Chapter Text
To say that the experience of being captured by Desians was not exhausting would be a lie. Moreover, Lloyd spent a part of the night carving an Exsphere for Raine and after that he ended up trailing after Kratos, which further delayed his sleep. Also, almost being stabbed and then berated for bad swordsmanship by Kratos made it difficult for Lloyd to drift into dreamland. Agitation did that to him.
It was then no surprise that he overslept.
“Lloyd!” a voice urged him and the boy instinctively tightened his hold on the blanket. He was not giving up on his sleep without a fight.
“Lloyd, wake up!” the voice repeated with more urgency. The youth made an annoyed sound and tried to cover himself even more thoroughly with the blanket, as if it could protect him from the outside world.
“LLOYD!” the voice got louder and through the haze of sleepiness Lloyd managed to register that it was a male voice.
Ah, it was probably…
“Not yet, dad, five more minutes…” he muttered, as he turned on the other side.
The voice fell silent and the boy heard a sound of receding footsteps. Counting it as a victory, Lloyd retreated into sleep once more.
However…
SPLOOOOOSH
Suddenly, the bed wasn’t warm and comfortable anymore. Lloyd felt an unexpected attack of something cold and wet. Instinctively, he tumbled out of the bed. He opened his eyes in alarm and tried to get up quickly, but then noticed who stood next to him.
It was Kratos with an empty bucket.
“It’s good to see you finally awakened,” the man said with no inflection whatsoever. Lloyd looked at him and then at the bucket, which the mercenary was still holding upside down.
“You splashed me with water!” the teenager pointed out accusingly.
“Yes, it seemed to be the most efficient way to make you leave the bed, as verbal encouragement proved ineffective,” Kratos admitted with absolutely no remorse, placing the bucket on the floor. “Now that you are up, I suggest you dress up quickly. Your friends are having breakfast right now and once everyone is finished we are leaving for the Fire Temple.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Lloyd muttered in annoyance, as he got up and tried to locate his clothes. “But you really don’t have to dump water on me next time!”
“I will use any means that will prove effective in waking you up,” Kratos proclaimed, as he leaned on the wall. “Also, given our limited time I think this method was quite efficient as it not only woke you up, but also nullified any need for a morning bath.”
Lloyd turned towards Kratos and tried to glare at him, but it proved impossible as the boy got caught up in his own shirt. He made a frustrated sound, as he tried to free himself, but only got tangled even more in his own garment. He was so immersed in the losing battle against his own shirt, he didn’t notice that Kratos had approached him in the meantime.
“Calm down,” he ordered and Lloyd jumped in surprise and then froze. Kratos used that opportunity and moved Lloyd’s limbs, helping him untangle from the shirt. The youth was too shocked at first to react and when he finally realized that he should protest at being helped with such a mundane activity as dressing up, Kratos had already finished and Lloyd could finally feel his head go through the collar. Instead of the fabric, he could now see the mercenary standing right before him and looking at him intently.
“Wh-what?” Lloyd asked confrontationally. He was expecting some sort of derisive joke about his inability to wear a shirt properly, but Kratos was quiet and there was something distant in his eyes, as if he was remembering something.
The mercenary opened his mouth, obviously wanting to say something, but then closed it quickly.
“No, never mind, you should hurry up,” Kratos said, as he turned around and started walking towards the door. Lloyd looked at his back suspiciously, wondering what the man was about to say to him. It seemed as if it was something important. Then again, Kratos had a permanent aura of seriousness around him.
“I will join the others, now that you are awake,” the mercenary continued, as he stopped right before the door. “Unless you need my help with putting on other pieces of clothing,” he added turning slightly back, so that Lloyd could see a faint smirk.
“I DON’T!” Lloyd shouted in indignation, but Kratos had already left the room.
As the boy continued to grumble to himself about a stupid, annoying swordsman, he completely forgot the words he muttered when he woke up.