Wow. It's chapter seven. To tell the truth, I don't know what to say as an intro... Oh yes! Maybe a recap of that last chapter: Oh noes! Why is Pronyma in Flanoir?! Why is her hair falling out? What the hell is that gold frame thing she wears? The suspense is too much to handle!

I do not own Tales of Symphonia. If I did, Botta would have drowned in orange juice instead of water because it's tasty.


Chapter Seven:

Cold

The look of annoyance remained plastered on the angel's face. Yuan began mumbling under his breath while his head shot from side to side, obviously looking for something. Cerulean eyes scanned the area, looking everywhere but downward at his son.

"Da-Daddy?" croaked the shaken toddler as he tried to make sense of the situation. He looked up with worried icy blue eyes, pulling on Yuan's arm, trying to be acknowledged. He'd heard that name somewhere before, but was unable to place the connection at the moment; all the boy remembered is that his father wasn't too fond of the person mentioned.

"Damn it. Why the hell is she here?" mumbled Yuan, rubbing the strand of hair from his fingers as if it were diseased. Looking around, he scanned the area for any abnormalities in the snow and kept his senses at peak.

"Daddy!" Now the boy was becoming impatient with being ignored. His eyes filled with tears as his heartbeat increased by no less than double. He brought his free hand to his face, wiping away some streams before they dried up, leaving behind a white residue on his cheeks. The freezing Flanoir breeze gave an icy kiss to his cheeks and he rubbed them to regain normal body temperature.

"Genis, shut up!" Yuan snapped, yanking his arm which caused Genis to almost fall sideways. Shocked at such a harsh reply, Genis jumped and gasped; the tears flooded even faster. He whimpered, trying to quiet his pain, failing miserably. "I mean, be quiet," the Seraph corrected himself after seeing the toddler's negative reaction and patted him on his head. He put his index finger to lip horizontally, pressing his thumb against the bottom before moving it across his lips.

Biting his bottom lip, the boy nodded his comprehension and wiped the rebellious tears hanging from his eyelashes. He was still afraid but felt his father would protect him, just like he did when the toddler woke up screaming from nightmares. Daddy always came running down the hall, along with Uncle Botta and a few other Renegades who were still awake, slam the door open, turn on the brightest light, and run to his bedside while Botta and the Renegades checked for monsters under his bed, sometimes even in the closet by the toddler's request. Genis' room was on the far end of the Base, a lengthy walk from the Seraph's office compared to the room he had as an infant, but Yuan made the trip in record time, his wings being partially responsible.

Suddenly, Yuan's head shot to the side. Genis followed suit, but found himself squinting due to his eyesight being less than his father's. It didn't take long to conclude that someone else was in the area: someone Daddy didn't like. He didn't have long to contemplate before he felt his weight being dragged in the opposite direction. Yuan lead the way, walking in the direction of a large egg-shaped boulder that was three times the adolescent's height and more than twice his width, covered in a thin layer snow, and the toddler followed obediently, without a word of objection. He stepped behind it before motioning Genis to do the same and ordered him to sit in the snow. Genis complained that his butt would get cold.

"Stay here and be as quiet as possible." The Seraph tapped the boulder with his finger, aggravating the sleeping snow which layered the surface. A miniature avalanche rolled down the rock, revealing the gray face beneath. Some of the snow landed on Genis' boots and he shook his foot to knock it off before nodding.

Genis said nothing, but his eyes gave away his fright and his lips quivered. He set the bag of glitter down next to him, making sure it was completely concealed behind the boulder.

"I'll be back soon," Yuan said before dashing away, leaving the toddler in a spot he could only hope was safe from monsters. But monsters were the least of his worries; something else, something much more worrisome lurked in the area.

His lips twitched in irritation as he walked at a steady pace through the snow, still looking around. The only sounds he could hear were distant: tourist complaining about the price of penguinist gloves, carts moving around, the Church bells ringing the hour, all the sounds of Flanoir, along with the soft flutter of snow falling to the ground. He ran his tongue against his inner cheek, trying to think of a reason for her presence and considering the possibility of his disloyalty to Cruxis being known. Yggdrasill wasn't one to do anything unnecessary, but why would she be in...

"Oh. Lord Yuan." A familiar feminine voice interrupted his train of thought.

Yuan looked up to come face to face with the person he'd been searching for, standing about three feet from him. Aquamarine hair cascaded down her face, reaching just above her shoulders, with a gold band adorning the top of her head. Her exposed shoulders and thighs felt nothing against the chilly breezes; the expression on her face remained as devious as ever, currently plastered with a wide grin as if she had just made a joyous discovery.

"Wandering around?" scoffed the Seraph, folding his arms under his cape. Yuan's dysphoric face contrasted that of the Grand Cardinal's: cerulean eyes slotted and nostrils flared like he were preparing to blow smoke from his nose.

"Of course not, My Lord. I did not expect to see you here," Pronyma replied and stepped closer; her gold frame came into view with each step she took.

"But why are you here, Pronyma?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"I am here on a mission by order of Lord Yggdrasill."

"What kind of mission?"

Pronyma shook her head. "That information is classified. If you wish to know, you'll have to ask Lord Yggdrasill directly."

"I bet this has something to do with the Oracle," the half elf pondered to himself, looking at the ground as if a clue lay somewhere in the snowfall. "Fine. Do as you please." Waving her off, he prepared to turn around and walk away.

"Ah, Lord Yuan," sang Pronyma, with her index finger in the air. Yuan stopped in his tracks and returned his attention to her; something in her voice sounded mischievous.

"What is it?"

"I was also informed to alert Lord Yggdrasill if I saw you on Sylvarant or Tethe'alla." She held a communicator in her hand, running it through her fingers until her thumb hovered on top of a large button. "He's summoning you to Derris Kharlan."

The wind increased, blowing the flakes in a diagonal direction. Layers of snow began to cluster on his cape and hair, as well as Pronyma's, covering the two in a blanket of pure white. Visibility reduced drastically, even with the added support afforded from his Cruxis Crystal.

A glint of fear shot through his eyes. "Why?"

"I've no idea," she replied with a carefree shrug. Even if she did know, her tone of voice suggested she probably wouldn't have confessed anyway, leaving Yuan in the cold. "By the sound of his voice, I'm guessing it's rather urgent."

He figured it had something to do with Martel if it was truly "urgent," as Pronyma claimed it to be. Mithos was indeed obsessed with the deceased Goddess, doing everything in his power to resurrect her, at the cost of an infinite amount of lives, despite the protests of his companions. That's the only reason he would bother to track the Seraph down across the two worlds. But the Oracle was at least a few years off; Sylvarant's Chosen was not of age yet. What more was there to discuss?

Yuan stopped pondering, trying to keep his mind free from suspicions and anger as those emotions tended to cloud his judgment. "I'll leave now then." Turning around, he summoned his wings and fluttered them about to emphasize his intention of departure.

"Have a safe trip, Lord Yuan," Pronyma said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

He ignored it and took to the skies with a leap, knocking some of the snow from his clothing and cerulean locks, not giving a single glance back or a reply. The weather did a nice job of concealing his flight, elevating from single snowflakes to what seemed like sheets of frozen water hurling at the ground as the winds continued to howl. He stopped in midair after flying for a few moments and turned his head around, silently hoping Pronyma was not ignorant enough follow him. He dropped his gaze to the lands below, searching for silver locks or a brown paper bag in the area he believed his son to be, anything that would give away the toddler's location. The snowy conditions started to work against him; thoughts of the boy being attacked by a harpy, collapsed, or even unconscious, all alone filled his mind and he grunted in an attempt to shake them off. He'd barely been gone for ten minutes; why was he feeling so restive all of a sudden?

After searching for what felt like an eternity, even to someone who was above the effects of time, Yuan began to grow worried. He had half a mind to call out the boy's name, but the option was voted against: what if Pronyma heard him while she still roaming the area? Running out of alternatives and growing more and more uneasy with each passing moment, the angel revealed his arms from his cape and extended them on either side before going into a dive, fighting the icy tingle of snow against his cheeks. He retracted his wings a bit early, causing him to come to a running stop.

"Genis?" Yuan called in a low voice, only to have silence reply. He walked around every boulder he could spot, in hopes of finding the toddler behind one of them. The snowfall had filled in his old footprints, leaving him with nothing to follow; no landmarks. The first few inspections came up dry.

"GENIS!" bellowed the half elf with his hands balled into fists; his fears got the best of him. Still, he heard no signs of another's presence, and the wind whipped his cerulean hair around as if weightless.

He couldn't find his son.

Chewing his bottom lip, he went into his pouch and fiddled around before pulling out a small communicator of his own. A flip of the switch turned it on; lights flashed as the screen indicated the signal strength which was surprisingly strong. He played with the controls for a few moments, trying to lessen the static.

"Botta. Botta, come in. It's Yuan."

Squeals and more static played on the speaker until his subordinate's voice came, much to his relief. "I'm here, Sir. Is there a problem?"

"Unfortunately, yes," confessed the Seraph; his voice still low in case someone were eavesdropping. "Ran into Pronyma in Flanoir."

"Sounds bad. What did she want?"

"She wouldn't tell me; said it was classified. But that's not why I'm calling. I had to hide Genis while speaking with Pronyma, and now I can't find him."

"Where could he have gone?!" exclaimed Botta.

"I have no idea nor do I have the time to look. Yggdrasill is summoning me to Cruxis. I need you to come here and look for him so he can return home safely," Yuan replied, moving the communicator closer to his mouth.

"In what area?"

"Near the Temple of Ice. And watch out for Pronyma; she might still be here."

"Understood. I'm on my way."

"...Botta."

"Yes, Sir?"

"Please find him," he pleaded with his eyes closed. "Please find my son. Alive."

"Don't worry. I wouldn't come back empty handed," Botta promised. "I swear it."

- - - - - - -

Raine's eyes opened when she heard the door, somewhat annoyed with having her afternoon nap interrupted. She half expected it to be lunch, but remembered her morning of unsuccessful testing with Janet which hadn't gone so well, figuring if it were any food at all, it would have been delivered without permission. As she wiped her eyes, her vision adjusted to the sudden stream of light that consumed the darkness at a slow pace and she tried to make out the face of her visitor.

"Wake up, half elf," a gruff voice commanded. Moving his hand across the nearest wall, he flipped a switch and turned on main light which flickered before illuminating the room with a dominate white glow with strength to rival the sun.

"Ugh!" exclaimed the girl as the sudden shock hit her eyes. Raine sat up from her sleeping position, leaning her back against the bars and brought her knees to her chest. Laying her forehead on top the kneecaps, she attempted to drown out the bothersome light. "What now? I didn't do anything."

"I said wake up. I never gave you permission to speak." The visitor, dressed in a standard white laboratory coat, stepped into the room and walked over to Raine's cage. Squatting, his fingers curled around the rusty bars while his eyes inspected the inside for something only he knew. The half elf looked up and kept a suspicious glare on her face; eyes glued to the unwelcome visitant while she silently reminded him of his crime by invading her small, yet personal space. He ignored her, continuing his examination, even reaching into the cage at one point.

Before Raine could kick his arm to protest, another person walked into the room. To her relief, it was Jeremy; unfortunately, his hands were empty and his distressed face denoted a sense of unhappiness, or was it fear?

"Sorry to wake you, Raine," he apologized as he stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

"What did I do?" she asked. By this time, she was confused as well as, to some degree, frightened. This time of day was about the only "free time" the girl was allowed, the only part of the day both she and the researchers considered sacred, partially due to the fact that most human employees were on break and the half elven ones were busying themselves in remedial tasks, such as fetching lunches; not even night time was safe. It wouldn't be interrupted without reason, usually for punishment. Janet wasn't known for giving Raine rewards besides correction.

"Nothing. You haven't done anything wrong," Jeremy reassured, shaking his head with a soft sigh.

"Then why-"

"I'll explain on the way, okay?"

"... the way?" responded Raine, only becoming more curious and fearful of his words.

"You're going on a little trip," the other human researcher said.

It was somewhat of a relief to get out, but the fright didn't subside. Her cage door was opened and she was ordered to step out, a command the half elf submissively obeyed with hopes of the destination being revealed. Her hands were bound with thick, magitechnology shackles, as if she could actually pose a threat to them. Raine looked into Corrine's cage, which was empty. For some time now, the summon spirit had been spending his days with some girl the half elf knew nothing about. Corrine seemed to like her company, finding it an escape from the Academy's experiments, and would spend hours of the day, babbling off about his "adventures with Sheena." Their time together only seemed to get longer; at first, Corrine was gone for a few hours, then it became days, and then he'd disappear for weeks at a time. Raine felt lonely, having only the dead silence and dark abyss as her faithful companions, but felt selfish for doing so. She swallowed her feelings and somehow found the strength to endure, but there's only so much a person can handle without losing hope.

From there, the three were lead down the hallway, passing the experimental rooms, extra cages, mysterious liquids, and some other sections of the Academy she knew all too well. Every so often, she'd try to catch eye contact with Jeremy, who would only reply by shaking his head and sighing. After a while, she gave up and continued what seemed like an endless trip down the hallways of the prison she called home.

But Raine's eyes went wide and her face went somewhat pale when they reached the stairwell. Years had passed since she'd even laid eyes on the railing, back when she was unrighteously stolen from her family and thrown into the darkness, somewhere deep in the basement. Bad memories could have easily consumed her had her mind not been so clouded with disarray, and she turned to the men once more in a final attempt to get information.

"...we're going up the stairs?" She could no longer contain herself; the words flooded from her lips as even the thought of leaving the Academy was rather farfetched.

Jeremy nodded. "Yes."

"A-all three of us? We're all going up the stairs?"

He chuckled, nodding with more enthusiasm the second time. "Yes, we're all going up the stairs. And leaving."

Raine stood there for a moment, completely dumbfounded with her mouth wide open as she fought to contain the new chaos rushing through her mind. She reached out to touch the railing, bringing her hand back with hesitation before she'd even gotten half way. Swallowing and straightening her face, she extended her arm to try once more, but the sudden presence of another stopped her.

"The half elf is ready. Good. Things seem to be going smoothly." Janet appeared, along with the monotone clicking of her heels, and stood next to the human researcher, clipboard in hand. She shifted the papers with lightning fast speeds and wrote down some notes. "I'd expect nothing less from one of my experiments," added the mistress as she looked straight at Raine.

She said nothing, tilting her head at an angle, closing her eyes, and turned away from the mistress.

"Are we ready to leave?" asked the unnamed researcher.

Janet nodded. "Yes. The Cardinal Knights are here to escort. Make sure those shackles are on tight, and her collar isn't cracked. Oh, and don't forget the blindfold."

The girl's eyes popped open. Cardinal Knights? Blindfold? She wouldn't even get to see anything during the trip? She growled under her breath, reminding herself that she should have expected nothing less from them, and they didn't have the decency to explain.

As commanded, he reached into his pocket, pulling out a white piece of cloth. He stepped closer, adjusting the front against her eyes, matting down her rebellious silver locks, and tightened it just above the back of her skull. The blindfold had little to no slack; within moments, she could feel herself developing a migraine and every inch of her vision was enshrouded in darkness.

"Alright, we're ready. Take her upstairs. We don't want to keep the king waiting."

- - - - - - -

Flanoir just got a little bit colder for Genis, and it was not due to the dropping temperatures. He knew Daddy told him to stay put, but Daddy had been gone for so long, even if he lacked any way of measuring time besides the sun which was covered by a congregation of thick clouds; the boy grew worried, thinking the worse had happened. His steps were heavy, trekking through the snow that reached well to his waist as he shielded his face against snowflakes. He still gripped his bag of glitters in his free hand, finding himself unable to part with them, though he grew weary with every step. The tips of his fingers were red and felt like his blood had frozen solid.

Silver locks drooped down, soggy and drenched with melted snow, and icy blue eyes strained to see through the fierce weather; everything was a blur. His head was pounding with a migraine that made it impossible to think straight and the air was too thin to breathe. Unable to catch his breath, he dropped to his knees, and soon after, his face hit the snow. The bag, ripped in several places from water damage, broke apart, spilling all of its contents across the pure white lands. The icy chill was unbearable, tingling across his forehead, nose, cheeks, and chin, but he found himself incapable of moving. Fatigue flushed over his body as he fought the urge to fall into a deep, fatal sleep, and his body sank deeper into the snow.

"Daddy... I know you'll come for me. Please... I-I'm so cold... come find me... soon...please.."

And the boy closed his eyes.


Oh noes! Another cliffhanger! I are the meanie head. -evil grin- Those last two sentences with Genis almost made me cry. Sorry this chapter took so long, but that's due to my ISP being wack, college, and me procrastinating on updating Tales of the Aftermath XD Think I got three pages on it or so. And once Angelic is finished, I'll have more time before my first ever collab with Spiritua Masquerade starts! Omgtheexcitementiskillingme! -rolls around on floor and is put into straight jacket- It'll be awesome; look forward to it. Anything by her rocks.

So, what'll happen to Yuan? Will Botta find Genis? Where's Raine going?! So many questions, so little time, and only two people know the answers! 'Til next chapter, TOOTLES. ♥