Little Cruxis Fool: My most newist/oldest idea I've had!

Forcystus: What are you talking about?

Little Cruxis Fool: I've had the basic idea for this, but I never thought of it in this way!

Forcystus: …What?

Little Cruxis Fool: Wait… FORCYSTUS! (glomps)

Forcystus: GAH! You never do that to Kratos! What the hell!

Little Cruxis Fool: That's because I don't like to watch you suffer.

Forcystus: Just let go of me!

Little Cruxis Fool: Disclaimer me first!

Forcystus: This little punk does not own Tales of Symphonia, now let me go!

Little Cruxis Fool: No. ^^

Forcystus: Agh, you little cheat!

Simple

Cry For Help

Lloyd stood next to Noishe who was in the pen in Triet. The sun was setting and Lloyd had just given Raine the fixed key crest and exsphere.

"Stupid mercenary," Lloyd grumbled under his breath.

"Still mad at him?" Lloyd nearly jumped half a foot before he realized who had spoken

"Well, yeah!" Lloyd replied to Genis, turning his head to the elf. "He said that I was 'a lousy excuse for a man'! He even said that I would be better off swinging sticks around if I didn't want to look like a fool!"

Genis laughed. "I didn't hear him say that one."

"I don't get why they had to hire him!" Lloyd fumed, ignoring the half-elf's comment. "He so full of himself! I mean, what'd I ever-" Lloyd was cut off when Noishe barked.

"It's rude to badmouth people behind their backs, you know."

Both Lloyd and Genis whirled around to see the very person they were talking of…

"Y-Yuan!" Lloyd stuttered. "I-I, what I mean is, w-we weren't… Uh…."

Yuan's glare intensified, mana starting to form in front of his hand as held it up.

"Uh-oh, RUN!" Genis screeched as he and Lloyd both dashed into the inn.

Noishe snorted in amusement, waiting for the wrath that was soon to come from the mercenary. But Yuan didn't give chase, he just lowered his hand and sighed causing Noishe to whine in confusion.

"Hey, Noishe," Yuan said, walking over to the pen and scratching the creature behind the ears, though Noishe's questioning gaze never faltered.

Yuan met the creatures gaze for a few seconds before turning his head away.

"I've been thinking about Kratos lately," he murmured. "I haven't seen him since that… incident," he continued, finding it hard to find the right wording. "And Yggdrasil wouldn't allow me to enter his room. I'm still worried about him."

Noishe whined and nodded his head in understanding.

After a few more seconds of silence, Yuan spoke again. "I'm going back to the inn; the sun is far below the horizon and I don't want Raine to get upset," he said, chuckling, "That would be painful." With that, the half-elf turned and stepped into the inn and Noishe was left alone.

The beast lay down, ready for some rest, when he heard a faint cry of pain, causing Noishe to jolt to his paws. Turning, he sniffed the air and barked quietly, as not to disturb the others and dashed out of the city. In all his life, Noishe had never expected him of all people to cry out in pain ever again. That meant something was wrong.

~OOOOOOO~ ^_^ ~OOOOOOO~

He ran across the unfamiliar sand towards the town in the distance. He didn't recognize the town, but there where people there. People meant food and protection, and that's all that mattered, because they were after him.

The angels were after him. He didn't know why; he'd never prayed in his life, much less ever been into a church, so he couldn't go to heaven. No, that was it. They were after him because he didn't believe. Tears started to leak from his eyes as realization hit him. If only he'd prayed, or listened to the priests' prayers, or even stepped into a church, then they wouldn't have taken mother away. It was entirely his fault that she was gone.

His thoughts were interrupted when he tripped and fell to the ground, cutting his knees on the fine sand. He let out a cry of pain when his arm hit the ground, skinning his hands as well. Having stopping from running, he realized how exhausted he was from all the running and cuts and bruises. Tears finally breaking from his eyes and falling down his cheeks, leaving clean trails down his dirty cheeks, he turned his head around, expecting to see the angels, but instead saw nothing.

When had they stopped chasing him? Had he run all this way, thinking he was in danger, only for their entertainment? Were they trying to make him look like a fool?

The tears flowing from his eyes increased as he thought. He had come all this way for nothing! He had been safe the whole time! And they were just messing with him! Making him feel insecure and in danger.

He slowly got to his feet, his eyes downcast, locks of dirty auburn hair covering his eyes and leaving him to stare at his bloody knees. Blood from his fore head started to run down his head like it had before and he whipped it away, though it kept coming. He felt like a fool, an idiot, running from something that wasn't even there. Maybe they were never there, and he was just crazy. But then, why had they been able to hurt him? It didn't make any sense.

He heard a bark of a creature and looked up to see a large green and white dog like creature running towards him. He tried to back away, but he was too tired to do so. His legs buckled underneath him and he fell to the sandy ground as the creature reached him. He could hear the whining of the creature and its cold wet nose sniffing him before his whole world blacked out.

~OOOOOOO~ ^_^ ~OOOOOOO~

Noishe sniffed the boy just to make sure. Yes, it was definitely him. But he was six… again. Was it possible to be six two times? And why was he here? Why was he so tired?

Noishe whined in confusion before taking the boys color in his mouth and somehow positioning the boy on his back. Making sure he was secure, Noishe started off in the direction of Treit at a fast trot.

About half way back, Noishe was aware of the boy gaining consciousness for a little while, only to tighten his hold on Noish's fur and snuggle his head in his neck fur. Noishe couldn't help but snort in amusement. He had known that most human children would probably act the same, but it was still entertaining to see him do that.

When Noishe reached Treit, it was around midday. The whole group was outside talking, most likely deciding where to look for the fire seal. Noishe whined to get their attention and trotted up to them. Everyone seemed rather shocked to find that there was someone on his back, but Noishe ignored it.

"Noishe," Lloyd spoke up. "Who's that?" the human asked, gesturing to the boy on the creatures back.

Noishe knew it would be waste of time to answer, seeing as none of them would understand him anyway. He turned his eyes towards Yuan, hoping that the Seraphim would soon figure it out.

"He's hurt!" Colette gasped, turning to the Raine. "Professor, can you please heal him?"

Raine hesitated a bit before nodding and moving closer to heal the boy's cuts and bruises. Though the female was healing him, Noishe couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed at her. It was just a child, and she was still so uneasy!

When Raine finished healing most of the boy's injuries, she stepped back and stood up. "He has a broken arm and a large gash on his forehead. He will need to rest a few days to recover, though healing his arm will take a few weeks," she explained. She opened her mouth again, about to say something more when Colette interrupted.

"Can we help heal him professor? Please?" she asked innocently. "We need to help him find his family, too!"

"Yeah, we've gotta help him!" Lloyd agreed.

"We need to complete the World Regeneration as soon as possible," Raine reasoned, causing her brother to speak up.

"C'mon, sis! I'm sure we have time to help him find his home, at least," Genis said.

Raine glanced at Yuan, hoping for his help, but the mercenary was still staring at the boy and Raine sighed.

"Fine," she said giving in. "Let's get some rooms in the inn again so he can heal properly."

Lloyd smiled before gently taking the boy from Noishe's back and carrying him into the inn, everyone but Noishe and Yuan following.

Noishe whined, trying to get the Seraphim to understand who the boy was.

"I-it couldn't have been…" Yuan started.

Noishe whined, prompting him to continue.

"Kratos?" Yuan asked hesitantly, looking back to where the others had disappeared into the inn.

Noishe let out a breath. At least he wasn't too stupid to understand something as simple as that.

~OOOOOOO~ ^_^ ~OOOOOOO~

Little Cruxis Fool: Hey, look at that! Kratos is six years old! Haha!

Lloyd: But, how does that even make sense?

Little Cruxis Fool: This is fanfiction, it doesn't need to make sense! And when have you ever needed something to make sense?

Lloyd: H-hey!

Forcystus: Haha!

Little Cruxis Fool: Meheheh, please comment!

Forcystus: Wait, what? That's it? Man that was short…

Little Cruxis Fool: -smirk- You should be glad, for your sake.

Lloyd: …?