Tales Of Symphonia Fan Fiction ❯ Eternity ❯ Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, nor do I make money from writing this.

 

Author's Note: First fanfic I've written since in almost 6 years. I hope you all enjoy it. I've had floating around in my head ever since I played ToS2 and saw the perfect ending. That said, if you haven't seen the it, go youtube it. Also goes without saying this is Emil (in both personalities) x Marta.

 

Eternity

 

Ratatosk sits in the chamber, reminiscing about the past while gazing at the enormous crystal floating next to the seal. A girl, in her mid to late twenties, face expressionless, was frozen inside. Flowers adorned her hair, one on each side, as the rest of her hair fanned out behind her. Memories of her in life, that wonderful girl who loved him, that gave him a purpose, that taught him how to love surfaced in his head. Nearly a millennium has passed since she died, and her beautiful face was still fresh in his memory. And her scent! How could he ever forget that wonderful fragrance that surrounded her and enveloped them every time they made love in their home above the inn he had inherited from his aunt and uncle? Or the way her body melded into his as she slept next to him at night? Or the way the moonlight cast its glow on her as she begged him to stop his torturous caresses and enter her?

 

A voice interrupted his thoughts. “Lord Ratatosk, the process is complete. All that's left is for you to complete the seal on the Ginnungagap and the gate to Niflheim will be forever locked. Once the seal is placed, I will go rouse Richter from his sleep.” In an effort to ease Richter's pain, Aqua had begged Ratatosk to allow her to put Richter in a comatose stasis after Ratatosk ended his human life. During his years helping Marta atone for the sins her and the Vanguard had committed, he had seen enough pain and suffering to allow Richter this small reprieve.

 

“Thank you, Tenebrae. What should I do? I promised her, when she died a millennium ago, that I would not hesitate to complete the seal using the world's mana,” he paused, the memories of that life he shared with her surfaced once more, “I cannot bear to use it. To contribute it to the seal would mean losing her forever. As long as this crystal exists, I can reincarnate her, Tenebrae. I can bring her back. I . . . I miss her.”

 

Tenebrae, deep in thought, hovered next to Ratatosk. “You know what Lady Marta said when she died. She made you promise.” Ratatosk's eyes swam with emotion as he remembered those final days all too clearly, when her ailing body finally failed her.

 

After being bedridden for a week, Marta's body had finally failed her. She had been feeling reasonably well that morning, and they had prepared a small picnic to eat just outside of town. He had tucked her back into bed after carrying her home, and the two were looking out at the scenery from her window when she leaned into his chest.

 

“Emil,” she started, her voice weak, “promise me. Promise me when it's time to make the seal that you won't hesitate to use the mana in my body.”

 

“Marta, I-“

 

“Don't hesitate,” she firmly repeats. “As long as you hold the memories of our time together dear to your heart, I will never be truly gone.”

 

“Marta, what are you saying?” he had looked down at her, her face was paler than it had been a few hours earlier, and she could barely hold herself up under her strength. “Marta, don't go, hang on Marta, I'll go get Professor Sage!” He moved to stand, to run outside to get the town guards to get the Professor from the ruins in the lakebed near Luin. Marta weakly grips his sleeve and he sits back down in the bed. “Don't leave me so soon, Marta.”

 

“Promise me Emil,” she weakly whispers, tears beginning to fill her eyes.

 

“I-I promise Marta. Just hang on; I'll go get the Professor.”

 

“It's too late for me, Emil,” she voice barely above a whisper. A weak smile graces her lips as she looks up at him. “I'm so happy I met you. No matter what happens in the eons ahead, always remember that I love you.” She paused, struggling to get her last words out. “Can I have just one last kiss?”

 

“You can have as many as you want, just don't leave me!” His mouth closed in on hers, as though his kiss would give her that breath of life that would enable her to live just a few moments longer. But even as he pulled away from that one last kiss, he felt her body go limp, and her last breath caressed his cheek, as though she too, wished she could have stayed with him just a little longer.

 

It took a moment for him to refocus back onto the present. “But I don't think I can go through with that promise.” Oh, if only he could hold her in his arms once more and breathe in that heavenly scent, he would happy for an eternity! Looking at the glowing orb, his red eyes turn green, and he gently says, “Sorry Marta, but I can't do it. I can't bear the thought of never seeing you again.” Tears flooded his eyes, threatening to spill over, as his heart wrenches inside him once more.

 

At that moment, a voice echoes through the chamber, “It is time, is it not, Ratatosk?”

 

“Verius! What are you doing here?” Ratatosk asks.

 

“Ratatosk, have you forgotten? I am here because I could feel your pain and indecision from my altar in Iselia. Whilst many have visited my shrine in the centuries since we last met, your desire called out to me the strongest of all. If it is your heart's wish, I would be willing to help you once more.”

 

“There is nothing you can do Verius. Though I am grateful for your visit,” Ratatosk replies, walking over to the crystal.

 

“What if I told you there was a way? The strength of your love for this girl is more than enough for me to grant you your wish. Your wish is to bring this girl back to life, and this time, as an immortal like ourselves, the Summon Spirits.”

 

“A spell like that would require mana, mana that cannot be spared,” Ratatosk answers, shattering the crystal. Marta gently falls into his arms, and he sits in front of the gate, cradling her lifeless body. Even after over nine hundred years inside a mana crystal, her beautiful hair was a silky as ever. He knew, though, that once the mana he had used to return her teens, her body would disappear. The shards vaporize, briefly leaving a glowing blue trail to the gate.

 

“You forget, Ratatosk, that I am the Summon Spirit of Heart. Mana need not be the only source of power for such a spell. An unending love like the one you have for this girl can be the source of power, and as long as you love her, she will live.”

 

Ratatosk stopped short as Verius's words sank into his emotion-filled mind. “Even so, her body has been maintained by mana for so long, that once it is stripped from her body, it will vanish.”

 

“You underestimate her love for you, then. Did you not see the smile she bore when as she said her final farewell to you?”

 

At that, Ratatosk grew angry. “How could I not? That tear filled smile, as she,” at this, his voice breaks down, tears freely flowing as he holds Marta's cold lifeless body to him, desperately wishing that she would move and hold him once more, and reassure him that she is always with him.

 

“Your heart speaks the truth, Ratatosk. Your wish shall be granted. So long as you love her, she will live, and her body will never age a day. All that is left, is for you to give her the breath of life,” Verius's last words echo in the air as his voice fades away.

 

“Thank you, Verius,” Ratatosk mumbles as he pulls away. Looking down, he notices white pallor of death fading away as signs of life inhabit Marta's body once more as the mana in her body flow into the seal. “Now, Marta, I can fulfill my promise to you.”

 

Gently, he places her body on the ground as he finishes the task he set out to do a millennium ago. Magic fills the air as he casts the arcane spell needed to place the final locks on the gate. Once more, the gate to Niflheim is sealed, and Aselia is once more safe from the demons that reside there.

 

As Ratatosk sits back down, his eyes shift to a brilliant emerald as he scoops up her body, placing a gentle kiss on her lips. Moments tick by, and slowly, Marta's hands begin moving. Her eyes slowly open to meet his, and a gentle smile lit up her formerly expressionless face. “E-Emil? I thought I died.”

 

Tears of joy begin cascading down the spirit's cheeks as he pulls her into a warm embrace. “Marta, you did. I thought I'd lost you forever.”

 

“Then,” she paused as she looks around. “Where am I?” Her eyes widen in recognition. “This . . . is the Ginnungagap!”

 

“It's been nine hundred and ninety years, eleven months and twenty days since that day. I've missed you terribly,” he says, pulling her close.

 

“Then, the seal-“

 

“Has been placed. I fulfilled my promise to you Marta. Verius took care of the rest.”

 

“Lady Marta, welcome back,” Tenebrae says, floating over. “Here, my Lord. It will not do to have her get ill again,” the loyal Centurion says, handing a black silk robe to Marta with his tail. Marta looks down, and upon realizing that she was naked, she hastily grabs the robe. She shoots Emil a look of feigned annoyance as she stands and wraps it around herself. Sensing the two want to be alone, Tenebrae turns to vanish. “If you will excuse me, my Lord, I will go assist Aqua with freeing Richter as planned.”

 

“Sorry, Marta, the spell I used to keep you in that mana crystal made your clothes disappear,” Emil sheepishly says, standing. Pulling her into a tight embrace, and burying himself in her neck, he speaks, voice thick with emotions, “I missed you. I've been so lonely without you. Please don't ever leave me again.”

 

Hugging him just as tightly, she responds, “Never.” Gently pushing him away, she unties the robe, letting it fall open. “Emil, would you-“ She never got to finish her question, as he answers her with a searing kiss.

 

~The End~