Disclaimer: Hey all! Happy Zombie Jesus Day! As that is the day I am writing, as in putting this on paper and not typing it up. Sorry if my label of the day offends anyone, I didn't mean it to be offensive. I just like to have a humorous view of otherwise sober holidays. So...yes. Anyway, I have Indeffinate here with me finally, so...yeah... Now we can write. I think. Indeffinate?

Indeffinate: "Yeah, I'm here."

Wavemasterkaz: "Woo! So. We gonna make this shidig the bomb-diggity?" *wink wink*

Indeffinate: "Don't wink, it's weird. And no one says shindig or bomb-diggity anymore!"

Wavemasterkaz: "Balmung does!"

Indeffinate: "Yeah, but he's cool." *grin*

Wavemasterkaz: "But maybe we should not make references to him anymore, because I don't think any of the other readers (besides Sadie) know who he is..."

Indeffinate: "He is only the awesomest guy ever! Explain to the readers! Or better yet, you guys should just go watch .hack!"

Wavemasterkaz: " "Kay, well, Balmung belongs to .hack/SIGN, which is property of... I don't really know. But he's not in this story so...yeah. Let's get on with this." *goofy grin*

Indeffinate: "You would 'goofily grin'! Allllright. Midna does not belong to Wavemasterkaz, she is property of Nintendo, ALSO, Tales of Symphonia does not belong to her either. It is property of Namco, thannks! Enjoy the story."

Wavemasterkaz: "And now she went over there, to the other side of the deck. So...uh... Story time."

Chapter XIII

Lukas and Orin

There was a lot of smoke. Smoke? But smoke meant fire. Where was the fire? His vision was blurred as he opened his eyes, and he coughed as the thick black smoke poured into his lungs. As his vision focussed, he noticed that the world had an odd orange glow. Fire...fire... What was happening? People were screaming again, and the sound made his head ache.

Be quiet... his mind begged. He moaned, but the sound was lost amid the screaming. He glared angrily at them as they ran past him. Couldn't they see how much they were hurting him? He lifted his hands to his head, then stopped. A startlingly limp person's arm was clutched in his right hand. Looking down, he saw enormous chunks had been torn out of the person's neck and face. There were teeth marks around every wound. Horrified, he let go of the human's arm, and recoiled with a gasp of terror. Had he done this?

Crying out, he stumbled away from the dead human, failing to notice the change he'd undergone. His roar echoed through the destruction, his cry of horror sounding in a voice that was not his.

What's happening to me? He clutched at his head with his hands, fear making his heart beat painfully fast. His head was pounding and his vision blurred again.

And then the world went black.

... ... ... ... ... ...

Kratos was the first to rise that morning, other than Colette, who could no longer sleep. They said little to each other as they began to hide the evidence of their fire, and cleaned up the rest of their camp. It was silent for nearly an hour, when the sun was above the horizon, and Kratos heard a noise. In one motion, he had drawn his sword and launched himself in from of the Chosen. He stood at the ready, all senses alert as the unknown sound turned out to be footsteps. Lloyd had been awoken by the sound of Kratos' sword being drawn, and was now hurriedly grabbing his own swords, also positioning himself in front of Colette.

The footsteps became louder, crunching on the dirt, and kicking up a loose stone, getting closer and closer. Eccah was now awake as well, startling the others by also assuming a protective stance in front of the Chosen, holding her bladed staff forward, ready to charge. No one said a word, but stood silently as the footsteps became very audible in the silence of the early morning.

"Heeeyyy!" a voice suddenly called. As they watched, a tall, blonde man came into view among the trees that surrounded the camp. The man stopped a safe distance away and waved, a very wide grin on his face.

"Luke!" Eccah cried, dropping her weapon and rushing forward. Kratos and Lloyd lowered their swords, bewildered. The blonde man in the trees spread his arms, and caught the young girl in a tight bear hug.

"You...know him?" Lloyd asked. Eccah turned to him, beaming, still caught in a tight embrace.

"It's Lukas!" she exclaimed. "My brother who was taken away to the Human Ranch when Luin was destroyed by the Desians." Lukas nodded. Turning back to him, Eccah said,

"What happened? How did you escape? Did we free you? If so, why didn't I see you?" Lukas laughed.

"Whoa, hold on, kid," he said. "Y'know, one question at a time!" They came closer to the camp. "And...aren't ya forgetting someone else?" Eccah raised one eyebrow, and Lukas gestured behind him, in the direction he'd come from.

"We both got away," he said, as the others looked where he was pointing. "And we came lookin' for ya." A second, taller blonde man appeared where Lukas had, but unlike the first, he was not smiling.

"It's taken us quite a while to locate you," he said.

"Orin!" Eccah exclaimed, leaving Lukas to go and hug the other man. "You're safe too! How did you find us?"

"It's a bit of a long story," Lukas said, still grinning.

"All of your companions should hear it." Orin said, still unsmiling.

... ... ... ... ... ...

Lukas and Orin's appearances were just as odd as their sister's was, the group decided as they sat around the campsite, regarding each other. And yet, they did not look much alike. Lukas' hair was dirty blonde, with darker flecks of brown, and it was cut very oddly indeed. His bangs were long and untidy, as was the hair on the sides of his head, whereas the top and back were cut very short, and spiked in many different directions, giving his head a windswept appearance. His skin was pale and freckled, and his cheeks were dimpled as if there were permanent dents left from grinning so often. His eyes were bright green, with gold rings around his pupils, and they sparkled as if the whole world pleased him. Under his right eye, there was an oddly shaped forest-green mark of some kind, that looked almost like a tribal brand. He had a very good natured face, and seemed like an overall very happy person. His clothes were not as outlandish as his sister's were, however. He wore a plain, beige tunic, with white leggings and brown boots. A quiver with a dozen arrows and a longbow was strapped to his back, and he carried a hunting knife at his waist.

Orin's hair was platinum blonde, appearing almost white, and was extremely untidy, as if it had a mind of its own. His bangs fell into his eyes, and the majority of his hair swept forward. The hair on the sides of his head flipped out and upward, and the back of his hair stuck up in numerous directions, before finally falling down the back of his neck. His eyes were the exact same shade of deep blue as Eccah's but he had a similar complexion to Lukas, though with considerably fewer freckles. There was a mark on his face too, a deep red mark that slightly resembled a lightning bolt, just beside his left eye. He wore a navy blue tunic, grey leggings, and brown boots, with a red scarf of some sort draped about his shoulders and flowing down over his back. He carried two rather large, one-handed swords, crisscrossed across his back, and around his neck hung a chain with a cross attached to it.

After a moment, Raine broke the silence.

"So. You two are Eccah's brothers?" Lukas and Orin nodded. "You lived in Luin, correct? Then how is it that you were not among the other captives we freed from Kvar's Human Ranch?" No one noticed how Sora's hands balled into fists at Kvar's name.

"We knew they were coming," Lukas said. Orin shot him a look that was clearly a warning, but Lukas ignored him as he continued. "We left just before the attack. We were nearly caught, and only just got away. I think they knew that they hadn't found everyone though, 'cause they had soldiers searching the surrounding woods for days. That made it really hard to get back."

"Why would you want to go back there?" Lloyd asked, raising one eyebrow. "I mean, I know it's your home and all, but..it was nothing but ruins, and you were safe, so...why?" Lukas opened his mouth to speak, but closed it as Orin replied to Lloyd's question.

"We were looking for Eccah," he said. "We were nearly away when we realized that she was not with us. Naturally, we assumed that the Desians had taken her, but there was a chance that she was still hiding somewhere in the town. And, as destroyed as it was, it would have had some valuable supplies that could have aided us if it came down to attacking the Ranch." Raine regarded him for a moment.

"You say you knew that the attack was coming," she said. "How could you have known such a thing?" Lukas and Orin looked at each other, then at Eccah.

"Hey, yeah Ecc," Lukas said. "How did you know?" Eccah blushed, and looked at her feet.

"Ah..well," she said quietly. "Well, um.. when I heard about.. when I heard about what happened there, I-" she broke off, looking awkward, as if she was confessing to something that she didn't quite want to say. "The experiments that Sora's mother was in, I mean.. When I heard about that, I wanted to see if they were still doing that.. If.. that was what had happened to Dad, so.. I was.. spying." As she finished talking she stared at her feet. Lukas sighed and slapped himself in the forehead, and Orin shook his head, looking half amused, half disappointed.

"Oh, sis..." Lukas sighed. "When will you learn?" Eccah looked embarrassed.

"There is more." Orin said, changing the subject. "When we learned that you were travelling with the Chosen," He cast a glance at Colette as he said this. "We began to follow her progress across Sylvarant. However..." He looked around at the others, his face grim. "We found that several of the cities you've visited have been utterly destroyed." There was a collective gasp.

"D-destroyed?" Genis stammered. "You mean like what happened to Asgard?" Orin nodded.

"So you've seen it then." he said. "Yes, it is basically the same. Everything in ruins, numerous dead, and all with bite marks around their wounds. The strange thing is, however..."

"Is that whoever it is has been going your exact route, and like at Asgard, sometimes going on ahead." Lukas said. Raine and Kratos both glanced at Koda, who was dozing off in Eccah's lap. "The thing is, though, we've been asking around, and apparently there's been no one trailing you..."

"Which only leaves one other possibility." Orin said. "Chosen One," he said to Colette. "You would do well to be wary of your companions, as they may be more than they appear."

"Yeah, we... kinda got that...already.." Sora said, looking at Koda with a look that was a mixture of pity and frustration. Orin sighed, then turned to Lloyd and the others.

"So I assume you know that Koda is a vampire child?" he asked. After a moment of silence, Sheena said,

"We kind of assumed something like that..after the attack in Asgard." Lukas' eyes went wide and Orin looked alert.

"Attack?" he said sharply.

"Y-yeah," Lloyd replied. "We made a deal with a guard who thought Sora had destroyed their city before, and it involved a fight, and... well Koda kind of.. uh... ate.. the guy."

"I was protecting my Darky." the small boy piped up drowsily. Orin sighed.

"We're heading to Hima." he said softly. "I assume that's where you were headed as well?" Colette nodded.

"Yes," she said. "And from there we'll go to the Tower of Salvation. The last seal on my journey."

"We'll accompany you there," Orin said, as Lukas nodded. "But after that, I think it would be best if Koda remained with us. We'll take him back to Luin, and when your journey is over, Sora and Eccah can rejoin him."

End Chapter XIII

Lukas and Orin