A/N: SOOO sorry for not updating sooner! I've been trying to make a habit of updating every two weeks, but work has been murder lately, and as we all know, work sucks. 'nuff said 'bout that.
Okay, this is the last chapter before the big Sheloyd chapter I promised everyone. Whew… anyway, in this chapter, there's going to be some father and son bonding, with not only Kratos and Lloyd, but Dirk as well. Hope you like it!
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Chapter 22: All in the Family
Lloyd shot a cold glare across the table at Dirk. For too many years, Lloyd had lost to Dirk at Dwarven Blackjack, a card game that the dwarf had played since his youth. Dirk was very good at this particular game of luck and Lloyd never could understand why he himself could never win. However, this time was different. Never before had he obtained so many points in a game without going over twenty-one. Seventeen points were showing with nine cards on the table; five up, four down. Lloyd knew that most of the high numbered cards in the deck were gone, making his odds of going over twenty-one fairly low even if he did fail to call odds or evens.
Lloyd took a deep breath. "Hit me."
Dirk drew a card and eyed it without showing it to Lloyd. "Odds or evens?"
Lloyd closed his eyes in an attempt to get a feel for the card. He always believed that Dirk knew how to do this but he never could get it right himself. Still, it was too late to turn back now. He had to give it a shot. "Evens."
Dirk grinned as he laid down a five. "Too bad Lloyd. I'm adding that to your seventeen to make it twenty-two. You bust, you lose."
Lloyd pounded his fist on the table. "Damnit! I lost again! How do you do that?"
Dirk gathered the cards back up. "Easy. I play off your greed for more points. I was nowhere near you in terms of total points. You could've stayed and probably won."
"Grr…" Lloyd sighed and began to laugh. "Oh well. One of these days I'll get ya. You'll see."
"Heh, don't be so sure of that laddie," said Dirk as he put the cards back in their box.
Lloyd noticed what Dirk was doing and became puzzled. "Eh? We're not going to play again?"
Dirk shook his head. "No, not yet anyway. We need to talk."
"What about, dad?" asked Lloyd.
The old dwarf sighed. "Lloyd, you don't have to call me dad anymore. You have Kratos now."
A short silence followed before Lloyd said, "So?"
"Lloyd…"
Lloyd shook his head. "You raised me as your own for fifteen of my seventeen years of life. Kratos may be my real father, but you've spent far more time with me than he has. You taught me everything I know. If it wasn't for you, how could I have made all of the key crests and stuff that we used on our journey? It's because you've been such a great father to me that I've become who I am now. I love both you and Kratos, and I think of both of you as my dad. However, you'll always have a special place in my heart as the man, er, dwarf, that raised me."
Another moment of silence. Dirk smiled and at his "son" and chuckled. "Lloyd, I could not have asked for a greater compliment than that. You make me feel like I've done something great with my life. I'm very proud of you Lloyd. My only regret is that you are not in all senses of the word my son. Still, I'll gladly settle for what I've got."
Lloyd's face turned red. "Ah, hehe, thanks dad. That's nice of you."
"Aye laddie, you're more than deserving of it," said Dirk. "Now then, on to what I wanted to talk to you about…"
"Go ahead"
"Lloyd, I…" Dirk sighed. "Are you sure you want to go through with this tomorrow?"
"Dad?"
Dirk shook his head. "I mean, the legends say that we can live under the protection of the summon spirits forever right?"
"Yeah, but…"
"Then it means that it's not necessary for any of you to go and fight Nebilim tomorrow. We've lived in and around Iselia for your entire life so far. What would be so bad about continuing life like this? There's no need to throw away your lives."
Lloyd closed his eyes. "I know what you're saying dad, but I just can't do that. Think about all of the people in the world that were killed by Nebilim when they couldn't make it to one of the temples. Think about the people that are hiding in temples in remote regions with little food or water. Celsius' ice cave? Gnome's underground cavern? Efreet's desert temple? These aren't very good places to live life at. We're one of the few lucky towns that live so close to a temple that's on good terrain. Lots of trees, streams, fields… sure, we could live forever, but most everyone else couldn't." He reopened his eyes. "I could never forgive myself if I just let those people die."
Dirk sighed. "Then what about Sheena? Are you willing to risk her for the sake of the world? The more I think about, this is starting to sound like the journey of World Regeneration. Remember when you were forced to choose between Colette and the world?"
Lloyd couldn't believe what he just heard. "W-what? Dad, how can you even compare this situation to that?"
"Because it's so similar. That's why."
"No dad, there's a difference this time." Lloyd folded his arms. "This time, we know what we're getting ourselves into. We all know the risks. We don't want to die, but we're willing to risk our lives for the sake of Symphonia."
"Lloyd, listen to me! You don't even have a chance! There's only three of you, and it took nine seraphim to just seal Nebilim, let alone destroy him! I don't want to see you dead!"
"You won't see him dead," said Kratos.
The old dwarf and Lloyd turned to the doorway in which stood the powerful hero of ancient times.
"Kratos?" said Dirk.
"Now will you see Sheena like that. That's a promise," said Kratos with a nod.
"What about you dad?" asked Lloyd.
"…of course," said Kratos, a hint of doubt in his voice. "I already promised Sheena that we will all return safely: me, you, and Sheena. I will make the same promise to the both of you."
Dirk stood up, still upset with what was going on. "How can you be so sure?"
Kratos closed his eyes. "I just know. Trust me."
Dirk sighed and sat back down. "So you won't back down, will ya?"
Kratos shook his head. "No. I know you're worried about Lloyd and Sheena, but they're doing this of their own will. You have only yourself to blame for instilling such a strong sense of justice into Lloyd."
A long silence followed. Finally, Dirk began to chuckle. "Haha, ya got me there Kratos. Dwarven Vow number seven: Justice and Love will always win."
Kratos nodded with a smile. "And we have both on our side."
Still laughing, Dirk shook his head and said, "Alright, you two win. Just try not to make this old dwarf worry so much, will ya?"
Lloyd walked and hugged his dwarven foster-father. "You got it dad."
"Lloyd?" said Kratos.
"Yeah dad?" replied Lloyd.
"I need to speak with you for a moment, but first, let's step outside."
"Why?"
Kratos smirked as he stepped outside. "For a friendly duel. What else for?"
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"Sorry Kratos, but I'm rooting for Lloyd," said Dirk.
The seraphim nodded. "Naturally. I wouldn't have it any other way." He turned to his son. "Are you ready?"
Lloyd was having a hard time deciding which set of swords he was going to use: the Valkyries strapped on his back or the Material Blades on his sides. The decision finally came down to the fact that the Valkyries were weaker than the Material Blades and this was just a friendly duel, so he went with those. He drew the wide-blades and pointed the right one and Kratos. "Ready."
Kratos drew his simplistic silver sword and clanked it against his shield. "Then come at me. Let's see if you still have what it takes to beat me!"
"Here I come!" yelled Lloyd as he charged his father, blades flowing from side-to-side behind him as he ran.
Once Lloyd was within striking distance, he swung his blades horizontally fashion, similar to that of a pair of scissors. Kratos easily deflected the fierce attack by deflecting one of the blades with his shield and the other with his own sword. "Too sloppy Lloyd!" He shoved his shield towards Lloyd and bashed him in the chest with it.
"Oof!" grunted Lloyd as he stumbled backwards. "Attacking with a shield? That's cheap!"
"So is using two weapons," said Kratos with a grin.
"Bah!" Lloyd twirled around and smacked Kratos' sword arm with the side of his Valkyrie, causing the seraphim to stumble himself. "How's that?"
"Not bad!" He took a few steps back and raised his shield. He whispered a few words and from the shield came three fireballs.
"Magic? Yeesh!" Thinking quickly, Lloyd planted both of the Valkyries into the ground and drew his blades of fire and ice, the Material Blades. He crossed them into an "X" pattern and absorbed the fireballs into the blades. "Heh. Nice try." He sheathed the blades and drew the Valkyries from the ground.
"Quick thinking Lloyd. You've vastly improved your technique since we last fought."
"You haven't seen anything yet!" Lloyd dashed at Kratos once again and Kratos prepared himself for the coming blow. However, this time, Lloyd tried something completely different. When he was only five feet away from Kratos, he plunged one of his Valkyries into the ground and used it as like pole-vault to launch himself over Kratos. Wasting no time, Lloyd quickly wheeled around and smacked Kratos in the back with the very wide side of the Valkyrie, sending Kratos to the ground. He walked over to Kratos and pointed his sword at the face-down angel. "I win."
"Heh." Kratos swept his leg like a hook, catching Lloyd's leg, and tripping him up, sending him to the ground. Wasting no time himself, Kratos quickly recovered from his won fall, turned around, and pinned Lloyd to the ground with his own shield and held the hilt of his blade close to Lloyd's throat. "It's never over until it's over. You are still too inexperienced."
Both father and son stared at each for a moment before they both burst into fits of laughter. Kratos slowly got off of his son, sheathed his blade, and offered his hand. Lloyd took it and stood up, dusting himself off as he did so.
Kratos walked over to the Valkyrie still planted into the ground. "That was a clever move Lloyd. You've learned to make great use of more than two blades at once. Very impressive." He drew the blade from the ground and tossed it to Lloyd who promptly sheathed it."
The two turned when they heard Dirk clapping. "Aye, a fight the likes of which I've never seen! Better luck next time Lloyd!"
The three shared another laugh but was followed by silence. They knew that this would be the last time they got to spend time together before the battle against Nebilim tomorrow. What if they didn't make it back? They couldn't ever have fun like this ever again.
Kratos wiped the sweat from his brow. "Now Lloyd, for what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Yeah dad?" said Lloyd.
Kratos walked over and put a hand on Lloyd's shoulder. "We've already discussed what's going to happen tomorrow. Do you have any questions about that?"
Lloyd shook his head. "Nope."
"Good, then that means you won't have to stick around here."
"Huh?"
"Sheena is waiting for you."
"She is?"
Kratos nodded. "She wanted to spend some time with you earlier, but I asked her to wait until I was done with you. I didn't want to interrupt your time together."
Lloyd blushed. "Dad!"
"He's right laddie," said Dirk. "This is your last night before the fight against Nebilim. You need to quit hanging old goats like us and spend some time with your lady. I don't want to sound negative, but this may be your last chance to do so?"
Kratos nodded again. "He's right Lloyd. For all intents and purposes, you are her knight. No matter what happens tomorrow, you are to put her safety above everything else. If forced to choose between her and myself, you will choose her. Do you understand?"
"Dad!" cried Lloyd. "How can you say that?"
"Promise me Lloyd."
"…alright dad. I won't argue with you. Besides, you can obviously take care of yourself, so I probably won't have to worry about it."
"Good. Now, go to her Lloyd. She should be around the town square, playing with the children. She had promised that she would do so before she left tomorrow."
"Alright dad." Lloyd began to walk off but turned back to his fathers. "Thank you… both of you…for everything."
"Go Lloyd," said Kratos.
Dirk nodded. "You shouldn't keep a good woman waiting, laddie."
Lloyd nodded and walked off. Kratos turned to Dirk and said, "Dirk, we need to talk."
Dirk nodded. "I think I know what you're going to say. Let's go inside."
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Tiny bit short, I know (2,000+ words, A/Ns not counted) but it's still longer than the last chapter. Now for what everybody has been waiting for… the chapter that I will put more effort into than anything else I have ever done… the pre-battle Sheloyd chapter. I truly hope that I can live up to everyone's expectations. I really hope it doesn't suck. I don't wanna be shot, stabbed, and run over by my fans XX Seriously though, I will do my best, and I hope you'll enjoy it. To ensure a better than usual performance, I'm putting every other project on hold so I can solely concentrate on this one chapter. I'll try to have it done ASAP, so please be patient. I lost one of my faithful readers recently when he was discouraged by the fact that Namco seems to endorse Shelos. This chapter will be my stand against that endorsement. I hope to prove once and for all the Sheena and Lloyd are the best possible ToS couple. I hope he comes back to read this upcoming chapter. To everybody else, stay tuned. Don't forget, if anyone knows how to draw and is interested in doing pictured of the characters with their angel arms, please let me know via email or whatever. See ya:goes into hiding and locks himself in a vault:
