DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY PART OF TALES OF THE ABYSS. If I had, then this would have been the canon story. Because the God-Generals are too epic for what happened to them in the original story.

Tales of Love

Prologue: The Duel

"Mother... I will avenge you! I promise!" I said as the four of us stepped inside where my mother had recently lived, fought and died. By the four of us I meant: myself, my mediator Largo (who was a huge man of over 2 metres) and two of my monster friends, one a huge, blue phoenix called Hresvelgr and the other a Liger, he seemed about as agitated as myself at the thought of the battle that was about to unfold.

"Remember, Arietta," Largo said, "If you want to, I can fight with you. There is no need for you to throw your life away like this."

We'd both had a premonition, but I was ready. After all, I had nothing else left in my life. My home had been eaten by a tidal wave when I was but one year old, my biological parents dying with it, and I'd been found by the Liger queen, who had saved me and raised me as her own daughter. I had eventually been found by a man called Vandesdelca, or "Van" as he preferred to be called by his friends, who had heard of my abilities to communicate with monsters, and had decided to help me.

"No, Largo," I said, "this is my fight. I will not lose... I... cannot lose... for Ion..." the name stung my heart like a knife. He had been the only person I'd loved, but now he was dead. It was all the same cause as my Mother's death: Anise freaking Tatlin! She had killed my mother, she had taken my position as Ion's guardian, and her actions had caused his death. I hated her! That was why I had came here today, to finally finish our fight once and for all.

"I understand your suffering, but are your feelings really worth dying for? Many people would be sad if you died." Largo said.

The two monsters growled, "Well, and of course the monsters would be heartbroken." He added quickly, remembering the last time he had made them angry. That time, the rest of the God-Generals literally had to drag them away from him.

"I don't know... I don't want to do this, but still... I must! I have to do this, Largo." I replied coolly and harshly.

Largo was right, though: Legretta would probably be sad to see me die, as would Largo obviously and maybe even Van. I was unsure how Asch would react, but I knew Sync would not give a damn about my life, seeing as he hated his own. I had never seen him happy.

"What would your mother say if she heard you talk like that?" Largo scolded, "She loved you, Arietta. She would never want you to die."
I couldn't reply. I did not know what to say back to him.

I heard footsteps. "She must be here," a female voice said. I recognised it instantly: Anise!

Just then I saw her small figure enter the room, looking ready to fight, yet at the same time, as pained an expression as mine. Was this really the right thing to do?
Behind her I saw her companions; Luke, who really reminded me of Asch, Tear – Van's younger sister. There also were Guy, Jade and – Largo staggered here – Princess Natalia.

"So you did come after all!" I said, "Anise! Let's end this! I challenge you to a duel to the death, for Ion... For EVERYONE!" following this I called to Largo: "Begin the battle!"

"We will fight three-on-three, Anise! I will fight with all my friends, and so will you!" I yelled.

The small girl with black ponytails looked sad, yet at the same time both angry and relieved, she hesitantly called Luke and Tear to aid her in the battle.

The battle was not what I had expected it to be. It was as if Anise was letting me win: at one point, her Tokunaga (her huge robotic doll which she used as a weapon) could have hit me for mortal damage, but mere seconds before the blow connected, she had slowed down the attack.

We were all fighting one enemy: my Liger was combatting Luke and the two seemed like a huge ball of blows as sword and claws connected. Hresvelgr was likewise fighting Tear and their fight was more a clash of spells. I knew Tear had to be taken out first, since she was the healer.

"When in battle, always defeat the supporting troops," Legretta had once told me.

I knew what I had to do, and yet I did not want this. Some part of me was fighting against me as I launched a spell at my rival.

"Take this, traitor! Bloody Howling," I yelled and in that instant, Anise was enveloped in a sea of dark and purple (which really fit with her clothing, I must say), but her Tokunaga took most of the blows.

I had missed even when my target was right in front of me, what was happening to me? I didn't realise that Anise had recovered so quickly that she took advantage of my inner conflict and countered with her Tokunaga's attack, a blow so powerful it sent me flying and knocked the breath out of me.

"M-mommy..." I said and for a second I felt I relived the grief I had felt when I had learned of her death.

It had been a beautiful morning, and I had been feeling happy for the first time in ages, until a few minutes after noon, Legretta suddenly entered my room, her expression grievous and very uneasy.

"What's happened?" I asked her. It was not like her to show emotions, she always taught me that to show your feelings is a sign of weakness, then why was she showing them now?

"!" a sudden thought struck me like lightning from the skies on a warm summer day, but I was too frightened to think it. However, Legretta soon confirmed my worst fears when she just nodded and said: "Take a few days off, Arietta. I pity you."

"Legretta? No, you can't be saying-" I cried, clinging to her shoulders, tears flowing down my face.

Normally, she would have punished me for that behavior, but this time she just sighed, "Arietta. I am sorry to say this, but your mother is no longer alive."

Sheesh, she didn't have to say it like that. The rest of the day, I was feeling terrible. I was alone again, motherless and fragile. Many of the God-Generals visited me that day, in fact all except Sync. All I heard of him was that he was out scouting as always. Not that I really cared, though.

I was so sad that I ignored their comforting words. What meaning did "The pain will go over," or "We're here for you," do when you have just lost the only thing close to your mother?

Nothing they said had any effect; Dist's jokes were not funny anymore (OK, I confess! I only laughed at them because he looked sad when everyone regarded him as an idiot), Largo's words of comfort were only making the pain worse, and Legretta's "tactical advice" sounded like it was taken out of a self-help booklet, which by the way, I later found out was the truth.

As much as I love and respect her now, she never was the best person to go to when you're sad, as I would later learn. Asch's silence was just annoying me. "Listen, death is just part of life. Deal with it." Was all he said to me before he left? Honestly!

I only broke my silence when the last person I expected to come entered my room. "I guess we're both empty now."

I looked up and saw a boy clad in black with green spiky hair. A mask covered his face and his expression was without mercy or any emotion at all. He made Legretta look like a Drama Queen.

I did not know what to answer him, other than "I guess so..."

Sync looked at me and for a second I felt there was a sign of pity in his gesture, but then he quickly said "What're you staring at?" and left for the door. I didn't understand that boy. He was two years younger than me, and yet he was so filled with hatred. I wondered what had happened to him that made him this way.

"There's only room for one empty being. And I have that role. Stop whining and make yourself useful!" those were his last words to me before he left me.

"What right have you to criticize me?" I yelled after him. Just then, I felt. The power Sync had spoken of; the power of anger and hatred. I knew that were I to wield that power, mother would be avenged and I would never again experience tragedy!

"...Ietta... ake up..." I heard Largo's voice and felt strong hands shake me awake, "Arietta, please wake up."

I opened my eyes, but immediately closed them again. All was but a blurry mess, and millions of thoughts were colliding inside my head.

"She's awake!" Largo cried out to someone behind him. Just then I realized I was no longer in the Cheagle Woods, but at our headquarters. In my room, to be exact, and dressed in a beautiful blue dress with long sleeves, which I recognised belonged to Legretta.

"W-what happened?" I asked with a lot of effort. As far as I knew, my body was covered in wounds. These were not from Anise, I knew that because her Tokunaga wasn't equipped like that and I had fought her enough times to know. Largo was silent.

"Please, tell me..."

The colossal man looked away, "you almost died, Arietta. Just after you had taken the damage from Anise's attack, another Liger appeared out of nowhere. When it saw you down, it flew on you, aiming for your throat. I managed to hit it with my weapon, but I wasn't strong enough to hold it off on my own."

I could tell he was slightly embarrassed, "I fought to keep it away from you, but it pushed me back. It almost killed me," then I noticed the fact that indeed, his right arm was bandaged.

"In fact it would have done so, hadn't The Necromancer cast a Mystic Cage on it. The attack merely staggered it, and it kept on its assault. As it aimed for you once more, your own Liger stood in its way, and for a while they fought, but the enemy's strength was superior and... I am sorry..."

So I had lost another of my friends in the attack, why? Why did I have to keep on losing everyone I cared about? I bowed my head, but no tears came. Either I was too shocked or too tired to cry, probably both.

"I am sorry for causing you trouble," I said. I felt terrible, my Liger had died to save me, all because I had been such a selfish little brat and only thought of revenge,

"Anything else?" I asked, my voice cold.

Largo nodded, "In fact. When you saw that, you rose up, despite your wounds. None of us knew what happened, but all of a sudden you let out a burst of energy, which drove the monster away. Then, you collapsed again. What was the scariest part of it all was... the Liger that attacked you was your adopted father."

I had known that the king hated me because my body was weak and I used to lack the wish to kill mercilessly like the rest of the pack, so it was no surprise he had tried to kill me. "So, he decided to finish me off, huh?" a sudden thought struck me, "Wait, what happened to Anise and the others?"

"Worried about them?"

I reflected on that for a moment. While it is true that I still held some grudges against Anise and her friends, they had fought to help me. As much as I despised them, I currently owed them my life. Pretty ironic, isn't it? After all, these past months, all I've thought about was how to kill them in the most painful way possible, and now I was indebted to them. I felt happy that I was alive, something I had not felt for a long time.

"Did they die?" I said at last.

Largo shook his head, "Luke got bitten in the arm, but his wounds were healed by Tear. Anise's Tokunaga, however, was torn to shreds. She seemed to be the one who was the most concerned out of the group and after I had seen them off, she returned to give me a letter. Here you go, by the way."
He said and handed me the document. It was a small, pink envelope with the words "To Gloomietta from Anise". Somehow, the word "Gloomietta" made me laugh a little bit.

"I will read it n- ugh!" I said as a sudden surge of pain flew through my whole body. The last thing I remembered before I passed out again was Largo telling Legretta to watch over me. But before I lost consciousness, I thought I saw someone who looked like Ion.

Author's Notes: All right. This is the first chapter. Thanks to the reviews, I figured out what to do to make my story readable.
Anyway; Arietta is my favorite character - as are all the God-Generals, and I really wanted them to live and join the protagonists.