n.n Chapter thirteen! My lucky number!
(Silence)
...Colette's still not here...woops. Okay then...um...
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
...I think I miss her...:(
Traps
"INDIGNATION!"
Yuan's green eyes narrowed at the still oncoming hoard of angels that were descending on him. Damn it, he had to be the 'noble' one here and
go up to Derris-Kharlan alone to get the damn materials... Oh well, it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. Mithos and the rest of the serious
threats would be done below with the seed. ...He only hoped the traps didn't slow them too much. He gritted his teeth as another angel
underling swiped at him.
"You are not going to be proud of that," he snarled as he slashed him in two.
He'd just have to deal with it and hope for the best...
"DAMMIT!"
Lloyd slammed his fist into the wall, angered that they had to have left both Regal and Sheena behind. The others looked at him before the
brunette forced himself to shake it off and head further in.
"Those two had better be all right," Lloyd growled as they pressed ahead.
"I'm sure they'll be fine, right?" Genis said. "They can both take care of themselves..."
"..." Kratos glanced away, "we should keep an eye out for any further traps, however."
"Agreed," Presea stated.
"Hm..." Raine bit her lip.
The next floor they entered had a large piece of machinery in the center. Raine dashed over to it and managed to open the first door...then
part of the floor fell in.
"Sis-!" Genis said.
"I'm fine, just an input error! I'm opening the next one!"
She did so and a monster appeared when the door raised.
"Another input error?!" Lloyd said.
"Just defeat it!"
Within a few seconds the monster was dead and Raine opened the next one...and the floor fell.
"Professor Sage! I knew it!" Lloyd said.
"Raine-!" Genis cried.
"You don't have time to worry about this! There's another one!"
Lloyd growled and they went to work killing the new monster. Once it was defeated they turned back down the hall where one piece of flooring
still connected Raine to them...and it feel through.
"This room is going to collapse..." Raine said, "go, you need to save Colette."
"But-!" Genis protested, tears forming in his eyes.
"Or..." Lloyd's eyes narrowed.
He focused a minute and for the second time drew the red wings from his back, the remaining three with him drew back as Lloyd managed to
dash over, grab Raine, and dashed back to the rest of them as chunks of the ceiling began to fall. Looking pleased with himself, Lloyd dismissed
the wings and then dashed for the warp pad with his friends in tow. Once they had managed to appear on the second floor, Genis clung to
Raine like freaking glue.
"Sis! Don't do that again! You scared me!" he cried.
"Genis...I..." Raine said softly.
"...That was good thinking on Lloyd's part," Presea said.
"I wasn't going to let someone else go," Lloyd flushed, "and I figured...I had them, why not use them, right?"
Kratos nodded.
"Yes, I was about to remind you of them myself, actually..." he trailed.
"Don't you have yours anymore?" Lloyd asked.
Kratos slowly shook his head.
"The Cruxis Crystal I originally used to incite my own angelic transformation is no longer attached to me," he stated, "and since the furkiol
reverted me back, I've lost the wings as well as the other angelic traits."
"Oh..."
"Ahem," Raine coughed, "...thank you, Lloyd, but don't you think we should-?"
"Oh! That's right! Come on! Let's go!" Lloyd said. "Oh, and Professor?"
"Yes?"
"Never do that again," he said sternly, Genis nodding in agreement.
"..All right," Raine smiled softly.
"Time is short, let's get going," Kratos said, walking off.
And so they were off again. After another frightening run-in with a tree root that had snagged Presea, they had certainly been on edge. She
had told them not to get near her, but as with Raine Lloyd refused to let her go and hacked at the roots restraining her. The five of them
seemed to be almost in the clear when they made it to a hall intersection...
"Wait," Kratos said, "...nobody move."
"What? What is it?" Lloyd asked.
"...Get to the wall!!"
Lloyd and Kratos jumped to one side as the Sages and Presea went to the other, just as a large wall slammed down in between them, cutting
them off from the other group.
"What the-?!" Lloyd shouted.
Kratos yanked Lloyd forward just as another wall closed off the way the had came, earning yet more yelps and shouts of surprise from both
groups on either side of the wall.
"Whoah-!" Genis cried from the other side.
"Is everyone all right?" Raine's voice called.
"Y-yeah! We're fine on this side!" Lloyd said.
"No damage on this one," Presea reported.
"We'll have to continue down the hall," Kratos stated, "eveyone be on the look out for anything else. We will have to hope the path rejoins at
some point further down."
"All right then, let's be careful," Raine answered.
With little choice left, they continued down their paths on either side before Lloyd and Kratos came to a path that branched off to the left
(having been on the left side of the wall).
"The path splits here!" Lloyd cried.
"Same here!" Genis said. "We're going to have to split up..."
"Maybe I can just break the wall like I did last time?" Lloyd considered.
"Don't bother," Kratos stated, "this material is too strong even for you."
"So...we don't have a choice?" Lloyd's face fell.
"...We have no better option as of now," Kratos told him.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Raine said from the other side, "we'll try to meet up later."
"...Right, be careful,"
"Same to you two,"
So with mild reluctance they went their separate ways, Lloyd worrying for the sake of his friends as Kratos continued to scan the area for any
more unpleasant surprises of the like. It wasn't long before they came across another warp panel which lead them into a large, barren room.
"...Okay, this one just screams 'trap'," Lloyd huffed.
"Yes," Kratos looked around, "...but of what nature?"
"Hm..." Lloyd bit his lip.
Something appeared in a flash of light in the middle of the room.
"What the...? What is that-?" Lloyd started.
"RUN!" Kratos shouted.
"Huh-!?"
Both swordsmen leapt aside as the mass of light hurled two tentacles at them, one reaching for Lloyd and the other for his father. They both
evaded the first attempt but the strings of light only pursued them more vigorously, chasing them around the room.
"What is this thing!?" Lloyd said.
"Just keep trying for the exit!" Kratos snapped at him.
Lloyd avoided the strings while heading for the back, not having much difficulty due to his current state; Kratos on the other hand had quite the
opposite situation. A strand grabbed him.
"D-!"
Lloyd hesitated just enough to get snared as well.
"Hey-! AGH!"
The tendril curled around his neck, its partner doing the same to Kratos. It held both of them tightly but surprisingly did not increase the
pressure in means to kill them. It wasn't strangling them, but it would not let them go either...it wasn't really doing anything.
"What is this thing?" Lloyd shouted.
"It's a mana-based trap Mithos constructed with the Eternal Sword," Kratos growled, "it's..."
"What is it?"
"...It will kill one of us," Kratos said simply, "depending on how we answer."
"What-?"
Why did you leave me?
Both Kratos and Lloyd visibly flinched, Kratos with horror and Lloyd in shock. The voice that echoed through them sounded like Lloyd's normal
voice, exactly like it...
"W-what the hell was that?!"
"...It...takes a question one truly wants to ask the other and asks it," Kratos said simply, "...if I answer truthfully it will not injure me, if I lie..."
Lloyd's eyes widened.
"...Kratos, don't you dare-"
"I left you because I hated you," Kratos said.
A surge of electricity went through Lloyd's body. Kratos' eyes widened and Lloyd shouted in pain.
"What-?" Kratos paled.
"Agh-! I-! I thought you said...?" Lloyd trailed.
The dual swordsman went wide eyed at his father. Wait...if he told the truth, the other guy got hurt? ...Did...did that mean Kratos just told the
truth? Did that mean he...?
"Lloyd! Are you all right?" Kratos cried.
"...You hated me?" Lloyd whispered.
"What? No! Of course not, it-!"
He hated him...? He was left because his father hated him? Kratos...hated....?
Why don't you want to call me 'Dad'?
This time, Kratos' normal voice rang through the air, both males flinching once more.
"...Because....I...because I already have a father," Lloyd said, "and he isn't it."
Kratos' heart sunk in his chest- right before he let out a shout of pain, electricity coursing through is body. Lloyd's eyes widened as his father
began to pant in an attempt to catch his breath once more.
"It hurts the other guy if you LIE!" the dual swordsman shouted.
"What...? You lied?" Kratos said.
"You did too..." Lloyd was flooded with a brief sense of relief, happiness...then fear, "wait! You lied because you thought it would hurt you and
not me?!"
Kratos glanced aside.
"You bastard! You were trying to-?"
Would you really give your life for me?
Lloyd choked as his younger voice echoed the question in his head.
"..." Kratos locked eyes with him from across the room, "...yes."
There was another burst of electric mana as Kratos' body jolted in pain, letting out a shout that echoed through the large chamber as Lloyd
watched on in a numb horror.
Would you ever be able to forgive me for what I've done?
Lloyd heard his father's voice as the real one shouted in pain, sparks of electricity streaming in and out and around his body. Lloyd quickly
blurted out his answer.
"Yes! Yes, I would!" Lloyd said.
The electricity stopped around Kratos and started on Lloyd. Kratos saw this and tried to shout something out, his throat failing from the recent
pain.. Then he managed to belt it out of his lungs.
"GIVE HIM ALL THE QUESTIONS!" Kratos yelled at the mass of light in the middle.
What happened when Mom died?
The pain stopped on Lloyd when his own voice echoed the question again. Lloyd gaped.
"...What? What are you-?"
"This is a torture device," Kratos explained, his voice cracking, "usually one in this situation would yell that in order to save themselves...thus it
does the opposite..."
Lloyd's eyes widened.
"D-!!"
"I killed her," Kratos stated, "her exsphere was removed and I killed her."
Once again, thousands of volts coursed through is body as his son looked on in horror.
You...did you..did you want to kill her?
"...Hff...hfff..." Kratos panted, the shock having died down.
"W-wait! Why did it skip me?! Da-!" Lloyd stammered.
"No, a thousand times over, no, I would...I would rather it have been me...me who died..." Kratos whispered, "I would rather I had died a
million times, all more painfully than she did, over and over again..."
Do I have a middle name? What is it?
Kratos managed to choke out a half-hearted laugh, Lloyd flushing slightly, embarrassed despite being shocked at what his father confessed.
"It's Tyler," Kratos cracked a half-smile, "I named you...Lloyd Tyler Aurion...."
Lloyd tried to say something but was interrupted again as Kratos received another shock treatment.
"S-stop! Stop it! It's okay! Lie! Lie!!" Lloyd cried.
If you knew I was still alive after Mom died, would you have come for me?
This time Kratos did not manage to reply immediately, his face downcast and his hair falling back over his face as it had done before. His body
twitched dangerously from the electric shocks and if the tendril hadn't been holding him up Lloyd was sure he would've been on his knees.
"I..." he panted, "I would have... I would have gotten you back...no matter what...."
"DAD! STOP IT!"
Another shock coursed through Kratos, even more violent than the last, the Seraph's screams echoing in the chamber and continually in Lloyd's
ears. Lloyd's thoughts raced. He had to save him! There had to be a way around this trap! He had to get him out! He wasn't going to let Kratos
kill himself to save him! He wasn't going to-!
Do you love me?
As much as he tried not to, Lloyd's thoughts came to an abrupt halt. That question...he wanted the answer to that question, he did, but... But
not now! Not when it could kill his father! He could ask later, later! Later when he wouldn't have to get hurt-!
"I..." Kratos barely opened his mouth.
"Dad! Stop it! Stop answering it!" Lloyd shouted.
Kratos looked up and locked his exhausted eyes on his son, the wine orbs seeming to mist somewhat as they bored into the watered brown
ones. They held the gaze for what felt like eons, Lloyd begging his father to remain silent, begging him to live.
"...More than anything," Kratos said.
"DAD!!"
A final course of electricity wracked Kratos' body as Lloyd watched on, unable to even feel the fear he knew he should be feeling for the sake of
his father. Shouts and the sounds of the crackling mana obscured his senses before the tendrils and the mass connected to them dissipated
into the air, the spiky haired teenager falling towards the floor. Lloyd ran as fast as he could to catch him before he hit the floor, falling open-
eyed and pale into his arms.
"Dad-! DAD! Dad, say something! Dad!"
Kratos closed his eyes, mumbling three words again as he did so.
"More than anything..." he whispered again.
"DAD!!!!"
Wow, how's that for angsty fluff on your hides? n.n' I know, I know, I'd want to gut me alive too...but I had so much fun doing that part
it's not even right. I'll update soon, I'm sorry it's short but again I'm not doing this on length. (wink)
Review without threatening me and I promise it'll be updated soon! ..Please don't hurt me? (Puppy eyes)