Chapter 18: Memories of Childhood

Disclaimer: Whoooooaaaa it's been like...a million years since my last update, I can't even remember the last time I played Tales of Symphonia but I got really tired of seeing this unfinished so I am just gonna wing it! Woo! Uhm...some characters might be a teensy bit OOC, but it's all good. I'll do my best.

A quiet sense of serenity filled Lloyd as he stared at the house in front of him, despite his tight schedule. The house was old, and in need of a good fixing up due to years of being uninhabited, and yet...it was so familiar. He had spent a year or so of his baby life in this house with his family, and though he didn't remember, he felt oddly at peace in this place. After a moment, he began to walk toward the house, and a feeling of anticipation filled him as he drew closer. The front door opened easily, with a loud creak. Its hinges were very rusty, in desperate need of oil. The feelings of serenity and anticipation grew as Lloyd stepped through the doorway, as if he were re-entering his old life. Everything inside was covered in a thick layer of dust, and the air smelled slightly moldy, giving the house an almost eerie feeling, despite the comfort it held. His footsteps seemed very loud as he walked slowly through the house, echoing off of the walls, reverberating through the empty space.

He was completely silent as he made his way through his childhood home, resisting the strong urge to pick up familiar looking items, knowing that he had little time to save his fading mother. As he thought of this, he began to move faster, making his way to the end of the hallway that led out of the kitchen. The hallway led him up a narrow staircase, that creaked as he stepped on each stair. There were faded photographs hanging on the walls, their frames cracked and peeling, the pictures yellowing. He looked at them with longing and sorrow growing in his heart as he thought of the many years that he'd missed with his parents. Perhaps they could make up for lost time now...

He was now on the second floor of the house, where there were three doors. He went to the closest one and opened it. It was only a closet, but it still held some sense of wonder to him. There were several baby blankets and towels here, more fragments of his forgotten childhood here.

Lloyd...He heard Anna's voice in his mind and turned his head toward the other doors. She was here...wasn't she..Taking one last look into the closet he closed the door and headed further down the hallway. The next door he opened led him into a bedroom with one large bed in the middle and several other pieces of furniture around the room. This must have been Kratos and Anna's room. He wandered over to the dresser where more faded yellow photographs sat in peeling leather frames. The last one he laid eyes on made his breath catch in his chest. There, a three year old version of himself sat giggling in his mother's arms, Anna smiling warmly and Kratos with his arms around them both, a gentle smile across his face. This must have been the last picture taken before their lives had been torn apart.

"Mom..." he whispered. "Dad..."

Lloyd... Turning, he saw a green glimmer of light flash past the open doorway in the hallway. He ran after it and it led him into the last room in the hall. This must have been his room. Hesitantly, he opened the door and as he saw the inside of the room, thousands of memories came rushing back to him. Kratos reading to him as he sat on the edge of his bed with him sitting contentedly in his lap, while Anna looked in from the doorway. Himself sitting on the floor playing with his toys and the friends he'd invented for himself, forgetting the rest of the world for a moment. The lullabye that his mother would sing to him every night before he went to sleep. And even now he could almost see her sitting on the edge of his bed, waiting for him.

"You came for me," she said softly, and he realized that she really was there. He nodded and moved toward her. "I don't have much time left, Lloyd..

"Tell me," Lloyd said, his voice shaking. "Tell me how to save you. I don't want you to go away again, Mom..." He walked closer to her. Anna studied him for a moment, then took the hand with his exsphere and placed it over heart. The small bit of light that was around her vanished and Lloyd's exsphere began to glow. Anna then released his hand, and the glowing vanished.

"Now," she said. "Now I won't ever have to leave you again." She smiled at her son and the warmth of her smile seemed to spread to Lloyd.

"Mom!" he cried and hugged her tightly, as if he would never let go. She put her arms around his shoulders with on hand on the back of his head, her chin resting on the top of his head, hugging him as she used to do when he was a young child. Anna smiled happily. She'd done it..She'd finally gotten her family back...

Anna hugged Lloyd tighter as he began to cry uncontrollably into his mother's shoulder, as she had done to Kratos the night before.

"Don't cry Lloyd.." she murmured, as she had done before she died. "I don't like to see you cry." Lloyd only hugged her tighter, as if afraid to let her go.

"I...I can't believe it's really you.." he whispered between sobs.

"It is." Anna said softly. "And don't ever forget that I love you."