The Day of Fate
Disclaimer: No I do not own Tales of Symphonia.
Warnings: Um... lets see... Kratos is really pissed off so don't push him, okay?
Dedications: Akako for being to first to read the first two chapters of The World of Gestalt. Sorry this has no humor... but it's a thanks for your support that you've shown already. : ) Hope you like it!
The man dropped to the ground and stabbed his sword into the dark earth, now covered in blood. Blood continued to drip from his body as he struggled to stand up. His brown hair was matted and hung loosely over his scarlet eyes. Soldiers wearing red and black along with armor surrounded him. Their swords were drawn, some had the man's blood on the tips. After many desperate attempts to stand up, he fell face down on the ground. A man with blonde hair broke the circle of soldiers and walked up to the fallen man. Across his face was a wicked smile. The man on the ground, still concious, glared at him.
"There is no point in continuing. You cannot beat all of us." The blonde kicked the man. "If it wasn't for Yggdrasill's stupid wishes to keep you alive, I would have thrown you off this cliff long ago. What do you say Kratos, do you surrender?"
Kratos tightened his grip on his sword, and once again tried to pull himself off the ground. His eyes still blazing with anger, he finally stood up. The blonde backed away from him as if he was a rabid animal.
"I... will never surrender to the likes of you... Kvar." Kratos spat out with disgust. His sword shook as he tightened his grip. His free hand was clenched tightly at his side. Slowly, he made a step toward Kvar.
One of the soldiers slammed the back of his sword on the back of Kratos' head. Once again, he fell to the ground. Kvar motioned for the soldier to hold his position as he made a move to stab Kratos. To everyone's suprise, Kratos slowly pushed himself to his feet still willing to go on.
"How is this possible? That would have knocked any normal human out cold!" Kvar snapped angrily.
"You forget Kvar, I'm no human." The Cruxis Crystal on his hand reflected a bright light from the sun. All of the soldiers backed away from him as he approached Kvar.
"Fine, I didn't want to have to do this but you leave me no choice." Kvar snapped his fingers and two soldiers appeared restraining a woman with long brown hair. In her arms she clutched a toddler who was crying. Kratos' heart skipped a beat when he saw them.
"Anna... Lloyd..." Kratos thrust his sword to Kvar's throat so hard that blood trickled down his neck. He slowly added pressure to his sword as he stepped toward Kvar. "Let them go!"
"I thought this would get your attention. If you want them to leave here safely, then come with us. Then they might escape with only a few scratches."
"Might isn't good enough!" Kratos yelled raising his voice gradually. "Release them now and I 'might' consider it."
"So you have no intention of rejoining Cruxis. Fine! Remove the wench's exsphere!" Kvar demanded the soldiers.
Kratos stabbed Kvar in the side and rushed to his wife and son. Soldiers surrounded him once again. The feared look in his wife's eyes as the soldier place his hand over her exsphere, raised his level of anger. A red aura flowed around him, soon replaced with flames. The fire spread to all of the soldiers surrounding him. In a matter of seconds the flames consumed all of them.
"Can't you Desians do anything right?" Kvar yelled as the flames disappeared.
All of the Desians were on the ground. Most of them were dead, but a few were lucky enough to survive. Kratos made a move to the Desians holding Anna and Lloyd. Anna's head rested on her chest and her body was limp, as if she had died. Horror struck Kratos, he had not been quick enough. Her exsphere was removed and one of the Desians was holding it. In anger he slaughtered the Desians that were holding her captive and pushed their bodies over the cliff. The exsphere rolled on the ground toward Kvar, and Kratos left Anna to retrive it. He had to get it because... she would die from it. Kvar slowly reached to grasp it as it rolled closer to him. Kratos thrust his sword through Kvar's hand causing him to scream out in pain.
"Even though you were responsable for making this, I cannot let you have it." he said coldly, picking it up.
A sharp loud scream from the toddler caused Kratos to spin around instantly. Anna had become a monster from the mana in her body going out of control. Her body was now a dark purple and in the middle of her head was one orange eye. It rolled around in her head as if it was hardly attached at all. The eye stopped rolling and fixed its gaze upon Lloyd. It raised its long arm to strike with the long claws it now possessed.
"NO!" Kratos yelled as he ran to save Lloyd. As the monster's arm came down, Kratos knew he wouldn't make it in time. A white and green blur whipped past him and leapt into the air before the monster. It was their abnormally giant dog, Noishe. Noishe clenched his jaws around the monster's arm stopping the strike. A greenish type of blood dripped from the monster's wound, steaming as it hit the ground. The monster slung his arm around causing Noishe to loosen his grip and get flung to the ground. After recovering himself, Noishe jumped back at the monster and clung to its neck. The monster reached up, yanked Noishe off, and slammed him into the ground. Seriously wounded, Noishe did not get back up. The monster started to struggle with itself, placing its hands over its head. A high pitched scream erupted from a mouth that wasn't there, then it finally calmed down and its arms swung loosely at its sides.
"K... Kratos..." it said in a disembodied voice.
"Anna!" Kratos made a move to rush to her but she stopped him.
"Don't come too close! I... I don't want to hurt you... or Lloyd... There is only... one thing left to do..." she shrieked in pain as the monster started to regain control. "K... Kill me..."
"No! I won't!" Kratos yelled with a shaky voice. Even though deep down, he knew he would have to. His heart started to ache and beat fast. He could feel his blood rushing through his veins as the world seemed to stop for him.
"I... I am... sorry... my be... loved..." Anna managed to say before the monster claimed complete control again. Once more, it made its move to kill Lloyd. Setting all emotional feelings aside, Kratos gripped his sword tightly. He couldn't save Anna, but he could still save his son. Clenching the Exsphere in his left hand, he charged forward with his sword held in his right.
In the blink of an eye, it was over. Kratos pulled his sword out of the back of the monster. He had stabbed completely through to the other side. The monster fell to its knees before falling over face down. Anna's body returned to normal, except for the deep wound in her stomach.
Kratos rushed to her and turned her over, holding her in his arms. Her skin was starting to pale and become cold. She still had a slight breath of life left in her, for she was looking up at Kratos.
"Lloyd... can I please..." she clenched her eyes shut as she coughed up blood. "... hold him... once more..." She begged in a silent whisper. Kratos nodded, and carefully laid her on the ground so he could receive Lloyd. Lloyd was hiding in a bush, crying to himself. Kratos reached in to pick him up but quickly withdrew his hand as Lloyd tried to bite him. On the second try, Lloyd recognized his father and allowed him to pick him up. Kratos walked quickly back over to Anna and handed her his paranoid son. She started crying as she held Lloyd close to her. Kratos looked away, unable to bear the feeling of what was about to happen.
His eyes widened in terror as he saw Kvar stand up and gather a blue light in his hand. Unable to react fast enough, Kratos watched as Kvar shot his wife and son. He reached out to grab them as they fell off the cliff, tumbling to the ground below. His hand brushed against Anna's but was unsucessful of grabbing her. The Exsphere dropped out of his hand and fell along with them.
"Ha ha ha! I hope they both die!" Kvar spit at him. Rage caused Kratos to beat Kvar half a dozen times with the back of his sword. As Kvar laid on the ground moaning in pain, Kratos kicked him dead in the face. Kvar recoiled and reached up to grab his now broken nose.
"You will take that with you to hell!" Kratos raised his sword to finish what he had started. After realizing what he was doing, he stopped and lowered his sword. "I'm not like you Kvar. I won't finish off my wounded opponents like a coward. You don't even deserve to die by my hand."
Leaving Kvar back at the summit, Kratos took off down the trail of the mountain. They could still be alive. Not likely but possibly. It seemed to take ages to descend the mountain. Branches from trees slapped and tore at him as he ran through. Finally reaching the bottom with scratches all over him, he looked around frantically for his wife and son. A glimmer in the clearing of the woods caught his eye. As he approached he saw that it was the armor from a Desian corpse. Dozens were lying around. Kratos searched among their bodies for sight of Anna and Lloyd. Rounding the side of the mountain, he had an unexpected run in with an animal. It was wolflike and was devouring a corpse. It wasn't the only animal there. It was most likely in a pack because five more were doing the same thing. This was the farthest a body could go from the cliff he had been on.
"Their bodies have been devoured Kratos. Now do you see what I will do to those that oppose me?" Yggdrasill asked from behind him. Kratos spun around holding his sword at this side. Along with Yggdrasill was Yuan, one of the Four Seraphim. As usual, his arms were crossed against his chest. Two angels held the wounded Kvar. "Kratos, you have nothing left. I've destroyed it all! "I'll be willing to forgive your deception if you rejoin Cruxis and reclaim your loyalty to me." Yggdrasill approached him. "You can live in the world Cruxis will create, or you can die here although... you won't be joining your wife and son in Heaven. Which will it be?" he asked. Kratos turned his head and looked in the other direction. Yggdrasill became aggrevated and a ball of white light appeared in his hand. "Make your decision. Salvation or damnation, you choose or I'll choose for you."
Kratos looked back at Yggdrasill. He knew what he must do, and he would regret it. He slowly kneeled down on one knee in front of Yggdrasill. "I pledge myself to Lord Yggdrasill and Cruxis." Kratos said to him. Yggdrasill lowered his hand.
"Good. Then I shall see you in Welgaia very soon. You two!" He looked at the two angels holding Kvar. "Make sure he gets to Welgaia when he is ready. If he takes any detours... well, use your imagination." Yggdrasill grabbed Kvar, and disappeared in a light along with Yuan.
Kratos cursed, disgusted with himself. But he had to live for Anna and Lloyd. He had to live the lives that they never had the chance to live. Whether it was damnation or salvation, he would live for the sake of those he loved. He would get his vengence one day.
Author's Note: In this One-shot I made Kratos' personality more like Lloyd when he's angry. We'll just say that's where Lloyd gets it from. Yuan had no lines because... well if you didn't notice, his personality always changes so I really have no idea what he's like. Yggdrasill is his normal butthead self and so is Kvar so it all worked out! Anyway, I think this is my most descriptive fic yet. I'm so proud of myself. tear Just kidding, I just enjoy writting, and I hope you enjoy reading.