Me: Yay, I'm hyper! And since Kira still isn't back…(snigger) I have some more temporary muses! First one is Tigger who belongs to my mate laras daughter.

Tigger: Hi! Laras daughter said for me to give you this…(hands me a silver envelope)

Me: You haven't looked at it have you?

Tigger: She made it un-openable to muses.

Me: I've got to ask her how she does that. Tigger, can you do a disclaimer?

Tigger: Yeah, sure! Mez10000 does not own Tales of Symphonia or Namco. No doubt she has a brilliant scheme, but for the time being she doesn't own them.

Me: Well, I can dream can't I? Anyway, wonder what she said…(opens envelope)

Mez,

I think Tigger fancies U,

Lara's daughter.

Me: (O.M.G!)

I was really regretting travelling round with the group. Mainly because of Zelos, but some of my feeling were due to the fact that I could do the journey from Meltokio to Sybak in about half the time, from the air. I was used to being an eagle, hawk, falcon or owl, but here I was, on the ground like a duck. But even ducks can fly when they want to. I was below duck! I was below the thing that takes the centrepiece at Christmas dinner!

I then threw up. And because of that, we spent another five minutes not walking and standing around, fussing!

'Today just isn't my day.' I thought to no-one in particular.

'I know. I feel like becoming a wolf or something and I'd just leave them behind.' Stephen shared my sentiments.

'Just don't think of any animal you've turned into, but eaten at one time.'

'That's the reason I avoid becoming livestock. If you had any sense…'

'Sorry, it's hard when you keep ducks in the back garden!'

After my angry remark, I felt agonising pain in my legs, stopping me from moving. The pain spread to my arms, my back and my head until I was only dimly conscious. Somehow I realised that Stephen was feeling the same pain as me, and speaking as one we whispered hoarsely, "Naois." Then, I blacked out.

I saw her - Naois. Standing on a tall mountain, which I could only assume was Fooji Mountain. A strong magical aura radiated from her. This was the source of my pain. The sight of her sent a shiver of disgust through my body. She looked in her early twenties; was very tall; with long, straight, black hair. She wore a long, slimming dark purple dress, which I knew matched her lipstick and eye colour. I jerked awake.

Raine was standing above me, looking occasionally to my side, where I realised Stephen was.

"I was unable to locate the reason why Nia and Stephen collapsed. Are they awake yet?"

I murmured feebly to let the group know that I was alive.

"Hey, Nia's awake!" Lloyd shouted. I groaned, realising that I was centre of attention again.

"Nia, have you got any idea what caused that to happen to you and Stephen?"

I realised I ached all over and simply moving hurt me in places I hardly knew could hurt. "Need…fire."

"What do you think she means, Professor?" Lloyd asked.

"I…don't know. My healing arts only have a limited affect on her." Raine sounded uncomfortable with the words 'don't' and 'know' in the same sentence.

'Cyclone, I hurt all over and everyone's acting like idiots!' I screamed in my mind.

'You need some help then? Super-dragon to the rescue!'

I sighed mentally. Cyclone appeared and tried to tell them what I needed. But, no-one could understand him.

"Charades," I croaked.

Cyclone then held up three claws to symbolise three words. Then held the first claw to symbolise the first word. Then he pointed at me.

"Um…girl!" Lloyd shouted out.

Cyclone rolled his eyes. (Imagine a dragon rolling his eyes!)

"Half-elf!"

Cyclone shook his head and tugged at an 'ear'.

"Sounds like…"

Cyclone nodded and pointed to his 'ear' again.

"Sounds like ear? Oh, Nia!"

Cyclone nodded his head and held up the second claw. Then, he tugged at his 'ear' again.

"Sounds like?"

Cyclone picked up a Symphonian dandelion and pointed to it.

"Sounds like weed? Feed, seed?"

Cyclone shook his head at both.

"Need?"

He nodded.

"Okay, Nia need, Nia needs…"

Cyclone held up the third claw and I had the slight impression that he was enjoying himself. He then breathed a little fire out of his mouth and pointed to it.

"Fire? Nia needs fire? Are you sure?"

"Yes!" I attempted to shout, but it came out as a horse croak.

Cyclone disappeared back into my mind.

'Why didn't you just breathe fire on me!' I asked.

'I was afraid I'd hurt you. Dragon fire is slightly different from normal fire.'

I suddenly felt strength returning to me and realised that the group had used various methods of summoning fire. Zelos had used fireball, Lloyd used the Sorcerers ring, Raine had pinched my Sorcerers ring and had used it and Genis had used Eruption. Colette was still an emotionless angel and Stephen was in a similar state to me a minute ago.

"We should help Stephen. Where's the nearest water source?" I asked.

"Are you kidding me? We're on the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge." Zelos told me.

I picked Stephen up and threw him in the water. Izarax appeared, probably at Stephen's request.

"Stephen would like to thank you."

"Is that you or Stephen talking?" I asked.

"Okay, it is me who's thanking you. But he does want to know what you saw."

"We'll have to tell the whole group about Naois. It wouldn't be fair on them if they didn't know the danger. I just thought we'd be safe for a little while longer."

"Are you talking to that unicorn?" Raine asked.

Whoops, I forgot that they had never seen Izarax before. "Sorry, that was rude, wasn't it? Guys, meet Izarax. Although technically, Colette's already met him."

"Huh?" Lloyd was confused.

"He's the reincarnation of the unicorn at Lake Umacy."

"Wait, if he's a unicorn, how come Lloyd, Raine, Zelos and I can stand near it?" Genis asked.

"A good question, and one that I don't want to answer." Izarax disappeared after that remark.

"It sounds to me that he doesn't want to answer that question."

"Which just reminded me that you didn't answer our first question: what happened?" Genis asked.

"It's very tricky to explain, but I'll try my best. I collapsed because of a spell cast by Naois. Naois is a person who's trying to kill me and won't rest until I'm dead. That's the simplest way I could put it."

Stephen pulled himself out of the water as Raine asked, "Why is she trying to kill you?"

Stephen spoke. "She wants the power over the elements that we have. No one around us is safe. It would be unfair for us to stay here and put you in danger."

"What! You think we'd let you do that? If anything, you need more people around you, to protect you from this Naois person." Lloyd protested.

"You don't understand. Remember the fight with M-Yggdrasil? She's that bad now and for every day we spend here, she'll get stronger. Our only defence is to keep moving, and avoid confrontation. No offence Lloyd, but the group is heading rather slowly for my pace."

I heard five separate gasps as the group realised how strong Naois is. Raine was the first, closely followed by Genis and Zelos, then a gasp that I assumed was Lloyd, who had only just realised. However, I heard Lloyd's gasp several seconds later, which made me wonder who gasped. Stephen was already familiar with the knowledge, Colette was a lifeless angel, for now, so I looked around for the source.

'Don't look now, but Kratos is flying ahead.' Cyclone informed me.

'Did he hear about Naois? Was he the 'phantom gasper'?'

'Yes. Wait a minute…he's saying something. "Nia, if you can hear this, go and fly over the library in Sybak tonight."'

'I heard that! You aren't sneaking anywhere without me!' Stephen told me mentally.

'Don't you dare follow me!'

'How are you going to stop me?'

As an answer, I ran behind Stephen and touched his cape. "Would you look at that? It's morphanic material."

"Oh, no. Don't you dare…"

I made Stephen's cape disappear.

"You have no idea how long that took me!" He tried to bring his cape back, and succeeded, but with one minor flaw.

"Oh, no. It's pink!" Stephen practically screamed.

"What's wrong with pink?" Zelos asked, all thoughts of Naois completely forgotten.

"It's pink! Nia, change this back now."

"Why? It suits you. Although, your face needs to pale a bit, the red's starting to clash."

"Just turn the cape black again."

"Fine." I walked over to him and turned the cape black. "One condition though. I'll tell you later."

I looked around and everyone was staring at Stephen and me. "We'd better get moving, or we'll never get to Sybak before nightfall."

Everyone just looked incredulously at me.

"What? Is there something stuck on my face? Let's go." I managed to get the group moving.

Some time later, on the outskirts of Sybak, Genis started asking me some questions.

"How can Naois try to kill both of you if you have been in separate worlds?"

Uh-oh! "Um, beats me. Maybe she's got a Rheaird? Anyway, can we try not to speak too much about Naois?"

"Okay, sorry. What were you doing before you met us? We hardly know anything about your past."

"Well, I've been…travelling." It was true, all the different worlds I've been in, I've always kept moving. Technically, even moving from world to world would be travelling.

"Is it me, or is it getting dark?" Genis asked.

"It's getting darker. You can see some lights over there. I think it's Sybak." Although the light wasn't the electric glow of street lamps, the firelight was easily seen.

When I entered Sybak my first impression was that it wasn't too different from home. Most of the buildings were brick, I was convinced that the flag on the inn was the Travelodge symbol and the streetlamps looked fairly modern.

Since it was getting dark, the group decided to stay in the inn for the night. As usual, I didn't stay in and flew for a while before remembering Kratos' message. A dark silhouette greeted me.

"You're being followed." Was all he said.

I looked around with owl vision and spotted Stephen in the shadows.

'I see you. I told you not to follow me.'

'How could you spot me? I was sure you'd never see me.'

'Nothing escapes owl vision in the dark.' I sighed. 'Come on, I know you want to meet Kratos.'

Stephen teleported up onto the roof.

"Who's he?" Kratos asked.

'Stephen; he controls water and earth.'

"Your friend from the other world?"

"Wait just a minute, Kratos. Nia, you told him about the different worlds!" Stephen butted in, almost yelling in the silent night.

'He was worried about Lloyd. He'd probably try to kill us both if he didn't know the truth.' I retorted. As an after thought I added, 'No offence, Kratos.'

"You told him! You could have destroyed this whole world!"

'Like you're one to talk! Remember Agorned? Now, we're the only ones that'll ever remember Agorned.'

"I didn't mean to…It was our first world and neither of us knew better."

"What was Agorned?" Kratos asked.

'It used to be a world, until we went in there and totally changed what should have happened. The world's natural course changed and it got destroyed. All memory of it vanished, except in us, as a warning.'

"And you are scared that this may happen in Sylvarant and Tethe'alla?"

'Yes. Please, don't tell anyone about there being more worlds than Sylvarant and Tethe'alla.' I asked.

"I won't. But there was a reason I asked you to come here. I heard you talking about Naois earlier, and how dangerous she is."

'I think I can see where this is going.' I muttered.

"By being near Lloyd, you two are putting him in danger. You need to leave."

'Bingo.'

"What if we refuse?" Stephen asked.

'Stephen, listen to me. Earlier today, we were complaining about going slowly. Now that we're given the chance to 'fly free', you're refusing!'

"I guess…but there's safety in numbers. If we do get attacked, how are we going to defend ourselves?" Stephen was being sensible. (Knowing the 'real Stephen', that's scary!)

"I would be willing to help." Kratos suggested, surprising both of us.

'Are you serious?' He didn't need to answer my question, as the look in his eyes were deadly serious. 'Don't you need to stay at Derris-Kharlan?'

"I do sometimes need to go to Derris-Kharlan, but I can avoid it as much as possible, and when I do have to, you won't be noticed if you're in animal forms."

"Aren't here health and safety regulations or something?" Stephen was trying to find any possible fault in Kratos' plan.

"Mithos let me keep Noishe for almost four thousand years."

'Wasn't that because Noishe was the last protozoan?'

"Lloyd isn't the only one to think that Noishe is a dog."

"But Noishe is really big for a dog. Doesn't the fact that he's green give it away slightly?" Stephen, our expert on mammals, asked.

'I don't know about you, but I'm taking Kratos' offer. After all, I promised to protect Lloyd, not endanger him.'

"I'm going to trust you, but we're going to stay for just a few more days. We'll wait until Colette returns to normal first." Stephen decided.

"You should just leave, and try not to let them change your minds." Kratos advised.

'No, we have to tell them. And every so often, I want to visit them.' I protested.

"Do what you will." Kratos had gone from caring father to mercenary mode.

'We'll meet you…outside Meltokio in one and a half days roughly. But until then, do everything you would normally do.' I warned.

"I must go. Farewell." Kratos took off and flew using his angel wings.

'How can he be that lucky? Just pull a pair of wings out and off you go. Not that I'm complaining.' I moaned.

"You know that he's suffered for them." Stephen said sombrely. (Stephen is going to be completely out of character for this fic!)

'Yeah. Shut up and look on the horizon.'

"Sunlight, big wow."

'I mean: it's morning.'

"We'd better see if they are up yet."

We left the roof and checked the inn.

I'm not a big fan of cliffhangers, but there will be some later on (you have been warned).

Sorry that I haven't mentioned this before, but I'm dedicating this space to my reviewers. I didn't have the chance before because I write my chapters ahead of posting them and can't edit them later.(not actually true, but I have limited internet time)Existing reviewers are appreciated, but I want to hear from those people who haven't yet clicked that blue button (I think it's blue!). I know you're out there. From Southampton to Seattle, I want to hear from you. (Emphasis on Seattle!)

Anything else of importance…I won't put replies to reviews on the chapter, but I will reply to all members' reviews.