Originally posted on my tumblr.
Barefoot and breathless, she is at her most human, most primal. Having been kept from the sun for so long, the young woman is a wild animal, released from the chains that have bound her indoors. There is nothing that can keep her feet from moving swiftly through the grass, legs brushing bushes, heels clodded with dirt. Her matted hair is loose, flying with the wind, and she gallops into the sun.
It is at this singular moment that Kratos feels his loyalties shatter. He is only here because the Desians don't know what they're doing- advanced Cruxis crystal technology is beyond them and he is the one who intervenes before the Angelus Project goes too far unsupervised. But it is a horror to behold and the crystal cannot be removed from the host body without monstrous consequences. The young woman who carries the crystal couldn't be kept under Desian control, but he was hesitant to just do off with her because of the primal look of terror in her eyes. So Kratos sets her free.
But it's only a mirage. He lets her run for now, lets her think that she can return to a normal life, but soon they will come after her and she will have to keep running. She can never return home, and Kratos almost wishes he had killed her from the start to cease the suffering that is yet to come. The moral question nags at the back of his mind: kill her and end this now, or let her have her few moments of happiness before she has to run again?
Not often does he contemplate the ethical bearings of his actions- after four thousand years it has become too easy to kill without a second thought- yet here in this moment, the life of this woman hangs in his hands while he questions everything he has ever known.
He should have killed her when he had the chance. He has only prolonged her suffering by letting her live and all because she begged him to let her see the sun again.
But she is very much alive and even now the hunt begins. He watches her run from the ranch, her instincts tuned to home, running barefoot across the plains and away from the horrid cage that imprisoned her for too long. For now, she believes she is free, that her chains have been cut. Soon the Desians will follow her, chase her and then she will keep running forever.
He cannot help but feel responsible for her.