An Act of Vengeance

"I'm bored."

Kratos looked up from the book he was reading as Mithos collapsed to the ground with a sigh. He lowered the book and raised an eyebrow at the young boy as Mithos stared into the campfire.

"And what would you like me to do about it?"

Mithos shrugged. "I dunno." Then he looked up with a bright smile, "Can we train? I want to get even better!"

Kratos, though, shook his head. "It's late and I'm tired."

"Feh," Mithos said. "You never get tired."

"Regardless," he said, "someone needs to watch our camp or else the fire will go out."

"Make Noishe watch the fire," Mithos said. "C'mon, Kratos. Please? I need to be stronger!"

Kratos saw something in those blue eyes; a determined look that reminded him eerily of himself at that age. Still, there was something else about the boy's expression. Something more than just an urge to get stronger. Kratos had been so determined to learn to fight so he could join the army and fight for his country, but Mithos... "Why is this so important to you?"

"Huh?" Mithos blinked, firelight flickering across his face.

"For the past week you've been bothering me incessantly about training." Kratos closed his book completely and put it aside next to his bag.

"It's..." Mithos looked down.

"It's Martel, isn't it?" Kratos said.

Mithos said nothing, but clenched his fists.

Kratos nodded, pleased to have discovered the root of the problem. A week ago, they'd discovered that Martel was sick with some sort of crystallization disease. She'd obviously been suffering for a while without telling anyone, so the other three had been understandably stressed. "You feel that you can do nothing to help your sister's health," Kratos said slowly, "so to make up for it you intend to protect her from outside dangers."

Mithos didn't say anything for a moment, just stared sullenly into the fire. Finally, he said in a small voice, "She's all I've got. I have to protect her. I have to be strong enough to keep her from harm."

Kratos gave him a small smile. "Mithos, you don't have to take the burden of defending her all on your own. Yuan and I are here as well."

"She's my sister," he said stubbornly. "She's my responsibility."

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Kratos asked. "She's supposed to be taking care of you."

He finally looked up to say, "Well, someone has to look out for her!"

"What about Yuan?"

Mithos made a face. "Hmph. Yuan. He's the reason I'm bored."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"I was going to go talk to Martel, but I couldn't because she was sneaking off with Yuan!"

Kratos smiled again. It was true; in the past few months, he'd been left alone with Mithos almost every other night as the two lovebirds slunk away for some alone time. He hadn't minded at first, but Mithos was quite clearly getting annoyed at missing out on his sibling-bonding-time. And he subsequently took that irritation out on Kratos, who had not been able to get through a single chapter of his book without interruption for a week.

Kratos sighed, then said, "Tell you what. Why don't we go find Yuan and Martel and get back at them for ignoring us so much? I'm sure they're not doing anything that important... or hopefully not anything we wouldn't want to walk in on..." He really, really hoped they weren't doing something they wouldn't want to walk in on. Poor Mithos would be traumatised for life.

"But what about the fire?"

Kratos turned to the white and green bird preening itself on a nearby log. "Noishe, watch the fire."

He stood up and wiped dirt off the bottom of his pants while Mithos eagerly jumped to his feet. "Hey...couldn't you have done that in the first place?"

Kratos ignored the question and merely pointed to the bucket full of water that was an emergency precaution in case the fire got out of hand. "Pick that up."

Mithos did so, his skinny arms straining to lift it. "You were just trying to get out of training me, weren't you?"

Kratos once again ignored him, then waved his hand to indicate Mithos should follow and took off up the hill in the direction Yuan and Martel had gone.

"Ugh!" Mithos said, coming slowly behind him. "This is heavy! Kratos, can't you carry it?"

"No."

"But you're really strong!"

"You're the one who said you wanted training. Now be quiet."

Mithos quieted, grumbling something under his breath. They reached the top of the hill and Kratos spotted the romantic pair near the bottom, sitting peacefully under a large tree. He had been prepared to cover Mithos' eyes and run like hell if the need arose, but thankfully they were both fully clothed.

He rose is finger to his lips, and silently beckoned Mithos onward. They crept down the hill as quietly as they could, and Yuan and Martel – so enraptured by each other's company – didn't notice a thing. They didn't even look up when Kratos easily climbed the tree on the other side of them, then reached down and grabbed the bucket from Mithos. He balanced it on a branch and rolled his eyes as Martel giggled at something Yuan had said.

He reached down and took Mithos' hand, then helped the boy up into the tree as well. By now Mithos had caught on to their cunning scheme, and grinned conspiratorially at his mentor. Kratos winked at him, and Mithos inched along a branch directly over the couple below. Kratos passed him the sloshing bucket, then nodded, signalling him to go.

Just as Yuan was leaning over to kiss Martel, Mithos emptied the bucket on his head.

The couple froze, Yuan's bangs pressed against his face, his ponytail slick and flat down his wet back. There was complete silence for about three seconds, before Mithos erupted into a storm of giggles.

Yuan's head snapped up and he shouted, "Mithos! You little brat!"

He gave Martel a look, and Kratos could have sworn she winked at Yuan. Then soaking-wet half-elf leapt to his feet as Mithos jumped to the ground and took off. "Come back here, you!"

They ran off, back up over the hill towards camp, Mithos laughing all the way. Kratos couldn't help but grin as well; Yuan looked damn ridiculous with his hair sopping wet. He put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"You can come down now," Martel said, getting to her feet as well. Kratos froze. "I know you're up there too, Kratos."

Kratos reluctantly swung his legs over the side of the branch and hopped down, glad that Yuan had already disappeared. Martel wasn't the sort to beat him to death with her staff... he hoped.

He smiled sheepishly at her, and Martel just shook her head bemusedly.

"Heh...Mithos was, um, Mithos was bored," he said in way of an excuse.

Then Martel winked and said, "Now, Yuan!"

"Lightning!"

Kratos had a split second to widen his eyes in surprise and realised that Martel had been acting as bait before a jolt of electricity coursed through him, causing his already hectic hair to stand straight up in the air.

It only lasted a couple seconds, but when the spell faded the couple had already run away. With one hand on top of his head to try and flatten his hair, he slowly made his way back to camp.

"You look ridiculous," Mithos said when he arrived. The three of them were sitting on a log around the fire, and Noishe chirped his agreement.

"Aw, poor Kratos," Martel said, pouting at him. "Tsk, tsk. You know what we need? Some water to flatten your hair. But – oh! Look at that, no more bucket of water...such a shame..."

Kratos just glared at all of them and silently plopped down on the ground and grabbed his book. His face was a bit red as he determinedly stared at the page, trying to block out the others' chatting. He couldn't believe he – a former knight in the imperial army – had been tricked by Martel of all people.

That damn woman...she put on a sweet and caring face, acting like such a saint whenever they were around others, but Kratos would never again be fooled. Martel was a vindictive bitch.

Hm...everyone always paints Martel as being a lot like Colette. All sweet and innocent and stuff. I like to think that Martel had a badass side.