Chapter 9

She sat across from him, alive, well, and in somewhat snippy humor. A bowl of soup, chicken soup, sat in front of her, it's scent filled the room, somewhat banished the cold world around her. The world she sat in now was made of ice and silver, moonbeams and star shards. It was beautiful, the carvings and view outside were magnificent. But she ached for her home, the world of browns, greens, were the stars didn't seem to intrude on ones dwelling place. She was restless and therefore she was snippy. A snippiness that did not bother her husband, for he shared her views. So she ate the soup, it tasted good, very good.

But then Kratos had a long time to learn how to cook, over four-thousand years.

She still could barely believe it. How he had sat her down and explained everything. There were two worlds, two worlds side by side, trying to devour each other. How her lover's oldest friends had made this insanity come to pass. And Martel, her Goddess, was little more then a half-elf woman. She had wept for Martel, had cried for her endless torment. She would have not wept in Kratos' presence could she have, for she wanted still to appear strong for him. He did not allow her outside, and her one attempt to slip out had almost been her last. The air had been cold, it numbed her lungs, she had staggered back into there home. He firmly carried her to their bed, and had waited until she was better to give her Hell over it.

As she swallowed another mouthful of soup Anna looked around the room. She sat at a wooden table, a chair of the same wood under her. It was soft, covered in what she presumed was silk. Because her parents never had enough money to by silk for themselves she wasn't too sure about the material. There were wooden planks under her feet, it served as the flooring in all the rooms save the bedroom. It seemed as if the house was divided into two parts. An opulent silver walled, crystal sheathed, maze, there were statues of pure marble, old tapestries of the Kharlan war. Those tapestries were the only spots of color, and in the star light that filled the palace half of the house bleached everything of color. She hated that part of his home, and he much to her surprise shared that hate.

"It isn't natural Anna, I despise it, but it is a reflection of what Mithos wants to see. So I give it to him. He does come here from time to time, and I always humor him by taking him through these rooms... He would be less pleased by the other half of my home I assure you."

Yes, Mithos would have been disgusted with the other half, for it reflected life. There were a few Kharlan tapestries there, a few paintings, and a very few number of scrolls that were spread out on the wall. Images of forest, of mountain, and of ocean were abundant. There were even plants in Kratos' home, bits of green and red, for he favored roses, and had a small bush of them deep in his home. Anna had asked him why he didn't keep a garden, why he only had this one bush, and kept that bush inside. Kratos had sighed, and told her that if Mithos ever saw it he'd burn it to the ground. Mithos it seemed, totally controlled Kratos, not even allowing him to have his own life away from his duties. She hated Mithos for that.
One day her wanderings had brought her to a small room. She thought it little more then a closet at first glance. The door had been left open and she had walked in, expecting to see Kratos in there. For it was not his way to just leave a room open unless he was in it. Symbols from an ancient religion were laid out in what looked like a miniature chapel, the alter was cleaned, well tended, and a candle had been left burning. This small chapel lay in the deepest room of the house, a dark secret place that no one but Kratos knew of. When Anna had confronted him about it he had been surprised. She had come to him as any of her sisters would have. Determined to make him convert to the real religion. He had snorted, and grimly reminded her of what she had prayed to. Of who she was aiding every time she asked for help. That had stopped her, killed the passion in her, and made a familiar nausea rise in her throat.

"Despite what Martel really is it seems as if her ethics are wise, are good, and the church does truly help other people."

"A dictator could make that same claim. I imagine all of them do."

That conversation left her disturbed, had shook her to her core. She needed to be alone, and sensing her mood Kratos gave her what privacy he could. Still it was hard, and it was lonly. Yet he could not help her, he had found his own answer in the ancient ways. She would not follow that path, for she did not agree with all of it's ways. Death, it came down to death. When one died it was said in the church of Martel that one went to the heavens, and joined one's family. In Kratos' faith there was a caste system. The evil went to Hell and the good fell into eternal slumber. Yet "evil" was dictated by social rank. He had shrugged off her accusations of being a hypocrite when she reminded him of his hate of the Tethe'allan caste system. He had told her, with no shame in his voice, that on some levels he was a hypocrite. But then weren't all humans?

She went to his little chapel often after that. She would study the pre-Martel religious talismans that hung on the walls. Once he found here there, and had told her of the ancient belief that the summon spirits were the voices of the one supreme God. That over time the spirits had lost contact with that God, had become human in manner and appearance, and now willingly consorted with humans. They controlled the weather, the seasons, each ran it's own little world, and all of those worlds inter-
wove in the reality that Anna had once believed was ran by science. He worshiped those spirits, or rather the higher power they had once consorted with. He called out to it for guidance, for aid, when the situation got desperate enough.

"You ask help from a deity who may or may not exist. Who's morals are so obscure that you can't comprehend them. You ask this being for help when you're in trouble?"

"That is faith Anna. We don't know, we will never know until our lives are over what is what. Anyone who assumes to know is a damned fool."

She had laughed at his un-intentional irony, and after a moments thought he realized what he had just said. He smiled, one of his rare genuine smiles, then had sat besides her. Anna then had made a promise to herself, she would make Kratos smile a little more often. Perhaps with enough effort she could cajole a laugh out of him.

"I hope the food is good." Kratos leaned against a wall nearby, his eyes filled with worry. He always looked at her in worry these days. But whether it was from the fact she was far in her pregnancy, or some other reason, Anna couldn't tell.

"Very, I was just thinking..." She made a slight gesture as if to capture her thoughts. Then she smiled at him, as always he looked confused. He would tilt his head to the side, and his untamed bangs would fall into his eyes. His eyes normally so well guarded would cloud, and his lips would twitch ever so slightly, in what was a distant smile. Things that confused Kratos kept him interested, brought out his humor, so long as the confusion was not deadly to someone he cared about. She had learned to be a little mysterious around him. It was one of the games she played with him. "Woman things I guess."

"Ahh," She could see the confusion leave his face, he then pulled his red-brown hair out of his eyes. "that is something I never will understand."

"Not without a lot of pain I imagine."

He winced, and she laughed. The quiet of the world outside seemed insignificant when he was with her. They didn't even have to talk, nor touch, only see each other to find a bit of peace. They had lived in a strained peace ever since Anna had woken up in this city of stars. She had woken to him laying by her side. He had been asleep, never in her time with him had he slept. The closest she'd ever seen him was while he was meditating, and that sight was positively disturbing. He would sit, cross legged, and match his breath with his slow heart beat. His eyes would be open, but utterly empty, until they spied movement that is. Then he would find his feet, draw his blade, and attack. All without coming out of trance. Having seen that behavior from him in meditation she had lain by him for well over an hour after she was up. Nature had called, she had no choice but to get up. Kratos had grumbled, then had done something that had made her laugh. He had reached up, and put a pillow over his head. The gesture, so normal, from a man who was not...

"The damned sun's not up... It's not my time for Watch yet."

She had slipped away from his grasp. All the while he had muttered in his sleep about it being Yuan's turn. When she had come back from the chamber pot, he was fast asleep. The pillow was still resting on his head. Noishe, having heard it's master's voice slipped into the room. Both of them had stared at Kratos, then looked at each other. They both had to leave the room after that, or thier laughter would have woken up the Seraphim. Well Anna had laughed, Noishe made a strange whimpering sound that was vaguely like human laughter. When Kratos had come out of the room, his case of bed head had set Anna into another fit of laughter. Noishe had been beyond that, he had rolled on the floor, paws kicking at the sky.

She laughed at the memory, and Kratos rose an eyebrow at her. Annoyance was mixing with his humor whenever he did that.

"I'm sorry, it's just that... your hair still seems to be suffering from your nap."

"What has it been three weeks?" Kratos walked to the table and sat across from her. "Time just seems so meaningless here." There was a seriousness to his banter, and when he met her eyes she understood. Time was running out, in a world that had no way to gauge time accurately time was running down to nothing. She remembered him telling her of a fit she had, of her passing out, that would explain the few holes in her memory. He had told her that the strange piece of metal in her chest was the only thing keeping her awake and alive. His story about why she needed the crystal and metal crest had been blood chilling. Without it she would die, and her very soul would be absorbed by the rock.

"That would leave a little less then a month. You did research and made the crest in what.. a week?"

"A little longer then that I think, I wasn't exactly coherent for all of it..."

Noishe whined, and looked as uncomfortable as Kratos.

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing... it's not important. Anna, as much as I wish it were, this place is not safe. Mitho- Yggdrasil has been putting pressure on me to go back to Slyverant. He also wants me to go to Tethe'alla. To see if that chosen is the failure that Yuan claims he is. I don't dare leave you here alone. Mithos checks this place when I'm gone. There was an incident, I once had a elderly friend here with me. A guardsman from Palmacosta, he was dying and had requested that he die here away from the world that he had grown to dislike. He had been a member of an old Regeneration journey, one that failed. The horrors that racked Slyverant due to that failure... He fought them a long time, protected those he loved, and when at last he failed everyone and everything he once had he begged me to take him from the world. He knew what I was Anna, he was only one of the handful of the world who knew. Mithos was furious that I let another human on Derris Kharlan, even more so when he found out what that old man knew. The old man was so damn brave that Mithos allowed him to pick his death. He could have allowed me to kill him, he could have died at the hand of an old friend... But that stubborn old bastard... He refused to let me kill him, asked instead if he could challenge Mithos to a duel to the death..."

"He lost I take it..." Anna whispered, and to Kratos' shudder she took him in her arms. "At least he died how he wanted to. So many other people couldn't say that. And something tells me that no matter how much pain he suffered at Yggdrasil's hands he was spared a greater pain. He was spared the pain of watching his old friend suffer."

"I wont let him kill you Anna, I wont let him take one more life that is dear to me! But to do this... to do this means that we will have to leave Derris Kharlan. And when we leave all of Cruxis will be behind us."

For a long moment Anna held him. Then she let him go and pulled away. Her eyes were filled with something that Kratos could not read.

"Tell them."

"What!" Kratos stared at Anna as if she was mad. "He will... No Anna I-"

"Kratos Aurion think! If I were kept as your slave he'd understand why I was here. If you were to drop me off at a ranch, or pretend to do so..."
"No Anna, that's too risky, and Mithos would force you to kill our child. There are poisons that do that sort of thing. And he knows about them Anna, he would not hesitate to make you take them."

"Then spirit me out of here, to a place nearby, pretend to serve Mithos, then ask for leave. An extended leave, and then come back to me."

"I wont abandon you Anna, I swore... Wait a moment. The underground passages." A grin touched Kratos' face, a wolfish grin. "No one, not even Mithos knows that they still exist. As a matter of fact there aren't any monsters in them at all." He laughed, and sounded relieved. "My God it's so easy... We will keep you in the tunnels below the city. At least until your pregnancy is done. Then after our child is born we will escape to Tethe'alla. I will pretend to follow Mithos' orders, and he will think nothing of it that I walk around as a human to investigate. As a matter of fact we could wander around for years and Cruxis wouldn't give a damn because they'd think I was only gathering research for the upcoming Regeneration." Anna kissed her husband and Kratos drew her to him. "Anna the birth will not be easy on you, and the tunnels are a damp lightless place, it will not be comfortable, and I can not guarantee that I can be there when the time comes..."

"I know, and I accepted that the moment I knew I was with child. And it's a risk I accept. Your son's a fighter Kratos, he'll be fine."

"Son?" Kratos looked a bit surprised. "And how would you know?"

"A mother's instincts Kratos." She held onto him tightly, then sighed. "Never doubt them."

"I'd never dream of it."