be Lloyd's doing. I'm sure he did this to trap us in here, damn!"

The Centurion of Darkness turned to Marta, "Lady Marta, there is a draft. There must be another way out. Let's have a look around. Gale!" He called out, the wolf came out from the darkness. "Do you sense any other exit?"

The wolf whined for a moment, sniffing the ground before he ran around the altar and howled, sitting down. The howl was loud enough to stir Lillian from her sleep, she grumbled to herself and held onto Emil tighter with a loud whine and groan.

"Five more minutes, Uncle…I'm tired." She muttered, choking the life out of Emil.

He hacked and gasped for breath, his face was starting to change color. "L…Lillian…you're…choking me…!" He choked out, his hold onto Lillian weakening.

Her grip slackened in response causing him to gasp for breath. He heard Lillian murmur something incoherent as she stirred from her sleep, her eyes slowly cracked open revealing hazy blue orbs.

"Wha…Emil? Why are you…" She began before she yawned out loudly, rubbing the sleepy tears on her eyes. "Wait…HOLY CRAP!" Everything came back to her, shouting loudly and nearly caused Emil to fall over from her sudden movements. She looked around rapidly, trying to gather her bearings. "Wha…what happened? Where's Lloyd? What's going on? And why are you carrying me? Ow, my head…"

Emil lowered her down, Lillian tried to stand up straight but she wobbled. Her legs felt like jelly and her whole body felt extremely sore. "My neck hurts, my body hurts, my everything hurts…" She rubbed the back of her neck, feeling the most pain building up in her neck and her stomach. She hissed loudly, "Damn that Lloyd, I'm going to punch him in the di—"

"We don't need to hear such vulgar language, Lillian." Tenebrae quickly cut in before she could say anything, Lillian rolled her eyes and crossed her arms with a frown.

"Thank you for your concern," She said dryly, "Don't be such a child, Tenebie."

"Me, a child? You must be mistaken? You're the child, after all…no teenager has a height such as yours." He shot right back, smirking to himself when her eyes hardened. Lillian's hand hovered over her sword, ready to slice him into pieces.

Emil jumped in, waving his hands around. "D-Don't fight now! We need to get out of here and catch up with Lloyd!" He quickly said, grabbing her shoulder looking at Lillian intensely. "Right?"

With a scowl and a glare at Tenebrae, she reluctantly exhaled sharply in annoyance. Huffing, she turned her heel. She heard Tenebrae laughing to himself quietly causing her to scowl even more.

"Fine," Before she could even take a step forward, Aurum plowed into her chest with a loud excited chatter and Lillian nearly lost her breath. She struggled to breath but hugged the imp with a strained smile, "Wow, that was…surprising. It's nice to see you too, Aurum."

He cooed for a moment before he turned to Emil, shooting him a nasty look and followed by moremonster chatter. Tenebrae hummed to himself, "Seems that Aurum is blaming you for not protecting Lillian."

His eyes lowered at that, Marta shook her head rapidly and stood in front of Emil protectively. "No! Emil did his very best to protect both Lillian and I! You shouldn't blame him, Lloyd was too strong!" She shot back, glaring at the imp who glared right back.

Lillian patted his head, "That's right, no one is at fault here. Emil did his best. If you blame Emil again, I won't like you anymore." Mentally, she grinned when she saw the imp pale at that and hugged her tightly. Such childish words and the imp already fell for it. It was kinda cute. "That's a good little demon." She snickered,

Marta patted Emil's shoulder to reassure him, Emil glanced at the beaming girl before he looked away embarrassingly. That did not go unnoticed by Lillian who gave a breathy laugh, shaking her head. "Ah…young love."

"Indeed." Tenebrae commented, watching the two of them just look at each other like a pair of love struck fools on a first date.

Aurum flew out of Lillian's hold and towards Gale who was sniffing the door. Approaching them, Lillian was about to investigate what they were looking at until something caught her eye.

Glancing in the corner of her eyes, she turned to the poster. It was…apparently a picture of Lloyd Irving holding jewels and accessories made out of precious metals and gems. It would look nice—if only it didn't look like a five year old drew it. Lillian held her stomach and hooted in laughter.

"What the hell is this?!" She snorted here, trying to remember how to breathe. "It looks so damn ridiculous!" She keeled over, laughing hard. Her laughter echoed around the cavern, tears sprung up to her eyes and nearly rolled down her cheeks.

Emil and Marta observed it over her shaking shoulders, he squinted on the writing. "Jewel Hunter…Lloyd Irving is here." He said carefully, trying to make out the words. "What is this?"

"That jeeeerk! It looks horrible! Burn it! Set it on fire!" Marta seethed in anger, shaking her fists towards the poster and stomped her foot. Against the wall, Lillian was still trying to remember how to breathe as she sobbed for breath.

"Don't…" A giggle here. "Don't burn it!" She looked at the drawing again and immediately shook into uncontrollable fits of laughter. "I'm going to die! Oh my gosh, it's so… so awful!" She pounded her fist on the wall, "It's like he's trying to reenact a phantom thief! So stupid!" Lillian slid against the wall, curling into a ball with her whole body shaking in laughter.

Everyone just stared at Lillian's laughing fit then turned back to the poster, Tenebrae's tail flickered to the side. "Emil, burn it for her."

"Burn it? Oh, that…" He aimed the sorcerer's ring at the poster, flames spewed out from the ring and burned the poster into a crisp. The poster burned into ash, falling into the ground. Marta stomped on it for good measure. Behind it was the same blue switch he had seen earlier when he burned the moss down.

"A…switch?" Emil tilted his head curiously, he approached it and hesitantly pushed the button.

There was a loud rumbling noise from the door which Gale was sniffing at, the wolf immediately jumped back and snarled, ready to pounce on anything that came from behind the door. When he was assured that nothing came from behind it, both Gale and Aurum ran through the door to scout it. The others ran towards the open door, Lillian was still giggling every now and then but she was sobering up.

Emil turned to them, his eyes huge with surprise, "The door opened!"

"Lucky!" Marta cheered with a fist pump, "Now we can go search for Lloyd!" She said excitedly, her eyes sparkling.

"But I'm only able to pick up a small trace of Centurion Lumen. It may be too late to follow them.

And the light died for her eyes as she scowled, "That can't be…"

"Hey, um, is this Lumen's core really so valuable that you'd fight over it?"

Lillian slapped his back again causing him to yelp, "Of course it is! Who wouldn't want to have monsters as your ally? It'll be the best thing ever! Imagine…your own army, following your beck and call! Aah…that's the life…" She sighed out in joy, her eyes twinkling.

A sweatdrop trailed down his forehead, Marta nodded her head. "Ah, that's right. I guess a lot of this doesn't make sense to any of you. To put it simply, the Centurions' cores are the eggs of Centurions like Tenebrae." She explained, "Lumen's core is the egg of Centurion Lumen."

"You might say that cores contain Centurions in hibernation." Tenebrae added,

Marta nodded her head, "And the core on my forehead is Ratatosk' core, and it's—"

"T-The demon lord's egg?!"

"He's not a demon lord!"

"Wow, rude! How can you say that to your husband, Emil!" Lillian scoffed, looking at him with mock disappointment. "Ratatosk will be so sad that his darling wife is saying such things towards his beloved, tsk, tsk."

"Husband…?" Marta muttered, looking at Lillian and Emil in confusion. Emil was pouting again and attempted to scold her but Lillian just grinned, whistling innocently.

"Lillian probably got the gist of it but perhaps we should take the time to explain all of this to Emil."

Marta nodded her head. "Yeah, but anyways, let's get out of here first." She gestured to the stairway ahead of them, everyone nodded their heads and headed towards the stairways.

Marta paused for a moment, watching Lillian when she tried to call out to Emil. She fidgeted for a moment before looking up, "Hey, um, Lillian!" She called out quickly before she could touch Emil.

Lillian pulled her hand away, turning to Marta curiously. Marta let out a sigh of relief when she didn't touch him. She walked towards Marta with a smile, her hands on her waist. "What's up, cutie?" She teased,

Marta flushed at the nickname, "D-Don't call me cute." She muttered embarrassingly, Lillian giggled at that. "But, um, what's your relationship with…Emil? Are you two…dating?" She gave an accusing look, watching for any movements of embarrassment or acceptance.

She blinked before bursting out laughing, hard. Marta looked a little lost, Emil turned back when she heard Lillian's laughter. He looked bewildered at Lillian suddenly laughing for no reason, her humor was a bit twisted.

"What's wrong?" He asked,

Lillian waved her hand, "Nothing, nothing…" Emil stared at her, frowning before he reluctantly looked back to Tenebrae to resume their conversation. Sheexhaled out, trying to calm herself. "No way, no way. Emil and I…together? Hah! That's hilarious!" She wiped a tear from her eye, "Emil is like…a brother…little brother? Yeah, little brother that I can make fun of!"

"Little…brother…?" She lowered her lashes in skeptically, "…Are you sure? Nothing…more than that?" She crossed her arms, her foot tapping on the floor demandingly.

She snorted, "Emil is like…a sibling I never had. I never did have siblings—I had friends whom I considered as my siblings but anyway, nothing more and nothing less. Besides, I don't even like Emil that way! Sure, he's cute and all but…I don't feel the attraction between us." She shrugged, "It'll be awkward if we liked each other or anything."

Marta hummed in the back of her throat, "Hmm…Are you sure?"

"Trust me, Marta." She patted her chest, "I know when I'm attracted to someone. Besides, Emil can't be attracted to me when he clearly has a thing for you." She chuckled, waving her hand around.

She blinked, turning red before she looked away sheepishly. "…He…Does he really like me?"

Lillian glanced to Emil slyly, "…Emil…He doesn't get along with girls that well, or people in fact. I bet he's probably amazed that he met a cute girl like you." She nodded her head and placed a finger on her chin in mock thought, giving a teasing glance at Marta. "In fact…if I remember correctly. When you rescued us from that bear, he did say 'He'd remember a cute girl like her.' Or something like that."

"He did?!" She squeaked in joy, her eyes twinkling brightly.

"Yup, Emil isn't used to interaction but I bet if you slowly get to know him then you'll snag his heart in a snap." She snapped her fingers for emphasis. Marta shyly wrung her fingers together, looking at Lillian with hopeful eyes.

"Y-You think so?"

"You're small, you're cute. What else? He'd fall for you, I'm sure."

Marta slowly beamed, "Th…Thank you." She flushed red and scratched her cheek sheepishly. "Hey, um, I'm sorry for accusing you for liking Emil or anything…"

She snorted, "It's fine, I'm not surprised. This once happened with Elliot and I." She shook her head with a laugh, "Besides, I know you like Emil so I don't want to step in your way, you're a nice person."

"Thanks!" She grinned brightly, it made Lillian want to hug her so tightly. Why was she surrounded by such cute people?! Did she die during some time in her life? Did the people above decided to grant her a great life from now on? Whatever it is, she felt blessed be with such cute people.

Emil came towards them, his eyebrows furrowed together deeply in thought before he looked up to Marta with somber eyes. "So, Marta, about this Ratotax…" He began,

Marta blinked, exchanging glances with Lillian who just grinned at his blunder. "It's not Ratotax, it's Ratatosk, you know." She said, looking a bit amused as well.

He nodded his head at that, "Ah, is that so? So, um, about Ratotox…"

"As she said!" Tenebrae broke in irritably, "It's Ra-ta-tosk!"

He groaned, frowning. In the background, Lillian mentally sighed out on how adorable he looked when he was angry. "Ahh, jeez, how bothersome!" He whined,

Tenebrae bristled in anger, "What do you mean 'How bothersome'?!" He snapped, glaring at Emil who flinched and backed away to see Tenebrae angry all of the sudden. "How rude! How would you feel if someone where to call you Eh-mule?!"

Lillian clicked her tongue, "Touchy, touchy…" She muttered under her breath while Marta had a starry eyed look, her face flushed pink.

"Actually," She cut in, sighing dreamily. "Actually, my Eh-mule is quite the combination of strength and servility."

For a moment, Tenebrae softened a bit at the pun. Laughing to himself quietly, "As expected of Lady Marta, well played." He shook his head.

Lillian made a face while Emil sighed out, "So much for asking about Ratatosk…" He muttered to himself.

"Don't pull your leg over this, Emil." She patted him in the shoulder, he looked at her curiously.

"…Pull my leg? I'm not pulling my leg."

"…Never mind."

-x-

They headed up the stairs and through a small cave, moss starting growing on the walls as they grew closer and closer to the outside. Aurum and Gale were observing in the bushes and trees for any signs of enemies or ambush. Lillian stretched her arms into the air, looking around the greenery with a loud sigh. It was a vast area with slight trees and bushes but there was a crumbled building behind them, if she remembered correctly…that is the Tower of Mana, or what was left of it after the rampage of the Kharlan Tree.

"Fresh air!" She cheered, inhaling the smell of the nature. "Smells like home."

Emil looked around curiously, "Um…this is…?"

"I understand now…" Marta sighed out, clicking her tongue. Emil and Lillian turned to her questioningly, she placed a hand on her waist with another loud sigh. "This is where the Tower of Mana used to be. Lloyd and his companions came here on their journey of world regeneration."

"Oh, you mean the Chosen and the others?"

Marta looked away bitterly, "Yeah, them."

"So, it's a historical site for the Church of Martel." Emil pondered, tapping his finger on his chin in thought.

"Yeah, that's right. No wonder there are hidden passages, and of course, Lloyd would show up."

"Oh, so Lloyd's friends in the Church of Martel guided him."

"Probably."

Lillian turned to the cave entrance, "But I'm surprised that this leads all the way to Lakebed Sinoa." She crossed her arms, "Expected that no one knew this existed since Lake Sinoa was filled with water…but how did it came to be I wonder? Maybe it was made before Lake Sinoa was even created…that would be thousands of years ago."

Tenebrae materialized next to Marta, "I'm unable to sense Lumen's presence. It appears that Lloyd has escaped."

The maple haired girl sighed out, shaking her head. "We can't help it then, I guess we'll go back to Luin for now. Is that okay with you, Emil?"

"Y-Yeah…"

Lillian clapped her hands, "Yes, time to go home. I can't wait for Uncle to cook up something delicious for me to eat after my near death experience with Lloyd Irving!" She nodded her head, almost drooling on thinking about a feast someone might prepare for her.

Everyone turned to her with a look, Tenebrae snorted. "That's a bit optimistic, even for you, Lillian."

"Just like I always say, nothing is negative when it comes to food! All of the worries will go away when you're full! Besides, I'm hungry."

Marta and Emil just stared at her, their eyebrows furrowed together. They exchanged glances then shrugged their shoulders.

As they walked down the path, Emil tapped on his chin in thought before turning towards the others. "Why do you think Lloyd is collecting Centurions' cores?" He looked down-hearted for a moment,

Marta looked down as well, "That…he could be trying to exterminate anyone who resists the Church of Martel. I bet it's something like that…" She muttered, crossing her arms in thought.

Emil and Lillian's eyes went wide, they whirled to Marta. "That's why he's collecting them?!" Emil shouted in horror while Lillian was silent in thought.

"I don't know…but that time in Palmacosta…" She trailed away sadly,

Emil's eyes immediately turned dark, his eyes boiling in anger. "What happened in Palmacosta?" If Marta said anything wrong then there was a chance that Emil's eyes would revert back to that bloody red color.

Lillian covered her mouth with her hand in thought, "…Palmacosta…" She turned to Emil then at Marta.

Ah, n-never mind." Marta shook her head, "Anyway, he's teamed up with the Church of Martel to oppress the people of Sylvarant. So he must be gathering the cores for some lousy reason or another." She scowled, seething in irritation. "It makes me want to scream! Lloyd stands for lousy, with a capital L!"

"Yeah!" Emil nodded his head, "And that second L in his name stands for loser!"

"Children, please." Lillian cut in, giving a mock solemn look. "His L would mean lame! Or Laughable."

"Or even Lardaceous." Tenebrae joined the bandwagon. There was a moment of silence between the four of them. Emil, Marta, and even Lillian turned to him with blank looks.

Emil approached Marta who approached Emil, he looked at her in confusion. "What does that even mean?"

"Beats me."

Lillian snorted, "Tenebie's so old that he's using words from the past." She snickered, Tenebrae shot her a glare.

"I am not old!"

"Shh, shh…you're going senile."

"Do not test me, Lillian." He warned but Lillian rolled her eyes, snorting out loudly.

"Let's go before Tenebri might pop something," She said, walking ahead of the group. Aurum flew out from the bushes to rejoin Lillian, cooing happily. She walked through the outskirts of the ruined Tower of Mana humming some random tune before the disappeared somewhere.

Tenebrae growled in the back of his throat, "…The nerve of that girl." He grumbled to himself, reluctantly following Lillian out of the outskirts of the ruined Tower of Mana.

Emil sighed out, "…They just won't get along at all…"

Without a second thought, they followed Lillian as they headed towards the main road that led to Luin. It wasn't a long trip when they reached the main road, it was pretty fast in Lillian's opinion. They made a few pacts here and there and so they had monsters running around the forest under their command. They would appear when they would call them, Aurum on the other hand, preferred to stay where Lillian was at and often hanged around her shoulder.

Lake Sinoa wasn't that far from the Tower of Mana, which meant that Luin was really close-by. With the monsters in the Cave of Sinoa, it wasn't surprising why there were so many monster attacks in Luin itself. The whole place was infested with monsters, both cute and creepy. The creepy ones would be the damn spiders, hairy and so many legs. She shivered at that thought of spiders.

The imp warmed up slightly to Marta, only slight. But he completely hated Emil. No one knew why—aside from Tenebrae. The only person the imp was truly open towards was Lillian. He looked up to her, protected her, and hated it when Emil would approach Lillian until he was ordered to stand down by either Lillian or Tenebrae.

Lillian enjoyed walking, feeling the breeze softly caress her hair and skin, the sound of birds chirping, everything made it seem to peaceful, she really loved it. If only she could just find a perfect spot to lounge and probably nap for a couple of minutes.

She never did get chances to leave Asgard or Luin without being reminded to never go out, it felt rather oppressing to never leave Asgard or Luin. Her uncle was okay for her to leave unless she had an escort, which meant she didn't have time to laze around some comfy patch of grass or just enjoy nature without the guards screaming in the top of their lungs about monsters and such. They were even frightened by cute Filifolias and small monsters like that.

It was pretty stupid, honestly.

Marta stopped suddenly, Emil noticed her suddenly stopped and turned to back. He looked at her questioningly.

She looked around and nodded her head, "Why don't we take a break here? It'll give us a chance to explain to you about Ratatosk."

His eyes brightened up, "Oh, that's right. I want to know what's going on."

"All right then, let's settle down."

Everyone settled down on the ground, Marta sat on the rock, Tenebrae right next to her, Emil sat on a soft patch of grass while Lillian was sprawled completely against the grass. The wind tickled her skin, the breeze was just perfect that Lillian almost fell asleep right then and there. She inhaled and exhaled softly, allowing herself to relax for just a bit. Everyone seemed to bask in the warm breeze, Marta tucked her hair behind her ear with a smile.

Emil smiled a bit on how peaceful Lillian looked before turning back to Marta, Tenebrae observed them for a moment. "How much do you know about the world before its Regeneration by the Chosen, Colette?"

He pondered for a moment before hesitantly nodding his head, "I know a little bit…"

"As you know, our world was divided into two by the will of the Goddess Martel and the Hero Mithos. While the world was divided into two, Lord Ratatosk transformed into his core and became dormant."

Marta brushed her bangs up, showing the red jewel they saw earlier before. "That's the core on my forehead—Ratatosk's core."

Emil's eyes widened, "Y-You mean that's the demon Lord Ratatosk's egg."

Tenebrae sighed, "Lord Ratatosk is not a demon lord. He was a summon spirit of the Great Tree of old, and is the lord of all monsters."

"…Summon Spirit of the Kharlan Tree? You mean that Ratatoskr?" Lillian said from the ground, cracking a single eye open but closed it a second later. She had heard about this through her mother who often told her different stories.

"Ratatoskr?" Emil turned to Lillian who didn't even sat up, her eyes were still closed.

"Ah, yes. Ratatoskr was Lord Ratatosk's known name previously." Tenebrae commented, "Back in the old, Lord Ratatosk was referred in the ancient language as Ratatoskr.

"In order to awaken Ratatosk, we have to first awaken all of his servants, the Centurions, by hatching them." Marta said, lowering her hand. Her bangs brushed against her face, "That's why we're on a journey looking for the Centurions' cores."

Emil tilted his head curiously, "Why can't Ratatosk stay asleep?"

"If he's asleep, nature will be thrown off balance and destroy the world. For instance, Ratatosk's sleep is the reason why Lake Sinoa has dried up. And without him to oversee things, most monsters have cut ties with the Centurions they serve." Marta gestured to the plain, "So the monsters are running wild and causing the world's mana to fall out of balance."

"Even while Lord Ratatosk is dormant, the Centurions are supposed to form ties with monsters and maintain order. Yet, the Centurion of Water, Aqua, has allied with Richter, and is neglecting her duties." Tenebrae said rather bitterly, "Which is precisely the reason why we have seen one-related disaster after another. It's absolutely deplorable."

Now Lillian sat up, brushing her hair from the grass that got on them. "Would that mean the reason why Asgard is incredibly windy is because the Centurions and Ratatosk are asleep?"

"That would probably be so."

Emil looked at them for a moment, thinking deeply. "If all this is true, they why do you have to fight?"

"Lord Ratatosk is exceedingly powerful. Though they may not be as powerful as Ratatosk's core, Centurions' cores still possess remarkable powers." Tenebrae responded,

Marta sighed out, frowning to herself. "Some people are trying to get the cores for their own selfish reasons." She said bitterly, glaring to the side.

"Lloyd and Richter are among those people. Lady Marta recovered Ratatosk's core from them."

"But somehow the core managed to attach itself to my forehead. To tell you the truth, it's a bit frustrating." She grumbled to herself, touching her forehead where Ratatosk's core was resting. She could feel it pulse again.

Tenebrae looked at Emil who was thinking to himself, "Do you understand now?"

He hesitantly nodded his head, "Y-Yeah…I guess…"

Lillian was silent for a moment, musing this to herself. Rather, Richter didn't look like he wanted to use it—but rather, he wanted to destroy it. He looked completely hell-bent on smashing the core into pieces, especially on how angry he looked upon staring at it.

Marta stood up, "Well, we better head back to Luin before we continue anything else." She stretched her body, Emil nodded his head and helped Lillian up who dusted off her clothes.

The honey-brown haired girl was silent for a moment as Emil and Marta walked side by side towards the direction of Luin, Tenebrae noticed her silent musings and looked up to her questioningly. "What's the matter, Lillian?"

Lillian frowned to herself, "…Nothing, I'm just thinking about Richter. That's all."

He didn't answer back but looked on ahead, "…You pretend to be ignorant yet in truth, you are wise, how come?" He looked back to Lillian, she just smiled to herself.

"Well, a certain someone told me it's better to know at the same time to enjoy life to the fullest." She said, scratching her cheek. "You see, I…no, never mind. Forget I said anything." She shook her head and followed Emil and Marta.

Tenebrae watched her as she went, his eyes lowered for a moment until he reluctantly followed the others towards the direction of Luin.

-x-

A/N: Not my best work but I'm trying my best! Yes, I'm done with chapter Seven! The whole dialogue was really long and I was like "Ugh get back to Luin already and leave for Asgaaard, God!" Almost chapter ten and hopefully they're already at Asgard during then. Stupid lengthy writing. Ugh.

Well then, I hope you'll review!

Next chapter: Poor Luin, destroyed yet again. Will it ever get a break? Apparently not since we need a village to be destroyed to start our plot.