This is chapter two! Please read! Please review! (But first, last time I made a stupid mistake... I meant to say that english is NOT my native language, I confused native with foreign...)

DISCLAIMER TIME!

Drags Kratos in an apron and Raine in front of herself

Me: Okay, this time YOU say it.

Kratos: I do not have any time for such foolishness. The food is going to get burnt.

Kratos prepares to leave, but is held back by me

Raine: I'll fix that, Kratos!

Raine runs off

Kratos: My poor food...

Me: Argh! Forget it! Angelofdarkjugdement does not own Tales of Symphonia now either.

Kratos runs off too

Chapter 2 – The oracle

The room the group of six people arrived in appeared to be the top floor of the temple. There was an altar at the other end of the room, where a shining crystal lay.

"Wow, it sure didn't look so large from the outside!" Lloyd burst out.

"And there's an altar too." Genis observed.

Colette took some steps toward the altar, and looked at the crystal.

"They say I was born with this in my hand… A cruxis crystal…" she said in wonder.

The young blonde girl stretched her arm out and prepared to reach for the crystal, but before she could touch it, there was a bright flash of light, that made everybody shield their eyes. The next thing they saw was an angel, his hair the same colour as Colette's. He wore priest's clothes and had two big, white, feathered wings he used to float in the air. Colette, Lloyd and Genis gasped as they saw the winged creature, but Kratos did not seem much impressed.

"An angel?" Genis gasped.

"My real father…" Colette's voice was happy, yet a bit sad at the same time. Happy because she finally met her real father, sad because she had not met him before. At least that was what Lloyd thought.

"I am Remiel." The angel declared. "I am here to guide Colette on her journey to heaven as the seventh chosen."

Remiel paused for a moment and descended a little.

"The time has come to awaken the goddess Martel who sleeps at the center of the world." He continued.

"Just like the legend Raine told me…" Genis whispered.

"What legend?" Lloyd asked.

"I think she told it in class yesterday, during your little nap…" Genis replied sarcastically.

Then, Remiel made a gesture with his hand, and the cruxis crystal began floating toward Colette, and attached itself to her neck.

"From this time, Colette becomes the chosen of regeneration. We of cruxis bless this event, and hereby bestow the Tower of Salvation upon Sylvarant." The feathered creature above them declared.

Remiel made another gesture, this time toward one of the windows in the room. A tower appeared, so tall that it reached into the clouds. Lloyd, Genis and Colette marvelled at the sight, but Raine could not stop wondering what material the tower might be made of. Kratos looked out of the window too, but his face did not bear the same wondering expression as the others.

"The tower of salvation!" Genis smiled.

"It surely looks impressive." Raine remarked.

"Anything that's older than thousand years looks impressive to you Raine-"

Genis was cut off by a hard smack he received from his sister.

"Oww…" The boy winced and held his hands protectively over his head.

Lloyd and Colette were still looking at the tower.

"So you'll go there Colette?" Lloyd asked.

Colette nodded. "Yup. And then everyone will be saved!"

Lloyd smiled. Colette sure looked happy, despite being chosen to bear such a responsibility. It couldn't be easy to be responsible for saving a whole world.

"Colette, the Chosen of Regeneration. Unlock the seals guarding the tower of salvation and climb its stairs to heaven in distant lands." Remiel said, reattracting Lloyds and Colette's attention.

Colette turned toward the angel and answered: "I humbly accept this task."

"Good." Remiel smiled. "We of cruxis shall grant you the power of the angels with each seal you unlock. Then you will be reborn as an angel, and the world will be regenerated."

"I swear on my life that I will regenerate the world." Colette said, just like she had been taught to do since she was a small child.

"But if-" Lloyd began, but was cut off by Remiel's words.

"First, head south and offer your prayers at the seal of fire."

"Yes, lord Remiel." Colette answered.

Remiel began ascending, but stopped as Colette asked him: "Are you really my true father?"

Remiel smiled. "First, head to the seal of fire. Colette, my beloved daughter."

"Father…" Colette whispered softly.

Remiel ascended a bit further, then there was a flash of light, and a couple of golden feathers fell down. Colette picked up one and took a long look at it, before she put it into her pocket. She was careful to put it into her left pocket, because the right one already was filled with doggy treats. Colette had always loved all kinds of animals, but cared for dogs in particular.

"Colette…?" It was Phaidra's voice. "I just want you to know that even if we're not your real family…" she paused for a bit. "…you will always belong dear to me."

Colette hugged the old woman, a hint of tears in her eyes. "Me too."

Then, Colette glanced at the others. Lloyd and Genis were talking about what they just had seen, and Raine was busily taking notes, while Kratos just stood there.

"We should leave now." Kratos suggested. Everybody except Raine agreed, she wanted to stay in the temple a bit longer.

Kratos thought for a bit, before he changed his mind. "You four leave now. I think I'll stay…" The mercenary turned to Raine. "…if you don't mind?"

"Not at all." Raine smiled. A small blush rose to her cheeks as Kratos took her arm. "And where will you go first?" he asked.

Xxx

Genis, Lloyd and Colette were walking down the stairs outside the temple, toward Iselia.

"I can't believe it!" Genis groaned. "She's not even known his name for half an hour, and she's already on a date with him!"

"Actually, it's not what I would call a date…" Colette pointed out.

"In Raine's case, you never know…" Genis replied grimly.

Lloyd and Colette looked strangely at Genis.

"It's a long story…" he sighed.

"We should get back to Iselia," Colette suggested. "I'm sure my dad's waiting for me."

"I'll go with you then." Lloyd answered.

"And I'll go with you too." Said Genis, a split second after Lloyd.

The three friends walked for a while, until they could see the northern gate of Iselia. As usual, two guards were on duty to prevent strangers or desians from entering the village. But Lloyd secretly suspected that they would run away if they saw as much as a desian's helmet.

"I wonder what you journey will be like. I'm sure it's gonna be exciting!" Lloyd said with a smile. Then he grinned. "Maybe I could go with you?"

"Umm… Possibly." Colette answered. She sounded a bit unsure.

"I'm sure you'll be able to do it." Genis smiled. "No matter how many Lloyd's you'd be forced to drag with you."

"Heheh…" Lloyd grinned until he understand the true meaning of Genis' words. "Hey, Genis!" Lloyd gave Genis an angry look, but Genis just laughed and ran a bit ahead of him.

"Catch me if you can!"

Lloyd rushed after Genis and grabbed Genis' hair.

"Gotcha!"

"Hey, Lloyd, that's no fair!" the silver-haired elf boy complained.

"Why not?" Lloyd grinned.

"Because you're way faster!" The smaller boy reasoned.

"Umm.. excuse me…" Colette broke into their conversation. "But I think it's fair. You get far better grades at school than Lloyd does."

"Colette, grades have nothing to do with running…" Genis tried to explain.

The three friends soon reached the northern gate of Iselia. Lloyd and Genis had stopped chasing each other, and Colette walked between them.

"Does anyone want to play catch?" Colette asked. Soon after all three of them were running trough the village, trying to get each other.

They played catch until they heard Phaidra call Colette's name. Colette explained to Lloyd and Genis that it had to be her father who wanted to talk with her.

"Drop by my house later, ok?" Colette said to them before she went home.

"You can count on us!" Lloyd smiled at her.

Xxx

"Hmm…" Raine bowed forward to take a closer look at the temple wall, and the symbols painted on it.

Kratos yawned. It seemed like Raine never got tired of ruins. He saw the elven woman rushing to the next inscription, and make notes.

"Raine… what about leaving the temple now? The others must be waiting." He suggested.

Raine smiled sweetly at him.

"Of course, I only need to finish examining this wall."

Kratos groaned as he noticed all the inscriptions at the wall. It had to be some hundreds of them… Not wanting to wait for that long, he grabbed Raine's arm and gently dragged the protesting woman out of the temple.

Raine gave him a doggy-eyes look as he dragged her down the stairs leading away from the temple.

"No!" he snarled at her, forgetting his manners for a moment. "My apologies…" Kratos mumbled as he saw the look on Raine's face. The mercenary turned his head away, and tried to avoid the woman's gaze.

After a bit more dragging and pleading, the two adults finally arrived in Iselia. Raine slowly went back to her normal self, but Kratos held her arm until he was completely sure Raine wouldn't run all they way back to the temple.

"That reminds me, didn't the chosen's grandmother want to have a talk with you?" Kratos asked Raine.

"That is true, and if I remember correctly, she had some words to speak with you too." She replied.

"Hm… We should go there now then."

"Yes, we-" then Raine suddenly remembered her curry. "Just wait a minute, I will be back soon." She said quickly and rushed back to her house.

The curry was ruined, but luckily it hadn't started burning. Raine took the pot off the oven, tossed the ruined curry into the rubbish bin and then returned to Kratos.

The two adults stopped before the house were Colette lived with Frank, her father and Phaidra, her grandmother. Colette's house was one of the biggest houses in Iselia, it even had a second floor. But then again, Colette was the chosen after all, and that earned her and her family a special position. Small wooden stairs led up to the front door. Raine stepped up the stair and knocked on the door. Phaidra opened.

Colette, Frank and the mayor were already sitting at the table inside.

"Please sit down." Phaidra said.

"I apologize for your wait." Kratos replied and sat down.

Raine sat down beside him, and the adults started talking.

"So this is the mercenary you told about, Phaidra…" Frank said. "My name is Frank. Pleased to meet you."

"My name is Kratos."

"So," they mayor began. "Kratos, you will protect the chosen if we pay you?"

Kratos nodded. "That is right."

"Umm… I have a question…" It was Colette, who had not said anything until now.

"What is it, my dear?" Phaidra smiled at her granddaughter.

"Maybe this is a bit selfish…" Colette mumbled. "But I would be very happy if the professor could come with me too… Seeing as I don't know Mr. Kratos all too well…"

Colette looked down at the table, a bit embarrassed at how selfish her words had sounded.

"Then you will be happy to hear that we already have been intending to ask her, because of her great knowledge of the world and the healing arts." Phaidra explained.

"Oh, it's not that much…" Raine murmured, a bit embarrassed.

Hmm… so she's a healer. Interesting. Kratos thought to himself.

"So, Raine, will you be so kind to accompany Colette on her journey?" Phaidra asked.

"It will be an honour." Raine answered. Somehow, she was happy that Kratos would be on the journey too. Raine smiled for herself.

But then the door suddenly slammed open, and in came Lloyd and Genis.

"Uh, hi! It's quite crowded here…" Lloyd burst out as he noticed all the people sitting at the table.

"Oh, hi Lloyd!" Colette smiled. "We're talking about who's going to accompany me on my journey to save the world."

"I wanna go too! I wanna see the world be regenerated!" Lloyd grinned.

"Me too! If Raine goes, I'm going too!" Genis joined in.

Kratos sent Lloyd and Genis an irritated look.

"No. You're only going to be in the way."

"I won't, I-" Lloyd protested, but Raine interrupted him before he even could reach the middle of his sentence.

"Lloyd, it is going to be dangerous, and I don't want you or Genis to get hurt."

"Awww… Raine… C'mon!" Genis begged.

"I think you two should leave now." Raine said in a demanding tone of voice, accompanied by a death glare.

Lloyd and Genis actually left.

Xxx

"Wait!" Colette came running out the door.

"I'm sorry…" she said to Lloyd and Genis.

"It's not you fault." Lloyd smiled. "And even if we can't go, you'll be back when you've regenerated the world!"

Colette fell silent for a moment before she answered. "…Yes."

Genis grinned and took something out of his pocket. It was a gift, nicely wrapped in gift paper with small cats and dogs on it.

"Happy birthday, Colette!"

"Oh, thank you so much, Genis!" Colette beamed at him.

She opened the present, careful not to make any rips in the paper in the process. It were some of Genis' homemade cookies.

"I planned something a bit more special for you but…" the boy mumbled.

"Don't worry about it, I love your cookies!" Colette smiled.

Lloyd looked a bit uncomfortable as Genis gave him a and-what-about-you-look.

"Uh… I planned to make necklace for you, but it's not quite done yet. I'll give it to you tomorrow, before you leave." He said to Colette.

"That's so nice of you Lloyd! I'll come by your house later, when I find out what time we'll leave tomorrow, ok?" she smiled at him.

"Ok." Lloyd smiled back at her.

Colette went inside again.

"Liar." Genis mumbled.

"I'll get it done on time if I start on it now!" Lloyd defended himself.

"Yeah, and we all know how that's going to end…" Genis muttered.

"Genis? Did you say something?" Lloyd asked.

"No, nothing."

The two friends began walking away from Colette's home.

"Lloyd?" Genis asked.

"Yes?" The red-clad boy replied and looked at his friend.

"You're going home now, aren't you?"

"Yup, that's right." Lloyd nodded.

"Can I go part of the way with you?"

Lloyd gave Genis a surprised look.

"There's someone I need to meet." Genis explained.

Lloyd shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure."

Genis sent Lloyd a thankful smile. Then the two friends went off toward the southern exit of Iselia. Genis hesitated for a bit.

"Umm… Lloyd? I've got to get my things first."

Lloyd waited while Genis went into his house and prepared some sandwiches.

"Sandwiches? Are you gonna eat along the way, Genis?"

"No, it's for my friend." Genis replied.

"Heheh, I understand." Lloyd said and gave Genis a smart look. "It's a dog!"

"No, she isn't. She's a human." The elven boy sighed.

Lloyd's smart look turned into an equally stupid one.

"Well…"

"Oh, Lloyd, just let's go, ok?"

And the two friends went out of Iselia and headed toward the forest.

Xxx

And now I'd like to thank Clearheart for reviewing, I appreciate it that you point out my mistakes. gives Clearheart an imaginary Lloyd plushie