Things you need to know before reading this chapter:
- Character thinking; "Lloyd's language"; Character remembering a past event
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss
Chapter 10: Blind Faith
Lloyd dashed out of the mining city. He could tell the mana signature getting stronger the farther he ran and knew he was close. His enhanced hearing picked up the sound of fighting and knew his father was fighting someone and that's why he used his angelic spell just now. However, one thing he didn't understand was why the mana signature was still comparatively much weaker than when he last felt it before the man left with Derris Kharlan.
Is he also recovering from mana exhaustion like me? He mused.
The sound of fighting was getting louder and he finally saw a sea of Oracle Knights before him. He frowned at the ridiculously huge amount of soldiers. Were they thinking of ambushing us when we leave to capture Ion again?
That was when he saw a familiar figure killing the Oracle Knights, though not who he had expected. Tear? Why is she here... wait, was that Oracle Knight just now actually luring her away? But why her...
As he got closer, he finally saw the one he most wanted to see. Despite the situation, he felt his heart nearly burst from happiness and his face broke out into a huge grin as his gaze fell on his father. Kratos Aurion. The man he had constantly thought of ever since he left with Derris Kharlan and regretted letting go.
"Dad!" He shouted, though it wasn't so loud that normal people could hear it over all the fighting, Kratos was far from normal and he knew the man would be able to hear him.
He saw Kratos briefly glanced at his direction and acknowledged his presence nodded, a smile on his lips. Lloyd wasn't discouraged by the lack of reaction on the man, a smile was already very good when it was coming from his stoic father. And if he had found Kratos through sensing his mana signature, he was sure his father had known about his presence since a long time ago even though his current mana signature had to be so weak that even elves would have trouble picking it up.
He saw an Oracle Knight creeping up at Tear from her back and looked to be about to knock her unconscious with his shield – wait, not kill? – and rushed over to her while unsheathing the Material Blade. "Heavy Tiger Blade." He slashed upward then downward with great strength at the soldier. He had put so much force in the downward slash that the armor had broken into pieces and the man crumbled to the ground, unconscious even before he hit the ground.
"Lloyd? Why are you here?" Tear asked once she killed the opponent before her and noticed the twin swordsman having dispatched a soldier she wasn't aware of.
"He's here because I called him." Tear looked to her right and saw the man that Asch had called Kratos coming up to them as he pulled his sword out of a soldier.
Lloyd looked at Kratos questioningly. He understood what Kratos had told Tear, but he didn't get why his father was telling the girl that he called him when he knew he was only here because he sensed the mana signature.
"Lloyd, help me cover Asch and Tear as they escape." Kratos said as he effortlessly parried a sword swung his way by yet another Oracle Knight and pushed him back. He killed the man with a thrust as the soldier stumbled backwards due to the push.
"Asch?" Lloyd asked, he recalled the others talking about someone with that name after their encounter with the one that looked like Luke. Was his dad working with him?
Kratos turned his head to the crowd of Oracle Knights. "Asch! You go with Tear to Akzeriuth to stop Luke first!" He shouted.
Lloyd followed Kratos' gaze and saw the boy that shared the same look as Luke jumping into the air to dodge a horizontal slash. He raised his fist above his head and punched the ground when he dropped down. "Fierce Demon Fist!" Rocks were sent flying forward, hitting and pushing his opponents away from him.
Despite being confused by the whole situation – why do they have to stop Luke? – he followed his father's instruction and rushed over to help the red haired boy defeat the Oracle Knights he was facing.
He heard the boy grumbled a small thanks before heading to where Tear was. "Is it okay?" Tear asked.
Asch nodded. "They will be fine. We need to hurry before the idiot destroyed Akzeriuth." With that, he took off to the direction of the mining city.
Tear glanced back at Kratos and Lloyd one final time before giving a slight bow and hurried after Asch.
Purple. Purple. Purple. No matter where he looked, he could only see the purple of the miasma. Luke's eyebrow twitched in irritation as he waved his hand in front of him to disperse the thick purple mist so he could see clearer. His eyebrow twitched again when that didn't help his vision at all.
Great. Just great. How am I going to find Master Van if I can't even see what's in front of me?
"Luke." He turned around at his name and saw Ion standing behind him.
"What is it?"
"Aren't you going to help the others?" Ion asked.
Luke rolled his eyes. "Again? Haven't I already said that I need to find Master Van first?"
A brief look of hurt showed in Ion's eyes at the noble's reply. They had reached a large cavern a while back. There were a lot of miners who had fallen ill due to the intense miasma and the others had rushed over to either heal or carry them back to somewhere that didn't have as much poison gas. Ion had wanted to help too, but his weak physique made it impossible to help in any ways. He wasn't strong enough to carry them and if he used his fonic arte to heal them, he would be the one collapsing and it would just add unnecessary worry to the others. That's why he had been following the other member of their party who also wasn't helping the others.
Luke turned around again and resumed his search for Van. Ion wanted to say more to convince him. But it wasn't really his place to say something like that when he himself wasn't helping the others, though due to a different reason. He silently followed Luke as he searched blindly within the thick miasma that rendered their sight to near useless.
Luke was inwardly cursing his luck when he saw a shadow before him. "Master Van?" He called out uncertainly to the silhouette.
The shadow shifted, as if turning towards them, and Luke could hear his Master's voice answering him. "You finally made it."
"Master! There you are." Luke exclaimed happily and hurriedly closed the distance between him and Van. "Where's the rest of the vanguard?"
"I have them standing by elsewhere." Van directed his gaze at Ion and gestured the door behind him. "Fon Master, could I ask you to open this door?"
Ion examined the door before them and realized it's the same kind of 'door' he was forced to open by the Six God-Generals. "A Daathic seal. So this is another Sephiroth." He furrowed his brows, wondering if this meant that Van was the one giving orders to the Six God-Generals after all. But then even if he knew who's the one behind his capture, he still couldn't understand what this was about. "I don't think opening this will serve any purpose."
"It will. It's necessary for the revival of Akuzeriuth." Different scenarios ran through Ion's mind at the simple answer, but he couldn't find the link in between.
"Ion, please! Everything will be okay if you do what Master Van says." If Ion wasn't the kindhearted person, he would have rolled his eyes at Luke's tone, but all Ion did was turned to look at Luke and, when he noticed the look of slight desperation on him, smiled.
"All right." He walked forward and stopped right in front of the sealed entrance of the Sephiroth.
He raised his arms till they were shoulder level with palms opened and facing the centre of the seal. Sweat dripped down his cheek as he concentrated on the Daathic arte he had only learned less than a year ago to remove the Daathic seal and felt the familiar pull of Seventh Fonon from his body. The seal on the door was slowly being lifted as more Seventh Fonon left his body and he had to lightly bit the inside of his cheek at the uncomfortable feeling. When the seal was fully removed at last, he dropped his hands to his sides and had to dug his heels into the ground to stop himself from staggering.
"Let's go." Van said and started walking into the now opened Sephiroth. Ion nodded to himself once he found the strength in him to walk without faltering and fell in step after him.
Luke grinned and also started to follow the pair when another splitting headache halted his advance.
Stop! Are you trying to destroy Akzeriuth!?
He shook his head and felt the headache started lessening again. "What are you talking about? I'm just gonna neutralize the miasma here." He replied even though he doubt Asch had heard it as the headache had already completely subsided. He shook his head a final time and ran into the Sephiroth.
He slowed down as he took in the view before him, awed by the interior of the Sephiroth. It wasn't like anything he had seen before. However, he didn't paid too much attention and picked up his pace again so he could catch up to the others. He figured it to be something common in the world and he just hadn't seen it before since he had been locked up in his manor since he had amnesia.
"It's the same as Zao Ruins and Shurrey Hill..." He saw Ion standing on the pathway taking in the surrounding.
From the Fon Master's words, Luke knew his guess about it being common was correct. And his Master was proceeding without sparing a glance at his surroundings, so it had to mean that he had seen it many times before, right? "I'm going to be a hero, I won't let Asch stop me!" He reminded himself so that he would focus more at the task he had to do, like his Master.
Ion held up his hand as Luke got closer to stop him. "Luke, don't you think we should wait for the others?"
Luke waved his hand impatiently at the always worrying boy. "Master Van's here. Isn't that enough?" He walked pass Ion ignoring his outstretched arm. "And besides, I'm going to save Akzeriuth right now. Who's going to complain about that?"
Ion blinked, surprised at the reply. "What do you mean?"
"Just wait and see." With that, he resumed running along the passage that spiralled down to the centre.
Flamberge easily slid through the armour of the Oracle Knights due to its high temperature and into the man's stomach. Blood splattered when it was pulled out and the soldier crumbled to the ground lifelessly. Normally Lloyd would have winced at his own brutal way of killing, but not today. It wasn't because he was surrounded by dozens of enemies and was feeling nervous. It's quite the opposite. It's been so long since he last fought side by side with his father that he's feeling a bit giddy now.
He ducked and let a sword swipe over his head. He performed a roundhouse kick while still kneeling on the ground knocking down the one that just slashed at him. He got up and started skipping backwards as another man had come up the moment the one he was facing was down. He felt another one approaching from behind while he was still stepping backwards. When the man behind him was close enough, Lloyd jumped up as high as he could and let the two soldiers collide with each other. He landed behind the entangled soldiers and jumped up again, though this time not as high as just now, and curled himself up into a ball.
"Omega Tempest!" He started spinning horizontally towards the soldiers that were still untangling themselves from the other. Once they were caught up by the 'spinning ball', it bounced up high in the air. Lloyd released his attack mid air. He landed on the ground a few meters behind while the two soldiers, having lost their conscious in the middle of the twin swordsman's attack, dropped to the ground unceremoniously.
More man appeared before him and he slowly backed up. No matter how many enemies he cut down, there were still a lot of them standing around. He backed up a few more steps and felt his back bumped into Kratos, who was facing the other direction.
"Your mana signature is weak, you are recovering from mana exhaustion." Kratos stated. Though that wasn't a question, Lloyd nodded his head nonetheless. "I will clear a path for you."
Lloyd frowned. "What!? You want me to just leave you? You are in the same condition as me, right?"
Five soldiers came at them at the same time and they had to jump apart to avoid being impaled or hacked into two by the swords. "No, I'll explain later. I'm going to use a large scale arte to finish them." Not taking heed of what the five soldiers were doing now, Kratos chose to face those in front of him instead and held up his blade. "Follow me."
A grin flashed on Lloyd's face when he saw the position of his father's sword and knew what he was going to do. He also got into position and faced the soldiers before them.
"Cross Thrust!" The Aurions rushed at the crowd with their own blades in a thrusting position and performed their own version of Super Sonic Thrust at right angle to each other. The force of the attack was so strong that not just the enemies that were caught in the huge cross were hit, but a small gust was also created blowing away nearby soldiers.
Before those that were swept off their feet by the gust could get up from the ground, Kratos was already holding his blade above his head as if preparing for a downward slash."Radiant Streak!" He brought the Last Fencer down till it was pointing towards the soldiers in front of him then jabbed it forward. A wide stream of light shot forward from the blade and sliced through the air. Lloyd watched in awe as the light beam extended to nearly fifty meters away from them before disappearing, creating a path void of any soldiers in its wake.
"Now!" Though still a bit reluctant, he knew when to listen to his father's intruction and rushed through the cleared path.
Even as he ran, he could feel the slight tingling in the air and knew that Kratos was preparing for yet another powerful arte, which he supposed to be the large scale one he was talking about. What he didn't understand was the distinctive lack of mana. He had felt the familiar mana signature of the man when he used Judgement, though very weak. However, he couldn't feel anything when Kratos used that Radiant Streak attack. He had thought it as something like his Beast attacks and that's why there's no mana, but this...
He heard Kratos started chanting in the language of this world again and knew he was indeed preparing for a powerful attack. Once he was far away enough, he chanced a glance backward and saw that his father had called out his ethereal wings. He frowned as he couldn't sense any mana again. Then he noticed the slightly off color of the mana – no, not mana anymore – wings. A large glyph appeared underneath Kratos with him at the center Transparent chains rose up from the ground dancing around the angel and those standing on the glyph paralyzing them.
What is it? It looks like Shining Bind... but-
"Shining Bind!" Lloyd's thought was cut off by his father's yell. Kratos rose into the air and more chains appeared and shot into the sky. Intense light enveloped the field and Lloyd had to cover his eyes to avoid getting blind. He heard the sound of explosion and their enemies' cries of pain followed by the sound of bodies hitting the ground and saw from behind his eyelids that the light was gone. He cracked open his eyes and saw that all the soldiers were lying on the ground, most of them unconscious. A few that were more resilient were still conscious and were trying to stand up but to no avail.
Lloyd blinked. He didn't catch the name of the arte as Kratos had said it in the other language, but it did look like Shining Bind. But then although he hadn't seen the attack in a long time, he didn't think the mystic arte involved things exploding, and there's still the issue about the lack of mana. He saw his father running towards him and shrugged. Kratos had said he would explain later anyway.
"Let's go. We need to catch the soldiers that had escaped."
Now that his father mentioned it, there were indeed a few that had gotten past them when those two escaped. "Right. So can you tell me what's going on?" He asked as he fell in steps behind Kratos who had just ran past him.
"The explanation is quite long. For now just know that we have to stop Luke from doing what his Master wants him to."
Lloyd blinked. Just how involved his father was with Luke and the others?
Luke's running became walking and eventually he stopped when he got closer to Van and noticed the large statue in front. He lifted his head to gaze at the large statue, the translucent rings surrounding it and the glowing particles raising from below and seemingly enveloping it.
"Luke. This way." He heard his Master called and only then did he realized that he had unconsciously opened his mouth. He coughed to hide his embarrassment and to stop his gawking and strolled over to Van.
"Now, Luke, go down to that fon machine, the passage ring, and neutralize the miasma." Luke followed the Oracle Commandant's gaze and saw a small statue erected before the huge statue, which was in fact a fon machine according to his Master.
"What are you talking about? Is that even possible?"
He turned back at Ion's question and saw a look of bewilderment etched on the boy. A smug grin appeared on his face as he pointed at himself arrogantly. "Yeah, it is for me. I'm a chosen hero." He then ignored Ion and walked towards the small statue which he supposed to be another fon machine.
That's it. I'll show all of them. I'll become the hero, just like Master Van said. Then I'll flee to Daath with Master Van. Yes, with Master Van... He had to stop the grin that was threatening to break out at the giddy feeling. He wanted to impress his Master by showing his seriousness at this neutralizing business and it wouldn't do for him to grin at a moment like this.
He raised his arms before him like Ion when he was opening the door and closed his eyes. Let's see, I am to use my hyperresonance... it's alright, I just have to do it like Master Van instructed me before. He felt something building up inside his body and knew he was close.
"Good, concentrate just like that." Van said. "Now, 'Foolish replica Luke' unleash your power!"
Luke opened his eyes, confused at his Master's words. He widened his eyes as the feeling of that something building up inside him increased at a very fast rate. "Wh- what's going on!? Something's coming out of me..."
Overflowing energy started leaking out when that something became too much for his body to contain. The feeling was so intense that he felt as if his body was on fire. A cry of pain came out of his throat, which was starting to get drier due to the heat, as he tried in futile to withdraw his arms. Black spots appeared in his vision and they kept on increasing until all he could see was darkness. Then suddenly he saw the face of Van.
"Luke, listen to my voice. Now, relax, just like that. When I order you to release your power, you will open every fon slot in your body and unleash a hyperresonance. That same power you're using right now. The trigger phase will be... 'Foolish replica Luke.'"
He let out a final cry when he felt the remaining large amount of energy rushed out of his body in one go. He heard the sound of something breaking and fell limply to the ground.
"You've finally proven useful, replica."
Luke's eyelids fluttered open tiredly at the voice. The first thing he saw was the unconscious form of Ion on the ground near the wall. He wondered if the frail boy was blown away due to the energy he released and was knocked out when he collided with the wall behind him. Luke slowly drifted his gaze upwards towards the owner of the voice. His Master finally came into his line of sight. He saw him looking at something before him and knew he was looking at the fon machine.
"Master... ?" Luke croaked out. His throat was still dry due to the heat and it hurt very much just to utter that single word out. However, he couldn't say anything else as darkness engulfed him again.
"Damn! We didn't make it!" Van looked up the spiraling pathway and saw the wayward student he hadn't seen for the past seven years with his sword original Luke fon Fabre, or Asch, the alias he had been using since he went into hiding.
"Ah Asch. So Cantabile was right that you would show up if I do something drastic." He put two fingers into his mouth and whistled. Three griffins, Arietta's friends, flew in from the entrance at the signal. One of them grabbed Asch's sword arm rendering him unable to swing his sword and flew into the air. The second one grabbed onto the unconscious Ion.
"Let me go!" He ignored the boy's indignant cry as he climbed onto the back of the last griffin. He was about to signal to the other three beasts to start leaving but paused when he saw his sister barging into the Sephiroth with the rest of her group. He frowned and cursed inwardly, he had specifically ordered his soldiers to take Tear away at all cost, but it seemed they couldn't even complete such a simple task.
"Luke/Ion!" Guy and Anise cried out simultaneously. Van saw the blond swordsman dashed towards his unconscious young master and his frown deepened for just a moment before disappearing as he gazed into his sister's eyes that was full of hate, sadness and disbelief.
"Van! I knew it! You've betrayed me! You said you were going to preserve the Outer Lands! What about the people of Akuzeriuth? The Oracle soldiers in the Tartarus? They'll all be killed." Tear's shout was so full of desperation as if she was about to break down any moment.
He bit his lips and stopped himself from saying the comforting words he wanted to say to his beloved sister. "Mystearica, some day you'll come to understand the folly and ugliness of this world. I want you to live... at least long enough for me to see you come to your senses. You have the fonic hymns. Use them." He gave the signal and the griffins started flying away with their captive.
"Ion!" Anise cried out. She dashed after the griffins, but she wasn't fast enough and her path was blocked by the debris falling down from the roof that blocked the entrance of the Sephiroth.
"The tunnels are collapsing!" Jade shouted.
Tear raised her staff before her. "Everyone, come close! Hurry!" She saw out of the corner of her eye Guy, with an unconscious Luke, getting closer. She closed her eyes and started singing the second fonic hymn. Force Field. An arte that would be able to prevent them from being crushed by the collapsing city.
"Wh- what's going on!?" Lloyd shouted as he struggled to keep his balance on the violently shaking ground. Even if he could hold his balance and keep walking, large cracks were forming here and there on the ground making it impossible for him to get to Akzeriuth. It was frustrating, especially since the city's only less than two hundred meters away from his current position.
"Lloyd!" Lloyd looked up and saw the same translucent pale blue wings fluttering lightly behind his father's back as the man glided over the shifting landscape and flew straight at him.
He inwardly cursed his own condition that rendered him unable to call out his own wings before extending an arm upwards to catch Kratos' hand. Wind rushed through his hair as he felt them soaring upwards. Even as Kratos ascended, Lloyd was looking down at the miasma covered city before them. He noticed that the earthquake seemed to have been originated from the center of the city. Cracks large enough for large buildings to fall through were all over the violently shaking city.
Lloyd gasped as he realized that the city was on the brink of destruction."Wh- what's going on?"
Kratos ignored his son's question as he took in the sinking city with hardened eyes. "Gnome, can you halt the sinking by strengthening the bond between Akzeriuth and the land surrounding it?"
Lloyd frowned, he didn't know what his father had said but it was apparent that he wasn't addressing him. Then Lloyd remembered that he had never told Kratos about his inability to understand Fonics and he had simply assumed that his father knew because he had been conversing with him in the language of their own world. He opened his mouth to remind Kratos to speak in their own language-
"The best I can do is slow down the sinking of the outskirts of the city, and only for several hours at most. The area affected is too large and my power couldn't cover the whole city."
- and closed his mouth at the voice that just joined their conversation. The voice seemed to have come from above him. Lloyd looked up and saw a creature of some kind lying on a sphere floating next to Kratos. His mouth opened again, but there was no voice coming out as he stared dumbstruck at the newcomer.
"It's better than nothing." Kratos grunted. "Go and slow down the sinking, Gnome, try to reach as much area as possible."
Gnome nodded. "I will let you know when I can't hold onto it anymore." He disappeared.
Lloyd blinked at the strange being's sudden departure. "Dad, what's going on and who's that?" He asked as he felt them accelerating towards Akzeriuth.
However, he was ignored again when he heard the auburn haired angel speaking in Fonics again. "Rem, is it possible for you to maintain a physical body for several hours and assist with the rescue?"
"Yes." Lloyd gaped at the owner of the new voice again. He was prepared for whoever was going to come up when he dad started talking in Fonics again, but he hadn't expected the newcomer to be a beautiful angel with six large pure white feathery wings sprouting from her back. He had thought Mithos' wings looked grand, but this was easily the most stunning angel he had ever seen.
There was a slight pause as Kratos stared at Rem. Then he sighed and muttered something about 'causing an uproar' under his breath. "Found the nearest location that isn't going to sink anytime soon and can hold a large amount of people. Once you've found it, let us know where it is and start to carry people over there. Set a barrier over it so no one can run away, we don't need them running off in panic and getting themselves killed. If someone ask or is scared because of your appearance, briefly explain to them you are the Aggregate Sentience of Light and are here to save them."
"Understood." Rem replied and disappeared.
Lloyd looked back down at the city. He could make out the states the city and its residents were in clearer now that they were nearer. Anguish cries filled the air and he saw people desperately trying to escape the city only to be stopped by either something falling onto them or random cracks opening up under their feet. It wasn't the first time he saw people dying in a large scale disaster, but his heart still cried out for the dying people.
He didn't understand what Kratos told those two beings, but he knew it was about rescuing the people in Akzeriuth. Then he blinked in surprise when he noticed that the shaking had become less vigorous. Is it the doing of those two?
"This city is sinking." Lloyd raised his head and looked at Kratos. "The two you saw just now, Gnome and Rem, are equivalent to the Summon Spirit of Earth and Light of this planet. Gnome is using his power to slow down the sinking as we speak. However, he couldn't hold for long and-"
Lloyd followed his father's line of sight when he noticed the man staring at something and that was the reason he paused mid sentence. He saw two griffins soaring into the sky from the city center and could make out two people on them. One was riding on one of the aerial monster and the other unconscious and was being held in the other griffin's claw.
"Ion!?" He gasped when he realized that the limp figure was in fact Ion. "He's captured! Dad, we-"
"Lloyd, set your priorities straight, right now we need to save the people here. They won't kill Ion. They still need him for their plan." Kratos said with a sharp tone.
Lloyd mentally shook his head to clear his mind. Kratos was right, saving the people in Akzeriuth took priority. Then he noticed something his father said. "Plan?"
"Later. Rem is now finding a safe location and once she comes back, we'll start carrying people over there."
"But I can't fly now." Lloyd bit his lips and pushed down the frustration he was feeling for being useless at such a critical moment.
"When was the last time you used a Rheaird?"
Lloyd's eyes lit up at the question. His feet touched the slightly shaking ground as they started to land and he whirled around to look at his father who had already retracted his wings. "You have a Rheaird now!?"
"More than one." Kratos said and fished out a wing pack from his pocket. Moments later, two Rheairds were in front of them. "They are fully charged and can hold for several hours. Be careful when operating them, they were upgraded by a friend of mine several years ago and the top speed was doubled. I don't want you crashing because you can't handle the sudden speed change, and there's also a possibility that the people we rescue can't withstand such high speed."
Lloyd nodded. Before he could get onto the Rheaird, Rem reappeared. "I have set up a barrier over a field twenty kilometers north of our current position. The barrier is silvery and translucent, you will be able to tell where it is once you get near." The Aggregate Sentience of Light disappeared again once she finished her report to start the rescue.
"Lloyd." He shifted his attention back to his dad. "Rem has secured a place north of here for us to drop the people off. It's quite far away and takes about five minutes to get there even if we go at the Rheaird's new top speed."
Lloyd frowned at the information. He still couldn't do any complex calculation, but he understood that meant they couldn't save too many people.
"Although the maximum load of the upgraded Rheaird is five people, there's not enough room for that many people. I don't mean to... discriminate, but you may want to rescue those that... has a smaller figure so you can save more people. There are also a lot of people that are already suffering from inhaling too much miasma and... it would be best if we rescue those that aren't going to die soon from the miasma."
Lloyd could only nod numbly as Kratos briefed him on the 'most efficient' way to carry out the rescue. It was cruel that they couldn't save everyone and even crueler that they had to 'selectively' save the people here. And he knew Kratos was feeling the same way from the slight tremble in his voice and the clenched fists by his sides. But there wasn't anything they could do.
Kratos noticed his son's distress and closed the distance between them. He placed a hand on Lloyd's head despite the man having grown another few inches during the time they were apart and was less than half a head shorter than him now. "Rem can cover a large distance in the blink of an eye. She would be able to save a lot of those we couldn't due to our limitation. Just fly to the north to drop off the people you rescue in a silver translucent barrier. I'm sure you'll see a crowd already gathering there."
Lloyd looked up and saw the gentle expression that had always been reserved for him alone before and after he learned of his and Kratos' relation and before his father left with Derris Kharlan. The expression was gone a split second later as Kratos withdrew his hand and mounted one of the Rheairds.
"Be careful. Although Gnome is using his power to slow down the sinking and lessen the intensity of the earthquake, it's still dangerous in the city. You are still recovering from mana exhaustion and we just finished a tiring fight. I don't want you to get hurt because you overestimated your strength."
Lloyd grinned lightly at the all too familiar reprimanding tone of his father. "I know. Overconfidence breeds carelessness, right?" He repeated one of the sentences Kratos used to throw his way when he became too cocky in the past as he got onto the other Rheaird.
A small smile tugged on Kratos' lips. "Don't die, Lloyd." The engines of the Rheairds roared to life and they took off at the same time.
~ Skit: Age difference ~
Lloyd: (stared at Kratos out of the corner of his eye)
Kratos: …
Lloyd: (continued staring)
Kratos: Lloyd, is there a problem?
Lloyd: ! Ah... well... it's just... you look old. N- no, I mean... older, that's it! Older!
Kratos: My aging resumed a while ago. My physical body is about forty now.
Lloyd: Your aging... resumed? Is it something similar to what Yuan did to my Angelus Sphere and the others' Cruxis Crystals? And how did you know about it?
Kratos: Yuan? I'm not sure what he did, but I doubt my circumstance is similar to yours. I will explain later.
Lloyd: Okay... but you don't look forty...
Kratos: You know I never look my age anyway.
Lloyd: ! Was that... did you just make a joke!?
Kratos: Who knows?
Lloyd: !
Kratos: (raised an eyebrow)
Lloyd: Nothing! … wait, if you look forty, or thirty something, maybe I can call you dad in front of the others without them asking any question?
Kratos: I think we can pass you off as someone in their early twenties and me as someone that looks several years younger than their actual age.
Lloyd: (snickered) You mean four thousand years younger than their actual age, right?
Kratos: I'm just two thousand if we go by the dating system here. And if I do look my age, people will think it weirder if you address me as your father.
Lloyd: !
Kratos: (sigh) What is it, Lloyd? You have been doing that quite often.
Lloyd: … well... you feel different...
Kratos: (raised an eyebrow)
Lloyd: I mean, you are less stiff and... you just joked... more than once in the last minute...
Kratos: (smile) I suppose finally being able to live freely and do what I have always wanted to have helped me regain what I have lost in the past four thousand years.
Lloyd: ! Who are you and what have you done to my dad!?
Kratos: (death glare)
Lloyd: Eh.. hehe... I was just... joking?
Kratos: Good. Because I was too.
Lloyd: Wh- what!?
Author's Note:
Hmm... these few chapters were heavily following the game script, but there wasn't any other way for me to do it... I did say I would be skipping here and there to not bore you, but this was one of the most significant event in the game and it wouldn't do for me to just skip over it too. And I suppose quite a number of the following chapters would also have scenes that look very similar to the original...
I know Ion wasn't captured by Van in Akzeriuth, but Van had originally wanted to take Ion. He wasn't able to only because he hadn't expected Asch to suddenly show up and Asch was more valuable to his plan than Ion. Here, Van had been expecting Asch to show up, so instead of two, he prepared three griffins.
I have already integrated the FOF system of TOA in this fic, now I'm going to add the unison attack system of TOS in this fic, too. Because it would be a waste, to me at least, if there's no father-son unison attack after I went through all the trouble (not really) to have Lloyd make an appearance here. But the TOA crew, except Asch and Dist, wouldn't be able to use it. Kratos' the one who taught the others how to do it so naturally only those trained with him would know how to perform such attacks, at least for the time being.
I was a bit unsure about the skit when I finished writing it, but my sister thought it's ok and also a bit hilarious so I decided to post it as it was. Hope you think it's ok too.
Artes used in this chapter:
Lloyd – Heavy Tiger Blade 虎牙烈斬Kogaretsuzan
Asch – Fierce Demon Fist 剛・魔神拳 Gou Majinken – An attack exclusive to Asch. He had already learned Demon Fist 魔神拳 Majinken from Van and took it to the next level by imitating Kratos' Fierce Demon Fang 剛・魔神剣 Gou Majinken.
Lloyd – Omega Tempest 真空裂斬Shinkuuretsuzan
Lloyd (Thrust attack) + Kratos (Thrust attack) – Cross Thrust 衝破十文字 Shouha Juumonji
Kratos – Radiant Streak 陽塵虛閃 Youjinkosen – A stream of light coming out of the body of the blade, attack duration is 3s. I want to say it's similar to Gaius' Incineration Wave 覇道滅封Hadoumeppuu in TOX2 where a stream of fire came out of the body of the blade, but I don't think most of you will know what I'm talking about... and no, it's not like Asbel's Incineration Wave in TOG. Asbel's Incineration Wave and its follow up will be the fire FOF change of Radiant Streak if I ever get the chance to write Kratos using it.
Kratos – Shining Bind – All I want to say about his mystic arte is that it's no longer a light-based attack due to the now fonon based Cruxis Crystal. There's no elemental attribute to it anymore, or maybe you could say it's a sound-based attack now. And that's why it looks a bit different.
About Kratos' elemental affinity, since Seventh Fonon acts a bit different from mana, Kratos' elemental attacks, like Lightning Blade, and spells, like Grave, would become weaker and weaker as his mana was being converted until he couldn't use them anymore once the conversion was finished. Though he could still use Fire, Light and maybe Darkness elemental attacks in addition to Seventh Fonic Artes. I have detailed in FI ch. 23 why people with Seventh Fonon could use attacks with those three elemental attributes so I am not going to repeat it here.
Uploaded on 25 Aug 2013.