A/N: Thank you all so much for the kind reviews! Now on with the story.

Chapter 3

Stripes

I followed behind Ramen, glaring at the back of her head the whole way. What's up with her? As much as I love this world, I just wanna figure out how we got here, and… That's when it occurred to me. I did want to find out how we got there, but under no circumstances, did I want to leave again. There was just one thing I simply had to do, and then I could die happy.

"Hey, Ramen," I eventually said, "If this is ToS, that means that… that… K-kratos is… is… K-kratos!" I could feel my cheeks turning red and my face began to burn. This always happened when I was fangirl-ing. I swear, It'll kill me one day.

"Kratos is Kratos?" said Ramen smirking at me, enjoying my pain.

"Shut it!" I exclaimed. "I want to meet him Ramen! As many stories as we've written, I have to meet Kratos! I want to touch his hair, and then I can be dead for the next ten years of my life!"

Ramen laughed. "What happens after ten years?"

"I turn into an Angel and live with Kr-"

"Spoiler alert! Spoiler Alert! Stripes, they don't know that yet!" Ramen panicked.

"Oh, yeah… thanks for that." Brain gotz dumb.

"I don't get what you guys are saying." Wondered Lloyd. "What's 'toss' and who's Kratos?"

For a moment, I wanted to spaz. I had played through the game so many times, I was so used to seeing Kratos. It hadn't occurred to me that there was ever point where Lloyd didn't know who Kratos was. It made me sad, for Lloyd, the amazing little idiot hero, the main character of Tales of Symphonia, to not know his own father.

I fumbled for a lie, and had to settle for the best one I could grab. "ToS is what people of our religion call this… part of the world."

"You don't believe in Martel?" Lloyd practically gasped. "What else is there?'

"We have our beliefs." I said, pretending to be uninterested in the subject. "We don't practice them outside our… village though."

"Oh," said Lloyd, holding his hand up in the air like a sort of gun, pointing his finger to the sky. Ramen and I call this his "smart pose". "So, it's like that fairy tale about the hidden village of ninjas. What was it called…?"

"Mizuho?" I wondered.

"Yeah!" Lloyd smiled. "Hey, wait. Don't tell me it actually exists, and you guys…"

"No." I laughed. "Good try, though."

"What's Meezoo-he?" asked Ramen quietly to me, trying to keep it between us, but it was clear that Lloyd heard it too. He was looking at her strange, probably wondering how she couldn't have heard of it before.

I cleared my throat and nudged Ramen a bit. "It's a legend that everyone in Sym- er, Sylvarrant knows!"

She managed to catch on. "Oh yeah. That one! Yeah, with the village and the… ninjas! Yeah…" she nodded.

I face palmed.

*~*~*

When we reached Iselia, Lloyd told Noishe to make his way around the village.

"Lloyd!" called a voice. I looked up to see a girl with long, blonde hair running towards Lloyd.

"Colette!" Lloyd smiled, running up to her and giving her a hug. "How did the trip go? Did you see anything cool like a ghost or a werewolf?"

"Well, no," Colette smiled, "but I did see a cute doggie. I named him Kitty!"

"You named a dog Kitty?" Lloyd laughed.

"Well, she acted kinda like that girl at school, Kitty. Just like Pepe acts like that kidd, Pepe!"

"Y… you do know Kitty is a cat, and cats and dogs fight." Lloyd said.

Trying logic on Colette? He really is an idiot hero.

Colette laughed. "Silly, Kitty and Pepe are best friends! They do their homework together!"

"Huh?" wondered Lloyd. "Dogs have homework?"

"Hm? Oh. Well, they might." Replied Colette.

"I feel sorry for those dogs." Lloyd sighed.

"Cheer up." Smiled Colette. "I'm sure the dogs have easier homework than us."

"What do you suppose is on it?" Wondered Lloyd.

"Colette giggled. "Maybe…"

"Ramen, do you get the feeling…" I sighed.

"Yup." Said Ramen. "They completely forgot we where here."

I gave a little chuckle. "I doubt Colette ever even noticed.

"Heh heh, yeah." Ramen smiled.

To our grace, though, a young boy with long silver hair, and a kendama on his belt came walking over.

Genis! My mind screamed, but I held it in this time and settled for a polite smile.

"Awww…" Ramen breathed beside me.

"Pedo." I whispered. She glared at me and I smirked.

"I don't wanna hear that in this game." She whispered back, and we couldn't help but smile. Genis ignored Lloyd and Colettes' conversation which was getting crazier by the second.

"Who are you two?" he asked. That seemed to get the others attention, too.

"Oh," Colette smiled. Are they friends of yours Lloyd?"

Not really. I thought to say, but Lloyd beat me to it.

"Yeah." He said.

My smile grew. Lloyd, the Lloyd Irving said I was his friend!

"They're on a mission, but they don't know how to fight, so they asked me to train them."

Genis started laughing. "Wait. You asked Lloyd to train you? Geez. Listen, if you really want to learn, I can teach you."

"Hey, Genis, what's that supposed to mean?" Lloyd glared.

"Exactly what it sounds like." Replied Genis.

"Shut it!" yelled Lloyd, as he bonked Genis on the head.

"Ow!" whined Genis. "It's true, though."

"Well, if you want I could teach you a few things." Colette smiled. "Genis will have a tough time on his own."

"Colette, not you, too." Sighed Lloyd.

"Hm? What is it Lloyd?" wondered Colette.

Genis smiled. "So, would it be alright if all three of us trained you?"

"Sure!" Ramen and I said in unison.

"Alright," said Lloyd. "All that remains is to get you two a place to stay. Do you have any money?"

Ramen and I looked at each other, shrugged, dug through our pockets, and shook our heads.

Lloyd sighed. "It's getting dark, and you can't make the trip back to dads place if you can't fight. Hey Colette, Genis, do either of you have any extra room?"

"Father is still in Palmacosta, so there's one extra bed in my house." Said Colette.

"Yeah," replied Genis. "Raine's out of town, so I've got an extra bed, too."

"Oh." Said Lloyd. "The professor's out of town? You guys are so lucky!"

*~*~*~

Ramen looked be hind her as we split up to leave. I could tell that she didn't really want to go spent the night at Colettes' house with out me there. Knowing her she would rather camp out than spend the night with a stranger, but things would be easier this way.

"By the way," Genis smiled, as we entered his house, "my name's Genis."

"Alright," I replied. "I'm Stripes."

"Stripes?" wondered Genis. "Is that your real name?"

"No," I smiled. "it's a nickname, but Ramen doesn't seem to want me to let out my real name. This is the name I use for missions."

"Oh, said Genis, closing the door behind us. Then, he became a lot more serious than I has ever seen him in ToS. "You're a half-elf." He said.

"Huh?" I wondered. "I'm pretty sure I'm human…"

"No." Genis replied. "You're a half-elf like me. You have the mana signature that comes from a mixture of elven and human blood. Don't tell me you never knew."

"I… But, there's no elves or half-elves in my wor- er, my village." I panicked.

"How do you know? People there must not know how to tell the difference between humans and half-elves. You can use magic too." He added.

"I can?"

"You never knew?!"

"Look, I've lived quite a sheltered life in my… village. Don't blame me if I don't know how to use magic-y stuffs."

"Ma… Magic-y…?" Genis shook his head. "How do you not know you're a half-elf?! It's impossible! Don't you age slower than everyone else?"

"W-well, no, but-"

"Then everyone in your village must be half-elves, too!" he said excitedly.

"But… but…" I struggled for words. This isn't right! Half-elves don't exist in out world! Wait… I might usually be human, but to live in this world I might have been turned into a half-elf. That makes sense… Twilight sense.

"Did you really never know?" Genis asked again, a little bit calmer now.

"Never." I replied.

Genis sighed. "You do know how people think of half-elves, right?"

I nodded. Half-elves where hated and feared in both worlds because Desians- horrible people who kidnapped humans and forced them to work- where all half-elves. Any half-elf trying to live freely would usually be forced to the edges of society.

"My sister and I have been saying that we are pureblood elves. If you want, I can back you up on that, and you can say you're an elf, so I can teach you magic. It's the least I could do for a fellow half-elf. How about it?"

I smiled. "On one condition."

"What's that?" asked Genis.

I held out my hand, and gave my most sincere smile. "Let's be friends."

Genis smiled and took my hand. "Yeah!" he laughed. "Great friends!"

I nodded. "Yeah."

I looked around the house, which was really more like a large room. Although, that's what most houses in this world where like. My eyes rested on a box with a piece of wood sticking out of it. I looked inside to see a bunch of different colored and sized kendamas.

Genis stood beside me and reached into the box, pulling out the tiniest kendama I had ever seen. It was sloppily made and looked heavy, but Genis held it close, like a beautiful, delicate treasure.

"This was my very first kendama." He smiled. Raine made it for me on her own. We didn't have much money back then, so getting a gift was rare. But on my fifth birthday, I came inside from playing and she had this waiting for me. It made me so happy. Every year after that, I got a new Kendama. I kept every one she got me. When I started learning magic, Raine asked me what kind of weapon I wanted. While I was thinking about it, I was whispering an incantation under my breath, so I wouldn't forget it. I finished the incantation at the same time as the ball hit the pin. I ended up casting fireball and almost set the house on fire. Raine got so angry…" he laughed a bit.

I pulled out the yo-yo from my bag. "I fight with a yo-yo!" I smiled. We both rolled on the floor with laughter.

We played a bunch that night. The thing I hide from most of my friends is just how childish I really am. I love playing with my stuffed animals, hide and seek, fairytales for story time, and best of all- pretend.

I absolutely love pretend game. I can pull off playing three completely different characters at once, and act out the part so convincingly that people have to remind me sometimes that it's just a game.

I'. often ashamed to tell this to anyone my age, so most of my friends end up to be younger than me. It still feels weird to think of Ramen as older than me, although certainly less mature, but I had fun with Genis.

We let our childish side show as we told knock-knock jokes, and compared some of out favorite imaginary adventures. Soon, it was time to let our childish sides rest.

"You know," said Genis, climbing into his little bed, "you're the first half-elf friend I've ever had."

Those words, a direct quote from the game, sparked a memory.

Mithos, the cutest little half-elf I had ever seen, was supposed to befriend Genis, and gain false trust before betraying the group. The memory of the betrayal made my eyes sting with tears that I knew would never come.

"Genis," I gulped, thankful he couldn't see my face in the darkness, "I'll always trust you, and you can trust me. I won't ever let you down, okay?"

"Yeah." Genis's words smiled for him. "We half-elves can always look after each other, right?"

My throat clench a bit, but I took a deep breath. "Mmhmm." Was all I could manage. His trusting words where meant for a horrible villain. Those two would be the happiest best friends if Mithos was really who he pretended to be.

From that night on, I was always a bit more careful. I always knew the effect I could have on the entire world… worlds. How would my friendship and loyalty affect Genis when the time came? Would he join Mithos in the pursuits of Cruxis? And what if I messed up again and ended up having to betray them for one reason or another? Would Genis ever trust me to begin with? If he didn't, the world might have to take a bad, new turn.

Whatever the case, I had no choice but to be extremely careful, and hope for the best.

A/N: Ok, there's chapter three.

Oh yes and for the line "That makes sense… Twilight sense" it is simply because we feel that sparkly vampires don't make sense. If you are offended by this, please feel free to say that the line says: That makes sense, Twilight Zone sense."

See you next chapter!

Mary Sue Litmus Test score for both Ramen and Stripes based on what is written and things that are being planned: 50 (Woooow, that's high! And that's not including stuff that we haven't planned on yet! XD)