Warning! This story contains endgame spoilers! So if you haven't beaten the game, go away, now. As in, why are you still here?

Okay, first Tales of Symphonia fic... actually, I wrote this just to get rid of an annoying plot bunny. (Insomnia is a terrible, beautiful thing.) I like it, but as a fair warning - it's poorly written, sappy, and... poorly written. (Well, I cried when I was writing it, but it's my story, and I was listening to depressing music for additional inspiration, so that doesn't count.)

As another warning, I'm playing around with a different writing style for this fic (and using weird words like 'suture'). Though I'm sure no one cares...

As sort of a background... Kratos's last words to Lloyd before he left for Derris-Kharlan struck me as odd. 'Don't die before I do Lloyd... my son' are not the words of someone who is planning to float forever in space. (And who can forget how Kratos acted at Origin's seal?) so this is kind of what I thought would happen to him (and Lloyd) immediately following his departure. But because I'm a strong believer in happy endings... well, you'll see.

Disclaimer: If I owned Tales of Symphonia, why the hell would I be writing fanficitons? In short, I don't, so don't sue me.

Farewell

Lloyd looked down at his Exsphere, the source of all his power. He had taken it off his Key Crest and was now holding it in his hands, examining it as if for the first time. It had kept him alive in the heat of battle, aided him in times of need, it had even given him wings when he needed to fly. But that didn't make it right. Nothing ever would.

He didn't know what time it was. Dirk, Colette, and even Noishe were probably asleep right now. He and Colette had decided to go on their search of all the Exspheres in the world tomorrow. Now they were resting, preparing for the long and no doubt arduous journey ahead of them. Lloyd wasn't… he had to make a decision first.

He fidgeted with the Exsphere, weighing his options. Inside this jewel was the soul of his mother, existing, but not living. When he first discovered this, he was revolted, and wanted to throw the abomination away so he would never have to be reminded of what it really was. But he kept it, because he still needed it. The journey of world regeneration was long and hard, and he would not have survived without its assistance. But now, did he still need it? Or would the journey ahead still require such power that the Exsphere provided?

Lloyd put the Exsphere on the table he was sitting at and rolled the little sphere around, like a cat with a ball of yarn, delaying the moment when he would have to choose. Then he stood up, Exsphere in hand. After just a moment of hesitation, he walked out of Dirk's house, careful not to make too much noise – he didn't want to disturb his dwarf father.

The night air was cool and crisp, and only a few clouds obscured the stars overhead. Lloyd strode around the house and walked up to his mother's grave. Lying on the cobbles in front of the tombstone was the Flamberge, Kratos's old sword, the shiny orange blade reflecting some of the dim starlight. Lloyd picked it up, and looked down at the weapon as it brought back memories. He looked up at the sky and the distant stars – could one of them be Derris-Kharlan? Could one of them be where his father was? Was Kratos looking out at the stars and wondering where Lloyd was?

Lloyd felt as if a metal weight had been put inside his chest. There was so much they had never talked about, never asked. Lloyd still was not sure whether he had done the right thing, letting Kratos go on Derris-Kharlan. Was he planning to drift in space for the rest of eternity? Did he think that such isolation and loneliness would wipe away all his sins? Was he waiting to die, to find a peace that he had been denied for over four thousand years?

Lloyd swallowed back tears, and turned his eyes away from the sky. He did not know if letting Kratos go had been at mistake. But if it was, then he could not rectify it. Lloyd looked down at the Exsphere, the soul of his mother Anna, which he held in his left hand. At the very least, he could fix one mistake… correct at least one wrong.

He put the Exsphere on the ground in front of the grave and braced himself. He remembered vividly the ghosts of Mithos and Alicia – souls trapped in Exspheres or Cruxis Crystals, existing but not living. Trapped forever in a tiny, lonely cage, and no hope of escape. It was the worst kind of existence he could think of. At least now, Anna would no longer be among such sufferers. He could set her free.

"Goodbye… Mom…"

Lloyd smashed the Exsphere with the Flamberge. As he put the blade back where it had been, among the jewel shards, he felt that a great weight had been lifted.

Anna could now rest in peace.

One by one… he found them all… and smashed every single one.

Kratos labored to undo what Mithos had done in four thousand years. He searched all of Derris-Kharlan, and every time he found and Exsphere or a Cruxis Crystal he took it with him. If they had an owner, he would take it, and dispose of the owner if they were unwilling to part with their prize. Then he took them back to an airlock, smashed the gems, and threw the shards into the airlock with the rest. When he was sure he had found them all, he would close the airlock and jettison the shards into space – a ceremony to honor those that had died to create those things. It was the least he could do for the dead.

He only ever stopped his work to rest and take care of himself. He had to do this one last thing, because he had promised Lloyd. And he wanted to do it, to atone for all the things he had misspent his four thousand year life on.

He was not alone of Derris-Kharlan. The other angels were in disarray, lost without their leader. Yggdrasill was gone, and Martel and Yuan had left Cruxis. Kratos was the last of the Four Seraphim, and he had no desire to lead Cruxis. So the angels wandered the planet aimlessly, or squabbled amongst themselves. Kratos didn't care, just as long as they didn't get in his way.

He did not know how long it took to complete his task. Now that there was no sun or moon, no day or night, there was no way to measure time. It could have taken days or years… there was no way to tell. He didn't really care anyway. All that mattered was that it had been done.

He looked upon the piles of jewel shards, filling a small room – the airlock. All he would have to do now was type in the correct code on a keypad on the wall, the inside door would close, and then the outside door would open and all the shards would be sucked into space, to float forever in the void.

But not just yet…

He removed his own Exsphere, and then stared back at the glittering mass of the other shattered crystals. The Exsphere was really his Cruxis Crystal – the thing that had turned him into an angel and had extended his life long beyond that of elves or humans. It was a spiteful little reminder that he should have died long, long ago. Yet if he had died, then he would never have met Anna, and Lloyd would never have been born. Sometimes it felt like evil little ironies like that made up his life.

His hand closed around the little jewel as second thoughts began to creep into his mind. He did not know exactly what would happen to him if he destroyed his Cruxis Crystal. Would he just start to age normally again? Would he age rapidly and die quickly? He didn't really care. He had been willing to embrace what he had avoided for four thousand years for a very long time. He threw the gem into the air, and pulled his sword out of its scabbard. Time seemed to slow for just a little while, as the crystal flew upwards. As it reached its zenith, Kratos swung at it with all his might, and cut it in two. The pieces fell to the ground with quiet clinks and grew still.

Without conscious thought, he picked up the pieces and threw them on the pile of shattered Exspheres. He walked to the keypad on the wall and quickly typed in a number. The airlock door closed with a hiss, and now he could only see the piles of broken gems through the window of the inside door. He pressed a few more keys, and the outside door to the airlock swiftly opened and the Exsphere shards were pulled into the void, momentarily glittering as if a billion more stars had come into existence. Then the airlock closed and Kratos was left facing a steel wall and a thick window that led to nothing.

His labor finished, he leaned against the cold wall and closed his eyes. It was over, it was all over… he had reunited the worlds of Tethe'alla and Sylvarant, he had destroyed and disposed of all the Exspheres on Derris-Kharlan. He had righted the wrongs of his life.
He straightened up and walked away feeling numb. It wasn't the numbness of shock, but rather of someone who had lost something dear, and could not face its loss. As he walked he felt something important but intangible drain away. He bled it, the invisible thing, and no bandage or suture could stop it.

He walked up into Welgaia, the city of angels, which was currently deserted. Weary, he lay down on the unforgiving steel floor, and stared up at the domed glass ceiling. On the other side of the transparent dome, he could see the stars. He had never taken a personal interest in the stars until recently. He knew they were just balls of flame burning billions and billions of miles away, rather uninteresting to him. Then Lloyd had become interested. Kratos remembered Lloyd telling him about one of the few memories he had of his biological parents: sitting with his father, looking up at the stars, and just talking. So astronomy had been one of a few academic subjects that he applied himself to, because of that connection to the parents he never knew – until he recently.

Kratos stared up at the stars, and wondered if one of them was his home, so far away that it was lost among all the other lights. How fast was Derris-Kharlan moving? Was it at the pace of a glacier, or was he hurtling thought the universe, falling farther and farther from his son and his distant home?

It didn't matter where he was anymore or where he was going. He knew where he was going, and he no longer feared it. He had lost the will to live long ago. So this is death…It's not so bad… He closed his eyes, ready to embrace his fate.

"Please Lloyd, don't follow me down this road right now. I have to follow this path on my own. Farewell, my son…"

Kratos silently slipped away, a small smile on his lips.


Kratos not so much awoke as came to a realization that he still existed. Had he fallen asleep? But he had felt so weak and tired before, was he just fatigued? Where was he now? The floor he had been lying on had been hard, and now he was on something soft. And something smelled like flowers… it was pleasant, but did little to ease his lazy confusion. He felt someone place a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Kratos…?"

The angel stirred at the sound of his name. Who could be calling me…?

"Kratty, please wake up."

His sluggish train of thought ran into a mental speed bump, became derailed, and ran into a tree. Who the hell had just called him 'Kratty'? He opened his eyes. He was no longer on Derris-Kharlan. No, the sky above him was the pale blue of dreams, with only a couple of fluffy white clouds drifting lazily by. He was lying on the ground, little white flowers growing all around him, swaying and dancing in a slight breeze. But this all paled and fell away from thought when he noticed the mysterious speaker who was leaning over him, smiling down at him.

"Wasn't it normally the reverse?" she said, "You were always waking me up, you were always the morning person!"

Kratos's mind was drowning in disbelief. He reached out and touched her face, half-expecting his hand to go right through her. He ran his fingers through her thick brown hair, before resting his hand on her shoulder. She put her hand over his to reassure him that she was real.

"Anna?" he said, sitting up slowly, "Is it really you?"

Anna continued to smile, but her eyes filled with tears, "I've missed you so much…" she sobbed, and fell silent, unable to say anything else. No more words were needed anyway.

She slipped her arms around the seraph's neck and started to cry into his shoulder. He returned her embrace, beyond caring that he was crying too. They clung to one another, each determined to never lose the other one ever again.

And so, for the first time in many years, their souls were happy.

The End