Young Kratos: Spork, what are you doing?

Holy Spork: (-Whimper-)

Kratos: ...And who the hell is that you're hugging?

Yuugi Mutou: Um... excuse me, can you let me go now?

Spork: No...

Kratos: I think I'll regret asking this... but what is up with you today?

Spork: Well... it started when I heard about an anime called 'Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni'. I heard that it was supposed to have a really good plot, so I thought it would be interesting. I knew it was bloody (though I didn't realize exactly how bloody until later), but what I didn't know before I started watching was that it was horror... But I couldn't stop watching! Even though the characters were horribly killed or tortured over and over again! I made it through all the question arcs, but then... AHHHHHHH! I don't even want to hear the word 'dissection' ever again!

Kratos: ...Huh?

Yuugi: O.O W-w-what?!

Spork: Call me a sissy all you want, but I do not like horror! That show scared the crap out of me, and that's why I'm hugging Yuugi - because he's adorable and makes me happy. So I'm not going to let Yuugi go until I can get the image of that Higurashi episode out of my head. (Or Yami comes out and Mind Crushes me... whichever comes first.)

Yuugi: ...Um...

Kratos: ...At least it's not me she's decided to torture. For once.

Spork: Shuddap. Besides, you're about as cuddly as a rabid porcupine.

Kratos: Oh, I'm so offended. (-Rolls his eyes-)

Chapter XVIII: Easily Forgotten

It was getting dark out, and Raine couldn't find Genis.

Raine found herself searching the village again, wondering if perhaps her little brother had gone with Lloyd to Dirk's house. But I don't see Sheena or Colette either, she thought, perplexed. Could they have all gone to Dirk's at once?

She began to walk towards the gate by the Iselian Forest - she would go and see if Genis was at Lloyd's home. Then she would give him an earful for making her worry -

Her thoughts were interrupted when she spotted five people coming out of the forest. It was Genis and the others. But Colette was supporting Young Kratos, and they all appeared to be tired. Or wounded.

Raine ran over to them, and her fears were quickly confirmed: they all had scratches and bruises.

"What's wrong?" Raine demanded, looking over each of her students to see how badly they were hurt. "What happened?"

"We're fine, Raine," Genis began, trying to keep his sister from fussing over him. "We're okay."

"What happened?" Raine asked again, alarmed by the state of her students. "Were you attacked by monsters?"

"We'll explain in a minute," Sheena promised. "But first we need to get Kratos someplace where he can rest."

Raine turned to look at the boy in question. His head was hung, and he had not looked up once since he and the others had returned.

"Kratos? Are you okay?" Raine began.

Kratos did nothing.

"We'll explain in a minute," Sheena said. "He's being a bit stubborn right now."

Kratos muttered darkly under his breath, but wasn't loud enough to be audible.

"Do you think you can walk now?" Colette asked him, misunderstanding him.

"Wait wait! I still don't think I can - " Kratos shouted too late. Colette let him go and he quickly lost his balance and fell over with an undignified yelp.

"Thanks for dropping me..." Kratos muttered darkly into the dirt.

"Oh... I'm sorry!" Colette stuttered, kneeling down to help him up again.

Raine sighed; they were going nowhere. "Let's head back to Colette' house. Then you can explained what happened in greater detail."

"...So Yuan said he was going to take the other Kratos back to the Renegade base and lock him up. So we left, and came back to the village."

Lloyd finished his story, unsure of how Raine would react.

They had all returned to Colette's home, and after finding Young Kratos a place to rest, they had gathered downstairs, and Lloyd began to relate to Raine what had happened in the forest.

The teacher was silent for a moment, digesting this information. It was difficult to believe - it seemed strange that it was possible for someone to be half angel when angels were an artificial race. However, she could sense they were not lying. Raine turned to look at Lloyd. "Lloyd, where is your father now?" She was talking about the older Kratos.

Lloyd shrugged. "I think he went with Yuan."

Raine considered this, but said nothing.

"Now we just wait until Kratos - the younger one - gets better," Sheena suggested.

Raine sighed. "I hope Yuan can find a way to return him to his home soon..."

Upstairs, Young Kratos laying in the bed that had been lent to him. He was awake, his eyes open and staring blankly at the door. He could hear everyone downstairs, thanks to his unnaturally keen hearing. He rolled over so he faced the wall and just stared at the wood grain, his face blank.

He didn't say anything.

Later, Noishe was laying in his pen at Dirk's house. He had been asleep, dreaming dog dreams, when Lloyd found him. Lloyd walked slowly up to the pen, as if there were a sleeping dragon inside, rather than a napping protozoan. Noishe opened one eye and fixed it on Lloyd, who hesitated.

"Uh... Noishe?"

Noishe looked up at Lloyd with his big dog eyes.

"Uh..." Lloyd paused, "Can you... still talk?"

He yelped as something cold slid up his back.

"Yes," said the 'voice' of Noishe, with a tone of amusement.

Lloyd shuddered, and looked down warily at Noishe. "...How come you've started talking?"

"I can only speak to angels," explained Noishe. "For very complicated reasons that have to do with mana signatures and mana synchrony. Unfortunately, I do not think you would be able to understand."

"Uh... what's 'synchrony' mean? Is that like a bunch of musicians?"

"See?"

"Hey!"

"The point is," Noishe started, "that I can only talk to angels, or descendants of angels."

"Descendants of angels?" Lloyd blinked. "Does that mean you can talk to Kratos?"

Noishe nodded. "Yes, both of them."

"Weird... I didn't know it was possible," Lloyd began. "You know, become and angel like that." He paused. "Then how come I wasn't born an angel?"

"Kratos wasn't either," Noishe started, "Technically, he was born perfectly human. Half-angels are complicated creatures – "

"People," interrupted Lloyd, an unfamiliar coldness in his voice. "Half-angels are people."

Noishe's ears drooped; he looked ashamed. "...I apologize." Then he continued. "Half-angels are complicated people. They're born perfectly human, their angelic mana dormant, and usually remains physically unexpressed. Though some undergo a sort of awakening during which they briefly suffer from symptoms similar to what you called 'angel toxicosis'. They're typically rare, as, under Mithos, angels were rarely allowed to be in any kind of situation that could possibly be intimate enough to produce one. Kratos' mother was human, and father was likely an escaped experimental subject - "

"WHAT?" shouted Lloyd. "What do you mean 'escaped experimental subject'?"

Noishe's nose twitched in annoyance. "The technology that allows a sentient being to become an angel was developed during the Kharlan War," Noishe continued. "I believe the storyteller in Latheon Gorge told you as much. There had to be a process of development. I know it's an unsavory concept, but that's the way it was. Anything else you needed to ask?" Noishe added, realizing Lloyd couldn't go without interrupting him.

"How come I wasn't one?" Lloyd asked, voicing the question that had been praying on his mind for hours now. "You know, part angel."

Noishe launched into his complicated explanation. "It isn't an automatic process, there are conditions. The chance of awakening as an angel can be predicted, if one knows his parent's species. As a half-angel, Kratos had only a one-in-four chance of changing - he clearly was the unfortunate one-in-four. As you are the son of a human and a half-angel, you had only a one-in-sixteen chance - " Noishe stopped when he realized his audience was no longer paying attention. He sighed, realizing he would have shrink his explanation so it could fit inside Lloyd's head.

"You had less angelic blood, so you had less of a chance of changing." Noishe tried. "Does that make sense?"

"Yeah," said Lloyd, pretty sure he understood Noishe now. This made him remember something else. "Why'd he freak out when he first saw my wings then? The first time I showed them to him he acted like he'd never seen an angel before."

"Technically, he hadn't," Noishe pointed out. "He's never seen another... individual like himself before. Does that make sense?"

Lloyd nodded.

"Good." Noishe's tail wagged once, and there was a thoughtful silence. "Just give him a day or two. The boy-Kratos, I mean. He's a bit... sensitive about this topic. He's been treated rather poorly by those who've known his secret before now. Be good to him and he'll open up again, and return to his normal self." Noishe paused before adding, which a little more glee than was necessary. "Or if he doesn't stop sulking, feel free to give him a good kick. Understood?"

"Um... yeah," Lloyd hazarded, unsure if this was the 'right' answer.

"Good," said Noishe again. His tail wagged vigorously this time as he stretched out his neck so his head was in arm's reach. "Now scratch the spot between my ears. It itches and I can't quite reach it."

"Um..." Lloyd wasn't sure how he felt about a 'dog' ordering him.

"I can always tell your father about your exact grades in Raine's classes," said Noishe smugly. "I don't think Kratos knows, yet, but I doubt he would be pleased to find out about your long string of F's."

Though he would always be loyal to Kratos and his descendants, a little blackmail now and then to get a scratch or a belly rub didn't hurt.

Old Kratos watched the waves roll up the sand, pause for a moment, then fall back into the ocean.

He wasn't sure why he had come here. He had certainly never been to this place before. It was just a stretch of shoreline around the peninsula on which the town of Iselia sat; there was nothing terribly remarkable about it. But it felt... right, and that made no sense. Kratos was a logical creature, and he had trouble grappling with the concept that he had come to this place for no particular reason. He had been standing here, doing nothing more than staring at the water for hours, alone with his thoughts.

He was beginning to remember things he was sure had never happened to him.

The memory had suddenly leaped out at him when he had been with Yuan flying back to the Renegade base. He had been laying on the ground, held at sword point by... himself. At the same time he could recall attacking and pinning a boy who had looked suspiciously like himself. He remembered the same event from two different perspectives.

All these memories... Though they were technically his, it didn't feel like they belonged to him. It felt as if he were remembering something from someone else's life, someone entirely separate from himself.

Why was this bothering him so?

The waves slapped the shore.

Kratos hung his head.

"I shouldn't have returned..."

Yuan slumped down in the chair at his desk, exhausted. Should he ever achieve a state that at all resembled retirement, he would do nothing but drink tea and play golf no matter what kind of horrific trouble the world was in. Someone else could go and clean up the mess for once.

He spotted a trinket he did not own sitting on his desk. Curious he leaned forward and gently picked it up, and he quickly recognized the object.

It was a bird figurine.

At least he assumed that's what it was. It had bird like features, such as the wings, but he wasn't entirely sure, it was so weathered and aged. The figurine belonged to Kratos, Yuan remembered, now that he thought about it. He remembered when Kratos had first returned, this thing had been in his hand, and he had apparently been only vaguely aware he had even still been holding onto it. Then the ancient angel had set the figurine on Yuan's desk and apparently forgotten about it entirely. It couldn't have been that important if it had been so easily forgotten.

"Lord Yuan."

The angel looked over his shoulder and saw a pair of Renegades walk into his office. They saluted.

Yuan nodded to the soldiers, and glanced down at the figurine in his hand. Yuan placed it back on his desk, stood up, and walked away; the figurine wasn't important.

Then he forgot about it as well

Spork: I have to quickly apologize for the lack of progression story-wise in this chapter. I really need to work on pacing...

On a different topic... Yay for symbolism!

Kratos: ...Symbolism?

Spork: Yes, this story has symbolism. And themes. And good stuff like that which amuses only me.

Yuugi: Well, if you like it then that's okay.

Kratos: Don't encourage her, shrimp.

Yuugi: Hey, I'm not - !

Kratos: ...Wait a minute, Spork isn't hugging you anymore.

Yuugi: Yeah, she stopped a while ago.

Spork: I feel better now! Writing this chapter helped too, as did getting to whine. So you're free to go now, Yuugi.

Yuugi: Okay! (-He leaves-)

Kratos: Hey! How come he can leave but I can't?!

Spork: Because Yuugi is from neither Tales of Symphonia nor this fiction. You, however, are stuck here. Yay!

Kratos: ...Dammit. Now I really will have to kill you in your sleep...

Spork: Y-you're going to what? You're going to bash my skull in with a hammer or aluminum baseball bat?

Kratos: Don't get excited, I was only kidding -

Spork: O.O OH SNAP KRATOS HAS BEEN CURSED BY OYASHIRO-SAMA! YUUGI! WAIT FOR MEEEE! AHHHHH! (-Runs away-)

Kratos: ...