a thing; w/ ruinsprofessor & conductingresistance

[simulsimul]

universe list
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 lightning and light can totally become a laserbeam amirite
- 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.

Comments

[simulsimul]

The way he spoke ... he didn't seem surprised by it.

[It's very nearly a mumble, because while Kratos's mind is still somewhat engaged, his body is quickly becoming relaxed-heavy.]

Perhaps -- humans have always had alignments, and simply never knew. But that mana ...

[It's more pronounced, now? Kratos's brow furrows and he stirs a little, his eyes flickering without opening. When he thinks on it like this, with his eyes closed and the memory fresh, he can feel that cascading drum in the core of him.]

... I've never seen mana like that before.

[And this is a whisper. He's seen mana, mostly through Yuan spinning new artes, still unformed; but not like that.]

[conductingresistance]

[...Kratos is going to fall asleep on Yuan if he doesn't do something about this, isn't he.]

[Yuan does absolutely nothing about this.]

I suspect it is hard to surprise an earth spirit with earth.

[Said thoughtfully, as Yuan turns things over in his head.]

And you wouldn't have. For mana to be visible without any intervention, it must be very, very concentrated. Where you were is likely the purest, closest concentration of earth mana on this continent, if not our entire world.

[This last is judged by the fact that Gnome is here, not anywhere else. There is some very faint temptation, to see, to ask, to-- anything-- but no. Gnome said no visitors, and Yuan would be missed and gain nothing from it besides. Earth is not his strength. Still. Mana like that...]

[It must have been something.]

[simulsimul]

It was light, but it wasn't --

[Kratos's hand lifts slightly, as if he can somehow sketch it.]

There was no light in it, and yet it was -- brighter than anything around it. As if the surrounds were made more by its presence ... and it pulled everything toward it.

[How could something illuminate without being at least some portion of light? And yet.]

[conductingresistance]

[Instantly Yuan finds himself more affectionate. How, he can barely say; but there is something of Kratos's wonder which touches his own.]

Yes. That is how it is; mana is the truth and essence of the world. What you saw was truly earth. No less.

[There is some of that wonder about Yuan's voice, as well. Unconsciously he is leaning just a touch toward Kratos in turn, as though drawn by that same force. They may, perhaps, hold each other up.]

It is something few humans may observe.

[simulsimul]

I am ...

[What he is, Kratos doesn't know. There's half formed thoughts there; the musing that if he hadn't been in this position, slave to this man, then he may never have seen the wonder he did today. That he had never known, truly, the beauty and gravity of that which underpins the world. That he must surely be blessed.]

... I wish. I could feel it again. All the time.

[Sleepily wistful, not really thinking of the fact there must be drawbacks; but to be able to sense and manipulate that which enlivens the world ... surely. Surely there's artistry and fable to this.]

[conductingresistance]

If I could show you properly, I would.

[A low murmur of a promise. But Yuan has no idea how to show someone what mana is, how it feels to touch the pulse of the world.]

[Somehow his arm has slipped behind Kratos. Not really an embrace; but bracing him, making sure he doesn't slip front or back. That is all it is.]

Perhaps there will be a day you may see its like again.

[If Gnome has identified Kratos as his... Yuan is no great student of spirits, but he suspects Gnome wouldn't be averse to seeing Kratos again. In the future.]

[simulsimul]

[If anything, it encourages Kratos to lean into the crook of Yuan's shoulder and arm, sinking against him fully, such that Yuan has all his weight.]

Good.

[It's a contented mumble of a response, too sleepy to really be of thought; but there is the foggy reflection that there is a way, if he could only remember it ...

[But he won't get to do so tonight, because now he's asleep, and between the effect of the mana which had been around him, and the numerous tumbles, he's sleeping deeply.]

[conductingresistance]

[Kratos had fallen asleep on him before, of course, that night before, when they were both overwhelmed and emotional; but this feels different. It isn't emotional exhaustion, not really, and Yuan is more than conscious enough to watch it happening.]

[He's trusted this much. With Kratos unconscious Yuan is free to give him all the wondering looks in the world, and for no small amount of time he does just that, only observing. This does not happen; only now he has incontrovertible proof that it does, at least once.]

[And it is... nice.]

[Yuan stays there longer than he really should before slipping free, lowering Kratos to horizontal, and getting up to keep keeping on. Still: that side particularly feels warm all the evening long.]

[The rain keeps up for some time, which is probably for the best given they've some recuperating to do. Twisted ankles, mostly; one or two broken bones. Kratos's bruising. Yuan oversees everything, stalking the camp narrow-eyed when it seems troops are getting restless. He'll organize a quiet spar or two before he lets them wander further, and the excuse given is always that they don't know how far this cave system may go, they may get lost or injured or the ground may be unsteady--]

[There are some for whom this excuse carries less water. These are the ones who saw Kratos lifted out of the dark by the earth itself. Yuan does not know what to say to them, and so mostly avoids talking about it; but those are the soldiers who barely question the orders at all.]

[All the same it's a couple of days before they get moving again. Yuan judges this wisest, and by the time everyone is in motion again they are healthier and better rested, even if supplies are a bit lower than they were. Some hunting, at least, may potentially be done on the way. And it's good to have fresh air again, even that particular dampness that sometimes hangs in the air after rain. Yuan lifts his face to the sky simply to appreciate it for several moments.]

[And as they go, he checks Kratos's presence more often than he would have before. It isn't much -- quick flickers of glances, here and there, only enough to lay eyes on Kratos's distinctive auburn and then back to the path again. But the thought of not finding him -- it wells up no small amount of panic. Yuan will make sure he's with the unit.]

[simulsimul]

[Kratos is never far away, as much for his own sake as to assuage Yuan's difficulty. He spent most of the time bedbound, where he wasn't pushing limits to do some basic chores so Yuan wouldn't have to. And trying to remember anything more about the person who had pushed him, watching soldiers carefully for any ring of familiarity.

[By the time they leave he is slow on his feet, but has pointed out to the healers some easy-to-reach fungi which Tethe'allans have used as salves and in medicine. Not that they used them right away ... but they were at least collected and prepared, and held just in case. Kratos had no compunctions about using them on his own bruises.

[The fresh air is, unexpectedly, less refreshing that Kratos remembers it being; indeed, he turns a little yearningly back toward the cave before moving stoically on. Staying there had been advantageous for more than one reason; on emerging, there's a track which leads up and over the mountain, neatly avoiding the spring about which Kratos had been concerned.

[It syncs up where they would have been led over the first ford, if not for the lethal trap there; and this mountain drops unexpectedly to floodplains, narrow and low-lying, and joining the south with the north. There are farms here, Kratos remembers; or there were. They see no one, nor any livestock, and any crops have been long-since harvested or left.

[It's soggy work, but less than it had been on the delta; it slows them nevertheless, and no few soldiers glance nervously behind, remembering ambushes. No one likes having an enemy combatant at their backs; but Kratos's fierce pride in his people's perseverance is tempered by guilt.]

[conductingresistance]

[Past a certain point it's easy enough to find the track; but Yuan still keeps checking on Kratos, for one reason or another.]

[It's not his most sensible turn of mind. Kratos may be lamed, but he is yet capable. Even before the brace. Yuan is... being ridiculous.]

[And yet: he keeps making sure he knows where Kratos is.]

[Slogs through mud and wet are more tolerable when they're not being poured on, and more tolerable still when there is not an immediate threat of flood. Ambush, well. They're just going to have to live with that one. There's a prickling between his shoulders which Yuan can't identify. It might be a genuine weight of observation; it might only be fear. He exercises reasonable caution and presses ahead anyway.]

[This is all he can do: the best he has.]

[All the same, he sleeps lightly and warily.]

[There is some little bit of scouting across the plains, where there were farms; but they do not range too far, and nothing turns up. The weather seems, at least to Yuan, to have grown slightly chillier; resources may begin to be a problem before too long. Not immediately: but their delay and detour did have some cost.]

[Yuan does ask Kratos to keep an eye out for any useful local resources. It's a fine line, he thinks, but probably acceptable.]

[simulsimul]

[There are mountains in the distance, at least, rising far higher than the one over Gnome had and gowned with forest. It doesn't seem to move any closer, but for the regiment, it provides something to aim for. Even if most of them are assuming to go around it. Kratos keeps to himself the fact that they will probably have to climb it.

[But: he's not sure where the front lines are, save possibly behind them or to the north-east, where the landmass joins with the Toize Range. ... It's possible they're meant to be a pincer. He isn't sure; and when he realises he's trying to figure out the strategy, he almost asks Yuan, before realising that he cannot.

[He is still, in some way, their enemy. Even if Yuan does not inhabit that spot.

[The ground gets sturdier again, and chillier still, and Kratos's leg grows prone to stiffness. Vanaheim had been temperate. Kratos had not spent much time this far north, save for training in blizzards and in Flanoir. How far north have the Tethe'allan troops retreated? Has Flanoir become their new stronghold? Sylvarant isn't unaccustomed to winters, but surely they have no lands so full of uncompromising cold and ice.

[These thoughts occupy his mind enough that there are times when he wakes in the night, head too full to sleep, and watches Yuan instead. There's one or more instances where he's tempted to wake Yuan for discussion -- but he cannot. It's a hard reminder to ply.

[There is at least once, after they reach the base of the mountain and it's time to choose which way around it they'll go, when Kratos slips out in the night, hugging his coat to him so he can go and look up at the mountain, looming darkly over them. He'd been to the top of it, once; for altitude training. There were many more settlements up there than he'd thought possible, at the time; and this surely is where the majority of the army is, laying in crevasses Sylvarant may not be able to reach. Skyships would surely be important, then ... if so, perhaps the Sylvaranti way of outlining their ships would help after all --

[Kratos shakes his head. He has no way to offer such information, even if a traitorous doubt weren't seeded. He doesn't immediately return, in favour of thinking and walking, such as he can, and contemplating the mountain until dawn.]

[conductingresistance]

[Chills set in earnestly. It is good, Yuan thinks, they thought to have that heatpack for Kratos; otherwise he might have a harder time yet.]

[He has concerns about the mountains. These, too, are good ambush points. Tethe'allans will know the terrain, even if Sylvaranti know mountains. Well. Sylvaranti know their mountains. They know cliffs and uncompromising winds. These mountains are things of ice.]

[And Yuan worries, not least because if someone intends to push Kratos again, these may be more permanent places to do it; and oh, what a loss it would be.]

[So there is a time when he wakes in the night, and Kratos isn't there, and panic lights him up like a bolt hitting a tree. He is out of the tent in bare moments, and-- ah. Kratos. Kratos is there. Yuan is overreacting.]

[He breathes, and steadies himself, and watches Kratos's back. There is after a moment a brief lifting of his voice, only to say:]

Don't wander too far.

[Please is twined under it, but not voiced.]

[And then, reluctantly, Yuan retreats to sleep further, for he'll need it for the coming day; but it does not come easily, nor does it stay well, not with a fear that refuses to be laid to rest drumming insistently even into his dreams.]

[simulsimul]

[Kratos turns at the sudden almost-eruption of person from tent, and catches for a moment fear easing into relief. But he's too deep in mind to actually muster a response before Yuan ducks back in; and then he stares wordlessly at the tent-entrance.

[Now Kratos's thoughts are fixed on Yuan; and though he's out there a little while longer, eventually, well before dawn on this occasion, he heads back inside. And immediately sees Yuan's restlessness. There is a bare moment of hesitation; but then Kratos moves closer, his step that uneven thud. Sleeping with boots on is necessary hereabouts, but he will take the edge of Yuan's blanket to roll under it, the way he had on the skyship, except for the fact that this is not at all solicited.

[Not solicited, except in ways unspoken.]

[conductingresistance]

[Sound and mana signature are both familiar to him. Yuan rouses only vaguely, one green eye slitting open to see, to confirm what the rest of his senses tell him; then he subsides easily. Kratos. That is all, and that is enough.]

[There is a half-asleep adjustment to allow for Kratos's presence, and it involves an arm draped casually over him.]

[And just like that Yuan eases. Kratos is warm, and Kratos is present and not lost, not shoved down a cliff or freezing somewhere. Yuan is not alone.]

[He sleeps better than he has in a week, and is almost reluctant to rise even though he logically knows needs must.]

[Even once it sinks in that he has cuddled up to Kratos more than he meant to, Yuan still... doesn't quite want to rise. Very, very softly:]

Thank you.

[For he had been dreaming -- badly. And then he was not. And the difference is tangible.]

[simulsimul]

[There. Better. Kratos lets out a sigh of his own, snuggling up to the warmth. He's not at all used to this kind of cold, not after only one winter -- half a winter -- in Nidavellir. It feels as if it seeps into him, these days; only not now, with multiple layers of blankets and Yuan there also, warmer even than another human.

[It helps stave off those questions, those wonderings; and so it is that Kratos, too, sleeps better than he had. He's only half awake, drifting sleepily, such that the gratitude may have been dreamed.

[But ... Kratos is fairly sure it wasn't. He's too sleepy, still, to find words; but his hand finds the one flung across him, and twines fingers together, and squeezes.

[And then he contemplates, with that far-away drift, that he should probably makes some effort to actually wake up properly. Damn it all. After a moment, Kratos stirs to rise.]

[conductingresistance]

[It is much better. Such that a sleepy-minded Yuan can barely think why he'd argued against this; obviously this was a superior plan of action all along.]

[Automatically, without thinking, he squeezes back.]

[But then Kratos is stirring, and Yuan is sure he should stir too, and the slow disentangling of the morning proceeds, and he just... won't say anything about the fact one of those disentanglings is their hands. There is no room to examine it, one way or another.]

[The chill seems more chill by comparison, and yet better staved off all at once.]

[And Yuan's tendency to check for Kratos's presence does not so much disappear as it is sated, at least a little bit. But he is still restless, and still notably better off when Kratos is near him.]

[simulsimul]

[Thus Kratos remains near him. It is only logical, both for safety and owing to Kratos's added difficult in mobility; it's not a significant difference, but it's enough that logic dictates he remain nearby. Besides, Yuan's armour and boots needs more judicious upkeep, with the weather growing chill.

[... Kratos's hair suffers a little for it; Kratos cares for it as best as he can, but he does wish he could cut most of it off again, under these circumstances.

[And he continues to not ask, as the mountain draws near and the march shifts to the north-east. Even without the map he is not allowed to look at, when Yuan consults with his platoon captains and their lieutenants, Kratos can envision where they are, based on landmarks. They stay in the fields, far enough from the forest to avoid an ambush; finding water in streams and wells. That the wells are uncovered says much: that they have breached Tethe'allan lines, and that Tethe'alla cannot spare the forces to counter them. Only send warning ahead, to empty farms and burn cops. It means there is hunting but little in the way of vegetables save what they can forage, and the rice brought from Nidavellir; and, on one occasion, a silo left abandoned, the base charred where fire didn't take. Stable grains serve them well enough.

[At night, it seems less difficult to simply go to Yuan's bed first. A commander needs his sleep to lead, after all.]

[conductingresistance]

[When he can, when they have those bare moments for it, Yuan tries to convince Kratos's hair to lay at least a little bit flatter. It does not do much, in the limited time he has, and there are other things which demand his attention more vitally. But where he can, he tries.]

[And the first time Kratos is in his bed first Yuan hesitates. He casts glances at Kratos's cot, wondering to take it instead; but ultimately practicality does win out. It is warmer with Kratos in his bed, and he has noticed the difference in his quality of sleep. He doesn't know how to ask. Kratos is making it so that he doesn't have to know how.]

[This, too, Yuan is grateful for.]

[The foraging may be lean, but there are skilled hunters in his regiment. Between those meats and the barest of useful local vegetables, they are managing better than they might have. Yuan pushes them, in his estimation, no more than they can handle, and they make good time for all the little hindrances along the way.]

[They are making progress. But enemy territory wears, and constant wariness wears, and there are only so many rests that can be taken. At least, if they keep mostly to the fields, they will see any attacks coming, which is not nothing. Yuan is grateful for Kratos and good wool and good soldiers, mostly. It is the point of a deployment where he begins to miss Nidavellir's stone; where they all do, one way or another.]

[But with each chilly day they draw closer to rejoining the main force.]

[simulsimul]

[It's a strange movement. There are times when Kratos wakes up thinking he might be in his own cot, his own commander's cot, and then he feels the warmth at his back and remembers; and it at once warms him and makes his gut tighten.

[His gut has been tightening since Gnome's territory.

[Sooner or later, they're going to run across the battle; and then Kratos doesn't know what he's doing to do. He starts staying closer to the tent than he does to Yuan; at least in a tent he might be overlooked, but near Yuan he'd only be in the thick of things.

[But then fields narrow, forest leading to the edge of the inland sea separating Toize and Heimdall from the north. There aren't many options to avoid an ambush: they need to move along the shoreline, but not so closely as to become bogged. Kratos's mental estimate of the front-line keeps shifting; but surely they must strike it soon.

[Near enough. Scouts bring word of the smoke of fires, and the shine of shield and makeshift barricades. It's too far away to reach that march: but the forest meets shoreline, and they must cross it.

[This, of course, despite every effort, is when the attack comes.]

[conductingresistance]

[At least, Yuan considers, they are going into it open-eyed and ready.]

[The forest was most likely to hold an attack, and they have always known this; the Tethe'allan forces must similarly have known that they knew this, but here and now, both sides are pushed into having little option but to act, one way or another. The Swallow is in Yuan's hand almost before the first blade strikes. He has been hovering on the verge of drawing it all day.]

[And of course they are in motion, they are traveling, so Kratos has not even the safety -- and relative inconspicuousness -- of the tent to retreat to.]

[Yuan bares his teeth and keeps an eye out for Kratos. Orders are called out overhead, Sylvaranti words to camouflage intent. Close ranks, mind the horses, archers around while the main force distracts. Yuan himself is hampered only slightly by the closeness of trees; he can navigate his blade well enough, and where there is not quite enough room for a full swing he adjusts for the hitches in momentum caused by shearing branches.]

[This, he suspects, is what they were after: for this seems too much to be only a scouting force. This is pulling Tethe'allan attention from the main frontline, allowing the other Sylvaranti forces an opening. Yuan would not have chosen to hold here, but it is what he has.]

[simulsimul]

[Kratos is better off than most of those with horses; his pony is small enough to slip past, and steady enough not to bolt -- much. The effort is staying on with his leg.

[The effort is not leaping off to aid his people. No, he can't stay mounted; he's too easy a target. Instead he slides, mostly falling and aiming for a soft patch of foliage to land in. He rolls as he can, ending up in the roots of a tree, and uses that to prop himself up, gasping.

[And almost at once has to close his eyes against the sight of the Swallow cutting down one of the Tethe'allan combatants, and swallows hard against the cry of Yuan's name. If Yuan didn't defend himself, he die. How can this be fair? It isn't fair. It isn't at all, that he should find friendship in the other side and still have loyalty to his own. Even after all his thought, he had not been prepared.

[And then -- there's a voice, sonorous over dulling trees and clash of blades and thud of arrows, and Kratos's eyes snap open, his hear pounding suddenly in his throat. The voice is sonorous like his, but full of scathing fury; deep and a woman's, and coming this way.

[Oh, no. Oh, no. Kratos pushes himself to his feet, or tries; but Yuan, within sight or not, is still too far for him to reach before Bia does. She erupts out of foliage like a cannonball, snarling and braided red hair lashing through gaps in her helm, full of rage and energy with it; and fast. Faster than Kratos even before he was lamed.]

[conductingresistance]

[For once Yuan is sorry, at least a little; he is not sorry for surviving, but he regrets that he and Kratos are so torn. No matter how much joy there has been in facing each other across a battlefield-- it is inescapable, now, that these are Kratos's countrymen.]

[But Yuan has spent too long surviving to hesitate overmuch. Steadily he cuts down those who come against him, the Swallow a constant motion that nearly blurs.]

[Would that there were no war; but if there were no war, how would Yuan have been freed?]

[This is something he cannot afford to think about. With a snarl he wrenches any wistfulness away, buckles down to the fight and protecting his people, and while Kratos is one of his, the rest of Tethe'alla most markedly is not.]

[Except--]

[Except there is a voice so like Kratos's in timbre that for a moment Yuan thinks it him till he processes that it sounds a woman's. Except that there is red at the corner of his vision and a speed and vigor that puts him immediately in mind of Kratos. Kratos at his best; Kratos across the field from him.]

[Yuan turns, bringing the Swallow around, and almost immediately falters because unless he is mistaken this is an Aurion; unless he is mistaken this is Kratos's sister, the one they spoke of in Vanaheim, and he cannot kill her.]

[But if he does not kill her, she will surely kill him. There is no room to pull punches against such a skilled opponent.]

[For once Yuan's rhythm falters as it hits him how deeply he is compromised, and he only keeps himself moving by habit, not will. This is the worst place for this realization. So he fights; but it is hasty and off-balance and it feels he can barely get his feet under him.]

[simulsimul]

[Yuan is going to lose, Kratos registers. Nike he could beat once he had more experience; but Bia's fury is an encompassing thing, and Yuan's rhythm is already broken. Because of him, probably, and Kratos thought he knew terror but he doesn't. It tastes bitter in his mouth now, moving toward them as fast as he can over such uneven ground, driving him forward despite foliage lashing his face and body.

[He can't watch -- either of them -- no. He can't.

[In passing he snatches up a shield from one of those Yuan felled, slumped against tree; and the split second it takes means he misses seeing where Bia breaks his guard, and hears it only in that familiar snarl of victory.]

[conductingresistance]

[He has not fought through this much to die here--!]

[Yuan yanks the Swallow around with so much force he feels something give in his muscles, but it still won't be enough-- even the mighty weight of the blade, absent much of its momentum, only glances off, and the rebound leaves him painfully open. He tucks one arm in -- his bracer may yet deflect some force, maybe spare him some immediate death -- ]

[He knows it will not be enough.]

[And then he sees a different auburn and there is not time for anything, not at all, only one word drawn from his throat in a panicked gasp.]

No--!

[Kratos, why are you throwing yourself at this.]

[simulsimul]

[Kratos flings himself between them with shield lifted. Bia's drawn-back thrust splinters polycarbonate, sends Kratos driving back. He locks his bad knee and at least it provides an appropriate brace, even if it's stolen his versatility; he manages to stay upright, cheeks cut by shards of shield.

[Then Bia's sword pulls back and shield yanks out of his hands, and Kratos pitches forward, unable to catch himself with his bad leg back and his other already holding him.]

YOU FUCKING IDIOT.

[That particular pitch of Bia's voice is terrified fury, rather than simply the plain kind; and before Kratos hits ground he finds himself catch and hauled up and embraced, painfully hard against Bia's armoured shoulders and cognisant of the fact that her sword is still drawn, and pointed at Yuan.]