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Disclaimer: If I owned Tales of Symphonia, Dirk would have gone with Lloyd and Genis and beaten up Desians during the burning of Iselia like he did in the OVA. (Let's face it, Dirk was freakin' awesome in the first episode.)
Chapter I: Caged
"Wake up, you scum!"
The cry had the desired effect. The human ranch prisoners jolted awake and scrambled like frightened mice to stand up and please their captors. Like a herd of docile sheep, they were lead out of their cells to be worked from dawn to dusk. It had always been like this. It would probably always be like this, forever and ever. Anna kept her head down, not looking at any of the Desian guards. She walked with the rest of her companions out of the main building and to the outside of the ranch. All around them was a twenty-foot tall electric fence, designed to keep all of the host bodies inside the ranch. The humans congregated in a large group in the center of the field, staring at the guards, awaiting their orders.
As it turned out, they would be set to pushing supply crates. Boxes of supplies came to the ranch on a weekly basis, and rather than having magi-technology machines do the work, the slaves had to shove and carry the crates to where they needed to be sent. It was hard and tedious work, but slack off or loose focus and the guards would punish the slaves. Sometimes they would even beat anyone within a certain radius of any slackers, just as a reminder.
Anna hefted a particularly heavy box, and tried to ignore her screaming muscles as a Desian told her where to go, indifferent to her discomfort. She staggered off with the too-large crate, hoping that she wouldn't drop the box. She did her work as quickly as she could. If she was good, then she might not get hurt. She thought about the strange Exsphere embedded into her left hand, like a hard little parasite. The lord of the ranch, Kvar, had called the little gem a 'special gift'. It meant that she was important somehow. She didn't know why, other than that she was now a part of something called the Angelus Project, the purpose of which she had not as of yet been able to discover.
Not that she was treated any differently from any of the other prisoners. She was still treated like scum, like a pack animal to bully. After an undetermined amount of time spent moving heavy crates, Anna broke away from the main body of humans and found a convenient place by the fence to sit and rest for a moment, without the guards immediately catching sight of her. She sat down on the dying grass and tried to catch her breath. She had been here for many years but still the work tired her out. She wasn't sure that she would be able to survive for much longer here.
She heard a whine to her right and she looked up. Something big and green was staring at her from the other side of the fence. One of its giant ears twitched and it tilted its head to one side, giving her a concerned look. It whined again.
Anna wasn't quite sure what it was (It looked a bit like a dog, but can dogs be that big? Or green?) but it seemed friendly enough. She carefully reached her arm through the wires of the fence to pat the dog on the head. "Hi there," she said, more cheerfully than she felt. It was around then that she saw past the dog's giant ears and noticed what looked like a pack strapped to its back. "You lost?" Anna asked the big green dog, "Is your owner looking for you?"
The answer came out of the underbrush, looking annoyed. "There you are." The auburn haired man growled at the dog, who looked upset, "Why'd you run off?" Then Kratos noticed Anna, and the fence separating the two. He looked up at the steel building of the ranch, and cursed his luck. He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be anywhere near a Desian human ranch, lest someone recognize him and ask why he was here.
"Um… is the green dog yours?" asked Anna, wondering what the strange man thought about being so close to a human ranch. She was so unused to seeing anyone from the outside, she wasn't quite sure what to say, other than 'shoo'.
"Yes, he is mine," confirmed the stranger, walking up to the dog and putting a hand on its neck, "And he shouldn't have run off like that," he growled at the 'dog'. He was apparently upset about his 'dog' running off, and by being so close to a human ranch. Noishe whined at the harsh tone in Kratos's voice.
"You should take him and go." Said Anna suddenly, "A Desian patrol might come by soon, and then they'd catch you and you'd be looking out at the world from this side of the fence."
Kratos didn't acknowledge Anna, but rather said to Noishe, "We need to go back."
Noishe, to Kratos's horror, hunkered down by Anna and stared back at the mercenary, his bug red tongue lolling. Anna giggled. "I think he likes me," she said, temporarily forgetting that she was a captive in a human ranch. She reached through the fence again and petted Noishe on the head. The protozoan panted happily – he seemed to be enjoying the attention.
Kratos frowned, "We don't have time for this Noishe. If you don't come back with me right now you won't have any supper tonight."
Noishe's ears drooped like flags in a dead wind, and he gave Kratos a look that could only be described as 'puppy eyes'. But he followed the seraph anyway, his head hung. Kratos walked away from the ranch without looking back. Anna watched them go, wishing she had asked for the man's name. It would have been reassuring, a reminder that there was a world beyond the fence.
"Hey, what are you doing there?"
Anna turned around to see two Desian whip masters, grinning down at her. "Slacking off are we?" asked one.
"N-no sir." stuttered Anna nervously, standing up, careful to look neither half-elf in the eye, "I-I was just-"
One of the Desians snorted, "Stop trying to make excuses A012," he sneered, "Lord Kvar has sent for you, so we can't have our fun until after that. You should be grateful, worm." The speaker grabbed her by the arm and leader roughly into the main building of the ranch. Anna was a little grateful that Kvar had called, she might be able to worm her way out of a beating that way, even if the Desian Cardinal did make her skin crawl.
Kratos's new clients were not impressed. They were a group of pilgrims who planned to travel from Hima to Luin, and so far were not pleased with the mercenary. They were huddled in a small forest clearing when Kratos returned.
"You said you would be able to control that animal!" said the lead pilgrim, when Kratos walked into the clearing, leading a depressed Noishe.
"Then I apologize for the lapse in control," said Kratos a little impatiently. He folded his arms across his chest and continued, "If you are unhappy my service, then I can return your payment and leave."
The lead pilgrim looked uncomfortable – he didn't want to travel in unfamiliar forests without an armed escort. "Fine," he said grudgingly, "You can stay." He walked away mumbling to himself.
Noishe whined, still depressed about leaving the lady behind at the ranch. "Stop moping," said Kratos, but quietly so only Noishe would be able to hear him, "I don't want her in the ranch either, but I can't go out of my way to help a complete stranger. Even if I wanted to, how would I smuggle her out of a secure building?" Noishe whined again, but this time Kratos ignored him. He felt a little guilty leaving that girl behind at the ranch. Regardless of how he felt about it, he still could not free her; he lacked the resources to help her, or any other human ranch prisoner on his own.
But he had run away from Cruxis because he objected to institutions like the human ranches…
Noishe was still depressed about leaving the ranch captive behind even hours after the event. His ears were still drooping, and did little else other than whine occasionally. Noishe was still moping when Kratos and his clients set up camp for the night after an uneventful day. Kratos sighed, as Noishe's mood was finally beginning to bother him.
"All right Noishe," he whispered to the sulking protozoan, "Once I've brought these people to Luin, I'll go back to the ranch and try to smuggle some food in for the prisoners, but that's it! Happy now?"
Noishe perked up.
Anna was terrified of Kvar, but she knew she couldn't retreat or recoil without some punishment. She never looked forward to the times when Kvar called for her to examine his prize Exsphere in the making. She jumped through all their hoops. She sat in their weird beeping machine, and let the Desians examine her Exsphere up close. For a very long time she did all she could to resist the Desians. She kicked and punched and bit and even swore at them when they tried to force her to do anything. But her insolence was met only with pain, and soon her willpower was whittled away, leaving behind an Anna who fearfully obeyed the Desian's commands, however much she wanted to resist in her heart.
At the end of the 'special session' came Kvar's own personal examination of the gem.
"Not much progress at all…" he muttered under his breath, as he held up Anna's hand to examine the purple jewel embedded in it. "Three years and almost no progress…" Kvar looked up at Anna. She had to suppress a shudder, "Don't you find it interesting that after all this time, your Exsphere has barely grown at all?"
Anna had learned by this time that Kvar expected some kind of answer. "No sir," she said in a quiet voice.
Kvar scowled, "You should," he snarled. Then he dropped Anna's hand as if he had just discovered that she was carrying a deadly virus. "Perhaps you are simply a poor host for my Exsphere. Regardless, if I do not see improvement soon, then I will no longer have any need of you." The Desian leader motioned to one of the guards to take Anna away. "Until next time," said Kvar, as he left the examination room.
Anna was lead away by two Desian guards. They guided her down the cold metal halls to the large prison area deep inside the ranch. The guard put her in the cell, locked the barred door behind her and left without a word. Anna walked over to a corner of the cell and sat down, wrapping her arms around her legs. She had wanted desperately to get back to her cell and see other humans while in the examination room; she felt a little safer when she was with other humans.
"Everything okay Anna?"
Anna looked up, and saw another prisoner, Evelyn sit down beside her. "You look awful," continued Evelyn, "Did they do anything to you?"
"It's nothing," said Anna dismissively, sounding more confident than she felt, "I just had to see Kvar again."
Evelyn scowled, "Someday, I'm going to punch him in the nose for you," she said, "I'll punch him for all of us." Evelyn made violent little punching motions in the air to demonstrate her intent.
"Just leave enough for me to take revenge on, okay?" said Anna, feeling a little better. She liked Evelyn, she always made Anna feel better. Evelyn had been imprisoned in the ranch only a month after Anna, and for the most part their sanity remained intact after their relatively short stay at the ranch because they kept each other company.
Anna huddled a little closer in her corner, before confiding in her friend, in a whisper so none of the other prisoners could hear, "I talked to someone from outside the ranch today."
Evelyn looked amazed, "You WHAT?" she yelled, excitedly. After noticing the glances she got from the others, she lowered her voice and said, "Who was it? What were they doing at the ranch?" her eyes lit up even more, "Did they come to free us?"
Anna hesitated, she didn't want to disappoint her friend, "I don't think so," she admitted, "His… dog had run up to the fence and he had come to take it back to wherever."
Evelyn grinned, "Oh… is was a man was it?" she said, like this was some big secret she and Anna shared, "What did you two talk about? Was he handsome?"
"Evelyn!" protested Anna, "All I did was tell him to go away before any guards show up and capture him! That's it! I didn't even get his name."
Evelyn pouted, "You have no romance in your soul," she muttered, "Not even a sense of adventure."
"Oh please Evelyn," said Anna "It was just a random thing. Nothing would have come of it even if I had talked to the guy more."
"Suuuuure," said Evelyn, clearly enjoying herself.
Anna sighed, "Evelyn, it was just some guy. It wasn't a big deal."
"Are you sure?" persisted Evelyn, who has spent many nights of her childhood reading romance novels by candlelight. "There wasn't any kind of special sensation when you looked into his eyes? Could you feel the touch of Destiny? Could you tell if you were soul mates?"
"Soul mates?" said Anna, aghast, "Evelyn, I met the guy today, and I only saw him for about a minute. Nothing is going to come of it. I'm probably never going to see him again anyway."
Evelyn winked, "Hey, you never know."
A/N: Evelyn CAN SEE THE FUTURE!
That's the problem of writing a story where everyone knows what's going to happen... you can't foreshadow properly.
Anyway, if you liked the chapter, (or even if you didn't) please press the special purple button and review.
