FireEdge: Okay, I'm back. I lost track of how long it's been since I last updated. But then again my schedule of updating is always messed up…
Genis/Zelos: Just like you! :)
FireEdge: Go away…
Reviews:
Sandrilene fa Toren: Yeah, I don't think I'd manage 10 feet. Maybe 5, but not 10.
Ebi Ryu: Yes, I agree with you about Zelos. And thank you!
SilverKidia: I have a fan club?
Genis: You wish.
me: Yay! I don't have to kill myself! But what's hari kuri?
Lloydlover26: Hehe, you might find out what she wrote this chapter, or you might not…
Noin Marquise: Thank you!
SweetMisery430: Yeah, Genis's my fav character too, but Raine just has to hit him you know? Or it wouldn't be Raine! Yup, Zelos is definitely more perverted than Sain. But he seems to get more girls than Sain too…
Devil's Little Sister: Thank you!
Waddle Freakin' Dee: I could too! That's why I wrote it!
Malachi: I'm glad you were satisfied with my answer! And thank you for the compliment!
potter29vo: Heh, you remind me of TheOneAndOnlyT. In my other fic, he always wants a lot of romantic stuff in it. :P But there will be romantic scenes (at least I hope it's romantic O.o) in this chapter! :)
Trevor X1: I don't hate Zelos, but he does bug me… I think it's his hair… Anyway, you don't have to worry about me taking too long to update. The longest time you'll have to wait is probably two weeks. Maybe a bit longer when school starts. (I'm canadian, school hasn't started for me yet)
Alice Kaiba: Yes, they are! Go Fire Emblem and ToS! Whoo!
Kratos Aurion: Hehe, yes he did. But unfortunately we cannot kill off Zelos… yet… Oh crap! Shouldn't have said that! … Anyway, the plot seems a bit fast right now, but I'm trying to slow it down in the next few chapters or so.
Shadow's Pain: Thanks for reviewing!
Disconsolate Seraph: Thank you for the compliments! I try and not have too many grammar or spelling errors. But as for the review responses, I find it more appropriate at the beginning. Sorry for any inconveniences! But I never expected so many reviews! ;;
Destiny's Light (x3): Yeah, Kratos fics seem to be more interesting, I'm not sure why. And thank you for the complements on my past chapters!
Ragnarok-legend: Don't worry about it! Yup, Zelos had it coming. I find Regal funny!
Serpentine Rose (x2): Wow, it's still too short? Okay, I'll try and make them longer. Who knows whom will find Raine's journal, but you'll find out this chapter! ;) And about that song, I found the lyrics, but I can't seem to find the music for it… Heh, that is pretty ironic about how you were looking for a KratosRaine fic and you found mine! :P
AbercromB: I'm glad you like this pairing, even if you've never heard of it before!
Tsutanai Shikaku: Lloyd isn't too bright is he? Hehe, you're pretty good at guessing! ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.
Midnight Visit
Chapter 4
Kratos walked warily through the dense forest, as he slowly made his way towards the Tower of Salvation. With his hand on his hilt, he peered at the shadows that lay all around. Seeing nothing suspicious, he looked up at the sky. The sun had already climbed its peak and hovered brightly in the southern sky. Hmm… It's getting late, I should hurry. Lloyd and the others will be there soon. He thought to himself. Then another voice in his head added. And Raine. Kratos shook his head. What in the world had made him think of that?!
Lately his mind seemed to wander more and more towards thoughts about the half-elf. He was starting to wonder what was wrong with him. The only time he had ever felt that way was when he had been with Anna… When I had been with Anna? …No, it can't be that. I'm just imagining things.
Choosing to ignore his thoughts, before they went out of hand, he continued on his way. Suddenly, as he took a step forward, he stumbled upon something on the ground. Looking behind him, he saw that it was a small booklet.
"What's this?" He leaned over and picked up the booklet. Turning it over in his hands, he figured it was a journal of some sorts. Opening the cover to see if it had a name in it, he came across pages upon pages of flowing writing. Looking on the inside cover, he read the name: Raine Sage. His eyes shot wide open and he closed the journal immediately with a quick snap, his face a pale shade of pink. How in the world?! If this is Raine's, how did it get here?! And more importantly, what do I do with it?!
Kratos continued to stare at the small leather-bound journal resting in his hands. He figured that he should return it. But another side of him, one that had nearly disappeared from when he was a child, told him to open it and skim through it. His face turned red from even thinking such thoughts. What in the world am I thinking?! Ugh… I've spent too much time with Lloyd…I'd better return to the Tower before all my sanity is lost.
Stuffing the journal into his pouch, he proceeded on his way to the Tower of Salvation. But before he took more than a few steps, a monster leapt out at him. Damn! Let my guard down! He cursed to himself as he barely raised his sword to parry off the swing of the ghoul's arms.
"Lightning Blade!" He yelled as he thrusted forward with his sword, sending a strike of lighting down upon his foe. With a few more slashes of his blade, the ghoul soon fell.
"Arrg!" Kratos could feel fangs sinking into his right leg as he tried to turn. He barely held on to his sword, as he felt poison seeping into his veins. "Damn…" As he dealt a quick strike, knocking the red mantis back, he reached into his pouch, searching for a Panacea bottle. Just as he lifted the vial up to his lips, he was knocked to the ground by the red mantis. The bottle fell from his hand and shattered onto the ground.
"Stupid…" He picked himself off the ground, even now feeling the energy draining from him due to the poison. At the moment he wished dearly for a healer. Four thousand years ago, he didn't even have to worry about poison or any other ailments for that matter. Martel had always been there, healing him from the back lines. And more recently so, it had been Raine who had taken on that role. Hmph, there she is again. Showing up in my thoughts…
"Light Spear!" With as much strength as he could muster, he slashed upwards, sending the monster into the air, and cut down. With a stab, the monster disintegrated into black vapour. Of course, Raine seems to have more than just half-elf hating humans or monsters after her, unlike Martel. He thought as he pulled out another Panacea bottle. She has a fan club… The red-haired man quickly drank the mixture, feeling relief rush through him as the poison was cleansed from his body. He then chewed up an apple gel. It's a wonder why. But I can still remember that one time in Triet…
"Wow! So this is Triet!" Colette gasped as they entered the small desert town.
"Yes. But we aren't here to sight-see." Replied Kratos, already starting towards the inn. "We're just here to stock up on supplies and rest. Then we'll be on our--" He was cut off by a yell.
"AHH!" Raine, who had been a few feet behind him, cried.
"Professor?! What's wrong?" Colette asked, looking around. The mercenary did the same, but he spotted nothing astray. Suddenly, his eyes, along with the Chosen's widened. There, coming towards them in a cloud of smoke were a mob of people, mostly men.
"Professor Sage!"
"It's really her!"
"Please, can I have your autograph?!"
"Do you really have the ancient Crown of Earth?"
"May I view your archaeological findings?" Dozens of voices yelled out at her as they started crowding around her.
"What in the…" Kratos stared in misbelief.
"Um… I think they're fans of the Professor…" Answered Colette.
"Uh…!" Raine started backing away from the crowd, but to no avail. "Um…please, I-I'm busy at the moment!"
"We just want to-- Wait!" The crowd yelled as she broke out into a run, desperate to get away from the giant mob. The giant horde then started chasing after her, pushing Kratos and Colette along with them.
"Um, Kratos?" Colette started as she was being elbowed along by Raine's fan club. "Maybe we should do something?"
"Understood." He nodded. Using brute force, he pushed and shoved his way to the front of the group and after sprinting a ways ahead of them, he drew his sword. He then lunged forward and smacked a few of them lightly with the blunt side of his blade.
"Back off, now." The red-haired mercenary growled. He himself was quite annoyed also. They were drawing far too much attention. The crowd stopped and stared at him with wide eyes filled with fear. "You will leave her be, or suffer…" The mob all gulped and turned tail and ran.
"Th-Thank you…" Raine sighed, coming up behind him, panting.
"Hmph." He replied, sheathing his sword. "We don't need attention to be drawn to us. Let us leave here soon." The silver-haired elf-woman nodded.
"Professor! Are you okay?!" Colette came running up to them. "Whoa!" Suddenly the blonde girl tripped as she approached them.
"Colette!"
"Chosen!" The two adults cried in unison as Colette collided with the side of a nearby house. Both their eyes widened as the young girl fell through the wall, leaving an imprint of her figure on the way through.
"Uh… yes, I think leaving as soon as possible might be a good idea…"
He chuckled to himself at the memory. The angel was sure that the people of Triet would never forget that building for a long time. He sighed. But I don't have time to be thinking about past memories. It's not like they matter, either way. The man then proceeded forward.
Soon he was out of the forest and was walking on bountiful grasslands. After a few hours of walking and one or two battles with a few monsters, the Seraphim was slightly exhausted, but more parched than anything else. He was used to going hours on end without water, but he hadn't drunken anything since last night.
Opening his water skin, he growled slightly, seeing that it was empty. How careless of him to forget to fill it up. Looking around, he spotted a small lake a little to the west of him. Walking up to it, he bent over and examined the water. It looked safe enough and didn't seem to be contaminated in any way.
Dipping his hands in, he scooped up the water and drank it. It was clear and cold. Staring at the water, he could tell that the lake was quite deep. Even his heightened vision could not pierce the penetrating darkness of its waters. As he stared, lost in the waters that rippled lightly from the breeze, his mind drifted off once more. Drifted to memories of the ocean…
The mercenary stared at the "boats" that were to take them to Thoda Island, the location of the next seal. He could not believe that they had to travel across the ocean in these… washtubs…
"Come on, guys!" Lloyd exclaimed.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Replied Genis.
"Heehee, this looks like fun!" Said Colette enthusiastically. The young elf boy sighed, and shrugged.
"I guess we don't have a choice do we?"
"So it seems." Added Kratos. But Raine took a step back.
"There is no way that I'm going to cross the… ocean… especially in those things!"
"Come on, Raine!" Her younger brother urged. "We have to!" He grabbed onto the arm of his sister and started to tug at her to get into the boat.
"AHHH!" She let out a yell. They all froze mouths agape. Even Kratos's jaw went slack. Everyone stared at her questioningly.
"Ahh?" Lloyd finally broke the silence. Raine's face flushed red.
"Uh… I-I mean… Ahh! This should be fun!" She quickly regained her posture and strode towards the "boats" with a noticeable gulp. The others blinked once, but then decided not to probe any further.
"I want to go with Lloyd!" Colette said happily.
"Okay, sure!" Replied Lloyd with a big grin. Kratos frowned.
"I don't think that's such a good idea. If something were to happen, I do not think you capable of protecting the Chosen."
"Hmph. Like you could do any better!" Lloyd snapped back.
"Please Kratos? Just this once?" Colette pleaded, giving him a look that was sure to melt even the coldest heart.
"Ugh… fine…" He replied slowly through clenched teeth.
"Alright!" Cried Lloyd happily. "But whose going to ride with Noishe?"
"What?!" They all exclaimed.
"We're taking Noishe with us across the ocean?!" Genis asked incredulously.
"Well, yeah…"
"But aren't these washtubs, well, kinda small?" Genis replied.
"So… I guess that you'll have to ride with him, Genis. You being the smallest and all!" Lloyd grinned.
"What?!" The elf boy protested.
"Genis can't go by himself! He's much to small!" Replied Raine.
"Yeah, but… I doubt that you or Kratos could fit in with Noishe." Lloyd shrugged.
"It's okay, sis! I can handle it! I'm big enough!" He puffed out his chest. Now that his sister went against it, he actually wanted to go with Noishe by himself.
"This is absurd." Added Kratos.
"Yes, I agree." Said Raine.
"Well, if you agree with each other, then you two will share a boat!" Lloyd answered, as he climbed into one of the washtubs with Colette. "And if you're both so worried about us, then you can be in the rear, watching us!" Genis then pushed a very nervous Noishe into another washtub and jumped in himself.
"I guess… we have no choice…" Raine frowed.
"So it seems…" Kratos sighed and climbed into the next washtub. Raine swallowed another gulp but followed him.
The ride was relatively calm and uneventful. Though Raine gripped the side of the washtub fearfully and stared ahead with a blank look in her eyes. Kratos observed her from the corner of his eye. He wondered why she had a fear of water. He wasn't sure if it was a fear of water or not, but it seemed the most likely solution. Deciding he had nothing else to do, the mercenary opened his mouth.
"Are you afraid of the water?" The question surprised Raine. She turned to face him abruptly.
"Ex-Excuse me?!" Her face was slightly flushed.
"It's obvious." Kratos replied, his face was emotionless. "If it's too personal, you don't have to talk about it… But it's better to tell someone." Hmph, I'm giving out advice that I don't even use myself… He thought to himself. Raine cast down her eyes.
"When I was with my mother and father, we were being chased. So we fled onto a ship. But even then, the pursuers caught up to us… and I fell into the ocean." She looked away, biting her bottom lip. "It was winter, and the water was painfully cold. I was swept away by the currents… I thought I was going to die… Even now, whenever I look at large bodies of water, I can feel the freezing waters cutting into my skin…"
"…I see." They fell silent once more. Suddenly the boat lurched slightly as a rather large wave lashed at them.
"AHH!" Raine screamed. Up ahead, he saw that Lloyd was holding tight to Colette and that Genis was practically buried underneath Noishe. Now knowing about her tremendous fear of water, he felt guilty if he didn't do anything, especially if she fell out of the boat. Reaching out, he managed to hook his arm around her waist and pull her close next to him, as the boat lurched again.
Raine turned red considerably, but held tight to his arm. Luckily the waves stopped after a few minutes. He then slowly released her from his grasp.
"Th-Thank you…" She stammered, her face still flushed. Kratos nodded, and stared ahead.
Kratos stood up slowly from his kneeling position, and brushed the grass off of his pants. Tsk, I'm daydreaming now… I can't get sidetracked, I need to get to the Tower of Salvation. Running a hand through his messy hair, he started towards the Tower, which was just in his sights. It was perhaps only an hour's walk away.
The Tower looked magnificent in the slowly sinking sun. Most people would love to explore such a magnificent building. But few have such privileges. Though the sight inside it's wondrous shell was slightly grotesque to those who have seen it. It wasn't exactly the wonderful ruin most scholars thought it to be. Even Raine was surprised at its contents. Hmm, but her fascination with ancient ruins is… amazing. She'd even risk her own safety to explore them. Just like that time in Asgard…
They all stood outside of Aisha and Linar's house as they waited for Raine to change. They were all surprised that Raine would actually take Aisha's place as the dancer to just have closer examination of the ruin.
Suddenly the door creaked open. All their jaws dropped, even Kratos's brows raised slightly. He had to admit she looked quite beautiful. The outfit wrapped tightly around her body, showing off her figure.
"R-Raine! Are you really going to go through with this?!" Genis asked. Raine nodded defiantly and picked up her staff.
"Yes, Genis. Now let's go." Following her, they climbed the large steps up to the stone dais. Looking around, Kratos saw that Raine had quite an audience. When she climbed onto the dais, everyone silenced and stared at her. To the slight aggravation of Kratos, many of the men's jaws dropped at the sight of her. He didn't know why he felt this tug of annoyance inside of him, but he decided to ignore it and instead watched as Raine started the ritual.
Everyone who watched was entranced as she knelt on the dais. She then picked up her staff and walked a tour about the platform and tapped several circles on top of it with careful precision.
Kratos's eyes followed her every movement, from each step she took, to every movement of her staff. He didn't realize how entranced he was until Colette called his name several times.
"Kratos? Kratos? Kratos?!"
"…Hmm?" He snapped from his reverie. Colette stared at him quizzically.
"Kratos, your face looks a bit red." Her head tilted to one side slightly as she blinked up at him. The statement caused him to flush more.
"I… was thinking about something…" He replied as he finally got his emotions under control and his face returned to normal.
"Oh, okay! I thought that you were getting really hot!" The bright Chosen smiled. Kratos opened his mouth, but then closed it again, knowing that trying to question her would be meaningless.
After watching the remainder of the ritual, they were faced with the "Wind Spirit." Kratos was surprised that he didn't kill himself, for he constantly found himself staring at Raine. Luckily, no one spotted him acting queerly and the battle went quite smoothly. When it was all over, they found the Map of Balacruf. Raine then left with Linar to research it. He noticed, with a scowl, that Linar looked quite happy to be researching Raine, too happy.
What was this feeling he was experiencing. It was an emotion that made him uncomfortable, and angry whenever he spied Linar looking at Raine with wide eyes… Was it jealousy?
His frown deepened. Shaking his head he looked away and resumed his normal emotionless mask.
Kratos stood at the entrance of the Tower of Salvation. Letting out a defeated sigh, he slowly climbed the illusionary steps up to the doorway. Stepping through, he warped to the next area. His brows raised slightly as he looked around slowly. The place around the Eternal Sword's altar was stained with blood. Hmm, looks like they got here already. There must have been a fight… Mithos, what did you do?
Gripping his sword hilt tightly, he stepped onto the next warp. …I…I have to help them…
FireEdge: Oh my god! I can't believe I just wrote that much! O.o
Genis: Must be "inspiration."
Zelos: Why do I have a bad feeling about that blood?
FireEdge/Genis: …
FireEdge: Right, that was an extra long chapter for you! Hope you enjoyed it and please review!
--FireEdge--
