MoonCanon: you really are liking Anna aren't you? Well I'm glad you are. As for Kratos' story, he tends to tell a ton of them in this fic. I swear it's like every other chapter or something, but then I like telling folk tales, so it's my fault I guess...

ArchNavy: lol my chapter size does tend to be a bit short, or rather it seems short doesn't it? Chapter 16 was five pages single spaced font 10... so that'd make it on the lines of ten pages if it was put in it's proper format. For a fanfic that is rather long, it just reads fast for some reason. (snatches 50 glad) Yes now I can finally buy the defender blade... erm I mean thanks:)

"would it have anything the Japanese Imperial Sword, the Kasanagi(sp?) perhaps?"

Wow Kasan is actually related to something in RL? I'm floored. I made the name up for a origanal character in a book I hope to publish someday... Since that book isn't published I figured I could just use it here because no one else would have claim to it. I know almost nothing of Japanese weaponry, I'm more versed in western midevil/archiac weapons then eastern.

As always thanks for reviewing you guys.. and here is the next chapter

Kasan

Guardian Angel

Chapter 17

"Feeling better?" Anna asked, turning to him with a smile on her face. Strain, no fear was in her eyes. It was morning, he had decided to stay with Lloyd that night, to tell another story. When he was done he had felt much better, the ice in him was gone, melted by the endless warmth and affection that only Lloyd could give to him.

"A bit." Kratos stretched, then rubbed at his scalp.

"Lloyd was laughing, so I'm guessing he got you good."

Kratos chuckled. "Good" wasn't the word, if this was a sign of anything Lloyd was going to be very strong. He was already learning how to take his father down. Kratos stretched, then absently ruffled his hair, then pulled a few strands into his eyes. The motions of tending his hair were as natural to him as a cat licking it's soiled fur. Anna stood, walked across the sun warmed floor, and before he could protest, or say anything for that mater, she smoothed his hair back. Her gesture of fixing his hair was almost as absent as his was of mussing it up. He wondered, as she looked at him for several long moments and said nothing, how long she had honestly wanted to play with his hair like that. Silence stretched between them as Anna red his eyes, seemed to look for something he could not place... It was to the Seraphim's relief that she lost her hesitance, as she seemed to recognize that the man standing in front of her was her husband.

"You gave me a scare yesterday." Anna smiled, then kissed him on the lips. "You've made up to Lloyd, now how are you going to make up to me?"

"I'll think of something..."

He kissed her cheek, lips, strayed to her throat. He stopped just above her key creast, the flavor of iron and ore made him grimace. Sensing his distaste, she stiffened. He only looked to her and smiled, kept what he could hidden.

"Now how about breakfast mi'lady?"

He picked her up, and she gasped at his cold hands wrapped around her. He then carried her across the room as easely as he carried their son. Being what he was, did have it's advantages from time to time. She yalped as he set her down on one of the chairs, and seemed a little disapointed that he had carried her to the kitchen.

She was a bit of a hedonist at times.

"You know," She called to him from the chair, not bothering to get up and help him. "Cooking is a woman's job, right?"

"Not if you travel for long spans of time it is not. Cooking is useful, it allows you to worm your way into a companion's good graces, and it if you are good enough it also reaps a bit of a pay bonus if you are say... escorting a wealthy client."

"Mercenary to the bones I see."

"Anna!" He protested, his eyes going wide in mock pain. "How could you say something so evil?"

"Because... it's true?" She laughed, and he chuckled, then he focused on mixing the batter. "It's so strange." She said as he flipped over what was fast becoming a pancake. "You can cook, clean, sew, tell stories, write poetry, you know just about every scrap of history of well... everywhere, you can read and write more languages then I can even think about, you have good taste in clothing, though I'm going to make you cut off those silly flaps on that cloak if they move one more time!" Kratos forced himself to stop laughing, but it was very hard. "Now where was I..."

While Anna went through her long list of what he did perfectly with what appeared to be not difficulty, Kratos fought down his laughter. He could tell her a thousand stories of how he burned his meals, how he ripped his own clothes to shreds while trying to sew them. She'd never believe it though, she thought he was perfect. He sighed, worked the first pancake off, and poured the next bit of batter on the stove.

"Is there something you can't do?"

"I am a poor fishermen." He offered, he decided to leave the food for a moment, and brought Anna the first part of her breakfast. "I could never stand putting a worm on a hook."

"Eww, you mention this while you hand me breakfast? I guess you also need to learn some tact."

"You asked."

"Couldn't you think of something else to say?"

"Hmm, do you know about the college in PalmaCosta?"

"Nope, can't say I have."

"They have an entrance exam, and I was bored enough three millennia ago to sign up and take it. I brought Yuan and Mithos with me, we were all rather bored and since it was a good time before the first planed Regeneration attempt, and we needed something to do..."

"Huh." She was pouring syrup on her pancake, he left her for a moment, then came back. The last pancake balanced on the flat of an over large knife he used for cooking. He tossed it on her plate, and watched as she drowned it in syrup. It was interesting really, he always assumed that drowning an inanimate object was impossible. He left again to turn off the stove, and throw the pot and pans he used at the sink, and when he came back he forced the syrup bottle away from Anna.

"Cheapskate!"

"Anna," If a pancake were able to gasp for breath this one would be doing so. It had actually shrunk down, almost crushed by the rain of syrup. "enough it enough. I despise people who torture others."

"It's just a pancake!"

"Yes, but if Noishe wants to have your plate when you are done, or rather tries to take if from the sink like yesterday he will probably never be able to open his jaws again."

"Humph!" She crossed her arms. "You're just a cheapskate. Alright, so what happened?"

"We all failed the test."

She stared at him, open in mouthed shock.

"All of you? But..."

"The test is very large Anna. It's divided into several sections. Historic Non-human culture, archaic histories, modern histories, politics, economic theroys, advanced mana theories, poetics, persuasive argument, and..." he shuddered. "mathematics."

Anna continued to stare at him in disbelief.

"I failed the mathematics, the economic theories, and the non-human culture. Mithos failed the mathematics, both the histories, and the politics. Yuan..." Kratos actually laughed, shook his head. "He failed everything but the mathematics and economics. As I recall the headmaster told us that if we could somehow become one person we might be allowed to enter. But we'd do rather poorly because we all had very little going for us on the intellectual front compared to the other students."

Anna laughed, laughed so hard that she nearly fell out of the chair. He rolled his eyes, and smiled. It was good to hear her laugh, good to have someone to laugh with. Someone just to talk to. How long had it been since he just had that? Someone he didn't have to lie to, someone who would not look at him in hate because he had to betray them.

"Oh my God, what happened next!" She gasped between laughs.

"We had to carry Mithos out of there. He was screaming on the top of his lungs that he knew more about arcane manipulation then some human scholar... that he'd show him advanced arcane manipulation first hand. He'd burn the whole school down." Kratos smiled, recalled how Yuan had dumped the near foaming leader of Cruxis into a horse traw to cool him down. How pathetic Mithos had looked, how the half elf's blonde hair fell into his eyes in a chaotic mess. "After Yuan calmed Mithos down and the yelling stopped a young girl, probably sixteen or so, came up to us. She then asked Yuan if the even of tossing a young magic user into the element opposite of that which he was calling on produced any steam, or, how did she put it... An outstanding visible phenomenon? Something like that..." Kratos shrugged. "She then dragged Yuan off, to question him about elven culture. It was more of an excuse to flirt with him though. Some scholars took pity on Mithos, got him some towels, and we were both being swarmed by women who wanted to take Mithos off of my hands. You could almost see them thinking about how cute he'd look in something that wasn't white."

Noishe came into the small room, his ears perked up, his tail a-wag. That reminded him of what happened to him, and his private experience with the scholars. Kratos smiled at the memories and the chaos that had followed.

"Others wanted to study Noishe, dissection came up in one of the conversations, so I snatched Noishe up and made a break for it. Mithos, was very much abandoned, and when he found us at an inn that night he was... it was evident that the ladies had fussed over him."

"I take it he wasn't very forgiving?"

Kratos chuckled, his lips were twitching as he mastered himself. "Not really, Yuan at least had had an enjoyable conversation with his umm abductor. They spent hours arguing over the philosophical edicts of Martel, personal morals, and half elven practices. The scholar who kept hunting after me and Noishe was not as rational."

"Poor Noshy." Noishe walked up to Anna and whined, then all but purred as Anna began to scratch him between his floppy ears. "but that was a really long time ago Kratos, how could..."

"He has his ways." Kratos had told Anna the real reason why, she could not believe it, so he compromised. "He was one of us from the beginning, I met him right after I met Martel. After what happened with... after Martel's death we decided that it was not right for Noishe to die. I will admit I was greedy about the whole thing, and I backed Yuan and Mithos into a corner, swearing to not join them unless accommodations were made for him."

Noishe barked as if in agreement. Wagged his tail, and leaned into Anna. Noishe's eyes were locked on the table, and Anna smacked him on his snout.

"No, you are not having my breakfast. Pancakes are very very bad for dogies, you'll get sick."

Kratos decided that it was time to leave the room. He slipped out for a moment, and walked to the small room that they kept Lloyd in. Noishe stubbornly stayed with Lloyd, the protozoan would not go to bed unless he could watch over the Aurion families youngest member. He remembered how Anna had at first objected, she wanted Lloyd with them all the time, did not want their son out of their sight. Luckily time made her weaken her views. She bended, and they were able to have a few less hectic nights. Now Lloyd was sleeping through the night, and Noishe was a decent guardian, he would fetch one of his master's when ever something seemed the matter. As he approached the cradle that he had made, a cradle that could be taken apart and put together with a muttered arcane word, the bundle of blankets and baby moved. Lloyd made a happy noise, his brown eyes filled with love and joy at seeing his father. Lloyd tried to get up, but fell with a laugh. His boy then settled for crawling forward, or as forward as the cradle would allow.

"Hello Lloyd, good morning."

"Ga!" Lloyd was going to ignore the bars it seemed and force himself through them to get to his father.

"That is quite enough of that." Kratos walked across the room, then scooped his son out of the crib. "Being determined is good Lloyd, but do not get the idea that everything will go your way all the time just because you want it to."

Unlike Anna, and perhaps most other parents, Kratos never baby talked to his son. He never sugar coated his language, never spoke to his son as if his boy was simple. Anna had smacked him when he had subbed his toe and cursed in Lloyd's presence, so he was cautious not to curse in Anna's presence. But Kratos figured so long as he didn't encourage Lloyd, didn't curse too much, that Lloyd would not pick up his father's occasional profanities and use them.

"You are getting very big, you know that? Do not grow up too fast Lloyd, you should enjoy being small as long as you can."

There was a clash and clatter, and Kratos whipped around, son in one hand sword in the other. At the sound of someone scratching at the door Kratos sheathed his sword, and holding his son now in both arms let his visitor in. Noishe whined, his ears were sticking out to both sides as far as they could go, a plate rested on the protozoan's head. Syrup dripped on his dog's snout. Noishe whined, or whined as much as he could. It was an great effort on Noishe's part, considering that the protozoan had his tongue stuck to the side of his snout.

"Unninnuhh!"

Anna's laugher carried through the open door, in his minds eye he could see her leaning against a wall, tears streaming down her face.

"Unninnuhh!"

Noishe was staring at both of them in pleadence. His expressive eyes filled with horror and chagrin.

"I keep telling you not to eat human food, I keep warning you, do you ever learn?"

"Na!" Lloyd chimed in, then he giggled as his father tickled him.

"Yes, he never does learn, does he?"

"Na!"

"That's right. Come on, I am going to leave with Mommy for a bit so that I can fix this."

Noishe whimpered, or tried to.

"Dad it seems, has to fix issues on a regular basis. If it's not Noishe doing this, then it is Mommy doing that."

"You did not so say that!" Anna yelled from the other room. "You Mr. Kratos are in trouble tonight!"

"Ouch," He walked out of the room, and came to Anna who was probably less then ten steps away from the door. "Lloyd, this is why you have to be very careful what you say to women, they are very very touchy."

Anna all but snatched Lloyd from his hands.

"Ignore Daddy," She advised Lloyd. "He's just very very very grouchy because he has to clean Noshy off all by himself."

"Not again!"

"Because he's a very very very very grouchy man you have to ignore him sometimes. Don't worry though, I'll tell you when to ignore Daddy so you don't catch his very very very very very... how many very's was I on dear?"

"I lost count."

"I doubt that."

"Doubt all you want, I will tend to Noishe."

"Noshy."

"Noishe."

"Whatever." Anna rolled her eyes. "Come on, Mommy and Noshy had pancakes for breakfast and you know what you're having? Mashed tomatoes and carrots! Yum yum!"

(A/N -this is where the asterics indicating a break in time would be but they are not showing up so this will have to do-)

"So we have enough money for one more night?"

Anna sighed, Kratos looked up from a book he was reading, he was thankfully not in his detached state. The book was a bit for pleasure, a bit for buisness. He had, after a bit of a grumbling argument with Anna, taken up her education. She teased him now, called him Palmacosta's Scholar. He endured the teasing, smiled a bit, and ordered her to pick up the second copy of the book he had bought. She had grumbled, protested, then bowed to her husbands demands. Anna would learn how to read the common language, he was patient with her, much more patient then he had ever been with any other of his students. After he felt comfortable with her language skills he would then move onto a more dangerous realm of study.

Anna would learn how to fight with that sword he had bought her.

She was past the age where such a study could be learned with ease, she was passed the age where anything could be learned with ease. But she'd learn, he was stubborn enough to make it happen. Lloyd lay with Noishe, near the rooms fireplace. He was asleep, as was Noishe, and they looked very strange cuddled together like that.

Anna stuttered through the second paragraph, strangled at the third, and looked ready to throw the book across the room by the time they finished the first page.

"Very good Anna, you are getting a little better at this."

Startled Anna turned on him, a protest on her lips.

"I think that's enough for the afternoon." He reached across the table and took the book from her hands. "Let us not wear ourselves out yet."

Kratos put both books aside, he had stopped reading when she wasn't reading, it was mainly to not annoy her. To not make it look easier then it was.

"What do you want to do?"

She asked, her slender fingers made a false temple in front of her. Perhaps it was a childhood habit, perhaps only a female habit. Whenever he thought, or was distressed, Kratos would cross his arms in front of his chest. Anna would fold her hands in front of her, as if in prayer. Kratos considered her hands, slender, labor calloused, they looked rather nice against their backdrop of golden brown wood.

On an impulse he gently reached out and unclasped her hands, lay them on top of his own. He kissed both her palms, and she snatched them out of his reach.

"Stop that, for a minion of evil, a knight, mercenary, seraphim, and whatever you used to be, you are such a flirt!"

Kratos snorted, rolled his eyes.

"I was never a knight, though I was much like one in my old days. I lived by a code, went into large battles, I was on a journey to save the world Anna. We all were."

"You still are."

Kratos looked up startled.

"Martel's death was horrible Kratos, it was a horrid thing that drove a great group of people to do horrible things. When she died she broke Mithos, and Yuan. Her death drove Mithos mad, and in his madness Mithos dragged you all down with him. Yuan, from what I know of him, he loved Martel, he loved her more then life itself. But Kratos, when you lose someone like that, you also lose the will to live. When Mithos promised to bring Martel back, he bought Yuan over, and nothing else would ever matter to him ever again. All except Martel."

Anna sighed, looked at Lloyd with her sad eyes.

"So he stopped trying, he gave up, Mithos gave up too. Mithos gave up on humans the second his sister died, and he gave up on the world." Anna looked at him, and smiled a proud smile. "You never gave up, maybe you did for little splurts here and there... But you kept Mithos under control as much as you could, you kept him from destroying everything, you didn't fight him, not in the open, that would have been suicide. But you did what you could. You never gave up on the world. So even though you aren't running around swinging your sword in a big battle, even though you've turned into the worlds biggest grouch, you fight for the world."

He sighed, wished it was all that easy, that it was true.

Catching the cynical note in that sound she met his gaze then narrowed her eyes.

"You don't believe me do you?"

"Of course I..."

"You only "of course" when you don't believe me Kratos. Fine, don't, I can't make you see it any other way. You're too smart for me to persuade you other wise. Lets try this a different way."

Humored, Kratos leaned back in the chair, his arms crossed.

Anna sighed, she knew that gesture and all it's implications.

"You're gunna make this hard huh?"

He rose an eyebrow.

"OK your Grouchyness, what do I fight for?"

"Anna grouhyness is not a-"

"I used it!" The steel in her voice made Kratos shut up. "You don't know do you?"

"I've never seen you in a fight Anna, so I wouldn't know."

"Men!" She looked to the ceiling in mock piety. "Why do we need them oh higher powers!"

"Anna!"

"Shut up Kratos, you don't count as a higher power."

"It is going to be a long day."

"Yes, it is." Anna sighed, ran a hand through her hair. "Before the ranch I never had to fight anyone, or anything before. But when I was there I had to, you had to fight to live, to stay sane, and to not give in. That's why I started fighting, that's where I learned how to fight, in the ranch." She waved a hand to indicate the sword on her belt. "Not with this, I had to fight with my fists..."

She looked away, they had been away from the ranches for a little over two years, or rather she had been away from the harshness of the ranch when she had become his lover. They had courted for almost a year, and had been on the run for almost two. Sometimes at night he could see her rub her ankles, as if to tell herself the shackles were off. Sometimes she would have nightmares, nightmares where she looked up at him with frightened animal eyes until she knew by his touch that they were away from the human ranches.

"But people turn into monsters if they live like that for too long, they attack everything that moves, they go nuts. So I had to pick what I'd fight for, and how I'd fight." She sighed. "I couldn't right all the wrongs around me, but I never, ever, allowed anyone to get hurt around me if I could. If someone else needed my food they'd have it. I wouldn't let anyone suffer, because that's wrong, it's one of the things I fight for Kratos. I fight for everyone who's hurt as best I can, and I fight for those I love, so in my own way I guess I fight for the world."

"Once, when I was a young man, I would have said much the same thing. Now I fight in regret that I never stopped this before it came to this."

"See, you do fight for the world. If you regret, then you still know what right and wrong are. If you fight to right a wrong then you fight to protect those hurt by that wrong and..."

"But I allowed this to happen, I just sat back and..."

"What are you, invincible, infallible? Kratos, you made a mistake, everyone does."

"Not everyone's mistake lead to this-"

"Kratos shut up!" Anna looked to Lloyd and the seraphim flushed, he had been losing control, had almost been yelling. "Shut up and listen to me for once. You didn't give up, you never did. What happened to Mithos is that he did, he gave up questioning himself, looking for ways to fix his, Martel's, everyone's, mistakes. You went with Mithos because you wanted to fix your mistake with Martel, and you started protesting when he started killing people."

"I stopped..."

"No, you never did. You stopped openly protesting, but you felt bad, guilty, and you know what you did to fix that? You went to that Forsymin's, whatever his name's is, Ranch. You saw what was going on, understood, and you stopped hurting us. Kratos no one died while you were in charge, no one. Every night before you came at least one cell would be empty in the morning, and there would be monsters flocked around the back gate eating. The rapes stopped, my Goddess, half the women in that ranch adored you for that alone. You let parents see there children, the children weren't being executed at whim, that Ranch was heaven after you started reining the Desians in. And I can wager every piece of gald I have that you started ticking Mithos off, but things never got as bad as they were."

"One ranch, for what a year compared to thousands and thousands of..."

"And from that you are here, trying again to stop Mithos, to stop that monster's madness. you had to learn a lot, you had to become strong enough to fight Mithos, to see again. And that takes time."

"Four thousand years..."

"No, it wasn't bad, not at first. Somewhere along the line Mithos stopped caring for other people, he stopped caring what he did so long as it got him closer to getting Martel back. That's probably when the Ranches started, and Cruxis turned bad."

He considered that, and nodded. Anna had a point.

"Cruxis wanted to get Martel back so they could continue saving the world, and that's not a bad thing Kratos, what is bad is how they were doing it. Some people died, maybe a handful, and some people would argue that it wasn't a big loss if it got what needed to be done done. It was when that small number went up, when Mithos stopped caring, when Yuan stopped caring, than you started. You protested, maybe you even threatened to leave."

He recalled holding Mithos, slamming the boy into the wall. He could feel the boy's frightened pulse under his hands, but he didn't care. Blood stained the marbel floor, the woman was dead and Mithos held the knife in his hands. The boy's white robes were crimson, on a plater lay the woman's heart.

"She was dieing already Kratos, humans die all the time, all I did was make her suffering stop." Mithos shook as he hit the wall again, he trembled as Kratos' brown eyes looked at him and judged. "Martel needs her heart Kratos, she's dieing." Mithos winced as he hit the wall, the stone cracked under the force Kratos was slamming the smaller angel into the wall. "Please stop Kratos, I wasn't bad, please! Martel needs me, she needs to live, the woman was dieing, I knocked her out before I cut her open! I told her what I needed her for and she agreed. She said yes, she sacrificed herself!"

Kratos' eyes widened in horror, in numb shock, and he put the half elf down.

"She gave herself up for Martel, so that Martel would save the world! I'm sorry if you liked her... I didn't know! I'm sorry Kratos!"

"Sorry wont bring her back Mithos."
"No, but she might bring Martel back. This is all for Martel, Kratos. All of it. Us being angels, Derris Karlan, it's all for her. You said you'd sacrafice your life for Martel, remember? Well she said the same thing, and I tryed not to hurt her, I really did! The blood wasn't working, so... so... I... I took her heart. And it did work Kratos, look, Martel's just sleeping now!"

He turned and Mithos was right, Martel who had looked like death, now only slept.

"Maybe now we can just wake her up!"

Kratos watched in horror as his pupil brushed past the dead woman and went to his sister. He shook her, and shook her, bruses were apearing on Martel's pale skin. At that sight Kratos firmly picked up the boy and carried him out of the chamber.

"Kratos, why did you do that!"

"You were hurting her Mithos, I had to stop you from hurting her."

"You love her too don't you?"

"Yes, I loved Martel, but I also loved that woman. She was a good person, a good friend too."

"Martel's not dead, we are going to bring her back! We have to, no matter what!"

"No, she wouldn't like that Mithos, she would want you to re-"

"We have to bring her back!"

"Mithos listen to me! She would not want you to kill anyone to bring her back, that is why she died, to stop people from dieing!"

"And when she comes back we will finish our quest, and she'll be happy Kratos, so happy!"

"Mithos!" At his roar the young half elf froze, and looked at him.

"The only reason she died is because she saved you. She died because when that assasin came back to finish the job, she kept healing you."

"I...I told her to run, I wanted her to leave... she would not..."

Samll hands gripped him, hugged him. Feathers brushed his cheek and Kratos looked up. All the colors in the world gleamed around Mithos, shimmered around him. Kratos shivered, pulled away from the angel child. Mithos held onto him, fluttered up, and stroked his hair.

"I'm sorry Kratos, I'm sorry I hurt you. I never should have said that to you."

"She would not want you to kill someone else. She hated it when people died. Now you kill others to keep her from dieing, to bring her back."

"But when she's back it will all stop Kratos. When she comes back everything will be made all right!"

"Will it?"

"It will, trust me, please..." Tears had stood in the small angels eyes, the lips were curled down in a frown of pain. "You never trusted anyone before, please, trust me, just this once..."

Kratos looked away, put his hand to the wall and sighed. It had been forever since he had felt heat and cold, he ached for it like he ached for food. He ached for what he once had, it had seemed so small a price to pay. Now he wasn't so sure.

"Trust me Kratos, please..."

He wanted to trust Mithos, he had to trust Mithos, there was no one else left to him now. His family had been Mithos, Yuan, and Martel, without them what was he? A wandering mercenary with a blood seeped past.

"What you did was wrong Mithos, you hurt someone who didn't deserve to be hurt, she was a good person."

"I'm sorry..."

"I already told you, sorry doesn't cut it. It never does. Don't forget, don't ever do this again. If you do... you are on your own. You and Yuan can revive Martel, I wont have anymore blood on my hands."

"You'd abandon me?"

"I wont kill innocents, I wont be party to it. No mater how willing they are."

"Then I promise, as a Yggdrasil, that you never will have to."

He then had hugged Kratos. Snuggled into his arms. Wanting for just a moment to re-capture the closeness, the childhood that was five hundred years behind them both.

Kratos stood, rolled his shoulders. He could feel the phantom pressure of Yggdrasil in his arms. He looked to Anna then, and she braved the darkness in his eyes, and smiled. She trusted him, she always would, no matter what.

"We have to stop him, not just for our son, but for everyone he's hurt."

"I don't want to kill him Anna, he was my pupil, he was a little brother to me, Martel a sister, and Yuan... Well when Yuan stopped seeing me as competition for Martel we became friends."

"They are your family, or as close as you ever have had."

"No, you and Lloyd are my family. Mithos... he is not as he once was. If there was some way to make him as he was, to bring Martel back without suffering... I would do it, I would reason with Mithos, bring Martel back, without a thought to it."

"There's my grouchy bear thinking straight again." She smiled at him and despite the sadness he felt, he laughed.

"Is that my new name, grouchy bear?"

"Yes, it is. Unless I can think of something better."

"Hmm I just do not know if it fits me very well."

"Give me time, I'll think of something else more fitting."

She stood, went to him and he held her. Together they stood, looking down at there drowsing son and Noishe. After a bit of time had passed Anna leaned on him, her hands playfully stroking his hair. She kissed his cheek, then whispered into his ear.

"I have it."

"Hmmm." he was only looking at Lloyd, his thoughts drifting to what awaited his son and wife.

"Your new name silly."

"I'm listening..."

She laughed, her hand lingered in his back, but did not slide down. She was not going to bring forth his wings, but she was letting him know that she knew very well how to.

"Derris fa Gathsuun."

"Angel of Gardening?" Kratos muttered, baffled.

"No silly, Guardian Angel. When you change the word guardian to complement "fa" it just sounds like garden. Remember the long "o" versus short "o" speech you gave me?"

"Faintly..." He looked to Anna a frown on his face.

"You don't like it? I'll think of something else then..."

"No, it fits... I... just coming on top of a lot of thinking I guess I can not appreciate the humor right now."

"Then stop thinking for a little."

"And how would you propose to do that?"

"How would you like me to?" Her lips twitched as evil thoughts ran through her head.

He chuckled, and she gently kissed him on his cheek.

"I could say to hit your head on the wall several times, very hard. That would make you stop thinking, I could do that and when you were done tuck you in with Lloyd but I have an evil-er idea... Wake Lloyd up, he'll keep you busy while I shop, now tell me what we need to get for the next part of our journey."

"I have a list."

"Humph, well that's nice, can I read it?"

"Yes, I wrote it in angelic, you should have no problems. Just..."

"Keep track of the list, it could fall in the wrong hands... I know this already, we've been over it."

"Then keep safe, and enjoy yourself."

"Oh," her eyes gleamed with a playful light. "I most certainly will. Remember, if he gets too much sleep he'll wake up again tonight.. and I want to sleep through tonight, well most of it."

"Hedonist."

She laughed and dashed out of the room. For a moment Kratos considered Anna's advice, considered the past, and then he looked at his son. Yes, it was time for them to wake up, maybe he and Lloyd would take Noishe for a walk. A little father son outing, Anna would have called it that. And it wasn't as if they were bound to the city, a quick stroll out from the press of people wouldn't be bad. Kratos smiled, it actually sounded like a very good idea.

"Come on you two, time to wake up."

Noishe opened an eye and growled.

Lloyd yawned and rolled over, almost burying himself in Noshy's furry tail.

"I have your throw disk Noishe, and human food that isn't coated with syrup or spicy."

The tail wagged, and Lloyd squealed, and gave it a tug. Noishe woke up fully with a yalp, and Lloyd giggled. He always woke up quick when his Daddy was there with him in the morning. To him it may seem a little funny place to start out, but it was to him morning.

"Da!" Kratos felt his heart swell, he smiled and picked up his son.

"Close, we will have to work on the talking thing later. For now though I want that walk."

Noishe barked, and all but pranced. He could smell the jerky Kratos had in one of his pouches. Jerky to the protozoan was a rare treat, and it was a break from the nutrition pellets or un-flavored meat that Kratos would give him. With a growl Noishe hopped up and snatched the throw disk from one of Kratos' belts, and made a break for the door. Lloyd and Kratos were fast behind him.