Hi! Here's my first Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World fanfiction, so I hope it's good. '^^
Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.
The sun glared down on the unwary travelers, making their packs seem to multiply in weight. The small forest looming ahead promised shade and a cool resting place. A slight wind shook the tree's clothing and the ocean of grass undulated. The longer blades of grass danced across their exposed skin, causing the more bubbly and least exhausted member of the group to giggle. She glanced around and sidestepped over to Emil.
"Oh Emil, isn't it a wonderful day?" she crooned, gently grabbing his arm. He felt his red face redden even more.
"S-sure." He stuttered, quietly wondering what was so 'wonderful' about it. His positive answer provoked her to grip his arm harder for a second.
"Oh Emil," she sighed, contentedly tracing a line back and forth on his arm with her middle finger. The heat combined with the proximity made Emil let out a shaky sigh. "You don't mind, do you?" she asked, ducking her head so she could probe his pristine green eyes with her own baby blue ones, a light twinge of worry turning them a shade darker.
"No, it's just hot," and that wasn't a lie. It was blistering in the heat, he could feel every ounce of liquid in his body wanting to evaporate and float into the atmosphere. Only his skin stood melancholy between him and a dusty pile of Emil. She erupted in another fit of giggles and took off, still clinging to his arm.
"Then lets hurry!" she swiftly ran through the tall grass, and Emil could only stumble after her.
"Marta!" he protested meekly, but followed anyway. The tickling grass turned into sharp whips as they dashed, leaving their group behind. Needless to say, they reached the trees first, so they had time to enjoy the shade. Emil collapsed onto the soft, shorter grass and Marta looked around at the trees before sitting happily next to him.
"It's much nicer in the shade, isn't it?" she ruminated, tugging gently on a blade of the deepest of greens. "A lot better than that stuffy ol' sun!" she stuck her tongue out childishly at the sun and Emil gave a little laugh.
"Yeah…" Emil whispered, enjoying the wind as it tugged playfully at his hair. Yet, as relaxed as he was, he couldn't get rid of the nervousness he felt at being next to Marta, the urging feeling of not being up to par with her vision of him… he peered out the corner of his eyes to examine her smooth, porcelain skin, as gentle as the rolling breeze.
"Emil," she suddenly giggled and her face turned red, "Is there something on my face?" Emil's face exploded red, his hair bristled, and his heart jumped over about five beats before landing crookedly and almost twisting its ankle.
"N-No! I-I was j-j-j-just…" he trailed off as he almost swallowed his tongue. He stopped stuttering incomprehensibly and bowed his head in shame. "I'm sorry."
"There's nothing to apologize for," Marta sighed with practiced patience. A shouted curse interrupted the two (much to Emil's gratitude). They turned around to see Sheena struggling out of a pothole and Regal doing his gentleman's best to not smile, even though the side of his mouth kept twitching upward.
"It may not be a pit…" Marta laughed, leaving the end hanging for everyone to fill in. Tenebrae materialized next to the pothole and laughed.
"Another pitfall in life, Sheena?" By that time, the ninja had crawled out of the pothole and was glowering at Marta (who was still laughing) and Tenebrae in turn.
"Shut up, you old fogey!" she growled, marching forward and stumbling again. Marta and Tenebrae were still laughing, so Emil stood up and took a tentative step forward.
"Are you okay, Sheena?" she stopped and fidgeted with her hair for a second.
"I'm fine!" she sniffed, doing her best to look indignant. "Let's just go find somewhere to camp for the night." She growled past us and marched through the undergrowth like a mad bear, her overlarge pink bow flailing angrily out behind her.
"Well," Regal sighed as he came to stand beside the two of them. "We better follow her. She'll cool down in a little bit."
"Until she finds another hole," Marta snickered under her breath as they followed the Lezareno President into the darkening woods. The canopy blocked out any and all sunlight, making it slightly chilly, compared to the sun. They finally caught up to Sheena, who was sitting in a small, cozy clearing with her pack on the ground beside her.
"I think this is as good a place as any, she stretched her neck upwards to admire the thick, green canopy, then popped it.
"Wow! Great idea Sheena!" Marta said, dancing along the outskirts of the clearing. "It feels so safe here… like a- oh I don't know!" she sighed and walked back to the center of the clearing.
"I'll start preparing the food," Regal placed his pack on the ground and pulled out his special cooking knife, a far away look in his eyes. No one dared bother him, so the three gathered around Tenebrae.
"Emil, you go collect some firewood." He commanded, barely giving him a second glance.
"Okay." After setting down his pack, he took off into the forest. The sun was beginning it's downward descent, so the forest with virtually no light, had even less now. The blond, naïve Ratatosk knight stopped after he had finally reached the point of almost engulfment. I better let my eyes adjust…
Emil bent down and ran his hands gently over the moss-covered moist ground, but found nothing. He frowned, we're in a forest, how could there not be any twigs? Finally, after what seemed an eternity of darkness, his began to adjust and he could make out crude shapes. Shapeless shadows that seemed to move about listlessly, and without conviction.
Without warning, a numbing feeling erupted in his stomach and began to spread throughout his body. It was familiar and Emil froze in is search. He only had this feeling before fights, or when he was really angry.
Ratatosk? He thought, inwardly trying to search his mind. He wasn't angry, he was scared… and the numbing sensation was beginning to creep up his torso and into his arms. He didn't know why, though, and he looked down to see that he had stepped on a mushroom.
"Oh man…" he whimpered, kneeling down so he could squint at the crushed fungus. Maybe I stepped on a poisonous mushroom and it's poison is airborne and… he stopped himself and shook his head, trying to clear out the flying thoughts.
"I wouldn't change because of something so dumb." He muttered, scratching the back of his neck as the feeling still spread to the tips of his fingers and his whole body was almost numb with mind-jarring fear. But also confusion.
What's going on here? The rational part of his mind was screaming at the timid part (who was curled up in paralyzing fear). He held off the fear with rationality for a moment, he was intent on finding out what was going on before he lost the fight.
Like a solar flare, a fire lit up the darkened forest and glared around trees. Emil flinched back from the light and almost lost his fight with fear, but he wasn't going to give up.
"Who's there?" he shouted, trying to make his racing heart calm down. There was a giggle, and then a foul odor that assaulted Emil's senses and almost made him lost consciousness. It burned his eyes and made his nose sting. But he recognized it. Eau de seduction?
"Decus?" Emil asked, his heart beating even faster at the knowledge that soon followed: where there's smoke, there's fire. His eyes suddenly adjusted to the light and he turned around to stare at the gaudy Vanguard member. "What are you doing here?" he asked, gripping his sword with his sweaty palm.
"Oh look, you foul smelling man, it's MartMart's pet!" her voice was high and sounded like a little kid, and as she danced out of the shadows, she looked the part. Her hat that looked like a depressed bunny's ears, the off-white dress. Emil lost his fight with fear, it washed over him as though he had been holding back the tide. It washed over his mind, lapping at his rationality and whipping it back to the darker corners of his mind. It flooded his senses, and the ration part of his mind began to drown. It pushed against its restraints, but soon it was fighting to hold it's last piece of life. Soon, it lost that as well.
"What are you doing here, sadist?" Emil growled, clenching his grip on the sword and pulling it out. Decus stared at the blond and made an obscene gesture that looked as though he was trying to dance.
"Whoa! Where'd you get those rad contacts? That red is wicked!" Emil scoffed and turned to glare at Alice.
"You didn't answer my question." Emil's fear had turned to rage and livid anger. It boiled around and his body felt like it had been out in the sun for too long. His back teeth were set to grind and his hand that was clenching his sword gripped it so hard it dug into his hand.
Alice played with the tip of her whip for a minute before whipping it around playfully, like it was a baton. "You shouldn't talk so mean to me, Emil!" she made a pout and put on a face of mock sadness. "It'll hurt my feelings."
"I don't care about your feelings, Alice!" his anger flared and he took a step forward. Before he'd even set his foot down again, Decus was already in front of the young sadist.
"Chill out man! There's no need to get all fired up!" Alice's eyes widened and she took a revolted step back.
"Don't come so close! You smell terrible!" she complained, widening the girth between her and her suitor. Her harsh words meant nothing to the irrepressible Decus.
"No need to get fired up? You're part of the Vanguard and you tell me no reason to get fired up?" Alice seemed to recover from her momentary lapse and gave Emil a sickly sweet smile.
"Oh Emil, there's no reason to get angry! We don't want anything from you," her voice was sickly sweet as she took a small skip forward, her whip waggling innocently.
"Then why are you here?" Emil slid his feet to get a better grip just in case he needed to attack.
"To pick up a package!" she giggled, childishly stowing her whip behind her back, holding it, though, so it could be seen, and cocked her head to the side. A sudden chorus of rustling leaves echoed in the stark silence. Emil turned his head around, but there were too many places to look. All around him, members of the Vanguard were stepping out of the trees, their footsteps seeming to echo in the small clearing. They made a circle around him, their swords drawn ready to kill. "And what a cute package it is!"
As if it was a command, the Vanguard jumped. Emil fought, slashing them down like overgrown weeds, but he was outnumbered and was quickly overpowered as well. He knew it was over, even the unrationable glowering anger, once his sword was flung out of his hand and dug into the earth with a hollow thunk.
Emil jumped up to go after it, but they grabbed his arms, forcibly restraining him. He struggled, stepping over the bodies he had slain, but gave up, set on reserving his remaining energy. Alice's eyes glinted evilly, yet still held their childish humor as she stepped up to the restrained knight. Gently, she pulled one side of his scarf so that it fell to the front. She intertwined them in and out, until she was content with herself and stepped back to admire her work. The sides of the scarf dug into his neck, cutting his air circulation slightly, but enough so that any ideas of fighting were banished. He let out a feral growl that rumbled around his chest before erupting loose.
"And it came sealed with a bow!"
Well there you have it! It's not done yet, so hang on for the ride! ;)