Chapter 28
Shards of Regeneration
Author's Note: I played and beat the temple (did it in the right order too –fire, water, wind - normally I take the hard route on Mania for some challenge) last night, made a ton of notes on the writing, monsters, and the like. Now to make another Temple epic chapter in the next chapter (rolls eyes), come on, after the events of the Fire and Water temples it gets hard to not think of these "temple" chapters as non-epic, I'm stalling a little but it's a good kinda stall. Although they do go in the temple, so I do keep my word! Long chapter for today and (hopefully) tomorrow, to make up for the shortness of the other chapters. After Balacruf time will come for another hiatus of sorts. I need to keep playing and mapping to refresh my memory… plus the groups got a month of solid travel on their hands and I need to manage that somehow. This is the large scale travel I was talking about earlier on. Since you guys like the style that I used in the PalmaCosta chapters I need to think of enough events to keep things going in the upcoming "long walk" AKA journeys to Luin and Hima. Since the game has a ton of hiking back and forth I'm going to need a lot of upcoming events to brighten the part of the game that nearly drove me to be as crazy as Kratos... Ummm… about this chapter's intro… Lloyd's being a smart aleck (teenager thing, I imagine all of you know what it's like when you have days like this) and addresses something I've wanted to see addressed for a looong while. Some more Kratos Lloyd bonding. Yeah, another sword scene, I've been neglecting those for a while so I thought I'd fix it… OK time to shut up and actually tell the story. Parting note… Pink…
"It figures." Lloyd grumbled, staring at the marble altar in the center of the ruin which was conveniently not surrounded by any form of debris or rock or anything that would take away from it. "Why do these things seem to scream "hi, I'm a sacred artifact, press me to open the door to the chapel!" it's getting a little old."
He was promptly smacked by Raine, scolded at for being sacrilegious, rude, and inconsiderate. Then since it was so blatantly obvious Raine, Colette, and Genis, went off to search the ruins for more holy hints to prove whether or not if the alter was the real one or not. Rubbing his head, Lloyd glared at his friends. What had he said wrong this time? He had been telling the truth and the dwarven vows had taught him to always tell the truth. Lloyd sighed, his anger faded away into a kind of numb sadness, and he sat by the oracle stone while his childhood friends ran around the ruins, translating bits of angelic lore from the walls.
Kratos, he noticed, was glaring knives at Raine, and then the man shook his head. Hand wrapped around the hilt of his blade, the mercenary leaned against a pillar, then closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and seemed content to let the wind tug at his cape and hair. Despite himself, Lloyd smiled, he knew what Kratos was doing, and he knew how much it would tick the angels off.
"It's not fair." Lloyd huffed. "You get away with it, but every time I open my mouth and say what I'm thinking I get smacked."
"I'm older then you." Kratos muttered, letting his dark eyes open he turned and looked at the red clad swordsman. "Also, I made it clear to Raine what her hitting me would get her."
"Well… I can't do that." Lloyd growled, he bent one knee, set his chin upon the knee and laced his fingers around his ankle. "I can't do anything…"
"Have you talked to her about it yet?"
"Once, she said when I was an adult she'd stop."
Kratos dagger glare that went Raine's way became, if nothing else, harsher. Not even opening his eyes Lloyd knew that Kratos was "Kratos-glaring" Raine for all he was worth. Funny as it was, that made Lloyd chuckle.
"Mer Oriss… ne-iea ummm… what's "that" again?"
"A pain in the ass." Kratos grunted. "Angelic's specific if somewhat mystical, when it relates to describing things that are vague yet material the language starts to come apart at the seams."
"Mer Oriss.. ne-iea a pain in the ass…"
Kratos actually unbent enough to laugh at Lloyd's joke.
"Hey, point, got ya to laugh! How come you don't laugh all that much anyways?"
"Various reasons." Kratos snorted. "Circumstance, or what I'd rather call Fate, has given me a hard hand over the years."
"Thing's will get better." Lloyd promised.
"My wife was found of saying the same thing." Kratos sighed; his dark eyes were black and empty with a hint of what once must have been a crippling grief. "It's good to see that even though she does not live… that her spirit lives on."
Lloyd blushed, rubbed at the back of his head and found a pillar far in the distance really fascinating. From what felt a world away Raine was lost in her ruin mode, Colette was skipping after her, and Genis was trudging after them both, taking notes.
"You know… if Raine writes that book on the Regeneration Journey like she's got planed half of it's going to be on the ruins, and it's going to be two million pages long, and boring, and drawn out…"
"True gods defend us against her writing that book." Kratos shuddered, sparing Raine a look filled with terror.
Lloyd grunted, rubbed his cheek and then turned his head so that his unmarked cheek was resting on his knee. He knew Raine hadn't tried to hurt him, but it did hurt, maybe because it was someone he cared about doing the smacking. He'd taken claws and swords and arrows without wincing, but Raine's hit caused more pain then all of that combined.
Maybe he'd try to talk to her again, or maybe he'd better learn not to talk when she was around, he hated to do it that way but he couldn't really see another way.
"She's a hypocrite."
Lloyd opened his eyes, stared at the mercenary who was watching him with his intense black eyes and picking the thoughts out of his head again.
"She claims that she seeks enlightenment, she seeks knowledge, but what she writes, studies, and lectures, is the world shown in one way."
"One Goddess, one Path."
Kratos bared his teeth in a mute snarl. "Hypocrisy, there is more then one path, more then one way, to not see it is to be blind, to be blind… well the intellectually blind can not be wise."
"Yeah… I guess…" Lloyd squirmed. "Uh Kratos… could you not do that… you look like a rabid Noishe or something."
The anger faded and the lines of rage between Kratos' face smoothed, he raised an eyebrow and Lloyd sighed. The boy scrunched up his face and bared his teeth and growled, and then he relaxed and gave Kratos a long look.
"You do that, every time Raine opens her mouth. It's really creepy."
"I'm not… that hostile."
"Oh yes you are." Lloyd smirked. "You're worse, I mean you're in black and have that natural creepy thing going on, it makes it a hundred times scarier then anything I could do."
"Natural creepiness?" Kratos sounded… pained.
"Definitely-" Lloyd unlaced his fingers then relaced them. "-you're just too quiet, and you only say meaningful things, and ummm…" Lloyd frowned. "Where'd I put that list?"
"List?"
"Un huh, there's waaay too much for me to remember off the top of my head." Lloyd chuckled.
Kratos' dark eyes went distant then flashed as understanding descended.
"Lloyden, are you pulling my leg?"
"Who, me?"
Kratos mock glared, crossed his arms in front of his chest and advanced.
"Whoa, no pool dunking and no magicking me after you kick my ass." Lloyd snapped, scrambling to his feet, pulling his swords from their scabbards.
"Perhaps." Kratos' dark eyes flashed with a glint of humor, he drew his long sword, but didn't bother to strap on his shield. That was the mark of their games, and showed how they were different from sparring and stuff. If Kratos strapped on his shield he wasn't going to hold back, if he did pause to put on the shield then Kratos wouldn't tolerate one second's worth of silliness.
"We get caught, Raine's gunna kill us. Remember Thodia?"
Kratos shrugged. "Some sparring in varied non-flat terrain will be to the greater benefit of the continuance of your martial education. Don't worry; I'll save you from the Raine-ing"
Lloyd chuckled, spun his blades around then braced himself, absently sliding into a battle crouch he tapped his blades together and Kratos winced.
"You're damaging your swords every single time you do-"
He cursed, rolled to the side and avoided the demon fang that went his way.
"Am not!" Lloyd crowed.
Kratos' answering demon fang chased after Lloyd, smirking Lloyd jumped, and his exsphere flashing like a fallen star he easily made it to the top of the seven foot tall pillar with one leap.
"You're waaay too slow old man!" Lloyd crowed. "You'll never catch me!"
"Oh really?" Kratos purred, he lifted his hand, the exsphere on the back of his hand gleamed with a silver blue radiance.
"You wouldn't dare! Chicken, bawk bawk bawk! An old man like you could never make the jump!"
Kratos charged, and Lloyd knew that Kratos was going to jump and probably land sword swinging. The red clad swordsman spotted a shorter pillar with a half of marble cross beam propped against it. He'd take the hit then bolt, after all head to head he got his but kicked, but Kratos did not know who he was dealing with chase wise. Even before he got his exsphere he could run anyone in Iselia and out of it into the ground.
Smirking, Lloyd crossed his blades over his head as the blur of black almost flew past, the flat of Kratos' sword smashed home, but even as Kratos descended –blade leading- Lloyd hopped off the pillar.
Steel bit into stone and Lloyd was long gone. He smashed into the cross beam, rolled to kill the force of his fall then pulled the white neck ribbons out of his eyes. Then, just to rub it in he leaned on one of his swords and looked p at the confused mercenary.
"What took so long?" Lloyd called up, and the man whirled, his black cape flared out behind him like a pair of night hued wings. "I've been waiting here… forever."
"If forever consists of a handful of seconds its little wonder you get bored so fast."
"Hey, I haven't been bored in weeks, if I recall you were napping last time Raine talked about the Kharlan war, and that was two days ago!"
A flash of silver in the mercenary's hand was warning enough, Lloyd brought his blade up and blocked the thrown Aruyag piece, he was kind of grateful that it wasn't a knife. The coin was just another confirmation that Kratos wasn't taking this too seriously like the mercenary tended to take everything else. Lloyd pocketed the Gald piece worth twenty normal coins, and then yelled out mocking thanks.
Kratos' eyes bore into him, and then the man leapt, made his landing without rolling.
Yeah, Lloyd knew he was dead, but like with the skits, and in Thodia, he smiled. Punishment could be the nastiest Raine could cook up, but it was worth it.
Kratos advanced, tried to look grim and serious but the man's lips were twitching.
And even as Lloyd advanced on the narrow ruin now made walk way for their game he felt a slight twing of jealousy. This was a hint of the Kratos that Kratos' wife had seen; this was a hint of the Kratos that had had a son that shared his name.
For them, –and he had to admit, though it was really greedy- for himself too, he'd try to bring that old Kratos all the way back.
X
"Crickets."
"Huh?" Colette looked up from her studying the stone tablet -or if you asked Raine it was "S-t-o-n-e-T-a-b-l-e-t"- that Raine had asked to have translated.
Genis pointed to the black and red blurs that were hoping among the pillars on the other side of the ruin like a matching set of sugar rushed crickets hopping among a field of grass.
"Oh… my… Goddess…" Colette dropped the tablet.
It broke with an audible crack, Genis though didn't hear. He whistled as he spotted a flash of silver wink in the space between the swordsmen. He didn't want to think how fast those swords were going through the air.
"Oh no!" Colette began to wring her hands. "I broke Raine's thing-a-ma-bob!"
"Her what?" Colette… you sound just like Ll-. Sweet Martel!"
They both looked at the broken relic; both considered what they knew of Raine's ruin mode.
"You know… Palma Costa has good weather this time of year." Genis said slowly.
"It does?" Colette sniffled, she sounded like she was going to cry.
"It's OK." Genis took her hand in his. "Raine will understand, especially if we aren't here when she get's back."
"But…"
"Trust me, OK Colette? I'll make sure you don't get in trouble." He gave her hand a tug. "Come on; let's go see what's past that wall way over there." Genis pointed to some remains of a half decimated wall whose top peaked up at them. Its bulk was lost somewhere at the base of a hill that was a goodly ways away. "Maybe we can find that dog from yesterday or Noishe to play with over there."
"Alright." Colette smiled.
"You didn't do anything wrong." Genis assured his friend, while mentally resolving that if Lloyd didn't stop sparing with Kratos long enough for Genis to ask him to take the blame Genis would do so himself. "Accidents happen. Come on! That walls not getting any closer!"
"Hee… You sound like Lloyd now."
"Lloyd gets good ideas." Genis grinned. "Well… every once in a while, occasionally… rarely."
"Stop teasing him, Genis!" Colette then pulled a Lloyd hair ruffle. "Oh I have an idea, let's get those wing wind things and fly them!"
Now that sounded like a good idea!
"I call the pink one!" Genis chirped, before Colette could say it and get her favorite "wing". "Unless… you can… beat me to that wall!"
Wings appearing in a flash of gold light Colette grinned and then ran. She was hopping, and fluttering, and running all at once, and going a lot faster then he ever could. Well that was going to change! He ran, muttering a few words he pointed behind him and a gust of wind threw him forward. Laughing -he had underestimated the force of his spells propelling capabilities and overestimated his weight, the results were rather predictable- he picked himself off the grass, and ran again, even as a giggling Colette was brushing off grass from the front of her coat. They ran, and tripped, but laughed, mixing arcane, angelic, and running into just some plain old fun.
X
He caught the blade, shoved it back and lashed out with a foot. Kratos easily hopped back out of range of the low kick, and brought his blade –flat leading- down. Lloyd slammed both his blades into the stone, pushed back, and the mercenary's blade "tinged" against the stone.
Letting lose the hilts of his blades Lloyd spun in the air, pulled off a back flip and managed to land feet first instead of say… on his stomach where he'd landed last time he tried that stunt.
Just a little dizzy from the move Lloyd stepped forward and leaned on his blades, shocked he'd actually imbedded them in the stone. Yeah, the stone was old and weather beaten and stuff… but still…
He tugged on his swords, while Kratos watched. A slight smile graced mercenary's normally expressionless face.
Lloyd tugged, and tugged, and Kratos began to snicker.
"Damn it, this isn't funny!"
"P… part of strength is control, being able to con… con…" Kratos lost his lecture and began to laugh as Lloyd –with a curse- wrapped both hands around the hilt of one of his weapons and tugged.
"Out… damn… it!" Lloyd snarled, pulled so hard that his face was turning red and his hands were going white.
"Easy." Kratos snickered. "You don't want to fall from this height, do you?"
That brought Lloyd up short, he let go and glared at the weapons. Yeah, it wasn't much taller then say… three Noishe's in height… but still it was a formidable fall.
"When you're done laughing I'd like a little help with my swords."
"I'm done… for the moment…" Kratos' voice was choked, and wavered like no one's business, but Lloyd smiled and pointed to his sword.
"Hey, I'll get a turn at least, you can't get them out if I can-"
With one hand -one hand!- Kratos pulled out the blade that Lloyd had been struggling with and handed it to the shocked swordsman.
"What? Is there something interesting about my face or something?"
"N… no…" Lloyd shook his head. "It's just… damn, I think I'm getting somewhere and you do something like that so easy like and I realize how much farther I have to go."
"Lloyden… I've had the time and the will to train and over train myself all through my life. You had a childhood, had and have a life, where I didn't and do not." Kratos pulled out the other sword with a slight grimace. "Or rather I denied myself those things in the sake of pursuing perfection, or rather what I though perfection should be."
Lloyd caught the tossed blade and leaned on it after sheathing its twin. He made a point of being very careful not to push on the blade too much though. One stuck blade was enough for him.
"I am… on so many fronts, ignorant. I knew nothing of living, for the bulk of my life I wasn't at all bothered by anything vaguely resembling emotion. It was only after my defeat at the hands of the mercenary Maveric, after that man basically handed my ass back to me on a silver platter, that I realized my mistakes. I couldn't understand why the people I was escorting had bothered to save me, why they tended my wounds and kept me company after I'd been an ass to them…"
Lloyd considered it, leaned a little more on his blade so that the weight of thinking fast wasn't as bad for him.
"They were waiting, waiting for you to wake up."
Kratos blinked.
"I waited… I waited for a few years for someone in Iselia to wake up, to… no not wake up, for them to open their eyes. To see what I really was and not mind that I was me."
"You are wise, Lloyden." Kratos said as the last traces of what Lloyd thought were "deep thinking" lines smoothed away and the mercenary's face settled into a cool impassive façade.
"Yeah, well… Not again!"
"On some fronts you are wise." Kratos amended with a chuckle. "You still have much to learn."
"Not you too… Have you been taking notes from Genis!"
Kratos only snorted, moved to pull the blade out.
"No, I'm getting it this time." Lloyd growled.
Shrugging, Kratos turned, began to pick out paths down that would be the least treacherous to descend. Game time might as well be over, they had been fooling around long enough and this wasn't a pleasure jaunt after all…
He felt a slight tugging on his cape, and he turned in response. Lloyd, both swords on the ground at his feet, was looking up at him, brown eyes far too wide, far too innocent.
His cape thudded heavily against his back. He frowned, pulled it up and stared at the hastily made bow that had been tied into the ends of his clock.
"You do understand-" Kratos said in a cool voice as he untied the bow. "-that this means war, don't you?"
"Yeah, I figured." Lloyd grinned. "So, before you pound me into next week, you think Raine's ever going to stop ruin mode-ing anytime today?"
"The probability lies somewhere between that of Hell freezing over or Celsius admitting her undying love for Efreet."
Before Lloyd could ask who Celsius was Kratos lashed out with his blade and Lloyd staggered back, almost went over the edge.
Shit… well Lloyd learned never to mess with Kratos' "all powerful strong demigod of swordsmanship" image ever again. He didn't even try blocking the hit; he turned on his heel and jumped, hoping he could land on some pillar or something before he fell.
X
The ground in front of him slopped, Colette, with a victorious squeak, fluttered down the hill, her pink wings a blur as she stole the lead Genis had just gotten. No way, he wasn't losing, ducking his head he muttered words under his breath, then with a sweeping gesture he released the spell. Ice, like white chilly blossoms, grew over the ground in front of him. It spilled down the hill like water and with a whoop he jumped up and slid down on his rear. He squealed with delight, Colette laughed…
And the wall closed with a speed that he hadn't expected!
"Eep!"
"No!"
Colette flared her wings, back peddled desperately, Genis cast a wind spell at the wall but the mana ricocheted off the mass of it's non-arcane opposite. The resulting breeze made him spin around and 'round while he slid down. He hit the wall back first; Colette smashed into the wall above him and landed at his feet.
"Wee oww…" Colette giggled, her eyes a little glazed from the impact, her pink wings making slow lazy sweeps behind her.
"Owww…" Genis winced as stars burst in front of his vision.
"That was… fun…" Colette whimpered, blinking back a few tears of pain.
"Except for the wall part." Genis groaned. "You know what, when we feel better you can just have the pink kite."
"Th… thanks…" Colette closed her eyes. "The grass is soft, nice and soft."
"You don't have to tell me about it." Genis said with a slight grin. "Umm if Sis asks…"
"I tripped and knocked you down with me." Colette said, as it was their favorite (and oldest) cover story for the times they got hurt while doing something extremely dumb and silly.
And with that Genis knew everything –despite journey and angelic and magic stuff- was the same as it had always been. He took a lot of comfort in that.
"Hey Colette, have you ever hit a wall so hard you saw stars before?"
Colette giggled, rolled over and looked at him.
"Once or twice."
And like idiots they both started giggling and couldn't stop. They laughed until it hurt, Genis fell over tears pouring down his face while Colette giggled and hid her face with her hands while she giggled.
"Oh man, we are not telling Lloyd, he'd never stop making jokes!"
"And no telling Kratos." Colette said with a smile on her face. "He acts all serious but he's worse then Lloyd when he talks to Noishe."
"Phht, I doubt tha-"
"Demon fang!"
"Missed me by a mile old man!" Lloyd's voice crowed from the other side of their sanctuary.
"Double demon fang!"
The wall shuddered and dust trickled down, falling into their hair. Genis squeaked, and Colette drew him close, her wings shielding them both.
"Hey, Kratos, try to dodge this! Demon fang!"
There was a thump as the rock –not a demon fang- hit home.
"Heh, psyche! Oh crap…"
"Fireball!"
"Deal Luna… Guardian!"
A fireball arched over the wall, spiraled lazily like some crazy wrong way headed meteor then exploded into a beautiful rain of gold and red sparks.
"Great Kratos… start a fire on a plain… and you call me dumb?"
"I damped the fire mer ori, stop giving me attitude." Kratos huffed.
"Yeah… surrrre…"
"Lloyden."
"Alright alright… hey I'm hungry, we done sparing yet?"
"You're always hungry." Kratos' voice though somewhat growly wasn't at all harsh. It was almost as if the growl was a joke.
And if it was, then it was one that Lloyd was in on. Lloyd laughed, and by the sound of it swatted Kratos' shoulder.
"Come on, you gotta be a little hungry after ruin hopping and fighting…"
Kratos sighed. "Yes, a little, but you, the proverbial bottomless pit has found a place in that area you call a stomach."
"Prod-vor-ta-tell?"
"Pro-ver-bi-bial… Where did you learn to talk?"
"I dunno, Dad said I was talking when he found me and Noishe."
"And you haven't expanded your vocabulary since then?" Kratos sighed.
"Vo-cab-larry?"
"I believe that something of an academic sparring practice will start right about now, as we go to see if Ms. Sage has regained any of her sanity and returned to camp."
"You feeling OK Kratos? I mean we're at a ruin, the only thing that will make Raine think normal like at a ruin is if we stuck a bag over her head."
"I'd prefer a noose around the neck person-"
"Hey!" Lloyd flared. "She's my Aunt, so watch it!"
"She's like your Aunt." Kratos corrected. "Don't drop words, or no one will understand you when you talk."
"I didn't "drop words"." Lloyd growled. "I said what I meant. Ung… forget food, I'm going for a walk!"
"Lloyden, nu-iea mer de-"
"And I'll walk by myself!"
Genis blinked, looked up to see an equally confused Colette looking down at him for the answers he couldn't give. Then, greatly daring, he crept from her embrace, on hand and knee he crawled to the edge of the wall poked his head around. The faint tickling of hair against his shoulder told him that Colette had done the same.
Kratos stood, alone, on the top of the hill, his back to them, the wind played with his black cape tossed it with a gleeful abandon that contrasted wildly against the clenched fists and stiff posture. So tight was Kratos' grip that his fingers were turning white, recalling the strength of those hands, Genis shivered wondered if the man had held a rock in his hands that it would have turned into dust in that grasp.
"Ish-yerl Kra'sean… Ish-ya… Lloyden… mer phan Ori…"
Snarling an oath Kratos turned on his heel and stormed back towards the camp. When he saw that they weren't back he might get mad, or rather madder then he was. Still if they came from the place Kratos had just been… he might grow suspicious, that thought kept him firmly rooted in place. He looked up, was startled by the glittering of water around Colette's eyes.
"Colette, are you hurt?" He gasped
"No…" She blinked. "Poor Kratos…"
"Wha- what'd he say?"
"He… said he was damned, he cursed… and then he apologized to Lloyd, but Lloyd wasn't there to hear it." Colette bit her lip. "G… Genis… When you looked at his threads… did you… know if he had any family? Do threads tell you things like that?"
"Huh? Well sometimes" Genis blinked, since Kratos was long gone he sat and Colette did the same. He looked at her pained expression, wondered why she'd asked him that. "If the person cares deeply, but Kratos didn't care, he was… no is obsessed by the memories of his family."
"The… memories of his family?"
"They died. That's all his threads told me, they died and he went crazy after they died."
Colette bit her lip, and then looked past Genis at something only she could see.
"If he cared for them so much… then why did he call Lloyd, Lloyden? Why… did he call Lloyd his Ori?"
Genis blinked. "He's called Lloyd Lloyden for a while, why's that important?"
"Ch… changing a person's name from common to Angelic is a sign of great affection. And… mer Ori means "my son"."
Now it was Genis' turn to bite his lip, he stared at Colette, his blue eyes nearly violet in worry.
"Come on." Genis stood, and despite the fact she was taller then him, -by a lot- Genis offered Colette his hand. She smiled, shook her head, and then picked herself off the ground. "We need to talk to Raine, now."
X
Kratos sighed, snuggled against Noishe's flank. Pleased to be back in Kratos' good graces the creature wagged his tail. Absently Kratos ran a hand through the dog's mane while he talked.
"I screwed up somewhere, yet again."
Noishe whined, made his tail stop wagging and nudged the silent mercenary with his cold wet nose.
"How is it every time I lower my guard, relax around him, I insult or find another damned sensitive spot. The boy isn't that fragile, is he?"
Noishe shook his head, and then licked Kratos' gloved hand.
"Yes… yes… pet pet pet… I can multitask, you and I both know it, but I don't have the heart to at the moment."
"Bark."
Kratos sighed, closed his dark eyes that burned with unshed tears.
"It's like losing him, again and again. Every time we fight, argue, or I act my pigheaded self as my Love would term it…" Kratos sighed.
Noishe sighed as well, nuzzled the man's neck.
"You aren't a substitute!" Kratos growled, pushing that large head aside.
"Whine?" Though heart broken sounding the whine was, the wagging tail told the true story.
"You think this is funny?" Kratos hissed.
"Bark!"
"Sadist." Kratos snapped. "You don't know what it's like…"
"Whine whine whine…"
"Like he and Dirk ever fought?"
Noishe rolled his eyes and made a groaning noise.
"You're telling me that they fought?" Kratos snorted. "They're so damned close I can't see them fighting, period."
Noishe jerked his head up.
"So every once in a while then?" Kratos hazarded.
Noishe jerked his head up a few times and Kratos frowned.
"I can't believe they fought frequently, Lloyd doesn't have the temperament to start a fight unless he's ticked, and despite his ready flashes of temper it's all on the surface."
Noishe traced a "D" with the black tip of his snout across the air, and Kratos snorted.
"Dirk, he hardly seems the type for having-" Kratos frowned, recalled what he'd seen of Dirk and he scowled. "Fixated, locked in the morals of his people… human traits, morals, might bother him… could wear away at even the most tolerant man's temper…"
Noishe nodded, then jerked his way back to the path, the rocky path that lead to the temple and Kratos smiled, leaned back and went back to scratching the silver and green creature's back.
"Thank you, for reminding me."
Noishe's eyes scrunched up, then the tail wagged and the leg rose as Kratos found the "spot" quite by accident. That wonderful glorious spot that all animals had, it was a place so great that he had to scratch at it.
"Hey!" Kratos snarled as the foot hit him in the face. "Damn it Noishe! Stop it!"
"Howl!"
As Kratos received a few bumps and bruises before he realized what was going on and what he was doing wrong the mercenary had to admit, even his friendship with Noishe, like Lloyd, was much like an untamed trail. Hard at first, rough, to those who had the strength to traverse it… the rewards were beyond measure, the sights had the potential to be both glorious and horrifying.
X
"Mmm hmmm…" Raine continued to write in her note book, she had burrowed herself into her books at their approach, and not even a crow bar could force her out by the looks of it.
"RAINE!" Genis shrieked into one of his Sister's pointed ears.
"PROFESSOR!" Colette screamed into the other.
Squealing, Raine hopped to her feet, book flying one way, pen the other, her battle staff clattered noisily at her feet and she looked at them in shock.
"Genis, Colette…" She blinked at them, her eyes a little ruin glazed. "I'm busy and if this is a prank…"
And seeing that she was sane everything they'd seen and everything Genis knew came spilling out. Raine looked up at them in shock, startled that they were so aware of the situation. Of course Genis had known most of it, but the darker portions of what Kratos had confided in her to keep his job, she had kept those hidden from her brother. She had told Colette nothing.
Two young minds, a few words between Kratos and Lloyd, and it seemed as if the proverbial cat was out of the bag.
They were in near states of hysteria. Scared to death for Lloyd, worried about Kratos' sanity, so worried for the mercenary that she was surprised by the depth of their feelings. She hadn't expected any of them –especially Genis- to be concerned for the surly mercenary in the slightest.
"Children." She reached out; set one hand on Genis' shoulder and one on Colette's and drew them close to her. "First; thank you for coming to me before you did anything rash like confronting Kratos."
"Sis… what can we do!" Genis sniffled; he held her orange coat in a tight grip of fear, anxiety.
"Nothing," Raine sighed. "Kratos and Lloyd have made an… agreement of sorts. You know that Lloyd's mother was killed by the Desian's as was his father…" Raine smoothed her brother's hair. "Kratos' family was killed by the Desian's, by the Desian' Cardinal in Luin. He lost his wife and son long ago, and his… addressing of Lloyd as his son, and his taking of Lloyd as a pupil and adoptive offspring is in his way of redemption."
"But what about Dirk?" Colette gulped. "Lloyd… he hasn't forgotten about Dirk has he?"
"Of course not sweetie, Lloyd told me himself that he's going to talk to Dirk about that when he… goes back to Iselia for a few days after the journey's done."
"He's not going to live in Iselia again!" Colette and Genis both protested her statement.
"No, after what happened, he will never go back to Iselia if he can help it. The attack… and the fact that Ivan swore a blooding oath against him… will make it so that Lloyd will never go back to Iselia, not unless he wanted to fight the mayor's son, and after what his actions caused..." Raine sighed. "He doesn't want to go back, it's just not a matter of "can't" it's also a matter of does not have any interest in ever returning."
"But… I was as guilty as he…"
Raine shook her head. "He pressured you into it Genis, and if you hadn't he would have attacked by himself. What happened would have happened anyways, it was just a matter of time."
Genis nodded, but Raine had a feeling he didn't agree with her. He would see, in time.
"But… if you have any questions about their agreement… I would suggest you talk to Lloyd about it."
"What about Kr-"
"He requested that if either of you found out about it that he not be "pestered by an endless grating question answer session"."
"That does sound like him, doesn't it?" Colette smiled slightly.
Raine rolled her eyes, released them both.
"Now is their anything else you'd like to ask me?"
"How's Lloyd feel about this, when'd this happen!" Genis sputtered. "All I ever saw was that Kratos and Lloyd started talking in Angelic a lot."
Raine sighed. "To the second… Kratos' fixation with Lloyd being his son… Whether he saw it as reincarnation or some other pagan way of semi-rebirth… It probably happened when they met in the Temple. All I know is that even before you joined us, Kratos was prying Colette for stories about Iselia."
Colette nodded. "I thought he was just being nice."
"And how many of those stories involved Lloyd?"
Colette frowned. "A lot, he was interested in those so I told him most of my Lloyd stories."
"He was conducting research." Genis blinked. "Extensive, subtle, hidden, all signs of obsession."
"Exactly." Raine nodded. "I won't say that Kratos is sane, nor is he insane, but he hovers at the very brink between the two. That might be why he embraces paganism that allows him to think that what happened to his family was his fault and lead to his extensive wallowing in grief that eventually lead to the first unhinging of his mind."
"The first!" Genis squeaked, looking so fearful as if he expected Kratos to appear with a bloody sword to kill them all.
Raine chuckled, ruffled her brother's hair.
"He was suicidal, only the actions of his friends kept him from killing himself. He eventually shook off those urges and wandered around taking jobs, not caring who he served, no longer caring for anything. From what he told me it took him years to recover to the point he is at now."
Colette blinked, whipped at her eyes. "What did he do… when he was… sick…"
"He doesn't know and he doesn't care. But he's feared in some places -like Izoold-, and respected to the point of near adore in Luin, he's a hero in that part of the world. A man who attacked and fought the Desian's… He laughed, said it was probably the time he vaguely remembers spent hunting and killing anything that moved that was garbed in black."
Genis shivered and Colette looked sick.
"He is… almost completely without morals, honor, or compassion. He is a pagan. He is possessed of a cruelty, aloofness, and hatred that if it wasn't directed at the Desian's would have got him executed long ago."
"He's trying to convert Lloyd." Colette whispered.
"He's trying to mold Lloyd into another version of him." Genis spat.
"No, he isn't. He's teaching Lloyd the lessons that he's learned, the swordsmanship, self defense, and yes… they talk of Kratos' alien faith… But it's just talk, and Lloyd is too stubborn for anyone to mold. If…" Raine's eyes grew shadowed. "No… I will be straight forward. The only reason Kratos is still here is… the only reason I allow him to remain is because I trust Lloyd to see when things are getting to dangerous and tell me. At that point we'd both drive Kratos off."
"If Lloyd turned on Kratos…" Colette whispered.
"Yes, Kratos would go insane. I have little doubt about that." Raine's lips quirked into a bitter grimace. "But even as Kratos embraces insanity by being with us, he also pursues his own salvation. Lloyd is Kratos' compassion, he reins Kratos' temper in, Lloyd is hope to Kratos' grim depression, Lloyd is Kratos' foil and perhaps the man's only hope for retaining and regaining any visage of humanity."
Genis blinked, stewed over that while Colette murmured something in Angelic that he couldn't quite catch.
"When the… Goddess made Kratos, she must have put a small piece of the Beast within him." Colette whispered.
Not understanding the reference Raine moved to ask, but Colette beat her to it by explaining.
"The Beast is unbridled passion, hatred, pain, rage, it's born of grief and anger and rests in everyone's heart, and the Goddess shows us how not to listen to it. By denouncing the Goddess, Kratos embraces the Beast, perhaps Lloyd could bring Kratos to the tranquil light, give him peace."
Genis rubbed his head, this was too much for him to take… every time he thought he'd nail something down about the mercenary, or Lloyd -or anyone really- someone just came along and whipped the rug out from under his feet.
"Perhaps." Raine sighed. "Perhaps."
X
"Hey, Noishe!" He hissed; the dog looked up from grooming the sleeping mercenary's hair. "Good one!"
Tail wagging Noishe winked, then snaked his head to rest it in Kratos' lap.
Lloyd chuckled, sat down and then opened up his ration pouch that he'd just emptied. It had taken them longer then Kratos had planed to get to the temple. They had to escort the survivors of the bandit's camp back to Asgard, and not having enough money to even stay at an inn or buy food they'd camped outside and hunted for several days. Satisfied by the amount of food they'd captured, they'd left Lych and the fake Chosen's to get the credit of the rescue and gone to the next seal.
The hardest thing had been keeping Linar's mouth shut. Kratos had talked to Genis, Colette, and him about why they were keeping their mouths shut. Attention, the impostures were now Deisan bait as they paraded around continuing their charade, if they moved away from Luin and went back to Palma Costa –as Kratos had ordered them to do- they would get enough money to satisfy themselves, drop the act, and then settle down somewhere far away from their old hunting grounds.
"There presence and pain they inflict upon the world in temporary, in less then five years no one will remember them and most the wounds will be healed."
Explaining that to Linar had been hard. Lloyd had stepped on the poor half elves toes so many times during a time a public outburst would have been bad that Kratos had come over and knocked the man out. Between the two of them they had dragged Linar off. Kratos had –at Lloyd's insistence- healed the scholar and that had been the end of that. So they had left the city of ruins (again), hunting as they traveled. Or rather Kratos and Lloyd had hunted and kept their catches far away from Raine who was eager to cook and ruin everything they brought back.
Poor Genis had almost cooked off his fingers with all the cooking he'd had to do.
"Look…" Lloyd sighed, shifted his swords around and looked at the comatose mercenary, guilt writhing in his stomach. "I'm sorry for losing my temper and all that at you. It's just…"
"She is family, lacking you have made do. I accepted Tylor, but her… it's harder to accept her as the animosity between both of us is all too real."
Lloyd blushed, startled that Kratos was awake and embarrassed that the man had heard him confess. He would have sworn that Kratos was asleep! Still not opening his eyes the mercenary tilted his head so that it faced him.
"Are they any other cousins' aunts, uncles, and the like for me to know about, so I don't wind up ticking you off with some criticism in the future?"
"Just Tylor, Phadria, and Raine." Lloyd muttered. "I've… never let anyone else pass my Oath. Colette... she'd never pass, not with the Goddess running every part of her life… and Genis well… he's too young, it's a lot of responsibility, I mean I am a handful after all."
"Well worth it, never doubt it, despite all the grey hairs you give us." Kratos chuckled, then the man cracked open his eyes. "Sit down Lloyden… tell me… of your family, everything."
"What… you… I thought you'd never want to know."
"I'm jealous.' Kratos admitted with a wry twist of his lips. "I'm greedy, possessive, arrogant, and, condescending. If I had any choice it would have been me, not Dirk, who found you that night. I would have taken you as my own with no qualms of guilt in my soul." Kratos whispered his dark eyes intent. "I would have given you everything, anything that you needed, would have raised you as a human, not a dwarf. But that's not how it turned out, so I must deal with being second, or perhaps the last to find a way into your heart."
"You... aren't last…" Lloyd whispered, his eyes smarting he blinked, shoved down the tears.
"There is no shame in tears Lloyden."
With a sharp stab of pain he winced, and at those gentle words he felt something inside crumble and he cried. Kratos' arms were around him, and he cried into that shoulder, both grieving and hating himself for grieving, that in some part of his soul… he wished… he wondered… how things might have been.
"Now-" Kratos brushed away the last of the tears, a sad gentle smile. The smile that graced his face made the man of ice utterly human. "-tell me, tell me of your family."
"I… met Tylor… in Iselia… when I was little. I remember him walking with me and Dad ba- back home. We were… going home." Lloyd smiled. "His boots, I played with them when we camped at night, and he'd laugh and say he spoiled me for every other toy in the world. He had his tail packed away, but because I asked and asked he put it on and tied his green ribbon around his head and let the ends droop like Noishe ears. He got in trouble with Phadria because he was dressed like that when he entered Iselia. He said he "forgot" to dress normal like."
Lloyd chuckled, and even though he smiled tears crept from his eyes. He found himself leaning against Noishe's back, Kratos' arm draped over his shoulders.
"It… he always made sure I played. Even though Ivan, and the Mayor, and everyone didn't want me to. He talked to me, spent as much time with me as the others. One day I followed him home hoping to find where he kept all the candies for the hunts. I hadn't caught all that many, I was smaller and shorter then everyone else so I rarely got anything, and I was still hungry."
Lloyd snuggled against Noishe, and the dog barked and wagged his tail.
"I came in and he was working over a stove, making cookies. He'd just come back from a Hunt, and he'd been in prayers before dawn, and there he was making treats for the next one. I was surprised, and he hadn't heard me come in, so he hopped out of his bell boots in surprise, when I asked him what he was doing. The batter splattered all over both of us, it tasted good and Tylor yelled at me, but he was laughing when he yelled, so I knew it was alright."
So wound up in telling his story, so intent on listening, Kratos and Lloyd did not notice as the others slipped into the camp. Lloyd wound up his Tylor stories with the exile, with Tylor's last words in Iselia.
"He… said that he was a good son and that he needed me to be one too, that I wasn't old enough to go on the journey with him, so I'd have to wait until I was grown up… He never cried before… before he told me goodbye.
I met Phadria after that, Tylor took me to her, put me in her arms since I'd curled up in a ball and was just crying in the middle of the street. Phadria scared me a little; she wasn't like Tylor at all. She was so serious –nice but serious- and that was so new. I didn't know what to make of Martel back then, she tried and tired to make me follow Martel and that made me angry because Tylor didn't care if I didn't worship of not. I swore I never would… Martel took Tylor away and I didn't want anything to do with her because of that.
I scared Phadria when I said that, she asked me how I expected to be a good person and I said I'd be a good person without someone telling me if I was good or not. Wasn't I good now, yeah I slept in class and as hyper, but so what? I helped everyone I could, I was nice, and I followed the dwarven vows, how was that not good? If she had a problem with the vows she'd have to talk to Dad about it. She did, I think Dad scared her a little, but she did and she liked him and me even if we were a little wild for her taste. Also, since I was Colette's friend, what could she really do? I'd of sneaked past her and Frank to play with Colette, although I hated house and that's all Colette wanted to play when she was really little. I drove Phadria crazy, sneaking Colette treats and sneaking her out of the house to fish and play outside. Eventually Phadria started letting Colette out on her own so I didn't have to sneak in any more. Although, I did for fourth month fools prank when I put the buckets filled with water over the doors of everyone in the house… Eventually we stopped arguing about religion and junk." Lloyd sighed. "It took a looong while before that happened, but when it did, and I started protecting Colette from Ivan and the bullies around Iselia she started to like me. She kinda… jumped the call on me. I got hurt, bad, Ivan broke bones in one of our fist fights and Colette and Genis dragged me to Colette's house. Frank went after the mayor, I never heard Frank yell before, but he dragged me out and made sure that everyone saw just how hurt I was from the "game" that Ivan had been playing. He thought that would stop the Mayor, make him stop Ivan, but it didn't it got worse after that… but Phadrai took care of me. Frank went into the forest after night to tell Dad what had happened and Phadria stayed with me and gave me medicine and set my arm and everything. She stared watching after us, watching over Colette and moving to stop the mayor every chance she got. She even stumbled on Ivan beating me up and whacked him with her cane once…" Lloyd laughed. "Wham, right between the eyes!"
Kratos chuckled then blinked, and Lloyd jerked, both swordsmen turned to stare at the not so new audience of three…
"Uh… hey guys." Lloyd coughed. "Umm how long have you been there?"
"Long enough," Raine gave Kratos a long look and the mercenary sheepishly moved his arm so that it wasn't draped over Lloyd's shoulders, though he didn't seem to know what to do with it.
"So, after Phadria smacked Ivan did she "Raine" him?" Genis asked, eyes glittering with amusement at the bully's situation.
"Umm… No, Ivan ran off after that…"
"Ivan, chickened, from an old lady... umm no offense Colette."
"She whacked that Desian from Triet upside the head, remember?" Lloyd grinned. "The spiky haired guy in a dress; what's his name?"
"Unimportant." Kratos grunted.
"Yeah, she whapped Unimportant upside the head and knocked him out at the Temple, remember? Ivan was small fry compared to that."
"Lloyd…" Raine sighed. "Kratos was being sarcastic."
"Oh… Were you?"
"Yes, somewhat." Kratos scratched Noishe's back, if his arm happened to be hovering around Lloyd's shoulders without descending that was not his concern…
"So then what happened?" Genis chirped.
"Well…" Lloyd coughed. "That's a looong story and umm don't we have a seal."
"It can wait." The other's snapped, Noishe even growled at that point and gave him a "will bite rump if you fall quiet" kind of glare.
"Well… after Phadria whapped Ivan she took me back to the chapel and gave me one of those red gels. Poor Phadria, I bounced off the walls for hours, those things are pure sugar…"
"After we're done with Phadria I wanna know how you met Sis, I kinda knew you… I mean we met in Iselia but didn't really meet until you went to school." Genis stammered.
"Eh, I knew you. I just was a little creped out by the Book that you were always reading. So I didn't have the guts to talk to you."
"His book scared you?" Raine muttered.
"Well… it was bigger then him, heck it was bigger then me, yeah it scared me a little!"
The silver haired sibs started laughing and Lloyd chuckled.
"Oh shut it." Lloyd grumbled.
Then the ultimate blow came, Colette started laughing.
"It's not funny!" Lloyd snapped.
Then… to add salt on the wound Noishe and Kratos started sniggering.
"Oh for the love of Origin!" Lloyd growled, hopping to his feet he ripped out a bit of grass and pelted the loudest laugher, Genis.
"Hey!" Genis growled, armed with some grass of his own he chucked it, and missed.
"Ha, you couldn't hit the broad side of a bar-"
Snarling an arcane word Genis summoned a glob of wet sloppy snow.
"Don't you d-"
Genis threw and Lloyd cast Guardian, the missile bounced off the shield and smacked into Raine.
"Genis Sage!" The Professor screamed. "Lloyd Irving."
"He threw it and I ducked!" Lloyd shrieked in protest, drawing his blades to avoid the potential "Raine"ing. The eraser, who knows where Raine got it from she just had it in hand, smacked into his face.
Stupid chalk…" Lloyd staggered back, pulled a Colette step, and landed on something large that started cursing.
"Oww... Kratos your sword's poking me in gut…"
Colette giggled, until Genis pulled open his packs and threw a book at Lloyd and missed. How he missed the downed Lloyd was beyond everyone, but Colette owwed… and everything went silent for a long moment.
Muttering a few words in Angelic Colette's wings appeared with a flash of gold light and then her empty hands were filled with feathers.
"Uh oh… Hey, ouch…" Lloyd winced as the Merc threw him aside and fumbled out his shield.
Feathers, balls of light and evil giggles filled the clearing. The feathers –when they hit someone- exploded into a rain of pink fluffy things that got caught in the hair. The light just bonked into people like warm snowballs.
"Wind blade!" Genis cried out, and a mass of feathers floated after Raine and Colette.
Clasping each other's hands the women ran off into the ruin a crazed Genis cackling like Raine in ruin mode, wind flying from his fingers and tossing feathers ever which way… his silver hair was now pink fluff.
After the madness had passed Kratos came out from behind his shield, he stared that the fuchsia and pink shield, his expression mournful.
"Heh heh!"
Lloyd whirled on Noishe, the dog was laughing at Kratos!
The pink covered dog who –now that he was one color- looked more rabbit then wolf like.
"Umm… Noishe…" Lloyd pulled out a mirror from his packs and offered it to his friend.
Noishe looked at himself, screamed, and started tying to roll in the grass to get the stuff off.
"Normally I'd say poor Noishe… but not this time." Lloyd put the mirror back in his stuff, not having the guts to look at himself.
X
"Here!" Colette pointed to the altar that had once rested in a room. The walls on the relics sides were crumbling, only the wall behind it –part of the main structure- was relatively whole and unharmed. "We'll see him coming and can split up if he comes."
Raine nodded her agreement, a wide smile on her face. She tried not to think about all the pink all over her, the small tiny feathers that were all around her now. She must look like a Harpy if Colette's appearance was any indicator. Raine pulled a water skin from her belt, took a sip, marveled at the insanity of the children to start a game at the base of another seal. Soon, they'd be doing jigs (and persuading the adults to join in) at the seal room I front of the angels or somethi-
"Wind blade, wind blade, in line you dumb feathers! In line I say!"
"Is… Genis suffering from a "feather mode", Professor Sage?"
If she sounded that crazed perhaps the long abstinence between ruins that would mark this seal and the next would be good for her.
"I… guess so… I'm… not that bad, am I?"
"Of course not, Professor!" Colette moved to clasp her hand; both Teachers and Chosen's hands fell upon the altar…
There was a flash of green light and the building behind them now had a new door after the angelic runes dissipated.
"Wind blade, wind bla- ha, I got you now!" Colette squeaked, bolted, Raine barely managed to dodge the attack of the pink fluffy wave.
Blazing past the altar Genis tried to skid to a stop, a small rock by the door made him stumble into the inner chambers of Balacruf.
Spell spent, the feathers drifted down, Genis screamed.
The dark of the inner chambers was broken by a flash of pink light.
A wind stirred, fathers drifted out of the temple, then after a long silence Genis crept out, his small body coated in feathers.
"I… found the temple…" He sniffled. "Sis, fix this!" He began to cry.
"Genis, what's-" Lloyd skidded to a stop and Kratos smashed into him, knocking the lighter swordsman to the ground. "Oww… Kratos… don't ever stand behind me ever again… please… I don't think I'd live through too many tramples… Hey," Lloyd lifted his head. "Isn't that the cave of Eternal Wind?"
"It's the Temple of Holy Wind, Derris fa derri aerosy, a place sanctified by the Angels in the beginning of time." Colete chirped
"It's called Balacruf in modern times." Kratos added.
"It's…" Raine began to twitch. "Marvelous!"
"Not again!" Lloyd moaned. "Not here… I'm not here…"
Raine, with a girlish squeal, ran into the ruin, her newly gained logic tossed to the winds.
"Maaan… I hate these things… Army of fire birds, demons, rock things, and now who knows what?"
"It's a wind temple, what could be in there, evil song birds?" Colette giggled. "Don't worry Lloyd; everything's going to be fine."
"She just Genis talked…" Lloyd grumbled at the mercenary. "Scary."
"She's complicated." Kratos shrugged. "Evil song birds, heh…"
"What about me?" Genis moaned, waving his arms and looking like an oversized pink chicken trying to fly.
Lloyd's lips twitched and Kratos even unbent enough to snicker.
"Come on Genis." Lloyd grabbed his friend's arm and dragged him to the door. "It'll be alright… I b-bet those things will fall out after you walk for a while."
Kratos only snorted, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't quite do so. But the n the giggles he was suffering from might have explained it.