A/N: Behold! I have emerged from the pile of long rehearsals, school, and football games! Here comes chapter 2 out of the workshop! A huge thanks to Draco Blade for betareading and other suggestions, and thanks to Lloyd Irving Aurion for various writing tips/hints/pointers/whateveryoucallems. This wouldn't be here without you guys! And now, to give the disclaimer/get some airtime, heeeeere's Kratos!

Kratos: Reader of All does not own anything about Tales of Symphonia. Namco does. (kneels and bows to logo)

...thanks, Kratos... Anyway, here's Chapter 2! Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Orion of Exire

"Ahh," Genis sighed peacefully as he soared through the skies, "I wonder where she could be? Perhaps I should visit Ozette to check if she's returned."

After about half an hour of flying, he had reached the tree-shrouded village of Ozette. "Presea!" he called out to no avail.

"Are you here?" he asked, as he realized he would not get an answer back. "I guess I'll search elsewhere…"

He flew off, wondering where Presea had gone without notice, when…

"BOOOOOOOM!" was the only thing he heard next, followed by the sounds of fleeing birds, a screaming child and a burning forest.

He looked in the direction of the explosion, "What the- What was that!?" he rushed to his Rheaird and flew as fast as he could to the Gaoracchia Forest to inspect the situation.

"Help!" Genis heard a voice, "There's fire everywhere!"

As he lowered his altitude to move in and get a closer look, he saw a young boy, no older than 10 years of age, caught in the fiery pillars of blazing trees and shrubbery, "Can anyone help me!?" he exclaimed.

'I've got to do something!' he thought. After mere seconds of contemplation, an idea sparked in his head. 'Wait, I've got it!'

Genis chanted a spell in Elven and cast, "Tidal Wave!"

Surely enough, a torrential vortex appeared and doused the flames into nothingness. Genis had made sure to put out the flames near the boy first. "Are you okay?" he asked, unsure of the boy's condition. At that moment, Genis noticed something peculiar, "Those ears," he began, "are you a half-elf?"

"Wh-wha? N-no, of course not!" he lied as he quickly concealed his ears (as if that would help…).

"No, no, it's okay," Genis softly reassured him, "I'm a half-elf, too," Genis displayed his pointed ears prominently, "What is your name, little one?"

"I-I'm Orion," he muttered meekly, slowly removing his hands from his ears.

"My name is Genis," he replied, "Do you know what happened here?"

"Not really," he began, "I was being chased by a group of people yelling at me and calling me names. I ran into the forest as fast as I could, hoping that they wouldn't find me."

"Hmm," said Genis, beginning to worry, 'It looks like Raine and I have still got our work cut out for us…' "Orion," he began again,

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember what caused the explosion?" he asked with interest.

"No, all I remember is running away, and then, boom!" he answered.

"Where do you live?" he asked as he continued to interrogate the young half-breed.

"Well," Orion began, "I used to live on Exire, but I fell off about a month ago while playing tag with my friends. I tried to hold on, but I fell into the ocean. My parents didn't go after me, hoping that I would survive the plummet into the deep waters and somehow return to Exire. After what seemed like hours of nonstop swimming, I had reached shore near a village completely covered in trees, and I've been living off the land ever since."

"That's terrible," Genis lamented. Orion lowered his head and began to well up with tears, 'Real smooth, Genis…' he thought to himself, "Hey, hey," Genis said softly as he attempted to console Orion, "I've got an idea! If you want, you can come with me, I don't know where Exire is at the time, but I know someone who may be willing to look after you until then." Genis said with a grin, 'I wonder if Altessa would mind…' He thought.

Orion's small, yet adorable smile spread across his face as he dried his tears. They boarded Genis's Rheiard and left the charred remains of the Gaoracchia Forest for Altessa's house.

Once they had lifted into the sky, Orion on Genis's back, Genis asked a little more about Orion's past. It turns out that Orion was of born and raised on Exire, and that he was always slipping off the edges of the bridges (damn slippery rocks…), but that his parents were always there to save him just in time. On this occasion, however, Orion's father was in a meeting with the town elder concerning whether or not to leave Exire in order to move to the Sylvarant side of Symphonia, where half-elves are at least somewhat accepted. As heard earlier, he had slipped again, screaming for his life, but his mother didn't have the strength to pull him up alone…

XXXXXXXXXX Later, at Altessa's house… XXXXXXXXXX

KNOCKNOCKNOCK "You there, Altessa?"

The door opened as a very aged dwarf stepped out onto his porch. "Hello, Genis. It's been a while."

"It has, hasn't it?" he replied, "Anyway, this is Orion, I found him caught in a fire in the Gaoracchia Forest."

"Oh, really now?" he replied with a hint of disbelief.

"Yes, really now." Genis said, slightly annoyed. "Would you mind taking care of him until I can find Exire?"

"Not a problem. Come, Orion. Let me show you around my humble abode." he said, closing the door.

"-sigh- Well, that sure seemed like a huge waste of time," he complained as the sun set before him, "but it's not as if I could have just left him there, he was about to burn to death…"

"It's nightfall, I guess I'll have to stay at Altessa's until morning," Genis spent the rest of the night there and slowly drifted off to sleep, thinking of Presea…

XXXXXXXXXX The next day… XXXXXXXXXX

"Sorry to leave so abruptly, Altessa," he said to no one in particular as he scrawled a message on a sheet of paper, 'I apologise, Altessa, but I must depart. There are many things that must be done…'

"I have to keep going…" he said as he left the house.

As he departed for his next destination, he realized something… he did not have any idea on where to go.

"Damn," he refrained from yelling, so as not to awake Altessa and Orion, "where am I going to go?"

XXXXXXXXXX Meanwhile, in Iselia XXXXXXXXXX

A tall, slightly aging, yet muscular blue haired man walked through the village gates, wearing a somewhat overjoyed expression on his face. He ran to Colette's house, hoping she was home to receive the extraordinary news. "Colette, are you home? It's Regal, and I have absolutely astonishing news!"

"What is it, Regal?" asked a puzzled Colette at the door.

"Presea just returned from the mine; we've finally rid the world of every last Exsphere ever manufactured!" he shouted gleefully.

"Wow, Regal! That's so great! Is that why you don't have your shackles anymore?"

"Exactly," he replied, "I made a promise to Alicia, and that is a promise that I cannot break."

"That's so amazing!" she went on in the same cheery tone she always does.

"Where are the others?" he asked, "I want to share this miracle with them, as well!"

"Okay! I'll go get Zelos!" She said as she departed to fetch her amorous boyfriend.

"Zelos? What's he doing here?" wondered a slightly confused Regal.

"What's up Regal?" he shouted, "How's life going at Lezareno, huh?"

"Actually," he started, "that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, my compa-"

"He and Presea destroyed all of the Exspheres!" Colette interrupted.

In reply, Regal could only say, "Well, that's the gist of it…"

"That's great news, Regal!" Zelos replied enthusiastically, "C'mon, let's go tell Lloyd and Sheena!" he said as they began to run in the direction of Iselia Forest.

XXXXXXXXXX After a healthy jog… XXXXXXXXXX

"Thank Martel!" Sheena said as she let out a heavy sigh, "Now no one will ever have to be tortured by those awful things again…"

"Wait," Lloyd interrupted, "Did you say that you heard from Presea?"

"Why, yes, he's been helping me in the mine for quite some time."

"Has she really been there all these years?" Sheena inquired.

"Yes, although we did lose contact some time ago, but she recently returned to the Lezareno building with the great news!"

Lloyd muttered to himself, "That's the last place Genis would look…"

XXXXXXXXXX Back to Genis, now in Meltokio XXXXXXXXXX

It had been near thirteen hours since, "-sigh- No sign of her here either," said Genis in a depressed tone, "I feel like I've spanned the entire globe…"

Genis decided to take one last sweep through the city, in case he had missed any leads, when-

"What's this?" he asked to himself, noticing the flyer on the bulletin board, " 'Lezareno Company disposes of last exspheres…' That's it!" he exclaimed as the idea hit him like a ton of bricks, "She must be in Altamira!"

Genis, hope renewed, decides to set out for Altamira the next morning, but will he find what he's looking for?

Woohoo! I thought this one would be the worst, but it's much better than I could ever had hoped! Thanks for reading (coughdracobladecough) and reviewing!