Me: Part Ten of To Understand comin' at'cha!
Feral: I think you've said that before.
Me: So what? Does it really matter?
Feral: No, not really. I just thought I'd point it out.
To Understand: Part Ten
A Change in Heart
By Harmony283
Good Reviews: 2
Hiranieas-Wow…I'm glad you liked it! And yet again you updated seven minutes after I uploaded this chapter! You're my fastest reviewer (so far)! Uh, yeah, what exactly did Pronyma know? Hmm, I wonder…well here's the new chapter and I hope you like it!
Nady-Kun-Yup Genis is the damsel in distress (I've always wanted him to be one…so yeah, this was the perfect opportunity to do that)! And um…consequences…? –gulps-well, I hope there aren't any since…um…this is a new chapter! I hope you like it!
Me: Well, I don't have much to say…just that I'm ON PART TEN! WOOOH!
Feral: -blinks- Yes…apparently you are. But I do show up in this chapter, right?
Me: If things go according to plan then yes you will!
Feral: I hope so.
Me: Now then, you know what to do!
Feral: Harmony283 doesn't own Tales of Symphonia, Namco does. The things she does own, however, are me and the Plot. So no stealing!
Me: Good job!
Feral: Thank you.
Authors Note: Well then, this Chapter is the one that has the famous Zelos betrayal scene in it! Though it's a little toned down from the one in the game. Oh yes, and Mithos is thoroughly pissed at Pronyma and Kratos...and Feral makes fun of Mithos at one point...heh. Ah well, um, I don't have anything else to write so: here's the chapter!
Feral: How many times are you going to say that?
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Mithos' POV
Goddammit when I get my hands on Pronyma she's dead. But first…where the hell is Kratos?
"Kratos…"
"Yes?"
I glared at the man in the doorway, "Can you kindly explain to me why you told Pronyma that I was missing?"
Kratos shrugged and kept his face emotionless, "Because you were missing. Besides I didn't tell her. She over heard."
"And you expect me to believe that?"
"Yes."
I sighed, "That's…not…ugh. Do you know what she did?"
"Went and dragged you back here from wherever you ran off to?"
"But I didn't come back with Pronyma."
"Then you came back after she left?"
"Are you honestly that stupid?"
Kratos looked offended, but quickly hid it by coughing slightly and shrugging, "Fine then, what did she do?"
"She knocked Genis out and took him back to Venheim as a hostage."
Kratos' eyes widened, "Anything else?"
Heh, Kratos almost always knew when I wasn't telling him the whole story.
"Well, yeah. For one she said she knew something about him that I—or anyone else—did."
Kratos nodded his head, coughing lightly.
"Oh, and Lloyd and the others are probably going to go after her."
Kratos coughed rather loudly this time.
"Wh-what?"
"You heard me. And you of all people should know what would happen to them if they set foot in Venheim now."
"They…would be killed."
"Exactly. Now I know you wouldn't want that since Lloyd is your son and all and I would personally like to save Genis myself without their interference."
"And how exactly are we going to do that?"
"I do believe they know by now that they need to come here in order to find anything more about Venheim so we just wait and carry through with our plan to resurrect Martel using Colette—the Chosens—body."
Kratos' face paled, "I…see…you still want to go through with that…"
"Yes I do. But I will have to either leave you, or someone else—preferably you—to watch over her. I…want to go save Genis during that time."
"But how will we stall them?"
I smirked, "The only good thing about Pronyma is her…ability to create interesting traps. I'm sure they will have to find their way out of them. That should be just long enough for me to go and retrieve Genis."
"And what about Pronyma?" "If I find her, she's dead. But something tells me she will leave before then."
Kratos nodded his head mutely, "When will they be here?"
"And how in gods name—if there are any gods—should I know?"
Kratos 'Hmph-ed' and walked out of the room, muttering something about him going to go check on them.
I sighed and shook my head, trying to formulate a plan for Genis' rescue.
Yes Pronyma was good at traps and the like, but when you were on the receiving end of them, it was not pleasant in the least. And I knew that if I was going to save Genis that I'd have to go through one, or more, of her traps.
But then the question of where she took him in Venheim came up.
…and at times like these I really wished that there weren't so many rooms in that place.
But was it really my fault? I loved books and so there had to be at least ten rooms made into libraries.
Wait. Maybe Pronyma found something in one of those books…
That very thought made my face go pale.
Dammit! And I had left that spell book out in plain sight too!
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Genis' POV
Ugh…what happened?
I sat up groggily before clutching my stomach in pain.
Seriously, what happened?
I shivered lightly as an unnaturally cold wind rushed by me.
Where am I?
I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision, and gasped.
I was in that mirror room again.
"Oh good, you're awake!"
Feral was here as well.
But that didn't really surprise me.
"Hey Feral. What happened?"
She blinked, as if confused, but then shook her head, as if afraid to tell me.
"Um, well, let's just say that Pronyma attacked you back when you were with Mithos and your friends and, um, you passed out and she brought you here."
"Here?"
"Not to this room…"
"I know that Feral. And I also know that I'm not technically 'awake' either. Which reminds me, the last time I came here I had done…something bad. I had hurt Mithos and didn't remember how I did it. So what did I do this time?"
"You…um…tried to get away from Pronyma. She wound up knocking you out again though. And your actual body is in one of the many rooms of Venheim in Derris Kharlan."
I blinked, "The…city of the elves…?"
Feral nodded her head.
"Yes, apparently."
I sighed, "Okay then…but do you know how we got here?"
"Um, no not really. When you pass out I usually loose consciousness as well. But not for a long period of time like you do."
I nodded my head slowly, trying to stand, though wincing in pain once again.
"I wouldn't move much if I were you. I mean, she hit you pretty hard in both the stomach and your head."
"Yeah but why? I mean, I know she's our enemy and all but she'll follow any and all orders from Mithos—Yggdrasill—and I know he didn't want her to hurt me."
"Have you ever thought about if she had a crush on Mithos? You would be in her way—no, you are in her way."
I gulped, "Uh…okay…now I'm wondering exactly what's going on…outside of here."
'You do remember how to get out of here, correct?'
I nodded my head, "Yeah, but now I'm not so sure I want to go back. That woman's crazy! She'll probably kill me!"
'Not unless your night in shining armor—or spandex—comes to your rescue.'
I felt the blood rush to my face, "He…he's not…He does not wear spandex when he's in Mithos' form!"
'Your boyfriends addicted to spandex, your boyfriends addicted to spandex la-la-la-la-la!'
I glared a Feral who merely giggled and backed away from me.
"Feral—ghh…if I could move--!"
Then a searing pain ripped through my back and I collapsed on the floor…
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Zelos' POV
We're finally here.
The Tower of Salvation…
I shuddered lightly as we walked past the familiar room with the dead bodies...all those coffins. I could end up being one of those.
The thought sickened me.
Though not as much as what I had to do when we reached the room with the Eternal Sword.
I wondered, glancing at Lloyd from the corner of my eye, would he forgive me? Would he still…trust me after this?
Ah, who am I kidding? Lloyd may be forgiving but he isn't that forgiving. Even after I…told him I loved him. I doubt he'd go and just accept me back after all this is true.
Now I'm starting to question why I even joined Cruxis in the first place.
No, that was easy.
I wanted my title of 'Chosen' to be removed. Maybe then I could…be with Lloyd.
Because, from the way things were going now, Princess Hilda was the number one person I had to marry in order to keep the mana lineage clean and pure.
Oh gods, Lloyd, please forgive me.
We walk up to the teleporter…
Then, to our surprise, a rather annoyed Kratos showed up.
"So you're here."
"Dammit Kratos! Get out of our way!" Lloyd shouted, drawing his blades.
Heh, he was always one to rush into a fight regardless.
"I'm afraid I cannot do that." Kratos drew his blade as well.
And, just like that, we ran forward.
Metal against metal, the constant need to heal Lloyd—Yeesh, he can be really recless when he wants to be—and then there was trying to not let anyone faint…
In the end we beat Kratos, though he just smirked and called guards to his aid.
Oh crap.
"Dammit! We have to get out of here!"
We run out of the Tower, and out into the open day light. And lo-and-behold; Yuan is waiting for us at the bottom the stairs.
"There you are! Come, I know a secret way in!"
We followed him, though it really wasn't like we had any choice.
We walked into a nearby opening in some rocks and wound up one level below the seal room.
"Why did you help us?"
"Well, since Yggdrasill now knows I'm the leader of the Renegades we technically have to work together. Now don't take this the wrong way. I do not want to become your friends. Now then, if you take that teleporter over there it should lead you to the room with the seal." With that he hurried away, not even giving us a chance to say anything.
Man that guy could be really cold sometimes.
"Hey look! There's an item machine over here! Let's buy some stuff and get on with it!"
"I…agree. I'm worried about Genis." Raine whispered, cluching her oak staff even tighter. Though she may hide it I was more than sure that she was more than 'worried'. She was probably down right hysterical about her younger brothers safety.
But then again, why would she be?
He was, to my knowledge, her only family left.
I know I'd be the same way if Seles and I were a little closer.
I shook my mind of these thoughts as we made our way to the teleporter. I cringed lightly as we entered the room, knowing that I would have to be spouting obscene lies to my friends in mere seconds.
I walked forward, "Now then, let me take care of this…hmm, hey Colette, c'mere a sec."
"Huh? Oh, okay!"
Boy was she an idiot. Gods I would have to apologize to her later for this.
"Stand right here, I think, since you're the one that's going to be Martels vessel and all, it might work…hmm…"
The ring started glowing, teleporting us up to the upper level…where Kratos appeared again.
"Wha—Kratos—Zelos! What's going on?" Lloyd cried out, attempting to run at us.
"Heh, it's foolish to stop us. Now then, Chosen. If you still wish to remove that title of yours, then we must leave now."
I merely nodded my head, thankful that I hadn't had to spout lies like I thought I had.
Now I was only hurting them by the betrayal.
Which in some respects could be ten times worse.
"Wait…you're…with Cruxis?" Lloyds seemed shocked at this and sad. It hurt to hear him, and see him, look like that.
"Yeah, well, like I said before, I side with the strongest. And Cruxis so happened to win above you and the Renegades."
"You were leaking information to the Renegades too?" Sheena cried out, looking generally pissed.
And I couldn't blame her.
"I always knew you were a philandering idiot but I never doubted that you were a good person!"
Gee, Sheena, how sweet of you. It's a little too late to say that now don't you think?
"Dammit Zelos…I still trust you do you hear me? I still…trust you…"
And indeed I had heard him, as we teleported out of the room.
And I was so glad…
Glad that he, out of everyone else, still trusted me.
And that…is what made my decision. I would help them, no matter what.
I would help them defeat Mithos—Yggdrasill.
I walked down the hall to the Great Seed Chamber watching as Colette struggled in Kratos' grip.
"Let me go! Let me go! Zelos, how could you do this? I thought you—"
"Shut up." Kratos growled, making her clamp her mouth shut immediately.
I sighed, she was right. How could I do this?
Don't worry, Colette, when your friends are in danger, when Lloyd is in danger, I will save them.
And I will return to your side.
Because right now, my title as Chosen, or soon to be lack thereof, is not as important as my title of friendship—and possibly more in Lloyds case—to you all.
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Me: D'aww…I got all fuzzy inside when I typed those last lines…Zelos can be so sweet sometimes!
Feral: Yes, I suppose someone like him can be…not that I know him that well. Though I am happy that I'm in this chapter!
Me: Of course you are! And all my reviewers are getting a treat cuz this chap. Is up right after I posted up my ninth chapter.
Feral: That's true, lucky them.
Me: Oh yes, and when you were singing about how Mithos—Yggdrasill—had a thing for spandex, that came from Nady-Kuns strip about how Spandex will take over the world (ToSyonkoma2byYukitheFox on DeviantArt for those who haven't seen it). That was so funny that I just had to add that in there! I hope you don't mind!