A/N Cookie for the game reference!

'Yuan, we're leaving.'

Kratos stalked out the door, sword in hand. A stumbling Yuan followed, negotiating his swallow blade awkwardly through the door.

'Good luck, Kratos.' Dirk follwed Yuan to the door and called after the Seraph.

Kratos nodded, 'I'm sure it won't take long to find him. He can't have got far. Could you send Colette back to the vill-'

'Kratos! I'm coming too! Ooof-'

Dirk jumped backwards as Colette tripped over his foot, landing flat on her face on the sandy floor. The dwarf muttered a brief apology but the 16 year old brushed it off and ran towards Kratos.

'Chosen, I don't think-'

'But I want to come!' The girl shouted, waving her Chakrams in front of her stubbornly. Yuan watched Kratos with a hint of amusement on his face as the human seemed to consider the possibility of taking the girl.

'No.'

Kratos turned and strode towards the trees, Yuan jogging to keep up. Colette puffed out her cheeks in frustration and called after the Seraph.

'Why can't I come? You know I can fight, I can take care of myself!'

Kratos stopped at the edge of the forest.

'It's not you I'm worried about.'

Lloyd ran.

He ran for what felt like forever, not taking notice of the dimming sunlight and restricted vision that came with it. His legs ached and his head pounded, echoes of his friends blocked out any sound from the outside world. Using the back of his hand, he wiped the blood from a small cut below his eye that he had recieved from one of the many monsters he had escaped from. He turned the corned quickly, foot slipping slightly in the loose, dusty dirt and emerged on a scene he recognised.

Lloyd knew the forest pretty well, and recognised this place to be just on the outskirts on the Iselia side. It was a small dirt path through a tunnel of large willow trees, blocking out much of what little light there was left. Stopping finally to catch his breath, Lloyd remembered where he had come across this part of the forest.

Jutting out the perfect line of willow trees was a grand old oak tree that protrounded onto the dirt path. It had a large trunk that Lloyd wouldn't be able to put his arms all around, and was perfect for sitting against. He and his family had been here before, long ago.

Lloyd leant against the tree and allowed himself to slide down it to a sitting position, the bark scratching against his back as he did so. He felt secure sat here, his breathing slowed to an almost normal pace and his vision swam back into focus. The memories of himself he had seen through his Exsphere made him feel safe, safe that he had reached a kind of familiarity with the area, where noone would be able to belittle him for his every move.

Resting his head on his hands, Lloyd tried to steady his thoughts. Was he angry at Colette? Genis? Was he angry that they didn't agree with his choice?

'What else was I suppposed to do?' Lloyd questioned out loud, rubbing his closed eyelids with his palms. As far as Lloyd was concerned, there was no other option, they just didn't understand.

They wanted him to be the leader, always there to make the decisions for the group. So many a time, Genis, Colette and the others looked to the teenager and asked him 'What are we going to do?', 'What do you think, Lloyd?' The reality was that Lloyd didn't know what to do, nor did he know what he thought. He was merely a seventeen year old from a small town in Sylverant...

Well, that is actually a lie. Lloyd didn't know where he had come from. Until recently, he didn't know much about his parents. How was he suppposed to lead the group to make the right decision when he wasn't even sure who he was as a person? Sure, Lloyd was pleased to have Kratos in his life, heck it felt like he had always been there, but something told him he was maybe not the esteemed, heroic leader his friends thought him to be.

'Why were they angry anyway?' Lloyd muttered, wiping away a fresh flow of blood, 'It's not like they wouldn't have been able to get on with their lives without me.'

Maybe that was just it. Maybe his friends were scared of being left without him. They relied on him, like a lifeline, and Lloyd was not comfortable with it.

'Maybe it would have been easier if I hadn't woken back up...'

'We can organise that for you if you wish, little vermin!'

'Woah!'

Lloyd sprung to the side, rolling over on his back as he flung himself from the tree. A scraping sound alerted Lloyd to the steel blade that had sliced through the outer layers of the bark on the tree. Shuffling backwards on the floor, Lloyd scrambled for his swords as the owner of the sword, a blue-clad desian, and four other of his kind inched towards him.

'What do you want from me?' Lloyd managed to enquire, pulling himself to his feet and brandishing his two swords. Two of the desians, dressed in blue, stepped forwards from their three red-clad counterparts, one with a slightly mystified look on his face.

'That sword... is it-' the mystified desian began.

'Don't ask him that question,' the other desian cut him off, holding out his sword in front of him, 'Where he got that blade is of no consequence to us.'

Shaking off his questioning look, the desian nodded and pointed his shining steel sword straight between Lloyd's eyes.

'I'm sorry, kid, but you are going to have to die.'

Dropping his stance slightly, Lloyd prepared himself for the onslaught. Both of the blue clad members of the group charged straight at him, coming at Lloyd from both sides. Eyes wide, the twin swordsman was thrown off balance by a double attack and held out his swords to block their swipes clumsily. He leant backwards and slipped his left sword down the blade of the desian's, ducking and squeezing out to the left of their attacks. Hopping backwards a few steps, Lloyd shook some hair out his face and readied himself once more. He was panting heavily again, not quite finding the strength he needed to defeat what would normally be a generic battle for the group.

'Argh!'

A whistle through the air and a sharp pain in his shoulder alerted Lloyd to the other three desians, of assumably lower rank. One of them had fired a crossbow arrow that had caught the teenager behind the shoulder, slicing a clean cut through his jacket. Another was preparing a spell while the third had produced an axe and began to step towards Lloyd.

Pushing off with his back foot, Lloyd sprang towards the axe wielding soldier, deciding that a direct attack would keep him out of harms way of the long range weapons. A moving target was harder to hit after all. He ducked under a deliberate swing by the desian and thrust his new blue sword into his chest, pulling it out quickly to prepare himself for the next attack. He stepped backwards as the axe fell to the floor, closely followed by the slumped desian.

Lloyd had quickly disposed of one of the attackers, but he was still worried. He had no strength. His vision blurred purple before him. And the small smirk that appeared on the faces of the two swordsman chilled Lloyd to the bone.

Wiping the back of his hand across his cheek, Lloyd gritted his teeth and attacked the bowman and the mage, striking them down as easy as the last. What worried the teen was that the two swordsman didn't interfere. They observed, almost amused at the sight as Lloyd cut down their colleagues.

Panting heavily, Lloyd leaned against the large oak tree, a matter of feet from the swordsmen. The small amount of light that had illuminated the area from the mage was understandably gone, and only a few beams of moonlight rebounded off the four swords.

'You put up a good fight, kid,' the left desian smiled, 'I'm assuming your name is Lloyd?'

Lloyd tried to keep his focus and bent his knees, ready for an attack, 'Who are you to ask for my name?'

'Ha!' The other desian laughed out, 'You are part of the group that destroyed Lord Forcystus and the ranch, don't pretend we don't know. We had not long returned from a field training mission to find our ranch destroyed, and we hold you personally responsible. After all, I hear through the grapevine that there are some places among the desian grand cardinals available...no doubt Lord Yggdrasill would be impressed if we brought him the Irving-boy.'

'Yggdrasill is gone,' Lloyd countered, 'and I thought you desians weren't supposed to know anything about the leaders of Cruxis?'

'You lie, boy,' one of the desians snarled, 'and for your information, we are part of the higher rank of desian. Enough questions, it is time for you to die.'

Both desians sprung at Lloyd, causing him to step to the side once more. Blocking a few slices, the teen managed to back away from them enough to fire a Demon Fang at their feet, which both desians avoided with ease. Lloyd was no match for these attackers in his current state, and it didn't take long for one of their blows to connect.

'Argh!'

Lloyd flinched and stumbled backwards, his hand brought to a slicing wound across his chest. Unable to counter quick enough, he was flung towards the tree, smashing his head on the stiff bark. Lloyd tried to push himself up from the dusty floor, but his vision swam purple and his strength periodically left him.

'Time to end this, vermin. Glory to the age of half-elv- ARGHHHH!'

The left desian screamed as a shining longsword was thrust through his chest from behind. He dropped his own blade and fell to the floor as it was removed. His counterpart turned, shocked, and stepped back steadily from the tree.

'L...Lord Kratos, Lord Yuan!' The desian bowed his head, stepping back from the near-unconscious boy.

'Biggs,' the menacing mumble from the Seraph came, 'would you mind telling me what yourself and Wedge think you are doing?'

'The boy, sir...' Biggs backed himself up against a tree, 'He...he attacked us.'

'I highly doubt that,' came the suprisingly coarse reply from Yuan, 'You were trying to avenge your master, were you not?'

'No sir! I was waiting for orders!' Biggs shook, 'He...he had your sword, Lord Kratos,' he bowed his head at the name again, 'he killed three desian soldiers when we tried to apprehend him.'

'Boo hoo.'

Kratos didn't even blink as Yuan shot a blinding flash of lightning across the clearing, striking the wide-eyed desian directly in the heart. He swayed for a second, before joining his colleague in a crumpled heap on the floor.

'Lloyd? Lloyd, answer me!' Kratos raised his voice as he clutched the shoulders of his son for the upteenth time. Lloyd lifted his head above the ground, ignoring the steady dripping of blood flowing from his wound and squinted at his father.

'Dad...?' he laughed bitterly, 'Thanks. Tell Colette I'm sorry, will you?'

Kratos sighed heavily as Lloyd collapsed on the dusty ground.