Angels of Cruxis
by: Fehize

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There were bright and puffy clouds the colors of silver and grey, as well as opal white, nearby the middle of the sky. Not exactly right above the surface of heads filled with hair or no hair at all, but not at the wondrous horizon where the winds of changed danced around and played with. It was on that horizon where the bright and puffy clouds of the heavens turned into different colors that danced closer to lavenders, blues, purples, and oranges. They were bright colors that seemed to rival rainbows. Sadly, such wondrous colors would soon fade away with the passing of time. The next day, such colors will be reborn into the world, but who was to say that it would be the same colors? What if clouds decided to come in and repress the colors with the coming of rain? However, the colors, unaware of the fate that was to become of them, were in a sense, immortal. They would be back eventually, filled with vigor and life for the next passerby to view with their windows to their souls.

Today was such a day where the clouds only enhanced the colors. They, too, turned into a mass of lights and tones, but the ones who lived by the lake found such colors to be redundant. They have seen many things themselves, and such colors brought by the sun and water no longer seemed to surprise the mortals who lived down upon the nursing, yet slowly dying, ground. Reds and purples, tagging along with their medium ranges of spectrum, soon reached the eyes of a group of people who were outside to see the colors, for they were not dwellers of this City of Hope. One by one, they stood, each one arching their necks as high as they could see: all of the days prior, there were too many clouds covering the horizon to see anything such as the view today. It truly was a wonderful sight.

One such person was a teenager, though maybe couldn't be considered in the same species as the blonde female teenager he was standing next to. At least, maybe not yet. Right next towards that girl with the eyes that reflected the sky above was a woman with white hair that was standing straight and tall. Her bangs flew sideways despite the slight wind that made it want to plop down into her face. She was clutching onto the head of the small child standing next to her, whose hair reflected off the woman who was her sister. The youngest Seraphim began to speak while looking up, addressing the neighbors, but keeping his sight high above. "Wow..." he breathed, "-it's beautiful..."

"Indeed," began the one who held a book to her side. She had her arm now folded towards the side to make her hand reach her chin a thinking position. "Iselia never had such a sunset before. Despite the fact that the most wondrous settings are made by sand or dust particles in the air, that little town never had the right amounts to get such a spectacular sight. Luin, it seems, has a lot of such sunsets, enhanced by the salt in the air as well as the lake to make small clouds that do not obstruct the view of the sun."

"That's amazing, Professor!" exclaimed the female happily. "But, I think I will still see it as an act from the Goddess Martel. Such a wonderful Goddess would most certainly make such a wondrous thing... I wonder what she could be doing for us if she was back."

The small half-elven boy had to nod his head. "It really is beautiful, sis! Hard to believe the view comes from soil in the air. One would have never guessed." He jumped up and down happily. "Isn't this awesome, Lloyd?!? I betcha you don't have any of this where you come from!"

The brown head smiled and nodded. "That's right! This is my first time seeing anything like this! Home usually has lots of plain, boring stuff. I mean, it's pretty, but it's also a little bit bleak." He smiled as he brought his hand to the back of his head, watching the last remaining bits of the sun beginning to end its life on the world that day until later. "However, at home, when the sun rises and sets, it's a really different thing." Welgaia was located high above Derris-Kharlan, its highest peaks hitting space. By the large windows, one could see the sun burst in light around the surface of the worlds below, like a large flash, then a halo. That was a breathtaking sight, and it happened only once more at the end of the day.

Everyone was in a good mood. Lloyd himself was happy that he felt better. Of course, he wondered where his father went, but he was probably only walking around or something along those lines. He felt like seeing the moment, not to exactly dwell much on what happened apparently a week ago, but it still saddened him that Sheena... and Uncle Yuan...

"What's wrong, Lloyd?" asked the Chosen One, Colette, as she held her hands in her normal pattern. "Are you not happy?" Her voice sounded much worry, as if she was afraid of Lloyd feeling pain and falling into a relapse. Not that it could to a Seraphim like him, but he still had to make sure no one else knew that.

"Nah. Everything's fine, Colette! Physically fine!" he added with a smile.

His dad arrived right then, followed by a woman who was very angry. As in Yggdrasil/Mithos angry. As in SUPER angry. As in... you leave right about then angry. Yup. That angry. His red hair was fluffed up in its normal position, his stance normal, but... he seemed to be... irritated? Weird. Besides his dad was Noishe, who had appeared randomly after leaving for a little while. The green and white protozoan seemed to be ok after its encounter with Uncle Yuan, not showing any signs of injury, but his dad said that it was even more afraid of monsters that ever before. What could make a future dragon afraid?

"Kratos! Where were you? Who is she?" began Colette as she turned around to look at the elder woman. "Hello, madam. My name is Colette from Iselia. I am very well pleased to meet you."

Lloyd blinked at the woman, who was still raging outwardly. "How DARE you, Kratos!" She had actually hissed out Kratos with hate! What a strange... and very daring woman! "How DARE you marry another woman with such low qualities like HER!"

She pointed straight at Raine.

Lloyd, Colette, Genis, and the Professor all went immediately into shock. Raine reacted first, of course. "I am most certainly not Kratos Aurion's wife. That falls under someone else." Lloyd saw Raine tense up, gathering her fist into a fist. Genis had once stated this was her 'calm-self-down' phase that she only did when she was really, really frusterated. "Pardon me as well, Miss, but I am most certainly am a WOMAN with high qualities!"

The elder woman seemed to be distraught. "Answer my questions, Aurion!!! If she's NOT your new wife, then why are you hanging around with people old enough to be your children, and a woman old enough to be their mother under a lot of stress?!? White hairs don't come from nowhere, Aurion!"

Genis decided to come into the conversation as well. "Excuse me, but my sister and I are not Kratos's relatives in any way. We are also elves, so naturally, we will have different hair from the rest of the world, such as Humans like you." It was the first time that Lloyd had heard Genis take in such a tone. His eyes were getting narrower, and his attitude was getting harder. Lloyd knew it was probably because he had already experienced racism between the human and half-elfs, a racism he was glad that he never got into. (Except, now that he briefly thought about it... didn't Cruxis preach that humans were of the inferior species?)

The elder women seemed to calm down for a moment, addressing Genis and Raine. Her voice softened a little bit as she tried to smile at them. "I am so sorry then, little child and miss. Please forgive my actions that were brought about my thoughts. I just thought you might have been related to Kratos here. I did not know that you were perhaps in one, of his many, so-called 'services.'" She was tight on that word as well. Lloyd could taste tension and bitterness...

But why?

Colette tried to calm everyone down with one of her genuine, 'I'm sorry' smiles that seemed to be something of a trademark of her. (Like his dad's fluffy, red hair.) "Yes, mam. We are in the services of Mr. Kratos. We are on-"

"-a pilgrimage," continued Genis, helping Colette out. "We come from the town of Iselia, far away, and are taken around to see the world and all of the great places for a pilgrimage. It's to settle our hearts, as well as the hearts of others. We were just on our way to see the Tower of Mana towards the north." He said everything with factual matters and nods of the head, trying to bring the temper down from Lloyd's dad's terrorizer.

They continued to talk, but Lloyd was curious. This woman had addressed his father, saying something about 'marrying another woman'. But... what did that mean? It couldn't be what he thinks it could be... right? "Mam," he began, making sure that he took a look directly at her to show that he was not intimidated by her, but did not want to seem cold either. His dad had an uncanny ability to make people seem lesser being by merely standing next to them, and Lloyd wondered if he picked that up at all. (He hoped he didn't at this current moment...) "How is it that you... know Kratos?"

That sure sent her off... "Why, I let that no good mercenary of a man take my daughter's hand! What else, he disappears with her, and THEN, he never returns! No news, no letters, no notes! Not even a little visit every once in a while! Now that he's back, he hasn't aged a bit, my daughter is not here, AND he expects me NOT to get mad? Only sick mothers would stop caring for their daughters. I have been worried about my little Anna for YEARS! Nearly twenty years!" Each word of that last few sentences made Kratos flinch slightly, and Lloyd saw that. Like a butter, poisoned knife that dug into the skin of his father's arm, digging deeper and deeper. The mercenary's son could tell his dad was not at all happy.

"Um... well... Something happened to Mom..." he began, trying to cover up for his dad.

"MOM?!?" she squealed. "As in your mother?!?"

"Ugh..." He was beginning to think that maybe telling her that was not one of the best things to do. Apparently, not only was he inexperienced in stuff dealing with the lower worlds, but he had a large, blabbing mouth. His dad was giving him a different stare, but the woman's face was changing...

"So... Hmm... hmm... hmm... What's your name, darling little boy?"

"Lloyd... madam..."

She smiled at that. "Lloyd! What a nice name! I like it! Well, Lloyd, you must come to my lovely little home with your friends! I will make you great cookies and we'll get to have some excellent grandmother-grandchild bonding time!" She swiftly turned her head as she left Lloyd confused. Grandmother?!? Wait a minute... Dad said Anna was my Mom... this woman IS old and is not an angel, so... I have a human for a Grandmother? I HAVE a Grandma?!? "Kratos, I suppose you can come as well, but leave your mangy pet - " Noishe whined, "- outside. No... 'Noishes' inside the house, mister! I expect you to behave in proper utmost fashion, leave all signs of mud on your shoes on the entrance of the house patio, keep your 'mysterious' hair neat and clean, wash your face, comb your hair, have a bath, brush your teeth, do not smell, don't attract any bugs, AND wearing the proper attire!

"Now, my little new-found-long-lost grandkid!" she began as she was grabbing Lloyd's cheek and rubbing it back and forth with her two fingers, smiling happily. Lloyd was still stuck in a land of semi-shock, but he could tell his dad was still aghasted by something. On top of that, he had NEVER seen a women have so much nerve to stand up to a Seraphim of Kratos's level! She had more than guts...! She had... insanity... and she was bi-polar... "Come, come! You MUST tell me where you have been all these years! Tell me what you like! When is your birthday? I'm sure I can give you some neat items around the house for you to keep! .!!!! You look almost JUST like your mother! Except for your eyes. They are... his eyes, but you make them so much happier!"

Insane or not, she had information about him mom, and he most certainly wanted that.

---

The house was LARGE. Compared to Welgaia, it was a small thing, but Lloyd's rooms were not as big as the whole house where his grandmother was dwelling in. Inside there was many little works of art that was an immense surplus of beauty. Statues of Martel were around, and that made him slightly laugh in the inside, but aside from that, they looked nice. It seemed that the elder woman was a religious fanatic, which made what she did to Kratos, his dad, even MORE hilarious.

Sure, it was not nice to see this going on, but he just couldn't help but chuckle...

It wasn't often, if ANY, that someone could order his daddy around!

"Wear THIS Kratos, as it seems you don't have enough fortitude to have any fashionable, appropriate clothing on hand." Technically, he had his Judgment Cruxis outfit, but there was nothing being mentioned about THAT... "Also wear those shoes as well! Goodness knows how threadbare and hideous your shoes are! I SWEAR! You wore those same purple clothes when you came here eighteen years ago!" With that, she shoved some black clothing onto his arms. It looked almost what the books called a 'tuxedo', but Lloyd wasn't sure. She did the same for everyone else, but on much nicer tones. Genis was given small children's clothing that she swore she had hanging around, and Raine was given a ball gown of some sort that she claimed was her old one when she was young. That made Raine slightly sweat in nervousness, but she accepted it just the same. Colette was given an older one, but Lloyd, being unaware that the style was old-fashioned and ancient, had said the blue color looked good on her. She smiled, thanking his... Grandma(?!?) for getting her some clothes. (Saying sorry that she couldn't bring out any of her own.) Lloyd, however...

"I think red's a good color to wear on you, child! Why are you wearing something as flimsy as THAT?" she said as she pointed towards the simple white t-shirt that he was still wearing. (His dad was changing elsewhere silently... so he was with his new Grandma alone.) "Here, it seems that you are walking around for a while, and it seems you like to travel, so these are some nice traveling clothing!" With that, she handed over a red bundle, then smiled as she shooed him off towards a different room. As he was walking away, he overheard her saying something that was like "-ust like Anna, he must love to climb trees..."

The room was rather empty, perhaps a shell of what it used to be. In fact, the whole house seemed to be something that was old, but not really used often. This room even had the small layers of dust that was quite common down here in the world. Welgaia never had any dust for it seemed that an ageless life kept the skin particles from becoming dust. That, and his father never tracked in enough dirt form his trips to be worth noting at all. It was dark, but the brown head was all ready to see anyways. He glanced down towards his clothing to find it to be... neat looking.

It was a plain white cotton shirt, but it was thick enough to signify for a winter that was still upon them (although he couldn't feel the cold). It had a line of buttons going down the middle, but they were immensely small and white as well. With that on, he also realized that there was a red vest to place on top of his clothing, and he enjoyed that. (Red was rather nice.) It was held together with small little belts-like attachments made from the other side of the vest, with golden-bronze colored clasps. The vest rested down towards a little bit beyond his rear end, covering it up, and it was trimmed with the same color of the clasps. The t-shirt underneath was a long sleeved one, but it was loose enough to move his swords around nicely. (Of course, his father said his sword skills still needed some help even if his Mana was almost perfect.) There were some pants that was closer to midnight blue than navy blue, but that was good enough. Unlike his old outfit, which saddened him as it was ruined beyond repair - quick pang of grief that his own Uncle had betrayed him like that - or restoration, these boots were not high, nor were they covered in tiny, little silver buttons. Rather, they were red little boots that reached a few inched above his ankle. Not as much protection, but not as heavy for more agile movements. Overall, he liked it.

Once he stepped out, there was his... Grandma. (It was still hard to think a human like that... He means... YAH, he knows now that his mother was a human, but it had yet to fully hit him. What if he WAS racist? Cruxis said humans were inferior, but... aside from the quick rawr fight with his dad, this one seemed nice. Of course, Yggdrasil always said that humans never looked the way they seemed... Unfortunately, that brought the teen's head towards the subject of Sheena...) "Aww... There's my handsome little man! All nice and dressed up to be suffice for ANY travels! It's also made of strong material, so don't expect it to break a whole lot, alright little sugar dumpling?"

"Ahh..." he blushed slightly. "Thanks... Grandma..." he muttered.

She squealed in delight as she once again grabbed his cheeks and rubbed it back and forth. ".!!!" she screamed again at the pain of Lloyd's ears for the second time that day. "BUT!" she added, stressing the word 'but' as if it was something vastly important. "BUT...! I have something else for you to wear!" With that, she pulled out a thin, yet warm, white scarf and then wrapped it around Lloyd's neck. His eyesight could detect little white embroidered flowers (daisies) amid the cloth. Before he could ask, though, with raised eyebrows, she addressed him.

"It used to be Anna's when she was around. I made it for those days when she was really cold. When she just got up and left by being... taken by your... by Kratos, I did not have the time to give it to her. So, here you go, young lad!" Now, she was smiling. It seemed she was saddened by something when she brought up Anna's name... his mother's name. Maybe it was because somewhere inside her body, or her soul, she knew that his mother has died. (What a happy thought... Lloyd though bitterly.) "There!" she exclaimed as she made Lloyd turn around in different poses so that she could see her grandson is new clothing. "Don't you look just so neat, proper, and finished! Now, come on downstairs where everyone else is waiting for our dinner!"

---

The dinner was being held in the main banquet hall. Kratos was standing still, looking at portraits hanging upon the wall, examining each and every one with a pang of guilt and grief. Each picture was striking closer to home then the last one. There were many pictures around this large, ex-merchant family home, but the ones he was currently looking at was not the ancestors of his wife's family, but rather, the pictures of the life before Desians or Cruxis had entered her life. It began with Anna being a small baby, looking red, rosy and happy. She had that same look that Lloyd did when he was little: that look of content, filled with admiration, and never being alone in the world. Sometimes Kratos wished she had never died... Following in order, there were her toddler pictures of her playing around with dolls. One picture showed her throwing dolls off a 'cliff', which was actually a small table in the living room. Once, in what seems eternity, she had explained that when she was little, she imagined her dolls were able to fly off the table like the 'Holy Seraphim'. He never told her the truth, never told her the actuality, of what was Kratos Aurion. Perhaps she had guessed it in the end, but...

"Kratos?" came a voice from the void. "What are you looking at?"

Suddenly aware that he was still in a home with others, he turned his head silently as he saw Raine standing there. She was wearing one of Ms. Irving's old clothing, the large ball gown that was hardly ever used, and she has staring right at him before looking at the pictures. "So... this must be Anna..." she muttered. "It seems she was very nice… and very human..."

He squeezed his hand into a fist tight, trying to take hold of the emotions. "Yes, that was her at a younger age," he added, saying nothing more. He even heard her mutter something, but it was 'Hmmm' more than anything else. It wasn't until he walked down the stairs towards the lower section of the hall when he heard her other small mutter: "So Kratos married a human... that is interesting..." The Seraphim wondered what she was thinking, but did not allow himself to dwell upon it.

Lloyd ran in about then, throwing his hands around his father in a happy expression. "DAD-DY! Lookie, lookie! I'm wearing something new today! Grandma gave it to me!" He was being immature again.

Then again...

His Grandma...

She arrived in almost right after his son, coming in with her quick and small steps. "Lloyd has so much energy!" she exclaimed, talking to everyone but no one at the same time. "Now, dinner is served, so everyone to the TABLE!!!" As a last moment, she turned her head towards the man, addressing him in her cold voice that seemed to be reserved only for him. "Oh, and please tell me where Anna is, too, during the dinner discussion, Kratos."

It wasn't going to go pretty.

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This chapter seemed to go too fast, now that I look back.
Oh well! -laughs-

Retouched - [5.7.2009]