Okay, it's time for another holiday! (Sorry for it being late) Thanks to you all for reminding me of the upcoming holidays! I almost completely forgot about St. Patrick's Day and Easter! Well, a good point was brought up in one of the reviews: there is no St. Patrick in the setting of Tales of Symphonia. But, I still didn't want to leave this holiday out... so I thought, what do people associate with St. Patrick's Day? Green... clovers... leprechauns... and beer. Wow. Even before writing this chapter, I know it's going to be strange. I shall call it... St. Dwarftrick's Day! Ahem... Here are the responses to reviews:

To Miokiu – Heh, heh... I don't even know what I was thinking when I talked about 'Dirk's love shack', but I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for reviewing!

To shadowfox5 – I'm glad I've managed to get you to enjoy a random-humour story. (feels as though she accomplished something) And there shall be more Sheena and Zelos; plenty more. Hell, it's my favourite pairing, after all! XD

To kuramagirl44 – Yes! Share the love! Ahem... St-Patrick's Day, yes! Thank you for reminding me of this holiday! I would've totally forgotten about it...

To Freakyleaf – Fluffy and funny is totally the best combo. And that was my aim with the board game part; to confuse your petty minds! Mwahaha! (I'm just kidding. Your mind isn't petty. :P)

To rice8369 – Don't worry, dude! Slowly but surely, Kratos and Raine are hooking up. I can assure you of that. (smile)

To Cerse Liminara – Yes, of course! St. Patty's Day it is! Well... kind of. Y'know, they don't really have a St. Patrick... and poor Zelos! Thou art so cruel to him!

To lordoshadows – Hm... that's strange. I can see the entire Christmas chapter on my computer... And Easter's going to be coming soon! It shall be... interesting.

To Begley – The next chapter is now! Er... yeah... Thank you very much for your comments. I'm going to try and tone down making Regal extremely weird, because you were definitely right in saying that and overused thing.

To RPGs r the BEST! – Well, I'm managing to get a St. Patrick's Day in! Kind of... ah well. Aw man, I forgot about April Fool's Day!

To Shadowed Fear – Alright, now I have a list of holidays that I must write about! Time to get started!

And now, onward with the chapter... Oh! And the very beginning of the chapter is somewhat something that happened in my friend's math class. :D

Disclaimer: Nope. I still don't own Tales of Symphonia.

XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIX

)Chapter 4 – St. Dwarftrick's Day!(

"Okay, class," Raine scribbled several algebraic equations down on the chalkboard located at the front of the room. She stepped back, admired her handiwork for a moment, and then turned to face her students, "Looking at the second of these problems, can you identify the type of equation that it is, using the prefix 'bi'?"

Considering that this was the first time that anyone in the class had ever seen these different types of equations, they were not aware that she was looking for the word 'binomial'. Everyone remained silent in hopes that at least one student would be able to take a guess. As fate had it, one student did take a guess: "Bisexual!" ...although it was far from serious.

Exhaling loudly, Raine tapped her foot impatiently and sent a glare towards the smartass student. "No!" she snapped, but quickly forced herself to calm down and continue the lesson, "In all seriousness, consider what makes up these equations, and tell me—what is the third one called, using the prefix 'tri'?"

"Trisexual?"

"NO!" Raine whipped the chalk in her hand at the student. He yelped, swiftly diving off of his seat and crashing to the floor to avoid being hit. "Monomial, binomial, trinomial and polynomial! That's what these equations are; they don't state what gender a person prefers sexually!" The Professor took a deep breath and picked up another piece of chalk that was left on the board's ledge, "Now, each of these equations is factored in a different way. A monomial cannot be factored, but the others can," she began scribbling something on the second equation, "Firstly, with a binomial—"

"Oh, my ultra gorgeous beauuutyyyy!"

Raine lowered her head miserably, letting the chalk trail down the board with a screech. "Someone, save me... I give up," she muttered under her breath before looking towards the doorway, "Zelos, what are you doing here?"

Tethe'alla's Chosen strode into the classroom and glanced at the students before replying, "Altessa wanted me to invite you, Lloyd, Colette and Genis to his house to celebrate something called 'St. Dwarftrick's Day'. So that's why I'm here."

"Was it necessary to do so when I was in the middle of teaching? Couldn't you approach us separately before or after school, or even during a break or lunch hour?" Raine questioned, staring daggers at Zelos.

"Well, yeah," Zelos responded as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "But why would I do that if I could just get it over with all at once? It just seems more efficient."

Raine angrily tapped her chalk against the board repeatedly, "Maybe for you, but not for me nor my students! Get out!" Zelos simply continued to stand in the room, grinning like an idiot as always. The Professor dropped her chalk onto the ledge and began approaching Zelos with a violent look in her eyes. The swordsman gulped and began backing away, pleading that she be gentle on him. "Do not disrupt my class!" Raine shouted before kicking Zelos outside and slamming the door behind him. Coolly, she meandered back into the classroom, picked up the piece of chalk and began writing on the board, "As I was saying, a binomial can only be factored if it is a difference of squares..."

Everyone in the classroom was wearing nervous smiles (except for Colette, who was simply giddy as it was) and they simply nodded along with anything that Raine said, even if they did not understand. Sure, they had seen the Professor's wrath before, but... wow. Poor Zelos. Only Lloyd and Genis had ever felt that kind of pain at the hands – or foot – of Miss Sage. And so, stunned to silence, the class droned along until finally, the bell rang. It was a joyous moment as all of the students leapt up from their seats and made a dash for the door... all except for Lloyd, Colette and Genis, of course. The three best friends joined Raine at the front of the classroom, and Genis piped up, "So, Raine, are we going to be going to Altessa's house?"

The Professor gathered up some papers into a pile and neatly placed them on her desk. "I suppose so," she answered at last, "But we'll have to go and find Zelos if we hope to learn more about this... St. Dwarftrick's Day." The two teenagers plus Genis all nodded their heads in agreement. Without any more words being exchanged, the small group exited the schoolhouse.

Outside, Zelos was waiting for them. They guessed that he had simply decided to lounge around in front of the school and watch the hunnies go by until he could speak to his friends. "Finally!" Zelos exclaimed as soon as he saw his buddies walk outside, "Are you all ready to go?"

"Go...?" Raine repeated, blinking several times, "...now?"

"Yeah," Zelos beamed, "St. Dwarftrick's Day is today, so we have to get over to Altessa's right away!"

Steam almost seemed to erupt from Raine's ears out of frustration, "Zelos! How long have you known about this holiday?" she demanded an immediate answer.

The Chosen of Tethe'alla paused for a moment in consideration, "Um... couple weeks, I guess. Why?"

"You... you..." Raine clenched her teeth, looking fiercely at Zelos, "How did you manage to procrastinate so much!" she screamed, advancing on Zelos with that familiar, murderous stare.

"Oh no..." Zelos murmured, backing up, "Not again!"

/Spontaneous setting change/

Zelos whimpered quietly as ice was placed on his sore torso. "Take it like a man. They're only bruises," Sheena stated, observing the minor injuries that Raine had inflicted upon Zelos.

"...Can you kiss it better?" the swordsman asked, looking hopefully at Sheena.

After short contemplation, Sheena responded: "No."

"I try," Zelos sighed sadly, "and yet I always seem to fail." Sheena laughed softly before leaning forward and granting Zelos a light kiss on his lips. He grinned, "Thank you, hunny, I suddenly feel so much better!" The summoner rolled her eyes as Zelos jumped up to his feet, only to cringe at a sharp pain and fall back down to his seat, "Ah, jeez... I'm starting to think that the nickname 'Violent Demonic Banshee' is more suitable for Raine than for you..."

"I can only hope," Sheena remarked, tossing Zelos his shirt and vest. He quickly put his clothes back on, covering the aching bruises on his chest. "Come on. Let's go back to the others." Sheena gripped both of Zelos' hands and pulled him up to a standing position. The almighty Chosen threw an arm over Sheena's shoulders and relied on her to aid him in walking. True, he could certainly walk on his own, but it hurt less this way... and, of course, it was Sheena helping him.

Meanwhile, all of the other friends had gathered inside of Altessa's house and were hearing the tale of this 'St. Dwarftrick'. Apparently, he was a great man... dwarf. And that was about all there was to it, on account of the fact that no one really had a clue what exactly it was that had made St. Dwarftrick so special that he got his own holiday. Altessa explained that through time, the meaning of the holiday was drowned in traditions involving the treasure of leprechauns, wearing green, and getting wasted. "So it's custom to wear green on St. Dwarftrick's day?" Colette asked.

"I suppose that's how it is now," replied the dwarven craftsman, "Whenever a person doesn't wear green on St. Dwarftrick's Day, it's pinchy pinchy. But only those wearing green have the right to pinch, of course!"

There was a moment of hesitation as the heroes pondered on what they had decided to wear on that particular day. Regal was dressed in his formal outfit, which conveniently consisted of a lovely green jacket. Colette wore her regular clothes, but for some reason had on her maid bonnet... which was green. Presea had a cute green ribbon in her hair. Due to one of Genis' annoying-little-sibling moments that Raine had not yet noticed, she had green streaks in her hair. Kratos was there, too; one of his belts was a bright green because he was aware of these traditions.

That left... Lloyd and Genis. Neither was wearing green. At all. Nada. Completely and utterly un-green. A devious glint shone in the eyes of everyone but the two boys as they looked onward, studying the distinct lack of green. Then, in unison, they all said... "Pinchy, pinchy!"

All the while, Sheena and Zelos were still trudging towards the house. Suddenly, a scream erupted from the building ahead. "What was that about?" Zelos piped up, blinking. Sheena could simply shrug absent-mindedly. Tethe'alla's Chosen set his questions aside and glanced towards Sheena, finally processing something different about her appearance, "Hey, you're wearing a green ribbon-thingy!" he observed, pointing to the 'green ribbon-thingy' that was tied around the summoner's waist.

"Yeah," Sheena stated, her voice hinting that it was normal for her ribbon to be green. She then looked Zelos up and down, coming to a realization, "You're not wearing any green!"

"Of course not. That's an ugly colour."

Sheena quickly shook her head, "No, no, Zelos. You have to wear green on St. Dwarftrick's Day! If you don't, well..." she paused, recalling the cries of pain that had come from Altessa's house, "...I think I know why there was screaming just a minute ago." Zelos was still confused, and he simply stared at Sheena enquiringly. "Zelos, if you don't wear green on St. Dwarftrick's Day, everyone will pinch you."

"Oh," Zelos murmured before even completely grasping her statement. And when he did fully grasp it, his reaction changed. "Oh, crap! I need green! I can't let my beautiful bod be pinched to the point of... of... heinousity!"

"Relax," Sheena demanded coolly. She gripped her ribbon and tore a long piece of it off. "Come here." Zelos complied and approached the summoner. She reached out towards Zelos and undid his headband, afterwards replacing it with the torn fabric. "There. Now you and your bod aren't in any danger."

Zelos beamed, "Thank you, milady!"

With a roll of her eyes, Sheena began walking towards the house only to be held back as Zelos locked his arms around her waist, pulling her back into his chest. "Zelos, what are you doing?" the summoner asked, her voice completely calm.

"Do we have to go inside?" the Chosen enquired, tightening his hold around Sheena. He leaned closer and kissed her neck softly.

"Yes. We do," Sheena casually pushed Zelos backwards and proceeded on her way to the house. Zelos gave a sad sigh before following the ninja inside where everyone was pointing and laughing at Lloyd and Genis. Sheena blinked a few times, and then took notice of the fact that neither Genis nor Lloyd were wearing green, and that there were multiple red pinch marks wherever their skin was visible.

Zelos snickered, "Ha ha! Losers!"

"Shut up!" Lloyd retorted, "It's not like you're wearing any..." his voice trailed off as he noticed Zelos' green headband, "Damnit, no fair! Sheena helped you!"

"Life isn't fair, my friend," Tethe'alla's Chosen smirked, which only made Lloyd want to pinch the hell out of him... but alas, he was not permitted to do so. Woe was Lloyd.

Altessa stepped forward, an opaque bottle of something in his hand, "Don't fret about a thing, Lloyd. A big part of St. Dwarftrick's Day is overcoming the pain of pinch-attacks. Tabatha, fetch me a glass." The robotic girl replied with a 'yes, master' (in all upper case letters, of course) and then went to the kitchen. The group stood in unnatural silence until Tabatha returned and placed an empty glass on the table. Altessa almost immediately began pouring the bottles contents into it. The moment that he did, the distinct scent of vodka wafted into the air.

"Altessa!" Raine shouted, automatically holding a hand over her nose, "You're not implying that these children should drink alcohol to resolve their pain?"

The craftsman gave her a confused look, "Why not?"

"It really has nothing to do with us," Genis explained, "You see, Raine has a drinking problem." Slap! "Ow! Jeez, Raine! Why are you punishing me for telling the truth?" the younger half-elf whined, clutching his head to suppress the pain caused his sister's wrath. Naturally, this statement only provoked Raine, and she smacked him again.

Whilst the half-elf siblings resolved their argument with violence, Lloyd and Zelos were staring longingly at... the alcohol, of course! "Man, that looks appetizing," Zelos remarked, breathing in the scent of the sweet, sweet vodka.

"Looks and smells kind of gross to me..." commented Lloyd, "...and yet, I can't help but want to chug it down!"

Altessa chuckled, "Ah, yes. That is the power of dwarven vodka." He poured two more glasses of the drink and then pushed them towards the boys. "Drink up!" he implored, "No one's going to stop you!" Zelos and Lloyd glanced towards each other, gave a nod, and then picked the glasses up in unison and poured the alcohol down their throats. Altessa grinned and downed his own glass of dwarven vodka.

"Alcohol..." Regal murmured, "...the root of all evil."

"I thought the expression was 'money is the root of all evil'?" Sheena questioned, staring at Regal blankly.

The president of Lezareno scoffed, "Nonsense! Money is the root of all things good!" Sheena muttered a half-hearted 'oh' while continuing to stare at Regal sceptically.

It did not take too long for the effects of alcohol to set in on Lloyd and Zelos. "You know, I would wear green," Lloyd began in a profound, yet drunken, tone of voice, "but it's just... it's not easy being green, you know? When I was little, I always wore green, and it made me sad! My mommy died, my daddy transformed into a dwarf..."

"Lloyd, I didn't transform into Dirk. I simply vanished," Kratos spoke up with his levelheaded opinion, "And please, call me either Kratos, Dad, or Father... never 'Daddy'. Even when you were young, you did not call me 'Daddy'. You called me Spiderman."

Colette giggled, "Lloyd called you Spiderman?" Kratos nodded slightly. "That's so cute!" Sylvarant's Chosen exclaimed, mentally picturing a mini-Lloyd wearing green and chasing after Kratos shouting 'Spiderman'.

Lloyd's face turned red as he slumped down into a chair, dropping his head onto the table, "Daaad..." he whined, "Don't tell Colette about the humiliating things I did as a kid..." Kratos shook his head slowly to himself, and Colette giggled again. "So anyway, like I was saying, green sucks!" Lloyd lifted his head and glanced about the room, taking note of everything green. First he pointed to Presea's green bow, "You suck!" and then Raine's green-streaked hair, "You also suck!" and then Zelos' bandana, "And you suck!" and then Sheena's green ribbon, "You suck, too!" and then Kratos' green belt, "And you also suck!" and then Genis whom lacked green, "...You're cool, man," and then Colette's green bonnet, "I could never say that you suck," and finally, Regal's green jacket, "You suck most of all!"

With that out of his system, Lloyd collapsed onto the table, suddenly snoring loudly. "I guess his system just couldn't handle it," Altessa observed, poking at Lloyd a few times.

"I warned you that his tolerance was low," said Raine.

Genis looked at his sister for a moment, hesitant to speak the thought lingering in his mind. Ah, what the hell – he went for it! "Raine, all you did was yell at him about the implication behind his statement." He was right to be hesitant, because Raine gave him a casual whack upside the head. "Owww! Remind me to never speak my mind again!"

"Most certainly," Raine agreed, "I'll make a point of doing that."

"I'm going to bring Lloyd into one of the rooms," Colette announced, pulling on the swordsman's arm in an attempt to drag him onto his feet. She finally succeeded, but squeaked nervously as all of Lloyd's weight was put onto her and she was forced to hold him up. Not that Lloyd was particularly heavy, but Colette was rather small.

Altessa stepped forward and lifted Lloyd off of Colette, "Here, I'll help you bring him into the room." The blonde angel gave Altessa a smile that said 'thank you' and then followed him (with Lloyd) into the bedroom.

Kratos scrutinized the two half-filled glasses of vodka: one being Lloyd's, and the other being Altessa's. Temptation began to wash over him, and he suddenly understood what Lloyd meant by not being to help wanting to chug it down. "Go for it, man," Zelos' words came out slurred, but Kratos still manage to grasp the main message. He cautiously gripped the glass and then brought it to his lips, pausing there. "I said, go for it!" Zelos repeated, enunciating his words much better than previously. Complying, Kratos took a small sip of the vodka... Not particularly tasty, and yet he was compelled to continue drinking until he, too, was wasted.

"Oh no," Sheena sighed.

"What is it?" Raine asked. The summoner simply pointed towards Kratos; the almighty seraph was wobbling on his feet, a glass of alcohol in his hand. Raine then sighed in much the same way that Sheena had, "Oh no."

"Hey, Kratos, buddy!" Zelos exclaimed, throwing a friendly arm over his shoulders... Ironic, considering how Zelos could barely stand Kratos' ways, "Do you wanna know a secret?" Kratos gave a nod. "I love her," Tethe'alla's Chosen admitted, not specifying who 'her' was.

Kratos' eyes widened, "Oh my Goddess! You do!"

"Yeah!"

"Wow..."

Raine and Sheena were stunned to silence, and Regal and Presea were simply silent because they thought this entire thing rather ridiculous. Genis was rather terrified. "Hey, Zelos," Kratos spoke. His newfound buddy looked at him with interest. "Do you know who I love?" Zelos shook his head in response. "I..." the seraph seemed to hesitate, "...I think I'm falling in love with her."

"Her!"

Kratos gave a slightly ashamed nod.

"Dude!"

Sheena clenched her fist, the frustration building up inside of her. "That's it! Who the hell are you two talking about! Is this 'her' the same person for both of you, or is this some drunkard means of communication!"

The two men chuckled slightly, glancing towards each other. It almost seemed as though they were speaking telepathically by the way that they grasped the meaning behind the expressions on each other's faces. Then, simultaneously, they turned towards Sheena and said, "'Her' is Genis!"

Needless to say, this made Genis even more frightened. "Aah! Why me? I... Why do you love me! I'm not even a her! Why are you calling me 'her'! Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

Kratos and Zelos broke into a fit of laughter, giving each other high-fives for managing to trick Genis. Obviously it wasn't Genis that they were talking about! "That was an uncalled for thing to do," stated Raine, sending cold glares towards Zelos and Kratos.

The latter of the two lowered his head, feeling guilty as he felt Raine's stare pierce into him. Zelos, on the other hand, simply laughed and wandered over to where Sheena was standing. He wrapped his arms around her in an embrace and lowered his head onto her shoulder. "You know... you were my 'her'," he said proudly.

"I'm so honoured," the summoner responded sarcastically with a roll of her eyes, "C'mon. I think it's time for you to join Lloyd in the rehabilitation room." Zelos gave a groan in protest, however Sheena still persisted and pulled him into the bedroom. The moment that they entered the room, Colette lifted her head, breaking her gaze away from the sleeping Lloyd, and looked towards Sheena and Zelos. "Sorry for disturbing you, Colette," Sheena apologized, "but Zelos needs to sleep it off, too." She gently nudged Zelos forward so that he lifelessly collapsed onto an empty bed.

Colette gave her friend a bright smile, "Oh, it's fine," she insisted.

"Girls," Altessa's naturally gruff voice came from the other side of the room. Colette and Sheena turned their heads towards the dwarf to let him know that they were listening. "Why don't you go and bring the others in here so I can tell you all an exciting tale."

Without any hesitation, the two girls made their way to the main room where the others were still lounging about. Kratos' head was now cleared out, and he had come to his senses. "I apologize, Raine," he said, rubbing his temples in hopes of getting rid of the ache that was left behind. "It was foolish of me to begin drinking like that."

Raine gave a sigh, "I'm not one to judge you... at Christmas I myself had a little too much to drink." Her mind played back the moment that she had grabbed that Welgaia wine and downed it... What had triggered it? She now recalled how it was the instant that Kratos left that she had felt it necessary to have some alcohol.

"Hey, everyone!" Colette called to get their attention. Everyone in the room looked in her direction. "Altessa's going to tell us a story! Come on, let's go into the other room!" The others all agreed without question, and then they all meandered into the 'rehabilitation room', as Sheena had called it. "We're ready for the story, Altessa!" Colette announced cheerfully.

"Good. Then let's all have a seat, and listen closely." Colette immediately sat down next to Lloyd on his bed, and Sheena did the same with Zelos. Kratos and Raine occupied the third and final bed, leaving Regal and the 'kiddies' to sit on the floor. "Many a year ago, I was wandering through Gaoracchia Forest, on my way home. I hadn't even realized it, but it had been raining the entire time that I was inside of the woodland area; therefore, when I walked out into the field, there was a magnificent rainbow in the sky..."

As they sat and listened to the story, Raine felt something on her hand; rough in texture, yet at the same time seemed to warm up her skin. She looked down and that the man next to her had placed his hand on hers. The professor lifted her gaze to meet Kratos', and she gave him a contented smile, lacing her fingers with his. Through the emotionless expression that Kratos always wore, Raine could see a glimmer of bliss in his eyes. The two mature members of the group continued to stare at each other fondly, and it just so happened that Genis took notice to it; however nothing was said – that shall be saved for another time.

"...From what I saw, the rainbow almost seemed to be ending at my home. But of course, that was impossible – a rainbow has neither end nor beginning. I chose to ignore it, however that became difficult when I finally arrived home. I saw it! I saw the end of the rainbow! It was right on my front lawn!" Altessa was beginning to sound like a madman, but everyone hung onto his every word nonetheless. "And then, as I approached it, there was a leprechaun. There, in front of my very eyes! I walked up to the wee creature and greeted it. He then asked me for a potion. I, unfortunately, had none, so the leprechaun called me a loser, threw a rock at me, and scuttled away. My life was ever changed. The end."

A groan came from Lloyd as he forced himself into a seated position. "That wasn't a leprechaun," he murmured, attracting everyone's attention, "That was a gnomelette!"

"Hey... that's true!" Colette cried enthusiastically, "Altessa, that was a gnomelette that you saw all that time ago!"

The dwarven craftsman took a minute to reflect on his life. "I..." he stammered, "...I don't know what to believe anymore!" And with Altessa left with a life of uncertainty, St. Dwarftrick's Day came to an end. Wahoo. Loopledoo.

#))Happy St. Dwa— Patrick's Day!((#

XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIX

Done, done! Finally done! Now I need to get started on Easter... (groan) As a preview summary: while everyone partakes in a festive egg hunt, Lloyd and Genis search for the truth behind Kratos and Raine's relationship. What antics shall ensue? I don't even know yet! XD Bye for now!