Authors Note: Update! Okay, so I know that I haven't in a while but… forgive me? big eyes I'm having fun with this. I had been thinking of ways to continue, and I know how it's going to. The story may get a little crazy, but I will try to 'build bridges' so that you will know what I'm talking about. I don't own Tales of Symphonia! If I did, then Zelos would be in every scene, and Yuan would be a playable character (Mithos, too) if only TOS was mine…

Chapter Two

'She will be in a state of unconsciousness that can easily be broken for a while. It would be best not to wake her. For that time she will not need you. If you don't want to cause suspicion amongst the group and ruin our plan, it would be best to return to them now.' The auburn haired seraphim's voice still rang in the red heads ears.

'Stupid, stupid, Zelos…! Why did I have to go promising that stupid haughty angel my loyalty? Why did I agree to leave Kage there?' Flitted through his head, along with other such thoughts as: 'Another world', and 'Why was she so hurt?' Then the occasional image of her smile and the leer on the older mans face… "That's it!" stomped his foot on the ground of his room (which he had been pacing in moments ago) "I'm sick of waiting! I'm going to go check on her!"

"Zelos? Are you alright?" A worried voice flowed into the room accompanied by a head of spiky brown hair. Ah. It was the epitome of innocence. "Lloyd? Nah, I'm fine Bud. I'm a little worried about Kage, is all." He smiled his carefree smile. It was the truth, after all.

Shortly after arriving in Meltokyo he had run into Raine. Zelos quickly came up with the excuse that while a maid was bathing her, she had noticed that Kage was seriously injured, so he had taken her to a hospital. Raine had told the others, and they had bought the excuse.

So everyone started getting ready to head over to the Tower of Salvation, to continue the 'great journey' of 'salvation'. That was when the blizzard hit. This caused Zelos to wonder if maybe Martel was really a Goddess. How else would he have had such awesome luck?

I mean, since when did it ever snow in Meltokyo? He had only ever seen it once, and that was a time he didn't really want to think about. The funny thing, was this time his head wasn't caught in the distant past. Rather, he was more freaked out about the idea that he may have weird interests in some girl whose purpose in Tethe'alla was still unknown.

"Dammit!" Zelos nearly shouted once the young Lloyd was out of the room. He flumped down on his bed, dropping his face into his hands, and letting his long red hair shield his face from view. Closing his bright blue eyes, he decided now would be a good time to just meditate. Or not think. Or something.

It had been over twelve hours since the Chosen had dropped the girl Mithos had been looking to kill on his lap. Over five hours since he had forced the boy away from her bedside, and told him to go back to Lloyd and the others. It had been only two hours since she had woken up, yet she seemed perfectly fine.

Unfortunately for Kratos, it had been twelve hours since he had been wondering if what he was doing, what he was going to do, was actually the right thing. Kage, as he had learned was the young woman's name, had turned out to be a bright, funny, and cheerful young lady. She got along well with most of the Renegades, even the reclusive Yuan. Kratos hadn't had the guts to ask Yuan what she had said to make him laugh so hard.

He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Kratos was pulled put of his reverie by the sound of someone knocking on his office door. "Come in" He murmured, just loudly enough to be heard by the person on the other side of the door, and the person complied, opening the door and stepping in.

It was Kage, except it didn't look like her. She wasn't smiling, like she usually was. Instead she wore a passive face that he had never seen on anyone except Mithos. Her eyes were blank until they focused on him. Suddenly the Angel was hit with a gust of rage so strong, and fast, that he didn't have time to put up his shields to block her attack. She glowered at him, and her mouth seemed to work mechanically to form the worlds she spoke. "What did you do!" The deceptively weak-looking girl spat at him, clenching her jaw shut tight as if to keep out words she could barely control.

Kratos figured this would happen sooner or later. People were people, after all. She may have been able to act happy around the other people in the complex, but she was sure to snap at one moment or another. Now that she was an angel, there would be no turning back. She would either have to throw her lot in with Lloyd, Cruxis, or the Renegades. Cruxis was out of the question- as a Gaurdian she was a serious threat to Mithos, and he would kill her. So that only left two options. Kratos was hoping to send her to Lloyd after a while, but not now. Not while she wasn't ready.

Zelos had taken care of his problems well, it seemed then, when he had offered to shoulder the blame for any of Kage's problems. Emotionally, he meant. Kratos held up a hand to stop her from going off on a tangent. "It was The Chosen." Kage just glared at the man in front of her. "Chosen, Zelos, Chosen. Why does everyone blame Zelos? I know it was him. I'm not talking about 'Angels', genius, what happened to him? Where is he? What have you done to him!" Kage was nearly screaming. Kratos looked at her for a moment. "Calm down. I sent him back to Lloyd and the others. He is not necessary right now." Never had someone talked to him like that. Never. The only person who had ever argued with him about so much as an offhanded insult had been Yuan. Yuan and Lloyd. Yuan hadn't argued with him like that for over 4,000 years. The latter was his son.

Kratos felt… abused? Well, he'd have time to think about her attitude later. "Necessary?" Kage squeaked out, "He is important to me! If not around this stupid tattoo starts hurting, and it's really freaking painful." To prove her point, she pulled down part of the shirt she was wearing, and jabbed at the symbol under her collar. "Pain! It hurts! Angels aren't supposed to feel pain, right? I know this. This feeling is pain. I don't like this. At all." She grumbled out the last few words under her breath, the turned to look back at him. "I need to see him. Take me to him." Kage demanded.

'Well, that was unexpected.' "Pull up your shirt, please." Kratos intoned softly. "I realize that you feel that you have to see him, but that's just not possible at the moment." Kage looked him in the eye. "Why?" She asked simply. "Because," He started "They're in Meltokyo, and currently a blizzard is in that area." Kage slumped against the door and sighed. "Dammit." She hissed. Kratos was sure that was what the Chosen was thinking somewhere, too.

"Dammit" Zelos muttered a couple of hours later, when the communicator decided just then to turn on, and the image of a certain blond angel appeared on the screen. "My, Chosen, you don't look that happy to see me. Did something happen? You didn't just happen to botch the mission I gave you?" Zelos looked at him, assuming he was talking about Kage. "No. I got it. I'm just.. Tired." He had been saying that a lot lately. Funny thing is, Angels just didn't get sleepy. They didn't sleep. Mithos knew this. He wasn't a stupid creator. He had made them.

"Uh-huh." The image was silent a moment, and Zelos waited. Finally, "Angels don't get tired, Zelos. You're acting funny. Well, whatever. Just don't betray me." Everything he had said up to that point had been very un-Yggdrasil like. The last part was stated as a warning. After delivering his message, the image vanished.

"…shit." Zelos had never cursed so much in his life. Kage had sure turned everything upside-down.

After Kratos had asked her to leave his office, politely, of course, he never yelled, Kage returned to the room she had stayed in before when the two angels had placed the crystal on her, and tried to lie on her bed. The clothes he had given her were almost too painful. The fabric, although smooth to even an angel's hand, seemed too rough, somehow, on her over-sensitive body. Everything she touched felt like it was tightly squeezing bruises that covered her body. She could hear almost everything, and see almost everything. She couldn't sit still for her body felt like it constantly needed to be moving. Every inch of her was awake except her mind, which felt all hazy and foggy.

Kage shook her head, and her long dark hair danced abound her head. Sparks of pain shot to her arm, where the strange tattoo was. She'd had that mark on her arm as long as she could remember. The brunette brushed her fingers over the symbol, and pulled them back with a curse. "Still hurts…" Kage mumbled to herself. "Zelos, where are you when I need you?" The eighteen year old whispered, closing her eyes while finding comfort in the sound of his name.

The next morning Zelos got up to find an envelope on the pillow beside him. Reaching over without getting up, he grabbed it, opened it, and scanned the letter inside. It was short, and to the point. 'Just like him.' The redhead shook his head a bit at the irony of it. The same man who had ordered him to leave her, was now asking him to come back and get her.

Zelos-

Come and get the girl.

P.S. Please.

Of course Zelos knew who it was from, even without a signature. No one else knew where she really was, and where he lived except Kratos. Zelos got up and looked out the window, even though he knew what he would find there. The blizzard had stopped. There was no other way he could have gotten the message to him, let along expected Zelos to be able to get to them otherwise.

The Chosen put on his clothes, and disposed of the letter via wicker basket full of random love letters from his Hunnies, and left the room, feeling a little eager, and apprehensive at the same time.

Kage stood up, and was greeted by a Renegade messenger at her door who seemed pretty nervous. He had taken off his mask in respect. The messenger was barely a man, but too old to be called a boy anymore. He had sky blue eyes and short curly brown hair that was long enough to hide his pointed ears that signified him as a half-elf, along with the slender build that most elfin kind had.

"Uh… H-hello L-llady Kk-kk-kage... I-I am Kk-kafei. L-lord Kr-Kratos want's to s-see you…" He stammered out. Yup. Defiantly nervous. "Hi, Kafei!" Kage smiled with cheer she didn't feel. "Could you lead me to him? I don't know the way around very well." The boy nodded, and led her out the door.

After a while of walking through hallways, Kage began to wonder if he really knew where he was going. She was about to say something when Kafei spoke. "I didn't know Humans could be nice." He said quietly, but loudly enough for her to hear him. Kage looked at him, a little shocked. She had known of Half-elves and of Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Angels, but it still felt a little surreal to her. "Why?" Kage asked, shyly.

"My father was Human." He said, calmly, like he had done it before. Since this was familiar ground, he didn't seem so uncomfortable. Kage decided to go along with it. "He was?" She asked. "Yes. My mother had been an Elf. She was very kind, or so everyone had told me. That, and she had loved my father, for all his faults." He stopped for a moment, and Kage took a hold on the moment. "Was? What happened to her?" Kafei turned around and looked at her, then looked in front of him again. "She died when I was born. In childbirth. People say my father was never the same again. He became abusive, and would forget who I was sometimes.

"I was afraid of him. We lived in Ozette at the time. One day he came home late, drunk, and tired to kill me. Instead, I killed him, using some sort of magic I didn't know I had had at the time. Everyone had assumed that I was a Human, since I had never gone outside before, and no one had seen me.

"I was chased out of my village, and was lucky to get away with my life. It was Yuan who found me." The boy blushed, but quickly hid it. "He told me that I was strong, but untrained. I had been seven then. He took me in, and assigned tutors for me. I rarely ever saw him, until I turned sixteen, and I was taken in as a brother of the Renegades, as I learned they were."

As Kafei finished his story, Kage thought to herself. Yuan was still in love with Martel, from what she knew. Although to some people he may look gay, but he didn't seem to be. Kafei obviously had it for his teacher, but Kage wondered if he even had a chance. Somewhere inside, she knew he probably really thought of Kafei as more of a son then anything else.

Kage waited a moment before speaking up. "My father left my Mum' and I when I was too young to remember him. I have a step-dad, but I don't know him, and I don't know where my Mom is anymore. I was always given trouble for it at school, because no one knew what I was. Before Kratos and Zelos took me here I was dying and in lots of pain because of what had happened at home, and because I'm here, in this world." Kafei looked like he was about to say something, but that was when they reached the door to Yuan's study, and the door opened.

The half-elf boy bowed, and exited the scene. Kage wondered briefly if she would meet him again, and walked into the heavily decorated office.

"I see that you are doing well." Yuan looked up at her from the picture he had been holding. Kage glanced at it a second before looking up. "I'm well, thanks. Who is that a picture of?" She asked, though she knew well who they were. "…" Yuan looked down at the picture a moment before picking it up, and handing it to her. "That is a picture of myself and my comrades 4,000 years ago." He said, his voice betraying no emotion, as usual.

The picture was of a young blue haired man smirking deviously with his arm around the waist of a young blonde woman, who looked like she was laughing. Clinging onto one of her arms was a small child with short cut blonde hair that must have been Mithos as a kid, he looked like he was about to fall down. Noishe was rubbing his head against Mithos' leg. Standing near him with his arms crossed, wearing his trademark purple uniform was Kratos, with his face turned away, trying to conceal a smile on his lips, but failing. They all looked so "… happy…"

"What?" Yuan looked at her oddly. Kage looked up at him, a little sad to have to leave the picture. Handing it back to him, she spoke. "Sorry. I must have thought aloud again… You all just seemed to be so happy." He could tell she was thinking what she wasn't asking. 'What happened…?'

Yuan took the picture and looked at it wistfully. "Died." Is all he said, and put the picture back down. "About Kratos…" Kage knew he was trying to change the subject, but she wouldn't allow it. "Died?" she interjected, innocently.

He looked through her. "Yes. She was killed, and we all died." Kage looked at him, trying to mask her sadness. She knew that. She knew how that felt. When Kage was a teen, her best friend was murdered. Everyone had loved him. Trying to make her voice work, she gave up, and got out an 'Ah…' It didn't go unnoticed by Yuan, however, who looked her in the eyes, finally, his green eyes meeting her dark ones. "You too?" Kage just closed her eyes and nodded. Her voice wasn't working at the moment.

"Then, you understand. I need you do us all a favor." He spoke, his voice emotionless again. Kage looked up. "A favor? 'Us all'?" Yuan spoke us. "Yes. A favor to all of us left, who can remember.

"I need you to take this… and go to Lloyd" The blue-haired former Angel held out a long black bow with horns on both side, and a quiver of black fletched arrows.

A.U.: Well, that felt long and dramatic. Dude. I loved writing about Yuan. hearts

Zelos: I thought you loved ME!

Zaki: hits Zelos Of course I love you! glomps Yuan

Yuan: sweatdrop