Chapter 3
A012 took in a deep breath and smelled something unusual in the air. She opened her eyes slowly and looked around. She panicked for a second realizing she was in a cave meaning that her horrible dream was in fact reality. She found her red haired companion stroking a fire. It seems he was cooking some sort of small animal, maybe a rabbit. She felt so weak but managed to sit up and lean on the wall. A blanket that was covering her fell and pooled on her lap. She didn't remember having a blanket. Her rescuer must have given it to her and put her 'to bed' as well as he could in this cave. It seemed like a really kind gesture from a man who looked like he was not able to be so gentle. Then again, he was helping her. He stared into the fire ignoring her gaze though he had known she was awake the moment she stirred. With the light of the fire on his face she was finally able to get a good look at him. He was actually very handsome. He had crazy red hair that covered half of his face which made him mysteriously appealing. He had deep auburn eyes and thin lips with a pointy jaw. He had taken off his sword and let it lean against the wall. It seems he didn't take my threats seriously she thought smugly. He startled her when he suddenly got up and picked up a bowl and brought it over to her leaving it her next to her. She looked at the bowl and then back at her companion who continued tending to the cooking and fire.
"Thank you," she managed. She was not sure what to make of him. She kept watching him. Just what was he doing in that forest…? How did he know she was going to be there? And how did he know her? The night before she was reluctant to trust him but she did so in order to survive. Now, though he was helping her, she had a lot of unanswered questions. He simply nodded when she thanked him so she got the feeling he was not the talkative type. She really was grateful for his help despite her doubts. He was a strong man; she could tell by the way his uniform emphasized the lean muscles in his arm. She felt safe with him but that was probably because he was kind and extremely handsome. It had been a while since she had seen a man like him. The men in the ranch were either plain looking or old. Plus this man had wings. Stop it! She scolded herself. What was she doing? She had no idea who this man was and had to put her guard up, she did not know what his intentions were.
"You can stop staring at me," he said without looking at her. She felt heat rush into her cheeks and looked away. How the heck did he do that? "Sorry," she apologized.
"Eat," he said meeting her eyes for the first time. She looked to the bowl and picked it up slowly examining the contents. There was a piece of bread and some berries. "Where did you get this?" she looked back at him. It had been a long time since she had food that wasn't the oatmeal mush they served at the ranch.
"I found a merchant caravan while I was hunting and got some bread and that blanket," he responded matter-of-factly. She did not know why put she felt tears fill up her eyes. She blinked them away quickly resolving not to cry in front of the stranger. Instead she picked up a berry and let it explode in her mouth. It was so sweet and she closed her eyes to treasure the flavor. She grabbed another without even fully chewing the first berry. "Hmmm!" she sounded in delight. She opened her to see him staring at her now. He was totally judging her. Suddenly a realization came to her and she spat out the berries. To her surprise her companion actually looked confused.
"Are you trying to kill me?!" she squealed.
He looked down and shook his head. "Those are not poisonous…"
"Are you sure!? How do I know!? Why aren't you having any?!" she was pushing back against the wall. Kratos had no need of food... but he couldn't exactly tell her that or at least not yet. Instead he came over and sat on her side of the fire and leaned to grab one and popped it in his mouth. The whole time she was eyeing him from the corner of her eye.
"Not poisonous," he said proving his point. He had forgotten what these tasted like. He never really wanted to eat but since he was on earth he might as well indulge. She was still eyeing him but continued to eat. Now that she was sitting kind of behind him she was not afraid of him judging how much she enjoyed real food. When she was done she leaned forward and tapped his shoulder. He looked over his shoulder to acknowledge her but did not say anything.
"My name is Anna…," she told him. He turned his body so that he was half facing her. She continued, "you called me A012 earlier… that's not my name. It's Anna."
Of course. How rude of him he thought. "… Kratos," he offered.
"Kratos," she repeated. "Sorry for thinking you were going to poison me, Kratos."
He nodded again. He moved closer to the fire to take the rabbit off and started to cut it and gave her a portion. The rest he let cool so he could wrap it for later. It probably would not last long but he hoped he could get away with having her eat it later. He hadn't needed to worry about eating for a while; he kept forgetting how these things worked. He decided she might want something to drink. He got up to go fill a canteen hoping the water was clean in the nearby stream.
"You're not gonna eat?" she questioned with a full mouth.
"Ah… already ate," he patted his stomach. Four thousand years ago… he mused to himself. The more he thought about this the more he realized he had no idea what he was doing. Still, he walked out of the cave and scooped up some water from the stream. Kratos felt he should tell her the truth but knew that it would never make sense or she would think he was crazy and try to run away. He decided he would hold off for a little. No need to go scaring her. He walked back to the cave thinking of where to go next. She needed clothes so she could get out of her filthy outfit which probably meant a bath as well. When he came back inside he was astonished to see that she had finished eating the whole rabbit…including the part that was cooling. He looked at the empty piece of cloth and let out a sigh.
"Was that yours?" she asked like a scolded child. He shook his head and added more food to his mental list of things to get. He sat next to his sword against the wall and inspected it. He liked to sharpen and clean it when he had nothing to do. He looked over at his companion and felt that she was still staring at him. He began to think maybe he had something on him or she just liked to stare. He resumed his task. If she wanted to ask something he was sure she would.
"What's your story…Kratos," she asked after picking her teeth.
"…My story?" He responded not looking up from his chore.
"Yeah, why are you helping me?" she asked.
Something came to him and he had a question of his own, "hmmm, how did you escape the ranch?"
"Uh-huh, I asked first," she said.
He looked up at the girl with a raised eyebrow, "fair enough. What would you like to know?"
She sat up and felt stupidly excited. She had come up with several crazy stories in her head about him already. "Hmm, how did you know who I was? And what were you doing in that forest?"
Kratos looked back to his task and tried to plan out how to explain. "To the latter question… I was looking you."
She looked at him skeptically but he continued "I work with the desians. I heard of the Angelus Project and wanted to stop it."
She looked down and brought her hand to her chest feeling for the exsphere and crystal. Kratos' eyes followed her hand. He remembered hearing her pain and wondered how she felt.
"They put a crystal in me… I am a host body for it," she explained slowly with a hint of sadness in her voice. He nodded. "So… you betrayed them?" she asked now even more curious.
"Yes, I suppose I did."
"Won't that get you in trouble?!"
"Your turn to answer," he said looking away from the exsphere.
"Hmph! Well… if you must know," she responded, though his answers did not exactly satisfy her curiosity. "After the … procedure… when I awoke I knew that they had succeeded. Whatever they were trying to do in that ranch… all those people… they were winning. I couldn't let that be. When they were transferring me I was able to break free and I grabbed one of the soldiers' weapons and fought them off. I knew I couldn't take on too many so I ran. I had been taken for experiments many times and I always paid attention so I had a pretty good map in my head. I had planned to use it for escape a long time ago but I was too late. Anyway… this was my last chance. I was able to lose them and climbed into a ventilation shaft. I hid for a while but I knew I had to get out. I was able to climb out onto the roof… which now that I think about it, I am quite proud of that. Once on the roof I heard men searching for me. I was able to jump off to a tree and I climbed down. I don't think they thought I would make it outside so that gave me a bit of a heads start. I ran faster than I ever have or thought possible. I didn't stop until I felt I had a good enough lead. I hid behind those bushes to catch my breath and that's when I saw you … land."
"I see," he said after taking in what she had said. She waited for him to say more but he did not. Instead, he put away his sword and stood to put it back on wrapping the belt around his waist. "Can you walk?" He asked.
She was a little surprised. She tells her whole story and that's his response? Still, she considered his question. She felt better after eating but replied, "Maybe. Not for long."
Kratos looked out the cave as if waiting for someone. "Come," he came over and helped her up. "I'll help you. We can meet a friend who can help." Kratos knew he could count on his protozoan, Noishe. It did not seem practical for Kratos to fly her around everywhere and it did not seem fair to make her travel after her ordeal. Also Kratos was sure Noise would appreciate a new friend since Kratos was not always the best company. Still, Noishe was a loyal friend. Kratos kicked some dirt in the fire and wrapped one of Anna's arms around his neck so that he was carrying most of her weight, which was not much at all. And so their journey began.
