Tales of Symphonia (C) Namco

As I step off the warp pad, a gust of wind and rain hits me in the face, making me shudder. I just finally stopped feeling wet.

Despite the horrible weather, everyone else seems relatively unaffected. I see Sheena tug her collar higher in discomfort, and Genis begins to shuffle in place while rubbing his arms, but otherwise there's no reaction. Colette makes her way up the stairs, posture straight and unwavering. Lloyd follows right after her.

I take the rear, attempting to place myself behind Kratos so he can take the brunt of the weather, but it's a useless attempt. The wind is blowing the wrong way.

"Phew ..." Lloyd huffs, shifting in place beside Colette. "Man, it's cold out here ... let's make this fast."

There's a slight pressure behind my eye, but before I can attempt to alleviate the pain the alter begins to light up. My head grows tight, similar to the feeling you get when on an airplane, and I see Genis take a cautious step back. I drop my hand to my sword, my grip slipping from the sudden slickness. As soon as I've unsheathed it, Genis yelps.

"It's Mana — there's powerful Mana coming out, guys!" He warns as he pushes his wet bangs out of his face. "Be careful!"

The light continues to rise, forming into a circle in the middle of the air before exploding in a bright flash of light. I flinch, raising my arm to my eyes, and within seconds the light has died away, leaving a monster in the center.

It looks almost like a unicorn, except with wings and spikes — and it's lacking the charm you'd expect from the fabled creatures.

"It's a Pegasus." James sounds surprised. "It may be a seal guardian, but Pegasi are incredibly rare in Sylvarant."

The Pegasus — what was its name, Uberus or something? — reals back and slams a hoofed paw to the ground before charging. Everyone dashes out of the way, weapons drawn. Lloyd charges at the monster, drawing back his sword and shouting, "Beast!"

It's hardly even effective; if anything, Lloyd's attack just startles it. The monster's spikes shoot up, and I run towards Lloyd, aiming my sword towards the monster's leg while releasing an arte of my own.

It stops the guardian from shooting the spikes at Lloyd, but in the process I become the main target. I slide to a stop, water splashing under my feet, and I push my hair back from my forehead.

"Pyre Seal!"

I lurch to the side to avoid getting hit by the spiked tail, my shoulder hitting the ground a bit too hard in the process. The tail smashes into the ground, leaving cracks in the surface and sending a shudder down my spine. That would've been bad to get hit by. If not for Sheena distracting it, I might've actually been hit.

Genis lifts his kendama, shouting out, "Wind Blade!" The magic forms right above the Pegasus' left wing, scratching the feathers and making it snarl in pain. Kratos takes advantage of its moment of weakness and slashes at the skin behind the hind leg.

The reaction is instant — I don't even see it happen. Kratos goes flying, the spiked tail swishing dangerously and making us all back away. He grunts, getting to his feet after a well timed First Aid from Raine and giving the Pegasus an annoyed glare. Before he can go back in, though, the Pegasus draws itself back, wings twitching and snout flaring. A dark shadow looms underneath it, before materializing into smaller Pegasus and rushing towards all of us.

"Shit —" Despite not being solid, the shadow leaves a dark mark on my arm when it passes through me, and I wince in pain. The pressure in my head tightens, and for a moment my legs buckle under my weight. I barely manage to catch myself.

Colette tosses her chakrams towards the monster, but it dodges before they can hit it. He attempts to swipe at Colette, but she flies away before he can, her wings flapping rapidly to keep her airborne. I push my hair from my eyes and approach again, trying to ignore the pulsating mark. It's starting to burn.

"Light Spear!" Kratos slashes the beast once more, and I take advantage of that and send my own attack along side, managing a surprisingly deep gash across its chest. The wind and rain slicks my hair to my face, and I push it back yet again, hopping over a puddle in my path before I skid to a stop.

'Maybe I should get a haircut,' I think to myself, spacing off for just a brief second.

Before I know it, my head is smacking into the wet tile. Instinctively I bite down on my tongue, tasting a rush of blood from the bite mark and gagging. My hands are shaking as I sit up, and I wait expectingly for Raine's healing magic to ease the stinging.

It doesn't come.

I look around and see that our healer has become the newest target of the seal guardian. Sheena and Lloyd are doing a pretty good job of distracting it, but it isn't looking very good.

I ignore the stabbing behind my eyelids and reach for my sword. James mutters to me about being careful.

The monster pulls back again, the dark magic once again forming underneath its hoofs, but I'm prepared this time.

Except, when they do, they don't come from the monster.

They come from me.

The mark spreads up my arm, curling around my neck before pulling away from the skin. I scream, dropping my sword in favor of clawing at the mark in an attempt to stop the process.

It's futile. The mark shoots out regardless of my desperate attempts to stop it, taking a good chunk of my Mana with it and attacking as soon as it's materialized.

"Barrier!" The shield helps soften the attack from the monster, but I'm forced to dodge away so that I'm not hit. Genis hits it with Aqua Edge, causing the shadow-monster to dissolve completely. I gasp, dropping to my knees and shuddering. I can still feel the thing crawling up my skin — through my bloodstream, my Mana stream; I can feel it stealing my Mana away.

It feels like every sense is sharpened.

Raine actually moves to my side to treat me, and when Kratos passes he kicks my sword in my general direction. I have to force myself to stand up; the rain is much more ... noticeable now. I can feel it soaking through my clothes.

"Here." An orange gel is handed to me. I struggle to remove the cap, and Raine quickly does it for me before moving back to her previous position. I suck on the gel for a few seconds before I pick my sword back up. Immediately I can feel a slight difference.

After a short combo with Lloyd, Kratos retreats to cast. I can practically feel the Mana rolling off him as he casts, and he stops me from going past him. I go to protest, only to go silent when he shouts, "Eruption!"

"... It's raining," I mutter, as the ground beneath the Pegasus erupts in flames and burns it. Genis joins in with his own spell — though it's wind based, not fire —, stopping it from flying away from Kratos' spell.

"Strong magic won't be effected by weather," James explains to me. I shoot a look over at Kratos, but he ignores me. The Pegasus backs off a bit, and after a few futile flaps of its wings, it finally snorts and backs up, snout beginning to glow. My eyes widen.

"Guys!" I shout to Sheena and Lloyd, attempting to be heard over the wind and rain. "G-Get out of there —"

In the game, the Pegasus could only fire the beam out when flying. But now — I can practically see the Mana swirling around its battered form, in a last attempt to win. I shut my eyes tightly, expecting the worst. Neither of them heard me.

The beam crashes into the ground, not making a dent but definitely emitting a fair share of residue Mana. When I don't hear any anguished screaming, I cautiously open my eyes, and to my relief see that both Sheena and Lloyd managed to avoid the attack. Everyone waits a second for the light to completely vanish before rushing back in. The Pegasus doesn't move, though it does bare its spikes in an attempt to scare us back. I stay to the sidelines to finish my gel, but when Lloyd shoots an expectant look back at me I hesitantly run back in.

"Attack with me," he shouts over the wind. I squint, taking a second to realize what he means, and I skid to a stop.

"But —"

He cuts me off. "We gotta do it!"

I grip the hilt anxiously, but nod my head in acquiesce and silently hope I don't screw it up.

Lloyd braces himself, before rushing at the monster and sending a 'beast' towards it. I take an uneasy step, and watch as he raises both swords in the air in preparation for a double demon fang.

At the same time, I rush forward and make a sweep towards the front leg, shouting, "Arcane Assault!"

It combines with the double demon fang, with my attack sweeping around his and encasing it in a veil of green. When the attack impacts, it explodes, and Lloyd shouts along side it, "Demonic Assault!" while I keep silent.

Sheena and Colette are the ones to finish it off, with another ... unison attack-esque thing. The monster seems to shudder before becoming enveloped in a bright ball of light and exploding. We all cover our eyes, but when the light disperses the Pegasus is gone.

I slump to the ground, legs resting in a puddle, utterly exhausted. My skin is still burning, and there's blood underneath my nails from when I attempted to pull the magic out. The scratch marks are gone though, thanks to Raine. Lloyd frowns at me and asks, "Why didn't you call out the name of it with me?"

I shrug. "No one could hear it anyways ..."

"Chosen of Regeneration ... you have done well in reaching this far. Now, offer your prayers at the altar."

Now that the 'excitement' is over, I feel a chill settling deep into my bones. The rain has let up a little bit since the beginning of the battle, but the wind is still as harsh as ever. My cheeks feel raw from the cold and my entire body is soaked.

As Colette kneels at the altar, her hands clasped in prayer and lips moving silently, I take a look around the group as I get back to my feet. The fight ... went surprisingly well. I thought it would be a lot worse, but if you excuse the mini shadow incident it really wasn't that hard.

Then again, I didn't do very much at all.

Colette's wings lift her off the ground until she's hovering in the air and staring quizzically at the small ball of light floating in the air. I look at Lloyd, who is frowning in confusion. "I-Is this —" I sneeze, "... normal?"

"No ... usually Remiel just pops out." Lloyd leans back in confusion, hands clasped behind his hair. I shrug again, re-sheathing my sword and wrapping my arms around myself.

"Ma-Maybe he just —" another sneeze, "— can't stand the rain?"

Whatever Lloyd is going to say is cut off when a faint rumbling starts. I stumble, nearly grabbing Lloyd for support, though I stop myself. When it dies away, the light fades into the image of a transparent woman floating on a crescent moon. My eyes widen.

"Where is Aska?" She asks, her voice airy. Her eyes flicker over us, lingering a second too long on Kratos, but I'm the only one to notice.

Lloyd takes a step forward, eyes wide in wonder. "Whoa — it talked!"

I bite my lip and look at Sheena, who appears unnerved. I look away, back to the woman as she says, "Without Aska, I can do nothing ... I can form no pact nor vow." She closes her eyes. "Please, find Aska to restore my power ..."

"A-Aska?" Colette whispers, still hovering in the air. I struggle to remember the name of the Summon Spirit, but before I can she's gone again, leaving us all confused. Colette looks over her shoulder at us, her lips curled into a frown, but her attention is drawn back to the altar when the same voice from before speaks. I watch as a light descends from practically nowhere, before it too fades into the image of a person.

"Chosen One," he says quietly, his wings spanning massive lengths behind him, "your journey has been long. You have done well to reach this far."

Colette, still off guard from the Summon Spirit, quickly stutters, "Y-Yes, Lord Remiel — thank you."

"Let us grant you your blessing ..."

I tune out the conversation, moving back to Sheena's side. She's watching the entire thing with a disturbed expression, and I can't help but feel bad for her. Colette continues to talk to Remiel, but from where I'm standing the storm makes it difficult to make out the words.

"Uh — S-Sheena?" I stutter, my teeth clacking together from the cold. "Are ... are you OK?"

She blinks, before looking at me. "Huh? Oh — ... yeah. I'm fine."

I frown, but don't push her. Genis, who is standing just a few feet ahead of us, says suddenly, "The World Regeneration ... it's finally going to take place. We can go to the Tower of Salvation, now."

I swallow thickly, feeling dizzy suddenly. My mind turns towards darker topics; all the ways I could die there. The anguish on everyone's face as Colette becomes soulless. Kratos ...

Kratos killing us all.

Killing me.

"Don't think like that," James scolds, but I can hear his uneasiness in his voice. "You won't die."

I shrug and hug myself around the waist, feeling exhausted. I feel eyes on me, but when I look up, no one is staring.

Colette nods, slowly. "I ... I shall do as you instruct, Lord Remiel."

And then he's gone, with just a shower of feathers swaying in the wind.

Colette pulls her wings back in when she touches the ground, but her expression is conflicted as she turns around. Kratos looks at everyone. "The end is finally in sight. Let us head to the Tower of Salvation."

Raine is more gentle when she speaks. "Colette — are you sure?"

"Yes, Professor." She pauses. "I'm fine."

We make it back to the entrance of the tower without much trouble. The stairs from earlier don't fall as we walk down them, but Colette does when we approach the door.

"C-Colette!" Lloyd gasps, as the blonde crumples to the floor. Her hands are pressed tightly to the tile and she's trembling, but it's not from the cold. "Colette, what's wrong?"

Genis drops to their sides, eyes shining in worry. "Raine, I-I think —"

"It's the Angel Toxicosis," Lloyd says, his hands hovering behind Colette's back in an attempt to support her.

Raine presses her lips together, a conflicted expression painted across her face. "... I see. Let's rest in here, then for tonight. The weather isn't good enough for us to set up camp outside."

I share a look with Sheena, and she slowly nods her head.

Except, Colette's shaking hasn't stopped. Her hands have raised to her throat, and her expression is one of pure horror. Genis moves closer. "Colette? Did you get hurt? A-Are you OK?"

"I would assume she's lost her voice."

We all look at Kratos in various stages of surprise. Raine narrows her eyes a bit, and if not out of fear of being stared back at I would do the same. His timing is too coincidental. It's not the first conclusion you'd jump to with this kind of situation.

Colette attempts to say something, but all that comes out is a dry croak. Raine crosses her arms stiffly, and when I look at Sheena again she looks even more conflicted.

Since we're inside the Tower, there's no real way to make a fire. One of the doors is still wide open though, putting everyone on guard. We're all expecting a monster to loiter out of it at any second.

I slouch back against one of the book cases and hide my head in my knees. No one feels up to talking, though that isn't stopping Lloyd and Genis from attempting to get Colette to say something in hopes that she hasn't really lost her voice.

It doesn't work.

Sheena sits beside me, looking unusually vulnerable for once. I look at her in confusion. She opens her mouth, only to close it. There's a few seconds of silence before she finally, carefully, says, "I ... I think I'm going to tell them."

I sit up straighter, faking a look of alarm. "What? A-Are you sure? Why now?"

Sheena looks at Colette, who is practically sandwiched between her two childhood friends. "... Colette. She's going to complete the World Regeneration soon. It's ... maybe, if she knows about Tethe'alla —"

"She won't do it," I finish for her. My shoulders slouch again. "I ... um, I don't ..." I shrug. "I don't think it would stop her."

Sheena nods slowly. "I don't either. That's not why."

"Why, then?"

She looks up at the tall ceiling, hands clasped tightly in her lap. "... I don't know. It just ... it feels right."

I look away and drop my head to my arms. We're both silent for awhile, before I finally say, "... OK. I ... I guess it's right ..." I pull myself into a tighter ball despite my words. "I'll help you."

Sheena sighs in relief. "Thank you."

The next hour or two are spent in an attempt to make Colette comfortable. I notice Genis' frown of worry when she waves off his offer to use his blanket; she's trembling like a leaf. The one time my hand brushed against hers (to lend her my pen), her hands were absolutely ice cold. And despite this all, Lloyd hasn't said a thing about it — neither has anyone else. There's just a collective expression of worry.

Genis starts on dinner, though it's really more of him just going through our food and seeing what he can make without fire. After a moment of thought, I move to sit next to him.

"Um ..." he turns his attention to me. "I-I'll make dinner, if you want ..."

His eyebrows raise. "Are you sure? Do you even know how to cook?"

I nod, slowly. "Yeah ..."

"Really?" James sounds doubtful.

I resist the urge to shrug. 'Well, kind of.'

James says nothing, but I can practically feel his doubt despite it.

'OK, not really.'

Genis gives me an uneasy look, before reluctantly nodding. "OK. Just ... don't destroy anything. We can't get more supplies until we go into town next."

I look down at the ingredients, and completely blank.

I don't know how to cook with any of this.

'Do you think sandwiches would be OK?' I ask James, as I sit crisscross and stare at the bread. 'Or ... um ...'

In the end, I go with sandwiches. It's not the most ... ingenious culinary creation, but it'll work for now. It only takes a couple minutes to put together.

When I pass them out, no one says anything. I make sure and give Colette one of the smaller ones, and she gives me an almost grateful look. I just look away.

The only problem with this is that my nerves are a mess. After this, Sheena and I will be telling the group about Tethe'alla. There's no going back after that. It'll ... it'll outcast us. Right when I started to feel like I was fitting in, I'm going to be alienated again.

"Don't be ridiculous." James says, when I pick at the crust of my sandwich. "You have to do this. Do you want to just let the plot flop? If you don't follow what it's supposed to do —"

I promptly cut the connection off.

After a few tense minutes, Sheena sighs heavily and shifts, giving me one last troubled look before she speaks. "Guys — I ... I have something to say."

Everyone looks up at her voice. I squirm uncomfortably, finally putting my barely eaten sandwich down and clasping my hands together tightly. Lloyd cocks his head curiously and asks, "Huh? What is it?"

"I — ..." Sheena gives me another look. "I'd like to explain why Eden and I were trying to assassinate Colette."

Raine nods, crossing her arms. Her expression is even, but I can see the tenseness in her shoulders. "Alright, then. Tell us — tell us about your homeland; a place that doesn't exist in Sylvarant."

I wince at the gasps around us. Sheena is taken aback, but recovers fairly quickly. "You ... you knew?"

"No." Raine doesn't relax, but her expression softens a little bit. "But back at the Mausoleum — you remarked that Sylvarant would be saved." Raine adjusts her coat before continuing, "Meaning you two aren't from Sylvarant."

I blink. Did Sheena actually say that? I don't remember her saying anything along those lines ... but I did sort of pass out halfway through the battle. Who knows what kind of things Sheena could have said during that time?

"Heh," Sheena's posture relaxes just a bit. "Well aren't you clever; it's a shame your intellect is being wasted here." The ninja takes a deep breath, before continuing. "You're right, though. We aren't from Sylvarant."

I swallow, and finally speak up. My voice is shaking. "W-We ... we're from Tethe'alla."

"Tethe'alla?" Genis says loudly. "You mean the moon?"

Sheena laughs, her posture relaxing more. "No — we aren't from the moon, Genis."

"We, um ... well, i-it's kind of confusing, honestly," I mutter, pushing myself from my balled up position. "How it works ... I don't understand it. But Tethe'alla — i-it's, uh, it's ... another world. But y'can't see each other."

My explanation isn't very eloquent, and I'm pretty sure that it's a lot different in the game, but ... it doesn't matter. The same ideas are getting conveyed regardless.

"Another world?" Lloyd asks, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "But we can see Tethe'alla. It's the moon." I struggle for a moment, attempting to find a way to explain it without coming across as knowing things I shouldn't. I don't even remember if anyone ever properly explained this to me in this world; for all I know, the information I'm spouting ... no one has told me it here.

I force myself not to worry about it. "What you see at night isn't Tethe'alla." I fumble with my hands, anxiously balling them into fists. "...I-I don't know what it is, honestly. But — the real Tethe'alla isn't visible to Sylvarant."

I place my fists on top of each other, and then flip them so their positions are reversed. "It's like ... an hourglass." I let my hands drop. "The two parts couldn't — can't see each other. A-And they're connected, but they're stealing from each other."

I don't notice how quickly I'm speaking until Sheena places a hand on my shoulder and silences me. I shudder, and she picks up where I left off, explaining, "What she means is that they're entwined; constantly affecting each other, but unable to directly see or communicate."

I look up from my lap for a brief moment, only to flinch harshly when I lock eyes with Kratos. I tremble, resisting the urge to cower, and instead do my best to give the illusion of relaxing. There's a brief silence as everyone takes in the new information, and it's broken when Lloyd asks, "Wait; what do you mean by 'affecting each other'?"

Sheena looks uncomfortable, suddenly. She takes a moment to collect her thoughts, and breathes in deeply before replying, "They're vying for Mana. You see, when one world is weak, it's because the Mana is all flowing to the other world. So one world is always flourishing, while the other is suffering."

"Li-Like the hourglass," I throw out, making the same motion with my hands as before. The analogy makes more sense with the explanation. I can't help but feel a bit embarrassed for bringing it up before actually explaining anything.

There's a collective silence. I see Colette frown, her expression troubled, but she doesn't write anything down on her notepad. Finally, Genis says, "So ... Sylvarant is declining because of Tethe'alla — that's why you came to kill Colette, right? So your world could keep flourishing?"

Sheena winces, but nods her head. "By continuing the cycle, crops begin to fail and magic becomes unusable. The Summon Spirits who protect the world with the Goddess Martel become weakened ... and are unable to survive."

"So the World Regeneration is actually the process of reversing the Mana Flow?" Raine finally asks. Sheena nods again.

"Exactly. When the Chosen breaks a seal, the Mana flow reverses little by little, and the Summon Spirit of the seal is awakened." She pauses. "I — we were sent to prevent this from happening. We broke through a supposedly impassible dimensional fissure for the sake of protecting Tethe'alla ..." She trails off, before muttering, "But ... obviously, we didn't succeed in doing so."

"Why?" I blink, a bit startled by the suddenness of Lloyd's question. "Why would you ... if you had killed Colette, Sylvarant would've kept getting worse. Why would you want a world to become ... destroyed like that?"

"I-It's not like we have much choice," I say, attempting to calm the anger that I can see forming in his eyes. I don't remember this happening in the game. "Our — we don't want our world to be destroyed, either."

Lloyd shakes his head, getting to his feet. He clenches his hands into fists. "You two came to ensure the destruction of Sylvarant — to make sure that we stayed in decline."

Sheena stands up as well, her hands digging into the fabric of her ribbon. "I-I mean, you can say that, but with your Journey of Regeneration, you're attempting to destroy Tethe'alla. It's the same thing."

"It isn't!" Lloyd snaps. I jump, not expecting his outburst. "We — Sylvarant has been in decline for ... for hundreds of years! Tethe'alla couldn't feel a change that fast, could it?"

Colette stands up and rests a hand on Lloyd's arm, effectively silencing him. Raine takes up the conversation, though her tone is much more even and less accusatory. "Honestly, I'm having a difficult time believing all of this."

I swallow hard. "But ... Sheena is proof. She can — uh ... sh-she can summon! No one in Sylvarant can summon ... it's been gone a long time."

"That is has," Sheena agrees. She locks eyes with Lloyd, who has calmed down after his outburst. "Regardless of what you say ... we're doing the same thing. We're all attempting to keep our world safe."

Colette glances at Sheena, and the ninja looks away guiltily. "Please don't look at me like that, Colette. I know that it wasn't your intention to destroy Tethe'alla. I honestly don't even know what we should do — Sylvarant is suffering so much that it feels wrong to make it suffer anymore. But ... by letting you all complete the World Regeneration, Tethe'alla will become the same way. What happened to Luin could happen to Ozette, or Altamira — I can't let that happen."

"But you're helping us, right?" Genis asks cautiously. "Despite it?"

"Well — I mean, yeah; but that doesn't mean I can just abandon Tethe'alla!" Finally, Sheena deflates, looking down. "I don't know what to do."

I look around, and notice a few pairs of eyes resting on me. I swallow my nerves and begin with, "I ... I feel really similar t-to Sheena, honestly." I fumble with my hands, clutching at damp cloth of my romper. "Tethe'alla is ... h-home." I stumble over the word, feeling somewhat sick as I say it. "But you guys are all my friends. A-And the people of Luin have ... they've suffered a lot." I pull myself into a ball again, resting my forehead on my knees. "I just wish ... I wish everyone could be happy."

"I — I want to know if they can!" Lloyd finally says. "If there's a way to make everyone happy with their choices."

Raine scoffs. "Have you considered that nothing so convenient exists in the real world?"

Finally, Kratos says, "The best thing we can do right now is focus on saving Sylvarant from its current crisis." He gives me and Sheena a cold, even threatening look. It cows the both of us.

"But what if we don't regenerate the world?" Lloyd offers. "Can't we just kill all the Desians?"

Kratos gives him a hard look. "Although we've successfully destroyed Desian Ranches, it is impossible to kill every Desian. The Mana will be exhausted before we can eliminate them all."

"Is Mana really so important?"

Genis crosses his arms. "Well, I suppose only magic users and Scholars really worry about it, but in reality Mana is more important than even water. The land will die without it; crops won't bloom, because Mana is what holds everything together." He pauses briefly. "Or at least that's what I've been taught."

Raine finally says, "Unfortunately, the Giant Tree of ever-flowing Mana doesn't exist outside of fairy tales. We live by chipping away at a limited amount of Mana." She pauses, before posing the question of; "Why do you think that magitechnology was lost to the world?"

"Because the Mana disappeared from the world," Sheena answers. Raine nods.

"Correct. Magitechnology consumes vasts amount of Mana. If things continue as they are now ..." she sighs heavily, looking much older than her age all of a sudden. "Eventually, Sylvarant will lose all of its Mana — just like it lost its magitechnology — and it will be destroyed."

Colette motions for Lloyd's attention. I see her fumble for the pen I loaned her, and she scribbles something down on the mini notebook before handing it to Lloyd. He squints at the writing, before reading it aloud. "I'll try asking Remiel ... if there's a way to save both worlds."

Sheena looks away, her expression showing guilt. "If it doesn't work out ... we may have to kill you after all."

My eyes go wide alongside everyone else. "S-Sheena!" I gasp. "We can't; you said before —"

"I know what I said," she replies. "But we can't just let Tethe'alla become destroyed, Eden. Don't you want to go home?"

Don't you want to go home?

Her words hit me hard, and I have to blink multiple times to push back the tears that form. I know she didn't mean it in a malicious way, but ... it's a lot deeper of a meaning to me than she knows.

"Don't take it personally," James attempts to console me as Colette writes her response on the notebook page. I jump, not realizing that the connection had been re-established, but quickly cover it up by rolling my shoulder back in an attempt to make it look like a nervous twitch. "You know she didn't mean it like that."

'I know,' I reply, pushing my hands deep into my gut in an attempt to stem the pangs of homesickness. 'I know.'

Colette taps Lloyd with the notebook and he reads her reply to us. "When that time comes, I may fight back —" he frowns. "Because ... I love Sylvarant, too."

"I understand," Sheena says, after a long silence. "You really do intend to become an angel no matter what, don't you?" She exchanges a sad smile with Colette, before shaking her head. "I just hope it doesn't come to that."

By the next morning the rain has completely stopped, leaving various puddles and muddy grass for us to walk through. It's still pretty cold out despite it, and although the clouds are mostly gone I can still smell the musky after smell of a storm in the air.

"Lake Umacy isn't too far — if our rations are sufficient enough, it would be best to head straight there."

I'm sitting close enough to the stairs to hear the conversation between Raine and Kratos about where we're going next. Colette sits beside me, drawing little dogs on the notebook paper.

"We have enough to make to Lake Umacy, though it will be stretched thin when we —"

I'm forced to stop eavesdropping when Colette taps me with the pen and offers the notebook to me. I take it curiously, reading the message on the paper. "Are you okay?"

I give her a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm fine Colette — I-I should be asking you that, actually ..."

She shakes her head and leans over to write, "I'm fine! Thanks for worrying, though."

I frown, but reluctantly don't push the subject anymore. Colette returns to drawing dogs on her paper, and I lean back, pushing my hands into my back and leaning over them until I hear a 'crack'. Colette twitches, blinking rapidly and looking at me before quickly returning back to her doodles. I frown.

Raine explains to us a few minutes later that we'll be making the journey to Lake Umacy seeing as, besides the loss of voice, Colette doesn't seem to be suffering any ill effects from her toxicosis.

"Um ..." I raise my hand tentatively when she finishes speaking. "How long will it take ...?"

"About four days," Raine replies as she hefts her bag onto her back. "Give or take."

I scrunch my nose up, attempting to calculate how many how many days we have left until we go to the Tower of Salvation. All I come up with is an estimate of about a month.

Ugh. It's so long, but also so short at the same time.

I suck in a deep breath, before nodding to myself. "Thanks."

Sheena flips me and I squeak when I feel my back hit something soft and squishy. "Oh ew," I whine, getting up immediately and arching my back away from the mud that is stuck to my back. Sheena laughs, looking a little sheepish but also incredibly amused.

"Oops," she teases as I wiggle and try to pry the wet material off my skin without actually touching it. "My bad."

I mock glare at her. "You so did that on purpose."

She raises her hands. "Never."

I groan, and shudder again. "I have to walk in this, you know ..."

"Did it soak the undershirt?" She asks. I blink, and then shrug.

"Uh ... probably," I reply, somewhat grumpily. The feeling of mud clinging to my skin isn't a nice feeling.

Sheena motions for me to take my stance again. "Why don't you just remove the top layer and change into your spares until it's clean?"

I look down at my legs. "My shorts are a part of the top ..." I roll my shoulder back, before completely dropping into my stance. "I don't have anything else."

"Your old ones?"

I shrug.

After we finish, I make a detour over to my bag and pause. The only spares I have in here are my clothes from Earth and my extra tank top. The shorts are completely horrible for fighting, but ...

... It's better than walking around with mud stuck to me.

I gather the extra tank top and jean shorts into my arms, and move up the slight cliff and towards the shallow tree line. Once I'm far enough to not be seen, I reluctantly begin to pull off my muddy clothes, leaving me in just my underwear.

The extra tank top comes on fine, but when I attempt to pull my shorts up to my waist, I'm unable to; instead, they cling firmly to my upper thighs, the fabric unable to move any further.

"Oh my god." I slump back against a tree, kicking the shorts back off and pressing my hands to my legs to feel them. More muscle than when I got here, which I fully expected. I wrap my hands around the part of my leg that I used to be able to fully wrap my hands around, and find my fingers unable to touch. "Damn."

I put the muddy top layer back on and adjust the cuffs around my thighs before gathering my shorts and muddy tank top together and heading back out. Sheena looks confused when I come back out, and I slump beside her without even bothering to put my things away first.

"They don't fit," I say, incredulously. "Not anymore — they're ... they're too small now."

Sheena frowns. "Is that ...?"

"I don't know ..." I wiggle uncomfortably. "I don't really ... I-I expected it to happen, eventually, but —" I breathe out slowly, "— now that it has, I feel ... somewhat sad."

It's one of the last few things I have from back home, and I can't even wear it anymore. At least I know I won't outgrow the sweatshirt anytime soon.

Sheena gives me a sympathetic look as she says, "It's because your parents bought it, right?" When I nod, she pats my shoulder comfortingly and says nothing else.

I put my things away right before we pack up and begin traveling again, unable to shake the twinge of sadness resting in my soul.

Another part of home is gone.

A/N: So the regular updating schedule continues. Man, college apps were rough. I'm glad that's over with. I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! We'll be moving onto Christmas soon, and then New Years. My plan is to at least be at the Tower of Salvation by the end of January, but I'll probably write a lot now that I have free time.

If you can't tell, I'm kind of really bad at writing fight scenes. I was tempted to write someone slipping during the seal fight, but when I thought over it ... I realized that people can probably infer that at least one person is going to slip. I mean, the weather was horrible.

It just wasn't Eden this time.

Please review! Whether it is feedback or just a nice message or comment, I appreciate them all and it really does motivate me to write quicker! Thank you for reading.