Alaia Skyhawk: Alright! I've reached 300 hits on 'Prequel' - (Does a happy dance) Thanks to all my reviewers who have given me the incentive to keep going. Well here's chapter 11. This calls for a celebration. Noishe, could you give me some fireworks please.

Noishe: Fine, fine. SPIRAL FLARE!

Alaia Skyhawk: Whoa, watch your aim.

Noishe: (Mutters) Damn, I missed.

Alaia Skyhawk: What was that?

Noishe: Nothing. (Whistles innocently) Alaia Skyhawk doesn't own Tales of Symphonia so please don't sue her. She does however own Krishka, Dallinius, Aluran, the Alurannai and any OCs so please don't steal them.

Enjoy

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Chapter 11: Interlude.

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There was a slight chill in the air as the autumn sunshine glinted through the branches overhead. Fingers of light reaching down to the forest floor, against a backdrop of golds, reds and browns. In the clearing below, two blurs shot past each other. The first was an auburn and dark blue blur, the second, red, white and turquoise. They lunged at each other again, a spray of sparks erupting as they crossed paths with a clash of steel. As they landed on either side of the clearing, a circle of light formed round the second figure.

"THUNDER BLADE!"

"GUARDIAN!"

The spell was deflected by the green sphere of light that formed around the first figure. He stood up from his guard position and looked over his shoulder at his opponent with a smirk, as a spell circle formed around his own feet.

"STORM SPRAY!"

A thousand needles of water shot down from the air above their target. The young, turquoise haired man, spun his weapon above his head, creating a barrier of moving steel.

"Nice try, Kratos."

Yuan held his weapon out, and to the side in a position that would allow him to react instantly to an attack. It was a double ended sword, each blade starting a hand-span in width before narrowing slightly, then tapering outwards at the end making the tip look like an axe blade turned outwards. Yuan had named his weapon 'Stormsong', after his preference for lightning magic, and the way the blade seemed to sing through the air. It had been a sixteenth birthday present from Kratos, and was a sign of his friendship.

Kratos pivoted on one foot till his left side faced Yuan. He dropped into a fighting stance, his sword arm held up over, with his sword arching down past his face, level with his eyes.

"Come now, Yuan. Do you seriously think I'm throwing my best at you."

Yuan smirked.

"No... If you did, you'd cream me... I'd be a smear across the forest floor... A splatter on a nearby tree... A ..."

"You really need to work on your sarcasm, Yuan... So are we going to continue, or are you just going to stand there yakking?"

"Heh... What do you think?"

They launched themselves at each other once more.

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It was four years ago that they had their first success in Berritte. Since then the six companions had travelled all over Symphonia. They had concentrated, as planned, on the small villages and towns that were more isolated from the prejudiced views of those in the major cities. They had had many successes, a few failures, and a few which could be considered neither... but that was to be expected... They had recently decided that it was time to start the next phase of their journey. The mid sized towns that they had deemed off limits before, they would travel to now, so that Martel could tell them of her vision of hope and peace.

Martel, now seventeen, had grown into a beautiful young woman, Yuan becoming more besotted with her every passing day. He had ceased to hesitate when talking to her, and had recently begun reading his poetry to her as well. Martel blossomed under his attention, like a flower in the sun. So much so, that Kratos, Vayla and Noishe were left wondering when Yuan, who was now nineteen, would pluck up the courage to ask her that question.

CLANG! CRASH!

As Kratos and Yuan continued their sparring match, Mithos sat watching on the sidelines with Noishe. Mithos, now six, had grown a great deal in the last four years. His hair was a bit longer than it used to be and he had lost the slightly chubby appearance of the very young. He was now a very bright little boy, who was all too apt to pick things up from just watching.

Mithos had been watching the fight with interest, particularly the spells his friends were using. Mithos could sense how they called together the mana for their spells and, like many young children do, tried to copy his elders. He waved his hand around in front of him as a faint spell circle formed around him, then stuttered and died. He frowned, irritated that it hadn't worked.

"Humph!"

Mithos, on the verge of a temper tantrum, closed his eyes and tried again. A pale blue spell circle formed, this time it didn't flicker. It grew brighter and brighter until...

"ICICLE!"

A patch of ice formed next to Mithos. Noishe, startled by this, launched himself into the air... only to be brought up short with a squawk. Mithos, flushed by his success at casting his first spell, giggled. He had accidentally frozen Noishe's tail feathers to the ground. He pointed at Noishe and shouted at the top of his voice.

"Kratos, Yuan! Look what I did!"

His two friends stopped their sparring, came over, and promptly burst out laughing at the sight of Noishe with his tail feathers stuck to the floor. Yuan wiped tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Nice one, Mithos. Was that your first spell?"

Mithos jumped up and down with happiness.

"Uh huh! Doesn't Noishe look funny?"

Noishe didn't think so... He grumbled to himself as he called forth some heat to melt Mithos' ice. He then shook out his wet feathers, splattering them with water. A round of protests erupted from his friends... He sniggered.

You laugh at me... I laugh at you...

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A short distance away, Vayla and Martel were sat by the campfire having another of their Girl-to-Girl conversations.

"So what did he write this time?"

"Huh? I though you knew already... what with you being able to hear him muttering to himself as he writes."

"Nuh uh, that doesn't work any more. He caught on to me a few weeks ago... when he heard me giggle as he wrote a particularly cheesy line... So what does it say?"

Martel sighed, dreamily.

"It says:

'My light, my hope you'll always be,

across the plains, through forests far,

from mountains down to glistening sea,

more beautiful than shining star.'

"That's sooo romantic. Have you told him you like it?"

"Well, I..."

"Martel... you've got to say something sooner or later. He's been giving you little gifts and flowers for four years, and all you've done is blush and say thank you."

"I'll tell him... eventually."

"Yeah, when the underworld freezes over..."

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"Is something bothering you, Yuan?"

Yuan was staring at the ground as they walked back to the camp. He looked up at Kratos.

"It-it's nothing. I was just thinking about something."

"Well try not to let it distract you too much. You've nearly walked into five trees, and you never noticed."

"Oh... I guess I need to pay attention to where I'm going..."

"..."

"Kratos, why are you looking at me like that?"

Kratos sighed.

"Why don't you just ask her. The worst she can do is say no."

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When they got back to the camp, Mithos ran over to his sister.

"Sis, sis! I cast my first spell!"

"Oh! That's wonderful, Mithos."

"Yeah, and I froze Noishe's tail to the floor."

Martel and Vayla giggled.

"Really?"

"Uh huh. Then he melted the ice and got us all wet."

"He did, did he?"

"Yep... Can we have dinner now, I'm hungry?"

The girls smiled at each other in wry amusement at the sudden change of topic.

"Yes Mithos, we can have dinner now. What would you like?"

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That's it. I'm going to do it now...

They had just finished their meal of fried rice and seafood. Yuan looked over at Martel and got to his feet. He walked over to her.

"What is it, Yuan?" She stood up. "Is something wrong?"

"I uh." He scuffed his foot on the floor. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Hmm? What is it..." She gasped.

Yuan took her hand and dropped to one knee. In his other hand he held out a ring.

"Will you... Will you marry me...?"

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Alaia Skyhawk: Yes I know, it's another cliffhanger, but I couldn't resist. I'll put the next chapter up tonight. Please R&R.