Chapter 16: Lonely Days, Sleepless Nights
As they arrived at the warp point, Kratos realized something.
"Yuan…you'll have to go ahead alone," he said, stopping.
"What? Why?" Yuan stopped and turned to face him. "You can't be serious!"
"I'm dead serious, Yuan. Tell Yggdrasill you never found me."
"He'll never believe me. You know that as well as I."
"Make him believe you. I'm not helping."
"Why not? You said you'd help him because he's your friend."
"He is no longer a friend. He was. But he is now an enemy." Kratos turned back the way they had come.
"You're going back to her? You know you can't say anything."
"Who said I was going to?" he smirked over his shoulder. "Tell Yggdrasill you never saw me," he spread his wings and took off again. Yuan sighed and stepped through the warp portal and back to Derris Kharlan.
"I'm sorry, my lord. I never found him." Yuan knelt before Lord Yggdrasill.
"Where have you looked?" the blonde Seraph asked.
"All over Sylvarant, my lord."
"Have you checked Tethe'alla?"
"Yes, my lord. Briefly." Yuan stood and faced the leader of Cruxis.
"Check again! I want that seal!"
"As you wish, my lord." Yuan left again to 'search' the worlds.
"Anna?" Kratos hovered near the window. He wasn't expecting a response as late as it was, but he nearly faltered and fell when he heard her soft voice.
"Kratos?" she came to the window and almost screamed when she saw him floating there, but stopped herself when she remembered he was an angel. "I thought you were leaving."
"I was, but I changed my mind." He climbed/flew through the window and folded away his wings. "I couldn't go through with it. He was my friend at one point, but now he has become corrupted by power."
"Who? What are you talking about? Why did this person want to talk to you so badly?"
"Mithos Yggdrasill. He has a split personality and he has let the evil side take over. He did not want to talk to me, he wanted to kill me."
"But why? If he was your friend…"
"I don't know why, but it might have something to do with the seal in my body."
"What kind of seal?"
"A spirit seal. He placed the seal in my body when he made the pact with the spirit. He probably wants it to further his plans."
"Oh…that's terrible! Why would he do something like that? Does it actually require your death to release the seal?"
"Unfortunately, yes. He is a twisted being. My guess would be that he needs the seal to use the Eternal Sword to join the worlds once again…probably hoping that it would make his plan easier."
"What plan?" Anna put her arms around his waist and put her head on his shoulder.
"That, I cannot say. Not because I don't know, but because I am already betraying Cruxis by staying here with you." He held her close and stroked her hair.
"What is Cruxis?" she moved to look into his eyes. "I heard you mention it earlier."
"Cruxis is the organization that guides this world. I am part of it and there is absolutely nothing I can do to get out."
"That's so sad. If you don't want to be part of it anymore, why don't you just leave?"
"As I have said, nothing can be done. My leader will not allow it. My status as a Seraphim of Cruxis will not allow it."
"Seraphim…higher than a typical angel."
"Yes. I had a few under my command, but when I left Derris Kharlan, Cruxis' headquarters, they were transferred to Yuan's command." Kratos sighed and backed out of Anna's arms. "I wish that I could leave Cruxis entirely, but I cannot. I would kill Lord Yggdrasill, but it is impossible."
"Why do you want to kill him if he used to be your friend?" Anna asked, sitting down on one of the beds.
"Lord Yggdrasill is the reason that you were in that Ranch in the first place. And now, he wants me to get to the seal held within me." He sat down next to her. "He might try to use me to find you."
"If you go back."
"Yes. If I go back. But I'm not going back." He kissed her. A promise to never leave her.
You know what to do if you want more...and yes. There will be more...