WARNING: This story takes place after the game has finished! You are risking spoiling the ending if you read this story prior to having finished the game!

Title: A Dying Soul 2: Returning Hearts
Fanfiction Of: Tales of Symphonia
Author: Genis Irving
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Tales of Symphonia isn't mine – I don't even own a copy of it. However, A Dying Soul, which this is the sequel to, WAS my idea! And I'm also not to be held responsible if you spoil Mithos' story, as (points up) you've already been warned!
Warnings: Shonen-Ai here, people!
Summary: The sequel to 'A Dying Soul'. After the final battle, Genis thought he had lost what he most desired. Genis holds the key, but where is the cage holding his desires... or is this hope merely a fleeting dream? Shonen Ai (GenisXMithos), fluff, angst
Spoilers: YES YES YES YES YES! This is set after the game, so there'll be spoilers for it!
Author's Note: I don't know why, but I just felt like this particular follow-up deserved its own story, so yeah! This is the sequel to A Dying Soul, which if you haven't read you SHOULD go do so, because it's extremely fluffy and kawaii and all that . And as for this one, there's a cameo appearance by a song any experienced RPG gamer will recognise! . Ten totally worthless points to the first person to identify the song's source! (And I know the last verse is probably incorrect, but I haven't played it in so long, I'm amazed I remembered any of the lyrics...)

(PS: I'm currently holding a random Shonen-Ai based contest-type thing while looking for new pairings... – go check out my Author Profile for details! Genis Irving)

--Returning Hearts--

What was I to do, Mithos?

In the end, I just stood there, watching you die, watching you disappear as my friends killed you. There was a reason I didn't fight. I didn't want to be the one who killed you.

And as you lay there dying, I didn't dare to speak up. I'm a coward like that. I love you, Mithos, but... if I had tried that, I would have been called a traitor. And I've seen enough of being labelled as such and knowing what it does to a person's soul... I don't think I was ready for that.

And now here I am, kicking myself for not daring to pull together what little courage I had so I could go after you, try and save the real you, the one that I loved.

Did you forget our promise, Mithos? You promised you would survive, so I could save you in the end. You promised me that the real you would survive, the true innocence that I find myself missing dearly.

...Have I broken that promise, though? Because of my own weakness... am I destined not to see you smile again? Destined never to kiss you again? Mithos, I don't know if you can hear me, but... I could never stand such a possibility.

Genis was absorbed in his studies, reading a tome of old literature and poetry that Sheena had leant him. She had offered it to him, and he had been greatly confused, but she said it was from her own collection and it looked like Genis needed it. So now here he was, relaxing in front of a small desk in Sheena's house in Mizuho, where he and his sister were temporarily relaxing.

"Genis, you've been depressed ever since the worlds were reunited" Raine's voice startled Genis out of his studies, the hard-covered text falling down and landing on Genis' toe, making him yelp in pain and annoyance. A moment later, though, he calmed down to look at Raine, as she continued her query. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing" Genis told her, as he bent down to retrieve his book, lifting it up and replacing it on the desk, trying frantically to figure out where he was, almost totally forgetting about Raine in the process.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm sure... now please, sister, leave me be" Genis answered, occupied with the passages of his old tome, still trying to figure out where he was.

At least, he was, until a hand came down and almost shut the book on Genis' petit fingers, startling him.

"Sis!" Genis complained, going for the book, but Raine pushed it aside, and as Genis looked at her, he saw a look of concern crossing her features.

"...Genis, I want to know what's wrong. I know there's something wrong, because since we've arrived here you've done nothing but lock yourself up and read these old books..."

"Because now that we're done, I want to start studying again" Genis informed her. "I have a lot to catch up on, you know!"

"...Genis, even back home you never were like this" Raine looked sternly down at him. "And it worries me when you won't even talk to me, your own sister, about anything that's wrong."

Genis sighed, planting his elbow on the desk tiredly, and resting his head in his hand. "Alright, sister, what do you want me to tell you?"
"I want you to tell me what's wrong!" Raine said calmly. "I haven't once seen you smile. I haven't even seen the slightest hint of happiness about you since we defeated Mithos, and yet..."

Genis tried to avoid flinching, and he succeeded, but without realising it, his right arm slid out from under his head, and his other hand subconsciously toyed with the angel's ring, where a single tear was kept within the glimmering jewel upon it.

"...I think that's got something to do with it" Raine noticed Genis' movements, wondering if it was possible that something about Mithos' death had affected Genis. "Am I right, Genis? Does all this have something to do with Mithos?"

Genis' eyes fell, turning away from Raine's face, and she snapped her fingers victoriously. "Yes, that's definitely it... You didn't want him to die, did you?"

Genis blinked, looking sideways at his sister, shaking his head negatively. "...I... know what would have happened... and I know he only betrayed us, Raine, but... you remember when he was fooling us, don't you?"

"Yes, I do... I... I see. He was your first half-elven friend... I... suppose that it's only natural for you to miss him like that" Raine sighed, gently patting her brother on the back. "...This is going to seem cold, Genis, but you have to get over it."

"G-Get over it!?" Genis stuttered, looking angrily at his sister, as if she had just cursed their family name or something.

Raine was visibly startled by Genis' reaction to her comment. She knew Genis wouldn't take that lightly, but to react almost... violently...

"Genis, he was our enemy, and if we hadn't of stopped him, then..."

"I know what would have happened" Genis practically snarled out those words at his sister, surprised at the ferocity in his own voice. "I know that both worlds would have died. But I don't expect you to understand. Now leave me be!" he growled, snatching his book, and storming out of the house, stalking off under the moonlight to go find somewhere to be alone.

Raine was confused by her brother's harsh reactions. It had been what, a month now? Yes, at least a month since they had finished the battle with Mithos. It was unhealthy for Genis to be so negative for so long...

She wondered if what Genis had been reading would give her any clue, as she tried to remember what she had seen over Genis' shoulder.

Ah, yes... a piece of poetry... no, it was more like a song. It read something like... how did it go? Raine tried hard to remember.

That was it.

Oh my hero, so far away now
Will I ever see your smile?
Love goes away, like night into day
It's just a fleeting dream

I'm the darkness, you're the stars
Our love, is brighter than the sun
For eternity, for me there can be
Only you, my chosen one

Must I forget you, our solemn promise
Must winter take the place of spring
Come what may, I won't age a day
I'll wait, for you, always

Raine considered the words, thinking over them, knowing there must be some significance in them. Genis had been studying that one page for a minute and a half, it seemed, as if trying to memorise the words. She had almost swore she saw him shedding a tear while reading it...

But for once, the answer, despite how obvious it should have been, eluded the professor.

Genis stared at the words on the page, as he lay down, trying hard to focus on them under the moonlight, listening to the soft waves from the nearby shore. He didn't know how Sheena had known, but... those few small verses meant something to him. But how would she know about having a heart broken?

Genis let off a small whimper, shutting the text, unable to continue reading it. He covered his face with his hands, trying to avoid crying. He was cursing himself. He had the chance to save Mithos, so why didn't he? He had broken his promise to Mithos...

...He wasn't even trying to bring Mithos back, because logically he had convinced himself such a thing was impossible. The dead couldn't be brought back to life. And because of that he was now spending all of his time beating himself up over it.

"No... I have to stop hating myself..." Genis sighed, slowly pushing himself up into a standing position, tucking the book under his arm, as he looked skyward. His hand went to the ring on his finger.

He could still see the strange mix of colours that had resulted from the mix of the teardrop and the normal gem upon the ring, and in time it had grown into a true rainbow, with every colour visible to the human eye, and several shades that Genis could not name.

Genis stared into it, fiddling with it. "...Maybe Raine's right. Maybe I... should just get over it... It's hopeless to try something like this..."

Without even thinking of what he did, because he knew that if he thought too hard on it he'd never be able to do it, he pulled off the ring and threw it into the soft ocean waters, watching it seemingly drift away.

"...Mithos..." Genis whispered a moment later, a tear dropping from his eye. "...I'm sorry I had to break my promise..."

Genis swore, though, as he turned, that the sound of the waves was whispering something to him.

"You didn't..."

"...Genis?" Raine was surprised to see the boy sleeping, curled up, on the hard floor in a corner. Apparently he hadn't wanted her to see him come back in the night previous or something...

She looked at him and noticed something very odd. The ring that had apparently meant something to him last night... it was missing.

Genis began to stir a bit, slowly opening his eyes and sitting up, stretching to help loosen his muscles after the previous night's rough sleep.

"Hey, sis" Genis smiled a bit at her, and her face lit up.

"...Genis, you're... smiling..."

"Yes... you were right" Genis nodded. "...There was nothing I could do. I don't like admitting it, but... fate is fate. If things were meant to be that way... I shouldn't be complaining about it."

Raine was almost too ecstatic about everything to be able to resist suddenly holding onto her brother, glad beyond everything to see her little brother smiling.

Two days passed, Genis was prepared to leave, after all, he and Raine had a quest to pursue, and they had a long ways to go in order to spread equality throughout the world. Genis knew it was a futile quest, because there would always be people who would refuse to accept other races. It would take them their whole lifetime and they would probably not change a thing. But Raine was set on trying, and so was Genis.

"Genis, we won't be back here for a while" Raine informed him. "So I suggest you finish up anything now" she smiled at him, lightly. Genis blinked, wondering what he could possibly have to finish up. After all, he hadn't exactly made contact with the locals at all during his stay; he had barely even spoken to Sheena, who was due on a peaceful mission to Iselia.

But Genis nodded anyway, muttered a thank you to his sister, and stepped outside. Almost instantly, a destination came to mind, and he left town with all due haste, heading for the seashore.

As he arrived, he could still seeing the dirty footsteps marking where had been the previous night. He could still see the footprints in the sand... from when he had...

He looked out to sea, knowing that it would be impossible, but hoping that just perhaps he could see that ring once more.

Of course, he realised that logically the tides would probably have just swept the ring right back onto the beach. Almost instantly he regretted the decision he had made, feeling guilty. The sudden surge of emotion made Genis feel terrible – after all, it felt like he had taken Mithos and just thrown him away, and that wasn't what he wanted.

He decided that it couldn't hurt to spend a few minutes looking for the ring, and with that, he picked a random direction and decided to stalk up the beach a bit. He walked slowly along the hot sand, looking down, stepping over loose rocks and shells, being reminded of his childhood with Lloyd, when they used to go swimming all the time.

Genis turned a corner, towards a section of the beach that had been out of his sight before. He doubted it would be this far from where he'd thrown the ring, and...

Suddenly, something rather large and white came into his view over the sand, and he backed up a step, expecting to find a monster, but what he saw instead was much, much more shocking to his eyes.

Lying there, seemingly unconscious, soaked as a drowned rat, his clothes sticking to his body and his blonde hair mixed with wet sand, was a person that Genis knew all too well.

"Mithos! MITHOS!"

Genis jumped towards the boy, grabbing onto the other half-elf's shoulders and gently pulling him up into a sitting position, trying to shake the boy awake, sand running off of his clothes.

Mithos finally choked a little, a sign of life that Genis was insanely ecstatic to see. As Mithos slowly gagged out a bit of sand and water, Genis gently patted his back as he held Mithos within a strong embrace.

Finally, Mithos opened his eyes, turning towards Genis, and the young sage boy's throat felt totally dry.

"...Genis... what happened? Where am I?" Mithos blinked, cluelessly. "...Why am I so wet?"

Genis giggled a bit, as he glomped Mithos, knocking them both into the sand.

"Mithos... Mithos..." Genis muttered the other boy's name as he nuzzled against Mithos' chest, and the other boy wrapped his arms around Genis. Did he not remember? Of course not. How could he know that Genis had thrown him to the sea? And... was this just some odd fate or what? Was that the trigger that had caused Mithos to return? "Why are you here, how did you come back?" Genis asked, as he fought a losing battle to keep from crying with joy.

"I've been waiting all that time, Genis" Mithos smiled. "That tear... from it my soul was reborn in the ring and... when that was complete, finally, when the tear was released into the sea, I came back."

So he did know! "Please don't be mad at me..."

Mithos smiled. "I'm not mad at you, Genis. How would you have known that would have been the way to bring me back?"

And then suddenly, Mithos' features changed, his calm looking turning into one of elation, tears beginning to soak his face, as he held Genis tight against him. "Genis... I'm so glad..."

"I told you, Mithos... I'd bring you back" Genis smiled, nuzzling against Mithos. "I'd bring you back all by yourself, without the evil half, only with the good part of your soul... the half of your soul I fell in love with."

Those words were too much. Mithos finally got it together just long enough to share a deep kiss with Genis.

Genis knew that when he got back, that it would take a lot of explaining for Raine to understand all of this. If she didn't know already. Especially since Mithos had once been their enemy. It would be very, very tough convincing them all that this really was the good Mithos, to explain to them all what knowledge he had kept a secret.

But Genis wasn't going to leave Mithos behind and abandon him again. This time, he would stand up to everything.

As they broke away from their kiss, to catch their breath, Genis breathed out a nearly silent promise.

"I will never, ever let you go, Mithos."

"And I will never leave you again, Genis."

Glomping: past tense of 'To Glomp (someone)' I know it's not a real verb, but here's the commonly accepted fan definition: To jump onto somebody with a powerful embrace, cuddle them, and refuse to let them go. (EG: Any true Genis fan, such as myself, would probably glomp Genis at any chance I got)

A/N: So? Cute? . I thought you'd think so. I'm not sure if I'm going to write ANOTHER one to follow this, though knowing my reviewers they'll probably tie me up to a chair and blackmail my friend into refusing to let me play ToS, putting me into Genis, Lloyd, Mithos, and Zelos withdrawal, until I agree to write more... or maybe they'd do something worse, I dunno... Sigh Anyway, yeah! Please tell me what you thought! .