I STILL LIVE! Yes, this fic is still alive. I've just been stumped lately, and I've been trying to focus on my other fic. But at the moment, I've been encountering a writer's block with Stray Arrow, so aren't you lucky! I'm updating this!!
Genis: You're gonna be mauled by some really angry people.
Zelos: Yeah! And my fangirls, for killing me off!
FireEdge: You know what… just… just… shut up!
Reviews:
Queen Strife: Uh oh. This isn't a fast update! I'd better run!
scaragh: Yeah, it is pretty cruel having to kill off the funny guy. Thanks for the compliments!
Lloydlover26: Hehe, I'm evil aren't I?
Trevor X1: Haha. That's hilarious! Yes, I've always wondered how he did that myself, so why not write it? And you're very welcome for the review.
Willow-189: I'm sorry! I took a long time to do this chapter too!
Hamano Ayumi: You updated, but I didn't. That doesn't seem fair… But yeah… meep.
SilverKidia: RegalRaine… ewww…
Cool Reviewer: Thank you!
LateNiteSlacker: Thanks! Dum, dum, dum. Dramatic rescue coming right up!
SweetMisery430: I had some spelling/grammar mistakes? Well serves me right for typing it up in the middle of the night… Yes, romance. There will be some of it in this chapter! Wait, maybe a lot of it. Hmm, I don't know.
Kitten Kisses: Stupid typos… Anyway, I love spoilers too. :) But the ending isn't really that different. It's really the Zelos killing part that spoils mostly.
D.C.: Hehe, narrator.
Tifa-Carbuncle: Awww, I feel for you. Zelos was an idiot, but a funny idiot.
Quistis-lm: It's okay, you didn't review for a long time. I didn't update for a long time. It all works out. :P Yes, updates will be slow, unfortunately.
potter29vo: … Oops… I suppose killing Zelos was a bad thing, right? Ehehehe. But thanks for the comments anyway, Minnie or Sheena. Or whoever it is… dizzy…
Nanu-kun: Thanks for the review!
Ragnarok-legend: Sorry Ragnarok, but I'm just plain busy and kinda lazy these days. But look on the bright side. Stray Arrow is making good progress!
: Sorry Ragnarok, but I'm just plain busy and kinda lazy these days. But look on the bright side. is making good progress!person: Thanks! And no… it's not normal to spell it like that…
angel white: Thanks for the review! And yes, they are such a cute couple, who could resist them?
The Spear of Longinus: Ooh, okay. Nice name change. Yes… this is slow…
Tiffany: I'm writing more… now… Hehe…
Kazaana the Furyou Houshi: So you didn't move during that whole time? Just out of curiosity, do you still live?
FEAR MY BIAS!!: XD I fear! Wow, I'm a wicked writer? Cool. And yes, all who do not see the light… are in the dark…
GirlyButTough: I know it's mean… But I can't help it! Lazyness (and stupid homework) calls! AHHH!
Kratos Aurion: Don't worry, she's still alive. :)
Forest Liger: Haha, I have nothing against Anna. But Kraine is just too adorable to pass up.
Destiny's Light: You just keep on guessing what I'm going to write, don't you?
lalala: Hehe. I know I'm mean. Oh, and to get Zelos, you have to have a high relationship (higher than that of Zelos's) with Kratos. Then in Flanoir, there will be three people who ask you to go for a walk with them. If your relationship is high enough, you'll hear Kratos's voice call you outside. Choose to go outside with him and when you reach the Tower of Salvation, you'll fight Zelos.
Flint: Oh don't worry, I wouldn't have a story if Raine died now would I?
Toboe-Angel: Thanks! Well, I'm updating now, I suppose.
Alouete: Wow, thank you! I'll keep up my work!
Kitsune-Flame: Yes, I have a tendency to make cliffhangers…
Zaki: Yeah, I'm sorry if I spoiled anything for you! And thanks for reviewing!
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.
Midnight Visit
Chapter 6
"RAINE!" He yelled, seeing the half-elf plummet. N-No! I can't let another one die… not again… Anna's death flashed before his mind's eye. Her transformation into a monster. Her voice in his mind, telling him to kill her… And his sword striking her down. Killing her with his own hands.
Her long brown hair fell in locks about his arms. Her eyes were closed her beautiful face pale with death. He could still smell her blood around him. On him. How he had cradled her in his arms, trying to revive her. But it was too late. She was dead. Suddenly the image was altered, twisted. Anna disappeared, her features replaced by those of Raine's.
I won't let that happen again! Kratos thought furiously, shaking his head, desperately trying to clear his mind. Beautiful luminous wings sprouted from his, spreading magnificently in a radiant indigo. The angel pushed off the quivering ground and shot towards the hole in the centre of the room, his aerodynamic body approaching Raine's.
Raine's eyes were screwed shut. She didn't really want to see herself plummeting to her death. Who would have thought she would die this way? But what did she expect? To die of old age? She was a half-elf, who knew how long she could live. And she would most likely die before then anyway. She was prosecuted for being a half-elf. She'd most likely be killed by an angry mob, or assassinated.
A fitting end for someone like me, I suppose. She thought solemnly to herself. Raine could feel the damp air swirling around her as she fell. She could hear the low whiz of passing rocks and walls around her. Suddenly she had a bad premonition…
"Ugh!" She grunted as she felt herself slam against something hard. She felt her head crack against a rock and then everything went black.
Kratos's eyes widened and he started to panic inside of him, when he saw Raine slam against the side of the wall below him. Somehow the blow seemed to make Raine fall faster. Faster than he could reach her.
"No!" He said through clenched teeth. "I won't let her die. I won't!" Despite his words, Raine continued to fall… until the darkness enveloped her and he couldn't see her anymore.
He hesitated as he lost track of the half-elf, but shot downwards once more. But when he followed her, he too was covered in a veil of darkness. This wasn't right. His eyes should have easily adjusted to the dim shadows, but he couldn't even see his hands. There was only a pale glow coming from the corners of his eyes, which he knew to be his wings.
Damn it! Where is she?! I-I can't let her die… Where is she?! Kratos' thoughts were nearly hysterical. He had to find her. He had to! The man would never forgive himself if he couldn't find her. If he couldn't save her, just like he couldn't save Anna.
He was worthless, absolutely worthless! How could he not have arrived sooner? How could he have been so ignorant? The angel continued to berate himself as he flew down desperately, his head swivelling, eyes ever searching.
He began to lose hope. He had lost her to this, what seemed to be infinite, pit. The flare died in his eyes, as his wing beats slowed. She was gone… It was inevitable. No one could have survived that fall, not for so long without already hitting the body. His eyes stung now, unwanted tears welling up. Tears of anger. Anger at himself for failing yet another.
Stopping in mid flight, he took a deep breath, calming himself. Trying to regain his composure. Even if she was gone, he had to be collected. He could not show the others this side of him. That's right, he was just another angel. A cold heartless angel… Who couldn't even save one measly life. Even at those thoughts, the tears started to dry up, he began to return to his normal state. The same business like mercenary that Lloyd and the others had first met.
But despite his outer coolness, inside he screamed. He felt like stabbing himself with his own sword. His hand gripped the sword at his side, tempted to draw it. But just as he started to unsheathe it unconsciously, something glimmered at the corner of his eye. His head immediately snapped in the direction he saw it. Gold, something gold shone.
A glimmer of hope arose inside him, his previous thoughts vanishing. Flying with renewed strength, he dashed down. After only mere seconds, he was at the bottom. He had only been a number of feet above the ground. But the strange darkness of the hole seemed to make everything seem dimmer, farther away.
"Heh…" He laughed to himself. How could he have been so stupid? He should have known that, yet he was once again being clouded of his better judgement. I suppose that love really is blind… Just as those thoughts passed through his head, he frowned at himself. Love? Was that what he really felt right now?
Those thoughts he had the panic he felt at the chance of losing her. Were they really feelings of love? He never thought that he could feel it again. Not after he lost the first love of his life. By his own hands, no doubt.
Before his revelations could continue any farther, his eyes widened as his eyes rested on… Raine.
"Raine!" He nearly choked on the word. He found her! She was there, laying in front of him! The sight of her seemed to lift his heart utterly, but then he realized that she was on the brink of death.
"Idiot." Kratos muttered to himself, running towards the half-elf. Kneeling down, he lifted her torso with his arms. Drying blood encrusted the top of her silver head. A trickle of it still rolled down her face. From where her cloths were torn, he could make out scratches and bruises. Most still fresh.
"First Aid!" He called out, closing his eyes. Holding her close to him, her head lolled on his arm. Opening his eyes, he studied her to see the spell's effect. The scrapes she had were gone, the skin healed, and smooth. The wound of her head still lingered. He knew that if he didn't heal that soon, she would die from loss of blood. With a quirk of his mouth he muttered another incantation under his breath.
"Healing Stream!" A dull brown aura surrounded Raine, a pale yellow light engulfing her. Mostly concentrated on her head. As the glow subsided, Kratos inspected the area, the wound was mostly gone, a small opening the only indication that she had ever been hurt. But her bleeding had stopped, and that was good enough for now.
Taking a lemon gel out of his pocket, he crushed it and let the liquid trickle on the wound. It was better that she was unconscious, it would have caused her pain otherwise. Getting another one, he let the contents drip into her mouth. Hopefully it should help her regain consciousness.
"Live Raine, live." Said Kratos, wiping the remains of the gel on his pants. Putting two fingers to her neck, he felt for her pulse. It was there, beating as it would as if she were in a deep sleep. With a sigh of relief, he gingerly picked her up. Letting her head rest on his shoulder, he pushed off the ground with a grunt. Healing her had taken more energy than he had thought it would.
In mere minutes, he reached the top of the pit. Funny, it felt like hours going down. But all was well. Landing on the ground beside the hold, he noticed that it had stopped shaking. Starting to walk towards the warp pad he had come from, he heard a creaking sound behind him. Whirling around he caught just in time the sight of the giant machine, balanced on that pinnacle of stone, topple over. With a sharp gasp, he heard the mechanism crash on the bottom of the hole.
If he had been even a few seconds slower… He didn't want to think about it. Turning around, he walked silently towards the warp portal. Stepping on it, he let out a sigh.
"You still have work ahead of you, Kratos…" The seraphim said to himself. The light of the warp shone beneath him and he was soon whisked away, back to the room where he had left Regal and Sheena.
As he landed, Regal looked up. Sheena was sitting, it seemed that she was better now. Though she looked a bit roughed up still. It was obvious however that the blue-haired man had used his healing skills to help her. Kratos could just barely make out old tear tracks on her cheeks. He didn't even have to ask to know that she had been crying for the Chosen of Tethe'alla. Her love for him was painfully obvious for the angel.
"Kratos!" They both exclaimed in unison. Their eyes then darted to the unconscious professor in his arms.
"Raine!" The two cried. Sheena immediately bound to her feet, running up to the purple-clad man.
"Is she okay? What happened? Did you see the others?" She let out an onslaught of questions. Regal was right behind her a slip second later.
"Yes, and have you found a way to get us to Lloyd? I have a feeling that he might be needing our help…" Added Regal. Kratos' shoulders sagged slightly. He just realized how tired he felt. But he couldn't stop now. He never could. Not after all the sins he had committed.
"… Raine was hurt, badly. But I managed to heal her." He said slowly. "I don't know where the others are, but I think that they have proceeded ahead."
"I see… So like Regal said, is there any way to join them?" Asked Sheena, more calmed after hearing that their comrade was okay. She had never liked Raine too much, but she was growing more favourable of the woman, and certainly did not wish to see her dead.
"I'm not sure… But I think there might be a secret passage in this room somewhere…" Kratos replied, scanning the room. He never put Raine down, or gave her to Regal. He didn't care if they noticed this or not, but he was not leaving her until it was necessary.
"There." His auburn eyes finally rested on a part of the wall. It looked like any other area of the room, but if one studied it hard enough, you could notice something strange about it.
Walking up to it, the other two following him, he shifted the weight of Raine in his arms, and used one to press one of the stones. A shuddering sound betook the room and it shook weakly. With a grating noise, a small sector of the wall slowly slid open, revealing a staircase, leading deeper down.
"Do those stairs take us down to the chamber of the Great Seed?" Regal inquired, walking down the steps slowly after Kratos and Sheena.
"Yes, they should. Hopefully, we'll find the others, if they separated from Lloyd like you three. For this stairway passes all the rooms on the way down."
"Too bad we didn't know about this before. What trouble we'd have been saved." Muttered Sheena from behind him.
"Hmph, only an angel of Cruxis can open this passageway." Kratos said in response, he could almost feel the frown on the ninja's face. "Anyway… This should be the next room." Pressing another brick, the wall once again slid open, revealing another room. The first thing that they heard was a yell of struggle.
Regal immediately dashed inside and saw Presea attempting to pull herself free of the thick tree roots that entangled her.
"Presea!" He cried, running forward, and with amazing flexibility jumped in the air and swung one grieved leg at the roots. With a few well-aimed kicks the root snapped in half, dropping the pink-haired girl to the ground.
"Ugh…" She grunted, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees.
"Are you okay?" Regal asked, kneeling down next to her. Presea nodded.
"Yes… I am okay. But… we must help Lloyd and Genis." She said.
"I know. Are you well enough to walk? Kratos has a way we can get to them."
"…Kra…tos?" She looked over at the seraphim standing in the doorway of the secret passageway. Her eyes flickered to Raine's body, and paused. Without another word, she stood up and walked towards them.
As everyone stepped through the passageway, Kratos sealed the wall close. As he turned to continue to walk, he felt Raine stir in his arms. He nearly jumped in surprise. Gazing down at the woman in his arms, he saw her eyes begin to flutter open. Kneeling down, he placed her on the ground, propping her up against the wall.
"I-Is she waking up?" Asked Sheena, noticing what the other man was doing. The others crowded behind Sheena, watching Raine.
"Ugh… Wh-Where…" Raine muttered, her eyes now open. But she winced in pain, her head was throbbing with pain. Lifting her head, she came face-to-face with Kratos.
"Kr-Kratos!!" She cried, her face flushed slightly.
"Raine! Are you okay?" Sheena asked, kneeling down next to her. Turning her head to face the ninja, she blinked in surprise. What was she doing here? Then she saw Regal and Presea.
"I-I'm fine. But… what's everyone doing here?" She asked, thoroughly confused.
"Kratos saved us from our… predicaments." Answered Presea in her slow calm way of speech. "We are going to help Lloyd."
"Lloyd! That's right!" Raine exclaimed, jumping up, but regretted the action moments later as her head began to swim. "Oh…"
"You shouldn't overexert yourself. You're still recovering from the wound you took earlier." Said Kratos, already on his feet, steady hands on her arms and shoulder. Raine blushed again, feeling the warmth of his hands.
"Yeah, you're looking a bit flushed." Sheena added with a nod.
"Uh! I-I'm fine! R-Really!" She stuttered, her cheeks reddening even more at Sheena's comment. "L-Let's go! We don't know what Lloyd might have gotten himself into." With that, she continued to stride forward, but she noticed that Kratos had taken his hands off of her shoulder. The half-elf didn't know whether or not if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But it had felt… comforting.
Though, Kratos did walk close behind her, ready to catch her if she faltered. He did feel a little downhearted that Raine was not in his arms anymore. He had quite enjoyed the feel of her close to him. But she was well again. That was what he wanted in the first place. What he was feeling was causing him to be selfish. He had to stop thinking those kind of thoughts. Looking up, he noticed their next stop.
"Here's the next room." He declared, stepping up to the wall. Pressing a panel on the wall it, like the others of its kind, shifted to reveal another deeper chamber.
"Fascinating…" Raine murmured, studying the wall intently.
"Look!" Regal said, breaking her concentration. Raine looked into the room for the first time, a sort of magical wall was descending upon a small figure in the centre of the room, from all directions. Suddenly she realized that the small figure was a young boy, crouching upon the ground, with silver hair.
"Genis!" She cried, seeing that it was her younger brother. They all ran into the room, staring at the half-elf in the middle.
"Sis!" Genis lifted his head up, seeing the group of people. Kratos quickly ran to the strange contraption near the wall. He quickly activated something on the machine and quickly typed something in with his nimble fingers atop the keys. With a few clicks, a 'beep' confirmed the deactivation, and the walls disappeared.
"Genis!" Raine exclaimed with relief, running up to her brother. She took him in a big embrace, causing the boy to let out a gasp of breath.
"Raine! I… can't… breathe!"
"Oh! I'm sorry." Raine released her brother and looked him up and down with a frown, trying to see if he had been injured.
"I'm find, Raine. Are you okay? I thought you would have died for sure after we left you back there…" He replied.
"I'm okay, just a little bruised… Kratos saved me. He saved all of us, you too." She replied. Genis raised his brows in surprise and his head shot up to look at Kratos who was standing a ways behind them.
"You're kidding!" The half-elf gaped.
"Your sister isn't joking. If it weren't for him, as much as I hate to admit it, we'd all be dead right now." Sheena confirmed.
"Hmph." Kratos grunted indifferently, his arms crossed. Raine's mouth twitched in a bit of a smile at the angel's reaction, but quickly hid it.
"Alright, we should hurry and head to help Lloyd." She stated, standing up and brushing the dust off of her pants.
"Yeah, let's hurry!" Genis nodded in agreement.
"The next room should be the chamber of the Great Seed." Kratos informed them as they started to file into the passageway. "But you'd all best prepare yourselves, Mithos is most likely there… It could turn out ugly…"
"Right…" They answered, understanding completely. With that, they continued to climb down the stairs, soon they came to the bottom of it. There were no more stairs, only a dead-end.
"We're ready." They told Kratos. The man took in a deep breath. Closing his eyes for a moment, he knew that doing this was more than treason. He knew that if he did this, he would have betrayed Mithos forever…
"Alright…" Kratos pressed one of the stones on the wall. It slid open and he stepped back, allowing the others to pass through. Raine, being the last one to go through, paused, looking intently at Kratos.
"What will you do?" She asked. He stared into those light blue eyes, entranced. He didn't hear her voice for a moment but shook his head, clearing his thoughts.
"…I don't know. But I cannot return to Mithos. Not after all that I have done." He replied with a dejected sigh. Looking at her again, he added, "You should go on ahead. The others are waiting for you. I might see you sooner than you think."
"… Right… Be careful, Kratos…" With that she turned on her heels, her orange jacket fluttered behind her as she strode through the wall, rejoining the others. Leaning against the wall, he pressed another panel, and the wall slid shut.
Kratos let out a heavy sigh and slid down the wall, sitting down. His head hung over, thinking. What to do… What to do…
AHHHHHHHHHH! Okay, I know that that wasn't a very good chapter for making you wait so long… but… yeah.
Genis: You will die in… 7 DAYS!
FireEdge: No, I won't.
Zelos: Yes, you will!
FireEdge: -Pushes them into a closet and locks the door- Right, I'm warning you, however. That I most likely won't be updating this until Stray Arrow is finished… Unless I have another writer's block with it… I will be writing a few one-shots once in a while though. So I hope that those will keep you company while you wait for me to finish my other fic! Thanks for staying with me! Bye for now!
--FireEdge--
