A/N Can't think of a title for this one, e-mail me suggestions if you have any. But you can definatly see Kratos at his strongest in this chapter's conclusion... well at least that's my opinion. Enjoy.

Chapter 32

Power hissed in his hands, he had called on his mana so much that his hands gave off an eerie silver blue light. The rooms were all dark, painted black, and with the power source to the lights giving off it's last splurts of mana the lights flickered. He had been a bit overzealous when destroying the Ranches three mana reactors, now Anna was some where in these dark rooms, alone. He was in a maze of these black rooms, and while most of them were empty, some of them were not. He recalled with a grimace the first body. Bloated by the gasses in it, with a touch of rot, it had been cut open and in the gashes were old scorch marks. Obviously Kvar had so many toys he forgot to clean up after himself, or perhaps he liked the smell of the bodies. Insane people were like that.

"Anna!" He walked out of the room, into a kind of hall that split off into even more rooms. It was a maze, a maze of black rooms that were all filled with the silence of death. Every step, every rattle of his sword in its sheath, every breath, it echoed. When Kvar's victims screamed, God it must have echoed in this maze of black for days. His own cry of his wife's name came back to him, and in his fevered mind his own echo sounded lost and alone. "Anna!"

He closed his eyes, listened, and underneath the echoes he heard something. A soft whisper of a heartbeat. She was near, she had to be. He cried out again, hoping, praying that she would respond, even as he swept through room after room. At last the sound that was so far off became louder. A groan, he heard a groan from the door to his right.

"Anna!"

Nothing, just an animal sound of pain. He tried for the handle, it was locked, out of all the rooms so far it was the only one locked. The steel screeched under the raw force of his kick, then slammed open. Kratos staggered through the door, and then with a gasp of pain ran to her. Anna lay on her back, her eyes closed, her face, her body pale. Blood pooled around her chest, her throat, she moaned, but did not open her eyes, even as he ran to her and knelt down besides her. His hands tingled as he called on his mana, the light sheathing them intensified, a silver blue light pulsated around them. He stood, lifted a hand to the ceiling, and a miniature star burst into being in his upraised hand. Raw mana poured from that star, drifted down from the star with frustrating slowness, and wrapped a cocoon of healing around the woman he loved. Slowly the horrid expanse of ripped up skin mended, the small gash in her throat sealed shut, she lay perfectly still, and it was only the rise and fall of her chest that told him she was alive. He trembled, knelt, and took her in his arms. He wasn't even aware he was talking to her, he didn't even know what words passed through his lips, all he saw was her pale face, and how the color was slowly returning to her. He held her close, and to the sound of his voice she awoke. With a hand that twitched she put a finger to his lips, it was only then he realized that he had been talking.

"You... you came..." Her voice was little more then a breath. "You.. came for us..."

"Of course." He kissed her, she trembled, her eyes were filled with pain.

"Lloyd... he has... Lloyd..."
"We'll deal with that in a second." More healing power snapped between his hands, he gently placed his hand on her chest. The power pierced her heart, mingled with her blood, and spread through her. She shuddered as his very essence, his personal mana, mixed within her flesh and blood. Her eyes, that had been horribly glazed focused, the pain lines that marred her face eased, he took her pain, took her exhaustion, he shouldered it as his own. As she grew stronger he could feel himself weakening.

"Kratos! Stop!" Her hands dug into his arm.

He looked up, it was his eyes that weren't totally focused, his mind that felt the ravages of hunger and poison. He licked his lips, tried to think around the pain that festered in him.

"My.. my packs... tablets..."

He felt her work off the small pack that was slung over his shoulder, heard her fumble for a bit. He closed his eyes, started to slump forward. Anna gently lay him down, his head rested in her lap. Something small, bitter, was placed on his tongue, then water filled his mouth. He swallowed, shuddered, and lay still while the tablets neutralized the poison and countered the fatigue. He grimaced, shivered as the tablets did thier work, all the while Anna stroked his head, smoothed his hair with trembling hands. After a few minutes Kratos opened his eyes, Anna was looking down at him, her hands lightly caressed his face. He managed to smile at her, and some of the concern left her, some but not all. With a grunt the Seraphim forced himself to stand, he didn't have time to waste and wait for the medicine to help him farther.

"Where is Kvar?"

"I don't know, all he said was that he was on the other side of the ranch, that's all he ever let slip."

"That is more then we had." He froze.

Anna then heard what had made him stop, there were people outside. The guards, they must have left for a little bit then had come back. Kratos' hand went for his sword, much to his surprise Anna knelt on the bloody floor and picked up a dagger. He wanted to protest, to order her to stay back. The guards were too close now, any rebuke on his part and they would have heard him. Kratos watched as Anna slinked to the door, stood pressed against the wall, less then three steps away from the opening. The seraphim mentally cursed, drew his blade, then took the other side.

"What the Hell?" They had noticed the door, and they entered the torture chamber. "Damn, go, send for back up..."

The man who was supposed to send for back up turned, he managed to cry out a warning before Anna's clumsy thrust made him stagger back. With a stupid expression on his face he reached out, touched the hilt of the weapon. Kratos' thrust was more professional. The Desian stiffened up as the sword pierced his heart, a sharp kick on Kratos' part sent the dead half elf off of the blade. The remaining Desian then fell to his knees, begging to be spared. He managed to complete a sentence before he was silenced permanently. Anna slipped out of the room to see if there were any other Desian's, Kratos considered the man with a knife stuck in his belly. He knelt, wrenched the weapon out of the corpse, then thoughtfully cleaned it off on the Desian's tunic. When he joined Anna he handed her the knife, she took it with a sick smile.

Xxx xxx xxx xxx

Orbs of light trailed after them, they rounded a corner into the waiting patrols' grasp. Blade against blade, he crossed swords with those who wielded them, fought the three warriors all at the same time, all the while he was aware that a whipper was trying to slip behind him to get his attack in. The whipper was having a problem though, Kratos' flank was covered by what he probably thought as a deranged escapee. Anna shrieked, slashed with her knife, the Desian backed up. At any other ranch the guard would have fled, but he feared his master more then any human, no mater how crazy it was. That, he learned, was a mistake. He brought his arm up so he could bring the full force of his whip into play, Anna charged forward, delivered a slashed, then retreated out of the range of the swing. The Desian sank to his knees, clutched his stomach and the deep gash that now ran from one side to another. The floating macht-tins rounded the corner, their long noses glowed an all too familiar red... She yelled out a warning in Angelic, grabbed her husband, and together they leapt to the side. The swordsman that had been giving Kratos such a hard time fell to the metal floor, holey, that was the only word for them, they were holey.

"Stay here!" He snarled, turning on the macht-tins with a grim look on his face. He had ordered her to "stay" several other times as well. For once she listened, she could not attack these steel monstrosities, she did not have the strength to destroy them. She stood back, kept an eye out for more of the steel match-tins, for more Desians. None came, and she took a moment to lean against the wall and catch her breath. Whatever Kratos had done for her was the only thing that let her keep pace with him. It also had some very strange effects on her. She had noticed it the second they left the room, no even before then, the second she had handed him back his packs. It was strange, because as he wrapped his hand around the strap and swung it over his shoulder she had felt a strange tingling on her own shoulder, a phantom pressure on her own hand. Even now, as he brought his blade around to cut through one of those match-tins she tensed, and the strike that she never could have seen coming descended a second later. It had to be an after effect of whatever Kratos had done to her, and she expected it to dim as time went on, yet it only seemed to become stronger. She couldn't let it slow her down, she'd ask him about it when she had time to ask. Kratos side stepped one of the shots, ducked as pieces of the match-tin behind him flew over his head, then thrust at the last match-tin. It sank to the floor, sparks hissing from it's wound. He was done, Anna went to one of the last rooms in the wing, turned the handle, and pushed open the door. He cursed, ran up to her, then froze as he took in what could have been mistaken as an apartment from Meltokio.

In that room there were no guards, no monsters, no tortured humans, only a man. His hair was grey with just a few highlights of brown, his eyes were the color of steel. Clad in the fine military uniform favored by those few who shared his rank, he seemed ignorant of the blood that stained the front of his tunic. The old man smiled at them, his manner as if two old friends had barged in on him a little early. The man's smile was little more then a gash on his face, a red slit on his pale features. He sat across from them, a small tray by his side, so much like the trays that he held his tools. On that tray though was a cup, a small thing that couldn't have held much. He lifted a cup at them in false toast, and took a sip. Anna froze, she knew him. He chuckled, took another sip, then put a finger to his lips. He was ordering them to be quiet. He pointed to the door behind him, and mimed sleeping. Someone was in the back room and they were sleeping.

"Kvar, where's our Son?" Anna hissed, she lifted the dagger and he smiled at her.

"Hush, he's in the back sleeping. Don't wake him, he's had such dreadful nightmares of late, he really should enjoy what little peaceful sleep he is getting."

"So, you are Kvar..." Kratos' voice was little more then a rumble, Kvar looked over Anna's shoulder and nodded.

"My Lord, it is an honor to meet you, I apologize to you because I won't genuflect. It takes a while for us old people to get up and down all the time, and time is of the essence. Yes your son is in the back room, and no I haven't told Lord Yggdrasil about your past time. If I did then you would in all probability kill me, and I have a strong desire to live."

"Really? What you've done so far has just noticeably shortened your life span." Kratos nudged his way past Anna, his blood smeared sword still rested in his hands.

"Please, don't stand in the door way, come in. I'd offer you the hospitality of my humble quarters but you both seem in a bit of a rush, as am I, as am I!" When Kvar's two guests came in he put the cup down, leaned forward and regarded them both. "You are so droll my Lord, it is a shame we must meet under such ill circumstance. This young woman who you have taken as your own was my test subject. I so wanted to complete the experiment, but her dalliance in the realms of physical pleasure has tainted her for me. She has no use now that she has born child, I had hoped she was still compatible for my research, but now she is not. So take her, she's little more then trash to me anyways." Kratos snarled, his hand went to his blade, Kvar only laughed. "I would not do that, after all it you know how little effort it takes to toss a fire spell at a door, and that door is wood... I think you can imagine what would happen if I did that."

Kratos stiffened up, the Desian smiled, and strangely there was relief on his face.

"Go on, take him, and get out. Your pet is safe from me, I have no need of her any longer. Here's the key." Kvar pulled a card out from his vest, lay it on the table, and watched as they stared at him. "The slate is clean my Lord, there are no more traps, and I consider what time I've spent with your charming family to be equal to whatever damages you have caused in your haste. My only wish is that I had a longer time with your family, in particular with your son, having no children of my own you understand... Ahh well such issues are neither here nor now, take the card, take your boy back, and leave. What damage I have wrecked on your wench was only her punishment for running away from me. What harm I have caused her, and that which you have obviously healed, is enough."

As if in a dream Anna walked across the room, went to the Desian, and picked up the card. She was aware fo Kratos, was aware that he followed her, took the card from her hand then went to the room that Kvar indicated. She only stared at the old man, and he looked at her with a smile on his face.

"Keep your boy in good health Mrs. Aurion, and know I too will keep an eye on his welfare."

"You will not." Anna whispered, and as if possessed her hand thrust forward. The scorn in his eyes faded, he grunted as the dagger entered his side. Then he looked up at her with a pained expression. "You will leave my family alone beast." With a snarl she wrenched the dagger from Kvar's side, the Desian gasped, and looked at her with hate... and satisfaction in his eyes.

"Anna, that is enough, I've found Lloyd, it's time to go home..."

Anna did not respond to Kratos, only looked down at the Desian with hate in her eyes.

"Anna! Enough! We are leaving! Lloyd is sick, he needs to get to a doctor!"

That brought Anna back, she dropped the dagger, turned from Kvar and went to her husband. Kratos looked at her, seemed to measure her, then handed Lloyd to her. He was terribly limp. Their little boys face was pale, his skin like ice. Anna left the room, and for a moment Kratos was alone with Kvar. He took in the wound that his wife had inflicted on the Desian. It was fatal, the man would die a slow death, that was enough. It was time to go home... and find what little peace they could.

Xxx xxx xxx xxx

They had thought that at their son's awakening they would find a piece of themselves, they would become whole again. His eyes once so filled with love were empty, and it was not the emptiness of delusion or sickness that he gazed at them with. He did not remember them, had no fond memories, could not even say their names. Kratos had gambled, used his angelic mana to teleport them to Luin, had taken them to Syt's inn. Their son cringed at their touch, ran from them the second he was put down, and tried to hide from them. Even the doctor Syt had abducted, not knowing the whole of it, could see there was something horribly wrong. He treated, diagnosed their son, and went beyond that. He was gentle, and managed to do something that the Aurion's could do. He managed to get Lloyd to talk. He came to them after setting the boy to sleep, his eyes were shadowed. The stress of his abduction, the searing headache that Syt had given him via a rock to the head, all of those were forgotten as he stepped out of his patients room and approached the worried parents.

"The three of you sit, I have some questions to ask, and they wont be kindly in the least." The three friends complied, looked to the man with equally hopeless expressions. "I'm going to start out with the stupid question, is he always like this, so withdrawn?"

"No, normally he's not..." Anna's voice shattered, tears were in her eyes. "Normally... we have to hold him back... He's so affectionate..."

"I expected as much, he doesn't think you're his parents. Martel strike me blind if I'm wrong, but you are his blood parents, any fool can see that." The man sighed, leaned against the wall. He wore white robes, only the green trim around the sleeves told the world that he was no priest of Martel. He lifted a hand, stroked at the scraggly patch that served as his beard, then adjusted the spectacles that made his eyes seem sur-real. "He thinks some man named Kvar is his father, and he's obsessive about it. All he talked about is how he wants to go back to this Kvar person. I told him to tell you about it, and his response scared me... He said you'd hurt him, no you'd kill him, then he told me how you would kill him. He was, very descriptive..." The doctor swallowed. "Inn-keeper fetch me a glass of your strongest, I'm going to need it."
"What do you mean, descriptive?" Kratos managed, his voice failed him a time or two, he wanted to break so bad. His world was falling apart into bloody tatters.

"He knew more about human anatomy then I care to think about. He didn't know the words or course, but he explained it in such a way that I know he's seen someone die like... like how he expects to." Something in Kratos' eyes made him shiver, then turn to the Seraphim and elaborate. "He expects you to kill him, to torture him to death, and frankly I'm not going to go into more detail." Syt came back, handed the doctor a glass filled with bear. The scrawny man took the glass, and downed it all in two quick swallows. He wiped the foam from his face, and looked back to the door. "Don't leave him alone for any length of time, he's mentally unstable. I'd go far enough to say he's sadistic even, I've never seen it in a child his age, not so young... They normally grow into it..." The doctor shook himself. "There was a mouse in his room, and I use the past tense quite deliberately. I told him to stop... He wouldn't..."

"What are you saying?" Anna whispered.

"Keep an eye on him, but be careful, he's not quite all right in his mind. He killed an animal with his bare hands right in front of me and thought what he was doing was right." The doctor shivered, looked mournfully into his empty glass. "I have some medicines to counter his sickness in my office, some sedatives to keep him calm, and all I can tell you is that I pray to Martel that whatever is wrong with him is due to his current illness. If you need to talk to me again forgo whapping me upside the head with a rock and dragging me here, I do have an office, and reasonable hours. And if it needs to be discreet, then send me a note, I'll come by after my hours to check up on him. I imagine one of you men are going to escort me to my office, whichever one it is I'll give instructions on how to dose the boy and prep the tea you will be giving him."

"Anna, Syt, go with him." Kratos commanded, his eyes were locked on the door. "I will stay with Lloyd while you are gone."

"If he's thinkin' that you're gunna kill him then perhaps I should..."

"No, he is my son, I will stay with him." Kratos stood, went for the door, he hesitated his hand wrapped around the handle. Then gathering his courage he opened the door and slipped inside.

"I'm sorry Mam, Sir, if there was anything I could do for you I'd do it..."

"Aye, that's why I whapped you upside the head and dragged you here, your that type o shrink that'd do all he could, no matter what..."

"I'll remember that next time you are ill Syt."

"Enough, lets go." Anna stood, then lead by Syt she left the inn, and followed the doctor through Luin.

Xxx xxx xxx

Lloyd whimpered in his sleep, not exactly in a nightmare, but starting to descend into one. There was no hesitance on his part, the Seraphim gently shook his son's sholder and Lloyd awoke. He looked at him, not recognizing, then the hate came, the distrust. It took every bit of his will not to weep at the sight of Lloyd's hatred.

"Go back to bed Lloyd..."

His boy only glared at him.

"You can hate me for the rest of your life Lloyd, I wont abandon you, no matter what."

No response, Lloyd continued to glare at him.

"If you keep doing that..." Kratos' voice broke a bit. "Your face is going to freeze like that..."

"Liar!"

"Maybe." Kratos swallowed hard. "I do not know for sure if it is the truth or not. My own parent was found of saying that to me though, so I assume it is the truth."

"Leave me 'lone!" Lloyd rolled over, so that he was facing the wall.

"No. I said I would not abandon you, I mean it." Kratos shifted in the chair he sat on. "You will just have to deal with me." He felt tears roll down his face, Lloyd winced as the water fell on him, then turned to see his father crying. No it wasn't his father, it was a stranger that he cared nothing for.

"Why are you crying?" Lloyd huffed, the tears were keeping him up, he was sleepy and he couldn't sleep with this man crying.

"Because I am hurt that you are hurt, and I could not spare you pain."

"I just have a cold!" Lloyd snarled, he rolled over, buried himself under the blankets. He flopped around a bit, and Kratos reached down to untangle his boy from the mess he was making. Under his touch Lloyd stiffened, Kratos' keen sense of touch allowed him to feel Lloyd's heart beat pick up, even through the layer of blankets. Lloyd was scared of him, terrorfied, and his head poked out from the blankets when Kratos' hands gently with drew. He looked confused, baffled that Kratos was not hurting him.

"Is something wrong?" Kratos managed, his voice a ruin, half strangled by his tears.

"Nothin'." Lloyd grumbled.

"Then try to sleep, your Mother will put me to task if you stay up all night."

"I don't have a Mother!" Lloyd flared. "You took me away from Daddy!"

"Lloyd..." Kratos trembled, reached out with a hand and cupped his son's face with one hand.
"Do...Don't touch me!" It was a shriek, Kratos snatched his hand back as if it had been burned. "Do... Don't touch me, don't look at me! Leave me alone!" Lloyd shivered, curled up in a ball and held himself. "C...Cold..." His teeth chattered. Kratos un fastened his cloak, then draped it over the trembling child. Lloyd whimpered, tried to kick off the cloak and blankets, when he succeeded Kratos merely picked them off the floor and covered his boy back up. "Stop it, go away!"

"No, I wont do that, stop fussing." Kratos croaked past the lump in his throat. "You will warm up faster if you stay under the blankets."

Grudgingly Lloyd listened, he settled down and snuggled with the blankets and cloak, and soon he wasn't so cold anymore.

"Go 'way!"

"Which way?" Kratos managed, something far to tentative to be called a smile touching his lips.

Lloyd snorted, then almost screamed as the Seraphim left the chair and sat on the edge of his bed. He shook, trembled, then froze. Kratos' gloved hand wove through his hair, so slow and tenderly. Lloyd sighed, despite himself relaxed just a bit.

"Go 'way..." It was a mutter, his eyes felt all heavy.

"We went over this, go to sleep Son, you can not out stubborn both me and nature at the same time."

"I'm not sleepy..."

"Hmm," Kratos' hands were shaking, the man was shaking, Lloyd could feel it. "So you say, yet you yawn as you say it."

"Not... Sleepy..."

The hand only continued to stroke his hair, long after he scumbled to sleep.