Tales of Symphonia, idiot renegade
((A/N: -eats a biscuit-
Master summoner Sheena: More Botta flashbacks? ... Well, I don't really have anything planned, and I'm nearing the end with the chapters I'm currently writing... But I'll see if I can add something cute in the end. No promises though.
Mandi Minamoto: Nah, it's not really the reason why Yuan hired him. It's just that Yuan was currently in the market for a new sidekick, when Botta happened to show up.
Silver Latias: I'm figuring they've been around for 1000 years or less. I don't think Yuan would've started the Renegades immediately when Cruxis was formed...
HealingWind: You found that scene sad? I didn't really think it was sad at all. The actual death scene is much worse...
Okay, time to start the ring sidequest!))
Chapter twenty-one.
Yuan was sitting in his office, sighing heavily. It seemed like everything was going wrong. He still hadn't broken the seal on Origin, killed the chosen or kidnapped Lloyd. All that was left to do was to wait for the Mana links to be broken. Bored out of his mind, he grabbed a pen and started twirling it through his fingers. The only link that had been released since the Remote island ranch incident, was the one between Efreet and Celcius. Sighing again, he stared blankly at the pen rolling back and forth between his fingers. Then, he noticed something that made him drop it in an instant.
'Where's my ring?' he thought, staring at his right hand. It wasn't there. Slowly, he looked at his left hand. It wasn't there either. Jumping to his feet, he started checking his pockets. No ring.
"Oh no! This can't be happening!" he exclaimed, storming into his bedroom. It wasn't on the nightstand either. Soon, he had turned both bases inside out, and even resorted to using a metal detector. The ring was nowhere to be found.
"Noooo! My ring! That damn thing cost me a fortune! I still haven't finished paying it off! I have to find it again!" he whispered to himself. The Renegades gave him a strange look. "Okay, calm down Yuan. Calm down. What's the most logical thing to do here?" he started pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself. "Logically, I'd have to retrace my steps. But where do I start? When was the last time I saw it?" he paused, thinking back. The last time he'd seen the ring was probably when he was preparing to go to Hima, to assassinate Kratos. So that would logically be the first place to look. "To Hima!" he called dramatically. The Renegades stared at him even more.
Soon, Yuan had arrived in Hima. First, he checked the ledge where he'd waited to ambush Kratos. No ring. Then, he went down and started to check the place where Kratos had stabbed him. Sure, there was an imprint in the ground, which looked like a ring might've landed there. But no ring. "Where could it be?" he wondered aloud. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice calling him.
"Yo, Yuan"
His eyes narrowing, he turned to face Lloyd and his friends."What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be making pacts?" he asked.
"We are. We were on our way to make a pact with Sylph, but decided to stop by here." Lloyd shrugged.
"Well, keep going then." Yuan turned to leave.
"Oh, mister Yuan! Wait up!" Colette called.
Sighing, he turned back to her, and crossed his arms impatiently. "What?"
"I just remembered where I'd seen you before!"
"Huh?" Yuan raised an eyebrow.
"Back on mount Fooji, when I regained my soul, I thought you looked familiar. Which was silly, because that was the first time I'd actually met you. But it kept nagging at me when we met again at Palmacosta ranch, and when we came to tell you Botta had succeeded. And just now, I remembered!" Colette bounced up and down.
"Enlighten me…" Yuan said unenthusiastically.
"You're the blue-haired woman I saw kissing Kratos in my dream!" Colette exclaimed grinning.
"Wh-what!" Yuan shouted, as everyone's jaw dropped.
"Back in Luin, I had a dream that I looked outside and saw Kratos kissing a woman with long blue hair! That was you!"
"Preposterous!" Yuan said, turning red. "One, I am obviously not a woman. Two, it's impossible for me to be in a dream of yours when we hadn't met. Three, there is no way I'd be kissing Kratos! On his beautiful, full lips… Running my hands through his hair… tight pants…" Yuan's eyes suddenly glazed over, as he stared blankly in the distance, drooling slightly.
"Uhm… mister Yuan?" Colette waved her hand in front of him.
"Huh? Oh! Uh… So anyway, it wasn't me!" Yuan quickly turned and hurried away.
"What a strange man…" Raine commented.
((I cannot stop laughing all of a sudden...))