Title: Children
Author: Spinny Roses
Fandom: Tales of Symphonia
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Spoilers: Who Kratos is, up to whatever you unlocked at the third Sylverant seal.
Disclaimer: Don't own.

Children
By Spinny Roses

It was always said that infants rarely sleep through the night. That children have boundless energy, and getting them to sleep was always a chore. That teenagers could function on as little as two hours of sleep a day.

Kratos watched Lloyd bounce around camp, trying to make the Chosen comfortable. The third seal had been broken... more than likely, the Chosen couldn't even feel the bedding her group was laying down for her. It was no surprise to Kratos when her eyes never closed, not once, while she laid there.

It was even less of a surprise to see innocent brown eyes staring back at her.

Those eyes were too familiar. They still held the happy sparkle of a child who would smile back at his father while asking about a certain star. The mischievous slant that caused his mother to constantly be worn out with her duty to keep her son out of trouble. And, when he finally caught the few hours of sleep he needed, the teenaged lines on his face smoothed back into child-like features that caused a sudden surge of guilt in Kratos' gut to creep upward.

An angel never needed to sleep. The Chosen proved that safely to Lloyd without a doubt.

But as Kratos knew from fifteen years ago, the child of an angel rarely slept. It drove Anna insane, but he would only sleep three hours every night. During those precious few hours that Lloyd slept, however, Kratos indulged in his urges.

He would brush Lloyd's bangs away and kiss his son's forehead, a goodnight kiss that had waited fifteen years.

The End