Chapter 3 will be coming right up, after these short messages.
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Still not claiming to own any Tales of Symphonia characters, that's Namco's pride and joy.
So much for the preliminaries and now onto the main event!

---Chapter 3: Healing the Angel pt. 2---

"Halt! No half-elves will be allowed into this village!" yelled a guard.
"That's fine. We'll just wait for you here everyone." said Raine, sulking slightly.

"No! That's wrong… Let them in, they're our friends!" Sheena exclaimed, looking at Raine.
"Rules are rules, I'm afraid, young lady. Hurry on." the guard explained.

The rest of the group carried on through the small village of Heimdall, the hidden elven village. It was rare for them to even allow humans in, lt alone trying to get them to allow half-elves. They had made it into the Elder's hut, and explained about Colette's illness.

"So, you are in need of a Mana Leaf Herb. Usually, I would refuse, but as it is a matter of life and death, I will grant you access to the Latheon Gorge, where our Mana Leaf is kept secure from intruders. Show my staff to the guard, he will let you pass." said the Elder, thinking twice before handing the group his staff.
"Thankyou, Elder." said Lloyd.

Leaving Heimdall, Sheena walked faster than the others. When she saw Raine and her brother, she set off in a fast walk to her.
"I missed you two." she said, hugging Genis briefly, then hugging Raine. Surprised and confused, Raine hugged back, and had stopped much earlier than Sheena had.
"Um… S-Sheena? Would you mind awfully letting go now? I can't breathe…" said Raine. It was true that Sheena was holding on quite tightly.
"Oh, um… Sorry Raine." said Sheena quickly, letting go. She had gone pink again, realising what she was doing. The group weren't far behind, they could have seen. As for Genis, he was smart enough to think something was fishy.
"Sheena? Why are you acting so weird? You were gone ten minutes!" Genis said, eyebrow raised.
"I know. I'm sorry, but… er… ever since you were taken away by the Papal Knights I couldn't think of losing you two as friends again." said Sheena, hopelessly lying. Genis let it slide for now, passing it off as her being affected by the strange elven magic of the village.

"Wow, it's windy here…" said Lloyd. The group had made it into the depths of the Latheon Gorge, and the flowers all around them were thriving, and blowing sharp gusts of wind around. Sheena and Genis, being so light, had trouble keeping their feet.

"L-lets just get this Herb and get out of he- WOAH!" Genis yelled. He had fallen over into Presea. She gave him a quick, blank expression, and it scared him.
"Sorry, P-Presea…" he stammered, getting to his feet, and offering a hand down to Presea to help her up. Instead she used the butt of her axe to rear herself up.
"I seem to be undamaged. Apology accepted, Genis." she said bluntly, dusting herself off.

The group came to a cave, and in the centre of the room, spotlighted by a lonely ray from a crack in the ceiling, was a strange plant. The group looked to Raine, who examined it, rubbing her chin with her hand as she did so.

"This seems to be the Mana Leaf Herb we are after. Let's take a piece and think about heading to Derris-Kharlan. It's our only chance to find a Mana fragment." she said. She was afraid about the last part, she didn't really want to get any closer to Yggdrasill and his cronies right now. The group nodded, showing their agreement.

Suddenly, a large rumbling came from behind Raine, and in front of the Mana Herb. A huge, twisted form of a plant rose from the ground, ready to fight the group. It seemed to be guarding the plant. It lunged at Raine.

"Raine! Get back, you monster!" said Sheena, jumping in front, and batting away a tendril using one of her ofuda cards. More vines came, and Sheena and the group fought them away. Raine backed away and prepared her healing skills, should anyone need them. Lloyd leaped in, slashing away with his two blades. He performed a Beast, and the creature collapsed. The group relaxed for a while.

"That took less than I-" Raine had started to say, but then a vine was sent her way. The spines were about to stab Raine all over her face and chest when Sheena leapt in.
"You will not hurt her!" Sheena yelled, a look of pure rage and hatred at the creature. She fought individually with the plants vines for a while, and quite successfully too. That is, until Lloyd called out, complimenting her fighting style. This distrcted Sheena long enough for a vine to swipe at her, connecting with her side, sending her flying sideways. She dropped to her knees, clutching her side and back, her breathing fast. Lloyd and Zelos, seeing this, ran to the creature and slayed it, combining their efforts to quickly wipe it out.

"S-Sheena!" Raine stuttered, a tear appearing in the corner of her eye. She ran over, and knelt by Sheena, and began to heal her wounds.

"You were quite lucky I had caught that in time, it looked like those spines contained venom. If untreated, they may have secreted it. Oh, you idiot…" Raine said, getting shakier as she said it. She had flung her arms around Sheena, sobbing lightly.

"Thanks Raine… I-I couldn't let it hurt you. It's feeling a lot better now, thank you." said Sheena. Raine stopped sobbing, and smiled. Sheena reached for Raine's left hand, close to her right shoulder. She had just held it for a moment, when Zelos called out,

"Hey Sheena! You better check your ribbon, babe."
Just as Zelos had spotted, Sheena's ribbon had been sliced, and was lying on the ground in front of her. She checked her top, and saw that it had been wide open, only her white vest like material left covering her chest. Blushing furiously, she collected up her ribbon, and held her purple garb for the time being. She rushed away into a corner to fix it back together. Lloyd was standing there, near the Mana Herb, open-mouthed and wide eyed for a minute. He cut a few leaves off, and gestured that it was time to go. Sheena came back soon after, her ninja garb back on and intact, and her ribbon tied into a much more untidy bow. Raine did her best to hold off a blush, as the group set back down the gorge.

Hehe… Damn those flimsy old ninja costumes… XD
Chapter 3 is over. The group has another ingredient, meaning there is only two more to get, both obtainable from Derris Kharlan, the elven base.
I will prepare Chapter 4, and I would love some reviews.
Scott-kun.