Symphonic Hearts
Time and Time Again
Rated; T for violence, blood, swearing, and Zelos~
Pairings; Sheloyd, Zellete, Genis/Presea
Disclaimer; HA. Not mine, not mine, yet again, not mine.
Warning: Canon timeline -BAM- out the window
AN; I...don't have a lot to say, today.
Chapter 1
The Favor
A good conversation is like a skirt, short enough to keep your interest, yet long enough to cover the subject.
~Zelos Wilder, Tale of Symphonia
Aileena Karson was not having a good day.
This could be attributed to the fact that she had been humiliated rather spectacularly in the lunch room, tripped and fell down a few stairs, and then falling straight on top of the boy she had a rather heavy crush on. While still covered in half eaten mashed potatoes.
Like I said, a very unhappy day.
The teenager cursed violently as she wrung out her dark hair. Her best friend, Miranda, was fretting behind her, "Are you okay, Aileena?" Said girl shot her friend a dirty look through the mirror, "Oh, no, I'm fine. I just embarrassed myself in front of the guy I liked, committed social suicide, and possibly sprained or broke my ankle is all." The strawberry blond flinched. Aileena sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap."
"…I'm sorry for asking a silly question. Look, I'm going to go get a nurse to check your ankle okay? Don't go anywhere!"
"And where would I go, pray tell?" She muttered under her breath as Miranda rushed out of the bathroom. Really, the other girl was her best friend and very important to her, but sometimes she just did moronic things.
Miranda, she reflected, was her opposite in every way. She was social, bright, and cheery. Everyone's favorite. Aileena, on the other hand, preferred to be alone and had a horrible tendency to be sarcastic. She dressed in what she felt was comfortable while Miranda dressed fashionably. Even their hair and eyes were contrasts, Aileena's dark hair and gray-blue eyes to the other's blond and hazel eyes. Of course, out of the two Aileena always ended up with the better grades, despite the fact that she never, ever studied.
Whatever the case, though, Miranda had been her friend since elementary. And unlike some people in this world, she was not about to abandon her.
The young woman wrung the rest of her waterlogged hair before stepped back. She was currently wearing her gym uniform as her actual clothes were still soaking in the water in the sink. Aileena's eyes flicked down to her ankle, which was in considerable pain and appeared rather red and swollen. She sighed, "Damn, it probably is sprained, at least." Aileena shook her head and looked back up at the mirror.
And stared.
Huffing and puffing behind her was a red bird, about the size of her head, clutching her backpack in its peak. It stopped still when it realized she was watching it. Aileena narrowed her eyes. Red panicked and flapped away. To her surprise, the tiny bird was actually rather fast, even when carrying her thirty to forty pound bag. Aileena spun around and ran after it, flinching badly every time her injured left ankle hit the ground.
She barely even noticed when her chase of the red creature took them out the back doors of the school and into the neighborhood. In fact, Aileena didn't notice much besides her pain and utter rage at this stupid effing bird, how dare it take my bag!
The dark haired girl was panting by the time Red decided to drop the bag to the ground and flutter away. Angrily, she shook and fist at the parting bird. Aileena then collapsed, grasping her ankle tightly. Pain sung through her veins and pulsed through her bones as she shut her eyes tightly. Damn, it hurts. If it hadn't been broken before, it most likely was now, with all the running she had been doing without heed. And seeing as she was in the middle of the forest with a badly hurt ankle and a dead cellphone…
Wait.
Middle of a Forest?!
Aileena's head snapped back up as she stared blankly at the green canopy. She then proceeded to swear loudly and fiercely, cursing all the fates for such a bad day. It wasn't until then that she heard the rustling of leaves. Aileena's mouth snapped closed and she screwed her eyes shut. Oh, CRAP, she thought, I'm so screwed! Oh god, oh god, oh god...
The rustling grew louder until she could hear individual footsteps(just one pair) and suddenly stopped. She slowly peeked one eye open…
Only to be met with the face of a young blond boy. He blinked forest green eyes at her and then gave her a small grin, "What're you doing way out here?" Aileena stare turned into a glare, "I could ask the same of you, ya weirdo!" "I heard someone swearing up a storm and decided to see who it was. And who do I find but a teenager with a broken ankle who is stranded in the middle of no where?" The 15 year old glared in anger. How dare he insult her?! Even if it was true….
"Whatever. Does it freaking matter?"
"I'd think it does."
"Well, it's a good thing I don't give a damn about what you think."
"Why'd you ask then?"
"…Shut up."
The boy laughed, "Even so, would you at least tell me your name?" "Give me your name and I shall give you mine!" Aileena snarled. For some reason this caused the green-eyed boy laugh loud and long. The dark haired girl continued to glare until he stopped laughing.
"I-I'm sorry, but that just reminded me of an old friend."
Aileena scoffed, "Right. Well? Name!"
"Ah, you were serious?" He blinked, "Its Emil."
The teenager crossed her arms, "No last name? Fine. My name is Aileena." "Aw," He smiled softly, "No last name either?" "You didn't give me yours!" She huffed, "So I'm justified." Emil laughed again, "Okay. So, what were you doing out here anyway?" Aileena blushed a little, but kept trying to keep her scowl up, "You probably won't believe me."
"Oh, I don't know, I've seen some strange things."
"…Fine. A small red bird stole my bag and I chased it here."
Emil raised an eyebrow, "Did you hurt your ankle on the way here then?" "No," Aileena's scowl changed to a simple frown, "I've just had a very bad day." The blond tipped his head to the side, "Oh? Well, what if I could make it better?"
"…How so?"
"I know someone who can fix your ankle."
Aileena stared him in the eye, "Seriously?" "Yup!" He said cheerfully, "But there no way you can get to her with you like that…Oh! I know. You can ride on my back!" The 15 year old stared at the green eyed boy, whom had clapped rather happily at the thought. "...Is there any other way?"
"Nope!"
"…Don't pop your 'p's, please," The girl sighed, "Alright. Let's just get this other with." Emil helped her onto his back. With some help from Aileena, he gathered up her bag and set off.
"So, why are you in a gym uniform? Were you gym or something?"
"No. My normal clothes are covered in half eaten mashed potatoes."
"…Huh? Why?"
"Because the people in my school are utter assholes is why."
"Um…okay then."
"Ha. You lost your composure."
"I don't know what you mean…"
"…"
"…"
"(Kind of naïve, aren't you, Emil?)"
Aileena was counting the seconds in her head. She was doing this for one thing and one thing alone: To time how long she would be on this guy's back! Though, she mused, he wasn't as girly as she thought, as the arms that gripped her had actual muscle. Emil was just lean, not weak.
The two traveled on in relative silence up until the point they heard a female voice calling for the blond. Aileena blinked. Part of her had been wondering if Emil had been lying, but perhaps not. After all, he had implied that the healer he knew was a woman. The older(or was he younger then her? She didn't know) paused and then set her down on the ground, placing her bag down next to her. "Hey! Martel!" He called out.
Martel? How odd…for some reason the name was vaguely familiar to the young woman, though she couldn't place where from. "Emil! Is that you?" replied the distant voice. "Yeah! Could you open the gate?"
"Of course!"
There was a flash of light that made Aileena cover her eyes. The heck was that? She wondered. As the dark haired girl slowly opened her eyes, she snapped at Emil, "Could've had a bit of warning, you know." Emil, though she couldn't see, winced a bit, "Sorry. I forget that sometimes happens. Though…Come on. Martel can fix your ankle right up."
Aileena felt he body jostle a bit as she was picked back up by the blond. She noted weakly that her eye sight was a little blurry, though it was beginning to clear up. Of course, seeing as all there was, was a blur of green, yellow, and brown, she didn't care too much. Just more trees, after all.
"Oh dear!"
"Hey, Martel. Er, this is Aileena. She got lost in the forest and her ankle is hurt so…."
Wait.
Did he just introduce her? Without her permission? AND implied that she was a moron? Oh, its on.
"Oi! Girly!" The teenager growled, "Don't go telling my name to people before they give me theirs! And who are you saying got lost?! I wasn't lost! I just followed that stupid, evil, thieving bird!" Emil winced lightly as Aileena tugged on his hair. "Hey, hey. I wasn't saying that, okay? I'm sorry if it sounded like that."
SMACK.
"OW!"
"Stop saying sorry!"
Martel laughed, "My, you're very lively. My name is Martel Yggdrasil. It's a pleasure to meet you." The dark haired girl crossed her arms, "…I'm Aileena Karson. Don't forget it!" The green(Wait, green?!) haired woman smiled warmly, "I promise I won't. Now, what seems to be the problem, exactly?" Emil slowly dropped Aileena to the ground so the woman could get a look at her ankle. "I think it could be broken. At this point, it's a least sprained."
She gave a light hum as she prodded the younger woman's ankle, "Yes, it does seems that way…Oh! I think I've found the problem. It seems there's a hairline fracture in one of your bones. I can take care of it…but, perhaps not yet. We need to get some of the swelling down. Emil? Can you get me some ice?" The blond nodded quickly before running off to find said item.
Aileena stared at Martel's face for some time before finally asking a bit of a rude question; "Why are your clothes so weird? And your hair green?" But despite the fact that one would normally be rather insulted, Martel smiled. "My hair is green naturally. And these clothes? They were a gift from an old friend. I couldn't just turn him down, you see." The other female frowned for a bit before opening her mouth to question the elder some more, but was interrupted by a returning Emil.
"Found the ice!" He called, passing the bag to Martel. Said woman smiled gratefully at the blond and placed the chilled bag against Aileena's ankle. She hissed softly as pain flashed up her leg. "Damn," she muttered, "That hurts." Martel gave her sympathetic look before turning to Emil, "Where is your…brother?" The green-eyed male blinked, "Huh? Well, last I checked he was just fine…He was picking up the last shipment. Why?"
"…I see. I'm worried that something may have happened to him."
Emil gave her a startled look before frowning, "I'll go and call him and find out if there's anything wrong. I'll be back." The blond boy hurried away again as Aileena shot them both a curious and slightly concerned look. "What's going on?" She questioned, "And Emil has a brother?" The green haired woman nodded, her long hair swaying slightly in the quiet breeze.
Of course, the younger was slightly miffed at the fact that Martel had not answered her first question.
Martel then took to examining her injured ankle periodically for what seemed like forever until Emil returned. He looked concerned and very worried, "I can't reach him, no matter how hard I try." The green haired woman's head snapped up the meet Emil's eyes. She bit her lip, "That should be impossible…Oh! The swellings gone down enough now." Aileena blinked somewhat from Martel's uick change of subject.
She watched as the elder placed her hand over the injured limb, "This'll hurt a bit, Aileena, so bear with me." Her hand clamped down and the dark haired teenager screwed up her face, hissing in pain.
Martel used 'First Aid'!
Aileena's eyes were shut tightly, so she did not notice the flash of light from Martel's hand, though she did notice the murmured words that sounded vaguely like 'First Aid.' It was only a couple of after this that the younger girl noted that the pain was gone. Completely gone. She opened her eyes and stared at her now totally healed ankle. "How the hell did you do that?!"
"Trade Secret, heh-heh."
"Right."
Martel giggled again before straightening up. Aileena, with the help of Emil, stood up as well. "So…Now that that's done, I've got another question for you. Have we ever met before? You're really familiar." The elder shook her head, "I'm sorry. I'm very certain I would remember meeting someone as spirited as you." "I see," Aileena sighed lightly.
"Actually," Martel gave her a serious look, "Could you help me?"
"…I don't understand."
"Well, I need your help for something. Will you help me?"
The younger woman shifted from foot to foot, "I suppose…" Before Aileena could ask what she wanted, the elder woman's eyes lit up and she raised both hands, "Thank you! I promise, you'll be fine." As a strange circle flashed around them, the dark-haired teen's eyes went wide. "Wait!" She called, "What's going on?!"
Emil sent her a guilty look, "Sorry for heaping all of these on you…But you're the only one who can do this." "What?" She hissed, "Do what?!" Martel was murmuring something in a language that Aileena had never heard before in her entire life. She tried to move—But she was frozen to the spot.
"We need you to do this, Ailee…Or the world is doomed."
"Wha—Ailee? Is that supposed to be a nickname?! We only just met—Oh, crap!"
The circle around her flashed once, twice, three times before she was greeted with darkness….
Chapter 1
End
"Are you sure this was a good idea?"
"If we don't send Aileena back...It will cause a time paradox…One that could destroy more then just our world."
"Ah."
"Now, I believe 'I' should explain to her what has happened…"
Aileena is Level 2!
Aileena gained title 'Sarcastic Teenager!'
-Don't you know? All teenagers have to be sarcastic.
Learned arte 'Rapid Winds!'
Aileena Karson
Earth, Human(?)
A 15 year old anti social girl who has a hard time accepting things out of her control. Very Sarcastic.
Emil
Earth, Human(?)
A blond boy that helped Aileena in the unknown Forest. Aided MARTEL in her strange ritual.
Martel Yggdrasil
Earth, Human(?)
A young, green-haired woman with the strange ability to heal even broken bones in less then a minute. Performed a strange ritual or spell that enveloped AILEENA in light.