Story of a lifetime

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.

WARNING: SPOILERS!

A/N After a year or so I finally decided to play ToS again, and I remembered I still had this story up, so here it is! I still have to finish the game though, and I've forgotten many things, so some stuff may be inaccurate. Anyway, enjoy!

Italics - thoughts

Chapter 4: Rest ----------

Cursing, Dirk made his way through the forest, trying to follow the sound of loud thumps as Noishe ran through the thick wood. He cursed himself for not locking the door and keeping the boy inside, as he should have expected the boy to try to break out and look for his mother. Anyway, it couldn't be helped now. The best he could do was find the boy and bring him back, to safety. As for that animal… Dirk would figure something to do with him later. Right now his priority was to find Lloyd.

Lloyd, meanwhile, was trying to convince himself that his mommy was only sleeping, and would wake up any time now. The blood on his clothes wasn't real, it was his imagination. And his daddy would come back for him, he was sure of it. He patted Noishe and wiped away the tears. "Everything will be back to normal Noishy! We can play games again and daddy will show us the stars!" He smiled at that thought. Ever after daddy had showed him the stars and told him their names, he had been fascinated by them, and would always ask daddy to tell him more about it. Daddy would laugh at his curiosity and tell him everything he wanted to know.

But, Lloyd hadn't eaten for a day, and as his tummy rumbled, he wrapped his arms around it and tried to make the feeling go away by pushing against it. "It hurts Noishy… I need food!" He told his pet, but Noishe only growled and continued his way through the forest. He sniffed the air, trying to pick up the trail of Anna's blood, but he couldn't find it. So he just kept running around, trying to find the place they left her the day before.

Meanwhile, Dirk had arrived at the cliff, and to his relief Anna's body was still there. He carefully tried to lift the body onto his back, but Anna was bigger than him, so that didn't work. He came to the conclusion he would need the help of Noishe to carry her back to his house. So he sat down, looking around, hoping the toddler and his big friend would come here soon. While he sat there he thought over what had happened, and came to the conclusion he would need another way of telling Lloyd his parents wouldn't come back.

Noishe had finally picked up the trail of Anna's blood, and now ran as fast as he could to get there. It hurt him to see Lloyd like this, and he would do everything to cheer him up. But he was in for a surprise when he arrived there, cause Dirk was sitting there! Noishe let out a growl of anger and glared at him, but Lloyd just jumped off and ran toward Anna, throwing himself on her and cuddling her. Dirk watched as the child muttered inaudible words and a smile spread across his face.

Suddenly he sat up and looked at Dirk, a twinkle in his eyes. "See Mr. Dwarf, mommy is just sleeping!" And he continued hugging the lifeless body. But his tummy started rumbling again, and Dirk heard it. "Lad, are ye hungry?" Dirk asked, though that was quite an unnecessary question. Lloyd looked up at Dirk again, and nodded. "How 'bout we get ye some food, and then ye can go look for ya dad?" He asked, hoping he had chosen the right words. Lloyd jumped up and smiled. "Are you a good cook Mr. Dwarf? My daddy always told me dwarves can't cook!" The nerve of that lad is amazing. I really hafta teach him some manners when I get to it.

Dirk growled, but answered him anyway. "Why dontcha come with me and we'll find out if I can cook or not?" He tried in his sweetest voice. Of course, being a dwarf hasn't granted him with a sweet nor soft voice, so it came out rather squeaky. Lloyd laughed at the dwarf's voice and answered. "Okay Mr. Dwarf! I'll go with you and you give me tasty food!" Finally. Dirk winked Noishe over, pointing at Anna's body at the same time. Noishe understood what he had to do, and came over obediently, silently standing in front of Dirk. Dirk lifted Anna's body on the creature's back, and made sure she wouldn't fall off.

Now he led the two of them through the forest to his house, holding Lloyd's arm with one hand and tugging on Noishe's fur softly with the other. All the while, he would listen for any suspicious sounds, but they made it to his house without any further casualties.

Lloyd ran in the house and climbed on one of the chairs on the platform, still holding his hands against his rumbling tummy. Dirk followed in soon after, after he had covered Anna's body with a blanket. He smiled at Lloyd and started searching through the cabinets, looking for something he could prepare for the toddler. Lloyd just fooled around with Noishe, running around the house and inspecting every interesting item he could find. Finally he settled with a small hammer, and poked Noishe with the wooden handle.

Finally Dirk managed to cook up something decent, as most of the food was gone. Dirk didn't visit Iselia often, and when he did his visits were short and he would always come home and find out he had forgotten to buy several things. Anyway, he put the kettle with soup in front of Lloyd and gave him a spoon, taking away the hammer at the same time. "Ye gotta be careful with that lad, ye might end up hurting someone. Now, enjoy!"

Lloyd grabbed the spoon, and started eating. He even fed Noishe a little, who didn't particularly like the soup Dirk made, but the child would stuff the spoon in his mouth, forcing him to eat. "Tasty food! Noishy must eat too!" He would say, while pushing the spoon in Noishe's mouth. Noishe howled and ran outside after a while, hoping to escape Lloyd's feeding.

Finally the kettle was empty, and Lloyd let out a sigh of relief. "That was good Mr. Dwarf! I guess my daddy was wrong about dwarves." Dirk grinned. "No one can resist my famous dwarven stew! Maybe I'll learn ye how to make it later." Lloyd's face brightened after hearing these words. "Oooh, would you do that mr. Dwarf? That will be fun!" Dirk smiled as he patted the small boy's head. I never knew human children were that adorable and innocent. "Sure I will lad, now, whaddya wanna do?"

Lloyd looked around, searching Noishe, but Noishe had run off again. Then he let out a long yawn and said: "I'm tired, can I do sleepy sleepy?" To accompany his words he laid his head on the table and closed his eyes. "Aye lad, I'll take ye to my bed." And Dirk carefully lifted the sleepy child and took him upstairs, to his own bed. As he tucked him in he patted his head again and wished him a good night. Lloyd answered with another yawn and fell asleep, snoring softly. Dirk looked at the child with adoration, and then stood up and went outside.

Noishe had dragged the blanket off Anna's body and was licking her face, for no apparent reason. Dirk saw this and raised an eyebrow. This dog didn't seem like any other dog he had ever seen. It was far more… human. Anyway, I'd better do this while the lad's still sleeping. And with a sigh he set to cleaning up the body as best as he could, and after he finished that, he put the blanket back on, after telling Noishe to not remove it. Noishe whined but nodded, and dropped himself on the ground, resting his head on his paws.

Dirk went in the forest to look for a decent rock he could make a gravestone out. He felt the woman needed a proper grave, cause the short time he had known her, he could see in her eyes she was a good and honest woman, who didn't deserve to come to her end like that. After a while of wandering, he found a perfect smooth and square stone, and dragged it back to his house.

Back at his house he found Lloyd and Noishe soundly asleep, and he smiled. The two of them sure were a cute bunch. If only they were that cute while awake. He grabbed his tools and started working on Anna's gravestone, trying not to wake up the sleeping boy.

It was night when Lloyd woke up, yawning and stretching out his little arms. He got out of bed, and walked down the stairs, to find Dirk sleeping on the grave stone. He tugged on his beard, but that only caused Dirk to roll over and continue sleeping. Lloyd shrugged and walked outside, only to find Noishe walking around restlessly. He called for him and Noishe came running over, licking his face.

"Hey Noishy! Where did mommy go? Have you seen her?" He asked him, a puzzled look on his face. Noishe whined and looked at the blanket for a moment, before turning his head to Lloyd again and answer his puzzled look with a questioning one. He had decided to not cause the dwarf any more trouble for a while, after all he'd done for Lloyd. Lloyd's eyes grew big and he petted Noishe. "Mommy will come back… right Noishy?" Noishe licked his face again, and pointed his nose at the sky.

Lloyd looked up and saw the twinkling stars. "Wow Noishy! There's so many of them tonight! I wonder where daddy is…" Lloyd sat down and looked up at all the stars, thinking about everything daddy had told him about them. Noishe sat down next to him, and looked at the stars as well.

Suddenly Dirk came out of the house too, and saw the two of them sitting on the ground, looking at the sky, and he looked up himself. When he saw all those stars, he realized he had never really looked at them before, and without a sound, he walked over to the two and sat down next to them. Lloyd turned around to Dirk and smiled. "Aren't the stars pretty Mr. Dwarf?" Dirk smiled back, and said: "They sure are lad. And the name's Dirk. You can call me Dirk." Lloyd laughed. "Dirk? That's a funny name! Alright, then you're Mr. Dirk from now on!"

End ----------

A/N Well, I hope that wasn't too bad, cause I haven't written anything for a long time, so I'll need some time to get into it again. Anyway, tell me what you think and what could be improved. It would be appreciated!