The next chapter! I'm hoping that I can get this done quickly . . .I have some other projects, and I'm throwing down a lot of them so I can get these done.
So, recap: Elisa was taken into Cruxis at age nine via Kratos, and eleven years later, she was ordered by Mithos to go on a prototype journey. Not only that, it turns out she has a crush on the blue-haired seraph.
Aren't I just evil?
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I only own my character. If I did own ToS though, Kratos would go to the darn beach and have swimtrunks! (Yep, typical Kratos fangirl).
"Hmm. Pretty lightweight," Elisa spun her new lance in her hands a few times before taking it in a strong grip and getting into a fake battle stance. "Either way, it's pretty cool!"
"Just don't forget that it costs money," Kratos chided.
Elisa smiled sheepishly. "Oh, yeah. Sorry."
"You apologize a lot, you know." Yuan pointed out.
"O-oh! S-sorry!" Elisa turned a dark shade of red and looked down at her boots. Yuan and Kratos laughed, breaking her out of her embarrassment. "L-let's just get going, alright?"
"I suppose so," Kratos went. They were standing near the schoolhouse, already stocked with items. "We should get going. The first seal is –"
"-the Triet Ruins. That's where Efreet is – we should get a move on."
"Y-yeah," Elisa strapped her new lance to her back and smiled at the group. "Time to go."
The terrain was quickly turning from rocks to sand, and the temperature was slowly rising. This is where having a mop of hair is a disadvantage, Elisa realized with disdain. She was starting to envy Kratos and Yuan more, both of them with shorter hair. She wanted to cut hers off, but she preferred it longer! It was grown out so long from eleven years without a cut, and she liked it longer anyway. Except in this heat . . .
"You look like you're melting," Yuan went, slowing down to walk next to her. "Is your hair really that much of a nuisance?"
Elisa looked down at the ground again. "I-It's not that much of a hindrance," she mumbled. "And I like it longer."
Yuan stared at her as she blushed, before calling out to Kratos. "Can we take a break? Somebody needs a haircut!"
Elisa turned a shade even brighter than her hair as the group stopped. "W-we don't need to stop!" Elisa protested, looking up at Yuan and Kratos, staring at her. "It's fine! I like my hair this long! And we won't be in the heat forever!"
"It's a good week or more to get to the ruins," Kratos told her. "You're going to need to get a haircut, or you'll suffer heat stroke."
"And you look like you're melting anyway," Yuan added.
It was decided. Elisa sat on a stump with a pout, elbows on her knees, as Kratos cut her hair with a knife he had on hand. She resisted a cry in despair every time a lock of her precious hair fell to the ground in front of her. She could feel her head get lighter with each lock that was chopped off, her spirits slowly sinking from more than the heat.
Finally, the torture was over. "It's not the neatest cut," Kratos went as he sheathed his knife, "But it's better than nothing."
Elisa shook her head, feeling the lightness of hair minus a yard. The feeling was odd, feeling her hair brush her shoulders instead of getting caught behind them. Now it clung closer to her face, highlighting her green eyes. "I . . .guess it feels a little better," she realized, the heat not as bad as before with her longer hair. "I suppose it was for the best."
She got up and turned to Yuan and Kratos, saying, "I'm sorry. I guess you guys were right."
"There's no need for apologies." Kratos went. "We need to get going."
Yuan nodded. "Right. We should probably hurry before nightfall."
"W-wait a sec!" Elisa went. Both seraphs turned to her. "Why not just walk at night? That way, we'd be walking in cooler weather. And besides, a lot of monsters sleep during the night, many of which are venomous, so-"
"How do you know that?" Yuan asked her suddenly. She jumped and looked at her feet, silently choosing not to respond. Yuan stared at her a moment longer before shaking his head and looking to Kratos. "She does have a point. And since we've stopped now anyway, why don't we just stay here? Elisa needs to sleep, after all."
Kratos grunted. "I suppose so." He turned. "I'll go look for firewood." With that, he left through the trees.
Elisa stared after him with a worried and concerned gaze. "He didn't usually act like this," Elisa whispered. "Did he start acting like this when I came?"
"I don't think it was you entirely, to be fair," Yuan interrupted. Elisa jumped – she hadn't thought he had heard her. "I'm not sure what the cause is, but it may just be that he's getting old. And you might've helped, a little."
"Hey, w-what does that mean?" she asked. Yuan shrugged and looked away. She gave up on getting an answer.
Why does my forehead feel funny?
It was the first thing Elisa asked herself when she awoke on the floor of the dying forest. She sat up, her hands meeting a mix of soil and sand. She furrowed her brow. It felt odder to actually furrow it, as if something was jutting her skin. She reached a hand up, wondering if something had dried there (like a bug – she tried not to think of that) but met cold metal. She moved her hand down it – whatever it was ended between her eyebrows. Moving up, she felt it widen and branch off side to side in the middle of her forehead. It also continued up and met her hairline. She moved her hand down again to the center and felt a different metal. She furrowed her brow again, irritating it again. It wasn't metal, she realized – she knew what it was from coming across it.
It felt like a jewel.
"What the fuck?" She moved her hand away in the second, standing the next. Her world almost turned black as she almost fell, the speed of her movement almost knocking her out. Her vision cleared, and she quickly looked around to try and find Kratos and Yuan. She didn't and swore again. A growling came from somewhere, and she looked around before realizing that it came from her. She sighed. "Darn. Might as well eat."
They reappeared the moment she had finished eating. "Nice timing, guys," she went, pointing fiercely to her forehead. "What the heck is this thing?"
Yuan didn't say a word, only handed her a handmirror. She took it and stared at her face.
The first metal was gold, creating an elegant design on her brow. The jewel was a blood red, a darker shade than her own hair. She noticed that the left side stopped short – the right side went all the way to the opposite end of her temple, but the left stopped just before. It was safely away from the pale scar that ran down her face and jaw, a reminder of what she had faced years earlier.
She handed the mirror back to Yuan. "And you guys couldn't have told me that you were going to give me a Cruxis Crystal in the middle of the night?"
"I suggested it to Yuan when you were asleep. You're quite a deep sleeper, by the way," Kratos went.
Elisa sighed. "I think I would've preferred to be aware when you were putting it on. How does that even work?"
"We don't have much time to be talking about this," Yuan went. "We need the time we have to get a move on. Besides, Triet Ruins is pretty far from here."
"I suppose so," Kratos went. "Let's get moving."
The two seraphs turned away, and Elisa stood and followed reluctantly. They need to start giving me warnings . . .
Okay . . .Chapter two is done. I probably won't cover the whole walk to Triet Ruins, but I think I will cover her last meal. We'll see . . .
Please comment!