*sigh* I took forever with this chapter, blame high school. . But eh, I'm happy with the result. Let's see how Katsuya will deal with her sudden situation.

I WILL get a picture of Katsuya up on my dA account, and you can ask her any questions on her/my formspring account here: .me/TravelerofStars

Also DARN YOU CHAPTER CHARACTER LIMITS! At least the whole chapter title is in here, *sigh*

Chapter 2: Fate Has a Twisted Sense of Humor, Doesn't It?

Calm down, Katsuya. You've read plenty of Self-Inserts on fanfiction, so you should know how this works. Just calm down, hear Flora out, and figure out the rest of questions later.

"Are you alright? You came crashing through the front door and fell unconscious. Do you remember what happened at all?" Flora asked me. I swallowed hard. The infamous question of all the Self-Insert fanfictions I've read out there: 'Why are you here?'

"I-I don't remember exactly…" I stated, rubbing the back of my head. "I guess I hit my head when I fell." Flora looked at me and then nodded.

"It's okay. Just try to remember what happened before you fell unconscious." Flora replied. I nodded and closed my eyes, trying to think of a quick explanation. As soon as I thought of one, I reopened my eyes.

"Now I remember. I… was out training and then…" Okay, so far so good. It looks like Flora's buying it.

"Then… I-I accidentally and foolishly tried to take on an enemy that was stronger than me… When I clearly saw that I was losing, I ran like hell to the closest town, which happened to be here, but…" Flora nodded, taking in my story.

"A… bandit mugged me before I could get into town and forced me to hand over everything I had; he said he would kill me if I didn't. Once I did that, I ran into this town, and knowing that I didn't have the money for the inn, I… ran into here to see if I could stay but… I guess I tripped and stumbled into the door and hit the floor hard." I finished. Flora nodded once again.

"I understand. Your clothes were badly torn up, so I just gave you something to cover up." Flora explained. I looked down to see that I was wearing only a white dress with spaghetti straps that stopped right above me knees. A soft blush emerged on my checks. I never really liked wearing dresses, but considering what Flora had told me, it would only make sense that she would be nice enough to give some random girl who passed out upon crashing into her house some clothes.

"Um… thank you. It… must have been frightening to see a teenage girl come crashing into your house, in a badly shaken up state and then fall unconscious." I said. Flora smiled at me.

"You're welcome, Dear." Flora replied. "By the way, my name is Flora. What's yours?"

"I'm Katsuya. Katsuya Sakura." I introduced. "Um… if it's alright with you, may I stay here for a while? I don't have the money to pay for the inn and it wouldn't be safe for me to travel outside of the town without weapons." Flora seemed shocked by my request, but she simply nodded and smiled.

"Of course you can." Flora answered. "But when you do happen to leave, please come by every once in a while to visit. I haven't had company in quite a while." That's right… it had been a while since Emil and his parents had visited Luin, so it would only make sense that she hadn't had company for some time. I nodded.

"I will. If it's alright with you, I'd like to go into town and… restock on items and weapons, since you know; I got mugged by a bandit you know." I requested. Flora nodded.

"It's perfectly fine. I've placed a spare set of clothes on the desk, along with a small bag with some Gald." Flora explained. She stood up and left the room, and I headed over to the desk to examine the things Flora left me. There was a small bag, a wing pack, was it called? Eh, who cares? Inside was a bag of Gald, which would hopefully be enough to buy some weapons and another set of clothes, since I would probably have to set off with the main party eventually.

The set of clothes Flora gave me was a sleeve-less light blue dress with a darker blue trim, that had a ribbon tied in the back around the waist and ended above my knees, white leggings, and blue sandals. Guess Flora wasn't expecting a traveler to accidentally come crashing into her house. I shrugged as I finished changing and walked out of the room into the other room of the house, with had two beds and what looked like a kitchen like area. Flora noticed me when I came in and smiled at me.

"Oh good, they fit you. I was afraid that they were going to be either too small or big. You can also keep that other dress as well." Flora stated. I thanked her and headed out of the house and into the town.

Luin was a decent-sized town, with stone houses and roads. Looking to my left I could see a lake, which I smiled at. Next to the inn was a shop, which I headed into. The shop had basically everything a traveler would need; medicines, weapons, you name it. They also sold clothes, which I rummaged through the clothing racks, looking for an outfit suited for a journey of a life-time.

Eventually, I found an outfit that I took quite a shine to. A slate, long sleeve jacket with a collar at a point, a black short-sleeve shirt, black finger-less gloves, black shorts that went underneath a maroon-pink skirt, a white belt, black knee high socks, and pink boots with two buckle straps on them, kind of like Marta's. Looking through the weapons, I picked out a set of daggers that had black handles, were a bright yellow and had a darker, almost gold diamond in the middle. Along with the daggers, I picked out a bunch of throwing knives that looks like Tear's from Tales of the Abyss. Guess how many I bought? Eight. I kid you not. Three to put on my belt, two, along with garter belts to put around my legs right above my boots and the other three to go in my wing pack. I also bought a knife too, ya know, just for safety reasons.

After paying for my outfit and weapons with the Gald Flora had given me, I slipped the other outfit Flora had given me into my wing pack along with my daggers and three knives and attached the pack to my belt, along with the knife and three knives right beside it. Heading out of the shop, I walked around town for a bit before heading over to the plaza and stopped in front of the statue of Lloyd Irving.

Lloyd…

It's still hard to think that the main hero of the original Symphonia would attack the city of Palmacosta in a few days, as I think I showed up before the Blood Purge happened. Nevertheless, I placed my hands together and prayed.

"Lloyd the Great… Thank you for helping the Chosen of Regeneration on her journey to help regenerate the world…" I softly prayed, knowing what would happen. I could have sworn though, that out of the corner of my eye, I could have seen a speck of red. Ignoring that, I headed to the area of town with the inn and shop and headed out north, wanting to get some combat experience in before the day ended.

Hearing the sound of charging to my right, I turned to see a Rhinossus and two Filiofolia. The Rhinossus is a large, purple beast that resembles a rhino and a boar mixed together. The Filifolias are these small plant-like monsters, with a giant sprout and large leaves on top of their heads. I drew my daggers, crossing my arms in front of me and faced the incoming monsters.

'Shit… I don't know how to fight with these!' I realized as I jumped away from the charging Rhinossus. 'But… That's why I'm out here! I can't be relying on the others when I join with them! I won't hide or runaway when that time comes!' Landing, I ran over to the Filifolias, jumping towards one to plunge my daggers into its head. It shrieked even louder than when I first hit it as I drove the daggers deeper into the monster, before pulling them out; green sticky fluid dripping from the blades. I guessed it was nectar, as I know that it couldn't be green blood, being a plant monster and all.

As the one in front of me slumped over on its side, I felt something wrap around my ankles. Looking down, the other Filiofolia had wrapped its leafy lines of the top of its head around both of my ankles, causing me to fall onto my stomach.

"Damn, you're annoying!" I yelled turning and throwing the knives on my belt at it. The knives slashed through the vines around my ankles and hit the Filifolia's head. Standing up, I ran at the Filiofolia, driving one of my daggers into its head, killing it. Pulling out my dagger and the knives, I felt a heavy impact striking me from my right side, causing me to go flying to my left, rolling down five feet.

Pushing myself up, I threw one of my daggers at the Rhinossus, hitting its forehead. I charged at the Rhinossus, which was distracted as it shook its head trying to get the dagger out; I thrust my other dagger into its side, while grabbing the other dagger and driving it into the Rhinossus' forehead. I roughly yanked the other dagger out and jumped back, facing the Rhinossus. Not exactly the smartest idea at the time, as the Rhinossus charged at me, painfully tackling into my stomach with its tusks. I stumbled back up, resting an arm around my stomach and taking in a deep breath of air. As it ran at me, trying to tackle me again, I jumped out of the way and threw my knives at it, causing the Rhinossus to fall onto its left side. Not wasting anytime, I ran over to it and drove my daggers right down into its skull. Its cry was the loudest, but its head finally slumped down.

"Oh crap…" I muttered, looking at the dead corpses of the monsters; I felt like I would be sick. The game never showed any of this, not once, not ever. Every time an enemy died in a flash of light, but that wasn't the case here. Dead corpses, right in front of me… How the hell am I going to deal with this, considering all of the monsters I'll have to fight!? 'No…I can't be weak! Sure…I am scared as all hell, being in a world that's all too unfamiliar to me, but…' I shook my head.

'No… If I don't deal with this now then… How will I deal with it later…? I have to be strong! Not for anyone else but for my own sake! I will get home, no matter what!' I looked over myself, looking for injures, when I noticed a dark spot on my left leg. Damn, something must have cut it, probably either my daggers or knives from when the Rhinossus sent me flying and rolling.

Noticing a small pond a little bit away from where I was standing, I ran over to it and sat down nearby. Pulling off my boots, I rolled down my left sock to see a cut a little bit above my ankle. Reaching into my wing pack, I pulled out a few pieces of cloth that the shop manager had given me for my daggers and started to wipe away the blood coming out from my wound.

"O healing power… First Aid!"

"Huh!?" I did hear the incantation for First Aid, and I looked down at my leg; it was healed. How the hell…?

"Are you okay?" I heard from behind me.

"Yes. Where are you?…" I trailed off as I stood up and turned around. The person that stood before me was someone who I wasn't expecting to be near Luin until the game events started and who must have been the speck of red I saw back in Luin.

"Um… Where you the one that healed me?" I asked. The person nodded.

"Yes. Why are you out here, alone?" I looked down.

"I…I was out for some training…" I answered.

"..I see. Then, can you tell me your name?" The person asked.

"K-Katsuya Sakura." I replied. The person looked a little bit shocked, but just nodded.

"Very well then. Perhaps I will see you again." The person stated. They then turned away from me and walked away. I pulled by boots back on and cleaned the blood off my daggers and knives with the cloth I'd pulled out earlier. Placing my daggers back in my wing pack, and my knives in the sheaths on my belt, I headed back into town. Once back in town, I looked at the children playing around by the inn. I smiled.

'I'm not going to be weak, but I'm not going to act stronger than I really am. I'm only a civilian, I'm not chosen like Emil and Marta. As long as I act for my own sake, I'll find my way back home! And maybe…I'll find out who or what brought me here and why.'

I'm really looking forward to the next chapter, we get into the games' story! And we will find out who the person that healed Katsuya either next chapter or the one after that, so guess away!

Thanks to my beta reader IHaveNoIdea8~ She's been a big help to my fanfics and you should defiantly check out her Tales of the Abyss fanfic, which she has been working on for two years as of this chapter going up!~