Tales of Cosplayers

by Nightfoot

They were just cosplaying. They did not expect to be pushed through a door by some freak and forced to relive Tales of Symphonia, taking the place of the characters they're dressed as.

34. Who Ya Gonna Call?

Chapter Thirty-Four: Who Ya Gonna Call?

Raine was practically trembling with excitement the next morning when Kratos put the key into the lock. Sheena watched her with a slightly scared expression, Genis looked embarrassed, Noishe snoozed on the grass by the stairs, and Will and Ellie just stood in the back, not too concerned with anything.

After their little...event last night, they'd walked back to camp and hadn't said a word about it to anyone. If the others were aware of what had transpired, they didn't mention it. Ellie kept giving Will glances all night, and he'd return them with a little smile. A secret shared between them. It wasn't that they were particularly adverse to sharing with the others, but it just didn't seem like the time to bring it up.

Someone, though, brought it up a lot, though.

'I still can't believe you kissed Colette,' Lloyd said for about the fiftieth time as the door to the tower creaked open.

'No, I kissed Ellie. There's a difference.'

'She looks like Colette.'

'Aren't you the one who says that 'Ellie is Ellie', no matter what form she takes?'

'Well...yeah. I mean, I know it's her and not Colette, but still...it's Colette! She's like my sister! It just feels kind of weird, I guess.'

'I'm sorry. If it bothers you that much, I don't have to kiss her or anything again.'

'Well, no, I mean, if you want to...it freaks me out a bit, but I don't want to run your life. If you love her, you should show her.'

'Well...ok.'

He followed the others into the tower. Inside, it was gloomy and dusty, with light filtering in through the grimy windows. The walls were lined with book shelves, and Raine looked like a little girl at Christmas as she walked in.

"Fantastic!" she cried, running further into the room. She did a little twirl and said, "Look at all these books! It is truly a crime to keep them locked up in here!"

She ran over to a bookshelf and grabbed a volume before plopping herself down on the floor and burying her nose in the dusty pages. Kratos stared at her and said, "Is she aware we're in a hurry?"

"Who's going to get her?" Will asked.

"Not me," Ellie said. "I did it last time."

Kratos sighed and stepped up to the plate. He was truly a brave man. "Miss Sage," he said, "We are short on time. Find the Boltzman Technique and then we must proceed to the top of the tower."

Raine looked up at him, looking like she was about to snap at him like a student, before remembering where she was. "Ah – yes. Of course." She put the book away and stood up to begin her search for Boltzman's book.

As the others milled around, Will decided to investigate other books on the shelves. He was rather interested in what they had to say. While Ellie chatted with Sheena about something, he went over to the bookshelf on the opposite side of the room. It was hard to read the faded and old titles in the dim light, and he twisted his head to the side and squinted his eyes.

One volume caught his eye. He stared at the title, not sure if he was reading it correctly. Owl-Stretching Time, read the intricate gold leaf title. That… was a very odd title. He reached forward to grab it, when another book caught his eye.

On Black Space and Everything Else I Felt Like Writing Down. Wait. This couldn't be. He reached out and carefully pried the book off the shelf. He looked for an author on the front cover, but didn't find anything. Careful not to break the old book, he opened up the front cover and found a list of contents.

Apparently the book covered such topics as "What is Reality?", "The Earliest Universes", "Time Loops – Like Froot Loops but Less Tasty", "Imagination!", "Real Things in Unreal Space", and "On the Nature of Doors". There were several other chapters as well, and the book was rather thick, so Will slipped it into his bag, which was fairly empty.

It was mostly filled with some Apple Gels and a little bit of money. He was planning on leaving it down here with Noishe like they usually did with their bags when going into a dangerous situation. Of course, his bag was brand new since the ones they'd brought from Iselia had been lost in Luin. Luckily he hadn't had anything important in there.

"What'cha looking at?" Ellie said, pooping over his shoulder. Her jumped a bit and closed the book, startled.

"Just a book." He pulled it out again to show her. "I think it may have been written by the Wonder Chef."

"Really?" She took it from his hands and brushed some dust off the cover, then flipped through the pages. "Looks kind of boring. You read it and tell me if there's anything important in it."

She passed it back and it went back in his bag. "Well, come on. I think Raine found the book she was looking for."

Ellie grabbed his hand and pulled him back to the middle of the room where the others stood around the oracle stone. Raine had an open book in hand, waiting for them to come over. "Alright," she said. "The technique doesn't look too difficult, but I'm going to need a unicorn horn in order to use it."

"Where can we find a unicorn horn?" Genis asked.

"We should ask around," Sheena said. "Maybe people in Luin have heard rumours of a unicorn nearby, or something."

"That'll take forever!" Genis said.

"Yeah," Sheena said, "But we have to save Pietro."

"If I recall correctly," Kratos said, "I've heard there is a unicorn in Lake Umacy."

Ah, Kratos to the rescue. Will had not been looking forward to interviewing every single NPC and hoping to get help. Besides, every NPC they talked to seemed to end up dead, so Sylvarant would probably be better off if they didn't talk to people.

"You certainly are a great depository of knowledge," Raine said, eyeing him.

Kratos shrugged. "I've traveled a lot. In any case, we should proceed up to the altar."

"Yes," Raine said. "Colette, please put your hand on the stone."

They stood back as Ellie approached the stone and put her hand down on it, and then there was a slight rumbling as light sprung up from the circular mechanism on the floor.

"Oh!" Raine said. "What's this, then?" She ran forward and crouched down, looking closely at the circles. "Hm..." She stepped on one, and said, "Lloyd, Genis, stand on those other lights."

Will did as asked, and when he took his position there was an even greater rumbling as the door to the right slid open. Raine did a little jump and said, "Marvellous!" She ran forward, but the moment she took her foot off the stone, the door slid down again. She reached it just as it hit the ground, leaving her with her hands against the stone in despair.

She turned around, frowning, and said, "Sheena, step on the stone." Sheena did so and the door once again rumbled open. "I see," Raine said. "It appears that we'll have to split up."

"Not again," Genis groaned.

"Colette," Raine said, walking back towards them. "Three of us will have to remain behind to open the door. There is another door on the other wall, but I cannot guarantee that we'll be able to open it. Two others will have to accompany you and possible it will be only the three of you at the altar."

"Ok," she said, looking around at the gathered companions. "I want Lloyd," she said, and Will wasn't really surprised. He stepped off the circle and went to stand next to her by the oracle stone.

"And..."

Kratos stepped forward. "You need a healer."

"I believe I can heal," Raine said.

"Yes," Kratos said, "However, if there are only going to be three of us, I think it would be more productive to have our strongest fighters accompany the Chosen."

"Hm," Raine said. "I suppose you're right." She walked over and took Will's place, letting the door stay up. Kratos walked over to the opening, Will and Ellie tagging along behind him.

"Be careful, you guys!" Genis called.

"We will!" Ellie yelled back. "Just don't let us be trapped in there!"

They went through the doorway, and emerged on a staircase. "Great," Will said looking up the spiralling stairs. "This sure looks fun."

"Don't complain," Kratos said, already starting up the stairs. It was nearly pitch black inside, but luckily Kratos came prepared with a lantern. How often had Kratos done this World Regeneration thing, anyway? He was probably quite used to climbing this damn tower.

"Hey, Kratos," he said as he followed the mercenary up the winding steps.

"Yes?"

"So, your initial plan was for just you, Colette, and Professor Raine to come on this journey. So what would you have done when you reached here? All three of you would have had to stay behind just to open the door."

"There are priests in Luin," Kratos said. "Any one of them would gladly lend aid to the Chosen."

Damn, he had an answer for everything. Or did he...? "Hey, Kratos, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

Ellie smirked while Kratos turned his head and looked at Will strangely. Will just grinned, pleased to have finally found a question Kratos didn't have an answer for. However...

"Considering the average woodchuck can chuck approximately 35 cubic feet of dirt per burrow," Kratos said, while Will and Ellie gaped at him, "If he was chucking wood, it would be an amount equal to roughly 225 gallons of wood. However, this varies with the time of year and the particular woodchuck's inclination to chuck the aforementioned wood."

They started up the stairs again, Kratos taking the lead and apparently not noticing that Will and Ellie were frozen in shock. Ellie looked to Will and said, "He... he just..."

"Think of the possibilities!" he said in a loud whisper. "All the great questions of mankind can now be answered!"

"Keep up!" Kratos called from several steps ahead.

The pair took off, taking the steps quickly to catch up with him. "Kratos!" Ellie called. "Do you know what a hotdog's made of?"

"Yeah!" Will said. "And what happens when an unstoppable force hits an immovable barrier?"

"Be quiet," Kratos snapped. "Save your energy for the climb."

"Well I have nothing to worry about," Ellie said. "I don't exactly get tired. And Martel knows you never do."

"Great," Will said, "I'm going to be the one slowing us down again, aren't I?"

"Probably," Ellie said, nodding her head. "But don't worry, I won't hold it against you." She gave him a little smile, and Will noticed Kratos looking at them. The mercenary, though, didn't say anything and they just continued up the stairs.

The stairs were obnoxious in size. They were just long enough that it was difficult to go from one step to the next, but too short to comfortably take two steps for every one stair. It made climbing them a right pain in the ass, and he didn't blame Ellie when she pulled her wings out and just decided to fly.

Finding it too cramped in the stairway, she hovered out in the middle of the tower, where a long chasm dropped back to their entrance. She was a single point of illumination hovering in the dark. "Don't go too far ahead," Kratos warned. "There are probably enemies in the area."

"Don't worry about me," she called, doing a twirl in the air. She was really getting good at flying, Will noticed.

"Lloyd," Kratos said, drawing his sword. "An enemy approaches."

"Uh-oh, what is it?" He peered into the darkness of the stairwell, and saw something moving towards them. It moved silently, and it looked pretty small. Then he saw the gleam of red eyes, and pulled his swords out in anticipation. Ellie had noticed their disturbance and flew closer, hovering a few feet away from the railing.

Kratos raised his lantern and light fell upon the approaching monster. It was... a teddy bear? The hell? Still, it was a pretty demonic looking teddy bear, and based on the glowing light further up the stairs, there were more coming. Oh boy, an army of possessed bears. Just what he needed.

"Be ready," Kratos said. "They don't look like much of a threat, but they're just as deadly as other monster we've faced."

"Well... I think they look pretty terrifying."

"Then be particularly careful."

"Guys," Ellie said, looking around. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"What tipped you off?" Will said. "The demonic teddy?"

"No," she said. "There's something else..."

Will had no time to worry about the 'something else' Ellie felt, as the bear was nearly upon them. Kratos set the lantern down and drew his sword, ready to slash at it, when something grabbed Will's legs from behind.

"Argh!" he spun around to see more bears coming up the stairs behind them. Where were they coming from? He kicked his leg to try and dislodge it, but the bear hung on tight. While Kratos slashed at the bear near him, spilling white stuffing onto the steps, Will thrust his sword down at the thing gripping him as even more teddies came towards them from both sides.

The sliced-in-half bear at Kratos' feet twitched, and the severed legs got up again, walking towards the mercenary. "How do you kill these things?" Will cried as the bear continued to hug him even with copious amounts of stuffing spilling out of it. He kept jabbing his sword at it and trying to dislodge it, but it was insistent on hugging him like some possessed Car Bear.

"Colette, do something!" Will shouted at Ellie, who hovered uncertainly in the air while Will and Kratos tried to harm the bears.

"What should I do? I don't want to go over and get dragged down by those things, and any of my ranged attacks might hit you guys too!"

Another bear grabbed Will's other leg. They didn't seem to be doing anything save hugging him, but they had very strong grips and he was freaked out by how many were pouring down the steps towards them.

Suddenly there was a loud clang, and he saw Kratos parry a blow by a sword floating in the air. The bears left the sword to deal with Kratos, concentrating their efforts on Will. He desperately slashed at them while they swarmed towards him, but all he managed to do was spill stuffing everywhere.

Kratos, meanwhile, was sword fighting with a floating blade. This proved to be a much harder opponent than a person, seeing as they had no corporeal body to hit. Will wasn't sure how Kratos intended to defeat it.

Bears were piling over each other in an attempt to reach Will, and he couldn't move his legs as so many of them were clinging to him. Ellie was floating in place, eyes closed and mumbling as pink feathers started to swirl around. She appeared to have reached a point where accidently hitting him with friendly fire was better than letting him get eaten by teddy bears.

Before she could complete the spell, though, she suddenly screamed. Her wings started beating erratically and she jerked around in the air. "Get off me!" she screamed. "What is it? Get is off me!"

As far as Will could see there was nothing on her, but Ellie was apparently being grabbed by something. "Help!" she screamed. "Get it off me!"

"Colette!" He wanted to help her, but was rather concerned with the bear grabbed his arm. The bears had formed a chain to reach up off the ground, grabbing his right arm and gripping it tightly.

Kratos looked at them in alarm, but had to focus most of his attention on the sword. Unlike a human opponent, it was able to fly in circles around him, able to appear from anywhere. He already bore several cuts across his arms and chest from the sword, using up all his energy just to defend himself from it.

Ellie screamed again and started to rise up, though her wings weren't beating. "Get off! Get off!" She tried pulling in her wings, but all that happened was she plummeted a few yards before pulling them out again. Her arms rose in the air and she rose up as if held by the wrists, shouting, "Let me go!"

By now both Will's arms were covered in bears. He struggled to pull away from them, but there were just so many and even the ones he'd cut up were able to continue attacking him, headless torsos clinging to his waist. "Get – off!" he grunted, managing to wrench his left arm out of their grip. The bears meanwhile pried his sword from his hand, and it fell with a clatter to the floor behind him. The pulled at his legs and dragged him to his knees, making it all the easier for more of them to retake his left arm.

A pink light above was all that was left of Ellie as she continued to rise up, shouting and kicking all the way. While Kratos duelled his sword, Will had to be grateful that at least his opponent was visible. "What the hell are these things?" he shouted while one grabbed him around the neck from behind.

"Spirits," Kratos answered, carefully moving around on the steps while the sword darted around like a fish. "Possessing innocent objects."

The bears were all over him now. Will wasn't sure what they intended to do, but he was covered in white fluff, being squeezed from all over as they wrapped their arms around him in a great big hug.

Then, Kratos took his chance. The sword was right in front of him, and he darted his hand out, gripping it around the hilt and slamming it against the wall. The sword jerked and twitched, trying to break free, while green magic started to build at Kratos' feet.

While Kratos casted, Will felt himself dragged towards the railing by the mass of stuffed animals. Uh-oh. They weren't intending to push him over the edge, where they? He kicked and punched against a hundred stuffed paws as they held him tight, the mass moving him slowly but surely to the railing of the stairs and the long drop to the floor.

"Air Thrust!" Kratos shouted and blades of green wind whipped around the sword. When the green light died down, Kratos dropped the sword and it fell lifelessly to the ground. Then he paused, glancing at Will struggling with the bears, and then up the stairs in the direction Ellie had gone. Will saw him hesitate, debating with himself whether to save his son or the Chosen.

Will punched a bear that was trying to grab his face, knocking it away, and then met Kratos' eye. The mercenary hesitated for only a second longer, and then his duty to his family overweighed his obligation to the Chosen. He held out his sword and started casting.

When he said, "Eruption!" a few seconds later, Will was very glad that Kratos knew how to turn friendly fire off. The bears burst into flame and dropped like flies, while Will pulled himself away. One of them was still on fire as it clung to his arm, and he pried it off before flinging it over the edge. He watched the light drop farther and farther away before it finally went out, and imagined if he had been the one going over the edge.

Kratos was already running up the stairs after Ellie. Will couldn't hear her scream anymore, but he didn't know if that was a good thing or not. Kratos had left their lantern sitting on the steps, but both of them were too concerned with helping Ellie to go back for it now. Will started to follow Kratos when he noticed a slight flaw in the mercenary's plan: while most of the bears had indeed been incinerated, some of them had survived and were now making their way towards him again. Only this time, they were also on fire.

He grabbed his swords and sheathed them then grabbed the lantern and took off after Kratos, terrified of the immortal flaming teddy bears chasing him. He was being chased by immortal flaming teddy bears. Life was whack.

He took the irritating-sized stairs as fast as he could, looking over his shoulder every now and then to see if the bears were catching up. He seemed to be faster than them, and they were still on fire so eventually they'd burn away into nothing, hopefully.

Something bright flashed in front of him, and then Will threw is hands up when the lantern flew into his face. He felt the heat on his cheeks and barely ducked fast enough before it could smash into his face. "What the hell?" he cried as the lantern flew around him again, leaving a trail of light in his eyes.

'It's a ghost!' Lloyd said. 'Like with the swords, I think!'

Will kept running, not wanting to let the bears catch up or the lantern set him on fire or something. He was running through the darkness, and then the lantern flashed in front of him again. He swung his sword at it like a baseball and the glass panes shattered. It crashed against the wall and fall to the floor, and Will kept running. Now the only thing lighting the stairway were the glowing red eyes of teddy bears behind them at the flames they carried and he wanted to remain as far away from those as possible.

'I'm...exhausted,' he complained after a few minutes of running. He had a stitch in his side from running so much, but he couldn't stop until he reached Ellie. He couldn't see Kratos anymore, but it didn't really surprise him that the mercenary was able to run much faster.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, he emerged at the top of the stairs. He froze, nearly bumping into Kratos. The stairs widened here into a platform, and Ellie was in the middle on her hands and knees, her wings out and beating slowly. All around her, circling in a tornado of spirits, were ghosts. They swooped down on her, and she feebly tried to batted them away. Every time a ghost hovered over her, the light from her wings grew fainter. Eventually, the ghosts would be driven off by... another ghost? A translucent shape circled almost protectively around her, attacking the ghosts that approached her.

"What the hell is going on?" he said, starting to take a step forward to get to her.

Kratos shot his arm out and stopped him, saying, "Wait, the ghosts might attack you if you get too close."

"We have to help her! What are they doing to her?"

Ellie looked up at him, and met his eye. He felt helpless just standing there, not sure why Kratos wouldn't let him run to her.

"The spirits rely on Mana to remain bound to this earth. With the world's dwindling Mana supply, their power is fading. They're feeding off the Chosen's Mana, which they sensed when she pulled out her wings."

"That's all well and good," Will said, glancing over his shoulder. He could see flashes of red as bears continued up after them, though not as many as before as the fire killed them off. "But what do we do about it?"

"You can't hurt them," Kratos said, "They can only be harmed by magic. Stay back as I cast, then run in when they're distracted and get the Chosen."

"Got it."

Kratos started casting, and Will sheathed his swords, ready to run in to Ellie. As soon as Kratos shouted, "Thunder Blade!" he dashed forward. The giant sword cut a path right in front of him, the electricity scattering the spirits. At the sight of the sparks, Will wouldn't help but flashback to Kvar, his mind momentarily filled with the leering Cardinal, snapping his fingers and sending jolts of electricity to torture him with...

'Kvar's dead,' Lloyd said firmly. 'Concentrate on getting Colette.'

He hadn't even realised he'd slowed down, and quickened his pace. He dropped to his knees at her side. "Ellie," he whispered, wrapping his arm across her shoulders.

"I'm fine," she whispered. Will helped her to her feet, and she wobbled a bit but kept her wings out, making it easy for Will to support her.

Kratos shouted, "Eruption!" and got rid of even more ghosts. Then he ran towards them, the spectral problem temporarily taken care of. "Chosen, we have to-" he broke off, and raised his sword, and Will spotted the ghost clinging to her back. He shouted, and involuntarily jumped away.

"Wait!" Ellie shouted, holding up her hands and backing away from Kratos. "Don't hurt him!"

"Chosen," Kratos growled, "That ghost is feeding off your-"

"No he's not," she said. "I can tell. That's what the others were doing, but this guy's just afraid of the dark. He was protecting me when the others were making the light fade."

"Kratos," Will said, casting wary eyes up at the ghosts starting to form around them again, "We don't have time to debate right now."

Kratos glanced up as well, and said, "Indeed." He ran over to the door and suck his hand in the niche, sliding it open. Elli and Will ran after him, Ellie considerably slower, with Will helping her along. They made it through the door, the ghost still clinging to Ellie's back, and Kratos slammed the door shut again, keeping the ghosts out.

The room they were in now was just as dark for the most part, but Will could see faint light from the far side. Oh, this was where they had to burn the curtains.

"Chosen, put your wings away," Kratos said. "You're using up valuable Mana you can't afford to waste right now."

"But then it will be completely dark," she said, and indeed her pink light was the only thing illuminating the room.

"Yes," Kratos said, "But we can deal with darkness."

"But Casper's afraid of the dark!"

"...Casper?" Will asked.

She pouted at him. "Yeah I named him Casper. Got a problem with that?"

Will sighed. "Nope."

Kratos looked ready to stab something, but he also looked to the curtain. "We need to burn that," he said. "There appears to be sunlight hidden behind it."

"Right," Will said, reaching for his coat pocket. "We need to use the Sorcerer's..." is hand closed around Travis' Exsphere, the sole occupant of the pocket. "Oh crap. Raine has that."

"Don't worry," Kratos said, quickly casting Fireball.

"Oh. That works too, I guess," Will said as he watched the drapes go up in flames.

The ghost – Casper – left Ellie's shoulders and flew to the bright light now filtering through, circling around in happiness as the room was lit up. Ellie took a deep breath and pulled her wings in, then slumped to the floor and leaned against the wall.

"Colette!" Will knelt by her side, and she gave him a little smile.

"Don't worry about me; I'm just a bit tired."

'She looks really pale...' Lloyd said.

"Kratos," Will said, and Kratos came over to look at her.

"She's severely depleted of Mana," Kratos said. "It will come back with rest, or if an Orange gel if we had any. There's nothing we can do for her except let her rest.

"Well...ok."

"Now," Kratos said, "In order to open the next door, I believe we need to move that mirrored block," he pointed to a large cube with mirrored side, "so that it reflects a beam of light onto the locking mechanism over there."

Will looked at the stone orb across from the door. Unlike in the game, the light coming in from the window was not a perfect beam. They would have to move the block all over the place in order to figure out how to get the beam of light to reflect perfectly. "Great."

Then, Casper the ghost flew up from Ellie's side and began zooming around the room before coming to a stop somewhere in the center. "What's he doing?" Will asked.

Casper waved his arms and started pointing at the floor under his ectoplasm.

"I believe he's telling us where to move the block," Kratos said.

"Really?" Will looked from Casper to the block, and grinned. "Excellent." He walked over to the block and put his hands on it, and started trying to push it. But the block was really heavy, and it barely moved a centimetre even when he pushed it with all its strength. "Ugh, this is going to take-"

"Move," Kratos said, walking over. Will stepped back, and Kratos quite easily started pushing it across the room.

"Uh, yeah..." Will said. Both Lloyd and Ellie were laughing, and Will felt his face turn red. "You just... do your thing..."

It took about a minute for Kratos to get the block over to where Casper was pointing, and when it slid into place, the light hit it just right and the stone orb lit up with bright light. Then there was a rumbling, and the door to the left slid open.

"Alright!" Will said. "Let's go." He went over and helped Ellie to her feet, and they followed Kratos out onto a balcony.

"Another Oracle Stone," Will said. "Colette, place your hand on it."

Ellie did so, and a hologram of Raine appeared. "Lloyd!" Raine said. "Marvellous! It must be linked to an apparatus somewhere. Lloyd, can you see this side?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Ok," Raine said. "The door on this side has opened as well, so we're going to head up and regroup with you before facing the seal."

"Great," Will said. "See you soon."

"Miss Sage," Kratos said, stepping forward. "Please bring up an Orange Gel for the Chosen."

"Oh?" Raine said, an edge of worry in her voice. "Is she injured?"

"It's nothing serious," Kratos assured her.

"Very well," Raine said. "We'll meet you as soon as we can." With that, the hologram disappeared.

"Now what?" Ellie asked.

"We wait," Kratos said.

Will and Ellie sat down and leaned against the railing of the balcony. Casper, meanwhile, was flying around the large chamber with excitement, obviously pleased to get out of the dark stairwell.

"So..." Will said. "A ghost that's afraid of the dark."

"Yep," Ellie said.

"That's rather amusing, and also very sad."

"Yep."

They were quiet for a few minutes, and then Will looked up at Kratos, who was standing in the middle of the balcony. "Hey, Kratos?"

"Yes?"

"The ghosts were trapped in the stairwell, right? But now that we've opened the door, couldn't they get out?"

Kratos thought for a moment, then said, "While the other group is on their way up, the door would have been sealed again. However, while it was open, it is possible that a few snuck out. There should be nothing to worry about unless a great number make it out."

"So there's nothing to worry about?"

Kratos nodded. "Don't fret about the ghosts."

Will looked back up at Casper, who was circling around a window near the ceiling. "And I suppose we don't have to worry about that guy."

"Indeed," Kratos said. "He appears quite harmless."

Randomly, Ellie said, "I'm going to miss talking."

"Heh," Will said. "I'm sure Kratos is looking forward to it." Kratos chose to ignore this comment.

"Speaking of which, Aurion," Ellie said, "I noticed you've started calling me 'Chosen' again. I thought you agreed to call me Colette?"

Kratos continued to ignore them.

"You know that means I have to sing again."

Kratos let out a barely perceptible sigh of irritation.

She started up, "Well, I used to be a farmer and I made a living fine. I had a little stretch of land along the C. P. Line. But times were tough, and though I tried, the money wasn't there; the bankers came and took my land and told me, 'fair is fair'."

"Chosen," Kratos said, "Please stop."

"I looked for every kind of work, the answer always no. 'Hire you now?' they always laughed, 'we just let twenty go!'. The government, they promised me a measly little sum, but I've got too much pride to end up just another bum. Then I thought, who gives a damn if all the jobs are gone? I'm gonna be a pirate – on the river Saskatchewan!"

"If you must sing," Kratos said. "Must you choose songs that are..."

"Obnoxious?" she put in innocently. "That's the point, my dear Aurion. Here, I'll try one not so annoying... There is a castle on a cloud... I like to go there in my sleep...Aren't any floors for me to sweep..."

"It's kind of funny," Will mused. "The character singing that song has a name very similar to 'Colette'. Just one changed letter." He remembered when she had first sung that song back when they were freshman. The school hadn't wanted to bring in a real child for their production of Les Miserbales, so they brought in Ellie before her growth spurt and she'd passed as a little kid. She was still bitter about that.

"Clearly this means something," Ellie said. "Do you suppose that I was Cosette in a past life?"

"Oh, definitely a good theory," Will said. "You were also in France."

Kratos looked at them strangely. "Where is 'France'?"

"Don't worry about it," Will said. Dammit, he needed to get better at holding his tongue. It was hard to keep from making casual references about things on Earth, especially when he was talking with Ellie. He needed to remember that other people could be listening.

"Yeah," Ellie said, "It's a magical fantasy land filled with wine and croissants and they assign genders to tables."

"In their defence," Will said, "That's pretty common in other languages."

Kratos just shook his head and ignored them.

---

About half an hour later, the hologram sprung to life again. Ellie looked up from where she'd been snuggling against Will's shoulder and saw Raine said, "Can you hear me? We've made it in further. It would be best to regroup we proceed."

Kratos stood up from where he'd sat on the other side of the balcony. Will had noticed him watching them a bit, but his face was unreadable and Will wasn't sure how Kratos felt about them. Did he care at all? Was he thinking, 'awwww, my son has a girl and isn't totally pathetic'? Was he thinking about Anna? Kratos had fixed the rip on his shirt, so Will couldn't tell if he'd fixed the locket and he wasn't about to ask.

"Very well," Kratos said. "We'll meet you soon."

Raine just nodded her head and the communication broke off. As she disappeared, there was a flash of light and a shimmering bridge appeared, sort of like at the Water Seal. Will got up and gave Ellie his hand. Her face was pinker now and the rest had done her some good, though an Orange Gel would probably still be beneficial.

He stood before the bridge. It was pale white and filled with glowing gold sigils that flowed through it like water. It looked very pretty, but not very substantial. "Are you sure it will hold?" he asked.

'Don't worry about it,' Lloyd said. 'It's perfectly stable.'

He knew it would probably hold, but it was hard to bring himself to put his weight done on a bridge so translucent.

Kratos brushed past him and walked across. "Oh..."

Ellie smirked, pat him on the shoulder, and followed Kratos. Feeling a bit stupid, Will followed them across, the bridge very solid beneath his feet.

'Ha-ha, dork,' Lloyd laughed.

'Easy for you to say,' Will grumbled, face red as he followed the others across. 'But magical bridges that appear out of nowhere aren't natural in my world.'

'Yeah, well you're world is boring. You don't even have grasshoppers the size of grizzly bears.'

'I think I prefer my world...Seriously, wasn't the entire planet hit by some sort of nuclear radiation that made insects giant and gave everyone horrible fashion sense?'

'Do you have a problem with how we dress?' Lloyd asked indignantly.

'Oh, heavens no. Suspenders are definitely cool.'

By this point they had walked all the way to the final bridge, and saw the other three happily watching them. With less protest this time, Will walked across the similarly magical bridge.

"Lloyd! Colette!" Genis yelled, running up to them. "You're alright!"

"We're fine," Ellie said as Genis glomped her.

"Genis," Raine said, coming forward with an Orange Gel. "Colette is hurt; get off her."

Genis jumped away like Ellie's been set on fire. "Oh! I'm sorry Colette!"

She smiled. "No problem." She took the gel from Raine swallowed it, grimacing as it slid down her throat. Then she stuck out her tongue. "Blech. Even I can tell that stuff is nasty. Feels like swallowing a toad, only the toad is also covered in a ball of slime and lacks the consistency of meat."

Raine just said, "Medicine is not meant to be delicious," while the other members of the party stared at her.

"That's..." Sheena said, "an interesting way to put it..."

Ellie immediately looked better, standing up straight with more colour in her face. "Alright! I feel fantastic now; let's go kick some guardian butt!"

"This isn't a game," Kratos said.

Ellie rolled her eyes. "I know. I'm just trying to get some slight enjoyment here. This is our final battle, right?"

Kratos only nodded. "So it would seem."

One at a time, they went through the warp. Will followed immediately after Kratos, and emerged on a garish blue rooftop with steps leading up to the top of the tower proper. The only problem was, practically every other step looked like it was ready to collapse, with one edge dead and dangling in space. 'Ok, now I'm sure these won't support me.'

'Don't worry about it,' Lloyd said. 'They worked just fine for me.'

'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.'

'That sounds like Dwarven Vow Number 33: Don't rush in where patience pays.'

'Do you ever actually listen to the Vows, Lloyd?'

'S-Some of them...'

Will still looked hesitantly at the steps, until Kratos looked down at him from the top.

"Are you coming? You're blocking the warp."

"Uh, yeah, just a sec..." He took a careful step onto the stair and it wobbled slightly beneath his foot. His stomach did a flip, but he moved on up the steps. 'Hey, Lloyd, I know what Dwarven Vow Number 34 is.'

'Oh yeah? What?'

'If it exists, there's porn for it.'

Lloyd was silent for a bit, while Will just smirked. When he reached the top and stood off to the side with Kratos, Lloyd finally said, 'What's porn?'

'Do you honestly not know?'

'Um...should I?'

Will snickered. 'Lloyd, you're absolutely pathetic.'

Kratos glanced at him, obviously wondering what he found so funny. Will quickly stopped laughing and adopted his 'serious business' face as Genis came up the wobbly stairs to join them.

When the girls followed them through, Ellie pulled out her wings and flew into the air. "Whoa!" she said. "I can see all the way to Thoda!"

"Colette," Raine called, "Get down from there; there seal guardian may appear at any-"

It got dark. The bright sky above them rapidly faded, which defied all laws of physics, seeing as there was no cloud covering the sun. Was the whole world dark? Was it just up here?

'Will,' Lloyd said. 'It's magic.'

'Oh. Right.'

Ellie came down and bobbed next to him, and all six party members looked around, weapons at the ready. Ellie had her chakrams out and was peering through the dim light.

"Hey, Colette," Sheena said, cards out. "I've been meaning to ask; where do you keep your chakrams? They just kind of...appear in your hands."

"One does not question the power of the Chosen!" Ellie said.

"What?" Sheena said. "I was just asking."

"Don't ask," she said. "It's magic."

"Why is it so dark?" Genis grumbled as they stood in a cluster in the middle of the roof. "I mean, isn't this the Light seal?"

"It's magic," Will said.

"Is everything magic?" Genis asked.

"Yes," Ellie replied.

Just then, the darkness was lit up by a brilliant flash of light. Will sheathed his swords and threw his hand up to shield his eyes, squinting them closed. Even with his eyes closed, the light flashed faster and faster through his eyelids. "I think I'm going to have an epileptic seizure," he said, rubbing his eyes. He couldn't see anyone else, but he had to imagine they were all just as affected by the lights.

When the light finally remained constant, he head a light clip-clop, but couldn't see anything from the swirling colours dancing over his vision. "Ugh..." he groaned, rubbing his eyes and trying to see clearly.

Through the greenish blurs in his eyes, he saw a yellow and blue horse walking around on the rooftop. But the light had rattled his brain, and he felt dizzy and disoriented. There had probably been some Mana-effect in it as well, because he was fairly certain regular flashing lights didn't affect people this bad.

'I can help,' Lloyd said. 'I can see clearly.'

'Great.' Will pulled his swords out and got ready to fight, but the Iubaris was near Ellie and Genis by the wall now and he was afraid of hitting them in his disoriented state. He needed to get it to come over to him and Kratos, closer to the steps of the altar.

'Lloyd, how can I distract it?'

'I dunno, try a chicken impersonation.'

'That's ridiculous.'

But he didn't have any other ideas, so he was about to attempt it when Kratos shouted, "Double Demon Fang!" Apparently he trusted himself to not hit the others, and based on how the attack struck Iubaris dead-on, he apparently knew what he was doing.

Iubaris now came charging for Will and Kratos, while Raine, Ellie, and Genis stood near the wall of the roof, casting. He didn't know where Sheena was, but she was probably busy doing some ninja-thing.

Iubaris leapt into the air right before it reached them and Will jumped out of the way before it could kick him to the ground. He could feel the vibrations through the floor when it landed, and he was quite glad he wasn't under those hooves; they'd break ribs.

"Holy Song!" Ellie shouted, and harmless pink feathers rushed across the battlefield. This, immediately followed by Raine casting Field Barrier, ridded Will of his disorientation and allowed him to concentrate on the horse. The fiendish death horse.

Kratos had already stabbed it in its shoulder, but as he was pulling his blade out, it whipped it's spiked tail around and forced Kratos to lunge backwards, barely avoiding getting impaled.

"Thunder Blade!" Genis shouted, and the giant sword crashed down. Will was momentarily terrified of the shockwaves around his feet, before realising that Genis had gotten the hang of turning off friendly fire. Very convenient. Now if only he could figure out Guardian.

"Genis!" Raine shouted when Iubaris looked wholly unconcerned with the Thunder Blade (and if anything just looked annoyed), "Don't use thunder based attacks!"

"Stay away from fire and light as well," Kratos said.

"Lloyd!" Will looked up and saw Sheena precariously balanced on the steep, green-tiled roof of one of the turrets. How the hell had she gotten up there? Ugh, don't ask. She was a ninja. Ninjas did things like that. Anyway, Sheena said, "Lure him beneath me!"

Will nodded, then glanced at Iubaris to see if he understood what was said. Apparently not, as it was in the middle of charging at him again, head held low to spear him with its horn. He bolted, running away across the roof with an angry horse hot on his tail. He probably looked pretty silly, but whatever.

The other three were casting again, but Will concentrated on getting Iubaris beneath the tower Sheena was perched on. She looked ready to slip at any time, but she managed to cling there like a gecko. He reached the wall directly below Sheena, and turned around to see Iubaris still charging at him. Whatever Sheena planned on doing, she better do it now.

He closed his eyes and winced, as something dropped from above him. He opened his eyes to see had dropped down to land on his back just behind his wings, gripping him tightly with her thighs. She looked like a cowboy (A cowboy-ninja?) as she held on tightly and reached into her ribbon for cards.

Will took this opportunity to get the hell out of there, and grinned when he felt Raine cast Acuteness, making his blade sharper. (How did it work? Magic). Will neared Kratos. Who was using this distraction to start casting something.

"Serpent Seal!" Sheena shouted, slapping something down on the horse's back. "Mirage Seal! Power Seal Absolute!" She then did a fancy ninja-jump backwards and landed gracefully on the ground like a cat, leaving Iubaris stumbling around like a drunkard.

"Grave!" Kratos shouted, just as Ellie unleashed Pow Pow Hammer.

Iubaris couldn't dodge the attack and a stalagmite shot up and speared it underneath as two large red hammers smashed down on it from above.

"Demon Fang!" Will shouted as the horse stumbled away from the attack. Enraged, it charged for the person who had hurt it last, which in this case happened to be Will. It leapt over his Demon Fang and Will turned to run towards the other tower, near Ellie and the Sages. Iubaris reached him first, though, and smashed him in the back with its mace-tail. He gasped in pain and fell to his knees, though it probably would have been worse if Raine hadn't cast Field Barrier earlier.

Sheena was running towards him to get Iubaris off him before it could finish him off, and Kratos was casting again (hopefully First Aid). Ellie chucked her chakrams at it, and the horse snorts, distracted as they ripped across its shoulder where Kratos had already stabbed it, blood staining the yellow fur.

Genis was casting, but Iubaris was still over him, probably about to stamp down on his fragile spine. Will scrambled to get up, as Raine ran forward, staff barred.

"Raine!" Sheena shouted as she started pulling cards from her ribbon. Raine was focused only on saving her student, and she didn't have time to cast, even if her damaging spells could affect the light-based monster. She smashed the rod into Iubaris' side, and the horse stumbled around some more, still thrown off from Sheena's cards.

Raine gave Will her hand and helped him to his feet, though he hunch a bit from where his back had been injured. Just as Kratos shouted out, "First Aid!" and healing magic sped across the battlefield to him, Iubaris turned around and took it's frustration out on Raine.

It reared up on its front legs and kicked out wildly with its back feet, slamming Raine in the chest and sending her flying. Will stared in horror as she flew, rod clacking to the ground, and smashed into the wall of the nearby pillar.

She crumpled to the floor, blood soaking her white hair. Will stood frozen, not really seeing her as his mind flashed back to Sara. Oh god, this was his fault too. Raine was trying to save him. Raine cracked her head open and was dead just like Sara oh god oh god –

'Will, snap out of it!'

He blinked a couple times and saw Genis crouching at Raine's side.

Lloyd sounded panicky, but was trying to calm Will down despite his own horror. 'It – it's going to be ok. Professor Sage is ok. She's not dead, Will. Honest.'

"Lloyd, behind you!" Kratos shouted, and he jumped to the side as Iubaris tried to spear him again. Will ran, while Ellie and Genis tended to Raine. She seemed to be alive, but unconscious. Their healer out for the count, they'd have to rely on Kratos for both his medical and fighting skills.

Kratos was facing Iubaris head-on now, trying to land a fatal blow while dodging attacks. Will was feeling useless, but also couldn't keep from looking back at Raine. Genis seemed incapable of moving from her side, and his face was shining with tears. Ellie knelt next to him, hands on his arm, trying to assure him it was alright. Sheena's cards' effects had worn off by now, so she just to the side and shouted "Pyre Seal!" while avoiding getting hit in the face with a wing.

Will wanted to help, to get do something to get his mind off Raine. He ran up behind Kratos and shouted, "Super Sonic Thrust!"

Before he could finish, Kratos whirled around, sword barred, and then froze as Will jumped back. Kratos just stared at him for a second while Iubaris snorted in pain from a Pyre Seal Sheena slammed into its wing, making it useless for flight. Kratos then he said, "Don't sneak up behind me!"

"S-Sorry!"

Suddenly, Kratos grabbed Will's arm and jerked him out of the way was Iubaris came crashing down, trying to crush them again. Will could tell it was slowing down, though, and the rooftop beneath it was red with horse-blood.

"Tidal Wave!" A humungous wave of water rushed up out of nowhere, and Will looked over at a furious Genis. Ellie was on her knees by Raine behind him, and Genis had a determined look on his face as the tidal wave washed across the roof. Will braced himself, but that wasn't necessary as it simply went right through him, like the first time Halsey had cast it back in the Palmacosta Ranch.

It did not, however, go right through Iubaris. If a horse was capable of saying, "Oh shit!", that's the expression Iubaris was portraying as it was swept off its feet and carried, thrashing, across the roof. Genis furled his brow and closed his eyes as he concentrated on the wave, and it rushed all the way across the battlefield and finally over the wall, sending Iubaris over the edge.

Will, Ellie, and Sheena ran across the roof and looked down over the edge, and Will gaped at the horse, fluttering with one wing, as it fell down with a rush of water. But it was injured, half-drowned, and only had one wing. The ground was very far down, but not so far that Will couldn't see the horse's body when it finally crashed onto the hard earth far below and lay still.

"Whoa..." Ellie said. "I wish we could defeat all our enemies by pushing them off a tower. Make things a lot easier."

Will smirked. "I suppose we should just carry a tower around with us at all times in case this sort of thing pops up?"

"Yup," Ellie said. "I propose the Tower of Salvation. No way you could survive falling off that thing."

Sheena shook her head. "You two are weird."

Ellie gave her a grin and said, "That we are!"

The trio turned around and headed back for the altar. Kratos, meanwhile, had used First Aid on Raine, who was still unconscious. Genis was a wreck, clenching his fists tightly and trembling a bit as tears streamed from his red eyes.

"Raine..." he muttered, sitting next to her. "Please be ok..."

"She'll be fine," Kratos assured him. "Chosen, complete the ritual."

Ellie took a deep breath. "Alright." Sheena stood back, leaning against the wall by Genis and the others. Will stood awkwardly in the middle of the roof, Ellie hovering next to him. Before she moved to the altar, she leaned in close and hugged him tightly.

"I'm going to miss talking to you," she whispered as they hugged. "And I'm sorry if things don't work out at the Tower and I never get to again."

"Ellie-" he whispered back, but she interrupted.

"Even if I don't make it, promise me you won't die, ok? I love you, Will."

Will was at a loss for words, and just stood there with his mouth hanging open stupidly. She gave him one last squeeze, then turned and walked up to the altar. Will staggered back to stand next to Kratos, who glanced down at him but didn't say anything.

Ellie looked very small standing on the steps of the altar. Will always hated this part, where he had to stand back and do nothing to stop her from losing her senses. Instead of Remiel, though, first the whole altar shook and a cylindrical frame rose from the ground, filled with golden light. Ellie held up a hand to shield her eyes, and when it faded a woman sitting on the moon was hovering in place. Obviously it wasn't the real moon, but close enough.

"Where is Aska?" Luna asked, looking down at Ellie. Her voice resonated around the rooftop. "I cannot perform a pact or vow without Aska."

"Uh," Ellie said, "We don't want to perform a pact or vow right now..."

Luna just gave her an odd sort of smile and said, "Please, find Aska..."

"Right," Ellie said. "Will do."

Luna faded from existence, and another bright light appeared above. Geeze, this Seal sure loved bright lights, Will thought as he shielded his eyes once again.

'Yeah,' Lloyd said. 'It's almost like this is the Light Seal.'

'Shut up, Lloyd.'

Remiel appeared. Will grit his teeth, thinking about what that bastard planned on doing to Ellie. He was such an asshole. Pretty much every villain in Symphonia had a small group of admirers, even Cardinals like Kvar or Forcystus. But Will had never once encountered someone who liked Remiel. Most people agreed to hating him even before they knew he was evil. He just exuded asshole-ness the way others expel carbon dioxide.

He wasn't really listening to what Remiel was saying, too busy ranting to himself. He saw Ellie floating in the air, bright lights whirling around her. And then, Remiel bade her farewell and flew back up into the heavens, leaving Ellie standing alone on the steps.

"Colette!" Will ran to her immediately, and Ellie turned around and smiled. When he reached her, he said, "Is it... is it really gone?"

She nodded. It killed him that it would probably be months before he heard her voice again.

"Lloyd, Chosen!" Kratos called. "Come, we need to leave this Tower as soon as possible. We don't want to remain here when it gets dark."

The pair walked over to the others, while Kratos picked Raine up easily and carried her, one arm under her knees and the other under her back. Her hair was mattered with dried blood, but Kratos had closed the wound. Genis still kept giving her furtive glances, and he obviously didn't like his sister being carried by the man he didn't trust. Will doubted Kratos enjoyed carrying her either, considering all the feuds the pair had had.

They took the warp back down to the interior of the Tower, and Will jumped when a ghost appeared. It was only Casper, though, whizzing around and welcoming in them back. He hovered in front of Ellie for a bit, making wild hand signs that apparently Ellie understand. She nodded, and then looked to Kratos and mimed writing on her hand.

Kratos shook his head. "I'm sorry, I have paper in my bag, but I left it with Noishe."

Ellie sighed and rolled her eyes, and started across the bridge. "Why does she need paper?" Sheena asked.

The other three looked at her. Will decided to go with a simple answer and let Ellie decide if she wanted to tell Sheena later. "After she releases a Seal, Colette doesn't feel too well so she probably has a really sore throat right now."

"Oh, ok," Sheena said, and they continued down the Tower.

It was a long walk to the bottom, and Will was exhausted when they finally arrived on the porch. Noishe ran up to greet them, but thankfully didn't tackle Kratos with Raine still in his arms.

As they walked out, Ellie stumbled, and Will quickly caught her. "Are you alright?" he asked, and she nodded.

Her face looked a bit pale, and Kratos said, "It's the Toxicosis. We should let her lie down for a while and she'll be fine."

The sun was already low in the sky, so they set up camp in the same spot they had the night before. Kratos set Raine down and then out of his bag he pulled out a notebook and pencil. Before handing it to her, he quickly tore out all the used pages. Will had to wonder what Kratos had been writing in it, but he supposed he'd never know.

Sheena volunteered to cook dinner that night, so while Genis sat by Raine's side and waited for her to wake up, Will lay down next to Ellie as she rested in her sleeping bag.

"Are you sure you feel ok?" he asked quietly.

She nodded.

"So, can you tell me what the ghost was saying as we were leaving?"

Ellie nodded again and startled scribbling in the notebook. When she passed it to him, he read 'casper says some ghosts got out so he's gonna track 'em down'.

Will frowned. "They got out? Is that bad?"

Ellie put her palms up and frowned, which Will took to mean, "probably".

He sighed. "Great. I suppose we'll have to trust Casper to take care of it."

Ellie nodded again.

"So, how were you able to talk to Casper anyway?"

She wiggled her fingers in the air and her mouth formed an 'oh'. As far as Will could tell, this translated to, 'it's magic'.

He lay next to her for a little while, staring up at the stairs. It was hard to have a discussion now that she couldn't talk, and he didn't know how long she planned on hiding this from Sheena.

"Lloyd," Kratos said, "Let the Chosen rest and come eat your dinner."

Sheena had prepared rice – big surprise – and though Will wished he had soy sauce to put on it, it was pretty good. As he ate, he stared at Ellie, lying with her back to him. Not eating, not speaking, not feeling the chill of the breeze from the sea. She looked like she was asleep, but he knew she wasn't. She didn't have anything else to give up now except for her soul.