---
Snow fell gently onto the old snowdrifts, covering the city in a fresh layer of white. Old footprints were covered, along with the dirt that had mixed in with the older drifts when the streets were cleared. Lloyd's eyes sparkled as he gazed unseeing at the flakes that glittered in the light of the streetlamp.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door...
"Lloyd? Can I come in?"
---
Outside in the snow, a solitary figure stood upon one of the balconies that overlooked the village. The last item had already been delivered to a safe place and it only remained to remove the last obstacle in the way of their progress. Himself.
He tensed slightly as the scuffle of footsteps drew nearer, then forced himself to wait patiently. She would be here soon enough.
Sheena stepped out onto the balcony, looking almost as lost as the angel who stood there. The bulky coat hanging from her shoulders was the only concession that she'd made to the cold. "I should have known it was you."
Kratos shrugged from where he still leaned against the railing. "I have spoken with Lloyd. There is one last thing that must be done in order to clear the tower of Origin's protection. Once that happens, Mithos will be without support, save for his own insanity."
He turned and regarded the summoner thoughtfully. "That is why I called you here, to fulfill the last requirement."
"So you called me." There was a little bit of scorn present in the girl's tone as she replied. "Isn't that what happens when you need to find out information, you go to the outsider?"
Kratos remained silent, allowing the girl to vent a little.
"Aside from saving Altessa, there isn't anything else that we're considering right now. Saving people that we care about is important, at least to us."
The angel sighed. "You judge me harshly then." His head remained bowed as he spoke. "You see me as a traitor and therefore, despise me. Understandable, I despise myself. Of course, there are reasons for everything that I have done..."
He broke off as Sheena shifted towards him, fists clenched at her sides. "Reasons!"
Kratos continued on from where he had paused, ignoring her outburst. "You must kill me in order to remove the seal on Origin."
"What?"
"I said," the angel repeated, his words calm, "you must kill me in order to release the seal to Origin. I am the seal that holds him in place, bound to Mithos."
There was a sudden silence. Sheena backed away slightly, apparently still digesting what he'd just told her. Finally she asked another question, one that he didn't particularly care to dwell on. "Did you tell Lloyd this when you talked to him?"
"No." Kratos shook his head. "There were more important things that I needed to give him, along with the instructions that he must follow in order to wield the Eternal Sword. I..."
"How can you be so calm about this? This is your son that you are betraying! What reason could there ever be for that?"
"Ah yes, the bitterest of betrayals, the one I did not know that I would commit."
Kratos' voice was pained as he spoke this, his back still turned to the summoner. "To choose between your own blood and your friendships, this is the quandry. Very well," He turned to face her, arms falling to his sides as he did so. "Do as you must. End my worthless existence and save those you care about. I will not stop you, even though it means my last act of defiance to the lie that I helped to propagate. It is no more than I deserve."
Eyes closed and head bowed, Kratos waited for the inevitable. When no blow fell, he opened his eyes and beheld the summoner standing in front of him, tears upon her cheeks. "You idiot! I can't!"
The impact of hand upon flesh sounded in the stillness, and his head whipped around from the force of the blow. "You idiot! How can you say 'strike me down and save the ones you care about'? Don't you know? Have you not figured it out by now?"
"But why...?" His head was spinning right now, and something was definitely off. First Raine, and now Sheena. Why did nothing ever work how he intended it?
"Because... I love you. It would hurt too much to kill you, no matter how much you might deserve it."
Thunderstruck, Kratos took a step back. "You...? But how...? Surely...!"
If she hadn't been so serious, Sheena would have found it funny to see the angel at a loss for words.
---
Lloyd looked up at his fourth visitor for the evening. "Hi, Colette."
"Um, Lloyd?"
"Yeah?"
"It's snowing outside. I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk with me?"
Glancing down at the pendant in his hand, Lloyd slipped the item back into his shirt. Turning to the girl with a smile, he nodded once. "Sure."
Taking her hand, he led her out into the snowfall.
---
They were staring at one another. Both were trembling, though from what emotion it could not be told at first glance. Kratos was the first to speak again.
"You cannot!" A whisper against the night. "You cannot do such a thing! It will kill you! It takes everyone around me, those that I care for!"
"I can't 'not care'! You're too... you care?"
The angel's mind blanked as he fought to remember the phrases that he had just used. Swiftly he pieced through his plea, and sadly found that he had in a roundabout way said what she'd just repeated back to him as a question. He backed away from her, retreating from the balcony. "No! Don't ask me that!"
Sheena followed, vacating the balcony and moving into the streets below. As they stood in the shadows now, she moved closer. "You care for me?"
"Please! Don't ask me to say that." Kratos voice was calm, at least aside from the small tremor that escaped at the end. "First it was Mithos and Martel, then Anna and Lloyd. Everyone that I have ever loved, ever hoped to love; they all are lost to the darkness."
His eyes pierced hers in the darkness. "I don't want you to go through that. Please, don't ask me to say it."
There was silence between them for a moment before she finally nodded. Her voice was firm despite the drying tears on her cheeks as she replied. "I understand. But you know that I cannot do as you ask. And even if it seems to you to be the heat of the moment, understand that the truth is there. I have to protect those I care about, if I still can."
"Maybe there is hope somewhere then. But what I said too, still holds. The only way to save those you care about is to take me down." He turned to leave, hesitating only momentarily. "Forgive me, I did not know. I would not have asked you had I..." He fell silent and Sheena listened too as the sound of voices reached down to the street.
---
Above them, two friends reached the balcony and proceeded to talk as they gazed at the snowfall...
"Hey Lloyd..."
"Yeah Colette?"
---
Snow is always falling in Flanoir. Gifts abound there for some reason, and romance rises to a passionate blaze. What is the secret of the town? No one really knows...
Unseen to the occupants, several ghostly forms skitter off into the night... (1)
---
AN: Just a little something in the Hidden Hearts storyline to keep you all happy. :) Kind of a flash-forward, instead of a flashback.
(1) - Er, who else has been running around interfering with these two? Read the other chapters, or if you still can't figure it out, email me.
Merry Christmas, all!