Meeting Anna

By Magewriter

Chapter 2: Elemental Magic?

I have a unique style of writing: I write my story, then I look up and make an exclamation like "Whoa! I have four pages already?!" The last chapter had inconsistencies and stuff, but I decided I'd take care of that later. As this is all saved in the same slot, I'll change it at the end. For those who found the main inconsistency: Anna lived in Iselia, not Luin, as a young girl. For people who found the almost-plothole in the story, in my version Kratos didn't meet Anna in the Iselia Ranch. She is in Luin when she is abducted, she is equipped with an exsphere, and Kratos has her transferred to the Iselia ranch so that Dirk can (hopefully) give her a Key Crest. Who came up with the names of these items, anyway?

Disclaimer (so that I don't forget to write it in later): I don't own anything by Namco. This includes Kratos, Anna, place names, and Tales of Symphonia in general.

The flow of guests to the Hima inn had slowed since the third day after the Chosen died. Anna had greatly improved her healing circle (her record was fifteen seconds), but she was having trouble with elemental magic. So much trouble, in fact, that she would get frustrated, start crying, give up, and go down the mountain to sit by herself. When Kratos tried to approach her, she would yell at him to go away because she didn't want to cry and she didn't feel like crying, but she couldn't control it and she didn't want to talk to him and her stomach hurt and why didn't he get it?!

The whole thing was very confusing to Kratos.

When he had met Anna, she was a sweet girl with a good personality who was relatively stubborn. How could she change so much over the course of a few days?

On the sixth day Kratos worked with her, she was back to normal. She seemed to be better at concentrating and she didn't get mad at him the way she had before. He wondered what had happened to make her so different for those five days.

When he asked her, she gave him a vague answer. Their two discussions went about like this:

"Well, you know how I'm a girl?"

"I would think that that was obvious."

"Well, see, girls are different."

"Obviously."

"And, as a girl, I have certain feminine issues…"

"Huh?"

"Oh, forget it!"

Then she would say something about how stupid men are.

The interesting thing about Anna was that, as a healing mage, she was one of the best students that anyone could hope to have and she had mastered even advanced techniques. But, as an elemental mage, she was completely hopeless.

One day, she got an idea: she would go to Asgard and pray to Martel from inside one of the caves. Being close to the earth would hopefully help her with her earth-elemental abilities. If that worked, she would go to Luin and pray again. Luin had a lake surrounding it, and she didn't mind getting her clothes wet.

So, after Anna had gotten permission, they set off for Asgard. After Anna had made her prayer, an orange magic circle surrounded her. She filled a pouch with loose dirt from the bottom of the cave, then they proceeded to Luin.

Her prayer in Luin was different. She took off her shoes and sat with her feet in the water. She made a relatively similar prayer and a blue magic circle appeared on the water around her feet. She took a jar of the water and they went back to Hima. In the morning, she wanted to head for Triet, where she would try to capture the element of fire. She didn't know how she would manage that.

As they went on their journey, Kratos came to the unmistakable realization that he was in love. He found himself looking at Anna and talking to her for no reason. She was a puzzle to him, but that may have been why he was so fascinated by her.

He would never let her know this.

So, they went to Triet. She prayed from the stone in front of the temple (conveniently replaced by Yuan only days before) and an orange magic circle (this one distinctly less grounded and much hotter than the Earth circle) appeared around her. Then they went back to Hima and Kratos went to the Tower of Salvation, which once again appeared as a big hole in the ground to all who lived in Sylvarant. Kratos didn't live in Sylvarant, so he could see it perfectly.

That night, he was summoned to see Mithos. It didn't bode well.

.-..-..-.

He chose to fly through the center of the stairwell instead of walking up seven million flights of stairs (In actuality, it was really only 5,067,381 steps, but this was still extremely tiring) to get to Mithos' room. When he got there, he knocked (only as a matter of form, and a voice (Mithos was a child today) yelled, "If you're not Kratos, drop dead!"

"What if I am Kratos?"

"I want to talk to you."

So, Kratos opened the door and walked inside.

"You've been spending time with a human."

"I am forever spending time with a human. All these two thousand years, I have been my constant companion."

"You know what I mean!"

"Yes, I do."

"Why?"

"Because she's interesting. She's completely different from you or me. It isn't something I can easily explain."

"You like her, you mean."

"Why else would I spend time with her?"

"No, I mean you like her like her."

"I'm still trying to figure that out."

"…Which, coming from you, means yes."

"In your mind, I'm sure it does."

"What do you mean, 'in my mind'?! How are we so different?"

"We've had extremely different experiences."

"You mean, you're more mature than me."

"In a sense, I think that Yuan is the most mature of us all."

"Darn you, Kratos! Why can't you ever say what you mean?"

"Because I've gotten good at it these last two thousand years. It's an art."

"You want to mess with me?"

"No. I just felt uncomfortable answering your questions. Having been your friend for two thousand years, I hope that you can forgive me a short period of confusion in my life."

"Heh. You're so weird, Kratos. You can leave whenever you want. Or, you can stay and we can talk about stuff. I don't care."

"I think I'll go see Yuan."

"Okay. Bye, Kratos!"

"Goodbye, Mithos."

So, flew back down the stairs and headed to the Renegade base.

.-..-..-.

"Who is it?"

"Kratos."

"Oh. Come in, Kratos."

"I have a question."

"Okay."

"Could you get these Desians to leave?"

"Oh. Of course." He turned to his personal attendants. "I don't require your services at the moment."

"Yes, sir!" …And they left.

"So, what's your question? It must be something personal."

"Stop acting your physical age and listen."

"Okay. I'm listening."

"There's something I wanted to ask you that's…" Kratos had been creeping toward the door. To be entirely sure that the conversation wasn't being heard, he now opened the door. He didn't see anything, but he heard two people running away.

"I'll deal with that later," Yuan said. "What did you want to ask?"

"What did you feel when you were with Martel?"

"What?"

"What did it feel like? Were you confused? Did you ever understand what she thought? What was it like?"

"Kratos… Are you…?"

"Yes. And I can't remember the feeling at all from two thousand years ago."

"Well, Martel was… interesting. But what are you coming to me for?"

"Martel was the most perplexing woman ever to walk the earth before Anna."

"I see. Well, you remember her, don't you? The shiny green hair, the laugh, the happy smile… I don't think you ever saw the loving smile, but she had one. And when she cried, it broke my heart."

(To understand the rest of the conversation, read Chapter 4 of Sacrifice for the World, my other ToS fanfic)

"I remember that much. And staying up late with her because she became an insomniac."

"And I remember you could always get her to eat. You just glared at her."

"You were always too soft on her."

"Remember the day after you made the pact with Origin? You were violently sick the night before, so we made you a sleeping draft, but it had tomatoes in it so you only drank most of it, then Martel had the rest and she slept in until noon. And when Mithos went to wake her up she hit him, and she sent me away, but you pulled her up by her hair."

"Good times, Yuan, good times."

"Then there was that time in the Elven village, with the toxicosis…"

"You mean, when you lay down next to her? You know I knew you better than that, right?"

"Yeah."

"Mithos, though… Remember the first time he went, and he gave us all exspheres?"

"You were scary that morning!"

"Well, I was angry."

"Back to Martel, though… She was sweet. She was… She was the best thing that ever happened to me. There's only one woman like that in a lifetime, even in a lifetime like ours. I say, if you're in love with this woman – Anna, right? – then go for it. When she dies, I should warn you, you'll lose everything, but I think that it's better to have been in love and lose it than to never fall in love and live in meaningless existence for the next several thousand years."

"There's only one problem though."

"And that is…?"

"She is the most annoying woman in the history of the universe. She's outlandish in all sorts of ways, she never listens to me, and she does everything according to what she wants."

"So did Martel. She just happened to have similar goals to ours."

"She was relatively obedient though."

"No. Remember when she stopped talking to Mithos? Everything she did, she did because she wanted to. We just happened to support her. She was compassionate and flexible enough that our goals all became similar. But, if you think about the things that she said, she was extremely stubborn. Remember when we met, and she referred to you as 'monster' for the next five days?"

"I guess. It seemed like she was more insistent with Mithos than with us."

"Well, he was her younger brother by ten years. She was used to dominating him."

"…"

"I think that's why she got so depressed: she had always known him as a sweet little kid, but then when he got all haughty, he just about forgot about us. We'd both known him for a few days, so we couldn't care less, but Martel was so attached to him."

"Did Martel ever annoy you nearly to the point of insanity?"

"I think that, if she had wanted to, she could have. Maybe if I'd known her longer or she hadn't had such a huge crush on me. Did you notice that? Whenever I did anything romantic to her, she'd get that look on her face, and if she was standing up, she'd sit down. It was… well, frankly, it was strange."

"It was her way of having a crush."

"I guess you could put it that way. But with Anna, I'd suggest that you just wait. Put up with her for awhile and see if anything happens."

"I can't put up with her."

"Just try. Come to me if you need advice."

"Okay. Thanks, Yuan."

"Anytime."

Kratos left then. He returned to Hima. When he came back, Anna was outside purchasing food from the man who sold just about everything from his little stand next to the inn.

"Hi, Kratos! It's almost lunchtime! You want to stay here for awhile?"

Sigh. "Why not?"

"I still have some stuff to do before I have lunch, so I might not be joining you until you're almost done. This one guy checked out really late, so I have to clean his room now."

"I can wait…"

"No! You can't not eat because of me!"

"Having seen you clean rooms, I happen to know that you can do it extremely quickly. I'll be fine."

When you don't need food, why should you care whether or not you eat at the normal time?

"Where were you today?"

"I went to see an old friend of mine."

"Oh! Were they one of the Four Seraphim?"

"Yes, actually. His name is Yuan. He's a half-elf."

"Oh." There was a pause. "Why are you friends with a half-elf?"

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"No. I'm just wondering. There's this huge stereotype of half-elves nowadays because Desians are all half-elves, but people don't seem to realize that not all half-elves are Desians."

"I knew him before that stereotype."

"No you didn't."

"How do you know?"

"Well, looking at you, I'd say that you weren't more than thirty years old, and Desians have been around for almost two thousand years, and that stereotype's been around almost as long as there have been Desians."

"Well, the Four Seraphim are… different."

"Well, that may be, but no one lives for two thousand years!"

"…"

"Right?"

"Come and see me in the forest tomorrow."

"Huh? Kratos, why are you acting so weird?"

"You'll see."

Sigh. "Okay. I have to take this stuff inside."

So she did, running a happy, bouncy run. "Hey, I got the stuff!"

He heard the short discussion between her and the other girl on the inn staff, then her footsteps as she ran up the stairs two at a time. He followed at a much calmer pace, but was stopped by the inn girl.

"Hey, what's up with you and Anna?"

"What do you mean?"

"You two've been spending a lot of time in the forest… alone…"

"…"

"You know…"

"…"

"You don't know."

"I know exactly what you meant, and I can assure you that I'm much more mature than that. I've been teaching Anna magic."

"If you ever do, I will kill you with my own two hands."

"I wouldn't waste the effort if I were you." And he went upstairs. He could see the girl in his mind, in that frustrated stance that women sometimes took, but he knew that she understood that he would never take advantage of Anna.

Anna, of course, was upstairs cleaning. Was that all she did all day?

"Hi, Kratos. Could you stay outside for a minute? I'm almost done in here, and we can just leave the door open."

"Is this all you do?"

"Oh, no. I also cook, and practice with my chainsphere, and wash sheets and clothes…"

"That's all?"

"Um… And I shop for supplies, and I have a journal that I write in, and I practice magic, and I think about you…–"

She now had a look on her face as though she had just shared a secret that she hadn't meant to tell him.

"Um, just ignore that last one, okay?"

"I planned to. It doesn't matter to me how you feel about me. As long as you want me to teach you magic, I'll keep coming."

"But… I would've thought that would change everything…"

"Whatever happened to not talking about it?"

"Well, I want you to know how I feel. And, now that we're already discussing it, I figure it can't hurt…"

"…"

"Changing the subject… Why did you go to see Yuan today?"

"I had something to discuss with him."

"Oh. What did you want to talk to him about?"

"It's confidential." He couldn't tell her. Not now. It would be too much romance at one time, and she might get carried away with her emotions.

"Ooh, a secret! Can you tell me vaguely what it was about?"

"Martel."

"Oh! Can you channel the Goddess?"

"… I'm afraid that, in her current state, it's impossible to channel her spirit. That's what Chosens are for."

"What is the Journey of the Chosen, anyway?"

"First, the Oracle appears. Then, the Chosen retrieves her Cruxis Crystal from her local temple, meets the angel Remiel, and attains basic angelhood through the attainment of wings. Then, she fights the Guardian of Fire. She loses her sense of taste. She then moves on to the Guardian of Water and loses her ability to sleep. At the Seal of Wind, she loses her sense of touch, at the Seal of Light, she loses her ability to speak, and finally, at the Tower of Salvation, she absorbs Martel's soul into her body."

"That sounds so hard…"

"It's been done plenty of times before."

"That doesn't mean it isn't horrible! Think of how many people die trying to complete the Journey!"

"Approximately two hundred to date."

"Two hundred people… You mean, two hundred people have died just so you'd have a prophet for the Goddess every once in awhile?!"

"No. Remember that, when the Chosen completes the Journey of Regeneration, Sylvarant begins to absorb mana instead of exuding it."

"Um… Kratos?"

"Yeah?"

"What does 'exude' mean?"

Sigh. "It's the opposite of 'to absorb'."

"Oh. Okay!"

"Now, don't you have something you're supposed to be doing?"

"Not feeling social today?"

"No."

"Okay!"

She bounced down the stairs as she had gone up them, two-at-a-time. There was a loud bang as she got to the bottom of the stairs. Kratos left.

The following morning, Anna came to the clearing.

"What was that yesterday?! You just left!"

"There wasn't any reason for me to stay."

Angry sigh. "Well, what did you want to show me?"

Turquoise wings appeared on Kratos' back. Anna jumped backward.

"Wh-what… Kratos, what are those?!"

"Anna, you should know: any romantic ideas you had are futile. I'm an angel. I'm going to live forever."

"What does that have to do with romance?!"

"One day, you're going to die. You're human, as I was once. Humans die."

"Yeah! So?"

"If we were to be in love, and you were to die…"

"…Then I would want you to remember me for who I was!"

sigh. "Come with me."

They entered the Tower of Salvation. Anna screamed when she saw the corpses of the Chosens, but Kratos whacked her so she shut up. They went to see Yuan.

"Yuan, this is Anna. Anna, Yuan."

"Kratos, why did you bring her to the Tower of Salvation?!"

"I want her to see the book."

"No. That would turn over her entire world!"

"I want her to know."

"Kratos, I don't care how much you say you love her, you –"

"WHAT?! KRATOS, HOW COULD YOU ACT LIKE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FEELINGS FOR ME?! YOU LIAR!!!!!"

And she attacked him. Not wanting to hurt her, he tried to fend her off with his sheathed sword. However, she was fighting with her nails, so eventually Yuan pulled her off of him.

"Kratos, how could you?! You made me think you didn't care about me!"

"No, I simply said that it wouldn't work."

"…And thusly implying that you didn't have feelings for me."

"…"

"Let's just get off the subject. What's this book that you want me to see?"

"It's nothing."

"Apparently, it's something because if you have to go to all the trouble to hide it from me then it must be important!"

Yuan stood up (he had sat back down at his desk) violently and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

A few seconds passed before Anna asked, "Kratos, what are you trying to hide from me? Is it something about being an angel?"

"Yuan doesn't like his angelhood, no. In fact, none of the Seraphim do except for one. But I can't tell you his name. It's a secret."

"Yes, but why is it a secret? I want you to be able to trust me!"

"This is the only world you've ever known. You've never seen war, you've never seen a thriving Sylvarant… you know almost nothing about Cruxis."

"Well, then I want to learn! Even if it's painful, I want to know all I can!"

"No."

"Why not? A couple minutes ago, you were ready to let me see!"

"Because Yuan has full custody of the Book."

"What is this book? Why is it Yuan's? Why won't you tell me anything, Kratos?"

"It is a journal by a woman who he loves. You might recognize her name. You probably will, actually. And the names of her companions. Yuan and I are in it, actually. And her brother. You'll know his name. It's a very special book, though. It's the only documentation of the ending of the Great Kharlan War."

"So, it's some kind of war memorial?"

"No, it's a journal. I think you'll like the main character."

Yuan came back. Kratos could tell he was mad, but he was gentle as he pulled open a drawer of his desk and took out the book. He placed it softly on the table.

"I've decided. Anna, Kratos is the most level-headed and logical of us all, even after two thousand years. If he thinks you should see the book, then I guess you should."

"Thank you. Now there's only one problem."

"What?"

"I can't read."

Both men looked startled. "Is that really the current state of Sylvarant, that some people don't even have a basic education?!"

"I know what I need to know."

There was a pause. Then Yuan reached for the small, leather-bound volume, its pages yellowed from age.

"I'll read it to her."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. She was my fiancée."

"Okay."

Anna's voice cut into their conversation. "How long will this take? I need to be back in about an hour."

"Well, we can at least tell you the story. Two thousand years ago, Sylvarant was only half of a world. This land mass and the one with the Triet Desert in it were considered to be major and minor continents. The other half of the world consisted of three continents and a rather large island. It was called Tethe'alla."

"So… That half split off and became the moon?"

"No. This book explains how the two continents became separate worlds. It is the beginning of the Trial of the Chosen and the end of wars that can last for more than a few years. The Great Kharlan War was between the two continents. However, it was only between the humans of the two continents. Due to extremely high levels of mana, which we'd gotten from the Great Tree, we had all sorts of magitechnology and transportation. The way the world was then, it was like a civil war. Families would live on various parts of the two continents and they'd be turned against each other. By the time it ended, no one knew the causes had been forgotten and the war was running entirely on hate."

"That's horrible!"

"I know. Hate is the worst thing to have a war over, too, because it's an emotion, not a goal. If there were a dictator or an idea we wanted to stop, the war would end after it was over. But it had to be stopped with power because that's the only thing that hate ever answers to."

"So the thousand-year war was fought for nothing?!"

"Basically, yeah. I don't know the official motivation, though. Half-elves weren't allowed in the army, except as mages. I was never a particularly strong mage."

"You mean, you would have killed people?!"

"No. The magic that I do know is for healing. Or, it was back then. I've learned a little bit of attack magic, but not much."

"Oh. I guess it's okay if you wanted to heal people."

"…But I'm a half-elf. After my home was destroyed, I moved to the city in the sky. It's called Exire, and it's a wonderful place where half-elves live together without either humans or elves. But, then it was bombed… Well, it's covered in the Book."

"Is that everything?"

"Yeah. I think so. So, do you want to start the story today or tomorrow?"

"Today."

"Are you sure you want her to hear it, Kratos?"

"Positive."

"Very well, then."

He opened the book and began to read to Anna. He made his voice high for Martel's, annoying for Mithos, and normal for his own. He had very good expression in his reading, and Anna found it hard to remember that it wasn't just a story.

Then he stopped.

"I'm sorry. I've kept you here for too long. You were supposed to be back by now."

As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Kratos led her to the bottom of the tower and they rode Noishe, his dog, to Hima.

Kratos had called Noishe some weird name and category that Anna couldn't remember, so she just called him a dog.

The next day, though, Anna went back to the Tower of Salvation. The angels were ready to kill her, but Kratos came and told them to leave her alone. He also told them to tell him immediately when she came. If he wasn't there, he said, then they should tell Lord Yuan.

"Now, Anna, do you want to go see Yuan?"

"Please. I hope it's no trouble…"

"It's not. We don't have much to do right now, since the Chosen hasn't even been born yet."

"Okay. Thank you for doing this for me!"

"Really. It's nothing. I want you to know Martel's story."

He didn't tell her about Martel's fate.

Yuan continued his reading, and they finished the story.

"How could that happen to her?! That isn't right! That isn't just! That isn't what's supposed to happen at the end of a story!"

"Well, it did!" …And Yuan stormed out of the room again. This time, though, Anna ran to the door after him.

"Yuan! Wait! I didn't mean it like that! I'm not mad at you! I had just gotten so attached to Martel that it didn't seem like she could die! …And you have to admit, it does seem sort of like a made-up story. All of you were so kind and brave that it makes me so happy just to know you! So, don't get mad. Please don't get mad. It wasn't your fault at all."

Yuan, who had stood still for Anna's monologue, now turned around. He walked back into the room and shut the door without admitting Anna. However, he had a sort of realization on his face that told Anna that he was in an entirely logical state of mind, so she didn't mind being excluded from the conversation.

Then Kratos came out and let Anna in.

He shut the door.

"Anna, I've had a discussion with Kratos, and I've convinced him to try to have a relationship with you."

"What???"

"Yes."

"Yay! Thank you so much, Yuan! Oh, Kratos! I promise, you won't ever regret having fallen in love with me!" She flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She had to stand on tiptoe.

"I'm beginning to regret my decision."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Anna stepped backward, her hands behind her back.

"Don't worry, Anna. He'll get used to it eventually."

"Really?"

"Yeah. If he could put up with Mithos for two thousand years, he can put up with you."

"Oh. Okay."

"Oh, and don't worry about Mithos; he usually stays in his room."

"Okay. Just so I know, though, what would happen if he found me here?"

"Well, since he hates all humans except Kratos on a matter of principle, I'd suspect you'd be tortured and killed. He hasn't really matured much in the last two thousand years, and he has this system that's always followed. If someone, such as you, upsets that system, he gets mad. So, you should spend as little time in the Tower as you can. The Tower itself is Mithos' property; we can always explain what we do outside of the Tower, but inside, we can't go against the system."

"Where else can I talk to you two?"

"We'll come to Hima. It's been nice seeing you, Anna, but it's getting sort of late. You should probably go home."

"Yeah."

"Take Noishe," Kratos volunteered. "You know the way down?"

"Yeah."

So she went down alone, rode Noishe to Hima, then sent him back to the Tower of Salvation, which had been reduced in the world of Sylvarant to a small brick tower. However, Kratos and Yuan had explained to her that it was in Tethe'alla at that very moment, in the form she had seen when the Oracle had appeared.

As she went to sleep that night, her head was so full of thoughts that she found it hard to become calm enough for sleep. She imagined Kratos there, a trick she had learned from Martel.

In the morning, she had trouble focusing. Her friends noticed, and they asked if she was sick, but she just said that she was thinking. They found that to be strange.

The next morning, Yuan came to Hima. That afternoon, her friends teased her for hanging around with so many men, but she just said no, she only really liked Kratos. They then started discussing, as girls often do, absolutely everything about a relationship they could have, the qualities of both Kratos and Anna, and their own opinions of Kratos. There was much laughing and joking.

Then there was a knock on the door.

Anna answered it. There was a blonde kid standing in the doorway wearing a mostly white outfit. He had blonde hair and big, purple bracelets.

"Does a woman named Anna live here?"

"Um… I'm Anna." The situation looked bad.

"Could I speak to you outside?"

"Ooh, Anna, there's a guy you haven't told us about?"

"Of course I'll talk to you."

So they went to the almost-mesa. Then the boy's pleasant face turned angry.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Are you Mithos?"

"Yes. You're in love with Kratos, aren't you?"

"Mithos, love isn't bad. And you can't stop it!"

"Aren't you afraid of me?"

"Yes. But, I believe that, somewhere under the man who split the worlds in two and formed the Desians and the Ritual of the Chosen, there's still the sweet, innocent little boy from Exire. So, I'm not as afraid as someone else might be." Talking was normal to her. It comforted her in a way that she couldn't quite describe.

"You should be afraid. If you want to be in love with Kratos, you have to answer to me!"

"Have you even talked to him?"

"In my tower, everyone answers to me. You read Martel's diary, too!"

"Oh, Mithos, I'm so sorry!" She hugged him, remembering the sadness and anger that had surged through her when she had heard of Martel's death.

An orange magic circle formed around him. "Eruption!"

Anna screamed, and fell to the ground unconscious when the spell was dead.

"Martel isn't dead. Martel is never dead. Remember that."

Then the fourteen-year-old boy sprouted rainbow wings and flew away.

About ten minutes later, Yuan came to the door at Hima.

"Do any of you know where Anna is?"

"She went up to the top of the mountain with that little boy who came here just a few minutes ago."

He was panicked as he asked, "Do any of you have a life bottle?"

"Um… no. Should we?"

"No time."

He ran the two or three meters to the items seller, who sold him a life bottle. He then ran up the mountain and poured the holy water into Anna's mouth.

"Ow, my head! Yuan, what are you doing here?"

"I'll explain later. Come with me."

He helped her down the mountain, purchased a two apple gels, and gave them to her. Then she felt (mostly) like herself again.

"So, because I'm with Kratos, Mithos did a high-level fire spell on me?!"

"Yes. He's jealous. In a way, me and Kratos are all he has left. We're the only two who understand him at all, anyway, so he feels like we have to belong to him. Because you're in a relationship with Kratos, he feels that you're trying to steal him."

"I would never do anything like that! I just like being with Kratos!"

"Well, Mithos doesn't understand. You know, maybe Kratos was right. Maybe you shouldn't be with him. It will only bring you two pain."

Anna started to cry. "But I can't do that! I can't just stop caring about him! I mean, I know I just met him about a month ago, but he's still really important to me!"

"Anna, don't cry… I just don't want you to risk everything – maybe even your life – for one person."

"Why not? You did!"

"That was different."

"Yeah, you got a date the first day you met her. I had to work at having any kind of a relationship for over a month! Some people have these things from the beginning, but I'm not one of them! I feel like I've been waiting to find Kratos my entire life, like we fit together! Everything feels safe when he's around me."

"I don't want to put you at risk!"

"You're not! I am, and Kratos is. But, you can't make me pretend that I don't love him! I do! It's like you and Martel. You still love her, don't you? You always wear the ring she gave you in Flanoir!"

"Yeah, but –"

"And when I say I want to be with Kratos, that means that I can't ignore this! I would do anything for Kratos! I would even die for him!"

"Be careful what you wish for."

"I'm not afraid of Mithos."

"Well, you should be."

"He can destroy my body. I have no doubt that he can. But, he can't contain my soul!"

There was a pause.

"He can't, can he?"

"Well, remember the discussion about exspheres in Martel's diary?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, you know the Desians have human ranches. And, human ranches make exspheres. I wouldn't put it below Mithos to have you made into an exsphere."

Fear came into her eyes, but it left almost immediately. "I don't care. I'm in love. Even if we're separated, I still think it's better than if we'd never met."

"Tell that to Kratos once Mithos is done with him."

"I won't let him just give up! I love him!"

"Sometimes, love is giving someone up."

"You know, maybe you're right. But then, maybe you're wrong. Either way, I want to see Kratos. Even if we can't have a romantic relationship, he's still taught me so much!"

"Anna, do you see the burns on your skin?"

"Yes."

"Mithos is doing worse to Kratos."

"Why doesn't anyone stop him?"

"We need him, remember? He's made the pacts with all the Summon Spirits. He keeps the worlds linked. Origin wouldn't be able to do that alone."

"So when does Mithos start on his world-without-discrimination?"

"He already has. You can't see it, but the Tower of Salvation is connected to Derris-Kharlan, the comet, and on the Comet is a city called Welgaia. He's used a certain type of Cruxis crystal to make everyone there logical beings. But, you see, being human, or half-elven, or elven means that, in some way, you're illogical. Love is illogical. Feelings are, too. So, these people will talk about normal things. They won't infer. They might wonder a bit, but… basically, he's doing a horrible thing. But, it's a city without discrimination."

"That's horrible! How can he justify that as a good thing? Martel would never have stood for that!"

"I don't think he remembers the same Martel as we do. He hasn't read the Book. He never expressed the desire to. I read it whenever a Chosen regenerates the world. It reminds me that it isn't just happiness, it's also suffering. The reclining world shows me that, too."

"Wait… If Mithos is going to beat up Kratos, you should go to the Tower of Salvation!"

"Yeah. It should be about over by now."

"I'll go with you! I'm really good at healing arts!"

"No! Don't you see? If you go to Kratos, Mithos will just get angrier! It wouldn't be safe!"

"It's my fault he's hurt in the first place!"

"It's not your fault, but for Kratos' sake, you probably shouldn't see him just now."

"Okay."

"Good."

He went outside and purchased a life bottle and a two apple gels (Martel had been right; the combination of a life bottle and 60 hp worked wonderfully together) and flew to the Tower of Salvation. He used the teleport pad to get up to the main area, where he then went to Kratos' office. Kratos wasn't there, so he went to Kratos' room.

Kratos was lying inside, unconscious with cuts, bruises, burns, and everything else imaginable on him. It took a lot to beat up an angel, but unfortunately, Mithos knew a lot of spells.

"Ugh. I feel horrible. What did Mithos do to me?"

"Just about everything, from the looks of it. Here, take this."

After Kratos had the apple gels, many of the burns and things left his skin.

"Have you seen Anna? Is she okay?"

"Yes. She's fine. But, she's still in love with you."

"That stupid, ignorant…"

"Kratos, don't get mad at her for being young. You've been alive – if you can call it that – for two thousand years. Anna's what? In her twenties? She's determined that you two should be together. I think it's cute."

"You wouldn't think so if you had this headache."

"At least talk to her!"

"No. I can't endanger her any more. I love her, Yuan. I don't want her to be hurt."

"You're horrible. She loves you, too, Kratos. She wants to be with you, even after this. If it weren't for her, you'd be doing the exact same thing every day, just like I do. But she's alive. She's brought something new and different to your life! Don't throw it all away."

Yuan knew how to talk to people. He had known, for example, that Anna would never give up her love for Kratos, but he had talked to her to make sure that she knew all of the possibilities. Now, he talked to Kratos to try and convince him to reform his relationship.

"I can't put her in harm's way for my own selfish feelings!"

"Would you rather that you'd never met each other? You need emotion in your life, Kratos! Stop doing this to yourself!"

"Doing what?"

"Being old."

"I am old."

"So's Mithos, but hey, do you see that making any difference?"

"…"

"Just talk to her. I'll go talk to Mithos, and try to calm him down."

"Okay. Don't get yourself hurt, though."

"Do I ever get really hurt?"

"No. I guess not."

"Bye, Kratos."

"See you later."

And Kratos set out to see Anna.

.-..-..-.

"Kratos! Are you okay?"

"Thanks to Yuan, I'm perfectly fine."

"Oh, thank goodness! I thought you'd never talk to me again after that!" She hugged him. "I was so afraid! I didn't even know if you'd be okay!"

"What about you? Are you okay?"

"Yes! Yuan came and healed me! He explained everything to me. Kratos, I don't want this to end! I've never been in love before, and I may never be again! You have all of forever to do everything, but I only have a few years! I may never find someone like you again!"

"Anna, if you got hurt –"

"I don't care if I get hurt! I don't care if I die! I want to be with you, Kratos! It shouldn't be this hard to understand!"

"Listen to me, Anna. I love you. If you're killed, it will be all my fault, and I would never get over it."

"So you want to be inhuman for the rest of your life? Or, do you want to have some time being alive?"

"I want to. It just doesn't happen to be an option."

"Kratos, have you listened to anything I've said?!"

"Yes. But, I also understand that you're very young."

"Maybe that's what you need! Maybe you've been waiting for someone like me all these two thousand years, someone who's willing to drag you out of that attitude and say, 'let's be happy together.'"

"You don't understand."

"Yes, I do! Mithos can kill me, for all I care, and I'll still be happy that I've had a month with you! …And I've learned lots of magic, and I just… I have so many things to be thankful for! But, I want you to be happy, too. If you ever die, I want you to remember the time you spent when you were happy, not the time you spent when you were sad."

"Anna, I can't think that way! Why can't you understand that?" Kratos wrenched himself out of her arms, turned around and walked away a few steps.

"Because that's what keeps me going."

Kratos turned his head.

"If I only think, 'oh, this is life, all there is are the things that are happening right now,' it would be so depressing. But, if I think about the good things, then my life is that much happier. I'm not exactly about what Mithos did, but I think I understand what he did. He's jealous of me, and I can forgive him for jealousy. It's not something he can really control. And he's jealous of me because I have you."

She walked to him and hugged him again.

"Kratos, I love you. I don't care about Mithos or anything like that. Let's just be as happy as we can, together."

"Okay."

.-..-..-.

The next morning, Anna was as bright and cheerful as ever. When Kratos came to Hima, he took one step on the wooden floor, slipped, and fell down. The girls laughed at him. Anna, laughing, ran up in her bare feet to help him up.

"You might want to take off your shoes. It's mopping day! Every two months, we mop up all the built-up crud that collects on the floors. See? We have three buckets, and whoever manages to get the most water off the floor and into the bucket gets the next day off. I'm the champion so far! I've won three times in a row, which is a reward in itself!"

"Yeah, but you won't win a fourth time if you keep talking to him!"

"Hey! That's cheating if I'm talking to a customer!"

"He's not a customer! He's your boyfriend!"

"He is too a customer! Every once-in-awhile, he'll buy a meal or stay the night or something!"

"Yeah, whaddaya wanna bet he just came to hang out?"

"What are you willing to bet?"

"Well, we can't very well bet if he's standing right there!"

Anna turned to Kratos. "You might want to go sit on the stairs. We do the stairs and the second floor differently."

So he did, leaving his shoes outside the door.

Anna worked furiously at the task she had set herself; by the end, she had the most water and she smiled widely at her two friends, who were happy for her because they were her friends. Then they replaced all the tables and chairs and forced Kratos off the stairs.

When they were completely done, they all came and sat around the table with Kratos.

"Hi, Kratos! There's been a lot of drama between you and Anna lately, hasn't there?"

"If she chooses to give you any details, that's her choice."

"But, you're still together, though, right?"

"Unless there's something I haven't heard about."

"Kratos, why can't you ever be gossipy? It really is fun!"

"I got bored of it awhile ago."

"Huh? How old are you?"

"Twenty-eight."

In this way, he managed to avoid their questions for a full five minutes while Anna cracked up next to him.

"So, you really like Anna?"

"As far as I can tell."

"Do you want to be married?"

"That's impossible."

"WHAT?!" And Anna left the table.

"Huh? What do you mean, 'impossible'?"

"It's literally impossible for Anna and me to be married."

"How?!"

"I'm a prominent figure in the Church of Martel. I should probably talk to Anna right now."

And Kratos left the table. He walked calmly across the room to the adjoining room where the three inn girls slept.

"Go away! I thought you loved me!"

"To assume that I don't would be nonsense."

"But you said we couldn't be married!"

"That's because of my rank in the Church. As one of the Four Seraphim, I can never marry."

"But Yuan and Martel were going to!"

"That was when we were rulers. It was long before the Church of Martel."

"That's just a cheap trick that Mithos is playing!"

"I know."

"Kratos… What do we do, if we can never marry? Every little girl dreams of meeting the perfect man and having children. But, if we weren't married… that would be downright scandalous!"

"Actually, we might be able to arrange something… if we're discreet…"

"What?"

"Well, you see, if Mithos saw anything that suggested we were married, he'd be angry. But, I wear gloves. I could wear a ring under my gloves. And Yuan, being a Seraphim like me…"

"…Could marry us!"

"Yes."

"Hooray!"

"Anna."

"What?"

"Don't get carried away. We've known each other for a little over a month."

"In fairytales, people marry who've known each other for a few days."

"This is real, though. We need something to base this on other than short-term attraction."

"I'll wait however long it takes!"

She did wait. She waited for six months. But, being the impatient woman she was, she couldn't wait longer than that.

"Kratos?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you been thinking about marriage recently?"

"Not, really, no."

"Would you marry me?"

"That's usually the question that the man asks."

"Would you ask me to marry you if I wanted you to?"

"I'm pretty sure I would."

She smiled. "Pleeeeeeeeease?"

"Heh… Anna, will you marry me? I wasn't expecting to ask you this, so I don't have a ring, but I know where to get good-quality jewelry."

"Heehee… of course!"

…And she glomped him. Kratos being in the kneeling position, they sort of fell sideways.

Then they started to discuss jewelry.

"What do you want for your ring?"

"I don't know. Something pretty. What do you want?"

"Surprise me."

"Oh, I will!"

Anna ran out of the clearing, across the plain, and into Hima. She asked if she could take a vacation.

"Alright. Where?"

"Well, it isn't really a place. I'm getting married!"

"Oh! Wow! Really?"

"Yeah! So, I need some time off, if that's okay!"

"Of course! Wow, this is exciting! Our sweet little Anna's getting' hitched!"

By now, the swarm had surrounded her.

"I want to go see Dirk. He's this dwarf who lives near Iselia, and he can make really pretty things out of metal and stone!"

"What kind of ring are you going to get him?"

"I was thinking something simple. Like, maybe something with our initials on it. Kratos told me that used to be a popular style, and it sounds really nice to me!"

"Yeah! What metal do you want to get it in?"

"Gold. I actually have a lot of savings. Even the money an inn girl gets builds up over the years!"

"Ooh! Can I help you make your dress?"

"Actually, it's going to be a really small wedding. No one's really invited…"

"What?! So you're, like, eloping?!"

"No. Eloping is like running away without telling anybody. I'm telling all of you, and I'm coming right back and we want to have our party in Iselia and to heck with Hima!"

"What day is it?"

She smiled and held up three fingers.

"Three days?! Can I at least do your hair?"

"Of course! Since I'm not getting a new dress or anything, I have to have nice hair!"

The conversation went on like that for several minutes. It still being the afternoon, Anna went to Iselia, traveling through the forest to see Dirk. She was assaulted by Desians, but they were easily defeated. What annoyed her were the monsters in the forest.

When she got through the forest, she knocked on Dirk's door.

"Hey? Who's there?"

"Um… I'm Anna. I'm from Hima."

Dirk opened the door.

"What do you want?"

"Could you please make me a ring?"

"What kind of a ring?"

"A wedding ring."

"Perhaps you should come inside so that we can discuss this."

"Okay. Thank you." She went inside and sat down at the table.

"Now, what exactly do ye have in mind?"

"A gold ring, not anything too fancy, but with the letters K and A on it."

"Like the rings they made two thousand years ago?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright. About how big should it be?"

"Um… I don't know."

"I'll show you some sizes."

"That would be wonderful, thank you."

She chose the ring size (she figured, if it was too big, they could have it adjusted later) and Dirk actually made the ring right then and there. Then he showed it to her and asked her if it looked right.

"It looks wonderful! Thank you so much, Dirk! How much do I have to pay you?"

"Eh… about five hundred gald."

"Wow! That's really inexpensive!"

"It's not a particularly complex ring."

"Thank you, Dirk! Thank you so much!"

"Any time. Tell yer friends to come to me fer things like this."

"Of course I will!"

And she ran happily away. She got tired about halfway into the forest, though, so then she walked.

.-..-..-.

In Tethe'alla, Kratos was in Meltokio choosing a ring for Anna. It had to be… he didn't know what it had to be. That was the problem.

"Can I help you sir?"

"Yes. I'm looking for a ring for someone who's… well, she's energetic. And optimistic. And… hyperactive."

"Um… what sort of a ring?"

"Um… something small, not too extravagant…"

"Like this?"

"Yes, actually. That's perfect. How much is it?"

"G800."

"Very well." He gave her 800 gald and took the ring. "Thank you."

"Thank you for shopping here sir."

And Kratos exited the store.

The morning of the wedding

"Ugh! Your hair won't stop frizzing!"

"Use the hair stuff I always use! It works!"

"I would, if I could get your hair onto the stupid rollers!"

"Don't put too much on at a time!"

"I'm not! They just hate me!"

When all that was done, and Anna's hair was curled and pinned in a stylish fashion (the entire process took about an hour), one of the other girls started on her makeup.

"So, you want green, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Close your eyes." Anna could feel every stage of the makeup application process and knew each one. "Okay, now here's a thing of gloss."

Anna put on the lipgloss, kissed a towel, and was completely ready.

Meanwhile…

Okay, Kratos. I understand that you can spike your hair out of practice. But how the heck do you get it to lie flat?!"

"Gel it."

"But then it'll look all stringy and wet and weird."

"Do you want me to try?"

"By all means, do. You can't mess it up more than I have."

Kratos brushed his hair, parted it, gelled it, combed the gel in, and it lay flat. Then Yuan put it in a ponytail much like his own.

Then Kratos straightened his shirt and was done.

Ah, the differences between men and women.

The chapter was getting sortuv long, so I decided to end it there. In case you were wondering about the differences: Kratos went to Yuan on the morning of his wedding and said something to the effect of "hey, will you do my hair?" while Anna had been planning with her friends for all three days who was going to do her hair, how it was going to be done, and what was up with her makeup. As to why Dirk was in this chapter: I just like Dirk's character. He's nice. He should have had more character development in the game.

So, now Kratos and Anna are about to get married. I have a problem, though: Kratos and Anna have a kid, which implies that they went through a certain process, and yet Anna seems like Martel from Sacrifice for the World (one of my 2 other ToS fanfics), meaning that she is the most innocent girl out there.

This is a dilemma.

I got a comment after the first chapter came out which basically said, "great story!" so I wrote some stuff and all but forgot about it. Then I got a detailed comment talking about the "innocent romance" and a lot of stuff about the story, and I replied with what I knew of the chapter. THIS IS WHAT I MEAN WHEN I SAY I WANT COMMENTS! CRITISIZE ME, TELL ME WHAT I'M DOING WRONG, AND I'LL APPRECIATE IT MORE THAN IF YOU TELL ME I HAVE A GOOD STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please, if you can't think of anything to say except "good chapter!", then please include some kind of junk that you observed that I probably didn't. Thank you.