This chapter has been ridiculously long in coming because I worked very hard to get it just right. Just one more chapter to go, plus an epilogue and it is done! Thanks for everyone's patience and thanks for sticking with me. On with the show.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the things you don't recognize. Unless you don't recognize Kratos. But if you don't then why are you reading this?
REVEIW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anna was fighting. She could hear voices nearby in the dark abyss she struggled to break free of. She knew those voices. She fought her bonds, crying out as pain seared through her, tracing a fiery path up her arm. She struggled to reach for her sword, to open her eyes, but she could not. The voices went on. Voices she knew...but wished she did not.
"She's unconscious. We drugged her as you said we should." Anna knew that voice. A female voice that once was warm and loving, now cold and bitter.
"Excellent. And what of the traitor, Yuan? Did you locate him?" A man whose voice was so black with evil that Anna shuddered in her darkness.
"Yes. As it turns out he was giving us both the wrong information as to avoid detection. He had no interest in assisting Anna and defying the Desians." Felicity. Anna gritted her teeth as she tried to crawl toward her sister, to claw her, to rip her, to tear her limb from limb.
"Hmm...that shall continue to be investigated."
"And Jalisa?" Jalisa? What do the Desians want with Jalisa?
"It's yours." FELICITY'S! Never!
"Thank you, Lord Kvar." KVAR! The evil bastard who had stolen everything from Anna. Felicity had been working for him all this time and spying not only on Anna, but on Yuan as well.
"Lord Kvar...about the child..."
"I see no relevance-"
"If you kill him, Anna will wake up and Kratos will descend upon you like a demon from hell. I implore you. Rear the child here as another host body." Kratos! Anna could move suddenly, his name sending a fierce rush of energy to her. But still, the darkness did not lift. Kratos...
"The boy, Lloyd is he called? He is of no use to me. Why keep him alive."
LLOYD!
If anything, any word, any name, had the power to break through whatever held Anna captive, it was the name of her son. She shed her paralysis and blindness as anger and fear raced white-hot through her body.
"NO!" She roared at last opening her eyes unto the faces of her enemies. In one swift movement she had leaped off the table she was laying on and lunged at Kvar, wrapping her hands around his throat. "I WILL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU TOUCH MY SON!"
"LORD KVAR!" Guards rushed forward as their over lord sank to his knees, gasping for air as Anna tried her hardest to crush his throat beneath her fingers. A surge of energy suddenly shot through her, catapulting her backwards into the wall with such force that it crumbled. As though she had not hit bricks with tremendous force she leapt to her feet swinging at a Desian and shattering his nose, bone splinters piercing into his brain. Another leaped onto her back. She grabbed him and threw him to the floor, breaking his neck in the process.
Something stabbed her in the side. She turned to swing at her opponent but her body was becoming oddly heavy. She fell to her knees, struggling to remain alert. Kvar and Felicity stood over her, a syringe gripped in Felicity's hand.
"Terrific work, my dear," Kvar said sneering. "You are considerably furthering the crystal's process. But I warn you...another outburst like that and I will have to get nasty. Just think of what we could do to the precious villagers of yours that now reside in these walls. And your son?" He laughed coldly. No! Anna cried silently as her vision began to go dark.
"Kvar..." she rasped out."The day...the day you try..."she fell to all fours, panting in a vain effort to stay awake. "The day you try to hurt my son...will be the day you meet your downfall!"
Darkness closed like a glove around her. The last thing she saw before she slipped into oblivion was Felicity, her face alight with a grin of malicious evil.
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"Arm up!" Ahmond roared as Asilaj burst into a flurry of activity. "Now!" After Kratos and Denise and Ahmond slaughtered the Desians, Ahmond began to bark out orders as Denise and the other assassins gathered weapons and pulled information from dying men. Weapons were distributed, armor dug out of houses. The assassins prepared for the final battle against the Desians, They had trampled the assassins for the last time. If the rest of the world was going to stand idly by, then the Jalisa had to take matters into their own hands, not just for Anna, but for all the victims of the past and all the victims of the future.
"Ahmond!" Denise ran up to him, Hikaru right behind her. "Sei and his wife were captured and taken to the ranch just as Anna was. The rest of their group was killed."
"I figured as much," Ahmond replied with a scowl. "We need to march.
"Daddy, I wanna go!" Hikaru said stamping her foot.
"It's too dangerous!" Ahmond told his daughter. "You must stay here." Hikaru glared, her four year old temper extremely advanced. "I said no and that is final!" he turned to Denise who knelt next to her daughter and picked her up in a hug. "Kratos!" Ahmond looked around and saw Kratos standing completely stationary by the gate.
I was a fool, Kratos thought furiously. I was a fool to believe that… I wanted so badly to think that our troubles were finally over, that Anna was going to live-I didn't even check the blasted key crest! And the Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium!? Did I NOT watch Martel suffer from the same affliction, the same resistance to Yuan's touch, the same odd secrecy and the clothes-WHAT THE HELL HAVE I'VE BEEN DOING!
"Yuan," he said softly. "I know you're there. Show yourself."
"You never told me how you were able to see through my invisibility spell," Yuan said, materializing in front of Kratos. "You must share your secret someday. Oh be quiet," he snapped at Noishe who growled at Yuan, his hackles up.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you," Kratos said calmly. Yuan took an involuntary step backward. Kratos was famous for his calm demeanor and attitude of indifference, but this was beyond that. His calm was like the calm that comes before a tornado...only worse...the four thousand year's worth of anger kind of worse.
"It would seem Felicity has been flitting in and out of both human ranches and my own objectives. My guess us she created a key crest that she knew would malfunction Anna's exsphere." Yuan replied. "She stole my knife and reported to Kvar that I was...acting against Cruxis' best wishes. I've had to play lapdog to Mithos ever since."
"You have been up to something. Felicity worked through you for too long. Speak. "
Yuan sighed. "I knew you would never allow Anna to fall into Kvar's hands. I planned to have exactly that happen. I then would approach you and tell you that I could free her from both captivity and the exspheres...for a price." Kratos clenched a fist. "Unfortunately, Kvar discovered my source and used it. Felicity is little more than a pawn. Kvar fed her lies that I was acting against him and Yggdrasill...or truths." Yuan laughed at the irony. "That foolish girl was all too willing to hand over her sister if it meant getting the three things she wants most."
"Felicity wants the Jalisa." Kratos clenched a fist at the thought of Anna's people falling into the hands of a traitor.
Yuan tilted his head to one side and gave Kratos an exasperated look. "Yes. But that's not all. Felicity wants revenge. She wants the power she feels she deserves."
"The leadership of Jalisa. Her eventual birthright." Kratos glared. "I believe I just said that she wants the Jalisa."
"Yes but not only that. She wants to destroy the opponent who not only took her power away, but robbed her of it at the age of twelve."
"Anna."
"And she wants the blood of the man whose sword cut her down. The cause of her fall from grace."
Kratos stared at Yuan. "She killed him. The boy, Jason, she killed him and that's why she fled."
Yuan nodded. "Yes...she destroyed the person who robbed her of her pride, ego, and dignity. But he was not the man who caused it...he was the instrument, unknowingly wielded by another."
"What are you talking about?" Kratos snapped.
"Who trained that boy, Kratos?" Yuan said softly. "Do you think that, knowing Felicity, she could have been easily beaten by a fresh assassin? Do you think that just because she lost to Anna, she was weak? Do you think that if that boy's name had not been Senshi, he would have died?"
Kratos turned around to see Ahmond and Denise huddled in a corner. Ahmond had Hikaru in his arms as he and his wife explained things to the confused four year old. Denise's voice came swimming back to him from that day at the cliff.
Ahmond's younger brother, Jason, turned twelve and had to go up against Felicity. He won, of course, being taught by Ahmond. And Felicity, who could never forgive Anna for defeating her years before, killed Jason.
"I am uncommonly slow on the uptake, it would seem," Kratos muttered. "And you have too much of a taste for dramatics."
"Just as well," Yuan replied. "You're far too rational to bear." He looked off at the assassins who were forming their lines, preparing to march out. "I wouldn't have harmed them," he said abruptly.
"What?" Kratos asked, confused.
"I wouldn't have harmed Anna and Lloyd," Yuan said, his voice firm. "The only one I wanted was you. After you released the seal...if it had...well...I would have freed Anna from the exsphere. It would be the least I could do."
"Am I to believe that after all this time, you've gone sentimental?" Kratos asked skeptical.
Yuan glared. "Do not forget, Kratos. I watched Martel die. I watched you get what should be mine. And as jealous as I am...I couldn't take it from someone. Not knowing what Martel would say. That's what this is about, is it not? We both know Martel would hate what Mithos is doing. And we're both trying to stop it." For a moment, he was Yuan again, Kratos's friend and ally. They looked at one another in a brief moment of understanding and peace. But the wind shifted, they were gone, replaced by who they had become with the death of Martel.
"I will never stop hunting you, as long as you are tied to Origin," Yuan warned.
"And I will never release the seal for you." Kratos said indifferently
"So that's how it shall remain," Yuan replied, turning away.
"Because you and I..." Kratos turned to head back to the assassins. "...are enemies."
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Anna stood in Jalisa, searching frantically for some sign of life. Ahmond cried out a name and clutched a bloodied Denise in his arms. Denise called Ahmond a jerk, causing him to laugh. Felicity tumbled from a tree and landed in front of Anna, wearing their father's armor.
I know this. I've done this before.
A voice spoke. Felicity scampered out from Anna's sword as she inquired the name of the newcomer. Just as he started to give his name...
The scene faded.
The purple clad stranger was smirking. "Kind of reckless to hide behind a distraction."
I know his voice.
"A warrior uses any resource available." Anna replied with a smug smile.
"Are you implying that you are a warrior?"
"I imply nothing. I'm saying flat out, yes I am a warrior."
"A warrior would not have let a group of Desians get the better of him."
"You're right, unless she made a small miscalculation due to overconfidence."
"Overconfidence can be deadly."
"As your minimal defeat just displayed, right?"
He paused. "Touché. But don't think you've won the war, just the battle."
"I look forward to future battles," Anna said with a bow of her head.
The scene changed again.
She was hanging by a thread...or sword. And it was slipping. One man's face flashed through her mind. The man with the sad eyes. As she dangled above death, she realized what that meant. Her sword slipped and she bellowed his name.
He was an angel. With blue wings.
Flying.
The Desian laughed cruelly as he leaned into to kiss her. She begged with every fiber of her being that he would come and save her. And as the blood exploded and the body fell, she knew she was safe.
He came. He always does.
She held a baby boy in her arms, gently rocking him to sleep. Was it possible to die of happiness? She thought as he snaked an arm around her shoulder, looking at his wife and son with nothing but love in his eyes. "How's Lloyd, my love?"
Lloyd. My son. Our son.
Hikaru skipped around chanting, "Birdman! Birdman!" Lloyd was riding oh his shoulders clapping.
You always hated that. Lloyd loved it.
He was holding back the first time. But not now. Anna put the knife to his throat as metal kissed her neck. He had beaten her, barely. She smiled, knowing that the pain was coming...knowing that he alone could bring out the best in her.
Only you...
"Mommy!" Lloyd cried, as she got to her feet. The sleeve was ripped showing the horror beneath. She mustn't let Lloyd see. Nor must she tell him either. They had suffered enough.
Will it ever end?
She stared at the ground, disgusted by what she was becoming. He forced her to look at him. "It's not you fault!" he shouted. "I never would suggest that and whoever does is a fool." I know you are a warrior, but everyone needs protection sometimes! What do you think I'm supposed to do? I won't let Mithos have you! I will always protect you Anna, whether you ask it of me or not. Haven't you realized that yet? I will always protect you and Lloyd, I swear it!"
I know you will.
"I love you, Anna Jamison."
"I love you, Kratos Aurion."
"Kratos."
She spoke his name and opened her eyes. It was dark all around her. She slowly sat up, fully aware that she shouldn't be able to move. She breathed easily and could see clearly in the darkness. But she could feel her heart racing too fast for a normal human. She could feel fire, an evil black fire in her veins. She reached for her exsphere hand and found it covered with a scrap of cloth. She tugged on it, wondering who had put it there.
"I'd keep it on if I were you," said a familiar voice from behind her. "Unless you want your son to wake up. The light was too bright and I had to wrap it."
At the mention of Lloyd, she turned around, noticing she wasn't changed. There sat Sei, with a sleeping Lloyd in his lap. "Sei!" she gasped. "I knew they must have captured you!"
"Sadly yes," Sei replied, standing up slowly and handing Lloyd to Anna, who held him close to her heart. "They're dead Anna. Seleana...all of the ones that were with me. They kept me alive for some reason. I can only imagine why."
Remembering what Kvar had said to her Anna sighed. "He kept you in Lloyd to ensure my cooperation." She squinted and noticed that Sei wore tattered prisoners wear, just as she did. His face was a mass of whip welts and bruises. Half healed cuts littered his arms and the back of his shirt was ripped after being hit with the whips so much. A number ran across his shirt collar: S327. Looking down, Anna saw a similar number stitched across the collar and realized with a jolt it was the same garment she had worn before. A012. Lloyd had on his own prisoners outfit, but no number.
"How long has it been?" Anna asked. "How long have Lloyd and I been here."
"Two days," Sei replied. "But what's two days matter? We're going to die in here."
Anna glared. "Don't say that. They will come for us."
"The Jalisa?" Sei asked. "They can't win, Anna. You know they can't. They know they can't." He looked at her. "I failed you, Anna. It was my job to protect you. And I failed. I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault!" Anna snapped. "And you didn't fail!" She smiled as Lloyd shifted in her lap. "Besides...Kratos will come. Do you really think he'd abandon me and Lloyd?"
"Kratos!" Sei snapped. "If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be in this mess. He came to us, a tainted angel of our enemy, and ever since misfortune has befallen us! They killed my wife Anna! They killed her. They're going to kill us. All because of that fool-"
Smack!
Anna backhanded Sei with as much strength as she had. Lloyd, who she had set on the floor sat up, rubbing his eyes. Anna glared at Sei who lay unconscious at her feet. "Never speak ill of my husband again!" she whispered.
"Mommy!" Lloyd cried, running to her. Anna scooped him up in her arms and held him close. "Mommy, they took you away. Sei said that we're captured! Where are we? Where's Daddy? And Aunt Denise and Uncle Ahmond and Hikaru and Noishe and-"
"Shh," Anna whispered, settling back down with Lloyd in her arms. "It's ok, Lloyd. We were taken by some men...but they won't hurt us." Lloyd nodded, believing her. "Daddy's coming. So are Uncle and Aunt."
"And Noishe too?" Lloyd asked, his eyes wide with hope.
Anna smiled. "Noishe too. Now go to sleep." Lloyd's eyes were already closing. "I love you baby..." Anna whispered as she closed her own eyes.
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The prisoners at the Asgard Human Ranch were up before dawn, as routine demanded. The Desians were found of whipping people they found sleeping, whether it was time to be up or not. They stood at their doors, waiting to be released for another long day of hard labor.
But something was wrong. The sky began to lighten in the east and not a single Desian had come to bark at the prisoners or to administer their infamous punishments.
"Something's not right," A man whispered into the silence. "Someone should have come by now."
"Mommy?" Lloyd called looking around for his mother, but she was gone. Sei came up behind the boy and put a hand on his shoulder.
"She's fine Lloyd," he said. "Everything's fine."
"No it's not!" Lloyd replied.
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Meanwhile Anna was thrashing against the metal cuffs around her wrists and ankle, trying desperately to get free. Kvar loomed over her, grinning evilly. Felicity lounged against the wall, glaring as she watched the scene before her with cold-hearted indifference.
"Just get on with it already!" she snapped. Kvar glared at her.
"I will not tolerate insolence from an inferior being," Kvar replied coolly. "I will remove it when I see fit. Her pathetic village poses no threat."
"Do as you wish," Felicity said examining her nails. "For so little a threat, you certainly made sure all the Desians in the ranch are preparing for battle rather than torturing the host bodies."
Anna stopped thrashing. If Felicity's words were true, then the Jalisa were coming...to take one last stand. Anna smiled. I knew my people were strong. I knew they would come. Kratos will always come for me and for Lloyd. This is finally the end. Even if they remove the exsphere now and I die, even if the Jalisa are no more...we have made an example. Others will be less eager to submit, more willing to fight. And Lloyd...Lloyd will live. Kratos will too. They will stop Kvar. They will stop Mithos.
"I pity you," Anna said, meeting Kvar's gaze. "You stand on the brink of destruction, and all you can think about is greed and glory and the praise you want from a master who will dispose of you as soon as your usefulness has ended."
"Silence wretch!" Kvar said, slapping Anna so hard she felt blood explode in her mouth. She spat it onto his sleek fur-lined clothes and smiled. "You're an impudent thing. But rest assured my dear. You will not escape me this time. I've hunted you for too long." He turned on his heel and walked out, leaving Felicity and Anna alone. Anna stared at her sister, who was unable to look Anna in the eye.
"Felicity," she said and was pleased to see her sister was frightened. "Do you really think Jalisa would follow you after all of this? You betrayed us all and fed us to the wolves. Mother and Father would have killed you themselves if they were alive today."
Felicity slammed a fist into the wall. "What do you know about it Anna?" she hissed. "You were always their favorite, their perfect protégée. I was nothing but the 'other daughter!' The one who would be trained as a leader, but never lead! I was always in shadow-your shadow!" She paused breathing heavily. "You were perfect to them. They all worshipped you. The villagers, our family, even the Senshi family. Ahmond was always tagging after you every second of the day. I'm surprised he even noticed Denise! He never noticed-" Felicity clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes bright with unshed tears of pain and rage.
Anna stared at her sister in horror. "You were in love with him!" Anna exclaimed. "You were in love with him, but he didn't return your feelings. And that's why you killed Jason! Revenge. That's why you want to kill Ahmond."
Felicity glared. "That time has long passed. I'm no longer the shadowed girl I once was. I'm no longer weak."
"No," Anna agreed. "You're not who you once were. You are coward. You are evil. And I can't save you anymore."
"I never needed your help, Anna!" Felicity spat. "You always took all the power for yourself!" Felicity smiled evilly. "Now it's my turn." Felicity advanced on Anna and seized the exsphere hand, withdrawing a short knife from her sleeve. 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The sun rose over the horizon casting light upon the previously shadowed world. As it crested the hills of Asgard, the soft glow illuminated the human ranch, guarded heavily by every Desian it possessed. Each and every scoundrel stared at the hill before them.
On top the hill stood a man. His purple armor glinted in the sunlight which reflected off the naked blade in his hand. His spiky hair gleamed crimson against the pale sky as he fixed his eyes on his target. And the Desians felt his cold gaze as if he was burning them with anger and hate.
"Kratos," someone whispered on the wall. "Kratos Aurion."
So...they know me. But they do not know who I really am. Or who I was. It will be even easier to destroy them, for they do not know who they are dealing with. They dared to touch her. They dared to look upon my son's face. They dared to take them from me. They do not KNOW! I will get my wife and son back. And those fools who had the nerve to profane them will die. Every one of them, from Kvar to Mithos himself. Anna, my love...Lloyd, my son. Don't give up on me.
Kratos looked down to the green and white dog that stood obediently by his side. "You know what to do, do you not Noishe?" Noishe shook his head once and threw it back, his jaws opening in a ferocious howl.
The Desians laughed. A tall one, the sergeant, cried out, "You bring a puppy to howl at us as you try to take us out single handedly. Humans really are foolish creatures."
Kratos smiled coldly just as a voice shouted, "Who said anything about single handed?" Ahmond and Denise crested the hill, their green and silver armor glinting, their black capes swirling behind them in the breeze as the Jalisa assassins rallied behind the three.
The Desian sergeant laughed again. "I think they want to challenge us! How amusing." he hand signaled and the archers along the walls set arrows to bow strings.
"Well..." Ahmond said turning to his people. "You know why we're here. These scum, these vile, vicious, heartless beasts have stolen from us time and time again, nearly erasing us from the world We've got one chance, one last go to make the world see what can be done by those not afraid to fight!" The assassins roared. "And...we are here to save one of own. Our true leader who has given everything she had to give to keep us safe and united. Today we fight for Anna. We fight for ourselves. We fight for the loved ones who perished in our quest to do what's right. We may lose...but they won't forget us." He turned and raised his bow. "Forward!"
With battle cries and screams of rage the Jalisa assassins streamed down the hill. Kratos stayed at the top as Ahmond and Denise turned to him.
"Well," he said, climbing on Noishe's back. "You know what I must do."
Ahmond nodded curtly. "We shall meet you by the cliffs when it is over." He struggled for a moment and finally said, "Try not to die. We need you to keep Anna alive.
"Good luck to you Kratos," Denise said hugging him. "And you Noishe!" She petted the dog that licked her face excitedly.
"And to you," Kratos replied. "Go Noishe."
Noishe took off as the archers on the wall loosed and the gates opened for a stream of swordsmen. The forces collided in a crash of metal as chaos erupted.
Kratos crouched low on Noishe, gripping his sword in one hand as Noishe sped toward battle. Now...the payment in blood... Noishe rode down upon a Desian guard as Kratos swung his blade up and down in a wide arc. The Desian never saw the blade as it crushed his skull. Noishe and Kratos never slowed as Kratos wrenched his blade free and decapitated the next guard, blood splattering to the ground. A knot of soldiers dove to block his path. "Lightning," he cried, pointing his sword at them and blasting them aside. "Demon Fang!" The fierce attack cut down two of them blocking his path. He nearly roared in rage as more hurried forward. They were keeping him from Anna. Fast as lightning, his sword lashed out, striking all five of them in less than two seconds. Blood sprouted from cut throats, burning drops dripping down his exposed skin. Kratos wiped his blade clean on his leg and continued to carve a bloody path through the Desians.
Again...REVEIW!