Heehee! Kratos is one of my favorite characters in ToS, so of course I have to write a fic about him! And what better subject to write about in a one-shot than the relationship between Kratos and Anna? (And Lloyd. And Noishe. XD) I'm going to assume, for this and anything else I might write about ToS, that angels can switch between an "inorganic" form (angelic form) and an "organic" one. XD I mean... there IS a NPC angel who asks why Lloyd and co. aren't in inorganic form, right? Hahaha. And Kratos mentions his "angelic" form when you choose the Zelos path! XD Sooo... yes! Just some technical things... XD Too bad the game can't elaborate on this in more detail. (Or give us some more backstory for Yuan. And his relationship with Martel. The ring quest just isn't enough! T-T)

Well... Not much else to say, I guess! Used a bit of "parallelism" and some it/she flip-flopping on purpose, but other than that... Um... Yes! I hope you like it. :D Meh... I hope it's not all that mushy... I tried to keep it to a minimum... T-T One section in particular still bothers me though... Do tell me if it bothers you too!

Disclaimer: Don't own Kratos. Or anyone else. XD

An Angel Without Wings (One-shot)

He was powerful. He was immortal. He was an angel.

A large group of Desians stood between him and his goal. He leaned back against the rock wall, panting as the enemy leader smirked at him from across the smoldering craters between them.

"Lord Kratos," Kvar sneered, "what will you do now?"

Nothing. He could do nothing, and he knew it. He had long given up his so-called angelic form, his inorganic form; he had chosen to live a life of pain, hunger, and thirst the day he had met her. 'No feeling? But I've always wanted a son... You do too, don't you, Mister Guardian Angel?' she had asked coyly, her thin frame pressed against his side. He'd understood. And because of that decision, his right shoulder was now nothing but a burning mass of pain, and his left arm swayed uselessly at his side. He couldn't say he welcomed it, but, in a rather sadistic way, it made him feel alive.

"What will you do now?"

Nothing. He could do nothing. At least not in his current state, his current form. Pushing himself up with the solid rock for support, he had to admit that he was somewhat glad he wasn't on the other side of the ledge. He had a cliff; they had at least a hundred foot drop.

"Let them go," Kratos threatened in a low voice, clenching the Flamberge even tighter, his eyes narrowing with deadly intent as he tried his hardest to ignore the tendrils of pain crawling over his entire body.

Kvar laughed as the Desian guards readied their weapons. "Or you'll do what? Do tell, Lord Kratos. The suspense is killing me."

He was an angel, and he had no choice.

"Kratos!" Anna gasped, pulling little Lloyd closer to her as the boy shoved his face into the torn folds of fabric that were his mother's dress, too scared to look up, too scared to even cry.

For as long as he had known her, she had always hated the idea of an inorganic being; perhaps it was because she herself was being consumed by one. She'd begged him to take it off, to live a normal life with his wife and young son, but he knew that he'd still need it someday, to deal with them. They would come; they were sure to come. She was their most precious test subject after all, or, rather, the thing growing in her. And now... they had come. And they had her.

"So, still an angel of Cruxis, are we?" Kvar half-asked, half-stated, wholly amused.

Kratos did not answer, only touching the Cruxis Crystal on his left hand.

He was an angel. And, like all angels, he had wings. Shimmering, translucent, blue wings.

The pain melted away, as did the exhaustion, the hunger, the thirst, all feeling, all taste. He flexed his left arm. Not broken after all. He rotated his right shoulder. Still connected. He smirked.

But so did Kvar. "Remove it."

"No!"

Little Lloyd was tossed aside like a rag doll, screaming; Noishe ran up to comfort him, braving the jungle of stomping and kicking feet. With renewed strength, Kratos raced toward the Grand Cardinal, but the Desian soldiers formed a defensive line before their leader, trading their own lives for his, just like the loyal pawns they were.

"No! Anna!"

He was an angel. He was strong, undefeatable. Desian soldiers fell under his blade, squirming like ants caught on fire.

A glassy blue sphere glittered in the sunlight, matching the color of his wings. It was too late. He... was too late.

Anna screamed once, only once, dropping to her knees, clutching her head in agony. Little Lloyd cried... and cried... and cried, grabbing and pulling at Noishe's fur as the protozoan whimpered softly. Kvar laughed.

"So this is the result of my Angelus Project," he said, holding the Exsphere up to the sun, admiring its every quality. "Excellent. Very excellent. What do you think, Lord Kratos? This is your darling wife's... work... after all."

He didn't hear the comment; he couldn't hear. Only her groans of anguish filled his ears, and he could not tear his eyes away from her form, her gradually twisting form. Her hair, the hair he had stroked many a night as she fell asleep in his arms, worn out from running away. Her eyes, the eyes that had lead him away from the darkness and uncertainty haunting his mind, inspired him to find his own path. Her face, the face that he would forever love, the only face that he had ever truly loved. Everything that was hers. Everything. It was all vanishing, gradually being swallowed up by bulging, scaly, misshapen, green tissue.

"Here. You can have your wife back. I have no further need for her."

The monster was shoved forward by the remaining Desians, who poked at it with their weapons, too disgusted and afraid to get much closer. It let out a muffled cry as it stumbled to the ground, but the continued harassment forced it to rise, slowly.

He was an angel. Throughout his long life, he had seen practically everything there was to see. Nothing could unnerve him. Nothing.

"A- Anna?" Kratos finally managed to say. "Do you-"

But he never finished his question. In sharp contrast to its earlier behavior, the monster spun around furiously, knocking back the Desian soldiers, who were completely caught off guard. It slammed its bulbous hands together and drove its fists into the ground, smashing its hapless victims to their deaths. Groaning, it then set its sights on the Grand Cardinal, as his guards, this time, fled for their lives. With one swing of the monster's arm, the Desian leader found himself caught in a tree, gashes across his face, his hands completely empty.

And then, it turned. Little Lloyd was still crying, but was now also clutching the blue sphere as tightly as he could. Sensing danger, Noishe leapt in front of his young charge, teeth bared, growling. It was a brave but futile effort. Within seconds, the monster was upon them, with no sign of hesitation, and Kratos... could only stare.

She had always wanted a son. When she'd discovered that she was with child, she had been certain that it was a boy, so certain that she had even already picked a name for their child. Lloyd. Lloyd Aurion. He had tried to convince her to think of another name as well. What if it were a girl? But she had refused, in her stubborn way, and he had quickly given up. It was no use arguing with her, and he did like the idea of a son. A son he would raise to be strong and clever yet kind, a son he would protect with his life. And he wouldn't make the same mistakes he had made so long ago. Never again.

He was an angel, but he didn't know what to do.

Noishe was sent flying, skidding to a stop only inches from the cliff's edge. The monster had little Lloyd in its grasp, and it seemed intent on crushing the now scared silent boy to death. What was left of the Desian soldiers lingered a safe distance away, weapons hanging loosely in their hands. While Kvar struggled to dislodge himself from the tree branches, Kratos stood staring, frozen.

"K... K- Killll... K- K- Kill... meeee... Killll..."

"N- No..." Kratos shuddered at the monster's words, at Anna's words. "N- No. I can't. I- I can't."

"K- Killll meee!" she repeated again, more furiously, and raised the arm holding her frightened son, as if wanting to shatter his skull against the nearby rocks.

"No..." he shook his head weakly. "No..."

"P- Pleeaasseee... Pl- Pleeaassee... Kraaa... toosss... K- Killll..." she repeated yet again, this time, pleading. "P- Pleeaasseee..."

The arm rose higher, and his son's eyes, brimming with fear, met his.

He was an angel, and he had no choice.

Spreading his wings, he drew his sword and rushed toward her; she made no effort to stop him. At the last second, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his sword was still in his hands, dripping with her blood. She was staggering backwards, the wound in her chest a gaping hole.

"After it! We need that Exsphere!" Kvar barked, clutching his arm and retreating to a safe distance as his soldiers attacked.

And then, she was gone. With little Lloyd still in her grip and Noishe caught at her feet.

Before Kratos could stop them, a small group of the remaining soldiers had already leapt off the ledge in hot pursuit of their plummeting target, leaving the rest of the guards to deal with the lone swordsman. The angel. And once again that day, the Flamberge quenched its thirst with Desian blood as the soldiers fell, one by one, in groups, to the flaming blade. A cut appeared on his arm, a wound, but Kratos didn't feel it; he couldn't feel it. When the only figure left standing on the ledge was him, he dove into the dense forests below, wings easing his descent.

And there... he found nothing. Nothing but the half-eaten carcasses of Desians. Desian soldiers. Kvar was nowere to be found. And Anna... She was gone. She was truly gone, and so were Lloyd and Noishe. Gone. Forever.

In his fury, he plunged his sword into a tree trunk. In his bewilderment, he threw his shield aside. And in his sorrow, he could do nothing. His face remained dry; he could not cry.

When he met her, he'd said that he would always be with her. When she had him, he'd promised to always protect him. And now, those words, those promises, had become nothing but lies. 'What makes angels different from people?' his son had asked him once. 'Well... they have wings,' he'd answered. 'That makes them strong, so they can protect the people they love.' His son's eyes had widened, his face had lit up. 'Wow! I want to be an angel! I want big, shiny wings! Do you want wings too, Daddy?' And he'd said...

'Yes.'

He was powerful. He was immortal. He was an angel. An angel without wings.

A/N: Gosh... That last "paragraph" bothers me. :sigh: Well... That's it! Any and all suggestions accepted! XD