Disclaimer: I don't own any of the main characters (except for one or two) since the rights to Tales of Zestiria belong to Bandai Namco and NOT me.

Wishes and Malevolence

The ruins were dark.

The walls crumbled, the ancient stone depictions were forever etched into the old stone that made up said walls. These depths belonging to the ruins in a distant beach of a land known as Maclir were ever-expanding and seemed to grow more and more with each passing decade, lustrum, year, day, minute and even second.

Indeed, these ruins held secrets that were practically begging to be uncovered.

However, as the depths were traversed and explored, people and seraph alike began to fear it due to how much of a labyrinth it had become with each and every passing twist and turn. Now, normally, a bunch of ruins wouldn't be hard to travel through at all once one was familiar enough with it, but these were no ordinary ruins.

This was a place where treasure was concealed and new places opened up constantly, yet people knew that to be able to find said concealed treasure, one would have to respect the ruins themselves.

It so dark that it was pitch black and all was quiet for the most part, a loud creak sounded.

The darkness was banished as someone entered.

The stranger was a man.

He had long and slightly curly very light blue hair, almost silver, that was tied into a ponytail/top-knot hybrid of a hair style. Beneath his fringe, he wore a golden circlet with a green gem in the middle. He wore a blue shirt and cape with white and gold embellishments and he wore trousers were white, apart from the ends, which were blue. He sported a black undershirt and brown gloves.

Lavender eyes illuminated against the darkness.

It was Mikleo.

Mikleo pondered as he traversed through the endless hallways and corridors, occasionally running into the odd monster and cutting them down without much hassle.

He did enjoy his solitude somewhat as it gave him time to think about his circumstances and whatnot but, at the same time, he also felt rather lonesome. He liked got explore the occasional ruins by himself but he would have been lying if he had said that he didn't yearn for his old friend and adopted brother to be by his side once more.

Ever since they were five years old, the two would sneak away from their adopted father, Gramps, (also known as Zenrus) and go trekking through the ruins.

They got lost during their very first time, though, and needed someone to come in and save them. They got in a lot of trouble for that but, ever since then, the two boys felt their fascination with ruins mature and flourish until they had decided to go and make several attempts at looking for treasure...with the help of the Celestial record, of course.

But all that was merely a fond childhood memory now...

Ever since Sorey had sacrificed himself to be abandoned in time in order to purify Maotelus, Mikleo had been going through ruins all by his lonesome. He missed his brother dearly and he would have given anything to just be given the chance to be able to explore ruins again with his one and only brother...

He traversed through the dark craggy corridors until he reached an area where the floor oozed with lava.

Mikleo tapped the ground with one end of his staff (the staff that used to belong to his mother —Muse) and he proceeded to carefully avoid the bubbling, boiling hot magma that threatened to surround his feet so he could make his way deeper into the ruins which eventually led to him coming to a stop in front of a large yet rather imposing door that was way taller and more majestic than any door he'd seen; plumes of lava flowed down each side of the door and created a fiery red glow throughout the ruins.

The water seraph investigated further as he soon came across a tall statue surrounded by more lava and magma that bubbled and oozed around him.

It didn't take him long until he came into a large room with an altar.

The room was large.

There was a large skylight overhead, blue gems and crystals sprouted from every crevice, there was a watery atmosphere to this strange place; the light shining down from the ceiling skylight shone down on the centre of the room which was the main altar of these ruins.

Mikleo stepped into the room with his eyes scanning his surroundings until his gaze fell upon the epicentre of the room, an altar of some sort and, unlike the rest of these ruins where the place was surrounded by lava, this room was surrounded by a large pool of crystalline blue water.

He looked up and raised a hand over his brow, shielding his eyes from the harsh light shining in from overhead...alas he was a bit more focused on the abnormal jewel attached to what could only be assumed was the treasure of this place. He approached cautiously and proceeded to place his hand firmly against the stone, where the blue gem was, hoping to unlock some sort of mechanism to it or perhaps find some sort of lost treasure or such.

He was caught by complete surprise when he suddenly felt the ground open up from below him. He yelped out in surprise as the stone gave way under his feet and he started to fall through into the dark depths below...only for something (or someone) to grab his hand at the last second.

The water seraph felt his heart drop into his stomach but his relief was immense.

That was a close call.

Mikleo looked up, curious as to who had rescued him...but his eyes widened in disbelief as to who he saw grabbing his hand. In spite of the skylight, his hero's form was silhouetted...yet it was also unmistakable as to who it was! Mikleo swallowed a hard lump in his throat as he had saw this shadow since he was an infant so he was all too familiar with it.

This couldn't be true...but it was...!

A relieved smile spread across his lips and his eyes shimmered, tears threatening to spill over.

Mikleo said nothing as he reached up to grab hold of the other hand that was still seizing a tight grip on his own —both of the seraphim's hands wrapped around the one fingerless gloved hand that grabbed them. The water seraph felt as a second hand grabbed both of his, both hands intertwining with one another as the person whom had caught him started to pull back, making an attempt at dragging him up to safety.

The water seraph felt his shoulders threaten to dislocate due to how hard he was being pulled but kept smiling a teary-eyed grin.

The two brothers were back together —reunited at last.

Sorey and Mikleo both smiled gently at one another, eyes welling up with tears of happiness at seeing one another again. Sorey kept a tight hold on both of Mikleo's hands and started to make an attempt at hoisting him up and out of the hole. He strained and pulled back as he grit his teeth through the effort, his eyes squeezed closed and he growled effortfully.

Sorey backed up as he finally pulled Mikleo to safety.

Upon successfully hoisting his adopted brother up from the hole that almost swallowed him up, Sorey fell back and landed on his backside as he stared at Mikleo and silently scrutinised him for a few moments to check whether or not he had sustained any injuries during his close encounter with the abyss.

Thankfully, there wasn't even a scratch on him.

"Whew!" The shepherd sighed as he wiped away a sheen of sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. "That was a close call..."

Sorey looked up and all around him, taking in his surroundings, and he gave an impressed whistle. He exclaimed impressively as he absorbed the sights with wide-eyed wonder.

"Nice! It seems you found some ruins that came from the Era of Asgard!"

Mikleo was still in a state of frozen disbelief as he sat there, as though unsure of what to think right now. His eyes were wide and his breaths came out as shaky and trembly whilst he tried to come to terms with the fact that not only was Sorey alive but he was right here, sat in front of him!

Actually, a rather awkward atmosphere had begun to set in.

"...Are you gonna say something or are you just gonna sit there and stare like a-"

Sorey had started to make a sassy remark but was interrupted when Mikleo had seemed to snap out of his trance and lunged right at him and threw his arms around him in a big hug before he could even finish his sentence. He was caught off guard as he fell backwards but was happy to return the gesture as he gently placed a hand on Mikleo's back and patted it in both a warm and comforting gesture.

The shepherd's gaze was as soft as velvet and his smile was as bright as the sun.

Oh, how he missed hugging his adopted brother like this...

Mikleo didn't dare cry but he did nuzzle his brother's shoulder with the utmost affection.

Eventually Mikleo peeled himself away from Sorey and sat back to stare at him as he began to converse with Sorey whom decided to begin talking. It was during this that the shepherd had taken note of how much Mikleo had changed since the last time he'd seen him and he wasn't just referring to how much he'd changed in personality...which wasn't much but still.

"Woah! You've grown! Since when did you start growing your hair out, Mikleo?"

Mikleo crossed his arms and smirked teasingly at his brother.

"Since you vanished for almost twenty five years!"

Sorey froze when those words slipped from Mikleo's lips, all hints of relaxed joviality gone in an instant.

His heart skipped a beat out of shock.

Twenty five...he'd been blipped out of existence for twenty five years!? He could have sworn that it felt like five minutes during his chat with Mao! But, if that's the case, how was everyone doing!? They had to be older by now, of course! But what of Rose, Sergei, Alisha...all the friends he'd made? Were they all okay?

Mikleo had apparently noticed how Sorey was in a state of stunned silence.

The water seraph stared at his adopted human brother, apparently studying Sorey as he seemed to take in how he had not aged a day since he had been abandoned in time after defeating Heldalf...clearly a catch up between the two was needed so they could bring one another up to speed.

"Let's get out of here, Sorey. I think we need to take our chat elsewhere."

Sorey nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. While I love and missed our ruin diving days, I don't think this is the best place for a talk..."

The duo stood up, rising to stand on their feet and started to make their exit...but not before retrieving the strange artefact that was still perched at the altar.

Mikleo stared at the strange shield with the azure blue jewel emblazoned upon it for a lengthy few moments as he hesitated due to what had happened the last time he had touched it. It took a minute of cautiously prodding the thing until he was certain that there was no more nasty surprises before he grabbed it.

Then he ran off to catch up with Sorey.

The two walked alongside one another, hastening so as to avoid any chance of running into some monster or Hellion some other such bad thing.

Sorey gave an assuring wave of the hand as he and Mikleo walked, prompting him to start.

"After you disappeared off the face of the earth, Rose took your place as the shepherd. Alisha stepped up as her squire when they tried looking for you...sadly, though, you weren't anywhere to be found. Rose had trouble dealing with what happened after your sacrifice and acted like a real jerk to Alisha but they eventually made up and became friends...Alisha eventually became queen and Rose...she..."

Mikleo averted his gaze as he struggled to finish his next sentence about what happened to Rose.

Sorey was confused but, then, it hit him...but he didn't want to believe it.

"What...What happened to Rose?"

Mikleo gave a sorrowful she of the head.

"She's gone..."

Sorey felt his heart crumble at the news.

Rose had been a dear friend to him and she was one of his truest allies, he had wanted to apologise for shoving her out of the way during his binding with Maotelus but he supposed that it was far too late for that. How? She couldn't have grown so old during twenty five years and he just couldn't believe the idea that someone had killed her.

Something must have happened.

"It was a surprise for us all," Explained Mikleo, his head down, his long bangs shielding his expression. "She perished after she went on a classified mission with the Scattered bones. We just couldn't believe it!"

Sorey's eyes went wide at that.

So somebody had managed to get the drop on Rose, one of the greatest assassins in this world? How? He couldn't bring himself to believe it. He just couldn't! Rose was an expert at what she did what with being an assassin, a business woman, a negotiator and a skilled fighter so he found it near impossible that someone would get the drop on her.

However, he had a feeling that her untimely death could have something to do with that storm that Mao had mentioned to him before.

As if sensing his disbelief, Mikleo continued.

"We don't know who it was that was behind it. Believe me, we looked. She was doing this as a solo mission so none of the other scattered bones was of any help. We just couldn't find anyone who could have been behind this."

Sorey felt deeply disturbed by this.

Rose gets asked to do some solo mission and gets killed during said mission, then leaves nary a trace behind of their identity or anything of substance.

That didn't sound right.

He felt rattled by this news of Rose's demise and he made a mental note to investigate more on it later on but, alas, there was also someone else who he wanted to see and check up on...someone who he needed to see...he couldn't bear the thought of losing the knight princess of Ladylake, especially considering how precious she was to him!

His eyes started to tear up but, in spite of this, he refused to let it get to him. He knew that he had to be very careful with his negative emotions because he didn't want to get consumed by Malevolence.

"A-And Alisha? What about Alisha? Is she alright?"

Mikleo fell silent upon being asked that question and turned his head to avoid eye contact, a look of regret flashing across his face.

Sorey suddenly had the strong feeling that Mikleo was purposely leaving something out, like he was trying to hide something from him...something about Alisha...

Mikleo nervously wrung at his own hands and started fidgeting where he sat —of course Sorey would ask about Alisha, of course she would be on the top of the list of his concerns after disappearing for so long, of course Mikleo would be forced into such an uncomfortable position...and so soon too.

However he just couldn't bring himself to tell Sorey...not right now, at least.

"She's...she's fine...she's fine, Sorey..."

Sorey's face darkened.

He knew full well that this was but a bald faced lie and his concern for Alisha increased tenfold.

He wanted to demand more answers than the purposefully vague one Mikleo had just been provided him with but, on the other hand, he didn't wish to overwhelm his brother just after he had found him. He trusted that Mikleo would tell him in his own time and Sorey, while deeply worried, trusted that the water seraphim would tell him everything once he was ready to do so.

He knew that nothing good would come from forcing this sort of thing.

He tried to let it roll off his shoulder like an ocean wave.

A small yet soft smile painted itself across his lips and his eyes softened.

"O-Okay...I trust you, Mikleo. You'll tell me the truth eventually,"

Mikleo stared at Sorey in stunned surprise as he took in the fact that Sorey trusted him that much, but then they have been together since they were just babies so of course they would have the utmost trust in one another; he didn't like lyingto his dearest friend but he knew that he had to unless he wanted to overwhelm Sorey with so much despair and bad news at once.

Sorey had just come back and it wouldn't do to pile on so much bad news upon his shoulders at once.

The two kept walking in silence as they walked, until Sorey gave a small yet quick chuckle and he hastened his steps so he ran ahead. Mikleo watched in amazement as he watched his brother run ahead with excitement and energy he never would have expected from someone who had just came back from being lost in time for several years.

The water seraph could hardly believe it; not only had his brother come back but his energy never waned either.

"Come on! Let's make our way to Ladylake! We gotta see how everyone's doing!"

Mikleo sighed and he ran off to try and catch up with him.

He couldn't keep Sorey waiting...even if he had a feeling that he wouldn't like what he'd come to discover.

A/N: This is where the ending of the game comes in.

So Rose is dead, something has happened to Alisha and we don't know about the others quite yet. Don't worry, though, I've got plans to make this interesting. I know that the end of the game didn't leave much and I don't like how Rose isn't around anymore but I have an idea that I hope you lot like.

I know its heavily implied that Rose passed away from old age so that would make everyone much older here but

Btw, I added in a bit to the summary for spoilers and I'm making Mikleo and Sorey brothers in this because, in my opinion, thats what they are.

I wish you lot a happy new year and I can't wait to see what you lot think of how this fic develops.

-Chloemcg