Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.

Yeah… I'm just going to stop saying when the next chapter is going to be. Cause every time I say it'll be soon I jinx myself and something comes up and distracts me from this. Then I feel bad because I lied. So yeah… Sorry, I'll attempt to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.

To Meowzy-chan and Cheea5: Oh okay. Thank you. I never got to play Tales of Phantasia. xP

We landed our rheaireds in front of Palmacosta. The city had been completely rebuilt and looked brand new. Neil was still the mayor of the city. As we walked past the entrance we looked around.

"So where do we start?" Yuan said eyeing the people passing by.

"How about we ask Neil if he knows anything before we start harassing the citizens?" Yuan smiled at my sarcastic remark. Sad thing was I wasn't entirely sure I was joking.

"Sure, sounds good to me."

We pushed our way through the crowds of Palmacosta. It was difficult to dodge the salesmen as they forced their product in our faces. The aroma of all sorts of different food was in the air. Palmacosta was as busy as ever. It was kind of peaceful to see it so full of life again. I was abruptly snapped out of my thoughts when a salesman jumped in my way.

"Excuse me sir! But you simply must take a gander at my fresh vegetables!" The man said dramatically cheerful. His hand swept across his selection. "Perhaps you'd like some squash." Noticing I wasn't interested he picked up a carrot. "What about these healthy carrots." The man stuck the carrot in my face, noticing I was about to make my escape, he picked another vegetable up and stuck it in my face. "How about some freshly picked tomatoes?" My eyes widened in terror at the red vegetable just inches from my face. It left me speechless. Yuan, coming to my rescue pushed the man aside.

"We're not interested!" Yuan snarled, pulling my arm as we dashed off.

After we managed to escape the marketplace I looked to Yuan. "Thanks… For back there."

Yuan glanced at me and smiled. "Heh, don't mention it. We wouldn't want another tomato incident happening again, seeing that side of you was enough for one life time." He snickered as I glared at him. I could feel my cheeks flush softly. We made the rest of the way to Neil's office peacefully. We walked up the stairs leading to the building. One of the guards put his arm in front of me as I was about to pass by.

"Excuse me sir. No weapons aloud in the mayor's office." His tone rang with authority as he glanced at my sword. Yuan and I shared a look before nodding. Unhooking my belt I handed it to the large man. "Thank you sir, safety precautions must be followed. " Nodding again Yuan and I opened the office doors. Neil looked up with tired eyes, some of his green hair falling into his face.

"Lord Kratos, Lord Yuan. It's a pleasure to see you both again." He smiled gently as he got up and walked in front of his desk.

Yuan returned the smile, "It's been a while." His smile faded, "You look awful. When was the last time you got some sleep?" Yuan looked him over. "Or went outside?"

Neil chuckled, brushing some of his bangs to the side of his face. "Being mayor isn't as easy as I thought."

Yuan sighed and rested his hand on Neil's shoulder sympathetically. "I know how you feel."

"Yes, I would image you have it much worse than myself. Running an entire government must be extremely difficult and tiring."

Yuan's gaze sunk to the floor. "It was…"

"Was? What do you mean by that?"

"Symphonia Base has been destroyed." I said simply.

Neil looked at me like I sprouted a new head. "W-What? How? By who?" He looked from me to Yuan and back to me.

"We're not really sure about the details. That's why we're here." I folded my arms.

Yuan looked back up at Neil. "We were hoping you might know something."

"Like what? What kind of information could I possibly have?"

Quickly making sure there was no one in ear shot, my gaze fell on Neil. "There might be hidden rebellions about the new world."

"Hidden rebellions? Aren't they just the left over Desians?"

"Doubt it. Right now I think we have another Cruxis in the making." Neil paled as his eyes widened.

"Kratos! Stop exaggerating! You're going to give someone a heart attack." He looked to Neil, "That's just what we fear. We don't have hard proof of this. We just believe the 'Desians' are more than they appear to be."

Neil swiped a hand across his pale face and looked to Yuan. "Then who do you think they are?"

"That's what we'd like to know." Yuan sighed and looked at me. "Show it to him."

I nodded and began unwrapping the helmet we held in a small blanket. Carrying around a Desian helmet would have looked strange, so we covered it up. I placed it on Neil's desk. He came around and sat down in his chair, moving forward to pick up the armor object. "A Desian helmet…?"

"Look on the side. There's a strange symbol on it."

Neil did as I told him and spotted the symbol. He ran his fingers over it. "I suppose you wouldn't know what it means." He glanced up at us as we shook our heads. "What a strange symbol…" He muttered to himself as he redirected his attention back to the helmet.

Sitting down in one of the chairs in front of Neil's desk, a scowl appeared. "We can not allow this information to get out. I imagine it won't be to long till people discover Yuan's base a complete wreck. But that can be covered up by some excuse. If people find out there might be a second Cruxis there's a good chance hysteria would break out. Such hysteria might bring the organization to come out of hiding and ruin any chance we have of crushing it." Quickly glancing to Yuan, who had also sat down, "if there is an organization."

Neil nodded. "I agree. We may not know for certain of who's behind this, but we must act as if it is a hidden revolt. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Yuan leaned back in his chair. "So have you seen anything suspicious?"

Neil wiped a hand across his face. "Something strange has been going on lately. Palmacosta was peaceful and my job was fairly easy. But a few weeks ago murders starting taking place. It's got the city spooked. I've been working all-nighters to try and capture the criminal. But it feels like I'm going no where in the investigation."

Yuan shifted in his seat. "How many cases?"

"Five." Neil picked up one of the many pieces of paper on his cluttered desk.

I gripped the armrests. "What do they all have in common?"

Neil read the paper for a moment. "Nothing really. Three of the victims were half-elves, two were humans. They had no relation to each other at all. The only common thing is that they were all killed at night. Not even cause of death was the same. Which either means there's more than one killer or the bastard just wants us to think there is. "

"Well who were they? Were they similar people?" Yuan was on the edge of his seat.

"We looked at each person's background and they didn't have anything worth killing them over. They all were completely different people, but normal citizens." Neil sighed.

I rolled the new information around in my head for a while. Was this related to the invasion of Yuan's Base? It could simply be a serial killer. It was disappointing to have gotten no real help on the subject. "That's the only suspicious thing you've noticed?"

Neil stared into my eyes for a long moment. "I'm afraid so. People seem a little more on edge lately but I believe that's only because of the murders."

Standing, my head bowed slightly. "Thank you for the help. We'll be off now." Yuan looked up in surprise but rose as well. "If you find out any more information please inform us."

He nodded. "Of course, good luck you two."

With that we left, the guard handing back my sword, we walked to the end of Palmacosta. "Why are we leaving already?" Yuan asked.

"If Neil doesn't know than chances are no one in Palmacosta is going to know. Besides, I don't want to risk hysteria breaking out because of some stupid rumor. Cities are the birth of most rumors; you know that as well as I do." Yuan nodded slowly. We mounted our rheaireds and headed for Meltokio.

Author's note: I couldn't help but mention Kratos's great distaste of tomatoes. Perhaps I'll show that flashback in a later chapter. xD

On a side note, I just found out Anna lived in Luin. I found it ironic how I chose Kratos to live in Luin as well.