Evil's Edge

Chapter 3: Gates of Hell

By The Sapphire Hedgehog

Three chapters down so far! Anyway, you know the usual disclaimer, but just in case you don't, here it is again. I do not own tales of Symphonia or any of the characters contained within it. They are all property of Namco. Lucky jerks.

"Where the blazes is it!" Fumed Sheena, the local ninja of the group.

"How hard can it be to find the Summon Spirit of Earth!"

Lloyd grabbed Sheena's shoulder to tell her to calm down when, at the feeling of the touch, Sheena spun around with red eyes and fangs. A sweat drop appeared on Lloyd's head and he proceeded to feel very small.

"Don't worry, Sheena! I'm sure we'll find him soon!" Collette's cheerful voice piped up.

Sheena relaxed a bit. She didn't know why, but Collette's presence always seemed to calm her down. Maybe it was because she was an angel. But all she knew was that after they had come to terms with each other after her trying to assassinate Collette, their presence soothed one another.

"I'm sure you're right, Collette. It's just that we've been searching these ruins for the last two days, and we still have no clue where to find Gnome." Sheena fell on the ground in frustration, causing it to crack slightly.

Lloyd's eyes widened and he leapt toward Sheena with a cry of ,"Look out!" just as the ground fell from underneath her and her along with it. Lloyd managed to grab her arm, barely making it by leaping off the edge and holding on with one hand. After the adrenaline rush wore off, Lloyd looked down at her.

"You ok?"

He asked with worry in his voice. Sheena nodded an affirmative yes numbly, realizing how close she had come to dying. Overhead, Collette began to panic.

"What should I do!"

"Collette! Go get the others!" Lloyd shouted through gritted teeth. "And hurry!"

"Get the others! Right! Hold on Lloyd!" Collette ran off to get the others, who were having supper not to far away. She came running into them with a cry of, "Lloyd and Sheena are in trouble!

Dinner was immediately forgotten.

Kratos hurriedly got to his feet and strode over to Collette. He grabbed her shoulders and said very calmly, "Calm down Collette. Now where are they?"

A teary-eyed Collette pointed down the passageway she came from. Kratos ran down the passage without so much as an extra thought to the dangers of the cave. The rest were quick to follow. Kratos soon arrived at the scene of the accident and immediately grabbed Lloyd's forearm to try and hoist the two up, but didn't have the strength to do so. Regal stepped up behind him and said quietly, "Step aside." Kratos did so, and Regal bent down and grasped Lloyd's arm and easily pulled the two to safety.

"Gah! Thanks Regal…" Lloyd noticed a worried look on Sheena's face as she stared down into the darkness of the bit. He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok. We're safe now." He said, trying to comfort her.

"No, it's not that." She looked up at him and he could see the tears on her face. "Corrine's Bell fell down there! We have to get it, Lloyd!"

Lloyd solemnly nodded. He knew how much Corrine had meant to Sheena, and when he had jumped into the path of Volt's lightning, Sheena hadn't been the same for weeks. He turned to the others and said, "We're going down, guys. Anyone have a rope?" Almost simultaneously, everyone reached into their packs and pulled out climbing rope. Another sweat drop.

"How come everyone but me has rope!"

"Because you didn't prepare when we left Meltokio, Lloyd. It was on the list Raine gave us." Genis piped up.

Lloyd sighed, but began to tie the ropes together and lash them to a nearby stalagmite. He tied it around his waist and descended into the darkness. When he was down all the way, he untied himself and gave the rope a sharp tug. It was hauled up and Sheena came down. This process repeated until everyone had come down the rope.

"Alright, first things first," Said Lloyd to the group, taking a lead of authority, "We need to split up into two teams to search for that bell. Me, Sheena, Collette, and Presea will go this way," He said pointing down one path. "Regal, Raine, Kratos and Genis will go the other way. "We'll meet up in one hour."

"Be careful Lloyd." Kratos warned him.

"Don't worry, I will."

They went their separate ways, and it didn't take long before Lloyd spotted a glimpse of something shining up ahead.

"Sheena immediately ran forward without so much as a second thought, but froze in terror when she saw where the bell was.

Stuck in the scales of the biggest Dragon Lloyd had ever seen.

Everyone drew their weapons and Sheena said, "This one's for you, Corinne."

Presea started off the battle with an immediate Devastation attack, knocking the beat into the air where Lloyd was attacking it with Heavy Tiger Fang. While it was dazed, Collette and Sheena attacked simultaneously with Judgment and Demon Seal. Lloyd jumped at it and finished it off with Demonic Circle.

"Llolyd was just about to say something when he felt a strange vibration. He reached into his breast pocket and removed the Nebilim Key from his pocket. It was vibrating and pulling Lloyd into the Dragon's Den area.

There it was. The third Black Box. Lloyd hurriedly opened it and pulled out the mysterious deck of cards. They were off-white, coffin shaped, and had a picture of a gnarled, twisted feather on them.

"The Gates of Hell." Intoned Presea.

Three down, six more to go.