They were safe. They were soaked.

As they swam or rather as Anna rode Noishe and as Kratos swam, Anna thought back on the last night. She'd been furious at Kratos and she felt betrayed. That night she had every intention of running from him yet when he caught up, Anna could only look into his eyes once and trust him again. No matter what she hatred she felt towards what he did, she did inexplicably trust him. And Kratos seemed confused as well by this. They made it out of Lake Sinoa safely, luckily without any Desians spotting them.

Still, brooding over this morning, Anna frowned; she'd actually meant to sneak out and see her family and friends once more before she left with Kratos. She only very briefly saw her childhood best friend, Harvey, who'd directed the Desians away from them...She frowned even more, the creases in her forehead deepening as she worried about what had happened to him Shuddering, she knew for certain that the Desians would punish him for misleading them. Then, her thoughts were interrupted by Kratos who asked, confused, "Are you okay? We're safe from the Desians now." She studied his usually indifferent face for a moment, surprised that worried touched each of his features. "You've been quiet for a while. That's not a normal sign. Are you feeling okay?"

"What does that mean?!" She scowled at him. "You know, I'm allowed to be quiet once in a while!" She looked away, lifting her head up angrily and said, "Humph."

He chuckled lightly, "Yes, but those precious moments are few and far between..." He smiled and looked at Noishe, saying, "Don't you agree Noishe?" He happily barked in agreement and playfully nudged Kratos's hand. Then after a few silent moments of walking, he hesitated before looking at a still frowning Anna. "Still, I can tell something's troubling you. What's wrong?"

She snorted. "As if you'd care. We wouldn't be able to do anything anyway." She looked down sadly. "My family, Harvey, those people in Luin. They're sure to suffer for my escape." She wondered what would happen to them. The Desians could do whatever they wanted to them, punish them in whatever way they saw fit.

"Yes." Kratos responded seriously. "They will surely suffer." He laid his hand on the hilt of his sword, as if for reassurance.

"Thanks for cheering me up." She mumbled, glaring at him, surprised to hear him reply.

"But knowing K'var, he will not kill them or take them back to the ranch. He still needs them and he knows that you will be back to see them" he reassured her.

"Or more likely, he'll want to hurt them in front of me, when I'm back." She frowned at Kratos. "Let's put it this way. K'var and I are not the best terms..."

Kratos paused and looked at her skeptically. "What exactly did you do to him? I doubt it could be too bad."

Anna took a deep breath, squinted and concentrated as if on something in the distance and began counting to herself, mumbling incoherent things even Kratos could not hope to hear.

"What are you doing-" He looked confused.

"Shush!" Anna harshly said. "I'm not done!" After a while, she finished and turned to him. "First of all, there's the classic: spitting and spitballs. I kinda lost count on how many times I've spit at him" She squinted with concentration for a moment before continuing, "Yeah, it's useless. I'll never know for sure. Spitballs though, happened about as often as I got meals. First bite of every meal, I'd chew it until he came and spit it at him." She laughed. "You think he'd learn sooner, but it actually took him quite a while." Then she turned to look at him. "You know this is gonna take a while." He only nodded expectantly and she continued.

"Let's see...Oh! This is a good one! Snakes. You see, every so often, garden snakes would sneak in through the gates. They would "mysteriously" end up down his shirts, in his pants, in his shoes, on his head: everywhere. Each one signed Anna" She grinned almost evilly at Kratos as he frowned at her. "What now?" She complained.

"You can manage to do all this but not escape?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, well, trust me. It's not as hard as it sounds, especially dealing with K'var... Escaping on the other hand." She shuddered. "Always almost free but not completely... Painful too" Her eyes glazed aimlessly as she showed his some of the scars on her arms from what looked like whipping from multiple sources. Then she looked him in his eyes with a determined, green fire in her own, "But I never gave up and wouldn't have either" She said triumphantly, continuing her stories. By the end of her speech, Kratos thought he'd heard about as much as he'd ever in his life. For a moment he even felt bad for K'var. Snakes, malfunctioning weapons, flaming toilets, stink bombs, indoor "fireworks"... K'var had even ended up with broken toes, arms and legs, a sprained neck, a bruised eye, and a stab wound: all directly and indirectly caused by Anna. Once, she'd even managed to open all the gates for the prisoners, though without any luck of them escaping. It was mostly just to wreak havoc, which seemed to be her specialty.

He cringed at the thought of having to deal with that. No doubt, K'var would want to torture her in ways that would not jeopardize his Angelus Project. He almost jumped when he heard her voice.

"By the way, just because I'm talking to you, doesn't mean I'm not still angry at you...or that I completely trust you." She sniffed and turned her head from him. "You still were a Desian..."

He responded, "Good." Anna turned to him in surprise, "Because I no longer trust you after hearing what you did at that ranch... Also, you don't listen well and you've attacked me several times and now possess a weapon." He turned to her, eyebrow raised at her reckless grin.

"Good." She said smugly and triumphant. They walked for another few hours, passing through what seemed to be an endless forest for Anna. It was a beautiful day, sunshine beating on the three, birds chirping, streams running in all sorts of directions. Anna loved it...at first, but soon she was tired.

Anna groaned. "Can we take a break now?" She glared at him. "I'm so exhausted and hungry. I still haven't eaten." Her hair was all out of place from the chaos, her skin paled and Kratos noticed that she seemed as gaunt as ever. Now more so than ever, she'd need to keep up her energy and nutrition with the exsphere sucking the mana from her. He knew that they needed to stop and obliged as Anna cried happily, "Finally!" Then she sighed, collapsing onto a clear area on the ground that revealed the only a pile of leaves and soft soil. She was soon asleep and Kratos began to cook up a feast for her, knowing that she would definitely be starving when she cam to. And he was right.

Yawning, Anna rose from her nap and smelled the food in the air. "Mm, smells delicious!" Her eyes lit up at the sight of the food. "Swordsmanship, magic, cooking. Is there anything you can't do?" She joked with him and smiled. As she ate, her eyes widened, "This is good!"

Kratos smiled and responded, "Glad you like it...you'll need to keep up your nutrition. Eat more. "

Anna asked, "Aren't you going to eat? You're not eating much." She pointed out.

"I'll be fine. I don't need much, but you'll need it because of your exsphere." he explained. They continued eating together and each gave Noishe some scraps. "By the way, we should start your training soon or you'll only become a burden. " He said emotionless, but it seemed to spur on fire within Anna.

"Huh! I won't!" She scoffed, drawing out her blade quickly. It was a short dagger, suited to Anna. She swung her blade at Kratos, who had his sword drawn and blocked her attack.

"Humph. Not bad" He said, locking blades with hers and she drew closer. "But not good enough yet." And then as if on cue, he took his blade and twisted it against Anna's, almost knocking it out of her hands, but she held on to it firmly and drew back. She swung, clashing blades with him as she hit from all directions. Missing as she swung at his right, Kratos stepped back, setting Anna off balance when he saw his chance. He swiftly disarmed her as she fell backward onto the ground into a sitting position, his blade point right at her neck.

"Ugh!" She groaned then mumbled, embarrassed, "Well, I guess you're pretty good." She rolled her eyes and frowned.

Extending a hand Kratos replied, "You weren't too bad yourself. It looks like you've had some training before."

She said brightly, "Yeah, my dad used to train me and my brother together."

Kratos nodded, then said, "But you still have a lot to improve. For one, when you swing like that, you're wide open. Here, position yourself again."

Anna then swung her dagger into position, asking, "Like that?"

Kratos studied her for second before stepping behind her. He put his right hand on her right wrist and left hand and her other wrist. "Hey! What're you doing? Can't you just show me?" She shouted irritated by his close presence and hiding her blush.

He only sighed and shook his head before replying, "Humph. I'm merely showing you how to move it after in position. Some things you must learn by doing, not seeing."

Still irritated, she rolled her eyes, "Fine, but hurry up."

"Here, like this," he took her right hand holding it steady and straight, then quickly jabbed it forward, then lifted it upward, her wrist now in an arc and the blade high, as if anticipating a block. "Remember also to use your left hand to steady and balance yourself in some positions. Never neglect to move your feet quickly as well." After showing her several techniques and positions for her to use, Kratos left Anna to practice, correcting any mistakes.

"Wow, I feel like I've already improved." She grinned happily as she placed her hands on her hips in confidence.

"You have." Kratos admitted. She learned faster than he'd expected.

"Then how about fighting me again, right now?" She challenged, a little too proud of her accomplishment.

"Hmm...maybe some other day. Don't worry, you can't hope to beat me just yet." He told her, raising his eyebrows in surprise at her challenge. "You'll have to train harder if you want to beat me."

"Stupid jerk" She mumbled softly, though Kratos heard it and chuckled.

"We'll take a short break before continuing." He said. "We're almost there."

"Fine." She said resigned, "But where are we heading?"

"Hima" He answered.