Author's Notes: My nose is walking. Honestly, I only have a little cold.
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia or the line I used above about my nose 'walking' for that matter...
Chapter 35: Half-elves
"So, what are we going to do next?" Zelos started off casually. "'Cause personally I was hoping to find a nice, er, companion for the night," Lloyd frowned at the unexpected gleam in his eyes and at the slight laugh that escaped his lips.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lloyd questioned, tilting his head to the side.
An almost predatory gleam entered Zelos's eyes. "My, my you truly do have a lot to learn," he responded in his easy drawl. "Especially when it concerns se…"
"Zelos!" Kratos snapped curtly, abruptly cutting off what he was about to say. "I suggest you stop trying to corrupt the younger members of our party with your…" he grimaced, "vulgar habits."
"What?! I'm not trying to corrupt anyone! Just tryin' to teach Lloyd how much fun you can have with a…" This time Kratos purposefully smashed his foot by dropping his pack on it. "Aggh!" Zelos cried in pain, clutching his injured foot. Genis and Raine sighed at the antics.
Ever since Kratos had "woken up" he and Zelos had been at each others throats with their exchange of insults, snide comments (all of which came from Zelos) and glares (mostly from Kratos). Based on Kratos's first encounter with the Chosen of Tethe'alla, it might have been expected, had he not been soulless at the time. Even so, the two had no common grounds on which to stand. They disagreed at nearly every turn, their constant clash in views creating undo tension in the group.
"Even I have to admit," Lloyd began, ignoring the two. "Zelos does have a point. What are we going to do? I mean, we can't just leave things as they are now that we know."
"The state of the worlds is troublesome," Kratos commented. "But the simple fact of the matter is we don't know how to fix it."
Raine frowned. "Kratos… how do you know of the state of the worlds? I don't remember having explained that part to you yet," she eyed him suspiciously.
"I remembered hearing of it at the Renegade bases," he responded without hesitation.
"But you where soulless then…" Colette murmured with a small frown.
"Do you mean to say that you were aware of the things going on around you, despite the fact that you had no control over your body?" Raine questioned with sudden interest, a strange light gleaming in the depths of her pale blue eyes. Kratos nodded warily in response. "Fascinating!" the half-elf exclaimed.
Kratos backed away from her, looking entirely caught off guard by this (or at least, as caught off guard as anyone could look without a change in facial expression). That was strange… He usually didn't pay any notice to it since the first time at the Triet Ruins. "Is she always like this…?" he questioned uneasily.
Zelos raised a brow at her 'strange' behavior. "Is she?" he asked Lloyd and the others.
Lloyd blinked. "Whoa! Talk about déjà vu."
"Huh?" Zelos stared at him in confusion. "What're you talkin' about?"
"Oh, well… heh, I guess it's nothing," Lloyd responded abashedly, glancing at the ground.
"Can we just get back to the point?" Genis asked in irritation. "We have to figure out how to save the worlds right? That means we need more information. And where can we find more information?" he hinted, knowing someone would, hopefully, catch on.
"The Tower of Mana," Kratos responded instantly. "Meaning we'll have to get back to Sylvarant correct? Lloyd, how did you come to Tethe'alla in the first place?"
"You mean you don't remember arriving on the Rheairds?" Raine asked, abruptly breaking from her ruin mania.
"Rheairds?" strangely enough, Kratos sounded more surprised than confused and there was a level of understanding in his russet eyes. Raine frowned.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Zelos cut in, "I can't just let you all slip back to Sylvarant remember? I still have to keep tabs on you, ya know. And besides that, I could be called a traitor by letting you all go like that. Kratos is the biggest threat to Tethe'alla at the moment."
"Honestly, it's not as if we're going to now turn Kratos over to Cruxis after figuring at the relationship of the two worlds." Raine rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, we'll that doesn't exactly matter to the others now does it? You guys going back to Sylvarant will be considered a threat. You're asking me to risk my neck for your problem?"
"It's not just our problem, it's yours too!" Lloyd snapped. "If we can find a way to reunite the two worlds, or at least find a way so that both can live in prosperity, then no one will have to suffer through the Regeneration Journey again!" Lloyd seemed so adamant in this, and yet… could it be true?
"You honestly think you can do it?" Zelos asked, for once, truly serious about something.
"If we all work together, I know we can do it!"
"Yeah!" Colette immediately agreed. "Dwarven vow number seven, right? 'Justice and love will always win'," she quoted cheerily, much to Lloyd's chagrin.
The boy sighed. "How did I know she was gonna say that? Seriously Colette, that is such a cheesy line!"
"Well if my lovely little hunnies think it's possible then who am I to object?" Zelos grinned, suddenly himself again. "Let's go save the worlds, eh? Then I'll be the hero!"
"Then we need the Rheairds correct? Where did you put them?" Kratos asked. Everyone stared at him, and Kratos sighed as realization dawned on him. "You crashed them didn't you?"
"You there!" The group turned as a several Papal knights approached them.
"Is something wrong?" Lloyd asked innocently, titling his head to his side.
They had just been prepared to leave Sybak and return to the Fooji mountains, but had been stopped unexpectedly. As it now stood, Lloyd and company stood between the exit of Sybak and the Papal knights. They could easily have run, if they had known they were in any danger.
"We have received word of you plotting against Tethe'alla!" the evident leader of the group stated formerly. "In order to protect the peace of this world, we shall take you into custody and you shall all be brought before the king."
"What?!" Lloyd shouted, both in irritation as well as surprise.
Zelos sighed. "I tried to tell you about this…"
Kratos was far to annoyed to give any comment about that, instead he gripped tightly to his sword. "On what evidence are we being arrested on? We don't even know the name of our accuser, so how could we possibly defend ourselves against this claim?"
The knight glared. "Those would be rather compelling arguments if you where not Sylvaranti," Kratos snorted at this. "The witness was anonymous, and if you simple-minded folk can't understand that, they refused to give their name."
"Is that the way it is then, hm? We are to be executed without a trial?"
"Oh, you'll have a trial all right," the soldiers moved to surround them, and Kratos stiffened, his hand reaching for his sword. The commander would have none of that, and with surprising speed for one so weighed down by all that armor, he moved to grapple Kratos's sword away.
Kratos held out well against him, and kicked him at a weak point in his armor, causing the man to stagger back a bit. But another had seen this, and came up from behind. Kratos turned with great speed, but it was hardly enough to fend off him and another coming from a different side. Soon the two of them had Kratos in chains, still struggling all the while.
"Why didn't you run?" Kratos snapped at the others, who had remained frozen in their spots since the first signs of struggle. Until that point, they hadn't realized just what the man had been trying to do, and by now they had missed that chance.
"We were supposed to?" Lloyd stared in open alarm. "And leave you behind?"
"Better one than all of us," Kratos responded steadily looking Lloyd straight in the eye.
The soldiers rounded them all up, chaining their hands as they were disarmed. They then did something rather unexpected. Starting with Kratos, they jabbed some sort of needle in their arms, apparently using the device attached to test for something. "What was that for?" Lloyd muttered resentfully. He would have rubbed his sore arm if he were not tied up at the moment.
One of papal knights seemed kind enough to give a response. "This device is used to test for half-elves."
"Why?" Lloyd questioned.
"Because," It was Zelos who responded this time. "Half-elves charged with crimes, even minor ones, are instantly sentenced to death."
"What?!" Lloyd stared at him in alarm at this news.
"Sir, we have a match!" one soldier called as he finished checking Genis and Raine.
"Professor…?" Colette began unsurely.
"Yes, it's true," Raine responded to the unspoken question, not a hint of emotion in her voice. "Genis and I are half-elves."
"Raine!" Genis sent her a worried look.
"Why didn't you…?" Lloyd was cut off by Kratos.
"That shouldn't matter," he stated adamantly, a stubborn resolve hanging in his words.
"That's not for you to decide," The commander of the knights responded. "We should deliver these two to the capital for sentencing straight away."
"But sir, we don't have enough to guard them and the other…"
'Then lock them up somewhere!" he snapped. "Put them down in the basement of the research institute with those other half-breeds!"
"You'll regret this," Kratos hissed as they were shoved along through the city, heading back toward the academy.
Endnotes: I sure you all expected this the moment you saw the title correct? That much was rather obvious.