Holy Spork: I have a completely legitimate excuse for not updating in a month! I swear!

Young Kratos: Don't ask what it is or she'll never stop babbling about it! (-mutters 'I've heard more than enough about her school play to last a lifetime.' to himself-)

Spork: This chapter isn't one of my best, because life's been busy recently. So if this chapter seems like it's been written by someone who is suffering from sleep deprivation, hasn't eaten anything other than chips, pizza, and soda for three weeks, and whose body is now composed of five percent splinters... there you go.

Kratos: Tales of Symphonia and its characters, locations, and plot line are property of Bandai-Namco, not Holy Spork.


Chapter VIII: Long Chain Of Events

Colette and Genis were waiting by the gate to the Iselia forest. Noishe was lying on the ground a few feet away from them, his eyes closed, taking a nap. Genis and Colette didn't have to wait long for Lloyd and Kratos to return. The angel and the half-elf's heightened hearing quickly picked up the approaching boys' voices, though it took them a moment to realize that the other two were… quarreling.

"For the last time, I am not afraid of dogs!"

"But you were really nervous around Noishe!"

"That's because he jumped on me and almost bit my head off!"

"C'mon, just admit it, you have caninephobia."

"That's not a word Lloyd."

"Well, it should be!"

"Idiot."

"Hey!"

Before the situation could degenerate any further, Lloyd and young Kratos emerged from the woods, glaring at each other.

"Did you have fun?" asked Colette with a cheerful smile.

The two other teens looked up. "Yeah," said Kratos shrugging, "It was okay."

This seemed to exhaust that particular conversation topic. Then Colette said, "It's past lunch-time, so does anyone want food? "

"HELL YEAH!" cheered Lloyd and Kratos at the same time. Then they glared at one another again.

"Don't copy me!" they snarled at one another.

"It's scary how alike they are…" muttered Genis.

"It just means they're good friends!" chirped Colette, as the two 'good friends' progressed from growling to shouting at each other.


Lunch would have been relatively uneventful if Raine not decided to cook it. So the group of unfortunates was forced to consume charcoal and unmentionable green wobbly things. Kratos had commented on the latter, earning a stinging slap from the schoolteacher. After that he ate the unidentifiable stuff without spoken complaint.

Afterwards, young Kratos became fidgety, tired of the silence that was quickly becoming a vacuum. "Um…" Kratos searched desperately for a conversation topic, to at the very least get his mind away from the mysterious substances he had just consumed, "…Are you all from around here? Iselia, I mean."

"All of us grew up here," said Genis, trying to take his mind away from Raine's cooking as well, "Lloyd lived with Dirk, Colette with her family, and Raine and I lived in our house… until it burned down."

"It burned down? What happened?"

"Well," mumbled the half-elf, "The Desians came and burned most of Iselia down."

Kratos blinked, "Desians?" he asked, "Who are they? Why'd they want to burn the town down?"

The locals stared at Kratos, who was still waiting for an explanation. Then Kratos frowned, annoyed that everyone else was still staring at him as if he was an idiot, "Why don't we pretend for a minute that I'm from the past, and that I have no idea what the Desians are?" Said the boy with a certain amount of sarcasm.

"The Desians were an organization consisting mostly of half-elves," explained Raine, though her voice wavered a little at 'half-elves', "Their purpose was to create Exspheres and to awaken the Chosen's Cruxis Crystal by putting her life in jeopardy."

Kratos looked blank. "Um… Exspheres are these little gems that awaken people's dormant powers," explained Lloyd, "The Chosen – Colette was once the Chosen – was supposed to save the world by breaking all the seals, and – " Lloyd stopped when Kratos looked even more confused.

"The world used to be split into two different worlds," said Lloyd, deciding to try again, "The worlds were called Tethe'alla and Sylvarant…"

So Lloyd and the others told Kratos about what had happened since the end of the Kharlan War, explaining how the worlds had been split apart and the Chosen system established as the words vied for mana. Then they started to tell him an edited version of the story of their adventures. By unspoken consensus, they decided it was best to cut out the older Kratos from most of the story. They said he was Lloyd's father, and that he had to eventually leave, but that was it.

For the rest of the story they were truthful. They told young Kratos about the end of the Kharlan War, and the Chosen system set up afterwards. They told him about Cruxis, and Mithos' plans for an Age of Lifeless Beings. They told him about their travels between the worlds, their quests for the seals and the Summon Spirits. They told him about Mithos' defeat.

Kratos listened intently, interrupting only to ask questions when he didn't understand some part of Lloyd's story. Until Lloyd started explaining what Cruxis was. Kratos seemed to be particularly interested when Lloyd had explained how Cruxis was an organization of angels.

"What do you mean angels?" interrupted Kratos, "You mean like, real angels?"

"Yeah," confirmed Lloyd with a nod, "We didn't believe it either at first."

"What happened to them?" asked Kratos, "The angels, I mean. Where'd they all go?"

"Cruxis was destroyed," said Lloyd solemnly, "Derris-Kharlan, their base I guess you could call it, is gone."

"Oh…" Kratos slumped, as if disappointed by this news.

"But Colette and me are angels!"

Kratos rolled his eyes, "Yeah, right."

"I'm serious!" said Lloyd. When Kratos showed no signs of believing him, Lloyd pulled out his huge, shining, blue-green wings. Kratos almost went into cardiac arrest.

"WHOA!" Kratos' eyes went wide at the sight of the mana-made wings, "You're really – That's amazing!" exclaimed Kratos, who had never before even seen a real angel, "Can you fly?"

Lloyd grinned, taking some pleasure in the awe he seemed to be inspiring, "Yup!" he said cheerfully.

Kratos was completely amazed. He had never thought he would ever meet a real angel! And they could fly! He had wondered for a long time if maybe angels could only fly in stories. He certainly had never been given any evidence to the contrary until now.

"When I think of angels, you aren't what springs to mind." Said Kratos.

Lloyd grinned his wide, goofy grin, "I get that a lot."

Lloyd continued with his story, finally finishing with, "…That was four months ago. Now Colette and me are traveling the world, searching for Exspheres and destroying them."

"Raine and I are also traveling," added Genis, "We're trying to end discrimination between races peacefully."

"That's pretty ambitious." Commented Kratos.

"We do what little we can," said Raine, "Anyway, we should contact Yuan and the Renegades about you soon."

"Huh? Why?" demanded Kratos. He wasn't comfortable with calling for the people who had chased him before.

"Perhaps if Yuan was able to bring you here in the first place," started Raine, "Then maybe he can send you back to your home."

Kratos opened his mouth to protest to being handed over to the Renegades, but someone else spoke up first. "But Kratos hasn't seen the Martel Temple yet!" chirped Colette, who had rather enjoyed her role as tour guide.

"What?" Kratos blinked at this sudden change of topic.

Colette grabbed the unfortunate boy by the arm and started to drag him away, "W-where are you taking me now?!" he demanded, unable to break away from her surprisingly strong grip.

The others watched in a slightly horrified silence as Colette, yet again, dragged Kratos away. "Do you think they'll be all right on their own?" asked Genis.

"Probably not," admitted Lloyd nervously. "C'mon Genis, let's go after them!"

"Okay!"

Raine watched as the children vacated the room. She sighed. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to wait a few more hours.


Later that day

Sheena wandered into Iselia, and looked around, wondering where her friends were. She had heard rumors that Lloyd, Colette, Genis, and Raine were all in Iselia. She had also heard rumors that somehow Kratos had returned as well. This had sparked her interest. She figured that either one of two things were happening: One, Kratos had returned from Derris-Kharlan to warn them about some kind of imminent danger to the well being and continued survival of Aselia. If this were the case, then that meant she, as the only one currently in the world who could call upon the powers of the Summon Spirits, would be needed.

Or, if that wasn't the case, then that probably meant that there was some kind of reunion in the works. If that was the case, then she wanted to be there! She wanted to be there for the inevitable party and, obviously, not for the Zelos.

Definitely not for the Zelos… That stupid, womanizing, jackass Chosen just couldn't take a hint...

The ninja walked through the village with all the confidence of a hero, scanning the buildings and the streets for her friends. Maybe I should go ahead and drop in at Colette's, she thought, just as she walked up the road to Colette's house. She knocked on the door, which Colette's grandmother, Phaidra, answered. Phaidra told Sheena that her friends were out visiting the Martel Temple, and that she didn't know when they would come back. Sheena thanked the old woman, and then headed out in the direction of the gate to the road that led to the temple.

What could they be doing at the Martel Temple? Wondered Sheena, slightly worried, Maybe something has really gone wrong.

Her fears were diminished a little, when she found Raine waiting by the gate. The older woman turned when she heard Sheena approach. "I didn't expect you to come here," said the half-elf, though she didn't seem displeased, "What has brought you to Iselia?"

"I heard that you, Genis, Colette, and Lloyd had all come back to Iselia," said Sheena, not mentioning her sources, "And something about Kratos coming back too. I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay."

"Everything is fine, for the most part," said Raine reassuringly.

"For the most part?" Sheena asked, "What do you mean by 'for the most part'?"

Raine sighed, "You'll see when Lloyd and the others get back from the temple."

"What are they doing up at the temple anyway?" asked Sheena.

"Colette wanted to show Kratos the temple," explained Raine, "Genis and Lloyd went with them. They should be back soon."

"But… I thought Kratos has already been to the temple," said a confused Sheena, "So why – "

That was when something purple and red sped through the gate and shouted, "HA! I WIN!"

Lloyd weakly jogged up to the gate and promptly fell on his face. "Dammit…" he moaned into the grass, "You… cheated."

Young Kratos walked over to the fallen Lloyd, a mocking grin on his face, "You shouldn't have fallen for it," he taunted, "Sucker!"

Lloyd looked up sourly at young Kratos, "You still… cheated…"

"You didn't really think I was going to start after I counted to three?"

Sheena stared at the scene, utterly confused. Something inside her head refused to connect her image of Kratos, who was one of the most mature people she had ever met, with the person who was currently teasing Lloyd. Either Kratos had changed drastically, or the Apocalypse was approaching.

Raine, on the other hand, just sighed, "Boys…"

Sheena looked at the half-elf, "What… just happened?"

Colette and Genis arrived and walked over to see that Lloyd was okay. Raine carefully directed Sheena away from the gate and the children, before saying, "As you can tell, things have become a little… strange recently."

"Well, yeah," said Sheena, looking back over her shoulder at the children, who now seemed to be arguing about Kratos' underhanded methods, "Since when did Kratos act like that?"

This was when the group of children finally noticed Sheena. Their reaction was enthusiastic. "Hi Sheena!" chirped Colette, "It's good to see you again!"

Kratos then noticed Sheena for the first time, as he and the others went over to join Sheena and Raine. He, like most other males of his approximate age, took notice of certain things. Then, because of a wonderful substance called testosterone, teenage Kratos whistled, and said to Sheena, "Wow, I bet you're popular, aren't you?"

Raine, Lloyd, Genis, and Colette watched in stunned silence as the ninja beat the auburn-haired boy to a bloody pulp. When it was over, Sheena was standing over her prone victim, muttering, "Stupid, thoughtless, jackass…" then she shouted to the sky, "YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE MATURE ONE!"

"I think… I'll never be able to stand up again," whined Kratos, who was still on the ground.

"Um, who wants to tell her?" said Lloyd, still staring at the slightly bleeding lump that was young Kratos.

"Tell me what?" the ninja asked, looking around at the others, confused.

Raine sighed, it was time for an adult to intervene, "The Kratos you just attacked… is not the same one that helped us save the world."

Shenna blinked. "Huh?"

"Lloyd found him in Flanoir, apparently being chased by Yuan's men," explained Raine, as Kratos slowly got back to his feet, "After a long chain of events he ended up here with us. We were actually planning to see Yuan about it today… but then Lloyd decided to show Kratos the Martel Temple – "

"But he's seen the rest of the town Professor Sage!" argued Lloyd, "Besides, nothing bad would happen if Kratos stayed a little longer!"

"We still need to contact the Renegades," said Raine, ignoring Lloyd's interruption, "And as soon as possible."

"But…" Sheena paused, "I saw a group of Renegades just south of the village when I flew here on my Rheiard."

Everyone else stared at Sheena, as they contemplated the implications of her statement. "It would make sense that the Renegades would be searching for Kratos…" thought Raine aloud.

Lloyd turned to Kratos… to find that the other boy was no longer there. Lloyd looked around, from the gate he had run through, to the roads that ran through Iselia. "Hey, where'd Kratos go?" he said, when he realized that Kratos was no longer in the immediate area.

The rest of the crew looked around as well. With an unspoken agreement, they split up to look for the missing Kratos.


Kratos had bolted as soon as Sheena had said that there was a group of Renegades. He didn't want to be captured by the Renegades… whoever they were. He didn't want to stick around long enough to find out.

He ran through a thicket of trees, heading as far away from the village as fast as he could. Other than getting away from Iselia he had no plans. And like all poorly thought out plans, he very quickly ran into problems.

Still running, Kratos looked back over his shoulder, making sure no one was following him. He didn't want Lloyd or the others to come after him, as that would draw attention to him, and make him easier to find for the Renegades. Unfortunately, this meant that he was no longer looking where he was going.

He collided with something soft, which immediately cursed at him. Kratos turned to see a Renegade, who seemed, rather understandably, upset. The Renegade had three sword-wielding buddies, who didn't hesitate to draw their weapons. Kratos backed away a step, backing into a fifth Renegade. Kratos spun around and found himself in the middle of a circle of Renegades. He was trapped.

"Um…" he hesitated, "…Parley?"

The first Renegade Kratos ran into shook his head, "That's pirates kid,"


Spork: Don't ask why I shoved in the Pirates of the Caribbean reference. It was one of those 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' things. And I'm too lazy to change it now.

Oh and a fear of dogs isn't caninephobia, it's cynophobia according to Wikipedia. But that site is only semi-reliable, if at all.

To my American readers, happy Turkey Day!

My muse has been dragged off now, so there isn't a whole lot left to say.

So there it ends. Yeah. The next chapter will be better. Promise. Please review.

Edited 1/1/08: Cleaned up and changed some dialogue I didn't like.