Chapter 22: A Star is Born
"Honey? Are you okay?" Anna asked once Kratos had regained conciseness.
"Huh? I'm fine. Really, Anna. I'm fine." Kratos stood up and brushed himself off. "What happened?"
"Promise you won't faint again?"
"I…I fainted?" Kratos asked, more than a little confused.
"Yes. Right after I told you that I'm pregnant."
"How long ago was this?" the angel narrowed his eyes, calculating.
"You were out cold for about two hours."
"Two hours?" Kratos sat down in the chair. "Let me get this straight. For the first time in roughly 4,000 years, I fainted, I was out cold for two hours, and you are pregnant?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much it…wait…4,000 years?" At the slightly surprised look Anna gave him, he merely shrugged.
"Can you really blame me? I am an angel." He took off his gloves and threw them on a nearby desk. "And besides, what did you expect? These things practically freeze the aging process." He held up his hand to show her the gem. (A/N: If you look at Mithos, Zelos, Presea, and Colette, they all have their Cruxis Crystals on little necklace looking things…I just figured Kratos would be different. Yay for individualism-)
"Aren't you the least bit happy? You're going to be a father!" Anna said, sitting on his lap and ignoring everything he had just said.
"I don't know what to feel. I'm happy that I'm going to be a father, but at the same time, I'm a little scared that I won't be any good at it or that I'll be rejected. I mean…I'm just getting used to being married, and now…" he was silenced by the kiss Anna gently pressed on his lips.
"It'll be fine. I'm sure you'll be a wonderful dad." She kissed him again, and then they went back outside and to the fountain.
Over the course of Anna's pregnancy, they traveled very rarely for obvious reasons. If they did go somewhere, they didn't go too far. Stopping for up to two months at the towns around the area, they managed to make it to Hakonesia Peak by the time she was six or seven months along.
"Where to from here?" Kratos asked when they reached the peak. He had been walking the entire time from at least Asgard while Anna rode on Noishe.
"I don't know…maybe we can go back to Izoold?" she asked hopefully.
"All right. Let's try to make it to the bottom of the mountain before nightfall, though." So they kept going. Sure enough, just as twilight fell, they reached the bottom of the mountain. They camped for the night, then kept going.
It took a while to make it to Palmacoasta from Hakonesia Peak, and by the time they got there and stayed for a couple months, Anna was eight and a half months pregnant.
From Palmacoasta, they took a boat to Izoold. After a couple weeks there, it was time.
Kratos wasn't allowed anywhere near the building until all was said and done. For almost the entire day, he waited. He paced around in the market and on the beach to pass time.
"You seem worried, Lord Kratos." Kratos turned to see Yuan.
"I'm fine…" he answered quickly.
"No. You aren't. What's wrong?"
"I…Come with me. I have to see her." Kratos grabbed Yuan's wrist and dragged him along to the medical building.
"Kratos! What is all this about?"
"Sir, do you have authorization to be in this area?" a nurse asked.
"I want to see Anna…is she all right?"
"Who are you?"
"Kratos Aurion. I want to see my wife."
"Ok. Right this way, please." The nurse led him to a small room and let him in. "Anna, he's here." She shut the door behind the two Seraphim.
"Kratos…come here. Come see him." Anna whispered. He walked over to her and she handed him the blue-wrapped bundle she had been holding. "I haven't named him yet…I thought you might like to." Yuan walked up behind Kratos.
"A child? Kratos…What if Lord Yggdrasill finds out?"
"He won't find out because you won't tell him." Kratos turned a steely glare on his blue-haired friend, and then set softer eyes on his son. "As long as you keep your silence, Yuan, Lord Yggdrasill will never find out about Lloyd." Anna smiled, then looked at Yuan.
"You won't tell, will you?" she asked.
"No, Lady Anna, I won't." he turned to Kratos. "Lord Kratos, there is something I think you should hear, now that I think about it."
"What is it, Yuan?" Kratos turned to face Yuan. "And, please, try to keep it down."
"Of course. I have recruited an army to fight Yggdrasill and the Desians."
"You'll be in trouble if he finds out…" Anna started.
"He's not going to." Yuan stated. "I'm pretending to stay loyal to him while at the same time training my Renegades and trying to protect your family."
"Renegades? Sounds kind of obvious, don't you think?" Kratos asked after a while.
"As long as Lord Yggdrasill doesn't know who started it, it can be as obvious as they want it to be." Kratos nodded in agreement, then turned to Anna.
"When are they going to let you out?"
"I don't know…they said I could leave when you got here…" The door opened and the nurse walked back in with a clipboard and a couple other things.
"Just a couple of things and then you can leave." The nurse pulled up a chair next to Anna's bed. "First things first. What have you decided to call him?"
"His name is Lloyd." Kratos said.
"All right. Now we just need to do a couple of tests to make sure he's healthy enough to leave." The nurse wrote down his name and proceeded to 'test' him. Basically, she checked his heart and vital signs and all the other stuff that's supposed to be tested and checked and yada yada yada. "All right! You're free to go." The nurse opened the door and saw everyone to the entrance/exit.
"I'm technically supposed to be on a mission or looking for you or something. Do you want me to just give my usual 'I couldn't find him anywhere, my lord. Please don't hurt me, my lord. I'll try harder next time, my lord' monologue?"
"Yeah. That would work." Kratos said. Yuan nodded and flew off, leaving the family standing there.
"Well? Are we ready?" Anna asked, raising an eyebrow at her husband.
"As ready as we'll ever be." He kissed her on the lips, kissed his son on the forehead, and led them home.
HOORAY! Please review...reviews make everyone happy. DO YOU WANT KRATOS TO GET MAD! that's what i thought.