Title: All and One
Author: Tekli
Rating: T
Genre: General (romance, humor, and angst, primarily)
Warnings: A bit of mild language and sexual humor, some of which takes a dirty mind to appreciate (only due to Zelos). Fluff.
Spoilers: Everything.
Pairings: Lloyd/Colette, Zelos/Sheena, Genis/Presea, Kratos/Anna, Regal/Alicia.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia and I do not claim to. This fic was inspired by Kaltia's Fullmetal Alchemist fic 'One Year.'
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
T. S. Eliot, 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.'
January
Colette had a love-hate relationship with snow, in the sense that any part of any of her relationships could be described as hateful.
She loved how beautiful it was—so pure and white, and she could get lost just looking at it and perhaps this was eternity and all the universe rolled up in a little ball… Unlike most people, she loved the cold, loved trekking home in a foot of snow and sopping wet clothing, loved wind-chafed and reddened skin as she went to bed every night. She loved the games it brought, the snowball fights and snow angels—she tried to ignore what being an angel meant when she made them, and was mostly successful—and snowmen.
What she didn't love was the slipperiness. She was already legendarily clumsy, and having everything coated in ice really didn't help.
One day, as she ran to greet Lloyd, she skidded into him instead of stopping.
She realized a second later just in what position their collective fall had left them, and decided to feign shock a bit more before stammering an apology and rolling off.
Remembering Lloyd's warmth and his raw, physical power she could feel even through his thick winter jacket, she decided, perhaps, that clumsiness wasn't entirely bad, and thanked Martel graciously for creating snow.
February
St. Valentine's Day in Meltokio was always an interesting affair.
Zelos woke up to a very pleasant site. His room was filled to the ceiling with presents from admirers, each vying for Zelos's attentions that day. It was a yearly tradition.
He waded through the sea of pink wrapping paper and heart-shaped confetti while eating the first box of chocolates he had seen.
(He received an unpleasant shock, and threw the box out the window. "Ew! COCONUT! What bitch gave me COCONUT?")
The girls hadn't gone to quite their usual efforts, this year. The majority was chocolate, but, even worse: there were stacks of GIFT CERTIFICATES. Honestly. Next thing you know, they'd be giving the Chosen cash for Valentine's.
Walking into the hallway, he came upon the requisite live gifts. Puppy, kitty, puppy, TARANTULA, kitty, bunny… girl…
Yes, the last cage held a stunning, barely-legal brunette, minimally clothed aside from two large bunny ears and a tail.
The girl made a small noise that was distinctly un-bunny-like, and Zelos practically died.
He kneeled down beside the cage and patted the girl's head. "I'm keeping you."
March
Nothing got in between Raine and her yearly bought of allergies.
Nothing, that is, except being transplanted from one world to another.
It hit her, one day in March, that she wasn't completely miserable. Whatever I was allergic to must not grow here…
She stared at the foreign trees wistfully, until she heard Genis sneezing and sniffling inside.
April
They weren't an overly romantic couple. Kratos, for one, was possibly the least romantic person to ever exist in either world. So there was no singing beneath balconies (he would wake up the neighbors), no love poetry (he wasn't a very good poet), no roses (they were horribly expensive for a plant that would die in a week), and no chocolate with caramel crème inside (the calories! Oh, the calories…)
Anna never expressed any displeasure with their relationship, so it remained the same.
But what Kratos lacked in romance, he more than made up for in love. They would talk, they would talk about everything, and when Kratos finally told her about Mithos, she held him throughout the night, a solid presence in his ever changing world.
She was fond of murmuring the beginnings of old sayings and leaving the rest to the imagination and memory.
"The more things change…"
He found her once in the rain, standing alone in the empty marketplace, and he pulled her close under his umbrella.
"April showers…"
May
"April showers bring May flowers," Dirk confided in him one day, "and May flowers bring pretty girls."
"Ew," Lloyd responded sagely. "Is that another Dwarven Vow? 'Cos I want food tonight."
"No. Just some advice."
"Why would I care about flowers and—″ he shuddered "—pretty girls?"
"Your mother was very pretty."
"Moms don't count."
"I'm sure you'll find a pretty girl one day, get married, and have lots of pretty babies."
"Ick, Dad. I'm not hungry anymore."
And thus Dirk discovered the easiest way to save money while living with a hungry young Lloyd.
June
School was out. And as much as Raine loved teaching, she also enjoyed the last day of school and its smiling, gift-bearing students.
She accepted each end-of-the-year present graciously, nodding and spewing thanks and hugs and handshakes, trying to keep track of who gave what, dreading the inevitable thank-you note, but able to overlook it for the time being.
Being a teacher had so many perks. Summers off. Weekends off. Arbitrary, random holidays off. Relatively short workdays. And boatloads of loot at the end of the year. Chocolate, fruit, flowers, and more chocolate.
One boy, Davey, and his father were approaching her now.
"Thank you very much," Davey stammered, "for teaching me, Professor Sage."
"Oh, it was my pleasure," Raine responded diplomatically. (It hadn't been.) (And where was the chocolate, dammit!) She stood up to hug the boy and shake his father's hand.
"We'd like to thank you," her father chimed in, "by taking you on our boat. It's really quite nice, and I'm sure you'll love—Professor Sage? Miss Sage? Are you alright?"
July
Mithos had never been to the beach before, having been sickly as a younger child. Martel was more than happy to give him his first experience.
"If the water's cold, you should just jump in and get it over with instead of wading in.
"You shouldn't go swimming right after you've eaten.
"It's best to build sandcastles at high tide, so that you'll have damp sand, but it won't get washed away later.
"Unless you enjoy burning your feet off, don't walk barefoot on the sand in the afternoon.
"You have to wait for the perfect wave before you body surf, or else it won't work.
"Oceans are even more fun in the rain, but don't stay in the water if there's lightning."
He clung to her every word.
August
Sheena and Zelos didn't go to the beach often. Both of them were horridly busy, Sheena with Mizuho and Zelos with the world in general. They had both already been famous, but getting married had only increased their popularity, as marriage among celebrities was wont to do.
So it was a rare day, indeed, when they ended up buying ice creams and strolling the beach in Altamira.
"If we weren't being stalked by reporters, I would say something very naughty about your choice of food, hunny."
Sheena shoved the orange-cream pop in her husband's face, not giving a damn about the ensuing paparazzi field day.
September
Fall was a wonderful season when you lived near the Tree.
The Tree had many names. Martel's Tree, some called it. The Great Tree. The Tree of Mana. The Tree of Life. Or even the name given it by the great hero Lloyd, Symphonia. But most people simply called it the Tree.
It was fairly obvious which of the trees in the region was the Tree. It was the only one surrounded by public gardens taking advantage of the incredibly fertile soil. It was the only one to which pilgrims regularly journeyed. It was the only one with its own attendants.
And it was the only one that was quite so perfect in the autumn.
The change started subtly, yellow sneaking up the rich green of its leaves. The yellow soon burnt gold, gold that really wasn't reflective but when it caught the light just so—the gold reddened, then, and morphed through orange and every shade of red visible to the human eye: the red of brick, the red of blood, the red of love, the red of life, the red of eternity—
And then the leaves fell, and for a few days, nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed. Nothing but the red that saturated the skies and brought man to his knees.
October
"Genis?"
"Yes, Presea?"
"Why are there costumed children at our door threatening to remove my underwear?"
Genis was once again reminded how ignorant not having a childhood could make a person.
"It's All Hallows Eve, Presea. It's when kids go around to people's houses and get candy for dressing up."
There was a pause.
"Ah."
A second later.
"My underwear is safe, correct?"
"Yes, just give them candy."
Finally—
"Do we have any candy?"
"Yes. Yes we do."
November
November morning found Regal at Alicia's grave, eating stew.
"I'm very sorry you are unable to share this meal with me, Alicia."
So formal! But it's okay. I'm not hungry. Though I'm sure it's delicious.
"Of course it is. You taught me how to make it. You always were the better cook."
Heh.
"It's true. You were always so much better than I am…"
Don't you dare start guilt-tripping, now. I'm enjoying this conversation.
"…and that's why I fell in love with you."
That's more like it, darling.
"You're more presumptuous than the Alicia I remember, though."
Eat your stew, slave.
"Yes master."
Good.
Regal smiled.
December
They stumbled into Iselia at almost midnight, tired and cold and sopping wet. Their journey to recover all of the Exspheres was as over as it ever could be, and after years of wandering, they were ready to go home.
They stumbled madly into Colette's old house, silent with the heavy shroud of sleep. Lloyd started a fire, and Colette began to strip off her wintry uniform, scarves flying and landing with damp 'thuds.' When she was left only in her thin (but mercifully dry) under-tunic and bare feet, she made her way over to the stove in search of tea, or perhaps hot chocolate.
Lloyd followed Colette in removing the many layers of snow-soaked fabric smothering him, hanging everything over the screen in front of the fireplace before going over to the angel making tea in the corner.
"I love you," he murmured, draping a blanket over her thin shoulders.
"I love you too," she replied, turning around.
He enveloped her hands in his, and she stumbled into him, cheeks flushed by wind and heat and love.
No, Lloyd realized. The journey never ends.
finis
Author's Notes:
Holidays: I decided to stick with normal American holidays, but lengthen their names to the traditional versions.
Anna's sayings: "The more things change, the more things stay the same." (from A Separate Peace, but it's probably older than that.)
"April showers bring May flowers." (duh)
Feel free to play with the second halves.
(In my mind, for this fic, they are completely different.)
Title: From Fullmetal Alchemist. "All is one and one is all."
Inspiration: The incredible Fullmetal Alchemist fic "One Year" by Kaltia, whom I can never hope to match. Please forgive this unworthy one for stealing your format, but the plot bunny bit and would not let go.
Etc: Written backwards, starting with December and ending with January. Never have I written anything so quickly. Never have I written so much shameless fluff coughDecembercough. Never have I written anything with such naughty humor. (Never have I written anything with Zelos alive XD) I wrote each month on a different page using a different color gel pen. It was uberlytastical.