This is my first story, so it's probably a little rusty, but bear with me! I wanted to get this uploaded fast, so I cut it off shorter than I originally intended, but I'll explain everything in the next chapter. I promise! (Which should be coming out soon, by the way!)

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Tales of Symphonia

The Girl who Hated the Snow

Chapter 1: The Fateful Fall

"…Lynne! ...Lynne wake up!"

The girl called Lynne opened her eyes slowly. Where was she? What had she been doing? Blinking to rid herself of the last remainders of sleep, Lynne slowly looked up… and into the eyes of a very mad Professor Raine.

Lynne balked. "Er…oh…hey, Professor."

Raine tapped the chalk against her palm menacingly, making Lynne wince. "Yes hello Miss Irving. I hope that you will be joining us today."

"Oh, of course Professor. I just dozed off."

Raine stopped tapping the chalk and instead gripped it tightly in her palm. "You call sleeping for three hours dozing off?"

Some other kids snickered. They knew what was coming. Lynne gulped; she knew what was coming too.

"Miss Irving, if you're just going to sleep through my class you might as well not come at all! And if you're going to be here, sit up straight and face the front. I will not have sleeping students in my class! I've tolerated it thus far because I know you work outside of school, but no more! Now sit up and pay attention!"

Normally, Lynne would've let this go. After all, she knew she had been sleeping and that it was rude to do so. But, for some reason, today wasn't going to be "the usual". She could feel it coming, the snap that she felt more and more often these days.

Clenching her fists, Lynne stood up sharply, causing Raine to take a step back in surprise. "Yes, I work outside of school," Lynne said with deadly calm, "and do you know what I do? I protect the village! And do you know why? It's because no one else will!"

"Easy Lynne," Raine said, backing up a step. Raine had seen Lynne like this before. One minute she would be a nice, quiet girl like her mother, the next she could be ranting and raving and moody and totally the opposite of what she was like before. The best thing to do was to either let Lynne get everything off her chest or calm her down if it looked too dangerous to let it go down. Though Raine wanted to do the latter, it looked as if she would have to do the former, but she tried anyway. "Just calm down. No one's against you here."

"No one's against me? That's the same as saying that no one's abandoned me! But that's not true, is it? My own parents abandoned me!"

"Lynne please!" Raine pleaded desperately. But it was no use. Lynne shoved her chair back, grabbed her books, and stormed out of the classroom. She stopped at the door long enough to say, "If you don't want me here, then I'll leave. See you tomorrow, Professor."

Lynne's footsteps echoed down the hallway then disappeared entirely after a loud bang that meant that Lynne had slammed the front door shut after her. It was quiet in the classroom for a long moment, and then Raine sighed and called the class back to attention. Only one girl in the classroom stared after Lynne with a worried expression on her face.

Lynne sighed heavily for the umpteenth time in hours. After storming out of the village, Lynne eventually cooled down enough to recognize what she had done and feel the inevitable regret that always followed. Even so, she could never control her outbursts once she got started. Now she was sitting in her favorite spot – on one of the soft, grassy hills outside of Iselia, the village she called home. She had lived there all sixteen years of her life, and this was still her favorite spot to come and cool off. Now she sat with her legs pulled up to her chest and her arms crossed under her knees. She let the wind play with her long brown hair, her blue eyes staring off into the distance. She knew she should go apologize, but she wasn't ready to move just yet. Besides, school probably wasn't out yet – it was only a little after lunch, according to her stomach – so the Professor would still be teaching. Lynne didn't think she'd be able to stomach another lesson today, so she sat there feeling horrible instead.

Well, if she wasn't going to go back to school, she thought, she might as well go patrol the village, just in case monsters decide to show up. In school she could respond quickly to a cry or scream for help, but since she was way out here she couldn't even hear them, even if she wanted to. So, sighing, she began to get up and leave when a voice came from behind the bushes, "There you are!"

Lynne whipped around, her hands already finding the swords that hung loosely from her belt. They were a gift from her father, and she never went anywhere without them. They, along with her sword skills, had saved her many times in battle. But, there was no battle to be fought today, for the person behind the bush turned out to be Lynne's friend Gina, the quarter-elf.

"Gina," Lynne said, sliding her weapons back into their sheaths, "what're you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?"

Gina had a sly grin on her face. "I snuck out during lunch. Here, I brought you some."

Almost as an answer, Lynne's stomach grumbled. They both laughed as Lynne accepted the food from Gina. Lynne sat back down on the grass, savoring the food, as Gina came and sat beside her. Lynne gave her a funny look. "Shouldn't you be heading back to class?" She said, only it sounded like, "Fudt you be eafing ack oo cass?" since there was food in her mouth.

Gina laughed, and then sighed. "Yeah, I suppose so. Hey, don't get down about what the Professor said, alright? She's been really stressed out lately, and she probably just took some of her frustration out on you."

Lynne sighed, lowering the food from her mouth. "Yeah, I know. I shouldn't be provoking her either. That was really stupid and rude of me."

Gina smiled. "Well, yeah, I can agree that you were kind of rude, but you're naturally stupid so you can't help that."

"What!" Lynne exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "What did you say!"

Gina jumped up and, giggling, ran back towards the village yelling, "Stupid!"

"Get back here Gina! I'm gonna kill you!" Lynne screamed, chasing after her friend.

Gina, being smaller, managed to get a lead on her friend, and scampered down the road back to the village, still cackling with laughter. Lynne, irked by this realization, sped up, using her longer legs to gain on her friend. But, just as they came within sight of Iselia, both girls saw a familiar figure standing at the southern gate. It was Raine, her arms crossed, her right foot tapping in impatience and annoyance; and she didn't look too happy.

Both girls skidded to a halt, their race momentarily forgotten in the face of a potentially dangerous foe.

"Uhh…I guess I'll be seeing you later Gina!" Lynne said, turning on her heel and sprinting back up the slope. Gina stared open-mouthed at her friend, and then screamed, "You'll pay for this Lynne!"

"Who'll pay for what, exactly?" A dangerously scary voice came from behind Gina, making her shiver.

"Oh, uh, Professor Raine! I…uh…I didn't see you there!" Gina said, forcing a fake smile onto her face.

"Uh huh. I'm so sure. Come on, let's go back to school. You still have some math problems you need to take care of."

"Not fair!" Gina screamed as Raine grabbed her by the back of her dress and began to drag her back to school. "Why me? I'm not failing school! So why me?"

"Because," Raine said, so quietly that Gina shut up and strained to listen, "Lynne is going through something neither of us can begin to imagine, and she needs time and space sometimes. So long as she does all her schoolwork by the end of the semester, of course."

"You always play favorites," Gina pouted.

Raine smiled but didn't reply. Lynne, she thought, wherever you are, wherever you're going, know that you're not alone. Know that there are people who care about you, and come back to them someday. Please Lynne…

"Phew! That was a close one! Sorry Gina, but I just couldn't bear it if I had to go back to school! Ugh!" Lynne said, shivering slightly. She had run until she was sure that she wasn't being pursued. Now she was slowly, aimlessly walking, getting her breath back. Normally she wouldn't leave her friend like that, actually, she wouldn't leave her friend like that, but she wanted to be alone, and running after her friend only to sit in a classroom for three hours didn't allow for "alone time". So, sighing, Lynne continued to walk over the hills, wrapped up in her own thoughts.

She was so wrapped up, however, that she didn't see the stone in the path. And, with her being a natural klutz, Lynne tripped over that very stone and, with a scream of terror, was sent rolling down the hill, and the next one, and the next one, getting dirt and other stuff stuck in her clothes, ripping it in some places. She was rolling so fast that when she came to a steep hill she rolled right up it and shot off it, wheeling in the air. Luckily, she wasn't suspended for long, but then she plummeted back down to the ground, her eyes on the place she was going to splat and a scream ripping its way free from her throat.

However, when Lynne did land, it wasn't hard earth and dirt that she landed on, rather the ground beneath her sagged and broke apart at the force of her fall, sending her falling down a long hole and into the earth. There were stairs in the hole, and Lynne bumped several times on them as she continued her freefall down into the earth. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Lynne finally found rock bottom and landed with a solid, painful-sounding thud. For a minute Lynne lied there, stunned, but then she sat up, groaning and rubbing her back. She looked around her, but it was too dark to see anything. Blindly, Lynne groped along the floor until she found the wall, then groped around for a torch or something to light with. She found the former in one of the old-fashioned holders. She pulled it out, then she held it between her legs as she reached for her swords. She drew them from their sheaths, and clashed them together, over and over, until the motion produced a spark that lit the decaying wood.

When the torch was burning brightly, Lynne held it up, fighting back the darkness with its light. "It's a cave," she whispered, her voice echoing slightly, as if beckoning her forward. She gulped then, steeling her nerves, she trudged forward and into the dark unknown.

Well? What did you think? I know Lynne's a little bipolar (sort of), but there's a reason for it. It'll all be explained later on...(probably close to the end... lol)

Reviews would be greatly appreciated!