Consequences

Chapter 37

It was easy to blend in with the people of Falinor. Wandering pilgrims, they had been that for a span and now were settling down to raise their son. In many ways it was the truth, because of that Anna did not hesitate when she was questioned, did not stumble over the lie. For that he was grateful, because of that he could relax, just a little bit. Unlike PalmaCosta he did not pose as a mercenary, did not wander the wilderness around the town looking for monsters to kill. They were numerous and savage and his sword would have been welcome, but the last time... He could not forget, would not, and so while Anna and Lloyd found much joy in the city Kratos was torn with guilt, a guilt he kept well hidden. He did not leave the confines of the city, unless it was with his family in tow for one of their outings, something that Anna insisted they do quite frequently. A few days bleed into a half month, and they found peace in the stillness of the white shrouded city. Anna found employment in one of the inn's she served as a waitress, where Kratos did odd and end jobs around town. They both scheduled their days so at least one of them would be at home with Lloyd, and at least once every week they would have one day to be together. Anna grumbled a great deal about the tourists, her job drained her a great deal, and he constantly worried for her health. Not openly, he did not talk to her openly about this, she would have lied. As much as it grieved him to admit that she would have lied to him to keep him from his own worry. So he said nothing, he kept his eyes open, and did not like what he was seeing. Yes there were strains to holding a job day in and day out, there was a continual pressure, a steady drain on the resources, but that did not explain it all. It did not explain the occasional chills, the rasping cough, her health was clearly deteriorating, and he had no idea what to do. They could flee, yet again, but to where? At least, he managed to comfort himself a bit, there were many doctors about, and the prices they offered were not unfair. In secret he saved a portion of his money, set it aside for the time that she would finally tell him she was ill and ask to be treated. But if she waited too long, he would take the situation in hand, he'd whap her upside the head and drag her to a doctor to be treated. Unfortunately it was looking more and more like he would have to rely on option number two.

He mulled over this as he picked his way up the stairs that lead to the towns higher level. His fur coat flapped a bit behind him, but then it was a bit large for him and he expected as much. Hearing the strange sound though made him miss his tunic and pants. He even missed the sparrow tail cloak, and it's infernal flaps that would flutter like an extra pair of wings whenever he ran. What he missed most keenly of all was the comforting rattle of a sword by his side. That though was totally out of the question though. Steel would rust here, it would be wasted, so he kept it in it's sheath and hung it over the fire place, and he endured having a staff in his hands. He did not need the coat and heavy fur garments with their thousand and one strings, but they needed safety, so he sacrificed his comfort for their need.

Noishe walked besides him, his breath steamed the air, snow fell from his coat. They were taking a walk in the snowy city, walking the steps looking down at the world from the various platforms that jutted out and allowed one to see the magnificence of the white shrouded world below. Side by side they walked, like in the old days, before Mithos' offer. I was soothing, the soft pants of the protozoan, the crunch of snow under his feet, to the rest of the world he paid no heed, it was only him and Noishe for a while. Oh from far away he heard the yelling of merchants, the cries of children, but they were off a ways. He walked past the temple of Martel and went to the tarrant. Breathtaking, with the sun just setting it was breathtaking, perfect, the whole city gleamed with fire and the colors of the sunset. He lifted his staff so that it tilted his fur cap back a bit. He smiled, and Noishe reared up on his hind legs and draped his forepaws over the railing. His tail wagged slowly, his brown eyes were wide with admiration.

"As beautiful as always is not it?"

Noishe barked quietly, from here it seemed as if the whole world was gone, no one was on the walkway, the religious were in the temple. The faithful, their hymns were mercifully contained within the building they worshiped in. The world seemed silent, a peaceful silence, and with such beauty before him he was loath to leave. So he didn't, he stood for a while, watched the sunset and it's play of colors on the cities ice coated roof tops. There was a crunch of snow, as if on cue both Kratos and Noishe turned, and a frown appeared on the seraphim's face. The peaceful mood he had been savoring was banished.

"Lloyd, what are you doing here by yourself?"

Lloyd looked at him. His eyes were wide, his face tormented. Lloyd's lips moved for a bit but no sound came out. Tears, tears stood in his eyes as he tried to talk again. Lloyd made a kind of croak cough sound as his father came to him and knelt by his side. With a trembling hand Kratos felt his son's throat, there was nothing there he could feel not abnormalities, no swelling, not sickness nor choking, then what could... He shivered as the truth, a horrid glimmer of truth, came to him. With a shaking hand the seraphim made a quick arcane gesture, mana had stilled his son's voice... angelic mana.

Impossible, only Mithos favored muting his victims...

"Good God!" Kratos whispered, somehow he managed to retain control over himself long enough to cast the counter spell.

"Daddy!" Lloyd whimpered, clung to him, and wept.

"Shh..." Kratos held his son close. "Lloyd you must calm down, you must tell me who did this to you."

"Bad person..." Lloyd sniffled.

"What did this bad person look like? Tall, short, young, old, did he have blue hair, blonde?"

"He... meanie, hurt Mommy, I.. I ran... Not blue hair, yellow like sun an' cat ears..."

No, no this can't be happening... not now, not after everything we've been through!

"Was he small, like you, only a little bigger?"
"Yes... He hurt Mommy and I ran..." Lloyd looked up at him, with questions in his eyes.

"Noishe!" The protozoan jerked at Kratos' harsh tone. "Take Lloyd, hide him and yourself, I'll find you later."

Noishe whined, Lloyd protested with tears. They were pleading with the wrong man, Kratos jumped over the balcony, landed amongst a group of surprised humans. It didn't matter though, secrecy be damned none of it mattered if Mithos knew. When he was out of the more populous regions of Falinor he drew his wings, and flew to his home. The door was closed, locked, he put a hand on the wood and felt it hum with angelic mana. Desperation filled him, he slammed his foot into the door, kicked it down, and charged into the room staff dawn. He froze at the sight within, Mithos sat in his child's form on a chair. His white robes gleamed in the candle light, he sat at their kitchen table, kicking his feet in a show of impatience. Anna kneeled at Mithos' feet, he could see the chains of mana that were wrapped around her, that held her in that position. Her lips moved, and from what little he could read she was cursing Mithos out.

"You took long enough." Mithos hissed, "I thought I was going to have to guild your brat to you."

"You bastard, free her right now!"

"Why should I cater to a traitor?" Mithos pulled a knife from his belt, considered Anna's prone position. "You betrayed me after all, you betrayed my ethics by soiling yourself with this human... Tell me Kratos, why shouldn't I slash her throat right now? Give me one reason not to."

"If you so much as lay a finger on her I will free Origin, right here, right now, you'll lose your precious Pact and everything you've worked for will fall apart."

"You wouldn't dare!" It was a child's whine, in a child's voice, and a madman's eyes that met his own.

"I would." He met the boy's eyes, and Mithos shivered at whatever he saw in his old mentor's face. "Try it, you can watch as Derris Kharlan falls from the sky."

"I always wondered why you had gotten so brave of late, so companionate to those inferior to us... You are weakening yourself my friend, a mere shade of yourself, this is all for your benefit."

"Trying to kill my wife is for my benefit?" Kratos' voice was a mere hiss. "Hurting my son is for my benefit? I guess you could call if that, if say Martel's death was for your benefit. As if Martel's death helped Yuan. Free her Mithos, or else."

"How dare you drag Martel into this!"

"How dare you harm my wife, how dare you threaten my son!" Kratos roared back, the staff shattered in his grasp, he threw the pieces aside. Mithos took a step back, his eyes wide in terror. "Get out, now, or I swear I will kill you. Do not ever cross my path again, or you shall die."

"You can't threaten me! I..."
A bolt of lighting flashed across the room, not enough to hurt Mithos seriously, but enough to throw him from his chair. He slammed back, smacked into the wall, and fell onto the floor with a grunt. Anna trembled, tried to stir, but the power holding her was still active. With a gesture on Kratos' part the chains shattered, returned to the mists that had bought them forth. She turned to him, cried out, a warning. Kratos whipped around, deflected the blast of lighting mana. Yuan gapped at him, stepped back, and trembled. Terror filled the elder half elven seraphim's eyes, he dropped his blade, then sank to his knees in submission.

"You'd betray me as well!" Mithos shrieked.

"I'm not stupid Mithos, I plan on living to see tomorrow."

"He's unarmed you..." There was the sound of flesh striking flesh. Kratos whipped around expecting to see Anna on the floor, tossed aside by a wave of Mithos' fury driven mana. He was surprised when he saw Mithos rubbing his cheek, Anna, her fist's clenched stood over him. Yuan looked up, his mouth sagged open.

"My God, what a woman!" Yuan's lips twitched just a bit. "No wonder you got brave so fast, can I barrow her sometime?" Kratos was floored by his fellow seraphim's banter, but no so much as when Anna took advantage of Mithos stooped posture to delivered a harsh kick to his male parts. "Never mind, I like being male, with that one around I don't think I'd stay that way."

Dazed Mithos staggered out of Anna's reach, Kratos swept into the room, pulled his sword from it's resting place, and pressed it's point against Mithos' throat. the boy snapped his head up, looked to his mentor who had once more put a sword to his throat

"You double crossing bastard, I'll kill all of you for this!"

"Get out," Anna hissed. "Go back to Derris Kharlan you murderer... Just leave us alone, leave us the hell alone!"

"You don't order me around you filthy human! No one does! Yuan, help me!"

"No Yggdrasil, you're on your own." Yuan then nodded to Kratos. "I'm sorry it came to this, I tried to stop it, please trust me when I said I tried my hardest to stop him..."

"Get out Yuan, I am in no mood to forgive anything right now."

There was a flash of the softest pink light, then Yuan was gone. Mithos shook, looked at his teacher with hatred in his face. The boy's angelic face was twisted into a demon's glare.

"You betrayed me..." It was a hiss.

"You betrayed him long before he ever betrayed you." Anna whispered. "No innocents, on your name as a Yggdrasil, you swore that to him. How many in those god damned ranches have you killed, how many of those Chosen's have you sacrificed? They weren't guilty, none of them!"
"What does she know Kratos, what have you told her?" Mithos was calm, it was a false calm that would soon explode into violence, into a fight. He tried to gesture for Anna to go for the door, but she refused to leave his side.

"Enough you bastard, enough."

"Shut up wench, I wasn't talking to.." Mithos croaked as the tip of the steel blade was rammed into his throat. It didn't puncture the skin but knocked the air out of him.

"Do not ever insult my wife, do not ever raise your arm against her or my son."

Mithos only gasped for air, some of the word fragments he managed to cough out were hardly flattering.

"You betrayed..."

"Oh for the love of the Goddess, is that all you ever say! You betrayed him, all he ever wanted was just a bit of happiness, and when he finds it you rip it away from him. Every single time did something that didn't fit in with your damned 'ethics' you'd take away what little happiness he found and turn it into a bloody ruin! All for what, Martel? Martel is dead, she died a long time ago, and all you're doing is causing her pain with.. with this madness."

"You she-dog (A/N: the swear word wont transfer for some reason so I temporized here) I'll..." Power flickered to life in the childish hands.

Kratos spell hit first. The house shuddered around them as bolts of light fell from the heavens, Mithos cried out, covered his head with his hands as the roof decided to cave in. Anna ran for the door, Kratos was by her side, with one smooth gesture he picked her up, then flew out the door. He fled Falinor, Anna resting in his arms as they glided over the snow covered earth.

"Oh God Kratos..." She whispered, holding onto him with a terror inspired grip. "Now what..."

"First I hide you, then I'll bring Lloyd and Noishe, then we figure it out."

"Oh God I shouldn't have.. I... I may have just... he'll kill us all!"

"He had it coming," He tried to smile at her, and perhaps he didn't quite fail. "Anna I love you, I love Lloyd, I love Noishe, all we need is each other, and we are fine. If he comes after us again... I'll deal with it."

"Like this time, God Kratos if he hadn't been so surprised... And you're sword didn't even hurt him! What kind of person doesn't get hurt?"

"He can get hurt, you just have to have the right sword. All I have to do is go visit a friend of mine to pick it up." A grim smile touched his lips. "And once I have it, he wont dare lay a hand on you or Lloyd. We will be safe, I promise, I wont let him hurt you or Lloyd."
Spotting the cave he drifted down to the earth, his wings fluttering grew less active, then he stretched them out as far as they would go. Lazily he circled the cave, drifting farther and farther down. When his spiraling descent made him level with the caves entrance he glided in, then gently set Anna to the earthen floor.

"I will be back, with Lloyd, if he comes..." Kratos drew an enchanted dagger from his belt. "This will hurt him, not much, but it will hurt him. I will be back as soon as I can." For a moment he held her, she trembled in his grasp, then he drifted away, flew out the caves opening and back into the darkening skies.