A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Real life stuff happened, and then I was having some problems with this chapter. I'm still not feeling to great about it. Gah! Next chapter will be better, I promise!
Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! It means a lot. All my love goes to you guys!
Disclaimer: Don't own ToS. *sob*
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A mask of gold hides all deformities.
-Thomas Dekker
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Skye had awoken at her usual time the next morning and after showering and getting dressed she made her way to find Kratos for her morning training. This had become her routine over the weeks since she'd arrived. She would always wake up at six, train with Kratos until eight or nine, go train with Yuan until lunch, and then the rest of her day was free to use as she pleased, though there wasn't much to do on Derris-Kharlan. She usually would just hang around with one of the other seraphim or wander through the various hallways and things learning her way around Vinheim and Welgaia. The latter only lasted for about a week and a half, however. She was quick about remembering where everything was.
She was puzzled when Kratos wasn't at their usual meeting place outside of the building they lived in. Skye decided that maybe he was just late, so she'd wait around for a little while. After all, he hadn't said anything about not training today, so she was sure that he'd show up. One thing that Skye has noticed about Kratos is that he seems to be reliable. If he says that he's going to do something, he does it.
…
After waiting around for twenty minutes, Skye decided that he wasn't coming. She started making her way back to her room, seeing no reason to wait around anymore. When she arrived at her room and walked in, she noticed a note on the floor. It looked like it had been slipped under her door. She must not have noticed it when she was leaving her room that morning. Kratos is always telling her that she needs to be more observant, and she almost smacks herself out of frustration over the fact that he's right. If the note were an enemy she would've been dead long ago at this point. She picks the note up, unfolds it, and begins to read it.
Skye,
No training today. I have some things to prepare for the regeneration journey, but I'll be back this afternoon. Feel free to use the day however you wish.
-Kratos
The note is short and to the point, exactly what she would expect from Kratos. His handwriting is different than what she thought it would look like, however. He has a very elaborate style of writing, there are many curls and flourishes on the ends of his letters, and it's so beautiful she hardly wants to fold it back up for fear of ruining it. She had expected someone like Kratos to have handwriting that somewhat reflected his personality – plain and clear without much adornment.
Seeing as how her morning is now freed up, she isn't quite sure what to do with herself. There isn't much for her to do on Derris-Kharlan. Back home, whenever she didn't have anything to do, she would busy herself with cleaning the house, or sometimes she would draw or paint something. Here, however, the angels kept everything spotless and she didn't have any materials to create with.
After searching her mind for possible things to do with her morning, she remembers the awkward way she had left things with Yggdrasill yesterday. She still isn't sure how she upset him, but figures that she should go apologize anyway. She makes her way to Vinheim and enters the throne room, but is at a loss for the second time that day when she finds that Yggdrasill isn't there. He was almost always in the throne room, so she wasn't sure where to continue her search.
She walks back out of the throne room and down the stairs to the teleporter and takes it back to Welgaia. She decides to ask one of the lesser angels where she might find Yggdrasill. She hates conversing with them, but she knows that they could probably tell her where he is.
"Excuse me," she says as she walks up to one of the angels. All of the angels are rather androgynous-looking, but this one seems to be male. He has shoulder length hair the color of young leaves, and dark blue eyes.
"Lady Skye, what do you need?" he replies in a nearly monotone voice. That's probably the thing that unnerves her most about the angels – the way they speak. There are many things that angels don't require, breath being one of them. They only breathe when they need to speak, and they don't breathe between words, so it all comes out a bit strange sounding. The only way she could really describe it is that it's very precise and artificial sounding; perhaps it could be described as almost mechanical.
"Would you happen to know where Yggdrasill is right now?" she questions, trying not to sound as uncomfortable as she feels. Lesser angels may not have feelings, but Skye doesn't want to appear rude or offend someone anyway, even if it's only for her peace of mind rather than for their benefit. Just because she doesn't always act like a proper lady doesn't mean she doesn't know how to. Her brother brought her up right, after all.
"Lord Yggdrasill is in the library on the east wing of Vinheim," he answers.
"Thank you," she replies sincerely. Thanks to her exploring of Derris-Kharlan in her free time, she knows exactly where that is. Vinheim actually has two libraries, if you could call them that. They're actually just a couple of average-sized rooms with bookshelves lining the walls along with a couple of couches and a coffee table. One of the libraries is in the east wing, and the other is in the west. The rooms are identical – stone walls and floors with a rug in the middle of the room, red couches, and some lamps standing in various places around the space.
She reaches the door to the eastern library and pauses in front of it. She isn't sure how she wants to start the conversation, so she has to think about it for a moment. Then she quietly knocks on the door and walks in.
"I was wondering when you were going to come in. You've been standing out there for quite some time now," Yggdrasill says without looking up from the book he's reading. "Don't look so surprised," he says after looking up from the book with a neutral expression. "I have angel senses. Had you forgotten? I heard you walk up to the door."
Skye is a bit discomfited. "I hadn't really thought about it. I'm still not used to the whole angel thing," she admits.
"Understandable," Yggdrasill says with a nod. "After all, everyone else here went through the angel transformation awake and aware. You went through it in your sleep and just woke up this way. It's understandable that it would take some getting used to. Especially remembering that everyone else here is an angel, too."
"I really should remember things like this though," she scolds herself. "Kratos is always telling me how I'm not observant enough, and Yuan criticizes me and says things about how I should think things through more."
"It's good to know that you're learning something," Yggdrasill says. "What is it you came to see me for?"
Skye had nearly forgotten. "I came to apologize for yesterday. I'm sorry if something I said made you uncomfortable, I hadn't meant for that to happen," she laments sincerely.
Yggdrasill is quiet for a moment and Skye can't tell what he's thinking. "Don't fret over it," he finally says. "It was nothing," he continued, his tone suggesting finality of the subject.
She walks over and sits on the couch next to him, but leaves some space in between them. She recognizes the book he is reading and realizes that it's one that her mother used to read to her and Mistral and tells him so.
"How did your mother get her hands on an elven storybook?" he questions.
"She was an elf," she answers. "She lived in Heimdall until I was born."
"I see," he says quietly. "Why did she wait to leave until after you were born, and not your brother? I understand that he was a half-elf, too."
"I'm not really sure," she says. "She was already being ostracized after the birth of my brother, but they still were allowing her to stay at that time. When I was born, they exiled her. That's all I know."
"Perhaps it had something to do with your father," he muses.
She had often wondered that herself. "I wouldn't know, I never met the man," she says quietly.
There's a pause in conversation, and Yggdrasill looks back to the book thoughtfully. "This was my sister's book," he says, broaching a slightly uncomfortable subject as if to make up for prompting her to bring up her own uncomfortable story.
She smiles and says, "Martel, right? She must've been an amazing woman, helping to end the war and all - certainly worthy of sharing a name with the Goddess."
"She was," he says softly. "She's also the one who gave me the panpipes I mentioned. She passed away soon after, however."
"I see," Skye says. She understands now why he was uncomfortable yesterday, and regrets raising the subject. Especially since now she's started to think about her brother as well.
She's starting to feel a little awkward again. "I should… get going. It's almost time for me to meet with Yuan," she explains.
Yggdrasill nods and she gets up to leave the room. She pauses in front of the door. "I'm sorry," she apologizes, turning to look at him.
He doesn't say anything for a few moments. When he finally replies, she's confused by what comes out of his mouth. "Mithos," he says, expression guarded.
"Excuse me?" she replies, confused.
"My name," he says nonchalantly. "Use it from now on."
She smiles. It seems the awkward conversations she'd started weren't for nothing. "Alright then, Mithos," she says before walking out.
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Mithos lets out a small sigh of frustration after the girl is gone, setting his book aside. He's almost certain that the reason for her strange mana signature lies in her parentage, but it seems that he'll find no more in the way of answers from her. He'd tried various methods of getting clues from her already. He'd tried to make her more comfortable around him, he'd tried befriending her, and he'd even tried sharing some of his own past, but it seems that the girl simply didn't know the answers that he was looking for. It seems he'd have to start looking elsewhere for the answers he seeks.
Although he had begun to attempt to befriend the girl mainly to find out the most advantageous way for him to use her, he had truly begun to enjoy her company (not that he'd ever admit it to anyone). The girl was one of the only people that he'd met who didn't judge him for his misdeeds (even though she didn't truly know all of them), and she was unswervingly loyal - almost to a fault. She wasn't loyal out of guilt or pity like Kratos and Yuan were, though, even though he knew they tried to hide it. This was different. She truly wanted to serve him, just because she was grateful.
Or maybe it was something different altogether.
He wondered what she'd think when she finds out the truth about Cruxis and Martel. Not that it would really matter.
He was going to bring his sister back – no matter what.
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Skye had gone to find Yuan not long after her conversation with Mithos, and had been training with him for the past hour or so. She was feeling confident today, so they had worked on getting her through some simple fire magic. She was getting better at it, but she still was uncomfortable using it. After a particularly badly aimed spell that caught the end of Yuan's cloak on fire, he had told her that they were done for the day. She was embarrassed, but also happy to be done. She didn't like fire magic. The idea of using the element that killed her brother… it was just hard for her.
After apologizing and promising to make it up to Yuan by cooking a meal for him sometime (which he scoffed at and told her she owed him something better than that, he knew what kind of an inexperienced cook she was!), they headed back to Yuan's office for awhile. It had become a routine of theirs to just hang around with each other after her training was done most days. They didn't always even speak, just sort of occupied the same space sometimes. Skye didn't really like being alone in Welgaia. The city was just… cold and unfeeling. Yuan seemed to understand that, and though he never commented on it, he allowed her to hang about anyway. It was sort of an unspoken understanding, and she was grateful.
Yuan had gone into his bedroom to do something about his cloak, and as he was gone Kratos walked into the office with a large leather bag filled with something, and a second sword sheathed and hanging across his back. He sees Skye and walks over to her, taking off the sword and handing it to her and setting the large bag on the couch next to her.
"What's all this?" she asks, voice full of surprise.
"Some proper equipment. You'll need it on the journey," he explains.
The first thing she inspects is the sword he had placed in her hands. She unsheathes it and sets the sheathe beside her, holding the blade in her hands. The sword is simple, but also very beautiful. It seems to be a plain steel sword, and the hilt is a royal blue color with a silver cross section where the hilt meets the blade embedded with a single sapphire. She runs her hand along the blade and earns herself a small cut that was bleeding before she had even registered that it happened – it's definitely well-sharpened. It's also a lot lighter than the blade Kratos had given her to use for training.
"This sword is beautiful," she says slightly in awe. "Thank you."
"I had it made for you by a dwarf near Iselia. I thought you would be a more effective fighter with something that suits your abilities more. You aren't as strong as I am, and the sword you were using was customized for me. This one is much lighter, and should suit you better because your aptitudes seem to lie more with speed than strength," he explains.
"I see," she says as she re-sheathes it. She reaches over to the leather bag and empties it, looking at its former contents. There is some lightweight leather armor that seems to be worn on the upper body, thin enough to be worn under her clothing, however, as well as a small silver shield. There are also a few gels and a small pouch with some gald in it that looks like it can be tied to her belt.
Yuan had come back into the room while she was gawking over her new things. "Why don't you try on the armor and practice with your new sword?" he suggests.
Skye's face lights up with excitement at the prospect and she immediately looks to Kratos as if silently asking him for a training session. His face adopts a slightly amused expression and he says, "Alright, but we'll be leaving tomorrow, so don't tire yourself out too much."
She jumps up from the couch, new belongings in hand, and proceeds to drag him out of the room by the arm as she is talking and thanking him animatedly.
Yuan is muffling some laughter at the sight as they leave.
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A/N: So what do you guys think? Drop me a review! :)