Disclainer : I DON'T OWN ToS. If I did, this's what would've happened.

PLEASE NOTE: This chapter has been edited from it's original version.

Chapter 1

A Dense Forest Near The City Of Hima: 3,986 years after the Great Kharlan War.

In silence, a single figure stood in a clearing. Just the way he liked it; peace, quiet, and best of all, solitude. As he unconsciously began going through the motions he'd been perfecting for over 4,000 years, his sword in hand, flowing like the wind. He soon became lost in his own thoughts, not worrying about messing up any techniques as he did so.

Suddenly pausing, the man threw a small dagger behind him at the incoming stranger, his auburn hair flying as he whipped around to face the intruder.

"Calm down, it's only me," A young man stated, the dagger in his hand, as the cape behind him billowed in the wind. "If you would mind not attacking me, Kratos?"

"Simply return the dagger and get out of here, Yuan." Kratos responded sourly as he returned to his practicing with his sword, the Flamberge.

"Enough of the swordplay and actually be serious with me for-"

Right when he heard Yuan call his techniques "swordplay", Kratos spun around to face his blue-haired acquaintance. "Don't insult me, Yuan. Or you can say good-bye to your status in those accursed Renegades of yours."

Yuan chuckled despite the other's angry words. "Who else would lead them, you? I doubt Lord Yggdrasill will want that," He retorted, spitefully. "One of the four is more than enough to make him angry."

"At the very least, you would end your delusion of-"

"I'm not the one who's delusional!" The half-elven male replied, eyes narrowing slightly. "Don't you see what will happen if his plans succeed? Even if you're able to revive Martel, it will never be the same, Kratos!" They paused, the younger of the two staring silently at his friend as the bluenette's expression saddened. "...She won't ever be the same. You know that."

With a shake of his head, Kratos turned away from Yuan. "I'm sure you're aware of that as well. Isn't that why you wish to allow her to move on? Because you care for her?" His gaze flickered back momentarily, the human rotating a bit to extend a hand to quietly request his dagger.

Yuan sighed. "You don't know what it's like...To lose someone so close to you."

Dark red, almost brown eyes spun around to glare at the Renegade leader. "Just because you don't know of-" Kratos' hand clenched tightly, his voice losing its' hostility. He turned on his heel and left the clearing, a soft "don't assume, Yuan" hanging in the air as he headed for the inn within the nearby town of Iselia.

The blue-haired half-elf watched as his oldest, and best, friend left his presence. Then he, too, left in order to return to the Renegade Base in the land of Triet.

What the—? What happened here? Kratos wondered as he entered through the gate of the village. No…it couldn't have been them. The Desians would never attack u—"Forcystus!" Kratos practically growled when he spotted the aqua-haired, one-eyed Desian. "What did you do to this place?"

"Ah, Kratos, so sorry you couldn't join us in burning this despicable village to the ground." Forcystus responded sarcastically, quickly turning as to not leave his back to Kratos. "Too bad one escaped, but I'm sure I can fix tha—"

"Why did you do this?" He demanded, gripping the Desian's collar. "For what reason did you and your men do this?"

Taken aback, Forcystus replied, "I'll tell you if you let go of me, Kratos."

"Tell me." Kratos' grip loosened considerably as Forcystus fell to the ground, barely keeping his balance, as his collar slipped out from Kratos' grasp as he let go.

"If you must know, we received information that the fool host body A012, more commonly known as Anna, escaped Kvar's ranch to this village; but all we saw of her was her brown hair in a braid. She—"

"What happened to her?"

"She's the one who escaped. To where, none of us know."

He took a moment to fully understand everything then hurriedly left Iselia for the forest past Iselia's Human Ranch. Anna…stay safe and do the one thing I have been foolish enough not to do as of late: protect our son, Kratos thought as he scaled the trail up to the house of the dwarf, Dirk Irving.

While he was just a few yards from Dirk's house, Kratos heard an all too familiar sound; the sound of Kvar's holier-than-thou-filled voice. "Stop running away and give me your exsphere."

"Please, Sir, leave my son be. He's too young to defend hims—I-"

"I don't want him, only that exsphere of yours. Now hand it over."

Angered, Kratos silently crept up behind the small group of Desians and took out all but Kvar. His single mistake was to leave Kvar until he was the only one left. For at the exact moment Kratos was against the final Desian, Kvar removed Anna's exsphere from the back of her hand just as the Desian fell to the ground.

The moment her exsphere was taken, the young child behind his mother cringed at the sight of the monster she had become. Kratos immediately rushed to Anna's aid, facing Kvar.

"What have you done, Kvar?" Kratos questioned; his glare like daggers. "Give me her exsphere, or I shall destroy—"

"Whaahhh!" Cutting him short, the cry of his son broke into the air. Kratos swiftly injured Kvar, took the exsphere, and whipped around to aid his son right when a large, white and green dog jumped in front of the boy, growling at Anna.

"Noishe, no!"

"Please…Kratos…save yourself and…kill me…No fate…could be worse…than this…" Anna pleaded. Then, her body lashed out and missed his arm by only a small span of space. The result was her falling to her knees, "Please…Kratos…save…Lloyd."

I suppose you give me no choice. I will avenge you, Anna. Kratos vowed solemnly in his mind. Kratos paused only momentarily, his expression heavy with sadness, before plunging the Flamberge into the place just below where Anna's heart would be, even in the form of a monster. She reverted back to her previous form, crumbling to her knees. Slowly, Anna turned around on the ground to pick up her son. Her husband took an apprehensive step forward, passing Noishe. "Are you…alright, Anna?"

Anna stood up, turned towards Kratos, but before she could answer, both her and child fell backwards as she fainted—Noishe quickly ran down the trail to where she and the child would land—leaving Kratos and Kvar on the cliff top.

What have I done to her? No…Kratos whipped around to glare down at Kvar. "Why did you do that? You idiotic, mindless—" his rage building.

"Orders. Lord Yggdrasill found out about who she was and he personally came to see me." Kvar's voice was reproachful as he tried to stand up. "I—" Although he just fell down to one knee, so his try was futile. "I have to say though. You seem to have only fought us because she was in danger, and I must say that only one as weak as that would-"

"Weak?" Kratos demanded, grip tightening on the Flamberge's hilt. "I am not the one who needed at least ten of his men to track down a defenseless woman and her child." No matter how much he wanted to kill the man right then and there, Kratos knew he couldn't. He knew, as one of The Four Seraphim, it would look very suspicious if he killed one of the Desian Five Grand Cardinals. The human warrior turned away, unfurling his wings.

"Just where are you going?" A man with long, blond hair and ice cold aquamarine eyes inquired evenly.

Damnit. Kratos' face was impassive even though he felt like taking off to see what had become of Anna. "Lord Yggdrasill." He responded as both Kratos and Kvar turned to face the new-comer.

Lord Yggdrasill sighed in annoyance before repeating, "Where are you going, Kratos?" The blond glanced temporarily over at Kvar dismissively. "I didn't think I'd find your Desians beaten by a single mercenary, Kvar. They need training." He snapped back to questioning Kratos. "Well?"

"I was just about to return to the Tower of Salvation, Lord Yggdrasill." Kratos quickly lied as he began to float up, off the cliffside. "Now if you would excuse me, I must be going."

"So you're Lord Kratos..." Kvar muttered.

Just to make it look he had been telling the truth, Kratos flew off behind the forest before going down to the base of the cliff. Nothing but corpses...not even a trace that told him either Anna or Lloyd had survived. Silence grasped the man tightly, unwilling to let him go in order to allow him movement. Dark red-ish brown eyes surveyed the area around him, not wanting to believe he had been the cause of the death of his family. Yet he knew deep within that it was true. With that single thought, Kratos' knees gave way and he would have fallen straight to the ground if he hadn't caught himself with his palms. "I never should have...I can't believe he was right. Damnit, Yuan." A soft tap made contact with the back of his hand, focusing Kratos' attention on the small dark circle upon his glove which was soon joined by more. Slowly, the man straightened his back and sat kneeling on the ground, simply staring in awe at his hands. "...Tears?" His right hand rose to his cheek to find it dry. "If not, then…?" Kratos looked up and watched as small droplets of water fell from the dark clouds overhead. He let out a short bark of a laugh at the irony of his situation, although a small smile graced his lips as he did. "Thank you."