/* Disclaimer: I do not own Tales, I just mess around with their amazing characters. And I enjoy filling in the blanks with my own ideas ;D
This chapter skips ahead about a month after the previous chapter. It is intentional, because I am telling the story mainly from Kratos' frame of mind. (there will be a few exceptions) But basically, he doesn't feel that time has passed at all, and if you asked him, he wouldn't remember what he had been doing for the month in between.
PS. If anybody was wondering, Kratos has finished his routine inspections of the Desian ranches and reported back to Mithos. */
Chapter 3
"I have returned, Kvar, as per Yggdrasil's orders. I am to check up on the progress of your Angelus Project."
"Very well, then. This way." He gestured towards the door. "Can I assume you will be returning monthly until the gem is produced?"
"Of course."
"Then Lord Yggdrasil is very interested in my project, no doubt."
Kratos grunted in affirmation, and did not speak again until they had reached the cell. He was a bit surprised to learn that they had never moved the girl back to the room which she had originally been in, but he figured that they didn't have confidence in being able to transport her again. She had been rather feisty last time he had seen her.
This time, however, she was very quiet as their footsteps approached the cell. Kratos wondered if they had caught her while she was sleeping again. Once there, he peered into her cell, expecting her to leap up and rattle the bars or something. But to his astonishment, A012 was sitting on a bench furnished along the left wall, staring straight ahead. She never turned her head, but he wondered if she could even hear them.
"She is much different than last time, I'm noticing. What have been the changes since I left?"
"Oh, you are mistaken. Nothing much has changed except her attitude. We have shown her that disobedience is not tolerated in Desian establishments, and perhaps the crystal is absorbing her personality more rapidly as well. These effects combined have made her much more manageable, wouldn't you agree?"
Kratos didn't know what to say. He looked at her, and wondered how she could possibly be the same person. He was waiting for her to explode with rage, or make wild accusations, even to act crazy or try to grab at him through the bars. But she was still sitting idly, taking shallow breaths and staring vacantly at the wall opposite her.
"May I examine her more closely?"
Kvar looked incredulous, but could not say no to his superior. He gave Kratos a quick word of caution, and called an underling to open the door. Kratos was growing impatient as the Desian fiddled with the lock, but he didn't care why. It was enough to feel at all, and it was reasonable for him to be curious, he thought. The bars rose into the ceiling, and he walked briskly into the room. It was more like a closet, really, with metal walls and a toilet. Kratos didn't like the idea of forcing prisoners to live so indecently, but then he remembered why he had come.
Carefully, slowly, he reached out a gloved hand towards the jewel growing on her skin. It was a bright, vibrant blue, and it reminded him of her outburst the last time he had seen her. He was half expecting her to startle him with some attempt to resist, but still it was as if she were unable to see or hear him. He bent down to touch her hand, looking at the veins feeding the crystal. He then proceeded to squat lower, balancing on his toes, so that he could get a better look at her face, which was mostly obscured by her unkempt hair. He looked directly into her eyes, searching for the spark of life which had caught his attention before. He found deep cuts and healing bruises, but nothing else. It was gone. She continued to stare blankly ahead, while her eyes seemed to repel light. They couldn't glisten, or exude her wild nature, while she was a mental vegetable like this. Kratos had no idea what sort of discipline they practiced here, but it was disgusting how they had broken her. He felt incredibly angry, and did not know what he could do about the situation, only that he needed to find out exactly what had happened here.
"Are you satisfied?" Kvar interrupted rather smugly.
Kratos grunted, and stood quickly narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the ceiling. He left the cell and did not wait for Kvar to lock it, but kept moving at a brisk pace until he was outside the dungeon. He felt an intense disgust which was stronger than he had any memory of feeling before. It disturbed him how much this host body had been able to manipulate his emotions- to his knowledge nothing and nobody else had ever been so effective. He decided that after he was finished here, he would ask Yuan if he was losing his mind. It was a better plan than asking Mithos, certainly, but he still didn't feel comfortable talking over personal things with anyone- even the people he had lived with and worked with for practically four thousand years. Sometimes he would wonder if he had ever confided in his own family- not that they would be around anymore- but he wondered if there had ever been some exception to his rule of seeking answers alone-
"Is something bothering you, Lord Kratos?" The ugly Desian leader smiled, and Kratos began to hate him even more.
"Why is she still kept in a holding cell? Surely you have adequate personnel to restrain her if you were to move her back to a civilized room."
"Of course, certainly you don't mean to offend me? But she tried to escape once, and we would not be foolish enough to furnish her with another chance."
"Hmph. In that state? What do you fear from moving her, other than her dropping dead?"
Kvar said nothing, and Kratos realized he had probably hit fairly close to the mark. Her symptoms were ones that he recognized, although they were fairly rare. However, if they had been abusing her on the side, he wasn't sure if the affliction would have sped up. It would be a race against time to try and salvage her mind.
He realized what his thoughts were implying, and he tried to forget about it. But the more Kvar told him about their means of punishment, the more angry Kratos became. He couldn't stand to hear any more!
Very abruptly, he made his exit. Kvar watched the man go, smiling wickedly. He would have to report Kratos' behavior to Lord Yggdrasil, who would certainly be interested to hear that his suspicions were correct. Though the Angelus Project would bring him sufficient leverage over the other Grand Cardinals (he would never surrender such a precious item to anyone, superior or no) this leaking of information to the leader of Cruxis would certainly build the leader's trust in him. Kvar laughed for a brief moment, savoring the situation he was in- in any way he looked at it, he stood to gain power. And with that, there would be more ground he could cover, more humans he could capture, and as a result, there would be more expheres to collect. Kvar believed that the more expheres a man owns, the more people he has the ability to control- and that was his goal, to eventually control Sylvarant.
