A/N: Some spoilers about the end of the game. And Namco owns Tales of the Abyss, not me XD; I'm just borrowing a character for a while :3

Reaching up

I always wanted to be a bird when I was younger. A few falls from the roof of our house, forced my parents to warn me about the dangers involved. My attempts at flying were frowned upon. They said I could get hurt. But I always ignored the warnings. I always thought they were wrong about me not being able to fly. I'm sure that one day I could fly, no matter what the others would say.

The rush of the air, gravity's pull, the floating feeling, those were the reasons why I liked climbing on the highest place I could find (this usually ended up being the roof of our home) and drop down to get the adrenaline rush.

For a few seconds I was free, I was flying, the only thing left to do was to spread my wings and fly toward the endless sky.

Unfortunately, my anatomy didn't include wings.

A shame, really, I would've made a magnificent bird.

The ground was always as hard as it was the last time. Its reaction was the same each time, much like my disapproving parents. It sent a shockwave from my feet to my head to remind me clearly that I was bound to the ground. Even now, I loathe the feeling. My parents were desperate and didn't know what to do about my condition. My mother had to constantly keep an eye on me so she could assure herself that her son wasn't throwing himself off of rooftops.

So I became an expert at evading my mother's watchful eye. And with time, I learned how to soften a bit the ground's reaction. Or maybe it was only my body's reaction. But when we're young, we tend to believe we can modify everything with sheer will. Even the ground doesn't escape a young boy's imagination.

Grandpa had always been amused with my adventures. He always laughed when he saw me covered with bruises from falling from so high. But he wasn't concerned about this; my persistence to fly inspired him to make a machine that would enable me to do this.

I was eager to fly for real and for long periods of time, just like the birds.

To add to my mother's misery, my little sister revealed to be easily influenced and she shared the same passion about flying. Thus we became known through town as the "Air-borne" siblings, because of course, she followed me in my adventures. I was always the first one to jump. She followed and I softened her fall each time. I knew the ground better than her and my mother would've killed me if something happened to Noelle.

When my parents died, Noelle and I went to live with grandpa. We were then exposed to even more potential flying equipment. It was sad that our parents were gone. I had to comfort Noelle for weeks and she comforted me in return. Despite being one annoying kid, I liked mom and dad a lot myself, a hug was always welcome to remind me that I wasn't alone.

But being around so much fontech eventually put our minds off the grief.

After years and years of research, grandpa was able to get a flightstone. Two in fact. With the help from Tamara and Aston who are like family to us, they brought the Albiore to life.

The night before the first test flight, I was restless. I always wanted to fly and some of the machines grandpa made gave us the impression of flying, but the real thing would be tomorrow.

The winds had to get really nasty that day. And I kinda crashed. Meggioran highlands are packed with powerful monsters… and I'm not a fighter. I can fly fine, more than fine, but even after intense training, a sword remains useless in my hands. Therefore, I was stuck on the plateau, waiting for some help. Then came some fellows, they secured the Albiore so I could safely get down. They were a nice lively bunch. They borrowed the Albiore 2 with Noelle as a pilot. I got injured a bit, so silly of me, so I couldn't pilot.

After the Albiore 3 was repaired, some fiery-tempered man came and hired me to fly him to several places. His name was Asch. From what I gathered about him was that he was a feared God-General, with one nasty temper. The time aboard the Albiore 3 could prove to get a bit dull sometimes. At the beginning I tried to lighten the mood with some jokes of my own but… I found out the hard way that Asch doesn't really laugh.

And well, stuff happened, I breached Eldrant's defenses and crashed through so Asch could go on. In the end, the nice people that rescued me with the first Albiore incident defeated that nasty overlord wannabe. I never saw Asch again though. They say he died. Quite sad if you ask me, deep down he was a good guy.

And now life is back to a somewhat normal pace. Everyone is too concerned about the new world and how to deal with the lack of the Score. A good thing is that I'm still flying.

For now, my spirit is free like the birds I used to watch when I was younger. The Albiore is my wings and I'll fly as long as I breathe.

I finally reached my dream after many years. It wouldn't have been possible without everyone that I met and that made it come true.

Thank you to each and every one of you.

-Ginji, forever the pilot of the Albiore.