A/N Argh! Taking slightly longer to update this fic, sorry! I (stupidly...) started a new Tales of Symphonia fic and decided to revive my Phoenix Wright and Harry Potter fics too... Dammit!

So sorry it's taken a little longer than normal! I have cooked up a special serving of cheese for you today!

Enjoy!

EDIT: 21:43pm, GMT. Stupid mistake in last line!

Wind whistled through the trees, causing long strands of hair to be misplaced, and Lloyd Irving sat with his knees to his chest, fighting a familiar pounding sensation in his forehead. It was pitch black, save for the soft orange glow of a dimly lit fire around two feet from where the teenager was sat. Lloyd was greeted with the fire when he woke up. He hadn't been sat alone for long, but was aware that he needed to keep himself awake despite the urges from every bone in his body to curl up and drop into the endless, comforting slumber.

'Ah, you're awake, good.'

Lloyd looked up through his unruly brown locks to see his father gazing down at him, smiling slightly. The wind blew his hair off his face, showing a neat grey scar above his left eye. Kratos was holding two steaming white china mugs, filled with what Lloyd assumed to be hot coffee.

'How are you feeling?' Kratos held out the hot mug to be gladly accepted by his shivering son. Lloyd nodded in thanks before his voice croaked a response.

'I'm alright,' Lloyd replied, coughing to clear his throat, 'my head feels as if it has been hit by a speeding Rhieard, but other than that I'm fine.'

'Hmmm...' Kratos mumbled, taking a seat silently to Lloyd's left, 'You had a nasty wound on your chest which I should have pretty much cleared up by now. Although you might want to get a new jacket.'

Lloyd looked down at the diagonal slice that cut across his red jacket and through his black undershirt. Beneath the tear was a thin purple-pink line where his wound had been healed. The teen mumbled a thank you at his father and sipped his scolding hot coffee slowly.

'Why did you run?'

Lloyd stopped mid-sip. His eyes darted up to the left and met the stiff gaze of his father. Kratos clutched his coffee in his two gloved hands, the light from the fire casting ominous shadows over his serious face.

'Why did you run?' Kratos asked again, narrowing his eyes slightly. Lloyd broke eye contact and lowered his mug, turning his head away.

'Are you getting firm with me?' the twin-swordsman replied defensively. Kratos raised his eyebrows.

'Not at all,' the Seraph remained calm, but forceful, 'I am merely trying to establish what upset you enough to make you want to run away from Colette.'

Lloyd scowled and placed his mug down on the sandy dirt beside him. He rubbed his hands together to try and keep warm while trying to formulate a response. He didn't want to have this conversation. Even with his father.

'She didn't get why I...did what I did at the Tower of Salvation,' Lloyd managed to muster a brief reply.

'I see,' Kratos replied, taking a slow sip of coffee as if to annoy Lloyd further with his casual attitute.

'You aren't much help you know...' Lloyd pouted and squeezed his knees tighter into his chest.

'Forgive me, but I am not exactly up to date with the complex dynamic of an adolescent relationship,' the Seraph's mouth twitched slightly, 'I am only trying to establish why you put yourself in so much danger when you are clearly not in any fit state to fight off high ranking desians.'

'I didn't know I would run into them!'

'Don't get het up about it, I'm just trying to make a point,' Kratos cut his son off, 'Colette does not quite understand what you have been through yet. Both her and Genis are reacting to what is a normal emotional process - grief.'

Lloyd met his father's eyes again, a solemn look shadowing on his face, 'Grief...?'

'Grief,' Kratos took another sip of coffee, 'each individual reacts differently. Genis went through denial, then anger. He didn't react after it...first happened. He then became angry that he couldn't stop you. That feeling is exacerbated by your return.'

Lloyd nodded, 'I guess so...'

'The Chosen tried to be strong through it,' Kratos continued, 'she was continually trying to force a reaction out of Genis, while trying to bottle up her own feelings. You saw she didn't really react when you returned?'

'I thought she wasn't pleased to see me...' Lloyd mumbled, twiddling his thumbs between his clasped hands, 'Sheena was, same with the others. Genis and Colette-'

'They are the ones who were hit the hardest when you went,' Kratos closed his eyes, 'that's why it took them longer to come to terms with your return.'

'You're right,' Lloyd replied, 'maybe I was too judgemental. I just can't handle being heralded as the 'leader' of our group...they put too much emphasis on what I think and what I feel. I don't need that kind of attention.'

'I know,' Kratos opened his eyes and finished his coffee, 'I felt the same when I was younger. I felt like my opinions and ideas were no better than anyone else's, and so questioned my ability to rationally make decisions that were best for the group. Your mother used to berate me for it, called it an inadequacy complex.' He smiled lightly, a similar smile being echoed onto Lloyd's face.

'I guess you're right...' Lloyd replied, running a hand through his hair, 'although I noticed one thing you said that doesn't add up.'

'Really? Where?' Kratos humoured his son, who shuffled through the dirt to sit shoulder to shoulder with his father.

'You said Genis and Colette were the ones who were hit the hardest,' Lloyd's voice dropped to a whisper as he stared into the flames, 'I disagree.'

 'Heh...' Kratos placed his cup on the floor and swung his arm round Lloyd's shoulders, 'Maybe you're right this time. Not that it matters now, because you are back, here, for good.'

'Hmm,' Lloyd mumbled contently in his father's half-embrace, 'where is 'here' out of interest?'

'We are by the same tree myself and Yuan found you,' Kratos replied, poking one of the logs on the fire with part of a branch, throwing the branch onto the top of the pile afterwards, 'I figured you would prefer to be away from everyone else tonight. So I got Yuan to go back to the village to fill Colette and the others in, and I went and fetched some coffee from your house.'

'Right...'

'You'll understand as you get older, coffee can help ease the pain of many of life's troubles better than any spell can.'

'And you'd know all about age, wouldn't you?' Lloyd joked, nudging his father slightly in the ribs.

'Remember who you are talking to, Lloyd,' Kratos replied sternly, trying to disguise his grin.

Both Kratos and Lloyd sat in silence, broken only by the sound of the younger man bursting into fits of giggles.

'Lloyd!' Kratos recoiled as Lloyd fell out of his father's grasp, laughing uncontrollably.

'I'm sorry...' the teen managed to breathe between laughs, 'it's just age jokes are never going to get old!'

'Very funny,' Kratos stood and nudged Lloyd in the back with his foot, 'come on, enough chit-chat, you need to rest some more.'

Lloyd crawled back from the fire and over to where his father had placed his swords - up against a large oak tree. He sat with his back against the bark and laid his head back obediently. His tired frame was close to slipping into slumber before it was abruptly startled by the brush of warmth against his left shoulder and the sound of his father sitting next to him. The brunette opened his eyes slightly, rolling his head to the left, and saw his father bring his knees up close to his chest and fold his arms.

'Get some rest, Lloyd.' Kratos mumbled as the teen let his eyelids droop again. He didn't let them open as the arm was placed round his shoulder.

'Dad?' Lloyd whispered after a short silence.

'What is it?'

'...' the boy hesitated, 'I'm ready to reunite the worlds. I think it's time we put this pact with Origin to good use.'

'...'

'Dad?'

'Sleep, son,' Kratos replied, feeling Lloyd readjust his position against the tree. A small smile of pride crept over his features as he rested his eyes in the same way he had done fourteen years previously, this time with his grown up son.

A/N Please review! Next update will probably be next week, gotta do the 3 other stories first! :S