I will never get over Tos ahaha
this is my humble contribution to the fandom
English is not my first language !
When he first saw Lloyd, as the kid was trying to escape the renegade base he first thought that the lad was indeed vaguely familiar. Then he spoke, and Yuan found him arrogant and annoying. He had absolutely no patience for that brat, no patience to give to a human -Martel would have frowned at him for this sentence-, no patience for anything. The first attempt to kill the chosen was a failure, Kratos had been designated to escort her, his renegades had lost the trace of the girl in the desert. The best worst moment of the week has been when Botta and Souta had contacted him to speak some nonsense about Iselia, a long gone exsphere experiment and his long time 'non-friend anymore' dead son . Botta had told him that they had sent several renegades searching for the boy. "There is… a resemblance" Botta had said, uneasy, when he was back to the base from Iselia.
A resemblance… ? To Kratos or …?
No, Botta had not known the woman.
He didn't know if he wished for the child to be alive or not. Maybe he was better off dead and forgotten to the world. That would make Yuan a less horrible person in the future. Because if Lloyd was alive, Yuan would execute a plan according to this new parameter … Martel would not be proud, he thought. Then again, she wouldn't not be proud of anything they had made for the last 4000 years.
Holy Tree, he really needed a drink. He could not get drunk anymore of course. Still the gesture remains and was surprisingly comforting.
Lloyd.
The name itself was full of melancholia. Emblem of an area where Yuan had hope again in the future. An area where he didn't felt like a marching corpse. An area where Kratos and him had been friends again for a moment, supported each other again. He was supposed to be the child's godfather, damnit .
The day he was at Kratos and Anna's small wooden house and that the women had told him she was pregnant he was taken aback for a few, she mocked him of course. She always did.
He liked her a lot.
First, because she made Kratos the best of what he could be again : fierce and wise and strong. That was the Kratos he used to grow up with : fun and brave and always teasing him but always reliable. The best of what humanity had to offer. Then he got to know Anna and he began to respect her for what she was. She teased him a lot, not afraid of him -she was never afraid of anything-, always insisting he had to eat something.
- But I don't need to eat !
- Indeed , she used to respond in a calm and joyful voice, but you can taste and I am an excellent cook, which means you have to honor what I made ! Furthermore, a little bit of sugar would make you happy !
He always gave up, under Kratos' entertained and mocking glance. After all these centuries, he knew which battles were worth it, and the Holy Tree knew Anna wouldn't take "No" as a response.
(Sometimes, years and years later, he still eats some sugary things because of her; just to remember her -the same way he fidget his alliance to remember Martel- because Anna Aurion was someone that should be remembered).
When he got to spend more time with them, he discovered that it was hell playing cards against her. But drinking with her was fun. She was a great listener, clever and pertinent in her interventions, also, she would always have some joke in her sleeves. They used to laugh a lot. It was the kind of day where he missed Martel a little bit less than usual. Anna was the kind of person that not only made existence more bearable, but made it worth living.
No wonder Kratos fell in love with her , he used to think that a lot.
Anna had been the one that came with the idea that he had to be the child's godfather. This idea seemed to be highly supported by Kratos. That night, when Kratos had been trying to put Lloyd to sleep, she had joined Yuan in their little garden.
- You know, you have to say "yes Anna my favorite human being ever, it will be a pleasure to be Lloyd's godfather" had she claimed with a high pitched voice giving her worst imitation of him.
Annoying and arrogant woman .
- I don't think it's really pertinent that the child got to have me as a godfather, he responded almost pouting.
-Yes it is! All of sudden, she had become more serious. It's important, you know? Just in case… In case… something happens to me.
She was crouched, fiddling with some wild flower of the garden. From what he could remember, she had always been very kinetic.
- So, Lloyd will have someone to tell him how good I was at cards, She added after a pause. For the first time since he knew her, her tone was falsely light.
- Nothing will happen to you, you shouldn't think like that, had he said before leaving.
- Still, you have to say yes ! She insisted with an enthusiastic smile, her usual self again.
- You're not even that good at cards !
She only laughed. She always did when they bickered. But, when she last looked at him that night, her eyes were shining the light they had when she knew something he did not.
In the end, she never gets to hear his answer.
Yuan was still coping with recent news and old bittersweet memories when the boy had interrupted him. It disturbed him that he had not heard the boy coming. He had been so quiet, as if too light for the ground.
- And just who the hell are you ?
- Give me your name and I shall give you mine.
He considered the intruder. The lad had the weird tallness of his age; everything was long legs and arms, the leftover of his body was still underdeveloped for an adult, which meant poor balance and slowness. An easy enemy to take down. Years of managing renegades didn't stop Yuan from thinking like the warrior he'd always been.
- Ah ! You certainly have guts. But I don't see the need to introduce myself to a miserable little creature like you.
The kid held his gaze, unafraid. His eyes had a red tint, pretty rare.
- What a coincidence, 'cause I don't see the need to introduce myself either to a moron who doesn't realize how pathetic he is, had the lad responded, absolutely unimpressed by his interlocutor.
Funny, She would not have been afraid either , he thought. Again, he pushed away the memory.
- You little…
As Yuan moved forward, wanting to finish that interlude quickly, his eyes took a glimpse of a blue stone on the boy's hand. He had seen it so often, nestled in the hollow of that woman's throat.
Then it all clicked.
- That exsphere …? You're Lloyd?!
- And if I am?
For the first time since he had been disturbed, Yuan truly looked at his interlocutor.
The boy was all Kratos'. Certainly, the face still had that young age roundness and teenage ungraceful traits to be a perfect copy of the father, but it was all there, from what Yuan could remember of Kratos at the same age, he could have mixed them up. The garnet striking eyes -so rare among humans being- looked at him with the same intensity, the glance and frown, the high cheekbones, the slim face were all the same as the father. Even the way the kid was standing, favoring his left side, the way he held his head with such fiercely made him felt like it was a doppelganger of Kratos. Part of him understood Botta's previous uneasiness concerning the child.
- Humm… I see the resemblance.
Years later, He could still remember the young man's puzzlement.
Later on, way after his friends and Kratos had rescued Lloyd and escaped, Yuan had thought about the lad again, thinking how he did not only inherited his coloring from his mother. How he responded to him, like she used to, as if they were old friends bickering, how he was unafraid of him, how his glance seemed to be almost mocking him. Yes, the kid was resembling his father. It couldn't be denied. But that glimpse of pride and bravery and the way his eyes shone with a gleam that seemed to scream that nothing would ever subdue them, that was all Anna. Still, Yuan had wondered what would have happened if the journey had dragged on, Lloyd would not have been safe anywhere while growing up and arboring his father's face.
Sooner or later, the truth will have to be spilled out and if it could served his interests, Yuan would do anything. Absolutely anything.
(In the meantime, Yuan and Botta had earned a little sweet treat to recover from this horrible day).
Hope it was enjoyable ! As a reminder, english is not my first language, so any critisism is welcomed !
Maybe I will do some other chapter about late game event? I'm still considering it
The fun part is i made a fanfiction some years ago about Yuan and Kratos and Anna and how they had interacted with each other, so in a way this fic is like an epilogie of that old works ahahahah
Anyway ! Bye, R if you feel like it !
Have a great day if you read that, be happy, fight for your happiness ! I know you can do it !