Mez10000: It's me!

Kira: Well, duh! It is your fanfic.

Mez10000: Just do the disclaimer.

Kira: You don't own me! Well, actually you do but that still doesn't mean I'll listen to you!

Mez10000: You know the Christmas present I gave you? I could ask Nia to torch it for you.

Kira: Nooo! Not the Yuan doll! (Hugs mini-Yuan) Mez10000 does NOT own Tales of Symphonia, or anything except this storyline, Nia, Cyclone and her new character (Which still will not be named. I'm evil!). Oh, and this chapter starts with Nia asleep.

It was dark. (I won't start every chapter like that, I promise) One figure stood out from the pitch black. To my surprise I recognised the figure.

"I thought it was weird, falling asleep. It was you, wasn't it? You're the one with telepathy, after all." I accused.

"Well, we both get around don't we?" Said the silhouette in front of me.

"I'm sick of playing your games. Where are you?"

"Right here in front of you?"

I took a deep, 'calming' breath. "Wrong answer. Where is your body?"

"Somewhere in Tethe'alla. I haven't found any characters yet. Zelos, Presea or Regal."

"I'm just outside Lake Umacy, from what I know. Apparently Sheena's made the pact with Undine. We just have the Unicorn horn to get, heal Pietro, go to the Tower and escape the Renegades and we'll be in Tethe'alla."

"You make it sound so easy. I'll give you two days, starting from tomorrow morning."

"Fine. And I've been asked by Kratos to protect Lloyd."

"I'll see you in two days. And if I don't, I'll contact you again."

With that, the 'dream' ended, and I woke up. I groaned. The sun wasn't even up yet! Still, I thought the group would make a move soon, so I managed to drag myself off the ground. To my surprise Kratos was asleep. Listening hard, I noticed he wasn't breathing as deeply as you do when you sleep.

I whispered, "Breathe deeper, and longer, if you want to look like your sleeping."

I heard a faint, muffled, "Thanks," before his breaths lengthened.

I hardly had a moment to think before Colette came over. She pointed at my hand.

"Sure, you can use my hand to write."

She took my hand and wrote, "Did you sleep okay? You were muttering in your sleep."

"I'm fine, just had a bit of a bad dream."

"What was it about?"

"Someone who I see quite often, but most of the time, I don't want to see him at all."

Colette just looked puzzled at my cryptic clue.

"What time should the others get up?"

"Kratos is normally up first. Then whoever is cooking breakfast gets up next, then when breakfast is ready, everyone's up," Colette wrote, cheerfully? How you write cheerfully, I have no idea, but Colette seemed to be doing it.

"Thanks. Oh, does my hair look a mess? Please tell me honestly."

"It looks a little…ruffled. That's all."

"I haven't got a brush or comb or…anything on me! What am I going to do?" A tiny voice inside me said, 'Monsters, dragons, video game characters, nothing. But when it comes to your hair you have a panic attack over it.'

Colette wrote, "You can borrow mine until we get to the nearest town."

"Thanks, Colette. I owe you one."

"No, don't worry about it." To make the message stronger she shook her head. To stop me from answering she ran over to her small bag, and found a wooden comb, carved with Colette's name.

"Wow, that's very pretty. Who made it?"

"Lloyd, as a present for my birthday. It's two years old now."

I noticed that as well as her name; Colette's comb had flowers carved into it. "Thank you, Colette." I gave my brown hair a quick brushing. It was shorter and thinner than I was used to, as a result of entering a different world.

I gave myself a quick look over. I now had shoulder-length, brown hair, which hid my pointy, Elven ears. My legs were slightly longer, which I supposed would help make me run faster. I was wearing a pair of black trousers (or breaches, whatever they'd call them) and a short-sleeved black top. Over the top I had a red top, quite similar to Sheena's clothes in style, but the top was fastened higher. Fastening the red top (I need a better word for it!) Was a simple leather belt with my elemental symbols on it. On my feet I wore leather boots and I also wore red fingerless gloves on my hands.

Great, I stuck out almost as bad as Lloyd, with the red clothes and all. Kratos 'woke up', although he was very convincing as an actor. He even faked a yawn!

"Morning, Kratos."

"Good morning, Nia, Chosen." He was still the moody mercenary we all love. (Or hate)

"Sleep well?" I asked the purple clad swordsman. (Why does he wear so much purple?)

"Humph."

"Fine, whatever. Moody -" I stopped when I realised Colette was still near me. You just don't ruin an innocent mind like Colette's. (Although she kills animals every day, but…) "…mercenaries. Moody mercenaries."

"Call me what you will," was the instant response. However, I detected a trace of a smile on Kratos' lips.

"Did you just smile? You never smile!"

"…I didn't."

"Oh, yes, you did." (Pantomime season)

"I will not stoop to your level and carry on this discussion. Besides, everyone's waking up."

"Finally." I ran to my (previously forgotten) personal bag. "Let's see what items I've randomly generated." I said quietly. Thankfully no one heard. I pulled open the bag and took inventory while everyone else had breakfast.

The first thing I pulled out was a glass bottle with a blue liquid inside. I guessed a life bottle and hoped I didn't need to use one later. After five life bottles, I found five lemon gels (noticed because of their green colour) and five pineapple gels. (Which were yellow. Any one else think this is strange!) I also had a Mizuho potion, which would help with the gnomlette in Toize Valley mine, but now I'm thinking ahead too much. I also had money (5,000 gald! Wahoo!) and a complete Monster List.

'Oh. My. GWAD!' I had in my hands enough information to tear this world apart. All I needed was for one person to come across this and see who we were going to fight, and the fabric of this world would be destroyed. For example, what if our group found out about Kratos or Mithos, or the Summon Spirits?

"Hey, Nia. You ready to leave yet?" Lloyd called over.

Quickly stuffing everything else into my bag, I shouted, "Sure, I'm coming." I fastened the mini-bag round my waist and ran towards the rest of the group.

"We're going to Lake Umacy. It's quite near here," Raine explained while beginning to walk.

"Thanks." I remembered I wasn't supposed to know a lot and asked, "Why are we going to the lake?"

"It's to see a unicorn. We need his help to cure Pietro, someone we know."

"I've heard tales about the unicorn, but isn't it supposed to be under the surface? How are we going to get there?" I really hated asking questions I already knew the answer to. I tuned Raine out until she had finished talking then said, "Wow, really? Well thanks, Raine," In the sincerest voice I could. Then I just tuned out for the rest of the walk.

When we reached the Lake, I felt a pang of dread. I was determined not to let my fear of water stop me from seeing the unicorn, but what if Undine had trouble taking three of us out to the water? I knew these doubts were unreasonable; after all, Undine was a Summon Spirit, but my fear of water was perfectly reasonable. Full submersion could kill me in less than a second.

"All right! Sheena, summon Undine and then we can all-" Lloyd was cut off by Raine.

"It's not as simple as that. The unicorn can only be seen by a pure maiden."

"So only girls can go, huh? Well then, Colette and Raine-"

"I can't go."

"Why not?"

Raine paused as she thought of the best way to tell Lloyd. "Because I'm an adult."

I had enough of the conversation to last me a lifetime. "Colette, Sheena and I can go. Right, Sheena?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm qualified." Sheena said. If I didn't already know this I would be shocked. I mean, no girl in Tethe'alla is safe from Zelos once they're over the age of sixteen!

"Qualified?" Lloyd and Genis said simultaneously.

"You don't have to both say it at once! Stand back, I'm going to summon."

Undine appeared in a blue sparkle of light. 'They don't have the sound effects!' I thought.

"Undine, take us to the unicorn." Sheena said.

It was only then that I realised that my temper had forced me to travel over water. For some reason we didn't actually touch the water. (Thank Martel or whatever)

The unicorn was a mucky white colour, with a yellow mane. He spoke as the wind did, inside my head, only this time; Colette and Sheena heard him too.

"Martel?" He asked.

After a silent reply from Colette, he questioned, "You are not Martel? But this presence, this sickness, even in my blindness it is clear, you are Martel. I exist to cure Martel's sickness."

After a pause he spoke again. "I see, you are the Chosen? You may use may use my horn to heal you."

Once Colette had spoken again, he finally said, "You don't want to heal yourself, the horn is for your sick friend? Fine, take it."

A bright light shimmered from the base of the unicorn's horn, then the horn appeared in my hands. The unicorn started to fade.

"What's happening?" Sheena asked.

"Our horns are our very lives. I was glad to give mine to you. When we die a new unicorn is born. In doing so, we live on forever." He turned towards me, as tears started welling up in my eyes. "Please do not cry for me. It pains you so much more than the others."

I had a duty to this poor creature that represented my other half. "I have barely known you, yet I feel compassion. You are a creature of the land, and you have been imprisoned in water. But even though you are my opposite, one who represents my other half, I still like you, and won't ever forget you." My tears were threatening to fall and scorch my cheeks.

"The gap between unicorn and dragon is deep, yet you two children can over come that which I cannot. You have given me hope for my future life, child of the flame and wind."

The unicorn faded away, and we watched until Undine pulled us back to shore. By this time, I had already shed a few tears, as well as Sheena.

"What happened? Why are you crying?" Lloyd asked.

"The unicorn gave us his horn," Sheena cried.

I gave the horn, which was still in my hands, to Raine.

"So the unicorn is dead," Kratos announced.

"You knew?" Sheena was furious.

"When a unicorn gives his horn, he dies. In doing so, a new unicorn is born. This is why the unicorn is the symbol of death and rebirth." Kratos said, a little coldly.

"Anyway, the unicorn gave us his horn at the cost of his life. We have to use it wisely." Lloyd sounded intellectual for a moment.

"So we're going to heal Pietro. Where is he again?" I once again asked a question I already knew the answer to, and wished I hadn't played Tales of Symphonia so many times. I tuned out the answer (which is Hima in case you've forgotten) and we all started the long trek west (I turned my Gamecube on just for that information!).

Soon I got bored of walking and wished I could fly. 'Why didn't Makoto Yoshidumi (Producer of ToS) put the Rheairds in sooner?' Not that I needed the Rheairds to fly, not with my bond to the air, but I couldn't leave the rest of the group behind.

"I feel like an eagle whose wings have been clipped." I complained to no one in particular.

"You didn't have to come on this journey." Kratos, obviously.

"Don't make me start the pantomime arguments again." Then I panicked, realising they might not have pantomimes here.

"There's a good history behind pantomime. Pantomime started when the ancient Balacruf Dynasty…" Raine started. Everyone immediately tuned Raine out.

"If you're an eagle, why don't you…stretch your wings? Metaphorically speaking." Kratos suggested, using an abnormal sized word, possibly so that Lloyd couldn't understand.

Little did Kratos know that I really was yearning for the open skies. "Because I don't have the convenience of wings on my back." I whispered, keeping my voice low.

Which was the truth. I had to turn to bird-form before I could get wings.

"Anyway, how much further to Hima?" Since I got no reply, I decided to get Cyclone to find out. By the way, where was Cyclone?

"He's behind you." Said a voice similar to a certain dragon's voice.

'Oh, no, he isn't!' I thought 'loudly'.

'Okay, you've finally remembered me."

'I'm sorry. I'm not used to a familiar.'

'A familiar? Like a witch's cat?'

'Um…look. You have duties to do as the wind. I can't pay attention to you all the time.'

'Fair enough. If you need to get me, just summon me.'

'Okay, that's- Hey, how am I supposed to do that?'

'Do what Sheena does. Ask me to appear, not with words but with mana.'

'That's not any clearer than before!'

'What are you doing now?'

'I'm about to murder a non-existent dragon!'

'You're thinking, not saying the words, and I can hear you. That's how you can summon.'

'Cool, I could be a summoner!'

'But a Summon Spirit can only have one pact.'

'Well, I guess that's right, but how do you know we're going to form pacts with all of the Summon Spirits?'

'Hey, I now live in your head. By the way, I can't believe your first boyfriend-'

'Okay, shut up now.' I tuned the voice out of my head, before realising I still didn't know how far Hima was! Luckily we got there in a couple of hours.

"Hima, village of adventures," I quoted the little message that pops up when you're playing. Everyone ignored me; Colette was saying something about healing Pietro.

Once Colette had stopped talking (Well, writing. It was Lloyd that was talking but…) I said, "If it's okay, I'm not coming inside. I have a bit of shopping to do and I don't really know Pietro."

"Sure, I don't mind," That was Lloyd.

They all went in the inn, and I had a look at the stall. I needed a comb, but would they even have one? I mean, they aren't shown in the game. Luckily they had a ton of stuff that wasn't in the game, so I asked.

"Excuse me, have you got a comb that I could buy?" I inquired in my best innocent voice.

"Of course, there's one there." he pointed to a spot on the stall, "That's only twenty gald. Is there anything else you want?"

Thinking ahead to the coming battles I asked, "Life bottles, five of them." I quickly did a calculation. If life bottles are two hundred gald, five would be a thousand gald, add the comb, and the total would be one thousand and twenty gald.

"I'll give you the comb for free, since your order is this expensive. That'd be one thousand gald, please."

I struggled a little with the money, but eventually I got the hang of all the different coins. "Thank you."

I had very little else to do, so I sat on the edge of the cliff, trying to ignore the graves behind me. The wind whistled through every where it could, my hair, my face, the side of my right leg…Hang on, how could it get in there?

I looked down and saw the teeth marks from when the wolf had bitten me. Great, I hadn't been in this world forty-eight hours and I'd managed to rip my clothes already! I fingered the holes. They were small, easily sown up, but there was something else. The material felt familiar somehow, but still strange. Then it hit me. This was morphanic material (Namco does not own morphanic material. I do!).

I always had it when I came into another world, how stupid of me to forget! No only does it change to suit the world I'm in, but I can also change it with the power of thought. Which meant…I imagined that the holes weren't there. Suddenly, half my trouser leg vanished! This trick took a lot of concentration. I imagined the trouser leg, like it was supposed to be, without the holes. This time, I didn't screw it up.

Shortly after, the rest of the group came out. I ran to rejoin them.

"Okay, what now?"

"We need to get to the Tower of Salvation." Kratos explained matter-of-factly.

"Why don't we see that dragon guy?" Lloyd piped up.

"That's not such a bad idea." Raine.

"Upwards and onwards, then." I said. At the time I didn't realise how silly that sounded.

We went up, only got three dragons ordered for tomorrow, as I already had my own. (Lucky me!) We stayed in the inn for the night, except I didn't. I snuck out in the early evening. I climbed to the peak of the mountain. It was a beautiful night, the skies were clear and stars were sparkling. I was suddenly aware of a presence behind me. I spun round, summoning fire as I did so. I withdrew the fire. It was just Kratos.

"You startled me!"

"What are you doing up? Don't you need to sleep?" His voice was calm and gentle. He was asking, not accusing.

"Nah, last night wasn't sleeping, it was more…communicating. With someone far away."

"I see. But you still haven't answered my question. What are you doing up?"

I thought of my options: lie, don't answer and tell the truth. I decided on the third option. "I felt like stretching my wings."

"Please, stop talking in riddles."

"Okay, here it is, plain and simple. I'm going to fly." I made a little flapping gesture to emphasise the point.

"You have wings too? But earlier you said you didn't have wings."

"Not yet. I just need to change." Before Kratos had a chance to argue or question, I changed into an owl. The world changed to daylight in my eyes. I still had my clothes over me. I imagined the morphanic material as a piece of cloth, tied round my foot. I didn't muck it up!

"You're going then? Wait, I'm talking to a bird…"

"Just for a little fly. If you want to come…" I realised that Kratos probably couldn't understand me.

"I'll come with you. It could be dangerous for you." Can he read minds or did he hear my message?

"Can you understand me?"

There was silence as Kratos pulled his wings out.

"Hellooooooo? Are you a mind reader or what?" I thought I heard grasshoppers chirping. "Answer me! Guess he can't hear me say that I think he's cute…" I couldn't believe I'd said that in front of Kratos, but I guess he couldn't hear me.

"What!"

Or maybe he could hear me.

"Aha, I knew you could hear me!"

"You think I'm cute!"

"Um…Of course not. I was just testing to see if you heard. And it worked."

"Humph."

"Anyway, are we flying or not? I take the option flying." I pushed off from the ground, flapping my wings. I wondered how it felt for Kratos, as he has wings and arms. To me, I was flapping my arms.

As I was lost in thought a blue and purple figure over took me! (Although owl-vision isn't good for colours) We flew for a bit and had a couple of races, but we eventually went back to Hima. Kratos had some things he wanted to tell Noishe. I kept to the skies, keeping an eye out…

Lloyd stepped out of the inn. A figure with his hair in a ponytail, who I knew to be Yuan, was charging a ball of mana.

"Kratos, look out!" Lloyd shouted.

Kratos spun, drew his sword and sliced Yuan in his stomach. Yuan teleported, dropping a silver ring. I landed on a near by post.

"Are you all right?" I asked

"I'm fine, but I gave that assassin an injury he'll not soon forget."

"Why did he try and kill you?" I feigned ignorance.

"I…don't know."

"Well, do you know who he was? Just a yes or no answer will do."

"No, and why am I getting interrogated by you?"

"Kratos, are you feeling okay? You're talking to yourself." Lloyd showed concern for the 'mercenary'. Apparently Lloyd couldn't hear me.

"Now look what you've done. Lloyd thinks I'm crazy."

"You probably are!" Then seeing the look on Kratos face, I flew away, as fast as I could. Once I'd taken human form, and regained the same clothes from the morphanic material, which took a while, I headed back to the group, who I guessed were out of bed by now.

"Hello, Nia. I have some bad news. Kratos is acting weird. Before he was talking to thin air!" Lloyd greeted.

"Nia. You need to explain."

"Nah, I don't think so."

"Nia," Kratos' voice was sterner now.

"Spoil my fun why don't you. Everyone, Kratos was not speaking to thin air. He was speaking to me."

"Huh? But where were you? I didn't see you anywhere."

"Lloyd, was there an assassin?"

"Yes."

"Did he wear a cape?"

"Yes."

"Did he drop something?"

"Yes."

"Was it a ring with the letters 'Y' and 'M' engraved in it?"

"Yes! Oh my…you were there?"

"Wow, the little genius has worked it out." I said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Thanks." Lloyd.

"Lloyd, that wasn't a compliment." Genis said exasperated (I think this is Genis' first line in this chapter! …Actually, I lie, he says 'Qualified?')

"Oh. Anyway, we need to go to the Tower of Salvation now, right?"

And we all walked uphill to where the dragons, and fate, were waiting.

What do you think? Again, only one way to tell me, review! Any background character ideas would be all right, if you want to send them too! And I can promise that the Tower of Salvation is going to be different than in the game! And that will be one of the last 'Kratos' chapters in a long time, so make the most of it. (Boy, they were hard to write!)