Prescript: Wow, this took a long time to get posted. Sorry, I got sidetracked! (twitch)
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. But I do own Taro, Mina, Jennai, and Sera.
Transcendent; Chapter three: Sera's Subconscious
Sera's face beheld no emotion, and she, much like her wings, hung lifelessly in the air. I couldn't tell where it came from, but Jennai gave a choked sob. She must have been able to tell that Sera was unconscious, too. "Why is she like that?" I asked, searching through the dark gray haze to find Taro.
As he answered, I found him surprisingly close-by. "Because of the Cruxis Crystal, her consciousness has been absorbed, and the powerful angelic form capable of holding the Ochre Stone is all that remains."
It was exactly like Colette when she had lost her soul. I'd seen this situation too many times, and rubbed my temples aggravatedly.
Jennai gave a mirthless laugh and levitated closer to her sister. "Sera... what's happened to you? Can't you speak anymore?"
"She... cannot hear you any longer. Subconsciously, she's happy that you're here, though," Taro spoke up, moving toward the light in the center of the room. I wondered how he could know what she was thinking subconsciously. "She says she's sorry, big sister."
His face was just slightly illuminated by the gap of light, and I stared at him, curious as to how he could hear her thoughts. "Are you a psychic or something?"
Taro laughed. "No, no..." That was all he said, no explanation as to how he was doing it. "Sera says, how is your family, Sheena?"
Twirling around to face Sera, I hesitated. It felt awful weird to have a conversation with a lifeless angel. "Uh... they're... they're doing okay, I guess... Mina is in the fourth grade in Mizuho, and..." Did I want everyone to know about Zelos? "Zelos is fine."
"She's glad to hear it." Taro rolled onto his back, kind of laying down in midair. "She wants to know if you two are gonna get hitched."
I must have turned fifty shades of red, and I was grateful that I was still hidden among the black clouds. "Um... I don't know," I stammered. Zelos, surprisingly, had never mentioned it.
Taro seemed so bored with the whole event, and Jennai looked furious with me, maybe because Sera was asking me all the questions. "She says for you to keep your eyes open, Sheena. Now she wants to talk to you, Jennai..."
"Keep your eyes open"? What the hell did she mean by that? I panicked slightly and flew back out of the room. It was difficult to move without gravity, but I reached the disc we'd used to get there and rushed back down, hitting the concrete floor with my knees as soon as I was pulled downward.
I grabbed my Rheaird and flew back home, ran into my house, and sat there breathing heavily. What did she mean...? Was she telling my future or something? That was unlikely. Zelos and I didn't even live together, let alone say "I love you" before we parted! Like he would ever want to marry me...
XOXOXOXO
I was putting the laundry away about an hour before Mina was to come home, hanging her nice little kimonos up in the closet, and taking the spare clothes Zelos had left here in the drawer I'd set aside for him. Sera's words had kind of faded from my mind, but I still felt shook up about it. Married, she said. Married.
Chewing my lip, I pulled Zelos' top dresser drawer open and began putting some of the clothes away, when a small, glittery object caught my eye. I picked it up and gasped, dropping the remaining laundry onto the bed. It was a ring, gold band, a large diamond stone on it. "What is this doing here?" I murmured, immediately remembering Sera's words.
As I stared at it, I thought about lots of things — even times before I'd been locked up in jail for seven years. "I shouldn't think too much of it," I reassured myself, "Maybe... maybe it's just a family heirloom or... something." Hah. Yeah right, I thought, Sera must be psychic.
Next door, I heard a door slam. Jennai had come home, and I suddenly really wanted to go see her. After I put the ring back where I'd found it, and finished putting the laundry away, that's what I did.
XOXOXOXO
"What do you want, Sheena?" Jennai snapped at me as soon as her door was open. She looked really stressed and tired, almost like how Taro had sounded when he spoke.
I motioned toward her house. "Can I come in?" Actually, I had never been inside her house before. She had never invited me there, even if we had once been friends.
For a moment, I thought she was going to slam the door in my face, but instead she held it open for me and pointed to the couch so I could sit down.
I picked a spot to sit and watched her wander around the house a little. Her home wasn't too much different than mine, just a little more neat and well-kept, with fancy junk all over the place. "Do you want something from the kitchen?" Jennai asked shrilly, eying me and the couch as if to say, That doesn't look right. I shook my head, and she sat down on the other side of the couch.
"So... what did your sister say?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't want her to think I was being all nosy and stuff. It kind of felt weird to pray like this, because it was none of my business.
"Oh... she just apologized for going without saying anything beforehand and told me to take care of myself," my neighbor said, shrugging casually, though I could tell there was something else on her mind.
"Sure was... weird to see her like that." If I thought that was strange, talking to Jennai as if we'd been best friends forever was even worse. "I never knew you two were angels..."
I
must have hit a nerve. "I'm not an angel, and neither is
Sera! Do we look like filthy mutated half-
elves to you?" she
growled, leaning toward me.
"Don't you insult half-elves, Jennai Cetra. They're no different than you and I." Clearly, my escapades with Genis and Raine had taught me some things.
Jennai just hmphed and crossed her arms as she turned away. "Whatever."
"I'll head home now. You take Sera's advice into consideration," I sneered, getting on my feet and marching toward the door. Halfway out I heard Jennai yell after me — "Don't say yes to him!" I turned back around to stare at her, but she just glared and demanded, "What? Get lost already!"
So I left without another word, and headed on past my house to the school where I would pick up Mina.
The schoolhouse had always been a quiet little building off to the side, a nice, new place that I had had built (I could have things like that done now that I was chief) when Mina turned five. Instead of tables and chairs, there were soft cushions on the wood floor, trays in everyone's lap to use as a writing surface. As I entered, I counted eleven children sitting cross-legged, facing the headmaster, who was giving a summary of their hike in the mountains.
"Ah, good to see you, chief Sheena. Mina was especially well-behaved today," Orochi (the headmaster, of course) told me with a smile. Mina turned quickly and regarded my appearance, not seeming to notice the stress in my eyes, and turned back around to appear attentive for the remainder of class.
"Tomorrow, hand in a short story about what you saw during the field trip. Don't forget to add details!" Orochi concluded. "Remember what adjectives are?"
"Adjectives describe nouns!" the children recited altogether.
"Very good. Class dismissed!" All the children leapt up, leaving their trays at their seats, and stampeded out the door. Except for Mina, who sauntered right up to my side. "Uh, chief? Can I talk to you for just a minute?" Orochi got up as well and approached me.
I nodded, and he said, "Well... it seems Mina had an issue with... wings." Mina lowered her head shamefully, quiet.
"Wings?" I blinked. As if to explain where her teacher couldn't, Mina silently displayed a pair of wings on her back. They were colorless but bright, and resembled the style of Colette's wings. It was then that I realized, she could have only gotten them from Zelos.
"One of the children tried to push her off a high ledge," Orochi explained, "And before she fell to the ground, Mina caught herself with those wings." He rubbed the back of his head exasperatedly before continuing, "However, now the other children tease her . . . "
Placing a hand on my daughter's shoulder and holding her close to me protectively, I sighed. Oh, Zelos. What problems have your existence stirred up now? I thought bitterly, hating myself immediately afterward. That wasn't something I was supposed to think about him, right? "Thanks, Orochi . . . I'll talk to her and her father about it at dinner." That said, I gently led Mina outside and down the street, feeling rather uneasy because of her calm silence.