I've never read a renegade!Lloyd and renegade!Anna fic and the idea seems interesting enough. I shouldn't have problems with updates because the fic's mostly written, for once.
If you think I'm copying your idea, please, drop a message and this will be forever removed.
Disclaimer: I don't own Namco, ToS or any of its characters. I do own my crazed fangirl mind and a netbook, mister Natty Boo-kies the First. One should name one's most prized possessions, right? (even if it's not technically a name). Oh, and there's honey Popcorn (desktop with UTAU installed and running perfectly) and Lilac (Wii) too! *dances happily*
The parts in italic are flashback.
'Thinking'
"Speaking"
A merrily happy Christmas to you! Ho-ho-ha-ha Mwahahahahaha! You gets ficsies and updaties for tolerating (or not) this stupid wannabe writer! :D
Oh, since we don't eat Gingerbread or Mince Pies in Brazil, you all get Panetones!
*off to do Christmas stuff coughscanherfanartscough and create a DA account*
Like Mother, like son
Chapter One: It happened all at once
---
The half-elf watched it all, like always. He knew everything, kept track of everyone. But Yuan Ka-fai could never predict the actions of one Kratos Aurion.
They had been friends for more than four millenia, yet the Renegade leader never managed to read the human's thoughts. Especially when said man went against his former pupil's orders, descended to Sylvarant and married a ranch prisoner that happened to be one of his spies who had her cover blown by Kvar himself.
Unpredictable indeed, but not entirely unwelcome. 'Kratos has finally come to sense and realized Mithos' hatred has long corrupted his heart', he thought, glad as his years upon years of bitter eternity allowed, anyway.
Anna had been with the renegades since she was fourteen.
---
"You're worse than half-elves, your abomination!"
The eight years old girl heard that everyday, yet it always stung the same. Her mother was a gentle human merchant from Triet and her father, an ex-Desian who blamed himself for the harshness his family had to go through because of his foolish actions.
The only one who never looked down on her and treated Anna as a friend was Liet, the Chosen of Regeneration. The two were sitting on the docks, sharing some freshly picked strawberries with wide smiles.
"Say, Liet, how is it like to be the Chosen?" Anna asked, happily swinging her feet on the water.
"I don't know... many things just aren't right in the world. I want to change that one day." Her smile showed a strong will power.
"Must be tough..." the brown haired girl mused, "Living so far from your other relatives..."
"Oh, but I go to Iselia twice a month! Mom's the head priestess there. I pray at the Martel Temple and we spend a whole day together! Then, big sister Irina cooks a delicious meal and we talk until dawn... oh, there's also Frank, sis' fiancé..." She trailed.
"Why are you in Luin? I mean, Iselia's the Oracle city and all, right?"
"Iselia is the Village of Oracle, but I have duties in the Tower of Mana. When my sixteenth birthday is near, I'll go there and fulfill my duties as a Chosen."
"Can I come with you?"
"I'd love if you accompanied me, but we have to ask Mom first, okay?"
"Right! Promise you'll try asking your mom and I'll become strong enough to protect you!"
"I promise."
-
And Anna kept her promise. She asked her father to teach her magic and balanced well between ofense and support spells. The girl went to the point of practicing for fifteen hours nonstop and collapsing from exhaustion. Her mother had stocked extra orange gels just for her, as Anna managed to use five a day when going easy on herself. The amount she earned from defeating monsters soon was enough to cover the items and even a new weapon once in a while.
-
"Frank, Anna, Laureane and Serge. I trust my daughter to you." Declared Phaidra, in her usual calm tone. Five years had passed since their promise.
-
'The Balacruf Mausoleum is the perfect place for two little girls disappear', he mused.
They had hidden in there, waiting for the Chosen, ambushing like no predator could ever do. This girl who didn't let go of the Chosen didn't faze Botta at all. He knew whoever she was, the young female wasn't a threat.
Swiftly, they knocked the duo.
A simple warp and they were far enough so no one would intervene. They planned on disposing of them on the spot, but decided against it as the Chosen's female companion slowly got up. "Huh?"
The baby changed everything. In fact, Yuan was shocked beyond shocked when one day, the couple knocked on his base's door asking for a rather... strange request: to be their son's godfather.
He looked at the baby, who was sleeping peacefully on Noishe's back. The one word he uttered immediately after their request was the most illogical, absurd answer he had given in the last thirty nine centuries. "Yes."
Kratos stared at him, his human wife--the Renegade's long thought to be dead subordinate--cradling the newborn. "Why not? Lloyd is my best friend's son, isn't he?", the renegade added, smiling weakly.
---
We decided they'd live in my Iselia hideout because no one would suspect the two fugitives to be right beside a Human Ranch. The first thing I did when they were safe was to get a keycrest for Anna.
Their new home was well hidden amidst the forest. The small entrance was hidden by a camouflaged door that resembled the sewers in Meltokio. We placed a boulder on it to perfectly blend their existence to the ambient.
I got to see an infant Lloyd speak his first words and walk his first steps. Anna's face seemed younger each passing day, her vivid brown eyes shining with an emotion I hadn't felt in a long time. Even stoiKratos, the heartless Tethe'Allan bastard, smiled once in a while. It was a good change and a way to confront Yggdrasil. I was hiding his precious Angelus Project, wasn't I? I was killing two birds with a single stone. Or, in this case, killing a crow by saving a canary. Yes, that was perfect.
---
As good fortune ends so fast, I was on my way to celebrate Lloyd's third birthday and found a destroyed hideout instead. The secret passage had crimson stains with a scent I'd grown so tired of during the war: Blood. I advanced through the narrow tunnel and found the furniture in ruins, marks of a violent conflict all along the once rosy walls.
They had been spotted. I'm not sure how, but they did. Before I could even open my mouth to gasp, my legs had already started moving. I ran as fast as I could, frantically searching for any sign of Kratos, Lloyd or Anna, the first woman I grew to respect as a friend after Martel's incident. The few monsters that dared target me couldn't keep ut with my pace and eventually gave up.
I finally found the trio, surrounded by Kvar's men, at the edge of a cliff. 'What are they doing in Forcystus' territory?' Then I noticed it. A horrified sigh escaped my lips. Anna was an Exbelua? And Kratos... Kratos' sword, the proud Flamberge was embedded to his wife's chest, its usual glow subdued as if grieving for its master.
"Lighting Strike!"
At the exact moment Kratos removed the sword from the dying form of Anna, Kvar cast a spell that sent Lloyd, Noishe and Anna down the abyss.
The scene hit Kratos so hard he couldn't move, he just gazed at the spot his family had fallen from, dull, completely devoid of emotions for a moment before screaming their names. He kept on desperately calling for them for what seemed like hours, almost as if he believed calling out loud enough could miraculously bring them back or at least, at the very least, make him forget it all, hand his soul to Death's embracing arms.