Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters from it. They belong to Namco.

A/N: This takes place after the end of the game, so if you haven't beaten the game, please don't read this.

Tales of Symphonia Fanfic

The Search for Genis

Prologue

One day, Raine and Genis were visiting the city of Luin, in their quest to try and make the world a place where half-elves would be better accepted. It was around noon, and so far they had visited several cities to try and change people's minds.

Genis looked at Raine, "How much longer do you think this is gonna take?"

Raine shrugged, "Quite a while...why? Do you have somewhere you need to be?"

Genis sighed, "It's nothing...I just miss Presea and everyone. That's all."

Raine nodded her head, "I miss them too. We can stop by Dirk's house after this if you want. I'm sure Lloyd misses you."

Genis smiled, "Thanks sis." He walked by a tall girl with purple hair and gray-green eyes. She didn't say a word to the half-elf as he went by her, but you could tell by the way she was standing, and by the way her eyes followed Genis, that she had some ill intent toward the half-elven boy.

Raine had already gone on ahead, so she hadn't seen the girl.

The girl smirked and muttered under her breath, "...Just you wait, miserable half-elf. Later, I shall take you away and have you begging me to kill you."

Around 9 or 10 o'clock at night, Raine and Genis went to the newly built inn at the center of Luin. It had been a long day and they were both tired from their long travels.

Genis yawned a little, "Sis? Do you think...that girl hated half-elves?"

Raine blinked, "What girl?"
Genis sighed, "I don't know who she was, but she was tall and had purple hair and grayish-green eyes. She was a little too quiet as I walked by her."

Raine told him, "I wouldn't worry about it, Genis. If she does hate our kind...there's nothing we can do about it. For all we know, that's what she's been raised to think."

Genis nodded, "Yeah...good point." He yawned again, then headed to a room to go to sleep.

After paying the innkeeper for two rooms, Raine went to a room of her own, just down the hall from Genis's, just in case anyone tried to harm him. She went to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow in the bed.

About two hours into the night, the girl from earlier snuck into the inn.

The innkeeper asked, "Who are you? May I help you, my lady?"

The girl replied, "My name's Hexa. I came to inquire about Genis and Raine Sage. Which rooms belong to them?"

The innkeeper, unknowing of Hexa's ill intent, told her, "The rooms at the end of the hallway upstairs. Are you a friend of theirs?"

Hexa blinked. She had to say something in order to keep the innkeeper off of her tail, "..Um, yeah. They're my friends." She gave a fake smile, then headed upstairs.

The innkeeper blinked and shrugged, "Okay...whatever." She then went back to her duties.

Hexa walked to the end of the hall, to Genis's room. She quietly opened the door and crept inside. She placed a hand over the half-elf's mouth, so that if he screamed it would be harder for Raine to hear. 'No doubt his sister chose a room just down the hall to watch over him.' She thought as she picked him up.

Genis jerked awake almost instantly, and would've screamed if his mouth hadn't been covered and he hadn't been karate chopped on the back of his neck. He blacked out again.

Raine had been only half-asleep and had heard a strange shuffling sound coming from Genis's room. He didn't normally toss and turn a lot, so something must be wrong. She sat up in bed and headed out into the hallway. What was going on?

Hexa came out of Genis's room with Genis in her arms, unaware of Raine's presence. She then looked down the hall and saw her, "Umm...uh-oh..."

Raine glared, "You put my brother down, now."

Hexa smirked, "No, dearest half-elf, I won't. I will make all half-elves like yourself suffer. Hahaha." She quickly took a poison-tipped dagger out of her pocket and threw it at the half-elf professor.

The motion was too quick for Raine and she got hit in the shoulder with the dagger. She grimaced in pain, then looked at Hexa, "...So, you refuse...to accept us? That's...your own prerogative, but leave my brother out of this. Put him down!" She took out her staff and began charging up a Photon blast.

Hexa shook her head, "I already said no, woman. And I'm not afraid of you...no matter how foolish that might be." She walked over to Raine and kicked her in the shin, hard, to break her concentration on the spell.

Raine winced and fell, "You...won't get away with him. I won't let you." She used her staff to pull herself to her feet and stood up.

Hexa sighed and shook her head, setting the surprisingly still-asleep Genis against a far wall, "If I have to fight you for him, I will. I'd rather not waste my time doing that, but you have to do what you have to do, right?"
Raine nodded, "Indeed." She began charging up Photon again.

Hexa smirked, "Is magic all you have? Can you not use that staff as anything other than a way to direct your spells?"

Raine glared. The girl had gone too far in insulting her like that, not to mention that she was trying to take Genis away, "Oh, no. I can use it as a weapon too. Want to see?" She asked, walking over to the girl and slamming the staff down on her shoulder to try and get her to drop the sword she had drawn.

Hexa winced, but then smirked, "Heh...that was a good hit, but try and beat this!" She had dropped the sword, but picked it up again and stabbed Raine in the stomach with her sword.

Raine gasped in pain as the blade went through, and fell to her knees. She looked over at Genis and cried out to him to try and wake him up before she passed out, "Genis!"

Genis jerked awake again at his sister's cry, "Raine...Raine!" He got to his feet and dashed over to his injured sister.

Hexa was hiding in the shadows behind Genis, waiting for the right moment to grab him and run.

Raine was already weakening, blood flowing freely onto her orange robe like top. She then coughed as the poison took effect, "Genis...get out of here, now." She muttered to him, "That girl from earlier..." She couldn't finish her sentence and passed out.

Hexa threw her sword out in front of Genis, to trip him up. She was going to capture him one way or another. She made sure the blade was pointed away from any vital areas though.

Genis followed his sister's wishes and started to run away. He hadn't seen Hexa throw her sword, as he had been too wrapped up in his sister's welfare to notice. He tripped over the sword on the ground and landed hard on the floor, "Ow..." He muttered.

Hexa smirked, "Heh...nice one, wimp." She muttered, stepping out of the shadows.

Genis glared, "Who you calling a wimp?! And why did you hurt my sister? She might die now because of you."

Hexa told him, "I hope she does." Those four words showed her true hatred of half-elves, "I hope she suffers."

Genis trembled, "...So, you hate half-elves, huh? Then why are you trying to capture me?"
Hexa smirked, "I have something special in mind for you, Genis." She told him, flipping over his shoulder and punching him hard on the back of the head.

Genis blinked, then blacked out. The last thought that filled his head before he blacked out was, What does she have in mind for me? ...I hope Raine...will be...okay.

A/N: Dun dun dun! So how did you like it? I know, kind of a weird idea, but it's different. /shrugs/ Please review and try to make it helpful. I know this chapter wasn't particularly long but I expect that later chapters will be longer. The story will also live up to its name in later chapters. As the title of this chapter suggests, it was a prologue.