This was by far the hardest chapter to write. I have three different versions of this chapter, trying to figure out what exactly to cover. The other two would not have gotten this far... Well, this third version here flowed out very easily, and I finally wasn't haunted by the something-is-so-wrong-with-this feeling!
Enjoy! Ha ha ha...
I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Aargh.
The Origin of Hope
Chapter 9: The Sound of Despair
Welgaia was called the Holy City. It wasn't really all that much like a city. No one personally sold food nor items. There wasn't even an inn (unless you count jail cells). Even Heimdall elves had an inn, even though they hated people and didn't like anyone coming into their village.
Yuan lazily looked at the confetti floating around him as he zoned out on a conveyer belt, linking him to his personal quarters. He didn't enjoy floating around with them, preferring the ground under his feet and away from them. The confetti were what he called the lifeless angels fluttering around him. The angels in Welgaia never seemed to serve all that much purpose except decoration. The angels themselves didn't have much purpose in life either, and they didn't care.
The air was always slightly buzzing with small mundane conversations. Since the lifeless angels here didn't really have anything to do or care about, they gossiped all the time. And since they had no real feelings, they never got bored nor excited about such gossip. They gossiped... just to talk. Why they wanted to talk... Yuan didn't really know. They did somewhat remind him of the rich nobles of Meltokio... however, it would become very apparent after a while that the angels formed no opinions of their own on the gossip they traded.
Nonetheless, they periodically carried invaluable information about current Cruxis/Desian events, and Yuan never minded taking a long route to his quarters to hear what the latest news were.
"Cardinal Forcystus has reported a record number of exspheres produced at his Human Ranch. This would be the first time he has overtaken Cardinal Kvar."
"Sources indicate that Cardinal Kvar appears to have abandoned the Asgard Human Ranch. Cardinal Pronyma has been given temporary care of the Ranch. I hear she is extremely displeased about it, and is not doing well keeping the human subjects alive long enough for complete exsphere maturation. This must surely displease Lord Yggdrasil."
"Lord Yggdrasil has been extremely vexed by the current situation. I hear he has had some trouble locating Cardinal Kvar as well. Cardinal Kvar appears to be hiding something concerning the woman that the Betrayer is with. Lord Yggdrasil is not pleased."
"I have heard that Lord Yggdrasil just had word from Cardinal Pronyma that there appears to be missing wing packs containing small boats in the Asgard Ranch. He appeared to have left in haste and was last seen heading west."
Yuan started walking backwards on the conveyer belt, listening in on the conversation above him and keeping a lazy gaze somewhere else.
A third voice joined the gossip.
"Cardinal Pronyma just finished interrogating the remaining Desians under Cardinal Kvar. Now it seems that Cardinal Kvar may be heading for the Iselian Peninsula in search of something. It is assumed to be the Angelus Project that the Betrayer is with. However, there has been conflicting reports, since it is believed that the Betrayer was last seen in Palmacosta."
Yuan walked on, bothered by what he just overheard. He had heard similar reports throughout the week.
He had been hanging out in Welgaia for a long time ever since Kratos had his kid. Yuan enjoyed the little thing when he met him, but ever since then, a sickly feeling grew in his heart. A feeling that he really didn't want to look at Kratos and his happy family anymore. Yes, Kratos wasn't exactly experiencing an ideal family life... and it wasn't something Yuan was proud to be jealous of... oh jealous, no he wasn't jealous, why would he be! Yuan smiled mirthlessly as he entered his room and flopped on the green covers of his bed.
It wasn't a lavishly decorated room. Yuan never cared much to decorate when he was under the heavy influence of the Crystal, and he didn't think it would be wise to start now. Nevertheless, one thing was constant. If there were colors he could choose from, the items were always green. Green for Martel. Green was her favorite color, the color of life and trees.
He stared at the strange purple/gray color of the ceiling. He had been here for about two weeks already since he last went back to see the kid. Botta wouldn't be too surprised. Yuan could not risk running to the Renegade bases all the time without raising suspicion. And right now he is supposed to be busy organizing search parties and whatever other paperwork that needed to be done.
Guilt was the another feeling that Yuan tried not to think about. It was only a light feeling, but sometimes it just seemed easier to not have feelings at all, honestly. Yuan let out a heavy sigh as he pushed himself out of bed. No, right now he needed to go back and warn Kratos not to go to the dwarf. He should have gone back days ago. But there was no real hurry. The new keycrest the dwarf made should be enough to save the lady. They can't possibly journey with a two-week old baby anyway.
Yuan sat on the bed in mid-motion. No no, he needed to go back. He had been hiding here long enough.
So back out he went, riding through the conveyer belts and elevators, to the warp pad for Sylvarant. The sky was a dusky purple and the stars were glinted brightly at Yuan as he materialized.
As he sauntered through the doors of the Triet base toward his office, he shouted an order to a guard to find Botta...
"WHAT?"
Botta shifted his weight as he stood in front of Yuan's desk.
"THEY'RE GONE? ALREADY?"
"Sir, I had no choice, they had to leave... the dwarf is not able to make a strong enough key crest for the Cruxis Crystal without his tools and special equipment. Anna only has a few weeks to live since the birthing affected her enormously. The simple key crest the dwarf made at least let her stay awake, though it's not certain how much more her life was extended. I did send a couple of our best soldiers to accompany them and the dwarf."
Yuan stared back at Botta.
"How long have they been gone?"
"Seven days, sir."
"That means they are almost at Iselia already!" Yuan felt whatever blood was left in his face drain out. "Botta, get us Rehairds posthaste, we need to leave! Get the most stable versions, I don't care! They are in grave danger, I just heard up there that Kvar was heading to Iselia as well! And I'm sure he has most of his men with him."
Minutes later, Yuan and Botta were pushing the new baby blue beta version Rehairds as fast as they could towards Iselia, keeping a lookout for the travelers.
"Sir, would it be faster if you fly?" Botta asked.
"It's a long trip, Botta, I'd be deathly tired by the time I found them. And no, Rehairds are much faster."
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Moonlight shone through the foliage of the trees, as Anna walked along the forest path. They were almost to the town, and her heart was beating fast, she wanted to start skipping out of sheer happiness. She looked up at the full moon in the sky, smiling with newfound hope that she will be able to see another full moon. She took Kratos' left arm and gave him a squeeze, smiling ear to ear. Then she lowered her smile down to Lloyd, sleeping in the crook of Kratos' arm.
Kratos looked over questioningly, and smiled warmly when he saw how brightly Anna's eyes shone. "We're almost there, Anna. And by the time we get there, maybe Dirk will already have the forge heated and materials ready."
"Oh you know, he still needs to do some research first! But we're finally almost there, I can't believe it! After so long... and after having Lloyd... I'll be able to see him grow."
Kratos' first thought was to state the fact that they haven't reached Dirk's house yet, but he decided not to dampen the mood. Instead, Kratos looked down at the sleeping baby. He still can't believe he fathered a child. But Lloyd took after her mother, smiling and making such gurgling noises that even Dirk, Viks and Weller (the two Renegade guards) couldn't help but be taken to Lloyd. Soon they all offered to carry Lloyd and help them out. Even Noishe would nudge the person (not Anna) carrying Lloyd so intently that he had to give the baby to Noishe. They would bundle Lloyd up in blankets and Noishe would hold the baby up by the blankets with his mouth. When they met any vicious creatures along the way, Noishe got to hold Lloyd and stay out of the way. Strangely, Lloyd always seemed more excited than upset. It wasn't easy taking care of a baby while traveling, but Lloyd slept more often than not... and Kratos never needed to sleep, so he could tend to Lloyd's sporadic cries. Kratos was pretty unnerved at first, but after a while, he would sometimes take the infant Lloyd to a clearing in the forest to see the stars while everyone was asleep.
Since Dirk needed to start the fires and prepare the tools at his home, he left the day before and took Viks with him. More importantly, he needed to read up more on Cruxis Crystals and gather the right kind of ore and rune to carve. He spent a good time studying Anna's Crystal while they were traveling, writing down notes and other stuff they didn't understand. Time was of the essence, and he could walk back faster without a large group.
Ahead, Kratos could see the dark shape of the Iselian Human Ranch looming in the distance. It was foolish to be approaching a Ranch. How unfortunate that Dirk had to make his new residence so disturbingly close... However, Forcystus manned this Ranch, and Kratos was thankful that Forcystus generally kept to himself and hated to be bothered.
"Could we make it to Dirk's tonight?" Anna asked.
"If you're ready to go without sleep, perhaps. I would rather you rest, don't push your body harder than you already are."
"I feel so excited though! Look, I'm not even burdening Noishe right now! I'm happily walking and I'm enjoying it!"
Kratos looked ahead through the trees. "Anna look, I think if we approach the cliff ahead of us, we may be able to see the lights of Iselia in the distance."
"Really? How did you see that? Oh right, you have superhuman eyesight. Well, let's go see!" Anna gripped Kratos' arm even harder and suddenly took off on a sprint, jerking him along. "Weller! Come on, I bet it's beautiful!"
The trees thinned around the edges of the cliff, giving way to rock and loose dirt. Anna peered over the steep cliff, her heart caught in her throat. The cliff was frighteningly steep and rocky, with shrubs barely clinging on. She forced her eyes up and whistled softly. Treetops and grassland far below laid out before her, bathed in moonlight. The moon herself seemed bigger and yellower than usual. Anna scanned the landscape for Iselia, and easily found a cluster of lights together.
"That's Iselia!" Anna exclaimed, pointing eagerly at the lights. Kratos nodded, and Anna found herself searching for Dirk's place before she realized he lived underground.
Suddenly behind her, Noishe howled loudly and started nudging Kratos desperately to take Lloyd away. Birds hidden in the trees close to them took flight. After letting Noishe get a good grip on Lloyd, Kratos instantly had his hand on the pommel of his sword. Weller followed suit, slightly confused since he didn't hear anything... but if the Lord Kratos got ready, he wasn't going to ignore it. Anna turned around and looked at them, her happy smile fading to a grim, angry expression. She had her hand ready to draw out her rapier... but before she could, a long whip lashed out of nowhere and wrapped around Anna's right arm.
Faster than she could blink, the whip was just as quickly slashed into two and Kratos appeared to her right. She quickly loosened the remaining whip end on her arm and tried to ignore the heavy sting as she drew out her rapier.
Then everything exploded into mayhem. A swarm of Desians jumped from trees, or ran out of hidden places in the forests ahead, and came screaming for blood.
"Push them back! As much as you can! We need to get away from the cliff!" Kratos shouted.
Kratos couldn't believe he didn't hear such a large group of Desians so close by... but there wasn't time to think anymore. He parried blow after blow from multiple sources, trying to protect Anna while she tried her best to fight off the Desians in front with a sore arm. Weller just dearly wished Viks didn't leave as he moved closer to Anna's left, fighting off the lashing whips of two Desians.
Noishe hid behind all of them, near the cliffside. He knew he was in a very disadvantageous position, but every part of the forest had exploded with Desians, there was nowhere else he could go. Lloyd started crying. Noishe whined as soothingly as he could with a mouthful of blanket. He really wished he was still in his aeros stage...
Weller felt his strength tested to the limit as he fought Desian after Desian. He slashed away, blood flying everywhere and on his face and arms. As he parried two swords thrusted at him, a whip lashed out and latched onto his other arm, jerking him off balance. He felt the sting of swords slicing his arm and back as he quickly tried to regain footing. Anna stabbed one of the Desians as Weller went down, trying to cover him while he recovered.
Piles of dead Desians heaped in front of Kratos, yet more kept coming. They barely gained any ground away from the cliff. Anna was tiring, suffering cuts and deep bruises. The Desians were not hard opponents, but the sheer number was taking a toll. She hated the Desians with whips the most. If she had a choice, she always dispatched the ones with whips first.
A new humming sound reached Kratos' ears and he looked up. There was a strange, large, glowing stone floating some distance away. Two others floated equidistantly behind Kratos, surrounding them.
"I can't see anything! What is this?" Weller suddenly shouted.
The air around them suddenly became dense with what seemed like a thick, electrically charged fog. They couldn't even see their hands, and noticed even the Desians had fallen back. A sharp crack of lightning suddenly hit Kratos and Weller, stunning them. Anna felt a hand strike out and grab her sword arm, making her drop her rapier. The sudden jerk caused her to lose balance and briefly got dragged on the ground. She cried out as she felt herself being roughly lifted up and both of her arms secured painfully behind her back.
"Anna! Where are you?" Kratos shouted in desperation as he tried to make sense of the shadows in the fog. Noishe stuffed Lloyd under his belly as he crouched protectively, trying to hide him from view and smother his cries.
The smoke started to clear.
Kvar stood smiling maliciously before them, holding Anna's arms behind her back. Two Renegade soldiers flanked them, holding swords at Anna's neck.
Kratos never felt so weak in his life. His whole body shook as he gripped his sword tighter. "Kvar, you..."
"Surprised are you? Didn't think I'd find you? Didn't think I'd go torture every person in every city around my Ranch about you? Didn't think I would plan the most flawless welcome party for you? Fools, I've come to take back what is mine!" Kvar twisted her right hand so he could see the Cruxis Crystal. Anna bit her lip against the pain.
"What is this ridiculous little key crest?" Kvar laughed maniacally. "Oh my beautiful Cruxis Crystal! It may not be a hundred percent complete, but it'll work just fine! Thank you so much for your trouble, A012!" Kvar sneered.
An ear-splitting scream tore from Anna's lungs, as Kvar ripped both the key crest and the Cruxis Crystal from her hand. Blood spurted from her hand. Anna felt her body shake uncontrollably. Kratos watched in horror, tears blurring his vision.
The two Desians next to Anna suddenly backed away. Kratos ran to Anna, putting his arm around her quaking shoulders.
"No, no, Kratos, get away, get away!" Anna shoved Kratos away with the last of her strength, right before she lost control of her body.
