Headphone does not own Tales of Symphonia. (Yet.) (Or so i like to believe.)

Broken Mannequin

There's always something you have to give up for everything you gain, everyone knows that. But why is it that the trauma of life never stops? Is it just going to be cruel that way? Well, if that's how it is, I can take, it, just the reason why I chose this job.

I walk towards the church, brittle grass under my feet lightly crunching with full force, a liveliness coming from the dieing plants. I stop at the foot of a large stair case, finding the sounds from the top a tad bit odd, I naively continue up. Half-way up, I can hear a few voices shouting, it's odd, there wasn't supposed to be any sort of commotion at the church seeing as it was the day of prophesy.

"Man, this guy is too much." I hear, the voice sounds very much like that of a child, and I briskly quicken my pace, finding a couple of kids kneeling before a burly renegade. 'Tsk,' I think 'I guess that not even this will go smoothly. Stupid renegades.' Right as the large enemy is about to smack the group down, I step in the man's way, blade intercepting their hammer, my arms growing tired of the same blocking position.

"Get up!" I call, forcing them to open their eyes and fight.

The battle is swift, easy. swing of the blade here, forced parry there, sparks flying over my eyes in the similar battle stances, only it's a bit fresher, with the odd comrades.

"I can't believe I lost, to a bunch of...kids." The male finishes with his last breath. I look up, placing my sword back into place, finding that people are whispering about me.

The brunette keeps eyeing me out of the corner of his eye, eyebrow tensing every time.

That was the beginning, and one that I almost wished to forget.

(Warning:Yaoi comin' up.)

When there was ever a free moment, Lloyd was going around, having idle chat with everyone. He would always end with me, try to talk to me seriously, though he would always end with pondering of as to why he was talking to me. I knew who he was already, he was my son, the one I thought had died almost fifteen years ago. He was never the wiser though, going around naively making sure that everyone was happy. He was that generally good kid, wanting everyone to be happy sunshine, bubbly if you would.

It almost hurt me to know the truth, it almost hurt me to stay quiet. Even in my most desperate of acts was just another façade to persuade me to ignore the fact that he was my son. We were in Triet, and having different rooms, everyone was separated into rooms of twos Raine and Genis in one room, Sheena and Colette in another, and the last one being occupied by Lloyd and myself.

There was never a time where I didn't hate myself so much. He had screamed, and me, being alert to danger quickly woke up, pulling out my sword, pointing it towards the darkness.

"What is it Lloyd?!" I called, and he didn't respond for a few seconds, and my throat was soon constricting itself.

"Kratos, is that you?" He asked, his stern voice reduced to a really erratic mumble.

"Yes, what is it, why'd you scream?" I questioned, curious of as to why he woke me up in the middle of the night by squealing like a girl.

"Uh, I woke up because I couldn't breath well, and I felt a blade at my neck…" He trailed off, leaving me as to ponder again. He was fairly irritating in that aspect, as he didn't always do the smartest things, though in this case, it as smart.

"Is that all?"

Silence.

More silence.

"What do you mean, 'is that all'?!" I could hear him get out of bed, and I could almost feel the unaided glare, him trying to find out where I was from the strained moonlight.

"Sure."

There was more silence, I hated that.

I could feel his hand now, on my arm, trying to squeeze it as hard as he could, probably thinking it was the blanket, and that he was being sneaky. It didn't hurt in all actuality, and I tried my hardest not to tell him that, but I had easily subdued the light urge.

"Kratos, why do you have to be such an ass?" He wondered aloud, and I was wondering quickly whether or not to act like he didn't say anything, to say a sarcastic remark, or to just play stupid. I chose the last option.

"What do you mean?"

He didn't buy it, "I mean, you always act like you're better then me."

I stayed silent, since I didn't know what to say that didn't make me sound like an ignorant fool.

"Goddammit! Say something!" He yelled in the silence, I could feel his hand tightening, if that's even possible. It was actually starting to lightly hurt a little, which was really odd. I stayed silent, because his persistentness was almost funny, and toying on his emotions was a work of art in progress.

"I don't have anything to say." I spoke softly, trying to not sound pompous, but at the same time, caring.

There was a frenzy of emotions, a blur if you will. He crawled on top of me, most likely trying to feel dominate, and I just sat there and laughed lightly. He hissed at me, and I couldn't help it, I spoke to him in a manner that I shouldn't have, it was totally out of character.

"Oh, are you a little kitten now?"

It was almost obvious what happened next, and it almost disgusted me the next morning, waking up with my own son in bed with me, in a manner that he certainly shouldn't have been.

Headphone: Oh jesus i feel terrible for writing this.

Kratos: You should.

Lloyd: m

Headphone: m