Chapter Sixteen:

Revelations

"Kratos, come over here, please!"

At his wife's request, the auburn-haired man tossed a final log onto the fire he was feeding and made his way over to her.

"Kratos, could you take Lloyd for a few minutes, please?" Anna asked, looking utterly overwhelmed. She was trying to sort out ingredients for supper with the three-year-old toddler hanging off of her.

With an amused smile, the tall seraph bent down and scooped the youngster up into his arms. His poor, dear wife looked like she could use a break.

"Anna, why don't you take a break? I will make supper," he offered, keeping firm hold of the squirming Lloyd.

"What, and I watch that scoundrel?" Anna asked with a playful smile. "No way, mister. I'll cook."

Chuckling, Kratos leaned over to press a gentle kiss to the top of his love's head before walking away, bringing his disgruntled son with him.

"Mommy! Warra pway mommy!"

Ruffling the soft, brown hair of his son, Kratos shook his head. "No, Lloyd. Mommy's busy making your supper right now."

Lloyd pouted cutely, squirming in his father's arms until he could see Kratos' face.

"Pway wiff Daddy?"

Kratos nodded. "Yes Lloyd, I'll play with you," he told the boy, setting Lloyd down so he could scurry along on his own. "What would you like to do, Lloyd?"

"Staws!"

"Stars don't come out until later, Lloyd. We can't go stargazing right now," he told the boy. "We can go later, though."

"Pway wiff Noishy?"

"Yes Lloyd, we can play with Noishe."

"Yay! Noishy!" Lloyd called out, scurrying off to find the protozoan.

Chuckling, Kratos followed his son at a more sedate pace, and gazed fondly at the scene of his life-long companion bounding up to nuzzle his son. Ironically, life had probably never been harder for him, constantly on the run with his family, yet it had also never been better.

As the boy and dog-like creature rolled around in the soft forest undergrowth, Kratos felt a wave of contentment wash over him. This was his life now, and he would not have it any other way. His wife, just a few metres away, was making them all supper, his son and Noishe, playing together...

He really, truly loved it.

"Kratos, Lloyd, dinner's ready!"

Kratos was snapped out of his reverie at the sound of his wife's voice. Had he really been out of it for that long? Glancing over to his son, Kratos chuckled at the sight of Lloyd slumped against Noishe, napping. It seemed he had been out of it for awhile.

Scooping the now-tired boy into his arms, the seraph ruffled Lloyd's brown looks until his eyes slowly crept open.

"Daddy...?"

"Come on, Lloyd, let's go get supper. Mommy worked very hard to make it for us."

Kratos smiled as his small son made a soft noise of agreement, already snuggling deeper into his father's strong embrace.

Stepping into the glow of the fire Anna had started, Kratos set their son down with a shrug.

"Seems he tired himself out."

Anna chuckled. "Well, guess we'll just have to wait for him to come round to feed him."

"You go ahead and eat, I'll see to him."

Nodding, Anna set to filling her bowl with the warm chowder she had just prepared.

As she set to eating, Kratos laid out a soft blanket, pulled from his bedroll, and set Lloyd down on it.

As the toddler napped, Anna and Kratos enjoyed the moment of peace that contrasted so drastically with their lifestyle of living on the run.

"You seem happy today."

Looking over at Anna, Kratos smiled in response to her statement, "that's because I am."

Anna laughed, "I'm glad to hear it. You're too serious sometimes."

"With good reason, Anna."

"Well, yes, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying life, either."

"Indeed, there is not."

The remainder of the evening passed with peaceful tranquility for the small family, and as evening fell, Kratos collected the now wide-awake toddler and set him upon his shoulders.

"Go see staws?"

"Yes, Lloyd, we're going to see the stars."

"Yay!"

Smiling at the boy's enthusiasm, Kratos walked out of the thick canopy of the trees so the two could gaze up into the endless expanse of the night sky.

"Do you remember what I taught you?"

"Mhmm!" affirmed the toddler, lifting one hand to point to the sky. "Bwave Vespewia!"

"Yes, Lloyd, that's the constellation Brave Vesperia. It was very famous back in ancient times. The star at the top, Ente, was used by ships to navigate at night. Can you point out any more to me?"

The two passed a good hour discussing stars and their formations. When Lloyd finally dozed off, still seated on his father's shoulders, Kratos carried the boy back and set him down next to his mother.

"You two have fun?"

Settling himself down on the other side of the sleeping toddler, Kratos smiled. "Yes, we did."

"That's good. I'm...glad to see the two of you enjoying life."

Kratos knew what Anna meant, yet he held his silence, only gracing her with a loving smile.

"Actually, Kratos...there was something I wanted to tell you."

"Oh, what is it?"

"Well, it's just..."

As Kratos listened, he could not stop a look of shock from spreading over his features.


Genis had a lot to think about. Even for a child as intelligent as he himself was, it was hard to get his head around everything that had happened recently. Lloyd was the only son of a seraph? What did that mean? It only served to further tie in with other hints that the boy had dropped. He could remember one specific incident after they had left Martel Temple, when Lloyd had yelled at Colette.

Do you mean the seraphim or something?

He had not given it much thought at the time, but looking back on it, it all made sense. If Lloyd had been hiding something like this, well, it was no wonder he would be jealous of the secret.

The real question was: why was he hiding it? Well, besides the obvious reason. Then there was the issue with Zelos. Tethe'alla's Chosen? What did that mean?

He certainly had a lot to think about.

"Whee!"

Shocked out of his thoughts by Lloyd's cry, the half-elf glanced up just in time to see Lloyd rush by on Noishe's back, one hand raised in the air.

"Hey there, Hun, careful!" Zelos cried, rushing over to grab the brunet only moments before the protozoan swerved sharply and threw Lloyd off.

Genis just rolled his eyes. Would those two ever grow up?

"Don't we have a job to do?" Genis demanded, stalking over to where his two companions were laying on their backs, laughing like children. Honestly, at first Genis had been over-awed at his surroundings—there was so much mana!—and therefore too distracted to chivvy the others on. Now, however, he was getting impatient. They had been in Tethe'alla for at least two hours now, and had only moved far enough to be out of sight of the Tower of Salvation.

"Hm? Oh!" Lloyd yelped, quickly sitting up. "Sorry, but I think we're going to wait until nightfall to move again. We're going to have to fly, so I'd rather do so under cover of night.

Well, that did make sense, but why had Lloyd waited until now to tell him? With a sigh, Genis plopped to the ground, all the while muttering about 'stupid, annoying Lloyd'.

"Hey, come join us, Genis!"

"No thanks. I think I'll get some sleep..."

"Suit yourself. Let's have a cook-off, Zelos!"

"Oh-ho, you're so on!"

Spreading out his blankets, Genis dropped onto them and almost immediately drifted off to the sounds of his two friends competing over finding ingredients.

Honestly, where did those two get their energy?

When Lloyd woke Genis some hours later, dusk was just beginning to paint its canvas over the mountains. Stretching shadows obscured the ground, making visibility difficult within the forest where they were hidden. At least, Genis was having difficulty seeing. He could not help but notice that the other two seemed to be moving with little difficulty, though. Lloyd he supposed he could understand, but why Zelos too?

"Lloyd...we're friends, right?"

"Of course!" Lloyd replied as he knelt to help Genis pack his things. "Why would you even have to ask?"

"Then...why are you hiding everything from me?"

Lloyd stopped and looked over at the half-elf. "W-what?"

"You won't tell me anything! All I get are half-assed hints about what's really going on!"

As Lloyd stared at him, Genis heard a chuckle from behind him. "The kid's got a point, Lloyd."

Averting his eyes to the forest floor, Lloyd sighed and shook his head. "I-I know, Zelos, but...you know I can't say anything."

"Yeah, I know," Zelos muttered, patting the boy's shoulder. "Hey, kid, just leave him alone, okay?"

"Zelos...how?" he demanded, folding his arms. "How do you expect me to trust you if that's all you have to say? Both of you! You ask me to just follow you blindly into who knows what kind of trouble, and tell me nothing!"

"Some knowledge is more dangerous to have than not."

"Huh?"

"Zelos is saying that it could be worse for you if you knew everything than not."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means we can't tell you because we could all be in trouble if you said anything, Genis! Anything!"

"So you don't trust me?"

At that, Lloyd and Zelos exchanged glances.

"Y-you really don't, do you?"

"It's not that, Genis...it's just that, well, we're going to have to ask you to trust us for a little longer. Please," Lloyd begged.

"Let's just find Colette," Genis finally snapped. Once they had done that then maybe they could talk again.

Maybe.

Lloyd let out a long sigh when Genis finally relented, even if just for the moment. Still, anything was better than his interrogation. There was some knowledge people were better off not having, and the truth about the Journey of Regeneration fell into that category.

"So...if you're the Chosen of Tethe'alla, Zelos...then does that mean you can fly like Colette?"

Lloyd glanced at the half-elf, somewhat relieved that the secret was out. Thankfully Genis had proven himself sharper than the average twelve-year-old.

"Heh, well, I guess this saves the problem of having to have some walking while Lloydie flies."

"Lloydie?" the brunet demanded, folding his arms in annoyance.

"Just a matter of who carries the brat, and who carries Noishe."

"I'm not a brat!" Genis snapped, folding his arms. "And maybe I don't trust either of you enough to carry me!"

"You wanna be left behind, Kid? Because that can easily be arranged."

"Both of you, stop it! We have to work together if we want to rescue Colette! So stop arguing and let's just go."

Genis muttered something Lloyd did not quite catch, but thankfully stopped arguing and instead shouldered his pack. "Fine."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Lloyd reached down to ruffle the protozoan's ears. "You wanna come, Noishe, or would you rather stay here?"

With a soft whine, the large, dog-like creature rubbed his head into Lloyd's hand. Catching the boy's sleeve in his teeth, he tugged lightly on it, whining still.

"Alright, alright," Lloyd said with a chuckle. "I won't leave you."

"Zelos, can you take Noishe, and I'll take Genis?"

"Yeah, yeah," the redheaded Chosen muttered, though Lloyd knew he was more than a little relieved at not having to take Genis. Those two just did not get along.

"Where are we heading first, Hun?"

With a slight grimace at the nickname—he should have been used to it, but he was not. Getting used to a name like that was easier said than done—Lloyd stared up at the sky, to where stars were just beginning to dot the vast expanse. Thinking, the brunet finally let out a long, tired sigh as he made his decision.

"Well, my original plan was to split up, but maybe that wouldn't be a good idea. So I guess we should start from around the Renegade Base and go from there?"

Zelos nodded his agreement, much to Lloyd's relief. They did not really have much to start with, only the location of where the two would have come out from. So all they could do would be check nearby towns and hope they found something. Not very efficient, but it would have to do.

"I doubt they could get even as far as Sybak on the fuel they had," Zelos pointed out as he crouched down. Watching him, Lloyd finally nodded as the Chosen used his sword point to draw a rough map in the dirt. "So that leaves Flanoir, Altamira, and Ozette. Flanoir seems likely, since it's so close, but it's not the only option. We can't rule out the others."

Lloyd nodded bending down to Zelos' level as he did so. "So what should we do? That's a pretty big radius, and they could always move."

"That's a problem we'll have to deal with if it comes to it. For now I think we should use our heads and check these places."

"Where first? Ozette? They're both pretty close by."

Zelos nodded. "Why don't we go with your original plan, and split up? You can check those two, while I head to Altamira. Then we can meet up in Flanoir."

"Okay, but on one condition," Lloyd finally said after thinking for a moment.

"What's that, Hun?"

"I go to Altamira."

"Wh-what? But Hun...the hunnies..." Zelos whined, eyes pleading.

"Exactly. You'd be too distracted by women in bathing suits to see if they walked under your nose."

After thinking for a moment, Zelos blurted out, "W-wait! Hun! I got it!"

"Hm?"

"I can't go to Ozette, the people there might try to eat Noishe. They're weird enough," he said, trying to look concerned.

Lloyd sighed. Stood to reason what Zelos had 'gotten' was an excuse to go to Altamira.

"And here I thought you had realised something important..."

"Dude, that was harsh, Lloyd."

"Well, anyway," Lloyd stated, tone firming, "just get him to wait outside. Now is not the time for woman hunting."

"Aw, Hun, do I detect jealousy in your tone?"

Rolling his eyes, Lloyd favoured Zelos' reply with a smack to the head.

"Get serious, Zelos!"

Laughing, Zelos rubbed at the spot where Lloyd had hit him.

"Anyway, let's go. Genis?" Looking around, Lloyd's eyes widened. "Zelos...where's Genis?"

Following Lloyd's example, Zelos looked around the campsite, a frown marring his pretty features.

"Not here, that's for sure."

"Well c'mon, we have to find him!"

"If the kid ran off, let him go. He can't do much harm here. We can find him after we find Sheena and Colette."

"That's not funny, Zelos!"

"And neither is his little prank. Lord Yggdrasill will kill us both if we lose Colette though, you know that," Zelos finally said, tone completely serious for once.

"He could die if we leave him out here! There are monsters everywhere!"

"That's the choice he made leaving us."

Glaring at the redhead, Lloyd shook his head. "Fine, you go, but I'm looking for Genis. Noishe!"

As Lloyd ran of, Zelos just sighed.

From off in the trees surrounding the camp, Genis smiled despite himself. At least Lloyd seemed to care whether he lived or not. That would be enough for him to trust the brunet, at least a bit. Enough for this one venture, anyway, but only because he had to.

Stepping out of the trees, he waved to Lloyd.

"Sorry, I had to go to the bathroom."

"You could have told us that, Brat," Zelos all but hissed. "Now let's go."

Sticking his tongue out at Zelos' retreating back, Genis walked over to Lloyd, who was coming toward them with Noishe.

Noishe...now that was one interesting creature. He could easily have led Lloyd right to Genis, but he had not. Why? Had the creature somehow sensed Genis' true intent, and let him hide so he could see that Lloyd was trustful?

Now, that was crazy. It was just an animal, right?

...right?

"We ready to go?"

"Yeah," Lloyd replied, "we're heading to Altamira, while Zelos and Noishe are going to check Ozette. After that we're going to meet up in Flanoir. They'll probably be in Flanoir, but it's also the hardest area for them to leave, so we're going to check the others first."

Genis nodded. He was pleased that Lloyd was not keeping anything back from his discussion with Zelos, even though he himself knew nothing about the geography of Tethe'alla.

"Okay, are we leaving, then?"

When Lloyd nodded, Genis moved to grab his things, and then the four of them split up, Genis and Lloyd to Altamira, Zelos and Noishe to Ozette.

Raine was exhausted by the time they arrived at Palmacosta late that evening. Following Kratos in, she immediately made for the inn. For all of her worry, there was no point in running herself until she collapsed, that would not help anyone.

"I am going to secure transportation for us."

Raine looked at Kratos in shock. Honestly, did the man never get tired? Well, she supposed that was his business.

"Okay, I'll get us rooms at the inn."

Nodding, Kratos walked off while Raine entered the large building. Booking two rooms, she left the innkeeper Kratos' name and went to her own room to collapse into bed and sleep. They would more than likely be on the road again early the following morning, so she was going to take this chance to sleep while she could.

Despite her exhaustion, Raine was tossing and turning for nearly an hour before sleep took her, her mind consumed with fear as to what she would do if something happened to Genis. Why would he run off without telling her? It did not make sense. He certainly was not the sort of child to behave so badly most of the time, so why? Was it Lloyd? That had to be it, she finally decided. The boy was a bad influence. Perhaps she never should have taken him along in the first place...

No, it was too late for those thoughts now. Right now she had to rest so the search could resume in the morning. Once she did finally drift off, Raine's sleep was upset by horrid dreams of Genis being hurt, captured, or, in the worst, even killed.

After parting with Raine, Kratos headed for the docks. He intended to secure transportation to the Tower of Salvation, the only problem was finding someone willing to make the journey.

After asking around, he was unsurprised that he had been unable to find any sailors willing to make such a dangerous trip. With a sigh, he slipped away from the town and took to the sky. He would have to go to Yuan for help.

Making the best time he could, the seraph landed before the doors of the Sylvarant Renegade Base several hours later. Pushing past the guards, he all but ran down the hallways, making straight for Yuan's chambers.

Without waiting for the guards to announce him, Kratos pushed inside, eyes immediately settling on where his old friend was settled down with a book.

"Good to see you have some free time."

Kratos did not miss the way Yuan frowned as he set down the book. He really had not been that harsh about it. Had he?

"Kratos...to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I don't know what you're planning, Yuan, but Colette's gone, and Lloyd went after her."

"He can take care of himself, Kratos, he's a big boy."

"He was poisoned by a monster from Niflheim, Yuan. You know what that means. He could die without ever knowing what killed him. He needs proper treatment, and for that I need to get him back!"

As he had been speaking, Kratos watched Yuan's eyes grow slowly wider. They might not agree on much, but they both cared about Lloyd.

"You're in a hurry?" Yuan asked, already pulling his cape on. When Kratos nodded, he went on, "then tell me everything while we fly."

Yuan stood at Palmacosta's docks, waiting while Kratos went to get his one remaining companion. As they had travelled, the two had worked out a story to tell Raine. As far as she was concerned, Kratos had returned hours ago, after booking passage on Yuan's vessel. It was a lie, of course. The two had only just returned, and Yuan was certainly no ship's captain. He did, however, have a few boats stationed in Palmacosta, so laying claim to one of those, along with a crew, was no problem. Now all they had to do was pull off Yuan's own disguise. As unlikely as it was that Raine would recognise him from their little run-in in Triet, it was best not to take any chances. So, much to Yuan's chagrin, he found himself outfitted in a simple grey tunic and black pants—not even a cape! It felt odd without one—with his hair let down over his shoulders and bangs pushed back. Not his chosen style, by any stretch of the imagination.

Yuan looked up at the sound of footsteps approaching, relieved to see that it was Kratos and Raine. He was getting sick of waiting.

"Kratos Aurion?" he asked, walking over to the two. He had to remember to act like he did not know Kratos. He was just a man meeting his client. Distracted as he was by his friend, Yuan failed to notice the way Raine gasped at the revelation of Kratos' last name.

"Yes. Are we ready to depart, Captain?"

Captain? Oh, right. Yuan was seriously going to have to get into his role better if he ever wanted this to go over right. Of course, perhaps he was not as into the deception as Kratos. Yuan honestly could not see why Kratos did not just ditch the female half-elf and go on his own. Then again, Kratos always had a reason. If he thought Lloyd was in immediate danger, then he would act as the situation required. Despite knowing that, Yuan could not help but feel that everything was moving too slowly...

"Uh, yes. Preparations are done, we can depart as soon as the two of you are ready," Yuan told them with a slight incline of his head.

"Shall we be off, then?"

Nodding, Yuan led them through the docks, to where the ship he had chosen was docked. Not his largest vessel, but more than adequate for the journey they were going to be making. It was also his flagship.

"Named after the Goddess? That's a presumptuous name..."

At the other half-elf's comment, Yuan's eyes jerked to the name painted on the side of the ship, Martel's Grace. Well, she could not be expected to know the truth. They had been deceiving the world for over four thousand years.

"Yes, well, may she grant us her protection," Yuan muttered, his attention more on Kratos than anything else.

"This is something we have to do ourselves, no use begging someone else to do it for us."

Well, it seemed the woman was also surprisingly cynical. Not that Yuan minded; it was a refreshing change.

"She's afraid of sailing."

At the sound of Kratos' whispered words, Yuan glanced over at him. "Is she?"

"Yes, so watch it. It's not that she does not believe, she would just rather trust herself, than something that may or may not act at all."

Yuan nodded. It was a bit of a cryptic statement, but he knew what Kratos had meant.

"Well then, it's time we were off."

Nodding, Yuan boarded the ship and began barking orders to make way. He did not know a whole lot about captaining a ship, but he did know a bit. After all, four thousand years left a long time to learn things.

As the ship's sails were hoisted, billowing as they caught a powerful headwind, Kratos moved to the bow, watching the water as it rushed toward them.

'I'm coming, Lloyd.'

"Whee, it's so fast!"

Sheena smiled as Colette stood by the ship's railing, staring out over the roiling waves in excitement. It was...nice to see the blonde enjoying herself so much. Colette, Sheena had decided, had never deserved her lot in life. She deserved better.

"Having fun?"

"Huh? Oh, yes! I've never been on a ship that's so fast before!"

Sheena laughed at that, she very much doubted Colette had been on much in the way of 'ships' before, either.

"Well, there's plenty more where this comes from," she said, patting the railing. "In Tethe'alla we use mana to power our ships, like with Rheairds, so they're all a lot faster than you'd be used to."

"Wow, look at that!"

Sheena shook her head in amusement. Colette was not listening at all. Ever since they had boarded the Shizel early that morning, the pretty blonde had been like this: overly excited with the attention span of a goldfish.

"Say, Sheena..."

"Hm?"

"How long did you say this trip was going to take again?"

Good grief, could the girl remember anything for more than five minutes?

"That all depends on how the currents are flowing, and what kind of wind we have," Sheena explained, fighting to keep her voice patient. "But at the pace we're going, Captain says it should take about eleven or twelve days." Sure, Sheena did not really understand all of that herself, but Colette did not need to know that.

"Sheena?"

"What is it, Colette?" the young kunoichi asked with a sigh, missing the sudden seriousness that had entered the girl's voice.

"I'm going to be safe here, right? But...how will my friends now that I am?"

Sheena had, truth be told, been expecting the question for awhile, and was prepared to answer.

"I was thinking that, once you're safe and settled, I could take a letter to them, if you like. Just so they know you're safe."

"I-I...really want to see them again."

"I know. Perhaps someday..."

Nodding, the girl forced another smile to her lips. "Okay."

Sheena sighed to herself. This was going to be a long trip if Colette kept up these mood swings. Not that she blamed Colette, of course. It was just hard knowing how to treat a girl that seemed to fake a good mood one moment, and then genuinely be overjoyed the next.

Well, it was what she had chosen, so she was going to have to deal with it.

Mithos gazed around Sylvarant, his blue orbs taking in everything around the base of the Tower of Salvation. Clearly meeting up with the Chosen's group was not going to be as easy as he had hoped. He would likely not be able to follow Kratos' mana signature unless the man unleashed a very powerful spell. Which was not likely to happen.

Taking to the air, he decided to just visit towns, hopefully some civilians would have some idea where they were.

As he glided over the open water, the blond half-elf kept his eyes glued downward, and his sharp eyes did not miss the auburn-haired seraph standing at a ship's bow: Kratos. To be heading to the Tower of Salvation had to mean that... Had they seriously completed the seals so quickly? No, that was not possible. Had the seals all been broken he would have known before he left. So then why...?

Winging his way down, he plummeted like a stone into the water. Surfacing, he flailed about in the water, gasping for breath as he did so.

"H-help! Heeeeelp!"

Over on the ship, two pairs of eyes turned to the figure in the water, and then to each other, fear and unease faint, but present, in each.

Well, this chapter took forever. Apologies for that. I wasn't particularly inspired by the review response for the last chapter (thanks to those who did take the time to say something!), so between that and playing/writing for other games, this fic got held up. A lot. I finally replayed the game again recently, though, so I got back into the mood for writing this fic. Hopefully it'll stick around. Inspiration is welcome, as always!

I mean to do a recap soon, that might be in the form of a chapter itself, or just as an add-on to chapter 17. We'll see. I just figure people could use one...?

Also, there are two references to other Tales games in this chapter. I don't own those any more than I do Symphonia.

As always, a huge thanks to my wondrous beta. You rock!

Well, I suppose that's about it. If you feel the need to drop me a line, please do. Reviews are my fuel to feed the fire that is this story. :D