Tales of Harmonia
-Aisu Fox-
Disclaimer: I Don't Own Tales of Symphonia or Any of Its Characters
Aisu: Hi there! This is my first fanfic I've submitted! Well, it's not the first I've written, but that's not important. XD; Everybody's costumes are slightly altered in this fic, but if you want to get a clear visual of their costumes, I'll be eventually drawing and putting them up on my Deviantart gallery (You can find it on my profile), but be patient since I've been busy with finals and stuff.
This is going to be a large fic seeing as it's like a sequel, but I've already done 11 chapters. I'm currently working on chapter 12 and have many ideas for the future chapters so hopefully I won't stop till it's finished. I want to get it done, even if it takes me years!
Hope you all enjoy! Please feel free to leave a review if it's not too much trouble!
Chapter 1: Reunion
"Raine, are you done yet?"
"Genis! Have you no passion for these ancient ruins?"
"Not really- OW!"
The silver-haired boy, Genis, rubbed the back of his head where his sister, Raine, had just clubbed him. He sighed as he went back to watching Raine all but drool over some ancient scriptures. They were currently on their way back to Iselia but got sidetracked along the way by a peculiar looking cave. Raine had immediately dashed in while Genis only followed just to make sure she didn't hurt herself or stay too long.
"Genis, hold my staff in front of this stone tablet!" Raine commanded shoving her staff, which was steadily illuminating the cave, roughly into Genis' hands. "I must inspect the ancient characters. They're simply MARVELOUS!"
Genis groaned and unwillingly held the staff upright. At this rate, they would never make it to Iselia and see the others again.
"Raine, we got to get to Iselia." Genis whined reminding her.
"I know! I know! I'll be done in five minutes!" Raine waved her hand reassuringly, not even glancing at him.
"More like five hours…" Genis thought to himself since he knew better than to say that out loud around his sister.
It was then that something caught the young half elf's attention in the dark corner of the cave. He grounded the staff end into the earth so that it would stand on its own before investigating, Raine not even noticing. Genis dusted off some pebbles and rocks that covered a small chest. It had an intricate design to it full of many colors and gold lining and had a broken brass lock. Slowly, he lifted the lid to find a tied roll of paper. Genis untied and unrolled it showing it was a map of the world, but part of it was ripped off. All he could really make out in the dark were the words in bold: "ELEMENTAL CRESTS".
"Genis! Where are you?" He heard Raine call.
"I'm over here! I thought I saw something!" Genis called back pocketing the torn map to look at later.
Now came the hard part, leaving.
- X -
In Iselia, people were bustling around with decorations, lanterns, and even making stands. Inside the stands were various toys and prizes that little children could win. Every street had a special statue or ornament that was hand crafted by the villagers or outsiders and even wreaths of flowers and paper lanterns.
"Lloyd! Can I have a special necklace too?" A small child asked a tall boy wearing red.
The young man, Lloyd, who looked to be around nineteen, had wild brown hair that slightly covered his left eye which like the right one was reddish-brown. He wore red light armor with black trim, which had short shoulder pads and had long white scarves trailing off its high collar. He also wore blue pants supported by two leather belts, red heavy boots, and black gauntlets with red trim. Lloyd addressed the small girl.
"I don't have them right now, Keiko. I'll be sure to give you one at festival though, okay?" He smiled warmly and patted the girl on the head.
She smiled brightly saying a quick, "Thank you!" before running off to play.
Lloyd went back to lazing on the crates he was laying on, watching the people rush around preparing for the special event that was occurring tomorrow. His eyes started to feel heavy and they slowly started to drift closed.
"Here you are, Lloyd! I was looking all over for you." A familiar voice rang him out of his nap as he lazily cracked open one eye.
He was faced with a girl with crystal blue eyes and dazzling golden hair that framed her face. Lloyd sat up to actually acknowledge her. She wore a plain white dress with violet trim, a golden neckband, black pants and cute white boots. She also had an intricate golden mount on her chest with a red diamond shaped jewel centered on it.
"Hey Colette, what're you doing out here?" Lloyd asked.
"I came looking for you. I… just wanted to talk." Colette said and sat down on a crate beside Lloyd. "I can't wait to see everyone again!"
Lloyd grinned. "I know what you mean. It's been two years since we've seen all them! I was really excited to hear that they were coming for the festival."
Colette nodded in agreement before gazing at the construction going on. "Everybody's working so hard to make the festival a great one."
"Yeah…" Lloyd gave a wide yawn but Colette didn't notice.
"You and Dirk carved most of those statues and you're making those necklaces for all the children."
Lloyd's eyes started to droop again. He had been pulling all-nighters trying to finish the necklaces.
"I wish I could help out in some way." Colette glanced at Lloyd only to see that he had fallen asleep. "Lloyd?"
"I'll wake him up." Colette looked to her left and smiled brightly at the two standing there before moving away from Lloyd.
The younger of the two wove his fingers in a graceful manner before a large amount of water fell on Lloyd out of nowhere. Lloyd in response spluttered and shook the water from his body like a dog. He then dragged the long hair out of his eyes so he could see who had rudely awoken him. He seemed confused for a second staring at the white-haired boy Colette was currently hugging. His white hair had a bunch of strands being held back by a silver hair brace, which held it out of his blue eyes. He wore a white short-sleeved cloak that had light blue trim and circular patterns all over it and had gold buckles holding it at chest level. He also wore a black and white shirt and shorts, a black sash around his waist, black wristbands and those familiar shoes. The main thing that shocked Lloyd was that he was as tall as Colette was! Then it dawned on Lloyd.
"Genis!" He laughed and approached his best friend. "I see you're still as childish as ever."
"Some more than others." Genis countered slyly.
"Hey! What's that suppose to mean?" The red clad boy scowled. "Just as I thought, exactly the same."
"Lloyd, I hope you've been studying while I've been away." Lloyd looked up and immediately recognized the other.
"Professor Sage! You know I can't remember a thing when you're not around." He smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of his head.
Raine hadn't changed too much. Besides the minor adjustments to her old attire, the only real thing that had changed was her hair, which had grown longer and curved towards her chest.
"That's too bad because I was planning on testing you anyway." Raine said poking him in the forehead playfully.
Lloyd groaned. "I was hoping our first guests wouldn't have been so dull."
That earned Lloyd a simultaneous smack from both the Professor and Genis, which made Colette giggle.
"Wait, did you say we were the first ones here?" Genis asked.
"Yep. You're first." Colette chirped.
"Wow, I thought we would've been last with all those stops we made in random caves and artifact ruins- OW!" Genis yelped as Raine delivered a smack to his head as well.
"I see the Professor is just as abusive as ever…" Lloyd muttered. "And apparently it now runs in the family."
"Maybe if you'd watch your tongue once in a while, I wouldn't have to be." Raine huffed, crossing her arms.
"Now that's the Super Cool Beauty I fell in love with!" That voice caused Raine and Genis to cringe but Lloyd and Colette looked up excitedly.
"Hi Zelos!" Colette greeted.
"Why, hello there my cute little angel, Colette." Zelos chirped flirtatiously.
Zelos still had that cocky smirk of his. He pushed aside a strand of his long red hair that had escaped from his white headband. He wore the same sleeveless jacket except it was now white with gold trim with stray traces of pink on the straps here and there. Like his jacket, his gloves were now black and white with gold trim and pink straps. Zelos also wore a black sleeveless turtleneck, a white belt and sheath with blue trim and tassels, light gray pants and his same boots. Lastly, he still had his Cruxis Crystal mounted on his chest like Colette.
"Zelos! Great to see you! What have you been up to lately?" Lloyd asked.
"Well, you're looking at Meltokio's newly respected palace knight!" Zelos announced thrusting a thumb towards his chest. "Once you get that kind of status, then all the hunnies just start climbing all over you." He then grinned at Colette and Raine. "But I still have my favorite Cool Beauty and Little Angel to love."
"Honestly, Zelos. Can't you say my actual name just ONCE?" Raine sighed.
"What's that my Ultra Cool Beauty?" Zelos chirped.
"It's Raine. Raaaaaine…" The Professor stressed her name slowly, while putting her hands on her hips.
"Huuuuunnieeeeeeee…" Zelos stressed in an equal tone.
"I see you haven't changed…" Genis muttered.
Zelos looked down at the young half elf. "Hey brat. I see you hit your growth-spurt finally. Listen, once you hit puberty, then I'll give you some helpful advice." He smirked and ruffled Genis' silver locks.
Genis went red from embarrassment and pure rage as he strongly resisted the urge to light the pervert's rear on fire. He didn't have to resist for long though because Raine had already delivered a hard punch to Zelos' head.
"Poor Zelos, he's just trying to lend advice to Genis." Colette said obliviously.
"Trust me Colette, it's not the kind of advice he'd want to get." A female's voice sighed.
They all looked up. The woman had her raven hair tied back by a pink ribbon bow and wore a violet version of her successor uniform.
"It's Sheena!" Lloyd announced.
"My beloved, voluptuous hunny!" Zelos added.
"Chance of another wailing, 100 percent." A girl's monotone voice reported.
"And Presea!" Genis laughed.
Like Raine, Presea hadn't changed too much. Her long pink hair was now in ponytails running down her back and she wore a black version of Zelos' jacket with gold buckles except it ended a bit above her waist. The rest was the same. Like predicted, Sheena drove her fist into poor Zelos' face causing everyone to laugh.
"Now all that's left is to wait for Regal to arrive and we'll all be together again!" Colette said cheerfully.
Presea frowned. "I regret to inform that Regal will not be accompanying us."
"Huh? Why not?" Lloyd asked a little disappointed.
"He told me that he had too much work to do at the Lezerano Company. But he will come at some point when he is less busy." Presea explained.
"Well that's too bad." Sheena said folding her arms. "I was looking forward to seeing the big guy again."
Colette's gaze went to the ground. "There's not much we can do I guess. How about we all go over to my house and you can tell us about what you've been doing all this time."
"That sounds good to me. Let's go!" Lloyd said before noticing Raine staring at him. "What's wrong, Professor?"
Raine jumped slightly when she realized Lloyd had said her name. "Um, it's nothing. I was just… you look so much more like him."
Lloyd blinked. "Like who?"
"Your father, Kratos."
Lloyd's eyes widened slightly before he suddenly grew very interested in his boots. "I guess so."
"You miss him, don't you?"
"Sometimes…" Lloyd shook his head. "But enough about him. Let's hurry and catch up to the others."
Raine smiled. "Okay then."
- X -
"Everyone, please make yourselves at home." Colette said.
Everyone gathered in Colette's living room, finding specific places to sit. Colette, Genis and Presea took the only couch and Raine and Zelos took the two lounge chairs so Sheena and Lloyd ended up standing. Anything was better to Sheena than taking Zelos' offer to sit on his lap and Lloyd didn't mind leaning on the wall.
"So Sheena, how is Mizuho doing since you became their new leader?" Lloyd asked.
"Everyone's doing well. We've finally relocated Mizuho to a new secret location." Sheena said.
"Oh? And where would that be? Maybe Colette and I could stop by sometime while we're journeying to find all the exspheres."
Sheena wagged a finger in front of his face. "I said it was a secret location, didn't I? Besides, I can't tell you with Zelos around."
"Don't bother, I already know where you relocated." Zelos pointed out as-a-matter-of-factly.
Sheena gaped. "But… how? I never saw you follow me and I haven't told anyone!"
"Being a respected knight has its benefits. I was rummaging through the king's papers some time ago and came across it. Didn't you wonder who was peeking at you in the shower?" Zelos grinned.
Sheena, blushing furiously, gave him a painful smack on the face. "You stupid Chosen! And here I thought someone in the village had become a big pervert!"
Raine sighed. "That brings me to the question of why you admit that it was in fact YOU doing it?"
Genis chuckled and leaned back on the couch to get more comfortable. "That is a good question, Zelos. By the way Lloyd, you mentioned your journey collecting the exspheres, how's that going?"
"Oh yeah." Lloyd perked up. "So far we've covered quite a few villages, yet some morons keep trying to abuse the powers of the exspheres." He clenched his fist. "It really pisses me off when they think they can beat Colette and I so we give them a good beating to think about."
"So where do you have left to collect exspheres?" Presea asked.
Colette scratched her head in thought. "I believe we've covered the whole original Sylvarant area… so that leaves most of Tethe'alla. Our main objective is the bridge."
"Ah yes, the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge." Zelos rubbed his chin. "I'll see to the king about that since I'm such a nice guy and all."
"Thanks Zelos!" Colette beamed.
"Anything for my Little Angel." He winked.
"That reminds me." Raine said and pulled out a pouch that had been concealed behind her robes. "In this bag is more than thirty exspheres."
"Whoa!" Lloyd exclaimed. "How did you find so many exspheres?"
Genis' eyes grew sullen. "A lot of the guards attacked us when they found out we were half elves going into Sybak. We fought them and found out the exspheres were corrupting their minds somehow."
"Once we removed the exspheres, they turned back to normal as if nothing had even happened." Raine finished.
Lloyd frowned and dug out one of the exspheres from the bag. "They look normal to me. Maybe they went delirious with power?"
Raine curled her finger over her top lip in thought. "It seems like the best answer, but there's no logical explanation for it."
The room went silent.
"Besides that experience, how's your journey been going?" Sheena cut the tension in the room.
The young half elf lightened up a bit. "It's been going alright I guess. No one said changing people's opinions was going to be easy…" He turned to the pink haired girl beside him. "We saw you on the outskirts of Ozette once, Presea." He said changing the subject. "What were you doing there?"
Presea noticed his abruptness with a little bit of surprise. She was about to say something but caught the look Raine was giving her that said clearly to just ignore it. So she did.
"I am rebuilding Ozette." This came as a shock to most. "With Regal's help, I am planning to rebuild Ozette exactly as it was before to preserve the memory. The memory… of my lost time… and maybe the people will return as well." Presea muttered.
Zelos, feeling quite uncomfortable with the heavy atmosphere, let out a bellow. "What's with all the long faces? It's the time of the Harmonia Festival! Peace, love, happiness and all that jazz."
Lloyd grinned. "You're right Zelos! We shouldn't be moping around; we should be celebrating being back together again. One big happy family!"
Sheena laughed. "I guess you could put it that way."
"Come on, Genis, cheer up. This is so not like you." Lloyd said ruffling up the young sorcerer's hair with his hand.
A grin appeared on Genis' face. "Alright then."
"What shall we do for the time being?" Presea asked.
"I guess we could go to my place." Lloyd said sheepishly. "I must admit, I haven't quite finished the necklaces I was supposed to make."
"Won't Dirk be mad?" Colette asked.
Lloyd smiled widely. "What he doesn't know can't hurt me!"
Everyone in the room sweat dropped and Raine smacked Lloyd on the head. "That is very irresponsible of you, Lloyd! What have you been learning from all my classes?"
"Art, PE and sleeping standing up."
This time, everyone face faulted.
"Forget it and let's go already! They need to be done by tomorrow." Lloyd announced causing everyone to groan.
- X -
It only took an hour to get to Dirk's house, and after some friendly greetings and poundings on the head for not doing his work when he was suppose to, everyone got straight to work. They all got ten already molded pieces of metal with a different colored jewel on it.
"All ya need ta do is carve a unique design on each. There be lots of children comin' to the festival, so I'll be making more necklaces for you all ta design." Dirk explained, with his thick Irish accent, before returning to one of his kilns.
"This'll be fun!" Colette beamed and started to carve a wavy design. "I know what I'll do!"
"I know exactly what I'm going to do too." Zelos said, but before his carving needle could reach the metal…
"No explicit pictures, Zelos! They're for children!" Sheena shouted.
"Come on! They need to learn about this stuff sometime." He whined.
SMACK!
"Hey Lloyd, what were you going to do with yours?" Genis asked watching Lloyd carefully scratch in different letters.
"Same thing I was doing with quite a few others, writing some Dwarven Vows. They're good to follow." Lloyd said as he showed Genis what he had written.
Genis read out loud, "'Dwarven Vow Number 26: Nothing is impossible. Even the word says I'm possible.' Wow, I've never heard that one before."
Lloyd nodded. "It's one of my favorites actually."
A sly grin crossed Genis' face. "Hey, are you going to include Number 7?"
"Are you serious? I hate that one!" Lloyd fumed.
"Oh? Then what's this one?" Genis asked innocently holding out a necklace that clearly said: 'Dwarven Vow Number 7: Goodness and love will always win'.
The Eternal Swordsman spluttered before snatching the necklace. "Er… Dad made me do it!"
"Sure…" Genis said stressing the word for added sarcasm.
"Fine then, smart guy, what are you doing?"
"I was planning on writing a little bit of Elvish with a small translation."
"Will there even be enough room?"
"Don't worry, Elvish is very compact."
"Com… pact?"
Genis sighed. "Shall I use small words? It means it won't take up much room, Lloyd."
"Ooh…"
"Moron…"
"I HEARD THAT!"
- X -
The day eventually drew to an end and everyone went to bed. The girls in Lloyd's room while the men kindly slept on the floor downstairs. Everyone was asleep, except for the red clad boy sitting on the balcony. A familiar green and silver furred friend caught his eye and he jumped down to greet the dog-like creature inside its stall.
"Hey Noishe. You couldn't sleep either?" Lloyd asked as he scratched the horse-sized creature's head.
Noishe gave a soft whine, quite content with Lloyd scratching behind his ear. Noishe had grown slightly larger and stronger and now had a purple handkerchief tied around his neck.
"The Harmonia Festival is tomorrow, but I just don't feel happy, even with everyone here. I wonder why?" Lloyd muttered, knowing that Noishe could fully understand him.
Noishe whined again and patted his pink paw on the stall door.
"No, Noishe! You can't come out until morning and you know it!" Lloyd protested against the protozoan.
"Whine!"
"No! Bad Noishe!"
"Grr…"
"No!"
"Bark!"
"No don't wake everyone up!"
"BARK!"
"Fine, fine. Geez Noishe, I'll let you out. Just go back in your stall after."
"Whine…"
Noishe padded out of the stall as soon as Lloyd opened the door and looked back at the eternal swordsman expectantly.
"What? You want to show me something?" Lloyd asked and followed Noishe around the house.
Lloyd smiled when he realized where the protozoan was leading him. They were standing in front of Lloyd's mother's grave which had the red sword, Flamberge, laid in front.
"Yeah… that's what it is. I miss my family…" Lloyd said wiping away the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. "I miss Kratos… Dad…"
Noishe licked the young adult's face trying to cheer him up. Lloyd chuckled, scratching Noishe's head again, before looking up to the stars. They had always cheered him up when he was little. He then noticed a particularly bright star among the mess of them.
"I never noticed that star before." Lloyd thought to himself.
Little did Lloyd or anyone else know, that 'star' was very slowly getting bigger in the sky.