Pssh! Like I would end it there! However, this is truly the end of it all. Reveiw please and look for the sequel, "I Will Always Protect You" where Lloyd and the gang set out to find what became of the Jalisa...but aren't as free of their greatest foe as they might think!

Farewell to all! Thus Ends A Tragic Love

-Zelda Aurion

"But you didn't die," Lloyd protested.

"No," Kratos said, looking at his son. "I didn't. I merely blacked out." Kratos sighed. "I searched every inch of that forest for a sign of you. But there was none."

"And so you returned to Cruxis." Lloyd shook his head. "Mom…"

Kratos ran a hand through his hair and stared up at the Tower of Salvation. His tattered heart thumped on relentlessly as he prepared to do what had to be done. He had found his son again and they had fulfilled Anna's dying wish together. The young child from Jalisa had grown into a leader, a hero responsible for reuniting Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, reviving the Great Seed, defeating Mithos Yggdrasill, and accepting people of all races. Kratos was proud of the man Lloyd had become…which made it even harder to say goodbye.

"Mom…"Lloyd said again, looking at the locket in his hand. "There was so much I didn't know about her. About you." He looked Kratos in the eye and Kratos had to fight back a grin. Lloyd looked just like Anna when he did that.

"She would be proud of you Lloyd," Kratos said softly. "I am."

Lloyd clenched the locket in his fist. "Thanks… Are you really going to Derris-Kharlan?"

"If a half-elf of Cruxis remains here, the other half-elves will have no place to live. As a surviving member of Cruxis, I must bear the responsibility for what has happened." T is the only way…but why does it have to be so hard? I lost him once, how can I do so again?

"I see," Lloyd said. Then he flashed that smile…Anna's smile…and Kratos wanted nothing more than to stay with his boy forever…to hear Lloyd call him dad. "I'm going to collect all the Exspheres remaining in this land."

"…And I will discard all of Cruxis' Exspheres into space." Kratos looked at his son and fought the urge to crush him in a hug. It could never be like that again and they both knew it. "I've dragged you into this until the very end."

"It's okay."

"It's time for me to go. Please use that sword to send us to Derris-Kharlan."

"Goodbye…Dad." Lloyd said with another grin.

Kratos's eyes widened as Lloyd raised the Eternal sword. Within moments, he found himself in Welgaia.

"It's over this time," he said aloud. "I'm never going back." He walked to the control room, looking at a screen that showed him Sylvarant. Lloyd stood at the foot of the tower, looking up to where Kratos was as Derris-Kharlan pulled slowly away from the newly reunited world. "Unless you need me, Lloyd…" Lloyd waved, as though he knew Kratos was watching, and walked off into the forest.

Kratos touched the monitor and sighed. You aren't lost to me. I'll see you again one day, Lloyd. Anna and I will be waiting for you. She will always watch over you and protect you…as will I.

"Don't die before I do, Lloyd…my son."