This chapter took longer to write than my usual two days because I had a plethora of classwork to do. Sorry bout that. Anyway, I would like to again say thank you for reviewing Contraltissimo and Tobiasa, and thanks to the new reviewer, IJustWannaBeMe. In this chapter I hope to answer some questions and create some more.

On the suggestion front, I've had two that involved bows and arrows, so it seems that it will be going in that direction. As I said, I will give kudos to the originator(s) of the idea 'on air', that means in the story...somehow I will. I had to repost this chapter because of editing mistakes, sorry if you got an email notification thrice.

On with the story!
"I do not own Tales of Symphonia!" – I.K.A. Valian

The stars twinkled in the skies above Symphonia. Tethe'alla was now waning. Its beams of lunar light, broken up by scattered clouds, shone on the remains of Luin. A green and white animal slept in front of the ruined fountain. Its long ears twitched every now and then. Its breath was visible every time the animal's chest fell, expelling hot moist animal breathe into the chill night air.

In the space directly above the peacefully sleeping animal, a mist gathered. Slowly, the mist coalesced into the form of seven people. Two of those people solidified into Lloyd and Genis, who promptly fell onto the green and white animal.
"Aiyee!" Screeched the animal as it was crushed underneath the red clad swordsman and the silver haired Elf. The animal immediately attempted to free itself of its fleshy paper weights.

"Oof!" grunted Kratos as he landed skillfully on two feet, and then got kicked in the stomach by the struggling animal. Colette appeared in mid-air and upon noticing how high up she was, sprouted incandescent wings of lavender and violet from her back.

"Ahh..." screamed Raine. She appeared next to Colette and started to fall before Colette caught her by the wrist.

"I got you, Professor," Raine stepped onto Colette's foot with a sigh and clung to her as if her life depended on it. She looked down at the lake below, shuddered, and clenched her eyes shut as tight as possible. Colette flew gracefully around the lake's surface before she floated to the ground. Once she stepped onto the earth, the wings disappeared in a wave of sparkling light. Raine slowly opened her eyes and noticed that the two of them were no longer in the air or over water. She stepped away from Colette and straightened her clothes out, attempting to regain some dignity. Colette giggled.

Gaar and Sheena appeared at the same time. Sheena grabbed Gaar's unconscious body and somersaulted with trained reflexes and cat-like grace. She landed lightly next to the fountain and laid Gaar gently onto the ground.

The green and white animal finally freed itself from underneath Lloyd and Genis. It then ran across the bridge to the main land like the proverbial dog on fire as Lloyd shouted, "Sorry Noishe!" Lloyd turned back around and looked at Genis, who was staring at Gaar, his brow furrowed in thought. Everyone was staring at Gaar. Sheena slowly edged back away from him. Raine looked like she was about to gleefully solve a complex equation. Kratos looked at Gaar as one looks at an oddity of nature. Colette was staring at Gaar, but soon enough she smiled.

Lloyd looked at everyone's stony expressions and said, "Uh… Guys… Hello!" Lloyd's shouts were ignored by all, except for several barks and a long howl that came from the distant shore.

"Lloyd," Genis eventually said, "you never said that Gaar could do that…"

"Huh?" Lloyd looked at Genis in askance.

"Lloyd," Genis turned to Lloyd, "you said that Gaar defeated a Desian. You said he was really strong. You didn't say Gaar could use magic, or that the sword he used caught on fire, or that he-"

"Lloyd," Raine interrupted, "Do you realize how much power, how much Mana, Gaar just used back there?" Everyone, except Genis and Kratos looked at Raine. "He shouldn't have been able to do that, no one should be able to do that," Raine pointed at Gaar, "yet he did…"

"Professor," Colette looked confused back at Gaar's body as she continued, "you said that 'there wasn't that much Mana in the world'. What did you mean?"

"What she meant," said Kratos, "is that boy wasn't so much using large amounts of Mana as he was producing it." Lloyd scratched his head, Genis and Sheena didn't notice their jaws drop, Raine nodded but still concentrated on Gaar's prone form, and Colette looked curiously at Raine.

"Is that true professor?" she asked.

"Yes," Raine said, "that sums up what I was thinking."

"I don't get it…" Lloyd scratched his head.

Raine walked over to Gaar and kneeled down. She placed a hand on Gaar's rising chest and said, "Right now, his Mana is normal. The body takes in and releases Mana from the world around it at even rates, everyone's body does this naturally. It is a part of life. Right now, Gaar's body is doing just that, taking in Mana from the world, and releasing it."

"Raine?" Genis looked at Raine curiously. "Gaar looked like he was using regular magic to me, just a whole lot of it. Wasn't Gaar taking in the same amount of Mana?"

Raine looked at Genis and sighed. "No Genis. When you or I use magic, we take in the amount of Mana equal to the amount in the spell we cast. But before, in the ranch, Gaar's body was releasing phenomenally more Mana than it was taking in. In fact, his body wasn't taking any Mana in at all, it was only being released, and in larger quantities than I've ever seen before." Genis looked thoughtfully at Gaar. Raine stood up and faced the group. "It was as if his body had somehow stored Mana away, and released it when he was overwhelmed." She turned to Lloyd and asked, "Lloyd, how did Gaar defeat the Desian in the forest?"

Lloyd audibly swallowed and paled a little.

"I'd rather not talk about it…"he said shakily.

"I would assume that Gaar appeared to show strengths that far surpassed those of normal humans," Raine surmised. "Who ever this kid is, he isn't a normal human. In fact, there hasn't ever been one like him. I wonder where he came from."

"But what about his anger," Sheena said, "his Mana seemed to follow his emotions. He could barely control himself."

"That's right," Colette added. "It took all I had to stop him."

"But…" Genis looked up at Raine, "he stopped the killing, just like Colette asked. In fact, he stopped the whole factory, and saved hundreds of lives."

"Only," Kratos interrupted, "after the chosen intervened in his rampage. Had she not done so, his Mana would have continued out of control until he destroyed himself and everyone around him."

"Yes," Raine said. "When Colette interrupted Gaar's attack, he seemed to struggle internally. Perhaps his will to do the right thing fought with his out of control emotions which were fueled by the excessive Mana." Everyone looked down at Gaar's body, lost in thought. Lloyd looked confused at Raine for a few seconds before he looked down at Gaar.

"So what are we gonna do?" Genis finally asked. "We can't leave him here by himself."

Colette nodded furiously. "I agree. Besides, Gaar is our friend."

"He could hurt someone if we left him alone," Sheena added, "himself included." Lloyd seemed lost in thought, when Genis looked at him.

"Lloyd, what do you think?" Everyone looked to Lloyd for his answer.

"I think that move he made, where he slashed all those Desians in half, was the coolest thing ever!" A collective groan came from everyone awake, even Noishe howled in the distance. Then Lloyd looked down at the jewel on the back of his right hand. It glinted in the waning moonlight as Tethe'alla sank below the horizon. "I was also thinking about…" Lloyd trailed off, his words losing their heart. His face was of mixed emotions, never actually showing one before moving to another.

"I can't believe Exspheres are made from people's lives." Sheena had taken her Exsphere off and was looking at the jewel as it rolled around the cradle of her palm. "At least Gaar stopped it… for now…"

Genis looked at the jewel on the back of his hand. "This is Marble's… life…" Genis looked downtrodden. His Exsphere glinted at him in the moonlight.

Lloyd's brow furrowed and his eyes hardened as he tore the Exsphere from his right hand. "Arrgh! This…thing!" Lloyd let his desperate rage flow through his features as he raised the jewel and prepared to smash the Exsphere into the ground.

His rapidly descending fist came to a halt when Colette grabbed his shoulder and shouted, "Lloyd, wait!" When Lloyd stopped moving, Colette continued more calmly. "What will you accomplish by taking that off?" Lloyd didn't move. "It's not just an Exsphere," Colette said, "it's your mother's life, remember?"

Lloyd swiftly turned and shouted, "But these…these…things make a mockery of human life!" Colette shrank under Lloyd's passionate fury.

Everyone winced, except Kratos who calmly stated, "We would have lost long ago had we not had them." Lloyd turned his infuriated eyes to Kratos' stony visage.

"Don't you think I know that!" Lloyd was breathing heavily as his passion, his fury swept through him.

"Do you really," Kratos goaded the boy. "If you throw away that Exsphere now, do you really think you can finish this journey?" Kratos seemed to loosen the tension in the air with that statement. Lloyd looked down at his Exsphere, his emotions no longer out of control. Now he looked more like Kratos, emotionless.

"Yeah," Lloyd said after a while. "Without these things, we're just a bunch of weak humans." Genis glanced at Gaar, but didn't say anything. "We can fight because we have these. I know that." Lloyd reattached his Exsphere to the back of his right hand. "But," he continued, still looking at his the jewel, "Exspheres exist as a result of taking someone's life!"

"And," Kratos countered. "Those people didn't become victims because they wanted to, but I doubt they would want to be thrown away after being turned into Exspheres."

Colette gathered up enough courage to talk again. "My opinion may not matter much because I don't use an Exsphere, but I believe the Desians will defeat us if we throw away our Exspheres now." Lloyd turned to Colette. "And if that happens, more people will lose their lives to these stones. I don't want that to happen. I don't want this journey to be meaningless." Once Colette finished, Lloyd looked down at the ground.

"Colette's right," Kratos added. "We can throw away the Exspheres at any time. But right now, we must carry the weight of the hopes and dreams of those victims and fight for their sake, as well as our own. Didn't you say you weren't going to hesitate anymore?"

Lloyd looked at Kratos, annoyed. But after his words sank in, Lloyd sighed in defeat. "Yeah," he said. "I hate to say it, but you're right." Lloyd looked down at his Exsphere. "Mom's regrets and wises dwell in this thing." Lloyd looked back up, determined. "To prevent creating more victims like Marble and my mom, I'm going to help Colette. I will fight for both myself and my mom who lives on within me." Kratos gave a small sigh of relief and nearly imperceptible smile, but he replaced it with his usual indifference before anyone took notice.

"Yeah, me too." Genis added. "I'm going to fight on Marble's behalf as well."

"Me too." Colette quivered with resolute excitement. "I'm going to regenerate the world as quickly as I can."

"People by nature are sinful creatures." Raine's somber remarks toned down the atmosphere. "All life survives at the cost of another. Animals eat plants or other animals. The creation of these Exspheres was a sin against other sentient beings, we share in that sin for using them, and we will have to bear that burden for the rest of our lives."

"Life survives at the cost of another…" Sheena murmured. "I don't know how to say this," Sheena said, "but I don't think there is a way to justify the lives sacrificed to make Exspheres. They have to be stopped at all cost!" Everyone stared at Sheena after her outburst.

"I too think that Exsphere production has to be stopped." Everyone turned slowly to look at Gaar, who sat cross legged behind Sheena. Sheena attempted to back up, but tripped. "Isn't Colette supposed to do that?" Colette smiled and blushed.

"Hey Gaar?" Gaar looked at Genis. He stood like he was ready to follow Noishe to the mainland. "Are you… feeling ok?"

"I'm… ok. The last thing I remember was those… screams." The tension released like air out of a balloon. Gaar palmed his forehead before he looked back up. "Then everything went red. I don't remember anything after that." Gaar glanced around and asked, "How did we get back to this delightful place?"

"Sheena saved us… Gaar?" Gaar looked at Colette. "Do you mean to say you don't remember any of the things you did?" Gaar shook his head. "None of it, not even the part where you saved the people that were dying by destroying the machine that was killing them."

Gaar looked wide eyed at Colette and asked in amazement, "I did what!"

"Heh heh," Lloyd laughed. "You should have seen Kvar. You had him quaking in his boots."

"Wow," Gaar said, astonished. "Now I wish that I could remember. That Kvar guy… angered me. I mean, he killed people without any regret at all. Just to make… them." Gaar pointed at Lloyds Exsphere. Everyone but Kratos nodded solemnly.

Kratos looked at Gaar's distraught face and asked, "If I may ask, where did you learn to harness Mana." Gaar looked at Kratos blankly.

"What you seem to have forgotten," Raine explained, "is that in the ranch you defeated a number of Desians with magic. A rather large amount of it." Raine scrutinized Gaar closely, as she would a ruin. "Do you have any idea how that is?"

Gaar looked at Raine as she seemed to hover an inch away from him. "I have no idea how to even use magic," Gaar said finally, firmly.

Raine nodded her head, as if coming to a decision and said, "Well, your Mana signature says clear as day that you are capable of using magic, even though you are human." Closing her eyes Raine nodded again and said with finality, "Then it's decided, Genis and I will teach you to control it." Genis grinned, Lloyd looked disappointed for an unvoiced reason, and Raine was too busy thinking about training Gaar to seem anything but excited.

"Can't humans use magic?" Gaar looked inquisitively around the group.

"Even I haven't met a human capable of casting magic," Kratos answered, "at least, not one without an Exsphere. My own exosphere belonged to a Desian Evil Sorcerer, which is how I am able to cast what little magic that I do."

Gaar looked down at his hands, at the burn marks caused by the burning sword, at the dried blood and dirt. "Great, I'm a freak and a psychopath…" Gaar voice wavered.

"Gaar." Gaar looked at Lloyd, who had his fist clenched in front of him. "You are not a freak or a sign-co-whatsit, Ok. You're just different, and that is ok. It's alright to be different. Look at the Professor and Genis, they aren't even human, they're Elves." Gaar looked at the two Elves who nodded guardedly. "And take Colette," Lloyd continued, "she isn't a normal human either. She is an angel."

Gaar looked at Colette who giggled and said, "Well, I'm not completely done releasing the seals, but look I have wings." Colette's violet effervescent wings appeared from behind her. Gaar's eyes widened.

"Wow," Gaar exclaimed, amazed. "I guess being different is ok…" Gaar looked at Lloyd and asked, "What is different about you Lloyd?"

Lloyd scratched the back of his head and laughed lightly. "The only thing Lloyd is good at is fighting," Genis said flatly.

Lloyd turned to the small Elf and said, "Shut it, Genis."

"Lloyd can also craft stuff," defended Colette. "Like this bracelet, see." Colette held up her right arm and showed Gaar the hand carved wooden bracelet with a little figure of an angel carved into it.

Lloyd crossed his arms and struck a haughty pose. "See Genis, I can do more than fight."

"Actually Lloyd," Genis replied flatly, "crafting and sword fighting are the only things you're good at."

"Sadly, I agree with Genis," added Raine.

"And his swordsmanship is… quite rough," Kratos put in.

"Kratos, Professor, not you two as well." Lloyd pouted. Noishe, who felt forgotten, howled his agreement. "Noishe!" Lloyd whined.

"So," Gaar said at length, "I can use magic. Does that mean I have to use a… Exsphere?"

Raine was about to respond, but before she could, Genis said, "I may not be able to read Mana signatures as well as Raine, but even I can see that you have so much Mana that you probably wont need an Exsphere at all."

"Yes," Raine agreed, "your Mana moves as if you already had several Exspheres equipped. So you should have no trouble using magic without one." Lloyd got up and stretched. As he did, the sun broke over the horizon and cast its luminous gaze upon Luin Lake.

"Alright," Lloyd said to everyone, "let's get out of here." He moved toward the bridge connected to the mainland.

"Hold it." Lloyd stopped in his tracks and everyone looked to Kratos. He leaned against the broken fountain wall with his head cast down, his eyes closed, and his arms crossed. "Do you plan to infiltrate the ranch again?" Lloyd opened his mouth to answer but Kratos continued. "Kvar will undoubtedly have increased the security by now. We won't be able to get in easily, if at all." Lloyd again was about to say something, but stopped again and closed his mouth, his face furrowed in thought. Gaar stood up and looked down when he heard a scraping noise. He reached down and picked up Lloyd's sword. Gaar walked over to Lloyd and held the sword out to him hilt first. Lloyd, broken out of his train of thought, looked at the weapon as if it had the plague, but hesitantly took it and sheathed it.
Raine's face lit up and she excitedly said, "I remember there was someone who escaped from the ranch." All eyes turned to Raine. "He may know another way in."

Then Sheena's face lit up. "I know him," she said. "His name is Pietro. He should still be in Hima."

Lloyd looked at Sheena, confused. "Why do you know him?"

"I…" Sheena hesitated when everyone stared at her. "It doesn't matter, does it!" She looked at everyone in quick succession, at their disbelieving features. "I have my reasons," she said, ending the interrogation.

"Hmm…" Lloyd shrugged. "Well, whatever." Lloyd walked casually toward the bridge again. "Okay, let's go to Hima! We'll see if this Pietro can get us into the ranch." Lloyd's stomach let loose a growl. Lloyd looked down at it and said, "I'm starving. I think it's Genis' turn to make sandwiches!" Genis gave a groan as if to say, 'it's always my turn.'

"And you," Raine said as she pointed at Gaar, "are going to learn to control that magic of yours before we get there." Gaar looked at Raine, determination burning in his eyes. Everyone followed Lloyd onto and across the bridge.

Genis leaned over and quietly said, "Good luck."

Gaar looked quizzically at Genis as the two of them walked across the bridge, Raine directly behind them. "Luck… for what?"

"Raine's lessons can be… painful…" Genis was promptly smacked in the back of his head. "See what I mean," Genis said while he rubbed the sore spot. He was smacked again.

When the group had reached the other side, Noishe ran up to Lloyd and started to lick his face furiously. Lloyd laughed as the anxious dog let out yips of joy.

"I'm glad to see you too Noishe." Kratos chuckled to himself. Gaar grinned wide. No one else paid attention to the boy and his dog and left Lloyd and Noishe behind. When Lloyd noticed that everyone had left him behind he shouted, "Hey, wait up," as he ran to catch up.

A giant blooming flower that glowed blue floated in the center of a small dark room. In the center of that flower was the image of a serenely sleeping young woman. From the floor rose four black posts. The walls of light that shimmered between each post trapped the flower inside of a prison of light. The flower sometimes collided gently into one of these walls, but was gently repelled when that happened. In doing so, the flower was kept in the center of the four posts.

A man walked slowly up to the shimmering wall and stood silently. The light given off from the flower and the walls of its prison bathed him in a rainbow of colors. He stood and stared at the woman sleeping in the flower for hours on end. Never once did the man blink, nor did he move at all, not even to breath.

The door behind the man opened slowly and revealed a floating woman. The woman was surrounded by floating panels connected by a ring that was about the height of the woman's head. The woman floated up behind the man and stood, silent.

"I said I did not wish to be disturbed, Pronyma," the man said venomously. The woman didn't flinch from the tone of voice.

"My lord," said the woman, "you said that you wished to be notified the moment the boy was located. Kvar has just reported that the boy had made an appearance at his ranch. In fact, he reports that the boy used his powers to destroy all the machinery in the entire facility. It will take some time to repair the damage and start producing Exspheres again. And it appears that the boy has joined the Chosen's group."

"Hahahahaha," the man laughed evilly. "Run, run, run little boy." The man turned and faced the woman. "Pronyma, order Kvar to send his best commander to track down the boy, but not to harm him or the chosen. Just have them… play with them a little. Hahahahaha." The vile laughter of the man reverberated off the walls of the small dark room.

The woman bowed low and said, "Yes, Lord Yggdrasill." The woman turned and floated out of the room as the bemused Lord Yggdrasill turned back to the glowing flower.

Ok, that should do it. As Contraltissimo is fond of asking, Who is this kid. Uses magic, lots of it, Lord Yggdrasil knows about him, the Renegades want him, the Desians are trying to hunt him down, but no one seems to know who he is or where he is from, least of all Gaar himself. And now he's hangin with the chosen... We'll have to see where the story leads us.

A/N: hehe, had to fix something Tobiasa pointed out...hehe sorry if you got several emails saying this story was updated three times.. cause they were all minor changes really...

Please Reveiw if you liked this chapter, you might get a magical cookie...