Insaneiac: Okay, I realize that I might have made Sheena and Lloyd seems more mature than they usually are, but that was because…well, it has something bigger to do with the story. Don't worry though; I'll get back to the roots of Sheena and Lloyd-ism.
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I wish I did though.
Chapter 2: Yuan's Idea of Help
Groggy.
That was the perfect word to describe every aspect and feeling within Lloyd at the very moment. His world felt groggy, his vision felt groggy, his hearing felt groggy. If he had something called a groggy, he was sure that would be just as equally groggy as the rest of him. His first attempt at opening his eyes was a brief stint of pain before they shot close again, but eventually, he opened his eyes to the world at large.
The sun bathed down upon him, a greenish tint to it as the rays passed through the thin leaves above him. The sounds of a forest waking up filled his mind, as he twisted his head to look around him. His neck felt groggy too, but he expected that. His vision was directed to a tree, off in the distance. The same tree he found Yuan hiding behind. Instantly, his ire rose drastically. Memories of the night flowed into him, like a river freed from its dam.
"Where the hell is he?" Lloyd tried to say. What actually came out was more along the lines of, "Ugh." Lloyd grimaced at his lack of speech, embarrassed that a simple punch had rendered him completely useless. Slowly forcing himself to sit up, he heard a gasp emit from behind him, and quickly felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. He was too close to trying to attack the source of the hands when her voice pierced the caution he had set around him.
"Lloyd!" She yelled, as she gained eye contact with her freshly awoken comrade. "Are you okay?" He realized the browns of her eyes instantly, and felt much of his fear wash away. She had that effect on him, as he had only come to realize a month ago.
"Sheena…I'm fine. Just a little…groggy." Lloyd responded, smiling at the irony of his words. 'A little groggy doesn't begin to explain it.' For a brief period of time, all they did was stare at each other, when Lloyd realized that his head was bandaged. "Huh…did he really hit me that hard?"
"You're…an idiot, do you know that?" Sheena responded, sighing. Lloyd tilted his head curiously, biting back on the pain he caused himself by moving his head like that. "There's no one here but us. You took a header into the tree and knocked yourself out Lloyd. You're so careless sometimes!" Sheena replied, flushed.
"What! No way. Yuan, he punched me in the face. Right after we talked during the night." Lloyd replied, scratching the back of his head. 'Finally, a place that doesn't hurt…as much.' Lloyd mentally cheered, grimacing as he felt a tinge of pain.
"That…must have been some dream Lloyd. The only "talking" we did me telling you, while you were still unconscious, to sleep well." Sheena replied, a happy look within her eyes. "Why would Yuan be here anyways?" She asked, curiously.
Lloyd missed her last question, more wrapped up in the fact that the entire night had been a dream. That his revelation never happened, and that he was still all alone in his fear. He had never felt so let down in his life. "Are you sure…I didn't talk at all about being afraid?"
"Nope, you were as quiet as…well, the forest was really." Sheena responded, sitting down beside him.
"It felt so real though…especially when Yuan slugged me." Lloyd responded, grimacing at his folly, even if it had been a dream. Whilst his mind drifted to the dream, he twitch as he felt a tight pinch on his arm, eliciting an 'ouch' of pain from her comrade. "What was that for?" Lloyd muttered, rubbing his arm, cheeks slightly red as he saw Sheena laughing.
"There, now you know you're awake." Sheena said as best as she could, struggling to stifle her laughter. She felt herself fail in her attempt as Lloyd cast her an un-amused glare, sending her back into a raging fit of laughter. This, in turn, led to Lloyd's cheeks becoming a deeper hue of crimson.
"It's…it's not that funny…" Lloyd started defensively, before sheepishly casting his eyes to the ground. "Is it?" The tone he used was one that managed to sneak Sheena out of her fit of hysterics, long enough for her to cast an apologetic gaze to Lloyd. She failed to see the smile in time, as her arm became the victim of a pinch from Lloyd. A noticeable ouch escaped Sheena's lips. "Actually, it is funny." Lloyd roared, laughing as Sheena took her turn and blushed.
"That was sneaky Lloyd!" She stated, her face attempting to look serious, but her eyes giving it away quite easily. She was enjoying this game of back and forth just as much as he was. When Lloyd found himself only laughing harder, Sheena launched herself at him, attacking his arms with the most painful pinches she could muster. Of course, Lloyd had not only been woefully unprepared for the counter attack, but greatly underestimated the potency of the ninja's pinches. Within mere moments, he was under the mercy of the deadly pinches of death.
"Okay, okay! I give up, I give up! You win!" Lloyd hollered, his voice a mix of pain and enjoyment. Content with her victory, Sheena got off of Lloyd, leaving him to rub his now burning arms. "That was sooo unfair Sheena."
"And sucker-pinching me was any better?" She retorted, grinning mischievously. Despite his failed attempts at looking angry, Lloyd was smiling like an idiot. "Well, at least you know you're awake now." A smile decorated her face as she saw Lloyd's smile turn into a smirk.
"I think you hurt me more than the tree did." Lloyd responded, touching his bandage with his hand. Obviously, it had been a pretty nice blow, or else he was sure that this thick a bandage wouldn't have been used. "How bad was it?"
"Depends on what you mean. From where I was, it looked hilarious." Sheena began, stifling back laughter as she watched Lloyd twitch in embarrassment. "As for how bad it was…I think Raine should take a look at it." She muttered quickly, as Lloyd turned to her confused. "It looks a little more serious than I'd like it too." She spoke softly, scratching the back of her head.
Lloyd nodded, inwardly leaping and dancing with unbound joy. He had been wanting to catch up with his friends. He hadn't seen them in about a month, and was curious to see how at least one half of his friends were doing. The last thing he remembered was Raine being sworn in as the new mayor of Iselia.
"It'll be nice to see them again, and at the very least they have to have some stories right?" Lloyd stated, sounding as excited as a kid with a new toy. This was typical of Lloyd, and just like that kid, after starting to play with it, he would soon get very bored of it.
"It's been a while hasn't it…They'll probably be just as excited to see us as well." Sheena replied smiling. Inwardly, Lloyd suddenly found himself admiring her smile, finding a certain degree of familiar warmth within it. He always found himself, at sometime or another, doing this. "Um…is there something on my face?" Sheena muttered, breaking the silence and startling the swordsman.
"No…um…it's uh…nothing!" Lloyd exclaimed, as he pushed to his feet. His arms still slightly burned, but that was to be expected. As he rubbed his arms, thinking that such an act would make the pain go away, he could hear himself mentally repeating the new life lesson he had learn in his head. 'Never get into a pinching war with a decorated ninja.' "We're not going to walk back... are we?" Lloyd muttered, curious.
"Of course not. We've still got the Rheaird Yuan gave us, remember?" Sheena answered back, shaking her head. Lloyd had forgotten that, but after a month of walking, he was bound to forget some things. Still, that Rheaird meant a quick trip, and that meant the reunion was all that much closer. Smiling at the aspect of reuniting with Raine, Colette and Zelos, Lloyd walked over to Sheena.
"Ready to go then?"
"Yup." She rang cheerfully. Sighing contently, Lloyd closed his eyes for a moment, just to let the surroundings fill him, and trying to catch up with his fleeting sense of composure.
------ Renegade Base ------
Yuan grinned as he watched the monitors, studying them for any anomaly, no matter how small or large. He needed to make sure the process went smoothly, for his sake as well as his guest. Turning to a single console, he watched the more important things. The brainwave patterns, the heartbeat, the body temperature. Everything seemed to check out perfectly.
"Much more so than my experience I should say." Yuan muttered to the screen, as he turned towards a large tube. Half of it was metallic, while the upper half had a nice glass surface, providing a good view of Lloyd. His eyes were shut tight, as if he was more than just asleep, whilst a mask lay around his mouth, providing him oxygen. The entire set up made it look more like Lloyd was in suspended animation than anything else. Quickly looking back to the console, he activated the second part of his little project, and a separate section within the chamber opened up, just beside his left hand.
Another button pressed, and a long, metallic hand gently gripped his forearm, and pulled it into the compartment. Soon after, the compartment closed itself around the boys arm. Yuan walked over to a separate screen and pressed a few more buttons, causing a quiet whirring in the chamber. Happy with the entire process, he proceeded to another console, and pressed a button labelled 'transmit'.
Unbeknownst to the general world, Yuan had manage to establish a very real connection with Welgaia, giving him the ability to relay his "scouting" missions directly to the single most concerned person within the universe. Chances stood that, upon hear his report this time, his employer would be quite unhappy. 'Enraged and bloodthirsty sound like more correct terms.' Yuan mused, smirking.
A few seconds later, a blatantly un-amused face appeared on the screen. "Yuan, I trust you have something important to report." Kratos muttered. Since Kratos had relocated to the floating world of Derris-Kharlan, he had done much to turn the world into something a little more becoming of angels. Once again, Welgaia was filled with the presence of the Angels, but this time the angels focused themselves towards a more positive goal. It had been a long and rigorous process, but one that had been clearly proceeding along.
"Am I interrupting something of importance Kratos?"
"No, I was just enjoying a brief period of relaxation." Although he would never admit it to his face, Kratos had been long awaiting his next update. He wanted to know more than anyone else how his son was fairing in life. Even if he could not be there in person to watch him, he had eyes nonetheless. "But proceeding past that, how is he?"
"At the moment…" Yuan began, scratching his chin. "Tell me, what do you recall of life four thousand years ago Kratos?" Yuan asked out of the blue, visibly catching Kratos off guard. Yuan never was one to reminisce about the past, and Kratos more than usually wouldn't get past the last thousand years of his life, if that.
"I fail to see how…"
"Just humour me."
"…I am not sure how to answer that Yuan…I can remember quite a lot of things that happened that long ago…why do you ask?"
"Do you remember the time where you decided to "help me" discover my true feelings for Martel." Yuan stated, doing his best to remain as far from nostalgic as he could.
"I recall something of the sort." Kratos replied, his voice riddled with amusement. In honesty, it took some work of Kratos to recall what Yuan was referring to. It took Kratos a bit, but he suddenly clued in to what Yuan was saying. "You're referring to the time I drugged you though, aren't you?"
"Precisely." Yuan replied, drawing forth an icy silence that encompassed the room, interrupted only barely by the whirring of machines. For a while, Kratos had wholly expected Yuan to say something to break the silence. Eventually, Kratos decided to save time, and restart the conversation.
"Yuan, what are you getting at."
"Did you know your son was in love?" Yuan blurted out, hoping that the joy of finding out his son had those feelings in his heart might ease the next blow that was about to strike his long, long time friend. He looked at the screen with earnest, hiding his smile as he saw the reaction sink in on Kratos' face. He had a deep smile on his face, one of pride and joy.
"That…is a good thing to hear. A very good thing indeed." Kratos replied, his voice at ease. "But you have yet to mention why we embraced past events Yuan."
"You see Kratos, Lloyd didn't know how to tell her. In fact, he was kind of pathetic to watch." Kratos could only sigh. He knew Yuan was right, and that Lloyd probably was a miserable wreck when he tried to reveal himself. What came next was something that, even though his brain had processed into the worst case scenario department, he was completely unprepared for. "I've drugged Lloyd, Kratos, with the same hallucinogen you gave me, to help him in much the same way you did for me."
For a brief period of time, Kratos had an emotionless face. For an eternity on the other end, Yuan fought with a disgusting sense of mind paralyzing fear.
"You've…drugged my son…" Kratos slowly worded out, eyes closed in a desperate attempt to understand just what was being said. He had always known Yuan to be, at the best of times, exempt from foolishnesses like this, so this struck him all the harder. "…Yuan…I am going to kill you." Kratos growled, his eyes open and alive with rage. This was exactly what Yuan had been afraid of. And why he was more than glad that Kratos was worlds and worlds away from him.
Know Kratos like he did, Yuan had no doubt at all that he would have truly tried to kill him. "Now Kratos, listen. We both know Lloyd isn't the…quickest kid with these things. This experience will help him."
"He's my son Yuan. You should have asked for my permission."
"And what, pray tell, would your answer had been in that case."
"Same as it stands now. Except I now also want to kill you as well." Kratos growled, a rubbing his forehead. What was even worse was he found himself not only inwardly agreeing with his blue-haired friend, but also admitting that, in many ways, Yuan had been the same case. "When I asked you to watch out for Lloyd, Yuan, I really only meant keep an eye on him. I would have talked to him about this. A father-son conversation would have helped him wonders in this situation."
"Kratos, aside from the fact that this is just me passing what I've learned from you to your son…" Yuan started with a grin, something that seemed to annoy Kratos further. "…he needs to experience this emotion himself to fully grasp it. Once he does, he'll be all the better for it." Yuan replied, more gentle than he expected to be.
"I trust that you're still looking out for him?"
"I have him hooked into a hibernation chamber Kratos. He'll be in a sleep state, nice and safe. Besides, this gives me a great chance to explore something else about Lloyd."
For a moment, Kratos once again feared the worse. He couldn't help but wonder if this was just Yuan's way of pushing his patience as far as it could, and would, go. "And that would be…"
"His exsphere Kratos. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before."
Another silence grasped the two men in its clutches, this one more haunting than anything else. "What do you mean Yuan?"
"On initial scans Kratos…this thing is more power than Mithos' Cruxis crystal." Yuan uttered, looking back at where Lloyd was. When he looked back, Kratos' face was the picture of composed, but inside every alarm and every curiosity had gone off. It was common knowledge that Mithos had held the most powerful exsphere constructed. It was an advanced form of the Cruxis crystal. The fact that there was something more powerful inspired awe and inspired fear.
"…Yuan, let me see my son."
------ Iselia ------
Raine was stretching her legs as the sun rose, walking around her town of Iselia. Ever since the mayor had mysteriously gone missing, she had the mantle of control placed upon her. And in all honesty, nothing could make her happier in life. Well, aside from being lost in ruins more ancient than Kratos. However, this would do just fine for the moment. People looked up to her and respected her. She held dual roles or the most importance in so much as being the village doctor and the Mayor.
She smiled as she past the school, watching both Zelos and Colette prepare the lesson they had planned. It was an easy decision in all fairness, but one that caught Raine off nonetheless. Zelos had always been good in math, and together Raine was positive that Zelos and Colette could figure anything else. They have already both done the impossible once, what's to say they can't repeat such a feat. Not to mention that, since leaving Meltokio and becoming an official member of Iselia, Zelos had found himself making passes on a handful of woman, instead of every woman on the planet.
As she though this, she chuckled. "The great Zelos…tied down by Colette. Irony is sweet sometimes." Irony indeed, as not a month ago this village was ran by a bigot who would sooner sacrifice everyone in the village than stand up for moral beliefs. He wanted Raine and Genis kicked out. Now look at it, Raine was running the very town, and had been the single most loved mayor in the village's history.
"Good morning mayor." An elderly voice rang, as Raine turned around to face Phaidra. "Taking a morning walk as well I presume?"
"Phaidra, you can call me Raine still." She responded, smiling. "And yes, I was just giving my legs a good stretch. I have this feeling I'll be busy today."
"Well, this was to be expected when you became the mayor. Still, I hope that it will not be too hard for you."
"Thank you for those kind words." Raine replied, as the two began to make their way to the entrance into Iselia. It surprised Raine when she found her mind trailing to the pair that left on their own journey. It had surprised her quite a bit more than she thought. When Genis left to live with Regal and Presea, Raine had felt a wave of sorrow overcome her, yet she remained happy to see Genis happy. When Lloyd left with Sheena, it struck her much deeper. Where she was sad when Genis left, she was lonely when Lloyd departed. She felt empty to say the least.
"I wonder how Lloyd is…" Raine muttered, looking down at the ground. Phaidra could only use this as her cue to leave, allowing Raine her privacy. She wouldn't keep it nearly that long though, as a Rheaird touched down just outside of Iselia. Seconds later, Sheena came roaring into the village, every inch of her enraged by something or another.
"Sheena…what are you doing here?" Raine blurted out, more surprised than anything.
"I…hate…YUAN!" She yelled, stomping the ground angrily as she handed his letter to Raine, then stormed off in the direction of the school. More than likely, she was heading for Raine's old house, which had been given to Sheena as a "place to stay", seeing as how Raine now had the mayor's house and all. Just as Sheena stomped past the school, Zelos caught her in the corner of his. Zelos quickly charged out to meet his former comrade, a smile on his face.
"Sheena, looking goo…" He started, as a fist connected with the side of his head, knocking him to the ground. Colette, who was watching, was reduced to tears of laughter as she saw what happened. "…why does it always have to be me…" Zelos whined, as Sheena stomped off.
Raine, however, missed this completely. She was busy reading the letter over and over again. In all truth, it sounded more like Yuan was torturing Lloyd than anything. Inwardly, she felt the fires of anger rage inside her. She was tempted to go gung ho and bring Lloyd back herself, but then realization set in. She had no clue where he actually was, or if he was even in danger. Once again, she had to trust Yuan to keep him safe.
Yet she couldn't help read the letter one last time.
Dear Sheena
I'm borrowing Lloyd from you. I'll bring him back in one piece. I want to study his Exsphere briefly before he destroys it. It should take me about a week.
I won't hurt him.
He'll be at Mizuho once I'm finished.
Yuan
Raine sighed agitatedly, staring into the sky. She had been so hopefully when she saw the Rheaird too. The thought of seeing Lloyd again was something that filled her with joy. Leave it to Yuan to snatch that away from her.
"…Idiot."
A/N: Well now…could Raine have unrequited love for the young swordsman? Could Sheena be in for some…competition? And Yuan's drugged Lloyd! Good thing Kratos is no where near Symphonia. Hopefully, I put the characters more …in character than the last chapter. Enjoy this, next chapter is going to be…surprising to say the least.
