Hello again! It's time for another chapter. Amazingly enough I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I didn't get it in my Easter basket…
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Kratos sat straight up at the sound of his alarm clock. He hurried to dress himself and get his things organized. Whatever he was doing Yuan was one step ahead of him, always ready with a toothbrush, a backpack or last night's homework. It had been a month since school had started and they had their morning ritual down. They were soon out of the dorm and going down to lunch. Yuan carried Kratos's things as an excuse to not be stuck in the room.
" What's for breakfast?" Kratos asked Yuan as they slowed to a walk.
" Same as every morning, Kratos. It's the other meals that change," Yuan said in a rather bored tone.
" Oh, right," Kratos yawned. Neither boy did particularly well in the mornings, but Kratos was always worse. Yuan often caught some extra sleep while Kratos did homework. When they reached the cafeteria Kratos went to an empty table. If no one else wanted to sit then Yuan could have a chair, plus Kratos didn't want to sit with anyone anyway.
Yuan went to get Kratos his breakfast while the human went over his homework from the previous night. He glared at his math work on which he'd left so many unanswered questions. When he saw Yuan returning he quickly hid his math, he didn't want Yuan to offer help. It bothered him that Yuan understood algebra better when Kratos had taught him math in the first place. Kratos couldn't pick math up even with a teacher and Yuan got it just by looking at the book. As he took a muffin from Yuan's try he consoled himself with the fact that his friend didn't understand even the most blatant symbolism.
The two friends ate hurriedly, Yuan eating things Kratos pretended not to want. When they were done the two set off to Kratos's English class. Kratos took his bag from Yuan and entered the classroom, and waved goodbye. Yuan sighed and looked around. He had forty-five minutes to kill before Kratos would need him again. Yuan walked through the mostly empty hallways whistling to himself. He always found he was rather bored while Kratos was in class.
He wondered out on to the grounds where he was given a dirty look by a passing senior. Yuan waved back happily hoping this would anger the student. He looked over the grounds and saw that some seniors were jousting over on the horse field. He smiled to himself. The last time he had seen the horses he had been with Kratos. His friend had immediately grown very upset, apparently the horses reminded him of his fish. Kratos had still not forgiven himself for forgetting say goodbye to his finned friend. Yuan was soon distracted from these thoughts by a group of slaves who were coming up the path.
It was a group of maids who were talking amongst themselves. One caught sight of Yuan and the whole group began giggling. Yuan felt his face go red. He tried to regain himself and gave the girls a grin. This set them giggling all the more fiercely. Yuan watched them enter the building and cocked his head. He wasn't sure whether to be mad at them for laughing at him like that or to be proud that he was good handsome enough to make girls giggle. He grinned to himself and decided to go wait for Kratos.
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When the last bell rang, Yuan was in a very good mood. He had spent the day watching the girls who passed by. This even included Kratos's young math teacher, who he decided would have been pretty good if only she wasn't a human. He was rather surprised to find Kratos exit his military strategy class in an even better mood than he was in himself. Kratos grabbed the half-elf's arm and pulled him as fast as possible to the dorm.
" What's up?" Yuan asked when they reached the dorm.
" Guess what we started studying in military strategy today?" Kratos said excitedly.
" Girls?" Yuan asked. He had no clue but he decided he should have some sort of answer. Kratos glared at him before continuing.
" Magic! Check this out," Kratos now spoke quietly and pulled a new text book from his bag. Yuan took the book in his hands and observed it. The book described how magic was used and how to defend it. The book explained how mana and the elements were used, and about how only those with elven blood could do it.
" Let me try something!" Yuan said excitedly. Kratos nodded and the two sat on his bed flipping through the book for the perfect spell to try.
" Kratos let's try this one," Yuan said pointing to an explanation of the spell lightning. Kratos nodded, remembering what Yuan had once said about his brother specializing in electric spells. The boys went into the dorm's small bathroom, where they hoped it would be safer to practice.
" Okay Yuan. It says that you need use your mana to summon the power of lightning from the summon spirit and nature. If you do it right you'll form a spell circle. This is a simple spell so it shouldn't take to long to power up. Although it says that if a magical item is used this can all be done more quickly," Kratos read. Yuan looked at his friend and then began to focus. After a minute he opened his eyes.
" Nothing happened, did it?" Yuan asked sounding disappointed.
" Nope. Come on Yuan you can do it. You've just got to believe you can," Yuan raised an eyebrow at his friend but tried again. After many failed attempts Yuan gave up and sat on the floor.
" I can't do it. It's not something you can learn from a book. I couldn't even get a circle," He complained.
" Come on Yuan it can't be that hard. First you've got to focus on the summon spirit or where it occurs in nature. Think about lightning coming from the sky. Think about it and nothing else. Then summon mana from yourself and all around you," As he spoke Kratos did what he was explaining. But Yuan wasn't paying attention, he was watching the purple symbol that had appeared beneath his friends feet. " Then you shout it. Like this, LIGHTNING!"
A small bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of Kratos creating a little scorch mark on the floor and knocking the surprised human to his feet. There was silence as the boys sat in silence and confusion.
" Why… why could I do that?" Kratos said panting heavily. Yuan just stared at the scorch mark. They sat in silence again until they were positive no one else had heard.
" I'm not a half-elf, I shouldn't be able to do that," Kratos thought aloud.
" You sure your dad is your dad?" Yuan asked. Kratos nodded.
" He wouldn't put up with me otherwise. Where would I have gotten elf blood," Kratos asked. Suddenly both boys looked at one another.
" Blood brothers!" They both shouted in understanding.
" I didn't think such a small drop could do all that!" Yuan said in amazement. " Kratos you can use magic!"
Kratos just nodded dumbfounded. He stared at his hands in amazement.
" I've gotta try again," Yuan said getting to his feet. He closed his eyes and focused on Volt; he had decided that if he focused on the summon spirit instead of actual lightning his would be stronger. " LIGHTNING!"
Another bolt hit the bathroom floor, this time breaking a tile loose from the floor.
" AWESOME!" Yuan shouted, " I'm gonna do it again!"
" Yuan stop! We can't do this in here. Someone is bound to notice. We've got to find someplace outside to practice," Kratos warned finally coming back to his senses.
" Can we sneak out to the training grounds at night?" Yuan asked.
" I guess, but we've got to be really careful. If someone catches us you'll be killed, and I'll be lucky if I don't suffer the same fate. This is a lot harder to hide then reading. We've got to be careful," Kratos said. He looked as concerned as that day when he first asked Yuan if he wanted to read.
" We won't get caught, I promise," Yuan said.
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Two in one day; how's that for a fast update? Don't get used to it I can't do double updates all the time. But I've had most of the school part planned out for along time, so it's coming pretty easily to me. It's shorter then most of the recent chapter, but I just wanted to do the magic. This was what I had in mind when they did the blood brothers thing, since I know I creeped some of you out. Next chapter is swords. They're growing up so fast.
