Disclaimer: Wow, what is this stuff? I'm fairly certain it isn't mine…
A/N Well, my original inspiration for this went kaput. So… here's plan two. And, please, I know not everyone likes Colette, but I do so just bear with me 'cause she'll be gone again in the next update. And… I think I disturbed myself a bit while writing this, 'cause it is definitely weird.
Oh, and since Tales of Symphonia is a confirmed sequel to Tales of Phantasia, I'm adding references.
The inspiration for the below can be found in several different Star Trek episodes, one episode of the second to last season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and a recent episode of Stargate: Atlantis.
Crazy
Zelos woke to bleach white walls, an empty bed, and the antiseptic smell of a hospital. He sat up slowly, not recognizing where he could be. Never before had he seen a place so… sterile.
There was a door at the far end of the small room. It, too, was painted white and had a small window at about face height… and the window was quite clearly double paned and reinforced with a fine metal mesh.
"Where am I?" Zelos whispered aloud. The last thing he'd remembered was helping Raine track down Genis, who'd run off into the Gaorrachia Forest after a fight. The kid had been missing for an hour by the time Zelos, Lloyd, and Seles had shown up and the trio had immediately volunteered their services. "I wandered away from the others 'cause I thought I heard something and then I woke up here. Where is here, anyway? Where's Lloyd?"
A shadow appeared in the door window and the door clicked before opening. A tall man, perhaps an inch shorter than Zelos, dressed in a white lab coat and carrying a clipboard walked into the room. He flipped on the light, causing Zelos to wince as a headache formed. "Zelos? It's good to see you're with us today."
"What do you mean 'with us'?" Zelos demanded uneasily. The click of the door probably meant that it had been locked… and there were syringes in the pocket of the man's labcoat. "Where am I? How did I get here?"
"You don't remember." Something undefinable flickered across the man's face. "You've been here for about three years."
"What?!" Zelos shook his head in denial. "I was just traveling with Lloyd and Seles. I don't know how I got here, wherever this place is, but I need to get back to them."
"Seles was your sister…" the man muttered slowly. "Zelos, three years ago you suffered complete breakdown after the death of your sister. Coming so soon after your father died, your mind turned in on itself and created a… a world of your own to live in."
"What you're saying is that I'm delusional," Zelos said after a moment.
"You've been very sick," the man – doctor? – agreed. "My name is Doctor Malevant. I've been working with you ever since you came here. This is the second time you've completely left your mental safe haven."
"What happened the first time? I don't remember any of this."
"You encountered one of our other patients, Colette Brunel, who is suffering from a similar problem as yours. The two of you exchanged stories about the fantasy worlds you've been existing in and, when you both retreated into your minds again, your 'worlds' expanded to include information from the other's.
"There is no Derris Kharlan, or magic, or elven-kind. There are no angels, or Summon Spirits, or dwarves."
Zelos felt his heart skip a beat. What if…? "No! You're lying. Let me out of here!" There was just no way this could be real…
Doctor Malevant walked forward. "It's time for your medicine, Zelos. I think you'll feel a little better once you've received it…"
Zelos leapt off the bed, wondering for a moment who had changed him into the plain white pajamas he now wore, and darted past the doctor to the door. Flinging it open, Zelos charged into the hall and raced down the corridor. He could hear Malevant calling for help from some orderlies, but ignored them in favor of putting on another burst of speed as he rounded the corner.
And then he stopped. Some of the doors were open as doctors tended patients, all of which were dressed in the same plain pajamas. A few of the patients were muttering and even shrieking while others were too quiet and stared at nothing. There were some, however, that seemed perfectly fine… including a familiar blonde angel.
"Colette!" he yelled.
Whirling around, Colette pulled away from the orderly escorting her. "Zelos! Zelos don't listen to them! I don't know how we got here, but we'll get out somehow!" The orderly jabbed a needle in Colette's arm before she could say more and the sedative was clearly taking effect mere moments later as the beautiful blonde girl began to sway. "We've got to get out of here," she mumbled.
The sudden pinch of a needle alerted Zelos to the fact that he, too, had been caught. Darkness began swirling around him, but as the drug dragged him down into unconsciousness he remembered something. He had seen a few of the other inmates of this insane asylum before. They were the angels of Cruxis who'd been allowed Key Crests to retain individuality instead of becoming soulless minions.
---
"He's been missing for over a day now!" Lloyd exclaimed, trying very hard to bury the panicky feeling deep within. He hadn't slept well the night before; Zelos was gone and had left an empty space behind.
"He's not the only person missing, Lloyd," Sheena finally said, her voice gentle. She was sitting on a mat on the floor shifting a file in her hands nervously. "Before the Tower of Salvation was destroyed, several angels, all with Key Crests, left Derris Kharlan. They believed that Yggdrasill was already dead and that Cruxis no longer had purpose. Mizuho has left them alone because they haven't done anything wrong since they're arrival. We felt that they deserved a second chance.
"They've all gone missing, too."
"Are they behind this?" Lloyd demanded.
"I don't think so." Sheena shrugged. "I'd decided to tell you about this when you arrived, except Raine and Genis had that fight. If I'd known that Zelos might be at risk… I thought you two would be safe, especially here. I'm so sorry…"
"This isn't your fault, Sheena," Lloyd replied softly. "You couldn't have known…"
The door flew open and Presea ran in, breathing hard. "Does anyone know where Colette is?" she demanded, adding quickly, "I was supposed to visit her in Iselia today, but they said she'd been gone for a few days already. They thought she'd gone visiting."
"Zelos is missing too," Lloyd told the pink haired girl.
Sheena scowled and stood up. "Alright, let's look through the latest information reports; we'll get the whole village working on it. Whoever is kidnapping the angels won't get away with it for much longer."
---
"This is all my fault," Genis said abruptly. "I'm really sorry. If I hadn't run off, Zelos would still be here."
"Probably," Seles agreed. "But you couldn't have known what would happen and you didn't kidnap him, so it isn't your fault. All we can do now is do our best to find him." Pushing aside another stack of field reports, she continued to speak. "What I don't understand is why the angel-nappers took him. I mean, he isn't an angel, is he?"
Genis bit his lips and looked away. "I really don't think I'm the person you should be asking. Lloyd's the one Zelos tells everything to."
"So Zelos is an angel. When did he become one?" Seles asked, tilting her head to the side the same way her older brother would. She even brushed aside what she didn't want to hear like Zelos had a tendency to.
"After the pseudo-betrayal at the Tower of Salvation, before it crashed, Zelos told us that he'd been recruited by both Cruxis and the Renegades about a week before we met up with him. Cruxis put him through a faster version of the angel transformation and Yuan just asked him to do the best he could." Genis returned his gaze to Seles. He'd intended just to gauge her reaction, but found himself trapped in her stare instead.
"The angelic transformation is supposed to be one of the most physically and emotionally painful experiences known to the sentient species of Aselia. I wonder how much worse…" Seles shook her head slowly and released Genis from her scrutiny. "What more pain does my brother have to be put through? I only hope I'm never the cause again," she whispered the last part.
Genis reached over and opened the next intelligence report. Seles reminded him so much of Zelos sometimes, it was hard to remember that he couldn't give her a quick, reassuring hug because he didn't really know her.
---
Zelos struggled awake, almost instantaneously remembering where he'd been taken. His vision was blurry and his head pounded. "Oh goddess… what the hell did they do to me?"
Unsteadily, he pulled himself to his feet and staggered over to the door while using the wall as a guide. The room seemed to whirl around him and he realized, with a sickening feeling, that the concoction he'd been injected with must have served several purposes. He couldn't touch mana for using magic and his residual angelic abilities were gone. But it was definitely worse than that.
As Zelos reached the door, the world seemed to explode with color and he dropped to his knees swearing fluently in at least three languages. Now I know why so many people were muttering to themselves. These psychos are giving the 'patients' a hallucinogenic.
The door opened and the voice of Dr. Malevant taunted Zelos. "Yes, Zelos. Fight the delusions. Stay with us…"
"Get the hell away from me!" Zelos snarled, forcing himself to stand, to ignore the way his vision warped everything around him. He shut his eyes and went by touch. His fist smashed into Malevant's face and he heard a satisfying crunch as the man's nose snapped.
Snatching the keys out of the hands of the whimpering 'doctor', Zelos hurried to the room next to his and, with luck, got the door to open with second key he tried. "Hey, who's in here?"
"My name is Dhaos," was the soft reply.
"You want to blow this joint?"
"Most definitely." The person (Zelos didn't dare open his eyes to see who) was instantly at Zelos' side. "They've drugged you, human, and still you fight back."
"Somebody has to," Zelos shivered as the he began to feel cold. "It must be s-some s-sort of hallucinogen. I can't see properly… can you get me to a computer terminal with communications access?"
"You won't be in any condition to contact anyone by the time we're there."
"Then…" – where is that whistling noise coming from? – "send a message to Derris Kharlan… to Yuan and Kratos. Get them to trace the signal and relay the coordinates to Lloyd… he'll get us out of here."
"He'll do nothing of the sort. There is no…" there was a shrill scream of pain that echoed in Zelos' ears.
"I'll make sure Lord Yuan and Lord Aurion get your message, Chosen One," Dhaos promised. "Return to your room to wait the drug out. Depending on how much they dosed you with, it can get rather nasty." The speaker pushed Zelos back the way the redhead had come and quietly shut the door.
For a few moments, Zelos stood there, his eyes shut and his hearing beginning to play tricks on him, and tried to reassure himself that there had been no 'click' of the door locking before hell overcame him. Then, the drug dragging out every horror he'd ever known, Zelos began screaming for Lloyd to find him.
---
Dhaos gave 'Doctor' Malevant one last kick in the stomach before stealing the man's labcoat and clipboard. This was the moment he'd been waiting weeks for. He had bidden his time, pretending to break under the ministrations of his captors. In response, the dosage of drugs he'd been administered had been lowered in accordance with his 'recovery.'
As the brave, red haired Chosen began shrieking for help, Dhaos winced and hurried down the hall. "Goddess protect that poor soul. He may have just saved us all…"
---
"I repeat: are you reading me, Derris Kharlan?"
Kratos looked over at Yuan and then flipped on the comm device when his lover nodded. "This is Lord Aurion and Lord Yuan of Derris Kharlan. We read you loud and clear. Identify yourself."
"This is Dhaos, one of the angels who left after the battle in the Great Seed's room of protection. Those of us on Aselia have recently been captured by an unknown organization that has been… well… it's hard to explain. Recently, however, they also captured the Chosen of Tethe'alla. He managed to free me in order to send this message, but has been incapacitated. Can you trace this signal and send some sort of rescue?"
"Yuan…?" Kratos turned to the blue Seraph, but he was already leaning over the nearby computer terminal.
"Already on it."
"We'll be sending a rescue soon. My son Lloyd will lead it personally, if Zelos Wilder is really there."
"So that explains…" Dhaos' voice trailed off. "He told me you'd send someone named Lloyd to save us. The Chosen seemed very certain of it." There was a loud crashing noise from Dhaos' end of the connection. "I hope you've traced this signal already. My captors are breaking in. I guess they didn't like my treatment of the Doctor who has been drugging us."
"Drugging you?" Kratos echoed. "What in the name of Origin are they doing to you there?"
"Perhaps I shall explain it when I return to Derris Kharlan. It seems that Aselia is not safe for angels." The signal deactivated.
"I finished the trace," Yuan said after a moment of silence. "Let's contact Lloyd and let him know what just happened. I've never hoped something was a lie before, but… for the your son's sake, I hope that Dhaos is lying."
"So do I." Kratos began hailing Lloyd's portable communicator. "I just have this sinking feeling that Dhaos is telling the truth and that what's happening is worse than it sounds."
---
"No, Zelos isn't here. He went missing about two days ago," Lloyd clenched his hands into fists and the forced himself to relax his posture. He hadn't slept at all the past two nights; he'd fallen asleep in Zelos' arms every night since the recent events in Asgard and now that the redhead was missing, Lloyd just couldn't get comfortable.
"Then Dhaos must have been telling the truth." Kratos' apprehension was audible even over the portable comm unit. "I was just contacted by someone claiming that he was being held at the same place as Zelos. We traced the signal of the transmission to an old hospital complex just north of Lake Umacy. It hasn't been in use for one hundred years and should have fallen down some time ago, but it seems that someone has made it operational again."
Lloyd had to force himself to listen to everything else his father had to say. It took all his self-control not to charge out and search for his Zelos right away. There were plans to make.
---
Zelos took deep breaths, his throat protesting in pain over every inhalation. He felt ragged inside and weak outside, and he was so angry. How dare someone do this to him?! How dare anyone treat another living being in this way?!
Unsteadily, he rose to his feet and opened his eyes, which felt gritty and dry. He reached the door and, to his surprise, it opened when he twisted the doorknob. He crept out into the hallway and peeked into the room where he was fairly certain his helper had originated from.
Inside he saw a blonde man who reminded Zelos vaguely of Yggdrasill. The man lay on his cot and twisted about, as if in pain. "I'm sorry," Zelos whispered.
Turning away, Zelos looked down at his hand and smiled as he realized that Doctor Malevant's keys were still there. "Let's go find Colette," he rasped as he began to walk down the hallway. Turning the corner, Zelos carefully ensured that the corridor was empty before striding down the hallway until he finally found the room holding his blonde friend. He unlocked the door and pushed it open.
"Colette, are you awake?"
"No more treatments," she whimpered, curled up on her cot.
"Colette, it's me. It's Zelos," he whispered, ignoring the aching of his throat as he moved to crouch beside her. "I know you feel all used up from those drugs they gave us, but we've got to get out of here."
Colette's pretty blue eyes opened and she fixed them on Zelos. "Why are they doing this to us? Why are they trying to make us crazy?"
"I don't know."
"Because you're angels," a voice answered from the door. The two Chosen jumped and stared in horror at the pale, raven haired 'doctor' who stood in the doorway. "Even without your Cruxis Crystal, Wilder, you're an angel: a dangerous being who shouldn't be allowed to exist in this world. Execution, however, we find to be abhorrent even though that is what angels deserve. This facility is a kindness to you and a sacrifice of time and resources on the part of the staff."
"This place is a house of torture. There is no kindness here," Zelos spat.
"Our benefactor told us you'd think so. Because you are willingly an abomination, you cannot understand why this must be as it is."
"You won't get away with this," Colette spoke up, her voice growing stronger. "Our friends will find us."
Zelos gave her a curious look. "How long have they had you here?" he asked hoarsely.
"Too long," Colette muttered. "I knew that if I didn't contact Lloyd in a few days or Presea came to see me early like she said she might, I'd be safe soon. She's been lonely and... you've been traveling with Lloyd, so you know how he is about staying in touch with people. My family probably thinks I took off to go visit everyone; I'd been feeling a little lonely myself. Iselia isn't really home anymore."
"How touching," the man in the doorway drawled. He strolled forward, appearing unintimidated when the two Chosen stood and glared at him. "Now let's get you two separated…" he pulled out a syringe from his coat pocket.
Zelos reacted instinctively; his hand shot out and knocked the syringe out of the man's grasp. Colette ducked around the man to pick up the drug filled container before hurrying out of the way as Zelos broke the nose of yet another false doctor.
"I should use this one you," Colette said quietly, gaining the attention of both Zelos and their captor. "You would deserve it, mister. For-for everything you and your people have put every single angel in this building through. For hurting me, my friend, and even those I don't know." Tears began to roll down her face. "I can't do it though. You're a monster disguised as a person and I still can't put you through the same things you've done to me."
"I'm not the monster…" the man began to protest in a nasal voice. He held a hand to his nose while he braced himself against the wall with his other hand.
"Shut up," Zelos commanded, kicking the man's feet out from under him. "Just shut up. You've already tried to justify yourself and merely proven that you're the one who should be locked up in a loony bin."
There was a loud clattering noise and then dozens of voice shouting. The sounds of battle quickly joined the voices and Zelos smiled as the people became identifiable. "Lloyd is here," he murmured. "Dhaos did it. Dhaos get the message out."
"You let Dhaos out? I'd assumed he had escaped on his own…" the man paled as Zelos narrowed his eyes and glared.
"I thought I told you to shut up."
"I'd do as he says," Lloyd said from the doorway, his swords pointed directly at the man on the floor. "Zelos, Colette, are you two okay?"
"I'm fine now that you're here." Zelos walked over to the brunette, kissing him on the cheek. "I knew you'd come."
"Look out!" Colette darted forward as she yelled. The man on the floor had stood up, another syringe in his hand. He didn't get far, though. "I've been injected by you enough times over the past week, Doctor Terron, to know I did that right." She stepped away and dropped an empty hypodermic to the ground. "I suppose I was wrong. When you threaten my friends, I am capable of putting you through the very hell you sent me to."
"It's only a sedative," Terron gasped out before falling to the floor again, this time unconcious.
"Colette?" Presea peered inside and then ran to the blonde angel in order to tackle Colette with a hug. "Oh, Colette…" the pink haired girl's voice grew soothing as she gently rocked the crying girl.
"Lloyd, please take me away from here," Zelos whispered, latching onto his love's arm. "Just get me away from this place."
---
Lloyd sighed softly and buried his face against Zelos' hair just so he could breathe in the redhead's unique scent.
Sheena had promised to make Mizuho's most important mission finding the person, or people, responsible for funding the 'asylum' and had returned to Mizuho, with Raine, early. Everyone else had gone to the nearby towns, cities, and Houses of Salvation in order to get some rest. Well… everyone except for the ninjas who had volunteered to remain at the renovated hospital that now served as a prison for the kidnappers.
Seles had latched onto Zelos for a few hours and only let go when her brother had fallen asleep in the Luin Inn common room while Lloyd had been, very quietly, filling in the two Seraphim of Derris Kharlan on the day's events. When Lloyd had signed off, he'd gently pulled Zelos off his shoulder and into his arms. Then he'd asked Seles to open the doors for him, which she did without complaint.
Lloyd didn't know where Seles was now, but he was fairly certain that she'd returned to the common area in order to continue trying to convince Genis to travel with them.
Zelos stirred and whimpered in his sleep.
"Shush, shush," Lloyd brushed his fingers through Zelos' soft hair. "You're with me now, love. You're safe now."
Blue eyes blinked open. "I'm safe now," he repeated sleepily, yet with a conviction that warmed Lloyd's heart. Then Zelos kissed Lloyd, gently at first and then more urgently as the brunette kissed back. When they finally broke away, Zelos seemed very awake. "I'll always be safe with you, Lloyd."
"You weren't safe in the Gaorrachia Forest," Lloyd objected, misery appearing on his features.
Zelos gave Lloyd another searing kiss. "I'd wandered away and it wasn't either of our faults. The reason I'm always safe with you is because you'll always find me. Somehow, someway, you'll always get to me in time."
"I love you, Zelos."
"I love you, Lloyd."
A/N Yup, I know. Now I have to continue with the story 'cause there is this shadowy, evil person (or group of people) who is (are) targeting the angels of Cruxis… at the very least. /Laughs maniacally/
The evil entity won't be revealed for some time, however. The next update is gonna be fluffy to make up for this one being creepy.
Would now be a good time to say that I freaked myself out with all those needles? I blame their presence on the fact that my mom 'volunteered' me for a flu shot being given at her office. I hate needles. /shudders/