This is the first stuff I've ever submitted here on so please don't be too hard on me! (English is not my foreign language) But I do appreciate constuctive criticism and your opinions A LOT! So please review. :-) And please do not flame me if you dislike Kratos x Raine, because that's what much of this is about. Okay? I hope you'll enjoy the first chapter! (I'll submit the others eventually as well, you see, I'v been writing this story and submitting it on a forum, but then I thought that It'd be nice with a account, and here I am!)

DISCLAIMER TIME!

Drags Kratos and Raine in front of herself

Kratos: What am I supposed to do?

Me: Say that Angelofdarkjugdement does not own Tales of Symphonia and then you kiss Raine.

Raine: Now that's a long name you've got there, dear.

Me: Come on, say it!

Kratos: ...

Me: ..Do I really have to do everything myself? Angelofdarkjugdement does not own Tales of Symphonia.

giggles

Me: Now go along and kiss Raine, Kratos!

looks around

Me: ...they're gone...

Xxx

Chapter 1 – The beginning

---Iselia school, Iselia, Sylvarant ---

"And that is how the Kharlan War ended." The young female elf teacher finished her lecture. "Any questions?"

A young blonde girl raised her hand.

"Yes, Colette?"

"Professor Sage, why was there a war after all? If everyone had been nice to each other it's sure there wouldn't had been a war."

The silver haired elf paused a second before she came with an answer.

"I suppose it is something in people's nature." She replied, and looked if there were any other hands in the air.

But then she noticed something red with a bucked in each hand, sleeping. Lloyd Irving, just as usual. The elf woman let out a sigh and grabbed the nearest eraser and threw it right in Lloyds face. Lloyd woke up an instant, and to the class's delight he dropped both buckets in shock and water splashed all around him.

After Raine had explained everything about the day of prophecy, which happened to be this day, she declared class as ended. It was time for Lloyd's punishment.

"Uh-huh…" he mumbled as he saw the angry look on the professor's face. And it took a while before Lloyd could go home that day. He'd been ordered to mop up the water and write one hundred times on the blackboard: "I will never sleep in class again."

Xxx

When Lloyd finally got outside of the small, wooden school building, his friends Genis and Colette were waiting for him. Genis sent him a malicious grin.

"So, how did it go?"

"Genis, I warn you…" Lloyd replied, slightly irritated by the young elf's grin.

But before any of them could begin saying harsher words, Colette stepped between them and gave both of them a smile.

"How about we play catch?" she suggested.

And the three young Iselians did just that. None of them noticed the small smile on the professor's face when she walked past them on their way home, because all three of them were so absorbed in their game. The game continued until they met the mayor, who began complaining about it. Last time they had played catch, they had gotten too close to the mayors house, which lied just a little bit to the left of the school.

It had been a nice and sunny day, with just a mild breeze sweeping gently over the village, making the leaves sway back and forth slowly. They had played catch nearby the school. Colette had been trying to catch Lloyd, but she tripped and fell on top of a flower vase outside the mayor's house. Colette and the flower had been okay afterwards, but that could certainly not be said about the poor (and quite valuable) vase.

In other words, an incident the mayor did not forget about all too easily.

The mayor, a man who probably was somewhere in his fifties, approached the three friends.

"You three, hush, hush!" the mayor made a gesture as if he was to chase the three friends away. "Go and play another place, or I will be complaining to you parents."

Then he turned toward Genis. "And in your case, to your sister. Hush, now!"

Lloyd gave the mayor a challenging look and took a step toward him, ignoring Genis's protests: "Lloyd, you'll only get in trouble! Don't say afterwards that I didn't tell you!"

The mayor who had already begun to walk back turned his head toward Lloyd, and gave him a threatening look. "Listen, if you don't leave now-"

"Lloyd, just ignore him!" Genis tried to persuade Lloyd to come with him and Colette. Then he said one thing he'd better not said. "He's just a stupid human anyway."

To Genis's great surprise and shock, he realized that he had calculated wrongly, the mayor seemed to have a better hearing ability than he had thought. The effects of Genis' words began to show all to clearly as the mayor's face began to turn a dark red. He sent a glare toward Genis and whispered:

"You're not going to get away with this, I swear!".

Lloyd, Colette and Genis just stood there in silence as the mayor turned his back at them.

"Raine's gonna kill me… she's gonna kill me for sure…" Genis whispered to himself.

Colette gave the young elf a pitying look, and tried to comfort him.

"I'm sure the professor won't be too mad."

Lloyd sent Genis a look saying exactly the opposite.

"Gee, thanks so much for your support Lloyd…" the elf grumbled and began walking toward his home, Raine, and his certain death, or at least something very close to that.

Xxx

Raine was in a good mood this day, even though she had caught Lloyd sleeping in class, even standing. But the elf woman's attention was directed toward something else. She stood turned against the bookcase in her home, which mainly contained archaeological and scientific books, but also a few one about cooking. Raine grinned. Today she would surprise Genis when he came home! She picked a book about cooking and began looking through the many recipes. Tomato soup…? No, not today. The female elf turned the page and continued her search for a good recipe. After a few more pages, she finally found it; curry. And of course she would add her own personal touch to it, as she usually did.

A small while later, Raine stood in front of the pot with the boiling 'curry', wondering what spices she should add this time. She let her glance wander over her assortment of spices, and finally decided for chilli and cinnamon. Then she threw some sugar into the boiling mess which was supposed to be curry, and added onions, rice and apple pieces. It seemed like it actually was going to look edible this time, Raine confirmed with great satisfaction. Maybe her cooking was beginning to get better after all.

Xxx

Genis was walking home slowly, but before he entered their house, which was wooden like all the other houses in Iselia, but also kind of small, the young boy sat down by the pond next to their house. He knew that there were a pair of goldfishes living there, but you couldn't always see them, because they often swam between the water plants in the pond. But they were easier to spot on sunny days, just like this day. The boy leant a bit forward looking to a sparkle of gold or two. Then, he finally caught sight of one of the goldfishes. In his excitement, he leant forward to get a closer look, but his right hand lost its grip, and the left one soon followed. There was a splash, and a wet Genis was sitting in the pool. The poor goldfishes were swimming in circles around him, shocked by the unannounced visitor. Genis cursed slightly when his ears picked up the sound of a familiar laugh.

"Lloyd! Were you watching?"

"Hahahah, it's almost too funny… heheh… you should've seen your face, and then SPLASH! Hahahah! Genis is bathing with the fishes!" Lloyd laughed out loudly, attracting some village kids who pointed at Genis and joined in with laughing.

Genis gave Lloyd an annoyed look.

"That… was… not… funny… at all!" was the only thing the embarrassed elf managed to say.

Lloyd took a step toward Genis and the pond, and offered Genis his hand. After Genis got back on dry land, he used the opportunity to push Lloyd into the pond instead, and now it was Genis' turn to have a laugh at Lloyd's expense. The village kids had another laugh, but left soon, as they found something else of more interest than people falling into a pond.

Lloyd climbed out of the pond and they both laughed at how soaking wet they were.

However, their fun was soon disturbed by heavy footsteps. The mayor. Genis paled as he saw him approaching.

"Lloyd, did he tell your dad yet?"

"Uh, I don't know… haven't been there yet… But I don't think he's gonna care 'bout it anyway." Lloyd answered his best friend's question.

The mayor walked past Lloyd and Genis, completely ignoring them. Genis turned toward Lloyd. The young elf boy was shaking and had a fearful expression in is face.

"She's gonna kill me, there's no doubt about that…"

The young elf stiffened at the sound of the mayor knocking at the door. It really seemed like there was no escape this time…

He could see Raine open the door, and saw her talk with the mayor. After the conversation she began walking toward Genis…

There suddenly was a bright flash of light, and everyone stood there like petrified.

Then Raine finally broke the silence.

"It has to be the light of the oracle! Lloyd, Genis, do you know where Colette is now?"

Lloyd pointed toward the direction Colette had headed as he had went to find Genis.

"She said she was going to meet Phaidra at the temple today."

"Ok, thank you Lloyd." Raine sent him a thankful look and went into the direction of the temple. Genis let out a sigh of relief. He'd just escaped from a fate worse than death.

The mayor grumbled and began walking back to his home.

Xxx

The temple was a big, circular building. It had been built some thousand years ago, but there seldom were other people than the priests there. It really was a pity, Raine thought to herself, seeing how much her class could learn if they could take a trip to the temple sometime. Or she could go alone and explore the temple for herself… Raine got a dreamy expression on her face at the thought. Now, a bright light was coming out of the roof to show that something special was happening. Raine soon spotted Colette standing behind Phaidra. It looked like… no it could not possibly be…? Raine ran up the stairs to get a closer look, but stopped when somebody held a blade to her neck. It was a desian.

"Don't move, woman!" he snarled at her.

There were more desians too, they surrounded Colette and Phaidra. There was silence for a while, only disturbed by the sound of fighting that came from the temple. The sound stopped, and some desians, their leader in the middle of them, stepped out. The leader was a tall helf-elf with dark hair. His weapon was a big, red sword with a crystal attached to one end. Raine looked at the other desians again. Their bloody blades told more than words would have been able to.

"The priests are dead, now we only need to take care of the chosen one." He said.

"Yes, lord Botta." One of the desians answered.

Botta took a few steps toward Colette and Phaidra who was standing defensibly in front of her beloved granddaughter.

"If you want the chosen one, you will have to kill me first." Phaidra said, her voice calm as usual, but it had a more angry feel to it now. Then she turned her head toward Colette and whispered, in her normal, calming voice: "Run when I tell you to, Colette."

Colette swallowed the lump in her throat, knowing that this could be the last time she saw her grandma alive, and nodded. "I promise, grandma."

Raine still didn't move, but she noticed that the guard held his knife a little bit farther away from her now. Maybe her body didn't move, but certainly there was nothing in her mind standing still. She desperately tried to find a good solution, but was unsuccessful.

Xxx

"Hey, leave my friends be!

Raine did not know whether to be relieved or worried when Lloyd and Genis arrived at the scene. This was certainly no sight for a twelve-year old child like Genis. Still, her little brother was good at casting spells, and maybe that could help now. Genis stopped for a second when he saw Raine, the desian still holding his blade dangerously close to her neck.

Lloyd drew his wooden blades and readied himself to attack some of the desians. Botta let out an annoyed grunt, and made a gesture to his soldiers to follow him.

"Vidarr, finish this." Botta ordered and left with his soldiers.

Instead of them, a giant human(oid) appeared. He was holding an iron spiked ball, connected to a chain. He swung his spiked ball around, and tried to hit Colette, but the hit was blocked by Lloyd, who was sent flying be the force of the hit. Genis, Colette and Raine joined Lloyd in the fight, and soon all four of them were trying to get in some hits without getting hurt too much. Lloyd attacked with his twin blades, Colette threw her chakrams, Genis used magic and Raine pounded the enemy with her staff.

"Damn… he is just too strong…" Lloyd muttered.

Lloyd tried to block another swing of the iron spiked ball, which he just barely managed blocking. Lloyd was getting exhausted. Vidarr noticed Lloyd's exhaustion and turned toward Colette instead.

"Die, chosen!" he shouted as he swung the spiked ball toward Colette, but just as he was going to hit the girl, a blade appeared out of nowhere and blocked the swing. The man the blade belonged to was not sent flying like Lloyd, because he someway had managed to direct the force of the swing toward the earth instead of toward him. From the looks of it, his steel sword had been used well and often, and the man's brown eyes told of great experience. With a final slash from his sword, the man made Vidarr stagger backward. Then the muscular humanoid just fell over. Dead.

Xxx

"So your name is Kratos?"

Kratos nodded.

"And from what I have understood, this is Lloyd, the small one is Genis, she is the chosen one…" Kratos made a gesture toward Colette. "And you are Raine."

"Exactly." Raine replied. "And the first thing she was to do is to go into the temple and receive the oracle."

"But the priests are-" Lloyd interrupted.

"Grandma can go with us." Colette said.

Phaidra nodded. "Yes. I know that what has happened here is terrible, but the oracle is waiting."

The group went into the temple, Phaidra and Colette going first. After them came Genis and Lloyd, and last were Kratos and Raine.

There were three sets of stairs in the temple, but the first one was blocked by a pile of rocks, and there was a magic barrier in front of the second one. From what Phaidra told them, it seemed like they would have to fetch the sorcerer's ring first, an artefact of the church of Martel. It should be somewhere deeper in the temple if the old woman remembered correctly.

"Kratos?" Raine asked as they walked up the third set of stairs and continued further into the temple. "Exactly what is your reason for coming here?"

"Well," Kratos replied. "I am a mercenary, and I was looking for work when I heard strange noises from the temple."

Raine looked at him. He seemed like he had a great deal of experience when it came to fighting… Then a thought popped into her mind, and went out her mouth before she managed to think it over.

"The chosen needs protection now, so if you…"

"If you'd need my help regarding protection of the…"

When the two of them noticed that they had thought of exactly the same thing, Raine blushed a little and Kratos fell silent. Raine walked a bit faster, not wanting to show that she was blushing. Kratos walked faster. They arrived at another set of stairs, but this time they went down instead.

After a bit of exploration, the group managed to find the sorcerer's ring. Well, it was more like Lloyd found the ring first, and somehow managed to set his own boots on fire. After Genis put out the fire with a water spell of his, the soaking wet Lloyd received a smack and a scolding from Raine before they went back to the three sets of stairs right at the entrance.

Lloyd lent Colette the sorcerer's ring for a moment. The magic barrier in front of the middle set of stairs soon vanished after being hit by a fireball of the sorcerer's ring. Colette took a deep breath, and the group walked past the barrier and stepped on the teleporter behind.

Xxx

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