The mention of Mithos chips at the thin barrier that constantly holds Lloyd's composure, causing a deep crack to appear in its surface, threatening to let the dam break and Lloyd's panic to rise to his tongue. He stumbles, Anna's arm holding him back enough to stop it from being an actual trip down to the hard ground, and swallows hard. God, he had almost gotten himself to forget about their true destination, who he'd have to face, and now it's come back to bite him in the ass.

"A-Ahaha, yeah," Lloyd laughs nervously, "M-Mithos. That's right, I uh - I'll make a note to ask him while we're there. He's..."

Hints of deranged laughter and desperate talk echo through his mind, the otherwise quiet sounds of nature not enough to block out the memories that want to flash through his eyes, the glinting of a blood-covered sword as it runs itself through a chest, the sound of a cruxis crystal being shattered -

"...He's our best shot at this, after all!"