Disclaimer: Yeah...I almost feel bad for posting something so soon after the last chapter, which made me feel sad.. But when I get inspired, I go on a roll, so here goes. So, Eccah, how about you do my disclaimer today?
Eccah: "..."
Wavemasterkaz: "Oh come on, don't be so shy. Just tell them I don't own stuff."
Eccah: "Uhm, well..." *gulp* "W-wavemasterkaz doesn't own...uhm, T-tales of Symphonia, or-or anything. It's Namco's...and...M-midna is Nintendo's..."
Wavemasterkaz: "Now was that so hard?"
Eccah: "N-no..but..c-can I go now...?"
Wavemasterkaz: "Sure, we're done here."
Eccah: *hurries away with face hidden under hair*
Wavemasterkaz: "Why does everyone have such a hard time doing these things?"
Chapter VII
A Hint of His Past
It had been nearly a month since Lloyd had welcomed Sora and his friends into his group, but only now had curiosity struck him. He approached his good-natured friend early morning one day and walked beside him. Sora was walking with his hands behind his head and turned his face to look at the boy in red.
"Hey Sora," Lloyd said. "I've kind of been wondering something for a while." Sora raised one eyebrow.
"Hm?" was his response. Lloyd scratched the back of his head. It seemed sort of awkward to bring up something that was such an old subject.
"Why does Koda call you 'Darky'?" he asked. Sora shrugged, a humorous looking action considering his arms were behind his head.
"Short for Dark Fury, a title, I guess..It's hard to explain, really," he replied. "I'll have to show you sometime." He grinned at his friend, a smile that seemed sort of familiar in a vague sort of way. Lloyd grinned back.
"Alright," he said. "One more thing though." Sora nodded, still grinning slightly. "Well.." This question made him feel truly awkward. Did he really have the right to ask? "Will you tell me how you knew Kvar? You said he did something to you, and it affects you somehow... And.. he called you his 'product', right? What's up with that?" He looked over at the other boy, gauging his reaction. As he feared, Sora's face had fallen and was slowly becoming more serious, almost angry looking. He lowered his arms and looked away.
"That bastard took everything from me." he said quietly. He stared at the ground for a moment, then said, "You...know about his experiments, right? I mean...I heard him say that your mother...had something to do with them.." Lloyd nodded, his face falling as well. He said nothing, only waited for Sora to continue. "Well," Sora said. "My mother was a victim of those experiments...and...so was I." He looked away again, and it seemed he was intentionally avoiding looking at his spiky haired friend.
"You mean...the exsphere experiments?" Lloyd asked quietly. Sora looked sideways at him without really meeting his gaze.
"Sort of..." he said. He raised his face to look up at the cloudy sky and his eyes grew distant. "Before I was born, my mother was a captive at Kvar's human ranch. She told me that she heard him talking to himself a lot. She said he was tired of never getting anywhere and never gaining higher status from his Lord Yggdrasill. My mother also told me that he planned on taking matters into his own hands, and creating a new weapon that could overthrow the leader of the Desians, so that he himself could take over. He continued his work with the Angelus Project, but worked on his own project in secret. I don't know what it was called." He took a deep breath and looked back at the ground as he continued.
"She...didn't know where he learned it, but apparently he found out that he could alter someone's genes and make them more powerful. Rather than risk harm to himself by trying it, he used my mother as one of the test subjects. Kvar had his Desian minions gather blood samples from the most dangerous and powerful monsters in the world, which took several years, and he later injected their DNA into his test subjects, altering their genetic makeup. Most of them either fought it off, or died."
"But your mother lived?" Lloyd asked, horrified by Sora's story. Sora smiled grimly.
"Well obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be standing here telling you this, now would I?" he replied. The smile left his face however as he said, "Her DNA was altered and his experiment was a success, sort of. She became a monster of sorts, but he couldn't control her, as he'd wanted to. She escaped, cursed by his experiments, and he tried for years afterward to find her."
"Just like my mom..." Lloyd said quietly. Sora nodded, then sighed. Lloyd looked at him. "Looks like we have one more thing in common, though. Just something that can bring us closer, and make us stronger allies, right?" Sora sighed again, his eyes full of sadness.
"Yeah I guess.." he muttered.
"But...you said something about how it does something to you.." Lloyd said suddenly. "Did the experiments affect you too?" Sora looked away from him.
"Looks like it's gonna rain," he said. "We should find shelter somewhere." Avoiding Lloyd's eyes, he walked away from the group, with Koda following eagerly behind. Lloyd looked curiously after him. Sora had completely avoided his question..why?
Several feet behind him, Kratos was wondering the same thing.
... ... ... ... ... ...
It was Eccah's turn to prepare dinner that night and as they sheltered from the rain in a small cave, she shyly served them each a steaming bowl of red-coloured soup, peering at them through her golden hair, which nearly obscured her blue eyes. She said little as she handed them their bowls, and blushed when Genis complimented her on her vegetable soup, which according to him, rivalled his own.
"My brother taught me," she said quietly. "He's very good, much better than I am. I would like it if you were to try his cooking someday." For the first time since they'd met her, she smiled at someone other than Sora, who was hungrily slurping his own soup, despite the fact that it was probably burning his throat.
"Your brother?" Sheena inquired curiously. "How come he's not travelling with you?" Eccah looked down at her own untouched bowl of soup. After a moment, she said sadly,
"I don't know where he is." Peering up at Sheena again, she said, "That's..why I was travelling with Sora. I thought that if I went from place to place I might find him. He was taken away to a human ranch, but..he hasn't been at any we've been to so far.." No one had the heart to ask if she even knew if he was alive.
... ... ... ... ... ...
It was Kratos' turn to keep watch for the night again and he stared out at the rain, feeling rather irritable. He hated the rain, and it bored him to be stuck here, unable to even patrol the area and be on a better lookout. He could go outside, but...that would involve getting wet and he didn't relish the idea of sitting in this damp, cold cave in wet clothes. So, he settled for watching the cave entrance, with the occasional glance over the sleeping residents of the shelter. The flickering firelight cast eerie shadows over the sleeping bodies, and it once again frustrated him that Sora's shadow was darker than the rest. How could something even be that dark? It irked him.
"Still doubting his sanity, Kratie?" a voice whispered to him in the dark, but it echoed on the cave walls, and he couldn't locate its source. He glanced wearily around and sighed.
"So you're back?" he replied quietly. "What happened to Kvar?" There was silence for a moment and then the cave was filled with the sound of hysterical giggling. It was so loud that Kratos worried it would wake someone, but he seemed to be the only one who could hear it.
"Kvar?" the voice said incredulously. "You thought that I'd allied myself with Kvar?" The voice giggled uncontrollably again and then said, "Wow, Kratos, seriously, have you lost it?" The orange eyes materialised beside him, seeming to emerge from his own shadow cast by the dim firelight.
"Did you forget that we're friends, Kratie?" she asked, her body beginning to take shape. The dim outline of her body was barely visible in the darkness, but he saw her cross her arms and legs, as if sitting in the air in front of him.
"Haven't I told you?" Kratos retorted, looking indifferent, showing her his stony mask. "We are not friends." The shadowy being chuckled, and a gleaming white grin appeared underneath the glowing orange eyes.
"Sure, sure, whatever you say," she said, also sounding indifferent. She put a shadowy hand on his shoulder. "Just don't forget that I helped you once and now you owe me the favour." Kratos sighed.
"What do you want from me?" he said, his annoyance evident in his voice. The orange eyes narrowed as they seemed to have a habit of doing.
"Not now," she said. "But soon he'll need you and you can repay the favour by being there for him." Kratos looked at her and raised one eyebrow. The shadows around him lessened as she began to disappear back into her dark hiding place. "I won't tell you now." she said. "Maybe you'll figure it out on your own soon enough? Who knows? Heeheehee.." The eyes disappeared but Kratos could still feel her presence.
"Am I to figure everything out on my own?" he muttered. The voice giggled.
"Maybe." Sora rolled over in his sleep and between snores, muttered something that startled Kratos and kept him awake for the rest of the night.
"Shut up Midna."
End Chapter VII
A Hint of His Past
