Lovely isn't it? I've been a fan of Tales of Symphonia for a while and now I've finally have done a story about them. I hope you enjoy it. It's an AU, just so that you guys will know that. I don't own any of the characters for this game. They all belong to Namco. Depending on what I do with it, ratings might go up. Just to give you guys a heads up on that.

This story is a Kratos x Raine x Zelos love triangle. There is also some slight Lloyd x Sheena, Collette x Zelos, Presea x Genis. If you don't like it, you can go back. If you are interest please read on.

Lyric of the Moon

Chapter One: Escape

"Move it you, swine!" a man holding a whip shouted. He cracked the whip up in the air to show that he meant business. "If you don't move it, I'll make your life right now a miserable Hell!"

The young woman let out a flinch as she quickly caught up with the rest of the group. She walked along with a line of other people which apparent were elves. The elves were all in shackles wearing brown, tattered clothing. All elves of different ages continued to follow the line in which lead over to wagons. The captivators all dressed the same: red suits with intensive armor covering them.

The captivators pushed in the elves right into the wagons until they filled up. They didn't care how many could fit as long as they could drag them off towards their destinations. One young woman, in particular, had long, white hair that was held together in a ponytail. Her soft blue eyes sparkled a bit as she looked over at the wagons.

Behind the young woman was a young boy. He held onto her hands as they walked a bit closer to the wagons. Much like the older woman, the boy looked just liked her. He shivered a bit as he looked up at the captivators. He could see from the small light of the torches that lit that night sky, that they had sharp fangs.

"Raine," the young boy whimpered, "what are they?"

"Hey, you!" barked one of the men. "Keep it quiet!"

"Genis," Raine whispered softly, "you have to be quiet. As for what they are…I think they are vampires, or some sort of fanged creature that resides in the night. Either way, just don't attract any attention."

Soon Raine and Genis had reached their wagon. Both siblings entered the wagon as they were shoved in with other people. Once it was full, the vampires closed the door, locked the hatch with a lock, and told the stage coach to move. The stage coach whipped the horse. Soon the wagon began to move. Genis held onto Raine; afraid that he wouldn't be near her again.

"Raine," Genis said, "what happened?"

"I…I don't know," Raine replied, "but I think…our lives won't be the same again."

"Did…they really kill Mom and Dad?"

"…yes, they did. These monsters killed our mother and father. I'm not so sure why this happened…"

"Don't you know?" an old, elf man spat. "We are being invaded by the Vampire Nation."

"Vampire Nation?" Raine said as she looked in disbelief. "That can't be right. The Elvin Republic has a treaty of peace with the Vampire Nation. Neither nation are to attack the other."

"Apparently," an old, elf woman replied, "these bloodsuckers just broke their deal. I can't believe that it took them just one night to bring this kingdom down."

"What's going to happen to us now?" Genis asked softly.

"Isn't it obvious, boy? We are now slaves."

"Slaves?"

"Yes. Our Elfin race lost against the Vampire Nation, now we must suffer the consequences of war."

"Raine!" Genis said as he held Raine's hand.

"Don't worry," Raine replied, "we'll find a way to get through with this."

"Hey, you back there!" The driver shouted. "You better shut it before I decide to get down there and teach you lesson about holding your tongue."

The Elves had then quiet down. Raine looked out from the barred window and let out a soft sigh. What on Sylvarant will happen to us? She thought. Her soft blue eyes just kept glancing over at the forest of burnt down trees. Fires were slowing dying down. Raine looked down at the ground and saw a couple of mutilated bodies. She quickly looked away from the sight as she held onto Genis tightly.

The ride was quite a harsh one. They had traveled for three solid days with no food or water. Some of the elves had been fainting or dying from the lack or water, food, and oxygen. Suddenly, the wagon had stopped. Raine looked through the bars to see a totally different scenery than from the one back home. On one side of the wagon, she could only see a large wall surrounded by tall mountains. On the other side there was a pathway that lead to an iron gate. Her thoughts were interrupted when the door to her wagon opened.

"All right, get out, you filth!" one of the vampire guards shouted. "Move it, before I whip you silly!"

The Elves inside of the wagon did not hesitate to get out of the wagon. Once Raine and Genis were out from the wagon they quietly looked around them to see other Elves getting out from their wagons and forming a line. Genis looked back at their own wagon to see the bodies of a couple of Elves; lying there, dead. Genis let out an expression that was a mixture of sadness with disgust.

"Eww," one of the vampire guards let out, "a couple of them are all ready dead."

"The wagons aren't any good anymore if they have dead filth inside." his partner replied. "It could be contaminated and we don't want to catch Elf germs."

"Yeah, that's like catching the plague there. So, what do we do with them?"

"What do you mean?" The second guard hissed as he hit his partner's head. "We burn the wagons. We have to toast those bastards so that their plague won't reach our beloved nation."

"All right, then I suppose I'll go get the torches. Seymour and the others will handle these slaves for branding."

Branding? Raine thought as she looked over at the two guards. What do they mean by branding? A slight shove caused Raine to almost fall to the ground. Genis held onto her, helping Raine regain her balance as they began to walk. Several vampire guards kept their eyes on the Elves; holding their whips ready. Raine walked to the iron gate and into the dark tunnel. The pungent smell of mildew filled in her nostrils. Raine scrunched up her nose as she tried to ignore the stench.

As she walked a bit further through the tunnel, a bright light appeared. She looked at her new surroundings. It was a lovely town square with Gothic statues of things like gargoyles and demons. In the middle of the town square was a fountain with carved, stone gargoyles. However, instead of water flowing from the fountains, blood came out. If one should go pass the fountain and follow the stone road, it would lead to the rather large guillotine. The blade of the guillotine was still stained with blood. Raine knew that someone had been executed earlier and she hoped that none of them were to soon.

Right beside the guillotine was a large platform that held five loops. One of the loops had a body that was hanging. Strange kids would walk up to the body and began to throw stones at the corpse. One of the demonic children looked over at the long line of Elves and beckoned the others to see. Each of them turned their attention to the Elves. Fanged smiles appeared on their lips as they quickly made their way to the line and began to fling rocks at them.

"Look at those pointy ear freaks!" One of the kids shouted as he threw a rock right at Raine's forehead.

"I heard from my dad that these freaks produce food," another of the kids shouted as he flung a rock at Genis.

"Eww, who'd want to eat those things? They don't look appetizing, like humans do. Or at least, they should be washed."

"Hey, you kids!" One of the guards shouted. "Get lost!"

"Make us!" One of the children taunted as they stuck their tongues and began to ran.

"Why you little bastards!" The guard shouted as he chased after them.

Raine sighed in relief. She felt something cool drip down her cheek. She moved her hands to touch a cool liquid. She frowned as she saw blood leak from her head. Genis wiped away the blood that fell from his cheek. He then took a hold of Raine's hand and walked beside her. The small Elf boy looked over at the villagers. None of them seemed happy to see either one of them. One of the woman gave off a snarl as she saw Genis. Genis quickly looked down at the paved ground, in hopes that no one will continue to stare at them.

The pace of the line slowly came to a halt. Raine looked over to the side to see a couple of guards taking a hold of an Elf. They moved his hair to a side and moved his ear. Another guard took a hold of a hot iron with a strange symbol on it and branded the ear. The Elf let out a yell of pain as the hit iron burned his soft skin. Raine began to shiver a bit as the thought of the hot iron touching her ear came into her mind.

"Move it!" One of the guards shouted as they pushed Raine. "If you dawdle, you'll get more than a brand on your ear. How would you like it if we brand your breast rather than your ears?"

Raine didn't look up at the guard. She just shook and shivered.

"That's what I thought. Move it, you bitch!"

Raine did as she was told and walked over to the stand where they branded the other Elves. The guards were rough with her as they pushed back her long, snowy white hair. They took a hold of her somewhat pointy ears. Raine closed her soft blue eyes as she waited for the hot iron to strike. Raine bit her lips as the hot iron made contact with her skin. She tried to hold back the tears that were tempting to fall from her eyes.

Once they removed the iron, they pushed Raine over to the line. Raine looked back as they took a hold of Genis. She wanted to stop them from hurting her young brother, but held herself back. She saw in pain as they branded her brother. The smaller Elf let out shriek as the pain was too much for him. Tears trickled down his cheek. Once they were finished, the guards pushed Genis back into the line.

Raine took a hold of Genis' hand and walked with the line. The group continued to walk as they were being led to a dark, old building. Raine's eyes moved from what was in front of her to the bottom part of the building. She saw a barred window with a hand sticking out. She continued to walk inside of the building. There, the guards began to separate the Elves into groups and stuffed them into jail cells.

Raine grasped Genis' hand tighter as they both walked over to who was putting the Elves into their cells. The one guard just snarled at them as he pushed both Sage siblings in one of the cells and locked the door. Genis looked at the interior of the cell. The smell of blood and other ungrateful, foul stenches perfumed its place. The walls were stained with dry blood. A steel plate was placed at the far corner of the cell. It was dirty and germ ridden with rotten food.

"Raine," Genis whisper softly, "what's going to happen?"

"I wish I knew what goes on from here," Raine replied as she caressed Genis' hair. "One thing is for certain, I'll take care of you, no matter what."

"Raine...I'm hungry and thirsty."

"I know...but I can't do anything. I wish I could."

Their conversation was cut short when a clink sound was heard. One of the vampire guards threw them a steel plate of what appeared to be food along with a steel cup that was filled with water. Raine took a hold of the plate and cup. She gave the food over to Genis so that he may eat first. Raine drank half of the cup while Genis ate half of the food. Once they were done with consuming half, they traded off what they had. Raine finished the food while Genis finished the water.

"It isn't much," the older sister said, "but it will do. At least we're not going to die...for now."

"I miss Mom and Dad..." Genis whimpered.

"Me too..."

Four days had passed since they were stuck in the prison. Every meal they had, it seemed like the vampires were giving them more and more. Raine and Genis weren't complaining as long as they had food. However, they didn't like the fact that they were fed some strange, gray mush that no one could identify. It had no taste, which was good since no taste is better than a bad taste to the Sage siblings.

Living in the prison cell was horrible. The sun was burning during those days, that it was like living in an oven for the prisoners. A couple more of prisoners had passed away due to lack of health. On the third evening, late at night, four guards walked over to Raine's neighboring cell. They opened the cell and took out all of its prisoners. The guards placed shackles on prisoners. Raine poked her head out from the bars and watched the vampire guards take away the prisoners.

Raine's eyes squinted as she tried to make out what was going on over to their destination. The young Elf woman, took out her steel plate and stretched out her hand. She tried to make out the figures but the worn out steel made it difficult for her to see clearly. She did see the silhouettes move two silhouettes to the hanging platform while one went to the guillotine. Raine looked away as she saw their executions.

"What happened, Raine?" Genis asked.

"I..." Raine said as she tried not to lose it, "...they killed three people right now."

"We have to think of a way to escape," Genis replied.

"How? We're practically surrounded by guards everywhere."

Genis got up from the cold ground and looked down the hallway. His soft eyes saw that only two guards were left behind to watch over the prisons. The young boy began to examine the bars with his hands. Rust was beginning to form from the steel bars, making it a bit easier to break through them. The Elfin boy began to search around the cell to find anything that could be use to open or break the bars. His eyes landed right on the dirty plate that had been cracked.

"All right," Genis said, "I think I know how we can get out. We're going to need that plate and a lot of patience."

"What are you planning to do?" Raine asked.

"We're going to cut one of those bars, about almost the entire way," Genis whispered, "then we're going to..."

Almost a week and a half had passed since Genis and Raine were brought into captivity. Early in the morning, Raine would begin to cut the rusty bar using the steel plate. Once she grew tired, Genis would take over for her and begins to cut. Their hands had bled from the cuts they had received by using part of the steel plate. Once some of the Elf prisoners were taken away and never returning, the two siblings began to quicken their pace.

Finally, that evening, the bar was really weak enough that anyone could just give it a light push and break it off. Next came the second part of Genis' plan. When dinner was passed over to them, Raine took a bit of food into her mouth. She waited a couple of seconds before she fell on her back and began squirm around on the ground. She kicked on the ground and failed around.

"Guard, guard!" Genis shouted as he stuck his head out from the bars. "My sister has been poisoned!"

Both guards rushed over to Raine's cell and opened it. The guards knelled on the ground and began to inspect Raine. While they were busy, Genis managed to get the rusty bar out from its position and hit one of the guards on the head. The other guard turned around, giving Raine a chance to pull off her maneuver. Raine managed to kick the guard on the stomach and quickly got up.

She took up Genis' bar and hit the guard on the head, knocking him out cold like his companion. The rest of the prisoners began to shout and cheer for the Sage siblings. A couple of prisoners begged from them to get them out. Genis and Raine tried to calm down the prisoners so that their ruckus wouldn't catch the ears of other guards.

"Listen," Raine said, "we'll get you guys out, but we'll need outside help. My brother and I will go look for help, so please hang in there."

"If you need something to get yourselves out of," Genis said as he gave the plate shard to the closest cell, "use this to make a run for it. Please share it."

"What's going on here?" A voice shouted from the outside.

"We have to go now, Genis!" Raine shouted as she grabbed Genis' wrist and ran.

Both siblings ran out from the only exited the prison had and ran off towards the opposite direction. A couple of guards managed to get a glimpse of them. They separated into two groups: one to go after Genis and Raine while the other tending to the prison. The guards that went inside of prison tended to their fallen comrades. All the while, the prisoners that had the steel plate shard, hid it safely on their body.

Elsewhere, Raine and Genis ran through a thick forest. The branches scratched their skins and ruined their clothing. One branch, in particular, scratched Genis' left eyelid. The young Elf let out a whelp as he tried to stop the bleeding that fell from his eyelid. Meanwhile, Raine's long hair got stuck on one of the branches. She shouted as she tried to pull herself away from the branches, but they seemed to be alive and not wanting to let her go.

With one last yank, Raine pulled a bit of her hair out. Her once long hair was nothing more than an uneven cut. She placed a hand on her head and felt the lack of hair. Her attention changed from her hair to the sky as she heard a loud thunder clash. Lighting was seen through the sky. Small, cool water drops fell down on both siblings. Both of them shivered from the feeling of water, but soon found it must relaxing.

"Hey!" a distant voice shouted.

Raine and Genis looked back into the deep part of the forest. They heard that the guards were coming from them. Raine pulled on Genis' wrist and began to go through the forest. Strange animals hissed and growled as both siblings walked through their territories. Raine saw a clearing and began to run faster towards it. Just as they had reached it, they realized that it was a cliff. Raine stopped as she and her brother reached the edge.

Raine looked down to see that it was quite a nasty fall. Down below were more trees. A bit further, beyond the trees, was a stone pathway which lead to more parts of the village. She looked around to see if there was any way for them to get down on the ground. She looked over to the right of the ledge to see a dirt pathway which led from the edge of the cliff to the ground.

"Quickly, Genis!" Raine shouted as both rushed over to the pathway.

Before they reached the pathway, a dark figure fell from the sky and blocked their path. Genis recoiled back and hid behind Raine. Raine held onto Genis, hoping to protect him from whatever it was that was in front of them. Rain poured from the sky heavily as the figure began to stand up from its kneeling position. The figure before them was a man with rather broad shoulders.

Flaming red hair stuck to his strong, smooth face due to the rain. Rain could make out his dark, blood red eyes. Though at first she could see a sense of cold, darken feeling, but slowly she could see what appeared to be sadness. His attire consisted of a dark purple, uniform. On the uniform were medals that hung on one of the pockets of the soft jacket. On his hands were black gloves and on his feet were black boots. A dark blue cape covered part of his body as well as the sword that was in its sheath that hung from his waist. On his left arm was a shield.

The red headed man kept his vision on Raine. He slowly looked at tiny Genis before he looked back at Raine. He took one step forward then another one. Raine slowly began to back away from the man. Fear rose up in her body as she could sense that this man was a force to be reckoned with. Genis began to whimper a bit as he looked at the red head man.

"Stop," said the man, "if you wish to live, you'll let me see your ears."

"Please...don't kill us!" Raine begged as she felt tears well up in her eyes. "I'll let you see my ears and take me away, but please, let my brother go. He's just a child and he needs..."

"Enough!" The man barked. "I just said that I wanted to see your ears."

Raine looked down at the muddy ground as she took one step forward. She release her hold on Genis as she approached the man. The man let out a small sigh as he placed a hand on the woman's face. His hand trailed from her cheek towards her ears. He moved part of her hair away to see her pointy ears. He examined the ears until he found the mark.
So this is one of the slaves, he thought. Raine shivered a bit from the man's touch.

"You're a slave," the man said to her.

"Yes," Raine replied as she looked into the man's dark crimson eyes, "please, let my brother go. I'll go with you quietly and back to my prison, if you just let my brother go! I beg of you!"

A thunderbolt crashed just as Raine had finished speaking. For that split second, the man saw a better glimpse of the woman that was near his arms. Tears began to trail down Raine's face as she begged this soldier, or at least she thought it was a soldier, for mercy. The man looked deeply into her eyes. It was strange that her soft eyes reminded him so much of someone he knew. Before he lost himself entirely in the past, he shook his head a bit.

"Go now," he said flatly.

"You're really letting us go?" Raine asked. "Even thought you know we're slaves."

"You begged to be released, didn't you? I'm letting you go now before I change my mind."

"Thank you, Mr. Soldier!" Raine let out as she quickly got Genis and ran off towards the pathway. "I'll never forget this!"

The man kept his eyes locked on the young woman as she and her brother ran down the dirt pathway and into the forest. Something bothered the man entirely. He thought it was something to do with those sad eyes of hers that reminded him of someone that was dear to him. Rain continued to pour down on the man. He slowly looked up at the sky. It is quite a dark sky, he thought. Are you crying right now?

"General Kratos!" One of the vampire guards called out.

Kratos looked at the soldiers. "What is it?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but we have most urgent news. Two Elfin slaves had escaped from our prison. We gave off chase and we hoped that you might have seen them."

"If I did," Kratos said, "you'd think I wouldn't have them in my grasps right now?"

"I...I suppose so..."

"They're probably hidden in the forest," the red headed Kratos replied as he turned his gaze over to the ledge, "if you hurry, you'll get them. Don't let them escape."

"Yes, sir!"

"Oh, by the way, sir," another soldier began to talk, "His Majesty, the prince, has been wanting to talk to you as soon as you returned from your crusade."

"I'll be sure to talk to him soon. You're dismissed."

The guards bowed down to Kratos before they left. Kratos just kept his view on the young woman and her brother. When he lost sight of them, he just flipped his cape and began to make his way towards the palace.

Meanwhile, Raine and Genis ran through the small forested area. They made their way to the stone pathway and began to look around for a place to stay. Genis suddenly had tripped and fell into the mud. Genis tried to wipe away the mud from his face, but he only made it worse. Raine took a part of her dress and began to clean Genis. Once she had finished, her attention turned to the silhouettes that were walking towards them.

Raine dragged Genis over to the nearest place she could find. It was a small stable which appeared to be empty, except for the hay that was on the ground. Raine entered the stable and beckoned Genis to come. Genis was a bit hesitant to enter the stable, but had no other choice. He got in the stable and closed the door behind him. Raine made two small beds out of hay. Once she finished, she laid down on her hay bed.

"This is the best we can do for now," Raine said as she stared at the ceiling.

"I know, I know," Genis replied, "I wish I could have thought this part out more clearly. I mean, we need to get disguises and try to get out, dressed as Heretics. That will be harder than escaping."

"Yeah, I know."

"We were very lucky that soldier guy let us go. It was a strange...he gave you some sort of a look that seemed like he wasn't there in person. What did you do to him?"

"I don't know," Raine replied as she remembered the man's dark eyes. "It was like he wasn't there with us. Still...I can't help but say that his eyes were just beautiful."

"Eww," Genis let out, "that man looked he could be a serial killer or something. Ow!"

Raine managed to hit Genis on the head. "That's no way to talk to a man that helped us," the older sister said, "even though you are somewhat right."

"So...what do we do now?"

"We're going to have to sleep it off until morning comes. The evening is the worst time for us to be running around since that's when those monsters will be at their peak potential. We'll leave in the morning when there won't be much problems."

"All right," Genis replied as he yawned, "then good night, Raine."

"Good night, Genis," Raine responded as she yawned too.

Both Sage siblings had started to get drowsy. Raine hadn't fallen asleep yet. Her eyes were glued to the ceiling while her mind was somewhere else. She wish that all of this was a nightmare and when she wakes up, she would be back inside of her small home with her parents and brother. She imagined that she would get out from her soft bed to get dressed for work. And when she would arrived to her work, she would be ready to teach the small children all there is to know about education. Her eyes began to grow heavy and soon sleep came to her.

That night...she had a strange dream which involved the soldier that helped her.

All right, that is all for today. I hope this chapter was pretty good or at least something of interest. Next chapter will feature our ToS hero, Lloyd and we might see Zelos...might. We'll just see how the chapter goes. Anyway, thanks for reading and please leave a review if you can. Much appreciated.