I hid behind Lloyd and Colette all the way to Linar's house. It seemed that Kratty didn't appreciate the lovely drawing of a tomato that I did on his shield...it was even stained with tomato juice for authentic look and smell! That didn't stop him from nearly taking my head off with a well-placed sword swipe.

And now, even as we walked along in what should have been relative safety to pick up Raine, my sense of impending doom wouldn't go away. I just knew that Kratos had some evil trick up his sleeve that he would pay me back with...once he found my weakness. That was my only advantage against him, I knew all his weaknesses.

"Professor! Hey, did you figure out the tablet?" Lloyd asked as we encountered Raine and Linar out front in the yard, waiting for us. She nodded, holding up the stone slab.

"Yes! It's a map to the real wind seal." Raine grinned, hugging the map to her chest. "And it was a positively fabulous artifact to decode!" Lloyd and Genis sweatdropped.

"That's great, Professor..." From my place next to Lloyd, I stuck my tongue out at Kratos with a smirk. The meaning was clear- See? I was right. Never deny the Professor her happiness!

Kratos' stare grew darker. Don't dig your grave any deeper than it already is, that was his message. Hey, wow! I was talking to Kratty without actually talking! That was cool.

"Emily? Kratos? Why are you guys staring at each other?"

Ah, crap. Lloyd. "Hunh? I'm not staring at him." I shook my head and pointed to some nonexistent feature off in the distance. "I was just looking at that cloud formation over there. Doesn't it look like Noishe?"

"Hey, you're right! It does look like Noishe!" Whew. Saved again by Lloyd's stupidity.

"If you're done staring at the sky, we should go." Kratos, you mood-killer! Why do you always have to do that? "Professor Sage, what is the location of the next seal?"

"It's in the Balacruf Mausoleum!" Raine announced jubilantly, going into ruin mode again. "I can't wait to study it!" Lloyd and I shook our heads, while Genis sighed, somewhat used to his sister's mood swings. Colette started off after Kratos and tripped over a rock. Gee, that was typical. Summoning Noishe to me, I climbed on board the protozoan and we set off after the others, out of Asgard and onto the plains.

----------

"You knew about the wind seal."

I froze in terror on Noishe's back as the protozoan padded along. Beside us was Genis, and he didn't look too happy. Looking down, I gulped. Genis was loads smarter than Lloyd, so I couldn't lie to him. But I also couldn't reveal the whole plot to him, either.

Goddess-dammit, this is just NOT my day...

"Yes, I knew about the seal." I muttered, trying to keep my voice down low. I didn't want Kratos hearing, or he might be forced to incapacitate Genis. And like HELL did I want that. "I know where all of them are. But I can't just tell where their locations are."

"And why not?" Genis said angrily, resembling an angry kitten again. "You could make our journey so much easier!"

"I know that, Genis." I sighed, slumping on Noishe's neck, suddenly drained of energy. I was tired of having to explain the same things over and over again, trying to think up versions that would make people happy without getting suspicious...and my poor brain was running dry. How much longer would it be before I contradicted myself, and the truth came clean? "But...you know what a catalyst is, right?"

"Of course! It's used in chemical reactions to speed up the process without directly affecting the end result." Genis replied.

"Right. Now, I'm kind of like a catalyst for this whole journey. I can make this easy, but I can't directly affect what happens next. Get my drift?"

"...oh!" Genis gasped, the whole scheme of things suddenly clicking for him. "I see. Alright then." he said, chuckling slightly. "Sorry I thought you were holding out on us."

"No harm done." I replied, feigning cheerfulness as the little halfy scurried off to rejoin his sister. Noishe whined beneath me, and I scratched his ears, sighing sadly. I hadn't exactly lied to Genis, but...I didn't like the fact that I couldn't tell them that what they were doing would put everyone in danger. Colette reduced to a mindless zombie, Kratos rejoining Cruxis, having to awaken all the Summon Spirits, and then the giant tree...

"Is the pressure getting to you yet?"

"Shut up Kratos." I muttered into Noishe's neck fur. Everybody's favorite purple-clad mercenary had dropped back to mess with my head again, and I didn't feel like dueling with words at the moment. "Go away and leave me alone."

"That's not like you." Kratos said, a tinge of natural evilness creeping into his voice. "I distinctly heard you muttering about something last night in your sleep... Having nightmares now?" I chuckled, despite myself. Yes, I'd dreamed I'd glomped Kratty for revenge...hello. Revenge!

"Do you even want to know what I was dreaming about?" I asked, sitting up and eyeing the Seraph next to me with new interest. Heck, this might actually work... Kratos looked at me warily, perhaps sensing the trap I was laying at the moment.

"...What was it?" I grinned evilly, and that's when Kratos knew he was doomed.

"BRACE YOURSELF, KRATOS!"

Lloyd, Genis, Colette, and Raine all jumped a few inches in the air at my yell, and turned just in time to see me leap off of Noishe onto Kratos. The poor guy tried to run, but the force of my leap pushed him over, and..well...let's just say I was suddenly in heaven.

Kratos went stiff as a board and redder than his hair as I happily squeezed the air out of him, grinning madly. Now, this was something I'd dreamed about ever since I first played Tales of Symphonia...

"Oh my goddess..." Looking up, I saw the others standing there with their mouths hanging wide open, and I burst out laughing. For the first time since I'd got in this game, I was really happy to be here...

Kratos took advantage of my laughing spree to shove me off him and scramble to his feet, panting in shock. He was still bright red, and apparently shaking. Dammit, but I wished I had a camera! "Wh-what in Martel's name was that?" he gasped, edging away towards the back of the group to safety. Wiping tears from my eyes, I sat up grinning evilly.

"That, Kratos, was my patented glomp-tackle in it's first successful trial run! And what I was dreaming about last night." I froze for a moment as a thought struck me, and then, well...my ego took over.

"HAHA! I ACTUALLY GLOMPED KRATOS! TAKE THAT, ALL YOU OTHER FANS OUT THERE! Man, I can't wait tell Libby and Davinia...they'll kill me! Mwahahaha..."

Suffice to say, nobody wanted to come near me for the rest of the afternoon.

----------

That evening found us in front of the Balacruf Mausoleum, tired and hungry. Well, all but me. Glomping Kratos had apparently become my energy source for the day...but dinner sounded good too.

"...it's settled then. We'll rest here and break the seal in the morning." Sensible Raine stated, and then she was off to examine the giant tomb.

"Aww, Raine.." Genis sighed, looking around for something we could use as firewood. He found a few dried-up vines instead. "Something tells me dinner'll be cold tonight..."

I slid off Noishe and slowly walked over to Lloyd and Kratos, who getting ready to do their nightly sparring match. I didn't want to scare them, namely because I suspected that Kratos was still traumatized from the glomp-tackle and that he'd also warned Lloyd that he could be my next target. If he had, he'd be right about that one. I was going to glomp Lloyd even if it killed me. But that was another subject for another time.

"Hey guys! Can I join you?" Sheesh, you'd think I'd turned into an Exbelua or something, the way those two jumped and stared at me. Frowning, I drew my dagger and flashed it so that the blade caught the light. "What's wrong? I still haven't got the hang of the Demon Fang yet, guys..." Kratos seemed to settle down at that, and slip back into professional-mercenary mode.

"Right. You spar with Lloyd for a bit, while I try to remember where we left off last time..."