Title: Close Behind
Fandom: Tales of Symphonia
Pairing/Characters: Kratos, Yuan
Warning(s): Spoilers.
Genre: Gen
Part 2 in a series.
Yuan wasn't entirely sure how many hours Kratos was down there for, but he was certain that it added up to weeks – days were harder to track up in space, where there was no day or night, only the constant dim glow of mana-lit ceiling fixtures. He made a habit of visiting Kratos whenever he could. It wasn't that he liked him all that much, old animosities of the Kharlan War taking more than four thousand years to heal themselves, but their bond was one of necessity as they held onto what little bit of human or elf was left within them.
On his forty-third visit Kratos finally spoke up. Yuan had slid into the blackness and sat by the cell door (he had brought a hand-light a few times to work on some papers, but Kratos preferred the total dark) and Kratos sighed, shifted slightly, and spoke with a low and dead tone.
"I killed her," he said, flatly.
"Killed whom?" Yuan turned out of reflex, not able to see Kratos even with angelic vision.
"Anna." There was a long pause. "She was – everything, Yuan. She was everything. She was loud and lively and beautiful in every way, and she never cried…not ever. Not even in the ranch, when they whipped her or beat her or whatever they had to do to feed that crystal. And she – my son –"
"Your son?" It was beginning to get complicated. Kratos' rebellion was more radical than Yuan had initially thought.
"She told me she wanted to carry my child. I – I thought I was dead everywhere, Yuan, but she taught me to make life out of death. I felt – free, almost. And I killed her."
Yuan had an inkling of what had happened; Kvar had sent up a report of an Angelus Project subject (A-One-Zero-Two, if he remembered correctly) transforming and thus having to be put down. What he hadn't specified was any of these important details, like it had been Kratos' wife or that he had killed her. Yuan wondered if Mithos knew the whole story.
"She had some foresight. Her mother gave it to her." Kratos' voice slipped even quieter. "…I wonder if she knew this would happen."
"If she did, to stay with you showed how strong…your bond was. Ask yourself what she would want you to do now that she is dead."
Kratos said no more.