Mieu: Sorry for not updating in about a month. I'm sorry to say that it's been more than a month, so people can throw things at me. /dodges various items being thrown/ But technically speaking, it's been exactly a month.
Marta: She was procrastinating.
Mieu: Grr. It's just hard to write the beginning chapters because they're just kind of boring. /Gasp/ There is actually PLOT in this chapter!
Marta: Oh yeah, there's actually spoilers in here, so don't read if you haven't finished the game. Also, Spoilers for Yuan's last name in the entire story. But most people know it and it's bound to get out anyway, so…
Oh! IMPORTANT. LOOK. OVER. HERE. READ. THE. AUTHORS. NOTE. I realized this a while back, but … yeah. Since I can just say I added 100x words for each review, I decided to give everyone a 100x preview of the next chapter. So for this chapter, there is a 400 word preview of Chapter 3.
Thanks to Leaf Shinobi of Mizuho, Angelica Celina, Yuugao Azamizu and Xascul for reviewing.
Marta: Eragonfanatic92 does not own Tales of Symphonia or Tales of Fandom 2. If she did, Colette would be able to fly during battle and attack from the air. With Raining Pow Hammers of Doom.
Edit: Chapter was edited because I said Yuan had black hair. :P
Kratos had stepped out of the palace, along with Zelus. "So, kid, what was you flipping into the palace all about?" Zelus asked while they both descended the steps of the castle.
"I slipped." Kratos replied bluntly. He did not like being called a kid. He was 23, darn it.
"In what?"
"I do not know, but it should be around here somewhere." At the bottom of the steps, Kratos bent over and started searching. There, smeared on the floor was the remains of an… evil tomato. Kratos shuddered visibly and jumped over it, hissing as he went.
"Dude, you're weird. Why are you so afraid of a tomato? I mean I know you slipped and all, but you're a Captain." He had an expression on his face that said, 'I'm going to use this against you later'. "Hehehe. But whatever. I'm leaving, see you later." With that, Zelus left. To where, Kratos had no idea, but it wasn't his house. Ignoring Zelus, he slowly walked home. It was a nice change in pace, considering his previous run to the castle.
"Hi again!" The same girl that had almost delayed Kratos earlier waved back at him. "Were you late for your play date?" she asked innocently.
"Hello. I didn't go to a play date, I had to attend a meeting." Kratos responded.
"Oh! Just like my daddy!" Her eyes seemed to shift to something behind Kratos.
"Daddy!" she proceeded to run forward, and ran past Kratos. He turned around to see General Zexion bending over and picking up the little girl.
"Well, well. Long time no see." The general greeted him, adjusting the small girl in his arms.
"Sir?" Kratos had no idea that he lived so close, or even had a family for that matter.
"Kratos, this is little Annabel. Annie, this is Kratos." The general introduced. Annabel stuck her hand out for Kratos to shake. Surprised, Kratos cautiously reached for her hand, and she softly grabbed his index finger and shook it.
"Nice to meet you … Kra-…Krat-…Kratty!"
Kratos looked slightly disturbed that his named had jumped from 'Kratos' to 'Kratty', but hey, what can you do about it?
"A pleasure to meet you too, Annabel."
"Annie." She pouted, her face instantly turning angry. The quick change startled Kratos.
"Annie." Kratos quickly corrected, and her's face instantly changed back to it's original happy self. While on the subject of correcting names…"My name's Kratos. Not Kratty." Annie pouted again. "Kra-…" she trailed off, unable to finish. "Tos." He finished for her. "Tos-tos!" Kratos put a hand to his face.
"I'm not good with children."
The general chuckled. "I can see you're not very good with kids. But with the proper amount of practice, and when you have children of your own you'll be better." The sky had started to turn dark. He faced Annie. "It's your bedtime. Kratos, it would be better for you return home right now." The general redirected the last part of his sentence at the redhead. "I'll see you in the morning." General Zexion turned on his heel and headed up the pathway into his house.
"Yes, that's probably best."
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Kratos walked back home and entered the house. A light came from his parent's room; no doubt his father was packing and preparing to be relocated. He didn't really feel like speaking with his father so he entered his own room, removed the pesky armor (albeit with a bit of trouble), plopped down on the bed and fell asleep.
A green haired half elf stood watching her younger brother sleeping on their bed. They were in an old abandoned house in Heimdall. It was a less than ideal place, but it was good enough. The green haired half elf was pacing about the room, becoming increasingly worried.
"Mithos is old enough to take care of himself now. Soon, we'll be chased out of the village. It's only a matter of time. Oh, what to do." Martel murmured to herself as she approached Mithos' bed. She knew that Tethe'alla's prejudice for half-elves was very high, but she wasn't sure about Sylvarant. That was probably the best place for her to head to. She had heard it from the elves that didn't treat her as a half-elf.
"That's where we'll go. Sylvarant." She said, trying to drum up her enthusiasm. She then sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked Mithos' hair.
A man ran through a forest and was approaching a small city in the country Bifröst. He was wearing a black cloak to blend in with the night, and if one looked very close, one could tell that there was blue hair poking out from the hood of the cloak. A sword sheath and red and gold armor could be seen from under his cloak when the moonlight hit it just right. He had a very small sack over his shoulder. Light panting could be heard as he approached the walls of the city. He knocked two times next to the closed gate, and a rope ladder was thrown down from the top of the gate. The man quickly scaled the ladder and jumped down to the other side of the wall.
"Sir? Did you find it?"
"Yes I did."
"Then I have a report for you. If it's not too much to ask since you just got back, could you travel to Midgard and inform them of your discovery?"
"Of course."
"I will prepare a horse for you right away, Yuan, sir."
Kratos woke up at 6:30 in the morning, due to the fact that the sun was in his eyes. It was also time for him to prepare to head off for the castle. He showered and dressed, successfully. The captain's outfit was fairly easy for him to buckle after watching someone else do it. He was out and walking to the castle and arrived on time. It took him a moment to locate the general's office, and the door was open. He arrived earlier than expected, but the general still greeted him.
"Good morning. Kratos, do you happen to know where Zelus is?" The general asked, while leafing through some papers on his desk.
"I do not, sir." Kratos said, shifting his weight back and forth.
"No need to be so formal, Kratos. Please, sit. He will probably arrive later. Aha!" The general wrestled a folder from inside of his desk. "Here are the stats, names, ages, et cetera, et cetera, of the Imperial Knights in Meltokio."
If Kratos' jaw weren't attached to his face, his mouth would be on the floor.
"T-The Imperial Knights…"
"Yes, yes. Don't be too surprised. You are a very good strategist, and fighter. You will no doubt win many battles to come in the future."
"Hopefully there will be none." Kratos told him solemnly.
"Yes, that is true, but most likely inevitable."
"But isn't there always another way?"
"There might be, there might not be. Zelus, you're late. Take a seat."
Zelus had tip toed into his office trying to sneak in during Kratos and Zexion's conversation.
"Zelus, you will be leading the defending troops. From what I've heard, you put up a very strong defense." Zelus nodded his head in response.
"Okay then, you two head on down to the barracks and Colonel Thanatos will brief you on what we expect, and give you an intelligence report. He should be in the strategy tent."
There was a knock on the door to the nearly abandoned house. It was very early in the morning, but Martel went and answered the door anyway. One of the nice indiscriminant elves stood there.
"Aura, how are you? What brings you here?" Martel greeted sweetly.
"Martel, I've come to warn you that the elves won't stand tolerating you two anymore. You should leave as soon as possible. They're planning on burning down your home soon, but I couldn't find out when because they wouldn't tell me. I'm sorry, I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but if I didn't do it, you would have received no warning at all."
"That's all right, Aura, it's better than no warning at all. I've decided that I should take Mithos to Sylvarant. What do you think about that idea?"
"I've heard that they are less discriminate of half-elves than Tethe'alla. That might be a good idea for now. But I've also heard that they plan on starting a war with Tethe'alla."
"Oh my, that's terrible!" Martel failed to notice that Mithos had woken up when she had moved around to answer the door.
"We're going to Sylvarant? Sylvarant is going to start a war with Tethe'alla? But we haven't done anything wrong!" Mithos protested.
"I'll leave you two alone for now. I should get going, because I wasn't suppose to tell you anything. If you ever manage to come back to Heimdall, I'll be here." She gave Martel a hug before departing.
"Mithos, Sylvarant and Tethe'alla never had a good relationship with each other. It was only a matter of time before they declared war on each other." Martel tried to explain to him.
"I won't let it happen. I'll search for a way for the countries to be peaceful, then everyone will be happy." Mithos declared.
Martel couldn't help but smile at the small child.
Yuan had ridden the horse he was provided with all through the night, without slowing. He stopped only to eat breakfast, and let the horse drink water and have a small break. He arrived in Midgard, t he capital of Sylvarant in the early afternoon. Yuan gave his horse to an attendant, before he quickly checked to make sure the items were still in the small bag that he had over his shoulder. He entered the inner city, approached the palace and demanded to speak to the emperor. He was granted entry immediately. The emperor sat on his throne with an air of power.
"Yuan, I'm assuming by your presence here, you've found it?" The emperor addressed him.
"Yes I have, sir."
"Show me them. Now!" The emperor demanded. Yuan reached into the bag, and pulled out a couple of blue orbs, being careful not to grasp them with too much force.
"So it's true. Tethe'alla was really developing those…things. You can put them away. I don't want to see them anymore. Good job on completing your mission, Captain. But I must ask, why did you go on the mission instead of sending someone else? It was quite a dangerous, sneaking into a Tethe'allan research facility like that."
"This wasn't a mission to be trusted to anyone else. I wanted to complete this mission alone. Bringing too many people would be less stealthy than going alone. It was very easy sneaking into the facility. The alarm didn't even go off." Yuan replied cockily.
"Very good. Any better and you can be an assassin. Anyways, I'll have someone take the…things to the research facility. Any technology that Tethe'alla has that Sylvarant doesn't is necessary in the survival of this country. We must be ready for al l- out war. As for your orders, rest up and prepare the soldiers with more drills."
"Yes, sir. Right away, sir." He stepped up to the throne and handed him the small bag. The emperor peered inside and pulled one out.
Yuan spoke up just before the emperor was about to place it on his skin. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, sir. You must have a Key Crest, otherwise you become sick. I only managed to take one."
The emperor put the gem looking thing back into the bag as he spoke. "Very well. I thank you for the warning. I shall inform the researchers. What are these called again?"
"Exspheres."
Kratos and Zelus had walked down to the barracks, walking in icy silence. Zelus had no interest in speaking with Kratos, while Kratos did not want to disturb the silence. They slowly made their way to the station, which was located at the bottom of the city, near the walls, in case of any surprise attacks. They approached the round - roofed buildings and entered the most elaborate tent. Zelus made a sound of surprise when he entered the tent. Inside, stood what appeared to be a very muscular half - elf, bent over a large table with a map on it. He had long pointy ears, long blue hair tied that was into a ponytail, red eyes that seemed to be able to pierce through anything, and an intimidating aura that could make anyone not want to oppose him. He turned around at the sound of footsteps.
"Are you-" Kratos started but was cut off.
"I'm Colonel Thanatos, yes. Ah, you must be the new recruits." His voice was smooth, and very cold.
"Yeah, we are." Zelus replied rather rudely.
Kratos nodded and spoke with respect. "General Zexion sent us to be briefed, and get an intelligence report."
"Yes yes, I know all about that. You're Kratos," He pointed at the said person. "And your Zelus." He pointed at the other redhead. He handed them each a manila folder.
"There's the intelligence report. General Zexion told you we expect a lot hmm? Very good. Everything you need to know is in there, if you have questions on anything at all, you can ask me." He seemed to direct the last part of his sentence at Zelus. He had a smirk on his face that made him seem like he thought he knew everything.
"Uh, sir, are you a half – elf? I thought they weren't allowed to join the Tethe'allan army. Or are you an elf that's come from Heimdall? 'Cause you're definitely not a human."
"I am none of those things that you listed Zelus. I am the final form of a Protozoan. You've heard of those before, yes? Yes you have."
"Wait, how do you know what I'm thinking?" Zelus demanded.
"It's simple really, anyone with the proper training can read minds with the power of telepathy."
See? Just like this. It's quite convenient on the battlefield. I'll have to teach both of you sometime.
Kratos and Zelus both visibly flinched as they felt him speak inside their minds.
"Don't worry, there are ways to counter it. I won't always be in your minds. I respect your privacy. I will however, ask that you tell no one outside of here who and what I really am. You two should be able to keep a secret, yes? If you don't, I'll be able to find out. You may leave now, if you wish. Come back here tomorrow, and you will start training the soldiers."
Mieu: Oh gawd, I made a Yuan Kafei (ToS) - Jade Curtiss (TotA) - Hybrid crossover thing. Oh well. Thanks to KuroShiroYamiHikari, and Lunardragon2607 for helping me sort of make Colonel Thanatos up.
Marta: Hahaha. Longish, yeah, sort of, kind of, not really chapter to make up for the wait.
Mieu: Here's the 400 word preview of Chapter 3.
Mithos had helped pack Martel everything, which wasn't much. On the bed sat two bags, each filled. Martel was holding another bag, and putting food into it. They couldn't bring any furniture, so that was the only thing left in the house. They didn't even have much furniture, except for a bed, a small table and a couple of chairs. A lone cup of half drunken water stood on the table. There was a knock on the door a few minutes after they had set the last bag down on the bed. Martel solemnly stood up and opened the door. Outside stood what seemed to be a stereotypical angry mob. Angry elves stood outside the house, with pitchforks and torches. The Head Elf stood outside their door with his hand raised in a fist.
"This is an outrage. Half – Elves in a full - blooded elven village can only give us a bad name! The young male half – elf is now old enough to understand that we must exile both of you from the village. We must ask you to leave immediately, or we'll be forced to burn your house down. If you leave quietly, there will be no fire tonight. We hereby exile you from ever setting foot in this village ever again!"
"No! You said we could burn it down!" A pyromaniacal elf in the background protested. He hurled one of his many torches onto the straw roof of the house. It quickly caught fire. The full - blooded elves, surprised at the action, turned and ran away screaming. The starry sky could be seen from where the fire had eaten away at the straw. A shooting star could be seen from above. The smell of burning wood and ash fell onto Mithos and Martel, as Martel grabbed two bags, and Mithos grabbed the last one. They tried getting out the door but part of the burning straw fell and burned away at the door, blocking it with flames.
Martel immediately lunged for the glass of water, but failed to notice the burning straw above her. "Martel, look out!" Mithos yelled as burning straw fell onto his sister's arm. She screamed as her sleeve caught fire, and she fell unconscious.
Tears streamed down Mithos' eyes as the fire continued to eat away at the house. He looked up at the sky to the shooting star. "Please! Give me the power I need to save everyone!"
Marta: Review for a 100 word preview of the next chapter. And a Kratos plushie! (If you want one, that is.)
Mieu: Oh, if anyone knows the stages a Protozoan goes through, can they tell me? I know there's Aeros, Arshis, and that's it. I can't remember anymore.