Ch 2
"That sucks. They won't open the doors to let us get the Exspheres until they figure the town's safe." Zelos grumbled, "All that crap we went through to get here and now we can't even finish the job." Lloyd sat down on a bench and sighed tiredly as Kratos looked down at him thoughtfully.
"I guess I'll have to tell Sheena and have her come down with a message from the king about it." he muttered and chewed on his lip, "But I don't wanna bother Origin about that. He's the King of Summon Spirits, not a messenger boy."
"We could always break in and steal them." Kratos remarked suddenly, tapping his cheek thoughtfully with one finger, eyebrow raised as his head cocked to one side. "No one would cross an angel, especially one of Cruxis's Four Seraphim."
"We're not breaking and entering, Dad." Lloyd grumbled and ran his fingers through his hair, "What are we gonna do now?"
"We can leave." Zelos suddenly said. Kratos and Lloyd looked over at him. The redhead looked very serious. "Right now. Let's just get back on the ship and leave. As fast as we can."
"Why? We have to get those Exspheres." Lloyd pointed out. Zelos kicked at the ground and tried to look unconcerned again.
"There's no decent chicks around here. They all look so amazonian, ugh! Let's just boost and head to Meltokio again. Better yet, the hot springs up north are open again. I could use some relaxation." he rattled off. Kratos shook his head and looked around the town.
"Perhaps if we were to find out why this town needs the protection and power of the Exspheres, we can neutralize it and have them released to us." he decided. Lloyd rolled his eyes up thoughtfully and smiled brightly.
"Okay! Then we'll go to Meltokio and visit Seles at Zelos's house!" he answered cheerfully and leaped up to his feet, "Let's split up and see what we can find out. If we're lucky, we'll have this done today and you guys can make a celebration cake!"
"Only if Kratos is baking it." Zelos shot in. Kratos glared at him, then shrugged it off. "Let's meet back at the ship for lunch. That should give us time to scout the town and have the old man think up a suitable lunch."
"Get back here!" the seraphim finally fumed and chased Zelos down the road. Lloyd waved at them and laughed as he walked the other direction. It was interesting, having those two along, his father and new brother. If only Kratos and Zelos got along better...
Laughing as he ducked into an alley, Zelos briefly thought through his situation. Not the one involving the seraphim now peering into a water barrel in search of him, but one that centered around a strange dream he had recently been having. He hadn't told the others, there was no real need to, but the faces and places that swirled in his mind at night was disturbing, and now here he was in a town that greatly resembled one of the places he had seen in the dream.
It began the same way every night since recovering from his cold at sea, Zelos would be standing alone in a completely blackened room or world or something. Then something would glow nearby, a pair of menacing eyes that leered at him with a strange look of desire. Of course Zelos would panic and run from them, but no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't get away from those eyes. The darkness rose and revealed a run down town, exactly like Nealar, and still those eyes stayed on him.
Zelos shut his eyes and moaned slightly, leaning back against the wall of the building as the vision played through his mind as vividly as the dream. He kept running in the dream, gasping for air, until his arm was grabbed. He screamed then and felt himself spin around to face his captor. Face to face with a mirror image of himself, Zelos could only stare in shock as his twin smiled viciously at him, clutching his arms so tightly it hurt.
"Soon enough, you'll be me, as you were always meant to be. That is your fate, Chosen of Mana. Mithos thought your mana signature would eventually equal that of his sister, but he never thought that I was the one controlling your development. Your family lineage pieced together to provide a body for me!" an icy voice fell from the copy's mouth as he brought Zelos closer to him, "It will only be a matter of time before I am complete."
"Let go of me!" Zelos shrieked, struggling to get free, crying sharply as a fierce slap across his cheek snapped him back to reality. Gaping up at Kratos's concerned face, the former Chosen tried to grasp what had happened.
"Zelos, get a hold of yourself!" the seraphim ordered harshly, gripping the younger man by the arms, "I've been trying to snap you out of this... episode... for the past five minutes!" Zelos tried to respond, but his mouth moved dumbly. "Speak, Zelos! What happened?!" Kratos ordered, shaking him harder. He winced in pain and Kratos loosened his grip.
"N-nothing! You just scared the holy hell out of me, th-that's all!" Zelos managed to answer shakily. The seraphim narrowed his eyes at him.
"You were already out of your mind before I touched you." he pointed out flatly, "The only reason I found you is because you ran out of this alley in screams. You nearly got run down by a horse and wagon, you dunce!" Zelos hung his head down, trying to straighten his thoughts as he listened to his heart race. "What happened?"
"It's nothing, okay?! I saw a rat. I hate rats. That's it!" he finally snapped, jerking his head up and glaring balefully at the older man, "Now let go of me!" Kratos promptly dropped his hands from him and frowned, folding his arms over his chest as he watched Zelos rub his cheek carefully. "You didn't have to hit me, either! Who do you think you are?! My father?!" he added spitefully.
"Yes."
Zelos blinked in surprise, unsure of what he had just heard.
"Come again?" he muttered. Kratos looked impatient.
"You were the one who put me in the role of father to you. I'm only acting as one. Now will you stop beating around the bush and tell me what really happened?" he clarified pointedly. Zelos looked momentarily disappointed, then angry.
"No way! Screw you then! Just 'acting' like my father, huh? That the same as 'acting' like a father to Lloyd?!" he hissed, "Considering all the crap you put him through, you've been everything but a father! Hell, you were a worse traitor than I was!" Kratos said nothing, just glared furiously at the redhead. "Leave me alone, okay?! I was better off alone anyways!" Zelos finished yelling and shoved past him, racing away with his head bent low to hide his tears.
"Idiot brat." Kratos finally murmured, shutting his eyes tightly as he spun and slammed a fist into the wall of the alley, "Idiot IDIOT! Zelos, get back here!" He gave chase again, this time to talk sense into the Chosen.
Why did it seem that the harder he tried to get close to them, the bigger a mess he made? It was as if creation as a whole conspired to make Kratos fail at fatherhood. Lloyd tried to get close and he pushed him away, trying to ensure his survival. Now that he was reaching out to him, Lloyd seemed to favor Zelos's companionship. Kratos sighed as he darted into an alley after seeing a flash of pink disappear down it. Could nothing go right for him?
Zelos. Kratos cringed thinking about him. The one member of the group who feared making contact with anyone, who tentatively reached for stability and security in Lloyd, found friendship and brotherly love, then tried to reach towards him, too.
"Idiot seraphim." Kratos berated himself for shattering the delicate connection he had felt Zelos building towards him. "You can't keep your mouth shut half the time you're alive! Might as well beat him away with a club for all the elegance you had in this whole thing!"
He had known better, too; He'd seen Zelos sit off to one side sometimes and just watch him, humming that damned song he used to sing. He'd notice small gestures made for him, his servings of lunch and dinner accompanied by a slice of lemon or other garnish that he liked. The mad dash on the ship was Kratos's first attempt to play with him, to get to understand him as a member of his rather strange little family. Granted it didn't end well, but damn it, he had enjoyed himself. And Zelos opened himself more to him, revealing a joyful spirit that seemed so much like Lloyd's that Kratos had to wonder if he had perhaps toyed around with the Chosen's mother during some fit of drunkenness and caused this offshoot.
And now he's gone and opened his mouth, said something that was taken wrong and Zelos retreated, the bright spirit quickly shutting itself away in a dark cage.
"Zelos! Stop running! We're not getting anywhere just running blindly!" Kratos yelled and stopped abruptly when several men and women appeared to block his path. He took up a defensive stance, tucking in his chin and glaring at them. "Stand aside. I am searching for someone." he ordered. One of the witches, hair tied tightly in braids with red ribbons, smiled at her companions.
"Looks like two of those guys have money to 'donate'!" she joked. The others snickered darkly. "They both look like 'Chosen' to me. Let's take 'em both to Nadilene and let her pick out which one she wants."
"What do you know of the Chosen?! What have you done with him?!" Kratos demanded and a second witch laughed, stamping her staff into the earth.
"Seems we hit a sore spot there, Lemura! Calm down, hot stuff, we ain't touched him yet." she purred, "He made a break for the north side of town. Not too shabby, considering he'll run into our sword-usin' boys doin' that." The group closed in around Kratos. "But you outta provide a good amount of fun for us! Get 'im!" the witch declared.
The Silver Sword seemed to leap into Kratos's hand as he darted around the sudden charge of thieves, lashing out with the blade to either scare off or injure them. If he could just get them to the point where they couldn't attack...
"Okay!" Lemura, the first witch suddenly declared and Kratos grunted softly in pain as several fireballs hit him in the side. Glaring back at the group, he decided to chuck the idea of disarmament out the window. Leaping atop a stack of crates, he crouched and held his sword forward defensively, momentarily wishing he had brought his shield.
"Sacred powers..." he murmured, focusing the mana around and within him. The thieves surged after the crates, trying desperately to pull him down as one witch loaded a small dart into a wooden pipe and put it to her mouth, aiming carefully. "...cast your purifying light upon these corrupt souls..." Kratos went on, "Rest in peace, sinners! Ju-!" The dart fired, hitting dead on into shoulder just above the protection of his sword blade. He bent lower as his head started to swim, his focus waning and the spell fading. "Dammit. Can't anyone let me finish that spell?!" he whispered harshly before collapsing into the group's waiting arms. The dart blower cheered as she jumped up and down in victory.
"I did it! I did it!" she sang as the thieves alternated between tying Kratos's hands tightly behind him and searching his clothes for money and other weapons.
"That idiot Nadilene didn't warn us this guy was a magic user, too!" one thief grumbled, "Probably trained the other guy in the stupid pink getup. Hand me that handkerchief, Gert, we gotta keep his mouth gagged or he'll just set us all aflame when he wakes up!"
"Hey! Save me some of his cash!" the dart blower suddenly wailed and raced in to claw at the bag of gald Lemura pulled from Kratos's belt, "I fired the shot that took him down! Gimme some of the loot!" The thieves lifted the seraphim from the ground, struggling to hold him steady.
"Right, now ta get the other one." the gravel-voiced rogue grumbled as they began walking northward.
Zelos sighed unhappily as he walked along the alleys, mind wandering. He had no idea what he was really supposed to be doing, he figured Kratos would show up any minute, slap him upside the head for being a dumbass again, then carry him back to the ship like a sack of potatoes just for good measure. He kicked at the dirt angrily, a fresh wave of tears welling up in his eyes.
"Acting! Everyone and everything in my life is nothing but an act, a fake, a lie! So why the hell should I expect anything different from that ass?!" he griped, "Traitors deserve nothing good in life, especially if that traitor is me! Pfft, so what if Lloyd forgave me for the crap I pulled on him?" Zelos stopped and yelled at the sky. "I NEVER FORGAVE MYSELF!" he screamed and let his hands drop to his sides with a sigh. "Makes no difference if they forgave me or not, if I never forgive myself for being a traitor."
He thought of the others, the members of the ragtag group of heroes that had united the world and restored the Great Tree. Regal forgave him, but just to be sure Zelos felt he earned redemption, he donated a large portion of his wealth to the Lezareno Company's renovation projects. Whether the company president knew of it or not didn't matter; Zelos felt better for helping in some way and left it at that.
Presea and her sorrow for losing her sister, her homeland and her time; the former Chosen immediately sent a commemorative statue of Alicia's likeness to the grave on Sky Terrace, carved to sit lovingly on a pedestal and curve her arm on her lap so it seemed as if she held whatever gifts and flowers were placed there. Presea's eyes had seemed to light up when he unveiled it to her and he spent most of the time there listening to her stories of her older days, watching as she seemed to recover more of her life and emotion.
Raine, the gorgeous school teacher; Zelos wished he had been able to see her expression at the packages of schools books and research materials he had sent her way. A number of the medical texts were from his own library, carefully copied by professional scribers and bound in soft leather and gold engraved titles. The professor actually valued them most, catching the note made on each book's first page that marked it as a copy of Zelos's originals.
Genis, the brat; the younger of the Sage siblings had jumped in shock when the Chosen just dropped in out of the blue at New Palmacosta and handed him a certificate letter. The Sybak Academy, in attempts to learn to cope with half-elves as equals, had cautiously accepted Zelos's idea of inviting one of the 'Heroes of Union' to be a new student. Genis still had no idea how his entire tuition and learning materials had been paid in advance, but eagerly answered that he would attend after graduating the New Palmacosta Academy. Zelos ruffled his hair and left, mentally gauging the costs that had taken another large portion of his coffers, then shrugging it off.
Colette was easy to earn forgiveness from, she reaccepted him almost as quickly as Lloyd had. She refused any gifts he brought, but told him that she would be happy if he would just look after Lloyd for her. Zelos, of course, agreed to it.
Seles, though not one of the heroes, still remained in the abbey. Pulling strings and showing more power than he had ever bothered to wield before, Zelos overturned her punishment and promptly gave her the remainder of his wealth to do with as she pleased. Seles nearly fainted, her determination to prove herself his equal the only thing that kept her standing when, before a small group of official witnesses and the King and Princess of Tethe'alla, Zelos signed over the house and his rank to her. Seles finally had what she deserved, her place among society. Freed of the life that would have driven him insane with loneliness, Zelos promptly packed a few possessions, told Sebastian he would remain under Seles's employ, and left Meltokio to join Lloyd at Iselia for the building of the ship. Before he left, Seles made him take her sword, the Last Fencer, and hugged him, crying. Her final words, "Come back and visit me, Big Brother!" still caught him by surprise each time he remembered it.
That left Sheena, the next Chief of Mizuho.
Zelos stopped walking and pulled his gloves from his arms, throwing them to the ground in a fury. Sheena was the one he desperately wanted forgiveness from, not just because she was originally assigned to guard his stupid tail abroad, but because, during the journey to save the worlds, Zelos had done the one thing he hadn't thought he'd actually do in his lifetime; fall in love. And in betraying the group at the Tower of Salvation, she became ice towards him. Banned from coming anywhere near Mizuho, he couldn't find a way to get word to her of his feelings or to ask how he could redeem himself to her. She refused to listen to him, wouldn't even look at him. To Sheena, Zelos was dead, killed as the worthless traitor he had been.
"Which just goes to show that, not only should I have never been born, but I shouldn't have continued living afterwards." he muttered and ripped the headband from around his hair, "Because humanity and life hates me!" Hurling the white band onto the ground, Zelos proceeded to stomp on it, grinding his teeth together as he smashed it into the earth. "Stupid, lousy, treacherous pig! You can't even erase the label of pervert from yourself! Dammit, I never even touched those stupid women! I got them drunk and gave them a massage! They fired off their own ideas of what happened by themselves!" He glared at the soiled piece of fabric. It was just like him; once it was pure and clean, but after being ground down by life and situation, it was filthy, dirty, and no amount of cleaning could ever restore the perfect purity it once had.
A sound clanged and Zelos lifted his gaze in confusion at the group of men and women emerging from the corners and shadows of the buildings. They held their rusty daggers and swords ready, leering at him. Carefully shifting his stance, Zelos began the rhythmic dancing on his heels, pulling Excalibur from the sheath on his belt, leaving Last Fencer in rest in the one on his back.
"Okay, so which one of you smelly dogs wants to dance with me first?" he taunted with a grin, lifting his left arm up to act as a shield, the sword moving fluidly with him as he gathered speed to his shifting.
"Heh, noblemen think all their fanciness can save their asses in a fight." one man snickered as he began to step forward. Another held out his arm to hold him back.
"Hang on there, Gert, you idiot! Remember the last one had magic? What if this guy does too? Can't take chances, y'know." he hissed. Zelos almost lost the rhythm in surprise.
"'Last one'? Hey, you bunch of trash divers! What the hell are you talking about?!" he demanded. The group shifted around and a pair of the larger men stepped up, grinning cruelly as they held Kratos suspended a few inches from the ground. "Fa-ah! Kratos?!" Zelos exclaimed, dancing motion stopped completely in his shock, "What the hell have you done to him?!" The seraphim's head was pulled up to show the peaceful expression of sleep as Gert leveled his dagger to his neck.
"Yeah, yeah, chump. Listen up and listen good." he sneered, "We's trying to get the Chosen of Tethe'alla, only we never got a good description of which one of ya's that guy. So, you let us know which of ya is the Chosen, or Daddy Dearest gets a new smile." Zelos spun his sword and sheathed it, snorting almost insultingly.
"Pfft, everyone in united world should know that I'm the Great and Manly Zelos Wilder, Chosen of Mana to the land of Tethe'alla!" he declared loftily, then glared hatefully at the group, "So let him go. I'm the one you're after." The leader of the group nodded and flicked his hand forward, sending a few of his members out with rope to add another prize to the current collection.
"Nadilene won't be happy to find two guys waiting for her at the meeting spot." Lemura remarked as Zelos cursed and kicked angrily at the bindings that pulled his arms back. The gravel-toned leader shrugged.
"It's of little consequence ta me. We know which one she wants; we'll sell the other one ta the underground. He might find good keeping at some woman's brothel if he isn't shipped ta work in the mines." he grumbled as the redhead was dragged up to him. "Load 'em both in the cart, boys! We be treated to fine dining from Nadilene t'night!" the rogue boomed with a hearty laugh.
"You thick-headed, back-stabbing son of a...!" Zelos roared in a fury at realizing Kratos wasn't being set loose. A gag came over his head and pulled into his mouth, cutting off his words as he shook his head fiercely. The seraphim was tossed into the back of a nearby wagon loaded with other stolen goods.
"Won't be needing these anymore! Where yer going, weapons aren't of much use!" Gert added with a laugh, stripping Excalibur and Last Fencer from their respective sheaths on Zelos's body. Despite kicking harder and biting into the cloth shoved behind his teeth, he joined Kratos in the stolen goods cart. The thieves laughed and congratulated each other as they left the area, the ones in charge of the cart riding ahead on horses. Zelos squirmed and sat up, leaning against a barrel of ale as he watched the town receding with sinking spirits. Kratos was too deeply asleep to help. What could he do to have Lloyd find and rescue them?
Wonderful, glorious,
Marvelous me;
Shine on a pedestal
For all to see!
What a big joke,
What a big lie.
All my fault we're
Both gonna die.