Disclaimer: seriously, if I owned Tales of Symphonia, there would have been a lot more daddy scenes! And everything would be much clearer. So yeah, I don't own them.

Been playing it a lot, beat it once and already back to Tethe'alla for the second go around, making sure i get all the daddy scenes. Anywho, the first time I went through, I had a feeling that Remiel wasn't a good guy (figured out Kratos so easily). I thought the others would pick up on it too (some did). So eventually, this came out. Most of it was written while sleep deprived, so Lloyd really sounds natural here. enjoy!

Father Yes and No

Kratos scowled at Remiel from behind the Chosen's group, not liking the half-elf turned angel from the very beginning. Too much of an ego to begin with, and he hated humans. Why did Yggdrasil choose him to 'bestow the blessings of Cruxis'? He was planning something to feed his ego, he knew it.

The worst part of this arrangement was the lies the man told. This Chosen was an innocent, idealistic girl. She needed hope sure, and to feel a normal life for as long as she could, but to feed her this lie... The worst part of having to escort the Chosens was not being able to say anything to them about their roles, not being able to tell them the truth.

This man was not Colette's father. How dare he lie to the girl like this. Especially since he couldn't tell his own son the truth about himself.

Resting after the seal was released, Kratos stared into the fire, waiting for the others to finish settling down. By his experience, the Chosen should not be able to sleep anymore. If she was allowed fifty years as an angel, she could find a way to nap once again, but Mithos would never let that happen. Kratos was the only human allowed to be an angel and live. That child was insane.

"You okay?"

The swordsman glanced over to the voice, hiding the fact he'd been in deep thought. He could not show anyone he was caught off guard, especially this one. If he was going to drill in the most important lessons on swordsmanship and protecting others, he had to lead by example. "What makes you think I'm not?"

"You didn't even flinch when Professor Sage snored." Lloyd passed a cup of coffee to him without a second thought, taking a sip of his as he sat down nearby. "She's so loud, I think she's scaring all the monsters away. You're pretty much off the hook tonight."

"Better safe than sorry." Kratos slowly drank his cup, mindful of the heat. It took twenty years to get a hang of not feeling anything, eventually amounting to not feeling pain or exhaustion. Temperatures hardly bothered him, but he knew whether things were hot or cold. And yes, he could taste things. If he couldn't, tomatoes would be eaten instead of snuck to Noishe. It just took thirty years to regain that ability.

Chosen were never given the chance to adapt as he had. Mithos had a violent temper.

"Soo... what's eating you?" The duel swordsman eyed him curiously and a certain level of concern. Kratos knew that look. It was the one Anna used to give him when she was begging for him to confide his deepest secrets to her instead of bottling it up. It was always the silent begging that got to him. Where did he learn that look?

'Must be genetic.' The redhead sighed. "Just thinking. You should get some sleep."

"With the loudmouth over there? Not likely." The teen tried to throw it out like a joke, but then he looked over to where Colette was laying down, pretending to sleep. "Besides, I don't know if I can. When she passed out at the seal..."

"She'll be fine," he reminded him evenly. This was not the worst of it after all, and the pain only lasted a few minutes. No. It would be when she was trapped in her own mind, slowly dying under Mithos' spell that they should really pity the girl. If only she wasn't friends with his son! "This is all part of the transformation."

"Still doesn't make it any easier." Lloyd looked into his cup, sighing heavily. "I've known Colette since I first came to the village. Everyone was in awe of her, being the Chosen and all, and I just ran up to her and pulled on her hair."

Kratos choked hearing that, not believing what he just heard. Pulled on her hair?

"I never saw anything like it before," the teen continued without noting the snort from the man. "Most people's hair doesn't come in that color, and I thought it was pretty. Everyone yelled at me, but Colette, she..." He smiled fondly at the memory. "She smiled, forgave me, and asked me to play with her. She's really good with jacks but horrible with hopscotch."

"Imagine that." It was hard keeping the amusement out of his voice, but he had practice. Lloyd didn't care if she was the Chosen or not. Colette was his dearest female friend, and nothing would change that. Martel would have liked him.

"When I heard her dad wasn't really her dad-" Kratos looked up with interest as he continued, sincerely curious what happened in their youth. Lloyd just smiled fondly. "-it was like a bond, you know? Frank and Dirk aren't our dads by blood, but they raised us and loved us unconditionally. Frank was really worried about her when she left. He practically begged us to follow after her when we were banished."

"Hm. Good man." That was all he could say about it. Good man. The man who raised the Chosen tried to give her as normal a life as possible, and gave her her best friends in the end. What would happen next for them?

Lloyd looked back down, observing his drink instead of drinking it. A somber look crossed his face, truly concerned. "Hey, do you think Remiel is really Colette's dad?"

"What?" The question threw him off for a moment, wondering what tipped the lad off.

"It's just..." His grip grew tighter as he spoke. "He seemed so cold this time. Like he was so important. He kept telling Colette to not disappoint him, but that's a lot to put on her shoulders, isn't it? If he were really her dad, he'd be trying to comfort her and trying to make it easier on her, right? He'd want to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay, not keep his distance and just spout religious magical riddles."

"Different people have different parenting techniques," Kratos stated ambiguously. Frankly he agreed with the boy, but the Chosen was awake on her sleeping pad, likely listening to everything they said. She didn't need to hear this.

"But she hasn't been with her real dad most her life! She's been dreaming of meeting him for as long as she can remember!" Lloyd's insistence was startling, getting louder by the moment. Just like Anna, when he was passionate about something, he could not control the volume of his voice. "It should have been a happy reunion! And-"

"Lloyden. The others are resting. Keep your voice down." The low, serious note in his voice silenced the teen for a second before he admitted defeat. A sigh and a pout followed, reminding him greatly of the three year old he once knew.

"Remiel should have at least done something to prove he loved her. I'm sure mine would have. He wouldn't be able to help it."

Kratos' heard stopped for a moment, his breath stilling. What did he just say? "How are you certain? It's possible your father wouldn't have-"

"I remember a little about him." A slightly sad smile peeked from his face as he spoke, bringing out old memories. "At least, I think I do. I remember he was strong and brave, and he could use a sword. He used to put me on his shoulders a lot, and then we'd watch the stars. He'd smile and pick me up a lot of times, like he was afraid to let go of me. Me and my mom. They both would mess up my hair whenever they were happy with me, and I remember they were warm and kind."

He looked up from his cup and sighed. "Dad... Dirk... he did a lot of the same things, so I'm pretty sure that's how a dad's supposed to be. Frank did something similar with Colette, and the professor is more like a mom sometimes that a sister to Genis. She does a lot of mom-like things too. Remiel hasn't done anything to Colette that makes me think of a parent. More like... the mayor or that Desian leader guys.

"I don't know what I'm talking about." Lloyd sighed, clearly tired. "I just don't think that angel's being very fatherly towards Colette, so I wonder if he's lying to her for some reason."

Kratos looked at the boy for a long minute in silence, his mind still rattling with the information he was just given. Lloyd remembered all of that? Vaguely yes, but he remembered a bit about him? He remembered what a father was, just not who his was. Would he remember more if he told him? Told him the truth? About himself and Remiel?

A voice inside him sounding much like Mithos told him otherwise. Lloyd knowing the truth, at least as far as they were concerned, would only end in heartbreak for all of them. If he couldn't shake the rest of them off the journey before the Tower of Salvation, then everything said now would be seen as a manipulation instead of as the truth. "Sometimes it is better to believe a lie than to face the truth."

"What?" The admittance took the sleep deprived boy back a step, so Kratos explained.

"Lloyd," he tried, "when you were little, how did Dirk explain what happened to your mother?"

The teen had to think about it for a minute before recalling. "Well, he told me the truth... after I wandered off trying to find my parents. I think I was attacked by something..." Kratos flinched at the idea of his small son being attacked while looking for him. He should have been there. "But... I think he told me my parents were off on a trip first. Really fuzzy there. And there is that dwarven vow..."

"Lying is the first step down the path of thievery," the man quoted without a second though. It made the teen smirk.

"Met a few dwarves?"

"A few."

"Hm." Lloyd looked into his cup again. "So he lied at first, but I got the truth eventually."

"You were told the truth when the lie put your life in danger," Kratos corrected. "Many children are told such lies for years, just to keep them hopeful and smiling. The Chosen... Colette..." He didn't like giving her a name, but this time he had to. Lloyd needed to identify with this and that meant names. He knew far too many Chosens names, and each one hurt in the end.

Still he pressed on. "She has a difficult task ahead of her. She's had one since she was born. Think of her as a child some time. There are lies being told to keep her smiling, even happy. She lies to keep everyone from worrying. If you knew the truth... if any of us knew the full truth... who knows what choices we'd make. Tasks need to be done, and that at times requires believing lies."

"So... you don't believe Remiel really is her dad?"

Reminded once more of Anna and her ability to blindside him, Kratos sighed. Their personalities were so alike, there was no denying they were blood. "I would be lying if I didn't say I had doubts, but I would need to talk to her mother to know the truth. Maybe she takes after her and not Remiel. There is very little information on angels out there, and I have traveled all of Sylverant. Angel-human off-springs are unknown to everyone. Maybe that's what the Chosens are. Maybe they aren't."

If that were true, Lloyd would be the Chosen, not Colette. Colette was a human with some elfish blood in her, amplified by the Cruxis Crystal she bore. Lloyd though... Well, he seemed human enough. Only time would tell.

"Point of the matter is," he finished, "that what we think doesn't matter. If she wants to believe he's her father, and he lets her, then we have no say in the matter." 'Even if I want to skewer him for taking an honor I can't have.' Kratos watched his son think it over, wishing he could have raised him like he should have. Dirk did a good job with his boy. Another good man. He just wanted to be a part of it all.

Lloyd continued to think about it for a minute then sighed in defeat. "Guess you're right. But my head keeps going around in circles because of this thing."

"I think it has more to do with the coffee than Remiel." Smirking slightly, Kratos reached over and took the lad's cup away from him. "Go get some sleep. I'll wake you for training at dawn."

"You promise?" The man nodded, holding back a broad smile as the kid's eyes lit up. Eagerly the boy got out of his seat and set off to bed. "Night Kratos. Don't slay anything without me!"

The swordsman smirked to himself in amusement, then tucked it away. As much as he enjoyed his talks with his son, he knew he shouldn't get too attached. In time he would have to betray them. The Chosen would be taken and used as a vessel for Martel. If it worked this time, she would set her brother straight and the worlds may be reunited. If it didn't, another Chosen would rise and Colette would join her predecessors in the swirling graveyard in the Tower of Salvation.

Either way, their talks would end, and he would not be able to act like the father he really was. Lloyd would hate him, and justly so. It really was better for him to believe a lie than know the truth this time, no matter how much he wanted to hold his son again. Lloyd was right. He could hardly help himself from acting on his instincts around his son. The only one he could act on was a simple prayer.

'Don't die Lloyd.'

END

A/N: okay I love daddy/son relationships so I had these two analyzing them. Really wonder though who Colette's real parents are. Loved how even though Lloyd doesn't know Kratos is his dad, he still instinctively acts like his son. And Kratos can't help but want to be his dad, no matter how much he pushes past it.

Ah well. Expect more from me here for a bit. The game is so much fun! *happy dance*