Hello to everyone out there! My first ToS fanfic, feel free review with anything, but be warned that all will be replied to in the next chapter, so if you flame, I will have Genis flame you back. .
Gaelras, a Tales of Symphonia Fanfic
Summary: Before Lloyd Irving, there was the woman that gave him her personality- fiery and stubborn, a not-so-gentle idealist. And there was the man who watched her from her first breath, and fell in love with her. They were two people united for a better world- Kratos and Anna.
Chapter One: The Child Who Loved the Sunset
The forge represented life: its fires created and destroyed, repaired and enhanced. For many, the forge was merely a way to procure funds, to make more gald. For Eric Garris, it was a way of life. His only way, as it happened.
He came from a long line of successful swordsmiths in his hometown of Luin. Successful, because there had always been a need for weapons for soldiers resisting the Desians. But now, no one dared even look a Desian in the eye. No one in Luin needed weapons anymore.
His business falling quickly into bankruptcy, Eric relied on his wife's tailoring for most of the couple's needs. And with just the two of them, it worked.
Their daughter came into the world on July 14, kicking and screaming as if her life depended on it. Lira wanted to name her after her deceased grandmother, a loving and quiet woman called Anna.
This child was in no way quiet.
However, as his fingers were still numb from his wife's grip and he had no intention of igniting more of her wrath, Eric complied.
Anna Garris was a curious baby, happy and loud and stubborn as a mule. It came as no surprise that the first word out of her tiny mouth consisted of a string of "no's" as she tried to crawl her way out of the evil bathtub.
Her mother became increasingly frustrated with the constant screaming and crying, finally sending baby Anna off with her father to his work at the forge.
The curious child wandered all over the room, Eric constantly looking over his shoulder at her as she took in her father's workshop.
His work table was covered in metal shards, tools, leather for scabbards…
Above it, each of the previous Garris' greatest forges hung in succession from the wall. Seven generations of sword makers, seven precious swords.
Harbinger, Saerius, Mardred, Courios, Eloren, her great-grandfather's Abrigal, and her grandfather's Degarver.
Degarver was the only sword on the wall without a scabbard, and the fires Eric devoted his attention to made the steel broadsword glow the deep color of sunset over Lake Sinoa.
Anna wanted to touch the sunset.
She was too short to climb onto the work table, and being a clever two year old, she realized that.
"Dadda!" her sweet little voice called.
The blond man set down his anvil and turned to face her as he replied, "What is it, Anna-banana?"
She giggled at the frequently used nickname and pointed to the table.
"You're probably right! I could see you better from there, couldn't I? We don't want you running into something dangerous, hmm?" Eric wiped his hands off on his tunic, watching Anna's big green eyes light up in excitement.
Her emotions were always so far on each end of the spectrum- happiness became ecstasy, sadness to despair, anger to loathing. There were none in between.
Anna felt her daddy's strong arms around her, lifting her to his chest, legs swinging excitedly.
She gripped his shirt in her tiny hands.
He set her on the table and kissed her forehead.
Turning back to his work, Anna began carefully making her way over to the edge of the oak table, avoiding anything that would alert her daddy to her little plan. Degarver hung just a few inches from the table, and the toddler reached out a hand to grab it, her other hand gripping the wood of the table.
Eric heard a loud thunk and the clatter of metal.
Whipping around, he took in the sight of his only child now on the floor, his father's greatest forge clutched in her death grip. She seemed surprised to have fallen off the work table, eyes quickly gathering moisture.
Other than a scraped knee and a tiny cut on her arm, Anna was fine. Her daddy held her, trying to pry the sunset away from her, but she almost died trying to get it! There was no way she would relinquish her prize!
Funny, the sunset wasn't very orange or red anymore. It had turned a metal grey, and the child could see her reflection in it. It wasn't a real sunset!
Eric heard his daughter sniffle and wondered if he'd missed an injury. But Anna was staring at the sword in her grasp, mumbling, "no sunswet" over and over.
"Anna?" he questioned. The toddler looked up, tears sliding down her round face. "Why were you trying to get Degarver?"
She didn't know what a Degarver was, but she didn't care. Her sunset was gone!
"No sunswet! No sunswet!" she cried.
Eric's brow furrowed. Sunswet? Maybe…
He turned so the fire was no longer blocked by his form, and watched as the flames were reflected off the shining metal of his father's sword. Well, now it made sense.
He used to do the same thing as a young boy, watching the colors gleam on the swords above the table as his father worked.
"Sunswet! Sunswet!" Anna yelled, clapping her hands. She almost cut herself on the blade again, so her daddy took it away. "No! Want sunswet!"
Eric shook his head. The forge was definitely not a safe place for an over curious toddler. But she didn't want to be anywhere near a sewing needle either…
Lira was livid that he'd let her get hurt, and forbade her from entering the forge again. But two days later, as her mother sewed lacy fabrics on an apron, Anna snuck off to the forge.
As she busied herself with staring at the different assortments of weaponry, Lira and Eric slowly realized that Anna no longer screamed for attention or bothered her mother with millions of questions. She was content to be in the forge with her father.
The Garris family was surviving, even without money coming in from the forge. They thought they would be able to save a little from Lira's popular clothing, until Altair was born.
He was the exact opposite of Anna: quiet, dependent, docile, accepting. He was four years younger than his sister, born December seventh, barely two when Anna received twin wooden swords for her sixth birthday.
A mercenary visited Luin the month before she turned six, looking for information about a target- some monster destroying bean crops all over the continent. After the monster met its end, the innkeeper hired him to protect his workers as they made a delivery to Asgard, because of some rumors that the Desians were accosting travelers.
The day they were to return from Asgard, Anna was playing with some metals outside near her house and Altair was sitting on his mother's lap inside as she sewed.
She spotted the two workers and the mercenary sprinting over the bridge, several Desian soldiers at their heels.
The mercenary fought them off, guarding their attacks with what she recognized as a steel sword. He seemed to have the upper hand, until another group of soldiers rushed over. Kicking one in the stomach, the man grabbed the soldier's Knight's Saber and used both his steel sword and the saber to block and parry, one weapon in each hand.
Anna was enraptured by his skills with twin swords, her emerald eyes taking in every stroke. Half hidden by her home, she did not expect to be seen.
But suddenly and swiftly, the reddish brown eyes of the mercenary connected with hers and he paused for barely half a second.
His opponent followed his gaze, and he grinned wickedly, a smile that brought fear into Anna's heart. He disappeared from the battle unnoticed, reappearing behind the five year old girl.
As he grabbed her by the collar of her little brown dress, Anna screamed, clawing and kicking at him.
Her parents came running, Altair in Lira's arms, but it was too late.
The mercenary stopped his attack, as did the other soldiers.
Still smirking, the soldier yelled, "She mean somthin' to ya, mercenary? Why don' cha come git 'er, then?"
The next moments flew by so quickly that Eric could never truly recall what exactly transpired. One moment his daughter was being used as bait, and the next, every one of those soldiers lay dead in the streets of Luin.
And Anna was safe, in the arms of that mercenary. She wrapped her tiny arms around his neck, whimpering softly, and he held her tightly in return.
He returned her to her parents, and Eric offered him dinner with them as thanks for saving his daughter. The man accepted and left to receive his payment for protecting the innkeeper's workers.
When he returned that evening, Anna ran up and hugged him, obviously catching the stoic man by surprise. Her brother gurgled happily from his place at the table.
As she tired, he escorted her to her bedroom upon request.
Eric and Lira whispered over how well their daughter had taken to the mercenary and fed Altair, miniscule smiles crossing their lips. Such an emotionless man, having a small girl growing fond of him…
In Anna's room, the hyper child had no intention of sleeping, opting to crawl all over him instead. It took a while for her to realize that his auburn spikes may look like good handholds, but grabbing them hurt her new friend.
Finally calming her, he tucked her in and sang to her a lullaby of his homeland, a melody she would never forget. She wrapped her hand around two of his fingers as her eyelids drooped shut, her breathing becoming even and slow.
The mercenary thanked Eric and Lira, and he left town that night.
When asked what she would like for her sixth birthday, Anna vehemently requested twin swords. Her fathers spent the rest of the month honing them out of wood.
Anna and Altair often played outside in the summer months, their mother watching from the porch. Anna practiced her sword strokes on a tree that lost much of its bark to her swings, while Altair would play in the grass nearby.
Striking particularly hard, one sword bent and ricocheted off the tree, out of her hand, an into Altair's forehead. That cut left a short scar on the boy's left temple.
For the next three years until Anna turned eight, her brother four, Lira attempted to convince her to become a seamstress like her mother.
The child finally locked herself in the forge for almost two days. That place was more home than her bedroom. And no matter how many times her mother told her the forge was too dangerous, Anna refused to believe that hot iron was more dangerous than a sewing needle. Those little pins hurt!
Henceforth, Anna became an apprentice to her father. And, growing up around the trade, she was quite good at it.
She was constantly covered in ash and soot, her long, thick locks always pulled back in a braid. As dresses were not well adept to the agility and flexibility needed in battle, the girl refused to wear them, preferring instead the breeches normally worn by men.
Her mother was not happy, but she could not be persuaded to even wear a skirt.
A/N: Gaelras refers to a sword bestowed on great warriors by the god of war, Mars. I'm not sure of its true name, but I like mine. Pronounced Gale- (though more like the first syllable in the word Gaelic .) –ros (like rosin). Other swords are, for the most part, pretty straightforward. Please read and review and I'll give you Kvar's head on a plate! (maybe…I kind of want him as a trophy…along with Forcystus)
