ARGH! (bashes head) Caclulus…(shudder) Why?! So evil…T.T…

Colette: Huh?

Me: (shudders more)

Colette: Um… Freakyanimegal owns nothing…

Me: LIMITS! NOOOOO! (fetal position) I hated that word even before this class…!

“I can barely see a thing,” Lloyd commented, looking around as they entered the temple.

“Be thankful,” Kratos stated simply, “without your angelic senses you wouldn’t be able to see at all.”

“So…what exactly are we going to be doing here?” the teen asked, looking around.

“The Summon Spirit Shadow resides here,” Kratos explained, fiddling with something in his pack, “your friends will no doubt come here in order to make a pact with him.”

“Okay…so why are we-?” Lloyd started.

He was cut off when the elder male pulled out a candle with a blue flame out of his pack, the darkness seeming to creep back to the extent it almost seemed like the light on a cloudy day. Lloyd flinched and shook his head, attempting to get used to the sudden light.

“This is a blue candle,” Kratos explained, “it makes it easier to see. To answer your question, Lloyd, we are here to…well, impede their progress.”

The teen’s eyes widened and the man cut him off.

“Don’t worry, Lloyd, we won’t see them at all,” he said, “We’re just going to slow them down. Do you remember the vesper I showed you earlier?”

“That weird orb thing? Yeah, what about it?” Lloyd tilted his head to the side.

“We’re going to use it to tear apart Shadow,” he explained calmly.

Lloyd stared at him.

“…What?” he said after a minute.

“You’ll see,” Kratos stated, walking in, “keep up. I don’t want you to get lost in a place such as this.”

Lloyd followed after his father, trying to keep his expression casual as he thought this situation over. Is this what Yuan meant? He didn’t want anything to slow down making the pacts…but why? Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t quite sure why Genis and the others were making the pacts to begin with.

“Dad?” he spoke up.

“What is it?” Kratos asked, looking at him over his shoulder.

“Why are they making the pacts anyway?”

“They are under the impression that by making all the pacts the worlds will split apart,” his father recited simply.

“…Is that what will happen?” Lloyd asked slowly, half hopeful and half worried.

“We do not know,” he admitted, “which is why they must be slowed, at the very least. It is not wise to meddle in things when you do not know their outcomes. Especially something of this magnitude. Making all the pacts could end up causing something that cannot be undone.”

“Something bad?” Lloyd asked.

“Perhaps,” Kratos nodded, “it would be best not to take chances, at least not until we know for sure what the outcome will be.”

“How are we going to know that?” he wondered.

“The Core-System is working on it now,” Kratos explained, “however, it is a rather time consuming process. We will not know for a while.”

His father had a point, he knew that, but he couldn’t help but wonder about what Yuan had said. Did Yuan know for sure what would happen? As it was right now, he was going directly against what the Seraph had ‘requested’ of him, and that would be bad for his friends, wouldn’t it? Still, what if something bad really could happen? Slowing them down wouldn’t hurt them or anything…so- so yeah, it was probably best to do this. Just until they were sure.

“It’s so dark in here…” Lloyd muttered, looking around.

“Don’t let your guard down,” Kratos stated, “There are many silent monsters that dwell in this structure, if you don’t pay attention it could cost you.”

“Huh-? Uh, yeah, sorry,” Lloyd nodded, “so how far away are we from Shadow?”

“He’s on the bottom floor,” Kratos explained, “It will take us a fair bit of walking to get there.”

“So why walk?” Lloyd raised an eyebrow.

“No,” Kratos said, “our wings would attract far too much attention in this darkness; monsters would be on us in an instant.”

“Please, like we can’t handle some monsters,” Lloyd huffed, rolling his eyes.

“That may be so, Lloyd,” he stated, “but it is not wise to get into unnecessary battles.”

“Okay, okay…” the teen sighed.

They were silent for most of the way down there, occasionally having to fight off a few of the undead monsters here and there on the way. When they finally did reach the bottom floor, Lloyd frowned at the sight of the altar.

“Uh…so how exactly do we get Shadow to come out?” he asked. “When we made the pact with Undine, she was ‘awakened’ or something, right? We don’t have a summoner with us either, so-?”

Kratos walked forward until he was before the altar, stopping at its front. There was a rumbling followed by a quick spurt of mana as Shadow emerged, moving in a shifting, eerie motion.

What…want…?

Lloyd felt a shiver go down his spine at the ‘sound’ of the voice as his father merely pulled the vesper out of his pack. Shadow withdrew as Kratos held the orb out, the spirit freezing in its movement.

“I apologize for this,” he stated simply, “but I assure you it won’t hurt at all.”

There was no time for a reply. Before Lloyd could move Shadow was gone and nothing remained in his place but five little…blobs. Little jiggling blobs of darkness that whirled around in no real direction, as if lost.

“Woah-!” Lloyd gasped. “Wow…that’s…”

One blob ran right into his legs, jerking back and then took to running around in circles around the young angel.

“Weird,” Lloyd grinned, “Though it’s kinda funny…they’re cute, almost.”

“We need to hide them around the temple,” Kratos told his son, picking up one of the ‘blobs’, “if they all meet back down here, Shadow will reform. In the meantime, we must keep them apart.”

“We’re hiding them…? Neat,” Lloyd grinned again, picking up another one, “it’s like a game!”

“…” Kratos only looked at his son.

“Uh….that is…” the boy’s grin fell, glancing side to side sheepishly, “S- Stop looking at me like that!”

So the duo went about tucking the pieces of Shadow away in the temple. Once Kratos was satisfied they had done well with the first four, they went on to hiding the fifth-

“W- Wait,” Lloyd said, holding the last piece, “can we…not, hide this one?”

“Why do you ask that?” Kratos asked, tilting his head to the side.

“W- Well…” he trailed, looking away.

Truthfully, he wanted to keep at least one in plain sight for his companions. He didn’t want them to be stopped from making the pacts, after all…would it hurt so bad to give them a starting point? The dungeon was very dark after all.

“…Do what you will, Lloyden,” Kratos stated, turning toward the exit, “I’ll meet you outside. Be careful.”

“Wh-? Uh, yes,” he nodded, “thank you, Dad.”

Kratos left the teen and he positioned the last blob by the first light in the temple, thinking that that would be enough of a give-a-way for his companions to figure it out. Once he was content with his choice he went to leave-

And then came face to face with a very large, very unfriendly looking sphinx.

“Oh sh-!”

He barely managed to move out of the way when the monster made a snap at him, catching out of the corner of his eye something even more unpleasant. Apparently, these monsters traveled in packs, judging by the group of smaller creatures clambering after him. Deciding that he didn’t want to become part of the food chain, he turned and ran back deeper into the temple, his angelic speed coming in graciously as he fled. He managed to lose the pack through sheer luck, having barely managed to find a hole in the wall to slip in as the monsters ran past and around one of the corners. Once they were out of sight he took no time at all to dash back out and make a beeline for the exit, cursing his luck. So it was that he arrived back where he had started, panting somewhat as he leaned against the wall.

“Oh man…” he gasped, clutching his chest, “That was more exercise than I wanted…”

“Lloyd?!”

He stopped.

“Don’t tell me-“ he looked up.

Genis and the others were staring at him.

Lloyd stared back.

“Lloyd? What’re you-?” Colette started.

Oh frick this.

Lloyd unfurled his wings and shot into the air, out of their reach but where he could still manage to see them, still attempting to catch his breath. His wings gave the darkness a low green-blue glow, marking him quite obviously in the dark ‘sky’ of sorts.

“Lloyd, wait!” Colette unfurled her own.

Raine grabbed the girl’s arm and held her down, glaring up at her brown-haired pupil.

“Now Lloyd, what exactly are you doing here?” she asked, obviously suspicious.

Well, she did have every right to be, after all…

“I… I don’t have to answer you,” he replied, glaring back, “I-“

His eyes widened, remembering what his father had said about having wings out. He himself was fine, yes, being in the air, but Colette was on the ground with her wings out, and a mess of monsters were swarming up behind the group. Lloyd hastily casted Angel Feathers, the group somewhat alarmed at his actions, thinking he was attacking them, but looked behind them as the spell shot over their heads and struck one of the oncoming monsters. Luckily, they took the hint, all of them readying their weapons at the oncoming horde. Growling a bit to himself, Lloyd swooped down and joined them on the ground, dismissing his wings and drawing his swords.

“Dad is gonna kill me,” he muttered as he took a stance, “Here they come!”

The battle took relatively moderate effort, as Presea reported, that ‘Eighty-percent output should be sufficient’. So yes, they were a bit tired after the battle had ended, though they were not exhausted or seriously injured. Lloyd sighed in relief and sheathed his swords as the last monster fell, turning to look at them with a tired expression.

“Colette, try to keep your wings in when you’re here,” he sighed, rubbing his temple, “Or at least be in the air if you need to have them out…the monsters kind of notice.”

“Oh, okay,” she smiled warmly, dismissing her wings, “Thanks, Lloyd!”

“…” Lloyd blinked, slightly put off at how casual she was being.

“Well…now that that’s over, what are you doing here?” Genis asked, glaring up at his friend.

“…Leaving,” he said, turning toward the exit, “Dad’s probably worried about me by now…”

“They both are, probably,” Raine said curtly.

Lloyd froze in his tracks.

“Raine…!” Genis said, half-shocked and half-angered.

Dirk…his ‘other’ dad. Truthfully speaking…he hadn’t thought much about him for a while. The brunette bit his lip slowly, his eyes misting over. With all this happening…he hadn’t even given his adoptive father a thought. A sudden surge of guilt overtook him. How could he have simply forgotten about the man who had raised him? What kind of son was he, to do something like-?

…Wait…was he….even his ‘son’, anymore? Wasn’t Lloyd Irving his son? Hadn’t he renounced that identity? So…had he renounced his father too? Is that what he had done? Had he sacrificed one father for the other?

“Lloyd? Are you okay-?” Genis started.

Lloyd simply left without another word. The angel walked out of sight and then broke into a run, dashing out of the temple as fast as his legs would carry him. With a blinding light he found himself back outside, the sun almost burning his eyes after having been in the dark for so very long.

“There you are,” Kratos frowned, appearing from seemingly nowhere, “I saw the group go in….you didn’t have any trouble with them, did you?”

“N…No,” Lloyd shook his head, “I saw them, but I didn’t.”

“…” Kratos closed his eyes, “Very well then. I must admit I was a tad concerned- Lloyd? Are you all right?”

“Y- Yeah,” the boy said, glancing away , “I’m fine Da….”

His voice cracked on that word, finding himself unable to finish it. Kratos noted this, obviously, and frowned deeply, examining his son.

“Did I…do something to upset you, Lloyd?” he asked softly.

“W- What? N- No, it’s not you,” Lloyd shook his head, “I- I was just thinking about-“

“Dirk,” Kratos finished, his eyes misting somewhat.

Lloyd flinched.

“I…I- It’s just-“

“You miss him,” Kratos said simply.

“I- It’s not that I- I love you too, Dad! You’re my father!” Lloyd cried, frantically shaking his head. “It’s just- I mean- I’m your son! I’m Lloyd Aurion! So- So I just- I don’t- Does that mean that since I’m not Lloyd Irving anymore that I’m saying I’m not his son anymore?! I mean, I’m not- I am- but- no- I-“

“Whoever you are or decide to be, Lloyd, the people you care about that cared for you are still important,” he said quietly, looking at his son, “No matter who you say you are or what you do, the people in your past still existed, and still live within you. Dirk…is your father too.”

That last sentence was difficult, difficult for Lloyd to hear because he knew how difficult it was for Kratos to say it. Lloyd could only stare at him for a few minutes before he bit his lip, and then gritted his teeth, trying to force back the tears that were welling up in his eyes. After a few seconds Kratos spoke again, hesitantly.

“If you’d like, you can visit him,” he said.

Visit him? Visit…then what? Tell him everything? Tell him about the worlds, about Cruxis, about how he had become one of them, how he had found another ‘father’ whom was in that organization as well, how he had left his friends, how he was serving the evils of their worlds? No…how…how could he even face him, now? How could he face the man who had raised him, that had taught him right-from-wrong, when he was doing something that was so obviously wrong?

“He…he’ll hate me,” Lloyd whispered under his breath.

“I highly doubt that,” Kratos stated curtly, “If he truly is…your father, he will not hate you. He could never hate you, no matter what you do. I can understand how you might think that, Lloyd, and…and I’m deeply sorry I got you into this, but-“

“N- No, it’s not your fault,” Lloyd shook his head, “You didn’t get me into this…Lor- Yggdrasill got me into this; he’s the one that landed me here…”

“…” Kratos sighed softly, “Lloyd…you’re not a bad person, if that is what you are thinking.”

“But I-!”

“Lloyd, I am a bad person,” he continued sternly, “My sins are numerous, you…you didn’t ask to be caught up in this, and even now I am certain you are still wishing for the best for the worlds; however…it’s a bit more complicated now, is all. I am certain…I am certain that you will find the right path for yourself.”

Lloyd looked up at him, his eyes widened somewhat as the man looked back at him. The teen’s eyes began to water again and he swallowed nervously, looking away from his father and wiping his eyes violently.

“I…I..” he took a deep breath, “Thank you, Dad…”

“Now then, if you wish, we can go to Sylvarant for a few hours to let you see-“

“No,” Lloyd shook his head, “I- Not yet. I’ll go back and see him, but…but I’ll go back and see him when I…when I find that ‘right path’, okay? I’ll see him when…when I can stand myself again.”

“…Very well,” Kratos sighed softly, “Let us be off.”

So they did so, boarding their rheairds and heading back to the Tower of Salvation, back to Derris-Kharlan. That cold, lifeless…ugh, it was kind of…peaceful, at times, he could admit, but that feeling lasted only so long before he became all too aware of how lonely it was. It was a stark contrast the woods, to the log-made house with plants creeping in everywhere, with the sun blazing annoyingly bright in the mornings…fssh, he’d never thought he’d miss it. Though he knew he’d miss the short, bulky man that guffawed loudly when amused, that- though strict- cared for him as much as a real father would. Briefly he remembered what he had told Colette and felt like a hypocrite again; ‘You just have two fathers, think of yourself as being lucky for having more than most people’. Here he was getting all upset and confused about this when he had so calmly told her something like that… He- he had to start following his own advice. He always did that, in a way that made him just like Colette, he’d always try to help people but couldn’t ever seem to help himself out. He had to stop that, he knew, if not for his own sake then for the sake of the people he tried to help. Looking up at Kratos flying several feet ahead, he smiled a bit. Kratos did care about him…and so did Dirk; they were both his dads. So…so he was lucky, after all, at least in that respect. Then something else came to mind..

“Hey, Dad,” he spoke up.

“What is it, Lloyd?” Kratos looked back at him.

“Do you think Shadow’s gonna be pissed at us?”

“…”

“Well?”

“Let’s just hope Sheena never summons him on us.”

Lloyd laughed.

HARK! IT TIS AN UPDATE! :D Sorry if there’re some errors, I really wanted to get this up and my beta was busy so I didn’t want to bug him n.n’

Colette: Review? (blink)