Escaping Death

It was a beautiful morning in Symphonia. The sky was a dazzling orangey-pink, and everyone was asleep- well, almost everyone…

"Hiyah! Take that- don't bother begging for mercy, I'm already going easy on you! DIE!"

"Lloyd." Kratos walked into the small clearing. Trees surrounded the two and a small river ran through the forest.

"Lloyd, what are you doing?" Kratos continued as he approached Lloyd, who was standing facing a tree. His arms were outstretched, and he looked as if he were about to hug the tree.

"DAD! I…uh…I was…training!"

"With a tree?" Kratos asked, cocking his head to one side.

Lloyd let go of his swords, which were stuck deep inside the tree, which explains why he had his arms stretched out. He turned around to face Kratos. He blushed.

"Well, yeah…I mean, I didn't have anyone else to train with…" He trailed off, as Kratos raised an eyebrow.

"So, In other words, you just didn't want to train with me?" He questioned.

"No! I never said that! It's just…" He sighed, and averted his gaze to his feet, which he now found very interesting, "I just wanted to become stronger, without your help, so that you'd be proud of me…" Once again, he trailed off, glancing up into Kratos' eyes as he did so, and was greeted with a look of warmth and, something else…but he couldn't figure out what. Then, In one swift movement on Kratos' part, Lloyd found himself being embraced by his father.

"There's no need Lloyd," Kratos said lovingly, "I'm already proud of you- I couldn't be any prouder. After all you've done for me, for this world; there is nothing more that you could do to make me prouder." He finished, letting go of Lloyd.

"Really?" Lloyd questioned, beaming, eyes full of hope and glee, like a child's.

"Really." Kratos replied, smiling. It made him so happy to see his son like this. He was now 19, as they had been travelling together for a year, training and destroying exspheres. To see Lloyd like this always brought a smile to his face. It always made him think of their days together as a family, with Anna…

'Goddess, how I miss her. If only there was some way for us to be together again…' He thought.

"..AD?" Lloyd said as he placed a hand on Kratos' shoulder. This brought him back to reality. He realized that Lloyd must have called him several times now, with no response, or he wouldn't look so worried.

"Dad, are you okay?" Lloyd said again. How many times had he called him now? At least 5, but all he had done was stare off into space, a glazed look had come over his eyes.

'He only spaces out like this when he's thinking about mom,' Lloyd thought.

"I'm fine. I am sorry to have worried you Lloyd." Kratos said in answer tp Lloyd's question.

"Good. You scared me." Lloyd said, as he walked over to the river. He cupped his hands, scooped up a handful of water, and splashed it on his face. "You were thinking about mom again, weren't you?" He said, as he watched a ripple spread across the river.

"…I…yes." Kratos said. He could feel his throat going dry. It always did when he thought of her…

"Don't worry." Lloyd slowly got up and turned around, "I miss her too. You're not alone. And I know that she misses us. There's no way around it. We all miss each other when we're apart, but that's what keeps us together, really. Look at it like this; If we're all thinking of each other, then we'll always be together, at least in our heart…" He stopped as he felt a lump rise in his throat, and tears begin to well up in his eyes. He turned back around and crouched down, splashing his face once again, to make sure that if he started to cry, the tears would blend in with the water, so that his father wouldn't notice.

He didn't want him thinking that he wasn't strong. He did not want to be referred to as weak.

"…" Silence. Kratos didn't know what to say. He had no idea that Lloyd was so…compassionate. He knew that he was an idealist, hell, everyone did, but he had never seen this side of Lloyd before. He was crying- trying to disguise it, but it did not go unnoticed by Kratos, but he didn't say anything about it.

They could now both feel the tension beginning to rise between them, as they remained within the uncomfortable silence.

"C'mon" Lloyd stood up and pulled his swords out of the tree, then started to head out of the clearing. He looked up at the sky to find that it had lost it's orangey- pink colour, and turned blue. Clouds drifted lazily across the sky. He glanced back at his father, who was still standing there, apparently mesmerized by Lloyd's earlier speech, staring at the place where Lloyd had previously been.

"We need to get back to camp. You coming?" He asked. He received a nod from Kratos and started to walk off.

'I knew he took after her, but never that much. They both think alike; I can remember what Anna said on Lloyd's first birthday, when we ran from the Desians; As long as we're thinking of each other, even when we're split apart, we'll always be together at heart.' With the words off his wife, and his son, on his mind, he set off towards their camp, keeping his family close at heart.