Me: I'm back! Sorry, I know I promised you earlier updates… We've had a few problems going on at home. Or at least I have.

Kratos: Like what?

Me: Nothing for you to worry about. I'll sort it out. Anyway, right now I'm more concerned with the Dawn of the New World release.

Kratos: What?

Lloyd: Oh yeah, I figured you'd be looking into that.

Me: Of course! But I have to stop as soon as it comes out in Japan. I'm fine with knowing what's released before the game, but as soon as it actually comes out I don't want any spoilers.

Kratos: What are you two talking about?

Me: Maybe you'd know if you didn't run off to play on your stupid comet.

Kratos: …

Lloyd: You know, technically he's the narrator, so he should know what we're talking about.

Me: Know it all… Wow, I never thought I'd say that to Lloyd…

Lloyd: Well, it's true- Wait! Hey! What's that suppose to mean?!

Me: Nothing.

Lloyd: Fine. Whatever. I've got stuff to do. See you later dad. (leaves)

Emil: (randomly runs in) I'LL KILL YOU, LLOYD IRVING!! (runs after Lloyd)

Kratos: O.o Who was that?!

Me: (not really paying attention) Huh? Oh, that's Emil. He's trying to kill your son.

Kratos: WHAT?! WHY?!

Me: Something about him destroying Palmacosta and killing his parents or some other such nonsense.

Kratos: O.o I leave for two years and this is what happens?!

Me: Yep. Now, will you do the disclaimer, please?

Kratos: I don't have time for that! I have to go help my son!

Me: Is refusing to do the disclaimer going to help him?

Kratos: Agreeing to do it isn't going to help him either.

Me: It'll get you out of here quicker.

Kratos: She owns nothing. She is, however, holding me here against my will.

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It was the middle of the night, and completely silent in Kratos' room. Kratos' door opened slowly, and someone made their way over to his bed.

Kratos was awoken by a small movement on his bed. He stayed still and silent as something moved closer to him. When he felt something wrap itself around his neck, he instinctively got ready to attack, before recognizing the short brown hair in is face and the tiny arms around his neck.

He sighed quietly and put his hand on his son's back. "Lloyd, it's the middle of the night. Go back to your room." he instructed in a whisper. The only response he received was his son's head quickly shaking back and forth. Kratos sighed again. 'Anna told me this day would come. It's the beginning of Lloyd's I-want-to-sleep-in-mommy-and-daddy's-bed phase…' he thought sarcastically. He tried moving Lloyd off from on top of him, but found that he couldn't, due to Lloyd's grip around his neck.

"Lloyd, let go. You're chocking me." Kratos said quietly. After a short pause, Lloyd reluctantly released his father's neck and took to clinging to his arm instead. Kratos paused. 'Well, he's cutting off the circulation in my arm, but it's a start.' He shifted Lloyd so he was laying on his side next to him. Lloyd continued to cling to Kratos' arm, but Kratos didn't mind. He took his free arm and ran his hand through Lloyd's hair until his son had fallen asleep.

A few hours later, Kratos was awoken again; This time, by a quiet sound. He paused and listened, trying to figure out where it was coming from before realizing that it was Lloyd. 'He's whimpering in his sleep…' he realized. He suddenly felt Lloyd digging his nails into his arm.

"Ow!" Kratos whispered. He quickly grabbed Lloyd and pulled him closer. "Lloyd, wake up."

Lloyd fell silent after a few seconds and slowly released his grip on his father. "Daddy?" he said uncertainly.

"It's me." Kratos said. "I've got you. You're fine." Kratos sat up slowly and pulled Lloyd into his lap. "Are you alright?"

Lloyd nodded slowly. "I had a bad dream…"

"… Do you want to tell me about it?" Kratos offered. Lloyd shook his head.

"No."

"…" Kratos sighed quietly. "Alright. Go back to sleep."

Lloyd nodded before closing his eyes.

--

"And he never told you what it was about?" Mithos asked, leaning back in the huge chair in his office and putting his feet on his desk. Kratos, who was leaning against the wall at the other end of the room with his arms crossed, shook his head.

"No. He wouldn't tell me anything."

"Well, we can probably assume it was about the day he was attacked." Yuan guessed. "He was pretty traumatized by it, remember?"

"I don't need you to tell me that, Yuan." Kratos replied bitterly. "He wasn't exactly the only one, you know."

"There's nothing we can do about that now." Mithos cut in. "We can't change it now that it's happened. We have to find some way to deal with it." Kratos glared at him. "Don't give me that look, Kratos." Mithos warned.

"We need to find some way to make him feel safe again." Yuan said. Kratos and Mithos nodded.

"But how?" Kratos pondered.

"We could teach him to use a sword." Mithos suggested. "He might feel more safe if he knew he could defend himself if he was ever in trouble."

"No." Kratos snapped. Mithos looked at him with a challenging glare. Kratos returned it with one of his own. "No way. Not even if hell froze over."

"Kratos, be reasonable." Yuan said. One look from Kratos silenced him.

Mithos sighed and tried again. "Come on. You taught me when I was young."

"You were twelve. He's three." Kratos reminded him. "Apparently I should have spent less time working on your swordsmanship and more time on your math skills and common sense."

Mithos glared angrily. "Well, despite the fact that you're an ass," Yuan shook his head and Kratos glared as Mithos continued "you were a good teacher. And Lloyd respects you. Regardless of his age, I think he might benefit from it."

Kratos continued to glare, but the anger in his eyes slowly subsided. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't want Lloyd getting caught up in something like this. I don't know what I'd do if something ever happened to him…"

"I do. You'd kill yourself." Yuan said simply. Kratos shot him an annoyed look.

"Wait! So you don't want Lloyd to learn to fight because you're afraid he'll get hurt, but it was perfectly okay for me?!" Mithos yelled with a mixture of anger and mock hurt. "What the hell, Kratos!"

Kratos rolled his eyes and turned to Yuan. "Help me out here?"

Yuan paused and gave Kratos a serious look. "Actually, I agree with Mithos."

Kratos and Mithos both looked at him with disbelief. Yuan crossed his arms and leaned against the wall in a very Kratos-like fashion. "I think Lloyd should be taught to defend himself."

"He's just a child!" Kratos protested.

"It's not like I'm saying 'give him a sword and leave him in the middle of a monster infested field'. I'm not even saying we need to let him touch a sword at all." Yuan explained, keeping his gaze steady and on Kratos. "Just let him see you defend yourself. Let him get an idea of how to protect himself. How to handle himself in a dangerous situation. That way, if he's ever in one, he'll be able to picture you and know how to react."

Silence covered the room as Kratos avoided the eyes of his two fellow seraphim. Yuan continued to watch him with serious eyes while Mithos stared at his former master, somewhat hopefully. Eventually, Kratos gave a defeated sigh, causing Mithos to grin triumphantly.

"I guess we could give it a try." Kratos conceded.

Mithos cheered and left the room, pumping his fist in the air victoriously and calling back, "I'm gonna go get Lloyd."

Kratos sighed and face palmed. "Why do I get the feeling I've condemned us all to death?"

Yuan walked over to him and pat him on the back. "Because when you put Mithos, Lloyd, and dangerous weapons in a room together, it's a pretty accurate statement."

Kratos sighed and turned to his cape-obsessed companion. "Do you think there's still time to stop him?"

"No." Yuan said simply, before grinning at Kratos. "Besides, if Mithos is going to be an idiot and get himself killed by a three year old, I want to watch."

Kratos sweat dropped. "Martel would be ashamed of you both."

"Well, what Martel doesn't know is more fun for me." Yuan said playfully, getting behind Kratos and literally pushing him out the door.

--

"Alright, get to work, Teach." Mithos said playfully, smiling mischievously. Kratos looked over at Mithos and Lloyd. Lloyd had a very familiar look on his face.

"Yuan, should I be worried that Lloyd's developing Mithos' evil smile?" he whispered.

"Probably." Yuan responded. "But for now, one problem at a time."

Mithos crossed his arms and pouted impatiently, snapping "What are you waiting for?!"

"You to get off your lazy butt and pick up a sword!" Kratos snapped back, causing Lloyd to laugh. "How do you expect me to defend myself if nothing is attacking me?!"

"Oh, right." Mithos said, standing up and pulling out his sword. Yuan blinked at him.

"Where were you hiding that thing?"

"Shut up, Yuan." Mithos snapped, yanking on Yuan's pony tail, which earned him a shout of pain from the seraph and one of laughter from Lloyd, along with a sigh from Kratos.

"Mithos, if you wouldn't mind…?" he said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." Mithos replied uninterestedly. He held up his sword and charged at Kratos, who gave him a slightly surprised look before stepping to the side and easily dodging the attack.

"Have you trained at all in the past 4000 years? Your moves weren't that unrefined during our first training session."

Mithos growled at him. "Shut up you a-"

"Mithos, language!" Yuan interrupted, glancing down at Lloyd who was now sitting in his lap giving his father and Mithos a puzzled look. Mithos glared, but fell silent.

"Perhaps we should continue, Mithos?" Kratos suggested. Mithos gave him an annoyed sigh before raising his sword again.

Lloyd covered his eyes, peeking through his fingers as Mithos charged at his father. "Daddy, Look out!" he yelled as Kratos raised his own sword and easily deflected Mithos'. Lloyd slowly lowered his hands. He smiled and clapped his hands as his father smiled at him. "Again! Again!"

Kratos chuckled happily at his son, earning him a slightly surprised smile from Yuan. "Lloyd makes his daddy happy." he whispered to the toddler sitting in his lap. Lloyd looked up at him and giggled happily.

"Yuan, what are you telling him?" Kratos asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." Yuan replied in a mock-guilty tone. Kratos began to reply, but was cut off by Mithos swinging a sword at him. He jumped back and counted attacked, causing Lloyd to laugh excitedly.

What had started out as a small lesson for Lloyd quickly turned into a battle between former student and master. After a few hours of fighting, Lloyd and Yuan eventually got bored with it. Lloyd was now attempting to read a book upside down while Yuan looked at it over the child's head. Yuan sighed and looked from the two fighting angels to his watch and back.

"Are you two planning on finishing this up today?" he asked impatiently. Kratos and Mithos stopped and looked at him. "Lloyd's not even paying attention anymore." he added.

Lloyd looked up from the book and smiled at his dad. Kratos smiled and sheathed his sword.

"I suppose we're finished, Mithos?" he said. Mithos sighed and sheathed his short sword too, leaning it against the wall. Lloyd jumped up and ran to his father, clinging to his leg.

"My turn!" Lloyd said excitedly. Kratos picked him up.

"I don't think so Lloyd." he said. Lloyd crossed his arms and pouted. "Maybe when you're older." Kratos told him. Lloyd smiled and motioned for his father to put him back down.

"So, Kratos," Yuan said in a teasing voice as he joined Kratos and Mithos, "how bad is Mithos' sword style after 4000 years of slacking off?" Mithos glared at him and pulled on his ponytail. "Ow! Mithos! Cut that out!"

Lloyd walked over to Mithos' sword propped against the wall. He looked up at it excitedly before sliding it down and laying it on the ground so he could pull it from it's sheath.

"Actually, he could easily improve his skills with a bit more training." Kratos told Yuan. "It looks to me like he's just gotten rusty over the past few thousand years."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Mithos yelled.

Lloyd pulled out the sword and lifted it above his head, but it just arched over top of him and embedded itself in the ground. Lloyd pulled on it until it released itself from the ground.

"Why don't you try training him again, Kratos?" Yuan suggested. Kratos stayed silent while Mithos pulled on Yuan's ponytail again. "Ow! Stop doing that you little brat!" He yelled, resulting on his hair being pulled on again.

Lloyd tried to balance Mithos' sword, but failed and watched as it arched over his head and fell toward Yuan and Mithos.

Slice

Mithos and Kratos froze and looked at Yuan. Lloyd released the sword's hilt and broke the silence by muttering "whoops".

Yuan stayed silent as he felt his hair fall around his now pale white face and end just below his ears. Mithos, who was still holding part of Yuan's ponytail looked like he was about to start laughing, but his mouth was quickly covered by Kratos who whispered "Mithos, don't you dare.".

"Kratos…" Yuan muttered. "Do I want to look?"

"I doubt it…" Kratos muttered. He looked down as Lloyd hid behind his leg, looking ready to cry.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Yuan…" he whispered guiltily. Yuan silently stood up and walked away. Kratos and Mithos watched him with looks of disbelief.

"He… took that well…" Kratos said. "I expected him to explode.

"There's no way that's it." Mithos complained, dropping the remainder of Yuan's hair onto the ground. He looked back up when he heard a scream in the direction Yuan had just walked, causing him to smile. "Ah. Now that's more like it." he said cheerfully. Kratos rolled his eyes and looked down when something pulled at his cloak. Lloyd looked up at him with tears in his eyes. He picked the toddler up.

"Daddy, did I do something bad?" he asked. Kratos shook his head.

"No, Lloyd. I've actually been trying to get him to cut his hair for years. But no more playing with swords, understand?"

Lloyd nodded. "Is Uncle Yuan mad at me?" he asked.

"No. He's not mad." Kratos reassured him.

"He's just going to go kill himself." Mithos muttered, laughing quietly to himself. Kratos resisted the urge to kick him. Lloyd started squirming in his dad's arms until he was put down, and followed after Yuan.

"Lloyd-"

"Let him go, Kratos." Mithos told him. Kratos looked ready to argue, but stayed silent.

Lloyd peeked around the corner of Yuan's room. Yuan was looking into a mirror with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Uncle Yuan?" Lloyd called. Yuan turned around and looked at Lloyd.

"Oh, Lloyd. You can come in if you want." he said. Lloyd hesitated, but eventually walked into the room. Yuan picked him up and sat him in front of the mirror. "You know, my hair hasn't been this short since before I started dating Martel."

"Aunt Martel?" Lloyd asked. Yuan nodded.

"Yep. But she liked it longer."

"I'm sorry I cut your hair, Uncle Yuan." Lloyd said guiltily.

"It's not your fault, Lloyd." he said, faking a smile. Lloyd looked unconvinced, and Yuan ran a hand through the child's hair. "I'm not mad. You didn't mean to do it."

Lloyd stayed silent, looking guilty. Yuan gave him a mischievous smile.

"You want to make it up to me?" he asked. Lloyd smiled and nodded.

--

Mithos stomped his foot impatiently. "What are those two doing?!"

Kratos sighed. "Relax Mithos. Knowing Lloyd he's apologizing every three seconds and Yuan's trying to calm him down."

Mithos grinned at him. "Feeling jealous?" he asked. Kratos gave him a confused look. "He's learning to come to us with problems instead of searching for you all day. He use to find us and force us to look for you."

Kratos crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "Humph."

While the two weren't paying attention, Yuan silently walked up behind Mithos, Lloyd in his arms. Lloyd pulled out a pair of scissors and reached out toward Mithos.

Snip

Kratos looked up in time to see half of Mithos' hair fall to the floor and Yuan looking quite pleased with himself. He quickly moved over to where they were standing, grabbed Lloyd, and pulled the scissors out of his hands before Mithos turned around and screamed "I'LL KILL YOU, YUAN!"

Yuan laughed and ran away, Mithos right behind him. Kratos sighed and Lloyd looked up at him.

"Daddy, can I cut your hair too?"

"No." Kratos said flatly. "And no more playing with scissors."

"Ok daddy." Lloyd said.

Mithos tackled Yuan and pinned him to the ground. "YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!" He yelled. Yuan pushed him off and continued running. Kratos rolled his eyes and took Lloyd back to their room, figuring he'd come back in a few hours and see if the two immature seraphim had killed each other yet.

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Me: Alright. I'm done. I plan on locking myself in my room until I finish the next chapter…

Lloyd: You're not doing to see daylight for a while, are you?

Me: Shut up! I actually have the next six or seven chapters planned, but I'm running into a problem. I'm getting to the point where the chapters are going to start effecting each other, Which means I have to have them in order, but that's the thing. I picture Lloyd doing something at a certain age, but then the next thing he does I picture at a younger age, and it doesn't seem as natural when he's a little older. I'll have to fix his age somehow… I still have one or two chapters before I worry about that, though.

Lloyd: Ok then…

Me: Oh, and before anyone points out that there's no way in hell Kratos would let Lloyd play with scissors and swords, he also let him play with a big red button that killed a chosen, if you remember. I've actually been thinking about that since I started this chapter. But I finally realized something: It doesn't make sense, but it works for comedy. Also, I'm to tired to care. Where's a huge bag of sugar and caffeine when I need it?

Lloyd: Ever try actually sleeping?

Me: But if I do that, when am I going to work on these chapters? It's like 3AM right now…

Lloyd: …

Me: Anyway, thanks for your ideas and reviews! They're always a big help! Oh! And I would like to mention one thing: like I said earlier, I'm going to start avoiding spoilers once Dawn of the New World comes out in Japan in about two weeks, so once it does, I would really appreciate it if you would all keep spoilers out of your reviews! I'll probably keep updating once it's out, but I'll definitely be cutting back on reading fanfic. And, if I do read one, I'll probably skip author's notes just to be sure I don't accidentally read any spoilers…

And one more note: If I'm a usual reviewer on some of your stories and I've suddenly gotten really quiet, please don't take it personally! Like I said, I've had problems at home and I haven't gotten around to reading a lot. And even if I did read something, I haven't really been in a talkative mood, so I probably haven't been reviewing. I actually don't think I've reviewed anything for months… I'm making this next week or two focused on fan fiction, so I'll probably be rereading some fanfics and reviewing sometime this week. I'm really sorry if I haven't been reviewing! I feel really bad about it! Please don't hate me!

Ok, so review, flame, do whatever you want. It's up to you. I'm going to start working on the next chapter and hopefully get back into a faster rhythm of updating, and improve the quality a bit... I hope…

And anyone who actually bothered to read all that nonsense above (which I probably wouldn't have gotten past the second line without figuring it was a pointless string of excuses) gets to press the Chosen-killing button. Why? Because I miss using it…

Colette and Zelos: O.o?!

EDIT: There was a little mistake in this chapter where Lloyd mixed up Yuan and Mithos' names. (I can't believe I did that!!) Anyway, it's been fixed. Sorry about that!