Dreaming and Chasing Promises
Chapter II. Bittersweet
Kisses are like tears. The only ones that are real are the ones you can't hold back.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yuan Kaafei, 5'10, a half-elven bluenette who liked capes almost as much as theatrical thrills, walked into the dance club like it was an every day event, it practically was, he couldn't name how many times he had been there in the last few weeks, but it most of been quite a few. It wasn't like he had anything better to do anyway, the Renegades were disbanded, the exspheres were being destroyed by Lloyd and Zelos, half-elven affairs were being taken care of by Raine -that trip also doubled as a tour of the world's oldest cities apparently-, that bratty kid -Genis- was off at Palmacosta university, Colette was running a charity and traveling the world as well, Regal was running his company, Presea was helping him out and destroying all the exspheres of the guests in Altamira, and Kratos... Kratos just wasn't here anymore.
He downed a shot of whiskey -the hardest thing the damn place carried- and sighed, being immortal sucked, especially since the hardest thing they had here was barely going to buzz him. Getting up, he watched as the strippers entertained, they weren't that good, he decided, not as good as... he couldn't even think the name anymore.
Yuan... he paused in shock, trying to find a source for the voice.
"Kratos?" he asked cautiously, barely able to hear himself over the music.
Yuan... the voice repeated, he stood up and began to walk out, deciding that maybe spending time in the bar before heading back to the tree wasn't such a good idea anymore.
"Ergh..." he stopped himself from screaming or doing something equally idiotic in the knick of time, "Martel, what are you doing here?" he was referring to the summon spirit of course, the very summing spirit whose tree he was watching over in fact.
Yuan, I am worried, Derris Kharlan is far off, the tree has been feeding off it's energy for so long... I fear we may need to keep a Kharlan fragment close to it once it's out of orbit.
"Martel, are you sure?" he asked, that little tidbit had never come up in his equations.
It is more of a hunch, but as Derris Kharlan was the soil it fed off for so long, I fear that it will need a fragment to survive until it can grow to be less nonindependent.
"But how? With Derris Kharlan so far off, how can we get back the mana fragment?"
With some help and an unwanted rescue...
"Huh?" he looked confused for a moment," You don't mean...?" the realisation was an unwelcome one.
Yes, I will convince my fellow summoning spirits to help, and we shall have Kratos return with the Kharlan fragment.
"Wha....? But, Kratos..." he began, trying to give a reason to not do this, before sighing upon realising there was none.
Thank you Yuan, I will speak with the others. Please speak with Kratos about this as well.
"Okay." he nodded solemnly and headed back to the tree, wondering if Kratos could kill him through the hologram.
----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----///
Kratos Aurion, 6'1, a redhead ex-noble, ex-mercenary, ex-cruxis angel, and ex-lover -he really was getting to good at collecting exes- had finally lost track of the days. He'd been counting them as sort of hobby, being unable to sleep, eat, or do anything relatively interesting other than brood, read, and practise swordsmanship could do that to a person. His days were so alike, that finally, he'd been confused enough to lose track. He wondered if that was good thing or not, before shrugging it off and beginning the count again, he decided to write it down this time. On the wall he took out his sword and carefully carved a nice, neat 1.
"Kratos?" it was hesitant call, usually he would've called and informed them of his orbit, he supposed since he'd finally lost track of the days, he'd probally forgot to do that when he was suppose to.
"We're currently about to leave Aselia's orbit." he informed.
"No, Kratos, Martel has a theory that Yggdrasil is to dependent on Derris Kharlan, and will need a Kharlan fragment to live off of until it grows enough to support itself." the hesitancy was replaced with coldness.
"I'll send a bit down." Kratos said.
"No, Martel wants a large piece that would be impossible for you to send down, she wants to..." he trailed off, as if slightly unsure how to voice the next bit.
"Spit it out." he growled out.
"She wants to use the other summon spirits to bring you back with a large piece of fragment." he didn't flinch, but he desperately wanted to, he doubted he could hold this composure longer, but then reminded himself Kratos couldn'tkill him through the hologram, and that Kratos couldn't kill him.
"What?" just because he was disconcerted and unable to fully process anything didn't mean he couldn't flash his patented death-glare.
"Eep!" Yuan flinched. Kratos paused, he could remember that noise, but not in such a circumstance as this, something else, something involving sneaking up on him, but his head hurt trying to remember.
"Yuan, I am not going back." he said, struggling to keep his grip of reality, it was hard, especially since his only grip was a hologram of a man who was terrified but trying not to look it.
"It's not my idea, Martel is the one who suggested it, and I have no say in what the summon spirits do or don't do, the only reason I'm going along with this is that I am the guardian of Yggdrasil and must inform you." the cold eyes and voice were back, and Kratos desperately wanted to figure out where 'back' was, but he couldn't, it seemed he lost track of a bit more than the days.
"I'll have the Kharlan fragment ready then." he couldn't argue against the summon spirits, no matter how much he would've liked to.
"Good." Yuan nodded and shut off the transmission, before curling into a tiny little ball and convincing himself not to start dry-sobbing.
Kratos, the one he adored more than anything in the world, was coming back. It was bad enough pretending to dislike him through the transmissions, but having him back... three thousand years out of four thousand, filled with torture caused by Kratos. They had been lovers once, connected through loses. Yuan had lost Martel and never loved again until Kratos, Kratos had lost many wives, always going to Earth and finding love, only to have her die prematurely. Their relationship had been a long one, a never-ending fairytale one could say. It's end had been a big fact 'Fuck you' to his face. Not that Kratos had meant it, it had all been an incident.
They had been on Earth once, and Kratos had gotten into a fight, usually this would've been no problem, Kratos was a bad ass after all, and could therefore lose no fight, yet, upon discovering that the child was one of his ancient descendants -Yuan had never been aware Kratos had knocked up a girl, to Kratos's margin, he hadn't either- all of Kratos fighting spirit seemed to have drained out, and he had been defeated with ease.
The injury he had sustained would've killed a mortal being, seeing as Kratos was an angel, it had done nothing, or Yuan had thought until the human had woken up with out the least clue why Yuan would be trying to kiss him. It had hurt, hurt worse than any pain on Aselia, but it had come, and Yuan had had to let it go, but that didn't mean he couldn't be bitter. Kratos had never been confused about the anger, even though he had no idea where it came from, he had always assumed he had to do with Martel's death, and had returned with a composed anger of his own.
That was how their battles had started, and how it would remain. This, Yuan knew, and Kratos would never know it, because Yuan kept telling his bitter heart what he assumed to be the truth.
"Kratos doesn't love me..." he said out loud, trying to remind his heart to keep up its stone wall, that they couldn't give in when they'd come so far, that as long as Kratos kept giving him those angry looks instead of weirded out and/or accusing eyes, he would be okay.
----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----////----///
The ritual the summon spirits do is admittedly hilarious, bit Yuan refused to laugh through it, partly out of respect for the summon spirits -except Gnome, because he was trying to be funny- , but also because of what the ritual would do. He could see Kratos headed back, a boulder-sized Kharlan fragment in his hands. Yuan has planned this out, he has placed himself at a distance that he can see Kratos, but cannot hear him, he's afraid what the voice spoken without the crackle of holographic speakers will do to him.
Kratos had not planned this out, he had arrived given over the Kharlan fragment to Martel, and questioned, almost in a worried tone, where Yuan was. Martel soundlessly pointed towards the grove of trees, where Kratos can just barely see a hint of tell-tale blue. He walked over cautiously.
"Kratos." Yuan said in greeting, hate covered something else underneath.
"Yuan." hurt flashed through his cold eyes.
A moment of silence passed as they stared at one another, then...
Yuan melts into the kiss, a blush dusting his face, his eyes closed as he allowed Kratos to support his entire weight. It was heaven, entirely heaven, perhaps even beyond. The kiss ended with satisfaction in both sides, and Yuan looked up with slightly glazed eyes and seemed uncertain for a mere moment.
"Kratos? How did you get back your memories?" he asked, still uncertain.
"Memories?" Kratos asked.
Yuan realised now that the kiss had been awfully bittersweet.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AN: chapter two done, look forward to the next chapter Technology!
Thought of the day: (Spoilers for next chapter maybe...) Did you know that if you dream about a person's death it can mean two things, 1) you lack a trait that person posesses or 2) you do not need what this person repesents.
Also, this chapter is dedicated to my first reveiwer! WHOOP WHOOP! Drum roll please... Li-chan0767!!!!! Thanks for the reveiw, and just you wait for what's coming next.... . thanks for the response to my though on the day! n.n