AN: Well...here we are. Two years later? Something like that? I uh...have been going through a lot to be completely honest. But my life is loads better now, and I think I'm headed in a direction I can be satisfied with. So. Here you go. Hopefully gonna try to get back into regularly updating this and Heavy Lies The Crown. No guarantees but I'm a work in progress. Thanks to those who stuck with me this long!

Disclaimer: You guessed it. Even after two years - I'm still only borrowing these characters for my own sick enjoyment.


Lloyd stood outside of Koton's house, leaning against one of the brick walls. He could hear the old man inside, arguing with the others about who gets to look at the book and who needs to step back. He crossed his arms and looked towards the sky, feeling the strange crest on the back of his neck pull at the skin it sat on.

"Lloyd?" Genis questioned as the others followed him out of the small house.

Lloyd forced a grin, trying to ignore the strange feeling of the gem, "Ah, hey guys. Did you get to look at the book?"

Kratos followed behind Genis out of the small house, nodding his head in response to Lloyd's question, "Yes. Raine believes that our next destination is Asgard." His gaze landed on Lloyd, not missing the way the boy grimaced when he turned his head to look towards Kratos, "The pass we obtained from Dorr will allow us through here."

"That's good. Are we leaving now?" Lloyd replied as he moved towards where the path lead through the mountain. He didn't like the way Kratos was watching him.

"Yes. Your charade at the House of Salvation put us further behind schedule." Kratos commented, before crossing his arms and moving down the path. He didn't know what was wrong with Lloyd but he would keep a close eye on him for now. Part of him thought that maybe it could have been -

Raine's voice interrupted his thoughts, "So Lloyd do you know the history of the Asgard and it's ruins?"

Said teen heaved a sigh, knowing this was going to be a long trip.


As soon as they neared the city, Lloyd could feel the dread swelling in the air. Something was happening - somewhere in the city was large source of mana. But it felt disgusting, twisted somehow like he'd just took a drink of water that someone had pissed in. His stomach churned as they crossed the threshold of the town, and he had to force down the vomit that threatened to crawl up his esophagus.

"I assume you can feel it too, Lloyd?" Raine murmured, her face pale.

Lloyd swallowed past the lump in his throat and nodded, "It's coming from the center of the town. We should hurry."

Despite her instincts urging her to turn the other way, Raine agreed. The rest of the group had already made their decisions and with that they headed towards the source.

When they got there, Lloyd realized this was the altar that Raine had been schooling him on while they'd been walking. Harsh wind blew past him, nearly knocking him over as the being that floated before the large crowd that had gathered noticed their presence. It looked over the group, flexing it's clawed hands menacingly.

It looked like it had found newer, stronger prey.

Lloyd had his swords ready so when the beast charged for them they met with a loud clash. Sparks showered the air as steel met the creatures thick purple hide. He grunted and pushed it away, narrowing his eyes and releasing a wave of mana as he shoved. The thing went flying but remained otherwise unharmed.

He heard Raine calling out to Genis to use fire, and moved to distract the creature from harming the caster.

Moments later, and with very little injury, the beast was fading away from existence.

Lloyd jumped down off of the altar, followed by the others. They had moved the fight up there for fear of harming the crowd that was gathered around. A woman in strange ritualistic clothing approached them, a grateful look on her face. An older man who leaned heavily on a cane stood next to her, tears in his eyes.

"Oh Martel! Thank you for saving us from that creature," He stepped forwards to give them a deep bow, "We had thought it was the Summon Spirit of Wind but when it started demanding sacrifices we knew it wasn't so. But there was nothing we could do...it would have killed us all." He brought himself back to a standing position and smiled warmly, "But you have saved this city. If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask."

Whilst Kratos and Raine spoke to the now known mayor of Asgard, Lloyd and the others were approached by the woman and two males - one of which appeared to be related to her.

"Thank you for saving Aisha, my sister." The blue haired male with glasses spoke up, "I am Linar and this is Harley."

The male with red hair, Harley, merely grunted and examined Genis with a cautious eye.

Aisha, however, grasped Colette's hands in her own, still shivering with fright, "Thank you so much. I don't know how I could ever repay you."

Lloyd turned his attention away from them in favor of examining the spot where the beast had disappeared. There was a stone tablet lying on the ground - it's edges cracked and sharp. He knelt and picked it up, unable to understand the language in which it was written. With a small wince as the gem on his neck tugged at the skin, he stood and moved to show the tablet to Raine.

"Fascinating!" The half-elf nearly yelled as she was handed the stone, "This writing looks ancient! This could only be - "

"The map of the Balacruf Mausoleum!" Linar called and ran over to the two. He peered over Raine's shoulder down at the tablet, narrowing his eyes in concentration, "I bet if we worked together we could probably crack this overnight."

And so it was decided. Raine would stay with Linar and Harley and try to decipher the map whilst Lloyd and the others would be gathering their supplies.


It was later that night that Kratos found himself sitting on the edge of the cliff near the altar. The wind had died down to a more pleasant breeze, and he found it almost calming to sit and watch the clouds pass over the moon. His mind on the other hand, was a whirling mess of anxious thoughts. He recalled the time at Thoda Geyser where Lloyd had actually called him father. It was...strange.

He should be happy about this thing - that Lloyd knew - instead he was only filled with dread at the thought of what certain people would do to his son once they found out. He was sure the others had heard it as well, what with all of them having enhanced hearing do to their race. It was only a matter of time until either Lloyd or Raine brought it up and at that point he would have to find some way to convince them otherwise. Some way to get them to not trust him, to hate him, because otherwise -

"What'cha doing up here all alone, Kratos?" The voice of Lloyd broke him out of his thoughts.

Kratos quickly hid his surprise and turned his gaze towards the moon once more, shrugging, "I was merely watching the skies. It is a peaceful night." He turned his gaze to Lloyd, who had sat down next to him while he'd been speaking, "Are you feeling alright? It was not that long ago that you were injured in Palmacosta. And you have not been sleeping." He tried not to sound as worried as he felt, but he couldn't help his instinct to protect the boy seeping out through is words.

Lloyd gave a wry smile, "So you noticed that, huh?" He briefly wondered if he should tell Kratos all the things that had been happening. After all the man was his father, if Lloyd couldn't trust him than who could he trust? But he shook that notion away - it wouldn't due to cause the man anymore worry, "Just nervous about the journey, I guess. No worries. As for my injuries, well they seem to be healing okay. I'm okay, Kratos."

"Don't overdo it, Lloyd. You'll only end up passing out from exhaustion again." Kratos responded, keeping his gaze to the skies. He had to resist the urge to ruffle Lloyd's hair like he used to many years ago.

A silence fell over them, peaceful. It was as if the world had paused, and were giving these two beings time to rest. Rest before the universe threw them back into the fray. Lloyd couldn't help but be reminded of the times that he'd done this with Kratos when he was younger. It almost felt as though things were normal, and they were just a father and son looking at the stars together. But then he remembered the gem on his neck, and the trials that lay ahead of them. He didn't know if he would ever know what normal was again.

"Do you like the stars?" Lloyd asked, glancing in his peripheral vision at Kratos. After not receiving a response, the brunette decided to take it one step further, "I do. I can remember my dad and I looking at them like this when I was little." He waited, testing the waters and trying to see what the mercenary's reaction would be. For a moment he thought maybe Kratos was ignoring him, but the man suddenly spoke.

"I didn't know dwarves were interested in the sky." Kratos murmured, playing dumb.

Lloyd shook his head, chuckling lightly, "Nah, Dad never really did. I meant my real dad."

Kratos had to resist the urge to hold his breath - did Lloyd really know? "I was under the impression you didn't remember anything about him."

"I didn't before," Lloyd started, watching Kratos curiously, "But lately I've been remembering small bits and pieces."

A frown on his face, Kratos stood, trying not to make his movements show his distress. This conversation was getting a little too close to home for him, "It's getting late. We should get back before the others start to worry." Without waiting for a response, Kratos took off towards the stairs. He didn't want to deal with this right now - couldn't hand the idea of having to kill another person he loved.

Lloyd watched the man's retreating back with a glare. Kratos did know.

Still, if the mercenary didn't want to talk about it there was nothing he could do. He didn't want to push the issue at this point, there was too much going on with the others. Any dissonance between the group might cause one of them to leave and as much as Lloyd hated to think about it he knew that without Kratos they weren't strong enough to protect Colette from her enemies. Even if Lloyd really did want to strangle him for being so difficult to get along with.

It almost seemed as if the man were trying to push them all away. Like it was on purpose. But that wouldn't make sense because if he knew that Lloyd was his son wouldn't he rejoice? Wouldn't he want to scream it to the world? Unless...unless he was disappointed in Lloyd. He wasn't...proud of him?

His head beginning to hurt, Lloyd pushed those thoughts away and made for the inn.

He would think about this later.

TBC