Story of a lifetime

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia

Warning: SPOILERS!

A/N Well here's chapter 3, I think this is the most angsty chapter in the story, and I didn't really look forward to writing this, but ah well, let's get this over with. Anyway, I placed the response to reviews after the end, it seemed a more appropriate place. Enjoy reading!

Chapter 3: Tears ----------

The next morning came quickly as the dark blanket of the night made place for rays of sunlight peeking through the silver coloured clouds. They reached a certain house, surrounded by trees and flowers, and shone their light upon a dwarf who lay outside sleeping peacefully, and the doglike creature standing over him.

Suddenly the creature let out a bark, and started poking the dwarf in his side. The other began mumbling in his sleep, rolling over to his side, but the animal kept poking him. The dwarf's mumbling got louder and abruptly he jumped up, which caused him to crash into the pet, that ran away whining afterwards.

"Aargh, what was that?" Said Dirk, while rubbing his head that ached from the head-butt. He was still sleepy, so he couldn't remember what happened last night, until he heard a screech coming from inside his house. The memories of the previous day came flooding back, and he quickly ran into his house, to find a confused little child standing in the middle of the house looking around him.

Lloyd felt scared when he woke up the next morning, lying in a strange bed in a room he didn't know, and when he walked downstairs, he found his surroundings unfamiliar. His memory couldn't handle the events of the day before, and he was totally flushed when he saw Dirk standing in the doorway looking at him.

But when Noishe ran in after Dirk, all of his memories returned, and he let out another cry. "Noishy! Is daddy back?" He asked his dog, who looked at him with sadness in its eyes. Lloyd started patting the animal and mumbled about when his dad was coming to pick him up.

Dirk watched the scene as it seemed that every word Lloyd said left a scar on his heart, as he made the decision that he should tell Lloyd about his mom and dad now, for it would only get worse the longer he would keep it to himself. He sighed, looked at the boy once more, tried to keep that smiling face in his mind, and cleared his throat, stepping towards the boy.

"Lad? There's something I gotta tell ya..." He spoke, his voice trembling with hidden fear and distress. Lloyd looked up and those brown orbs dug their way into Dirk's eyes with such intense sorrow he felt like he had to cry.

"Mr. Dwarf? What's wrong? You look sad..." He said, his voice trailing off as Dirk felt his eyelashes getting wet.

"Ah lad, come sit down, and I'll tell ya." Dirk heard himself say, he didn't have control over his voice anymore, and as he sat down, he tried to get rid of the invisible crop forming in his throat, that stopped him from talking.

Lloyd plopped himself on a chair across Dirk's place, and thoughtlessly stroked Noishe, all the while looking at the dwarf with a questioning and yet sorry look. He had no idea what was going on, but he felt that the other was sad, which automatically made him sad as well.

Dirk watched Lloyd stroking Noishe, and sighed.

Let's just get this over with...

"Lad, 'bout your dad..." He started, but when he saw the hope lighting up in Lloyd's eyes, he felt like he was getting strangled. The pressure on his throat was unbearable, and when he opened his mouth to speak again, nothing came out. Sweat started appearing on his face, covering his entire face and neck.

Lloyd watched him with fear as Dirk's face slowly turned red, and suddenly said: "Mr. Dwarf, why are you all red?"

Dirk heard his innocent voice filled with curiosity and a bit of worry, and felt all of his muscles relax. The boy wouldn't hate him if he told what happened to his parents, at least, that's what he hoped for. He took another deep breath, and started.

"Lad, your dad...," Lloyd's eyes grew wide when Dirk mentioned his dad, "...ain't comin' back to get you..." Dirk could feel how Lloyd's heart skipped a beat and heard him gasp for air.

"But... daddy has to come back! He promised! Daddy promised to me!" Lloyd yelled, but though his voice sounded convincing, Dirk didn't fail to notice the faint sound of his voice trembling with sadness, and it made him feel like his heart was getting ripped apart.

"I'm really sorry for ya lad, but he won't..." Dirk heard himself say, and he mentally slapped himself for telling the poor boy. Lloyd sat there with his face burried in his hands, sobbing uncontrollably and Noishe glared daggers at Dirk for telling him, it seemed as if he knew about the boy's dad not coming back, but he didn't show that to Lloyd, to keep him happy. Now Dirk had ruined his attempts at keeping the boy happy, and Noishe didn't appreciate that.

Dirk was shocked by the hard expression those black orbs wore, but he nevertheless continued.

If I don't keep this up now, it'll only get harder and harder in the future.

"And ya poor mom, she... ain't coming back too." He spoke, and his words were like knives for Lloyd, as he rolled himself in a ball on the floor, like he was trying to protect himself from everything Dirk said.

"No... I-I saw mommy! She was sleeping!" Lloyd protested, though very weakly. Dirk smiled a fake and very faint smile, as he said:

"I'm really sorry lad, but ya mom, she's gone somewhere else. She ain't normally sleeping, she'll be sleeping forever now."

Lloyd looked up at him in disbelief, his face stained with tears and trails of those that already fell. "I... I-I want mommy back!" He said, and with that he stood up and wanted to walk out the door, but fell when he stepped off the platform.

"Ouch! I want mommy!" He screamed, and started pounding on the floor with his little fists. Noishe quickly ran over and started licking his face, trying to wash away the salty tears, and whined in sympathy and sorrow. He had been very fond of Lloyd's parents, as they were the ones that originally found him, well, one of them at least. Lloyd buried his face in the dog's fur and sobbed while mumbling: "No, mommy and daddy have to come back! Daddy promised me! He promised! He said the bad men wouldn't hurt me or mommy! He promised!"

Dirk watched the scene with his face stained with tears. The grownup dwarf had let his tears go free too after Lloyd wanted to run out the door. He didn't feel like a tough dwarf at that moment, more like a little boy that didn't get his candy, but at least a hundred times worse.

Suddenly he heard himself sobbing, and got a hold of himself. "Damnit, if I can't even keep myself together, how's he supposed to do that?" He told himself strictly, trying to push away the tears that wanted to burst out. He took a deep breath, straightened his shoulders, and wiped away the tears trembling on his eyelashes.

Come on Dirk, you gotta be strong now, you gotta support the lad!

"Lad, are ya alright?" He asked, but immediately slapped his forehead, of course the boy wasn't alright, what did he look like?

Damn you Dirk, you must be blind or something not to see that! Hmm, and you wanna raise this child?

Dirk grabbed himself together and took a step in the direction of the boy, asking: "Don'tcha want something to drink lad?" He took another insecure step, and was now close to the little sobbing boy. Noishe glared at him again and Dirk stumbled back a few steps. The dog's eyes seemed to say: Stay away and leave this to me, you can't handle it! You don't even know the boy and he doesn't trust you!

Dirk stared into nothingness for a few seconds, before he turned around to get the boy a glass of water. It was the best he could do for now, that... thing wouldn't let him come any closer.

Noishe whined and pushed his nose in Lloyd's face, trying to comfort the toddler to the best of his abilities. Lloyd however, was not in the mood to play, and pushed the animal's nose away. "No Noishe, I don't wanna play."

Noishe stared at the infant with his eyes widened, the boy hadn't called him Noishy! That was the first time he didn't use his special nickname, and Noishe tilted his head, watching the child with sorrow and hatred for the dwarf who had brought Lloyd in this state.

Just then Dirk returned with a glass of water, and Noishe glared at him, never planning to leave Dirk out of his sight. Dirk raised an eyebrow at the dog, tried to ignore him and walked towards Lloyd with the glass.

"Hey boy, wanna drink something to calm down?" He asked as he offered the sobbing toddler the glass. Lloyd looked up, his eyes red and filled with an intense sadness and disappointment it made Dirk want to cry again.

NO! You ain't gonna cry in front of the lad! Come on Dirk, pull yourself together dammit!

"I wanna go home..." Was all Lloyd answered, and with his answer he stood up and wanted to walk out the door again, hadn't Dirk grabbed him by his arm and pulled him back.

"Lad... ya don't have a home anymore..." He heard himself reply, and stared at the wooden floor in shame. How could one cause so much pain to another with words? Dirk always reasoned words don't hurt, but he was wrong. They did. And a lot too. It hit himself too. His words, caused him pain, but he didn't know why. He didn't even know the boy's parents or the little boy, and yet telling him the truth pained Dirk's heart. He admitted in defeat that humans weren't those sentimental fools he thought they were.

He suddenly noticed that his hand was floating above the boy's back and it patted him. He was surprised, he didn't like having physical contact with other creatures, and especially not with humans. Though here he was patting the boy's back like he'd done it for years.

Lloyd looked up at the dwarf in wonder as he kept patting his back, and a soft sob escaped his lips. But then he remembered his goal again, and pulled away from the dwarf, running out of the house.

Dirk saw him going outside and he froze, what was the boy planning to do? He quickly ran after him, and saw the boy looking around, like he was searching for something.

"Where's mommy? I wanna go to sleep with mommy!" He yelled at no one in particular. Dirk shot past him and grabbed his hand.

"Lad! You ain't going nowhere! I promised ya mother I'd take care of ya, and I won't let ya run off into the forest when the Desians are still 'round there! Ya'll just have to stay here! I promise I'll get ya mother later, but you can't run around now, you heard me!" He shouted, and to his surprise and shock used his angriest voice. Lloyd watched the dwarf in horror, and stood there with his eyes widened in shock.

"I-I'm sorry lad, didn't mean to be rough on you. You must've got a pretty hard time, wanna come inside again?" He said, his voice now gentle and worried, but it didn't pay off, as Lloyd answered:

"No, I wanna go home!" And he started sobbing again. All the while Noishe had stood in front of the window watching the scene, and now that Dirk had made Lloyd cry again he ran out with a bark and smashed into Dirk, which caused him to fall in the creek that streamed past his house.

He whined with satisfaction as he watched the dwarf climb on the grass cursing and sending the dog death glares. Noishe didn't care however and whined at Lloyd, signalling with his head to climb on his back.

"Are we going to see mommy?" Lloyd asked, and as Noishe nodded at him he jumped and climbed on the dog's back. Dirk watched as he ran past them into the deep, dark forest, and he cursed again.

"Damn that dog! When I'll find them I'll get that damned animal!" And with that he strolled back into the house to put on dry clothes and prepare to chase after the two that just fled.

End ----------

A/N Well this was the shortest chapter so far, and I'm not counting the prologue xD Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and this was the last chapter for 2/3 weeks, so the next update will take a little longer. Anyway, leave a review!

Response to reviewers:

Melody of Shadow: Thanks, yeah I love the little Lloyd with all his innocent cuteness

MoonCannon: Yup, I personally think Dirk changed a lot when he raised Lloyd, that he would be more open to humans.

Mayura Nacht: Thank you! Hehe, nobody can resist toddler Lloyd, not even our tough dwarf Dirk xD