AN: I know I should probably stop uploading new stories when I've got so many unfinished ones already uploaded, but I've nearly finished The Caravan of Eragon, and my ToS Christmas fic, A Martelmas To Remember, so I thought, 'Why not?' I've had this chapter scrawled out in my notebook for a while.

I'll also be uploading an oyako one-shot soon enough, also scrawled in the notebook, and I've got plans for a selection of oyako one-shots to upload. 'Cause we could all do with a little more father/son fluff...

But yeah, this is just a bit of fun really, so I hope you all like it!

It's set just after the restoration of the worlds and doesn't include the second game. Oh, and it's slightly AU, as Kratos was delayed in leaving and so didn't go.

Disclaimer: I'm not the owner of ToS... I don't even own a copy of the game...

A mug was knocked to the floor, falling with a resounding crash that would have caused the room's occupants to flinch if it wasn't for the all-encompassing confusion and jumble of overlapping, near indiscernible sounds, all caused by the experimental procedures of a certain half-elf.

"Professor, what-"

"Hahahahaha!"

"How did this happen?"

"Is it permanent?"

"Raine, what do we do?"

"-ahahahaha-"

"I – just let me think."

"But, professor-"

"-ahahahahaha-"

"Lloyd, have some patience!"

"Professor, Yuan's escaping."

"Not now, Colette."

"-ahahahahaha-"

"But-"

"It's alright, Colette."

"Put me down! You- you-"

"QUIET!"

The bustle of noise abruptly stopped at the yell from the stern professor. All eyes snapped to Raine, Sheena delivering a swift punch to Zelos' gut as the red-headed chosen continued to howl with laughter. He let out a strangled yelp as he sank to the ground but looked up at his "ultra-cool gorgeous beauty" at a foot-nudge from her brother.

Satisfied she had everyone's attention, Raine brushed back the hair from her face and began, "Obviously my remedy isn't quite perfect yet-"

Genis scoffed. "You're kidding; it's a disaster."

Without blinking, the healer promptly slapped the back of her brother's head and responded, "And I will find a cure for this too, but in the meantime, the rest of you will have to look after them."

With that, she turned, her lips grimly set into a straight line as she took in the sight of a small, blue-haired half-elf thrashing violently in Regal's arms and unleashing a barrage of words – some she recognised, some she didn't – that were almost definitely all words that a child his size shouldn't yet know, let alone use.

Or should know, considering that the child in question was over four thousand years old and happened to own the office, and indeed, the entire base, that they were all congregated in. All Raine had meant to do was to ease the strain on their mana after having to use it to support the roots of the new world tree after it had germinated. She was only glad she hadn't yet attempted that particular spell on Lloyd, remembering what he'd been like at fourteen, let alone half that as Yuan had now become.

She jumped as a small hand tugged at her sleeve, looking down at the other child, who had previously been none other than Kratos Aurion but who was now a seven year old with even messier hair then before.

"Can I go home soon?" he enquired quietly, his eyes immediately fixing themselves on his toes.

"Soon enough," she answered. It was truthful enough. She did hope to be able to change him back soon and once he was an adult again, he would be able to take himself to wherever he would call home. "Now you go with these nice people until I can find a way to take you home," she ordered, taking the boy's hand and placing it in Sheena's

Both the ninja and the child looked slightly uncomfortable but neither made any attempts to contradict Raine's actions; the former knowing that it wasn't worth it is she valued her skull, the latter assuming the same.

"But where do we take them?" Sheena queried. "They can't stay here; it's too dangerous."

"Meltokio!" Zelos announced with a flourish. "My hunnies will be there."

Sheena slapped him, prompting Zelos to emit a sharp cry of "Not the face!" and Kratos to cringe away, though he didn't try to release her hand.

"Zelos does own the largest house," Regal begrudgingly admitted.

Genis added, "And he's got staff who probably know how to look after kids better than us."

"You aren't that much older than they are, Genis," Lloyd pointed out, though it was drowned out by Zelos' drawl of, "Yeah, my house is pretty awesome, isn't it?"

He approached Yuan, who was still ensnared in Regal's arms, continuing, "And it's big and full of awesome stuff. Bet you'll like that, won't you?"

Yuan, who had been glaring with his arms folded in a perfect impression of his adult self, kicked him in the nose.

"My beautiful face!" Zelos bemoaned, clutching at the throbbing feature. "You son of a-"

"Zelos!" Raine scolded.

"But he ruined-" the Chosen began.

Raine silenced him with a glare that would have made Kratos proud if he wasn't currently in child form and much more interested in the carpet.

"Fine," Zelos muttered, shooting the triumphant, blue-haired child an evil look. "But you're not coming to see my hunnies with me."

Yuan shrugged. "What makes you think I care?"

Zelos merely grinned, turning away from him and taking up Kratos' other hand. "You can still visit my hunnies with me," he told the little human, who looked confused.

"No!" Sheena protested, delivering yet another slap to Zelos face, which caused him to drop Kratos' hand, allowing Sheena to pull the child to her other side, shielding him from the philanderer. "I won't let you turn him into a mini womaniser! One Zelos is enough torture!"

She neatly took Kratos' other hand, glaring vehemently at the abused red-head as she patted the hair of the much sorter red-head next to her, whose eyes widened in shock.

Raine cleared her throat in an attempt to restore order. It didn't really change anything but since no-one was speaking, she was able to say, "I will go to Sybak first to research any cases similar to this. I suggest you all go to Meltokio; I'm sure Yu-" She cut off, glancing at the exultant form of Yuan, who was still smirking at Zelos, then corrected, "-the Renegades won't mind if we borrow some rheairds."

The journey to Meltokio had been surprisingly uneventful. Regal had expected to need to restrain Yuan in order to settle the little half-elf onto a rheaird, but instead, the now-child had been fascinated, asking all sorts of questions about how they worked and demanding to know what each button did during the flight, and whether he could push one.

It had been Kratos who had proved reluctant to board a rheaird, first staring at the flying machine in a wide-eyed mixture of apprehension and curiosity before being coaxed onto one by Colette and Lloyd – the latter stressing the point that it was fun while the former told him how lovely and safe it was, which led to Genis' only contribution - that if Lloyd wasn't dead yet then rheairds had to be pretty bomb-proof.

By the end of the flight, the ex-mercenary seemed to have decided that flying wasn't so bad, judging by the small smile he was hiding behind his hair as he allowed himself to be led into Zelos' house.

Sebastian arrived within moments, without even a trace of surprise on his well-trained face.

"Master Zelos," he greeted with a slight bow. "And Sir Bud." He strode over and crouched in front of Yuan, who stood with his head held high in front of Regal like he was just as tall if not taller, before looking the child in the eye and asking with a smile, "And who is this little fellow?"

The group shared glances reminiscent of rabbits in headlights but despite his frown at language, Yuan puffed out his chest and answered, "Yuan Ka-Fai."

Sebastian nodded, looking to Kratos, who was eying the butler warily, sandwiched between Colette and Sheena, and added, "And who's your friend?"

Yuan shrugged, scuffing his feet against the floor. "I don't know him," he said harshly. He looked like he might be about to add more but didn't, instead settling on an unsettled scowl towards the little human, whose eyes immediately darted to the tiled floor as he cringed away slightly behind the trailings of Sheena's bow.

"How about you tell me your name, little man?" Sebastian suggested, reaching out a hand encouragingly towards the wide-eyed child, who by now, had taken another step sideways and was peering at the butler from behind the pink material of the bow.

"Kratos, sir," he answered quietly, his eyes darting between the butler's and the carefully polished, black shoes that he wore.

"Well then, Kratos, how about you, Yuan and I go and get a snack from the kitchens?" he offered with a kind smile.

Both Kratos and Yuan sported dubious and surprised looks. Neither made any moves to go to Sebastian, only fidgeting awkwardly.

Sebastian gave a good-natured laugh. "It is not going to cost you anything."

Yuan immediately started forwards but Kratos hesitated. He studied the faces of all those around him before tentatively following the other now-child.

A scream erupted from the direction of Zelos' kitchen. It was followed almost instantly by several loud crashes, another shriek and a dull thud.

"Get it, Sarah!"

"No! You get it!"

"Coming your way!"

"Xander!"

The door behind Sebastian exploded outwards, something large, green and while accompanied by several maids and a butler piled into the room. Lloyd recognised the creature but before he could do anything, he was pipped at the post by a much younger, shriller voice.

"Noishe!" Kratos cried, his expression brightening as he launched himself towards the protozoan and hugged his neck tightly.

Noishe whined and nuzzled the boy's head, licking his cheek as he pulled away, which extracted a childish laugh from the quiet human, shocking the heroes gathered in the room.

Zelos recovered first. "Seems the kid knows the dog," he remarked to his vulture-like staff, who had encircled the protozoan. "Just let it stay. Oh, and someone make up the guest rooms for our guests. And sort out enough food for everyone."

Raine let out an impatient sigh as she remounted her rheaird and flew in the direction of Meltokio, her thoughts focussed almost entirely on the book she'd stashed in her wing-pack.

It seemed that she had been right to locate information relating to similar cases. This had happened before, to a young elf many thousands of years ago. She had been lucky to find such an important resource. It was only due to an accident with a mana-converter involving the Chosen's family a further eighty years ago that it was even known. The book she had was the conclusion of the three part investigation. It had belonged to an elf, who had been studying human civilisation and had agreed to loan it to the humans in return for another study. The other parts were in the care of the Chosen and the King respectively.

Zelos probably didn't even know he had it. But Raine would be sure to rescue such a priceless volume. She would be required to return the one loaned to her by the laboratory in Sybak, but Zelos could hardly recall something from the one who had healed him – saved his life, she might add – so many times during their famous journey.

As she landed outside Meltokio, Raine released another sigh, fervently hoping that the research collected by Zelos ancestors and the court would reveal a loophole she could exploit to create a cure, praying to whatever deity had preceded Martel that the changes she'd caused were not irreversible and that she could do more for the victims of her spell than had been offered to the elf.

She didn't know how they would cope with raising a further two children.

AN: Okay, not the best opening, I know – but it does get better, I assure you. Next chapter has some interaction between Kratos and Yuan, and... Altamira!

Any question/ suggestions? And reviews would really make my day...

~ThePurpleRose