(A/N) Sorry this took so long, guys. I had a major case of writer's block, but now it's all better! It shouldn't be so long in the future.

Disclaimer: If I did own ToS, I'd murder the Iselia mayor in a cruel and bloody assault the first time you meet him... or better yet, just let Forcystus turn him into an exsphere monster, and then let Lloyd kill him.

Chapter 8

Yuan sighed in content as he cleared the border between Tethe'alla and Sylvarant. Without Kratos there he'd had no trouble finding the same chink in the lines that he made it through. He couldn't say he completely regretted leaving Kratos behind, but the boy's company at times like these would've been appreciated. Yuan was fine on his own, but the distinct silence slowly ebbed on his nerves. Sort of like when Kratos was particularly quiet and Yuan was aching for conversation. He got antsy whenever he couldn't tell what people were thinking. He was generally good at making people think what he wanted them too, so that was almost the equivalent of 'good with people' in Yuan's mind. The obvious lack of people always unsettled him. He put it down to pulling an op without his regiment.

He wondered briefly what they'd been up to the week or so he'd been gone. He wasn't even informed who would be temporarily put in charge in his absence, it was a hasty mission. They were only informed of the other Aurion's death several days after it had occurred, which made the operation plausible. The more Yuan thought about it, the more he found that his regiment's affairs might not have been put in order during his leave. Quickening his pace ever so slightly, as it was already rapid, Yuan's feet pounded into the hard-packed dirt. If he hurried he might make Triet the next morning.

Kratos inwardly rolled his eyes. Here he was, at the base of one of the tallest mountains in all of Tethe'alla. About to scale it without equipment. For no other reason, other than Xilia thought it might help speed up his exsphere development. Eyeing the jagged cliffs nonchalantly, Kratos figured she might just be on to something if exsphere maturation was built upon thrill-seeking. This was his kind of job, if only he subtracted the pointlessness of it all. At least he was getting payed.

Kratos scratched absently at the back of his left hand. The 'Cruxis Crystal' was mildly irritating to the skin surrounding its application site, but despite that it felt reassuring. He held up his hand so the crystal could catch the light. The precisely cut jewel was not what Kratos had first expected, but the blood red stone reflected vibrant hues, as if the device itself was bleeding. Grimacing faintly at the thought, Kratos let his hand fall limply to his side.

"Hold still." Xilia pushed her spectacles up with one hand while fiddling with the flaming red stone in the other. Seemingly pleased with its orientation above Kratos hand she let the flat side hover precariously for a moment. Glancing up to meet Kratos' auburn eyes, she flashed a confident smile.

"It'll only hurt a little, like a bee sting." Kratos was going to respond that he'd never been stupid enough to aggravate a bee into making it sting himself, but she quickly set the stone. He twitched slightly at the shock and he felt the mana in his body pulse in reaction. The pressure was quickly relieved as his body adapted to the intrusion, however, and he felt an influx of power, as if the mana in his body was infused with some kind of catalyst. He flexed his fingers while getting used to the new feeling. Xilia gave him an expectant look.

"It's fine." He deadpanned, more intrigued with the appearance of the crystal. Upon contact with his skin, it was flushed a deeper red than before. It stood out in stark contrast with his skin. Xilia looked relieved, a gesture that Kratos wasn't sure he liked. It was not a good sign if she expected something bad to happen. He frowned at the scatter brained researcher.

"First things first, then!" she shifted cheerfully on without picking up on Kratos' disapproval. She tossed Kratos' the heart-monitor from the other day for him to put on. He sighed briefly, but put it on any ways. Hopefully it would be another short day and he would be free to go. He was so wrong.

"I need an activity that will push your limits, preferably your swordsmanship." She drummed her fingers on the back of her clipboard. Her eyes darted about the room, as if searching for some sort of inspiration.

"Monsters would do well. It looked to me like you could handle yourself yesterday, so physical stress is the ideal way to mature the exsphere." Her face lit up like a light bulb. Kratos could barely suppress the urge to groan at her childish manners. "I'll send you to the Fooji Mountains!" She decided. Kratos blanched a bit. Power should never be put into the hands of such a woman. "Your task for today is to hike the two hour trip there, scale Mt. Fooji, the tallest one, and to prove it, grab one of the yellow flower blossoms at the peak." She looked deadly serious now. Apparently he'd be doing all this while wearing a heart monitor. Great.

Now that Kratos thought about it, he didn't have much to do anyway. Maybe some hiking and training would do him good and serve as a distraction. He didn't have anyone to mess with now Yuan was gone. Busy would definitely be better in his case. It was just a hike anyway, and how bad could that be?

He had been mistaken in the simplicity of his task. Already having dealt with a myriad of monsters on the trek here, Kratos noted that it had been three, and not two, hours. If he wanted to get back by nightfall, he'd have to make good time and climb the peak in a couple of hours. Spinning to briefly look behind him, he could see Sybak as a dull gray smudge peeking out behind several large hills that lead up to the mountains. Kratos reluctantly trudged up to the base of the tallest mountain, and there really was no contest. It towered above the others, sturdy and rigid in a way that implied it would remain when all else had crumbled to dust. His right hand always on his hilt, Kratos did his best to find the path of least resistance.

"Sir!" A scrawny Sylvaranti called out, cupping a hand over his mouth. Quite a distance off, Yuan wouldn't have noticed him for another few minutes had he not made his presence known. He was deep in thought.

Yuan's head tipped up and he hurried over to the young subordinate officer. The man, it turned out wasn't really a man after all, he must have been about seventeen. The boy sloppily saluted Yuan's arrival and Yuan nodded for him to be at ease. No one who knew him was so formal. Knew was in a relative sense, though, as most Sylvaranti could recognize him on site simply by his hair. Like this kid. Yuan was about halfway to Triet, and the woods were clearing up and giving way to fine sands.

"Welcome back!" The boy-soldier was reasonably cheerful, and fell in stride with Yuan as he walked. He must not have been informed about the specifics of Yuan's mission, because he hadn't even looked around for another person upon his advent.

"It's good to be back." Yuan relaxed a bit. Being back in Sylvarant was so much more calming than he thought. He'd have to catch up on all of the news on the warfront. So much was missed in a few weeks.

"What's the latest on troop movements?" He chatted amicably. The company was nice as well, even if it was a newbie soldier, Yuan found some of the older soldiers stuffy anyway. The boy practically beamed at his choice of topic. He seemed very eager to please.

"Well, Palmacosta's Third Regiment was sent to relieve Hima's Second at the Meltokio border dispute, and the First of Triet was sent to stem the ground we'd been losing at Latheon Gorge." Yuan nodded through the preliminary data, he'd expected as much. He nearly chuckled when the kid called his regiment the 'First of Triet', as Triet only had one regiment to begin with, but the last bit threw him.

"Did you say Latheon Gorge?" Yuan had stalled in his steps. The boy nodded brusquely, now comfortable enough apparently to continue.

"We were facing heavy losses on that front, and the Tethe'allans gained almost a mile inwards. It needed reinforcement." There was a determined glint in his eyes, something almost bloodthirsty.

"Latheon Gorge is a death trap!" Yuan was now worried, "There is no strategic positioning on our side of the border and the Tethe'allans have the upper ground. We should have cut our losses and held at Ossa Trail." His troops were in the thickest and most pointless section of bloodshed without him and he started his walk again feverishly. He needed to get to the bottom of this. The boy looked taken aback at his response, but matched his pace anyways.

"Who's commanding them?" Yuan spat hurriedly in an afterthought.

"Hm." The boy thought about it for a moment. "Commander Suguro, I think." Yuan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Suguro and he didn't really see eye to eye on battle strategy. He wasted lives for pitiful feet of territory, and Yuan wouldn't have him wasting his troops' lives. The boy looked guilty after witnessing Yuan's reaction to his news. He tried to better the situation.

"But there's good news, too!" His eyes widened while he furiously nodded his head. "Didn't you hear? The King of Tethe'alla is dead!" His enthusiasm was painfully evident. Yuan gave him a second glance. Dead? A quick passing that went by so unnoticed.

"And get this-" The boy was obviously enjoying Yuan's rapt attention. "His daughter is going to be crowned queen. This is exactly what we've been waiting for! The Aurion throne is in disarray, and we need to crush them before they get organized again." Yuan was still shocked, and the nameless soldier took that as cue to continue his bubbly rant.

"Apparently his son, Kratos, just disappeared. Ran away or something, like a coward. That and the other death of the militant prince must've crushed the King, who was already sick. So they'll have a Queen!" he looked mighty pleased with himself. Yuan had stopped again. This was one too many a bombshell to drop on him today.

No matter how happy he should be at this vital information, he was strangely empty. Kratos' father was dead, but Yuan had started to think of him as Kratos' father and not 'the King of Tethe'alla'. He should be planning attacks and anxiously twitching for a quick end to the war, but he felt ashamed. He couldn't diagnose the hollow feeling that overtook him. He would've been eager just two weeks ago for this turn of events. What had changed?

Yuan met Kratos.

He liked Kratos. A Tethe'allan boy, and royalty, and he had given up his orders for him. A Sylvaranti and a Tethe'allan should never be on speaking terms with each other, but Kratos stood up for him. He was a character, to say the least, and Yuan had seen how the war affected him. Kratos abhorred the violence that took his brothers from him, and Yuan witnessed the loss in his eyes when he mentioned his sword. That pang of sadness when he realized the Tethe'allans suffer, too. And now Kratos lost his father. They might not have gotten along, but Yuan didn't like the idea of cheering at his friend's misfortune. Misfortune was an understatement. It would be morbid to exalt at another's loss. Kratos was his friend, then, and Yuan was disgusted at the young soldier's uncalled for excitement. And he'd said Kratos was a coward. Was it cowardly to be decent and have morals? Yuan frowned.

The frown turned into a glare and he walked on, no longer caring if the subordinate kept up.

"Do not rejoice at the death of a respected adversary." His words had darkened with his expression and the disapproval radiated out of his gaze in thick waves. The boy stammered an apology and let the silence hold this time. His fuming began to die down and Yuan found he was angrier at the war for making children into warriors. He, himself, was one such soldier, though he felt years older than the naive child that had never seen battle.

Yuan was much more content in the silence, while he sorted his thoughts. Maybe Kratos was rubbing off on him.

Kratos inhaled sharply as his hand slipped from the knobby ledge. He had been in the process of pulling himself up to another rocky landing, yet now he was dangling from one arm over the precipice of certain doom. He'd made quite a distance up, and already his blood was pumping with adrenaline and anxiety. Allowing one brisk look down was a bad choice. He was good with heights, but somehow knowing he might fall and/or skid down half a mile of sharp protruding stones dampened his opinion on them.

He swung precariously for a moment with his momentum petering out, and then cautiously found a new handhold to wrench his body up to the safer ridge. Why was he doing this again? Oh yea, the whim of a scatterbrained researcher. That encouraging sentiment was the source of his physical strain. He let himself lay breathless for a second on the wide outcropping.

His respite was brief. An enormous nesting crow was disturbed from its own safe haven and viciously stirred up its wings to attack. The bird was easily half Kratos' size, if not bigger, and its beak was like a pick axe. He leapt from his reclined position on the wide ledge and drew his sword in time to ward off the first strike. The bird flitted about heavily and attempted to land a peck on his torso, but Kratos twisted to the more stable mountainside and cut his blade across the crow's body. It shrieked in a hideous last battle call before Kratos silenced it for good with a sonic thrust. The demon bird disintegrated upon the killing blow into the coarse dust that all monsters break into. Kratos wrinkled his nose at the creature's ashen remains as they began to diffuse in the wind. Disgusting.

"Never had a chance." Kratos muttered to himself, while sheathing his blade and examining the rest of the rocky level he was on for any more monsters. He was feeling pretty accomplished with his timely progress, and it wasn't from lack of interference. He was definitely stronger and could keep up his speed much longer with his new exsphere. He might be imagining it, but he felt as if his vision was sharper than before. He could see into the darker cracks where light never touched with unmistakable clarity, and his sight extended into the distance. This appreciation to detail so far away got him a bit distracted, but it was worth it. It was as if the rocks several hundred yards away were right under his nose to be inspected in the best light. The acuity was an added bonus, and Kratos immediately attributed it to the Cruxis Crystal. Looking down at his hand, the stone looked less out of place. It was still scathingly bright and vibrant, but Kratos felt as if the energy it contained was seeping into his veins and empowering him as well. It didn't feel like a parasite as his first impression of the device had suggested.

A rustling of feathers and flapping noises sounded somewhere behind him, towards the open air. He groaned inwardly. It was stupid of him to assume the crow was a loner. Crows always traveled in flocks, and large ones at that. He spun around and redrew his shining blade. Four more of the enormous birds were setting course for him from around the curvature of the cliff, evidently responding to the final call of their deceased companion.

Rest just wasn't in the cards for him today.

Xilia was minding her computer station, periodically checking Daisuke's heart monitor data. He was probably running into quite a bit of trouble, but secretly she needed the flower blossom for another completely unrelated experiment dealing with pollens of the region. It was an added bonus that Daisuke had the means to get it, because making an expedition out of it would've been a hassle and she really wasn't good with preparations.

Come to think of it, she'd put that pollen experiment on hold for a while. Why was that again? Her mind could never seem to keep focused on any one thing, but she needed to remember why she'd let it slide back on her priorities list. Oh! She tapped her pencil on the table as she recalled the ordeal. It was because that particular blossom was only found in early spring, immediately after the winter frost melted. Her forehead creased upon the realization.

It was late summer. Daisuke wouldn't be able to find the flower blossom, no matter how long he looked. She hung her head at her own stupidity. She could pretend that she was just testing him...

(A/N) Drop a review and tell me what you think! I'll try to get the next chapter up soon XD!