Saving Grace
This is for the Pairing Challenge in the Pairing Tolerance forum, with the idea being to write about a pairing you despise. Well, as you should all know by now, I absolutely abhor Kraine. Karma, huh? If you want to see the actual challenge, go the forum. Also, please forgive me if something is out of order against the game. It's been awhile since I've played, because one of my stupid disks isn't working. I don't own Tales of Symphonia or any of its characters.
Kratos watched his son walk back to the inn, the two white ribbons of his red outfit blowing behind him in the growing winds of Flanoir. Sighing slightly to himself, the Seraphim turned back to the City of Snow, leaning on the rampart the overlooked the town blanketed in white. 'Is this really the best course of action?' the auburn-haired man thought as his gaze traveled across the city, taking it all in. 'I'm placing him in great danger. He may not survive.' He fingered the space around his neck where his precious locket once hung– the memories of happier times. Times when life was simpler, albeit frightening, and love was strong. Love for Anna, love for Lloyd, it was what drove him forward in those hard periods of life. How far away they seemed now; how distant and unfamiliar.
It was for the best, he often argued for himself. It would save both worlds, and Anna's death would not have been in vain. But, what if Lloyd himself died? What would that make Kratos? A murderer, a careless father. What man pushes his son towards death? What human kills his wife? He knew it did for the best, that he did it for his family. However, the guilt still remained, still haunted his dreams. Shadows of Anna came forth every night, berating him for his actions, screaming and clawing at him, trying in vain to destroy him the same way he murdered her.
"I'm a monster," he whispered to the winds, words losing themselves the growing snow. Strains of "Martel's Forgiveness" could be heard coming from the Cathedral behind him, the holy words slicing at the sins of his body.
"Yes, you are." A strong voice breached his ears. "You betrayed those who called you 'friend', those who idolized you, and those that you love the most." Raine climbed up the steps leading the balcony, her boots leaving solemn tracks in the snow. Her clear blue eyes held back a sea of anger and frustration, and her oak staff was gripped tightly in one hand. "Angels are symbols of love, peace, and happiness," she continued, making her slow way towards him, trudging through the deep snow, an icy tone attaching itself to her voice. "And there you stand, a symbol of war and hate. To think that you would treat your own son this way! You defile the term 'angel'. You are a demon, a being fallen from the grace of Martel." She spat the words as if they were venom.
He started walking towards her, letting his wings appear as he does so. The clear blue feathers glowed in the growing night, a chilling wind causing a slight shudder to run down the spines of both.
"How can you speak of Martel in such a way, now that you know the truth?" he asked when they were closer, only a few arm lengths apart from one another. "She was a half-elf just as you, nothing more."
"She may have been only a half-elf in the physical sense, but she was much more. An idealist, a condoner of war, and a protector of peace. Is it wrong for me to admire such a woman?" She glared at him, eyes hardening from aqua-blue to a wicked color of ice. "You traveled with her, and you think this way of her! She was your friend." Her head turned to the side, apparently gazing at the Cathedral looming beside them. A bitter laugh escaped her lips, causing the air around them to wince. "I forgot, you have no friends. You've betrayed them all to their doom."
The words stung more than the biting snow attacking his face. "Don't speak of that which you do not know," he lied, starting to walk away. He could not face her, could not defend himself on this night.
Her hand was faster than his feet.
They stood for several minutes, him with several fingers upon the stricken spot, her with a look upon her face which could only be described as demonic.
"Do not speak to me of things unknown," she said, walking towards him once more. "I know more than you think."
"Such as?" he countered, backing slightly away from her, towards the church. He didn't believe her. The only person who knew anything about him was Mithos, and even he didn't know much.
"That I knew you were Lloyd's father when I first saw you. Who Anna was." A small smirk appeared on her otherwise enraged face. "Your midnight 'meetings' with Yuan."
His face blanched as his foot crossed the threshold into the Cathedral. Bowing quickly to the statue of Martel standing in the center, he headed towards the stairs that led to the roof. He could fly away easily there. It would be the coward's way out, but a way out nonetheless. "And how would you know this?" he asked, ignoring the jab at his sexuality– They both knew that it wasn't true.
"When I first saw you and Lloyd together, it was obvious there was something between you. You have matching hair color and your eyes–" she stopped herself.
"What about them?" He enjoyed seeing her given pause, after having dominated this argument since the beginning. Kratos began to climb the winding stairs that led to the top, keeping his head turned to her as she followed.
"Lloyd once said Sheena has 'gentle eyes'. It was how he knew she wouldn't kill Colette." She paused again. "When I first saw you, I saw the same thing, despite your supposed profession of mercenary. I saw a father's love in them." Her voice had soften a great deal, it was almost pitiable how much she had changed in the course of scouring her memories. The mother inside of her was awakening. "At least, I thought I did."
He continued to climb, keeping his silence, fearing that even if even a breath escaped his lips, she would turn that against him as well.
"As for Anna, I saw you finger that locket at night." She barged forward, oblivious to the pain she was causing him. Or was she? Maybe that is what her intentions were. "It was hanging open one night, and I saw it as I was covering Genis with a blanket." Her lips pursed together in thought. "It was a cold night," she added, a trace of quiver in her voice.
"So you saw the three of us," Kratos said as he walked out of the stairwell onto the flat roof of the Cathedral. All around them stood huge gargoyles, protecting the purity of the place.
Raine trailed a black-gloved hand across one of the stone creatures, fingering the lines craved in the marble. "Yes," she admitted, eyes staring forcefully at the ground. "You were so intent on keeping the watch that you didn't notice."
He turned around to face the half-elf, who was now drawing her orange jacket tight around her body. "Why didn't you say anything to Lloyd?"
Raine looked up at him and gave a small smile. She looked so much like Anna when she did that. Both of their faces would light up with the glow of a mother, the power of a woman, and the love of a wife. "I thought that you would want to be the one to tell him. A sort of fatherly duty."
A silence fell upon them again, broken occasionally by the howling of wind. Raine had walked forward and was now sitting on the edge of the building, with Kratos standing a few feet behind her, as if guarding her.
"She was a great woman," he said suddenly, sitting down beside her.
"Anna?" Kratos nodded.
"She wasn't afraid of my status as angelic being, and she was willing to face the dangers that were bound to happen after we became...involved. I had never met anyone as strong and kind as she was."
"So that's where Lloyd gets it from."
It was a barb and a joke rolled into one, but Kratos passed over it. "It was actually on this roof that I proposed to her." A rare smile crept across the normally stern countenance associated with Kratos. "These gargoyles are testimony to that. I remember her face, her dress, her reaction. Everything about that night." His chin found a resting spot in his hand, and he stared at the city. "This was her favorite place in all the worlds."
Raine smiled, and found her hand on his shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze, instead of pushing him off as her original plan entailed. The feelings of infatuation she had experienced when she first met were rising again, despite the cage she had built for them after he betrayed the Chosen's group.
"I remember when I was proposed to as well," she whispered, although a frown creased her face. "He...was a good man, I suppose. At least, he was to me. The Prince Charming I had always dreamed for, the one that would come for me and take me away from the castle on his white steed. Then I found out who he really was, and how he was using me." Kratos glanced at her, a question in his brown eyes. Shaking her head, Raine continued, "He was using my knowledge of ruin to collect ancient artifacts, ones that contained great power. I stayed away from him as much as possible, even going as far as locking myself and Genis indoors. One day, news came that he had died in a cave-in during a ruin excavation. It was after that I took Genis and headed for Iselia started my new life."
Both were privately amazed at the change in the mood between them. What was once master lashing out at slave was now two old friends reminiscing about their past. What was once a lover's quarrel was now the perfect silence after spending the night in their arms.
What was now anger was a crush. What was a crush was now a moment.
And what become of the moment?
A single, perfect kiss of understanding for one another. Of moving on from the past and towards a better future.
A future that they would create together, for they were each other's saving grace. The one to pick them up when they fell, the one that would hold them in their broken periods, and the one that would always be there.
Whatever came to be.
Note from Nocte: I will never again write this pairing. It was just way too hard for me to get into Kratos' character and understand what people see in this couple. But, I fulfilled all the requirements of the challenge, and I do have some parts in there that I like. Review and tell me what you think!