Chapter 3
Sacrifice
It took longer than expected, before Kratos finally began to stir. Feeling the back of his head, he let out a small moan.
"I did not hit you that hard." Yuan commented, putting the book aside and crossing his arms.
Kratos opened his brown-red eyes, staring up at the rather high ceiling. He didn't have to guess where he was brought. With Yuan being here, it was obvious.
Lifelike pictures of what happened flashed through his mind. Asif he was cursed to live it over and over again. Might as well, he thought. It is what I deserve. Closing his eyes again, Kratos drew in a deep breath.
"It's your own fault, you know."
The coldness in Yuan's voice was undeniable. Harsher than normal even. More like he decided to be merciless. Even after what he has seen. Maybe because of what has transpired.
Yes, Kratos knew the consequences of taking Anna with him. She already was a test subject, and a very important one at that. They have all seen what happens to a human when it goes out of hand. They knew that death was the only solution. Still...
"You don't choose the one you love. You should know that," was his retort, trying to keep his voice leveled to not shine through the pain in his heart.
Cold, slightly angered eyes met with Kratos his gaze. Yuan was taken aback by that look, though he didn't show it. He knew that look; he had felt that look. The utter look of defeat and loss. There was no way of hiding it, because he indeed knew it far too well.
It will take a while for him to accept what happened. The difference between their losses, was that Kratos had to do it with his own hand. But Yuan had to life with the fact that the body of his beloved was still floating around while others desperately tried to resurrect her.
Sure, at the start of it, Yuan was just as hopeful as everyone else. His burning desire to hold his beloved again, to see her smile and hear her voice, it made him lose sight of the madness of it all. Through the ages of trial and error, with no real hope for the ideal outcome, Yuan lost hope. He had to give up and let go. He tried to tell Mithos to do the same. The dead cannot be simply be brought back to life.
Of course, the boy wouldn't hear it. Up until this day, he pushed forward. Was it desperation, was it madness? Maybe even a combination of the two. Yuan could no longer bare it. That was the reason for him to go to the surface, for as much and as long as possible. With the excuse he did it to keep an eye on things.
Both of the man in this room, were here against their will. How ironic. Kratos knew he could never run away from Cruxis. But still, he tried.
"Then why?" Yuan asked finally, breaking the long silence.
He moved to sit up straight in his bed, ruffling and crinkling up the sheets under him as he did so. Looking over himself, he found no traces of what happened on his clothing. Someone clearly took the time to change them, and Kratos didn't even notice. When he focused on his hands, he took in a sharp breath.
Despite the best efforts, there was still a clear taint on them. The very familiar taint of blood. The vague red was set in his hands, even under his nails.
"I don't know..." he finally answered in a soft voice. His head hung, brown-red hair falling before his features.
Was Yuan really feeling sorry for this guy? After years, no ages of silence between them, avoiding each other, it had to come to this?
Hell no. Yuan stood up from the chair, still having his arms crossed. "Pull yourself together and present yourself to Mithos in five minutes."
After having said this, the blue hair walked out of the room and practically slammed the door behind him.
The quiet set back in. Kratos was not really surprised at his former friend's outburst. It was kind of what he expected. But he had hoped he could at least get a few questions in. The most important one being; where is my son? If they even laid a hand on him...
Yeah, then what, his own voice scoffed in his head. What can you do? If they killed him, it is your own fault. You failed to protect him. You failed to protect your family. The only thing you could try to do, is join them.
With this dark thought, Kratos stood up from the bed. Letting the thought brood, he made his bed to be very neat again, not a crinkle to be found.
Pulling his clothing straight and running a hand through his hair, Kratos let out a deep breath. Thinking like that will bring you nowhere. As Anna would say, there is always hope, always something worth fighting for. Oh Anna...
When Kratos closed the door to his room behind him, he simultaneously shut out the heartache. It was like flicking a switch, turning off all the emotions raging through him.
"You, where is Lord Yggdrasiel at the moment?" he asked the nearest angel.
"I saw him going towards the grand hall, my lord." The angel answered with a stilted bow.
While he was not in the greatest hurry, Kratos made large steps to go find Mithos. Knowing him, he will give him no direct answers. But Yuan didn't either, so this was really a last resort to know the whereabouts (or fate) of his son.
Mithos was standing at the first platform, looking out over the others that spread out over seemingly nothing. The angels were meandering about, doing their tasks or discussing things with each other. As always, the man in white was hard to read. There was no telling what he was thinking.
He did not turn when Kratos came to stand at his side, but slightly behind him. A playful smile appeared on Mithos his face.
"Isn't it nice to be back here, in this place of perfection?"
"I am no mood to play games with you, Mithos."
The flatness of Kratos his voice, made the leader of Cruxis turn around and look at him, displeased.
"Around others you address me as Lord Yggdrasiel. Or have you forgotten about that? Have you forgotten your place, after being on the surface for so long?"
"Where is my son?" Kratos came right to the point, clearly not sharing the playfulness.
With a sigh and rolling his eyes, Mithos started walking, away from the angels who started to notice a discussion that was none of their business. A work office was the first thing they came across that was not being used at the moment, so it had to do for now.
Closing the door behind them, Mithos shot the brown-red haired man an angry look.
"Do not put blame on me for what happened. That was all your own doing."
Why does everyone keep saying that, Kratos thought to himself annoyed. "I know. Now answer my question."
Mithos folded his hands together, a ruthless look in his eyes. "It's almost like you are threatening me, Kratos. Might I remind you where you are, in what position you're in? That is all thanks to me. Treat me with respect. I could have left you all to be a snack for the monsters."
Taking a deep breath, trying to push away the annoyance and frustration, Kratos tried again.
"Please tell me where my son is."
The playful smile was back on the Cruxis leader's face. "See, now that wasn't that hard, now was it? Don't worry, he is fine. He is alive. For now."
He should have felt relief at that news. That his son was alive. But instead, Kratos just felt dread. "For now...?"
"A child here is just a nuisance. There is no use for him. I rather have him out of the way." It was his honest view on it.
Here, he was here? On Derris-Kharlan? It was true, this was no place for a child. Not a normal, human one like Lloyd.
"And don't think of saying things like 'I will oppose you' in order to save him. Where else can you go now, Kratos? You are alone. Your family is here, it always was."
This nonsense again. They were a 'family' four thousand years ago. But Kratos did not say this out loud. The gears in his head were turning like crazy, trying to find a solution, to save the life of his son. Lloyd had to stay alive, no matter what!
"The Angelus Project," it suddenly came to him.
Mithos tilted his head. "What are you on about?"
"It is very important, right? It is hard to make Cruxis crystals. Anna was picked out for it because she had something special. You must have it. I had it on me when I..." Kratos shook his head.
A curious look came across the Cruxis leader's face. His eyes studied the man before him for a moment. But he closed himself off, as expected. Still, he had no doubt there was more to this.
"Are you really offering your own son to be the new test subject, even after you have seen what it does to a human?"
Kratos nodded. "At least then he will be of use to you." So, you don't have to kill him, he added in thought.
"It will dull the child, so that would make him less bothersome."
"At the very least allow me to find a key crest."
Mithos raised a brow at this. "And why would I do that?"
"Without it, the chance of survival is very small. You will be back to square one. And I also think we should wait until he is at least five to place it on him."
"You are trying to twist this in your way, Kratos. So, you can have the child with you. I am not a fool. I do agree, but I have my conditions, to keep you in line. If not, or if you try to run off again, that child will have no mercy."
Kratos mouth was a thin line, not liking where this was going. But he was not really in any position to protest. Mithos had skillfully worked him into a corner.
"There is much work to be done, still. To prepare for the next chosen. This one shows promise already. Everything has to run smoothly so this time we can get Martel back to us finally. Next to helping with that and finding this key crest, you will train the boy. That will the only time you will spend with him. No happy father-son moments. The eyes around here will make sure of that."
Biting his lip, Kratos knew that statement to be true. Even still, Lloyd had to survive. His son needed to be alive, for Anna's sake.
"Very well. I will do as you say, if you swear to not harm my son. Then, I will never appose you."
A wicked smile came across Mithos his face. He loved it when things came together, when things went his way. After all this work, surely this time it will all work out. This time, he will have his sister back.
