Disclaimer: "Discovering the Meaning of Life" is a non-profit fan fiction based on Tales of the Abyss © Bandai Namco. All characters and many other references belong to their rightful owner. Please support the official media. OR ELSE!

[Tales of the Abyss OST – Cheagle Wood]

The Fairy Wood was actually not that far from Burgess than what Ezra thought. The forest itself didn't seem overly daunting. There weren't any traces of the fire they had been told about; it must not have reached this far south. The forest was bright and overgrown with lush vegetation painting it a world of greens. The sun still crept through tree tops so the forest was well lit and didn't seem especially treacherous. In fact it seemed rather peaceful. No sooner had the thought grazed him mind, when an unidentified cry filled the air.

"Look!" Merida called to the boy and without waiting for a reply, turned around and took off in the direction of the cry.

[Tales of the Abyss OST – Shock]

Merida saw the figure first while Ezra was still somewhere around the nearby outskirts of the woods. The figure was a boy about the same age as she is with white hair and sort-of regal outfit. The boy stood with shaky knees, holding this tuning fork staff raised forward and breathing hard, having given a good chase to the five tiger-like-creatures that were now circling him.

Merida had her bow loaded and shot through one of the beasts' head. A second one pounced, but she quickly shot it too. In the brief pause, Merida could hear the white haired boy's breathing behind her get heavier.

"Merida! Get out of there!" Merida heard Ezra's voice before jumping back; noticing the huge glyph that had appeared on the ground. A bright flash of chilly light-blue light and a surge of fonons ensued, throwing Merida even further back, completely obliterating the remaining three creatures.

[Music stops]

"Wow." Merida stood stunned for a moment staring at the void where her opponents had just stood, before running to the boy's side. "Hey are you all right?"

"I'm fine," the boy slowly stood up as Ezra caught up to them. "Just used too strong Daathic fonic arte there. Phew!" The looked the newcomers and perked up at the blue haired boy. "Oh, Ezra! Hi!"

[Tales of the Abyss Anime OST – Gratitude]

Ezra grinned at him. "Hi to you too Jack."

"Wait," Merida looked between the boys. "You guys know each other."

"Me and Jack often meet for a fonstone reading lesson," said Ezra. "Who are you doing with that anyway?"

"Pretty good recently actually." He turned toward the girl. "My name is Frost Bennett."

Merida tilted her head. Frost? Her eyes widened. "Fon Master Frost?!"

Frost, the Fon Master Frost, blinked. "Yes?"

"Aren't you supposed to be missing?!"

Ezra blinked. "Missing? That's the first I've heard of that."

The Fon Master nervously laughed. "Oh, there's a rumor like that?"

Ezra gave the Fon Master a deadpan stare. "What did you do?"

Frost winched. "Well, let's just say I…"

They never really got an answer though; startled by Merida's shriek, a little small fairy dressed in green leaf dress popped out of a nearby bush and took off deeper into the woods.

"It's a fairy!" Frost pointed out.

"So they do live here! Come on, we're gonna catch that thing!" Merida took off after it, not willing to miss out on the opportunity that, quite literally, just jumped out at her.

Ezra sighed, pressing his palm on his head. "It feels like I'm babysitting."

Frost laughed at him. "We'd better hurry though, or we'll be left behind."

"Right."

So… This chapter was a bit disappointing. I'm supposed to upload this yesterday, but yesterday had been a tough day, so I post it tonight.

… With a price of I didn't wrote today's actual chapter!

Sorry. Sorry. I had been a stressful day recently.

Anyway. THE BIG FOUR HAS FINALLY APPEARED!

Cast:

Merida from Brave © Pixar

Ezra from Star Wars © Lucasfilm & Disney

Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians © DreamWorks (there's a reason why I call him 'Frost' instead of 'Jack', but I won't tell you soon because of spiler. His outfit is based on Sorey's (Tales of Zestiria). Fun fact, Jack's outfit (you can see it fully in chapter 15) has the most minor changes out of all the adapted outfit. Jack is just perfect in Sorey's outfit!)