Well finally got around to writing this. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Dad, what the hell are you wearing?"

The question was simple, blunt, and rather bland, actually, yet somehow it totally encapsulated all of the complete and utter shock at his father's appearance. When they had come into sight of the village, Raine having joined them, deciding that her excavation of the temple sadly did not have priority over watching over her younger brother and the young Chosen with the two strangers; Kratos had excused himself briefly and headed into the woods. Lloyd had assumed simply that his father had to go, but then when Kratos asked to take his pack he knew that wasn't the case, but given by the look his father gave him he handed it over. Several minutes later, Kratos walked back toward them, adjusting one of the two purple gauntlets he now wore, effectively drawing the surprised looks from not just Lloyd but from their traveling companions. It was so..bizarre; just plain and simple. He'd always seen his father dressed either formally or semi-casual, but despite that they were always normal clothes, and it's not like he ever dressed up for Halloween with him when he was younger. So to see him in this weird purple outfit, complete with some weird tailed-cape of sorts, was nothing short of a mindfuck.

"I had figured I'd draw less attention in these clothes in the village," he stated simply, ignoring the stares the entourage was giving him.

"W- Where did you even get those-!" Lloyd stammered, stunned.

"They weren't in that pack your brought? Though it's an unusual one…" Raine trailed, eyeing the two.

"They were," Kratos said smoothly, handing the backpack to Lloyd, also giving him a stern 'keep your mouth shut' look with it.

"Oh, I see," she said, though obviously her suspicions were still avid.

"They were? But I thought-" Genis began, eying Lloyd.

"Unfortunately there is nothing for Lloyd to blend in more effectively, but we'll secure him something," Kratos stated simply.

Lloyd and the Sages eyed him, all of them suspicious. Lloyd knew his father hadn't gotten that out of his bag, he must have had them in that weird little pack thing he pulled that sword out of- however that worked. Genis was thinking along the same lines and Raine, though suspicious, had not seen said event earlier, and was led to believe that the outfit was in fact in Lloyd's bag…that Kratos convinced her only barely.

"Uh…yeah I guess I will stick out like a sore thumb huh?" he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked down at his clothes.

"Here," Kratos handed him back his backpack, "try to keep behind us then if at all possible."

"We're going to go to my house," Colette said, "It's not too far."

"All right then," Kratos nodded.

"Though if you were traveling in this area, why did you only now change into these clothes if you had them?" Raine asked, her eyes narrowed.

"I did not expect to run into anyone, until Lloyd got involved at the temple," he said smoothly, the same way he'd talk when negotiating with people over the phone, Lloyd noted, "by then you had already seen us and there was little point in changing when it was just the group of you who would see."

"…I see," Raine stated.

Lloyd groaned, trying to wrap his head around all of this without looking obvious he was about to blow a fuse.

"Um…Grandmother is sort of expecting me," Colette spoke up hesitantly, slightly apologetic.

"What-?Oh, right, let's go," Lloyd nodded, "I'm sorry we're keeping you."

She gave a weak smile and shook her head, her face falling for just a second right after.

"No no…it's all right," she said with a nod, "Uhm, come on then, I'll take you there."

Lloyd nodded and glanced warily at his father, who said nothing, walking off after the blonde girl when she started off for her house. Lloyd attempted to stay out of sight like he had been told, but nonetheless stares and whispers flitted about as they walked through town. Lloyd could see why, no one in this place dressed like a modern human being. Though the entire town wasn't exactly modern, it looked like a third world village to him, which is kinda was. There was no electricity of any sort, it looked like, and the houses were all simple build of wood, a well spotted here and there. Then again that sort of went along with the old-style weapons and the like he'd seen them all using here. He frowned and looked ahead at the back of his father's head, the man walking in silence ahead of him, the tails of the strange purple cloak swaying in step behind him.

What was…going on?

He had asked that question about a million times in the last couple of hours, but accompanied with it had been his frustration, confusion and anger. But as time went own he found that frustration fading, steadily being replaced by curiosity and a building apprehension.

Now it seemed to be hitting him, hitting him with that cruel twinge of reality. What was going on? Why had he come here? Where WAS this place? How could he get home? And how…how did his father know about it? He thought back to earlier that night- day? At home it had been day, but here it looked like it was barely the afternoon. That...person, that had tried to kidnap him, he'd definitely looked like he'd have belonged to this strange place. So…his dad knew him, right? He had seen them talking, but still, how the heck did his father know him? How?

Frowning he thought back to earlier when he had heard their discussion. Something about…

Wait.

…Running away. That guy had said his Dad had ran away, run away and-

He flinched.

Abandoning his…home.

His eyes widened and he stifled a choke, his eyes still locked on his father.

Home? Could that be-? What- no, no way, that was ridiculous. This couldn't have been his Dad's home- right? Gah! He didn't even know where he was! Once again he spiraled into his thoughts, lost in them before he realized his father had grabbed his wrist.

"Hey-! Dad-?"

"I need to speak with my son, pardon me," Kratos said back to the silver-haired people and the blonde girl.

Raine's eyes narrowed but she relented, letting Kratos pull Lloyd to the back of the house they had walked up to, which he guessed was Colette's house.

"Dad-?"

"I won't be able to speak with you long, Lloyd," Kratos sighed, looking down at his son.

His father always had a knack for looking well-rested but somehow looking tired, like an old man, weary and exhausted. That was the look that shined in his eyes at the moment, making Lloyd stare at him, concern eating at his insides.

"Dad-"

"We're in a place called Sylvarant," he stated, "this is the village of Iselia, the village of 'oracles' as they say."

"Yeah- okay, but where IS 'Sylvarant'? This- there are people with silver hair and- monsters and magic and all kinds of crazy- …we're…not on Earth, are we?"

The man flinched but conceded with a nod, his eye misted.

"No Lloyd, we're not on Earth."

He stared at him.

"Th…then…where are we? We're on a different planet?"

"Yes," he said simply.

"What-? How- Bullshit!" Lloyd snapped, "You mean to tell me there's another planet that not only has life, but humans? Are you kidding me?"

"Then what is your explanation?"

He had no answer for that.

"The fact of the matter, Lloyd, is this is true," he sighed, closing his eyes, "This place is called Sylvarant, they worship a Goddess named Martel, and Colette is their 'Chosen One', who is supposed to go on a journey to revive mana to this world."

"Mana?" Lloyd frowned, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Mana is the life essence of this world, I suppose on Earth we would just consider it energy," he closed his eyes, "Here it's extremely important, it allows crops to grow and overall supports the economies and well being of this world."

"I- just hold on a minute," he shook his head, biting his lip, trying to wrap his head around this, "I can't- I- okay, fine, then who were those guys that attacked us?"

"They are called Desians," his father said flatly, "they terrorize the populace."

"So you're telling me we're on another planet," Lloyd said flatly, "Where they use swords, have magic, advanced teleporting technology, and a Chosen One who needs to save the world from an evil group that torments the world along with monsters."

"…" Kratos nodded.

"Oh God, I'm in a Final Fantasy game," the teen stared dumbly at him.

Kratos sighed and brought his palm to his face, shaking his head.

"No Lloyd, this isn't a videogame," he sighed.

"Are you sure? Because I'm going to start calling that girl 'Yuna' the instant I hear about something like a bunch of weird temples she has to travel to-…." Lloyd groaned, "All right but if she can summon some weird spirit thing then I am calling her Yuna."

Kratos sighed.

"I have no idea what that means," he explained in his exasperation.

"Yeah, I guess you wouldn't," Lloyd sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Now then, the only other important piece of information that I can tell you before they come looking for us…" he glanced back the way they had came, "that…memento, of your mother's…is not a normal stone."

Lloyd looked at his father and almost come up with a snappy response, but instead frowned, looking down at the gem that sat on the top of his hand. Of course it wasn't a normal stone, he'd known that for…well, a long time now. Well maybe not known, but he had had a feeling, it was only today when it was placed on his hand were his suspicions confirmed, that this stone was more than just a rock. He had felt it before, though he hadn't ever even dared to speak his thoughts about the subject again…

"So I stole the ball and kicked it right in! I tell you, Mom, it was awesome, you should've seen me, I totally made Mike eat his words."

The twelve year old smiled softly at the stone in his hand, the gem gleaming in the light overhead in the locker room as the brunette awaited his father to come pick him up. He had gotten to leave early, he'd played so well that the coach didn't even make him do laps at the end of practice! What a day, and the coach had been so impressed! A grin split his face and he continued spewing his thoughts to the blue stone.

"He's gonna put me in as a starter next game! I can't wait to-"

"Hey, who the hell are you talking to?"

Lloyd winced at the voice, turning as his teammates sulked in, all of them tired and looking very irritated to boot.

"Uh-" he trailed, going to slip the pendant of sorts back under his clothes.

"Let me see that!"

The lead boy grabbed his wrist, pulling his arm and the gem out and getting a yelp from Lloyd, who tried to pry back. His fingers closed over the gem protectively but the boy was larger than he was, and pried open his fingers.

"What's this? A necklace? What are you, some kind of fag?" the boy laughed, several of the others joining in with him.

Lloyd snarled and jerked his arm free, holding the stone close, glaring at them.

"It's none of your business!" he snapped.

"What?" the boy blinked, staring at him a bit before bursting out into laughter again. "Woah! You mean you ARE a fag-? Hey, don't' touch me then!"

"I meant about the necklace, and I didn't touch you! You're the one that-"

Lloyd nearly fell off the bench when the boy gave him a shove, knocking the brunette onto his side.

"Are you calling me a liar you spiky haired freak?"

He jerked and hunched his shoulders a bit, subconsciously attempting to make his hair less noticeable. Usually he wouldn't have let it get this long, long enough to start 'spiking' as they said, but he'd been so busy with practice and games lately, and his Dad had been so busy with work, he hadn't really been able to get it cut lately. The brown locks were unnatural, that's what they called them anyway, how they seemed to sweep together in 'spikes' all on their own; at first he'd gotten picked on because everyone thought he was some kind of punk or goth trying to make his hair look like that with copious amounts of hairgel; he had almost been relieved when they released it naturally did that.

Until they started calling him a freak instead.

"I didn't call you anything and I didn't touch you!" he snapped, feeling his face flush red with both anger and frustration.

"So you ARE calling me a liar?"

"Everyone saw it!" he snapped back, looking at the group of his teammates behind his aggressor. "Right?"

The group looked at him and exchanged glances, murmuring a bit to themselves.

Lloyd felt his heart sink in his chest as he watched, and it was only a few seconds, but in that time he felt as if his body was a balloon that had just been pierced, his chest falling, deflating. They had to help him, right? They all saw it, why would they say they didn't, right? They wouldn't all lie and pretend just because some bigger kid told them to, right? That was stupid- yeah, he was worrying about nothing, of course they wouldn't do that-

"You're making stuff up, liar!"

He flinched like he had been smacked.

"Wh- what-? No I'm not-!"

The big kid punched him across the face, knocking his head back into the lockers and a horrible pain shooting through the back of his head. He let out a cry and then felt a grip around his wrist again, trying to pry away his mother's memento. Half-dazed, he let out a shout and saw the chain snap-

He bit the boy's arm. Hard.

This time the attacker let out a yelp himself, Lloyd scrambling for the gem, holding it tightly in his hands as he drew back, scrambling off the bench onto his feet, backing up from him.

"Y- You BIT me-? You freak! What do you have rabies or something? I'll kill you!"

He took a step and Lloyd's eyes widened, his body frozen, and for a second…it almost felt like everything else had frozen in place too. Everything seemed still, cold, and then a faint warmth began to come from the gem he had clenched in his hand. He didn't even realize what had happened until he did it.

A couple steps forward, his hand raised up in a fist, slamming it up under his opponent's chin in a brutal uppercut, causing the bully to choke and stagger back, losing his balance and falling to the ground with a thud.

Lloyd stood there and breathed heavily, glaring down at the larger boy, the gem clenched in his fist still giving off a comforting warmth. After a second, he realized what had happened and jerked his head up, looking at the rest of the team, who gaped at the spectacle.

"W- what- how did you do that?"

"I…" he hesitated, staring down at the leader and then up at them.

He swallowed and took a step forward, trying to think of what to say.

They all scrambled backwards.

"H- Hey- why are you all-? He's the one that attacked me, why would I be going to hurt you? Why are you backing away from me-?" he shook his head but kept his eyes on them vaguely aware of his heart pounding.

"Freak!"

He choked, eyes closed as he had his hand over the gem, feeling the warmth coming from it once again, but this time, not just under his palm. The warmth spread from his hand up through his arm, into his whole body, it was comforting…yet…shouldn't he have been afraid of it? Back then, when that had happened, he should have been scared of it then, shouldn't he have? There was no way he could have knocked that big ape down like that back then. But he did, so what…

…He wasn't imagining it then?

This stone, the only thing he had left of his mother, this rock had something to do with how he had done that? How he had fought like that back in the temple? But how? What was it?

"That stone is called an exsphere, Lloyd," Kratos' voice came, "It is…complicated, but the basis is that when equipped as it is to you now, it will boost all your physical abilities and skills. When an exsphere is attached to someone like that it greatly increases strength, stamina…etcetera."

"So it's like a capacity core or materia" Lloyd muttered, but his father ignored him.

Lloyd's eyes opened and he stared at Kratos, then down at the exsphere, which glinted a bit in the light. He blinked, staring at it a moment before looking back up at his father, who had slipped something out of his pack.

"T- that's-" he choked.

"An exsphere," Kratos nodded, showing it to Lloyd, though briefly, "They are common in this world, I used this one for a long time before…I used this one for a long time. I did not think I would need it again but….given the circumstances, I will have to use it."

"S- so- a lot of people have these?" he stared, his eyes widening a bit. "This one was Mom's- wait…"

He stared at his father, putting together all the pieces as Kratos merely looked back at him, not saying anything, allowing his son to come to the conclusion on his own.

"…You…You and Mom were…from here, weren't you?" he whispered, stunned.

Kratos sighed, closing his eyes and nodding a bit, looking like a tired old man again.

"This is the world you were born in, Lloyd."

Silence.

He stared.

Kratos waited.

Lloyd gasped.

"Holy shit, I'm an alien."

Sorry if that was a little on the depressing side :/ I wanted to get more into Lloyd's past, and there will be positive flashbacks too, so don't worry, but I did say he was bullied so…yeah -_-' and please, no one review this telling me the kids are all jerks for 'no reason'. They didn't have a reason for being mean to me either, so I probably have difficulty seeing how to make it 'more real' if that's the reality I've seen. Life's confusingly nonsensical like that….

On a positive note, twelve days till Christmas :D Yaaaaaaaaaaay! n.n I want a cookie .

Merry Christmas! :D