A/N's: stares Oh my gosh... it's been so long. I think I'll work on this for awhile.
Disclaimer: I don't own TOS.
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"Just listen to teacher..."
- Be Prepared from Lion King I
Chapter 9: Childish Lessons
The dark, silent night had fallen faster than the girl could comprehend. She had small, cute green eyes with dark purle hair that curled up from her hips to her elbows. She wasn't the type to wear dresses but was forced to tonight because of her father's party. She decided that it was indeed a bad night to let the cat out.
She could hear the bell of her small kitten running about through the forest. The little tinkles made her follow a strange path throught hte forest that she'd never seen before. Eventually, the tinkles stopped. The girl stopped as well and took in her surroundings. The trees towered over her by at least 50 feet and blocked out the moonlight with thick, dark green trees. She wondered if any sunlight even reached the dark ground. The floor of the forest was covered in leaves and roots. She gasped remembering where she was. She took a few steps backwards and tripped over a root. She landed on her back. She was in the Forbidden Forest. No wonder she didn't recognize the paths.
Tinkle... tinkle...
She jumped to her feet and ran towards the sound, hoping that it was her little kitty. If it was, then they could both find their way out of the Gaoracchia forest together. She ran and tripped over a large root hidden by thick bushes. She landed flat on her face. Tears burned her eyes and as she struggled to stand up through the thick foliage when a pink tongue licked her face. She looked towards her shoulder to see her kitten happily sitting there.
"Silly kitty," the girl mumbled as she pulled herself up.
"You're one of innocent..." a female voice whispered as the girl spun in surprise.
"Who are you?" A tall girl with bright white hair and skin as pale as snow stood before her. White ribbons in her hair reached all the way to the ground and her white dress was torn in many places. She walked forward, her steps making no sounds. She reached out and touched the face of the smaller, purple-haired girl. They locked eyes.
"Come to me, innocence..."
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Lloyd awoke slowly, clearly confused as to what he was doing in a forest. It was most definitely not where he had gone to bed last night. He curiously looked around seeing nothing but trees, trees...and some bushes here and there. A frog landed on his foot and suddenly wiped away his growing fears of being lost as he chased the frog, trying to catch it. Yuan and Kratos watched him from a tree as he playfully jumped and ran after the frog. They both sighed in relief.
"He seems to be acting like a...somewhat normal seven year old," Yuan commented as Kratos silently watched his son happily play with the creature. Once the woodland creature had escaped Lloyd's sight, Lloyd looked around for it, looking for any signs of jumping before returning to wondering where he was. He sat for a moment before soon being entertained by the thickness of the forest and began to make his through it with an adventerous grin on his face. It was the happiest Kratos had seen him in a long while. "I'm still curious though," Yuan continued, "as to what he did to Lloyd a year ago, on his sixth birthday. Any clues?" Kratos shook his head. The only thing he had noticed was that Yggdrasill had tied a ribbon around his forehead the day after the boy's sixth birthday. He'd had it on ever since. It was a simple white ribbon that was tied around his forehand. The two ends flowed behind his head freely. They seemed to entertain him on random days.
"The fact that he's still happy and living is all that I care about," Kratos muttered. Yuan silently agreed.
"Well, today is the kid's 7th birthday so, let's take him out so that we can have our little celebration!" he exclaimed. They jumped from the tree as Lloyd, who was now stuck in the thick foliage of the forest, turned to see them.
"Ah! Yuan and Kratos! I'm sorry I wasn't in Welgaia, I woke up here and I dunno how I got here and-" Kratos put up a hand to silence him.
"Don't worry about it, Lloyd. Come on, we're going into the city for a small celebration. Do you wish to come with us?" The boy smiled the widest he possibly could.
"Yes!" The boy wiggled himself out of the foliage and ran after Yuan and Kratos who had already begun to walk.
About an hour or so later, Lloyd found himself in Palmacosta with Yuan and Kratos and a small cake in front of him that said "Happy Birthday, Lloyd" and two boxes next to it, one being dark blue and the other being purple. They watched Lloyd eat the small cake, which was only a cake for one, and examined his every motion and reaction. His emotions were normal, his physical appearance seemed normal and he didn't seem to be insane. His appetite seemed normal too, Yuan noticed, as Lloyd finished the cake in three minutes flat before moving on to opening the two boxes that had his name clearly written on them. Kratos slowly sipped his jasmine tea as Lloyd took a book called "Powerful spells that even a 4 year old could learn" out of the box that Yuan had given him. He then moved to Kratos' box, which was significantly smaller but seemed to have an even bigger impact on the boy. He opened the box to find a bracelet that had two swords crossed with an "L" over them. His eyes widened at the gift for whatever reason that Kratos and Yuan could not figure out.
"This is so cool!" he cried with joy as Kratos couldn't help but stare at his son's happy expression. "Thank you so much, both of you!" he told them, making sure that they knew he was grateful. Lloyd put the bracelet on and prepared to leave as Yuan and Kratos cleaned the table up a little.
"Kratos, how'd you know he'd like it so much?" Yuan asked the other Seraph quietly as Lloyd looked at his brand new bracelet in the light.
"I didn't. I thought that...he'd at least like but... I did not expect such a reaction." Yuan shrugged.
"Oh well, the kid's happy with it." They soon left towards Welgaia. Lloyd didn't feel like returning though. He found that he liked spending time with Yuan and Kratos. They were always quite friendly to him, especially on his birthdays. Though, he had to admit, that that was the best one yet. He loved the bracelet. He felt that it showed how strong he could grow up to be, like Kratos! He really looked up to him. He'd seen him fight. He could slice through enemies like butter faster his eyes could follow and then not feel tired after it. It was always amazing.
"Lord Yuan, Lord Kratos..." they heard as soon as they had entered Welgaia. An angel soldier floated over to them. "Lord Yggdrasill is summoning Lord Lloyd. He will be summoning the both of you afterwards." They nodded as Lloyd nervously followed the angel soldier to Yggdrasill's throne room. He never liked it in there because something always seemed to occur, whether it be a test, a beating or something else that he knew he wasn't going to like in the end anyways. Yggdrasill faked a smile as Lloyd walked in. The boy could see through it and knew for a fact that his Lord Yggdrasill disliked him quite a bit.
"You summoned me?" he recited, remembering what Yuan had been telling him to say since he had been able to walk again, a little over 3 months ago.
"Yes, Lloyd. It's time for your appointments with one of the Grand Cardinals to begin. You will see him at least once a week and he will do research on the jewel on your forehead." Lloyd shivered. This appointment made him uneasy. "He will dismiss you once he has done what he can for the today. Use one of the transport warps to take you to the Asgard Ranch. You are dismissed. Head to your next appointment," Yggdrasill commanded as Lloyd remembered to bow before leaving. The angel selfishly watched the boy run towards infinite torture. When he had disapppeared into Welgaia, he snapped at the angel soldier.
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"Lord Yggdrasill summons the both of you," the angel soldier said as they walked passed him and into the throne room. Neither of them gave Yggdrasill the pleasure of bowing or acknowledging that he had summoned them. Their actions, however, were ignored.
"Lloyd has been sent to get his forehead checked. Meanwhile, I am leaving the two of you to decide what to do about the boy's training. Just make sure that he is trained well in all feilds by his twelth birthday. I shall test him myself then."
"Where is he, Yggdrasill?" The angel smiled.
"He is with someone that is sure to boost the boy's... power." Kratos clenched his hands having an idea as to who it was.
"Lloyd shall be allowed to go on missions with either of us," Yuan stated more than requested, trying to stop Kratos from putting Yggdrasill in a rage. "We'll be able to train him at the same time that way." Yggdrasill thought of it.
"Kratos, you remember our little compromise. Just remember what's at stake." Kratos turned his back to the angel and stormed out of the room. "Your request is accepted. You are dismissed until Lloyd returns. When he does, do what you will with him." Yuan turned to leave as a new dislike for the angel grew in his chest.
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A few weeks later, Yuan finally found himself in the Iselia forest with Lloyd to see how his battle skills were. Having suffered some strange headaches and energy drains, Lloyd truly was in no shape to be learning to fight with swords at the moment but the boy had offered to give it a try anyways. Yuan had tried, in Kratos' place, to divuldge information from the boy about where he was going and what was being done to him but the boy kept silent, always finding a way to distract Yuan to asking him something else. But Yuan could see that keeping such a secret from him was bothering the boy and that he would spill sooner or later. So, he bided his time, and hadn't asked Lloyd anything about where he was going once a week, for a little while.
A bunny appeared as Lloyd went into his stance. The boy really didn't know what had hit him. Which it's vicious teeth, the bunny had lunged at him and knowing that he just hadn't the strength to fight it off for long, thrust it away with one of his swords before trying to flee.
"Come on, Lloyd! I'm sure you can handle them!" Yuan shouted to him.
The bunny had recovered from Lloyd's counter quicker than the boy had expected and soon found himself lying face first in the dirt after being kicked by the bunny that was now hopping away. Yuan sighed. He helped him up as he noticed tears forming in Lloyd's eyes and started to panic.
"Ah, Lloyd, it's alright I understand if maybe today you weren't up to fighting...ah...um..." Lloyd looked up at him as Yuan thought as quickly as he could. "How about we do some magic training in the desert? That should be extreme enough for your skill!" Lloyd's face immediately brightened.
"Ok let's go!"
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Me: Not all that long but hey it's as long as I need it to be...
Anna: Where the hell were you?!
Me: Let's just say that first it was school, then the ferrets, then more stuff happened that I really wish, didn't. Anyways, I'll have the next chapter out once I get a couple of reviews!
Anna: Review please! Makes Girl-Who-Is-Lazy not be lazy...
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Preview: Chapter 10: Childish Minds
"Maybe I should take him and run from here."
"Ah, just as I had expected. The golden ring of the crown now appears!"