Disclaimer:Still do not own Tales of Symphonia or anything associated with it. Most of the beginning dialogue is taken straight from the game.

Spoilers: Major MAJOR spoilers for end of game.

A/N: One thing that always nags at me for the ending of the game is Kratos leaving, no matter what you do. It doesn't make sense to me at all why he leaves. (An angel of Cruxis can't stay? And Yuan totally can?) So I like to pretend that the guy stays and lives with Dirk and Lloyd. (You may have seen it hinted in a fanfic of mine before.) Anyway, lots of people try to go with this angle and then are stuck with trying to explain just how it is that Kratos stays. This is just my contribution.

Mallet Theory

"Father says good-bye

Turns to walk away for good

Mallet is ready."

- original haiku by heartofShou

Kratos stood by the remains of the Tower of Salvation, staring out at the debris. These were the crumbled remains of his life's work and perhaps he should've been feeling regret or sadness, but all that was in his heart was the closest to contentment he had felt in years. At last, at long last, the reign of angels had come to an end. For the first time in millennia he was free.

Only one link remained and this would be the hardest cut.

Lloyd... His one and only son. Child of angel and human, hero and slave. If Kratos had any of his poetic sense left, he would have known that such a child was destined for either greatness or tragedy. Or both. Regardless of poetry, though, Lloyd had managed to carve a path for himself that no one had expected. Kratos had had his doubts, inflated by his incessant concern as a parent but somehow it had all worked out. The past was laid to rest and the world, freshly united, was now free to choose its own path.

Mithos's spirit had found peace. Yuan would lead the Renegades in an effort to help half-elves find their place. Martel would live on as the new guardian of the Mana Tree. The only one left was him.

Superb hearing alerted him to a presence standing behind him, just as it had let him keep track of the encroaching footsteps. For a moment, silence. Then the red-head turned to face his serious-eyed son.

"Are you really going to Derris-Kharlan?" was Lloyd's first question.

Kratos studied the man his boy had become and the regret came flooding back No, not regret- wistfulness. With a deep internal sigh, he tried to explain, "If a half-elf of Cruxis remains here, the other half-elves will have no place to live." His tongue felt heavy and clumsy, like the night he had explained all to Lloyd. "As a surviving member of Cruxis, I must bear the responsibility for what had happened." The problem with saving the world was that you were always held accountable for more than just yourself. Anna had been a victim, but there were countless others. Lloyd be left alone, but he had his friends and a true father to look after him. There was nothing else to hold Kratos here and he wanted to make one last attempt at repentance.

Lloyd closed his eyes, taking in the news he had already been expecting. When agate eyes opened, they had lost none of his determination. Yuan had once mocked his comrade that he and Lloyd shared the same stubbornness; Kratos now found himself feeling pleased at the thought. "I'm going to collect all the exspheres remaining in this land," Lloyd swore, locking eyes with his sire. His words were filled with wisdom and courage.

"And I," Kratos added, making a pact between them, "will discard all of Cruxis's exspheres into space." That was it; the last task. And then it suddenly hit Kratos hard that this was goodbye- for good. "I've dragged you into it until the very end." It was the closest to an apology he could make.

Lloyd gave a crooked sort of smile. His answer was short, a simple "It's ok," but the reassurance in the tone spoke volumes.

Another pregnant pause.

Then Kratos said quietly, "It's time for me to go." It would be too cruel- to the both of them- to let this drag out any longer. "Please use that sword to send us to Derris-Kharlan."

Lloyd opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. "Goodbye..." he finally managed, awkwardly. "... Dad..."

The title made Kratos's heart leap and he again had nothing to say. He wanted to reach out and ruffle the boy's hair like he had when Lloyd was young, but could not bring himself to. Instead he nodded jerkily and turned to lead Lloyd up the stairs.

Soon it will all be over.

All be over-

And then he saw stars.

It felt like his body was rising up, higher and higher. This must be Derris-Kharlan being pushed into its rightful orbit. The ground was drifting further and further away.

No!

There was so much left to say! So many wishes and blessings he wanted to lay upon his son. Would they really never meet again?

"Don't die before I do," was his last parting wish. Even then the words could not past his lips, but resounded inside his head, willing with all his heart for them to reach their destined person. "Lloyd... my son."

It was Dirk who had to explain everything to him.

Good thing too because Kratos was awfully confused. Instead of being surrounded by artifical light, he found himself being awoken by soft sunbeams streaming through a window. The stars he had been seeing were actually flashes of red pain pulsating from the back of his head. Groaning, he reached a hand up and plucked off a lampshade that had been plopped half-hazardly onto his head. He tossed it into a corner. His environment was cozy and homey, but only slightly familiar. Had he been dreaming?

So Dirk had been the one to explain, which was fitting since it was his house Kratos had found himself in. In contrast to the angel's surprise, the dwarf was rather resigned as he offered his guest some tea. "Might as well make ourselves comfortable," Dirk had stated, his heavy accent weary. "This will take awhile..." Thus Kratos found himself staring into a steaming amber-colored drink while his son's foster father told the tale of a scheme put together by Lloyd and his friends.

About how Lloyd had been crushed by his decision to leave. How his friends how urged him to do something about it. Kratos's low view on self-worth would have been deaf to any argument about this leaving. Lloyd was all for people choosing their own path, but Dirk's influence had made him more than willing to knock the stupidity out of others.

This had given the boy an idea.

So Dirk had supplied him with a mallet from his own tools. The angel had survived much worse so what was a little bump on the head? After that, it was all a matter of timing. Lloyd waited until Kratos had turned his back before striking, luckily knowing out the red-head with one blow.

(The hero in red had worried about how awkward it would be if Kratos had not fully succumbed and more than one blow could have been needed.)

The normally stoic man was too stunned to ask questions at this point so Dirk just continued.

After knocking Kratos out, Lloyd had lugged the unconscious body atop Noishe, finding the task a bit easier now that he had an angel's strength. Even as the hero in red had transported his sire on the long journey to Dirk's house his friends had spread the word that Kratos had departed. (Raine and Genis had felt a little guilty about lying to Altessa, but when the time came, he would discover the truth.) Now the world would rest content that none of the way of Cruxis remained. No one- save Yuan- would be able to identity Kratos as the right-hand man of Yggdrasil. He could live peacefully- and safely- without worry of retribution.

"What you do with this second chance," Dirk concluded, quite seriously, "is up to you."

Unsurprisingly, Kratos was quiet, carefully absorbing this new twist in his life. "What of Welgaia? And the exspheres..." he asked softly.

Dirk filled their tankards, which had been brought half way through. "The Professor handled that as well," he assured. "Taken quite well to technology that one has. With the help of some listless angels, and some other mumbo-jumbo that no one but her understood, she simply programmed the thing away and the exspheres were released automatically."

Kratos drained his tankard.

"You are welcome to stay here if you like," the dwarf said after draining his own. "Lloyd's room is free now. He has begun his own journey. And there's time aplenty to determine what you will do."

"Yes," Kratos answered, a small smile growing on his face. "I suppose there is."