Rising Shadow: A Fanfic by Gyppy

Summary: The Dark Lord Nebilim is spreading the fog of death through the land; a swordsman by the name of Abyssion goes out to find out how to stop this miasma, and also to avenge the death of his parents.

Along the way, he stumbles upon the Eternal Swordsman, Lloyd, and his group, and they work together to help defeat Nebilim and restore peace and tranquility to the land.

Author's Note: This is in an Author's Universe, which means that the storyline has nothing to do with the storyline of the game. There may be a bit of out-of-characterness, and lastly, this is a crossover fic (the concept of miasma is from Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles). There may be a few Original Characters, which are characters the author came up with to put in the fanfic.

Also, there will be some hints at pairings in this fic: the most notable will be LloydxColette, and there'll also be sprinklings of ZelosxSheena, GenisxPresea and, later on, maybe a little KratosxRaine. I won't spoil the rest for you.

There'll be plenty of game spoilers in this fic, however, it is in an Author's Universe, so much of the spoiler content will have to do with relations and such.

Thank you for the review(s).

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, Namco, Final Fantasy or Squaresoft/Square-Enix. All I own is this storyline, this story and my pathetic, writer's-block-afflicted mind.

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Chapter 2: Castle Vinheim

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Once the group had arrived at Welgaia, Lloyd stepped forward and began to speak with the guard on duty.

"We request a meeting with Mithos," the Eternal Swordsman said.

"Very well," the guard said, bowing. "I shall speak with Lord Mithos and see if he accepts your request. You wait here until I am finished."

Lloyd nodded to the angel, who turned and entered the transporter that led to Vinheim. While the group was waiting, they discussed various matters.

"Why do you call yourself Lloyd Irving?" Abyssion asked once Lloyd had returned to the group.

"It's a really long story," Lloyd replied. "Kratos, my father, was once of Cruxis, but he eventually decided that he didn't want to be a member anymore, so he descended upon Symphonia. While he was there, he encountered my mother, Anna, who had an Exsphere equipped without a Key Crest."

"Yes," Kratos said. "Eventually, I fell in love with Anna, and we became lovers. However, we were pursued by the Desians, who Anna had escaped from. Lloyd was born, and for three years, we continued to live a life on the run, attempting to evade the Desians."

"And then, Nebilim came along," Lloyd continued, his tone changing. "Nebilim tore my parents apart and killed Anna right where she stood... right at the outskirts of the Desian base near Iselia. Noishe, Anna's Exsphere, and myself fell down the cliff, where we were rescued by a dwarf named Dirk."

"I could not retrieve them," Kratos continued. "I returned to Cruxis, working as a typical mercenary angel, until I was called down on behalf of someone named Lloyd who possessed an Exsphere. It was then that I had discovered he was still alive."

"So this Dirk raised you for fourteen years," Abyssion said, studying Lloyd's body. "I'd imagine since you'd been adopted by him, you'd name yourself after him... so Dirk's last name is Irving?"

"Precisely," Lloyd replied. "I called him my father for the longest time, until I met Kratos. It didn't take long to discern who was my real father." He winked.

"While I was in Cruxis, I was promoted to the rank of Seraph," Kratos said, drifting back into his story. "I was actually quite high-ranking before I decided to leave Cruxis."

"Apparently, Kratos and Mithos were very good friends," Colette said. "Mithos decided to pass on the Eternal Sword to Lloyd, since Lloyd seemed a worthy candidate... and besides, he already had the Flamberge and the Vorpal Sword, which he inherited from his two fathers."

"The Flamberge used to be Kratos' sword," Abyssion said. "And I heard that someone had forged a blade of ice named the Vorpal Sword... but I had no idea Dirk had possessed that sword. Thank you for telling me your story, Lloyd."

"Anytime," Lloyd said, smiling. Then, he turned to the transporter. "The guard's coming back. We should get ready for any occurrences."

Sure enough, the angel soon returned to the group, and told them Mithos was ready to meet them. The force field before the transporter fell, and the group continued on to Vinheim.

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"I see you are well," Mithos said, glancing at Kratos. "Now I must ask, why did you leave Cruxis?"

"I left Cruxis because of Lloyd," Kratos replied simply.

"Now you desire to make a treaty with me?" Mithos asked, his gaze shifting to Lloyd.

"Yes," Lloyd replied. "We need your help in defeating Nebilim."

"Nebilim..." Mithos said quietly, lowering his head. "I know how you feel, Lloyd... Nebilim killed my parents as well... and my sister..."

"So the rumor was true," Lloyd said. "I'd heard Martel had been killed by Nebilim as one of the lives taken to increase his power... so," his tone changed, "will you help us?"

"Of course," Mithos replied. "I'll do anything to get rid of that creature..."

"So you'll be our ally," Lloyd said, smiling. "Thank you."

"Very well," Mithos said. "If you like, I can introduce you to a few of my other acquaintances."

"Save the formalities for later," Lloyd said. "I think we should start our planning first."

Mithos sighed. "I see you're still as informal as ever..." then, he turned and started typing things on what appeared to be a computer. "I don't think I'll get the others to trust you unless they know you."

Not long after, two other seraphim entered the room; one resembled an older version of Mithos and floated slightly above the ground on purple wings, and the other was a tall, slender half-elf male with blue hair. The latter refused to show his wings, however.

Noticing their presence, Lloyd turned to face them. "Oh, hello you two. I guess Mithos is pretty persistent when it comes to showing off."

"Yes, you could say that," the purple-winged seraph said.

"He doesn't have a first name," Mithos said, gesturing to the purple-winged seraph. "We just call him Yggdrasill." He then pointed at the blue-haired seraph. "He's Yuan. He was in love with Martel before she died. I don't know if he's developed any other crushes lately." He winked.

"I see you're still a brat," Yuan muttered, glaring at Mithos.

"Wait a minute," Lloyd said, turning to Mithos. "Is Yggdrasill in any way related to you?"

"He's my brother," Mithos replied. "He was Martel's fraternal twin. Somehow he managed to escape the same fate she had."

"The Four Seraphim of Cruxis are composed of Mithos, Kratos, Yggdrasill and myself," Yuan said. "Although, ever since Kratos left Cruxis, all sorts of angels have been pushing for the position amongst the Four Seraphim."

"One of those who was trying to get promoted was Remiel," Yggdrasill continued. "You may know of Remiel as Colette's father... it's too bad he couldn't even stay with Cruxis."

"Remiel left Cruxis after I returned," Kratos explained. "We haven't heard from him since. We assume he's gone off to search for Colette."

"I think we saw him somewhere around Triet," Lloyd said, turning to Kratos. "He was complaining about the fact that he'd lost his daughter... or something. I think Colette was somewhere else at the time."

"So that means our current goals are to find Remiel and defeat Nebilim," Abyssion said. "It sounds like it's going to be a difficult task."

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about you," Lloyd said, turning to Abyssion. "I'm sorry about that." He turned back to Mithos. "I take it you heard him?"

"Yes, I did," Mithos replied. "I've heard of him before. Abyssion, right?"

"Yes, that is me," Abyssion said. "I'm with Lloyd and the others."

"Ah, I don't mind," Mithos said. "As long as you'll help Lloyd, I'll help you. And yes, you have our goals down right... or at least, finding Remiel is your goal."

"Yes," Colette said. "I'm going to help the others find Remiel. And I hope you help too."

"Well then, we know what to do now," Mithos said. Then, he posed. "Off to the region of Sylvarant!"

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Author's Note: This chapter may require a bit of explaining.

1. The Desians are working with Nebilim, and Pronyma is Nebilim's right-hand person.

2. I decided to alter the story a bit so that Yggdrasill was Mithos' brother and not his alternate form.

3. I like Remiel, so I decided to alter the story (again) to make him Colette's father (like they thought he was from the start in the game). I'll explain the whole race thing later, since I'm a lazy bum.

And now, I MUST ASK THEE TO REVIEW! O.O