Author's Note:

Yay, another story started. Please don't kill me. I had to write it, my crazy imagination demanded it. Also I've been reading far too many ToS self-inserts for my own good.

I'm writing this mostly for fun, and I don't mind if a lot of people are not very welcoming to another self insert. For those of you that are willing to give it a chance, I hope you enjoy it and I'm so sorry if you don't.

For the most part, Madison Harper is very similar to me with a few differences. Mostly, the name and age are different; but there are a few other things. I actually find it to be more interesting if I put my own experiences/hobbies into it; I can make my own character more realistic because I actually know what it feels like to have done these things.

The comments about my nephews are almost all entirely true. They really do call Tales of Symphonia 'The red bad guy game' and love playing it almost as much as I do.

Anyway, I don't own Tales of Symphonia or any of it's characters. Please enjoy.


Chapter One – Aunt Maddy

Madison Harper:

"Look Aunt Maddy, it's a dinosaur train! Look!" my nephew exclaimed to me for the second time, and I didn't even look away from the computer as I answered him.

"I see that, Amos, it's very nice." My nephews' latest favorite TV show involved dinosaurs on a time traveling train. Pretty awesome; and made me wish they had shows like that when I was little, but I was a bit too busy at the moment to wonder why the carnivorous main character hadn't eaten all his friends yet.

I was writing a background on one of my more complicated characters. It was an old one I had created back in middle school so she was a bit childish, but I had a sentimental soft spot for her. I had almost forgotten about her, but I'd found an old binder from my middle school years that had some old faded pages of her story.

So, I was writing out her background. Maybe I'd look at it later and find a place for her in one of my stories. I was enjoying it too. It was one of those characters that were practically all-powerful. The ones you make when you're first starting to imagine stories.

I was having fun making her not-so-perfect. Adding a few more powerful characters than her, messing up her background, killing off the person she most cared for. I even had her memories erased at some point.

Let's see... she turned evil, then was caught by the 'good guys' and is now working for them to make up for her past transgressions. I nodded and left it at that as I saved the file and glanced up at the clock. Eleven, too soon to start lunch for my nephews, so I decided to play a game with them. Their TV shows were over anyways and they were getting antsy.

"Alright, kiddos, who wants to play the red bad guy game?" I asked as I got up from my chair.

"I do, I do!"

"Me!"

The red bad guy game was what my nephews had named Tales of Symponia; because Lloyd's clothes were red and he beat up bad guys. On the Xbox downstairs we had Tales of Vesparia which they had dubbed the black bad guy game, because Yuri wore black.

Except we didn't want them to ruin the Xbox so we set up the beat-up, old, Gamecube upstairs for them to play. Mostly they played Mariokart (the race car game) or Harvest Moon (the yes and no game, I'm still not sure why they call it that), they only played Symphonia when I was there to watch them.

I started up the game and handed them their favorite controllers to play with and pretend they were actually playing the game with me. Only the oldest, John, got to play with me and I gave him Lloyd while I played around with Kratos. We were in the Martel Temple and having only two other options, I chose the other melee characters. Casters were boring for me, no offense to Genis. Heh.

Amos didn't seem to notice that he couldn't effect anything; and the youngest, Noah, chewed on his controller staring at the pretty colors flashing across the screen. It was good times. Playing video games with my nephews was one of my all time favorite activities.

Not even the annoyingly persistent voice in my head could ruin my mood. Wait. What?

~Ah, so I finally have your attention?~

I froze, and on the screen Kratos got hit in the face with a fist full of rock monster cube thing.

The voice continued, ~I was your friend, Maddy. How could you do this to me? You forgot about me; and then you ruined my life. I must admit, it's quite disconcerting to find out your entire life was made up by a little girl.~

As the voice continued, a chill ran down my spine as I slowly recognized it.

~Oh, I see. You thought you made me up in middle school. No, I've been with you for far longer than that. Who was it that tripped those bullies on the playground? Who juggled fire for you when you were bored in class? Who beat up the monster under the bed and tamed the bogey man in your closet?~

That's right... I didn't remember my childhood very well, mostly because I was thought of as an odd child and I didn't want to be reminded of those unpleasant memories. I did remember the imaginary friend. The one that juggled fire.

I glanced around the room nervously, oblivious to my nephews as John got frustrated with my lack of playing and stole the controller. It was just me and the kids.

It was just a voice in my head, I told myself. I often heard voices in my head when I was thinking up stories. It was probably left over creativity from that background I was writing. I shrugged it off and turned to wrestle my controller away from my nephew.

~A voice in your head I may be, but I am not to be ignored. Not again. I was surprised when you started thinking of me again, I was... happy; but then you thought up my history. Why would you do that to me? I was your best friend!~

I- I'm sorry! I stammered back in my head, assuming it could hear me. I was just trying to give you an interesting story!

~Interesting...,- the voice snorted, -that's an understatement. Well, you made me evil, so I guess it's time for me to be bad. I want to play a game; and you, Madison Harper, are going to play with me. Whether you want to or not. It's time you learned the reality of creativity.~

By this time, I had stepped back to sit on the couch. Leaving my nephews to the game while I had my internal dialogue with my imaginary friend. As the voice spoke, my vision swam; and when I tried to move, I couldn't.

My vision went black, and I couldn't feel my limbs anymore. I just seamed to be floating in a sea of darkness. I tried to call out, but nothing happened. I tried using my thoughts instead.

Hello? Voice? I tried. I couldn't remember the name of my imaginary friend. I wasn't even sure if she had a name. I gave her a name in the background, but I was hesitant to use it.

~I'm here, and you can call me whatever you want. I stopped caring about my name about the time you erased my memory. I don't even know what my name is. It'll be just a bit longer, I'm setting things up.~

I paused a moment in fear as I tried to grasp what was happening. What did you mean, 'game'? What are you doing?

~You will see. Conveniently, you already placed a nice dimension close by, I'm just slipping us into it. You will see how real imaginary characters are, we are not just play things for your amusement.~

The darkness began to grow light and then I could feel my limbs again. I felt something prickly under me, and could smell grass. Almost immediately I noticed my sense of smell and hearing were stronger.

I opened my eyes and squinted into the bright sunlight. My vision was better too. I was starting to feel irritated at all the changes. I sat up and put my hand to my face to confirm that I no longer wore glasses, and paused, staring at my hand in confusion.

~That's your exsphere.~

I shrieked in surprise when a dark red cat-thing stepped in front of me. "Holy cow! That's... you?!"

~Yes. I did say 'we' didn't I? Also, your shrieking voice offends my ears. I'm a telepath, remember? You don't have to talk for me to hear you.~ The cat-thing blinked up at me.

"Well excuse me for having an irritating voice! I think I'm going to talk to you whenever possible now just to annoy you! Geeze, what did you do to me?! It's like I'm Superman or something; and an exsphere? Please don't tell me that means what I think it means..."

~It does; and I made you an elf. Mostly because when we get to Heimdall I refuse to sit outside with you and the half elves and miss all the fun.~

"Symphonia? I can't be in Symphonia!" I protested loudly. "What about my nephews! They're all alone, and why couldn't I just be human? I mean, at least I KNOW how to be human."

~Meh, being human wouldn't have been as much fun for me. Think of all the awkward questions you'll have to answer! Not to mention you'll be using a lot of magic so you'd have to be an elf or a half elf. Also, you don't have to worry about the time. You'll only be gone a few hours at the most. I'm keeping track of the time, as well as many other things.~

The cat stood up and walked a few steps away before turning back to look at me. ~Now hurry up Maddy, we need to find Genis and Lloyd and tag along with them to Triet.~

I got to my feet shakily, still not quite believing. It was a dream, right? I often had weird, freakishly realistic dreams. What the heck, I was in one of my all time favorite games, maybe I could enjoy it. Maybe.

I followed the cat (I was going to have to find a name for her soon...) as she picked her way through the large field we were in, and took the time look myself over. I ran my hands over my ears, and sure enough, they were large and distinctly pointed.

Oh man... I knew next to nothing about the elves. How was I going to explain things? And what about fighting?! Would I have to kill people? The thought of that made me sick to my stomach. I had to stop to calm myself. "I- I can't do this..."

I heard the sigh in my head as the cat stopped and turned to look at me. ~Death is a part of life.~

"Yeah, but I've never had to be the cause of it before! I'm not a killer! Heck, I'll proudly put on a French maid outfit and proclaim myself a nanny nurse maid if I thought it would help me take better care of my nephews. I'm a nurturer, I like to take care of people. To put them in the hospital? Or the morgue? I don't know how I could handle that..."

~Well, you won't have to worry about that, there are no hospitals or morgues here. Just healers and cemeteries.-~

I glared at her, "You know what I mean. Take me home. I'm not doing this."

The cat's eyes narrowed and a chill ran down my spine as I remembered how powerful I had made her. ~I'm sorry, but I think you're under the mistaken impression that you have a choice. I did not have a choice when you tore away everything that was important to me. You know what I am capable of, I can make you do this if necessary; but that would be fun for neither of us.~

We stared at each other for a long while, neither of us relenting. She wasn't going to give, but it didn't matter. I wasn't going to do this. I turned to walk away, but I didn't even get as far as a single step. I froze as my limbs stopped responding to my will.

I would have yelled out in frustration and thrown a tantrum, but I couldn't even control myself to move my eyes. Her mental abilities were everything I had imagined them to be, and in my mind I knew that she was not even trying.

I tried to fight it as I turned back around and started walking along behind the cat. I might as well have been beating against a steal wall.

"I'm perfectly willing to release you, provided you promise to play the game," my voice spoke from my mouth. I didn't answer as I fumed, trapped inside my own head. I'd imagined this before, written of it in the stories from middle school. It had not prepared me for the terror of experiencing it for myself.

"Nothing to say? That's alright. It gives me the opportunity to show you how to fight. You're an archer," she launched into an explanation of something about mana and and my exsphere, but I was trying to ignore her as best I could.

She was purposely using my voice to tell me these things because she knew how disturbing I found it. I was remembering more and more about this character as I spent time with her. It did little to help me warm up to her. She thrived on the pain and suffering of others. All my fuming and seething was like a nice hot fudge sundae with sprinkles to her.

It wasn't until the wolves were leaping out of the foliage that I began to pay attention again. Oh yeah, I was paying attention as the sharp snapping jaws flew at my face. She moved my body with more fluid and grace than I could ever hope to accomplish on my own as she dodged the two wolves coming at me at once.

~It's not as difficult as you think; with an exsphere you'll find many things easier. Besides, ideally you'll have Lloyd as a meat shield. You're not supposed to be up on the front lines, you'll be shooting from the back or casting magic.~

Magic? I asked in spite of myself. At least she wasn't using my voice anymore. Also, I couldn't help but be a little curious when she mentioned magic.

~Of course. You didn't think I'd make you into a magic-less elf, did you? Now pay attention, this will most certainly save your life to know this.~

Grudgingly, I payed attention as she stepped me out of melee, leaving her cat self to keep the wolves at bay so she could teach me my place on the back line.

She unlatched something I hadn't noticed before on my back and pulled it into view where I could identify it as a bow. It didn't have a string, though, and I was fairly certain I would have noticed arrows on me. Unless they were stored in the pack on my back, but I doubted that.

She chuckled in my head, ~Arrows... how quaint. You're a magical archer, arrows are for humans. Pay attention to the mana, the energy, flowing through you. You need to harness it, and form it into an arrow. There is no string, the arrow is propelled with mana. Here, watch as I do it, and pay attention to the mana flow.~

She put my fingers to the invisible string on the bow and I watched in wonder as a silvery blue arrow formed at my fingertips. She released it, and it flew straight through the head of one of the wolves.

A normal arrow would have killed it, a shot like that, but I guess mana arrows work differently. Instead, the wolf jerked like I had electrocuted it, a high pitched wail hurt my ears as the arrow passed through it's skull. It faultered for a moment, before righting itself and turning it's full fury on me.

~Alright, now it's your turn.~

WHAT?!

All at once, she left me. I stumbled a bit upon regaining control of my body, but quickly straightened to face the snarling wolf that suddenly seemed a lot more dangerous. I moved to raise my bow as the wolf lunged at me. Oh no... I wasn't going to make it in time... !

"Demon Fang!"

Wolf teeth inches from my face, a familiar wave of energy knocked the wolf away barely in time to save my life. I was frozen in terror as a blur of red ran past me to finish off the wolf. I barely registered the shout of 'Fire Ball!' from behind me that finished off the other wolf.

!

~Maddy... calm down... I knew they were coming, you're not dead.~

You... you KNEW? And you didn't TELL ME?! I raged at her in my head. I was still frozen or else I'm sure my expression would not have been a pleasant one. I was vaguely aware of voices around me, but I was in too much shock. You did that on purpose! Scaring the living daylights out of me so you could taste my fear?!?

~So what if I did? You made me like this. Now snap out of it. Lloyd and Genis are-~

I was distracted by someone grabbing my shoulders and shaking me roughly and cried out in surprise, blinking at the face of Lloyd Irving in surprise.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he let me go hesitantly.

It took me a moment to find my voice, "Uh... yeah, I think so. Uhm. Thanks, for... you know..." I was babbling, and making little sense, but forgive me for being more than a little frazzled.

"No problem!" Lloyd answered with a grin. His grin looked off, like he was almost forcing it and I wondered at that. "What are you doing out here all by yourself? It's dangerous."

"Uhm, I'm not sure. I think I'm lost," I answered. I had never been a very good liar, so I had made it a point in life to tell as few lies as possible. Besides, it's not like I had to tell them everything. Just enough to answer their questions.

"Lost? You're in the fields outside of Iselia. Where are you trying to get to?"

"Oh, I don't know. I was thinking I'd travel and see the world. Where are you guys heading?" I asked. So far so good, no lies.

"We're going to Triet to meet up with some friends of ours," Lloyd answered.

"Are you an elf?" Genis interrupted suddenly, and I turned to him. He seemed to be eying me warily, a small frown on his mouth. I kind of got the impression that he didn't really like me.

"Yes. I do appear to be an elf. Is... that a problem?" I asked uncertainly.

"No, it's not problem," Lloyd assured me, "Genis is an elf too. Oh, and by the way, my name is Lloyd, and this is my friend Genis. What's your name?"

"Maddy. Well, Madison, but I hate that name. So, Maddy is just fine." Something furry bumped against my leg and I glanced down at the cat that was staring at me pointedly. I sighed. "And this is my cat... uh... Neeko."

~So... you steal a name from another of your characters to give to me? Yeesh, you're a terrible creator.~

Shove it. Right now you're reminding me a lot of Neeko, and I can't just keep calling you 'cat'.

"That's a weird looking cat. Almost as weird as Lloyd's 'dog', Noishe." Genis commented. Ah, right, I'd almost forgotten about Noishe. I never used him when I played the game. I glanced around and spotted the green and white protozoan-dog-thing a little ways off, glaring at me. Great. Noishe and Genis didn't like me. Fantastic.

"Hey! Noishe is a dog!" Lloyd protested, scowling at Genis.

"If you say so, Lloyd."

"Uhm, I don't mean to interrupt, but I don't suppose you'd be willing to let me tag along with you to Triet? As you said, it's pretty dangerous out here and I've never been to Triet. Might be fun to go see?"

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Genis said, looking over at Lloyd. "She'll slow us down, and we need to catch up with Raine and Colette."

"Dwarven vow #2: Never abandon someone in need. Besides, it'll be safer with the three of us," Lloyd replied, and I relaxed. Hooray, I was on the journey!

Wait a second... What would happen if I chose not to go with them?

~I would find a way to make you go. It would not be pleasant for you.~

I shuddered, I'm really starting to not like you very much. You know that right?

~I do. It's okay, I hate you too.~

"Great!" I said out loud, forcing a smile. "So, which way are we going?" I asked, looking around.

"That way," Genis answered me, pointing off to his right. I nodded, and followed after them as they led the way. Neeko, the evil demon cat, followed behind me. This was going to be a long journey.