14. Family Time

Kratos x Ana
Tales of Symphonia

Kratos rarely got scared. He didn't remember when had it been the last time he genuinely felt his life threatened, unless it involved Mithos, which had happened many years ago. However, that evening, Kratos swore he had never cowered so much in his life.

"Darling…" He spoke, approaching Anna carefully. His wife cooked dinner for them as she hummed a cheerful song, unaware of the mess her husband had gotten himself into. She turned around slowly and her smile vanished in an instant, the moment she saw Kratos' grimace. "Please, don't get angry…"

"What happened?" She asked, worried.

"I… I can't find Lloyd." Anna turned off the oven and rushed towards him with the deadliest glare in her face. Martel helped him get away from the wrath of an anguished mother.

"He's a toddler, how is it even possible you don't know where he is?" Anna wondered, shoving Kratos aside the moment she noticed he looked incredibly vulnerable. For being an all-mighty entity, he was pretty much useless whenever he had to do a normal, mundane task. "I asked you to play with him until the turkey and the gravy was ready, what did you do?"

Kratos explained they'd been playing with Lloyd's toys in the living room, beneath the tree, and even if the boy insisted on opening his gifts, his father had refused each and everytime. After some minutes, Lloyd seemed to have calmed down and decided it was better to play on his own, so Kratos took a book and sat on the couch to read for a while until dinner was ready.

"Don't take your eyes off of him, he's a very unruly child." Anna scolded him and began roaming the living room like a wild beast searching for prey. Kratos apologized and helped her look around, but the baby was nowhere to be found. Just how good was a three years old at playing hide-and-seek? "you said he insisted on opening his presents, right?"

"Y-yes…" Kratos admitted, embarrassed he had to put her through all of this.

"I know where he is." She assured, walking towards their bedroom with a steady but decided pace. Kratos followed right behind her with his head held low. She opened the closet to find a messy-haired boy trying to rip his presents' wrapping, with little accomplishments made so far. "Oh, here you are, honey!"

Anna carried him in her arms and removed the gifts from Lloyd's hands, tossing them to Kratos. The man placed them on a higher level, so that he'd not reach even if he ran away again. Lloyd complained, but after some minutes of his mother making funny faces at him, he began laughing and seemed to forget he had even tried to steal the presents.

"Dear, I'm so sorry." Kratos apologizing, asking her to give the baby to him with a gesture from his hands. Anna complied and handed Lloyd to him, who latched his small arms around his daddy's neck. The brunette noticed his eyes were watery and that he had turned so vulnerable that he almost didn't look like himself. She smiled kindly and grabbed his cheek, vanishing the tears from the corner of his eyes with her thumb. Kratos leaned towards her hand and smiled, feeling guilty still.

"Just be more careful next time, ok? I don't want to lose either of my boys, not when mommy's Superb Christmas Turkey is about to be served!" She exclaimed, pinching one cheek of each of laughed loudly and Kratos chuckled with a hushed voice.

He was so grateful to have her in his life. After a millenia of tragedies and solitude, Anna Irving was truly a blessing made by the heavens themselves.

A/N: Kratos is one of my favorite Tales characters, but I have to say he's a lousy fater. I love him, but man, you could have avoided so many mistakes. I wanted to take on his relationship with Anna, because I feel she's never fully fleshed as a character, barely reduced to a drama-vehicle for Lloyd and Kratos. I love the idea that all-mighty Kratos-sama is actually a big blob of tears and nerves whenever it involves his wifey getting mad at him. Thanks for reading!