Disclaimer- I don't own it. If I did, Lloyd would have been better dressed, he looks like a toy soldier for crying out loud!

Spoiler Alert- begins after the destruction of Asgard Ranch. Will basically follow the game's plotline from then on.

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--Chapter 1, Meetings

To put it simply, Lloyd Irving was not having a good day. It was a long hot trek from the Tower of Mana all the way back to Thoda dock, his body still ached from his battle with Kvar, Raine was babbling on about some ruin they just passed (meaning they dragged the Prof away, earning Lloyd a rather nasty bruise on the back of his neck), he had a pounding headache, and Sheena had convinced Genis that his long, tailing white scarf was some kind of ribbon, making the young sorcerer pull on said scarf continuously. If they didn’t have the girlfriend of a young cursed man back in Hima begging them for a cure, Lloyd would have snapped from the insanity of traveling back and forth across Slyvarant.

But there was no other option, they needed Sheena to form a pact with Undine, the summon spirit of water, in order to reach the unicorn resting at the bottom of Lake Umacy. Lloyd had tried to reach it and shift the logs that surrounded it, but had no success. In light of the circumstances, Lloyd and the others were forced to make a detour back down south to Thoda Geyser and the Seal of Water.

The red-clad swordsman fought back a growl as he once again felt Genis tugging on his scarf. The diminutive magic user was his best friend, and Lloyd didn’t want to blow up at the boy, but even the twin-blade’s enormous patience had a limit.

“Genis,” he said quietly. “If you don’t stop pulling my scarf right now I’ll hang you from a tree by your kendama’s string, got it?”

He was immediately rewarded by a small panicked yelp and the release of his scarf.

“S-sure Lloyd. I w-wont do it a-again.” was the mage’s response, followed by a whisper to Sheena. “Man, he’s even scarier than Sis when he talks like that!”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

Lloyd rolled his eyes at the comment. He wasn’t in the mood for this, or anything else for that matter at the moment. So he just increased his pace slightly to walk next to Kratos, the only member of the group that wasn’t being disgustingly cheerful or energetic at the moment.

“Bad day?” asked the ever-stoic mercenary.

Lloyd snorted. “You have no idea.”

“Oh, really...try me.”

The twin-blade narrowed his eyes at the older man dangerously. “Kratos, I don’t care whether or not you think my day is nothing compared to one of your’s, so don’t you say a word about it.”

“I...wasn’t going to.”

The two walked in silence for a while, neither one looking at each other, until they heard Genis’ excited shout.

“There’s the dock! Race ya Collete!”

The two teens dashed past the swordsmen in a mad rush, spraying them with dust.

--

The group made their way down to the inner chamber of the temple, batting aside monsters along the way. The Seal chamber looked just as they had left it, save for the cloud of pale blue mana that hovered above the alter.

Sheena took a deep, steading breath and muttered to herself. “Okay, here goes nothing.”

As she stepped up to the alter, the blue mana began to rumble, curling inwards in a spiral before emitting a series of blinding flashes and an even greater rumble before vanishing to reveal the image of a woman above the alter, none other than the Summon Spirit of Water, Undine. Curving armor encircled her slim shoulders and shapely waist without touching her pale blue skin, and dark blue markings of overlapping and twisting lines graced her arms, collar, and sides while her legs were covered by a long, flowing, yet clingy skirt of purple.

The spirit looked over Sheena with her dark, lavender eyes before addressing her in a misty, yet commanding voice.

“You who possess the right of the Pact, what do you seek of me?”

Sheena took a deep breath and replied, “I am Sheena, I seek a Pact with Undine.”

Undine gave small sigh and flicked an errant strand of her violet-blue hair out of her face. “I am afraid as it stands now, I cannot.”

“WHY?”

“I already share a Pact with Mithos, and cannot form another one.”

Sheena turned to her companions. “What am I supposed to do now? They never mentioned anything like this at the Research Institute.”

Lloyd scratched his head in confusion, as his headache was gone and he was back to his normal, and utterly clueless, self again. ‘Research Institute? What the hell is she talking about? And a pact with Mithos? He should be dead by now, so why keep a pact?’

“Can’t you just get her to cancel out the old Pact, Sheena?”

Kratos nodded in agreement to Lloyd’s question. “Indeed, this Mithos could have already passed away. The entrance to this temple had been closed for at least a few hundred years.”

The dark-haired summoner looked at him incredulously, then slapped herself on the forehead. “Oh duh!” she turned back to the spirit. “Undine, I ask that thou annullst thy Pact with Mithos, and establish a new pact with me.”

Undine appeared to consider this for a minute, nodded, then moved, gliding down to the floor. Allowing her feet to touch the cool stone, she stood tall and drew a long ribbon of water to coil around her.

“Very well. Draw your weapons!”

Lloyd started. “You mean we have to fight?” Undine nodded, and Lloyd grinned. “Alright! Let’s go Sheena!”

The twin-blade swordsman drew his blades and was on the spirit in an instant, trading blows.

Undine’s ribbon morphed into a long blade against Lloyd’s assault, her hands leading her water blade in a deadly dance against her opponent. Noting this, Lloyd pulled back slightly, then rushed forward again with a slam of battle energy.

“BEAST!”

A lion-like image accompanied the roar of energy as Undine was blasted off her feet and flat on her back. Her water-ribbon sword sprayed into nothingness when it left her hands, but reformed as she got to her feet.

However, she paused. Bringing her right hand up in a graceful motion over her head, a pale blue mana circle glowed at her feet, and her voice echoed slightly as she cried out, “ready...SPREAD!”

A powerful geyser surged up under Lloyd’s feet, sending him into the air to land on his back with a thud by his friends.

Collete nearly screamed, but Genis quickly began a spell to counter the spirit’s. Sheena took this as a cue to begin her assault and then launched herself at Undine.

Lloyd sat up, blinked a few times to clear his vision, then sprang back up and dashed back to the fight before Raine or Kratos could stop him. With a leap, he held his swords in front of his chest and pulled himself into a deadly air somersault.

“TEMPEST!”

The scything blades bit into the spirit’s shoulder guards, knocking her off balance. This was all the time Lloyd needed to turn back around and strike at her unguarded back. Twisting, he brought his right sword to waist height and slashed across Undine’s lower back. She spun around and lashed out in retaliation, only to have her sword blocked by Lloyd’s left saber, and the two began to trade strikes again.

The rapid, piercing keen of metal on metal had the party wincing at the sounds. The noise only got worse when Undine split her water blade into a twin-blade set to match Lloyd’s speed...and he let loose a flurry of thrusts with a cry of “SWORD RAIN, ALPHA!”

Two of the strokes slid between the thick plating on the spirit’s shoulders, piercing flesh and bone, wounds that would have effectively disabled a mortal swordsman’s arms. As she felt the strikes, she narrowed her dark lavender eyes, then smiled.

Then, faster than Lloyd’s eyes could follow, she stabbed his left forearm. He fought back a cry of pain as he felt his hand go cold, seizing up completely. Looking down, he started...there was no wound, or even a hole in his red armored coat, and yet he felt as if he had lost an insane amount of blood, and cold crept through his body.

A shock of freezing pain shot through him as he collapsed to his knees, gasping. He only just heard Sheena’s cry of “PYRE SEAL!” and Undine fall to the floor.

The spirit got up slowly. With a smile, she faced the summoner. “I am...impressed.” she murmured, and floated back to the alter. “Speak your vow, Summoner.”

Sheena made her way back to the alter and addressed Undine. “Right now, there are people who are suffering. I vow to save those people. Please, grant me thy power.”

Undine smiled. “Very well. I accept your vow, take this as proof of the pact.” with a glow of pale blue mana, a shining aquamarine appeared before Sheena, set in a beautiful silver ring. Then summoner nodded and took it, swaying slightly as the mana rushed through her.

“I...did it! I actually did it!” she said breathlessly.

Then, a voice cut through the party’s musing.

“So now what’re you gonna do?”

The group collectively gasped and spun around to find what appeared to be a tall, broad, silver-haired elven man with a six foot broadsword strapped to his back, standing by the warp pad with a decidedly amused expression.

The only response the man got was an intelligent, “huh?”

Blue-grey eyes sparkled with suppressed laughter, he obviously knew something the party didn’t. Raine bristled, Collete looked confused, Genis was still panting and didn’t notice, Sheena was still dizzy from the mana surge, Lloyd snorted in amusement despite the pain in his arm, and Kratos smacked himself on the forehead muttering something along the lines of “oh goddess, not him again.”

Kratos’ said muttering brought the group out their respective dazes. The elf narrowed his eyes at the purple-clad mercenary.

“Ah... Kratos. Fancy seeing you again. And in such company as well.”

Kratos growled, and Raine jumped. The professor let out a small gasp. “Kratos, you know this man?!”

“Unfortunately” was the reply.

The elf strolled up towards the alter while saying “Yes, we’ve already had the displeasure of making each other’s acquaintance. I cannot believe...you LOST!”

Undine looked slightly insulted, “I was outnumbered, thank you very much. Let’s see you try it mister!” she spat.

That, if anything, was more than enough to make Sheena faint, just hearing the supposedly serene summon spirit talk to someone like, well, her. Thankfully though, she held her ground and looked at Undine in mild shock.

“What happened to the professionalism?!” the young summoner nearly squawked. “Who is this guy and...how the hell do you know him?”

The elf smirked knowingly. “Name’s Chey. And I’d like to know how you managed to beat the ‘unbeatable Swordsmaiden of the Mist.’”

Lloyd struggled to his feet. “You didn’t answer her second question, answer it before you ask one yourself.”

‘Chey’ looked at him incredulously. “I already asked.”

Lloyd shrugged as best he could with his now fully numbed left arm. “Touche. But answer anyway, we asked first.”

“I asked second.”

“First come first served.”

“...damn.” he muttered, then sighed. “Fine. I come down for visits from time to time. Happy? Your turn: how did you win?”

Lloyd paused, then grimaced as a shot of cold pain lanced into his chest. ‘ how’d I win? Yeah right! She was playing with me, dammit!’ he thought. “I have no idea...why don’t you ask her?”

Chey blinked. “Good point. Hey Un, how’d you let him beat you?”

Purple eyes narrowed slightly in a small smile at the question. “Well,” she started in a misty, and somewhat offended tone, “for one, he and the Guardian User double-teamed me, and he’s the first mortal to ever land a hit under my shoulder guards.”

Chey face faulted. Then picking himself up he squawked “both shoulders?!”

“Yes, both.”

“Damn kid!” he said to Lloyd, who seemed about to collapse again. “Whoa Un...what did you do to the kid?”

It was only then that Raine noticed Lloyd’s condition. “Oh goodness Lloyd! Why didn’t you say anything?”

The twin-blade leveled an annoyed glare at the woman. “Like you would’ve listened?” he asked dully.

Raine suppressed the impulse to hit the teen for the smartass retort. “Young man, you will watch how you address me.”

“Oh shut up Professor.”

The woman puffed up like a zapped kitten, and nearly spat like one too. She swung her leg back to kick when Kratos snagged her ankle.

Two things happened at once. One being that Raine lost her balance and toppled over, second that she landed on Kratos as she took him down with her.

Chey laughed at the scene. “Now I know why purple and orange are never used next to each other...ouch.” he then used a hand to steady Lloyd. “Easy there. Un must’ve hit you with her mana, and you obviously aren’t a magic user and can’t burn it off, right?”

Lloyd growled at the elf, an expression that would cause most people to freeze up.

Surprisingly, Chey smiled, not put off in the least, unlike Lloyd’s friends. “Ooh, touchy. Aren’t ‘cha? Well, lets get you outta here then, shall we?” he chirped. Then to Undine, “later Un.”

--T.B.C.

Author's notes; yes, I know that Chey is a character of my brother's story, Spirit of Fear, but Chey is a highly versitile personality that fits in almost any fanfic, changing his backstory each time. That and this story has been in the works since before Spirit of Fear was actually started. In all, Chey is a character that belongs to both of us, he created the persona, while I created the apperances for the various forms.

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