Meeting of a Lifetime

Her hands slid back and forth over the sharp rock, sharpening her cuffs against it. Suddenly her hands slid and she cut her hand against the sharp surface.

'Ouch!' Tath sighed irritated, but tried again, patiently, only to slide again and this time cutting her arm instead. She gave a frustrated cry and pushed the rock away with her foot, irritated that it hadn't worked to cut her cuffs against it. She had hoped it would release her.

She looked down at her cuffs, and then looked up. Sighing tired; she realised what she had to do.

Getting to her feet, she started walking back towards the direction where Lloyd's group was.

If Lloyd made those cuffs, he could take them off again.

It didn't take her long to find them. They were heading back to Ozette with a Key Crest to free Presea from her current state. She waited down by Presea's house but suddenly heard noises from above. She jumped up to the roof, seeing the drama unfold before her eyes.

The group was standing with their backs to her, opposite Rodyle, one of the five Grand Cardinals, who had Colette with his two dragons.

So the Chosen was being kidnapped.

Tath shifted her weight to her other leg. She supposed she could help them. But then, why bother? They had after all kidnapped her. Instead she jumped down the roof, hid again in the woods outside the house and waited. The group soon came down, depressed, but helped Presea by placing the Key Crest on her and turning her back to normal. Tath surveyed the girl. Poor thing. She decided it was time to confront them about her cuffs, when she heard a voice.

'…So you've lost the Chosen.'

Tath turned and her eyes widened as she saw Kratos standing in the shadows, arms folded. Lloyd was the first to spin around in the group.

'You again! What have you done to Colette?' Lloyd couldn't conceal his anger and unsheathed his swords.

Kratos walked calmly, but chilly forth to the group and stopped a few feet from Lloyd.

'Rodyle is ignoring our orders and is acting on his own. I know nothing of it.'

Raine snorted. 'Infernal strife? How pathetic.'

Kratos turned his head to Raine, surveying the half-elf.

'…Say what you will. Either way, he'll have no choice but to abandon the Chosen.'

Tath looked at Kratos. Why did she feel so… strange whenever she saw Kratos? All her feelings so…intense? She shook her head, concentrating on the conversation again.

Lloyd frowned. 'What do you mean?'

Kratos looked at Lloyd with his dark eyes.

'The Chosen is useless. You can let her be.'

Lloyd's hand tightened around his swords. 'Are you kidding me? We're gonna rescue Colette no matter what! And if you get in our way…' He didn't finish his sentence, as he suddenly attacked Kratos. The Seraphim easily blocked his blow and turned his back to the group. Tath, though, could see that his eyes were filled with something strange.

. '…Then I suggest you seek the Rheairds and head for the Eastern Skies. I'm sure the people of Mizuho have located them by now.'

Then he turned and walked away into the shadows, just like he had appeared. Lloyd sheathed his sword again.

'…Just what is that guy trying to do?'

Suddenly Zelos shrugged. 'Ah, well, who cares? If he's useful, make use of him.'

His words had a sudden impact on the group.

'I agree,' Sheena said, 'Anyway, let's head back to Mizuho for now.'

Tath sighed from where she was crouching by the trees. Kratos was gone. Now was her time to confront them. She stood up, ready to step forward.

It was then that she felt a hard blow in the back of her head. Everything seemed to slow down around her, and she could feel the nerves in her head giving in for the blow, her vision failing.

She reached forward with her hands, opening her mouth as if trying to speak, but then her eyes rolled back and she fell headfirst down in the leaves at the ground.

Little did she know who stood behind her, holding his sword twisted around, using the hilt of his flaming double-edged sword to hit Tath in the head.

15 years old.

'So… Cruxis, eh?'

She fingered thoughtfully at the tip of her sword, drifting away. Sitting on the roof of one of the houses in Meltokio, Tath was well out of sight to most people. It was barely morning, the same day she'd left Zelos. Like she'd expected, she didn't feel sad at all. It was a relief to finally wear something else than those tight fitting dresses. At the moment, she was actually wearing Zelos' clothes. When she first had come to Meltokio, she had actually believed she would stay a lady for the rest of her life (ha!) and had thrown away all her old clothes. Lucky she'd kept her sword. So she sat in a pair of big beige pants, and a shirt that she'd ripped off, revealing her stomach, just the way she liked it, completed with dark jacket. The jacket was lying beside her as it was too hot to wear it, as she sat crossed-legged on the tiles of the roof.

No, Tath definitely did not feel sad. What she felt, was puzzled.

Cruxis, Cruxis, Cruxis…

Her new mission in life was to find her dad, and… do what, she didn't know. I guess I'll improvise.

What she realised at that moment, was that she didn't know anything about her father, or the organisation he worked for. Only what she'd snapped up at the Ranch, which, she guessed, was probably nothing.

But, she thought, smiling, she did know someone who knew it all…

Altessa was enjoying a few moments of peace, as he'd just finished his current job, and didn't need to start on his next one until tomorrow. He sat by his desk, wondering if he should go to bed, or eat something, when his peace suddenly came to an abrupt end, as his door was suddenly kicked up. In the doorway stood a dangerous looking Tath, a sight grin on her lips.

'Hello, Altessa.'

19 years old.

She opened her eyes, at first drowsy, blinked, then opened them again, clearly now. She lay on the ground. There was still a forest around her, but it was clearer somehow. Maybe she was in the outskirts of Gaorrachia Forest.

She sat up, rubbing the back of her head, groaning as the motion caused even more pain to it. But the motion brought another realisation to her. She was free. She looked down at one of her hands, seeing that the cuffs were gone.

It was then she realised she wasn't alone.

Tath stopped in her rubbing and still holding her hand to her head, she slowly turned around. A few metres away sat Kratos, who was wiping his flame-shaped sword with a white cloth.

Tath's eyes widened and she instinctively backed away, pulling herself over the ground. Kratos didn't look up.

'I see you're awake.' He then looked up, his hair falling into his eyes, as he surveyed Tath with his deep endless brown eyes.

Tath pulled herself together, looking back with her dark blue eyes.

'Kratos,' she said cautiously. 'What do you want?'

'Hmpf. I see you know me. Then you might as well tell me who you are.'

Tath stood up, brushing the dirt of her pants. 'Tatheya.'

She was aware of Kratos still studying her, as she looked around, trying to identify the surroundings.

'Then, what is your real name?'

Tath froze. She turned back to him. 'Excuse me?'

'Your name is not Tatheya no more than the likeness that I should thrust this sword into my chest right now.'

Tath looked at him, her heart suddenly beating fast. For once, there was someone who saw right through her. None other than her father could do that, and even he could not do it so good. She felt raw, naked, in front of this man…

'What do you want?' she eyed him.

Kratos looked up from the ground, placing the sword in the ground beside him, and stood up. 'I want to know who you are. You have been following Lloyd's group for some time, but that's not all. I've seen you before, at Yuan's base. I want to know,' he paused, looking at her, as he was suddenly standing close to her, 'where you got that Cruxis Crystal and who evolved it, how you know Yuan and where you come from. You,' he said, eyeing her up and down, 'are not the plain assassin you pose to be.'

Tath looked at him. 'No, I'm not,' she said flatly. She gave a grin and sighed, realising why he wanted to know all this.

'I didn't think Cruxis would be interested in a simple girl like me,' she then said. 'And they sent out you to gather the information. Curious.'

'I am not here on Cruxis' orders,' Kratos said. 'I want to know why you, too, are in this mess.'

Tath looked at him, raising an eyebrow. 'Well, sorry. This plain assassin will stay a mystery to you,' she then said and started walking away.

'I suggest you think again,' Kratos said behind her as calmly as before. Tath turned to look at him.

'I have removed your Key Crest, and if you don't tell me, it will kill you.'

Tath felt something stop in her. Probably her heart. She could not believe what she had heard. Slowly she dropped her gaze to her hand. Indeed, the Key Crest to her exsphere was gone, and she could see her blood pumping through the small crystal. This was different from what had ever happened before. She knew if she waited long enough to replace the Key Crest on the exsphere she would evolve into an angel…But if the Crest was removed before that, it would have another effect. If he had removed the Crest to her exsphere she would soon, as he had put it… die. As the exsphere worked as her 'heart', her blood would stop flowing in her veins as the exsphere would lose its power and stop pumping around her blood.

Tath suddenly stumbled a few steps to her left, the shock by his words, giving her a feeling as she would faint. She could tell that Kratos had already figured this out. She could not believe it. She had never felt so cornered in her life.

'You can start,' Kratos said, sitting down again, 'with you real name.'

Tath hesitated for a minute and then looked at him.

'Alright. My real name,' she said and heaved a surrendering sigh, 'is Tath Eya.'

'And?' Kratos looked at her.

'You tell me,' Tath shrugged. She would not tell him more than she needed to.

'And where did you get that exsphere? And Cruxis Crystal?'

Tath sighed. It had come to this. Finally she had to tell him why she had always been so interested by Kratos.

'Don't you remember?' She gave a small smile. As Kratos looked up with a puzzled look, she continued.

'You saved me.'

If Kratos remembered this he did not show, instead he looked at her, something Tath took as a sign to continue. It felt strange, having the ancient Hero and angel looking and listening to her. Was she really that important? Things were changing, she could feel it.

'Thirteen years ago, in the Asgard Ranch. The child that Kvar had conducted his research of the exspheres upon.' She did not continue, and she saw that she did not have to, as it dawned upon Kratos.

'They said that child had perished in the wild,' he then said, eyeing her now with more interest. Tath gave small insulted snort to herself. The one who had told them that had probably been her father. A minute of silence followed.

'So you're that child,' he then said, nodding to himself.

'I was that child,' Tath corrected him. She was an adult now, and lived through more than most nineteen-year olds.

'So you escaped,' Kratos concluded for her. 'Then what? Did you go back to your parents?'

Tath snorted. 'Please. My mother is dead. Killed by Kvar, that bastard.' She looked up again, remembering that Kvar was with Cruxis. 'I'm sorry if he was your buddy, but it serves him right to be dead. My mother was a saint.' Tath could feel anger stir in her, but she didn't care.

Kratos eyes drifted to Tath's exsphere, seeing it shift slightly in colour as it pumped power trough Tath's veins, as a result of her anger.

'I just wished I could've been there when he was killed,' she added grimly. And suddenly, she remembered something else. She fixed her eyes on Kratos', her gaze more intense than Kratos had yet seen. His brown eyes hardened, the way they always did when someone tried to see through him, the way Tath was now.

'You were there, weren't you? When he was killed?' she then asked.

Kratos' hair fell into his eyes, the custom look of the seraphim, shielding his eyes from Tath, as she could no longer read them.

'Yes,' he replied, his voice even deeper than it already was, more serious than Tath had ever heard him.

'So Lloyd killed him, huh?'

There was a sudden pause, just a hint of a tense from Kratos before he replied, more silently, 'yes.'

Tath fell silent, her anger trailing away, the power wearing off, as she studied the man intently trying to place his sudden tension. Then the moment passed.

There was a silence between them, a strange silence. Tath had only known Kratos for a little while, but already felt like a lifetime had passed between them. She was intrigued by Kratos, how could he see through her so well?

16 years old.

The Tethe'alla base was unguarded outside, unlike the rest of the Ranches. Tath could not help to wonder why there was only one base in Tethe'alla, when there were a total of four in Sylvarant. A small piece of her mind told her it was strange, but nevertheless, she continued from the rock she had been crouching behind and crept closer to the base.

It had been hard finding a boat, but with Tath's excellent stealth skills that she seemed to possess naturally, she crept onboard a large commerce transport boat and stole their lifeboat, which was small and fast enough for her needs.

She was thankful for the technology in Tethe'alla as she had cruised out in open water towards the fjords near the Tethe'alla base. Had she been in Sylvarant, she'd probably been stuck in a rowboat by now.

She barely made footprints in the soft snow, as she crept slowly towards the base. She wasn't too sure about the security here. She knew a lot about the security in the human ranches, like her own and the one Pietro had been captured to, but this one… it was not like the other ones. This base was different, she stated.

19 years old.

'After the ranch, what happened? I know Kvar removed your Key Crest… how did you survive?'

Tath sighed. The moment between her and Kratos was as good as gone. She could no longer try to see through him, and she was once again his prisoner, interrogated by him.

'I found my way to the dwarf, Altessa, and-'

'Altessa?' Kratos interrupted her, 'that's in the other world. Quite a long way from the Asgard Ranch, no?'

'I had help,' Tath said, her eyes turning a shade darker as she moved her livid red bangs from her eyes, much the way Kratos hair fell into his eyes.

'I lived with him for a while, but then I learned that he had connections with Cruxis, and I got scared.' Tath regarded Kratos for a fraction of a second before looking away again. It wasn't entirely true, since she'd really fled because of her father, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

'…So you fled.'

'I fled.'

They were silent for a while, and Kratos suddenly got to his feet. Tath noted that he was wearing a black uniform with the small insignia of Cruxis on his chest, and leather straps of the beautiful angelic colour around his waist, where his flaming sword was attached. His collar was slightly open to reveal a muscular chest, and to his shoulders a dark blue cape was fastened. He brushed some dirt of his pants, that fluttered off and landed on his black boots.

'We have to go,' he said, nodding towards the clearing of the woods.

'Where?' she narrowed her eyes.

He unexpectedly gave a amused smile, to which Tath realised that he was really handsome, even more so when his features relaxed into a smile.

'I don't think you are in the position to be asking questions like that.'

She raised an irritated eyebrow, but nevertheless got to her feet and followed the Seraphim, suddenly catching herself wondering what colour his wings were. After all, he was an angel.

'This sword,' he suddenly said, after a couple of minutes in silence, and Tath suddenly realised that he was holding her sword in his hands, 'it's from Mizuho,' he stated.

'Yes,' she said, biting back the urge to say, Bravo, what do you want, a peanut? 'After I fled from Altessa, I lived there for a couple of years.'

'Lived there? I thought they did not welcome outsiders.'

'They made an exception.'

'I see. And that's where you learned to fight?'

'Mostly, yes.'

Kratos fell silent after that, and they walked in silence again. They were now out on the open field again, leaving the trees of Gaorrachia behind them. Kratos headed for another set of trees and Tath followed. She looked around, wondering where Lloyd and the others were. The Chosen, Colette, was kidnapped, and Kratos had told them to seek the Rheairds and head for the eastern skies. Then what?

Suddenly something else drifted into her mind. Kratos had encouraged Lloyd to change the worlds up on the Fooji Mountains, and now… She looked at the seraphim in front of her. Kratos was helping Lloyd. Why else had he told them where to look for Colette? She was just about to open her mouth and ask him, when she suddenly realised that he had stopped, and since her reflexes were slowing due to her removed Key Crest, she bumped right into him.

Blushing slightly, she walked up beside him, her previous curiosity forgotten. 'Why are we stopping?' she asked, but he ignored her, as he was looking up in the sky. Tath followed his gaze, but was unable to spot anything, and instead studied the Seraphim.

'Hold on to me,' he suddenly said.

'What?' she asked, looking puzzled at him. What the hell did he mean by asking that? 'What the hell- Oh.'

She interrupted herself as she noticed that his wings were out, and her previous question had been answered. They were beautiful, grand and blue, with a hint of green in them. They seemed to be formed to give ultimate speed, as he flapped them a few times.

Tath stepped towards him, as his arm slipped around his waist, and she could feel his breathing reverberating through his body. And without warning, he kicked of from the ground. Each flap of his wings reverberated through Tath and she could feel his muscles working. She grabbed on to his neck, holding on for dear life. It always felt uncomfortable for her whenever she had to rely on someone else, when she wasn't in control.

Suddenly she could hear the Chief from Mizuho speaking to her. In this world be live in, it is better to have your fate in you own hands than someone else's.

You said it, she thought, holding on harder to the Seraphim as they soared through the sky.

---

The night was silent, the birds were sleeping, and the only sound that could be heard, was the crickets. Even Tath was sleeping, exhausted as her exsphere was now weakening her. It was the second night in her custody of Kratos and they had camped outside Meltokio, on the same spot they had landed on a few hours ago. The woods were thick, and the Seraphim had set camp in a small clearing of the woods, where he had a clear view of Meltokio.

Suddenly Tath awoke, but not opening her eyes immediately. Quite surprised over that she had actually had fallen asleep at all, she slowly opened them, letting them adjust to the darkness around them. It had been a long time since she had slept a full night. She suddenly spotted Kratos sitting by the fire, his grim face a lit by the fire, causing strange shadows to dance over it. He appeared deep in thought, and hadn't noticed Tath waking up. She sat up, and now she knew that he knew she was awake, he just didn't acknowledge her.

'How… long is it since you slept?'

The question suddenly slipped out of her, her voice the softest she'd ever heard it. Suddenly she felt sympathy for the man in front of her.

He did not turn to look at her as he replied. 'Fourteen years.'

Tath stood up and went over to the fire, sitting down opposite him, on the other side of the flames.

'Why do you ask?' He finally raised his eyes to look at her.

'Oh,' she gave a slight smile, 'it just feels good to know I'm not the only one with troubles.'

They met each other's eyes, and Tath suddenly found herself comparing his eyes to Zelos', of all people. The eyes of Kratos were so deep, but so soft far down, but all was hidden behind layers and layers of stone like substance. It was like the Chosen's eyes, deep in there, she could also sense something serious and soft, behind the layers of comic and flirting. Both men had something within them, hiding, and made Tath determined to draw it out.

'Your wings,' she suddenly said, surprising herself again by asking something she had not thought through, 'are blue. Why?'

He looked up, surprised by her question. Then he raised an eyebrow. 'I take it you know more about angels than you let on.'

'…They say the wings take the colour of the person's soul.'

He looked at her, and she could suddenly see the softness in his eyes breaking through. 'Yes, they do. And mine are blue.'

'Have they always been like that?' Tath asked, curiosity burning in her like Efret himself.

He gave a grin, like to himself. 'No,' he said and looked up, and Tath could suddenly see a whole new person. His eyes were now free of the stony layers, and he looked like a trouble-free man. 'They used to be red.'

Tath gave a grin. She could see Kratos wings in front of her. Red, like he was, under those layers. Red, like…

'I can imagine that. The same colour your hair is, right?'

'Yes,' he said, but suddenly his smile died away.

And then Kratos looked down in the ground again. 'You should get some sleep, or your exsphere is going to drain you of all power.' And like that, the stony layers were back again, and the softness crept back inside of him.

And against all Tath's wishes, she yawned, like on cue. Kratos raised an eyebrow, and Tath raised her hands in defeat.

'Alright, alright,' she said, and went over to her blanket and promptly fell asleep again, leaving Kratos to look at her for a moment and then fall into his own troubles again.

---

It wasn't until her third day in her custody of Kratos that she started feeling the effects of the exsphere. He had managed to get her to tell him why she had attacked Magnius on the Palmacosta Ranch (because of course he somehow knew that she had been there), when she suddenly fell silent and looked down in her lap.

It was a strange feeling, like the air was being sucked out of her lungs even though she was breathing.

'Here,' a hand suddenly stretched out, giving her a small bottle. It contained something light.

'It'll slow the process. At least until you're done telling me,' Kratos said. Tath took the bottle but did not drink it. She looked up and around herself. They were still outside Meltokio, and had been there for two days. It seemed as if Kratos was waiting for something. She stuffed the bottle in the pocket, ignoring the draining feeling in her lungs. She watched as Kratos refolded something, a sort of stone that glittered.

'So why do you have that?' she asked, recognizing the stone as Altessa had told her about it. Kratos did not reply, as he finished folding it.

'Is it for Cruxis?' she asked and then grinned to herself. 'What, Mithos gonna make some sacred ring?' She knew the stone was for making sacred rings, but you needed a lot of other things as well. Kratos still didn't reply, and Tath suddenly realised something. The grin vanished from her lips and she suddenly suspected that what she had thought about Kratos was true. There was more to him than the ideas of Cruxis. She had to ask him.

'It's not for Cruxis, is it?' she asked quietly. Finally, Kratos reacted. He had finished stuffing the stone in one if his bags and turned to look at her, as she sat at the ground, still ignoring the sucking feeling in her lungs. As she looked in his eyes she knew she saw something. Maybe it was fear? Fear for have being seen through, like Tath. She did not know. Or maybe it was utter denial, as what he next said was something completely different.

'What I want to know is, how you know so much about Cruxis, when you simply seem to be a girl from a Human Ranch?'

'I'm not a girl,' she snapped back automatically. But he had her there. What was she going to reply? But fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, she was saved by her exsphere, as when she was about suck in her breath to reply, there was no air. She was breathing, but not air filled her lungs. Her blood was moving so slow, it did not have the time to take up the air she tried to fill in her lungs. It was a peculiar feeling. Everything was silent and her vision seemed to shrink. Was this how dying felt? She could not help to think triumphantly, at least, that's nothing Yuan could ever tell her about. Because he never would. Die, that is.

But then her vision got black, and she wasn't so sure the dying thing was that great, after all. Then suddenly, her vision came back, as she realised she was lying on the ground, and Kratos sat by her, squeezing her hand. At first she found it quite odd to see him squeeze her hand like that, like he was worried. Then she realised what he was doing. It was her hand with the exsphere and by squeezing it like he did, with steady pauses, he caused it to pump the blood again.

Tath sat up again, rubbing her head, as she slid her hand out of Kratos', who was eyeing her. 'I think I told you to drink the elixir,' he said in his grim voice. Tath did not reply, as she was too busy being a bit shocked. If this was the effect the exsphere could have on her, how easy could it not be then to kill her? She shuddered by the thought. Then, as she noticed Kratos' stern look, she took out the bottle from her pocket and pulled of the cork. Then she hesitated for a moment, casting a glance at Kratos before putting it to her lips and emptying it.

And it worked. At least she thought it did. She still felt weak, but she guessed that was what it felt to be normal. Without an exsphere.

As she had perked up, Kratos tossed her a bit of bread, which she started eating right away. Without realising it, she had been starving. She couldn't help wondering why Kratos had brought food, if he did not eat.

He was silent for a while, watching her, something Tath now recognised the motion as a sign that he was about to tell her something and watch her reaction. But she would not react different, because she already knew what he was going to ask. And there was no way he was going to know.

'So, at least now I know how you came to be an assassin. There is one last thing… I know your mother is dead. What about your father?'

There it was. Who was her father? Yes, who could it be? Tath grinned inwards. This is what she had been waiting for all along.

'No,' she said, mouth full of bread. Kratos lifted his head, for once causing his hair to fall out of his eyes. 'I am not going to tell you who my father is, I don't care how hard you try, and if it means I have to die to keep it a secret, then so be it.'

Kratos seemed somewhat stunned by her little speech. She supposed he never had suspected her to be so determined about that thing, on account of how she had relatively easily told him about all the other things he asked about.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again, letting her eat in peace.

'Very well,' he then suddenly said, 'I have to go and take care of something.'

And with that, he suddenly rose, and sprouting his wings, he took of, towards Meltokio. Tath looked after him, drifting into thoughts.

---

Another two days passed, and Tath was now literally dying. She was pale, dark around her eyes, and extremely weak. She could only wheeze for breathing. No amount of potion could save her now. They were still in the clearing of the wood, Kratos watching Tath with a slightly worried glance. By now, Tath knew the Seraphim quite well. Not that he'd told her, but she'd figured it out. For instance, she knew she'd been right all along. Kratos was more than Cruxis. He had been all along. For instance, he was going to find the sacred wood to help Lloyd. What the sacred ring he was going to make was for, she was not entirely sure of, but it was for Lloyd alright. That's why he had left for Meltokio the other day. To ask Presea were the sacred wood was.

And she also knew that he desperately wanted to know who her father was. So much that she was dying. Gathering her strength, she sat up, for one final conversation. She hesitated for a moment, letting the silence of the night take over, the crickets being the only sound that could be heard, and the occasional hoot of the owl.

'It wasn't… Lloyd… that killed Kvar, was it?'

His looked up, surprised that she was speaking. As he realised what she had asked, his eyes met hers. '…No.'

'You did, didn't you?'

He gave a small sigh, sorrow suddenly upon him. Or was he surprised, that Tath could see through him as well?

'Yes.'

'And you're… helping Lloyd and the others… aren't you? On your own…accord?'

He lifted his eyes once again to meet hers.

'…Yes.'

She gave a slight smile to herself, before she suddenly felt all her powers leave her, and she was forced to lie back down. A minute of silence followed, a minute were Tath was forced to concentrate only to keep breathing. But she had to say this last thing.

'I was right about you,' she whispered faintly.

He raised an eyebrow, his hair falling into his eyes. 'In what way?'

'You don't… do all this, for Cruxis. It's like I always thought …when you first saved me, all those years ago. You are…more …than Cruxis…'

Then her eyelids fluttered close, and her breathing ceased.

16 years old.

It was easier than she had predicted to get inside the base. She was at the moment crouching on a pillar, watching a guard patrol outside a pair of doors. She was not going to kill anyone, she was past that. If innocent lives could be spared, so be it. Never mind if they were half-elves, who thought of themselves as 'superior'.

She knew her father had to be in one of these rooms, only…which one?

Finally making up her mind, she easily enough threw a pebble towards the stairs, distracting the guards outside the room, and as they ran away, she swiftly made her way towards the doors that were, surprisingly, unlocked.

As the doors swung open and the man inside looked up, his features tensing into a surprised expression, she could feel herself tightening her grip on her sword as she looked into the blue eyes she knew she had inherited.

'Hello, Father.'

19 years old.

The sunlight shone brightly in under her eyelids, determined to irritate her every nerve. If this is heaven, she thought, then I don't have a hell of a good start.

Oh, wait, right… there is no heaven.

Which meant that she was still alive.

And sure enough, as she drew a breath, she could feel the cool fresh air plunging into her lungs. She took another deep breath; it felt like she hadn't breathed for days.

And finally she opened her eyelids. And saw the sky, and the sun. And the trees. Instinctively, she raised her right hand and saw, sure enough, her Key Crest was back. And it was working alright. She felt as strong as ever.

'Well,' she said out loud to no one in particular, 'that's something I would not recommend.' She shuddered inwards; dying was defiantly not as nice as she'd somehow always imagined it to be.

Then, she spotted Kratos sitting a few yards away. He had changed his mind in the last minute. He had saved her life. Again.

Maybe that was why she uttered those next words.

'Do you really want to know?' she asked, sitting up.

He looked at her, silent. 'Who my father is?' she continued.

'It is,' he said, 'the missing piece to the puzzle.'

Tath fell silent for so long, hesitating, that Kratos doubted that she ever would speak.

Finally, she opened her mouth, deciding that finally, finally, she would tell someone.

'Alright. My father…' her voice died away for a moment, watching Kratos for a moment for his reaction, and then continued.

'Yuan is my father.'

Ta-daaaah! There is the latest chapter! A little surprising, perhaps? Hopefully.. Anyway, pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase review, it would seriously make my day! Lots of Love/Loui