Tales of Symphonia: Angels of a Feather

A T.O.S fanfic

"Are we ever truly alone in the world?"

-Tenshi

Whenever the world throws something at you just throw it right back.

Where is everyone? I only fell asleep for a few minutes, right? There's no way everyone could have disappeared at the same time. There is no noise at all. Not a soul was visible. I couldn't hear my parents call me telling me to get up out of my bed and start the day. I look out my bedroom window. No one appeared to be walking by. I got out of my bed and a book fell off me. My parents would have put that away by now. This was all very strange. I looked out the window again, some strange people walked by, but I recognized them right away. They were Vanguards looking for more people to experiment on and turn the unlucky victims into exspheres. Well I wasn't just going to let them catch me without a fight. I ran over to my dresser and grabbed my dagger I had gotten for protection a few years earlier. Although what was a dagger going to do to Vanguards who are fully armed? Maybe I should just run away before I get caught.

I ran down the hall to my Mother and Father's room, hoping the Vanguards didn't go through our stuff yet. I threw their door open. I ran all over their room looking for my father's prized sword in case I needed to fight. So I opened the closet where he usually kept it and sure enough it was there. I felt safer as soon as I picked it up. He had taught me different ways to fight, he even taught me ways I could use to get away so I wouldn't get hurt. I never liked running away though. It really isn't my style especially if I'm trying to protect someone, but this time was different. I had to swallow my pride since it looked like I was out classed and outnumbered. I ran out of their room a few minutes later. I went around the house collecting some supplies I might need for a journey since I didn't know how long I would need to run.

The last thing I grabbed was some Gold. It was about 500 gold so it should be enough for a stay in an inn for at least a night. I went over to the door, opened it, and peeked my head out. It seemed like the Vanguards moved away from my house and on to the next. How did they not find me if they got my parents? Well I wasn't complaining and as soon as the cost was clear I walked out of my house slowly. Then I gently closed the door when I was out to make sure they didn't hear me. I took a look around really quick. Houses were on fire and some were in ruins. It seemed like the Vanguards had another purpose for disrupting this town other than rounding up people to use for exspheres. I wasn't sticking around long enough to find out though. I walked down the alleys of the town hoping not to be spotted and stepped on something. I looked down to see what it was; it was the brooch my mother always wore. So does that mean she got away? As soon as I picked it up I got caught. "There's another one over here!" One of the Vanguards yelled to his partner. The partner responded, "Ha! They think they can get away from us?! Well they have another thing coming!" I stood there in silence with one hand on the dagger and the other on the sword.

As soon as they tried to grab me I jumped back and drew the dagger and sword. "Oh! So this one thinks he can beat us! Well it's time to teach him a lesson!" The first Vanguard stated. They drew their own weapons. I wasn't going to back out of this fight at all. I could handle two with my eyes closed. The fight started.

It only takes one small person to start something, but it takes a bigger person to end it.

Perhaps I was a little naïve to start a fight with two Vanguards who wouldn't take a second thought in fighting a child as long as they knew they were going to come out on top. But these two didn't know how experienced I was. I slashed my sword wildly to try to scare them off, but they weren't backing down from this. So I started to use the sword the right way making sure they didn't get a chance to hit me. When they did finally get a few chances to attack back I blocked and dodged. When they got close I used my dagger, and when they were kind of far I used the sword. After about ten minutes I got tired since I wasn't used to this much fighting I used the hilt of my sword to hit their heads and knock them out. At last the fight was over and I could get out of town. As I went through town again more and more Vanguards tried to attack me, so I fought them. Halfway through those battles I ran away and took a different route out of the town. After an hour and a half I finally got to the exit gate of the town, but of course I couldn't just get out easily. Why would they make it easy? Well standing at the gate was the leader of the Vanguards going through this town.

He was very heavy built, was covered in armor, and was wielding an axe. This was certainly not my day. There was no way to sneak by him or talk him into letting me go. So there was only one way to get out, and that was fighting him. If he didn't have a helmet on I could have just knocked him out with the hilt of the sword. That would be too easy though. Oh well, there's no getting out of this now. So I approach him with my weapons ready. I could at least try to talk my way out of this first. "Hey, let me by now!" I demanded. He looked at me and laughed, "So you're the kid that beat my underlings?! Well there's not much to you! I can tell you that much! But if you want to get by you have to beat me!" "Fine then! If that's how it has to be its fine with me!" I growled. Before I could even hit him I got flung into the air then landed on my back. There was no way I could win this fight. There's no way I could survive without a miracle.

He stood over me laughing and ready his axe for the one blow it would take to finish me off for good. I couldn't move at all. I tried to at least reach for one of my weapons to defend him away from me, but they were about five feet away from me. Just then a healing light came over my body. All of my injuries were gone and the Vanguard leader had stumbled backwards in shock of something. "Are you alright?" A voice asked. I sat up and answered, "Well I've been better. Who are you though?" "My name is Andrew and I'm here to help a fellow angel. So what is your name?" The voice said. I looked behind me to see a man standing there with glowing, parted wings. "My name is Tenshi and I'm no angel sir. I'm just a normal human." I responded. He walked over to me and helped me up. I looked back over to where the Vanguard leader was standing, but he was no longer there. He must have ran away. "The brooch you have there is the sign of an angel. But even if you aren't an angel you show great potential as a warrior." He stated. I stood there rubbing my head. What was this guy talking about? My mother's brooch couldn't be a sign of the angels. We were only human after all. If there was a slight chance I was an angel I wanted to find out.

The past can never change, but the future has yet to be written.

That was about three years ago when I was 15 years old. Now I am 18 years old, an angel, and working as an unofficial member of Cruixs. Although the leader of this organization has no idea I'm even here. And I have no idea what fate my parents had or if they are still alive, but I know they're happy that I got away. Also if there is a chance they're still alive I will find them and help them. For now however, Andrew is like my father. Oh, how rude of me? I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Tenshi Kurochi. I was actually born to two angels without knowing it until i was about 16 years old. Isn't that information nice to not tell your kid? Well at least I know now. I am not a Cruixs angel though. Cruixs angels have glowing, parted wings. Pretty manly to have wings that look like fairy wings. No offense to anyone who has them though. Anyway my wings are black and made of feathers. So I was an underling to any Cruixs angel who knew I was here which was just Andrew. I did listen into the conversation they had though. I guess that's being a little nosey, but I was curious to know what they were talking about. On this day the conversation was interesting and would lead me into my own journey.

"We need more powerful angels! The ones we have now are pathetic!" The leader of Cruixs huffed.

"There are no more angels we can get Mithos." A guy with red hair, Kratos stated.

"Well there are two! Your daughter and Andrew's daughter!" Mithos said.

"You know as well as I do that isn't possible…." Kratos trailed off. He looked really down at the mention of that. I wonder what happened.

"Mithos, you leave Minji out of this!" Andrew demanded. It seemed like Mithos struck a nerve with him.

"Your daughter seems like a good candidate to become an angel Andrew! I think I'll try getting her to join up with us! Won't it be good to work alongside your daughter?!" Mithos teased.

"You better leave her out of this!" Andrew yelled. Kratos just remained silent during this. Mithos laughed for a while and then started to make his way to the door I was over by so I ran back to the room Andrew had given me. It was off the radar of the Cruixs angels. A few days after that conversation Andrew approached me holding a white envelope with the name Minji across it and handed it to me.

"What's this for Andrew?" I asked.

"This is a job I need you to do for me. Please do this Tenshi." He answered.

"Of course I will. But what do you need me to do?" I questioned looking at the letter.

"Mithos is trying to get my daughter wrapped up in this, but I don't want her to. I need you to deliver this to her and stay with her to protect and assist her. Kind of like an older brother. And you are the only one I can trust with this." He said with a concerned tone to his voice.

"I understand and will do as you ask. I'll make sure to help her as much as possible. I promise you I will." I responded.

"Thank you Tenshi. Make sure to dress normally and to stay with Minji at all times. Do not let her out of your site." He added. Then he got called by one of the other Cruixs angels and left making sure that angel didn't see me. So I went back to my room, gathered my stuff, and left without anyone noticing me. For hours I went town to town, inn to inn looking and asking for anyone who knew or saw Minji. And like the other places before they had no idea what I was talking about. At the last town I went to I stayed at the inn for the night. The next morning I got up and went to the next town which was Palamacosta. I stepped into the inn and talked to a woman behind the counter.

"Excuse me Ma am. Has someone named Minji stay here recently?" I asked her.

"Why would you like to know? Are you with the man who asked for a Minji last night?" She questioned getting a little defensive.

"I'm not with anyone. I just need to deliver a letter to her." I answered.

"Well leave it on the counter. If she comes around I'll make sure to give it to her." She responded to me.

"Thank you Ma am. Make sure she gets this right away please. It's very important." I stated leaving the inn, but staying close to hear if Minji was here.

"Minji?! Are you up? There's a letter for you on the counter." The person yelled. I heard someone ran down to the counter. Well I guess that means Minji was here.

"I'm gonna take this up to my room." A girl's voice stated. Then she went up the stairs. Well I guess that's my cue to introduce myself. I warped up to her room. It seemed like she had just finished the letter.

"Tenshi? Who is Tenshi? I didn't see anyone around here…." The girl asked herself.

"So…you're Minji…you look kinda young…" I commented from behind her. She gasped and shrieked as she turned around to see me. She looked about 13 years old. She had brown hair, brown eyes, and was still in her pajamas.

"O-okay who the hell are you?!" She yelled unsheathing her sword then held the blade up to my throat.

"W-woah easy there Minji… No need to be rash." I stated trying to get her sword away from me.

"Once again who are you? And more importantly how do you know my name?" She asked.

"My name is Tenshi Kurochi. Your father sent me to protect and assist you as much as possible." I answered.

"Well if my father really sent you what is his name and what is he? And you better answer fast and right unless you want my sword in your neck! " She questioned moving the blade closer to my throat. Ok so entering a 13 year old's room after delivering a letter to her from her father whom she hadn't seen in who knows how long wasn't my brightest idea.

"Your father's name is Andrew and he's an angel." I answered.