/* And the fun part begins! (I love writing action xD) */

Chapter 12

Kratos opened his eyes with a start, and immediately felt as though he were being electrocuted. Every nerve in his body burned as though it were on fire, as if air itself was a corrosive acid. He couldn't remember ever feeling this horrible in his life, and it took all of his resolve to keep from crying out in pain. His eyes were plastered open, and they burned too, but he was scanning the area, searching for something. Although he couldn't remember what exactly it was, he knew it was very important. The darkness made it hard to see, and his vision seemed to be slightly blurry. But out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a golden glow and his memories returned to him.

He stood quickly, looking up at the sky and trying to judge how much time had passed. It was still dark, which was promising. He knew that as soon as day broke, or as soon as the guards next entered her room, Kvar would know she was gone. She would not be safe if she stayed here- she wouldn't last more than an hour after they decided to send out search teams. Kratos staggered under the burning in his legs, and the soles of his feet. His clothing rubbed the fire into his skin, made it easy to imagine being cooked alive even, but he stumbled toward that golden glimmer because it was the last thing he remembered. He had no idea where the girl had landed, but he had a strange idea…

It was surreal to see her, even with poor vision, silhouetted against the dark trees. Her tangled amber hair was sparkling with the light from her golden wings, and her thin frame was illuminated in just such a way that Kratos felt his mind go blank. He felt nothing, and thought nothing in that moment- he just stopped where he was and stared at her, completely lost, completely in awe. She must be a true angel.

But he snapped out of it, and chided himself for the foolishness. There are no true angels. There never have been…he sighed though breathing deeply pained him, and walked closer to her. He reached to his pouch, which miraculously was still at his side. As his fingertips tried to unfasten the button, he kept his eyes on the woman- she really was a sight to behold. It would really be a shame… and suddenly he remembered that she would be dying soon. She was an experiment, after all. Nothing more. She was property of Cruxis, and nothing more. But his fingers were blistering with the effort to unbutton his pouch, his whole body was drained and aching, all for the cause of trying to free her. It made no sense even to him, and he forced himself to look away, aiding his hands with vision.

Could Yuan have been right, after all? Kratos finally had his pouch open, and carefully scooped out the makeshift necklace. He realized that he hadn't threaded the cord from Luin through the band of the ring yet, and so he attempted to do it with the light from her wings, and sparse lighting from the moon which managed to filter through the forest treetops. When I ask myself why I care, I… I can't come up with an answer. It was harder to do than he had thought- his hands were shaking and it hurt to just hold the two pieces in his hands. Could it be true that… I am attracted to her? No, that's already obvious. It's more than that… He had to stop for a moment, and close his eyes. It was too much, too soon. He felt unable to deal with everything that had happened so suddenly. It had gone from a simple favor, a simple way to kill time, to escape boredom… it had gone from simple things like these to something much harder to comprehend. He didn't like the conclusion he had come to, but how could he refute it? How could he believe it? How could it be, that I… care? For her?

"How could it be that Yuan was right?" Kratos grumbled, as he finally had the necklace ready in his hands.

Here goes…

He winced slightly as he reached around her holding the necklace, still standing behind her. It amazed him how beautiful her wings truly were, and he was curious how they had become available to her as she needed them- but he supposed that her body would have tried to preserve itself, and put the questions from his mind. He recalled suddenly the dangers of getting near her, and braced himself for a slap, or a punch, or perhaps some new sick and twisted form of self-defense… but thankfully, nothing came. He proceeded to tie the necklace at the base of her neck, and wondered if there was something he had forgotten. She hadn't moved at all. Then he remembered that the key crest had to be in contact with her skin, so he sighed heavily and cautiously tucked the thing into her shirt.

She didn't react immediately, but Kratos was fairly certain she would be regaining her senses now. He didn't want to linger, but perhaps if he told her what to do, she would wake up with an idea of where she was… he tried to think of something useful to say.

Leaning in toward her ear, he brushed her hair out of the way and whispered softly. "If you value your life, run. If you value your freedom, don't let them catch you again." He tried to think of something else to say, but couldn't think of anything meaningful.

"You're free now, so… do what you want." He stepped back, and her wings disappeared. He felt utterly ridiculous, in light of everything he had just done- he would heal quickly but helping an exphere escape and becoming injured at all were incredibly hard to fathom. Two months ago, he would never have dreamed this were remotely possible, and yet here he was. Not that he would have dreamed much, before; but he was utterly human now, and incredibly weak. Everything was much darker now that her wings were gone, and he stepped badly on a log which caused him to fall down. But someone was holding his hand, and he looked up in horror.

The woman had a firm grip on his wrist, and it was extremely painful. Considering the searing pain which air alone caused him, and which clothing inflicted as he moved, this was something so far surpassing them that he could not feel it at all. It was so painful, that he felt numb where her fingers grasped him. She yanked him to a standing position, and he was taken aback by her sudden strength. He wondered where it could possibly be coming from, because it was so strange to see a beaten and bloodied woman jerking him around like this- then he happened to look down and see the exphere grown angrily into her hand. Her veins fed it with blood, and in return, while she was in control it was giving her-

Lips, his lips! Pain, his too- she was… kissing him? He hadn't been paying attention. Her other hand was in his hair, pressing the back of his head and threatening to make it explode. Her lips were pressing against his own, and it felt as though his nerves would burn her too in their fiery rage. But he wasn't opposed to the attack at all, in fact- it was pleasant to feel that agony, and when it was over he couldn't help thinking he wouldn't mind going through it again. His mind was somewhere else when suddenly, he heard her speak.

"Hey, are you alright? That was for helping me escape."

He couldn't find anything to say.

She leaned in close again, and he closed his eyes. But she quickly stepped away, and released his hand. Now her voice was almost angry. He hadn't heard a word she said, and he opened his eyes lazily to see her glaring at him. She looked ready to throw a fight now, and he rolled his eyes.

"And I still hate you, you got that? Don't roll your eyes at me! You people have no right to go locking up innocent people and farming them like animals!" She was screaming now, and Kratos wondered what had set her off. Though he figured it had something to do with the part he missed, he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but definitely not this. His ears were throbbing now, too.

"Look, I…" He tried to fish for words, but again nothing came to him. He realized that he was practically whispering, but he was too overwhelmed to pay it any mind. This whole shock thing had drained him more than the fall.

"Hey, but I guess that can wait till later. Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system. You really don't look too good, you know…"

Kratos looked into her eyes, now, though he could barely see- he saw concern in them, and fire not unlike the fear he had seen before- he wanted to smile, but it was too much effort. He wasn't sure what expression he had on, but he couldn't feel a thing anymore. He tried to sigh, but only made it halfway before the air in his lungs left him coughing. There wasn't much time before he would need to rest again, he knew, because even though his body would regain mana quickly he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness. He was unsteady on his feet, and slowly bent down to a squat.

"Hey, hey! Stay with me, don't… look at this gash on your head!" She was screaming again, and he was tempted to simply give in to sleep. It just wasn't worth the pain of listening to her voice…

"Look, I'm only going to tell you this… once. So listen to me. You're putting yourself in danger by giving away your position, you are endangering your freedom by wasting it talking to me. Go. Just…"

He felt completely used up. He wondered what it meant being a member of Cruxis if he was still mortal, after all. Having wings hadn't spared him his humanity. He wished that he could have thrown it away, so that he could have lived on happily writing reports and doing the mundane… chores. He wished he had never met this crazy, ridiculous woman… what were fleeting moments of feeling worth when he had to suffer like this? He wished he had an answer to that, and wondered if this was how it felt to die. To feel nothing, at all…

"Don't close your eyes! Shut up and listen to me!"

She slapped his face, and his eyes popped open instantly. It was painful, but he had had just about enough.

"Get away from me." He was looking down but his voice was cold, menacing. He was done putting up with her. This had been a stupid idea all along. He was angry that he had let those stupid eyes overrule his better judgment. He wondered if after all this, he would finally die… he wondered if anyone would ever find his body…

"Fine! Fine, you know what, I don't care. Thanks for setting me free, I'll just go now and leave you here to die. When they find you in the morning, traitor, they'll kill you if you're not already dead."

"Humph."

"They'll come looking for me, won't they? What was the point of even setting me free? You know I won't be able to outsmart them…"

Kratos took one long, hard look at her. He was on the ground now and he felt like shit, but she was so beautiful… even when she was angry. He couldn't feel angry at her anymore, and he couldn't really regret anything he had done. He took the moment to just look at her, his body weakened and longing for rest- but he also felt another type of longing, and it pulled at his chest. It felt like a black hole, it felt like his body was going to collapse even though he was already sitting down, but he knew it wasn't real. It was a feeling, and somehow, she was part of it. Somehow, looking at her made it hurt more than anything else.

He closed his eyes, and let out a weak sigh before he collapsed on the forest floor, just on the outskirts of the Asgard human ranch.

A/N: Oh noes! Hang in there, Kratty! lol

Just wanted to let you know that the reason she's trying to keep him from going to sleep is that for humans, if you have a head injury it's really bad if you sleep right afterwards, because it can lead to memory loss, etc. But then again, Kratos isn't entirely human because of his exphere, so it's a toss-up whether or not certain human rules apply to him. He hasn't really experimented with them yet, so you'll have to wait and see what happens next! =)