Kratos Aurion (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
simulsimul) wrote2016-11-02 07:40 pm
simulsimul) wrote2016-11-02 07:40 pm
a thing; w/ ruinsprofessor & conductingresistance
canon
breached
confessed
dadly
future
grigori
mercenary
MEover
origin
reversal
titans
scenario list
canon: Kratos needs to stop running off
confessed: wing reflex
confessed: actual wingpull
confessed: turning Renegade
confessed: son meets father
dadliness: confrontation
dadliness: awakening
dadliness: illness
dadliness: a fundamental lack of understanding on the word 'abducted'
dadliness: updating parameters
dadliness: assassination assignation
mercenary: hiding in the library
mercenary: aftermath of librarian saviour
reversal: oracle destroyed
titans: storming the tower
titans: safety in the canyon
titans: night horrors
canon
- combo of Kratos and Zelos ending
- Zelos does the stupid thing, but not so far as his death, and is still the eighth member of the party to Derris-Kharlan.
scenarios
scenario one: Yuan tracks Kratos down at Dirk's.
breached
- canon right up until after Botta’s death
- no one uses Yuan’s name around Mithos so Mithos walks right into the Triet base with them
- cue an epic OH SHIT in which Yuan gets a lil bit beat up while covering the evacuation of the rest of the base
- until Kratos appears to intervene and have the Chosen group get Yuan out of there
- Mithos gets Kratos tho and he’s a bit mad cos, yanno, traitor and all
- time to be locked up and punished and need to be rescued
- kind of puts a crimp in the creation of the Eternal Ring plans
- mostly cos Mithos turns Kratos lifeless, with some armour to regulate his mana so he remains a seraph. can't have the seal becoming less powerful, yo
- it does mean he can only obey orders tho
- the first rescue fails miserably but at least no one dies and they know they need to reforge his key-crest
- the second rescue attempt (circumstances of canon-point under percolation) goes a little better, though Yuan almost gets killed by Kratos trying to attach the key-crest
- luckily that and the first telepathy in a while gets through and Kratos manages to break out a la Colette, and heal Yuan enough for Raine to get there
- after which, angreh father-son beatdown on Mithos.
scenarios
None yet.
confessed
- almost successful assassination lands Kratos as an injured stranger in Iselia (1-2 years pre-canon)
- recuperation leads to accidental-on-purpose 'holiday' in Iselia
- doubts result in a request for Dirk to make a key-crest like Kratos' own
- oracle room undergoes some stealth sabotage
- regeneration journey is slightly delayed, prompted by Genis and Lloyd being discovered at the ranch
- Triet is awkward. so very awkward. for the Renegades -- whose side is Kratos even on these days and why was he vanished for two years?
- initial overall journey similar to canon, save that Kratos is a bit less circumspect about advising Colette on how to cope with angel transformations
- there are more overt Dun Wanna Feelings
- then Luin, wherein things happen and the group is in town during the Desian attack. the others naturally want to fight but tis a mite difficult against an army and building-destroying magitech. luckily, angel on their side. unluckily, wingpulls in order to muster the power to cover the townspeoples' retreat
- questions and confessions ensue
- Colette rejects the key crest (for the moment) so there's still hopefully maybe ambiguity about Kratos's position re the last seal
- it wouldn't fit anyway, it's modelled for the hand like Kratos's is because he was a derp and did not specify otherwise, so Lloyd needs to make a thing to make it fit
- slow protective retreat toward Asgard.
scenarios
scenario one: Kratos confesses before Salvation; Raine wants to follow up.
scenario two: Raine's examination of an angel; and also Kratos realises how far he's put his foot in it.
scenario three: Kratos goes to taunt Yuan a little, and also ask for his help.
scenario four: in which Raine makes Kratos tell the children all the things, and Yuan takes too much amusement from it.
dadliness
- Kratos retires in Iselia under the name Irving to raise Lloyd after the death of his wife
- no exsphere. ageing occurs! so does a beard and a braid
- teaches Lloyd swordplay, but on the sly, to avoid the other villagers noticing. his daytime job is weaving
- Lloyd finds the box of their exspheres and wants details. after some prodding by Dirk, Kratos explains how exspheres are made and that one is Anna's life. Lloyd is too young yet, but when Lloyd comes of age (~15) Kratos lets him make his own decision re wearing it
- Lloyd chooses not to wear the exsphere
- Genis befriends Marble and Lloyd meets her, as in canon; this happens before the journey begins, with the fallout
- difference being that Colette is still in the village so they can't be too horrible, so they just demand Lloyd be turned over for a flogging
- Kratos stands in his stead because natch. luckily, they're only mooks and don't recognise the bearded weaver as anyone important
- gives Lloyd his guilt complex early tho
- the oracle happens much the same way except Botta doesn't quite recognise the weirdly familiar bearded swordsman
- he does when he's reporting to Yuan tho
'there was an exceptionally skilled human'
/brief physical description/
/did x other faintly recognizable thing/
and both he and Yuan are aware that Kratos has been awol for a while, so there's a moment of pure silence and dawning 'no, it couldn't be'
- but then obviously one of them has to go make sure
- cue an interruption just out of Triet.
scenarios
scenario one: Yuan feels the need to investigate; this results in Kratos injured and abducted.
scenario two: Yuan realises he can't kill Kratos with his own two hands; Kratos gets mothered.
scenario three: Kratos gets sick on the heels of his recovery. Yuan mothers him some more. Botta disapproves.
scenario four: Kratos recovers and makes an escape attempt. Sort-of.
scenario five: Kratos recovers more and talks to Botta, when not needling Yuan about his lack of preparedness.
scenario six: Sheena's contract takes a slight shift into undercover instead of assassination work.
future
- Aselia is Earth ~10,000 years in the past
- all is peachy-keen except the tree is now underground and the elvens/half-elves/some humans are in hiding in the centre of the planet, hidden thanks to the summon spirits
- Colette is working with humanitarian aid in various impoverished nations
- Zelos is a diplomat in West Asia / Middle East trying to keep the peace
- Yuan is a crotchety lecturer at Cambridge who's also HUGE into environmentalism
- Lloyd and Kratos are having family time in space
- occasionally the trio on Earth meet reincarnations of people they used to know
- but rarely at the same time and almost never in a position where they meet
- but then they start meeting them
- lots of them
- all in the same span of years
- they're starting to think something's hinky
- until the space-elves attack
- and then they know something is hinky.
scenarios
None yet.
grigori
- at some point significantly before canon, Kratos actually calls it quits
- the Church's institution calls him a fallen angel of vengeance
- really he's just going around trying to help people and avoiding being taken back to Cruxis
- assigns himself to the Chosen parties whenever he can, up to Colette
- ????? idk some kind of profit somewhere
scenarios
None yet.
mercenary
- when Yuan visits Kratos at the beach when Lloyd is 3 months old, he does not manage to escape before Anna and Lloyd return
- accidental attachment to this kidlet who likes pulling his hair
- three years later, Yuan can't stand to hold back while Kratos fights Kvar, so he throws caution to the wind to help
- Anna is still killed but they rescue Lloyd and Noishe and both are branded as traitors
- Lloyd is raised as a Renegade with Dad, Uncle Yuan and the extremely reticent Uncle Botta (how dare)
- meanwhile in Tethe'alla Yuan infiltrates the castle as the library archivist
- stays out of sight, mostly, but has a good ear around the politics thanks to recruiting Princess Hilda
- also happens to stumble on Zelos hiding in the library right after his mother's death
- look he's got a 'nephew' he can't just do nothing (even if all he meant was to recommend a book)
- unwittingly accidentally 'adopts' the Tethe'allan Chosen by virtue of being the only one who doesn't treat him like the Chosen
- sometimes Kratos brings Lloyd to visit and basically they're all separate pairs of exasperated bros
- by canon Lloyd and Kratos are wandering mercenaries, helping people on the sly while gathering intel to send back to the Renegades
- Yuan and Zelos are actively building resistance to the Church using inside knowledge
- the ninja are all Renegades
- Colette is escorted by Raine and by the priests
- yes the 'chain up the Chosen and drag her to every seal if necessary' priests
- she meets Lloyd randomly in Triet but Lloyd doesn't know her as the Chosen. they're a bit out of touch on the Journey of Regen timeline
- stuff happens and they keep missing each other up until Palmacosta, which is a warzone between the Desians (and Dorr as their figurehead) and the Renegades (with Neil as their leader)
- Colette wants to help; priests say no
- out come the chains
- Raine objects, but she has no exsphere so what can she do
- btw Genis got caught in the Iselian ranch and tossed in as a traitor to be made a host
- he gets sent to the Palmacosta ranch
- right after Neil manages to take the city, after Colette and Raine leave it, Botta takes the Palmacosta ranch and rescues Genis, among others
- Genis becomes his little shadow and is much preferable to Lloyd, in Botta's opinion
- Lloyd and Kratos are still trying to catch up to Colette to rescue her when they drop by
- Genis hears what they're trying to do and insists on coming along.
scenarios
scenario one: in which Yuan accidentally adopts a Chosen instead of a book from a library.
scenario two: in which Yuan is accidentally-deliberately adopted by the Meltokio Castle Knights.
MEover
- Mass Effect crossover someplace in the realm of 15,000 years after TOS canon
- except started before then, cos elves are really from Feros, planet of the cranky telepathic plant
- got decimated by the protheans trying to assimilate them into their empire
- elves objected, got killed a lot, fled Feros and got stuck in Aselia's orbit
- kinda forgot a few things but planted a seed from the Ferosian mother plant on Aselia
- Origin hasn't forgotten tho, kinda has a grudge against grumblegrumbleprotheansgrumble
- the entirety of TOS happened, and then some
- Kratos, Yuan, Lloyd, Colette and Zelos are the only ones left, but tis okay, they have each other
- somethingsomething natural space disaster, Aselia is destroyed but they manage to move Yggdrasill onto Derris-Kharlan and do a quarian by becoming a roaming ship
- mana is a variant of eezo lbr
- Derris-Kharlan's too big to use the mass relays, but c'mon it generates its own mass effect field so they develop tech to do hops on their own
- they're in no hurry tho, i mean lbr primarily angelic, elf and half-elf population
- so they're just bumming around their local clusters doing thorough investigations on all the things
- so much eezo on their ship
- so much
- suddenly the Normandy running from a reapers comes along to hide behind them
- reapers start shooting
- everyone on Derris-Kharlan objects
- JUDGEMENT IN SPACE
- so much profit and judging of reapers.
scenarios
None yet.
origin
- Kratos tells Lloyd the dad thing in Triet
- dad and son feelings ensue
- they culminate at the Tower of Salvation in Kratos stabbing Yggdrasill in the back
- unfortunately he does not quite die but impales Kratos against a wall and goes berserk on the Chosen party to the point of Yuan stepping in to help
- that is, by threatening to stab Kratos in the back while he's vulnerable (with Kratos's permission)
- Yggdrasill calls his bluff and fails, and Yuan does the thing
- while Yggdrasill is distracted the Chosen's group nail him but good and he retreats
- luckily while heart-stabbing happened, Kratos's cruxis crystal is still intact, and between Raine's healing and Yuan's mana transfusion he survives long enough to be taken to the Triet base and a refresher
- stuff happens in some fashion or other up until opening Origin's seal
- as it turns out, the mana tranfusion has fused the lock, so to speak, and Kratos can't unlock the seal even voluntarily
- only way to get Origin out at this point is to let him fuse with Kratos, so Kratos becomes Origin
- stipulation of this: Kratos refuses to let go of his humanity
- luckily Yuan already has a literal bond with him thanks to the mana transfusion, so with him as his summoner Kratos can keep his humanity, and only use Origin's powers when Yuan summons them
- commitment like woah for a literal eternity
- but hey, they messed up but good and it's the only way they can reunite the worlds.
scenarios
none yet.
reversal
~ 2000 years in, Kratos and Yuan conspire to kill Mithos and succeed, sorta
- he's stuck inside his exsphere, possessing people
- but he manages to survive and while Kratos and Yuan claim Derris-Kharlan for their base, he takes most of the angels as 'fallen', as well as the Eternal Sword
- most of his bases are hidden behind dimensional slips created by the sword - Iselia included
- Origin refuses to trust either Kratos or Yuan with the job, anyhow, and they don't have a summoner
- instead they're forced to fight Cruxis, embroiling the worlds in an angelic war between Cruxis and the new organisation of Chayim
- the Chosen bloodlines are more important to Cruxis than Chayim, but Mithos seals the seals so only the Chosen bloodline can flip the mana switch. Kratos and Yuan need someone to do that until they can reunite them, so the Journey remains an institution, just without compulsory death at the end
- there is angelification tho, if only so Chayim gets more soldiers and so the Chosen can defend themselves against Cruxis
- Kratos sends Anna and Lloyd to Iselia, because even though enemy territory, it's the safest place there is for them
- Anna get word to Kratos that the Desians are using Iselia as a long-term cruxis crystal cultivation location, and that the sword is held there
- her spy succeeds but is intercepted, and Mithos locks down the dimensional slip to prevent exit and access by angels for ~15 years
- Lloyd grows up in a town with a heavy half-elf population and believing he's training to help the good guys
- he has his own cruxis crystal as a host, but doesn't tell his mother due to the faith-based propaganda encouraging hosts not to bring it up or risk the powers not taking
- he wants to help though, so he steals a key-crest to ensure he can fight
- Yuan and Kratos plan to assault the town and shrine but Mithos uses the sword to interrupt travel between worlds, keeping Yuan in Tethe'alla and forcing Kratos to attack Iselia alone.
scenarios
scenario one: Iselia is attacked by Chayim to claim the sword, with the sword already gone
titans
- Yggdrasill captures Kratos before Kvar finds Anna and Lloyd, but after Kratos makes an Eternal Ring
- Yuan figures hell no and raises the Renegades to try and take Derris-Kharlan, rescue Kratos and solve the split-world problem
- the attack fails. a lot.
- Renegades are wiped out, Kratos is still in Cruxis's hands, but Yuan manages to escape with the Eternal Ring
- Cruxis follows him to Triet base, which gets destroyed and the few remaining Renegades scatter
- Botta is still around tho, helping out how he can
- mostly Yuan just goes searching for Lloyd and Anna
- doesn't manage to find them before Kvar does tho, and Kratos hears from Yggdrasill that they're dead
- this is slightly inaccurate, cos Lloyd still winds up rescued by Dirk in Iselia
- where Yuan eventually finds him, not knowing that he's 'supposed' to be dead
- so Yuan settles in Iselia for a bit to watch Lloyd and the Chosen
- cuts and dyes his hair, the whole shebang
- learns how to carpentry, invents a new use of magic
- winds up being Genis's role model just because scholar and magic-user and half-elf who can pass but also takes no shit from people
- is one of Colette's companions on the Journey when it starts
- he's been challenging their understanding of the Church's institution this whole time lbr
- Sheena is still a thing because the ninja have taken over the Tethe'allan base, which has survived, somewhat
- a grilling ensues
- sometime just after the Asgard Ranch Yuan does have to drop the bombshell
- about how the Journey is just a front, he and his bestie are angels, btw his bestie is Lloyd's dad
- how they're out to topple the institution of religion
- forget sacrificing Colette for the Regeneration, when they get to the seal they can do that without anyone dying
- and then move straight on to rescuing Kratos in Derris-Kharlan
- then they get to the Tower and realise Yggdrasill has Kratos under a Prometheusesque punishment a la 'impaled on the Eternal Sword to suffer the Seed's pain and watch the Chosen get murdered'
- luckily this does not happen, as they manage to rescue him and escape Yggdrasill instead, barely
- retreat to Botta's hiding-place in Asgard so Kratos can recover
- and also find out that Lloyd is actually alive
- the Chosen group goes around to make as many pacts as they can while in Sylvarant
- they get up to Aska when Yggdrasill sends his angels to attack Asgard
- cue Yuan and Kratos being unstoppable battle gods together
scenarios
scenario one: in which Yuan leads the Chosen's party to the Tower of Salvation to dismantle all the traditions ever, and find Kratos waiting for them in serious need of a rescue.
scenario two: in which being in safety reveals that Kratos is not precisely unscathed, but he's doing his best.
scenario three: in which Kratos is emphatically not okay, but with Yuan's help, could be.
no subject
[On another level entirely, less existential and more the present moment, she is terrified. Iselia was supposed to be safe. And it is, mostly, though there is something wrong she cannot quite track, and honestly dares not look too closely at. Keeping her brother safe is paramount.]
[So she tries not to show her fear when she has a room full of students looking to her, including Genis and Colette. Encourages them to be quiet, and calm, and not to look out the windows though Raine herself is doing so.]
[The second shot would have hit them, but then an angel is blown through the wall instead.]
[On instinct Raine puts herself between the new entrance to the building and her students, as though she will be much obstacle to an angel. She can't tell this one's allegiance, although-- he did protect them.]
[All the same, Raine isn't moving, her staff in hand and her posture defensive. Behind her, one of the youngest students is crying, too overwhelmed with everything that's happening.]
Why are you here?
[Her voice doesn't shake, which feels like a minor miracle right now.]
no subject
[With a grimace Kratos yanks it out, doesn't feel it except in the grind against his ribs; pours green mana into his hand, light shining around his feet, as he closes the wound.
[The half-elf's even voice is very nearly a surprise, and the fact she thinks to put herself between him and -- he sees children, and books, and desks. This is a schoolhouse? The Desians targetted a schoolhouse?!]
You have to leave.
[His voice is slightly raw from shouting, from something approaching weariness, even for him.]
They'd raze the town and everyone in it before they let us take it. If you value your lives -- you'll leave with us.
[Or with the soldiers holding the retreat, at least. Kratos isn't leaving until he's taken the shrine.]
no subject
[The fact his first concern is for their lives says a lot, frankly; but even so, Raine doesn't know him, and she has children to protect. He might be their best hope, or he might be something worse.]
--Who are you? Who do you mean by 'they'? This town is meant to be protected-- the Chosen's--
[Raine cuts herself off. If people are here looking for the Chosen, then she needs to not give away that she is among the students here; but Colette's soft gasp and the way Genis and half the younger children automatically look to her will tell the tales Raine doesn't.]
no subject
[He wants to follow up on that comment, the one about the older boys -- but --]
Damn it!
[He calls telepathically for some of his guards, two for the Chosen and then one for every two of the students -- and the teacher -- and looks back at the latter.]
I've called for guards. They'll defend her out, and the rest of you, if you follow -- but you have to hurry. The cannons will be able to fire again soon, and they won't care about the Chosen.
[That was the only saving grace; the cannons' recharge time.]
no subject
[That's Genis, sounding worried, which is not unwarranted. Raine glances back. She can't be sure of this man, but the way he reacts--]
[And perhaps something about his eyes--]
[Dithering will have the same result. At least this angel wants to protect them. Raine looks at him and nods once, sharply.]
All right. My other students-- I don't know where they've gone exactly, but I'm sure they're in danger. They're children.
[There is some irony in this, coming from a woman who is barely into her twenties herself. But she beckons to the children, and they come; some with Colette's urging, some when Genis nudges them. They're trying to stay strong, which Raine appreciates even as she wishes it wasn't necessary.]
no subject
I'll escort you out. Stay close -- keep low.
[He adjusts his grip on the sword and steps through the hole, keeping an eye out for Desians -- and one on the mana cannons. He covers the avenue out while the teacher -- Raine -- ushers her students along the schoolhouse's wall toward the south. There's flashes of artes and the ring of steel just across the way, but before Kratos can start toward them -- or decide whether the distance is too far to risk -- the last of the Desians fall and Anna appears from behind them.
[She's holding a bloodied spear and the dented lid of a pot, but she's upright and looks unharmed, and Kratos exhales a breath of relief.]
Anna!
[She turns her head from glancing behind her at the string of villagers she's leading toward the south of the village. She looks older than he remembers -- there's grey in her hair and the sight of it makes his chest clench. But then she smiles, and the grey hair doesn't matter.
[The mana cannon does, and Kratos feels the fizzle of its charge amassing.]
Stay back against the wall!
[This is shouted to Anna, to Raine, to the children. The first cannon-blast strikes a building two lanes away, not a threat except for debris; but the second is aimed somewhere in the street between, near enough to catch both parties in its shockwave. Kratos's wings blur and he rushes forward, feet braced against the ground, sword raised amidst the green glow of the Guardian.
[This blow jars him body and soul, and his wings flicker for an instant before returning in a bursting crackle of fragmented blue light and filaments of lightning.]
no subject
[There is precious little time to observe and analyze everything, not while Raine is keeping her students together and trying to find the direction from which a threat might come next, determined to put herself between her students and danger.]
[So she notes any number of things -- the spear, the way Anna smiles, the change in bearing this new angel demonstrates almost immediately -- and has nothing to do with them but file them away, because next there is shouting, and mana gathering in the air, and Genis when she glances back looks almost as sick as Raine feels. She presses them all back in a hurry, determined that she at least can do this.]
[She does know how to muster a force field. It isn't much, but it's something more between the children and danger. Raine braces herself and all of them for impact.]
[Colette gasps, when the air clears enough to see the angel again. Raine straightens up, and looks between him and Anna. What does taking two blows like that do to a person, even an angel?]
--Are you all right?
no subject
I'm fine.
[Angels wing overhead, grey-feathered, securing the streets north. One of the healers stops to hover over him and throw a Healing Circle, and at once his mana comes more smoothly; he gets to his feet and waves the healer on, and turns toward the captain landing by him.]
Lord Kratos!
[Kratos nods toward Colette in lieu of returning the salute.]
That girl is the Chosen. She and her classmates need to be escorted to the evacuation point. Under no circumstances let her be killed or taken by Cruxis.
[He turns as Anna runs toward them, angels behind her guiding the line of frightened townsfolk south (all human, he notes absently). Anna speaks first, urgently, and not to him.]
Raine! Where's Lloyd?
no subject
[The rest of her is significantly more focused on the current problem. She shakes her head at Anna, mouth drawn down, apologetic.]
I'm sorry-- I couldn't stop him. He and some of the others went to the temple to fight.
[Raine is just as worried for them as she is for her students here; but at least there are guards, now.]
[Colette stands up straighter as her role is referenced, determined to be strong, and faces Kratos, then the landing captain.]
Um-- thank you.
no subject
To fight --
[Anna steps forward, pressing her hand to his chest, her spear in the other.]
Kratos. Listen. I think he's been given a cruxis crystal. He's been working at the factory with other young men who've been given them under false pretenses -- and he wants so badly to fight, to protect others ... like his father.
[Her voices softens at the last, and all Kratos can do is shake his head and try to orient his thinking. This is no time to start losing focus, even though the thought of Lloyd as a crystal's host makes him feel hollow with dread.]
He and the rest of the young human men from the village will be the first line past the village -- Cruxis will use them as fodder to slow us down. They know we're trying to avoid killing the innocent.
[Kratos glances toward the northern gate, his mouth a grim line.]
Will he recognise me?
[Anna's response is swift and firm.]
Yes. I've shown him pictures.
[And yet, he might not be convinced -- the images he's seen of Kratos would in no way match the angel, and Lloyd was all of a year old the last time they saw each other. Someone more familiar would help; but not Anna. Anna knows Chayim and how they work, and she'll be needed to keep the villagers calm as they evacuate. Instead Kratos looks at Raine.]
Raine, is it? You're coming with me.
no subject
[Why does Kratos want her with him? She's hardly going to be much use in combat. Unless--]
You need someone the remaining young people of this village will trust, correct?
[Raine nods.]
I need your guards to protect my students, then. Without hesitation. They're children -- they shouldn't be part of this.
[Genis, meanwhile, has noted this going on, and objects.]
Raine--! I'm coming with you.
[He heads toward them, small and intent, and Raine shakes her head even as he does.]
No, Genis. I need to be sure you're safe, too. [A pause. Hesitantly, appealing to the part of him that strives to be a responsible adult:] Can you look after everyone else for me? Colette, too?
[Genis hugs her anyway, arms around her waist and face buried in her jacket like he might never see her again. Which, in all fairness, is a genuine risk here. Raine bows her head just for a moment, ruffling his hair, before Genis masters himself and pulls away.]
...Okay. [At Kratos, with all the furious gravity he has:] You'd better look after her.
[With Genis heading back to Colette, Raine gets a hold of herself, as well, and nods to Kratos, then to Anna.]
no subject
[It's a promise Kratos doesn't take lightly, either to Genis or to Raine, but he can't help but glance northward -- where Lloyd, even now, might be fighting his own people; where the mana cannons are even now charging, and must nearly be finished. The angels are already herding the children toward the south.
[Kratos turns back to Anna, reaching up to swiftly pull a necklace off; he steps forward, pushing it into her hands, kissing her on the forehead.]
Don't die before me.
[She takes the necklace, smiling into his collarbone, and steps back with the crystal on the end of the chain glowing.]
Not planning on it.
[Kratos is already turning away to run northward. Light shines across the ground, and behind him Anna's wings bloom in facets of gold light, her voice strengthened by threads of mana.]
Hurry, everyone. Before the cannons sound.
no subject
[But Raine nods, and takes up her staff, prepared at least to hit someone in the kneecaps with it if nothing else. The children fall into line, though Genis not without one or two last glances back in Raine's direction.]
[Watching Kratos and Anna seems somehow too personal; but Raine can't quite look away as light blooms behind Anna. That-- certainly wasn't something she knew about Lloyd's mother. She holds her questions for now, given how very time-sensitive the situation is, and she follows Kratos.]
What are you planning to do?
no subject
[He answers, but shortly, concentrating on reading his surroundings and listening to Anna, in the back of his head, pushing information about the woods and the shrine at him with more in the sense of images than words.]
We need to get the young men to stop fighting. My angels can't fly to the shrine as long as those cannons are firing -- but they're stalled as long as they have to fight innocents on the ground.
[It had been one of his leading orders: avoid killing the villagers.]
no subject
That may be difficult, since they believe they are protecting the village and its people.
[Which she supposes is where she comes in; but even then, Raine isn't completely certain of the sway she'll have. She frowns, but holds her tongue, following Kratos through the rapidly worsening village.]
[What must their home look like...? No. She can't think about that right now, either. At least Kratos seems to be trying his best to avoid collateral damage, and is prioritizing people. That, too, says something about him.]
no subject
[A familiar face, one in a position of authority, would give them pause -- Kratos hopes.
[They move down a street, Kratos's gaze busy taking in the surrounds, checking for threats. There's an angel grappling with a Desian across the way; light pools around Kratos's feet, mana swiftly gathering, and very nearly lazily he flicks his sword as they move past. The ground erupts under the hapless Desian's feet and the angel launches herself upward, freed from the engagement; she salutes and peels off, diving down into the village elsewhere.]
Lloyd should recognise me; but he's never met me. He may think I'm a trick.
[There's nothing in Kratos's tone which indicates he paused to take a life, even as they leave the body broken on jutting rock behind.]
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[She stops, hesitating, for the barest of moments when Kratos casts. Most people would need to stop even for a little while. Most people would not be so casual about it.]
[But: that Desian soldier would not have cared for the innocent lives in the village, would he? Raine looks away from the rock -- grave has never been so appropriate a name for an arte -- and picks up her pace after Kratos once more.]
Yes, that seems... more likely than is optimal.
[He might have been better off with Genis, if that's the case, given how close Lloyd and Genis often seem to be, but-- no. Raine isn't about to allow Genis into that kind of danger. She will manage.]
With any luck, all of them will be willing to listen to me. Do you know where you're going?
[A little late to ask it, but Kratos has been moving like he knows the area. Raine isn't sure how.]
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[This moment is the second. He doesn't even falter to see why Raine has.]
Yes. Anna told me. There's fighting just past the gate.
[The brisk knowledge Anna has given him is direction enough; but he can sense the mana, and they're approaching the gate even now. The fence has partly broken, but past the timber Kratos can see the movement of combat. It's a squad of his angels engaged with a dozen young men around hastily built barricades -- humans, but all with crystals, and all with that particular spin of unmanaged mana -- except one.
[Lloyd's dual blades flash toward one of the angels whose guard is open from defending against another of the young men. Kratos's wings flash and he's there in an instant, blocking that strike without retaliation. Lloyd spins off it and comes back for another, and only then does he see Kratos's face. His eyes widen as Kratos blocks again, and this time Lloyd doesn't follow through.]
Please put down your weapons.
[Kratos speaks low, but forceful -- carrying enough on mana and breeze to be heard over the clash of steel across the path. A few of the young men falter. Not all of them do.]
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[--and then, too fast for her to even say anything, Lloyd and Kratos have their blades crossed. Raine recovers her equilibrium and steps forward, snapping automatically.]
That's enough.
[It is precisely the tone of voice she would use for someone caught sleeping in class. Lloyd gets a stern look, though he's hardly paying attention to Raine; the others who have not yet lowered their weapons get the same in quick succession.]
The village is being evacuated. The angels are not here to harm us.
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[It's just as well he has certain physicalities turned off, or he might well fall into a mess right here and now.
[As it is, he isn't sure what his face looks like; and he doesn't dare move. But after a second Lloyd draws back to pull his swords away, and his emotions are written large across his face -- suspicion, hope, mingled fear and uncertainty and a special kind of awe.]
Dad?
[Kratos exhales slowly, and only then shifts to sheathe his own sword for the first time that day. He steps forward, once and slowly, as if Lloyd will break for the trees if Kratos moves too suddenly. Lloyd doesn't. After another step Kratos grips his shoulders to look down at him; when he speaks, his voice is rough, and yes, there is a blazing kind of joy in his face.]
Lloyd. My son.
[The rest of the young men, he has no attention for -- but their faces register their shock, their uncertainty, and the shift, in some of them, to pull away from the rest, as if Lloyd is suddenly someone they cannot know. None of them attack again, however -- yet. The angels are watching.]
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[She looks away from them, and taps her staff on the ground, as though to call the attention of the other young men back to her.]
Use your minds, all of you. My companion has already shielded several of us at cost to himself, and none of you have come to harm. The primary destruction is coming from Cruxis. If you cannot trust that much, then trust that I would not ask you to lay down your weapons without good reason.
[Raine hopes. Their trust in her is why Kratos wanted her with him in the first place; it's almost all she has to trade on. But she knows these boys, has taught them over the years, and they should remember at least some of what she has said about observation and logical reasoning.]
[Should.]
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[My dad's an angel.
[Before, he'd looked forbidding, with the light of his wings casting his face into stark lines; and even though now he's not exactly soft, the look on his face is so far from forbidding that it puts a lump in Lloyd's throat and makes his eyes blur.
[My dad's an angel.
[Lloyd does hear Raine, and almost reflexively he drops his swords, but he can't quite move to do anything else.
[Around him, the other young men exchange uneasy glances, but the majority of them also move to disarm; either because they trust Raine, or because Raine's teachings about logical reasoning have sunk in. But a few don't, and these are the ones whose mana is most out of whack, standing with hard defiance and blank eyes.
[It's that which makes Kratos look up, sharply, before one of them lunges at Raine without so much as a tell; but they are not alone, and there are angels there to intercept.]
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[Have things been this terribly wrong all along, and she just didn't notice? She's frozen for a few moments, simply staring, trying to reconcile everything that's happening.]
Everyone, please--
[They aren't going to listen to her, are they, if they haven't already. Raine plants her staff solidly on the ground, takes a breath, and looks to Kratos. Surely he has some plan for what to do from here.]
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Please. Wait.
[The angels take the boys down without undue injury, wrestling them to the ground; the rest of them, even with hands on weapons and blades drawn, hesitate to attack again in light of that. Some of them look murderous, though, and Kratos doubts that this will be enough -- but then Lloyd finds his voice.]
Guys -- he's right. Something's wrong. Aden likes Professor Sage just the same as the rest of us. Why'd he do that? Is he okay?
[This last is to Raine directly. After all, she's the healer. She'd be able to tell if something's wrong.]
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[At Lloyd's question she shakes herself, comes forward to the nearest angel who's holding one of the boys.]
I'm-- not sure. Give me a moment.
[She nods to the angel, who returns the gesture peremptorily, without any real emotion but the intent to continue restraining the boy. Raine forces herself to focus on him first -- Aden, of course, who was closest by virtue of having attacked her the first. His eyes are curiously blank, and when she bends her senses to him more thoroughly he doesn't feel right on the level of his mana.]
...I believe there's something wrong with his mana circulation. To answer your question, Lloyd-- no. He isn't okay.
[And Raine isn't entirely sure what to do about it. She's let her students down.]
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