A/N: Here's part two. Warning: Language.

"Lloyd." Kratos's voice rumbled through the space, echoing in the main room of the temple. "Are your sword techniques self-taught?"

Rai sighed and found himself tuning out as Lloyd scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and replied in the affirmative. Due to his memories - and their tendency to constantly resurface in his dreams, despite his annoyance - he had many of the events of the simulation memorized, including the sequence with the Martel Temple. It was almost maddening to let the events play out in a way he was already familiar with - the utter boredom of it all - but he knew that he had to. Despite the tedium, it was still infinitely preferable to having events spiral out of control in a way he would be unable to predict. If things were changed, it should be done deliberately and for a purpose. He did wish he could simply change random variables just for the pleasure of seeing how things would change, but he didn't have that luxury; all evidence pointed to his current position not being a mere simulation. It was reasonable to assume he would only get one chance at it.

Still, he had surprised even himself with his flood of emotion earlier. He had known Father would show up, he'd even known the exact moment it would happen - but having it happen in real life was different than experiencing it in a memory where he'd had no emotional ties to someone who was, at the time, only a character.

His feelings had been mixed; confused, angry, betrayed, defensive. Knowing that Father...no, Kratos...had abandoned him with hardly a word as to why wasn't exactly conducive to being overjoyed at his reappearance. Even though he had a vague idea that Kratos had probably done it to protect Rai from the machinations of Cruxis, which he had since figured out was the organization he spent his early life in, he couldn't help feeling (irrationally, he thought in annoyance) that he'd been betrayed and abandoned.

What was more troubling was the reaction - rather, lack of reaction - Kratos had shown to him. He knew the man had recognized him - the shock had been proof enough - but he was obviously determined to ignore Rai, which was infuriating. Fine, maybe Kratos had had logical reasoning for abandoning Rai, but ignoring him when they finally encountered each other again was much less understandable. He had half a mind to reveal everything solely to upset whatever Kratos wanted to happen, but doing that without knowing more would be pretty stupid, not to mention petty and juvenile.

And then when Kratos saw Lloyd, his long-lost son (and supposedly Rai's half-brother, though Rai had yet to fully accept that), of course Rai would take the backseat...all when Lloyd didn't even know who his father was, nor had he spent any time with him. And Lloyd was nothing like Kratos!

Rai gritted his teeth, realizing how jealous and idiotic his own thoughts now sounded. Why should he care about Kratos's feelings toward or relationship with Lloyd? Regardless of whether Kratos was his father too, the fact remained that their tie had been all but severed. So why should it affect him this much? He needed to stop letting stupidly emotional aspects of his thoughts surface. He didn't need a parental figure; in fact, he was better off without one...

" - Rai? Rai!"

Startled, he realized Colette had probably been calling his name for some time; the group was now several paces ahead and was staring back at him. Genis had an odd look on his face, like he was trying to figure something out, and Kratos just looked impassive. Rai berated himself silently. Regardless of how boring things might get, he couldn't afford to continue to let his attention wander like this; it wasn't guaranteed that conversations and situations would go the way they had in his memories, after all. His mere existence had changed a lot of things, if only minimally so far, and furthermore his actions or even the most trivial comments he made could have far-reaching consequences. This much he knew from (he assumed, although the memories were hazy) his studies of time travel in his past life. He had to pay close attention to everything and document even minimal changes if he wanted to successfully manipulate the events or even have some semblance of control over them.

He realized he'd almost drifted off again and cursed under his breath. "Sorry. Carry on, I'm coming."

Lloyd, Colette, and Genis made as if to keep walking, but Kratos fixed him with a stare, one eyebrow raised. "If you wish to come with us, it would hardly be wise to lag behind the group. This temple is hardly free of danger and splitting up would be highly unwise."

White-hot fury flashed through him. Who did Kratos think he was? Does he think he can act like a parent after all this time? This time, he let none of his inner turmoil show on his face. "A valid point, although I fail to see its relevance," he replied a little icily as he rejoined the group, "since I was hardly planning to continue to 'lag behind', as you put it. I think I can be excused for being lost in thought for a moment, considering we obviously have yet to enter the dangerous part of the temple." He knew it had been a long and overly wordy response, but he felt it might be the best way to combat Kratos's equally formal and distant tone. Though maybe he had gone a bit overboard with the sarcastic wording.

Lloyd, for some reason, was staring at him open-mouthed. Rai ignored him. After a moment, Kratos seemed to decide it wasn't worth arguing about, because he simply turned and led the way down the hallway, deeper into the temple.

Still seething for reasons he didn't entirely like, Rai followed.

Presently they came to the magical barrier which blocked the way to the altar. A low buzzing sound could be heard, but it wasn't nearly as loud as Rai would have expected. Colette and Genis gasped and Lloyd exclaimed, "Whoa! That's so cool!" Rai snorted.

Lloyd unsheathed his swords, but Kratos held out a hand in front of him. "Wait. That won't help. The barrier appears to be electric; you'll only hurt yourself."

When Lloyd only looked confused, Rai couldn't help himself from stepping forward in exasperation. "Your sword is made of metal, so it would conduct the electricity if it touched it, idiot. In other words, you'd get electrocuted if you tried to breach the barrier using your swords. Clear enough?"

The confusion on the swordsman's face melted into annoyance. "Shut up," he grumbled. "...I - I knew that, I wasn't going to try that - "

Genis giggled. "Lloyd, you're such an idiot."

"Shut up, Genis!"

Deciding to ignore them, Rai turned so that everyone could see his face. "Since this is a trial, I assume there is some predetermined method by which we are expected to get past this barrier. Our first step, then, should be to explore the temple."

"...I concur," Kratos conceded. Genis was nodding as well.

"Yeah, makes sense."

The group made its way back to the main room, from which two corridors led off to either side. One appeared to be blocked by a landslide of rubble, so naturally they took the other path. It was rather narrow, so they traveled single-file, with Kratos in the lead and Colette behind him, followed by Genis, Rai, and finally Lloyd bringing up the rear in case of an ambush from behind.

Rai was looking forward to their next fight; he wanted to continue experimenting with using his magic in actual combat situations, particularly amidst party members. Using magic on his own was different for a number of reasons. Firstly, when training there was none of the chaos and pressure of a real fight, and secondly, in battle he had to learn to take into account the positions of his comrades to avoid getting them caught in the crossfire. He was trying to perfect firing spells off not only non-verbally but also with as little casting time as possible. It was best to block off everything else and focus only on the sensations of the spell and forming the required mana; however, unfortunately he couldn't afford to block off his surroundings completely in the middle of a battle in case he was targeted by an enemy. Therefore, he needed to find the correct balance, which still allowed him to use spells efficiently but didn't endanger his life.

Once he could achieve this, it would make him quite a formidable force in battle, Rai thought with grim satisfaction. Since he wouldn't need to verbalize his spells, the enemy would have no idea what he was casting until it was already upon them; not only that, but since he didn't need to mutter anything under his breath and kept his eyes open to watch for attacks, there was the potential to display little to no indication that he was casting at all. In the previous fight with Vidarr he had gone ahead and made it obvious, since Lloyd had been constantly glancing back at him, but once he had perfected his technique...

Lloyd's voice cut into his thoughts. "Rai! Above you!" He glanced up swiftly and his blood ran cold. A large spider, at least twice his size, was hurtling down on top of him. Shit shit shit. He had spent most of his time practicing his mental and mana-shaping capabilities, but little to no time on physical dexterity or fighting techniques. Even though his mind raced through several possible moves, he knew his muscles couldn't possibly react fast enough to execute any of them.

God, you're fucking pathetic. The voice rang clearly and loudly through his head, and before Rai even had the time to react with shock, suddenly a searing pain shot through him and he no longer had control of his own body. An alien-yet-not being had surged up from the depths of his mind and taken control of him; a moment later his body rolled to the side as the spider crashed down and the heel of his foot came forcefully down onto its abdomen in a pefectly timed axe kick. An...axe kick...?

He found himself suddenly engulfed in memory, memory of a time in which he had inhabited a different body. He felt himself moving, swiveling into various stances and fluidly executing various kicks, punches, and strikes. The only sound was the rustle of his crisp white uniform and the soft pat of his feet hitting the floor in controlled movement. As he completed the form, he heard a rough, pleased voice from behind him. "Well done, Akira. You were always one of my best students." As he turned to bow to his master, Rai felt a strange longing rip through his heart. It was as if he was being pulled painfully in two, towards a different time and place that no longer existed...

As the scene faded away into blackness, the pain that had seized him followed, ebbing away gradually. Slowly, the real world materialized around him. The first thing he realized was that he was slumped against Kratos, and that the group was all staring at him worriedly. The second was that he was in control of his own body again. He pushed himself up, staggered, and almost fell from the wave of sudden vertigo. Lloyd had made a movement as if to catch him, but Rai waved him away, hand pressed to his temple to combat the sudden onslaught of pain. It was as if his mind were being sawed in two.

As the discomfort subsided, he thought he heard the voice again, this time faint and somewhere buried in the back of his mind. I refuse to accept you as being me, pathetic brat. Don't delude yourself into thinking those memories are yours. You were never Akira - Akira is me.

Who - who are you? He couldn't help being shaken. He had always considered the many voices in his head to be his own, figments of his own imagination, but...this one was...

Akira? That was what the old man had called him in the memory. Rai's eyes widened in sudden realization. No, no...it couldn't be...

He wasn't able to ponder it any longer, though, as the rest of the group was still staring at him, Kratos with more than a little suspicion.

"Are you alright?" This was from Lloyd. For some reason, his worry only annoyed Rai, but he knew he should be grateful; Lloyd had saved him, after all.

"I'm fine," he muttered. "Thanks for warning me about the spider."

"No problem, but..." Lloyd looked uneasy. He wasn't the only one.

"What happened back there, Rai?" Genis murmured, expression tight. "You froze, but then you used some kind of move I've never seen. I had no idea you'd ever trained in any kind of physical combat. And then you just collapsed..."

Rai decided some measure of honesty would be best here. "I don't really know," he admitted. "I just reacted on automatic, and then for some reason became dizzy."

Kratos was eying him even more suspiciously now. "That was an advanced move," he said. "One that is characteristic of a certain martial art style taught only at a secret location. A master of the art must have taught it to you..."

Damn. He should have realized Kratos would pick up on something like that. After a pause during which he considered several replies, he settled for, "Is this really relevant? Also, I fail to see how my fighting style is any of your business."

Kratos snorted. "I can think of several reasons why it should be my business," he said in an annoyingly superior tone, "but let's drop the subject for now. We need to proceed, or this will take all day." Without waiting for a reply, he continued down the passageway toward the staircase now visible at the end of it.

As the rest of them followed, entering the wider area leading to the staircase, Genis and Lloyd muttered behind Rai.

"What is up with those two? You've noticed something weird too, right? You're close to Rai, you must have some idea..." It was Lloyd. Genis replied equally quietly.

"Look, he's really secretive, okay? He almost never discusses his thoughts, and I've never gotten him to talk about the time before he came to live with us. I don't really remember, but Raine said that when she first found him he said something about having been part of some top-secret organization. Maybe he knows Kratos from that time, and that's why they're pretending not to know each other?"

There was a silence. Rai felt a chill at how close to the mark his brother was. He hadn't known Raine had told Genis of his childish comments about Cruxis.

Then, "Yeah, that might be it. I'm kind of worried about him, though." There was another pause, and Rai itched to turn and see what they were doing.

Finally Lloyd said, even more quietly, "...Let's talk about this later."

Had they realized Rai might be able to hear them?

"Are you okay?" He started slightly and turned to look at Colette, who was looking at him with concern as they reached the bottom of the steps.

"I'm fine, thanks. Just...a bit tired from everything that's happened today, I suppose," he invented. She seemed unconvinced, but didn't press the subject. It occurred to him that she had been unusually quiet ever since they had entered the temple, but he pushed the thought away. He probably shouldn't meddle in the others' personal problems and risk screwing up the events even more.

As they walked forward onto a large platform suspended in the middle of the room, Rai noticed the square-shaped holes in the ground and remembered that they were supposed to push blocks through them to create a path down below. On a dais some distance away lay the Sorcerer's Ring. It was barely visible, being tiny in size, but the light emanating from it made its location easy to pinpoint.

"Ooh, look, what's that?" Lloyd was staring at the ring excitedly. Genis and Colette looked interested as well.

"It's impossible to tell from here," Kratos said, and Rai knew he was lying - how could he not be able to tell, with his angelic vision? "We should find a way to get closer," Kratos continued.

Rai stepped forward, closer to one of the square holes, and peered below. Despite himself, he was intrigued. Although he had seen all of this in the simulation, it was quite a bit different seeing it in real life.

You're such a fucking idiot. Rai stiffened, realizing the voice had returned. He had previously passed it off as just one of many, but he realized now that it was a great deal more intrusive than his other voices; they were constantly speaking, but he was usually able to tune them out until he needed their input.

What do you mean? he ventured, deciding to ignore the foul language for now.

Stop calling it a simulation. It's a game, dammit, a fucking game...

Rai felt his eyes widen and had to consciously force his expression back to some semblance of normalcy.

A...a game? What do you...

You'll probably remember soon enough, since you're getting access to more and more of my memories as time goes on. Seems like the speed is increasing exponentially, too... But I guess I'll just tell you. That "simulation" you keep referencing was actually just a game back on my home planet. It was called Tales of Symphonia, and as the player, I took control of the main character, Lloyd. Oh, and by the way, I didn't play that game until I was sixteen. You're wrong about that age thing.

Wait. You keep referring to yourself as a separate person. Are you saying those aren't my memories...?

The voice seemed to sigh, if that was even possible for an imaginary presence inside his head. God, you're really clueless, aren't you? I keep forgetting...well, I guess you could consider yourself to be me - that is, we have the same soul, in a way. And, other than the fact that you're a half-elf and that your phenotype is quite different than mine, the majority of our genes are the same as well. But when I died, it seems that my soul was...cloned, I guess, and given a new, infant body. That cloned soul is you. I, the original soul, got brought along for the ride, since my original body was dead. That is, we were reborn.

But...but why?

After I died, I had this weird experience - He paused. Hey, pay attention! We'll talk about this later.

Startled, Rai saw that they were now facing a behemoth of stone. Right, he remembered this from the simulation - no, game - they were supposed to defeat this monster, thus turning it into a block which they could then push down below. Lloyd and Kratos were already rushing forward to attack, but their swords only glanced uselessly off the hard body of the enemy. I should have thought of this. Of course it wouldn't work as smoothly as it did in the game. He glanced at Genis, who was studying the monster through narrowed eyes.

"Genis - let's freeze it. Maybe they can shatter it then."

His brother glanced at him in surprise, then nodded and began casting Icicle. Rai turned back to the monster and grasped his mana, feeling it turn cold and rigid, and after gathering enough, thrust it into the air so that it came plummeting down on top of the monster. A few seconds later Genis had cast his spell; he sent his mana low to the ground, so that ice spiked upward from beneath. Both spells encased the monster, one covering its head and torso and the other its legs, but it wasn't totally frozen, just hindered in his movements.

They ice spell after ice spell while Lloyd and Kratos pounded away and Colette stood around helplessly. Eventually Kratos used a mana-enhanced smashing attack with the flat of his blade, aiming for the frozen torso, and at long last the monster had crumbled into large pieces of stone. The group stood there, panting, hardly even able to relish their victory. Fighting a gargoyle certainly took a lot out of you; he could feel the definite drain in his mana just from this single fight.

Don't tell me we have to fight more of these...

Abandoning all decorum, Rai slapped his hand to his forehead and groaned loudly, ignoring the odd looks from the rest of the group.

As Colette stared up at the angel, she felt none of the expected reverence. She registered Genis's question behind her - is he Colette's real father?

There was no way that could be...No parent would send their daughter on a dangerous journey at the end of which lay only death.

...No, but that was exactly what her father back in the village, Frank, had done...

There was a choking feeling at the back of her throat. Somehow she swallowed it down and forced herself to continue looking up at the angel with a respectful expression. He was now speaking, cold gaze fixed on her in a way that made her legs turn to jelly.

"I am Remiel. I am an angel of judgement. I am here to guide Colette, daughter of the mana lineage, on her journey to heaven as the seventh Chosen."

...Journey to heaven. In other words, the end of her life. It was so obvious she felt like laughing hysterically. Did the others really not think the wording was a bit weird? She found herself hoping Lloyd hadn't picked up on it. But no...he never would. He would be too busy gawking at the angel's wings, she thought with a burst of fondness.

"The time has come," Remiel continued, "to awaken the Goddess Martel who sleeps at the center of the world."

He handed the Cruxis Crystal to Colette, and she accepted shakily, trying to hide her apprehension. As she'd been instructed, she lifted the gem and pressed it to her chest, just below the collarbone, and couldn't hold back the pained gasp that escaped her lips as it burned hotly into her flesh. Within seconds the sensation had ebbed from being almost unbearable to a dull pain. As her other senses returned to her, she realized Remiel was speaking again.

"...hereby bestow the Tower of Salvation upon Sylvarant."

She found that even as her friends gasped and talked excitedly, she couldn't bring herself to join them. Colette knew she should be happy on such a blessed day. She had received the Oracle, and had been accepted as Chosen, ready to start the regeneration of the world. But her limbs were heavy, and amongst all her worries, one thought took center stage. Could this man with the cold gaze and formal speech, who was entrusted with guiding her to her death, really be her father?

She wasn't sure which would be worse: his pretending to be her father, or his actually being her father and still sending her to die.

Her hand tightened around the gem at her neck. She noticed the wetness on her cheeks only when a tear made its way down to her chin. Hurriedly, she wiped away the evidence of her weakness and willed herself to become the Chosen again; the perfect, selfless, kind girl everyone wanted.
Even as the mask formed and happiness lit up her face, she knew with a dreading certainty that the sad girl, the puppet, the coward, still existed somewhere within.