Second Chances
By Chomper318

Author's Note: Tales of Symphonia belongs to Namco. I'll String Along With You belongs to Diana Krall. This ficcy belongs to me. I hope readers will like it, it's my first TOS fic.

I'll String Along With You

You may not be an angel
Cause angels are so few
But until the day that one comes along
I'll string along with you

I'm looking for an angel
To sing my love song to
And until the day that one comes along
I'll sing my song to you

For every little fault that you have
See I've got three or four
The human little faults you do have
Just make me love you more

You may not be an angel
But still I'm sure you'll do
So until the day that one comes along
I'll string along with you

--Diana Krall

Chapter Three

Kat walked to the beach and noted the boat had set sail...but only for a couple of yards. She squinted her eyes and could see the anchor chains dropped. She walked along the beach until she was directly across from the boat. She couldn't see anyone on deck anymore so they must had gone inside the boat. She would like to see the inside of the boat. Outside, it was rather plain, but pretty in a simple kind of way. There weren't gaudy adornments on the boat, and she liked that. The boat was practical and functional and without any unnecessary fuss. She noted the name of the ship, Anna, and felt a soft ache in her heart. She didn't understand her feelings, and she had long ago stopped questioning the void that seemed to fill her because of the loss of memory—no matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn't remember. Trying to examine her feelings only left her frustrated and confused. It was best to just ignore them. She also stopped questioning the images and visions that seemed to float inside her head because they frightened her terribly. What did she lose in her past that caused such tender sadness and fear? She didn't want to know. Whatever it was had left her completely lost and without her memory. If it was that bad, she rather not know about it. It would be better if it stayed in the past forgotten.

She eyed the boat again and diverted her attention back to the task at hand. She pondered for a few moments about how she could get to the two who dwelled in the boat. She thought about shouting but the sea wind would've drowned her out. She thought about swimming there but, seriously, who would in a Katz Costume? She stood there for some time, lost in thoughts.

Lloyd Irving knew it was his fault. They were kicked out of Thoda Geyer because of him...no. That's not quite right...because of Zelos and him. Either way, they were banned and their possessions were at the hot spring. Lloyd looked at his dad. It was still strange to think of Kratos, the Mercenary Soldier, as his father. After the Final Battle with Lord Yggdrasill, everybody went their separate ways in order to fulfill their dreams or duties. His best friend, Genis, and his sister, Professor Raine Sage, roamed the new world promoting love, justice, peace, and hope. His other best friend Colette, former Chosen One, was enjoying the life of being a normal girl with her family in Iselia. Sheena was back at Mizuho. As the new chief, she was the new leader for her clan and village. Zelos, the crummy bastard, acted as the appointed liaison for the Meltokio government and the rest of the world. He had been busy trying to redirect the government's intentions of ruling the entire new world to something else—anything else. From the fact that Zelos had the time to spy on hot spring bathers, no wonder things were tensed. Regal reclaimed his rightful position as the president of Lezareno Company. He directed a large portion of his company to the reconstruction of ruined towns. His first project was to rebuild the town of Ozette. Presea, lost for some time, was no longer lost. As the director of the rebuilding (insert city here) program at Lezareno Company, she was a force to be reckon with. Together, they helped each other heal and to rebuild the world. And when Lloyd went up to Derris-Kharlan to get his dad, he knew he made the right decision. But as he looked at his dad's darken visage, he thought it might have been better to have left him there with the Cruxis Angels—at least for a bit longer.

Lloyd took a deep breathe. What were they to do? Lloyd thought. The bag was at the hot spring. Normally, he could careless. It was only gald and some bottles. But Kratos' locket was there. The locket used to belong to his mom, Anna. After she died, Kratos had it and kept it with him—to remind him of the ones he loved and treasured most. When Kratos saw Lloyd at Flanoir one snowy night, Kratos gave him the locket with the help of Noishe. He kept it with him until he went to get his dad from Derris-Kharlan. There, he gave the locket back to Kratos. It was the final gift his mom would ever give his dad and Lloyd wanted his dad to have it. Kratos accepted it and wore it. It was only because of the hot baths that Kratos took it off. He didn't want to get it wet. Now.... Lloyd shook his head. No use worrying and brooding over something that couldn't be control. They had to get the bag back. The locket was there. It was very simple. Lloyd thought of all the possible different ways to sneak back into the hot spring. He still had the pirate outfit he got when he enlisted with Aifread's crew. Maybe he could sneak in that way—under disguise. He was going to tell his dad his plan but the sad look on his dad's face stopped him. No, Lloyd thought, he would get it back himself. It was his fault (along with Zelo's) that the locket was there. He mumbled something about fresh air and got up to the deck. He was still thinking about his plan when he caught sight of a pink Katz on the shore. And in the hands of the pink Katz was his bag.

Kat was still mulling things over when a noise startled her out of her train of thoughts. It was the sound of water splashing. She looked up and out towards the sea. Swimming out from the boat was the young man in red she saw earlier. He was swimming towards her! Kat jumped up and down in joy and waived the bag, grateful that she didn't have to swim out, which was her last resort. The young man continued to swim towards her. When he got to the shore, she ran down with the bag in tow. Standing in front of her, dripping wet, was a young man of 18 or so. He was strong looking, with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was grinning from ear to ear, and Kat couldn't help but returned the smile.

"Hey!" he said, "That's my bag."

Kat offered the bag back to the young man and said, "Yeah. I was at the hot spring. They...the group of women, were going to toss it into the ocean or burn it. I took it from them. I saw you and your friend running out. I thought you must've forgotten it in your haste."

The young man smiled even more broadly, if that was even possible, and said, "Thank you soooo much. There's something in there that's really precious to me and my dad." He opened the bag and began to dig around it, looking for something.

Kat looked at the young man and felt another ache in her heart. She couldn't understand why, but she wanted to push the wet lock of hair out of the young man's face and...and what? Hug him? Tell him she was pride of him and that she loved him forever? Kat didn't know what brought this on. Since she didn't want to analyze it too closely, she pushed the thoughts aside. She continued to watch him when something the young man had say sounded odd to her ears.

"Um," Kat said as the young man continued to rummage the bag, "You said the other guy was your dad...isn't he a bit young?"

He looked up briefly at Kat, and she was struck by how familiar his eyes looked to her. Kat, deeply unsettled, noticed that the boy was too busy looking for something to mind her odd reaction. What's wrong with me?

"Yeah, he may look young but trust me, he's not. He's my dad..." his voice trailed off and then, "A-ha! Found you! Yeah!" and with that he pulled out a locket.

Kat was not feeling well now. There was an odd fluttering sensation in her stomach and the everything around her seemed to be too...bright. She felt constricted somehow. Her eyes caught the twinkle of the locket as it reflected the sunlight. Kat wanted to seat down, she felt like she was drowning in darkness. Something, something close to the surface was bubbling, trying its best to surface. Kat gently put her right hand over her throat and felt her fingers trailing her neck...subconsciously tracing for something and looking for something that wasn't there. The young man took no heed to Kat's reactions. He simply opened the locket and showed it to Kat.

"See, that's dad...and me," he pointed to the picture that was inside the locket. "That's my mom, but she's gone. That's why we had to get the bag back. The locket was in there. It's was originally my mom's..." the young man's voice faltered a bit...then he looked at Kat and smiled again. "Thanks so much," he reached out to shake her hand. When she didn't respond, he simply took her hand and shook it. "What's your name? I should pay you...kinda like an expedition where you find the treasure right?"

Kat's tongue was caught by a Katz because she couldn't speak. The young man looked eagerly at her and began to pull out a bag of gald. That jarred Kat back to reality.

"Um, no," she said softly, still unnerved by the young man and the locket. "It's okay; you don't have to pay me."

"Oh no, I insist! Really," he pulled out another bag of gald, "I want to," and with that he pulled out another bag of gald and then placed all three bags in her hand. "There, that's about 3,000 gald...is it enough?"

Kat looked at the bags of gald in her hand, mindlessly calculating the fee for a successful treasure expedition. Usually, the client should pay at least 6,542 gald for this part of the world—more if they could afford the higher success rate. But Kat's mind was not on the gald but on the young man. He had such an eager face that she couldn't bring herself to reject his offering. So she just nodded, which elicited an excited woohoo! from the young man.

"Listen," as he gently placed the locket back inside the bag, "I didn't tell you my name, it's Lloyd, Lloyd Irving,"

Kat's world took a tilt. She just stood there with three bags of gald in her hands and nodded. When Kat didn't respond back, Lloyd prompted, "And yours...?"

"Oh," Kat said, willing herself out of whatever stupor she was in, "My name is Kat...from Katz Village."

Lloyd smiled; he turned his head back towards the boat and standing the deck was his dad—wondering where and what Lloyd was up to. He gestured back towards the boat, Kat followed his line of sight, and Lloyd said, "That's dad. His name is Kratos...Kratos Aurion." Lloyd tried to shake Kat's hands again but they were clutching the bags tightly. He thought better of it and instead gave her a rather wet hug instead.

"Oops, sorry about that...I forgot...Katz don't like getting wet right?"

Kat nodded again in the same mindless manner. Before she could say anything Lloyd continued on, "I better go. Thanks so much."

And with that, he walked into the water and swam away.

Kat stared at the young man as she swam away. Then, she looked up and at the man who was standing on the deck of the boat. The man was older, more matured. Even though Kat was on the beach and he was several yards away, she could make out the look of concern on his face. He was saying something to Lloyd, but she couldn't make it out. Kat continued to stare at the man when he lifted his head and stared out across the sea. He stared straight into Kat's eyes and for a moment she thought he stared straight into her heart, her soul, her very being. His eyes widened and for the second time that day, Kat's world tilted sharply once again.