Tales of a Journey

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia

By: Rogue White Dragon (aka Dragoness)

Chapter 7 – Sheena

Genis looked around, and gave an irritated sigh. Which kind of sounded like more of a grunt. I raised a questioning eyebrow towards him, and he said

"We've been looking for nearly three days. We've been going south of that other place. When are we going to find it?"

I shrugged a shoulder, and replied

"I have no idea."

Raine spoke up from behind me,

"It's probably that they have another invisible fortress."

Invisible fortress?

"If so, how are we going to find it?"

Now what is it, that whenever you ask a question like that, someone up in heaven decides to answer your question, in the most painful way possible? I walked straight into a wall. Hard. I was certain that the world was spinning, and that I was close to going blind. My vision blurred, and I had to blink a couple times to clear it.

"Eh?"

That was the most intelligent thing I could think of to say.

"Good job, Lloyd, you've found it!"

Zelos said with a big, stupid, grin. I wanted to hit him up side the head. Lan was trying not to laugh, and the urge to bang their heads together was far too tempting.

"We should move, before we're spotted."

Presea broke in. I led the way into the 'invisible fortress', leading the way through winding hallways. It looked almost empty. That alone was slightly alarming. Though, something a little more alarming, was that the fourth (I think it was the fourth) room we entered, had several dozen men, all clad in what almost looked like desian clothing, facing what looked like a stage, where a tall, blonde man, wearing what I thought to be a mage's robe of yellow, light green, and white, was addressing the men in front of him.

We backed out of the room, praying they hadn't noticed us, when the blonde man in front saw us, and glared. One by one, the other men gathered turned toward us. We wasted no time in fleeing the room. Regal and Presea were in front as we raced through the hall. Regal pulled a door open, and we all slipped inside.

Panting, I looked around, my heart pounding a mile a minute. Cursing, I scanned the room, and pointed to a door in the corner. I led the way, and we entered a room deeper into the Invisible Fortress. Raine pushed past me, after spotting a computer. She typed furiously on the controls, and a minute later, straightened, and turned to the rest of us

"Sheena's here. Two doors down from here. It takes a key to open the lock, though."

Lan grinned, and replied

"I can take care of that, Raine. Let's get going."

I frowned at him, and asked

"How will you take care of it?"

He smirked, and replied

"I was born in a ninja village, Orochi taught me to pick locks when I was a child. Said I was restless."

I gave a mute nod, before we carefully exited the room. The place must've been on full alert now, because we fought several men before we even got five feet.

"Lloyd, go get Sheena, we'll hold them off."

Zelos said while using his shield to deflect a blow from one of our attackers. I caught sight of Lan, and motioned him over. The two of us found the door that was supposed to lead to Sheena, and with a backward glance towards the others, entered it.

Sheena was sitting in a cell, muttering to herself.

"Mom!"

Lan called, a grin on his face as he ran to her cell. She jumped a couple feet, startled, and turned to face us. Her eyes were wide as she stared at her son

"How did you get here?"

Lan was busy rummaging through his pockets while he answered her

"Lloyd and the others freed me."

He indicated towards me with a jerk of his chin. He found what he was looking for, and produced a long thin piece of metal, then began working on the lock. I was still standing just inside the room. The door was closed behind me, and I was staring at Sheena with a look of uncertainty. She looked like how I remembered her. Her black hair was pulled back in a wild pony tail, her clothing nearly the same as when we went on the journey of world regeneration, only, her shirt reached her neck, and her kimono styled clothing was blue and purple, instead of purple and pink. Her dark eyes were wide as she stared at me. She glanced from her son to me, then looked away briefly.

Lan successfully opened the lock, and swung the door open. Sheena stepped out, and said carefully

"Hi Lloyd, it's, been a long time."

I gave a tiny nod, and had to force myself to look at the door, before glancing back at her, then at Lan

"We should get going. They know we're here, so we have to get out of here quickly."

Without waiting for a reply, I opened the door, and stepped out, knowing the two would follow quickly.

The floor was littered with bodies of the men Zelos and the others had defeated. We made our way towards them, stepping over bodies while we went. When Genis spotted us, and called

"They're here, let's go!"

Our group broke into a run, as we retraced our steps back to the exit.

We were nearly out, when several men stepped in front of the gate, the blonde man from before stood in front of them. He had changed from the mage robes, to clothes that would be easier to fight with. He wore a light yellow shirt, with the top couple buttons undone, and white pants, with green boots. He had on black gloves, and was resting his right hand on the hilt of his sword.

Zelos cursed, and said

"Lloyd, we're surrounded."

I looked around to see what he meant, and what I assumed to be the rest of invisible fortress's population, was gathered around us.

"Well, I must admit, I'm impressed that you found us."

The blonde man was smiling at us as he continued

"You're Lloyd Irving, aren't you? I've heard quite a bit about your small group."

He looked like he was getting ready to laugh at us.

"And who the heck are you?"

I demanded, stepping in front of my friends

"Oh, I apologize. I was so surprised to see you all here, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Arkus Coupare. If you'll surrender now, we get this over with, without any blood being shed."

Arkus smirked at us, a victorious grin slowly spreading on his face. I glared at him, and opened my mouth to reply, when someone else interrupted

"I don't think so, Arkus. Release them, now."

I stood frozen for a moment. That voice sounded so familiar. But it couldn't be, could it? He had left after we had beaten Yggdrasil.

"Kratos? I'd nearly forgotten about you."

Kratos, my father, was standing just behind the gate and Arkus's men. He had a young man at knife point. Kratos didn't look like he'd aged a day in the last fifteen years. Beside him stood Yuan, and dozens of Renegades stood just behind them. My jaw dropped.

Arkus noticed the youth who had Kratos's dagger at his throat, and his face contorted into anger. His fist clenched his sword tightly, and Kratos smirked

"I think we can come to trade, don't you think?"

There was a long moment of silence, before Arkus began ordering his men to move. Our group slowly began to approach Kratos and Yuan, and we had gotten just past the gate before Kratos released the young man, and pushed him forwards. One of the Renegades stepped forward, nocked an arrow, and pointing it at the young man's back. Just to make sure Arkus didn't try anything, of course.

"Lloyd, all of you, get out of here. Yuan?"

We did as told, and Yuan, along with several Renegades, began leading us away from the 'invisible fortress'. When the other Renegades began to look like spots, Yuan gestured toward a forest on our right.

"There should be some reihards there. Take them, and meet us at our base northeast of here."

Without waiting for our reply, Yuan began shouting orders to his men. With a shrug, I led the way to the forest, and we quickly found the reihards that they had hidden there.

"Uh, Lloyd, there's only six reihards, and eight of us."

Zelos said, looking around at the reihards. It had been so long since the last time I'd seen one. We had given ours back to Yuan after the worlds had be joined.

"So some of us will just have to share. We should get going."

Genis replied, speaking to Zelos as if he was an idiot. I looked around, but before I could speak, Genis was talking again

"Well, Regal and Raine should have their own reihards, since they're the oldest here. I can share with Presea, and since Zelos and Sheena are engaged, they can ride in the same one too."

Zelos and Sheena looked at each other, before Zelos said

"I think Sheena and Lloyd should ride together. They have, er, lots to talk about."

Lan frowned at me, but shrugged. We all boarded our designated reihards, and took off into the sky. Sheena was sitting behind me, holding on tightly to her seat, when she said

"Lloyd, we need to talk. Can you land somewhere, er, a little ways off from where we're supposed to be going?"

I glanced back at her, and replied

"Sure."

Though, I got the sinking suspicion I wasn't going to like what she said.

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O.o well, I'm sorry for leaving it as a cliff hanger, but I won't be able to update it till Saturday night, or Sunday. Hope you liked it! And please review

Special thanks to the people who reviewed – Krannapple, Sieg15, Fan Fan Girl, LJ3, and pyro (if I forgot u, u have my appology)