Another chapter, and again not much has time has passed. However long it takes to tell Hope a bedtime story and for her, Lloyd and Colette to finish off a plate of cookies. Not very long then :)
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I have many ideas for stories, but Namco own it.
Kratos clomped his way down the stairs and settled back into his chair.
"Hope asleep?" Sheena asked. Kratos nodded.
"And the other two I think, they looked exhausted. Playing in the snow's so tiring" he laughed gently.
"Where's Hope?" Kero asked sleepily.
"Upstairs asleep, like you should be," his father replied softly but firmly as he got up and carried the small boy upstairs, his wife following.A loud snore shattered the peace of the living room. Kratos looked over to where Genis and Presea were fast asleep. Raine got up and tapped her brother on the shoulder.
"Bed, if you're tired," she said as Genis blinked sleepily, his tousled hair drooping over his face cutely as it had done when he was little.
"'kay," he said, too tired to argue. He picked up Presea, cradling her in his arms, and wandered upstairs three-quarters asleep.
Raine sat down in a chair beside Kratos.
"Anna?" she asked, nodding at the picture he was finishing colouring.
"Yes," he said softly.
"You miss her," Raine said it as more of a statement than a question.
"I do, but," he sighed. "She'll always live on in my heart, and in Lloyd and now Hope as well I guess," he smiled at the thought of his sweet granddaughter, she definitely had a hint of Anna in her, passed on from her father.
"But she's gone?" Raine said softly, speaking the words he couldn't. He nodded sadly.
"There's nothing we can do to bring her back. That's why I wanted Lloyd to be OK, to be safe and grow up well, for her," he said.
"I think he'd make her proud," Raine said.
"More than proud," Kratos smiled. "She'd tell him off for being so mad, going through all that danger, then tell him he'd done ever so well for achieving what he has. And then," he paused to laugh at a thought. "Then she'd probably find some tiny speck of dirt on his cheek and insist on getting rid of it."
Raine giggled.
"And he'd protest wildly, right?" she asked. Kratos nodded.
"Not that he minds when Colette gets stray food off his face, but then that's an entirely different matter isn't it," Raine smiled.
"She'd have liked Colette," Kratos said. "She would have approved of her I'm sure. And she would have adored Hope, poor kid'd be spoilt rotten, although I imagine she is now anyways."
"No, she's not spoiled badly. But she is well loved and never wants for anything," Raine said. She sighed sadly.
"Something the matter?" the brown haired angel asked."Just thinking it must be nice to have a family. I mean my mother, my mother, well, she did her best but she couldn't look after us, and now, well, she's not really herself.
"This lot have been very good and kind to me, and, despite the way he behaves sometimes, Genis is a good brother. But, I, well," she sighed again. "I've never had someone special. You know, to share private moments with, to just be with."
Kratos had been looking at her with an expression that was a mix of concern and something Raine couldn't quite place. Suddenly he lifted her into his chair and put an arm around her in a friendly hug.
Raine was surprised, but found the gesture comforting. She blushed a little and nestled into his shoulder.
She could see why Lloyd and Colette had used to, and still did, fall asleep curled up together in front of the fire a lot. There was something very peaceful and relaxing about it she thought as she gave into the heavy feeling in her eyelids.
