Disclaimer: I do not Symphonia or these characters.
As we finally stepped in the city known for its ruins, yes, even in those days, it felt so odd. As we passed through the streets and people glared at us, I knew that it was at the half-elves, but a part of me wondered if it was because I had left them behind. Not that they had ever noticed me to begin with.
It had been a long journey that day, so Yuan dragged us to a place that I knew well: a place that had once been our home. A woman was standing outside in the garden; her hair was streaked with grey. I knew her right away, but she seemed so much older than the last time I had seen her. Then again, I probably wasn't the same little girl she had seen.
"Mom?" Yuan called out, and she looked up with shock. She looked like she hadn't expected to see us again. She rushed up to her son and pulled him into a bone crushing hug. "They told us... I never thought that I would see you again! You left, and I was so worried. Your father..."
"I know, Mom." She looked up at him and murmured something. Then she turned to us.
There was shock as she looked over our strange group, and then she said, "Would you like to come inside?"
One was talking to Martel, and I noticed Two had a distant look on his face. It was strange for all of us, but there was something there that I couldn't identify. I went over to him. "Is everything all right?"
"They don't remember me." He looked at me with a strange, distant stare. "You don't remember me?"
It had been many years since I had left that place, and I had forgotten. How could I? I knew that Yuan had a... "You're his brother." He looked away. "You vanished, all those years ago."
"It's more than that," he said, his voice incredibly quiet. "You weren't there. You don't know what I went through."
"Why don't you start from the beginning?"
He took a deep breath. "My father left me here; I was too young to remember him. They took me in, like they took you in. And then..."
"You're coming with me," the man said. He was tall and imposing, with burning red eyes. "You've been here long enough. Now, it's time for you to come home." In the dark of the night, he had appeared to me.
"They're my family. I can't just leave them behind."
"I am a man of power," Lord Aurion said. "This tiny village is nothing compared to the kingdom that you will inherit under me, child."
"I would not leave them behind for all the power in the world."
And his sword was against my neck. "How about your life?"
"I had to." There were tears in his eyes. "I was so happy when I saw Yuan, the man that I considered my brother, again. And he doesn't even remember me. You don't remember me, and you were like a sister to me." I felt a pain in my heart at his words. I didn't even remember his name. He held his head high. "I hated my father for abandoning me, and taking me away, but then I found him. My brother by blood, my twin. In Tethe'alla, he was the one good thing to me. I don't think I have left his side since. I thought that I would be able to handle it, I left you guys behind, but being here... In a place that I once called home, in the city where I grew up, it's rather hard." He turned to me. "Do you remember me?"
"Vaguely," I said, and he shook his head. "I'm sorry. You left so suddenly. I didn't know. I was... I don't even remember your name."
"We never told you our names. I thought you would know. I saw you in the castle. You were like a sister to me. It was my mistake." He turned away, a small, bitter smile on his face. "What do you call me?"
"...One and Two. You're Two. I could never tell you apart."
"Then Two I shall be," he said. "Perhaps it's better for him not to know. Thank you for talking to me. I know now." With that, he stood, and he walked away. I watched after him, and I felt sorry for the man that I had once called my brother, and I wondered what his name had been in our world, so long ago.
As we were heading to the fourth temple, I decided that now was the time to reveal the power.
"The dwarves gave us these special crystals that are supposed to enhance your power," I explained. "These are the power that we went there to achieve." I set them out on the table.
"Some of these are different than others." Looking at the table, I noticed that some of them were smaller and rounder than the crystals Martel and I wore, and they didn't shine as much. "How do we know which ones get which?"
I remembered the dwarf saying they had a few of the crystals. They must have not had enough. In fact, there were only two like mine. "Well, I think the bigger ones," the ones that had looked like Martel and I's crystal, "are more powerful. So who needs the more powerful one more?"
"Mithos," my former brother spoke up, looking at the young man. "He must have the greatest power." His brother nodded, and Mithos took it. Martel showed him how to apply it. There was a question in his eyes at her ease of applying it, but he didn't ask it, and she didn't answer it.
"Only one left," his brother spoke up. I wondered if I should have taken one of the smaller ones before, but I had to test out the bigger ones, make sure that they weren't going to harm my friends. That made sense, right? "Who should it go to?"
"Yuan," my former brother said, very quietly. I looked at him, and I understood why. Although he didn't want him to know that he was his brother, he still wanted to care for him. Well, I'm sure that the twins could take care of themselves when it came to. And Yuan took it and followed their example. The twins took their smaller spheres and put them on.
And it was time to head out. We said our goodbyes to Yuan's mother, and we headed on our way, to the fourth temple. And I wondered what this had in store for us.
"A mausoleum?" I asked. Some of the temples had been weird, like a geyser, but we had never been in a place like this. Stepping inside that creepy place, I couldn't help but feel like I was back in the temple of Darkness.
"It feels like we're surrounded by death," I remarked, looking over my shoulder. But Mithos shook his head.
"Are you kidding? This isn't creepy enough. If I owned this place, I would put up all sorts of puzzles, and I would make it darker. And maybe I would hide in it, so that when people walked by, looking for the exit, I could pop out and scare them."
"That's not very respectful to the people who once lived here, Mithos," Yuan chided. As a child, he had taken an interest in the ruins, always going out to see them; I was not surprised that he wanted to be respectful. I probably would have been more impressed if I hadn't been so creeped out. "The people that once lived here lived and died by the wind, you know. Their great king, Cleo III was said to have been reborn. And one day, they say the royal of the wind will stand before the alter and offer their very soul... Maybe they were talking about you, Mithos!"
"I'll just set up traps based on their civilization then, if I ever own it. It's not like that is ever going to happen, so what's the problem with having a little fun imagining?" Listening to the two of them talk, I couldn't help but be glad that all we had to deal with was a little bit of darkness and an eerie feeling.
Finally, we made it to the platform. Mithos stepped forward, and the wind seemed to pick up. Odd, cause we were in side. "Spirits, I desire to make a pact with you!" he cried. "Please, show yourself!"
And then they were. There were three of them, and they were small, but there was a lot of power coming off of them, even I could notice it. And then the next thing that I noticed was how grating their voices were.
I thought that the embodiment of the wind would be hard to fight, but it felt easier. I had never felt stronger as I fought, lunging for those little monsters. I wondered if it was the crystal that I wore on my chest that had increased my power so much.
There was a blast of wind, and everything came to a halt. I heard my former brother let out a cry, and then I saw why. Sylph's sword went through his brother's chest. He rushed to his side, calling out his name, but he was gone before he hit the ground.
He ran to his brother, pressing his hands to his chest, and found nothing. He fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face.
"Please," he said, "come back to me. Please, don't leave me like the others..." There was nothing.
The Sylph monsters stopped and turned to us. "Well, we'll continue this fight when you feel better." And, before we could say anything, they were gone.
We all stood, unsure of what to do now, the only sound being my brother's, sobs. And all I could think was that I never knew his name.