And here's another chapter!

CW

Yuan perched on top of the library, well hidden in the shadows and bright lights thrown off by the police line. He scanned the crowd below, carefully examining each person who approached the police line. So far, none of them were his target, but he was not concerned. Kratos was predictable. Sooner or later he would have to return here for transportation since he had the girl with him.

But then what? Would he do as he was bid by Yggdrasill? He at least had to try to apprehend them, or Mithos would suspect Yuan's ulterior motives. But how many times could he fail before Yggdrasill became suspicious? No, he had to apprehend Kratos this time. There was no other way. But he had to be sure to get the girl too, or all his work would be for nothing. She was the key. The fact that Kratos defied everything to go to her aid spoke volumes and Yuan had to use that to his advantage. He had to break Origin's seal and he was fairly certain that the only thing that could break Kratos was Anna Irving.

And once he broke, there would be no further reason to keep Anna alive. Breaking g the seal and depriving Mithos of a key to his experiment would be the sweetest victory Yuan could possibly achieve.

Yuan scanned the crowd gain and this time he was rewarded. A flash of auburn hair was like a beacon, and Yuan mile as his instincts proved correct. Kratos had come. And he was alone. That meant Anna was somewhere nearby.

Time to hunt.

"That cop seemed suspicious," Anna said into Kratos's ear by way of the earpiece. "For a spy or whatever you are, you aren't a very good liar."

Kratos glared as he slid into the car. "It's not that. It's very hard to maintain a persona with you chattering at me."

"You were doing it wrong," Anna said, sounding bored. "Anyway, just hurry up. It's cold and this park isn't exactly secure."

"You did listen to me a hide under the footbridge, didn't you?" Kratos asked turning on to the road and heading for the nearby city park.

"Yes, I am crouched in the mud with Noishe," Anna grumped. "But despite the park being closed there have been several teenagers that have walked or skateboarded over my head."

"Did they see you?" Kratos, asked quickly, his voice sharp.

"No, I tucked myself between the support beam and the floorboards. But I do not feel very secure here. Please tell me you're on the way."

"I am," Kratos said. "ETA five minutes."

Anna shivered as she adjusted her seat on the large beam, hugging Noishe closer to her. She was lucky she had the dog as it had turned bitterly cold and he was like a small space heater. She winced as a breeze whipped through her cramped space and tried her best to wait patiently for Kratos, her injured arm aching slightly in the cold. The gun was in her hand and she kept her eyes trained on the ground below to either side of her, grateful that her vantage point gave her some good cover so she would see a potential attacker coming in enough time to sht. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that.

The park was dark and mostly silent but for the rustling of trees and the occasionally car sound from the road in the distance. The silence was heavy though and she couldn't get that man out of her mind. Yes, technically the killing was justified: he attacked them and he would have soon as killed her or Kratos. But the sight of him on the ground, his eyes desperate was just too much. She believed in fighting fair. She believed in respecting the rule of combat. Killing a man who lay beaten on the ground was not fair, respectful, or the right thing to do. Kratos may have pulled the trig, but she let him. What did they make her?

Moreover, what did that make Kratos? Who was this man she was entrusting her life to? He had already lied to her, admitted that he was originally sent to kidnap her and lead her back to Kvar, killed at least one person that she knew of, and worked with that shady Yuan character. He had promised her answers but had given her nothing but half-truths. Could she trust him? Should she?

But then there was the fact that he had come for her. He had protected her. He had kept her safe and stitched her wounds. He had even had Noishe watch over her in his stead. He had asked nothing of Anna, but had given her everything: safety, protection, maybe even hope. Not to mention the kiss.

The most important part of it all though was the resemblance, the fact that he looked exactly like the angel she had so often dreamed about. Had her entire life somehow led her to this meeting, this moment would she would be forced to rely on someone who she had dreamed about. Fate and destiny were they real? Hadn't Anna given up on those a very long time ago? Hadn't she learned that angels didn't exist and they didn't just save you right in the nick of time?

Anna snorted. "Well he's no angel," she muttered aloud.

"What?" Anna jumped at the sound of Kratos's voice in his ear.

"Nothing," she said hurriedly. "Where are you?"

"Parking lot," Kratos said. "Keep your head down and move quickly. There may well have had a spy or two with the police and I could have been followed. Do not drop your weapon."

Anna dropped the duffel bag to the ground and lifted her arm up, allowing Noishe to drop next to it. The dog grabbed the bag in his jaws and wuffed quietly, signaling that the way was clear. Anna jumped to the ground, the small thump jarring her feet as she landed. "On my way, she whispered."

Noishe went ahead of her as they climbed the bank of the dried out drainage ditch and emerged onto the side walk. The parking lot was a mere 100 yards from them and Anna carefully made her way through the woods around the sidewalk, just in case someone walked by.

Snap.

Anna spun around leveling the gun, her eyes searching the darkness for whatever had made the noise. After a moment of tense silence, she lowered it and turned around continuing carefully, ears and eyes alert. Noishe had gone ahead, moving silently through the woods.

Snap.

Anna threw herself behind a tree and crouched low. The cracking noise, like a twig snapped underfoot had been much, much closer now and she was taking no chances. Checking that the safety was off she took a deep breath. Something was out there. Her instincts were screaming.

"I think someone's here," she whispered a quietly as she could to Kratos.

There was a sharp intake of breath. "Get out of there, Anna. Run for it."

"Ok," Anna straightened and took another deep breath. Then, not relaxing her hold on the weapon for even a moment, she dashed out from behind the tree and plunged into the woods.

Kratos stood at the edge of the trees, waiting anxiously for Anna to appear. This distance wasn't that far, she could make it. His gun was aimed carefully at the larger gaps in the trees and he scanned the area intently. Noishe was on edge as well, his fur on end, crouched low in case he had to pounce or run. There was a crack of breaking twigs that made Noishe start, but Kratos held firm and held his breath, listening to every sound in the woods.

The trees rustled and much to Kratos relief, Anna stumbled out onto the parking lot. Kratos kept his gun up, but he mentally sagged with relief. "Get in," he said keeping his gun up and nodded towards the car. His instincts were screaming and Noishe was still tensed; something was out there.

Anna looked confused for a moment before she spun around, aiming at the woods and backing up. "You think something's here."

"I know something is," Kratos said. "Hurry up." There was another snap and Kratos cocked the hammer back on his gun. Anna was a barely twenty feet from him when the shots rang out.

Anna threw herself to the side and hit the ground, not losing the grip or aim as she fell. She fired three times as men emerged from the woods on all sides. Kratos's fired as well and Noishe leapt through the air at one of the figures, his jaws latching around his throat.

"Anna, stay down!" Kratos shouted. Anna obeyed, still firing as the surrounded forces closed in. many of them dropped, taking bullets to the chest arms, and head. Those who didn't fall returned fire rapidly while also trying to dodge the deadly rain of both ammunition and dog that was coming from their targets.

Kratos rushed forward, leaping over Anna and crouching to protect his body with hers. A searing pain in his leg alerted him to the cost of protecting her, but he ignored it. He just kept shoo because he would be damned if he allowed them to hurt her.

Despite the chaos, it did not take long for Kratos and Anna's deadly aim to take down their assailants. A few men ran back into the trees and Anna whistled for Noishe to let them go. Noishe whined and turned to her, his muzzle streaked with blood.

Kratos holstered his weapon and turned to Anna. Her check was scraped where she had hit the ground, but she was otherwise unharmed. Kratos pulled her up as he got to his feet.

"How did they find us?" she asked breathlessly.

"Someone at the police line must have seen me," Kratos said, turning away from her and walking towards the car. His mind was racing. Who saw him? Who followed him? How did he not notice? Who could possibly have known not only where he was going, but how to follow him undetected?

…One person.

"Anna, get down!" Kratos shouted, spinning around and leveling both guns.

He was too late.

"Holy Lance!"

The roar erupted from the woods, but death rained from the sky. Light, the light of mana, gathered above them and exploded downward, right between Kratos and Anna. Kratos's feet left the ground and he flew backward into the car. The breath exploded from his lungs as he felt the glass from the windows and mirror break and cut deep through his clothes.

"Anna," he groaned as he slid to the asphalt on all fours, wincing in pain. Where was she, had she'd been hit? Was she hurt? He squinted up through the clearing cloud of dirt, dust, and pavement chunks, trying desperately to see her. He knew what he would find, he knew who had come for them.

The first thing he saw was Noishe, crumpled on the round by him, blood running down his face, one leg twisted horribly beneath him. Luckily he could see Noishe breathing. The second thing he saw made his blood curdle in his veins.

"Kratos!" Anna cried as the smoke cleared. "Noishe!" She wrenched against the arm at her throat, but it was clamped on to tight. The muzzle of the gun did little to dissuade her escape efforts. He struggling did not faze her captor though as he stood there, smiling cruelly at Kratos.

"Did you really think you could escape?" Yuan asked mildly.

"Let me go you freak!" Anna shouted.

"Freak?" Yuan said, smiling wider. "You don't know the half of it, human."

The air behind Yuan began to shimmer with light. As Kratos watched and Anna struggled, the ghostly imprint of feathers seemed to fall through the air. A second later, wings emerged, glowing in the darkness a soft pink as they fanned out like a cape behind Yuan.

"No," Kratos groaned. "No, not that. Don't show her that. She can't..."

Anna frowned and stopped struggling. Turning around, she took in the sight of Yuan's wings. Emotions flitted across her face: shock, fear, disbelief, revulsion. It was the last that Kratos feared most. Of course she would be revolted. How could she not be?

"You sick twisted man," she snapped. She turned back to Kratos and struggled again. "Let me go you overgrown butterfly."

"Quiet." Yuan hit her with the gun, hard, on the side of her face. Anna's head snapped to the side and her footing almost gave out from under her, but Yuan's arm and her stubbornness kept her upright.

Rage. Pure rage flowed through Kratos as his muscles tense. He could feel his temper rise and his control splinter. He felt his spine tense and his jaw clench. "Let her go," he hissed, ignoring his pain. "Let her go."

"Not until I have what I want," Yuan snapped. "Release the blood seal, or Anna dies right here."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Anna yelled. "What blood seal?"

Yuan smiled broader still. "Shall I tell her Kratos? Shall I tell her what you are?"

Kratos ground his fingers into the dirt as his spine buckled and the skin on his back rippled. He would not cave. He would not expose himself. He looked up at Anna, his eyes pleading, her eyes confused and angry. But not frightened. Never frightened.

"Go to hell Yuan," Kratos replied.

Yuan glared. "Kratos made a deal with an entity known as Origin and Mithos Yggdrasill."

"Mithos Yggdrasill?" Anna asked, in spite of herself. "That elitist pig?"

"The same," Yuan confirmed. "Mithos was granted special powers by Origin in exchange for his vow to keep the world at peace. They bound their promise in Kratos blood, Kratos being the only thing both Origin and Mithos trusted. Kratos did this willingly."

"You helped Yggdrasill?" Anna said. "You helped the man who wants to put the poor in labor camps and put the wall up between Tethe'alla and Sylvarant?"

Kratos shook his head. "I didn't know. I didn't know it would go so wrong."

"But you didn't stop him," Anna said flatly. Her eyes blazed, just as they had when she tried to convince Kratos not to shoot the injured assassin's lying in the street. "You worked for him and went along with it."

"Until now," Kratos said, meeting her eyes. "Until he wanted you. Then I couldn't…"

"You've still helped him," Anna spat.

"I tried to stop him" Kratos said. "I've been leading him and Kvar away from you."

"Kvar—wait…" Anna frowned, recalling something he had said to her earlier. Kvar's boss…my boss sent me after you. "You knew Kvar before you were sent after me," she said slowly. "You knew what a piece of work he was." Anna but her lip before asking. "You implied you only recently knew about me. Is that true?"

Kratos got to his feet. Yuan stood forgotten, his smile set firmly as he watched the drama unfold before him. He knew what he had done, and he was proud of it. "I didn't know he had a daughter," Kratos said. "I knew there was a child," Kratos admitted. "I did not know it was a girl and I did not know he was beating his child."

"When did you know?" Anna asked, her voice sounding horribly hollow.

"When I checked into your background."

Anna nodded. "Ok…but let me ask you this: my mother died. Do you know what really happened to her?"

Kratos said nothing.

"My fath—Kvar changed when he lost his job," Anna said. "He turned from a loving father into an evil bastard. I would imagine this was Mithos's influence. But then my mother mysteriously died. Do you know why?"

Kratos hung his head. "Do you really want to know?"

"What have I got left to lose?" she asked bitterly.

Kratos sighed. "Kvar killed her on Mithos's orders."

"Which you knew about." It wasn't a question.

But then Yuan dropped the biggest bomb of all, obliterating everything in just one short sentence.

"Kratos delivered the orders."

Anna's eyes widened in complete and utter horror a Kratos flinched terribly.

"You ordered Kvar to kill my mother?" she asked her voice cracking.

Kratos's hand clenched so hard that his bones creaked. "Mithos gave the order. I just delivered it."

"Why?" Anna shouted. "Why did she have to die?"

"She found out about Kvar's unseemly activities," Yuan said, his voice alight with happiness. "And our eventual plans for the Angelus Project. She found enough to put Mithos and Kvar away. It was her or Kvar. Are you surprised at his choice? Mithos told Kratos to deliver the orders since his neck was on the line too. Kratos did it."

Anna was silent for a long moment. Then she laughed. An insane, disparaging laugh. "My God…I have been so blind." She shook her head and looked away from him. "I don't give a damn what you do to me Yuan. Just make sure you take Kratos out first so I can watch."

Yuan looked at Kratos. "How does it feel to have her shun you? How does it feel to have her reject you?"

Kratos still said nothing.

"You may as well release the seal," Yuan said reasonably. "What have you got left to live for now?"

More silence.

"Fine," Yuan said softly, anger coloring his tone. "Have it your way."

Yuan threw Anna to the ground harshly. She threw her hands out to catch herself and landed on all fours with a startled cry. Yuan yanked her hair up and his eyes never left Kratos's as he whispered. "Don't worry, Anna. I'm not going to kill you. I'll let dear old Daddy have that pleasure."

Anna closed her yes. She couldn't look at Kratos, it hurt too much. She also couldn't let Yuan see her fear. She was going back to Kvar. She'd be taken for the experiment. She would be slowly killed while her father smiled on. She had been a fool to hope that she'd ever get away.

A single tear raced down her cheek.

There was an almighty roar and Anna's eyes flew open at the sound. It was inhuman and deafening, straining her eardrums with its ferocity. She looked up, and realized it was Kratos. He was on his feet and to her horror the air around him glowed and he was shouting something at the top of his lungs.

"Cast thy purifying light upon this corrupt soul! Rest in peace sinner!" his eyes opened and bore into her, blazing with fire and hatred. As she watched, two glowing blue wings emerged from his back, just as it had with Yuan. She started to scream, not in fear, but in defiance. She would not go quiet if this was to be her end, and end at the hands of a man she had foolishly trusted. But then her scream died in her throat as she realized he wasn't looking at her, but at Yuan.

"Judgment!"

Light rained down from the sky as it had before, but this was worse….a hundred times worse. Anna ducked, covering her head. Yuan bellowed behind her but she didn't dare turn around. Instead she braced herself for the falling debris, or from a direct hit from the mysterious light, but none of that happened. There was nothing but the darkness of her closed eyelids and the sound of destruction.

Until it quite suddenly stopped.

Anna chanced a glance up and saw a hazy green forcefield was surrounding her, protecting her from the blast. She couldn't immediately figure out the source until she saw Kratos's outstretched hand pointing in her direction. His eyes were still blazing and his wings were stretched out to their fullest extent, the blue stark again the darkness of his clothes. Despite her anger earlier, the breath caught in her chest at the sheer beauty and power she saw in him. He was a beautiful and terrible angel of death.

Kratos lowered her forcefield and stalked past her. She followed him with her eyes, turning as he snatched Yuan off the ground. Yuan moaned in pain as his chest and face bled sluggishly from several large areas that looked as though they had been gouged and burned. His wings fluttered pitifully, the brightness somewhat diminished. Kratos shook him until those emerald eyes fixed on him.

"You tell your master that he would do well to leave Anna alone," Kratos said, his voice low and deadly. "I don't care if she despises me, I will be keeping her safe and nothing you do will keep me from her. She is mine. She will never be yours or Mithos's or anybody."

Kratos dropped Yuan. "Consider this my resignation."

Yuan struggled to his feet and looked at Kratos with nothing but hate. "You will regret this, one day my friend."

"You are not my friend, Yuan. You forfeited that when you came after her."

Yuan grimaced. "This isn't over, Kratos. It will never be over." Yuan scowled and in a flash of light, faded from sight.

Anna watched as some of the tension flowed out of Kratos. Slowly, tremulously he turned to her and his anger had faded. Instead, she saw nothing but sadness in his eyes. A deep, aching, ancient sadness that she knew all too well.

Her vision swam; the stress, the fear, the betrayal, it was too much. But what put her over the edge was the realization that the angel she had dreamt of all these years was real. He hadn't been the desperate hope of a mind fractured by abuse and suffering. He had been real. Her heart had known him before she ever even met him.

She hadn't dreamed of an angel at all. She had been dreaming of Kratos.

"No," Anna moaned. "No…this can't be happening."

"Yuan!"

Yuan fell to his knees as he materialized in his office, Botta's voice making his sore head throb. He winced as the cool tile pressed against his sore knees, but was grateful that he had managed to safely teleport away.

Botta leaped over his desk and crouched next to his boss. "What happened? Are you seriously injured?" He looked at the renegades that were gawking in horror. "Go get a medic!" he barked.

"I failed to break the seal," Yuan said through gritted teeth. "Kratos proved…more powerful and more determined than I anticipated."

"He used Judgment didn't he?" Botta said, examining the wounds. "I recognize these types of injury."

"We won't be able to get to him or the girl," Yuan said, angry that he was actually admitting defeat. "Not now."

"So what do we do?"

Yuan thought for a moment, ignoring his pain. "If we can't touch her, Mithos will be less successful. So he will be without his vessel for a while."

"But the seal…" Botta said. "We need the seal released."

Yuan shook his head. "Kratos has left Mithos. As long as Anna is alive, he won't return to him. That should be enough to break the pact but not the seal."

"So what do we do?" Botta repeated.

Yuan frowned, recalling the look on Kratos's face when he threatened Yuan; the anger, the hatred, the protective glare, but beyond that there was something else. Something purer than that, something Yuan recognized though it had been five longs years since he had come close to seeing or feeling it.

Kratos was in love with Anna.

"We leave them alone," Yuan said. "For now we leave them alone. They can't escape Mithos forever. Sooner or later Anna will be captured. When that happens, it will be all too easy to have Kratos sacrifice himself."

"Are you sure waiting is the wisest choice?" Botta asked skeptically.

Yuan winced in pain as he tried to stand and failed. "It isn't. But I don't think we'd survive if we tried force. Kratos…he is even more formidable now than he ever was. And the girl is no pushover. We need to watch, search carefully for a weakness, or let time do its work."

"So we wait."

"We wait," Yuan agreed as the medic came bustling in. "We wait until he has nothing to lose…or until he has much more to lose than before."

CW

Click the button. Click it I say!