Tales of Symphonia:

The Wanderer's Journey

Vampwriter

I do not own the rights to ToS. They are owned by Namco Ltd. and whoever else created the game. Shoujo-ai, sort of.

Chapter Two:

Found, But Lost

"Lloyd?" called Raine.

"Yeah Professor Sage?" he answered as he came into the classroom.

"Have you seen Triton?" she asked. "She didn't come home last night."

"She didn't?" Lloyd asked, slightly perplexed.

Raine shook her head. "I'm worried. She rarely ever does this."

Lloyd waved his hand in calming, "I wouldn't worry too much about it," he said. "I think I may know where she may be." Lloyd turned to leave, "Don't start class without me!"

Lloyd ran out of the building and headed out the trail behind the school. The trail itself lead to the Cruxis Shrine, but he wasn't going that way. Once outside the village he turned right and began to climb a high hill. At the top of the hill was a tall tree that had become the favorite place that Triton liked to visit. Turning Lloyd looked out at the water and thought about when Triton had come to them…

(flashback)

Lloyd had been walking through Iselia Forest on his way to school one morning. He came around the bend and saw something partially obscured by the brush. Carefully making his way over Lloyd placed his hand on one of his wooden swords.

Lloyd peered around and gasped. The person lay on the ground, their face hidden by hair and arm. He was smart enough to guess that this was a young girl about his age, judging by general build. Her hair was a light blue-green and wore a light cotton shirt and pants and leather boots. At her sides were a pair of swords.

Kneeling down Lloyd checked her pulse. It was slow, but even, as was her breathing.

"Hey," he shook her slightly, "You okay?"

She didn't respond. Lloyd didn't like this. He tried shaking her again, but she only groaned slightly. He went to pick the girl up, but noticed a pack lying near her. One of the straps was broken. Lloyd picked the pack up first, then the girl and rested her head on his shoulder. Even with the girl in his arms and the pack on his back Lloyd made it to Iselia.

"Professor Sage!" he called once he entered the school.

Raine Sage looked up, "What is it Lloyd?"

He came around the corner, the unconscious girl in his arms. It was easy for Raine to tell from how he was breathing that Lloyd had carried her some distance. Before any questions could be asked he said, "I found her out in the forest unconscious."

On his back Raine saw a backpack hanging from one shoulder and held in place by the girl's body. The blades at her sides were a clear sign that she was a fighter.

Coming to a quick decision she turned to the other students. "Class is dismissed until further notice." She and her little brother, Genis, met Lloyd at the door. "We'll take her to our place."

Lloyd nodded and followed along behind Raine, Genis right beside him.

"Wait!" someone called behind them. They turned and saw Colette running up the road, schoolbag in hand. When she caught up Colette placed her free hand on to her chest and caught her breath. "Sorry… I'm late." She said between breaths.

Raine smiled gently at the Chosen. "It's alright Colette," she said, "Class was dismissed for today because of an emergency."

Colette blinked a couple times. "What kind of emergency?" she asked.

Lloyd adjusted the girl in his arms a bit, "I found this girl out in Iselia Forest."

Colette's hand shot to her mouth as she gasped and rushed over. "Is she all right?"

Lloyd shook his head. "I don't know," he said, "She hasn't woken up since I found her."

Colette looked at Raine, "May I come with you?"

Raine smiled again, "I don't see why not."

With that the group headed off to take care of the unconscious girl…

(end flashback)

Lloyd shook himself out of the past and continued up the hill. He soon reached the top and looked around for the one he'd come to find. Lloyd found Triton fast asleep at the base of the tree. Luckily it had been a warm night with the onset of summer. Triton Derringer sat curled up in the crook of a root near the trunk with her legs curled up beneath her, hands resting on her lap and her head resting against the trunk. She looked so peaceful that Lloyd felt bad about waking her.

But, sadly, he had to. Lloyd gently shook her shoulder. "Hey, Triton," Lloyd called softly, "Time to wake up."

After being shaken a couple times Triton yawned, stretched and opened her eyes. She looked at Lloyd and smiled. "Hey Lloyd, what are you doing here?"

"Good morning Triton," Lloyd said leadingly.

"Morning?" she blinked. Triton looked around. "Damn!" she swore, "I must have fallen asleep watching the waves last night."

Lloyd chuckled at that. "I think that's fairly obvious."

Triton got up and dusted herself off, then reaffixed her swords at her sides. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I should have paid better attention."

"Don't worry," said Lloyd, "Let's just get to school. The professor's worried about you."

Triton nodded, "Let's go then." The two of them started down the hill to the entrance to Iselia Village. Triton sighed, "I hope Raine's not too mad at me…"

Lloyd just smiled, "I wouldn't worry too much about it. She seemed more worried about you than anything."

Triton sighed in relief. Despite the fact that they weren't related by blood Triton considered Raine and Genis family, the only family she had. Her mind wandered back to her first memories of this place called Iselia.

(flashback)

She floated in a void of black nothingness. She felt empty, displaced, and alone. She didn't know who she was, she didn't know where she was. She had nothing.

Suddenly she was rushing upward through the layers of her consciousness toward the light. Despite her initial panic she felt warm and safe. Sensation returned as she woke and she could feel warm sheets covering her and a soft pillow under her head. The young woman groaned slightly and shifted under the sheets. A shadow came over her and a female voice sounded, "Professor Sage! I think she's coming around!"

She was blinded from the light from the window for a moment, but quickly adjusted. Her eyes opened slowly and she took in the four faces around her. She remained quiet as her eyes moved to each and examined them. None familiar.

The room she was in was likewise unfamiliar. She was in one of two beds in the room. There was a nightstand next to her between the beds, a desk, bookshelf, cupboard, table and chairs. The itself was rather small, like a home made for two.

The girl looked back at the other four looking at her.

"Where am I?" she asked quietly, "Who are you?"

"You're in Iselia Village," said a young blond girl to her left sitting on the other bed. She nodded to the brown haired boy standing at the foot of her own bed. "Lloyd found you out unconscious out in the forest.

"My thanks to you sir," the girl said weakly, her energy was still very low.

Lloyd shrugged nonchalantly, "Don't mention it."

"I'm Colette Brunel by the way," said the blond.

"Lloyd Irving," Lloyd introduced himself.

The girl looked at the other two.

"I'm Genis Sage," the young boy said. The girl made note of the sky-blue hair and other features.

The tall woman stepped forward. The girl noticed the same features on her. 'Related maybe?' she thought.

"My name of Raine Sage. I'm Genis' older sister," she said.

'Thought as much.'

"I'm also the village's resident teacher and researcher."

"You aren't human," it was said as a state of fact.

Raine nodded, "Genis and I are elves." She gestures to Lloyd and Colette, "They are human."

Colette smiled, "Now that we've introduced ourselves, may we know what your name is?"

"I'm…" she racked her brain trying to remember her own name. The girl felt she knew what her name was, but a the moment it wasn't obliging her with making itself known to her. She shook her head, "I'm sorry, I can't remember what my name is right now."

"That's alright," Raine said as she sat next to the depressed young woman, "I'm sure it's just from the slight head trauma I treated you for earlier. You may remember before too long."

"You know," said Colette thoughtfully, "we could try checking her bag. She might have something with her name."

"Great idea Colette!" said Genis. He grabs up her bag and brought it over to the girl.

She thanked the young elf and accepted it from him. The girl drew her legs up so she sat Indian style. Opening the bag she drew out some medical supplies and food, carefully protected, some armor, well crafted and strong, clothing and, finally, a book. It read in beautiful gold script "The Property of Triton Derringer".

"I know this," she said quietly. She ran her fingers over the name imbedded in the sturdy leather. "This is my name."

The others watched silently as the young girl called Triton studied the lock on the book. It didn't look like it required a key.

"This has a combination lock of some sort." Triton continued to talk to herself as she tried to remember. "I remember!"

Triton placed her finger on the upper right corner and brought it across left and down. She then brought the finger to the lower right and back to the left, back and up. The finger is then brought to the upper left, down, back up, and to the right. The lock turned and popped open.

Triton opened the book and flipped the pages. Only the first page or so was were written in. Raine, Genis, Lloyd, and Colette gathered together so that everyone could hear the reading.

Triton took a breath and started reading,

"Dear Triton,

By the time you read this you should be at your destination. I imagine you're confused and a bit scared, considering the fact that you're in an unfamiliar place and you probably have next to nothing in that empty head of yours. I will probably be feeling the same way soon, since I'm you! That's right! At the same time as you are reading this I'm sitting at our desk writing this message to myself. I felt like leaving something of my old self behind for you. You've probably been wondering about the memory loss, huh? I can't tell you much in detail, but I will say that it was a voluntary decision; otherwise the separation would have been a bit too much to handle. Where you come from I also cannot answer. Perhaps you'll discover that on your own later; which is actually one of your goals while you're there. Another is to improve on your swordsmanship. Your final goal you should be able to figure out on your own when the time is right.

Well, I need to go finish packing now; I'll be leaving soon. See you sometime in the not-to-distant future."

Triton closed the book, only to see the lock had changed and a key fall out of the spine of the diary. She quickly pocketed the key.

For a while silence dominated the house as everyone let the words sink in.

Lloyd was the one who broke the silence. "Well, at least we know part of why Triton was sent here, but not a whole lot else."

Raine Sage nodded. "We'll leave that for another time," she says, "For now we should let her rest and regain her strength."

The others agreed and Lloyd and Colette started to leave. Just as the two children reached the door Colette turned back. "Where will she be staying?" she indicated Triton.

"Hm, good question," Raine went into a thoughtful pose for a few moments.

"Um…" Triton opened her mouth to speak, then shut it.

Raine looked at her. "What is it, Triton?"

The girl hesitated before speaking, "I was thinking, maybe I could live with one of you?" Triton looked around at them, "You're the only people I know right now."

Raine thought on it for a bit while the others watched. Colette was worried about her new friend. She placed her hand on the depressed girl's own. Triton looked at the hand, then up at Colette. She smiled reassuringly and Triton returned it with a thankful one. Unconsciously she wrapped her hand around the blond Chosen's.

"she can stay with us," Raine finally announced.

"But sis," said Genis, "we have no room, where will she sleep?"

She smiled a bit. "I've been wanting to remodel the house anyway."

And so it was the Triton Derringer found herself a new family in this village called Iselia.

(end flashback)

Triton came out of her memories as they came to the village entrance. She noticed Lloyd looking at her curiously. Triton smiled reassuringly and motioned him on ahead. Lloyd nodded and headed back to the school.

Triton looked back out at the water and pushed her hair back behind her ear. She gives a small smile as she thinks about the future.

'Although I have found my identity, until I have restored my memory I shall remain forever lost in this place called Sylverant.'