Hey everyone, I've decided to try a crack at writing fanfiction. This is my first work, so constructive criticism and other reviews are much appreciated! And if you're wondering, my name is indeed Paul. So, yeah, I decided to start with a variant of the popular "self-insert." The story will be told through third person (while centering on either Lloyd or Paul here).

Tales of Symphonia: New Game Plus

Prologue – "Beyond the GRADE"

Among the ruin that was once the Tower of Salvation, Lloyd inquisitively looked at his father, Kratos. It felt as if his journey, beginning at when he helped Colette receive the oracle until the death of the fallen hero, Mithos, was just a dream. Blood, sweat, and tears – he and his companions had gone so far to reunite the worlds. The world was finally at peace, but work had to be done and goodbyes had to be said.

Lloyd broke the silence, "Are you really going to Derris-Kharlan?"

Kratos, his face still stern from when they had met all those months ago, replied, "If a half-elf of Cruxis remains here, the other half-elves will have no place to live. As a surviving member of Cruxis, I must bear the responsibility for what has happened."

Holding back his tears, Lloyd kept his composure, "I'm going to collect all the Exspheres remaining in this land."

Kratos, finally smiling in pride for his own son, replied, "…And I will discard all of Cruxis' Exspheres into space." Then his demeanor became gloomy, apologetic even, "I've dragged you into this until the very end."

Lloyd's eyes met Kratos' seeing his own regret, "It's okay…"

A short period of silence came between them, until Kratos spoke. "…It's time for me to go. Please use that sword to send us to Derris-Kharlan."

As Lloyd prepared the Eternal Sword, tears filled in his eyes as he looked up at his father, "…Goodbye…Dad!"

Kratos was speechless.

As he rose in altitude, slowly approaching the gigantic mass of mana, he mumbled to himself, "…Don't die before I do, Lloyd…my son." Though Lloyd was on the ground, looking up at his angelic father, it was if the words echoed into his heart and he smiled.

Later that day, Lloyd returned to his mother's gravestone at Dirk's house. His eyes reddened by tears from saying his last goodbyes to his biological father, he whispered to his mother, "Mom, Dad…left. That was okay, wasn't it? For me to let him go…it was okay, right?"

Dirk was behind him and placed his hand on Lloyd's right shoulder, "…Lloyd. You wanted to go with him, didn't you?"

Lloyd shook his head, "No, I have my own path to follow. And Dad has his." His eyes closed and he smiled, "…And besides, I have a dad here already!"

Dirk smiled at his son and apprentice, "I see. Then I won't say anymore."

Lloyd took out Kratos' sword and he placed it on Anna's grave.

"…Mom. I'll leave Dad's sword beside you." He turned and saw his companion for this new journey of his along with his faithful "dog," Noishe, and smiled as the wind blew his hair softly. "Well…I'm off!"

It's finally over, Lloyd thought, I'll make a new world for everyone…and protect the tree with my life…I swear it!

He turned to Dirk and waved goodbye. As he turned away, it felt as if everything was dimming around him and before he fell in a deep slumber, he saw a twinkling of mana in the sky.

A…am I dead? I…I can't feel anything! What's going on!?

He looked around, only seeing a modest room with light blue paint. Behind him was some sort of screen, reminiscent of the monitors that in several of the human ranches. It was very dark, but not dark enough to render his sense of sight useless. As he was trying to take all of this in, he noticed something stir.

Wh-what the!? Must be an enemy…I'll just take out my swords and…huh?

He noticed the cursed blades he had carried, the Nebilim, were missing. All he had were his sheaths but no item pack nor any weapons and armor for that matter. Whatever was stirring suddenly got taller and a bright light came on unexpectedly.

Lloyd covered his eyes for a second, "Agh!"

"Wh…who's there!?" a voice shouted.

It was a young man, about the same age as Lloyd. Now that he had a light source, he now noticed that he was in a bedroom with two beds. It reminded him a bit of the Sage family's home before it was burned down in the attack on Iselia.

I don't think I'm in Iselia anymore…where is this…and who is that guy?

The man that Lloyd was observing reached for the table adjacent to him and opened a small container that contained glasses. The young man rubbed his eyes and stared right at Lloyd. His face turned completely pale at the sight of the young brunette and rubbed his eyes in a berserk fashion.

The young man stopped rubbing his eyelids and his voice was shaky. "No…way…have I been drinking lately?"

Lloyd was confused as usual, and asked "Do you mean some juice? I wouldn't know…"

"Beer…alcohol…you know…"

Lloyd displayed a look of disgust, "Yuck!"

Who is this guy? Where the hell am I? I want answers…

"Hey! What's your name…?"

The young man just grinned, "Give me your name and I'll give you mine!"

Lloyd was angry. That jerk just stole my saying! How could he know? Am I really that famous?

"You're just a figment of my imagination. Bye!" The young man hopped back into bed and closed his eyes.

Lloyd grew even more furious, "Hey! Don't ignore me!" He went to the side of the bed and dragged the young man out.

"Ouch! You jerk- wait… how could you do that? You're only a hallucination!"

Lloyd was ready to take the hapless teen and beat the snot out of him, had he not slipped and fell on the floor from something.

"Agh!"

In the other bed, a younger boy stirred but stayed asleep. The young man stood up, a bit angry. "You may be a figment of my imagination, but you sure are as loud as the real thing…"

"I'm not your imagination!" Lloyd sneered. "What did I fall over on, anyway?"

Lloyd looked down and saw some sort of case. It reminded him of one of those "martial-art" books that he had tried to read once, but failed miserably considering reading was not the most entertaining in the world to him. He picked it up.

"Tales…of…"

His peer took the case from him, "Symphonia."

With Lloyd's signature inquisitive gaze, "What's a 'Symphonia'?" Then he noticed the artwork, "And more importantly, why are Sheena, Colette, Zelos and I doing on the front?" He then grabbed and turned it to the back and saw scenes from his own life.

Is this some kind of magic? What's going on!?

"Well," the impatient and brash one said, "tell me!"

The mysterious young man he had just met showed a weird face. It was something between fear and confusion. "I…I can't. I have to find a way to put you back."

"Put me back where? What?"

"Back in Symphonia. Where you belong."

"Whoa!" Lloyd yelled, putting his fists up, "I'm not going anywhere until you give me a REAL answer!"

The young man shook his head, "No. I shouldn't tell you. I won't tell you. It's for your own good."

"You sound a lot like Dad…"

"Which one?"

"What!? How do you know about me?" Lloyd clenched his fist, "You're starting to piss me off…"

"I've said way too much already. Sorry."

The young man opened the case and there were two CDs, red and blue (like the Material Blades) with the names Tales of Symphonia imprinted on them. "Maybe this'll work."

Lloyd stepped right between him and a strange machine under the "monitor."

"My name's Lloyd. Lloyd Irving. There. Now tell me yours."

The other just sighed, "Just call me Paul. But, I doubt you'll remember once you're back in the game. I knew I shouldn't have tried that fourth playthrough. Damn game…"

"Game…are you saying my life's a game?"

Paul just stopped dead in his tracks. "No…I meant…"

"All those people that died, all the sacrifices and battles we had to fight…was all for your enjoyment? And I thought Kvar was messed up…"

"You don't understand, I-"

"I hate it when people say that! I'm not dumb, dammit! I just hate to study…sheesh…"

Paul smiled a tiny bit, "If it'll make you feel better…I hate studying too." He placed "Disc One" into some sort of port for the strange machine, which looked like a smaller version of the Renegade device back in Triet.

"Are you a Desian? A Renegade?"

"I'm…well…I'm human, really." He pressed a button on the machine, but for some reason it wouldn't respond. "Hm…seems like it's not working."

"If I exist in only a game…does that mean I don't exist?"

Paul was getting a bit irritated from the sudden lapses of questioning and yelling from the red-clothed hero, and now he understood better the reason why Raine was very violent towards the clueless swordsman. "I…guess you could say that. But you still have your memories, right?"

"Yeah. I remember everything now that you mention it."

"Odd," replied Paul, "Whenever the game starts over, your memories start over."

"Could you please not refer to it as a game…"

"I'm just too used to it. Sorry."

As they kept staring at each other uneasily for what seemed like an eternity, Lloyd's eyes suddenly widened.

"What is it now?" asked the tired youth.

"Behind you!" Lloyd said, pointing out a strange statue. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a faceless angel. Lloyd picked it up and suddenly two ruby red eyes appeared on its blank slate for a face. The glare from the statue pierced through both of the teenager's hearts. However, they could not keep their eyes off of it.

Paul panicked. "Hey…what's going on!?"

And everything went dark, and our two heroes found themselves in a place worse than death. Nothingness.

Please read and review. Thanks!