Chapter 3

Past Memories

"Dad?" Lloyd looked around him, but Kratos was clearly not there.

"Lloyd, what happened? Where's Kratos?" Raine had come to take care of his runaway brother.

"I don't know… He was here just a minute ago…" the youngster scratched the back of his head "Oh, no! What if he decided to leave after all!"

"I don't think so. It's not Kratos' style," Genis was looking around him, too.

"Very well, you go look for him," Raine dragged Genis with her to where the other children were.

Lloyd ran through the village searching for the angel. He asked every person in the village about him, but apparently, he had disappeared.

"Aw, man! Where did he- ?" he turned around just to see Kratos standing there "Where were you?"

"I went for some bandages, you're hurt," the angel pointed at Lloyd's shoulder, which was bleeding profusely.

"Wha-? Ouch!" Lloyd touched his bruise and felt pain running through his arm.

Kratos took hold of the boy's arm and ripped the sleeve, leaving in the open a huge cut.

"Where did that come from?" Lloyd watched as his father wrapped the injury "Hey, you really know how to do this. But I still don't know when I got that..."

"It happened when you ducked down to protect yourself from my Judgment attack, you dropped your swords carelessly, and one of them cut your arm," the caring father finished wrapping his son, "I went for the bandages because I felt guilty, you ducked because of me."

"It's not your fault. I dropped the swords," Lloyd told his father with a concerned look "You're not going to be an overprotective father, are you?"

"I'm only taking care of my son…" the elder looked up at the teenager's eyes, showing no hostility.

"Thanks… Oh, no! My clothes!" Lloyd realized his ripped sleeve. The red clothes Dirk had made him were now useless.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to do that…"

"Don't worry… Oh, well… it was meant to happen. Let's go back to the school; the Professor is probably waiting for us."

"Wait. I heard you do poorly in school. Is that true?" Kratos' look was of displeasure.

"Uh… Well… Yeah…"

"You need to study harder. If you want to be a good swordsman, you will need to know about the Kharlan War."

"What? You're going to teach me? I bet this is going to be annoying…" Lloyd became depressed as they got near the school, but there were no more parents, nor children.

When they entered the building, they found Raine reading the same book she was reading earlier. Genis was playing with his kendama and Colette was admiring her new bracelet.

"Hey, guys, I found Kratos," the youngster declared cheerfully.

"That's good! But school is over… You're late, everyone wanted to see you two fighting. They said it was awesome," Genis stopped playing with his kendama.

"Huh? It's over?" Lloyd scratched his head disappointed.

"Um… You're leaving tomorrow, aren't you? Would you want to come to my house for a Farewell Party? I already asked my father and he agreed… I guess Grandma will be pleased as well…" Colette was twirling her finger in her hair.

"Sure, why not! Let's stay, Dad."

"I must politely decline…" Kratos lowered his eyes.

"No, you're staying. It's time for you to relax and make some normal stuff," Lloyd took hold of his father's arm.

"But…"

"No buts! You will stay and you will enjoy the party," Lloyd had an evil grin on his face.

"Yeah! I'll go make all the preparations…" Colette left the building and they saw her running to her house from the window.

Kratos gave Lloyd an uneasy look, but the teenager just ignored him.

vvvvv

"And then I shouted 'Explosion!' and he kinda fell to the floor!" Genis was laughing with the rest at Colette's party. Every wall was covered with confetti and balloons.

"That's not funny. I almost had a heart attack," Lloyd blushed and scratched his head.

Kratos was sitting beside Lloyd but he had been silent all night.

"Kratos, why don't you tell us something about you?" Phaidra looked up at the quiet mercenary.

"Yeah! Tell us about…" Lloyd knit the eyebrows, "I know! Tell us about when you met Mom!"

Everyone agreed and tried to persuade the angel to speak.

"Very well, I'll tell you," Kratos closed his eyes trying to remember the event that had happened twenty years ago.

Life in Derris-Kharlan was getting boring. After 4000 years of doing nothing, apart from reading countless books, life was becoming meaningless. He doubted Martel would ever be revived. And besides, he didn't care anymore. Of course he wanted a world free of discrimination, but it seemed the world opposed that.

All he could do was walk aimlessly through Vinheim. He could also go to Welgaia, the city of the angels, but that was even worse. It was full of lifeless beings, angels without souls that waited for his Master to tell them what to do.

He no longer desired to stay there; he wanted to do something more… exciting.

He had nobody to talk to: Mithos just talked about how to revive Martel, and besides, he was becoming insane; Yuan was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he should talk to an angel; he went inside a building where a single angel stood.

"Hello. How has your life been?" he asked.

"I do not have a life, Lord Kratos" answered the angel who kept the mana fragments in place.

"Um-ha. And… what do you like to do?"

"Whatever you want me to, Lord Kratos."

"Right. Well, what have you been up to?"

"What I am programmed to do, Lord Kratos."

That had been a bad idea. But he realized that life in Derris-Kharlan was truly boring.

"Um, Lord Kratos?" an angel came flying towards him.

"Yes?"

"Lord Yggdrasill has summoned you," the angel spoke, bowing.

"Thank you…" he walked in direction to the Great Seed Chamber, Mithos was probably there. He spent whole days there, thinking…

When he reached the Chamber, he saw an apparently young boy standing in front of what seemed a blue flower. They boy was dressed in a white robe with green borders, the robe had no sleeves. He had blond hair and blue eyes and had purple bracelets in his wrists.

The boy turned around and faced Kratos. He smiled.

"Kratos, I know how to make Martel's wish true!" the boy said cheerfully.

"…" Kratos kept watching the boy.

"Martel wanted a world with no discrimination, right? Well, I've thought of a way to make that possible. People fear what's different, don't they? Then, the answer is for everyone to become the same. Everyone will become lifeless beings!" Mithos' eyes lit up.

"What do you mean?" Kratos was becoming anxious.

"If all of them become the same lifeless beings, then they will not more hate what's different!"

"I'm sorry, Mithos, I just don't think it's right."

"But why not, Kratos? Don't you want a world with no discrimination?"

"Of course I do! But I don't think this is what Martel meant when she spoke her last. Neither do I think this is the correct way of doing it."

"Fine! I don't need you! Be that way. Be like Yuan."

"Humph. I'm sorry, Mithos."

"Just leave!"

Kratos left the Great Seed Chamber furious. Mithos was definitely becoming insane. He couldn't believe Mithos was capable of doing such thing. Everyone should become lifeless beings'? Was he serious?

"Where are you going, Lord Kratos?" asked the angel who kept the mana fragments.

"I do not feel the need to explain myself."

Kratos stood in the teleporter to Sylvarant and waited to be transported there.

vvvvv

"Hah, look at that! A poor human traveling alone. And he has an Exsphere! What do you think we should do with him, guys? Should we take him with us to the Asgard Ranch?"

"Yeah, yeah, Lord Kvar ought to be very pleased. Maybe he'll even up rank us!"

The angel had come to a Desian caravan, but, unfortunately, they didn't know who he was. They started picking on him without knowing he had the power to kill them all with only one attack.

"Okay, guys, get him!"

With a heavy sigh, Kratos unsheathed his sword. He killed the Desians without any effort, and he noticed that they had prisoners with them. He tried to pay no attention to them but he could not leave them tied up to die. He broke the chains with another slash of his sword and left.

"Thank you, thank you! You're an angel sent by the Goddess Martel!" cried one of the prisoners as he ran back to what seemed the direction of Luin.

He stopped and looked back at the man who had called him an angel. He shook his head. He couldn't possibly know he was one of the Four Seraphim…

He continued to walk away when he heard something among the bushes.

"Who's there?" he unsheathed his sword again. From between the bushes, two eyes as green as the forest emerged, followed by a beautiful woman. Her long wavy her was brown, and her eyes reflected determination and power. Although her clothing was rather… unusual. She was dressed with the robe that all prisoners in the human ranch had, but she had tied some ropes to adjust it more to her well-formed figure.

Sheathing his sword back, Kratos asked, "What do you want? I'm too occupied."

"Humph. How inconsiderate!" chastised the woman.

"Inconsiderate? And just why, may I ask?"

"No, you may not ask."

"Fine."

"Well, how dare you rescue a lady like myself and then leave her stranded here in middle of nothingness just like that?"

"Luin is not less than a mile away."

"Yeah, right, whatever. I'll stick with you. I'm Anna. What's your name?"

Kratos just kept silent.

"Fine! Whatever… I don't need to know your name, because either way I'm just sticking with you."

"And that's how I met Anna…" Kratos finished narrating his story; he had closed his eyes the entire time. As he spoke, the memories went by: he remembered perfectly how Anna was dressed up, and how she had changed her clothes due to an inopportune event.

"Wow! That's how you met Mom? That's rather... peculiar… Don't you think so?" Lloyd had been more than interested in knowing how their parents had met up.

"Indeed," Kratos crossed his arms, still eyes closed.

"That's so sweet! And then you two fell in love and then married?" Colette clasped her hands together.

"No, not exactly… We never got married. I proposed her marriage but… we never…" Kratos opened his eyes and a glint of sadness could be seen in them.

"I'm sorry…" Raine lowered her eyes. The same did the others.

"Excuse me…" Kratos rose from his chair and left the house.

"Dad…" Lloyd stared at the door for a few minutes. He then remembered something "Um… Colette, wanna go for a walk?"

"Sure," both of them rose from their chairs and left the house too.

They walked through the village barely speaking. Lloyd wanted to say good-bye to her, but he didn't know where to start.

"Lloyd, will I ever see you again?" Colette's eyes had lost her cheerfulness.

"You dork! Of course!"

"Do you promise?"

"Yeah, I promise. I cross my heart."

"Because I want to see you again… someday…"

"You know? I'll give you this" Lloyd took off his Exsphere "That way you'll be sure I will come back."

"But it's your mother's memento! I can't accept that! It's your most precious treasure!"

"That's why I want to give it to you… Because you're the person I value the most…" the boy blushed.

"You're the person I value the most too…" Colette's face turned pink.

"Colette… I… I've been wanting to tell you…"

"Yes?"

"I… love… you…" the teenager blushed even more.

"Lloyd… I… love you too," the girl turned around and faced Lloyd, then walked toward him and kissed him gently on the lips. Both blushed.

"Cole-" Lloyd started saying but he heard something above their heads. They looked up and saw Kratos sitting on a roof watching the stars.

"Dad?" Kratos looked down and saw the couple staring at him "How long have you been there?"

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone," Kratos descended the building.

"Do you mean you saw-?"

"What?"

"No, nothing…"

"Lloyd, it's time to go. You need to sleep."

"Okay, I'll go say good-bye to Genis and the Professor…" Lloyd gave Colette his Exsphere without letting her complain.

vvvvv

"Genis, Professor, I'm going to miss you," said Lloyd hugging both of them.

"We're going to miss you, too, Lloyd," Genis was almost crying.

"Yes, we will miss you. But we are going on our own journey soon; we might get into each other," Raine said.

"Oh yeah, you were going on a journey, too, right? Why are you still here?" Lloyd had a concerned look on his face.

"I need to find a substitute teacher for the school, I don't want the children to stop studying while I'm gone," the Professor said, crossing her arms.

"Oh… I really pity them; they'll have to study after all…" Lloyd laughed.

"What did you say?" the silver haired woman slapped Lloyd.

"Ow! Just kidding!"

"Kratos, I'll miss you, too," Genis looked up at Kratos, who was standing behind Lloyd.

"…" the angel didn't know what to answer; it was the first time in years he had heard someone telling him they would miss him.

"Sheesh, you're as talkative as ever," the half-elf quit.

"Well, then, see ya all later! I don't want to say good-bye," Lloyd opened the door and prepared to leave the house but someone gripped his only sleeve "Huh?"

"See you later, Lloyd," Colette approached Lloyd and kissed him on the cheek, the boy blushed.

"Uh-"

"Good-bye, everyone. Let's go, Lloyd," Kratos said, leaving the house.

The boy followed his father outside the house and headed toward Dirk's house.