I'm updating earlier this time. Enjoy this chapter-it's one of my favorites.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia

Lloyd wasn't exactly sure of what to think of his friends. They were still his friends to be sure, and he loved them dearly, but they kept staring at him. Of course, it was to be expected, after what they saw and how suspicious he was acting. Not like he meant to. And he couldn't tell them, after his decision not to. He didn't want them to try to cure him and mess something up. He'd handle it as best as he could.

A smaller part of him also put in that he didn't want them to reject him. However unlikely that seemed. But who could tell what was unlikely or not these days?

…Gods, he was such a hypocrite. He was acting just like Colette when she was turning into an angel. He didn't blame her now. He was in the exact same boat; only he didn't have to regenerate the world.

The Sybak Library wasn't too crowded when Mithos brought them in. After Altessa couldn't tell them how to cure Colette's illness-which was called Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium-Mithos offered to take them to the archive on the Ancient War in the library.

"Here are the books pertaining to Mithos the Hero," Mithos said, pulling one out from a book-laden shelf. "Try this one." Sheena took it and opened it. Scanning down the pages, she must have found something.

"Here it is! One of the companions of Mithos the Hero had a disease that crystallizes the body. It says that they cured it," she said, pointing at the paragraph that contained what she was reading from.

"But does it say how?" Colette asked.

"…It says that a unicorn cured the maiden. Does that mean the Unicorn Horn?" Raine frowned at Sheena's question.

"That can't be all. Is there any more?" She pulled the book over to her and started reading. Meanwhile, Lloyd was doing a bit of math in his head. If his father was over four thousand years old… Did he live through the war?

"Professor, when was the Kharlan War?" he asked.

"It started five thousand years ago, and lasted for a thousand years. It was put to an end by Mithos and his companions. So, four thousand years ago." So he had. So, had Cruxis been around for that long? It only made sense, actually, if Cruxis headed the whole entire religion of Martel. Which led him to wonder…

What had really happened four thousand years ago?

"Lloyd, you coming?"

"Huh?" He blinked. They were all standing up around him.

"We're going to try to sneak into the Meltokio Castle Library. They might have another book on it. What, were you zoning?" Genis asked.

"Ah, um…y-yeah. I'm coming."

The Castle Library was dusty, and filled to the brim with books. Lloyd looked around, wondering if one of these books would have the answer to Colette's illness. He still felt uneasy with being here, though. The King had revoked their wanted status, but the Pope was still out there somewhere, and he had proven himself to be dangerous.

Still, he was thinking too much, as he walked to a section of books that nobody else was looking at. He bent down, scanning the titles, coming to rest on a worn spine of a book with gold leaf pages. He ran his hand down the spine- the title was in angelic, or what looked like angelic. He looked behind him, seeing everybody else engrossed in looking for the book, and pulled it out, opening the cover.

The pages were yellowed, and it was handwritten in loopy curvy script. He flipped through the pages, making sure that none ripped from the almost non-existent binding. More angelic, and a language he didn't recognize-maybe elvish?

Then he came to a single sentence in common, underneath a picture of…an angel? It must be…and this one had the mana wings in the style that were on his back. He bent over farther, reading the small print.

The lineage of angels through the elves was long and proud, but still died out in the Thousand Year War, and the species was extinct.

Lloyd blinked. Angels were extinct? But what about Colette and the Mana lineage? But when Lloyd thought about it, he realized that it wasn't hereditary. They became angels from using a Cruxis Crystal, not because they were born as angels. He was born an angel…

"Colette!" he hissed over at her, saying it under his breath. She immediately looked at him, and he beckoned her over. She glanced at Raine, and then carefully made her way over to him.

"Lloyd?" She crouched down next to him, tilting her head to look at the book.

"This book… it's about…the kind of angel I am. Since I never needed a Cruxis Crystal to go through the transformation. But it's in angelic…and some other language I don't know." Colette carefully took it from his hands, smoothing down the page.

"I could read it, but… It would take a while. The Professor is going to call us back any second now," Colette told him. Lloyd frowned at her. He really wanted to see what was going on, and this was the closest he had to an answer right now.

"We could take the book with us?" she suggested. He shook his head.

"No, the Professor would see. There's no way we could smuggle this book out. If we ripped out the pages…" Lloyd said, taking the book back, and grabbing the front page as if to rip it out. Colette put her hand over his.

"No! Lloyd, you'll ruin the book. And you might rip the pages, so I won't be able to read them. We need to figure out a way to take it with us," Colette said, biting her lip. Then, Lloyd got an idea.

"How about…we leave it here, and then sneak in tonight to take it? We're angels, we can do it!" he told her, his voice dropping significantly at the angels part. He didn't want to be overheard by anybody.

"…Okay, we will. Tonight, we'll sneak in and take the book." Lloyd put it back, and Colette and he stood up just as Raine called everybody back.

What the two didn't see was Genis coming out from behind the small divider wall, looking at them strangely.

That night, Lloyd was standing on the balcony of Zelos' house, watching the clouds drift by. Almost all the world was sleeping, except him, he thought. He told Colette to get a bit of sleep, and then come looking for him on the balcony. He hoped she wouldn't sleep in too much…they needed to get that book. Since tomorrow they were leaving for Altamira to get some zircon.

"Lloyd?" Lloyd looked over his shoulder. Genis was standing there, holding onto the doorframe.

"Hey Genis. What are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Lloyd," Genis said, moving to stand right next to Lloyd, his hands on the railing. Lloyd shrugged as an answer and stared back out over the houses.

"…Lloyd, what's going on?" Genis asked abruptly. "I know something is! Don't try to deny it," he added when Lloyd opened his mouth to speak. He closed it, looking down at Genis' white head, and then averting his eyes to look back out at the view.

"Genis, please go back to bed," Lloyd said quietly. Genis shook his head furiously.

"No, I'm not going back to bed! I overheard you two! You and Colette! You're going to go steal a book from the library! A-about…" Here he stumbled on his words, and Lloyd involuntarily tensed. He gripped the balcony edge, feeling his nails dig into it.

"Angels…" Genis finally whispered. "Lloyd, you don't eat, I haven't seen you sleep in weeks, and you don't flinch when you get hurt! Do you think that after what happened to Colette I wouldn't notice?" Lloyd was silent, looking down at his hands.

"How, Lloyd? How are you an angel? How long have you known?"

"I-I…I think I inherited from my…parents. I…I've been like this for the past few months. It just…started. Right after we got to Tethe'alla… I didn't tell you guys because I'm…not like Colette. Not really. I don't have a Cruxis Crystal. So…I didn't want you guys trying to cure it."

"But Lloyd…we'll search for a way to heal you! We will, even if we are trying to save the world. Everybody will want to!"

"Genis, no. The world is more important. The world is dying, but I'm not," Lloyd said. Genis stamped his foot and crossed his arms.

"You're being stupid, Lloyd! Becoming like Colette is as close to death as you can get without actually dying! Do you want to be lifeless?"

"No, of course not!" Lloyd yelled angrily back, but then lowered his voice, realizing they were getting close to shouting. "But that doesn't change the fact that it feels right."

"…Lloyd?" His eyes grew wide, and his arms dropped to his side, making him look just a bit lost. Lloyd looked forward again, trying to gather his thoughts to explain how he felt.

"For all my life, it felt like I was missing something. I…never really paid attention to it, until… I saw Colette get her wings. And something inside of me, it started to ache. It felt like I should have been the one up there, receiving wings. Then when I got my wings, I felt out of place, odd, like I wasn't me anymore. But then…I remembered the feeling and realized…that I was actually feeling normal. I was never a human…I have been an angel since the day I was born. So," he turned to look at Genis. "I don't want to be cured. I don't think that lifelessness is the end for me. It can't be. …Which is why we're going to go get that book. I found it today, and… I think it will give me some answers. But it's in angelic, so Colette has to read it."

"…Then I'm coming with you guys," Genis said, his eyes narrowing in what could only be determination. "You accepted me when you found out I was a half-elf, and if you're really an angel… a really real angel, I should do the same. And anyway, you're my best friend, Lloyd."

"Genis… we're sneaking into the castle, and you're not exactly…stealthy," Lloyd pointed out. Genis put his hand on his hips, glaring up at Lloyd from underneath his white bangs.

"And Colette is?" From the other room over, there was a crash, and a muffled voice saying, 'I'm sorry chair!'

"Er…You have a point," Lloyd said, scratching his head. "But you're still not going."

"If you don't take me with you, I'm telling Raine!" Genis said, dragging out the last part to emphasis it. Lloyd rolled his eyes and sighed.

"You're blackmailing me with this, aren't you?"

"…Pretty much, yeah. I said I'd stick by you, didn't I? And if you don't let me, I'm going to do everything in my power to make you!" Genis exclaimed, nodding his head and making his long bangs bounce around. Lloyd grabbed one and tugged on it.

"Fine, you can come. Just be careful."

"Oh, Genis is coming too?" Colette was poking her head out onto the balcony, stepping outside. "This is great!"

"Yeah, just like the old days when we were kids!"

"Genis, you still are a kid!" Lloyd said, exasperated. And then, Raine twitched in her sleep. All three of them stared at her before scrambling on top of the railing.

"Let's get out of here before she wakes up," Lloyd muttered. "Colette, you go first. Meet us at the castle."

"Okay, nii-san," she said, pulling out her pink wings and taking off, speeding away. Genis looked over at Lloyd with a raised eyebrow.

"Nii-san?"

"Means 'older brother' in Mizuhoan." Lloyd held out his hand. "Now come on. We have to catch up with Colette." Genis took his hand just a bit hesitantly.

"You sure you can do this?"

"'Course I can. I already flew somebody around. And they were a lot heavier than you," he said, pulling Genis close and opening his wings, jumping off in one movement.

"Ahhhh!" Genis clung to Lloyd's shirt and wiggled in his grasp, since they were about twenty, thirty feet off the ground.

"Genis, stop moving around! I won't drop you!"

"So says you. …Wait, who did you carry?"

"None of your business," Lloyd said, his cheeks coloring, just a bit. Genis looked up and noticed this, smirking.

"…Was it a girl?"

"…Just shut it Genis, or I'll drop you on purpose. Now come on." Lloyd smirked and took off fast on purpose, winging into the night.

"Ahhh! Don't do that!"