Meeting Anna
By Magewriter
Chapter 6: Fears that Come True
Disclaimer: I don't own anything by Namco, which is confusing because Anna's character and appearance (for appearance, go to sheelos-lover. belong to me, but Anna's name belongs to Namco. I also don't own the names of anyone in the Claidi Journals by Tanith Lee or from Kingdom Hearts by SquareEnix. Don't even ask why I have to write this.
I've noticed that my separation lines haven't showed up on the site. I thought they showed up on Fanfiction, but they don't. So, I'm going to try something new. Let's see if it works!
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The reunion in Hima had more energy in it than Kratos had been exposed to in over a year. There was screaming, jumping, hugging, etc. and, frankly, he found it exhausting to be in the same room with the three women.
So he went onto the front step and read his book. He could hear Anna's friends exclaiming over Lloyd inside, but soon he had managed to concentrate his entire mind on his book.
He came back to consciousness when the girls flooded outside and Anna hugged him. He soon realized that they were talking about Anna's ability to read, so he put his book into her hands, went inside, up the stairs into one of the rooms, shut the door, and locked it.
The girls would have described him as antisocial.
He wasn't really, though. He was adequately social around normal people, but he could never quite get used to the energy that the Hima women exerted daily. It was like every second was a huge celebration.
Come to think of it, that was just how Anna acted.
He found it easier to cope with one person, though. Three of them was just too much.
.-..-..-.
Downstairs, Anna was completely bewildered. She could read children's books, yes, but she definitely couldn't read anything that Kratos would be interested in.
So, she went upstairs and knocked on the door.
"Yeah?"
"Kratos, don't you want your book? You know I can't read this!"
"If you come inside this room, you will be submerged in calm. I won't let all three of you in because it gives me a headache."
"Then… can't you just come to the door for a moment?"
She waited two seconds for an answer. Then the door opened, Kratos snatched the book out of her hands, (it took about half a second since he knew, simply from knowing her, exactly where and how she was holding it) shut the door, and locked. But, his un-sociability was an everyday mystery to her, in fact she thought it a given, so without thinking about it she ran downstairs and socialized further.
About an hour later, Kratos came downstairs.
"Anna, we're leaving." He said it almost casually as he walked past her. She thought he might be joking, but no. He hoisted his pack onto his shoulders, picked up her pack, and offered it to her.
"Wha – Kratos, we just got here!"
"You think this is some sort of pleasure trip? We'll be back soon enough."
"But…"
"Anna, we have to keep moving." He made sure that she was holding her pack securely before lifting Lloyd onto his shoulders.
"Umm… Okay. Bye, everyone. I guess I'll see you all again sometime."
"Bye, Anna!"
"See you again soon!"
So, they walked out of Hima. They trekked southwest, toward the bridge, but when they got there, there was a man fishing.
Then he pulled out a package, much like the ones their rheairds were contained in, and a rather large boat came out of it.
"Hey. Want a ride?" Anna noticed that he was an elf, but that he kept the ends of his ears under a fishing hat.
"Yes. Where are you going?"
"Anywhere. Not Palmacosta, though."
"Um… could you take us to Izoold?"
"Sure! Oh, um, you'd better get on now. I have to leave."
So, they boarded. But, then he started going in the opposite direction that Hima was in. Anna pointed this out to him.
"Yeah. We're taking the long way."
"But there's a bridge in this direction!"
"Yeah, I'm gonna ram it!"
Anna screamed right before they approached it, but they managed to crash it without very much trouble. This was surprising, considering the side of the boat.
"How could you be so reckless?!"
"Eh. I've been through worse."
Then, Kratos came up behind them.
"He's on the run from the Palmacosta Coast Guard."
"Wha – you're an outlaw?!"
"Of a type. Not my fault, though. It's not like I meant to ram their flagship. It was dark!"
"…So, you're running from them because your itty-bitty little boat sank their big huge one."
"Not sank, exactly. More like, it was lopsided until they brought it in for repairs. It's strong, that! Took me three days to hammer my hull back into shape!"
"…So that's why the paint job's so bad."
"Aw… you noticed?"
"Duh. It's blue. The rest of the boat is red."
"Sorry! I'm a little colorblind."
"How about a lot colorblind?" Just then, they heard sirens.
"Bring your boat to the next available dock! Repeat: bring your boat to the next available dock!"
"Well, shall we be getting on to Izoold, then?"
When they got there, they departed and the elf folded his boat up. He collected his fee, then fled the town. The coast guard departed and ran after him, but they were too late. He could have been in Hima or the mountains by then.
Kratos and Anna stayed the night there. In the morning, Kratos said, they would go to Asgard. He also said that they would take different names.
"Who should I be?"
"Hm… It's hard. You've become a 'Kratos' these past two thousand years! I can't imagine you as anyone else!"
"I think you should be Claidis. It's the name of the protagonist in a series of novels."
"Does she have a boyfriend?"
"If anyone in that House of Salvation was familiar with the series, we would have to leave. I'll be… um… I'll be Leon."
"Okay! …And our last name will be…?"
"Sorcem."
"Wha… where'd that come from?"
"I made it up."
"You can't be Leon Sorcem! It sounds stupid! No one would name their kid that!"
"Eh. Some would. It doesn't sound that bad with Claidis, though. Girls think about that stuff, right?"
"Yeah. Like, one of my friends back in Iselia – I knew her when I was about fourteen – she had a really long last name and she always said she wouldn't marry anyone with a long name."
"sigh Okay. What will Lloyd be called? I get to pick that, okay?"
"He can stay Lloyd. It isn't that unusual, is it?"
"I… guess not. Okay. Lloyd stays Lloyd."
"We don't have to worry about him betraying our names, either; I still say, he's stupid."
"Well, he's going to bee if you keep insisting that he is! Do you have any idea how much that can affect things? If he thinks he's stupid, then he won't expect very much of himself, and he will be!"
"Wait… how do you know that?"
"Common knowledge."
"Oh. Heh. They actually did a study on that in Tethe'alla. When students were treated as though they were stupid, they would actually do worse in school."
"Yeah. A lot of how smart you are is psychological. So, stop calling Lloyd dumb!"
"Okay, Anna. You do know that he's too young to process it that way though, right?"
"Yeah, but I don't want you to get used to it. Plus, there are a lot of different kinds of intelligence!"
"There's no such thing as physical intelligence, Anna, but if there were, that would be what he'd have. Usually, if the kid can't talk, they're not really all that smart."
"He talks!"
"He makes sounds every once-in-awhile that can be taken as words if you listen really closely. Trust me, he's going to be better at physical activities than anything else."
"Maybe he's just quiet. Like you!"
"Heh. Could be. He copies you, if you didn't notice. When he gets confused, he tilts his head just like you do."
She tilted her head to the right. "I don't tilt my – oh! I guess I do! Hehe… I never noticed it before! Thanks, Kratos!"
"Heh. No problem."
"Oh! Today, I was looking through that novel that you like, and I managed to read some of it. I wrote down the words that I don't know, but I got through the first paragraph!"
"The first paragraph is twelve and a half lines."
"Well, it's something! …And you have to admit, there are a lot of big words."
So, just to annoy her (he had regained the sense of humor in his cynicism; humorous cynicism is basically just being annoying) he recited the first chapter. Then, he went into the second chapter. Then, Anna got over her amazement and told him to stop.
"Have you memorized the entire thing?!"
"No. I tend to get a little mixed up around chapter seven."
"But… But you… Have you really read it that many times?!"
"Hundreds."
"What's the use, then, if you have the entire thing memorized? Then, wouldn't it just be boring?"
"See, that's the difference between us. You're still young, and your spirit's young. You're easily excitable, but you also get bored easily. For you to read the same book that many times would be unimaginable, whereas I think it's intriguing that a story can be beautiful that many times over. If you want to keep it, though, I do have it all memorized. I can go over it without having the book in front of me. In fact, it might be good for you to start reading advanced material. Maybe I should buy you some intermediate books, though. You'd be more interested on those."
"Um… I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Yeah. You'd like 'young adult' books best. Tomorrow, perhaps we should make a quick trip to Meltokio, or whenever we have the time to do it. Maybe when we get around to Triet… I'll get you some books for your level at some point, okay?"
She had only understood the last sentence of his murmurings, but now she nodded her head. "Okay! Don't feel rushed or anything!"
They managed to stay at the inn for a month. Kratos had gotten Anna some young adult fiction books. She loved them.
One day, Yuan called Kratos on his cell and told him to get Anna out of Asgard because Mithos (with his magical ways) had learned of their location.
Kratos rushed back only to find the entire town pillaged; it was even burning in a couple of places. He went into the inn they had been staying at in the hopes of finding his wife and child.
"Anna? Anna! Lloyd? Where are you two?"
He heard a scream, a child's scream, and managed to find Lloyd.
Lloyd seemed to be suffocating from the smoke, so he grabbed him and ran outside.
"Lloyd, do you know where mommy is?"
Lloyd shook his head.
"Did the scary men take her?" He didn't know if Lloyd knew the proper word for Desians.
Lloyd nodded his head.
This was bad.
.-..-..-.
There was screaming and yelling. Yelling of fire. Anna grabbed Lloyd. She knew that this must be the work of Desians.
After wrapping Lloyd in her shawl, she proceeded to run out of the building, but was stopped by Desians. She was speechless in her fear, but even if she weren't, screaming would have gotten her nowhere. As a last hope, she tossed Lloyd, in her shawl, onto the rug. She prayed that he would survive.
Her wrists were tied behind her back, but she knew that it would be easier for herself not to protest. She was led out of Asgard and shoved onto a cart with a few other human prisoners. They were taken to the Luin Human Ranch and a gem, much like the one that Kratos wore, was put onto her hand.
She didn't have very long then.
.-..-..-.
It had been three weeks. Anna wondered if Kratos had forgotten about her.
Then, one day, Kratos came to the building. She didn't see him personally, but there was talk that a man with red hair had come to talk to Lord Kvar, one of the Five Grand Cardinals and the man who ran the base. It was also rumored that the man was a human.
And the next day, she was sent to Iselia.
The Iselia Ranch was run by Lord Forcystus, another one of the Five Grand Cardinals. The Five Grand Cardinals were the leaders of the Desians.
One day, she saw Noishe. He had a piece of paper around his neck. She pulled it off. It said, "Meet me here tomorrow.
-Kratos"
So, the next day, she did. "Kratos!"
"Don't be so loud. We have to handle this delicately."
"Wha – can't you just get me out of here?"
"All records of prisoners are sent to Mithos."
"Oh…"
"Yeah."
"Then, why did you have me sent here?"
"Dirk is nearby. Maybe he can make a key crest. If not, I can cut the wires and we can escape."
"Oh! Is Lloyd okay?"
"Yeah. I couldn't bring him here because he'd be too noticeable, but I left him with your friends in Hima. He's safe."
"Thank goodness!"
"Don't worry about a thing, Anna. I have it all planned out."
So she didn't. She trusted Kratos, and if he said everything was going to be okay, then it was.
.-..-..-.
Two days later, Kratos came to the fence with Lloyd on his shoulders. He had a horrible expression of regret on his face. As he approached the Human Ranch, he put Lloyd behind a bush so that he wouldn't be seen.
"I have a key crest from Dirk. But, he says that I can't equip it after you've got the exsphere on."
"What?!"
"Yeah. Stand back, Anna, and get ready to run."
She did. He unsheathed his sword and cut down through the wires that kept the human prisoners from the outside world.
"Run, Anna!" She did. She grabbed Lloyd and ran for her life. But, Kratos couldn't hold off all of the Desians and one managed to get close enough to remove her exsphere.
She could feel herself inflating, then, into a monster. She turned a stripey green. She dropped Lloyd. She could feel the chain around her neck, that supported her locket, break away, and her engagement ring snapped.
Kratos dealt a final blow to the Desians he was fighting, then he smote the one that had removed her exsphere.
"Anna! Anna, can you hear me? Anna!"
"Kratos…" She hit him. Not voluntarily, but she smacked him to the side.
"Anna…?"
"Kratos, kill me! It hurts, being like this… Take Lloyd. Give him the key crest, and maybe he'll have something to remember me by… My locket fell, too. I want… you… to… keep… it…" Then she engaged in a fight with him. It didn't last long, which she was glad of, and as her spirit left her body and was channeled into her exsphere, she was happy to be free of her monstrous form. She could hear Kratos yelling, screaming to her that it wasn't fair, and somehow she made the exsphere glow.
"Yeah… Anna, I'll give it to Lloyd! I'll give it to him right now!" He placed the Key Crest on Lloyd's hand, his small, fragile hand, and fitted the small gem of her consciousness into the metal contraption.
He had managed to run nearly to the edge of the cliff when he was again assaulted by Desians. Lloyd was placed on the ground, and he walked off the edge of the cliff. Her will to save him at that point gave her the discovery of something extraordinary: with her own willpower, she could give him blue eagle wings. Lloyd was safe at the bottom of the cliff when she heard Kratos yell, "Lloyd? Lloyd!" His screams would have made her human self cry. They expressed so much grief.
But, she could do nothing. After awhile, Dirk came by on his weekly trip to Iselia. He saw Lloyd on the ground, wearing a key crest and exsphere, and recognized him, but he didn't know where to find Kratos. She was aware of all of Lloyd's adventures, and over the next few years, she could honestly say that she had met the Chosen.
.-..-..-.
Kratos, of course, was not so lucky. He had killed the one he loved by his own sword.
He picked up Lloyd and found Anna's locket lying on the ground next to her broken engagement ring.
Who could do that? Who could make people into monsters, human or otherwise?
He knew what Anna would want him to do, though. He put the Key Crest onto Lloyd's hand. He hated to commit his son to an exsphere this young, but he didn't think it was wrong if it was his mother. He held the jewel next to his chest for a moment and started to cry.
For the first time in two thousand years, Kratos cried.
Then he fitted the exsphere into the Key Crest and picked Lloyd up. He walked to the edge of the downward path toward Iselia, but was stopped by Desians. He put Lloyd on the ground. He chose to cast a spell.
He was mad.
At the end of the fight, he couldn't find Lloyd.
"Lloyd? Lloyd! Lloyd, where are you?!" If it hadn't been for his sense of self-preservation, he would have sat down and cried and done whatever it took to help release the pain. That was what a human would have done. But, after two thousand years, Kratos wasn't a human anymore, and his intelligence had become a greater force than his feelings.
He figured that Lloyd had walked off the cliff. He would be dead, then. Not even an exsphere would be able to save him.
So he continued on to Iselia, but Iselia lacked an inn, so he went all the way South to the House of Salvation. His mood kept any monsters from attacking him.
The next day, he went to the Triet Renegade Base. He spoke to no one and the Renegades, in turn, stayed away from him. He opened the door to Yuan's office.
"Kratos! You – Anna – did she…? I'm so sorry!"
Kratos just glared at him. Yuan understood. He knew the pain. But, he hadn't killed Martel. He had tried to save her. Kratos…
Everything hurt him. He had killed his wife, the only woman he had ever fallen in love with, and it was through his carelessness that his son was dead. He sat against the wall for awhile before Yuan got up and walked across the room.
"Kratos, you've been sitting there for an hour." What did time matter? He had all of eternity. "Don't you even want to talk about it?"
Kratos unsheathed his sword halfway.
"Kra – wha?! Kratos, why are you so… are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"I killed her."
"What? Kratos, I can't hear you."
"I killed her! Don't you understand? She was everything to me! Her and Lloyd! And now they're both…"
"Lloyd, too?"
"Yeah."
"Then, tell me what happened. Remember what Martel always said? It helps to talk about it."
"Well… First she was in the Luin ranch, but I had her transferred to Iselia. I got a Key Crest from Dirk, but he said it would be useless since the exsphere was already attached, so I cut through the fence. I held most of the Desians off, but… one of them pulled it off of her…"
"Oh…"
"So then, I had to fight her! I didn't have a choice! At least with Martel, we tried to save her, but… I killed her, Yuan. It was me."
"No. It wasn't. Or at least, it wasn't your fault."
"I'm going to kill that Kvar…"
"No. It wasn't his fault. He was corrupted by humans and elves who told him they didn't accept him. I was angry once, too. It's Mithos' fault. There's actually a new experiment that they're doing, trying to make a perfect exsphere. Chances are, Anna and her group were test subjects for that."
"I just wish that I could help her!"
"Kratos… Believe in Anna. Believe in what she stood for. Defend what she would have thought just. And, if you ever happen across her exsphere again, set her free."
"Yeah… I'll do that. But, give me some time to get my life back together."
"Of course. It took me over a decade. Why should I give you any less?"
Kratos almost smiled.
"Kratos? Do you want me to tell the women in Hima?"
"No. I will. They don't know you at all."
"Okay."
Kratos began to stand up.
"Kratos?"
"I could spend my life sitting there. But, it's my duty to tell them. And, Anna isn't going to come back. As much as I wish she would…" He started to cry again. It was as though everything he had ignored over the years had built up and was coming out.
"Kratos… I can see that I can't change your mind on this. Never mind."
So, Kratos went to Hima. The monsters were still afraid of him.
He knocked on the door.
One of the Hima girls opened it. He had never bothered to memorize their names.
"Kratos? Where's Anna? I thought you said…" He saw the look of shock on her face as she realized what must have happened. "Lloyd, too? Oh, Kratos! I'm so sorry!" She hugged him. Normally, he would have shoved her off, but since nothing else mattered now, why should this?
The two other girls and the innmaster crowded around to hear the news.
"Anna and Lloyd are dead." It was all he could say. If he told them how she had died, they would blame him, and the combined guilt and sadness would have been too much for him.
He turned around and the girl let go of him, falling to her knees. He walked up to the almost-mesa. He needed to think in private. He sat there all night.
And in the morning, he watched the sunrise.
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Kratos' section at the end was longer than I thought it would be. I'm surprised I got through all of this in only six chapters, especially since three of them were really short. The thing is, though, that she had already expressed her views on death: it's not all that bad if you remember the good things. But, Kratos can't think that way. He can't think that Anna was wonderful, he can only think that she died by his sword. This is perhaps the greatest contrast between them.
The boater-elf was suggested by my bf, who's on the Washington, DC trip now (a lot of my friends abandoned me for it, but I'm still having fun at home) but here's how it started: one day, I was talking about one time when I tried to go directly from the Izoold area to Hima, but was killed by ogres. He said that that was impossible, so I told him about the bridge. Since then, he's had it in for the bridge. He doesn't like it because he didn't know about it.
Sorry to anyone who didn't like the ending of this chapter, but like my Martel story, the ending was already given to me. I just wrote the background.
EDIT: New-and-improved ending! Much less happy. It was all hopeful and un-depression-y before, but now it's more in character.