Child of Darkness

By: RyuDraconis

Ok all, here it is, my very first Takes of Symphonia fic. I finished the game recently, so its still there in my mind. If I make any mistakes, pardon! Anyways this will be a Sheena/Lloyd fic eventually. So, anyways here it is!

Chp. 1: Return of Cruxis

"At the Eve of Cruxis, a new Light shines. Borne on Angel Wings,

his wrath is mine."

Prophecies of Mithos, Book of Cruxis

It was a cool night at a small house on the outskirts of the Iselia forest, and upstairs with the blankets wrapped around him as a cool breeze drifted in from his open window, Llyod Irving slept soundly. It had been nearly a year since the world Tree Yggdrasil had been restored and the worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'Alla reunited. He had just returned from his journey across the world in search of the Exspheres, accursed technology that used the lives of humans as its catalyst of creation. It had been long and hard, but he had eventually succeeded in some small degree to round up what Exspheres he could find and destroy them, freeing the minds of the people that were trapped inside of them. His good friend Sheena Fujibayashi had taken time away from her new responsibilities as chief of Mizuho Village to help, and he had enjoyed her company, but eventually she had to return. He had dropped her off just the other day with his Rheiard, and now was sleeping soundly, nearly exhausted from his long journey. And so Llyod dreamed.

His dreams floated around him, memories of his companions and their times together as they had first set out to regenerate the world, the save it from the evil of the Chosen's journey, a fallen heroes mad desire to return his dead sister to life. Suddenly the bubbles of the memories collapsed and fell apart, and Llyod found himself standing on a plain, the great Tree Yggdrasil before him. The sky was blood red again, just like the night Derris-Kharlan had appeared in the sky.


Suddenly the silence of the dream was broken and he heard Sheena cry out, "Lloyd! Help! G...gaah!"

Turning quickly on his heel, Llyod drew his twin sword, the Material Blades, weapons that had been given to him by Dirk and Kratos upon his release of Origin. What he saw next made him take a few steps back, his face a mix of anger and sorrow. There, before him lay his friends sprawled on the ground, dead, the blood pooling about them and mixing. Not seeing Sheena among them, he turned to see where her voice had come from only to see her fall to the ground, a sword stabbed through her chest. A figure with long blonde hair, white long clothes, and dark red and orange wings hovered over her, laughing, before quickly drawing its sword from her.

Llyod let out a small gasp and felt his limbs go numb as he quickly cried out, "Sheena, NO!" Turning he then growled angrily at the figure, between squeezed together eyes, as he fought back tears at the scene before him.

It was dark, and he was unable to see the face between the tears and the shadows that closed in around them, plunging them into darkness. As the figure licked at its sword, it then said in a quiet voice that resounded with hate and madness, "Foolish human…you do not deserve to be of Cruxis! You friends are dead by my hands…now Llyod Irving…your time has come…to die!"

Llyod breathed heavily then growled as he launched himself at the figure angrily, tears still clinging to his face, "Monster! You have gone too far!" His swords cut through the air swiftly as each attack lashed out at the figure, his blows fueled by his rage and sorrow. They hit home, as the figure seemed to make no effort to guard itself. Blood spattered to the ground as the figure took each cut, and swift slash of the sword, and even as Lloyd delivered a fast and quick thrust to pierce the figures body through, it did nothing to defend itself.

Quickly pulling himself and his sword free of the figure, he watched as it collapsed to the ground. He still could not see the face, but, as it lay there on the ground, its blood pooling about it, it began laughing in a tone much like he remembered Mithos had.

"Llyod, what's wrong?" it taunted, laughing maniacally, "Did I kill your precious little friends? Did I make you suffer? You're so pathetic…you couldn't even save them!"

"Shut up!" Llyod yelled back as he tried to fight back the pain and anguish in his voice. Suddenly his limbs went numb and he collapsed, breathing heavily, his body wracked with guilt as he sorrow spilled to the surface. The feeling felt like the time he thought his friends had died from the traps when he had gone to confront Mithos when he had stolen Colette's body. He didn't see the figure get up form the ground, blood still flowing freely from its wounds, its white tunic stained red by blood.

Walking up to him it gloated happily, the madness still evident in its voice, "What's wrong Llyod? Can't live without your friends? Here let me remedy that situation for you!" Llyod watched as it brought its sword to its hand again, and for a second it glowed then changed and shifted its blade glowing blue and red and shifting to a crystalline form.. His eyes went wide as he recognized the blade. It was the Eternal Sword! Suddenly piercing pain filled his entire body as the Eternal Sword pierced through his chest, and the next thing he knew, he was falling, falling down into the darkness of the abyss. His last thought was "Everyone…I'll be with you soon…"

Lloyd's eyes snapped open; as he sat up quickly in bed, sweat pouring down his face. Breathing heavily he groaned a little and muttered softly, "Just a dream." Rubbing his head he looked outside and saw the sun pouring in through his window and groaned. Another day meant back to school, and that meant more time with the buckets of water that Raine insisted he hold as a disciplinary measure.

Sighing he managed to get up and out of bed, stretching as he did so, then went over to his closet to get changed. Pulling his red shirt and pants on then slinging the suspenders over them he looked at his hand and the Cruxis Crystal Exsphere that had been his mothers that resided upon it. "Mom…" he whispered slightly then closed his eyes. True, he said he wanted to get rid of all Exspheres but it didn't feel right for him to loose the one that kept him closer to his mother than anything. Not even Kratos' presence reminded him of the warmth and love his mother had given him. Sure he was his father, but he had also been a member of Cruxis and their enemy.

Suddenly a "Hey, Llyod!" with a cheerful voice broke him out of his thoughts and Llyod looked up, and grinned at his half-elf friend Genis. He and his sister Raine had come back to Iselia just a week before he and Noishe had come home. From what Llyod had heard from Dirk they had been rather successful in their own journey to get half-elves and humans to accept one another. There had been a few dissenters, but over all things had gone well. Half-Elves were now being seen more out in the open, Meltokio having repealed its anti-half elf laws being one of the major populaces. Though many from the Sylvarant towns and villages were still hesitant, the memory of the Desians and their Ranches and oppression still fresh in their mind.

"We had better go." Genis grinned, "or else your day dreaming will make us late…like it usually does, and you know how sis gets when you're late Llyod!"

"Don't remind me!" Llyod laughed back then slid on his gloves, boots, and twin swords of the Material Blades. "And I wasn't daydreaming!"

Genis smirked and narrowed his eyes and chuckled, "sure you weren't…I bet you spent most of your journey sleeping!"

"Shut it Genis!" Llyod shook his head and scowled at Genis. Genis was a good friend and a loyal companion but Llyod found his teasing sometimes rather annoying. His intellect however came from the fact that he could wield vast amounts of Magic and if he put his mind to it, he could be very formidable.

Genis just laughed then grinned and handed Llyod a sandwich, "I made it this morning, c'mon lets go!"

"Sure just lemme go say bye to dad ok?" he replied then walked downstairs. Calling out to Dirk, his adopted dwarf father, "Dad, I'm going to school now!"

Dirk walked over and smiled at his son then nodded, "Alright Lloyd, I'll see you later, and keep out of trouble, remember the Dwarven Vows!"

"Yeah, yeah I got it dad!" Llyod groaned as he closed the front door behind himself and Genis as he stepped out. True having a Dwarf for a father had its perks, he had learned most of his craftsman's skills from Dirk, but he really had a hard time always getting lectured about the Vows.

Leaving the house, he turned and looked over the two graves that were now erected next to one another. Sighing he winced slightly and tried not to think of Zelos Wilder, the man whom he had to kill in order to claim the Eternal Sword and enter the Tower of Salvation in search of Sheena, who had risked herself to keep him from being possessed by Mithos after Origins seal had been broken. He had trusted Zelos, and he had betrayed them, but, deep in his heart he wished he could have found another way to save Zelos.

Sighing a bit he then turned towards the stables and saw Noishe, still sleeping. Shaking his head he said to Genis, "and you think I'M lazy." Genis laughed as Llyod yelled, "Hey Noishe! C'mon we're going!" Noishe woke, stretched then let out a whine and trotted over to the two young men. Patting Noishe on the head Llyod smiled, "its ok boy, not many monsters out there now-a-days." Noishe let out another whine then followed Llyod and genis as they headed down the road and toward the path that led into the Iselia Forest.

Their trip was uneventful, as the number of monsters had decreased significantly since the Great Tree Yggdrasil was again watching over the world, its Mana flow abundant for everyone. Leaving Noishe at the edge of Iselia Llyod and Genis sprinted the rest of the way past the reconstruction of the village. A few people waved hello to them and they quickly waved back. Llyod groaned as he neared the school building as he saw the kids inside already sitting down for their lessons, "damn it we're late." He muttered.

Genis and Llyod quickly sprinted into the school building just as Raine was talking to the children about the great Kharlan war. Raine Sage folded her arms as she saw them come running in breathless and said coolly, "well, if it isn't Llyod, late as usual I see." She then smiled slightly at him, and he grinned and smiled back slightly at her, but then her look turned cool again, "well, you know what to do Mr. Irving."

He groaned then nodded, "yes ma'am" Before he headed over to the water pails he walked up to her and whispered quietly, "Professor, um, could we talk after school today? I had…a rather vivid dream last night…" He winced uncomfortably and his face creased in worry at the memory of the dream.

Raine saw the look of worry on his face, and knowing it took a lot to get this particular young man worried like that nodded and replied quietly back, "alright Llyod, we'll talk after school."

Turning to Genis she then said, "And you Genis, I expect some more arithmetic homework for you will make up for your tardiness." All she got from genis was a slight nod as he quickly found his seat next to Colette who was busy looking out the window dreamily, and sat down.

As Llyod hefted the pails of water, Colette seemed to snap out of her dreaminess and turned and smiled at Lloyd. He grinned at her and she smiled again happily, and then went back to letting Raine speak. Raine, who was too busy lecturing to notice, had her back to the class now and was writing down some information on the blackboard. Sighing he let his head relax, and he slowly found himself start nodding off as Raine began to lecture on the causes of the great Kharlan War.

Suddenly a commotion began to occur outside from the guards at the Northern entrance of town, which was right next to the school, and he could hear the guards calling for someone to get Raine. Next thing he knew a guard had come running in and said to the Professor, "Ms Raine, come outside quickly, someone's been hurt! It looks like someone from Mizuho!"

Raine nodded to the guard then picked up her Staff, which lay alongside the chalkboard. "Study by yourselves everyone, I'll be back in a moment!" Genis, Collete and Llyod looked at each other and then quickly sprinted outside as well, knowing that one of their friends came from Mizuho, Lloyd's buckets of water crashing to the ground fastest of them all.

As they got outside, they saw a crowd of people surrounding Raine as she used her Revitalize magic to heal the wounds of the person on the ground. They could tell what it was, the spell having been used multiple times to heal their own wounds in battle against Monsters, Cruxis and other forces that wished to harm them.

Collete clasped her hands, and looked at Lloyd, her face full of concern, her Cruxis crystal at her throat glinting on the sunlight, "Will the person be ok Llyod?" Llyod who was busy trying to look over the people looked at her, "I hope so…."

Grunting, Llyod then turned and said to his two friends, "Stay here I'll be right back." Pushing his way through the people who had gathered, he made his way to the front and stopped suddenly. There, in front of Raine as she worked on her, lay Sheena. Unconscious. Raine, as soon as she saw Llyod stopped working looked up at him and said, "She's going to be ok…" Lloyd nodded mutely but then felt his body go numb as it did in his dream. Looking her over, he could tell she had been hurt bad, her body was cut in multiple places, and she had been battered pretty severely. But worse still was the knowledge that whatever had done this to her had been strong, very strong. Her ability to summon made her very formidable, yet whatever had done this was quick, and thorough, making it so she probably had not time to summon.

"Did…she say anything Professor, like who did this?" Lloyd choked out.

Raine nodded and looked at him, her face a mixture of worry, and concern, "Just one word…and you won't like it…"

"Tell me!" Llyod found himself nearly yelling at Raine, but Raine looked at him coolly like she always had, not taken aback by his sudden outburst.

"Cruxis." She replied calmly, folding her arms into her lap, "she said Cruxis."

(to be continued!)

(More to come later! Hope everyone enjoys this first chapter. R&R if you like, flames will be laughed at :D I dunno how many chapters this will be but I hope everyone liked this opening, so I'll write more within a week or so depending upon reviews n what not if its liked and so on. Enjoy!)