Lloyd closed his eyes and smiled to himself as he felt the breeze blow his hair from his eyes. He clutched his crossed legs to his chest and placed his right thumb over his Exsphere protectively, trying to ignore the dull thud of a headache that had plagued him for the last few days. It seemed a miracle; the sun had come out spectacularly over the sky after the blinding light had diminished. The newly re-united worlds... Lloyd wondered how the citizens of the cities and towns had reacted. Had anyone noticed? He sighed to himself, dealing with the fact that it would be him and his group that would bear the burden of explaining.

Lloyd opened his eyes as he heard some soft footsteps behind him. He was aware that the rest of the group left him as he was sitting in front of the tree - it had been a good couple of hours since everything had settled. Turning his head slightly, the teen saw a small blue-clad half elf drawing circles uncomfortably in the sandy dirt.

'Do you want to sit?' Lloyd asked quietly, patting the ground beside him and turning back to the tree. He recieved no answer as he was joined by his friend, the two sitting comfortably in silence for a long moment until they both broke the silence at once.

'Lloyd, I-' 'You don't-'

Both boys recoiled and set their gazes firmly on the ground in front of them, stiffling laughs.

'Thanks for putting the pipes here by the tree.' Genis said slowly, face going serious once more.

'It's no problem, Genis. It was a good idea.'

'Hmm...' Genis readjusted how he was sat as the wind blew some of his hair into his eyes. The pair sat in silence for another minute or so before the young half-elf stood up from Lloyd's side.

'I'm gonna go and find Raine, Lloyd,' he said almost monotonously. Lloyd failed to look up from where he was sat. Instead he bit his lip and fixed his eyes firmly on the base of the tree. He nodded briskly, unaware of Genis's pained expression behind him. The half elf turned and headed off towards the Triet desert.

'I'm glad you are back, Lloyd,' Genis mumbled to himself after he was sure Lloyd would not hear him.

'Lloyd! You're back!'

The Eternal Swordsman smiled widely and he stepped into the Sage household that evening. The small house was inhabited by what seemed like everyone in the village. Presea and Regal were in deep conversation on one side of the room, Regal stirring the delicious smelling pot absent-mindedly as he spoke. Sheena was talking with what looked to be a few members of the Mizuho clan, obviously anticipating the unification of the worlds. A grinning Zelos was hovering behind her, unaware of the twitch above Sheena's eyes as he got to close to her. Lloyd scanned the room and spotted Raine in discussion with Phaidra and Frank, with Genis sipping from a drink in the corner.

'Lloyd?'

'Oh, Colette,' Lloyd jumped as Colette said his name once more, 'Sorry I completely spaced out.'

'Hehe, it's okay,' Colette clasped her hands together and began to bounce on the balls of her feet as she spoke. Lloyd lost what she was saying about half way through and scanned the room once more, '...and so Sheena got them all here and-'

'Sorry to cut you off, Colette,' Lloyd interrupted, 'but have you seen my dad?'

Colette smiled once more, causing a small pang of guilt to cut through Lloyd as she brushed off his rudeness, 'Kratos? He was out the back of the house with Yuan last time I saw him...'

'Thanks, Colette.' Lloyd put a hand on her shoulder as he passed her.

The teen pushed through the groups of people towards the open back door, lazily waving a greeting to Zelos as he did so. The closer he drew to the door he heard the deep voices of the two Seraphs from the other side, the familiar tone of his father speaking quietly but forcefully.

'...doesn't matter, Yuan.'

'Of course it does!' Lloyd raised his eyebrows slightly at the desperation in the blue-haired Seraph's plea, 'he'd never forgive you! Stop being such a martyr!'

'Hmmph.' Lloyd heard Yuan sigh loudly at Kratos's stiff reply.

'You never learn, do you?' Yuan continued, Lloyd beginning to feel more and more uncomfortable, 'You always think people are better off without you! That you are some kind of curse, a virus! Well I have news for you, bud, you aren't! How do you think he would feel if you went through with this? After all you both have been through?!'

'I have not been in his life for-'

'OK!' Yuan was shouting now, causing Lloyd to flick his eyes back over to the large group in the Sage household, it seemed none of them had noticed, 'OK, Kratos. Fine. Enough of Lloyd. What about me?' Yuan's voice lowered to a near whisper, Lloyd had to strain to catch the last sentence.

'Yuan...' Kratos mumbled, almost warningly, 'You don't need me.'

'You'd think that, wouldn't you?' Came the reply, 'Sometimes I wonder myself. What would I do? Would I be charged with consoling your son?'

Lloyd's eyes had widened as he placed his head back onto the wooden wall. Was he hearing what he thought he was hearing? It couldn't be...surely. No. Kratos wouldn't...what was he planning? Kratos wouldn't...

'You just don't think. I've known you for a stupid amount of time, yet sometimes you still astound me.'

'Don't be ridiculous, Yuan, I-'

'I've had enough, Kratos. Just do what you damn well please.'

Lloyd snapped out his trance a second as he heard Yuan scold Kratos. Sensing the half-elf was coming back into the house, Lloyd did what he had done so many times before, yet he was beyond caring.

He bolted.

'Lloyd? Lloyd, are you here?'

The teen looked up from his now-shimmering blades to the stairs leading to his room. His gaze fell back down to the floorboards he was sat on as the person who called his name ascended the stairs. Lloyd gritted his teeth and scrubbed his new blue sword with the soft cloth vigorously, pretending he didn't hear the call.

'Everything alright?'

Lloyd looked up through his drooping spikes at the purple-clad figure of his father stood at the top of the stairs. Kratos was holding a serious look, leaning slightly on the bannister of the stairs with his right hand.

'Yes, everything is fine,' Lloyd replied, flashing a fake smile. He had had a couple of hours to try and make sense of Yuan and Kratos's discussion earlier, despite not coming to a conclusion.

'Hmm...' Kratos mumbled something as Lloyd began to sheath his newly-shined swords, 'They look good.'

The teen smiled as he stood, fastening the belt tightly around his waist, 'Thanks. I'm gonna try and take care of these two.'

Lloyd's smile was returned as Kratos stepped back from the stairs, waving a lazy arm and so indicating that Lloyd should go first, 'Do you want to go and try them out properly?'

Kratos raised his eyebrows as Lloyd hesitated, the younger turning his head slightly as if to examine his father.

'Something wrong?' Kratos asked, recieving a shake of the head in reply.

'No. Sorry. I'm just a little tired. I'll just grab my boots and we can hit the woods.'

'You aren't trying.'

'I am trying!'

Lloyd wiped the back of his hand across his brow as he crouched, placing his other hand on the floor to steady himself. Kratos had been beating him easily, showing as much intensity as he had done that day in the Torrent forest. Lloyd furrowed his brow and cursed under his breath. He wouldn't be able to beat his father if he fought as he was now. Despite being younger, he still lacked a little speed. Pushing himself to his feet he readied himself again, holding one sword in front of him, one behind him.

'You have to focus,' Kratos instructed, adjusting the position of his gloves as he let Lloyd catch his breath, 'try to plan your advances before you do them. Only react spontaneously when you really have to, and only do it to defend yourself. An off-the-cuff attack will leave you wide open as you haven't planned it properly.'

Lloyd cursed as he twisted his feet across the surface dirt, transferring his weight to his left side. He would attack Kratos's right hand side, his backswing. That way he wouldn't be able to pick up any speed in his swing and hopefully not have much power in his attacks. Lloyd just hoped he could pin him to that side; he realised how wide open he would be if he let Kratos switch his stance.

Letting a grin twitch across his face, Lloyd sprung into action, almost catching Kratos off guard. He headed straigh at the Seaph, who stepped forwards, before planting his right foor firmly and flinging himself to the left. He turned his body sharply and brought Flamberge down swiflty in a vertical arc. Lloyd noticed Kratos's eyes widen quickly as he managed to twitch his right arm in a position to block the strike, both pairs of ears straining as the clash of metal rung out in the forest.

The impact sent both Lloyd and Kratos reeling backwards, off balance. Lloyd was the slower to react as Kratos leapt towards him, arms raised above his head. Lloyd cried out as he crossed his swords in front of him, bracing himself for the impact. Closing his eyes and bending his knees to negate the force, Lloyd took the blow. Again, however, he didn't react fast enough to get into a suitable position. He felt his ankles being pulled from underneath him as Kratos swept his leg laterally a few inches from the floor. All the air was lost from his lungs as he struck the floor painfully, dirt particles flying up around him as his cheek planted itself in the short grass.

Kratos sighed and turned, rolling his head round as if to stretch his neck, 'You've lost touch. I don't know if it is because you haven't yet recovered, but just because Yggdrasill has gone doesn't mean you are free to do as you please. No doubt there will be some major opposition to the new world and many people will be confused. I would go as far as to say you are in more immediate danger now than before.'

Lloyd sat himself up and brushed some of the dust off his clothes. He shot daggers into the back of his father's head, partly angry at his own failings and partly with annoyance at the way Kratos was talking to him. He didn't like being patronised.

'I'm sorry if I sound a little hard on you, especially after all you have been through recently, but I have to make sure you can look after yourself,' Kratos continued.

A look of realisation dawned on Lloyds face as he heard Kratos's voice repeat in his head.

'...but I have to make sure you can look after yourself...'

Why did he have to make sure? Lloyd was beginning to put it all together as memories of Yuan and Kratos's discussion at the Sage's came to mind.

'Yuan...' Kratos mumbled, almost warningly, 'You don't need me.'

'You'd think that, wouldn't you?' Came the reply, 'Sometimes I wonder myself. What would I do? Would I be charged with consoling your son?'

He was doing it.

Lloyd's first thought when he heard the conversation. His first suspicion. He had been right all along.

Kratos was going to leave him alone again.

How could he? He'd only been in Lloyd's life for about a year...not even that! Lloyd's only blood family! After all the two of them had been through, after all they had both sacrificed, Kratos was going to go. And he wasn't going to tell Lloyd.

At least he didn't think he would.

But where would he be going? Lloyd stood himself up and straightened up his jacket. Kratos was still talking about something that Lloyd wasn't listening too, his eyes vacant as his monotonous voice droned on.

'...you're idea was right, it just wasn't exercised properly. I can only teach you what you need, Lloyd. It's up to you to practise and refine your techniques so that-'

Lloyd didn't think before he acted. The frustration had boiled up within him as his hearing locked back on to Kratos's mumblings. Kratos thought he was weaker than before, that he couldn't look after himself. Or was this all a ploy to improve Lloyd's skills before he left him for good. Well Lloyd convinced himself he would not let that happen. He wanted answers. Enough of this mystery.

Springing forward in a fluid motion, Lloyd swung both swords horizontally, intentionally colliding with the steel longsword Kratos had been using. The Seraph stopped talking as the metal collided, swinging the older man over to one side. Lloyd was fastest to react this time, lifting a knee up and planting it firmly in his father's stomach. The breath left Kratos as he was flung to the floor behind him. He tried to stand but was stopped by a blue and red sword pointed directly at him from above.

A/N Hmmmm.... not sure what I think of this chapter. Sorry it took so long

Please review!!!