Notes: Okay, this is the first chapter (and it was a helluva lot easier to write than the prologue shakes fist at evil prologue). Things are starting to move now. First impressions are a bitch, ya know? And…now I sound like Raijin from ff8. hurts self
Anyway…enjoy! Next chapter should be a lot of fun…cackles
X x X
Kratos arrived in Meltokio bright and early, already feeling refreshed as he breathed in the clean and crisp air that filled the flourishing world. He made his way towards the town square and was stopped by a young woman holding a basket of fresh-cut flowers beaming up at him as if he was a long lost friend.
"Morning, sir! Would you like to buy some Alstroemeria?" Kratos smiled back awkwardly as he debated just what he would need with flowers but decided on giving into the girl's sunny demeanor and purchasing one anyway. "Thank you!" The girl reached into her basket and handed him a single stem of the bright pink flower before skipping off to find some more people to accost. It was a nice change from the usual dead-pan responses he would get in Derris Kharlan at least. But even humanity was something he could only take in small doses, so he was hoping that this mission he was embarking on would be as short and painless as possible.
"Well, better stop dawdling," Kratos stated to no one in particular, assuming that he was beginning to look a bit suspicious standing in the middle of the square, staring down at a flower dumbly and muttering to himself. He shook his head and tucked the stem into his sword sheath before pulling out the directions Yuan had scribbled down for him. They might have even been helpful had the man not have the worst penmanship Kratos had ever seen. The seraph eventually gave up straining his eyes trying to read the messy text in favor of crumpling up the paper and tossing it at some poor unfortunate tree.
He managed to wander into what he assumed was the Chosen's part of the neighborhood, finding himself surrounded by large mansions and carefully pruned gardens. He remembered Yuan saying something about the Chosen's home being the most noticeably large one of the bunch and that he couldn't miss it. So taking that advice, Kratos climbed up the steps to what he estimated was the largest residence he could find and gave the door three sharp raps with the brass knocker.
"Wilder residence, how may I help you sir?" a middle aged man answered, speaking in a refined tone.
"My name is Kratos Aurion. I wish to speak to the Chosen if it is at all possible."
"Yes, of course. Come right in then." The man opened the door wider and held it so that Kratos could step inside. He was immediately surprised to see a large crowd of regally dressed women crowding the main hall, all wearing expressions of worry and anticipation. "As you can see there is a bit of a line, but I will go announce your arrival nonetheless. My name is Sebastian; please let me know if you are in need of any other service as you wait." The man bowed respectively before ascending the nearby staircase.
Kratos made his way slowly over to the other side of the room, trying to ignore the stares he was receiving from the other guests as he did so. He decided on admiring the large oil painting hanging ceremoniously on the wall. It was the rendition of a rather attractive woman, one who he assumed held some sort of importance. 'Mylene Wilder' read the small metal plaque at the bottom of the portrait and Kratos gave the painting another once-over before filing away that piece of information.
"Who do you think he is? I don't think I've ever seen him around before." Kratos found this was one of the times when he cursed his angel-enhanced hearing as he was forced to listen to the various women whisper about his sudden appearance.
"Doesn't he know that Master Zelos isn't interested in men?" one of the girls with a rather nasal voice questioned and giggled with one of her friends. Kratos sighed and turned around to face the increasingly annoying group, giving them the most unamused glare he could muster. A few of them broke away their stares quickly, but one blonde who seemed to be feeling rather brave approached him, twirling a strand of her long hair absently.
"I'm sorry if this seems rude, but I was just wondering how I've never noticed a man such as yourself around the city before. Are you perhaps from out of the country?" the woman asked politely but let her eyes stray downwards to finish appraising the man's appearance and clothing before meeting his dark brown eyes again.
"Actually this is the first time I've been to Meltokio," Kratos replied simply even though it was far from the truth. He had witnessed the ceremonial opening of the Grand Chapel of Martel long before this girl was even born. He figured she really didn't need to know that though.
"Oh really? Is there any relation to the Chosen? We're all quite a bit worried you know."
"No, none at all," Kratos answered and the woman seemed a bit disappointed. Why did he feel like he was being interrogated anyway? He hated to admit it, but that ice-blue stare of that mere mortal woman was getting a bit unnerving. It was a feeling that he rarely ever experienced.
"A Duke perhaps?" she tried again and Kratos shook his head. She blinked at him a few times before letting out a shrill laugh and waved her fan a few times absently. "I see. So what exactly IS it that you do?"
"I'm a… mercenary."
"Oh my! How… dangerous." The woman fanned herself a bit faster and grinned. Kratos was half hoping that once he revealed the fact that he didn't hold any important titles that the woman would stop badgering him, but it only seemed to interest her more if the sideways leer was any indication.
"Ahem, excuse me." The group of women turned their eyes away from their current entertainment; which happened to be a rather uncomfortable Kratos, and looked up to see the familiar butler at the foot of the stairs. A few of them waited at the edge of their seats, eager to see if they would be the next one chosen to be allowed upstairs. "Sir Kratos, the Master will see you now." There was an almost audible release of breath around the room and Kratos almost shirked back at the acidic glares he was receiving a second later.
"Oh, good luck… Kratos," the woman purred out the last word and Kratos cursed the fact that Sebastian had leaked out his name. "Poor Master Zelos is in a bit of a bad mood today." Kratos nodded his head and quickly excused himself and made his way for the stairs. Humanity could get tiring enough on its own, he had almost forgotten how women could be. With a few exceptions of course. Kratos shook his head to clear the nostalgic thoughts and returned to focusing on the task at hand. Hopefully this Zelos, he reminded himself, was going to be a bit easier to deal with. Otherwise this was going to be a long next few months.
"Right this way, sir." Sebastian led him down a hallway and stopped at a door with gold fixtures. The man knocked lightly but received no answer. Looking back at Kratos almost nervously, Sebastian hesitated before turning the handle and opening the door. "Master Zelos I…" The man was cut off as something blue whizzed by his head and he shifted to the side, with surprising swiftness for a man his age, to avoid it. That unfortunately left the man behind him the only thing left to stop the mystery item's flight. Kratos barely flinched as the plastic object bounced squarely off his forehead and onto the floor. The butler froze and Kratos kept his arms crossed and feigned indifference, something that was getting increasing hard to do today.
"About time! I'm starving! And get me a new icepack, that one's all melted," a commanding voice issued from the room and Kratos was now able to identify the object at his feet as the rejected icepack.
"Yes, right away, sir! I'm afraid you have a guest though."
"Yeah yeah…" The voice trailed off, sounding like it was muffled by something, but it was still clear that he didn't appear to be too interested. Sebastian offered Kratos an apologetic look and held open the door for him.
"Please go inside. You'll have to forgive the Master for his rudeness; he's a bit miffed today and not feeling too well."
"So I've noticed," Kratos grumbled and stepped inside the room, hearing the door click behind him softly a second later and already feeling lost at what to do next. He took in the room first, which he could have sworn was designed for a woman seeing how pink it was. He finally noticed the figure buried under the blankets of the large bed, the long red hair spilling out near the pillows the only thing identifying the lump as being human. He approached the bed cautiously, having just witnessed how violent the man could be and he wasn't sure what to expect next. Kratos cleared his throat when he reached the foot of the bed.
The figure shifted for a moment and grumbled a few unintelligible sentences before lying still, a painful gasp emitting from underneath the covers before everything went quiet again. Kratos debated poking the lump with his sword to see if it was still alive but instead walked around to the side of the bed. "Excuse me, are you quite alright?"
"Damn…can't you take a hint…" The man grumbled and peeled back part of his cocoon to take a look as his tormentor. Kratos's attention was immediately drawn to the startling blue eyes that blinked up at him sleepily, one of which contrasted distinctly with the dark purple bruise underneath it. The boy's lip was also split and he was sporting a large bruise on his jaw. Kratos almost felt sorry for the boy but he was starting to get the impression that he'd probably deserved it from what little he had seen of his not-so-perfect attitude. "Oh…you must be that Kratos guy Sebastian was talking about." He groaned and sat up slightly, letting the covers fall off of his shoulders. "He said you looked important."
"Did he? Well…I guess that all depends." Kratos shrugged, not aware that he gave that kind of impression but he was prepared to use it to his favor. "I have a proposition for you."
"Do you?" Zelos half snorted, giving off the impression that he was already skeptical of this whole encounter but he at least seemed to be willing to hear the seraph out. "Well… I'm all ears." Zelos reached up an arm to pull some of the long red locks out of his face and winced a second later. The list of things on his body that felt like they were about to fall off growing every minute.
"I've heard about what happened to you the other night," Kratos started and Zelos chuckled.
"You and half of the country," Zelos remarked sullenly but quickly shrugged it off. "But do go on."
"Yes, well… I am a traveling mercenary and I was thinking I could be of service to you." Kratos tried to choose his words carefully but it seemed to be a failed endeavor when Zelos sighed and let himself fall onto his back.
"Look, it's a nice thought and everything, but the last thing I need right now is another guard-dog breathing down my neck." Zelos shifted onto his side, preparing to crawl back into his hole and get back to his beauty sleep which was needed very badly right now.
"I'm afraid you don't understand." Kratos tilted his head as the boy peeked over his shoulder, looking modestly intrigued. "I think a far better idea at this point would be for you to learn how to defend yourself. I can teach you."
"Huh… I guess I never really thought of that before." Zelos sat up once more and gave the warrior beside him a wary eye, following the line of the long sword that was tucked away by his side curiously. "And you're what…doing this all out of the pure goodness of your heart? No offence, but you don't exactly look like that nice of a guy." Kratos smirked slightly at that; amazed at how much people could assume of others at a first glance. He wondered if the Chosen had any idea of all the things he had already assumed about the seemingly flippant, spoiled-brat in front of him and if they were all really the truth. "I take pride in my skills and I find satisfaction in passing them along to other willing students."
"I see, and this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that I'm the Chosen, would it?" Zelos asked skeptically, giving him a bright smile that seemed to betray everything in his demeanor at the moment.
"…Of course not." Kratos answered after some consideration, hoping that he had picked the right answer. The redhead eyed him for a few moments before giving another smile, one that didn't seem so out of place this time.
"Alright then! I'll think about it, 'kay? Come back tomorrow when I'm not feeling like I just got ran over by an elephant."
"Very well then." Kratos tried his best to return the friendly smile, but failed, leaving himself a mental note to work on that. He turned to leave but found himself stopped by a surprisingly strong grip on his wrist. "…Yes?"
"How'd you know pink was my favorite color?" Zelos beamed and Kratos was left slightly confused as to what in the hell he was talking about. He was also slightly curious as to why the Chosen's attention was focused somewhere around his crotch area. Maybe he really didn't want to know.
"Excuse me?" Kratos blinked down at the boy, flinching slightly as a hand reached out and snagged something from near his sword.Zelos grinned as he retrieved his prize and tucked the flower behind his ear without asking for permission.
"Really, you come in here acting like such a 'badass warrior' and then you carry around flowers? You're an interesting one," Zelos remarked in a tone that sounded amused and yet conversant at the same time.
"If you say so."
"I do. You can leave now by the way." Zelos let himself fall back into the embrace of his cushy bed once more, but the glint of delight still remained in his eyes, if you could manage to see it past all the swelling. Kratos still couldn't shake the feeling that this was all one big joke to the Chosen, but nodded his head and made his exit anyway.
"Did everything go well?" Sebastian asked as he reached the exit to the manor, looking slightly hopeful for some reason.
"Yes…I suppose. I'll be coming back tomorrow."
"Wonderful, I shall await your next arrival," he replied and opened up the door for the man. Kratos nodded gratefully and stepped back outside, breathing in the clean air once more and wondering why he ever thought it was so great. Things were definitely not going to be as easy as he would have liked it to be. He found himself wondering why it couldn't have been that nice girl from Sylvarant who was in need of his services instead. He shook his head and made his way towards the hotel he'd spotted earlier, hoping that they would have a permanent room available. This was going to be a long trip.
X x X
tbc