/* -Enter Disclaimer here-

If anyone's still confused after this chapter, you can leave your questions for me and I'll answer them for you in chapter 14. Sometimes I have too many things I try to get across at once, so it's entirely possible that I forgot to say something somewhere... lol */

Chapter 13

Kratos woke up warm and comfortable, in a bed. He wondered if he was dreaming. He wondered if this was how one was supposed to feel after they died. Without moving, he turned onto his side and drew the blankets closer. It took a while for him to remember he had eyes- he was curious where he was but at the same time he didn't want to open them. He was so comfortable, and so at peace, that he did not want to risk upsetting that balance…

Something cold and wet touched his skin, his forehead, and he groaned softly. It made him shiver. But suddenly he realized that he was warm, much too warm under the blankets. He felt them in his hands, and they were rough- like flour sacks. He felt his peace slipping away; he was suddenly extremely uncomfortable and irritated. The bed was hard, and lumpy, and the wetness on his head was now touching his cheeks, making him shiver again though he wasn't cold.

Finally, when he could not bear it anymore, he opened his eyes. It was slightly difficult to do- his eyelids seemed to be stuck together somehow. But he reached up with his hands and massaged them gently, feeling tiny clumps of something shift free of his eyelids and allowing them to open properly.

"You're finally awake! Thank Martel…"

It was the woman, the angel… again he remembered the events from before.

"What are we doing here? Where is this?" He tried to sit up, but she shoved him back down. She's still so strong…

"Just relax. I brought you here, after you collapsed…"

"Where is this? We were in the forest…" he looked right into her eyes. "You should have left me there." He added darkly.

"I couldn't just leave you there, you know. Not after I realized you were still alive. It wouldn't have been right…"

"What is your name?"

She looked stunned, and took a moment to just stare at him.

"I have a right to know that, at least. What do people call you by?" She looked at him quizzically. "I want to know." He added, trying to sound reasonable. It came out sounding more like a demand.

"Anna. My name… is Anna."

"Okay, Anna. I need two things. One, I need you to let go of my shoulder- it hurts."

She jumped backward, and Kratos chuckled lightly. He liked having the upper hand. The element of surprise was finally working in his favor. He took the wet rag off of his forehead, dropping it on the floor.

"And two…" He looked right into her eyes, right into her bright pupils, and threw off the covers. He sat up and turned to have both feet dangling off the bed in one graceful movement, and was standing before she could say another word.

"I need you to tell me where we are."

She just stared at him for one quick second before she burst out laughing. Kratos suddenly wasn't in the mood for games.

"Seriously, I don't know how you managed to bring me here, but if we're anywhere near the ranch we're putting the owner of this house in danger."

Anna put a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter, but she had to turn away because she couldn't contain herself. Kratos wasn't used to being laughed at, and was becoming extremely irritated. She sunk to the floor, shaking with silent giggles. He was infuriated.

"Will you stand up and just answer my question? It's for your benefit, not mine."

She turned her head to peek a glance at him, but Kratos realized she wasn't looking at his face. He looked down, and realized that his chest was bare. He looked further and he wasn't wearing very much in the way of pants, either. He had a bandage on one of his legs, but other than that they were bare. He was absolutely humiliated. He couldn't control his rage- he grabbed the girl by her shirt and threw her out the door, giggling harder than ever. He slammed it in her face and felt ready to destroy something with his bare hands.

He had to remind himself to breathe. It was difficult to just stand in one place, but he did not want to lose control of himself. Kratos leaned against the door with his back, and realized that the skin ached dully with the pressure. He was feeling much, much better from the night before, but his flesh wounds would take longer to heal than simple mana-replenishing. But, he still half wished that he could have just been dead, rather than wake up to having that horrible girl laughing at him! The anger in his face softened as that thought echoed in his head. She definitely wasn't horrible. Anna was…

He ran his fingers through his tangled and blood-matted hair, leaving them there with his palms touching the sides of his head, and he sank down to a crouch with his back still against the door. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes, hanging his head and opening his knees. It wasn't the most comfortable way to sit, but it felt natural somehow. He kept thinking about how horribly wrong his plan had gone- she had seen his face, and now she thought she had rescued him. There was no way of predicting what she would do now, but she didn't really seem on the verge of death anymore… he had underestimated her, in many ways.

Will I be able to turn her back in? The thought had been nagging at the back of his mind, but suddenly it became a very important question. If she is strong enough to stay on the run, will I be able to return her to Cruxis? He sighed again, and gloom started to settle in his chest. Should I let her go?

Nothing was making any sense at all. He rubbed the damp bandage on his scalp, and suddenly wanted to smile. Why smile? There was nothing funny about this at all. In fact, once Mithos discovered that he had helped an exphere escape, there was no telling what would happen to him. And Yuan had probably already told the kid everything he knew in his report, because they being half-elves had always made them much closer than Kratos had ever been permitted to be. Maybe Mithos would take Yuan's love theory seriously… that would be a true problem, right there.

Why frown? The question seemed to ask itself. He had no idea where it came from. Kratos knew perfectly well that he had plenty of reasons to frown. He was being held practically naked in some person's house, by some research experiment host who was stronger than him and incredibly temperamental. He had fallen from a height of probably three stories into a tree, and sustained injuries for the first time in oh, three thousand years? Oh, and he was also inexplicably tied to the woman who he had set loose on the world, because as much as she was irritating, she was also the only person he had truly sympathized with as far back as he could really remember. Except maybe Martel, whom he had once felt sorry for- but that was so far in the past, and he had never been able to return her feelings… this was completely different. Uncharted, wild territory- it was completely nuts. Completely unpredictable, no matter what he did. This humanity stuff was absolute chaos. But I do know that I like her. He smiled lopsidedly, before he realized what that actually meant. It was stupid, and how could that possibly be true? But his heart throbbed as if to taunt him, and he knew it was true. He did like her, more than he could say.

He thought about when she had kissed him, in the forest, and the pain of that contact but the absolute… pleasure? Was that what he had felt? When she had turned around, owning her eyes once more, and the first thing she had done was kiss him… it had made him feel incredibly… happy? Was that the word for it? He couldn't really remember. But it made no sense that this could be happening to him… a leader of the future world! An angel of Cruxis! It made no sense at all, that someone like her could make him behave so strangely, and could have such power over him. It doesn't make sense, but you know it's true.

Kratos wished that his brain would just shut up. Thinking things like this wasn't helpful. Was that even proper grammar? He wondered how to phrase that thought, and digressed into thinking about these trivial matters…

…

Suddenly she was pounding on the door, screaming for him to open it. He stood so quickly, that the door was open in less than a second and she was pounding on his chest instead. She was obviously terrified, her eyes were red- she looked ready to cry. Kratos had to fight a terrible urge to wrap his arms around her, but managed to win over that impulse. He grabbed her hands instead, and looked right into her eyes. She looked away.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" He needed to know. He didn't care what it was, he would fix it for her.

She wrenched her hands free of his grasp, and pushed him into the room, kicking the door shut behind her. It slammed loudly, and he felt sorry for whoever else lived in this house. She wasn't exactly easy company, he was sure.

"John, listen to me. My parents! They went out to the market and haven't come back. Someone just came to the door, and told me that the Desians are back… they're rounding up everyone by the inn and interrogating them… they've killed someone already!"

A tear slid down her cheek, and Kratos wanted more than anything to wipe it away. But he was afraid to make her more upset, so he kept his hands down by his sides, awkwardly wondering what she expected him to do. And, what had she called him? John…? Of all the ridiculous… why John…?

Suddenly it hit him. She hadn't said much, but he knew exactly what was going on.

"You… you're their missing daughter? Is this Luin? Anna, is your last name Irving?"

"Y-yes… how did you…?"

He took a moment to stare at her bright eyes, round with shock, but she blinked and looked away again. She turned away from him and wiped her eyes with her hands, and he heard her sniffle quietly. Kratos knew what he was going to have to do, but she wasn't going to like it. He decided not to tell her.

"Look, I'll help you, Anna. Just this once. But first, I'll need some clothing…" he gestured to his underwear and tried to make her smile. She turned around to look at him- wasn't laughing but she wasn't crying anymore either.

"Take some from the closet. They're my dad's."

"What happened to the… the clothes I was wearing before?"

"Oh, you don't have time to put those things on. It took me an hour just to get them off. What was the point of wearing all those belts, anyway John?" she cocked her head and half-smiled, trying to be serious. Her eyes were still red and slightly swollen now, but she seemed to be recovering herself.

"My name's not actually John, it's…" he stopped himself. It would be suicide to tell her his real name, if she was recaptured- there would be no doubt in anyone's mind that he was responsible for… for…

"What? Your name's not John?"

"Kratos." He cringed. Why oh why did he just tell her his name? "My name is Kratos."

And then it finally hit him that there was no going back. As much as he hated it, there was nothing he wouldn't do for this girl. Justice or no, he would give up world peace to keep her alive. He wasn't going to let her die.

.

A/N: Sorry, the mood was getting so serious, I couldn't help myself ;D

And again, if you have questions just leave me a review and I will make sure I answer them for you =)