New Order Chapter 3: A Slight Complication, a tales of symphonia fanfic

Namco owns all rights to Tales of Symphonia. I don't claim to own them. This work is not intended for any form of profit and has been written without permission.

I'm pretty happy with this; I think I managed to get it out faster than I do with most updates, so that's definitely a plus. Believe me, the writing's a lot easier now that I actually have some semblance of an idea for where I'm taking the plot…erm…did I say that out loud?

Also, I did take the time to go and revamp Chapter 1 a bit, so you may want to check that out of it interests you. Really, it's just a few grammatical tweaks and simple revisions, so it's probably not all that relevant.

I'm trying to balance writing this and a couple other projects at the moment, but updates should stay consistent. Thanks for bearing with me!

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Chapter 3: A Slight Complication

"You know, I could really get to dislike you," Sheena growled, pacing back and forth with an expression so menacing she probably would have scared any nearby Desian into running halfway to Flanoir. "Oh, wait a second. I forgot; it's a bit too late for that."

As she paced, she gazed through the cell bars, willing them to disappear so she might possibly reach in and throttle the living daylights out of that idiotic, philandering excuse for a Chosen.

"I think you're giving me too much credit," Zelos replied, an irritatingly wide grin plastered across his face. To the summoner's surprise, his expression suddenly turned serious. "I swear though, I haven't done anything wrong."

Sheena nodded. "All right. I've got time to kill, I suppose."

---- Earlier that day… ----

The sun was coming up, heralding a new day, a fresh start. Most of the time the sight was a welcome one to Sheena, a beautiful segue to new possibilities, a masterpiece painted by Martel herself. She recalled how she used to watch the sun rise over Mizuho every day when she was younger. To her, it was a way of escaping reality, a chance to lose herself in her own welcoming world when everyone around her was so cold and unforgiving. Every now and then Orochi and sometimes even Kuchinawa would join her, but truthfully, she preferred the solitude over all else.

Now though, it only served to remind her that she hadn't slept most of the night. Still wondering how she was going to explain all of this to Lloyd, she paused to ponder the previous night's events. That man had mentioned something peculiar, a Starsphere or something of the sort. He also had something attached to his hand, something that looked suspiciously like an Exsphere, though if it was, the pure white color was definitely not normal. In addition, she'd learned—albeit indirectly—from that kid, Annis, that Zelos was imprisoned for one reason or another. Things were definitely beginning to stretch the boundaries of a "diplomatic visit".

As she came to the inn, she finally wondered what Lloyd would think when he found out he'd nearly been murdered in the middle of the night by some half-crazed egotistical lunatic. That sort of thing had only happened to the swordsman once before, and in that instance Zelos had only been trying to play a practical joke. Sighing in resignation, she opened the door to the inn and entered. No one was up yet; the only soul present was the receptionist from the day before, who seemed to be fully engrossed in some sort of magazine.

"Hey," Sheena beckoned as she headed for the stairs. "I was here yesterday. I—"

"Believe me, I know who you are," the receptionist cut in hastily. He turned his attention back to the magazine he was reading.

"All right, fine," the summoner replied, pulling a disgusted face behind the man's back when she saw what exactly he was 'reading'.

She continued up the stairs, coming up to their room. For one panicked moment she thought she'd forgotten her room key, though after some quick, frantic searching of her person she found it tucked into an inner pocket of her robe. Quickly, silently as she could, she slipped the key in and turned it, grimacing as the lock clicked like a gunshot when it cut through the silence. Hoping for the best, she poked her head in.

That's a relief. Lloyd wasn't up yet. In fact he must have been a really sound sleeper, as he was half-hanging off of his bed, his left arm and leg dangling in a ridiculous position as he snored uproariously, mouth wide open. It was a truly comical sight, and it was all Sheena could do to keep from bursting into hysterics. At this rate, she doubted even something like one of Zelos' practical jokes would wake the slumbering swordsman. Oh well. All the better for her. I'll wake him after I get a little shuteye myself.

Quietly she tiptoed past him, finally allowing herself to fall face-first onto her bed, groaning slightly as she felt the soft mattress caress her sore, tired form. "Just…five more minutes…" she muttered absently.

As if on cue, Lloyd suddenly sprang awake beside her. "Hmm? Man, morning already? Phew, that was the best sleep I've had in a while! How about you, Sheena? …Erm…Sheena?"

He didn't hear her, but in the moment it took him to say that, the assassin had muttered close to every curse word she knew into her pillow.

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As far as the explanation went, Sheena hadn't been quite sure where to start. In truth, something along the lines of "Hey Lloyd, just so you know, some lunatic came in our room last night and nearly sliced your hand off. Want breakfast?" didn't seem to come out quite right, even in her head. So naturally, she'd decided to get breakfast first, then explain everything.

"So…this guy was looking for a…um…what was it called again?" Lloyd said around a mouthful of toast.

"Starsphere," Sheena replied shortly, not bothering to eat anything more than a couple slices of kirima. She was really more tired than hungry anyway, but over the years she'd learned to cope with extended sleep-deprived periods. She vividly remembered one training mission she'd been on where she had been challenged to retrieve a stone in the middle of the woods and find her way back to Mizuho no matter how long it took, without sleeping. The idea was to promote constant awareness and vigilance; had she ever allowed herself to fall asleep, a nearby observing ninja would have swiftly ended the mission—and her life—with a simple, accurate toss of a kunai. Something, she realized now, that Kuchinawa probably would have found the utmost satisfaction in doing.

"Right," Lloyd agreed, now biting into some eggs. "So," he began in an offhand tone, "did you find Zelos?" He said it half-jokingly.

Sheena sighed, slightly losing her patience with her friend's sloppy eating habits. "You know what? We'll go and see for ourselves."

After checking out, it was a short trip to the castle, but somewhere in the back of her mind Sheena wondered what she'd find. Or, at least, what she hoped to find. Somehow, she doubted they'd be allowed to just walk on down to the dungeon and have a nice reunion. Then again, maybe the king would be in a good mood. Or drunk. Either would serve the purpose. However, as they neared the castle entrance, the former quickly became much less likely. The latter wasn't looking so hot either.

"Halt," one of the guards said authoritatively. "No civilians are permitted inside the castle today."

Sheena smiled sweetly, almost expecting it to work. Almost. "Oh come on," she said reprovingly, "we're two of the heroes of Aselia! Surely you can make an exception for people like me and Lloyd here." She shot a glance over at the swordsman, who seemed preoccupied with a passing butterfly. Not helping.

"I'm sorry," the guard replied, a hint of regret hanging on his voice. "I can't. King's orders." Like they'd be anyone else's orders.

Nothing else for it, Sheena nodded and dragged Lloyd away from the loitering insect until they were a good distance away, fully out of earshot. "Any bright ideas?"

The swordsman grinned. "Sure. I'll go in head-on while you sneak up behind them, and—"

Sheena cut him off. "Anything that doesn't involve us becoming Public Enemy #1?"

"Well, technically we'd be Enemies #1 and 2—"

"Not. The. POINT!" the summoner exclaimed, casting a truly imposing figure over the crimson-clad hero. Lloyd hadn't felt this afraid since Raine had caught him paying Genis off to do his homework.

"What are you two yelling about?" Sheena whirled around to come face-to-face, yet again, with that kid.

"Annis?" she said inquisitively. "What're you doing here?"

"Who's that?" Lloyd asked, a little dumbfounded. "He kinda looks like Genis."

Sheena ignored him, an idea already forming. "Say, Annis, do you know any way we could get into the castle without the guards noticing us?"

The boy smiled. "Of course!"

Lloyd jumped up, finally catching on. "Awesome! Can you show us? See, we're—"

"Let me guess," Annis said prosaically, "you want to see the Chosen, right?"

Sheena giggled slightly. "How'd you know?"

Annis shrugged, as if he saw this all the time. "Well, it's natural. You want his autograph!"

Sheena looked like she may have stepped in something unpleasant. "What!?" she screeched, causing both Lloyd and Annis to duck for cover behind some nearby shrubs. "If you think for a second that I'm anything like those loose floozies that…that womanizer hangs around with, then you've got—"

"Will you relax?" Annis said quickly. "I was kidding. Come on now, we don't want to be drawing the entire army's attention. Let's go."

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"That's our way in?" Lloyd said disdainfully, nose wrinkled. "It looks even worse than those sewers we had to trek through."

Annis' "solution" turned out to be a low drainage tunnel in the side of the castle. Of course, it was a sewage drain. The smell wasn't too reassuring.

"Hey, you said you wanted in," Annis retorted nonchalantly. "This should lead right to the cells."

Lloyd and Sheena exchanged a look, wondering if it was worth it. Sheena in particular was starting to think maybe having Zelos behind bars for a while wasn't such a bad idea after all. In the end though, curiosity won out, leaving the two with the decision of who was going in first.

Lloyd held out a fist. "Want to play Swordsman-Summoner-Mage for it?"

Sheena stared incredulously for a moment, finally breaking into a smile at her friend's request. "You're kidding, right? Come on, I'll go first." The summoner ducked down into the tunnel, trying her hardest to ignore the fact that it smelled like something was decomposing inside it.

Lloyd ducked in after her. After realizing that no one was following him, he half-turned and called over his shoulder, "Hey Annis, you coming?"

He couldn't see the boy, but he heard his voice call back, echoing precariously off the stone walls of the tunnel. "No, I'm all right. Go on ahead!"

The next few minutes passed in relative silence as the two progressed, each trying their hardest to concentrate on something other than the awful smell. Sheena was the first to break the silence. "Lloyd, that had better not your hand on my—"

"Sorry."

By now the smell was almost dizzying, but the two could tell they were reaching the end of the tunnel from the ever-increasing ray of light emanating in the distance somewhere up ahead. Sheena's heart practically soared as she saw this, grateful for the opportunity to finally escape Annis' hellish excuse for a way in. Somehow, Sheena wondered if he'd ever taken the tunnel himself. Then, before she realized it, light engulfed her vision.

"Whew…made it!"

"Well now, if it isn't my beautiful hunny Sheena!"

The voice was like grinding nails against Raine's chalkboard. She knew she should have come to expect this, but somehow finally hearing Zelos Wilder speak to her in that idiotically aloof tone of his was worse than anything she could've imagined. Mentally bracing herself for a taxing conversation, she crawled out of the drain and made a show of dusting herself off, regardless of whether or not it would actually get rid of that damned smell. Nothing else for it, she walked forward a bit so as to allow Lloyd some room to extricate himself as well. She turned to look at the redhead as she walked. Just seeing him sitting inside that cell of his seemed to turn her normally neutral expression into an unpleasant one. Although, she noted, he seemed to be the only one down here, interestingly enough. All the other cells were empty; they seemed to have shoved Zelos in the most remote cell imaginable, as if they simply wanted nothing more to do with him for the time. Smart thinking.

As she paced, she gazed through the cell bars, willing them to disappear so she might possibly reach in and throttle the living daylights out of that idiotic, philandering excuse for a Chosen.

Sheena nodded. "All right. I've got time to kill, I suppose."

Lloyd had finally managed to haul himself out of the dank tunnel and was now standing quietly in the corner, determined to let Sheena's tantrum run its course without interfering—too much. He'd seen the Chosen and summoner go at it before, and it never ended up too well for anyone involved. However, his presence hadn't gone unnoticed like he'd been hoping.

"Lloyd, you too man? How've you been?" Zelos said cheerily, deliberately changing the subject.

"Well, you know," the swordsman said vaguely, desperately looking for an excuse to stop talking.

"No, I don't," the Chosen persisted with an odd grin. "What were you and Sheena doing by yourselves in that dark, dirty tunnel anyway? You two getting your freak on? A little dance down under?"

Lloyd stared. "What the hell does that—"

"Zelos!" Sheena screeched, cutting the swordsman off.

"What, well I thought maybe you two were into that sort of—oof!" The Chosen had been leaning in just a bit too close to the bars as Sheena's fist found its way through, colliding strongly with his stomach. A blissful silence ensued as the redhead fell back, winded.

"I can't believe you," the assassin retorted, hands on hips. "We come down here to help you out, and all you can think of is—"

"Oh, so you are here to bust me out!" Zelos exclaimed triumphantly. "Ah-HAH! I knew you'd come back for me someday, my voluptuous hunny…score one for the Chosen!" He licked his index finger and drew a tally mark in the air.

Sheena shook her head, hands firmly pressed upon her face. "I don't believe this…"

"So Zelos," Lloyd finally said, breaking his relatively long silence. "How did you end up in here anyway?"

"Aah," the Chosen sighed dramatically, gesturing with one arm as though he were on stage at Altamira. "You want to hear my tragic tale of woefully wrongful arrest. Well, you see…"

Sheena was about to ask just what the hell it meant to be 'woefully wrongful' when both her train of thought and Zelos' long-winded explanation were somewhat rudely interrupted.

"Lloyd Irving and Sheena Fujibayashi! You two are under arrest for conspiracy against His Highness, the King of Tethe'alla!" The three of them all turned in unison in time to see a trio of armored guards at the dungeon entrance. All were wielding less-than-friendly-looking weapons, which didn't do much as far as reassuring went.

"Hey guys?" Zelos said off-hand. "Now would be a good time to get me out of here—"

"Ah-HAH! A confession, straight from the traitor's mouth!"

"Zelos, you idiot!" Sheena screamed, on the verge of hysteria.

"Sheena, you work on getting him out," Lloyd said in a surprisingly calm yet urgent tone. "I'll hold these guys off!" Before the summoner could ask for further clarification—as if she needed any—the swordsman was rushing at the guards, Material Blades drawn, yelling at the top of his lungs in an effort to draw attention away from the ninja.

As he did so, Sheena produced a long, thin strip of metal from the inside of her robe. With her other hand, she reached back and pulled a bobby pin out of her hair. Ignoring Zelos' particularly off-color comment, she set to work. She inserted the metal strip into the lock first, gently applying pressure as she turned it as far as it would go. Next she stuck the pin inside as far back as possible with the hooked end facing down and pressed down slightly. There was a small click as she felt one of the pistons give way. She smiled. This was going to be easier than she thought.

This may not be as easy as I thought. Three against one didn't give him good odds at any stretch, but at least their confined area didn't give the guards much opportunity to spread out, Lloyd noticed. Rushing to the guard nearest him, he leapt upward and cried, "Tiger Rage!" as he turned a complete three-sixty in midair, swords extended. He felt the blades crash against the guard's helmet a few times until he came out of his spin. Shifting his weight, he used his momentum to bring himself flying downward, driving the hilts of his swords deep into the guard's unarmored pressure points between the neck and shoulders. He dropped like a stone. Seeing his, Lloyd breathed a sigh of relief. If anything, he didn't want to have to resort to killing anyone.

Another click ensued as Sheena managed to move another piston. "Just a bit more," she mumbled, hoping there weren't too many left. Surprisingly, Zelos had gone silent, letting the ninja concentrate on the task at hand. Oh well, guess he's not a complete idiot.

Lloyd didn't have much time to think as he felt a crushing force drive into his side. The hit sent him flying sideways, smashing into the bars of a nearby cell. Battered and winded, the swordsman looked up in time to see a plated foot smash into his stomach.

"Oof!" he wheezed as he fought to catch his breath. Then he was lifted off the ground as one guard grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. Lloyd fought gamely, slashing wildly with his swords, but didn't expect the other guard to come up and deliver a sickening punch to the groin.

Sheena looked over just in time to see Lloyd drop to the floor, howling in pain while clutching his privates. She felt powerless as the two guards continued to beat on the swordsman, kicking viciously at his writhing form. Diverting her eyes, she tried to keep her concentration on the task at hand. "Just hold on a little longer Lloyd," she muttered as another piston clicked. It looked like there was just one more now…

The pain was unrelenting. Lloyd felt like he had been caught right in the middle of a Judgment Ray. He had to do something to break their attack pattern!

"GUARDIAN!" he hollered, feeling a blissful respite as a temporary force field formed around his body, impeding the guard's blows. Not even thinking twice, he decided to use the temporary lull to his advantage. Closing his eyes, he concentrated and began chanting the incantation to the only spell he knew.

"Got it!" Sheena exclaimed as the last piston gave way. The metal strip, now free of impediments, turned completely in the lock and opened the cell door. With a wild yell of triumph, Zelos jumped gleefully out the doorway.

"All right!" he exclaimed, embracing the summoner. "I knew you'd come through for me, my—"

"Oh cut it out," Sheena snarled, slapping him with surprising force. "Not the right time or place."

"Ouch, that's harsh. Couldn't you for once just—"

But Sheena was already ignoring him, running down the corridor as fast as she could to help out her friend. She arrived just in time to see Lloyd's Guardian fade away, the swordsman still concentrating and chanting. "Don't worry Lloyd, I'm coming!"

There would be no need. Lloyd's eyes suddenly snapped open, and with them, his luminescent angelic wings burst forth in all their glory. When he spoke, his voice seemed augmented with one much deeper than his own. As Sheena watched, the Material Blades fused together and became the Eternal Sword. "I'll show you divine judgment!" he roared. "FALCON'S CREST!" Lloyd brought the mighty blade down in front of him as a glowing circular aura appeared around his feet, being careful not to aim the brunt of the blast at either guard. A blinding flash of light engulfed the room and Sheena shielded her eyes. When the light had died away, she opened her eyes again to see the two guards thrown in opposite directions. Each had smashed completely through the bars of a cell and were now laying, appropriately enough, inside.

"Oh YEAH!" Zelos rooted, pumping his fist. "That's our Lloyd! How about that for wowing the ladies, Sheena?"

The summoner wasn't listening. Mouth agape, she took in the sight of the panting Lloyd, once again holding his Material Blades. "Are you all right?" she asked quietly, almost afraid he'd turn and attack her on sight.

Instead, he turned and laughed. "Come on, what's that face for? I'm just fine. Now, should we take the front way out, or back through the tunnel?" he asked jokingly.

Sheena was about to speak up when Zelos cut in. "Honestly, we'd have a lot more luck with the front. I'm sure there are guards posted outside the tunnel entrance; if we went out they'd just pick us off."

The ninja stared. "Wow Zelos, that was actually half-intelligent of you."

Zelos grinned. "Anything for the femmes."

"Well that didn't last long," Lloyd put in. "Come on, let's get going."

The other two nodded and the trio ran up the stairwell, out into one of the castle corridors. Not caring to bother with stealth, the three of them shoved, barged, and crashed their way into the throne room.

"Sorry my dear!" Zelos called over his shoulder to a maid he'd just knocked over. "I'll invite you over to my mansion sometime to make it up to you! We can—"

"You! How dare you…you fugitives disgrace my throne room like this!" Lloyd and Sheena turned to see the king rise from his throne, shaking a fist. Sheena squinted for a moment as the sunlight glinted off of something on the back of the king's hand and into her eyes. It intrigued her for some reason, but she was quickly snapped out of her thoughts by Lloyd, who roughly grabbed her by the forearm as he turned to run, just as the king shouted, "Guards! Don't let them escape!"

"Oh man," Zelos gritted as he threw his shoulder at the door, hoping to Martel it wasn't barred. There was a huge thud as the large oaken doors gave way, and the three made a mad dash out into the courtyard.

"We have to fly!" Sheena exclaimed.

"Are you kidding me? Is there enough room?" Zelos replied, panting.

Lloyd produced his and Sheena's wing packs. "No time to worry about that," he said matter-of-factly. Wasting no time, he pressed the button atop each one and flung them to the ground. There was a dull little pop as the packs burst open, producing the two Rheairds. "Come on Sheena," he called as he hopped aboard.

"No fair, I want to ride with—"

"Not on your life, you philandering—"

Their bickering was cut short as the machines roared to life and lifted off into the sky.

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"Now, who can tell me the answer?" Raine's voice seemed to echo throughout the classroom, which did a wonderful job of symbolizing just how much everyone was paying attention. "Genis, how about you? You seem to be enjoying my lesson. What was the year that Spiritua originally began her journey?"

For the first time in his life, Genis found himself caught not paying attention, having been staring intently out the window for the past hour or so. "Mm…pi-r-squared?" he said absently.

Raine's cheeks flushed—though not nearly as much as Genis'—as the entire classroom exploded into fits of laughter. "Settle down. Class, that's enough!" The entire room fell silent instantly. No one was foolish enough to test Raine when she was in a bad mood, and this one looked to be a really bad one.

However, the professor sighed gently and spoke with a soft, level voice. "Look—I know, it's hard to focus. Sure, times are a little strange, and we are missing a few faces." The last comment was obviously in reference to Lloyd. Though Raine had a hard time admitting it, even to herself, there was something about the swordsman's laziness and lack of academic prowess that actually seemed to keep things together in her classroom. The more she thought about him, she more she realized she truly missed him. Deep down, he was really one of her favorite students. Lost in her thoughts, she gazed out the window. And that's when she caught sight of the two approaching shapes on the horizon. Two unmistakable shapes. "Oh my—" she started.

Genis had seen them too, and was already out of his chair, jumping up and down like a maniac. "They're back, they're back!" he screamed, forgetting all about composure. "It's them!" Disregarding all else, he bolted out of the room like all of Niflheim was after him. "They're back! Lloyd and Sheena came back!"

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Author's Note: Well, a lot more happened in that chapter than usual, it seems. It also made for the longest chapter I've written thus far. The next one'll probably be a bit lighter as far as action scenes go, but I'll see where the writing takes me.

Also, I've started a new project called Tales From Flanoir, which I'm hoping to have up soon. Of course, I'm still working steadily on this. Until the next chapter!