This is just an idea that was bugging me yesterday, so I decided to type it up. There AREN'T any defined pairings really (which is very unusual for me, I must admit) but then again the pairings aren't the basis for this fanfic—the plot is. And just incase you're wondering—this takes place about 5 to 6 years after the game.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia or any of its characters, I only own the plot.

Cold Sad Silence

By Harmony283

I watched silently as her hands clenched, her nails digging into her palm. I watched silently as the tears fell when the truth started to sink it. I wanted to change it so that she wouldn't know. But I could do nothing but see. She's standing here crying for me—or rather what's left to see. I'm lying here wide awake in bed on sterile white sheets made of cotton. I sit here unable to speak, to tell her it's okay to leave.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asks, I can hear the sadness and anger in her voice, "If I had known—" she cuts herself off, knowing, or not knowing, how that sentence would end. She was afraid of it just like she was of so many things.

Again we're engulfed in silence, the silence where no one speaks, not because they can't but because there's nothing to say. The sad kind of silence. The silence I hate. I open my mouth—I know I can at least whisper, "Sis."

She opens her eyes, tears caught in her eyelashes and she sighs, "Why did you let them attack you?" her voice was shaking, I could tell she was holding in anger. Anger at me, I knew, because I let this happen, anger at those people who attacked me when they said they wouldn't. Her breath hitches in her lungs before she speaks again, "Do you really miss him that much?"

My eyes widen at this. No I don't miss him. How can I miss him, "He's dead." I whisper, "He's not coming back. And even if I die," I wince slightly as my vocal chords banged together uncomfortably even from the small vibration I was making, "I wouldn't go to the place he's at."

She shakes her head and again tears begin to fall, "Yes but your friend died for you. To save you. She wanted you to understand the meaning of life and yet here you are acting like it's nothing to die. You do remember the reason she died for you, don't you?"

I nodded my head and looked away. Yes I remembered. I remembered a little too well. She said she loved me—the girl my best friend had a crush on just outright said she loved me. But I couldn't be with her. She had to be with Lloyd; she couldn't be with anyone else. And she reminded me too much of him, "I remember."

"Of course you do." Her reply is bitter, "Then how…?"

I shook my head again, keeping my eyes firmly focused on the light blue curtain that separated my bed from the one next to it, "I'm not dead am I?"

"But you don't care." She snapped and I heard the chair legs scrape against the floor—she was getting up, "You don't give a damn about what she did for you. The life she gave up for you! I didn't realize she loved you until she told me! She never said—" again she caught herself before shaking her head sharply, "You're my brother and I love you more than anything else in the world. You're my only family left and I don't want to lose you. But please," I felt added pressure to the bed and glanced over at her, she had buried her head into the sheets by my uninjured hand, "at least act like you don't want to die."

"I never said I wanted to die." I whispered back, frowning, "I never once said that."

"Then how did you get so hurt? You could have tried to defend yourself." She looked up at me and I looked away, "You're strong enough to. They weren't nearly as strong as you, so why…?"

I let out a tired sigh, "Because you're the one who told me 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you', right? They're humans, I'm not human—we're here for half-elven freedom. If we try to attack them they'll ask us where's the reason in supporting that since we're 'savage beasts'?"

She actually hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Because you were being attacked by more than one…person…" she bowed her head for a few seconds and again we were left in the sad kind of silence that seemed so familiar in a hospital such as this.

Suddenly the door banged open and a very familiar brunette ran in, "Genis! Genis!" I could see the tears running down his face before he even reached the bed, "I heard about," he stopped and caught his breath, "how the heck did," He looked up at me and for a moment he was speechless. Really, and truly speechless. Coming from him, that was near impossible, he talked so much. He seemed to snap out of his trance though, and said, "You…look…what the hell happened? Raine," she looked up at him, "You didn't say he was this bad!"

She scowled and brushed some of her hair back behind her ears, "Because, Lloyd, I didn't know. They wouldn't let me see him until this morning." Lloyd gulped and nodded his head, his immediate anger towards Raine dissipating completely, "But your eyes, Genis…you can see okay right?"

I nodded my head, "Yes…out of my left eye at least. My right," I wanted to reach up and touch it for some reason, "I don't know yet. They said it was pretty bad when I came here." Lloyd scowled and leaned over the bed, touching the bandage gently, "infected…?" I flinched away from his touch and he brought his hand back immediately.

"Yes," Raine answered him, "terribly infected. They wouldn't let me heal it though. Natural surgery is the best, apparently." She didn't say it, but I heard it—it was because they didn't trust her and her 'healing' spells. Even though this was the place she had saved from an epidemic, a horrible and much deadlier version of the flu, nearly two years ago.

"I-I see," Lloyd seemed to understand as well, he seemed to have gotten so much more…aware…of things since our last meeting, "I can't believe it though. They attacked you? In this place?" he waved his hand towards the lone window in my portion of the view. I just nodded my head, shifting my gaze to the bandages on my right arm.

Lloyd grunted and shook his head, "Sure I get that some people might be angry but—say who're these flowers from?" What a way to change the topic, I almost wanted to smile at that. But the flowers…

"Sheena sent them," Raine again answered when I probably could have, "Apparently she's gotten into growing flowers ever since her grandfather passed on." That would have been a year by now. The event that brought us together again, and that had indirectly caused someone else's death not even a month later.

Lloyd just nodded his head, "Yeah I heard. But they really are pretty. Be sure to thank her when she gets a chance to come Genis," I looked up at him and saw the gentle smile on his face, I had no choice but to smile back, "I just hope she gets a chance to come see you. I mean you two," he meant this as both Raine and me, "helped out with moving their village before we could even lend a hand." He looked sad for a split second but quickly masked it with another, slightly wider, smile.

But he was telling the truth. We had helped out more than either of them could—not even Zelos, who was about to become the godfather of Sheena's second child, could come fast enough to help the move. My good hand gripped at the blankets as I forced a smile off my lips, 'Then again he's been awfully busy since he actually had to start working for once.'

The sound of the door opening made the three of us jump as a girl—someone I was all too familiar with—rushed inside. It was Presea. I hadn't seen her since the funeral either, but she had grown. I felt my heart flutter for a moment, but just for a moment. She hurried over to me and just stared for a few seconds before speaking, "You're hurt." She murmured, her eyes darting from my bandaged arm, to my neck, to my wounded eye, "severely. I heard the doctors saying how it was a miracle that you made it. I don't think it was."

Both Lloyd and Raine flinched at this, but all I could do was smile, as cold as always, "Apparently yeah." I whispered, wincing again at the pain the slight vibration caused in my throat. She seemed to notice this and shook her head, "Don't speak if it hurts, I," she paused for a split second, "I came as fast as I could. I bring news from Zelos and Sheena as well as Regal. It…has something to do with your recovery as well."

"His recovery?" Raine asked as she dusted her pants off and sat on the chair again, "What about it?"

Presea bit her lip, looking indecisive as she spoke, "Sheena is busy with her duties in Mizuho, Regal is busy with repairing the mines that caved in. Raine, you will be traveling more, correct?" Raine nodded her head, "And Lloyd, you will be accompanying her?" Lloyd nodded his head as well, "Then that leaves Zelos." She stated blandly, "He has…opened his house for you to stay in while you recover."

My mouth nearly fell open at this, "Wha…?" I winced and lowered my voice, "Why?"

"Because he wishes…to." She hesitantly replied, almost shifting her gaze to the curtain before bringing it back. When her eyes met mine I knew there was something more to the request. Something that told me I couldn't say no. Raine seemed to realize this too, but she looked concerned so Lloyd spoke up instead, "Really? That's…nice of him. I'm sure you wouldn't wanna stay in this place any longer than you had to, right Genis?" I nodded my head, "Then why not take him up on that offer? You get to live like a noble for a while! Think of what a great learning experience that'll be!"

"Learning experience?!" Raine spat out, "How can you call that 'learning experience'?" Lloyd backed away immediately and laughed nervously, "Ah…ha…well he'll be learning something new right? I mean learning's never a bad thing, right?"

Presea nodded her head in agreement, "Yes, being a noble isn't as bad as Zelos makes it seem. Besides he is not…the way he was before." She was choosing her words carefully, but so far it seemed I was the only one to really notice that, "He works now, as you know. And he's been very successful. He's been busy though, so I'm sure he'd appreciate the company."

"But—"

"Go ahead!"

"Fine."

Raine seemed shocked at my response, "But Genis!"

I scowled at her, "Sis I'm," I flinched yet again in pain at the sound of my voice, "turning eighteen soon. I can do whatever I want. I want to leave this place. And Zelos is offering so yes I want to accept."

Raine's eyes widened at this and she opened her mouth, "But—"

"Like I said before it's a learning experience!" Lloyd said with a large goofy grin on his face, "Go ahead, have fun. I think it'd be neat to live as a noble's guest for a while. Just tell us how it is when you get better."

I nodded my head, though something told me being a noble wouldn't be as glamorous—especially for me since I was in the midst of healing—but it wasn't like I was going to tell him that. How could I tell him that?

"Good," Presea smiled, "I can contact him immediately and he can begin getting a room ready for you. They might have to move you by boat though, but I'm sure you'd enjoy that." I smiled back at her and nodded my head, not trusting myself to speak again.

Thankfully even if I did want to say something, just then the nurse walked and, rather rudely, stated, "Okay visiting hours are over now. Especially for this little," I frowned at the use of that word, "patient." She made a shooing motion with her hands and unwillingly my friends left my side and walked out of the room. The door shut quietly behind them before the nurse spoke again, "You know…your friends are so kind to you."

I blinked and she smiled at me, "Yes I overheard some of the conversation. I…originally come from Meltokio so I know the Chosen well. I don't know how much he's changed but," she shook her head, tucking a strand of her honey blond hair behind her ear, "that's besides the point." She held up a small syringe filled with clear liquid, "This is your medicine. It'll make you drowsy but that's a good thing. Don't be surprised if, when you wake up, you feel light headed and," she walked over to the side of the bed and cleaned a spot on my good arm, "if a few days have passed. That's completely normal. After all you didn't pass out like most patients usually do. And it doesn't seem like the shock of the…incident…has fully set in; that may leave you tired as well." She gently stuck the needle into my skin and injected the fluid into my bloodstream. I felt my limbs get heavy as she pulled the needle out and cleaned it, "Good night." She whispered before pulling the blankets up to cover my chest almost all the way. Then she turned around and walked back out of the room, her heels clicking on the tile flooring in the hall until eventually she was so far away that I heard nothing through the closed door of the hospital room.

And, yet again, I was subjected to the sad silence—the silence that I hated.

And there you have it. And I'm still not sure exactly where this idea came from. But anyway if you have anything to say on it, please review and tell me. And if you liked it, tell me that too, because as of right now it will remain a oneshot unless my reviewers ask otherwise.

--Harmony283