FANFICTION: Solar Flares
Series: Tales of Symphonia / Final Fantasy crossover
Genre: Adventure / Fantasy / Family / Romance
Warnings: AU-SI / Spoilers for both FF *series* and ToS / Rated T at the moment
Summary: When two sisters cast a spell calling for a guy "not of her world" it sets in motion events for things not of their world to happen. Earth finds itself in the middle between two outside dimensions, Aselia and Gaia, and they are the ones to answer for it.
Authoress' Note: I've set this fic to be in an AU for reality, not necessarily for the games. My friend and I as kids were separated from each other, and we lived completely different lives. I set this in an AU where we're the same age that we are now, but we were together the entire time. This is dedicated to her. It combines my favorite game, Tales of Symphonia, with hers, Final Fantasy (mostly FFVIII), as an attempt to carry a mix of the both of us.
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia or any Final Fantasy. I don't own the sun, either.
PROLOGUE - Spellbinding
Over the course of a few years, a lot of things happened after the marriage of two best friend's parents. Becoming literal sisters when they were just best friends before was something that seemed to just fit in together, like the missing puzzle piece of a 5000 piece jigsaw. Too bad there were more pieces missing than just that one heart piece, since the dog had a habit of munching on the ones he found under the table.
Once such puzzle piece still missing was the fact that they were not only lonely, but more than bored out of their minds.
"What are you doing?"
"What's it look like I'm doing?"
"It looks like you're ignoring me."
The older sister gave her younger a stare, pushing her dark bangs out of her face. "I can listen and multitask at the same time. I'm sorry if this confounds you." she said plainly, still typing madly on her computer. "So what were you saying?" She asked, pushing up her glasses again.
The younger grunted, then walked up to the desk where the computer sat to turn off the monitor, her long blonde hair framing her delicate figure. "I was talking about guys." she said, irritated.
"Then I have no reason to participate in that kind of conversation, Ash."
"Ran, seriously. How long are you going to ignore the other gender because of one break-up? Guys are starting to call you a robot because of how cold you are to them." Ash crossed her arms as she spoke.
Ran's eyes wandered up to her sister's. "One break-up? That's all it may have seemed like to you. I don't like flying between partners, thank you."
Ash tried to not react to that statement, though somehow it seemed to come across as a direct insult. "So you need to let it go."
"I have let it go, you're the one bringing it up," Ran said, turning her computer monitor back on. "I don't need a boyfriend! No guy can compare to what my imagination cries out for, so I'd rather not bother." She went back to typing. "It's better than being left behind by how many guys, sis?"
"You won't find what you're looking for if you don't go and look for him," Ash said. She shook her head before she stood up and went over to the nearby bookshelf. "Or if you don't call him to you."
Ran shook her head. "No. I told you. I'm not meddling in Wicca anymore."
"Oh come on! Must you be such a stiff? You make me look like such a bad girl when you adhere to all these rules. Seriously, sis, you need to lighten the hell up." Ash took a book off the bookshelf, flipping through the pages. "Here you go, it's a chant to call the one you want. C'mon, you know you want to."
Ran didn't even bother answering her. No meant no.
"You'll never get your tall redhead with eyes you could stare into forever," Ash said a little teasingly. "And if you do it, I'll do it, too. If I find the one for me, then I won't have to bother with man hunting ever again."
Her elder sister stood up, snatched the book out of her hands, and snapped, "If I do this one spell, will you drop the matter entirely?"
"Yes, I will," her blonde younger sister said with a nod.
"Then I'll just call for a man that doesn't exist in this world," Ran declared with an evil smile. "Oh, just you wait."
Ash didn't bother telling Ran about how powerful the spell really was. The old book itself looked like it was written by a crackpot that got too high on drugs before he wrote it, with pages ripped here and there; some of them even half hanging out of the book. The hard leather cover was cracked all over, and the silver rings which held it together were stained and stretched from use over the years. Warnings littered the books pages about asking for too much. Ash thought in her mind that Ran really would lighten up and be a bit more fun loving if she had a partner to help her recover from what happened with her ex-boyfriend, and if being happy meant calling a man from another world, then so be it.
A little while later, Ran came out of her walk-in closet wearing a white blouse and a denim skirt with simple white sandals. Ash came out of the other closet directly facing her sister's in a blue tank top and jeans. They both had a pendant on, which seemed to resonate the closer they came to each other.
"Have you decided on what you'd ask for?" Ash taunted her sister, but Ran didn't seem to be so nonchalant about the whole thing. "Sis?"
"I know what I want from a man," Ran said sternly. "I know exactly what I want, and I'll ask exactly for that. So on the day that I die, I'll have proven you right."
"Oh really?" Ash asked. "Here's the book."
Standing in the center of their bedroom, Ran took the book and asked for a little space. When she opened it, a magic circle appeared on the floor, sending forth all sorts of energies. She flipped through the pages until she found the spell she was looking for. "Spirits that linger on the wind, please find my heart's desire," she read from the book. "Based on the yearnings which leave my soul in ire." The energies from the circle started to flow around her. "A man with hair as red as a rose, with eyes that can see through my soul. The loyalty of a father, the demeanor of a lover. A man who can sing, that knows the ways of swordplay, who can fly. Clad in darker colors, always classy in his speech, this man that I yearn for is beyond my reach." When she completed her spell, the energies shot out the window. Her mysterious pendant glowed more and more frequently until it shattered completely. "Please lead him to me," she breathed out, falling in the center of the circle before it faded.
Ash walked over and helped her up. "You really put your all into that one, didn't you?"
Ran staggered to her bed, plopping down on the pillows. "That'll be the last spell I ever have to cast. I told you. I'm done with Wicca, and I'm done with men. Those are two things that don't hold my interest anymore in the slightest. When I wake up, I'll go about my normal day like nothing happened here."
"Fine, fine," Ash said, shaking her head. "You ask for a man that doesn't exist, and I ask for a man that's dead. We certainly are a pair."
"Going with every man you come across won't fill that void in your heart," Ran said, kicking off her sandals. "That's why I don't understand how you act that way."
"With this, I don't think I'll need to anymore," Ash said, also taking up the book. Her spell was just as specific about certain things. "A man that knows me better than I know myself, who will put up with my selfishness and stupidity and accept them as who I am. Eyes that change color, one that knows cooking, his appearance questionable but one that I find interesting. A man versed in machinery and vehicles, one that knows his way in a fight, a man that looks good in a uniform, I call here tonight." She closed the book and waved her arm as if to command the spirits herself, but didn't say much else. They seemed to understand without much else needing to be said.