Siren: Well, this is it. The last chapter of this fic.

Muse: But don't worry! We're making a sequel!

Siren: So, what better way to end a fic than with Deep Depression?

Muse: Yeah, this isn't funny. At all. Unless you're really screwed up. Disclaimer!

(poof) Reno: Hello. Sirens & Muses don't own ToS or FF7. Again.

Siren: (drools)

Muse: Next time, the disclaimer isn't going to be one of your fangirl obsessions.

Siren: Sorry, still drooling. (drool)

Reno: Yeah...

Siren: Review! Please? Please? (drool)

Rule #20: There is nothing you wouldn't do for your child. Nothing.

"Mommy!" Lloyd tried to run for his mother, but Kratos seized him around the middle and held him tightly. "Mommy, what's wrong?!"

Anna was on her hands and knees, shaking. Kratos called her name. No answer.

"Mommy!" Lloyd squirmed in his father's arms, trying to reach her.

"Anna," Kratos whispered. Kvar would be catching up anytime soon, they had to keep going. "Anna, we have to go. Let me heal you."

"Leave…me." Her voice was oddly strained, contorted and harsh. "Go…"

"Anna, I can't leave you," Kratos said. He stepped forward to help her, but she started to let out a high pitched scream. "Anna!"

"Get…out of…here! Run!" Her hands dug into the soft ground like claws. Her veins were popping out, green scales were spreading over her body. The locket around her neck broke as her neck expanded. She was changing.

In one crucial moment, Lloyd broke free. He was off like a shot, and before Kratos could grab him, he was tugging his mother's dress. "Mommy?!"

"Lloyd, no!" Kratos reached for him, but too late; Anna was standing up now, blue crystalline wings sprouting from her back. Anna reached down and grasped her son. Lloyd started to struggle in her hands.

"Mommy, what's wrong with you?!" Anna squeezed and her son gasped for air.

"Anna! Stop!" At the sound of Kratos' voice, she turned, and loosened her grip slightly. Lloyd slipped through her hands and onto the ground.

Anna gave a growl and swung her arm at Kratos. Then she turned around and swung at Lloyd.

"No!" Kratos ran for him, but wasn't going to make it in time…she would reach their son first…

There was flash of green and white, accompanied by a low, rumbling growl. Anna's massive limb crashed into Noishe, making him fall to the ground and whine, Lloyd behind him.

"Kratos…" He heard her speaking. She was holding her head now, as if she were in pain. "Kratos…kill me…please…"

"No," he whispered.

"Protect Lloyd…and yourself…kill me…" She let out a scream again, and charged after her son. Lloyd was in her grasp, struggling to get away, tears streaming down his face.

Kratos could hear crashing in the trees behind them. Kvar was coming. He turned to see Anna holding Lloyd over the cliff, about to drop him. Noishe whined, limping to try and reach them, but he was wounded too badly. Kratos had no time to think.

It was simple. Anna was gone; nothing could save her. Lloyd was in danger. His son needed him.

"Daddy!" The look of terror on the little boy's face was enough to make the decision for him. He pulled back his sword and plunged it into the monster Anna had become. Anna let out a shriek as the sword hit her. Blood dripped down onto Kratos' fingers.

Suddenly, a surge of electricity stung him. Kvar was here.

The next ten minutes passed in a blur. Kvar said something to Kratos, although he wasn't quite sure what it was. He recalled casting Judgment at least once. And the last he saw of his son, he was passed out, still clutched in his mother's hands. When Kratos turned back, having defeated Kvar and his men, Lloyd, Anna, and Noishe were gone.

He flew down the cliff, but saw nothing except Desian bodies. Blood, everywhere. All Kratos could think was that the blood was Lloyd's.

"Lloyd?" he called tentatively. Silence. "Lloyd! Where are you?! Anna?!"

He searched for hours, calling his son's name. There was nothing left; no sign of Lloyd or his mother. Finally, he saw something on the ground, spattered with blood. Kratos' hands shook as he reached for the only thing small enough to belong to a three-year-old.

Lying there, in a pool of blood, next to the corpse of a Desian, was a tiny brown shoe.

"Anna, Lloyd…No…" He dropped to his knees. "Lloyd…why?!"

Kratos couldn't breathe. He fell to the ground, unable to move as the realization hit home.

His family was dead. His son was dead.