Here's the first chapter of what will hopefully grow into a story where each character tells a bit of it so that, once it's finished, you'll know the whole picture :) Potter29Vo kindly suggested we should work on a fic together so we'll take it in turns to write each chapter :)

Set a short while before the final battle of the game. Everyone's gathered around the campfire after a hard day in which they've tried to prepare themselves for the battle.

This is the first time I've written a Tales of Symphonia fic in first person, but it just seemed right to do so this time.

Many thanks and hugs must go to my 'brother', a very good friend of mine who isn't actually related to me in any way but who is such a good, close friend I do consider him a brother. It's because of him I, and thus the chibis, know what it's like to have such a good friend who's that close to you. He's a wonderful friend and a constant source of support and inspiration.

Thanks also to my chibis, without them I couldn't write as they're my little muses or whatever you want to call them, and to my fiancé, who is always there for me. I love him very much.

And finally thanks to Potter29Vo for suggesting we work on a fic together and for coming up with the title for this, I can never think of titles :) This chapter's dedicated to her, because she suggested we should write a fic together and so here's the start of one. Also talking to her by e-mail got me thinking about some of the ideas I want to include in this :) This fic is also dedicated to my 'brother' because without him I wouldn't know what it's like to have a great, 'adopted' sibling :)Dedicted to Urby as well, because she too understands my rambling and puts up with my ranting. I hope it cheers her up :)

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I absolutely love it, will admit I have a slight obsession with it, but Namco actually own it I believe :)

Lil-Samuu

Colette

Although the scene around the campfire would look relaxed to any chance passer-by I could tell everyone was feeling a little nervous and apprehensive. It wouldn't be long before we would confront Yggdrasil, when we would try to win, and end, our quest.

We'd been preparing ourselves today, both mentally and physically, and everyone looked a bit worn out.

Even though I could feel the tension around the camp, felt it within myself, I could still find some peace. No matter what happened I always felt safe when Lloyd held me. Curled up in his lap now, my head on his chest, his arms around me, I could find calm and the smile on my face was a genuine one.

Lloyd made me feel loved, wanted, more than just a body to be sacrificed. I owed him so much, my life even, and it fills my heart with joy to know that my love and devotion to him are requited. It makes me feel a lovely warm, fuzzy, floaty feeling in my heart and all over my body.

I opened my eyes which I'd closed so I could fully concentrate on the wonderful feelings I felt when I snuggled with Lloyd. I spotted Sheena away from the others, looking as though she felt her body was heavy with, with sadness.

I gave a little whimper, I hated seeing her like this, and Lloyd must have heard me.

"Go on, go and comfort her," he whispered to me softly.

I nuzzled him, kissed him and gave him a tight hug before wandering over to Sheena.

"Oneechan?" I whispered the childish-style Mizuhoan word for 'older sister' as I knelt beside her. In the time I had known her I had become very close to Sheena.

She understood how I felt about a lot of things, having been through similar situations herself. Admittedly she'd not been asked to sacrifice herself but she had been used for the cause of a group of people, shunned because she was different and had experienced the pain of failure at something she'd been trained specifically to do. I didn't have to explain anything about myself, my thoughts and feelings, to her, she just knew.

And as fantastic as Lloyd and Genis were as friends, well, Lloyd was more than a friend now but I had been too young to understand romantic love until recently, it was lovely to have a female friend about my own age.

Her maturer attitudes and knowledge, the few years she'd lived longer than me, plus the closeness, the understanding we shared, meant I had come to consider her as an older sister. I'd even begun to call her oneechan, and she sometimes called me 'little sister' when she talked to me.

It was nice, having a sister, even if we weren't technically related. I'm an only child for obvious reasons, so it's great to have the closeness, the support, of a sibling figure, especially at this very difficult time.

Right now though it seemed like she needed my support and I was glad to give it to her.

"Oneechan?" I whispered again and this time she looked up at me. Her eyes held a weary sadness in them and I felt the overwhelming urge to hug her, to let her know I cared and that she wasn't alone. So I did, curling up in her lap like a little child might, wrapping my arms around her.

She took a little while to respond but eventually began to stroke my hair, a gesture I knew she found soothing.

I purred softly, letting her know I was enjoying the fuss.

I liked hugging Sheena, she felt all warm and right to hold, but in a completely different way to the way it felt to hug my beloved Lloyd, another thing that reinforced the feeling of being as close as siblings who got on well might be.

"My sister, what am I going to do?" Sheena sighed. I knew from the tone of her voice it was a rhetorical question so I held her and waited for her to be ready to continue.

I glanced around and saw Zelos looking over at us, an odd expression on his face. I sighed and rolled my eyes, hoping he wasn't thinking our gesture of affection, of closeness, the hug, was something more.

Yes, I would say I loved Sheena, but not in a romantic way. My heart belonged to Lloyd, plain and simple, and I knew I loved him too much to ever even contemplate loving another in the same way. However there are many different types of love as Lloyd told me he'd explained to Genis once, and it was a different type of love I felt for Sheena. Family love, not romantic.

It annoyed me immensely when people gave us 'knowing' or disapproving looks in the street if Sheena and I walked along with an arm around each other. We looked too different to one another for people to think we were related and so they seemed to jump to the conclusion that the gesture meant more than it actually did. It made me cross and I suspected that if one of us was male we'd get even more 'knowing' looks.

There's too much hate in these worlds and it's sad when a simple gesture of closeness between friends is assumed to mean something else. I hope that changes if, no, WHEN we succeed in reuniting the two worlds.

We have to succeed. I don't want to even imagine what might happen if we failed.

Zelos got up and went to sit next to Lloyd. It was then I realised he'd not been looking at us, I might as well have not been there for all he cared, for his eyes were concentrating firmly on Sheena.

He, too, looked troubled and as he began to talk to Lloyd I suspected that he may be talking about similar concerns to the ones I felt Sheena might share with me at any moment. The pair of them obviously cared about each other but had trouble expressing this.

Sheena began to hum a lullaby-like tune and that, along with her stroking my hair, made me feel drowsy.

"Alright?" I prompted her to talk to me before sleep dragged me under its spell. Sheena gave a heavy sigh and began.

I was right, it was matters of the heart that had been running through her mind although she, too, was also concerned about the upcoming battle. It loomed over us, the niggling sense that something big was about to happen, something that wouldn't go away.

I listened, offering words when they were needed, a quiet, caring ear when they were not, until I felt Sheena had done all the talking she needed to to take some of the weight off her mind.

Then I did what a good little sister should, I grabbed a pillow, whapped the summoner with it and grinned delightedly as she protested but joined in with the game anyways.

It was important to be serious sometimes, but equally it was important just to let go and play at other times. And now what Sheena needed to unwind was a fun pillow fight and I was willing to put up a good fight, it wasn't only cards that she could turn from harmless objects into effective weapons. It was really surprising how much wallop she could pack with a bag of feathers and fluff. But I loved it, one of the many perks of having a big sister and I had a great one.