It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been putting off posting this chapter because of what's in it. But I realize that this isn't fair to the other people who wish to know what happens. So, even though many of you will probably want to stab my eyes out with a fork after this chapter. here I go.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia.


Everybody was unusually quiet. They were probably all staring at him, wondering about him. Let them wonder. The only ones that weren't staring were Colette and Kratos. Kratos, well, he was an enigma right now as to what he was thinking. He would probably leave very soon…Phaidra had just asked him to escort Colette to Dirk's house and make sure she stays safe. He probably felt obligated to do so, because he had taken her money at the beginning of the journey. And, Lloyd couldn't shake the feeling that his father wanted to corner him and tell him something.

Colette, on the other hand, was walking cheerily beside him, holding his hand. She made him smile, at how bubbly she was even though she was sick.

The crossed the bridge over the small stream one at a time-Colette almost falling off; if he hadn't been holding her hand, she would have-and he poked his head into his foster father's house.

"Dad?" He could just see Kratos flinching at that-he'd apologize later. Dirk lifted his head up from his forge to see Lloyd's slightly smiling face poking in the doorway.

"Lloyd! Welcome back. …What happened to your shirt?"

"It's an…erm, long story. I'll grab another one from my drawers later. Anyway, Dad, we need your help," he said, gently pulling Colette in and the other followed.

"Sorry, can't help ya. I don't have any clue on how Cruxis Crystals work. Maybe that dwarf over in that Tethe'alla place could do better."

"Thanks for trying, though," Lloyd said, giving him a small smile.

"Ya will stay for the night, won't ya, at least to make up?" Lloyd felt like saying 'No, no, I don't even sleep anyway', but the stress must be getting to him if he even thought of saying that out loud. Instead he just let out a breath.

"Sure, Dad. That's okay with everybody, right?" No one answered. Except for Kratos.

"I must politely decline," he said, heading for the door. Lloyd let go of Colette's hand and followed him, shutting the door and leaning on it once he was outside.

"Dad, please don't leave like this. I'm sorry, okay?" He turned around, looking at Lloyd.

"Whatever are you apologizing for?"

"For snapping at you at the Ranch, and calling Dirk 'Dad' and everything else I can't think of right now," Lloyd said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm not mad at you, Lloyd. I'm merely…sad."

"Sad about what? …You were looking at me funny a while ago, is this about-?" Kratos cut him off.

"I never wanted you to turn into me." Lloyd froze, looking at his father with an incredulous expression on his face.

"W-What?" Kratos waved it off, obviously more upset than he let on, and turned back around to leave.

"Don't worry about it."

"How can you say stuff like that and not expect me to worry about it?!"

"To cure Colette, you'll want to look at the records of Mithos the Hero. Remember the words of the unicorn," Kratos said, walking away.

"Wait, no! Tell me what you meant by that…! I'm turning into you!? Dad, wait!" He was gone. "Dad…"

"Lloyd!" Sheena was walking up to him. He did his best to look cheerful and smiling. "…What happened to your shirt? And was that Kratos leaving just now?"

"Ugh, why does everybody keep on asking me that? There was an accident and I need a new one. …And yes, yes it was."


Standing on the balcony from his room, Lloyd looked at the setting sun. Everybody else was downstairs, talking away as he came up here to get his new shirt. He just hadn't gone back down yet.

"Lloyd…Are you all right?" It was Colette. She went and stood next to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How are things down there?" She looked aside.

"They started talking about you, Lloyd."

"…Well, why don't we eavesdrop, then?" Lloyd was curious about what they had to say about him.

"Angel ears?" Colette asked, brightening up a bit at Lloyd finally seeming like himself. Even if he was talking about eavesdropping.

"Why not?" he said, shrugging and leaning over the balcony railing to try to catch the voices. Colette did the same, and it wasn't long before they could hear.

"-and he cut Forcystus in half! In half! Like…like he was just paper!" Genis exclaimed. There was a rustling noise.

"Lloyd couldn't do that, could he?" Sheena asked. She hadn't been there when it happened, of course.

"He did do it. We all saw him. He just…sliced him in half. There was blood everywhere. Lloyd was positively covered in it. His face, and his neck, and his sword! And he just turns around like nothing happened."

"Yes, Genis, and then he made it to Colette before she fell. I would have judged that as thirty feet. He just…sprang across the distance, like it was just a few inches. When could he do that?" Raine mused. More rustling as somebody moved in their chair.

"Probability of a normal human being able to cover that many feet in just a few seconds: 25,000 to 1."

"What Presea said! He couldn't have done that if he were human…"

"…But he did. We all saw him with our own eyes. Which makes this very suspicious."

"Raine, what are you saying?" Sheena asked. It must have been rhetorical, since Lloyd could understand exactly what the Professor was getting at.

"I think my cool-haired beauty is saying that Bud isn't human."

"So, what do we do, Raine?"

"Nothing right now. We don't have enough proof, and I'm not sure if he would tell us anyway. We just wait, and approach him at the right time."

Lloyd leaned back up, exhaling as Colette pulled up a moment later, flipping her blonde hair out of her face.

"They're onto you, Lloyd. We had better be careful," she said, clasping his hands in hers. He grinned at her.

"Don't worry about me, Colette. I've gotten this far; I'm not just going to screw it up now. I'll tell them when the time is right. And it's definitely not now."


He should have known better than to sneak out the front door, but he didn't want to chance the balcony either. People were sleeping near it. If he took off from there, and somebody woke up…

Well, that was all behind him as he sneaked across the slightly creaking floor. He made it to the door, his hand on the doorknob, about to turn it. He was almost home free when…

"Lloyd." He had the urge to seriously bash his head in on the wood door as he caught Dirk out of the corner of his eye at the table. He didn't even sense him nor hear him. He was too caught up in going outside and trying to fly around again. He was steadily getting better.

"Yes?" He didn't even turn around. He didn't want to.

"What are ya doing sneaking out in the middle of the night?" How to explain this one? 'Oh, because I can't sleep because I'm an angel that inherited it from his father who, turns out, is a 4,000 year old man that also turned down your hospitality today.' He didn't think that would exactly go over well.

"I'm going for a walk," he temporized. It wouldn't be much of a walk, but…

"Going for a walk, hm?"

"Yes, I am. Is that all right?" He couldn't help snapping back. This was the only release he got from his now slightly hellish existence. He figured it would get better over time, but now, now he needed to fly. It was one of the only things that calmed him down, just soaring through the sky.

"Lloyd, what has gotten into ya?" He realized he should have done this more delicately, but what's done is done. He turned around, deciding he should reassure his foster father of his well being, or he'd never get away.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, Dir-Dad," he stammered out, hoping his mistake wouldn't be caught. Dirk squinted at him, indicating that yes, he did notice Lloyd's little slip up.

"…Ya almost just called me Dirk. And I know ya, you're lyin'. Dwarven Vow #11-Lying is the first step-"

"Down the path of thievery, yeah, yeah, I know D-Dad." He managed to catch himself this time, and it didn't go unnoticed. But he continued anyway. "But this time, it's for a good reason."

"A good reason? Lloyd…what are ya-"

"Listen, Dir-Dad…" He sighed and just said it. "Dirk. I've got it under control, and everything is fine. I just want to go for a walk. That's all-I have no clue when I'll be back, but I will be. I promise." And that's all he could give.

And with that, he just left the house, walking away, hands deep in his pockets.

A little while later, sitting in a tree branch overlooking Iselia, he wondered what he was doing to his life. Everything used to be so ordered. And now it was slipping apart around him. To be honest, it all started on the day of the oracle, and just went downhill from there. Now he was spitting out lies to anybody that would listen, all to keep a secret. That he was what? Becoming an angel?

What was so wrong with that?

He knew, though. He didn't have a Cruxis Crystal. It was all happened from inside his body. He shuddered at that thought and banished it from his mind. But it came creeping back. If somebody tried to cure him and they started messing around… Who knows what would happen? …And what his father had said wasn't helping.

And another deeper, darker thought that he kept pushed down made an appearance. What if this wasn't normal for him…? Was he a fr-?

He refused to say it, even in his mind, and pushed the thought down again. He needed to do something, or else he would keep thinking.

He slipped off the branch and flew over the village, looking down for something, anything. And there, almost conveniently, Chocolat, still dressed for the day, reached out and closed her window. He paused, hovering in his air, wondering if he should indeed go down there. Even though there was a breeze from his wings, his face still started to warm as he thought about what had happened earlier today.

And before he knew it, he was standing on the awning right below her window, reaching up and rapping on it. She looked over; saw him, and her face looked incredulous. But she still crossed over and opened up the window.

"Lloyd! How did you get up here?"

"Um…I flew." She looked at him strangely again, and that gave him an idea.

"Do you…want to come with me?"

"Come with you where?" she asked, peeking out the window at the drop below, obviously calculating how far it was.

"Come flying. Anywhere…with me?" The 'with me' seemed important. Very important.

"How, exactly?" she asked him, though she was already bracing herself on the window frame, looking like she was going to climb out.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, holding out a hand. She grabbed it, and he hauled her out of her room, and she fell against him, his arms settling around her waist instinctively. He blushed again at the heat of her body pressed against his. Dammit, this was not the time… He let go, just a bit, so she could see him.

"Of course I do. And anyway," she smiled slyly, "you don't seem hurt, so however you got here wasn't very dangerous." He grinned, sweeping her up bridal style, and drawing his wings. She gasped, looking at the silver appendages behind him.

"You…you're an angel?!" She reached out and brushed her fingertips across them. He silently gasped, an electric shock running down his spine. Part of him loved the feeling, wanted more of it, the other part was confused as to what it meant, and the third part was just a bit scared. "They're soft…" she said, drawing away.

"You can't tell anyone, though. I'll explain everything when we fly," he said, leaping backwards so he was hovering.

"Lloyd, can you…do you think you could make it to Palmacosta? I…I want to see if my mom's all right. Please?" The look she gave him, he couldn't resist.

"I don't know, never tried, but if I cut across the ocean…" And he was off, a silver streak across the sky if anyone was looking.

"So, I really was right. There isn't a Goddess Martel," Chocolat said, leaning against him as he flew across the expanse of ocean. He had gotten used to her body against his, just there, in close contact.

And it turns out he could go farther than he though. Palmacosta couldn't be that far away-they were seeing boats, and he wasn't tired yet. He figured he would be, but…it was strange. Maybe because he was born an angel, and he was just…made out for flying?

"Well, there is a Martel, but she's just a woman that has been suspended in death for too long."

"I saw her…on the Tree. I was watching it from my cell window. Well, not really her, but…this round thing…on the trunk." He nodded, shifting her slightly in his arms.

"Yeah, that was her. …We're going to try to resurrect the Tree another way," he said.

"Well, I should hope so. …Look! There's Palmacosta!" she yelled, pointing and squirming in his grip. "Lloyd, go down! Go down!" Lloyd rolled his eyes good-naturedly, and set down right outside the ruined city, putting away his wings.

"Come on!" she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the center of the city.

"Whoah! Slow down, Chocolat! Nothing's going to move!"

"But I want to see my mom!" she said, stopping in front of the store. One of the walls was knocked down and the roof was gone, rubble everywhere. She climbed in through the wall, Lloyd following her just in case she fell.

"Mom? Mom, are you here?"

"Chocolat!" she turned to see her mother trying to clean up behind the counter. She ran over and hugged her.

"Mom! You're all right! I was so worried, what with the tree…"

"I'm fine. And I could say the same for you. The ranch…"

"Lloyd rescued me," she told her, running over and grabbing him, pulled him over. "And helped me come here. I have to go back, though."

"Thank you, Lloyd. I remember you, from the Chosen's group. You've saved our lives once again…"

"Well…" He scratched his head, not wanting to say anything about Marble. Chocolat saw this, and quickly jumped in.

"I just wanted to see you were all right. I need to go back and have this exsphere taken off of me or a key crest put on. But after that, I'll be coming home and we can rebuild the shop!" Cacao smiled at her daughter.

"Um, Cacao…? We have to get back before sunrise, and we need to go…" Lloyd said, not really wanting to break up the moment, but wary of the time.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. You go on." One hug and a kiss later, and Chocolat was heading back for the broken down wall.

"And you, young man…" Lloyd looked at Cacao, and gulped a bit. "…You're a good match for her. Keep her safe."

"W-what?" he stammered, his cheeks glowing as red as his shirt.

"Lloyd, come on! You're the one that said we had to get back before sunrise, remember?" Chocolat called from the top of the rubble pile.

"Ah, uh…yeah!" he said, running after her.

Cacao just smiled, shook her head, and went back to what she was doing.

The first hints of the sun were just peeking up over the horizon as Lloyd set down Chocolat on the awning.

"Thanks, Lloyd. That was amazing."

"You're welco-" She cut him off with a light kiss on the lips, before smiling and sliding into her window.

"Thanks again, Lloyd." And she closed the window, giving him an awfully sly grin. Lloyd hovered there for a few minutes, just staring. Slowly he lifted a hand to his lips, to touch them gently, as if he didn't believe it.

Then he gave the loudest whoop that probably woke everybody up, but he didn't care. He fell backwards, floating on air until he realized he would be seen and zoomed off into the forest.

He finally landed near Dirk's house, hiding behind a tree. Going back…was harder than leaving, that's for sure.

He didn't want them staring at him again, like he was a-

No, he wasn't going to say it. He would just keep that word pushed down, where he couldn't think of it.

Nobody would ever know.

And with that, he stepped onto the path and walked to his former home.