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Here is the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy it!
Disclaimer: Namco owns Tales of Symphonia.
Chapter 14:
A boot kicked her hard in the gut and Anna's coughed violently, gasping for air as her eyes snapped open. "Wake up, you inferior being." Another kick caused her to cry out before a hand gripped her hair and hauled her off the ground.
No! No! She screamed in her head, grabbing at the hand grasping her hair. Tears sprang into her eyes from the pain and she kicked out with her feet, struggling.
She was thrown to the ground, her hands slamming into the dirt…no, stone.
Stone?! Anna stared and then snapped her head up. Gray walls surrounded her. Stone. Just like the floor. Just like the—
She whirled around, hands slapping against the floor as she stared up at the shadowed figure looking down at her.
"You filthy human trash." The male voice snarled, a whip uncoiling from his hands. Anna's eyes widened and whimpering escaped her throat. She pulled herself back across the floor and the voice snarled and the figure strode towards her. "You think you can escape? You think you can run?"
"Please—no—" Anna whispered, eyes wide with fear, fastened on the figure. She wanted to run. To attack to. To move. But she was frozen, trapped by her own fear.
"Begging won't help, you worthless dog." The voice spat and raised the whip.
Anna ducked and the voice let out a harsh laugh. Her hands lifted to her ears and she shook her head. Where was Seth? Kratos? Where were they?! Where was everyone?!
"You are pathetic. An expendable creature." The whip snapped in the air and Anna cowered down, flinching. Her hand clamped over her mouth stifling her scream.
"You are lucky you have that exsphere, otherwise I would kill you right now. Instead, I will teach you a lesson for trying to escape. One that you will never forget."
Anna's ears were filled with the pounding of her blood as her heart thumped loudly in her chest. Her eyes watched as the whip rose, the metal tip glinting. Her mind went blank as the whip descended.
She screamed. She screamed as the pain fired through her, the feeling of her hot sticky blood on her skin, on her arms, back and legs. The sharp sting as the metal dug into her flesh, ripping it.
The voice laughed, mocking her. "Run, you dog! Run and cower you filthy creature." More voices echoed, surrounding her. Figures materialized out of the darkness, jeering at her.
"Human trash!"
"Inferior Being."
"Wretched wench."
She screamed again, tears pouring down her face. The pain coming with every word.
"Worthless, pathetic—"
"Anna!"
Her eyes snapped open and she struck out with her hand, striking the face above her. She heard a curse and she felt a hand grab her arm. "Don't touch me!" she shouted, pulling away, tears streaming from her eyes. "Please! Stop! Leave me alone!"
The figure growled and grabbed at her again and she slapped at him crying. "Please, let me go. Please..." she whimpered and pulled against the grip.
A second hand grabbed her other arm pulling her towards the figure.
She shook her head, struggling when she felt arms wrap around her, holding her close. "Anna. It's alright. It was just a dream. Calm down."
She breathed heavily, gasping for breath, sobbing into the chest. A hand held her head, the other wrapped around her shoulders. She curled further into the embrace.
"I—I was—" she choked. "They were—the ranch—I couldn't—"
"It was just a dream." The voice reassured her.
"Is she alright? She was thrashing pretty wildly. She caught you across the nose."
"I'm fine. I think she is calming down."
Anna's breaths slowed to quick, halting jerks. She felt a heartbeat against her cheek, it was pounding quickly. She closed her eyes tightly, but she quickly snapped them open again, afraid that everything now would vanish like before.
She could smell the smoke from the fire and she could see the dying embers. The camp. She was still at the camp. And she could hear the men's voices. Seth and—
Anna jerked away quickly and the hands released her instantly. She stared, wide-eyed, at Kratos, who was kneeling next to her, watching her worriedly. "Are you alright?" She nodded mutely and he nodded. "Good."
He moved to stand and she noticed the blood on his face. "You're bleeding!" she cried out.
Kratos looked down at her. "You punch me in the face."
Seth scooted up beside her. "That must have been one hell of a dream." He was smiling, but Anna saw the concern in his eyes.
"I'm sorry. I didn't—"
"Never mind." Kratos turned and walked away. "It was not your fault."
Anna stared after him before lowering her gaze to the ground. Seth laid his arms across his knees. "You okay?" She nodded. It was just a dream, but it had seemed so real... "Do you want to talk about it?" Seth asked after a moment.
Anna bit her lip. She could feel the tears coming to her eyes again and she took a deep, shuddering breath. "I—I was at the Ranch again. I thought—I thought they had—" She choked on her words and pulled her knees up to her chest. Seth wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. "I could feel the whips. I could feel the blood. I—It seemed so real." She closed her eyes, hearing the voice echoing in her ears. "I could hear them. Their voices."
"It's okay. It wasn't real." Seth rubbed her arm, reassuring her.
Anna leaned her head against his shoulder, feeling her shaky breaths slowing. Why now? Why had the nightmares and horrors come now? When she was happy and free? Why did she have to relive the horrors? It wasn't fair! It wasn't—
Anna clenched her hands and wrapped her hands around herself. "Talk, Seth."
"Huh? About what?" Seth looked at her, confused.
"Anything. I don't care, just distract me."
"Maybe I should get, Kratos," he muttered, unsure, glancing to where the mercenary had wandered off.
Anna frowned and looked at him. "Why?"
Seth avoided her gaze. "He is better at this sort of thing."
Anna laughed loudly. "Kratos? Are you serious? It is like talking to a—to a—wild animal. You talk to it, try to get it to understand and then it attacks."
Seth blinked. "Where the heck do you come up with these comparisons? They don't even make sense?"
Anna shrugged, shuffling her feet. "It makes sense if you think about it. But seriously, why did you say that?"
Seth looked down. "I am not stupid, Anna."
She stared at him in surprise. "I never said that you—"
"You think I don't get it? I know you would rather be with him than me right now and I am okay with that I just hate how you pretend you don't."
"Seth, I—"
Seth put up his hand. "Anna, just listen. I loved you. I loved everything about you. Back, when we were still kids, I believed that we would marry one day. I imagined we would live in Luin, have a family and grow old together. But I was a stupid fool back then Anna." He pulled his hands away from her, running a hand through his hair. "The world doesn't work like that. It is more dangerous and it took me until now to figure out how dangerous."
Anna opened her mouth, but she didn't know what to say. Seth glared at the ground, hands clenched. "Even when you were captured, your family killed, I still dreamt of the day you would return. Somehow I knew you would come back. As the years went by, I couldn't move on. I felt that life had cheated me somehow, that everything I believed in was a lie. I stopped going to the church, stopped praying, and just pushed through with what I had.
"Then you came back. I saw you, even in those rags; I saw you and recognized you. Something changed in me at that moment. I thought it was my feelings for you. I thought it was because after so long of waiting for you, you had come back."
"But it wasn't," Anna whispered, reaching over and taking his hand. She bit her lip.
Seth shook his head. "It was because you had changed." He saw her confused expression and smiled. "You were different, Anna. You adapted to life and became apart of it, rather than become consumed by it. You could have given up in the cell, but you didn't."
Anna looked away. "I had given up, Seth. I had tried to escape and every time I failed."
"You never gave up, Anna. If you had, why didn't you kill yourself?" Anna didn't have a response for that. "It was because you still had hope. Hope that you would get out of there alive and you did. It was that I saw, but I didn't know it. Not till now."
Anna bowed her head. "I am sorry."
"Why?"
"Because I pushed you away. I was a part of that fantasy too, Seth. I was the little girl who would become a wife. I loved you too. But once I was at the Ranch I forgot about you. It hurt so much to think about that, those happy memories. I only remembered my name and my parents and how they died. I couldn't live in that place wishing for better things because they didn't exist." Anna held his hand tighter. "And then when I came back, I didn't even notice you. You did so much, cared about me and I looked the other way."
"Because you grew up, Anna. The world doesn't revolve around a fantasy. We take what we have and make the best of it. Dreams are just that, dreams. But life can take a turn and sometimes we can never come back from it. It wouldn't work between us anymore, would it? You have seen too much and I have seen too little."
Anna hunched her shoulders. She knew what he said was true. Seth could never understand the pain and terror she went through. It wasn't something you could explain in words. The experience was a fresh wound that could reopen easily and he would be trapped as she struggled to heal it again and again. She could talk to him and he would nod and say everything was okay. But she would know, deep down, that it wasn't.
She nodded. "I think you are right. And I think I knew that from the start, just didn't realize it." Her chin quivered and she looked up at the stars. "I don't think anyone could really understand."
Seth touched her shoulder. "He seems to."
Anna snorted. "Heh. I doubt it. Why would he understand any better than you?"
"Maybe he has seen things in his life that equal your own. He is a mercenary, Anna. And why do you think you are so attached to him?"
Anna shook her head. "Firstly, I am not attached to him. Secondly, unless he has survived a Ranch as well, I doubt anything he has seen could equal to what I have seen." The second part came out harsher than intended and she looked way. "Besides, we hate each other."
Seth smirked. "I wouldn't say that. I saw the way you looked at him the night we escaped Luin. It was then I started thinking about this stuff. You looked up to him so much."
"I blame that on him being the hero. Of course, I adored him. He comes flying in and swept me from my cell taking me home. And when he disappeared and came back, I believed it was for me. For me! Ha! Can you believe that? It was all for this piece of stone in my chest. "
"Alright, alright." Seth held up his hands defensively. "But even so, you can't really believe he hates you."
"Why not?" she snapped irritably. "When he rescued me, he forced me to walk through the forest, barefoot. He tied my hands, ordered me around. Wouldn't listen to me."
"He healed you. Allowed you to ride, Noishe. Got himself injured rescuing you. Risked his life killing Desians."
"For the exsphere."
"He came back for you at Luin."
"For the exsphere, again." She counted two fingers.
"He is searching for a way to save your life."
"So he can take the exsphere without having to kill me." She looked at him annoyed. "Don't you get it? He cares more about this blasted exsphere than he does about me!"
"He comforted you when you had that nightmare," Seth said quietly, watching her. Anna's hand fell and she stared silently at him. "He didn't do that for the exsphere. He did that for you."
Anna frowned. "He was probably annoyed by my screaming," she muttered.
Seth shook his head sadly. "You screamed once and he was by your side. I was too shocked to realize what was happening. By then you punched him in the nose." He smiled. "And still he stayed."
Anna bit her lip. Was what Seth said really true, or was he just trying to…do what? What could Seth possibly gain by lying to her about this? She struggled to figure it out, but came up with nothing. She shook her head. "I'm tired. I am going to try and sleep again. Thanks for talking with me."
She noticed the way he grinned at her and looked away. "Alright." He had to be joking. He was feeling bad for his confession, believing he was abandoning her. Anna crawled away from him and laid back down, staring into the cold embers. Smoke drifted lazily from the coals. She was okay with it. She knew it would never have worked between her and Seth. They had both taken different directions. She was alone in this. The chances of her finding another who understood her and could handle it weren't even worth considering. She was alone.
She closed her eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks. Her mother would have understood, even her father. But they were gone. Dead.
Her fingers curled, clutching the grass beneath her. There was Krat—no. How could she even believe that? He was a mercenary, a person who cared only about his profit gained out of any situation. She didn't know what his reasons were for breaking people out of the cells, or why he had risked his life for her and Seth. But she knew that it wasn't just because he cared for her. He had told her that to her face.
Anna listened, fighting off her shuddering breaths as footsteps approached her. She could sense someone standing over her, but she kept her eyes closed, tear streaks staining her cheeks.
It seemed like forever. There was no sound of him moving and she thought about opening her eyes to see if he was still there when the feet scuffled on the grass and he sat next to her.
She could hear his soft breathing. Could feel his eyes on her and she shivered involuntarily. A few moments passed and she couldn't hear his breathing. Then she felt a hand touch her shoulder. It was warm and she shivered again, but she felt calmer somehow. Protected.
She relaxed under his touch. The feeling to cry leaving her and the feeling of safety replaced it and she fell asleep.
--
"I hope this mission doesn't take too long. I have been itching to get back home to my girl." Cal stretched his arms as they walked, yawning loudly.
"Which one?" Quill sneered. "You have a new one each week." Dev glanced at him warningly, but it went unnoticed. Quill was not an exceptionally large man, much shorter than the other men. But he did have a large mouth that tended to get him in trouble often. His favorite target seemed to be Cal.
"Shut it, you twerp." Cal growled at him.
Garret shook his head. "Careful Quill, Dev warned you about picking your fights." The lanky man hefted his pack higher. "But Cal has a point, Dev. How long do you think this will take?"
Dev scratched his chin, the three day old stubble scratching against his glove. "I couldn't tell you. It depends on how fast they are moving, whether one of them is injured, where they are heading, what—"
"Okay, okay. I get it." Garret chuckled, holding his hands up. "It's just...I haven't seen my wife and kid in over a month. I was just wondering." Garret turned his face away. "I'm sorry. I know we aren't suppose to complain, but—"
"Garret, it's fine. I understand and if I had a choice, we would be back at the base. You think I don't miss Heidi?"
"She's a dog. There is a bit of a difference there, Sir." Garret grinned and Dev smiled, shrugging.
"I am guessing. Maybe a month. Or a little over." Dev said it. But he didn't believe it. Somehow, the way Kvar had addressed the situation; it seemed that it would a lot more challenging than that. And this Kratos. Well, he could cause a problem.
"Garret, what do you know about a man named Kratos?"
The soldier frowned and rubbed his shoulder. "Isn't that the name of the guy who freed the prisoners and killed all the guards?"
"Kratos?" Quill piped up, jogging up beside Garret. "That's the guy who did Benny in. Poor kid hadn't been there for more than a week."
"Do you know anything about him, specifically?" Dev tried again. He already knew about the men who had died. He knew a lot of them. He was more interested on who Kratos was.
"Well, I heard he is some important Desian leader or something. Didn't he come around the Ranches a couple years back, checking to make sure everything was in order?" Quill added after.
Cal shook his head. "There are only five cardinals, you idiot." He pulled off his helmet, tugging down the hood that covered his head, shaking his hair loose. "If you ask me, he is higher than that."
Garret looked at him curiously. "Higher? Like in Cruxis?"
Quill frowned. "If he is apart Cruxis, what purpose would he have killing off Desians soldiers?"
"No different if he was a Cardinal." Cal pointed out.
"They kill soldiers all the time."
Dev looked away as Cal argued with Quill. Cruxis was a possibility. It could be the reason Kvar was reluctant to state his status, especially with his order to kill him. There had also been rumors going through the other commanders that someone had betrayed Lord Yggdrasil. It had been overhearded in Kvar's office. It was a possibility.
But, still, to kill a member of Cruxis. Dev didn't like the prospect. It was a dangerous stance when he didn't know all the facts. If this Kratos really was a member of Cruxis, was he really the traitor? Or was there some misunderstanding?
"Dev? Are you listening?"
Dev turned and found Quill staring up at him. "Sorry, what were you saying?"
Cal rolled his eyes and shook his head. Garret smirked. "We were wondering why you were so interested in this Kratos guy. You said we were after the Angelus Project."
Quill nodded. "Yeah, are they connected somehow?"
Dev hesitated when Cal snapped at Quill. "Of course they are related you, idiot. Who they hell do you think broke the human out?"
Dev nodded. "He is supposedly behind the escapes and deaths. Lord Kvar says that our primary target is the Project, but we shouldn't hesitate to kill Kratos as well."
"You can't be serious? Kill a Cruxian?" Garret blinked his dark eyes. "That is suicide."
"We don't know if he really is a Cruxian or not. Apparently he is human. And a human holding that type of a position is unlikely." Dev corrected them. "For now we focus on A012. Once we gather more information on Kratos, I will think of something."
Cal scoffed. "Just how are we going to find out more about him?"
Dev glanced at him. "Townspeople."
"They aren't going to talk to us. They would run away screaming at the first sight of us." Garret frowned, rubbing his nose.
"I have an idea."
Quill glanced at Garret with a smile. "You should have more faith in him than that. Doesn't he always have a plan?"
"And don't you ever shut up." Cal growled, massaging his forehead.
"Nope." Quill grinned.
"Quill." Dev warned him. "That's enough."
"Yes, Sir."
Dev stopped and glanced over his shoulder at the remaining seventeen men. They were exhausted and it was only midday. "Cal, call for them to stop. We will take a quick break. We should be able to reach Hima by nightfall tomorrow."
Cal nodded and barked out the order. Instantly there was a chorus of relieved sighs and a couple of cheers.
Garret rolled his eyes. "I don't know how you do it, Dev."
"Do what?" the commander asked, pulling his pack off and preceded to remove his helmet.
"Make the men like you so much." Garret followed Dev's example, running a hand through his damp hair. "They love you, but still respect you. Heck, look at Quill and Cal. You are the only one they will listen to."
Dev gave him a look. "You guys are my responsibility. I do what any commander would do to make sure their regiment survives."
"Then how come you are the only commander who has never lost a soldier? How come you are the only commander that every soldier wants to serve?"
Dev smirked. "Now you are just begging. What do you want?"
Garret smiled. "That is what I am talking about, Sir. You treat us like equals, rather than underlings. Why? Any other commander would have whipped me for speaking to you so causally."
Dev shook his head. "Go have a break, Garret. I think Simon is in need of some water over there."
Garret sighed and walked away, leaving Dev. The commander sighed and closed his eyes, seating himself on the ground. It wasn't something he would ever admit to his men, but he saw them as his family.
He tugged at his gloves, dropping them on to the ground…remembering…
"Daddy! Daddy! Your home!" a little girl rushed up and Dev scooped her up in his arms, spinning her around. A young woman came around up smiling, dropping a kiss on his cheek.
"Glad your home. How was it today?" she asked.
"Not good, Lisa." Dev set the girl on the floor. "They fired me again. Someone made a complaint and…"
"Again?! Liars. They are all liars." Lisa spat.
"Not in front of Cathy." Dev admonished. "Cathy, why don't you run and grab your jacket? We will take a hike up to the Stone Dais."
Cathy grinned and darted off. Dev smiled and then felt Lisa wrap her arms around him. "We should leave. I hate this town. I hate how they treat you, just because of who you are. Even my parents."
Dev held her tightly, kissing her head. "I know. They are just…afraid. Half-elves are often linked to Desians and it scares them."
"But you aren't a Desian. And you have never done anything wrong. Why can't they see that?"
Dev shook his head. "Not all humans are as brave as you, Lisa."
"But—"
"Daddy! I am ready! Let's go!"
Dev smiled and picked his daughter up. "Okay. Let's go."
Laughter rang out and Dev opened his eyes. His men were his family. His only family and you protect your family, care for them. If one man fell, he would go back for him.
"Hey, Dev! Come over here! Quill has challenged Cal to a fight. You might want to convince him out of it." Garret hollered, laughing.
He sighed. And every family had to have a parent to keep order. He smiled and picked himself up as he heard Quill shouting out for mercy already, the men's laughter ringing out.
I figured I would develop the Desians a little more. Especially Dev. He will be playing a major role in the story, but hopefully it was still interesting.
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