Sorry this chapter is short, but I've been so behind with all my fics lately I wanted to give you guys something to hold you over. Trust me I'll make up for it next chapter, I've got big plans….
Disclaimer: I own nothing
He came to only to see one of the few things that horrified him in his long, long life. Lloyd was pinned against the wall of the earthen house with Renegades' blades by his neck, the dual swordsman's face pale and his eyes wide.
"Finally woke up, good, I guess we can get this over with now."
The voice wasn't something he could ever mistake and his russet eyes immediately locked on their source. Damn it all, Yuan, that smug scheming bastard. Though the half-elf seemed a bit less smug than usual, oddly serious looking as his jade eyes pierced through him.
"Yuan-" Kratos growled.
"Silence. I take it you already know what's going on here, hm?" Yuan looked over his shoulder at Lloyd. "You went through all this trouble to protect your son already, so really, is it asking too much more? We all want the same thing, to unite the worlds and defeat Yggdrasill. So why resist?"
"What the hell is threatening me gonna do?!" Lloyd snapped. "What do you want him to do?! Like you said we're all on the same side! So-"
"I take it Kratos didn't tell you did he?" Yuan smirked mirthlessly. "He told you about the Eternal Sword and how to craft the ring but he didn't tell you the most important part, did he? About what must be done to awaken Origin so that you could claim the sword to begin with?"
"Well- we just have to find him and make a pact like we did with the others, right?"
"You were so desperate to milk just a little more time out this, weren't you?" the Renegade continued, ignoring his hostage. "You finally got your son to accept you, more or less, and then this…such a pity. Oh well, there's no sense in dragging this out anymore. Kratos, release Origin's seal or we kill Lloyd."
"Seal-? What seal? What are you talking about? Stop ignoring me!" Lloyd shouted, his teeth gritted.
"Origin is sealed away, if any of us want a chance of getting the sword then we have to break the seal. The seal is based on Kratos' life, once Kratos releases the mana in his body Origin will be free and the sword can be taken from Yggdrasill."
"Wh- what-?" Lloyd's eyes widened.
"Yes. Exactly. In order to reunite the worlds and stop Cruxis, Kratos has to die."
Kratos did his best to ignore the expression on Lloyd's face, instead focusing on Yuan. What he was talking about really didn't matter one way or the other right now, what mattered was securing Lloyd's safety. Though, if that meant breaking the seal then….
"No! Listen to me, don't do it!" Lloyd attempted to rush forward only to be slammed back against the wall. "Ugh- No! This is what we've been trying to prevent in the first place! Trying to make a world where no one has to sacrifice themselves, including you!"
"There is no other way," Kratos said simply, not looking at his son. "I know you wish for there to be, Lloyd, but there really are some things in this world that have no other paths to take."
"Then we make a path!"
Kratos felt a faint, twisted little smile on his lips and he closed his eyes, shaking his head.
"Your idealism and passion is refreshing, more than you know, Lloyd. You're so much like your mother that way. However…this is inevitable."
"So you're seeing reason? Good, now-"
"But I won't release the seal. Not yet." Kratos locked Yuan with a cold glare "Not for you."
Yuan scowled, putting out his palm and charging a mass of mana into it.
"It doesn't matter if it's right now or later, Kratos! It doesn't matter, you know you have to die! Don't you want the world united? Don't you want to make your family's wish come true, Anna's and your son's?"
"Stop it! You both are being idiots!" Lloyd shouted at the top of his lungs, struggling against his captors. "We can work together, we can save the world together, and we can do it without killing anyone! Don't you guys see, everyone is a victim here, by everyone else! Because we keep making each other victims, we don't have to! I refuse to believe it's okay to sacrifice someone for a cause, no life should be born for the sole purpose of dying-!"
"All right, I've had about as much as I can handle of this schmaltzy talk."
This time Kratos saw Yuan's expression take on the exact same one he just did at the sound of the voice. Both of their gazes jolted to the door where a blonde half-elf boy had just strolled out. Lloyd's expression was of confusion but then abruptly turned to horror as the half-elf simply gestured to the Renegades and then blasted them into either side of the stone faces with bursts of light mana.
"Mithos-?!"Lloyd blurted.
"Yggdrasill!" Yuan snapped, pale.
A smirk cracked the blonde's face.
"Surprised?"
There was another flash of light and Yuan was slammed into the rocky cliff-face. In the split second the half-elf was distracted Kratos rushed between the Cruxian and his son, drawing his sword.
"I've been waiting to chat with you, Kratos. I have to say I have quite a few questions for you," Mithos turned, his blue eyes narrowed dangerously despite his pleasant smile. "Though I can see a few of them have already been answered for me, like where you've been and where your loyalties lay."
Lloyd, of course, did not stay behind his father and instead ran out beside him with his swords drawn.
"What's going on!?" he demanded.
"He's Yggdrasill," Kratos responded flatly, not taking his eyes off their foe. "He must've taken this form to spy on your group."
"I've heard quite a few interesting things about what you've been up to, Kratos. Lloyd's friends are too talkative to be so trusting." Mithos shrugged laxly, not intimidated by the Aurions stances. "All that about Lloyd's dear old dad 'Mister Scott' and then him turning out to be someone else, your friends are all so loud. Genis practically told me everything himself! About you and about the Renegades- oh, that reminds me…I'm not through with Yuan just yet."
With a leisurely flick of his wrist another blast of light mana slammed into Yuan, who had shakily been attempting to get to his feet.
"So, Kratos, we're going to have a nice long talk about your actions. I gotta say though I'm pretty curious how you managed to change your body like that, I thought I was the only one capable of that…then again, you are Origin's seal, I guess it wouldn't be too outlandish to think some of the spirit's power had a couple side-effects after so long."
"Lloyd," Kratos said in an urgent hush, not taking his eyes off Mithos. "Listen to me. When I tell you, you need to run."
"You know I'm not going to do that-"
"W- what's going on out here?!"
The noise seemed to have stir the other from the building, who rushed out to find the corpses, Yuan's twitching body and their ignoble leader with blades drawn against the half-elven boy.
"Mithos! You…so…" Genis stammered.
"What's true? That you shouldn't have trusted me?" Mithos smirked. "Good guess! Though you lot are pretty dumb about who you trust, huh? Though I guess I am too, I mean, we both got conned by that filthy traitor over there."
Mithos' eyes locked on Lloyd.
"Though I think I know who I can blame for that."
Kratos' eyes widened and he pushed Lloyd aside, putting himself between his son and his former master as the spell rushed forward.
Everything went black.
"You had the nerve to betray me again, Kratos? Then you went and did something so stupid like this. You know I can't afford to have you die…"
Everything hurt, but pain was not a new sensation to him at all. His entire life had been filled with each and every kind. He tried to move but found himself restrained by something.
"So now you're just going to have to sit tight here from now on, got it? I won't have you messing things up more than you already have, you selfish bastard…"
He knew that voice and he knew where he must be, that wasn't important. Desperately he sensed for his son's mana, hoping that he wasn't there, but also hoping for some sign that he had survived.
"Things will be fine anyway…that Chosen will hand Colette over to me soon, then I'll have your little bastard son and his friends wiped out for good."
Kratos relaxed a bit. Good, that meant Lloyd was alive, and away from Mithos' clutches.
"How dare you!?"
He felt a strike against his wounded side, causing a searing pain, but he did not make any response.
"You betrayed me for the last time, Kratos. Once I get rid of those distractions you'll have no other reason to turn against me. I'll get rid of them for good this time…"
"Don't-"
"Don't what?" Mithos sneered. "Hurt your precious little vermin of a son? Because that's worked out so well for me so far, hasn't it?"
He felt another strike of mana, searing his battered body. He grit his teeth and heard the footsteps walking away from him.
"You're lucky I need you alive, Kratos."
Lloyd looked over the wreckage, at the broken doll that was Tabatha and the old dwarf clinging onto life as his teacher attempted to heal him. He felt so stupid…how many times was he going to be deceived and betrayed by someone he thought was his friend? Was he really that oblivious? Mithos' betrayal had taken him completely by surprise, because of that his friends got hurt, and his father got taken away to boot.
He grit his teeth and slammed his fist against the wall, shaking. It was because he hadn't been strong enough, again, why couldn't he ever protect the ones he wanted to protect? How was he going to save the world when he couldn't even-…no, no thinking like that wasn't going to help. They were going to do what they could to help Altessa, then they were going to save Kratos, and then they were going to reunite the worlds once and for all. Even if the seal…no, they'd find something. Once they defeated Cruxis they'd have all the time they needed to find a way to break Origin's seal without killing Kratos. This once, he swore, he was going to accomplish his goals without anyone he loved suffering.
"You look pretty beat up there, huh?"
Lloyd frowned, glancing over to his side. The red-haired Chosen had been uncharacteristically quiet since last night's events, and stood there, solemn-faced and his hands stuffed in his pockets. A small smirk twisted his lips, as if reading Lloyd's mind.
"Like I said, bud, it's human nature to just start getting tired of it all."
"And like I said, I'm never giving up." Lloyd snapped.
"Woah woah, calm down there, Bud, I was just-"
Lloyd sighed.
"I'm sorry Zelos, I didn't mean to snap at you…."
"Hey, nothing to apologize for." Zelos shrugged, looking aside.
"Zelos, do you think I'm stupid?"
"Huh? Well I'll admit I never thought you'd ask that," Zelos rose a brow. "Why you asking suddenly?"
"Because…Mithos fooled me-"
"He fooled all of us-"
"But Kratos fooled me too! Twice! And then- I just…maybe I really am stupid, you know? Maybe this is my fault…"
"Could be," Zelos shrugged.
Lloyd sighed, rubbing his face and then looking up and out.
"Maybe…that's why I have to fix things. We'll help Altessa and go save Kratos-"
"Woah wait, what? After all that you're still talking about saving that traitor? Weren't you just talking about feeling dumb for getting duped?" Zelos snorted. "Look, I know he's your dad but in my book that makes it even worse-"
"It has nothing to do with him being my dad!" Lloyd snapped, glaring. "Even if he wasn't my dad, he still came clean, he came back to us, he helped us and now he needs our help. So I'm going to help him."
The red-head eyed him skeptically for a moment or two, then rolled his eyes.
"You really are an idiot, then."
"I guess I am."
"You're just going to keep getting betrayed if you stay the way you are."
"It's better to be deceived than to deceive."
"If I didn't know you any better, bud, I'd think the dwarven vows were the only wise words you had."
Lloyd blinked, frowning.
"What?"
"Nothing, let's hurry up and see what we're gonna do about fixing up the old man, huh? Then maybe once he's up to snuff he can fix up that cute little doll of his."
Lloyd shook off his unease and followed the man, trying to form a plan on their next actions.
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