Funky announcer voice: Hello, and welcome back to Journey of Discovery! Now we begin this tale in earnest. What could the fates (and more to the point, the authoress) have in store for our beloved couple now? Why is the authoress talking in a funky announcer voice? Read on, and you'll find out! (Well, maybe not that last bit.)
Chapter 1: A Battle
Fortunately for everyone's sanity, Zelos and Kratos reached an agreement early on in that first day. Kratos had approached Zelos about it, in fact. Zelos had been sunning himself on the deck and reading a good book at the time.
"Zelos," Kratos' voice said from much closer than Zelos had expected anyone to be able to get without him noticing. This, of course, caused Zelos to start rather comically, dropping his book in the process.
"Jeez!" Zelos cried, trying to slow his heartbeat, "Can you try to make a little noise when you walk? You'll drive me into an early grave!"
Kratos looked at him unsympathetically. "Didn't I teach you to always be aware of your surroundings?"
Zelos rolled his eyes. "Forgive me," he said sarcastically, "if I wasn't expecting a surprise attack in the middle of the ocean on a sunny day. Don't you ever relax?" He shook his head, "Don't bother answering that. Anyway, did you want something, or is sneaking up on me your new form of entertainment?"
Kratos smirked a little. "As amusing as your reaction was, it was not the purpose of my coming to talk to you." He paused, considering his words. "I know that we have not always been on the best of terms; however, I believe it would be better for everyone involved if, during the time when we are confined on such a small vessel, we endeavored to be…civil…to one another."
Zelos considered this for a moment. He certainly hadn't been looking forward to constantly feuding with the other swordsman, who could be counted on to give at least as good as he got. On the other hand, being forced to be nice to the older man would mean swallowing his pride and not letting Kratos provoke him, which wouldn't be easy. It'd be more comfortable for Lloyd and Colette, though… "…Okay," he said, "but only because we'd drive Lloyd and Colette crazy otherwise."
"My sentiments exactly," Kratos responded, "I'm glad we could come to an agreement." And with that, he left Zelos to his book.
Somewhat to Zelos' surprise, Kratos held up his end of their bargain remarkably well over the next few days; it seemed as if the other man was almost being nice to him. Much more surprising to Zelos was how easy it was to be nice back, now that Kratos wasn't provoking him. Zelos couldn't decide if he was more distressed by Kratos being nice or by how natural it felt to return the favor.
Fortunately for Zelos' poor overtaxed brain, he only had to deal with the strange situation for a few days before they arrived at their first destination: the Meltokio side of the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge. Or rather, what was left of the bridge. The reunification had caused some shifting in the continents; as a result, the two points where the bridge connected to land had moved closer together, causing the bridge to crumple and collapse under the strain. The drawbridge portion still had all kinds of Exspheres on it, though, and Lloyd intended to remove them.
They tied their boat up at the dock there, and went to look at the drawbridge, trying to plan how to remove all the Exspheres. To their surprise, they were met there by a group of workers who had already been taking them down; the job was nearly done.
"What's going on here?" Lloyd asked them suspiciously.
A man who appeared to be their leader stepped forward. "Ah, you must be Lloyd Irving and his companions. We've been expecting you." He showed them a Lezareno Company ID card, "My name is Ormrist Bessen. I am to tell you that Master Bryant sends his regards; he would be here in person, but something unexpected came up in Neozette, and he felt his presence was required there."
"I hope everything's all right!" Colette exclaimed.
"From what I understand, it was a fairly minor problem. His Grace seems to be particularly attentive to that project. At any rate, as you can see, we have nearly finished removing the Exspheres from the drawbridge. Once that is done, with your permission, we will help load them onto your ship."
"Regal really set all this up for us? That's great! You guys have sure made this part a lot easier!" Zelos exclaimed.
"But…won't the people who paid for the bridge be mad? I mean, if we're just stealing all these Exspheres…" Lloyd said uncertainly.
"Oh, that's right…you Sylvarant kids wouldn't automatically know," Zelos replied, "Lezareno owns this bridge…or at least, what's left of it. It was built by Regal's great-grandfather or someone."
"Wow," Lloyd said, "Altamira, ski resorts in Flanoir, the mines, and even the bridge? What doesn't Regal own?" Zelos and Colette laughed at that, and even Kratos smirked in amusement.
Suddenly, there was a commotion from the land side. The group turned to see what it was; Zelos heard Colette gasp in shock at the sight, and had to agree with the sentiment. Ten heavily armed soldiers, clad in very distinctive ornate green armor, were marching toward them, shoving aside civilians as they went. They were led by a man in matching golden armor.
"…Papal Knights," Kratos observed. He turned to Zelos, "I thought the Pope was exiled, and his Knights disbanded?"
Zelos shrugged, "So did I; looks like we were wrong. But what are they doing here?"
His question was answered a moment later by the Cardinal Knight, the soldier in gold armor. "Hand over the Exspheres, and no one gets hurt!" he shouted at them.
"Except of course the countless victims whose souls will be consumed by these accursed gems," Kratos replied dryly. "Get ready," he told the others. They all nodded; it was clear they'd have to fight off their attackers. Lloyd moved to meet them, and the others followed suit, until the two groups clashed.
The battle seemed about an even match; Lloyd and his friends were more powerful warriors, to be sure, but the Papal Knights were far from weak…and they had quite an advantage in numbers. Gradually, though, the party was able to wear down the knights, finding chinks in their armor and taking down the weakest first, until the knights lay wounded and defeated on the ground.
"Is everyone all right?" Lloyd asked when the last one fell to the ground. They all nodded, and Lloyd began moving toward the other three, who had ended up on a different part of the battlefield from him.
Suddenly, Kratos paled, as he shouted, "Lloyd, look out!" Moving almost faster than anyone could see, he leaped between Lloyd and one of the fallen knights, who was apparently not as defeated as they had thought; he was swinging his axe in a deadly arc toward Lloyd's formerly unprotected back. Kratos had no time to make any kind of defense on his own behalf; crying out in excruciating pain, he crumpled to the ground with a huge gash across his midsection, and from the amount of bleeding, it was clear that the attack had hit something vital.
Lloyd, who had begun turning around as soon as Kratos called out to him, saw all of this. With a cry of rage and shock, he dispatched the knight with one final blow, then immediately turned to try and stop the flow of blood from Kratos' wound, cradling the man with one arm and ineffectually pressing the other hand to the injury. The gash was far too large for him to do any good.
Zelos was by his side a moment later, taking Lloyd's place in supporting the man's weight. "Lloyd, Colette, get bandages and gels, we're going to need a lot. Let me see him, okay? I can heal." They nodded, grateful that someone had taken charge, and ran off to get the supplies. Zelos knelt beside Kratos and examined the ghastly wound with a grim expression. As he did so, Kratos opened his eyes once, still gasping and making pained noises; he looked at Zelos pleadingly, then went limp in his grasp, the pain and blood loss stealing away his consciousness.
"Damn it, Kratos, don't you dare give up and die now," Zelos growled. Laying the Seraph down, he pressed the edges of the wound together, careless of the blood that was staining his gloves, thankful that the other man was unconscious by this point, because otherwise even Kratos would be screaming in pain. He gathered all the mana he could spare and sent it flowing into the wound in a steady stream, grateful to see the bleeding slow and the edges fuse together partially, although the healing process was far from complete. He kept at it, and by the time Lloyd and Colette came back with the bandages and gels, Zelos was exhausted. He'd managed to slow the bleeding to the point where nature would be able to take its course as far as healing, though. As Lloyd and Colette made a poultice out of bandages and Lemon Gels, Zelos watched, giving pointers and making sure that they knew what they were doing, and at the same time snatching a few Pineapple Gels for himself.
Someone approached Zelos; he turned to see Ormrist Bessen there, looking slightly ill. "I-is there anything we can do to help you, sir?" he asked.
Zelos looked at the soldiers on the ground, "Do you think you guys could tie them up well enough that they can't escape, the ones that are still breathing? I think we killed a couple of them, but the rest will need to be imprisoned and interrogated."
Bessen nodded, "Absolutely. We also have an EC, if you need transportation for your friend…"
Zelos shook his head, "No way is he in any fit state to travel, not for a while. Don't you guys have any healers among you?"
"Unfortunately, no. In this area, most wounds that would normally be incurred can be cured with Gels, so there's no need for a healer. I will have my men go out in the EC and bring one back from Meltokio, if you like, but that would take some time."
"How much time, exactly?" Zelos pressed.
"For the round trip…three days. Minimum."
Zelos shook his head, "Don't bother, then. He'll be either dead or walking by the time three days have gone by, I guarantee it."
"…If you're sure, sir."
"Yeah. What you can do, though, is have them bring these guys to Meltokio and tell the King that the Pope is causing trouble again, probably rebuilding his private army."
"It will be done."
"Thanks, man. I'm gonna go see if I can manage a few more healing spells…"
That night was spent in uneasy vigil; Zelos insisted that he would be the one to watch over Kratos all night, since he had healing spells. The others agreed reluctantly, and while Zelos and Kratos camped out on the land (Zelos didn't trust that the rocking of the boat wouldn't damage Kratos' wound further), they slept fitfully on the boat. Lloyd made Zelos promise to wake him if Kratos regained consciousness during the night, so that he could take over once his father was out of immediate danger, and Zelos agreed.
So while the others rested, Zelos sat by a small campfire under the stars and cast healing spells on Kratos whenever he felt able to do so. A few hours before dawn, Kratos suddenly stirred, and opened his eyes. "Ughh…what…?" he mumbled, and Zelos was by his side immediately.
"Don't you dare try to sit up," he told Kratos firmly, "I've spent enough of my mana trying to close that wound, the last thing we need is for you to be opening it up again."
"…Zelos?" the Seraph murmured, "So, it was you that saved me. Thank you."
"Don't mention it. How does the wound feel?"
"It's painful, but not unbearable; it seems to be healing well. Zelos…you're exhausted. Did you really spend that much mana healing me?"
"Sure did. I'd like to say it was all for Lloyd's sake and not yours…but I have to admit, you really impressed me with that. I…guess I owe you an apology."
Kratos looked confused, "For…what?"
"For thinking you didn't really care about Lloyd, except as a means to an end. For thinking you were just using him to help resolve your own guilt about the world. I'm sorry."
"I don't see why you need to apologize for that. I did manipulate my son that way; even though I cared about him, I still used him as a pawn in a greater scheme," Kratos replied.
"Yeah, but you regret that you had to do it, I can see that now. I didn't realize before how much it must have hurt you…to not be able to tell him everything, to have him not trust you. So mostly, I'm sorry for thinking you were a heartless bastard."
"What brings this up now?"
Zelos gave the man a sardonic look, "Because you didn't once hesitate in taking what could easily have been a fatal blow, and I'm sure you knew it. …Lloyd means the world to me, but I don't think I could have done that, not without just a moment's hesitation, and by then it would have been too late."
Kratos was silent for a long moment. Finally, he said, "Knowing your past, I certainly cannot blame you for believing what you did."
When the other man didn't respond further, Zelos found that he was, inexplicably, a bit hurt by Kratos' apparent lack of reaction, "That's it? I just apologized for hating you! Is that really all you have to say?" He shook his head, "…I guess you really don't care what I think of you, huh? Sorry for wasting your time…" The former Chosen started to move away a little, staring broodingly into the campfire, but Kratos' voice stopped him.
"Zelos…" he said, in an oddly gentle tone, "…Your opinion of me does matter." Zelos looked up at him, surprised, and met Kratos' eyes, full of four thousand years' regret, "In fact, much of the time…I agree with the opinion of me which you have held for so long." He looked away, "I don't deserve a son like Lloyd, but for his sake, I try to simply be grateful for the fact that fate has given me so much more happiness than I deserve."
"Kratos…" Zelos murmured, then smirked, "Heh. I guess we have that much in common, then."
Kratos shook his head a bit, "No, your situation was forced upon you by your circumstances…circumstances which Cruxis created. If anything, I should be apologizing to you, for helping create and maintain the system of the Chosen Ones."
Zelos waved off the semi-apology, "Don't you dare. I had choices, even as the Chosen; if you claim that circumstance can make someone a victim, then you were one, too. You aren't getting off that easily. Besides, if the system of the Chosens hadn't existed, I wouldn't have been born. And while in the past, I might have regarded that as a good thing…in the end, I think I'm pretty glad to be alive now. So don't apologize for that, don't bother regretting that. What's done is done."
Kratos smiled, ever so slightly. "Thank you, Zelos."
"Don't mention it." He eyed the other man, "This doesn't mean we're all buddy-buddy now, you realize. I still don't like you much. I just don't hate you anymore."
Kratos nodded, "I understand."
"Good. Now, I'd better go wake Lloyd; I promised I'd let him know if you woke up during the night. Besides, I'm exhausted from all those healing spells. That guy really got you good." Zelos got up and walked toward the boat.
"Very well," Kratos replied, "Thank you, once again, for saving my life."
Zelos looked down, a bit embarrassed, "Look, don't mention it, okay? I just did what I had to do." Before Kratos could respond, he had darted into the boat to go find Lloyd.
The boy was tossing and turning in his bunk; Zelos shook him a bit. "Hey, Lloyd. Wake up."
"Hngwha?" the boy asked blearily, "Oh! Zelos! Is Dad…"
"He's awake; I talked to him for a while, and he didn't seem to be in too much pain, although he still needs to take it easy for a while, so that he doesn't reopen the wound."
Lloyd nodded, "Gotcha. And Zelos…"
"Hm? What is it, bud?"
"Thanks. For all of this. I don't know what I'd have done if Dad…if he…"
"Lloyd." Zelos placed a hand on his shoulder, "He'll be fine. Don't worry about the 'what ifs', okay? I just did what anyone with a heart would have done."
Lloyd nodded, "Thanks, Zelos." With that, he dashed outside toward the campfire; Zelos watched from the window as the two were reunited, and smiled.
Please review! ((Is happy with the way this turned out))