Natsu no E

Summary: TOS AU Colloyd, Zeroshii Nearing the sixteenth summer of his life, Lloyd Irving considers himself your normal, average, everyday teenager. That is, until the ethereal Colette Brunel moves right next door.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.

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Chapter 5: Not so much fun in the sun

The beach up north of Iselia was often crowded during this time of year. It was a typical northern beach, with at least a mile stretch of sand. Unlike its tropical cousins down south, there was nothing special or exotic here. Just birds and a bunch of sand dunes covered in annoying, itchy beach grass. During the colder seasons of spring, autumn, and winter, it was always almost abandoned. The cold sea spray and beach gusts were not exactly welcomed from people in a town that could barely stand the cold period. But, in the summer, when it was hot and muggy, the beach would be packed with the townspeople.

When we got there this morning, however, it was almost near empty. There was an old couple walking their dog on the sand and a group of sophomores lounging about on the other side of the beach. Even this early in the morning, it was already beginning to get warmer, though there was a significant chill reminiscent of the late days of spring.

"Looks like we're pretty early," Sheena commented, finding us a spot. "There're hardly any people here."

"Well, the earlier the better, right?" Genis asked when we dumped our things in the sand. He and I were dressed alike: board shorts and bare feet. "Last time we came, the good spots were taken by all the other people."

"Hey, Genis, where's Professor Sage? I thought you told me that she would come with us to the beach today," I asked. My best friend shrugged.

"Well, all she said was that she was busy and walked off. It was almost like she was afraid to go or something." We looked at each other and started laughing. The Professor? Scared of a little thing like the beach? Yeah right!

Sheena scowled at us. "Guys, be nice. Professor Sage probably has to prepare for summer school; she's teaching the history course this year, remember?"

I shuddered. I was lucky; I just barely managed to get decent grades. If I hadn't, I would have been stuck in summer school like last year.

"What's this I hear?" Zelos staggered up to us, hidden underneath the beach things that were piled up in his arms. "The professor didn't come?" he asked, disappointment in his voice. "Oh, by the way, Sheena, here's your stuff." He carelessly dropped the load onto the ground. "HEY! ZELOS!" we all yelled as sand flew up into our faces.

Rubbing her eyes, Sheena growled. "Zelos! Our lunch was in there!"

"So?" the redhead said airily, brushing off sand from his board shorts (last time we went to the beach, he wore Speedos. I was practically blind for a whole entire week) "Now, if you excuse me…" he trailed off, his gaze shifting over to the group of sophmore girls on the other side of the beach. "I'm going to hang out with those cuties over there…"

"Zelos!" they cried happily, spotting the familiar red head jog over. I rolled my eyes. He was always ditching us for girls. Sheena huffed, her face red with anger. "Well, who needs him anyways? You guys gonna help fix this mess or not?"

"Sorry Sheena, don't feel like it," I replied, sprinting off before she could say otherwise. "Uh, yeah, me neither," Genis said, running after me.

"GUYS!" the oriental girl growled, rubbing her temples. "Ugh, stupid boys…"

"Yahoo!" I dived head first into the surf, coming back up with a mouth full of seawater. "Damn it! It's cold!" I yelped in surprise. I heard giggling and I glared at Genis, who was busy rolling on the sand clutching onto his sides.

"What's so funny?" I scowled, marching back up to the beach. "Let's see how you like it!"

"Lloyd? Lloyd! Hey, cut it out. Leggo of—YEEOWCH! The water's cold!"

"Hah! Told you!"

Off to the side, Sheena rolled her eyes at us underneath her sunglasses. "Boys," I heard her mutter once more as she dived back into her magazine.

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The whole morning consisted of mostly Genis and me dunking each other's head into the water. Well, I was doing most of the dunking; Genis was doing the yelling. By the time noon rolled over, both Genis and I were soaked to the bone.

Sheena cocked a brow at us as we dragged ourselves up the sand. "Hey guys. Had fun?"

"Yeah, we did," I replied, draping my towel around my neck. "Where's Zelos?" I asked her and received a snort in reply.

"Over there," she said, jerking her thumb over to where Zelos was surrounded by the majority of the beach's female population. There was irritation when she rolled her eyes. "He's been there all morning. Honestly…" Sheena huffed and didn't bother to finish the sentence. "So you guys want to eat?"

Well, I was pretty hungry. "Sure, why not—"

ROAR!

The boom of motorcycles revving up onto the sand cut me off. A whole pack of them, at least ten, flew down the dunes. Sand tossed up into the air when they skidded to a halt right in front of us. I coughed harshly, the sand spraying in my eyes. "Well, well, if it isn't Irving and his little pals."

Genis paled, a remarkable feat for a boy that was already as white as death, and retreated behind Sheena, who was already snarling at the riders. I looked up, but I didn't need to look at him to know who it was: I could already recognize that arrogant drawl anywhere. Forcystus smirked, a cigarette sticking out of his mouth. A slow, lazy plume of smoke rose from the cancer stick right before the blue haired gang leader spit it out onto the sand. I wrinkled my nose as it landed at my feet.

"Go away, Forcystus," I hissed, "I'm not in the mood to deal with you today."

The Desians sniggered. All of them looked the same, dressed in the same leather jackets, red bandanas, and visors, all except Forcystus, who wore an eye patch over his left eye instead of a bandana. It had been a while since they were all in middle school; most were now in their late teens or early twenties, but all of them proud high school dropouts.

In our town, there was only one big thing that marred its good name and that were the Desians. The Desians had evolved from your normal school yard bullies to your average gang. They drove around town on their noisy motorcycles almost everyday, always leaving chaos in their wake. Their graffiti plagued nearly all of the alleyways and buildings, and the buds from their cigarettes littered the roads and parkways. And right at the head of it all was Forcystus.

"Well that's too bad," the blue haired man drawled as he stared me down. "We were planning to have such fun with you guys." His gaze drifted over to Genis and he sneered. "Especially you, runt."

"Hey! Don't you dare touch him!" Sheena growled, pushing Genis behind her protectively.

"Woah, the chick's got some bite," Forcystus whistled in appreciation. He grabbed her by the chin and surveyed her closely. "Not bad, not bad...how'd you like to be a part of our Ladies in Red?" Sheena pushed him off with disgust

At the moment, I was the one seeing red. "I don't think she'd want to join your harem, Forcystus! Now lay off or I'll…" My rage fizzled down and was immediately replaced with fear.

Oh. No.

The blue haired man snickered at my sudden silence. "You'll what, Irving? You'll what?" I didn't reply.

Because, at the entrance of the beach, was probably the worst person to come at this exact time: Colette.

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She stood around in a simple white tank top, with a brown wrap around skirt that fluttered up to her knees. Her hair was tied into two separate braids and a flower was innocently tucked behind an ear, oblivious to the fact that I was staring at her with absolute terror. Oh, crap. I thought frantically. What was she doing here!

"Good morning, Lloyd!"

I froze, my key half way turned in the lock. So close…I looked to the left and saw Colette leaning over the fence, a big smile on her face. I couldn't help but sigh; I had been hoping to avoid the girl long enough so I could get to the beach. Guess she woke up earlier than I thought.

"Hey," I muttered, joggling my beach towel onto my arm.

"Where you going?" She asked, watching as I stomped down my front yard trying my best to ignore her.

"The beach," I replied. I wasn't trying to be rude, but I just wanted to get rid of her so I could go…okay, maybe I was, but that wasn't the point!

"Can I come?"

I winced. "Erm, well…" I looked at her and she smiled back. Groaning, I said, "If you have some swimming things, I guess…" I wanted to hit myself on the head for this; Lloyd, you idiot, what do you think you are doing? Don't invite her, for goodness sake! Well, she just moved in only a week ago, I tried to convince myself. She probably doesn't even have a swimsuit, or maybe she didn't even unpack it yet. Yeah, that's it. After a while, Colette turned to me. "Alright!" she beamed. "Have fun!"

Dumfounded, I stared as she ran back into her house. Wait…was that a yes or a no?

Oh…right. I told her I was gong to the beach. I slapped myself on the forehead for being so stupid. Damn it! This was not the right time! The girl cocked her head in my direction and I scrambled to hide myself. Crap, hope she doesn't—

"Lloyd!"

--See…me…I slapped myself on the forehead again. Aw, darn it! Everyone's attention drew to Colette as she weaved her way through the crowd. "I'm sorry I'm late!" she beamed, oblivious to Forcystus's confused stare. I would have laughed, but I was too busy trying to sink into the ground. "You see, my swimsuit was still in the boxes and I had to get it out; good thing I did, huh, Lloyd?"

"Heh, yeah…" I looked at Sheena and Genis and mouthed, 'I didn't invite her here; seriously!' They didn't look convinced.

One of the Desians finally snapped out of his stupor and shouted, "H-hey! Just who do you think you are?"

Colette blinked and turned to the gang. "Oh, hello. My name is Colette Brunel." She smiled. "It's very nice to meet all of you." I gaped; how could she act as if they just weren't about to pounce on all of us?

"Colette, eh?" Forcystus hummed, draping an arm around the smaller girl's shoulder. "You're new around here, aren't you? How about me and the boys show you around town, huh?"

She shook her head. "No, that's alright. Lloyd already showed me around. But thank you for offering."

"Is that right?" The blue haired boss sneered at me. "Well, don't you know that you shouldn't be hanging around with losers like these? Come with us and we'll show you some real fun.

"That's okay," Colette insisted politely. "I'd rather stay with Lloyd."

Forcystus looked dumfounded and the fact that he was rejected twice; it was just like what happened to Zelos. "Do you know who I am?" he hissed in frustration. He swept his arm out towards his crew. "Do you know who we are?"

The blonde mulled it over for a second or two. "Well…you're all in uniform…are you guys part of a sports team?"

Silence fell onto us like a thick blanket. Suddenly, the Desians were in hysterics, clutching their bikes and wiping tears out of their eyes. "Man, this girl is stupider than I thought!" Forcystus managed to wheeze in between laughs. "Great taste in women, Irving. Your girlfriend suits you perfectly!"

"W-what!" My face turned red. "She's not my girlfriend!" I sent a glare over to Colette, but she was still smiling cheerfully, not really getting what was so funny but laughing with them all the same.

"Later, losers!" Forcystus cackled, barely able to get on his bike without tipping it over from laughing so much. The motorcycles roared to life and, kicking even more sand into our eyes, they sped off, their laughter still lingering in the air like smoke in a tavern.

"Well, they were really nice, weren't they?" Colette commented cheerfully. "Were they friends of yours too, Lloyd?"

I could feel Genis and Sheena's stares boring into my back. I groaned. Could my life get any worse?

"Hey guys, what just happened? I saw some motorcycles here and—" Zelos caught sight of Colette and immediately cut himself off. "Oh, why hello there my cute little Colette, what are you doing out here this fine afternoon?"

I moaned and slammed my head into the sand. It just did.

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"Wasn't that fun, Lloyd? Huh, wasn't it? I never knew that beaches could be so pleasant."

I gritted my teeth and didn't say a word. It was only three o'clock; as soon as that whole incident was finished, I immediately packed up and went for home. Unfortunately, Colette decided to come along too.

"And those other boys on the beach seemed really nice too. Though I didn't get why they were laughing so much. Maybe it was because of—"

"THEY WERE LAUGHING AT YOU!" I stopped abruptly and swirled around to face her, my hands clenched into fists. This was the last straw; I had enough of this already! Colette looked at me in bewilderment, blue eyes widened from shock.

"W-what are you talking about, Lloyd?" She stammered.

"I said that they were laughing at you! Don't you know who they were?" She shook her head slowly. "Well, they're not a sports team, or whatever you called them! They were Desians; they're the gang that controls this town! And you embarrassed me in front of their leader!"

Colette bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Lloyd… we're still friends, right?"

I normally would have stopped right here and said yes, but my anger was still in full throttle. "We're not friends," I muttered under my breath, turning my back to her so I wouldn't see the hurt in her eyes. "Or anything of the sort. The fact is that…I JUST DON'T LIKE YOU!" I spun around to face her again, preparing myself for tears.

But what I wasn't prepared for was the sight of her body sprawled face down on the ground.

Cont…

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A/N: Bet you didn't see that coming, huh, did you? –crickets chirp- Guess you did -- Well, next chapter is going to be really serious for the most part so get ready for it. R&R, people! Criticism is always welcomed!