Tales Of Symphonia Fan Fiction ❯ From Yesterday Into Tomorrow ❯ Angels of the Goddess? ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two:

Angels of the Goddess?

 

Genis walked happily alongside Colette; thankfully his sister had been so caught up in the architectural ruins—if they could be called ruins—that she had forgotten all about sending him home. Unfortunately, this likely meant the spanking of his life tonight. Despite this painful fact, however, the white-haired half-elf was happy. He had never been inside Martel Temple before, and now he might even get to see the Oracle! Glancing over at his best friend he smiled brightly at her.

 

“It's almost time isn't it, Colette? Soon now you get to become an angel and be able to fly and stuff! I wonder what your wings will be like.”

 

Colette returned her friend's happy smile. “I don't know, but I hope they're pink or blue…or even purple…or white…white's nice too!” rambled the happy Chosen. She knew what awaited her should she fail—or succeed. Yet, somehow, Colette could not bring herself to show weakness or fear before her best friend. Genis…he did not have to know the truth.

 

“Wow, Colette,” Genis laughed out, “you're okay with any colour, aren't you?”

 

Colette simply shrugged cheerfully, “well, why not? They're all so pretty.”

 

Lloyd could not help but ponder the Chosen's attitude towards the situation; she did know what was in store for her, didn't she? No matter, once the transformation was done, that would be that. No going back.

 

Mentally chiding himself yet again Lloyd forced himself to focus on the half-elf—Raine Sage—who was walking alongside him and lecturing him on the finer points of temple architecture.

 

“So you see this means tha-” Rained explained enthusiastically.

 

“Um…Ms. Sage?” Lloyd interrupted, trying his best to seem at least slightly respectful of the older woman; after all, he was still in a precarious situation, best to play the suck-up now.

 

“Oh please. Call me Professor, or Professor Sage, whichever you like, just drop the `Ms.,'” Raine chided lightly, still distracted by the temple as the small group made its way towards the centre door that they all imagined would take them to the top.

 

“Really? Okay Professor, um, I was wondering…are you all going on the Journey of Regeneration?”

 

“Yes, except for Genis, why?”

 

Well…I was wondering if I could go with you. You know…get out and see stuff. It'd be fun!” he chirped out, forcing the enthusiasm, while trying not to appear too eager at the same time.

 

“Well…I don't know about that, why don't we talk about this after we've seen the Oracle?”

 

Lloyd nodded in response, “that's fine with me.”

 

Reaching the end of the hallway, Raine stepped forward to examine the large door that stood in the way, effectively blocking their path. Running her hands over the smooth, rock surface, she smiled slightly to herself. What fine work! But how did it open? Bending down, she examined the centre of the door, where the device for opening it appeared to be situated.

 

“So now, how do we get in?” Lloyd asked, moving aside so the Colette and Genis could view the centrepiece also.

 

“Hm, it would seem that we need some device to trigger the lock system.”

 

“Well, it's probably in here somewhere, shall we go look for it?” Genis asked, pressing in front of the strange brunet so he could examine the lock also.

 

“Yes, it seems that is what we must do…” mumbled Raine, secretly excited to get to search through more of the temple. “Lloyd, why don't you and Genis search the pathway to the right while Colette and I head to the left?”

 

“Sure thing, uh, Professor. You okay with that, Genis?” Lloyd asked, turning to the younger half-elf.

 

“Um…sure!” Genis replied cheerfully, eager to get to know the newcomer.

 

That being agreed upon, the party split. Genis and Lloyd trotted off to take the right path, while Colette and Raine took the other. No words were spoken for several minutes until Genis could not stand the silence any longer.

 

“So…uh, Lloyd was it? What brought you out here anyway?”

 

“Oh, well, I guess I just wanted to see the world, that's all. And my family finally decided I could go ahead and do it.” Well, it was not a total lie; after all, his dad had finally let him go out on his own.

 

Genis laughed as the tension in the air began to dissipate, “well, that's one thing I don't think Raine would ever let me do on my own.”

 

Lloyd cocked his head curiously to one side. “Really? Why? …is she the only family you have?”

 

Genis nodded weakly in response. “Yeah, I never really met my parents.”

 

“Oh…so why aren't you going with Raine on the Journey of Regeneration then? That way you can be with your sister.”

 

“Yeah, but she probably wouldn't let me…she'd say it's too dangerous.”

 

After that both fell silent for awhile as they made their way throughout the building's corridors, dispatching the odd monster as the travelled. Descending a staircase they found themselves upon a translucent floor, with several large holes in it, that was inhabited solely by a large, golem-like creature.

 

Exchanging a quick look, the two adolescents readied their weapons to confront the enormous opponent before leaping in and unleashing a barrage of attacks upon the massive beast.

 

“Well, that took care of that!” Lloyd chirped happily, pleased he could still fight well, even without his mana.

 

“Yeah, but what do we do with this?” Genis asked, hitting the huge block the monster had left behind with his kendama.

 

“I dunno, what do you sug-”

 

Lloyd was cut off quite sharply by a loud crash and a slight scream, this was followed by Raine's voice calling out.

 

“Colette! Are you okay?!”

 

Instinctively, Genis grabbed Lloyd's arm and yanked him off to the side, and just in time. The Chosen's form came spinning down the stairs, head over heels, with Raine dashing down after her. The two males could only watch with wide eyes as Colette's small form smashed into the block, conveniently dropping it into one of the holes in the floor.

 

This gave Lloyd an idea.

 

---

 

It was a triumphant party of four that made their way back to the strange door, Sorcerer's Ring in hand.

 

“Well Colette, would you like to do the honours?” Raine asked, holding out the small object.

 

“Um…sure!” replied the perky Chosen, still slightly sore from her fall down the stairs. Holding out the ring, she shot a small beam of fire into the centre of the door.

 

“Hey, look! It's opening!” Genis yelped out excitedly as the massive structure creaked open.

 

Dashing forward Lloyd grinned back at the others. “Yeah yeah, we see that, so come on already! Let's go!”

Raine laughed merrily as the three youngsters dashed forward toward the warp panel, it was good to see the Colette and Genis had found a friend in young Lloyd so easily. Stepping onto the panel after the children she allowed herself to be transported to the topmost reaches of the tower.

 

Arriving at the top she made her way toward the object in the centre of the room, clearly something was already happening. Allowing her gaze to shoot upward, like the teens, Raine allowed herself to express a slight feeling of awe—there was a real angel coming down!

 

Lloyd was hard pressed to suppress a laugh when he caught sight of the tower's latest occupant. `Remiel?! How the hell'd he swing this position?' he wondered to himself, while struggling to keep a look of awe on his face. Shifting his feet as Remiel arrived and began to speak, Lloyd could not help but shoot him a smirk from behind the backs of the others, after all, who cared if Remiel got this position? His was still better.

 

Tuning the conversation back in, Lloyd was just in time to catch Remiel's parting words of: `My beloved daughter Colette.' He nearly choked on his own breath. What did that moron think he was doing?

 

Shoving the issue to the back of his head, he followed the others, who were already well on their way back down. He had more important things to focus on now.

 

“We should all head back to Iselia now, Lloyd. You're coming with us I trust?”

 

Glancing over to Raine, Lloyd shot her a pleasant smile. “If that's okay with you.”

 

Nodding, Raine motioned for the door. “Okay then, you three head for town…I'm going to remain here for a little longer.”

 

Lloyd was about to inquire as to why Raine was going to remain until Genis shook his head violently and began pushing him and Colette out of the door. Maybe some things were better left unanswered.

 

Stepping outside, Colette turned to her two friends, one new and one life-long.

 

“So, how cool was that? We got to see a real live angel!”

 

Lloyd laughed, “well, I dunno, I always thought angels would be a little…cooler than that. Y'know, with colourful, translucent wings and stuff.”

 

Colette simply smiled at him in return. “Well maybe some are…like real angels for the Goddess!”

 

“Do you mean the Seraphim or something?” Lloyd asked, a little more sharply than intended.

 

“Huh…n-no, what do you mean Lloyd?”

 

 

“Oh…never mind…so, what do you think of angels Genis?” Lloyd mumbled, eager to change the topic, even if only slightly.

 

“Me? I think it'd be cool to have wings! Then you could fly and stuff!” Genis chirped out, still feeling giddy from his encounter with the angelic being.

 

By this point the town was well in sight. Grinning, Lloyd turned to the other two.

 

“Race ya!”

 

That being said, the three adolescents took off running for the town, although they were forced to stop when the Chosen tripped and fell flat on her face. Oh well, it was still good fun.