-1Hi everyone:D Sorry it took so long to update…. I got sick and then my guinea pig died. Then I got sick again. :'(

….But after that, I just got lazy. Lol, but then, I wasn't lazy, nearly finished, and then it got deleted on me. Then I got depressed and lazy. So that's my adventure on this story.

And also, I'm so grateful to High Priest Of Ducky, Shay-Renae, Pichupal, Anime 300 for reviewing. Thanks everyone:D

I hope you enjoy this chapter:D

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN MIKEY OR TAMARA, NOR DO I OWN TALES OF SYMPHONIA, OR ANY OTHER 'TALES OF' GAME, OR ANY GAME AT ALL, SO THERE! (Goes into a little corner and cries)

FUN FACT! I learned a new word, yay for me:D Here's my word for the day (and probably my last for a very long time,), lackadaisical, it means; without interest.

Enjoy! Please R&R:D

………………………………...

After we left the Renegade base, I looked around to make sure nobody was within earshot.

"Sooo…." I said as I walked near Mikey, "You're also from earth?"

Mikey smirked, "Yeah. How'd you guess?"

I looked at our outfits and compared them to Lloyd's group, "Well, we don't exactly fit into the crowd…"

"Haha, You have a point there."

"Hey, Anna!"

Both me and Mikey turned around to look at Lloyd, Colette, and Genis running towards us.

"What are you two talking about?" Asked Colette.

Me and Mikey looked at each other, then answered in unison, "Nothing."

"Uh-huh…" Said Genis in doubt.

"Anyhow," I said, attempting to change the subject, "How much Longer to Triet?"

"Not much longer. Just a few more miles." Answered Genis.

My jaw dropped, "A few more MILES?!" I then hung my head in sadness.

Mikey was laughing at me while patting my back.

Lloyd also tried to comfort me while laughing, "C'mon Anna, it's not that bad."

"Yeah, just try not to drink the sand again." Said Genis smugly.

I glared at him.

"…You ate sand?" Mikey and Colette said in unison.

"….I did not eat. I drank."

"…You drank Sand?" Mikey and Colette said once again in perfect unison.

I flushed in embarrassment, "It was really hot! And it's not like I can control mirages!"

Mikey was being "polite" and trying his best to hold in his laughter, "You fell for a mirage?"

I tried to defend myself, "I'm sensitive to the heat!"

They continued laughing at me for a long time. Meanies.

All of a sudden, I felt someone staring at me. I turned around to find out that it was Raine.

'Hmmm… It still looks as if she doesn't trust me…But… What do I tell her?'

I stopped moving as I became deep within my thoughts, "Hmmm…."

I felt something bump into me. I turned around to see Noishe deeply afraid of something.

'Is there a monster somewhere nearby?'

"Is something troubling you?"

I turned around to see Kratos looking at me.

I replied, "I think there's a monster nearby because Noishe is afraid. He IS scared of monsters, right?"

Kratos gave me an odd look, "How did you know Noishe is afraid of monsters?"

'Crud, I forgot, that scene hasn't come up yet…' "Ummm, Lloyd told me earlier when we were trying to catch up with you guys."

"I see."

Awkward Silence.

Kratos began looking at me with a slightly pained expression once again. Did I do something?

"Umm… Kratos?"

"…Yes?"

"Why-"

"HEY ANNA! WATCH OUT!" Yelled Mikey from a distance as he began running towards me.

I looked behind me to see a coyote and a bandit right on time to dodge a full blow of their sneak attack. The bandit's sword grazed my arm.

"Ah!" I yelled as I rolled over, clutching my arm.

Kratos took out his blade and began counterattacking. He quickly defeated the enemies.

Mikey ran up to me and helped me get up, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Anna! Are you okay?" exclaimed Genis.

Colette was also worried, "You aren't hurt, are you?"

I smiled at them, "Don't worry, I'm fine."

Lloyd looked over to my arm, "But, you're bleeding…"

"It's only a scratch."

Colette turned to the professor, "Professor, Please heal her."

"Colette, it's only a scratch…" I said, slightly exasperated.

The professor walked up to me as well, "No, Colette's right. The sand is fine here, so it could get easily infected."

'Didn't she say that to Genis later on?'

Even Kratos walked up to me.

The professor somewhat lackadaisically held and healed my arm. Almost instantly, any pain in my arm was gone.

I then yelled out, "Okay, the freak show is over! Move along people." I began waving them away.

I secretly smiled to myself, 'Wow… It actually feels kinda nice to be cared for…It's different. I'm…Happy. But…I'm sure there has to be a catch for it right? Who would ever want to be nice to me…?'

We soon reached Triet and walked out to the plaza. As soon as we did, Raine approached me calmly, "Now," She began, "May you please explain on how you fell out of the sky?"

Mikey quickly whispered into my ear, "You fell out of the sky?!"

I also quickly whispered back, "I don't know! I was out cold!"

"Sis, I'm so beat… I want to rest…" Genis rubbed his eyes sleepily as we neared the inn.

Lloyd nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah. Let's head to the inn. Then we could talk."

"Very well." Raine agreed as we walked into the inn. She wouldn't stop staring..

"Start explaining." Raine bluntly said as we were inside her and Genis' room. I was sitting on Genis' bed, and Mikey was standing near the door.

"I… I can't remember." I said, averting my eyes to the floor, I couldn't risk looking into her eyes again.

Raine eyed me carefully, "Is that really the case?"

"Hey, if she says she can't remember, then she can't remember!" Intervened Mikey.

Raine immediately turned her cold gaze onto Mikey, "And you. Your clothes are made out of the same material as hers. That must mean you're from the same place as she is. And what's even more, you just so happened to appear at that desian base. Would you care to explain who you are?"

Mikey looked a little caught off guard, but he quickly recovered, "I already said who I am, I'm Mikey."

Raine's patience was wearing thin, "You-"

Lloyd and Colette quickly stepped in, Colette was the first to speak, "Professor, please! I trust them, so it's okay. I don't feel any ill intentions coming from them, so please…"

Raine looked a little taken back.

Genis also spoke up, "Yeah sis! Both Lloyd and I traveled with Anna, and she helped us out a lot! She isn't a bad person!"

Lloyd also joined in, "Yeah, and Mikey doesn't seem bad either! And he's a great fighter!"

Raine quickly regained her posture, "And how about you Kratos? Do you think we can trust these two?"

Kratos looked up and stared at me for a bit, then to Mikey, "If the chosen trusts them, then I have no objections."

I gratefully looked at Lloyd and the others and silently thanked them.

Raine looked a little annoyed, "Fine. It's settled then. From now on, Mikey and Anna will be traveling with us."

Lloyd and Genis did a little high five in the background.

"Ummm…" I started as I nervously looked around, "Where will Mikey and I be sleeping at?"

Everyone stood silent for a while.

Colette then looked at me with one of her sincere smiles, "Anna, you can share a room with me, if you want to."

Lloyd also spoke, "Yeah, and Mikey can share a room with me and Kratos!"

Mikey stared at Kratos.

"I have no objections."

"Then it's settled." Said Raine dismissively.

I then got up from the bed, "I'm really tired, I think I'll be going to sleep now."

Colette looked up at me, "Really? Would you like me to go with you?"

I gently smiled and shook my head, "No thank you."

Colette smiled, "Oh, okay."

"Good night Anna." Said Genis.

"Good night Genis, everyone."

I walked out of the room and silently closed the door as I leaned on it. I heard Raine begin talking about the exspheres. Lloyd had just called her things 'junk', which was followed by a loud noise which was probably a loud whack on his head. I could also hear Mikey laughing and making sarcastic remarks. I silently walked to mine and Colette's room.

'Hmmm…' I silently began thinking as I examined the room, 'There's only one bed… Whatever, I like sleeping on the floor anyways.' I've always been weird like that, liking things people usually hated. I lied down on the floor and used my arms as pillows. It was a little cold, but I didn't mind. I soon fell asleep.

Later that night, I woke up when I heard movement downstairs and the door opened three times.

'The first two must've been Lloyd and Kratos. Was the third one Mikey then?'

I took the blanket off of me and began getting up.

'Wait, a blanket? I didn't fall asleep with a blanket…' I silently thought as I held the blanket in my hand. I took a quick glance at Colette and noticed that she didn't have a blanket. I waked towards Colette and silently watched her as she slept.

I abruptly began remembering when I first played the game. I hated Colette. She was so annoying. She was a klutz and apologized way too much, what was worse, her apologies sounded fake. She just annoyed me.

However… As I played more later on… I realized that Colette and me were exactly alike. We both hid behind our smiles. We cared about everyone so much, that in the end, we got hurt the most. We got hurt so much, but… It didn't matter. As long as everyone else was happy, we'd be happy….We changed ourselves to be accepted. That's all we ever wanted… Acceptance, someone to tell us that they care for us, someone to see behind the mask. We wanted to be strong, we didn't want to worry anyone. We wanted everyone to be happy… And when something went wrong, it was our fault, because we could've made that difference…

The only difference between me and Colette is that she's the luckier one. She has friends, and she has Lloyd. I don't have anyone…

I quickly shook the emo thoughts out of my head as I got up. I grabbed the blanket and covered Colette as I silently thanked her. I headed out the door and went downstairs. As expected, I found Lloyd and Kratos outside with Mikey looking at them from a distance.

I quietly snuck up behind Mikey, "Heylo."

Mikey jumped a little bit in shock, "Oh, Anna…"

I smiled in amusement, "Hi."

Mikey returned the smile, "Hey, what's up."

I turned around to look at Kratos and Lloyd speaking to eachother, "Having fun watching this cute father-son moment?"

Mikey gave a little laugh, "Haha, yeah. It reminds me of when I told my little brother to not eat paste."

"You have a little brother?"

"Yeah."

"….I have an older sister."

It grew a little quiet. I began the conversation again, "Who's Tam? I heard you yell out for her at the renegade base."

"She's my fiance."

I looked up at Mikey in surprise, "You're engaged!?"

"Yeah, do you have a problem with that?"

I was a little taken back, "Oh, I'm sorry… I didn't mean it like that… It's just that you're so young…"

Mikey gave me a smile, "Yeah, I get that a lot. Sorry if it came out snappy. You don't have to apologize. I guess I tend to get defensive when someone asks me that question."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Oh, just something about being too young." Said Mikey, slightly sarcastically.

"Oh, I see." I responded as I remembered a question, "Oh, Yeah, I wanted to ask you something."

Mikey looked at me, "What is it?"

"How did you come here, to Sylvarant?"

"Hmmm…" Said Mikey as he was remembering, He then began making exxagerated hand movements, "Well, first, My game cube went flash! Then, it was all, 'Get in mah belleh!' to me and Tam. After that, I woke up on the renegade's roof."

I gave Mikey a weird look and slightly laughed, "That's…Umm… Interesting. Wait… The renegade's roof? How'd you get down from there?"

"It's a secret."

I gave Mikey a disbelieving look

"Just kidding. There was a sun roof type of door there, so I opened the door and landed in the base."

I smiled, but then something popped into my head, "Oh! Wait… Then where's…?"

Mikey looked at me.

"Where's Tam?"

Mikey's face dampened a bit, "I don't know. When I arrived here, I was already on my own."

There was something about Mikey that looked weird right now. Was it… worry? I decided to give it a shot, "Hey Mikey."

"Hmm?"

"Are you worried about Tam?"

Mikey gave me a surprised look, "How'd you know?"

I smiled, "I just guessed."

Mikey returned the smile, "That's a good guess. But, I know she'll be okay. In fact, I think that I'm more worried for the fiends that she meets."

I smiled and gave a little laugh.

I looked at the hotel, "Raine's kinda scary, huh?"

"Yeah, but it makes me sad." I could hear a little bit of sarcasm.

I looked at him worriedly, "Why?"

"Because I showed up before ruin-mode."

I began laughing.

"Why did I have to show up BEFORE Ruin-mode? At least then she would've been too distracted with the ruin to get all evil on us." He said dramatically.

I began laughing, "That's so true."

And yet another moment of silence came between us two.

"Hey, Anna." Mikey's face grew serious

"Hmmm? What is it?"

"Are… you hiding something from us?"

"Wh-what?" My voice cracked a little, "What makes you say that?"

"Well, whenever Raine, or even anyone else tried to look you in the eye, you always avoided them."

'He noticed?…' I silently thought to myself.

"And whenever people avoid eye contact, it's usually a sign that they're lying."

After a moment of silence, I finally spoke, "I'm not lying. I'm not hiding anything."

"Then why?"

I sighed, "….Mikey?"

"Yes?"

"Did… Did the Great tree's spirit tell you anything?"

"Are you changing the subject?"

"Mikey, please."

"…. Nothing really. All she said to do was look after someone. I'm guessing she was talking about you."

I silently nodded my head as I began to think, 'I see. So she didn't tell them about my ability… I guess I have no other choice but to tell him myself…'

I was interrupted in my thoughts as Mikey began talking to me, "Okay, I answered your question. Now may you please answer mine?"

I nodded my head, "When I came here, The spirit that looks like martel gave me something. She gave me the power to look into people's hearts. The thing is…"

Mikey stared at me.

"The thing is, it can only be activated if I look into people's eyes. The last time I looked in Raine's eyes, I passed out. It really hurt. And I don't want that to happen again, so that's why I've been avoiding everyone's eyes…"

Mikey began walking closer to me and put his hands on my shoulders.

I began blushing without even meaning to, "Mi-Mikey, what are you-"

Just then, Mikey's eyes and mine met.

There were sad things in his life. And of course, there were a lot of dark feelings in him that followed. However, something about this seemed different. It's sort of like… Like he already accepted everything that happened to him. He's decided to move on.

Like every other normal being, there was darkness. But his was one that I can tolerate. It felt… Refreshing.

"See?" Said Mikey with a smile, "Now you can look into my eyes so that you won't look as suspicious. I can give you a break."

I naturally out of habit looked down, "Oh, so that's why you grabbed me…"

Mikey smirked, "Oh my, what's this? Are you disappointed?"

I blushed without meaning too once again, "Wait, What?!"

"Sorry Anna, but I'm already engaged, remember?"

"What are you talking about!?"

Mikey sighed sarcastically, "What's a guy supposed to do? I guess I can't blame you, after all, I'm so handsome."

I gave him a pitiful, disbelieving stare, "You know, you're just like Zelos."

"Hey," Mikey pretended to be deeply hurt, "Don't compare me to him!"

I stuck my tongue out at him, "Well, it's true!"

Suddenly, I felt quick movement from behind me as a sword came to my throat.

A brunette also quickly cam as he put his swords against Mikey.

"State your name!" Asked the red headed swordsman fiercely, but calmly.

Me and Mikey just blinked and gave confused faces.

The brunette we call Lloyd put his swords down as he realized who he put his swords against, "Eh heheheh… Opps. Sorry Mikey." He then put his swords away.

Meanwhile, I was still stuck with a sword to my throat.

"Ummm, Kratos, can you please kindly remove that sword away from my throat?"

"…I apologize." Said Kratos, as he too withdrew his swords.

"Nothing much, we were just talking. Well, that is until we were so rudely interrupted." I said with a smile, to let them know I was just kidding.

Lloyd scratched his head in slight embarrassment, "Eh heheh… Sorry."

All of a sudden, I felt a pair of eyes on me. I quickly changed my focus from Lloyd to Kratos.

He was staring at me with that pained expression again.

"…" I couldn't find the right words to say.

"Well, shall we head in?" Said Mikey, oblivious to my discomfort, as he gestured me and the others to go inside the inn.

Lloyd agreed as he and Mikey headed in.

Just as Kratos was about to go in, I grabbed his arm to stop him, "Kratos."

Kratos would not look at me, he simply kept looking forward, his back facing me.

"Kratos. Why do you keep looking at me? Ever since I landed at Lloyd's house, you won't stop looking at me like you're really sad. Like I did something wrong."

Kratros would not reply.

I continued, "What did I do to make you angry at me? Please, let me know so that I can apologize, because each time you look at me, it looks as if you've just watched someone come back from the dead! "

Kratos cringed at that comment and looked at me. Pain was in his eyes.

I refused to see four thousand years of pain, so I averted my eyes, but only so that I wouldn't be looking into his eyes directly.

"Kratos, tell me! I want to know if I did something wrong! It's awkward having someone constantly stare at you when you don't know why!"

Kratos began opening his mouth to speak when Mikey and Lloyd came back out.

Mikey looked at me with a bit of concern, "What's going on here?"

Lloyd also was worried, "What's with all the noise?"

It was silent for a moment, then Kratos walked into the inn.

I began following Kratos, "Kratos, wait-"

Mikey grabbed my hand before I could go any further, "Anna, what's going on?"

"I…" I said distractedly as I was trying to get one last view of Kratos before he returned to his room, "Argh! Darn it! I missed him."

Lloyd looked at me with a confused expression, "Why were you yelling at Kratos?"

I grudgingly answered, "…I wanted answers."

"Answers for what?"

"I just get really annoyed when people stare at me. When I was younger, no, even now, people always stare at me because they were spreading rumors about me, or because I did something wrong... I guess now it just turned into a pet peeve…"

Lloyd smiled, "Don't worry Anna, Kratos always looks at me with weird looks too!"

Both Mikey and I thought, 'But that's because you're his son.'

"Well, tomorrow is a big day. We should all get some shut-eye. Try not to worry about it too much." Said Mikey.

I silently nodded my head in agreement as I began walking in, with Lloyd and Mikey following.

"Colette, don't!"

"Shhh! Genis, you might wake her up!"

"What's wrong with waking Anna up?"

"She turns into a demon Queen!"

"Yeah, she gets really scary!"

It was morning, and I woke up to this. I do not like waking up to noise. I slowly got up.

"Who is disturbing my sleep?"

I must have sounded demonic or just scary, because they all visibly began twitching in fear as they slowly began facing towards me. Colette was just looking at me with a confused expression.

"YOU DARE DISTURB MY SLEEP!? YOU SHALL NOW KNOW PAIN!"

I began getting up from the floor in a rugged manner.

Lloyd hid behind Genis, "EEP!"

" MWAH HAHAHA! FEAR ME, BOW DOWN BEFORE ME YOU PATHETIC HUMANS! MWAH HAHAHA!"

they looked frightened out of their wits.

"YES, THAT'S RIGHT. Fear me. FEAR ME!!!!!!!! MWAHAHAHAA!" I began laughing hysterically.

"What happened to Anna?" Asked Colette innocently as Lloyd and Genis began panicking.

"Oh no, we woke her up! What do we do now Lloyd?"

"Run!" Said Lloyd as he grabbed Colette and began running away.

Haha, poor boys. They were once again traumatized for the, technically, second time.

….Haha.

Anyhow, after waking up a little more and having my memory completely erased of the incident, I headed downstairs and went outside to meet with the rest of the group.

"Good morning everyone!" I smiled as I neared them.

For some reason, the nearer I got, the more Lloyd and Genis slowly inched away from me. I leaned towards Mikey and whispered, "Why are they getting farther from me?"

Mikey whispered back, "Umm, it was something about you being the demon Queen."

"What?!"

"Mikey, Anna." Said Raine as she approached me and Mikey, "May I suggest you find different clothes? It will be difficult to blend in with both of your clothes."

Mikey and I looked at each other's outfits, and we found we had to agree with Raine.

Me and Mikey were at the bazaar looking for some clothes.

" かわいいいかに!(How cute!)" I exclaimed in Japanese as I saw a cute puppy near the shop we were in.

Mikey looked at me with surprise, "You know Japanese?"

"はい. (Yes.)" I answered with a smile.

" 涼しい, 従ってIはできる! (Cool, So can I!)"

"驚くばかり! …ちょっと、私は考えを有する! (Awesome! …Hey, I have an idea!)" I exclaimed, "私達はいかにについて他を混同するために日本語を話し始めるか。(How about we start speaking japanese to confuse the others?)"

Mikey smiled, "ええ、それをしよう! (Yeah, let's do it!"

Me and Mikey's mood were good for the rest of our time shopping.

"Hey everyone, we're back!" Said Mikey as we both neared the plaza.

Mikey was now wearing blue pants, shirt, and a black vest. He also had blue tinted sunglasses which were in his pocket.

I was wearing a green and white tube with sleeves, but the sleeves weren't connected. I was wearing sheena type pants with green and white boots. My long hair looked somewhat similar to Yuna's in Final Fantasy X-2.

Everyone stared at us in awe.

Colette walked up to Mikey and pointed to a lump that was on his chest, underneath his vest.

"What's that?" She asked as she pointed to the lump.

"Mikey looked down to his chest, "Oh, this?" He pulled it out, "It's just a gun, in case fo emergencies."

I looked at him, You're a gunner?"

"Only when necessary."

I squeeled, "それはとても涼しい! (That's so cool!)"

Everyone but Mikey stared at me, "…What?"

Me and Mikey look at each other and smiled, "Se-cr-et."

"…"

Before I could say more, Kratos began speaking, "We can finally head out to release the seal."

Colette snapped back, "Oh, right!" Colette smiled, "I'll do my best!"

Raine also nodded her head in agreement, "The seal Remiel spoke of is in the Triet Ruins southwest of here."

Wow. A lot of nodding. Haha.

Lloyd spoke up, "Cool! Let's go check out that seal!"

Genis looked at Lloyd with doubt, "We'll see if that enthusiasm lasts…"

Lloyd responded to Genis, "I'll be fine! Just you watch!"

All of a sudden, money signs, well, gald signs, appeared in my eyes.

"Ooh, I love challenges." I joined, "Anyone want to make a bet on whether or not Lloyd's enthusiasm lasts? I bet 500 gald!" That's right, I wanted to make easy money, Mwahahaha.

Mikey caught on, "Yeah, let's bet! I also bet 500 gald that he gets bored!"

"I bet 100!"

"I bet 50!"

"Hmph."

"1000!"

We all gaped at the person who yelled out 1000.

"Raine!?" We all yelled in surprise.

"What? I want money…"

We all got the "…" signs on our heads. We all then turned our attention to Lloyd as he began yelling.

"What?! You guys are mean! I'll prove to you that I won't get bored! I bet you 10,000 gald that I won't get bored!"

Me and Mikey looked at each other with glee, "If you say so…"

I got closer to Lloyd, "But you do realize that if you lose, you'll owe us 11,650 gald, right?"

Lloyd visibly shivered and sweat dropped at the thought of losing.

I began laughing, "Mwah haha-"

Mikey interrupted me, "No no. It's more like, 'Mwah hahaha!'"

"Oh, you mean like, MWAH hahaha!?"

"No, Like this,"

And for a few minutes of Lloyd and the others being freaked out by Mikey's evil laugh lesson, Raine finally interrupted us.

"Oh, Lloyd, I just remembered. Let me give you this." She gave Lloyd a list. I'm guessing it was the monster list, "Gathering data on your enemies is useful for protecting the Chosen."

Lloyd was trying to hide it, but he looked a little appalled, "I…I'm going to do it?"

Raine gave a reassuring look, "I'll help, too. Just think of it as homework."

"Ewww…"

I patted Lloyd on his shoulder as I was laughing at him, "Poor Lloyd."

Raine looked at me, "Oh, don't worry about Lloyd, he'll be getting lots of help from you and Mikey as well."

Mine's and Mikey's jaw dropped as we both yelled out, "Me too?!"

"Of course. You need to be of SOME use on this journey."

Our jaws just stayed down as we got dissed by Raine.

"I feel so insulted and hurt." I said as Lloyd patted MY shoulder for comfort while HE was laughing.

"We should get going." I could've sworn I saw a little bit of disappointment on Kratos' face because of Lloyd's disincline for work as he said that. I chuckled a little to myself before heading off with the rest of the group.

Sorry, That was shorter than last Chappie…. PLEASE, DON'T BURN ME TO THE STAKE! Lol, jk. Yeah well…. I'm tired. Lol

R&R PLEASE :D