Tales of Symphonia: Wingless Angels

By Dinuriel

A/N: Hello everyone. This is my first ToS fic, so go easy on me, okay? If any of you have read my Lost or SSX fics, you'll know I'm bad for updating, but I'll try to get chapters up every once in a while as long as I have five reviews or more per chapter (on fictionpress I usually only ask for three, but I've always found it's a lot harder to get reviews on fictionpress because with fanfiction, people know the characters and the basis and everything and kind of have an idea of what they're looking for).

Anyway, I must warn you, this fic isn't funny. Yep, it's serious. But I hope you like it anyway; sorry if it seems a little weird. There may be evidence against me in some outcomes of the game, but I haven't seen every outcome (I usually take Kratos back, since he's my favorite character ever, and whenever I decide I want Zelos, I make Lloyd's love interest change from Colette to Sheena, because I hate Colette and wish she'd just die. So I haven't seen the ending with Zelos and when Lloyd likes Colette, although that probably isn't too different, really). So this fic is going to be written in three parts—Yuan, Kratos, then Martel and Mithos together, although everyone will appear in the other people's parts too. I'll end up going "back in time" when each new part starts, just as a warning, to give a little more background information on the character and a look through their eyes.

I hope that was enough information, but not too much. I'm kind of bad at judging that sort of thing.

So, enough with my ramblings—here's the first chapter. Hope you like it!

Part One: Yuan

Chapter One: Heimdall's Half-Elf Prince

There were once two great races that walked the world in equal numbers—the elves, who had mastered all the arts of magic, and the humans, who had not. Though it was not biologically true, the humans and elves considered themselves to be separate species.

Of course, there could only be one dominant life form; anything that was not of the superior specie was nothing but an animal. But this dominant life form… was it the elves, or the humans?

Both races, of course, believed themselves to be the dominant life form; as such, elves treated humans as animals, and humans treated elves in the exact same way. What wasn't the same was different—and what was different was dirt.

Not all elves and humans thought that way, though; merely most of them did. Some elves and humans grew to become allies, friends… even lovers. From these lovers came their offspring—half-elves.

For half-elves, life was difficult. Despised by both races, only their families and fellow half-elves could ever accept them; which was why Miras, King of the Elves, had a problem.

-

The elves and humans both lived in the same lands, in almost imaginary countries that seemed to overlap each other. Humans were not grouped to certain continents, and neither were elves; no, their cities lay dispersed amongst those of the opposing race, as inconvenient as it was for strong supremacists of either side. There was the human kingdom, and, on the same plane and earth, there was the elven kingdom, and two kings ruled their respective kingdoms within the same region.

The elven capital was Heimdall, a city deep within the mysterious Ymir Forest, and its king was Miras. Tall and strong, with his long, silvery-blue hair and deep violet eyes, Miras was the epitome of elvenity, what every young elf boy aspired to become. Like his father before him, the young king ruled his people in a strong, but gentle way, prepared to lead them through any circumstance, simple or difficult.

When his father died and he was crowned King of the Elves, Miras took the hand of a young elven woman named Ayrel. If Miras was every elf's son's idol, Ayrel was that to their daughters, with her shimmering rose-colored hair, lavender eyes, and soft, moon-like skin. Together, they would lead the elves to a new age, an age where they could live in a land free of humans… a land that rightfully belonged to elven kind, and elven kind alone.

About two years after Miras and Ayrel ascended to the throne, they declared joyously to their people that Ayrel was with child. The elves, of course, were excited when they heard the news—if two perfect elves such as Miras and Ayrel had a child, how perfect could that child possibly be? Eagerly anticipated was the arrival of the newborn prince or princess, from the earliest months of Ayrel's pregnancy onwards.

"Our child will be a boy," Ayrel would reply if an elf were to inquire about the baby. "Strapping and strong, with dark eyes and a firm jaw, just like his father."

Miras would then laugh. "No, love; the baby will be a girl. Beautiful, with a kind, loving soul, and a smile that can melt even the hardest of hearts, like her mother."

The projected date of birth drew nearer and nearer. The king and queen would sit on the balcony of their castle in Heimdall and look out into the forest, talking about everything they could possibly decide about their child; names, tutors, prospective suitors…

One day, about a week before the baby was due, Miras was off training his newly-formed elven army and didn't return to the castle until around dinnertime. Having had a fairly good day, he was not particularly worrying about anything as he made his way up the castle steps, until he was approached by a hysterical young maid, who told him the awful news—Ayrel had unexpectedly gone into labor and had died giving birth to their child, a stillborn.

Beside himself, Miras left Heimdall, placing his regent in charge of the kingdom during his absence. He wondered the lands aimlessly, desperately searching to fulfill his grief. He eventually came to the frozen continent said to be the home of the goddess Celsius, where he was attacked by a pack of wolves as he wondered the tundra. Those wolves were fierce, with jaws of steel and claws like stinging ice, but Miras never fought back; he had lost the will to live.

Ayrel… he thought to himself as the wolves came upon him. I will join you at last…

Much to his surprise, Miras woke a few days later in the human city of Flanoir, having been found and nursed back to health by a young human named Lida. He didn't find her pretty; just a human, maybe better looking than most, with long blond hair and eyes of a deep teal. She was not his Ayrel, at any rate.

But as he recovered, he found that he had only the young woman to talk to; at first, he hardly spoke to her, but then came to the realization that they shared many common interests and opinions, and the two of them came to have several discussions of an intriguing nature that often lasted all day.

"I think marriage is a beautiful thing," mused Lida one day, "but only when there is love involved. A loveless marriage makes for a wasted life."

Miras nodded. "I agree; Ayrel and I had a good marriage because we loved each other. My own two parents, I know, had been an arranged match, and our home was a cold one."

"You miss Ayrel, don't you?" Lida then asked.

"I do," admitted Miras. "I know I always will. But we discussed this before—she would have wanted me to move on."

It was then that Lida posed the question of who Miras was to move on with—and it was then that he came to realize that he wanted to move on with her.

They hastily wed that very night, in an old Flanoir church, and headed back to Heimdall. Obviously, the people were pleased to see their king return, but were skeptical about his new human wife—what had happened to the king's plans to force the humans out of their lands?

The elves only became more uneasy when Miras announced that Lida was pregnant. The new prince or princess would be a half-elf; only a less derogative term for half human.

Heimdall made no preparations for the arrival of the half-elf baby, nor were any celebrations apart from those arranged by Miras himself expected. Instead of the excitement the elves had experienced for Ayrel's child, they grieved at the thought of Lida's—how could they bow down to the child of a human?

Finally, one rainy night, Lida felt the pains of labor come upon her. Miras led her to bed and summoned the midwife, then waited anxiously outside of their bedchamber, not speaking as he softly prayed to the gods.

Origin, Maxwell, he silently addressed them, Aska, Luna, Shadow… Volt, Undine, Gnome… Sephie, Yutis, Fairess… Efreet, Celsius… I beg of you; have mercy on this child of mine. Spare this new life, and Lida's… not like you did with Ayrel and our daughter. Please… let them survive.

The gods heard his pleas and took mercy on him; Lida gave birth to a healthy baby boy, and both mother and son were perfectly fine after the ordeal. The midwife left with a smile, and Miras, with a grateful glance upwards, entered and gazed upon his wife and baby.

The boy was asleep in his mother's arms, his breathing perfectly in time with hers; Lida herself, however, was still awake, though quite obviously exhausted.

"He's beautiful," whispered Miras as he sat down beside her.

Lida gave a tired smile. "Isn't he?"

They gazed down at the tiny baby she held; slowly, the child opened his eyes, revealing their rich teal color.

Miras laughed. "Hello, my son."

As the king leaned in closer, the new prince began to run his hands over his father's face, finally resting on his rather beakish nose.

"He has your eyes," Miras told his wife, still not looking away from his newborn son. "Hopefully, he will have your nose as well."

Lida closed her eyes. "What should we name him?"

"You're his mother," insisted Miras. "You gave birth to him; you have more right to name him than I do."

The two of them briefly locked eyes, then continued to watch over their child instead.

"If we had had a daughter, I was going to name her Ayrel," Lida muttered softly, "but our child is a boy."

Miras nodded. "We will need another name."

"You and Ayrel had a daughter, correct?" asked his wife.

"Yes."

"Did you have a name picked out had it been a boy?"

"Yes," the king sighed in recollection. "It was…"

Lida looked at him. "Yes?"

"…Yuan. Yes, it was Yuan."

Smiling, Lida turned from her husband to her son. "Hello, Yuan."

A/N: So sorry if that was a little weird. Next chapter Yuan will be a little older, so I'll cut out the narrator-is-God stuff and tell it from Yuan's point of view instead. Kratos will be coming into the story soon, but Martel and Mithos might take a while to get introduced, sorry if that saddens anyone immensely. Anyways, please review and thanks for reading.