Prescript: Hmm. I like Pepsi very much. Yay!
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. But I do own Taro, Mina, Jennai, and Sera.
Transcendent; Chapter five: The Tower
Since that night, changes for the better had definitely been made. Mina became cheerful and began to accept her wings as something that made her special and unique. Zelos packed his necessary things and moved in with me, leaving his mansion in the care of his butler. Even I acted more agreeable and calm.
In fact, I woke up with a start late Friday morning to find that Mina was already at school, Zelos had taken her, and left me a full portion of breakfast. It felt like we were a real family.
And it was on a lazy Sunday afternoon that I was sitting at the kitchen table, drumming my fingers on the wood. My engagement ring clicked against the table, reminding me that it was still there. All the household chores were done, and there was nothing to do.
Occasionally, Mina would prance by, humming a little tune, but would be gone just as quickly. Zelos was asleep in the bedroom (since I had granted him permission to take Sundays off).
Outside, doors opened and closed, villagers gathering to praise the Goddess for their day (a custom I had never bothered to do away with). Normally it was the chief's job to conduct the prayers and such, but I really didn't feel like it. Maybe Kuchinawa would do it for me.
Mina passed by, but caught me idly sitting there and came into the kitchen. "You look bored," she said as she sat next to me. I shrugged. "Aren't you supposed to be at the sermon?" She grinned knowingly at me.
"Kuchinawa's doing it today," I replied. Not like I knew that for sure, but one could only assume. "Besides, they can pray by themselves. They don't need my help."
Giving me that knowing look, she tapped my arm. "But it's your job, mom!"
"And your job is to keep your room clean, but you didn't clean it on Friday. I checked." My expression mirrored hers.
Clearly trapped, Mina hesitated, then smirked. "You may have won this battle, but you haven't won the war!" she exclaimed, jumping from her seat and brandishing a spoon at me.
I picked up a spatula from the counter and defended myself, laughing as we both cried, "En gardé!" and, "Touché!" during the 'sword fight.'
Before long, Zelos galloped into the kitchen with a broom in his hands, and slashed the air in front of him with an evil, villain-like cackle. "Avast, ye knights! It is I, Abyssion! I shall slay thee!" he challenged.
Mina just about died laughing and flew at her father, spoon in hand. I stood back and watched as she mauled him into the floor, then stuck the spoon in his mouth after he was 'dead.'
"Abyssion is no more!" declared I. "We win again!" I pulled a victory pose, and Zelos laughed, spitting out the spoon.
"I'll clean my room now," Mina said, surrendering and retreating to the bedroom. I picked up the kitchenware that ad been strewn about during our war.
Zelos stood and fixed his slightly mussed hair. "Good morning, sunshine." He rummaged through the cupboards and took out a box of crackers to snack on. Some breakfast, eh?
"Morning." I almost laughed. It was nearly two in the afternoon. "Kinda."
Outside, the sound of people praying in unison was loud. Some villagers were shouting. Kuchinawa was louder than all of them, leading the sermon as I expected him to. Though I figured that he would come by to tell me off good-naturedly later. Besides, I couldn't really get in trouble for being flakey; I was the chief. So ha. Zelos didn't seem to notice that I had weaseled my way out of my Sunday job, and rested his head in his hand while he munched crackers.
He didn't seem to have anything to talk about, so I let my mind wander. The first thought was what Jennai said as I was leaving yesterday. "Don't say yes to him!" What had she meant? Who was 'him'? Surely she wasn't being all psychic and telling me not t make Zelos my fiancé...
"Sheena," Zelos turned toward me, looking kind of dazed. "Don't make the wrong decision."
I snapped to attention and blinked at him. "What?"
Zelos blinked back. "I didn't say anything."
"Yes, you did!" My eyes widened a little. "You told me not to make the wrong decision."
All I got was a blank stare. "No... I didn't." His expression was full of vacant stupidity. "I didn't say a word, sweetheart."
"Uh... okay," I replied. Maybe I was just imagining things. "Anyway, I'm gonna go out to the gardens for awhile. Watch Mina, wouldja?"
He nodded slowly, watching me out the door. I walked around back and took the long way to the vegetable fields, avoiding the village gathering by Tiga's house. (Goddess, I loved having him as a subordinate. Now I could call him by name and boss him around.)
The gardens were my place of solace. Years ago, I had sat with Corrine and confessed my fear of pact-making. Lloyd had reassured me here, Zelos and I had had our first fight here. Sitting cross-legged, my mind wandered once again.
XOXOXOXO
I'm guessing that I had fallen asleep, because when I woke I was on my side, and familiar faces stood over me, yelling my name. "What is it?" I grumbled, rubbing my eyes.
"Get up, you lazy moron!" Jennai snapped. Her image shook in front of me. "The Tower of Salvation is falling!"
Mina, Jennai, Kuchinawa, and Orochi all stood around me, the other villagers nearby. I looked up to see the sky very dark and purple. Was it Derris-Kharlan? "If we don't get out of here, the tower will fall and kill us!" Kuchinawa said. I stood up.
"We can't leave Mizuho!" I insisted uselessly. It wasn't like we could save the village by picking up the buildings and running away with them. I corrected myself, "Okay, we're going to go through Gaorrachia forest and go to Meltokio!"
Mina rushed up and pulled on my hand. "Mom, Daddy went to get Uncle Taro," she said. My first thought was, Go figure, but I nodded anyway and rushed off to the woods with the others close behind.
Halfway through, Mina left my side and ran down a different path, the one leading to the Tower of Salvation. Since I didn't have time to make the group of people stop and wait, I told Kuchinawa, "Keep going onto Meltokio. I'll catch up," and took off after my daughter.
She wove mindlessly through the trees, never looking away from the crumbling tower ahead of her. When I caught up, she was standing right in front of the door. "What are you doing?"
A rustle in the bushes announced Jennai's arrival. She followed us? I'd have to tell Kuchinawa to pay more attention next time. "Sheena, what in Martel's name is your daughter doing?"
"Mommy," Mina said as she took my hand, "come inside with me." She looked back at Jennai. "Bring your friend, too!"
Confused, I looked at Jennai and motioned for her to follow. Mina led us inside, taking the same path Taro had used to lead us to Sera.
"Sheena," Jennai whined, looking around. The whole tower was shaking beneath us, ready to fall at any time. "What... what's Mina doing?"
It was dark all around. "I have no idea." We took a warp disc higher up into the Tower, and it got even darker still.
After a few steps, Mina let go of my hand and yelped, looking around frantically. "Mom, where are we? What's going on?" Ah, great, I'm thinking, now she doesn't know where she is.
"You brought us here, kid!" Jennai yelled with a stomp of her foot, "And you don't even know where you're going?"
Mina said nothing. I peered around, wondering where we were. Or better yet, why we were there. "How do we get out?" I asked, but got no answer.
"We're lost! This place is going to fall and we're gonna die!" Jennai declared, and Mina burst into tears. "Then they'll come looking for us, and we'll be nothing but—"
Before she could finish her rant, I felt the ground fall out from under me. Air rushed past my ears, and I began falling.
All I could feel was cold air blowing in my face. I was hurtling toward the ground so fast that every speck of dust was a blur. When I hit the ground I choked, gasping for breath. There was pressure on my throat, a low hum in my ears, and it was totally dark. "Ah! Help! Someone please help me!" My voice echoed into the darkness; a hopeless plea. Where was Zelos when I needed him?
Very abruptly, there came a sharp pain in the back of my head. My breath caught in my throat, the blood drained from my face, and everything slowly faded to black...
XOXOXOXO
For the second time that day, I was woke up by a few familiar faces. When my vision returned, it was Mina I saw standing over me, very near tears. "Mom! You're okay!" she gasped.
"What happened to me?" I sat up and my head exploded with pain. "Ack, my head! Damn, what the hell?"
Jennai's voice came from somewhere nearby. I couldn't see her, because were in some kind of pitch-black tunnel. "We were attacked by someone."
"I saw them," reported Mina. "They had big black wings and big weapons in their hands!" She held onto my arm. "First they hit you on the head, then they hit Jennai, and... they looked at me funny and flew away."
My head throbbed painfully. "Angels?"
"Oh yeah," Mina added. She pointed past me to the far wall. "She came here after the scary angels left."
I turned my head very slowly toward a source of dim light in the corner. Sera sat there, red wings wrapped around her whole body as a feathery blanket. Then I remembered I was cold, and shivered. "Has she talked?"
"Not really. She said hello, and that she was tired. That's all," Jennai answered. She sounded frustrated, and pained.
It hurt to move my head, but I looked around anyway. The only thing of interest (besides Sera) was an opening in the tunnel above us. It was so far up that the light didn't reach us down at the bottom.
Mina clung very tightly to my arm, her hands trembling. I worried that she would get sick from the cold atmosphere. My eyes lingered on the opening above us, thinking of a way for us to reach it.
"Sweetheart," I said, patting Mina's arm. I was taking a big chance, but knew I had to ask, "I need you to fly up there with your wings and find a way to get us out. Can you do that for me?"